color of the sky;

cr-scarlet​:

(...)

Hesitating before gaining courage, Yuzhen asked, determined, “What’s your name? I can see from your suit we’re from the same organization. Thank you. You saved me. I owe you one now.”

Nice voice too.

Yelian gave the guy an onceover - now that he’d decided to stop denying himself, he might as well get an actual good look.

Normally, he would have scoffed at the whole thank you for saving me and I owe you one conversation. Why? Because first of all, it wouldn’t be true. Yelian was raised and trained to kill, not to assist. He never intentionally rescued anybody, especially strangers who should mean nothing to him. Secondly, debts implied association, no matter if he was collecting or owing. Yelian couldn’t allow that - connections. Even distant ones.

Today, however, he was inclined to behave differently.

“A life is a heavy debt,” Yelian said, closing the gap between them in two long strides. Reaching out and boldly grabbing Yuzhen’s wrist, he squeezed his fingers around the other’s skin until it was likely just beginning to feel uncomfortable. “Pay me back, with your body.” It was a straight forward proposition. “I collect considerable interest too, so if you intend to avoid additional charges, pay me as soon as possible.” Yelian leaned closer, his voice cold even though his body was warm. And in fact, should be more so than usual.

Life’s been weird lately. It started with Yelian randomly passing out one day and waking up with some strange chest pain. No, calling it that would be inaccurate because he wasn’t exactly hurting. His chest just felt warm, as if he was having heartburn except more...pleasant. It was difficult to describe.

He wasn’t the type to see a doctor, so he carried on with his duties as normal. Other symptoms began, involving him dry gagging sometimes, after a kill. The scent of blood which typically gave him a rush now made him feel occasionally sick.

Was karma catching up to him? Maybe.

And perhaps that was why he decided to spare the prostitute.

Listen, the request demanded for a dead guy only and said nothing about the woman who was unfortunately caught underneath him. Yelian was covered from head to toe, and these days he didn’t give as much of a fuck about leaving witnesses, so miss whore was destined for a lucky break.

Except she wasn’t reacting as he thought she would.

“Change of plans,” he said, flashing his phone screen at the partner in crime. “Apparently the client no longer want the bride dead - she wants us to mark her face with a knife instead.”

Yelian was beyond agitated. He got fucking dressed up for this mission - a whole tailored suit plus an uncomfortably tight tie. One whole hour of suffering later, he was being informed that there was a change to the plan that they’d meticulously thought out?

“This isn’t like, ordering McDonald's. When people say they want someone dead and hire professionals, I expect them to be ready for the corpse.” At this point, he sincerely wished to turn this whole thing on the dumbass bitch who’d made the request in the first place. Except that wouldn’t really work out since though stupid, that one had wealth and influence, which apparently made up for her obvious lack of brain cells.

The cater walked by with a tray of hors d’oeuvre and Yelian waved him off before he could speak. He wasn’t in the mood to smile and pretend to be a happy party guest anymore.

Pretty eyes.

That was a compliment, and though not verbalized, must still be recognized for its rare nature. Yelian didn’t find many people attractive to this degree and in fact, could count them all on one hand. First there was his mother, and yes, he could still vaguely recall her face despite their early separation. Second, his brother. The third brother, to be exact - the only one that he managed to feel somewhat close to. If his first pick was a biased one due maternal bond, then the second one at least would be accepted by all. His brother kept himself beautiful purposefully - a poisonous flower that has now withered because Yelian killed him four months ago.

He met his third pick as a teenager and that poor guy was bleeding out on a table, being used for a very important lesson on where best to cut to hurt somebody. They exchanged all but three sentences, and none of them were particularly pleasant.

Death was the common point between these three individuals, which did say something about Yelian’s taste. This fourth person, however, was very much alive.

Someone with longer legs was behind him, footsteps rapidly closing in and in four - no, three steps he would be caught. Adrenaline was pumping, blood was rushing through his veins, but he couldn’t push himself to go any faster.

There should be panic in his heart, along with a healthy dose of fear. Yet instead he felt only excitement. As he was lifted into the air, he laughed...And it was a happy sound. 

Morning friends, I wanted to provide a little bit of background information on Gale’s host body and share a few plot ideas I have. Please like this post if you are interested in threading with him and I’ll come to you.

With the jerky revealed, the dog’s tail only wagged harder. He planted his front paws onto Gale’s knees, eagerness positively radiating.

“Just a moment,” Gale chided. “Patience is a virtue.” He applied pressure, feeling the jerky bend underneath his grip but not come apart as desired. Gale lowered his head to check on his progress, only to realize he could barely see.

Somehow, the sky had gone dark.

His smile faded, replaced by puzzlement. Cold bit at his exposed legs and arms in a way that didn’t make sense. The weather was always nice in Chromos. Even when it rained, the droplets tasted sweet and snow was only an excuse for children to play outside. This...it was something different.

Darkness was chased away by a light, but it was not a warm, pleasant brightness. Blinding, intense, it came with a powerful force that pushed Gale back. He flew, shoulders colliding painfully against hard concrete over and over again as he rolled. In the end, a tree caught him with its sturdy trunk and sent him into a long, uncomfortable slumber.

(...)

She smiled at the other boy brightly, before checking the time, “I’m off in an hour so give me….two hours?” 

Oh sweet, she said she’d love to.

Love to!

“Okay, see you in two hours then.” Except he wasn’t really going to leave and instead, would spend his waiting time chatting with the old man who owned the repair shop.

Uncle approved of the date, and only warned him to return Basil home at an appropriate time, to which Gale agreed to.

“Do you think she knows it is a date?” Now that the excitement of having gotten the yes was beginning to fade, Gale thought of a point of concern. Basil had answered too quickly...too easily...did she even know he was asking her out instead of this being one of their usual hang outs? “Is Basil usually sharp about this type of thing?” The old man shook his head in response to Gale’s question. It made sense, because for as long as they knew each other, Gale wasn’t sure if Basil actually properly dated.

Oh boy, maybe he’d need to hammer in his message, but that can wait until later.

( ☼ @cr-darksienna)

What’s a good place to make friends? At house parties, that’s right!

It was a warm, lovely Friday night and Gale had mentioned to his parents he’d be coming home late so to not wait up for him. A friend’s friend was having some sort of celebration and Gale was invited as a plus one. They said the party was likely to end at midnight, so that’s what Gale told his parents. Now, it was close to 2:30 AM and the music was still blasting in this house. In the back of his head, there was a quiet, but stern voice telling Gale he should be finding his friend and getting out of here.

"Where are you, Timothy~?” His voice sounded strange, even to his own ears. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” He walked unsteadily forward, giggling. Nothing particularly funny was going on, but Gale couldn’t stop himself.

The weird thing was he didn’t even drink that much. Whatever they put in the punch must be extra strong today.

sagexcr​:

(...)

“Khami, heel! Khami–” Seeing that the dog shows no signs of slowing, Minki switches tactics and calls out to the pedestrians ahead, “Excuse me! Please don’t let him through! He slipped his leash!”

Have you ever approached a situation full of the best intentions, but ultimately ended up doing more harm than good?

Yeah, for Gale, it happened all the time.

As soon as he heard the call for help while walking his own doggo Junior, Gale’s good samaritan mode was activated. He turned around, arms stretched in hopes of stopping the smaller pup from advancing in its path. It worked for a second, but Gale suspected that was more due to the pup’s apprehension of the much larger husky Junior. Wanting to take advantage of the moment, Gale stepped forward, trying to plant his foot solidly on the red leash that was dragging on the ground.

Unfortunately, he slipped.

His own dog leash fell to the ground and Junior, ever excited for a new friend, went into full playful state.

cr-emerald​:

(...)

“You should tell the girl how you feel though. Just tell her ‘hey, i like you.’ and see what happens. That or invite her out to do something fun and confess your feelings then. I hear that girls really like things like that, though really i’m not love expert so i don’t know what they prefer…” he mumbles the last bit before taking a sip of his drink, avoiding his friend’s gaze as he does so.

Eep, just the idea of saying ‘hey, I like you’ to Basil made Gale’s insides quiver with nervousness. That said, direct might be his best option. If he went for one of his outlandish ideas and pulled some stunt like drawing a message in the grass/on ballons, something might go wrong.

“Alright, I’ll ask her out to the movies then!” Gale declared. There should be a good one showing tomorrow and he could ask her to go right after work, using this dying bike as the excuse one last time.

Now that he made up his mind, Gale felt significantly better. He raised his head to discuss details of his plan, but noticed Kiha seemed to be...distracted. “What are you thinking about?” Gale tilted his head to catch Kiha’s gaze again. “Why are you not looking at me?” He whined, putting a hand against his best friend’s cheek and turning the other’s face back towards him. There, much better, eye contact was important, especially when serious conversations were happening!

crivory​:

(...)

“ will you stay awhile?” oracle finally asks, tilting her head.  “ i’m sure nyla is around somewhere if you’d like to say hello.”

When it came to being observant, Gale sat at 50-50. Today happen to be one of those days where he paid attention. The drop of blood, though singular in nature, did not go unnoticed.

“I hurt you!” Actually, it was the paper cat, but as its creator, Gale felt just equally responsible. “Please let me have a look,” he said, taking the oracle’s hand.

Brows furrowing in distress at the injury he caused, Gale pondered over what he should do next. He held her hand in both of his with gentleness and concern, but neither of those things had the power of healing. “I know, I have a band-aid!” No need to request for divine assistance, Gale was capable of taking care of this himself.

The band-aid, sort of old and battered looking from having sat too long in his wallet, was promptly fished out. He kept one hand under oracle’s for support while he peeled the band-aid with the other. Slightly clumsily, he wrapped her finger. The band-aid ended up slightly crooked, but it should do the job. “All better.” Now just one more thing left.

Gale bent down and softly blew at the hand he was still holding. “My family does this for me,” he explained, just in case she would question this behavior. “I am blowing away your pain.” Gale grinned. “It sounds silly but it really works. At least for me.”

craureolin​:

   (...) when the song the other was singing comes to an end, hui’s hands raise to clap softly. though he doesn’t say anything verbally, his eyes are bright and there’s a small almost invisible smile on his lips.

The first thing he felt was embarrassment, because gosh, he had no idea he was being watched! Fortunately, negative emotions didn’t tend to last with Gale and a twinge of pride soon took over. Singing was, after all, something he was quite fond of doing and personally thought he was good at. It hadn’t always been this way - when he was a child, Gale only had a voice and no technique. He would screech into the air louder than the morning crows and make all of his neighbours wince.

Someone was always there to encourage him, however, and in time he somehow tapped into the flow of music and found his tune. Had he not decided on the path of becoming a vet, Gale would have gone to try to become a singer. Write some happy lyrics to go with a cheery rhythm - something people could hum to in their cars during the morning drive.

“How long have you been listening for?” Gale smiled towards the one who had clapped. “Are you a student?” The other looked like he was around his age. And here Gale thought he had introduced himself to every student in this university! Oh well, better to have a late introduction than none at all.

“My name is Gale!” He started happily, taking the other’s hands and tugging him over to sit. Indeed, he had no sense of personal boundaries and didn’t see any issues with holding hands with a stranger. “What’s your name? How old are you? What major are you in?” He fired the questions rapidly. “Have you eaten lunch yet? Did you like the song I sang?” This was exciting. Meeting new people was so much fun.

cr-vermilion​:

(...)

"That’s not fair!” Yet also unsurprising - both of them were well capable of playing dirty.

Gale made a slight hmph noise at the offering, now hovering too close for his liking. He wasn’t a toddler anymore and didn’t enjoy being fed as much as he used to, but despite his desire to protest, he knew what was going to happen next.

See, he didn’t want to disappoint Sil. Especially when the word love was thrown about.

When Sil began living with them over fifteen years ago, Gale’s father had asked him to be kind. He said Sil had lost his family - the most important people in one’s life - and was no doubt in misery. Though they would never be able to replace the love Sil had lost, they must try their best to replenish. Gale really took those words to heart and for him, it was not difficult. After all, he always had plenty of love to give.

He opened his mouth, nose wrinkling in distaste as the pigeon meat made official contact with his lips. A careful swept of his tongue over the fennel sauce had him tipping back in his seat. Gale had intended to eat - this was a physical reaction his mind couldn’t override.

(...)

Finishing up her treat, she grabbed her discarded toolkit and crouched down in front of the bike, eying it critically, a bit of worry hitting her as she took in the poor state of things, “This is an accident waiting to happen. I don’t want you to foolishly keep riding this thing until you get hurt.” She scolded him even as she got to work fixing up the bike—like habit t this point. “I know you are attached to it, but it’s time to let it go.”

Letting go of things was hard for Gale. He still had his plush animal (only one, because he was loyal to Monsieur Beary) and worn out blanket from his childhood days. "I’ll stop riding it after this final repair.” With great heaviness weighing down his heart, he resigned to his fate. The bike may join Monsieur Beary and his blanket in the attic, where they would be kept safe and comfortable in retirement.

“There’s actually another thing I wanted to ask you.” And that was the difficult part of this visit. See, Gale had been thinking about this for a while now and the chat with Kiha gave him the push he needed to actually shoot his shot. That said, exactly how he would approach this topic was still something to struggle over.

He wished he could be calm and collected about it, but that simply wasn’t his personality. Sexy was also out of the window because...let’s face it, that smoothness was reserved for dramas and Gale was certain he’d screw it up. There were enough cringe worthy moments in his memory bank, no need to add another to it.

Just follow my heart, right?

Gale waited for Basil to look up from her work before putting on his usual smile - the one she should be very familiar with...the one she saw on his face the first time they met. Granted, he’d done a lot of growing up since then, but when you are raised in a world like Chromos, surrounded by love, your smile doesn’t change much. Same openness, same honest happiness.

( ☼ @crivory)

“This is for you,” he said cheerfully. “A gift made by yours truly!” No boxes, no ribbons, Gale didn’t believe in wrapping up gifts only for the receiver to have something to rip open - that would be awfully wasteful. “Doesn’t it look just like Nyla?” He was presenting the oracle with a creature made out of paper and it definitely looked nothing like the cat it was supposedly modelled after.

First of all, the colour was wrong. Last time we checked, there weren’t any crimson red cats wandering around the streets of Chromos. Gale simply chose to use red paper because it was his favourite colour and readily available.

Secondly, the creature did not look like a cat. It had rounded ears, which made it look like a bear. The eyes were too round and the way Gale chose to draw on eyelids made the creature look like a panda with white eyeliner on. Its tail was too short and curled weirdly, resembling a piglet.  Finally, the whiskers were made out of toothpicks and that made Gale’s offering not only strange but also sort of prickly to the touch and must be handled with care.

Regardless, it was a gift.