#/anyway/ so i need to use this party as an opportunity to meet new people

[purplespacecats]

i will not hook up with the crush i'm trying to get over at the play party we're both going to, i will not hook up with the crush i'm trying to get over at the play party we're both going to, i will not hook up with the crush i'm trying to get over at the play party we're both going to....

[fallow-hollow]

five stages of grief

…ft! kabru x gn! oblivious! reader

…tags! pining, confession, kabru is a bit of a freak about this, oblivious reader, reader is an adventurer

…word count! 2671

…notes! spreading my kabruganda to the masses!!! kabru is my me so I very much enjoy writing him

denial

At first, Kabru was so convinced that there was something behind your happy-go-lucky exterior.

You were so skilled in the dungeon, able to make it down to floors that even he hadn’t traversed yet. So you must have a good grasp on tactics, not only in battle, but also when socializing! Yes, maybe you read people expertly when they’d respond in kind to your friendly behavior…..

During the stage where you’re acquainted but don’t know much about each other personally, he spends so long crafting theories about what’s going on inside your head.

His party members get sick of hearing about it halfway through the second week.

Once you meet again in person, he’s ecstatic to have an opportunity to take a closer look at your inner workings. His words and mannerisms are calm and purposeful, but there is a certain spark in his eyes, almost trying to illuminate your thoughts and feelings with its shine.

Over the course of the conversation, Kabru starts getting a bit confused at his lack of new findings about you. It takes you saying something particularly damning for him to finally reach the dreaded conclusion.

“I don’t usually run into you in places like this.”

Kabru had encountered you one evening after exiting his room and seeing you and a few party members at the bar. It was nothing short of a strike of luck, and most certainly not him deliberately staying home that evening because he’d overheard your plans to go out.

“Hm?” You perked up, looking at him with a blank expression that was quickly replaced with a kind smile. Even trying to look closely, he couldn’t find anything present in your face except for a simple joy.

He would approach you with long strides, placing one hand on the back of your chair as to be friendly and intimate, but not so intimate as to make you recoil from a touch. The wink he gave you was with the eye facing away from the others on the opposite side of the table, ensuring most of them wouldn’t notice his flirtatious gesture.

“Want me to buy you a drink?”

Immediately, you raised one hand in polite refusal, your smile turning into more of a sheepish one. “Oh, I don’t know if I’d be able to pay you back. I wasn’t going to splurge much tonight anyway….”

As you talked, Kabru pulled up a free chair and sat down, a gesture that cemented himself in the conversation and setting. He noticed when he sat down in the middle of conversation, it made people less likely to turn him away than if he were still standing.

“No, no.” when he shook his head, his dark curls did a swishing movement. Once he looked back at you, he gave a half-lidded smile, only a tinge sultry in hopes you’d pick up his hints. “Your company is more than enough payment for me.”

Your party could only stare on with absolute pity as you waved your previously raised hand dismissively, giving what Kabru could only assume was a reassuring nod. Why did you think he needed reassured….? What did you think he meant?

“It’s completely fine, no need to be polite! We’re beyond such niceties at this point, I’d say. After all, I consider us to be at least a little bit friends, right? You don’t need to buy me a drink just to hang out!”

For a brief period, Kabru felt as if his whole world was spinning around him, before then shattering at the unknowing sledgehammer of your words. These statements and mannerisms suggested something far more than just a passive rejection…… no, it was something much darker.

You truly were as dense as a brick wall.

anger

Kabru doesn’t always react….. too calmly when people defy his expectations.

He’s able to keep a smile on his face just fine, but on the inside he’s screaming.

What do you mean there isn’t more? Where’s the scheme? The ulterior motive? The familiar secrets he can unravel and use to his advantage? Is it so bad that he wants there to be more?????

I’ll be honest, the man experiences his fair number of homicidal thoughts about you. In a strangely romantic way!

You’ll be chatting away with him, each remark and flirtation absolutely flying over your head, and inside his mind he’s just going I should gut them right here and sort their bones and vitals by size if they won’t let me dissect them the mental way.

And then seconds later he’ll go haha what was that! Anyway yes tell me more about the cute bird you saw last week.

I think Kabru does a lot of journaling, so he has a fair number of notes about you. Sometimes they’re drawings of you with notes about your appearance and physical mannerisms, other times he writes more free form about his thoughts regarding you. When he gets particularly frustrated, the writing can became scratchy or heavy handed to the point that it’s unreadable or nearly tears the paper.

The silence and solitude of the night was briefly interrupted by Rin rolling over in her sleeping bag. She was just beyond the range of the firelight where Kabru was still writing, and he could only barely see the way she squinted at him through her own tiredness.

“What are you scribbling about so late at night?” The mage would try to start another sentence, but be cut off by a yawn. If she was trying to be intimidating, it certainly wasn’t working. “Go to bed, Kabru, or else you’ll wake up to being sprayed by an undine if I have anything to say about it.”

That was a rather unpleasant thought….. even if the threat wasn’t legitimate, Kabru recognized that he’d probably spent far more time writing than intended. It was embarrassingly easy to get distracted when it came to you….just another thing that irked him about you. Yes…..’irked’. That’s most certainly the word.

“I’ll wrap it up soon, sorry to disturb your sleep, Rin.” With a grumble, the girl rolled back over, leaving Kabru to glance at his notebook for just a brief moment more before closing it. The writing was near illegible, but he still knew the words by heart:

‘I wouldn’t mind if they were scared of me. Maybe, if they sat on the other end of my sword, trembling and wide-eyed like human prey, I’d get to see a truly untouched side of them.’

bargaining

After the shock and rage subsides, Kabru tries to make you realize his feelings through pretty much every method imaginable except for confessing.

It feels like the man always appears at your side, always claiming he ‘happened to be in the area’ or something similar. And you never even question it, infuriatingly for him.

Your party members often tell you that something is up with the guy, that he’s hanging around you a suspicious amount but never being fully transparent, but you’d feel so bad about being suspicious of him when he’s done nothing but inquire about you and even offer gifts on rare occasions!

Kabru isn’t exactly the richest of adventurers, so gifts or treating you isn’t a regular occasion, but it’s certainly something he resorts to as a last ditch effort to try and get you to realize that he’s interested in you romantically.

Once he even tried to offer you a flower, but you still didn’t take the hint.

When you saw the flower in Kabru’s hand that day, your first thought was being so flattered that he remembered your conversation about which ones you both liked.

“Oh, Kabru!” You exclaimed with pure joy, causing the man to become embarrassingly excited that perhaps you had finally noticed the meaning behind all his gestures. Were you finally moved and wowed by his considerate, perfectly planned gift.

Clapping your hands together, you would beam and say, “You liked my favorite flower so much that you wanted to get one for yourself?”

A fly could’ve soared down Kabru’s throat in the time of that pause, but you paid it no mind, instead eagerly awaiting his reply.

The look on Kabru’s face was a completely blank smile, his bright blue eyes seeming to have almost burned out like a pair of oil lamps. Then, as he regained his composure, those lights flickered back on again, albeit wavering slightly.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take it yourself? If you like it so much, I’d be happy to let you take it home.” Poor Kabru, he should have learned by now that hints have no effect against the impenetrable fortress that is your cluelessness.

Your grin was the nail in the coffin, letting him know you had something in your head that was absolutely not anything he could anticipate from anyone else. “But why not use it as some decoration? Your party members always talk about how sparse your room is, and it could even remind you of me when I’m away! Here—“

You ushered him closer, a hand now on the small of his back giving him sparks that teetered between pleasurable and painful. The free hand gestured to the plant he held so delicately, pointing out different features like the petals, stem, and so on. “I can even tell you some facts about it; that’ll help you enjoy it that much more deeply whenever you see it! And you’ll remember our conversation!”

The way you could be so resistant to his advances yet so sweet to him could be nothing short of torturous sometimes.

depression

For a while, something fairly rare happens to Kabru: he falls into a slump.

He spends a long time in the dungeon, slashing away at monsters as if it might help him clear his head. His teammates notice that he can get more aggressive in combat than usual, but never really ask him about it.

He also becomes more spacey during mealtimes, and while some peaceful silence is nice, having Kabru of all people be so uncharacteristically quiet for so long.

It comes to the point that something similar to an intervention happens one day after dinner.

“What’s up with you, Kabru?” Mickbell wasn’t one to beat around the bush, immediately starting his line of questioning while looking at his teammate, void of mischief or amusement. “You’ve been all broody and silent all week. Can’t just expect us to not ask about it.”

“What Mickbell said,” Kuro concurred almost immediately after.

The tallman did his best to blink away his tiredness and offer a more confident look that he usually used when trying to rally his team under an idea or calm them down. “I didn’t mean to make you guys worry that much about me. It’s just something I’ve been personally interested in, so it’s not something you guys need to worry about.”

“A personal problem?” Rin cocked a brow. “If I know anything about what interests you, it’s probably a person.”

“Haha, caught me red-handed like always.” He raised his hands in faux surrender, though Rin didn’t seem to be put at ease by the gesture, so he tacked on another statement. “I was surprisingly stumped on what tactics to use when talking to a certain person, it’s really got me thinking.” Averting his gaze to the side, he could almost conjure an image of your grinning face in the corner of his vision. “It’s pretty exciting, though, so I don’t mind.”

“Ugh, I knew it!” The half foot threw his head back in exasperation, causing Kuro to extend one arm behind him in case he fell. “It’s that brick-headed adventurer you’re getting all cozy with, isn’t it?! What, you thinking of starting a new party?”

While Mickbell was busy stomping his foot to punctuate his accusation, Holm merely hummed. The gnome usually stayed pretty impartial to matters like this, but that didn’t mean he could always resist throwing in a comment or two.

“I’d be stumped too if I thought about human interaction like a battlefield.” His tone of voice remained soft, but his words were still quite pointed. “You really have to be upfront about your feelings sometimes, you know that? At least, if Mick’s description can actually be trusted.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!”

After those two broke down into petty squabbling, Kabru could merely try his best to mask his realization behind a tight-mouthed grin.

Holm was right, and he hated it more than anything.

acceptance

Okay, this is the part where Kabru actually bites the bullet and talks about his feelings. Truly a miracle of life.

Kabru can have a lot of trouble being fully vulnerable due to feeling like he’s losing control, so he does his best to maintain control over the rest of the outing. He arranges the time, location, even makes sure to get there first. It’s the most he can do to not feel completely helpless at the whims of his own fickle heart.

When you arrive, a new wave of nervousness hits him that’s almost like nothing before. Kabru has slain men without a second thought, and here he is resisting the urge to tremble because he has to tell his crush he likes them.

He starts off with small talk, sort of building up to his confession while also beating around the bush just a little. Asking you how you’ve been, if you’ve done anything noteworthy, if you’ve meet any new people…..

Eventually, Kabru decides that if he waits any longer, he may instinctually try to hide his intentions in the long strings of small talk he’s making, so he finally takes that leap.

He said your name, and your eyes flickered up to his face. Even if you were spacey at times, you never stared past him or through him whenever he was addressing you. It made him feel….strange. It was odd to feel truly perceived at times.

“Can I be….. terribly honest with you?” He cards his fingers through his curls and closes his eyes, and you couldn’t help but notice how effortlessly beautiful he looked.

“Of course,” you responded without thinking. Not like you ever needed to think twice about your appreciation for the man. More than that, really.

There was stillness, and all you could hear was Kabru’s deep inhale through his nose. He intended to phrase it more eloquently, he really did, but when he opened his eyes again and saw you waiting on his words with baited breath, there was this instinctive fear that maybe this would be his only chance. That you would walk away or disappear, leaving him with only the memory.

He didn’t want just a memory.

“I want you to know that I love you above all else.”

Your mouth hung agape like his had many times in response to your own remarks. Were it not for how shocked he was at his own words, he would have chuckled at how cute you look.

Before he could even scramble to elaborate on his uncharacteristically blunt comment, you blurted out in a similar fashion, voice slightly raised and head perked up,

“You really feel that way?!”

Faced with your blushing face, Kabru could only affirm the feelings that you promoted from somewhere deep within him. “Yes, I’d been trying to win you over for a long time, really.”

If you were flushed before, then now you were nothing short of flooded with embarrassment from ear to ear. Despite this, you were smiling, wobbly and sheepish. “I mean, it’s not like I’m shocked in a bad way or anything — I always thought you were really wonderful, too wonderful for me anyway. I really never thought you were pursuing me of all people!”

For the longest time, your denseness had given Kabru untold grief. Upon seeing you state it so plainly, however, he just couldn’t find it in his heart to be upset. Not when it was one of the things that made you so fascinating.

“I’d sort of figured as such, yeah.”

[metaliczz]

Charles Leclerc imagine

In which Charles gets jealous of how other men act towards you.

I haven't been active for the past month but I'm working on it. Things got very bad but I'm working my way through it. I've been thinking about new prompts for my writing. I might also start a book about Charles x reader. I've got a couple ideas in my mind. Anyways, enjoy :)

During the past seven days, you have been going out more because of the lack of presence of Charles. He had received tons of calls asking him to interview him, big brands wanted him for advertisements and even his own ice cream company needed some adjustments. Charles kept apologizing to you about how he wouldn't be able to be there for you as much as he used to. However, you said it was okay knowing that it hurt you inside. You hid your emotions to not make him worried and cancel all of those opportunities that had made his way to him.

You knew Charles would be back in about two days but you didn't stop going out. Almost every day you had been going to parties and events with your group of friends. As much as you hated being away from Charles, you had to admit that having fun with friends and attending events that always had a twist of actions to it was something you always liked. You liked the unpredictable and the wildness of it all.

"(Y/N), where are we going now?" Your friend asked, scrolling on an app that located nearby parties.

"Let's go wherever it's most crowded." You answered, getting ready.

"Awesome." She responded, looking at the information of the party with the most people there is.

A few knocks were heard at your front door and you quickly went downstairs to open it. As you expected, the rest of your friend group was there. You yelled of excitement and so did they all. You let them in and somehow, music started playing from your speaker.

"So, ladies, where are we going next huh?" One of your friends said.

"There's this party a couple minutes away and apparently there's gonna be a shit ton of people. I think around six hundred or something."

"SIX HUNDRED?! Girl we better run to that party as soon as possible. I need to get drunk and meet hot men."

You laughed and put your stuff away now that you were ready. You and your friends headed out to the party.

"This is AMAZING!" You exclaimed as you poured yourself another drink.

The music was loud and booming through your ears. There was a dance floor, which you took the opportunity to bust some moves. Your friends and some other men hyped you up as you kept laughing and drinking.

Once you sat back down at a table, a man came up to you. You looked at him and waited for him to speak.

"Hi." He said.

"Hey?" You answered.

"You have amazing moves, man. I haven't seen anyone like you before." He said as he sat down in front of you.

"Thanks! It's definitely the alcohol that's getting me like this." You replied as you started to laugh uncontrollably again.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"(Y/N), you?"

"Peter."

"Cool."

"Wanna get out of here?" Peter asked, waiting for you to agree.

You didn't say anything in return. A weird feeling covered your entire body. You didn't know what it was.

"Excuse me." You finally said, getting up.

You made your way to the bathroom which, luckily, was empty. You looked at yourself in the mirror and turned the cold water on. You put some cold water on the back of your neck and some on your face.

"(Y/N)! Come out!" One of your friends practically yelled.

"Okay!" You opened the door.

Your friend didn't even have time to tell you what was going on before you saw him. Charles was there, yelling at the man that had approached you a few minutes ago. You were so confused. He was gone for business purposes and now there he was.

"Charles! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. I cancelled an appointment because I wanted to be with you."

"How did you find me? I didn't tell you I was here."

"Your location was on." He murmured.

"What the hell is going on here?" The other man, Peter, asked.

"You talked to my girlfriend, that's what's going on here." Charles answered, his voice loud and sharp.

"Okay, now. Let's get out of here." You said and grabbed Charles' arm, pulling him away.

"You're too drunk (Y/N). Let me take care of you." Charles said, his voice softening. He picked you up and took you to his car. He carefully put you in it and drove you to his place.

When you got to his place, Charles took your heels off for you and placed you in his bed. He changed you into his clothes and took the rest of your makeup off. A few hours later, you got more sober.

"Charles..."

"It's okay chérie." (darling)

"I barely remember anything of what happened."

"There was this guy that approached you."

"Right."

"I don't like how other men look at you. I hate it. You're so beautiful." Charles said, getting next to you in his bed and pulling you closer to him.

Your head was in his chest. His hand on the back of your head and the other one around your waist. You wrapped your arms around his back, it being too big for your arms to wrap around fully around it.

Charles kept giving you small kisses on your head and on your face. You closed your eyes, enjoying the feeling. His kisses trailed down to your neck and then back up to your face again. He played with your hair as he kept telling you how much he loved you and how he was sorry he wasn't there for you this week. He said he was sorry for letting that other man approach you at the party. He told you he was sorry about everything, then made sure to kiss you multiple times again. Charles was obsessed with you. He always needed you by his side. You were his reason to keep going and never give up on life.

[ellaphnt]

Shuro’s status of nobility has been brought up a few times when discussing his fight with Laios. I’m sure there’s credibility to the argument but the way it’s been used makes me go, “huh??”

I’ve seen his upbringing used in a negative context, usually to flatten his reasons for fighting with Laios. “oh he’s used to people listening to him so he’s never met anyone who doesn’t do exactly what he says” or “he’s never been exposed to anyone new or any new perspectives and that’s why he hated Laios”. I don’t think these opinions are salient in fan spaces but I saw it enough times I wanted to talk about it.

I feel like we just, forgot that Toshiro is a foreigner? The only poc in the party? And never interacted with gnomes, dwarves, and halffoots since they don’t live in the east? (well, the last point depends on how much you’ve seen from the Adventurer’s Bible)

Compared to everyone else, he probably had the MOST exposure to new people and experiences. And yet he was able to, best he can, quickly assimilate and harmonize with everyone in his new party. Regardless of what he thought about them, it seemed everyone else thought he was amicable. As a poc (and East Asian specifically), that’s mission accomplished.

With all that effort into making himself culturally digestible, it’s no wonder he resented/envied Laios. He put in all this effort to learn their status quo, to not offend the new people he’s meeting, only for Laios to not give him the same consideration. Both of them were socially inept in some way, but only one of them felt the need to do something about it. It’s important to note that their fight was a turning point for Laios too - he realize he had to be more aware and present for his team.

So Toshiro didn’t want to say no outright because it might set back the bonds he’s trying to form. Confrontation is hard, confrontation in a new country is harder. He settles for “close enough” because hey, it’s not that big of a deal. Their opinion of me is way more important than obtaining respect for myself. I’m the foreigner. This has the consequence of making him a pushover, but I digress. He seems to identify himself more as a foreigner than nobility.

And that had to do with separating his identity! The identify he has at his house was kept VERY separate from the one he has with Laios and co. He doesn’t want Laios’ party to know that he is nobility. He doesn’t even care that they call him by “first name”, albeit butchered. He never mentioned the retainers to them (since Chilchuck had to ask who they were).

The retainers are people he’d rather keep at a distance due to their connection with his dad. This might be why he joined Laios’ party solo given the opportunity. But as we see in the image below, they followed him into the dungeon ANYWAYS. You can’t convince me he wanted them to do that. They watch from a distance, disregarding Toshiro’s independence. They don’t always listen to him, they do what they think is best for him, which means they actually follow MAIZURU. To her, his status as their young master is very important, and therefore he needs to be waited on hand and foot. It’s not that he’s used to people doing stuff for him, it’s moreso Maizuru does it regardless.

What drives both identities is an inability to assert himself. He don’t think highly of himself (living under his father’s shadow) and it shows in how people treat him. With Laios and others, he had the opportunity to shape a new identity, but because Laios was the one that introduced him, he and everyone else just accepted the misconceptions. I’m sure Toshiro noted his surprisingly strong influence on his team, something he hasn’t achieved.

With his retainers and Maizuru specifically, she doesn’t put faith in his decisions. She tsked at the fact they went to save Falin, but obeyed anyways because he’s never asserted himself before. (Reminder that assertion is him on his knees requesting their help - the hierarchy of his upbringing does not feel ingrained in him. Giving me overly respectful and considerate vibes, the silly guy)

So he CAN do it! He CAN shape how people see him if he is able to open up a bit more. Rather than his nobility, it’s moreso that he’s never trusted anyone to open up to in the first place. He doesn’t fit in back home. He’s distant from Maizuru, he’s distant from Hien. He’s distant from his brothers and parents. He basically never had friends until Laios. This is his first friend too!!!

He finally opened up to him, and that’s going to pave the way for his character development in the future. He now has someone he can trust, someone to put his faith in, and someone to teach him how to communicate better. By airing his resentment, now all that’s left is that envy/admiration. He’s going to learn from that.

Edit: just because I like keeping things together, here’s more discussion about this post :P

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Tongue Tied | Spencer Reid

Add yourself to my taglist! | Here’s my masterlist!

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol use, making out, mentions of sex (nothing explicit, but MDNI!)

Author's note: 

Words: 3.075

Being best friends with Penelope Garcia had its perks and disadvantages. More perks than anything else, to be fair. There has never been a day where I’d been sad for more than five minutes. She was too bubbly, too nice, too overly excited about everything that you just couldn’t be sad around her. 

Being best friends with Penelope Garcia also meant hearing a lot of stories from her job and the cases she worked. Almost every day, she’d call me, no matter what time at night or in the morning – much to my chagrin – and tell me all about the case she’d just wrapped up with her team. Having heard so many stories about her found family, I couldn’t help but be curious to meet them. 

She’s worked at the BAU for eight years now and not once have I had the opportunity to meet the team. Mostly because whenever they had some time off and spent it together, I had my own job to go to. 

But now, I finally got to meet them. 

Penelope was throwing a big party for her 34th birthday and I, along with the rest of her team, was invited. She’d told me she was allowed to use her co-worker, David Rossi’s big-ass mansion and to say I was impressed when I arrived, that would be underselling it. 

Dressed in my favorite red dress, I make my way up to the front door, anxiety wracking my brain. Meeting new people always felt scary, no matter how old I got. There was always that tiny voice in the back of your head, wondering if they were going to like you, if you looked right, if your dress wasn’t too provocative.

I’d changed my outfit about ten times before settling on my first option anyway.

Now that I had arrived, the anxiety settled on my chest right up until the moment when my eyes landed on the familiar figure that was my best friend. 

She let out a shriek as she embraced me. “I’m so happy you could finally make it!” she exclaimed before pulling me inside and guiding me all the way through the house. She was going so fast that I barely had the time to properly look around. 

“Pen. Pen, calm down, please,” I said between chuckles. Right in front of the large sliding doors that led to the garden where the party was in full swing, she halted and looked at me with worry pooling her eyes. 

As Penelope was about four years older than me, she had always felt like a bigger sister. And she often acted that way, too. “What is it? Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine. Just nervous…” I mumbled, sighing desperately. “I’ve never met your friends and it’s been kinda freaking me out, so could we please, take a breather?” 

Penelope’s eyes softened as she looked at me. “Yeah. Yeah, we can take a breather. Hey, how about a cocktail, hmm?” She offered me the glass in her hands, one she had wanted to drink, but decided I needed it more. 

“That’s good, yeah,” I whispered before taking a sip. 

For a moment, I closed my eyes to get my bearings until Penelope’s voice shook me out of it. “Hey,” she started. “You’re gonna be fine. They already love you from everything I’ve told them. And if they say as much as one bad thing about you, I will not hesitate to hurt them. Bad.” 

The seriousness in her voice and face caused me to crack up, the anxiety washing away as quickly as it came.

“Okay,” I then said and took another sip. “I’m ready to meet your family.” 

With a smile on her face, Penelope guided me outside where her co-workers were dancing on the makeshift dance floor. Before Penelope could start to introduce everyone, I had already made my mind up about everyone from the stories Penelope had told me. 

“All right, everyone,” Penelope started. “This is Y/N Y/L/N, my best friend. Y/N/N, this is–” 

“Aaron Hotchner,” I interrupted her, shaking the tall man’s hand before my cheeks started flushing when I realized what I’d done. “Sorry, Pen has told me so much about all of you. She said how imposing her boss was, so I made the connection…” 

Her co-workers exchanged glances and I could almost detect their impressed glances. “There’s no way you could get all of our names correct from Garcia’s stories,” another one challenged. When I looked up at him, I tilted my head slightly. The thick eyebrows, the sharp jawline, the muscles… 

“Well, I don’t know, you tell me… Chocolate Thunder.” Derek’s eyebrows shot up in surprise while the girls beside him gasped, their jaws dropping in amusement. I turned towards the women. One blonde, one brunette, both with curious eyes looking back at me. “You must be JJ,” I said to the blonde. “And Emily,” I turned to the brunette, shaking each of their hands politely.

“Damn, Garcia, where did you find her?” Derek joked. 

The heat reached up to my cheeks, creeping all the way up to the tips of my ears. “She’s profiling us,” another voice piped up and when my eyes met his, I swore my heart skipped a beat or two. 

Dr. Spencer Reid. Penelope had told me enough about him. Resident genius. Child prodigy with an IQ of 187. Reading speed of 20,000 words per minute. The most gorgeous pair of eyes I had ever seen – though that was something I’d deducted in the five seconds he looked at me. 

“I-I’m a psychiatrist,” I explained to them. “Sometimes, I have to profile people too, though in different ways than you guys do.” As I glanced up at all of them, they just looked back at me with intrigued shimmers in their eyes. I felt a little more at ease now that the ice had been broken, but I still couldn’t quell every ounce of anxiety that resided on my chest. 

“Okay, enough chit-chat!” Penelope exclaimed excitedly before grabbing another cocktail for herself and lifting the glass in the air. 

I, along with the rest of her team, mimicked her movements until all our glasses were raised and clinking. “To Penelope,” David Rossi announced and all of us just repeated the words, having the girl herself squeal excitedly. 

Just then, the music on the speakers switched to ABBA’s Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight), causing Penelope and I to gasp in excitement. This was the song that brought us together in the first place when we met in a bar nine years ago during a night out and we were the only ones dancing. Safe to say it had been dubbed ‘our song’ ever since. 

Along with Emily and JJ, Penelope and I took to the dancefloor, singing along loudly. I didn’t even need to be drunk to let myself go. With this song, I could be stone cold sober and still be dancing on tabletops. 

“Is there a man out there?” We sang as I pointed at Spencer the same way the other girls pointed at the other guys to get them to join us. A surprised look washed over the Doctor as I danced over to him and grabbed his hand to drag him towards the middle of the dancefloor. 

The eight of us danced the night away. From ABBA to Rihanna and everything in between, Penelope and I made sure everyone stayed on that dance floor with their drinks topped up, always. I fit right in with them. Everything felt so natural that I cursed at myself for being so anxious about this night. There was no reason for me to, at all. 

Three drinks in, I was pretty buzzed and overwhelmed with the happiness and contentment I felt, that I needed to step out. “Pen,” I captured her attention. “Can you show me to the bathroom?” 

“I’ll show you,” Spencer cut in, having caught my question to my best friend. 

I smiled up at him – God, he was so tall – and nodded my head. “Okay. Yeah, sure.”

“Be good, you two,” Penelope almost warned as Spencer and I made our way towards the house. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Chuckling, I turned around, but kept walking backwards. “So, I can do everything?!” I teased, ignoring how my cheeks heated up, flustered at the suggestion of Spencer and I doing anything at all. 

I fell back into step with Spencer, allowing the silence to wrap around us while we made our way to the house. My head felt light and my senses were hyper-aware of the presence next to me. I could smell his cologne – fresh and citrusy – and I could hear his even breaths. 

“There you go,” he then said as we were inside and he pointed to a door on the right. I was almost sad our little walk was over, even if we hadn’t said a word to one another. I liked just being around him, it seemed. 

I flashed him a smile. “Thank you, Spencer,” I said before ducking into the bathroom. It wasn’t even like I needed to go, but I went anyway, just to be sure with all those drinks. When I finished, I washed my hands and splashed some water in my face. How did my cheeks still feel this hot? 

After taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the bathroom to rejoin the rest of the party when movement in the living room piqued my interest. I turned the corner to find Spencer going through the books on Rossi’s shelves. 

He waited for me, something in me said, but I refrained myself from saying it out loud in case I read it wrong. 

“You’re still here,” I pointed out instead, capturing the man’s attention. 

His eyes filled with brightness as they landed on me and his smile was equally as dazzling, almost knocking the wind out of me. “I waited for you,” he told me sweetly, his tone dipped in honey, much like his eyes. 

“Y-you waited for me?” I stuttered, trying to wrap my head around the fact that the voice in my head wasn’t wrong. 

He approached me, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, I-I kinda wanted to show you something…” he muttered before cautiously reaching out a hand. My eyes flicked from his face to his hand and back before placing my hand in his. 

While my stomach tied itself in knots from the somersaults it was doing, I let Spencer guide me up to the balcony on the side of the house where we looked down on the party happening down below. I couldn’t help but smile as my eyes caught onto Penelope dancing with Rossi like their life depended on it. 

The graze of Spencer’s fingers on the palm of my hand shook me out of my thoughts. I glanced up at him to find him gazing down at me with a tender smile and shimmering eyes of honey. He then pointed up to the sky. 

“Look up,” he said softly and I obeyed, craning my neck back until my eyes caught onto the stars above us. Next thing I know, Spencer grabbed my hand and lifted it to draw something in the sky. “That’s Orion,” he told me. “Did you know Orion contains two of the brightest stars in the night sky?” 

“No, I did not know that,” I whispered, trying to ignore him intertwining his fingers with mine as he dropped our hands back to our sides. 

Spencer hummed. “Stars are always perfectly in balance,” he then continued and when I glanced up at him, his gaze was focused on the sky above us. “You might not realize it, but stars are in constant conflict with themselves. The collective gravity of all the mass of a star is pulling it inward. If there was nothing to stop it, the star would just continue collapsing for millions of years until it became its smallest possible size; maybe as a neutron star. But–” he stopped himself as his eyes locked with mine. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?” 

“No!” I answered a little too quickly and a little too feverishly, so I recomposed myself as quickly. “No, I-It’s actually really interesting. I’ve never really known much about stars. All I know about is the human brain and its mental capacities and flaws.” 

A smile graced his beautiful features. “I bet your brain is beautiful,” he blurted out, his cheeks reddening almost instantly when he realized he’d said it out loud. “I-I’m sorry, that was–” 

“The most beautiful compliment anyone has ever given me,” I finished his sentence, smiling, endeared by his confession. “I bet your brain is beautiful, too.” I turned towards him, keeping my hand entwined with his. 

Spencer was looking down at me, the gears behind his eyes clearly going in overdrive as he thought of something to say. It appeared as though I had rendered him silent and I couldn’t help but smirk at the achievement. 

“Did I leave you tongue tied, Dr. Reid?” I asked teasingly, squeezing his hand ever so softly. 

Honey eyes looked into mine, searching for the answer he needed. When he had found the answer, he suddenly cupped my face and captured my lips with his in a hesitant, testing kiss. For a second he pulled back, trying to gauge my reaction with his forehead pressed against mine. My brain was swimming with excitement while my stomach filled with fluttering butterflies. 

“Did I leave you tongue tied, Dr. Y/L/N?” he shot the question back, teasingly. He had gained some confidence back and, above all, it seemed to do something with the chemicals in my brain as I shut it off entirely and went back in. 

My lips slotted perfectly with his. I tilted my head ever so slightly, deepening the kiss. His fingers played with the strands of hair that had escaped my intricate updo while mine had landed on his chest, pulling him impossibly closer by his tie. 

After a while, I needed to come up for air and broke away from the kiss, but still kept him close. My mind was going into overdrive as every single part of me tingled. I felt his every fiber on my skin and I wanted to absorb every possible second I had this man close to me. 

“Maybe we should go back to the party,” I whispered. 

“Maybe we should.” 

“YOU HAD SEX WITH HIM?!” Penelope practically shrieked the next day when I debriefed her on what happened between Spencer and me when we had escaped the party. 

I buried my face in one of the many pillows on her couch and let out a groan. “Yes, I did. I’m so sorry, Pen! It just– It just happened! I don’t know how, we were looking at the stars one moment and the next, he’s kissing me and then suddenly, BOOM! He’s inside me!”

“Damn,” Penelope whispered, everything finally clicking in her brain. “DAMN, I didn’t know our Boy Wonder had so much game!” She almost sounded proud of her co-worker. “Was he any good?” 

“PEN!” I threw the pillow at her cackling form. “Yes, he actually was very good,” I then muttered once the initial embarrassment had died down a little. “Easily top three for me.” 

Penelope’s eyes widened as she plopped down next to me on the couch. “NO!” 

“Yes…” 

Her bottom lip jutted out into a pout. “You two would make the most beautiful geniuses.” 

“Woah, pump your breaks there, Pen,” I chuckled, hitting her with yet another pillow to bring her back to reality. “This was just a one-time-thing. Don’t go ringing the wedding bells so quickly.” 

A smirk landed on her lips. “But you want it to be more than a one-time-thing, don’t you?” she teased. “Yeah, you’re not a one-time-thing-person at all. You’re a cute-date-boyfriend-girlfriend-type of girl.” 

I hated that she knew me so well. Ever since saying goodbye to Spencer at my apartment last night, I haven’t been able to think about anything else but his beautiful honey-colored eyes and the gorgeous smile that grazed his lips so often. 

“Should I ask him out?” I then pondered out loud, earning an excited shriek from my best friend. 

Just as she wanted to add something, her phone started ringing. A hint of terror flashed over her face as she reached over for the device. She was probably scared it was work calling her in for a case on her day off.

Her smirk quickly returned. “Speak of the devil,” she muttered before picking up. “Hey, Reid. We were just talking about you.” 

My eyes widened in shock. Spencer wasn’t supposed to know I went straight to my best friend with every detail of our night together. Though he should’ve expected it. Maybe he did. 

“Yeah, she’s right here,” Penelope’s voice snapped me out of my own head, her eyes fixated on me. “Yeah, sure.” She then reached the phone out to me. Hesitantly, I took over the device and pressed it to my ear whilst getting up from the couch and moving away from Penelope. 

“Hi Spencer,” I greeted awkwardly. 

“Hey, y/n. Uhm… I just–I wanted to call you but since I don’t have your number, I figured I could call Garcia to ask for it, but since you are there…” He trailed off a little. I could hear the smile in his voice as he talked, sending shivers down my body. “I was just wondering… If, maybe, you’d want to go out for coffee later today? I’m sure you’re nursing a hangover right about now and I read somewhere–”

“I’d love to, Spencer,” I quickly cut him off, too eager to listen to his ramblings. A silence fell on the other side of the line. A smirk landed on my lips as I just listened to his soft breathing. “Did I leave you tongue tied, Dr. Reid?” I asked, repeating last night’s question. 

A chuckle rolled off his lips. “I think you’re always gonna leave me tongue tied, Doctor.”

At that moment, I realized I wanted to leave him tongue tied more often. As long as he could overwhelm me with all his facts and genius ideas between those moments, I’d probably be the happiest and luckiest woman in the world. 

As long as he left me tongue tied, too. 

Everything taglist: @calamitykaty @littlemissaddict @n0wornever @wanniiieeee @unnowhatthisistbh

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Shake It Off

Summary: Called to the Lee/Hamilton wedding near the start of your shift to aid an eighty-year-old woman experiencing chest pains, you hope against hope not to run into someone from your past. But the man you meet there might just be your future.

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Paramedic!Reader

Warnings: Medical Scenarios, Awkward Social Situations, Dress Whites, Language, Military Inaccuracies, Paramedical Inaccuracies, Rating - T.

Author's Note: Inspired by the song Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, written for @laracrofted's 1989 Challenge! Thank you very much for hosting the challenge, Amelia!

Word Count: 3075

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Maybe he won’t be here.

The thought was fleeting, and born of desperation, as you pulled up to behind the fire truck in front of the Horton Grand Hotel.

There are plenty of people with the last name of Lee, the fact that this call is taking us to the Lee/Hamilton wedding doesn’t mean he will be here. Maybe it won’t even be a Navy wedding.

Jumping out of the driver’s seat of the ambulance, your hopes were immediately dashed as a tall man in dress whites stepped forward when you reached the rear doors.

“Damn, angel, you are devastating.” He drawled smoothly and you fairly felt his eyes, mostly obscured beneath the brim of his combination cap, tracing down your uniform as you reached forward to help your partner Delgado unload the stretcher.

“Good evening, sir.” You replied with crisp professionalism. “We’re here because someone called 911?”

“You brought one of those AEDs, right? Because I think you stopped my heart…” His peach-pink lips stretched back into a grin to reveal two rows of perfectly straight, white teeth.

“You’re our 80-year-old woman, sir? Please describe your chest pain.” Delgado replied flatly and you bit your lip to prevent your smirk, loading your gear onto the gurney.

Delgado was your first regular EMT partner since your move to San Diego nearly a year ago, wooed by the $50,000 bonus Falck offered to try and stabilize their work force. He was young, his social skills more than a little rough around the edges, but he worked hard and knew his stuff. Listened to your personal woes without too much complaint and was quite honestly the closest person you had to a friend here - working the graveyard shift as a paramedic really did not afford a lot of social opportunities.

And right now, you did not at all mind that he was there to get between you and the pretty boy in uniform. Because that meant he might be willing to run interference with someone else if the need arose.

“Ms. Mable is just this way, follow me.” The handsome stranger replied easily, undeterred, and turned to lead the pair of you through the lobby, smoothly tucking his cap under his arm as he stepped inside – a well practiced move you did your damnedest to ignore. Particularly the flex of his bicep.

Following just a few steps behind him, you guided the foot of the stretcher as Delgado came last, pushing the head of it. The lobby was narrow, no more than a tiled hallway really, with a wall of windows overlooking a New Orleans style courtyard – currently filled with women in formal dresses, men in suits, and a sea of dress whites. You quickly ducked your head, focusing on following the shoes of the man in front of you.

“I’m honestly not sure what happened, she seemed to be having a great time, dancing and laughing…and then she started clutching at her chest, having trouble catching her breath.” You perked up as he finally began to say something useful.

“Did the firefighters move her somewhere more quiet?” You asked as he led the pair of you past the sign welcoming guests to the Lee/Hamilton Wedding and over to a door beside the front desk.

“Yes, we were using this space for the wedding party anyway, so we set her up in the meeting room, just here.” Pulling open the door, he gestured for you and Delgado to proceed inside.

The crew from the fire truck had set a makeshift bench out of banquet chairs for her to sit upon, the wheeled meeting chairs pushed into a corner to make as much room as possible, but it still felt cramped. The patient was resting comfortably while Lombardo, their firefighter/paramedic, was assessing her vitals and reviewing the cardiac monitor.

Ms. Mable was all of five foot two, a cloud of perfectly styled, white hair upon her head, not a strand out of place despite the dramatic turn her evening had taken. Her face was etched with the lines of a life well-lived, yet she was easily holding court amongst the crew of physically intimidating individuals, animatedly recounting a story about the cutting of a cake with a sword, based on the few words you were able to catch. They stood in their suspendered Nomex trousers and heavy boots, entranced by her performance, as a woman in her mid-fifties sat close at hand, keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings.

“Thank you for your assistance, sir.” You quickly tossed back over your shoulder to your guide before diving right into the scene, pulling on your nitrile gloves, all concern about the possible presence of a certain individual vanishing in the face of your job.

Once Lombardo had fully handed the scene over to you, as it was quite apparent that this was most likely a case of angina for which the woman already carried a prescription of nitroglycerin, you settled in to talk with Ms. Mable yourself. The departure of the first responders made the room feel infinitely more spacious.

“I hear you were tearing it up on the dance floor this evening…” You smiled warmly as Delgado continued to track her vitals.

“I’ve always had a hard time saying no to good-looking pilots….my Gerry was a pilot, you know. Fifty-three years together and he got away with everything. So, when this handsome, blonde flyboy from Texas kept asking me to dance there was no way I could turn him down.” The corners of her eyes creased with mirth, and you grinned warmly as the woman laughed beside her, shaking her head fondly.

“Breathing and cognition are good.” You turned back to Delgado who added the notes to the electronic file with a nod. “How many sprays of nitroglycerin did you end up taking, Ms. Mable?”

“Two, five minutes apart, just like the pamphlet says. I really am feeling much better, I’m so sorry to have made such a fuss but my daughter, Deborah, had already dialed before I could stop her.”

“No apologies necessary, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.” You nodded to her daughter reassuringly. “Are you local or just in town for the wedding?”

“Oh, lived here for the past forty years ever since Gerry was stationed at Miramar. Once you give up snow for palm trees and sand it’s impossible to ever go back. I saw you’re not wearing a ring, dear, is that just for the job?”

Delgado snorted indelicately and if it were not for the paperwork involved you would have delivered a swift kick to his shin.

“No, Ms. Mable, just haven’t found the right man yet.” You steadily increased the volume of your voice to drown out Delgado’s utterance of ‘not for lack of trying.’ “You have a cardiologist whom you see regularly?”

Mable blinked a little at the sudden change in your tone but answered all the same, “Dr. Atwal, same age as my grandson. But he knows his business, so I listen to him. San Diego is a fabulous place to meet a young fellow you know, so many eligible men out there. A lot of handsome pilots especially…even here tonight.”

A flash of movement, accompanied by a swell in the noise of the reception down the hall, caught your attention and you raised your eyes to see the face of your guide from earlier peering through a small gap in the doorway.

“Lieutenant Seresin…” You heard Ms. Mabel sigh fondly before her heart rate began to increase alarmingly. Your eyes snapped to the cardiac monitor to review the screen for evidence of any abnormal rhythms, aware of Delgado doing the same in your periphery.

“Now Ms. Mabel, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Jake…” He drawled and that’s when you placed his accent…Texas.

He was the handsome fly boy at the centre of all the tumult then. Somehow this did not surprise you at all.

“Where would the fun be in that, Lieutenant?” Came Mable’s repartee with a wicked grin and you straightened, well aware that you needed to put a stop to this before she reached her maximum doses of nitro just for a little flirting.

“Lieutenant Seresin, would you mind stepping out so we can do our jobs? Thank you.” You turned to look up at him authoritatively, wishing you weren’t able to see how green his eyes were in this light. How his hair reminded you of spun gold, especially when it was highlighted by the medals and pins and buttons of his uniform.

“Apologies Miss, just wanted to check on Ms. Mable here…” You noticed the way his grip tightened on the wood of the door and his eyes flitted to the floor guiltily.

He was not the first nosey by-stander you had asked to step back, nor would he be the last, and yet your heart spasmed as though you had kicked his puppy.

“Much better, and she’ll continue on that path if we can finish up, thank you.” You found yourself reassuring him, willfully ignoring Delgado’s scoff.

Whether your boot knocking into his was intentional or an accident was something he, thankfully, did not question. With a sigh of relief, the Lieutenant closed the door, and you were able to turn your attention fully back to your patient, whose heart rate was normalizing, yet her eyes were full of mischief.

“Quite the catch, isn’t he?” She fairly crowed.

You cleared your throat forcefully to refocus and looked over everything once more. “Ms. Mable, I really don’t think you’re having a heart attack. Of course, we do recommend going to the hospital to have everything checked out by the doctors there.”

She was already shaking her head halfway through your statement. “Absolutely unnecessary, young lady. Where’s the thing to sign? I don’t need another ambulance ride.”

“Mom, are you sure? She said they recommend…”

“Deborah, no. If you want, you can drive me, but this is excessive.”

After a little more back and forth, Ms. Mable ended up signing the ‘refusal of service against medical advice’ form and you and Delgado packed up your gear.

“Have a good night Ms. Mable, but maybe stay away from blonde pilots from Texas?” You teased warmly before making your way back out to the lobby.

“I’m gonna use the bathroom. Finally, a chance to pee somewhere with nice smelling soap.” Delgado excused himself, leaving you alone next to a circular table near the front entrance.

The sound of the wedding party drifting through glass doors behind you in the courtyard fanned the banked coals of your anxiety into roaring flames once more now that the distraction of your duties had been removed. Brigham had to be here somewhere, this was surely his pilot’s wedding…

You surged forward toward the front doors, wanting to at least wait outside, and nearly ran headfirst into Lieutenant Seresin.

“Easy there, angel. Sorry about that. Already on your way to your next call?” He steadied you easily, hands on your shoulders. Enveloping your shoulders.

Shaking your head quickly, you laughed once at yourself. “Just heading outside to wait for my partner, the gurney takes up a lot of space.” You stepped out of his grasp and swallowed thickly. “Have a good night, Lieutenant.” You tried once again to make your escape but found him walking along with you, on the other side of the stretcher. Helping.

“Ms. Mable refused to take a ride with you?” He asked, sliding his cover onto his head as you stepped outside.

You shrugged softly, not really at liberty to discuss it, opening the back of the ambulance and loading the stretcher inside. “Thank you for your help, I appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the rest of the party.”

He smirked, leaning against the back of ambulance unhurriedly. “You seemed to be missing the part where I’m much more interested in getting to know you, angel.”

You opened your mouth to try and summon some form of polite refusal when you heard his voice.

“Yo Hangman, are you harassing anything in a uniform these days?” Followed by that irritating laugh that you had never really had a chance to try and find a reason to love.

You watched the muscle between Lieutenant Seresin’s eyebrows twitch before he turned to face the jokester, revealing Brigham “Harvard” Lennox. He looked exactly the same as your second and final date nearly six months ago, appearance slightly improved by the dress whites, though you noticed his cap was negligently still tucked beneath his arm. His arm upon which a dewy-skinned, long-limbed, glossy-haired woman hung.

He blinked a little in recognition as his eyes fell upon your face and you offered a polite smile.

“Nice to see you again…” he said a name, not your name, but at least the first letter was the same. For the sake of letting this agony end, you would have let it go, if not for Delgado’s untimely return.

His reflexive correction of your first name as he walked through the group to hop up into the back of the ambulance without a second’s hesitation immediately thickened the ambient tension.

“Oh right, yeah, been a while huh?” Brigham grinned vacuously, not even having the grace to appear embarrassed. “Lookin’ good…” He added disingenuously, glancing over your uniform with less than kind eyes, moving his arm to wrap around his date’s silk-clad waist. You watched as her perfectly manicured gel nails came to rest on his bicep, a silent proclamation that her job, if she had one, was nothing like yours.

“Oh shit, this is that pilot who ghosted you a while back.” Delgado blurted out from over your shoulder where he was stowing the last of the gear, and you clenched your fists.

“Weapon systems officer.” You snapped despite your desire to keep the exchange civil, but halfway through the correction, you realized you were speaking in unison with Lieutenant Seresin.

You didn’t miss the way Brigham’s jaw clenched in dismay before turning to see Delgado backing away with both hands raised in surrender. “Whatever, I’ll be up front.”

“So, which one of your ‘exam questions’ did she fail, Harvard?” Lieutenant Seresin asked, tone light and playful but with a dangerous edge to it.

The latter scoffed and shook his head. “What are you even talking about Hangman?!” He protested loudly.

“Baby, I’ll meet you at the car, ‘kay?” Brigham’s date pulled back, patting his chest, and tottered away on her heels.

“No really,” Lieutenant Seresin dropped the friendly façade and looked over his colleague seriously. “Which was it then? Exclusivity? Kids? Careers?”

As he listed each topic his eyes flicked between your face and Brigham’s increasingly scarlet and annoyed expression. You tried to keep an impassive mask but there was a slight tick in your jaw as you involuntarily clenched your teeth at the word ‘career.’ You had long suspected that had been the reason his texts had stopped coming. The fact that you wanted one and he wanted someone to dedicate their lives to supporting him in his.

Lieutenant Seresin’s eyes flashed in recognition, and he rounded on Brigham. “Apologize to the lady for ghosting her over having career ambitions, Harvard.” He said firmly.

“What the hell are you even talking about Hangman, you don’t even know…” Brigham sputtered in protest and a small part of you wanted to tell Lieutenant Seresin not to worry about it.

“You were an idiot, Brigham. Now apologize.” He repeated firmly and any thought of excusing Brigham’s behaviour died in that instant, because it was true. He had been an idiot and it had been painful. You had been rather convinced it was going nowhere fast, but sudden and complete silence had hurt all the same.

You almost missed the apology as the first time Brigham delivered it; he used that wrong name again. Lieutenant Seresin’s eyes narrowed into an icy glare, and it was quickly amended to your proper name.

“Now go find your date before you screw up that relationship too.” Lieutenant Seresin gestured with his chin for him to go away before barking after him, “Cover!”

Brigham slammed his cap onto his head and only walked faster toward the parking lot as you chewed on your lower lip savagely lest you do something unseemly like indulge in laughter at his expense. You took a steadying breath before turning back to face your unexpected ally.

“Come on, they’re holding calls!” Delgado shouted from the front seat, and you exhaled with that withheld laugh. One that Lieutenant Seresin echoed.

“In an effort to restore the reputation of the United States Navy, and prove to you that Brigham Lennox is an aberration, will you let me take you out for a drink?” He tilted his head with an inviting curl of his lips.

He had absolutely no right looking that attractive, or being that good of a man, or putting Brigham in his place so handily.

“I…I’m sorry I just started my shift at nine…” You fussed with your stethoscope nervously, trying to pull it into place around your neck even though it was already right where it was most comfortable.

“What time do you get off, then?” He persisted. “I’ll buy you breakfast.”

You frowned in thought, weighing the pros and cons of spending more time on another Navy boy, when an all-call came through the radio, drowning out your internal dialogue.

–  All available units, MCI northbound interstate five just after First Avenue underpass, please respond –

Your eyes widened as Delgado immediately picked up the receiver.

“Medic 3-6 responding, approximately seven minutes out.”

“Lieutenant, I have to go.” You looked to him quickly, stepping up into the ambulance, closing one door and reaching for the second as he swung it towards you. You stopped it suddenly with your palm, yanking a business card containing your station information from your front pocket and slid it into his free hand.

“My shift ends at nine, won’t be ready before 9:30. As for when I get off…” You couldn’t hold back your smirk any longer, your heart skipping a beat, making you thankful you weren’t hooked up to the cardiac monitor just then. “…we’ll just have to see about that.”

His blinding grin was the last thing you saw before you pulled the other door to the rig shut, shouting for Delgado to pull out, lights and sirens ablaze.

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[ughgoaway]

the birthday party

content warnings: alludes to sex at one point, drinking, gross romantic stuff and uhhh I think that's it? word count- 2.7k ish

a/n: 2 fics in less than a week??? who am I?? anyway, I was actually lying earlier in the week and somehow managed to finish this just in time for my birthday!! sadly, this is not how I'm spending my day but I am gonna delude myself that it is!!! Unsurprisingly, I am not a fan of this fic and wrote like 2k in a night so please tell me if it's really bad... okay here it is, love youuuuu-

You slam the door of your car and let out a sigh from deep within your chest. The day's weight feels heavy as you walk up to your silent house. The party your work had thrown you for your birthday ended up being less of a celebration and more of a hell hole you couldn't escape.

Sandra, your work “best friend” (a title she had given herself), had insisted on throwing you a party after finding out your birthday was at the end of the week. You insisted it was a small party and begged her for nothing big. And it began that way, just meeting in the conference room after work with a cake from Tesco, no dressing up, no gifts, just a small gathering.

As the week developed, your small get-together began to change and grow into something entirely new. Each email that came in had something added to the invite. Somehow, by the end of the week, it had changed to a semi-formal party, presents “optional” (necessary) with decorations and a personalised cake. 

Today had been bad enough before the party, endless incompetent people seemed to find their way to you. You'd been hit on by 2 men old enough to be your father, screamed at by a 40-year-old woman for being “a stupid bitch” and dealt with 4 more insane people.

The party was just as bad as you expected. The only thing keeping you together was the compliments on your outfit. Matty had helped you pick out the dress you were wearing the night before, insisting on helping you feel just a little bit better about the party. It was nothing much, a simple forest green cowl neck. A small slit went up the side of your leg that hit mid-thigh, you were sure it was too much for a work party but after Matty's never-ending spiel of compliments, you decided to wear it anyway.

You sat through the 2 speeches from your boss and your apparent new best friend before you managed to slip away. Yes, somehow you managed to sneak out of a party that was supposedly for you, but you weren't going to take that personally. You saw the opportunity and ran.

The strappy heels that were once on your feet sat in your hands as you walked up the path to your front door. There were no lights on, which was unusual for this time. You thought Matty would be home and waiting with open arms, but he was nowhere to be seen, his car not even in the driveway. 

You tried to mask your disappointment at your boyfriend not being home for your birthday, You're sure he just got caught up in the studio with George. A new idea probably came to him suddenly that he needed to get done then and there. You almost cursed his brain, but you could never curse the thing you loved so much.

The way you existed in his mind astonished you. Song after song was written about you, each one more beautiful than the last and each one changed how you perceived yourself. You used to insist the person who he sang about wasn't real, that she couldn't be. But demo after demo was played to you with Matty insisting you are real, and you are exactly how he sings about you.

You were this unimaginable force that changed his life in a way he only thought was possible in shitty teen movies. He was enamoured by you, every waking thought was about you, and if he was honest, even his non-waking thoughts were about you. He felt higher than heaven when he was with you, not that he would ever tell you that as he's sure you would cringe and scrunch your nose up at his cheesy behaviour.

The key clicked in the lock, and your door screeched open. Your cat came running at you and began rubbing on your legs. “Hi baby,” you began, turning the entryway light on and sighing once again, “I've got to grease those door hinges, don't I nutmeg?” Your cat had been adopted long before Matty came into your life. Well, adopted was a strong word. You found him hidden under the bins outside your old flat, once a skinny kitten, but he was now a slightly too chunky house cat who loved you more than life itself. Matty always joked that his only real competition for the thing that loved you most in the world was nutmeg, but he insisted he beat him every time.

you drop your heels on the floor and shut the door behind you, wincing at the squeak it lets out. Only to jump where you stood at the sight in front of you.

“Surprise!” rang out from the lounge room, your friends and family all stood with hats and smiles as they stared at you.

Tears streamed down your face as you laughed at the sight in front of you, streamers hung from the beams and balloons coming from every where.

You briefly look around at the people in front of you before your eyes are drawn directly to him, just as they always were.

Matty came strolling up and pulled you in for a brief kiss before escorting you into the sea of people that faced you. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

After 40 minutes of pure joy and mingling, you managed to pull away to get a drink. You enter the kitchen and grab a cup off the side before moving further in to find whatever alcohol you could.

You eventually settle on a Jack and Coke, You spy them on the other side of the kitchen and walk over to make your drink. More Jack than Coke if you are honest.

You take a sip and sigh as the drink slides down your throat, the glass clinks as you place it back down on the counter to take a breath.

Quickly, a pair of hands slide over your hips and settle on your stomach, You know exactly who it is by the scent of his cologne and the feeling of his warmth.

Matty pulls you into his body, your back against his chest. He begins pressing small kisses up the side of your neck and smiles as he hears your poorly suppressed giggles slipping out.

"So what do you think beautiful?" he asked, whispering into your ear before pressing yet another kiss behind it.

You slide around in his arms, his hands cheekily slipping down to grip your ass before sliding up to rest on your waist again. You shoot him a faux disapproving look but soon break out into a large smile at the pure adoration on your boyfriend's face.

"I think it's amazing. Thank you so much, baby," you say, kissing Matty. But you quickly pull away, much to the distaste of your boyfriend who lets out an upset grumble. "It explains all your suspicious behaviour over the last few weeks…" you say teasingly, raising your eyebrows and smiling at the man in front of you before leaning in for another kiss.

This time, however, it was Matty rejecting your advances as he pulled away and looked down at you teasingly.

"Oh, I've been suspicious, have I?" he said, leaning further back of your grip, causing the pair of you to begin walking back together until the kitchen counter stopped you, and you pressed into Matty.

"Please do tell love, how was I being suspicious, huh?" he said with a mocking lilt to his voice, leaning in and teasing your lips with his own. His breath tickled your lips, and he kept evading your moves.

“Well…”  you begin smiling gleefully at your boyfriend, nervous to explain how he's been suspicious, worrying hell realise just how much time you spend lovingly watching him. Some would say creepily, you're sure, but you say lovingly.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You begin with the first thing you noticed, Matty's phone was suddenly attached to him. Usually, he had no idea where his phone was at any given time, believing everyone should be more present and leave their phones at home.

If anyone asked him about it, he would then begin to go on a long rant about the internet and his qualms with it. It was at that point you interrupted and just told whoever he was talking to to listen to “a brief inquiry” and “notes” if they wanted his thoughts on that subject.

But recently you'd noticed he hadn't been asking you 100 times a day “Babe, have you seen my phone?” like he usually did when he left it somewhere in your concrete mansion of a home. Every text and call was immediately answered, and some calls were even taken in the other room. You wrote it off as secret dirty hit business, trying not to delude yourself into thinking something more.

But it was last Sunday when you became sceptical of your boyfriend's new attachment to his phone. 

The sun was streaming through the windows to the courtyard, decorating the house in golden hues that danced over the walls. You and Matty had woken up starving (probably due to the events of the night before) and decided to make breakfast.

So you did, like a couple in a rom-com. Matty's hair was messy, and his pyjama trousers sat low on his hips. He had forgone a shirt this morning as it had been stolen by you. You danced around him in one of his many Jeff Buckley shirts with nothing but panties underneath. 

You swung around in each other's arms and stared into the other's eyes like lovesick teenagers. You put a hand up and began twisting the curls surrounding Matty's face. The other hand slid behind his neck and began to massage the curls back there. A content hum slipped out your boyfriend's mouth, and his eyes fluttered close at the feeling.

You stared in awe at the man in front of you, almost feeling sick to your stomach with affection. You traced each freckle on his face, mentally keeping count before getting distracted by his flittering eyelashes. You marvel at their length and briefly wonder why men always get such long eyelashes.

Before that thought overtakes your mind, you get distracted by another feature on your beautiful boyfriend's face, the light blush that decorates his cheeks. You stroke over the apples of his cheeks and resist the urge to pinch them like a grandmother.

The same pink that flushed his cheeks sat on his plump lips that were begging to be kissed, so you did. You pecked his lips over and over before moving to his cheeks, then his forehead and soon over his whole face. 

His laughter soon broke the pair of you up and in a smitten daze Matty suggested a shower, you nodded and told him to go get it started while you put the dishes away. He happily ran up the stairs to start the shower and you giggled at your boyfriend's teenage excitement.

His phone buzzed on the concrete counter and you fought the internal battle of whether to look, your rational side saying not too soon lost out to intense curiosity.

A message from his mum sat on the screen simply saying, “Oh love, that's perfect. y/n will adore it.”

“Huh… so maybe not dirty hit business” you spoke out quietly to yourself, You soon put the phone down and ran up to the shower where your boyfriend was waiting ready to undress you.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, so maybe I was on my phone a bit more than usual but that can't be it! Surely that alone can't be suspicious” Matty said looking down at you with a grin on his face. 

“Well no… There was that message from your mum too!” You say before whispering something under your breath, “and that other thing...”

“Other thing?” Matty said, leaning back to examine your face, narrowing his eyes at your expression.

You stay silent at bite your lip at him, shaking your head at his questioning glare. 

“No, no. Come on baby, what else made you realise something was up hmm” Matty said. You kept on moving your head from side to side, avoiding his gaze, knowing you'd crumble as soon as you looked at him.

Finally, he gripped your head between his hands and pressed kisses over your face, hoping it would get you to break. 

It did.

“Fine! Fine!” You relent at your boyfriend's onslaught of pecks, “There was the sock drawer thing...” you say quietly, looking up at Matty, who wore a puzzled expression.

“Sock drawer thing?” he asked confusedly, “I'm gonna need more than that babe” he said, a smile clear in his voice.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the Wednesday of the week of your birthday, Matty's phone had still been attached at the hip to him but you gave up questioning it, thinking he was just feeling more social lately. 

You sat up at the head of your bed, your pillows behind your back and the duvet crumpled over your legs as you read your book. The shower was running in your ensuite, Matty needed one before a meeting at the office.

Soon the shower stopped and after a groan, a voice rang out behind the door. “Babe!” Matty began, “I forgot to get pants and a pair of socks, can you grab me some?”

You smiled at your boyfriend's forgetfulness, knowing he wasn't exactly a morning person, “Of course my love” you reply softly sliding the duvet off your legs and padding across the room to his drawer.

Your hand had barely grabbed the handle before he came rushing out and shouting, “WAIT! NO, NO NO” he stared at you with wild eyes. You shot back and lifted your hands in mock surrender to your boyfriend.

You took in his look, his shirt was half-buttoned but around his waist was just his towel. His curls were sopping wet and dripping on the floor, he was panting and staring at you with unnaturally wide eyes. 

“Sorry babe... Uhh..” he struggled to finish his sentence, looking around the room as if to find an excuse for his erratic behaviour. 

“Just… didn't want you to get out of bed s’all” he said pausing briefly, a nervous smile broke out across his face, “You looked so cosy reading so just… go get settled again”

You looked suspiciously at your boyfriend before nodding and walking back to bed silently. The rest of the day went as expected, Matty kissed you goodbye before his meeting and you went to work where you were bombarded with questions from Sandra about your “big day”.

But you didn't forget his wild eyes and odd behaviour.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh yeah!” Matty said, laughing at himself, “All the decorations were stashed in there so I couldn't have you snooping around” he explained causally.  “But that was very odd of me. Were you expecting a party” he asked with a tilt of his head.

He watched your cheeks heat up as you stammered to explain what you expected, not wanting to make him feel pressured.

Eventually, you just spat it out, “Well… I kind of thought you might be proposing to me,” you say cautiously. You watch your boyfriend's eyes widen, and your hand shoots up to his chest to soothe him. 

“Don't freak out, okay!!” You beg him, “It was just the combination of a few things that made me think that. But PLEASE do not feel pressured. We will get married when we do. There is no rush from me, I promise”

You wait with bated breath at his reaction, hoping it wouldn't be running and screaming. Soon, he broke out in wild laughter, much to your relief.

Once his laughter died down, he pulled you in closer and squeezed you lightly, “Not yet sweetheart, but I will eventually, don't you worry.” You smiled at his words and let yourself melt into his embrace.

Little did you know, upstairs in that sock drawer was a ring, no decorations having been stashed there. Just a little velvet box and a written speech prepared for next week, your 6th anniversary.

[bluesylveon2]

A Chance Meeting

Summary: While running away from her set expectations, Yuu meets someone she did not expect.

Note: royal au (same universe as the Leona and Lilia fics), set after the Lilia fic but before the epilogue, mentioned Ray from Princess and the Frog, fluff, love at first sight, some prejudice, and Lilia Yuu/MC cameo (referred to as Lady Vanrouge)

Warning: not beta read and possible ooc characters

Word Count: 2.8k

Masterlist: here, Series Masterlist: here

The first time Yuu met Malleus, it felt like fate.

Yuu. daughter of a viscount in the City of Flowers, was exhausted. She had traveled long and far to Briar Valley for the king's 3-day birthday ball because her father insisted on her attending. Why? Being the unmarried woman Yuu was, her father used the party as an opportunity for her to meet other noblemen. He dragged her to meet different bachelors so that Yuu did not have time to eat something or even get a glance at the king. 

The girl plopped down on a bench in the middle of the castle's rose garden. She wanted nothing more than to think about anything but marriage when she would instead enjoy being in a new area. Yuu smiled as she eyed a nearby rose. The rose was not a vibrant red like the ones in the Queendom of Roses. Instead, they emitted a magical glow that made them unique to the ones from the Queendom. 

The sound of footsteps brought her out of her thoughts. 

"Oh, I did not think there would be people here."

Yuu turned, and her breath hitched. Standing a few feet away was a tall, regally dressed man with long jet-black hair slicked back to show a unique pattern on his head. The man's horns and green eyes stood out to Yuu the most. The man was definitely a fae. If his looks could not spell it out, the magical aura he emitted also did. 

"I'm sorry. I could move to another spot."

The man shook his head. "There is no need. Can I sit next to you?'

Yuu felt as if she should be intimidated, but she nodded anyways. She could feel his magical aura grow with each step he took until he sat beside her. The two sat in silence as Yuu stared at the roses, and the man looked up at the stars.

"So, what brings you to the royal garden?" The man asked with curiosity in his voice. 

Yuu sighed. "I just wanted some air. What about you?” 

"I wanted to go for a walk. The palace is peaceful at night.”

It is. I want to experience longer, but my father is trying to marry me off, so he brought me here to meet some bachelors." A small smile formed on her face. "The thing is, I want to marry for love. I also want to enjoy my time here, but that might not happen."

The man felt empathy for Yuu. “I understand what you are going through."

"Yeah. I just want to think about anything else but that."

There was a moment of silence until the man spoke. "Did you know the king loves gargoyles?"

Yuu blinked and immediately turned to the man. He only looked down at her with a calm expression. "Pardon?"

"The king loves gargoyles. That's why you see them all over the castle." The man pointed to different parts of the exterior where multiple gargoyles sat. Yuu was too focused on the roses before to notice how many there were. 

"That's really interesting."

"Indeed. Did you also know that it is not used for decoration but to move water from a roof and away from running down the side of the building."

"Really! Can you tell me more facts?" Yuu's eyes sparkled with interest. She did not expect her night to be spent talking about gargoyles, but she would choose that over potential husbands.

The man smiled for the first time that night. "Certainly, Lady-"

“Yuu. You can call me Yuu.”

"Yuu." The man tested the name on his tongue. "And you can call me whatever you want."

Yuu's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "You don't want to tell me your name."

The man chuckled. "I want to keep that a secret but don't worry. I have no ill intentions behind it. A nickname will suffice for now."

Yuu thought back to the books she read regarding fae and his type. None mentioned which species had big horns, so it was hard to tell. Still, she could not take her eyes off his horns.

"How about Tsunotarou?"

Tsutarou's eyes widened briefly until he genuinely laughed, causing Yuu to laugh. "What a peculiar name…Alright. I will take it, Yuu."

Yuu stopped laughing and smiled. Her eyes met Tsunotarou's green ones. "Now, will you tell me more facts?'

Tsunotarou felt something form in his chest. It was a warm and fuzzy feeling that he could not explain. Maybe Lilia knew something about it? "Certainly."

---

The next night they meet, Tsunotarou teleported to the garden. 

"Still running away from suitors?" 

Yuu's eyes widened with excitement, and she stood up. "Tsunotarou! Can you do that again?"

Tsunotarou blinked owlishly. "Do what again?"

"Teleport! When you do that, you leave behind firefly-like lights. They look like tiny stars."

Tsunotarou blinked, and then he smiled. "Alright. I will do it for you." A glow of green light emitted from his body, and he disappeared, leaving behind small sparkles of light. Tsunotarou reappeared, sitting at his spot on the bench. "Are you satisfied?"

Yuu grinned and sat down next to Tsunotarou. "Very." Her eyes gleamed like the stars she was looking at. "Before you came here, I was looking up at the stars. It's something I like to do at home."

"Really?" He joined Yuu in stargazing. "What do you like about them?"

"Do you see those two stars, the really bright ones?" Yuu pointed at two stars sitting diagonal to one another. Both stars shined brightly compared to the rest. "There is a legend in Port O'Bliss about a firefly who was in love with a firefly who was actually a star. The firefly stared at the star at night, professing his love, but he could never touch her. Almost like she was on another planet. The firefly made a wish to be with her. One day, his wish came true, and when you see two stars shining brightly at night, that is the firefly and his love." 

Tsunotarou felt the same feeling in his chest as he stared at Yuu. It was the same as the night before but more intense. "That is a beautiful story."

"I agree. So whenever I feel sad or alone, I look up at the stars and make a wish because I know those two fireflies are listening." Yuu turned to Tsunotarou with a smile on her face. Tsunotarou's heart skipped a beat. "You should do the same thing. We can do one now." She closed her eyes, brought her hands together, and whispered under her breath despite Tsunotarou's heightened hearing. The fae chose to stay quiet out of respect. 

Tsunotarou looked up at the stars again, deep in thought. He felt relaxed around this woman who was practically a stranger. He felt like he could let his guard down around her. The feeling from earlier had increased more, and the fae could not stop thinking about Yuu. Tomorrow was the last night of his party, and he knew what he needed to do. For now, under the witness of the firefly and his love, he would make a wish upon the star and to make Yuu's wish come true. 

---

The third time they met was on the dancefloor. 

"So I won last year's hunt with a…"

Yuu tuned out the next bachelor, her mind filled with thoughts of her friend Tsunotarou. Usually, it would be easy to slip away and go to the garden. Still, the bachelors must have read her mind because they were insistent on showing her off. Yuu wanted her torture to end and meet up with her friend. 

A trumpet silenced the chatter, and Yuu thanked the deity above for hearing her prayer. Her eyes landed on two young men, one with green hair and one with silver hair, entering the balcony. Their eyes scanned the crowd before the green-haired man cleared his throat. Another man with black and pink hair walked in front of them.

"Hello, everyone! I hope that you are having fun tonight. I know I am!" The man laughed, and everyone joined him. "But this is not about me. Tonight is about our king, who finally wants to show himself. So make sure to give him lots of birthday wishes. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you King Malleus Draconia!"

Yuu felt her breath hitch as a familiar head of black hair, striking green eyes, and horns walked out. She felt the world slow down as reality came crashing down. There, the king of Briar Valley was none other than Tsunotarou-

No. Malleus Draconia. 

Yuu felt horrified and heer heartbeat increase. How could she, a guest at this party, treat the king so casually? Why did he let her? Yuu looked around the room, only for her eyes to meet Malleus' staring straight at her. 

"I need to get some air." Yuu quickly said to her companion and ran off from the crowd. She let her feet carry her anywhere in the gigantic castle. Yuu stopped in a long hallway to catch her breath. She let her back rest against the wall and let her body slide down to the floor. Yuu hid her face in her dress as she reflected on the recent events.

Despite it being only two days, Yuu felt happy being around Malleus. Their interactions had no romantic intentions, but there was a connection, and the two clicked. Yuu felt her heart beat faster after making a new friend. Maybe, with more time, there could be something more.

Click Click

The sound of heels coming closer caused Yuu to pick her head up. Two beautiful fae women were heading her way. Both had disapproving looks on their faces. 

"Well, well. You must be the woman the king is fascinated with." One smirked, looking Yuu up and down.

"We heard that the king has been sneaking out a lot. Who knew he was meeting with a human? Why don't you go back to where you came from?" The other scoffed. 

Yuu felt a bad feeling in her chest. "What do you want?" she asked slowly. 

The first one sneered. "You are nothing but a magicless human. You don't deserve to stand next to Malleus."

Yuu felt annoyed. How dare these ladies come in and mock her for being a human! Malleus knew all along and was interested in her. "As if you are any better! You two don't know him like I do."

The second one rolled her eyes. "Maybe we do, maybe we don't, but that does not stop the fact that you are dirt under my shoe."

"What is going on here," A stern but motherly voice asked, causing the group to freeze. Yuu watched as another fae woman entered. She was beautiful like the other woman, and her aura reminded Yuu of the small fae with black and pink hair. 

"Lady Vanrouge!" The women curtsey, causing Yuu to join them despite not knowing the woman. "How are you today?"

Lady Vanrouge only stared at the group. "Fine, but you did not answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"W-we were just talking to our new friend, the human." One girl said nervously, but Lady Vanrouge did not buy it. She crossed her arms and stared at them icily. 

"Really? Then what was the part about the human being dirt under your shoe? Or what was the last thing?" She hummed as she tapped her chin with her finger, pretending to think, "Not worthy of standing next to the King?"

"B-but-"

The fae smiled with a mad glint in her eyes. It mirrored one that the infamous Lilia Vanrouge had with his soldiers, sending chills through the girl's spines. "No buts. Consider yourselves lucky you were not caught by my husband or my son, who, by the way, is a human. Despite that, I still love him, and I will love him as my son no matter what he is. He could be a worm for all I care about, and I will still love him.

Lady Vanrouge smirked evilly and waved the girls off with her hand in a "shoo" motion. "Now get out of my sight before I change my mind and act like my husband." The women squealed and immediately bolted out of the room, leaving Yuu and Lady Vanrouge alone. The fae turned to Yuu with a smile. Her eyes were now softer and had a motherly look to them. "Now, you must be the human I heard about."

"Was it anything bad?"

Lady Vanrouge laughed loudly. "Nonsense! I heard good things about you from my husband, who heard it all from the king. Come now. Why don't I walk you back to the party?"

"I appreciate that. Thank you." The two walked in silence until Yuu spoke up. "So the King talks about me?"

The woman smiled. "Yes, he has been talking about you since you met."

"Even though I am a human?"

"Does that change anything? Do you still want to be Malleus' friend after knowing he is a king?" Yuu shook her head. "See, so you should still be with him. I'm sure he is missing you already."

"Thank you, Lady Vanrouge."

The two made idle chit-chat as they headed to the door leading to the ballroom. As the fae woman opened the door, Yuu's eyes widened as she was face to face with Malleus himself.

"Tsunotarou.."

"Yuu…"

The two were so focused on each other that they failed to notice the shorter face staring at them. Lilia noticed how Malleus had a familiar expression on his face. It was the same one he had when he looked at his wife. Meanwhile, Yuu looked at Malleus like he was the brightest star in the sky. The short fae put the two on two together. He gave his wife a look to which she responded with her own. 

"Oh, this is my favorite song! Would you like to join me for a dance?" Lilia smirked at his wife. 

"Of course, my love." Lady Vanrouge walked to her husband and looped his arm around hers. Her eyes focused on Malleus. "Malleus, do you mind walking Yuu back to the party? I was going to do it, but you two have some things to sort through."

Malleus turned to the woman and nodded. "Yes, I will do that. You have fun. my Lady."

"You as well." The woman smiled and left with Lilia. Now that Yuu and Malleus were alone, the tension in the room increased. 

Malleus' regal stature relaxed, and he had a sad look. "I understand why you would run off, and I apologize. After my announcement, I planned to explain everything, but you were gone before I could get to you." Malleus said. For the king of Briar Valley, he looked like a kicked puppy. 

Yuu smiled sadly and gently grabbed Malleus' hand. "It just threw me off guard, and I apologize for running away. I should have talked to you instead."

Malleus smiled and pulled Yuu into a hug. "You are forgiven, Yuu. However, you owe me a dance. I still want to have my first dance of the night with you."

Yuu smiled and nodded. “I will be honored, but we must reintroduce ourselves first.”

"Of course." Malleus picked up one of Yuu's hands and kissed her knuckles. "I am Malleus Draconia, King of Briar Valley.” He looked at her with a gentle smile. “But you can call me Tsunotarou.” 

Yuu curtsied to Malleus. “You can call me Yuu, a lady from the City of Flowers.”

“Well, Yuu.” Malleus held a hand out to Yuu. “Would you do me the honor of joining me in my first dance?”

Yuu placed her hand on his and looked at Malleus confidently. “Of course.”

Unexpectedly, Malleus leaned down and pressed a feather-like kiss on Yuu’s forehead. “You deserve to spend the rest of the night treated like a princess."

That night, both Yuu and Malleus' wishes came true. Meanwhile, in the night sky, the firefly and his love's light enveloped the couple through the windows as they danced through the night. 

---

Later that night, in Silver's room.

"Sebek, do you think your parents would love you if you were a worm?"

After spending years with Silver hosting the sleepovers, Sebek had heard many weird things coming out of Silver's mouth. The half-fae shifted in his spot next to Silver and stared at him with a "wtf" face. "Silver, you are speaking nonsense. Go to sleep." Sebek huffed and turned around to face away from Silver.

Silver only stared up at the ceiling contemplating the question. He had no idea why, but it came to him randomly during the party. He had spent all night pondering on it. It may be something his parents would know. Speaking of- 

"I think my parents would."

"Go to sleep, Silver!"

Disclaimer: I do not own Twisted Wonderland and its characters. Those belong to Aniplex, Walt Disney Japan, and Yana Toboso.

©: This story belongs to bluesylveon2 2020-23. DO NOT modify, republish, or plagiarize my work.

[dearest-and-nearest]

I found this wonderful template by @eeldritchblast and decided to use it for Glassred! It's also an opportunity to tell more about her relationship with important chars. I replaced Jaheira and Halsin with Emperor and Gortash, because since first two are anyway dead in her worldstate, there will be no interesting information

Karlach and Wyll

This two saw Red as someone to pity. Mute, broken tiefling with signature scars on her body from Gortash and prosthetic hand, what story can she have other than being another person Gortash abused and sold? They thought Glassred is their friend, while Glassred felt nothing, but irritation because she is pitied. She is something weak and pathetic and these two think she should be grateful them for their pity. After meet with Gortash, Glassred killed Karlach and Wyll almost left party, but stayed because of his father. But he always thought that he should have killed Glassred when they found Quill's body and in that case Karlach could survive

Lae'zel

Unlike Wyll and Karlach Lae'zel treated Glassred as if she was the same warrior as Lae'zel was. They had one-night-stand, but that didn't change much in relationship, they just found out they have rather close views on sex. So, Glassred was somehow grateful to Lae'zel for behaving like she would behave with anyone. That's easier, that's better, that more honest, than try to pretend as if Glassred was "normal". When Lae'zel promised Red to kill her if she would try to do something like she did with Quill, Glassred wasn't angry. On the otherwise, she thought that was natural. She herself would kill someone in case like that. And that was even more surprising, when Lae'zel wasn't really angry about Karlach's death. She was annoyed, of course, but Karlach made her choice and met her fate.

But in the end they will never really meet after the whole adventure even if brain is defeated

Shadowheart

They never were close. SH saw a beast in front of her, a rabid animal. Glassred was annoyed with her desire to keep idiotic secrets. They were allies, but SH always was careful to not be too close to Glassred. Unlike some other, SH understood that in the end beast will always pounce on you too

Astarion

He too thought Glassred wasn't a person, but an animal. She took him in her bed to "de-stress", but of course he despised and hated her for that. Glassred wasn't directly cruel to him, she was... herself mostly. Like a hyena wouldn't care about horror and pain of her prey, Glassred didn't care what Astarion felt when she told him to bite Araj. In the end Glassred accidentally killed one of the spawns needed for ritual, so she and Astarion ended up in very bad relationship. Through, when he hated her with passion, she mostly... didn't care. He was just an object for her, just like more of people in her life

Gale

Glassred remembered nothing about her past, but Gale reminded her of someone she lost. While he wanted to help this strange amnesiac tiefling. Slowly, Glassred corrupted him, encouraging worst in him (why care about others? They're lower, they must become stronger if they want to survive) and soon they both wanted him to become a new god. Who needs Mystra if he can be a god? If before Glassred Gale wasn't that bad, after befriending her he slowly fell more and more into darkness

Gortash

They were partners, but most of all, they were equals. Glassred still didn't remember him, but after meeting him she understood why she was so friendly with Gale. With Gortash she is careful, expecting a catch, but she genuinely wanted to rule with him. After brain defeat (i'm not sure which option suits her more: conquer or defeat) Glassred want to go into Banehold and steal Gortash's soul

Emperor

She hates him. That's mutual, of course. The most funny thing, Glass simply didn't care about Emperor before he revealed himself. She even tried to kill him not because distrusted or anything, but because he took an appearance of Gortash, and that were just her instincts to kill him. As many others, Emperor sees her as untamed rabid animal, who has to be muzzled and leashed to be controlled. Glassred hates him for attempts to control her and sees no differences between him and Bhaal

[twelvroses]

LIZ's DIARY - 16/07/24. mentioned: @dreamquest @fiixion @yunzip @pinkscaped ♡ (& ahin lol)

The latest episode of Dreamquest just aired; I’m writing this in my dorm. Have I even written about my dorm? I can’t remember the last time I actually had the time to sit down and write, I think it was just before the show started… I used to be so diligent about keeping this diary, but life has gotten so hectic. I’m sharing a room with Yoon and Miyu. Both of them seem nice, but it’s a little awkward. Since we were all on different teams, I don't know how to approach them them because I'm not sure if they see me as a friend or just someone they'll need to beat. I wish I was the type of person who could start a conversation with anyone, but I just don’t know how to keep it going. The words don’t come for me. I haven't really bonded with any of the other girls, and I can tell that some of the other girls think I’m a bitch, but everyone always thinks I’m a bitch and I can live with that. Sani is really nice, though, she's really really cute, and she was so nice to me after the Fancy performance, so I think it'd be fun to be on a team with her at some point. But it would be really nice if I could at least befriend my dormmates too. I mean, assuming none of us get eliminated, they’re gonna be the first and last people I see every time I wake up or go to bed. Don’t you think that kinda sets the tone for your entire day? Even if none of us make it, it still would be nice to have some friends. That reminds me, now that I’m at Valentine, I hope I get a chance to meet the Medusa girls soon. I’ve always really liked Choi Gain sunbaenim. She just comes out and says whatever she’s thinking, no matter who’s listening or how many cameras are on her. I’ve been trying to be like that, but like everything else I try to say, it dies in my throat. Maybe if I get to hang out with her, it’ll rub off on me a little bit. 

Anyway, I won't have chance of meeting Medusa if Valentine drop me, and they might do just that, cause the CEO already told me that he expects big things from me. He told me to keep my sights set on top 5, because this is the very first time Valentine has EVER sent a trainee to a debut show, and I’m their only trainee, so if I totally flop, it’ll be really embarrassing for them, and I feel like the whole place is built on one man's very flimsy ego so he'll probably just drop me. We got to see our rankings and right now, I’m at nine. It’s not too bad, and so I want to be proud of it, but I know it’s not good enough. It doesn’t feel fair. I didn’t get a single solo line in Genie! How the hell am I supposed to get screen time and convince people to vote for me if I’m not being given the same opportunity to sing as some of the others? I wonder if the showrunners think I can’t sing because I rap. 

I also hate my new CEO, Yoo Seobin. He walks around like a weirdo mafia boss. You know, Ahin sunbaenim told me that when they go out for company dinners, he makes him, Choi Gain and Kwon Harin sit at a separate table with him. It’s supposed to be a ‘leaders privilege,’ but he’s kind of just keeping them away from the party. He thinks he’s the godfather, or something. Like it's an honour to sit with him. If I end up in a Valentine group, I pray to god that I’m not the leader. I’d hate to sit and drink with him. Did you see his fucking press release about me? He talked about how I was hypnotizing and my beauty was unmatched or something… Like he’s a married, middle aged man. It's so weird and I'm really worried if he keeps talking about me like that, people will start making up rumours. Even the thought makes me want to throw up. I wore the baggiest clothes I own last time I had to go to his office, and he still kept looking at me weird. Ahin sunbaenim said I can wear one of his sweaters next time, because if he sees me in boy's clothes he might assume I have a boyfriend and back off. It’s kind of cute that he thinks that would work. 

But Ahin sunbaenim is nice. I’m even going to record a demo for him next week. It’s not gonna be for me in the end, I think he’s just gonna send it out to a bunch of labels and see who wants the song, but I’m getting paid for recording so it’s already the most legit gig than I’ve had in about five years. He’s fun to hang out with. I think he has a little bit of a crush on me, but for once that doesn’t bother me. I think it’s just refreshing to come across a guy, especially one who’s a bit older than I am, who isn’t so fucking leery and demanding. He doesn’t even flirt or anything, he just gets shy around me and it’s easy to make him blush. It’s funny. And he does have a nice smile.

I just realised I'm writing about boys in my diary so I'm going to stop now because I'm not twelve. Kwon Ahin is the last thing I need to be thinking about right now. What I need to do is win this competition. I really hope, like really really really hope that I can rap in the next round. Like a proper rap that wasn’t written by fucking JYP, I mean. I’m really regretting singing for my audition. My first choice was Payday by Yoon Mirae but Seobin told me I had to pick something recent. If I’d pulled off a Yoon Mirae song I think I might be way higher in the ranks by now. But if I don’t get to rap there’s no way I’m gonna crack the top five. And if I get kicked from Valentine, it’s like losing the biggest opportunity I’ve ever had. I feel like I might just be setting myself up for one big joke. I couldn’t even rise up the popularity rankings of Bouquet. Do you know how easy it is to be more popular than a Bouquet member? Most idols who debut achieve it on their first day without even knowing cause they probably don’t know who Bouquet are. Were. Also, FUCK OHJANG ENTERTAINMENT.

I owe more money than I’ve earned, my parents lost all enthusiasm for this path for me a long time ago… I can’t even remember what it felt like for them to take pride in me. Honestly I started writing this entry because I thought I was going to end it by affirming to myself that this would be a turning point and I’d ace it from here on out, but I kinda feel worse than when I started writing. I should go to bed. I have to get up early to get some practice in before official practice starts, and if the girls who ranked lower than me find out I’m whining and moping about ranking 9th, they’ll think I’m even more of a bitch than they already do.

Well, just wish me luck in the next round, I guess!

[rosybetta]

Who’s your DnD character? And, did you defeat a dragon with the power of friendship??

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED

Okay so when I say "defeat", it was more like "she surrendered", but a win is a win!! I'll get to that in a second -

This is Pip! Short for Piperre, she's my houndfolk glamour bard!! I'm in the process of redrawing her to suit my current art style, so this is the best art I have of her right now lol. She's just a little ouppy that plays the harmonica and the banjo and I ADORE HERRRRRR.

Her backstory is a bit convoluted, but the major highlights are: She was kidnapped from her clan as a pup and sold to some drow royalty, where she was trained as an entertainer/handmaid/servant for the princess (yikes). She escaped with a gang of orc thieves who raided the drow castle. She acted as their "distraction" getaway person for a while, until she inevitably got caught while distracting the city watch, so she ended up in jail.

I'll put the rest under the cut bc I got kinda carried away lol

That's where this new campaign picks up! I'm a bit busier than the other players, so my character needed to be able to disappear occasionally. So I worked with the DM and we landed on this... While in jail, Pip was visited by "The Jester", the main antagonist(????) of our campaign (I think?? It's confusing). He offered to free her and set her up with a secure comfortable life far away from the people looking for her... she just had to agree to complete tasks for him on occasion. When she made the deal, she was told it would be "nothing that would weigh on your conscience", but it turns out that she just has no memory of what happens. Long story short, when the rest of the party meets her, she's an entertainer at the local inn, and disappears some nights, waking up in odd places with unexplained scrapes and bruises. But she's not gonna let that get her down!

Buncha other stuff happens that I can't easily summarize, but anyway. The green dragon stuff!! Long story short, we've found ourselves in an underground fighting competition thing, essentially a dungeon crawl where each room is another fight closer to the exit. This is the opening "qualifier" match, so we're allowed to pick our opponents, and Pip obviously chooses to face off against the other bard in the lineup. What ensues is a brief but spectacular...

BATTLE OF THE BARDS!!

Pip pulls some showstopping bardic ability shit and the crowd goes WILD, her opponent forfeits the match, and she's doing a victory lap around the ring with the rest of the party, when one of the competition organizers approaches her. Essentially, this woman "collects unique talent", and was very impressed by Pip's performance. Pip politely declines because "I don't do residencies, sorry! ^-^", and the woman is like "Oh, I Wasn't Asking". And that was the end of the session for the night.

SOOO before next session, we brainstorm a plan. Essentially, we challenge the green dragon to a fight using the terms of the competition - not to the death, but each party wagers something of equal value if they lose. We wager one of ours, for one of hers. (We suspected she was holding a beloved NPC hostage.)

She accepts, and the battle begins! Predictably, it's a TOUGH fight, but she's not in FULL dragon form, just partially-tranformed, so it's a bit easier. The turning point is when our aaracokra monk, who is kinda the glue holding our party together, gets targeted. He had just dealt some serious damage to her (thanks to my bardic buffs), but left himself vulnerable in the process. The dragon goes in for the kill, delivering a wicked slash that sends him across the ring, unconscious.

He's making death saves now. This is bad.

The dragon moves in for a killing blow, BUT that gives the rest of us a chance to make an opportunity attack against her! We had some really ulucky rolls, which we explain narratively by saying we're all in utter shock at our friend being taken down like that.

And then it's Pip's turn. She turns and makes eye contact with our aasimar paladin. The paladin nods. Pip turns back to the dragon, snarling. They've NEVER seen her this angry; it transforms her whole demeanor. That's her FRIEND, and she is ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS.

Now, some background here: When Pip first met the party, her nightly disappearances were linked to some bad shit that the rest of the party was there to investigate. There was a lot of suspicion initially, but once they filled her in on what had been happening, Pip was wracked with guilt, and swore she never knew she was a part of it all. The aaracokra monk was one of the last to put aside his distrust, but once he did, he became one of her strongest supporters. He ALWAYS had her back, assuring her that he wouldn't let anything take away her freedom again, even if they didn't know what was causing her disappearances (and apparently crimes). He was the first to run out into the ring to celebrate with her when she won the battle of the bards! He means A LOT to Pip.

So when he's taken down by the green dragon, our little supportive healer switches into fucking Attack Mode. And uhh I could just describe what I did mechanically, but it's more fun to make it a whole dramatic scene.

Pip plays the banjo, right? Well, I decided she can probably pull some bard magic bullshit to make it sound however she wants... Mostly so I could justify using a certain song for what she does next. Imagine the opening notes of this song in the following moments. >:)

She strums a sinister chord, then raises her banjo up as if it was a bow, pulling back a glowing magical bowstring. As she fires, an arc of magic shoots across the ring like an arrow. And in that split second, a deafening, discordant screech thunders from within the dragon's ribcage, shaking the earth, shattering nearby rocks, raising a cloud of dust in the air. The dragon's scales rattle, bones crack, muscles shudder as this wave of pure sound thunders all around her.

Pip cast the strongest spell she knows at the highest level she possibly could, dealing enough damage to send the dragon to her knees. This buys our paladin just enough time to slip past her and heal our monk, stabilizing him. But before the dragon can fully recover, the paladin is back on the offensive, going ALL OUT, sword blazing with divine fire, body radiating light in a way I can only describe as Going Nuclear. She tears through the dragon's wing, and that was the final nail in the coffin.

The dragon, grounded and badly hurt, cries out, "I yield!" Our monk rises to his feet and looks down at her, tired but triumphant.

And THAT, my friend, is how we defeated a green dragon with the power of friendship and incredible violence.

[twilightmalachite]

2×2 - Children on the Streets 12

Author: Akira

Characters: Yuuta, Hinata, Shinobu, Nagisa

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Exactly! This all the fault of stupid adults!"

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Spring

Location: 2×2 Program Set

The next day, during the shooting of the 2×2 episode 5 ending scene…

Yuuta: “—And so!”

Hinata: “How did 2×2 go this time~?”

Yuuta: “Right! Well it was a disastrous, messed up sequence of events, that’s for sure!”

Hinata: “But it was pretty exciting at the end, wasn’t it? I had fun turning into a zombie and attacking Yuuta-kun and the rest~! ♪”

Yuuta: “A strange fetish has awakened in my Aniki…!?”

Hinata: “Fufu. The reason for the mess this time was because I ignored the general premise of the “Living on the Streets Experience”.”

“I’ll be careful not to use tricks like that next time!”

Yuuta: “Well, as demonstrated in our final battle, isn’t figuring out tricks and executing them well like that also just who we are?”

Hinata: “In short, it is the management’s fault for giving us the opportunity!”

Yuuta: “Exactly! This all the fault of stupid adults!”

Hinata: “Is it okay to come to that conclusion?”

Yuuta: “Kids are dumb too, though. They’re kids. ♪”

Hinata: “That’s all! Sorry to have to go, but it’s time to say goodbye! 2×2 will continue to evolve through repeated trial & error—”

Yuuta: “So if possible, please continue supporting us~!”

Hinata: “You definitely won’t regret it!”

Yuuta: “Definitely, definitely! Let’s keep having fun together for a long time to come, ‘kay!”

Hinata: “Alright! This has been Aoi Hinata from 2wink, the energetic and awesome older brother of the twins—And!”

Yuuta: “Aoi Yuuta, also from 2wink, who doesn’t like being called the younger brother—And!”

Hinata: “Presenting our delightful guests and friends of ours, Ran Nagisa-senpai and Sengoku Shinobu-kun~!”

“Thank you both so very much!”

Yuuta: “It was a lotta fun~, and I mean it! ♪”

Shinobu: “Same goes for me! I’m very thankful for such a valuable experience, both good and bad, de gozaru~!”

“But I have my own work to do in RYUSEITAI, so I’d appreciate it if you don’t call me too often, de gozaru!”

“Or rather, Yuuta-kun, please make friends other than me…!”

Yuuta: “I’ll try~, just don’t expect much. ♪”

Shinobu: “Is hope that slim!?”

Nagisa: “…Fufu. I’d rather like it if I am invited another time.”

Nagisa: “…I had fun. It was interesting, Eden and Adam aren’t typically involved in this type of work.”

Hinata: “Ahaha, you acted in a pretty rare way this episode, Ran-senpai, so I bet you've gained some new fans~♪”

Yuuta: “Shinobu-kun too! Thanks to our program, you’ve been able to chart new territory lately as a pitiful character stuck with a troublesome friend, wait who’s troublesome!?”

Shinobu: “Ahaha, but I love Yuuta-kun nevertheless, so I appreciate the sympathy, but I ask that it be moderate, de gozaru~♪”

Yuuta: “Right! We don’t need anyone to feel sorry for us, because we live a happy life!”

“Don’t misunderstand, ‘kay? If you call him something like pitiful, I’ll get angry!”

Hinata: “With that, the party’s just gotten lively, but…”

Yuuta: “That’ll be all for today! Until we meet again, so long~!”

Hinata: “Goodbye, farewell, and see you later!”

Yuuta: “That’s all for 2wink and their delightful companions~☆”

Hinata: “♪~♪~♪”

Yuuta: “~…♪”

Yuuta: (—Ah~, gosh. Fiiiinally over. It was tough this time too.)

Hinata: (Y-Yuuta-kun, we’re still recording the final song! What a massive drop in excitement?!)

Yuuta: (It’s fiiine~, even if my excitement’s low, I’m not so unsophisticated that I’ll show it on my face. No one other than you will notice, Aniki.)

(As if anyone’s interested enough to notice our trivial differences, anyways.)

Hinata: (I don’t think that’s true~… I think you should expect more from the people around you, Yuuta-kun. Everyone pays more attention to us than you might think.)

(…I guess that’s exactly why we seem to attract the most troublesome of problems.)

Yuuta: (What do you mean?)

Hinata: (You see, in the development of the latest episode, there were those extras who played a role in attacking the restaurant.)

(The time I disappeared alongside Anzu-san, was because we were actually kidnapped by those guys.)

Yuuta: (Huh? Kidnapped? What do you mean!?)

Hinata: (Ahaha, come to think of it, wasn’t the time we first met Anzu-san was when we kidnapped her?)

(The wheel of karma keeps spinning. If you do wrong, you will get retribution, huh!)

Yuuta: (This is no time to play around~! You were kidnapped, were you alright!?)

Hinata: (Yeah. They also weren’t strangers to me, so I somehow managed to persuade them to let us go under one condition.)

(The condition was that we give them a job.)

(In other words, that’s why I hired them as extras.)

(I had to spend L$ for it, but they did an unexpectedly good job, so I think it’s fine.)

(So if we feel like it, we might be able to hire them as staff in the future if we ever need more manpower, or something.)

(For example, for Yuuta-kun, who has noticeably few friends. And while we might have helped other units a lot, we’ve never had it the other way around.)

(It’s hard to know who to turn to when we have a job that requires a lot of manpower, you know? Well, though those things are usually taken care of by the producer.)

(But going forward, I hope to rely on those people if we need someone to help.)

Yuuta: (Why would you do that…? Aren’t those guys villains who kidnapped you and Anzu-san? Why would you have sympathy for them?)

(You know Aniki, I was super anxious that I was going to lose you—Not really! I kept my composure!)

Hinata: (What’s with that needless obstinance…?)

(Those people are my friends, I left a message like that to Ran-senpai, just in case.)

Yuuta: (You have a lot of friends, Aniki.)

Hinata: (Jealous, are you? But y’know, I don’t have a best friend that I can entrust my entire self to, like how Shinobu-kun is to you, Yuuta-kun—)

(If anything, I’m jealous of you.)

Yuuta: (I’m not giving you Shinobu-kun!!)

Hinata: (I never steal anything from you, Yuuta-kun~…?)

Yuuta: (I’d say it’s the other way around. Plenty of times, too. Hmph.)

[ ☆ ]

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[thetravelingmaster]

Pleasure Collars & Happy Neighbors

Female’s Point of View - Conditioning - Magic - Mindless

As I leaned back on the wall, waiting for Ashley to come back with our drinks, I watched the penthouse party unfold and marveled. The fact that it was an all girl party didn’t surprise me because every tenant in my apartment complex were women. It was one of the reasons why I was attracted to this particular listing. It certainly wasn’t because of the underlying tight knit community that thrive here… I still wonder how I would have reacted to it if I would have been told about it before I actually joined. I probably wouldn’t have understood it as I do now and most likely, I would have passed this amazing place over and looked elsewhere.

​If I didn’t know what I know now, walking into our party would have led me to believe that this was some sort of post-graduate Sorority that was having a costumed theme party or a Victoria Secret event… Still, I was pretty open before I moved here, so at the very least, I’d like to think I wouldn’t have been shocked to step into an all girl party where everyone wore nothing more than lingerie. What would have surely puzzled me however, would be watching the effect our handsome host had on every single girl in the room. I wouldn’t have been able to understand how one guy could generate so many hungry looks, or the instant attention we all gave him the moment he stepped in. And if I wouldn’t have been able to understand that, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to grasp how every tenant in the building would agree to play the very adult games he proposed to entertain us. Most likely, I would have turned tailed and left these wonderful people to enjoy whatever it was they were into. No harm no foul. But if I had… Then I wouldn’t have been able to experience what they all experience and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to discover the hidden parts of myself that allows me to thoroughly enjoy the party and community I unwittingly joined when I moved in. I saw Ashley, the red head that lived one floor up from me, walking towards me with drinks and my drifted down to the leather choker that wrapped lovingly around her neck. The sight of it made me smile as my mind went down memory lane. Back to when I first moved in… “Hi there!” I heard a man’s voice say as I turned the lock to my new apartment. “You must be the new tenant!” I turned to look and smiled at the cute guy coming towards me in the hallway. “That’s right!” I said with a smile. “Hi! I’m Hailey! Nice to meet you!” “I’m William!” he said with a warm, easy smile. “Welcome to the building!” “You live here too?” I asked, a bit puzzled. “I thought they only allowed women in this building.” “They do.” he said. “All the residents are girls. All except the owner of course!” I blinked. “You own this building?” I asked. “I do!” he said as he looked up at the ceiling, arms going up dramatically. “I own this whole building and everything in it!” His tone sounded almost like a cartoon and it made us both laugh. “Wow...” I said chuckling. He looked so young to be into the real-estate business. “I know... Sometimes I can’t believe how lucky I was to be able to buy this thing! But anyway... I just wanted to give you a welcoming gift since you are new to our lovely little community.” “Oh gosh...” I said as I looked at the small box he took out of his pockets. “There’s really no need... Everyone I met this week has been super nice and welcoming!” “I bet! I must admit that I don’t allow just anyone to live here... The rent might be cheap, but I make a point to have only a select type of person rent out my apartments. I want this to be a secure and homely building for all of us.” His smile was so charming. “And so far, I must admit that you are right. This building is VERY welcoming and homely! I can’t believe I managed to get it actually!” “Oh don’t be modest! One look at you and I just knew you would fit in immediately!” “Thanks! I really appreciate it.” I said. “Any time!” he said as he extended his gift towards me. “Now please... Accept this small token of welcome.” I took the box from his hands and smiled. “Sure.” I said as I started to open the lid. Inside, I was surprised to find a simple leather choker. I expected fruits or some sort of gift basket. Certainly not cheap jewelry! I picked it up and held it in front of my eyes. “It’s not much I admit...” he said. “But I make them myself. Note the extensive engravings.” I blinked and looked at the choker again. He makes these? Ok... Well... It was sweet that he actually thought to give me something he made himself, but still, he really shouldn’t have. Looking at the surface of the choker, I could see the engravings he was talking about. Wow... There were a lot! From afar, it didn’t seem that there was anything, but up close, the design became apparent. I had to admit, the craftsmanship was pretty awesome. “I see them.” I said. “It must have taken you a while! Is that some sort of writing I can see here?” “Maybe...” he said as he shrugged his shoulders. “I saw it in some old book and I thought it looked nice.” “It kind of does!” I said. “Try it on! I’m sure it will suit you!” he said with a hopeful smile. I wasn’t going to put it on, but his sincere smile and the fact that he had actually made it kind of pushed me to at least try it on. So I smiled and wrapped it around my neck. The clasp was a little hard to work and he offered to help. After a few moments, he was done and stepped back to look at me. “So... How does it look?” I asked as I lifted my hair up and twisted left and right. He smiled and admired my neck for a moment before he spoke. “Wow... It looks incredible on you!” he said. “You look positively... Sibebearp Melicod!” “What?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “I’m afraid I... Don’t ... Know...” My head suddenly pounded as a wave of heat went down my body. I had troubles with my diets before and it felt a lot like my blood pressure suddenly dropped. I put my head in my hands and took a deep breath. Woah... Where did that come from? “You ok?” he asked. “Yeah... Sorry... Just a bit dizzy...” I said as I took another breath. “I’m fine now...” I straightened up and looked at William, immediately noticing the concerned look on his face. “No really. I’m fine!” I assured him as I felt the wave and headache subside. “If you say so...” he said before smiling. “What were we saying?” I asked, suddenly unsure about what we were talking about. “Nothing much, just telling you that I was the one to call for any and all problems regarding your apartment. I may be the owner, but I’m also the super! So don’t hesitate to call ok?” he said as he gave me a business card. “I’ll make sure to do that!” I said. “Anyway...” he said looking at my door. “I need to check something in your apartment real quick. Let’s go inside.” I blinked as my first thought was to wonder why he assumed I would let him in. But that thought soon faded away as I couldn’t see why I wouldn’t. After all, he was the owner right? I smiled and opened the door, feeling a small tingle of joy as I did. “Be my guest!” I said as I let him in.

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[pyxisastronautica]

Guilt

Life in the Ninth was pretty laidback, all things considered. It lacked the hurriedness present in the bigger cities like the First or the Third, the boiling tension of the more exploited cities like the Eleventh or Twelfth, and had less of a reputation of seedy political intrigue compared to the likes of the Fifth or the Eighth. Orek had proven to be the perfect place to start over for four robots in hiding.

Or at least, to pretend that they had. 

Golf, Hotel, Kilo, and November sat around a table where a holographic projection emanated from one of November’s eyes. For the past decade it had been Hotel’s turn, but after settling down in Hades they had decided to start a new campaign and shelf the old one for now, and it was agreed that it was her turn to take the reins. 

On the table was a snowy town, and three figures wandering through it- a shaggy minotaur with a battleaxe at their side and a shield on their back, a hooded gnome strapped with daggers, and a wood elf with a wooden staff. The low and eerie sound of wind whipping through was played as November’s voice layered over it.

“It’s much quieter since the last time you’ve passed through here. Ebrathor, Meedelwurtz, you notice that there’s only a few people around, and all of them are behind their doors. The lights aren’t on.”

“Mmmm, that’s a little spooky. What’s the phase of the moon again?” Golf asked, idly rotating around the hologram of a druid with his finger, which November allowed. 

“Waning crescent- tomorrow will be a new moon.”

“Tomorrow?” Kilo asked, drumming their fingers, “Are they like? Getting a headstart then? Do we see any smoke around?”

“Looking up at the sky a bit, you do indeed see a column of smoke rising from what looks to be the town square.”

“Aw fuck, we were supposed to meet Hippo Wizard again, weren’t we? We should probably make sure it’s not her over there.”

“Lady Wisteria Bellington,” November corrected, “But yes, she was still, as far as you know, waiting at the Hoary Boar for you to come back with that crystal.”

“Sooo, maybe we check there first then?” Hotel offered, bouncing the minotaur figure in their hand to imply talking, “She doesn’t strike me as the kind of lady who’s easy to catch- wizards are notoriously slippery and hippo wizards have GOT to be even doubly so.”

“Tch, Blondie, we can’t chicken out this time, as much as I wanna,” replied Kilo as “Meedelwurtz”. As they folded their arms, so did their character. “If she IS there we gotta bail her out somehow, or we risked our necks for like. A little bit of cool loot and a lot of no extra party member. Plus we need the gold anyway and a bunch of people gawking at a flame is a great opportunity. Just saying.”

“Uggggggh fiiiiine. But if you get caught, we don’t know you. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Shall we away then?” Golf asked, miming tapping a staff on the ground.

“As the Lady would say, ‘Indubitably’,” Kilo replied.

After a moment of further agreement and planning, November readied the next scene, but before it could render a knock on the door cut her short and the projection disappeared altogether.

“Nose goes,” November blurted out.

“But we don’t have-” Kilo started to object before realizing that their compatriots were tapping the nose of their synthetic skins, “Oh, right. Damn.” Letting out a sigh for pure exaggeration, Kilo stood up. “Alright, but the rest of you should check on the food.”

“On it,” Golf said, already on his way into the small kitchen of the two bedroom apartment the four of them shared.

Hotel and November, meanwhile, scrambled to pull out several taped-together sheets of computer paper meticulously illustrated upon with pen, which depicted a copy of the map they had just been using, as well as a handful of painted clay figures.

“Heya Cedes, you’re early! Chicken’s still got thirty minutes to go I hope you don’t-” Kilo shouted as they opened the door to familiar faces, but not the ones they were expecting, “...mind.”

“Sorry Kelv, are we ah…interrupting something?” Asked one of two pretty and only slightly overdressed people standing in front of them- in particular, a svelte dark-haired fellow. 

“Does it matter? Get in here, then.”

Romeo strode past Kilo with Tango in tow, the former pulling out a chair for the latter in a gentlemanly fashion before taking a seat himself. Tango, for their part, immediately started to pick up and examine the pieces on the board with fascination, as if recording their analysis of them.

“So. You’re…back a lot sooner than we thought you’d be, Ro-Ro,” November noted. 

“Got a job for us I venture to guess?” Hotel added.

Romeo quirked an eyebrow at the two of them, opting to reply in messages instead.

R: You’ve gotten rather comfortable with speaking aloud, darling. Have your worries about surveillance been assuaged finally, or are you just getting a little too cozy here while you’re- how did you put it? “On vacation”?

November put her hands on her hips and pouted.

N: This is way more suspicious in a way, if you think about it! And…a little Column A, a little Column B. Besides, you don’t seem too worried about it, showing your face up right at our doorstep.

T: We’ve been careful about the security cameras, I assure you. As far as anyone who cares is concerned, we were never here. And as for everyone who doesn’t, this is nothing more than a social call from a couple friends. Great work on the minis by the way. Golf’s doing? 

N: Kilo’s, actually. Golf did help with the pine trees, though.

T: Really? I took you more for a collector of the arts than an artist yourself, Kilo.

K: What can I say? Sometimes you gotta make the trinkets you wanna see in the world.

Golf walked in and sat down at last, hunched over the table with his head in his hands.

G: They’re Siberian Pines, by the way. It seemed the most fitting for the environs of the setting.

T: Oh? Do you think you’d be able to tell me how they differ from other pines perhaps?

G: I mean, yeah, but…

Golf could have told them in quite a bit of detail, truthfully. They weren’t very good attractive bonsai plants compared to their neighbors, the stone pines, among other differences. But something about dragging out the conversation felt tortuous.

As if sensing their discomfort, Romeo cut the conversation short.

R: …We’ll need about 120 bricks, darling.

K: For what? Another skyscraper?

R: Do you care?

K: …I mean. We care a little.

N: And we’re nosy. You know that. We’d ask anyway.

R: Fair enough. Yes, it’s for another demolition, no, it’s not a skyscraper. She wants them to seal off her current location. She’ll be able to handle it as long as she doesn’t have to deal with reinforcements.

H: Like how she intended to seal off the rest of Hades, I assume?

R: A little less permanent than that, I hope. But yes, for a time they’ll all go dark as far as we’re concerned.

H: How long of a time are we talking here, though? If the collapse she wants destabilizes the entire tunnel it’ll be years before they can dig them out. Two cities- arguably some of the most important cities- just gone like that? It’ll be pandemonium. I know we've been pretty hunky dorey with setting you guys up but I do think that we should maybe have uh. Some. Some standards.

R: The tunnels were built in segments, supposedly, to prevent that kind of failure. Obviously, it’s never been tested though. It’ll probably be a solid month or two, though. Equally obviously, the incentive to dig them out will be very, very high.

Of course, I’m sure that if those efforts go poorly and a mass famine appears to be looming, TCCAI will step in. That is what you expected to begin with, isn’t it?

Anyway, about this Cedes…?

N: Hey. Hey. Fuck you.

I know it’s easy to forget because we just wanted to pretend to have a normal life for a little bit, but we are still robots, same as you. We can’t just fucking give the okay on shit we’re not convinced is a good idea for like, the survival of this civilization. I’d love to be able to blindly trust my captain again but like. People did die in that last blast. It could’ve been city-to-city war right then and there if it weren’t for your lot’s meddling- the only reason we were able to agree to it to begin with.

That doesn’t automatically buy you our trust now. 

H: Does Yuma even actually know what she’s doing with those? I mean. She clearly knows how to use them, but. Has she had Delta and Sierra scan the tunnel to give any credence to their hypothesis? The architecture here might be impressive, but that doesn’t make its builders infallible. I mean, not to be that person, but they were human after all.

T: D ‘n S are still tied up in Taros, I’m afraid. I don’t like this much either, but she doesn’t exactly have many strategic options out there, as I understand it.

R: Say we were to supply you with the equipment and an opportunity to conduct your own assessment? Would you all be willing to take a field trip?

The logisticians looked between each other, as they often did, as if embroiled in some unspoken debate.

G: I mean we won’t start racking up time off for another couple of months, so like…

T: Oh come on. Dears, at least make up your mind as to whether or not you prioritize the wellbeing of the humans here or yourselves. Whether Yuma’s revolution works or Echo sweeps in to gather up the wreckage of it, anything will be better for the people here in the long run than what we’re currently seeing. I know being here may have sheltered you a bit from the cruelties that humans inflict upon one another for the sake of upholding their wealth, but

November chucked a fake pine tree at Tango’s head before they could finish the sentence. They caught it before it could hit them, naturally, but the sentiment remained and it had done its job of taking the robot in front of them off guard.

“You don’t know a damn thing about us,” November hissed, her voice turning softly staticky.

There was another knock at the door. November, who was already standing, elected to be the one to get it this time.

“Ceeeeedeeeees! Hiiiii girl!” she said upon opening the door- to a correct guess this time. Mostly correct at least. Her twelve year old son was standing next to her, fidgeting with something in his pocket. “And Xander? What’s up dude! Come on in, food’s done.”

The table cleared quickly and bowls of seasoned rice and vegetables with chicken were set down. Simple, but filling. Romeo tilted his head at it for a split second, before craning his head over towards the kitchen for and noticing the piles of bowls where Golf had filled and emptied bowls of food back and forth to make the dishes look dirty. 

“Oh, before we eat- Xan, go ahead and show Kelv.”

“I…can wait till afterwards.” 

Kilo tilted their head and grinned. “Awww sorry, man, but your mom ratted you out and now I gotta know. Gonna be SO nosy about it until then, like. What are you holdin’ out on me, you know?”

“But it’s not even that good.”

“So? You still did something and you’re my friend so obviously I’m not gonna harsh on you for it. Now show! C’mon I wanna seeeeee.”

Xander pulled a clay figure out of his pocket. It looked sort of like a purple horse with a yellow belly and red eyes and a long tail that curled on the ground. The artist’s intent was given away, though, by the stiff and uneven attachments on the back of the creature- wings, or something like them.

“I wanted to make one of those creatures you talk about in your games- the dragons. And I really like your figurines so I wanted to try making them too. I can’t…make it look as good as yours do though. It’s really frustrating because like, I know how it’s supposed to look in my head but I just…”

Kilo held out their hand, and received, reluctantly, the figurine. They immediately held it up to the light, inspecting it with wonder as if it were an ancient golden coin.

“Dude, what are you talking about? This is great!” 

“...It literally isn’t though. You don’t have to lie about it.”

“I’m not! Like. Okay, it could definitely use a second pass, but this is your first time making one of these right? Most people using modeling clay would start with like. Blocks. Plates. Balls. Stuff like that you know? This was really ambitious.”

“But I had to restart like, three times before I could even get it this good.”

“So??? That just means you’re stubborn enough to get better at something, which is way more important than any mistake you made building this. You might hate me for this but I really wanna keep this, Xan, if you’ll let me. I think you could make some really cool stuff if you keep at it and this’ll let me see how far you came. Also like. You made something for me. I wanna cry, dude, you’re gonna make me look bad.”

“Kelv, c’mon…”

“Alright, alright. But like. For real, can I use this in my games? Do you have a backstory for this guy already or…?”

“Uhhh, yeah, um. You said dragons usually had fancy names so I named him Morachillanir. He’s like. A good dragon, but not like the regular good dragons. He fights evil dragons, has lightning breath, and knows a lot of magic spells.”

“Dope. Actually,” Kilo turned to look over at November, who was trying to suppress the goofy smile on her face over the whole exchange, “Nova, do you think you could work him in as a guest character?”

“Oh. Yeah, just like, give me ten minutes. Do you wanna sit in on us play for a bit? We decided to get a little time in before you showed up, kinda figured your mom would be in and out like usual.”

Xander looked up at his mother, who looked at her phone for a moment before sighing and shrugging. 

“Well I mean if you’re offering, it could be fun. I kinda wanna catch up with you in a bit though, Nova, if that’s okay.”

“Oh for sure, for sure.”

The impromptu addition of a dragon was, it was agreed upon, going to create a split timeline in their session. But that was of little import. There could be a blue dragon with a color mutation and a love of hunting white dragons, for the sake of seeing someone smile as their character was acted out with full description. 

Afterwards, Golf and Kilo stuck around the table to talk to Xander while the remaining robots gathered in November’s and Golf’s room. November sat down on her bed, patting the space next to her to beckon Cedes, while Hotel, Romeo, and Tango sat down on Golf’s bed.

“I’m…guessing this is about Brune?” November ventured to start.

Cedes nodded. “She got her new legs today. Non-motorized. They were a pretty good price all things considered, low down payment- hazard pay covered it all. The interest is a little steep, but we’ll make it as long as she can keep her job. They’re…determined to try, even though they can’t afford PT. I can tell they’re in pain, but. She’s determined to put on a brave face.”

“I’m…really sorry. If there’s anything we can do to help-”

“You’ve been covering my groceries- and others too, sometimes, don’t think word doesn’t get around- and helping Xan with his homework when I bring him over. That’s way more than enough. Plus, you know,” Cedes fixed an intense, almost pleading look at Hotel, “Even though you couldn’t save her legs, you did save her life, Herak. She’s been wondering why you won't answer her texts.”

Hotel cover their face with their hands. “It should have been all of them. I should have told her to wait in cover.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s fuckin’ Petrin’s. Nobody blames you for that, least of all her.”

Romeo cleared his throat awkwardly. “Dear lady, may I ask what happened to them?”

“Ah, yeah, I. I know we did introductions earlier but, Nova said you just got back in contact after some time, yeah? I’m afraid it’s not a complicated case, Detective: almost two months back now, our boss was negligent in getting a crane fixed and it resulted in it raining a ton of rebar it had been lifting.”

“The guy who was supposed to make sure it was up to code was a full hour and three minutes late,” November added, “and our skinflint, hardass boss who never lets a single soul clock in seconds without giving someone hell didn’t say a damn thing to him about it. I don’t even know what the point of that is, you’d think all that money saved just gets spent on bribing inspectors anyway.”

“You’d think, but as infrequent as inspections are, I guess I can see how it’d save an obol or two in the long run,” Hotel growled, “as long as nothing goes wrong. Which it did.”

“But the blame gets passed onto the crane operator instead,” Cedes elaborated, “I can’t believe Miko’s the one that got fired for that shit. A lot of people are getting fed up. That’s…why I’m here, actually.” Cedes bunched up her hands into a clenched grip on her pants as she willed herself to continue, now staring down Romeo and Tango in particular. “Novvy, Noe, I’m sorry but I know that you’re lying to me about your friends here. You two- I know what you are.”

Tango blinked several times. Romeo looked away, acting like a kicked puppy.

“...Do you now?” Tango asked at last, sounding more flabbergasted than threatening.

“Brune tells me everything. She’s one of the people who helped you move those charges, and you match her description of Nova’s associates. Two weeks later, the big corp in Taros falls, its headquarters collapsed- but the surrounding blocks are fine from how it looks in the papers, as much as they could be in the situation. Not the same kind of blast pattern you’d see from mining explosives. You two are the contacts for the labor movement, I know you are. And I want in.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Hotel interjected before either Romeo or Tango could respond, “Ced-”

“No.”

“Ced-” 

“Listen to me. I know what you’re gonna say, but I want you to at least listen to me first. My grandfather’s from Taros, okay? He risked his life trying to escape. I still have extended family there that I’ve never met. My mom worked at this same damn company Brune does and after forty years of giving her life she gets cut off the minute she literally, literally can’t stand anymore because of how hard it was on her body.  My son is going to grow up and learn that if the world knocks you down nobody is going to help pick you back up. And it’s my fault she even took this job to begin with. I can’t live with all of this weighing me down, I can’t. And I’m not the only one that feels this way. Other people in the company- other people in Orek- have the same stories. I have to do something about it.”

“Cedes…” Nova put a hand on her shoulder, “I know this has been a shit few months, but. At least you still have a wife and a kid. If you get caught, you are going to lose everything and everyone. And I don’t just mean they’ll be taken from you- you’re going to die, and so will they.”

“We’ll die slow of hunger anyway if something isn’t done to fix this. Brune’s health…it’s fragile right now. And I don’t make enough to help her if something goes wrong because of her injuries and put food on the table.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. We’ve got you, Ced, we’ve always had your back about that,” Hotel told her, standing up only to sit a little awkwardly on the other side of her on the edge of the bed.

“I know. I know, and it means the world to me, but you lot are putting yourselves in danger. What if you get caught because I didn’t do something? What then? I could give up Xander to my in-laws, maybe. I haven’t spoken to them in a while- they…definitely blame me for her taking the job instead of taking that scholarship to get into Manus, but I think they’d understand. But Brune? She’s doomed if nothing changes. We both are.” Cedes took another deep breath and steeled herself.

“So. What do I have to do to get in on this?”

Romeo pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. He looked guilty still as he looked at Cedes, but swallowed it as he proceeded. He didn’t have his dear Juliet’s iron will and grace, but he would do what he needed to regardless.

“...I’d like to first ask if you knew we were coming.”

“I didn’t. This is pure luck, actually. I was going to have a talk with Nova and Noel about this anyway, maybe ask to get into contact with you. This definitely saved some time, at least.”

“Okay, followup question: how many of Brune’s coworkers are in your corner about this? As in, how many do you think would be willing to organize?”

“Everyone in her crew, certainly. She got drinks with people in other crews sometimes, too. Maybe I’ll ask her about which ones.”

“That…will be good enough for now. I’m sure you’ll hear more from Nov and Noe first, but we’ll be in touch from here on. I can’t promise you immediate retribution for what’s been done, but I can tell you that your contributions will make a difference, and that if what you say about Orek is true, that difference could be what ensures a better future for this city in the end.”

After a little more casual chatter, Cedes and Xander left, the latter taking with him a few sheets of note paper that Kilo and he had started brainstorming new ideas for models on.

As the door clicked closed, Romeo’s shoulders dropped as he walked over to the blinds covering the view to the patio, peeking out through them for a moment before turning his head to the side.

“Tomatoes and carrots aren’t known to make good bonsais, are they, Golf?”

Golf folded his arms. “Guess not.”

Romeo sighed before turning around. “I…suppose I owe you all an apology. You’re always so flippant and unbothered by everything. You never even mentioned her before now.”

“We never wanted any of them to get swept up in this. Not…not so soon. And not because of us, certainly. But it’s bad for all of us if Yuma gets herself caught or totalled. But it’s not like we don’t care- we can’t avoid caring any better than you can.”

Tango put an arm around Hotel, who seemed to be fairly miserable about the whole exchange still.

“I know we’re not Juliet, but. You can talk to us, even so. If you want, that is. None of us are doing this on our own.”

The four of them looked between each other.

“You know, T, we really were excited to get these stupid jobs,” Hotel started, “Maybe we had some grander purpose out in space, but we knew we were never going to see the fruits of all of that pointless planning. Even less so once we knew TCCAI was taking over in the future. Here, even though we’re not doing much, we can see the direct impact we have on humans’ lives. Call it illogical, but that counts for something to us.”

“And like. What do you all even want from us, anyway?” November asked, “We’re not genius inventors or decisive leaders or even especially useful lunatics. All of our jobs could have been done by models that weren’t even sentient- I’m a clock for stars’ sake- it feels like the only reason we exist is because we’re part of a boxed set.”

Romeo frowned deeply. “You…You know none of us ever thought of you like that, though, right? You doing your jobs made ours easier, gave us the room to focus on our own purpose. If anything, we…sort of took you for being people who were slacking at important work we needed you for. I…suppose I never really stopped to interrogate why you were like that, and just assumed boredom. I’m sorry, darlings.”

“And,” Tango added, “whether you meant to or not, you have been changing things here. The people here must have a deep sense of community with you and each other to be willing to support the requests we’ve made of you, and you of them. That in itself is a valuable thing and more than I honestly expected.”

“Yeah, well,” Kilo shrugged, “We like it here. We like helping people, helping this neighborhood, even if it’s just in mundane, achievable ways. Of course we do. Feels good, you know? Hell, it’s not even like we hated helping you guys, it just felt shitty feeling useless. And being bored- not gonna lie, that was definitely part of it. How the rest of you could keep it together with fuckall else to do I’ll never know.”

“As you’ve learned, the world’s full of little things to do. Like karaoke nights. I miss those, don’t you?”

“Sure do…” November sighed, before walking up next to Romeo and elbowing him in the chassis, “Speaking of old hobbies, do you have any gossip for us?”

Romeo touched the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically. “Oh thank goodness, I was starting to fear your time here was making you all less incorrigible.” But a sly smile appeared on his face as he continued, “I might, though.”

The division’s eyes lit up- November’s especially. “Come on, then,” she egged on, “spill!”

“Well. I might have heard from a Capital B Birdie that our new Captain has a new crush.”

“Whaaat? No way, does that mean the previous one is over already?”

“I doubt it. Someone as historically repressed as our dear Engineer probably has room inside their core for a third one yet, I’d wager.”

“Well who’s the new one, then?”

“Some mercenary in their employ. I haven’t met him yet, but he sounds like the strong, silent type from what I hear.”

“Poor thing must be awfully patient to be bossed around by E all day.”

“Perhaps. But then, who’s to say that’s not a sign of possible reciprocation…?” Tango shrugged, then leaned forward, “How about you four? Surely someone must’ve caught your eye in these parts, no?”

Hotel shook their head and grumbled, “This undercover shit is poison for one’s love life. Also it’s gonna kinda suck if we bring someone home and end up having to go back to space again.”

“On that front I must sadly concur,” Romeo agreed, holding his head in his hands, “It is such a shame, though. Everywhere around us are such lovely, beautiful people. Oh but to take a warm hand in mine, to achieve closeness with our predecessors.”

“Can’t doing anything for you there, I’m afraid,” Golf said, but held up a hand for a high five, “but hey. Next best thing?”

Romeo smirked and returned the high five.

“Indeed it is.”

[docholligay]

I love your discussion today. How do you find your people? Any tips and tricks, or did you get lucky? My people are out there! I want to find them!

There is an element of luck in all our lives, up to and including the fact that we're all still this side of the dirt, so yes, i would say I've been lucky, and I do think of myself as a scandalously lucky person, but some of that is luck and some of it is how I look at life.

ANYWAY, I cannot do anything about your luck, but I can tell you some of the things that have made me more likely to enjoy a wide group of found family, close friends, casual friends, and friendly acquaintances, all of whom have a valuable part in my life and my enjoyment of it. I am largely a very happy person I do in fact credit a lot of that to the fact that I have a lot of positive social interactions in my day to day.

So, how do you find your people?

Firstly: What makes you a great friend? I talk a lot about being aware of why you're fucking annoying, and I do believe that and try to practice it--it helps me understand why someone might not want to be my friend--but it's also important to recognize why you're fucking GREAT as a friend. What do you bring to friendship?

I, for example, am an extremely enthusiastic person. Win an award? Get a paper accepted? Get married? Run a new time? I am absolutely the one who will be like, "Oh that's so cool! That's fucking awesome, I had no idea you were so smart/fast/sexy." I will want you to tell everyone, I will tell our mutual acquaintances, I will be your cheerleader. I also love to plan parties and trips! I am so delighted to plan an outing for us together, I just want your company. I am very generous, and a great cook, and when my friends need help, I can and have moved heaven and earth to go help them. I am funny and great at small talk and not boring, for sure. These are areas where I fucking SHINE. I try my best to show them to my advantage when I'm making friends. Like yes, it will take me 4 months to send a package I've had ready for you, but once you get it it will be lovingly packaged and also very thoughtful, and it wasn't something you were expecting, so.

Secondly:

I regret to inform everyone that, much like is constantly told to lesbians on her about getting a girlfriend: In order to make friends, you have to talk to people. People cannot love you if they do not know you.

And I don't mean, 'venting about your life online' that will give you, of course, friendly contacts, but I'm going to tell you the truth of that matter: Every person you meet online is only a sliver of that person, not even in some intentional underhanded way, just, we have so much more distance to craft what we want to say and how we want to say it, how we want to present ourselves. We all do it. They also are MUCH less exposed to what might make you a challenge. Which we also all have! But you cannot feel known, and loved, and really treasured, until you've gotten the opportunity to get under someone's skin. The love is truly in that. You'll all hate me saying that. That's fine.

This is not to say online friends cannot become real, in some sort of Velveteen Rabbit via our Google Overlords! There are people I knew online, some of whom I barely fucking knew, REALLY, and I met them in person and came to like them a lot! Some of them I count as very close and would drop everything to help, immediately. BUT, the opposite has also been true. I have met up with people I very much liked online, and in person I was like, "Having to live with your individual quirks and annoyances is too much for me. The vibes are not there." And people have felt the same of me!

Anyway, back to an actual tip: Be open to friendship and opportunity. These people I am now friends with? Some of them I wasn't even close online to, they just hit me up when I made an open call to meet up. And we hit it off splendidly! But I had to be open to the opportunity of making an open call, and they had to be open to the opportunity of answering it. They had to show up.

In this vein, so, I just saw someone at my boot camp class yesterday, who I was friends with in high school but I hadn't seen in forever. We chatted, and he still seemed like a very cool guy, and so...we made plans to go get a drink. Not vague plans, but, "Oh hey, I'll be back in town next Saturday." I am very well known for jumping on these moments and opportunities. An acquaintance had a book on her to-read list I really liked, so I asked her to tell me when she starts reading it, and I'll reread it, and she can come over to my house for wine and a chat. She was touched and delighted.

So, if you are chatting with someone and they're like, "Oh, I've always wanted to try 'x cafe'" that is a fucking stellar opportunity to go, "Oh, me too! We should go next week, are you free Thursday?" I legitimately credit my social circle to my expansive and, somewhat daring (we'll go into that in a minute) seeking of chances to discover someone wonderful.

You CANNOT wait for someone to court you. You have to pursue their friendship. The people I like to be around, I make it an effort to be around when I can, though of course I am not perfect at this. I drop balls too, I'm human! But I make time for zoom calls and visits and coffee dates and also. Also! I send people emails of little things that make me think of them, or notes, or postcards.

Okay onto being daring. The hard part of this is that, being this open to opportunity means you are also open to hurt. To rejection. And it hurts! It hurts badly, but it is part of the cost of finding your people, is giving people the opportunity to say, 'You are not my people." If someone doesn't answer any of your efforts to connect, you may have to let it go, and that of course is very sad. I have gotten my feelings hurt badly because I thought someone was SO cool, and they thought I was just, annoying and argumentative, which, I mean obviously, but they did not find it charming ahaha. It is allowed to hurt, but it also has to be okay for people. There’s someone in my congregation who really really wants to be my pal because we’re both Under the Rainbow, and I just DO NOT CARE for the cut of their jib. I feel bad about that, but, I could never actually be their friend. It happens to everyone who tries to make friends, at some point.

So, look for people who like some of the things you do, or who you find interesting to talk to. I met people through writing, through autocross (competitive driving car club thing), through running, through wine tasting, through travel. Be an interesting person with interests that require you to do things, and you will be far more likely to meet people like that. Join meetup groups, library book clubs, one of my greatest tips for finding friends is to get out there and do things.

Also, the more people you meet, the better you’ll get at figuring out if you’ll hit it off with someone. Or at least I have! I have figured out what I TEND to like in people, and what people TEND to respond to in me, and what makes me just too nuts.

But yeah, you can’t hit if you don’t swing.

If you meant something more specific, let me know!

[the-scouts-codex]

Summary: “A Housewarden meeting?” Renmu repeats. “Yes, a Housewarden meeting. Normally Housewardens are elected by previous Housewardens and or by challenging one for the position.” The Headmage explained, “Since Ramshackle is still considered a dorm, and You and Grim have taken residence in it, this makes you Housewarden of Ramshackle. Therefore, you now attend Housewarden meetings.”

Scout's Notes: This fic is 11,333 words. Yes, that is a lot of words lol. So I will be posting my work in parts. This is part one.

This fic is also found on A03 here. Thescoutscodex

“A Housewarden meeting?” Renmu repeats. “Yes, a Housewarden meeting. Normally Housewardens are elected by previous Housewardens and or by challenging one for the position.” The Headmage explained, “Since Ramshackle is still considered a dorm, and You and Grim have taken residence in it, this makes you Housewarden of Ramshackle. Therefore, you now attend Housewarden meetings.” “Makes sense.” Renmu mumbled. “Indeed, it does. Normally we would hold a ceremony for new and or elected Housewardens at the start of a new year. Since you are now Housewarden under new circumstances, I decided to hold a mini celebration for you. I am such a generous man.”

A Housewarden get together did seem fun. The problem was that Renmu had zero social skills. He wasn’t the “party” type either. He was more of the awkward guy that sat in the corner of the room, watching everyone else have fun. Plus, normally people avoided him. “Jaa, when is the meeting again?” Renmu asked. “Oh, yes that would have been good information to know. It’s tonight.” Renmu looked at the Headmage nervously. “T-Tonight?” “Yes, perfect, no? Mr. Rosehearts is very busy and this was the only night he had available. He was willing to put his things off for a bit for the occasion.” Renmu sighed. Now he had no other choice but to go. Especially if they were talking time out there busy schedules to do this. He didn’t want to come off as ungrateful and rude. “Is there a way you want us to dress? Do we have to bring anything?” Renmu asked. “You don’t have to bring anything, and can just wear your uniform or dorm uniform. Though, you don’t have one it seems.” The Headmage said in thought. “Just be ready at 7:30pm. It will be held at Mostro lounge at Octavinelle” “Ah, thank you sir.” The Headmage smiled. “You are welcome. Now, I'm a busy man. Please don’t forget about the meeting.” Renmu bowed curtly at the Headmage. “Thank you and I won’t.”

Renmu had time to kill until the meeting. He needed to freshen up anyways. Being an errand runner and beast tamer of NRC was a handful. Renmu decided to buy some new soap from Sam’s Mysterious Shop. He’s been saving up extra money for miscellaneous expenses. The shop wasn’t bustling like it normally is. Lunch time is the worst time to be in here. The shop is kinda small plus a hoard of ravenous school students isn’t a good mix. “Hey there, little imp. What can my friends get ya today?” Sam asked behind the counter. “Hi Sam. Do you by any chance have some good face wash, shampoo, conditioner, and soap?” Sam smiled deviously. “Of course I have things like that in stock. Is there anything specific that you want?” Renmu hummed in thought. “I guess anything cheap? I don’t really know. Never had the opportunity to care what it smelled like or what it did.” Sam hummed in thought, pacing behind the counter. “Would you like for me to make a suggestion? Of course, I'll give you a discount since you work here from time to time.” Renmu smiled. “Deal.” “What’s the occasion? Are you going on a date?” Sam asked as he went into the back of the shop swiftly. Renmu shook his head and laughed. “As if. The Housewardens are having a meeting tonight and I’m invited.

Sam came back out with the products. A two in one shampoo and conditioner, face wash, and a fancy looking bottle of body wash. “Here ya go, My little imp.” Sam said smiling. “Are you sure?” Same asked with an evil grin. ” I’ve seen the way you look at some of the boys here.” “Sam!” Renmu yelled, embarrassed. “How much?” Renmu asked, pulling out his Knapsack. “Normally this would be around 30 to 45 Thuamarks, for you, 25 Thaumarks.” “Wow, thanks Sam.” Renmu said happily, though he didn’t show it much. Renmu pulled out 25 Thuamarks and handed it over to Sam. “Thanks a bunch, My little imp.” Sam bagged the products into a maroon bag and handed it over to Renmu. “Oh, I'll let you have this as well. Think of it as a little thank you for always helping me out around here.” Sam handed over a sleek black glass bottle of cologne. The glass bottle had a glass red rose swirled around it. It looked so expensive. “Sam…i'm sorry but how much is th-” “Nope! I shall not answer that, little imp. It’s a gift from me to you.” Sam said firmly with a smile. Renmu sighed and smiled. “At least let me hug you.”

Sam smiled and hopped over the counter. He effortlessly picked up Renmu and squeezed him. “You better date someone here, my little imp. Or I might just take you out myself.”

Renmu couldn’t help but laugh. Renmu picked a can of tuna for Grim on his way out. Hopefully Grim would behave tonight. Renmu bumped the door to Ramshackle open with his hip. He would have to fix that door soon. “Grim, I'm back!” Renmu called. “I got you Dinner too.” “Welcome back, mortal.” One if the ghost greeted him. “Good evening. “ Renmu replied. Grim came scurrying down the hall for Renmu. “Oh, did you get tuna!?” Grim asked, sniffing Renmu. “Yes, I got you Tuna.” Renmu said laughing. “I have to go to a Housewardens meeting tonight. Can I trust you to stay here out of trouble until I get back?” Renmu asked. “Of course you can! I don’t cause trouble.” Grim said, taking the can of tuna.

Renmu rolled his eyes and headed to their shared room. Renmu grabbed his things and prepared for his shower.

Once the hair washing and shower was done he got dressed. Only thing was Renmu didn’t know how he wanted his hair to be done. Renmu brushed it out and tried an array of ponytails, braids, and or buns. All of those styles made him feel exposed. He decided to just brush it down and call it a day. Why was he so worried anyways? It’s not like he cared what they thought about him. But he did and it was eating away at him. Yes, he was worried he would make a fool out of himself and all they would think of was that he was a bad Prefect. Yes, he was scared of letting Dire Crowley down. Yes, he was anxious of them thinking he was nothing but a magicless mistake like he already thought he was. He feared that he truly didn't belong here. What if they saw his eyebrowless face!? That scared him the most. Renmu's phone chimed, pulling him out of his trainwreck thoughts. The Headmage was calling him. Renmu quickly picked up the phone. He hoped nothing bad happened. “Moshi Moshi?” “Ah, Renmu. Could you fetch Malleus Draconia, the Housewarden of Diasomnia. It would seem that he was not informed about the meeting tonight.” “O-Oh, okay. Where would I find him?” Renmu asked. “He should be at his dorm. Go to the Hall of Mirrors to travel to his dorm. Do hurry. Now then, I'll let you go. I am a busy man.”

The Headmage hung up without a goodbye. Renmu sighed. How did they forget him? No, how did the Headmage forget to tell his own student about an important event? Renmu checked the clock. It was 6:30. He had time to fetch the Housewarden. Renmu pulled his hood on and held his cloak closed. The evening air had become chilly. Renmu left Ramshackle and made his way to the Hall of Mirrors.

Renmu scanned the room for the Mirror to Diasomina. It was the last one in the room. There were students still going in and out of the portals this time of day. Renmu made his way through the Mirror to the Diasomnia dorm. Once the magic dissipated around him, Renmu was met with such a dark sky. Cloudy and foggy. Everything looked so gothic and medieval. There was a long stone path that led up to a castle, the dorm of Diasomnia.

There was an archway along the path that brandished the Diasomnia insygnia, below a ravine full of thorns. Renmu wondered if there was a way out of that if he fell in? Renmu made his way up the stone path. Some students that were walking by looked at Renmu questionably. Did they not like visitors? Ravens flew about and perched themselves on the thorns beside him. Renmu reached an extensive drawbridge. He could see another pair of doors at the top of some stairs at the end of it. He continued on through the dimly lit tunnel. It was even colder in the tunnel. Bats hung gracefully above his head. Their little red eyes watched him as he passed by. Renmu made it to the staircase and realized how large they were. Renmu took a deep breath as he ascended the intimidating staircase.

By the time he got to the top, he was out of breath. He steadied himself on the cold stone walls for a moment. It was now or never he supposed. He pushed the heavy door open and squeezed himself inside. The inside was warm, thankfully. The corridor was extensive. The light gray stone floors and brick walls gave the room a cold look. The lights were green torches, candelabras, and chandeliers. Black leather couches and armchairs around dark oak tables. Dark floral carpets under each set. There were some students that were staring at him at some of the tables. Renmu approached them cautiously. “D-Do you know where I could find your Housewarden?” “If you request an audience with him, you need to go to the Vice housewarden, Lilia Vanrouge.” One of them informed him. Renmu nodded. “Wakarimashita, where would I find the Vice Housewarden, Lilia Vanrouge?” “You can find-” “I’m right here.”

The three of them jumped at the voice. Renmu jumped even more when someone dropped down in front of him. His black and green cape falling gracefully behind him. He was met with bloody red eyes and the palest skin he has ever seen. Lilia Vanrouge it would seem was standing before him. His pointed ears stuck out of his pink and black shaggy hair. A black and green horned hat sat upon his head. It was very odd in Renmu’s eyes, yet he liked it. The white button down and black tie he wore paired with a corset, high waisted half skirt that turned into a pair of black and green shorts. The purple ombre tool that cascaded down his hip and thigh. The purple legging that showed his thin and toned legs. His heeled boots added height to him making him an inch or two taller than Renmu. Lilia smiled at Renmu fondly, showing off his rather sharp looking fangs. He was adorable. Lilia chuckled softly. “You rang for me?” His voice was deeper than what Renmu was expecting. But it made him more lovable to Renmu. “U-Uh yes.” Renmu stammered. “I was looking for Mallues Draconia.” Lilia smiled even more. “Yes of course. Do follow me.” Lilia began walking towards the staircase and Renmu quickly followed after him. “What is your name, dear boy?” Lilia asked. “Yuu Renmu. You can call me Renmu.” “How positively unique. What do you need Malleus for, my dearest Renmu?” Lilia asked. “Oh, the Headmage is throwing a party for me tonight. I’m the new Prefect of Ramshackle. But I guess no one told Mallues, I think.” Renmu explained.

They stopped at the giant dragon throne. It wasn’t empty like before. There was a tall fair skinned man sitting in it. He had a huge pair of black horns on top of his head. His long black hair cascaded around his high cheekbones. His pointed ears stuck out through his hair just like Lilia’s. He turned to Renmu, his deep green eyes looked up at Renmu. There were two others around him at each side. One was very tall with slicked back green hair and the other had loose silver hair. The silver haired one had a drowsy look to him. His cornflower eyes were lidded. The green haired one looked at Renmu with disdain. “Who is this?” The horned man asked.

His voice is deep and velvety. Renmu suppressed the shiver that threatened to run down his spine. “This is Renmu.” Lilia informed him. “The new prefect of Ramshackle.” Malleus stood up from his chair. Renmu had to crane his neck just to look at his face because man was he tall. He towered over Renmu like a skyscraper. “Malleus Draconia, though you have already heard.” He announced. “Nice to meet you.” Renmu replied with a bow. “You said you were Prefect of Ramshackle, yes? I thought that building was vacant?” Mallues questioned. “I-I have taken residence there now. I don’t belong to any dorm since I don’t…harbor any magic.” Renmu explained. “But I am still a student. So since I’m the only one there, technically, the Headmage said that I'm considered Prefect. So he threw me a party to spend time and get to know the other Housewardends and their Vice Housewardens.” Mallues hummed. “When is the party?” Renmu swallowed nervously. “Tonight at 7:30…” “Eh, that’s in less than an hour.” Lilia said, concerned. “The Headmage forgot to tell me about it until earlier today. Then the HeadMage realized that you weren’t invited. So he made me find you…” Renmu trailed off. Lilia sighed. “It wouldn’t be the first time they forgot to inform Malleus about something.” “They do this all the time?” Renmu asked. Lilia nodded. “Even the Headmage?” Lilia nodded again. Renmu frowned. “That’s sad.” Malleus chuckled. “Well I don’t use my phone too much. I detest technology.” “O-Oh well, i’ll make sure to find you whenever I hear about a Housewarden meeting.” Renmu assured him. “Aww how sweet of you.” Lilia cooed. Renmu’s cheeks flushed a bit. “Where is the party?” The silver haired one asked Renmu. “Octavinelle’s Mostro lounge.” “Are you sure you want to go, your Highness? We probably won’t have time to scout the area for any threats.” The silver haired one offered. “I cannot allow you to get hurt!” The green haired one yelled. Mallues shook his head. “I should be fine, Silver, Sebek. It’s a Housewarden gathering after all.” Malleus said with a hint of happiness. Renmu sat there dumbfounded. “You’re a prince?” The greened haired one named Sebek glared at Renmu. “You have never heard of his Majesty!? Malleus Draconia, the future king of the Briar Valley!?”

Renmu really hoped he didn’t just commit a crime of not knowing he was a prince. The last thing he needed was being thrown in a dungeon in a world he had no knowledge of. “I-I apologize. I was never informed he was a prince.” Renmu stammered, bowing over and over. “Please forgive my ignorance. I am not from here.” Renmu felt a hand ruffle his head. Renmu looked up through his bangs. Malleus was smiling at him. “It’s alright. I wouldn't expect you to know. Please don’t worry about my title.” Renmu nodded. Malleus turned to his two worried shields, “I should be okay, Sebek. Lilia will be with me. Will you watch over the place for me in my absence?” Sebek nodded eagerly. “Yes of course!” “Well then, there isn’t much time left. I shall prepare for the party.” Melleus said with a smile. “I shall walk you back to the hall of Mirrors, Renmu.” Lilia offered. Renmu nodded vehemently . “Arigato Gozaimasu.”

Malleus retreated into the hallway with Silver and Sebek behind him. Lilia began walking back to the staircase and Renmu followed. As they walked through the corridor, the students bid Lilia farwell. It was chilly outside and Renmu pulled his cloak on tighter. Lilia looked up at the bats hanging from the tunnel. “Good evening my babies!” He said affectionately as he walked. The bats began flocking around Lilia as he walked. Renmu walked behind him astonished. It was almost like he was a Vampire. “Lilia-senpai.” Renmu mumbled. Lilia turned around a bit. “Senpai?” “Ah, where I'm from, we give each other honorifics. Senpai means that I'm showing respect to a classmate older than me.” Lilia hummed, “I like that. Now, what was it that you were saying?” “Lilia-Senpai, are you by any chance a Vampire?”

Lilia stopped walking this time. He turned around and looked at Renmu. Renmu couldn’t tell what kind of look it was he was giving him. “Gomenasai, that was rude of me to assume, right?” Renmu said anxiously. “What do you think, Renmu?” Lilia asked, mirthful. Renmu hesitated before answering. “I think that you are…” Renmu mumbled. “Then I am. I’ll be whatever you like me to be.” Lilia began walking again. Renmu walked with him again. They reached the Magic Mirror and Lilia let his bats go. They flew off into the cloudy night sky. “Thanks for walking me back.” Renmu said with a bow. Lilia chuckled. “Not a problem. I’ll see you at the party.” Lilia waved goodbye before grabbing the edge of his cape, pulling over his shoulder and disappearing out of thin air. All that was left were bats that soon turned into magic dust. Renmu blinked a few times. Renmu wanted to get to know these people more.

Renmu had enough time to go back to Ramshackle and freshen up again. He was feeling self-conscious after he had been outside. What if he smelled like outside? He spritzed himself with the cologne Sam gifted him. The scent was alluring. It smelled like Dahlia, Vanilla and Rose oil. Renmu hoped the cologne wasn’t enchanted or something. The last thing he needed was 7 guys and their Vice Houswardens chasing him like he was the next bachelorette or the last grilled cheese at the bakery. He looked at the label, “The Alluring Rose.” By the Poison Apple company. Renmu growled. “This stuff has to be enchanted. Well whatever, it’s too late for me to wash the scent off…Grim, I’m leaving.” Renmu yelled. Renmu could faintly Grim mumbling something about tuna and homework. Renmu shook his head and laughed as he left Ramshackle.

Part 2 can be found here.