#because why would purple refer to someone he sees as a parent with the title of the one that presumably did not raise them? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hueningshaped · 2 years

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★ monarch butterflies | k.th

▰ genre: angst + fluff + royalty! au

▰ word count: 4.6k

▰ synopsis: as taehyun’s (childhood) bff, you know something is on his mind even if he says otherwise, but it also makes it hard since you have a crush on him that you don’t even like admitting to yourself and also he’s a prince

possible warnings/fyi: taehyun’s sister plays a big role but she doesn’t have a name (T__T), superrrr vague royalty structure, warning brief physical harassment from some guy

a/n: this is poorly written but i wrote and posted it anyway haha again, sorry also i kid u not i cried because i had no idea what to title this so that explains why it makes no sense <3

For as long as you have known Taehyun, a crease between his eyebrows meant that there was trouble in his mind and his heart.

It could constitute many things, like the time he seemed off about his sister’s party decorations, standing so straight, with his arms crossed behind himself, watching the rehearsal for his older sister, the nebulousness of his eyes only confirmed such a thing.

The bridge of his nose stood tall, lips tight, eyes distracted, but overall expression pensive; and the hair that was neither charcoal nor tawny framed the same sun kissed skin of his face. Gorgeous. That was just a given.

“Do you hate the color purple that much, Taehyun?” You ask as you step beside him, referring to the theme of lilac and delphiniums, all overflowing and taking over much of the entire expanse on the ground floor where the party will be taking place.

The muscles in his cheeks relax before flexing into a grin. Knowing what’s to come next, your stomach flips.

He turned to you, grinning serenely: such a sight only when he knew he was with friendly company. There would never be a day where you wouldn’t look into those wondrous eyes of his with awe.

“Y/N,” he said in the way one does when they feel relief at seeing once more. You stepped over your toes with your heel to tamper down your bubbling feelings.

“Seriously, though, are the decorations not up to your taste?”

He shook his head with a sigh, smile remaining on his mouth but eyes dim.

“Well, they aren’t for me,” he reminded, though he knew you only meant to tease. “My sister has spent countless days preparing, so she has approved every piece, color, song, food, and the like.”

His tone implied he wasn’t revealing what was troubling his mind.

“But?” You asked, encouraging him to speak more. His body rotated towards you. A part of you mocked that if you had a tail, you’d be wagging it like a dog, at the prospect of Taehyun revealing his feelings to you each time he wanted to speak with you.

It would sooner freeze in Hell than for your pitiful feelings to be reciprocated.

It was all an impossible dream, lightyears away from the reality of you remaining a simple commoner, who only knew the great Kang Taehyun, the crown prince.

In any case, you liked to think that your infatuation with the jewel of the family was due to your co-dependence: he’s all you’ve ever known.

His father’s voice had filled the room, echoes of his name bouncing around, and it was at that you bowed your head to walk away. His smile dropped without your notice.

When you think about it, it was only by a matter of fate and luck that, to this day, and even at all, you were able to have met and befriended Taehyun.

Taehyun was born to a commoner woman, who raised him and his older sister on her own. His biological father had disappeared shortly after he was given the news of his existence. His mother raised him alongside a close friend, who was your very own mother. While your parents were already married, Taehyun’s mother eventually met someone, when the two of you were around five years old, but little did you all know that was this wasn’t just any man, but he was a man of royalty. In fact, he was heir to be king. This didn’t come to pass until you were both on the cusp of entering high school.

Despite the numerous obstacles his role in his new family placed on your friendship, it seemed that there was nothing that could get in between you two.

With two decades of history between the two of you, you know Taehyun as easily as you know the back of your hand.

So, when you see the crease at his eyebrows, it’s a tell-tale sign that something is amiss.

That time with the rehearsal, it was one of the first times you had noticed that that unknown something was itching Taehyun. His busy life left you unable to confront him about such things. Not only his, but also yours. Despite being a commoner, you were also forced to attend to your own responsibilities: that of mundane-life duties, and also your very job, which had you working around the palace. There was an intricate network within the kingdom, but it was the easiest guarantee of income, and your mother worked inside, as well.

That very crease greets you when you enter the double doors that groan behind you.

His calculating eyes take you in, and you do the same, although yours, for sure, don’t hold the entire constellation like his.

“Glad to see you’re late again,” his voice is even, and when your mouth curls with a frown, he grins. “Come, sit. The food’s going to get cold, and then what will we do?”

You join him on a sofa that sits in his grand room, one that would be considered grand for a family of five. With the sunset long gone, it looks like night. A litter of candles are lit across another table, and it’s overall dim, which makes you wonder why he’d want to eat in such conditions. But you don’t question it, merely thanking him and nudging his arm with yours.

“It’ll get cold, that’s what’s gonna happen if it gets — ”

“Just zip it and eat, Y/N,” he sighs with a chuckle, and who are you to argue?

Taehyun has always had his moments of silence, so sitting beside him with no exchange of words shouldn’t make you feel uneasy. Really, it should be a time where you should feel relieved and comfortable, to be finally by your best friend’s side after a long day of busy work from both sides. Yet, your stomach churns with the implication that he’s hiding something from you.

You’re both the types to share everything with each other in fashion of mature conversation, although you’re more of a rambler compared to the calm listener of your dear friend.

It seems laughable because he owes you no such explanation, nothing of any sort; after all, you’re just the silly best friend that followed Taehyun to the kingdom, even you’re far from ever belonging in such a setting. He only has you here because you’re friends. And you’re grateful for it.

But, you still worry.

When the meal is over, and Taehyun is telling you something that he learned about in school that applies to a lecture that he’s currently giving you about God knows what, your thumb moves by itself and you lean forward to rub at that crease in between those speculative eyes.

He tilts his head in confusion, moving your hand away from his but not letting go.

“Sorry,” he patiently waits for you to continue, blinking at you. You find it hard to swallow, one of your hands taking the hem of your clothing into your fist. “There’s something you’re not telling me. And I’m right, aren’t I?”

“If you’re worried about anything, or whatever’s on your mind, you know I’ll always be here for you, okay?” You intertwine fingers with his, and his jaw drops but closes within the blink of an eye.

“Taehyun, please,” you plead again, and he sighs.

“Y/N,” he takes a quick glance out the window before looking back at you. The gentle air from earlier is now infiltrated by your panicky aura. “I’ll be sure to forever keep that in mind. If such a thing happens, you’ll always be the first to know, I promise.”

You exhale and tug your hand away, rolling your eyes.

“Why can’t you just tell me? Is it really that bad that you can’t even speak to me? Me, of all people?” You burn from the inside out. You’re being too insistent, but you can’t help it.

He leans back slowly, crossing his arms over his chest loosely, and it’s then you notice that he’s still in his royal attire. Taehyun has mentioned before that it can be uncomfortable after wearing it the whole day. His dark hair sits on his forehead, volume worn off with the day’s progress. He must be so tired.

“I’m sorry for making you worry,” he apologizes quietly, and you move closer to him so he doesn’t have to raise his voice above a whisper. You shake your head and squeeze his hand.

“No, I’m sorry for being too pushy today,” it occurs to you that with every passing day of duties, it is not for free time for the two of you to do nothing and hang out in the past; Taehyun is learning to be king of this kingdom, to take on the world and shoulder it when the time comes. His mundane life long gone. “You did a lot today, huh?”

He turns towards you, large eyes unblinking but lids heavy almost as if in a trance.

“Are you that tired?” You laugh but your mouth curves into a sad smile.

He blinks, almost soberly.

“What? Sorry, wasn’t paying attention,” he explains, and you bump your forehead with his before moving to stand up.

“It’s nothing, Tyun, I was just saying that your day just gets longer and longer,” you smile again, gathering the silverware on the tray.

“Yeah,” he watches you for a moment. “Wait, are you leaving?”

That makes you halt.

“Well, yeah. I thought I’d leave you to rest and I was going to take this down —”

“No, just stay,” he says it like it’s the most natural thing, and it is, but for some reason, it makes your heart run a little faster. “Please stay.”

“Just this once, then,” you say trying your best to not sound like it’s what you’ve been wanting for a while. Sleepovers used to be a daily thing, but now, they happen once every few months. That allows each few moment to be cherished even more. Or, at least, that’s what Taehyun tells you.

After settling in for bed, and helping Taehyun out of the heaviest prince attire, which includes a lot of layers, almost as if he’s a victorian queen, you’re both in his bed. You hug one of his many pillows, even though he had insisted you can just do that with him.

It boggles your mind: any instance where you are with him, you feel so hot and nervous, even if it’s all things that you’ve done before countless times. There’s butterflies that are unleashed at the mere mention and presence of Taehyun. You pathetically wonder why.

As sleep begins to invade your hyperactive mind, you turn over to finally face Taehyun, who had already been facing you. Only in these dead hours did you see his regal face relaxed, breaths filtering with low volume, and you were lucky enough to be able to admire him without being caught by his burning gaze. Your heartbeat finally managed to return to a regular rhythm, and you’d go to sleep with a serene smile. One that Taehyun would see when he’d wake the following morning before attending to his duties.

Since that night with your best friend, it seemed more difficult to get in touch with him when he wasn’t by your side — not that you tried to get his attention, but some days more than others, you’d at least pass each other around the grand estate. However, each evening, you would be escorted to your plot, where you’d find your dinner, all arranged by yours truly.

There was only one day left before the party for Taehyun’s sister, who was growing more and more conflicted with anxieties that no one could consult her with. Since most of your jobs lately had been surface work, you were instructed to stay at her side alongside her maids.

After an hour of reading by her bed, you felt her stir, awakening from a nap, and look around dazedly.

“I’m right here,” you whisper gently, so as not to startle her, and at your voice, she finds you and quickly relaxes.

“Y/N, I’m glad you’re here,” she looks as if she were about to doze off again, lying flat on her back with her eyes shut before she speaks up once more. “I understand that my state has prevented you from going on with your daily duties, and I apologize for that.”

You move your chair to sit closer, taking her hand and brushing away her thoughts.

“No, not at all.” You assure and she smiles at you, eyes dim despite the bright lighting.

“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have a party, at least not anymore. I want to be by my mother’s side, even if it costs everyone to miss a night of celebration,” she mutters. This was a heavy reminder that the queen was currently sick, leaving the rest of the family somewhat tense. Perhaps this was why the King kept himself busy. Maybe he needed this more than she did. “Oh, how I miss being among those my age. Not that it matters since I wouldn’t even be queen of this kingdom.”

You nod, unsure of what to say in her words that held so much truth. She had so much pressure on her, despite not being the first heir to the throne in their family. She had also told you that she was in love with a boy from another kingdom; they had only met once, but he wrote to her everyday. Maybe then, her chance to become queen would be granted.

“But, you’re the princess,” she shakes her head at that.

“To my father, yes, but to the rest of the kingdom, on my own, that’s the most I’ll ever be. It’s nice to know I’m at least wanted by some, but for the rest, I might as well just disappear, since Taehyun is moving up the ranks faster than I am, even if I’m the oldest. But, hey, at least that makes two of us, right?” She punctuates her question with a bitter laugh, but you didn’t understand. You tilted your head.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, Y/N, surely you must know,” she sits up, eyebrows furrowing at your bewildered expression. You shake your head.

“My father is preparing Taehyun to be betrothed, although my brother has been trying his best to prolong such a process. The people around the kingdom are talking. Are you sure you haven’t heard? Each night, we’ve been having rich families over from all around the province offering their daughters.” She watches you carefully as everything connects.

So, you were right; Taehyun truly had been hiding something.

The day of the party had arrived. Even before dawn had broken, your duties to ready the ends of every hall and room of the estate were endless. It made sense as to why the week before, Taehyun had had you turning in early every night as to not see the truth. Catching onto the maids’ chatter, people had your name in their mouths each time they’d see you, so Taehyun had also moved your work to the same wing of the building, so you wouldn’t see too many people.

Although in his mind, he thought he had been sheltering you from such useless gossip, the idea of people perceiving you, especially in such a pitying, humiliating way, made you upset regardless of his intentions. You were just the best friend, the commoner that had a job in the kingdom and in mundane life, the one thing holding the prince back from completely assuming his role in the royal family. You couldn’t decide who you were more upset with.

Nonetheless, all this work kept you busy.

Taehyun’s sister cried for you that night, but you assured her that her tears were being wasted, and despite how upset she was for you, she realized she had to look her brightest for her big day.

Now, she sits on the smaller throne besides her father, who continues directing preparations and chatting with wealthy families.

Luckily, Taehyun has not reached out to you, nor have you seen him, but you feel yourself grow more anxious to find him and confront him.

By the time the late afternoon bleeds in, sun careening further south in the horizon, guests begin to pour in, and you find that time passes even quicker when you want it to stay still.

The princess delivers a message to you through the maids to let you know that Taehyun is restless and wishes to see you, but in response, you tell her that you don’t think you can bring yourself to meet him. Not tonight. Not under the possibility of ruining a prospect of his betrothal. The King wanted maidens and suitors for both his children, despite the occasion being thrown to celebrate the princess’ coming of age.

However, as you move from preparing dishes, or washing dishes, or passing out party favors, you find yourself growing more anxious by the second.

When evening sneaks up on you, instead of choosing to be relieved for the night, you agree to follow the remaining maids and servants, uncaring for what exact role you’re to take on for the remainder of the day.

However, as you follow the rest of the maids, you realize what direction you are going in and freeze in horror.

“We aren’t going to the party, are we?” you find yourself pathetically asking aloud, earning a few judgmental eyes.

“Of course, we are, Y/N,” an acquaintance from behind answers, and you can’t even leave since you had already filled out a record to prove your work at these hours.

As hard as it is, you do your best to ignore the prince and the princess’ gazes as you add more decadent pastries to the table with all the extravagant, barely touched desserts. Your job was the simplest of the others’, which makes it easier for you to be less distracted.

Taehyun stands beside his father, who introduces him to a family with four daughters. You steal a glance or two to swallow a lump in your throat at his stunning attire and look, but it’s hard when he’s so stubborn in keeping those wide, beautiful eyes of his constantly transfixed on you.

Soon, it becomes hard for not only you and him, but for the rest of the guests (of this kingdom or not), to ignore the tension and wordless conversations taking place only with eye contact.

He follows you wherever you go, and all you have to do is look up, and he’ll be right there, pleading, giving, bowing, folding, succumbing, standing, offering everything with just his gaze.

It becomes distracting. Enough so that you don’t notice a man that intentionally bumps into you, causing you to drop a tray of dirty silverware that you had taken from the scattered tables for the guests.

“Sorry,” the man says halfheartedly, smirking almost as you get down to pick up what you can. He crosses his arms. He looked to be in his fifties or so. “Couldn’t help but notice that you’re what has been distracting the prince this entire night, well, this entire week. It’s funny, really. I thought when he turned my daughter away that it was at least for a reason he’d said, not some commoner street trash.”

Another maid joins you to sweep up the shattered pieces, and you’re both ready to walk away, heads still high, so used to crude people and their words. From the growing crowd around you, you’re just entertainment. Despite this, this nameless, petty man seems to have other ideas. He takes a swig of his glass in a jerky and arrogant movement, before throwing it down, earning even more pairs of eyes.

“Whoops, sorry,” he leers with the same voice from before. You continue to sweep, ignoring how he just watches you. The man is nothing but some pesky fly, to you, until he takes it too far. He spits right over your head, to which you slowly look up in disbelief. “Missed a spot.”

The silence should have told you that his actions were not the sole reason for an audience.

You’re shaking with anger but overall humiliation until a pair of feathery fingers take you around your hand to uplift you. The princess uses that same handkerchief from before to clean your face. You see that Taehyun is also present, his back towards you as he faces the inebriate.

“Let this be known, to all those who can hear,” he shouts in a manner that is so regal and professional to an innumerable crowd, “The next person who disrespects a member of the royal family, especially in front of the King, shall face hefty consequences.”

Taehyun is ready to walk away until the same man murmurs, “Since when is the mouse a part of the family, huh?” mistakenly to himself.

The prince whips around so fast that it makes the man stumble out of fright.

“Since I said so. And let me say this one more time to make myself clear, but if you so much as a lay a hand on them, I’ll have you banished from this province for life,” he says it lowly enough that only the now-shaking man hears it. “You should be so lucky. If it were up to me, I would have had you hanged the moment you laid eyes on them. Next time, don’t be so careless, for the sake of your family.”

You’re escorted by the royal Kang siblings as quickly as the credits for a film roll.

The princess takes her leave once you’ve officially been cleaned up and you’ve calmed down enough from the rush of adrenaline. You and Taehyun are out on the pavilion, on the opposite side of the manor. A few other guards watch over you both from their positions by the stairs whereas the two of you are far off in the corner of the greenery, at the fountain.

The silence surrounding you both is one that isn’t familiar, instead, it palpitates like your own heart. It has only been a few minutes since his sister had returned inside, but even while walking away from the mess you’d felt you’d created, you didn’t know what you wanted to say to either of them, besides the gratitude you owed to them.

“Prince Taehyun,” you spoke up, accidentally referring to him in the way that you had been doing so all day, as the other maids and servants did. Your best friend paused and turned towards you, lips pursed in a near scowl. With only the moon and its cool reflection into the water on the fountain, the dark made nebulous shadows where Taehyun’s gorgeous eyes are.

“Don’t,” he swallowed. “Don’t you dare call me that.”

You nodded quickly, playing with your friendship bracelet that he’d made you the first year in his new life as a prince. Your bracelet would greet you from its place on his desk every time you went to his room.

“Taehyun, did you really mean it when you said I was part of the royal family? Actually, you know what, never mind. You should get back. What’s the King going to make of the mess I made? Let’s talk some other time, okay?” He simply shakes his head.

“No, Y/N, you wanted me to come to you if something was on my mind, and I’m here now ready to tell you,” you scoff but quickly shut up when you realize he’s not done. “I know you already know what I’ve been hiding from you, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”

He moves his hands behind his back as if assessing a diplomatic discussion.

“I’ve been thinking lately, about my life with you. About a future with you.” Taehyun steps forward, gaze heavy and unwavering. You just blink dumbly at him. “I think I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I can’t handle another moment jeopardizing it.”

“What? Why?” You slap a hand over your mouth, unaware of what you meant. There’s too much going on in your head. He’s not saying what he thinks you’re saying, or is he?

“I mean, it’s not like I’d have a job as a servant forever….” you try to joke nervously, but he sits down, so close to you. “…to spend the rest of my life with you…”

You want to throw up and pass out at the same time.

“Y/N, do you really still not get it?” His eyes aren’t on yours, you realize they’re on your lips. He looks back up after a moment. There’s a small gap between your very lips, it’d be so easy to just move your mouth onto his. “I want you.”

“You want me?” your voice is small.

He doesn’t break eye contact as he moves to kneel before you, taking your hand in his.

“Only if you’ll have me.” He emphasizes, moving his other hand to cup your face. You shake your head, which makes him drop it.

“Taehyun, it doesn’t matter what I want. I’m not letting you throw your future or whatever away, if you choose me,” you sound desperate. “Please just think about this.”

“I told you already — I’ve been thinking, and no matter how I put it, all I ever think of is you,” you tense at the prospect of his words. “It’s always been you.”

Your vision blurs but you’re firm, even in your decision to try not to cry.

“But, do you want me? Do you think about me the way I think about you, Y/N?”

Your lips part in a frown to stifle the cry straining in your throat, and the wind sends a rush of goosebumps across your skin, making you feel both hot and cold. “Sometimes I think you love me the same way I love you. Then, I tell myself it’s all in my head, but when I see you, I can just feel it. So positively. I like you. Too much.”

“Please tell me I’m not wrong.” For the first time, Taehyun’s voice falters, and you look up to see those eyes of his glistening, the telltale sign being the gossamer reflection from the moon, through the blurry film of your sight. Your chest burns.

You shake your head, tears burning your eyes at this point.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” He asks in a breath, and you nod frequently in response before he wraps you in a hug, allowing you to bury your face in his neck. The two of you sway gently in your tight hold on each other, sniffles small compared to the roaring fountain besides you.

It breaks and melts your heart to think that your prince was on his knees before you, some commoner, all because he reciprocated your feelings.

Taehyun likes you back! He likes you back.

Taehyun loves you.

“What are you going to do about the betrothal?” you speak against his throat, and he presses a singular kiss to the back of your neck, which makes you shiver.

“Don’t worry about that, please. Please,” he begs, and you wordlessly oblige. He lifts your head up to face him with a hand on your cheek. “I mean, have some decency. It’s my sister’s coming of age party, for crying out loud.”

That evokes a laugh that’s wet with tears from both of you. You wipe your eyes with the back of your hand.

“Do you really like me?” You ask, noticing that there’s an easy smile on his face. His expression is serene, the crease between his eyebrows gone.

He gingerly takes your hand to press a kiss to your knuckles.

“Very much so,” You deflate against him at that, curling into him. His heartbeat is comforting against your ear. “I’ll still be king one day, you know that right? I’ll just be lucky enough to have my best friend rule the entire kingdom beside me. How many monarchs can say that?”

#txt imagines #tomorrow x together x reader #tomorrow x together imagines #taehyun fluff #txt fluff #txt angst #taehyun x reader #txt reactions #tomorrow x together scenarios #taehyun scenarios

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shiningdesignersreflections · 14 days

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Mercury: Daybreak Overture

Designer's Reflection: Daybreak Overture

Obtained: Secret in Roses SSR event

Rarity: SSR

Attribute: Purple/Sexy

Awakened Suit: Tracing Dreams

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Guest in Rain

Chapter 2 - Enigma and Synergy

Chapter 3 - Memory and Hope

Chapter 4 - Answer and Elegy

Story - summarized

Years ago, on a rainy summer day, an injured boy showed up at a villa full of roses. The master, Lord Ian, invited the boy inside and cared for him while he healed. The boy was quiet and secretive, but Lord Ian seemed to know what the boy was going through.

None of the servants knew anything about the child, except that he was much different from other kids his age: he seemed haunted, mature, resolute. But no one spoke up or asked questions.

The boy called himself Hoare, and he took interest in Lord Ian's history with an elf girl. Ian didn't have to explain much, it seemed to the servants, for Hoare understood everything implicitly.

One day, Hoare found an injured bird and brought it inside. As he healed, he helped the bird to heal, too. Soon, they would both be free. Even Lord Ian knew this, for he told the boy he wanted change in the world, too.

Now, after forty years, Hoare has come back to the villa - only his real name is Mercury. He and Lord Ian shared a disdain for the elves' "sacred" tradition of keeping humans and elves separate. Ian was in love with an elf girl and gave up his noble titles to be with her. But her parents forbade the marriage and forced her to be with someone else. She gave Ian a birdcage with roses to remember her by.

Lord Ian has since died, so now Mercury takes care of the villa. And he plans to fulfill the lord's dying hope: to change the world.

Connections

-At the end of Mercury's Reflection for Forever Love, he recounts how, when he was a child, he met Aphrodia and she gave him a choice: keep the gun or take the rose. He took the rose and jumped off the train, and that's how he ended up at the estate with a sprained ankle.

-Mercury's fake name Hoare rhymes with his mother's name, Laure. We see her tragic fate in Reminiscence of Flower, as well as why Mercury hates the elves so much.

-Music seems to run in the family, because Mercury has a talent for the cello, and his half-sister, Ophelia, loves the harp and tried to reinstate the music festival in First Light of Dawn.

-Lord Ian and Mercury have suffered from the interracial tensions, and so had Bane, one of Mercury's half-elf companions that died in Snowy Song.

Fun Facts

-Roses are generally a symbol of love, but depending on their color, they can convey other things: red is for true love, white is for innocence, yellow is for friendship, and black is for mourning.

-The word "hoar" refers to hoarfrost, ice, or rime.

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pitiless-achilles-wept · 3 years

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Not dead yet!: Marking my 2-year anniversaries

On Sunday I marked my two-year “cancerversary” of my diagnosis and on Tuesday a member of the support group I co-founded (for young women who are stage 4) died. Like me, she had triple-negative breast cancer. Like me, she was diagnosed stage 4 two years ago. Like me, she had exhausted several types of treatment (because triple-negative is a beast) and was looking for the one that would work. She asked me about Saci (Sassy!) and proposed trying it to her doctor less than a week before she died. Nine days before she passed she joined our Sunday cancer yoga group from bed at the hospital to join our meditation exercises. Like me, she remained confident and positive and absolutely refused to give up hope. (Like me, she also wore her hair purple sometimes.)

There were many things that are unlike about us too. She had two teenage children who now don’t have their mother. She was twelve years older than me and had had Hodgkin’s before she had breast cancer--even worse luck than mine, to triumph over one cancer only to get this diagnosis. Unlike me, she wasn’t strong enough for Saci, the only targeted triple-negative line of treatment, because her body had reacted badly to immunotherapy. She was in the hospital for two weeks with somewhat mysterious symptoms all of which added up to her body shutting down. On Saturday she went home with her family in hospice care. 2 days later she was gone.

It’s not usual for things to go so fast. Typically, doctors, patients, and family members all have some advance warning and patients spend a solid amount of time in hospice care. I am sure that people will ask me why it went that way for her. I’m asking myself why too, since it is so shocking and so entirely unfair. The fact that it can happen that way at all is frightening to me as a fellow patient since it’s the scenario of nightmares. That really could someday be me. No one ever wants to think that--and I cannot live my life focused on it either--but it has to be acknowledged as a possibility.

[More below the cut about memories from 2 years ago today and hopes for the future. Also, an invitation to contribute to some writing if you want.]

Today, January 28th, is the 2-year anniversary of my stage 4 diagnosis. In a way, it feels more significant than my initial cancer news. I had four days being horrified, but thinking that I would get through this as a phase in my life. It would be terrible--I’d have a double mastectomy, scorched-earth chemo, radiation, anything to get rid of the cancer--but then it would be done. On the Monday following my first set of CT scans I learned that that was not true. My lungs were full of tumors. (Later, after lots of waiting, MRIs and biopsies, I'd find that my lymph nodes, spine, and liver were affected too. I still have tumors in all those locations, but no new ones.) I wrote a description of getting that news in an email to a friend over the summer, after I had read Anne Boyer’s "The Undying”:

“The worst part about the lung tumors for me was that my dad had gotten a very early flight and I learned the news while he was in the air. My mom told me we could not text or tell him on the phone, that he would need to be with us both. So I drove to Newark straight from the doctor's office. It was in the teens outside and windy as we slogged to the baggage area where we were to meet. I saw my dad in his warmest and ugliest puffy orange down jacket, looking small in it, forlorn and horribly vulnerable. I fell into his arms, thinking at least that airports were such horrible places, so impersonal and banal, that no one would look twice. 'It's in my lungs,' I said into his shoulder so that I would not have to see his face. I was crying into the jacket that somehow smelled of winter cold even though he had been inside for hours. 'Please, Daddy. Fix it, please.' I spoke like a child because, on some very deep level, I think I really did still believe that my father could fix anything. I was embarrassed, though, and so I tried to stem my tears as he put his big hand on the back of my head and said, 'Oh sweetie, we'll get through this. We will.' I knew that really he could do nothing--and that this was his nightmare of powerlessness--and so I sniffed and blinked and I did not let myself cry again until June.”

Two years later this moment seems as if it just happened. The impact of my diagnosis on everyone dear to me, and especially my parents, is one of the worst things about it for me. We all know that there’s only so much “better” I can get, with the current science, and we’re all playing for time while the research moves forward towards something better, something that would make this a treatable chronic condition. I go back and forth, emotionally, on how likely I think that is and how good my position is for the future. Right now, comparing myself to the group member who died, I feel relatively fortunate, even as chemo exhausts me, I lose every scrap of hair that was ever on my body, and I spend half of my days being almost unable to eat from nausea and loss of taste. I feel glad that I was able to get Saci, that my body has so far stood up to the ceaseless trials I have put it through, with four treatments and surgery (and full-time work and living alone etc. etc.). I feel strong, not scared, even as I feel the emotional toll of terrible loneliness from covid isolation, winter, and carrying a sick body through my days alone.

I do not love the “fight” metaphor because so much of having an illness is completely out of your control and I never want to take myself (or anyone else) to task for “losing.” And so instead I will praise my body for enduring. I will praise myself for my enduring also, in both an emotional and physical way. I checked back in on how I was feeling as this anniversary approached last year and was pleased to see how much better I feel about it now, partly as a function of being in a treatment that is (likely) keeping me stable rather than in the midst of choosing another new one. Here is what I wrote back to my group of friends in November 2019, the run up to the one-year mark:

“I’m feeling like I can’t plan and don’t want to celebrate, like I can’t perform “fine” for the people in my life to spare them from the pain I’m causing by not doing better and feeling horrible about it. Perhaps it would help if I let them know that they didn’t need to perform “fine” for me? I understand the desire to protect me from the obligation to take care of them and appreciate it. But sometimes it can feel like I’m the only one experiencing anger or grief or pain, though I know I’m not. Feeling so isolated in my emotional response provides no catharsis for it. Compassion and sympathy function on the notion of “fellow feeling.” If you’re just out here, feeling by yourself, you can’t expect any comfort. As always, I think of the moment in the Iliad when Priam and Achilles cry together over dead Hector. Grief (and you can grieve for many things aside from a death) is something explicitly to be shared.” So I guess I’ve shared it here. I can do that. And I can do another thing, which is to tell you I love you. People don’t really say it enough and reserve it too entirely for romantic contexts. It’s weird--it’s not like we are wartime rationing love! And every time anyone says it to me it helps. It’s an affirmation that I am integral in some way to people’s lives which, in a society that so greatly valorizes marriage/partnership and children, is something I can be in doubt about.”

There are some things I like here, though, and that I would now like to reiterate and invite you, my far-flung friends, to do for my 2-year milestone. Never has the notion of “fellow feeling” in times of grief and depression hit harder or been more important than during covid. In a way, the nation (or even world) was forced into much the same position, emotionally and practically, that my cancer put me in. People are isolated, unable to perform “fine” and wondering if other people feel the same way, or even if any of us can take care of each other at all. I am here to tell you that you can. Maybe not immediately but--sooner than you think--you can. Emotional reserves may be low but reaching out to support someone else can actually replenish them. You do not have to feel alone, or to feel, alone.

And for me, for this milestone and for the cancer-related depression that I certainly do have, I’d like to invite you to help me, so that I can do the same for you. I invite you to write something about how this milestone feels for you (either about me or not), how it relates to all the other insane things going on in the world or with you (not about me at all), how you felt on the original day when I shared my stage 4 diagnosis (definitely about me)--really anything that is on your mind or in your heart.

“Oh great,” you may think, “the English PhD has asked us to do homework!”. But no! It's up to you what you do. Write in whatever form you want, however long, even anonymously. And if you do I will write you back! Not with grades or comments, but with something to connect to what you shared. It is a way to create fellow-feeling; to open up, connect, heal. With me, yes, but also as the group of extraordinary people who have gone with me so far on this hard road. It’s a very different proposition to support someone through time-limited treatment with a good outcome than it is to sign on for whatever comes next. You are all, truly, pretty extraordinary.

Anyone who wants to send a note or reflection can email me or drop a file or post in this Google drive folder. Like I said, feel free to share whatever and do it anonymously if you’d rather. You can also askbox me here (better than DMS) or submit a post to this blog. (I'm taking a chance with open DMs for now...we'll see if that needs to change.)

I am grateful for all of you every day, but especially today.

Love, Bex

p.s. The title of this post refers to the cinematic classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a film my high school self and friends loved. They, along with other wonderful folks. gave me a "cancerversary" cake with "Not dead yet, motherfucker!" on it this Sunday. p.p.s. The average life expectancy for people who get this diagnosis is 18 months to 3 years. Hitting 5 years would be extraordinary. Starting Year 3 is a huge deal and I have every intention of being extraordinary. (Never been average at anything in my life...I either succeed spectacularly or fail epically!)

#my life as a cancer patient #cancerversary #stage 4 #mbc #metastatic breast cancer #personal #memories #bex writes #writing invitation #quarantine life

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amjustagirl · 3 years

Text

Chapters: one. ~ two. ~ three. ~ four. ~ five. ~ six. ~ seven.

Wordcount: 2.1k

Masterlist link here

AO3 link here

Summary:

Akaashi Keiji catches glimpses of another life in his dreams. He dreams of fields of endless gold, of constellation of stars that light up the night sky. He hears the echo of birdsong in her laughter, her songs to the gods in the wind.

Author’s note: This fic is a little different from my usual work, so I’m a little nervous about publishing it. If you do like it, would love if you leave a comment / reblog / anything!

Pro tip: Italics denote scenes in Akaashi’s dreams / past.

If you’d like to be included in the taglist, do drop me a msg/ask!

Time passes.

Akaashi graduates from university with top honours and gets recruited immediately by a publishing company. He’s mildly disappointed when he’s dispatched to the manga department instead of the literature department as he originally hoped, but it’s not all that bad, he gets to work with Udai-sensei on his new volleyball manga.

He’s content, all things considered.

His mother is constantly on his case to find a girlfriend - because she insists she’s growing old and wants grandchildren soon. To placate her, he goes on arranged dates with daughters of his father’s business associates, with nieces of his mother’s friends. While they’re pleasant enough, they all seem to come from the same mold - well bred middle class university graduates more interested in complaining about their bosses and talking about the branded bags they’re going to get next.

Once he tried asking one of them about the type of flowers she likes best. His date blinked in confusion at first, but immediately brightened up and she said ‘roses, I guess? They look so good on instagram!’

He did not ask for a second date.

Honestly, he’s not exactly looking to date anyone at the moment. He’s young, barely twenty three. Work is time consuming enough, with his days filled with constantly looming deadlines and chasing temperamental mangakas like Udai-sensei. His mother will just have to accept that grandchildren are very much not in the near future.

But he does feel somewhat guilty - ‘even Yuji-kun is seeing this lovely girl, auntie tells me,’ his mother nagged last Sunday, so he picks up a habit of buying flowers to soothe her every time he heads to his parent’s home for a meal.

‘Pink carnations for your mother again?’ the florist asks brightly.

Akaashi nods, insisting on paying for the baby’s breath she adds to the bouquet. The florist lets him when he assures her he’s no longer a starving university student, and pulls her gloves off to rifle in her drawer for change.

‘Here you go!’, she chirps, holding out a tray with his change. His gaze is drawn to the pink burn scars streaked across her hands, and flushes when she meets his curious eyes with a knowing look.

‘Sorry, I - uh didn’t mean to stare’, he begins to splutter, but she waves it off.

‘It’s fine. I got them a long time ago’, she replies, a wistful smile twisting her lips, tugging her sleeves down to her wrist.

He bows and takes his leave. He doesn’t spare a second thought on the encounter when he reaches his parent’s house, his mother exclaiming over the little bouquet.

The table shakes when his colleague slumps into his seat, sighing deeply.

‘Did your boss get on your case for typos again?’ Akaashi asks, his spoon pausing on the way to his mouth.

‘Worse’, his colleague groans. ‘He’s sending me to Hokkaido for next month’s feature on crimes that shocked the nation, and I have to travel all the way up the mountains to some dinky little town without a train station.

‘Hm’. Akaashi raises an eyebrow, curiosity piqued. ‘What’s the feature about?’

‘See for yourself’. His colleague dramatically slides his folder of articles across the table, bumping it into Akaashi’s plate.

He thumbs through the folder. Nakamura Yakeru, the mayor of a small mountain town in Hokkaido, found guilty on a multitude of charges - breaking and entering, causing arson by fire, assault and attempted murder of a schoolgirl, her identity redacted. It’s shocking in and of itself - but there’s something awfully familiar about the man’s face.

He smooths out the creases in the paper, bringing the newspaper clipping closer to his face, and oh -

He knows that face.

His mind echoes with the memories of flinching at the sight of Nakamura’s teeth, yellowed from nicotine and bared in a smirk, the acrid stench of cigarettes lingering on his shirt, cursing whenever that inconsiderate bastard left sparks smouldering in dry grass. But it doesn’t make sense - there’s no reason for him to have ever met the man. He’s never been farther north than Sapporo, a born and bred Tokyo city boy after all. And he doesn’t recall seeing the man’s face on the news either when the crime was committed.

So why would his dreams feature this man?

‘Akaashi?’ he hears his colleague call his name, but his voice can barely be heard over the pounding of his heart in his ears. ‘You’ve gone really white, is everything ok?’

‘I’m fine’, he replies, hastily shoving the article back in the folder. ‘Everything’s fine.’

His colleague doesn’t look like he believes him. Frankly, Akaashi doesn’t believe himself either.

Try as he might, he can’t get the eerie coincidence out of his mind. And after a few restless nights, he finds himself back in his childhood bedroom, holding the old omamori in his hands. It’s just an inanimate scrap of cotton fabric, but he’s tempted to borrow his mother’s sewing kit to pick its stitches apart, to discover the secrets woven into its threads.

It feels silly being so superstitious, but he can’t help feeling that he’s on the verge of discovering what his strange dreams have been trying to show him - so he tucks the omamori under his pillow, his thumbnail catching on a stray thread, before he surrenders himself to his dreams.

‘Akaashi Keiji’, a cool voice pronounces his name with faint amusement. ‘Back to change the terms of our bargain? ’

His eyes fly open.

This time he’s on familiar ground, kneeling on the twenty sixth step of the shrine he visits with his parents for Hatsumode, the other twenty five steps below him shrouded in mist. But the woman standing before him is not familiar to him - in fact, she’s clearly not even human, not with her red eyes and pale lips, not with the wisteria trailing from her hair and disappearing into her skin.

That should scare him, but it doesn’t because he can’t discern any malice in her eyes, and the scent of the wisteria is soothingly sweet.

So his curiosity wins out over his sense of caution, and he asks politely - ‘I’m sorry, who are you exactly? And, um. What bargain are you referring to? ’

Her eyes gleam. ‘I’m offended. Don’t you recognise the guardian of the shrine you’ve been praying at your whole life? And as for the bargain you’ve made with me - I thought you already figured it all out by yourself, little boy.’ Laughing airily, she crouches over him, a wooden plaque dangling from her finger. ‘Remember this?’

He reads the words etched on the plaque. ‘I wish I could have more time. I wish for yesterday to come again.’ Then he glances up at the shrine deity sharply. ‘I remember that from my dreams. Does this mean they’re real?’

‘What do you think?’ Her lips stretch into a grin.

‘Logic would suggest that they aren’t. It shouldn’t be possible to swap bodies, let alone with someone I’ve never met in my life. And yet…’

‘And yet?’ she prompts, tilting his head towards her with the nail of her finger.

‘It’s too much of a coincidence to ignore the fact that I know Nakamura Yakeru from my dreams, so that suggests at least some semblance of it is real.’ He looks at her pleadingly. ‘Are you here to help me?’

She laughs again, the sound ethereal like the flutter of butterfly wings. The sleeves of her purple kimono slide down her wrists, the scent of wisteria enveloping him growing sickly sweet. ‘Help you? Well, since you asked so nicely, little boy, I guess there’s no harm telling you your dreams are real. I granted your wish on a whim, and look how amusing you’ve been!’

Oh gods his dreams are real. They’re real. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, they’re real.

Akaashi feels his stomach churn. He inhales a shaky breath.

That means she’s real, doesn't it?

He thinks about the salaciously titled newspaper articles, the violence implied in its words. He thinks about the innocence in her impulses, the whimsicalness of her thoughts. He feels ill at the thought of someone deliberately trying to extinguish her.

‘What happens in the end ?’ he asks, blood surging to his head, slamming his palms flat on the ground for support. ‘What happens to her?’

Sunlight pierces through the fog, and the wisteria spirit starts to fade before his very eyes.

‘Why don’t you see for yourself?’, her voice echoes. ‘You’ll find all the answers you’re looking for at the shrine in the forest. You know the way there - you’ve been there a thousand times, both in real life and in your dreams.’

He gasps as he jolts awake, hands clenching his sheets.

He’s in his bed in his apartment. Everything is exactly as it was before he went to sleep.

Well - everything except the scent of wisteria lingering in the air.

Udai-sensei’s eyes bug out from its sockets when Akaashi tells him he’s off to Hokkaido for an impromptu holiday.

‘You aren’t burnt out, are you? Is it me? Is it the deadlines? Don’t quit on me - there’s no way another editor can provide the same input on my new volleyball manga like you!’ he begs, sounding dangerously close to tears.

Akaashi sighs, muttering under his breath about ‘ highly strung mangakas’ but manages to reassure Udai that no, he’s not quitting, he’s just taking a four day break. He thought it’d be nice to visit the flower fields during summer in Hokkaido, and he has an old friend in those parts he might pay a visit to.

So he puts himself on a short flight to Sapporo, and a painfully long bus ride further north into the mountains, arriving at the rural village he’s traversed countless times in his dreams. He drags his luggage past the high school, the crunch of wheels on gravel slowly knocking loose memories of bones aching, flesh bruising, from tumbles down the stairs, from falls off drain pipes, from predestined losses against cement floors.

He exhales through his nose when he walks past the florist’s shop. It’s a hollow shell of bare concrete and cardboard shutters, a gap where the signboard should be on the shopfront, a stark contrast to the bustling bakery and combini it’s sandwiched between. Thank the gods, he mutters, the blaze of hurt and desperation in Hana-chan’s eyes haunting his mind.

The only inn in the town is serviceable enough, though he’s looked at in askance by the innkeeper when he admits he’s an editor for a publishing company. ‘Another gossip hound ’, the old lady mutters resentfully, and Akaashi has to do damage control lest she assign him the dampest room in the establishment and assure her that he’s no journalist, just a flower enthusiast interested in the lavender blooming in the fields. He charms her enough with his politeness that by the time he checks into his room, she offers him free use of a bicycle to explore the town, and he takes her up on her offer once he drops off his bags in his room.

The summer sun is starting its descent from the sky as he cycles past familiar dirt paths lined with trees, the anticipation in his blood thrumming as he passes sprawling farms he’s sure he’s eaten stolen eggs from, passes the gas station she bragged about stealing petrol from. The rush of blood to his head hits a roaring crescendo when he reaches the edge of the woods.

Leaning the bicycle against a fallen tree, he sets off to the very heart of the forest, his feet seeming to recognise a path his eyes cannot see. The deeper into the forest he ventures into, the thicker the branches overhead seem to grow, leaves interwoven into a net that blocks the sun.

The wind ripples over his skin. The trees seem to whisper out to him.

Okaeri, he hears. Welcome home, the Kodama spirits murmur over the rustle of leaves in the breeze.

Sunlight from the setting sun spills into a clearing just ahead, and though he’s almost blinded by the sudden flash of light, he can make out the outline of a shrine, situated dead center of the clearing and breaks into a run. There it is , he thinks, dropping to his knees, hands trembling as he brushes fallen branches and leaves off the shrine, deaf to the growing whispers from the trees surrounding him.

‘Please grant me your secrets’, he breathes, eyes closed in prayer.

He can feel a pulse in the ground, a sudden shift in the air. Wisteria blooms from the soft earth in his heart.

Oh.

Oh gods.

He remembers.

Taglist:

@forgetou @animeflower26 @kageyamakock @underrated-fruit-tarts-official @bongofrito

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #hq #haikyuu angst #haikyuu romance #haikyuu fic rec #haikyuu imagines #hq imagines #haikyuu writing #hq writing #akaashi keiji #akaashi keiji x reader #akaashi x reader #akaashi keiji x you #akaashi keiji x y/n #akaashi x you #fukurodani #kimi no nawa #haikyuucreations

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hopekiedokie · 3 years

Text

That’s Rough Buddy (Seokjin)

SUMMARY : You were invited to your friends' annual Halloween Costume Bash™ and were supposed to go on a matching couples costume but your date cancels at the very last minute. Nevertheless, you pushed through with going to the party in your costume not knowing that you would still end up matching with someone. But unfortunately, it was with that very annoying (yet very attractive) guy that you despise so much.

PAIRING : Seokjin x reader

GENRE: humor, fluff, a sprinkle of angst in the end, enemies to lovers or frenemies to lovers (kinda?)

WORD COUNT : 16.6k+ words

WARNINGS: A swear word or two or seven, Jin is a crackhead (shocker), too much halloween games, excessive use of Avatar The Last Airbender quotes and references (aka Jin channeling his inner Azula)

NOTES: I originally was gonna make y/n and Jin dress up as Team Rocket and title this AU "Prepare for Trouble" but I ultimately decided on this. It pained me to do so because I am such a simp for purple haired Jin. Even if there are SO many hidden ATLA references here, I don't think you need to see it to understand this AU. Although, what on earth are you doing with your life if you've never watched the show?? Anyways, I hope you like this even though it's well into November now. Also, this is my very first fic so hopefully you’d enjoy this! Appa yip yip!

The smell of pumpkin seems to be enveloping the entire Park residence. You have barely reached the front porch and the scent has already hit your nostrils. How could a simple scent have possibly diffused into such a huge proximity, you wonder to yourself as you knocked on your best friends' front door. It wasn't until you entered the household when things became clear to you. Dozens upon dozens of pumpkins in different sizes were littered from their front hall to their living room. Some were already carved, some were sitting idly, and some were lined up to be carved by Park Jimin and Park Luna.

You were invited here on this lovely afternoon with the promise of free food. But after being handed a plate of pumpkin muffins and a bunch of carving tools, you felt a strong urge to just go home and maybe sleep through the holiday. Of course the two gremlins sitting on the floor, seemingly a pair on a mission, did not allow that to happen. So here you are on your seventh pumpkin, scooping out its contents, definitely not thinking of a million other things you'd rather be doing now. You were just about to stab your eye out with the sharp stabbing tool due to a possible mental breakdown when you got a text from Kim Taehyung.

Taehyung is Jimin’s best friend whom you might have had a crush on for about a year now since you’ve become friends with him. The two of you are going in matching costumes for the annual Park Halloween Costume Bash™ and have been texting non stop for two weeks now. Everyone in town takes this party seriously, including the adults. Even their parents are in on it though unfortunately this year, they're out of town so they aren't really involved. But the chosen winners for best costume are still to be awarded with a free dinner at the famous Park's family restaurant.

Tae Tae 🌻 : So that's a solid no on shaving my head? Cause I really wouldn't be opposed to it if it means a free heavenly meal from Papa Park 👀👀👀

You quietly chuckle at the thought of a bald Taehyung running around. The commitment of this man amazes you. You were about to type a reply when you felt something aggressively tap against your forehead. You look up to see an annoyed looking Luna.

Feeling something is stuck to your forehead, you slowly brought your hand up to touch it and you instantly felt a bit of pumpkin mush. "Did you just hit me with your filthy ladle?!" You disgustingly shouted at her.

"Dude, now is not the time to be all lovey dovey when the party is in three days and we still have about...uhm..." She looked around, started counting and then went to add stuff with her fingers, "A total of 27 pumpkins to stab and a whole house to decorate!"

You groaned loudly and fell on your back on the floor. You feel a headache start to develop from being surrounded by too much pumpkin flavored and scented things. If your two best friends' goal is to put any pumpkin patch to shame, then they definitely have achieved it. At this point, the stench of halloween in this area is strong enough to linger until the holiday comes back next year.

"Okay, but I don't understand why I'm being subjected into pumpkin slavery as well when this isn't even my party to throw?"

"When you're this behind on everything, all hands on deck are needed. We literally have not started on any of our to do list aside from pumpkin carving." It was Jimin who replied to your question. You watch him puncture a bunch of holes on the purple pumpkin he is working on. If you hear the word "pumpkin" one more time, you just might spontaneously combust or repeatedly bash your head with the wooden ladle in front of you. (A/N: Tbh, same here. It's only been a couple of paragraphs and I've already used the word 12 times.)

"I thought we'd be on top of this without mom and dad's help!" Luna started as she too began poking holes on her [word redacted]. "We are so behind! I mean, this guy still doesn't have a costume!"

"YAH! Stop exposing me like that! I told you, it's a…a work in progress."

Luna snorted at his step brother's remark. "In order for a work to be in progress, it must first be started-" Jimin cut her off by throwing her some [word redacted] meat.

It effectively stopped her from further embarrassing Jimin from his lack of costume days from the single most important party of their year. But it did start a revolting [word redacted] meat fight which lasted about a good minute. For the good of everyone, you stomped over to the war zone and pried the two idiots from each other. For a bunch of fools who are supposed to be rushing to get things done, they seem to be just fine with wasting their time.

"OPPA STOP IT!"

"I wouldn't have declared war on you if you hadn't outed me like that to y/n!"

"Well, it's not my fault you're so unready!"

"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH FROM YOU TWO!" You shouted as you yanked Luna off of him. Why on earth did their parents think it would be alright to leave these two on their own is beyond you. You gave Luna a reprimanding look and said, "Seriously, you'll make no progress if you continue with your antics."

Her eyes widen, looking like a little child being scolded by her mom. "He started it!"

From behind you, you can hear Jimin snickering. Probably feeling smug from her sister taking all the scolding. Honestly, are they five? You faced him with a much dirtier look than the one you gave Luna and he instantly stood straight, lips pressed into a thin line.

"And as for you!" You started, "I can't believe you still don't have a costume! This is so disappointing coming from you. How could you have let this happen?"

This may seem over dramatic, but this costume party is really THAT important. It's the highlight of the autumn season. This family really knows how to celebrate it and they do not fail to over shine what they had the year before. So this is really a bunch of steps back for these two.

"I know, I know!" Jimin yelled exasperatedly. "It's not that I haven't been planning. It's just that, how could I possibly top what I dressed up as from last year?"

He does have a point. He and Luna teamed up last year on what might be the most iconic costume ever. They both dressed up as the Wilson sisters from the movie White Chicks. They even had prosthetics on just like how Kevin and Marcus impersonated the twins. You guess you would not know how to beat that costume as well.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you're just uncreative cause I found a costume that will surely be a big hit to the people." Luna taunted her brother.

"What is it?" You and Jimin asked at the same time.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" She answered in a sing-song tone and proceeded to clear up the mess they made.

Jimin began helping her sister pick up [word redacted] mush with a long face. "Well that sucks hard for me. How about you y/n? What are you dressing up?"

"Oh, she's going as Katara, alongside Taehyung who is dressing up as Aang!" Luna answered for you, uttering the latter part in a way that sounds like she's teasing you.

"Oh, sweet! A date with Tae! I didn't know you two were finally going out?"

"What? No, don't listen to her. It's not a date! We're just friends." The two stared at you with a "yeah right" kind of look so you were compelled to explain further.

"Look, we were talking about The Last Airbender a few months ago and I mentioned how much I really wanted to cosplay as Katara. One thing led to another then poof! Here we are going as Aang and Katara to your party. It's not a big deal."

Jimin had a knowing sly smirk that made you somewhat uncomfortable. "Yeah, except Aang and Katara were madly in love and ended up making babies AND you obviously have a crush on each other." He said.

You reached for the nearest bowl of discarded [word redacted] meat and flung it towards the boy whose eyes have now disappeared and is in a laughing fit.

"No, no, no! You've got it all wrong! Y/n doesn't have a big fat crush on Taehyung." Luna defended you. Thank God for her! Between the two goons, she really is the one you can truly count on. You were about to say thank you when she added, "It's obviously Seokjin she has a huge ass crush on!"

Your mouth fell agape.

"Wait, oh yeah it's him!" Jimin agreed and tag teamed with his sister to tease you. Sometimes, you forget that they were born with different parents. Apart from their DNA, they’re pretty much identical. And it's scary.

"Okay, you know what? I take it back. You both deserve this!" You grabbed the mushy bowl and threw gloop after gloop towards the siblings.

Needless to say, you spent more time cleaning up afterwards than working on the decorations.

The next few days went by like a huge storm. Chaos definitely ensued. You spent more time and effort on making this party possible than you ever did with anything in your life. All you see are purple and orange with a hint of red even when you close your eyes. Halloween seems to haunt you even in your sleep. Just last night, you dreamt you were being wrapped in spider webs (Which let's be honest, is pretty much just cotton) by that huge scarecrow standing in your best friends' lawn.

You were out in town with Jimin doing last minute shopping, telling him that weird and disturbing dream of yours when he suddenly told you he has something to do and pretty much dashed away to the direction of a women's shoe store. What's that all about?

He's been absolutely frazzled since that afternoon you spent terrorising [word redacted]. You can't blame the lad. It's hours away from the party and it seems like he still doesn't have a costume. You and Luna don't know how he's gonna pull this off. If he does though, you'll thoroughly be impressed and would never question Park Jimin's capabilities.

On your way to the nearest bus stop, you received a message from Taehyung. You instantly felt giddy. The fact that you're going to a party with him in matching costumes have only sunk in this morning when you finished with the party preparations. You opened the text and your face instantly fell.

Tae Tae 🌻 : Y/n! I really don't know how to say this. But I don't think I can come to the party tonight. My little sister woke up to a very bad fever this morning and both my parents are working this evening. I'm so so sorry to cancel on you. I know we've been looking forward to this for so long 😔

You know you can't be mad at him. It's not like he planned for this to happen. But you can't help but feel absolutely gutted. He's right, you've been looking forward to this for so long. Since April this year actually. If he's not coming, everything just seems pointless.

You : Aww that's a shame. Don't worry about me though. There's always next year. Worry about your sister! I do hope she'll get better soon. She shouldn't miss out on halloween ☹☹☹

Tae Tae 🌻 : I know. She's not gonna be able to go trick or treating. But I'll make sure we'll watch halloween films!

Tae Tae 🌻 : Wait what do you mean there's always next year??

You : We'll just have to wait for next year to debut our costumes!

Tae Tae 🌻 : WAIT NO. Don't tell me you're not going to the party?? Just because I can't come??

You : Well yeah. It seems pointless to go.

Tae Tae 🌻 : Don't be like that! You're making me feel guilty 😭 Your costume deserves to be flaunted. Go or else I'll never talk to you again 🤧

Despite his order for you to come to the party, all desires to go left you the moment you read his initial text. The entire point of coming is to go as a pair. You both have been working hard to make your costumes as accurate as possible. To come alone doesn't make sense.

You were too engrossed with your phone that you did not realize you were going to crash into a person when you took a turn at the corner of the street. "Oww." You clutched the top of your head, as if you hit a hard wall instead.

"I'm so sorry-" the guy began to apologise but stopped short after he saw you. "Ah y/n! Watch where you're going! Don’t just mindlessly walk around!” he said, rubbing his chest where your head presumably collided with.

“Oh! I bet you're going as Wonder Woman tonight. Get it? Cause you wander too much around!"

The hollering buffoon in front of you, laughed at his own joke so hard that people around you started looking at the both of you. Wanting to get out of this embarrassing situation, you circled around him and proceeded to walk towards the bus stop. But he unfortunately followed right after you.

"Hang on." He jogged in front of you and held both of your arms. He looked you in the eyes with such seriousness that you think he has something very important to say. But alas, you should’ve known that nothing intelligible ever comes out of his mouth.

He opened his mouth and said, "Are you actually going as Wonder Woman?"

You made an annoyed sound and slapped his arms away as he said things like "I knew it!" and "I am such a genius!".

"No Seokjin! I'm not going as Wonder Woman.” you said as you reached the bus stop.

“Well that’s a relief! Honestly that’s super low and pedestrian even for you.” He jabbed at you but you stayed silent, not wanting to banter with him, unlike the usual. He carried on blabbering for the remaining time, telling you how “Spicy and scorching” his costume is. Whatever that means. At this point, you have half the mind to believe that he’s dressing up as a jalapeño. Knowing Seokjin, you wouldn’t put it past him to do so.

“You know what, actually, I'm not going at all." you butt in as an attempt to shut him up. His head whipped towards you at such a lightning fast pace, you were sure it would have snapped off. Oh how you wish.

"You're not going?" He said in what sounded like a very disappointed tone. Huh, why would he be disappointed, you thought to yourself.

You shake your head no.

For once, Seokjin seemed rather speechless and something else. Dare you say sad. This is really weird for him but you chose not to analyse him further and stood at the bus stop. You both just stood there in silence for a couple of seconds until a bus came parking.

You were already inside, swiping your bus card, when you heard him say, "Well that's rather disappointing. Who would go and scare the little kids away now?"

The bus doors closed just as his infamous laugh came rolling. You weren't able to hear it but the sound of his signature windshield wiper laugh still rang in your ears. You flipped him off and hastily took a seat after an old man looked at you with such distaste. You took one last look at Seokjin giving him the finger once more but much discreetly as the bus abandoned his still laughing form.

When 8:30pm arrived, you were sprawled on your bed watching this god awful halloween film starring Adam Sandler. You, honest to god, love Adam Sandler. But this film isn’t it. You stopped paying attention half way through the movie and started scrolling through your phone when your mom unceremoniously barged in your room.

“Mom, for the last time! I’m not coming to the party!” You told her for like the thirteenth time since you got home this afternoon. It most probably wasn’t the thirteenth time and was probably just the third time. But you’re really not in the best mood.

“Are you extremely, positively, a hundred percent sure about that, honey?”

You rolled your eyes at that. Your mom is never the one to keep repeating stuff as she is also easily annoyed just like her daughter. “Yes, mom. I am firmly, undoubtedly, and conclusively stating that I am staying in this room for the rest of the night.” You proclaimed, not even sure you can string up further words to describe how sure you are with your decision.

Your mom sighed as you closed the movie, not interested in it anymore. You look up at her with a raised eyebrow, silently asking why she’s still in the room. She fully opened the door and said, “Well, if that’s the case, then you need to tell that to Freddie Mercury downstairs.”

Not really understanding what she meant, you just stared at her dumbfoundedly until your brain finally started to function properly. “Uh, excuse me. But come again?”

She sighed once more, probably already tired from the night and the high jinks that came along with it. She never really liked halloween.

“Just come downstairs. Now.”

You hurriedly got up from your bed and sprinted out of your room. You haven’t even stepped foot at the top of the stairs when you indeed caught sight of the one and the only Freddie Mercury at your front door, rocking his iconic Live Aid outfit, topped with a lavish red robe, and a completely blinged out crown. Of course, we can’t forget the aviators and his emblematic moustache.

“Ay oh!” Freddie yelled at the top of her-I mean his lungs. It was so loud that your cat ran out of your house. Meanwhile, you shamelessly gawked at the person in front of you as you descended downstairs. You were absolutely confident that your best friend wouldn’t be able to top her costume from last year. Oh you were wrong.

“Darling, I know I’m fabulous but don’t ogle at me like that. Now do tell me, what’s this news I’ve heard from the grapevine that you’re not coming to the party??” She asked annoyedly in a pretty decent posh London accent. You on the other hand, ignored her.

“Woah that looks utterly real.” You touched her moustache and she slapped your hand away.

“Oi! Focus, lass! How could you possibly spend the last three painful days with us on what seemed like the halloween edition of Amazing Race, only to bail on us at the finale?!" Her accent slowly slipped away as her voice progressively got much louder. Once again though, you chose to ignore her.

"Your crown is so beautiful! Is this custom made? Oooh can I touch it?" You asked while reaching for it, not even waiting for her approval.

"Y/n stop it! I asked you a question. Answer it! Why all of a sudden, you decide to not go--"

"Dude, you really hit the nail on this one! Although I have to say, I don't think Freddie had protruding boobs."

Luna dramatically gasped at your statement and covered her chest using her robe. "I do not have protruding boobs! You make it sound like they're massive!"

"Well, compared to Freddie Mercury's, I guess they kinda are."

She hit you for the second time since she got here. "This is as much squeezing I can handle to flatten them out. Nevertheless, I believe I have normal sized breasts! Besides, I'm sure Freddie would've loved to have protruding boobs anyway."

A couple of seconds passed with you two just staring at each other, feeling the weight of your conversation. Realising how stupid your topic is, the both of you burst into laughter.

"What on earth are we talking about? I can't. This is too stupid. What the heck are you even doing here?" You managed to spit out in between laughs

Luna stopped laughing and gasped once more. She hit you for the third time now and ignored your protests of pain. "You little shit! What are you still doing here in your pyjamas! The party started 30 minutes ago! Come on, let's get you dressed up!"

She yanked your arm towards the direction of your room but you stayed planted to where you stand. "I can't. I told you, I'm not going."

She dropped your arm and took off her aviators. She had a really disappointed look which must be mirroring your own expression. "You can't be serious. We've been working hard for this. We've been excited for it since the first day of autumn!"

You didn't reply to her, you just looked at the ground. "But what about Taehyung?"

"Taehyung isn't coming."

Confusion spread across her face so you told her about his dilemma with his sister.

“Well that’s just bullshit.” She concluded with such spite. Your eyes widen at her aggression towards Taehyung. You can’t believe she would be this hostile about him choosing to care for his sick little sister. What else was he supposed to do? Abandon her for you?

“What the hell, Luna! HIS SISTER IS SICK! How could you be so bitter to him?”

“Woah! Woah! Woah!” She waved both hands up in a defensive manner, “I’m not mad at him! I’m mad at you!”

You rubbed your face with both of your hands. You guess it makes sense for her to be mad at you but now is really not the time for you to agree with her. You're not in the best mood to carry out an argument. You just want to crawl back to your room. That dreadful Adam Sandler movie suddenly sounds so temptingly riveting. Having said that, you still made it clear to her as to why you would prefer staying in tonight.

Luna, being the stoic person that she is, completely disagreed with your reasoning. "Oh quit being dramatic! He already gave you the heads up to go tonight. What more do you need?"

"I don't know, Luna. I just feel like I'm betraying him if I go."

She glared at you for a good second as if trying to telepathically make you change your mind. When it dawned on her that you're not conceding, she sighed the longest sigh you've ever heard from anyone, dramatically placed her aviators back, turned around while flicking her robes on your face, and then strutted away from you.

"Fine then! If you'd rather sulk here over a boy rather than spending an astounding good time with your friends, then be my guest! I guess all that hard work you've put in will be for nothing. But that's fine! There's always next year anyway, right?"

You watch her shimmy her tush towards the front door as she spews out reprimands after reprimands. And she says you're dramatic. Birds of the feather, really do flock together.

Her hand is on the doorknob when she gave you what meant to be her last look on you. It seemed more of a plea to you though. At that moment, you felt a pang of guilt. Are you really going to abandon your best friends for Kim Taehyung?

You gave her a small smile and said, "I'm sure you'll have a fucking marvelous party!"

Finally, she gave out a groan of defeat and opened your front door. "Oh whatever y/n! I should've left the second your mom told me you're not coming. Jimin needs my help, anyways"

Jimin. Somehow, you remembered that that boy didn't have a costume even until this morning. You wonder what on earth did he pull at the very last minute. So you called out to Luna.

"Luna, wait a second!"

"WHAT NOW?!" She yelled exasperatedly

"I just want to know what Jimin dressed up as."

She let go of your front door knob and crossed her arms. "Why'd you wanna know? It's not like you care about this party."

"Oh give me a break! Just tell me what it is!"

The smirk she has on her face tells you that she's not giving you what you want. Which you are absolutely correct.

"I'm not telling you what he dressed up as. If you want to know, then you find it out yourself. All I'm saying is that his costume is literally everything."

Some way or another, that statement of hers stirred something inside of you. Somewhere, a few blocks down, is a Park Jimin dressed up as something "literally everything" (Park Luna, 2020). If there's something you know about Jimin is that his definition of marvelous is a normal person's definition but times ten. She could be bluffing, but your curiosity is really peaked.

Damnit, you need to know what he dressed up. Right now.

You stood at the doorway of the Park residence living room with your mouth on the floor.

In the middle of their room is where a really cool light up dance floor is. You already know that since you were there when it was set up yesterday. What caught your attention was the guy dancing wildly right smack in the middle of everyone. A wild Jimin was twerking, doing high kicks, and *gasp*! Did he just do a split???

Beside you, stands a preoccupied Luna, too busy taking a video of his untamed brother. “What did I tell you? Fucking everything!” She hollered and yelled at him to do some more of his high kicks.

You looked at your thick blue Southern Water Tribe coat lined with fur and then at Jimin, wearing his Patrick Star hooker costume. Suddenly, you feel overdressed. He was only wearing a tight pink sweatshirt, Patrick’s famous green shorts, fishnet stockings, and some sexy thigh high leather boots. Yet he is indeed stealing everyone’s attention. How could he possibly bust out those kinds of moves in those thin stilettos? A normal woman can even barely stand in them. Hold on, so that’s why he bolted to that women’s shoe shop this morning, you thought to yourself. It all makes sense now.

Luna was left enabling his brother's thotty attitude as you walked to the kitchen. Luna was right, staying at home was a dumb idea. You can't help but admire all the halloween decorations the three of you have placed everywhere. Now you understand the vibes the two siblings were going when they said they wanted the house to be illuminated by jack o lanterns only. It looks really pretty here. Let's just hope and pray that this house won't burn down at the end of the night because this is definitely a fire hazard.

A guy approached you as you were standing by the snack bar. You don't really know who he is but he's dressed up as Dumbledore so you felt obligated to talk to him. "Your Katara costume is so cool! I'm a huge fan of the series! (A/N: Honestly who isn't?) Is it okay if I take a pic with you?" He asked and instantly whipped his phone out.

Who were you to say no? So you awkwardly stood close to him and smiled for the camera. Is this what fame feels like?

"Gee thanks! I'll have to take another picture with you later but with your date too."

Your face fell for a fraction of a second for being reminded by Taehyung. How does this guy know that Taehyung and you were supposed to go in matching costumes?

"Oh, I'm sorry! Taehyung won't make it tonight which is a huge shame."

He looked at you weirdly. "Who's Taehyung?"

"Uh my date..?" you stated but ended up sounding more like asking a question.

"Oh, your date!" Realisation hit him and you slowly nodded. "But he did come!"

"WHAT?"

"Yeah. I saw him arrive earlier. I must say, he looks sick!"

Taehyung came? But what about his sister? Did she magically get better? Why didn't he text you or something? You are so confused.

"Have you seen him anywhere?" You asked rather hopefully.

"Yeah! He's out back giving palm readings in his fortune telling booth."

Well now you're even more confused. That booth was meant to be a prop display only. What the hell is Taehyung doing, playing fortune teller with it?

You thanked the guy and zoomed out to the backyard as fast as you could. There were no signs of Taehyung anywhere. You roamed around for a couple of minutes, trying to maneuver around the massive crowds towering over your pretty small form, until you heard a loud guy complaining about some drink.

"I'm telling you man! We need cactus juice up in here!" Oh, that annoying voice, you're sure you'd recognise that anywhere. It's only a matter of time until you run into him.

"It'll Quench Ya!" Hold up, that’s a Sokka line! Why would he be quoting from “Avatar: The Last Airbender”??

"Nothing's Quenchier, It's The Quenchiest!" You hear him say before he bust out his windshield wiper laugh. His voice seems to be coming from that large group of people by the fortune telling prop. You approached the group not for Seokjin, but to see if Taehyung was around. The two of them are in the same friend group.

It was difficult to scout around the group since everyone is a lot taller than you. You jumped around until you caught a glimpse of the hollering man in the middle, wearing something red and what appears to be a large scar on his face. Why does that scar look familiar? Realisation hit you like a ton of bricks. It seemed like time stopped for all the wrong reasons when you took in the entirety of Seokjin's costume.

"Hey, look! It's Seokjin's date!", someone said and every single head there was in that group turned towards you at the same time. Even Seokjin, himself. It's so comical and stupid that you'd think you're in some sort of sitcom.

You looked like a deer caught in headlights, just stood frozen in front of the crowd. To be fair, how were you supposed to react anyway?

“Damn, she looks really pretty!

“Those are some fine hair loopies!”

“I don’t understand why they would go as Zuko and Katara. It doesn’t make sense.”

“ZUTARA MOTHAFUCKAS!!!”

One, you agree that you look banging tonight. Two, You also agree that if the two of you were indeed on a date, it wouldn’t make sense to go as Zuko and Katara when they weren’t even a thing. But three, yes, Zutara all the way and you would go down with that ship faster than you can say Bonzu Pipinpadaloxicopolis The Third.

Although the crowd had valid points, you would still think that Seokjin would contradict some of them. You know, like the accusation of the two of you being on a date? So it was a shock when he approached you with open arms and a huge smile while saying, “AH! There’s my sugar queen! Flameo, hotman! I was beginning to think you’ve bailed on me.”

You stepped back even before he got the chance to hug you.

“Uh what the heck is this all about?” You were pointing out the ridiculousness of him acting like the two of you twinning was planned but he thought you were talking about his fortune telling booth.

“Oh you know me! As a theatre arts major, I can’t help it when situations arise that forces me to slip into a different character.”

You looked at him unamused. “That’s literally a mental disorder you just described and literally, NO ONE forced you to do this. That prop was happily chilling in the background and you just have to go and torment it.”

He shushed you with a finger to your lips and it took all the will in you to not bite it off. “You’re just saying that cause you haven’t tried getting my expert opinion.”

“Expert opinion- You know what? Whatever! I don't have the patience to do this right now. I'm out here looking for my date so this night could get better. So why don't you just tell everybody here that we are not- hmmp!" Seokjin's rather large hands covered your entire face to shut you up or maybe slap you. Honestly you weren't sure. He was intending to cover your mouth but in his haste, he managed to smack you instead.

"Hey, guess what? I think you're the only person here I haven't told their fortune yet! That's just a shame, that won't do. No, no, no. What's that? You wanna go now? What a brilliant idea! Let's go, sugar queen!", he said all that in one breathing then pushed you towards "his" fortune telling booth that YOU had set up before the sun even rose this morning.

It was a very small purple tent (Actually, it was just a massive piece of cloth hanging from a tree trunk) with a little table set up and a crystal ball in the centre. He yanked the front part close for some privacy and you think you've never been more repelled in your entire life. To be stuck in such a small confinement with Seokjin and his ten foot wide shoulders is something that should be illegal.

He pushed you aside so he could sit at "his" table with you nearly falling through the cloth at the process. Once he's settled, he looks at you expectantly with a huge grin as if you actually wanted to get your fortune read by him. As if you volunteered yourself to be in this position.

His brain really is something and whatever that something is, you don't even want to try and decipher it.

Against your better judgement, you dragged yourself to sit in front of him. You're already here, might as well just try and enjoy the ride. Right?

Your butt had barely touched your seat and Seokjin was already declaring some insights about your future.

"Your future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self-inflicted.", he said in all seriousness.

And of course, this is just some mischievous way to rile you up. What else did you expect from this guy? Or better yet, why do you even bother with him?

"You're not even gonna read my palms or bust out some tarot cards? Maybe do a little gazing into the crystal ball?"

"I didn't need to. It's written all over your face."

It took you a second to realise that he just directly quoted from Avatar again. You are quite annoyed at his childishness and slightly amused at his apparently extensive knowledge for Avatar references.

"I'm gonna give you the count of three to get the hell out of my face. If you're still here, I'll make sure your destiny ends right here." You replied, also quoting from the series.

He chuckled at your threat, finding it real cute just how easy it is for him to irritate you. "Okay, calm down. No need to get murderous."

"One."

"Hey, it's not my fault you're bound for failure!"

"Two!"

"Wait, are you actually being serious now?"

"THREE!", you yelled and lunged at the scarred boy.

He made a high pitched scream as you went and grabbed one of his shoulders. Your tiny chair went tumbling down and the crystal ball rolled off to the ground in your vicious movements.

"Please, not the face! Anything but the face! It's too VIP!"

"Oh, I'll make sure that stupid scar becomes a permanent part of your face!"

One of his hands were on your arm while the other was held tightly around your hand that was trying to claw his "VIP" face. For a small person, you seem to be putting up a big fight against him.

The scene that was unfolding inside that small tent is a sight to behold. If anyone ever walked in right now, they definitely would think that a more salacious thing is going to go down. All of the ruckus the two of you are making can probably be heard from the outside. But the both of you are too out of it to even consider the embarrassment you might get if someone barges in. Which is why you didn’t notice Jimin’s head poke inside the tent.

"Wow you guys. If y'all wanted a room, you could've just asked. As a very supportive friend, I would gladly give you one." The voice of Jimin rang from behind you and you instantly let go of each other, feeling a bit flustered.

"It's not what it looks like!", you tried reasoning with the boy. "He's being his usual little shit self and I'm just trying to purge it out of his system!"

Jimin, equally being a little shit like his older friend, brushed your reasoning aside. "Y/n, y/n, y/n. Out of all the people here, you're really the one to mess this perfectly set up prop? Didn't us setting this up at midnight meant anything to you? Couldn't you have just let Seokjin hyung here to peacefully give you his readings?"

You rolled your eyes at him. “Can you just shut up? Also, you knew this shithead was using our prop and you just let him be?”

“Of course he did! He’s taking 25% of my total earnings tonight.” Seokjin muttered.

“Total earnings- You’re making people pay for your made up bullshit?!” You hollered at the wide shouldered guy. Why are you even surprised about this? It’s Seokjin we are talking about. He could probably convince people to pay him just by walking past him.

“Oh you bet! But don’t fret, I’m not gonna charge you. With that kind of fate that you have, I’m sure you need every bit of kindness.”

Steam could might as well visibly come out of your ears right now with how enraged you are at him. You wanted to strangle him, bloodbend even. You didn’t have the chance to do anything though because Jimin was pulling you away. “Would you two stop with the lover’s quarrel for like a goddamned minute?”

He shoved you outside then did the same to Seokjin. “Everyone’s already inside about to play games and you two are still out here, too busy being all over each other!”

Jimin didn’t even need to say anything else or to further force you two. Just the word “games” made you both run inside at record speed. If people got real competitive with the costume contest, the halloween games are a whole other thing. Usually, after an hour or so since the party has started, the Parks hold a series of halloween themed games. The winners get various coupons. They aren’t as good as a free four course meal but that’s better than nothing especially if we're talking about the Park’s restaurant.

Sometimes, these games are done in groups but usually it’s in pairs. You weren't surprised that this year, all games are going to be done in pairs but unlike recent years, the games are going to be done in a "last man standing" manner. You knew all of this since you helped pick these games. You'd be more hyped up about them if it weren't for the fact that you don't have a pair to play with.

All these talk about games reminded you of Taehyung. You completely forgot you were supposed to look for him. But it became clear to you that he didn't really come when almost everyone who you came across with to your walk back inside pretty much assumed that Seokjin was your date. They all made some comment regarding your matching outfits which Seokjin didn't even try to deny. He was just gobbling up their compliments.

You listened to Freddie Mercury and Patrick Star explain the mechanics of this year's "Halloween Olympics". Now, what you didn't know was that they also changed the prize system. Apparently, they upped the prize since it's going to be a bit more difficult to win and there's only going to be one winning pair. This year, the winning pair is also going to win a free dinner. That got people buzzing.

With that, Luna explained that only the first 20 pairs to find a small, red, and hidden [word redacted] could compete in the games. Chaos ensued as you watch everyone scour around the house. All at once, you felt like you don't want to be competing against anyone in this room. Everyone seemed too terrifying as they went berserk. But alas, tonight doesn't seem like your night.

One by one, pairs came towards the siblings with their [word redacted] until only one was left hidden. Some guy, for some stupid reason, made the wrong decision to point and scream out the location of the last one. Obviously, everyone else made a beeline towards it.

Everything went in a complete blur for you. All you remember was seeing a tall guy in red jump for it. Then you were yanked by the said guy. Next thing you know, you were competing in the first game. Well, “competing” is a strong word. Seeing as you were dragged here unexpectedly without your consent and were in a total daze, your partner took full control of the reins. Now that you're coming back to your senses, you think this is for the best if you want to win. For once in his life, he can finally put his frat boy skills to good use.

The first game was announced to be a game of eyeball beer pong. It seems like the siblings are trying to get people drunk this early. You guess it’s a good strategy to easily kick people out of the games. But you and your partner ain’t going to be one of them. You watch your partner make perfect shots after shots, hitting every cup of the opposing pair. It wasn’t long before you both had won and eliminated the other pair.

“I can’t believe we lost! I really thought we had it in the bag.” One of the other guys had the audacity to say in front of Kim Seokjin, a true blue frat boy.

“Oh don’t flatter yourself! You were never even a player.” Seokjin muttered to the guy and held his hand up to you as if you were actually going to give him a high five. Instead, you gave him a long hard stare as cold as any of the water tribes. Any sane person would be decent enough to feel remorseful. He didn’t. Instead, he grabbed one of your wrists and gave himself a high five.

You smacked him upside his head. “You insolent fool!” You hollered like a villain in a Disney movie.

“Yah! What was that for?” his feigned innocence made you want to tear out not only his hair but also your own.

“You think I want to compete with you?”

He crossed his arms and slowly shook his head at you. Almost as if he is disappointed in you. “Tsk tsk tsk. I carried the whole bench and this is what I get from you? Just say ‘thank you’ and go.”

You scoffed. “For your information, I didn’t ask to be paired with you. You just yanked me from nowhere!”

“Well then, you're welcome, sugar queen!”

“YOU’RE WELCOME?? I don’t want to be paired with you!”

Your seething rage seems to somewhat alarm him. “Okay, okay, calm down!” You opened your mouth to interrupt him but he didn’t let you. “I admit that I did just yanked you and didn’t ask for your permission. Sure, that wasn’t really cool. BUT! In my defense, I was so deep in my competitive zone that I didn’t take the time to notice who I was pulling.”

He looked at you to see if you had anything to say but the annoyance remained etched on your face so he continued reasoning with you. “Listen, we both just want the same thing and that is to win. That ain't happening to you seeing as you're all alone. So really, I kinda did you a favor here. Come on, it'll be fun!"

You hate to admit it, but he does have a point. Maybe it's not that bad of an idea to pair up tonight. You both are pretty competitive. Besides, you do need a little cheering up err- a distraction, I mean.

"I guess we could try and not tear each other apart even just for tonight. This is for a good cause. We do both really want that free meal. Fine, I'll call truce for now." You finally conceded and held your hand out to him. He took it and you shook hands.

"I'm glad you're seeing it my way. Because to be honest, you're not winning a free meal with that costume." He confidently said with a shit eating grin.

You squeezed his hand a little too tightly and ignored his yelps of pain. "And neither will you because guess what?! Your scar is on the wrong side!"

"Ah! I knew someone's gonna tell me that sometime tonight. I can't even be mad at that reference."

"No Seokjin. Your scar really is on the wrong side."

"Yeah, and tea is just hot leaf juice."

"Uh, it really is though. But I repeat, your scar’s on the wrong side, buddy!"

“No it’s not.”

“Believe it or not, it is!”

"Are you actually being serious?"

You let out a really long sigh of disbelief to what you'll have to put up with. This is for sure going to be a long night.

To your surprise, the night did not go on as a drag. The next game did start off rocky with you not being able to guess any of the given Halloween charades. Either you are not as cultured as you think you are or you just don't get the mind of a theatre major. Or maybe, it's just his mind you don't understand, to be honest.

"How on earth was that Silence of the Lambs?!"

"What do you mean 'how on earth was that Silence of the Lambs'? What else does this even mean?" He replied while acting like his arms are pinned to his sides then proceeded to cover his mouth and then did a fluttering motion with one of his hands that seemed to be coming out of his lips.

"That could literally mean anything! For all I know, that could mean The Mummy!"

He scoffed at you as if you just told him the most offensive thing in the world. "The Mummy?? Oh, you are absolutely hopeless. We are so doomed if we keep letting you guess."

"No, we are SO doomed if we let you act out the things! You dare call yourself a theatre major?" To any other person, you would think that your comment is in fact just downright offensive. But that's not the case with you two because it seems like you could push all the wrong buttons of the other person and somehow still not end up really hurting anyone. You wouldn’t admit it, but maybe both of you find this weird comfort in these silly banters and in the midst of it all, you've unknowingly built some form of bond.

You collectively agree to switch roles and just like that, the tides shifted. The two of you were suddenly getting the correct guesses each round. At the very last round, you drew the movie Caroline from the witch hat. If it were you and Luna playing, you guys would have guessed this in a heartbeat since it's your favorite movie. But you're with Seokjin and you are extremely positive that he has never even seen the movie.

When the one minute and thirty second counter started to tick down, you immediately made a circle around one of your eyes and made a sewing motion to it. You thought it couldn't be anymore obvious than that but he just stared at you. By the time forty seconds have passed, your hope for him trickled down. You could hear the opposing pair celebrating prematurely on the side which ticked you off so much.

Your sewing motions got a lot more aggressive as you gave Seokjin the most desperate look you could ever give him. He in turn, gave you a very rare apologetic look. Yup, you guys were doomed from the beginning. All you can think of is how much this night really sucks for you. You probably should have stayed at home.

Once everyone started counting down from fifteen, you bid goodbye to the grand prize. The idea of it was just too good to be true. You stopped with your motions and gave Seokjin a small nod of defeat. He acknowledged this by giving you a slow nod as well and this seemed like the end for your pair. His gaze on you, however, flitted towards something or someone from behind you. His eyes stayed there for a good five seconds, appearing to be in deep concentration. You didn't even have the chance to look back since right before the audience counted to one, Seokjin was screaming the correct answer.

"CORALINE! It's Coraline! Of course, how could I not know?" He announces while flapping his arms wildy just a second before the timer rings. Everyone cheered at this sudden victory. The turn of events left you stunned. You thought for sure he wouldn't get it. He just keeps surprising you.

Seokjin approached you with a huge smile on his face and you can't help but return it to him. Not only that, you gave him a big hug which caught him off guard. You didn't know what came over you to do that but it felt like the right thing to do. He didn't seem to show any signs of protest as well.

"What the fuck? I really thought that was the end of the line for us!" You told him after sharing a brief hug.

"You really need to put a little trust on me. What can I say? I'm a genius." Just like that, you went back to wanting to punch his face again.

Rolling your eyes, you murmured, "Did the definition of genius change in the last 100 years?"

While you turned your attention to Jimin who was already announcing the next game, Seokjin glanced towards Luna and gave her a smile. Unbeknownst to you, this so-called "genius" partner of yours actually had help. He, did in fact, was never going to get the correct guess. He has never seen Coraline nor does he know anything about it. But your best friend, Luna, decided that she wanted to keep you two in the games so she tried so hard to discreetly mouth "Coraline" to Seokjin a couple of times.

You didn't need to know that though.

He didn't mind receiving a few assistance to win, but it does hurt his pride and it will hurt more if you find out. Fortunately for Seokjin, he didn't need any further helping hands. Even from you.

Either the games are too easy or you're just completely and utterly incapable because Seokjin pretty much breezed through them without even batting an eye. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he's trying to impress someone. You, maybe? Wait, no. That doesn't make any sense. Why would he do that? Besides, he made sure to gloat on you everytime your pair wins with you contributing nothing.

A couple of games and one harrowing round of What's Inside the Box later, just six pairs remained. It wasn't exactly all fun and games since along the way, your pair or rather, Seokjin made a rivalry against another pair. This couple dressed up as Team Rocket really got on his nerves. You can't blame him though. They kept on flirting with each other after every round and not to mention, they also kept taunting you two. You'll bloodbend them if you hear "Prepare for trouble and make it double" one more time before a game starts. To be fair, they do play very well. Actually, they seem to be the only other pair that puts up a good fight.

By this time, everyone has migrated outside for the last few games. For this one, as you already knew, you'll be playing blindfolded bean bag toss. One person would have to guide the other as they go through three different levels. The pairs that don't make it through would obviously get eliminated.

"Oh, we are so gonna dominate on this one!" You hear the girl dressed up as Jessie says.

"For sure. Why don't they all just pretend to be a tree and leave?" The guy dressed up as James condescendingly said and they both laughed out loud at his joke.

You visibly cringed at that. Can they get anymore intolerable? That's saying a lot coming from someone who knows Seokjin, arguably the most abhorrent creature in your life. Jeez, and you thought his jokes were the worst.

Seokjin made a gagging noise beside you, voicing out your sentiments. You can't help but laugh out loud with him until Patrick and Freddie approached you two.

"Okay, who's going to lead and who's the blindfold wearer between you two?" Patrick said and snickered a little after realising the other implications of his question. This little shit.

"Well, seeing as her skills are lacking, I'm gonna once again step up to the plate and handle this one." Seokjin reached for the blindfold but you snatched it from Luna's hand before he could.

You can't just let this night go down like this. Honestly, you're kind of having fun watching all the chaos ensue from the sidelines. But you're a woman of honour. You can't possibly go for a win while doing the bare minimum. You dare dress up as Katara and let some man take over?

"I'll be playing this one." You calmly but confidently declared.

"Sugar queen, I love the assertiveness. But I think you should-"

"I'm playing this one." You interrupted him with such firmness in your tone, they couldn't do anything but just nod to you.

Hell no are you gonna let Seokjin annihilate this night all by himself. You need to prove that you can match up to him. You'll show his stupidly pretty face and wrongly placed scar not to mess with your capabilities.

You took a long hard look at the three targets. Each one going higher and farther than the one before. You are to be given a practice round each level to get your bearings. Yada yada yada. You tuned the siblings out, of course you already knew all this. As the person who placed the goals, you'd think you have the upper hand. You were overly confident, bordering the line of cockiness, that you could do this. You even had the audacity to sneer at Team Rocket when they uttered their catchphrase to you.

You watched each pair try and make their shot. Surprisingly, everyone made it. That only added fuel to your fire. You were excited. You couldn't wait to finally do something. On top of that, Seokjin kept muttering things to you that if they can do it then so can you.

When it's your time to play, you are extremely buzzing. Going last is always an overwhelming feeling. All that built up confidence died down though the second you put on your blindfold. The darkness that enveloped you instantly made you feel unbalanced and disoriented. Confusingly, it's as if all your other senses heightened but it also felt like they all shut down at the same time.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." You chant in your mind as you feel your awareness of your surroundings slip from you.

This is not good. Why did you subject yourself into doing this, again? You should've let Seokjin play when he had the chance. You clearly cannot do this.

In the midst of your swelling panic, you feel hands place on both of your shoulders. You jumped at the unexpected contact but it was just Seokjin. "You can do this, Okay? Just focus on me." He whispered in your ear with such comfort and softness that you had to shiver a little.

He rubbed small circles on your back with his thumbs, soothing you for a second until Luna gave you the go signal.

You slowly walk as straight as you possibly can even if you feel like toppling over the entire time. Please don't. The entire time, Seokjin was behind you. You halted when he told you and to the best of your abilities, you "delicately", as he instructed you to, tossed the bag to the left.

"Okay, that was shit." He truthfully told you in a nice tone as you hear the people around begin tittering at what you assumed to be such a horrible shot. You think you just heard Team Rocket announcing their victory. Shit, shit, shit, shit. You are royally fucked.

"Seokjin..." You can't help but whine, your anxiety creeping up ten fold.

"Hey, hey, hey. That's fine! What are practice rounds for?" He tried easing you.

"But everyone-'

"Forget about everyone. It's just you and me right now. Calm down and focus." The gentleness of his words and the lulling of his voice somehow allowed your breakdown to dissipate a little. If you're in a better state, you'd be surprised at how he is behaving towards you. You'd probably dismiss it and reason that he just badly wants to win. That's the only fitting explanation.

Sensing that you've calmed down a little bit, he let out a breath that he unconsciously has been holding. Your sudden mood shift made him really nervous. "Okay, sugar queen. I know you're a waterbender but mind channeling a little bit of your inner Toph for now? Just try and maybe get in tune with the surroundings? Come on, you set this thing up. Can’t you, like, use that to your advantage somehow?”

Easier said than done. But the way he’s practically cooing at you as he talks makes you want to subconsciously do anything for him right now. He could ask you to go find him a dragon egg and you’d most probably follow his orders blindly. Which is a concerning thought that you’d mull over later. For now, you focus only on his voice and try your best to toss the bean bag inside the goal.

You took a deep breath and said you're ready to attempt your shot. Seokjin instructed you to make your throw a bit more vigorous. By how much? You have no idea. Hell, you don’t even remember how hard you threw your last shot. This is literally all up to chance, if we’re being real. So you prayed to every spirit out there to put all odds in your favour.

Around you, some people began cheering. Some people were kind of waiting for you to completely miss again to get some good laughs out of it. Other pairs were taunting you, making a distraction. But you tried your hardest to tune them all out. Right now, all you can focus on is your aim and the nice words Seokjin is throwing at you. With shaking hands, you make a swing with what you hope is enough force to get to the next level.

You weren’t aware of it but to everyone else, it’s as if time went in slow motion. People’s heads comedically followed the direction of your bean bag. Your two best friends were both wide eyed, Jimin had both of his palms on the top of his head and Luna had her mouth wide opened. Seokjin stood nervously behind you with his hands intertwined in front of his lips as if reciting a prayer. Your bean bag’s hang time felt like an eternity but it was more than enough to realise that you still weren’t going to be able to make it. Seokjin almost cried on the spot at that realisation until your bean bag hit the rim of the basket. That split second of it hitting the rim made all the difference in the world. Everyone literally went silent as the bean bag bounced off the rim and went straight inside the basket.

With your vision completely obscured, you were clueless to all the spectacle that’s happening. In contrast to everyone, everything went in fast forward to you. Right after you made your shot, you instantly heard people yelling your name and a pair of arms encaged you from the back. Seokjin lifted you up and started spinning you around, obviously a sign that you made it.

With everyone’s reaction, you would think you made a championship winning shot. You don’t really understand the hype but you were just glad that you did it and it did wonders to your confidence.

“I told you that you were doing great! You just need to follow my voice.” Seokjin told you as he set you down and you took your blindfold off. Everyone still kept cheering wildly as Luna declared the start of the second round.

“Well, it is hard to ignore.” You joked at him but for some reason it made him blush. If his long hair weren’t hiding his ears, you would also see how harshly they’re flushing. He didn’t have a witty comeback and just avoided your gaze. He is flustered. How cute. You openly thought to yourself without even feeling an ounce of shame. It seems that the tides are indeed shifting and you’re not even fighting against the current.

The game continued with less dramatics, oddly enough. Even more odd is that you easily made it through the entire game. In the end, you weren’t even sure why you panicked in the first place. Two pairs got eliminated so you are now down to four. That’s fortunate for you. What’s unfortunate is that Team Rocket still hasn’t blasted off.

The next game was a round of Paper Dance. You were relieved that you both had to actively participate on this one and not have one of you slacking off to the side. You weren’t quite relieved when you remembered the mechanics of the game. Basically. You are given a sheet of newspaper and are forced to dance around it. When the music stops, both persons need to step inside the paper and stay there. Every round, the paper gets folded in half so the pair gets pretty close and intimate with each other.

The thought made you nervous and you slightly broke into a sweat. You were feeling rather uncomfortable with your heavy layers so you opt to take off your outer coat. Some tall and lanky guy dressed up as a sunflower, which you believe is also one of Jimin's close friends, started hollering, “Take it off now girl, just take it off!”

As objectifying his words are, you choose to laugh at how ridiculous he looked. A soft delicate flower uttering such promiscuous things. You thought maybe humour could divert your fluttering heart long enough for one pair to get eliminated so you could all move on to the next game. It didn’t, of course, what were you even expecting?

As the newspaper shrank, the more agitated you became. The fact that it was taking so long for one pair to get eliminated makes you weak in the knees and you don’t know if it’s a positive or a negative reaction. At this moment, the paper is still relatively in a decent size but it could only accommodate one pair of feet inside. Due to your lack of communication, you both stepped one foot inside when the music stopped and you collided with one another rather harshly. You immediately went flying down to the ground but Seokjin managed to grab your arm and pull you towards him. Once you were flush against each other, both of you instinctively wrapped an arm around the other person to gain balance.

The action might have saved you both from getting eliminated but it definitely put you two in quite a dangerous spot. Just like when you were blindfolded a while ago, everything around you tuned out and all you can focus on is you and Seokjin. Only this time, you weren’t facing just an empty dark abyss. You were face to face with the dark abyss of his eyes. Your faces were mere centimeters away. An hour ago, you would willingly defenestrate yourself, horrified at the idea of getting this close to this guy. But right now, as you two stare and hold on to each other, you weren’t so repelled. Neither is he.

You two were just getting comfortable with each other if it weren’t for Jimin blatantly calling you out for this really personal moment. “Oi! The music is back up! You two can get back to your lovey dovey moment later but for now we game.” The actual buffoon roared at the mic. His very public comment made everyone start hollering and teasing the two of you. Just like that, you went back to square one, an awkward mess.

At one point, Seokjin almost fell off when he gave you a piggyback ride. You thought it was either because you were too tense to even jump properly on his back or you are just plain heavy. You’re not even sure which option is better. The way that you are so conscious around him has never been a problem to you. You have an inkling as to why this is happening but you refuse to say it to yourself.

While you mentally kept cursing yourself, Seokjin was having the same problems. He was too shaky to properly hold you. He too was cursing at himself for acting so muddled around you all of a sudden. This is getting pretty bad. He needed to get a hold of himself fast. By that, he means go back to being a cat and mouse with you. In other words, go back to insulting you. But his inner self is telling him to just let this moment be and to let himself indulge in it.

Another agonising round later, one pair finally got eliminated. Thankfully for that, Seokjin was only tiptoeing on one foot at this point whilst carrying you. You, on the other hand, had other reasons to be thankful for.

Now, you were down to just three pairs. The semi finals are up next so you really need to get back to your senses. You are so close to achieving the grand prize. Remembering what the next game is, you knew you were monumentally screwed.

The semi finals, as Jimin is explaining, would be a bat doughnut eating contest. Five doughnuts shaped in a bat are individually hung on a string in their clothesline and both pairs would have to stand on either side, eating them all as fast as they could without using their hands. Both pairs are only allowed to work on one doughnut at a time. Now, that’s just on a completely different level of invasion of personal space. But you can’t blame anyone because you came up with half of these games, including this one.

“Let’s quickly push through this one.” Seokjin told you from his side. “We can’t let the others win. Remember, only the first two pairs get in the finals.”

You admire how composed he is right now. Why can’t you be as unaffected as he is? This is for the sake of the grand prize. Do you even want it? If yes, then you badly need to keep your eyes on the prize and nothing else. Definitely not on Seokjin, or on his piercing eyes, or his soft looking lips. NO STOP. Just what on earth is happening to you?

Realising you haven’t given him an answer, you simply nodded. With that, you heard the go signal and all three pairs started devouring the doughnuts.

They are [word redacted] flavoured. Of course, what did you expect? You try not to gag at that and you also try to avoid accidentally making out with Seokjin while making sure you eat the entire thing at lightning speed. There were way too many things going on at the same time for you to handle. Your brain could not possibly keep up. It’s like your brain and body were being controlled by two separate things.

One doughnut down and you move on to the next one, then the next one, and the next one. “That’s it, keep going!” Seokjin kept on muttering motivating words whenever he could. Again, how could he be so composed at a time like this? Somehow along the way, your brain completely shut down and your body went into autopilot. The two of you fell into an unspoken strategy of having sides so to have some boundaries. The moon spirit knows you badly need that.

Your pair is on the lead when you reach your fourth doughnut. For the first time since this game started, you felt comfortable. Did you stay like that for the entire game? Of course not. Naturally, the universe just loves aggravating you tonight.

Half way through your fourth doughnut, you accidentally brushed lips with Seokjin. The action was absolutely brief, but it was enough to halt you two and send tingles that you would feel throughout your body down to the tips of your toes. You two stared at each other for a second too long because Luna was announcing Team Rocket to have taken the lead. You two couldn’t care less though. For the third time tonight, all you could focus on is each other.

Wide eyes filled with something you two are too embarrassed to accept, lips slightly molding into shy smiles, and faces covered with icing and powdered sugar. In that moment, you two seemed to have some sort of self understanding that didn’t need to be said.

The moment didn’t last though. As brief as your little kiss was, you two were back at the game instantaneously. The other pair seemed to have gotten past you two as well. With a new found comfortness, you find yourselves working together without anymore awkwardness. You were back to your old competitive selves. You gobbled up the doughnuts at a jaw dropping speed. All that matters now, is winning especially since Team Rocket is advancing to the finals. The two of you didn’t even bat an eye when your lips would unintentionally touch a couple of times in your haste. You certainly weren’t complaining about it now. As a matter of fact, you felt him linger a few times. So were they really unintentional? We would never know.

You amazingly caught up with the last pair even with a few cheeky antics on the side. The two of you are currently on top of the world and just breezing through. For sure, you would end up beating them. There is no need to worry about anything.

What sealed the deal was when one person of the remaining pair mildly choked at a particularly large chunk that she had swallowed. You two took that opportunity to finish up your fifth and final doughnut. You swallowed for the last time and cheered for your partner to finish chewing. Everyone else was completely yelling at this point, it was such a euphoric feeling. Once Seokjin finished, you went and engulfed the larger man as best as you could in a bone crushing hug.

You two were all laughs, happily celebrating even if you haven’t won yet. “We are so going to come home with that prize.” You declared with such finality while you break away from the hug. You kept each other very close though.

“Oh yeah? You’re not gonna freak out on me again?” He teased you but you can’t help but just hit him.

“Only if you keep yourself in check.” You playfully replied. You fell into a comfortable silence, once again staring at each other with shy smiles. His eyes dropped to your lips for a second and you felt compelled to lean in. When he realised what you were allowing him to do, he leaned in too. You were slowly leaning towards each other, taking your sweet time and savoring every second of it. Your lips were pretty much fully touching, you could feel the warmth and softness of his.

“You’re lucky that chick choked up.” James, whatever his real name is, from Team Rocket woefully stepped into your moment. It took every fibre in you to not punch the guy.

“She’s obviously inexperienced. Couldn’t be me!” Jessie quipped and they both started laughing together. This time, it took every fibre in you to not bash their heads together. But as mentioned before, you are a woman of honour. You are willing to take the higher road and settle this fairly through the games.

Seokjin, well, he is Seokjin so he didn’t let the two slide so easily.

He let go of you and approached the two. He laughed along with them in such a forced and sarcastic laugh that it pained you. “Yeah, you’re right. We are lucky!” He said then squished himself in between the couple and placed his arms around them. What on earth is he on about, now?

“We definitely were just born lucky. But at least we’re not like other people who are only lucky to be born. Right, hotmen?” He said and slapped their arms in a playful manner but ended up being too hard. He left them completely offended, sauntering back to you with his windshield wiper laugh that you know all too well.

"Was that necessary?" You scolded him with both hands on your hips.

"Don't be such a Katara! I know you're dressed as her but please don't take it too seriously. Unless you really do want to be a sugar queen?" He wagged his eyebrows irritatingly.

You rolled your eyes at his usual foolishness. Glad to know he hasn't gotten fully soft on you. You would prefer for him to stick to his playfulness even if it annoys the crap out of you.

"And then there were two." Jimin starts, grabbing everyone's attention. Yeah just two left and it just had to be with Team Rocket. Oh, it would feel even better to win knowing you were up against them.

You were one step closer from a satisfying free full course meal cooked by Jimin and Luna's parents. Is that heaven or what? In the middle of fantasising and practically drooling about the impending prize, it dawned on you that once you win, (Yes, once and not if) you'd have to go on that dinner with Seokjin. An actual dinner. As in a date???

The thought made you slightly pale. You don't get why the thought of going on a date with him made you all nervous when you were practically stealing kisses from each other just awhile ago. The idea of going serious with him is nerve-wracking when just this evening, you wanted nothing more than to punch his guts. Now, you still do want to punch his guts but also kiss him.

You needed to snap out of it. All you did tonight is think of this guy. You were probably overthinking things. He probably doesn't even want anything serious with you. Maybe, he's just playing with you. Wait, no. That's too cruel even for him.

Your internal battle was stopped when Seokjin, himself, flicked your forehead.

"Oww! What was that for?" You grumply asked as you rubbed the sore spot.

"Your brain seems to be flying a couple hundred miles away. Y/n, now is not the time to be daydreaming about me. Did you even catch what I said?" Is he a mind reader? Most definitely not but even so, you are too embarrassed to say anything so you quietly hummed to him.

"What do you think? You agree with me?" You absentmindedly hummed again.

He clapped his hands together so loud, it made you jump out of your haze. "Good! That settles it. You're bobbing then."

"I'm sorry, come again?" You think you misheard him but it sounded like he said you're going bobbing? As in bobbing apples? What?

He stared at your dumbfounded expression. He realised that you weren't listening to the siblings' explanation and you obviously weren't also listening to his plan of attack just a few seconds ago.

He sighed and repeated everything to you even if he didn't want to. "We're bobbing apples for the last game. Since I don't want to ruin my perfectly good scar, you're up for it."

You scoffed. "And I want to ruin my perfectly good hair and makeup?"

"Hair dries off and without your makeup, you're still Katara. I, on the other hand, would just be some random handsome firebender without my scar. So really, it's better that you do it."

"But I don't want to do it!"

"Well boo hoo for you. You already agreed to it." He said and dragged you towards a large basin near Jimin and Luna.

"Wait, no I wasn't fully aware of the situation!"

"That's what you get for zoning out at a crucial time. It's too late now, you already agreed. A consent is a consent."

He was seriously being mean right now. You pulled your arm back to stop him but he wouldn't let go of you. So you kept your feet planted firmly on the ground. It ended up looking like he was dragging a very stubborn kid. "Y/n quit playing around! You need to do this."

"But Seokjin, I really don't want to do this." Your innocent looking eyes paired with that same whining voice that you used when you didn't make your first shot with the bean bag instantly turned him soft.

He stopped pulling you and placed a hand on your neck. The way he is genuinely looking at you makes you think that he'll probably switch with you. He didn't. Big shocker.

"Y/n, I know you don't want to do it but you need to." He started using that gentle voice of his that he used on you earlier. You knew you were a goner now. He's definitely found your weakness and he isn't afraid to use it on you. Curse him and his captivating soothing voice. What are you supposed to do now other than obey him?

"I, without a doubt, believe that you can do this. I'm sure you can defeat those two wobbuffets over there and we'd win! Don't you want that?" You nod your head yes.

"So will you please do me the favour of winning this game for us?" You nod your head yes without thinking twice. So much for being a woman of honour.

He smiled at you and caressed his thumb over your cheek. "Good girl." He said and you'll be damned if you're not going to do whatever it takes for him to call you that again. Forget everything. You want him to call you that again.

That is why you find yourself involuntarily walking up to the water and apple filled basin assigned to you.

"Step aside, filth." Seokjin jokingly muttered at James from Team Rocket. You hear Jimin and Luna giggle but you were too out of it to even appreciate his Zuko reference.

To your left, Jessie stands in front of her basin. She gives you a sly smirk and winks at you condescendingly. You want to burn your eyeballs.

You can't believe you're in this position. You can't believe you would willingly let your hair, makeup, and quite possibly even your costume get ruined. Lastly, you can't believe at just how much power Seokjin has had over you in a single night.

You stared hard at the apples. You've only bobbed for apples once when you were nine and it was one of the worst things you've ever done. You weren't even able to successfully capture an apple with how bad you were. Well, you're back more than ten years later and you're back with a newly found determination. Vengeance will be yours.

You hear Luna count down from three.

Seokjin's "Good girl" rang inside your head. No one's letting this magenta haired girl beside you win. You gripped the sides of the basin hard. Alright apples, it's time to face your doom!

"...One and go!"

Inhaling a sharp breath, you plunge your face inside the deep basin. You tried to keep your eyes open to see the apples but it was proving to be difficult as light was barely passing through the metal basin. Nonetheless, you kept biting around until you reached one apple. You tossed it outside the basin and took another breath, repeating the same actions.

You don't know how many times you did your little routine. All you know is that this is the longest minute of your life and you just want it to end so much. You were having such a miserable time. Your snot, your saliva, and even your sweat too were mixing with the water. Even though you avoid it so badly, you still manage to drink the water in your haste. Some of it even got inside your nose at one point. Bobbing for apples just might be one of the most disgusting things you could ever do. This must bloody well be worth it in the end.

Everytime you come out of the water, you hear the cheers of the people. You most certainly hear your partner, ear piercingly shrieking your name. It further feeds into your hunger to win. You don't care if you look absolutely ridiculous or that you were probably gonna end up throwing up later. All that matters is to win this for you and Seokjin.

At long last, Jimin blows an air horn to dramatically end the game. You came up gasping and snorting for air. How fucking graceful and beautiful. Seokjin rushes to you with a towel in his hand and wraps it around you right away. He pats you dry, careful to not smudge your very wet makeup.

Luna began making a speech on how much fun this year's Halloween Olympics were. You didn't pay much attention to her as Seokjin kept murmuring words of affirmation while he was still gently patting you dry. In all honesty, you could've done that yourself. But after what you were just subjected to, you definitely could use a little pampering.

"Again, thank you to everyone who participated in the games. As for the rest, you've been absolutely wonderful, cheering our players. Until next year's Halloween Olympics!" Luna concluded. Well, they did more than cheer, alright.

"And now, let's count the apples these lovely ladies bobbed so we can find out this year's victors!" Jimin continued and everyone counted magenta head's apples with him.

"Twelve apples in total!" Everyone cheered wildly and you felt your heart clench. That's a lot. What if you had less?

"Twelve?? Ha! Suck on that!" James ridiculed.

Seokjin just glared at him and he grabbed hold of one of your hands. He squeezed it tightly as everyone started counting your apples. Oh please be higher than twelve, please be higher than twelve, please be higher than twelve, please, oh please, oh please.

"Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen!"

"A grand total of eighteen apples! Wow that's a lot more! Which means we have this year's victors!" Jimin announced.

Eighteen? You bobbed six more apples than her? Wow, your nine year old self would be proud of you now.

Seokjin couldn't contain himself, he grabbed you by your waist and lifted you up in an embrace. "Y'all hear that? My girl just beat your asses badly! Suck on my poké balls!" He finally cracked and straight up insulted Team Rocket while still holding you up. You ignored the sickly sweet feeling that bubbled inside you when he referred to you as “my girl”.

"You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!" Instead of a maniacal laugh, his windshield wiper laugh came out. The punchline was already perfect if only his stupid laugh didn't ruin it. As annoying as it is, you didn’t seem to be complaining about his laugh now in your head unlike always. Actually, it’s kind of endearing in a way. Crazy to think just how much one night can change. You wonder what happens now to the two of you.

Jimin and Luna called the both of you up on their makeshift stage to properly announce your rain of terror- I mean, your victory. Along with that, they are also going to announce the winner for best in costume. With all the action that’s been happening, people have forgotten that the awarding for best in costume is actually the main event of the night.

As Seokjin predicted earlier, you didn’t win. Some guy, Jung something something, dressed up as Shrek won by popular voting. You think he is also a part of Jimin’s friend group. You can’t be too sure as there are too many guys in that circle of friends for you to care. Which leads you to believe that maybe Jimin did some rigging of the results because his Shrek costume kinda deserves to be kicked out of the swamp. Not that you care though. As far as you’re concerned, you already won the grand prize as well.

“Told ya, you wouldn’t win best costume.” Seokjin says as you leave the stage.

“Neither did you. All because your scar is definitely on the wrong side.”

He groaned loudly. “You’re never gonna drop that, aren’t you?”

You laugh, thinking just how stupid he is for messing up his scar. For someone who seems to be able to quote directly from the show with ease, it’s really funny that he would overlook such a crucial detail.

“Neverrr!” You said in a singsong voice.

“Whatever.” He said while waving his hand in a dismissing manner. “It’s not like anyone else noticed it. I guess you were paying too much attention to my face, huh?”

You blushed at his remark. “Jeez, get over yourself, will you?”

You rushed your steps towards the house to leave him. You are sure Jimin and Luna are now tearing it down on the dance floor. He easily caught up with you though with those long legs of his and draped an arm over your shoulders.

Cackling at your flusteredness, he said, “Okay, then! So let’s say you weren’t gawking at me the entire time for you to notice my mistake.”

You hummed at him.

“Then I guess the only explanation why people seem to have failed to notice is because of my handsome face! They are too distracted by my beauty to notice my misplaced scar. Don’t you agree?” You elbowed him hard and left his yelping, laughing ass. What a weirdo. You giddily smiled though.

The rest of the night went by pretty fast. It was filled with dancing and laughing with people you know and don’t know. You even got to hang out a little bit with Team Rocket. You wouldn’t say you’d become friends with them but they aren’t all that bad.

The only missing thing though is that you didn’t share any more “personal” moments with Seokjin. He disappeared off with his group of friends after you left him. Not that you were fully expecting anything to happen, but you were slightly disappointed. Luna was quite chill about it at the start. She was probably wanting to discuss it in private. You know, for your own sake. But as she got tipsier and tipsier until she was full on drunk, she was practically squealing about it every few seconds. Hence, why you decided to socialise with other people which you would never do. Honestly, what is going on tonight and who are you even?

After the party, you remained to clean up. But Jimin told you that none of you would have to deal with the mess right now. He understands that everyone is completely knackered at this point. There were still a few people left but he ushered you to go home now. He assured you that he could deal with them and his hammered sister.

With that, you said thanks and hugged each other goodbye.

Walking out of their house, you thought back to earlier when you were thoroughly convinced to stay at home. You wonder how things would be if you had stayed. You would have totally missed out on so much! But you also wonder what would happen now. It seemed like Seokjin was unmistakably giving you the vibes that he likes you. You were too. So why did he suddenly vanish?

“You want me to walk you home?” A very familiar voice said from behind you. Ah, speak of the devil.

You faced him and smiled a little too big of a smile. “You live in the complete opposite direction. What are you talking about?”

He chuckled and made his way to you. “I was just thinking, what kind of gentleman would I be if I let you walk home all by yourself at 2 in the morning?”

He stopped a few feet in front of you. You find yourself a bit irritated with the distance between you two. You wanted to be a bit closer than that so you made the move to get nearer to him. “I think I can handle myself pretty well.” You said as you approached him until you were inches away from him.

“Oh, I’m sure you can.”

There was a brief moment of silence that fell between you. It wasn’t at all awkward or anything unpleasant. Actually, it was the complete opposite. You were just drinking everything in.

“Surprisingly, I had heaps of fun tonight. I never thought I would ever say that in the company of Kim Seokjin.” You said in a hush tone. You don’t know why you were speaking in such a way. The entire moment just seemed too delicate.

“I told you, you need to put a little faith in me, sugar queen.” He whispered. You smile at the term of endearment he had given you tonight due to your Katara outfit.

“I think I already have.” You said and his face started inching down towards yours.

Just the mere thought of finally getting to properly kiss him released thousands of butterflies in your stomach. You wanted to rush him to finally feel his lips but at the same time, you wanted to drag this moment as long as you possibly can. If someone told you this morning that you would be having these thoughts as you were about to kiss Kim Seokjin tonight,you’d laugh at their face. You’d probably also tell them that you’d rather slam your tongue in a car door.

He took his time with you, also wanting to milk every second of this moment. There was no need to rush anything. He was literally ghosting his lips against yours. He was probably teasing you. It annoyed you so much. So much so that you made the executive decision to take full control of the situation. You made the move to press your lips against his but before you could, someone walked out of the house and started yelling towards you two.

“SEOKJIN HYUUUUUNG!” A guy dressed up as Snoopy literally yeeted himself between you two and placed an arm around him. What is everyone’s deal with interrupting you two? At this point, it’s like the universe is telling you a sign or something. Wait, what?

You frown at the thought you just had. It’s a stupid thought. But then why are you having this sinking feeling inside you?

“Hoseok, for the last time, I’m walking home. I live just two blocks away. I don’t have a car to drive you home.” He told the guy, obviously exasperated just like you.

Hoseok started whining and arguing at the older guy. It’s clear that he was dead drunk. You wouldn’t try to argue with him right now. Seems pointless since everything will fly over his head.

“But why walk when you can drive???”

“Hoseok-ah! You’re really gonna ask Seokjin hyung to get you home when I’m here?” Another guy came out of the house. You turned to the voice and saw Yoongi approaching, dressed up as Garfield. You’re friends with him because he seemed to be the closest to Seokjin so you see him more often than not.

Hoseok immediately let go of Seokjin and went to hold on to Yoongi. Yoongi seemed to be in a rush to get home. Can’t blame him. It’s really late and it’s been a long night. So he said goodbye right away. But before they could leave, he turned to you.

“Before I forget, by the way, Taehyung wanted me to tell you to call him. He said you haven’t been replying to him all night. I think he wants to take you out later.” He made a fast but pointed stare towards Seokjin when he said the last part. It seemed like his way of telling him to do something about it. You didn’t notice though.

“Oh, okay. Thanks Yoongi. Good night and drive safely!”

With that, the two went off.

Another silence fell between you two. This time though, it wasn’t as comfortable. You didn’t know whether to continue off from where you got interrupted and how to continue. The both of you looked like you were in deep thought.

Taehyung. You completely forgot about him. Now, you feel really bad and shameful.

You notice Seokjin pulling something from his trousers that appeared to be two small envelopes. That’s probably your prize.

He held them both and looked at them for a few seconds. “I want to ask you something.” He started, not looking you in the eyes. He’s nervous. Is he going to ask you on a date? Well, that just made you nervous.

“Yeah?”

He didn’t say anything for a while. You watch him clearly having some sort of argument with himself. It felt like an eternity when he finally looked you directly in your eyes.

“Y/n, I want to-” Once again, he got cut off. Maybe the universe really is saying something here.

Your phone started ringing. It was Taehyung, calling you.

“I...You should answer that.” He instructed you. You should. But you didn’t make the move to. Your eyes switched back and forth from your phone to Seokjin a couple times. You were completely torn and didn’t know what to do.

You were just going to answer his call. What’s the big deal about that? It’s not like he knew everything that happened and was supposed to happen between you and Seokjin. It’s not like he was going to chastise you for all of that.

Before you pressed the answer button, the call dropped and you became tense.

Seokjin sensed your inner turmoil. He didn’t like seeing you like this. But he thought that this was becoming too much to handle right now. He looks at the envelopes he is holding. Sighing, he can’t believe he is about to do this.

He reached out both envelopes towards you. “Here, take them both.”

“What? Why?”

“Take Taehyung with you.” You could not believe what you were hearing right now. To say you were dumbfounded is an understatement.

Seeing as you made no move to get them, he took your free hand and placed the envelopes in your grasp.

“Listen, it’s bad enough that Taehyung didn’t get to enjoy the night. I think it’s only fair if he went with you.”

“But you worked hard for this too. It was a team effort between us.” You told him, still not understanding why he would give up the prize just like that when he was so adamant to win them the entire night.

“I know. But it’s fine, really. Don’t worry, I could always find a way to get free food from Jimin. Besides, you deserve to spend some time with your Aang.”

You still didn’t fully understand the situation at hand. But it appears that he is not going to let you go until you accept the prize from him.

You finally conceded and pocketed the envelopes.

“It’s getting late. We should really go home. It’s been one hell of a tiring night.” You nodded at his statement.

“Thanks for being an amazing partner tonight, Y/n. I genuinely enjoyed every single moment of it.”

“Me too, Seokjin. Me too.”

You wanted to hug him. But he didn’t make any other move. He was clearly just waiting for you to leave. You thought, maybe this isn’t the right time with him. With all the interruptions and should haves tonight, it’s most likely for the best to leave things here.

With a heavy heart, you gave him one final look and said goodbye. With an equally heavy heart, he watched you leave and disappear down the street.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Jimin’s sudden appearance from the front door made Seokjin jump.

“Yah! Couldn’t you have been a bit more careful?” He asked the younger boy while placing a hand over his chest to calm himself down.

Jimin paid no attention whatsoever to his agony. “You deserve to spend some time with your Aang.” He mocked Seokjin. “What on earth were you thinking?”

“I don’t want to- hang on. You were listening to our conversation???” Seokjin felt violated. Does this boy not know the meaning of privacy? First he kept interrupting you two all night then now he eavesdrops on your conversation and has the audacity to mock Seokjin.

Jimin did not feel nor look like he regretted what he had done. If anything, he looks really mad at Seokjin. “That’s besides the point. The point is, why are you just letting her go? You already had her!”

“No, I don’t think I ever had her to begin with. I mean, come on! She went dressed up as Katara and I’m dressed as Zuko. I think it was never meant to be.”

Feeling utterly frustrated, Jimin rubbed his face harshly. He had half the mind to take off his boots and impale his older best friend with them.

“That’s just bullshit! You’re too superstitious. You don’t listen to these signs! You take matters to your own hands.”

Seokjin knew that Jimin wouldn’t understand his point of view. He’s the type of person to chase anything and everything if he so pleases it. Which fair play to him, isn’t a bad thing. But that’s not how Seokjin rolls.

“Listen, you won’t understand me.” Seokjin started and Jimin openly agreed with him. “All I’m saying is if it’s not your time, then it’s not your time. You need to accept that and patiently wait. I did what I had to do tonight.”

Jimin did not respond to him. Truthfully, he does get what Seokjin is trying to explain. He does not agree with it at all though and still thinks it’s bullshit. But he can’t really do anything other than to support his stupid best friends and to let them learn things on their own. When that happens, he’ll for sure throw another party.

“Wow. Just wow. That’s rough, buddy.” Is all he can reply to Seokjin.

Indeed it was.

#bangtan #bts #bts scenarios #seokjin x reader #jin x reader #bts x reader #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts imagine #bts humor #kim seokjin #bts au #bts one shot #seokjin oneshot #seokjin fanfic #jin oneshot #jin fanfic

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xseildnasterces · 3 years

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eraser.

I sit here wearing a black and purple tartan jumper with moons on the wrist, black pyjama bottoms covered in witchy symbolism, ghosts and skulls. Behind me is a TNBC blanket and in front of me is a stars and moons blanket with the star signs carefully weaved within the stars. This is me. This is part of me and something that has felt like ‘me’ for such an incredibly long time. I don’t really know where the gothy, witchy thing came from. It almost feels as though it has been a part of me for as long as I can remember. The fashion, the music, the community. Everything about it has been an incredibly huge part of my being. More so during my teenage years when they were an even more important part of my identity.

Therapy today revolved around Marilyn Manson. A man, a band and a community that helped to forge my fashion sense, my music taste and who I was as a teenager. Even typing his name right now fills me with a peculiar feeling. A certain degree of unease, of anger and also of upset and pain. Indeed it may seem incredibly strange to have feelings like this regarding a famous person. Yet, this famous person is someone who growing up made me feel like me. He created this world that allowed me to be myself, to not worry about being a ‘weirdo’, a ‘freak’ or one of the ‘others’. I felt like he created a world in which all the people like me felt like they were part of something. It was a place where the weirdos were celebrated and the strange and the odd were the majority. Marilyn Manson was a huge part of my teenage years. It was his music I would sit and listen to when I wanted to shut the world out and play something loud, it was his music that I would crank up when my dad's friends were around at our house and I wanted to piss them off, and it was his music that presented me with gigs to go to that I could dress up and present in the most gothy way I wanted and feel safe. I felt safe at his gigs. I guess that’s slightly ironic now considering the allegations. If I am honest, I don’t know how to feel about any of it. I almost feel like my teenage years are now somewhat tainted.

When I saw the first accusation yesterday, I must admit that I almost wasn’t sure if I believed it. That makes me a terrible feminist I think. Another part of my identity that I feel incredibly passionate about. I was so shocked, genuinely confused and couldn’t believe what I was reading, but as more and more accusations came out I began to realise that it wasn’t some one off thing that was being taken out of proportion - it was true. This man that I had grown up idolising was an abuser, and an abuser of many kinds at that. A domestic abuser, a sexual and violent abuser, someone who did not care for consent, someone who I did not recognise in the man that is still displayed on the wall of my teenage bedroom.

As I sat reading through all the allegations yesterday, I also noticed that I was the only one of my friends that was still following him on Instagram. Within a few hours of the allegations becoming public everyone had unfollowed. I am not saying it was wrong of them to do so, but it really put at the forefront of my mind the way that cancel culture works and just how toxic it is. I still follow him on Instagram, I haven’t quite cut the tie yet. It sounds stupid, but it’s almost like cutting off a period of my life. I explained all of this to my therapist who understood and didn’t think I was going mad. I talked about how it almost concerned me that people may look at his profile and see that I still follow him and believe that I support him and that I do not believe these women that have come forward. That is not true. I guess I am just not ready yet to cut the cord. I will be, at some point, but right now it all still feels so surreal.

I guess as I have gotten older, as much as I still thought he was cool and enjoyed keeping up-to-date with what he was doing, but it also became somewhat more about the music I enjoyed. I feel sorry for members of the band who are not responsible for what this man has done, yet will be tied up with the whole scenario because they were part of the band. In fact, Marilyn Manson is the band, not just one person. By unfollowing does that mean I no longer support the others in the band? What does it mean? I feel conflicted and I feel confused, but believe me, I do not support him as a person.

Noone can deny that musically he was a success, but can we separate the man from the music? That is the question. A question that has been asked many times over the years when similar or more horrific allegations have come out about numerous other people in the public eye - regardless of whether they have been proven (Ian Watkins), of they haven’t (Michael Jackson). I feel a little lost. Can I, or should I still listen to the music? Can I feel a loss that I will most likely never go to one of his concerts again? Can I feel sad that every time I see the T-Shirts, the CD’s and the vinyl's I have of him/them that I now associate it with something much darker than the darkness that I appreciated him for?

Something that has upset and frustrated me on reading some news reports on this topic is how they have described Marilyn Manson's make-up and/or clothing as ‘silly’, or how some people have referred to his artwork and image as ‘disturbing’ or ‘distasteful’. These things are incredibly subjective. Hearing these comments make me feel sad. I feel sad because I am/was one of those people who dressed in ‘silly’ clothes and wore ‘silly’ make-up. It wasn’t silly to me. And it wasn’t silly to the many other people who used their make-up and clothing as a form of self-expression. I also think that describing his artwork as ‘disturbing’ is insulting. Again, this is subjective. Why does art therapy exist if we are not allowed or able to pour out our darkest and innermost thoughts onto a piece of paper? It makes me angry that as always with anything like this, people boil comments down to the fact he committed such horrendous crimes because he was goth, or because he liked the ‘darker side of life, art or music.’ What you listen to, how you dress, or how you draw or paint does not mean you are a monster. I am not denying that these allegations deem him to be a monster, but it did not come from the art of how he chose to express himself through clothing, music or make-up. I worry that this will become an attack of the alternative community. I worry that it will become our community that will receive the brunt of this - that we must all be like that, we must all be disgusting people or not ‘normal’ in a way that means we support him and what he has done. Again, as I said, I do not support him in these things at all, but I truly hate music and self-expression being used as topics to fire at. Neither of these things are an explanation for the behaviour he has been accused of. Music and art do not create a bad person, the bad person is there whether they drive around listening to Ariana Grande, Beyoncé or Marilyn Manson. The ‘alternative’ lifestyle does not become the deciding factor in whether you are good or evil. I want people to know that this is one man, this is not everyone in this community. Not everyone that wears thick black eyeliner, wears big boots and dresses all in black whilst listening to gothic music is an abuser, and I just do not want it to become some sort of target.

Those MM gigs I attended growing up were some of the best I have been to. Walking in and feeling like I belonged. I felt like I had ‘found my people’. I didn’t look out of place, I fit in. I was like everyone else. People were so nice, everyone moved and sang and just enjoyed the music. I used to love walking through Manchester after a gig and just seeing the streets filled with goths, punks and every other alternative persona that people would take on or be. It was just the best feeling, and one that I shall not only miss, but cherish. We did not know. We did not have any idea what was going on behind the scenes. We did not hurt anyone. We did not support what was going on. We did not know.

I also think it is incredibly important to note that he is not the first, and he sure as hell will not be the last. The amount of famous men that have done many of the same things MM is being accused of, and some much worse is insane. I think people may also be shocked at how many allegations are out there about their favourite singer, their idol and the lead singer of that band that they go see every year. At a time when my parents were younger, this sort of behaviour was almost deemed normal. It was okay. It was accepted. People turned their heads. Women were abused all the time. Women were men’s play things. That was the life women had. Thankfully, this is no longer the norm, although of course it is still somewhat part of being female.

I feel conflicted, confused and I’ve babbled on for far too long. Do I love MM’s music? Yes I do. Do I still love MM as a person? No, I sure as hell do not.

[Blog title: Eraser - Nine Inch Nails].

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erin-bo-berin · 4 years

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Darkest Storms & Brightest Rainbows (Part 1)

MASTERLIST

Part 2

Part 3

Hard Love (unoffical part 4)

Finally, the first part of my “Cat fic” is here! I kept some lines and plot lines from the show, but I also added some different elements. For example, there’s a lot of scenes/references from Entropy and Date Night later on, but I didn’t include much from Red Light. You’ll soon see why.

I began this at the end of last year and didn’t think it would see the light of day as it wasn’t going anywhere. But after some inspiration, I finally finished it. I decided to break it into three parts in honor of the three Cat episodes. Besides, if I had wrote one long fic it would’ve probably been around 15k words. Anyway, this way I can leave you guys hanging in suspense for a little bit (mwhaha 😏). Lastly, I just wanted to say I chose this title for this 3-parter because the characters go through some dark storms but also experience some bright rainbows along the way throughout this story. Enough of my rambling, I hope you all enjoy. 🥰

Spencer Reid/Reader

Rating: G (part 1 only has some angst)

Word Count: 4,143

It’s truly fascinating how one small drop can create a ripple in the water.

That was what meeting Spencer Reid was like.

It was a typical day at work at the coffee shop you’d been employed at for almost a year. Life had slowly been getting somewhat back to normal for you. It had been a hard previous year when you lost both parents to a car crash. Living alone was difficult, but you were making it work.

It was like a breath of fresh air to find work in a DC neighborhood cafe. You loved being able to form relationships with some frequent customers and hear about their days; it was surprisingly very cathartic to connect with so many people after feeling so much loss.

There had been a small breather between waves of numerous customers when he had first appeared at your counter for a coffee.

His order was just as unique as he was; coffee with whole milk and a little bit of honey.

He was cute. He was really cute.

His shaggy brown hair was probably just a touch too long and in need of a cut, but his loose curls made it work and it looked good on him. He had light eyes that would shift from green to brown, depending on how the sun shone through the window next to the counter and a smile so bright it rivaled the sun’s rays.

Something else you’d noticed, he was tall. Possibly 6 feet, if you were to guess. With a lean frame and a slight shyness about him, you were instantly intrigued.

You saw him more often, never managing to get his name, but managing to pick up the tiniest details about him.

There was a slight cleft to his chin, a shadow of a feature that was dominant in some others, but only was fully shown on him at certain angles.

The same went for the chameleon like dimples he sported, only showing up now and then. Every time, they made your stomach flutter, just about as much as he did.

He had a smattering of freckles that you could mainly see only up close. Not the usual freckles that would be across the bridge of the nose and cheeks on an average person, but random ones. A few under the outer corner of one eye, a lone one on the far side of his forehead, one on the side of his cheek, just along his cheekbone, another larger one on the opposite side just underneath his earlobe, plus many more tiny ones scattered everywhere.

Everything about him was unique.

His hands were large and gentle, always carefully handing you money for his drink and taking his order from you.

He was sweet and always polite, asking you how your day was going, wishing you a good day when he left.

He also had these small habits of licking his lips or squinting his eyes just the tiniest bit, without even being aware of the actions.

It was actually a bit pathetic how much you’d learned about this stranger yet couldn’t even muster up the courage to ask for his name.

It was one day, maybe six months after you’d first met the handsome stranger when you decided to take a chance.

He’d come in bright and early before 8 am dressed in gray dress pants, a purple dress shirt rolled up to his elbows and a two toned purple tie. Slung across his body and resting on his hip was his usual tan satchel that you’d seen him with every day. You didn’t even have a clue what his job was.

“Morning,” he greeted with a bright smile.

You greeted him back, automatically reaching for his coffee that’d you’d been in the midst of preparing.

“Large coffee, whole milk and honey?”

“As always,” he chuckled.

Unlike other larger chains, it wasn’t a normal thing to label a person’s drink with their name, so it wasn’t easy to find out his name; hence why you still hadn’t learned it.

You were fastening the lid, about to hand it to him when you asked.

“Um, just out of curiosity, who would this coffee be labeled for?”

The minute the words were out of your mouth you wanted to take them back. It sounded so awkward and weird. Labeled for? You wanted to hit yourself.

A small smile tugged on his lips.

“Spencer. Nice to meet you—” he paused, waiting for you to fill in with your name.

“Y/N.”

He took his drink, turning to leave before pausing.

“Have a great day, Y/N.”

Less than a month later, you’d gone on your first date with Spencer.

•

Three years later, life looked a lot different.

You no longer worked at the coffee shop, but now worked from home. It took a little time, but you eventually found out you had a passion for being a social media manager for different brands. You loved social media and posting content for brands was rather fun.

You and Spencer had hit it off during that first date, considering you’d been dating for almost three years now.

As much as you missed your previous work family, you had a big new family that you’d come to be an (unofficial) part of, within these last few years.

You had finally found out after a few dates that Spencer worked for the FBI in a unit called the Behavioral Analysis Unit as a profiler; a position that uses an art of studying behavior and a lot of psychology to catch killers. It was interesting, but dangerous work. It did come with some good things though, like a work family that was like a real family. You, too, had grown close to his team members through the last few years. They were like the family you had desperately needed since your parents’ passing.

It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows in the BAU between the long hours and dangerous cases, but you were always there for Spencer. You were so proud of him and impressed by how good he was at his job; you were also proud to call him your boyfriend.

Recently, the BAU was dealing with a group of assassins, some that were hired through the deepest parts of the dark web. It had begun with one hit man that specialized in making his hits look like accidents. He had been seeking revenge on his customers and that led to the BAU discovering that there were a whole network of hitmen, each known for their own method of killing.

There was a chemist.

A sniper.

A bomber.

And the deadliest of them all, Ms. .45.

A black widow, Spencer called her.

She’d been the only one to evade capture and Spencer was going to be the one to lure her out.

You were freaked, to put it mildly. Just from what Spencer had told you about this woman, you knew dangerous didn’t even begin to describe her.

Unlike her former “co-workers”, she liked to be up close and personal with her targets. She played her games and when she was done, she’d shoot them without a morsel of guilt to drag her conscious down.

“Spencer, I really don’t think you should do this.”

You were sitting on the bed, watching him loosen his tie as he simultaneously told you about this case and changed out of his work clothes.

“Y/N, it’s better if I do it,” he said, turning to face you, his tie now hanging undone around his neck.

“Why you though?”

It wasn’t often that you argued and you couldn’t exactly count this as a fight, but you both definitely stood on opposite sides of this matter.

“I’m the closest to her age on the team. If anything goes wrong, she’ll be most likely to negotiate with a peer.”

“But Spencer,” you frowned, “I don’t like the sound of how dangerous she is. If she believes that you’re a client, she could kill you.”

“We aren’t going to let it get that far,” he assured, sitting down on the side of the bed, next to you.

“I just worry about you, always being in dangerous situations. I know it’s just a part of dating someone who works in your profession, but what if something happens to you?”

You can’t help the tiny crack of emotion in your voice and he pulls you into his arms.

“Nothing will happen to me, okay?”

You nodded into his chest and he pulled back, frowning at you.

“I don’t like to see you sad. I want to see that pretty smile of yours.”

His fingers tickled your side and you tried to hold back the laugh bubbling in your throat. You were extremely ticklish and he only ever used that against you at a time like this.

“Stop,” you squealed, trying to wriggle away from his touch, but he kept tickling you.

“Nope, not a chance,” he grinned.

You fell back on the bed, laughing and squirming as he continued his tickle torture.

“There we go,” he smiled, satisfied, “There’s that smile.”

You grinned more shyly as he cupped your face with his hand and kissed you gently.

“Just be safe, okay?”

“Always.”

He kissed you again, his lips parting from yours to trail down your jaw to your neck.

“Is this your way of distracting me?” you chuckled.

“Hmm, maybe,” he smirked.

“No complaints from this corner.”

His lips returned to yours, kissing you with such intensity, it left you breathless for a moment. Your lips moved with his, your hands tangled in his hair.

The rest of the evening was spent doing nothing other than a little fooling around.

•

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Garcia asked.

On the screen of her computer you saw Spencer entering the restaurant and speaking to the hostess before being seated.

“I’m sure,” came a moment later.

“We’ll protect him Y/N.”

This statement came from Aaron Hotchner—Hotch for short—, Spencer’s boss. You were grateful that Hotch had even let you be here, yet still the dread twisted in your stomach.

Garcia had hacked into the cameras to allow you three to see what was going on during this take down. Spencer sat facing the camera.

Only moments after he’d been seated at the table did a petite woman walk up.

She was slim with a short, angled cut. Her dark hair seemed to be in perfect place, just like the fake smile she was showing. She was dressed in a form fitting teal, sleeveless dress. The bottom was embellished in some sort of sparkling beads or perhaps rhinestones. She looked harmless enough, but you knew better. Looks could be very deceiving.

“Reid, we have you over her left shoulder. Do you copy?”

You watch as your boyfriend briefly glances straight towards the camera and taps a quick, stealthy answer on the table, with two fingers.

“I already hate her,” you glowered at the screen, watching as her hand lingered on his arm, seduction written all over her face.

“Put the claws away tiger,” Penelope muttered.

“So, how far along is your wife?” the hit woman you now know was named Cat, asked.

You watch Spencer swallow nervously, playing the part of an apprehensive first time customer.

“A few months. Do you, uh mind if we don’t talk about her?”

Cat was quiet for a moment. You can’t see her face, but somehow you just know she’s studying him.

“Let me see your ring.”

He furrowed his brows, but took it off handing it to her.

“You say you’ve been married for four years, right Spencer?” She studies the band, turning it over in her hand.

“Yeah.”

“For a 24 karat ring, it sure looks rather cheap. Apparently she loves you as much as you love her,” she tossed the ring on the table with a clank.

“Also, if it were four years old, it’d look more worn, don’t you think?”

You hear a click over the audio. It sounded suspiciously like a gun cocking and your eyes widened in horror.

Penelope gasped.

“Is that what I think it was?”

“Yes,” Hotch answered her, “She knows.”

“You’re not married Spencer.” Her gun was pointing at him under the table, unbeknownst to the other diners in the restaurant.

“And guess what? I didn’t walk into your trap. You walked into mine.”

“Oh no,” Penelope breathed.

“I’ve got a gun pointed at your crotch right now, Spencer. What’s to stop me from taking you and the little ones out right now? It’d be such a shame; doesn’t Y/N want kids?”

“Hotch,” you growled, “He didn’t sign up for this.”

“He knows what he’s doing. Let him handle this. If it truly becomes a dire situation, we have backup in there with him.”

You pick at your nails, tuning back into Spencer and Cat’s conversation.

He ignored her remark, continuing to stare her down.

“You honestly think I’m dumb enough to waltz in here thinking you’re just another deadbeat asshole that’s tired of his wife? I know way more than you think I do. The BAU is the only one that got this close to us. But I’m still the only one left,” she smirked.

“Doesn’t mean anything. I’m good at what I do,” Spencer retorted.

“Tell me. Are you this cocky with Y/N?”

Your eyes narrowed, glaring at the screen.

“I’d love to shove my foot right up her-”

“Y/N,” Hotch chided.

“Sorry.”

She’d scooted around the booth closer to him, her hand sliding into his suit jacket and down his button down shirt. You couldn’t clearly see what she was doing, but you got the general idea. He jumped when her hand brushed his crotch before reaching into the waist of his pants, pulling out his gun with a smirk.

“So tell me, did you actually knock her up or was that just part of your cover? I mean unless you’re here to put a hit on her which is totally fine by me. I’m not one for commitment either.”

“You leave her out of this,” he growled, glaring at her.

“I bet you’re wondering how I know about her, right? Probably the same way I know that Blondie over there is part of your team, just waiting to take me down. Am I right?”

Spencer stayed quiet, his gaze hard on her.

“Do me a favor and tell her to take a hike will you?”

“Stand down,” Hotch says from next to you. You know enough about the plan to know that the entire team can hear messages from him here at the BAU.

You watched as JJ set the drink she’d been sipping on, down on the bar. She’d dressed in leather pants, a low cut black top with a quarter length sleeved, maroon fur jacket over it to appear as just another fancy dinner guest. She passed their table before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Thanks for playing, sweetie,” Cat smiled at her disappearing form.

“Now, tell me more about yourself Spencer. Why don’t you?”

Cat rested her chin in her hand and watched him, her gun laying by her side where she could have easy access to it.

“Don’t you already know all about me?”

“True,” she made a face, “Then tell me all about me.”

“Well, for one, you’re quite loquacious.”

“I’m gonna pretend that means sexy,” she grinned flirtatiously.

“Gag me with a spoon,” you mumbled.

“Now, like I said,” Cat continued, “Tell me about me.”

“You’re a psychopath that runs a different course than the rest of your fellow hit men. You like to be up close and personal, watch men lie and try to seduce them all before turning on them and killing them. Which in itself speaks to many deep rooted issues.”

“Is that your way of saying I’m just another woman with daddy issues?”

“You said it, not me.”

“So, how exactly did you find me?” She rested her chin on her laced fingers and cocked her head at him.

“Does it matter?”

“Of course.”

“Fine. It all started unraveling when we first took down what we thought was a lone hit man. One who specified in making hits look like accidents.”

You can hear Spencer still talking through the monitor as you paced back and forth behind Hotch and Garcia, your nerves getting the best of you.

You jump when you hear loud feedback from the mic.

“What was that?”

“She muffled the mic. We lost audio,” Penelope grimaced.

On the screen, you can see Cat’s hand on his tie, thumb over the microphone, her mouth moving as she says something to Spencer. He turns in the direction where Rossi was slyly approaching their table.

With a few words that were unheard to the three of you, Rossi backed off, heading towards the kitchen.

“She caught on to Dave being there too,” Hotch mumbled.

“Hotch, this is not going as you planned, is it?”

Your question remained unanswered and by the way his posture remained rigid you knew you were right. That did little to reassure you.

“Entropy reigns supreme in this whole situation,” you grumbled.

You looked over and saw Hotch and Garcia staring at you quizzically.

“What? Isn’t another definition for that, lack of order or predictability or gradual decline into disorder?”

Hotch arched an eyebrow.

“Okay, maybe I used it wrong. I’ve heard Spencer use it before. This is why he’s the genius and not me.”

Nothing else was said on the matter as you three’s attention was turned back to the screen where Cat was talking to Spencer again.

“I’ll let that slide considering I learned something important about you.”

“What’s that?” Spencer questioned.

“Your backup. I’ve flushed them out. It’s just you and me now.”

“Guess again, bitch,” you mumbled.

You knew, as well as the rest of the team, that Tara and Morgan were still in there.

“I know you’re stalling, but why?”

“Cause I know there has to be a pretty impressive crowd of agents out front, just waiting to take me down.”

“You’d be correct,” Spencer deadpanned.

“Which is why you’re going to walk me out of here. I get away with no issues and no one gets hurt. If not,” she paused.

She ran her fingertips over the gun that she’d moved to the table, just in his line of sight.

“I have a fully loaded gun that can do quite some damage.”

“You won’t do it though,” he challenged.

“Oh wouldn’t I?”

“No because shooting up a restaurant isn’t your style. You’re more calculated than that. You like less mess, more mind games.”

“So you do understand me, Spencer,” she smirked, “Then you’d understand that I need you to call off all the FBI agents so I can leave quietly.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Spencer shrugged, not breaking his eye contact from her, “I’m not letting you walk out of here if I have to hold you down myself.”

“Would you hold me down and leave bruises that wouldn’t go away?” she purred.

“Is that what you want?”

“I bet that’s what Y/N wants,” Garcia mumbled.

You opened your mouth to respond, not sure if she meant you doing bodily harm to Cat or your wanting Spencer to do that to you.

“Focus,” Hotch reprimanded.

“No, I want the agents cleared.” Her hand tightened on her piece.

“Everyone stand down,” Hotch ordered, “We let her walk. Reid let her go.”

“Well?” Cat pressed.

You saw him bite his lip, clearly trying to make up his mind what to do.

“Reid. Let her go.”

“Spencer?”

Cat was getting annoyed, that much you could tell and you knew she was definitely a person you didn’t piss off.

“Fine, you can go.”

She gathered her things, standing up to leave.

“But you won’t,” Spencer said.

She turned, gazing at him.

“Excuse me?”

“I found your father,” Spencer challenged.

“Reid, what are you doing?” Hotch asked, glancing at Garcia who just shrugged in response.

“Spencer, no,” you whispered, anxiety flooding your senses.

He was playing with fire and if he wasn’t careful, he was going to get burned.

“Tell me where he is,” Cat demanded.

“Sit down and I will.”

You glance at the two next to you.

“This wasn’t part of the plan, was it?”

“No,” came the terse answer from Hotch.

You see her sit once again across from Spencer.

“To prepare for tonight, I had to do my research on you,” he started.

“Is that so?”

“Lewis, Morgan, try to clear out the restaurant as subtly as possible. If this goes wrong, she could start shooting. I don’t want any injuries on my conscience tonight,” Hotch commanded.

You didn’t see their movement on the screen, but within a few minutes there were more than the normal amount of waiters moving along the tables.

“I found your father Cat,” Spencer continued, in effort to distract her.

“You’re lying.”

“Does it look like I’m lying?”

“No, but I know you are because I never mentioned that I found him myself. He’s been dead for years, Spencer.”

You saw her reach for her gun at the exact moment a commotion towards the front of the restaurant broke out. You couldn’t see on screen what was happening, but it was all the distraction she needed.

Hotch was barking orders and you heard Spencer shouting something to Morgan.

It was later you found out that against Lewis and Morgan’s wishes, someone—most likely a waiter—had started freaking out. Whether that caused the following events to happen or not you would never know, but it sure didn’t help them either.

“Oh my god,” Penelope gasped.

Your eyes were glued to the screen and the horrible events that were beginning to unfold.

Cat had Spencer by the arm and her gun was pointed directly at him. She had him in her claws and she wasn’t about to let him go without a fight.

“Get everyone out of here!” Spencer hollered.

You heard the rest of the people fleeing the dining room, Tara aiding them, but you didn’t take your eyes off of Cat and Spencer.

“Well lookie here,” she grinned up at Spencer, “Back where we started. You and me and a gun.”

“We can talk this out,” Morgan said, slowly approaching, his gun still aimed Cat's way.

“I don’t know Agent Morgan,” she smirked, “I don’t like liars. How do I know that Spencer is true to his word? He’s already lied once.”

“Let him go and we’ll talk,” Morgan said.

“It’s too late for that.”

A loud crash came from the front of the restaurant. Distraction number two. You couldn’t tell if it had been planned by Cat or not, either way, it was her perfect moment to strike.

Multiple gunshots sounded.

Time slowed down.

Penelope cried out.

Hotch cursed.

You fell to your knees.

In a split second Cat had shot Spencer and he went down, bright red blood beginning to stain his dress shirt.

Shots were fired from Morgan’s gun. Tara went running after Cat, Morgan went running to Spencer’s side.

There was commotion on the screen. Tara came back in from the direction of the kitchen where Cat had run. Luck must have been on her side because she had disappeared into the night.

Everything changed in one quick moment.

Spencer had been shot and Cat had gotten away.

•

You had no memory of how you’d managed to get from the BAU to the hospital, but here you were, fidgeting in a chair, tears streaming down your face. You hadn’t even had a chance to see him before you got to the hospital and you were wracked with worry with how he was.

The last thing you remembered was falling to the floor, your head feeling woozy as you tried to process what was unfolding before your eyes.

Spencer had been rushed into emergency surgery and you waited anxiously with the rest of the team in the waiting room. You were positive you hadn’t stopped shaking since you heard the gun go off.

The awful sound rang in your ears and every time you closed your eyes, all you could see was Spencer falling to the ground, blood soaking his shirt.

You looked up when you heard the click of heels and saw JJ coming back with an update on Spencer. The look on her face sent a feeling of cold, icy, fear through your body.

“He didn’t make it,” she whispered.

A buzzing sound rang in your ears and you were sure you’d heard wrong.

“What?” you croaked.

“Spencer’s gone,” she choked out.

The guttural sobs that came from deep within you didn’t even sound human. Your anger and your pain melted into one.

Cat Adams would pay for this.

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#spencer reid #dr spencer reid #spencer reid gifs #Spencer Reid fic #spencer reid smut #dr spencer reid fic #dr spencer reid gifs #dr spencer reid smut #cat adams #spencer and cat #Criminal Minds #criminal minds gifs #criminal minds fic #criminal minds smut #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you

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yanara126-writing · 3 years

Text

Death and the Sunrise (1/2)

Berath has always known their role, they are the axis on which the Wheel turns. They are stability. They are not mortal, not alive, not a being with a family. And yet, as Eothas once again goes against all they were created for, they only watch.

Read here or on Ao3. (1451 words)

Have fun! Comments always welcome! :)

Your eyes are open, though something tells you they shouldn’t be. You look around. The world is purple. How strange, you could have sworn it was dark just a second ago. Did Berath call you again?

“I have not. Your soul is bound to this place now however, and sometimes it seeks the way back here on its own. You will not remember this once you wake.”

You blink in surprise.

“You wanted to ask.” Berath says, looking at you with the same stoic face she has always presented at your meetings. Is the deity even capable of something else? And how did she know the question that never quite formed enough to be asked?

“You are one of my creatures now, hound, as much as you were his. There is nothing of you I do not know.” At some point in your life that may have intimidated you, but at this point, what is one more ominous claim.

Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but for a moment you think Berath’s feature softer, an odd tinge of fondness appearing and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

“Indeed. You have come far from your days spent cowering in his protection.” You blink again. Cowering seems an unfairly harsh choice of words for a childhood.

Berath remains steadfast. Her hands on her sword, towering over the tiny spectral form before her. Unfaced. Unmoved.

“For someone who knows so much, you understand very little, child.” And what should you understand? It’s not like any of them ever explain things! Except for Woedica now apparently, and you are very hesitant to believe anything that woman tells you. You doubt Woedica has ever done anything without an ulterior, self-serving motive since the day she was born.

“You know better than most that we were not born, Watcher, no matter what my brother likes to pretend. Why do you insist on referring to us like this?” Because- because they are alive too, in their own way. Aren’t they?

“We are not, Watcher. We weren’t born but created, each of us had a purpose they were crafted for.” Something remains hanging in the air. Something aside from the ever-present soulfragments flitting about as if searching for a new body already. Had a purpose?

Berath’s gaze remains hard and cold, ever the world’s constancy, but it seems farther now, almost looking through you. Seeing something her own wheel had long crushed.

“Most of us have long lost that original purpose. You see what my brother has become, do you think Eora would still stand had he always been like this?” And how should you answer this? You see the destruction your god wrecks in his path every day, and each time break a little more. For all those come to harm, and for Him, for you know just how much it breaks him as well. Could it really be worth it? Could it be worth what would come after? You feel your head tilt up to the looming figure, like a child seeking affirmation from a parent. A strange way to think of Her of all the gods, but it seems appropriate.

“I have no answer for you.” How can She not? Does She not think it will work? Why does She still let Eothas go free if She doesn’t?

For the first time Berath’s stoic façade moves. The goddess of death sighs, a long sigh, deep and filled with more emotion than you have ever felt from Her. She sounds tired. But the crack in her composure is already gone the next second.

„My brother is a soft-hearted fool. And I am too for allowing him his weakness.“ You don’t understand. How could you?

“I have told you that we have lost our original purpose, my brother is not the only one for who this is true.” Berath’s gaze is almost expectant as it settles on you more deeply. You feel like a young acolyte again, being tested in school. But for once you think you might know the answer, even if you’re not entirely clear on the question. Woedica?

Berath nods and you feel a strange rush of satisfaction.

“Woedica was created as our queen, but her power and ambition posed a threat to us and kith, and so we dethroned her. She still is, still holds her title above us, but the truth is, her role has changed. She is no longer queen or judge, though she pretends to be. We have accommodated to this change, and the years have not passed us by either.” You stare up at her, more confused than before. It was more than she’s ever told you, and yet it’s far too little to truly make sense of her words. Why is she telling you this?

“Because you won’t remember regardless. You never do.” A wave of defiance floods through you. Why shouldn’t you remember? This is the one time you actually seem to get some answers, and you will make sure to write down every one of them later.

Her odd choice of words passes you by, unnoticed as defiance makes you stare upwards.

Berath is as unmoved as ever. Obviously, she doesn’t believe you. You will make sure to prove her wrong.

“What you believe is of no significance to me.” Then why tell you?

Berath looks at you. To others it might seem like any other time she’d looked at you, but you know better. She looks at you like Eothas once did, standing in an ocean looking back at you. Brows pinched just so, her shoulders a tad lower than before, and her eyes the matt black of a starless night sky, you feel a vague sense of regret settling over you.

“Because I do not wish for my brother to die.” At any other time, you might have rejoiced at the words, but now they are only infuriating. What does it mean? Why should He die? How will you knowing this help Him? Especially if, as Berath claims, you won’t remember it?

“You won’t remember, no, but perhaps, if I just tell you often enough, He will.” Something presses against you, sharp and insistent. The purple in your sight becomes darker, denser, and you feel the weight of an uncountable amount of soul pieces pulling closer, latching onto you, as they recognize your turmoil. You understand, they are confused, and you are familiar, something alive, stable. It doesn’t make bearing their attention any easier.

Berath takes one hand off her sword far above you and swipes it through the air, as if flicking away insects, and perhaps for her it is. The souls clawing at you are ripped away, scattering back into the beyond, and for a moment you stumble after them from the force of the command.

The next moment you find yourself back in the spot you stood before, without remembering any movement on your part. You glance up to Berath, confused and frightened at the reminder that this is not your realm. You have no power here. You are as much at her mercy as these souls around you.

You want to keep asking, but you feel your throat close up and no sound comes through. Vaguely you are aware that you have no throat here, but logic has no power against the fear welling up inside you. The world around becomes unfocused, her face alone takes up your sight. White, bony skin stretching across high cheek bones, eyes blacker than the void surrounding you, stringy hair just as dark hanging limply over her ears.

You feel cold. Your surroundings are too loud and too quiet at the same time. Something pulls at you. Is it her? Has she finally grown sick of you? You can’t die again! You have to know! You have to ask! You have to-

You hear quiet thumps and feel a soft swaying beneath you. A familiar queasy feeling already settles in your stomach and you swallow down a groan. Your body feels heavy and sluggish, much like you felt almost every day five years ago. Whatever you dreamt last night, it can’t have been good.

You throw your arm over your face, the coolness of your skin helping somewhat against the headache building behind your eyes. Any dream or nightmare you had is long gone from your memory, so you’re fairly certain it wasn’t another memory. Your brain always made sure you’d remember those.

With a sigh you pull yourself from the bed, putting a hand against the ship’s wall to steady yourself. There is work to be done. You only hope you’ll hit land today.

The strange feeling of urgency stays with you the whole day.

#Pillars of Eternity #writing #genuary 2021 #Berath #Eothas #The Watcher #character study #Berath has feelings too

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too-much-sunshine · 3 years

Text

Fangs for the Hospitality

Chapter 5

Summary: After Roman leaves his family reunion mad at Remus, his car breaks down. The huge snow storm forces him into the forest hes always been told to stay away from. Who will he meet? And why are they being so nice? Most importantly, why are his teeth so sharp?

A/N: My self-indulgent magic/vampire fic! Let me know if I need to tag something or you wanna be tagged!

Relationship: Familial DAM, Eventual Roceit, Eventual Intrulogical

Warnings (per chapter): Some Panicky thoughts from Roman, mention of late parents, reference to homophobia/transphobia (Romans family just sucks),

Catch up!: Master list, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4

Word Count: 3241

Read on AO3!

Roman opened his eyes to light shining in his face. It wasn't extremely unpleasant since it was warm, but his eyes burning was something he didn't want to continue. He rolled to the side of the bed and faced a...fireplace? Oh yeah...He was in a random person's house...after almost freezing to death..in the middle of a scary forest…

‘If I wasn't terrified, I’d make the joke that Remus would be so jealous.’ Roman thought as he slowly sat up in the bed. It seems the person he'd met last night was right about sleeping to gain strength back. He could actually use his arms now.

Sitting up he realized the room looked very different in the light of the day then in the dark of night. It was very nicely put together. The walls were a nice pale yellow with the beams in the ceiling exposed to show the nice dark lacquer. The furniture of the room matched the dark coloring of the exposed wood with some red and gold accents as well. The room looked regal, and expensive, dramatic even. Roman felt a bit out of place.

Roman closed his eyes and leaned his head back. He took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. He still felt a bit out of his wits, but he was starting to calm down a bit in the quiet of the morning.

“Hello!!” A loud voice said from his right.

This caused Roman to startle so bad he was within inches of falling off the bed. Most of the sense of calmness he worked up immediately was lost in a matter of seconds. Roman brought his hand up to his rapidly beating heart as he took gulping breaths in.

“Oh no! Don’t worry! I’m not here to hurt you! I just wanted to say hi and actually meet you! You kinda died last time we met and I just wanted to make sure you are okay! Daddy says you just got really really cold and when I’m really cold I like warm hugs but I’ve been told that I’m supposed to ask people if they want a hug first but I couldn't ask you because you fell asleep.” The child took a deep breath since they had not since they started speaking.

Roman took a long moment to catch up to what the child had said. They just spoke so fast with such expressiveness Roman couldn't keep up. Let alone he was sure this room was empty not a minute before the child had spoken.

The child stood in the corner of the room with an amazingly bright smile. They rocked back a forth on their heels making their curly brown hair bounce around with them. The child was wearing light blue overall with a pastel yellow shirt that had white flowers embroidered on it. They looked to be around 8 years old and if Roman remembered correctly this was the kid that opened the door last night. Did he ever get their name? He couldn't remember.

Roman realized that the child was waiting for an answer to their question. Their question to….Oh! Hug Roman. They wanted a hug. From Roman? And he doesn't even remember the kids name. But the longer Roman took to answer the more the kid was looking dejected. Panicking, Roman answered them.

“Umm. I...Suppose?” Roman slowly opened his arms.

The child's face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning and climbed up the bed. The speed at which this child climbed up to him surprised Roman a little. They crawled into Romans arms and burrowed their face into Romans chest. Roman sat frozen for a long minute, then slowly lowered his arms around the small child.

For someone so small, they were quite warm. Roman couldn't remember the last time he had had a real hug. Distantly he thought about how it was kind of sad that the first hug he could remember was from a child that he didn't even know the name of. But he pushed that thought aside and squeezed the small child a little tighter.

He was very surprised at how trusting this child was. He was basically a stranger to this kid and yet they were so...comfortable around him. He had never met someone so trusting, even for a child.

“You know there's a spell on your door, right?” The child spoke suddenly, interrupting Romans thoughts and still huddled close.

“Oh there is, is there? How so?” Roman smirked. He missed the whimsical way children would speak. This one must have a big imagination. Much like Roman did when he was their age.

“You can’t see it? Look!” The child turned and shuffled so he was still close to Roman, but was now seated at his side under his arm.

They then pointed at the door and looked up at Roman with big, excited eyes.

“Look at the door! There's a yellow outline around it! That means daddy put a spell on it!” The child smiled brightly, then suddenly it turned into a childish pout. “I don’t know what it is though. I haven't been able to find out cause I’m not good at magic.” They huffed as they crossed their arms.

“Aww hey bud don’t say that! I’m sure you’ll get better. You just need some practice is all! Do you have a wand or something? Maybe I can help you!” Roman replied, smiling at the kid. Their eyes started to shine with unbridled excitement.

“You know magic!?” They asked, jumping off the bed.

“Of course I do! I’m a Prince after all! All princes know magic in some way! I just haven't practiced in a long time so forgive me if I’m a bit rusty.” Roman said with a smile as he also finally got out of bed. He got to his feet just fine, though he still felt a little weak. Though it was something he could easily brush off, the room was spinning a bit. But he had a child to entertain! And playing pretend was Romans favorite game. Roman took a deep breath and pushed past his slight weakness.

Roman walked to stand near the kid at the foot of the bed.

“Now! Where is this wand of yours?” He asked the excitable child.

“Oh, I don’t have one! Dad said that I draw my magic from the earth and stuff. So anything thats alive I can draw my power from!” They said with a big toothy grin, striking a power pose.

“Wow that's really cool! You must have been doing this magic stuff for a long time to know so much.” Roman praised. He would admit that was quite detailed for a child. But being this far out in the woods he's sure he could come up with some expensive magic lore as well.

“Well yea,” the child said, “Dad said I was born a witch!”

Roman continued to smile and nod even though he didn't quite understand. The person he talked to last night seemed quite nice. Definitely not the type to call their child a witch from birth. Though that's a pretty small insult so the child most likely didn't understand. He supposed he didn't actually know the person… Maybe he wasn't as kind as he had originally thought.

Roman thought it best to continue to play along with the child. They seemed to be having fun and Roman had to admit that he was also getting a bit into the game of make-believe. “Well that is really cool! I myself was born a Prince as you were born a witch. But not too long ago an evil woman tried to take away my title! So I ran away to live on my own and chose to keep my name as Prince Roman.” As Roman told his short tale the child listened with rapt attention.

“Woooww! That's amazing you must be so stroongg!! That lady must be so mean! I’m gonna beat her up for you!” They brought their fists up to show their...lack luster strength. But Roman appreciated the sentiment.

“That's okay kid. I don’t think I’m gonna see her again. I don’t want to go back there anymore anyway. Now! Let's do some magic! Show what you can do!”

“Okay!” They said. “But…” The child got really close to Roman and pulled him down by the sleeve to whisper in his ear. “Don’t tell my dad. He doesn’t like when I do magic in the house when he can’t watch.”

Roman smiled at the new seriousness that the child took on. Roman mimicked the same eer a well.

“You have a Prince's honor.” Roman said as he raised his right arm.

The kid gave him a once over. Seemingly finding what they were looking for, they took a step back and closed their eyes.They took several deep breaths and held their hands palm up in front of themself. While continuing to breath, they started to sway a bit.

Roman continued watching closely to see how long this kid was gonna commit to the whole ‘I can do magic’ thing. He was waiting for something small to happen, like a creek in the floorboards or a sudden draft, to blame on the kid. He would of course hype it up to say they moved a mountain or caused an incoming storm.

But before either of them even had a chance to speak up, heavy footsteps could be heard bounding toward the closed door. The door banged open hitting the wall, which caused Roman to jump. In the doorway to reveal a less than pleased looking Janus with a small child poised on their hip.

They paused at the door seeing that Roman was out of bed and standing next to the foot of the bed. His son was in the center of the room, doing his deep breathing exercise he had taught him to help manage his magic. Looks like he showed up just in time.

Roman stood frozen, starting at the person in the doorway. Were they the same person that he had met last night? They looked so much different in the light of the day. The slim, yet on the shorter side. They had dark black curly hair mostly covered by their circular black hat. They were wearing a yellow turtleneck sweater tucked into black high waisted pinstripe pants.

The small child they were holding was hiding their face in the sweater. They were wearing a small purple beanie that covered their black hair. The scared child was holding a stuffed toy of the cartoon animal Stitch so tight his tiny knuckles were white. They couldn't have been any older than 3 years old.

Janus finished assessing the scene in front of him and finally spoke up, addressing his child.

“Patton dear, what have I told you about magic without my knowledge?” Janus asked, slightly bouncing the toddler.

“To not do it in the house…” Patton said, hanging his head.

Janus sighed. “It's okay honey. Just want to make sure you're safe while...playing.” He said the last word slowly, while looking directly at Roman.

“But dad! He said he's a Prince! And that he knows magic as well! He was going to help me learn to control my magic more and then I was going to help him beat up some old lady who tried to make him not be a Prince!” They said looking back and forth between Roman and Janus. All previous shame gone in an instant.

“Is he now?” Janus inquired. “Well here I was treating you like a normal person.” Janus looked over Roman, who looked very uncomfortable, and bowed deeply. The child on his hip started to giggle, peeking their eyes out. “Now, your highness I promised you breakfast this morning but since you are already up you can join the rest of us at our table? I can guarantee it won’t be as grand as you are used too, but I’m sure we can work something out.” He grabbed the child that was on his hip under their arms and placed them by his feet. “Patton dear, can you take your little brother to the dining room and set up a bit? Breakfast will be done shortly and I wish to speak with the Prince.”

“Okay daddy! Let's go Virgey! I pour you some juice and then we can color!” Patton grabbed the little child's hand as skipped out of the room. If Roman would have looked any closer he might have seen the door glow a faint yellow for a second, before the color faded away.

Janus watched his kids leave the room with a small smile on his face. After they were completely out of earshot Janus turned fully to Roman.

“So. A Prince you say?” Janus asked.

Roman was extremely uncomfortable. He felt like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Yet there was really no reason to feel this way. He just… did when people talked to him. He always just assumes he's in trouble. He decided though that the truth is the best course of action here.

“Haha yeah no not really. Patton just seemed really into the whole magic thing so I thought I’d play along. They are very sweet…”

“They?” Janus asked, raising an eyebrow. It was off topic from where he wanted to go in his questioning, but his curiosity caused him to pose the question anyway.

Roman froze. Did he fuck up again? He shouldn't have let the slip when he didn't know how tolerant these people were. They were as close as you could be to living under a rock. They were so far in the forest.

Then again maybe they would be cool with it? It's not like Roman knew the gender of any of the people here so he just… Didn’t want to assume anything.

But that excuse did not work in his family. When he said that before he had gotten a long lecture from just about everyone in his family. It was like they all took turns, repeating the exact same ignorant shit. He remembers leaving that specific Christmas party and just crying alone in his apartment. That was not a good night.

Roman was so lost in thought he didn't even realize when Janus took a few steps closer to him. Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts Roman looked back up to Janus. He took a deep breath and hid his slightly shaking hands behind his back. He decided he might as well try and explain the truth again.

“I...I didn't want to assume any of your genders and none of you explicitly told me. I didn't want to be rude.” Roman said not directly looking at Janus.

Janus was largely taken aback. He was not expecting the stranger to be so...considerate. Janus looked the stranger up and down, searching for any sign he was lying to him. Finding nothing that could condemn him as such he decidedly spoke instead.

“Well that's very kind of you. I myself go by he/him. Both my sons do for now, but they are welcome to say otherwise whenever, or if ever, they wish. You?” Janus asked slowly.

“Umm… He/him as well…” Roman answered in a slightly shocked state. He never in a million years thought that Janus would be so chill about it all. It was such a stark reaction to everyone he had ever talked to about these things. Except the one person at the theater he had met, they were very chill since they were nonbinary. Roman had learned a lot from them.

But even if Janus was chill now, Roman still felt that everyone had a limit. So maybe he should just say he only used he/him and grin and bare it for now.

“Mhmm,” Janus hummed, “Okay, now that that's out of the way, I would like to know when my son came into the room? I happened to be taking Virgil to the kitchen when I heard Pat from outside the door. How long had he been here?”

Janus seemed slightly concerned, and Roman only had a few guesses why. Most of which included leaving a child with a random stranger that they had only met last night. But once he started to think about it, he knew when Patton scared him, but not how he came in. Surly Roman would have seen the door open; it faced the bed. Roman took a few steps back till he took a seat on the bed.

“To be honest I don’t quite remember when he got in here. I didn't see him come in, only when he scared the beegeebies out of me when he said hi. So maybe only about 20 minutes? I’m sorry. I understand why you wouldn't want me around your kids. I don't know you and you don’t know me. Sorry I randomly showed up at your door. Pat and I didn't do much, just played a bit of pretend before you showed up. Oh and he also wanted a hug when he first showed up. Sorry if you didn't want me too but he just looked like he would cry if I said no and I didnt want that so he crawled on the bed and we talked about magic for a bit.” Roman said, speeding toward the because he was running out of breath. He was also getting a bit anxious at the way Janus was just staring at him.

Janus was more interested in the fact that they talked about magic more than he was that Patton had hugged him. Pat was a very touchy child. His biological parents were very giving when it came to physical affection, so Patton was very used to it when he was taken in by Janus. Janus had to get used to Patton just running and hugging him. It had taken quite a while to teach him to ask first.

“Oh you talked about magic? What did Pat say?” Janus inquired.

Roman was a bit confused at the path the questions were taking. But not wanting to upset Janus anymore then he assumed he already had, Roman answered anyway.

“Umm.. Ye-yea. He told me the door had a spell on it and told me that he's bad at magic. And I’m never one to turn down a kid's wild imagination so I entertained him a bit. I told him that I would help him practice since I’m a magic Prince. You showed up right before he showed me any of his magic tricks though. I was just playing along with him, not trying to lie.”

Janus sighed and nodded his head. He looked around the room seemingly trying to find something to say.

“Okay. Well, I’d appreciate it if you weren't alone with my children. You are still a stranger to us and I’m not willing to trust you yet. You should probably feel the same about me. Now, let's take this talk to the dining room and we can decide where to go from here. Follow me.” As Janus finished he turned around, waved from Roman to follow, then walked out the door.

Not wanting to keep Janus waiting, he quickly followed him, still not noticing the faintly glowing door.

Next Chapter!

Taglist:

@primaveradoodles @bluerosesbleedred

#sanders sides fanfiction #eventual roceit #eventual intrulogical #fluff #TftH #Roman sanders #Janus Sanders #Virgil sanders #patton sanders #magic au #verys fic #homophobia mention #transphobia mention

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writtenbyhappynerds · 4 years

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Unit 3: Face Claims, Please Stop Using Emily Rudd

Ok. So now lets look at face claims. Face claims are a broader topic to character creation and OCs as a whole. I like face claims. They’re great, because they allow you the writer to get in your head what the main character looks like and how they fit in with the cast and the world. I have nothing against face claims, I use them myself because I like to visualize what I’m working with. However, as we’ve seen in Unit 2, it’s on the writer to convey what the character looks like. As we’ve seen in Unit 1, the character should be cohesive with the rules of the universe. Face claims and characterization can apply the first two units very easily.

Reference images are for your eyes only, so that you can see what the character looks like. When describing a character, pull details from your reference image to explain what they look like. You do not have to be overly specific. Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way is a prime example of being overly specific, given the first paragraph of her fanfiction My Immortal is:

“Hi my name is Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair (that’s how I got my name) with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee (AN: if u don’t know who she is get da hell out of here!). I’m not related to Gerard Way but I wish I was because he’s a major fucking hottie. I’m a vampire but my teeth are straight and white. I have pale white skin. I’m also a witch, and I go to a magic school called Hogwarts in England where I’m in the seventh year (I’m seventeen). I’m a goth (in case you couldn’t tell) and I wear mostly black. I love Hot Topic and I buy all my clothes from there. For example today I was wearing a black corset with matching lace around it and a black leather miniskirt, pink fishnets and black combat boots. I was wearing black lipstick, white foundation, black eyeliner and red eyeshadow.”

Never do this. I will find you and we will have a very nice conversation about how to improve your writing. Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way breaks the three big rules of characterization and character description: She drops the face claim directly in the narrative (Amy Lee, lead singer of Evanescence), she describes every characterizing feature about her (vampire teeth, ebony black hair), and she describes her complete outfit. To give a better standard of describing characters, we are going to fix Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.

Young Adult novels very often stick to height, hair color, eye color, and body shape. This is something you as an author should think about, but sticking just to this blueprint can be pretty generic. When you look at other people, those aren’t the only things you notice, right? Those aren’t even things you necessarily need! A big example of going against the grain of the standard is found in The Great Gatsby. Despite having loads of color imagery, we never learn what Daisy’s hair color or eye color is. But somehow, we don’t need them because we are supplemented with, “Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it. Bright eyes and a bright, passionate mouth.” Fitzgerald focuses on how his characters carry themselves and their facial expressions. These give descriptions of their personalities. When he does describe hair color or eye color, he does it in a way that fits with the style and vibe of his writing, and you as a writer can do the same.

In my own personal opinion, eye color does not need to be described immediately. You can save small descriptions of your characters and sprinkle them in throughout the story, rather than dumping an appearance in one paragraph. In one instance you can describe what a character’s wearing, and in another later on, describe their hair as they pull it away from their face. Describe it as it changes from the normal. Jeremy Scott’s The Ables is a great example of character description and characterization. The main character is blind, which means that the cast gets by on contrasting personalities. We don’t know the ethnicity of many of the characters until we’re halfway through the book, and the main character only learns his basic appearance because it’s been described to him by his parents. Things like eye color and hair color and how tall someone is don’t matter as a whole. What matters is how it can be applied and further the story and the personality of the character. A character having curly brown hair? Don’t necessarily need that. A character who takes the time to curl her brown hair every morning? That tells me something about that character. Small moments, and giving descriptors through details can really help you avoid the paragraph dump.

Character Bios are the bane of my existence. Do not put character bios in the beginning of your fanfiction. All you’re doing is giving me a paragraph I’m not going to read. Character bios are lazy writing. It’s low-hanging fruit to mention them as something to not do. There are so many ways to incorporate detail into a story. By putting in a character bio, you tell the reader that you either: don’t know how to incorporate these facts, are too lazy to incorporate these facts, or don’t care enough about what you’re writing to incorporate this information that we must know immediately about your character. In addition, we don’t need to know your character’s favorite color and the music they like on page one, so why do that to yourself? Not caring about your work can ruin a fanfiction. If you don’t care about what you’re putting out there, how can you expect your audience to care enough to read it.

Another important aspect of characterization is show-don’t-tell. Which we’ve all heard, but I’ve rarely seen it used. When used effectively you can draw the reader in, and allow them to use context clues to draw their own conclusions. A good rule of thumb, and the Show Don’t Tell 101 is that you show emotions, and tell feelings. You don’t need to tell me how the floor swayed under someone’s feet and they felt as if they were underwater. You can just say they felt tired that morning. However you can show emotion, and show the full range of anger and pain when someone’s upset to convey properly how that character is feeling. This is something that requires a light touch. It ties in with context clues and foreshadowing. I shouldn’t know from the third line of dialogue of a Shane Dawson fanfiction that the OC has an eating disorder. I shouldn’t know when exactly two characters are going to end up together, or when two characters are going to split apart. It should come as a surprise. An example I can give is a story I have of two spies who fall in love. From the first chapter, it’s obvious to the reader how this world is a game to them, and how they click and exist on that same wavelength. Chemistry can be obvious. Banter can be a fun way to express chemistry. What wasn’t obvious in this story, was that one of the spies would be killed by his own organization. What wasn’t obvious was how this would shape the other spy, who became the main villain of later works. If you make the narrative obvious I want you to then surprise the reader. Because you yourself will get bored. That’s why you see a lot of fanfics get dropped after three chapters- the writer has it all planned out how something will happen, and this plan becomes boring, but they don’t try to change the plot to make it more exciting. Throw in a wrench. Shoot someone. Spice it up my dudes.

We titled this chapter Please Stop Using Emily Rudd because one, we see Emily Rudd, as well as other girls who will be in an imgur album at the end of this chapter, way too often as the main OCs in fanfiction, and two, they represent a saturation and an insecurity in the market of main characters. We as writers don’t need to rely on these girls, and we actually keyhole and limit ourselves when we stick to stereotypical goth/emo girls (ex: Eugenia Cooney, Aly Antorcha, and Taylor Momsen face claims), or pale girl with dark hair and green eyes (Emily Rudd) same thing different descriptor for Nina Dobrev, or that red haired girl with green eyes who I couldn’t find a name for but she’s in almost every Harry Potter and/or Weasley sibling fanfic so you know who I’m talking about.

These girls should not be the standard of OCs. On top of that, not every OC has to be “strikingly beautiful” some of these OCs are like, 11-12 at the start of the fanfic. It’s ok to not describe how pretty they are. On top of that, not all of the world looks “strikingly beautiful” and that shouldn’t be a character descriptor. When one fanfiction I read had the love interest describe the OC as, “nothing to look at,” they contrasted everything else I’d read before because they made the beauty in that character not about what she looked like but her actions and who she was as a person. She became more beautiful as the fanfiction went on because of her personality, and by the end of it, it made sense that the love interest fell in love with her because he loved her as a person, not as an object. That’s what it boils down to. These girls don’t have to be pretty thin models and celebrities to be good face claims. Spending less time on the appearance, and more time on the personality makes for a character more beautiful and more believable than if you used some model. Don’t feed the manic pixie dream girl trend.

Moving on. Your character should not fill a hole or replace a member of the cast. They should bring a new perspective and add, not take conflict from the original work. For example, if you are writing Harry Potter fanfic, the character should not be composed of all the attitude Harry and Ron didn’t get in the movies. If you write Sherlock fanfiction, the character should not be the voice of reason to apologize for Sherlock’s antics while still doing the same things as him. In my own Psycho-Pass fanfiction, my character should not be a manifestation of Shogo Makishima’s soul. All these things do are fill holes in the story without adding to the narrative. If they were removed the story wouldn’t know they’re gone. If you can add conflict or alternative plots to the narrative, making the characters and the cast go through something they didn’t go through otherwise, you make the OC matter more. There used to be a beautiful Harry Potter fanfic that got deleted, where the OC went on full fledged adventures without the cast. She did her own thing, hanging out in the Harry Potter universe. This fanfic worked because the OC was the star of her own narrative. She wasn’t hanging on to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco. They did their thing, and she did hers. It made for a great fanfic that I’m very sad to have seen the end of. Try and give your character something to do that doesn’t involve the cast. Think of it like fanfiction’s version of the Bechdel Test: Can your OC go through a chapter of fanfiction without relying on the cast.

Let’s revisit our darling, dearest, dead, Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Ravenway. Using what we’ve discussed in the previous paragraphs, I am going to attempt to fix the introduction given by our dear Enoby in Chapter One of My Immortal. Pray for me.

By Year 7 at Hogwarts, I had given up on the uniform. I’ve been at this school for too long to keep wearing the same damn thing, and as soon as I’m done I can bow out of button-ups and itchy sweaters. Professor McGonagall had a fit when I walked in last year with purple and red streaks in my hair. I smile as I imagine her face when she sees my miniskirt and corset. I sloughed in front of my mirror, carefully winging out my eyeliner and dabbling my lids with red eyeshadow. I popped on a black lip, blew myself a kiss, and felt stupid for doing so.

McGonagall didn’t even let me make the Great Hall. She marched me back, and forced me to change into the school uniform. I added pink fishnets and combat boots, and rolled my skirt up before heading back down to the Great Hall. My classmates gave me a wide berth. As I walked past a cluster of Slytherins I could hear them whisper.

“Fangy bitch.”

“Say that again?” I said setting my sights on them. “Do you really want to insult me now? I haven’t even had breakfast yet, though I could make an exception.” They scurried off. I flipped them the bird as they went, and carried on downstairs. Remus Lupin was the best thing to ever happen to this school. Yeah, he was a werewolf, but I felt a little less alone. At least there was more than one monster running around here.

Next week we will be discussing names. Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way will make a return, as well as some other names that are uncomfortable and cringy to read. This is your warning now, that in 2 weeks we will have our first exam for Fanfiction 101. I did say in the introduction that there would be an exam, and it’s on its way. We will give you more information next week when we see you to discuss Nameberry.com.

Supplemental Instruction: The aforementioned imgur album of overused face claims and OCs. Think of this like a newly minted banned book list.

https://imgur.com/gallery/SpIGZhF

#ff101 #fanfic #fanfiction101 #writing #fandom #Harry Potter #DC #Marvel #Victorious #Addams Family #Supernatural #Twilight #Sherlock #Original Works #OC #percy jackon and the olympians #Percy Jackson #Avengers #self-insert

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 4 years

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Winner’s Curse Ch. 20

So here’s a brand new chapter. Some mentions of Tangled the series characters. And of course, some double crossing. Enjoy. "Why are we here?" CJ squinted suspiciously at the ;avish room they were in. It was stone like the rest of the castle, decorated with lavish tapestries and filled with multi-colored orbs and chests of fake golds that looked filched from Jafar's Junk Shop they were so rusted. She knew each member of the Coven had their own private room, decorated to their theme but since this didn't have a sea theme or a Bayou theme, she was out of luck of guessing who this one was. What's more she didn't care.

It had been almost two weeks and though CJ had studied the waterways, scoured the uncleaned, and trash-filled sewers for secret passages, and secretly inspected the ships she planned to plunder, Lady Caine hadn't listened to any of her plans. More specifically, Lady Caine hadn't allowed her to even talk about her plans. Even though the self-proclaimed pirate queen had given her the mission to create a plan to pillage Auradon with her fleet, she decided to load CJ with a new job of spying on the Coven to find out their plans.

Though CJ was all for a good backstabbing against the high and mighty sorcerers that liked throwing their weight around. BUt CJ bristled at being given another mission. Like Caine was handing off duties to her as if she was some second in command. And CJ was no one's second command. That was Harry. That was Smee. She had ambition, she had guts, and if Caine was trying to use her, she swore she'd... "Caine, darling!" A voice cried and in walked a violet eyed brunette with the longest legs CJ had ever seen. She wore a purple dress matched with a black trench coated, both looked quite new leading CJ to believe she was one of the new transfers like Circe and Morgain le Fey. "CJ, this is Staylan, daughter of the notorious kingpin, and a wonderful thief herself." Lady Caine explained, kissing her deeply, and CJ held back a laugh at the ridiculous name, "We have similar plans for old Queen Rapunzel and her prince when we take over Corona."

"Oh no, not me. I'm over Ryder. It's Beast I have a problem with." Staylan growled, "How dare that mongrel send me and Brock here. Rapunzel vouched for us. She lectured me about being good years ago and I listened...mostly. A girl's gotta have some fun."

"So what's that gotta do with me? Why are we here?" CJ demanded to know, a bit of the impatience that she had been holding in the past days starting to spill over. Plans were all well and good but all this waiting was making CJ anxious. She spent 10 minutes pacing the floor just going over her plan obsessively. That Hook trait was starting to get hold of her and was driving her crazy if they didn't enact a plan. "This is our hideout. Oh, CJ, we can't stay in Maleficent's castle forever. We need our own allies. You don't think we're going to act as enforcers for the Coven? We have our own insiders. we're going to cut the Coven off at the bridge and take over Auradon ourselves through infiltration." Caine said.

CJ couldn't stop the way her mouth dropped from surprise even though she knew it made her seem unprofessional and out of her league.

Caine had been keeping this secret from her! But what about her plan?

She needed to rearrange all of her strategy if they weren't going to be relying on the Coven's magic.

Also there was the darker thread running in her mind. If Caine was keeping this from her.

What other surprises were waiting?

"Helllllooo Staylan?" A man's voice called and said horse-named girl rolled her eyes, "Coming my prince." "You're with that control freak?" Lady Caine raised her eyebrow sardonically.

Staylan shrugged, "Sure, I'm married to Hans but that's only for the money. Brock is my true husband. We're all very open."

CJ's mouth dropped again. She heard the rumors that Prince Hans had married but since Lars had often talked about his father's sadomasochist nights with Drizella and other prostitutes, she had assumed they were just that, rumors.

But he was married? And his wife was cheating on him? CJ knew he would not be a fan of that. Like Caine said, he was a control freak and into pretending he was still royal. "I know. I was there Friday night." Lady Caine smirked.

"Hey, he has his affairs, I have mine. At least I have the decency not to do it in the dungeon when he's in the castle. I can hear Drizella's screams all night long. It's impossible to sleep." Mmm that explained it. Unofficial open marriage. Very common.

"Anyway, just wanted to drop in to let you know that Hans is also willing to support your takeover of Auradon and block any of the Coven's efforts. Lars will even overpower Staqauit if need be." Staylan said. "Thanks, Stal. Please let Morgain in when she knocks." Lady Caine instructed. "Knocks? That freaking le Fey never knocks she pops in her like a-ahhrgh!" Lady Caine opened the door to reveal a Morgain le Fey and one huffy Staylan walking away. "Can you explain what she is doing here if she's part of the Coven?" CJ reluctantly whispered as Morgain ignored her and began to use a portable cauldron to do some sort of spell.

"CJ, you're smart. Why do you think she's here if she's part of the Coven we are double crossing?" Lady Caine turned the question back onto her. "She's double crossing them too." CJ answered, feeling a bit unsteady, a bit seasick which never happened to her. After all she was a pirate at heart and loved the sea. But all the double crosses, she was starting to feel uneasy that there was something else Caine was holding out on her and that was Caine was going to doublecross her next. Why else had she been so eager to extend the hand of mother-daughter relationship after all these years but to use her for something?

The suspicion that her mother would be willing to betray her wasn't what upset her. It was the fear that she had no one to use now.

Her dream of getting her birthright was starting to slip.

Sure, she'd have the satisfaction of defeating her brother's girlfriend's Coven would have been nice. But nothing like getting the Jolly Roger. Nothing like proving she was better than Dad. Better than her siblings.

She would be the new legend. She had to. She needed two new plans now. Double cross Coven and double cross Mom.

"So what did you learn from the meetings?" Caine asked. CJ had sneaked around the meeting room, doing the tried and true tactic of hiding behind the curtains. So obvious, no one noticed her and she found out the date of their attack. “Good. See, Morgain calls the insiders from Auradon. Some of those goody goodys want the Beast to burn as much as we do. We tell them about the Coven. They go stop them and while they're on the Isle, we take over Auradon and kill the beast. Got it." CJ nodded. She understood and mentally, she was taking notes. She would need this. For now, she had to pretend she was still gleefully under her "mommy's" thumb.

"Ready to meet our inside contacts?" Lady Caine smirked as a blue flash enveloped them both. ———————————————————————————————————-

"I'll be ready in a minute dear." FG's voice called from the lobby that led to her Student Counselling room.

Alexandria shifted restlessly, rolling her eyes even though FG wasn't there to be shocked at her rudeness. She heard the way too happy godmother laugh, cooing something about "Oh Jane, that's very sweet." So sweet. That's one way to define FG. So sweet and peppy you could get a toothache from the sheer sacherinne bibbidi bobbidi boo-ness.

She could still hear FG chuckling and decided to look at the notes written in her Counseling Folder because if Alexandria knew anything, sweet was not everything. Sweet was the facade FG used to hide her real thoughts about people.

Alexandria shifted the open folder from her desk and eagerly read the contents to see what FG really thought of her attitude during their stupid counselling sessions that she hadn't even wanted in the first place.

Lately she hadn't felt any interest in school. Everything was boring.

What was the point of learning Potions, and Commotions if magic wasn't allowed in Auradon. Why should she learn Royal Politics if she wasn't technically going to rule as princess even though she was part of the Atlantica Royal Family.

Everything was useless.

Not that she slacked. She didn't allow herself to get anything less than a B. She was her mother's daughter and she would make her proud in a life so filled with disappointment.

But FG had noticed her lack of enthusiasm and pulled her into these bogus counselling sessions that have lasted for two months.

Admittedly, she hadn't thought it was going to suck when FG first suggested it. In fact Alexandria had felt relieved. Finally someone would listen to her about this hollow emptiness that seemed to permeate most of her days. Listen to her frustrations about her family and the rest of Auradon Prep students who barely knew her name.

The complete opposite happened. FG was sweet as eve, but her advice was asinine and from what she read of FG's notes, she didn't understand her at all. Alexandria of Atlantica and Olympia Contrary to the happy display at events, Crown Princess Attina's and Crown Prince Thor's (which Alexandria insists on others referring her parents to their former titles as King and Queen of Atlantica) arranged marriage had not blossomed into love as the public was led to believe. They are married out of duty and professionalism in order to lead their citizens. Since the Great Uniting of Kingdoms and relinquishing king/queenship of Atlantica, the couple lost the only tie binding them together.

Princess Attina has moved on to working on Atlantica's tourism and nonprofit businesses to protect the reefs and Atlantica's ecological system. Thor has no interests nor the skills since he had only been trained to rule and seems to be engaging in extramarital dealings. Alexandria is absorbing this dysfunction to become morose, defensive and irrational, blaming her parent's estrangement on her Aunt Ariel whom the populace has elected to be the new queen. I will call Princess Attina and suggest family counseling to improve Alexandria's attitude in school.

Alexandria threw the folder back on FG's desk, wishing she hadn't looked. She knew FG thought she was being defensive. She saw the plastered smile as FG encouraged her to "think positively" and see the issue from another angle and her life wasn't "so bad as she was making it out to be." But she wasn't irrational! She had a right to be "morose" about this.

Aunt Ariel was to blame for her parents losing their kingdom! Aunt Ariel could have done so many things when people elected Aunt Ariel to be queen. She could have refused! She could have given it to her mom. She could have said she didn't want to be queen of Atlantica as well as Uncle Eric's kingdom. Besides that election hadn’t even fair! For the sake of the new monarch-democracy, King Beast allowed all of Auradon to vote for the king and queens of the new united kingdoms. And all those strangers from Agrabah and Charmington and China and Camelot, peasants and fairies voted for the ruler of Atlantica to be Ariel, overwhelming the votes of the mermaids in Atlantica whose tiny population compared to the rest of Auradon brought an overwhelming 75% Ariel to 25% Attina.

Of course they voted for Ariel. Ariel was the one they knew. The quirky and adventurous mermaid who sacrificed everything for love. Not her mother. The eldest, the responsible daughter who had trained and been brought up to be a ruler, who had already married her father so they could unite their two sea kingdoms, whom the people of Atlantica loved as queen. And now 10 years later, her parents were miserable, her beloved home was a tourist trap that was polluted, littered and filled with obnoxious foreigners taking pictures and scaring fish, and she was stuck in this boarding school to be told to look at things positively and be happy that she is a princess, she could be less off like a VK.

FG walked into the room and Alexandria stood up. She couldn't bear to stay in front of her doughy cheeked, happy peppiness

“I have to go FG," Alexandria stared at the ground, sure if she looked at her face she would begin to scream all the obscenities running through her head, "I-I have a test tomorrow."

"Alright honey. After knowledge and learning keep you happy through life. But I still feel we should continue meeting. My suggestion for this week is to try not to think about the past. Just focus on the happy now." FG said softly, a "comforting" hand patting her shoulder, the sincerity oozing out like oil rippling through ocean waves. Alexandria didn't answer. She just turned and stalked out the room, a million thoughts crashing in her head and pressing against her chest in a tight coil."Don't focus on the past." Easy for her to say when the past was still directly affecting her present. She hated to read the Atlantica Courier everyday to see a new plea for tourists not to litter or will face severe consequences which never came to fruition because they could just bribe their way out. Read about the newest oil spill or kelp forests being harvested for spas. Read about her mom's hard work in various Atlantica nonprofits that took several years of board meetings and schmoozing and still didn't accomplish all the goals Attina wanted.

Whenever she visited the palace for vacation, she'd see her grandfather avoid looking out the windows because of how changed the kingdom was. Dull, grey, the coral eroding. Her aunts visits, exhausted from hosting Atlantica tours and arranging kingdom-wide clean ups of the reef while trying to find time to carve out careers based on their own passions. Passions pushed aside when their kingdom turned into a tourist attraction.

Her dad, when he was home and not off trying to find some new entertainment, would lead her around the royal treasury, telling her of their family history and all he had learned. His royal lessons that were useless to him now that he had no kingdom.

Sometimes she'd hear her mother crying alone in her room at night, but by day she'd be back to her stoic grim determination. Act like a true queen and keep her feelings inside so she could lead those who needed help more than herself.

So lost was she in her thoughts that she was jolted out of them when she was banged against the lockers. One particular bejeweled lock scraping her shoulder. When she rubbed, droplets of blood smeared. "Heyy, oh sorry Arabella! Nice solo yesterday in Auratones." Herkie yelled as he rushed off.

Arabella! Freaking Arabella. Somehow all of Auradon could remember the names and sometimes the order of the seven dwarfs, but remembering the name of Aunt Ariel's six sisters was beyond their capabilities. So for someone to confuse her with her cousins was a common event.

Despite the fact that some of them were even blonde or redheads and thus very distinguishable from Alexandria’s own dark brown hair. Not that anyone would ever confuse her with Melody. Oh no, no one would ever forget Melody, being the daughter of oh-so amazing Ariel. Her story was just as memorable as her mother's. How cute it was that Ariel wanted to be a human while Melody wanted to be a mermaid. Adorable! Alexandria always had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at that. Everyone seemed to think that her aunt and cousin were so courageous chasing after what they wanted. No, they were stupidly impulsive and lucky.

Ariel was lucky that Eric returned her love. If he hadn't, Atlantica would be in ruins, Aunt Ariel dead and Eric married to a witch. And sure, Ariel defeated Ursula but if Ariel hadn't tried to bargain with Ursula in the first place, then Ursula wouldn't have gotten close to Atlantica in the first place! Ariel was one of the lucky few to get a happily ever after. Much like all of Auradon's beloved couples but if others tried to do the same and follow their hearts...

Her grandfather still sometimes laughed and cringed thinking of the great Land Migration where mermaids and mermen, inspired by Ariel, tried to find potions to walk on land. People transformed into fish, clams, even a few seagulls. Those who managed to find the right one only stayed for two hours on land, finding the surface world to be as messy and awful as Sabastian always warned. Aunt Ariel had been so lucky that way. She barreled into situations and she always came out on top. While her mom worked and strived to do her best and had everything taken away from her yet she didn't complain. She didn't tell Alexandria her problems nor would she confide in grandfather Triton, she heard the way her mom dismissed his concerns. She'd just say she was the queen, it was up to her to take care of things. Grandfather should just enjoy his retirement. Alexandria should be a teenager.

But Alexandria wasn't blind. She could see her father sneaking other women into guest rooms. Could hear the fights between closed doors. Feel the silence during family dinners. Alexandria dug out her phone and called her mom to get voicemail. That's what always happened and she left her usual message, "Hey Mom, just checking in. I love you. I'm thinking about you." It was a small thing but she always did it. Her mom had to know she had her by her side no matter how bad things got.

Or if things stayed the same. And that's what Alexandria secretly feared.

Every day being the same. Nothing changing for the better. She'd be stuck as Alexandria with a meaningless title. Princess Alexandria of Atlantica. Always confused with her cousins because nothing of her life was special.

She'd work at her mother's nonprofits trying to fulfill familial duty to make Atlantica better but reach nothing because she wasn't special enough. If Ariel told people to pick up their trash and drink Atlantica's famous kelp smoothies, people would obey like mindless sheep. But if it was Alexandria urging people to think of the environment was like screaming into the void. It would have been worthwhile if she was going to be queen. She understood the duty but all work with no crown, no citizens to advocate for. It was useless.

She was useless.

This was what the rest of her life was going to be like. Her chest clutched tighter and her heart pounded. She could hear the pounding in her ears as it came faster and faster. Oh great Neptune, she felt like it was punching against her chest.

BaBOOM BaBOOm BaBOMBaBOOMBABOOMBABOOMBABOOM. She ran, she ran as if she could escape the drumming heartbeat in her body, her feet echoing its rhythm as she bounded up the steps.

She struggled to open the door to her room, the lock feeling extremely slippery in her trembling grasp. She couldn't and knocked frantically on the door. Some part of her mind knew it was irrational yet she started to feel that if she wouldn't get into her room, her heart would explode. She was going to die in this hallway, if not from a heart attack but from lack of oxygen, she felt like she could breath. She couldn't breath, she tried to remember what Aunt Ariel had said when she first came to land. She had to breath in and out but she couldn't think how exactly she was supposed to do that, She needed water. She wanted water.

"Woah woah what is all the bangin-" Victoria Porter opened the door to their room and Alexandria pushed past her to flop on her water bed. Not like the lumpy bed other students had that jiggled but her bed was a glass case of water that felt so like home.

Her heart was still bursting out of her chest and she vaguely registered Victoria rubbing her back, asking if she needed water or something but Alexandria couldn't speak. It felt like hours passed but she knew from the times it had happened before, it had probably been only a few minutes.

"Hey.. what happened?" Victoria asked as Alexandria wiped her eyes from the tears that had formed.

"You know, life sucks." Alexandria managed beyond the lump in her throat, "I had another "counselling session" with Fairy Godmother and she wrote that I was irrational for blaming Ariel about my parents."

“Ahhh," Victoria nodded understandingly, "You're not irrational. Don't listen to her, After all, she's the same woman who thought reviving the world's worst and most heinous villains to put them together on the Isle was a good idea. COme on, she's hardly the epitome of someone acting rational. She is in favor of the Magic Ban, she is going against her roots." Alexandria sniffed, and smiled a little considering how Victoria used to be in favor of the Magic Ban.

Victoria had felt magic was a short cut and couldn't solve everything. Not like science which always progressed forward. "True."

"You know, I'm right." Victoria leaned on the glass, "I know something that will cheer you up. Kyro and Morrían are available to start talking to Caine."

Alexandria immediately sat up, spilling her water onto the floor, but she didn't care. "Now? In the middle of the day They're hardly awake during the day like weird vampire people." Alexandria cried.

"I don't know why they're up now but they are. Come on, Caine said she has something very important to tell us." Victoria pulled out her phone as Morrian's serious and Kyro's bored faces popped up on Auradon-Face, "We're all ready. Bring on Caine."

Morrían’s tangled black tresses had a way of framing her violet eyes that whenever she was annoyed or angry, it would like two flashing orbs sparkling out of a dark cave, just as they were now at Victoria's cheerful attitude. "Porter, you must remember to call her Lady Caine." "Ugh she's no lady. She's a pirate." Victoria scowled. “Well we are working with her and we better keep a good relationship with her until we can turn her over to the authorities." Morrían reminded.

"But she's a thief. She's evil. Why shouldn't we remind her that she's a lowly little-"

Morrían’s eyes flashed and Kyro chucked, the Never fairy seemingly to wake up from his usual unimpressed expression to enjoy the potential hexing. Morrían’s fingers steepled her fingers together, blue flames flickering menacingly.

The gesture had its intended reaction as Victoria slumped a little and pursued her lips, no doubt remembering that Morrían le Fey was the daughter of one the most dangerous and morally flexible magic user in all of Camelot. "Now then, I shall call her up." Since Lady Caine was a mortal on the Isle and obviously had no ability to use magic, Morrían and Morgaine would work in tandem to briefly teleport Lady Caine to Camelot so they could all see her from Auradon-Face. There was a flash of blue behind Morrían’s screen and Lady Caine and the pirate that Alexandria recognized to be as CJ Hook appeared.

“Why is she here?" Victoria growled. "Relax, she’s my kid. She's part of the deal." Lady Caine smirk, "She won't betray us. She wants Auradon to go down just as much as we all do."

Alexandria managed to school her face from the obvious shock she felt to know CJ Hook was not only Hook's daughter but Caine's as well, and side-eyed Victoria. They wanted to bring down Auradon. That's what they allowed Lady Caine to believe.

What they wanted was a revolution to the past.

It had all begun after Cotillion. It had been at one of the kingdom press conference/town hall that they had met and found they had similar issues with the kingdom they lived in. They wanted to go back to the way things were before the Uniting and the creation of the Isle.

Alexandria had always known Victoria's fiery opinions about the latter. The formation of the Isle led to the creation of Vks when villains were better off dead. Now Vks were trying to get revenge on behalf of their parents.

Stellar future planning King Beast.

Victoria’s view was that the Vks should stay on the Isle because it was a waste of time and energy to integrate 11 year old and older to Auradon. It led to some sibling friction between her and her older brother, Kerchak who was on King Ben’s side that some of the kids could be reformed.

Alexandria was unsure of her stance on the VKs. Morally, she knew it was better to get them away from their parents but on the other hand, they seemed more trouble than they were worth. Truthfully, The whole Isle of the Lost was more of a distraction to what she considered bigger problems that existed within Auradon. Since the formation of the Isle was one obvious mistake, then other decisions King Beast had made that should be changed. The whole Great Uniting should be reversed. The first major problem was the Auradon-wide elections of people voting in things they weren't informed in like when they voted for Aunt Ariel, an inspiring story, but unprepared princess, to rule Atlantica.

Secondly was the arbitrary melding of kingdoms so the continents became one mega continent leading to turf wars like China vs Agrabah in the Great Olive Oil-Carpet Fights until King Ben had resolved it after his father left the issue unattended.

There was the fact that the kingdoms were not equal now they were united. Atlantica was being used as a playground for royals to trapiese around in their underwater vacations. Arendelle's ice was being transported among all the kingdoms instead of being fairly distributed to its own people. Atlantis was besieged by pissed off scientists that wanted to explore and dig in its ruins instead of respecting the purity of the culture that came from being isolated.

Then there was the Magic Ban which Kyro and Morrían felt very strongly about for the obvious reason of their magical heritage. Kyro didn't like that in order to "fit in" with the other students that he had to take Wonderlandia potion to grow human sized and hide his wings. Furthermore, he hated the compulsory education that he was expected to attend because he was the son of the semi-famous Never bad girl fairy, Vidia. He did not find any use in classes about politics and history. He wanted to go home and embrace his fast-flying roots as part of the rest of the Never fairy system.

Another strike he hated was that because his father was Kyto, the greedy dragon of Neverland (a parentage that Alexandria wasn't sure how it worked and hated to imagine), he was also forced to attend the patronizing Remedial Goodness class with FG. Morrían had the more pressing problem that adults wanted her to be sent to the Isle of the Lost after they had already sent her mother away from her in the second purge of potential villains after Cotillion. Morrían despised what she saw as the hypocrisy that mortal royals could do whatever they wanted and reach after their dreams but immortals and magical creatures like her had to hide their gifts or hold back in order to make things "fair." Nevermind that hiding their magic felt unnatural and painful to some. Alexandria understood that, she remembered the first time she had used her legs, living on land with its arid dryness and lack of fluidity. No one had believed her that she felt shooting pain every time she walked, she had been so unused to the jarring rub and grind of leg muscles and of course, having to actively remind herself to inhale and exhale air.

She had gotten used to it.. after a month but she knew others like Morrían whose magic was part of their essence that it felt suffocating. Like wearing a corset all the damn time. So they had to go back. Back to when they were all isolated kingdoms. Allied but separate. Each kingdom dealt with their own criminals and the Vks that came from them, their trade and magical beings themselves. No one had to be uniformed with others or bend down to the will of richer kingdoms.

Morrían had been the one to mention that she felt there was a hole in the Barrier of the Isle, that magic was spilling into the hands of the worst villains and that she would have to warn someone. But that she felt conflicted because her mother was trapped there and she felt maybe she should let the magic stay there. At least long enough for her mother to regain her strength and break out on her own. Alexandria was the one who had come up with the idea of allowing the villains to escape. With Morgain on the inside, they'd have inside information to what the Coven was doing. They'd be able to use their tactics against the villains, and save the day. Morgain befriended Caine and got them in contact with her since she was supposedly a master technician and infiltrator since she nearly killed King Fredric back when Rapunzel first returned. Albeit their grand rescue would be a bit delayed.

They could not act like they knew too much about the Coven's plan, that they had been conspiring with Lady Caine and so they had to allow her to cause some chaos and get vengeance. Victoria had suggested that perhaps Auradonians needed a close call to see how weak the Auradonian Royal Guard was spread out among the kingdoms, they'd see that it would be tactically intelligent to split the kingdoms.

Morrían and Morgain wanted to be able to save Camelot and usurp Merlin as top sorcerer as deserved since he was just as hypocritical as FG. And Alexandria... Alexandria was willing to let some parts of Atlantica get crushed. Specifically the royal beach homes that were built there, ruining the pristine ocean with their gaudy mansions. So yes, they were allowing Auradon to descend into chaos when knowing they could save it.

Perhaps it was wrong. But sometimes one needed to strike fear and terror in order to make a point.

Auradon as it stood was not working. Radical change had to happen. She wasn't going to end up like her mom and work in the system that is crushing her. "Tell us, Lady Caine," Kyro purred, "What is so important?" She had told them that it seemed King Ben had sent another covert group to try to defeat the Coven but thankfully they seemed subdued with Jay under Jafar's hypnosis and the rest imprisoned though Lady Caine still was suspicious of the motives of Circe's son.

Although Alexandria was secretly glad there was another group ready to fight against the Coven, she worried that they'd succeed before Lady Caine could invade.

Then Jay and Prince Aziz would get all the fame. Sons of enemies teaming up and saving Auradon was just the fairy tale that people would eat up and nothing would change. Lady Caine did not respond to Kyro's smile which was odd since the two seemed to enjoy volleying seductive voices and bedroom eyes. A trait that always unnerved Alexandria.

Though she understood that Kyro was probably trying to get Lady Caine to believe they truly wanted to overthrow Auradon and let everyone they love die, it was creepy how easy being bad was for him.

Then again, he was fey. If there was anything she learned from Magical Beings: Friends and Foes was that fae operated on a different level of morality than mortals and mermaids like her. "The Coven has a date of attack." Lady Caine informed them, "Summer solstice.” The solstice was 7 days from now. "Thank you." Alexandria said, "We will contact you again tomorrow to discuss our plans." "Actually I have some ideas." CJ smiled, grandly gesturing in front of her mom but Morrian teleported them back before she could continue.

7 days time. They can do this. She wasn’t like Aunt Ariel, jumping into danger. She had this all planned out, and that meant her rescue of Auradon would be better. Her fairy tale ending would fit.

She studied and strived and looked at all the angles. She was responsible like that and though Auradon would never admit it but impulsively following your heart only lead to temporary happiness until reality set in.

But she was a realist, she was studious and that would make her happiness permanent in a new old world order.

#winner’s curse #my fanfic #my fanfiction #disney descendants #ocs #my ocs #staylan #lady caine #cj hook #fairy godmother #alexandria #victoria porter #morgaine le fey #morrían le fey #kyro

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