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the-demon-of-a-thousand-eyes · 22 days

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𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓈𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐸𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 23

Overlords Meeting View and an Unexpected Supr-eyes

Pairing: Alastor x F!OC (Theia, The Demon of a Thousand Eyes)

Chapter Summary: After leaving the hotel, you alert Alastor to Zestial's presence and the three of you plus the egg bois make your way to the overlord meeting. There, Velvette is quick to call you out for last night's behavior. You learn something surprising about yourself and about the events of last extermination in one fell swoop, use your powers to see what's going on with Carmilla and Zestial's conversation, and leave to find the rest of the egg bois digging around in the dumpster. While you wait for the final egg boi to return, you discover a surprise that shakes you to your core.

Word Count: 4.6k

Warnings: None??? What is this?

The two of you followed by a trail of egg minions finish your descent, walk down and out of the hotel, and are soon walking in the Weapons District. The egg bois have managed to keep quiet for some time, having been fascinated by your discussion earlier, but now they are chattering on about nonsense again.

“Oh boy, what’s the plan, boss? Lady boss?” The one in front asks. “I like your suit. Your dress is stunning.”

The one behind him pipes up, “What are the antlers for? Why do you have so many eyes?”

Another calls out, “Can I touch your staff thing? What about your hair pin?”

The fourth asks, “Are those your ears or is it your hair? I can’t tell. Why do only the eyes on your face have eyebrows?”

You see Zestial manifest behind you, and you look to Alastor. He looks at you with shared irritation at the mess of minions behind you, but smiles fondly at you as you whisper in his ear, “Zestial’s here.” Just a moment before he manifests directly in front of you with the intent to startle Alastor.

“Thank you, ma très chère.” He replies, and he manages to keep a cool expression as Zestial appears.

The egg bois are curious and silly, thinking they stand a chance at ‘roughing up’ such a powerful overlord. Alastor tells them to be quiet if they ‘value their shells,’ which you consider sound advice. They’d do well to listen.

“Hark, Alastor. How fare thee this day?” Then he notices you. “Who be this fair damsel?”

“Greetings, Zestial!” Alastor spins his microphone and leans on it, then gestures with his head to you. “This here is my radiant and charming Theia, The Demon of a Thousand Eyes.”

With your free hand, you pull your eye-topped hairpin from your hair to grow it in length to match his staff, give it a twirl, and lean on it too. You give a shallow curtsy, then declare, “A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Zestial. I apologize for taking so long to greet you, but I tend to avoid overlords as of late. Well, besides Rosie and this one, of course.” You gesture with your head towards Alastor, who beams with proud affection.

“I gratulate to thou, gentlewoman Theia. I wouldst be honored to know thee. Buzzers tell of thous accomplishments.” He notes as he begins to walk, and the two of you walk behind him towards Carmine Industries.

Alastor is notably silent, but he is watching your banter with delight and interest.

“Would this be recent exploits, then? I realize I might have stirred up a pother within the last few days.” You ask as you shrink your hairpin back to its original size and return it to your hair.

His pace falters at your choice of words. Little does he know you are familiar with many languages, including the old ones. “While I revel in screams, gentlewoman, thou ought to expiate such folly, lest others think you mated.” He replies easily, and you flush at the unintended double meaning. He meant stark raving confused, but it sounded far dirtier in modern slang.

You still your flush and reply, “Would you have me become sluggardized? I am a modern woman, Zestial. I will not take such a sneap.”

He stops and turns to you. You both halt, and the egg minions run into the backs of your ankles at the abrupt stop. “Hast thou been made aware of the peregrinations of fancy of this younker?”

“If you’re asking about his years-long absence, no, I have not been made privy to such knowledge. If I am worthy of it, he will tell me in due time. If not, that is alright as well. I have secrets of my own I keep.” You reply easily, simply. Alastor, still silent, looks thoroughly pleased at your response.

“T’would be grander folly by far to assume the workings of Alastor’s mind. He hath been naught but an enigma since he manifested in this realm.” Zestial concedes. “Thou hath an air of that enigmatic quality as well, gentlewoman.”

“Coming from someone as ancient as you, I take that as quite the compliment.” Alastor finally says, and you agree.

“To both of us, to be sure.” You add.

Then you file past the camera checkpoint before you enter an elevator with Alastor and Zestial. Alastor tells the egg minions to stay put and keep watch, but one stays at your feet without anyone else noticing. You decide not to mention it as the glass elevator closes. You see one of the egg minions mutter something about the one at your feet being called Frank, while another is surprised that they have names. You are surprised too, but mostly that the egg minion didn’t know they had them.

You look down at Frank without turning your head. He looks a little frightened but not worse for wear.

As you reach the floor with the meeting room, Zestial exits first, then Alastor and yourself, and then Frank, trailing behind. You see Rosie arrive, and she greets someone else, then enters. You don’t bother to call out. You know she likes to sit next to Alastor so you will have plenty of time to talk inside. You recognize a few other overlords, though like Zestial, you’d yet to greet them personally before.

You file into the meeting room then, and Alastor escorts you to his spot next to Rosie. He sits down, and you snuggle into his lap.

She notices the little egg minion behind you first, and gives him a toothy grin. He ducks behind your chair. As she glances up, she greets you excitedly. “Theia, darling, I didn’t know you’d be comin’! I’ve been trying to get you to come to an overlord meeting for ages and all it takes is cozying up to Alastor to get you to show?”

You chuckle. “Of course not. He didn’t even want me to come with at first. I had to convince him it’d be a fun idea.” She laughs as you continue. “I heard a rumor that something interesting might happen today, but if not, then at least I got out of whatever ridiculous trust exercises the rest of the residents are coming up with on the spot today.”

“A rumor, hm? You ought to fill me in on who’s getting ahold of this tea because I’ve heard nothing of the sort.” Rosie leans in closer and you chuckle again.

“That’d be my own network of informants, Auntie Rosie. You know I trade in secrets and information.” You shrug.

“For someone with so many of her own I find that unsurprising.” She concedes, then turns to Alastor. “Well, young man, you’ve been awfully quiet. Are you being good to my Theia?”

“I’m always good to her, aren’t I, ma très chère?” At your flush of being called that in front of Rosie, she raises an eyebrow.

“Things have moved awful quickly between the two of you in recent days, haven’t they.” She remarks, fascinated.

“I’ve been waiting for her for apparently over fifteen years, Rosie. I don’t know how you managed to keep her away from me for so long. I’m almost offended.” He teases, and she gives him an affectionate smile even as she scolds him.

“When a lady asks her Auntie to keep her away from a man she listens! How was I supposed to know it was going to end like this? I’d have gotten you two together sooner!”

You shake your head. “It was always supposed to be like this.” You decide. “If we’d met sooner I doubt things would have gone nearly the same way, had nearly the same outcome.”

Carmilla Carmine walks in then, ending discussion.

Upon seeing her, you’re reminded of a dream you had the night of the last extermination. It had been so long that you’d nearly forgotten it. You’d dreamt she’d killed an exorcist. It was preposterous, of course. It had never been done. No one knew how.

“Welcome Hell sovereign overlords. I’ve invited you all here because you represent the controlling powers of our city. Together you own millions of souls. Souls at risk with the new extermination schedule. We need to discuss what can be done to minimize the impact to our interest.” She slams the table to emphasize her point. You don’t realize Zestial wasn’t already at the table until he materializes next to her and then a cup of tea for himself. “Zestial, so good to see you, my friend.”

“Enchanted as always, Carmilla,” he replies, and you giggle quietly into Alastor’s ear.

“They’re definitely seeing each other.” You murmur, and he raises an eyebrow but doesn’t reply.

At your movement, she notices both of you. “Alastor?” She says, surprised.

He waves away her attention as if he doesn’t crave it, “Yes, I know, I’ve been absent some time. I’m sure you’ve all been wondering!”

“Not really. But welcome back in any case.” He deflates, and then she continues, “I’m more surprised by the lovely lady in your lap. You’re The Demon of a Thousand Eyes, correct?”

You flush at both her recognition of you and her observation of your beauty. “Yes, Ms. Carmine. Please, call me Theia. I apologize for intruding on your meeting, as I’m not an overlord, but I thought it pertinent that I sit in today.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Please, call me Carmilla. You have nearly a thousand souls to your name, Theia. We’ve had an interest in you for some time, with the territory and knowledge you’ve acquired. You have excellent potential as an overlord, and yet you’ve chosen to avoid us like the plague. Now you decide today of all days you will show? Why might that be?”

Before you can answer, Velvette slams the door to the meeting room open, arriving fashionably late and jabbering on her cell phone to Vox on the other end, promising that she has the matter handled. “Are you doubting me? Me? They’re a joke. Don’t get your wires in a twist.” She scoffs, Vox says something, and she responds, “Just because he’s returned doesn’t mean that Radio Fossil shows up. Are you seriously still so worked up about some side fuck? Don’t blow my internet again just because you can’t get Theia off your mind.” She pinches the brim of her nose. “Look, we’ll figure out a revenge plan later. I’ve gotta go. Got an overlord meeting to liven. Kisses, darling!”

She sits down and closes her eyes, amused with herself, as Carmilla intones, “Nice of you to join us, Velvette. Will your…colleagues be joining?” She asks as Velvette swipes on her phone, not paying any attention.

“No, they have better shit to do than listen to an old windbag who thinks she’s tough shit. I’m here to represent.”

“Charming.” Carmilla replies.

As Velvet is no doubt adding some ridiculous filter to something on her phone, she notices you sitting on Alastor’s lap. “What the fuck are you doing here, Theia? You’re not even an overlord, and after the shit you pulled last night? You ghosted me because your new boy toy got your pussy wet chasing after mince meat in our territory and now you want to play with the big leagues? Are you for fucking serious right now?”

Was that really just last night? You wonder to yourself as you realize that in fact, it was. It feels like a lifetime ago. “It’s not my fault Vox got pissy because I decided to go old school.” You smirk at Al when you say this, and he looks pleased, almost prideful even. “Maybe if he’d treated me like a gentleman would instead of expecting some side chick fuck every now and again when Tino decides he’s not worth his time, I’d be in his lap right now instead.”

“This is not the time for petty rivalries and trysts. We need to discuss…” Carmilla begins, but Velvette waves her hand, so Carmilla, while irritated, calls on her. “Yes?”

“On the subject of discussion…” Velvette declares, and throws…an exorcist head on the table?!

You glance at the attendees to this meeting, at their reactions. Most are surprised. Some are alarmed. You notice that of everyone present, Carmilla and her daughters look alarmed, and Carmilla herself looks guarded, like she knows something she’s not telling. You can see it in her eyes.

Alastor looks to you and then to the head. “Oh, tasty!” He says with a smirk. You smirk back at him, content to keep your secret you’ve discovered. Then you realize something. If Carmilla did kill the exorcist, which is the conclusion you’ve come to, that would mean…the dream I had wasn’t a dream. It was the eyes around her opening in Hell while I slept. Fuck. Also, what the hell?

You focus on the words exchanged between Velvette and Carmilla to try and stave off the anxiety of the realization you just had.

“Where did you get this?” Carmilla is still guarded.

“We found it during extermination day. If these holy rollers can be killed, the game has changed.” Velvette declares as she steps up onto the desk and starts walking around on top of it. “We can take the fight to them. The boys and I have come up with a full assault plan.”

Your eyes, along with everyone else’s in the room, dart to Zestial as he sips his tea loudly. “If it be true thee and thy colleagues desire to war with such meager proof, thou art far more foolish than I be thought.”

Velvette looks put out. She makes air quotes as she says, “‘Meager proof’? It’s a dead fucking exorcist.” She gestures to it then turns around, dejected. “I’d say that’s pretty fucking definitive.” She turns back to him. “You going blind, old man?”

He shrugs. “We know not how this perished. Mayhaps it was not by a demon’s hand at all.”

You giggle at his phrasing, remembering that night. It wasn’t by a hand, but by a foot. Alastor raises an eyebrow at you and steals some blood off of the head on the table. He licks it off his finger. Delighted, he offers some to you. You take it into your mouth at his behest. It’s congealed with age, but it’s still both bitter and sweet at the same time. You moan quietly in his ear, so only he can hear. His eyes darken with both lust and warning. You’re playing with fire again.

Zestial continues, “If we rush to war without knowing, mightn’t they purge all of Hell for daring an uprising?”

You hear several voices conceding this point, including your own and Alastor’s.

Velvette gets devious. You see the look in her eyes. She’s causing real mischief now, you can tell. She’s going to goad him into something, isn’t she. “So grandpa is too pussy to fight, so I guess there’s no point, right? Oh, what’s the matter, Fossil? Too senile to make a real power grab for—”

Music starts playing from nowhere as Carmilla bursts into song. Remind me to ask about where this music just comes from, you think to yourself as the two decide to face off with each other, singing about how Velvette ought to respect Zestial, about how Velvette thinks she’s hot shit, about how she thinks the overlords should fight, calling them cowards.

Velvette goads more lyrics out of Carmilla, reminding her that she’s a weapons overlord. She’s playing to their strengths and criticizing them in front of the other overlords well, but she’s always been good at that. You think as you watch the show before you.

Then Velvette gets all up in Carmilla’s face to say that she thinks that Carmilla is hiding something, that she knows how the exorcist died. Apparently I’m not the only one who came to that conclusion, though I suppose I have far more definitive proof on the subject. Carmilla, feeling threatened but managing to stay guarded, declares that the meeting is over.

Alastor pipes up from beside you, “That was a productive meeting!” You giggle beside him.

You think Velvette is about to leave before she turns to glare at you. “And you.” She points a finger in your direction. “I told you you’d regret it and I meant it. All of Hell will know what you’ve done, all your secrets, all your worst fears.”

You laugh from your spot on Alastor’s lap. You kiss him then say, “Do what, exactly? Find the only one I want to love for the rest of my existence? Kill a sinner in celebration? Appear downtown in a manner that your imbecile box head of a partner still couldn’t figure out even when I vanished and reappeared for him in front of dozens of cameras in his own territory?” You snicker, “None of you know any of my secrets, any of my fears, so good luck telling anyone. I don’t let those slip for just anybody after all.” You wrap your arm possessively around Alastor’s shoulders and bring your lips to his, making a point. From the eyes on the back of your horns, you see her just standing there, stunned. You break the kiss, and not bothering to turn to at her again, your gaze locked with Alastor’s you say, “Well, go on then, Velvette. Stomp out of here muttering some curses about how we’re all old school or whatever bullshit you had thought would be snappy.”

Velvette, not having any comeback that would make any sense and sensing a retreat is in order, stomps out as you’d suggested, but she is muttering something under her breath about how you’ll regret what you’ve done. You laugh and kiss Alastor again. He grins back at you and nips at your bottom lip. As you do so, the large dinosaur-like overlord you recognize as being called Zeezi says, “What the hell? We literally just got here.”

As Zestial and Carmilla leave the table, Rosie turns to you and says, “Well, that was certainly something. Always good to see you hold your own. Now Theia dear, I’ll be heading out. Come by in a few days and I’ll have that order ready for you. Don’t be a stranger now, darling.”

“Of course not, Auntie Rosie. I’ll see you soon.” You say with a soft smile.

When you’re all alone, Alastor croons in your ear, “If we didn’t have an investigation to be doing right now, ma très chère, I’d take you back to my room and ravish you.”

You squirm at the idea and turn to kiss him again, lips intent with fervor. He breaks it far sooner than you’d like. He points with his microphone to Frank. “You, little egg creature. I have a job for you.”

“Oh, yes boss.” Frank replies and he stands up from where he’d collapsed onto the floor.

“Follow them.” Alastor points, and the egg minion ‘hups’ his way in behind them. You’re surprised he doesn’t get caught making all that noise.

The door shuts. “You know,” You murmur to him, “I’ve been in that room before, just as I’ve been in here. I have eyes everywhere.”

“Tell me, ma très chère, what do you see?” He purrs, pulling you closer to him. You close your eyes and rest your head against his chest, opening the eyes in the aforementioned room.

“Carmilla is forlorn. She’s drinking alcohol. Zestial is trying to appease her. He’s saying he suspects that Velvette was right, that the angel was eliminated by her. She says she doesn’t want to talk about it. Her daughters are pleading that maybe Zestial should know. Carmilla is saying that she’s refusing to discuss it.” You almost roll the eyes in the room as you realize that they’re singing again, but that makes you dizzy when you do it, so you don’t. “I’m pretty sure they’re singing again.” You say and Alastor chuckles against you. “Okay so maybe they aren’t engaged in some kind of romance,” You concede as you watch them together, “but I’m pretty sure at least one of them has interest in the other. It’s likely they’ve never acted on it before.” You chuckle. “That’s beside the point, though. He’s asking her if she did kill the angel why she decided it must be kept a secret. She’s telling him she did it for her daughters, that she had to in order to save them, and she’s afraid that if word gets out that they can be killed it will put them at further risk. Oh, yeah, there’s no way they don’t like each other. She just looked at him while she told them she’d keep them safe. It’s not like he needs that help. They’re smitten for each other.” You snicker, then continue. “Sorry, beau, I know that’s not the point here. Staying focused.”

“That’s enough, ma très chère.” He kisses you, and you kiss him back.

“You didn’t really need the little minion after all, I suppose.” You decide, and he chuckles.

“I suppose you’re right; I didn’t. You’re more useful than those little egg things anyway. I know you won’t spill this detail.” He looks at you pointedly.

I already know so much that I’ve kept secret for so long. You think to yourself. What’s one more secret, in the grand scheme of things? “Of course, ma moitié.” You tell him honestly. “I’ll keep this to myself.”

You stand up then, and he does too. You take his arm and the two of you exit in the elevator, to wait for the egg minions. The rest are playing in the trash when you arrive. You scold them, and they come to apologize to you. “Now bois, you ought to know better. There are awful and dangerous things that can be found in dumpsters. Things that could just easily get you cracked. Didn’t Sir Pentious teach you better than this?”

“No!” One pipes up.

“He encourages us to explore the dumpsters!” Another replies.

“Sometimes he praises us when we find things!” A third says.

You sigh. “Just…stay out of there for now, okay? Then you can go back to whatever it was you were doing when you’re back at the hotel and Sir Pentious is in charge.”

“Yes, ma’am lady boss!” The final egg minion declares with a swift salute.

“You’re surprisingly good with the little creatures,” Alastor raises an eyebrow in surprise. “You’re sure you don’t want to be an overlord, bien-aimée?”

You nod the affirmative. “I’m sure, Al. I have enough responsibilities as it is.” My life is already predestined. Overlord would conflict with the life already set before me.

When the little minion rushes out of the elevator, he confirms everything you’ve already deduced, rambling on about how the ‘knife lady was singing and she killed the angel.’

You’re not really listening as he does. You’re far too distracted by a poster in the alleyway that you’re almost certain wasn’t there before. You call to the egg minions. “Bois, did you see who put these posters up, by chance?”

“Yeah!” One of them replies, “It was a tall hooded man.”

“Couldn’t see his face. Didn’t talk much as he put them up, either.” Another replies.

“He kept his hood up the whole time. We didn’t see anything.”

“Why, do you know her?” The final egg asks, and you nod.

“You could say that, yes.” You rip the poster and all the others you can find that match it from the wall. Alastor, surprised, follows you. There are many, but you manage to grab all the ones you can see. You tear them to shreds, but he catches one in his hands before you get them all.

“Ma très chère, whatever is the matter?” He asks.

You take it from him. “I promise I’ll leave one intact, to show you, but It’s not safe here. He could still be around. Take us home. I’ll explain when we get there."

He uses his shadows to envelop you all, and you arrive with the egg bois in tow back at the hotel. You fold the poster and stick it into your non-subspace pocket.

You enter the hotel. Everyone is in the lobby again when you enter. You plaster on a fake smile you pray isn’t too obvious, not that you’re sure who to whom you’d even pray.

They’re all happy to see you. You tell them you’re happy they’ve gotten to know each other better as a group and that you’re sorry you hadn’t made it to exercises today, but you’ll be sure to join them all tomorrow.

Charlie tells you that everyone will be doing Show and Tell. You know exactly what to bring. “I’ll be sure to do so. I already have the perfect item.” You decide.

She brightens at that, and Alastor escorts you upstairs by way of his shadows to make the trip faster. You’re inside his room again. He pulls you to the bed. You lay on his chest and sigh, then slip the paper out of your pocket. You unfold it and hand it to him. “I knew this would happen eventually.” You murmur as he reads it. “They’re looking for me again.”At least they had the decency to leave all the other information off of the poster this time.

“Again?” He asks, surprised.

“Maybe they never stopped.” You concede. “I don’t tend to stay in one space for very long, to make it easier to hide.”

“I’ll keep you safe from them, mon âme soeur.” He vows.

You sigh again, look up into his eyes. “It’s not that simple, ma moitié.” You reply, “They won’t stop until they find me, and they probably have no intention of hurting me. It’s far worse than that. When they do, I won’t be able to stay here anymore. They’ll take me away from you.”

“Never.” He vows, and interlaces his fingers with yours. The deal you made glows brightly on your fingers. “You’re mine and I’m yours, mon âme soeur.”

“You’re mine and I’m yours, ma moitié.” You reply. “For all the time I have left.”

He kisses you deeply, and you sigh into his embrace. You dress in your nightgown and shape you dress into a sheath, drape it across the chair, then crawl into the covers with him. He raises an eyebrow at your choice to join him in his bed again.

“I don’t want to be alone.” You tell him. “I’d rather stay here with you, Al.”

He kisses your forehead, your temple, your lips. “I’d rather have you here too, Iris.”

He sets the poster aside. You close your eyes and he pulls you in closer. He stays fully dressed. You suspect he will likely stay there, in his suit, wrapped around you while you fall asleep, and stay by your side as you do. You know he doesn’t sleep much, but you appreciate his soothing comfort nevertheless.

You open your eyes again and look at the poster, just in eye’s glance. It reads,

Have You Seen This Woman?

Below the headline there is a picture. You look much different now than you did back then, but it is still you. You remember the day the picture was taken. It was not a good day.

Below the picture, the words read:

Name: Iris

Call the following number with any information. Generous reward provided to those with confirmed valuable intelligence.

You close your eyes. I knew this day would come. I just hoped I’d have more time. You think to yourself. You fall asleep with an ache in your heart, a panic in your head, and an itch in your skin, just above your breasts.

A/N: Yeah, Theia's shaken. She was really hoping she wouldn't see the posters again for a while. That photo, that day, haunts her more than she'd like to admit. Things are only going to get more complex for Theia as the days keep moving forward.

Chapter 24 is the morning after and the events of the day before Masquerade. Plus a very odd but not unexpected surprise for our dear Theia.

First || Chapter 22 || Chapter 24

#the demon of a thousand eyes #theia #demon of a thousand eyes #hazbin hotel fanfiction #hazbin hotel oc #alastor x reader #eye #eyes #eye puns #eye puns as a coping mechanism

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chalkrevelations · 3 years

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Episode 32 of Word of Honor, and once again, this is just. A LOT. A LOT is happening, and all of it is A LOT. Also, show, what is even happening? I have questions. A LOT of questions.

(Spoilers. Go ahead and scroll on by, then come back later, if you want to watch it unspoiled.)

BUT FIRST, before anything else, you know I have to yell about this for a minute because we once again see that the Gu Xiang/Cao Weining relationship and the Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishou relationship are the same relationship. We get the same scene with A-Xiang and Cao Weining – again – that we’ve already seen with Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu, this time from Ep 27, with Fan Shishu in the role of Ye Baiyi. Fan Shishu (YBY) asks “Do you know who she (he) is?” and this time, Cao Weining knows, just as ZZS knew in Ep 27. Cao Weining (ZZS) literally throws himself in front of A-Xiang (WKX) to protect her (him). “Kill us both” (Ep 27). “If you’re going to hurt her, kill me first” (Ep 32). Fan Shishu, like YBY, eventually lets A-Xiang and Cao Weining go, despite having them in a position where he could do them in. Color palettes between the two couples in these scenes match again, with the younger couple being more intense this time – A-Xiang and Wen Kexing in pinks, Cao Weining and Zhou Zishu in blue. (ZZS is mainly in creams and grey, but the piping on his robes is a very light blue, I think the greys have a blue undertone to them, and when you stand him next to Chengling in more intense blue while he’s wearing that particular outfit, it really starts to pull out the blue of ZZS’s outside robe – you can see this at the end of Ep 26.) Between the way these relationships continue to mirror each other and the hairpin scene from the last ep, I honestly don’t know what our takeaway is supposed to be, other than that WKX and ZZS are essentially married.

I also find it interesting - although this almost seems like too much of a stretch to be anything other than coincidence - that we get a specific callback to Ep 27 in this episode, as Ep 27 is also when WKX talks about not wanting to lie to Chengling about who he is anymore, and this ep is when they finally (apparently) meet again after Chengling learns the truth.

Aaaand now A-Xiang is crying, so of course I’m crying. Aaaand then we have the mournful montage. Give me a minute. And some tissues. I notice how much of this mournful drunken montage is ZZS remembering all the times he was cranky with WKX. Oh, honey. No. That’s what you’re remembering, because you feel bad, but it’s not what he would remember at all, if he was looking back over his time with you. And even if he did, it would be with great fondness.

Yeah, so, if I haven’t mentioned, this episode is a LOT. We get a big confrontation between WKX and half the jianghu/the Scorpions/some of the Ghost Valley contingent, ZZS showing up to support his man, Fantastic Cranky Grandpa of my heart getting in his eleven cents, Chengling shooting one of his dads, and two yeets off a cliff. And that’s only 15 minutes into the episode. This is too much, show. And I have too many questions. Also some observations. Also some wild speculation, not just about the fact that Wen Kexing is not dead but also about how he may have (not) got that way. And not just because there’s still four episodes left, and it’s too early for him to be dead.

First a small observation but pretty significant, I think: WKX is NOT in his blood-red Ghost Valley master robes during this confrontation. In fact, I think we’ve seen this set of robes in happier days with Zhou Zishou and Chengling. Just noticing this. Also noticing WKX’s face when Shen Shen starts going on about WKX’s parents and how omg if they could see WKX now they’d die all over from the shame, and WKX’S expression is like, the fucking audacity of Shen Shen saying this, and if he could actually kill people with the power of his mind, Shen Shen would be twitching and frothing on the ground. Also noticing the complete change when WKX sees Chengling – it’s like Shen Shen ceases to even exist for him. Gong Jun, your face, it’s killing me. Anyway, I’m going to start wildly speculating here for a minute, because WKX is willing to let Chengling kill him, because he’s so tired and wants to stop fighting, but he’s going to kick everyone else’s ass who even tries it? And then Chengling is actually the one who shoots him and yeets him off the cliff? Is this a set up? Is Chengling in on this? Is he the one who’s supposed to “kill” WKX? If so, at what point did we get Chengling in on this? And who did it? Did Chengling send what’s his name, Jing Beiyuan’s guard, away on purpose at this particular point, because he knew ZZS would show up in time for this confrontation if he heard about Chengling’s reaction to the news about WKX? And do I actually believe Chengling is smart enough – and a good enough actor – to pull off any of this? (Look, I love our little goldbean plenty, but let’s face it, he’s not the brightest kid running around here.)

Also, my dudes. My clever little killers. Xie Wang and Wen Kexing. I am unwilling to believe that you two aren’t somehow still together on this in some way in order to fuck over Awful Yifu. Your antagonistic back and forth seems a little bit like playing roles. Xie Wang gives Awful Yifu a weird side-eye a few times when Awful Yifu talks about how tricksy and cunning WKX is, like maybe he’s reconsidering, and do not tell me you’re questioning and reconsidering whatever deal you’ve made with WKX, little gambler. Why does your Awful Yifu’s bs always work on you? This is really not the time to roll the dice again. I’m assuming A-Xiang is still the only one who knows about their tete-a-tete? If so, this is a side-take I never would have expected on “you don’t fail me, and I won’t fail you.” Honor among thieves? Stick to the plan, Xie’er, whatever the hell it is. Do not blink.

So then, Ye Baiyi shows up, and my immediate reaction is NO. My beloved cranky grandpa, don’t fuck this up, because whatever is going on seems to already have a lot of moving parts with a lot of places for things to go wrong! But … are you in on it, too? Have YOU coordinated with Chengling? (If so, maybe you should have warned him to expect ZZS’s wild-card self-yeet over the cliff’s edge, since you’ve already seen how self-destructive self-sacrificing these two can get over each other.) Making me even more suspicious, Ye Baiyi later proceeds to walk out of a banquet before even eating anything. This guy is walking away from food? There is no clearer sign in this ep that something is up.

Also, while we’re on the banquets, listen. I cannot be the only one who wants to punch Zhao Jing in the face during his interminable yapping during both post-fight banquets. This is one of those places where the show and the actor have done their job too well, because he is so dislikeable and so off-putting that I almost can’t bear to actually watch him. And yet, I can’t fast-forward, because what if I miss some info? Like the fact that … you know, I went back to watch this bit three times, and that is a very … interesting series of camera shots during the second banquet - after the toasts, just as a couple of randoms start advocating for Zhao Jing as head of the Five Lakes Alliance, and we move from Xie’er to Shen Shen to Chengling, all of them still standing, facing Zhao Jing after their individual toasts, all of them in a formation that’s almost caging him in from the front and both sides. It gets more interesting every time I watch it. Is … is Shen Shen also in on this, somehow?

See, I know that is a lot of wild speculation. I know Wen Kexing got yeeted off a cliff, and Ye Baiyi was busy catching Zhou Zishu. And we saw a body. And ZZS set that body on fire. But I also know that Liu Qianqiao was the person holding vigil outside the shed where the body was being held. And I know she’s the other person, besides ZZS, who we know of that knows the facemask disguise technique (in fact, didn’t she learn it from ZZS’s shifu?) We actually get reminded of this later on in this very episode. Which makes me wonder if that was actually WKX’s body, or somebody else, in the shed. Who “found” that body and recovered it? Was it a Scorpion or one of the Ghost Valley contingent? Also, where’s that key WKX was waving around, and why does no one seem to remember it?

Other things:

lol at A-Xiang’s reaction to Jing Beiyun talking about how ZZS used to ask him to set ZZS up with girls. Further lol at Jing Beiyuan, “And funny enough, he was NEVER interested in them. Welp, time for another drink!” Seriously, Qi Ye, we like you, you can absolutely stay.

Still at the banquets, Xie Wang seems discombobulated during a lot of this. And then when Awful Yifu calls him Zhao Xie’er in front of everybody, holy shit, he’s getting everything he ever wanted. Xie’er, you … you’re not going to fall for this again, are you? Please tell me you are not falling for this again, at what is likely a crucial moment. This is NO TIME to take another roll of the dice, little gambler. Stick with the plan, whatever the hell it is.

Oh, hey! Are we finally getting some backstory on Fantastic Cranky Grandpa? Oh. OH. “Our child?” What is up, my friend? (I did go back to Ep 16, when WKX calls Chengling “my child” while defending him against Ye Baiyi, and looking at the Mandarin subtitles, I can’t entirely figure out (with my Level 2 Duolingo Mandarin) all of the nuances of these two references, but it doesn’t look like they’re using the same words to describe these relationships.) So some further wild speculation: Apparently, Cranky Grandpa Fantastico is solitary drinking in the dark instead of feasting at the banquet, over someone who (he feels) foolishly wanted to save the lost souls in the Ghost Valley? And now he feels like fate is making fun of him? And he’s asking Dead Beloved what he would do in Ye Baiyi’s position? Ye Baiyi, is it possible that fate is making fun of you because you have found yourself in the position of saving a lost soul from the Ghost Valley? Also, Ye Baiyi, I’ve noticed the children have been turning you grey. I don’t think you had that grey streak when you showed up for the first Hero’s Conference, did you? In fact, I feel like you got offended when WKX talked shit about possible grey hairs on your head.

Duan Pengju, this asshole, omg … OMG. Well. I guess you got your confirmation, Xie’er. Were you really considering rolling the dice again? AT THIS POINT?

#wen kexing #zhou zishu #gu xiang #cao weining #zhang chengling #shen shen #xie wang #ye baiyi #liu qianqiao #zhao jing #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

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lindsayruebens · 5 years

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The Grand #5-10-30

Last fall, Kane and I had two Frontier flight vouchers burning a hole in our pockets.

Also that fall, we celebrated being together for a decade. And then I turned 30 in December. April is Kane’s 30th birthday. And May is our fifth wedding anniversary.

And, for the past five years, we had exclusively used our vacation days for traveling to see family during the holidays and weddings. We were not only ready to celebrate but extremely ready for a vacation, and ready to do it up big.

Enter what my social-media-eschewing husband has persistently referred to as the #5-10-30 trip (yes I know there are no hyphens in real hashtags, but here we are), and he did so persistently enough that I too eventually broke down and also called it The 5-10-30.

Direct Frontier flights from Philadelphia narrowed our options considerably, and we wanted to pick somewhere we’d never been, so Denver it was. My parents very generously offered to watch Russ in Pennsylvania for a week, and after lots of research and planning, that’s how the best vacation Kane and I have ever had, or shall I say, The #5-10-30 Trip, materialized.

We rented a 2019 Nissan Rogue and basically did a loop beginning and ending in Denver. I kept a detailed journal of the trip, but I’ll spare you the less-thrilling details and share the highlights:

Day 1: Afternoon/evening in Denver

(^Ready for takeoff to Denver!)

Great AirBnB cottage in the LoHi neighborhood. After meeting us, our host ran into her house to bring us her own nice bottle of tequila, limes and shot glasses to start off our trip on a celebratory note. Cheers!

Speaking of cheers, we recommend the Recess Beer Garden, where we watched Virginia win the national title.

Day 2: Denver/Colorado Springs

We kicked breakfast off at Bacon Social House with a flight of bacon. And because we’re corny, we gave serious thought to ranking the six bacon styles (French toast was my fav, barbecue was Kane’s). Scissors for sharing the slices were included.

Next up: Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The red rock formations were breathtaking, and we’re glad we went to the visitor’s center for info on hiking trails. Great views of both Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak.

Another fantastic AirBnB in Old Colorado City, and delicious dinner — just say yes to the brisket grilled cheese and lamb sliders — outside at Cerberus Brewing Company while watching the sun set behind the Rockies.

Day 3: Colorado Springs

We spent much of this day in the earth.

First stop was Cave of the Winds. Holy cow, do the Lantern Tour if you can. Our self-described hippie tour-guide, John, thoroughly scared us before we even began, warning us of having to walk crouched low for a couple of minutes through under-4-foot-high tunnels, that we’d only be walking by the light of candle-lit lanterns (hence the name Lantern Tour) and that we were about to enter the supposedly most haunted caverns in North America. It’s not a tour for the faint of heart (nor the arthritic). Learned the history of the 19th-century pioneers who took ownership of the caves and held exotic parties in them, and of course there was a generous helping of spooky ghost stories.

(^Our only photo in the cave before the tour began-- not the kind of setting to take a selfie!)

Back in the sunlight, we had lunch at Ivywild School, an elementary school-turned community center/local business spot/brewery.

Dinner in downtown Colorado Springs at The Rabbit Hole, also underground. We did actually try rabbit with the Bunny Bites appetizer… a drier, leaner version of chicken nuggets.

Day 4: Cañon City/Nathrop

Spent the day at the Royal Gorge in Cañon City. The gondola ride across was slightly panic-inducing, but offered amazing views; informative short movie about the Gorge in onsite theater; then walks across America’s tallest suspension bridge. The gaps between some of the wooden planks of the floor allowed you to see all the way to the Arkansas River flowing below. YIKES. Of course Kane insisted we really feel “fully alive,” and so we were the only ones nutty enough to go back and forth several more times in the wind. Don’t worry, I felt super-alive, and thankfully, remained in such a state.

Spectacular mountain drive along Route 50 to Nathrop, where we checked in at the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort. It’s in the San Isabel National Forest.

(^Serious room with a view.)

That evening we donned bathing suits in 30-something degree weather to recline in the hot springs of Chalk Creek. We laid our heads on rocks, stared at the stars and crescent moon overhead and enjoyed deep conversation that also included momentarily pretending we were contestants on The Bachelor, because it was such an over-the-top date, and I assured Kane I was most certainly there for the right reasons.

Day 5: Nathrop/Breckenridge

Hot springs again in the bright morning sunshine before driving to Breckenridge, which was a little insane with hairpin turns up and down mountains. We drove through Alma, North America’s highest incorporated town, and were relieved to make it to our AirBnB. Then: A scrumptious sushi lunch downtown at The Blue Fish and perusing the town’s many shops.

We called up the Lost Bus, owned and operated by the Broken Compass Brewing, which picks up people for free from downtown Breckenridge to its brewery site a few miles away. This was my favorite brewery of the trip! Fantastic craft beers and great local vibe.

Then we walked about half a mile down the road to Flight Club for food. It was an extremely local experience (complete with a guy glass-blowing pipes next to the bar!) and even featured a local battle-of-the-bands winner, Hollywood Farmers, who were actually quite talented.

(^My view from the bar. Just some casual glass-blowing, dudes.)

Day 6: Boulder

A crazy drive to Boulder on Route 70 with foggy snow showers. But we made it in one piece to Chautauqua Park and hiked around the Flatirons on the Enchanted Mesa Trail and loved it.

Lunched at Roxie’s Tacos, where they served amazing Mexican-Indian fusion in the lovely campus area of CU-Boulder, then drove to the Celestial Seasonings headquarters for a free tea tour and samples. A highlight was the peppermint room! Free aromatherapy.

Checked into a Courtyard Marriott and ate at Avery Brewing Company.

Day 7: Boulder/Denver

Amazing breakfast at Lucile’s in adorable downtown Boulder. Walked around Pearl Street Mall, where the tulip beds were in bloom. If I had to choose one of the places we visited to move, I’d pick Boulder!

Drove back to Denver and attended a beautiful Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Proceeded to a tour of the Molly Brown House. Loved learning her incredible story: a rags-to-riches miner’s wife, Titanic survivor, philanthropist, winner of French Legion of Honor… Google her if you have time!

On to Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey for a delightful distillery tour. We learned how it was made and aged and also how to properly drink whiskey. Not sure I’m a converted whiskey-drinker, but loved every minute of the tour.

We ended our trip where we began, in the LoHi neighborhood, at a fantastic Mediterranean tapas restaurant called El Five. We sat outside overlooking the Denver skyline and the Rockies before catching a red-eye home. It was the perfect way to punctuate a pretty near-perfect trip.

(^Dinner view. Until we meet again, Colorado!)

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alicemoonwonderland · 7 years

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The Thief’s Jewel - Part Two

Part Two of the Thief’s Jewel

[Part 1] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12]

Fandom: The Hobbit Pairing: Nori x Jaida (Orignal Fem!Character) Rating: NSFW for later chapters

Tagging: @atlerion @themissimmortal @insomniacapples(let me know if you want to be tagged)

"GOOD AFTERNOON GOOD PEOPLE OF EREBOR!" Nori beamed as he swaggered into his brother's tea shop. Winking at Jaida as he took a seat in the back where he could watch the door and windows. His back against the wall. Taking out his pipe and lit it. He was early but oh well.

"Are you kidding me? This is a fine person’s establishment. Inside voice you dwarfling! What are you, three?" Dori hissed.

Jaida blushed lightly. Nori had been coming around almost every day to walk with her before she went home. It’s been weeks now. Her father was getting curious. Too curious. She bit her lip as she went back to cleaning, giggling at Dori.

"Three? Please give me some credit brother dearest. I’m at least five don’t you think?" Nori spoke dramatically, touching his chest. "My gracious lady Jaida. Would you like to go on a long walk with me after my slave driver brother frees you?"

"We will see." Jaida said softly. Shaking her head amused as she moved for Dori who was ready for a counter response. "Why don't you make him a cup of tea?" She whispered.

Dori scoffed. "Tea? The boy has never drank tea in his life." He grumbled and moved away.

"Nonsense." She chuckled. Making Nori a cup of her favorite tea and taking it to him. Placing it on the table beside him. "How are you?"

Nori stared at the cup as if it was poison, very strong poison. "I've been doing well, my lady. How are you doing?" He hated tea. He despised it. Ale was his thing. He was a grown ass dwarrow thank you very much.

"I am well. I missed you." She said shyly, biting her bottom lip as she looked down at her hands. "It's lemon tea. My favorite. But if you prefer another I can make it for you."

His heart skipped a beat. He inhaled slowly and picked up the cup. Sniffing it lightly. Mahal help him. He took a sip. Eyes widening a bit as it wasn't so bad. Not bad at all. "I missed you too." He mumbled, giving her a little smile.

She made a happy mewling sound, scrunching her face up. A faint blush on her cheeks. "Well then. Maybe now you won't stay away for two days." She whispered. Noticing one of his braids going rogue. Licking her fingers and reaching out to straighten it back against the peak where it belonged. "There we go."

He blinked rapidly when she touched his hair. He should pull back. Get annoyed. But...it made him all warm and fuzzy. "Thank you." He told her sincerely as he sipped his tea. Ignoring his brother's astonished look. "I'm sorry. I'll come more often. Cannot have the lady miss me. That must be a crime."

Dori looked up at the ceiling, holding his hands out. "Mahal why do you punish me so?" He whispered. Who was this person and where was his younger brother Nori? He'd never drink tea. And gouge out someone's eyes for touching his hair. Not even Ori was allowed to touch his hair.

Jaida blinked as she turned to the elder dwarf. "Mister Dori?"

He sighed deeply. Closing his eyes for a moment before he looked at her too. "Go on. I can finish up from here. You practically clean the place all day anyway."

"So dramatic." Nori mumbled amused as he finished his tea, taking out a few coins and placed it on the table. "My lady." He smiled brightly at her, offering her his arm.

"Stop it Nori." She giggled, wrapping her arms around Nori's. Pressing herself against him. A little closer each day it seemed. Sighing content as he was so warm. And smelled amazing. “See you tomorrow Mister Dori!”

“Good evening Jaida.” Dori called back. Sighing exasperated when they left the shop.

"How was the day? Any trouble?" Nori asked her softly as they walked, he was guiding her to a cave he had found. Humming a tune as he watched her. So beautiful. More beautiful than any gem he had seen. And he had seen a lot of them.

"No trouble at all. I don't think anyone would dare mess with your brother." She giggled, pressing further against him. Squeezing his arm more. Mahal she didn't realize how much she'd missed him.

He placed his hand over hers. "I know, but I've known him my whole life. I just have this irresistible urge to mess with him. By Mahal the stories I could tell you." He laughed happily and guided her towards empty corridors, the cavern he wanted to show her was off the beaten track.

"I've heard plenty from Dori. Trying to dissuade me from being your friend I think." Though she knew it was more Dori trying to see if she could really forgive all that he did. If she was right for his brother. "Where are we going Nori?"

"Don't believe a word he says. He's a drama queen. Exaggerating is one of his great talents." He winked amused at her. "I want to show you a cave I've found while exploring the mountain."

"Oh? Master Nori I hardly think this is appropriate." She smirked lightly.

"Appropriate? What is that word? I've never heard of it." He mused, tugging on his braids as if he was thinking deeply.

"Obviously." She drawled amused. Her heart suddenly beating faster as she looked around.

"Don't worry. I won't get you into trouble or cause trouble. I just want to show you something pretty." He smiled warm at her as he looked around as well. The walls decorated with veins of gold and silver. Little pockets of gems, becoming more and more the further they got into the cavern.

"What if I ask you to?" She purred as she pulled away. Moving a few feet ahead of him and starting to walk along the wall. Admiring all the gems as she went.

"Oooh. Cheeky little one." He followed with a lazy smirk on his face. "If you ask me to cause trouble, who am I to deny you?"

"Well it’s just me and you so how bad can the trouble be?" She whispered, but it came out louder as her voice bounced from the cave walls. Goodness Jaida what had gotten into you?

Mahal. She was really tempting him. Really tempting. He walked beside her and stroked her back softly. "This way." He purred in her ear and guided her to take a left corridor. "I think you once mentioned you liked opals?"

"Did I? Or have you been sneaking into my bedroom at night and reading my journal?" She tried to keep the snarky comments coming. But he sent chills running up her spine.

"Dang it. She's on to me. I don't read your journal. I listen to you talk in your sleep." He drawled playfully, his hand moving to her lower back.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Oh? And what do I say?" She said softly, absentmindedly moving closer to him from his touch.

"How handsome I am. How dashing. How awesome and fantastic." He pulled her closer. She didn't say that. Heck he didn't go into her bedroom. He had some lines he did not cross.

"Well I know that's a lie. I would never say you were dashing. I would never use that word period. But that's good. It means you don't hear me talk about my dreams." She sighed dreamily.

"I'm so tempted to go into your room now. But I won't. I do have some manners." He looked curious at her. "Do you dream of me?"

"Hmm. You don't always have manners." She glanced over to him.

"Didn't answer my question, cheeky one." He looked up and a real smile peeked through. "This is what I wanted to show you."

She followed his actions and gasped softly. Eyes widening as her eyes darted over the multiple clusters of opals in the ceiling. "Yes I dream of you." She whispered so soft.

His heart went haywire. Glad he was standing behind her as his cheeks were flushed with heat for a moment. Licking his lips as he was content to just watch the awe on her face. The way she stared at the opals. Maybe he should have brought Ori as well. So he could have drawn her and immortalized the moment.

She stared, absolutely still except for the light movement of her chest from her breathing. Her hair slowly falling over her shoulders as she tilted her head farther back.

She had the most beautiful hair he had ever seen in his life. So smooth, thick and shiny. He wondered how it felt between his fingers. Against his bare skin. He scolded himself for thinking like that. Leaning against the wall and just watched her. Not wanting to disturb her.

"Did you have other plans after you brought me here? Or was it just to see the gems? You did ask me for a long walk." She murmured, keeping her eyes on the ceiling. Well if she ever ran away, they knew where to find her.

"There are a few more caverns I want to show you. It will be our little secret as I don't feel like telling anyone else. And most stay in the known tunnels. And I just wanted to walk with you and talk." She grounded him, helped him find his center again.

"And what happens if I come out here and get lost? Or run into some vagabonds trying to find the way out here?" She teased lightly, staring for another moment before she lowered her head again.

His face turned serious. His chest becoming so tight as he felt sick at the idea of someone daring to hurt her. "I wish to teach you self-defense."

"Teach me self-defense? I can defend myself well enough. I've learned more than a few things." Just she should probably plan to carry around a weapon to assist.

"Do you know how to hide weapons like daggers on your body? Or use hairpins as weapons?" He asked her softly as he watched her seriously.

She shook her head lightly, tensing and shivering a bit from his look. The tone in his voice. "You want to show me?'

"Yes. I'll gladly do that." He started to explain and show her how and where to hide small daggers. Places that she could easily reach, but her opponents wouldn't know where they were hidden. Even pulling one out of his hair.

She listened so intently, hanging on his every word. But she couldn't stop the faint blush on her cheeks when she looked up at him. So intense. He was becoming... different around her. Taking his hand suddenly.

Nori stopped mid-sentence, watching her curiously and a bit confused. "Yes my lady?" He asked softly as they stood so close to each other. His eyes tracing the blush on her cheeks. Inhaling deep and slowly. Such a lovely scent.

"Maybe you should show me where I can hide them. I don't have big hair like you. Or the multiple layers of clothing." She whispered breathlessly. Lifting his arm up and over her as she stepped against his chest. Pressing her back to him. Heart beating so fast.

He swallowed thickly as his mind tried to process what was going on. Dangerous little minx. "Well. One of the options is here." He brushed his hand over her breasts, tracing her cleavage. "You can easily hide something here." He murmured softly in her ear. His body tightening as he pulled her closer.

She inhaled sharply, her body immediately reacting. Chills running up her spine as she shivered against him. Completely leaning back into him now. "I, see. And where else?"

"In the sleeves of your dress." He slowly traced his fingers over her arm. Taking slow deep breathes to keep himself under control. But still holding her close. "If you're wearing pants, here." He stroked her hips softly. "Or in your boots."

"What about here?" She whispered breathlessly, taking his hands and moving them down her thighs.

He clenched his jaw, his nose brushing her cheek slightly. His hands stroking her thighs softly, suddenly cupping her between them in a bold and a bit of possessive hold. "That's a very good place as well." He murmured in her ear, voice so low and rough.

She gasped, eyes widening for a moment. Hips moving absentmindedly against his hand. Moaning softly as she immediately felt like she was on fire. Cheeks flushing with heat. "I don't think I'd want a dagger or knife there."

"Are you sure? I've a lovely dagger for your sheath." His other hand pressed against her stomach to hold her close as his fingers moved against her slightly. Panting softly against her skin as his heart pounded so wildly.

She trembled, her head falling back against him. Blushing at herself for reacting so easily to his touch. "Nori." She moaned, peering over her shoulder at him.

His breathing was rough and ragged as he tried to find some control. She deserved more. Deserved better. "Jaida." He murmured and moved his hand slowly, resting it on her thigh.

Her heart clenched as she kept looking at him. Hands tightening around his forearms. "N-Nori?" She whispered hesitantly.

"Yes, my sweet Jaida?" He asked her softly, wrapping his arms around her and hugged her so fiercely.

She turned away from him, looking down as she swallowed thick. What had just happened? She blinked rapidly as her eyes burned. "It's late I should get home."

"Jaida." He whispered pained as his heart clenched. He carefully cupped her face and looked into her eyes. "You deserve so much, so much more than I could ever give you. I want to treat you with the respect you deserve."

"What do you mean 'more than you could ever give me'? What sort of excuse is that and how is that your decision to make?" She whispered so quiet. Feeling cold like stone.

He looked defeated at her, at a loss. He had never felt like this before. It terrified him. He brushed his fingers against her cheekbones. Blinking rapidly as his eyes hurt. "You're right. It's not my decision to make." But how could he deserve her? He was a thief. A spymaster. He lived in the shadows while she belonged in the light.

Her breathing picked up again as she placed her hands back on his arms. Looking around so rapidly as she tried to gather her thoughts. Her heart threatening to jump out of her chest. "I like you Nori." She said so hesitantly. He was her one, if she could understand that sort of thing. But she'd never felt like this about anyone before. Never even held interest in such a way.

He stared at her as if she had suddenly had started to speak in a language he didn't know. No one in his life had ever told him that they liked him. Not even his own mother. Blinking even quicker and pulled her close, hugging her so tightly. "I like you too, Jaida." He murmured against her hair.

She exhaled sharply, a couple rogue tears running over as she was so relieved. Wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his shoulder. Inhaling his scent as she relaxed so much against him. “I do still need to get home. Adad will turn Erebor over if he gets home before me." She giggled, snuggling against him.

"Ah yes. We can't have that." Nori mumbled with a deep dramatic sigh as he massaged her back. Seems he had to start crafting.

"Will you walk me out to the main halls?" She asked as she pulled back, smiling up at him.

“I might be willing to do that. If I get to hold you for a little longer.” He teased her, burying his face in her neck.

She giggled as his beard tickled her skin. “It’s a deal.”

#the hobbit #the hobbit fanfiction #nori #nori x oc #ch: jaida #written by alicemoonwonderland

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maren-as-an-adult · 7 years

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I Severely Underestimated the Lack of Time and Energy This Job Would Allow Me

So my plan of posting a weekly-ish update about this job severely backfired on me, because HOLY SHIT DO THEY KEEP US BUSY! This is legitimately a full-time job, we should all get a raise, but because the Man hates the Arts we probably won’t ever at all and counselors are people who do the most but get the least, goddammit. SO! The week started off where I was a scared beanpole of a girl super intimidated by all of the nearly 300 children that would be staying with us for the next 3 weeks. I had no idea how I would run my classes, I had no idea what I’d be doing for my show, I had no idea if I would make friends, and I had no idea if I’d be able to handle the six girls I’d be in charge of on my floor.

Three weeks later, I was so emotionally compromised when they left and I realized I wouldn’t see them for another year... unless I don’t come back next year in which case I’ll probably never see them again. WHICH IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO HAVE HAPPEN!

Basically, here’s the breakdown:

CLASSES

I taught three dance classes: beginner jazz, intermediate ballet, and advanced modern. I only had four in my modern class, and I grew to love each of them so much. They were so receptive and willing to perform their best, and they all said they really admired me. Modern also was set to perform in the class showcase, and they were able to beautifully perform the choreography I gave them.... although I didn’t actually get to see their performance, the class showcase was on my day off, and on that day I went into the city for a date with The Boyfriend. That was a fun day, but back to camp for now.

THE SHOW

The show I worked on was Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. And WOW was our director intense. We were flying through the show which was to be expected because we only had two and a half weeks to have it blocked, cued, choreographed, and memorized and even though I’m good at picking up and learning choreography, I was struggling myself to keep up.

This was especially nerve wracking for me, as the cast would frequently come up to me and ask me for clarification on what we just learned. Because it’s not considered professional to say, “Sorry, dude, I know about as much as you do right now, so I guess you’re fucked,” I struggled to help them as best I could.

I’d feel so useless, incompetent, and foolish when I couldn’t help them, and there were days I was definitely overwhelmed. I was also super lost on several of the group dances, because I’d been gone for a weekend up in Albany for my grandfather’s funeral which was a fucking blast there was a rainbow and everything.

There was this one girl in my cast who was, in a bit of a word, super high-strung about everything. She wanted to be perfect in the show for all the wrong reasons (I won’t get into it much, but basically she felt she needed to be perfect to prove to other people outside of this particular production that she deserved better treatment from them) and was constantly oscillating between doubting herself (because even though she’s clearly talented, that knowledge isn’t enough when another cast member gets applause after her numbers in rehearsal and she doesn’t) and taking it upon herself to correct others and give them notes. She wasn’t a nightmare to work with, but I’m glad she’s not in the production I’m working on for Session 2 (she was one of the few stay-over kids we had who stay for two sessions instead of just one)

There were some great and memorable times during rehearsals, though. One of our leading men during dress rehearsal got a costume ring stuck on his finger and had to be taken to urgent care to get it cut off. Before that, though, I took him over to our nurses to see if we could get it off there. When lotion, an old ring cutter, an ice pack, and dental floss did not work, that’s when we put his fate into the hands of the professionals.

There was also the time a rumor may have started that the director and I were sleeping together, which is hilarious because he and I both have boyfriends.

THE GIRLS

So last session I was assigned a room of six girls to look after: wake them up, make sure they’re on the floor by curfew, make sure they’re in their rooms at 10:30, take away their phones for the night, and make sure their lights are out by 11pm. If they’re having problems or want to talk to someone, they should come to me. They were all between the ages of 14 and 16, which in my experience can make for some fairly catty attitudes.

I did not realize how sad I would be when most of them left (one of my girls is a stay-over, yay!)

They all gave me huge hugs before they left, and asked if I would come back again next summer. I told them that unless Stagedoor decided not to re-hire me, there was no way I wasn’t coming back.

They would open up to me, confide in me, and told me how much they loved me.

I’m 99.99% certain it was all genuine and not just flattery so I’d be lenient with them.

But I do miss them, and I hope I get to see them again.

PRODUCTION WEEKEND

During this week, my birthday happened and I turned 24. My roommates decorated our door, I got a cake at lunch, was sung to twice, and received over a hundred “Happy Birthday” messages in various electronic form: Facebook, text, voicemail, Snapchat, etc. But the top three moments of the day were:

- A voicemail from The Boyfriend, officially being the first person to wish me a Happy Birthday

- A card from one of the director-choreographers, and head of the dance department (who has worked at Stagedoor for 25 years and everyone loves)

- A card from my family with a very generous gift cart to purchase show tickets (which I now have thanks to The Boyfriend!!!!)

But apart from that there was nothing particularly special about the day. My girls kept wishing me a Happy Birthday each time they saw me, though, so that was nice.

One good thing about production week is you get real good at pin curling and iron curling hair. I had so many flashbacks to my high school theatre days when the crowds formed around a handful of curling irons all plugged into one communal power strip and a box of approximately 8,000 hairpins was constantly floating around. But at my high school, it was just one show with about 40 kids getting ready. Imagine almost 200 girls needing their hair pin-curled for wigs by counselors (because apparently none of them knew how to do it?) on a super strict schedule that didn’t give them much time, coupled with the fact that everyone needed to get makeup done and costumes on an hour before the shows opened.

And on top of all this, there was some weird plague going around. Campers and counselors alike were dropping like flies and succumbing to this illness, and if it wasn’t that illness it was strep throat. The hectic and stressful environment coupled with the fact that parents were coming to visit had staff near the breaking point, and the only thing we wanted was 24 hours of quiet solitude.

That was a little more than a pipe dream, though.

I myself almost caught this mysterious flu-like death virus going around. Our music director for Follies caught it, and was struggling to stay alert and conscious during our dress rehearsal, our stage manager caught it and was promptly sent to bed to try and sleep it off. That night I remember a rather large headache and a weird pre-nausea feeling in my stomach, along with a general full-body ache, and I just remember thinking, “Please God don’t let me have this.” I made sure to go right to bed that night after our end-of-the-day meeting, and woke up feeling fine. I’d already gone through some pretty shitty allergy sickness at the start of the session, and I didn’t want to start and end session 1 sick.

Thankfully, though, our music director and stage manager were back in action the next day for opening show, and the shows were flawless. I’ve never been so proud of a group before, because they did one of the most challenging things I could have imagined.

But the day had to come where they packed up their stuff and drove home with their families. It was sad to see them go, especially after bonding so strongly with some of them. And there was no time to feel sad, really. As soon as a room was empty, counselors and cleaning staff would immediately start cleaning the rooms and prepping them for the next batch of kids to come in.

And now they’re here. I have two rooms this session, and on night one of session two my first room (which has my stay-over girl in it) managed to break a bulb on a string of lights and get glass over the floor. My group leader had forewarned me that they could be rowdy and quite a handful, but I was hoping they’d give it a few days before breaking something. So I knew I had to do something to prevent excessive rowdiness ASAP.

That night, after cleaning up the shards of glass/plastic, I gave them a quick speech about how busy it was for counselors: not only did we look after a room full of girls (and in my and other counselors’ cases, sometimes multiple rooms), but we also had classes to prep for and teach, and shows to either manage or choreograph. I asked them to help make the counselors’ jobs a little bit easier by being smart, conscientious, and mature. That seemed to get through to them, because thus far I haven’t had any trouble from them.

And it’s now been a few days into session 2. I’m teaching intermediate tap, intermediate modern, and musical theatre. The class structures could not be more different for me this time. Musical theatre thus far doesn’t have a set class structure, what I’ve kind of cobbled together as a lesson plan has been: work on one piece for the showcase, and throw potential audition combinations at them to train them to pick up choreography quickly. Tap is basically a warm-up of basic moves, and then the rest of the class is spend working on moves they want to learn. Modern still holds some semblance of structure, though, but it’s my largest class and the students take up all the floor space, so it’s harder to really see everyone and make sure they’re getting the combinations I give them.

I was super excited when I heard about the shows for this session, but the two that I really wanted to work on were choreographer shows, and didn’t require an assistant choreographer (A.C.’s only work on shows with director-choreographers). They were Evil Dead - The High School Version and Guys and Dolls. But I’m still excited about the show I’m working on: Me and My Girl. It’s kind of like My Fair Lady and Half A Sixpence. My director-choreographer is this really great lady who is super organized with everything, so with the way she has things planned and mapped out, we should have the show ready for full runs in less than two weeks.

Today was my first day off for this session, and it was pretty amazing. I slept in, treated myself to some nice makeup, went out for pizza with my friend Anna, and got some counselor work done. Next week I get to see two of my favorite people in the world and a Broadway show (I’m seeing Kinky Boots starring Brendon Urie with The Boyfriend). I still need to figure how I’m getting to the bus station but that’s a problem for tomorrow or the next day.

So, weekly updates won’t be a thing, but I can try to do session recaps. That’s what I’m aiming for at this point.

And now, on to session 2!

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ladyinthebluebox · 7 years

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Ten questions for Lady Inquisitor Deirdre Lavellan

(under the cut because it’s pretty long)

I. Had your Inquisitor ever been in love before being sent to the conclave?

There was something sweet blooming between Derry and Glandival - one of the clan’s Crafts Master apprentices. From time to time she used to come around and watch him work, while he was giving her all sorts of little handmade presents like wooden boxes for herbs and ointments that were carved with intricate floral motives, hairpins and such. However, it has never developed into anything serious because Deirdre eventually decided to take her chances and become a travelling keeper which inevitably led to her leaving her clan (and probably breaking poor boy’s heart). So no, she hadn’t really been in love before the Conclave.

II. Where does your Inquisitor go when they need a break from everything?

Deirdre likes to sit on the roof overlooking Skyhold’s garden (near the place where the elven arrow can be found). When she lived in the wilderness she loved climbing trees and this is as close to sitting on a tree branch in the middle of the forest as she can get in the castle.

III. What is your Inquisitor’s worst memory?

Deirdre has two such memories. First one is the day when as a six year old girl she woke up to see her mother gone and all clan’s hunters mobilizing to look out for her. The second one is when her father was brought wounded after their hunters were attacked by a bear and following night during which she, Keeper and Master Herbalist were doing everything to save her father’s life.

IV. What is your Inquisitor’s most treasured possession?

However few things associated with her clan and life before the Conclave she has, they have exceptional value for her. Derry keeps those few boxes that survived her unexpected visit in the Fade, her precious pipe and hair accessory made of deer’s antlers. Most of all, she treasures one of two items that her mother left behind (second belongs to her brother) – a brooch in the shape of dragonfly that is always pinned to her collar or shawl. Later there is also the staff that belonged to keeper Deshanna with which (after it has been mended by her using a technique similar to Japanese kintsugi) she always travels.

V. What makes your Inquisitor laugh?

First of all, it would be her brother, then Sera, clumsy wolf cub saved from that one cursed cave on the Hinterlands, and Varric’s stories about Hawke.

VI. Does your Inquisitor have any siblings?

Yes. Deirdre has six years older brother – Falon. Back when they both lived in the same place, there were best friends and companions for any kind of mischief. Falon used to be the clan’s main troublemaker and Derry was always coming along with him (usually oblivious of his initial intentions but always having fun). They got separated when during the Arlathven, Falon and few other boys and girls were exchanged for a “fresh blood” from other clans. For about eight years now he has lived with Clan Thelhen that recently made a camp on the Exalted Plains (I decided to name this clan somehow) where his and his sister’s paths were destined to cross again.

VII. Who is the Inquisitor’s closest friend?

She is on good terms with everyone but she is especially close to Dorian, Cassandra and Josephine. Dorian’s playful attitude reminds her a lot of her brother’s and always brings a smile to her face. Cassandra - because when Derry finally learns to trust humans and sees through her hard shell, she absolutely adores that despite being a tough warrior she truly is a caring, romantic woman. Both Cassandra and Dorian are very supportive of her and that is exactly what Deirdre often needs. She spent a lot of time with Josie learning everything, from human history and customs to basics of etiquette, and they became quite close friends. From time to time she likes to pull Lady Ambassador out from her office for a cup of tea with honey and a little “gossip-girls-time”.

There is also her quite unique friendship with Cole. While she mends bodies and heals illnesses in the Skyhold’s infirmary, he takes care of patients’ souls - in some sense they are both healers, just their methods and areas of expertise are different. Their willingness to help others is what connects them.

VIII. Does your Inquisitor need a plan or are they happy to wing it?

In most cases, Deirdre prefers to have a plan or at least some sort of idea about what to do next, but she is no stranger to making things up as they go.

IX. How much care does your Inquisitor take with their appearance?

Derry doesn’t use much makeup, except for self-made balm that makes her lips look like she just ate a handful of wild berries. She pays much more attention to her hair – lush, copper waves are always braided into very sophisticated updos. Derry likes wearing simple clothes in light colors with addition of a rich colored shawl or scarf.

X. Where did your Inquisitor learn most of their skills and abilities?

Because her clan was sworn to the peaceful path of Vir Atish’an she learned only defensive and healing spells from their Keeper. All her knowledge about herbalism she owes to the clan’s Master Herbalist to whom she was an apprentice. Her father also took the time to train his daughter in archery. The more offensive kind of magic she learned after the Conclave from her mage companions.

Writing questionnaire from @writersofthedas [x]

#deirdre lavellan #ten questions for #my inquisitor #inquisitor lavellan #lavellan #dragon age inquisition #deirdre infos #brace yourselves for a lot of reading #this is what i'm doing instead of writing my bachelor's thesis #i'm a trash

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withasideofeggsy · 7 years

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Hwarang :: Ban Ryu x reader :: Part 2

Thank you to all those who left likes and feedback! It let’s me know that someone out there is reading the mess of words I’m throwing up here. It really helps me write :) This one is short I’m sorry but I like how it concluded haha!

Part 1

The sun seeps through the paper blinds and I groan flopping over...into something squishy. “Wha…” I mumble prying my sleep glued eyes open. There lay Han Sung cuddled into my side, he must’ve gotten cold during the night. With a yawn I pat his soft long tresses causing him to childishly giggle. “How did you get all the way over here?” He groans and nuzzles himself into my neck, “Knew you wouldn’t get mad for cuddling.” With a thoughtful nod I shrug “That’s true, smart. Good for you Han Sung but I think it’s time to wake up.” He groans tightening his hold around my waist, I shake my head at his cuteness as I attempt to get up. A louder sigh is heard in the room gaining my attention, rubbing the sleep from my eyes I could make out a pair of lovely dark eyes glaring from the mattress beside mine. “Morning grumpy,” I hum earning an eye roll before he flops back down, rolling onto his side. With his back facing me I crawl over Han Sung towards Ban Ryu. “Hey,” I whisper poking his shoulder. “What?” “Are you excited to be humiliated today in front of everyone during sword practice?” He rolls his eyes again but this time I could see a small smirk pulling at his lips. “Is that a yeah?” I tease poking at his chest. He holds my wrist firmly before leaning close into my ear. “You flirt a lot for a man,” he lowly whispers making sure none of the sleeping men hear. I grin, “I can’t help it. You’re cute.” And that was the first time I heard him let out a low chuckle, “How bold.”

“Ah! Ah! See what did I tell you!” I exclaim pointing my wooden practice sword at his throat. This was my continuous win, I couldn’t help but feel extremely excited considering the embarrassing face punch I received yesterday. “Oh hohoho, you are really skilled and fast!” Exclaims Soo Ho who stopped practicing with Sun Woo to observe our match. “Ah not really, I just practiced a lot with my sister,” I smile humbly when deep down I wanted to burst into a victory dance on top of Ban Ryu’s thick stubborn skull. The famous playboy whistles while fanning himself with his hand, “Your sister sounds hot, a girl who is good at sword fighting? Can I meet her?” Blood rushes up to my cheeks, “Of course not!” “Aww how come! She’s probably adorable!” Pipes in Han Sung who also paused his training, eventually everyone gathered around me and Ban Ryu questioning about my ‘sister’. “I-I don’t think that would be a good idea haha,” I nervously laugh. “Why not?” I glare at Ban Ryu who had the smuggest smirk on his face, that little piece of-. “See even jerk face wants to meet her!” Soo Ho exclaims, “How about we meet her tonight? There isn’t much planned for the evening but etiquette lessons.” I reluctantly nod while scheming a master plan that would ruin Ban Ryu’s evening. If I’m going down I’m taking him with me.

With a yawn I stretch my tight back, sitting on the hard ground for hours on end learning etiquette was so boring. The only amusing part was that grumpy silver spoon excelled in it. Even though his gestures were elegant and smooth his resting face said otherwise which I found hilarious. The lessons finally ended when the sun started to set, and here marks the beginning of a hectic evening. Before I could even get off my numb bottom Soo Ho was already at my side with the brightest smile, “Go get your sister!” I nod thoughtfully, “Ah yeah I just remembered that she has a night job I don’t think she can make it.” The man puppy pouted, and I knew my excuses weren’t going to work, “So I guess I will fill in for her and you guys can show her around?” As quickly as the frown appeared it disappeared into his usual bright smile, “Sounds good!”

I ran to A-Ro’s house where she kindly helped me keep my clothes. She bursts out in laughter when I told her the mess I got myself in. “Here wear this one. Since usually you wear dark colours when impersonating as a man it would make you look more different.” She was clever I was glad to have her help. I pull on a floral print pink and white hanbok and brushed my bangs across my forehead. “Is this alright?” She hums tapping her chin in thought, “Ah wear the hairpin your brother got you!” I almost forgot about it, rummaging through the wooden box that held all my belongings I found the hairpin that my brother saved up to buy for me. It was the only prized possession I had that’s why I rarely wore it, I smile feeling the carved grooves with my thumb. A-Ro braids the pieces of hair behind my ear into a small bun where she secured the pin in. “Now you are ready to go!” She proudly claps.

This was more nerve racking than entering the palace as a Hwarang. When impersonating a man my confidence hit sky high, now that I was in my normal skin I couldn’t help but walk with my head down like I always did. As the club came into view with my friends gathered at the entrance I took in a deep breath, so ready to turn on my heels and make a mad dash back to A-Ro’s. “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!” I chant under my breath slowly approaching the tall men. “Um hi,” I timidly greet tugging at Soo Ho’s sleeve. He whips around and looks down at me with a shocked expression before his face lights up, “Oh my are you Aga’s little sister?” He reaches out and cups my face in his large hands, I pretended to be confused, “Aga?” “He meant Gun Chul,” Ji Dwi smiles warmly and I nod slowly, “Ah yeah I’m (Y/n)! It’s an honor to meet you all.” I smile bowing my head. Soo Ho wheezes cupping his own face, mumbling out an almost incoherent “So cute.” As they entered the club Han Sung lagged behind with me, he was quieter than usual which I found weird so I decided to initiate a conversation, “And you are Han Sung right? My brother told me about you. You are very kind I heard, thank you for taking care of him for me,” I smile linking my arm with his, his mouth gapes a bit before he innocently smiles with a nod.

The Okta club looked a lot more crowded than usual. Even though I was having fun I kept searching for Ban Ryu, no matter how much he likes to dampen the mood I couldn’t help but want his attention. After about five drinks he finally arrives and boy did I feel the alcohol. Usually I barely drank since I was dirt broke but my friends wouldn’t stop offering me drinks tonight, Soo Ho contributed to at least three of them. A dull throb resonates in my skull as I let out a groan, dropping my head into my arms that rested on the wooden table. Someone sat beside me and placed a warm hand on my shoulder, “What did you idiots do to her?” Oh that deep voice belongs to Ban Ryu I thought in my swimming brain. I could already sense him rolling his eyes when the guys tried to explain how they all wanted to buy me a drink. “Come on, let’s get you some fresh air,” he says indifferently pulling me up rather gently from my spot. Surprisingly none of the guys raised their concerns letting Ban Ryu from all people to escort me away. He wraps one arm around my waist as his other hand tilts up my face towards his, and he sighs.

Ban Ryu’s point of view

Holding her in my arms I look down into her flush face, with a drowsy gaze and puffed out cheeks she looked rather cute. Although no one would catch me admit that, ever. “What am I going to do with you?” I groan at her carelessness while dragging her away from the unnecessarily loud Hwarang members. She lets out a small hiccup before wrapping her arms around my waist much too tightly. “I’m feeling sick…” she whines burying her face into my chest as I drag her through the crowded club, “And that’s your fault for being careless.” She looks up with tears streaming down her face, “I’m sorry!” she cries with the ugliest face I’ve ever witnessed, which was surprisingly borderline adorable. Almost out the door I heard the all too familiar squeals of my really unwanted harem of females. “Great,” I breathe turning around to see the group of annoying pests who all started talking at once: “Ahhh who’s that?” “Why don’t you spend time with me instead?” “I’m much prettier than her! Hold me instead!” “How pathetic of her for troubling you.” “Wow she’s crying look how ugly she is!” I could feel my blood boil, not only were their comments as annoying as usual they were bad mouthing this girl…this really dumb girl in my arms. I still don’t understand why I cared so much for the poor decision making female but I knew I wanted to keep her safe. With the angry thoughts running through my head I couldn’t reply to the group of fan girls fast enough before the only girl I sort of cared about shoved me off of her small frame. “So mean…” she trails off with a pout before rubbing at her tearstained cheeks, “Sorry…for bothering you.” The short (h/c) mumbles before stumbling out the exit.

At that point I was seething and all I saw was red. I couldn’t even process what I wanted to say to those girls being so furious so I quickly chased after the waddling idiot. I shout after her but she couldn’t hear, or that dumb girl decided to ignore me, regardless I chased after her. When I finally reached her I pulled her into my arms, “I said hey you dumbass why don’t you listen for once?” Even though I was holding onto her tightly she continued to attempt walking forwards, all the while crying. We looked stupid, I could feel the stares of people entering and exiting the club, but surprisingly I didn’t care for once in my life. “Will you please calm down?” I softly ask pulling her into me, holding her tightly. She nods looking at the dirt ground, “I wanna sit” she sniffles. I nod guiding her towards the trees where it was more secluded. She flops onto the ground before I could help her, even though it was clear that I sort of cared for her over the short time I got to know her I still couldn’t refrain from rolling my eyes. She whines when her bottom hit the grass, “Ow…the ground is hard.” At that moment I wanted to strangle her.

Flaring my nostrils I sat myself onto the ground and patted my lap, “Dummy of course it would hurt if you flop around like that.” Instead of bursting out in tears she drunkenly giggled before crawling on her hands and knees and into my lap. The messy haired (h/c) nestles herself into my chest, nuzzling her heated face into my neck as her hands tangles itself in my long locks of hair. “You are a troublesome Hwarang aren’t you? You idiot.” She looks up, long eyelashes hooding her large (e/c) eyes, “You’re mean…just like those girls!” I roll my eyes, “I’m letting you sit on me aren’t I?” The girl huffs before hitting me, hard, in the chest with a closed fist, “You keep calling me mean names!” “It’s because I don’t know your name.” “Oh,” she replies with her mouth slightly ajar. My gaze never leaving hers, a waiting for the big reveal of her name but it never came. Instead her eyes started fluttering shut as she fell asleep mid conversation. “And because you are dumb,” I sigh running my fingers through her long tresses as she contently started to snore, very loudly.

The boy who made my blood boil turned out to be just an idiotic girl, who happened to steal my heart within a very short period of time. She was stupid, impossible, I wanted to strangle her for being so infuriating, but ultimately what bothered me the most about her is that she makes my heart skip a beat whenever she’s around. And to top everything off, I don’t even know her name.

Part 3

#banryu #hwarang #hwarang imagine #hwarang x reader #banryu imagine #banryu x reader #ban ryu imagine #ban ryu #ban ryu x reader

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digital-strategy · 7 years

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It can be tempting to write Medium off for dead. The company laid off a third of its staff earlier this year. The bigger-name publishers who migrated to Medium have left. (Goodbye to: The Ringer, Backchannel, The Awl, Pacific Standard, Film School Rejects, ThinkProgress.) They mostly returned to WordPress — or in The Ringer’s case, to Vox, or in Backchannel’s case, to Condé Nast.

“The move to Medium was a cool experiment, in my opinion, but the year is up and personally I missed the ads,” wrote Sylvia Killingsworth, editor of The Awl and The Hairpin.

All of these publishers left, largely, because they still like ads (at least some ads), and the future that Medium founder and CEO Ev Williams sees for the company — and dreams for with media in general — doesn’t include advertising, not even the native advertising that was a key piece of Medium’s plan when it rolled out its publisher program back in 2016.

“We’ve made clear that anyone who is dedicated to pursuing an ad-driven business model is probably not the best fit. We’re not going to be developing or incorporating ad technology,” Williams told me Tuesday. Instead, the company announced earlier this month that it’s going all-in on subscriptions — using a Spotify-ish model that pools subscribers’ $5 monthly contributions and doles them out to a select group of creators based on how many “claps” the creators get. (“Ev doesn’t like ads? Wait until he finds out what credit card processing is really like,” a source told Business Insider in February.)

There’s reason to be skeptical of this. Many of the companies that left Medium didn’t want their business models to be driven by advertising; they just wanted to have ads as an option, and they weren’t close to being able to sustain a business on subscriber revenue, even if they’d do that in an ideal world. “We’d love to be able to do this all without ads, but there’s no money in that,” Film School Rejects’ Neil Miller wrote in May.

And Medium’s new money-pooling model, which doesn’t allow paying just one creator directly, is also not appealing to some publishers. “I’ll eventually need to move to WordPress so I can add subscriptions in a meaningful way,” said Derrick Harris, the founder of ARCHITECHT, which is currently hosted on Medium. (Harris is also my former colleague at Gigaom.) The model Medium is going for instead is “maybe okay for hobbyists or freelancers in between paying gigs,” Harris said, but he doesn’t believe it can work for someone hustling to run their own publication full-time.

Of course, Williams disagrees. “For those who do well in the program, there’s every reason to expect that they can make more money writing here than they could at an ad-based publication,” he said. I talked to Williams about the company’s most recent changes; here’s our conversation, slightly edited for length and clarity.

Laura Hazard Owen: The different iterations of Medium have been a little confusing. You shut down your publisher program in January, and then added a $5/month membership program in March, and now there are more changes. What’s the state of things now?

Ev Williams: Since we originally launched our paywall and subscription and announced the partner program in March, the big change is we’ve developed this thing that allows people to publish without us explicitly commissioning them and approving what they publish before they get paid. Previously, if people wanted to get paid, we were working with them individually, accepting pitches, going back and forth doing light editing, signing contracts in a more traditional way and paying them on those terms. The big change, essentially, is that once they’re in the program, people can publish themselves and get paid on performance.

It’s a dramatic change, but it was always our plan to figure out how to do this. The nature of Medium is an open platform. We wanted to introduce this new economic model powered by user subscriptions, but building a system we thought would pay out fairly, and building the right type of content, was non-trivial. We first started learning by doing it more manually — building, basically, the pipe to take money and charge money and build the subscriptions database. The long-term plan has always been to figure out how to scale that to many more creators and remain open.

Owen: How many people have signed up to be partners since March, and how many are working with Medium now? What are some of the things they have in common?

Williams: A couple thousand people applied right off the bat, and we’ve worked a couple hundred of them over the last couple of months. A lot of those were people who had been writing on Medium. The vast majority of people who write on Medium don’t do so for money. Some aspire to do so; some write professionally in other cases and not on Medium. We have a ton of writers on Medium, and the majority of them aren’t really our target for our partner program. We don’t want to suggest that everybody who writes should get paid or try to get paid.

Owen: So are those more direct relationships, with the editing and such, now coming to an end?

Williams: Not necessarily. We’re continuing to work with some people right now as we ramp up this other system. It’s likely that we will be working with some writers longer-term, as well as publishers. There are still publishers and studios that we signed contracts with.

Owen: A lot of the publishers left, though. The Ringer, The Awl.

Williams: Some of the bigger ones have left. There are hundreds of publishers still on Medium. We talked to The Ringer and some of the others at the beginning of the year about what their plans are and what our plans are, and we made clear that anyone who is dedicated to pursuing an ad-driven business model is probably not the best fit. We’re not going to be developing or incorporating ad technology. It made sense for publishers who needed that to migrate off. There are lots of publishers who weren’t doing [advertising] and for the most part they’ve stayed, so that’s really the distinction.

There wasn’t a lot of doubt that we shouldn’t partner with people who had incompatible business models with us.

Owen: So native advertising — which you guys previously seemed to see as a promising area — is gone, too?

Williams: We’re not doing any advertising, native or not. All the advertising on Medium, pretty much, unless publishers did it themselves, has been native. We did a few native content projects with brands, both ourselves and in partnership with some of our publishers. Those deals actually worked pretty well, and we saw a path there, but it wasn’t the long-term path that we wanted to pursue.

There are, of course, publishers still on the platform who may write sponsored content for brands. There are a few features in our publishing tools that still accommodate that. But it’s not something we’re encouraging or pursuing ourselves. We believe in the user-supported model and we’re putting as much attention and focus as possible on making that work.

Owen: Where is the money to pay the writers coming from? Is it coming from you, Medium the company, or is it coming from readers?

Williams: Well, it’s a little bit of an arbitrary distinction because all the money comes to us, and we are paying out the money. The budget will be pegged to the subscription revenue because it needs to be. We can’t pay out of pocket for all the writing. We will pay writers from the subscription revenue.

Owen: But, I mean, is Medium the company contributing money to the writers directly as well?

Williams: Like any marketplace, we are going to seed it first. Usually, you need to seed supply before you have enough demand, so there’s something for people to come to. In the beginning stages, we’re not limiting the payouts to subscribers. We are investing more than the current amount of subscriber revenue to seed the market.

Owen: What’ll be the point you have to get to where all of the money is coming from the readers? When can you stop seeding it?

Williams: It’s pretty hard to predict. I look at it this way: If you compare the monetization from the subscription product to a web-based ad product, even at our relatively small price of $5 a month, subscription is a phenomenally better monetization model for a reader. Therefore, there is a lot more money for the content that is engaged with than the content that is available to pay writers from an ad-driven model. So for those who do well in the program, there’s every reason to expect that they can make more money writing here than they could at an ad-based publication.

Owen: You mentioned that there’s a qualification process for writers who want to come on and get paid. What do they need to do?

Williams: It’s not a rigorous review process. We’re not saying you have to have a certain qualification. Our attitude is that great ideas can come from anywhere. We definitely want established professionals on the platform, but we also want to give an opportunity to up-and-comers and less established folks. We’re not putting out a bunch of criteria.

We had to do two things in terms of rolling this out. Eventually, we want it to be as open as possible: There’ll be a set of rules, and if you adhere to the rules, great. But before we open it up totally, we want to test our system. There are probably things we’ll need to tweak.

We also need to balance the market, to some extent. If we were to open it up completely right now, I think we would have too much good content and we only have so many subscribers. If we opened the floodgates of content, we would just have too much content. Again, as a marketplace of sorts, we need to balance the supply and demand side.

Owen: I’m wondering how similar it is to Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library, for instance, where authors opt in to participate and then money is doled out of a set pool each month based on how many reads they get. [This system, by the way, has caused a great deal of consternation among participating authors.]

Williams: That Kindle program is probably the most similar to ours. It’s also not that dissimilar from Spotify or some other subscription services, where there’s a pool of money that is ultimately tied to the subscription revenue and how that’s divided up is based on the subscriber behavior.

Kindle pays specifically on pages read, I believe. Spotify pays on plays. We essentially pay on votes, which we’re calling claps. But in essence, they all work the same way, and it’s ultimately up to the readers and paying subscribers who gets paid, and how much.

Some of the reports on this were really off-base on about what we’re doing, by the way. The behavior that counts for payout is only from subscribers or paying members, so a lot of the assumptions about this being easy to game are not valid. Also, one of the differences between this and some other systems is that the payout is per user. For each cycle, we will deliver a budget per paying member. How each member’s portion of that budget is distributed is according to their behavior.

It’s not that the post with the absolute most claps gets the most money. It’s that: If you engage with one author, in the extreme case, all of the money from you goes to that author. If you engage with a thousand of them, that money goes to a thousand of them. It gives more agency to the member and it allows people who may have a small fan base or be in a niche area to still do well, because the majority of their fans’ money will go to them.

Owen: So if, for example, I am a paying member and I only like reading stuff about cooking and I never read anything about sports — none of my money goes to sports content?

Williams: Pretty much none of your money goes to something that you don’t read. In fact — we’ll have to see how this plays out — but if you read something and you don’t like it, or if you just view something because you’re curious, the author will not get paid. It’s unlike an ad system where just viewing something pays as much as actually reading it.

Owen: How will you know if I am really reading something or just viewing it? The claps?

Williams: Because [all the paying subscribers] are logged in, we know what they’ve read. Some people think the clap mechanism is goofy, but it’s a fairly natural way, once you get used to it, to explicitly signal that this is worth more to you than something else. It’s a choice the user makes after they’ve seen the content, not before, so it’s harder to manipulate than a click or a view or even time spent. It’s also variable, because some things are worth a lot more than other things.

Those two factors combine really allow the user to determine where their money goes, but the reason we don’t give people, like, a dashboard to determine where their money goes is that what we’re trying to do is balance the ability to give that explicit variable input while also not causing people to have to think too much about it. We don’t want to make it too hard.

Owen: Are you also taking things like time spent on the page, or how far down on the page a reader gets, into account?[/conr]

Williams: In all of our documentation, we’ve said payout is based on engagement. We put the emphasis on claps because that’s a very concrete thing, but we’ll look at all these factors. You can think of Google’s quality ranking, which is something that evolves over time. There may be exceptions to their core metrics, and metrics may be gamed, but [overall it works].

I don’t know if we’ll share our exact algorithm, because that makes it easier to game, but we will share what signals we’re looking at, if and when we incorporate more. We’re just going to have to see how people be have. How they’ve behaved [on Medium] historically does give us a lot of data that we’re basing this on, but we know that with money involved people may behave differently, so we have to do a lot of learning.

Owen: I’m just thinking back to the spring of 2016 when Medium rolled out its publisher program, and things are so different now. I’m wondering what changed your mind about this mission, what changed your mind about the way digital media works overall.

Williams: It’s fundamentally about advertising. That’s what I changed my mind on.

Just to be clear, the mission of Medium has always been the same: What we’ve been trying to figure out is how to create an ecosystem that supports the creation and distribution of great ideas and important content. There was a phase in the first couple years when we were really focused on the tool: How do we create a great tool for those who want to write and share things that are not professional and don’t want want to get paid for it? That’s still a big part of Medium and always will be.

As we started to move into the professional realm, obviously, supporting the content and the creators economically became critical. The most natural thing to do was to say, well, advertising is the model — we have an opportunity to do something that we think is better than the traditional display that’s all over the web by doing things native, and we have a lot of brands already coming to us and wanting to use Medium for content marketing. That was the default thinking for me because it was exactly what we did at Twitter. We did a platform, companies started using it very early on for commercial purposes, and if they were already using it, we could make it better for them.

I sort of, probably prematurely, assumed the same thing would work here. In [April 2016], when we were courting publishers and brands to pursue that vision — it wasn’t that we decided that couldn’t work, but we decided it was not as likely to drive the mission that we wanted. If the content was ultimately getting paid for on the professional side by brands, it was eventually going to look more and more like advertising. We were already seeing that brands wanted tracking. There were a lot of discussions about whether content was above the fold that made less sense in the native world, but it was just how advertising is sold.

We extrapolated out. The money can come either from brands, publishers, or users. What we want to do is create the best possible place to support great content. How does the best media in the world work? In almost every case, the best media is supported by those who consume it, whether that’s books or movies or, now, television and music. And traditionally, for magazines and newspapers, an important part of the revenue came from those who consumed it.

The more I thought about that model, the more I realized it was the only way to really create an ecosystem that rewards and supports the best content there is. Once I realized that, it’s when we made the hard decision to switch.

Owen: But — and this is sort of the perennial question, I guess — what about the quality, investigative work that really is important, but that people just may not be as interested in supporting? How do you fund that just with readers? Is there a place for that on Medium?

Williams: Long-term, just looking the industry as a whole, I think that investigative journalism is super important and I’m optimistic about its funding from three sources. One, I think that for the big newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post, a huge part of their brand is built around those pieces — so from a purely business perspective, not even a mission perspective, it’s what helps them get the subscribers they do, and I think they’ll be able to keep doing it.

Nonprofit money helps fund a lot of this type of work, but I also am optimistic that Medium can help fund this type of work, partly because of this idea of explicit action being more important than how many pageviews something did. We’re offering a way for someone to put something out there and for people to say it’s worthwhile and they want their money to go to it because it’s important.

Owen: Is it possible that Medium would have some kind of Kickstarter-ish role with this program, where, say, a writer could post an idea for something they want to work on, and based on the number of claps it gets, they get funding?

Williams: I think that’s a cool idea. It’s not something we are actively working on, but it’s something I would welcome people to do. In the meantime, if they apply to our partner program and write that that’s what they want to do, we are open to discussing it.

Photo of Ev Williams by Christopher Michel used under a Creative Commons license.

via Nieman Lab

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