#everything flight related made me feel like a moth again

[nedeii]

#everything flight related made me feel like a moth again #i loved testing it in beta #i loved painting it #i loved spending time there in live #and the entrance oh the entraaance #too beautiful what can i say #favourite sky place #(one of many) #skytober2023 #sky children of the light #sky cotl #sky fanart #sky 星を紡ぐ子どもたち #cotl fanart #fanart #nedeii sky #cotl #thatskygame #skyblr #ファンアート #inktober #skytober #thatgamecompany

[writing-gifts]

datura (moth!bruno x butterfly!reader)

—–

A/N: !!!Please read this part!!! I want to list some warnings for blood and description of injuries 

if you want better details or want to skip over it you can DM or send me an ask and i can set up an edited version of the fic without it and just quick summary of what happened

this chapters rlly long compared to the others and also i made art!

First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

Reader is gender neutral!

—–

[Mid Fall]

Tightening the blanket closer to your body, you slowly make your way towards the daybed. It was another overcast day and the lack of sun made even the inside of your home feel dull. You place your cup on the table before laying down.

The weather was still tolerable but you couldn't always bring yourself to go out when you could easily stay warm in your home. But you still did your best to keep up with your gathering overall. You had a decent supply so far and as long as you didn’t go overboard with drinking, you wouldn’t be eating grain at Abilene's house for the last couple weeks of Winter. Again.

Even though lately you wanted to sleep most of the day it didn't exactly feel great or refreshing and with Bruno showing up less and less, the days seemed to be blurring together. You try to stay productive working on the moth’s sweater or gathering, but the last couple days you really couldn’t bring yourself to do it.

You sigh and force yourself to get up. Perhaps you should try going out for a walk today, just to change things up.

You go to your room and find a sweater to slip into. While wrapping a scarf around your neck, you see one of your canisters laying next to bed and decide to take it with you just in case you run into a flower you like.

You weren't exactly sure where you wanted to go so you let your legs lead you where they please.

At first you walk past your neighbors home, greeting the ones you saw along the way. Then you take a detour and venture somewhere more quiet. The pathways aren’t as clean so you have to navigate over the giant dead leaves that have accumulated all season.

While flying over the leaves you end up in the orchard. All types of fruit grew here but only apples, pears, pomegranates and surprisingly strawberries were currently available. A good amount lay scattered around at various rotting stages so this was a perfect time for a break.

You find fruit that is mostly fresh but just decomposed enough that you can easily get to the inside. Managing to find free fruit so easily available and uneaten was a good thing about Fall you suppose.

After getting tired of sitting around, munching on fruit and staring at the cloudy sky, you continue your stroll. The farther you go the more leaves there are. Soon the occasional mushroom turns to many, some of them ridiculously huge or strangely colored. At one point you pass a log covered in them.

You weren't too keen on the fungi but for some reason you always get the urge to take a bite when you see them. Of course you don't though. You can't tell the safe ones from the dangerous ones.

From there, the stroll is overall uneventful and the sites familiar but eventually you find yourself in an area that was completely new to you. The path you’re on begins to narrow, the grass gets taller and the trees get denser around you. Once it’s too thick for you to see well, you fly out of the thicket and up above so you can better scope where you're going.

It takes a while of flying, but the trees begin to disperse and the grass isn’t so overwhelming. In fact you start passing spots that lacked any. Other than the occasional dandelion and bush It was pretty bear compared to where you just emerged.

You decide to continue forward, curious about the area you've happened upon, and it doesn't take long before a wooden structure in the distance comes into view. It looked like some sort of home, and even from where you were you could tell that it was giant.

Whatever lives there must be huge….

Your self preserving side warns you to stay away since you never seen anything like it before. But your curiosity reasons that it should be okay. There were no large bodies of water in sight, and it was definitely the safest this time of year for insects as most cold-blooded predators would be much less active due to the cold. So in the end, you meet yourself in the middle and decide to go forward but keep your exploration a good distance away from the house like structure.

Once you're close enough, you find a wide dirt path and follow it, admiring some of the different flowers that were growing alongside it and in between the bushes.

Other than the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind, it was quiet and you couldn't find any other insects. You readjust your scarf.

After some time, you find something even stranger than the structure. They were all various sizes and shapes with different flowers sitting on top. You fly up to better observe the flowers and see that the things were some type of giant containers filled with dirt, and the flowers weren’t necessarily sitting on them but actually growing out.

It was definitely peculiar, but the delicious scent coming from a certain cluster of flowers quickly distracts you and beacons you closer to their white petals. It doesn’t take long for you to place the flowers’ name--Tuberose--and a certain moth immediately pops into your mind when you do. You quickly push the thoughts away though, ignoring the heat forming in your face.

You frown, noticing the plant's condition. The petals look slightly frail, some of them are even missing, so you cautiously place your weight when you land on one of the flowers. It didn't look like it was due to the weather so you couldn't tell why they looked so pitiful.

You couldn't exactly do anything about it, so instead you grab your canister where it's hanging from your hip since you hadn’t drank from this particular flower in a while.

After filling and shutting the canister, you land on the dirt in the container and everything slightly wobbles. You gasp and immediately remove your feet off to keep yourself from falling. You then fly back down in front of the containers to steady ground.

Who managed to set this up? Perhaps a swarm of insects or something huge? It had to be the latter if the house was anything to go by. You're sure you’ve heard about something related to this and you rack your brain trying to remember but can't seem to recall anything.

While thinking, you notice the container holding the Tuberoses looked quite lopsided next to the others, which caused the flowers in it to lean more to one side. You walk around the container and find long, giant cracks forming up it. Some of the dirt within it had even spilt through. You still admire the colors and patterns on the container. Even though it was damaged, it was the one that caught your eye the most.

While you trace your finger along the rough and chalky surface, the sound of rustling leaves prick your ears. You turn and look behind you and realize that you had gotten a bit too close to a giant fernbush.

You freeze, anxiety filling your whole being as you stare intently into the dark spaces within the fern. You wait thinking maybe you haven't been spotted or even better, there wasn't any danger.

The moment you see something shift in the darkness, you immediately try to take flight. Unfortunately, the creature is quicker and manages to climb part way up the container to catch you by your right leg. It tries to pull you down but you use your upper body to latch on to the edge of the container the best you can.

You scream out from the multiple sharp teeth pressing harshly into your calf but keep fluttering your wings in hopes that it will give up. Unfortunately the gecko isn’t one to give up on potential prey so easily. It continues to pull knowing that you’ll eventually tire.

But before that can happen, the container starts to lean and you yelp when you lose your grip. Your breath is knocked out of you once your head and back hit the dirt. You feel the lizard let go momentarily to bite further up your leg. Gritting your teeth, you try to kick at it but that does nothing to deter it.

Before the predator can try to take more of your body into its jaws, the container completely loses its balance and falls heavily on the gecko's body, pinning it to the ground. However, this isn’t enough for the creature to release you.

You clutch the back of your head and push your upper body off the ground. Looking at the gecko holding your leg hostage, your body begins shaking when your eyes focus on the blood seeping out of the side of its mouth. It was hard to assess the damage properly but your stomach twists seeing the multiple sharp teeth embedded into your thigh.

You swallow thickly and kick at its face with your left leg once more hoping it will give up but it just makes it bite down harder. Grimacing, you try moving your trapped leg within it but only agitates the reptile and makes it shake its head causing the rest of your body to be moved around harshly. You scream from the pain before it goes still once more. Tears begin welling in your eyes once you realize you can't escape without causing more damage.

“L-Let go.”

The gecko’s head twitches and it stares at you with a slitted pupil not processing a thing you said.

You look around trying to see if there was a way you could get out of this. But there was nothing and no one nearby. You feel at your hip and realize that your canister is also gone.

You whimper unsure what to do next. You try to think but your mind can barely form a coherent thought other than escaping.

Shit.

While you stare blankly at the gecko as it struggles to get from under the container and spiltdirt, you hear steps approaching. You look around hoping that someone that could help had wandered by, but instead your eyes land on an albino wasp instead.

Your body stiffens in fear. If the gecko didn't finish you off first, the wasp definitely would.

He approaches you completely ignoring your meek warning to stay back.

To think you were actually happy that you had forced yourself to go outside today.

You squeeze your eyes shut and wait for everything to go dark or whatever happens when an insect dies but instead you just hear a deep voice speak.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

You reluctantly open an eye and see the wasp standing near you. If you could you would have jumped back. The gecko had seemed to take notice of him too, not trying as hard to escape so it can focus its attention on the wasp. It still made it clear that it wouldn’t let you get away when you try to move your leg again and it applies force to its bite.

You grit your teeth not wanting the wasp to see you in pain.

“Stop moving before it manages to break your leg,” he warns.

You feel your blood run cold from the thought.

The gecko’s pupil follows him as he moves closer to its head.

“I'm going to get the gecko to open its mouth, then you need to move away quickly once it does."

“H-Huh?” Was the moth helping you?

He glares at you. “Just be ready to move your damn leg after I sting it.”

You tense and immediately nod your head from his harsh tone.

Right after you agree, he climbs up on top of the lizard's head. Before it can try to shake him off, the wasp presses his stinger into the crown of its head and his clawed fingers into the sides of its mouth.

The reptile resists for a moment before releasing its grip on your leg and trashing its head around to get to the wasp instead.

You quickly flitter backwards out of reach and the wasp jumps off before it can grab onto him next.

You immediately look down at your leg. Now that the teeth were out, more trials of blood pooled out of the wounds and down the sides of your thigh and onto the ground. Your calf was also in a similar condition.

Your breathing becomes labored and you barely register the wasp talking to you.

“--Let me help you back.”

He tries to get closer but you shake your head and try to scooch backwards. “No! Stay away! I--” you choke on your own words.

He watches you with furrowed brows as you try to stand up. You accidently press weight onto your wounded leg and pain shoots up the limb causing you to fall onto your side.

"Wait--"

You ignore the wasp and prop yourself up. You then quickly fly away from the area leaving him behind.

Shudders rack your body so badly you can barely fly straight. You feel the blood dripping down your leg and you yank off your scarf to press it to your thigh hoping that it would help even a little.

You fly faster not thinking about where you were heading, you just needed to get away from that place. Fortunately, you find yourself in front of Abilene’s home.

You weakly knock. Dark spots were forming in your vision but you try not to lean against the door. And it feels like forever before it finally opens.

When Abilene sees the state you're in, the amount of worry and fear that flash in their eyes is the greatest you’ve ever experienced. But that doesn’t stop them from jumping into action. They lead you inside and direct you to the couch before running into a different room.

At this point, the blood has seeped through your scarf and onto your bottom pair of hands. You try to lift your leg to avoid dirtying the couch even more but you only last a couple of seconds before you have to drop it. leaning back into the couch, you try to keep the exhaustion from putting you to sleep.

Your friend quickly comes back with cotton, water and strips of cloth.

After they place the bowl of water onto the table next to the couch, they crouch in front of you.

“I'm going to try to help stop the bleeding and then go get the medic.”

You weakly reach out for their arm. “N-No don't leave me.”

“You're safe here ____. I need to get a doctor to check out your leg and I’ll be right back, okay?”

They gently remove your hand after you nod but don't let go.

Abilene does their best to deal with your leg without causing you too much pain. But even a light graze was enough to make you flinch, so they were constantly whispering apologies throughout the whole process. You can see they were distressed and disturbed by the giant bite wounds on your leg but they don’t stop until they manage to get the bleeding to slow. They do a quick clean and hastily wrap a piece of cloth around your thigh and calf before they go out to find someone to help.

Once they leave, you feel much more tense even if your eyes were desperately trying to shut. In an attempt to keep yourself from panicking, you think about the random wasp that helped you. At least you're pretty sure that's what happened. You didn’t intend to stick around to figure it out, but now you partially feel guilty for the way you acted towards him.

Either way, if it weren't for him you’d probably be dead by now. Or one limb short.

You squeeze your eyes shut, as pain throbs behind your head. It had been hurting for a while but you were only really taking notice of it now. Your stomach turns, and all that fruit you ate before was starting to seem like a mistake.

Abilene doesn't take long at all so you luckily don't have to sit in your regrets for too long. The ladybug medic that they brought back immediately gets to work. She asks what happened and you explain vaguely while she carefully unwraps the bloodied cloth to inspect your thigh and calf.

After finishing cleaning the multiple wounds for you, the doctor applies a weird smelling cream that completely stops the bleeding and neatly rewrapps your leg with new bandages. She then leaves a jar of the cream, and a few rolls of cloth with you and tells you to change the bandages daily.

After the doctor’s gone you're still in pain but it feels much more controlled. Abilene approaches you.

“I'm going to set you up in my room for the next couple days so I can keep an eye on you.”

You nod. You didn't want to be left alone in your home anyways so this saved you the trouble of asking. “I can sleep on the couch--”

“Sorry, I’m not leaving you to sleep on this thing when you're injured,” Abilene says.

You were too tired to be stubborn so you decide to take a different course. “Let's compromise and share the bed.”

They sigh. “Okay but if I start getting restless at night I'm moving to the couch.”

The grasshopper helps you into their room and makes sure you're completely comfortable. They don’t show any worry on their face as they most likely wanted to keep the mood positive, but the way they fret over you is loud and clear so you do your best to assure them that you're doing okay even if that isn’t exactly the case.

You spend most of the day drifting in and out of sleep--your upsetting dreams being the main cause of waking you up. When you aren’t sleeping, Abilene keeps you company. Even though it had made you feel safer and made it easier to relax, part of you is dreading explaining how you even got in this situation. Not only did you not want to upset your friend but you also felt like it would be admitting to doing something wrong. Maybe you didn’t make the best choice but you weren’t sure if it was necessarily an incorrect one.

You try not to think about it, but later in the day these worries are proven to be valid.

“____?”

You turn towards Abilene sitting next to you on the bed. “Yea?”

“What--What exactly happened? “

Your shoulders tense and you bite your lip. You were hoping they would never ask but that was definitely foolish to expect.

“You know there was a gecko…”

“But there’s more right? How did you manage to escape?”

You hesitantly nod but struggle to speak.

“You know what it’s okay you don't need to tell me. I shouldn’t have asked so suddenly.”

“W-Wait, it’s okay. You asked cause you're worried. I just don’t really want to think too much about it is all." You fiddle with your fingers but continue. "I was taking a stroll around and found myself in an unfamiliar place. I was exploring and got...distracted.”

Abilene looks disappointed but you're not sure if it’s even directed at you.

“And an insect managed to help me. A wasp.”

Their expression goes from disappointment to shock. “A wasp?”

You nod in affirmation. “I was shocked too, and I’m actually still confused.”

Abilene looks like they're trying to process the information and you look off to the side not knowing what else to say.

“Well it’s a good thing they helped you. I’m r-really glad!” They smile to try to ease you but it isn’t a full one and their eyes look wet.

They completely change the subject. “What do you want to eat or drink? I’m sure you're hungry”

You decide not to point it out, lest your friend burst into tears, and simply smile back instead. “Actually, for once, I'm not.”

“Well let's still try to find something that's easy to get down, even if it’s just water.”

You nod. “As long as it isn’t wheat.”

They stick their tongue out at you. “Yea, yea no wheat.”

They get off the bed. “I'm going to go wash your scarf for you before it completely stains, then we can figure out what to do.”

-----

Unlike Abilene, you can't sleep. You stare at the ceiling watching the random shapes form in the dark while listening to your friend’s soft snores.

It was your second night at Abilene’s home and you were struggling with falling asleep again. And it wasn’t due to your friend’s snoring, and other than their arm accidentally smacking you in the face last night, you were fine sleeping next to them.

You reasoned the lack of sleep the first night was fair considering what had happened. But now you think it might be a mix of other reasons. Your body was already exhausted but it wouldn't go to sleep, like it wasn’t ready. But you were almost desperate to since sitting in the dark wasn’t exactly appealing.

You turn on your side. You at least wish you had someone to talk to to pass the time.

You spend a good chunk of the night staring at nothing in particular. By the time you finally fall asleep, dawn light is seeping into the bedroom.

Abilene shuffling around their home quickly wakes you up and you realize that you definitely need more rest but you also don’t want to spend anymore time trying to go back to sleep. You sigh and get from under the covers.

You rub at your eyes while you slowly fly into the main room.

“Morning…” you mumble.

“Morning!”

You almost grimace from their energy. Abilene was always a morning insect. Well most diurnal insects were. You were just becoming an anomaly apparently.

“You don't look too hot. Are you okay?”

You land on the couch. “...I’m struggling to go to sleep and the dark’s not helping.”

Abilene hums, thinking for a moment. “Didn't you say Bruno gifted you a glowing lantern?”

“Yea?”

They nod. “Okay I’m going to go pick it up for you later today, and hopefully it should help.”

You stutter not expecting that. “Thank you…”

“No problem. Now let's get some food in ya!”

Later in the day, Abilene places the glowing lantern on the small table next to the bed.

“Thank you for getting the lantern for me.”

“You’re welcome. I also picked up some other stuff for you too.”

They place your satchel they were carrying with them in your hands. You unbutton the bag and find your knitting supplies along with the sweater you had started for Bruno.

Your grin and Abilene returns it. “Oh my god, you're too good to me.”

“Oh please, I just saw your stuff sitting in the main room. It was nothing.”

“But still!”

You pull out the uncomplete sweater carefully unfolding it so you dont cause any of the knits to come loose.

“Is that for Bruno?” Abilene asks.

“How did you even manage to guess that?”

They shrug. “I haven't seen you knitting for awhile so...”

That was true, the last time you really did it was for a scarf that you gifted to Abilene and that was probably over a year ago.

“He walks around topless even in Winter! I had to do this.”

Abilene laughs, “I’d do the same if I had a body like that.”

You groan loudly, “STOP!”

Abilene laughs even harder.

You spend the rest of the day knitting on your own while Abilene continues preparing for winter. You tried to help but floating for long periods of time was tiring so your friend forces you back into their room.

The sweater was coming along. Bruno didn't seem like the type to wear loud colors to you so you decide to use an off white wool. You predict the most difficult thing would probably be the sleeves for you since you wanted to make the forearm parts removable, but a couple of buttons should suffice.

When it starts to get dark your lantern begins glowing allowing you to continue working. By the time Abilene comes to check on you the front and back are completely done. You’d do the sleeves when you went back home.

“Woah you worked on the sweater the whole time?”

“Yep!” You fold up the sweater and put it on the table next to your lantern. “It's really easy for the day to get away from you doing repetitive motions.”

“Well it looks like it will be nice and comfy.”

“I sure hope so. I want Bruno to never want to take it off. Also don’t worry, I’ll make you one next!”

“You already made me one though?”

“That was a long time ago though. I can make a better one.”

“Well, okay if you want,” they say. “Lets get your bandages changed.”

You carefully move your legs off the side of the bed so you can unwrap the cloth. It honestly looked gross but it was healing. And as long as you didn’t move it too much, press on it or bump it into anything, there wasn't too much pain.

After applying the cream and rebandaging up your thigh and calf, you leave the room to find something to drink and move around a bit before it’s time for what you were somewhat dreading--bed.

Abilene gets comfortable next to you. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

They yawn. “If anything’s wrong just wake me up.”

You nod but you definitely weren't doing that. You were already taking up half their bed, so you really didn't want to disturb their sleep anymore.

They pull the cover over their head to block out the glow of the lantern and you move from your sitting position on the bed to lay down. It doesn't take long for you to hear their snores. They had to be the fastest being in existence at falling asleep.

As you stare into the mesmerizing glow your worries of the day seem to drift away, but inevitably your mind drifts to the one who gave you the lantern.

Were you going to explain this to him? No part of you wanted to but you weren’t sure if hiding it was the best idea or if you even could. You didn’t want him to be upset, but you mostly feared disappointment. All of this made you feel like you lied to him when reassuring him that you weren’t doing anything dangerous.

I was just exploring...

You force the thoughts away or you would start going in circles. You’d just have to cross that bridge when you got there.

You spend the next several days at Abilene’s. They keep you company while helping you tend to your wounds.

It was pretty nice and the routine was comforting. And slowly your sleep schedule transitions back to something more reminiscent to what you had before you met Bruno.

Sitting on the couch bundled in thick covers, you work on a new item you were knitting. It was another typical day. Another chilly day actually. Probably the coldest so far. Abilene sits at the other end of the couch, bundled in a collection of their own covers, reading one of their supernatural books.

It was pleasing hanging quietly together like this so often, but you were already trying to figure out when it would be best to leave. You couldn't keep encroaching on your friend like this even if they didn't think you were.

You hear knocking on the front door and Abilene complains before untangling themselves from their covers and leaving the room to go answer it. They come back pretty quickly but you continue your knitting without looking up.

“Um ____.”

“Yea?”

“Bruno’s outside.”

Your heart almost jumps out of your chest. “Wha--Don’t let him in here!”

“But--”

“No buts! I just--just tell him I'm okay!”

Abilene looks unsure. You can tell they don't want to turn away the moth but they nod reluctantly.

You breathe a sigh of relief. You weren't ready to cross the bridge yet!

The longer it takes the grasshopper to return the more you want to run into their room and hide.

Finally they return with a concerned expression.

“Bruno’s definitely not happy ____.”

You frown. “I-I’ll deal with it later…”

You didn't know exactly when ‘later’ would be though.

-----

“Are you sure you're okay by yourself?”

You try to give a reassuring smile. “Yea. Thank you for everything you've done for me, but I cant stay at your place forever.”

Abilene places down your satchel on your daybed for you while you find somewhere to put your lantern. “I mean you could,” they joke. “Well you know what to do if you need anything. And no wandering please!”

They give you a very stern look which you return with a nod. You definitely wouldn't be leaving your home much for a while.

They start to walk towards your door and you fly after them.

"Also don't forget your bandages!"

"I won't."

"And make sure you drink," they add.

"Now you're just stalling."

“Okay, okay...”

Abilene pulls you in for a hug which you gladly return. You do your best not to hold on too long though.

But you didn't want them to leave.

"See ya!"

"Bye Abby."

You shut the door behind them and let out a long sigh.

You do your best to keep yourself busy the whole day. With working on the sleeves of Bruno’s sweater and on your own top, you don't have much of a problem accomplishing that. But that leaves your mind open to wandering to various things and it usually ends up back on the wasp.

You couldn't stop thinking about him. As much as you preferred remembering as little about that day as possible, the wasp just stook out as weird. The way he acted, the way he even looked.

Along with him being albino, you had never seen a wasp with hair as long as that, or least not tied up in some way. There was also something else strange about him but you were struggling to place it. It bothers you so much that you have to stop what you're doing to dwell on it. When you finally place what was off you almost drop your sewing needle.

His wings. They were missing. You gulp considering the implications of this. Feeling more and more worse about how you acted towards him by the minute.

You continue sewing, but the thoughts won’t disperse. You have no idea how you're going to get through the night.

-----

After changing your bandages you lay down on your daybed and stare at the lantern. Maybe you'd sleep here instead of your bedroom.

You don't know how long you've been laying there, your mind completely blank, before you're brought back to reality by knocking on the door.

You sit there for a moment. There was only one person who would be here at this time. Maybe if you were quiet he’d go away.

You hear muffled speaking through the door. “___ I know you're in there I can see the light through your window.”

You almost facepalm yourself.

Sighing, you get up and go open the door.

Even though you had been avoiding him you couldn't help the relief you felt from seeing the moth. You missed him way more than you had realized. It hadn’t been that long right? Was this normal?

You hide your body partly behind the door so you can keep your weight off your right leg.

"Hello," you say but you can't hold eye contact.

"Hi."

Bruno doesnt say anything more and just stares at you like he's trying to read your mind, leaving you nervous and awkward.

"Um….do you need something?"

"It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other and I was wondering if you want to go back to the forest clearing with me.” He gestures towards his bag. "We can even gather.”

"….I don't want to go outside right now."

Bruno’s expression slightly softens and he holds out his hand to you. “I know. It’s okay I won't let anything touch a single scale on your wings.”

You know that's supposed to reassure you but it almost does the complete opposite. Bruno definitely knew more about what happened than you would like, but for some reason you try to convince yourself otherwise.

You swallow your discomfort and nod. “O-Okay, let me just get my stuff."

"Need help?"

"No just wait here…"

Bruno tries to say more but you gently close the door. You didn't want him to get suspicious of you constantly flying to do anything.

Once you have your bag and canisters you take a deep breath and meet the moth outside once more. You ignore the pain in your leg as you walk towards him. Bruno insists on taking your bag so you hand it over since you really want to get off your feet as soon as possible.

"Oh wait, let me get my lantern!"

After you go back to get your lantern, Bruno grabs your hands and pulls you up to immediately start flying and he looks like he wants to say something.

"What's wrong?" you ask.

"I know what happened."

You almost feel a cold sweat form on your back. "...What do you mean?"

Bruno's frown deepens. "With the gecko."

You accidently clench your hands in Bruno's. There was no point denying anymore. "H-How? Did Abby tell you?"

"Abbacchio told me."

You squint trying to figure out how that worked, but realization dawns on you in a matter of seconds. The wasp you saw--that saved you.

"Shit."

Bruno suddenly drops your hands. "Lets go."

That catches you off guard but you follow after him. He's very quiet the whole flight and you think he might be mad but it’s somewhat hard to tell.

When you both reach the forest clearing it's even more beautiful than the last time since it was more visible with the moon out. The two of you land on one of the Daturas and the moth immediately starts gathering, but you just watch him for a while.

The tension in the air was too hard to ignore.

"….Bruno?"

He quietly turns towards you waiting for you to speak.

"Er…Are you mad?"

He raises a brow at you before sighing. "I was worried when you weren't at your home for a few days. So I asked around and came to Abilene's house--” His brows furrow. “--but they wouldn't let me see you--you didn’t want to see me.”

You grimace from your behavior. In your attempt to not have to explain and upset Bruno you just made things worse. You already knew this would happen but you decided to keep going.

And for what?

You look down, unable to look the moth in the eye.

"That was definitely not my smartest moment. I-I'm sorry. I caused you all this stress."

His hum sounds unconvinced.

"I'm really super sorry, I swear!"

His frown deepens and he looks hurt. “Why’d you try to pretend with me?"

You feel the familiar burning behind your eyes but you try to keep calm, you didn't want to do that. You wanted to keep this as a coherent conversation.

"I didn't want you to worry or be disappointed in me but I definitely made it worse."

"You did." He pats the spot next to him "Come here.”

You fly over and sit next to the moth, glad to stop flying.

He’s quiet for a moment before speaking. “Sorry I'm not trying to upset you, I’m just a little frustrated. Even if I’m “disappointed” I care more about your well being.”

You nod. “I shouldn't have done that to you...I guess I still need to work on the ‘being forward’ thing.” And you had been doing pretty well too.

“We’re both working on that. I’m not exactly an open book.”

The moth leans back on a hand and looks down at your leg. “How’s your leg?”

You guess he was done talking about this. At least you know the air was clear now. You're kind of surprised that it didn't take that long to resolve and it makes you internally sigh at you hiding your injury so adamantly in the first place.

“Well..it's healing. The doctor gave me some strange smelling cream. It hurts when I walk on it though but it’s getting better.”

“Yea I could tell from how you were grimacing before.”

You awkwardly smile. Guess your acting could use some work.

“But that’s good...I hope you're being safe.”

“I definitely won't be wandering again anytime soon.”

The moth squints his eyes, skeptical. “So you're going to do it again?”

“Well definitely not by myself that's for sure.”

“____, you're going to give me a heart attack.“ Bruno says. You can hear the warning tone seeping into his words though.

“Kidding! I'll stick to places that aren't abandoned.”

“That sounds better….Oh by the way--” Bruno digs out a very familiar canister from his own bag and hands it to you.

“Ah! I thought this was gone for good! Did Abbacchio get it?”

It even had the Tuberose liquid still in it.

Bruno nods. “Once we pieced together that it was you he ran into he gave it to me.”

“Oh. Uh can you tell him thank you. Like really thank you, he saved my life and I’m sorry for yelling at him. I was really afraid…”

“He already figured that, but I’ll give him your thanks and that you're okay. I'm sure that will make him happy.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” He smirks, “He loves praise, even if he tries to act like it doesn't matter to him.”

You laugh a little. “I'm really glad he happened to be in that area, when I was there too!”

“With all the pots right?”

“Pots? Do you mean those colorful containers with the flowers in them?”

The moth nods. “Abbacchio likes to hang out there during the Autumn, because it’s quiet.”

“I’m not trying to tell him what he should and shouldn’t do, but maybe he should pick a better place…”

“That's what I said but he won’t listen.” The moths slightly frowns, “And If he wants to go, I can't stop him.”

“B-But he doesn't have--he can't fly.”

“I know. At least I know he can defend himself.”

You nod thinking how he managed to force the gecko to let go, but still there's only so much someone could do if they're actually grabbed. And it was much harder to get away for insects who couldn’t fly. You were sure Bruno already knew this though. But at the same time you could kind of see why the wasp went over there though. If it weren't for all that happened you’d have visit the place several times by now.

“I think, maybe one day I should meet him, properly. I mean if he wants to...”

Bruno’s eyes widen, “Really?”

You nod.

“Oh...okay.” Bruno gives you a bit of a goofy smile, and if there were any feelings to back out, they're completely gone now.

The moth gets to his feet.

“Are we leaving already?”

“No I’m going to fill our canisters.”

You move to stand too.

“You can sit there, it won't take long--And no point trying to argue.”

You close your mouth and exhale. You were tired anyways.

“Fine...and thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

----

----

A/N: I’m sorry, I had planned that for a really long time!

#i just found a way to make posting 50 times easier! #bruno buccellati x reader #bruno bucciarati x reader #bruno x reader #Bruno Bucciarati #Bruno Buccellati #reader insert

[hopeatermeetsgodzilla]

Chapter 15

“-and he’s lived on Mara since then.” Madison finished, Florès humming and nodding in acknowledgment. The younger girl was currently reading the files about the Titans as the mechanic tinkered away on the new model for the ORCA.

It’s size was between the original prototype and the smaller one he had given Emma. This one was supposed to have a wider range of available sounds than just the options to make a Titan stand down or provoke them to a fight. “Damn, that’s a sucky backstory. And you’re telling me Rodan jumping in a volcano in an effort to be with his wife in death may be related to why he can live in one?”

“Yeah. I mean, Mothra can reincarnate.” Madison said with a shrug. “Magic that allowed someone to survive lava doesn’t seem that far-fetched.”

“Magic doesn’t exist.” Florès said, shaking his head as he got up from his chair, walking to the coffee machine and mini-fridge he kept in his office. “It’s just science no one has figured out yet. You want any snack?”

“Chocolate. And how would you explain reincarnation then, uh? Or Isla de Mara just... vanishing without a trace?”

Florès seemed to think for a moment. “Either Mothra is actually a really long family line of moth Titans who leave notes to each other in order to pull the longest scam in history- catch,” He threw a kit-kat at Madison. “-or the theory of genetic memory is actually right. As for Mara, I dunno. Probably something with physics...”

“What would you do if you learned magic was actually a whole science in itself?” Madison asked as she opened the candy. “Would you be mad?”

“I would be mad, yes. What about the last ones?” He asked as he started the coffee machine.

“Alright, so... Ghidorah...” Madison started. “There’s three of them, but we don’t have records of their actual names. But we do have nicknames: One who is Many, Golden Demise, Death Song of Three Storms... wow, there’s a lot.”

“Just give me facts, like with the others- powers, known relationship with other Titans, current whereabouts, and whatever backstory Dr. Chen scrounged up.”

“Alright, so: last seen near Mara, and disappeared at about the same as the Island. Everyone seems to hate them, and the feeling is mutual.” Madison turned to look at Florès, breaking her kit-kat up.

“What about their powers?” Florès asked, pouring himself a cup and coming closer.

“Uh... bio-electrical, energy draining, meteokinesis, flight of unknown nature, suspected to have a high level of telepathy, independency from oxygen...” Madison listed off.

Florès nodded, taking his seat again. “Is it noted somewhere why he doesn’t need oxygen. Like, are they deep-sea weirdos, or something?”

“... Look in the opposite direction.”

“What do you mean, look in the opposite direc- no.”

“... yeah... it says in the ‘myth’ section that they fell from the stars...”

“No no no no no no no- we’re dealing with fucking aliens!?” Madison nodded. “¡Qué cojones...!” Florès snapped, slamming his cup on his desk. His attention then snapped at the unfinished ORCA. “I need to finish this.”

“Most of the myths they’re in also all portray them as malevolent.” Madison added. “Like, ‘inspiration for the Christian Devil’ malevolent.”

“Mmm. Don’t like that.”

“What, you’re Christian?”

“Raised catholic, yeah.” Madison eyebrows shot up to her forehead. “Comes with the territory when you grow up in Venezuela. But I doubt these guys fell from grace, or anything.”

Madison hummed, going back to looking at the computer screen, even if she wasn’t reading anymore. “I talked to one of them, you know?”

“Did you?” She nodded. “How?”

“I... one of them was able to get outside of his body.” Madison started, Florès nodding and taking a sip from his cup. “And he talked to me. Brought me to mom when she came to get me in Antartica. And... told me he and his brothers just wanted to be free.” She buried her face in her hands. “I should’ve trust my instincts, should’ve known he was lying...”

“Well, you’re twelve.” Florès noted, patting Madison on the shoulder. “You can’t know everything. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Plus, you’re not the one who freed him now.” He then turned back toward the ORCA. “If I had been in your mother’s position, I would’ve done the same. And I can guarantee you that your mother would’ve still saved you if she knew all that stuff. So stop blaming yourself for getting kidnapped, alright Russellita?”

“Alright.”

-

Oh, that rock he was laying on was comfy.

Rodan never wanted to get up, curling up a bit even as he finally opened his eyes. The sun had risen a while ago, indicating he had slept in. Which made sense, seeing as he had stayed up talking and star watching with Ghidorah, who had been... surprisingly nice.  They just talked about places they remembered seeing beyond the world Rodan knew, pointing at locations in the sky when it turned dark.

Now that it was locked away from reality, the night sky had gained it’s stars back. He used to think that Ghidorah were vengeful souls back from the dead, but he supposed that stars being a map of the world beyond their own made just as much sense as them being the imprint left by the departed.

Nevertheless, the scenery this morning was still very pretty. With the sun reflecting in the water with thousand of sparkles and illuminating the golden strands of hair around him, it was as if light was bouncing off of everything.

Wait a minute...

Rodan opened his eyes more fully, looked up, and realized with horror that he was laying in Ichi Ghidorah’s lap, who had his hair undone for once and forming a curtain around him. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

Rodan screeched, jumping to stand up and suddenly very awake, only to stumble and land on his ass. “How long have you been watching me!? And why was I sleeping on you!?”

“Since my brothers woke up a while ago. And you fell asleep while we were star watching last night. The ground didn’t look very comfortable, so I moved you.” Ichi answered, still sitting as he leaned toward Rodan, who looked around him with a panicked expression. “You asleep looked like you were agreeing...”

“Okay, don’t manhandle me when I’m unconscious. And where did those two go!?”

“Ni is exploring what’s left of the human settlement. San is looking for rocks.” Ichi answered coolly, hoping the little bird would calm down eventually.

For now, to no avail. “Why are they doing that!?”

“Ni wants to see if there’s any humans left. As for San, he just wants to find rocks.” There was a pause, Ichi debating whether or not he should open up a bit. “He will also inevitably smash one of these rocks on my head as revenge for telling him to do things, but that can’t be helped.”

“... there’s no humans left.” Rodan angrily muttered, finally taking his eyes off Ichi. “They all left some times before you came here, and those that didn’t were probably flung away when I fell for the humans’ bait.”

Ichi raised an eyebrow at that. “Bait?”

“Humans figured out how to create calls.” Rodan explained bitterly. “They used one to bait me into flying into your storm.”

Ichi chuckled. “Oh, we’d have found you either way. The whole reason we came here in the first place is because San wanted to see you.”

“Maybe, but I wouldn’t have had to fight off the three of you in the middle of a raging storm.” Rodan retorted, bringing his knees up to his chest.

Ichi simply shrugged, going into meditation. {Ni, there’s no humans left. They all left before we came here.}

[Are you sure?]

{The little bird told me they left.}

[You’re really just going to believe him?]

{What?}

[What if it’s a trick?]

{What would he get out of lying about that!?}

(Also, he’s telling the truth.)

[Hello, brother San. How do you know that?]

(Hi Ni! Humans have a really strong emotional presence despite being so small and stupid, so they’re really easy to spot. Along with Rodan, we’re the only ones here.)

{And you didn’t tell us anything for some reason because...?}

(I thought you guys already knew! I mean, I get Ni not noticing because he’s so bad at it- no offense-)

[None taken.]

(-but brother Ichi!? You should’ve noticed ages ago.)

{Okay then-}

[Brother San, we haven’t even been there for a full day yet.]

(You know what I mean.)

{You two-}

[Anyway, I think humans figured out electricity, and how to generate it.]

{What!? Are you su-} Ichi was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt something lean on his leg. He opened his eyes, looking down at Rodan. The smaller being was leaning his head on his thigh, eyes closed. Was he... was he sleeping?... no, just resting. {The both of you come back as fast as you can. Ni, bring back some evidence.}

(But-)

{That’s not negotiable, San.} Ichi ignored his brothers as he put his hands on Rodan. One under his back, and the other one under his knees.

Rodan opened his eyes, confused. “What are you- gah!” Ichi had lifted him, only to promptly set him down on his lap. He chuckled as Rodan’s face started glowing brightly, twirling a lock of red hair around his long fingers. “Wha- telling you not to manhandle me when I’m sleeping wasn’t code for ‘do it when I’m awake’-”

“Don’t move.” Ichi told him, fingers carding through long red hair and separating it. “How do you usually style it?”

“Uh... simple ponytail, and I use another twisted strand to keep it together.” Rodan explained hesitantly. He looked down as Ichi started humming a little tune to himself, taking a strand of hair right above his ear and braiding part of it.

“How high do you keep your hair?” Ichi asked Rodan, who hummed in confusion. “I know it’s not high like San’s, but it doesn’t seem to be at the base of your head either.”

“J- just do it however you want.” There was a pause were there was no movement, Rodan fidgeting. He then brought a hand to the back of his head, claws tapping the middle of the back of his skull. “It doesn’t immediately become a problem if it loosen up, that way.”

“You don’t have to be so shy, you know? Why don’t you tell me what happened to you while we were sleeping.” Rodan shrunk on himself at that. Ichi leaned down as the other started debating it to himself, taking the braid within his teeth before lifting a sleeve up. He tied off one of the short ribbons he usually kept for his hair.

“I... became the Fire Guardian.” Rodan finally admitted.

Ichi hummed, starting to gather hair for the ponytail, letting go of the braid in the process. “What happened to the last one? The bird with the colorful feathers... what was her name again?”

“Quetzalcoatl. And she... died. Out of control volcanic eruption, the smoke is what killed her.” Rodan’s voice had broken on that fourth word.

Ichi raised an eyebrow, tying the ponytail with the ribbon. “You two were close?” He was pretty sure the only people Rodan had been close to was Godzilla.

“We met after you guys got sealed.” Was the only context he offered.

“I see...” Better not push the subject for now less San’s plan gets ruined from trying to dig too deep too fast, but it would be interesting ammunitions for later. He tied the braid around the base the ponytail, passing whatever wasn’t braided under it. “Done~”

Rodan hesitantly pat the braid on the side of his head, before shaking his head a bit. It seemed to be holding better than normal. He was about to thank Ichi, before remembering he was still sitting on his lap and jumping off with a yell. This time, he was able to right himself, and looked at him. Since the Ghidorah was sitting down, the two were at mostly the same eye level. He coughed hesitantly, the flush on his face lessening a bit. “Th- thank you.”

“You’re welcome, firebird.” Rodan’s flush immediately came back, his face almost glowing a golden color.

“Still better than ‘little bird’...” He muttered to himself. Rpdan than turned, facing away from Ichi. “I’m going to go for a short flight, ascertain the damage you and your brothers did. Do not try anything while I’m gone, got it?”

Ichi chuckled. “You’re cute when you’re trying to be intimidating. And understood. I’ll be right there when you come back.”

“... Good.” And with that, a strong breeze lifted an extremely flustered Rodan of the ground, leaving Ichi alone and in a good mood.

Said good mood immediately faded away as he felt something collide with his head. He looked to his right, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Ni who had smashed something made out of wood on his head, “Really?”

“I wasn’t finished searching, and you were getting too touchy-feely.”

“Yes Ni, that’s the plan.” Ichi reminded his brother. “Get close to Rodan in order to manipulate him.”

“You were getting touchy-feely- here’s the human tech.” Ni dumped what was left of the pole on Ichi’s lap. The older brother took a look at it, frowning. Certainly what was needed to transport energy from one place to another, but not enough to not lose any in travel, and there was too many pieces.

“That doesn’t make sense.” Ichi grumbled. “This is too primitive compared to the flying machines they had. It should be more in line with it. The other civilizations we saw always had a consistent level of tech on the entirety of their planets, if not always in line with other civilizations.” 

“Not all of them.” Ni reminded him. “You remember the Exif, right?”

“Of course I remember the Exif.” Ichi hissed. The first (and the last) civilization to ‘loan’ Ghidorah from the Xiliens for a period of time that could be counted in years. In this case, for the upper class to intimidate the lower ones into believing their Gods had come to smite anyone who would dare oppose them. And since Gods were supposed to be immortal, they had stayed for several Exif centuries.

But then the Exif ended up believing their own lies, and upon San’s request, found a way to disconnect them from the Conductor. Enveloping their planet in an endless storm and watching it die had given Ghidorah such a rush they just knew that it’s what they had been taken away from their own world for.

“Not sharing everything in an equal manner between all seems like something they would do.” Ni commented. “And humans always lived in small, separated communities with a clear leader. Maybe it became more apparent as time went on? It goes very fast to them, after all.”

Ichi groaned, taking one last, distasteful at the components in front of him. “Still. There’s never that big of a gap in technology on singular planets. If they have figured out space travel, the furthest they would be able to go to is their moon.” A rock landed on the back of Ichi’s head. “Welcome back, San.”

The youngest brother sat down, giggling as Ni gave his own snort. His arms were full of rocks “Sorry, needed to get it out after you interrupted my search for cool rocks.”

“Did you find any cool rocks?”

“Not really...” San whined, handing the rocks to Ichi, who started looking them over. Most of them had the same hard quality as the ground. “You called us back before I could find good ones... oh! But I did find this!” Out of the tissue he usually draped himself with, San got out a glossy black stone that had a powdery, golden sheen to it.

Ni’s eyes widened by a fraction, making a grabby motion for it. When San shook his head, his face soured. “Why?”

“I want to give it to Rodan. Show of goodwill.” San explained. “By the way, where did he go?”

“For a flight. He wants to see how dead his island is.” Ichi answered off-handedly. “Are you sure that plan of yours is going to work? Fire bird has... quite the temper. He might not break if we tell him the humans were the ones who did this.”

“Someone angry at us but more at our target is still easier to use than someone who’s just angry at us.” San replied, before frowning. “Also, I thought he was  ‘little bird’?”

“’Fire bird’ sounds less insulting than ‘little bird’.” Ichi answered, shrugging. “Like you said, show of goodwill. That, and doing his hair.”

“... Brother San, give me that rock.”

“No, Ni!”

“It’s not for me. I want to be the one giving it to the fire bird.” Ni answered. Upon his brothers’ confused faces, he continued. “It’s easy for the both of you to pretend to be nice- oblivion, San is actually nice. It’s not for me. But the plan isn’t going to work well if it doesn’t seem like I’m at least trying to be nice. So?”

After a few seconds, Sa handed the stone to Ni, the message in his eyes obvious. Don’t screw this up.

We cannot screw this up.

#writing #my writing #oc #my oc #madison russel #ghidorah #King Ghidorah #ichi ghidorah #ni ghidorah #san ghidorah #kevin ghidorah #rodan #rodorah #Godzilla #godzilla gijinka

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Hidden in Plain Sight (3)- Tom Holland X Reader

A/N: This story is fun to write, but school is taking over little by little so sorry if this gets delayed more than I mean for it to be! Enjoy Chapter Three!

Word Count: 2165

Warnings: Swearing? Maybe? To be honest I can’t remember if I swore or not but knowing me I probably did. But there is mention of a killer moth so if that’s as trigger as it was when it was flying around my room then I’ll mention it here.

You had the absolute worst day. You were hoping it was going to be a good day since you had put on one of your favorite outfits to wear to work. But as soon as you got to work, everything turned into a shit show. A project you thought was finished didn’t save the last days edits, your boss got on you for something that was your coworker’s responsibility, and someone ate your lunch, which you’re not entirely sure how that happened, but it did. Add to it you have the start of what you think is a migraine, the last thing you want to do is anything work related, but because you’re behind on the project that is due tomorrow, you’ll probably be up all night working on it before going in tomorrow to continue working on it at the office. So heating up some soup to eat while you work, you decide to scroll through Tumblr while you wait for it to heat up. 

The news of Spider-Man, and therefore Tom Holland, staying in the MCU still hasn’t died down, which let’s be honest why should it? It’s fantastic news. Out of all the Spider-Mans, Tom’s portrayal of it is your favorite and you would be so sad to see him taken from Marvel just because Sony, Marvel and Disney couldn’t come to an agreement on things. It’s only been a couple days since it was announced, but you wouldn’t be surprised if this was talked about for weeks at least. You reblog a couple of photos, adding some of your usual hashtags. Honestly, you want to be distracted by asks, but you know that the likelihood that people will respond is low, plus you shouldn’t let yourself be distracted by Tumblr when you have the project due tomorrow. 

Hating seeing notifications, you click on the second icon from the right on the bottom of your screen. You clear off the notifications from reblogs and likes but notices your app is still showing a notification, on the messages side. It’s probably just from one of your friends. You flip over to the other screen and see a message from none other than Tomholland2013, who you’ve been messaging on and off over the past couple of days, ever since you sent him that edit.

You haven’t been super active on tumblr lately. Everything ok?x

Been super busy at work lol. Big deadlines coming up.

You don’t expect to get a message back since you figured from your messages where he mentioned he was in the early hours of the day while you were only in the late afternoon, that he was probably asleep since you got home later from work than you had planned. So you set your phone aside as you pull the broccoli cheddar soup from the microwave. However, you’re pleasantly surprised to see a message waiting for you when you pick your phone back up to head back to your computer to keep working.

Ah, big deadlines. What kind of work do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?x

Hm, this new tumblr friend of yours is awake even though it’s probably the middle of the night for him?

I don’t mind. I work in graphic design. Isn’t it the middle of the night for you? 

It would be if I was at home. I travel a lot for work. I’m currently in New York, so it’s only 9pm.x

But it definitely feels like I should be asleep. I’ve only been in New York for a few days and my mind is still on London time.x

What kind of work do you do? 

You set your phone down and boot your computer back up. You know you have shadows to deal with and layers to add back before even getting to the stuff you were meaning to get on today. This project was going to be the death of you. 

Tom stares at the message. How does he respond to that? He can’t very well tell you he’s an actor. That blows all of this. He likes being able to be open with you and the moment that it comes out that he is actually Tom Holland, well you might not be open with him. Could he tell you he works in the movie field without having to admit who he is? Could he play it off that he’s still a fanboy, because he will be a marvel fanboy until the day he dies, without blowing this whole thing up? There’s just something about you and being able to connect with someone who has no idea who he is that is different. 

Even on your blog today, you shared things from months ago and still reacted like it was your first time seeing them. Your whole blog just radiated positivity, even though your messages sounded like you had a lot on your plate outside of the internet world. He wants to be able to know you without the pressure of having to be, well, him. But you’re not asking him to spill everything about who he is. Just a snip-it. 

Film production. Getting ready to head off to a new project actually.x

Must be fun to travel for it. Anywhere fun?

Cleveland actually. Haven’t been there before, so maybe I’ll find something fun to do outside of the project while I’m there.x

Maybe you’ll run into Tom. He’s supposed to be there shooting a project I think. Especially if you’re also in the film industry, you’d already have more of a way into things than say I would lol 

I don’t know if I’ll have that much time off to look for him.x

Well if you happen to run into him in said little time off, tell him there’s probably half a million if not more tumblr users willing to marry him, should he be in need of a wife, husband, or nonbianary pal.

Would you happen to be one of those said half a million?x

He shouldn’t have sent it. You have been pretty good about responding, but after sending that message, he hasn’t heard from you in over twenty-four hours and he’s beside himself. You also haven’t posted on your blog. Which makes him think you’re avoiding him on the site all together, which is even worse. The flight to Cleveland, wouldn’t have been half bad if he wasn’t worried the whole time about what you might have been sending while his phone was on airplane mode. And of course the one time he would have paid any amount for on flight wi-fi, it was down and no one could use it.

As soon as the plane lands, he’s flipping the switch to connect his phone again. He needs to see if you’ve messaged back. He’s ignoring all the other notifications that pop up, looking for only on apps notifications. And while you haven’t posted again, you have messaged back. Which makes him suddenly feel like he can breathe again. 

I’m not the one who took Tom’s name on here. I feel like you might propose to Tom before I even have a chance to meet him IRL.

I don’t think I’m Tom’s type.X

And what do you think Tom’s type is? 

And it takes everything to not just describe you. It wouldn’t be hard. He had spent a lot of time deep diving through your blog. He had looked through your #me tab on your blog. It was filled with everything from selfies to posts about things you had done. And you were the kind of person that he was into. It wasn’t an only physical attraction thing. It was the things that you found important enough to post about. The little things about your day that you shared about. But instead of typing back you, Tom decides to type something different.

I think he would be into someone down to earth. Someone who is into sharing time with friends and family equally and someone who has a great sense of humor. Oh and they would HAVE to love Tessa. That would be a must.x

Wow you’ve thought a lot about this.

Do you disagree?x

Surprisingly no. But I thought you’d say something more… I don’t know physical I guess.

Why’s that?x

I don’t know. I just did.

What do you think he’d be into?x

He can’t help but ask. He wants to know what you think he’s like. There’s enough speculation out there about what he’s like, but for some reason, knowing what you think about him, it means something to him.

I would say, similar to you- family, friends and Tessa would definitely be at the top. Sense of humor would be important. I also feel like with there being so much he can’t talk about to the public, having someone he can trust with stuff would be important. I also think trust would be important so that he has a space he can just be himself too. 🤷‍♀️

Pretty spot on. All of those are important to him. He wants to ask if those things are all important to you, but asking that would come off weird, so he takes a different approach.

Honestly if I wasn’t such a div when I was making accounts I would have just made a Tessa fan blog. I’m a bigger fan of her than of Tom. x

SO TRUE. How can you not be?! She’s the purest thing in this world (sorry to Tom) and every time he shares more of her with us I melt a little.

Paddy had sent him that picture of Tessa this morning, maybe sharing it would brighten everyone’s days. Especially knowing that you were such a fan of her too. Adding the picture to his Instagram story, with a quick caption of missing this sweet girl, he quickly uploads it.

APPARENTLY TOM CAN READ OUR THOUGHTS?!

What do you mean?x

Cute Tessa content just uploaded to his Insta story. Apparently he’s away from her and missing her 😭

She’s just too pure for this world x

I needed that right now.

Something wrong?x

Work project might kill me. 

It’s due by the end of the day, but photoshop keeps crashing and I might scream. 

I’m sorry love x

I’m restarting my computer for the third time today and it’s not even noon yet. 

You know he’s English so the love thing shouldn’t throw you. Plus he’s a boy on the internet. But for some reason, it feels like something more. So instead of saying anything about it, you just keep messaging like nothing happened. A small part of you is hoping that by not mentioning it though, it might happen again.

Tom spends the rest of the day messaging you when he can. He knows you’re working on a project that has a deadline, so he doesn’t expect you to be at his beck and call. But when he gets a notification at almost eleven o’clock at night his time from your blog, he hopes it’s one of your personal posts to make him laugh. He isn’t let down.

THERE WAS A MOTH FLYING AROUND MY ROOM AND NOW I CAN’T FIND IT IM GOING TO DIE. IF IT EATS ME YOU ALL KNOW WHO THE MURDER IS

#me #killer moth #save me #if i die i leave everything to tom

He can’t help but send you an ask about it.

Tomholland2013 asked: You know moths don’t eat people right?x

Y/T/B: You didn’t see how big this one was. This one was definitely of the people eating variety with how big it was. And now it’s hiding in my room waiting for me to close my eyes and then it will sneak up on me, kill me, and devour me whole. 🖕

Tom laughs at your reply before sending another ask. Sure he could do this in your message thread, but he’s betting the asks are helping distract you from the moth.

Tomholland2013 asked: That’s a quiet defensive response from someone who is going to be eaten. If you want me to come save you from a killer moth, maybe be a bit nicer.x

Y/T/B: If you will race over here, find this moth, and release it into the wild so that it can’t kill me in my sleep I will make you as many Tom edits as it takes in gratitude. 👏😘Just come save me please. I swear I can hear him laughing in the distance. 

Tomholland2013 asked: If he’s laughing in the distance, I’ll be over to take care of him. No one gets to disrespect my favorite blog and get away with it.x

Y/T/B: Thanks darling. I really, really appreciate it. Now I must be off to hunt this moth, before he hunts me.

Tags: @serendipitous-amor​ @im-still-tryin-to-find-it​ @tomfiction4​ @im-deeply-shallow

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland x you #tom holland fan fic #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fan fiction #tom holland fanfiction #imanativeofswlondondahling #hidden in plain sight

[eskewcity]

Cornfield

I listened to Dreamland by Glass Animals on repeat while writing this. 

(minor CW for alcoholism and drug addiction)

submitted by @bird-in-tennis-shoes

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Statement of Herbert Pope, regarding a visit to his parent’s farm.

I don’t know what’s happened to me. I don’t know what I’ve become. I don’t know when this will stop. I can only hope that whatever madness controls me will one day have had its fill. One day I will be allowed to sleep. Whenever I even try to comprehend what I’ve seen and done; just the magnitude of it makes me want to shut down. Or throw up. Or lock myself in the house and spread all of my belongings out on the floor so I can see and differentiate every part of the room. I tried to resist it at first, but there’s only so long you can go without sleeping. There’s only so long you can go without the temptation of another human being in your proximity.

I wasn’t always like this. You’ve got to understand I didn’t choose any of this. But before I get into what happened to begin with, I want to make it absolutely clear that I was sober when all of this took place. I don’t want this written off as drunken ramblings or a bad trip. I’m done with that. I’ve got myself a bit of a reputation, I know. But I’ve been sober for three years, and it was a hell of a journey to get that far. I’m not about to have my experience dismissed out of hand because your institute dug up some of the many bad decisions I made when I was younger. I was sober before I visited my parents last summer, I was sober the entire time I was there, and I���ve been sober since.

That’s always been a point of contention between us, actually. I’ve never had the greatest relationship with my parents. They were quite strict growing up, and when I got to uni I just wanted to be free. I guess that’s why I got really into the local party scene my first year there. By the time I was starting my second term, I was already addicted to just about everything I had access to. I even ended up dropping out. Naturally, this wasn’t something my parents were exactly thrilled about, and after a few bad arguments over the phone, I just stopped calling.

I know this isn’t really related. But I just want you to understand how I’ve turned my life around since. After a few months of sleeping on my friend’s couch and going to support groups, I was able to get a job and an apartment. It was several years after that before I felt like I could try to reconnect with my parents. They were happy to hear from me, and especially happy to hear that I had my life together again. I was definitely shocked to hear that they were moving out of the country, to America.

It had always been my mother’s dream to start a farm. We had a small garden when I was a kid, but that was never really enough. They’re both getting up in the years, and had decided that if they were going to do it, they might as well do it before they got too old to do the work of planting and harvesting. They’ve always been do-it-yourself types. I think the hustle and bustle of modern life was getting to them a bit. They’d been doing some research online, even joined a few forum pages to meet people. They’d been planning this for quite some time. Apparently my father has land in Gambier, Ohio that I never knew about. I don’t know all the details, but I think a friend of his, Samuel Fairchild, gave him some property with a farmhouse on it. It was quite a strange situation, from what I can gather. Sam only lived in the house for a few years before just giving it away. I never met the man, but my father once told me that he suspected Sam was in a cult. I don’t hazard a guess as to how they met.

Regardless, it was a nice house in a secluded spot. My father has been paying upkeep costs ever since he got the place, but never did anything with it. Might as well put it to use, I suppose. I made plans to visit them as soon as they got settled and I could take some time off work. When summer rolled around, I made arrangements and booked a flight to Columbus.

The house was about an hour’s drive from the airport, and once I really got out into the countryside, it struck me just how big everything was. Everything’s a lot more compact in the UK. Less space. Here, fields of corn and soybeans stretched out for acres. I would drive for a kilometer and never see a mailbox. Farm houses were tiny pinpricks in the distance. Sometimes barely visible behind a hill. Some farms seemed pristine and well taken care of. Others seemed to be only dilapidated, ramshackle piles of rusted machinery and half burnt out barns. I passed through a town on the way. Well, I say town, but it was little more than a few convenience stores and a post office with peeling paint. The few houses I passed were just as crumbly. Half finished renovations and wrap around porches that looked to be in danger of collapse. Termite eaten posts held up a gazebo roof, like Atlas’ arms folding under the weight of the earth.

The house my parents had moved into was a bit better. It looked homey enough, although the lines of the support beams curved and slanted in strange ways. It looked stable, but almost… impossible. I assumed it was either my imagination or a stylistic choice and didn’t give it another thought. The land surrounding the house was vast and impressive. The only way in and out was a little dirt road leading up to the garage. I noticed the fenced in corn fields and realized that they must have already started planting. In fact, it looked like it was nearly ready to be harvested. I parked in the driveway and went up to knock on the door. It swung inward immediately, and I was met with a massive hug. My mother smelled like cinnamon sugar, just as I remembered her. That evening was fairly uneventful. I told them about what I’d been doing for work, and they told me about the farm and how Sam had left them everything they needed to get started. There was even a chicken coop and a stable in case they ever wanted to get animals. My mother cooked dinner, and before I knew it, it was getting late and my parents were going off to bed. I got settled in the guest bedroom and tried to sleep.

An hour later, and I still couldn’t sleep. I kept tossing and turning. Everything felt sort of… wrong. The moonlight seeping through the curtains gave the place a strange feeling. The room felt different, somehow. Like I was suddenly in a completely different house that was identical to the one I entered last night. I decided I should go take a walk outside. To sort of reset my brain, you know? Maybe I’d be okay if I got some fresh air. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep anytime soon.

Outside, it felt even stranger. I don’t know how, but it didn’t even feel like I was on the same plane of existence anymore. I know for certain I had only stepped off the porch, but when I glanced behind me, the house was now barely visible in the distance. There was no way I had walked that far in an instant. I glanced up at the sky and nearly fell over. It was… bigger somehow. Now, I know the night sky is obviously endless, but it doesn’t usually feel that way. It’s usually more like a thin blanket of black, stretched over the world. The stars are just moth holes and missing threads. It didn’t look like that now. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was like a gaping hole in the fabric had opened over me, and when I looked up, I could see every atom of the infinite universe at once. Like I had put on 3D goggles, and suddenly the pictures on the movie screen popped out and moved around me. The moon suddenly seemed so close in comparison to the stars. Like it was in danger of smashing into the earth.

It was… unsettling to say the least. My head was spinning, and I felt unstable on my feet. The sheer mass of the space around me loomed, like it was threatening to consume me. I had somehow ended up in the middle of the cornfield, the house nowhere to be seen. The world swayed, catching me up in whatever it was. I felt huge and tiny at the same time, the air around me threatening to crush inward, my foot poised, threatening to crush it first.

And then it stopped. Whatever force was manipulating my perceptions was gone. The ground felt sturdy again, and my head was suddenly clearer. It was dead quiet. The moon was still close, illuminating every inch of the surrounding field. I could see infinitely in every direction, and there was nothing but corn. Even the curvature of the earth seemed to have gone; millions of kilometers rolled flat to form this endless plane I had found myself in. When I looked up, I noticed the stars had disappeared as well. The entire universe stretched out before me and there was nothing in it.

The only movement was my own feet as I began to walk. The sound of crunching dirt reverberated through every corner of the cosmos. I must have walked for hours, but nothing changed. It was just corn, corn, dirt, corn, empty black sky, and that awful, bulbous moon. My hands felt… wrong. My entire body felt wrong. I was big enough to hold all of existence in the palm of my hand and still have enough room left over for another universe. But the second I concentrated on any one thing, the feeling slipped away like sand through my fingers, and I felt tiny enough to be crushed by the molecules of air around me. Like I was shrinking forever. Like all of this empty world was expanding around me and I was in the exact center, the edges pressing in on me as it got bigger.

I started running. My feet snapping corn stalks in half, Punching them with my fists as I went. I grabbed a handful of leaves and pulled, ripping several out by the roots and dragging them. Causing as much destruction as I could. If this world was going to go on forever and never change, then by god I was going to change it myself. I ran as far as I could, leaving a path of destruction behind me. I ran until I got so tired that I nearly fell over, but nothing changed. It was still the same corn, the same moon. The whole world was just an endless sheet of repeating wallpaper. I ripped holes in the ground like a crazed gopher until my fingers were raw. Eventually, I sat down among the debris and started crying. I’m not ashamed to admit it; I was hopeless and trapped. There was nothing I could do, because there wasn’t anything at all.

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I awoke to sunlight and the distant sound of my parents calling my name. I was still in the field, but not a single one of the corn stalks around me had been knocked down. My limbs were wound around the plants like string, not disturbing any. I knocked down a few trying to get up, but I was still too disoriented to care.

I took the first flight I could back to London. My parents were disappointed and understandably quite worried about me, but there was no way I was going to stay there another day. I’ve become a more cautious person as I’ve gotten older, and I was not going to take any chances with… whatever that was. Still, after a few weeks I had written it off as an especially strange dream. I had taken a walk at night and fallen asleep suddenly. That was it. It’s funny how our brains rationalize these things.

As I found out soon, that really wasn’t it. Because I had that dream again. And again. And again. First, it was only a few times a month. Then once a week. Then I began waking up every night in a cold sweat after running in that endless cornfield for eight hours straight. I was terrified to go to sleep, knowing exactly where I’d end up. Every night I would count and categorize everything I could see. My hat on the chair in the corner of the room; my coat hanging up on the wall. I could see the edges where the rug began and ended. The room was not endless. The room had walls and a ceiling. But as soon as I let my guard drop just a bit, or my vision blur slightly with fatigue, everything stretched and distorted and changed, and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop it. I would suddenly be standing, running, the world silent and impossibly large. I couldn’t rest, because every hour I spent sleeping was an hour I spent awake somewhere else.

I fell asleep at work nearly every day. And even then, I was not free. That damn cornfield, with its horrific sky and endless wasteland of leering barbed javelins haunted me. I was so tired I thought I would die. I started hallucinating while I was awake. Every time my eyes closed I was there, the looming sky and bloated moon mocking me as I ran. I stopped going in to work. I was too tired even to write an email to my boss. The only energy I ever had was when I was running. My friends must have been worried about me, but I didn’t have the energy to talk to any of them. How could I explain what was happening?

Everything reached a crescendo about a week into this, while I was walking to the corner store. I was holed up in my house, tormented by visions of an infinite hellscape, but I still needed to eat. The ground felt more uneven than usual, most likely due to fatigue, but I felt constantly on the verge of tripping. I concentrated hard on the ground in front of me. It was difficult to keep from falling into the cornfield. Part of me was always there, waiting, constantly running.

 My concentration slipped for only a second, and I went sprawling directly into the stranger walking in front of me. He shouted at me, but I was already asleep before I hit the ground. In that single lapse I had slipped into the hungry other world. I was vaguely aware of the events happening around me, but I was somewhere else, running. I… Something happened then, when the man bent down to wake me.

 I don’t know what I did. I reached out somehow, manipulated the air around me. Manipulated the hungry other world and directed its endless appetite towards this man. I’m not sure. There’s really no possible way to describe what I did. Whatever explanation I can give won’t do the action justice. There’s no excusing it either. I did it because it felt right. I can’t even muster the consciousness to regret it. That man is gone now. Or, not gone, somewhere else. Running. The cornfield was satiated for a while after that. I was rested. I was allowed to sleep.

I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t even know what I am. That man was only the first of many. It’s the only way I can rest. It’s the only way the cornfield will leave me alone, at least for a little while. I always make sure it’s someone I don’t know, not that it matters to the cornfield. They’re all just souls for it to hold as they run about like rats in a never ending maze. They’re all in there together, but they will never meet. There is an infinity between every molecule of dirt in that place. Maybe someday everyone will be in that cornfield. I wonder if it would finally let me have peace then. 

#THIS FUCKS AHHH i read this twice it was so good #the last paragraph especially was so good ahhh ty you for sending this 💖💖 #also i hope it’s okay i added your name at the top to make sure you get credit! #submission

[ionchef]

King of Anything - An Escaflowne Fanfiction

King of Anything

Act 1, Chapter 3

In which Celena curtsies and Allen drinks Martini.

It was quite rare that Fanelia's royals received visitors from the ruling family of other countries, what with the dragon infestation and all. It was also quite rare that the king was anything but thrilled about the attention public treatments of foreign relations would get in his precious free time. Except, maybe when the one visiting was a dear friend he'd known since childhood.

Only a few years his senior, princess Millerna Aston was the youngest of the ruling Asturian king's daughters. A tragic illness had taken the middle sister, Marlene, so the loss of a sibling was something which created an even stronger friendship between them.

Relations between Asturia and Fanelia were to be deepened a few years ago after Folken claimed the throne but then the whole fiasco with the rite of dragon slaying happened, so needless to say that whole plan went poof. It would have been easy enough. Millerna's older sister, Eries, was supposed to be wed to Folken. They would have made such a great pair and no wonder Eries was so completely down in the dumps about his death. Not only had they known each other since they were little, but they actually harbored real feelings for each other. A rare thing with such unions.

The strategy changed after that and Marlene's death. Eries was instead to take the Asturian throne since the laws were progressive enough to let a woman rule alone there, but she was too shook about Folken's death, even now still mourning after all these years. It was unlikely that Eries, although always appearing reserved and seemingly strong on the outside, would ever recover from her broken heart.

What a mood killer to think about it again right as the gates in the wall opened to admit the armored vehicle convoy. They were bringing in the visitors who had landed at the airstrip not far from the city perimeters. Luckily, no dragons had been sighted in the area around that time but just in case, a good number of the melef drones had been sent on patrol. The airstrip was really just a paved area in the woods with a few bunker-like hangars which housed equipment and the royal jet. Staff communicated with, and coordinated flights remotely.

Just like everything else, levi ships had also evolved over time to become aerodynamic, metal pieces of engineered ingenuity. They were still powered by levi stones at their core, but the energy was now being more thoroughly harnessed. Thanks to mechanical designers and progress in technology, they looked less like ships which sailed the oceans and were much, much faster.

If civilians wanted to travel to other countries, there were enough commercial services which overlayed in Fanelia for a short time but none had their home base here- no surprise there. On occasion, dragons could be spotted from high up in the air. Seeing one was kind of cool but only if one didn't consider the havoc they could wreak upon that small, pressurized, metal tube if given the chance.

When Van and Merle stood on the mosaic in the palace square, waiting to officially greet the royal envoy, the king couldn't help but grin a bit when noticing that Merle took special care to chew her gum as discreetly as possible to avoid it being taken from her. She was looking forward to seeing Millerna because they both were party girls at heart. He already dreaded this evening when they would drag him along to the Mystic Moon, Millerna's favorite place to visit when in Fanelia.

Van wasn't fond of the nightclub. Oodles of odd high-society folk liked to dance the night away there, usually several notches too imbibed. In the occasion that he did show his face there, women vied for his attention and men in positions of leadership or high office tried to pander to him without shame, hoping to reach new heights in their careers. As if a whiff of vodka from their mouths would sway Van in their favor.

More than once, he'd wished he could have just given them a firm nudge and watched them fall over to be collected by security but he couldn't be seen doing that. Even though, no doubt, many of them woke up crapulous the next day, memories slowly dawning on them about how they had embarrassed themselves in front of the king. Sadly though, he was the head of his country and required to treat people with respect. Even when they were drunk off their asses, especially if they were related to diplomatic offices from other countries.

But anyway, this was a problem for future Van. Present Van actually cracked a smile when he saw princess Millerna exit the elevators first and confidently make her way towards him as the forefront of the entourage. She hadn't changed much from the last time they'd seen her except that she probably was even more radiant. No wonder her father had her protected so well.

A whole group of guys in navy blue suits along with a younger woman in a white sundress tagged along not too far behind. The princess herself wore light pink, her favorite color, and the dress itself, although proper enough, still hugged her body snugly. With her long, wavy, blonde hair and periwinkle eyes, she was nothing short of stunning. Hey, nobody could blame a guy for noticing those things. She was standing right in front of them by now, after all.

As soon as elaborate greetings between the king, the princesses, and the officials concluded, some pictures were taken from the few press representatives who had been admitted. Then, the group was off towards the palace where everybody finally was able to relax again after the double doors shut tightly behind them. Millerna's high heels click-clacked even through the crimson carpet covering the marble floor before the three royals came to a stop.

Not able to contain her excitement anymore, Merle squealed and both women hugged tightly in a proper greeting which prompted another, rare smile from the usually reserved king. "I'm so excited you're here Millerna!" Merle exclaimed as the other princess hugged her back tightly.

"Me too!" Millerna replied and then held Merle at arm's length. "Wow, your hair is so different I barely recognized you at first glance. You look more mature."

"Oh but wait," Merle laughed and reached into the pockets of her blue etui dress, only to retrieve two rubber bands. While chewing on her gum more shamelessly, she made quick work of the pink tresses and in no time had them back up in a pair of trademark buns on top of her head. "Better?" She asked Millerna.

"Much better. Now you look more like the cute kitten I used to know," Millerna nodded, pearly whites showing through a satisfied smile.

Van snorted a bit with a slightly raised eyebrow at the comment. Sweet kitten? More like a sly fox at times. Oh well. Much love, though.

With so many unfamiliar faces behind Millerna, a few more introductions were in order. On cue, a guy with long, blonde hair and the only other woman in the group approached.

Millerna motioned for them to come closer. "Van, this is Allen. He is my new head of security."

The blonde guy bowed lightly at the waist. "King Van." He greeted politely. "Behind me are our pilot and my second, Gaddess, as well as Reeden, Kio, Ort, Pyle, Katz, and Teo," he introduced the rest of the crew who bowed in greeting.

"…and this lovely lady is his sister Celena," Millerna continued. "She may look innocent but don't let that fool you. She hopes to become a member of Asturian security too. Until then, she's permitted to trail along and shadow Allen and the rest of the guys."

Celena, the young woman in question, offered both Fanelian royals a perfect curtsy. "Your highnesses."

Merle immediately liked her, Van could tell. She nodded eagerly, sensing an ally and fellow party girl only waiting for a chance to show it. "You can call me Merle when we're alone. It's totally fine. I can already tell we're going to get along well. Just wait until tonight when you get your first taste of Fanelia out and about. We're all going to the Mystic Moon! It's the best nightclub in town!" Noticing Van's scowl, she elbowed him gently in the ribs. "It's going to be awesome. I'm there with my friends a lot but it's going to be even better with you all."

Van was fully aware of how well she was plowing through his lack of enthusiasm- with the unyielding strength of a pack mule. Really though, it was good to have Millerna and her together. One, because he was hoping that Merle would take on some of Millerna's more mature qualities and two, because having a friend like her around made the palace instantly feel warmer.

The Mystic Moon's location was easily visible from anywhere in the capital because of its sky beam. A solid, blue column of light shone straight up into the inky night sky like a guiding beacon and young Fanelians flocked to it on weekend evenings like moths to a lamp. Likewise, Hitomi, Yukari, and Amano were on the way there.

Being that it was a Saturday night, the streets were livelier still than during the week. Some restaurants had extended seating outside in the pedestrian zone and on sidewalks. Groups of people enjoyed a late dinner and friends sat together for a glass of wine and to talk story. Hitomi would have much preferred to do so too, but Yukari was too excited to see the club for the first time and Hitomi didn't want to be a downer. Even though the prospect of mingling with a crowd of strangers didn't appeal to Hitomi, she at least owed her best friend an attempt at fun.

So there they were, ready to party. While Amano was dressed not much different than usual, in a pair of slacks and polo shirt, the girls had taken the opportunity to wear things bought on a whim during shopping sprees which likely would never fit another occasion. Yukari sported a purple, strapless dress and was proud to have matched it with her favorite heels to ensure maximum dance capability.

Hitomi had, after some persuasion from Yukari, finally given in and cut the tag off a pair of hunter green shorts made from some velvet-like fabric she'd had in the back of her closet for longer than she could remember. They were tighter than she would have liked but now, with the tag off, she'd sort of committed to at least wearing them once. A pair of strappy, black heels in addition had even made her bestie whistle at the sight of her legs. Too bad her usual sneakers really weren't an option. Thankfully, combined with a long-sleeved, ivory, high-collar blouse, the outfit looked more classy than trashy.

The Mystic Moon was located in one of the old, historic mansions in old-town, not far from where they lived. It had been renovated on the inside and some on the outside, thereby keeping the original structure and charm of the building intact.

The line to get in already wrapped around the corner and by the looks of some of those in that line, they'd been waiting for a good while. Some left eventually when it wasn't moving for a long time or were turned away by the hostess for random reasons after finally making it to the front. Few attempted to hide the looks of disappointment as they walked off, apparently too casually dressed or not important-looking enough to be admitted.

All this waiting in line to be let into a club they were barely good enough for. This was starting pretty great already, Hitomi thought while wondering what the night was to bring. There was a separate line for those who were on the guest list. It made Hitomi feel weird to bypass all the other people but Yukari marched up to the hostess with such confidence she had to admire her.

The woman eyed them suspiciously when Yukari announced that they were on the guest list. She scanned their attire, taking her sweet time, then finally clicked her tongue. They probably reeked like peasant but Yukari was calmly smiling at her, imperturbable as always. When the hostess scanned the guest list, her red lips curled in a somewhat dissatisfied manner because she couldn't turn them away.

"Go on," was all she said and motioned for the giant mountain of a bouncer behind her to let them pass. He grunted in acknowledgment and used one of his meaty arms to pull open the nearest one of the brushed steel double doors next to him.

Yukari beamed at him in passing and Hitomi wasn't far behind, followed by Amano. Sound waves of a pumping bass hit them before their eyes adjusted to the visual overload that was the inside of the club.

In front of them, a buzzing mass of people was dancing and drinking, moving through a kaleidoscope of colors. Although the club was mostly dark, light emitted from the inside of glass tables, the structure of the bar areas in different locations throughout the club, and pillars that went all the way up to the tall ceiling made for an otherworldly kind of mood. It looked as if the place had been built with cosmic mortar and pestle. A big disco ball was mounted right in the center of the tall, vaulted ceiling and reflected the colorful lights around the club, casting stars across any surface it could reach.

"Wow," Hitomi allowed herself to say.

Yukari elbowed her, giggling. "This is awesome!"

Hitomi laughed. "Okay, this is pretty cool."

Amano couldn't help but admire the ambient too. While there were small tables to sit or stand by around the sides, the middle was reserved mainly for dancing and busy waitresses dressed in black expertly weaved through the crowd to deliver drinks to thirsty guests.

"Come on! Let's find Allen!" Yukari yelled in Hitomi and Amano's direction while taking her boyfriend's hand and already dragging him along. Hitomi followed them as they made their way around the side of the dancing crowd, dodging a few people who were so immersed in their moves they had strayed from the rest.

Allen had sent a message a few days ago, letting them know that they were on the guest list for this evening and that he'd be near the VIP area, mainly off duty with his second, Gaddess, in charge but still close to the princess just in case. Fanelia was known as extremely safe due to good diplomatic relations but being overly cautious never hurt.

"I see him," Amano announced, pointing to a set of three, wide steps straight towards the back. A long, red carpet was spread across the floor there and leading up the stairs with another hostess desk occupied by a duo much like that at the front door.

Not far behind the thick, velvet rope which separated the VIP area from that of the common people, a man in a dark blue suit with a martini glass stood half facing the crowd back there and half lazily scanning the area down where the three friends were. Although Hitomi knew that Amano and Allen were twins, seeing a nearly identical copy of Amano smile warmly at them was strange. His features were so strikingly similar.

The only difference was the hair. While Amano's was chestnut brown, Allen's was platinum blonde. It was the wildest thing. Hitomi tried to remember if the few times she'd seen Allen in younger years, his hair had already been this shade or if, perhaps, some hydrogen peroxide had been used to help with that.

As they neared the stairs, Allen lifted a hand in greeting. He moved to meet them halfway after the hostess stepped over to unhook the rope for him so he could exit the VIP area. His long hair trailed behind him when descending the stairs; and not without an obvious look of admiration from the hostess, Hitomi noticed. No wonder, Allen was quite the looker in many regards, tall and handsome like his brother but with a different style.

Allen deposited his Martini glass on a tall side table in passing, this one illuminated pink from the inside. The guys wasted no time in greeting each other with a manly hug and slapped each other on the back.

"Hey little brother," Allen greeted Amano.

Amano rolled his eyes. "Don't start that again. By two minutes…," he trailed off, shaking his head lightly, knowing that their never-ending argument already had a longer beard than Emperor Dornkirk of Zaibach.

Yukari looked back and forth between them, obviously a bit overwhelmed by seeing the two next to each other after four years. She snapped out of it when Amano placed his arm around her shoulders, thereby popping any developing phantasy bubbles involving the handsome duo and herself.

Allen took Yukari's hand, bowing over it in a formal gesture that was probably making her blush a bit, but who could be sure in that lighting. "It's been a while, Yukari. I see Amano finally had the guts to follow his heart."

That made Amano pull Yukari a bit closer against himself. "Better late than never."

The three laughed and by now Hitomi felt fairly awkward off on the side, pretending to be busy scanning the crowd during the reunion. She glanced towards the VIP area where Allen had just come from. There was a small but packed dancefloor with a bar on the right but on the left, even further back, bead curtains hung all the way from the ceiling to the floor. They looked like somebody had strung up diamonds but they certainly weren't real, or were they? Hitomi wondered what could be behind them. Probably a seating area to give the high society some privacy when chatting with each other or otherwise…occupied.

Yukari's voice reached Hitomi from the side. "Allen, do you remember…"

"Hitomi," Allen's voice rang clearly over the sound of the music.

She turned her head around and up to lock her eyes with Allen's. They were ocean blue and regarded her with curiosity. Just like with Yukari, he took one of Hitomi's hands but instead of just bowing, he kissed the back of it like he would no doubt for some highborn lady. Despite the absurdity, Hitomi couldn't deny herself some enjoyment out of the formality.

"How could I forget Hitomi. You were one of Amano's best friends, after all. It was my bad for not making enough time to hang out with all of you back when we were younger." Allen held on to Hitomi's hand for just a bit longer than necessary. "I'll be sure to make up for some of that tonight," he finished with a slight wink to emphasize his promise.

"It's good to see you again, Allen," Hitomi responded. It really was, although the sudden interest from his side was unexpected.

More conversation ensued after the four of them ordered drinks at the nearest bar. Yukari immediately wanted to know more about princess Millerna's schedule in Fanelia, of course, to which Allen simply smiled knowingly.

"Well, actually she is here tonight although you can't see her because she's somewhere in the crowd on the dancefloor up there. My crew is strategically placed around the area to ensure her safety. He said all this with aplomb, thereby earning him looks of awe from the girls and a proud nod from his brother.

"Didn't think she'd be here! I thought this was something like your night off," Amano said.

"A bodyguard is never really off duty, but she's cool with it. Underneath it all, she's really just a person like you and I and she has siblings too don't forget that. She insisted that I take the time to see you after I mentioned that my little brother lives in Fanelia." Allen twirled the stem of a new Martini glass between his fingers as he talked.

Amano combed several fingers through his hair. "Here we go again."

Yukari gripped his upper arm in a gesture that left no room for arguments. "You know what? It's way to amazing here to stand around and talk. Plus, I love this song so why don't we give that dancefloor a try?" She didn't wait for an answer and instead pulled Hitomi in front of herself, then pushed her towards Allen. "We even got the right amount of dance partners." Winking, she already had Amano's hand in hers and was on the way to join the crowd.

Hitomi smiled a bit nervously while smoothing her short hair behind her ears. She did like to dance but that was normally done at low-key parties with Yukari and not with a guy like Allen at the hippest nightclub in town.

"Shall we?" Allen asked her, extending his hand expectantly.

Well, she couldn't think of a tangible reason to say no. Not that she wanted to think of one.

While Merle, Millerna, and Celena danced their collective hearts out, Van was content to sulk moodily in their reserved seating area, nursing a glass of neat whiskey. The bass was pumping in his ears and even made the silly bead curtain separating their table and couches from the dancefloor and bar shake. At least he'd be left in peace here unless somebody choose to come looking, of course.

He ran a hand through his hair which was neatly combed and briefly wondered what it'd be like to come here incognito. Would he enjoy it more if nobody knew who he was? If he were to be able to hang out with a group of normal people? Like his…ahem…acquaintance from the coffee shop?

Damn.

He'd done such a good job up to this point to not think about her again. However, the tricky part when trying to not think about something was that he had to think about it to remind himself what not to think about. Considering that, he'd actually done a lousy job because it required him to think about her at least once a day.

Ha. Once a day? If only…

It also didn't help that just at that moment, he spotted a way too familiar face near the bottom of the steps. He could see her between the cracks in the curtain.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

If he hadn't been sure before, he definitely was now because she was staring right at where he was sitting, just she obviously couldn't see him behind the sparkly diamond fringe. Seeing her here was like spotting an island in a vast, wild ocean. She seemed a bit out of place but it wasn't due to her looks because she was by far more tastefully dressed than most of the women he'd fended off earlier this evening. She seemed out of place because this obviously wasn't her natural environment.

He saw Allen greet a guy who looked a whole lot like him, no doubt the brother Millerna had mentioned he was going to meet. And there was the other woman from the coffee shop. The one who'd been in line in front of him the other day, so excited about the upcoming visit to the Mystic Moon.

After some elaborate show of courtesies from Allen's side, the four went further away so Van couldn't see them anymore but now he certainly couldn't stop his thoughts from spinning. And spinning they were, around the image of a certain short-haired, green-eyed woman. Why couldn't he just stop thinking about her? Pondering this for a while, he then waved over a waitress who was only too eager to assist her king.

They were all out of breath when they ordered a new round of drinks at the bar. Despite everything, Hitomi had to admit that she was having a great time. Allen was a good enough dancer to make up for her level of ineptitude with his confident moves. A few gulps of water and more potent drinks later they were nothing short of stunned when the VIP hostess appeared beside them and told them that they had been invited to enter that area.

"Wait but who…," Yukari began to ask but the hostess interrupted her.

"Look, do you want to come back there or not? I don't have time for this," the woman said over her shoulder while already on the way back to her post.

Amano chuckled, "now that's a pure-bred Rottweiler. She hardly even needs the bouncer's help."

Shrugging, the quartet made their way towards the VIP area, albeit a bit weary still. The hostess stood and looked them up and down, much like her colleague outside while unhooking the thick, red piece of rope to allow them passage. She was clearly not in favor of having any of them except Allen in this area but couldn't do anything about it despite her position as a gatekeeper. Some higher power had overwritten her authority.

To Hitomi, the grass wasn't much greener on the other side. Except that people here were perhaps dressed even fancier, looked more self-important, and the drinks they held looked more expensive too. Half-full bottles of Champaign and liquor had been carelessly left on tables littered with overturned glasses and crumpled bills, including traces of white powder which looked a lot like cocaine. It instantly gave the term high-society a whole new meaning.

They stood there for a few minutes, looking around to take it all in again, minus Allen who was already used to it. Nobody paid attention to them and even Yukari was still a bit taken aback. She probably couldn't believe her luck about having the chance to come all the way to the heart of the club on her first visit.

They were still standing at the edge of the dancefloor when Hitomi looked behind herself and saw somebody she didn't expect to see again in real life. All the tumult receded and everything around her grew hazy like standing in a dark tunnel with him at the end. Aw crap.

Dressed in a black suit with the royal crest embroidered on the breast pocket, sans sunglasses and with his hair combed back, the king of Fanelia could hardly be mistaken for anybody else. A few people who'd been busy dancing in that area took a moment to stare and exchange some hushed words which were easily lost in the sound around them. Yukari, Amano, and Allen were still looking the other way, pointing at the bar, when he came to a stop in front of Hitomi.

Neither of them said anything until Van offered a "hello."

"Hi…," Hitomi answered in an equally awkward way.

Cue for the others to finally notice the person who'd joined them. That seeing the king of this very country suddenly stand a mere few feet away shocked them would have been an understatement. Well, everyone except Allen again, of course, who was merely surprised to see Van approach them.

"King Van," Allen acknowledged him. "Was there anything you needed from me?"

Van looked at Hitomi for another moment before shaking his head. "No." He then proceeded to kick himself mentally. He'd thought about what exactly to say but now it was all gone. Smooth. Real smooth. Distraction! Now! "Is this your brother?" He asked although it was quite obvious that the guy next to Allen couldn't be anybody but an identical twin.

Allen was taken aback that the king had decided to not only venture out into the open but now also showed interest in his family life. "Indeed, your majesty. This is Amano, his girlfriend Yukari, and their friend Hitomi." Allen introduced them all. "We all grew up together in Asturia."

Van didn't crack so much as smile, one hand clutching his glass of whiskey like a lifeline. Meanwhile, Yukari's eyes were still as big as saucers, words having failed her. Was this a dream? The awkwardness of the situation was completely lost on her. Hitomi, on the other hand, was close to bursting out in hysterical laughter. How was it that she kept stumbling into him?

Van nodded at the group as a collective greeting. "I saw you with them and thought it would be better to keep everybody together."

Amano was the first of the others to say something, shaking his girlfriend out of her stupor. "Thank you for the invitation, your majesty. Would you excuse us for a moment though? I think my girlfriend is thirsty." That said, he took her hand and coaxed her out of the semi-circle.

Hitomi could hear her protest a bit.

"Amano, why are you pulling me away? It's the king for Pete's sake…," Yukari huffed when they were out of earshot.

"Because you've been staring at him since the very first second," Amano laughed. "Calm down and we'll go back over there eventually, okay?" A mere warm, loving gaze from him usually did wonders in cooling her down.

Yukari rolled her eyes and nodded. "Fine. You're right. Thanks for making sure I don't say anything weird."

"Not a bad idea that with the drink," Allen said. "Hitomi, can I get you anything too?"

"Uh…sure," she answered.

"Your majesty? Anything?" Allen asked Van too.

"No. I'm alright," he answered and lifted his whiskey glass.

After Allen made his way towards the bar, it was just Van and Hitomi continuing their stare-off.

Hitomi finally laughed, but it was more because she was at a loss for what to say and do than actual amusement. It wasn't like this could get any more awkward. Enough shilly shallies.

The few drinks she'd had and the extravagant, overpowering atmosphere made her bold. "What now? Are we going to pass the time dancing? We know each other well enough after all." The absurdity of it all.

"No…I hadn't planned on it," he responded ruefully while taking in the sight of her in the party outfit. Although she looked glammy with the velvet shorts and high heels, the blouse gave her an aristocratic look and only underlined her natural beauty.

Even if he wanted to dance with her in a place like this, he couldn't. Not in a club where more than half the people were drunk, on drugs, or both. The possibility of somebody snapping a picture of him doing anything that would shame the royal house was too big. If was different when his little sister was spotted on the dancefloor. She was known as a party girl, a bit younger, and the darling of the media but he needed to be taken seriously at all times.

"Then…what am I supposed to be doing while we wait? Pretend to converse with you?" Hitomi asked him. "Like we just met for the first time?"

She was becoming impatient. Not many people would usually get away with talking to Van in such a way- it was quite sobering.

This was going absolutely not excellent. If only he could remember what he'd planned on saying earlier to smooth out the wrinkles.

Van scowled at her. She was testier than he remembered and his cheek tingled in remembrance.

Finally, another person saved them from their own stubbornness.

"Van! Look at you coming out of your hiding place!" A melodic voice proclaimed from the side.

"Millerna," Van said a bit gratefully.

"Who is this? Hi, I'm Millerna," she introduced herself, not even waiting for Van to do it.

The blonde was almost as tall as Van in her heels and shook Hitomi's hand eagerly. "Are you a friend of Allen's? I saw him here just a moment ago."

Allen was still not back and a quick look around confirmed what he had told them earlier. That Millerna's security detail was positioned at various places in the club. A guy in a navy blue suit was close by but still far enough away to give them privacy.

"Y-yes, your majesty," Hitomi said, the title feeling strange in her mouth.

"You don't have to call me that. At least not when it's just us. Call me Millerna," she offered.

"Uhm…alright…Millerna," Hitomi said.

By the gods. She was standing in the middle of the Mystic Moon's VIP area, talking to not just one but two royals, which doubled the number of royals she had ever talked to in her life.

"How do you know Allen? We haven't been to Fanelia in years, and even then it was before he became head of my security detail." Millerna asked curiously.

Hitomi felt a bit more at ease. The princess was clearly more laid back than she would have expected. "I'm actually from Asturia too. So is my friend Yukari. She is Amano's girlfriend. The three of us share an apartment here in town."

"What a crazy coincidence!" Millerna exclaimed. "Why'd you leave Asturia? Too boring because no dragons?" She joked.

Van stood next to them as the two women fell into an easy conversation. He was really quite relieved that Millerna had shown up. It gave him an excuse to look at Hitomi without the need to say anything at all. So far, he had only gotten himself in trouble or been a nuisance when alone with her. Not a great track record. Maybe it was better if there were other people and no disguises.

When Hitomi and Millerna arrived at another topic which they could bond over, both their eyes lit up. While Hitomi was nearing the end of her nursing education, Millerna was on her way to become a physician. She'd taken up medical studies despite her father's vehement protests and continued them even after Eries had threatened to abdicate after Folken's death, thereby making Millerna the only eligible heir in the event that she'd make her threat a reality.

Allen eventually came and delivered a drink to Hitomi but Millerna insisted that he re-join his brother and Yukari at the bar, which he did, albeit reluctantly. Hitomi had a feeling that Amano was keeping Yukari away on purpose still, to make sure the alcohol wouldn't prompt her to say things in front of the king and princess she'd later on regret. Millerna assured Allen that Hitomi and she were now best friends and that they had important things to talk about. The only reason Van was allowed to stick around was, well, who would tell a king to butt off? It of course also helped that he didn't say a word while the women were talking.

On the other end of the long bar, a guy with silver hair was playing absentmindedly with the ice in his empty glass. His eyes scanned the crowd without aim, watching people dance, laugh, and yell at each other over the loud music. Those fools.

Dilandau Albatou came solely for the people-watching and drink. Definitely not for the dancing and horrible music. Clad in a merlot shirt and black jeans, he was one of the more casually dressed people here. However, as a member of the Zaibach attaché corps, he never had trouble getting into the Mystic Moon no matter how he was dressed.

Reaching into a pocket, he retrieved a small plastic bag containing a single, white pill. Drugs weren't anything too uncommon here and the effects some of the stuff had on others was too entertaining to not sit back and watch. Sometimes, people did downright cringe-worthy stuff when high.

After ordering another round, he slipped the pill into one of two drinks in front of him before taking a sip from his own gin and tonic. He waited until one of the waitresses he knew well came by to load her tray with new orders.

Dilandau stopped the woman with the wavy, teal hair as she picked up drinks from the bartender. "Sylphy. I'm feeling generous tonight. Would you bring this to someone for me?"

"Sure. Who do you want me to bring it to?" Sylphy asked with a facial expression that suggested mild indifference.

Dilandau was regarded as a weirdo in certain circles. As an albino, his outward appearance was unusual. Pale skin, eyes the color of rosé, and nearly white hair weren't exactly what women would list as top desirable features. Although money had, more often than not, helped make them forget about that. It wasn't like he ever felt like wasting time with pleasantries in a woman's company anyway.

In his position, he enjoyed all the honors of a noble but was content to remain mostly antisocial. When he came to the Mystic Moon, he rarely left his favorite seat at the bar. The reason he was still a favorite among the staff was that at least he tipped well.

"Dealer's choice," Dilandau answered with a lazy grin. "Bring it to whoever looks like they could use it."

Shrugging, the waitress tossed her long hair over one shoulder before placing the glass on the tray, grabbing it and walking off into the crowd, weaving through it carefully.

Taking a big swig of his drink, he nearly choked on it when, very unexpectedly, a single finger poked his shoulder. Who the hell was dumb enough to approach him?

"Hey," a female voice demanded his attention.

"What?" Dilandau asked, obviously annoyed and not even turning around because he was trying to not lose track of Sylphy in the crowd. She was moving fast, doing her job well so he didn't want to miss who she'd deliver the drink to. Then, when he saw her finally zoom in on someone and hand the glass over, he was finally ready to deal with whoever had intruded his personal space.

"Did you just spike someone's drink?" The female voice prodded.

Even though many people in the crowd were on some sort of drug, they took them with intent. Dilandau whirled around and immediately backed away a bit because the young woman's face was closer to his than expected. Two pale blue orbs stared at him so accusingly that it made him feel naked on the spot. It was as if she was trying to read his thoughts.

When focusing on her more closely, he realized that she was around his age. He should be able to deal with that easily, or not? "No," he still answered calmly. "I spiked a drink. Not someone's. There's a difference." Dilandau regarded the young woman lazily, challenging her.

Her hair was cut the same way as his, although with natural waves. She wore a pair of thin, black palazzo pants and a lavender, silk, crop top. Where a lot of women liked to take the opportunity here to dress up to the nines, she looked like she was on her way to Sunday brunch. It gave her an air of sophistication and that made him a little curious.

Contrastingly, the girl was holding a fresh bottle of beer by the neck, apparently having stood not far away to order a fresh round for herself. Beer wasn't really the choice beverage of high-society girls. She was pretty and interesting so far, he had to give her that.

What he said made her frown. "Well," she said innocently. " Why would you spike a random drink?"

Dilandau chuckled. "Just sharing some Intensified Luck in hopes it will make someone's evening."

Brow slightly furrowed, the girl slowly said, "right. Because let me guess, you're a generous guy?"

Celena looked at him with an expression that was completely unfamiliar to him. Not outright disapproval about doing something fucked up like drugging a random person but instead bypassing the outrage and going straight about finding his motivation for it. That, in combination with her confidence about approaching a guy who was a stranger to her in a bar, made his skin prickle uncomfortably.

"Shit. You won't believe how many snappy one-liners I just forgot and because of that, I need to go." Dilandau said while getting to his feet and downing his drink in one large gulp while simultaneously grabbing a black sports coat from the back of his barstool.

In any other situation, he'd never be the one to back down. Who was he, to be scared of some naïve girl getting under his skin by merely looking at him? Even as he pushed past her, moving her out of the way with his elbow carefully but deliberately, she didn't make any attempts to follow him. At least, she knew what was good for her. The dancing crowd swallowed him in the blink of an eye.

Fuming, Dilandau ducked into the men's room. His evening entertainment was ruined for the time being. The audacity of this blonde bitch. He was so mad he kicked the silver trashcan sitting in the corner which earned him an annoyed glance from the guy at the urinal.

"What the fuck are you staring at?" Dilandau challenged him.

The guy shook his head, finished his business, and left the bathroom without washing his hands. Pig.

Dilandau walked up to the sink and braced his hands onto the marble washbasin. His own reflection stared back at him. Of course, he'd taken some of the Intensified Luck himself too but he already knew what it'd make him feel like. Like he was actually in control for once. Weird, because normally people took drugs for the exact opposite reason, to be able to let go.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the marble surface harder and focused on his mirror image. The more he looked at himself, the more the resurfacing images of his surreal nightmares threatened to swallow him again. Hissing at his own image, he tore himself away and strode into the far-off stall, banging the door closed before locking it.

The smoke detector in the closed-off room was still damaged from the last time he'd broken it. He leaned his back against the side wall and reached for the pack of cigarettes in one of his pockets. After lighting one up, he inhaled greedily and then rolled up the sleeves of his jacket to be more comfortable. At least here he'd be safe from the curious, little inquisitor for a while.

Hitomi had lost track of time. At some point, a waitress stopped by and handed her a drink.

"But I didn't order anything," Hitomi protested while the waitress thrust the gin and tonic into her hand.

"It's from this guy at the bar," she explained and gesticulated vaguely towards it.

Over the woman's shoulder, Hitomi could make out Allen, Yukari, and Amano. Allen smiled at her from across the distance and she raised the glass in a toast before tasting it. It had obviously been sent by him- how nice. She was actually having a good time now even though the dark king was still next to Millerna and her, hanging out there like a soggy raincloud. After two more sips, she was glad about the refreshment even though she'd already had a few drinks up to this point.

Van was pretending to look as much interested as a guy could reasonably be expected to be when two women were conversing animatedly, not including him. But that was just fine with him. It gave him all the time in the world to glance at Hitomi whenever appropriate, drinking in the sight of her cheerful face more eagerly than the whiskey. Her genuine nature made him feel more at ease in the usually dreaded environment.

More time passed as the women talked about similar classes they'd had and shared stories of training rotations with obnoxious patients and shocking diagnoses. It was Millerna's turn to tell a story about a guy she'd treated in the ER who had thought it a splendid idea to mend a wound on his leg with superglue, which then necessitated them to soak the affected area in acetone.

Hitomi wobbled a bit and smothered a laugh with her free hand when Millerna talked. It wasn't actually that funny but an unfamiliar feeling in her head stole away her ability to keep it together. "'Scuse me for a moment please," Hitomi said and stepped away as gracefully as possible. What in the hell was wrong with her. She hadn't had that much to drink, or did she?

She stumbled into the VIP restroom where the sound of music was more muffled and the light was brighter, aiming for the sinks. Two other women were in there, fixing their flawless warpaint and giggling amongst themselves. "…sooo hot in that black suit and I can't believe he's here tonight."

Hitomi stifled a groan as she put down her drink and turned on the faucet to splash cold water onto her face, not caring if it would smudge her own, much less elaborate makeup. The cool water helped her focus again better. As far as she could tell from her reflection staring back at her, she looked fairly normal. Phew. At least she wouldn't embarrass herself completely if she went back out there to let her friends know that she would be leaving.

The two high-society girls brushed past her with envious looks on their faces, one whispering something into the other's ear without Hitomi even taking note. Right. Good. So that was the way out. Kind of hard to tell with all the light and glitz in there. All she had to do was follow them. Back out into the cosmic darkness of the Mystic Moon. The difference in lighting and intensity in sound after the brief stop in the restroom hit her like a brick wall against the head. She was feeling worse and worse by the minute and the refreshing effect of the cold water had worn off fast.

She wobbled again, looking around but everything appeared strange. It was as if she had fallen through a rabbit hole and been spit out in another dimension. Faces were blurry and bodies moved too fast for her to follow. Walking felt like having to wade through molasses. She stumbled to the other side and reached the area across from the bathroom doors where a polished shelf along the whole length of the wall was meant to hold drinks for those whose hands were otherwise occupied. Only a few steps away, a couple made use of just that and had abandoned their champagne glasses while thoroughly exploring each other with hands and mouths.

Hitomi reached out to place her half-empty glass onto the shelf but, in her delirium, misjudged the distance. Only halfway on the secure surface before she let go, the glass fell and shattered, sending shards of expensive crystal, ice, and booze flying. Some splashed on her toes, some on the couple's legs and ice went sliding across the floor. They only spared a moment to shoot her an annoyed glance before stepping away further and resuming their previous activities.

In the meantime, Hitomi could do nothing but stare at the floor, dumbfounded and utterly at a loss for what had just happened. As if hypnotized, she stood in the same spot for what felt like an eternity before she, even despite the blaring music, heard glass crunch under the soles of, no doubt, expensive shoes and felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

Tbc...soonish.

A/N: Really, I had nearly 19 pages written already but decided to cut it off sooner for my own sanity. That said, ch 4 (or rather chapter 3, part 2) shouldn't be as long as this update. Alas, real life often gets in the way.

Thank you to everybody who's taken the time to review. It's motivating, as you can imagine. Keep it up!

Until next time!

#KOAescaFF #escaflownefanfic #the vision of escaflowne #escaflowne

[brainhelp]

Anxiety & Limbic System Recovery

I had a really interesting experience of anxiety this past week as I reached a new level with my neurokinetic therapist (retraining neuromuscular relationships across the body = neurokinetic therapy, NKT for short). 

We’ve actually been moving pretty fast these past six moths, as my body has really responded remarkably well to NKT. But I’ve noticed that each time I’ve made a big breakthrough muscularly (where a specific muscular pattern no longer needs to be retrained), I usually have a few pretty rough days in the process. I’m told this is my motor control system rewiring itself and that this is pretty normal. 

I’ve learned however, that there is a total advantage to this discomfort if a person is willing to really stop and allow the pain (versus trying to medicate it, avoid it or block it out). That advantage is, you learn to identify what pain feels like what problem in almost feels like a pain reassignment process. Therefore, you can deal with it really fully, including emotional relationships within the pain. 

I had a big one of these this past week. We’ve been dealing with my neck lately (and surrounding muscles that hold it up) and particularly in areas impacting limbic system functions. 

I’m not going to go into depth about the limbic system (it’s a quick google away and there are far more qualified people than I who can tell you about it). But I will say, that it’s very much a part of the brain where emotions and emotional responses are regulated. Anxiety, panic, fear, frozen responses, confusion, flight. 

Different people over the years that I’ve worked with, doctors and therapists alike have all told me that I’m dealing with anxiety. To me, I feel like I’ve managed to be pretty calm (at least outwardly) in my life. So although I’ve seen it and “understood” what they were saying, I always more equated anxiety with the diaphragmatic pain surrounding my stomach area not as an emotion or feeling. I always related more to my digestion (which it also was). Like “I’m anxious” to me equaled “I hurt” somewhere. 

But this week, as we released and activated areas dealing directly with the limbic system I had a new understanding of anxiety. I was just utterly wiped out tired for a week. I think what happened is that we released some deep stuff in there and it just knocked me out. I was sleeping for like 12 hours a night and needing naps during the day, but still feeling muscularly way better than the previous week. 

Toward the end of the week, as I started to feel more energy and wanted to do more than just work and sleep... like I wanted to go out with my friends, go to dinner and concert, ect. All the sudden I felt it, the anxiety was there in a way I hadn’t experienced it before but I think may have always been there. It felt emotional, not physical. 

I realized then, oh. The anxiety was so strong, it just totally knocks me out entirely. It was likely so bad that I couldn’t even feel it because I’d be asleep already? I’ve always had that a bit with sleep, I’ve needed extra for years (which is common for head trauma). But usually we think of people with anxiety having sleep problems, as in, they are too worked up to sleep. 

These people haven’t necessarily had head trauma. 

For me, I feel like I’ve emerged this week having a new way to recognize anxiety within myself at least. Now, I want to clarify. People with brain issues need more sleep. The sleep helps us to heal. I’m not saying or suggesting that I shouldn’t have slept as much as I did or that a change should be made here. 

I’m more identifying and understanding that I have absolutely been experiencing anxiety so strong, that I couldn’t even feel it, for as I’ve been able to remember. And, with muscular dysfunction and pain...it was like a reinforcement pattern looping over and over again. That knowledge can help me deal and heal for good. 

For instance, in the past, I may have always gone to that concert downtown anyway, but it would have ended in a migraine or my rushing home on the early side to crash into bed asleep. Whereas, yesterday, I had a very different experience. I had the same anxiety going in, but not coming out. 

It’s like it just went away. I was at the concert and could feel the familiar pains in my stomach, back and diaphragm starting. I just focused on my muscular function, keeping proper supportive posture, taking deep breaths and worked to make sure I wasn’t muscularly compensating anywhere. And little by little, the feelings just left. Gone. 

I didn't leave early. I didn’t get a migraine after loud noise and flashing lights. I didn’t have huge digestive problem. I didn’t crash into bed. This was a totally different experience for me. And this is what neuromuscular retraining is all about. 

Now, there’s going to be some work to do as I experience this same sensation, likely across all my environments. But NOW, I have an actual experience of the outcome being different and that is everything. Because I can recognize what is occurring and know that I will be okay on the other side. 

Now, that’s some great hope. 

#concussion #head trauma #limbic system #anxiety #recovery #brain #brain function