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whatisthiscontentyouspeakof · 4 years

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The One Where They Know (Rough)

Chapter One: Can’t The First Day of School Every End Well?

Marinette left her house that morning with a full box of Macaroons and the hope that this year wouldn’t be as bad nor as Chloé filled as the year before. Then she just missed the light to cross the school, dashing her hopes of making it to school early. Then she helped an older man across the street, which she was happy to do since she didn’t want him being hit by a car, but she ended up dumping her box of Macaroons all over the ground. On the plus side some of them made it through the fall. She offered the older man one before running towards the school, determined not to be late on the first day of school.

She bolted up the stairs of the building to get to her classroom just in time to see Mrs. Bustier asking Nino Lahiffe, a boy who’d she had shared classed with since before she even knew the name Chloé Bourgeois.

A well manicured hand smacked down on her desk. Speak of the devil, good bye to a relaxing quatrième. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Chloé said, emphasizing each part of her name.

“Ugh, here we go again.” Marinette couldn’t help but say as she slumped her shoulders. God, it was bad enough that she had to deal with Chloé all the time as Ladybug but she couldn’t have just one year without the entitled bratty blond.

“That’s my seat.” Chloé said, sounding just as bratty as she did every other year.

Marinette was too tired to deal with this bull. Even so she tried to reason with the blond. “But Chloé, this has always been my seat.”

“Not anymore,” Chloé’s minions, she meant Sabrina, said sledding onto the bench beside her. “New school, new year, new seats.”

“So why don’t you just go and sit beside that new girl over there,” Chloé said, pointing to were a dark-skinned girl was sitting, the same spot Chloé and Sabrina usually sat.

“But-“ Marinette started to say, trying to pull together enough energy to protest.

“Listen,” Chloé said, speaking over her. “Adrien is arriving today, and since that’s” she pointed to the spot in front of Marinette, “going to be his seat, this is going to be my my seat. Got it.”

“Who’s Adrien?” she couldn’t help but ask. The only Adrien she knew was her Adrien, and no way he’d be friends with someone like Chloé.

The didn’t seem like the right thing to say as Chloe burst out laughing, Sabrina just half a second behind her.

“Can you believe she doesn’t know who Adrien is,” Chloe said to Sabrina. She turned back to Marinette. “What rock have you been living under?

“He’s only a famous model,” Sabina said, adding her two cents to the conversations.

“And I am his best friend.” Chloe said, putting a hand to her chest. “He adores me.”

Was anyone even sure this Adrien guy even existed, Marinette couldn’t help but wonder to herself. She didn’t know anyone who’d be friends with Chloe, not even Sabrina, since she was more of a lackey then anything.

“Go on, more!” Chloe ordered.

“Hey!” The new girl was not standing behind Chloe. “Who elected you queen of seats?”

“Oh, look Sabrina,” Chloe said in a mocking tone as she leaned against Marinette’s desk. She then got up in the girls face. “We got a little do-gooder in the class this year. What are you going to super newbie, shoot beams at me with your glasses.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” the girl said before reaching down and grabbing Marinette’s arm. “Come on.”

Marinette tried to keep up with the confident girl, grabbing her macaroons and bag. Unfortunately in the scramble to get her stuff she forgot about the step between the two seat levels and, in classic Marinette fashion, face planted. Marinette started apologizing under her breath out of habit, picking up the macaroons that had fallen as Chloe and Sabrina laughed in the background.

“Alright, has every found a seat?” Mrs. Bustier asked. Sometimes Marinette wished her teacher would help out instead of just sitting back and watching, but then again, most the staff here wouldn’t dare say a thing against Chloe since her dad is the mayor.

Marinette just looked how at her macaroon box which was now essentially empty of any eatable cookies from the two falls. So much for having a treat to share with her classmates.

“Chillax girl, no biggie,” the new girl said to her.

“I so wish I could handle Chloe the way you do,” Marinette said. A part of her felt like she recognized the girl sitting beside her. Maybe she’d seen her at the bakery.

“You mean the way Majestia does it. She says ‘all that is necessarily for the triumph of evil is that good people to do nothing’.” The girl said. She spun Marinette around to point to Chloe. “Well that girl over there is evil and we are the good people, we can’t let her get away with it. Do you think Ladybug or Chat Noir let anyone get away with acting like that?”

Yes. Not that Marinette could say that. Akuma’s seemed so much easier to face then Chloe, even when she wasn’t sleep deprived. At least Akuma victims weren’t in control of their actions.

“Well that’s easier said then done.” Marinette said instead. “She likes to make my life miserable.”

“That’s cuz you let her girl, you just need more confidence.” The new girl said.

Marinette couldn’t help but smile. Chat Noir had said the same thing, and if this girl was giving her the same kind of advice that her partner did, then she was someone that Marinette wanted to get to know. She reached down and pulled out the only macaroon left that wasn’t destroyed. She broke it in half and reached one out to the girl. “Marinette.”

“Alya,” the new girl said, taking the macaroon half.

Marinette’s eyes widened. “As in the Ladyblogger!” she said finally realizing why the girl had seemed familiar. “I knew I recognized your face but my parents own a bakery and I just thought I must of seen you during one of my shifts.”

Alya covered her mouth her hand so she didn’t spew out any cookie remnants as she spoke. “I think you may be one of the first people who’ve recognized me outside of an Akuma attack.” she said.

“I think you may have to get used to it,” Marinette said, remembering how many views she’d seen on the page visit counter the last time she’d looked. “You’re blog has really hit a spike in views this past week. saw one comment say you’re the only news source out there that doesn't overshadow Ladybug and Chat Noirs achieves with political BS. I doubt I’m going to be the last person to recognize you.”

“Oh girl, your too nice. I’m still a far way off from being internet famous.” Alya said, a slight blush covering her cheeks. She was obvious proud of her blog, even if she didn’t seem to realize how close she was going to her blog being a household name, at least in Paris.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Ms. Bustier,” The red headed teacher continued from at the front of the classroom. “I’ll be your teacher this year.”

Marinette stop listening as Ms. Bustier went through the stuff she said every year, instead focusing on getting her stuff sorted out on her desk, even though she knew they probably wouldn’t be doing much actually work today. Ms. Bustier wasn’t the type of teacher to just jump into things, like Ms. Mendeleiev.

“Now some things are going to be a bit different this year compared to last year.” Ms. Bustier said and Marinette decided to pay attention again, just in case it was important. “Now as I’m sure you’re all aware, just before the end of last year a super villain, Hawkmoth appeared. Now, we as a school, didn’t have much planned for how to deal with the situation or how we could help, but over the summer a few of us got together and brained stormed. Starting at the beginning of every class of the day, I’m going to run you through a short meditation before each one of us is going to say something nice about another classmate. Now I know that some of you are new to the class and don’t know anyone yet do today I just want everyone to say something they want to accomplish this year. That way each and every one of you have something to look forward to.”

Not the worse idea all things considered, Marinette thought. Though a part of her thought they’d run less of chance of being Akumatized if the teachers did something about Chloe and her behaviour. But who knows, maybe the meditation was just a start, maybe the staff would try a new approach with Chloe this year.

After they went through their meditations, which had involved a lot of giggling at first before the class settled down for the last minute. Marinette hoped that, after awhile, they’d be able to settle down quickly and have everyone take mediation serious. There hadn’t been a lot of youth Akumas but school had also been out for a majority of the time Hawkmoth had been around, but school was open again and that meant bullies had all their targets in one place. If her fellow kids learned how to calm down and keep a cool head, maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about fighting any of her classmates.

Ms.Bustier clapped her hands together. “Now that we’ve all found our centres and are calm, why don’t we go through and each say what we want to accomplish this year. Chloe, why don’t you start?”

Chloe, who had just started to file her nails, sighed. “I guess. Obvious my goal for the year is to have a sit down with Ladybug since she’s the best and I’m obviously the best.”

“What about you Ivan?” Ms. Bustier asked.

Ivan kind of glowered, muttering something under his breath about being more social outside of school.

“That’s great Ivan. What about you Alya? Is there anything as a new student that you want to accomplish?” Ms. Bustier asked.

“Not really. School’s school, you know.” Alya said with a shrug. “I’d love to have an interview with Ladybug for my blog however. That would be so awesome.”

“Look at that, you and Chloe both have a goal involving Ladybug. Maybe the two of you could sit down and see if you have anything else in common. Maybe you’ll end up becoming friends.” Ms. Bustier suggested.

“Doubt it,” both Alya and Chloe scoffed.

Ms. Bustier frowned but moved on. “Juleka, what do you want to accomplish this year?”

Much like Ivan, most of what Jukela said wasn’t heard by the rest of the class because of her mumbling but Marinette heard something about curses, photos and modelling.

“That’s great Juleka, maybe you can also see about speaking up more in class,” Ms. Bustier offered, most likely haven’t had heard anything the goth had said. “What about you Marinette?”

Marinette smiled at her teacher. “I think I just want to get as good of a grade in science as I did last year.” she said. “And focus more on my designing in my spare time, maybe even sell some things.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able accomplish that,” Ms. Bustier said. “Mylène, what about you?”

“I’d love to do more environmental volunteer work,” Mylène said.

“That’s amazing Mylène, I’m sure you’ll make a great impact on Paris,” Ms. Bustier said smiling. “Max, what do you want to accomplish?”

“I plan on taking back my title of top of the year,” Max said, pushing his glasses up. Marinette just shrugged, he was welcomed to the title, no way was she going to have enough time to try and get that title again this year, nor did she need that kind of stress in her life on top of saving Paris on a weekly basis.

“Well if previous years are anything to go by, I’m sure you’ll be able to reclaim your title.” Ms. Bustier said. “Alix, what about you?”

“I so plan on winning this years Rollerblade Marathon,” Alix said. “No one’s going to get in my way this year. Not with all the practice I’ve been putting in.”

“I’m sure you’ll succeed.” Ms. Bustier said. “Nathaniel what about you?”

Nathaniel shrunk under the attention, but his voice was clear when he spoke. “I’ve, ah, been working on doing some sketches for a comic. I’d love to find a writer to work with.”

“Maybe if you get a writer to work with, you’d be able to publish your work in the school news paper,” Ms. Bustier suggested. “Nino, what about you?”

Nino shrugged. “i don’t know. Work on my music, maybe make some short films. Enter a competition or two.”

“That sounds like great fun,” Ms. Bustier said. “Rose, what about you?”

“Oh there’s so much I want to do but if I have to pick just one….” Rose said. “I think I’d agree with Mylène, I want to do more volunteer work and help out the people of Paris and others less fortunate.”

“Maybe you and Mylène can do some environmental work together, maybe even put together a club for all the other kids at school who want to help out Paris.” Ms. Bustier said. “Kim, what do you want to do?”

“There’s some vacancies on the swim team this year, and since I am going to make the team, I’d like to get gold at Nationals,” Kim said confidently.

“Well you’ve always been good at sports so I’m sure you’ll make the team.” Ms. Bustier agreed. “And finally, Sabrina, what do you want to accomplish this year.”

Sabrina smiled up at the teacher. “I’m obviously going to help Chloe reach her goal of having a sit down with Ladybug. Maybe once she sees how awesome Chloe is she’ll make Chloe a hero as well.”

“Not likely,” Alya muttered.

“Tell me about it,” Marinette agreed.

“Well…that’s great Sabrina. Though maybe you should think of a goal that’s more personal, that doesn’t involve anyone else,” Ms. Bustier suggested. “Now onto the lesson. This year the school has provided iPads for each of you to use. Starting tomorrow you’ll each be given an iPad to use for class before giving it back to me at the end of the day so I can charge it for the next day. Until then we’re going to continue doing this old school. If everyone could come up and get a textbook from the front we can start.”

The bell rang, signalling the end to their class.

“Those of you who have PE, Mr. D’Argencourt is expecting you at the stadium.” Ms. Bustier said. “The rest of you can head over to the library.”

“KIIIMMMM!” A yell interrupted Ms. Bustier. Marinette glanced back to see Ivan preparing to deck Kim who looked was looking back at him with a smug grin, as if his reaction was what Kim had been going for.

“Ivan!” Ms. Bustier called out to him sharply. “What is going on?”

“It’s Kim,” Ivan said, as it explained anything, before forcing on Kim again as he brought his fist back to punch the athlete. “You’re do gonna get it.”

“Ivan!” Ms. Bustier said, once again stopping him from punching Kim. “Go to the principles office!”

Ivan grumbled in anger but didn’t protest. He crunched up the piece of paper he’d been holding in his hand and stocked out of the room.

Marinette watched him go, hoping he’d cool off by the time he got to the principles office. She really didn’t need an Akuma on her first day of school, especially not one of her classmates. Normally she would try and go after him but she had promised her parents she’d try not to be so late all the time, and she at least wanted to keep true to that for a bit before being a superhero destroyed her time management skills. Anyways, Ivan was really a big softy under all the exterior. She was sure he’d stop be angry before Hawkmoth could try and Akumatize him.

Since there really wasn’t anything for them to work on in the library quite yet, Marinette allowed Alya to gush about her favourite superheroes, both from comics (Majestia) and from real life (toss up between Ladybug and Wonder Woman). She had even shown Marinette some footage she had edited out from Akuma battles, of Ladybug and Chat Noir throwing jokes at each other. She was waiting to collect more so she could make a video just of them and all the silly names they call each other.

BOOM!

The group shook violently enough to throw Marinette and Alya from the seats they were sitting and onto the floor.

What were the chances that came from something other then an Akuma? And if it were an Akuma, that it wasn’t Ivan.

Alya got up to her feet before Marinette, grabbing her arm with a ‘Come on’ and dragging her towards the screen that displayed the schools security cameras. A bunch of concern students were already crowding around them, trying to get visual on the Akuma so they could know if they were safe or not.

The one camera showed a stone Akuma standing in a crater just outside the school steps.

“KIIIMMM!” The Akuma, who sounded just like Ivan, yelled.

“Isn’t that the kid from class?” Alya asked her, sounding excited.

“Ivan, yeah.” Marinette said, trying to think of a way to get somewhere safe to transform.

“This is the first time I’ve actually been in the same building as someone who’d been Akumatized. I got to go follow him! My first chance of filming an Akuma, essentially from the beginning.” Alya, in her excitement, didn’t wait for Marinette to say anything, instead rushing out of the library.

Marinette just sighed, surely coming to the realization that her new friend may give her a heart attack, or at least a few grey hairs. She didn’t go after her though, instead heading out to find somewhere to transform, making a note to herself to keep an eye out for the blogger so she didn’t get in trouble.

Marinette slipped into her homeroom, which was empty and had window access, always a bonus, and opened up her purse. Tikki flew up to face level.

“Ready to go Tikki?” Marinette asked. Her Kwami let out a cute ‘uh-huh’, and Marinette smiled. “Alright then, Tikki, spots on!”

Marinette leaned her head back feeling her transformation taking over. She had found it weird in the beginning that the magic that overtook her as she transformed, also made her do a stereotypical Magical Girl transformation, but now she had come to accept it, just relaxing and allowing the magic to flow through her. At least her little transformation dance didn’t seem to be visible to anyone, nor did it seem to take anytime since the same thing that was happening when she called for the transformation, was still happening when she transformed as if no one had moved.

The pink light faded leaving Marinette in her same old Ladybug outfit. Not that it really mattered right now but, during an Akuma dry spell, Marinette had decided that she didn’t overly care for her hero outfit. After she let something slip to Chat, who’d mention that Plagg had told him that he could change his outfit, he just needed to visualize it, she had been wanting to design something a little less basic and childish. Of course, she just needed to find the time and inspiration to do just that. Oh well, until then, her original Ladybug outfit would work just fine, after all, you can’t go wrong with classics.

Ladybug swung away from the school, keeping an ear out for both her partner and for this Akuma. At least she knew Ivan was after Kim, who’d be at the stadium today, so she at least knew what way to head.

“Milady!” Chat Noirs voice called out to her. Ladybug landed on a rooftop before turning and looking for her partner. She found him a few roof tops away; one baton ride later and he joined her on the roof. “So much for a first day of school. How many do you think are going to close down?”

“Defiantly Collège Françoise Dupont,” Ladybug said. “The Akuma originale there. It’s a student who’s going after another student who is currently at Parc des Princes. The this news blogger who apparently just started there so she’s been sharing footage of the entire thing.”

“The Ladyblogger?” Chat Noir asked. Ladybug nodded, looking a little surprised. “I may of obsessively research anything to do with us. Her content is good, though it’d be better if she wasn’t trying to figure out our identities. Should we look at the footage to see where they are?”

Ladybug just looked as him. “I’m pretty sure a giant stone being is going to be hard to miss.” she said dryly.

Chat Noir just smiled at her. “Bet I could find him before you.”

Ladybug just smirked at him before tossing her yo-yo and flying through the air.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” She could hear Chat Noir yelling behind her. She just laughed.

It took another three swings through the air, and Chat Noir catching up with her, before either of them could hear the stone Akuma walking. Surprisingly he was almost to the stadium. Apparently being made of stone hadn’t slowed Ivan down at all. Ladybug was about ready to swing down and distract the akuma when a few police cars pulled up.

“Great,” Chat Noir said sarcastically. Akuma battles always went better when law enforcement didn’t get involved. Sure, some police officers, like Sabrina’s dad, were helpful and tried to stay out of the way as soon as the two got on the scene but others had quickly decided that they knew better then the young heroes and the two of them often had to waste time trying to get a majority of them to safety.

Chat Noir made a more to head down to ground level but Ladybug held an arm out. “Let’s just wait a moment. See if we can figure anything out while the police distract him.”

Chat Noir nodded, resting against his baton as Ladybug crouched down to get a better view.

“Akuma, I order you to stand down! If you do not then my officers will be forced to shoot!” Lieutenant Léon Roux yelled through a megaphone as if that would actually do anything. Ladybug and Chat Noir met each others gazes and rolled their eyes.

The stone Akuma just continued to head towards the stadium, not even pausing to give the police the time of day.

“Ready!” Lieutenant Roux yelled. “FIRE!”

The police officers around him started to open fire on the Akuma much to the annoyance of Ladybug and Chat Noir. The two of them weren’t worried about the Akuma. They had quickly figured out that when an Akuma ignored the police, it generally meant that they didn’t view them as a threat, that nothing they could do could harm them.

Sure enough the stone Akuma just seemed more annoyed then anything as a yellow light encased him causing him to double, if not triple, in size. Well that was interesting. Ladybug really hoped that the rumours the other police officers, the ones who let the two heroes actually do their job, had told her, were true. That Lieutenant Roux was moving out of Paris to another department within France and that an officer was being promoted. Especially if it was office Raincomprix like a majority of rumours said.

“We’ll have to try and avoid hitting the akuma directly,” Ladybug said aloud even though her partner had probably realized this himself. They had learned early on that communication was key in this line of work. “Any idea where the Akuma is?”

“Not yet milady.” Chat Noir said. He looked at the surrounding area. “News on scene.”

Ladybug looked around and sure enough, she could see not just Alya, who was crouched behind one of the police cars filming, but Nadja with her camera crew just across the street. The two of them would have to make sure when the engaged the Akuma that they didn’t end up putting any civilians in danger.

“Come on,” Ladybug said to Chat Noir as the Akuma was nearing the entrance. The two of them stealthily made their way to the top of the stadium and then down to the field below.

“Do you see the students?” Ladybug asked. Even if her partner couldn’t, he had way better hearing and lets face it, kids sucked at keeping quiet. At least they had realized the Akuma was heading their way and had hid.

“Ladybug!” A voice called out to her. She turned and saw Rose who had popped up from behind one of the chairs. Slowly she saw Max, Alix, Nino, Kim, Jean, Aurore, Mirellie, Allegra, Claude poke their heads up from behind seats. Well that was easy.

“An Akuma is about two seconds away from busting in here,” Chat Noir said.

“Everyone head towards the change rooms and take the emergency exit out. Chat Noir and I will take care of the Akuma,” Ladybug ordered. Her fellow students were quick to escape, having seen enough Akuma battles on the news to known things ended up going the best when people listened to the local heroes. The last kid ran down the tunnel where the change rooms were right as the Akuma burst through the stadium doors.

“KIIIMMM!” He yelled. “So who’s the wuss now?!”

The Akuma looked around to see only her and Chat Noir standing there. “Where’s KIIMMM!” he demanded.

“Not here. Sorry. Maybe try again tomorrow.” Chat Noir said, his tone light.

That seemed to anger the stone being, who swatted at Chat Noir. The two heroes jumped apart to avoid the giant stone fist.

“Ivan, do you really think squishing Kim is going to make anything better?” Ladybug asked, trying to see if she could spot the Akuma. She had an idea but wanted to see if she was right before calling for her Lucky Charm.

“I’m not Ivan anymore. I’m Stoneheart.” The Akuma yelled, smacking his hand down to try and flatten her. She dived to the side and rolled back to her feet.

Stoneheart headed towards the tunnel he’d seen a student run through when he had first came in.

“Chat Noir! I know where the akuma is!” Ladybug yelled pointing to the tunnel. Chat Noir got what she meant.

“Cataclysm!” He yelled rushing the tunnel. He ran his hadn't along the tunnel entrance, causing it to collapse. If Stoneheart wanted to get through, he’d have to bulldoze his way through and that would take time. Chat Noir propelled himself into the air, landing beside her. “What’s the plan?”

“Every time Stoneheart has gone to smack us or the police he’s being using his left hand.” Ladybug explained.

“You think he’s holding the Akumatized object in his right hand.” Chat Noir finished.

“Yep. So all we need to do is get him to open it. Lucky Charm!”

She flung her yoyo up into the air. As if flew back down to her so did a red and black wetsuit.

“It is a lovely day to go swimming but I don’t believe that now is the time,” Chat Noir said.

Why couldn’t she ever get a Lucky Charm that made sense. She knew it was part of being a ladybug holder to figure things out and be creative but her life would be so much easier if her Lucky Charms were straight to the point.

Ladybug glanced around trying to see how she could make this work. She needed Stoneheart to open his fist. The wetsuit had closed off hands and feet. A hose was by her feet and Alya had snuck in behind Stoneheart and had crouched down right by where the hose tap was. Ladybug smiled as she looked at her partner.

She wrapped the neck of the wetsuit around the hose so that it was secure and leak proof. She spun her yoyo around Chat Noirs legs, just above his ankles where his ‘boots’ ended. “Don’t resist, just trust me, okay?”

“Always miiiiiilaaaady!” Chat Noir yelled, his normal nickname for her get starched out as she pulled on her yoyo, yanking his feel from under him and swinging him through the air and right in Stonehearts fist.

For the first time Ladybug realized that, with how big Stonehearts hands were, he wouldn’t be able to take their miraculous’ even if he had gotten them in a position to do so. With a wide smile she jumped through the air. “Catch me if you can!” she taunted.

The orders of getting them beat out over Stonehearts need to protect his akumatized object, just like she had planned. With a grunt Stoneheart trapped her in his other fist, a black crumpled piece of paper, that was vaguely rock shaped, falling to the ground.

“And now, Alya the tap!” Thank her lucky stars that Alya instantly knew what she meant, rushing to the hose tap. The hose started filling up the wetsuit, expanding it. Within seconds the suit was so big it forced Stonehearts hand open, releasing her.

Ladybug quickly dashed towards the akumatized object on the ground and stomped on it releasing the Akuma butterfly. She went to take her yoyo out and catch it to purify it only to hear a shout behind her.

“Aim!” She heard Lieutenant Roux say. She turned and saw a handful of police officers in the doorway aiming their guns at Stoneheart, who she knew was seconds away from transforming back into Ivan.

“Wait!” She yelled jumping in the way.

“Little missy, we’ve had enough of your little games. It’s time we dealt with these Akumas ourselves.” Lieutenant Roux said. He turned back to the officers that had followed him in. “Get ready boys.”

“We already got the Akuma!” Ladybug said firmly. As if to confirm it she saw a yellow light behind her and could hear Chat Noir yelp as he dropped to the ground now that Stoneheart was a normal human size. “If you had fired, you would have hit an innocent child.”

“Innocent my ass. Paris is sick of being terrorized! Sick of these monsters. They should be charged as terrorists!” Lieutenant Roux said. A few of his officers looked like they agreed but a couple looked uncomfortable.

“Be careful,” Chat Noir said, coming to stand by her side, “or you might be Hawkmoths next victim if you get any more worked up.”

Lieutenant Roux just growled at him.

“Meouch,” Chat Noir said, unfazed.

“Do you really think Paris will stand by your view point?” Alya called out to the officer, her phone still up.

Lieutenant Roux glared at her. “Hand over your phone right this instant young lady!” he ordered. “It’s evidence of terrorism.”

“Go ahead,” Alya said, unfazed much like Chat Noir had been. “It’s been live streaming to my blog this entire time so if you really want the video you can just go there.”

Lieutenant Roux was close to turning completely red with anger but before he could do anything his phone rang. He looked at his phone before paling and heading towards the exit, signalling for his officers to follow him.

Ladybug turned to Alya. “Be careful and keep an eye out. If he does get akumatized he may go after you.” she warned Alya before beeping filled the air.

“We need to go,” Chat Noir said. The two waved goodbye before heading up over the stadium wall, with Ladybug grabbing the wetsuit on the way, and to a nearby roof.

Chat Noir smiled at her. The two of them reached hands out with a ‘Pound it’ that was quickly becoming common for them. Ladybug reached down to grab the wetsuit and throw it into the air when a thought hit her, causing her to gasp in horror.

“Milady are you okay?” Chat Noir asked.

“The Akuma.” She whispered. “I didn’t catch the Akuma.”

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #fanfiction #The One Where They Know #ml fanfiction #fanfic #ml fanfic #story #marinette #adrien #alya #nino #known idenities #identify reveal #dc universe exists here #not maribat #not daminette #batfamily may appear #First Chapter

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vinceaddams · 5 years

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Hello, Vincent! I'm a huge fan of your work & your blog. I know this is a bit of a silly question, but how in the world do you do those plackets on your fall front breeches? I'm trying to construct my own pair and am having a fair amount of difficulty with them. Thank you so much!

Edit: I’ve posted a somewhat better version of this up on my blogspot blog.

Thank you! And this is absolutely not a silly question. It took me several tries to get it right the first time, and I’ve never seen any instructions anywhere for doing them. (Not that I’ve actually looked for any, I just took modern sleeve placket instructions and modified them to include the gap flappy thing.) It is never a silly question to ask how to sew a thing, and I love sharing sewing knowledge!

Fall front plackets are something I’ve done quite a few of and I still have to stop and really think about what I’m doing, it’s very easy to get all mixed up & confused with them. As with many things, it’s best to do a sample with scrap fabric first!

Alright, so to demonstrate it best I’ve sewn up a little muslin sample with contrasting thread. This turned into quite a long answer so I’ll put it under a readmore. (Though sometimes those decide to not work, so if that happens then I’m sorry for putting so many sewing steps on your dashes. I recently learned you can press j on the computer keyboard to go directly to the bottom of a post though, so that’s nice.)Edit: Goddammit the readmore didn’t work! And I tried to put it back and it still isn’t working, sorry folks!

(Also, if my hands in these photos get this post flagged I will be so annoyed. Maybe I’d better tag it “sfw”? I’ve heard that works?)

Ok, here we go. First I’d better mention the lining, if there is one. I usually fully line my breeches because it makes the knee opening easier to finish, but they can be made unlined too.You want the top edge of the fall to be finished before you even start the placket. I find it’s best to sew the crotch seam first, on the front pieces only. I know that modern pants instructions will tell you to sew each leg individually and then sew them together, but fall fronts require a different approach.

Here is a shitty diagram to show what I mean:

So, front lining sewn to front outer fabric first on the top of the fall only. There is also the option of just lining the fall with a little upside-down-house shaped bit of fabric. Or, if you really don’t want any lining, just hemming the top.

Ok, so now we have a nice finished top edge, and can get onto the placket! If you do have a lining then after sewing it on there you should make sure it’s nicely lined up and then baste it in place around the placket areas. Don’t want it shifting.

Your pieces will look something like this: (except twice as many, and the crotch seam will be sewn) I’ve labelled the inside and outside of the pants, and the side seam and centre front, to help make things clearer.

First, take your front gap filling flappy thingy pieces, sew them together on the curved edge only, trim, turn & press. After this I like to put the pattern piece back over them and trace on the lines again so I can see where exactly it goes.

I have also pressed down the seam allowance on the top of the fall in this sample, so we can pretend it’s a finished lined edge.

The line for your placket should be clearly marked on the inside. If it’s lined this means you’ll have to transfer the marking for the dot at the bottom onto the right side of the lining and draw it on with a ruler. (do this after cutting it out, before sewing)Line up the appropriate line on the flappy thing with this line. The bottom of the flappy thing should be about 1cm above the bottom of the line, so as to avoid bulky terribleness there. The flap must be on the inside and pointing towards the side seam! Pin it on & sew it about 1/2 cm away from the line - away in a towards the side seam direction. Like so:

Next you carefully trim the seam allowance off the flappy thing, on the edge you just sewed. Don’t cut down the line yet, just trim the edge of the flappy! The seam allowance should be about 1/2 cm, or maybe a tiny bit less. Not trimmed close enough that it’s in danger of fraying & coming out, but still narrow enough to not get in the way of sewing this slit.Here you can see that the seam allowance is trimmed and the placket piece is waiting to be added:

I drew a couple of lines on the placket, about 1cm apart, to show where to sew.

The placket piece has a longer bit that sticks down, a middle section almost as wide, and then another section that’s somewhat narrower. The longer bit that sticks down must be pointing towards the Centre Front. Line it up exactly with the line, pin it, and sew it on in a very long U shape. When you’re near the bottom of the slit it’s a good idea to make your stitch length smaller. Trim down the middle, and clip with a little inverted Y at the bottom, like so:

(Hm, I should have put a bit more seam allowance on the bottom of that placket, but it’s ok!)

Now if all has gone well you’ll have the seam allowance from the flappy thing only in one half of your slit seam allowance.

Next, turn it to the outside and press it, like so:

See that narrow little bit on the left? You must turn it under and stitch it down, like so: (You can also trim off the protruding bit on the top, as I’ve done here)

This bit should be as narrow as you can reasonably get it. I like mine to be 1cm or a bit less. The important thing is that it’s covered up by the other part of the placket. (Which is one reason it’s good to do a sample first, you can check if your dimensions are good!) If the fabric is bulky and the stack of seam allowances from the flappy are making the foot misbehave then I use a zipper foot for this step.

Next, you press this bit towards the side:

Press the little slit seam allowance towards the side too, and then press these 3 sides in, as shown. (You should also press down the allowance on the top of the placket at this step, but I apparently didn’t make this sample placket quite long enough, oops.)

Next, press the longer bit of the placket back towards the front, as shown. You want it to be covering the narrow little bit on the other side, and also the seam from the slit. The little downward pointy bit may look uneven at this point, but you can simply shift those folds a little and press it again.

You want to make sure that the seam allowance at the bottom of the slit is totally enclosed by the downward pointy, so I like to draw a little line showing just where the best place to sew it. (I used marker on the sample, but chalk is usually better when making the actual garment.)

Now pin the placket down flat, taking care to not pin through the flappy, and begin to sew it on on the line I marked in the above photo:

Once you’ve sewn this line, go around the downward pointy bit and then back over that line again. (it’s good to have the extra stitching there, it need the reinforcement.) I try to stay about 1-2 mm away from the edge, like a very close topstitch:

Now, after the downward pointy is sewn, it’s very important that you move the flappy out of the way so as not to sew the whole thing closed! Sew down the long bit of the placket, again staying 1-2 mm away from the edge.

Then sew along the top bit, (which would have had more seam allowance to fold under if I’d remembered to make the sample placket long enough):

Voila! A placket!

Now you need only to do the reverse on the other side, and it’s ready to put the waistband on!

For the sake of thoroughness here’s one of my finished pairs of breeches, with the waistband buttoned and the fall unbuttoned:

And with the fall buttoned up:

And of course there’s also the option of a broadfall, like I did on my jeeches, where there are no plackets because the entire front is the fall:

I can’t specifically remember what I did here, but it took some awkward fussing with the side seam, so I’m sure I’ll do it differently next time. I do know I left a little gap for the middle buttonhole on both the lining and the outside of the fall, and then just whipstitched the edges together there.

I hope this helps! Best of luck with your breeches, and I’d love to see a picture when they’re done!

#sewing #ask #gridbugged #how to #breeches #fall front #pants #sfw #clothing #tutorial #I have the day off work today and had time to answer properly!#I like doing sewing instructions it's nice

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gingerwritess · 5 years

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More jealous reader please?? I absolutely loved that one and honestly will never stop re-blogging it

“I like her…”

Um…excuse me. What in the name of Niðavellir is that smirk about?

That scientist woman had slapped him across the face and granted, you’d laughed—he deserved it. But then he said he likes her, giving her that amused little smirk, that slow, deliberate blink…

Now he’s staring down at her and she won’t look away, huffing a strand of hair out of her face; who does she think she is?

Um, only you get to slap him. That’s one of the perks of being his lover.

Thor’s dragged his brother off with the handsy little midgardian trailing behind before you have a chance to butt in on the interaction. You call out to him, stepping out from the doorway you had been watching from, but it’s too late and the little group is out of sight, Loki still in those damned cuffs.

Oh well…you’ll have an earful for him when he gets home.

It takes a few days.

Yes, days, which is absolutely infuriating, knowing Loki is off doing god knows what and probably in much too close proximity of that girl—Jane, you’d found out she calls herself.

Good thing he likes her. Let’s see if he still likes you, since he seems to have forgotten that you’re waiting here for him.

So when he eventually stumbles back through the door to your chambers one cold Asgardian night, you’re relieved, to say the least, but not exactly happy.

You’re lounging on the couch next to a cackling fire and may or may not have dressed up a bit more than usual, but that’s beside the point.

He hadn’t even bothered to look back at you when he had left. No reassuring smirk, no wink to convince you he still has the upper hand, no sweeping kiss to linger in his absence.

Nothing.

“Oh. So you’ve decided to come back after all.” You don’t look up from your book, draping a hand on your hip.

“I’m sorry, darling, my brother…” he trails off as he undoes the first strap of leathered armour, his eyes falling on you as if for the first time.

Something is off about you. You haven’t looked at him since he’s walked in, laying across the couch with your head propped up on your hand, and you seem to have put on some kind of gown; something nearly sheer and effervescent but made of a dark fabric, catching in the rays of moonlight streaming through the curtains.

It looks soft. Heavenly soft.

“Might I ask what the occasion is?” He expected you to be upset, it’s only natural, he had been dragged off—handcuffed—into space by his oaf of a brother without so much as saying goodbye to you. But you haven’t said anything, asked anything, you’re just laying there looking sinfully tempting with the slit of the gown dashing up to your hip—not at all the sight he expected to come home to.

Your eyes flit up from the pages to meet his with a sweet smile. “Your homecoming, I suppose.” You swing your legs off the couch and snap the book shut, sauntering across the room to a bookshelf in the corner of the room, turning your back to him. “Welcome home, Loki.”

The gown falls in a low arch down your back. Draped around your neck he can see a thin gold chain, nearly invisible but catching in the moonlight, and Loki can’t help the smug smile tugging at his lips—you had missed him.

“Take your quarrels up with my brother,” he calls over his shoulder, turning his back to you as well and stalking to the walk-in closet. “This was entirely his doing.”

You hear more belts unlatching, the clatter of multiple knives dropped on a dresser-top, the rustling of leather and clinking of metal, and you convince yourself not to turn around. “Quarrels? Loki,” you laugh, skimming a finger along the spine of an unread book, “I have no quarrels. I’m happy you’re home.”

The emerald set in the centre of the tiny gold sun seems colder than usual against your collarbone.

“Don’t lie to me, darling.” You hear him sigh and there’s a thud as he shuts a drawer with a touch more force than normal. “It insults me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Look, you’ve just done it again.” He sounds amused, almost wanting to laugh; the fact that you can hear that sets your blood boiling.

You’re about to turn on your heel and let him have it for leaving you and laughing when the necklace tightens around your throat; Loki is suddenly behind you, breathing down your neck, and has a finger hooked under the chain of the necklace.

“Did you forget to take this off?”

A shiver wracks your body and you swallow thickly. “No, I left it on on purpose. I didn’t know if-when you were coming back.”

“You have no need for it now.” Deft fingers undo the clasp and carefully tug the chain from around your neck, and Loki dips his head down to ghost his lips up the curve of your neck. “I’m home, aren’t I?”

His hands float up to rest on your hips, slowly pulling you back against him. The gold necklace has been resting heavy these past few days. “A sun,” he had murmured as he reached around you to put it on you for the first time, “for the light of my darkened world.”

There’s fragments of an actual star housed under the emerald in the centre, fitting in a gift from a god. “Wear this if you ever feel apart from me.” He had latched it and wrapped his arms around your waist, pressing a kiss to the back of your neck. “You’ll never be alone, these stars shine only for us.”

A beautifully sweet, eloquent sentiment, not unlike your lover, but it’s gradually gathered more of a negative connotation whenever you wear it. You only wear it when he’s gone or you feel separated: the last time you wore it, he had been gone for months and you almost gave up hope for him to ever return to you.

So to see you wearing it now, after only being gone a few measly days…a hint of pride worms it’s way into Loki’s heart.

Being missed certainly feels…validating.

“I was only gone a few days,” he chuckles, cool breath tickling the nape of your neck. “I must have more of a hold on your heart than I realise.”

You lean away from him and turn around, glaring coldly up at him. “You hold my entire heart, idiot. And I’d appreciate if you took better care of it.”

“How might I do that?”

“Maybe not go running off into space with random women for days on end?” You cross your arms around yourself and push past him with a scowl. “Just a suggestion.”

Loki laughs, a cold, amused grin on his face. “Ah yes…Jane. That’s what this is about.” He stalks across the room to the closet where you are pretending to be interested in the daggers he had left on the dresser. “She’s quite intelligent, actually. That was a pleasant surprise.”

Why does he think you care??

“…but she was rather too dull for my taste,” he continues, waiting for you to turn around. You don’t give him the pleasure and he realises you aren’t going to, so he steps up against you with a sigh, pressing himself against your back and leaning with two arms on either side of you bracing him on the dresser.

“Good for my brother, I suppose, but I prefer my partners to be more…” he leans forward, nipping at your ear and eliciting a surprised squeak from you. “Adventurous.”

The closet door slams shut of its own accord.

The god buries his face in the crook of your neck, breathing you in deeply. “I missed you,” he promises, voice muffled. “I thought of you every single day. I…craved you.”

He’s moving now, making your brain draw a blank when he spins you around and has you pinned against the dresser in a manner of seconds, his body pressed to yours.

“Every minute, every second I was away from you, I missed you.”

You almost scoff, but then he kisses you and you can’t help but believe it. It’s the kiss of a starving man, desperate for your touch again but laced with a desire to…almost impress you, you think.

“You don’t believe me,” he whispers when he finally pulls away for a breath, hands coming up to cradle your face.

“No, I—of course I do.” Flashing him a sure smile, you wind your arms around his neck and pull him back into another searing kiss. “I trust you, Loki.”

He quietly hums into your lips for a moment, letting you dictate the depth of the kiss before pulling away with a loud smack. “You’re lying to me again,” he grins. “We’ve discussed this.”

You immediately open your mouth to tell him that you’re not lying, that you do trust him—because you do! It is the truth! It might be hiding under a comfy blanket of envy, though: he does like her, after all. But Loki stops you before you can get a word out with a long finger to your lips, shushing you with a knowing smile.

“Don’t do it again.” The warning in his voice sends a chill down your spine—a wonderful, addicting chill that you’ve missed. “I can prove it to you, if that’s what it will take.”

“L-Loki, what are you—”

He’s reached around you for one of the knives discarded on the shelf behind you, now slowly dragging the tip of it up the front of your gown in one sure swipe, ripping the fabric clean in two.

“What a shame,” he sighs, looking you up and down. You stare down at your ruined dress in shock and he places the flat edge of the knife under your chin, carefully tipping your head up to look at him.

His lips just barely meet yours this time, teasingly close but yet so horribly far, and the metal of the knife is cold under your chin. Clearly, your trust in him is true: you’re letting him hold a knife to your throat—and you think you might like it.

“I like this dress,” you halfheartedly hiss at him, shuddering when his cold hand slips under your now-open gown.

“I apologise…but I like you.” His open mouth plants a heated trail up the curve of your neck and you try everything in your power not to melt just yet.

Loki notices your struggle and smiles into your skin. “Such a beautiful dress will be dearly missed.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

hope you enjoyed, feel free to send me ideas!

loki tags: @bluediamond007 @himitoshi @drakesfiance @destiel1597 @dangertoozmanykids101 @archy3001 @jcalpha1 @yzssie @skullvieplu @forthesnakeofdragons @skulliebythesea @wegingerangelica @storiesfrommirkwood @agarwaeneth @adaliamalfoy @laurfangirl424 @paradisaicsam @fitzsimmons-is-forever @ladylokimischief @katelinwrites @tarynkauai @polaristrange @loavesofmeat @canadian-ravenpuff-multishipper @lou-makes-me-strong @holyn0vak @chocolatealmondmillk @swtnrholland @kenzieam @jessiejunebug @catticas @the-republic-and-face-of-texas @doralupin01 @whitewitchdown @atomiccharmer @falconfeather23435 @babygirlicecream @avengrcs @vethrvolnir2 @bookgirlunicorn @wabisabigrl @myhealingstar @khaleesi-marvel @ei77777 @spacecrumbs @scarlettrosella @rocks-are-pretty-odd @confessionsofastrugglingteen @easilydistractedwriter @arttasticgreatnessoftheawesome77 @fluffyllamaswearinghats @milktearose @lcyouinhell @h0tshotholland @dontmesswithmemundane @southsidesarcasticwriter @helnik-s @lilith-akemi @fire-in-her-veinz @unlikelysamwinchesteronahunt @mischievousbellerina @kcd15 @mellowgirl01

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notexactlyrocketscience · 4 years

Text

~ on social media and blogging ~

Basically the only thing I've done in my last 24 posts (yes, I counted) is vent about my first semester at UTSA. Often repetitively.

A little backstory: You wouldn't know it from looking at me, my room, or my closet (especially not my closet) but I like to put things into boxes, arrange them in the most efficient way possible. Even when my room or notes are messy, I know exactly where my red scarf is (at the bottom of my closet where it fell from the hanger the other day while I was hurrying for school), where my flier for tomorrow's event is (somewhere in the middle of the pile of papers on my desk where I put it last week) and which emails I need to re-check tonight (the weekly newsletter, the extra-credit intructions, and the mid-semester meeting notice).

I despise any and all class-notes that aren't done exactly the way I like them—which is using as little repetition and words as possible. Whenever I write, I Google, copy and paste em dashes and make sure there are no spaces on either side. For a 600 word limit, my work will more often than not have exactly 600 words because I don't want to waste any. I use Google Calender to stay on schedule. Planners intimidate me because there's no limit to what can be done with them, and although I want to start a bullet journal, I'm not going to until I find a uniform format that feels right to me.

I don't get to doing it everyday, but at least around once a week or two I get my room, closet and school stuff together again (my person is a lost cause). Delaying this process is something that stresses me out quite a bit ... and is something I do regularly. Especially since the year before last, I feel like I'm in a constant state of burnout (which doesn't make any sense because I'm completely responsibility-free right now compared to other kids my age) and I procrastinate towards everything. EVERYTHING.

So yes, I've technically been spiralling slow-mo (and have been bewildered at myself) for the last couple (going on three) years now ... But back to my point.

I used to write a lot of journal entries. Extremely detailed ones. I spent hours on them every day. I have entire years of my life documented minute-to-minute—I am not even kidding. Once I fell out of that habit (cough the last two years happened) I was never able to pick it back up again (trust me, I tried).

Remember how I like to put things into boxes? The same goes for my feelings. The worst I could ever feel isn't angry or sad or desperate. No, the worst I could ever feel is not knowing what I feel. That's the only feeling that really scares me, dries out my soul. Everything is a mess and can't be put into their places anymore: I'm distracted, unsettled. Behind my eyes is a rainstorm gone wrong, a broken window, a gale whistling in and whipping every piece of paper in my workshop out of place, no end in sight.

When Instagram came into the picture a few years ago, that was in many ways my first step from hiding to bravery. For the first time, I had this space to express myself that was totally under my control, and it was empty. Devoid of prior expectations. For the first time, I was stepping forward and being myself in public, and in that way finding myself too. I'd be lying if I said that I'd be the very same person that I am right now if this hadn't been part of my life.

It gives me peace to be able to neatly document moments of my life here. It's not as time-consuming and as big a commitment as journaling, and somehow the pictures I take randomly gives me motivation to write something they make me feel, which is huge, since at this point this is the only form of creative expression I still indulge in, and one of the only things that make me feel like I have control anymore.

Gasp. I know it's social media, so this might sound superficial and naive to some. Believe me, I constantly battle the same feelings, internalized. Do I do it for attention? For the mini serotonin rush every time those little heart notifications appear? For human connection that I'm missing? Maybe. It's hard to know.

What I do know is that it's empowering to be able to write all this and let it loose for the public to see, ignore, read, dismiss, judge, and then to still be able to hold onto my paranoid sanity. I'm still not as brave as I'd like to be. Sometimes a wave of instinct to delete half my posts will engulf me to near-suffocation. But every single one of my silly, weird, random too-much-information, and borderline innapropriate posts are still out there. Because every time I feel that way, I clench my jaw and tell myself it's temporary and I'll regret it if I act on it. And it's true. Every day I succeed is another day that I choose not to run and hide like I've done too many times in the past. It's one step forward into caring less and understanding other people care less, and just breathing freely without worrying. It's a step towards freedom, confidence.

... I'm this bad behind a screen just talking about everyday things that don't even matter, that only a handful of people will read (s/o if you do. Thank you—means a lot!)—imagine what I'm like in actual social contexts, at the centre of attention in a crowded room.

Well ... I'll let you guys know when I finally stop running and find out for myself. Till then, I guess y'all are just stuck with me, as I am, right now.

[end]

⠀

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cavaliant · 5 years

Text

Thoughts on Beowolf and Lachesis

Beo/Lach isn't my only ship for either of them (especially since I see them as being fine with open relationships anyway) but the reason it's my favourite, whether it’s romantic or not, is because of how two seemingly very different people can still complement each other and have a good time? It's a cheesy reason BUT...here are my thoughts on their dynamic. At first glance, they look like a prim, proper, kind of haughty princess and a casual, dubious, opportunistic merc. And they CAN be those things, but that's not all they are.

Lachesis is a princess who was born into her position, one who likes stereotypically princess-y things like fancy pink clothes, flowers, and tea parties. But she's also not afraid to work hard and get her hands dirty, and doesn't assume that others will just take care of everything for her. She’s very independent, and hates being told what to do, but is absolutely willing to accept help when she knows she needs it. She's judgmental, but she doesn't judge people for things like their birth or social status--things they have no control over. (She is, however, quick to judge people for their actions/words).

Beowolf, by contrast, is a mercenary, someone who is definitely willing to dirty his hands. He has a direct way of speaking which can border on rude, though most of the time he doesn’t actually mean to cause offence. He gives off a cocky demeanour (just look at his official art lol), but he isn't too proud to apologize or to admit when someone else is better. He can be self-centred and irresponsible, with a devil-may-care attitude, but he can also be perceptive of others’ feelings, and he keeps his promises to those who’ve earned his respect.

In the beginning, Beowolf was just looking out for Lachesis for Eldie's sake, but he grows to be fond of her as her own person. Lachesis has no illusions about his character, and doesn't expect commitment or sappy romance from him. She's fierce, intense, fiery--someone unafraid to go after what she wants. She isn't put off permanently by his attitude or words, nor is she afraid to push right back at him. He grows fond of her, though I don't know that I'd call it romantic love until closer to Belhalla at the very least. Even if he does fall in love with her, he wouldn't do anything to change their friends with benefits arrangement, because it's still working out for the both of them, and he doesn't think he's a "settling down" kind of guy anyway.

Lachesis' first impression of Beowolf was decidedly unimpressed, at least until he mentioned being Eldie's friend and offered to train her. It slides back towards unimpressed again in the face of his "uncouthness" and joking remarks, but she does develop a grudging respect for him as he continues to help her out. (She still definitely wonders what Eldie sees in him more than once, and absolutely grills him to see if his story of being friends with her brother holds up.) Her feelings about Beowolf (in my head) are less likely to develop into love than the other way around, and I don't know if she’d realize it or return the feelings until after Belhalla (after which he’s canonically dead) even if they did become love.

In terms of how they interact...despite Beowolf's occasionally blunt, crude remarks, and Lachesis' sometimes indignant, disparaging comments...I like to think they become some sort of friends. She accepts his offer to train her, they fight together, and they build up a sort of trust. His lack of filter would be annoying sometimes, but also refreshing to someone who grew up around nobles who LOVE to say things other than what they really mean.

It's not that Lachesis doesn't just say what she wants all the time, and damn the consequences...but even if she wouldn't admit it, she'd be just a little envious of someone who doesn't even have to THINK about the consequences of what he says and does. She might even become a tiny bit more relaxed about appearances around him, and even less censoring of her words than usual because she knows he can take it. And he can--though he can get amused when she gets snappy, he also won't hesitate to be brutally honest right back, and is happy to speak with another person who isn’t afraid to say exactly what’s on their mind.

I do think this would lead to arguments between them when their opinions/priorities clash, or when Beowolf says something she deems especially offensive. If you know Lachesis, there's a large chance she will argue with you at least once in your acquaintance because that's just the kind of person she is. Stubborn, passionate, and extremely dedicated to what she thinks is right. Beowolf isn't argumentative by nature, definitely way more laid-back--but he isn't one to cower away or change just to suit someone else. When they're older, I think they'd be a bit more inclined to work things out through talking, but earlier on if they truly have a conflict it's more common for them to bite back at each other. And then have to work it off in spars or spend some time away from each other (possibly with other people) to cool off ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I actually don't see their relationship as one based on deep emotional connection, at least at first, though I do think they have the potential to develop some a LOT farther down the line (post-Belhalla, if Beo survives). It really just starts off as a mutual desire for a little fun, something to take their minds off things with no strings attached. Beowolf is already obviously a guy who's cool with casual hookups (squints at Fergus), and look! Here's another princess he probably shouldn't sleep with that he's probably going to sleep with anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

On Lachesis' end, she MIGHT have a vague ideal of a sweeping romance where she lives happily ever after with some dashing, elegant, loyal prince...but I don't think that's how her life actually works out. If you look at her predestineds, none of them are actually "on her level" (nobles) in status, and two of them are even in decidedly dubious professions (thief and mercenary). The last two in particular (Dew and Beowolf) are hardly desirable marriage options for a princess like her, and hardly likely to even stick around for long...but she gets involved anyway. She's not looking for commitment in the beginning, and she doesn't care if her lover is a lawless vagabond, as long as he respects her and gives her a good time.

As I mentioned before, it IS possible for them to fall in love with each other imo, but I think it’d take the wake-up call of Belhalla to even think seriously about that. Of course, by then it’s too late for canon Beowolf--but in my AUs where he survives (or in Heroes), I do think they could develop a more stable, comfortable relationship (though still open because I don’t see either of them as the expected monogamous, “settling down” kind of people). It’s not like I see them as becoming lovey-dovey or even romantic--but I don’t see either of them as being insecure about the other’s feelings here. They know that they respect each other, entertain each other, and that they’ll (usually) be frank about their opinions with each other. They aren’t bothered about distinguishing whether their relationship is a romance or not. It just...is what it is.

It’s also very possible for them to simply remain friends and comrades, with maybe the occasional fling in between, or for them to part ways. Like I said at the beginning, what I like about their dynamic is that they can be very chill and fun together--but it’s also possible for them to be serious and deep. I don't think their relationship is all sunshine and roses, particularly when they disagree on things (and also when Eldigan dies), but I wanted to focus more on why I think they’re compatible and how I imagine their relationship (whether romantic or not) panning out. It’s not an exhaustive analysis, and I know that this is one of the more generous interpretations of both of them, but I'm tired of the old takes of "Beowolf was just lying to get in her pants" and "Lachesis was a cheating ho" and just want to have some fun with them as well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So that is why this whole long post is the basis behind the portrayal of their relationship on my blog ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

#i wanna waste all of my time with you (beowolf/lachesis)#beo: hcs #lach: hcs #i am possibly too kind in my interpretations of both of them #but jugdral is depressing enough so :/#i had thoughts about how they deal with eldie's death too but that's a topic for another post maybe lol #this is longer than i intended again...

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wiccamoody · 6 years

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:’) which other fics made you cry?

buckle up anon and get ready for me to be super gushy and emotional!

hands down the two fics that made me cry the most out of anything else (like uncontrollable sobbing at 2 am) are:

where things come back. by @nihilismdan -a beautiful 2012 break-up au about coming out and the queer experience. this fic destroyed me in all the best ways.

a match and a fuse by @waveydnp -a slow burn, (kind of) coffee shop coming of age au that actually made my heart explode several times. it’s a universe that i never want to let go of, and a story that was wonderfully perfect.

the rest of the fics i’m about to list haven’t made me cry to quite the same extent that the first two did, but fuck, they all really tugged at my heart strings.

light through an open door by @queerofcups -a gorgeous uni au that made me step back and really think about life and the people around me and being queer. i’m not even kidding when i say i think about that scene in ch. 2 in the bathroom all the time, and that augustine’s character really stuck with me.

the art of progress by @iihappydaysii -a canon divergence au following the leak of the v-day video and dan and phil’s actions afterwards. every time i think about this fic (or go into the food court that i read a majority of this fic in), my heart aches. it’s so beautifully written and such an interesting take on that time.

closer to where i started by @alittledizzy -a hurt/comfort au that follows dan and phil after an incident on stage at vidcon. this fic is very special to me. i think i’ve talked about it before on this blog, but i spent the majority of 2016/2017 very disconnected from the phandom (by my own choice- us tatinof and the phandom’s attitude frustrated me to no end) and fandom life in general. it was the longest time i ever spent just…not reading fic (which is odd as someone who considers them self to be a fandom lifer, so to speak) ever since i discovered the wonders of fanfic in 2008. i passed this fic on my dash a few times before reading it and feeling so overcome with emotion (there’s a reason this is on my cry list lol). i forgot how beautiful fanfiction could be until this fic, and it brought me right back into fandom and being actively involved in fandom again.

an honourable mention goes to anchor by bluebones (idk their tumblr, otherwise i would link it). my stupid ass did not read the major character death tag on this fic so i ended up reading the whole thing thinking that there would be a happy ending. there was not. i was already wary going into it because it centres around cancer, which is something i have a very hard time dealing with in general, but everyone was saying that it was so well written that i thought i would give it a try. it was extremely well written, and addictive on top of that. at a certain point i knew that there wasn’t going to be a happy ending, but i also couldn’t turn back. it was that good. however, it fucked me up real bad. i was not okay for hours on end. if you cannot handle major character death or cancer do not read this. it’s an excellent story but i wish i read the tags first because it would have spared me the pretty awful aftermath. (seriously read the fucking tags first. do not make my mistake. ever.)

#sorry that was so long #but i could talk about fic for ages #rec #anon asks

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queenieships · 6 years

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Questions 1-14 for the most recent one your reblogged!

Thank you for asking! Sorry it took a while lmao I got super lazy and distracted with it. Gonna put some of it under a readmore because it got particularly long!

1. When did youstart self shipping and why?

I mean I officiallystarted this blog I think… middle of last year? I can’t quiteremember the date off the top of my head but it’s been a while.However, I’ve been selfshipping for a very long time, justmentally! I kind of did that whole “Creating Ocs to ship withcharacters I liked and oh no those Ocs definitely aren’t based onme at all aha nope…”

2. How long have youbeen self shipping?

I think I’ve beenself shipping from a very young age! I remember being in primaryschool and being absolutely in love with Tasuki from Fushigi Yuugiand Axel from Kingdom Hearts (had a thing for red heads and fireapparently?) I genuinely must’ve been as young as 8, give or take ayear or two, so I’ve been self shipping and self inserting most ofmy life!

3. Why do you selfship now?

I mean… it’sfun! And I mean, I fall in love with fictional characters withouteven meaning to. I just become very attached to them to the point Ican’t help but imagine myself with them! It’s also been a thingI’ve done for a very long time, a hobby, a habit, a copingmechanism – as a very creative but also very lonely child I thinkit was a huge way for me to feel like I was getting GOOD attentionfor once. I guess that’s kind of extended to adulthood. In ways aswell it helps me deal with some unhealthy situations I’ve had inthe past and it’s a way for me to explore and take interest intoxic and unhealthy ships in a safe and fictional environment. It’shelped me a lot improving with my art and honestly I officiallyjoined the self ship community because I was very lonely and had…NO FRIENDS.

4. Which of yourself insert characters is the most developed?

Probably myborderlands insert or my Newsies insert! I haven’t been toomassively focused on any other ship to develop my insert in thatuniverse very much and SOME of the universes I self insert in arequite difficult and elaborate when it comes to making characters forit (like in HxH)

5. Are your selfinsert characters 100% you or are they an exaggerated version ofyourself/leaning toward an OC?

I think it dependson the universe. Though I would say they’re exaggerated examples ofmyself, ideal versions or particularly troubled versions – All ofmy self insert characters look like me and have the same name and toa degree share my interests and talents – though I’ve also giventhem talents that I admire and really wish I had (such as singing,baking and sewing.)

6. If your selfinserts are closer to OCs what are some similarities they have withyou? What are some differences?

Lmao whoops guess Ikind of explained this in the one above? I guess something I like todo is depending on the universe I self ship in, I kind of pick a partof my personality that is a focus of that character. (For example, myNewsies insert is mostly centred around my social beliefs, mydepression and toxic relationship with my family and to a degree myfeeling of superiority. I’m actually very working class but you’llnotice most of my inserts are either very well off OR from thenicest, cleanest place in that universe they can be from – mynewsies insert is from a very wealthy family and my borderlandsinsert is from Helios.)

7. Do you have a‘type’ when it comes to f/os?

Yes but my type haschanged and shifted over time. There are definitely things I likethat kind of resonate throughout all of my F/Os. For example, almostall of my F/Os are confident to a fault. Most of them are also verymasculine, with a few exceptions. A character type I LOVE is therough delinquent with a heart of gold! (Seen in characters likeMondo, Metal Bat and Knuckle.) I also like perverted characters orones that show a lot of interest in women during the show/gamethey’re in (Examples being Scooter, Lance and Leorio.) I also seemto like people who have manual labour jobs or jobs that require themto be quite strong and get quite dirty and occassionaly kinda bruisedup (Examples being Scooter, Metal Bat, Scout, Hunk and Ellis who isnot yet on my F/O list but will be soon! A character I used to selfship with is Little Mac because I loved the idea of seeing him allsweaty and bruised up after a figh aha,,,)

8. Your top 3 OTPsamong your own selfships?

1. Me and Scooter!He is the problematic love of my life.

2. Me and Davey –although my focus has shifted dramatically from Davey to Scooter Istill definitely love this boy a lot

3. THIS IS SUCH ADIFFICULT PICK because honestly Scooter and Davey are and almostalways will be my top 2 BUT– my level of interest in my other F/Osshifts around so much? I’m even considering adding new F/Os thatI’ve become interested in recently, like… Mondo and Scout are thecharacters on the list I’ve shipped with for the longest but… Ithink maybe Leorio? I’ve always thought of Leorio and I as a reallygood couple, we’re so physically different and our personalitiesare such a good mix of getting along and clashing and I just!! idk Ithink number 3 is Leorio!!

9. Your top 5 OTPsamong others in the community?

@smoochesforseven and everyone she ships with. I love Moon so much and all of her shipsare wonderful though there is a soft spot for her and Newt!!

@better-than-nothin-kay and Rhys! We’ve spoken so much about borderlands and about her shipand honestly I love the female bodyguard dynamic it’s really cuteand they would physically look so good together!

@millizines andEarnest – I think this is like, the most undisputed OTP in thecommunity. I have never seen someone be so dedicated to their F/O andthey’re so genuinely in love with one another and have such aunique relationship!!

@momomochaccino andSandy (and spongebob!) – Seeing Momo so happy recently has beenamazing and witnessing what a positive impact the spongebob musicaland show has been for her is amazing!!

@peachie-doodles andLeonardo! Honestly seeing TMNT stuff on my dash makes me SO HAPPY andLeonardo has always been the one turtle I never really felt aconnection with BUT seeing someone so in love with him andappreciating him makes me really happy and makes me appreciate himmore as well! (also after speaking with her I realised that, althoughRaphael usually draws my attention because he’s big n buff andrough and tough but a total softy which FITS MY TYPE — Mikey isactually… my fucking boy?? I went around ready some fics andwatching some clips and like, damn. I really love Michaelangelo nowlmao, considering adding him as an F/O!!)

10. Has a roleplayblog for one of your f/os every interacted with you?

Lmao no. Honestly Iwould sob if that ever happened to me and I’ve seen other peoplegetting RP anons regularly in their asks and honestly I… reallywant it aha? I used to RP self ship stuff with a friend, where Iwould write as myself and the character she shipped with, and shewould play herself and the character I shipped with and!! it was!!great!! I would die to find something like that again.

11. Are you anartist or a writer in the community? Or do you do something elseentirely?

Um, both I guess! Iby no means think I’m a good artist but self shipping has reallyhelped me improve in a lot of areas. I highkey hate my style and atsome point I want to dedicate some time into developing it intosomething I can actually enjoy looking at. As for my writing, I’vealways been a talented writer – especially a few years ago. I waswriting frequently and everything I wrote was lowkey incredible.Nowadays, my writing is so few and far between and I am so stronglyout of practice it hurts and I feel almost embarrassed readingthrough any new fic I write. I’m hoping with time I can build myskills and confidence back up again!

12. Name a few ofyour favorite things about self shipping.

Honestly, myfavourite thing about self shipping is that I can feel like I havecompany regardless of how alone I actually am. Countless days spentby myself in my room and during lunchtimes back when I was at schoolcould be spent daydreaming about being loved and having adventureswith characters I enjoy! I always daydream a lot before I fallasleep, usually about cuddling up and spending the evening with oneof my F/Os before I fall alseep. Honestly without selfshipping Idon’t know what I’d do with my time. It’s such a huge thingthat fills up my day to day life and makes me happy, I genuinelydon’t think I’d still be here without it.

13. Talk about apositive experience you’ve had with the community.

Honestly this iskind of hard for me lmao? I wouldn’t say I’ve had many hugelypositive or many hugely negative experiences overall. There arepeople I’ve found I get along with, there are some people that rubme the wrong way, there are some people I just haven’t spoken to! Ihaven’t really received any hate apart from someone being a dickabout my aesthetic commissions but I don’t really receive theattention I would like to either (is that bratty and selfish?Probably! But at least I’m honest about it lmao.)

14. Finally, talkabout a few of your favorite self shippers!! (Honestly, talk about asmany as you would like!)

I don’t reallylike doing this because I’m afraid I’ll miss someone off andthey’ll feel sad about it or something BUT HERE’S A LIST OF PEEPSI SPEAK TO OFTEN AND CARE ABOUT AND TREASURE (note just becauseyou’re not on this list it doesn’t mean I don’t like you ordon’t enjoy your content! Just means this people I am particularlyclose with.)

@smoochesforseven

@better-than-nothin-kay

@millizines

@ckselfinsert

@limey-blue-arty-do

@momomochaccino

#long post////#honestly this took me all day because i'm a lazy piece of shit #also got distracted playing borderlands I'm sorry

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flakandforay · 6 years

Text

HYYH: the Notes Theory

overall: i think it’s time to finally piece together all these HYYH: the Notes that were released as part of the new Love Yourself series

let’s start~

theory: so when we all thought that hey, this new series, there won't be anything linked to the 화양연화 series, boy, were we all wrong. so bighit decided to drop this hint in August on their official twitter, and then everyone was shocked because when we heard an upcoming comeback of a new series, we all thought that ‘hey maybe they would give it a rest but nope, its been 2 years and we are still on this HYYH series that leaves us many questions unanswered while creating more questions with no answers’.

but hey moving on, the hint finally showed us some new things to think about as bits and pieces fall into place - helping to connect scenes together while providing new ones to look at

so the first hint only shows us some parts of Seokjin’s life, specifically showing the year and a brief excerpt of what happened then.

Seokjin 13 June YEAR 22

We were all alone after returning from the sea.

We didn’t contact each other as if we planned it. We could only assume our existence by the graffiti left on the street, the brightly lit gas station and the sounds of the piano in the old building. That was when everything comes back to life. Taehyung’s eyes were ablaze, the way they looked at me as if they heard something unbelievable, Namjoon’s hand that tried to stop Taehyung, I couldn’t take it and threw a punch at taehyung.

We couldn’t find Taehyung after he dashed out, not even at the beach or guesthouse after I returned. broken glass cups, bloodstains that began to cling, smashed cookies that reminded me the incidents that happened a few hours before. A picture had fallen. We were laughing and smiling together in the picture with the sea as the background.

Today, I just passed by the gas station. There will be a day when we will meet again - the day when we were all laughing just like in that picture. There will be a day when I would be able to gather courage and confront myself. Whoever, now is not the time. Today, just like that day, The wind was blowing strongly. And in the next moment, just like a warning, my handphone rang. The picture that was hanging on my room mirror shook. hoseok’s name then appeared on my screen.

‘hyung, jungkook got into a car accident that night’

so here, several events have been cleared up. and actually, most of them could be released to the Wings Short films ( from Begin all the way to Awake ) and even inclusive of the Love Yourself: Highlight Reel and even in I Need U, the Prologue and Blood, Sweat, Tears JP. version.

clearly, some scenes were more evident inside the Blood, Sweat, Tears JP. version, with how Seokjin threw a punch to Taehyung and one could clearly tell that this might be the guesthouse that Seokjin was talking about here.

and in this translations, Seokjin mentions several familiar places - the gas station, sea, graffiti, sounds of a piano - clear symbolism that has been frequently used in bangtan’s themes.

gas station - Namjoon in I Need U, the Prologue, BST JP. Version sea - bangtan in I Need U, Run, the Prologue, Love Yourself posters grafitti - Taehyung in Stigma, BST JP. Verison, Namjoon in Highlight Reel piano - Yoongi and Jungkook in Highlight Reel, First Love

even in these notes, it has been revealed that Jungkook has indeed gotten in a car accident, looks familiar? ( I Need U ) and that later on in the Highlight Reel, it has been revealed that Jungkook was at a hospital.

not to mention how in the Highlight Reel, Yoongi fell off the bed because he was shocked at what he read on his phone.

interesting how Hoseok was the one reporting how Jungkook got into an accident when Hoseok himself seems to be in trouble with his overdosage of pills etc.

and now, when the Love Yourself Her albums were released, it has been revealed that there were 4 versions of the HYYH: the Notes - L, O, V, and E that contained excepts of the members that were different than what bighit has posted. also, within these 4 versions, some of them having repeated excerpts but all members had 3 different excerpts in these 4 versions of the notes.

what was interesting is that they all had at least 2 excepts of each member in each version and they all had the Years stated as well, some members being the same and some having different ones, depending.

but overall, one could see that the HYYH: the Notes gave input on each of the member’s lives while showing connections and the prominent pairings as seen inside.

Seokjin by himself, Namjoon and Taehyung, Hoseok and Jimin and Yoongi and Jungkook which could already be seen in the Love Yourself posters, the unit ones especially and later hinted again in the highlight reel films.

so time to look at them in depth starting with Seokjin and then the pairings - Yoongi and Jungkook, Hoseok and Jimin, Namjoon and Taehyung

note: i won't be repeating the same excepts of the members.

Seokjin

L version 15 August YEAR 22

After coming out of the busy intersection, I came to an abrupt stop as I was about to pick up speed. The car behind me blared its horn and someone spat out curses yet it went unheard in the noise of the city. I took a right turn to an alley corner to see a florist shop. The shop didn’t seem to be opened yet. It wasn’t that I suddenly saw the store but rather it was if I discovered it afterwards.

Inside the florist shop, there was construction still being done and the owner was organizing his documents. At that time, I had no real expectations. I had already travelled to several places, but not one florist knew of the flower’s existence. I could see a flower that had similar colours. However, I wasn’t looking for a flower with similar colours. The flowers had to be real. The owner looked at me for quite a bit when he heard the name of the flower and said that the florist shop isn’t officially open but he could deliver it to me. “Why do you need this flower?”

I thought about it again as I turned the handle and got back on the road. I have a reason for needing that flower. There is only one reason. I want to make the person I give it to happy. I want to make the person smile. I want to be seen as a good person. I want to be a good person.

interesting how the note start off with this, a clear resemblance to the whole Smeraldo flower blog, highlight reel and love yourself poster and i love how it is centred on Seokjin in the end. it seems as though Seokjin holds some regrets as he wants to be a good person and make the person he gives the flower to happy, but who exactly is he giving the Smeraldo to? could it be Taehyung?

L version 2 March YEAR 19

I followed my father into the principal’s office where it smelt damp. it has been 10 days since I came back from America. Based on the different school system, I heard that I will be entering one year later. “Please take care of my son.” My father placed his hand on my shoulders to keep me from moving. “The school is a dangerous place. There is a need for regulations.” The principal looked straight at me. As he talked, the wrinkled flesh around his cheeks and mouth sagged, and the interior of his lips was dark red. “Don’t you think so, Seokjin?” I was startled at the abrupt question and my father put in more strength in his hand on my shoulder. The grip was strong enough to make the veins pop out on his neck. “I believe you will do well.” The principal looked at me with such tenacity while my father’s hand on my shoulder gradually increased in strength. My shoulder felt it would break from how tightly my father’s grip was on me. My body was trembling and I broke into cold sweat. “You must always talk to me. I think you will be a great student, Seokjin.” The principal looked at me with an unsmiling face. “Yes.” I could barely squeeze out an answer, I wanted to disappear at that moment. I could hear my father and principal’s laughter. I couldn’t lift my head. I just stared at my father’s brown shoes and the black shoes of the principal. I didn’t know where the shining light was coming from. I was scared of that light.

then the 2nd part of the excerpt of Seokjin’s life is seen here. it’s clear that the whole phase of the boys being youthful is them when they were in high school, clearly with Seokjin being transferred to one after being in America for awhile. also, given the fact with the difference of school systems, it seemed as though Seokjin could have actually met the boys considering the fact that he had to enter one year later, hence possibly being in the same grade as Yoongi despite the age difference etc or even Hoseok and Namjoon depending.

and it’s interesting how Seokjin’s father mentioned that the school is a dangerous place, but never gave an explanation as to why, also how the principal is ensuring that Seokjin would talk to him no matter what etc. it seemed as though Seokjin has had a tough time with a strict father and an uncaring principal that only pays lip service to appeal to his father. i feel that Seokjin has this fear instilled in him from his father considering that his father’s grip on him tightened throughout the meeting with the principal - clearly dictating Seokjin’s life in-depth and family background which isn't off to a good start.

E Version 11 April YEAR 22

I came to the sea alone. The blue, broad sea was one that could be opened whenever in the viewfinder as it always had. It was all the same, the light that sparkled from the water, the wind from the pine forest. The only difference was that I was here alone. As soon as I pressed the shutter, the scenery in front of my eyes flickered, that moment, on that day, 2 years and 10 months before seemed to appear and disappear. That day when we were all sitting in front of the sea. Though we were tired and times were rough, we were together.

I turned the car and stepped on the accelerator. I entered the tunnel and passed by a rest stop. When I reached vicinity of the school that we all attended, I opened the car window. It was a night in spring. The air was warm and the cherry blossoms fluttered in the trees that lined the walls of the school. I left and passed several intersections, made several left and right turns. In the distance, I could see the lights of the gas station where Namjoon works.

this is where Seokjin then visits Namjoon at the gas station which could be seen in the BST JP. version after he reflects about the rest of them when we went to the sea.

question is why were things rough and tough back then? what triggered it? was it the mere fact that Taehyung killed his father that set a downward spiral effect on everyone? was it school as implied by the principal that it was a dangerous place?

Yoongi

L Version 8 June YEAR 22

I took off my t-shirt again. I looked in the mirror and it was not like me at all. The cotton shirt that was not my type had the word ‘Dream’ on it. No matter how you look at it, the red colour, the word, dream, the shirt didn’t fit me at all. Out of frustration, I pulled a cigarette and looked for my lighter. Since it wasn’t in the back pocket of my jeans, I looked inside my bag. (They) took it away. (They) took it from my hands without any constraint. (They) threw back to me were candy bars and this t-shirt.

I messed up my hair and stood up when I heard the sound of a message. My heart began to beat faster as at the moment, my hand phone screen lit up brightly with a name that was 3 syllabuses. I broke my cigarette to check the message. In the next moment, I was laughing at the mirror. Wearing the tight t-shirt that had ‘Dream’ written on it, the red colour, I must have looked like an idiot.

it’s interesting that Yoongi is being seen with his cigarette habit and it seems as though he must have been seen as a juvenile delinquent as his pack of cigarettes have been taken away to only replace it with candy and some positive-looking t-shirt with the word ‘dream’ on it. he must have thought that his life was a laughing stock right there and then.

not to mention that throughout this series, Yoongi is commonly seen with a lighter, a cigarette or a fire, let alone with the piano etc and his reckless behaviour - one similar to Taehyung but of course of a different level.

L version 25 June YEAR 20

I opened the door of the bottom drawer with a pop and firstly, took out the bag that was placed inside. I turned the bag inside out and a dusty piano key fell out. I threw the half-burned piano key in the trashcan and laid down on bed. The fire in my heart wouldn’t cool down and so my breathing was ragged, and at some point, soot was smeared over my fingers.

After the funeral, I went back alone to the house that was set ablaze on fire. I entered my mother’s room to see the piano that was burned so badly, the shape was unrecognizable. I hesitantly sat down. I sat there for some time until the sunlight that entered through the window died down. Several keys rolled around in the last of the light. What kind of sound could be heard if I played the keys? I thought about my mother playing these keys a lot. I put one of them in my pocket and left the room.

From that moment on, 4 years has passed. The house has been quiet. Just like it was meant to be quiet. It was past 10 and so my father would have been asleep, afterwards everything held its breath. That was the rule of the house. It was hard for me to endure the silence. it also wasn’t easy to keep up with the stipulated times, regulations and forms. No matter how you looked at it, it was hard to be patient. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stand living in this house. After receiving pocket money from my father, eating with him, I got scolded by him. Rather than not talking to my father and go astray, I lacked the courage to abandon him and the house, to make freedom into reality and not just in words.

I suddenly rose up from bed. I pulled out the piano key from the desk with a tissue paper. I opened the window and the night air rushed in. The wind that came in slapped me with the strength of whatever happened today. I threw the piano key in the air. Today I haven’t gone to school for 3 or 4 days. I heard the news of getting expelled. Now, I don’t know if I want to be kicked out of the house. I listened hard but I couldn’t hear the keys hitting the ground. No matter how much I have been thinking about it, I couldn’t imagine the sound the piano key would have made. No matter how much time has passed, the piano key would never make a sound again. I will never play the piano again.

here now, it shows Yoongi’s family background, clearly an abusive one as his father was an alcoholic, probably gotten worse with the death of his mother. it was known that his mother was the one who taught Yoongi the piano and it seemed as though with all the events happening in his life, Yoongi refuses to play the piano anymore for it only brought him back memories that he wished to forget.

also, the news of Yoongi getting expelled could later be seen in Jungkook’s notes, hence the notion of them being in high school etc.

O Version 7 April YEAR 22

I came to a stop after hearing the sound of a piano. The only sound that could be heard at the empty construction site was someone popping an oil drum. I knew the sound of the song that I had just played, but why did I think of that? My drunken footsteps stumbled. I closed my eyes and walked even more carelessly. As the heat of the fire grew stronger, the piano sound, the night air, the drunkenness fading away.

I opened my eyes at the sound of horn as a car grazed dangerously past me. In the confusion of the blazing headlight, the wind of the car’s passing and my drunkenness, I stumbled helplessly. I could hear the curses of the driver. As I came to a stop to curse back, I could no longer hear the sound of the piano. In spite of the sound of the blazing fire, the wind and the silence left after the car, the piano sound was gone. It stopped. Why did it stop? Who was playing the piano?

The sparks from the fire picked up its pace towards the oil barrel with one sound together. I could only look at the scene blankly. My face became flushed. Bang, it was at that moment when I heard a fist slamming on the piano keys. Instinctively, I looked behind. For a moment, my blood rushed that my breathing became uneven. The nightmares that I had when I was young. That was where I heard the sound.

The next moment, I was running. It wasn’t of my own will that I ran towards the music shop and instinctively looked behind. This was something like I had done numerous times. It was a feeling that I had forgotten something important.

The music store had a broken window. In front of the piano, someone was sitting there. It had been a few years yet I still recognized the person. The person was crying, fists being clenched. I didn’t want to be concerned with anyone’s life. I didn’t want to comfort anyone who was lonely. I didn’t want to mean anything to someone. I couldn’t protect the person and I had no confidence. Until the end, I had no confidence. I didn’t want to give pain. I didn’t want to receive pain.

I slowly moved. I wanted to go back but before I know it, I started approaching the person. Just then a wrong note was heard. Jungkook lifted his head and looked at me. “Hyung”. This had been our first meeting since quitting high school.

the first few paragraphs would have depicted the scenes from Yoongi’s short film, First Love clearly.

but the last paragraph it shows how Yoongi didnt get expelled as what the rumours mentioned but instead he quit on his own accord and that he haven't met Jungkook ( or even probably the rest ) since he had quit high school.

so this would mean that all the times that bangtan were together was when they were all in high school then, considering afterwards, they didnt meet anymore and hence Seokjin wished that they did etc, even Namjoon too ( which would be seen in his notes. )

Jungkook

L Version 16 July YEAR 22

I stood at the window and sang a bit to the song playing in my earphones. It has already been a week. Now I don’t need to see the lyrics to sing along. I took out one side of my earphones so that I could practice listening to my own voice. (someone) said that they liked it because it was beautiful but it only made me scratch my head in embarrassment. The July sunshine entered the big window. The green leaves of the trees flew and shone in the wind and everytime it fell on my face, it felt different. I closed my eyes. I sang while looking at the yellow, blue and green colours behind my eyes. Whether it was the lyrics or the sunshine, something tickled and stung my heart.

this part sounds exactly like Jungkook in the Highlight Reel as he takes in the earpiece and watches someone perform.

i feel as though this was when he might have forgotten Yoongi at this point; most likely Jungkook was suffering from the repercussions of the accident, as if he'd remember Yoongi, his notes would have directed to him straight away instead of saying ‘something tickled and stung my heart’.

then again, it might be possible that Jungkook might have suffered from some memory loss given his accident consequences but i won't consider it as to the extent of amnesia.

hence this could explain why he couldn't remember Yoongi as clearly but only the faint memories he has with him - including the piano.

L Version 11 April YEAR 22

In the end, it turned out just like I wanted. I deliberately ran into the thugs on the street and got beaten up till I was satisfied. I laughed while I was getting beaten up, and they called me a crazy maniac. I leaned against the shutter door and looked at the sky. It was already night. There was nothing in the pitch-black sky. I could only see a clump of grass in the distance. It was on the side of the wind. It was just like me. I felt like I was going to cry so I forced myself to laugh instead.

I closed my eyes and saw my stepfather clear his throat. My stepbrother kicked me and laughed. My stepbrother’s relatives looked elsewhere or began to talk useless things. It was as if I wasn’t there, like my existence didn’t matter. In front of them, my mother was at a loss. I tried to stand up but instead dust rose and I coughed. It hurt as if I had been stabbed at my solar plexus. I went up to the roof of the construction site. The night city stretched out in a terrible colour. I climbed up on the railing with both of my arms stretched out. I had one leg out and I almost lost my balance. I thought I could die with just one step. If I died, it will all end. No one would be sad without me.

this could clearly explain Jungkook’s predicament in I Need U.

he gets beaten up to a pulp, relishing in the feeling since there’s not much difference to when he’s at home with an abusive stepfather and an equally-abusive stepbrother and a mother who couldn't do anything to protect Jungkook from them.

O Version 25 June YEAR 20

I stroked the piano keys and smeared the dust. I put some strength in the finger, but the sound was different than of Hyung’s playing. It has been 10 days since Hyung stopped coming to school. I heard the rumours of him getting expelled. Namjoon Hyung, Hoseok Hyung didn’t say anything, I was afraid to ask. Two weeks before, Hyung and I were the only ones in the hideaway classroom when the teacher opened the door. It was a day for the parents to visit. I didn’t want to be there, so I went into the hideaway one. Hyung didn’t bother to look at me and kept on playing the piano, I took 2 desks and lied down and closed my eyes. Hyung and the piano seemed different but yet they seemed like one. While listening to Hyung’s playing, I wanted to cry.

The tears threatened to fall then the sound of the door slammed open and the piano playing stopped. I was hit in the face, stumbled backwards and eventually fell. As I crouched to withstand the violence, the voice stopped. When I lifted my head, I saw Hyung standing in front of me and pushing the teacher’s shoulder. Over Hyung’s shoulder, I saw the teacher’s shocking expression.

I pushed the piano key. It was supposed to mimic Hyung’s playing. Was Hyung really expelled? Will he come back? Hyung said it was okay if he was beaten up a few times. What if I wasn’t there, would Hyung not stand up to the teacher? What if I wasn’t there, would I still hear Hyung playing the piano?

what’s interesting is that now it is revealed that the boys had met several times in the hideaway classroom but interesting to note that Yoongi and Jungkook were there on the day when parents would visit.

of course, given their family backgrounds, it seemed unlikely that their parents would - Yoongi having an alcoholic father and Jungkook with a mother who was scared and an abusive stepfather.

so here it seems to show Jungkook’s regrets, thinking that he caused Yoongi to eventually quit high school, he blames himself for Yoongi not playing the piano anymore when actually Yoongi stopped playing for many reasons.

and here, it shows that Jungkook was concerned with Yoongi possibly getting expelled from school etc and it also reveals Namjoon and Hoseok in this picture. it even explains how Yoongi has already stopped himself from going to school yet no one knows the reason for his absence, perhaps Namjoon and Hoseok might have an idea but Jungkook clearly doesn't. why did Yoongi stop coming to school? is it because of the funeral as mentioned in his notes?

Hoseok

L Version 31 May YEAR 22

I reflexively turned my gaze away from the breathtaking wind. After dancing for a long time, often, I am out of breath but it is not that context. I thought I was similar to my mother. No, it wasn’t a thought or a perception, it couldn’t be described or explained. I couldn’t look at the face of my friend that I had known for 10 years already. We learned dance together, failed together, been frustrated and gained strength together. We slumped to the floor that was covered in sweat, we threw towels at each other and cracked jokes. It felt like a bothering sensation that I hadn’t felt in a while, and I hurriedly stood up. As soon as I reached the corner, I leaned back against the wall and stood there. I made an effort to calm my breathing. I could hear, “Where are you going, Hoseok-ah?” The voice. Nevertheless, I thought it could have been a voice. The voice calling, “Hoseok-ah”. A voice that I couldn’t recall now. It was a voice that brought me back to when I was nine years old.

here it reveals a bit of Hoseok and Jimin’s close relationship, being stuck together for some time as they shared memories for 10 years.

it also showed as though Hoseok seemed to experience some form of anxiety or possibly an anxiety attack as he tries to calm his breathing after being triggered by something and it shows as though his memory came back to him - clearly a scene from the Highlight Reel, the first one to be exact.

in which it shows his own mother abandoning him at the amusement park, but no one knows why his own mother did it.

L Version 15 September YEAR 20

Jimin’s mother walked across back and forth in the emergency room. After checking the name of the headboard of the bed and the IV drip was in place, she placed a blade of grass on Jimin’s shoulder. I hesitantly approached her, feeling that I should tell her why Jimin was in the emergency room, due to a seizure at the bus stop. Jimin’s mother must have discovered my presence and gave a long gaze. Regardless, I didn’t know why I was hesitant. I heard Jimin’s mother thanking me and she turned back to him.

Jimin’s mother looked at my face again, the doctor and nurse began to move the bed and at that time, I followed. Jimin’s mother once again thanked me and pushed my shoulder. It wasn’t exactly a push but more of a gentle touch as she pulled her hand away. Yet suddenly, I could feel an invisible line being drawn between her and myself. The line was clear and solid. It was cold and sturdy. It was a line I could never climb over. It has been 10 years since I had been in an orphanage. I knew that much with my body, sight and air. In that moment, I took a step back and collapsed on the floor. She looked at me absentmindedly. She was a beautiful and small person yet her shadow was large and chilly. The shadow fell over me and collapsed on the emergency room floor. I couldn’t see that Jimin’s bed had been moved outside. I didn’t see Jimin come back to school anymore.

now in Hoseok’s HYYH notes, it is revealed that Jimin is now in the hospital emergency room. it seems as though Jimin has a condition that Hoseok is painfully aware about but somehow the frequency of Jimin’s condition occurring seems to go unnoticed by Jimin’s mother.

it seemed weird as though Hoseok became emotionally attached to Jimin’s own mother, possibly because Hoseok didnt have his mother since she abandoned him at the age of 9, but whats interesting is that in these notes, Hoseok pays more attention to how Jimin’s mother reacts than to Jimin.

but note that in the end, Jimin stopped going to school as well, same as Yoongi but for different reasons.

O Version 25 February YEAR 21

I danced without taking my eyes off my reflection in the mirror. The me in the mirror had his feet off the ground, lifted up and was free from the standards and looks of the world. My body moved in sync with the music, there was nothing important, nothing that made my heart beat in my chest.

The first time that I danced was when I was 12. It must have been a talent show incident. My friends were pulled onto stage. I could still remember that day when I heard the applause and cheers of joy, I have never felt so confident. Then again, that was when I moved my body to the music and had fun doing it. I would only learn much later that the joy was not a joy that came from the applause but from within me.

The me outside the mirror is weighed down by many things. The feet that have leave the ground for a seconds, when I hate, I laugh and when I cry, I smile. There was no need for me to take my medicine since I could collapse anywhere. And so, when I dance, I try not to take my eyes off the mirror. The moment I can be my truest self. The moment where I could throw away everything and I could fly, the moment where I believe I could be happy. I protect these moments.

now this explains Hoseok’s love for dancing, when he dances, he’s in his truest form of happiness. it seemed as though dancing became an outlet for him to relive stress but it also explained that his condition is already in a bad state since he could collapse anywhere even if he took medicine, which could have explained his collapse on the bridge in the I Need U video, that maybe he didnt collapse and die due to overdosage of his pills or medicine, but because he couldn't help but to collapse since it is due to his condition.

then this would mean that Hoseok is still alive after all.

Jimin

L Version 3 July YEAR 22

In the end, I sprawled onto the floor. I turned off the music and my surroundings went quiet, all I could hear was the beating of my heart. I pulled out my hand phone and played the choreography dance video that I had learned in the morning. Hyung’s movements were so smooth and accurate in the video.

That was the result of his countless hours and sweat of practicing, and now since I wasn’t anywhere near as him, I was jealous. However, understanding and hoping are different and so I sighed often. Again I stood up. I imitated the turn as he had done it but I kept twisting my steps. I kept on making mistakes at the parts where we have to match the flow. We decide to match again tomorrow but until then I wanted to be seen as serious. Rather that a playful phrase, I wanted to be complimented as ‘better than expected’, I wanted to be recognized as someone who was equal and serious, one that could match with Hyung.

Jimin’s notes again places emphasis on his pairing with Hoseok, especially when it comes to them dancing. it shows how Jimin is filled with envy as Hoseok’s dancing skills are undoubtedly better than Jimin, which could explain the highlight reel in which Jimin practices non-stop even as he gets injured by the nail.

L Version 30 August YEAR 19

When Hoseok hyung was on the phone, I entertained myself by kicking the dirt on the floor. I could see hyung’s face as he giggled saying ‘Park Jimin has grown a lot’. Walking back from school to home would take 2 hours. If by bus, it would be 30 minutes and if we took the big road, it would only be 20 minutes. Yet, hyung insisted on taking a route through winding alleys, climbing over low hills and over pedestrian overpasses. Last year, I transferred schools after getting discharged from the hospital. School was far away from home and I didn’t know anyone. I thought it was alright. I had already transferred schools a few time and I didn’t know when I would be hospitalized again so I didn’t think it was anything special.

That’s when I met Hoseok hyung, it was a little while after the new semester had started. Hyung would make it a point to walk with me for those 2 hours together. I realized then that our houses aren’t in the same direction a long while afterwards. I couldn’t ask hyung why. i could only wished that with our shadows side by side for 2 hours and the sunshine above us would stretch the day a little longer.

Hyung was still on the phone, I kicked his shadow and ran away. Hyung ended his call and began to chase me. The hot sunshine melted our ice creams and the sound of cicadas stung my ears. Suddenly, I felt afraid. How many days are there left?

these notes explain Jimin’s backstory with Hoseok. how Jimin meets Hoseok at school, Hoseok taking his time to actually walk Jimin back home etc, even though it was long

one could see how unconventional Hoseok was as he walked with Jimin back home - choosing unfamiliar methods rather than the usual public transportation. nevertheless, Jimin expresses his comfort in Hoseok as he enjoys his company as they walk back.

but at the last paragraph, why is Jimin counting down the days? is it the days till he gets back to the hospital or before he moves again?

i wouldn't be surprised if he does move considering he has transferred schools several times with his condition and eventually in Hoseok’s HYYH: the notes, he did mention that the time that Jimin was hospitalised, it was the last time he saw Jimin. could Jimin’s condition be so intense that he has to move places all the time? or could it be because his own mother thought that was for the best for him?

O Version 28 September YEAR 20

I stopped counting the days since I was hospitalized. Counting is something you would do when you want to get out or there is hope of getting out. The trees and leaves were far outside the window and based on the clothes of people, I think that not much time has passed. At most, a month tops. Sometimes I see myself wearing the uniform though it was nothing special. Maybe it was because of the medicine, everything looked boring and dull. But today was a special day. The kind of day you write in a diary. However, I didn’t have one and I didn’t want the problems that come with writing in one. Today was the first time I lied. I looked at the doctor’s eyes and pretended to be gloomy. “I don’t remember anything.”

here it tells that Jimin is now in the hospital for quite some time as he doesn't bother much about how long he has been inside. not to mention that this day was significant as he fakes his ‘amnesia’ or memory loss to the doctors. question is, why did he lie to the doctors?

anyone would know how serious this lie could be because it could lead to false diagnosis by the doctors who would have to relay this to his family and/or friends and lead to detrimental consequences. could he possibly be guilt-tripping Hoseok then as revenge? but whatever for? why must Jimin lie? and what condition does he have to actually place him in the hospital for some time?

Namjoon

L Version 30 June YEAR 22

I looked a bit strange as I pushed the open button of the door as if my own hands had a will of their own. There are these kind of moments. Moments that I felt have repeated for numerous times, though it was the first. The elevator door close before they opened again for people to push their way in. Among them, I looked for the person who tied her hair with a yellow rubber band. I didn’t press the button knowing that the person would be there, but I thought the person would certainly be there. I moved back, one step at a time. When my back hit the cold elevator wall, I looked up and saw the yellow rubber band.

A person’s back tells a lot of stories. I had known a few of them. There were some that I could guess yet there were some that were left alone after everything is over. I thought that you know someone when you can read everything just from his back. Then, wouldn’t there be someone who would know me just from reading my back? As I lifted my head, our gazes met in the mirror. In a flash, she avoided my eyes. This kind of thing happens often. When I lifted my head again, I only saw my face. I couldn’t see my back.

one could tell that these notes remind of the Highlight Reel as Namjoon follows this girl, leaving the yellow hair band as well which looks so damn familiar.

i realise that Namjoon’s HYYH: the notes are very vague, broad if you would call it, his notes in this case dont really explain anything about whats been happening but it just explains what he thinks - his thoughts actually on how he sees things

now I'm guessing that the lady he saw was someone he saw frequently but not enough to call a friend, let alone an acquaintance. i guess to Namjoon, people usually acknowledge his presence, but not enough to know his story enough.

that last line ‘I couldn't see my back’ to me signifies that he cant see his own story, hence he doesn't know whats going to happen in the next chapter in his life - the true unstableness and fragility of youth is what he is experiencing now.

L Version 15 May YEAR 20

As I walked across the storage classroom that became a hideout for those of us who had nowhere to go, I set a few chairs straight. I wiped away the dust off the fallen desk with my palm while I was at it. Endings make people emotional. Today is the last day I go to school. It has been decided 2 weeks earlier that we would move. I didn’t know if I could possibly return. I wasn’t sure if I could see my hyungs or younger brothers.

I folded a piece of paper in half and placed it on a desk, I even got a pencil out but I didn’t know what words to leave behind, and so I let time pass. While I was scribbling useless words, my pencil lead snapped with a sound. “You have to keep living” on the paper with the marks of the graphite lead that I had scribbled with realizing. In between the black dust powder and scribbles were stories of poverty, parents, dongsaengs and moving.

I crumpled the paper and placed it in my pocket and then I stood. I pushed the desk away and the dust rose. As I began to leave, I blew onto the dirty window and wrote three characters. No goodbye would ever be enough yet no matter what I say, it would be conveyed as ‘”Let’s see each other again”. More than it being a promise, it was just a wish.

now Namjoon’s notes makes more room for explanation - again a school setting here, most likely high school. it seems as though Namjoon is leaving them for good considering he is struggling to say his goodbyes.

but whats interesting is that he didnt officially say his goodbye face to face to all of them but rather leaving a note behind in the storage classroom that became their hideout ( as seen in Jungkook’s notes - ‘Two weeks before, Hyung and I were the only ones in the hideaway classroom when the teacher opened the door. )

also, the fact that Namjoon wrote on a piece of paper ‘You have to keep living’ - similar to the one who wrote on the mirror in the Prologue ‘You have to survive’. Namjoon is begging them to stay alive, but question is, why do the boys not want to?

of course, some of them have lost the will to live given their family backgrounds, but for the rest of them, why do not they not want to live?

also, the fact that Namjoon mentions in his notes ‘No goodbye would ever be enough yet no matter what I say, it would be conveyed as ‘”Let’s see each other again”. More than it being a promise, it was just a wish.’

he seemed so sure that the boys won't meet again at all, what caused them to be so astray? could it be something that one of them had done eg. Taehyung that driven them all away? or was it due to multiple reasons and circumstances including family background that just led them all further away from each other?

one by one, it is revealed that the boys indeed hadn't met each other for a while, Yoongi and Jungkook, in which Jungkook saw Yoongi for the first time since he had quit high school at the rundown music store, Hoseok didnt see Jimin anymore once he left the hospital, Namjoon left as well, Seokjin too and Taehyung too as he ran away from the guesthouse.

why were they all leaving?

V Version 11 April YEAR 22

I was looking for a t-shirt for a while until Taehyung reached for a t-shirt behind me. It was a shirt that had the same printed letters as the one that I was wearing right now. With an awkward laugh, he removed the ripped shirt. In the faint illumination of the lights that hung from the trailer ceiling, I momentarily caught a glimpse of his bruised back. Hoseok looked at me with a shocked expression. Taehyung put on my shirt and looked at his reflection in the dirty mirror. Then he laughed.

“This punk. He arrived late after getting caught by the police for doing graffiti.” I pretended to hit Taehyung and he pretended to be sorry. Yoongi Hyung who had been sitting at the corner of the trailer, slowly approached Taehyung and smacked his shoulder.

again, Namjoon and Taehyung’s pairing is prominent here. but here one could tell, this looks like Stigma in which Taehyung was arrested by the police for doing graffiti - something that Taehyung was commonly doing throughout the whole series ever since the Prologue etc.

even in Run, it could be seen that Namjoon used to partake in Taehyung’s reckless activities that got them arrested, but it seemed as though the rest of them were already used to what Taehyung does - even if it was illegal.

Taehyung

L Version 25 June YEAR 22

I deliberately delayed my steps as I sensed to the small steps that was following me. This was the 3rd time already at the convenience store. If there was something different, it was that today they ran away when they saw me. They hung around a vacant spot behind the convenience store but as I turned up, they hid themselves again. They hid themselves well but their shadows were reaching to the front of the store. I let out a laugh. I pretended that I didn’t see but they began to follow me.

I entered a narrow alley. This is the the only place in the neighbourhood without a broken streetlamp. The alley was long and the streetlamp was somewhere in the middle with my shadow stretching. The shadow now stretches behind me. It could have been stretching all the way to the person who was following me with ragged breath. I started walking a little bit faster. As I passed the streetlamp, my shadow disappeared beneath my feet. Not long after, a shadow that wasn’t mine appeared on the cement floor. I stopped walking and so did the movements. The two shadows of different heights stopped side by side.

I said, “I’m going to wait until you come here.” The shadow behind me leaped out of shock. Then it became still as if it wasn’t here. “I can see everything.” I pointed to the shadow. The footsteps became nearer and deliberately were noisy. I laughed.

here it shows Taehyung is being followed but question is, who is the one following him? could it be the police which would then explain him getting arrested? but then again, looking at the dates, Taehyung was being followed, possibly this is when Taehyung ran away from the guesthouse since based on Seokjin’s notes - 13 June YEAR 22 ( ironically, bangtan’s debut date ), so technically, how long were they trying to find Taehyung?

not to mention, it seemed as though Taehyung knew who was following him since he had the audacity to even provoke him.

L Version 29 December YEAR 10

I took my shoes and threw my bag and went into the main room. My father was really there. I didn’t think of how long he was going to return or where he had been. I only raced recklessly into his embrace. I don’t remember clearly afterwards. Whether it was the smell of alcohol, the cursing or the slap to my cheek. I didn’t know what was going on. He reeked of alcohol and his pants were foul. His eyes were bloodshot and his beard was growing wildly. He hit my face with his large hand. He asked what I was looking at. He then lifted me in the air. His crimson eyes were frightening but I was so terrified that I couldn’t even cry. This wasn’t my father. No, this is my father. But then again, he wasn’t. My two feet shoot in the air. In the next moment, my head crashed hard into the wall and I slumped to the floor. It was as if my head exploded. My vision flickered and I blinked a few times. My head was filled with the sound of my father’s harsh breathing.

here it shows that Taehyung since young already had a broken family background with the father being abusive towards him since he was young. hence, to Taehyung, he might even have grown up thinking that violence is acceptable - or a way of love but of course in his notes, he mentions that he felt scared of his own father, his alcoholic and abusive father.

V Version 22 May YEAR 22

I passed by a pine tree forest as Hyung picked up a phone call and started to lag behind. Nowadays, there were more times like this. He moved far away so that he could pick up the call where others couldn’t eavesdrop. I deliberately slowed down ad hid myself off towards the ocean. Hyung wouldn’t be able to see me when he passed by. “He’s only one year younger than me. No, I don’t really care. Anyway, I’m not going to be the one taking the responsibility, just do whatever is best.”

Something cold slithered down my spine. It felt as if everything in the world crumbled and crashed with a bang. It felt as if I was floating alone in the deep ocean. It was scary and frightening. I was miserable and insignificant. I was angry. I couldn’t contain my anger. I wanted to cause a scene. I wanted to smash something, to hit something, to wreck myself. I was always afraid. That my father’s blood would run in me. I thought that maybe his violence was what I inherited. It seemed that something was stabbing my tight defenses.

the thing about Taehyung’s notes here is that he doesn't specific which Hyung is he mentioning - of course the more probably answer is that it would be Namjoon but at the same time for some reason, it could also be Seokjin. if you haven't noticed but theres also a really subtle pairing of Taehyung and Seokjin as seen in Seokjin’s notes and confirmed by the BST JP. version.

but of course, based on this notes, this happened before the whole guesthouse, considering the dates. but who exactly is this Hyung talking to, and why is it about Taehyung? could it be because of his juvenile delinquent actions and how Namjoon/Seokjin is trying to ail him out? but who is taking responsibility and for what action must the person take the responsibility ?

now looking at the notes and the dates and years, ( i doubt the years reflect their ages because it wouldn't make much sense considering the high school system, the highest age is 18 and not 19. )

Seokjin - 13 June YEAR 22, 15 August YEAR 22, 2 March YEAR 19, 11 April YEAR 22

Yoongi - 8 June YEAR 22, 25 June YEAR 20, 7 April YEAR 22

Jungkook - 16 July YEAR 22, 11 April YEAR 22, 25 June YEAR 20

Hoseok - 31 May YEAR 22, 15 September YEAR 20, 25 February YEAR 21

Jimin - 3 July YEAR 22, 30 August YEAR 19, 28 September YEAR 20

Namjoon - 30 June YEAR 22, 15 May Year 20, 11 April YEAR 22

Taehyung - 25 June YEAR 22, 29 December YEAR 10, 22 May YEAR 22

now, arranging them in a timeline

29 December YEAR 10 - Taehyung 2 March YEAR 19 - Seokjin 30 August YEAR 19 - Jimin 15 May YEAR 20 - Namjoon 25 June YEAR 20 - Yoongi 25 June YEAR 20 - Jungkook 15 September YEAR 20 - Hoseok 28 September YEAR 20 - Jimin 25 February YEAR 21 - Hoseok 7 April YEAR 22 - Yoongi 11 April YEAR 22 - Seokjin 11 April YEAR 22 - Jungkook 11 April YEAR 22 - Namjoon 22 May YEAR 22 - Taehyung 31 May YEAR 22 - Hoseok 8 June YEAR 22 - Yoongi 13 June YEAR 22 - Seokjin 25 June YEAR 22 - Taehyung 30 June YEAR 22 - Namjoon 3 July YEAR 22 - Jimin 15 August YEAR 22 - Seokjin

so on 25 June YEAR 20, the incidents of Yoongi coming back from a funeral to him drinking and drowning his grief led him to the broken music store - to the sound of Jungkook trying to play the piano - the first time he has seen Yoongi since he quit high school

then on 11 April YEAR 22, Seokjin has passed the gas station, the one that Namjoon used to work at, and he wishes for them to meet sometime soon as he gathers courage, as he returned from the sea and on the same day, Jungkook ran into the thugs to get beaten up, just as how he wanted it to be. also, on this day, Taehyung got himself arrested and was late to meeting Namjoon and Yoongi who both brushed off Taehyung’s earlier arrest. but later on 13 June YEAR 22, Seokjin found out from Hoseok that Jungkook has gotten into an accident and that the boys haven't met up with each other for some time already, much like when Taehyung ran out from the guesthouse.

interesting that so much has happened in YEAR 22, but the rest of the details have yet to be filled out, and im still awaiting for bangtan’s upcoming albums who could then fill these gaps.

12 notes · View notes

nonbinaryyandere-blog · 7 years

Note

This blog is great! I just found your blog and your writing is amazing! I love it! Do you think you could do a first encounter thing for Russia?

((omg omg you’re so nice thank you so muchhh~))

((well… this turned out longer than i intended. hope you like it!))

First Encounters - 1p!Russia/Ivan Braginsky

Ivan was used to the constant sheet of white covering the city. After all, it was his home. He found comfort in the cold. But as he walked down the street, the lower half of his face nuzzled into his beloved scarf, he found himself daydreaming of a warmer place.

“When was the last time I took a vacation?” he pondered, stopping at a crosswalk as he waited for the light to change. “I wonder if my boss would allow me a few days off.”

The light changed and everyone around him began to cross. As he continued drifting through his thoughts, he bumped into someone in the middle of the street. He turned to offer an apology, but the person had already taken off, manoeuvring quickly through the crowd.

‘I hope they’re okay.’ As he was about to carry on, Ivan noticed something on the ground. It was a wallet, sitting prominently upon the slushy, brown snow.

As he carefully picked it up, a car honked at him, followed by muffled curses coming from within the vehicle. The light had changed and Ivan was the only one left standing in the crosswalk. Still, he thought the driver’s attitude was unnecessary, and an unintentionally threatening aura began emanating from him. The car immediately jerked back, nearly hitting the vehicle behind it.

Ivan safely reached the other side of the street before inspecting the wallet closer. It was well-used, even baring a few stains. Inside were ID cards, a credit card, gift cards, cash, a crumbled ticket to an event, and a family photo.

“So, their name is… s/o.” The ID pictures were all the same, though Ivan mused over how a timeline could be seen between them. However, it was the family photo that Ivan found the most interesting.

A gust of wind hit Ivan from behind, nearly ripping the picture from his hand. He decided it would be better to continue his inspection from the comfort of a nearby café. Besides, he was craving something warm to drink.

Ivan relished in the warmth as he veered into the cozy building. He brushed the snow off his broad shoulders at the door and found a seat near a window that looked over the bustling street. After placing his order, he took out the wallet again and grabbed the family photo.

S/o was front and centre on a carpeted floor, hugging a dog with a huge smile across both their faces. Behind them was an older couple occupying a loveseat and a young man dressed in a casual suit standing next to them. The scene was very sweet, though s/o seemed to brighten it the most with their beaming face.

“It’s so,” he brushed the lower half of the photo with his thumb, “warm.”

Ivan was drawn away from the picture when a young woman placed a steaming cup of cocoa on his table. He muttered a quick thank you before she disappeared.

He carefully sipped his drink while contemplating his next course of action. S/o was no doubt panicking about losing their wallet, so his first order of business was to find a way to return it. Perhaps there was contact info somewhere in their wallet, or a mailing address. Ivan began riffling through the ID cards in hopes of finding something useful.

BANG! Something hit the window next to Ivan with strong force, startling the large Russian enough to make him flinch. When he turned to investigate, he found a very reddened, very angry face staring at him through the frosty glass.

The person then ran off, barging into the café and storming over to Ivan’s table. “Excuse me,” they snapped, “I believe that’s my wallet.”

Everything happened so fast, and Ivan had yet to realise how he looked being confronted digging through a stranger’s wallet. “Oh!” He grabbed the family photo and held it up, comparing the person before him to the one in the picture. “You must be s/o!”

S/o snatched the photo from Ivan. “How dare you act so casual after stealing my wallet?! Do you know how much stress you put me through?! You… You criminal!” They took back their wallet and began gathering the scattered cards with shaky hands.

Ivan was hurt by their cruel words, but he could see their expression didn’t match their anger. He grabbed their hand and, before they could protest, said, “I found this wallet on the street after someone bumped into me, and I was looking for a way to return it. I’m sorry if I made you worry.” He put on a smile in hopes of lightening the situation, though it was difficult to keep up as s/o stared at him.

Finally, s/o released a long sigh and slumped into the seat across from Ivan. “I’m… I’m sorry,” they muttered, resting their face in the palms of their hands. “I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge. I’m just having a really rough day today. Um…” they glanced up at Ivan. “Thank you for finding my wallet.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” When he saw their confused face, he elaborated. “Your rough day. Would you like to talk about it? I think it helps when people let out their feelings, da?”

S/o leaned back in their seat, their eyes looking elsewhere. “It’s all right, I doubt you want to be burdened by a stranger’s problems.”

Ivan placed his hands on his lap, adjusting his posture. “I don’t mind. And you’re not a stranger. After all, I did search through your wallet.” Only Ivan seemed oblivious to just how creepy he sounded.

It was clear that s/o was hesitant. But Ivan sounded so genuine, and the stress building up within s/o was getting difficult to manage. “Well, I guess it’s okay. But we need to introduce ourselves first, just to make this whole thing seem a little more… uh, normal.” They cleared their throat. “Hello, my name’s s/o.”

“Hello, s/o. You can call me Ivan.” He was amused by the formal exchange. Even in their current state, s/o seemed lighthearted.

Silence fell over the table for a few seconds before s/o let go of another sigh, though this one was lighter than the last. “All right, well, here goes…”

Ivan listened intently as s/o explained everything that happened, from a tragic breakup to fighting with their best friend. The reason they were in such a hurry was to meet their older brother at his concert. “He’s an amazing violinist, and I promised him I wouldn’t be late. But then I dropped my wallet which had my ticket in it and I couldn’t get into the building and…” S/o sunk into their seat. “So, yeah, today’s been pretty rough.”

Bad luck was inevitable in life, but Ivan felt s/o had had enough bad luck for one day. He caught the attention of a waitress with a wave of his hand and asked s/o, “Would you like something to drink?”

S/o pulled out their phone and checked the time. When their shoulders slumped, they placed an order and then waited for the waitress to disappear. “The concert’s over by now, so I might as well enjoy this before I get hear how disappointed my brother is.”

“Wouldn’t he understand if you explained yourself?”

“Maybe, but my brother was really counting on me to show up. He even gave me a ticket and reserved an awesome seat for me.” They turned their gaze to the window. Silence lingered for only a few seconds before a tear slipped past their defences. “If only things were different today. I wish I could make up with my friend, and… Well, I think it was for the best my partner and I split up. They didn’t appreciate me enough anyway.” S/o tried to laugh, but it was forced.

Ivan cupped his hands around his mug. “I think your brother will understand. You did not mean to miss his concert, and you are very sorry, da?”

S/o wiped their eyes with their coat sleeve. “Uh-huh.” They sniffled, then laughed. “I think too much has happened all at once. I’m not usually this pessimistic.”

“Everyone has a bad day. It’s okay.”

The waitress returned with s/o’s order, and s/o managed to brighten up. “It’s so cold today, but I guess that’s nothing new.” After the first sip, they visibly relaxed. “This is just what I needed.”

“Do you feel better?”

S/o watched the steam rising from their cup, then nodded. “I do. I feel a lot better.” They looked up at Ivan. “Thanks for listening to me. I really appreciate it.”

There it was. The warmth Ivan saw in the family photo. Even with damp cheeks and glossy eyes, s/o was still a very warm person. It felt even better knowing Ivan played a part in bringing back their comforting aura.

S/o put down their drink and pulled out their phone. Someone was calling them, and whoever it was made s/o turn tense. “I’m sorry, I have to take this.”

Ivan waited patiently as s/o answered their phone. They tried to sound casual in the beginning, but their tone soon turned apologetic, and then grew lighthearted. By the end of the call, s/o was wearing a content smile.

“You look happy,” Ivan observed.

They chuckled. “It was my brother. He was actually worried that I didn’t show up.” S/o began drinking their beverage quicker, though flinched when they burned their tongue. “We’re going to meet up and then I can properly apologise to him.”

“That’s wonderful. I’m glad you and your brother are okay.” Ivan was a little startled when s/o chugged back the rest of their drink and stood up. “Oh, you’re leaving now?”

S/o ran their fingers through their hair and then adjusted their coat. “Yep! I’ve gotta make an effort to actually see him this time.” Before leaving, s/o approached Ivan and wrapped their arms around him in a strong hug. “Again, thank you so much for letting me vent. Um,” when they pulled away, they fished a pen from their pocket and grabbed one of the napkins on the table. “If you want, here’s my number. Maybe we could hang out again sometime?”

He was surprised, but overall happy. Ivan always struggled when it came to making friends, yet here he was already getting s/o’s number. He was joyful. “I would like that very much.”

After handing him the napkin, s/o hurried to the till to pay for their drink before dashing out of the café. As Ivan was about to examine the napkin, something slammed against the window. It was s/o again, but they were grinning from ear to ear, most likely amused by Ivan’s reaction. They pulled away and waved before finally disappearing down the street.

Ivan chuckled and looked back at the napkin. “That was nice,” he mused, sitting back in his seat with his cup in hand. As time passed, however, Ivan noticed the room getting colder. He glanced around at the other customers, but no one else looked bothered.

He soon realised that, when s/o left, they took the warmth with them.

Ivan took out his phone and went to work adding their number to his contact list. Once everything was in order, he sent them a message:

: It was nice talking to you today. I look forward to seeing you again soon! ^J^ :

Once his phone was tucked away, Ivan breathed a longing sigh. “It’s cold today.”

#hetalia #1p!Russia #aph Russia #Ivan Braginsky #First Encounters #yandere #asks

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nightingveilxo · 7 years

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Why Love Sherlock?

With all the recent posts about who really loves Sherlock, and what ship makes sense, I’ve been thinking of the main character himself. Besides the point that he is the central character, why does everyone want him in their ship?

Going back to the original template for the character, we were told he was meant to be “Byronesque”. It’s in the official guide, and even Benedict’s own mother questioned her son as being handsome enough for the role. She also said Benedict changes when he is playing Sherlock “I do get affected by it. There's a sense of being impatient. My mum says I'm much curter with her when I'm filming Sherlock” and "She sees a lot of me in Sherlock," Cumberbatch said, "which both makes her laugh and is slightly embarrassing. I suppose it’s my rushing around, my impatience." ( x )

Claire Pritchard-Jones:

"All Steven and Mark said to me was Byronesque. [She refers to Lord Byron] They wanted him to look like a poet. […] he was a creature of the night, so he [Mark] wanted his complexion very pale.” Benedict’s rough time schedule didn’t make it easy for Claire. And for each new series she had to deal with what previous productions had left over. Moreover, Benedict’s hair had grown again for each new series to get the length everyone loves with Sherlock. ( x ) Because, of course Benedict is always fighting the curls.

In the pilot, we get the rooftop scene (complete with the gothic moon), and this close-up. We also get John’s fascinated response. Which he either looks around to make sure no one else sees him appreciating before succumbing to it or he looks around to see if anyone is sharing in it with him. You decide.

For the actual series, this was scaled back though, and the scene where Sherlock conversationally explains to Lestrade to put a blackout on the information revealed is removed, with the series version having Sherlock just making fun of NSY and dashing out to find the suitcase. Sherlock is portrayed as being more abrasive, and in both versions, John is left behind.

In the pilot version, John delays in going to meet back up with Sherlock at 221B, but when he finally gets into the cab to do so the driver asks if he’s in a hurry, and comments about how John looks “a bit wired”. John gets defensive about it, even as he rocks back and forth in need of the fix.

TRF Rooftop

Sherlock: No, stay exactly where you are. Don’t move. John: Alright. Sherlock: Keep your eyes fixed on me. Please, will you do this for me?

TSoT

Sherlock: It’s always you. John Watson, you keep me right. *Sherlock paradigm shift where he ignores Mycroft’s method that involves solving a puzzle, and uses John’s human attitude to save a life, so now the guests have TARGET written on them*

T6T

Lestrade: Yeah; and this one to a Doctor Barnicot in Holborn. Three in total. God knows who’d wanna do something like this. John: Yeah, well some people have that complex, don’t they – an idée fixe. *pointed look at Sherlock* They obsess over one thing and they can’t let it go.

Everyone gives up after three, but Sherlock is more concerned with why the culprit is only breaking the busts, not all images of Thatcher.

His Last Bow

Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.

John’s blog:

TRF

John: Um... Mmm, right, you... You told me once... that you weren't a hero. Umm, there were times I didn't even think you were human but let me tell you this, you were, uh, the best man and the most human... human being that I've ever known and no one will ever convince me that you told me a lie. That so... there. *pause* I was... I was so alone. And I owe you so much. *starts to leave, but then turns to add* Oh, please, there's just one more thing, right? One more thing. One more miracle, Sherlock, for me. Don't... be... dead. Would you, just for me, just stop it? Stop this.

Right, but how far does the Sherlock being based on a Byron template, actually go?

Byron might have been physically handsome, but he wasn’t a very nice person at all.

‘LORD BYRON, the poet who scandalised England with his hellraising exploits, was actually a psychopath, according to new research by a leading psychiatrist.

George Gordon, the sixth Baron Byron, was famed throughout Europe for the dramatic personal style of his poetry and his biting satires. He also became notorious for his dissolute way of life, propelled by drink and drugs, which led to a broken marriage, claims that he slept with hundreds of women - and debts equivalent to at least £600,000 today.

Literary scholars have argued that Byron was a tortured genius, struck down with regular bouts of depression. Now, a detailed study of his behaviour has led to a less romantic diagnosis: that the poet exhibited so-called anti-social personality disorder - the technical term for a psychopath.

Professor Michael Fitzgerald, a psychiatrist at the Beside Health Centre in Dublin, reached his conclusion after examining accounts of Byron's life. Born in 1788, the poet had an unstable upbringing - seen as a key factor in the development of psychopathy.

The abandoned son of John "Mad Jack" Byron, a wastrel who fled to France to avoid debts, Byron was raised by his emotionally volatile mother Catherine Gordon, and appears to have been denied emotional warmth at a critical stage in his development. As a child, he showed symptoms of emerging psychopathy: habitual lying, a callous disregard for others, truanting and random acts of cruelty - including sticking pins into his mother as she prayed in chapel.‘ ( x )

Hmm, who does this sound like?

Molly’s blog:

By TSoT, she seemed to have been doing a good job of moving on, aware that Sherlock wasn’t good for her. Which begs the question of what exactly was happening in TFP, and is it healthy to continue carrying a flame for someone that years earlier you said you know you should tell “to stop...but don’t”? For that matter, is she still carrying a flame or was it just having an old wound reopened that caused her to delay answering the phone, and then act as she did?

As for Irene, we don’t have much to go on, other than being told she became emotionally invested during ASiB and she still texts Sherlock by TLD. From her side the dynamic might have shifted, but we have nothing to go on.

Sherlock does develop over the course of time, and we see he isn’t the psychopath that Anderson and Donovan harp on for two seasons, but it doesn’t mean he’s easier to love. Get along with perhaps, depending on which character you are, but not necessarily love. He’s still demanding, rude, arrogant, and prone to being exasperated when he comes across the intellectual shortcomings of others. He does not seem emotionally drawn to people like him though, perhaps aware that he needs a balance.

I saw someone mention yesterday that every other character in the show is a plot device for Sherlock, because he is the main character. It’s a show actually named after him. But, is this true? We know John was given a larger role than Watson had in canon, and Molly was originally only supposed to be in one episode, but her role was also expanded. So, then it becomes a matter of contemplating what those characters do regarding Sherlock with the amount of time they are given. In S4, they both seemed to have regressed until the last possible moment, and then had growth about themselves. Open to debate how much that internal growth involved their understanding of their love for Sherlock.

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eventing-henry · 7 years

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Henry’s Training Blog 1

Idk whether I’m going to make this a regular thing or not, but thought I’d try it. It might be a good way to keep track of our progress, and maybe they’ll be of interest to some people. I’ll put my musings below a cut so as to not clog up everyone’s dash haha

So I’d not ridden H for 3 weeks before this weekend because I’ve been stuck 5 hours away at uni (boo!), he has been being ridden but only 3x a week and not by me. This is part of why his training is so slow, because I’m very limited with how often I can personally ride him, although hopefully his new sharer is starting next week and she can really invest in him.

Saturday just went in the school, just to see how he was getting on, get a feel for how he’s going at the moment. Halt seems to be getting there, he has been really annoying and fidgety recently, but we seem to be well on the way to resolving that, I think he was just pushing the boundaries a bit now he’s so much fitter and better in himself. He’s feeling pretty nice and supple at the moment, but still better on the left rein than the right. The right rein is always his weaker rein, and I think it’s just going to take a bit longer to catch up than the left. Not too bad on the right in walk/trot though. A bit spooky at one corner but nothing dramatic and mostly worked through it. Did a bit of lateral work to get him moving off the leg better, I think he needs some sharpening up off it again, hopefully will get to work on that tomorrow as am planning a flatwork sesh. Left canter felt amazing, for Henry anyway, I got a taste of the power and elevation we’re aiming towards. Right canter was ok, but not as rhythmical and elevated, but still passable. Need to work on bending and suppleness in canter still, but I think we first need to establish better balance and self carriage. This is something I plan to work on this week. Had a little pop over some fences as well, working across the short side of the school. Started with small cross poles, just working on keeping the rhythm and getting the right lead after the jump. Had a small problem maintaining the right canter on a circle at first, but I think I need to work on supporting him with my leg much more to hold it and remember to really send him forwards, as he’s got such a big stride it’s easy to feel like he’s going forwards when he’s really not. Put the fences up a little so we had a slightly bigger cross pole, about 60-70cm in the middle I reckon, and a 80-90cm upright. Had a few mess ups and had poles but I think it was mostly my fault, he felt good though. I want to work on some spreads with him later in the week but I need to focus on me first.

Things for me to work on as a rider from this session: LEGS, he needs so much more support from my legs than I’m used to, so I need to remember to keep them on but not nag and also to use them further back to keep control of his quarters. What I really need is to work him with no stirrups, but he’s got such a big and powerful trot that I really struggle to sit to it at the moment. I just feel I haven’t quite “got” how I need to ride to stay with him at the moment, I’m not used to this much elevation and power. Hands. I need to keep them stiller and focus more onto riding him into a consistent contact rather than being tempted to use my hands too much. But the main things I need to work on are when I’m jumping. He is so different to Rosie, and it’s not in a bad way but I’m so not used to it, I feel like I’m having to re-learn how to jump. I know when he has poles and messes up it’s usually my fault because when I get it right it feels so much better. He also isn’t balanced or experienced enough to sort the striding out without my help. I’m feeling very frustrated with myself about this. I really need to remember to sit and wait for the jumps to come to me and go for the quieter stride, I am the master of seeing a long stride and Henry just doesn’t have that reach or confidence to take it at the moment (and probably will never have the same reach as Rosie bc she was insane). When I push for a long one this usually ends up with him chipping in a half and taking out the poles, 100% my fault and also hits me right in my anxiety centre about him getting killed in a fall like Rosie. I think I need to ride him more forward to a fence, but it just makes me feel out of control and I panic and make it worse (it’s irrational but I’m still working on the issues the accident gave me) I can ride forwards to a small cross pole or small fence but as soon as they’re a “proper” fence I panic and ride like a total idiot and Henry can’t work out what I want him to do. He’s so freaking honest though, bless his heart, despite me making a total hash of a couple of approaches he never once stopped, even though I would have deserved it. So for me, the main aim is going to be to sit back and wait whilst still keeping my leg on and keeping him going forwards. He cannot do the flyers at the moment and it’s unfair for me to push him for them.

Today we just went for a chill hack, I had planned to try and do a bit of canter work in the big field on the route, but people are idiots. It is a bridleway, and clearly marked, but a dad and kid decided it would be a good time to fly their huge flappy stunt kite in the field, which is fine BUT when they saw me coming they didn’t take it down, like sensible people. They kept flying it, it was flapping in the wind, I didn’t have to get that close to them but they had the kite on such a long string it was very close to me. I did call out to them but they didn’t hear me or didn’t care, they definitely saw me though. So understandably, Henry was a bit freaked out by this big, flappy rainbow plastic thing flying above his head, so canter work wasn’t happening. I was actually super proud of how he handled it, he was really nervous and alternating between not wanting to go forward and trying to rush past (we had to walk the entire perimeter of the the field to get to the gate and the kite was smack in the middle, and the kid running around wasn’t helping either) BUT he stayed in walk and didn’t bolt, he kept going and he listened to me, even though he was very tense. Given that he’s only hacked by himself a handful of times (maybe 7 or 8?) and he’s naturally quite spooky I didn’t think that was bad. After that he did decide that we had to get home as fast as possible so tried to power walk and refused to stand still, but I know he reverts back to that when he gets anxious and worked up, we’re working on it, but again stayed in walk and was vaguely listening. Until the kite incident he was great though, he gets more relaxed every time I take him out, he was super with all the cars and bikes and walkers. So it wasn’t our best hack, but I’m still happy with how it went. I’ll keep taking him out as often as I can, desensitising, getting him to relax, everything like that. And just keep plugging away.

Cannot wait to get out competing again with him, I finish exams on 2nd June, so after that its fair game!

#henry's training blog #training blog #horses #horse riding #eventing #eventer #henry #bluewhite diamond

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catearsandchaos · 7 years

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So sometimes I remember that I made this blog with the vague intention of actually storing some of my work on here. So this is one such occasion. This is an odd and quite lighthearted piece, which is unusual for me, that I wrote in a lesson near exam time last year when I was feeling pretty stressed. I just picked up a spare piece of paper and started writing about a peaceful environment. Somewhere I would really like to be. And this just grew from it. It’s not much of anything, but working on it during lessons when the exam prep got just a little too much really helped.

But before I do that, I just want to mention a few things because there are so many amazing people on this site who have made me happy in little ways without even realising it. About a week ago now, I took down all the names of the blogs that I follow and loaded them all into a random name chooser on my iPad. And every morning after I finish my breakfast, I pull up a name and send them a message and a hug. Because I’m going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment and I know that others are too. So anything I can do to send a little happiness someone’s way, I will do. Because it’s important, every now and then, to be reminded that there are people out there who care for you and believe in you, even if you don’t know them.

So I’ve sent out around 6 hugs so far and plan to continue doing so for as long as I can. Y’all can expect my name to pop up on your dash a lot more. And sometimes I get messages back and replies to these. And they make my day. Most tend to pop into my email inbox late in the evening due to time differences and they make me smile. One of the best feelings is knowing that I’ve managed to help someone, in whatever way I can. And two of you lovely darlings, @aux-barricades and @vivalamusaine, followed this blog. That brings me up to a grand total of 3 followers that aren’t related to me. And that’s slightly mad. Why would you want to do that, you crazy people? I post nothing. I reblog nothing. This is it. This is all you will get from this blog, it’s my own stories. I contribute nothing to the fandom. Just thought I’d give you fair warning if you want to escape while you can. But if you’re still hanging around then thank you. It means a lot to me that you’d do that. You took time out of your day to look at me and decide I was someone worth showing up on your dashboard. That I did something that made a lasting impression on you.

And I want to do more here. I plan to post more bits of my writings for anyone who wants to take a gander at it. But I also want to do more good with this blog. I want to spread more happiness in my own unique way. I don’t know how yet, but it’s coming. It shall become my own personal mission to spread as much happiness to the people on this site that I love as possible. And I know that only 4 people will ever see this, so this is a promise to myself, as well as you lot.

But I’ve rambled for a long time here, so I’m just going to drop my writing off here for anyone that wants to look and slip away quietly...

The ornate fountain in the centre of the square provides gentle music, the trickling of the sparkling water soothing stressed minds. The sand coloured buildings give shade from the blazing sun, although the stop the cool sea breeze from reaching the square.

Ornate windows and balconies overlook this square; many flung wide open to welcome the cooler air. Washing lines are strung between balconies, some stretching the span of the square, a myriad of colours pegged out to dry.

The cobbles on the floor are cool to the touch, a few plants growing in the cracks near the fountain. Plant-life is rife near the buildings, ivy climbs up many walls and flowering plants twist between windows, gentle white and pink blooms dropping gentle to the ground with a silent thud.

A grand tree stands in one corner, taller, almost, than the buildings. A twisted trunk and gnarled branches provide the perfect holds for children to scramble up, daring each other to go higher than the last.

In times past, the square has seen many things. Children run around the fountain in the summer months, laughing as they dodge out of each other’s way. As the das become shorter the square becomes a meeting place, families bringing their children out to stargaze and tell tales.

At midday the square is deserted, the bright sun overhead too warm, as all seek shelter in their homes. And now, the square is quiet as evening begins its tentative approach. Children are bathing, parents are eating and the square remains empty. In an hour, perhaps, a young couple may come out of two of the houses, sit by the fountain and share a moment as the sun sets.

But for now, the square belongs only to you… and me.

***

The couple sit on the ledge of the fountain. She trails her fingers in the water, leaving ripples behind her. He scoops out a perfect bloom from the water, shaking it free of droplets before threading it gently into her hair. She blushed and reaches up to secure it, deftly tying a braid around its stem.

It creates a pretty contrast, the pale pink bloom nestled comfortably in a sea of rich brown hair. He makes a comment about how it matches her beauty. She laughs, her chestnut eyes sparkling.

She sweeps her legs up onto the ledge, laughing as she almost falls into the fountain, grabbing hold of his jacket to keep her balance. He laughs at her actions, making a motion as if to tip her into the water, laughing harder when she lets out a quiet scream. She hits him weakly on the chest, berating him for doing such a thing, although she is nearly breathless with laughter herself.

Soon, the laughter dies down and the courtyard is in silence once more, apart from the trickling from the fountain and the gentle breathing of the young couple. They sit for a while, watching the stars appear. He points out the constellations he can spot and she tells him of the myths behind their creation. They talk about their childhood; playing games in the very square they now sit.

And finally, they turn their thoughts towards the future, and the wild world that lies beyond the square. They talk about marriage in a small church, flowers covering every surface and family and friends present. They talk about children, a young boy who would take after his Padre and would undoubtedly be a heartbreaker when he was older. And they talk about growing old together, maybe one day returning to the square once again to live in peace.

As the sun begins to rise over the buildings and the first ray of sunlight touches the cobble-stoned ground, they share a gentle kiss and slip away to their houses, with promises to meet again the next night and the proof of their love still tingling on their lips.

***

He’s a cheery little boy. His laugh is the first indication he is approaching, a bubbling laughter filled to the brim with happiness, the adventure of childhood. The pitter patter of his feet is the next thing to be heard. His little booted feet hit the paved street as he pounded towards the door.

He races into the house, skidding around on the tiled floor into the kitchen where he knows he will find-

“Mamma!”

He grabs hold of her legs and bounces up and down.

“Mamma! Guess what, mamma! I went outside and I made a friend and we fought a dragon together! He’s really cool, mamma. He can do magic and he said he’d teach me how to.”

She sweeps him up and props him on her hip, wiping her hands on the cloth swung over her shoulder.

“Un drago? That sounds very exciting, piccolo. Now, do you want to help me make supper, or do you want to find your padre?”

He kicks his legs, catching his mother in his excitement, but she hides the wince with only a short huff of breath.

“Padre! Padre!”

The woman leaves the kitchen, deftly flicking open the catch on the back door. They young boy struggles to be let down the minute he sees the man stood in the small garden, leaning against the sandstone wall, a wisp of smoke rising from the cigarette in his hand. He throws it on the ground, crushing it under his heel as he hears the footsteps approaching. He smiles a little bashfully at the woman’s reproachful glare but crouched down to talk to the young boy.

“Did I hear something about a dragon? You must have been very brave to have fought off such a fearsome creature.”

“I was very brave, padre! And I made a friend. Come and see. Come one!”

He grabs hold of the man’s hand and pulls, small feet scrabbling for purchase in the dirt. The man chuckles and lets himself be pulled away, clicking the gate shut behind him.

The child gone, the woman pulls her own cigarette out of an apron pocket and lights it, hopping up to sit on the wall, legs swinging. She blows the smoke into the evening air and untwists her hair from where it’s been perched on top of her head, chestnut brown hair shaking free of its hold.

The evening is quiet, for a time. There are no sounds in this small part of town they’ve chosen, apart from the faint rumblings of nearby traffic. The still air is warm and the faint breeze rustles through the trees.

“You still miss it, don’t you?”

The woman puts out her cigarette on the wall and leans back to rest her head on the man’s shoulder.

“I think I’ll always miss it. I regret, sometimes, that out boy cannot grow up there, to have the childhood we had.”

“He’s happy here. He has his friends and his dragons to fight. And he’ll grow up to be wonderful, just like his mamma.”

“Oh no. I think he’ll be more like his padre. I knew that all those years ago and I will not be proved wrong.”

The man kisses her gently on the cheek, slipping a pale pink blossom behind her ear.

“You’re never wrong, my dear.”

#you're all lovely people #really #so incredibly lovely #and i want to give something back to you #thank you #also #Morven's Writings #but that's become rather secondary to the point now #*hugs*

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peter-horrocks · 7 years

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Greece and the islands near Athens

Having just returned from a work trip to Greece for Villas du Monde visiting recently added villas and new ones, as well as meeting contacts for future expansion, I am reeling somewhat from the impression the Greek experience has left me with this time.

Porch of the Maidens on the Erechtheion

It is not the first time I have been on such a visit, indeed I've spent much of my life contracting holiday homes in France and Italy in particular. Greece is fairly new for me though I have been nurturing Crete for a while. I first ventured to the Greek mainland last year and this time around I felt much more comfortable as I renewed acquaintances and due to the dropping of mobile roaming charges in Europe, I could use google maps (and rather helpfully it spoke in the original programmed language). The very expensive hire car GPS full of Greek names had me quite traumatised previously.

By the way for anyone thinking of getting into the travel business, contracting is a role I heartily recommend as you really do get to see a lot, though it can be hard to maintain your love life as you are often away from home. You can also get on your friend's nerves if you bang on about your travels too much as they would rather be talking about the episode of Coronation Street which you missed. That's where a blog comes in handy as you can let it all out and only people who are interested need read it.

My aim on this visit was to consolidate and expand carefully the choice of villas within reasonable driving distance of Athens. This is important as the French clients don't have the same wide range of low-cost options as the UK, Germany and Holland, most of their flights are direct to the Greek capital.

So the target areas were the Athens Riviera, Peloponnese and three islands which are really easy to get to from the mainland, principally Lefkas and Evia which have connecting bridges along with Spetses which is just ten minutes in a water taxi.

From where I live in Grasse it was a fair old drive up to Lyon to get a flight with Transavia which is a really good new low-cost flight operator co-owned by Air France and KLM. The flight landed in the evening so it made sense to make Sunday a rest day and visit the Acropolis, which I tried to squeeze in last time but was thwarted by a lack of time and a sponsored run which blocked the bus route.

We (my French wife came with me, thankfully, as it is dull driving around even fantastic places on your own) did get to visit the Parthenon which was well worth it even though there is a huge renovation job going on which means there was lots of scaffolding and big cranes. It was actually European museum day so the visit was free. But that meant there were thousands of people cramming in during mid-day and due to the crowds and heat we abandoned half way up, unlike some of the poor tour groups who were stuck in the mêlée with their guides tragically continuing their spiel on the artistic merits of the majestic columns whilst their audience only sought desperately to escape.

The Acropolis museum which opened recently was our fallback and it proved to be fantastic, it is stuffed with cleverly displayed statues and plaques from the site and from the top floor, there is a fabulous view of the Acropolis. We went back to the Parthenon towards evening when the crowds had gone (it was free entry again so no loss) and armed with a nourishing, inexpensive selection of excellent non-sugared cranberries, natural almonds and peanuts snack bought from one of the old boy barrow vendors we cherished the moment.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens

Next day we drove to Porto Heli (also known as Porto Cheli) where we checked in to the most luxurious hotel I have ever stayed in which I had been fortunate to find at a very cheap promotional price for two nights. We dropped our bags and dashed to catch a water taxi (23 € one way however many people you are up to around 10) from Kosta which was about ten minutes drive (plenty of parking space to leave the car).

The main harbour of Spetses town on the island of Spetses

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering the glorious island of Spetses, admiring its colonial architecture (said to be the most impressive in Greece), the fortifications with old cannons everywhere and visiting the villa (now on the VDM website) which was just within walking distance of the main harbour.

The water taxi between Spetses and Porto Heli

The following day was intense, I visited nine luxurious villas in Porto Heli with the local contact. It is an exclusive sort of place, for VIP clients really. Most of the villas are either waterfront or nearly, some with near private beaches, quite a few with private tennis courts, all near moorings from where you can hail a water taxi to Spetses which is apparently the done thing for an evening out. This is a place frequented by royalty. In the evening we ate in a delightful restaurant with our feet practically in the water, in a traffic free zone it was lovely and peaceful in late September, lovely food too.

One of the near private beaches in Porto Heli

Our next encounter was with a new contact who was presenting us a villa on the Athens Riviera. She has more on the more popular islands of Mykonos, Paros and Santorini but I wanted to be sure of the standard of a house first. As it was it was brilliant and it will go in the range. It was the first rental property I have come across with a tortoise in the garden, which the charming owner was clearly pleased to introduce us to.

I had booked a cheap (I have to work within quite a tight budget otherwise they won't send me again) and not very cheerful looking hotel for the night as there wasn't much available in the area so the night ahead was not promising. On the way, we passed the southern cape of Athens and I noticed a sign for an architectural site. Arriving at the hotel which was as expected I asked about the site. The owner looked at her watch and said: "it is Poseidon's temple and if you hurry you will get there for sunset". Wow, what a spectacle! It was one of the best moments ever.

Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion

No time to rest we were up early and in the car to drive up to the island of Evia (or Euboea, which the French call Eubée, I do struggle a bit to know which to use sometimes). It is located an hours drive north of Athens (I should mention that nearly all the driving was on very good motorways). There were clients staying in the villa we visited and as it is in a less fashionable area though on the edge of a protected nature zone I was interested to see what they had to say. They were from Canada, spending time away from the harsh winter over there. They loved the villa, loved the peace and quiet of the area and the local nature, the hills covered in olive groves, the sea views.

In fact, they had decided to move to Greece to live. Their only bad experience during their month's long stay was a house they had rented the week before through one of those sites where you go directly to the owner. "It was in Santorini, located right under the flight path, you could read the writing on the underside of the planes" they repeated numerous times. "Unbelievably the guy on holiday in the house next door goes back each year" they repeated even more. "Nobody mentioned it in the description. Our nerves were shredded after the first day." I gave them my card as that sort of bad experience is exactly what a good holiday rental agency like Villas du Monde prevents because the villas are checked by experienced people with professional standards unlike those listed on the trip, book, home sites etc. which no one remotely qualified lays an eye on.

That night we stayed in the hotel belonging to one of our owners and spent the next morning discussing his project to buy the villa next door and build a pool. He welcomed my advice and suggestions and intends to go ahead, it will be on the VDM website next year. I thanked him for letting us stay, he wouldn't let me pay, said that I should consider this hotel as my home. You can't help but like the Greeks.

The Rio–Antirrio Bridge, also known as the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge

In the morning we drove along the newly opened motorway (A8 Athens to Patras) to Lekas island (also known as Lefkada), crossing the most magnificent suspension bridge I have ever seen, at 2880 metres it is one of the longest in the world. They say Greece is broke and it's true many people are having a torrid time but that has not stopped them pushing ahead with major infrastructure projects which will surely benefit them in the long term. It takes around five hours to get to Lefkas from Athens though as three-quarters of it is on the motorway with just the last section (soon to be motorway too apparently) on the rather scenic main road.

We checked in to a hotel on the pedestrian street of Lefkada town, which was unfortunately close to the two late night bars which were still in full swing. That didn't stop us from enjoying the town's beautiful island architecture, dominated by colourful tin-walled buildings. With a somewhat overwhelming choice of restaurants, we opted for the one with most people and just one free table to enjoy the best meal either of us had eaten for a long time, great value too. Lefkada town is lovely, car-free centre and very tasteful, in September not too busy either.

Waterfront cafes in Lefkada

In the morning I drove up to meet the local contact who showed me around one of the five executive villas located in a fabulous situation up on the hillside looking back over Lefkada, the sea and the surrounding mountains. I was quite overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. The villa was perfect, worth every euro (not expensive actually) and I could see why more clients would be arriving later in the day. It was lucky I was there on a Saturday change-over morning to be able to get to see inside.

Lovely architecture in Lefkada town

From there we drove along the east coast towards Nidri though still high in the hills to another group of five villas, again all with their own private swimming pool. These were older than the previous ones and simpler inside but up to standard all the same and reasonably inexpensive. Our contact explained that in Nidri it is more animated and you could hire motor boats (no license required) for sailing around the 25 small islands. I resolved to take a look later in the day.

Amazing views of Lefkada from the first group of executive villas

First I needed to get back to the hotel but unfortunately, part of the road had been closed for roadworks and the deviation soon became one of those google maps nightmare moments. Very lost, I did get to know a good number of pretty, small mountain villages where old ladies in black looked at me as if I'd come from Mars, vineyards too where rather surprised harvesters had to move their tractor out of the lane to let me get past, then do it again when I came back because the road had ceased to exist. After much sweating as to whether I would get the hire car back in one piece and making a few good guesses I finally made it back to base.

It was time to devote some attention to my patient wife and I suggested we drive down to Nidri to check it out. We parked on the edge of town and walked in past scooter, quad and motorbike hire shops and a motorboat rental place on the waterfront. A fairly peaceful, smallish place it seemed. Further in there were more and more shops, lots offering cruises of the islands and we started to realise it was actually quite big and busy. We wandered around to the main harbour where there was quite a commotion going on. A large cruise boat was loading up with guests for what appeared to be a Greek wedding, with late arrivals staggering along in high heels as the ramps were being raised. At the same time, an island trip cruise boat came in to dock with Greek music blasting out and most of the passengers dancing and waving their arms about.

The cruise boat depositing the wedding party on the island opposite Nidri

This coincided with the arrival of the bride on the quay who proceeded to embrace her mother and small boy and the photographer and kick up a Greek dance. It was all a bit surreal. Then we realised that the wedding party were heading to the tiny chapel on the island opposite as the cruise ship carrying them (which dwarfed the chapel) proceeded to offload over there. The bride boarded a small boat and stood at the helm like some Greek goddess and sailed over to join them. We were spellbound by it all and had a wonderful time rubbernecking.

Here comes the bride on her boat

Before we left Lekas I needed to see the west coast and the beautiful sandy beaches flanked by limestone cliffs for which the island is renowned. It added two hours to our journey but it was worth it and on departing the island we passed pink flamingos in the shallows and spotted a gorgeous house on a tiny island with its own white sandy beach and left Lefkas very impressed.

The final leg was to the villa on the nature protected peninsula near Loutraki which I recruited and visited the year before and fortunately had been very well received by a good number of VDM clients during the summer, some of whom came from Isreal which also has good direct flights to Greece.

One of the west coast beaches of Lefkas

The clients go directly to the villa but I needed to pick up the key and was given an address to go to. Except that there are two of the same and the owner had neglected to mention that it was in Loutraki. The mistake was quickly realised and we were not far away, in old Corinth. The slightly deviated route meant that we had to drive across a bridge over the Corinthian Canal. Wow, it's amazing. What a sight! Hewn out of solid rock to allow ships to connect from the Aegean Sea to the Ionian it is quite something like a huge man-made gorge.

The villa ELENA - GOC1401 where we stayed

Armed with the keys we drove to the villa and settled in for the night. The owner had very kindly offered that we stay there and it's always useful to test the goods, so to speak. He said he would come round in the morning with breakfast and we had arranged to visit a number of nearby villas for potential inclusion in the Greek portfolio as well as discuss a few projects he had in mind for his house including fencing the pool which is really rare in Greece.

The owner of the villa Elena can serve this sort of tasty Greek food for guests

At around 08.00 I received a WhatsApp message to say he would be a bit late, arriving around 10.00. So I decided to drive quickly to the nearby village for some bread and we made some toast. At around 10.30 the owner arrived with arms full of cartons of eggs, tomatoes and onions and headed for the pool house kitchen. "Sorry I am late, can I make you breakfast". I wasn't going to say no. He proceeded to knock up a wonderful breakfast, with fried onion, tomato, eggs and feta cheese seasoned with oregano and a tiny bit of chilli, It was great. Try it.

Lakeside taverna near Loutraki

We spent the day visiting villas and in the afternoon we ate in the lakeside taverna near his villa. He offered me some Ouzo which I would normally decline during the day but we were heading home the next day, the work was done and it was time to relax a bit, enjoy some squid, fabulous big juicy prawns, baked beetroot plus the tops, some local mountain grass which was like spinach when cooked (the owner wanted to show me his version so he asked for some feta and added it along with some local olive oil, it was delicious and I could clearly see why clients enjoyed his optional catering service at the villa).

We asked for them to put what we didn't eat (which was plenty as it was typical copious Greek portions) in take away boxes for my wife to eat later. In the evening my wife and I took a lovely stroll from the villa back to the lake (which is actually seawater, 800 metres deep and connected to the sea by a 100 metres long shallow canal) and watched the sunset. Perfect end to the day.

Views of the lake and sea beyond from one of the new villas near Loutraki

The following day was meant to be for packing, relaxing and killing time before our evening flight followed by a drive through the night back to Grasse. But the villa owner wanted to show me another project villa on the shore of the lake and I had to agree if the prospective new owner decided to go ahead and do some work it would be a fine inclusion in the VDM range for the following year.

We acquiesced to his kind invitation to lunch at the best tavern in the area which has the ultimate in water features, what looks like a flying tap, overlooking the sea, the speciality there being meat. We had sublime meatballs and lamb chops and of course, irresistible Tzatziki which meant we departed, literally with a taste of Greece in our mouths all the way back to our home in France.

As I said this trip to Greece left an impression.

#Greece #Greek islands #Porto Heli #Athens Riviera #Evia #Lefkas #Loutraki

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