#i already miss the regular updates even though the last update before the hiatus was yesterday

[jeanmoreaux]

the urge to reread heartstopper again now that i finally bought the physical copies is so strong

#i mean i just reread my digital copies on my ebook reader for the netflix show #but now that i have the books i just wanna read this series again not even a month later #((or almost a month later)) #it's probably the fact that the webcomic is on hiatus for a couple of moths now......................... #i already miss the regular updates even though the last update before the hiatus was yesterday #idk i’m also really stressed atm so my brain is just fixating on media that alleviates that feeling a bit #mish rambles #i wasn't wrong when i made the text post about consuming media for the 174th time. i love proving myself right lol

[ngame989]

SVTFOE: A Retrospective

Happy Mama Star Day!

OK, first and foremost, a quick update on TGG: I plan to have something ready for at least one of the major anniversaries coming up, and hopefully will resume slightly more regular updates from then forward. Thanks to everyone for your continued support, it’s been a rough year so far for me personally and for everyone in in the current pandemic situation. The anniversary of both STH and Mama Star seemed like a fitting time to get some things off my chest, both good and bad, so I’ll do that now and get it out of the way to focus on bigger and better things in the future. Fair warning, this is gonna be long and rambly and personal more than it is any sort of serious show analysis. If you’re looking for fun, feel-good celebration of what definitely were some of my favorite moments in the series, I’m not so sure this is gonna be the post for you.

It goes without saying that Star vs the Forces of Evil, for better or worse, is incredibly important to me and has been without fail for years. How are you supposed to feel when something that important lets you down so hard? Is having such strong, mixed emotions and attachment better than having nothing you care about at all? The past year hasn’t answered these questions for me, and this post certainly won’t either. There’s no thesis or likely any kind of closure here, just me baring a bit of my soul here on tumblr dot com.

It’s been a rough year or two for me. I don’t want to get too much into the specifics, but let’s just say I hit a crossroads where the entire path I’d envisioned for myself in life came into serious question, and I had been spiraling into depression and paralyzing anxiety over a complete lack of any fulfillment in my “professional” life for months before I even recognized it for what it was. Season 3 finished airing around the last few months of my undergraduate degree, which (while obviously it significantly emotionally impacted me) was a generally happy and stable time in my life. As things started to change and get worse for me, SVTFOE S4 was my ray of hope. I’m not kidding when I say that some days in the hiatus leading up to it, the thought of S4 delivering on its potential for emotional fulfillment and Starco goodness (consistently, not just at the end) was the only thing that got me out of bed in the morning and the only positive thing I could see in my future. 

When we got the S4 we got, it shattered me, utterly and completely. This isn’t an attempt to dunk on S4 in some “objective” manner - hell, I even like a lot of the things about it that the fandom despises (the ending prioritizing character closure over lore, the upheaval of the political structure rather than just having Star become the Goodest Queen, etc). I’d still make the argument that a lot of the character development was very flimsy and poorly paced, a very clear effort to force the relationship resolution to be delayed until the end at all costs, but that’s not the point here. Life felt dull and lonely and warm fluffy Starco was my vicarious escape from that, and the season we got left me so completely hollow insid that it felt like I couldn’t breathe for its first more-than-a-dozen episodes, and I was so burnt out that I couldn’t even properly enjoy the parts that were genuinely good.

Even earlyish on, I was already fearing that things wouldn’t be resolved till the end and that there’d be almost none of the content I actually longed for from the show. As I’ve mentioned before, The Greatest Gift was born the morning after Lake House Fever’s late night release, out of salt and spite and a need to give myself something good to look forward to, even if it would be something I’d be making myself. I completely removed myself from even passing conversations with my best friends in the fandom because it hurt too much to even think about. I even had Seddm give me summaries of episodes before I watched them so I could take some time to emotionally prepare (at least until the 2nd to last week). And to the show’s credit, its last few weeks of episodes (with some exceptions) tried their absolute damnedest to right the ship (pun intended) and bring back the sorts of things I wanted with a vengeance. I was smiling like a complete fool for 12 hours straight after Here to Help. The ending didn’t fix my issues with the show, not by a fucking long shot, but it at least left me on a positive enough note that there was a feverish enthusiasm to continue it further on my own.

But it’s been tough. Have you or a family member/friend ever gotten bad food poisoning from a restaurant you really liked, and the smell of it makes you queasy afterwards even though you do really like it? That’s probably the best analogy I can draw to a lot of my relationship with SVTFOE since it ended. PLEASE NOTE I’M IN NO WAY TRYING TO EQUATE THE MAGNITUDE OF MY IRE WITH A CARTOON WITH SERIOUS DISORDERS THAT PEOPLE SUFFER FROM, but I’d almost be tempted to liken it to PTSD. Seeing reminders of the painful parts can put me in a bad mood for hours, and on some days even just dwelling on the show in any way will invite creeping negativity and “why the fuck couldn’t it have just-” types of thoughts taking over. There have been some days writing TGG where having to draw inspiration from or reference events/dialogues in S4 was so emotionally taxing that I had to stop writing for the night. I blocked Seddm’s entire askbox tag because I’d find my own emotions frothing into a rage over things in the show people would bring up. I’ve lost acquaintances and potential friendships over my bitterness. I instantly block anyone who posts even a hint of Tomstar/Kellco content in the Starco tags on any site because it induces such palpable negativity in my heart - I think I’m up to 1000 accounts blocked on Instagram right now, which is why Toxic runs the TGG page over there. If you’re one of the people out there that tried to strike up a conversation with me over a shared interest in the show and I vomited bile into your DMs, I sincerely apologize. And to anyone who got wrapped up in the brazen high hopes I put forth here every day as S4 approached and came crashing down with me as a result, I’m sorry for that too.

And yet... I can’t say there’s not a genuine love I still have for a lot of it. I still have my little shrine of stickers and pictures that I’ll sometimes just get let myself get lost in. There was a recent postcanon fic started by someone who just caught up on the show that brought such a depth of warmth into my chest that I’m smiling like an idiot just now thinking about it. I haven’t watched even a clip (let alone a whole episode) that Star and Marco’s voices in my head feel distant and abstract, but when I’m writing chapters I can still get emotional imagining them saying and doing things out of their devotion to one another. I’ve made no secret that I (to put it very very very lightly) have a strong distaste for the vast majority of this fandom, and yet the joy of knowing I could make people’s days or lives brighter gives me a satisfaction I can’t put words to. Don’t get me wrong, writing quickly just isn’t my thing normally anyway - I’m not trying to suggest that the sole reason for TGG downtime is that I’m driving knives into my own heart and pouring my blood onto the page. Just that that’s part of it, and it takes its toll. 

The last few months, although I have missed the joy of brewing up fluff ideas and seeing them come to life, have admittedly been a welcome reprieve just not having to think about this stuff so much. In the last few weeks I’ve finally been coming around to a bit of a better place where the good bubbles up without bringing as much of the bad with it. It will likely still wax and wane, and I can��t guarantee if or when TGG will fully finish. And this isn’t my entire life - I have MMOs and card games and all kinds of other hobbies that suck up lots of my time, so don’t worry about me just lying in bed sobbing over S4 for 12 hours a day. I don’t know if the day will ever come when I can truly be at peace with it all, but I don’t want to toss out the good with the bad. All I can ask is for your patience as my own journey evolves alongside my writing, until the day comes when perhaps this story can finally come to a close. Thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Ngame

#starco #tgg svtfoe #ngame

[thedoctornumber11]

It feels weird to be doing this again, especially so soon after the last one, but I did want to mention a few things to my roleplay partners briefly.  So sorry for interrupting your dash/activity with this.  I’m not going to make a habit out of it.

1. For the first time all year, my hiatus tracker has been updated!  Yeah, I usually use this for letting people know when I’ll be on vacation or at conventions and things like that.  However, this has been an odd year with COViD and everything.  That being said, my brother is getting married and I’m one of the groomsmen and it’s also out of state, so I’m going to take a temporary hiatus in October, specifically I’ll be gone with no replies from October 19th to 26th. I know that’s pretty far out in advanced letting people know but I’m a planning type person and wanted to make sure everyone knew ahead of time in case I forget to put up a notice.

2. There’s a question that’s bothered me for quite a while now and it’s how other people find new rp partners.  I know how I go about doing it, but how does everyone else?  Specifically what types of posts and what types of tags people use.  I’m doing a survey and I plan on sharing the results in a few weeks.  If anyone would like to take it to help out, the link can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KSW73C7

3. Speaking of that survey, I’ve already gotten a few results and am going to be testing a few things this week with open starters and memes, so I’ve scheduled a few of those in the queue to look out for if anyone is interested.  I also put some Doctor Who stuff in there and I’ve changed my reply schedule so the blog make look a bit different this week but it will have content 24/7, including replies.  Trying to make sure there’s something there for people of different time zones.  A lot of Doctor Who memes and stuff are in the queue as well.  It should be a fun week!

4. Activity tab seems to have changed and when I went through my threads earlier it seems I missed a few.  Going to remind everyone once more that if I don’t reply to something within a week, do feel free to message me!  Seriously, with Tumblr making so many changes, it’s VERY easy for things to get lost and I don’t intentionally drop things without letting the person I’m interacting with know first.  This means if I haven’t replied to something (it can take a few days and up to a week) I may not have seen it!  And if things do need to be dropped, let me know!  I’m perfectly fine dropping things as needed as long as I’m told!  I also enjoy starting new things as well and am fine plotting or winging it! :D

5. I did a big Munday thing this week.  For anyone who missed it and/or may be interested in learning more about me, you can find that by clicking here.  It’s rather long though.

6. . I wanted to take a minute to promote all of you again!  Like I said before, I do not plan on making this list thing where I tag everyone a regular thing.  I usually only do this once every 6 months or so, sometimes less than that and usually really only when tumblr makes changes to let everyone know how I’m adjusting to changes and let them know anything else going on, and sometimes I don’t even do it that often, but stuff happens.  But I really do enjoy all these people so...

All these blogs under the cut are great!  I did try to remember to tag everyone!

@3-ls-and-an-h​ @amberdivine @amyriadofmuses @apocalypticxjumper @arkytiorthebadwolf @brightestxwitchx @detectiverickitubbs @docquinzel @everybodyelsedying @fullrangeofemotions @girlfrcmnowhere @handmethatstapler @hatsnpanties @hisbespokenpsychopath @ladies-of-time @meanxballerina @missysrehabilitation @mistakeiwontmaketwice @mistress-of-the-vine @notsoinnocentlittleangel @peggys-orders @qceensofkings @riverofserenity @sadiesawyer @scarletwitchrpblog @schwartzkatz @seesbetterfromadistance @sippingteafromabeaker @speedxandxnetflix @starfirechan @tchamblers @theiracademydaysareover @thepinkearthdefender @time-qxeen @timelrd @walkerofclouds @withinkandquill @withgutsandglory @xnxthinglastsfxrever @you-think-i-am-just-a-doll @physicsgoesballistic @sphinxsmuses @romxna @bxrningambitions @ask-poisonivy-pamelaisley @xtheimpossiblesoufflex @thetenthdoctor03 @birdonawiresara @jennymaltzurrak @speedxandxnetflix @melodyxriver @ineedmyfriendback @hellxraising @rositaespinosatwd @pi-jessicajones @unaugmentedmonkeyscantfly @heartonanoose @aequilibriium @molmorguemouse @kim-pxssible @his-unfaithful-companion @clara-oswin-forthe-win @detholmes @timedriving @wearenotthesameasyesterday @thebadtimewolf @velvetxspy @queenofthewarehouse @theamazonian-princess @fierylittleniece @missgwenstacy @onewonderouswoman @thegirlwhowaited-dw @gingersrockstheuniverse @usemyknowledge @kyberborne @superkarazorelofkrypton @dunbroch-lass @wonderofawoman @timexdancer @teamdeadpoolus @lost-rose-tyler @ruler-of-all-burgers-maya @madamromana @justice-driven @weaponsmasterxlightwood @xtimelxrd @spiderballet @never-enough-muses @0nlywateristheriver @askthegirldetective @ooswcld @mademoisellecerisenoire @baby-lucifcrd @elvira-macabre @bravespirits​

[eirenare]

Life update + my Reylo/SW content to arrive: fics, art, theorizing mode, books info and reactions

Hi there guys!

Logging in to say that nothing’s happened to me I’ve just been absent here, and I’m sorry for that (and for the many times I’ve had to say this... ugh)!

In the meantime I’ve been writing and drawing “a bit” of Reylo lately (*coughs* 1-2 months worth of microfics written on Twitter where I’ve been way more active both for fandoms and IRL stuff, 3 oneshot fics uploaded to Ao3 and 1 to be uploaded next week—will drop the links this week!—, lots of sketches and WIPs), so soon I should have a decent amount of content to upload.

First things first, I haven’t done yet my reaction to the TROS junior novelization (nor have I read it, although as I said, some things I know of already) since I’ve been barely reading lately for some reasons I’ve been dealing with (even though I’ve been buying some books *sigh*), but hopefully this coming week I can get Prologue + Chapter 1 done *muffled pterodactyl screeching sounds* Again, sorry!

And now, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk about, and that is the state of my TROS fic, “Rey of Jakku”... (Spoiler: it’s still on, I’m not abandoning it even if it’s been on hiatus.)

“Rey of Jakku” started as a speculative work, a “what if TROS would be like this or that based on things we know and have seen” coupled with things I wanted to see, and while I’d planned at first of posting chapter/part 2 before TROS hit the theaters, I delayed it thinking on posting it on January—but I wasn’t counting on the much worse headspace TROS would get me in, which coupled with the way my ability to concentrate has gone down the drain, it wasn’t a good combo. It certainly didn’t help to go back to reading what I had of “Rey of Jakku” part/chapter 2 post-TROS to see at some point I’d described Ben’s smile when he was little and feeling so hurt remembering his smile in TROS right before he died, either, nor reading in my fic Ben saving Rey from [SPOILER: ... ... ... drowning].

Basically, while I’ve been honing a bit some parts of “Rey of Jakku” these last months and tweaking a little thing here and there (and the line-up of chapters + summary phrases that you can find here remains the same), I barely managed to advance it. But I want to get back to writing it, even if the thought of not doing it as right as I want to makes me feel anxious and the super Imposter Syndrome of Doom, so... yeah, I’ll try to have an update for September (August is “a bit” packed with some stuff I want to do and IRL things, but maybe I’ll try) and write it more on the regular. The ideal thing would be a chapter/part every 2-3 weeks, because they’re starting to get quite big (... did someone say “around 12k words update”?), almost like 4-5 chapters squished together in an update, but we’ll see, it’ll depend on my headspace and my concentration. After TROS I just miss even more writing this and I really just want to write how I thought TROS would’ve been and stuff I would’ve liked to see...

Now, back to other SW-related content...

I can’t remember if I already said this but I’m compiling all the info we know about “SW: The High Republic” and been theorizing a lot for months, and well... it can get so very wild. If I can organize myself better with all this I’ll share here, but for now all I’m gonna say is that I’m super excited about SW: THR.

As I’ve said before I’ve also been gathering even more Star Wars books and there are a pair nice or curious things, specially translation-wise, that I’d like to talk about. My latest buys, “Resistance Reborn” and the TROS “golden book” (that is, the illustrated English version for little children) should arrive at the start of september. Which also means I really, really should get around to “building” that little library in my room that I’ve been planning to have and just... kept postponing and postponing like a ton of things these months.

So far, I think this is all for now? Unless I forget something.

Anyways, I hope you’re all doing good and I thank you if you’ve taken your time to read this post (or any other of my posts, for that matter)!

Keep yourselves safe guys, and have a nice day/night! ♥

#Reylo #Ben Solo #Rey #Reylo fics #I'm feeling a bit too tired right now to write all the tags I should be tagging so for now I'll settle for these and write the rest tomorro #My life #My art #My fics #My Reylo fics #Fic-writing

[bearpillowmonster]

Top 15 Animated TV Series!

,

In a similar fashion to my top 15 movies and games, I came up with a list of animated series. With that 3D or 2D is acceptable and anime doesn’t count because it’s its own type of thing and isn’t the same as cartoons (and potential for another list) Again, no particular order, let’s do this!

House of Mouse: I said no particular order but this is number 1, no lie, it does everything it needs to. You have a crossover event of all the Disney characters at the time in a club. It’s a cartoon character about cartoon characters trying to handle the establishment and watch cartoons...it breaks every wall, it’s something I almost wish was updated just so we could see a new generation of cartoon characters together.

Rugrats: What can I say? What can’t I say? This as well as All Grown Up and the movies it started just click, something about the characters and breaking it down to a child’s perspective is soothing to me. 

Avatar: the Last Airbender: A lot of these I’ll admit, I have nostalgia for, but at the same time, a lot of these I didn’t watch until I was older, this is one of them. I knew this existed and watched a few episodes, I liked the concept but never truly got into it (partially because of the live action movie) I thought they were just running out of ideas when they gave Aang hair...then I watched Korra. That’s right, I watched Korra before this too and I liked it, naturally I came back to it after everyone said this was so superior, I was like “Yeah alright sure.” I saw the whole thing and I must say...it’s considered a masterpiece, I realized just how superior it is pretty quickly and I started feeling so sad that the live action movie was like it was but you’ve heard people complain about it to the end and back so you don’t need to hear it from me, nor do you need to hear that I like it, I know that you already know that it’s good.

Infinity Train: I was around when they launched the pilot and it got popular, I liked it and was down for more but everybody acted like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, I wouldn’t go that far...Then it came out and it was, but don’t say “Oh I knew it was going to be that good.” You COULD NOT tell from that pilot alone just how good it was going to be, that was just a taste to get you interested. I like the darker tone and themes it’s not afraid to shy away from such as divorce and loss, I can personally really connect to that.

Recess: I usually take a break after a season of something because I’m afraid I’ll get tired of it and leave it for a year but during all 4 seasons of this, not once did I get tired of it. I liked how the episodes were more compact to fit into a shorter episode. This is another one I didn’t like until I got older, it just grew on me and hit that 12 year old spot (which I’ll get to in a little bit and I was actually in late high school by the time I watched this so...) I mean it’s called recess for crying out loud!

Tron Uprising: It just isn’t a list without Tron on it, is it? It’s only natural that Uprising would be here. I can’t say that I was hooked after just the first or second episode but that’s because it builds you up, each episode gives you more interest than the last and ends on a bit of a climax that left Tron fans in a despair that season 2 was canned. However I can say that even though we all wanted to see Tron turn into Rinzler, what we got was about as good, something we didn’t even know we needed. #TronLives #FlynnLives

The Replacements: One of the wild cards of this list. I remember being fascinated by the idea, just replacing people, but each episode had a valuable lesson that maybe these people don’t need replaced and some problems are sometimes best solved on your own.

Miraculous Ladybug: If you’re a fan then you know, if you’re not then let me explain. I was dating someone at the time and they said they got deep into Miraculous Ladybug, I was like “Are you joking?” and of course they weren’t. I thought it was just Chat Noir as a boy toy and average girl power nonsense that I’m not interested in. She said to just watch it. I did. Oh boy I did. I’m probably more of a fan than that girl ever was now, I wait patiently for the next episode, seeing leaks drives me nuts, I start screaming and cringing and jumping up and down during an episode. I can’t say I’ve had another series get more of a reaction out of me than this because I want to see Adrien and Marinette get together so bad and the way they tease just makes me feel like Swiper “Aww man” but at the end of the day you still get a good action cartoon with good characters that make you feel attached. Look at the chemistry they have, Marinette (Ladybug) likes Adrien but just sees Chat as a friend, Adrien (Chat) likes Ladybug but just sees Marinette as a friend. They don’t know each other’s identities and have to learn to like the other half of that person, it’s genius. All my previous thoughts before watching it were wrong, just because they’re in skin tight suits, doesn’t make it some souped up kink of a fan service. Just give it a try, I don’t care what it looks like, it’s what’s on the inside that matters.

Big Hero 6: The Series: It was either this or Lilo and Stitch: The Series, I have a soft spot for Baymax so I chose this. I’m almost done with season 2 and it’s solid, I would argue that this should be content included in the sequel, the canon as a whole, this is something that carries on the story in an interesting way, if only it was given a little more love and attention but hey sometimes underdogs are the best.

Dexter’s Lab: I wanted to pick one of my late night shows, the stuff that came on around 8-9 as a kid, this was one that I liked. I always kind of had an inventive side to things and this was that come to fruition. 

Spectacular Spider-Man: This is one of the best art styles I’ve seen, done by Sean Galloway, it has a pleasurable atmosphere and design to these characters that we already love. This takes stuff and plays around with it, they dabble in a little bit of everything in a measly 2 seasons and somehow make it some of the best in Spider-Man history.

Sofia the First: Another wild card that I knew people would question. A Disney Junior show though? As much as it pains me to say it, yes...a Disney Junior show. Sofia is just a girl in a village doing alright then she becomes a princess overnight, now she has to figure out how to do it right, so much to learn and see. It’s all right there in the opening theme, it has the crossover element of some of the famous Disney princesses while building on Sofia (Ariel Winter) it’s interesting to see her adjust to her new life and these new people, and yes it’s past my generation but my sister watched it and now I can’t get it out of my head. The music is actually really good as well as some of the fantasy elements, I can’t help but compare stuff to it. It may say Disney Junior on the cover but dee down it’s just another show, similar to the Dragon Prince actually, except not as keen on squashing creatures, they skip that part which in my opinion makes it superior (yeah I said it).

Regular Show: I said earlier about the 12 year old spot, well this is it. It’s very much something that 12 year old me would like, it’s got weird jokes, cool characters, awkward romance, what’s not to love? Me and my friends would reminisce about the episodes (especially that coffee one) then when my parents would walk in they would be like “What even?” especially with Muscle Man, a whole character based on ‘my mom’ jokes instead of ‘your mom’. It’s just enough weird without going into adult swim territory.

Ben 10: Alien Force: Yep, ACTION. CARTOON. It was either this or the original but when I got into the first series whenever ‘Race Against Time’ came out, I still missed quite a bit so I had to catch up. I was there for the whole thing whenever Alien Force came out and I would consider it just as good, Ultimate Alien was still good (maybe not as high) but I came to that late to the party because Alien Force seemed like it was on hiatus so I kind of forgot about it and then Ultimate Alien comes out and I thought it was just a new Alien Force I missed, turns out I watched all of Alien Force and it was technically a new series. It also introduces a majority of my favorite aliens, Spidermonkey, Echo-Echo, Rath...

Phineas and Ferb: What? You think I wasn’t cultured? I was there when this came out in 3rd or 4th grade and people were getting those Subway toys, we were all like “104 days of summer vacation so 104 episodes?” Nope! We were all bamboozled, this was one for the generation because of the amount it introduced and by the sheer worth that it went on past that original 104 and was still good. It’s iconic, it’s crazy, it’s inventive, it’s...Ferb. Then they came out with Across the 2nd Dimension and had Slash!?! Like it’s a phenomenon at that point.

I’ll give an honorable mention to Sponegbob for being Spongebob...thank you.

#top 15 tv series #animated #tv series #top 15 #phineas and ferb #tron uprising #regular show #ben 10 #alien force #sofia the first #house of mouse #the replacements #dexter's laboratory #dexter's lab #big hero 6 #big hero 6 the series #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #tales of ladybug and cat noir #spectacular spider-man #avatar #the last airbender #recess #infinity train #rugrats

[bambamsgotjams]

NCT Mafia AU || Mark’s Backstory

I finally got around to start writing the backstories for each of the members. I’m hoping to start having regular updates this summer for this series. I’m so greatful to all of you for continuing to support me throughout my hiatus. I hope you guys enjoy and if you are slightly confused be sure to read the member’s bios first!

My life had never been easy. Ever since I was a child I had never had the best relationship with my father. The main reason was because he was never around to be there to help support my mother and I. Growing up it had mainly been just me and her. I rarely saw my father unless it was late at night when my mother would allow me to stay up with her to watch those black and white movies on the Hallmark channel. Even then it was only for a few minutes and most often he was drunk so he’d stumble in through the door, walk to the fridge to find a bottle of water, and then mutter a good night before finding his way to the bedroom. My mother would always roll her eyes and made me promise I wouldn’t end up like my father.

When I was a young teen my father had finally opened up to me about being the leader of a mafia gang. I didn’t quite understand what a mafia was. The only time I had ever head it mentioned was on the news. I knew they were criminals, but I didn’t realize how bad it was. My father took pride in his job although my mother claimed he wasn’t very good at it and was notorious for making the worst decision possible. 

My father had always wanted me to follow in his footsteps. Being his son, I technically was next in line to be the leader. I didn’t really want to be involved, but being the son of a leader didn’t really give me a choice. I was already involved just by being born. My mother had always told me that she regrets not running away with me when she had the chance so she could keep me from being involved with this. She had experienced it first hand when she started dating my father not knowing he was in the gang. Unfortunately she was trapped in a relationship she couldn’t escape from. I have seen the way my father treats my mother. He makes it obvious she was forced into this marriage and he clearly doesn’t treat her right at all. As a thirteen year old I had made it my duty to always protect my mother. My father did do his part on protecting the family, even thought he wasn’t exactly good at it, it was enough to keep us from getting killed.

As I grew older my father grew more and more distant from the family. He claimed that it was because he was planning something big for the benefit of his gang. Unfortunately that didn’t go as planned. By the time I was eighteen my father had come clean to my mother and I about planning an ambush EXO. EXO at the time was good at gambling and they were pretty good at getting what they wanted. My father had told us he wanted to ambush them and rob them of their money and kill the gang off. That made both my mother and I nervous. Although I claimed to never have had a good relationship with my father, he still was my father and I couldn’t help but become nervous for him. My father wanted me to join him on his ambush but I refused telling him that someone had to stay behind to protect my mother in case the gang found out and targeted his family. It was a bullshit excuse and to my surprise my father allowed me to saying I would become a good leader because I cared for my family. That was the first time my father had ever said something to me that was remotely like a compliment. 

The next morning the news had broken out that my father’s gang failed the ambush leaving the result to be fatal. It was said my father fled from the scene never to be seen again. I’m not going to lie, it still hurts me to this day that my father left my mother and I in a vulnerable position. Even though the gang no longer existed, my mother and I are still involved by association and other gangs know about our existence and that both of us know about where things are hidden and secrets of the gang. I was furious at my father. He was foolish, a coward I could even say. I wanted nothing more than to get revenge on him. I wanted to show him what it felt like to feel betrayed and left alone. The worst part is, he didn’t have any remorse for the price he left on both my mother’s and my back.

Later that year, the worst that I could imagine had happened. I always had a fear of leaving my mother alone every day when I had to attend school. Being eighteen I was still in my last year of high school and in order to promise my mom to live a successful life I had to get an education. I didn’t want to leave her every day, but she always reassured me that she would be okay. I remember coming home from school one day a few months before my graduation to the empty apartment. It was unusual because my mother usually would leave a note if she was headed somewhere. Typically she wouldn’t leave the apartment unless there was some sort of emergency. With that in mind I began to worry. I rampaged around the apartment in search of any clues as to where she had left. My mother was a cook, she always had a huge love for cooking and baking just about anything eatable. I remember walking into the kitchen to the stove beeping like crazy and black smoke filing out of the closed door to the oven. I coughed as I turned it off and opened the oven to burnt cookies that were definately way too black to eat. Being a perfectionist with her food I knew something was wrong. 

I cursed as I caught myself from almost slipping in a puddle. I looked to the ground and noticed that not only my white converse, but the floor below me was covered in not drops, but puddles of red crimson blood. Weeks and weeks had past before I got any sign as to where my mother was. I couldn’t sleep at all during those days in fear that my mother was gone. Something in me told me that she was still alive, even if it was just barely, but that itself was enough to give me hope that I would find her.

I had received a text from an unknown number stating that they had my mother and sent me the location. I felt my blood boiling as I grabbed a jacket and a knife from the drawer before heading to the location. Angry tears were pooling out of my eyes as I ran to the address. It was a large abandoned building. The doors were made of heavy steel and locked by a security scan. I surprisingly found a scan card sitting just below the scanner and laughed at how unsafe it was. I scanned the card and spent what felt like hours running around the building until I found a dimly lit light coming from out of a door in the basement. I mentally cursed to myself for being stupid enough not to check the basement first. Everything bad happens in the basement. 

I quickly ripped open the door and saw my mother tied to a chair in the center of the room, her hair matted and greasy with bits of dried blood stuck in the tangles. Her entire body for that matter was covered in blood making my entire body boil with rage. I ran to her and kneeled down in front of her.

“Mom,” I had spoken quietly as I looked at her. She looked absolutely misrable. Her eyes were bloodshot red, she had gashes all over her body and three of her fingers were missing. To my surprise, her gashes were all healing rather than becoming infected and where her fingers used to be were small wrap bandages. My mother looked at me and started crying happy tears and spilled out everything that had happened. To save the long story that I could barely sit through myself, she basically had been captured by one of my father’s rival gangs and she told me that a man had saved her.

As if on cue, footsteps were heard from behind us. I turned my head to face a tall man with his hair dyed red. He had an emotionless expression on his face and stuck his hands in his jacket pockets as he walked up to us. I stood up to face him, gripping the kitchen knife tightly in my jacket pocket.

“There’s no need for that,” He spoke as if he knew I was holding onto a weapon. The man took a gun and a few knives out of his belt and set them on the ground, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

He looked at me as if he was waiting for me to put my own weapon down. I turned to face my mom and she gave me a small nod as if she was telling me to trust him. I don’t know why I did, but i took the knife out of my pocket and placed it on the ground immediately standing defensively in front of my mother.

“Mark,” I heard her quiet voice speak up, “He saved me.”

I looked to the tall man who was basically hovering over me at this point. I relaxed my body and placed a hand on my mother’s shoulder.

“You saved my mother, but that doesn’t mean I trust you,” I spoke harshly at him.

“That’s a shame. I’ve been watching you for a while Mark Lee,” He spoke my fully name causing me to wince in anger, “You’re a strong man and I definately could use someone like you on my team.”

“I vowed to myself I wouldn’t join a gang, not after what happened with my father.”

I moved to untie my mother’s wrists and helped her up. The man looked down at my pathetic weapon and then back up at me. 

“I could help you better protect your mother,” My head perked up at his statment. I looked at him once more before scowling.

“I’m perfectly fine protecting her on my own thank you.”

“From the looks of it, you didn’t do a good job this time and lucky for you, I found her before they killed her.”

I looked back to my mother who nodded her head. 

“This choice is all yours Mark. I just want you happy. You don’t always need to be there to protect me. You already are twice the man your father ever was.”

I knew I was going to regret this decision until the day I died, but I felt like I didn’t have any other choice. I did owe him one and he knew I would do anything to keep my mother alive, so I agreed.

Now, here I am as the underboss for Lee Taeyong

#nct #nct mafia #nct scenarios #kpop #kpop mafia #kpop scenarios #mark lee #lee taeyong #johnny seo #kim jungwoo #kim doyoung #jung jaehyun #moon taeil #haechan #nakamoto yuta #winwin #nct 127 #nct dream #nct u #wayv #sm entertainment

[heroofthreefaces]

Preview panel only. Click here for full cartoon. Or see the on-site navigation tutorial. Cartoons may contain unmarked spoilers. Thanks for reading.

Season premiere. The Hero of Three Faces is back from summer hiatus.

This summer hiatus I forewent posting mostly daily sketches here at Tumblr (except for a lot of Good Omens stuff as and when) and just worked ahead on the Three Faces buffer. Most recent years I’ve been coming out of the summer hiatus with about three weeks’ buffer, and starting the new season with three weeks’ buffer has seen me through till April or May being able to update daily before summer hiatus burnout commences. This year I’m starting the season with about six weeks’ buffer. Nevertheless last year, though there was always something in the buffer till May, once the buffer was empty I brought the season to an end because I didn’t come up with a gag to draw the first day I didn’t have one already ready to go; and now I’m, perhaps irrationally, insecure that I’ll be able to update daily till May this season. I’ve decided, well, if I miss a day then I miss a day. The Hero of Three Faces only became daily a year or three after Arthur, King of Time and Space concluded anyway, and even now the update schedule as announced on the site itself is only “usually daily”.

Also I’ve decided, when I make an archive cartoon link post every midnight, there’s no need to make one in the morning. From now on when there's no new cartoon on the main site the previous day, there’ll be no cartoon link post here at ten the next morning, for missed days if any in the regular season or for during the summer hiatus.

But as things stand at the moment, late September is the earliest that could happen, if I drew nothing more till then!

#doctor who #fan art #cartoons #hero of three faces #buffer

[katiekat1321]

The Master and the God (part 12)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11

A/N: I have to start this by saying I’m so sorry for going on such a long hiatus. December was a tough month for me. I was in a lot of pain and ended up spending Christmas in the hospital. I’m almost all better now, but my vision is still really blurry so I haven’t been on my laptop very much so the update kept getting delayed. This chapter and the next 2 are already written, but they needed to be edited still. I’m going to do my best to get on a regular posting schedule again even though I don’t know if anyone is still reading this story lol (I’m also going to try to post a Bucky x Reader One shot that was requested AGES ago this week!)

ALSO I’M GONNA MEET TOM HIDDLESTON THIS SATURDAY!!!

IN THE LAST CHAPTER... you returned to Earth to meet with Nick Fury (little cute run in with Cap) to learn Loki’s scepter is missing and you offer to help find it and want to bring Thor and Loki to assist the Avengers. You get Fury to agree and then you return to Asgard and convince/slightly blackmail Odin into agreeing to let you take Loki with you to help.

As you head down to Loki’s room to tell him the good news you run past a number of people, dodging out of their way to avoid a collision. But halfway to your destination you sprint past a man with long blonde hair. You do a quick double take to make sure that it is in fact Thor.

You turned around and decided to try to catch up with him and let him know about the Avengers mission and make sure he would agree to help. You tried to follow him, but he was moving a little to quickly through the hallways. He’s so fast, even without Mjolnir flying him around places, you complained to yourself. As soon as the thought is in your mind you find yourself a few yards from where you once were, standing in front of Thor, who had to stop mid step to avoid running into you.

“Lady Y/n, I didn’t see you there,” Thor said, you could hear the confusion and surprise in his voice. “Actually… I thought I had passed you a moment ago and you were heading in the other direction?”

“I was, sorry. I’m still not exactly in full control of my seidr powers yet, I was trying to catch up with you to ask you something, but I focused on it too hard and it seems I was teleported?” You explained, trying to understand what happened yourself. You knew you hadn’t made a portal to get there so that was the only explanation left. “I really need to get better control over them.”

“Well it is quite impressive how quickly you’ve picked the Seidr up.” Thor complimented. “I remember when Loki was still trying to get his powers in order. When we were kids, he would often see something he wanted to play with and mother or father would tell him no, but the object you suddenly be right in front of him before they could do anything.”

You smiled at his story, it seemed Loki had always been a little mischievous. “It’s funny you mention Loki…” You said as you grabbed Thor’s bicep and guided him into a small room where there were no guards or maids to overhear you. “I returned to Earth earlier to meet with Director Fury. To update him on Loki and the status of things here on Asgard. He told me that Loki’s scepter had gone missing and that Tony was a little preoccupied with a… personal matter. He may or may not have given a very dangerous person his home address.”

Thor nodded, “I would be happy to return and help them, since the scepter is a mess my brother created. When shall we go Lady Y/n?”

“Well you see I still haven’t invited the last guest that will be coming with us…”

Thor cocked his head like a confused puppy and asked, “who else is coming?”

“Well, I felt that Loki would be very helpful to bring along,” you said quietly, waiting for an outburst similar to the one Odin had.

However, to your surprise, Thor did not raise his voice. He leaned in closer to you and whispered, “Very funny, but Father would never allow that.”

“Actually, he did, I’m just on my way back from speaking to him about it now. Odin studied my seidr and agreed that I am strong enough to handle him as long as he has some sort of power suppressant, but that shouldn’t be too difficult to arrange with the help of your mother.” You told Thor.

“My answer is still a yes. I will need to help you keep an eye on Loki.” Thor said. He paused for a moment and studied you before speaking again. I can see that you think you know him. And I want to believe that Loki is opening up to you, but I’m saying this as his brother and to protect you Lady Y/n. You shouldn’t trust Loki so readily. I say this as the person he has stabbed in the back, figuratively and quite often literally. I don’t want to see him hurt you.”

You didn’t know what to say. Thor sounded so sincere, and you knew he was speaking honestly. He would have no ulterior motive, he was genuinely worried that you were falling for Loki and Loki was going to use you. And he was partly right, at least you hoped it was only partly right. “We’ll head to the Bifrost around midday tomorrow, I’ll see you then.” Thor agreed and with that you left him standing in that room and continued on your original path to Loki’s room.

When you reach Loki’s door you see the guard that brought you to Odin. You greet him with a hello and he smiles and nods back. You’ve very excited to see Loki’s reaction to the news. You had just promised him last night that you would get him out of his sentence and you had already made good on it. Even he would have to admit that was impressive. Without thinking you just opened the door and entered Loki’s room.

You froze just after closing the door behind you because when you looked up to see Loki you saw that he had just come out of the shower. He was pulling a tunic over his head and you were speechless. It was a little embarrassing, but you had never seen a god shirtless and now you understood the term ‘god-like’. His muscles were understated, he was toned. Like his muscles were carefully sculpted, but not as bulky as Thor. His hair was the second thing you noticed. It was still half damp and a little messed up from being roughly towel dried.

“Y/n?” Loki asked once he had the shirt on properly and saw you standing there. “Has my body stunned you into silence?” You could hear the ego boost you were giving him in his tone. That snapped you out of it.

“Shut up,” you mutter. “I’ve come to let you know I’ve freed you!”

“Very funny, I didn’t know you were practicing to entertain the court.” Loki said as he sat down at his vanity and ran a hand over his head like he was fixing his hair, instantly drying his hair.

“Nope,” you reply, plopping down on his bed behind him so he could watch you from the mirror. “Tomorrow you will be assisting me and Thor with a little mission back on Midgard. Your scepter has gone missing and the Avengers are a little short staffed at the moment so they asked for a helping hand. I managed to convince Nick Fury, you remember him, right? Eyepatch? The guy you tried to kill as soon as you arrived on Midgard. I managed to convince one of your would-be victims and your father to let you come help because you should know the scepter best. If this goes well, I feel pretty hopeful that I can convince Odin to release you permanently. Frigga and I will have to suppress your powers before we go though, as per Odin’s stipulations.”

When you finished talking you looked up, expecting Loki to be very proud and thank you, at the very least a somewhat heartfelt compliment. But the reflection you saw in the mirror was anything but positive. Loki looked lost in thought, you could see a tinge of fear in the way he refused look up. You walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong? I thought you would be happy to get out of this room…” You were suddenly unsure about everything. Was he lying yesterday when he said he was interested in me? I knew a god would never be interested in someone who looks like me. He could have anyone, why would he settle for a fat girl who wouldn’t be able to walk if it weren’t for magic?

Loki turned to you suddenly and held your hand, like he could feel the negativity and worry radiating from you, which you wouldn’t be surprised if he could. “I’m worried about being near the scepter. I don’t want to lose myself again.” Loki turned away from you again but kept a hold of your hand. You could tell he felt embarrassed and panicked at the prospect of possibly falling under Thanos’s control once more.

You bent down so you were eye level with Loki and wrapped your arms around him. “I swear to you that I won’t let anything like that happen. You don’t have to touch the scepter at all once we find it.” Loki relaxes slightly in your arms so you decide to take a chance and press a feather-light kiss to the top of his head. He smelled like sandalwood and something that had a warm and spicy scent you couldn’t quite name.

“So, I’m a good guy now?” Loki asks. “I’m an avenger?” He felt better knowing that you listened to his concerns and ensured him that he wouldn’t have to be near the scepter.

“Well, yes and no…” You replied. Loki looked over his shoulder and shot you a questioning look. “The scepter is a key element in the first of Infinity’s requests, so I was hoping you would know some way to track it down. Regardless of how it is found we have to make sure we find it before the others do because I will have to go in and handle some business first. Then the next day or so we can tell the others and actually collect the scepter.”

“Will we be bringing it back to Asgard?” Loki asked.

You bit you lip and considered your options. You hadn’t exactly thought about what to do with the mind stone after you helped Hydra create the enhanced twins like you were instructed. Bringing it to Asgard was a bad idea because there were already two infinity stones in Odin’s vault. Keeping three in one place was asking for trouble. “We’ll see when the time comes, I suppose,” you thought aloud.

“Okay, I’ll trust you.” Loki said as he stood up, “Thank you for getting me out of here, I don’t know how much longer I could spend in here.” He turned around and held you close for a moment before you had to pull away. If the three of you were going to be returning to Midgard you still had a couple things to handle.

“I need to go find Frigga so we can figure out how to suppress your powers but still have you be strong enough to help us fight. I’ll see you in the morning, remember to pack a small bag of stuff. I don’t know how long this will take to handle,” you told Loki as you headed toward the door.

Before you could leave Loki stopped you. “One last request, please keep the big green one as far away from me as possible. I still have the occasional nightmare about being smashed around, to and fro.”

“I’m sure Dr. Banner will be so disappointed to hear that!” You announced. “I’ll let them know, but no promises.” And with that you walked out of the room.

Once on the other side of the door you turned to the guard, “Thank you for helping me find the Allfather earlier.”

“T’was nothing Lady Y/n,” he insisted. “I was happy to help.”

“Would you happen to know where the Allmother is now as well?” You asked hopefully.

The guard thought for a moment before replying. “She should be in the garden on the second-floor balcony.” You thanked the guard once again and hurried off, up the stairs, to the second floor.

When you got to the door leading to the balcony you opened it quietly and saw Frigga lounging on a bench with plus cushions. “Hello Lady Y/n,” Frigga called out as soon as you walked out. She was facing the other direction and had her eyes closed but she could sense your seidr coming. “Did you go meet with Odin, dear?”

“I did, and it went really well. So well in fact that I’m going to need your help with something.”

“And what would that be?” Frigga asked, sitting up, her interest piqued.

“Well Midgard is in need of assistance and Odin has approved my request to take Thor and Loki to help on the condition that Loki be given some type of Seidr suppressant,” you explained. “I have an issue with that though. Loki will still need to be able to fight if we need him to so he can’t be completely suppressed. He’ll need to have access to more of his powers than he does now locked up in his room. Is there any type of spell that will allow me to adjust how much of his power he can use?”

Frigga thought for a moment before an idea popped into her mind. “Follow me,” she commanded as she got up walked back into the palace and up a set of stairs you hadn’t noticed before.

“Where are we going?” you asked her as the stairs brought you to a small hallway with a single door at the other end. Frigga didn’t answer you question until she had opened the door, showing you crates upon crates of items.

“These are where I keep all of my boys’ old things. I couldn’t bear to part with anything from their youth so I’ve had them stored away here,” Frigga confessed. She walked over to a small desk on the far side of the room and pulled out Loki’s horned helmet. “I had put this away in here already because I didn’t think he would have much use for it in the near future. Please return this to him” Frigga blew the thin layer of dust that had started to accumulate on the helmet and handed it to you before rummaging through the box again. “Aha, here!”

Frigga pulled out Loki’s forearm guards and handed them to you. “This is what we will enchant! Loki usually keeps on his armor because he likes to be prepared and it was crafted to be very light and not restrict him. If we enchant one of them and connect it to a bracelet that you would wear, you could allow him access to however much of his Seidr you feel is necessary. You could restrict it when there is no danger, but when out on an actual mission just give him free reign and trust.”

“I think that is a brilliant idea Allmother, but I don’t own a bracelet that we could enchant and pair with Loki’s armor,” You admitted.

“I have plenty of excess jewelry, I’ll give you something.” Frigga decided as she was about to lead you out. She stopped suddenly and asked you, “we are just heading to my quarters, would you... prefer to make a portal to save time?”

You smiled and nodded. You loved that Frigga was entertained and mystified by the mystic arts. Early on in your training sessions she would ask you to do different spells because she thought the mandala patterns were beautiful. You held up both hands and rotated one in a circle in front of the two of you until the sparking ring opened up and revealed Frigga’s room.

Frigga smiled brightly as she stepped into her own room and brought you to a large closet with thousands of outfits, shoes, and accessories. She showed you a large case of bracelets ranging from delicate thin chains to wider, more ornate bangles. A shining gold one immediately caught your eye. It was a simple wide cuff-like bracelet with a braided pattern all around a Yggdrasil tree in the center. “This one is beautiful,” you gasped and pointed to it.

“You have good taste,” Frigga teased as she pulled it out and slipped in on to your wrist. “I wore this the day I married Odin. I would be happy knowing it belongs to you now.”

“I don’t know what to say,” you were stunned into silence that Frigga would want to give you something so special and important. You were just a Midgardian, you represent the beginning of the end of her whole world. “Thank You.”

“There’s no need to thank me dear, it is the least I can give to you. You’ve helped my son so much and his happiness is priceless to me,” Frigga said kindly. “And speaking of my son, have there been any… developments in your relationship?”

You had to laugh at her persistence, she was really devoted to the idea of you and Loki being good for each other. The humor of the situation keeping you from blushing in embarrassment, “If you must know yes, there has been a slight development,” you confessed, “but this mission is really going to be a trial run for us, I think. If things go well and we can prove to Odin that Loki can be trusted and not be locked up indefinitely I think there is a chance for something like what you’re hoping for.”

Frigga was happy to hear that. After she easily enchanted the bracelet and arm guard you parted ways and you returned to your room to pack a small backpack with a couple changes of clothes. You set Loki’s helmet down on your bed while you looked through your clothes. You decided to bring your battle gear with you and if Thor questioned you, you could claim Frigga had made it at your request. It was what you had been wearing when you first met Loki, a red hooded dress, dark grey leggings, the combat boots you were currently wearing, and gold leg harnesses. You had enchanted the leg harnesses to constantly keep energy flowing to your knees so that even if you were in a dangerous situation your magic could always be focused where it needed to be to allow you to keep walking and jumping around.

You also decided that you would allow the Staff of the Living Tribunal to remain as a staff. There was no reason for it to be disguised as a cane any longer, you could just tell everyone that you transformed it into a staff. Now that it was known that you could do magic, things were getting much simpler. Technically I’m still lying, you thought to yourself, but at least this way I’m only lying about how I can do these things and not that I can do them entirely. Still not the ideal situation to be in, but it’s definitely an improvement.

You glanced over at Loki’s helmet and smiled. “God this thing really does look ridiculous,” you said to yourself. You walked over to where you had left it on the bed and picked it up, walking over to the mirror to try it on. It was a little to big for you and the weight caused it slid down over your eyes. “It’s stupidly heavy too,” you observed. “The design of this is absolutely awful, maybe I can surprise him with a little upgrade later…”

As you removed the helmet you actually took a moment to notice that the sun had already set. You knew you should get to sleep, because tomorrow would be overwhelming. You would have to gather Thor and Loki and go to Midgard, where you would be confronted by a whole new set of people. However, unlike Odin, these people had just fought with Loki, recently and personally. You knew it would not be so easy to convince them, you couldn’t just blackmail the Avengers the way you did with Odin. It would take more to convince them that Loki was not the villain they thought he was. You would also need to make sure no one would suspect you were in a newly formed and extremely complicated relationship with Loki. If anyone thought there was something going on between you two, not only would Fury probably try to prevent you from returning to Asgard, but the others would just think he had tricked you and you were under his control.

Are you sure you’re not being tricked though? A voice in the back of your mind questioned. You know that everything you’re doing goes against what you had vowed to the Ancient One, to the Masters back at Kamar-Taj.

You shook your head, pushing the thoughts out of your head. You knew Loki wasn’t lying, his Seidr stayed steady the whole time you were with him earlier. Everything was fine, everything would continue to be fine; at least you hoped it would. And with that final thought you laid down in bed, because you were exhausted from not getting enough sleep the night before. You shut your eyes and prayed you would get a solid night’s rest finally.

When you woke up you realized that it was mid-morning. You did manage to get about seven hours of sleep, but you knew you had some kind of nightmares. You couldn’t remember any specifics but you recalled some kind of tormented dreams and fear when you woke up. I don’t have time to sit around you decided as you got out of bed and got dressed. There were a few things that needed to get done today before you could return to Earth.

First of all, you needed to eat breakfast. Then you’d need to give Loki his helmet and make sure he put on the power suppressant armor before meeting up with Thor and heading to the Bifrost. Deciding that you needed to get a move on with today, you got out of your warm bed and put on the outfit you had been wearing when you arrived on Asgard; the S.H.I.E.L.D. T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a cardigan, but you wore an Asgardian cloak over it all to avoid drawing too much attention to yourself.

You liked to believe that you were fitting in well at the palace. Granted, you didn’t look like the other skinny maidens that hung around to entertain the elite members of the upper class, but you didn’t think that you stuck out. Asgardians and Humans looked exactly the same so it’s not like they could point you out based on physical appearance alone. You didn’t want to make a spectacle of yourself so you actively tried to blend in as best you could. Yesterday you were still wearing a dress at least, but a shirt and jeans you felt was a little too informal. However, once you were back on Earth, if you were wearing the long, multi-layered dresses made of exquisite materials commonly used on Asgard, you would look like you were heading to a renaissance fair.

These thoughts clouded your mind as you came down the stairs, but when you entered the dining hall and saw Thor sitting at a table with Sif and the Warriors Three you had intended to just grab some food and eat quietly while thinking about all the different outcomes that could come of this scepter mission. That is until Thor saw you too and loudly invited you to eat with them. You nodded and grabbed a plate before joining them.

“Hello,” you said to them all before sitting down. “I wasn’t aware that the lot of you had returned from the other realms.”

“Hello Lady Y/n,” Fandral greeted. “Thor was just telling us that he would be leaving today to go to Midgard to help you with a quest! Is there any chance that you might need more assistance, perhaps from an incredible handsome and brave man, such as myself?”

Sif rolled her eyes and you snorted, trying to keep a straight face as you replied, “Thank you Fandral, but I do believe that Thor, Loki, and I will be enough help to the Avengers.”

“So, it is true!” Volstagg interrupted, “You are bringing Loki back to Midgard with you!”

“We thought Thor was jesting when he told us,” Hogun added.

You smiled and shook your head, “No, Loki is coming too. I trust that he can help us and wants to.”

“You’re foolish to trust him so easily,” Sif says before taking a sip of her drink. “Prince Loki does not care about the destruction or casualties he causes on his way to the top.”

That offended you. Loki wasn’t there to defend himself and no on else knew his exact motivations for the things he had done in the recent past besides you. “I’m aware you all have known him much longer than I have, but I wholeheartedly believe that he is not as terrible as you think he is.”

You watched Sif’s facial expression morph from confusion, to shock, and then to one of pity. “It’s a dangerous game you’re playing, Midgardian.”

Sensing the tension between the two of you, Thor cleared his throat before changing the topic. He asked Hogun about the status of things on Vanaheim. This also distracted Volstagg and Fandral, but Sif stayed quiet and watched you closely. Her prying eyes were unnerving so as soon as your plate was finished you stood up and announced, “I’m going to go make sure Loki is ready to go.”

“Wait Y/n,” Thor said as he stood up with you, “We will be leaving soon anyway, I will join you.” The two of you said your goodbyes to Sif and the Warriors Three before heading to Loki’s room. Once you left the dining hall Thor turned to you and apologized. “I’m sorry about Sif, she will hold a grudge against someone until the end of time. She is still angry that Loki betrayed Asgard. I too believe my brother is not as bad as he seems to others. Thank you for giving him this chance.”

“Thank you, I’m hoping that bringing Loki to Earth will help clear his name. So he can redeem himself.” You explained to Thor. The two of you were just about to turn down the hall leading to Loki’s room when you realized that your backpack, the bracelet and arm guard, and Loki’s helmet were all in your room still. “Crap…” you muttered as you stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Thor asked.

“I forgot a couple of things, give me a moment.” You stated as you held up your hands, holding two fingers and a thumb on the hand that you wore your sling ring on and made small circular motions until a small portal appeared. You reached your arm through and grabbed your backpack, which you threw over your shoulder, under your cloak, before going back you grab Loki’s helmet and the bracelet and armor. You handed Thor the helmet and saw his surprised expression.

“I’ve never seen my mother or brother do anything like that.” Thor whispered to himself.

“Oh, um,” you nervously stuttered, “well it’s nothing really. Seidrs differ greatly so some can perform spells that others cannot. That’s how the Allmother explained it to me at least. Let’s continue on, we should be leaving soon.” You said as you slipped the bracelet onto your wrist and closed the portal. Thor paused for a moment before accepting your explanation and following you down the hallway.

You greeted the guard, not the one you had sort of befriended unfortunately, at the door before knocking and warning, “Loki? Thor and I are here, are you ready?”

“Of course I am,” Loki said as he opened the door. “It’s good to see you Lady Y/n. Brother.”

“It’s good to see you Loki,” Thor said with a smile. “Here, your helmet.” Loki stared at Thor for a moment before reaching out and accepting it. You almost laughed at how they interacted. It really was like watching a golden retriever and a cat being put in a room together.

Before it could get any more awkward you cleared your throat, drawing Loki’s attention to you. “Loki, I’ll need you to wear these as well,” you said as you held up the arm guards. “They’ve been enchanted and paired to this bracelet that I will be wearing. I can control the amount of your Seidr you’ll have access to. You’ll need to keep them on for the duration of the mission.”

Loki nodded, before walking closer to you and offering both wrists up to you. “Give me a hand, will you?” he asked. You agreed and helped him put the guards on. Loki observed you for a moment before thinking to you, you seem uneasy, are you all right?

I’m fine, you assured him, just had an interesting conversation with Thor’s friends earlier, it’s nothing to worry about. We have bigger things on the horizon.

Loki nodded slightly and when he saw you had finished with the armor he turned back to Thor. “Shall we get going?”

“Yes, yes we should.” You said and turned back to the door, motioning for the two of them to follow; you walked out with Loki and then Thor behind you. Once you were in the hallway the guard stopped you.

“Loki isn’t to leave.” He declared.

“No, I have word from Odin that he is allowed to leave with me.” You explained. The guard resisted, claiming he had not been told anything about this. Thor then steps in to vouch for you and argue with the guard.

“You expect her to go find the Allfather and bring him here to personally tell you that she is allowed to take Loki?” Thor asked, his tone threatening.

“Well, no, but…” The guard started to say, but trailed off, not knowing what he to do.

“If you are arguing this isn’t allowed, why did you already break the rules of Loki’s containment? Only I am supposed to be allowed through this door, but you let Thor in with me not even ten minutes ago without question.” You pointed out.

“You really think that if Odin wasn’t allowing this that we would get anywhere?” Thor added, “Heimdall wouldn’t allow us to use the Bifrost. If we were committing treason we wouldn’t get very far.”

It seemed that the mixture of you and Thor intimidating this poor guard was too much for him. He looked panicked before finally giving in and with that the three of you walked out the front doors of the castle where three horses were waiting with stable attendants. You slowed your steps as you tried to figure out how you would even get on a horse, let alone manage to not fall off halfway there.

“Lady Y/n, I’m assuming you don’t know how to ride horseback?” Thor questioned.

“No, I’m afraid I do not,” you agreed.

Thor mounted his horse and held a hand down to you, “Here, join me then.” You glanced at Loki who was watching the interaction closely. Loki scoffed when you reluctantly took Thor’s hand and got on the horse behind him.

Calm down, you thought to Loki, Thor is just helping me get to the Bifrost. This is nothing.

Sure, Loki replied back. You could hear the annoyance in his thoughts so you decided to push him a little more. You stuck your tongue out at him and smiled as you wrapped an arm around Thor’s waist.

Meanwhile, Thor was oblivious, asking the attendants to return the third horse to the stable and that these two horses could be collected later from Heimdall at the Bifrost before cueing the horse to move forward with the reigns. Loki followed suit.

Wait until I get you alone later, Loki thought to you mischievously.

As lovely as that sounds, I don’t think that is the best idea while we are trying to lay low, you cautioned. You’re going to be the center of attention when we arrive and it wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted to keep a close eye on you for the first couple days.

You knew Loki wanted to say something else, but before you knew it you were at the Bifrost. Loki had quickly dismounted his horse and was at your side, offering you and hand to get down. You smirked at him as you accepted the hand and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

Once you had gotten off, Thor also swung a leg over and hopped down from the saddle. “Heimdall, we wish to go to Midgard,” Thor announced.

Heimdall looked from Thor, to Loki, and his eyes finally settled on you. You knew what he was asking so you just nodded before explaining. “Odin has approved, but it seems he conveniently forgot to let anyone else know. You may take a moment to ask him if you’d like.”

Heimdall took a step closer to you and watched you carefully. He was reading your body language, your seidr, and you expected he was even searching your mind. I hope you know what you’re doing. Heimdall thought to you.

I do, you mentally promised, this is part of Infinity’s plan and I honestly trust loki.

“You’re free to pass.” He finally announced, “Where to?”

You thanked him with a small nod, “Washington D.C, the top of the Triskelion building if you can manage it.” Heimdall made a small grunt of affirmation before wishing you all a safe journey and putting the sword in and turning it to activate the Bifrost and send you on your way.

**If you would like to be added to the tag list for this fic send me an ask!

Tag List: @missaphrodite23 @sidemenaremylife @casuallyobsessivewitchcraft @alfoos @fiftyshadesofriri @dammitkatt @awkwardnesshabitat @fiery-feyre-writings @serrure-ikol @bone-ankle-tree @shysaladewriter @lizard-zombie​

Part 13 -->

#loki x reader #loki x plus size reader #avengers imagine #Loki #Loki imagine #Marvel imagine #reader instert #loki odinson #Loki Laufeyson #loki fanfic

[immagettinmyshittogether]

Worthwhile distractions

So I’ve been having a little trouble keeping up with some shit lately. A couple weeks ago I got hit with a MASSIVE cold/flu/something. So my diet went out the window in favor of chicken noodle soup and spicy food to clear my sinuses and whatever the heck comfort food I needed to get through the day. Considering how sick I was, honestly, I suspect that my body was burning more calories than normal anyway just to fight it off. And I don’t seem to have gained or lost much weight in the last few weeks, so I think my hypothesis is probably pretty close to true. But I was so sick that I honestly couldn’t think straight for several days. Of course, the days that I was the most sick were Friday through Sunday. So I didn’t miss any work. I just spend the entire next week sniffling and taking dayquil.

Needless to say, for the second time, I missed a writing deadline. My writing income has dropped considerably (which thanks to the two month delay in Amazon sales, I won’t notice until the end of January). Partly because of missed deadlines, I’m sure, but also partly because I think the series I’ve been working on just doesn’t have as big an audience as I thought it would. I was trying to shift from straight up smut to smutty romantic smut. It appears that for short-term and short story/serial publishing, the lowest common denominator might be a better thing to aim for. My sales have been practically nil, and my Kindle Unlimited reads have been a little below average. I haven’t had the heart to check my book rankings, but I know they’re lower than they were the last few months.

Author’s note/edit after posting - I realized that I hadn’t updated anything about last month’s sales. Last month jumped up to over 150. It was on target to hit 200 until Thanksgiving came around and I missed my first deadline.... then it kind of hit a stasis that week, and I basically didn’t earn hardly anything for the entire last week of the month. Still, I’m afraid to look at my current projected monthly income based on what I’ve made so far this month. It ain’t gonna be pretty.)

Then the shit kind of hit the fan at work. I work on a college campus, so these last few weeks of the semester are just kind of a run-up to the end. Always busier than usual, often with higher stakes in order to make sure shit gets done in time. So the next week after being sick has been one of the busiest and most stressful weeks of the semester. I’ll explain the details under the ‘keep reading’ line if you’re curious.

I did manage to get the story out late. So I still managed to publish once my brain was functioning. Unfortunately, I’m finding that at the moment, my usual after-day-job home environment isn’t really conducive to my current writing. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m writing smut, and I have trouble focusing on that with my spouse in the room. Or, more likely, it’s because my spouse has ADD and needs constant background things going on, like youtube videos or something, in order to concentrate. Whereas I don’t, and those things are distractions for me.

I’m wondering if I should just wrap up the various series that I have going now and call this experiment in writing a minimum of a short a week what is was: an experiment. But with winter vacation coming up for me, I will have the chance to sit at home and write without distraction for a few weeks. So I’ll at least try to catch up on my work then and get a good backlog to keep posting.

The pen name I was using for this smut is not one I ever planning on using to make a living. I was just using it to force myself to write something out of my comfort zone, get some experience writing on a long-term repeated deadline, and get a feel for online publishing.

I have learned a bit about serial publishing. And I’m starting to understand why all the old classic serial publishers tried to make things as salacious as they did. In the fast-paced world of publishing, the most important thing is just to grab people’s attention. After that you can worry about quality.

I also had another pen name that focused more on the romance side of things rather than the smut side of things... but that’s an entirely different market, and it generally requires a longer time investment and longer stories. And when all I can do at the moment while I’ve got my day job is about 5k words per week, the smut seemed to be the better option to focus on.

So this winter break might be a turnaround. A chance to try something else. Or a chance to at least finish up my work on one pen name.

But back to the now. this week, since the series I was working on was doing so badly, I decided to put it on hiatus and go back to one that I’d wrapped up the first arc and put on hiatus. The one that had caused my numbers to kinda explode last month. I had an idea for a nice little intro story that was not only holiday-themed, but would be able to stand alone months from now, and would work as a good introduction to the second arc. So I started churning along. I had a lot of stuff to do around the house to start getting ready for the holidays, but my spouse was going to be out of the house for about five hours on Saturday, so I decided to pace myself. Get half of it written Friday, half Saturday. And I was on track. I was about 3.8k words in on the  ≈5k story. And I’d already found a suitable image to photomanip into a decent cover for publishing. (Something that often takes a while, sorting through image sites, finding something that fits what I need, but doesn’t run afoul of Amazon’s fear of butts on cover art. Just once, I want to find a picture of a sexy model who would look good on a smutty book cover who’s wearing regular underwear, and not a nigh-invisible thong. The problems of a smut writer.)

And then I got a message from a friend in need. I won’t go into too much detail, but it is someone who had just lost their job, suffers from severe anxiety and depression, and even if the big S word that so often goes along with situations like that hadn’t come up, I still would have done the same thing. I had pants on, brushed my teeth, and ran out the door in record time. (Even if said friend could afford a car, the anxiety issues are bad enough to make driving unhealthy and unsafe) And my spouse got home right around the same time we got back to our house. So we spent the night helping a friend in need. Needless to say, I really don’t feel too bad about missing the third deadline. Some shit is more important. My spouse and I may be super introverts who are terrible at most socialization related things... but even if we’re crap at helping a friend in need, we’re still going to try.

Right now, my spouse and I aren’t in the best place financially. I’m not in the best place health-wise. But I’m still working at it. I’m still getting my shit together. And as I was just reminded on Saturday, I’m not the only one. For everybody out there... if you have too much shit to handle, call a friend. Somebody. Anybody. As I mentioned, my spouse and I are NOT great at being sociable and helping people. We’re actually pretty terrible at keeping in touch. We hadn’t talked to this friend in a few months. But even we were able to help, just by being there and hanging out with someone who wasn’t safe to be alone.

Sometimes we can’t keep our shit together. And that’s nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes all we can do is try to keep afloat and look for something to hold onto. And sometimes, we can be that something to hold onto for someone else.

... I still have a lot of shit to get done this week, though. After two weeks of neglect when I should have been preparing for holiday visitor (I was hoping for visitors plural, but c’est la guerre. Siblings are all on various coasts, and we can’t always find a way to get together. Especially since only two of the five of my generation can really AFFORD to travel), my house is a MESS. And I still have that story to finish.

Day job explanation time. My official job title on campus is ‘proctor’. Basically, it means two things: I administer makeup and online tests in my office/testing lab, and I keep copies of certain paper tests for a few departments on the smaller satellite campus where I work. There are two main departments that I mostly proctor tests for, one uses the computers in my lab, so all I have to do is check students in. But the other uses paper tests, and I proctor makeups for that department as well as provide the paper tests for the teachers to use in their class.

Unfortunately, the copier on my floor is showing signs of wear and tear. Once you get over about 50 pages in one sitting, it starts to overheat and jam. So this year, they decided to limit the number of pages per copy job to 50. And with good reason. Unfortunately for me, I need to copy rather large batches of tests. And I can’t go to the other copier several floors down, because 1) I can’t leave my lab for more than a few minutes at a time, in case a student comes by with a narrow time window before their next class to take a test, and 2) I’m only scheduled/paid/officially on duty during the lab hours, so I can’t stay late or come in early to do copies.

Needless to say, my first thought was to see if I could just send my print jobs off to the print shop on campus and have them do them all and deliver them. Unfortunately, I need a digital copy to send to them for that. And in spite of the fact that I requested this at the beginning of the semester... all I’ve gotten from that department are the practice tests, not the actual tests. And of course, the practice tests are small enough that I can copy those just fine.

So I’ve been breaking the rules and doing batches of 60-75 pages whenever I can. But that’s still only 15 copies at a time, and I need something like 400 copies of each test. And the copier is occasionally down for a day or so when something breaks and they have to wait to get the part to fix it. And Murphy’s law seems to be in full force, because when I need to refill my inventory, it’s always fine on the days that I have a steady stream of students in my lab, and down the days that I have a trickle and therefore plenty of time with no students so I can close up the lab for five minutes.

The finals, of course, are 8-10 pages each, depending on the class. Which means that I can literally only do 5 copies at a time if I follow the rules. And there’s a hard deadline as to when I need to make sure that I have enough for every teacher. That deadline, of course, being after the last few weeks of classes, when students realize that they REALLY need to get in to take that makeup test and raise their grade before it’s too late.

Thankfully, the department actually got around to sending me a digital version of the finals. So I sent those off to the print shop, several weeks ahead of the due date, and I set the deliver due date as last Thursday at the latest, since I don’t work Friday, and I knew some teachers were letting students who couldn’t be there for the final take their test on Thursday or Friday before finals week. I gave them explicit instructions to deliver it to my lab, warned them that the lab is locked for test security reasons while I’m not there, told them where to get the key, and asked them to email me if, for any reason, they couldn’t deliver the tests.

I got to my lab in the morning to find... no delivery. I checked the support ticket. It said that they were finished 9 days ago... but neither one actually had a digital signature of who finished it. That day just so happened to also be the busiest test day of the semester. The department that uses computer tests in my lab had a final due date for the last chapter that day, so every semester that is always my busiest day. So as soon as I was relieved for my fifteen minute break, instead of taking my break, I ran downstairs to see if perhaps they simply didn’t read the delivery instructions and left the tests in the (thankfully locked) employee mailroom. (Which, coincidentally, is where the good copier is. This will be important later.)

So when I got back from break, the first thing I did was look up how to contact the print shop. Other than submitting a print request... there was nothing. I could look up the employees and email them, but there was no formal support ticket. Only a print request ticket. So I emailed the supervisor of the department.

An hour later, I finally had a moment with no students in the room, so I could make a phone call without worrying about disturbing people testing. So I called the print department. It rang four times... and went to voice mail.

I waited a minute, tried again, just to see if I got unlucky and just missed someone. Still voicemail. So, even though I hate using the phone because that means they’ll call me back instead of emailing, and I can’t really talk when there are students testing, I left a message.

By the end of my shift... still nothing. Nothing at all. And I knew that at least one teacher needed a few copies BY THE NEXT MORNING because he had students who couldn’t be there during finals week. And, just to add insult to injury, because of the holiday coming up, we had to submit our time sheet early this week. So I had no way to report extra time spent staying late to deal with this issue. But the teachers all depend on me, so I printed out  a copy of each of the tests, and I was in the middle of composing an email to let the teachers know that I would drop off an unstapled copy and a copy of the answer key in their mailboxes, so that if they desperately needed it, at least they could use the copier right next to their mailbox to make as many as they need for class.

While I was doing that... the phone rang. It was the print shop. Apparently they had finished my print job early, and set it aside and forgotten about it. It was just sitting in a corner of the room, on the main campus several miles away from the satellite campus. She apologized for forgetting about it, said that it was loaded in the delivery vehicle trunk, and as soon as the delivery person got there the next morning he would head over.

Since I didn’t know when he would actually get there, and when teachers would start needing the tests, that still didn’t change much for me. I thanked her for getting back to me, told her that if that should be fine, and just amended the email I was sending out to let them know that the tests SHOULD be there by the morning. But just in case, I was still going to drop off the unstapled copies. (Plus two stapled ones for the teacher who mentioned needing a couple by Friday morning) I’m still not sure how I can report the extra 37 minutes of overtime I had to spend doing that, since the time sheets are already in... and I can’t just add it to next week, because I won’t be working next week.

But I got to work today and... the tests were here. And things have been slow enough that I’ve been able to write this huge freaking post with only a few interruptions here and there. (Okay, now that I’m done helping someone, interruptions here, there, and the one while I was trying to hit post.)

#getting my shit together #writing blog #writing blues #life blog #life blogging #i did mention weight loss #but not very much #stress #work stress #work blog #i'm not actually pulling my hair out #but it came close

[hopewritcs]

dancing in the kitchen. five.

pairing: romantic steve x reader, familial dustin x reader

word count: 2.5k

summary: without giving too much away: the reader is Y/N Henderson, Dustin’s older cousin who’s staying in town, due to some family issues. takes place soon after s2.

note: lol so while i was writing this i realized that i set this just before christmas because that was prob about the time i originally started writing so i know it’s like feb now but it’s december for them. 

also i apologize for not having something sooner. as you can see i’ve gone on semi-hiatus. life has kept me busy lately as i’m student teaching and attempting to keep up with making lesson plans and grading papers, but i wouldn’t want to stop altogether. so chapters and things will still be coming, but it’ll be a while between them. hopefully not super long anymore and i can get more on a schedule, but it won’t be a regular schedule until the summer! again, i apologize.

enjoy the update !!! :) -- the reader’s backstory is finally revealed in this chapter! 

other chapters: masterlist

tag list: @stevieboyharrington, @lola-winston-harrington, @fuckthatfeeling​,@thekidsofneibolt, @labgeek, @tyedyedstars, @samisimportant, @madhatterweasley, @pity-mee, @l4life, @veryweirdintrovert, @restlessmelodrama, @darkuserboxes, @princessnancy (if you wanna be added to the tag list, let me know!!)

The first day of school wasn’t as hard as Y/N thought it would be. Most of her classes she had with Nancy or Jonathan, even some with Steve. Always being with a familiar face helped her find a place to be in each classroom. Someone she could sit next to, who could help her figure out what was going on if she got lost in the lesson. 

She even had them all to sit with at lunch, which she silently thanked whoever had made her schedule. 

She wound up sitting next to Steve at lunch, across from Nancy as they all talked about plans. Y/N had to catch up on some assignments, making sure she knew what was going on in all her classes. When she mentioned that, they all agreed to help her study and make sure she knew what she had been missing. 

Which is how the four teens formed a study group. Sort of. Mostly it was them making sure Y/N knew what she had missed in class, and joking around with each other. They would spend the days after school often at the Henderson house, going over notes and everything that had happened in classes for the day. 

She surprisingly liked school a lot more in Hawkins than anywhere else.  It felt more like home, a place to actually be. At old schools Y/N had always felt like she was being forced to learn...stuck in the same place. In Hawkins, it felt laid back. She felt relaxed. She didn’t have to worry about private school uniforms or advanced Latin exams.  Or some stupid gossip going around. 

And, best of all, Y/N didn’t have to worry about her parents. 

For the first time since Y/N was a pre-teen, she felt normal. Not rushed. She didn’t feel like anything was expected of her, or like she was under pressure. She was able to laugh and run around and do what she wanted. 

Today, Y/N was cleaning up her notebooks in the living room as her Aunt set the table for dinner. It was a Friday night, and Y/N had made it through her first week of school in Hawkins. 

“Can you believe you just started here and now it’s already Christmas break?” her Aunt called from her spot in front of the stove. 

Y/N nodded, standing up as she put her books back in her backpack. Brushing her hair out of her face, she smiled, “Yeah, it’s weird how fast time’s gone by. Still feels like I just got here, though.” 

“Well, you did just get here. I’m sorry I didn’t know you would be here so soon, Y/N. I didn’t get you any presents for Christmas. I’ll have to go shopping soon. Maybe you and I can go to the mall this week? You can point out a few things you might like. Heck, we can even drag Dustin along with us. Make it a family day trip.” Claudia spoke with such a smile on her face. Y/N smiled too, at the caring nature of her aunt. And how she seemed so excited to have Y/N here. 

“Aunt Claudia, you don’t have to get me anything.” she stood up from the living room floor and walked into the kitchen to give her aunt a hand, pouring glasses of water for everyone. “Seriously, it’s already more than enough that you’re letting me stay here. I don’t need any presents.” 

“Nonsense, dear. You’re family. You should get presents on Christmas.” Claudia spoke, wrapping an arm around her niece in a tight hug. 

Y/N hugged her back, “Thanks for everything.” she spoke softly. 

“Family should always be there for family.” Claudia explained, smoothing Y/N’s hair out of her face with a soft motherly smile before turning back to the stove. 

Y/N felt her chest swell with emotion at her aunts words. She had to blink her eyes and turn away before her aunt might catch her crying. She hadn’t felt this much like a family in so long. It had been many years since the last family Christmas. She could barely remember what her last family meal had looked like, let alone a family outing. Everything in her home felt so stuffy. 

Y/N hadn’t bothered to say goodbye to her parents before she left. If that was any indication of how close she had been to them. 

Then again, they hadn’t exactly called since she’d gotten here, had she?  

No, Y/N and her parents were, at best, acquaintances.  Maybe even awkward family friends. It had happened to be like that for a while, even before Y/N got into all that trouble with school. Trouble which she was grateful her aunt and cousin hadn’t asked about or even told any of their friends about. Y/N still wasn’t ready to go into that detail with everyone else. 

At her last school, Y/N had gotten caught in a group of bad people. They were the tough guys, stealing tests and causing problems. When she and the group of friends had butted heads, things went south fast. Suddenly Y/N was out of the group and the rumours she’d once helped create were coming back to bite her in the ass. Suddenly she was being called names and being framed for things she didn’t do. 

The last straw had been when Y/N had been accused of sleeping with the headmaster of the school. While it wasn’t true, no one believed her after everything else had been said. Not even her own parents had believed her. Which is why she had wound up here, in Hawkins, while her parents struggled somewhere in Europe to fix their marriage. 

Y/N was taken from her thoughts when her aunt called for Dustin to come down the stairs. She caught her aunt giving her a raised eyebrow look, but Claudia didn’t say anything. Instead she just patted Y/N’s shoulder as she passed by to grab Tews food from the kitchen cabinet. 

Y/N sighed heavily to herself, brushing a hand through her curls as she took a seat in her chair at the table. She toyed with the napkin under her silverware as she listened to the sounds in the kitchen. Her aunt was humming and cooing softly at the kitten by her feet, while Dustin was clamoring down the stairs, racing to sit at the table. 

His had fell off his head as he bounced into his seat beside Y/N. “Shit.” Dustin exclaimed, reaching to the floor to grab his hat. 

“Language, Dustin.” Claudia reprimanded as she took her eyes off the kitten who was finally eating. She brushed her hands off on her pants before turning to wash them in the kitchen sink. As she did, she turned her gaze back to Dustin, “Hats off at the table.” 

“Yes mom.” Dustin groaned in reply, slowly taking his hat off and placing it on the back of his chair. 

Y/N giggled. “If you’d left it on the floor, she wouldn’t have told you that.” 

Dustin rolled his eyes, turning to his cousin. “And let Tews step all over it? No thanks, he already got my last hat.” Dustin began gathering food from the table and putting helpings onto his plates. “Mom, you remember that we’re having everyone over tomorrow night for a sleepover. It’s my turn to host DnD night, and everyone likes playing with Tews too.” 

Dustin’s mother had just sat at the table and her eyes widened at his words. 

Dustin exclaimed, in her silence, “You forgot?!” He grabbed his curls in his hands, sighing. “Mom, what am I supposed to do?” 

“Sorry, sweetheart. I have to work late. I’ll leave Y/N instructions for food and she can watch you until I get home. But everyone sleeps down in the living room. No funny business.” Claudia explained, pointing a finger at her son. 

“Funny business? Ew. Gross. No. We’re just playing a game.” Dustin shook his head, shuddering at the thought as he stuffed his face with mashed potatoes. 

Y/N giggled, biting her lip as she shook her head at her cousin. 

“You can watch them, right Y/N?” Claudia turned to look at Y/N with a small smile, practically pleading with her niece. 

Y/N waved her hand and shrugged. “No worries, Aunt C. I got ‘em under control. The munchkins love me.”

“Munchkins?” Dustin asked, offended. 

“You’re younger than me, aren’t you, munchkin?” Y/N pointed out with a chuckle. 

“Yeah, sure, but munchkin?” 

“Deal with it, munchkin.” Y/N ruffled his hair and then turned back to her own dinner. She could sense Dustin rolling his eyes, but her younger cousin didn’t bother making another comment. 

Y/N was getting ready for everyone to come over the next day. Aunt Claudia had left strict instructions that Y/N was supposed to make everyone dinner, not order pizza. “Those boys eat too much pizza. Make them something nice. Cook books are in the kitchen.” she’d said when she was leaving for work that morning. 

Which is why Y/N had borrowed Dustin’s bike to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things. She was going to make a pasta and some honey roasted carrots for dinner. It was one of her personal favorites one of the maid’s she’d had growing up had made often. 

Dustin had been running around getting set up for the night. He grabbed the extra pillows and blankets and placed them on the floor by the couch, and then he was working on finding some videos to put on as well. He had a whole pile of them placed by the television and then he went back up to his room, telling Y/N that he was going to be calling his friends on the walkie to see if there was anything they needed for the night. 

“Make sure to tell them I’m cooking for them, so their asses better be hungry!” Y/N called after him. 

“Yeah, I’ll tell them to bring their own food in case you burn this.” 

“Hey!” Y/N called after him. “I’ll never make you pancakes again with that attitude.” 

Footsteps were racing and then Y/N saw Dustin halfway down the stairs. “No, c’mon Y/N. Yours are the best!” 

“You have such little faith in my dinner cooking abilities.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Maybe I’ll just let you starve.” 

“What about everyone else?”

“I didn’t say I’d let everyone starve. Just you, munchkin.” 

“What? That’s so not fair Y/N!” 

“Life isn’t fair, munchkin.” 

“But, but, but Y/N” Dustin’s voice was getting higher as he whined. 

“I’ll tell you what, you do cleanup duty and you can eat some food. And I’ll even make everyone pancakes tomorrow morning.” 

“Deal! I swear, I’m sorry.” Dustin exclaimed, bouncing down to the kitchen to give Y/N a hug. 

“Aw, cool beans, Dusty. I was gonna give you food anyway, but now that you’ll clean you can get an extra helping.” Y/N laughed, musing his hair as she spoke and hugged him back. 

“Wait what?” Dustin pulled back from her grasp and looked at her confused. “Are you serious?” 

“Yup. Super serious.” Y/N smirked and then turned back to the stove. 

Dustin muttered something that Y/N didn’t hear as he bounded back up the stairs. Y/N only laughed to herself as she continued to move around the kitchen and get food ready. She also put a couple of snacks in different bowls, putting them in the living room for when everyone else showed up. 

It was only an hour later when Chief Hopper showed up with Jane and Maxine. He came in the house after Y/N opened the door. She offered him something to drink, but he said he had to go back to work. Then he ruffled Jane’s brown hair and waved goodbye as he left the house. 

“Can you guys help me set the dining room table?” Y/N asked. 

Jane nodded her head and she went into the kitchen with Max following along. Jane turned to look at Y/N and paused. 

“Plates are in that cabinet above the blender. Silverware in the drawer below, and then cups are in the cabinet to the left of the stove.” Y/N explained, pointing out where everything was as she went back to putting the vegetables in the oven. 

Sooner than she expected, the door opened and Lucas walked in with Mike behind him. They were followed closely by Will, Jonathan, and Nancy. 

“Dustin, everyone’s here.” Y/N called, turning the stovetop off and straining the water from the pasta over the sink. 

“No, Steve’s not here yet.” Nancy commented, munching on a pretzel from one of the bowls Y/N had put out earlier. 

“Steve’s coming?” Y/N asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound overly excited, or even nervous about the prospect of seeing Steve. They were becoming friends, actual friends, but it didn’t help the butterflies in Y/N’s stomach when she thought of him. 

“Yeah, he called this morning. Good thing too, cause he totally thought it was still at Nancy’s. He had no idea that the Wheeler parents have an annual date night with the Sinclair’s.” Jonathan spoke up with a shrug. 

“Ew, don’t remind me. Why do you think we left home so early?” Nancy giggled, nudging Jonathan’s shoulder. 

“Come on, that sounds fun. A double date night with friends.” Y/N replied, putting the pasta into a big bowl. 

“Maybe you and Steve should go out with Jonathan and Nancy sometime, then.” Max said from the dining room where all the kids were currently sitting, except Dustin who was still upstairs. 

“Steve and who should what?” 

Y/N turned around at his voice. She hadn’t expected him to just come right in, even though she figured this was like a second home to him as well. But even if he had just welcomed himself into the Henderson home, Y/N hadn’t expected him to walk in right then and there.

“Max just said that you and Y/N should double with Nance and Jonathan.” Will explained, never looking up from the cards in his hand. 

Y/N felt the blush on her face, her cheeks heating up to what she could only assume was a deep deep shade of red. 

Dustin finally made his appearance, jumping from the bottom step with a smile on his face, oblivious to what everyone else was feeling in the moment as he spoke up, “Y/N, this smells so good. I’m starved. When did everyone get here? Shit, I must have fallen asleep. Why is everyone staring at Y/N and Steve? What did I miss?” Dustin finally caught on and looked around, noticing everyones eyes were either trained on Y/N’s bright red face, or Steve’s confused looking face. 

“Y/N and Steve are dating.” Jane answered, speaking for what almost felt like the first time since Y/N had known her. “Can we eat now? Dustin’s right, the food smells good.” 

#steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fanfic #reader x steve harrington #stranger things reader insert #dancing in the kitchen

[stars-that-shine-at-night]

If the Shoe Fits Park Jimin x Reader Ballet Au!

A/n: Just a quick note. I will be going on hiatus soon, I have finals coming up, and right after I will be jetting off to Japan. Updates will be slower. Thank you for reading ^-^

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Jimin was lying limply on the sports bed while the he was getting his legs massaged. It was one more day before the performance, if he tried to get himself into thinking that Miju was you, he was able to give a strong performance. Jimin hasn’t seen you since the day he was at your house, but he was able to meet you in the world where rainbow lanterns burned for eternity. The two of you met as seven year olds in your hanboks. He was wearing a blue hanbok with yellow sleeves, and red pants. He didn’t have to worry about anything that he had to deal with in reality. Here he could focus on having fun and running around with the younger version of you. The breezed blew lanterns side to side, and drag pulled back the fabrics of your sleeves as you ran around.

“Hello Mister Park?” A hand waved over his eyes breaking him away from his day dream. He was met face to face with the physical therapist.

“Sorry, Miss Song, I guess I just blacked out for a second. Thank you everything.” Jimin leapt off of the table and started to stretch his fresh legs. He sighed in relief from my loosening sensation in his muscles. He slipped his sneakers back on and grabbed his coat off of the coat hanger. Since it was a day before a performance it was school ritual to wake up three hours after the regular set time and at some point in the day to get your legs massaged out. He started to walk towards the shoe room to pick up his slippers. He put in an order for three white and one blue pair of satin slippers. The shoe room always smelled like the paste that held the layers of canvas of a toe box together. It was mainly because most of the shoes were pointe shoes. Every en pointe dancer at Etre went through one pair of shoes a week. In Jimin’s case he needed several pairs of shoes because the satin would wear out quickly from all of the dancing; the jumping, running, and dragging his feet across the stage did not let a pair of slippers last an act. He always ordered one more pair of slippers than he needed just in case something goes wrong. His heart fluttered against his rib bones, he just remembered this was going to be his first performance with you as his maker. It didn’t sound like him, but he fully trusted your work, if it was another maker besides you or wave maker he wouldn’t be performing. He wanted nothing but the few makers that could make the shoe he fits. When he entered into the small room he realized Master Daejung was not there yet. He was usually met by the small old man, but he didn’t coming until noon on Fridays. While he thought he was alone he heard the soft shuffling of feet and the crinkling sounds of the plastic bags that held to pointe shoes together. The metal of the ladder creaked as you hoisted yourself onto another rung, placing the bag of shoes into the cubby of a dancer named Moon Nahyun.

“Look I have found a wild dandelion.” You looked down and saw the handsome smirk that was Park Jimin’s.

“Yup, I’m like a fairy delivering shoes.”

“I didn’t know Carabosse also delivered shoes.” You looked down at Jimin again and shot him a dirty look.

“If I was Carabosse, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” You climbed down from the ladder and picked up more bags to put away. “You would be already dead if I was her.” You said, climbing back up the ladder.

“But I am no princess.” Jimin shot back.

“Could have fooled me...” You snickered as you recalled all of the time you had to carry Jimin while he was sick. When you got back down from the higher cubbies, you pulled out four pairs of slippers. Three white, and one pale blue; that matched the color of a blue bird. You handed the stack to Jimin.

“Since you are here, you can take them now.” You siad. Jimin flipped one of the slippers over, and saw the dandelion seed. He knew in his mind that your stamp was going to be there, but his heart needed to know for it to stop pounding. The pads of Jimin’s small fingers brushed over skin, sending bolts of lightning through Jimin’s skin into his heart. His hands were small, but they were still bigger than yours, which relieved Jimin because all of his dignity would be gone if your hands were bigger than his.

“So have you ever danced in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ when you danced?” Jimin asked, you nodded your head side to side.

“Nope, but I do love the ballet, it is one of my absolute favorite ballets to watch though. I wish I could be princess Aurora when I was younger, that was my dream to wake up to my Florimund, but that was only a dream. I have to wake up and make shoes now.” You smiled, thinking about your childhood.

“I think you would be a great Aurora.” Jimin offered a small smile. You lightly scoffed, but it wasn’t a rude scoff, it was more of a ‘hmph’.

“I see myself as more a fairy godmother. Remember I make shoes.” You said, waving a pointe shoe in the air, and putting it away in it its respective cubby.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here in the shoe room. Master Daejung usually organizes the shoes.” Jimin asked.

“Well since he’s getting older, it’s getting harder for  him to get up early in the morning to come stock up the shoes. So I volunteered to help him.” You said simply.

“Oh that’s very kind of you.”

“Uh thanks.”

“Do you need any help with those shoes?” Jimin asked, looking at the bags upon bags of shoes that didn’t have any homes yet.

“No I’m good, don’t you have rehearsals?”

“I don’t think they’ll miss me too much. Jimin said as he picked up a couple of bags, and read the names of the dancers they belonged to.

“If I get yelled out because you’re here I will throw a shoe at you.” You muttered under your breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing~” You sing songed, hoping Jimin would drop it. Jimin rolled his eyes and kept putting shoes away into holes. Jimin had a pair of floppy slippers in his hand, and he got an idea. You were about to put a pair of slippers into Junkook’s cubby, but your shoulder was whacked with a pair of shoes. You looked to your right and Jimin holding the slippers up with a wide smile across his face.

“You little-” You hit Jimin over the head with the slippers in your hand, messing his hair up. You laughed at his rat nest shaped bangs as he looked at you through the fluffy tuft of hair.

“It’s so on.” Jimin raised his hand to hit you in the arm. You screamed when the canvas came in contact with you clothed arm, and then proceeded to hit Jimin back on the shoulders. He was about to hit again, but you threw Junkook’s poor slippers at Jimin’s face, and ran away in the wake of his temporary blindness.

“Get back here (l/n) (y/n)!” He roared in playful tone. He was responded with your giggles as you ran around the small room, lined with shelves of shoes. While Jimin was chasing you he decided to hide behind a shelf to wait for you. You were about to run past Jimin, but you could hear his breathing. You quietly walked around the shelf Jimin was hiding behind, and crept up to his back.    

“Boo!” You screamed in his ear, as you gripped onto his muscular shoulders. Jimin jumped out of his skin, and turned around to find a giggly you. He could see the face of your child self as you laughed. You felt like a little kid again, you haven’t had this much fun playing around with someone else but Sehwa. No other teenager approached you, and you never approached any one else, until you met Jimin...

Jimin picked you up and started carry you back to where you two were originally working.

“Put me down!” You yelled between giggles.

“Nope, no way.” Jimin said. He finally put you down and started to rub your head, messing up your neat hair. You weren’t angry while Jimin was messing up your hair, you were having fun.

“Well aren’t you two having fun?” You looked up to see old Master Daejung standing in the door frame, watching you and Jimin mess around. Jimin immediately let you go. After Jimin let you go, your hands flew to you hair to fix the tangled locks.

“Sorry Master Daejung I lost track of time. I’ll get going.” You said quietly, as you left the room. You usually left the shoe room at twelve when Master Daejung came in for the day. Jimin was about to leave the shoe room but Master Daejung stopped him.

“You know I’ve never seen you have that much fun, even when you’re dancing.”

“What do you mean by that?” Jimin faced the shrunken old man with a puzzled look.

“Partners that have fun together, always dance well together.” Master Daejung said, as he walked into the shoe room to continue the work you started. Jimin walked out of the shoe room to go to dress rehearsals with the full cast. He rubbed his finger tips over the smooth satin of his slippers as he walked to the locker room to change. Jimin came out when he was changed into the blue and gold prince costume, wearing a spare pair of white leather slippers he would use for dress rehearsals.

“Why are you so late?” Namjoon asked, as him and the five others boys stood up.

“Sorry, I was getting my show slippers for tomorrow and.....” He trailed off as he remembered your laughter in his head. “I saw (y/n) there, so I got side tracked and lost track of time.”

“Oh, so time goes faster when you are with her~” Hoseok said, as he wiggled his eyebrows. Jimin lightly shoved him, and crinkled his face.

“Don’t say stuff like that. She doesn’t even like me as a friend.”

“And does that hurt?” Yoongi joined in. Jimin let out a groan from his friends ganging up on him.

“Just leave me alone.” By that time Miju, Sori, and Chaerin walked up to see what the boys are all clamoring about.

“What’s going on? Is it about Jimin and dandelion again?” Sori teased elbowing Jimin in the side. Miju shot Sori a dirty look, but Sori ignored it anyway,

“You hit the nail on the head Sori.” Taehyung said in a ‘matter of factly’ tone. Jimin buried his face into the small palms of his hands.

“I was just hanging out with her in the shoe room. We aren’t dating.” Jimin whined.

“Yeah, but how do you feel when you are with her?” Chaerin asked. Jimin didn’t say anything immediately he thought back to his moments of you for a few seconds.

“I-I feel like I could drown in her eyes every time I see her. The different colors that move around in her eyes remind of the ripples of water when you shine sun light in it. I’m not too sure how I feel, I always get confused sometimes I think I could see clearly, but at the same time my mind has never been so clouded.” It was clear to everyone that you had such a dramatic effect on Jimin, he never has been so confused about anything. ‘They’ll be perfect for each other...the both of them are idiots...’ Chaerin thought. Miju was about to say something, but the teachers came in ushering the kids in to the rehearsal. Master Byungchul and Madame Sujin were even watching. Ever since that one rehearsal Jimin tired his best to imagine you dancing on the stage with him instead of Miju. If he did he felt like he didn’t have to worry as much, and he did like the appeal of you better than Miju. He only danced with Miju because she could keep up with him...for the most part at least.

Miju was at the part where she was introduced to the four suitors. She had to balance on one pointe while each prince came up, spun her once an moved on. Miju had to use a lot of her strength, core, and balance in this move. Right after Jin let go of Miju’s hand, before the other two princes, Miju lost her balance. She wiggled on her toe and had to put her other foot back on the ground. Yoongi held his hand out in preparation for when Miju regained her balance so he could spin her. Madam Sujin put her hand to her face in a disappointment, and Miju could feel her cheeks burn. Miju grabbed onto Yoongi’s hand when she as ready, he spun her once, and Taehyung followed, for he was the last prince.

                                                              ~

“Unnie I think you should wear your hair down tomorrow.” Sehwa said, you turned to look at your little sister who was sitting in her bed.

“And why is that?”

“Because we are going to see Jimin oppa, and I think he will be really happy to see with your hair. You will look sssuuuupppeeerrr pretty, and he will like it. He will like it this much.” Sehwa spread her arms out so you got a visual image of ‘how much Jimin would like it’.

“But you know I wear my hair up be-”

“-cause you work all the time helping the ballerinas. I don’t get it Unnie, you could be a ballerina too. I know you are good at dancing, I don’t think it’s too late.” Sehwa whined. She never saw you dance before, she was only two years old by the time you had quit dancing.

“Sehwa you know I quit, so you can dance.” Sehwa crossed her arms and looked down in to her lap.

“I know that, but I still don’t understand why.” She added a small ‘hmph’ at the end of her sentence. You walked over to Sehwa, and sat down with her on her bed.

“I know you don’t understand now Sehwa, but when you are older you will be happier than Unnie as you dance okay?” Sehwa reluctantly nodded her head.

“That’s my girl.” You said, as you ruffled her hair and pulled her into the hug.

‘But Unnie, do you think you could be a princess? For Jimin oppa?” Sehwa asked.

“Now why would I be the princess when I am the fairy god mother.” You answered smiling.

“That’s right you are my fairy sister!” Sehwa squealed, and hugged you tighter.

“Okay, let’s go to bed now. We have a big day tomorrow. We get to see Chaerin unnie and Jimin oppa dance.” You shuddered mentally as you put ‘Jimin’ and ‘oppa’ right next to each other.

“I can’t wait to see them dance tomorrow.”

“Then go to sleep quickly so time can pass.” You said as you tucked Sehwa into her bed.

“Good night Unnie.”

“Good night Sehwa.” You said as you turned off the lights.  A little more than ten minutes passed you laid in silence. Until small whispers broke the dark solitary.

“Unnie, can I sleep in our bed, I’m cold.” Sehwa said.

“Yeah come on.” Sehwa could hear the shuffling of your blankets as you moved to make room for her. She climbed on to your bed and snuggled into your left shoulder. You draped the blankets over you and Sehwa, finally closing your eyes so you could to sleep.

                                                           ~

Jimin was running up a grass hill, and even though he was outside paper lanterns stretched over the sky. While he was running he could feel that he wasn’t wearing his hanbok anymore. He looked down to see that he was wearing regular clothes he would wear a if he was going out. He was wearing a baby blue dress shirt, with the very first button unbutton, just the way he liked it. With the shirt he was wearing khaki colored shorts and white vans. When he reached the top he saw that it sloped down into a flowery meadow. It was full of green and yellow tall grass, as well as a variety of colors from different wild flowers. He walked down the slope and into the flowers. When he was in the center of the patch he lied down on his back to stare up at the sky. There were small puffs of clouds, that were pushed in the direction of the breeze that pushed them. It wasn’t a cool breeze that made him shiver, it was a warm breeze, and he inhaled it. Filling his lungs with the fresh  air and scent of the flowers he was surrounded by. Everything was so quiet and still, Jimin could feel his lungs expanding and contracting with each breath he took. While the breeze blew through his black bangs, it blew through a red seed dandelion, pulling the flowery seeds away from the bud. He watched them get carried away by the wind until they were out of his line of vision. When they were gone he turned to his left and saw you lying next to him wearing a light blue romper. That blue reminded him a little bit of the skirt of your hanbok. That blue was starting to grow on him, maybe it was his favorite color now. Your eyes were closed, and your lips were slightly parted. He could see your chest rise up and down steadily, as quiet breaths escaped your lips. He wanted to kiss your lips they just looked so kissable in that moment. Before he could make a move to shift his body to kiss you, your eyes came to life. The blues and greens of your eyes came to life as you stared back into his dark eyes. They were a dark dark brown, that looked black from a distance, but if you were able to get closer to his face, you realized that they were more of a brown than a black.

“Good luck in your performance.” You whispered to Jimin. Jimin raised his hand and rested on the side of your face. You felt the pad of thumb sweep under your eye as the rest of his fingers rested on the silky texture of your hair.

                                                       ~

‘What the heck was that?’ You thought as you sat up in your bed. You remembered lying in a meadow full of flowers and you were napping, filling your lungs with the fresh air. When you opened your eyes you turned on your side to Jimin staring at you. You told him good luck for his dance, which you meant, you never wanted to wish any dancer unwell right before they went up on stage, even if they annoyed you. You smooshed your face into the palm of your hands as you re-played the dream in your mind. He was cupping your face, but you didn’t seem to mind, you didn’t care if he was touching you. You eventually waved it off and looked to side to see Sewhwa all splayed out on your mattress. You straightened her body so her spine was now aligned and pulled the blanket back over yourself and Sehwa’s; hugging her small body to you.

                                                           ~

It was eight in the morning when Sehwa woke you up. You sat up in your bed reluctantly as Sehwa swung the sliding door of your closet open, and examined her clothes.

“Unnie get up and help me find something to wear.” She hollered, you untangled your legs from your comforter and walked over to the closet.

“So what do you want to wear today?” You asked.

“I want to be like princess Aurora today!” That was an automatic ‘pink’ answer to you, and began to pick through her clothes. You pulled out a long sleeved pink dress since it was the fall and everything was starting to get colder. The skirt was made of pale pink tulle that gave the whole dress a tutu look and feel, the dress also came with a black ribbon that acted like a belt. Once the dress was on Sehwa and the black ribbon was tied in a bow, you slid a pale pink headband that was the same shade of pink of Sehwa’s dress into her hair, the head band was designed to make it look like there was knot in the fabric in the middle of her head to give a cute appearance. Once Sehwa was done you started to look through your side of the closet. Sehwa leaned against your body and one of her tiny arms snaked around your hips to keep herself study, she too was scanning through your closet. Until she saw something that caught her eye.

“Unnie wear this.” She said as he hopped over to the article of clothing she was talking about. She pulled out the skirt of the dress to show case the color, it was a soft pink that was identical to the shade of her dress. It was a dress with a collar, and a seam that went down the middle of the whole thing, the sleeves were three-quarters long, and the skirt stopped right before our knees. The black belt had fine white stripes on it and it was a wide belt that was meant to be tied into a bow, that rested on your right hip. You looked at yourself in your bed room mirror with Sehwa by your side.

“Don’t we look alike Unnie?” Sehwa giggled, twirling in front of her reflection. While you were staring at your own image your frowned at your hair. It was probably the one thing you did not like about yourself, your hair. Sehwa had the same type of hair, it was super straight, that laid dead, flat on your head. While you were watching Sehwa through the mirror you got an idea.

“Hey Sehwa after we brush our teeth how about I curl your hair?” You offered, Sehwa looked up at you with a bright expression and nodded eagerly. The two of you walked into the bathroom, and you lifted Sehwa up so she could sit on the counter top. You gave her, her toothbrush full of toothpaste, and she brushed her teeth while you brushed your own. When you two rinsed your mouth, you pulled out the curling iron, plugged it in, and let the metal warm up. When the iron was warmed up, you picked up and started to curl Sehwa’s hair.

“Remember try no to move as much got it?”

“Yes, Unnie.” Sehwa said obediently. You had to be careful whenever you curled Sehwa’s hair, you were always worried about burning her nice and youthful skin. You curled her hair into little ringlets, and then brush them out into soft curls, finally spraying some hairspray to keep the curled shape in her hair for the day. Throughout the whole thing Sehwa sat as still as she could, she was always good when she had to sit still while you were doing her hair. When Sehwa was done you started to curl your own hair, and Sehwa watched in awe as you did the same thing you did to her hair, to your own. Whenever you could you were the one who did Sehwa’s hair, whether it was tying it up into buns, braids, pig tails, curling it, or just putting in cute accessories you were the one to do it. She just admired you for being able to do your own hair, where she needed help. Finally you sprayed the last lock of hair with product, and you and Sehwa left the bathroom for breakfast. From after breakfast to right before two in the afternoon you were watching Disney movies with Sehwa and Jaewook. You and Jaewook would watch Sehwa happily sing and dance along to the music. It was one of the things you enjoyed doing with the your siblings.

“Jae don’t forget to buy bouquets for Chaerin and Hoseok.” You stressed.

“Got it.” Jaewook said, eyes still glued to the screen.

“Sehwa,” Sehwa’s little head perked up and looked at you, “before you leave remind Oppa to bring flowers for Chaerin unnie and Hoseok oppa, or I’m not helping him with his darning.” You threatened.

“Aye aye.” Sehwa said and raised her right hand to her forehead as a salute.

“That’s my girl.” You said, smiling and left through the door. You were standing in the train, holding on to one of the ceiling handles, your phone in the other hand. There was space for you to sit on the train, but you decided to stand for today. While you were looking down at your phone a person came up to you.

“I wonder where a pretty girl like you is going, darling.” A voice whispered in your ear. You looked up to see Jaejung. He was a whole head taller than you, and compared to Jimin; if you were standing face to face to Jimin, you were eye level with his lips.

“Geez you scared me.” You said, clasping your phone occupied hand chest over your beating chest. Jaejung had his dark hair usually pushed back under his black cap, he was wearing navy blue Adidas sweats, with a matching sweatshirt that was draped over his arm, he was also wearing a white t-shirt. Underneath the gauzy material you saw the dark ink of what looked like a tattoo. You couldn’t make out what it was exactly, but you could see wings stretching out to his shoulders, there were like his own set of wings. They were placed perfectly and symmetrically on his upper torso. You tore your gaze away from Jaejung and looked at your surroundings. Other people who were on the train was looking at Jaejung looking over you. It looked like a bad boy was hitting on the classic good girl in the pretty pink dress. You slapped Jaejung in the chest with the back of your hand, hoping Jaejung would jump back from you.

“Ow, what is that for? You know if you keep hitting me like that you’re going to bruise me.” Jaejung tugged on his bottom lip with his teeth, and winked. “If that’s what you’re into darling.” Which deserved Jaejung another one of your deadly back hands to the chest.

“Oh my god I swear you hit harder every time.” Jaejung squealed.

“Next time it will be a shiner superstar.” You threatened, raising up you fist. Maybe the pretty girl didn’t need saving from the bad boy...it was more the other way around.

“But why did you hit me the first time?” Jaejung asked with his naturally wide eyes boring into your forehead.

“Aren’t you cold?” You asked, switching the subject of conversation, which Jaejung went along with naturally.

“No, not really.” He answered simply.

“How are you not cold? I guess this is what I get for being petty and not taking a jacket, so people could see my full dress,” You slipped your phone into black shoulder bag, and started to rub your biceps for warmth from the friction you were making. Jaejung rolled his eyes playfully, and started to wrap his jacket around you. The shoulders were a little bit too big for yours, but Jaejung used that extra material to overlap the to sides of the jacket, making you more snug. This still didn’t stop the people from watching you. Warmth caressed your cheeks into a scarlet shade, and it wasn’t from the heat you were getting from the jacket.

“We aren’t even dating, so you don’t have to feel obligated to give me your jacket.” You murmured.

“I don’t feel like I have to give you my jacket, I want to give you my jacket.” Jaejung said back, in a tone that was as soft as yours. You weren’t sure if you wanted to deck Jaejung in his perfect face with your fist or lips. You walked all the way to Billion Dreams with Jaejung while wearing his jacket. When you walked through the door you were amazed about how spacious the whole studio was, the walls were modern, and the ceilings were high. Every light bulb was a LED light screwed into the ceilings, and there were large mirrors that were attached to certain walls, there were also large speakers in some corners; you could guess it was part of their expensive sound system. Four other men dressed the same as Jaejung or identical to Jaejung came running up to him. Some of them wore the same navy blue Adidas sweats, or shorts that were the same color. One man who was wearing shorts flicked Jaejung’s cap off and gave him a noggie.

“Yah, how dare you be late. We came here because you made us do your dance and you’re the last one to come.” He teased, chuckles came from Jaejung and the others as they watched.

“Sorry Hyung, I took too long in the shower.” Jaejung pulled himself out of the older’s grip and shrugged.

“Oh by the way this (y/n).” Jaejung said, pulling you to him by your shoulders.

“Hello.” You said, giving a tiny wave.

“Nice to meet you I’m Ko Seohun.” A boy wearing sweats and orange dyed hair said.

“I’m Ko Seojun, Seohun’s twin.” A boy who looked like the last one, but with blond hair greeted.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you I’m Lee Jonghyun.” The one who was messing with Jaejung’s hair said, shaking your hand.

“And I’m Na Taeyong.” The last boy greeted. He had fluffy blue hair with bangs curled to one side, exposing his pale forehead. You bowed to all of them.

“It’s nice to meet you,” you said smiling. Taeyong walked to you and grabbed onto the sides of your face. Your breath hitched in your throat as he stared you in the eyes. His eyes were very piercing and sharp, he was beautiful. His skin was very pale like milk and honey mixed together, which created a vibrant contrast with his blue hair.

“Jaejung was right, you are pretty, I was starting to think you were fake since he always talks about you.” Your cheeks turned about as pink as your dress.

“YAH!” Jaejung punched Taeyong in the arm. Taeyong and Jaejung were about to get into it, but Jonghyun interrupted them.

“Okay ladies, now is not the time to start a boxing match. If anything we should start dancing.” Jonghyun said. “Is our camera man here?” Jonghyung waved trying to find the person.

“I’m here.” A male voice said, coming from another side of the studio. There were other dancers there because they wanted to come watch, like you. After the video was shot, other dancers were there to get ready for class. The camera man set down a tripod, with his camera attached. When his camera was switched on, he gave the boys a thumbs up to signify he was ready.

“Rohui get the music ready.” Jaejung said. A girl ran to a panel that control the sound system and plugged in her phone.

“Ready when you are.” She yelled across the studio.

“Okay, take one, in five four three two one.” The boy at the camera counted down. Jaejung had his arms over Jonghyun and Seojun’s shoulders; Seohun and Taeyong were standing up right behind them. By the time the camera man got to ‘one’ Rohui started to play the music. You recognized the song as ‘Wrongest Way’ by Sonny. The boys started to bob along to the rhythm of the intro and were acting a little silly. They were doing a good job at displaying at how close they were as friends. Eventually Jonghyun and Seojung smoothly parted from Jaejung, making windows for Seohun and Taeyong where they can be seen. Jaejung was in the center of the formation. They danced smoothly to the song, and their moves seemed like to fit perfectly to the melody. Jonghyun and Seojun managed to move backwards while dancing so Seohun and Taeyong can move forward. They transitioned without problem and the formation was now a ‘V’. The dance was a little over two minutes long. You had to admit it was pretty impressive dance, never have you seen anyone dance like that. You really enjoy watching this genre of dance, you never disliked it in the first place, you never gave it attention which was decision you are really regretting now. When the boys were done, Jaejung walked up to you while the other four went to watch the film.

“So what did you think?” Jaejung asked.

“It’s really cool. I loved watching it.” You smiled. Jaejung blushed as you complimented him.

“Thank you very much.”

“It was so impressive that you choreographed all of that...” You went on and on about the dance, and Jaejung couldn’t help but smile while you talked. You were animated when you were excited about something, he watched the curls in your hair as the bounced against your shoulders and eye lashes flutter as you blinked. Every now and then you would lick your lips since they were dry from all of your talking.

“Jaejung we have to shoot again, I accidentally messed.” Taeyong said. Taeyong was a super a super critical dancer, and expected less than perfect from himself. Jaejung walked over to the camera and watched the replay, he noticed what Taeyong was talking about, and clicked his tongue.

“Okay lets do that again.” Jaejung said, and the camera man nodded.

“Rohui music again please.” Seojun said. Rhui nodded in response and got ready.

“Okay take two, in five four three two one.” The camera counted down and Rohui played the music on time. During the first transition into the ‘V’ Seojung accidentally stuck his foot out too much and tripped Seohun, making his twin flop over his leg. Rohui paused the music when she heard Seohun’s body make impact on the ground.  

“Sorry Seohun, are you okay?!’ Seojun rushed to pick his brother up from off the ground.

“It’s all good, I’m fine.” Seohun dusted himself.

“Okay, we’l go again for take three, in five four three two one.” The camera man counted down again and the boys got into their ready position. Rohui played the music and the boys danced without incident.

“Okay, that shot was good, I’ll get it edited and it’ll be posted later today.” The camera man said, while shutting off the camera and packing up all of his stuff.

“Thank you for your hard work.” Jaejung bowed to the camera man and to his friends.

“So what did you think?”

“That was so awesome. I could watch that for a hundred times, in fact Imma watch it when it comes out on the internet. I can tell of you work so hard for this.” You gushed, pointing to all five boys. Jaejung rubbed your head while the other four smiled at you two.

“Hey (y/n) would you like to see the some other dances?” Seohun offered.

“‘Would I’, of course!” You smiled. Jaejung felt his heart pound watching you, you were someone who appreciated what he did and liked it all at the same time. More music started to play and you watched the other dancers practice their own dance, and sometimes even help the ones who were having issues. It felt like a close atmosphere in the studio, no one judged your level of dance, they only wanted you to have fun and try your hardest. No one should be afraid to ask for help in this studio, because there was someone else who would be gladly to help you until you got it right. You learned that a famous line that all of the dancers at Billion Dreams was “team work makes the dream work” and they were all humans who want to get to their dreams.

You were having so much fun time started to slip from your mind. When you finally looked at you clock it was ‘5:05′. ‘Oh shit I’m late!’ You mentally screamed and alarms started to ring in your ears.

“Sorry Jaejung I got to go. I’ll talk to you later okay? Thank you for inviting me, I appreciate it!” You waved to Jaejung and ran out of the building before he could say ‘bye’ back. When you were gone Jonghyun rested his arm on Jaejung’s shoulder.

“So when are you going to make her your girlfriend?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Even though that thought seems nice, I can’t just ‘maker her my girlfriend’.” Jaejung said looking at his older.

“And why is that?” Jonghyun asked.

“I think she wants to get to know me better, and I wouldn’t mind getting to know her some more. She’s just so full of mysteries and stories.” Jaejung admitted.

“Well I suggest you two start talking or someone might take her.” Jonghyun said, walking off.

#BTS jimin #bts #bts scenarios #bts fanfic #bts fanfction #bts series #bts kim namjoon #bts kim taehyung #bts kim seokjin #bts min yoongi #bts min suga #bts suga #bts jin #bts park jimin #bts jeon jungkook #bts jhope #bts jung hoseok #bts x reader #bts x you #bts fluff #bts au #bts angst #kim taehyung #kim seokjin #kim namjoon #jin #min yoongi #suga #jhope #jung hoseok

[ticktockstuck]

5-6-21 Update

Hello, everyone! It’s been a while since our last update, and during that radio silence your local showrunner has been exceptionally busy! The bad is that I haven’t been busy with TickTockStuck work, but there’s far more good news I can give you today! There’s a lot of ground to cover so let’s get right into it.

◇──༺≪◈≫༻──◇

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. When my recent spring semester of classes started I was optimistic and presumed that, while I would certainly be busy and have to put TTS on the backburner for a while, I’d still have enough spare time on the side to flesh out various projects like the sprite edits. As the semester went on, though, it turned into a lot more work just to keep up with the workload to the extent that I had to push everything else aside just to stay afloat. I’ll be perfectly upfront here: in the last two months I’ve had little to no time whatsoever to work on TickTockStuck in a serious capacity. HOWEVER: The semester is now over and safely handled, and I’m already hard at work getting caught up to where we should be. I’d like to say that means we’ll start posting again this month but that’s not actually the case.

The big news I have is that I’ll be moving at the start of next month! It’s very exciting for me, since I’ll be in a much better environment to work in physically and emotionally, but the caveat is that I’m moving out exactly a week before TickTockStuck’s next anniversary. The TTS work I’m doing now is being balanced with preparations for the move, so in order to ensure that this blog actually has content to put up that week (and to make my life generally easier after the hectic two months I’ve had) I’ll be extending TickTockStuck’s hiatus through June to finally end on the week of our anniversary, July 12th.

What is that week going to entail? For transparency’s sake, the work I’m focusing on right now is finishing sprite edits for our human cast (expect 2 to go up) and the remaining trolls from our TTS Troll Call (expect 2 of the missing 4). If I finish all that and have appropriate spare time, I’ll see what else I can get off the to-do list. Regarding the Troll Call, I’ve said before that I would upload the concept work and rough sketches for the missing trolls if I hadn’t finished them by July. I intend to uphold that promise but, considering all of the above information, I’ll be moving the date of posting that work to the week after our anniversary. Anything to come after that is something I’ll talk about once I’m actually settled in to my new residence and properly set up.

I also want to briefly talk about our side project, the TickTockStuck Extended Zodiac. The TTSEZ has been on hold since April, and I’m currently in the process of sorting which signs will be uploaded as part of the next scheduling block. This block will feature 209 signs total (2-4 new signs for each of the 53 castes) but when it starts getting posted, and when the TTSEZ will properly return, is still up in the air. I make a point to get the majority of these scheduling blocks prepared in advance to lighten my long-term workload but, with as many signs as this block is made up of, it might be a while until it starts rolling out. Mainline TTS work is still a priority and that work is going to further slow the process of getting those signs done. I can’t give any specific dates for when the work’ll be done, but I wouldn’t expect to see our side project start posting again until at least August.

◇──༺≪◈≫༻──◇

TickTockStuck can’t always be the most important priority in my life, and sometimes I have to put it aside for the sake of more pressing issues. Even with that, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: TickTockStuck is important to me, and in spite of our continued problems in just having a regular update schedule this is still a project I intend to keep working on and I have no plans to stop working on any time soon. However long it takes, there is so much that I have left to show, and the future’s looking brighter than ever.

And as always, thank you all for sticking with us through these continued difficulties.

#notes from the showrunner

[tuxiedjabberwock]

The Sides of a Demon - Gintama oneshot

The Sides of a Demon

Category: Anime/Manga » Gintama

Author: Sqydd

Language: English, Rated: M

Genre: Drama/Hurt/Comfort

Published: 09-10-20, Updated: 09-10-20

Chapters: 1, Words: 10,573

Having dropped off the face of the Earth for a few weeks, Gintoki returns with no preamble or explanation to the kids. Yet both of them suspect it was more than just a regular television hiatus vacation for him. Oneshot

quotev

AO3

Fanfiction.net

"Oi, old man, lemme get anodder," Gintoki said past a partly functioning tongue, shakily offering the sakazuki to the barman.

"You're already over your tab and your limit, Sakata-san. I'd like for you to get home in one piece." He took the empty cup instead and fixed Gintoki with a level glare.

"Ah, c'mon, c'mon, Gin-san holds saké very well." The barman refused to relent and Gin clucked his tongue, rising from the seat only marginally unsteadily. "Den I'm gunna take my yen 'lsewhere, ah?"

The barman seemed highly disgruntled but made no moves to reclaim Gintoki's business. Gin noticed him picking up the phone as he pushed off in a wobbly gait, but his brain was too addled by alcohol to make sense of it. The night was dark and cold against his clammy skin, and he fought the urge to loosen his kimono and unzip his shirt; however much relief it would bring, it wouldn't be worth anyone possibly seeing the marks.

A night as cool and quiet as any other. Someone was playing the shamisen in the background, and while Gintoki would have found it soothing any other day, it only heightened the impotent rage brought on by his wallet. It was surprising how heavy an emptied piece of fabric could feel.

"Damn pachinko machines. Someone's screwin' with me, I know it." His grumbles continued as he passed a street of stalls that had long since closed and were vacant of other human life. He had his plan for the last four hours or so until daylight set: he would go home, get as little sleep as possible before the demon in his closet woke him a lá bouncing on his stomach like a springboard, soothe the inevitable exhaustion headache with Shinpachi's breakfast, pray that a client would call lest he feel two brats' wrath for blowing their savings…

Not that he called gambling "blowing their savings." It was a great investment that children who had yet to grow hair on their chests (or otherwise) would never understand.

His muttered complaints did help to shorten the long walk and he was halfway home before he knew it. He was crossing a small wooden bridge when he heard it: footsteps. Not his, clipped and heavy against the soggy wood, but softened by bamboo sandals. His hand was on Lake Toya in half a second. "Oi, I don't do moonlit strolls with ugly men, I'll have you know."

His assailant paid no mind and Gintoki ducked in time to avoid the swing of a katana, stark and silver against the crescent moon's glow. He somersaulted backwards and lost a second in footing to the wet boards. That second gave his opponent—a middle-aged Average Joe with a hairline reaching back to Gorilla country—time to advance and thrust. Gin's kimono was slashed along his hanging sleeve; he stumbled from the unexpected force but turned it into a parry at the last second, blocking the next strike and swinging at his ribs. The assailant parried in turn and ended up in a deadlock.

"So, what's it this time?" Gintoki asked casually, though his opponent was visibly reddening. Kind of a skinny guy, he was. "Alien overlord? Government dog? Sunrise's producer?"

Again, he got no response, and he figured he wasn't going to get much motive from the guy. So he lashed out with his foot, kicking the man's sandaled feet out and launching him in the air, before striking down with his wooden sword right in his gut. His breath left in a harsh whoosh before he crashed down through the base of the bridge and into the shallow waters below. A loud splash succeeded the impact and Gintoki cringed as his hair turned to a soggy mess against his skull.

"Aah, see what you've done? Now it'll dry in an even worse perm."

The stench of alcohol surrounded him like a cloud; it was the only viable explanation as to why Otose was waiting outside the darkened bar with the butt of a cigarette lighting her dour expression. She wore a thinner kimono and a haori draped over her shoulders, and her hair was pinned at the back of her head rather than her usual elaborate wrap. "Gintoki," she began, and he could already imagine the boatloads of trouble he was in if she used his name. She took one last long drag before dropping the cigarette and ashing it under her sandal. "Unless you're planning on going up and explaining yourself to the brats, turn back to whatever shithole you went and hid yourself in."

"Yeesh. That's harsh, don'cha think, Granny?" He couldn't quite stand still without swaying slightly, and even that small motion made him feel like throwing up. God knew he already did enough of that. Chances were there was nothing but saké in his gut at that point.

"I don't want to hear your jokes, idiot. Just a confirmation." She levelled a glare at him and he fought not to cringe, fought to keep his expression at that stupid drunken content.

"You don' wanna 'pology? 'm sorry, Granny. How 'bout a hug 'n kiss?" She scowled and spun away from him.

"You know what? Forget it. You're too drunk to even make sense." She returned inside the bar and shut the sliding doors with a definitive clack. Gintoki stared at them long after the sound of her footsteps disappeared. Then came his more arduous task for the night: ascending the steps to the apartment. Even gripping the railing, he lost his footing several times, and he thought he twisted his ankle…again. He was going to feel like absolute shit come daylight. Like a night in the war, after a long day spent battling dozens upon hundreds of Amanto, forcing his body past human limits and knowing there would be hell to pay when he woke, as if having made a deal with the Devil. Have the strength now and get the consequences later. Kinda like the saké, now that he thought about it.

The sliding doors weren't locked and he wasn't drunk enough to miss it. Due to their abundance of unwanted intruders—Zura, Sacchan, Sakamoto, et cetera—he started pounding it into Kagura's head to lock it all the time. If it remained unlocked all the time he was gone, which he didn't doubt, knowing how those brats were…they never lost faith in him returning. For the first time since his battle with the prematurely balding ronin, he smiled.

"'m home," he muttered as he bent to yank off his boots. He knew the first thing he had to do was greet the kids, it had been a few weeks, maybe more, but…in a better condition. Like, after a month-long coma and a few showers. In acid rain. And a lava bath. Maybe the pain of his skin melting away will allow him to forget…

Well, he wasn't that lucky.

He sighed and straightened, slowly making his way over to his bedroom. The door was wide open to show his fluffed futon and the duvet folded neatly at the foot. Shinpachi, you stupid mother hen, he thought as he collapsed into the soft cotton. It smelled like the herbal soap stuff Shinpachi used at the dojo; Gintoki hadn't realized how accustomed he'd become to that scent until his nose was filled with the musty, acrid scent of the jail cell. That minor comparison led to a slew of memories he squeezed his eyes shut against, not that it helped.

Cold, cold and damp, reeks like mold—ever heard of a matsui stick, dipshits? Aah, now Average Joe's shoving my face right into it. Blood and mold, not a good smell combination. Just wait, wait until I get outta here, wait until I get my hands on y— Wait, hands? What's he doing with his hands? Where are they—why are they on my—

Gintoki shoved his face into the pillow a bit too aggressively and willed his mind to shut up. Not that it was very hard: exhaustion filled his body and he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. For the first time in weeks, he felt safe.

Instincts were a funny thing. However much time passed, they would never vanish. They could be dulled, certainly—like knee-jerk reactions in response to the bigger, tougher Amanto species—but never forgotten, just buried in a place where bad issues of Shonen Jump and cheesy morning television could blind a person to their existence. But they still existed, and they still saved Gintoki's life on several occasions. This being one of them: he spun around before the water had even settled and swung his wooden sword, taking several small projectiles from the air. One survived, however, and it pierced through his collar to land cleanly in the junction of his shoulder and neck.

"There," said a new, sinister, "main villain of the arc"-type voice. "That wasn't so hard, was it, White Demon?"

"Tha' wasn'—huuuh—" The drug quickly ran through his system and dropped him to one knee before he really realized what was happening. His shaky vision focused on three new sets of sandals walking onto the bridge, and at the front was a set of fancy polished shoes. Clenching his jaw, Gintoki raised his heavy arm and prepared to smash those shoes into oblivion.

"Oh-oh," he said, and his sword was halted mid-swing. A good swing it would've been too: Gintoki's whole side jolted when the sword was grabbed by a large tough-skinned hand. He sluggishly raised his head and tried to focus on his accosters in the moonlight. All Amanto—two rhino-looking ones, an unholy caterpillar-sparrow kind of thing, and the ringleader Mr. Goodshoes, with blue skin and a lizard's long snout, topped with long, neatly-combed cerulean hair. Not a single curl in sight, as if the fates wanted a good laugh in with his bad fortune.

"L'me go." Gintoki narrowed his eyes and tugged against the rhino's grip, but the drugs sapped his strength and left him near defenseless. The lizard alien chuckled and set a clawed hand on Gintoki's head.

"I doubt you remember me, but I remember what a demon you were on the battlefield. So I calculated more than enough tranquilizer to put even you down. I'd say I'm surprised you're not comatose yet, but I expected as much." His Japanese was clipped by an accent that hardened his consonants and made his words fade in and out on their highs and lows.

The rhino did release the sword only to grab him around his forearms in a vise grip, lifting him off his knees. He was now eye-to-eye with their leader and his self-satisfied smirk. He thinks he's won, Gintoki thought as his head lolled to the side. For now, maybe, but if he thinks I'm going down without a fight—

"Let's go." He nodded to his goons and turned away in one sharp movement. "I have the V.I.P treatment prepared for you."

In the morning, there was no alien child burying her fist in his gut or the sound of breakfast cooking. The apartment was still quiet…too quiet. Gintoki yawned and winced when he realized he'd fallen asleep fully dressed. The futon would need to be aired out again.

He dragged himself out of bed and realized with a groan that his pains hadn't abated—if anything, they worsened in the five or so hours he'd been sleeping. But he would endure, he had gotten quite good at that. He pushed himself up and dragged his feet until he reached the bathroom. He stripped his clothes off, tossed them in the corner, and dropped onto the bath stool with a relieved sigh.

The quiet whooshing of warm water filled his thoughts as he worked on soaping up and washing away every trace of the last few weeks. It was only partly successful: the outward grime slid down the drain, but his bruises were as large and stark as ever, especially against his pale skin. Most of them were green and yellow, having been inflicted in the beginning; the largest ones, however, were created just before his grand exit, and their violet hue symbolized breathtaking shapes. Mostly hands, a couple truncheons, a whip they only managed to use on him once before he strangled the guy with it, and a weird curvature he instantly knew as the lizard's bite. Toothless just like an Earth lizard, but damn his jaws were strong.

"Not gonna miss that fucker," he said before dumping the bucket of water over his head. He briefly considered taking a bath to loosen his muscles but the thought made him anxious. He shook it off and grabbed the towel, swiping it through his damp curls. Every time the cotton pulled his hair he shuddered.

They didn't carry Gintoki away—either too much effort on their parts or allowed him too much dignity. Instead, they forced him to walk in his drugged state, pulling him by his collar or his hair to keep him moving. He only had the faintest clue what was happening around him; the world swam in and out of focus and faded to black more than once. They often woke him up with a punch to the gut.

"What's the matter, White Demon? They say you can cut through entire armies without even stopping to breathe. Is moving your feet so hard?" The Boss's tone reeked of sarcasm as his claws were next to grip Gintoki's scalp, drawing blood as he tugged him forward extra hard.

"Fuck…you," Gintoki said, digging his heels into the street. The boss pulled away and clicked his tongue. When the lankier caterpillar-looking subordinate went for him next, Gintoki grabbed his feathered arm and lifted him, sending him flying with a spin into one of the rhino lackeys. The motion caught the Boss's attention and Gintoki broke into a loping run. He didn't get very far before a huge weight slammed into his back, driving him into the dirt. The rhino sat his huge ass right on Gintoki's lower back and butt, completely halting his movements.

"Can't break free, can you?" The Boss crouched in front of Gintoki with a shit-eating grin, but his expression quickly turned lax and cold, a gross parody of Gintoki's notorious dead fisheyes. "It's quite a familiar sight to me, but I suppose it's terrifying for you, being on this side of the treatment now."

Gintoki growled between gritted teeth. "Hope you're…having fun…talking shit. When I b…break your teeth…"

"I have none to speak of," he said quite cheerfully, grinding Gin's last nerves to dust. The Boss's claws tangled in silver curls once again and yanked his head up with a vengeance. His breath stunk like insects and fanned over Gintoki's face. "Come on, White Demon, let's get you to your new home."

Gintoki stumbled in the process of putting on his pants. New "home"—that godforsaken place was anything but. Then again, it was surely nicer than some of the other hellholes he crashed in during and after the war. Ah, at least he could look back on the war with the same amount of disgust—his alone-time with the Boss and co. wasn't worse than all that, worse than the Tenshouin Naraku and the headless corpse on the hill, but it for sure made his top five of Worst Experiences, 2/10 Will Not Experience Again.

He heard her cry before the sound of the sliding door getting violently ripped from its tracks: "GIN-CHAN!" He quickly zipped up his shirt and turned in time to receive a foot to the gut. The force of the kick transcended human definitions of pain, and so the sound he emitted was completely nonsensical as the momentum carried him into the far wall. The wood splintered heavily but thankfully didn't explode; he didn't need to add "falling from a second story" to his lists of aches and pains. Once he stopped seeing stars, he blinked to the face of one very angry Yato.

"K-Kagura-chan, I c-can explain…"

"Save it!" She jabbed an accusing finger in his face with her pink cheeks puffed wide. "You know the rules, don't you? 'Only take an extensive vacation when we're on hiatus, uh-huh'? Don't you think I need my beauty rest to? But we all must wait in line like good people, uh-huh!" She put her hands on her hips and glared in a way that an ignorant man could see as cute. Gintoki noticed her cheongsam was all torn and dirty and she was out of breath; a Yato out of breath, it took a lot to manage that. Like, a long long long time worth of searching. He sunk to the ground in a heap and didn't bother picking himself up.

"Sorry," he said.

"You are sorry, uh-huh! I'm tired, I'm gonna bathe and let Pattsuan deal with you." She spun on her heel with a decisive humph and left his room, making sure to kick down that sliding door as well. Considering all he got were a couple of ulcers, he was getting off lightly.

The big dog came poking his head through the doorway, sniffing curiously at shipwrecked door before blinking up at Gintoki. He smiled and chuckled bitterly. "Are you pissed at me too, Sadaharu?" He whined and trotted forward, nosing into Gintoki's sore gut with ears flattened. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought Sadaharu was concerned for him. But, no, he probably just wanted to add onto Gintoki's pain.

He eventually used Sadaharu as a crutch to pull himself to his feet. He offered his fuzzy head a pat for the help and forced himself to walk unaided into the living room—no need to worry the brats further. He was also aware he would need to come up with a practicable excuse for his extended disappearance, but what he was focused on at the moment was food. And painkillers. Food would be the harder part; if Shinpachi hadn't restocked their supply, which he wouldn't have had reason to do considering how many weeks Gintoki spent M.I.A. and Shinpachi would have no reason to hang around the apartment without Odd Jobs business, then he would have to scrounge up dog food or risk a strip of pickled seaweed. Both were risky, really, but he was so overall achy he couldn't dig up the wits to care.

He checked the rice cooker and saw the empty basin. He then turned his attention to the cupboards and found half a sack of rice left. He poured it into the machine along with some water and set it to cook. When he checked the fridge, he was surprised to find two cartons of strawberry milk, their labels indicating they were bought recently.

"Heh, even if he has no reason to come, the brat still does," Gintoki said with a smile, taking a carton and popping it open. It wasn't just an average strawberry milk from the convenience store; it was, like the unlocked door and his readied futon, a show of faith. Faith that Gintoki would return or they would return him themselves. Warmth filled his chest at the thought and completely melted the icicles that had settled there since that unfortunate day. Standing there in the kitchen, chugging his milk and waiting for the rice cooker to beep, he could pretend things hadn't changed a bit. He could pretend his pains were from some stupid fight with Kagura (which they were, technically) and soon Pachi-boy would come to smooth things over, and they would bicker in front of the television until the off-chance a client would come in—

"Hello? I'm sorry, is this the Odd Jobs residence?"

The voice was female and entirely unfamiliar. Gintoki stared in the direction of the door for a second, completely floored, and it wasn't until he spotted Kagura's wet head walking past that he revived. He set the carton down and rushed over as she opened the sliding door. A woman about Gintoki's age stood in an immaculate blue furisode with her blonde hair done up by golden pins. Her eyebrows were pinched and her forehead lined despite her nice makeup.

"Yup. I'm Odd Jobs Gura-san, uh-huh. There's my useless butler." Kagura jerked her thumb over her shoulder in Gintoki's direction. There was a fluffy pink towel around her neck that she moved to her soaked hair. "Did your fiancé leave you at the altar or something?"

"What? No, I…" She shook her head and bowed a bit. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself yet. My name is Umeko Yamada. My sister, Tsubaki, was to be married this morning, but she never showed."

"Maybe she left her fiancé at the altar, uh-huh."

"No, you don't understand how in love those two were. She wouldn't just disappear, and she's not answering her phone either. Her apartment is locked and hadn't been opened since yesterday, so she didn't return home. I'm worried."

"Did she have any enemies? Make any shady deals? Shit in someone's toilet and didn't flush?" The women looked to Gintoki in surprise, Kagura more so. He maintained his dead fish expression as he stepped forward. "Well?"

"No… As far as I know, Tsubaki had no enemies." Gintoki hummed pensively.

"Where's this fiancé of hers? He didn't come with you?"

"He's still searching," she said. Gin yawned and stretched his arms overhead.

"Well, let's find him first, then." He stepped towards the door to put on his boots when Kagura's confused voice filled the air:

"Gin-chan, where's your sword?"

Gintoki was hauled by the neck and tossed against a damp concrete ground. He rolled once before bracing himself on hands and knees, suddenly noticing his hands were bound by the wrists. He saw a shadow approaching in the small window's light and swung his fists; the rhino caught them in one hand and swung the other, catching him across his cheek. He was knocked down with the force of the impact and felt the side of his face begin to swell.

"I'd drug you again if I didn't need you wide awake for this." The Boss's annoying voice rang through his ears. Gintoki scowled and spat blood and a tooth onto the rhino's foot. That same foot buried itself in his gut, slamming him into the back wall. While he was disoriented, he felt movement along his side.

"You won't be needing this." And the Boss held Lake Toya in his full view. Gintoki's reaction was immediate: he pushed himself up and into a forward lunge, tackling the Amanto to the ground and making a grab for his sword. One rhino seized Gintoki by his shoulders and yanked him backwards; the other punched him in the side, giving him a new distraction in the form of a few broken ribs. "Quite a decrepit sword this is—cheap too," the Boss said, calmly rising and dusting himself off. He appraised Lake Toya with a critical eye before, in one smooth movement, cracking the thing over his knee, snapping it in two uneven chunks plus hundreds of tiny splinters.

"There," he said, tossing the remnants over his shoulder and into the water. "Now, let's get bac…"

"Gin-chan?" Kagura's head tilted to one side as she observed him with remarkably shrewd eyes for a child. He turned back to the client to avoid scrutiny and mentally pummeled himself for taking too long.

"Bet it as collateral," he said offhandedly. He could actually hear Kagura's teeth grinding, but it didn't matter—the sliding door opened again.

"Kagura-chan? I've brought some Takoyaki, are you…oh…" Shinpachi's voice trailed away as he most likely spotted Gintoki's boots in the entrance. He came into the main room with barely a sound, glancing first at their client, then Kagura, and finally Gintoki. His expression was unreadable behind his glasses.

"Took ya long enough to get here, Pattsuan," Kagura said, breaking the brief veil of silence that had fallen over them. "We have a client."

"Oh. Oh, my apologies for not greeting you immediately." He turned to Umeko with a short bow. "My name is Shinpachi Shimura."

"Umeko Yamada, pleased to meet you." She returned the bow with a smile, then brought a hand to her mouth. "Oh my, you two are quite young. Starting in the family business early?"

Both flinched, Kagura less so than Shinpachi, but Gintoki noticed all the same, although he doubted Umeko did—it was part of knowing them for so long. "That's…one way to put it, Yamada-san," Shinpachi said after a moment with a bit of an awkward snicker.

"Well, to start off, could you give us the address of your sister's apartment?"

"Yes, of course." She pulled a folded sheet of paper from her waistband and bowed again after passing it to Gintoki. "Thank you so much for your help, Odd Jobs."

Shinpachi mimicked the bow, and Gintoki shoved Kagura's head down when she made a remark about craving pickled plums. "'course, ma'am. Odd Jobs will not fail."

Umeko let herself out and Gintoki looked over the small bundle to find the address scribbled in what was clearly a man's script alongside a housekey and fifty thousand yen. His eyebrows raised into his hairline. "Forward?"

Kagura snatched it from his hand before he could even smell it. "Don't blow it on strawberry milk before we buy meat, uh-huh."

"Never mind that right now, Kagura-chan, until we finish this job." Shinpachi looked over her head to meet Gintoki's eyes, his own appearing reserved. "Everything else will be discussed afterwards."

She caught on and gave him a side-eyed nod before plopping onto the floor to yank on her flats. Gintoki sighed and grabbed his boots, making his way back to the couch to pull them on—crouching down was far too painful. "Yes, everything."

The cell he woke up in was cold, damp, and very cramped; Gintoki could lie down and stretch his arms and legs out and touch both walls, and the height was barely above the top of his head. The last wall had a thick steel door, and though he deluded himself into thinking he could punch through it, all he got for his efforts were a few bloody knuckles. The only other escape option was a thin vent pumping in moldy air.

Gintoki was just figuring out how to shapeshift himself into that vent when the door swung open. The rhino Amanto bodyguards were first in, and he wasn't going to delude himself into thinking he could overtake them with his bare hands and sedative still in his system. The Boss followed behind, reptilian face as smug as ever.

"I don't suppose this is punishment for all the lizards I crippled as a kid," Gintoki said offhandedly. The Boss scoffed.

"I have no affiliation with your brainless Earth reptiles. My business is with you, White Demon."

Of course his war actions were coming back to bite him in the ass—most of the time that was the answer. He never claimed he was guiltless in the affair—he had more than enough nightmares of that time that he had to play off in front of Kagura—but he found long ago that it was much easier to atone with his head still attached to his shoulders.

"Get in line," Gintoki responded, bringing his swaying form to his feet. The Boss was taller by a few inches or so, allowing his beady eyes to look down on Gintoki.

"My friends and I have much planned for your extended stay here," he continued, ignoring the remark entirely. "It took much longer than expected to locate you and narrow down your schedule to when you're completely alone, however it gave us much more time to decide how to maximize our time together."

"And what will that be exactly? Pachinko? Drinks?" The Boss's brow twitched.

"You talk quite a bit. That is certainly a change from the war."

"So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say your beef with me is from the war. Fine, whatever, do your worst and lemme out to drink it off and we're all happy, yeah?"

The Boss stepped aside to allow one of his bodyguards to swing a fist at Gintoki's gut. He wasn't dull enough to take the hit and dodged to his side—only to be seized by the throat. "These Certidas are, like myself, the last of their kind," he explained in a calm voice that belied an iced-over fury. "Our people were made corpses on your battlefield, and all thanks to you, White Demon."

"The war was the effort of no single species or man." The nice way of saying the Amanto dug their own graves when they first arrived on Earth sniffing blood. The Boss's eyes narrowed.

"You were no single man, White Demon. On that cursed field you fought as an army. We Amanto sought to bring enlightenment to you mud-crawlers—" Gintoki couldn't help but interrupt with a howling laugh. This earned him a rough toss down to the concrete floor, agitating his already aching ribs. He kept his face impassive even as he fought for breath through the stabbing pain. "We Amanto brought enlightenment, and though your government accepted it for what it was, the rest of you mud-crawlers wanted a fight. And when the fight was too much for you, you played dirty. Fine then, we can play dirty all the same." He knelt to get into Gintoki's face. "You will learn our power here and now, and that curse will follow you into your soon-coming grave."

"Go. Fuck. Yourself." Gintoki spat a wad of bloody saliva right in his eye. He reared back with a shrill scream, then spun quickly on his heel to march to the door.

"Teach him respect!" he called without turning. As the Certidas closed in on him, Gintoki remembered his brats. As fists and feet ground his bones to dust, he remembered he promised to be back before dawn, sure to have passed long ago.

Wait for me a little longer, Kagura, Shinpachi.

Tsubaki's apartment was up two flights of stairs, pulling uncomfortably at Gintoki's half-healed wounds and drawing upon long emptied energy stores. Kagura was bouncing up three steps at a time, and Shinpachi stayed just barely ahead, glancing back at Gintoki every few seconds or so.

"Gin-san," he began, then fell silent for a few seconds, many thoughts swimming through his eyes. Eventually he settled on, "You look tired."

That was the understatement of the century. He was so exhausted he could sleep for the next ten years straight and sleep some more on top of that.

"Been a long night," Gintoki said with a yawn. Shinpachi's eyes flashed and he turned back to the stairs.

"I thought family doesn't lie to each other. I guess I was wrong." His words were soft yet cut through Gintoki's heart like the sharpest blade.

I'm trying to protect you from how fucked-up my life is. That's what he wanted to say, but the words never left his throat, and they stopped in front of a plain wooden door marked 3F. The key provided a quiet entrance, and the door swung open to reveal an entirely unassuming flat. The furniture and decorations were neatly arranged and there any obvious human skeletons lying around at first glance.

"Looks boring so far," Kagura said, flopping onto the couch and throwing her arms over the back. Shinpachi fretted over that.

"K-Kagura-chan! You can't just do that in someone else's apartment!"

"Not only that," Gintoki said flatly, picking up an old issue of Weatherwoman Weekly, Ana Ketsuno's bikini on the cover, "this is a crime scene."

Kagura's eyes lit up and she leapt to her feet. "A crime scene, uh-huh!" As if from nowhere, she produced a detective's hat and cape. "Perfect time to carry these in hammerspace." She whipped out a comically large magnifying glass and peered into a speck of dust on an end table.

"Oh, boy…" Shinpachi sighed, then his eyes drifted to Gintoki again. Gintoki suspected Kagura knew something was out of place—she was wildly unpredictable, but her warrior's instincts were no joke—yet she wouldn't bring it up, probably because she didn't know what to make of it. Shinpachi, on the other hand, was a major mother hen and had no problem with airing any grievances he had. That was what worried Gintoki. It was one thing for the brats to have their suspicions; if they figured out what had happened…he didn't know what he'd do. But it terrified him worse than whatever the Boss could do.

Kagura's sneeze caught both their attention thankfully. "My allergies are kicking in, uh-huh," she sniffled.

"Allergies?" Shinpachi repeated suspiciously, then paused. "Although it is quite dusty in here…"

"The couch is dusty too." She pointed at the modern sofa with a fine coating of dust. "So's the television and the table."

The three of them spread out and covered the rest of the one-bedroom apartment. Though it was furnished for the average young lady, it was like a room from a catalogue. Everything was coated with dust and almost meticulously organized.

"The bathroom has never been shitted in," Kagura said, earning a scandalized look from Shinpachi.

"A woman's panties are never this clean," Gintoki said, holding up a pair. Kagura side-eyed him.

"How would you know?"

"Years of panty raiding expertise."

"Okay, okay." Shinpachi covered his face for a moment until the redness subsided. "So she hadn't been here in a long time. Days, possibly a few weeks? Yet Umeko-san has obviously interacted with her in recent times, so has Tsubaki-san simply been avoiding this place?"

"I'm thinking we should interview the neighbors," Gintoki said. "See if there's any creeps worth avoiding."

"No one would know a creep better than a creep, uh-huh," Kagura agreed. Gintoki's eyebrow twitched.

"I'm not a creep, you bun-headed black hole. I'm still a damn spring chicken."

"Chicken is only good fried! Everyone knows that!"

"Ah? You uncultured brat, it's best with miso."

"Personally, I prefer oyakodon," Shinpachi said.

"Who told you to butt in, shitty glasses?" Kagura retorted. A loud bang came from the floor below.

"Shut yer traps, shitty humans!"

There were five other units on the floor. Shinpachi and Kagura took the left side; Gin took the right side. While their attention wasn't immediately drawn to him, he let himself move a little slower than his usual feet-dragging pace. Since Gintoki's moped was being held hostage by the mechanic on account of his years unpaid tab (with Gin in no condition to grab it in run as usual), and even the forward wasn't enough to cover the bill, they had to walk the forty minutes to the apartment building; an easy feat under normal conditions, but when his whole body felt like one amalgamate bruise, it wore him down. It was a fight to keep the illusion of normalcy.

The first door he knocked on, nobody answered, though he heard footsteps within. "Oi, did you guys see any creeps coming by?" he called. The door was opened long enough for him to get a flower vase tossed in his face.

The second door, a frazzled-looking woman did answer, although he was bombarded with so much children screaming he couldn't hear a word she said. Then a plastic car was tossed in his face.

The last door, he knocked and immediately ducked. This time, however, nothing flew at his face; the door was opened by Jii and Gintoki jumped in surprise. "What? Prince Idiot lives here!?"

"No, Prince Idiot and I rented this space temporarily while he purchased another pet," Jii replied, looking a bit worn out. True to his words Gintoki could hear Hata's screaming and a bird's squawking inside. He could have pretended to care, but…no.

"Have you seen anything unusual lately? Besides the stupid running gag that imprinted itself on my face?"

"Well…" Jii glanced up the hall and adjusted his glasses. "Now that I think about it, a woman started living here not long after us, and the company she brings by is—"

"Jiiiii!" came Hata's annoying voice, and Jii ducked before a large body came flying through the door and right into Gintoki, pushing him backwards and through the hall's window. Fine, whatever, he was used to falling through windows, pain is an illusion and whatnot—

Then he took a good look at the Amanto.

The one Amanto Gintoki saw the least of was the caterpillar-sparrow thing. Every so often he could hear it and the Boss arguing outside, but Gintoki supposed it wasn't the hands-on sort.

Today was different. Today he was sane enough to give the Certidas hell and a half when they came for the usual. He had more broken ribs than working ones, a twisted ankle, one eye so swollen it was borderline useless, and seven fingers between both hands, but he managed to get one downed. He was nothing if not a persistent fighter.

"Still haven't learned about retaliation, have we?" The Boss was standing arms folded in the doorway, shiny shoe tapping an annoying pattern into the floor. Gintoki had long since been restrained and pinned but he wasn't yet down and out.

"Haven't we learned it's pointless keeping me locked up?" he growled. "I'm going to break out, and then I'll break everything here. Preferably beginning with you."

"Well, I'll give you that: it's becoming quite troublesome going through guards. The Certida don't come cheap." He came closer and bore down into Gintoki with impassive eyes.

"Why don't you chain me up then?"

"Hmph. I've seen what you do with restraints. Don't take me for a fool, White Demon. Although…" Suddenly a nasty smile crossed his face, and Gintoki felt a note of unease. "That gives me an idea. I've done all I can to break you physically, so let's try something new."

"Torture is nothing new to me," he scoffed even as the Boss was turning away.

"Not exactly." The door shut for a moment and Gintoki was caught off guard by the Amanto's high volume argument. It lasted a couple of minutes, then the door opened to allow the other Amanto inside. "Meet my associate…you can call him Sparrow."

"Him?" Gintoki repeated derisively, looking at the segmented body covered in long blue feathers. This Amanto also wore a suit—like some sort of weird Amanto host club—and looked entirely displeased with everything.

"This better be worth double the promised pay," Sparrow said, waving away the Certida pinning him. Gintoki made to get up before Sparrow took his place, and though the Amanto was smaller and half his weight, he had some strength to that form. "No hard feelings, Kid. Wasn't here for the war; this is all business to me."

Gintoki was wondering why the hell he needed a disclaimer now…then he realized. His obi and belt were being undone, and his pants were coming down. He struggled and strained but dammit that Amanto was really goddamn strong. "Get offa me!" he shouted. His pants were tangled around his knees and Sparrow grabbed his arms, twisting them back around his shoulder blades so tightly one wrong move would dislocate them. Shit, he would dislocate his neck to get out of this situation. He latched onto the Amanto's tail with his ankles and yanked hard with the intention of breaking bones. The appendage bent rather than giving the satisfying crack he expected, though Sparrow still yelped with pain.

"You little—" A clawed hand dug into the back of his skull and slammed him face-first into the concrete. Stars exploded in his vision and he fell into darkness for a minute. When he woke up, it was over.

Sparrow was just getting up when the Boss returned. "The deed is done. Pay up," Sparrow said irritably. The Boss scowled but handed over a neat stack of ten thousand-yen bills. Sparrow pushed past him to leave and the Boss knelt in front of Gintoki, tense at first and then relaxing when no attack came.

"Don't you have any vitriol for me, White Demon? You're not going to curse my name, spit at me, threaten to shove your foot so deep up my ass…oh, excuse the reminder." And he laughed. He goddamn laughed. The urge to crush his face was still there, but, dammit, Gintoki felt exhausted on a molecular level, every ache and pain was multiplied one thousand fold, blood was running down his scalp and crusting on his face, fucking gross viscous alien fluid mixed with blood was crusting on his legs, the bastard didn't have the decency to pull up his goddamn pants after he—he—

And Gintoki went quiet. Because for the first time since he was captured, he thought, really thought, perhaps this was his final penance. Perhaps…perhaps he should've been a little nicer to the kids and Otose, Madao and Sacchan, Kondo and Hijikata… Because he wasn't getting out. He was going to be there with the Boss and his guards and his f-friend and fucking die like that—

Sparrow spread his wings and turned the sharp downward descent into forward movement. Gintoki grabbed onto his wrists and gave him a sharp headbutt. Crying out in pain, Sparrow's wings folded and they crashed onto the street. His half-healed ribs jolted but he paid no attention to them; he flipped them around so Sparrow was pinned to the concrete. His whiskers flailed and he continued squawking until his eyes locked on Gintoki.

"You! The White De—"

Gintoki punched him right in the beak. His knuckles split, but Sparrow's beak was cracked and bleeding. "I can't—" punch, "sock that stupid reptile—" punch, "so you're—" punch, crack! "a really goddamn close second—" swollen hand, don't care, gonna break his face and turn him to dust, "you damn alien, what you did to me—several times—I'll kill you!"

"Gin-chan!"

"Gin-san!"

Like a hypnotic state, Gintoki snapped from his rage-induced fugue at the sound of the brats' voices. He hadn't realized how much attention he had garnered, but several Kabuki dwellers were gathered in a circle, watching him thrash a naked and collared Amanto. Kagura and Shinpachi pushed to the front of the crowd and looked surprised for a moment before quickly jumping into action.

"What happened? What did he do to you?" Shinpachi was saying as he pulled out his wooden sword.

"Want me to blow him up?" Kagura was saying as she readied her parasol.

He looked at his bleeding hands gripping Sparrow's blue bloody face and remembered with an awful jolt that they didn't know. The kids didn't know what the Amanto had done, but they saw Gintoki punching the shit out of him and assumed Sparrow was the bad guy. Which lightened his heart, knowing they were still on his side after everything. And subsequently made his heart drop into his stomach, knowing he couldn't explain why Sparrow was the bad guy, because then he would have to explain what Sparrow did fuck no, and then explain everything else that happened in the last few weeks, and just…nononono.

"Oi, what's going on here?" The crowd disbursed at the sound of a very irate and familiar voice. Kondo and several low-ranking officers started herding the people away, while Hijikata—the speaker—came straight to Gintoki, accompanied by Sogo. "If it isn't Odd Jobs disturbing the peace. What a surprise," he said flatly, one hand on the hilt of his sword. Sogo, meanwhile, raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey, Boss." The nickname stroked Gintoki's ego once upon a time, but now just made his skin crawl.

"Well?" Hijikata caught his attention again. "Give me a reason not to cuff you right now."

"Calm your tits, Ogushi-kun," he said, raising his hands and straightening his back, but making no moves to get off Sparrow. Hijikata moved closer and unsheathed his sword the smallest bit.

"Really, I want an explanation. Do you realize how you look right now? You get into harebrained schemes all the damn time, and I am one hundred percent over you and the property damage that follows as long as I can follow that train wreck you call a thought process."

"C'mon, Toshi, relax a little." Kondo's voice of reason cut through the tension as he set a hand on Hijikata's shoulder. "Sakata-san may be an oddball, but if he's taking action, it's for a good reason."

"I believe that," Hijikata said flatly, "I'd just like to hear that reason."

"Gin-san?" Shinpachi said, his sword falling to his side. What could he say?

"Gin-chan?" Kagura said, lowering her fists. How could he explain?

"Boss?" Sogo's head inclined and even he seemed a bit confused. Then his eyes narrowed, looking between Sparrow and Gintoki, and understanding dawned. "That look in your eyes…something to do with the war." It wasn't a question. The Shinsengumi was quiet, his brats were quiet, everything was quiet save for the noise in his head.

"…It—"

Pain seared through his side. He gasped and looked down to find claws embedded deep into his gut. Sparrow's breath was heaving as he pulled back and a spray of blood splattered onto the concrete. Gintoki shot to his feet automatically but they buckled under his weight; two sets of arms came from behind to catch him. His head lolled back and Kagura and Shinpachi's faces swam in his darkening vision. There was just too much—too much pain, too many people, too much to hide—and he was just…done.

I hope I don't wake up in that shithole again. After all I did…

Gintoki's routine was static for an indeterminate amount of time before, without warning, things took a turn.

One day, he woke from a pain coma to a lot of noise and movement outside the cell. When the voices came closer, he pinpointed them as human ones, pretty angry ones at that. He used the wall to get up from his prone position on the floor, feeling like a walking train wreck, and pushed himself closer to the door. His half-healed ribs ached with every breath as he fought to listen closer.

"—check every room! Every Justaway has to be taken in, especially if you can't immediately confirm what's a bomb and what's not."

What? Was he being kept in a damn Justaway factory this whole time? Ah sh—no, no, not the point. That sounded like the Shinsengumi, albeit no one he knew personally, and if they were on the hunt for Justaways, they would have to open every room. Meaning…

The door slammed open and Gintoki was ready. Only one officer entered; Gintoki bumrushed him with a boot to the face. Not his most graceful takedown, but dammit he was a walking bag of bone shards, the animators better cut him some slack.

Ouch, dammit, even breaking the fourth wall hurt at this point. He would nap for years once he got home…home, yeah. He could go back.

The officer crumpled and Gintoki took his sword before continuing outside and down the hall. The entire building was concrete, and one side of the wall was full of windows looking out onto the industrial district. It was the dead of the night by the moon's position, and Shinsengumi cars were all over the dock. Under normal circumstances he'd gladly jump through the window, three story fall be damned, but he had something to do before he left.

He continued down the hallway away from the noise and to where the exit signs were pointing. Loud clumping footsteps were not too far ahead—the Certidas. As he grew closer he made out three forms, two of which had dealt with him earlier that day. Strong as they were, agility was not their strong suit, and they were slow to make a one-eighty; Gintoki leapt over their heads and sliced into the walls and ceiling around them, hitting the ground at a skid some feet ahead. The concrete fell around them in chunks, suffocating them under a ton or so of rubble.

He could hear more Certidas clomping about when he reached the stairwell. He glanced inside and saw two making their slow way down, and leading the proverbial herd was the Boss himself. Gritting his teeth, Gintoki pulled another flying boot on the closer Certida; it was knocked forward and sent tumbling downstairs into its friend, and the Boss turned around as the roly-poly came close. He jumped to the slanted roof and clung there to avoid being tramped, what a goddamn shame, then his eyes locked on Gintoki.

"You!" he growled.

"Yo," Gin said, raising a hand in greeting. "So, Justaway fetish? Didn't take ya for that kind of alien."

The Boss hit the ground and raced towards him, lashing out with his tail. Gintoki leapt back to avoid the swipe that left a massive gouge in the concrete stairs and struck out in a thrust. The Boss's coat was torn along the breast, but he otherwise avoided the attack and grabbed Gintoki by the neck, tossing him down the stairs headfirst. Gin caught himself with his hands and backflipped to his feet, blocking the Boss's next tail swipe with his sword.

"I was going to blow you and this place sky high when I had my fill," the Boss said through his teeth. "Getting to kill more shitty humans only adds to my pleasure."

"Not every human's a piece of shit. You Amanto, on the other hand, make up one massive deuce."

The Boss suddenly ducked and latched onto Gintoki's side with strong jaws. Gintoki bashed his skull with the hilt of the sword and he let go—not before swiping at his ankles with his tail. Gintoki fell hard to the ground and the Boss went at him with claws once more.

The stairwell's door banged open and the Boss turned his attention to the two Shinsengumi officers who just crashed their way into the worst situation. The Boss swiped across them in a shred of fabric and blood, then whirled around with his tail and slammed them into the wall hard enough to knock them out on impact. With the doorway cleared, he took off running towards the exit.

"Get back here, you overgrown gecko!" Gintoki shouted, giving chase. He was injured but still the quicker one; realizing this, the Boss ducked into a room with an open door. Gintoki followed and found himself in an empty room with a Justaway on the floor and the Boss wriggling through an air vent on the ceiling. The Justaway was already ticking at top speed when Gin came in and quickly exploded in a cloud of heat and concrete shrapnel. He was picked off his feet and slammed into the outer wall, which crumbled under his weight and left him tumbling past the docks and into the sea.

Gintoki was tired. Even more tired than at the beginning of the story. So tired, in fact, that he wanted to end the story right he

THE END

…

Bad joke. He was stalling for time.

He cracked one eye open to see the bland walls of O-Edo Hospital. At this point he was more familiar with that place than his own flat, but he didn't expect to be waking up there. With a quick glance proving the room was empty, he sat himself up with a groan, propping his back against the bed's headrest. There wasn't much skin left visible through all the bandaging he'd been covered with, and a wad of gauze was stuck where Sparrow gutted him.

"Shit," he muttered, gripping his sleeves. If the doctors saw that wound, they saw all the others, and they would have had to tell—

The door opened and Kagura was in first, three empty pudding cups stacked on her head and working on a fourth. When she saw Gintoki was awake, however, she dropped all of them and bum rushed him in a hug. "Gin-chan!" she yelled into his neck, effectively deafening him.

Behind her, Shinpachi dropped a new copy of Jump (Jump! Gin almost forgot it existed) and quickly joined her, gripping Gintoki so hard it felt like his ribs would break a second time. Then he felt their tears soaking into his sleeves and suddenly didn't feel any need to complain.

"Hey," he said quietly, resting a hand on each head. Kagura rose at the movement and gave him a wicked punch to the shoulder. "Ow, you brat! I'm already in a hospital!"

"If you weren't, I'd put you in one myself, uh-huh!" she said through the tears rolling down her cheeks. She continued punching his shoulder, surely leaving another bruise as she gasped, "You big—old—heartless—dummy!"

Shinpachi finally grabbed her wrists, stopping her, but he was just as sad, maybe even sadder. "We took you here after you passed out a few days ago," he explained quietly, avoiding eye contact. "The doctor examined you, patched up the stomach injuries…then he told us there were more, a lot more. Your scalp, your ribs, fingers, pelvis, even your, your…" He stopped to take off his glasses and wiped his eyes. "Gin-san…" he met Gintoki's eyes, sad and pleading, "what happened to you while you were gone?"

He wanted to deflect so, so badly, but while the truth would break him, lies would break the kids, and he cared too much to do that. So he did it, he told them. Shifted his eyes at everything else and ground his molars to dust and sprained his knuckles with how hard he was clenching his fists, but he told them, sparing them the grittiest details. At the end of it, Shinpachi apologized, of all things.

"I was mad at you in the beginning. I'm sorry for that," he explained. Kagura's head whipped from him to Gintoki.

"I-I'm sorry too, uh-huh! For kicking you in the gut…even if it felt good to do it."

"Eh. Could've gone without that last bit, Kagura," Gin said groggily, but with a bit of a smile.

"I did. And I'd do it again if you try lying to us again, uh-huh." She wagged a finger in his face. He was going to bite it before Shinpachi cleared his throat.

"We're here for you through everything, Gin-san, but you have to tell us. The good things, the bad things—sure, your gambling's a pain, and I could go without the fine details of every hookup," he said with a bit of a blush, "but we're family, we tell each other everything, alright?"

Family. Huh.

"As long as it's not Jump spoilers," Gin agreed. "Speaking of…"

The door slammed open again and Hijikata's boot came down on the magazine as he stepped in. "Oh, good, you're up," he said, glancing at Gintoki's horrified expression.

"Get your dirty boots off my Jump, you shitty tax thief!"

"Don't care." Hijikata picked up the dirtied Jump and tossed it over.

"Sakata-san! Sorry to interrupt your recovery." Kondo came behind the vice captain with his face pinched in worry. "We need to talk to you for a moment. The other day, we did a raid on a Justaway factory, and although we recovered all the bombs, the one we suspected of manufacturing them escaped. Then yesterday, that Amanto you attacked, he came to us and told us the suspect's whereabouts."

"Said he was more scared of the White Demon than 'the Boss,' is the direct quote," Hijikata added, giving Gin a shifty look. Gin shrugged a shoulder. "Found out the bastard was hiding in that apartment building with a human woman—"

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt you, Hijikata-san, but the woman's name wouldn't happen to be Umeko, would it?" Shinpachi said. Hijikata turned to him with a raised brow.

"Yeah. How'd you guess?"

"Well that makes some sick sense," Gintoki scoffed. "Continue."

A vein pulsed in Hijikata's temple at being ordered, but he continued nonetheless, if in a tenser voice. "He was with a woman who later confessed to housing him in exchange for money. The Amanto's been majorly tightlipped since being incarcerated—can't get a word outta him. Well, nothing except him swearing to crush that damn White Demon."

"I'll crush him first, uh-huh!" Kagura yelled, making to rise before Shinpachi set a hand on her shoulder.

"That overgrown lizard knew me…before," Gintoki said carefully. By the Shinsengumi's expressions, they understood what he meant. "And had several bones to pick. As you can see, he got them plus change." He wiggled his bandaged fingers before dropping them atop the Jump volume. "He had me in that damn factory until all the hubbub you started gave me a chance to get out."

"Hmm…that does explain the boot print on Ishida's face," Kondo said thoughtfully. "Well, that explains that. We'll have to get a more formal statement when you recover, Sakata-san, but for now," he waved and disappeared through the door.

Hijikata hung back a bit, looking over Gintoki's prone form with an unreadable expression. For a second, Gintoki feared pity from the other man, but instead earned a minute head bow. Some sort of sympathy and admiration combo. "See ya," he said, and followed after Kondo with the click of the door.

"So," Gintoki said after a few seconds of silence, "about that money—"

Kagura picked up the fallen pudding cup and slouched into a nearby chair. "Oh, that money's long gone."

"What!?"

"Extensive hospital bills," Shinpachi explained. Gintoki was still trying to pick his jaw up.

"But—but—I didn't get to buy a single carton of milk! How are my bones gonna regrow without milk!?"

"Lots and lots of big needles, uh-huh," Kagura said. Gintoki tossed the bed's remote at her head; she caught it and tossed it back at Mach speed. He ducked to avoid being beheaded.

"That's no way to treat poor old Gin-chan!"

"Then don't make yourself an easy target!"

"Come on, you two," Shinpachi said with a sigh, but it was a smiley sort of sigh. Gin and Kagura's pointless banter continued, but it meant good things; it meant he could recover, inside and out, and put things behind him sooner than he thought. And it reminded him that although what he did during the war was reprehensible, there were small moments that could still mean something, like giving a young alien girl a home and teaching a young samurai what the title meant. It meant that while the White Demon was a relic soured by time, Gintoki Sakata could still live.

He surfaced with a gasp and fumbled towards the closest pier. At least the water washed off the blood and dust, he thought, climbing onto the soggy wood. The Shinsengumi's voices rang out from the other side of the building as they tramped in and out. He just lay there for a few minutes, catching his breath and deescalating from I'mabouttodie mode. Getting back into the building sounded like too much goddamn work; he would've been happy to simply lay there and die, but he was free. Finally-fucking-free. And as pleasant as it sounded, dying on a pier and turning into seafood, he had a home he could die at. And kids who could kill him instead for disappearing. Yup, that sound a lot nicer.

So, Gintoki dragged himself up for the billionth time and started walking.

The night stretched endlessly as Gintoki hobbled through the streets of the Kabuki district. He placed his location after a few buildings drifted past and realized he still had a few hours to go before reaching the apartment. At least he was dry at that point; the night was cold and no time for swimming.

'You'll catch a cold!' Shinpachi would've fretted.

'Idiots don't get sick!' Kagura would've scoffed with a pointed sniff.

Then he would give a garishly fake laugh, they'd banter, probably throw some punches and furniture and throwaway gags, Shinpachi would fret some more, and they'd call it a day. Such a simple life most of the time, he never thought he had been taking it for granted. No matter, the kids would kick his ass soundly when he rolled in.

Ah, Shinpachi, Kagura. He wouldn't tell them what happened, no way in hell. But they would worry, and they would be angry when he played things off—which was fine. He would laugh things off and feign normalcy until it came easy again, all the while watching them like a hawk. If the Boss or any of his goons made a return, he would be ready. He would take him down as true to his moniker as he'd ever been. He would protect his family to the last breath.

The sweet smell of sake caught Gintoki's attention. He was passing by one of his usual late-night haunts. Feeling more in need of alcohol than ever, Gin stumbled over and sat for a drink.

#gintama #gintama fanfic #gintama oneshot #fanfic #oneshot #gintoki sakata #kagura gintama #shimura shinpachi #writing

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Midseason observations, goalie strategies, Bertuzzi, Oleksiak and more … (Jan 15)

  I’m back! And by that I mean I’m not just pinch-hitting today. After an eight-month hiatus I’m back doing semi-regular work again, with the plan being to do this every two weeks and then see if I can up it to weekly by March and then go from there. Thanks for your support throughout this process. As for me, I’m feeling about as well as can be expected four-and-a-half months after a stem cell transplant. Not perfect, but doing well. In fact, if they were to rank all the transplant recipients in my age group after four-and-a-half months, I would definitely be in the upper tier of that list.

Enough of that. Let’s get down to business!

*

While I was working on the Midseason Guide (released it Friday for download – details here), I was astounded by the amount of players on pace for more than 90 or 100 points. As of Friday, the following players fit the bill:

NIKITA KUCHEROV                                                            114

NATHAN MACKINNON                                                    104

CLAUDE GIROUX                                                                103

JAKUB VORACEK                                                                100

JOHN TAVARES                                                                   97

BLAKE WHEELER                                                                  97

JOSH BAILEY                                                                         96

JOHNNY GAUDREAU                                                        95

STEVEN STAMKOS                                                             95

BRAD MARCHAND                                                             93

CONNOR MCDAVID                                                          89

I left McDavid in there because, well, McDavid. I’d lay down good money that he’ll get 90 for sure unless he gets hurt. So when was the last time 11 players had 90 points? Or four players hit 100? Or anyone reached 114? 2006-07 was the last time 11 players hit 90 points (and 14 players actually did it). 2009-10 was the last time four players reached 100 points. 2006-07 was the last time a player hit 114 (Crosby had 120, Thornton had 114). Those first two years after the lockout were truly crazy for offense. I don’t think that’s where we are this year. But who do I knock down a peg? Voracek and Giroux seem like easy ones to miss 100. Bailey seems like an easy one to remove from 90, and perhaps Wheeler too. In the end I went with nine players hitting 90 and just Kucherov making it to 100.

When looking at the top scorers and my projections, I realize after the fact that I tweaked downward most of them. The exceptions are Gaudreau (steady), McDavid (upward), Kane (steady), Crosby (upward), Kopitar (steady), Eichel (upward), Kuznetsov (steady), Monahan (steady), Backstrom (upward) and Panarin (upward). That’s out of my projected Top 35 – 25 of them slip downwards.

*

I was asked about a goalie’s 3YP (or lack thereof in the MSG). I don’t do those. Goalies are indeed hard to project, and they can go from crap value to top value within weeks other than the top six or seven regulars. So best advice I have on that is to put your faith in the contract. Sometimes it doesn't work – Ilya Bryzgalov the main example. But usually it does. Because coaches will play the hell out of the bigger money guy and the guy signed long term. Even if he sucks. That's why Aaron Dell can't take over for Martin Jones. And why Cam Ward won't take down Scott Darling. And why Cam Talbot and later Antti Raanta couldn't take down Henrik Lundqvist. And why Anders Nilsson didn't take out Talbot that first year when Nilsson’s record was way better by early January. I don’t do a 3YP for goalies and in fact when doing goalie rankings I look at just current year and next year (other than prospects, in which case I look at skill level, how highly the organization regards them, and how many years out they are/potential openings). Smartest thing you can do is play the contract.

While I’m on the subject, the two backup goalies with the best chance of becoming a starter next year are David Rittich and Aaron Dell. And wouldn’t you know it? Both have expiring contracts…

*

Jordan Oesterle again is a top two guy with Duncan Keith in terms of ice time Sunday, and had the most PP time on Chicago. Again. However, he has gone three games without a point and is minus-4 in that span. So I’m not sure how much patience Coach Q has for him, but if he does this for a couple more games then the opportunity is lost for making a lasting fantasy impact. He looked so good there for a while, and I’m not counting him out yet because of that ice time. But unproven guys with no contract (there’s that word again) and no investment in him from the franchise (i.e. wasn’t drafted) have a short leash.

*

Two games after the trade, Anthony Duclair and Richard Panik each have one point and are plus-1. Duclair has 3 SOG while Panik has 2 SOG. I had noted to friends on Facebook that each would have a bit of a 10-game surge on their new teams and then you’d see both of them fade back into their inconsistent selves. Don’t overrate Duclair, I have not heard great things about him. And we already know all about Panik…

How set would you be had you traded Ryan Hartman after nine points in seven games (plus-4 and 13 hits)? Since then, give him 11 points, even plus/minus, 53 hits in 34 games.

Curious as to the logic behind giving Alex DeBrincat 11 minutes of ice time every game. After his surge earlier on, I’d be giving him Patrick Kane minutes game in and game out, and I wouldn’t deviate from that even if he was pointless in 10 games and a minus-5. Which he wasn’t. But that’s how much leash I’d give him. You have another potential Kane here, why rein him in? No power-play time Sunday. None.

*

Gustav Nyquist has 15 points in his last 18 games after a dreadful start. His deeper numbers point to this being sustainable and his goal total is back up to where it was when we considered him ‘good’. His last two seasons were horrible, with the exception of the second half of last year. If he’s a 25-goal scorer again then he can be trusted for 55 or even 60 points in the future. Let’s take another look at this in February.

Could Tyler Bertuzzi be the glue that’s patching this team together? Since being called back up, the team is just 5-4-0, which isn’t terrible. But the Red Wings seem to be…complete now. At least the forward lines. Bertuzzi has six points in his last eight games but that’s not my point. He’s not there to be a superstar. But he’s the player-type who can get the others working. His linemate Andreas Athanasiou has seven points in seven games, and the emergence of this second line has made the top line of Nyquist – Anthony Mantha – Henrik Zetterberg more effective. Now if they can only solve their issues on defense…

*

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wow…just saw the Andrew Cogliano news. Hell of way to end a consecutive games streak when you&#39;ve reached 830.</p>— Dobber (@DobberHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/DobberHockey/status/952699704898289664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

Wow.

*

Also, if you don’t already, follow me on Twitter.

*

Dougie Hamilton is on a five-game points streak after scoring a pair Sunday against the Hurricanes. He’s also on a streak of five games with a plus-2 rating. He’s still below expected pace, but five more games like this and he’d be right on said pace.

Matt Tkachuk has nine points in his last seven games.

Sebastian Aho left the game after taking this hit from Giordano. It was both knee-on-knee, as well as shoulder to chin although to me the latter looked like Aho’s fault. No update on Aho. Justin Williams and Mark Giordano combined for 37 penalty minutes here:

{source}<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5-vVjvgmojM" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>{/source}

  I won't get too far into the Flames, as Wickersham has them covered later today in the Wild West…

*

I don’t suppose anyone had Jamie Oleksiak active yesterday? Or owned? With two assists, 17 PIM, plus-2 and four SOG he had a pretty good fantasy game. In fact, since coming to the Penguins he’s been a hits machine (just one Sunday though) and has four points in 11 games. Thirty-nine hits! He never got this kind of ice time with Dallas, which means he didn’t have the chance to throw out some hits. He’s making up for lost time now and if your league counts hits and you haven’t picked up on this yet, get going. Sunday marked the first game in a Penguins’ uniform in which he failed to get at least two hits – and that was because he spent most of the game in the penalty box.

Sidney Crosby is now up to 11 points in his last four games, marching up the scoring race into a 13th place tie with Evgeni Malkin. You didn’t start to doubt him, did you?

*

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"># of 40+ save games for Lundqvist by calendar year:<br><br>2005: x0<br>2006: x1<br>2007: x1<br>2008: x1<br>2009: x1<br>2010: x6<br>2011: x1<br>2012: x1<br>2013: x2<br>2014: x0<br>2015: x1<br>2016: x2<br>2017: x6<br>2018: x1<br><br>*regular season only*</p>— HockeyStatMiner (@HockeyStatMiner) <a href="https://twitter.com/HockeyStatMiner/status/952737486492577793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

*

Daniel Sedin missed Sunday’s contest with back spasms. He had a 300-game streak going, seventh in the NHL. So that’s two big iron man streaks that end.

Brock Boeser played 41 games last year, 49 the year prior and 57 before that. He’s now played 42 this season. So should we be worried that he only has two points in his last seven? Not yet. He’s going to slow in the second half, sure. That almost always happens with rookies coming out of college. But it’s too soon right now.

*

I’ll see you in a couple of weeks

      from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-midseason-observations-goalie-strategies-bertuzzi-oleksiak-and-more-jan-15/