#she just loves chasing it SO much. she got it stuck in little crannies of the bathroom a few times

[orcelito]

I gave June Bug this little bouncy ball cat toy and she LOOOOOOOVES IT. Loves it even more than the toy mouse she loved.

I just heard a distant Thump from the bathroom. Sounds like she's still playing with it :')

#speculation nation #i watched her for a bit to make sure she'd be okay with it #she may or may not knock over her water in her enthusiasm. but worst case scenario shes out of water for a few hours & i have to clean it #she just loves chasing it SO much. she got it stuck in little crannies of the bathroom a few times #& i got it out for her. but if she's determined she can probably get it out #hopefully it'll help keep her entertained while she's stuck in there alone. she likes how easily it moves

[ikeromantic]

Hello!

Wanted to send a fun a little ask from the prompts you posted!

Clavis

Pit trap

Black licorice

A little thought I had.

( nothing SUPER specific bit thought I'd share anyway) But please, do whatever you feel would fit the choices and scenario best!!

-----

MC is mad at clavis for who knows what, like REALLY mad and clavis just wants to fix it as soon as possible. He can't have his lovely MC mad at him forever after all!

So maybe after trying desperately to talk to her, they both accidentally end up in one of his traps that he had forgotten about. Certainly, I would give them time and space (lol) to talk things out, however upsetting the conversations may be. But it's necessary, and they get through it

You know I adore Clavis ^_^ Here is approx 1300 words of Clavis in a pit trap of his own making . . . a little angsty, a little sweet, a little salty. IkePri New Years Event story!

“I’m not your toy.” She stomped her foot, fists clenched at her sides. Despite her fearsome stance, her eyes were damp with unshed tears.

Clavis chuckled. “My dear, of course you’re my toy. Why else would I play with you, hm? Think about it.” He hoped to tease her out of this snit, and in the meantime, her reaction was simply adorable. Such ferocity!

She let out a long, slow breath, and her shoulders slumped. “You know what? I’m not doing this tonight. I’m tired and I’ve had too much to drink.” Her hand swiped at her eyes, wiping away a tear before it fell. “Goodnight, Prince Lelouch.”

“Lelouch? Since when are we on - hey! Where are you - wait!” Clavis chased after her as she rushed away, down an empty hall. She turned left, then right, trying to lose him. Which was ridiculous. This was his manor, afterall and he knew every nook and cranny. Including - “Don’t go that way! There’s a -”

His warning came too late. His lover tumbled down the hole and landed at the bottom of a pit trap. This one wasn’t too deep, but the walls were angled in and slick. Impossible to climb out of without help. 

Clavis leaned over the edge of the hole and peered down. “Are you alright?”

“Would you just leave me alone?” Her voice was full of hurt, and he though he couldn’t see her face, he was fairly sure she was crying.

He sighed, shrugged, and hopped down after her. The landing hurt a bit more than expected, and he made a mental note to add more padding to the bottom. It wouldn’t do to injure a guest, afterall. 

She looked at him, her eyes wide and her mouth open. “You have got to be kidding me. You followed me into the pit? Seriously?”

“Of course. I’m a gentleman. I can’t let my beloved fall into a pit trap by herself.” He ignored her frown and rolled eyes. 

“Great. So now I’m stuck with you.” She crossed her arms and slumped to the floor where she could rest her head against her knees. 

The position reminded Clavis of a hedgehog, all rolled up, every angle warning him not to touch. Which, of course, made him want to touch even more. Besides, he felt . . . unsettled. She was truly upset with him and it was a bit like having a pebble in your shoe. If the pebble was a hot knife and the shoe in question was your heart. 

“Just until morning. Cyran always does a full check of all operational traps. He’ll find us.”

“Great,” she muttered. 

“It really is! Now I have you in a place where you can’t run away.” Clavis knelt down beside her. 

She peeked at him over her knees. “What do you want, Prince Lelouch?” She said his name and title like an insult, and from her it really did hurt. 

“I want to know why you’re so - so -” his mind ran through possible words. Hurt. Angry. Sad. “bad at taking a joke.” Clavis seized on that one, the one that didn’t make his chest tight and his eyes ache. The one that didn’t whisper, she will leave you too, in the quiet parts of his mind. 

“A joke?” She raised an eyebrow. “You told that nobleman I’m your plaything. Your words! And I . . .” she took a deep breath, wiping furiously at her face as the tears began to fall in earnest. “I thought I meant more than that to you.”

You do. The words didn’t come out aloud though. “I did say favorite plaything. You see? You’re very important to me.”

“See? That. Right there.” She stopped trying to erase the tears and just let them fall. “I like your sense of humor. Your adventurousness. I like that I never know what to expect from you. You upend everything. Turn all the rules on their heads.”

“Yes. I am a very amazing and wonderful prince . . .” Clavis cocked his head. He hadn’t expected compliments. Didn’t understand where she was going with this.

“I love you. I love all those things about you.”

He nodded. “And I love you.”

She gave an exasperated sigh. “But you act like I’m just a toy you own. Replaceable. Something you’ll play with until it breaks and then go out and get a new one. And even if - if you don’t mean it -” Her tears turned into heart rending sobs and the words, whatever they might have been, were lost.

“But . . . there is only one you.” Clavis set a hand on her leg and was surprised when she brushed it away.

“Th-that nobleman doesn’t think so!” Her eyes were red-rimmed, cheeks flushed with emotion. “H-he thinks you can go to town and p-pick up any common girl. I’m j-just some worthless piece of p-pretty trash!” 

Clavis felt his heart clench in his chest. Was this what she thought he meant? Was this how she felt? Her words cut into him, a wound that bled like fire. “I . . .”

“I can’t do this anymore,” she added quietly. 

That calm statement froze his insides. Ice and fire together, burning him. Clavis didn’t care what some nobleman thought of his lover. But her hurt was real. He wondered how long this sorrow and anger had been eating at her. And he hadn’t noticed. He felt dumbstruck. A fool, just as Chev always said. 

“W-when Cyran comes . . . I’m just going t-to take my things. And go.” She sniffled. 

The air left his lungs, and for a moment Clavis was truly struck dumb. He struggled to breathe, to speak. Everyone he loved, left. He would be alone again. “No.”

She pushed the hair out of her face. “What?”

“No.” Clavis reached out and grabbed her hands, ignoring the way she tried to pull back. “I won’t let you go.”

“What are you going to do, tie me up?” A rebellious smile appeared under her tears. 

He smiled back, his heart thudding in his chest. “If I have to.” Clavis swallowed. He hated showing his genuine emotion, his soft heart, but for her . . . anything. “But first, I - I’m sorry.”

Her eyebrows shot up. 

“I’m sorry for calling you my plaything in front of someone too ignorant to understand what that means to me.” He squeezed her hands gently in his. “You are my toy, my most favorite diversion. My very own, irreplaceable, priceless, one of a kind, beautiful, smart, silly, amazing -”

“Clavis, you’re being excessive.” She frowned at him but he noticed her tears were drying up.

“I am never excessive. As I was saying - amazing, wonderful, sweet -” he cleared his throat, “woman, that I love. And I can’t -” he coughed again, “I can’t imagine doing without you.”

Her gaze softened, the anger and sadness in her eyes wavering. 

“Please. Stay by my side?”

“I . . . I don’t know. People are always going to think I’m only in it because of who you are. For the money and privilege.”

Clavis snorted. “No one who knows me will think that. Besides, who cares what idiots say? We’ll just sic Chev on them. Tell him they dog-eared a book page or something.”

She laughed then, and he knew he had her. Relief flowed through him like warm honey, sweet and thick and golden. “I don’t know if I’d want them to die like that,” she mused.

Her smile was everything, he thought. “Well, maybe not dog-eared then. Perhaps . . . cracked the spine a bit? Dropped some coffee on it? No?”

“Pretty sure all of those are a Chevalier death sentence.” She paused and took a shaky breath. “This is why you’re so bad for me, you know? I can be rightly pissed off at you, and you still make me smile.” She shook her head. “It’s bad for my heart.”

“Well. I like your smile. And you are cute when you’re angry so . . . I’m not sorry. I can’t ever be sorry.” Clavis smiled at her. “As long as I get to keep you by my side.”

#ikemen prince #ikepri #ikepri clavis #clavis lelouch #fanfiction #fanfic #otome #otome guys #fluff #light angst

[woozisnoots]

modest jeon wonwoo

° pairing: wonwoo x reader ° genre: university!au, host club!au, fluff ° word count: ~1.7k ° warnings: none! ° a/n: this had no business being this long and idek if i like it lol but I want to specifically dedicate this piece to @wonwoosimp​​ bc she’s literally the sweetest, best bean in the world [insert uwu meme here] thank you for gifting me my very first photocard, I literally cried opening it! I love you so much, I hope you enjoy!

welcome to the svt host club!

masterlist!

you entered university with a certain goal, a purpose. eventually, you were going to be the pediatric surgeon that the 13 year old you ushered you to be.

…let's just hope the knowledge of your brain was enough to get you through the first four years of pre-med. with your 3.7 high school GPA, you were lucky to get into your first choice college, let alone your current major

from the start of the semester, you dedicated yourself to studying the anatomy and physiology of the body until you knew every nook and cranny there was to know. and the library was the perfect sanctuary to get your shit together

as much as you loved your roommates, their constant fights over closet space and boy toys gave you no peace of mind what-so-ever

bless the library for being opened 24/7. If your roommates found you sleeping on their only working desk, you would find yourself waking up to the sound of tripping freshmen trying to get to their first 8am class right in the middle of the hallway

but the lone table in the corner of the library just on the third floor did you good at staying focused. even provided some good naps in between every now and then

the day before your first anatomy test, you LOCKED yourself in the library. no one was going in OR OUT of the premise just to sit across from you on YOUR table until you fully memorized the different layers of epithelial tissue >:(

gosh, you even scattered all your notes across the table just so people got the memo that this seat was: [OFF LIMITS]

yes, off limits to everyone except a certain jeon wonwoo.

the way you met was abrupt to say the least

besides your table, you had a pretty good view of the entire campus — from the main health science building all the way to the student parking lot

and just below you, an astonishing sight of a mob of screaming girls chasing after a mouse guy in glasses. not to be inconsiderate and heartless, but unless you heard someone scream bloody murder, diving back into your flashcard you go

tissue after tissue, you start to get delusional because at this point, everything is starting to look the same

slumping down into your chair, you take a second to mentally recharge, drinking the water you’ve neglected for the past three hours

you time yourself for a five minute break, going through the notifications on your phone

before you could read your roommate’s ongoing ramble on the latest update of the “crazy good looking, god-like, elite host club that the university has to offer”

a ‘club’ that you didn’t even know anything about nor cared for

you hear a loud ‘thud’ coming from the bookcase in front of you

from the side the tall, lean guy with glasses that you saw earlier emerged with his hands gripping his tricep

you try not to draw too much attention to him. half the reason being you didn’t want to embarrass him by laughing at the fact he ran into a 10 feet tall bookcase

and you did not need this man distracting you. it’s your eight week streak being this productive, a new record for anything you’ve done in your entire life and your pride wouldn’t let you have it if you lost it just because you saw an attractive man on sight

you scribble down a decent guess to the tissue identification question that you’ve been stuck on for the past few minutes, not bothering to look up

“that’s actually dense connective tissue, not smooth”

jolting up from your seat, you look up realizing the guy 5 feet away is now right in front of your face looking down at all your papers

“you can tell because they’re striated”

you stare at him in disbelief wondering how he could have gotten so fast with just looking at it for a few seconds. eyeing him up and down, he definitely looked around the same age as you but he wasn’t someone you’ve seen around the science buildings. and you would know since you took the liberty of familiarizing almost everyone within the department

“do you mind if i sit here?” his hands already on the edge of the chair ready to pull it out from underneath him

“...yeah sure”

“oh i’m wonwoo by the way,” he says as you both exchange awkward stares and knowledgeable nods

okay well since he’s proven that he might be of help to you, you might as let him stay. from what you’ve gathered, he didn’t have any stuff on him aside from his phone that you watch him get out of his front pocket, getting ready to play pacman

forget how attractive he is, this guy has some brains.

for the rest of the day, as you guys sat across from each other, wonwoo would occasionally bounce back and forth between giving you study tips and playing whatever game he decides to play at that moment in time

he was surprisingly really good at this? he knew more things about the subject than your professors did, and that’s saying a lot. like you’ve been looking at cells for WEEKS and you were lucky to get at least half of them. which begs the question:

“how do you magically know all this?”

the blank expression on his face tells you he wasn’t expecting that question but he quickly shrugs it off. “i just know a few things from my parents that’s all”

you would have questioned him further but the time on your phone read “22:57” and you already broke your number rule about sleeping early before a big test

as you pack up all your stuff, wonwoo pushes his chair in, bidding you farewell

“good luck on your test tomorrow!”

you appreciate the gesture, mentally thanking him for his help and proceed to go back to your dorms, preparing yourself to tell your roommate all about the exciting? day you had

“YOU MORON. JEON WONWOO?”

laying flat on your back on your bed, you cover the bottom half of your face, quivering under your sheets as you stare at your roommate’s outrageous outburst

you explain what happened and who you met today at the library. when your roommate asked to describe him in more detail, all you said was that he was pretty smart for someone who wasn’t particularly in your major

your roommate lets out a loud scream into their pillow, gripping the bed sheets before giving you the earful of the century

“he’s just being modest. he’s a korean lit major but he’s one of the uni’s top students since both his parents are the head of the science department.

…AND he’s one of the most requested host club members. so you caught yourself one big fish today bud.”

top student? science department? HOST CLUB? none of that was processing in your brain. the one club that you wanted nothing to do with and you just happened to meet their top money maker

grand.

the thought didn’t keep you up at night only because you thought that today’s encounter was just coincidence and you probably would never have to see him again.

(sad though, your roommate was right. he is rather good looking.)

the time that it took for you to take your test the next day flew by so fast that you questioned if it even happened. the first step you took out the classroom, you start to second guess all your answers, regretting that you didn’t check a third or even fourth time before submitting

your train of thought halts when you see jeon wonwoo standing in the empty hallway

“i’m sure you aced it”

and just like in a netflix original romance movie, he reveals a bouquet of pink begonias from behind his back while shyly adjusting his glasses

“these are for you. to congratulate you”

weird way to phrase it but you were still gonna take the flowers. “host club tendencies?”

“so you found out?”

from a distance, you can hear the rushing footsteps from downstairs followed by a sense of purpose. “i think i was bound to” :/

you didn’t know how you felt about the current situation. you had no idea what host club was until you got here and you still don’t know what they even do. for all you knew, this could just be a gesture to get them more clients

but if his actions were genuine… you wouldn’t mind seeing him again

“i have to start learning muscles for our next exam. heard it was one of the hardest ones. i’m not sure if you have more studying tricks up your sleeve?”

“i might.” a cocking little grin now appearing on his face

“good. same place at the library tomorrow then. and this time? try not to bring your dedicated fans wherever you go”

so these study sessions continued. you guys occasionally had to change spots - from cafe to an empty bio lab - if the mob ever saw a single hair follicle that might be his

but each time, wonwoo brought something more just himself. one day it would be coffee, others days it would be food. things to keep you motivated.

for a korean lit major, he was taking a lot of time out of his day to help you, being attentive to all the strategies that help you study and such

possibly making your assumption from months back, true.

by the time finals rolled around, aside from the spursts of review here and there, study sessions became more casual. you didn’t feel the need to overwork our brain since you already knew all the information (something you actually learned from wonwoo himself)

possibly the last meeting you’d have with him was similar to your first: just you two together but him playing on his phone. and yet before the night ended

“i have a proposal.”

“i’m not giving you money for your dumb club.” bold of him to assume you would-

“no but i really appreciate the thought :)

why don’t we turn these study sessions into… study dates instead?”

:0

your assumption after 6 months later: finally confirmed

“but that’s only IF you ace your finals.”

well let’s just say at the very end, you had a successful first semester and are now one step closer towards being the surgeon of your dreams.

plus, you even landed yourself a pretty cool boyfriend in the process

let’s hope his parents put in a good word for you when you apply to med school!

#seventeen #wonwoo #caratwritersclub #seventeen imagine #wonwoo imagine #seventeen scenario #wonwoo scenario #seventeen au #wonwoo au #seventeen fanfic #wonwoo fanfic #seventeen series #jeon wonwoo #wonwoo x reader

[wannabekrp]

SO, YOU WANNABE...

Provided by peekaboo.co.kr: loading the profile of ASTRID KIM…

ASTRID KIM ( born December 4th, 2000 ), is an IDOL under BLACKOUT ENT.

OUR NEWEST ARRIVAL...

PRESENT

born and bred in seattle, astrid’s a relaxed, albeit fun-loving type. she’s open-minded, and finds south korea restrictive. so, it’s no surprise to anyone that at times she’s town between her desire to move back home and her ache to achieve her dreams, which, unfortunately, lay in seoul. however, it’s not all bad, she thinks. it could be worse, she reminds herself. she’d lucky, and she knows it. not many get to chase their dreams like she’s doing, so she’s grateful. but she often says if she weren’t on the road to becoming an idol, she’d be some form of musical political activist–she’s sick and tired of most of the world right now, which has led her to be a bit of a pessimist at times.

despite all that, she’s a fun girl, willing to make friends with just about anyone, as long as you’re not a stuck-in-the-old-days type. she’ll stand by anyone who needs her support, as she considers herself thick-skinned and brave. she’s determined and unafraid of judgement. she knows her heart, and her beliefs, and even if she had to silently stand by them, stand by them she shall. she’ll never stand by and watch someone weaker than her suffer.

her interests lie all over the place. she’s interested in fashion, music (of course), and art. she likes movies, and late night adventures. she loves exploring, meeting new people, parties and reckless decisions that lead to exciting experiences. she likes to keep active, and hates to be idle. though she likes to read, she can never just sit still while she does it. she’ll listen to audio books more often than not, while cooking, or at the gym. astrid’s determined to be a well-rounded human, dipping her toe into everything she can and tasting every little nook and cranny life has to offer her.

as for people’s perception of astrid–it varies. some see a popular girl who’s got it all, a girl to resent and envy, a girl who some instinctively try to put down, drag off the high-horse they mistakenly perceive her to seat herself on. some, of course, see the true astrid. the astrid who just wants the world to be better, who wishes that the small beauties of life would reinvigorate her lust for life. maybe some notice the raincloud that hangs over her head, constantly dampening her excitement for things, but, more often than not, astrid hides it all behind a pretty smile, a polite bow, and a gentle hello.

FUTURE

there’s so much that astrid wants to say to the world, to the girls like her who fear what their existence may amount to. but, being in her position, with the restrictions that she’d placed under, astrid knows she can’t outright say any of the things she wishes she could. she hopes, however, that those who feel the same as she does, inside, find some comfort in the subtle hints she gives of her comradeship.

those who pay attention to her, and her journey, and the things she says publicly, may realise where her beliefs, and her passions lie. but, if you don’t look deep enough, or long enough, to most she seems nothing more than a pretty girl with talent who works hard and has a lot on her plate. she wants to dip her toe into every avenue of performing, from singing and dancing, to modelling and acting. she wants to do it all, to make the most of the opportunities given to her.

one day, she hopes that she’ll be able to speak her mind, and be perceived as the woman she is, rather than the woman south korea wants her to be. but, she knows for her dream she must make sacrifices. for now she’ll just have to be content with being seen as pretty, a good singer, a polite, elegant young woman. but maybe, just maybe, her passion and hard-work will be able to inspire young girls to reach for their dreams as fiercely as she reaches for hers.

#wb:accepted #kim doyeon #krp #weki meki

[trashy-croud]

India: Temple Ruins🌿🧗‍♀️

I'm back but this level broke me. I kid you not, during this entire hiatus from doing these reviews and such, I have been coming back to this level only to cry more in the long run. I am literally only on the second level of this game. This is where I learnt, there is no God. This level held back no punches and was delivering each blow with a full on k.o. for me. Yet I still enjoyed it. Ignore the time as per usual, I spent so much of it actually looking for the secrets and searching every nook and cranny, as well as being absolutely terrified and refusing to move after the first statue came to life.

Now to talk about this level. Well for starters, this one started us off with climbing trees and with mudslides and piranhas and snakes and oh god, there was plenty of stuff happening at the start. This did lead to me being stuck a couple of times of figuring out the best path to take but eventually we powered through. We then encountered our first monkey at one point or another and I thought he’d lead me to somewhere new, y’know, like in the previous level. Hah. The only thing he led me to was my demise as as sad as it is to say, I kept him following me for a bit, not realising that he was taking away my health and I was actually killed by a bloody monkey - of all the deadly things in this level, the first thing to kill me was a god forsaken monkey. I am ashamed of myself. It seemed somehow we annoyed them at one point from the last level, perhaps because I took the key before that monkey could or because I killed it, I honestly cannot remember which one happened when I finally completed it and carried on, but these little buggars are ferocious.

After the mudslide challenge which was interesting to encounter and pretty fun to manoeuvre, along with a waterfall, we entered a dark room. I thought, “Oh lets light a flare!” Because, y’know, I actually have some for a change compared to the previous game, and when I lit it up, the look of horror on my face as I saw a statue. I could only briefly remember some parts of this game and watching my dad play it, I didn’t stick around much for this one compared to the previous instalment, but I bloody remember moving statues and I froze up and entered the menu almost instantly. That may have added to my time with how long I was on that menu thinking about what I was going to do next. After a while of debating the best course of action, I closed the menu off, pulled out my shotgun only to realise that this one didn’t come to life. Luckily I didn’t waste any ammo on an inanimate object but I was definitely wary.

After this room and moving some blocks around, we crawled into the next one and I spotted another statue, I was wary and was right to do so as it came to life and I about wanted to cry. I didn’t even pull out the shotgun this time, I went full pistols on it and didn’t know that the statue could block, didn’t seem to get that memo! So yeah, that one took a while as well, much to my dismay.

After getting rid of it, we found the first secret which was well sneaky of them as we fell into a trap door to pull a switch, but next to it was a movable block which you couldn’t tell it was movable unless you had a keen eye. Entering the room of that secret honestly was a challenge in itself with poison dart traps, a boulder trap to boot as well but we got through it all. It just took a couple of attempts, y’know how it is.

Now, a lot of what happened after is a bit lengthy to talk about and off the top of my head, a bit hard to remember how I reacted to a lot of it, some key areas was the quicksand, which I about had a panic over because that is scary. How dare they bring that in. I panicked about being unable to get any further and it was terrifying! There was also an outside part where some of the ruins came tumbling down and I was in water and had to climb back up. Let’s just say I went well into the double figures with my deaths on that one. There was so much depending on how skilful I was with some of my jumps, and I’m rubbish at jumping. I really hoped this game didn’t depend on it! But alas, seems I’ll just have to “git gud” at this now, and weep whilst I do it. But there were so many different sections to get through, to get keys to progress further through the level. There was also one part which included invisible platforms.

Do not get me started on the invisible platforms. This was the part where my sister thought it was hilarious to watch and then got stressed with me at the same time. We both admit, the way they programmed these platforms was wonderful in our eyes, it reminded me of the uzi secret in the first game, except now we actually have a way of seeing them all through the use of lights, ain’t no leap of faith this time. Basically what we got annoyed at was that I wasn’t able to jump very well and the game sometimes didn’t register the jump, so a conversation like this played out.

“Press the jump button.” “I am, what do you think I’m doing?” “Press it harder then!” “You think it’ll work if I press harder?” “It’s the only way, press the button harder and she’ll go further!”

In my opinion, I found it to be a funny moment between us as she is starting to join in more with some of the game, being more interested in later instalments such as AoD which may be interesting to write about. But this conversation reminded me of watching my dad on the PC when him and my mum would play this, my mum watching him, and literally saying the exact same thing as my sister did. It really brought back fun memories.

Back to talking about this level. After we collected the keys, we ended up with more traps to get around, more boulder traps and more fire-breathing statues. This is the theme for this level it seems. Statues that do things that I hate, such as breathing fire, and moving. As we got past all these traps, we came to a new room. I walked in like it was nothing, only to realise that it was a room with two statues in, two statues that woke up and were ready to knock me out into next week! I screamed like I’ve never screamed before, this included my sister as she just kept shouting to shoot and I ignored all that and ran away up to a ledge that they couldn’t reach. I thought we were safe and panicked once I suddenly saw another statue on this ledge, except it didn’t come to life this time which was mildly reassuring.

I decided to do this the cowardly way and handle the statues from that ledge, dangling whenever they guarded to make them drop their guard and shot them from a distance. Typical me stuff, y’know. After killing them, I was lost. I was a lot little puppy with what to do because I didn’t see them drop a sword each to put on the statue. We were scanning around and I did take a while before we managed to figure it out.

Then there was the next room. The one me and my sister called, “the room with the floating jesus-wannabe”. I told her that this was someones “team mate” (purely because she didn’t see the first cutscene with Tony) and we’re kinda figuring out what happened, “she said she liked what she called them better. I didn’t notice the statue lying in wait up until i picked the key up from underneath Randy or Rory, whichever one he may be, and then heard music playing and footsteps. I started weeping and my sister saluted me and said “good luck soldier”. I about wanted to deck her for that because she left the room to get snacks after that moment, only to come back in once I defeated it. It was super easy when you face them head on with a shotgun. Totally didn’t take to long.

After defeating it, we found more traps that were my worst nightmare, the spiked ceiling was an enemy that I was becoming too familiar with with the amount of times I died to it. Then I managed to do it. My speedy butt finally did it and I was absolutely loving it. There was the other trap as well which was smart but my worst nightmare, because it was underwater with a current trying to suck you in. Oh, I loathed it and wanted to break something. But we powered through, put all the keys in and finished the level. My sister watched and said that Tony was doing some weird “voodoo shizzam”. I thought that was an alright way to put it and after that cutscene, we were ready for the next level but left it there for the day. To be fair, that cutscene was enjoyable to watch and interesting as we saw what Tony was doing, something that we didn’t see before as he seemed to show his true colours. So we found out what happened to Randy and Rory, was probably Tony’s fault, or the artefact we have been chasing after. 

As a summary for this whole level, it was super dark yet it was atmospheric. I found out all monkeys are now rude and I have to kill them, and that Tony is also rude and a bit of a prick so I need to kill him too. All fun and games! Oh, I found out that statues are something that will haunt me to the grave, the first instalment had the centaurs which traumatised me, the second had the jade statue warrior by the end of the game, so now they’ve thrown in some right at the beginning. Great. Please let that be the end of the statues though, or am I hoping for too much there? This level has been fun and very challenging, there certainly is a bit of a difficulty jump in comparison to the first levels of the previous instalments, which were a bit easier to handle. Though I’m not complaining, to be honest, we definitely needed a challenge.

But that is all for the Temple Ruins as we will be back with the third level of the India levels, The River Ganges. It mentioned water and I saw a bike, I’m going to hate this aren’t I?

#long post #tomb raider 3 #croud's playthrough #tomb raider #classic lara #classic tomb raider #playthrough #temple ruins #these darned statues will be the death of me #we're making a comeback!

[lostchoice-blog]

Pokemon Verse

its here fellas

Trainer Notes !

His homeland is the Johto region and he grew up in Ecruteak City, however growing up he would occasionally leave the city and go visit Olivine City because it’s right there and he was always curious about where the routes led to. He’s all too familiar with the burned tower and its story and its one of his favorite parts about the city, the top of the tower is where he usually chills at

Gym battles aren’t his main priority, which is why badges kinda stops at Morty’s gym. He’s more interested in traveling and seeing the sights, however does the gym battles when he feels like it for the experience and to have fun with the challenges

He calls himself a traveler but truth is he’s pretty laidback, not showing too much interest in leaving the region or having a ‘proper’ journey. He stays at his home or leaves the city from time to time to check out other places in Johto but never really too far unless he has a reason to / he has someone to go with

His treehouse is hidden in the trees near Bellchime Trail, he and his father built it there with his father’s promise that it’ll be close enough to Ho-Oh so it can protect Larry. It remains his safe place and hides there away from others when he needs to be alone

Despite his love for Ho-oh he’s a lot more interested in Lugia and wants to one day meet the guardian of the seas due to the fact Lugia is more of a mystery to him than Ho-Oh is, sorry dad

Once he was old enough / okay enough to travel that far he’ll occasionally go to the daycare to help out and care for the Pokemon that are in there, not minding the distance because hanging out with the tiny creatures makes it worth it

On top of that he knows how to bake, especially Pokemon treats and he’s more than willing to share

His method of catching Pokemon more involves letting the ‘mon do what it wants, he doesn’t throw anything at it right away, but prefers to get close to it and befriend it. If he thinks it wants to join him he’ll set a Pokeball down and let it decide. So more often than not he’ll have a few critters following him around that aren’t officially caught yet. Despite this he calls his team more of a family and he treats them as his friends above anything else, since battling others isn’t on top of the list of things he wants to do all the time

He loves his Pokemon dearly; often pampering them by playing with them, feeding them treats, and essentially giving them whatever they wanted. They’re family to them, and hopes that he can protect them the best he can just like they would to him. Despite they’re outside sweet demeanor though he won’t shy away from training them and teaching them ways to defend themselves if the situation were to arise

He’s not scared of Team Rocket, he calls them cowards if anything, he’ll fight them if he has to especially if its involving protecting someone or something from them

He’s team Valor because its the best team I dont take criticism

Mon Notes !

Cinnamon / lvl 30 / m

Agility ● Slam ● Shadow Ball ● Surf

He’s considered to be Larry’s first Pokemon. The two met back when Cinnamon was just a Sentret, and it was like love at first sight. They both immediately clicked and Larry would spend countless hours playing with and talking to the little guy. To this day Cinnamon is considered his best friend and remains by his side through thick and thin.

He’s considered Larry’s partner pokemon, he’s never inside a Pokeball and can always been seeing riding Larry’s shoulders or walking beside him. That’s mostly because he never actually caught him, Cinnamon has just always stayed with him so there wasn’t never any need to officially catch him. Because he doesn’t have an assigned Pokeball he sports a musical note necklace in a similar way as a collar, so Larry can easily pick out who he was and because it was just a nice gift to give to his friend

Cinnamon has a wild personality. Constantly having energy and sneaking away to hide in nooks and crannies and not hesitating to taking anything he can gets his hands on. He’s extremely attached to his trainer and would often push away others with his itty bitty strength if they get too close to him. He enjoys being the center of attention and loves to be given pets and cuddles and treats, it won’t be rare for him to deliver a loud ‘chirp’ to get eyes to focus on him or for him to nudge someone’s hand to get them to give him a scratch. The friendly yet protective leader of the pack, he’ll also be vocal about when things don’t feel right, and it’d be one of the rare times he’d growl if he finds someone or something suspicious

Marigold / lv 31 / m

Smokescreen ● Flame Wheel ● Quick Attack ● Leer

This a one that Larry actually went all the way to the professor for. After Cinnamon started to be less of the ‘wild’ slot and more into one that he took care of and was part of the team that a part of him felt bad that Cinnamon didn’t have someone else to spend time with. Especially another Pokemon to call a friend. So with the goal to give him a playmate, Larry went all the way to the lab to pick up one of the starters that was advertised to be someone’s actual first Pokemon. A pokedex was offered as well, but he just wanted a new ‘mon. Out of all three starters the Cyndaquil was what caught his eye first, and that was that

Cinnamon and Marigold are like brothers, and Cinnamon is the only other member that Marigold is fine with being around with. Marigold is a lot more on guard, and has issues with ‘attack first ask questions later’. However he has his sweet side, and is a cuddler when he genuinely warms up to someone and trusts them. He has a tendency to escape from his Pokeball to show his face and say hello, more often than not he does this because he wants to hang out with Larry and Cinnamon and see the surroundings, so he doesn’t get called back unless he wants to cause trouble.

Hoot / lv 30 / f

Confusion ● Hypnosis ● Psychic ● Aerial Ace

She was once Larry’s stalker, as he liked to put it, because at some point she suddenly showed up in the city and would constantly follow his every mood. Of course it would never phase him, if anything he would just drop food on the ground just in case she was hungry and to show that he didn’t want to harm her. 6 times out of 10 she would swoop down to take the free food and then go back to doing what she was doing. This was a routine that Larry got stuck in the middle in for many nights, until she dropped to the ground suffering from an injured wing. Immediately he wanted to help her, but she continued to back off and keep her distance. Despite the hesitation seeing Cinnamon and Marigold be so close to him brought her comfort and she allowed them all to get close. Soon enough Larry had a wild owl in his house.

Once she was fully healed Larry took her to the usual spot where she watched him from and waited for her to head back into the wild. However, she stayed put, and instead stared at him. Her message was clear, she wasn’t going anywhere, yet when a ball was offered she instead knocked it away. She liked him, but she wasn’t going to join him that easily and wanted to show her recovery and see his skill in a fight.

Of course Marigold was more than willing to do it, she was strong but he got the upper hand. Her final move was to knock into Larry himself to unlock a Pokeball. The Noctowl was his.

She continues to be quiet and keep to herself, constantly glaring at others simply because she isn’t a people person. Unless that person was Larry, who is the only person where she would perch on top of the head of with no hesitation. Once or twice she’ll show affection in her own ways, which is usually a headbutt or her sharing pieces of her own food. Due to him saving her life she has vowed to help Larry in every which way she can while also devoting her life to protect the reset of the team. She’s the mother of the group so to speak, the quiet terrifying mother who constantly tries to keep everyone else out of trouble. She’s a battler at heart, and won’t back down from a fight.

Midnight / lv 30 / m

Screech ● Toxic ● Psychic ● Shadow Ball

Eevees aren’t always the most common ‘mon, so to find one just wandering around felt like it was just too easy to get. Turns out the Eevee was abandoned, tossed aside into the woods after its trainer deemed it too weak and not worth making the effort to take care of. Because of this, it would constantly run off at the sight of any human being and would much prefer to keep to itself. It didn’t take long for Larry to understand his pattern, so he would instead leave food out for it close to his hiding spots and then leave.Usually, he wouldn’t take the food, but one day when he came back to check on it the food bowl was empty, and an Eevee slowly approached him out of the bushes.

It took a few more weeks to fully gain the Eevee’s trust, but once he did he saw that he was a playful creature and enjoyed chasing anything that moved to try and play hunter. Larry was the only person the Eevee was perfectly comfortable with being around, however he never followed him home and still liked to hide in the bushes. During a visit, the Eevee was given a Soothe Bell as another peace offering, which the Eevee happily accepted.

Soon after the Eevee evolved right in front of him, it was late at night when this happened, earning the name Midnight. Midnight pawed at him, knowing that there was an empty slot on the team that was reserved for him and he was finally ready to take it.

Midnight continues to be playful, his favorite toy being a laser pointer that he can chase around and never get tired. Another favorite toy item is the Soothe Bell that’s ties around his neck, he often paws at it to hear its jingles whenever he’s bored and never lets the item out of his sight, viewing the bell as some sort of special safety blanket. He continues to be extremely wary of other humans, constantly sticking close to Larry whenever someone approaches and instinctively growls at them to let them know to not mess with either of them. He’s grown a level of confidence that he didn’t have when he was an Eevee, enjoying battles that he participates in and likes to stand up tall to protect his family. He’s a loyal and observant Pokemon, and wants to prove himself strong.

Chomp / lv 3 / f

Tackle ● Sand Attack

The Gible was actually a gift egg, the owners having offered the mysterious egg to Larry knowing that he would care for it to the best of his ability. Apparently the old owner was a trainer from the Sinnoh region, but had returned to SInnoh without picking the egg back up, leaving it behind. After days of them never returning the egg became Larry’s, and he panicked. He had never taken care of an egg before but he trusted himself to know he wasn’t just going to break it on purpose. The other members were happy to have a baby in the party, and Marigold served as the egg’s main source of heat because he constantly curled up next to it.

It took a hassle, but the egg finally hatched into a baby Gible. She bit Larry immediately, but he knew it wasn’t out of malicious and more because she was a baby who got too excited. It won’t be the last of those bites, but Chomp was finally born.

Being the baby of the group, Chomp was the team member that everyone in the vicinity vowed to die for. Because she’s just a baby in needing to experience the outside world, she’s rarely inside her pokeball, almost as often as Cinnamon is. He’s constantly carrying her around and doesn’t let her out of her sight, she only gets called back whenever he can’t carry her around anymore for the day or he’s going to go somewhere where its not safe for her to be out. She’s a curious and playful baby Pokemon who bites and chases anything that moves. It’s her own way of having fun, seeing as how cheerful she really is. She tries to act tough though, and would jump out of Larry’s arms in occasion to join in on the fight. That’s another instance where she would get called back into the ball.

Pepper / lv 40 / f

Icy Wind ● Slash ● Agility ● Shadow Ball

Larry would never in his life sneak his way out and attempt to go to Mt. Silver itself. Then he actually did.

It was a dare, and one that of course he was not going to back down from despite it being a near impossible challenge. He traveled far, but ended up being unable to go up the mountain anyways since it was a closed location only the best of the best can enter. Viewing his current location as being close enough and calling the dare a win, he turned around and headed for the long journey home, unaware that someone else decided to follow him.

Cinnamon immediately picked up that they were being followed and showed hostility at whatever it was that tried to get too close. In that moment a Sneasel finally popped out. Her mischevious nature was clear, and it attempted to steal from the pair, but was immediately stopped by Cinnamon. She retreated back, but she was obviously not going anywhere. Not seeing the Sneasel as a pure threat, he tossed some food down and continued walking.

She popped out again when he was close to home, but this time gives a warning swipe, wanting a fight. They both gave her what he wanted, with Cinnamon being the one who battles her because by that point he was sick and tired of her and didn’t appreciate her following them around. They both gave a good fight, enough for the both of them to suffer from cuts and bruises. The Sneasel was too stubborn to give up and it was only until it collapsed from fatigue that Cinnamon was declared the winner. Once he was rewarded with a berry to get his strength back up, Larry turned his attention to the exhausted Sneasel and treated her with potions and berries too. It felt a little better afterwards, and showed her appreciation for his kindness and the fight by clinging to his leg until the Pokeball was offered.

Pepper is stubborn and quick to fight, often wanting to be the first in line to prove her strength in a battle. She’s constantly finding ways to get into trouble, whether it be challenging random wild Pokemon or stealing from strangers. This is simply her way of having fun and doesn’t seem the harm in doing what she wants to do. Even if she wants to be the problem child, her loyalty to Larry and the team is easy to see, and won’t go against orders when she sees the situation is serious and she’s needed. Pepper also has a soft side of her own, many of the objects she steals are often so she can give them to other rather than keeping them for no good reason.

#ITS FINALLY DONE #put the rest in a read more bc its getting long and i go into detail on his team #i like talking abt the mons than on my own muse #its telling when a pkmn verse is the first full fledged written verse out of like. everything else #ill add it to the page later im tired fOR NOW #v ; pkmn ♪ they say it started with a big bang #this took me all day im gonna chug some tea

[endwalkr]

this is an ask based thingy but im really in the mood to infodump so im just gonna answer them all under the cut !

Favorite video game?

starting off with the absolute hardest question huh? i can’t possibly name ONE favorite game of mine because i adore my favorites for many different reasons. my overall favorite video game is ffxv or botw. ffxv because it has brought me so much joy for such a long time, and because i have such a connection with the characters. botw because i was actually in the fandom when it first got announced in 2016 so i got to be there when the hype was at an all time high– and finally being able to play the game after waiting for so long was an unforgettable experience. i have more favorite games but ill talk more about them in the ‘’special place in ur heart’’ question.

First console you owned?

my first console wasn’t a console. my friend and i used to play on her nintendo dsi all the time and at one point tiny little me reeeally wanted one of my own so i saved up and got one in [redacted] when i was 7. my first actual console was a wii though, we got that around the same time.

A game that holds a special place in your heart?

ffxv and botw mean the absolute world to me, but super mario galaxy and skyward sword are very important to me too. skyward sword is the game that got me into zelda which got me into anime which got me into final fantasy etc etc etc.  super mario galaxy was the first non-mini game collection and more adventure story-ish game i played. i was so proud when i beat it for the first time and mario was my first ever ‘’fandom’’ :’) 

Favorite video game character?

bro. i cant pick just one so i’ll choose one per game : prompto, ryuji and link. they were all my comfort characters at some point and i projected like crazy onto them. this doesnt mean that i wouldnt absolutely die for noct or zelda. 

Least favorite video game character?

i dont think theres anyone i distinctly dislike? i always talk about hating ardyn but that’s because he’s just a salty bitch. as a character i think he’s a great villain and i rly love him. i honestly always end up liking everyone somehow, maybe there is someone i just forgot about but i cant remember at all. 

Favorite genre?

adventure games, or action rpgs. 

Video game character you’ve had a crush on?

every character ever, but i distinctly remember the moment i fell in love with prompto sjghfkshd i was watching a playthrough of xv in december 2016 because i didnt have a ps4, and the guy got to the scene in galdin quay where the bros learn insomnia fell. i had watched about 6 hours of the game by that time and wasn’t particularly interested in the characters but not uninterested enough to drop it. i hadnt even gotten a good look at the characters faces yet, so when the camera zoomed in on prompto when he said ‘’might not be save for us here!’’ i noticed he had freckles. oh god. oh fuck. oh my god hes fucking cute. oh my god better watch 30 hours of this game now

First video game you remember playing?

wayyy before i got my own gaming systems, my then-best friend had a gamecube in her attic. i was around 5 or 6 at the time. whenever i was over at her house and we didnt know what to do, she’d sometimes propose to play ‘’mario kart’’. important is that we are dutch, and i was a literal child. i thought mario KART meant it was a fucking card game, so i always declined whenever she asked. on one fateful day, i finally gave in and was pleasantly surprised it was in fact not a card game, but a viddy game. so we played mario kart double dash. (…i had never played a video game in my life besides browser flash games and was Very Very bad)

Age you started gaming?

so i played my first video game that i didnt own when i was about 5 or 6. then i got my first supply of games at age 7/8, but i dont really consider that time to be when i started ‘’gaming’’. i’d say that was when i started mario galaxy, so i’ve been playing video games for real (ie. story adventure games with boss battles) for about 6 years now.

Hardest video game you’ve played?

this is gonna sound stupid, but the witcher 3. there’s like 7 difficulties and i played on the EASIEST and still had a hard time, i just couldnt get used to the combat. i had the same problem with assassin’s creed syndicate, but after about 10 hours i actually knew what i was doing, and ive played the witcher longer than that and still am clueless. this is kind of an unpopular opinion but i dont particularly like that game

Video game you’ve spent the most time on?

i guess i am what you’d call a casual gamer; i really like video games but during a normal school week i only game for like 2-6 hours. most of the time i dont play for like 2 weeks if im busy. gaming has kind of taken over my life not because i play so much but because i get so emotionally invested lol i’m currently on summer break and even now im not playing a lot because of exhaustion and executive dysfunction. this derailed slightly but the game i’ve played the most despite my casual gamer status is …. … …. ffxv. surprise, right? the runner up is botw, but xv wins by a landslide. 630+ hours. botw is 350. my main save in ffxv is almost 200 hours i think. damn. i really managed to keep myself entertained with that game… (………i was thinking recently, since the loading screens in xv are so long, how much of this total amount was spent watching screens. i imagine it’s several hours, especially if you fast travel a lot.)

Most embarrassing gaming moment?

many moments in my gaming experience are embarrassing, but a more recent one: i was in xv’s postgame, beating some dungeons on my new save file. i had just finished daurell caverns and hadn’t saved in about 2 hours. (uh oh) i was driving around in the regalia type d and got to the big cliff near lestallum, and remembered someone made a gif of jumping in there so i wanted to try it too. i imagined the game would just put me back on the road, like it does when you crash into something. except it didnt. i got a game over. where was my last save? 2 hours back all the way in hammerhead. yippee.

Scariest video game you’ve played?

i never play horror games, cuz for me games are supposed to be relaxing experiences. no hate towards horror games of course, they just stress me out. the only time ive played horror is when friday the 13th was for free on ps+, and my friends really wanted to play it. (theyre kinda addicted to it now. huh) they had already gotten over the initial fear of having jason chase you, but i was still terrified. i can play the game without getting scared now tho. the horror sound effects just rly freaked me out at first jhsdkghsd

Most memorable gaming moment?

playing breath of the wild for the first time, or beating it for the first time. both experiences were filled to the brim with excitement and nostalgia. seeing botw as a blank slate, a world for you to explore, having no idea where you’re going… that was pretty incredible. now i know every nook and cranny of the map, so i wish i could play it for the first time again. i was so incredibly immersed. beating it was insane. i cried for 30 minutes and the end wasnt even sad, i was just so amazed at the fact that i was really here, playing breath of the wild, it was really real. the fucking main theme in the background (which i cannot for the life of me listen to without crying) didnt help with my emotions sgkdjh

Video game character you wish you could meet in real life?

…………..its prompto again. maybe 2017 me …. was .. kind of a kinnie

PC, Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo?

i dont care about console wars at all, but i think hardware-wise, pc is the best, because if you have a good pc you can basically do anything. i however do not, so i just play on consoles. ive never particularly liked xbox, so i only play ps4 and nintendo. not the switch though. its kinda petty, but my best friend and i really dont like the switch djghks

Gaming company you’re most loyal to?

none. i used to call myself a nintendo nerd (oh my god…. i m. gonna die) in like 2015 but since the switch came out and since i got a ps4 they kinda lost me. i still like their game series of course, but as a company i don’t care for them. the only reason i see square enix as one of ‘’my’’ gaming companies is because ffxv took up like 70% of my gaming experience, but besides final fantasy i don’t really love them too much either.

If you could only play one video game for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

atm i’m really into ffxiv because theres just so much to do, but that’s just a new, possibly temporary interest. if i had to choose, i’d say botw. maybe i’d say ffxv, but i feel like running around doing nothing in that game isnt very fun, because the world is sorta empty after completing every quest and getting to level 120. in botw, just fucking around on your horse is still really relaxing and nice. 

Do you use strategy guides?

yup. in certain games i try to avoid them but i usually end up stuck or in need of advice. i couldn’t have gotten so many p5 trophies if not for the internet lol

How often do you use cheats?

never, simply because the games i play often do not have cheats. unless im playing the sims and are in need of a motherlode, i dont use them.

Competitive or single player?

single player. im bad at video games and like to do stuff at my own pace. online multiplayer can be fun every now and then in games like mario kart 8 or splatoon, and i also like teamwork stuff like ffxiv or comrades. but ultimately, i prefer playing on my own.

Video game character you want to/have cosplayed?

have never cosplayed, dont have plans to either, but it would be fun to cosplay link. omg. i just remembered i have that fucking chocomoogle shirt… sorry link im gonna slap on some sasuke hair, black jeans and ugly sneakers 

Ever go to a video game convention?

i have not, i have however gone to three (3) video game concerts which is basically the same thing. 

Hardest boss fight you’ve been in?

the hardest bosses for me are usually the ones with a gimmick. you have to use a certain item or tactic to beat them or something. other hard fights for me are when you fight someone with a similar skill set. (in ffxv, this happens twice, once with the iggy-noct sparring match and once against ardyn. somehow, the final boss was easier than getting the prince to eat vegetables.) i don’t know an actual example of THE hardest boss fight ive been in though. at the time, the first bowser battle in mario galaxy was the hardest thing in the universe and i got stuck for like a month. currently, i’m having trouble with the riku-ansem fight in kh1. 

Video game you wish you could burn from your memory?

the zelda cdi games? no, i dont really know. i dont hate a game so much that i’d want to forget about it altogether, but i dont exactly love ocarina of time that much. it hasnt aged well and playing it on the gamecube for the first time in 2015 wasnt a good idea. im sure it was revolutionary at the time, but i cant handle the outdated controls gsdgksjs 

Favorite gaming series?

see, i love ffxv itself more than the entirety of the zelda series, but i dont love ff as a SERIES more than the zelda games. so if were talking series, zelda for sure. i fucking love those games and they mean a lot to me. 

Do you skip tutorials, or find them useful?

i often skip them because i cant pay attention, but then find that i need them anyway. so i usually do skim through them. 

Best online gaming experience?

one really good one happened a few days ago in ffxiv, some guy and i exchanged emotes for like 30 minutes and it ended with us becoming friends on psn :’) ppl dont usually emote back at me in that game so this was really wholesome and nice gjshksdj 

Worst online gaming experience?

i dont really have a worst? theyre more annoying. think try harders in gta online killing you 15 times in a row because they want to show you how good they are or something. magically, online gaming hasnt been too hard on me (mainly because i dont game online that much)

Why do you game?

it brings me joy. it’s a fun way of relaxing, while being stimulated at the same time. games have meant a great deal to me the past 6 years and i wouldnt want to lose them for the world.

#uh. i really just spent and hour and a half writing this down but ya #i love ya video games #personal #long post #like. really long

[tina-incambodia]

Service Interrupted.

I have so much to say but I'm not sure I could put it into words that would successfully complete the journey from my mushy brain to my shaky finger tips. I wasn't planning on ever having a "Part 2." I planned on an 11 day vacation in the 9th month of my service. Instead, I left my home for about 8 weeks. Home? What's home?

“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”

― Miriam Adeney

June 14, 2018

I'm sitting in the airport. The same one I sat in almost one year ago to leave the first time, but it couldn’t feel more different now. I have people, whole families that love me on both sides of the planet. I have two bedrooms, thousands of miles apart. I am welcomed at countless dinner tables and patio chairs, yet I couldn’t feel more lost or, most of all, homeless. So I'm back on a plane to search for a feeling and chase a dream. It is a wonderful yet painful experience to have a heart so full yet stretched so, so thin, 8,671 miles to be exact. 

So, 8 weeks is a long time to be home… or be away from home…? It’s a long time to be so unsure of and have no control over what comes next. Limbo, as I like to refer to it. With Peace Corps as the facilitator, I've spent many, many months of the past few years in limbo. And the answer to most questions during those times is, "I don't know." Not "I don't know," because I don’t want to tell you, but because I truly don’t know. I don’t know when I'm leaving. I don’t know if I'm staying. I don’t know what I'm hoping for either. That is one real thing I've learned. When Peace Corps used the word, "flexible," years ago, I can say now that I had absolutely no knowledge of what that word actually means. To be flexible with coming or going, and staying or leaving, in regards to home…. And to know and understand that hoping worrying for either end is, to be frank, useless. To reach a place in your mind where either and any option will be okay for you. On small scales this is simpler; having flexible eating habits, for example comes more easily. Sure, I won't be happy about eating my 536th bowl of rice this year but hey, I'm flexible. This is the definition of flexibility I expected when I signed my name in the little box 2 years ago. 

The universe throws you for loops, and through hoops, under falling rocks, and over oceans. "It doesn’t get any easier along the way, it just gets different." I had been looking forward to my  April vacation to the US for about 8 months. At the beginning of September, not even 2 months into my service, my nephew Camden Jorge was born and it broke my heart to miss out. I was determined to visit home the first chance I had so I could meet this gentle bundle of joy before he took his first steps. And my niece too; we had countdowns and plans far in advance to bake a cake and have a sleepover. I had 11 days home and every moment was precious. That was the plan. 11 days, 1 family party, 1 sleepover, a trip to Boston, and a lot of pizza and buffalo chicken. I had been dreaming about the damn buffalo chicken… I got to have it many, many more times than I had expected, because instead of a short 11 days, I was home for 8 weeks: 2 weeks of vacation and 6 weeks of medical evacuation…. 

August 17, 2018 

To cut to the point: I was knocked to the ground and stepped on by an elephant. Yup, you read correctly, an elephant. I was traveling alone to a sanctuary and reservation in Modulkiri, a province in northeast Cambodia, for what I hoped would be a peaceful and adventurous retreat before I went back to the states. There were 9, lucky for me, very kind helpful people on our tour and we had just taken a crazy ride in the back of a pick-up into the jungle and met the first two elephants of the five we would see that day. My fear and apprehension in the face of the gentle beasts had worn off in time to meet Lucky, a 72 year old female who likes to live alone across the river from the others. I was the last one to join the tour group when we found her thanks to a young woman dressed more for a picturesque summer pool party than a trek in the Cambodian jungle. Needless to say, she had a little trouble keeping up in her Forever 21 flip-flops and I was stuck behind her for the walk. By the time I arrived, Mr. Tree, the guide and owner of the sanctuary, had already finished his introduction to Lucky, which apparently was very important to hear as this elephant is especially particular about how she is fed. I asked a young French woman who I had spoken with earlier to take a few pictures as I fed Lucky.

We were in a tight space surrounded by tall grass; the 9 of us just fitting into the nooks and crannies of the paths created by the elephants and their trainers. I stood about a foot from Lucky as I fed her and touched her truck. In the next moment, she turned towards me and rammed the strongest part of her against my chest and neck. My head whipped backwards and I fell to the ground away from her but my lower extremities were still in her reach. The knock to the ground scared me but didn’t hurt just yet. It was the excruciating pain I immediately felt in my right foot. As I shot up, pushing the branches of the bush I fell into out of my way, my thoughts were racing and I expected a bag of bones for a foot. Luckily, (no pun intended) my foot was still in the shape of a foot. From what I could see, my first and fourth toenails had bent all the way back, and my third toe was unmistakably dislocated. I have never had any broken bones before but some sort of instinct kicked in and I fixed what I could; maybe thinking it would help the pain subside. I pushed my toenails back down and popped my dislocated toe back into place. I cringe thinking about it now, even after telling the story hundreds of times. Mr. Tree sat down in front of me and asked if I was okay. "This has happened to four girls before you," he said. Searching for some comic relief, I responded, "Oh, you don’t put that on your website do you?" He didn’t think the comment was so funny. I could tell from his wide-eyed worried face, probably thinking what would happen if I was the next review on TripAdvisor. I winced as he tried to pull all my toes into the right place, just like you do when you might be trying to crack your knuckles. I had to get up and out of the bush and get to some place of comfort. An older Canadian man traveling with his wife helped me to a small clearing. I grabbed my makeshift med kit, which I would later learn, didn’t contain even half of what I needed to care for an actual injury, from my backpack and popped three Peace Corps issued Ibuprofens.  My fellow tourists gave me clean wipes, elevated my foot with their backpacks, and sat by me while I processed the trauma. The Canadian woman sat by me and rubbed my shoulders, breathed with me, and talked me through my fits of sobbing, laughing, and complete and utter disbelief. "What the actual fuck?!" I kept repeating. “How could this happen? How did I just get attacked by an elephant?” I didn’t know it then but, for the next two months family, friends, and strangers would try to answer these hypothetical questions with such wise words, “Well, at least it’s a good story.” I can’t count how many times I’ve heard that one. I sat on a log and waited for a truck from in town to deliver the stretcher I would involuntarily be carried out of the jungle on. Usually, when I'm hurt, I try to act tough, I don’t ask for help, I hold back the tears and carry on. This time, I wanted to do all those things but absolutely could not. I tried to walk and crumbled in the pain and as we sat and waited the adrenaline and shock wore off and the pain only got worse. So, four Khmer men lifted me up and I was dubbed, "Queen of the Jungle."

We returned to the lodge perched above the jungle and the girl I had asked to take my picture helped tape my toes and as the rest of the tourists continued on with the planned excursions for the day, I sat looking out at the Cambodian canopy skyline all afternoon ruminating over my recent trauma and convincing myself the injury wasn't that bad. At least I had a great view. They don’t do anything for broken toes anyway, right? (wrong) In addition to a hammock for the night, the tour provides a traditional Khmer dinner and rice wine too. I didn’t want to miss out on any of it. I waited till the next morning, said good bye to my helpful, kind fellow adventurers, climbed up a big hill to reach the tuk-tuk and returned to the lodge in town. Cutting my peaceful adventure a few days short, I called PC explained the story and was delivered to the hospital in Phnom Penh, a 6 hour long car ride. 

The doctors in Phnom Penh showed me my X-rays and the breaks, gave me a huge ugly boot, and 3 prescriptions. I couldn’t process how real my injury was, even if it was just broken toes. I would be spending my much treasured time at home in a big boot and on anti-biotics. I was devastated and, aside from the amazing PC Medical Officer, alone in Phnom Penh. I didn’t even tell my family at home. I didn’t want them to worry about me traveling home. And I mostly didn’t want to have to tell my story again and again before I had even processed it myself. I spent the next 3 days in a hotel room ordering delivery, binging netflix, soaking my swollen purple foot in ice cold water, and crying. It sounds dramatic, I know. It could have been much worse, I know. 

I tried to mentally prepare myself for the next 25 hours of traveling, which is something I would, in a normal state, enjoy. Traveling alone gives me a sense of independence and maturity. I like to explore airports, drink bloody marys at whatever time I damn well please, and if I'm in the right mood, talk to some strangers. I had even considered leaving the airport during my layover in Dubai. But this time, I was dreading it; dressed like a bum with swollen, "I've been crying for days," eyes, lugging around bags much too heavy for broken toes, and stuck in a bulky plastic boot. I didn't want a bloody mary, I wanted a hug and my bed. I had to ask for bulkhead seating so I could elevate my foot during the flight and get up and walk often to avoid blood clots. I didn’t think about how hard this might be on a full 16 hour flight from Dubai to Boston sitting in a window seat next to a very nice, but very sleepy, couple. 

So, I went home for vacation, arrived at the airport with a great story for the family and then did all the things as planned. I finally met my nephew, I had a sleepover with my niece, ate food I had been craving with the people I missed, and on the 8th day home had one little party so I could see my whole family before heading back. I saw a podiatrist the day after to make sure everything was healing correctly. It was healing... but nowhere close to where it needed to be for my main form of transportation to be a bicycle. The doctor said, "Your big toe is in 5 pieces...there is no way you are going back in 3 days. I'll see you in 3 weeks.” My jaw dropped, I hadn't expected this at all. When I was in Cambodia PC had already seen the x-rays and ruled I'd be just fine to come back. Turns out the expert podiatrist thought differently. I called PC. I’d be home for 6 more weeks.

An extended vacation, you say? Oh! How wonderful! More time to spend with family and friends, more buffalo chicken and quality beer, maybe even a beach day? Great point. The thing is, my partner planned to leave for Cambodia the following week. In the most romantic and wild gesture, he quit his jobs, tied up loose ends and we planned spend the next 3 months in the same country  figuring out if we could make it work after spending the last year on opposite sides of the world trying to move on and failing at it quite miserably. It was a crazy thing to even think about. I had left for Cambodia almost a year ago and now he would be coming too; for us. We had been planning this for months now and we were so close, but the universe doesn’t care about your plans! So now, with flights booked already, he would leave for Cambodia and I'd be home. And we would be on opposite sides of the world, yet again all because of this elephant ironically named, Lucky. If I believed in signs like I say I do… I think this was one for the books. The universe with all its magic and power was pulling us apart once again. Writing this now, 4 months later, I still can't believe it all happened. I'm not sure Hollywood or even the infamous Lifetime could write this story. 

Before I was assigned medical evacuation status, I thought of it quite romantically; that'd be nice… six weeks home. I could use an extended vacation from bucket showers and rice. And it was nice. It was great to have so much extra, unexpected time with family and friends. I was home for mother’s day and my brother’s college graduation (peek my big ugly boot in the pic).  I even fit in a beach day. But I really didn’t expect all the mental and emotional challenges that come along with living in such a state of limbo for 6 weeks, in which I had no control of the outcome. Did I want to return to PC? Yes. Was I completely sure of that answer? No. But was I ready to quit? Hell no. Was it even in my hands? Nope. If I wasn’t healed in 6 weeks, I would be "medically separated," essentially ending my service unless I wanted to apply to return at a later date. If my foot didn’t heal correctly, I would need surgery, which would most definitely exceed my six week limit. The podiatrist explained where he would stick the three metal pins in my big toe if the 5 puzzle pieces weren't agreeing with each other.  I can’t count how many times or how many people, relatives, friends, old bar customers, and strangers, I told my story to. But I can say that my answer to their follow up questions was usually, "I don’t know." I had no clue when I was going back. I had no clue even if I was going back. And while I tried to swim in this state of uncertain limbo, I felt that I really didn’t have a place at "home" anymore. My friends were busy with jobs, boyfriends, and moving on with new cars and apartments. And although time with my family was great, many times my mind reminded me that this is what I was missing out on as I struggled to teach English and drink a gallon of water a day to make up for all the sweating on the other side of the world.  It had been years since I first decided I wanted to join PC, and I was facing the decision again, and it was harder than ever before.  I didn’t expect anyone's life to stop while I went on my big adventure, but I also didn’t expect to feel so lost and out of place when I returned. I loved eating chips and salsa on my couch alone, it was something I had been looking forward to, but I never expected to feel so lonely doing it. Yoga had become my saving grace throughout the past year of ups and downs and with 3 broken toes I couldn't even do that. And other activities I would have found peace in, hiking mountains, dancing, walking through parks, were all impossible for me. I felt the universe was giving me a big middle finger. Self-pity, I know, but that’s how I felt. I had waited almost a year to spend time with my partner again and he was traveling Thailand and Myanmar while I sunk into the couch. For a few weeks I really had no idea how to deal with all of these emotions. They say you are never alone but had this ever happened to anyone else in the history of the world? This crazy, unbelievable story of mine truly started to weigh me down. And having to tell it over and over again only to get the same advice or laughs or looks from each and every person was draining. All of my plans were crumbling in front of me and I had no control over what would happen next.

A long six weeks and several doctor appointments and x-rays later, I received medical clearance just in time. Leaving the second time was much harder than the first. The excitement of the unknown was lost and I knew I was going back to a challenge, one that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to take on again. After three long flights and two treacherous and stressful layovers, one of which if I hadn't been flying the same airline, I would have missed my next flight, I arrived in Phnom Penh close to midnight on June 17th. Two of my closest friends here surprised me at the hotel with a bouquet of freshly picked flowers and a few beers. We stayed up late catching up on the balcony overlooking the city. And just like that, I was back. It is months later now and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Just last week someone said, "So happy you came back." I had heard that so many times since I returned. This time, I finally replied, "Me too," without the guilt of lying. I am happy I came back. It was a strange transition. It still is. I returned towards the end of the school year with energy and motivation dying down on the parts of both students and teachers. I hadn’t spoken any Khmer in 8 weeks. I felt, and still feel, such a loss of fluency, and more emotionally, a loss of belonging. I went home to America and didn’t belong there. I came back to Cambodia and didn’t belong here either. It was a tough and painful and at times still is, but all in all, home is where you make it; it just takes a lot of effort and time.

My partner was here for my first five weeks back; we spent our weekends together as planned, finally on the same side of the planet and in the same country. It was wonderful. We visited some of the most beautiful spots in Cambodia. My family here, in addition to welcoming me back after 8 weeks, also made him feel at home as well. It was heartwarming to witness my two worlds meeting. He left at the beginning of August. School vacation began at the same time and now I'm left with a crazy amount of free time which I'm hoping to fill with productive and fulfilling activities. I’ve been getting back into yoga, reading some good books, and prepping some eager 12th graders for their exam. All in all, I guess I’m pretty lucky to be here considering I was attacked by a 6,000 pound beast. So begins part 2 of my service. I am left with the task of jumpstarting my heart and mind to be fully here; committed and happy. 

#cambodia #peace corps #peacecorpscambodia #asia #elephants #medical evacuation

[fandomsonrequests]

:::from the upside down:::

Fandom: Stranger Things

Character: Nancy Wheeler

Reader: Fem!

Summary: You didn’t know how you ended up in the Upside Down but you did. And it was with Nancy.

A/N: I suck at summaries. Anyways! Enjoy this fic y’all. I really loved writing for this! ALSO, I’m sorry for this coming out so late, i didnt have enough time to finish this 

Notes: fluff, upside down, angst, ptsd,

Requested by anon

Nancy shuddered and gripped her flashlight tighter, holding onto [Name]’s hand.

The latter didn’t want Nancy to come but the brunette insisted. Currently, the two were in the Upside Down, looking for the Demogorgon. After a year of peace, shit hit the fan once more and the whole shebang and they were forced into this situation once more.

Nancy stuck close to her best friend, trying to suppress the memories of being in the cold, dark place. It was just as she remembered, dim, slimy and pieces of ash floating around everywhere… at least she thought it was ash. The only difference is that [Name] was there. She was her light in the dark, the flicker of hope, the spark of courage.

In reality, the mentioned was sacred shitless. She thought Nancy was the brave one. She knew how the girl was dragged into the Upside Down and was forced to run and hide from the Demogorgon, yet, she chose to volunteer herself in order to end this once and for all. [Name] wasn’t really terrified about the thing getting to her, well maybe she was, but she was more terrified that it would get Nancy.

[Name] didn’t know when she ‘got the feelings’ but she did. She realized this in her junior year when she saw Nancy with Steve. Her heart clenched when she saw how happy Nancy was with Steve and it broke her heart. When the two broke up, the [hair color] was ecstatic, a little guilty for being selfish, but happy nonetheless. Maybe she had a chance with her. Right now, she was content that they were friends. It will happen soon anyways.

A snap of twigs coming from the far left made the two look towards that direction, their flashlights shining. Nancy had her gun pointed at the direction while [name] readied her crowbar. The second they saw the lanky, leathery body of the Demogorgon, Nancy fired her gun twice before they took of in a different direction.

The piercing screeches of the Demogorgon rang through their ears as they hurried to find the exit, ready to warn the others to get ready with the fire trap they had set up. The two never let go of each other, in fact, they seemed to have held on tighter.

“Here, here!” [Name] yelled, steering her best friend towards a cranny in a tree.

She hurried Nancy in and followed after her. Making sure Nancy was far away from the entrance of the cranny, she crouched down in front of the latter, putting her arm protectively in front of her. [Name] hushed the other girl when they heard the Demorgon’s snarls approaching.

Nancy wrapped her arms around [Name], a gloved hand over her mouth to keep quiet. [Name] pulled her close and shuffled backwards till they hit the bark of the tree. The two kept quiet, their hearts racing. They could practically feel the beats against their chests.

The Demogorgon stopped a few feet in front of the tree they were hiding in, sniffing around for the sweet smell of blood. It turned its head in all directions, its death flower of a face opening occasionally. It let out an earshattering screech and went off into a different direction.  

[Name] and Nancy waited a while before the aforementioned peeked out, keeping her weapon in hand. She turned to the brunette and gave a nod before they crawled out. Before they could take another step forward, the Demogorgon pounced upon them out of nowhere, making the both of them scream. [Name] went into action and swung her crowbar into the bastard’s face, knocking it onto its back.

The [hair color] picked up Nancy and the two went sprinting towards the exit. There the Part was waiting along with Steve and Jonathan. They all jumped up when a grimy hand popped out of the bark of a large tree.

“Quick!” Max exclaimed as she took hold of the hand and pulling the owner out. Jonathan jumped in as well and helped her pull.

Out from the entrance of the Upside Down was [Name] who fell forward, scrambling up to her feet to pull Nancy out. She fell out and on top of [Name].

“Set it on fire!” Nancy yelled at Steve who promptly flicked his lighter and threw it on the trap set out at the entrance.

At the same time, Jane (El) raised her hands to close the entrance, focusing all her energy at the rift. That moment, the Demogorgon stuck its head out and Jane worked harder to close the entrance. The Demogorgon screeched as it felt itself get caught between the mending bark of the tree and the fire. It was forced to fall back into the Upside Down, letting Jane close up the entrance for good.  

She stumbled a little from the effort, Mike immediately catching her. [Name] stood up and helped Nancy off the ground. She offered her a small smile along with a squeeze to the hand, a silent sign of reassurance. The brunette simply hugged her, grateful that they were both alive.

  “Hey…” [Name] greeted gently. She took a seat beside Nancy as they all cooled down in the Byers’ household, the place a mess once more. “How are you holding up?”

Nancy took the cup of water [name] had offered with shaking hands. “Honestly..? I’m glad we made it out in one piece but…” She shook her head, her eyes snapping shut. “God, that place really brought back a lot of memories…”

[Name] laid an arm across her friend’s shoulders and rubbed her arm in a comforting manner. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Nancy took a while to respond but she nodded slowly. “I felt as if that this was it… that I’m not going to be saved anymore… I felt as if it was going to take me like it did back then and…” A tear fell from her cheek as she started crying into her hands.

[Name] hushed her gently, bringing her arms around her and pulling her close. The brunette’s arms encircled the other as she buried her face into her shoulder. [Name] carded her fingers through Nancy’s hair, her hand running down her back as she laid her head atop Nancy’s- anything to let her know that she was safe.

“Shhh, shh… I’m here Nance, I’m here…” [Name] rubbed small shapes onto Nancy’s back. “I promise you, nothing will get you. You’re safe in my arms, I’ll protect you, I swear.” She gently pulled away from Nancy and brushed away the tears with the pad of her thumb. “I promise you Nancy Wheeler, with every fiber of my being, I will not let anything hurt you. Look at me.

Nancy stared up with her round blue eyes into the [eye colored] ones of her friend. She took hold of her friend’s wrists as she felt her cup her cheeks.

“You’re safe with me Nancy.” [Name] continued. “Trust me.”

It was now or never. She took a deep breath and…

“I love you.”

It was barely even a whisper, if you didn’t listen carefully you would miss it. But Nancy heard.

Nancy looked up at her. She didn’t know what came over her but she found herself leaning forward, brushing her lips against [Name]’s. And a split second later they were kissing. There were no fireworks no, but a tall wall crumbling to the ground in ruins.

The kiss was soft, sweet, passionate. [Name] pulled Nancy close, cupping her cheek in her hand and brushing away the tears that fell. The latter on the other hand held onto the former for dear life, clutching her jacket between her gloved fingers. When the [hair color] pulled away, Nancy chased after her lips, still not ready to part.

“I’ll take it that you feel the same..?” [Name] chuckled lightly as she pressed her forehead against the other’s.

Nancy merely smiled, moving to nuzzle into her neck. “I love you so much, [Nickname]…”

“I love you most, Nancy Wheeler. And remember, I’ll always be here for you.”

That night, when the two rested up to prepare for the next day, they have never felt more powerful with each of them at their sides.

#nancy wheeler x reader #nancy x reader #nancy #wheeler #nancy wheeler #stranger things #st #stranger #things

[zolomy]

Finders Keepers: Playing for Keeps

Summary: Zahva is a young thief with dreams of higher living, but first she needs to pay her dues. A clever find opens a rare opportunity, and changes her life in more ways than one.

Word Count: 2,145 Part 2/3 [Part 1] [Part 3]

Her dues had been a success.

With the Guild Master’s praise and blessing, Zahva quickly devoted herself to making the most of their opportunity in the little time they had to prepare.  Gone were her frivolous daydreams of noble life, replaced by the reality of her shadow world and the thrill of the game.

The days had passed in a blur, and in the blink of an eye, she was standing at the entrance to the Basati estate. For all her preparation, her stomach still twisted with anxiety and her heart beat quick with anticipation. She had never done a mission like this before.

Since many of the noble houses would be lightly occupied with exhausted staff after sending their Lords and Ladies off to the ball, many of the Guild’s younger and less experienced members had been sent out for the night’s mission. It was the perfect opportunity for them to prove their worth under the watchful eye of a Named member.

Normally she would have been automatically assigned to one of these teams, but as the finder of the opportunity, she had been given a choice: shadows or firelight. Zahva still wasn’t sure what had compelled her to step so firmly out of her comfort zone, but she chose the light.

Trading her dark cloak for one that shimmered in the softest light, her mission was to attend the ball itself and scout the attendees; what they were wearing, how they travelled, who and what they knew. And if she happened to pocket a bracelet or ring or fine piece of silver in the process? Well, no one she knew would be mad about that.

The other benefit of being the finder was she got to pick her own team for the mission. So, of course, she picked the only two people she could trust. The twins, Jax and Jazz.

Technically the siblings weren’t actually twins. Jazz was older than her brother Jax, but they were born in the same year. Inseparable as they were, the phrase stuck, and they had long ago stopped trying to correct anyone.

“Whose territory was this?” Zahva asked in an attempt to distract her nerves.

“Arnold’s,” Jazz spat. “That traitor.”

The re-construction of a noble’s house would have been prime intel, but Arnold had never mentioned a word of it. In fact, he had routinely complained that he had no work in his assigned territory at all and begged others to allow him to work out of theirs instead. They had let him pick up the overflow and scraps for months before it was discovered he was using their generosity to spy for a rival guild.

He had been promptly chased out with fire and knives at his back.

So, the trio had done their own research from scratch. A grueling task that Jazz was still bitter about.

What they had found was that the Basati family was large on two things: wealth and family members. While no one could say where their wealth came from, gossip claimed they were friendly rivals of the Sonapo family. Despite the Sonapos owning much of the land in the region, court politics had danced it’s confusing, complicated waltz between the two families and the Basatis were moving in.

This ball was meant as a house warming of sorts. Though, Zahva knew enough about high society politics to know that “house warming” really meant “excuse to show off how rich I am and establish a new social pecking order.”

Joining the line of guests heading into the entrance hall, she realized they never were able to pinpoint which of the Basati brood would be taking over the new estate. But with the way these things went it was probably an older member looking to retire to the countryside.  

As confident as they could ever hope to be, the three young thieves headed inside.

—–

Very quickly, Zahva became overwhelmed by the ball. Never had she imagined even half of the luxury that surrounded her now. Women twirled across the floor in cascading layers of colorful fabric, glittering in the light with a grace that rivaled the best rooftop shadow walkers. Even in her own smartly tailored clothes of silk and velvet, the most outstanding things she had ever worn, she felt unspeakably plain and simple.

It’s classic, she reminded herself, taking a moment to observe the fashions and trends on display. How different things looked here compared to hanging in a dark closet or folded up in a drawer! She supposed if anything, her own attire followed that of the men; clean dark cuts with the occasional flourish of color, texture, or jewels.

The younger generation was bolder, however, perhaps influenced by the city courts. They reminded her of exotic birds. Not that she had seen such birds in person, but higher society loved to place images of them in their homes. Peacocks and parrots certainly, but also swans, red-winged eagles, and flittering hummingbirds. Better birds than the exotic cats, she smiled to herself, easier to catch.

Satisfied she had properly observed what she could, Zahva slipped away to try and make heads and tails of the mansion’s layout. This required her to go outside to get a better perspective and had nothing at all to do with clearing her head of the perfume that clogged her nose. But in truth, it wasn’t until she stood at the sturdy stone railing overlooking the gardens that she was finally able to take a deep breath since arriving.

The gardens were beautiful in the moonlight. The main attraction clearly a winding maze of shrubs, and structures covered in flowering vines. Zahva imagined it was the ideal place for two young lovers to dash off into, especially on a night like tonight, and the perfect stalking ground for a thief who knew every nook and cranny. 

“Such a nice view, wouldn’t you say?” 

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice behind her, gods damn it she hated being snuck up on! It took every ounce of training and grace for her to keep calm, turning her head with what she hoped appeared to be curiosity and not sheer terror.

It was one of the peacock men from inside, his colorful outfit and cloak featuring a generous amount of well-placed feathers. Ridiculous, maybe, but very on trend from what she had seen so far. She had no idea who he was, she had no idea who anyone here was, but if she looked past his oversized hat, he had a rather nice-looking face. 

“Nice view, huh?” he repeated, tilting his head slightly the same way a bird might to get a better look at her.  

“Oh! Um…yes! It’s nice I guess,” she blurted out quickly, biting the inside of her lip as she glanced back to the gardens again. What a stupid response! But how was she supposed to explain she had been admiring the stealth capabilities of the landscaping and not the artistic flair of the flower arrangements?

The man before her frowned, a disappointed pout plumping his lips. Uh oh. Was he actually in charge of the gardens? She doubted a gardener would look this good, even in a noble house like this, but maybe he was the designer? Zahva braced herself for a bitter retort and a wounded pride that she would need to pacify. 

But instead the man flicked his chin skyward, huffing in exasperated haughtiness. 

“My dear, I am the view.” 

“W-What?” 

Suddenly everything came into sharper focus, he was much closer to her than she originally realized. His face became clearer under the brim of his hat as she looked up at him, and Zahva felt her face starting burn as she scrambled to escape her predicament.

By the gods, those eyes were captivating. Saying he had a rather “nice-looking” face had been a severe understatement. Her eyes darted around, unsure of where to look, fingers twitching to touch the luxurious fabrics finely framed his figure.

“Of course, the gardens are nice,” he continued, “but I saw the way your eyes danced over me just now.” His teasing was evident then, mischievous eyes catching every movement she made as her face burned hotter… Ok, maybe not just the fabrics.

Damn it, what had gotten into her?

“It seems the least you could do is offer me your name dear lady.”

“Zahva, m’Lord,” she said, thoroughly impressed with the steadiness of her voice, even if her answer came a bit too quick. Behind the peacock man she caught a glance of Jax and Jazz in the window, the twins gesturing oddly at her in a terrible attempt at subtle charades. She didn’t have time to decode their message however before the man before her spoke again.

“Zahva,” he said, testing the sound of her name. “I don’t recall such a family name.”

Panic flooded her gut, mind drawing a blank on every cover story she had crafted and practiced the nights before.

“Oh, forgive my quick tongue,” she replied, a clever idea suddenly coming to her. “My family name is Farnese.” She let his mind spin the name around, watching as his eyes lit up in recognition. The time to pounce. “You sir, may call me Zahva however.”

The shy smile she gave was only one part an act, her stomach fluttering for a new reason as she watched him fidget this time, caught off guard before his etiquette training finally returned.

There was a spark in the air now, and her heart jumped as he opened his mouth, thrilled to see how his charming voice would respond. But she never got the chance.

“There he is! Hiding in the gardens!” A new voice cut between them, followed quickly by several more, before they were suddenly surrounded by a flock of young nobles. Well, to be more accurate, her peacock man was surrounded, she had been pushed to the side, happy to shrink back into the shadows.

“My dear fellow, it truly won’t do to have you hiding out here!” chided a man dressed in deep red. “The ladies are beginning to weep at your absence.”

“It most certainly won’t do,” said another in soft blues. “This is your party after all!”

His party? Zahva’s mind began to breakdown. Oh no. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening to her! Lord Basati was supposed to be an old man ready for retirement and a drama free life. Instead the Lord was a young, flamboyant, very much eligible, bachelor.

Her whole body burned with embarrassment as she replayed the last several minutes in her head. She needed to leave. Now.

Slipping back inside she quickly found the twins, who whispered that they had a carriage of goods ready to go out front. They also each gave her a look that said they knew, and she cursed their terrible sign language under her breath. The trip back home would be a long one. Accepting her fate, she followed them towards the exit.

Zahva was a step away from freedom when someone grabbed her wrist, stopping her short. Her mind expected the worst, a servant who had found them out, and her fingers flicked to the knife in her sleeve. But when she turned to look at her captor, they stilled.

The gloved hand on her wrist belonged to none other than Lord Basati. His easy charm replaced by a shy smile and begging eyes. “Please m’Lady, may I see you again?”

Again, she spoke too quick, the words rolling off her lips before she could think them through. “Of course m’Lord. From the moment I leave I will count every breath until my return.”

It did seem like the kind of silly phrase a noble would say to another. But, judging by the slight frown on the lord’s face, maybe not. Maybe her worst fears had come true and he found her out.  

“Why count at all?” he asked in quick whispered words. “When you can just stay?”

A moment passed between them. First of confusion, then slow realization, then of prompt embarrassment. She blushed red, he drained to white.

“P-Perhaps I’ve had too much w-wine,” he stammered as his skin now flushed to match hers and he released her wrist as if she had burned him. “I d-don’t s-suppose, your kind nature could forgive such a f-forward remark. Please, forgive me.”

Her hand darted out before she could think, catching his wrist as he turned away and tried to escape in the swirl of his peacock cape. With a quick heartbeat and soft smile, she locked their eyes together and slid her hand into his, squeezing it gently.

“I will count each breath.”

And with that the thief slipped away into the night, having stolen not only the nobleman’s treasures, but his heart and future as well.

#kit writes #Zahva Basati #Grandma Thief #rogue #character writing

[beyondalicerp]

Name: Arielle Thorne Age: 20 Date of Birth: January 17th Gender: Nonbinary Sexuality: Bisexual Residence: Swampscott Occupation: Messenger Species: Weredove Affiliation: Rebellion Face Claim: Amandla Stenberg     Suggested: Arden Cho, Naomi Scott, Chloe Bennet, Ana de Armas                        Conrad Ricamora, Tyler Blackburn, Ezra Miller Played by: Ofir

The Messenger’s mother had a reputation for falling deeply and frequently in love, and so neither they nor their mother have ever known for certain who their father is or was. It wasn’t until late into their childhood when they first shifted that they discovered they were anything more than a regular Inhabitant. It took them a while to figure out their purpose in Wonderland. They wanted to do something that helped others, but the stigma against shapeshifters and magical creatures in general already present in Wonderland made their search difficult. They made use of being a messenger, but that job never had meaning until they met the Welcomer. After joining the Welcomer’s rebellion, the Messenger’s job began to involve more dangerous messages than they were prepared for, many of which could have them sentenced for treason, but they did their job well and they are quite well known to be the one to get the job done, no matter what stands in their way. 

The Fisherman’s Daughter: Quite a nosy thing, they are. The Messenger wonders if they are as nosy with their other patrons as they seem to be with them, what with their constant questioning about their life and travels. The Messenger doesn’t believe they have any ill-intent with their questioning, they seem too naive for that, if anything it’s just annoying at most. With their job becoming more secretive as of late, the Messenger mostly just skirts by the questions with simple nods and one-word answers to keep the bartender appeased. As long as their questions don’t get too intrusive, the Messenger doesn’t mind humoring them, at least for as long as they’ll serve them drinks.

The Hatter’s Apprentice: The Messenger once knew the Apprentice in their childhood; they’re not sure if they would exactly call themselves “friends”, they weren’t very close growing up, but the Messenger did always appreciate their company once in a while. As of late, however, the Messenger has the Apprentice being a bit... peculiar around them. They’re frequently catching them right before they head off to work or right when they get home. They’re starting to wonder if the Apprentice might be watching them when they’re not looking, and if they are, how much have they seen?

The Welcomer: The Messenger fully believes their life did not have much purpose until the Welcomer found them. Delivering letters all over Wonderland, while useful, felt superficial as no one ever really sent messages of grand importance. The Welcomer helped them find value in their job and in themself after they joined their cause, now serving as their messenger between them and their allies across Wonderland. The Messenger truly admires the Welcomer, not just for leading the rebellion, but for their kindness and their dedication to helping others. The Messenger doesn’t know where they’d be without the Welcomer, but they know they’re a better person because of them.

The Messenger is currently TAKEN.

Before The Shift

Arielle could never make sense of the quickness with which their mother fell deeply in love, but it was not something they had initially questioned. By age seven, Arielle had lost track of the men they had been encouraged to call “father.” Still, most men were kind. It was her mother who proved to be too mercurial, her enthusiasm for each relationship phasing out as soon as the honeymoon phase had ended. Arielle couldn’t really figure out why until she was just a little bit older. What she learned was this: her mother craved a sense of adventure and newness, she loved the chase of it all, and she did not know what to do with stability once she had it. It would explain why she liked to move around often, why she got tired of each new trade she tried, why she insisted on seeing the world through rose-colored glasses and resisted everything that threatened to shatter them. In short, her mother liked to free-fall, never thinking about what would happen once she landed.

Arielle adapted by bringing stability to their life whatever way they could. They tried to shut their emotions down in approaching a relationship, not wanting to adapt their mother’s foolhardiness. They tried to keep at hobbies longer after they grew bored. They tried to remember facts and situations exactly as they were. They kept journals of their life, writing down each detail exactly as they remembered it the first time, refusing to note a change in their thought without careful tracking of how they got there. They taught themself a steady determination that their mother couldn’t.

The dullness they invited into their life often instilled into Arielle a sense of meaningless. They never bonded with any paternal figure, thinking that her mother would ditch him as soon as she got bored. They stuck out boring odd jobs to bring in cash that their mother wasted. They held themselves steady until they were old enough into a place of their own – age seventeen, to be specific. What they failed to predict was the sudden change to occur in their life, and they were hardly prepared for the questions should a change would raise.

The First Change

The first change came as an unwelcome surprise. They could not understand, at first, why their organs shifted inside their being, why the world around suddenly seemed to grow, why they could not stop the strange changes seemingly taking over. But in any case, they found themself in the body of a dove, surrounded by their own clothes in a messy pile on the floor.

Worse off, no one told them how to cope, and the King’s ban on inherited magic made them too fearful to ask. What made it worse was the number of questions they had.

Why did the King ban inherited magic? What if many uses of magic - uses that could land a person in prison - were pure accidents? How many others lived in secret, and how many inhabitants were eager to spy and report for the Crimson King? These weren’t questions she had considered before, since her own mother was a regular Inhabitant and, to the best of their knowledge, none of the men she picked ever displayed magical abilities.

And Arielle thought puberty was bad.

For most of this early period, Arielle tried to restrict their shifts, only mastering their abilities in private. Each shift got easier and easier and, after some time, it became second nature. They knew how to think and speak with the brain and mouth of a bird just as they could with those of a human. Still, their ease with the shifts did not assuage with the loneliness that followed.

For a moment, Arielle understood why their mother was so quick to fall, but unlike her, Arielle thought herself knowledgeable and steady enough to take flight.

To Fly, To Fall

The first time Arielle fell hard for someone was when, during flight, a gush of wind had pushed her right into the bedroom of a girl her age. Woosh, and then splat went Arielle onto the hard tile floor, the shock of the impact sending them into a quick transformation. They barely had enough time to cover their body with a bed-sheet before the girl caught them wide-eyed and red-faced.

Luckily for Arielle, the girl was also a late-blooming shapeshifter. Eloise, her name was. A mousy thing with a high pitched laugh, she somehow managed to light a spark within the typically avoidant Arielle. The first day they met, Eloise had given Arielle a quick change of clothes and let them on their way, on the assumption that they would never see each other again. Then, Arielle found her way back. Again. And again. And again. Again she would find her way back, whether it be through a window purposely left open, or straight through the front door, passing herself off as a door-to-door salesgirl of flowers.

Over time, they developed a relationship. Sometimes Eloise would shift into a mouse, and Arielle a dove, and they would take flight. The secrecy of their acts gave them a rush they got from nothing else. Then, around this time, Arielle took up the job as a messenger, sending letters they never opened themselves. Not a fun, meaningful job, but they were good at it. It helped that they could simply fly to their destinations. Not that their bosses or clients knew about that. Sometimes their journeys left them away from Eloise for weeks at a time. When they back, though, they always returned with a gift. And as for what Eloise could give, her companionship was enough.

For all Arielle saw of this world, they could not predict the day they waited and waited on the rail of Eloise’s balcony, only for her to never show. At first, they took this as a rejection. Then, they took this as a reason to worry. So, they scoured Eloise’s room for any sign of where she could be. They took apart drawers, checked every nook and cranny, and pressed their feet against floorboards for anything Eloise kept hidden.

But, it seemed there was little sign of her. They went through the house, looking for the typical signs of life in each room, and found nothing. They ventured through the entire neighborhood, asking residents if they had seen a tall, mousy girl with a shy smile and a tendency to fidget with shaky fingers. They asked and asked until a shopkeep had quickly and quietly ushered them in and told them of recent, underground raids against magic users.

Then, in a pained voice, the shopkeep told Arielle that Eloise was among the raided, and Arielle promised themself this: that they would be far more careful than Eloise had, that they would not love so strongly, so as to protect themself from pain, that they would remove all doubt of their own anger toward the Crimson regime, and they would make Eloise’s disappearance (and later, Arielle found out, death) mean something.

Welcome The Messenger

In their search for meaning, they unwittingly crossed paths with the Welcomer, who saw potential in them. It happened when Arielle moved to Swampscott and carried out some deliveries there. At first, they did not deliver anything particularly dangerous from the Welcomer. They simply thought they were in for a change of scenery. But, unbeknownst to Arielle, the Welcomer started to send rebellion-related messages through them. Arielle went for a little while delivering these messages without knowing their content, and through this, they unwittingly learned the best ways to operate in secret.

The Welcomer taught them how to find meaning in their messages. Arielle learned to value the knowledge they picked up along their paths, to value the mystery of an unopened letter, to watch for the expression on each recipient’s face when they received a pretty little envelope. Arielle found meaning in other things, too. They found a certain contentment in being surrounded by fellow magical beings, all of whom partook in magic secretly. They derived a little something about learning of the curious Wanderers, what with their strange stories and technology. More importantly, they found solace in the Welcomer himself. He offered a stability that Arielle had not known in their youth, and Arielle is getting a little used to having a paternal figure around.

Arielle supposed they surprised the Welcomer a little when they started asking questions about his goings-on. After all, they were not supposed to find out. They were supposed to send letters without question, and be able to quickly fly away if things got nasty. But, a delivery had gone wrong. A recipient was not where he was supposed to be and Arielle, suddenly reminded of Eloise’s disappearance, had decided to read the letter. Questions burned Arielle’s mind, Arielle burned the letter, and knowledge burned through the sense of security Arielle once had.

Where security vanished, meaning took its place, and Arielle told the Welcomer they werein.

#arden cho #chloe bennet #new rpg #skeleton rpg #original rpg #messenger #all #were #taken