#kids are smart man. they can handle a lot more concepts than you’d think. we don’t have to dumb everything down. they gotta use their heads. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sanchoyo · 3 years

Text

danny phantom episode 4-7 Thoughts: (under a readmore because, these got kinda long!)

-the outfit danny had to buy for dash's party. CLASSIC 2000S i cannot stop laughing. And also showing up to the party and everyone is dressed like the trio is hilarious. and further proof that everyone looks good dressed goth.

-dash has a closet full of cute lil bear plushies?? LOVE that. adorable. also his response to danny trashing his room fighting a ghost was SO valid if somone BROKE MY BED IN HALF ID BE PISSED TOO.

-technus being like 'oh smart, u should be a tutor!' then later being like 'forget tutor, be a teacher!' :) supportive king <3 I also really like his upgraded suit/design. AND SPOCK CAMEO??? HELLO??

-the music in this show is super. its so funky. I looked it up and the guy who does it, guy moon (awesome name) also did music for other cartoons like fairly odd parents, barnyard, chalkzone, billy & mandy, AND some actual movies like FIGHT CLUB??? the whiplash I got from reading that)

-sam being rich explains a lot about her, actually.

-I know the moral of the episode was supposed to be 'dont ditch your friends for popular people/spend a lot of money on clothes that arent You to Fit In'. but tbh. it wouldve been easy for danny to have been like 'well, okay, ill come but only if my friends can!' but I get. that hes 14. so. not a lot to say there.

-BOX GHOST IS BACK!!!!! also, danny sitting up and wearing the dress/wig/makeup. umm thats how I dress everyday LMFAO. unironically me. (hate the jokes that boil down to 'haha funney man in dress' tho. but this is a look)

-jazz being protective of her brother once again being like NOOO YOU GUYS BETTER NOT STAKE OUT HIS (actually haunted) LOCKER!! shes aware of how people perceive him and she wants to help :( which is also probably why she told dash to invite him to that party even tho she had no interest in going!! she wants to help him out :(

-gotta say im with tucker on the whole 'should danny use his powers to get back at bullies' debate. 100% yes. let him teach kids to fight back. making dash throw his food at paulina out of the blue? no. but when hes actually about to pick on someone? yeah! for self defense? YEAH! if dash and his friends just threw food at him, I think rather than. idk doing sneaky shit with frogs he couldve just threw it back and not pulled punches if they tried to fight. I kNOOWWW its a kids show so they are like 'if u fight back ur just as bad!! violence bad!!' but. theyre HIS POWERS. WHO CARES.

-like my only gripe is that dash really isnt LEARNING ANYTHING WHEN DANNY GETS BACK AT HIM IN THE MOST PETTY INDIRECT WAYS. whatever they had to add a bully psa episode I guess. I hate it and I hate the way cartoons usually handle it because these methods simply Do Not Work. 'aND YouRE USinG YOur poWErs FOR EVill???!' this is Not Evil. even when poindexter takes dannys body, theyre only being 'nice' bc hes stealing soda for them!! bitches deserve what they get (nothing too brutal bc theyre high schoolers but damn, if they pick on danny he doesnt need to be the 'bigger person' he needs to start biting people)

-SAM TRYING TO SMUGGLE FROGS OUT OF THE BIO LAB?? girl in middle school when we had to dissect frogs we could opt out, also, they came to us already dead and preserved...

-sidney's lingo and the fact hes in black and white is sending me. also, danny is a ghost celebrity apparently for being a halfa?? ok. thats interesting to know

-the DENTIST BEING EXCITED ABOUT THE COTTON CANDY FLOOD IS THE FUNNIEST THING SO FAR.

-I LOOOVE the trope of 'wishes gone wrong'. not crazy about the stereotypical genie, or the use of the dreamcatcher looking design. (also, I KNOW theyre scientists but the way theyre handling a cold...are the fentons ANTIVAX)

-the genie. she. whitewished paulina. JKASDFHKJ. (the ghost literally just being hello kitty???? im dying) 'why do i feel that im special and wonderful? because I AM! <3' paulina ilu self worth queen. felt bad for her also getting possessed by (2) boys later who were arguing INSIDE HER. WTF.

-imagine being the guy trapped in his now flying car. he thought danny and tucker were HALUCINATIONS. imagine being trapped in a flying car with two, what you think are imaginary arguing 14 year olds convinced ur gonna die. i WOULD say this dude is gonna need so much therapy, but he seemed totally fine and excited when they landed (I would be happy too if a chicken was on my head. chickens rule) stoner rights

-sam's bat slippers??? iconic. SO cute.

-I think desiree's backstory is so :( do all ghosts have messed up sad backstories?? poindexter's was sad too...cannot imagine box ghost has any kind of fucked up backstory. but what if. his mom got pushed off cliffs by boxes...........a la cruella... anyway her 'no man may lay a hand on me' iconic. ilu

-I know danny has no concept of how much bras cost but my god dont attack tucker with some girls bra. those are so expensive.

-its really. well its not a GOOD THING he went into the portal and got fucked up, but its good danny was the one to do it rather than sam or tucker. because even tho he was being influenced by desiree and kept getting more malicious and it prob wasnt 100% him...he sucked as a ghost like most the people he 'pranked' were innocent ppl just Chillin and he didnt want to help anyone at all. I think danny is the most responsible out of them but also, hes 14 and shouldnt HAVE to feel obligated to fight every ghost. hes a good kid and wants to, but I also feel like he feels like...responsible for the portal turning on?? because his parents did give it up,, but it was an accident and not his fault (if anything, why was the on switch on the inside. why was it that easy. why was there no safety measures. that seems like smth OSHA needs to hear about). like thats my son. hes a good boy. and hes never done anything wrong in his life, ever. if anyone hurts him im killing everyone in this room and then myself. etc.

-danny's curfew is 10PM????? DUDE. when I was 14...shit I couldn't be out that late, I had to be back at like, 8 at the latest, and my parents had to know exactly where and who I was going with, AND i had to call/text them regularly...is this a case of my parents being overbearing, or the fentons sucking??? the only time i could EVER be out that late was if I was at an overnight sleepover or smth...

-the vultures have lil fezes. why do they have fezes...theyre so fuckin funny 'ask him for directions' 'I KNOW WHERE IM GOING' these ghost vultures are my new grandpas. pick them up, put them in the adopt box.

-'I wonder why those guys were trying to waste dad!' THEYRE GHOSTS. YOUR DAD HUNTS GHOSTS. why is that not a conclusion you'd immediately jump to??

-*jazz voice, clearly disgusted* WISCONSIN???

-mrs fenton with the lab coat and leg warmers and PERM. YESSS STYLISH.

-was going to say 'ew billionaire' @vlad but. super valid he used his powers to assumedly steal and cheat to get that money, thats how all billionaires do it! but ew hes a SIMP. and spending your billions on FOOTBALL STUFF?? you are Not Valid overall. I DO respect the fact you have a castle instead of a mansion. in wisconsin. if youre going to be stupidly rich might as well go all out, torches on the wall and all. I DO like his ghost form's little kitty ears. catman. and his cape! every design can benefit from a cape. and how different his forms look, like danny looks the EXACT SAME IN BOTH FORMS ASIDE FROM COLOR CHANGES. vlad's is like,, I could believe they were different people!! also I love the drama. but dude you are fighting a 14 year old. lame. also he was like, telling danny he wanted his mom and him and like, wanted him to renounce his dad?? WHAT ABOUT JAZZ?? bitch. those r MY kids and they are both important and special. I do agree they need better parents but thats not u sir <3

-I thought vlad's 'little badger' nickname for danny came from the football mascot of the packers, but google says they have NO MASCOT?? so now I'm like?? is it because his hair is sometimes black and sometimes white?? I hate to give him props but thats a PERFECT NICKNAME. theyre also tiny and vicious!

-why did I get so excited that Skulker is back!! its been like. 2-3 eps LMAO. AND THE DAIRY KING. ICONIC I LOVE HIM. hes the nicest guy ever :) more nice ghosts please. danny cannot be fighting alone everytime with no ghost buds like every ghost being hostile sucks :(

-mr. fenton knew vlad was controlling him, but a few episodes ago he had no clue danny was doing the same thing...is it something about how malicious the ghost is?? he just seemed to think his memory had gaps the first time, this time he was INSTANTLY LIKE 'GHOST'. then again in this ep when danny did it again he was just slightly confused but not immediately freaking out like he did with vlad possessing him!!

-'my parents will accept ME NO MATTER WHAT' so. so why haven't you come out to them yet, danny?? if you really think that?? if theres no harm, and you're sure??? if vlad is a real problem, wouldnt that make dealing with him easier, to expose him???? SO WHY HAVENT YOU COME OUT YET?? COULD IT BE,, MAYBE YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER YOUR PARENTS ACTUALLY WILL ACCEPT YOU??? 🤔 ... 🏳‍🌈 I get why people say He Is Trans. I totally totally get u danny.

-sorta unrelated, but it just occurred to me in one of these eps they go to casper HIGH not casper middle school??? theyre 14?? dont highschools usually do ages 15-18? (I didnt go to hs so I might be wrong, if I am ignore this...) freshmen are usually 14-15, could just be a case of them not turning 15 yet but they will sometime in the school year (I say they because tucker said he was 14 too)? I know the show has 3 seasons, so by the end of it will they be older? thatd be neat but usually cartoon characters stay the same age...I love shows where you can see the characters age and grow up, though...three seasons seems like a long time to spend on like, 1 year...

#sanchoyorambles #danny phantom #me on the first post:#its not a liveblog!#me this time: it kinda is. but not in the same format as my tmm one #i like doing one post for a handful of eps bc it saves time #and crowds my blog less #and also i just like talking abt what im watching lol #dp thoughts

20 notes · View notes

onyourzeus · 3 years

Text

• certainty | kyh

ykcyj ➝ arskyh

title: certainty pairing: kang younghyun (youngk of day6) & you genre: FLUFF words: 2.6k

author’s note: requested by @strxwberrifields :’) thank you so much for fueling the idea for this prompt. i think i strayed away a little, though, i’m sorry! i hope it is still enjoyable. also, youngk’s cover of when you love someone was playing while i wrote this, it helped set the mood a ton. (listen to it, you won’t regret it)

any requests? check my pinned post if i’m accepting any at the moment, thanks!

there’s something about being in love

that you can’t put into definitive words

it’s so sickeningly cliche, you know that

there’s nothing more annoying than hearing

someone gush about their significant other

over and over and over— we get it! you’re in a relationship and it’s great and just

don’t rub it in, please

kidding aside

—you don’t think your relationship with younghyun is like that

if anything, you feel somewhat lacking in telling him how much you love the guy

dating a pretty famous bassist, idol, vocalist, business admin major—

scratch that. dating someone like younghyun is already out of the ordinary for you

and so you can’t help but feel… insecure, at times

or feeling left out from his idol circle and the fact that

you can never bring yourself to fully immerse in it like he does

you don’t blame him!! you never blame younghyun for who he is

it’s just a bizarre concept to find yourself even crossing paths with the now love of your life

for almost a year, might you add

the thought still sends goosebumps all over your skin

and a silly smile that gets you weird looks when you’re in public

man, if they knew who that smile was about

who your heart is for

they’d be jealous, duh

or judge you because—

you? with a guy like him? scoffs

you should get out of your head sometimes, it’s healthy (try it, please)

you’re good to younghyun, right? you think you are

a guy like him is smart enough to know what’s good for him… right?

STOP IT STOP you have a mission to do today

and that’s to bring the very same guy—

(plaguing your mind and disrupting the rhythm of your heartbeat every waking second)

—his lunch today

it’s just him in the studio; him and his bandmates have been doing their own thing for a few months now

which is a refreshing change of pace for everyone, you heard

but work is still work; and younghyun is recording yet another single to upload sometime soon

you’re excited, and jealous of how his mind works 24/7

but with that much thinking and execution comes a lot of hunger; and younghyun is not immune to not having an appetite

man’s stomach is the blackhole, anything that goes in there is nowhere to be found

(as if it never came in the first place)

you text him you’re by the entrance, and there’s a lot of typos

“hrre> i hv lunch. its heavy”

you know he won’t respond because there is no second wasted recording; you still do it, anyway

just in case

you’re greeted by a few people working in the bldg, some of them recognize you already which you’re still shy about

finally, you enter his studio, careful not to topple over the take out stuff you have in the bag

as expected, younghyun is inside the soundproof room where the ~*~magic~*~ happens, eyes closed and headphones on

immediately, your heart soars at the sight of him. it’s not a new thing for you to see him in his workspace

but it’s always a new feeling to watch how he lets the music flow in his presence

he can’t hear you but you’re careful in taking out bowls of ramen, broth, rice, and other side dishes on the coffee table. he’ll probably be done in a few minutes—

door opening louder than you anticipated

“you’re here!! and there’s FOOD,” younghyun exclaims, the headphones slung around his neck with the cord hanging in midair

you’re shook at his speed, but then again the one thing he loves the most is right in front of him

yep: food

you laugh, greet him with a kiss on the cheek (that warms your own face up, you’ll never get used to doing that) and let him know about his probably expensive headphones just dangling around

“eh who cares,” younghyun casually shrugs but you keep reprimanding him with an expectant look

“fine fine, i’ll put them down safely”

“good, have you eaten today?”

“yep but that was like an hour ago”

that’s younghyun for you, and you expected it. so you tell him to dig in

“it’s from the ramen place we tried a month ago, thought you’d want some soup since it’s getting colder”

his eyes light up like a kid opening his birthday present which he already knew what would be inside

“this is amazing, babe, thanks!” he reciprocates your kiss on the lips this time: short but sweet

you squeal, and temporarily feel calm and collected about his “approval”

you sit next to him, just watching him attack the noodles first, then slurping the broth with utmost grace (spoiler alert: he is chowing down like it’s his last meal)

and yet you’re falling so deeply in love again as you try to picture the image of him happily eating in your mind, framing it and keeping it stored there safely

“you’re not eating?” he asks in between bites of kaarage and takoyaki. it was practically a meal for three

you shake your head. “i ate before coming here” which wasn’t a lie, and he’d know if it was since he’d hear your stomach grumble

but that takoyaki sure looks tasty…

“wh—” younghyun shoves one right inside your mouth, chuckling as he watches you struggle to chew it so suddenly

“you know you wanted some,” he teases. pouting, you finish the takoyaki before trying to defend yourself

but younghyun had something else up his sleeve; or rather he grabs a tissue and dabs it on the side of your cheek

“someone was hungry,” he sing-songs, slanted eyes glinting with amusement

“you have the nerve to say that considering you finished a full course meal!” you sneer at him, feeling his gentleness as he wipes your cheek clean

you keep bantering back and forth like that; it’s natural, it’s what you like about your relationship

he finishes and it hasn’t even been an hour since you got here. someone can study this man’s digestive system and find new wonders of the human body in him

buuuut you kinda wanna keep younghyun to yourself for now— as much as you can, really, seeing as he’s an idol…

“that was sooo good,” he sighs, leaning back against the couch with one hand around your shoulders

you rest your head against his, cradling up to his warmth

he’s so cuddly when he’s just finished eating

not to mention

“zzz”

“younghyun, you have a song to record!” you shake him awake, and he’s not kidding either

the man just falls asleep!

“mm five minutes…” he dozes off, hugging you even closer to him. both arms around your frame this time

now that you’re face to face, you can clearly see the exhaustion smearing his perfect features

without make up on, his eyelids are veiny, there’s a shadow underneath them and his face just physically looks dull

the more he eases into you, the heavier his body feels sinking into the couch

and your heart sinks with it

younghyun works so incredibly hard— literally every single day, there is no stopping him from creating and doing and sometimes

you just want to tell him to slow down, pause for a moment

it makes your chest tighten, to think that younghyun thinks time is moving so fast for him

that he needs to accomplish so much before time runs out

you lift your hand up and card your fingers through his hair (he had it dyed black recently, and you’re all for it)

he hums in satisfaction and nuzzles his head against you even further

then, you move your hand over to his cheeks, tracing its height and going over the tip of his nose

boop

and steal kiss

he can really fall asleep like this, right next to you

you might doze off with him too

but, just like younghyun, true to his word—

he’s awake and back into recording mode less than ten minutes later

he stretches like a cat, and leaves you bewildered at the amount of energy he’s recharged himself with in such little time

“you give me energy, what can i say?”

“shut up”

he tries to clean up the empty bowls and used utensils, but you shoo the musician away

“go. work, i’ll handle this” he knows he can’t argue with you on that

it makes you feel useful to him, somehow, just doing these little things to accommodate for his lifestyle

you wonder if it’s enough

you spend the rest of the afternoon in the studio. while he records and edits and goes back to recording, you brought your laptop to do some work remotely

he lets you hear some of the recorded lines he’s done, and you nod your head all the time and say they sound perfect, they sound like him

he doesn’t really like that

“there’s bound to be something that’s missing. what else would you have liked to hear from this verse?”

he looks so serious, brows knitted, lips curled forward whenever he listens to himself in the audio

you feel bad; you don’t know much about music mixing and all that— plus you’re not lying when you say you like what you hear

but maybe in this area, there’s not much you can contribute in his life

and these are the moments when you think you fail as an equal partner

younghyun realizes the abrupt quiet in the air as you make yourself feel smaller than you do

“just a little more and i’ll be done for the day,” he tells you, patting your head reassuringly

you give him a meek nod, not meeting his eyes, and go back to some work

at least, you try. for distraction

he sounds disappointed— maybe you need to learn how to analyze beats and harmonies and such next time?

before you know it, younghyun finishes up and saves his progress

you’ve also fallen asleep a little there while sitting down on the floor, and your head on top of your laptop

“babe?”

when you wake up, the take-out bags are nowhere to be seen and your laptop is inside your messenger bag

“can i hang out at your place tonight?” younghyun asks, and you try to regain your senses

“yeah, yeah of course,” you say absent-mindedly, concerned thoughts swirling your consciousness

younghyun doesn’t bring a lot when he goes to the studio, he leaves the instruments in the room and only carries his phone and USB on him

upon exiting the place, he grabs hold of your bag and slings it on his arm

on the other, he invites your hand in his

you don’t say anything, still feel guilty for the incident a while ago, but accept his intertwining fingers

he squeezes yours tight, and gives you a slow, reassuring kiss on the cheek

“i’m sorry if i pressured you back there,” he apologizes firmly, looking at you straight in the eye

it’s a little intimidating, if you’re being honest

because when younghyun owns up to something— or even when he’s just determined about his words

he wants you to look at him, and see the truth in what he’s telling you

in retrospect, that’s how you fell in love

as that’s how younghyun confessed his own feelings

but now, he’s saying sorry for something you should be sorry for

before you even feel the tears well up, he has his hands cup your face, rubbing alongside your temples

the air is still outside, and there’s a faint noise of people chattering, walking, and existing in the world

but what you see is younghyun, and the way he presents you all of who he is at the moment

“it’s not you,” you start off the cliche, so you stop yourself

“i just feel like i don’t do anything…”

“anything?”

“in this relationship… that’s beneficial to you…” finally, words that explain some of your true, insecure feelings

you shut your eyes as tight as you can as to avoid confronting younghyun’s gaze

he’s quiet

probably mad

possibly about to break up with you

realizing that you’re right

instead, a slight pain on your forehead and you mutter a surprised, “ow.”

“that’s what you get,” younghyun says, seriously but his eyes show that of worry

you pout, and he tries to resist but he can’t so he kisses you

“for thinking the opposite of who you are to me,” he continues, letting go of your face and sliding his fingers in between the crevices of yours once more

you leave it like that, feeling just a tad bit calmer than before

but younghyun keeps looking at you, poking at your side which causes you to be ticklish

and he knows that

“you hungry?” he asks once you reach downtown

“just a little,” you say, thinking of what to cook dinner for the both of you soon since he said he’s coming over

“let’s get some galbi,” he urges, tugging you towards the restaurant with the glowing sign

“but you just ate…” you say quizzically, and as if on cue your stomach grumbles

well it has been a few hours for you

but for younghyun, technically he should already be full for the rest of the day!

“c’mon, my treat,” he doesn’t take no for an answer and you guys sit at a table with the stove in the center

for the rest of the night, he grills you your meat

doesn’t even let you put them on your plate, it has to come from him as you feeds you some of your favorites, galbi, gobchang, hangjusal; the whole nine yards

of course, he’s eating too, and laughing, and making you smile

“room for dessert?” he asks, and you shake your head no too many times

“get yourself some, i know you want to” you tell him, and he’s already calling for the waiter to bring him a mochi or two

he eats it while walking back to your apartment with you; and he seems like such a satisfied kid

you can’t go on throughout the day being all sullen with younghyun; it’s impossible

back in your apartment, you ease into the familiarity of the place

and so does younghyun

you ready some clothes for him that he’s left in your dresser to prepare a warm bath

but he calls you in the living room

“just a moment, younghyun”

“no no i need you now :(“

well, can you resist that tone? no

“what’s up? don’t you want to freshen up first?”

“i want you first”

:( “okay,” you say as shyly as your pounding heart can let you say

and you’re back in the same position as in the studio, right after he ate

arms around you, and he coaches your legs to rest on his

basically you’re koala-hugging him on your couch

“what’s this?” you say embarrassed. even in your own goddamn apartment, he makes you feel so many things at once

“being extra clingy”

“i can see that— but why?”

“so you don’t doubt yourself”

you’re taken aback

“there’s nothing that you need to change or do in front of me, or for me to make me love you more,” he starts off, and there goes his eyes again. staring, watching you. steady, serious but.. calming, in a sense

“because i already love you, so much. for everything that you do for me. all the little things.”

“i love you too,” you whisper, finding it hard to find words to describe how lucky you are to have him

again

but this time, you know he doesn’t mind

just having you right here by him is enough, having him recognize the small yet appreciated gestures that you do

and how he manages to check up on your own feelings so quick, and remedy the sadness just like that

there’s just something about being in love with younghyun

that words can’t express

but this moment with him right now can at least make you feel

that much loved by him too

#young k imagines #young k scenarios #day6 imagines #day6 scenarios #young k x reader #brian kang imagines #brian kang scenarios #day6 au #by:jiae #dot series

76 notes · View notes

bastillewolf · 4 years

Text

It’s More About Looks Than Skill (VII)

Pairing: Ryuk/Reader.

Summary: Ryuk finds himself gaining feelings for Light Yagami’s best friend, but she doesn’t know he exists. When he makes the grave mistake of touching her, he makes things a lot more complicated.

Warnings: mentions of violence and death.

Notes: Been gone for a while, my apologies. Haven’t really been as hyped about Death Note as I used to be. But I want to finish this story for you all. Thank you for your patience. Furthermore, I won’t be responding to ‘when will you update?’ asks. I understand the excitement, but it doesn’t really help. Hope you understand. Sorry!

Tag list: @sarai-ibn-la-ahad, @rustypotatospork @mantisandthemoondragon @baby-queen-girl @itscalledtrust @emilyshurley @killtherandomness @selmeuuh @felicity291

If I wasn’t able to tag you, please check your settings and send me another ask. Thank you! Let me know if you’d like to be added to the list!

Chapter VII

It wasn’t unusual for her to be early to appointments these days. Her anxiety never really allowed her to be late anymore. But, for what it was worth, L seemed rather happy with the fact. He told her it always gave them more time to go over important information and that it showed him she realized the importance of the case.

“However, it also makes you think I’m Kira, doesn’t it?” she wondered.

“Elaborate,” he simply replied.

“My eagerness to participate only gives you all the more reason to suspect me. But if I were to be late, you might think I’d do it on purpose to avoid any detection. If I’m always right on time, it’d be too obvious that I’ve thought about it before. All cases give you a 50-50 chance, really. So, I’d suggest you stop paying attention to the clock every time I walk in, because it doesn’t give you any hints whatsoever.”

He smiled as he opened another stick of sugar and threw it in his coffee. “You explaining yourself to me tells me you’ve thought more about it than you should have. Which could also mean that you’re Kira. However, elaborating on your ideas about me looking at the clock every time you show up also tells me you’re more something of an open book.”

“Which brings us right back to stage one. What percentage do you give me to be Kira now?”

“Hm, I’d say about 70.”

“Wow, I’m honoured, really. Dropped 5 percent since last time.”

“The fact that you remembered that has brought you back to 80.”

She smirked. It was the little banter between them that made her less nervous about the elephant in the room that only she knew about; she knew who Kira was, and she couldn’t tell a soul.

Though Light had been an utter ass to her since the summer had started, she’d known him since they were just kids. She knew he must have his reasons, however stupid they might be, and she wasn’t just going to give up that life-long friendship in a heartbeat just because he was being ridiculous.

She couldn’t support Light knowing she’d be a fellow convict of murder herself, but she couldn’t stand the thought of him possibly being sent to prison, not to mention the possibility of him receiving death penalty. And where would Ryuk go? He would go back to the Shinigami realm, bored out of his mind and she’d never see him again. It’s why she’d decided to let things play out naturally and perhaps make some adjustments here and there on her own, if deemed necessary.

“I’m meeting Light later this afternoon,” L told her, “I hope you still don’t mind working with him?”

She shifted in her seat a bit. “Why would I mind working with him?”

L blinked. He knew that she knew he wasn’t stupid and didn’t know why she even bothered to try to cover up the fact they weren’t really on speaking terms. She rolled her eyes at his comically silent response, telling him she’d be fine. “It’s a serious case. I can act like a professional if he can, too.”

“Alright. I was only asking because I can’t have you back out of this case. You’re too valuable.”

“Too valuable?” she winked.

His pale cheeks were dusted in a rosy pink as she slipped her jacket back on. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ryuuzaki. Have fun interrogating Light.”

“Thanks.”

Her walk home was enjoyed with a cool breeze breaking the sunlight on her skin. She felt a lot better now that she had something that could keep her busy. Though it did involve Light, she was glad she’d be out and about, making a difference instead of sulking in her room. Even if it was keeping the biggest secret anyone’s ever had to carry.

Even while considering the circumstances, she still remained more positive than during her former bleak vacation days.

Until she received a phone call.

“My dad’s in the hospital. He had a heart attack.”

One page taken from the Death Note, or even a fragment of the page, contains the full effects of the Note.

It appeared that Light’s father was doing a lot better since she’d picked up her phone and started her run to the hospital, because he was resting in bed and already talking business again with L and his son.

“So, Ryuuzaki, now that you’ve had the chance to talk to my son, is he cleared as a suspect?”

“When I say I suspect him, you should know it’s very minor,” L replied. She could tell he tried to communicate it in a more reassuring way, realistically because the man had just suffered from a heart attack. He wouldn’t be so gentle with him otherwise.

“And what about (Y/N)? You must know that she’s like a daughter to me. Her parents work a lot and she’s always been a trusted friend of my son’s.”

She met L’s dark eyes and shared a look with him. “80 percent,” she told Soichiro before the young man himself could answer.

“80 percent?! That’s outrageous!” the chief proclaimed.

“Don’t worry, mister Yagami. I don’t take it personally,” she insisted, “It makes more sense for me to be the bigger suspect. My parents, like you said, are often gone to work or business trips. I’ve been lucky that I’ve always had your family to support me, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have had the potential trauma of loneliness since birth. I’m smart and have the grades to prove it, I really have no other friends than your son and have always had a tendency to rally against authority. I could have sociopathic tendencies and you wouldn’t even know about it, because, like you said, I’m like a daughter to you. It makes all the more sense that I’m Kira.”

Soichiro seemed at a loss for words, not sure if he should either be concerned or amazed. Perhaps both, he decided.

“Which is why she’s a key member of this case. I need to keep a close eye on her,” L added.

It was only then she decided to finally meet the eyes that had been drilling her since the moment she’d stepped into the room. She saw what the stress was doing to him, something only a trained eye who’d known him for years would recognize. And she faced the subtle emotion hidden behind the whole façade; the appreciation of her subtle way to shift the villain role to herself.

He followed her out when she went to grab a cup of tea.

“Why are you doing this?” he demanded.

She seeped the bag in the paper cup a few times before she decided to speak to him directly. “Why am I doing what?” she decided to play.

“We haven’t been friends since before the summer started. Why are you suddenly being… supportive?” He wasn’t sure who was listening, so the best way for him to go at this is to involve their personal affairs to cover up the main issue. He knew she’d understand what he really meant, after all.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s something called ‘human decency’. I know you don’t have a concept of that, since I wasn’t the one who just cut off all forms of communication with my best friend, after all.

“I thought you’d understand,” he ground out.

“I do understand, Light. I understand that you’re an absolute idiot for thinking you could take on this ‘case’ without me. You’re never going to be able to handle this on your own. Even with your dad there, or someone like Ryuuzaki, no one knows what you’re really struggling with. What you’re really going through right now.”

He remained silent.

“I don’t forgive you for ignoring me all summer. I don’t forgive you for not being the friend I needed. But I won’t just stand by and watch you destroy yourself and the people you care about without a second thought. Because that’s what you’re doing now.”

She watched as his eyes fixated on the door of the room his father was staying in. It was an internal struggle, his mind telling him multiple things while his gut told him only one.

“Alright. I’m sorry,” he finally sighed, “I shouldn’t have done what I did, and I need my best friend back.”

“Wow, I didn’t think there was any room for sympathy left in that narcissistic brain of yours.”

“I will take that back if you continue to be arrogant, (Y/N),” he grumbled.

She snorted, “I’m always arrogant. It’s why you like me.”

“I suppose I can finally get Ryuk off my back now…”

#Death Note #Ryuk x reader #Light Yagami #Lawliet #Light yagami x reader #L #Fanfiction #Shinigami #Romance #Lawliet x reader #Anime #Manga

434 notes · View notes

brandyovereager · 4 years

Text

The Phoenix Effect - pt. 4

I had a lot of fun writing Rowan’s POV for this and I may have gotten a bit carried away...but I love Rowaelin! <3 :)

On ao3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22195906/chapters/58766644#workskin

Summary: Rowan is in Rifthold with Dorian when a strange phenomenon sweeps the land. Those once dead are popping up alive. Everyday, more and more are Reborn. One day Rowan encounters a Reborn young man who refuses to give his name, only asking to know the whereabouts of Celaena Sardothein.

As helpful as the Fae king had been so far, and as much as he could be trusted with his discretion, visiting the Keep was something Sam had to do alone. This was his revenge, and he needed to be the one to carry it out.

“I’ll do what I need to and meet you at the castle gates by dusk if I haven’t gotten the information I need.” Hopefully the scum left at the Keep could tell him the full story of Celaena’s fate, but if not he would still need the Rowan’s help.

“Absolutely not.” Sam was taken aback.

“Excuse me?” This was the first time the Fae had outright denied him the discretion he asked for.

“No way are you going to do whatever it is you think you need to do alone. I’m coming with you.” Sam hadn’t expected that.

“I can handle myself.” He’d spent years at the Keep, he knew the terrain and the people like second nature.

“I don’t know what sort of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into but I can tell it’s with some very bad people. You need to be smart about this. I might not be necessary, but I certainly wouldn’t be detrimental. You could use someone to watch your back, after all, I’m assuming these people are the reason you died in the first place.”

Sam had to admit he was right about that.

“You can come with me, but you stay outside. I will go in and take care of my business alone. You’ll stand guard and wait for my signal if something goes wrong.”

Rowan’s response was a simple nod. Good. The Fae would be nearby if things to a turn for the worst, but this was a conversation Rowan had no part of. As curious as the King of Terrasen’s past seemed, Sam didn’t want to bring him into this. A royal had no place in the murdering of three well-known assassins to avenge the death of another well-known assassin.

————

The further they walked, the more certain Rowan became that this kid was in some deep shit.

They were trekking through the city, side-by-side, and in silence. Rowan observed the young man carefully as they maneuvered through the crowds, in part to make sure they didn’t get separated, but also out of curiosity.

The young man was slender, but not in a way that put him at a disadvantage. On the contrary, he was lithe and nimble. He could slip easily through the crowd practically undetected, quite the opposite of Rowan’s method—simply be hulking and angry-looking and people move out of your way. The young man was not scrawny or weak. He was probably made of lean and compact muscle underneath his clothing.

He reminded Rowan of Aelin, and wasn’t that just a heart-wrenching thought—soon, they’d be back together soon. His delicate movements were similar to that of the former assassin’s—perhaps that was how this young man got himself mixed up in underhanded dealings. Rowan could easily picture the boy as a thief or an assassin, silent but dangerous.

“So Aelin Galathynius is alive?” The young man’s question made Rowan crook the edge of his mouth up in a secret smile.

“Yes, Terrasen’s true queen is alive and well, just as she will be for many years to come.” Rowan was sure of that. If her sheer power and immortal grace alone wasn’t enough, Rowan would lay down his own life to keep her breathing.

“What’s she like?” Whether these questions were simply small talk or the young man was trying to figure Rowan out, the Fae did not care. He would gladly praise his love to anyone who would listen.

“Fierce, determined, relentless,” Rowan smirked slightly as he continued, “stubborn, arrogant, hotheaded,” his face softened, “immensely beautiful, loyal to kingdom and kin, passionate as her fire,” he would forever be in awe of her, “and powerful beyond legend.” The young man was now analyzing his face closely.

“You two married for love, yes? It was not arranged?” Rowan couldn’t help but chuckle at the question.

“I bring her absolutely no political advantage as a husband. My status as a Prince was nothing but an empty title. I had no money or land, and she had far better options in that aspect, but that didn’t matter to Aelin. We are mates, simple as that.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about Fae, but your kind mate for life, yes?”

“In a sense, yes. When a Fae meets their true mate, there is an undeniable connection. Mates are tied to one another in a bond far greater than the mortal concept of marriage. The mortal world would see our marriage as a poor move for Terrasen, but such things are insignificant in the face of a mating bond.”

“I thought you were kind of odd for a king.” Rowan laughed at the kid’s observation.

He was more husband than king. Aelin was a wonderful queen, and did not need a consort to make decisions for her. What she needed was his love and fealty. He supported his mate emotionally as she bore the mantle of queen. He was blood-sworn to her, and he would do whatever she asked of him—hence his presence in Rifthold.

The two walked on, further and further, and with every turn Rowan felt the pit of his stomach sink deeper. He didn’t know how close they were to their destination, but the area was sickeningly familiar. Rowan hadn’t spent too much time in Rifthold before, especially not in any one area, but he knew this place. They were near the Assassin’s Keep.

His observation was proven true as the young man turned down a street and then stopped in front of a familiar building.

It might just be that his earlier deduction was correct. However, this young man and Aelin moved so similarly not just because they were both trained assassins, but because they were trained by the same man.

Rowan had a horrible feeling about this.

————

Sam hadn’t seen the doors to the Keep since he left with Celaena. Arobynn and his lackeys had likely taken him here to be tortured and killed, but he’d had a blindfold on the whole time.

The place was just as dark and terrible as always. Why make a building full of professional murderers look inviting? From the information Sam had found in the Hall of Records, Arobynn was no longer there, but he still felt no great desire to enter.

He glanced over to his Fae companion, who was staring at the building with an odd look on his face.

“Stay out here. I could be a while, but don’t come in unless I call for you.” For a monarch, Rowan accepted the outright order quite well, and Sam once again wondered about the story behind the King of Terrasen.

The Keep was cold inside, just as it had always been. Celaena had always used it as an excuse to buy the most expensive blankets and other finery to keep warm, but Sam had always had a deep chill through him whenever he was here.

He found Tern first. The man was sloppy, always had been, and it was easy to catch him off guard. With hardly any effort he had the other assassin subdued and tied to his own chair, Sam moved to stand in front of him. The moment Tern finally saw his face a look of shock appeared before quickly being replaced with anger.

“I heard a bunch of dead ones were popping up, some god’s gotta be off it if they picked you.”

“I’m aware you prefer me dead, you did help kill me after all.” Sam was, in fact, still a little bitter about that.

“Is that what you’re here for, revenge? You’ve come to kill me for killing you?” Tern’s teeth were bared in a sneer.

“I am enjoying the feeling of you tied up and at my mercy—and it may come to that later—but no, I’m here for information.”

“You want to know who ordered the hit on you? I thought it was pretty obvious it was Arobynn, but maybe you’d like my confirmation?” This buffoon was quickly exhausting his patience.

“No, that was obvious. I knew even then that it was him. I need you to tell me what happened to Celaena. Why was she sent to Endovier, and where is Arobynn?” Tern’s mouth curled into a sinister smile.

“You do not know?” Sam was growing tired of tedious conversation. Tern was acting quite proud for knowing something Sam did not.

“Obviously not, so tell me. What happened between the both of them after I was killed?” What did he do to Celaena?

“I take it these questions mean you have not heard whispers around Rifthold about the assassin or her master? I’m sure you have deduced what that means.” Sam briefly sacrificed his sharp focus to roll his eyes in annoyance.

“Neither is in the city, yes, but why?” Tern’s answers were sounding a lot more like questions.

“Arobynn Hammel is dead. He was murdered in his sleep two years ago, most likely by that brunette whore he kept company with.” So Arobynn was dead, but Celaena had not killed him. Celaena had never gotten to enact her vengeance on the cruel man.

“If he only died two years ago, then he would have been alive to see Celaena’s capture. Why didn’t he save her? Was it his fault?” Why would Arobynn give up his star assassin to the King?

“Yes, he set her up to be arrested. He baited her with your murder, knew she would come for revenge, and arranged for Adarlan’s Guard to be waiting for her. He was angry about her trying to run off with you, thought he’d teach her a lesson, starting with your death.” Sam’s blood was boiling with his strong emotions, one of which being immense rage.

“So I was a pawn, killed so Arobynn could reprimand his precious protege? It was better for her to meet a slow, torturous death than for the two of us to leave the Guild?” It was horrible, pure hatred and cruelty. Why could they not be happy?

“It’s your own fault for thinking you could. Nobody gets out of here. The life of an assassin follows you wherever you go, and you two had to learn that the hard way.” Not for the first time, Sam imagined how their story could have ended had they not both belonged Arobynn Hammel. If they had been born average children in Rifthold, would anyone have gone to such lengths to prevent their happiness?

“Arobynn is lucky he’s already dead, the bastard deserved far worse than a slit throat for his sins, but perhaps I can make do with you and your cronies.” Sam felt a sadistic smirk appear on his lips and slowly stalked closer to his prey. “How much did you know beforehand of his plan for her? Did you help him set the trap?” Tern began to shake slightly and struggle harder against his restraints.

“Hey now, I was just a henchman—an ignorant henchman at that. Arobynn didn’t tell us anything but what we specifically needed to do, and only right before we needed to do it. He didn’t trust us with anything that sensitive.” It was an empty excuse, really, not enough for Sam to spare him.

“You still did it, though, and I bet you were happy to. The three of you held no great love for Celaena Sardothein. I’m sure business only got better.”

“That may be true, but you still don’t want to kill me.” It was laughable, and Sam let out a short guffaw at Tern’s statement.

“Why not? What more could I need from you? You’ve answered my questions, and given me greatly displeasing answers. I should take your life as vengeance for Celaena’s.” It’s what he’d come here intending to do, anyway.

“What if I told you that Celaena didn’t die in Endovier?” Sam froze. “I can tell you how she got out and where she went, just leave me here alive.” Tern knew he had him with that, and began to look smug again. Ordinarily, Sam would have swiftly wiped the look from Tern’s face, but he was entirely fixated on what the assassin just revealed.

“You have my attention.”

@rowaelinforeverworld @flowersinvegas @aelin-queen-of-terrasen @camixd93

Message me or reply to be tagged (or just to let me know what you think)!

45 notes · View notes

freethemages · 4 years

Text

I am more than happy to answer questions from the perspective of my OC Tristan Trevelyan!

Here are a collection of questions he has been asked in a wonderful server that I am a part of. It is extensive, so I am placing it under the cut.

Is there anything you’d like to know from his point of view? Get to know him a little better!

Here is a link to an introduction post, and you can find more info, and asks pertaining to him under #tristan trevelyan on my blog.

Okay here goes! I hope you enjoy!

Q: How did you and Cullen fall in love?

It was very slow. [chuckles] Cullen wasn’t exactly aware of his... taste for men, at the time. I think the first time either of us realised there might be something, however begrudging, between us, was Satinalia of 9:41 Dragon.

Q: How did you celebrate your first Satinalia together?

Well, we weren’t ‘together’ really, but I think the Satinalia of 9:41 Dragon counts as the first time we celebrated it ‘with’ each other and everyone else in the Inquisition. We got each other gifts, as is customary. He got me some Crystal Grace bulbs. They are my favourite flower, though I don’t think he knew it at the time! I nearly kissed him that night. I was but a terrified baby nug, and so I lost my nerve.

Q: What is your favourite thing about Cullen?

That’s a tough question. I love every part of him. Even the bits others find tough.

Most of all though, it’s the devotion I see in his eyes, and the passion that burns behind them in everything he does. Especially when his smile reaches his eyes. That didn’t happen a lot when we first met. It took him time to learn how to be a person and not just the Commander of the Inquisition. When he looks at me with those honey eyes... I swear in those moments I would do, and be anything for him. Anything.

Q: Have you been with any other members of the Inquisition, in a romantic or sexual way?

I... rode the bull, so to speak. Strictly physical, you understand.

There was also a dalliance with Dorian. We decided we worked best as friends, which was ideal as it was around that time that Cullen and I began to be a little more aware of our feelings for each other.

Q: How would you feel if a secret admirer often left gifts for you?

Truth be told, I have absolutely no idea. It’s a rather strange concept for me to have a secret admirer.

Though Cullen does leave me little gifts on occasion, and I find that very sweet.

I’ve had myriad proposals of sex, courtship, and even marriage since taking up the position of Inquisitor. One lady, who I am sure is totally sane, expressed her desire, nay, her need, to bear the child of the Herald of Andraste. I believe the precise words in her letter were “you simply must allow me the greatest honour of accepting your holy seed into my ready loins, the Maker himself wishes it!” It was... flattering, I suppose? Orlesians, right? [nervous chuckle] ahem. Anyway, that’s my experience with admirers, though none were secret so much as just complete strangers. Thankfully these things have become less common now that people know I am not ‘on the market’, and that people have had time to get over the spectacle of Corypheus’ defeat.

Q: Had you ever been in love before you joined the Inquisition, or at least what you perceived as love?

No, I had not. As much as a hopeless romantic as I am, I never had the pleasure of a romantic partner before Cullen. That’s not to say I didn’t dally. I dallied a lot, in fact.

The closest I got to romance was my crush on a templar in the Ostwick Circle, I suppose. You can imagine how well that would have gone, indeed!

Q: How do you feel about paperwork and things relating to it? There's obviously a lot you have to do as the Inquisitor.

Oh, I absolutely loathe paperwork! Indeed there is much of it to be done. I try to get out of it as much as I can, though as I am sure you suspect, I cannot get out of much at all. Luckily I only have to deal with reports of my own activities and correspondence made directly to me. The bulk is handled by my advisers.

You wouldn’t believe the sheer size of the piles of papers scattered about my quarters since Cullen moved in. He doesn’t seem to mind too much though, he’s rather swift and organised, though it may look like a mess to me. He assures me there is method in the madness, and he’s given me no reason to disbelieve thus far. [chuckles] I will say though that no work is allowed during our down time (my rule), so it is not so overabundant.

Q: Do you have a secret talent or passion?

It’s not really a secret, though I don’t advertise it all that much either. I am rather skilled at knife throwing. The dummy in Cullen’s office has seen an uptake in attacks since we started having competitions. The winner gets to decide what happens that night, of course. Now I like to think I’m rather skilled in that department too, but you would have to ask the dear Commander. [chuckles] no, I’m joking, please don’t ask him that, maker’s breath!

Q: Are you religious? Do you have any superstitions or rituals that you practice?

I am not religious per se, though I’m rather agnostic on the whole Maker’s existence thing. I certainly don’t subscribe to the beliefs of the Andrastian Chantry. [he scoffs] Mother would have my head for saying that...They twist faith and use it to control the masses.

What I do believe, is that Andraste was an Avvar mage, and that she was possessed by a spirit -perhaps of faith- and that it was this which led her to begin her crusade.

Make no mistake, the chant of light was written by mere men, and that we treat such words as irreproachable is the true hubris of man.

I think what lies beyond the fade is a great deal more complicated than any absent father figure. I do not pretend to know what it is, or if anything is there at all, but I do not believe it is the Maker as we have come to revere him.

I have found peace in relying upon my own intellectual study of magic and the fade. Spirits are real, and must be respected and acknowledged, for they can inflict a great deal of harm, or happiness. I cannot say the same for the Maker, so I feel no loss in the potential of his non-existence.

I admit, I really must study Elven and Avvar beliefs in much greater depth before making comment on them.

Q: Do you have any disputes with Cullen? And if yes, how do you two handle the situation?

Oh yes, we definitely have disputes! [chuckles] my darling is a... straight forward man when it comes to addressing situations. I prefer a more nuanced method. And being a mage, that usually involves magic. Cullen has come a long way but he is still... a little wary of such casual use of magic. We argue far less about that than we used to, though.

Truly, if he always had his way, I would be out of the fray and safe in Skyhold at all times. He knows I’m capable and trusts me of course, but I cannot blame him for his protectiveness. Truth be told I feel the same on the occasions he heads out, though I know he is perfectly capable of handling things.

We are both grown men, and are able to move past things rather quickly. I don’t think either of us could tolerate going any period of time staying angry at each other, or maker forbid, not talking. We trust each other implicitly, and so this works for us. Sometimes the more emotionally charged arguments are settled because passion overtakes us. I have to say, Cullen is always a very skilled lover, but those times... are something else entirely.

Q: What is your biggest weakness?

It’s hard to say. Like most people, I am full of flaws. It’s a part of being I suppose.

I strive to see the good in all people, which has led me to trust the wrong ones. That’s probably a contender.

Some have said I am too soft, that the complete absence of executions rent from my judgement displays a lack of strength and will to lead. I disagree. Perhaps that is a weakness, but it is not one I will apologise for.

They may call me the Herald of Andraste, but I am just a man. Anybody could have been in my place. I do not intend to lose myself under such a hefty title, so full of expectations. I can’t.

Oh, and I’m dreadful with a longsword. Cullen has tried many times to help me improve. [chuckles] I am just not a close combat warrior, like my dear Lion.

Q: Have you ever thought about having kids with Cullen?

I’d love to raise a child with my love one day. Though sadly we do not have the correct equipment to create a life ourselves.

I intend to do some research on the uses of magic and conception. Perhaps we will yet have children that possess Cullen’s beautiful blond curls. That is the sweetest sight I could ever dream of.

Q: What did the nightmare demon say to you in the fade?

He told me that the weight of Thedas would crush me. That I, an insignificant human, could never hope to carry the anchor and live.

He also told me that the Commander would always see my magic and sneer. That he could never really love me while I was the very thing he spent most of his life fighting. But our love is strong. Ex-Templar he may be, but he is also a smart, loving, and honest man. I trust him to the black city and beyond.

The nightmare could have wielded nothing that would have made me falter, for these are all things I have told myself and yet carried on.

Q: How was your first kiss with Cullen?

Our first kiss? It was... interesting. We were having an argument, actually. He is very obstinate. He was having a particularly bad time with his lyrium withdrawals and was on the verge of giving in. I argued that he was strong enough to keep going, he argued that he was not, the silly man.

Anyway, it got very heated. I was yelling about how much I looked up to him and how much he meant to me and... bam. His face was on my face. Passion unrivalled. He was scarlet in the face afterwards and apologised profusely. I simply pulled him back to me and kissed him again.

Later on he confided that he had never kissed a man before. He had no idea he even liked men that way. I was only happy to show him just how much one man can love another. That’s also the same day I learned just how soft those blond curls are, when I stroked them as he fell asleep with his head in my lap.

Q: Describe a childhood memory?

Childhood memory? Hmm, let’s see...

ooh okay, I have one. So I was about thirteen, and my friend Artemis and I were playing dares, because what else are you going to do in a cushy prison? Knowing I had recently been making good progress on my fire spells, he dared me to... ensure that the skirts of a certain prickly templar ‘caught alight’.

Well I did it. Only the guy’s beard also caught fire. He’d been growing this beard for longer than I had been there, and boy was he furious.

Artemis was a good friend and took the rap. He had not been there as long as I and they were more likely to believe he did it by mistake. That templar never stood guard on the apprentice dorms while we were still in them, though! That got a cheer.

Q: Who teases the two of you (with love of course) about your relationship?

Oh maker, absolutely everybody. Even the recruits! They always find it amusing that the Commander has a soft side. Of course, it doesn’t bother me a jot. Cullen has less tolerance for it but he’s usually alright.

Dorian, Sera, and Bull are some of the main culprits, which I’m sure surprises nobody. Leliana and Josephine are formidable teases in the war room, too. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. Watching him blush and stammer is always a joy. And I always make sure to... soothe his blood flow when needed, of course.

I’m certain Varric has written a romantic tale that is only half true, but I would also be willing to bet the Skyhold vault that whatever he writes, the truth is infinitely more fantastic.

Q: What is the best/most ideal way to spend time with Cullen?

I get on at him a lot to get his bloody roof fixed [chuckles] but actually some of my favourite little moments with him are lying in his chamber, looking up at the stars over the Frostbacks, in each other’s arms, with nothing between our souls but our skin. We can just be together, two men deeply in love. Not the Inquisitor and the Commander.

We spend most nights in my chambers now, but sometimes we still like to ascend those ladders, when the weather is not too cold. I used to miss home terribly, even the damned Ostwick Circle. But now, home is wherever he is.

Q: The anchor threatening your own existence... How does it affect your relationship with Cullen? Do you believe it to be a long lasting one?

Maker, it doesn’t bear thinking about. I... admit I’m guilty of hiding the true extent of my pain from him. He has enough of his own worries and I know this would take a huge toll on him. The anchor grows more painful every day. It’s like an acid coming from my own veins. The pain has thus far reached my shoulders. I fear that I won’t be around for very much longer, and the idea of leaving him is too much to think about; it is not an option. I simply must fight it with all I have. I will not let my own fucking arm take him away from me. Wherever Solas is, I hope he returns with some answers. He... seems to know more about this magic than he let on.

Q: If you would wear a flower crown, which flowers would it be and why?

Crystal grace. Without a doubt. Perhaps with royal elfroot wrapped around the stem parts.

It’s my favourite flower. I know someone who would also appreciate it... I wonder if I could get him to wear a matching one... hmm. We could even have them made here at Skyhold. An excellent wedding headpiece idea, actually…

[Cullen in the background: Absolutely not.]

... Spoil sport.

Q: How do you feel about blood magic?

I suppose the official answer my advisers would want me to give is that I condemn, abhor, and despise blood magic, blah blah blah. But that is not the case. Blood magic is just magic. Can it be used for ill? Of course! So can any other magic, and any other weapon for that matter.

Like a great many things in life, within blood magic, consent matters. I am not so quick to condemn an entire school of magic based upon the actions of a terrible few.

Honestly, the excuses for the prohibition of blood magic are just another case of stuff and nonsense fed to us by the Chantry to keep us under their thumb.

I do not personally use it, but I have no qualms about it beyond the fact that I developed my fighting style to conserve my health.

Oh Maker, here comes Mother Giselle... I wasn’t here! [He hides behind the tall backed chair he was sitting on]

Q: How do you feel about being at sea?

I am.... less than enthused by the idea of being at sea. The journey over the Waking Sea was not a pleasant one. It was my first time, since I had spent most of my life in the Circle, and my family trips before my magic manifested were mostly in the Marches, and twice, Orlais, which was reachable by land.

There is always the looming threat of being consumed by the untameable ocean, but mostly I just got really, really sea sick.

Q: Describe yourself in three words?

Hmm... magic, romantic, idealistic.

What do you think, love?

[Cullen: chuckles I was going to suggest smart, strong, and very sexy... though that is four words. Hmm.]

[Tristan shakes his head with a fond smile, and a gentle laugh]

Q: What was your first impression of Cullen?

Well, I must admit, when he approached us after I had closed the first breach, I was a little dazed. I couldn’t tell you whether it was from exhaustion or his visage. I did notice he was handsome. And briefly wondered where he got his lip scar. There wasn’t much time to dwell, however.

When I spoke to him later after settling into Haven, that was when I was able to drink him in as it were. Much like myself, he gets flustered quite easily depending on certain subjects, which I found endearing. I tried very hard to not fall down that hole but... well, you can see I failed. And glad I am of it.

Q: What nickname did Varric give you?

He calls me Twirly. Apparently I tend to add ‘unnecessary flourishes’ when casting with my staff. I do not know what he means, however. The flourishes are essential to looking good when casting, you see.

Q: how would you react to fanfiction or fan art of yourself? What about smutty fanfics/art?

Oh, there have been such things, believe me. [laughs] I find it entertaining, personally. Bonus points if it makes me blush.

The Commander, on the other hand, gets very embarrassed about it, even when he is not involved.

I suppose it comes with being painted as a ‘hero’. It’s interesting to see how far people’s imaginations can go.

If I come across it, I will read it, be warned, prospective fanfic writers and artists! [he winks]

Q: If you and your LI could spend two weeks anywhere in Thedas on vacation, where would you go?

Hmm. There are a few possibilities. A break in Southreach might be nice, to visit Cullen’s family. Though two weeks with Branson’s child may be less than relaxing, I grant you! [chuckles] There is also Antiva City. I should love to go during the Satinalia season, but again, I doubt there would be much quiet relaxation going on, and my Lion does prefer places with a tad more… serenity. And privacy. I can get behind that, of course. So my final answer would probably be a nice secluded log cabin in the Frostbacks. Granted it is not far from where we are now, but for a lovely break all I would need is my love, a roaring fire, a nice book, and plenty of cozy blankets. Sighs It would be wonderful to just be Tristan again, and not Inquisitor Trevelyan, just for a while.

Q: Do you and Cullen have any pets?

We don’t as of yet, but I hope we do have some in the near future. The cats that roam Skyhold are lovely, but I would love to have an animal that was just ours. Preferably a Mabari. I may not hail from Ferelden, but I consider it my home now. I like Fereldan culture.

Q: Did you dance with Cullen at the Winter Palace? If so, how was it?

I did! Maker, the glares we got from all of his admirers. If we had danced in the main hall I dare say there would have been a riot! They all seemed to want my handsome man, and I cannot say I blame them.

I loved dancing with him. It was such a peaceful and happy moment after a long and tedious day. He is better at it that he gives himself credit for, too! I am barely any better than him, and I was raised attending balls and other such nonsense until the age of 11.

Q: What are your favourite foods? Least favourite foods?

Three words: Frilly. Little. Cakes.

I love them. I also love a good traditional Fereldan stew. Many Marchers will claim that their food is superior, but don’t listen. Nothing is heartier than what I’ve had since being here. I think I might have been adopted over from Ferelden as a boy, haha!

Least favourite foods… hmm… I was once cajoled into tasting Anders ham as a boy, and believe me, they are not exaggerating when they say it tastes of despair.

Q: How did you feel when you learned how the anchor worked?

When Solas held my hand up to that first rift, I was more than a little bit disturbed. It felt odd. As if the rift was pulling from my hand and feeding from my own mana. And just like that, I could bend it to my will. It was… strange. I am used to it now, but I definitely had nightmares in the beginning. I’ve never felt so intrinsically linked to something so dangerous. Learning to wield the anchor was no small task, either, believe me.

Q:Who are you closest to, other than Cullen?

I would say I am closest to Dorian and Josephine.

Dorian and I had a bit of a fling, but we found we worked best as friends, if flirtatious ones. I trust him with my life and I hope he can say the same of me. He’s a good man. I admire him.

Josephine is just a very lovely lady, and surprisingly fun when she lets her hair down. I also trust her with my life. She is an excellent source of gossip as well, so it is nice to sit down with a cup of tea in her office for a couple of hours and just chat. In the war room, she joins me in teasing Cullen too, which is always fun; especially when I get to make it up to him later.

#tristan trevelyan #oc #dragon age #inquisitor trevelyan #dragon age inquisition #dai #ask my oc #ask the inquisitor #ama #ask me anything #cullen rutherford #I love doing this sort of thing #about #my oc #original character #tristan henry trevelyan #herald of andraste #thedas

9 notes · View notes

karazor--el · 4 years

Text

Nicole Maines once offered lessons in becoming herself. Now, she becomes someone else for a living.

The Maine native first made headlines as an anonymous student who sued her school district in 2013 over bathroom discrimination. School officials had barred Maines, who is transgender, from using the women’s bathrooms. She won her case, and eventually went public to describe the experience in the family memoir Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family.

Maines’ activism also led to on-camera appearances in television and film discussing her experience as a transgender American. Her natural charisma also led to acting opportunities, including appearing as the first transgender superhero on American television with her role as Dreamer/Nia Nal on The CW series Supergirl, produced by Greg Berlanti. Last year, she also earned acclaim (and a Queerty Nomination) for her work as a vampire in the indie horror film Bit.

With her star on the rise, Queerty snagged some time to chat with Maines about the unusual trajectory of her life, her newfound acting career, and her survival lessons for the COVID-19 lockdown. Supergirl airs Sundays on The CW.

So, I must say, with everything going on I feel obligated to ask: how are you right now? Are you ok?

Thanks for asking. I’m really good. I came down to Austin; I’m staying with my parents. I try to keep myself busy any way I can. I’m playing lots of video games. I just re-downloaded Skyrim.

Oh yes.

I’m doing a playthrough. Always fun. I got Disney+, and they released the final season of Star Wars: Clone Wars, which was a big show when I was a kid. I love it, so I’m rewatching. It still holds up. It’s amazing. And I’m doing art with my tablet. I sit in bed and doodle away.

Maines as Dreamer in ‘Supergirl’

Sweet. So you’re one of the most prominent trans actors on television. I don’t want to call you a trans action hero; that makes you sound like an ATM.

[Laughter]

Trans superhero, yes.

What kind of responsibility is it to play a character like Dreamer, the first transgender superhero on TV?

I feel like being the first for anything has a certain amount of pressure. You’re setting where the bar is going to be. You want to set it as high as possible because you don’t want to be the one that messed up. It’s like oh, she messed up. No more trans superheroes!

[Laughter]

Right.

So I want to do so well so we can continue to have trans superheroes. Fortunately, the response has been responsible. People love Nia, the character. People who aren’t trans love the character, which is almost cooler than hearing that trans people love Dreamer. I was pretty sure that the response from the trans community would be very positive. My own reaction was so excited, so I knew the community would love it. But the number of cisgender people that come to me and say “Dreamer is my favorite character. She’s my favorite superhero.” Aside from her transness, she’s a really special character. She’s just awesome, and its been amazing to see people love her as much as they do.

It’s true. In looking at the show, what strikes me—you’re right—is that it’s not about her being trans. It’s about a woman in an extraordinary situation, who happens to be trans. It’s her relationships with characters like Kara and Brainy that are so relatable. She’s a woman finding her purpose.

Absolutely. It’s a true coming of age story. Her transness isn’t the biggest part of her story. Coming into Season 4, the biggest problem on her mind wasn’t her transness. It was seeing the future in her dreams and not knowing how to handle it.

She’s just trying to get through the day, yeah. It’s so simple that way. Nia has obviously been a huge part of defining your career. And you’re not even old.

Can that please be the headline?

[Laughter]

I’ll keep it in for sure. But this role, by the way, will follow you for the rest of your life. You will be forever associated with her. Is that daunting?

I mean, I think it’s exciting. It’s very exciting to craft this original character and see her thriving among all the major DC players. Crisis [a storyline that crossed over on The CW superhero shows] was so crazy for me. To watch it and see Dreamer, the first trans superhero, up there with Batwoman and Supergirl and The Flash. That was so cool. So I’m excited to have this character follow me. I’ve had so much fun. And I’m so attached to the character personally. I’m protective of her. She’s my baby.

That’s wonderful. You’re an actress who specializes in playing characters with extraordinary gifts. I want to ask about another character you played in a film called Bit.

Yes! Let’s talk about Bit.

It’s a cheeky, fun comic book horror film that you carry as the lead. You were nominated for Best Performance at the Queerties. I hope you are aware…

Yes, and I was so shocked, first of all, because it’s a genre film. So often, genre films don’t thrive in that kind of environment.

It took me by surprise at Outfest last year. I talked to Brad Michael Elmore, the director.

He’s one of my favorite people ever. He’s so smart and talented. He did such an amazing job writing this script. It’s so special. He’s very aware—and will be the first person to say–”I’m not the person who should be telling this story. I’m the straightest, cis guy out there. But I don’t see anyone else telling this story, so I’m going to.” And he did. He’s using his platform and privilege to lift people up. And he did a f*cking cool movie starring queer women.

Totally.

We had a female DP, which is huge. The whole movie was so amazing. The script was brilliant. Instantly, reading it, I fell in love. I hope people get to watch it soon. It’s just cool.

It’s cheeky fun. It’s kind of a female version of The Lost Boys, and I really related to the characters.

Yeah.

So it’s your first movie.

My first and only movie. I’m always on the phone with Brad. “Bradley, when are we making another movie? I’m getting bored.”

[Laughter]

So was it intimidating carrying the whole movie your first time out?

Terrifying. Dreadfully terrifying. I don’t know if anyone knew this, but I have no idea what I’m doing up here. I don’t have formal acting training. I’m not a Julliard actor. I haven’t been doing this for years. I show up and it’s like playing dress-up, you know? And on Supergirl too, I’m acting with juggernauts. It’s my first major [job] and I’m doing scenes with David Harewood. Cool, no pressure.

[Laughter]

I have to live up to something. I have to keep up with that. All of it is very scary. With Bit, trying to keep up with Diana Hopper and James Paxton. Most of my scenes are with them, and they are both so phenomenal. Acting is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever had to do. I have virtually no control over anything. I just try my best. And I’m really happy with Bit, and the response has been better than any of us could have asked for.

That’s marvelous.

It was supposed to be coming out soon, but the virus sort of threw that. I hope people get to see it soon, and I hope they get to see it in theatres.

It’s a film that I think will have a following. When I talked to Brad, he mentioned that he had read your book and consulted you doing research for the part. Then he decided he should cast you in the lead.

Yeah.

Were you at all reluctant to appear in a very queer film written by a cis straight man?

I didn’t really think much of it. The writing spoke for itself. It was phenomenal, well written, well researched. He’d talked to trans folks and read books. He knew what he was writing; he’d done his research to make sure it’s done well. And he made a movie where the trans character, like Nia, where her transness is not the only interesting thing about her. Brad knew: queer people are more than who we sleep with or where we use the bathroom.

Yes.

I found that very refreshing.

Well, and I’m not sure I should say this, but I did tell Brad: the first time I saw the movie I didn’t even catch that she was a trans character. I just thought Laurel was a woman played by an actress who happens to be trans, and that was it.

And that’s the beauty of it. It’s not something a lot of people are going to catch unless they’re looking for it. You catch it in certain places. It is there, and if you know to look for it, you understand. But otherwise, it’s not really pertinent to the situation. When we first meet her, with Laurel driving to Los Angeles, she’s passed a point in her life where her transness is her biggest issue.

Exactly.

Her biggest issue is her selfishness, and that now she has to kill people. She doesn’t want to kill people. It’s a story of a sort of amoral teen trans lesbian vampire.

I love it. When I talked to Brad, it was obvious he had this world very defined in his mind. Have you talked about doing another one? He hinted…

Yeah. It’s a possibility. Of course, I’m like yes, let’s do a trilogy. I want Bit Part II. I want to do all the movies. I have a running joke with him and James that Brad will be like 80 in a wheelchair, and James and I will be in Bit 16. We’ll never stop.

It worked for Star Wars.

I think it has the makings for a sequel, but first we need it frigging released.

So what else do you have coming up? I know Supergirl is coming back for Season 6. Are you part of it?

I believe that I can say I am, yes. I’m not going anywhere.

Beyond that? Other movies?

My life has just been Supergirl and Bit the past couple years. It’s funny: I see other folks doing other projects while they’re a regular on a series. And I’m like how do you have the time? It’s all I can do to get a night’s sleep. So right now it’s Bit coming out and Supergirl Season 6. I talked to the showrunner, and he told me what the plan is. I’m really excited. It’s a cool concept.

And I’m sure you can’t tell us what that is.

I can’t say anything.

It figures. Anything else you’d like to add?

Stay indoors. I feel like this could all be over sooner if people would just. Stop. Going. Outside. For stupid reasons.

Right?

Supergirl airs Sundays on The CW.

Queerty.

2 notes · View notes

skyahq · 6 years

Text

WELL. it’s me again. i’m sam ( she / her, 21, est timezone ) and i also play parker! this is sky who i’ve had for a while but haven’t really done much with bc my muse for him hasn’t been the best, however i think i’m all sorted with him now so, character info under the cut! tbh it’s literally the exact same intro as before with just a few slight changes but feel free to still give it a read and please message me if you’d like to plot because i would absolutely love that!

FIRST. let’s just. let’s get it out of the way right here and now that this is a sideblog so i will be messing up and posting shit to the wrong accounts sometimes bc i’m dumb. let’s laugh abt it now so we don’t have to do it later. k cool we can carry on now

「 CODY CHRISTIAN, CISMALE, 25, PARAMORE. 」┈ did you read that latest viral gossip issue on SKY ARLO? he is the DRUMMER in BETTER NOW, one of my favorite ALT ROCK groups. they’ve been releasing music for FOUR YEARS now, but viral gossip has only been talking about them for the last TWO YEARS. get this, i think i heard HE’S THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD OF A WEALTHY PUBLIC FIGURE. they’re known as the CALIGINOUS of the music industry, since they have a rep for being TRENCHANT but SELF - SERVING, but who knows. maybe that will change once they become #1.

born and raised deep in the swamplands of louisiana, sky’s only parent was a single mom who was nowhere near old enough or prepared enough to have a kid, tbh. she did sincerely try to take care of him at first but she had a drug problem that got very out of hand very quickly. sky was barely even five years old when the state stepped in and had him placed into the foster system.

has the slightest of southern accents but if you point it out he will deny it

will occasionally speak a little cajun french though bc we stan a multilingual grump

spent the rest of his childhood without a family or stable home. he was shuffled all over the state — placed in group homes, orphanages, and many different foster homes which were unfortunately very neglectful and unsafe sometimes. by his preteen years he was practically living on the streets of new orleans, survival instincts sharply honed.

he learns fast and had very quickly become an expert thief, pickpocket, and con artist, but that doesn’t mean he never got caught. he did. a lot. like his juvie record is longer than your arm

somehow still found time to experience your typical teenage first love resulting in unbearable heartbreak with a girl who lived on the streets and ran scams just like him. it was a bonnie & clyde together forever type of romance until it wasn’t cause the girl shockingly ditched him while he was in serious trouble in order to save her own skin and he never saw her again

not long after that he turned seventeen AND THEN SOMETHING SUPER IMPORTANT HAPPENED. by that i mean he was sought out by his social worker who then proceeded to 1) tell him his mother had died and 2) take him away to california because apparently there was a family out there who wanted to adopt him! and they did!

his new family wasn’t actually new though because the man who adopted him was his biological father. he and sky’s mother were lovers for the brief time wherein sky’s father was visiting louisiana in his late teen years but he left before ever finding out that he was going to have a child. he’d never stopped thinking about sky’s mom, however, so he’d do some digging every few years. of course by the time he finally did find her it was because of an obituary and then he’d heard about sky and just knew that this was his kid.

sky learned about all of this right away upon meeting his father and to say he didn’t take it very well is a MASSIVE UNDERSTATEMENT. he was furious. after all, his father had a whole new family! a wife and kids and a very prestigious job AND OH YEAH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO HIS NAME BUT HE’D NEVER HELPED SKY EVEN ONCE. it didn’t really help that he was clearly trying to make up for his absence in sky’s life by being present now that he had the opportunity and anyway, it turned out he had ulterior motives for that.

basically, a large part of his dad’s wealth was in fact inherited through the family. they’re all old money posh so finding out that the next family patriarch had an unknown son who was technically his firstborn was terrifying. blood or not, they couldn’t just hand centuries of traditions and carefully cultivated wealth over to a high school dropout living on the streets. so, sky’s dad was just keeping him close while he talked to lawyers about whether or not sky had any legitimate claim to anything owned by his family and of course, the sneaky street smart kid he is, sky figured out what was going on pretty quickly and bolted back to the streets.

he was still seventeen at the time and he’s lived in los angeles ever since but hasn’t had any contact with his father or seen a single penny of that family money

so yeah he’s illegitimate, no actual rights to their fortune

lived on the streets in los angeles for a while, but with a little hard work ( and a lot of thievery and conning ) he was eventually able to get himself a little apartment while working various jobs

nothing really stuck until better now, but when he first joined the band he’d literally never played the drums before. ever. not once before in his entire life. did he lie anyway and say that he was a Drumming Expert™ because he’d get paid to play gigs with them and happened to be broke af at the time? why yes he absolutely did

since then they switched lead singers with sweets having joined the band four years ago and they’ve released one album that was lit af! they’re currently in the middle of putting together their second album and since sky’s found out that he actually really loves drumming things have been pretty good for him. he lives in a nice apartment and finally has enough money to get by without conning or stealing. he still doesn’t really know how to deal with being a celebrity but tbh he actually adores the attention? he loves having fans? people in his life who seem to genuinely love and care about him? what is this new and exciting concept he’s confused but happy nonetheless

never ever talks about his dad / family though

as usual i was Extra™ and went off with the backstory stuff, but we can move onto personality now!

by default assumes that literally everyone he meets is going to betray him. is truly on some x files trust no one shit

except he does actually genuinely trust a few people for now i’m going to say just his bandmates since i imagine they’ve been through a lot together at this point but that’s open to expansion

street smart, charming, flirtatious ( especially around pretty girls ), witty, perspicacious, determined, tough, mistrustful, surly, reckless, uncouth, self-serving af sometimes

also v v sarcastic and STUBBORN

all of sky’s save his own skin above all else stuff? kind of a lie. he’s got a soft spot for people in need of help and though he might do it begrudgingly, sky often will actually put others before him.

the other personality traits i listed are pretty spot on though

literally always has his drumsticks with him and brings them everywhere. will drum on anything and everything until told to stop then he miiiight apologize? but go right back to doing it again not even five minutes later ngl

street smart af but book smart? not so much. he picks up on things pretty quickly but he’s still pretty dumb lmao and will in fact say some stupid shit at least 2932589843794836708 times a day

however he’s not always much of a talker. he’s gotta be in the mood bc if he isn’t but you try to have a convo with him he’s gonna be even more standoffish than usual

when he does talk though, sky is often sarcastic, pessimistic, and surly

he’s permanently grumpy

except he also has many soft spots that are very easy to find

stale cinnamon roll, been in this world too long, too cynical w/ a dash of sinnamon roll

he’s usually a cute little ray of sunshine around fans though bc they just?? make him so happy?? it makes him so happy to know that people love better now and that they LOVE HIM OK

though if ever called out for smiling he would immediately deny

will absolutely throw hands if he has to

TL;DR - louisiana born street smart drummer for better now with an accent he denies having and an extremely rich family who wants nothing to do with him but it wasn’t like he ever cared anyway. charming and flirtatious but also can be grumpy and pessimistic. expert pickpocket and con artist. has no idea how to handle being a celebrity but he not so secretly enjoys the love he gets from fans. has trouble trusting and allowing himself to get close to anyone & everyone.

finally…it’s over. if you actually read this far then i applaud you. i don’t have any specific plots in mind EXCEPT FOR POTENTIALLY HALF SIBLINGS RELATED THROUGH HIS FATHER SO PLEASE MESSAGE ME IF YOU’RE INTERESTED BC Y E S but if you know me then you know i want all the plots so feel free to message me and we can definitely work something out! as usual i’m super excited to write with you folks!

#viral:intro #it's honestly just his previous intro with just a few changes #but #let's try again here

8 notes · View notes

skyahqunfollow · 6 years

Text

WELL. it’s me again. i’m sam ( she / her, 21, est timezone ) and i also play parker! i’ve finally decided to bring in another muse and bob morley also avan jogia is the loml, so he we go! character info under the cut! please message me if you’d like to plot because i would absolutely love that!

FIRST. let’s just. let’s get it out of the way right here and now that this is a sideblog so i will be messing up and posting shit to the wrong accounts sometimes bc i’m dumb. let’s all just. take a moment to laugh abt it now so we don’t have to do it later. k cool we can carry on now

「 AVAN JOGIA, CISMALE, 26, PARAMORE. 」┈ did you read that latest viral gossip issue on SKY ARAO? he is the DRUMMER in BETTER NOW, one of my favorite ALT ROCK groups. they’ve been releasing music for FOUR YEARS now, but viral gossip has only been talking about them for the last TWO YEARS. get this, i think i heard HE’S THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD OF A WEALTHY PUBLIC FIGURE. they’re known as the CALIGINOUS of the music industry, since they have a rep for being TRENCHANT but SELF - SERVING, but who knows. maybe that will change once they become #1.

has the slightest of southern accents but if you point it out he will deny it

will occasionally speak a little cajun french though & some tagalog bc we stan a multilingual grump

he learns fast and had very quickly become an expert thief, pickpocket, and con artist, but that doesn’t mean he never got caught. he did. a lot. like his juvie record is longer than your arm

not long after that he turned seventeen AND THEN SOMETHING SUPER IMPORTANT HAPPENED. by that i mean he was sought out by his social worker for once who then proceeded to 1) tell him his mother had died and 2) take him away to california because apparently there was a family out there who wanted to adopt him! and they did!

sky learned about all of this right away upon meeting his father and to say he didn’t take it very well is a MASSIVE UNDERSTATEMENT TBH. he was furious. after all, his father had a whole new family! a wife and kids and a very prestigious job AND OH YEAH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO HIS NAME BUT HE’D NEVER HELPED SKY EVEN ONCE. it didn’t really help that he was clearly trying to make up for his absence in sky’s life by being present now that he had the opportunity and anyway, it turned out he had ulterior motives for that.

basically, a large part of his dad’s wealth was in fact inherited through the family. they’re all old money posh so finding out that the next family patriarch had an unknown son who was technically his firstborn was terrifying. blood or not, they couldn’t just hand centuries of traditions and carefully cultivated wealth over to a high school dropout who didn’t know how to behave and simply couldn’t be trusted with their unblemished legacy. so, sky’s dad was just keeping him close while he talked to lawyers about whether or not sky had any legitimate claim to anything owned by his family and of course, the sneaky street smart kid he is, sky figured out what was going on pretty quickly and bolted back to where he was most comfortable — the streets.

he was still seventeen at the time and he’s lived in los angeles ever since but hasn’t had any contact with his father or seen a single penny of that family money

so yeah he’s illegitimate, no actual rights to their fortune

lived on the streets in los angeles for a while, but with a little hard work ( and a lot of thievery and conning ) he was eventually able to get himself a little apartment while working various jobs

since then they switched lead singers with sweets having joined the band four years ago and they’ve released one album that was lit af! they’re currently in the middle of putting together their second album and since sky’s found out that he actually really likes drumming things have been pretty good for him. he lives in a nice apartment and finally has enough money to get by without conning or stealing. he still doesn’t really know how to deal with being a celebrity but tbh he actually adores the attention? he loves having fans? people in his life who seem to genuinely love and care about him? what is this new and exciting concept he’s confused but happy nonetheless

never ever talks about his dad / family though

as usual i was Extra™ and went off with the backstory stuff, but we can move onto personality now!

by default assumes that literally everyone he meets is going to betray him. is truly on some x files trust no one shit

except he does actually genuinely trust a few people for now i’m going to say just his bandmates since i imagine they’ve been through a lot together at this point but that’s open to expansion

street smart, charming, sometimes flirtatious, witty, perspicacious, determined, tough, mistrustful, surly, reckless, uncouth, self-serving af sometimes

all of sky’s save his own skin above all else stuff? kind of a lie. he’s got a soft spot for people in need of help and though he might do it begrudgingly, sky often will put others before him.

the other personality traits i listed are pretty spot on though

street smart af but book smart? not so much. he picks up on things quickly but he’s still pretty dumb lmao and will in fact say some stupid shit at least 2932589843794836708 times a day

however he’s not always much of a talker. he’s gotta be in the mood bc if he isn’t and you try to have a convo with him he’s gonna be even more standoffish than usual

when he does talk though, sky is often sarcastic, pessimistic, and surly

he’s permanently grumpy

except he also has many soft spots that are very easy to find

stale cinnamon roll, been in this world too long, too cynical w/ a dash of sinnamon roll

legend has it he’s never smiled ever not even once

he’s usually a cute little ray of sunshine around fans though bc they just?? make him so happy?? it makes him so happy to know that people love better now and that they LOVE HIM OK

though if ever called out for smiling he would immediately deny

will absolutely throw hands if he has to

lowkey a total mom friend who thrives on being a total mom friend but acts like he hates it? like he’ll grumble at you to bring your jacket bc it might be cold out and he’ll seem like he’s doing it very begrudgingly but on the inside? HE IS THRIVING IN THAT MOMENT

TL;DR - louisiana born street smart drummer for better now with an accent he denies having and an extremely rich family who wants nothing to do with him but it wasn’t like he ever cared anyway. charming and flirtatious but also can be grumpy and pessimistic. expert pickpocket and con artist. has no idea how to handle being a celebrity but he secretly enjoys the love he gets from fans. never smiles, loves whiskey, probably takes way too many naps on his couch. secret mom friend. has trouble trusting and allowing himself to get close to anyone & everyone.

#viral:intro #drugs tw #death tw #here with another Mess™#as always message me if you wanna plot!

7 notes · View notes

pleasesavetanaka · 6 years

Text

Endgame

A circle of inspirations! This oneshot was inspired by a piece by @sirvinter, which I linked at the bottom.

Rating: E for everyone Notes: Kei has a son! 20 years post-anime-canon. No shipping or romance, but a bit of drama. :^)

Kei had never planned to be a father. He had things to do, a life to live, and nothing about raising a child had interested him in the slightest. He had no interest in settling down, and he had no interest in adoption either.

But his life had not gone according to plan. Even when he’d been officially declared a person again (an entirely ridiculous concept, as if he hadn’t been already, but apparently the legal declaration mattered quite a lot to some people), his life had not gone back to how it should have.

Even when he’d gotten into university, it had been as a sideshow. Look how progressive we are, the university had trumpeted to anyone who would listen. We let an ajin in!

Some people hadn’t been happy with that. Some people had vandalized his things, left nasty notes behind. Like he was in high school, only far worse, because he’d kept his nose down then. The option simply didn’t exist for him anymore--everyone knew who he was.

He’d knuckled down and graduated, but that had been it. He hadn’t gone for anything further. He had a useless half degree, and then he’d stepped back, trying not to think about the life that he might have had if he had thought to look both ways.

Hitoshi had come into his life not by accident, but instead by design. It had been Tosaki who’d come up with the idea, who’d pushed Kei into it.

Hitoshi wasn’t even two when Kei had first met him. He was a scared, frail little boy, looking up at Kei with wide, terrified eyes.

“His parents died in the accident that turned him into an ajin,” Tosaki had said.

Kei had resisted the urge to lecture Tosaki on the fact that they didn’t know someone turned into an ajin. It didn’t really matter. That wasn’t the point.

It hadn’t been hard to figure out what Tosaki wanted. Kei was doing nothing. He was sitting at home wasting his potential, and Tosaki had a parentless child who needed someone.

Kei hadn’t so much agreed to things as been pressed into service, but for all his concerns it had gone fairly well. There had been some growing pains, but years into it, things were alright.

Hitoshi was his son, blood or not.

He picked the very best schools for him. He had his mother to help--in her own way--and Eriko to babysit when he needed it. He had a lot of free time, and he used it with Hitoshi, doing his best to ensure that he wouldn’t be effected by what had happened to him.

For all his potential issues, Hitoshi did just fine. He graduated elementary school with a teary Eriko waving him on, a baby at her hip, and Kei was more than happy to usher his son into middle school. Then, Kei turned his attention to his own work - advising on ajin policies at Tosaki’s behest.

Two weeks into the school year, Hitoshi had slid a very nice hand written note across his desk, staring up at Kei with wide eyes.

“Are you going to come?” He said, without even bothering to give Kei time to read it.

“Of course I’ll come,” Kei said, sliding the note across his desk and squinting at it. “Isn’t it a bit early to have parents meat your homeroom teacher? Aren’t they going to let you get more settled?”

Hitoshi shook his head quickly, still peering up at Kei.

“He said he wanted to do it early. Will you still come?”

“I said yes,” Kei said. “So you don’t need to ask more than once.”

Sitting in the back of the classroom, waiting for Hitoshi’s teacher just made him feel out of place. Almost every parent there was a woman, or a minimum a couple, and as the only single man there, he was getting quite a few looks. At least a few clearly recognized him, looking equally scandalized or horrified, but Kei was certain that by the end of the introductions, everyone would recognize him. He’d introduce himself, everyone would remember, and then someone would make a snippy comment about classroom safety.

His first impression was that the man was old. It wasn’t uncommon to see an old teacher, but most of those were in their sixties. The man in front of him had to be at least eighty, his face lined with wrinkles, his skin so pale it was almost translucent.

But the more he looked, the more unsettled Kei became.

“Hello!” The man said, as upbeat as could be. “My name is Tasuke-sensei, and I’ll be the homeroom teacher for class 2-C.”

The voice sealed it.

He knew that voice. He probably knew it better than his own voice. Even though it had been years since he’d heard it in person, he’d heard it in recordings over and over again. If he’d been the type to get nightmares, he probably would have heard it there too, and now it was going over the schedule for the coming school year, as pleasant as could be.

There was absolutely no way that Satou could be teaching his son math.

Kei’s hands balled into fists as he watched the lecture, keeping his mouth firmly shut. There had to be an angle. A plan. There was no way that it was chance, because you couldn’t just accidentally get a job as a teacher. Satou was there because he wanted to be. There was a game to it, and he had to figure it out as fast as possible.

Introductions rolled around at an absolutely glacial pace, and it took an act of focused effort to make himself stand and introduce himself.

Then came the scandalized looks, the furious glances between concerned parents wondering if they’d heard right. Kei Nagai? Certainly not the Kei Nagai? But he sure did look like him, and Kei couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

Hitoshi was staring at him, but it wasn’t the first time he’d done the song and dance. It wasn’t the first time Kei had to say yes, that Kei Nagai, now can we move on?

He didn’t have to this time.

“Miss?” Satou said, his attention firmly focused on the woman beside Kei, rather than on Kei himself, and the woman jumped slightly, pausing for a moment before introducing herself.

Everyone was thinking it, but no one said it.

He kept waiting for the sword to drop. Satou was leading up to something, he was sure, but instead of pulling out a pistol he kept right on explaining how he was going to run his classroom. He was going over schedules and marking schemes and Kei wasn’t listening to any of it.

Had anyone even noticed? A brief glance around made him pretty sure that the answer was no. Satou looked different than he had, aged by years. He hadn’t been seen in public in ages, while Kei had been seen far more recently. Kei also hadn’t made any attempt to change his name or appearance, while Satou’s hair had been shifted slightly, his expression alone doing a lot to make him appear different.

A kindly smile as he finished his explanation.

What was his plan? Maybe it wasn’t even him. Maybe Kei’d simply lost it, and now he was seeing things.

“Now,” Satou-maybe-Tasuke said. “I know there’s obviously some concern over Nagai-kun, but I want it to be clear that I won’t tolerate it. I’m certain you all have certain ideas of what ajin are like, but whether student or parent, I won’t be treating ajin any differently, and I wont tolerate any bullying based on that fact.”

It was definitely Satou. It was too on the nose to be anything else, even if Hitoshi’s homeroom teacher had almost definitely been informed.

There was some polite mumbling from the other parents, and Tasuke kept right on smiling his friendly smile.

“That said,” Satou said, “why don’t you all take the time to explore the grounds? I’m sure your children would love to show you around.”

Kei didn’t even bother standing up. He knew this was, at last, the point of it. Satou had him cornered, and now he’d reveal the whole plan to him, just as soon as everyone else had filed out.

Hitoshi, far too big for Kei’s lap, scrambled up anyway, looking absolutely delighted.

“Nishi said people like us shouldn’t be allowed to go to school at all,” Hitoshi said. “But Tasuke-sensei said that it wasn’t right, and I had just as much right to go to school as anyone, and told him that if he heard anything else about it, he’d have to stand in the hall. But then he said I couldn’t tell you.”

“I wonder why,” Kei said, glowering up at Satou. Probably because he might have wondered just how Hitoshi had ended up in a class with such an accepting teacher. Every other teacher had barely tolerated him, forced only by law, and more than once Kei’d been forced to take things up with the principal to get issues handled.

Why did it have to be Satou? What was the point?

“You look so distressed, Nagai-kun,” Satou said, apparently done with the charade.

Hitoshi was looking up at him, obviously aware there was something going on, but lacking any sort of information that might have helped him figure it out.

“Why don’t you go find Jin?” Kei said, carefully sliding Hitoshi off his lap. “So I can talk with Tasuke-sensei about things?”

Hitoshi was perhaps a bit too smart for his own good, squinting up at Kei briefly before glancing over to Satou, who nodded in response.

“Go on,” Satou said, making a quick gesture. “I’m sure they’re all waiting for you.”

It didn’t take any more ushering as Hitoshi headed to the door, taking one last look before finally leaving.

“Are you kidding me,” Kei hissed, glaring up at Satou while being very aware of the fact that the walls weren’t likely to be soundproof, and that the classroom was very visible from the hallway. “My son? You’re going after my son?”

“Imagine my surprise finding out you even had one!” Satou said, sitting down atop a desk, his arms folding across his chest. He was so casual about it, like they were old friends sitting down to chat, and Kei supposed it was probably best if it looked that way for everyone. “I never thought you’d have a child. Or raise one, anyway.”

“What are you doing here? This isn’t a coincidence, which means you have a plan.”

It’s tipping his hand too much, all but confessing he has no idea what the plan is. He knows there’s a plan, but not what it is, but the danger is too real to try and bluff like he does.

“It took me three years to set this up, you know,” Satou says, completely ignoring his question. “Getting this job was hard. Getting him into my class was hard. I’ve had an easier time sneaking guns onto airplanes. It was so much effort! And all for this.”

His smile is irritating, but it still doesn’t explain his plan, and Kei simply glares up at him, waiting for him to answer.

Satou always was dramatic, and there’s no way he’d keep his plan to himself, having obviously successfully pulled off most of it.

“For this,” Satou says, gesturing to Kei himself. “Here I am, mentoring your son. Keeping bullies away from him. Making sure he’s healthy and happy.”

Kei continues to stare, and Satou lets out an exaggerated sigh.

“You can’t do anything, of course. Reporting me would have serious consequences. Imagine the state of Japan if they knew I was here, if they thought I was active and dangerous. The state of affairs with ajin only exists because no one thinks I’m a threat anymore, but if I’m a danger again, every ajin ends up under scrutiny. That includes you, and it also includes people like your son.”

Kei grinds his teeth. He understands now, even if Satou hasn’t explicitly said it. This is the plan. Being Hitoshi’s teacher, but also letting Kei know. Letting Kei worry and wonder, dangling it over his head but not actually doing anything.

Kei forces himself to take a deep breath, relaxing his hands as he does.

“Because you’re old,” Kei says. “And because you can’t be running around doing backflips like you used to. You may be an ajin, but you still age, and your body can’t keep up. No amount of resets are going to change that fact.”

Satou smiles back at him, nodding his head.

“Exactly,” he says. “I knew you’d understand. I can’t play my old games. I’m too old for that, but I still have years left in me, and why not do something with my time? Something like this. Mentoring the next generation. Tormenting you with my very presence. You’ll be getting report cards from me. You’ll have parent teacher interviews with me. You’ll get to hear your son talk about how great I am.”

Satou dramatically wipes a no doubt fake tear from his eye, obviously delighted by his own plan.

“And the whole time you won’t be able to do anything.”

As far as plans go, it isn’t bad. No one’s in danger. No one’s going to die. Not unless he reports Satou like he probably should. Then people will be in danger. Then people will die. Then the entire ajin-rights debate goes up for grabs once more.

Unless he stays quiet. Unless he grins and bears it, letting Satou pat his son on the head like everything is normal.

“You’re ridiculous,” Kei snaps. “Don’t think I wouldn’t. If you push over the line-”

“I won’t, though,” Satou says. “Which is what makes it fun. Seeing how much I can torture you without ever crossing that line. Maybe I’ll put in a request to teach his class next year as well...”

“Dad?” Came a small voice from the doorway, and Kei glances over, not surprised to find Hitoshi there, glancing between the two of them.

Kei pats the chair beside him, and Hitoshi wastes no time in scurrying over, pushing himself up into the seat. Kei leans over, pressing a kiss to his son’s forehead, and then leans back.

“That works for me,” he says. “Is there anything else we need to talk about?”

Satou simply smiles at him.

On the way home, Kei holds tight to Hitoshi’s hand. He’ll have to be careful, he decides, but he doesn’t think that Satou will actually do anything. If he does, that ruins the game. It’s throwing in the towel. Instead, he decides, Satou will do everything but that.

Kei can’t help but wonder if it counts as a deal with the devil if no one actually gets hurt.

Thanks for reading! For those curious, it was this piece by @sirvinter that inspired the fic!

#ajin

11 notes · View notes

bambi-simmons · 6 years

Text

NaNoWriMo: The Ghost of Stadleter Hall (Preview)

Here’s a short-story preview I wrote when I was conceptualizing my novel for this year! It’s about two of my main characters meeting for the first time, and gave me a feel for writing in Adrián’s voice (spoiler alert: he’s obnoxious.)

Have you ever walked into a room and immediately, completely regretted it?

Like when you walk in to your first class of the semester and understand literally nothing on the syllabus, then remember you decided to take Intro to Ancient Latin because you thought it would be a smart way to cover both your writing and history reqs.

Or, like when Adrián Benitez walked into his first frat party and suddenly remembered why he had never accepted an invitation to a frat party before.

"I count three, no, five people in togas. This isn't even a toga party. What the fuck," he hollered into his phone, "get over here, dude, I'm too skinny and nerdy to make it through this on my own."

Liam, his roommate on the other end of the line, just laughed at him. Adrián rolled his eyes at Liam, both because he was being an asshole and because Liam could never understand the concept of being too skinny and nerdy for anything; he was like a half-Korean version of Thor. "I'm on my way. I can see the house down the road," he said.

"Well, hurry your ass up! Someone's going to try to haze me!" he yelled, and got an unconvinced, "okay, goodbye, Di," for his troubles before Liam hung up on him.

Adrián shoved his phone back in his pocket and surveyed the room again. There were Greek letters painted on pretty much every available surface, including some dudes' torsos. While it looked like they had a healthy amount of alcohol available, Adrián didn't trust these people not to spike something, so he was stuck waiting on Liam, who, as the only one of his friend who was 21, had stopped by the skeevy liquor store on the corner of Main Street and University Court to buy something drinkable.

The house was one of those grand old frat houses that looked like it deserved more than dirty boxers being dropped on the floor and freshmen losing their virginities in the bedrooms. Curved staircases arched up either side of the living room, leading to a railed-off hallway overlooking the crowd, and Adrián immediately worried that someone was going to fall over the railing at some point tonight. The bedrooms must've been upstairs, because he saw more than one eager-looking couple racing up them, trying to work out how to get handsy and not trip up the stairs at the same time.

Adrián was both disgusted and a little jealous, because no girl here would look twice at you unless you had a toga, at least three greek letters somewhere on your person, or a tattoo that said something untranslatable in Chinese. Perks of being a douchebag.

He leaned against the wall and lit his face up with his phone screen, rapidly texting his second roommate, whose main volley of skills included judging basic people and lamenting Adrián's decisions.

Cameron, it seemed, either wasn't awake or (more likely) was killing it in his new favorite MMO, so he didn't respond to Adrián's series of texts, which read, "I am full of regrets," "just saw a dude take a shot out of a girl's cleavage—impressed, but wouldn't that be sweaty?" and, "jfc man they have a hot tub. What percentage of it do you think is semen."

Oh, well. Cameron would think he was funny later.

Adrián supposed he should've maybe started talking to people, but he knew exactly nobody, and felt a little out of his depth even among the groups of new pledges, who all had this year's generic Greek Life shirts on and looked like they were trying way too hard to have fun.

The fifteen minutes until Liam opened the door and dropped a plastic bag with a bottle of rum and a two-liter of Coke into Adrián's hands felt like hours. But there he was, smiling that convincingly sure smile, warm hand patting Adrián on the back. "You're still alive," Liam said, like he was trying to sound surprised.

"Barely, dude. I think that last body shot nearly killed me."

"You were doing body shots?"

"Observing. And it was close to deadly," he said, clearing space on an end table so that he could set down the rum and coke and dig the way-too-fucking-many-pack of Solo cups out of the bag. "How do you want your rum-to-coke ratio?" he asked, "because I'm going to need mine about one-to-one to make it through this."

Liam laughed, warm and loud enough that Adrián heard it easily over the music. "It's not that bad, Di. It's just a party. They've got a dance floor out back, I think." He beckoned for the bottle when Adrián was done filling half his glass with Captain Morgan's. Good rum may have been out there somewhere, but Liam was smart enough not to waste time tracking it down for something as stupid as this.

"Okay, cool, dancing, I can do," Adrián said, handing it over obligingly so Liam could make his own drink. "We gotta hide this somewhere so nobody steals it."

"I'll just ask Micah to put it in his room."

Oh, that's right. Adrián kept forgetting that Liam's younger brother was in this frat, even though that was kind of the whole reason they were at this party. He watched Liam stuff everything back in the bag, glance around the room, and then head in the direction of a huge group of people, one of which must've been his brother. Adrián hadn't met Micah, but he pictured him as a smaller version of Liam, maybe with slightly shorter hair.

He had enough time while Liam was talking his brother into housing their booze to finish his drink, not because he chugged it, but because Liam took for-fucking-ever. Adrián kind of wished that by the time Liam wandered back over to him, the whole thing would be winding down and they could chalk it up to another night of bad decisions and go to IHOP.

Not quite long enough. Liam walked back over, tipping his half-finished cup to his lips. "Micah put our stuff in his room. You wanna check out the dance floor?"

"Dude, yes. Finally, a use for my talents." Adrián tossed his empty cup into a trash bag that had been hooked over one of the door handles, and started for the glass patio door, Liam still laughing and following behind him.

"You know you could've met me out here," he said, but Adrián shook his head.

"No way, I needed at least one drink before this happens," he said. "It's for the social anxiety, not my dancing skills."

"Thanks for the clarification."

"Shut up, I'm trying." He pulled on the door handle and, when it didn't budge, realized he had to push it.

Outside was infinitely better than inside, because it was cooler and less humid, and there was more open air for everyone's sweat-smell to dissippate into. Adrián and Liam steered clear of the pool and extra-clear of the hot tub, because they weren't fond of soggy boxers and possibly-inseminated water. There were tiki torches set up around the perimeter of the fenced-in yard, and the combination of drunk people and fire seemed like a generally bad idea. But hey, people had been serving those shots on fire in bars for years, now, and nobody usually got injured.

Maybe it was the rum kicking in, but Adrián felt a lot calmer about the possibility of someone's hair being set on fire than he normally would've.

He dragged Liam over to a group of girls who looked like they'd already been approached by a bunch of the fraternity brothers, and weren't having it. Probably had something to do with either the painfully obvious spray-tans or the lame white-people attempts at dancing. Liam bent close enough that Adrián could hear him talking over the music in the background. "Put on some Shakira and you'd smoke those sons of bitches."

"I'm also fond of Rhianna's early stuff and the Backstreet Boys."

"Good to know your music tastes haven't changed since the sixth grade."

He shouldered Liam away a few steps. "You don't know me," he said, walking backwards into the crowd, ready to get down to—Ariana Grande? He thought? God, it was hard to hear the lyrics over the bass and the screaming.

This was the part where things were on the upswing for a bit. Adrián found himself a little more in his element, and sure, these weren't the kind of people he normally partied with—there was a distinct lack of weed-smell and nobody had their faces pierced up—but drunk people were all pretty much the same. And when he ended up lip-synching Don't Stop Believing with a group of wasted sorority girls and Liam Song, he was pretty sure he could easily have been at a party some guy in his Brit Lit class threw.

Except, if he was at one of those artsy kid parties, there'd probably be someone criticizing Journey and someone else trying to convince people this song was totally by the Eagles.

There was one girl who was totally into it, who let Adrián twirl her like she was an extra in Grease, not missing a lyric the whole time. It was kind of adorable—she was kind of adorable. Not the usual sorority girl type, either, she had gradiated brown-to-blonde twists pulled up into a pair of buns on either side of her head, standing out brightly against her dark skin. She was wearing a black T-shirt with her sorority's letters in bright pink, but she'd gone at it with a pair of scissors and turned the back into a pattern of artistic knots. She danced like she knew what she was doing, and it was probably made easier by the sneakers she was wearing in lieu of heels.

The song changed, and in the moment of silence between, Adrián stuck out a hand like he was trying to greet her at New Student Orientation, not a crowded frat party. "Hey! Adrián Benitez, nice to meet you."

"Beverly Houston," she replied, responding with a surprisingly firm handshake. "Beta Kappa Tau."

"Does everyone around here introduce themselves in Greek?" he asked, but the start of another pop song—Katy Perry this time—cut off the end of his quip. Wittiness wasted. Damn. He was only good for about one of those a week. Beverly laughed, but it was more at him than at his joke, and she grabbed his hand, pulling him back into the circle, and performing a surprisingly on-beat Charleston.

"Di!" And there was an arm around his shoulder and hey, who—? Oh.

Adrián glanced up to see a familiar face, but not one he'd expect to meet at a place like this. Isaac Washington was his favorite barista-slash-bartender at his favorite coffeeshop-slash-hipster bar, and he'd graduated last Spring, so Adrián had no idea what he was doing at any college party, much less an Omega-something-bullshit-Greek-party.

"Dude, what're you doing? Isn't this like, the most homophobic frat in the row?"

"They asked me to bartend for this thing," Isaac said, "and I had a night off and I like getting paid to do things, so."

"Then why aren't you, uh, bartending?"

He shrugged. "Some dude wearing their letters said he could do better, kicked me out from behind the bar, and started making up drinks that taste nasty, but they're wicked strong."

He gestured behind himself at the "bar," which was just a plastic patio table crowded with liquor bottles and plastic cups, with a cooler full of ice and a second cooler half-full of ice and half-full of beer underneath it. There was a guy behind it who was trying to flip two bottles of beer like a juggler, and who ended up dropping them both. They landed on the grass intact, and he moved on to pouring a drink from a height that mostly served to spill it everywhere.

Adrián shook his head. "Shit, man, I hope they paid you beforehand."

"Uh, hell yeah they did." He high-fived Adrián, then looked to his right at Liam, who was hugging Beverly? Did they know each other? Or was this just yet another benefit of looking like the lost fourth Hemsworth brother? Liam always did get all the girls, which was fine, he was a good wingman anwyways. He had this way of making Adrián sound really cool because he wrote poetry and spoke fluent Spanish. Never mind that he had only taken one poetry class, and had focused his portfolio mainly around themes of death, decay, and that one time he saw a rat living inside a dead raccoon like Luke Skywalker inside of that alien on Hoth.

"Who's your friend?" Isaac asked, and Adrián was forced to stop thinking about Hoth and dead raccoons.

"Oh. Yo, Liam. Liam!" When he finally got Liam's attention, he continued. "Isaac, this is Liam, my roommate. Liam, this is Isaac, he works at the Red Windrose."

"Isn't that the coffeeshop you keep trying to convince me to go to?" Liam asked.

"If you'd go with me, you would know that the answer is yes."

Isaac leaned over and said something to Liam that Adrián couldn't hear, but it, like most things, just made Liam laugh and smile wide enough to show his dimples.

The song changed again, and somehow, the three of them ended up in a crowd of sorority girls. Liam couldn't dance for shit, but he was cute about it, mostly sticking to cheesily exaggerated versions of the very few dance moves he knew. Isaac joined right in with him, but it was clear that his sense of rhythm was superior and his sense of humor was not.

Beverly bounced between the three of them, spitting out the lyrics to every song like she was the human version of Shazam. She clearly knew the other three girls they were dancing with, because she kept trying to drag them into her karaoke performance, but one of them was barely sober enough to remain upright, much less to remember all the words to Crank Dat. Adrián, however, knew his Soulja Boy, and although he didn't have it quite as perfected as Beverly, he could, at the very least, do the accompanying dance without even thinking about it.

The DJ continued to be eclectic in the weirdest ways, vascillating wildly between stuff from 2006 and 2016. But finally, he found a Walk the Moon song that wasn't Shut up and Dance, then Beverly pulled him in by both hands, and yes, this was starting to spell awesome night. She pulled him in close and somehow led him into twirling her into a pretzel twist, and the incongruity between her dance moves and the music blaring was charming.

Adrián had been roped into swing dancing enough times to know how to respond, and he was about to switch poses to the one—shit, he couldn't remember the name—where he'd have her back againt his chest and his arms around her, when something wet and, ew, warm? spilled onto his back.

It took him a minute to figure it out, but yep. Someone had just puked on him.

About par for this particular course. He swore at length in Spanish, most of it impossible to translate.

"Dear god, shit, that's disgusting," Beverly said, "ugh. C'mere, dude." She was giving the girl who was apparently the culprit (and who was now crying) a look that was equal parts grossed out and disappointed. "Come on, upstairs. We'll get you cleaned up—and get her home, okay?" She addressed the last part to the girl's friends, who were standing on either side of her and patting her hair and holding her shoulders gently. Kind of like what Beverly was doing to him.

"Where the hell are we going to go?" he asked, plucking at the hem of his shirt and trying desperately not to think about what was on him. "I feel like all the bedrooms are, uh. Occupied."

"Nah," she shook her head. "My boyfriend lives up here, and I've got his spare key."

She led him to the last door on the left, and as soon as she unlocked it, he tore his shirt off and held it as far away from himself as physically possible. "Oh, god," he said, frowning at the smell. Like vodka and death. "I'm. This thing's tanked."

Beverly chuckled awkwardly from the bathroom and reached underneath the sink, tugging out a plastic bag and a washcloth. She tossed the bag to him and he deposited his shirt into it and tied it as tight as it could go. Thank god he hadn't decided to change out of the three-dollar thrift store Avengers shirt he'd been wearing. Beverly ran the washcloth under the sink and handed it to him. "Gimme that, I'll throw it in the dumpster out back. It won't be the only puked-on thing in there," she said, "clean yourself off real quick, I'll be back."

Adrián scrubbed at his back until his skin went red, borrowing some of what must've been the boyfriend's soap. When he was convinced he smelled more like Old Spice than puke, he rinsed the washcloth clean and draped it over the basin of the sink. He could hear the door opening again and he stuck his head out the bathroom door. "Bev?"

"That's my name," she said, handing him one of a pair of Coronas she'd grabbed from downstairs. "Nothing got on your jeans?"

"Nah, it was a controlled incident," he replied, taking a swallow of the beer. "Thanks for everything."

"Eh, that's what I do. I keep controlled incidents, well, controlled, for the BKT's." She toasted him before tipping back her bottle and draining almost half of it.

"Oh, so you're like, their damage control, or whatever."

"E-yup." She set the half-empty bottle on one of the two desks in the room. It had a picture of her pinned on the corkboard above it. "Listen, not sure if you feel like wandering around all shirtless, but you can totally borrow one of Micah's shirts."

"God, yeah, I'm way too hairy to be walking around half-naked like some kind of Sasquatch—wait, Micah?" he asked, as she started digging through the drawers. "Like, Micah Song? Is that how you know Liam?"

She came back with a plain black T-shirt and held it out toward him. "Yeah, Liam's his brother. This is gonna be a little big, but hey, it's better than nudity." He pulled it on and took a seat at the desk chair, while Beverly sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. "Melissa says she's super sorry, by the way."

He shrugged, because, again, he'd kind of expected tonight to be a trainwreck. "Don't you kind of have to, like, go down there and continue controlling damage?"

Beverly shook her head. "Those three were the only Betas here. I technically didn't even have to come to this, since less than ten of our girls were here. I just came because I wanted to hang out with Micah, which, well. I decided not to watch him lose at pool." She leaned back on the bed, readjusting the pillows like she lived there. She was probably there often enough to do that.

Adrián finally got a chance to look around the room, and found that it was basically an explosion of fraternity letters and Burning Lake University memorobilia. Pennants on the walls, throw blankets in BLU red and black, and at least eight BLU lacrosse team photos. "Oh god, your boyfriend plays lacrosse?" Adrián groused, because every LAX guy he'd ever known wore polo shirts every day and didn't even need the athletics scholarship to pay tuition.

"Nah, his roommate does. Bit of a douche."

"Probably because he fuckin' plays lacrosse."

That made Beverly laugh, and Adrián officially decided he was going to be friends with her, because she was a good dancer and she had a poor opinion of lacrosse. "So, how do you know Liam?" she asked. She kicked her shoes off, and Adrián noticed she was wearing mismatched socks.

"He's my roommate," Adrián said, "has been since way back when we were baby freshmen and lived in the dorms still." Granted, that had been like two years ago.

Beverly leaned over to grab her beer off the desk. "Hah, well, my boyfriend's still a baby freshman. I've survived to junior year, though."

"And may we make it through to senior year. And graduation."

She toasted that, and downed the rest of her beer. "So, what dorm were you guys in?"

"Martin Hall," he said, "me and my best friend almost ended up in Greenwood, but thank <i>god,</i> we got offered an option to switch to a triple in Martin." Greenwood Hall, and its sister dorm, Stadleter Hall, were known for thin walls, mouse problems, and the constant and pervasive smell of feet. Adrián took another drink of his Corona, glanced down at the bottle, and realized he still had way more left in it than Beverly did in hers. Probably because he didn't really like Corona.

"Oh, come on," Beverly said, "I was in Stadleter Hall, it wasn't that bad. Just a little haunted."

#my fiction #nano2017 #stadleter2017 #nanowrimo preview

4 notes · View notes