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#in case someone's ask it's an April's Fools joke
chubs-deuce · 1 year
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Mona's mom is probably in prison and fuck your boundaries, I hope you get brutalized in the future
Those are some bold words for someone who tried to gaslight me with plagiarized words and didn't even have the decency to deny it, even when the server admin from who you stole the paragraph - back from when she was politely warning you about your toxic behavior in dms - has directly confronted you about it.
I know you can't stand losing to the point where you show your worst colors the second anyone disagrees with you (something you've been called out for consistently by multiple people, on top of general rudeness), but this is an L you're just going to have to accept taking lmao.
It was never about Mona's mom or how close to the truth your crude takes were or not, it has always been about your rancid behavior and self-absorbed attitude with which said takes are always presented. You barged into my post and dropped an insulting assumption in the comments about a hypothetical character the post wasn't even about, then made an ass of yourself when I pointed out that it's rude to do that.
The fact that you're completely failing to acknowledge this and instead try to shift the blame - once again - away from you and proceeed to resort to threaten me with violence is just proving that for me.
I don't normally respond to hateful asks like this, but there is also rarely a person that has proven to be as deserving of my ire and being told exactly how much is wrong with them and their behavior as you.
And you hate me because I see through your manipulative bully tactics and call them out plain as day.
Note by the way, please, how not once I have resorted to childish name-calling in this entire post and yet made my distaste for you abundantly clear? That's the difference between me and you.
I understand and acknowledge the risks and consequences of my actions, think and reflect about what I'm saying and how it affects people, how both can and will be used against me if the opportunity presents itself, how to handle it when it does. I will admit when I've made a mistake and do what I can to rectify it, or at least take steps to try and prevent it from happening again in the future. I'm not perfect and I make mistakes, but I at least try to be better.
You don't. You talk shit and get mad when you get hit. Then keep doing the same thing, again and again.
Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe being more observant, honest and mindful will actually get you the kind of validation you crave? And yet you keep tricking, keep manipulating, keep bullying your way through life, to get what you want.
I feel almost sorry for you, honestly. Whoever taught you that that's the way to go has done you dirty, because there's just no way in my mind how anyone as vapid and manipulative as you as her go-to strategy in life would be capable of forming genuine, lasting bonds.
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wolken-himmel · 1 year
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In which (Y/n) tells the dorm leaders that they're the most handsome person in Twisted Wonderland.
What was meant as an April Fool's joke somehow turns Night Raven College into a battlefield.
Idea by anon.
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"Why did you go around and tell the dorm leaders out of all people that they're the most handsome person in the world? Why, (Y/n)?"
Deuce paced back and forth between the fire place and the couch of Ramshackle's living room, his hands crossed behind back. The frown on his face deepened even more when he found you lazily lounging on a nearby recliner.
"I thought it would be funny to see everyone's reaction!" you said and laughed to yourself. "And actually, seeing Riddle turn as red as his hair was hilarious. Also, you should have heard Idia's screaming through the tablet."
Ace's lips quirked upwards into a grin. "Okay, that does sound funny."
"Quit the yapping," Grim yelled from the other side of the living room. He had a few wooden boards in his arms and a hammer balanced on top. "I need help barricading the windows."
"Right." A hum of exasperation escaped Deuce's lips while he pointed into the direction where all the commotion was coming from. The noise must have originated from the main building, and the fact that it was still audible in the Ramshackle mansion was incredibly concerning. "I don't think you realise how dire the situation is out there."
"Did someone call me?" a newcomer suddenly asked.
All four of you whirled around to find Crowley standing by the entrance to the living room. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest. Without allowing you any time to react to his sudden appearance, he rushed over to your side with wide steps. His heavy shadow loomed over you.
"Oh, it's just you, Headmaster," you began and sat up. "How are you—"
He interrupted you with a dramatic sigh. "You truly offend me, my darling child." Without further explanation, he put his hand to his forehead and sank into the couch, right next to you.
"What?" You sat up straight. "What have I done now?"
"You go around telling the dorm leaders that they're the most handsome person in the world! But you forgot about me?" A playfully offended frown decorated his face. When the resident ghosts dared to peek around the corner in curiosity, he addressed them immediately, "Did the prefect also compliment you three?"
"Of course!" the ghost in the middle exclaimed dreamily. His eyes practically took the shape of hearts when he put his hands to his chest. "My heart began beating so quickly, I thought I had come back from the dead. The prefect truly has a way with charming people, dead or alive."
His reply had the headmaster sink into the cushions of his seat even further. "Oh, how you wound me..."
Deuce furrowed his eyebrows in innocent confusion. "Is that why you came here, Headmaster?"
At his words, Crowley lazily rose to his feet again and straightened his cloak. "Partly, yes." He cleared his throat, although he sent you one last glare before moving on, "I also came because the entire campus is a warzone. The dorms have decided to band together and fight against each other to defend their leader's honour. Everyone thinks the others are lying."
"See?" Grim pointed to the windows he had already barricaded. "And you think I'm the one overreacting?"
The volume of his voice had you rolling your eyes. "Calm down, everyone." Then, you finally summoned the willpower to rise to your feet. "Can't I just talk to them?"
"You must, since you are the perpetrator."
A rush of annoyance came over you. The constant noise from the main building caused a headache to form. You rubbed the bridge of your nose. "It was just an April Fool's joke... I didn't think anyone would take it this seriously," you muttered in resignation. "These boys... Fine, I'll go out and clear things up."
Grim stopped you before you could leave the living room. His large blue eyes shone meaningfully. "Henchhuman, just in case you don't return, I wanted to tell you that..." he trailed off and took your hand into his paws. "I'll be taking your favourite scarf! You won't need it anymore, right?"
At once, you ripped your hands out of his grasp. "You're an idiot, Grim," you grumbled and simply walked around him to exit the building.
Deuce came rushing after you. "We'll accompany you, (Y/n). That's what friends are there for."
"Really? Do we have to?" Ace asked with raised eyebrows. He seemed reluctant, still remaining by the fire place where he had last stopped pacing. But even he wasn't immune to Deuce's pressing gaze, and with the headmaster joining in, he was done for. Begrudingly throwing his hands into the air, he joined your side. "Fine..."
"I'll stay here," Grim yelled after the three of you, "to make sure they don't break in and steal my tuna."
"They're in the Hall of Mirrors. Please stop them before they destroy my prized mirrors!"
°
°
°
"I knew you were a schemer, Azul. But I didn't take you for a liar."
"You call me a liar, Riddle? Me and my business are very much trustworthy. The same couldn't be said about you, though."
You arrived in the Hall of Mirrors not a second too late. The place was packed to the brim with students from every dorm. Just blinking once had been enough to lose track of Ace and Deuce. And by now, you had given up on finding them in this huge mass of people. You would have never thought that you would one day see so many people fit into this hall. But here you were, struggling to make your presence known with the loud and large crowd.
You could already see most of the dorm leaders facing off against each other in the very middle, where the students had formed a pit. But none of them seemed to hear your voice over all the murmuring.
"Come on, let's get this over with quickly," Leona said and rolled his eyes. "As soon as we have established that you're all in the wrong, I can go back to doing something more productive, such as napping."
"Guys, why can't we all be the most handsome person in the world together? I'd be open to sharing the title," Kalim said in worry when he noticed how everyone's voice dripped with malice.
"As a matter of fact, 'most handsome' is the superlative form and implies that the title is exclusively reserved for one person only." Everyone's eyes solely lay on Malleus as he spoke, his deep and calm voice bouncing off the walls to reach your ears. The air turned cold out of a sudden, and nobody dared to whisper even a single word — not even you.
But Rook dared to cut through the tangible air with his cheery voice. "Oh, a fight for beauty! This battle will be legendary!" he exclaimed in excitement, as if he had been born for this very moment. "I will gladly defend your honour, Vil."
His dorm leader didn't seem to reciprocate his enthusiasm, however. "Quit it, Rook. We all know that the prefect's compliment for all of us was in mere vain — a joke to gauge our reaction," Vil said and flicked his wrist elegantly. "Tell everyone to return to whatever they were doing previously, I have more important matters to attend to."
"Ortho, can you get me more popcorn—" a voice came from the floating tablet in the first row. An embrassed shriek escaped its speakers once everyone turned their attention to it. "Oh, I forgot to mute... Sorry, everyone." And on cue, the speakers went silent.
An awkward cough went through the crowd, but the dorm leaders quickly returned to facing off against each other.
"So, shall we begin?"
"I suppose."
Just as one was about to make the first move, you managed to stumble into the middle of the pit. "No, stop it!" you yelled at the top of your lungs.
A round of gasps went through the crowd, and everyone's eyes widened in surprise at your sudden arrival. Vil was the only exception. "Ah, the prefect has arrived," the dorm leader drawled. Knowing chuckles escaped his perfectly painted lips. "Now, would you mind enlightening the others about your little joke?"
"Right, tell the others who you really think is the most handsome."
"Yes, I want to see the grins wiped off their faces."
You hated yourself after having gazed upon their expectant faces. Most of them wore a pair of puppy eyes that gleamed brightly with eagerness. Unable to face them, you lowered your gaze in shame. "Actually, I told every one of you that you were the most handsome person in Twisted Wonderland." Nervous chuckles escaped your lips when the entire hall went deadly silent. You raised your hands into the air defensively. "Please, it was just a joke. Today is April Fool's, guys."
Riddle clicked his tongue. "A punishment for unfunny jokes is in order."
"You hurt our feelings, (Y/n)!" Kalim cried out and put his hands on his hips. When Jamil handed him a handkerchief, the dorm leader blew his nose loudly.
An unreadable smile appeared on Azul's face. "Perhaps it is time we banded together," he suggested, as if negotiating for a contract.
Your smile turned more nervous by the second, especially when they began to circle you. "Guys? It was kinda funny, don't you think?" you said, suddenly unable to hold in your laughter anymore. "Your reactions were priceless."
"Get the prefect!" everyone yelled at once.
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ambermotta · 4 months
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Lokean Holidays
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art by Sceith-A
With holiday season coming up across all cultures, I have decided to do a little something in honor of one of my own dedicated deities — Loki. Following the holiday theme (and looking forward to one of my favorite Loki festivals), today's post is all about Loki-specific holidays.
I will start off by saying that He does not have any known traditional holidays. We have no surviving evidence of any Loki-specific Holidays, and few evidence of Loki even being worshipped in ancient times.
So keep in mind these are all modern holidays that many lokeans (those who follow Loki) have adopted.
It's also important to note that not every lokean follows all, if any of these.
And lastly, I won't mention any of the usual norse pagan holidays, but you can definitely still honor Loki on those alongside other norse deities. It's just that they are not specific to him.
_________________♡♤◇♧_________________
Loki Fool's Day
April 1st
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This was probably one of the first lokean holidays created, in honor of Loki as a Trickster and deity of Mischief.
It was proposed by Dagulf Loptson in his book "Playing with Fire", but I believe many of Loki's followers already thought of Loki during April Fool's before that.
Ideas:
Have fun
Play games
Make jokes and pull tricks
Reflect on Loki as a trickster deity and the trickster archetype in all its forms
_________________♡♤◇♧_________________
Lokabrenna
July – August (roughly)
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The star Sirius was known to the norse people as Lokabrenna ("burning done by Loki", "Loki's torch"). The star would be gone for one half of the year, so when it reappeared at its highest point, that would be the date of Lokabrenna. Because of the connection to Loki's name, the day of Lokabrenna became a modern lokean holiday.
The date varies because it's connected to when the star Sirius shows up in the sky, so it depends on location.
In the southern hemisphere, Sirius can be seen throughout the year. In this case, Lokabrenna can be celebrated when it shows during both morning and evening, rising with the Sun.
You can adopt a date between the beginning of July to the end of August for convenience.
The following reddit post (at r/lokean) details one way you can find out the day of Lokabrenna for your location:
Ideas:
Prapare a ritual for Loki
Celebrate the comming season (summer in northern hemisphere, winter in southern hemisphere)
Meditate on Loki as a fire good and bringer of light, knowledge and creativity
_________________♡♤◇♧_________________
Loki Sponge Cake Day
September 4th
TW: brief mention of bullying
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This holiday popped up in the community as an anti-bullying holiday. Basically, this happened because someone got mad at a lokean who got some store bought sponge cake as an offering to Loki and shamed them for it.
So this is a holiday to commemorate modern offerings and promote anti-bullying.
Ideas:
Anti-bullying awareness.
Get some store bought cake or other modern stuff to give as offerings and celebrate
Reflect on Loki as a deity of the Outcasts
_________________♡♤◇♧_________________
Loki's Holiday
December 13th
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This holiday was proposed by Dagulf Loptson in his book "Playing with Fire".
This is because, on Dec 13th in Scandinavia, there is the feast of St. Lucia and the festival of light, which would symbolize the coming of light in the midst of darkness.
In his book Loptson states that he had asked Loki if there was a special day he could celebrate him, and the answer was Dec 13th, which he later learned was the day of St. Lucia.
So yes, this is the author's UPG, but it was widely adopted by the community.
In scandinavian countries the date also used to mark the Winter Solstice. As the longest night of the year, it was believed that all sorts of foul creatures would roam the earth, and the bringing of light could symbolize safety and the hope of warmer days to come.
While Loki and Lucia may not be directly related, they share a relation in the sense that they may come as "light bearers". Thus, many lokeans find it fitting to honor Loki on this day.
Ideas:
Celebrate the coming of light and Loki as a deity that brings fire, warmth and light
Give gingerbread treats, cakes, cookies, sweets, etc, as offerings
Celebrate with other Lokeans!
_________________♡♤◇♧_________________
Loki and Sigyn — 4th Day of Yule
December 23th
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art by Ksenia Svincova
There is actually very little information on this holiday and how it came to be, and not many lokeans celebrate it.
So you may take this with a grain of salt.
From what I could find this one is actually tied to celebrating the 4th day of Yule and it honors both Loki and Sigyn.
It is a day to celebrate love (especially queer love) and devotion, as Sigyn loved Loki unconditionally, despite everything that he did and that had happened to him.
Supposedly, it also coincides with Saturnalia (Roman holiday, Dec 17th-23th), a day where social order is turned upside down — which is very much a Loki thing to do, as demonstrated in Lokasenna.
That said, I personally don't think the correlation with Saturnalia fits most heathens' practice. But Sigyn and Loki's relationship is highly defined by Her actions after Lokasenna, so I can see how you could make a connection.
Ideas:
Celebrate love, queer love
Pour libations
Do healing work and cleansing rituals
Celebrate Loki and Sigyn's union
_________________♡♤◇♧_________________
That concludes this post. Even if you do not work with, worship, or follow Loki, I hope you enjoyed the post!
Thank you for reading!
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devildomditzy · 2 years
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can i request siemon levi mammon Lucifer and belphie with a s/o that likes to play pranks on them and other people
With an MC who likes to pull pranks (All brothers + Simeon)
Lucifer
You are the bane of his existence 🤦🏻‍♂️
He can tell when you’re gonna pull a prank, after all the time he’s spent with his brothers you’d be lucky to pull one over on him
He will allow them to happen as long as they are harmless because he lives for your laughter that fills the room once you think you’ve successfully pulled one off without a hitch
But if you got his brother involved to set this up, you’re all hanging from the ceiling tonight 😤
Mammon
Did someone say prank battle?
You are but a jester, and he is your buffoon 🤡
It’s not uncommon to see you both running down the hallways of the House of Lamentation, chasing after one another after in retaliation to the other’s joke
It always ends in fits of laughter, one of you tackling the other, glowing in each other’s embraces
Unless your prank involved taking Goldie
If that’s the case… you better hide 🫡
Will 100% help you prank anyone, he’s your ride or die
Levi
Please don’t pull any mean pranks on him he is soft and he’ll be afraid he did something wrong
You try to keep it to a minimum, something that he’ll fall for but it won’t hurt him too bad
One time you pranked him with an edited article on a news site saying one of his favorite manga was getting adapted into an anime, which he fell for hook line and sinker
He was so excited, writing a post of his blog only for his followers to have to break the news to him
He wanted to give you the silent treatment, but after you apologized, his cold façade breaks
Does not think they’re funny but thinks your antics are cute
Asmo
If you prank Asmo, he’s gonna get mad
If you ask Asmo to help you prank his brothers, he’s glad to help
If you pull a prank on him, expect to be guilt tripped about it for the next millennia
How could you prank the cutest, most adorable being in the Devildom? Shame on you 😠
But if he plays a prank on you he expects you to find it funny
He’s a little fucked up and evil i love him
Satan
You two are an unstoppable force
Unlucky for you your prankee (Lucifer), is an immovable object
You’ll both sit on the floor of his room, blue prints laid out before you planning out how to best trick Lucifer
Sometimes Belphie is invited too because the anti-lucifer gang gotta stick together
If you pull a prank on him, expect to get it back 2x harder
You’re constantly trying to one up each other, honestly it’s tiring to watch
Beel
Beel just thinks you’re cute (bless his heart)
Anything that makes you smile or laugh he thinks is worth it
If you quickly pull out a chair from under him while he’s trying to sit down, he’ll just pull you down with him, making you sit on his lap
Honestly, half the time he doesn’t even realize he’s being pranked cause he’s too focused on you
🥺 puppy dog
Belphie
Another unstoppable team
Weekly Anti-Lucifer meetings to strategize the best pranks to play on his older brother
He had a lot of time to think in that attic 🤔💀
He thinks the pranks you play on him are annoying, but you’re cute so he lets it slide
Always on alert with each other because you never know who’s gonna pull the next move
Simeon
At first he thinks you’re funny, now he sees you as a little menace
He would never prank you back, at least not by himself. He really wouldn’t know how to go about it
Has to ask Solomon and Luke for help with any revenge planning
Nothing too mean, his pranks are very silly (The scene from Spongebob’s April Fools day episode: “you asked for a couple of ice cubes, but I only gave you one!)
One time you gave him salt instead of sugar and he almost fainted
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asjjohnson · 2 years
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What if Danny used his ghost powers for pranks?
So, we know Danny isn't good with Halloween, but what about April Fool's Day? He's able to get into anything. You know those jokes that involve making sure a container looks untampered with? Danny doesn't need to worry about that. He can also get around locks and whatever else. Even the hardest of jokes are possible with him.
Maybe he would add plain gelatin to a bottle of Jazz's favorite soft drink, so when she breaks the seal and tilts it back to take a sip, it doesn't move. Of course Jazz would instantly know it was him and yell, "Danny!" but that's besides the point. (If it's before Danny knows that Jazz knows that he's half ghost, he would ask how she knows it's him. If it's afterward, they would just share a little lighthearted laughter and Danny would transfer the bottle-shaped gelatin to a bowl so she would be able to eat it.)
Besides being tired of his puns, his best friends would also be tired of his frequent-but-harmless jokes. Sam and Tucker aren't going to be able to predict Danny's next target, because it could be anything (but usually something dumb like a fake snake jumping out of their backpack), and it's no use worrying enough to check every little thing they go to pick up. Besides, Danny isn't going to do anything irreversible. Like, if he were to switch the innards (or really the outer casings) of Tucker's PDA with that of a similarly shaped Fenton gadget, he would be able to switch it back at a moment's notice without any harm done (although, whether Danny would target Tucker's PDA in particular is debatable, since I don't think he'd go for anything that his friends care deeply about).
Danny might even become anonymously semi-popular at school. He would do things that leave everyone wondering in awe how it'd been done (the intangibility, invisibility, and flight would come in pretty handy to get things in odd places, to never be seen, and to get by no matter how many locks teachers were to use).
And his jokes wouldn't involve him using his ghost powers in a more direct way or drawing attention to himself or anything like that. (Sure, it's interesting to think about what Danny could do with his body to startle people, but he could also just do simple, non-ghost-related jokes easier. Things that anyone could do if they spend time puzzling out how to get around stuff. Things someone with too much time on their hands might do, except Danny can bypass all the time-related stuff.)
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fallenwingzero · 1 year
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Frozen Teardrop Volume Four Author’s Notes Translation
This time Sumisawa talks about Relena and Father Maxwells (Duo) voice actors and how they inspired the characters, Frozen Teardrop inspired cocktails, as well as misinformation on fan sites. Translation under the read more:
Translation~
Afterword
I’m not in a position to call myself a “writer”, but I’ve been able to spread a surprising number of misunderstandings and falsehoods. As for funny jokes, the editor told me about this year’s April Fools Day article on an American site called “Manga Market” saying that “New Mobile Suit Gundam Wing will be made into a live-action movie in Hollywood!” where I am answering the interview. What’s more, in fluent English! Using words I’ve never seen or heard before!
It’s an honor to be treated as such a story, but on the contrary, the Wikipedia entry for “New Mobile Report Gundam Wing”, says, “Sumisawa said, ‘anime otaku and magazine editors can’t keep up with the script (scenario)’”. 
I would like to raise an objection to the article saying who it was aimed at.
What’s more, it even comes with a source (it says it’s from the setting record collection, Part II, which is no longer available!), so from now on, won’t it be misunderstood as a fact for eternity? That remark was spoken by director Masashi Ikeda and directed at me. “Aim for that kind of script” It wasn’t something I said.
Moreover, at the beginning of that sentence, there was the words “not to mention general viewers”. I get the sense that this was a deliberate deletion and change to make Sumisawa the enemy of those people. In that case, you may say that I should submit a change notification, but it is impossible for me, who is not familiar with computers, to ask. Asking the editor is rude and uncool and I wonder if someone would notice it and edit it off, (I don’t say such things) and I spend my days gritting my teeth and being filled with tears.
So dear readers, how are you? I’m the same drunken bastard.
When I started writing this novel, Mr. Torii, the helmsmen of VOYAGE, made an original cocktail called “Frozen Teardrop.” To introduce a little recipe, we mixed crushed ice and absolute currant vodka with a beautiful light blue grapefruit liqueur called “Hypnotic” as a base, blend it in a mixer and freeze it. A red cherry floats in it resembling Mars. The distribution is very difficult, but the point is that there are two small teardrop-shaped cubes inside. This represents Phobos and Deimos.
By the way, cherries can be green and blue so Mars has finished terraforming. This is the most delicious cocktail. It’s slightly sweet as if you’re dreaming, kindness and coldness coexist in the sourness like the sorrow of first love. Even women who don’t drink alcohol on a daily basis can enjoy it. However, if you drink two cups, you will become sleepy. Hypnotic means “hypnosis” in the French language, and you may end up in a cold sleep like Heero or Relena.
Mr. Torii also made “Snow White” based on apple liqueur. Mr. Torii, who is such a master, is now enjoying touring in Hokkaido and Tohoku on a large motorcycle. He’s like Father Maxwell. I don’t know if he’ll be back by Christmas, but VOYAGE has an even more talented captain and owner, Mr. Sekai, so I keep coming here.
Some of our readers are underage, so we shouldn’t be talking about alcohol all time, sorry. For that reason (what’s the reason?), I would like to tell you the inside story of the actors who played the characters of Gundam Wing.
In my case, as an anime screenwriter by profession, character creation is greatly influenced by the human nature of the actors. People often say that the women in Gundam Wing are portrayed as strong and tough, but in fact, it’s all thanks to the actors. All the female voice actors were beautiful and pretty and Relena is the very representative of that, and the attitude of daring to face the fate of hardships is the original dignity of Ms. Akiko Yajima.
Akiko Yajima’s anecdote is actually more impressive when she appears in a different place than during the dubbing of “Gundam Wing”. When I went on a launch trip for a certain program, I still can’t forget the sight of her yelling with the deep voice of abdominal breathing that she practiced everyday “Take it easy!” at men who were getting drunk late at night and playing practical jokes.
Still, while showing the sorrow of a pretty girl, she said, “This role is really hard to grasp,” and her serious face reminded me of Relena, who would wonder, “How war be eliminated from the world?”
In addition, Yajima, who met Mr. Ikeda who later became the director of another program after a long time, said lightly, “Please don’t disappear this time,” after greeting him was amazing. It’s crazy. I felt like I wanted to scream like Investigator Acht, “Here! There’s a real Relena here!”
Readers may feel a subtle difference in temperature in Relena, who appears in this novel, and some of you might feel that it is somewhat unreliable. However, if you can understand that this character’s trivial duality is the true strength of Gundam Wing, I think that you’ll be able to enjoy this world even more.
Thanks to Mr. Toshihiko Seki for voicing Father Maxwell, who has not yet been drawn, the characters have become like the narrators of these four volumes. Of course, Seki-san’s acting plan has also been adopted for the cute Duo, who insists on being roguish.
Mr. Toshihiko Seki’s voice has a very gentle, refreshing and comforting sound, as if he is trying to support someone from the shadows when he sees someone in trouble, even though he is troubled and careless and messed up. I’m sure you can hear the audio playing in your brain like that.
I’m really glad that I came up with this method of changing the narrator each time, even though it’s in first person.
But…. Ah, I wanted to write more, but this time I will end here. Please read my nonsense in volume 5 again. I would appreciate it if you could send me your impressions.
See you soon.
Katsuyuki Sumisawa.
~End Translation
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elflock-magician · 10 months
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"Little Devil Darling" (Reupload)
Summary - Toon Bendy being a little menace to society on April Fools Day.
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“Bendy….What are you doing?” Audrey muttered. Toon Bendy ignored her, instead opting to continue what he was doing. What was he doing exactly? He was rummaging through the fridge. Which Audrey found a little more than strange as the aforementioned little devil darling never ate. He was made of ink, afterall. 
But regardless of that, Audrey simply figured he was being completely harmless. Most of whatever Toon Bendy did was harmless anyways.
Audrey opened the book she was reading and simply sat at the kitchen table. Wait… Then it dawned on Audrey. Oh. Oh no. It was April first. Audrey’s heart stopped. “Hey, Audrey, have you seen Allison anywhere?” Sammy said and popped into the kitchen, but as the door opened– “SAMMY NO–” A bucket that had been propped on the door from above fell, drenching the person who entered with water. The bucket hit the ground with a loud ‘clank’!
Toon Bendy smiled from ear to ear and silently laughed at Sammy. Pointing and laughing, though no actual voice came from his mouth, as Toon Bendy was permanently silent. 
“Hahahaha…” Sammy forced a laugh, and through gritted teeth he said, “My Lord that was a very funny joke.” Sammy said with a somewhat uncomfortable smile.
“Oh gosh no….no today's April first!” Audrey shouted and got up from her seat, tossing her book aside. “I have to warn everyone!” “What does April first have to do with this?” Sammy questioned as his head snapped to look at Audrey with a very clearly forced grin, as he was clearly a little angry. The man was walking around shirtless so that didn’t actually help his case. “It’s April fools day.” Audrey said the word like it was a death sentence. 
Toon Bendy laughed again. Like someone had just said the funniest thing ever. “Sammy, where’s Allison and Tom? I need to warn them. You know how…intense Bendy gets with these.” Audrey spoke like Toon Bendy wasn’t in the room with her. “I came here to ask you.” He responded. 
Audrey looked at Toon Bendy, who looked like he was about to leave. “No you don’t–” Audrey picked up Toon Bendy. The little demon was just that. Little. So it wasn’t much of a challenge. “Now, what are you planning this year?” Audrey questioned. Toon Bendy sarcastically shrugged. Audrey frowned. “Whatever. Let’s just find the others before they walk into one of your traps.” Audrey said and held Bendy under her arm like a football. Now. That sounded a lot easier than it really was. Mostly because finding everyone else would require evading what Toon Bendy already had set up while getting to them. 
Audrey stepped over the already spilled water and exit the room.
Audrey made her way to the stairs. Pretty safe so far. “Did you set anything up on the stairs?” Audrey asked. Once again, Bendy did not realistically respond, instead just shrugging. Audrey sighed and realized this. “Well I’m not letting you go so if it’s anything water based then you’re in trouble.” She stated. Toon Bendy didn’t seem to care. All he really wanted was to get at least one prank in on everyone in the house. 
Audrey walked up the stairs, and failed to notice a trip wire that was low, by her ankle, and in a cartoonish way, one of those wrestling boxing gloves popped out of the wall. “Gah!” She shouted, but was quick enough to avoid it. Bendy sighed as his prank failed. “How did you even manage to make these?!” She questioned. Toon Bendy always had a way of defying all laws of physics. Seriously, the kid could start falling up and no one would be shocked.
“Nice try, Bendy, but not nice enough.” Audrey said. She had the expression of a woman that was going to punt Bendy across a soccer field, but of course, she wouldn’t. Audrey made it up the staircase and approached the first room. “...Alice’s room” Audrey muttered in somewhat dread. Alice had just recently joined their side. She said that she didn’t mind being called Susie, but Alice had started to stick. “Bendy, Benders, Bendifier, how risky are you to play a prank on Alice of all people?” Audrey questioned. Bendy smiled devilishly, as if saying that’s what made it fun. But regardless of the whys or the hows, Audrey opened the door. “...Hey…Ms.Alice?” Audrey said and announced her presence. Audrey knew that Alice hated being stuck up on. She knocked awkwardly on the door as she opened it. “Ms.Alice?” Audrey repeated and entered the room.
“In here, sweetie.” Alice said from another room in her room. Alice’s room had her own bathroom. “Ms.Alice I need you to stay still! Don’t touch anything!” Audrey warned as she approached the room. Alice was standing over a sink and brushing her hair in a mirror. Bendy rubbed his hands together like a little evil genius. “I just finished washing my hair. What are you here to discuss, sweetie?” She asked and looked at Audrey. “Bendy is being a menace.” Audrey said and gestured to the little rodent she had in her arms. 
“Psh. Aren’t you overreacting?” Alice questioned and looked back to the sink, putting her hair brush down onto the counter. “You’ve clearly never been here for an April Fools Day with Bendy.” Audrey said. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you make it out to be. You’re always a little overdramatic, Audrey.” Alice responded and turned the water on in the sink. Ironic. 
Just as Alice said such a thing, and the water turned on, the water sprayed her dead in the face. She yelped and recoiled back. Bendy laughed loudly, again without making any noise. “Alice!” Audrey called. She saw what Bendy had done to achieve such a trap. He had put a rubber band onto the faucet so that water would be directed at whoever turned it on when the water poured. 
Alice growled. Audrey stood still, slightly cowering with Bendy in her arms, who’s giggles slowly silenced as Alice began to rise from the ground. Ah yes. They did call her Malice Angel for a reason. Audrey closed her eyes in preparation of the wrath of Susie Campbell, but the wrath never arrived.
Alice sighed and pat Bendy on the head. “I just can’t stay mad at this little cutie.” She said, which was shocking considering Alice still held a grudge against nearly everyone in the house. Maybe she just had a soft spot for little darlings like Bendy?
“Oh…” Audrey sighed in relief. “Good.” She responded. “Now,” Alice said in a pleasant tone. “OUT.” The pleasant tone turned venomous. “Yes ma’am!” Bendy smiled. He had his goal of pranking everyone at least once. He had gotten Mr.Lawrence and now Ms.Alice. They were checked off. That only left Allison, Tom, Audrey and Henry, who would definitely be more of a challenge, but it wasn’t too much for Bendy to pull off. Bendy always found a way. Except for Henry. Henry, most of the time, just let himself fall into Bendy’s traps. He figured they were harmless.
Audrey rushed out of Alice’s bedroom. “Still time….still time to warn Allison, Tom and Henry!” Audrey called. Allison and Tom shared a room. And if Audrey remembered right, Henry was out of the house for a little bit.
Audrey was a little afraid as she approached the bedroom door. “Bends, can you at least give me a clue about if I’m getting close?” Audrey asked. Bendy shook his head. That ruined the fun, he figured. Audrey sighed. Of course not. With that, she opened the door to Allison and Tom's room.
“Allison, Tom, it’s April First!” Audrey said as she bust down the door. Tom was sitting in his chair in the corner. Allison was putting on her shoes. Not surprising. It was still early morning by then. “We know.” Allison replied. “We’ve been keeping an eye out for Bendy’s little tricks.” Allison said and shot Bendy a playful glare. “Nothing too severe this year.” She added. “Eeehh I wouldn’t be so sure.” Audrey replied. “I’m still telling you to look out…and please don’t say “it’s not that bad” because I promise it will be that bad.” Audrey said. “We know, we know. Believe it or not, Tom’s been a little worried. He’s been in his corner all morning because of this menace.” Allison stated and gestured to Toon Bendy. Toon Bendy gestured for Tom's attention. Tom looked over. Toon Bendy and Tom communicated quite well despite both of them being completely silent. 
Toon Bendy gestured to his toy train on the ground. Had that always been there? Tom didn’t think so. But he wasn’t stupid. Toon Bendy gestured for Tom to bring it to him, as he couldn’t do it himself, being trapped in Audrey’s arms. Tom didn’t want to. But if he didn’t he knew he wouldn’t see the end of it. Tom approached the toy train as Allison and Audrey continued to talk.
Tom stared down at the toy train. He kicked it slightly, as if expecting something to bite him because of it. But nothing happened. 
Tom sighed. Toon Bendy did seem to be just a kid. Fine. He picked up the toy train–
BOOM.
It was an explosive. Not only had Toon Bendy gotten his hands on an explosive but he also put it into a toy train and THEN set it up for someone to pick up.
Tom looked like a cartoon bomb had gone off in his face. As in, it caused no real damage, but there was that black stuff now covering the front of his face from it.
“Oh…” Allison mumbled. “I will hand it to you, Bendy, this is a step up from replacing the oreos with toothpaste.” She stated. Audrey shivered. That was not a fond memory. “You okay, Tom?” Allison asked. Tom gave a frustrated thumbs up.
“Good. Now…it’s early, and I need to sharpen my blade.” She said and walked over to the sheath where her sword was kept. “Allison…” Audrey muttered, expecting for something to happen as she removed the blade from the sheath. And for a good second, nothing did. But, as the weight was taken from where the sword stood, something changed. A string snapped. They heard it. It was something like a Rube Goldberg machine.
And then, board of the roof opened,
Allison gripped her sword as several water balloons fell from the roof. She gracefully cut through them in a very expert manner, but with each time she did, she was splashed with water. By the end of it, she just stood there simply. “You win again, Bendy.” Allison said and turned to Audrey and the little devil darling. Bendy smiled brightly, and yet also evilly. “Bendy!” Audrey scolded. “Why did you even get so elaborate with these?!” She questioned. She did not receive an answer. 
Allison laughed quietly. “Was that everyone?” She asked. “Yes…I’m pretty sure. Bendy just pranked you and Tom. Just a second ago he got Alice and Sammy…Henry isn’t back yet…So yeah, about everyone.” Audrey answered. “Audrey, you’re missing someone.” Allison said. “Huh? Who?” Audrey replied. Allison pointed to Audrey herself. Audrey’s eyes widened. Allison laughed once more. “Looks like Bendy was saving the best for last.” Allison stated. “Well, good luck.” She stated before taking Tom by the hand and led him downstairs, probably to have breakfast or something. 
Audrey sighed and looked at Toon Bendy. “Well…mission failed. You got us again, Bendy.” Audrey stated and put Bendy down on the ground. Toon Bendy looked quite proud of himself. 
Audrey went downstairs, Toon Bendy following behind her. Sooner than later, everyone sat down in their respective seats for breakfast. Allison and Alice’s hair was still wet. Sammy didn’t have a change of clothes yet (he was still going through his ‘I’m never wearing a shirt’ arc) so he was still wet. Tom still had the excess stuff from the explosive on his face. Audrey and Henry seemed to be the only ones who had made it so far. And it seemed like a lot of Bendy’s pranks this year involved water. Well- it was better than fire. 
“Hey, I’m back. And I brought sodas…” His voice trailed off as he saw everyone. “Did a pipe blow up or something?” He asked in a confused manner. “Don’t wanna talk about it…” Sammy grumbled. “Ookay…well. Aren’t you all just as sunny as ever.” He stated playfully and put the sodas onto the table.
Henry sat down in the chair, only for it to break and him to fall through. “...I didn’t think I weighed that much.” Henry mumbled. Toon Bendy laughed silently. No one was shocked. “Bendy, you cut the ties, didn’t you?” Audrey asked. She didn’t even need an answer. She sighed. “Well, glad this is all over. And glad I didn’t have to suffer through one of your ‘pranks’ this year” Audrey said and looked at Bendy. “Speaking of, can you pass me a soda?” She asked. Toon Bendy nodded and got the soda for her. He smiled devilishly before handing it to her.
He had shaken the soda.
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Have you ever had a relationship with GOD/YHWH? Have you asked HIM things, for help/understanding?
What is stopping you from pursuing a life w/ someone WHO will never leave you and has your best at heart?
𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱: 'If you do not know where you want to go, then it doesn't matter which path you take.'
I'm always saying I don't know what is happening or why I'm feeling despondent
— so I agree we don't know how to live.
We're all unique snowflakes, but I think divorce & drugs and alcohol exists so we can try to calm down from all the anger and rage we feel when 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 — or the way we want to be treated or remembered.
1.]  If 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿,       Hell is basic entry level for everyone, &
2.]  If GOD sent HIS SON to die on the cross in our       place to avoid this Hell and lead us thru life by       HIS HOLY SPIRIT; &
3.]  HE says there is only 1-way forward & JESUS       is the way/truth/life, that no one comes to       the FATHER except thru JESUS. [John 14:6]
Why would we ever avoid HIS easy yoke? Why wouldn't we ask HIM in to show us the way?
We clearly don't have life/truth/way to GOD, unless we accept JESUS, & life/death begins forever after we're ejected from earth.
I wonder if you were to die in your sleep suddenly: Are you ready to be drop-kicked into eternity?
Case in point...
Rose you say you think about your mentor Albert a lot that he passed away suddenly [5:37] maybe that's the take away lesson here:
In the Bible it says there was a rich man who had so much money/wealth that he was thinking to himself he had more than enough to retire & live at ease for the rest of his life.
The problem was,
Luke 12:20 | ²⁰ But GOD said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
This Easter maybe try going to Church & learning about how you can store up millions in Heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Matthew 6:19-21]
is this an april fools joke? is this a copypasta? help?
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helios-shine · 1 year
Note
Have you ever had a relationship with GOD/YHWH? Have you asked HIM things, for help/understanding?
What is stopping you from pursuing a life w/ someone WHO will never leave you and has your best at heart?
𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱: 'If you do not know where you want to go, then it doesn't matter which path you take.'
I'm always saying I don't know what is happening or why I'm feeling despondent
— so I agree we don't know how to live.
We're all unique snowflakes, but I think divorce & drugs and alcohol exists so we can try to calm down from all the anger and rage we feel when 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 — or the way we want to be treated or remembered.
1.]  If 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿,       Hell is basic entry level for everyone, &
2.]  If GOD sent HIS SON to die on the cross in our       place to avoid this Hell and lead us thru life by       HIS HOLY SPIRIT; &
3.]  HE says there is only 1-way forward & JESUS       is the way/truth/life, that no one comes to       the FATHER except thru JESUS. [John 14:6]
Why would we ever avoid HIS easy yoke? Why wouldn't we ask HIM in to show us the way?
We clearly don't have life/truth/way to GOD, unless we accept JESUS, & life/death begins forever after we're ejected from earth.
I wonder if you were to die in your sleep suddenly: Are you ready to be drop-kicked into eternity?
Case in point...
Rose you say you think about your mentor Albert a lot that he passed away suddenly [5:37] maybe that's the take away lesson here:
In the Bible it says there was a rich man who had so much money/wealth that he was thinking to himself he had more than enough to retire & live at ease for the rest of his life.
The problem was,
Luke 12:20 | ²⁰ But GOD said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
This Easter maybe try going to Church & learning about how you can store up millions in Heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Matthew 6:19-21]
this is so fucking funny actually anon ty for sending in such a well structured joke!!!! man ppl are really taking april fools seriously this year hahaha
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violettenouvel · 4 years
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If you're feeling alone in those time of self-isolation, grab your very own hot waifu and/or sexy husbando to warm your bed, all while practicing social distancing and staying 100% safe !
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*slides 50$ across the table*
Can you elaborate on Saeray's dry humor?? We all know it comes from Suit but still 👉🏻👈🏻
I’ll go ahead and say Saeran After Ending spoilers here just in case anyone doesn’t want to see them. I absolutely enjoy talking about GE Saeran, and there is a lot to talk about when it comes to him. There’s so much going on inside of his head and we’re the only person that’s privy to all that information. He gives us everything he has to give and then some. It’s admirable. His honesty is very brazen and bold, but it’s sincere and gentle, too. He has this balance of being blunt and sweet. 
It’s hard to put this into words and it’s easier to explain once you know what you’re looking at. You have to understand Ray and Suit Saeran on a core level to put together these pieces. 
Ray’s got a big heart that’s wrapped with thorns to protect himself. He can be cold, calculated, and demanding. He dreams with a large fantasy brewing in the back of his mind filled with light and hope and this small belief that his family will come back and you’ll be the key. 
Then there’s Suit Saeran, who is bloodied with briars that surround his entire body. Every touch he makes destroys him and puts others into pain as well, he’s breaking with every cruel word he says, but at the same time, he’s screaming for someone to save him. 
When you look at them through the lens of their pain, it helps you better understand what conclusion GE Saeran comes to in the end when he decides that choosing kindness is better than hurting himself on the thorns. 
In the case of the traits that aren’t twisted up in pain, we can think of Ray’s selflessness and commitment to making others feel happy the way that he dreamed of, and we can think of Suit Saeran’s desire to make you laugh and shine brightly despite what you suffer. This combines in Saeray to make someone who has the ability to give his entire life for you and muddle his humor between things that make sense and things that align with his mood. 
In GE Saeran’s case, when I talk about his humor, I’m talking about how he thinks that he’s making fun when he misses the mark. When it comes to humor, there’s a lot that he doesn’t understand. Popular culture and memes? Don’t you dare ask him. He thinks a prank is something where you trick someone into saying something to him with a chuckle on his lips. In the Good Ending during Ray Route, he’ll do this: 
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Saeran thinks this is so clever. He cannot stop chuckling. He’s so genuine when it comes to pranks. You can’t prank him, though. That’s why when they did the Twitter Event for April Fools, you tried to trick him with a fake vacation and when you realized that he wasn’t getting the joke, the entire RFA ensured that you got an actual vacation because nobody wanted to break it to Saeran that this was a prank. Like, he’s sweet but sometimes he misses the hint. His sense of humor is only for him, and it’s pretty varied. He misses cues, a lot. 
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And in the case of Zen here, there’s always confusion. Saeran’s just got no time to figure out something that he doesn’t understand. He shuts down Zen with a straight face and everyone in that room, if they had a sense of humor, would be there to chuckle and press a hand against their lips to stifle the sound. It’s not the first time this happens between Zen and Saeran, and it’s not going to be the  last time it occurs. 
Saeran has the tendency to shut down this humor and comebacks with a dry statement and it sends me high every time. Are you guys not laughing when this happens? I’m always laughing. Now, if we’re going to talk about Saeran being humorous and intending to do instead of an accident where it just springs up in the heat of the moment? There’s a phone call on the first day of the After Ending where you can tease him about treats and he’ll rebuff with saying: 
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And his tone sounds so snarky and bite-y like Suit Saeran when he does this. It’s sweet, to say the least, to see him doing this. He knows how to be funny, even if he doesn’t realize what he’s doing. His humor can seem flat to people that are around him because they may not understand when he’s trying to make a joke and when he isn’t. He’s got cases where it’s the intention to be funny and when it just accidentally. Both are humorous, but you’d have to sit down and explain to him why you’re laughing if something like that happens. He’s okay with it, you know? 
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thevictorianghost · 3 years
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You said in your finnrey/zutara post that studio meddling was involved for both. I knew that this was the case for finnrey because of racist cowards. But I never knew that was the case for zutara? Tbh I just assumed from the get-go that aang and katara were the main ship and I thought it was cute for them to end up together in the end. Though it is really interesting to learn that zuko and katara could’ve also been a serious thing and I think they could also work together rather nicely. What happened behind the scenes that caused it not to happen? Was aang originally gonna be set up with toph or have no love interest?
Oh hello! Hi! My first anon. Welcome :)
Before we start: I’m going to write Kat/aang, A/ang and Bry/ke like that so it doesn’t appear in the tags and I’ll bold some sections for emphasis. 
I don’t think the writers even considered Toph as a love interest for A/ang. It was always about Kat/aang vs Zutara.
It’s no secret at this point that Dante Basco and Mae Whitman, who voiced Zuko and Katara respectively, ship Zutara. Dante Basco is known as the “captain of the Zutara ship”. They’ve written multiple times about Zutara on Twitter and Dante Basco said in an interview that he really thought, at one point, that Zuko and Katara were going to end up together, that he thought it was going that way, and that he loved the idea of fire and water together.
As for the writers, it’s a bit more difficult to find information, since the show ended 15 years ago. But Aaron Ehasz, head writer of ATLA, has come out and said there was supposed to be a fourth season and it was dropped in favor of the movie. He said it on Twitter on April 1rst, 2019 (while also saying sorry for picking that date, it wasn’t an April Fools!). He said that M Night Shyamalan wanted them to focus on Book 4, but Bry/ke (Bryan Konietsko and Mike DiMartino) “wanted to focus on the movie”. You can find those tweets here. Not about Zutara per se, but it does show not everyone was on board with how the show was going to end behind the scenes.
Speaking of the movie, when asked about The Last Airbender, M Night Shyamalan also gave his input on the situation. He talked about how, by the time Book 3 came around, he wasn’t sure if the series was supposed to end there or if there was going to be a Book 4. He said to Bry/ke: ““Dudes, I gotta know this. This is critical! This has to end. This has to end. If it doesn’t end, I’m not on board. But if you don’t want to end it - it’s all good.”  They were like “no, we saw it as three seasons for each element that he has to learn.”  And I said “great.”” This is where it gets interesting, though: “At that time they hadn’t even decided where things were going to end, even like who Katara was going to end up with. All of that stuff hadn’t been figured out yet.” 
It’s interesting to me how he mentions this is who Katara will end up with. Not A/ang, not Zuko. It’s always about Katara.
 Someone who interned on ATLA has been quoted as saying that “If you check out the I.P. Bible then you’ll see a Kat/aang endgame was never planned from the start, it was supposed to remain a one-sided crush throughout the whole show.“ and that “The actual decision to make them a couple came about much later at Bry/ke’s request, largely because they were frustrated at the popularity of Zutara.“ Of course, not everyone in the production was full on one side or the other, as the post says some were neutral about it. “Some of the crew liked Kat/aang, I know Joaquim [Dos Santos] was a big Kat/aang supporter but more of them were neutral about it, Ehasz was not fond of Kat/aang but he didn’t mind too much since he’s a mature adult and all that.”
Avatar Extras (special events on Nicktoons where episodes of ATLA were shown with fun facts) were released where it was said that Zuko was supposed to be Katara’s love interest. It was said two times at least. I’ve only ever found screencaps of these, but I found these here on Tumblr. 
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When asked about these in the Avatar Extras, Bry/ke said that it was just a joke and that Kat/aang was always in the DNA of the show. But if you’re here to tell fun facts to your audience about your show, maybe put a disclaimer that says some things might not be as truthful as they think they will be?
And the intern mentioned earlier also said that “No one was having full-on ship wars in the writer’s room but we did joke about it, and we toyed with the idea of Zuko and Katara falling in love a couple of times.“ So that goes well with the Avatar Extras.
Meanwhile, other writers, like John O’Bryan, have been quoted talking against Zutara in favor of Kat/aang. EDIT: Thank you to @exhaustedhope for giving me a source for this quote! This link also has a few images for the quote, so I’ll add them here.
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Thank you again! And also the use of Zutara fanart to badmouth the ship in favor of Kat/aang? Dude.
If this was the way people behind the scenes were thinking of Katara and A/ang’s and Katara and Zuko’s relationships... well that doesn’t really make me think “Kat/aang was in the DNA of the show” either, huh? Zuko was never officially her love interest, Katara never actually “went after that guy”. But the thought that she might made them uneasy. 
(Btw, let’s not forget Zuko actually does care about Katara, enough to put his life on the line for her in Book 3, so that mischaracterizes Zuko.) 
This comment by John O’Bryan fits with this vision of Zutara Bry/ke has, where Zuko is nothing but a broody, emo “bad boy” who doesn’t care about Katara at all. It’s shown pretty well in their dreadful “joke” made at Comic Con in 2007. You can find the video here. Here, Katara ends up with A/ang and “should have never doubted the will of Mike and Bryan!” (yuck). So Kat/aang was always the “right” way for them to end the show, right?
But then! Even Bry/ke themselves have said that Kat/aang was forced. They said it in 2014 when Korrasami became canon in Legend of Korra. On Korrasami and Kat/aang, they said this: “Originally, [Korrasami] was primarily intended to be a strong friendship. Frankly, we wanted to set most of the romance business aside for the last two seasons. Personally, at that point I didn’t want Korra to have to end up with someone at the end of series. We obviously did it in Avatar, but even that felt a bit forced to me.“
So they admitted that Kat/aang was forced. They even mention the ATLA ship wars in the post. “Either direction we went [about Korrasami or Makorra], there would inevitably be a faction that was elated and another that was devastated. Trust me, I remember Kat/aang vs. Zutara. But one of those directions is going to be the one that feels right to us, and Mike and I have always made both Avatar and Korra for us, first and foremost.”
Okay. So what’s real about the behind the scenes of ATLA and what isn’t? Was Kat/aang in the DNA of the show, or did they go back and forth between Kat/aang and Zutara like they did with Korrasami and Makorra? 
There have been conflicting informations scattered across the Internet over the years. Some people say one thing and others react, saying the opposite and that the first thing was false. Some people lied, or joked, to mess with the audience and toy with Zutara - or not, or maybe, or perhaps... What I think, though, is that not everything was set in stone. Some people were for Zutara and some people were for Kat/aang. And even after all of that, the big takeaway for me was: the end result that Bryke wanted so badly was lackluster in and of itself.
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remakethestars · 3 years
Text
Being Damian Wayne's Twin Sister Would Include:
Headcanons.
❝Exactly. I don't ask my dog to drive, and I don't ask the Justice League to solve my problems.❞
— Damian Wayne, Adventures of the Super Sons #9: Showdown on Hexworld
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TRIGGER WARNING: Cursing, (Damian’s) death. Mentions of toxic masculinity and internalized misogyny, nightmares, blood, knives.
Headcanon masterlist.
When people ask you, “So, which one of you is the evil twin?” Damian always glowers, and you always motion to him.
You look disturbingly alike when only your eyes are showing; Damian’s got long lashes. Talia taught you a good tactic for tag-teaming in combat as kids was to pull up your hinged balaclavas and make the enemy think there was only one of you, that they’re seeing double.
Or for one of you to hang back while the other attacks as a distraction before the other knocks them out from behind.
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Obviously, this won’t work when the two of you start filling out, but it works when you’re kids. It’s the reason why, even off the field, the two of you usually wear a matching outfits with hoods.
You utilize the same methods when she sends you to live with Bruce.
You don the Robin costume just like he does, much to the rest of the Batfam’s confusion (both because they weren’t expecting it and because they can’t tell you apart either), but sticking with the “red” theme, you go by Redstart.
There’s a rumor on the street that Robin V. is a meta that can teleport.
The two of you are freakishly good at mimicking the other’s voice and mannerisms, which makes it even harder for your family.
Jason tells you two about April Fools Day, and you make the most of it. Of course, Damian’s a pain in the a$$ and decides to go around pretending to be you and getting into trouble. You’re banned from the mall, and you still have no idea why. 
The two of you can communicate with just an impassive expression (Dick says it looks like a prime example of twin telepathy to anyone else), but anyone close to you knows sh¡t’s about to hit the fan when the two of you look at each other and smirk.
If it’s something you can’t communicate nonverbally, you use your cryptophasia. 
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Cryptophasia is a language developed by twins when they’re learning to talk. Most of them grow out of it, you and Damian decided to keep developing it so it became more of a conlang. No one else has been taught to speak it, and they never will be. It’s for emergencies only.
Sun Tzu’s The Art of War was your Bible growing up, and the two of you call out verses when you fight together and need the other to understand a tactic (you both inherited Bruce’s eidetic memory, so you’ve got it memorized).
When you get too big to pull off the which-is-which game, you make your own costume and become the true Redstart. 
It’s basically Damian’s Robin uniform (the Super Sons’s version is the only one I’ll accept), but the boots and gloves are black, the biceps have a white stripe, the lining of the cape is white (the lining of the hood is black), the gold accents become white, it has a zipper down the front instead of clasps, and the mask becomes black (including the eyes). The waterline of the eyes is white. Like a painted redstart.
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If Damian’s into animals, you’re into plants. The two of you find common ground on the fact that pollution sucks, so when you walk Titus, you take a trash bag and gloves with you to pick up litter as you go.
You did not want to go to Jon’s school. 
Not because you don’t like Jon (because you do), but because you know you could run intellectual circles around every one of those snot-nosed brats. 
School is stupid. Especially because the American education system is subpar; everything about it is.
You hardly pay attention in class. You do all of the homework a week ahead of time incase something comes up. Usually you’re doing next week’s homework in class. You’ve written entire papers on your phone in Google Docs in the middle of class to be printed out later.
If you’ve already done everything, Damian’s usually drawing and you’re daydreaming or you’re working on a case on your phone.
The teachers are always trying to catch you not paying attention, but you little sh¡ts can always answer their questions. 
Damian’s closest with Dick, but you’re closest with Tim. You admire his ability to plan ahead (see the entirety of the Red Robin comics), and you know that he’s better than both your father and your grandfather; you want to be as good as him when you grow up.
It takes a long time to wash the toxic masculinity and internalized misogyny our of your head, to learn that your grandfather’s ideas of “strength” were wrong, that it’s okay to lean on someone besides Damian, that you can be just as strong as your brother and still be feminine, that there are acceptable emotions besides anger.
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Actually, your father teaches you that anger is more likely to get you killed. He won’t let you go into the field when he knows your angry.
It’s harder to drill out of you than your instinct to kill.
There’s a Lebanese restaurant called Tarbooshes (Teen Titans Special #1) the two of you go to when you’re feeling homesick. They make ox blood soup the same way your mother did, and it’s the only non-vegetarian thing Damian will eat for that very reason.
It’s nice to have a place to go where they know you by name and know what you want when you tell them “the usual.” It’s nice to have a place where you’re not a Wayne or an Al Ghul, where you’re just [Y/N] and Damian.
You disappear for an hour on your birthday to eat there. Bruce has asked you were you go, but you kept that between the two of you. 
Speaking of birthdays, you’re eleven minutes older than him. He was six pounds and ten ounces (Batman & Robin #0?), and you were a solid seven.
After Damian died, you go to Tarbooshes to feel close to him.
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You were doing all right with the no-killing thing until the night Damian died.
Heretic never stood a chance.
He looked so much like Damian it gave you nightmares, though. Nightmares where you killed your twin brother and woke up sobbing.
Damian didn’t give you a speech in his last moments. He just looked over at you and said in your cryptophasia, “I’m sorry.” 
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Not “I love you.” Not “Take care of them for me.” You knew that; you’d do that. He didn’t have to tell you, and he didn’t have to ask.
Just “I’m sorry.” Sorry that you were the one that was left behind.
It’s one thing to lose a family member, to lose a friend, or to lose a lover. It’s another to lose half of your soul.
The two of you had always feared you would die apart. It had always been a possibility; you weren’t stupid enough to think, “It’ll never happen to me.” Because it definitely could. 
And it had.
You wanted to run away from everything. Even just for a while. Go to one of your safe houses in London or France or whatever and just — you didn’t know — stare at the wall until you felt better? But you’d made that unspoken promise to Damian — “I’ll take care of them for you; don’t worry.” — to take care of Titus and Catfred and Jerry and Batcow and Goliath, to take care of Alfred and Bruce and Dick and Jason and Cassandra and Tim, to take care of Jon and Colin and Maps.
You avoided the cave. And if you had to go down there for some reason, you refused to look at the Robin suits.
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Dick noticed. He asked if you wanted them taken down, even just for a while. You gave him a look like he was nuts and said, “No.”
Jon was a mess. More of a mess than you were, somehow. 
You’d shown up at the Kents’s. Jon was out doing Superboy things with Clark and Conner. Lois was the only one home.
You nearly scared her out of her skin when you materialized behind her and asked, “Is Jon home? It’s important.” 
He had to know first. He deserved to.
For all he put up with from you two, he deserved to be the first to know when one of you was f*cking dead.
Lois, of course, bless her heart, had the mom instincts to know that you were in no way, shape, or form okay even when you were trying so hard to hold yourself together. She asked you what’s wrong, and it’s what made you break. 
Your lip trembled. “He’s gone.”
“Who’s gone?”
“Damian,” your voice broke. “He’s dead.” 
Jon came home to find you in his living room in your Robin uniform, covered in Damian’s and Heretic’s blood, snot running down your lip, sobbing in his mothers arms and knew what happened without having to ask. He did anyway.
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When you and Jon both finally passed out, your Uncle Clark flew you back to the Batcave. No one was in any condition — not even Alfred — so he carried you up to your room; took your boots, mask, cape, and gloves off; and tucked you in. Then he went to find Bruce because there was no doubt he was losing it too.
Bruce doesn’t tell you anything about trying to find a way to bring him back without the Lazarus pit because he doesn’t want to get your hopes up. 
You walk into your room one day to find Damian sitting there reading the dissertation (the requirement was three pages, not 120, but your teacher would just have to deal with your coping mechanisms) you had been working on for your World History class and left up on your laptop while on patrol. 
He said with the utmost indifference, “You’ve made some good points, Sister,” and, of course, you pulled out a knife and attacked him because this was — was — was some shapeshifting alien or hologram tech or a cruel joke — your twin was dead, this wasn’t funny, whoever did this was going to pay.
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He met you blow-for-blow and flipped away from you before saying, “And here I was expecting a warm welcome,” in your cryptophasia. 
“Brother?” 
“Tt. Obviously.” 
Yeah, a college level thesis. You’re smart. You inherited Bruce’s eidetic memory and were raised by assassins.
You learned seven languages and wrote five doctoral theses by the time your teeth came in, wrote your first letter to a newspaper editor when you were two, could’ve had a geology doctorate when you were seven (Super Sons #1), and it only took you a week to learn the language on Takron-Galtos. You’re smart.
You’re also incredibly skilled. You learned to drive when you were five (Super Sons #1), your mother trained you to go for weeks without eating (Adventures of the Super Sons #6), you can micro-sleep for days and converse with half your brain asleep, can use a muscular contraction to move your liver out of the way of a blade (Nightwing #20), and can place yourself in a deep trance to heal damages caused by a hematoma (also #20).
(My dumba$$ didn’t note what Super Sons/Adventure of the Super Sons��comic I was reading when I took notes, so I don’t have all of them noted in the two above bullet points. But that’s where they’re from. If I end up rereading them, I’ll edit this and add the comic numbers.)
The first time on patrol you thought Bruce was gonna die, you called him Baba. 
The next evening, when Dick came to visit the cave, he turned to you and Damian and asked, “So, which one of you called him Dad?” 
“How’d you know?” you asked. 
“He’s smiling the way he did the day I called him Tati.”
“He’s not smiling,” Damian pointed out.
“He is on the inside.”
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Can we talk about how royally the Arkham Knights game screwed up Tim Drake? (Though, everything seems to screw up Tim one way or another, I guess.) Why does he look like a quidditch player in the gif above the cut?
Visit my headcanon masterlist.
DISCLAIMER ━━━ I’m a dumb white American, and I don’t know much about Arab or Romani culture other than what I’ve learned online. I hope I got it right?? If I didn’t, please drop a comment or P.M. me or something to let me know!
377 notes · View notes
cryo-regalia · 3 years
Note
I LOVED that Seven story! You’re really talented! Would you ever think about doing a similar piece with Zen kind of reflective of the normal ending 2 of the April Fools DLC where he tries to contact you but with a darker spin?? Thanks for reading this!
divergence
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zen could take a joke and considered himself a playful man, but finding out he and his one true love really were from two different worlds left him desperate to change that ft. zen
— THEMES: fem!reader, yandere au, delusional tendencies, distorted idea of soulmates, zen spoilers.
MINORS DO NOT INTERACT | 18+
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Zen was a man of romantic fantasy. A dreamer, if you would. It didn’t take much effort to figure that out to a point that many strangers understood this. He didn’t have his head in the clouds, he thought himself to be quite grounded, but he let himself slip into thoughts about an idealized world where he would be able to find the person of his dreams. When he was a child, the storybooks he was able to slip past his parents were always about a prince saving a princess in need and he’d spend so much time hiding it from them in a spot that wouldn’t be searched through. He promised himself that he would be that prince and rescue his other half from whatever troubles they faced so they wouldn’t have to deal with anything similar to what he did. It was a hope and dream he hung onto for so long that it became a lifeline during his darkest moments. They’re out there and waiting for me, he would remind himself during his darkest days. Even when he had nothing but himself and the clothes on his back, he would remind himself that his dreams of finding his special someone would become a reality. He wouldn’t leave someone hurting like that, nor would he leave his dreams behind like that either. The days of organized planning on creating a better life for himself would not be for nothing.
When he was still in high school, he sometimes found himself thinking about what he would do if he found his partner during that time. His parents wouldn’t approve of them unless they handpicked them themselves or had a family that they could mooch money from, use to boost their own reputation, and for growing profits. The option to keep it a secret was always on the table, but how long would it be until either of them would want to make things public and not have to hide such a profound thing like love? Zen didn’t think that he’d be able to keep something like that to himself for so long. He could hide his books and other materialistic things, but feelings? Not a chance. His female classmates would ask to spend time with them, and while he accepted the offers when he had the time and could whenever his parents didn’t have such a tight leash on him, he didn’t feel anything. They were lovely ladies, but that tingly feeling in his chest or the butterflies that were supposed to flutter in his stomach weren’t there. He wasn’t sure what was harder: accepting that fact or turning their relationship offers down. Running away was something he planned for ages and thought about for so long, but in the case that he had met his soulmate, he wasn’t going to tear them away from their normal life and family just because he couldn’t stand his own. Maybe it was for the better that they hadn’t met yet when he was in such a tight spot, but he promised himself that he’d treat them like the royalty they were in his heart.
Even if his biological family didn’t love him like they said they did to the public, he knew that someone was out there that could. That would. That can. That will. Deep down, he knew that they were out there. So close, yet so far from where he was. So close that he could feel their fingertips against his own, but couldn’t reach any farther than that to actually grasp them. It was torture unlike anything he had ever felt or experienced before. At least it was swallowed by the positivity of the group of people surrounded himself with. He may not have been able to stand the talk of that furball, or the times the rich bastard reminded himself of his family that got under his skin more than he would admit, but he cared for the RFA and considered them a new kind of family. He could even say he loved them in a platonic sense. But what Zen sought was something romantic and someone that could tame the beast and love him for more than just his looks. Was it a lot to ask? A part of him thought so, scolding him for being so picky and impatient that tugged at his guilt and conscience. If they were destined to be together, then they’d meet soon enough. That’s what he reminded himself every time his mind wandered back to his thoughts of his soulmate, anyways. What if he didn’t have someone who was his other half and he was part of the unlucky bunch? He heard that soulmates could be platonic and he wouldn’t turn down the chance to meet them even if that was the case, but still...
He always had hope he’d find him or her, or even them. Someone he could call his own. His other half. His soulmate. Every time he felt as though he was getting closer to finding them, it wasn’t long until he realized he was back at square one. He was a little ashamed to admit how often this was, and he partially blamed that on the hope that continued to swell in his chest. He was happy to meet people, but the one person that he did want to get to know was so far out of his reach that it was becoming agonizing, like leaving an open wound alone and trying to go on with your day with it there. Not even his dreams—sometimes oddly prophetic or downright comical, never in between— gave him a single glimpse into who his true love would be. He never got a hint into what they did for a living, where he would meet them, when, or if he had before and never realized it. This was much more frustrating than words could possibly explain. What if he wasn’t destined for one? Surely everyone had one, so why didn’t he? What had he done to have to wait so long? Was he not working hard enough to find them, or putting enough effort into his job? If there was some kind of higher being out there listening to him—kinda creepy, if you asked him—and keeping him and his soulmate apart, then he must have pissed them off real bad. 
It was a spur of the moment revelation that caused him to open his mouth through the messenger, followed by a frantic search for an undo or delete button that he quickly found was nonexistent. He planned on saying something to the RFA, he knew he could trust them to keep what he said between them and that they could cheer him up, but he just couldn’t find the right moment. He didn’t want to ruin the moment or the good mood everyone had been in as of late. He hadn’t seen Yoosung so happy and motivated in so long, even if it didn’t have to do with school. Seven was surprisingly focused on some kind of newfound project, something about a game and someone’s phone, he didn’t really understand it. Jaehee may not have known Rika for that long, but loss was loss, and she was getting a healthy amount of sleep for once. The rich bastard may not have been as outwardly expressive about his grief, but there was something subtle about the way he would type in the messenger that was different about his usual way of typing. He remembered trying to figure out how to work his phone and if shaking it would somehow change something and magically delete it. It didn’t. It was just an offhanded comment about his efforts potentially being for nothing and he could have let it fade into the cluster of earlier messages to be long forgotten about. Yoosung didn’t may it much mind, but he figured it could have been because he was focusing on his LoLoL guild and Seven, while being in the chatroom, hadn’t sent a message since he logged on. But Jaehee, being the perceptive young woman that she is, asked about it. She was patient with him, and though she was rather formal, he could tell that she meant well and was trying to help.
So he let it all out. He didn’t have it in him to deny it for any longer than a few minutes. Practice took a lot out of him, more than usual due to the physical exertion this particular piece required, and he didn’t know how he found the sudden energy to type out all of the messages and words that he did. He expressed how unsure he was about finding his soulmate and if he had one at all. It was like a sudden weight was lifted from his shoulders after he sent the copious amount of messages, like the feeling of his heavy leather jacket being stripped off after a ride on his bike. It was relieving and refreshing, reminding him of the soothing feeling of the moisturizing cream that was a gift from one of the many actresses he worked with not too long ago. She was also someone he mistook for his soulmate and he couldn’t help but cringe looking back. Lovely young lady with curly red hair tied behind her and a certainly unique fashion, but not who he was looking for. He knew the short-haired woman on the other side of the line was trying to be as helpful as she could be and he appreciated that, but her pragmatism stung at his heart. He didn’t say anything to her about that and simply thanked her for letting him speak and let it all out.
Zen nearly forgot about the redhead until one of the miniature avatars was sent. The one of him shrugging with the question mark, to be specific. Very helpful, he remembered thinking sarcastically in his tired haze. He wished that he could be a little more serious in, well, any situation that didn’t have to do with security threats or V. Not that they had any or that the photographer appeared very often nowadays. For someone who was the best of the best hackers in South Korea, or even in the world, he was rather goofy. In that moment, the actor didn’t take Seven seriously. He could admit that the man had phenomenal skills with technology and whatever was interconnected with that whole thing—he wasn’t very familiar with how computers and hacking worked, and it made zero sense when explained. Seven was...he wasn’t sure how to put it. Strange, definitely. A good friend too, and he owed him a lot. He was how his career took off, after all. At the next message the redhead sent, Zen couldn’t help but stare at his screen, rub at his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things or dreaming, and lean closer to the silver device cradled in his hands.
[ 707 ] What if your gf is from another world? lolololol
It was after that that Zen decided to head off after sending a spew of deadpanning avatars and a roll of the eyes that was half playful. He bid them all goodnight, including Yoosung who he didn’t think would see the message until he was done with his game, and signed out of the messenger for the night. In that moment, he brushed the thought of and went to bed early before he thought about it any longer. It was just a joke, a lame one, but a joke nonetheless and he knew that. He had to thank his exhaustion for knocking him out before it could linger in his mind much more than it had and keep him up instead of resting. It would be a tragedy should any blemishes appear because he stayed up too late or riled himself up too much. When he went over the conversation in the morning to greet everyone in the messenger and wish them a good day, he couldn’t help but laugh at it. Okay, maybe it was a little funny to think about. Admittedly, he acted a bit too rash in the moment and he was quick to send an apology Seven’s way and to Jaehee if he upset her feelings without realizing, but thanked her for trying to help at all. Zen planned on leaving that behind after that, focus on another day of practice and whatever was thrown his and the RFA’s way, and yet that single message lingered in his head.
The actor had heard of the idea of alternate realities or dimensions differing from his own before, though not enough for him to be all that fascinated with them. Could they exist? Possibly, but it wasn’t a thought he ever thought about for very long. His mind told him that something like this was entirely fictitious, something out of a strange movie, but his gut was willing to let the idea of such settle. He was fairly certain that there was some kind of research going on to prove it, too, but he didn’t really keep up with that sort of thing or understand it and its complexities. He tried to, he really did, but it wasn’t something that he could think about for very long before his brain started to hurt. It was definitely a concept Seven would like, and he wasn’t at all surprised that the redhead knew about it yet remained ambiguous about how he felt about the idea as a whole. Zen remembered that some scripts and job offers given to him in the past introduced it to him, but he was pretty sure that he turned them down in favor of accepting a better role that happened to cross his path, and one that his heart tugged him towards.
It was after that that things started to get progressively better, much to his surprise but he by no means was complaining. Introduced into the Messenger and RFA through a series of bizarre events was a young woman by the name of [Name], but he considered her appearance to be a mix of luck and fate. Her arrival was just as shocking for him and the rest of them as it was for her, but she was soon cleared by the hacker of their group in such a short amount of time that it blew the actor out of the water. She never shared an image of herself, unlike him who would whenever he could, but she was incredibly sweet and more than he ever expected. She listened and was patient with all of the members of the RFA, wanting to help in whatever way she could despite the forced distance between them and just meeting not even two weeks prior. He knew when people were saying things just to get on his good side, but what she said to him through their copious messages and through phone calls were genuine that his heart almost couldn’t take it. They may have never met in real life, but there was something drawing him to her. She even saw him for more than just a pretty face, someone who was reaching for the stars and worked hard to get where he was. Every time he thought about her, his heart would beat against his rib-cage that he could feel it against his fingertips and his face would flush, and he woke up most days anticipating a private message or a message in the chatroom directed towards him. And when they met for the first time and kissed, everything fell into place and it felt perfect. 
It was like his world was a little brighter and his body was lighter, weightless like a leaf dancing in the wind during the fall season. The feeling also reminded him of when he and his castmates would stand on stage and bow to the crowd before the curtain fell for one final time that night. The pure, unfiltered adrenaline of having been able to complete something he was so adamant and determined to finish in a way that he was proud of and being praised for it with standing ovations from both new and old fans. His insecurities and doubts vanished and melted like snow when the seasons shifted from winter to spring, especially with her gentle touch and arms around his torso, providing him a sense of warmth that no one else had before. It was then that the actor knew that he found her: his soulmate. At long last, he found his other half after so long of doubting himself and his own worth and ability to do so. When he went to bed that night, he was so giddy that if he didn’t keep his skin care routine in mind he was sure he would have stayed up until early-morning out of sheer excitement and happiness. The cute nicknames—his favorite was “Jagiya”, and seeing her face in response to it made his heart swell and a chuckle pass his lips—the feeling of his body against hers, her voice, her everything.
He didn’t think about Seven’s comment after that, and he had no reason to. He had the love of his life, the very person he dreamed of meeting and being with for the rest of his life. There was no reason to think about something silly that was meant to tease him and was, what he thought at the time, a joke. And then his birthday came by faster than he anticipated and that’s when that message lingered in his mind while he tried to process the new information. Zen expected bad jokes and pranks and he thought that being told that his girlfriend was from another world was one of them. But she wasn’t joking with him. She was serious, and he didn’t know how to feel about that. He put none of the blame on her for not telling him, and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to if he was in her shoes. He remembered he had to take a break from the messenger after that, to get his mind straightened out from the craziness that was electric kettle Jaehee, and omelette Yoosung, the rest of the RFA, and his otherworldly partner. Did he actually embrace her? Did they actually kiss or was it a fragment of his imagination?
[ ZEN ] I’ll never be able to meet her... What kind of twisted fantasy is this? I waited so long for her Only for her to find out that... God, I feel sick...
[ ZEN ] Did you know about this? That she’s not really from our world?
[ 707]  Yeah. I didn’t think she would say something though. You love her right?
[ ZEN ] What kind of question is that? Of course I do. I’d do anything to be with her.
[ 707 ] ... Okay. I’m gonna hack your phone. It’ll be quick. Then tada, she’s all yours.
Zen didn’t receive another text after that, even in the chatroom that he participated in with the rest of the RFA and his beloved. He tried to act like everything was normal, but he knew it wasn’t. She could tell he was acting oddly, the way she knew him so well made him smile and his heart skip a beat or two. But then it fell and the slight hammering in his chest faded into nothing he could feel without touching his chest. He needed her, he wanted her so bad, he truly loved her, but he couldn’t have her and he wanted to cry. Even if there was some distance, she was still his, right? Still his soulmate and his lovely [Name] that he had come to get to know and love since the beginning, right? And so he called, and called, and called. At first, she missed a couple phone calls. He rationalized that to being bad timing, she could be in the shower or not have her phone on her. But then they became much more frequent and she didn’t appear in the chatroom as often either. Was it something he said? Something he did? He was sure to go back and check his messages over again, and other than some occasions where he wished he worded things differently, nothing really stood out to him.
She had a life outside of him, Zen often had to remind himself. Outside of his world, and far away from him. Thoughts like that plagued him more than he cared to admit and he felt bad for being so controlling. But she was his, he would give up anything for her, and he had no idea what she was up to. What if she was with another guy? What if she didn’t love him anymore? No, of course she did. He knew she was a loyal young lady and wouldn’t go off with some other man, especially behind his back. She was his world and he was hers, he was sure of that, but with how infrequent she was recently he couldn’t help but worry. He saw that she was on, but never whenever he was and seemed a bit jumpy if the mention of him came up. Yoosung never said anything about it if he noticed and Jaehee was swamped with so much work that she couldn’t focus on the messenger and the chatrooms that opened. But that rich bastard picked up on it surprisingly quickly, questioning her if he was hurting her or if she was in some kind of danger. She denied it, but looking back at those messages infuriated him to a level Zen didn’t realize was even possible. His face heated up so fast he was sure he looked like one of those hyperbolically angry characters, and he was sure he nearly crushed his phone between his fingers.
Take a break, he told himself. That bastard was doing this to intentionally get under his skin, steal his girl away from him and swoop her off her feet, only to treat her like some kind of captive. He just knew it, he could feel it in his gut. He may not have had one of his dreams about it, but he didn’t need to see something while he was sleeping to know that it was bound to happen. He was the only one who could care for her properly, the only one meant for her. Only he could give her the life of a princess she deserved more than anyone or anything. Zen could deal with him when he went online, when he was much more calm and collected. His mind told him to go to his special place, somewhere he always found comfort in whenever he felt himself slipping into despair without his darling with him. When was the last time that they talked? A day or so ago? It could have been more, but it was slipping his mind. The bike ride was relaxing and the feeling of the breeze against his skin felt like cool hands caressing his cheeks with a gentle touch that he leaned into before focusing on the road once more. Like her hands. It was like what he felt was her touch, like she was actually in front of him. He could feel the stress melt away on his ride to his secret location, a place only he and now Jumin knew of.
“How does this thing work again?” the actor muttered under his breath as he swiped his finger along the screen of his phone. He was never good with these complex commands and advanced technologies, and he almost wished there was someone here with him to help him figure this out. But he didn’t want to know what kind of rumors would be He leaned over the railing, glancing over the top of the device and to the cliffside in front of him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as gentle wind passed by and tickled his skin, his hair fluttering alongside it briefly. He returned his gaze down to the screen and pressed down on the last button, beaming when it opened a new message, free of any prior conversations. He didn’t recognize the number at the top, but he didn’t hesitate to replace it with the very name he loved so much. It was a shame he didn’t have any pictures of her just yet, but he could ask her for one soon enough. The thought of seeing her face brought a smile to his lips and he could feel his cheeks grow warm and his stomach do back-flips. He stared down at his message, his thumb hovering above the send button. For a moment, he felt like they were in the same world with one another and were no longer divided by some invisible wall that forbade him from ever laying a finger on...Stop. Zen shook his head and brushed a hand through his hair. Getting so stressed and anxious over this will make him break out, and he really didn’t want to ruin his skin. He pressed the button and watched as a bar appeared on the top and slide across the screen before reaching the other side where his message appeared with a small delivered underneath it.
[ ZEN ] Hey, princess! Get back to me when you can, I’ll be waiting! Have a good day at work!
He wasn’t surprised that there wasn’t an instantaneous reply like in the chatroom, but he couldn’t feel a bit impatient and excited for it. She was probably busy and as much as he really wanted to be able to talk to her any given moment, he knew she had other responsibilities to take care of. He couldn’t resist the dreamy sigh that slipped from his lips and turned his back to lean against the guardrail. He hoped that she knew how proud he was of her, that he truly saw her in such a high regard and loved her. She worked her butt off, she was beautiful inside and out, and more than he ever deserved. He let the screen of his phone dim and lowered his hand as he looked up towards the sky. One day, he was sure of it, they would be able to look up and be at this very same spot to one another. He’d give her his jacket if she got cold if they were riding on his bike, or they’d cuddle together if they were wandering around on a short walk to and from. They’d hold hands, be together in each other’s presence, kiss. It would be a dream come true. For a moment, he could feel her hand lock with his and he curled his free hand around them, his shoulders slouching as he relaxed. He looked down to his phone when he felt it buzz and a faint ringing met his ears, prompting him to unlock it and check. He beamed when he saw who it was from and gave it all of his attention.
[ Name ] Sorry, I think you have the wrong number :(
[ ZEN ] What are you talking about, babe? It’s me ♡ Oh wait, you don’t have my number on here. I’ll send you my favorite picture of me!
ZEN sent an attachment...
[ ZEN ] Have a good day, princess ;) I’ll talk to you later ♡
[ B A D  E N D I N G ]
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© cryo-regalia, all rights reserved. do not edit, translate, or repost my work.
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writing-in-april · 3 years
Text
My Knight in Shiny Armor
Spencer Reid x Gender Neutral Reader (Spencer POV)
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Summary: Reader is a fantasy novelist and writes Spencer into their story.
A/N: Heyy heyyy- this is my entry for the SFW fic swap that @imagining-in-the-margins organized! (Can y’all tell how much I love fic swaps I might have to organize one myself one day) This is a super fluffy little fic for @thekatherinewinchester! Hope y’all enjoy and my entry for the NSFW fic swap will be coming soon! If you have any requests they are open and I’m looking for requests for my next event- 30 fics in 30 days for April 2021 (I’ll make up a better title soon I promise) thanks for reading!
Warnings: this is so fluffy there’s no warnings 🥰- unless you don’t like the secret relationship trope
Main Masterlist Word Count: 1.2k
Garcia came up to me with a giddy look on her face as I was pouring sugar into my next cup of coffee. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that she was holding a book that looked similar to a novel that I was extremely familiar with. A blush on my face immediately formed and I forgot that I was still pouring sugar into my cup, though I’m sure that I’d still like the excessive amount of sugar I put into my coffee. As Garcia had said before, it was my ‘brand’, whatever that means.
I cleared my throat in preparation for the interrogation I was about to face, “What’s up Garcia?”
Instead of point blank telling me what she was all giddy about she opened the hard covered novel in her hands with green binding that I had seen numerous copies of.
“The mysterious man was taller than the rest of us by far, with fluffy brown hair that his helmet tried in vain to hide. It wasn’t just his handsome looks that drew me to him, it was also his intellectual abilities. He was far superior in intellect to any other man I had met in the world. The rousing conversations I had with him also made me feel respected by him which was much more than I could say compared to the other men I had met. The name of the mysterious knight in the shiny armor that had invaded all my thoughts as of late was named, Spencer.”
Once she finished the excerpt of the book she shut it dramatically then raising her eyebrows, I knew exactly what she was asking with her nonverbal cues, “I’m friends with the author…”
The look on her face after I trailed off told me that she wasn’t buying my lie. I was about to say something more convincing, but Garcia was not impressed with my attempts to get out of this ‘interrogation’.
“Oh- no no no, you aren’t getting away with it that easy, boy wonder. The blush on your face isn’t fooling me.” Her calling out my blush only served to make my face an even deeper shade of red, I could tell just from how hot the room suddenly felt. She continued on despite my deepening cheek color, “I want to know how you got your New York Times Best Seller partner, tell me everything.”
I figured there was no way to deny it now, the way I fidgeted and the blush on my cheeks gave it away easily. Even though Garcia wasn’t trained to study human behavior she wasn’t stupid and I wasn’t a good liar. So, I proceeded to tell her the story of how we met.
Of course as soon as I finished the story of how we met at a coffee shop Garcia bombarded me with more questions and brought the rest of the team to ask. She even got Morgan to say he’d read the book because he wanted to know “what does pretty boy look like in shining armor?” Which Garcia of course had to correct, as she had read the rest of the book.
As I was riding the metro after work my mind decided to wander about what had happened today. At first I was excited to share with Y/N about what happened today, but then I started to worry. What if they didn’t want to tell anyone?
We hadn’t really discussed telling everyone about our relationship besides passing comments in conversation. I worried that maybe they wouldn’t want to tell everyone because maybe they’d be embarrassed to be seen with me. Maybe that’s why they hadn’t brought up me telling the team much.
Once I had gotten back to my apartment I opened the door and was immediately greeted with the smell of Y/N’s cooking. Normally, I’d be super excited that they decided to pop in my apartment, but my anxiety about what had happened today was taking over my mind. I was rooted to the floor in front of my door, not wanting to have to admit to them that I had told everyone.
“How’s my favorite genius?” Their melodic voice called out from the kitchen. There was no way I could avoid it now, they’d probably be able to immediately tell that I was anxious. They were good at being able to tell exactly what I was thinking, and it wasn’t even their job. I often joked with them that their ability to read my behavior was as good as mine.
I decided I better get this over with.
As I walked over to my small apartment kitchen I prepared my explanation in my head. When they spotted me they opened their mouth to speak and I just started to rant, “I may have told the team about you. I got cornered by Garcia in the break room and she happened to have your book and read the parts where you wrote a character based on me- and”
“Slow down, baby.” They cut my ranting off once they had gotten her bearings. Normally being cut off makes me annoyed, but in this case I could tell I was in a swirling anxious mind set that I wouldn’t break out of unless an outside force helped me stop. I took a deep breath, which did help slow down my racing thoughts. Once I had slightly refocused my thoughts I noticed that they were looking over at me from where they were standing over the pot of pasta at the stove with a look of concern, which surprised me.
“You’re not mad?”
They turned the oven off as the pasta was definitely done now, making their way over to the other side of the kitchen where I stood. Bringing their warm hands up they cupped my cheeks and then asked with sweetness, “Why would I be mad.”
I couldn’t help but start to spill my thoughts into another rant to try and explain my reasoning, “Well- I didn’t really talk about telling them with you and I know that communication is important in a relationship from what I’ve read. And it felt like I made a mistake because I wasn’t communicating properly and I’m an idiot, I’m sorry you have to date someone who doesn’t know anything about relationships.”
“Spencer, it’s ok I promise. I was going to ask if maybe you wanted to introduce me to them soon anyway and- you aren’t stupid I promise, baby. You’re a genius, remember?
After we ate the dinner they had cooked they brought out their book to read to me, specifically the part in reference where my fictional counterpart came to save the day.
“You’re my knight in shiny armor.” They said with fondness, this was my favorite line in the book.
“Shiny armor? Why not shining armor?” I had asked this question numerous times since I had seen the same line in their book. I knew the conversation in the novel like the back of my hand and every time we read the book together we enacted the conversation. They acted out the protagonist’s lines perfectly, which was not surprising since the protagonist was partially based on them from their own admission.
“I don’t know, I just think it sounds cuter,” Their words were as sweet as honey, making me want to lean in to kiss them, but they needed to finish the line, “and in my book, you’re cuter than all other knights in shining armor.”
—-
Tag list (message me if you want to be added):
All works:
@shotarosleftpinky @oreogutz @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar
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@calm-and-doctor @destiny-tsukino @safertokiss @slutforthegubes
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trulymadlysydney · 3 years
Text
Somewhere In Time: Nine
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“The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. Maybe they always have been and will be. Maybe we've lived a thousand lives before this one and in each of them we've found each other. And maybe each time, we've been forced apart for the same reasons. That means that this goodbye is both a goodbye for the past ten thousand years and a prelude to what will come.”
-Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
tw: Death, Loss of Parent
Previous Chapters HERE
***Please Do Not Repost Without Permission***
April 18th, 1963, 1:32pm
It’s a warm spring day, one of the first of the year, and ten year-old Tanya Elliot is thrilled to be done with class for the day.  
She steps out into the sunshine, forgoing her jacket and instead slinging it over her arm as she says her quick goodbyes to her five best friends.  None of them are headed to the same destination; Sherry’s mom picks her up in the parking lot, Marcy and Jana both take the bus, Kelly walks over to the high school to meet up with her brother, and Shannon walks home-- only in the opposite direction that Tanya does.  
With an agreement to meet up in their usual spot tomorrow morning before school (and Kelly’s promise to bring some extra sweets from her mother’s baking club), they set off on their separate ways.  Tanya shifts her backpack to her left shoulder, and begins her fifteen minute walk home.
She takes a big deep breath of the sweet smelling air, enjoying the way the sun feels against her face.  She wonders if maybe she could convince her parents to take a trip to the lake on Saturday; maybe she could work on her tan for a bit.  (And besides, she wouldn’t mind seeing Willard, the older boy who lives with his family in a gorgeous house right on the water.)
Tanya stops walking and is completely knocked out of her thoughts when something-- someone-- across the playground catches her attention.
It seems to be another little girl, definitely no older than Tanya herself.  Tanya finds her eyes fixated on the girl the moment she sees her. She’s beautiful, but she sticks out like a sore thumb because her clothing is not at all of this time period.
Tanya stops walking, eyeing the girl from afar. As completely out of place as she seems, she looks perfectly calm. She watches the other children, a slight smile on her face. No one seems to acknowledge her much, except for maybe a confused glance or a laugh at her appearance.  She brushes off the children’s snickers (as far as Tanya can tell, she doesn’t even react at all) and continues to scan the playground as if looking for something.
The girl seems to feel Tanya’s eyes, because her soft smile only grows in intensity before she turns her eyes to meet Tanya’s gaze.  It makes Tanya’s blood run cold, but it also piques her curiosity intensely.
At first, Tanya thinks she’s perhaps seeing a ghost; after all, she’s lived in this town all her life and never noticed this strange girl with the strange clothes. But at any rate, it doesn’t frighten her much, and when the young girl smiles at Tanya, Tanya thinks better of her original assumption.
Tanya glances down at her watch-- a gold watch that is much too big for her wrist-- to read the time: 2:32.  Her mother will be expecting her home in fifteen minutes, and will probably start to worry should she be but a minute later.
Still, Tanya can’t shake the feeling that this girl is important.  There’s something in her eyes that feels familiar and welcoming, and an overwhelming sense of magnetism radiating from her very being.  Tanya knows better than to talk to strangers, of course, but this isn’t a stranger; this is another little girl.  A friend, perhaps.
So she bites the bullet and makes her way across the wood-chip covered playground, without any regard as to whether the girl wants to speak to her as well.  
“Are you new?” Tanya asks as she approaches, by way of introduction.  
The girl smiles an all knowing smile, as if she’s been waiting for Tanya to ask  “I’m Violet.”
Tanya laughs at that.  “Neat.  That’s not what I asked, but neat.  I’m Tanya.”
“Hello Tanya.”  Violet remains weirdly comfortable throughout this entire interaction, as if she’s spoken to Tanya several times before this.  She nods towards her hand.  “I like your ring.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m not new, no.  I’m from the past.”
Tanya isn’t sure she’s heard Violet correctly the minute the words leave Violet’s mouth. She blinks, waiting for Violet’s face to change to reveal that she is, in fact, joking.  But her face never changes.  She remains stone faced and unmoving, and it takes Tanya aback.
After a charged yet awkward silence, Tanya speaks. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I—“
“No you did,” Violet cuts her off. “You heard correctly.”
Tanya blinks dumbly back at her new friend.  “I don’t…. understand…?”
Violet sighs, almost as if bothered to be explaining herself.  “I travelled through time to get here here.  From the past.”
Now, Tanya grows skeptical. She wonders if this is one of her friends playing a prank on her, and she glances around to see if anyone is watching her from afar and holding in their giggles. When she’s met only with complete normalcy, however, she turns back to her new friend.
“But how?” She asks. “How is that possible?”
Violet shrugs. “I don’t know. I just know that it is. Because here I am.”
Tanya, still skeptical, laughs in disbelief. “Alright” she says, “well then what year are you from?” She puts air quotations around the question, which only makes Violet laugh in a way that makes Tanya feel immature.
“I come from 1907,” Violet explains. “What year is this? 1967?”
“1963,” Tanya corrects. “But I’m sure you knew that.”  She rolls her eyes.  “Look, what’s the big idea? I know you’re trying to fool me, and it isn’t working.”
Violet shakes her head. “But I’m not, silly!” She says. “I’ve been working since I was small to learn how to time travel.  And I finally did it!”
“Wow,” Tanya deadpans, still completely unconvinced.  “How did you do it?”
Violet grins. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“To tell you the truth, Violet,” Tanya says, absentmindedly picking at the dirt under her nails, “I don’t.”
“I didn’t think so.” Violet giggles. “But if you really want to know, I’ll tell you.”
Tanya glances nervously around the playground once again. She knows she’s already going to be late coming home anyway, so there’s no reason she shouldn’t stay here and talk to the odd girl. Still, she doesn’t want to push her own luck with her mother.
She shrugs. “Actually, I gotta get home,” she explains. “But if you wanna walk with me, you can.”
Violet smiles, looking more childlike than she has in their entire interaction. “Really? Gee, I’d love that!”
“Really?” Tanya smiles. “Alright. Follow me.”
The two girls fall into step, side by side, as Violet launches right into her story about time travel. This doesn’t seem to be a secret for her— in fact it seems about as common a topic as the weather for Violet— but Tanya grows slightly embarrassed at the volume of the other girl’s voice.
It’s all so strange really, how trusting Violet is of Tanya. Then again, Tanya could really say the same thing about herself.  She doesn’t know what it is about the peculiar girl that causes her to trust her so much, but at any rate she enjoys her company. (Even if her story is a bit odd.)
What Tanya hadn’t anticipated, of course, was the connection and friendship she would develop with this girl.   She hadn’t anticipated inviting the girl over for dinner that night, (and she hadn’t expected her mother to say yes).  She hadn’t anticipated spending all of her free time with Violet, laughing and playing together and becoming the best of friends. And she definitely hadn’t  anticipated that within the coming weeks, she would come to believe Violet’s story whole-heartedly, which would instill within her a deep fascination in the concept of time travel.
And more than anything, she hadn’t expected their goodbye to be so painful.
Violet had explained to her multiple times that this was the first time she’d done anything like this.  She had also explained that, although she would try, there was no guarantee she would be able to come back.  And although Tanya had listened and valued what her friend was saying, she hadn’t exactly believed her.  She had faith that her friend was going to come back.  She had faith they would be friends forever.
But when Violet disappears, on exactly the day that she’d said she would and without saying a proper goodbye to Tanya, Tanya grows desperate.
It’s why, in the years that follow, Tanya finds herself immersed in book after book, depicting time travel and its possibilities.   It’s why she reaches out, through any means necessary, trying to find some way to communicate with her friend from another time. Her friend, who quickly became a soulmate best friend, who understood her in ways many others did not.
It’s why Tanya finds herself grounded for a week the summer before 7th grade because she got in a fight with a boy at school who told her time travel was bogus.
It’s why she finds herself, on the night of her fifteenth birthday party, being relentlessly teased by her friends for still being interested in time travel.
And it’s why, on April 18th, 1975, she finds herself crying on her bed after another failed time travel attempt.
Her one year-old daughter Veronica sleeps peacefully in her crib as Tanya tries, to absolutely no avail, to travel back to her friend.  She wants to tell Violet all about her daughter.  She wants to tell Violet that, despite the literal years that separate them, she’s always considered Violet to be her baby’s godmother.   She isn’t even sure why she’s still so hung up on this whole ordeal, but in any case she’s desperate to find an answer, and to know if Violet is searching for one too.
Tanya glances out at the night sky, the skyline of New York—so hopeful and inspiring to some, but so suffocating to her— promising Violet that she will never give up.
She promises, out loud, that she will never stop trying to find her friend.  In every lifetime. In every timeline. She swears she will do her best to find her.
And with a discouraged heart that she tries to ignore, Tanya goes to bed; dreaming of a world far different than her own, in which times are simpler, and her best friend lives forever.
---------------
January 9th, 1925,  8:22am
It’s a quiet, somber morning in Harry’s apartment.  In the same fashion that they have for the past few mornings, Harry and Roni work side by side to prepare breakfast in the kitchen.  Only this time, it’s quiet. Nearly wordless. Their kisses are dry but lingering, and it makes them both feel guilty in a way that neither can explain.
Harry fights to suppress the urge to beg Roni, at least once or twice more, to stay with him; and Roni has to hold back the tears threatening to spill at any moment because she feels entirely too overwhelmed with questions.  What if she’s doing the wrong thing?  What if she chose to stay?  How would all of her loved ones back home manage to live? Or what if they didn’t,  and Roni’s decision killed them all off?  Would it be quick and painless for all her loved ones in her original timeline?  Would they just all together stop existing? Would anyone even remember them?
“I don’t like this,” Harry speaks up, drawing Roni from her thoughts as they sit wordlessly at the dining table.
“Hm?”  Roni doesn’t ask it because she didn’t hear what he said.  Rather, she asks as a way to fill the silence that follows his words.
“I don’t like that we’re just… not saying anything.  I don’t know.”
Roni sighs.  “I know,” she admits.  “It’s not how I wanted our last morning to go.”
Harry winces subtly at her words-- “our last morning,”-- and Roni wishes more than anything that she could take them back.  But she can’t.  There is no way around the inevitable any longer.
“I hate feeling like--”  Harry trails off, and Roni doesn’t push him to finish the sentence.
“Like we’ve run out of things we can say?” she offers after a moment, tracing the rim of her mug with her fingers.  “Me too.  It kills me.”
Harry gives her only a sad smile in response, which breaks Roni’s heart even further.  She wants to suggest pretending like everything is fine, of course, the same way she has every morning for the past week.  But she can’t.  Not anymore.  The decision has been made, and she can’t change her mind now.
Unless…
“Your food is going to get cold,” Harry chuckles, and Roni glances down at the room temperature piece of toast that’s been sitting in her hand for the past five minutes.  She laughs bitterly, and swallows the lump that refuses to go down in her throat.
“Sorry,” she says. “Kinda nauseous.  Not in a breakfast sort of mood.”
“Well you’ll have to eat something.”  Harry drums his fingers absentmindedly along the tabletop.  “Got a long journey ahead of you, y’know.”
He says it with a smile, but the words only cause the lump in Roni’s throat to grow ten sizes.  She knows he’s trying to be encouraging, but it hurts far, far too much.  She thinks that if the pain of overthinking doesn’t kill her, the suffocating feeling in her throat surely will.
Harry notices her facial expression, and his cheeks go red.  “Sorry.”
Roni’s face grows hot and her eyes go a bit foggy. She had told herself this morning that she wasn’t going to cry all day today, at least not until that evening as they were saying their final goodbyes. This vow, however, had come after a silent cry as she lay in bed watching her sleeping lover breathe softly with tousled curls and a sleepy pout on his face.  She could lay with him and watch him sleep like that forever.
So she giggles half-heartedly and unconvincingly, pulling away from his loving touch and fanning at her moist eyes with her hands. “Ah!” She groans. “Sorry. I wasn’t gonna cry until—“
“Hey, hey!” Harry leans earnestly across the table, reaching forward and placing his hand comfortingly on her back. “It’s okay, honey.  Listen, you’re okay.  It’s okay to cry.”
“This blows,” Roni says, her words accented by a bitter laugh. “I fucking hate this.”
Harry chuckles at her words. “As do I, honey. But it’s okay.” He scratches at her spine lightly, his voice softening as he repeats his words for emphasis. “It’s going to be okay.”
Roni looks at him, no longer trying to supress the single tear rolling down her cheek.  He offers her the sweetest smile in return, and she leans across the table to kiss it softly.  “Angel,” she says. “You’re a fucking angel.”
It makes Harry giggle, and he pulls away to stab gently at his scrambled eggs with his fork.
“Been thinking.”  He speaks a moment later around a mouthful.
“Yeah?”
“Mm. Think we should make tonight special.”
“Special,” Roni scoffs. “Not quite the word I’d use for it.”
“I know,” Harry chuckles, “but it might ease the blow a bit.”
Roni rests her elbows on the table, leaning in to listen to him. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well,” Harry says, allowing himself a pause to swallow his food. “It’s going to be cold, so that might put a bit of a damper on the evening.”
“Because it was going to be such a lovely evening otherwise,” Roni says sarcastically, and Harry rolls his eyes at her cheekiness before continuing.  
“Was thinking we could build a fire. Pack some food, maybe some candles. Extra blankets. You can wear my coat that you like.”  His smile deepens. “You know. Just make tonight as pleasant as we can make it.  Maybe a bit romantic. Go out with a bang, so to speak.”
Roni hesitates, trying to fight the subtle smirk threatening to form on her face.  “Was that a play on words?”
“Hm?”
“You know.”  Roni shifts in her seat, enjoying the playful banter that’s briefly lightening the mood.  “A ‘bang.’  Like we’re gonna bang later.”
Harry laughs, an amused furrow in his brow.  “I don’t understand.  What does that mean?”
“You don’t use the term banging?  Like, for having sex?”
“Never heard of that, no.”  Harry grins.  “It’s catchy.  I like it.”
“Right?”  Roni raises her coffee mug to her lips.  “I figured that’s what you meant.”
“Do you want to-- eh-- bang? Tonight?”  Harry laughs at the phrase that feels so foreign in his own mouth, and it makes Roni giggle in spite of herself.
“I mean we don’t have to.  We might be too sad to bang.  We can see where the wind takes us.”
“The wind is going to take you right on back to 1999,”  Harry says sadly, although his smile still lingers on his cheeks.
Roni’s smile fades, and she feels her shoulders visibly sink.  “Well,” she says softly, “yeah.”
Harry chuckles. “Sorry. We’re talking in circles here, aren’t we?” He nods towards her plate. “Can I make you something else, darling?”
———————
The rest of the day feels like a strange dream, both dragging on and passing by in a blur. They make slow, quiet love on the couch, and they tease each other playfully when they both inevitably start crying.  When the sun begins its natural descent, they turn on some cheerful music to try and ease their anxiety, but it doesn’t help— reminding them instead of all the fun times they’ve had together.
Harry sighs after the third record they’ve put on doesn’t do the trick. “Can I play something else?” He asks, quietly but hopefully. “It’s gonna be a bit sad, but… you know.”
Roni shrugs. “Shoot,” she offers. “Not like you can bring the mood today down any further.”
Harry chuckles. “Well…” he says, then trails off. He gives Roni’s knee a gentle squeeze before rising to his feet, padding barefoot across the carpet to switch songs.
In such a simple act, Roni finds herself particularly overwhelmed with emotion. She watches him, eyes trailing the spanse of his broad back, admiring the way his trousers cling to his pert backside and the way he stands, legs apart and with most of his weight on his right side. She wonders if he’s aware that he stands like that.
In all of her twenty-six years of living, she’s never fallen so deeply in love with the tiniest characteristics of a person before. Not until Harry. She notices everything about him, and finds every bit of it endearing— (even the way he snores in his sleep so loudly it wakes her up).  These specific moments of quiet admiration hold as much weight and value in her memory as those instances of passionate love making or deep belly laughter or falling asleep in one another’s arms. It’s all so deliciously him—them— and she can’t seem to fathom continuing on in a world without him.
When the music begins, Roni’s throat feels like it’s closing in around itself.  She recognizes the song instantly— it’s one he’d played for her back when she’d first gotten here. It sounds different this time, and it doesn’t take Roni long to realize that this isn’t the instrumental version she’d first heard. This time, it’s the version with lyrics; lyrics that hold a much deeper value in her heart than the first time Harry had whispered them in her ear.  Roni looks at Harry, helpless, as the opening notes begin playing.
Gone is the romance that was so divine
‘Tis broken and cannot be mended
Harry joins in, stepping gently towards Roni with a sympathetic, yet understanding smile.  “You must go your way, and I must go mine, but now that our love dream has ended…”  Harry trails off, his eyes growing misty (though he fights hard to suppress it.  “Fitting, innit?”
“Oh Harry,” Roni sighs. She rises to her feet, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her into him. They sway gently, in what could hardly be considered a waltz, and Roni tries desperately to push the anxiety in her throat down.  She rests her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and breathing in his scent by his neck.  He holds her like he’ll never let her go.
“Remember the first time we did this?” Harry asks quietly.
“How could I forget?” Roni laughs.  “Feels like a lifetime ago.”
Harry rests his cheek lightly on Roni’s head.  “It does, doesn’t it?”
They continue to sway, hardly exchanging any words, and Roni doesn’t even realize that she’s crying (again) until she pulls away to look up at Harry and notices her tear stains against his shirt.  He’s trying not to cry as well; Roni can tell by the way he refuses to look anywhere but at one spot on the wall. But when Roni kisses the corner of his chin, he softens with a chuckle, shaking his head as if he can’t believe their luck.
“I’m already missing you, bunny.”
Roni sniffs, nuzzling her face back into Harry’s chest. “I’m missing you more than you know.”
Not another word is spoken, and even after the song ends, they stand together in silence.  They’re hardly swaying any longer at this point— mostly they’re just holding one another while they still can.  After about five minutes, Harry audibly swallows.
“We should probably get going. It’ll be dark soon.”
His words make Roni nauseous, knowing that her time left in this humble apartment is limited now to only minutes. She stops swaying, and Harry makes no effort to let go of her. He sighs, scratching tenderly at her back. “I know,” he whispers, “I hate it, too.”
Roni tries her best to keep a brave face. “Trying to get rid of me that quick are you?” she teases. She’s delighted when she hears a genuine laugh bubble out from Harry’s mouth.
“Oh honey,” he says, kissing the top of her head. “Never, never. Never in a million years.”
They remain still, holding one another in their embrace until they both become painfully aware that they really do need to get going.  The process of untangling themselves from one another’s arms takes much longer than necessary, and even as they let go they immediately interlace their fingers.
“I don’t have anything to pack,” Roni admits. “You can keep my party dress from when I got here. It’s too cold for me to put it on and sit on the beach tonight. And as for the ones you bought me—“ She trails off, glancing down at the skirt of the pretty dress she’s wearing right now. “Well, you can keep those, too. Not sure how much use I’ll have for them in the year 2000.”
“You never know,” Harry jokes, trying to keep things light hearted. “Maybe there’ll be a costume party or something--”
Roni giggles, shaking her head and wiping her eyes. “Harry.”
He smiles, leaning forward and kissing her nose.  “I’ll pack up some snacks and a few other things we might need.  A blanket maybe.  You get your stones and such.  And,” a crooked smile tugs on his cheek,  “that coat you like.”
Roni grins, in spite of herself.  “Can I wear your cap?”
“Do you want to wear my cap?”
“I want any piece of you on me that I can possibly get.”
Harry chuckles, and for a moment everything feels completely normal.  “Cheeky,” he mutters, pinching her butt before turning to busy himself in the kitchen.
Roni watches him for a bit, and although he’s aware of it he doesn’t make some cheeky, embarrassed little remark requesting her to stop.  She watches the way he moves around the kitchen that she’s grown so familiar with.  The kitchen, so beyond tiny and cozy, connecting to the living room that has come to smell like home.
The memories they have made in this humble living room in such a short amount of time begin playing like a film in Roni’s mind.  Dancing together, cooking, making lol, building puzzles; the most mundane things made to be so magical because they were done together.
Roni smiles to herself at the memory of how unpleasantly she’d treated Harry in the beginning. She feels bad, of course, but it’s humorous to think about now  because she was so lost at the time.
“I’m still here!”  Roni exclaims, infuriated that Harry doesn’t seem as shocked about this as she does.
“You are.”  Harry nods, the scrambled eggs in the frying pan sizzling under the spatula.  “Did you sleep well?”
“Harry, holy fuck, how is this happening?”  Roni doesn’t dare move, as if moving is going to trap her even further.  She feels like the walls are closing in on her as the full extent of the situation hits her.  She hadn’t allowed herself to fully feel these feelings the night before, because she hadn’t seen this as a permanent issue.  But now here she is, in a year that doesn’t even feel real, with a bastard who doesn’t even seem to care about her concerns.  
Harry smiles to himself.  “I don’t know, pet.  Honestly, I was kind of thinking that maybe you were drunk and just forgot where you were last night.”
“I wasn’t drunk, and I didn’t forget, but thank you for completely invalidating me.”  Roni huffs. Stomping across the living room and plopping down onto the most uncomfortable couch she’s ever felt in her life, she figures this is an appropriate time to just pout– especially considering that Harry isn’t going to give into her panicking.  “What the fuck am I supposed to do now?”  She props her elbows on her knees and buries her head in her hands.
“Eat some breakfast and relax,” Harry answers.  “We’ll figure this out. Would you like some tea?”
Roni smiles at the memory of her first morning here, feeling overwhelmed by the complete 180 her heart has done.  At the time, she’d wanted nothing more than to go home, and she hadn’t believed Harry when he’d said they would figure it out.   Now that they have, she wants nothing more than to stay here.
She makes her way into Harry’s tiny bedroom, the film of her memories continuing to roll through her mind. She had found this place so odd, so minimalistic, and she’d thought Harry was a nutjob for giving up his bed for her.  She remembers helping him place the fitted sheets along the mattress, and she remembers waking up early and watching people through the small window.  
Her cheeks grow hot, however, as the memory of the first time they made love in this bed plays in her head.
“Don’t do this… unless you mean it.”
Roni sees the earnestness in his eyes, and she’s never been more sure of anything in her life. She brushes the tip of her nose against his before licking her lips and pulling him in for another kiss. This kiss isn’t as elaborate as it had been moments ago, but it’s sweet, and she feels all the tension in his shoulders release.
When she pulls away, she smiles, reaching up to brush a wild strand of hair off of his forehead.  She nods her head.
“I mean it.”
She chuckles, running her hand along the thin duvet of the bed and making her way to the small closet.  She has to say one final goodbye to her dresses-- the ones that Harry had used his last dollars to purchase for her. The ones that had felt so funny and so foreign on her the first time she’d worn them.  
They hang, untouched and cold, among the few dressier shirts that Harry owns, and Roni’s heart clenches at the thought of them hanging here forevermore.  She thinks perhaps Harry should give them away, maybe to Daisy— although come to think of it, these may be far too dull for Daisy taste.  Maybe Harry could sell them, make a bit of extra cash.  Or maybe—
“Veronica.”
Harry’s voice from the doorway startles her out of her thoughts, and she whirls around on her heel with a jump.  She hadn’t realized she was crying again (although the ache behind her eyes should have been a dead giveaway), and Harry notices her tears immediately.  He doesn’t go to her, he only nods sympathetically when she laughs and gives him a shrug in surrender, as if to admit “yeah, I’m crying again, so what.”
“You alright, darling?”
She takes a slow deep breath in, savoring the smell of his little place that she’s fallen so deeply in love with, and examining it one last time before nodding and turning back to him. “I’m alright,” she says with finality. “Let’s do this.”
---------------
The beach is freezing, because of course it is, and Roni and Harry shiver as they set up their blanket on the shore.  Roni reminds Harry several times that he didn’t have to do all this— he didn’t even have to come with her if he didn’t want to— but he is having none of it.
Roni shivers, wearing Harry’s heavier coat and his little cap that she’s grown so fond of, and her breath comes out in a visible puff of air.
“Can you set up the snacks and the stones and such?” Harry asks. “It’s too bloody cold for me to wait any longer on starting the fire.”
Roni nods, the thought of the warm fire cheering her up. She reaches into the picnic basket and begins sorting through the various snacks they’ve decided to bring.  
Harry really had thought of everything, just to add a bit of a sense of normalcy to this whole ordeal.  He’d packed some leftover cold pasta salad  that they’d had from the night before, along with a bottle of chocolate milk for them to share.  It was adorable watching him pack, especially when he got so excited about bringing items to make “these new treats called S’mores! They’re delicious, bunny, you’ll love them!” (Roni of course hadn’t had the heart to tell him that she was more than familiar with s’mores; not when he looked so cute explaining them to her.)
He had offered to bring candles as well, but ultimately had decided against it when he realized it was a bit windy, and starting a fire was going to be difficult enough.
As if on cue, he curses under his breath, causing Roni to giggle and offer him help; which he, of course, immediately turns down. So Roni let’s him do his thing, setting up all of the various items from the picnic basket and trying not to dwell on the finality of the entire situation.
It’s about fifteen minutes later when Harry finally has a solid fire going.  They eat together, chatting casually about the weather and occasionally bringing up a few of their favorite memories over the past few weeks they’ve shared.  It feels strange, when they really think about it, that their time together hasn’t actually been all that long.  Both agree, albeit somewhat glumly due to the circumstances, that that’s what happens when you meet your twin flame.  It happens, fast and quick and colorful, and then either softens into a comfortable glow or explodes into a million pieces, leaving the flames lost until the next lifetime in which they find each other.  
Neither Roni nor Harry are quite sure where exactly on that scale their situation falls.
After their meal, they work together to clean up the leftover food, shivering and subconsciously moving their bodies closer to the fire.  Roni scowls realizing how little either of them ate, and she sighs, looking out onto the dark, cold ocean.
“This feels like… like the last supper. You know like, in the Bible.”  Roni scowls.  “And I’m the one that’s about to betray you.”
Harry chuckles.  “You’re not betraying me.”
“Well that’s what it feels like.”
“Well, don’t think of it like that,” Harry says softly.  “Think of it like a romantic picnic between two lovers.  I mean, that’s sort of what it is, isn’t it?”
His smile breaks Roni’s heart, but she giggles in spite of herself.  “I suppose,” she says, her own words tasting like bile in her mouth.   Speaking at all right now feels wrong and completely foreign, and the sense of guilt that lingers in her stomach has only intensified tenfold since this morning.  She knows Harry is fully aware of the situation, and that he is prepared for what is about to happen; yet she still can’t shake the feeling that somehow she’s about to betray him.  It’s like she’s looking in the face of an innocent puppy that she’s about to completely abandon-- shivering and helpless.
With that thought comes the terrible imagery of Harry packing all of this up once she’s gone.  Harry-- alone and cold-- folding up the picnic blanket and the leftover food, walking soberly back to his apartment to sleep in his bed alone.  The thought of him tracing the dent made by her head left on his pillow (since neither of them had bothered to make the bed this morning), or him smelling her dresses hanging in his closet, never to be worn again-- it’s all too much for Roni to bear.  She lets out a long huffing sigh, accompanied by a gentle “for fuck’s sake.”
Harry barely looks up at her as he continues to set up all of the various snacks.  “Hm?” he asks.
“Harry--” Roni’s voice is abrupt.  “Am I… doing the right thing?”
Now, Harry does stop.  He looks up at her from under his lashes slowly, as if waiting for her to say something else.  He doesn’t press her, he only looks at her, and it makes her groan.
“You know,” she tries again,  “Like… should I just stay?  I don’t want to erase the people that I love from back home… and I definitely don’t want to erase my mom, but I can’t--”  She breaks off, tears beginning to well in her eyes,  “I can’t lose you.”
Harry’s voice is calm when he speaks.  “Do you think you’re doing the right thing?”
“That’s why I’m asking you!” Roni wails, reaching up to wipe at her eyes.
“Well, bunny,”  Harry stokes the fire a bit more, the embers dancing against the darkening sky,  “You know I can’t make that decision for you.”
“Harry,” Roni sighs in frustration.
“I can’t tell you what you want to hear,” he says slowly, a gentle but sad smile tugging on the corners of his lips, “because I don’t know what you want to hear.  I don’t think you do either.”
Roni wipes at her eyes once again, only to realize that it’s in vain. The tears are thick, and are beginning to flow freely down her cheeks.   Harry watches her sadly, unsure of whether or not he should move.
On the one hand, he wants to go to her.  He wants to take her in his arms, kiss away her tears, beg her to stay; to be his forever.  But on the other hand, he knows that what his beloved Veronica needs the most right now is someone to be strong for her.  And how can he do that when he’s hurting just as much?  How can he hold her in his arms and be strong for her if he knows that the minute he feels her shuddering sob into his chest, he’ll break down as well?
So he stays put, frozen in place focusing his eyes intensely on one spot of the fire. There is nothing more for him to do right now.
The sound of the ocean mixed with the crackling of the fire would be such a beautiful backdrop for a romantic evening together on any other occasion.  But given the circumstances, neither Harry nor Roni are feeling very romantic at present.   Roni shivers, wrapping the coat tighter around her shoulders as a bitter ocean breeze rips through her.
“I can’t lose you,” Roni repeats quietly.
“You won’t,” Harry answers. “I’ll never forget you as long as I live.”  When Roni doesn’t say anything, Harry scoots just a titch closer to her. “Veronica,” he says slowly. “I will never stop trying to find you. Until the day I die, I will try. I will look for you in every corner of the earth. In every lifetime. In every timeline.  I will do my best to find a way to find you. I will never, ever give up.”
Roni sniffs, reaching up to wipe at her runny nose. “And what if you can’t find me?”
Harry swallows audibly. “Well,” he says slowly. “Then.  I’ll wait for you in the sky.”
Roni’s throat swells, and she blinks back a few more tears, licking away the salty remnants that remain on her lips.  “I want you to find me.”
“I’ll find you,” Harry reassures her.  “One way or another.  I will find you.”
Roni blinks at Harry, so many words hanging on the tip of her tongue but no actual voice with which to speak them; especially because she doesn’t even know where she would begin.  She lets out all of the breath in her chest, reaching forward and taking his hand in hers.  “I love you, Harry Styles.”
He smiles, giving her hand a squeeze and running his thumb along the back.  “I love you too, Veronica Elliot.”
After a brief moment, Roni leans across the way to press a few short pecks to Harry’s lips. When she pulls away, she sighs.  “I don’t want to think about it anymore,” she says, “but I’m not sure there’s much else to focus on.”
“Tell me about your father,” Harry offers.
The proposition takes Roni by surprise, and she furrows her eyebrows at Harry. “Forreal?”
“Yeah. Heard all about your mum. Heard nothing about your father.”
Roni blows out a puff of air, wondering where she should start before giving up and shrugging. “Not much to tell.”
“You mentioned he left when you were young,” Harry prompts, “but do you remember him at all?”
Roni shakes her head. “Not at all. He was gone before I was even aware that I existed.”  She laughs. “From what I’m told though, he was awful. My grandma never wanted my mom to be with him.  But she was… I mean, you know, she was young. And no one really listens to their parents when they’re young. Not that young at least. She thought she was in love.”
“And him?”
Roni shrugs. “He thought she was easy.  Knocked her up and poof. Gone.”
Harry furrows his eyebrows. “Knocked her up?”
“Got her pregnant,” Roni giggles. “Nine months later he was gone but—“ she throws her arms up, a sort of ‘tah-dah’ movement, “— the real party arrived.”
Harry laughs, nodding his head. “Absolutely. The world’s biggest blessing came along. I’ll bet he’s sorry he missed it.”
“I doubt it,” Roni says, scrunching her toes into the sand. “Bet he hasn’t even spared a thought for my mom and I.”
Harry says nothing for a moment, only staring deep in thought at the fire and processing Roni’s story.  The fire feels warm on his face, and it makes him a bit sleepy.  He breathes in, low and slow through his nose before speaking again. “Shame.”  He smiles up at Roni, admiring the way the glow of the fire hits her skin.  “Can’t imagine doing something like that.  As a man.  As a father.”
Roni shrugs.  “I can’t either.  But, you know, it happens.  I guess.”
“It shouldn’t.”  Harry shakes his head.  “I wouldn’t let it happen.”
“You think you would ever get married?”  Roni doesn’t exactly realize the weight of her question until it’s slipped past her lips, and she almost regrets asking it.  Harry hardly reacts, save for the flash of his dimple that Roni has grown to love so much.  He averts his gaze, really giving some thought to his answer, then after a moment, he nods.
“Maybe. But at this point, m’not sure it’s really in the cards for me.”
Roni leans forward, genuine concern etched into her features.  “Why not?”
Now he looks back at her from under his lashes.  “You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
He smiles sadly. “Because the woman I love is leaving me to go back to her home that’s seventy-five years in the future.”
Harry’s words hit her like a ton of bricks. Not that she was really expecting another answer, of course, but god. “Harry—”
“It’s alright though. It’s the way things have to be, you know? I wouldn’t change us. I wouldn’t change what we’ve been through.” He shrugs. “I’d change the circumstances, sure.  But I’d take a thousand lifetimes of this over never meeting you. So I have to take that for what it is, don’t I?”
In any other situation, Roni would be fully aware that she’s moving far too quickly. But seeing as her time left with Harry is reduced down to merely a few more hours, she doesn’t care.  “I’d marry you in a heartbeat, Harry.”
His face brightens ever so slightly. “Yeah?”
Roni nods earnestly. “In a heartbeat.”
Harry squeezes her hand softly. “Perhaps in another life.”
“And for what it’s worth--”  Roni chews anxiously on her cheek,  then quiets her voice.  “I know my mom would have loved you.  You don’t know her, so that might not mean much to you, but  it’s true.  You’d have her blessing before you could even ask her for it.”
“That means a lot to me.” Harry’s thumb strokes absentmindedly along the back of Roni’s hand.  “I would’ve loved to meet her.”
Yet another long silence falls between the two of them, and Roni shivers when a particularly chilly ocean breeze passes through them.  The movement doesn’t go unnoticed by Harry, and he smiles gently.  “You cold?”  When Roni nods, he immediately scoots over a bit.  “Yeah?  C’mere.”
Roni wastes no time in complying with his request, crawling over to him and making herself comfortable in his lap.  He wraps his arms around her, rubbing up and down her arms and kissing softly at her cheeks. “Better?”
Roni lays her head on Harry’s shoulder, letting her eyes de-focus on the ocean. She doesn’t answer him verbally, electing only to nod and just enjoy his warmth.  
There are a few minutes of silence between the two lovers, and each time Roni catches sight of the full moon, hanging bright and threatening over their heads, her stomach twists.
“Have I mentioned how badly I’m going to miss you?” Harry chuckles.
Roni can’t help but to giggle. Her eyes burn at the mere thought of more tears falling, but at this point she knows that not much can be done to stop them.  “No, I don’t think you have,” she teases.  
She tilts her head to kiss at his neck, sucking gently but with completely innocent intentions— until he shivers slightly, his breath audibly hitching.
Roni takes the nonverbal cue, trailing her lips gently and softly up his neck, and taking his earlobe in between her teeth.  Harry groans, low in his throat.
“Bunny,” Harry says gently, “you don’t have to. If you don’t want to—“
“Who said I didn’t want to?” She peeks her tongue out from between her lips, rolling it just under this ear now. “Do you want to?”
He doesn’t answer her, he only hums, tilting his head to grant her easier access.
“One more,” she mumbles, angling her body so that she’s facing him more. “Please. Can’t leave you without a proper goodbye.”
Harry, once again, says nothing. He takes her hips in his hands and pulls her further onto his lap, angling her so that she’s straddling him now.  He grins up at her, the ocean breeze whipping his curls over his eyes. “God,” he sighs, leaning up to kiss at her neck, “I love you.”
Roni hums, basking in the attention he’s giving her neck and beginning a gentle roll of her hips against his.  She turns her head to catch his lips with her own, smiling against the taste of him she loves so much.  As he parts his lips, tracing her own with his tongue, it feels different than all the times before.  He’s kissing her the exact way she likes, but it’s sad now.   Slow, as if he’s taking his time in order to remember every single detail about her lips.
There’s a wordless conversation occuring between the two of them as they lick, slow and gentle, into one another’s mouths. Roni reaches up to cup at Harry’s cheek, mindful of her cold fingertips and giggling to herself when Harry shivers at her touch.  He hums, leaning further into her kiss and holding her lower back tenderly in his own.
They stay like this, just kissing and enjoying one another’s warmth, before Harry’s hands begin trailing up her back.  He teases his fingertips along her neck, playing with her hair before lifting the cap gently from her head.  He allows it to plop down ungracefully in the sand before guiding his hand up fully into her hair.
She can feel his fingers curling around the hair at the base of her neck before he tugs a bit, successfully pulling her head back.  She moans when he attaches his lips to her pulse in her throat.
It’s sexy, yes, but he takes his time with it, inhaling her scent as he kisses up her supple skin.  Her lashes flutter and she catches a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye; eyes closed, brows furrowed in concentration, as if he wants absolutely nothing to draw his attention away from Roni’s entire being.
Harry is more lost in his thoughts than he intends to be, but he can’t help it.  He’s wanting to remember everything about Roni, her taste, her smell, every curve of her jaw and her chest.  His hand scratches lovingly down her back before trailing along her sensitive sides and up to her breasts-- so tightly concealed beneath her many layers of warmth, but still so pert and delicious.
“Veronica,” he moans, low in his throat and more of sadness than of pleasure, “I love—“
“Don’t,” Roni says, her eyes burning with moisture. She lowers her head, touching her nose to his in an attempt to raise his face. “Don’t do that. Not right now.”  She lets out a shuddering breath, trying to refrain from breaking down. “Please, I can’t—“
“I love you.” He is insistent, wanting her to be sure that his words are true. “I fucking love you.”
“Please,” Roni cries, her voice cracking. “I can’t—“
“We have to—“
“I know but—“
“I fucking love you.”
It’s back and forth for the next few minutes, lips ghosting one another’s and noses brushing— as if breathing one another in and out, as if trying to exist as one person. Roni feels the dampness pooling between her legs, and with every roll of her hips she can feel Harry hardening.
All too soon it becomes  quick and hurried, even a bit sloppy, as Roni slips her panties down her legs and Harry works to get himself unbuttoned.  It’s far too cold to fully undress themselves, they’re both aware of this, but they can’t seem to move quickly enough.  She straddles his cock, and they move so quickly he misses her hole the first time.  She giggles, but it’s cut short when Harry attaches his lips to her neck and sucks, guiding himself inside of her gently.
“Fuck, always so tight,” he moans immediately, “holy fuck.”
They take a moment for Roni to adjust before she sinks further down, letting out a sinful moan that echoes one of Harry’s.  On any other occasion, the two would be far more mindful of their sounds, considering the fact that they’re in public.  But right now it doesn’t matter, especially with the way that Harry sinks his teeth into Roni’s neck, and the way she rolls her hips against his.
Roni gasps when he hits the spongy spot deep inside of her.  Her head tilts back as she lets out one of the most pornographic moans she’s ever made. Harry takes this opportunity and hooks his fingers into the neckline of her dress, pulling it down and attaching his lips to the swell of her left breast. He sucks until his teeth meet her skin, and then he bites, causing her to let out a little cry.  He’s marking her, and she loves it.
“Harry—“ she breathes, fingers frantically pulling at his hair.
He nips at the red little mark he’s left behind, then licks at it gently to soothe the sting.  She hums, tugging at the curls on the base of his neck and shuddering, partly due to the wind and partly due to a particularly delicious thrust.
Lowering her head to rest on Harry’s shoulder, she inhales his scent, shifting her weight a bit so as to not get so easily tired out by her work. He wraps his arms impossibly tighter around her lower back, seemingly trying to get her closer to his body, and Roni groans, loudly, sinking her teeth gently into his shoulder.
She almost misses it when he lets out a soft cry.
In fact, at first she thinks she’s imagining it.  But when the movement of his hips slows, and his breathing becomes more ragged than it was before, she stops moving and pulls away to look at his face.
Harry’s eyes are shut, and in the dim firelight she can make out the dampness of his cheeks.  His lips are curled into a frown, and he shakes his head the minute he realizes that Roni has noticed.  She stops the rolling of her hips and reaches for his face, cupping his cheek in her hand.
He’s sobbing, and he can’t even stop himself.
“Harry,” she says quietly, “Don’t--”
“I’m sorry,” he says, reaching up to wipe at his eyes.  “Fuck, I’m sorry, Veronica.”
Now, Roni feels tears well up in her own eyes as she strokes her thumb along Harry’s cheekbone.  “Don’t apologize,”’ she says through a whisper.    He doesn’t even hear her as he lets out another quiet sob before speaking again.
“I love you.  So so so much.  I don’t know if I can do this.”
Roni doesn’t even try to stop her own tears from falling now, and she squirms a bit with Harry still inside of her.  “Do what?” she whispers.
Harry shakes his head, still not looking in her eyes.  “Live without you.  I’m not strong enough to lose you.”
“Harry,” Roni cries, using her hand to lift Harry’s face and forcing him to look at her.  “We don’t have a choice.”
He lets out a shaky breath, trying to stabilize his chest.  “How can I go on when the person I love more than life isn’t isn’t with me anymore?”
Roni scans his face, feeling at a complete loss for words for the first time this evening. She shakes her head.  “I don’t know,” she says through a sob.  “But we’re going to have to figure it out.”
“Jesus.”   Harry wipes at his eyes again, pulling Roni into him and pressing a few wet kisses to her neck.  He lingers for a moment with his lips to her skin, and Roni can physically feel her heart breaking in half.  
“I didn’t think this was going to be so unbearable,” Harry whispers.  “I knew it would be hard but… fuck.”
“Look at me,” Roni says, pulling away and trying to gently guide Harry’s face up again.  She offers him the most reassuring smile she can muster, but somehow it doesn’t help.  “It’s going to be okay.  Hm?  We’re going to be okay.”
Roni cups his cheek yet again, and Harry leans into her affectionate touch with closed eyes.  She watches him, a lump in her throat so large she’s feeling nauseous, and the reality of their situation hitting her for the hundredth time this evening.
“We’re going to be okay,” she repeats. “You have to promise me you’ll keep going.  Keep trying. Live your life.  And maybe… in another lifetime--”
Harry cuts her off then with a kiss, passionate and gentle all at once.  He allows his hands to trail down her back.  He grips her hips tightly, rolling her against him and groaning low in his throat at the feeling of her walls still around his prick.
She gasps, not at all expecting to feel him as deep as she does, and they share sloppy, hurried kisses as they finish what they’d started.
It’s messy and slow, but it’s deep.  They’re both crying as they move together, lips hungrily exploring whatever area of skin they can get to. Roni bites down somewhere on Harry’s neck and he hisses, knowing he’s going to have an ugly mark there when morning comes.  Harry grips Roni’s hips so tightly they begin to ache, and yet she still finds herself wishing he would hold her tighter.
Minutes later, Harry cums.  Roni doesn’t, but she doesn’t care.  She doesn’t much feel like an orgasm right now, as strange and as out of character as that seems to her; rather, she just wants to stay like this, with the most intimate part of him tucked into the deepest, most private part of her body.  She buries her face in his neck, and he wraps his arms impossibly tighter around her torso.
No words are spoken between the two lovers.  No words are necessary, really.  They just hold one another, the sound of the crashing waves mirroring their own inner turmoil as they hold one another and cry-- unabashedly and unfiltered.  
It feels good, in a strange therapeutic sort of way, to be like this.  To be crying this hard together, completely vulnerable both physically and emotionally, and as hard as it is to grasp that these are their last memories together, it lifts the tiniest bit of weight off of both of their hearts.
They aren’t sure how long they’ve been sitting like this when Roni finally makes an effort to move, her sobs quieted now to a few little gasps here and there.  Harry instantly misses her warmth the second she lifts off of him, and he reaches for her hand like a little boy.
Roni smiles sadly at him, giggling and offering him a pathetic shrug as if to say, “well, anyway.” She gives his hand a squeeze, running her thumb along the back of it.  Her chest flutters as she takes a breath.  
“You promise to try and find me?”  She doesn’t anticipate her voice coming out as hoarse and as sad as it does.
Harry hates how final this feels, and he shivers-- partly from the cold, but mostly because his body is exhausted from how hard he’s been weeping and how devastated he’s been all day.  Seeing Roni like this, looking at him as if he’s her only hope in the world right now, absolutely crushes him.
Truth be told, he’s not feeling optimistic about being able to find her.  And if Roni’s honest, neither is she.  But the prospect of reuniting some day, sooner rather than later, seems to be the last string of hope that the two can hold on to together.  So for both of their sakes, they know they have to put on brave faces.  
Harry raises their clasped hands to his lips, and kisses each one of Roni’s knuckles individually-- taking extra care around the mood ring on her finger.  She bites her lip, and Harry knows another wave of tears is incoming.  He offers her his best smile, as optimistic as he can be, and speaks.
“I promise, sweet girl.  I promise.”
---
Harry wakes hours later from a restless and uncomfortable sleep when he feels a stirring beside him. He flutters his lashes open and remembers, all too quickly, the reason he’s here.
Roni sits up, stiff and dazed beside him, staring unwaveringly at the ocean with confused eyes.  Harry’s heart sinks to the pit of his stomach as he realizes the inevitable— this is it.
He reaches forward to gently touch her arm but quickly decides against it, not wanting to ruin her one chance at getting home.  He instead watches her with bated breath, waiting to see what she does.
“Veronica,” he whispers. “You alright, honey?”
She doesn’t respond. In fact, she doesn’t even look at him.  She digs her hand into the blanket beneath them to help prop herself up and onto her feet.  Harry moves with her, prepared to catch her when she stumbles a bit.  He watches her intently, wondering what she’s going to do.  
“Darling,” he says slowly, “Veronica… hey—“
She takes a slow step forward, hesitates, then takes another. And another. And then she’s walking towards the freezing cold waves lapping up against the shore.  Harry panics. Is this how this is supposed to go?
“Veronica wait!” He speaks more urgently this time, stepping quickly to follow behind her. “Hey, wait a second, honey—”
Roni stumbles, almost in a drunken state not much different from the first time Harry ever saw her.  She really is going, and he knows he shouldn’t stop her.  But the waves seem violent, and it makes him more anxious than he already is.
“Veronica,” Harry chokes out, realizing now that he’s crying. “Honey, no, no, don’t go-- not like this… not yet… I’m-I’m not--”
“Let her go,” comes a voice, gentle and melodic behind Harry.
He turns around, no longer trying to conceal the tears in his eyes, and is shocked to see Violet, the mysterious and mystical fortune teller, standing there. Despite the cold, all she has wrapped around her dress is a shawl, and she doesn’t even seem fazed.
“She will be okay,” Violet continues, taking a gentle step towards him. “You have to let her go.”
“She’ll drown.” It’s the only thing Harry can think to say, but it’s not what he wants to say at all. He doesn’t really know what he wants to say at all, actually. His thoughts are running a mile a minute and his heart is aching.
Violet smiles knowingly at him. “She will not drown,” she says. “She will go peacefully back to where she belongs.”
Harry sniffs, a salty tear rolling down his cheek and getting caught in the corner of his mouth. “You promise?” He sounds pathetic, his voice thick and cracking, but he doesn’t even care.
Violet nods. “You have my word.”
Harry glances back towards Roni, who is slowly making her way further into the water. His stomach is in knots. All he wants is to run to her. Has he said everything he needed to say? He’s told her how much he loves her, but does she really know? Has he wasted his last day with her?
As if reading his mind, Violet closes the space between the two of them. She raises a comforting and gentle hand to his back, and he turns slowly back to her.  “You did everything necessary.” She speaks quietly, looking straight into Harry’s eyes. “You gave her exactly what she needed.  She will never forget you as long as she lives.”
Harry’s tears are flowing freely now, and his face is hot. The blanket previously wrapped around him is long forgotten on the sandy shore, but it doesn’t even matter.  He welcomes the cold bitterly, and shakes his head as he watches Roni wade into the sea.  
“What are you even doing here?” He asks, sounding a bit more angry than intended.  “Hm?  Have you been watching us?”
Violet remains calm, despite his accusations.  “I just figured you might need someone here with you when the time came.”  She takes a deep breath.  “And I wanted to see the girl off. I’ve taken a liking to her as well.”  
The two watch Roni stumble deeper into the ocean, completely unaware of her own actions.  Violet hums, low in her throat.  “To answer your question though, no.  I wasn’t watching you.  I just got here.”
“How did you know we’d be here then?  And when?”  Harry glances back at Roni, who is now up to her waist. She must be freezing, and Harry wants nothing more than to go to her and stop her.
“Was I not the one who told you to do this?”  A bitter wind whips through Violet’s hair as she turns to face the sea as well. “I knew I would come up on you two eventually. Besides, this is the exact moment the moon is at her fullest. Of course Roni is going right now.”
Harry let’s out a pathetic and completely unintentional sob, his emotions getting the better of him as a panic attack rises in his stomach. “Fuck,” he says, then with growing intensity, “Fuck!” He kicks the sand, ignoring the resistance it gives him, then turns desperately back to Violet. “Does she know I love her? Does she know—“ He can’t catch his breath, and voice is loud. “Does she know I’m here watching her go? Jesus, I can’t—can’t do this, I- I mean I didn’t think it would be this fucking hard, Violet. Can I stop her? Fucking hell, can I stop her?!”
Violet takes a step towards Harry, who’s jaw is now trembling in synchronicity with his shaking hands. She puts a reassuring and calm hand on his shoulder. “It’s over, Harry,” she says. “You must let her go.”
Harry reaches up, running a hand through his sweaty, messy hair, glancing frantically from Roni—who is in the water up to her mid back now— back to Violet, who now seems worried about him. He lets out a wail, moving like he’s going to run to Roni, but Violet is quicker; wrapping her arms around him and holding him back.
He struggles against her a bit, eventually falling to his knees in the sand. Violet drops with him, gently holding him securely upright while comfortingly scratching at his back.  She keeps a watchful eye on Roni; as does Harry, only his vision is nearly completely blurred.   He wails, punching a little mound of sand beside his knees and using his free hand to wipe at his eyes.  “Goddammit,” he mutters.  “Fucking goddammit.  This was a mistake.”
“Harry,” Violet says urgently, sounding more human than she has in the entirety of the time Harry has known her.  “Listen to me, it wasn’t a mistake.  I need you to breathe.”
He looks at Violet desperately, shaking his head. “I should have begged her.  I could have made her stay.  I fucking could have made her stay, Violet.  I shouldn’t--”  He gasps for air between sobs, wiping at his nose with the back of his hand.  “Fuck, I shouldn’t have let her go.”
“Yes you should have,” Violet reassures him.  “This is the right thing.  Think of her mother.  Think of her life.”
Harry watches Roni, who is in past her neck now, and he tries to swallow down his panic.  He watches her sink further and further, knowing in his logical mind that she’s completely safe.  He blinks a few tears out of his eyes, his sweaty hair on his forward moving back and forth with each attempt to catch his breath, and then turns to Violet.   “I love her, Violet.” His voice is desperate and pathetic, and he hates himself for it.
Violet looks as though even she herself, in all her powerful glory, wants to cry as well.  She nods,  wiping a tear that has made its way down to Harry’s chin.  “I know you do,” she says softly.  “I’m so sorry, Harry.”
The two friends turn back to the sea, and Harry feels a sinking finality when he realizes he can no longer see Roni’s head.  His breathing slows just a tick, and he lets out a shaky breath— realizing for the first time that it’s coming out in a hot cloud around his mouth. “Is she gone?” He asks quietly.
He doesn’t wait for an answer. He knows the answer.  His head falls, chin to chest, and he holds his face in his hands.
Violet says nothing, she only holds Harry in his desperation, breathing against him to try and subtly slow his breathing and calm him down.  His sobs are heartbreaking, but they’re quieter now; less frantic. He cries until his throat feels thick and raw, and then it becomes somewhat silent.  He isn’t sure how long he’s been there, and he almost starts to feel bad for Violet, who just sits there with him, patient as ever.
She doesn’t seem to mind, of course, she just rubs her hand up and down his back and holds him in the most comforting way she can manage.  
After what feels like ages, he raises his hot, wet face to look at her. Her face is sad, but comforting.  She offers him a faint, sympathetic smile.  
“Will you help me?” Harry asks.
Violet cocks her head to the side. “Help you with what, Harry?”
“Look for her. Find a way. I don’t know.”
Violet’s face changes as she considers what he’s asking, taking in a deep breath and taking her time with her answer. She glances out at the ocean, which has somehow grown impossibly more calm since Roni’s disappearance. Finally, after a moment, she hums.
“You have to be prepared for any outcome, Harry.” She speaks sternly, as if to a child. “You don’t know if you have the gift—“
“I have to try.” He cuts her off, shaking his head and speaking through a throat that feels thick and raw. “I have to try.”
Violet scans his face, blinking slowly as she considers what he’s saying. “And are you prepared for what would happen should you fail?”
“I don’t care about that,” he says quickly.  “I don’t care. Because what happens if I’m successful? What if I do have the gift? Hm?  Then what?”
“I don’t believe it’s that simple, Harry.” Violet sighs. “I don’t get the sense that you have it.”
“But I have to try.” Harry emphasizes his words. “And if you won’t help me, then I’ll find a way myself.”
He rises to his feet and faces the sea, already beginning unbuttoning his shirt as if he’s about to undress and follow his darling Roni.  Violet stands just as quickly, making her way over to him.
“Harry, Harry!” she says quickly, reaching forward to stop him.  “Stop.”
He turns to Violet, and it’s the first time she notices how puffy his eyes are.  She sees how determined he is, how absolutely heartbroken, and it hurts her own heart.   She’s never been in love, although she’s helped many people who have been.  She does understand connections like this, and although she unfortunately doesn’t get the sense that Harry is someone equipped with the gift of time travel, she knows he’s not going to give up any time soon.  Not until he knows for sure.
So she sighs.
“I’ll help you,” she says.  “But it’s going to take work.”  She rubs his arm comfortingly.  “And time.  You can’t go right now.”
“But I can go?  Eventually?”  He looks at her with hope in his eyes, reminiscent of a small child, and it makes Violet feel for him even more.
“I can’t promise you that,” she says.  “I wish I could.”
Harry looks out at the sea, one last time, then wraps Violet in his arms.  It’s the first time all evening he’s reciprocated her comforting embrace, and he can feel her smile as she hugs him back.
Violet isn’t sure how long she holds him, and she knows he’s still crying by the way his back trembles every now and again.  When he finally pulls away, it’s with a thankful smile.  He groans and laughs at himself, reaching up to wipe at his eyes.  “Sorry,” he giggles, “must look a mess.”
“You look fine, darling.”  Violet gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before nodding her head towards the setup previously used by him and Roni.  “Come along, then. I’ll help you get this cleaned up so you can get home and get yourself a proper night’s sleep.”
---------------
There’s a buzzing in Roni’s ears, and her hands feel as though they’re vibrating.  It comes after an intense, icy feeling in her veins, coursing throughout her entire being then fading all at once.  She feels out of breath, but her heart is pounding slower than usual.
She’s somewhere between sleep and consciousness, and she recognizes this feeling in the back of her mind. The blackness behind her eyes somehow grows brighter and brighter with each passing second, as colorful memories flash far too quickly for her to make them out individually.  At one moment, she’s a child again.  At another, she’s at her mother’s funeral.  And at another still, she’s graduating high school, waving out to her grandparents and Oliver in the front row. These specific instances don’t evoke any strong feelings in her one way or another, yet somewhere inside they stir something up.  
A vision of herself, as an old woman, flashes behind her eyes, and although in her logical brain she knows that she isn’t old yet, she feels as though she’s lived that moment every second of every day.
The memories get brighter and brighter, buzzing loudly in her ear, and her body feels detached from her soul as she’s suddenly surrounded by nothing but white light.  
Roni isn’t even sure when she’s opened her eyes, but all of her thoughts have quieted instantly.  There is absolutely nothing surrounding her except white. She is completely alone, but it isn’t frightening by any means.  In fact it feels rather peaceful. She presses forward, taking a step towards nothing in particular, and her legs feeling strangely weak as they carry her on.
Her heart feels heavy in her chest as she walks, beginning to regain a sense of consciousness while remaining absolutely at peace.  She remembers that she’s traveling through time, yes, but why? Where is she going?
Your mind accepts this absolutely.  It is 9:30am on June 16th, 1985.  You have travelled back in time.  Soon, you will open your eyes---
A voice that sounds familiar to her-- is it her own?-- catches her attention, and a memory comes to her mind like an electric shock.  June 16th, 1985… what’s significant about that?
-into the hallway of the home you share with your mother, Tanya Rachel Elliot, and you will walk downstairs to find her cooking-
She smells something, distant and faint, but it isn’t the blueberry pancakes she hears the voice describing.  Instead, it smells like… a house? A bedroom she’s familiar with. Who’s bedroom?
It comes to her quickly, her mind filling with images of Oliver, her boyfriend, at a New Year’s Eve party.  The voice— her own voice— states that it’s 1985.  Her conscious mind knows that it’s almost 2000.
Like a slap to the face, Roni remembers Harry.  She remembers the first night she met him, when she was cold and disoriented in the streets of New York.  She remembers falling in love with him, quicker than anything she’s ever experienced, and then her heart aches at the memory of leaving him. Knowing why she’s here, and how she’s going back to the modern world.
“Roni,” she hears a voice in the distance, soft and feminine and familiar, and Roni turns on her heel in her dreamlike state. She doesn’t see anyone, but she knows she recognizes that voice.  
“Veronica,” it comes again, and Roni blinks in the bright light trying to find the source.  Her mind is foggy, but she knows the voice. She knows she does, but she can’t quite put her finger on it.
“Veronica, darling.”
Through the fog in her eyes, she makes out a figure— far, far away, but moving towards her somewhat quickly.  It’s a familiar outline, even if she can’t see the details of the person’s face.  The closer she gets she realizes it’s a woman, and Roni tries to blink her eyes into some clarity.
The closer the woman gets, the more things start to make sense in Roni’s brain.  The woman steps into focus, and it hits Roni like a ton of bricks.
“Mom?”  She whispers, afraid that if she speaks any louder she’ll ruin any type of illusion.
The woman-- her mother-- nods gently as she comes into clear view, now only a few mere feet away from her.  “It’s me, baby.”
Roni takes a moment, hardly daring to move until she can’t take it any longer.  She lunges, awkwardly, running to close the gap between them and falling ungracefully into her mother’s arms.
This moment is one that she’s imagined so many times before in her life, yet she never could have dreamt how good it would feel.  Her mother wraps her arms around Roni tightly, kissing her head, as Roni bawls like a baby.
“Is it really you?” Roni asks.  “Are you really here?”
“I’m here, my sweet girl.  I’m right here.”
Roni hardly hears her mother’s words, she just wraps her arms impossibly tighter around the older woman, as if scared that she’ll slip right from her fingers without warning.  “Mom,” she sobs, “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Oh, baby,” Tanya coos.  “I’m with you every day.”
Tanya pulls away slightly, despite Roni’s tugging at her, and wipes Roni’s eyes with her thumbs.  “Don’t cry, my love.”
Roni lets out a wet laugh, reaching up to wipe at her snotty nose with the back of her hand.  She hasn’t seen her mother in fifteen years, and she knows she must look an absolute mess right now.  “Sorry,” she says,  “I’m just… I can’t believe it’s you.”
“I know, Peanut.”  Tanya smiles a smile that is so absurdly kind; a smile that Roni loved being on the receiving end of throughout her entire childhood.  “It feels so wonderful to hold you in my arms again.”
Tanya was never a crier, so Roni suspects she won’t be now in the afterlife either.  Still, the look on her face tells Roni all that she needs to know, and it’s beautiful. Roni sighs, leaning into Tanya’s hold on her face and staring at her mother eagerly, as if one blink will send her vanishing away again.  She reaches up to place her hand on top of her mothers, and notices Tanya’s attention briefly shift.
Tanya squints, then laughs-- a surprised, tinkling sort of noise-- as she removes her hand from Roni’s face.  She takes Roni’s hand in her own then and thumbs at the mood ring on her finger.  “You’ve kept my ring!”
“Of course!” Roni feels like an overly excitable little girl again, who’s about to overshare about today’s lesson after school.  “Of course I did!”
“It’s pink,” Tanya observes. She smiles warmly. “It was always pink with you.”
“It was mostly pink when I was around you,” Roni says.  “Oh god, mom, I have so much to tell you.”
Tanya smiles knowingly.  “Tell me. I’m all ears.”
“I don’t even know where to begin,” Roni says, through a wet and tearful laugh.  “I guess… I mean, first of all, where the hell am I?”
“Where do you think you are?” Tanya’s eyes sparkle mischievously, but her words only make Roni panic slightly.  
“Am I… dead?”
Tanya giggles. “No, my love. You aren’t dead.  You’re in the between.”
“The…. between?”
“You have been here before,” Tanya explains. “Between timelines.  Between time itself.  You passed through here when you first traveled back. Of course, you weren’t quite sure of what you were doing, so it may be a blur in your memory.”
Roni tries her hardest to think back to the night she arrived with Harry.  It is a blur, but it comes back to her faintly. Lots of stumbling, lots of white light.
She cocks her head to the side. “Were you there that night?  Or… I guess, here?”
“I was,” Tanya says, nodding. “I watched you. I tried to reach out, but whatever it was that was calling to you— a soul tie, a connection, whatever— was much stronger than I. So I did my best to just guide you to it.”
“Oh.”  Roni processes her mother’s words, marveling at the fact that her twin flame connection with Harry had been that strong that she hadn’t even been able to stop here and speak to her mother.  “I see.”
Tanya smiles that ever knowing smile. “Tell me about them,” she says softly.
“What?”
“The person. Your calling.” Tanya takes Roni’s hand in her own. “They must have done a number on you, baby.”
Roni sighs, unsure of where to even begin, but instantly feeling touched just by looking at her mother’s sweet face. She wants to start crying again, but she refuses to let herself.  Her mother stays patient, not pressuring Roni to speak until she’s ready.
And with a deep breath, she launches right into it.
She tells her mother everything; about how she was trying to go back in time to save her, about how Harry had saved her that night, about how she tried to stay strong but ended up falling head over heels for him.  It’s difficult recounting everything, especially because it feels so fresh in her own mind, and as hard as she’s working to conceal her tears, she can’t stop them from falling down her cheeks.
And Tanya only listens.  Kind and understanding, Tanya listens.  She doesn’t interrupt, she only nods every now and then, giving Roni the most sympathetic eyes in the world.
Roni laughs, cries, and every emotion in between as she tells her mother the entire story.  And at the end of it, her mother wraps her in a comforting embrace while she tries to get her tears under control.  
“My sweet girl,” Tanya coos, scratching Roni’s back comfortingly.  “My sweet, brave girl.”
When Roni pulls away, confusion clouds her features. She searches her mother’s face for a wordless answer to a question  she has yet to ask.
“Mom?” She says through a shaky breath, “Am I… I mean, did I do the right thing?”
Tanya brushes Roni’s hair off of her face, coming through it lovingly with her fingers. “Do you think you did?”
Roni groans.  “God, you sound just like him. I just want to know if I made the right decision, but I have no way of gauging that, you know?  Like how do I know?”
Tanya laughs.  “To tell you the truth, my love, I really think you did. In fact, I can promise that you did.”
“But... Harry…” Roni trails off in a sigh. “I just want to know that he’ll be okay. You know?”
Tanya nods understandingly. “I know.”
“So is there… I don’t know, like, a way? For you to watch over him? I don’t know how the afterlife works.”
Tanya giggles at Roni’s words. “I’ll check in on him, sweetheart. If that’s what you want.”
“And can you—“ Roni sniffs, willing herself not to start sobbing again. “Can you tell him I love him?”
“You love him?” It isn’t accusatory, and her tone isn’t really all that shocked either. It’s a simple question, but Roni’s insides flip.
“I do,” she says decidedly. “So, so much.”
Tanya’s next question takes Roni by surprise. “And Oliver?”
“You know about Oliver? I didn’t start dating him until after you—“
“I know,” Tanya says calmly. “I’m with you always.”
“Oh.” Roni blows a puff of air out from her lips, reaching up to fidget with her hair. “Well. I love Oliver, but it’s not… I mean…. Harry is…” She trails off, looking helplessly at her mother, as if Tanya will be able to fill in the blanks.
Tanya only smiles. “Your twin flame. I know.”
Roni laughs in disbelief.  “It’s weird, huh?”  She asks. “How does that even happen?”
“How could you possibly travel back to 1925?” Tanya laughs. “Some things are not meant for us to understand, my darling.”  She gives Roni’s shoulder a playful squeeze before continuing. “Anyway.  I like Oliver.  He’s a good kid.  He takes good care of you.  But Harry,” she smiles knowingly,  “Harry set your soul on fire. This I know for sure.”
“I can’t help but feel like I did the wrong thing,” Roni sighs. “Even though I know I didn’t. I jst couldn’t erase you, you know? And everyone back home that I love—”
“You don’t have to explain yourself.  Not to me.  You did the right thing.”
Roni sighs, eyes scanning the great white abyss surrounding them as she tries to figure out what on earth to say.  “So now what?” She tries after a moment. “Where do I even go from here?”
“Back home,” Tanya says, a comforting hand trailing up Roni’s arm. “To live a long and full life. To grow old, and to have children of your own.  To stop living in the past.”  The last bit is said more pointedly, and Roni blinks through her misty eyes back at her mother.
“I’m not—“
“Veronica,” Tanya says slowly, “darling, look at all you’ve had. My god, look at all you’ve done.”
“I would trade it all to have you back, mom.”  Roni reaches for her mother’s hand and  squeezes. “All of it. Every bit.”
Tanya smiles.  “I know, sweetheart.  I know. But I am gone.  You have done everything you could have done to bring me back.  It was not in fate's design.”
Roni shakes her head, not wanting to believe her mother’s words but knowing she’s right. “But where do I go?” she repeats, quieter this time.
Tanya takes a big deep breath in through her nose.  “I told you.  You must go on and do even more incredible things with your life.”  She laughs softly through her nose, and if Roni had blinked she’d have missed the moisture forming in her mother’s eyes.  “I am so, so proud of who you are, Veronica.”
“I don’t want to go on without you, mom.”
“You will never have to.  You never have before.  I’m always going to be with you.”
“But now I have to like… go into the world again.  The modern world, I mean.  Knowing that I’ve seen you again, and that I’ve been in love.  Real actual love.  How can I just... go back?”
“You don’t have to go back, sweetheart.  Not like that.  You don’t have to be stuck.  Life is far too short to be living it in a way that doesn’t make you happy.  Do you understand?  Do not let it pass you by.”
“But… but you-- and Harry--”
“Stop living in the past, Peanut. Worrying, and not allowing yourself to move forward, will never add any years to your life.  It didn’t mine.”
Roni’s shoulders visibly soften, and she blinks up at her mother.  She wants to take in all of her mothers advice, but mostly she just wants to drink in as much of her mother’s presence as possible.  “I love you, mom.”
“I love you too, Veronica. More than you know.”
In the distance, Roni begins to hear a soft commotion.  She looks around, trying to figure out where on earth the noise could be coming from (considering that there is nothing around her except for a great white nothingness).  It starts out dull, a faint buzzing that gradually grows louder.  She turns back to her mother, only to be met with a sad smile.
“Our time is almost up here,” Tanya explains, and Roni’s heart begins to swell with panic.
“What? No, I’m not ready—“
“You are ready, dear. You are as ready as you’ll ever be.”
The commotion grows louder, and Roni shakes her head. “But I don’t know what to do!”
“Yes you do.” Tanya nods. “You always have.”  She reaches forward and wraps Roni into a tight hug, giving her a squeeze and pressing her lips to her head. “Remember what I told you. I’ll always be with you. So will he.”
“I don’t know what to do!” Roni wails again, her puffy eyes aching with pressure as more tears begin flowing. “I don’t know where to go!”
“The answers will come,” Tanya says, pulling away from Roni slowly. “What is meant to be will be.  Some things you cannot change, but what is meant to be will always find a way.”
“Why weren’t you meant to stay with me then?” Roni cries, beginning to struggle to be heard over the buzzing noise of an invisible crowd. “To watch me grow up? To help me through life? Why did you have to go?”
“Everything has a reason,” Tanya says, stepping backwards from Roni. “Some reasons, we are never meant to know.”
“Mom—“
“I love you, Peanut.” Tanya continues to step backwards from Roni, and Roni tries to lunge for her. Her legs, however, feel like molasses, as if she’s suddenly dreaming and she can’t seem to move fast enough to where she needs to be.
“Don’t go yet!” Roni calls. “I’m not ready!”
“You are ready.”  Roni can barely hear her mother now, and it seems that the further she steps away from her, the louder the buzzing becomes. “Don’t forget what I’ve told you.”
“But mom—“
In a flash, Tanya seems as far away as she can possibly get.  Roni panics, turning around as quickly as her legs will let her, in search for some kind of answer. A door, perhaps, or at least the source of the deafening noise she’s hearing.
She calls for her mother, feeling desperately like a child who’s lost in a supermarket. She feels hot tears rolling down her face, and she defiantly wipes them away with the back of her wrist.
“Mom!”
The noise is ringing in Roni’s ears now, and her body feels fuzzy and foreign as she looks for an answer. She raises her palms to her ears to try and drown the noise out, but she can’t— it’s too deep within her head.  “Fuck,” she cries, squeezing her eyes shut.
“Veronica,” comes her mother’s voice, as clear in her head as if it were her own consciousness. “Darling.”
Roni’s chest grows heavy as she wills the noise to stop, please; and all the while images of Harry flash in her head.  Her mother’s voice comes again, and is the last thing she hears before everything goes completely black.
“Open your eyes.”
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