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saerins · 7 months

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꒰ঌꨄ︎໒꒱ — there’s a lot you don’t understand about what’s going on with sae, but he can say the same about you. question is, once you both find out more about each other, will your growing feelings stay the same?

content: itoshi sae x female reader. fluff/angst. profanity, alcohol, reader is fairly straightforward here, pining, jealousy, misunderstandings. word count: 5.8k

༝༚༝༚ slightly shorter chapter this week ^_^ hehe we’re getting closer to the messier/exciting parts so bear with me heh :) mwah ily guys <3

you’re starting to learn that maybe you can’t get your hopes up with itoshi sae.

a week later, you don’t hear anything from him. you both haven’t spoken since that night he took you out. not that you’re entirely too bothered—it’s a first for you, trying to get to know someone as in-demand as sae. (you don’t count eita because you’ve known him since before the fame.)

it doesn’t help that you don’t really have anyone to talk to about this. you promised sae that you wouldn’t spill, and you’re keeping that promise. somehow, it makes you feel a little warm inside; thinking that there is some sort of intimacy you share with sae that only the two of you know.

besides, even if you could talk to eita about it, you don’t want to.

is it too quick for you to think you might fall for him?

falling for someone isn’t really in your life plans yet, especially after your last and only tumultuous relationship, but maybe itoshi sae is different. he sure seems like it.

the next week rolls around, and you still hear nothing from him. which is fine with you; you’ve resigned yourself to thinking what’s yours will be yours and not to force anything… even if you spend most of your idle time wondering if sae is ever going to post anything on his private account. did he really just create it solely because you asked him to?

you can see that he logs in to it, judging by his icon on that little viewer list in your stories. but that’s the extent to which you see him online. he doesn’t reply, or do anything much. considering his normal account is probably mainly run by his team, you guess you shouldn’t expect too much from him.

still, maybe it’s a little pathetic of you to be wearing his cap so frequently. it’s sort of become a staple piece for you, somehow. to be fair, there’s hardly any dress code in place for you to follow and considering the bulk of your workwear is mostly casual, it fits right into your style. although, after sumi pointed out one day that it’s a luxury brand and that it costs more than you would personally ever spend on a cap (even if you had the means to), you try to wear it less often. (though that seems like a waste considering it was given to you.)

“you know, you gave the boss a really good scoop, enough to last for a few months,” sumi points out during lunch, taking a lick of her vanilla ice cream as the both of you sit out on the roof, escaping the cramped office. “so why do you look so stressed?”

honestly, you didn’t even realise you did. you thought you were being normal, but it has been a while since you had a normal crush on someone, and since itoshi sae is certainly not just a normal somebody, maybe you had been acting a little off, always waiting for a text, a call even, something.

“nothing, i just haven’t been able to get a good sleep lately,” you lie, hoping that sumi won’t pry.

she doesn’t.

“hm, it’s friday today,” she hums, pondering. “maybe you should find a few of your friends, get out, let loose, you know?”

later at your desk, the clock almost striking 5pm, you think maybe you should. because as much as you love your chill friday nights alone (mainly because your mom is barely home on the weekends), you don’t think it’ll do you much good if you keep mulling over the same old thing.

but just as you’re about to go pester eita again, he gets to you first, his timing impeccable today.

there’s an aching disappointment in your chest when you realise sae isn’t going to be there. maybe it’s just the glaring difference between the life of a celebrity versus someone normal like you. his schedule must usually be packed to the brim after all.

whatever, you’ll let him come back to you on his own time. for now, all you want to do for the weekend is to spend it having fun with the guys and settling everything you need to on saturday and spend sunday to yourself.

this possible thing between you and sae, whatever it could be, can wait. you’re not in any rush. at least, that’s what your head tells you.

your heart feels something different.

it’s only the second time you’re actually hanging out with eita’s friends, but you’re not regretting it one bit. even on the day of the event they’d been welcoming to you, and tonight is no exception.

they’re all sat around the wooden table on the balcony, a ton of beer cans and liquor bottles littered across the table. you sit on the long end, on the long chair, right beside eita, sides of your bodies always pressed close together that it makes a glint form in oliver’s eyes.

he’s still curious, not out of concern but just because, about you and eita and sae and how everything is going to tie together. it’s not everyday he sees eita being okay with a girl that close to him and not complain that she’s a bother. it’s also not everyday that sae creates a private account. oliver got bored and saw one day that you were the first person he followed.

you must really be something.

“where even is sae today?” you hear sendou ask, a hiccup following suit. “i finally come over and he’s not even here.”

he’s sitting on your other side, his profile strangely reminding you of the very guy he’s asking about. maybe it’s the way his hair is a lighter shade of pink, maybe even his sharp jawline. his eyes are different though, more expressive, and universally soft somehow.

you remember how sae’s can look soft, his teal eyes turning gentle whenever you try to approach him. but it wasn’t that way when you first met him, that’s a given.

“i don’t know, said he was too tired,” oliver sighs, stretching in his seat.

“wasn’t he just with bianca yesterday?” yukimiya asks, oblivious to oliver’s glee.

it kind of stings, but you stay quiet, the alcohol slowly seeping into your system. you can feel eita leaning against you a little bit more, and his presence has always been comforting, so you let him.

sendou hums, index finger tapping against his near-empty beer can. “is that still going on? how long has their relationship status been a mystery already?”

karasu snorts, nudging sendou on the elbow. “salty just ‘cause you tried to ask her out and she rejected you?”

as you sit quietly and observe, it seems that sendou was once at an event with her too—apparently, he had asked her for her number and she didn’t even want to give it to him. and then a month later she “met sae and was all over him”, according to karasu.

with the exception of eita, who sits quietly beside you, they start a debate on whether or not sae’s finally starting to see bianca in a different light. or, as sendou points out, “maybe they’ve been a thing all along and just hid it really well from everyone.” it’s not exactly something you want to listen to, even if you are the most curious you’ve ever been about a guy, so you block it out from your ears.

but oliver leans forward, resting his chin on the liquor bottle in front of him, staring straight at you. you’ve never really noticed it but his eyes are really beautiful, the different shades of green and purple making him seem ethereal just like that.

“you’re a girl, y/n, what do you think?” he asks you, a lazy drawl in his tone.

mirroring his actions, you bat your eyelashes at him, looking innocent as ever when you answer him. “i think you guys should stop talking about that her behind her back like that,” you say, earning a raise of oliver’s brows in return. he’s surprised, to say the least, but not in a bad way.

it’s not even that you don’t want to hear about her. you’re wantonly curious, especially since you’re beginning to realise your small hint of emotions towards sae, but something tells you that these guys wouldn’t be too kind with their words if you egg them on.

karasu gives you a nod of approval that you miss before he leans back in the chair, whispering to yukimiya, “at least we all know shidou won’t totally hate y/n.” but it’s too soft for you to hear, and you probably won’t even be able to make sense of it even if you did, not with the gradually increasing level of alcohol in your system.

between intentionally drinking to not be a pathetic mess who keeps thinking about her potential love life and having to drink because you’re usually good at drinking games but not when oliver is around with the way he keeps beating you at everything, you happen not to notice a lot of things.

at one point, oliver has replaced sendou next to you, whispering snarky comments in your ear in between games. he’s not the flirting kind, at least not to you, and he doesn’t push your boundaries physically either—he’s more akin to a friend you’d love to gossip with. that’s why you don’t even think much when he tilts his camera towards you, taking a selfie with both you and eita in it.

just a normal picture of friends hanging out, oliver leaning against your legs, propped up on the chair, your own head leaning into the crook of eita’s neck, all of you evidently tipsy from the dazed look in your eyes.

what neither of you notice is oliver’s smirk as he posts the picture onto his private, betting on his target audience of one to see it.

and now, he’ll just have to wait.

one hour later, the doorbell rings and yukimiya’s eyes glance over to eita, comfortable with an arm around you, and he takes it as his cue to open the door. eita’s probably too reluctant to move and he’ll let whoever it is at the door keep at it for hours before he’ll answer the poor guy.

he’s expecting some random food delivery, maybe from karasu because he’s been whining about wanting some chicken with his beer, or maybe even shidou showing up at the last minute from his other party. but this? the person he’s staring at in the eyes right now, is the last person he expected to see tonight.

“wait, i thought you weren’t coming?” yukimiya asks, but oliver’s already shouting from the balcony.

“hey, sae, what the fuck are you doing here?” he asks from the balcony, taking a swig of his beer.

beside him, you hear sae’s name and your head immediately whips around to look at the door. there he is, looking tired as ever but he’s there, in the flesh, dressed in all black, jacket and sweats, teal eyes finding you from all the way across the house.

sae wordlessly walks past yukimiya, the latter following behind him, still shocked that he’s even present. sure looks like sae always means it when he says he wouldn’t come to gatherings like these.

when he gets to the balcony, earning a cock of oliver’s brow, sae tilts his head, “i was invited, wasn’t i? what’s so surprising about that?”

oliver snickers at sae’s blatant avoidance of the question. deciding he wouldn’t get anything out of him anyway, he shrugs and accepts it. besides, he can already see that sae’s too busy trying to calculate if there’s enough space for him to sit beside you, with the way his eyes are scanning your surroundings. maybe it doesn’t help how eita’s so clingy with you, his arm still around you even when you’ve already straightened up.

both sae and eita are just staring blankly at each other, and everyone is aware of it except for you, because your head’s a little dizzy and you’re still thinking whether sae popping up here is a figment of your imagination.

you’re not that drunk, are you?

you get your answer when a shadow looms over your body, the familiar scent of his cologne wafting into your nose. he smells the same he did that night you kissed him.

“what, this seat taken?” sae asks, and you dumbly look down at the small edge of space beside you.

no, it’s not, but you’re probably going to have to squeeze between him and eita if he sits there, no more legroom. you shift anyway, eita making space (albeit reluctantly), the way sae ends up being so close to you enough to send your mind into overdrive. you’re still wondering why he showed up.

you, and everyone else. not oliver though. he knows why. and it’s not like he wants to intentionally make you cough out your feelings but it looks like the other guys who are oblivious to your feelings are steering in that direction.

“no bianca today?” karasu asks, a mocking tone in his voice.

sae doesn’t show an ounce of emotion, though. “wasn’t with her.”

“why not? scared we’re gonna make you two make out again like last time?” yukimiya asks, finally relaxing back in his seat. he says it jokingly, although you know the sentence at hand probably isn’t a joke.

“wait wait wait, you two made out?” sendou asks, incredulous, mirroring your exact thoughts.

a jealousy creeps up your spine, engulfing your alcohol-riddled distractions. some part of you wants to know what it’d be like to be kissed by him. you purse your lips into a firm line, wondering if you were being an accidental homewrecker by kissing him that night.

“it was just a game,” sae responds, making no moves to drink the beer handed to him.

eita pulls his arms away, moving in favour of getting you a drink. it’s not that he even knows anything that’s going on between you and sae, but he can tell by how you’re stiffening up that you’re probably a little affected. he slides a shot over to you, and you down it with ease.

ignoring the way the other guys keep harping on the topic, sae turns his attention to you, flicking the tip of the cap he gave you, and you shift your gaze to look up at him, the small smirk he gives you when you do making your heart flutter again.

why is it so easy for him to do that to you?

“haven’t sold my cap yet?”

you thank the heavens you’re not too tipsy to be normal. “i’m holding out for higher bids, actually,” you quip, grinning. “you can offer one too if you want it back.”

sae hums, head tilted again as he ponders while staring at you. slowly, he leans down to your ear, whispering so only you can hear him, “how much do i have to bid for you to keep it?”

maybe it’s the liquor, but you feel your cheeks heat up. it can’t be his close proximity. it can’t be the way he’s so close that you can see the beating pulse on his neck. it can’t be the way you think you look more intimate here than you should. definitely can’t be the way all the guys have noticed and are giving each other looks.

why does he even want you to keep it? is this some sort of abstract way that he’s using to tell you that you’re not an accidental homewrecker?

you make a mental reminder to yourself to never get drunk in front of sae. you don’t want to end up blurting out some less-than-decent thoughts of yours.

“what’s wrong? too tipsy now to talk back?” sae asks, and you can only pout at him, not in your usual condition to think of smart comebacks. it makes the corner of his lips tug upwards just a little bit more than usual, his hand coming up to teasingly push the cap down further—in that seemingly affectionate way he does.

and maybe it isn’t such a good idea to agree to continue to play games, not when you got roped into never have i ever and karasu, to the delight of oliver, said he has never fucked anyone at this table. seeing that only you and eita put a finger down, everyone can tell there’s probably a complicated history between you and eita. not that you owe them any explanation, though you kind of do feel the urge to tell sae that it was in the past.

you steal a glance at him beside you, the mild look of surprise befallen on his handsome face. you wonder if he thinks badly of you now. you wonder if he’ll think badly of you when he sees what your life is really like. will he think you’re just going to be a stain on his fancy life that it’ll be better off not knowing you?

or maybe… maybe he has a complicated past too. with bianca.

funnily enough, eita loses after yukimiya says he’s never had sex with more than five girls. the disappointing part is you didn’t really get to know anything interesting about sae.

“hey, you feeling okay? you can stop playing if you wanna,” sae tells you later on, after god knows how many minutes have passed and you’re already onto the next game. you don’t even know why you agreed to play two truths one dare in the first place when you know it’ll just be a shitshow for you.

over the course of x minutes, you’d managed to learn many things, some of which being that karasu and eita had shared a girl in bed, that yukimiya dared to do a body shot on oliver, that sae would consider bianca an important person to him, and that you really can’t make up your mind to go big or go home because oliver had just dared you to spend seven minutes in heaven with anyone of your choosing.

of course, you can safely choose eita and trust him not to do anything if you told him to. but on the flip side, you can choose who you really want. even if you’re not so sure he’d want to anymore.

“you can always choose me,” oliver jokes, lifting the mood. although the smirk on his face makes you question it. “i’ll definitely show you a good time.”

while you’re having an internal dilemma, karasu and sendou are in the background teasing oliver for being fake, saying that he shouldn’t be offering that if he’s already interested in miss manager.

but you snap out of it when the irritated sigh you hear out of sae somehow feels like the world is sending you a sign. in some way. you’re not sure if you’re reaching—is he bothered by oliver’s comments? and why does oliver look so smug all of a sudden?

you’re beginning to regret not being sober, you can’t figure this shit out. but what you do figure out is what you want to do. why think so much about tomorrow when the present is right here?

so you don’t pay it any more thoughts, getting up and dragging sae with you by the shirt, ignoring all the commotion left behind by the guys, save for eita who only stares blankly at you as you drag sae into his own room and lock the door.

“oh shit, sorry dude, didn’t mean to—”

“for the last time, just friends,” otoya snaps, cutting karasu off, although not even sendou believes him. for someone who doesn’t even care to treat people nicely, sendou can at least see that eita treats you a fair bit better than anyone else.

in the room, sae can only watch blankly as you stumble over your feet before finally settling on the edge of otoya’s bed. the envious, green side of him can’t help but wonder how many times you’d been here, in his room, with him. though it’s kind of amusing how you chose to bring sae in here now.

from what sae can tell, you’re probably a little more tipsy than you should be in these types of situation, and a part of him is relieved that you’re not here with anyone else. if you were here with otoya, would you be fooling around by now?

“so, thought you were too tired to show up—what happened?” you ask from where you are on the bed, body swaying slightly, eyes threatening to close.

the moment he takes a seat next to you, you lean close, your head coming to rest on his shoulder, and sae has no doubt that you’d already drank a lot before he came. proximity this close, he can smell the shampoo in your hair, can feel how soft it is.

“i couldn’t sleep, got bored, that’s all.”

your shoulders vibrate slightly as you giggle, pulling away, a suspicious glint in your eyes. “damn, and here i thought you came for me.”

even when you’re intoxicated you still have such a smart mouth. sae shrugs, his gaze turning ever so soft, like every time before when he looks at you. there’s something about you that he can’t quite place, something that makes him act so differently than he usually does, and for once he doesn’t hate it. “did you want me to?”

not taking the bait, you keep up your casual demeanour, even if your eyelids feel heavy and you’re about five seconds away from just passing right out on the bed.

“you know, it’s fine to say you missed me and wanted to see me,” you tell him, grin wide as ever, almost infectious. you’re only surviving on liquid courage right now, the way you unashamedly try to flirt. though, if sae isn’t moving away, does that mean he doesn’t mind?

he looks off to the side, pondering for a while before turning back to you with a straight face, “i missed you, wanted to see you.”

for a moment, you feel like your heart might stop.

“is that what you wanna hear?”

almost instinctively, you grab the stray pillow lying on the bed and fling it at sae, earning an amused laugh from him but you barely realise it, too caught up in the frustration that his words were just strung together to entertain you as opposed to his actual feelings.

crossing your arms, you look away, the exhaustion of the day coupled with the dread of tomorrow nipping away at your consciousness. “don’t patronise me, itoshi sae,” you huff, and you miss the way he looks at you with a smile on his face.

will you remember any of this tomorrow? you’re not drunk, but you’re not exactly thinking straight either.

“were you… very busy this past week?”

your question is voiced so softly, almost like you’re afraid to ask, and sae realises maybe he should’ve at least told you he wouldn’t be able to make it as early as he thought he would.

“yeah, i was.”

technically, he isn’t lying. he was back in japan last saturday, but maybe he had been too wrapped up in his thoughts to do anything else.

“with bianca?”

it’s even softer this time, and for some reason, sae’s almost kind of relieved you’re asking. he just doesn’t know what it is.

“no, not really,” he tells you. it’s complicated, and you don’t even have context; he wouldn’t even know where to begin talking to you about it.

you put your legs up on the bed, hiding your face between your knees, and sae’s left wondering whether alcohol really makes that much of a difference. you seem bold, shy and teasing all at once. his hat is still on your head, your thoughts coming out into the open.

“are you… involved with her?” your voice is muffled, but he hears you loud and clear.

a small smile dawns onto his face, safe from your view. he doesn’t really know the implications of you asking the question, but he likes how you don’t beat around the bush. it’s nice not having to constantly guess what you really mean.

and maybe it’s you rubbing off on him, but he doesn’t answer it straight.

“curious, y/n?”

when you lift your head up to look at him, you see the widest smile he’s ever given you, objectively much smaller and way more subtle than everyone else, but it’s a smile all the same and it makes your heart beat faster in your chest.

“yes,” you answer honestly, because you’re not sure when exactly you’re going to pass out but you have a feeling it’ll be soon and eita’s bed is just so soft.

sae is only mildly stunned by how straightforward you are, so he decides to do you a favour. he doesn’t usually like divulging things like this; topics that bring gossip and are undoubtedly going to come back to him if it gets out. what’s more, you work for a sports magazine so you can totally use this against him, but it isn’t even that you’re intoxicated right now, but more so that he feels he can trust you with it.

slowly, he reaches his hand over, and for once he tips the cap upwards a little so he can see your eyes when he tells you, “stupid, i’m not involved with anyone.” is that clear enough for you? he’s not sure why but he hopes it is.

what does he even want with you?

the moment you hear it, you break out into a wide smile, genuine and actually infectious this time because sae feels the corners of his lips threatening to pull upwards even more. what the heck is this feeling?

“really? i’m so relieved,” you exhale, voice a little airy, looking a little too pretty that sae immediately pulls the cap back downwards. “so,” you move on, adjusting it back in position, daring to move closer to him, face so close to his own that he has nowhere else to look except straight into your eyes. “we have four minutes left. will you grant me whatever i want, itoshi sae?”

you have a habit of calling him by his full name. he makes a mental reminder to get you to change that. not tonight though, he doesn’t want you to forget.

it’s weird how he feels around you; why does he feel so overwhelmed yet want more both at the same time? he swallows the lump in his throat, keeping his composure, “depends, you’re pretty demanding, tell me first and i’ll consider.”

“itoshi sae, i’m not!” you refute, punching him playfully on the arm and he has to hold your arm to stop you from falling off the bed. “i don’t know. the guys outside are probably expecting us to fuck or something.”

there you go, unfiltered and he kind of likes it. his fingers are still around your wrist.

but the answer is crystal clear to him.

“no.”

“huh?” it takes you a while to process. given that the only thoughts in your head as of right now are only: what does sae think of you and eita? and bianca is important to him. “what if it was just a kiss?”

he hums, then shakes his head. “nope.”

“wait, am i not pretty enough for you or something?”

you’re whining and sae finds it cute of all things. you have a tendency to misunderstand, so maybe he needs to adjust how he talks to you. he’ll see. but before he can even say anything else, your head falls into his chest, your regular breathing the only sound that fills the room after. he’s perplexed and amused all at once; how did you manage to fall asleep so quickly?

contrary to your thoughts, sae has always thought you were pretty, ever since the first night he met you. even in your private account where you post yourself in hoodies too big for your body and no makeup, clad in sweats—still pretty.

sae sighs, his fingers stroking your hair now that you’re asleep, and whispering in your ear only when you’re not able to hear him.

“if i do that, i think i’ll end up wanting more.” and you’re drunk and that’s not what he really wants.

but he does give you what you ask for, pressing a soft kiss on your forehead.

that’ll have to do for now.

“so, nothing happened?” sendou asks, bored, as sae carries you on his back as he comes out of the room.

you’re passed out and drooling on his shoulder and he doesn’t really care about that.

“it’s sae, c’mon, did you expect something?” karasu laughs, all of them coming in from the balcony because in the seven minutes both of you had spent in the room, it managed to start raining. “maybe if it was bianca, y’know, then maybe.”

sae ignores all their passing comments, choosing to walk over to otoya, “hey, she passed out, i’m just gonna take her home.”

as much as sae isn’t particularly fond of otoya, he’s probably your closest friend here and he doesn’t want him to think he’s just going to take advantage of you.

otoya’s green eyes flicker to the clock on the wall before he shakes his head, speaking softly so the others won’t hear. “nah, just put her in the guest bedroom. i’ll send her back in the morning. you can head back first.”

there’s an irritation that builds up inside him, but sae maintains his emotionless expression, remembering that otoya knows you much more than he does. “i could just—”

“she doesn’t want to go home tonight,” otoya cuts in, a warning glare in his eyes. “trust me.”

suddenly, sae remembers the last time he met you, your swollen cheek and the way your eyes were glazed over. and he wants to ask otoya what it’s all about but this is about you, and he really shouldn’t ask someone else.

“fine,” sae concedes. if whatever’s at home makes you miserable, he won’t bring you there. “i’ll put her in there before i go.”

there’s a lot more otoya would like to ask sae, because oliver’s not the only one curious at sae’s seemingly odd behaviour. he wants to know what exactly he thinks about you, but everyone’s still around and it’s not a good time, so he sucks it up and lets it go for tonight.

as sae puts you down on the bed and pulls the blanket over you, he gets a brief flashback of the night he set bianca down in her hotel room. you’re both so similar, and yet not at all.

and when he’s about to turn and go, your fingers reach out to tug at the hem of his jacket sleeve, almost effectively making sae’s heart leap out of his chest. your eyes are still shut, so there’s no chance you’re actually conscious right now. still, your mouth opens.

“stay with me?”

sae stills. do you know it’s him? or do you think he’s otoya? either way, you and bianca really are similar, even when you’re not completely awake. so why… why are his reactions so different?

it’s not like he has anything on tomorrow, so it’s really no imposition.

before he knows it, he’s sitting on the floor, right next to where you sleep on the bed, your fingers enveloped in his palm, his head propped on the mattress, his own exhaustion catching up to him.

it’s been a messy week; trying to gather his thoughts about you every single time he’s free, having to talk to bianca and thinking about that, and then coming back just to see oliver and otoya so close to you that it bothers him a little. finding out about you and otoya takes the cake, though.

how special is otoya to you?

the question lingers unanswered as he drifts to sleep, both of you subconsciously finding comfort in the other’s innocent warmth.

the next morning when you wake up, you’re half shocked half happy to find sae where he is, sleeping there peacefully, the previous night’s exhaustion dissipating from his face.

did he take care of you last night? you can only hope you didn’t puke in front of him. that would be embarrassing.

you’d like to stay, wait for him to wake up and talk to him and make sure you didn’t say or do anything too out of line because your memory’s a little foggy, bits and pieces that you can’t quite piece together or even tell if they’re real or dreams.

but you can’t.

you remember what day it is today and reluctantly get out of bed. though, feeling a little cheeky, you quietly grab a small black marker out of the drawer, suppressing a grin as you scribble on sae’s palms, hoping he won’t wake up from this.

a couple hours later, by the time sae gets up, the bed is cold and still undone. it’s already noon, and somehow the first thing he thinks of when he wakes up is you—are you already home? did otoya send you?

but the question that pops up in the forefront of his mind when he sees otoya lazing around on his couch later on is none of that.

and to be fair, otoya has the very same question in his head.

“do you like her or something? y/n.”

otoya is the one to ask, eyes still glued onto his phone screen, typing something out. sae can’t help but wonder if he’s talking to you.

“what’s it to you?” sae asks. he can hear the snores of the other guys coming from otoya’s room.

otoya shrugs. “just curious. she’s my best friend after all.”

there’s a certain possessiveness in the way he says it that rubs sae the wrong way. still, sae supposes that if otoya’s your best friend, he shouldn’t be too impulsive with his words.

“maybe i like her,” sae says, the tension in the air getting thicker.

“in what way?” otoya still hasn’t looked up from his phone.

“same way you do.”

“i don’t know what you mean.”

otoya scoffs, both of them acting coy with one another. “bianca and y/n, huh? busy guy,” otoya sighs, tossing his phone aside and getting up, walking towards sae, hands in his pocket. both of them are staring the other down, feeling the situation out. “i think i suit y/n better, you can have bianca.”

now it’s sae’s turn to scoff, sharp eyes piercing through otoya’s own. “why don’t we let y/n decide for herself, huh?” he quips, before grabbing his car keys out of his pocket and leaving through the front door.

as he settles down in his car and turns the engine on, it’s only then that he realises the black marks on his palm.

thank you ᡣ𐭩

somehow, just one look at it is enough to ease the tension on his shoulders.

you really can do wonders.

extras !

otoya’s hostility towards sae was intentional.

sae didn’t try to wash your writing off—he let it fade away naturally.

if yn was sober, she would’ve not been as straightforward as he was in the room with sae. but she definitely would’ve flustered sae a lot more with her playful personality.

the whole time, oliver was live recounting the events of the night to miss manager, all of which are left on read.

if bianca had been there, sae would have been a lot more cautious about his actions and probably wouldn’t have acted too close to y/n.

random fact #1: otoya plays bass, used to perform in a band back in university. part of how he got so many girls interested in him but he was always with y/n which made a lot of them unhappy.

random fact #2: sae has never really been jealous before so now that he’s feeling it, he’s a lot more sensitive to it than normal people.

taglist! @yuzurins @saeskiss @raphsimp @lust4rin @mxplesyrvp @chieeeeeee @yumekolovesyukimiya @kunirayuna39 @auranny @sereniteav @gskill @saesgrl @riseena @rikijbol @sagejin @shironagi @veecynii

#bllk x reader #sae x reader #itoshi sae x reader #bllk x you #blue lock x reader #bllk x y/n #sae x y/n #itoshi sae x you #itoshi sae x y/n #sae x you #blue lock x you #itoshi sae #itoshi sae imagines #bllk imagines #blue lock imagines #itoshi sae fluff #૪ aeri’s fics !

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atlasofthestaars · 1 year

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[MK X READER] New Era - Chapter .004

first part | previous part | next part

Note: I often try to plan out plot points while I’m at work, and I was like wow! I get why Kronika went insane because trying to keep all these plot points (especially the parts where I plan on diverging from canon) logical is wild.

This is the first chapter that doesn’t follow any of the main campaign events at all, so it was a bit more of a struggle to write for, but I hope you enjoy it regardless! There will be more chapters of this, building up the much needed foundation for the champions squad. Don’t worry Lin Kuei fans, there will be a few more Lin Kuei moments too during these times, allowing us to see them again before they disappear for a while during the tournament arc!

Shang Tsung deliberation is up until a week from when chapter 3 was released/aka when the tumblr poll ends.

Otherwise, I will accept any wants for any other love interests until we get closer towards the Outworld arc since I’m pretty sure all Earthrealm men are already confirmed.

For example, someone asked for Reiko, so here’s a poll for him to gauge interest, AO3 fans, please comment on your thoughts for him!

FROM THE EYES OF ONE WHO HELPED TRAIN SOME NEW CHAMPIONS

Turns out, thinking about the things that worried you leads to overthinking.

Pacing back and forth in your room, you felt the cool wood under your feet. With how much you paced around the room, you were surprised the wood had not been ruined at this point. You paused in your pacing and you looked outside the window to look at the moon.

You were never a good sleeper, finding it hard to sleep at night. But oddly enough you always found yourself awake for the sunrise due to routine. You often found naps were a good supplement for your tiredness, but some days you would suffer being awake without much rest.

Your memories buzzed around your head too much to rest easy. You paced back and forth once more for a few more minutes until you stopped at the door of your room, briefly considering going and seeing whether Liu Kang could help ease your troubled mind.

Your hand laid upon the handle, the metal knob cool to the touch. Goosebumps trailed up your arm as you stared at the doorknob. You tried to will yourself to move. To finally speak with Liu Kang about the memories that weighed upon you, to free yourself of this silly burn that you brought about upon yourself.

Unfortunately, you could not bring yourself to step outside your door.

You were too racked with guilt to do that.

You were afraid of the idea that you would slip up and mention the many other memories you had recovered, the timeline you were beginning to piece together, and Liu Kang would begin to realize this. You were afraid of upsetting the man who most generously took you in and allowed you to stay by his side despite your odd past.

You did not want to ruin the good thing you had going for yourself.

Your hand dropped from the doorknob. Sighing, you walked over to a particular floorboard and carefully lifted it up. You reached inside and pulled out the leather bound diary that you had found on yourself when you first awoke in this world. Along with it was a pen that somehow, despite the years, had not run out of its smooth ink.

This was your only confidant in the memories you had. Moving towards your desk, you adjusted the lantern in your room to hang over the desk, giving you more light to work with. You stared at your words, trying to look at what you recalled.

Your memories seemed to be linked with those you interacted with, so the Lin Kuei and Liu Kang and the memories surrounding them were the strongest. Even still, you had holes in what should be completed memories. Meeting the new people seemed to patch some of them up, though.

You sighed as you skimmed the pages. They were mostly short phrases describing what you remembered from these brief memories. It was hard to keep them in order since they were random and never in order whenever you got them.

You picked up the pen, spinning it with a flourish before you began to write.

Kung Lao, a cocky monk of the Shaolin with a razor hat. Once was friends with Liu Kang. Seems now he is a farmer and friends with Raiden.

Raiden, Thunder god. Seems to have once been what Liu Kang is now. Mortal now, and a farmer of Fengjian with Kung Lao.

Johnny Cage, actor. Was with Sonya Blade and had a kid. Still an actor, has a different wife, and no kid.

Kenshi Takahashi, once a blind swordsman with telekinesis and telepathy with a magic sword. Had a kid. Now seems that he has his vision, uncertain of abilities.

You sighed as you put down your pen, staring at the words in front of you. You tried to will yourself to conjure any memories you had of these men previously from just their name. Unfortunately, this just gave you a headache…and not the kind that gave you any helpful memories.

“Damn.” You muttered leaning back in your chair. You had never had control of your memories, even after all these years. They were rather inconvenient and useless, since they rarely gave you any insight on the ones you meet. They’re all so different.

The only constant was their names.

You closed your eyes as you thought of the four men you had written down. Who were they? What was their connection to you? You sighed as you rubbed your forehead, trying to ease the headache you had accidentally given yourself.

Ah shit, you were in charge of training them, weren’t you? Or at least, somewhat.

They were going to be a headache in more ways than one, it seemed.

“So, how, exactly, am I to train the four?” You inquire as you glance over to Liu Kang, briefly noting the way the sunlight landed on his features. It was another morning of watching the sunrise with the fire god. You had gotten a few hours of sleep, at least, before rising to meet up with Liu Kang as usual. A few hours was better than nothing.

You had started off quiet, before natural conversation hit the both of you. You discussed many things, mostly the events of the past few days, before the conversation naturally landed on the new recruits. You found out that they were going to be arriving at the Wu Shi academy in a few days time, giving them enough time to get their life sorted out before they drastically change theirs.

The god looked over to you. It seemed like he had been expecting this question, and you wondered just how easily he could read you.

“You are to simply oversee their training and test their skill. I know you are not all too familiar with the teaching of the monks, so they shall handle the bulk of it.” He explained, and you found yourself sighing with relief. “Not to mention, I shall also assist when I am able.” You were not ready to have to handle training four grown men, so hearing that you were mostly there to test them was great.

You were good at fighting, at least. It was a skill that people often commended you for.

Madam Bo often praised you as one of the best she had sparred with. The old Lin Kuei’s grandmaster often found value in the practice you gave his sons. You would never admit it, but you prided yourself on these compliments.

“That’s good.” You remarked, feeling your shoulders relax. You returned your gaze to the rising sun and the pretty colors that were painted in the sky. You paused, deliberating over the next words that were to leave your mouth. “Why me?” You asked, your voice almost shy. That question had been haunting you ever since you found out about this arrangement back in Fengjian.

“Because I can trust you.” Liu Kang began, his voice filled with certainty. You felt a pang of guilt, your gaze dropping to your hands. Your mind screamed with how you were unworthy of his trust with the memories you found yourself unable to confide in him with. “And I know you will provide a healthy challenge to them.” You chuckled at his words, pushing out the voice that whispered in your head.

“Why are we recruiting these people so late?” You inquired, asking another question that had been bugging you for a while now. You were glad that Liu Kang was a benevolent god, and never seemed to mind your questions. “Would it not be more wise to recruit them earlier since the tournament is mere months away?”

“Had we sought them before, none of them would be ready.” Liu Kang answered wisely, and you hummed. You knew better than to ask how he knew this, despite the years together there were some things you knew he kept secret, and his innate knowledge was one of those things. You supposed it was just a godly thing.. “It is only until now that an opportunity presented itself.”

“And so you decided that I was one of the best options to train them within a few months?”

“Indeed.”

“You have a lot of confidence in me, Liu Kang.”

“Should I not?” The god questioned. The tone in his voice surprised you, and you looked over to him instinctively. You were surprised to see such a strong look of confidence on his face. Gently, he put a hand on your shoulder. His thumb rubbed your shoulder comfortingly. Through your clothes and his hand wraps, you felt the comfort of his warmth.

“No, you should.” You said, your voice filled with a bit more confidence. You looked at his face, feeling oddly proud of yourself to have earned the god’s confidence. He nodded, seeming content with the shift in your attitude. “I shall do my best.” You said, bowing for the man.

“I know you will.”

“How are you boys doing?”

Striding into the courtyard of the Wu Shi academy, you looked at the four recruits. You noted how each of them wore the uniform, and how it all seemed to fit them, more or less. You walked with confidence in front of them, imbued with the words you had been given before from Liu Kang.

All of them were various degrees of exhaustion. Not surprisingly, the actor seemed to be having it the roughest. He was still fine, but it was easy to tell he was the most winded out of the four. You assumed his luxurious lifestyle had something to do with it.

You sucked in a breath as you fought the massive headache these four were giving you. Being stuck with overseeing their training, you assumed you’d be having this feeling a lot. It was no matter, you’d simply sleep it off right now.

Strangely enough, despite the intensity of the headache, you were unable to glean any memories easily. Probably something to do with so many people trying to resurface at once.

“Training has been rigorous, but enlightening.” Raiden replied, his face flush from exertion, and you noted how out of the four he was one of the ones faring a bit better. You assumed it was because he wasn’t underestimating the monks’ intense lessons. You smiled at him, nodding.

“Good, as it should be.” You said, humming as you clasped your hands behind your back, observing them all. Despite their tired state, you could tell they were at least eager. “As Lord Liu Kang has said, I will be partially in charge of your training.” You grinned at them, seeing them perk up at your words. “Today will be a…benchmark to see where your skills lie.”

“Who exactly are you again?” Johnny asked, still hunched over slightly, hands on his knees as he looked up at you. You saw the slight glares from the others, probably because they saw his words rude. He put up his hands defensively. “Hey, I didn’t get a proper introduction like you guys did.” He defended himself.

“Don’t worry, I don’t take offense.” You chuckled, shaking your head. You said your name, clearly and loudly so the others made sure what it was. “I’m a companion of Lord Liu Kang, and he has entrusted me with overseeing your training.” You explained before clearing your throat. “I’m not one for lectures, so I’ll get right to it, who wishes to go first?”

The four looked amongst themselves, seeming to deliberate amongst themselves silently on who would face this challenger they’ve never seen fight. You let out a silent chuckle, wondering how they sized you up. Eventually, you watched as Kung Lao strode up to take the challenge.

“Let me show the others how it’s done.” He declared, seeming confident. You saw the small smirk on his lips, and in return you smiled graciously at him. You gestured for the others to step to the side, and you watched as a few of the monks gathered around to watch. The monks were no stranger to your fighting prowess.

“Bold.” You commended, nodding as you walked into place with Kung Lao, settling into the all too familiar fighting pose that you were familiar with. You watched as he mimicked your actions, settling into his as well. “Now, allow me to show you why I was entrusted with this task.”

You watched as Kung Lao approached, confidence in his strides. Almost too confident. You held a defensive position. The point of this test was to gauge their abilities, so acting on the defensive first would allow you to see what their confidence and skills on the offense were like.

As he swung the first punch, you blocked it with ease. You supposed it was a bit unfair, having already known what Kung Lao’s fighting style was like after watching him in the teahouse along with the bits of memories you had of him. You allowed him to attempt to break your defense more, noting how he had a strong emphasis on his punches with their quick nature.

You had to commend him on his confidence, he knew he was a strong fighter. The farmer had a lot of potential.

It wasn’t until his major slip up with throwing a rather risky punch that you decided that it was time to go on the offensive. Ducking under the move, you went for a sweep, knocking the man off his feet. You waited until he got back up before you grabbed him. Taking him off his guard, you brought him close as you winded your leg back.

As you sent the kick flying into his stomach, you transformed your leg into that of a secretary bird’s, allowing you to put even more power than you would have normally.

“Holy shit!”

You disregarded the actor’s exclaim as you watched Kung Lao fly back, tumbling from the strike. As he stumbled up, he seemed surprised before hesitantly approaching once more. This time, he utilized more caution as he swung at you, trying to even employ the technique of grabbing you like you had. Easily you shoved him back, retaliating by whirling around and transforming yourself to have a kangaroo’s tail which you swung at him with.

This back and forth went on for a bit, with Kung Lao being easily fended off by you before he eventually conceded, calling for surrender.

“You fight well.” You commend, bowing towards Kung Lao. He did the same as he panted, nodding as he caught his breath. You stood up to look at him as he gestured towards you, a look of awe on his face.

“I am amazed at your transformation skills.” The farmer admitted, looking at you up and down with amazement as he continued to catch his breath. “Is it possible to learn that?” He asked, almost too eagerly as he walked over to the side to rest up.

“It is a skill I was born with, so unfortunately I cannot teach you.” You told him, grinning as you held out your arm to transform it into a bear’s with its claws out. “I have the ability to transform any part of my body, and all of me, into an animal.” You explained as you transformed your arm back as easily as you had changed it.

“Now, who is next?”

You causally stood there, only having barely broken a sweat as they stood to the side, catching their breath. A pleased look appeared on your face as you crossed your arms, noting how they each fought. Today you had gone easy on them, being more defensive than your usual aggressive fighting style. You surmised they’d only have a few bruises each because of this. You tried to stay away from anything that would rip and tear.

Honestly, your memories had been helpful for once. They helped clue you in on the fighting style of each man, the odd exception being Raiden who felt pretty different than the man you remembered. It was nice to know what to expect, unlike the first time you had fought the Lin Kuei in training…

Kung Lao had been interesting, being the most confident in his strikes and fighting style. That matched with his speed allowed you to see where he truly shone in his fighting. Taking defense against him was a challenge due to how swiftly he struck, but being able to defend well proved useful as you could counter him when he was left vulnerable after a failed attempt at breaking your defense.

You hummed, recalling how this version of the man lacked the iconic razor hat you remembered. You wondered briefly if you should suggest it to him, or if it’d be odd. You also noticed how despite his confidence in this life, he was at least a bit more humble than when you remembered him last.

Johnny Cage had been unique, his fighting style more flashy and all in than what you were used to. It felt like it should be impractical from just watching it, but the man made it work somehow. He also had interesting evasion, which almost took you off guard. You think you could definitely work with it, especially teaching him how to better evade the opponent since he seemed to grasp that concept well already.

Your eyes looked over to Kenshi. Kenshi had been odd to train with since he wielded a sword, and it felt like he had the most experience in fighting. Your eyes trailed down to his hands, noting the tattoos that littered his hands. You remembered how Liu Kang had briefed you in on his past. A yakuza…that explains the calculated way he fought.

You wondered if you’d ever have to deal with the telekinesis you remembered he had in his past life.

Raiden had been the most different from his past life. In both his fighting since he lacked the lightning powers you remembered so strongly, and how he carried himself. He was not as confident as you hoped, despite the obvious skill he had.

You’d have to work on that with him.

“Excellent work for day one with me.” You congratulated, causing the four men to look at you with varying degrees of confusion. You guessed they thought they had done not so well due to how you had battled them off easily. “As I said, this is a benchmark, so I know now how to best advise where to take your training, especially since the tournament is mere months away.”

“That was a benchmark?” Johnny Cage asked, sending you a disbelieving look. He had been one of the ones you had ended up fighting the most before he conceded. He had been stubborn against you, and you don’t know whether that was foolish or something to be commended for. Maybe it was both. “You kicked our asses.” You chuckled as you grinned at him.

“Did you expect anything less from someone who is allowed to stand by the Fire God’s side?” You asked, a hint of playfulness in your tone before you observed them once again. “We’ll meet again tomorrow after your training with the monks. For now, you are all dismissed.” You said, bowing towards them, your hands forming a fist into your palm similarly to how Liu Kang does.

You turned around, intending to go back to the Fire Temple for a well deserved nap, especially since the headache was getting nearly unbearable at this rate. Then, you heard your name being called. Turning around with a raised eyebrow, you watched as Johnny jogged to catch up with you.

Your head pounded as he neared, but you at least felt some relief as you felt a few more memories resurface.

You recalled how he had been very, very arrogant as a younger man. He had brazenly had his name tattooed across his chest, and for a moment you allowed your head to dip to his chest, curious if he still had it in this life. Somewhere, after what you could only remember a big event as a tragedy, you remembered he mellowed out.

You wondered how this one’s attitude laid on those scales.

“You know, you’d be a hit in Hollywood.” He told you, his breath still heavy with exertion. You raised an eyebrow, surprised at his words. You weren’t all too familiar with what he was talking about, but you assumed it had to do with his acting background which you vaguely remembered.

“Really?” You asked, holding back a chuckle as you looked at him with amusement. Even across the world, he was still thinking about his acting career. “What makes you say that?” You inquire, deciding to entertain his thoughts.

“People dig animals,” The actor started off, gesturing to you, “and not to mention how much you’d be valued there for being able to act as any animal?” He continued, acting as if he were trying to sell you on the offer. “Directors would be hitting you up left and right.” You felt yourself grin a bit more at his praise, but reminded yourself not to get caught up in his flattery.

“Are you implying I’d only be adored for my animal side? And not my own charisma?” You asked with faux offense, deciding to try and tease Johnny. You were surprised how he didn’t even flinch at your words and smoothly replied.

“Nah, you got that and more.” The actor admitted, shrugging as he pointed at you. “but it’s not often people meet an animal shapeshifter.” He pointed out with a nod, making you nod. “So if anything is your claim to fame, it’s that.”

“You’re interesting, Cage.”

“So I’ve been told.” The man replied wittily as he grinned at you, eagerness shining in his eyes. “So, you interested in becoming a star after all this blows over?” It was an innocent seeming question, but you narrowed your eyes, not certain on the intention of the question.

“Why are you so interested in my career path?” You inquired, your tone a touch more serious. You glanced over to see where the others had gone. All gone. No one to save you from this man’s questions. You crossed your arms as you gazed at him with skepticism.

You were hit with a wave of nostalgia as your mind reminded you all of a sudden how he had offered a similar gig in your past life.

Some things never change.

“Listen, I talked with Liu Kang, this shit has movie written all over it.” Johnny Cage decided to be a bit more transparent with you. You raised an eyebrow, and gestured for him to go on. “I think if what he says is true, I can make a box office hit!” He gestured towards you eagerly. “And I think you have what would make this movie superb, my friend.”

“Interesting…I’ll have to pass though.” You said, shutting him down. You watched as his glee dropped a bit, and you started to walk off. You were surprised as he still walked over to try and cut you off.

“Come on, hear me out-”

“Not right now, Cage.” You replied, putting a hand up to silence him. He huffed and you could tell he held back rolling his eyes. You sent him an unamused look. “Perhaps focus on your training first, then we can discuss it.” He perked up, and you decided it was best to start to walk off before he can try and talk to you about his movie shenanigans again.

“Really!?”

It was another sleepless night.

Sighing, you swung your legs over the side of the mattress as you sat up. Perhaps you should stop trying to take naps and fight through the sleepiness so you can actually sleep at night for once. You sigh as you slump over, rubbing your eyes.

You should go outside, maybe do something productive. It’s been a few days in a row of this, you had to try something.

Not knowing exactly what to do, you followed your sense of wanderlust. You left your room, down the halls and out the building. From there, you left and found yourself standing at the entrance of the Fire Temple. You hesitated as you stepped out onto the dirt path, hearing the rocks crunch beneath your feet.

You’ve never left in the middle of the night.

It’s not like you had a curfew, or that you had any promise to stay inside the Fire Temple at night. Far from it, you remembered how Liu Kang told you that you were allowed to come and go as you pleased. That was long ago. You never thought much of his words, thinking you would never stray far.

You wouldn’t, but you figured there was no harm in going and walking off your restless energy instead of staying cooped up within the Fire Temple.

With a burst of anxiety and what you could barely consider courage, you walked on. You followed what felt like an invisible trail, until you found yourself standing in front of the Wu Shi academy.

Strange, but you supposed maybe you could train. Walking carefully into the academy, you made sure to be quiet, as to not disturb the monks with any noise near their sleeping quarters. You found yourself making your way towards the training grounds where you were surprised to hear the faint noise of training.

Transforming your ears into bat ears, you tried to hone in on the sounds. You furrowed your eyebrows as you stood still, trying to make sure the person was not a threat, and if you could recognize them. You blinked as you suddenly came to a realization.

You walked quietly, making sure to follow the lessons Madam Bo and Bi-Han had pushed onto you to remain quiet and stealthy. Be stealthful as the night, and as deadly as the dawn. You peered from around a pillar, and spotted the person standing there alone, and you confirmed your suspicions.

It was Raiden.

You watched for a few minutes, changing your eyes to those of owl eyes to see better in the dark, to better observe. He was going over the basics, ever diligently. You pursed your lips, raising an eyebrow. You had thought he had been more…feeble, being more reserved than Kung Lao. And yet, he was here, training in the dead of night.

What a peculiar man.

After a few more minutes, you watched as he made a critical error in his form. He didn’t seem to notice, and you sighed. He kept on training, repeating the error. You cringed. That was going to form a nasty habit, and if you were to be the mentor Liu Kang trusted you to be, you couldn’t let that happen.

Moving out of position, you slinked closer towards him, stopping to lean against a pillar that was only a few feet away from him. You changed your eyes back, letting your eyesight return back to normal. You felt the all too familiar feeling of the headache return, and you grimaced.

Your memories for Raiden were confusing. He was like a completely different man in almost every way. If your memories didn’t trigger in such specific ways, you wouldn’t believe the man that appeared in your head was the same one that was training in front of you.

Maybe because he wasn’t the same man.

“You’re doing it wrong.” You spoke, your voice ringing clear in the quiet courtyard. You watched as Raiden jolted from surprise, stumbling as he whirled around in a fighting stance to face you. You smiled at him as you held your hands up. “Relax, Raiden.” You said softly, to try and calm him down from the sudden shock.

“Why are you…?” Raiden began, eyes wide in confusion as he stared at you, not processing the situation quickly. He swallowed as he tilted his head, mouth open as he tried to muster up the words to speak. You brushed off his confusion, gesturing to his stance.

“Your form was off.” You comment, gesturing to his body and pointing towards where he exactly had been incorrect. “You were practicing with it being wrong. That’ll be bad practice for you.” You point out. You watched as he tried to correct his form, and you hummed, gesturing to instruct him on how to fix it. As he finally shifted back into a proper stance, you nodded. “Better.”

“Um…thank you.” The farmer boy said, his awkward feeling at the situation obvious. Not only did it show on his body language, but it was shown plainly on his face. You had a feeling this man couldn’t obscure his feelings for the life of him.

It was good to be honest, but you were worried it might work against him.

“I have trouble sleeping at night.” You explained, crossing your arms as you sighed. Your eyes looked down at the ground as you noted how the moonlight fell and illuminated the area around you two. “I decided to go on a walk and wound up here. I thought it might be nice to try and train, then I saw you out here.” You looked up, and gestured to him.

“Oh.” Raiden said after a few moments of silence. His face flushed as he put two and two together that you were asking for him to explain why he was there too. “I…uh, couldn’t sleep.” He admitted, looking down to the ground in defeat. “It’s different here than in Fengjian.”

Ah. Homesickness.

“I see, so you decided to try and train and work off your restlessness?” You inquired, tilting your head as you tried to gauge his reaction. He paused, considering your words for a moment, before nodding hesitantly.

“A bit.” He said, nodding his head. “But I was also thinking about our sparring today.” The farmer admitted. You blinked in surprise, and nodded, wanting him to go on. “I just wanted to go over what the monks taught us today, so next time I would fare better against you.”

How humble and sweet.

“While I admire your determination, there’s two problems.” You said as you kicked off the pillar you had been leaning against. You strode over to stand closer to Raiden, gesturing to him. “One, you must be diligent in your forms. Practice without purpose only builds bad habits.” He nodded eagerly, seeming to take your words seriously. “Second, there is a thing such as over practicing.”

“I see.” Raiden said, letting your words sink in as he nodded. He stared at you with a mixture of admiration and attentiveness, and you smiled. Quickly, he bowed in appreciation. “I’ll keep this in mind, thank you.”

“No problem, what kind of mentor would I be if I let you practice such horrible habits?” You inquired, crossing your arms. You observed the man a few moments more, and you sensed that neither one of you were quite tired enough to go to bed. “I have a feeling neither one of us is ready to sleep, would you like me to run you through the forms again?”

“Yes please!”

Maybe you were cut out for this after all.

part five

438 notes · View notes

icejjfishesz · 7 months

Text

004. ༺BUT WITH EASE༻∘

a/n: OH MY GOD i feel so awkward abt this chapter lmaooo...probably gonna delete later. probably offensive.

summary: after getting unexpectedly left by your roommate, you find yourself in need of a replacement.

contents: reader is (still) down bad. paige pining after an ex situationship. kinda angsty. smut (oh lord).

previous. next. masterlist.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

paige was being weird. and maybe you didn’t know her well enough to decipher that with certainty but you just knew. she didn’t knock on your door to beg for some of your snacks or inform you she was going to shower or to ask if you wanted to watch a movie with her anymore. she didn’t tell you goodmorning or goodnight…she didn’t tell you much of anything, really. in other words, paige was being fucking weird.

it probably definitely shouldn’t bother you. after all, she’s your roommate and she has that thing with olivia. but it’s fucking killing you. slowly, from the inside out.

TO: SEAN

i think my roommate hates me idk

FROM: SEAN

The sexy roommate that you want so bad?

TO: SEAN

SHUT UP

her name is paige

FROM: SEAN

I know

The basketball player

Why does Paige hate us?

TO: SEAN

idfk

she’s just being weird

FROM: SEAN

Maybe you’re being weird…

Always staring at her and shit

She’s probably terrified for her life😬

TO: SEAN

u r a really bad person

FROM: SEAN

Remind me why you can’t just flirt with her again?

TO: SEAN

cause she’s dating someone

kind of

they’re weird

FROM: SEAN

So they’re weird

She’s weird

But you still want her?

TO: SEAN

real bad

FROM: SEAN

Oh lord

How serious is she with the girl she’s dating(?)?

you start to type a message back and then you see her.

in a sports bra and shorts.

damn.

you try not to stare at her perfectly lean stomach or her toned legs or her back or –– you’re staring. the moment you realize it you’re looking down at your blanket, pulling at the loose strings.

should you say something? would it be awkward to say something…? it’s awkward saying nothing though. before you had enough time to change your mind you cleared your throat and whispered. “hey…”

if the house wasn’t so silent she might not have even heard you.

“hi.” she muttered in response, back and shoulders tensing, doing nothing to soothe your nerves.

weird. weird. weird.

“um, i’m watching a movie…” you clear your throat, trying not to be obviously nervous. “do you wanna watch?”

paige turns around, sighing and shoulders relaxing. “why not?” she shuffles over next to you, plopping down on the couch. she smells fucking good. she sits close enough so that your arms and legs are touching, she doesn’t move for distance and neither do you.

you look over at her, noticing the way her eyes are glued to the screen. “are…are you okay?”

“i’m fine.”

“you sure? cause you’ve been acting off the past week…”

“it’s nothing…” she dismisses again. this time, you don’t push for more information, deciding that no matter how unbelievable they may be, you’d take her words at face value.

you nod and the two of you watch the movie in silence for about twenty more minutes before paige asks a question that makes you heart stop beating for a moment.

“how many girls have you been with?”

you immediately look over at her only to find her eyes trained directly on you. your eyes flutter a few times, as if trying to blink away the question. “...what?”

“sorry…that’s probably inappropriate to ask but i guess i’m just curious.” she looks ashamed and turns back over to watch the movie as her face turns red.

“five.” you mumble after a few seconds.

she looks at you again, silently. you feel like all the breath is getting sucked out of your lungs a little more every second she doesn’t say anything.

“olivia ended things with me. for real this time.” paige whispers like it’s a secret only meant for you to hear. you aren’t exactly sure why she’s telling you this…and you definitely aren’t sure why that makes you feel a bit giddy.

“oh…i’m ––– ” ecstatic. “sorry. that must suck. i know you said you didn’t love her but i’m sure you care about her deeply regardless.”

“i did.” past tense. eye contact. that slow, sultry voice. you feel like you’re drowning in her.

you remain silent, not sure of why her words bring you so much pause.

“you wanna know why she ended things with me?” she moved fucking closer. her hand brushing up against your thigh and that causes the rational part of your brain –– the part that would tell you things like ‘no it’s too soon’, ‘she just ended things with olivia’, and ‘this isn’t how you wanted this to happen’ –– to shut off completely, only leaving you shuttering and nodding.

“cause she thinks i’m attracted to you.”

oh.

paige slowly trails her hand down to rest on your knee and you’ve never felt so stiff. “she isn’t wrong.”

there she goes with that warm, tempting and inviting voice again. before you even have time to react, she kisses you. you go from surprised to melting within seconds. it’s so natural pathetic how quickly you open your lips so her tongue can sweep in and steal what small fraction of sanity you had left. you couldn’t help it –– you actually moaned into her mouth as one of her hands slid down your body, gripping your waist just enough to pull you to her. both your hands come up and grab onto her shoulders so that you don’t sag to the ground from the pure intensity of it all. this is not the kiss you wanted…but you’ve pined after her for long enough that you forget to care. that’s a problem for future you.

she pushed you down, separating her lips from yours so that she could position herself above you. you stretched your thighs to make room for her. you blink and clear you throat. “wait…wait –– ”

she immediately pulls away and stares at you.

“this isn’t a good idea…you just got out of a relationship.”

“it wasn’t technically a relationship.”

paige mutters defensively and you have to physically restrain your eyes from rolling. “you know what i mean.”

“i want you.” she whispers, leaning back into you, hovering her lips over yours and it’s pure temptation. “i’ve wanted you ever since i moved in here…now i don’t have to feel guilty about it…”

“i know you want me too. i’ve seen how you stare at me…just let me have you.” she practically whimpers and you shudder. “it won’t change anything…”

you can’t help but think of all the reasons why saying yes would be a bad idea…you think of every bad reason and then some and ignore them all. “okay…”

she smirked, wasting no time to rid you of your shirt, sucking in a deep breath when she sees you’re not wearing a bra. for a moment…she just stared. it made you feel awkward enough that you reached up to cover your face, she immediately pulled your hands away from your face, giving you a stern look.

“don’t do that.” she huffs. “lemme see you.”

when you nod, she cups your tits and kisses you again. when you tug at your pants, tossing them somewhere to the floor, she pulls back to stare at you again.

“you’re so beautiful…” she whispers softly, she trails her hand down to your underwear, groaning at how soft and warm and wet you were. she reaches her hand inside and you gasp at the feeling of her fingers brushing against you. your whole body tenses.

she starts off so slow, so gentle. “harder. please.”

paige snickers at your politeness. “well, since you said please.” she teases and you roll your eyes.

“shut up––” your words are cut off by a moan when she applies more pressure to your clit.

she laughs again and smirks triumphantly. “you were saying?”

“you’re awful…” you moan. “i...hate you.”

“yeah? your body’s telling me something different, baby.” baby. you moan again. “look at how wet you are, how your legs are shaking…the way you’re moaning for me. you do all this for someone you hate?”

you don’t respond. you can’t. cause she’s speeding up, increasing the pressure. it’s not enough too much. “don’t stop.” and you’re so embarrassed at how quickly she’s gonna get there but you can’t do anything except keep moaning as orgasm washes over you.

she rides it out for you, slowly pulling her hand out of your pants as you try and catch your breath. afterwards you reach for her shorts and shimmy her out of them. this time, she freezes.

“you okay?” you pant, chest heaving from the afterglow. “is it too much?”

“no, no it’s not that it’s just –– i, uh…olivia didn’t really like to give, i guess?”

you look at her in disbelief. “wait…like, never?”

paige shakes her head and you bite you lip. “well that’s a fucking shame…you gonna let me rectify that?”

she swallows thickly and nods. you guide her to lay back, once her back is against the couch she lets you take off her underwear and she slowly spreads her legs. she’s so wet. it shocks you for a second.

“don’t start.” she rolls her eyes when you smirk up at her after you get a good look at the evidence of her arousal. “do i need to remind you how –– ”

you lick a long stripe from her entrance and she immediately stops talking. “oh, so that’s how i shut you up…” you tease but she’s too distracted to respond.

you continue your movement, only stopping to suck her clit which causes her to shift away from your mouth on reflex but you’re persistent, keeping your mouth on her despite all your movements.

she’s moaning, a mixture of your name and pleas and the sounds she makes are addicting. you don’t stop until she’s trembling, physically pulling you away. you lick your lips and she shuts her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

“come here…” paige whispers and you obey immediately, she kisses you –– sloppy and tired and then she wraps her arms around your frame.

she’s so warm and intoxicating, and you try not to let yourself think of the consequences this would have. Especially not when she falls asleep clinging onto you. you allow your eyes to shut with a silent, daunting acknowledgement…this would change everything.

#rock the boat!#paige bueckers x reader #im gonna hide now #thanks

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madelynraemunson · 1 year

Text

CALL ME WHAT YOU WANT 𓆩♡𓆪

(Book #1 of the Hellfire Gentlemen's Club series)

(strip club owner!eddie x fem!exotic dancer!hargrove!x reader)

𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐀𝐔 18+ MDNI

Chapter 005: All That and A Can of Worms

Chrissy offers you some insight about Eddie over brunch. You ask Steve how he’d feel about a threesome. Eddie asks if you want to go on another smoke break in his van.

* = somewhat smut

** = smut

↳ chapters: 001, 002*, 003** , 004**, 005 , 006 , 007* , 008**, 009, 010, 011, 012* , 013**, 014**, 015, 016**, 017, 018, 019, 020*

word count: 4.6k

warnings — mutual pining, angst, tension, casual hookups, profanities, NURSE…billy’s out again, talks of abuse, manipulation

“You’re good at impersonating someone who cares. You had me for a minute there.”

♡

Being annoyed and sexually frustrated at Benny’s Diner at 9 AM is not how you want to start your day. But anything for your new — and very hungover — friend, Chrissy.

You would think Miss Cherry still had the munchies from last night just by how she’s inhaling her breakfast potatoes. You sit there and drink your piping hot tea, all while Chrissy spills hers.

“I don’t know,” Chrissy shrugs. “I just think Crypto currency is shady as hell, and the fact that Jason is doing it full time is a red flag.”

“And you’ve been seeing him for how long?”

“Like two weeks,” she answers. “I was gonna invite him to the thing but I don’t think Eddie would’ve liked him.”

“Yeah,” you agree. “I feel like BYOB is more on the…intimate side anyways. Eddie’s close circle.”

Chrissy nods in agreement as she continues to chow down, paying no mind to the adorable ketchup stain she acquired at the corner of her chin.

You can hardly contain it anymore.

“What can you tell me about Eddie?”

Chrissy’s munching ceases. She’s slowly chewing now, attempting to read you.

“Depends…” she squirms. “What do you wanna know?”

“What’s he like?” you wonder. “Did he ever have a girlfriend? Is he someone who’s emotionally available?”

Chrissy thinks for a moment.

“The last serious partnership he ever had was with Isabelle,” she cringes. “But we won’t go into that.”

Isabelle. Okay, you’ve got something.

“Is she the lady friend?”

“No, Lady Friend was just some random chick,” Chrissy shakes her head. “Isabelle was like… serious serious.”

Suspicious now, Chrissy automatically is inclined to ask,

“And you’re asking me this because…?”

Chrissy has been nothing but welcoming ever since you started at Hellfire. The friendship you two have built you feel is something very strong. You trust her enough to know about last night’s scandal with your boss.

“Some things happened last night.”

Chrissy’s eyes widen. “Omg. Like what?”

“Well…” you exhale. “When you went home with Argyle, Eddie gave me a ride home.”

“Go on…”

“We got pretty stoned and then things got heated. Right before we were about to do anything he flat out dipped on me! Blamed it on not wanting to fuck under the influence. I get it, but… something is telling me there’s more to it.”

Just as you expect, Chrissy’s eyes widen in shock. Laughing at the wild news she just received, she requests a quick backtrack. Acceptable reaction.

“Hold on,” she stops you. “We skipped a few chapters. I…thought you were banging his roommate Steve.”

“I am.”

“AND YOU ALSO WANNA GET WITH EDDIE?”

The entire restaurant, it seems, goes quiet. You could hear a spoon clink against some plates from the other side of the establishment.

You try to shush Chrissy. “Dude…”

“Sorry,” Chrissy covers her mouth. She lowers her voice to an aggressive whisper. “Damn, girl! You’re a little hoe.”

You can tell she’s joking.

“Can you blame me though?” you chuckle.

“No,” she shakes her head and giggles. “I really can’t.”

You nod in agreement with her as she mouths “Sooo hot” regarding both Eddie and Steve. Then Chrissy grows serious again.

“Now that we’re here…can I tell you something?”

“Sure,” you shrug. “Anything.”

“As someone who’s…hooked up… with Eddie before…” she begins. “I do think that his behavior towards you is a liiittle strange. He’s typically not hot and cold. He’s usually very forward.”

The plot thickens. It would make sense that those two were a thing, given the sexual tension they had last night when Eddie gave Chrissy the edible.

“Wait you and Eddie hooked up?”

“Yeah…” Chrissy confirms. “He used to smoke me out a lot when I first started at Hellfire. One thing led to another and we ended up sleeping together a few times.”

You start to feel like an idiot.

“Chrissy…I’m so sorry,” you start.

But your friend flails her hands around insistently.

“Don’t be sorry! Oh my gosh. It naturally died down anyways!” she exclaims. “'Think it had to do with the excitement of a new face. Eddie eventually got too busy and I started seeing other guys.”

“Oh,” you dial down. “I still feel like I’m breaking girl code in a way.”

“Don’t be sorry girl!” Chrissy repeats. “When it comes to me, you’re not! I actually think everyone needs to experience that man at least once.”

That man, being Eddie.

You jaw pops open.

“What?”

“I’m serious girl,” Chrissy sighs. “He’s just that good.”

“You’re lying.”

“Eyes rolled back,” Chrissy gushes. “Everything. OOH! Girl, he is just so respectful but rough and it’s, ugh…”

You can’t believe what you’re hearing.

“It’s sex from another dimension.”

You and Chrissy squeal in excitement as she gives the details, reenacting most of the ordeal on her poor breakfast potatoes. It's revealed to you that Eddie loves catering to the female body, loves taking charge, and lives for a woman’s reaction. That alone is good enough to make him cum. It all makes you think about the dream you had and if it would be anything close to that.

“Well anyways,” Chrissy concludes. “Eddie’s one of the most chivalrous guys I know. Fucking a girl while she’s not sober is just not how he rolls. He probably freaked out.”

“I understand that,” you tap the table in thought. “But something was still off though. I barely had time to process it. Before you know it, he was dumping me at my house as if nothing happened.”

You fill Chrissy in on more of the details, chugging your tea like it’s a bottle of hot vodka. Being hot and bothered with nothing but a wet dream to get you by until you see one of them again is not a good combination.

“I would talk about this with Eddie and Steve,” Chrissy politely suggests. “And soon. I can feel the…frustration…radiating off your very strong grip…”

You nearly slam your teacup on the wooden table. Chrissy flinches.

“You’re telling me you two haven’t fucked when you were both high before? I mean like come on, that’s what gets people in the mood most times.”

“You may be onto something,” Chrissy squints in thought. “We were high almost every single time. So why now the sudden change?”

“Exactly.”

You say to Chrissy verbatim everything Eddie said to and about you last night. How he was fucking his fist yesterday to your moans. How he was telling you how much he wanted to fuck your brains out while being inches away from your face. How he had the opportunity to have you but chose to run from it the moment you showed interest. Nothing about it made sense.

"Leaving me high and dry after all that?" you reiterate. "I'm almost certain that never happened with you."

“But I also wasn’t hooking up with Steve at the same time,” Chrissy points out. “Maybe this deal might be breaking guy code in a way.”

Or the Munson Doctrine.

The phone rings, ushering your convo with Chrissy to a standstill. Your heart has been trained into thinking it’s Billy, especially since the eerie phone calls and messages have started up again. You’re overpowered by nausea and suddenly want the check.

The name that pops up on your phone causes you to breathe a sigh of relief.

MAX MAYFIELD 💌

“It’s my sister,” you announce. “Let’s keep it PG.” You tap the green phone button to accept the call. “Hey!”

“Hey, I was wondering if you can spot me $100 a month,” Max requests. “At least until I find a job.”

“Good morning to you too,” you mutter.

“Pleeeaaase!” Max begs. “It’s for the Y.”

“A membership at the Y is $100 a month?!”

“Yeah Hawkins is a fucking shoebox, I’ve learned,” Max mutters. “The city needs a lot of funding to keep things open. So will you do it?”

“Only because I love you,” you sigh. “But you better be looking for a job.”

“Scouts honor,” Max promises. “Thank you, sis. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Has Billy been reaching out?”

You swallow hard.

“Yeah," you choke. "Has he been texting you?”

“Mhm.”

Billy called again this morning. And again and again. Surprisingly, there was only one voicemail. But it was the same spiel.

"Hey, it's me," Billy greeted you in his voicemail. "Answer the fucking phone, please! I miss you and Max. You guys are lucky I'm giving you another chance."

His words just boil your blood. If anything, it should be him earning another chance from you and Max. Not the other way around.

"I'm worried about you guys. Y'all have never left the house for this long. So if this is your way of proving a point, all this manipulation projection, you guys won. Just please come back home okay? We can talk it out and ground ourselves to the situation at hand. Together. As siblings. No one loves you as much as I do, and no one will ever love you like I do. We’ll figure it out. Like we always do. K. Later.”

Billy never knows what he’s talking about. It’s obvious he takes every word he hears in therapy and makes alphabet soup out of it. Otherwise, he’d be practicing what he preaches.

The lack of control your brother has over you and Maxine is making him spiral. Without an ample supply, Billy is sure to explode any day now.

“Whatever you do,” you caution her. “Don’t fucking reply.”

“I know, I know,” Max says. “I know how this shit goes.”

“I love you,” you say again.

“Love you more.”

You hang up and instantly begin massaging your temples. Chrissy watches in horror.

“Man do you need dick or what…” she shakes her head. “Hearing all that stressed me out!”

“Tell me about it,” you sigh. “I need two if I’m being honest.”

A few more nibbles of your food, and then you and Chrissy go your separate ways, paying for both of your meals in all ones. You two do it for the cashier’s reaction. It’s always pretty funny.

“Anyway, thanks for this girly,” you give Chrissy a hug.

“Any time!” Chrissy beams. “I’ll see you tonight. We need to do this again soon.”

“Yeah, I just gotta find the time,” you mumble. “I still gotta meet Eddie for his usual stripper-orientation-lunch-thing that he does. Might as well buy a planner with all these commitments popping up.”

As she slows down her walking speed, Chrissy looks over at you with a puzzled look on her face.

“Wait… what ‘usual’ lunch?”

———- ☕️———-

Eddie’s van is nowhere in sight when you pull into Steve and Eddie’s neighborhood. You make your way over to the townhouse quickly, trying to catch The King before you have to clock in.

It’s one push of the doorbell and a wave into the Ring camera before Steve answers.

“Hey you!” he cheers as the door swings open. “Good to see you.”

He showers you with kisses before inviting you in.

“Good to see you too,” you kiss him right back. “Thanks for agreeing to meet me before the gym.”

“Anything for you,” Steve responds. “Dustin usually runs late anyway.”

You make yourself at home by setting your purse on the now tidy kitchen island. Steve offers you some water and you accept. He puts a lemon wedge in it to make it look fancy.

“I got you something,” Steve proclaims.

Before you could react, he’s already running to his room to get you your surprise. Your heart begins to skip a beat.

“Stop,” you gush as Steve disappears into his room. “You didn’t have to.”

“But I wanted to,” Steve insists as he races back out. For someone who was insanely drunk the night before, Steve is so full of energy. “Especially since I made myself look like a fool last night.”

In his hands, Steve unveils something the size of his palm.

It’s a fridge magnet of a Hawaiian hula girl, with a grass skirt, coconut bra, and a beautiful plumeria lei. She’s got sunglasses on, hilariously one that matches Steve’s. The magnet says your name on it in purple.

“Oh my gosh!” you cheer, with slight confusion. “A hula girl magnet.”

“Yeah!” Steve cheers. “I saw it at CVS and had to get it for you.”

You watch in amusement as Steve attempts his own version of a hula dance. He sings a song while he does so, but it sounds like a language he made up and not actual Hawaiian. You can’t help but giggle.

“It’s the closest thing to sunny San Diego that we have here.”

Your heart swells when you realize the meaning behind the gesture. Such a thoughtful thing for Steve to do. It all makes you miss home a bit more. You never did get to properly grieve saying goodbye to the town that raised you. The grip you have on your little gift tightens so much that the hula girl is now starting to hurt you.

“I know how much you probably miss home,” Steve explains. “Hopefully soon you can go back and visit.”

“Thank you,” you sniff. “That is so sweet of you.”

You two kiss again.

Then it goes beyond an endearing peck. It’s three more intense lip locks back to back before Steve slowly starts to insert his tongue. You roll yours along with his, both of your tongues wrestling for dominance. He bites your lower lip, hands moving from your waist to the small of your back. As you surrender your hands against his chest, Steve sneaks a quick grab to one of your ass cheeks. You moan in his mouth.

“So I was thinking…” you smirk, poking Steve at his sides. “That we can spice things up in the bedroom.”

“Ooh,” Steve bites his lip as he draws you closer. “I like where this is going. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking…” you answer. “That I’ll take you up on that voyeur thing. Give Eddie a little show?”

Steve seems puzzled.

“Huh?”

It’s far too late to take anything back now. The worst Steve can say is no.

“Remember yesterday you said that you’re a voyeur. And that we might as well let Eddie watch?” you elaborate. “Maybe we can also do a little more too. You, me, and him?”

“Oh…” Steve’s demeanor softens. He runs his hands through his freshly done hair, then sits down on the bar stool closest to him.

Steve looks at you for a moment, expression unreadable as he shoves his hands into his pocket.

“Hargrove I…” Steve says. “I was kidding.”

You begin to feel yourself flush. “Oh.”

Your friend with benefits taps his feet in thought, making sure to craft his response perfectly out of respect for everyone.

“This is something you really wanted to do?”

“Of course, but if you don’t want to that’s totally okay too!”

You made sure you were clear on that. Steve thinks for a minute again. Then his eyes travels over to the bar stool next to him, where Eddie’s leather jacket is lazily perched atop of. He sighs.

“Who, uh, who was your ride last night?” Steve inquires. “Since you know, I was the one who drove us.”

You gulp. “Eddie was.”

“Oh,” Steve repeats.

He kicks the floor gently with his feet. You, since you’ve been watching his every move, subconsciously follow.

“I’m really sorry if I got your hopes up,” Steve apologizes. “I should’ve never worded the Eddie thing the way I did yesterday. If I’m honest with you, a threesome isn’t something I would be okay with.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Steve hangs his head. “I don’t know if you remember, but a third party is what destroyed my last relationship… so that topic is still pretty sensitive to me.”

You take that back. That’s the worst thing Steve could say.

The space closes up around you and shame starts to fire at you from all corners of the room. You feel like such an idiot for not realizing something so inherently obvious.

“Steve…” you don’t even know where to begin. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Hargrove. You didn’t know,” Steve shrugs it off. “It’s not like we’re exclusive either.”

Steve’s phone vibrates, and judging by how fast he gets up, you assume it’s because Dustin is getting closer. You start to reach for your purse, recognizing that your stay is about to be over.

“I feel really bad for taking this now,” you hold the hula girl magnet up to Steve.

But nonetheless, Steve smiles. “Keep it, darling. She suits you.”

Steve still insists on walking you to you car, carrying your purse for you over his shoulder while you fiddle awkwardly with the hula girl. He gives your rosy cheeks one last tender kiss before opening the door to the driver’s side so you can get in.

“Have a good shift,” Steve smiles faintly. “Tell Eddie I got him the Scooby snacks he wanted.”

You try to laugh at the most Eddie thing you’ve ever heard, but it’s not there. So instead you nod. “Of course. Have a good workout, Stevie.”

“Oh, I will.”

———— 𓆩♡𓆪 ———-

When talking with the Hellfire girls, it’s decided that you’re on tip rail tonight. Distracted by the new problem at hand, you naturally end up forgetting a few last minute things. Lucky for you, House Mom had travel sized makeup for you to use and a wide selection of small snacks to choose from.

You’re eating by Nancy’s little concession set up when your boss strides in. Eddie scoots by you, his lack of spacial awareness causing him to bump you aggressively against the hip. With the height difference and how much more bigger he is than you, the small brush shoves you forward.

“Rude,” you call out to him, though you’re only half joking.

“Sorry,” he tuts. “Behind.”

“You better be sorry,” you snap back. “With your mean ass.”

Eddie waltzes back over and asserts himself behind you, resting his rough hands at your sides. Your breathing hitches as he bends down, his curly locks tickling your cheekbones ever so teasingly.

“Would you say I’m being disrespectful?”

You turn to face him and nudge him with your hip. He chuckles slyly.

“Very,” you respond. “Very disrespectful.”

“Disrespectful. Sober,” Eddie rests his chin along your collarbone. “Looks like we both kept our promises.”

You two sway side to side in silence, enjoying the moment. Work is definitely not going to be this slow so you take it all in while you can.

“How’s your day going?” Eddie mumbles against your skin.

“Alright so far,” you respond. “Chrissy and I went to Benny’s for breakfast. And my sister wants a YMCA membership now so I’m either gonna have to pick up more shifts or reallocate some finances…”

“I vouch for the first option,” Eddie smirks.

“Oh yeah? Of course you do.”

“Mhm…” he nods. “Got some things I need you to do for me in the private show room.”

Goosebumps start to rise. You can’t have him here now. Not when you’re about to go on stage pretty soon. Eddie removes his hands from your hips and changes his embrace to a bear hug instead. The swaying continues.

“Billy also called this morning.”

The swaying stops.

“Fuck,” Eddie mutters as you spin around to face him. “You didn’t answer that piece of shit did you?”

“‘Course not,” you cross your arms. “There’s nothing to say or do at this point. He made his bed. My sister and I moved on.”

“Good girl,” he coos. “Your new life is here with us anyways.”

You blush as you suck on your lollipop, eyes meeting Eddie’s once again. Eddie’s dark pupils dilate once more, his tongue venturing out as he licks his lips hungrily.

“Grab your things,” Eddie orders. “Let’s go for a quick smoke.”

You’re back in his van again, smoking the same bong and rolling with the same paper as you did last night. Hopefully this is the redo you’ve been anticipating. Before Eddie lights up the bowl, he glances down at your tote bag.

“Scrubs 4 Less?” he chuckles.

“Oh yeah…” you say. “I may have told my little sister I work nights at the nursing home.”

“You are vile,” Eddie laughs. “Creative, but diabolical and oh so very vile.”

“I prefer the term protective,” you utter as-a-matter-of-factly.

“Mmm, very…” Eddie quips. “Got any spare restraints then, nurse? You got a madman on the loose.”

You bite your lip in absolute lust. “I suppose I can spare a few.”

You kick your stilettos off and rest your feet on Eddie’s lap again. He automatically compensates, staring at you in complete bliss as he exhales.

“Steve bought you your Scooby gummies by the way.”

“Fuck yeah,” he smiles. “Husband of the year.”

Eddie resumes grazing your legs again, rubbing your calves and moving upwards to your thighs. He bombards you with words of endearment, saying he needs to watch the junk food he eats because he’s trying to look good for you. Flustered you slowly sit up, further closing the space between you two and leaning into Eddie’s touch.

Oh yeah, right where you left off.

“I still can’t get over how hot you looked last night,” he says. “Doing your little thing at the VIP table. Downing that tequila. Chewing those gummies while holding your own. You’re something else.”

You blush.

“You were looking pretty hot yourself,” you compliment him and he blushes back. “And when you got all angry at that customer. I was getting all flustered.”

“Mm, you like when I’m aggressive huh?”

“Oh yeah,” you bite your lip. “Love my men rough around the edges.”

So you decide to make the move. Eddie inhales sharply as you scoot yourself closer, leaning in to kiss his soft lips just as you intended to last night. To your shock, you’re taken aback when Eddie pushes you away.

“Whoa!” he exclaims. “Easy there, tiger.”

“What?” is all your mouth can formulate. “Oh no, do I have food in my teeth?”

Eddie chuckles. “No? I just can’t kiss you, silly.”

Bewilderment overrides your horniness now. Removing yourself from Eddie completely, you’re back in your own seat, crossing your legs away from your boss who is still casually lighting up.

“Eddie, what’s going on? I thought we were feeling each other.”

He sets his lighter down and glances over at you.

“Scuse me?”

“Last night…” you remind him. “We were close just like this…you said you wanted to fuck my brains out… told me you were jacking off to my screams in the bathroom.”

“We were fucked up, Hargrove,” Eddie explains. “Okay? It was a mistake.”

“Drunk words are sober thoughts or whatever the fuck right?”

Eddie falls silent. There is no way in the world that this is happening right now. You think about brunch. You think about Chrissy. You think about what Eddie did just fifteen minutes ago that led up to this very moment. But Eddie’s the puzzled one?

“I like you Shy Girl,” Eddie begins. “I really do. But this? Can’t be a thing.”

“Why not?” you find yourself asking. Like a desperate little girl.

“Getting involved with an employee would just open up another can of worms,” Eddie sighs. “I can’t play like that. I won’t play like that.”

That’s his excuse? You find yourself getting even more frustrated. Eddie should have had the same mindset when he was hooking up with Chrissy. What made this situation any different?

But surely, you don’t bring Chrissy up. You didn’t want Eddie to know you knew.

“Eddie,” you try to control your voice. “I thought that after all this… the feeling was mutual.”

Eddie exhales. “Sweetheart… All the pet names and the flirting and the giving rides home…Whatever you picked up on, I do that with everybody.”

He can’t say he didn’t warn you. That was the first phrase of Eddie’s to stick with you entirely. It all felt so personal though. Like everything was geared specifically to you.

“Really?” you demand. “You do it with everybody? The last time I checked, Chrissy had no idea what that orientation lunch that you do with everybody is about.”

“It’s a…newer thing.”

“Or it’s a ploy to get to know me better,” you hiss. “And then what would you have done if you got what you wanted?”

Rage fills you now. Clouded with the anger, you scoop down to grab your bag and push the door of Eddie’s van open. Eddie’s shocked at your sudden behavior change.

“Whatever,” you huff as you climb out. “It’s all good. I gotta get ready for the show.”

“Hargro-” Eddie starts. “Hargrove!”

“And put some more water in that thing, would you?” you California self orders him. “Your lungs will thank me later.”

The little time left before the show permits you to go to the bathroom and cry. Your familiar friend, Loss, is paying you a visit again.

You fucked up. You had someone so good to you, someone so patient and gentle and caring, and you threw that away for your manipulative walking red flag of a boss. Surely, Steve might still want to casually sleep with you, but the energy has shifted now. You’ve lost him, you fear.

But no matter how much you wanted to convince yourself, Steve couldn’t give you everything you wanted. He was still missing something, which is why you stayed falling for Eddie. Or the idea of Eddie, rather. Everything you made him up to be has now been rendered completely false.

So now even Eddie can’t meet you where you’re at.

Emptiness comes by to accompany your friend Loss. Pressing your lips to your arm, you let out a muffled wail.

Fuck. How could you be so damn stupid?

Billy’s words crawl along your back and into your ears. You’re afraid your brother is right again; and for someone as irrational as he is, you can’t help but wonder how that could be true.

“No one loves you as much as I do, and no one will ever love you like I do. We’ll figure it out. Like we always do.”

Come home.

All while abusive, Billy’s love was always unconditional. No matter how far both of you took it, the key was always under the mat. And no matter how many times Max had to separate the two of you, shouting for you two to stop trying to strangle each other, you two always found your way back into each other’s arms.

You two came out of the womb hugging. You escaped your cribs to sleep beside each other. You comforted each other after every beating. You fed Billy to make sure he ate after Mom’s funeral while he did your laundry and laid out your clothes for a week straight. When one of you was in danger, the other just simply knew.

Billy is Love in its truest form. Your greatest comfort. All you’ve ever known. And that alone scared the hell out of you.

It all makes you crumble further. Is your brother’s love as good as it’s ever going to get?

———————

author’s note: our boy eddie is RAN THROUGH!!!!! also i love how ST fanfic writers have all collectively agreed to drag steve to HELL AND BACK for the plot 🫣😩 poor boy never gets a break, not in the original universe, not in this universe, not in any of ‘em

—————

tag list: @changemunson , @the-fairy-anon , @ali-r3n , @corrodedcoffincumslut , @bebe07011 , @mmunson86 , @eddiesguitarskills , @chelebelletx , @imonhereforareasonsadly , @eddies-trailer-babe , @hideoutside , @motherfckerrr , @jxpsi i , @munson-magic , @lindseyj23 , @sidthedollface2 , @manda-panda-monium , @elvendria , @micheledawn1975 , @holabeans00 , @hereforshmut , @siriuslysmoking

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thelonelyarchon · 5 months

Text

📮RETURN TO SENDER ᯓᡣ𐭩

004 - rejected

Note: written text up ahead after divider

ONCE you turned the knob of the door that leads you to the living room, you half-expected to deal with the questions your other friends had for you. Locking yourself in the bathroom for five hours is not normal per se, but it was much needed for your sanity.

You’re surprised by the lack of your other friends’ presence. To give you and Kaveh some space to reconcile, they’ve stealthily hidden themselves behind a large china cabinet. You noticed them either way. If Kaveh noticed their presence too, he didn’t make it obvious that he did.

Kaveh stood in the middle of the room with a tight-lipped expression and guilty eyes that one would think he did something more horrible than just sending out a letter that wasn’t supposed to be sent. You narrowed your eyes at him. He winces.

Proud as you were, you knew Kaveh didn’t do anything wrong. He had only followed the instruction you have given him in the first place. Maybe your stubbornness looked for excuses to rationalize your own fault so Kaveh who had done the unthinkable got your rage.

When you see his guilty state, you sighed and walked towards.

“Ten minutes. Let’s talk this out.” You said in a weak voice.

Kaveh looked like a wilted flower. At the sound of your voice, he perks up just fine. He had been blaming himself for being reckless. As anyone who knew him would comment on that particular trait. He didn’t want you to hate him for this.

“Hey, I’m sorry, [name.]” He starts. You shake your head.

“What do you mean? I should be the one saying sorry. Between the two of us, it was my fault.”

“I mailed the letter.”

“I told you to mail them, though. You didn’t know which one is which so it was my fault,” you walked closer to him. “For that… I’m sorry. Don’t work yourself up too much.”

In an attempt to console him of the guilt he has, you pat his shoulder and give him a smile. He hesitantly smiled back.

“Also, if you think I’m mad because you were the one who sent the letter, you’re wrong. I’m mad at myself.” You laugh.

“So, this is settled now? Are we friends again?” Kaveh asked.

“It depends on the contents of that letter.” You used your lips to point at the letter on his hand, hanging at his side. He looks at it and raises it.

“It’s from Alhaitham.”

“I know.”

“You may not like the contents.”

“I know.”

“You still want to read it?” He confirms for the third time. You grab it from his hand and nods. Kaveh sucks in a sharp breath and waits.

You opened the letter and scanned the contents of the letter. The more you read the letter, the more your vision began to blur and the whirlwind of emotions began to suffocate you. You feel your heart breaking with each line coming from Alhaitham. You already expected this kind of reply. But it still hurt deep inside. To stop you from reading it, Kaveh covers your vision of the letter with his hand.

“That’s enough,” he said softly.

“I guess we’re not friends anymore, Kaveh.” You laugh jokingly through streams of tears. “I need a moment.”

“S-sure.” He watches you as you walk towards the other end of your dorm. You weakly throw Alhaitham’s letter away before sitting out on the small hanging balcony. Out of curiosity, Kaveh walked towards the bin and reads your letter. He notices the original letter he sent to Alhaitham.

Dear [Name],

I hope this letter finds you in good health. To begin with, I did not expect to receive such a letter on such short notice. I have read the contents of your letter thoroughly, and I have contemplated what to write back to you in correspondence.

I must admit I am flustered by your words of praises, Ms. [Name]. However, I would like to apologize for being a bearer of bad news.

Though I appreciate your enthusiasm and 'profound love for me,' I regret to inform you that I cannot return those feelings.

My feelings are reserved only for the one who makes my heart beat with fervor. I’m afraid someone already has the right to those feelings.

Enclosed with this reply is your letter. It may be best for me to return it to you. If we ever pass by each other or whether or not you approach me some other time, I shall treat you as though I know nothing so we may start anew.

I hope I didn’t ruin this day any further for you. For all that it’s worth, happy valentine’s day. Have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Alhaitham

Kaveh sighs and reaches the letter on the trash bin. He didn’t know what to do with it but something in him is saying that this will be needed someday. Maybe he’ll keep it safe until then. Maybe [Name] will need it someday.

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TAGLIST: @makimakimi @yura-4life

#genshin impact #lily's corner | soc med au 🧸☁️₊˚⊹⋆#alhaitham x reader #alhaitham x fem reader #alhaitham x reader socmed au #socmed au #social media au #genshin men #genshin men x reader #genshinimpact #alhaitham x reader smau #smau #alhaitham x reader fic #alhaitham x female reader

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krafterwrites · 2 years

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Analyzing Every Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) Sequence Name

If you don’t know, there’s 326 possible ways you can play through the story mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, and all of these ways have names. In this post, I’m going to look at the name of every single one of these and see why they’re named that by looking at what happens in that specific sequence. You might be asking, why on Earth would I do this? Well, I don’t really have a reason, I just want to because the idea popped into my head one day. Anyways, let’s get into this post, which is definitely going to be insanely long

001: Punishment, Thy Name Is Ruin

This is the first path on the list, and also the darkest one that Shadow can take. In this route, Shadow works with Black Doom on every stage (Except for Cryptic Castle, where he works with Eggman). After completing the mission for Black Doom on the final level and defeating Sonic along with Diablon, Shadow obtains the final Chaos Emerald and proclaims that he was created to bring order and justice to the humans, then proceeds to say that he is going to destroy the planet. This ending’s name is relatively simple to explain, Shadow’s line about being made in order to bring justice to humans implies that he believes that humans are worthy of punishment. As the name states, that punishment is ruin, as in him bringing the planet to ruin by destroying it with the Chaos Emeralds

002: Prologue To World Conquest

This one is very simple. It goes the same as the last route up until the final level, where Shadow betrays Black Doom at the last moment. He then says that he is the ultimate lifeform, born to rule over all, and that he will use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to conquer the universe. That’s all there is to this one

003: The March To A Darker World

This is another rather simple one. In this route, Shadow works solely for the dark side up until the penultimate level, where he does the neutral mission instead. This leads to him going to the Black Comet as the final level, which he does the dark mission for. This leads to him gathering all of the Chaos Emeralds and proclaiming that he was created to protect and serve Black Doom, and that the world will become a dark empire, so the reason why this ending has its name is pretty obvious

004: The Ultimate Ego

This path is the same as last time, except Shadow chooses the hero mission while aboard the Black Comet instead of the dark one. This leads to him saying that he and only he knows what is best for himself before (Presumably) killing Eggman

005: Purification Via Ruination

Okay I’m going to be completely honest here, I’m not 100% sure of the meaning behind this name. This route involves Shadow doing the dark mission for every single level except for Central City, where he does the hero mission. Before the level begins, Black Doom tells Shadow that his past is filled with hatred for humans. Since the hero mission involves Shadow saving a lot of humans (By disarming bombs the Black Arms have planted all around the city), and since the ending is the same as Punishment, Thy Name Is Ruin, it makes me think that in this path Shadow thinks that there are some good humans instead of hating all of them. By destroying the planet, he thinks he’s purifying it (Via ruining it, just as the name says). His plan, or my theory, might have a few holes in it though since the planet being destroyed would kill literally everyone, maybe it would leave behind one or two GUN Soldiers on the ARK, but that’s it. There is another way to think of it, though. Maybe the thing that’s being purified is the wider universe, and by destroying the planet, he’s cleansing it of humans and their actions

006: Apogee Of Darkness

It’s here that I’m starting to realize that these sequence names mostly seem to be based on which of the 10 possible endings they end in, which makes this whole analysis less interesting. I’m still going to try though, although all of the stuff that I say will probably be huge reaches because I’m looking for meaning that probably does not exist. So in this sequence Shadow does dark missions for the first three stages, does the hero mission in Central City, and then does the dark mission for Air Fleet before finally arriving at the GUN Fortress and doing the hero mission. This sequence ends with Shadow proclaiming that he’s going to conquer the universe, just like Prologue To World Conquest. Apogee means the highest point of something, so this means that this sequence is supposedly the height of darkness for Shadow. This seemingly only refers to him conquering the universe (Which is indeed a very evil thing), since he does actually do a hero mission twice in this route, which would make it not be the darkest possible sequence

007: True Soldier Of Destruction

The pattern I noticed on the last post seemed to be accurate, as this name seems to refer mostly to the ending of this path, where Shadow says that he will become the minion of Black Doom and help him conquer the planet. Nothing else in the sequence, which has Shadow doing the dark missions for the first three levels, doing the hero mission for Central City, and doing the normal mission for Air Fleet before finally doing the dark mission for the Black Comet, seems to tie into this name. I feel like a lot of the explanations are going to be this, and I’m sorry for that since it’s probably kind of a let down, but even if my explanation every time is just “Yeah this name is just because of the ending of the sequence”, that’s still a lot of effort on my end considering I’m tackling over 300 sequences

008: Believe In Yourself

This one is mostly based on the ending, where Shadow proclaims that only he knows what is best for himself, but I think I can find a few crumbs from other levels as well. In this route, Shadow does dark missions for the first three levels, does the hero mission of Central City, and then the neutral mission for Air Fleet before doing the hero mission of the Black Comet which results in the aforementioned ending. This could show that Shadow was at first influenced by Black Doom and Eggman, but then decided to turn back from them and help out Knuckles (Possibly due to regret, or maybe he realized that working with the heroes could be better for him), and then when he arrives at the next stage and he has to decide if he wants to continue being heroic or defect back to the Black Arms, he decides to do neither and trust in only himself. This is most definitely a big reach, but I’m also probably putting more thought into this than whoever made the sequence names (Sorry to whoever made the sequence names, I’m thankful for your work)

009: An Android’s Determination

This is another one that’s entirely based on the ending. In this sequence, the final level is Lava Shelter, which Shadow does the dark mission for. This results in an ending where Shadow, believing that he is an android replica of the original Shadow, says that he will use the Chaos Emeralds to become even stronger than the original. That’s all I really need to say for this one, the reason behind its name is obvious

010: For Machine, By Machine...

This sequence is similar to the last one, as the ending of it still has Shadow believing that he is an android, although this time he does the hero mission, which results in him planning to use the Chaos Emeralds to take over the Eggman Empire and rule the world with machines. This is another obvious one, Shadow believes that he is a machine, and he wants to make a world for machines by conquering it with them (Sidenote: It feels like the neutral hero and neutral dark endings got swapped, it would have made way more since if you got the neutral dark ending by doing the hero mission at the end of a neutral route, and vice versa)

011: Revenge At Last

Like a few of the other sequences, Shadow claims that he will destroy the world with the power of the Chaos Emeralds to get revenge on humans. This one does have a bit more stuff to it, though, since Shadow does the dark mission for the level The Doom. The Doom is a flashback to the massacre on the ARK, and the dark mission involves Shadow killing all of the GUN forces in the level. This obviously shows that in this sequence, Shadow especially hates humans and badly wants revenge on them, which is obviously why this sequence has its name

012: Ego’s Awakening

This sequence is the same as the last one, except it ends with Shadow saying that he will conquer the universe instead of destroying the world. The Doom’s dark mission being present here ties into it a lot less than it does with Revenge At Last. In fact, I can’t really think of a way it ties in at all. The only meaning I can find behind this name is that Shadow’s ego is at its highest during the ending this sequence concludes with

013: Destruction And Scorn

Like a few others that have been mentioned so far, this one ends with Shadow saying that he will serve Black Doom and help him with his conquest. This sequence also has The Doom’s dark mission. The word scorn means belief that something is worthless or despicable, so this name makes a lot of sense, Shadow is helping Black Doom conquer/destroy the planet because of his hatred for humans

014: The Last Remaining Purpose

The name of this sequence is mostly based on the ending like all the others, but there is a bit of extra meaning that I can dig for. In this route, Shadow does the dark mission for the first two stages and works for Black Doom, and then chooses the neutral mission in the third level. The next level is The Doom, which he does the dark mission for, and then aboard the next level, The ARK, he does the neutral mission. Finally, he does the hero mission aboard the Black Comet which leads to the ending where he declares that only he knows what is best for himself. This specific path taken could be interpreted as Shadow starting off working for Black Doom, choosing to go through Cryptic Castle without helping anyone (Because the dark mission is Eggman in that level), and then reliving a version of the ARK massacre before heading to the current day ARK. The reason why Shadow chooses to take the neutral mission even though the dark mission is given by Black Doom could be because he doesn’t want to destroy what’s left of the ARK (Black Doom’s mission involves destroying the ARK’s defenses), and being requested to do this makes him realize that he doesn’t want to work for/Can’t trust Black Doom either. Since Black Doom was the only one he trusted initially, he decides that the last remaining thing for him to do is to simply trust in himself and nobody else. Or I could be looking way too far into this. Either one

015: The Nightmare’s Insulation

This sequence ends with Shadow saying that he is going to destroy the world with the Chaos Emeralds, although it also involves The Doom, specifically its neutral mission where Shadow and Maria simply try to escape as fast as possible. Because in this path, Shadow clearly hasn’t moved on from the incident aboard the ARK because of how willing he is to work with Black Doom, him destroying the planet could be seen as a flawed way of trying to make himself look better, since after that the only places he could live are alone on the ARK, or on the Black Comet with the Black Arms (I interpret him saying he’s going to destroy the planet as he’s going to literally break the entire planet, like it got shot by the Eclipse Cannon, not just destroying all the buildings on it and stuff). So, him destroying the planet is simply an insulation to the nightmare he’s going through, since it isn’t going to make things any better for him, especially in the long run

016: The Nightmare’s Sublimation

This sequence goes the same as the previous one, although it ends with Shadow saying that he’s going to conquer the universe instead of destroying the planet. The definition of sublimation (other than the chemistry meaning) is the act of expressing strong emotions or using energy by doing an activity or creating something. The name implies that Shadow is conquering the universe in an attempt to make himself feel better or occupy his mind, but like destroying the planet in the previous route, this isn’t actually going to help him

017: The Loner’s Choice

In this route, Shadow works with Black Doom for the first two missions, and then does neutral missions until the end where he chooses the dark mission, resulting in the ending where he decides to become Black Doom’s minion. That’s pretty much all there is for this one

018: Subjugation In Black

This route is the same as the previous one, except Shadow chooses to do the hero mission at the end instead, which leads to the ending where Shadow says that only he knows what is best for himself. Subjugation is the action of bringing someone or something under domination or control, so this name reflects that Shadow is bringing his own destiny under control through dark means (Like killing Eggman, which he does in this ending)

019: Replica’s Depression

In this route, Shadow goes through the level The Doom (A flashback to the ARK massacre) and then ends up at Lava Shelter, which he does the dark mission for. This leads to the ending where he believes he is an android and says he will use the emeralds to become even more powerful than the original. I’m going to stop saying “That’s pretty much all there is” whenever I’m done with my analysis for these sequences now, because I’ve already said that a lot and we’re only at 19 sequences out of 325, whenever I’ve said all that I have to say about the sequence I’ll just end the paragraph and move on

020: Machine, Machine

This is the same as the last one, except Shadow does the hero mission for Lava Shelter instead, causing him to declare that he will create an empire of androids. This is definitely one of the sequence names that’s only based on the ending, since I fail to see how it can fit into anything else that happens in the sequence

021: Disciple From The Darkness

This falls into the same category as the previous one, it’s solely based on the ending, where Shadow says that he was created to serve Black Doom

022: Beloved Clone

This is an interesting one, as it seems to not be based on the ending of the sequence at all. The one level and mission that seems to tie into this sequence’s name is the penultimate level of this sequence, Iron Jungle. In Iron Jungle, Shadow believes he is an android copy of the original, and does the dark mission where he works with Eggman. While he is doing this mission, Eggman acts affectionately towards Shadow, even saying “Those are more of my beloved androids, just like you!” when Shadow encounters Shadow Androids

023: Revenge Upon The Doctor

In this route, Shadow does the neutral route of Iron Jungle and then the dark mission of Lava Shelter, which results in an ending where he kills Eggman. Before he starts Lava Shelter, he also remarks “You’re going straight to the place you created me from!” and after starting Lava Shelter “You’re going straight to hell!”. This implies that Shadow believes he was created from hell, which would explain why he resents Eggman and wants to get revenge on him

024: The Ultimate Replica

This is another one with Iron Jungle and Lava Shelter, and you’d think that it would end with the neutral-dark ending (Where Shadow believes that he is an android and proclaims that he will use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to surpass the power of the original Shadow), but it’s actually the neutral-hero ending, where he says that he will create an empire of androids to rule over the planet. I think this name would have been far more fitting for the neutral-dark ending, but oh well. Also I’m going to stop explaining the endings now, it’s definitely already gotten repetitive, I’ll just use shorthand for the endings like the two names I used in this one

025: Sanction’s Demise

I’m like 90% sure that sanction means a safe place or something similar, but when I looked it up that definition did not appear. I’m going to stick with what I’m pretty sure the definition of it is though, since otherwise this name doesn’t really make sense. Also, I know I just said that I would use shorthand for all the endings, but the ending for this sequence is one that hasn’t showed up until this point, so I will explain it just once here. In this ending, where Shadow does the dark mission for Cosmic Fall, he decides to become the protector of the ARK (Which is actively falling apart, hence the name of the level) and spend the rest of his life there. Shadow’s chosen safe haven is dying around him, which is the reason behind the name of this sequence. Also, for future reference, the name of the ending for this sequence is semi-hero dark

026: Along With My Home

This sequence ends with Cosmic Fall like the last one, although Shadow does the hero mission for it instead of the dark mission. This results in a pretty grim ending (the semi-hero hero ending), where Shadow says that he should have never been created, and it’s implied by the names of several sequences that have this ending (including this one) that he takes his own life. Since this ending takes place on Cosmic Fall, which takes place on the collapsing ARK, this name implies that Shadow will die along with his home

027: The Cleansing Of Darkness

This is an ending that ends with Shadow saying that he will destroy the world (Which is the dark-dark ending). In this route, like all dark routes, Shadow expresses disgust and hate for humans. Obviously he would think that humans are a darkness in this route, so him destroying the planet and killing all the humans on it would be a cleansing of darkness

028: Birth Of A God

This sequence ends with the ending where Shadow betrays Black Doom at the last moment at the GUN Fortress, and then proclaims that he will conquer the universe with the power of the Chaos Emeralds (Which will be referred to as the dark-hero ending from this point on). Shadow probably does have something of a god complex in this ending, as it would take one to say you’re going to conquer the whole universe

029: The Last Soldier’s Grim Fate

This is a sequence that ends with Shadow saying that he was created to serve Black Doom (Which is the semi-dark dark ending). I don’t know what events in this ending or the other levels in the sequence would make Shadow the last soldier, or what his grim fate is. Maybe even with Shadow on their side, the Black Arms would fall and Shadow would be the only one who wasn’t killed by the heroes due to their past experiences with him and the belief that he could change. He wouldn’t go back to their side, though, and would spend the rest of his time just wandering the planet with the group he believes he was created to serve extinct. That’s all speculation, though

030: Isolation and Solitude

This sequence ends with the hero mission of the Black Comet, where Shadow says that only he knows what is best for himself (Which is the semi-dark hero ending). Since he does not join any sides in this ending, he will most likely spend all of his time by himself, since he is the sole person he trusts

031: Archimedes And The Tortoise

This is by far the most out there sequence name, but I think I actually have an explanation for it. This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and there is a paradox called Achilles and the Tortoise (Archimedes is a famous Greek mathematician and engineer, which might tie into things since Shadow believes he is an android in this ending. The paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise states that if two beings (one fast runner and one slow moving tortoise) are each moving at a fixed speed and the tortoise has a 100 meter headstart, the fast runner will never overtake the slow tortoise. This is because in the time it will take for the runner to reach the position the tortoise is at, it will have moved forward in that time and will be ahead of that previous position. This means that the runner will never pass the tortoise. This rather darkly implies that no matter how hard he will try, Shadow will never surpass the original (Even though he is the original, but it would still be possibly for him to feel inferior to “the original” since he fully believes that he is an android)

032: Where Is My Happiness?

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending. Unlike the last one, there’s no ancient paradox for me to make wild assumptions about, instead it’s just a question to make wild assumptions about. I’m guessing that this is a similar situation to sequences 15 and 16, where building an empire of androids and conquering the planet with it will not make Shadow happy, and might even make him feel empty inside since he will have accomplished his ultimate goal yet still not be satisfied from it

033: Seduced By Taste Of Blood

In this sequence, Shadow does the dark mission for the first two levels, does the hero mission for the next level, and then does the neutral mission for Sky Troops (Which is to get to Eggman’s flagship). Next, he does the dark mission for Iron Jungle (Where he kills all of the GUN troops invading Eggman’s base) and then does the dark mission for the Black Comet which results in the semi-dark dark ending. This path and the name could be interpreted as Shadow starting off evil, becoming heroic, but then becoming bloodthirsty and lured back to the dark side after killing for Eggman to try and gain answers about his past. This bloodlust would ultimately lead to him wanting to work with Black Doom and help him take over the planet

034: A Machine Made For War

The penultimate level in this sequence is Iron Jungle (Where Shadow believes he is an android, which I’m going to also stop stating since I’ve said that several times already) and the final level is the Black Comet, which leads to the semi-dark hero ending. This ending doesn’t involve war as much as the semi-dark dark ending, so this name doesn’t make that much sense to me. Shadow is just going his own way and trusting himself, which I really doubt will involve war

035: Original Definition

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and while I was a bit confused by this name at first, I realized what it actually means. Shadow was originally created to be the ultimate lifeform, AKA the most powerful lifeform. Since Shadow believes he is a copy of the original and will try to surpass the power of said original, he’s fulfilling the purpose he was created for

036: Machine Paradise

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and that’s all there is to this one

037: Last Will And Testament

This sequence ends in the semi-hero dark ending. What Shadow says to Eggman in this ending is essentially his final will, since he intends to stay on the ARK for the rest of his life. A testament is a part of a will, specifically pertaining to personal property, which also ties into the ending, since he’s now the protector of the station

038: Enveloped in Solitude

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, but it also has Iron Jungle, so Shadow’s really going through it in this ending (hence the name)

039: Parricidal Savior

This is a very interesting name. Quick bit of context before this analysis starts, parricidal means involved in the murder of one’s immediate family. In this route, Shadow does the dark mission for Space Gadget (Where he destroys the defense systems of the ARK, his old home and birthplace) and then gets the neutral-dark ending where he kills Eggman, who he believes is his creator. I’m not exactly sure what makes him a savior in this sequence though, maybe it’s the fact that he does two hero missions in a row before the aforementioned missions

040: Copy of a Savior

This name has less to it then the last one. It has the neutral-hero ending, so Shadow believes he is a copy, and it has the two hero missions as well near the end like the previous sequence

041: Excess Of Intellect

This is one of the less clear sequence names, but I’m still able to piece something together from it. It ends with the semi-hero dark ending, so I suppose it could be interpreted as Shadow’s knowledge (Which would be a far more fitting word than intellect) being wasted since he’s isolating himself for the rest of his life. That still doesn’t fit super well with the name, but it’s the best I can think of

042: Crystallization Of Intellect

Figuratively, crystallization means the process of something becoming clear. This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, which means that in this ending it becomes clear to Shadow that his creation caused a lot of death which leads to him believing that he never should have been created. Like in the last one, I think knowledge would be a far more fitting word than intellect, but maybe my interpretation is wrong and the actual meaning fits better with the name

043: The Ultimate Confrontation

This sequence has an ending that hasn’t showed up before, the hero dark ending. This ending happens when Shadow does the dark mission for Final Haunt (The most heroic final level), which takes place aboard the Black Comet. In this ending, Shadow sides with Black Doom at the last moment so he can fight against Sonic and prove that he is stronger than him. Shadow also does the hero mission for Space Gadget prior to Final Haunt, where he races against Sonic aboard the ARK to get to a Chaos Emerald, and actually gets there first

044: Miracle Of Love

This is a cute one! In this route, Shadow does the dark missions for the first two levels, working with Black Doom in both of them. Once he gets to Cryptic Castle, though, he does the hero mission where he helps out Amy, and proceeds to do only hero missions for the rest of the sequence. This even leads to the hero-hero ending, where Shadow defeats Black Doom and says that he will protect the planet like Maria wanted him to. Just like in SA2, in this sequence Amy made Shadow snap out of his villainous tendencies and realize Maria’s wish, and I think that’s really nice. (Just so it’s clear by the way, I don’t ship Sha/damy, I interpret the name as being about Amy’s love for the world and her friends rubbing off on Shadow, which causes him to begin working for the good guys instead of the Black Arms)

045: The World’s Demise

Another sequence that ends with the dark-dark ending

046: The Ultimate Power

Another sequence that ends with the dark-hero ending

047: Dyed In Lovely Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending. The world will be dyed in darkness once the Black Arms take over it, but since Shadow’s working for them, he’ll find it nice

048: Vainglory Or Abandonment?

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. Vainglory means excessive pride in oneself, and since Shadow says that he’s the only one who knows what is best for himself in the end of this sequence, this sequence name is asking whether he is making this choice because he thinks he’s better than everyone else or if he’s just abandoning them because he doesn’t trust any of them

049: Messenger Of Ruination

This is yet another sequence that ends with the dark-dark ending, although it does also involve Shadow doing the dark mission for Air Fleet where he attempts to assassinate the president. Despite the fact you blow up his escape pod, he’s completely fine, but if he did actually die then that would be a good message of the imminent doom the planet would face from Shadow

050: Standing At The Summit

This is another sequence that ends with dark-hero ending

051: Controller From The Capsule

This name is a bit frustrating to me, because I know it has to mean something, but I can’t find a satisfactory answer. This sequence involves The Doom and its neutral mission (Which leads into Shadow being shot out of the ARK in a capsule) and the semi-dark dark ending, where Shadow helps Black Doom control the planet. The two pieces for the name are there, but I don’t know how they correlate

052: Beyond One’s Own Power

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. It doesn’t really fit that well, though, since Shadow isn’t going to try and become more powerful like in several other endings. Maybe what Shadow thinks is best for himself is using the seven Chaos Emeralds to become even more powerful, but that’s never really hinted at, so that’s just my best guess

053: A Clone’s Determination

This is another sequence that ends with the neutral-dark route

054: Machine Utopia

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero route

055: A Toast To The Ruler

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending (Sidenote, the mental image of Shadow and Black Doom giving a toast is actually kind of funny to me)

056: Answer From The Black Comet

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. I’m not sure what specific event on the Black Comet lead to Shadow coming to the conclusion he does in this ending, maybe him doing the hero mission of The Doom and the dark mission of Iron Jungle made him not want to work for Black Doom anymore. He already didn’t want to work with the heroes since this is one of the darker routes, so he’s probably just working with Knuckles to take down Black Doom since he knows that he’ll be a threat to him. When Eggman shows up and tries to take the Chaos Emeralds he’s been gathering the whole time, it makes him realize that he doesn’t want to be allied with Eggman either, thus leading to him choosing to only trust himself

057: Transcendentalism

Another sequence that ends with the neutral-dark route

058: Imperialism

Another route that ends with the neutral-hero ending

059: The Weight of One’s Crimes

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending. Before Cosmic Fall starts, the GUN Commander tells Shadow that he is the reason that everyone on the ARK was killed, which is most likely why Shadow decides to live on the ARK and be its guardian in this ending. He believes that he’s the reason why its empty and has been left crumbling and unguarded for such a long time, so he’s given himself the job of protecting it. Or, as the sequence’s name says, he’s choosing to live on the ARK because of how much his “crimes” are weighing on him

060: Imprisoned By The Past

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending. Like I mentioned for the previous sequence name, in both semi-hero endings Shadow is dealing with a lot of guilt since he takes responsibility for the ARK massacre. Even if he doesn’t die (Which thankfully isn’t implied by this sequence’s name), he’s still going to feel trapped by his past

061: The Ultimate World Conquest

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending. There is a bit of stuff that adds to this name, though, since Shadow does the dark missions for both Sky Troops and Air Fleet (Which means he destroys the Egg Fleet and tries to kill the president)

062: Black Angel

This seems to be one of the first names that barely has anything to do with the sequence at all, it ends with the dark-hero ending which kind of fits with the name, but it mostly seems like this name was chosen because it sounded cool. And to be fair, it does sound cool, especially with the context of the ending

063: Under Darkness’ Control

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

064: To Love Oneself

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

065: Revenge And Determination

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and also involves Shadow doing the dark mission for Sky Troops and the hero mission for Iron Jungle, which both involve shooting down Eggman’s aircrafts

066: Birth Of The Robot Emperor

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

067: Shadow, The Black Android

This sequence involves Shadow going through Iron Jungle, and then ending up on the Black Comet and getting the semi-dark dark ending

068: A Solitary Android

This sequence involves Shadow going through Iron Jungle and then getting the semi-dark hero ending

069: Over The Original

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

070: Machine Sunshine

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending. It doesn’t fit the ending quite as well as some of the other names sequences that end in it have, but it is a sick name

071: Life Is Guilty

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and as its been mentioned before, Shadow feels guilty over his creation in both semi-hero endings since he believes it lead to all of the death that took place aboard the ARK

072: Fallen Angel of Despair

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

073: An Eternal Rival

This sequence involves Space Gadget, although Shadow does the dark mission for it and not the hero mission which involves racing Sonic. It ends with the neutral-dark ending, so it can be assumed that Shadow is trying to surpass Sonic as well as the original. The eternal part is probably because he believes that he’s an android, which means he would live forever as long as he isn’t killed

074: This is Just the Beginning

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and it also has Space Gadget like the previous sequence, but it doesn’t really tie into the name even if Shadow did the hero mission for it (Which he didn’t). I suppose the name just means Shadow has even bigger plans than conquering the planet with an empire of androids, maybe this specific sequence leads into the dark-hero ending except with an army of androids instead of just Shadow

075: Crystal Of Tragic Knowledge

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending. At first, I thought this name made sense except for the crystal part, but then I realized that the crystal is supposed to be Shadow. Shadow is full of knowledge of the past, like a crystal formed in a cave ages ago that has recorded everything around it

076: Shadow’s Second Death

Some of these sequence names have had ellipses after them, which I’ve been cutting out since they’re not really needed and make the name look more cluttered. This ending has ellipses and a question mark after it, so it is ambiguous whether Shadow actually dies after this sequence. Since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, I really hope he doesn’t end up dying, because the implications of him dying after that ending are quite dark

077: The Legend of Shadow

This sequence involves Shadow beating Sonic in a race to the Chaos Emerald on Space Gadget, and then getting the hero-dark ending where he turns against him at the last moment to defeat him in a fight and become the ultimate hedgehog

078: Power Of Love

This is another nice one! In this sequence, Shadow does the dark mission for Westopolis, but after going into Digital Circuit and meeting with Rouge, he does the hero mission with her and then does hero missions for the rest of the levels (Except for Prison Island, poor Charmy). This leads to the hero-hero ending just like the last sequence that had a love themed name. Also just like the last time I talked about a sequence with a love themed name, here’s a quick disclaimer: I don’t ship Sha/douge, I think it’s gross. I think the love in the name is based on the fact that Rouge is the person who’s closest to Shadow and cares about him the most, since she interacted with him a lot in SA2 and got him out of his pod in Heroes

079: Deep Black

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

080: Walk My Way

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

081: This is Shadow’s Way Of Life

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

082: A Monarch’s Style

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

083: In the Gap Of Sadness

The ending of this sequence is the semi-hero dark ending. While Shadow’s life has had a lot of sadness in it overall, most of it occurred aboard the ARK. Since he’s living the rest of his life on it, he’s living in the one place that holds the most sadness for him

084: To Be Ignorant Of The Past

There’s two different ways that this name can be interpreted, since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending. One, Shadow believes he was ignorant of his past before the GUN Commander and Black Doom told him about it. Two, he wishes he was ignorant of his past, because knowing the truth causes him to feel like he should’ve never been created

085: At Vengeance’s End

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, although the only part of the ending that’s important to the name is the fact that he kills Eggman. The cutscene before Lava Shelter and one of his lines at the beginning of the level also tie into the name, but I already mentioned both of those earlier

086: Machine Boys

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

087: Reborn Along With Sorrow

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and since Shadow is essentially starting a new life of solitude aboard the ARK, it could be described as a rebirth. It’s already been mentioned a lot that Shadow is sad in the semi-hero endings, but something else that might add to it a bit is that he also does the neutral mission for Space Gadget, where he fails in a race against Sonic aboard the ARK

088: With A Fate Of Self-Denial

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, but the name is a little bit strange to me. Shadow doesn’t really deny anything about himself in this. He’s very sad about his belief that he caused the ARK incident, but he fully accepts it. Maybe this ending means that he’s denying the actual truth, that the events aboard the ARK were not his fault. It could also mean that he’s denying the fact that he was created to be the ultimate life form, since he also loses to Sonic in a race in this sequence, and he refers to himself as “A research experiment gone deadly wrong” in this ending instead

089: I Am Shadow

In this sequence, Shadow completes the hero mission for Space Gadget and then gets the hero-dark ending, so this route involves a lot of competing with Sonic. This is probably in order to prove that he is Shadow, the ultimate lifeform (Or the ultimate hedgehog, as he calls himself in the hero-dark ending)

090: Shining Within Memory

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending where Shadow fulfills his promise he made to Maria 50 years ago, but that’s just one of the two meanings behind this name. In this route, Shadow also races Sonic for a Chaos Emerald aboard the ARK, which is reminiscent of the events of SA2. Sonic even remarks “This is just like old times!” at the start of the level

091: The Rise And Fall Of The ARK

The penultimate level in this sequence is Lost Impact, and the final level is Cosmic Fall, which leads to the semi-hero dark ending. Simply put, the last two levels of this sequence are the rise and the fall of the ARK

092: Requiem For A Fallen Angel

A requiem is a mass held for the souls of the dead, which has some dark implications, since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

093: Ultimate Shadow

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

094: For Love’s Sake

This sequence is the exact same as Power Of Love, except Shadow helps Charmy this time around instead of ignoring him, which is nice

095: A Heart Awoken from Darkness

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending, and involves Shadow doing the dark missions for every single level except for Westopolis, which he does the neutral mission for

096: Destruction From Perfection

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending. It would make more sense if the name of this sequence and the name of the last sequence had their names swapped, they fit each other better than they fit their own sequences

097: Darkness’ Strongest Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending, and also involves Shadow doing a lot of dark missions

098: Severed Chains

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

099: Retribution Against Humanity

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

100: To Be Known As Ultimate

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

101: Dark Warrior’s Advent

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

102: Arriving At The Ego

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, although this name would definitely fit better with a few other endings

103: Determination Of A Fake

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

104: Path To The Machine Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

105: Demise Wrought By Tragedy

This sequence has The Doom as part of it, and ends with the dark-dark ending

106: Turning Sorrow Into Strength

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending, and has The Doom as its fourth level

107: The Liberated Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending, and it does involve The Doom and The ARK as levels, but I can’t think of a good way that they tie into the name. Maybe Shadow destroying the GUN forces during his flashback and then deciding to not destroy the defenses for the ARK brought him some sort of peace about his past

108: Stupefaction’s End

To be stupefied means to be unable to think properly, which definitely happened to Shadow a lot in this game considering how much internal conflict he goes through. This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, so him deciding to only trust himself is the end of this confusion

109: Humanity’s Folly

This sequence ends with the dark-dark route, and also involves The Doom

110: Surpassing All Else

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

111: Soldier Of Grief

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

112: Reclaimed Heart

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

113: Fighting Spirit Of Steel

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

114: Machine Soldier Uprising

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

115: The Devil Born From Betrayal

The betrayal that’s mentioned here is most likely Eggman’s betrayal of Shadow in this sequence. He does the dark mission for Iron Jungle, which helps out Eggman, but he still attacks him with the Egg Breaker anyways. This betrayal leads to Shadow deciding to work with Black Doom in the semi-dark dark ending

116: Beyond The Truth Of Impact

Going to be honest here, I don’t even have a guess at what this one means. It has The Doom, Iron Jungle, and the semi-dark hero ending, but none of those seem to tie into the name at all. Sorry for not giving a real answer for this one, but at least I managed to give answers for about 100 other so far

117: The Immortal Android

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

118: The New, Coldhearted Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

119: A Singular Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and also has Shadow doing The Doom’s hero mission

120: Spawn Of The Devil

In the semi-hero hero ending, which this sequence ends in, Shadow fights Black Doom. Before this fight begins, he tells Shadow that he created him

121: Black Doom's Scheme

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending, and also has Shadow working with Black Doom in every mission where he can except Westopolis

122: Subjugating Heaven And Earth

To subjugate means to conquer and bring under control, which fits perfectly with the dark-hero ending, the ending of this sequence

123: Road Of The Dark Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

124: Dark Finale

This name is kind of strange for a sequence that ends with the semi-dark hero ending, which this sequence ends with. The only dark thing about it is that he kills Eggman, this name would have fit better with the dark-dark or dark-hero endings

125: Realization While On Board

This name seems to be based on one small moment that happens before the final level of this sequence, where after doing the hero mission for Air Fleet (A level that takes place on a massive GUN aircraft), Shadow realizes that he is an android copy of the original that Eggman built

126: Birth Of A Champion

Strangely, this sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and not the neutral-dark ending. I guess being the ruler of an empire that rules the planet would kind of make him a champion, but this still isn’t a very good name for this sequence

127: With The Black Arms

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

128: The Road To Self-Assurance

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

129: The Pursuit Of Dr. Eggman

This sequence has Shadow doing the neutral missions for Sky Troops and Iron Jungle, both of which involve Shadow chasing after him to get answers

130: Surpassing His Creator

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending. If Shadow does manage to conquer the planet like he plans to in this ending, then he will have surpassed Eggman just like the name says

131: ARK, Colony Of Pathos

Pathos means a quality that evokes sadness, which is fitting since there are a lot of tragic events that happened on the ARK. This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, meaning Shadow will spend the rest of his life on the colony of pathos that this name describes

132: Perfection Lost To Darkness

Shadow was created to be the ultimate lifeform, so the semi-hero hero ending being the end of this sequence means that the perfection of his existence is being lost, whether he ends up dying as some of the sequence names with this ending involve or if he just spends the rest of his life depressed and isolated

133: A New Challenge

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, giving Shadow a new challenge to take on: Surpassing the original

134: The Machines' Coup d'Etat

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

135: A Vow For The Victims

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, meaning Shadow is making up for causing the death of the ARK massacre’s victims by protecting the station and making sure it doesn’t fully collapse

136: The Truth Of Sadness

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

137: The Destined Sonic Showdown

This sequence has Shadow doing the hero mission of Space Gadget, and then getting the hero-dark ending

138: The Black Hero’s Rebirth

This sequence ends with the hero-hero mission, and has Shadow doing hero missions for most of the levels

139: Truth, Thy Name Is Vengeance

Shadow does the dark mission of The Doom in this sequence, and then ends up getting the dark-dark ending. In The Doom, some of Shadow’s idle dialogue asks if this is really part of his past. My interpretation of this name is that Shadow ends up believing that him killing all of the GUN soldiers aboard the ARK is the true way that things happened, which causes him to realize that his true purpose is to destroy the planet and get revenge like Gerald wanted him to

140: Searching For “Ultimate”

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending. I guess this ending and the name means that Shadow is searching to be the ultimate being in the universe, and by conquering all of it, he’ll prove that he’s the strongest

141: Reborn Hatred For Humanity

In this sequence, Shadow does the dark mission of The Doom, and ends up getting the semi-dark dark ending

142: A Future Taken From The Past

Shadow does the dark mission of The Doom in this sequence, and then gets the semi-dark hero ending. I’m not sure exactly how the events of The Doom ties into the ending in this case, though. Maybe the crumbling ARK in the present day is still a part of this past, and Black Doom asking him to damage it and allow the Black Arms to invade it made him no longer want to work with him

143: The Devils’ Victory Song

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

144: One To Succeed A God

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

145: Disappointed In Humanity

Shadow does the neutral mission for The Doom in this sequence, and then gets the semi-dark dark ending

146: Faith Taken From Solitude

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

147: Planted Memories

In this sequence, Shadow goes through The Doom and then ends up getting the neutral-dark ending. Because he believes he is an android in this ending, this means he must believe that the memories of the ARK massacre that he’s recalling in The Doom were planted inside of him

148: To Unite Humanity

This sequence has The Doom as part of it, and it ends with the neutral-hero ending. The reasoning behind this name is that Shadow probably believes that having an android empire rule the planet will unite humanity, and prevent them from committing atrocities like they did aboard the ARK

149: Isolated Soldier Shadow

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending. My best guess at the reason why he’s isolated is that he rarely works with Black Doom in this route, only doing it once. Right after he does a mission for him, he does the hero mission for The Doom, which shows that he doesn’t completely hate humanity. Because of this, he likely won’t agree with everything Black Doom says and will not have a close relationship with him, leaving him isolated from everyone since he’s working against the heroes and Eggman

150: Answer Derived From Truth

There’s two truths that this name could be talking about. It could be Shadow believing that the hero mission in The Doom is the true way that things happened, or it could be the supposed truth that he is an android. Since this sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, I’m leaning towards the latter, since Shadow believing that he’s an android would lead to him not wanting to affiliate with anyone. He has no prior association with the heroes, he doesn’t want to work with the Black Arms that much since he doesn’t have an especially strong hatred from humans due to his memories being planted, and he hates Eggman for creating him in the first place

151: A Fake’s Disposition

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. Since disposition means a person's inherent qualities of mind and character, and Shadow does the hero mission of The Doom in this sequence, this could mean that the qualities he saw from his original grew on him and changed him a little bit

152: A New World Without Betrayal

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and also involves The Doom’s hero mission. I would explain further, but I basically stated everything that I would have said here a few sequences ago

153: Together With Maria

This sequence has The Doom as part of it, and ends with the semi-hero dark ending

154: The Tragedy’s Conclusion

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

155: The Day That Hope Died

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending, and also has Shadow doing the dark mission Air Fleet

156: Dark Destroyer

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

157: Diabolical Power

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

158: For Freedom

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

159: At Least, Be Like Shadow

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

160: Seeking A Silent Paradise

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

161: The Lion’s Awakening

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

162: Identity

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, and also involves Iron Jungle as its penultimate level

163: An Android's Rebellion

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

164: A New Empire's Beginning

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero route

165: Bullets From Tears

This is one of the more out there names, but I do have an explanation for it. This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and Shadow’s goal is to deter everyone else from the ARK, a mission that comes from his grief that he feels for causing the people aboard the ARK to die. He doesn’t kill Eggman, just tells him to leave and never return, but if somebody tries to attack the ARK or refuses to leave then he might end up killing them to protect the station

166: Journey To Nihility

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

167: Shadow Surpassing Shadow

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

168: Dr. Eggman’s Miscalculation

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

169: Along With The ARK

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

170: Requiem For The Heavens

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

171: Sonic Dethroned

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

172: Justice Reborn In Space

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

173: Steel Ruler

This sequence has Iron Jungle as its penultimate level, and ends with the semi-dark dark ending

174: For The Sake Of The Self

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

175: Farewell To The Past

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and also has Mad Matrix as a fourth level, where Eggman tells Shadow that he has no past

176: Steel Paradise

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

177: The Guardian With No Past

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and has Mad Matrix as its fourth level

178: The Ultimate Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

179: A Fake's Aspiration

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

180: Machine World

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

181: Twilight Ark

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

182: Compensation For A Miracle

I’m not 100% sure what this name means, but like I usually do, I have a guess at what it could mean. Shadow’s creation was probably considered a miracle by Gerald and Maria, but this same miracle lead to their deaths as well as the deaths of everyone else on the ARK as well (at least in Shadow’s mind). Since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, whatever Shadow does after this ending is him compensating for the “miracle” of his creation

183: The Strongest Hedgehog

This sequence has Shadow completing the hero mission for Space Gadget, and getting the hero-dark ending

184: The Ultimate Punisher

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

185: Voyage Of Reminiscence

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

186: Wandering's End

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

187: The Ultimate Proof

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

188: Punisher Of Love

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

189: Messenger From The Darkness

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

190: The New Ruler

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

191: Dark Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

192: The Road Of Light

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

193: The Machine-Laden Kingdom

This sequence surprisingly ends with the neutral-dark ending, not the neutral-hero ending

194: New Determination

Just as weirdly, this sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, not the neutral-dark one. I’m almost 100% certain that this sequence name and the last one were meant to be the other way around, and something got switched at one point or another

195: Birth Of The Dark Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

196: A New Journey

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

197: The Android’s Opposition

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

198: Founding Of The Robot Nation

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

199: The Eternal Protector

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

200: The Sinner’s Repose

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

201: A Hero’s Resolution

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, so it doesn’t fit super well, the hero part of the name seemingly just comes from the fact that Shadow does a few hero missions in this sequence

202: The Weapons’ Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

203: Perpetual Voyage

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

204: A Hero’s Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

205: Dark Hegemony

Hegemony can mean dominance, so this name could fit with several endings, but the ending of this specific sequence is the hero-dark ending. In this case, the dominance is Shadow proving that he is stronger than Sonic

206: And The Dream Continues

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, since Shadow is fulfilling Maria’s dream of the planet being safe

207: Fighter For Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

208: The Path I Believed In

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

209: Determination’s Daybreak

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

210: Machine Kingdom at Dawn

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

211: Sinful Protector

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

212: At The End Of The Journey

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

213: Surmounting The Nightmare

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and while it isn’t as fitting as some of the other names, it still goes with the ending pretty well. The prospect of being an inferior copy of who you thought you were would be a nightmare to most people, and by surpassing the original, Shadow is getting rid of that problem

214: Dawn Of The Machines

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

215: Wandering For Eternity

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

216: At Vagrancy’s End

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

217: The Summit of Power

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, and has Shadow completing the hero mission for Space Gadget

218: Under The Name Of Love

This sequence isn’t really structured like the other sequences that have love themed names, and since it ends with the hero-hero ending, I’d say that it’s probably based on Shadow’s loving the planet just like Maria did (Although in this sequence after doing two neutral missions in a row, Shadow does hero missions with Sonic for the last two levels, so do with that what you will)

219: Eternally Drifting

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

220: The Importance Of Truth

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

221: The Beginning Of Judgment

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, although it’s not a very fitting name in my opinion, since I can’t find a great meaning for the name with the context of the ending. I guess maybe it’s the judgement of Sonic, and his position as the strongest hedgehog?

222: This World’s Guardian

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

223: Light Born From Darkness

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. Eggman is a pretty evil guy and created the Shadow Androids (And lied to Shadow about being an android in this path) for his own goals, and I guess wanting to surpass the original in power is a noble enough goal, so this name fits decently

224: The Order Of Steel

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

225: Solitary Journey

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

226: The Fall Home

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

227: Sovereign Of All Creation

This is definitely one of the weirder names, but it still makes sense. Sovereign as an adjective means possessing supreme or ultimate power, so this name is implying that shadow is the most powerful thing to have ever been created, which makes sense because this sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

228: I Shall Be The One To Judge

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

229: Gone With The Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

230: The Ultimate Choice

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

231: I Am The Strongest!

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

232: Justice’s Awakening

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

233: Prelude to Ruination

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

234: A World United By Darkness

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

235: The Pulse Of Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

236: To Just Be Myself

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

237: Punishment In Jet Black

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

238: The Ruler’s First Cry

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

239: Darkness’ Conspiracy

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

240: The Faint Light Of Tomorrow

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. While I haven’t been providing explanations for a lot of the names, that’s mainly because they’re easy enough to figure out and as such it’s kind of pointless to do it. I will explain this one though, since it’s a little less straightforward than the others. Shadow’s probably not 100% confident in his decision to only trust himself, in his mind he knows it’s the right thing to do, but it’s going to be a rough road ahead since he doesn’t have anyone else to work with. Since he’s sure this is the right way though, he’s also sure that he’ll make it to tomorrow. It could be thought of in a different way, since he doesn’t know what tomorrow holds, so the light of it is faint to him

241: Time Of Departure

I really don’t know what this one means. I guess since Shadow’s only goal is to become the strongest, he’ll likely depart from Eggman’s base soon after the ending and begin just roaming around. This sequence also has the neutral mission for The Doom as one of its levels, meaning its a flashback to when Shadow departed from the ARK and his old life.

242: Rise Of The Machine Kingdom

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

243: Despair’s Quickening

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending, and has The Doom as one of its levels. Once again, I can’t figure out the exact meaning of this name, and I can’t tell if that’s because I’m kind of tired right now or because at this point in the sequences the developers started to run out of names that made a lot of sense

244: The Beginning

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

245: Setting Out In The Morning

Another sequence that has the neutral-dark ending with a leaving related name, am I missing something? It also involves The Doom, but once again, I really don’t know what this name is supposed to mean in relation to the events of the sequence

246: The Weapons’ Dawn

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

247: Pure Ark

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

248: Making Up For It In The End

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

249: The Coming Of The Dark Time

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

250: The Throne Of God

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

251: God Of War

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

252: Howl Of Solitude

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

253: Proof Of Existence

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. This one is decently clear, but I’ll explain it anyways. It’s already been stated a lot that Shadow was made to be the ultimate life form, so by surpassing the “original” version, then he will prove that the ultimate life form does exist (Since he thinks the original died), and that he is it

254: Ardent Vow

Ardent means passionate, so that means that in this sequence, Shadow is making a passionate vow. This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, so it does kind of fit, since Shadow promises to create an empire of androids that will rule the planet (A goal that he will have to be extremely dedicated to in order to actually achieve)

255: A Deal With The Devil

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

256: A Reason To Live

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

257: Induplicable Thoughts

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, although strangely it doesn’t have The Doom as part of it. Maybe that’s why it has this name, the memories aboard the ARK that the original had couldn’t be duplicated and given to any of the androids. Or perhaps whatever thoughts couldn’t be duplicated are the reason why Shadow wants to become stronger than the original

258: Steel Struck With Flame

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

259: A Heart Bound To The ARK

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

260: Tears Shed By The Stars

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

261: Imitation Complex

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

262: Steel Combat Boots

This is probably the silliest (affectionate) name in this entire list. This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, so it’s actually a pretty clever play on words

263: Protector Of The Ashen Moon

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

264: A Demon Drifting

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

265: The Ultimate Pride

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, and also has Shadow completing the hero mission of Space Gadget

266: I Know The Will Of Heaven

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending (Sidenote, this is an extremely cool name)

267: Ego Dyed In Black

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

268: Isolation By Choice

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

269: Faith Without Falsehood

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. The falsehood could be two opposite things, it could either be Shadow thinking that him being the original was a falsehood, or Eggman telling him that he has no past in Mad Matrix (A level in this sequence) is the falsehood

270: Machine Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

271: The Eternally-Closed Door

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending. Shadow and the ARK are both eternally closed doors, since the ARK itself is sealed off from everyone except him, and he’s never going to leave it

272: The Sealed-Away Ark of Sin

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

273: Silver Emergence

When I first saw this name on the list, for a split second I internally went “:O Silver!”, but this game came out in 2005, so Silver didn’t even exist yet. Anyways, this sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, so I suppose this name is a cool way of saying that Shadow is emerging as an even stronger being than the original him

274: Pulsating Supercurrent

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, so I’m guessing this name was chosen because it sounds cool and like something that would be part of a giant computer system, which is what Shadow is like in this ending since he’ll be controlling a whole empire (And possibly the planet)

275: The Reason I Was Born

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

276: The Dark Part Of The Galaxy

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

277: The View From Atop The World

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

278: Maria’s Testament

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

279: A Genius Scientist’s Lineage

This sequence has Lost Impact as a level, and also ends with the semi-hero dark ending. Since Shadow does the normal mission of Lost Impact, which involves him going to Gerald’s laboratory to check on him, the meaning of this name is obviously that he’s carrying on Gerald’s legacy by guarding the place where most of his inventions were created

280: Distorted Truth

This sequence has Lost Impact as a level, and ends with the semi-hero hero ending. Because of this, the meaning might be that Shadow doesn’t believe that the events of Lost Impact happened as he remembers them. Or, the name could only be based on the ending, and that the truth he believes in the ending is distorted

281: A Counterfeit Existence

This sequence has Mad Matrix as a level, and ends with the hero-dark ending. My interpretation of this name and the events of the sequence in the context of it is that Shadow is worried about the implications of him apparently having no past, so he fights Sonic to prove that he is still the ultimate lifeform, and not just a counterfeit

282: Beloved Memories

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, and has Shadow doing the hero mission of Lost Impact

283: Birth Of A Devil

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

284: A Dark Myth’s Beginnings

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

285: Black Thunder

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

286: The Torn Away Necklace

I really don’t know what this one is supposed to mean. Since this sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, I guess the necklace is supposed to represent Shadow’s destiny and his control over it? It was originally torn away from him by everyone trying to get him to work for them, but then he finally takes it back from them at the end. I don’t know, that’s just my best guess

287: A Soul Sheltered By Iron

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

288: Steel Nation’s Decree

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

289: Coronation Of Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

290: Opened Eyes

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. Since Shadow works with the heroes at first before doing missions for Eggman, and Eggman betrays him by trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds (and attacking him with the Egg Breaker after Iron Jungle, the final boss fight is probably the specific thing that leads to Shadow opening his eyes and deciding to only trust himself

291: The Doctor’s Lie

This sequence has Iron Jungle as a level, and ends with the neutral-dark ending

292: The Uninvited Successor

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

293: The Closed Pandora’s Box

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

294: A Heart Bound By Sin

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

295: Courage From Turning Gears

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

296: Fullmetal Prince

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

297: Time’s Watchman

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

298: Galaxy’s Requiem

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

299: Charm Of The Chaos Emeralds

Since this sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, the meaning behind this name is that Shadow was tempted by the power that the Chaos Emeralds he was collecting could give him, and decided to give into those temptations by using them to become even more powerful than Sonic

300: Promise Of A Far-Off Day

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, I think that the meaning behind this name is that Maria wished to one day live on the Earth, which is probably part of the reason why she said that she wanted to protect it along with Shadow (She says this in the final story). By protecting the planet from Black Doom, Shadow is being reminded of that far off day that Maria wished for

301: The Grim Reaper’s Horn

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

302: A Flame Extinguished By Fate

Since this sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, I guess this name means that Shadow’s potential to be a great force for good or evil has been extinguished by the events that lead to him deciding to only do what he wants to, since he’s probably not going to do much that affects anyone except himself after making that decision

303: Shouting At The Morning Sun

Another morning related name that goes with a sequence that ends with the neutral-dark ending. I think I might have figured out what this means, although I’m not completely sure of it. I remembered that another one of the neutral-dark endings was called Determination’s Daybreak, so the sun rising is symbolic of Shadow’s past and what his goal is becoming clear to him. As for why he’s shouting at it, well, I don’t really know. It just made me think of characters in DBZ and how they scream when they power up since Shadow is trying to surpass the “original him” in power in this ending, so that’s my answer because I can’t think of anything better

304: Iron Ambition

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

305: Sleeping On Hallowed Ground

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

306: Explanation Of The Truth

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

307: An Android’s Dream

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

308: Metallic Quickening

Quickening means to stimulate (One meaning of which is development of or increased activity in), which is fitting since this sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

309: Funeral Procession In Space

This may seem like the name of a sequence that ends with the semi-hero hero ending, but it actually ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and it is a fitting name for it. This is because Shadow is guarding the ARK because of his grief over the victims of it, so he’s essentially living through a funeral procession for them by spending all of his time on the station and thinking about their deaths

310: Lost To The Universe’s Abyss

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

311: Destiny For Two

This sequence has Shadow doing the hero missions of Westopolis and Lethal Highway (Both of which he works with Sonic in) as well as Space Gadget, and then gets the hero-dark ending

312: The Spun Threads Of Fate

This sequence is the same as the last one, except it has Shadow doing the hero mission of Final Haunt instead, meaning he does the hero mission with Sonic in all 4 missions that he appears in (And also does the neutral missions for the levels that Sonic isn’t the hero mission partner for). This name, as well as the last one, implies that Shadow and Sonic are fated to interact with each other

313: Ark Of The Heavens

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

314: Ghost Of The ARK

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

315: A Pair Of Shooting Stars

This sequence has Shadow working with Sonic twice in Westopolis and Lethal Highway, and ends with the hero-dark ending

316: The One Who Maria Entrusted

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, and has Shadow doing the hero mission of Lost Impact with Maria

317: A.I.’s Enlightenment

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

318: A Dying Empire’s Cry

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

319: Moon Of Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

320: Tear-Soaked Hometown

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

321: Sparks On The Horizon

Since this sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, I guess the sparks represent Shadow’s true power (Or the Chaos Emeralds that give it to him) being visible on the horizon ahead of him

322: A Use For A Saved Life

Shadow’s life was saved by Eggman after he presumably died, and this sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, so the use for Shadow’s saved life was saving the planet

323: Coffin Of Memories

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

324: The Self-Imposed Seal

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending. It could just fit with Shadow sealing himself away from everyone else because of his depression, but I figured I would mention an idea that I saw somebody on Youtube mention as well. Their idea of what could possibly happen after this ending is that Shadow would willingly go into GUN custody, which would also fit well with this name

325: Pretense In The Mirror

The word pretense can mean two things. It can be an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true, or it can be a claim, especially a false or ambitious one. This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, so that means that Shadow is telling himself that he is the ultimate lifeform and stronger than Sonic, but he doesn’t fully believe it. This is why he sided with Black Doom to fight Sonic, to prove that it was true and it wasn’t just a lie he was telling himself

326: A Missive From 50 Years Ago

Here it is, the final sequence in Shadow the Hedgehog, and the most heroic one you can take. A missive is a message, so Shadow’s heroic actions in this sequence are him following the message Maria gave him 50 years ago: To protect the planet and the people on it

And with that, I have officially analyzed the name of every single sequence in Shadow the Hedgehog. If you read this through all the way to the end, thank you so much, I appreciate it! Sorry that I wasn’t able to give a satisfactory answer for every single name, but considering there’s more than 300, I think I did a pretty good job overall. Let me know if you have any solutions to the names I couldn’t figure out, I’ll add them to the post if I think they’re better than the explanations I gave

#Sonic #Sonic the Hedgehog #Sth #Shadow the Hedgehog #Idk what to tag this as bc I don't want to tag it as krafter talks #But I don't know what else to tag it as #Maybe I just won't tag it as anything

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horror-dot-png · 3 months

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Mangroves

CASE # 019010008-004

SUBJECT: PYRRHA E. REYES

CONTENTS: SUSPECTED MURDER/DEATH OF CLAIRE P. LEWIS

THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT OF THE INTERROGATION OF MS. REYES.

DONATED BY AN ANONYMOUS MARIETTA DETECTIVE TO THE RICHMOND UNIVERSITY OF THE ABNORMAL.

TRANSCRIPT IS AS FOLLOWS:

She’s gone, right? I’m so stupid, this is all my fault. It should’ve been me. I should’ve been the one to – fuck. It’s so unfair. I never wanted it to come to this and now I’m… alone. I’m sorry, let me start from the beginning. My name is Pyrrha, I’m a librarian in Marietta, Georgia. I met Claire, my fiancée – ex-fiancee now I suppose – in college. We first met in our American history class, and I wanna say we hit it off pretty well then. We would talk for hours on end about history, sharing facts and talking about our political interpretations of certain events. Do you ever stop to think how weird Manifest Destiny was as a concept? Like, sure, expansion was inevitable, but saying it was your God-given right as a white guy to steal land from natives? Of course it went much deeper than that now, and we grew as people from these conversations. Eventually, we grew for each other. She asked me out, and lucky for her I was a lesbian. The next few years of college came and went, and at our graduation I popped the question – though we weren’t to be married for a few years as we eventually settled down and devoted our daily life to work and research. It was amazing. Spending every last moment you have with the woman you love. The nights cuddled on the couch watching TV, the rainy days spent reading, the more-than-daily walks with our Saint Bernard – cleverly named Saint.

After another three years – wow, it really has been three – we began to grow a little bored. We were both still madly in love, don’t get me wrong, but there was something missing. Like looking into the same room over and over and over, expecting to see something remotely different. It could’ve been a bird at the window, or maybe Claire moved the coffee table away from the sofa a little. Regardless, we needed something new. Not a vacation necessarily as we had been on plenty since moving in together – though with Saint we did ease up on how frequent they were. We decided to find a mutual hobby to keep the closeness knit. Claire didn’t think we were growing apart, but I insisted it might be healthy for the long-term. She agreed and we got to looking. We went through a few options. Rock climbing was not an option since she was desperately afraid of heights. Can’t do gardening because of how high our third floor apartment was – and, yes, it didn’t help the fear of heights at times. Then we figured it out. What about diving? Claire was so thrilled with the idea, having been formerly on our college’s swim team. As for me? I’m glad we could’ve decided on something – I really wish we hadn’t.

It was settled, and we found a few days to go train and get certified. It was so relaxing. The water against our skin – or what wasn’t covered by our suits. Oddly, I found having to swap from our snorkel to our oxygen regulator the most thrilling. Exposing ourselves to the elements for even a slight moment, knowing the sheer amount of water that could fill our mouth and throat and lungs if we just chose to let it be that way. Of course, I hid these intrusive thoughts from Claire. After a few days of learning and practice, we were certified and immediately booked a plane to Cancún, Mexico, and reserved ourselves some spots for a personal diving trip out off the coast. It was beautiful. I won’t see it as such any more. To be honest, anything deeper than a kiddie pool irks me – pathetic, I know.

We arrived and toured for a bit. Went around, ate some local cuisine. Claire found a fondness for cooked cacti, and I took a liking to Piña Coladas. Saw some shows, and had a genuinely good time. It was like an early honeymoon. It didn’t stay this way for long. We had decided earlier on we wanted to dive by some mangroves off the coast. And so our day started early. We were given the clear to dive and got a ride out to one of the less popular dive spots. We were excited, but a little hungover honestly, yet we refused to let that get in the way of our newfound passion. It was during the ride over that I had the chance to reflect on my relationship with Claire. It was almost as though my mind was forcing me to ruminate. It had known something I didn’t. Of course, I hadn’t realized it at the moment but perhaps it was an omen. I mean, it just sounds too coincidental, right? Makes me think of all the skipped classes, all the dinner and movie dates, all the small mundane fights we resolved within a matter of minutes because we realized how stupid they were. I thought of us getting Saint as a pup and how happy Claire was to finally have a pet after a childhood without one. I remembered meeting her parents, and how much I thought they hated me at first, only to realize they were the kindest people in my life – aside from Claire that is.

We arrived. It was hot. Really hot. So we took no time changing into our gear with the anticipation of dipping in as soon as possible. And so we did. We held hands and slipped into that cool, familiar feel of water. No. No. No, that’s not right. It wasn’t that at all, it felt more like wading through a sludge, like we had just dunked ourselves into a tank of syrup. It didn’t feel right at all. Claire didn’t seem to notice it but I did. I should’ve brought her to the surface to say something, but that look in her eyes. The beautiful green eyes that spoke with determination. So I let her be happy. I brushed off the feeling, but then I looked down. It went further and further, deeper and deeper. This wasn’t right. We were just off the coast, right? It shouldn’t have been possible – why was the water so… green? Were there supposed to be fish or anything else alive here? I could see the shoreline just fine and the mangroves up ahead. Was this right? Was I imagining things? Are… are those bodies? I think I chalked it up to pareidolia at the moment, but now I’m not too sure. My breathing picked up but I knew this was not the time nor place for a panic attack. I looked back up at Claire and remembered the times she helped me control my breathing. So I did. Deep breath in. Hold. Deep breath out. The breathing helped, but I still felt dizzy. Everything was telling me to go back up. To grab my future wife and call it a day. We’ve seen enough right? I wouldn’t have to explain myself. I wanted to vomit. I hate myself for not trusting that feeling.

We got closer to the mangroves. I wanted to say it was beautiful, but it was so unsettling. How they wrapped and contorted made them seem like bodies trapped underneath the water, doomed to an eternity of drowning and staring either down into an endless abyss, or up onto a surface they could never reach. It was only then I realized what lay ahead of these… corpses. There was more ocean. More of that murky green sludge that held my life partner and I trapped. How had Claire not noticed? Or perhaps she did, and being the most curious person I knew, she was intrigued. I was not. I wanted to get the hell out, but I wasn’t sure how. I had made my decision. I was gonna grab her and leave, but then I looked up. The surface was much, much further away than it should have been. We were only going to be a few feet from the surface right? Why was it so far away? I could begin to feel the pressure of deep water popping my ears, clenching my body. My heart pounded as though it was gripped by the unknown force of the sea. My lungs were being crushed by the weight of… the weight of what? Water? It all seemed so ridiculous to me, but it was no time to question the laws of something that was actively breaking them. I looked at Claire. She had gotten closer to the mangroves, at which point I – we, I’m certain of – heard what sounded like screams. No, that wasn’t right. It was gurgling, and it felt as though it was coming from all around us. I heard the screams of these drowning people trapped beneath the water like Claire and me. I wanted to join them. I wanted to scream and let the water – sludge, whatever – force its way into my body so that I could become one with it. I felt like I was going to die, I wish I did. I went to empty the water from my mask as we learned to in training, and as I put them back on, Claire had become entangled, no, embedded within the mangrove. She was becoming one of them, a corpse, a drowned. I swam to her, panicked and as quickly as my body could whilst being crushed by the progressively increasing pressure of the deep. I swam and I swam and I swam and I swam, but the corpses carried her further away. No, it wasn’t the corpses, it was the ocean that took her. I screamed, the water began filling my lungs, and Claire. I watched her. The abyss swallowed her whole. I don’t think she reached back out to me. She accepted the cold dark as much as she accepted the ring on her finger.

I was found a day later, washed up ashore miles away from where I thought the mangrove was. Claire was reported missing, and for a while I was suspected for murder. Fortunately, the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. I wish they had taken me though. I wish I could suffer for letting her die. I mean, she is dead right? Her parents offered their support, but I knew they knew. I knew they knew I killed their daughter. I haven’t talked to them since her funeral. Of course no body was found. I didn’t bother trying to explain what happened. Told authorities that we were inexperienced, amateur divers, and that seemed to be enough for them. I hated having to lie, but what was I to do? Now that I think of it, it’s so fucking useless of me. I let her die and now I lied about it? I’m a pathetic mess of a human being. Claire would… she would’ve handled this so much better were it me that drowned and not her. I wish I drowned. I wish I was the one to die. I wish Claire was still alive and I wish that it was I who was eaten by the deep. I still have Saint, though he got along better with Claire. And, after all this time, I didn’t realize how empty a bed could be.

END TRANSCRIPT

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mammothartist · 10 months

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chapter 167 (spoilers ahead !)

Bro, what was chapter 167. It was really cool to now know who took out all the numbered, but why did 003 just give 002 a smooch ??? I hope they elaborate on that cause that caught me so off guard.

I was thinking, maybe it was to humanize 002? To introduce romance to tell the audience that 002 isn’t just a mindless killing machine? The problem I have with this though is that It just seems so out of line with the character. All the other numbered had moments where they acted like a family with one another. Even 002 had his moments. We already knew that 002 was human enough to care for the other numbered enough to want to avenge them. This revenge arc makes a lot of sense with the theme of family this story has. So why there was a possible romance introduced so suddenly without buildup, I’ll never know. I think another thing that was interesting was that 002 didn’t show any ounce of emotion, not even surprise. All the other numbered were worried, asking about what happened and where was she all this time and 002 started to interrogate her. I understand it was suspicious why she appeared after all these years without any once contact. It just bothered me that we only kinda knew she existed. We didn’t know that she existed as a past love interest because 002 never thought of her at all during our time of knowing the character (or at least I’m pretty sure, I haven’t reread the manhwa in a while). It also seems well known that this dynamic exists within the story because all of the numbered (except 004) don’t really have a reaction to the kiss. All we get are slightly awkward faces from second hand embarrassment. Also, back of the emotion portion, there isn’t an ounce of sentimentality. Like you think seeing a past lover would work up some emotions, but no. I also think this might add to how 002 has a habit of using people to achieve something. Though I don’t know what you would use someone that is right below you in rank and is the same age, so therefore harder to manipulate when you have a vulnerable child with more fighting prowess right there. I assume he wasn’t using her physically because we haven’t shown anything that would say that he uses women to jerk off. It just baffles me because the whole character of 003 just came out of nowhere. I’m excited though where this might lead though. I just wanted to yap about the new episode cause it revived some of the questions I had surrounding 002.

#mercenary enrollment #teenage mercenary #Also that story 003 gave sucked

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flipping-the-coin · 6 months

Text

[Patient Report: OP-7845-91653]

[Authorization Requirement: Alpha]

[Document Status: Sensitive - 94% preserved]

[Listed Authorized Individuals: Primal Steward Ratchet]

[Overseeing Medical Personnel: - Primary Physician: CMO Ratchet - Secondary Assistant: First Aid]

[Session: #004]

═════════════════

Orion was a decent enough patient this session. No serious deviations from what I’ve recorded. Through medication he has begun to return to awareness without any serious side effects. He’s still very unstable, but he is improving bit by bit. He hit me with his field again when I got too close, but that is to be expected. He's still very sensitive to anything and everything.

Megatron loomed over me as usual. He tried incredibly hard to get a rise out of me, but unfortunately for him, I was wise enough to take a low dose of sedatives before arriving. They kept me calm at the cost of awareness. I worked in a daze, but it wasn’t as if I needed to be on my best behavior when Orion was too unsettled to even let me closer than a foot away without Megatron holding him. Orion may need to be issued ration tickets for the time being. He’s too thin and Megatron is exhausted caring for him. To my knowledge, Orion should have a sizable inheritance. As soon as he is aware enough to come and claim it, I will give it to him and he won’t need to live the way he does.

It is the least I can do. He’s entitled to his inheritance, and with Alpha Trion currently MIA, there is no point leaving a bunch of shanix and assets to rot in a vault. The banks are nearly open again. I might be able to pull some strings and give Orion access prior to his registry as a citizen, but I can’t get Megatron access when their conjunxing is unconfirmed. Slagging policies. I’m sure Megatron blames me for a lot of the issues we are dealing with globally. Primus, I wish I could show him just how chaotic things are. No matter how hard I try, files fly under my radar and sneak past the correct authorities and worm their way into legalization. I’m just one mech. I can’t do everything.

Sometimes I detest the fact that Optimus left this role for me in his will. But I know he wasn’t in his right mind at the time. It wasn’t like he trusted many of us anyway.

Orion muttered strange things. Lots of pleas to be released and all sorts of nonsense about Bumblebee being ‘their’ sparkling. I don’t give a frag about a lot of it. The arrogance is startling. Still, I got some information from him through a few pointed questions. Megatron almost punched me for it, but I asked about Optimus again. I got a scrambled answer and a field attack in response.

I don’t have all the pieces to this puzzle, but I am beginning to put things together. I know that Orion and Optimus shared a frame throughout the war due to the Matrix. I know that the Matrix seemed to have… made Optimus. I have no clue what process allowed that to happen, but that’s what I’ve gathered. Orion was locked within the Matrix throughout Optimus’s functioning, which explains why he is the way he is. They appeared to have been able to communicate, but based on what Orion has muttered, there was a severe miscommunication issue or Orion is delusional.

The way he talks about Optimus… you would think my Prime was murdering sparklings in their cradles. War did lead him to have to make some tough calls, but everyone suffered during the conflict. Orion isn’t special in that regard. The Primus forsaken slagger really seems willing to die on the hill of Optimus being the worst thing since the Quints.

Frag him.

I gave Orion a new dose of sedatives and left before I could get hit again. Orion Pax makes me angry. Far more than I care to admit. He was my friend. My closest companion before the war. But… I didn’t choose for it to be that way. Maybe my old fears are re-emerging. Having Optimus around made it impossible for me to think about my past. The circumstances of mine and Orion’s association were irrelevant. I didn’t want to be there and I would have been punished if Orion deviated, but I like to think we took comfort in one another.

Then he just had to fall for that mongrel Gladiator. I really shouldn’t have helped by giving him the train ticket to Kaon, but he was just so very broken. He had something he finally loved and I didn’t have the spark to deny him. I was trapped in the constraints of my deal, but he could enjoy himself a bit if I covered for him.

So many vorns later… that decision still haunts me. I should have stopped him. I should have refused to let him go to Kaon. My biggest fear at the time was that Alph- my sponsor, was going to kill me. Who could have imagined that the end of our entire civilization would have come about instead. I was worried about vanishing mysteriously when I should have really been paying more attention. I don’t like to think about all the times I considered going to Alpha Trion. It brings back bad memories. The war made it all seem so small.

Slag, I honestly believed I was trying to court my best friend.

I still haven’t processed that fact. How am I supposed to process that? I firmly believed that Optimus was just Orion given a new form. I thought I knew him. But now that I am Orion’s doctor and now that Optimus is gone-

I don’t think I knew either of them.

It doesn't matter anymore. I’m old and memories are difficult for me at times. I don’t want to think about any of it. I have more important things to do. I can’t allow myself to lose control. I can’t be angry with Orion. I need to stay composed. Once I put the pieces of this messed up story together, then I can decide how best to act. I don’t have enough information.

Patience. That was Optimus’s best trait. I just need to emulate him.

So long as I am patient, I will get through this. I can get the frag out of being Orion’s doctor as soon as the clinics are operational. I can get away from all of this. These slagging memories that I don’t want to recall.

═════════════════

[Assistant First Aid Report:

Everything was delivered without issue! I managed to come inside and clean up a little bit for Mr. Pax, which was nice. I got everything all picked up and I even managed to give Mr. Megatron a care package without seeming rude. At least, I hope it wasn’t rude.

However I think there is something that should come to your attention, Doctor. I think your pill dosage was a little high this time. I know mistakes happen so please don’t take offense! I was just looking at the pill case and noted a few too many in there to be healthy. I don’t think it would have killed Mr. Pax thankfully. But it would have been very painful for him. Luckily for all of us, I removed the excess pills before anything could go wrong.

I just thought you would like to know. You have some serious jitters sometimes, so if you would like, I can count out pills when you need it, Doctor.]

#maccadam #transformers prime au #transformers #two sides to a coin au #transformers prime #orion pax #two sides supplemental writing #megaop #megatron #post war cybertron #tfp ratchet #ratchet patient reports

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crguang · 1 month

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Sorry for double asking but what makes you like Zoya?? I feel like what I’m about to say is gonna get me sniped or outcasted but I don’t get the appeal of her. Like she attractive and hot but I honestly just can’t see her that way lowkey. I do admire her for wanting to change syndicate even if she knows the way isn’t through violence (which is something she’s know all her life) and is honestly willing to put her trust in this newbie, literally just woke up a week ago, chief. Cuz she sees that there’s a way forward through them for her and her people. Like it’s fascinating(?) to see her be able to look past the experience that the chief does not have and give them a chance, a footing if you will, in a world that doesn’t really want them. And literally put her life on the line and reputation too just so they can start making a difference.

Hopefully that reads coherently, honestly first time really writing down my thoughts like this in a while so hopefully it’s not a bunch of nonsense.

Tho…. I do think her an Bai Yi should sloppy, mouth open, kiss on the bike that she has. Can you imagine the soft sex they could have when Bai Yi got her out of the BR and she brought her back to her place or an hideout of some sort. Bai Yi telling her she’s an idiot while she patches up her wounds and probably even gives her bath too. After get her all cleaned and bandaged up she finally breaks down to which she’s kinda embarrassed by but doesn’t care because this woman almost fucking died because of some rando chief (I’m pretty sure they haven’t really met yet at this point) and Zoya leans towards her, pressing her forehead against hers and tell her she’s sorry and that she saw a chance for a better life for the legion, syndicate…. them.

She tells her she’ll make up for what happened before giving her a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth, Bai Yi looking at her a little stunned at the gesture but closes that gap between them that she didn’t even realize was so small and how she could feel Zoya’s hot breath on her lips. The kiss gets heated but not by too much cuz she’s doesn’t want to hurt her but Zoya tells her she’s a tough cookie, surviving being a freaking corpus for a BR. A very cocky smile on her face as looks at her with a desire she so desperately wants to show her. And Bai Yi give her a little pinch on her arm, letting out a weak laugh, telling her that she could’ve died. Zoya immediately telling her “but I didn’t did it.” Bai Yi nodding and then leaning into kiss her so fucking softly that it’s like she pressed a marshmallow to her lips or even a cloud perhaps.

And then they fuck with Zoya laying about ever so soft kisses on her skin and giving her little nibbles here and there. Making sure she could feel how much Zoya wants her NEEDS her and how much she cares for in the night.

…… okay I’m done lol hopefully that’s okay to put in your asks …. Ok bye 👋🏾 🧍🏾‍♀️🧍🏾‍♀️

-🍷

you asked why i liked zoya then answered your own question gehdbdjfn i love her for the same things you said. she’s a product of a super violent environment and she uses her power to change the city for the better. she knows new things cant be built on violence but it’s all she has and she’s still putting it to good use; her character arc was honestly amazinggg she’s been a favorite ever since. like yeah shes hot and her dick is big (i would know) but i just feel so hype whenever she’s on the screen, she’s one of those characters where they show up and you breathe a sigh of relief because you know they’re gonna win. she’s so cool !!! she’s cocky but she earned it because no one can beat her fr😭 her consciousness was being torn apart for i cant remember how long inside BR-004 and she still fought to the END! she’s sooo inspiring. chief barely did anything; zoya was the one who fought back and allowed earl/bai yi/chief to save her, if she was any weaker she would’ve turned into a corpus. there’s a lot of comfort that comes with being so strong, she makes others feel safe whenever she’s around and that’s so precious in a place like syndicate where suffering is the norm. seeing how she was treated growing up, the people she’s lost and how she turned into such a compassionate person anyway warmed my heart. character wise, she’ll always be on top, she’s a real comfort character fr— i’m literally like horo. like just know that i will gas her up every time, i’ll suck her dick every time! that’s my commander. my GOAT. she made the story click for me, i was intrigued before but when she showed up?! it was gigglefest. people said she sucked gameplay wise and GUESS WHAT. GOT HER ANYWAY. THATS MY TROPHY WIFE! she loves me so bad she came home in 2 pulls. what we have is something so real, so special and beautiful.

also yes that is definitely okay to put in my inbox i get fanfiction for free lmfaooo, bai yi is always next to zoya in some way in official art like she wants her so bad. she’s so annoying (affectionate) i still havent forgiven her for taking zoya from me though… literally stole my wife for over six months and it was never mentioned again like?;?;$:$ tbf i only just started ch.11 but stilllll— WHERE IS ZOYA. but it’s funny that you want them being soft and cute cause the bai yi/zoya stuff that i see is just them fucking nasty jdjfkgkg i havent even met bai yi (properly) in the story yet but i already love them because i know they would banter like crazy since bai’s a menace AND strong enough to hold her own against corpus!zoya so she must be super cocky too… if there’s no space for a third all i need is the tape🙂‍↕️

#sat answers #🍷 anon

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lissasmemes · 1 year

Text

𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

from taylor swift’s 2022 album midnights. feel free to change pronouns as needed!

001. lavender haze

“meet me at midnight.” “you don’t ever say too much.” “you don’t really read into my melancholia.” “i’ve been under scrutinty.” “you handle it beautifully.” “all this shit is new to me.” “i’m damned if i do.” “i’m damned if i do give a damn what people say.” “they keep asking me if i’m gonna be your bride.” “the only kinda girl they see is a one night or a wife.” “they’re bringing up my history.” “you weren’t even listening.” “get it off your chest.” “get it off my desk.”

002. maroon

“we were cleaning incense off your vinyl shelf.” “we lost track of time again.” “you were my closest friend.” “how’d we end up on the floor, anyway?” “i chose you.” “ain’t that the way shit always ends?” “i feel you, no matter what.” “i lost you.”

003. anti-hero

“i have this thing.” “i get older but just never wiser.” “all the people i’ve ghosted stand there in the room.” “i wake up screaming from dreaming.” “you got tired of my scheming.” “it’s me, i’m the problem.” “it must be exhausting.” “i’m a monster on the hill.” “one day i’ll watch as you’re leaving.” “i have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money.” “she thinks i left them in the will.” “she’s laughing up at us from hell.” “everybody agrees.”

004. snow on the beach

“i saw flecks of what could’ve been lights.” “it might just have been you.” “life is emotionally abusive.” “time can’t stop me quite like you did.” “my flight was awful, thanks for asking.” “tonight feels impossible.” “to hide that would be so dishonest.”

005. you’re on your own kid

“summer went away.” “he’s gonna notice me.” “it’s okay, we’re the best of friends.” “i hear it in your voice.” “i waited ages to see you there.” “you never cared.” “you’re on your own, kid.” “i gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this.” “the jokes weren’t funny.” “i took the money.” “make the friendship bracelets.” “you’ve got no reason to be afraid.” “you can face this.”

006. midnight rain

“he wanted it comfortable.” “i wanted that pain.” “it was paradise.” “i broke his heart cause he was nice.” “he was sunshine.” “i guess, sometimes we all get just what we wanted.” “he never thinks of me.”

007. question...?

“i remember.” “i swear that it was something.” “one thing after another.” “fucking situations, circumstances, and miscommunications.” “i just may like some explanations.” “can i ask you a question?” “what did you do?” “did you leave her house in the middle of the night?” “oh...” “did you wish you’d put up more of a fight?” “do you wish you could still touch her?” “it’s just a question.” “you’re not sure, and i don’t know.”

008. vigilante shit

“you did some bad things.” “i’m the worst of them.” “sometimes i wonder which one will be your last lie.” “they say looks can kill, and i might try.” “lately i’ve been dressing for revenge.” “i don’t start shit but i can tell you how it ends.” “don’t get sad, get even.” “she needed cold hard proof, so i gave her some.” “she looks so pretty.” “the lady simply had enough.”

009. bejewled

“i think i’ve been a little too kind.” “putting someone first only works when you’re in their top five.” “by the way, i’m going out tonight.” “when i walk in the room i can still make the whole place shimmer.” “they ask ‘do you have a man?’“ “i don’t remember.” “i polish up real nice.” “i think i’ve been too good of a girl.” “i think it’s time to teach some lessons.” “i miss you.” “i miss you but i miss sparklin.” “some guy said my aura’s moonstone.” “you can try to change my mind.” “what’s a girl gonna do?”

010. labyrinth

“it only hurts this much right now.” “breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out.” “i’ll be getting over you my whole life.” “you know how scared i am of elevators.” “it can’t last.” “uh oh.” “uh oh, i’m falling in love.” “oh no.” “oh no, i’m falling in love again.” “oh.” “oh, i’m falling in love.” “you know how much i hate that everybody just expects me to bounce back.”

011. karma

“you’re talking shit for the hell of it.” “you’re terrified to look down.” “you wouldn’t know what i mean.” “karma’s a relaxing thought.” “i’m still here.”

012. sweet nothing

“i spy with my little tired eye.” “we almost forgot it.” “they said the end is coming.” “everyone’s up to something.” “i find myself running home to your sweet nothings.” “you’re in the kitchen humming.” “this happens all the time.” “you should be doing more.” “i’m just too soft for all of it.”

013. mastermind

“once upon a time...” “you and i ended up in the same room at the same time.” “i couldn’t lose.” “what if i told you none of it was accidental?” “the first night that you saw me nothing was gonna stop me.” “nothing was gonna stop me.” “what if i told you i’m a mastermind?” “no one wanted to play with me as a little kid.” “i’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since.” “this is the first time i’ve felt the need to confess.” “‘cause i care.” “i told you none of it was accidental.” “you knew the entire time.”

#rp meme #rp prompts #rp sentence meme #rp sentence starters #rp sentence prompts #lyric starters #lyric meme #lyrics: taylor swift

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rikihasthebestsmile · 2 years

Text

➳ 004. Y’all drinking as if you’re going to die tomorrow

Yn’s p.o.v.

I’m really happy to announce that now I can handle alcohol much better than when I was in high school. So I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t an alcohol effect seeing Changbin on the stage with a microphone in his hand.

“You may know me as SpearB of 3RACHA, but what’s my name?” He shouted in the mic.

“SEO CHANGBIN” the crowd shouted.

Well, now I’m sure it’s him, thank you I guess.

“Not Oh Changbin, what’s my name?!” He said again.

“SEO CHANGBIN” the crowd shouted. And then the music started playing and two other guys came on the stage: CB97 and J.One.

“You like them?” Minho shouted in my ear, the only way to comunicate with that music.

“T-They have cool songs yeah” I said.

“They’re our friends, I mean, Changbin is basically Felix best friend and we’re all in the same friend group” he said proud.

“That’s so cool!” I said with a smile.

Hours passed and I started to not care about the fact that Changbin was up there rapping, he was very good too.

“We’re going home soon” Ryujin screamed in my ear pointing at Yeji and Hyunjin completely drunk on the dance floor.

“Okay, I’m going to take some fresh air” I said.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Riki asked.

“No it’s okay, stay where Ryujin can see you” I said going towards the back exit.

“Finally, some air” I said when I was out leaning with my back against the wall.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t know there was someone else here” a masculine voice behind me said.

“Don’t worry, come” I said with a smile, smile that dropped as soon as I saw who I just invited over: Changbin himself. I looked at him for a bit, now in the light of the street lamp I saw him better, he was more muscular than he was in high school. He was very handsome.

“Oh, Yn” he said embarrassed.

“Hi Changbin, long time no seeing eh?” I said.

“Listen Yn, I wanted to apologize for everything that happened in high school, I was so stupid back then and I didn’t realize how rude I was”

Are you apologizing for Asahi? Don’t. He’s the best thing ever happened in my life.

“Don’t worry, I forgive you and I need to apologize too, I wasn’t the best back then and I too said some things that I’m not proud of”

“You don’t need to apologize, you were just coming back to me and it’s okay…” he said, then there was some silence between us “how about we start over?”

I can’t start over even if I try because I have a mini-you who’s probably sleeping by now.

“Sure…Hi my name is Yn Nishimura” I said.

“Hi Yn, I’m Seo Changbin” he said with a smile.

Beautiful.

“I really like your song SpearB, you are a really talented rapper”

“Thank you”

“Neesan, Ryujin said that we have to go home” Riki’s voice said at the door.

“Changbin, this is my younger brother Riki, Riki this is my…friend, Seo Changbin” I said with a smile.

“Nice to meet you” they said at the same time.

“I need to go now, se you at school, Changbin” I said.

“See you” he said as me and Riki entered the bar.

003 | MASTERLIST | 005

A/N: guess who just got two female puppies!! Two Cane Corsos AHHH I love them already,,, anyway I hope you liked this chapter!

Hate’s Love taglist: @1-800-simpingcowbaby @ufoundme @phenomenalgirl9 @mchslut @inlovewithallmusic @8rach4

Permanent taglist: @kailoveskpopstuff @aishidaishi @zoeeeeeeeeee @toshijimafarms @mynameisnotlaura @meowmeowisdaname @soobin-chois @vampcharxter @phenomenalgirl9

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cuppimagines · 9 months

Text

A Jolly Odd Christmas, 004- The Ram

Merry Christmas! This wasn't the chapter I wanted to premiere on December 25th, but I still hope you guys are ready for this series to come to an end a few days from now! This chapter is less nsfw than the last one, but there will be something to make up for that in the final chapter! Hope you had a very great Christmas, and I hope you enjoy!

<- Previous Chapter | Next Chapter ->

“Mr. Claus!!! Mr. Claus!!!” Clack was waving his hands around, with you on top of his shoulders to get his attention. Not hard, not only were both him and Ruffle important guard figures, but they easily towered over all the other elves. You seemed a bit embarrassed, meeting the actual Santa that you figured was just fake all this time, and you weren’t sure what to do once he started approaching, gently nudging the crowd out the way.

For his age, Mr. Claus was extremely handsome. The way his beard perfectly framed his face, the very sleek well dressed way he presented himself. He both seemed extremely approachable yet extremely high class.

“What are two guards doing out here, having a little break yeah?” Mr. Claus asked.

“Hello sir! Sorta kinda,” Ruffle answered. “We’re so glad we ran into you. I dunno if the folks back at the factory gave you the news, but we have a bit of an issue that only you could help with.” He pointed up to you, who at this moment, was an elf with that hat on.

“Is it okay if we talk somewhere private?” Clack asked. Mr. Claus looked at the crowd, and then back to the two guards with a nod.

“I’ll clear them out for you, sir,” Ruffle gave him a salute, before going back to work bot mode, face seeming a bit more stern as he gently ushered the elves away from Mr. Claus.

“Everyone clear the way, give him some space,” he demanded of the crowd, and to that, they dispersed away from you all. Clack put you down, right in front of Mr. Claus. Oh wow…even at your current height, you could tell, this was a tall, tall man. You backed up a little, just so you could look him in the eye and you were actually…maybe just a little bit intimidating seeing him in the flesh.

“Oh you seem scared, don’t be buddy, I won’t bite,” Mr. Claus chuckled, leaning down to get a better look at you. “Now who is this one, boys?”

“Well sir, this is the uh…” Clack leaned in close to Mr. Claus to whisper in his ear. “This is the human that came here…we dunno how they did, but you’re the only person with the power to take them back…so we were going to your home to request that.” Mr. Claus raised an eyebrow, looking down at you incredulously.

“Doesn’t look too much like a human, too short, ears too pointy…”

“It’s the hat, it keeps them an elf,” Ruffle said, patting the top of your head. “Trust us, we came directly from the main office, and Mr. Cedar wouldn’t bother you with matters up there unless they were serious.”

“Please, it’s a pretty decent ways away from Christmas, people are probably worried sick about me,” you pleaded. “I wanna go home, I don’t want the people I love to be worried about me around the holidays.” Mr. Claus sighed, a soft smile appearing on his face, and he knelt down to get closer to your height.

“Alrighty then, I have just what you need, we can’t have that after all,” he smiled. “I was just having a leisurely walk out there, so I can’t exactly get you back home quick, least not with a little bit of…” he snapped his fingers, and a lovely swirl of red and white appeared starting at his feet, before blowing slowly up his body and poofing away.

“Magical assistance.” He could see the sparkle in your eyes at that rather minor show of magic, and that made the old man’s grin even wider and sweeter.

“You boys did a great job, I’ll take it from here, you go back to the factory, things are busy back there after all.”

“Yes sir!!” Clack and Ruffle both said in unison. “Buh bye! Good luck going back home!” Clack gave your head a pay, followed by Ruffle, and you couldn’t help but smile and blush. They were good fellas, pleasant if a little bit quirky. They both waved goodbye at you as they went back in the sled, and with that, you saw them vanish off into the city streets. While you waved a final goodbye once they vanished, you felt Mr. Claus’s large, warm arm wrap around your shoulders. You nearly jumped out of your skin, flinching in surprise, which only got a chuckle out of him.

“I hope you’ve been treated well so far,” he said. “I know these are less than ideal circumstances, but I’m nothing if not helpful.” Mr. Claus gently patted the small of your back to guide you down the block.

“Tell me, how did you end up here in the first place?”

“Me?” you looked up at him. “From what Mr. Cedar told me, someone's wishlist, well actually, my boyfriend’s wishlist, sent me here. Since they can’t exactly clone a person, I guess some sorta glitchy Christmas magic brought me here. I dunno, but long story short, I dunno why my ex would even want me back, and I wanna go home.”

“This ex…why did he break up with you?”

“It’s…weird to be honest. He just said he didn’t feel very dominant in the relationship and wanted that feeling, and so he moved on to another person a month after we broke up. I’m not exactly broken up about it anymore, but I didn’t realize he was. It’s been a while…”

“Quite the reason, but I would be broken up too if I left someone as cute as you were.” You were in a bit of disbelief of what you just heard. Being called cute by Mr. Claus of all people…

“You think I’m…” you were so focused on talking your feelings out that you didn’t realize where you were. The lights of the city were a bit further away, and the two of you seemed to be walking through a park path, following stones that got smaller and more scattered, further away from many folks.

“Is this really the path back? You told me you were going to uh…” you waved your fingers. “Magic us back to your place.”

“Oh I am…I most certainly am…” Mr. Claus chuckled. A less warm chuckle than before. Something more sinister. You felt something off about that…your eyebrow furrowed and you backed up away from Mr. Claus.

“Um…sir…” you muttered. “Let’s take a path through the main city instead…I’d feel more comfortable like that…”

“No no no, This is the quickest way back,” Mr. Claus grabbed your hat, taking it off your head. At that, you poofed back to your normal size, and you saw the grin on Mr. Claus’s face widened even more with glee.

“Oh perfect…quite perfect…” he purred. Something definitely felt off now, and you immediately took off into a sprint. Before you could even go very far, you were tripped, falling flat on your face in the snow, and being dragged back by some twisted gnarled black vine.

“I worked too bloody hard to bring you here just to run away again!” Mr. Claus’s voice sounded…much, much different. A more gravelly, deep cockney accent. “Since those idiots couldn’t get you back to me, I have no choice but to take you myself!” While trying to claw your way out of the grip of the vine, you saw a rock drag past you. Quickly, you grabbed it before it got too far away from your grasp, and with that, chucked the rock dead center at “Mr. Claus's” nose. You glanced up at him, and along with some blood, it was like a layer of makeup was peeled off, revealing ash gray skin underneath.

“Oh honey…” with a firm YANK, you were forced right up to this man, and lifted up by your shirt collar. “Naughty naughty naughty, throwing that stone at me! Think that’s about 3, maybe 4 whacks when we get back home!” As you struggled to get out of his grip, you saw the disguise that was Mr. Claus slowly fade away. He grew a foot in height, his skin completely turning gray, and long, goat-like horns sprouting from his head. The very sleek suit faded, instead there was an unkempt tank top, sweats, a gnarled looking straw basket, and a black fur coat that looked fancier than anything he was wearing. He was also incredibly hairy, with coarse black body hair all on his arms and poking out from his massive, burly chest. The large belly faded, and muscle only grew larger and more defined, leaving the physique of a bodybuilder, and the frightening yellow-eyed gaze of a demon. You glared at him in pure terror, and the more you saw of him the more you tried to struggle away, but he had a tough grip on you.

“K…Krampus…?” you meekly whispered

“Oh, so you do recognize me~!” the large man purred. “I thought that old man had scrubbed everything about me from the public eye, but I guess not. You’re coming with me!” Hearing that, you tried your best to kick and thrash out of his powerful grip, and you even managed to land a firm kick right at the center of his chest, but that barely even made him flinch. All that got out of him was an amused chuckle.

“No use trying to get free, I may be rusty, but I’ve been doing this sorta shit since the black plague was still a hot topic,” Krampus, like you weighed nothing, tossed you over his shoulder, and with an impressive precision, you landed in the basket. You thought you had a chance to crawl out, but the basket snapped shut, and try as you might, banging on what seemed to just be plain delicate straw did absolutely nothing.

“No…no no no!!!” You cried out, continuing to bang and thrash to get out the basket. Great, this is the third time you were forced into a container, and this really might be your last time. You were so close…this was your chance to go back home, but now you weren’t sure if you’d ever be heard from again…! It seemed to be a weird hammerspace, you couldn’t hear anything or feel any movement, so you weren’t sure where you were going, so after several long, frustrating minutes of beating and thrashing at the basket, all you could do was eventually just…slump into the basket. And you could feel tears welling up in your eyes, struggling did nothing, pleading to be let go did nothing, so all you could really do now was just…cry.

You weren’t sure how long it was, but as you burst into tears, suddenly the basket opened up, and you were yanked by your collar out of the basket. Krampus had pulled you out, an excited and happy grin on his face, but his expression immediately dropped when he saw you sobbing and hiccuping. You didn’t expect this but…he seemed nervous seeing you cry.

“Ah shit…I didn’t think this far…” he let go of you, and once he did, you grabbed him by the horns, drawing a fist back to punch him RIGHT in the nose, where you saw you scarred him. It didn’t seem to hurt him, but it caught him off guard, and he covered his face in shock.

“Let me go!! Let me out of this fuckin place right now!!” you yelled at him, pulling yourself out the straw basket. Krampus heard that, and the sympathy was replaced with rage as he went and grabbed you, tackling you to the ground with ease given his size.

“Absolutely fuckin not!! It took a lotta work to get you here!!” he roared. “If I let you go I can’t ever fuckin do this again!!”

“I don’t wanna die here! I have people who love me, I don’t wanna be eaten!!” you yelled, thrashing and trying to grab onto anything you could to pull yourself out from under him. Krampus grabbed your wrists, pinning them to your side and looking down at you. He seemed exhausted, miffed, and you could feel him become damp with sweat.

“I’m not gonna fucking eat you!! I ain’t killing ya!” he grunted. “I gave the specific request that you were sent to me alive and unharmed!!” You stopped struggling, and paused. You were baffled, looking back up at him with an expression of pure befuddlement.

“Wha- well, why am I here?” you asked. “And can you get off of me?”

“Will you run or try to hit me if I do?”

“No, I will not, I promise.” Krampus looked a bit doubtful, but nonetheless, slowly let off of you. Looking around, you took the brief time to examine the room you were in. It was a smoking room…sort of. It looked…nicer than you had thought it would. Albeit, the couch nearby was covered with claw marks, and the coffee table had a few too many empty bottles of booze strewn about, but it was still a lot nicer than expected.

“Now then…” you took a deep breath. “Tell me why you brought me here. Actually…tell me how you brought me here too!”

“That’s a lotta shit that’s gonna take a while for ya to hear, but if you want the short version-”

“I don’t.”

“-Is that…I miss humans, frankly, problem is to even interact with another human means I gotta agree with that stuffy old fuck’s new rules, and I refuse to just give out fuckin coal for the rest of my miserable existance.”

“Don’t you eat people?” you stood up, moving to sit on the couch. “Those two guys that almost kidnapped me were talking about seeing how I taste or some shit like that.”

“Yeah yeah, but I paid em so they WOULDN’T, those boys aunty would have you boiling in the cauldron before you even screamed, she’s quite the lady,” Krampus went to check one of the bottles on the coffee table, to see if any bottle had at least some liquid in it.

“Alright then, you miss humans, big whoop, why am I here then?” you scooted away from Krampus once he sat down on the couch.

“I’m lonely, yes I am the boss of an entire gang of yuletide freaks like myself, but…” he took a sip of rum. “I wanted someone who wasn’t used to this life. Someone new who was impressed with the magic of this realm, cause frankly it has gotten boring around here in the past couple hundred years, and I miss a lotta the weirdness of Earth. I miss how cute humans were, cause I don’t just EAT people.” Krampus put the bottle down, leaning back on the couch and reaching his arm across it.

“I remember all those fancy lil parades, being able to blend in amongst the folks in costumes who would scare people for fun, give me booze and meat, and hell, I remember a dame or two coming up to me all starry eyed and bubbly asking me for a night behind her father’s shed. Heh…the sex was always good…” He looked down at you, a coy grin on his face, and you just scowled and looked the other way.

“So what, I’m here just to help you remember the good ole days?” you asked. “I’m not some stray cat you found on the side of the road starving and sick. Did you really expect me to just be okay with abandoning everything I have back on earth just to what? Be your arm candy? No!” You were raising your voice, probably a mistake, but you didn’t care at this point. You were mad! This was all this guy’s fault after all!

“Oh c'mon baby, I’m not as big as ole Saint Nick over there, but I can show you a pretty decent life of luxury! We got some good stuff ‘round here after all! Way more exciting than that stuffy ole capital city!”

“I said NO!” you stood up, turning your back to Krampus. “I don’t wanna date you I don’t wanna be here I don’t wanna even look at you!” Krampus rubbed his temples, but let out a deep breath.

“Okay…I’ll play nice, I’ll play nice I promise,” he said. “The night’s still young…I still have a chance at this…” Krampus began to pace the room, and you just sighed and rolled your eyes.

“Your patience is pretty short for a guy whose time I shouldn’t even bother to entertain,” you snapped. “This is ridiculous, just take me back-”

“You are NOT going back,” Krampus growled, approaching you with a snarl on his face. “If you do, that old fuck will find out and take you back! And then I’ll be in deeper shit than I have been the past…I don’t fucking know how long!” You looked curious at that. You sensed from what Jack said prior, something was up. And you were almost curious. Maybe if you got to the bottom of this, there was a slim, slim chance Krampus would let you go and you could head home.

“Could you explain this so-called…deeper shit?” you asked. Krampus’s expression softened, and he let out an exhausted sigh.

“Oh god…where do I even start? This’ll be a long story, so how about I ask for some refreshments while you’re here?” You just nodded with a shrug, and Krampus went to grab an old rotary phone nearby. He dialed a number, sitting there tapping his foot and waiting for a response.

“Hey…my uh, my ‘guest’ is here, could you get me some things? Guess the usual is good for now, don’t keep me waiting, all that fuckin magic starved me, I’m practically skin and bones over here! Alrighty…see ya.” He hung up, turning to you with his clawed hands clasped together.

“While we wait, I can give a lil preamble,” he said. “I haven’t had a new face to complain about this in so long, maybe it’ll help let out a few more…frustrations.” Krampus sat back down on the sofa, and you reluctantly joined him. Alright, now that you were hearing him out, he seemed a bit softer. That was good…

“At the end of the day, we’re all just spirits of the winter and cold, what you humans might call fae even,” he started. “Play some of our little games, and if you don’t comply or fuck up, we take something of yours, but if you succeed, we give you something in return. In this case, or in the cases you’ve probably heard of, good behavior around the winter time rewards you with little gifts. Nothing big or fancy like the kids these days are getting. Usually it was dried fruit, a doll, some cream, maybe a scarf or two if they were good enough. Kiddies were happier with that stuff back then than now. I know for a fact if you were a kid and got a scarf, you’d be a grumpy little sunovabitch for the rest of that year.”

“I mean uh, not rea-”

“Don’t try to lie to me to look humble, baby, kids can be spoiled. Anyhow…” Krampus pulled out a cigar, grabbing a lighter from the messy coffee table to light it.

“Lotta us made a name for ourselves. Ever heard of the Yule Lads? The Yule Cat? Hans Trapp?”

“Can’t really…say I have…”

“I mean, yeah that’s fair, you wouldn’t know our names unless you’re from the places we were a lot more popular in. And even then, in those places for most, we’re simply a fairytale, nothing like the Titans we once were. Back then we could freely hop between this realm and earth whenever we pleased…but to be honest, we greatly preferred coming around when the weather was cold in parts of the world. And ole Saint Nick wasn’t the boss he was today, he was just like us…just as much as a tricky, prank pullin’ sheep stealing motherfucker like the rest of us, if a li nicer…” There was a knock at the door, and Krampus waved his free hand over at it.

“Eh…come on in!” he called out. Coming in was an elf, just like many of the other elves you’ve seen in the city prior. This one just wasn’t dressed in the bright colorful reds, greens, and whites of the others, and he certainly didn’t look like one of those two weird dwarves who took you. He was wheeling in a tray of food…mostly two big plates of very rare steak, and a bottle of whiskey, as well as a glass of water.

“Here ya are boss,” the elf said, making room on the coffee table to place it all there. You looked down at the meal, nervous to even eat it while the elf left with the cart and empty booze bottles.

“Uh…what type of meat is this…?” you asked.

“Elk, what do you think, I go around eating just whatever type of meat?” Krampus stabbed through the entire steak and started tearing at it like a hyena tearing apart meat.

“You do eat kid-”

“DID eat kids. Haven’t had one in a couple hundred years. And to be frank after that long without one I dunno if I’ll even go back. Too much hassle, which is how all this shirt started to begin with.”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to ask,” you took a sip of water. “What changed all this? What was the ultimate falling out?”

“Well…to be honest…” Krampus swallowed the entire steak in a few bites, and that made you cringe a little bit. “He’s always kept it vague these years. But…” Krampus leaned back, sighing a bit.

“Something makes me think he lost something. Dunno what, but I remember seeing him one December, poor fella was grieving nonstop for some reason, and he never, ever told me why. To be honest, that kinda fuckin hurt…we’ve bee friends for god knows how long, and now all of a sudden he’s keeping secrets from me, and next thing I know, folks can’t ever return to earth except for ONE day of the ENTIRE year and only to give presents to a buncha spoiled saps who throw tantrums if they don’t get a third game console.” You didn’t want to…you really didn’t want to feel pity for this man, but he was being honest with you. He was being rather vulnerable around someone he, for the most part, just met in person. Seems this has been on his mind for a long…long time.

“Man, I’m sorry, dunno what to say to that..” you mumbled. “But I’m sure he has a good reason. Other than uh…eating people is bad, but still.”

“I don’t need advice, you’re not some therapist or some shit,” he said. “But I hate that jolly red and white bastard, even though I don’t want to…but he overstepped things. He grew more and more powerful, and he became more and more popular than all of us, and he took advantage of that shit, and everyone who didn’t agree to his fuckin rule has just been on the fringe growing bitter and shit.” You sat there in silence, listening to him vent. You tried not to let any sympathy bubble up inside you, but now it was starting to get harder.

“When’s the last time you uh…talked to him? Face to face?”

“Pfft! Like I’m gonna do that!” he raised his arms in the air. “He’s the asshole who did a complete 180 without telling anybody!! He should come to ME to apologize! I want that big bellied bastard to grovel at my goddamn feet! And then…!” He stood up from the couch, chest puffed out. “Ohhhh and then I’d only forgive that fucking idiot if he let me give him several fuckin lashings across that way too big ass of his!” His back was turned to you, and seeing what you saw at your height, that last comment forced you to cover up a chuckle.

“Something, something stones at glass houses…” you muttered.

“What was that?” he turned around.

“Nothing-! I mean uh…well…don’t you guys live a long time? Isn’t just avoiding talking about the issue going to make things worse?”

“He should do it first so I don’t hafta,” Krampus took a big, big swig straight from the bottle of whiskey. “Stupid bastard getting famous just because he gives a buncha snot nose brats lil toys…lotta them would be better off as meat pies and winter stew…” You felt like you were talking in circles with this guy. You wanted to talk him up a bit more, but you weren’t here to give him advice, you were here to soften the deal so that maybe, just maybe he could let his guard down and you could find some time to get out of here…you noticed how much he was drinking, he might have a pretty high alcohol tolerance, but he seemed like he loved his booze…so…

“Hey big guy, you seem tense,” you pat his bicep. Not overly friendly, but to make it seem like you were more casual. Oh wow, he actually had some pretty hard arms. “Could we get a few more drinks? I know when I have a rough day at work, a nice sip or two from the weird stuff in my cabinet helps.”

“Cheers to that,” Krampus took the bottle from his lips, with it being about half empty already. “I might get a few more bottles, I’ve been working hard all day to get you back here, I’ve earned it!” He went back over to the phone, dialing that same elf.

“Bring me up a buncha bottles of booze! Don’t matter what kind, I’m taking care of myself for the night to make up for those bozos fucking things up!”

—

“And- and I’ll tell ya what- I fuckin- I think Gryla, that bitch, she’s- she’s a shit cook!” Krampus had his head in your lap, and all you could do was sit there, waiting for your moment while you forced yourself to listen to this guy’s rants. Oh when would this end…

“Bitch doesn’t season things, it’s all meat and water…!” he slurred. “And she has the gall to say I- that I’m a shit guest! Be a better fuckin chef then! 13 nephews- or 12 I think…and none…and none of them say shit to her…” You listened to him slowly drift off. He looked out of it, and you watched Krampus’s eyelids flutter close.

“Well maybe they like her…uh…” you heard some REAL deep snoring. That fast huh. Even though you watched him down several bottles, it was only now that Krampus was hammered enough to fall asleep. Oh thank goodness, finally! You very, very, agonizingly slowly pushed his head out of your lap, letting it gently and slowly fall down on the couch. Yes! Freed! Just to be extra sure, you grabbed Krampus’s fur coat, and once you put it on, it was so big that it covered most of your features. Oh god, it had a bit of a musky odor to it. This thing might’ve needed a cleaning to get this man’s scent out…

Every step you took was a very careful, delicate path to getting out of here. You weren’t sure just how light or heavy a sleeper Krampus was, but messing around with that would mean you didn’t have time to leave. And this was your only way out. The door squeaky as all hell when you opened it, so you only opened it enough to squeeze your body through, and you didn’t bother to close it before silently walking down the hall.

The looks of the hallways, it seemed like the den of some seedy 1920s mobsters. Everything was sleek, dark, and even the occasional scratch on the walls or floor seemed pretty fitting for this place. Looks like this guy lived in a manor, but it was seemingly smaller than Jack��s. And looking down the staircase, you saw the door right down there. This was easier than you thought. You had thought you’d see a servant or two walking by cleaning up, but so far nothing!

You had a hunch, that this might’ve been way too easy, but you didn’t want to stay here a second longer, and this time you wanted to find a way out of this place. You were certain people were looking for you anyway. You had gotten down the staircase, trying to make as little noise as possible while going down the creaky staircase. It was so close, the exit was getting so, so close…!

You had your hand on the door handle, prying it open, ready to sprint out of there, but then…

“You thought it’d be that easy, huh?”

Oh no…oh wait, he was awake?! You didn’t wanna turn around, you just grabbed the handle and tried to run out of there, but just as you were outside in the cold, snowy night air, you bumped into Krampus, who had materialized right in front of you as you were trying to leave. He yanked his coat off you, putting it back on, and glaring down at you, angry despite the wide grin on his face.

“I was patient with you for long enough…!” he snarled. “I thought I was giving you a deal…! A nice comfy place to live, I could satisfy you as much as you want, and I ain’t that bad looking. But no…you’re being ungrateful, and I don’t wanna have to appease you! So if you’re not gonna accept my offer!” He grabbed you, picking you up off the ground. This time, you barely even struggled, as you were outright terrified as Krampus lost his patience.

“I’ll take you to the boys and make you into a perfect little meat pie…!” Krampus was ready to pull you back inside, but both of you noticed the bright lights of someone riding up to the mansion. The gates opened, but it seemed more like they were forced opened from the way they SLAMMED. You saw a sled, pulled by several reindeer, and a man walked out of it. Krampus forced you to hide behind him, looking rather nervous as you saw Saint Nicholas…the REAL one hopefully, walk down the path of the mansion, with a stern, cold expression on his face. He looked to you behind Krampus, then he looked to Krampus, who had a much more nervous, sheepish grin on his face.

“Come with me,” he said. “Both of you. We need to have a talk.”

#cuppimagines #nsft #nsft text #a jolly odd christmas

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paintedscales · 11 months

Text

004. Qerel

Coming a little more out of her shell, Nomin starts to make more friends within the Sagahl Iloh, starting with a boy named Jajiradai and his younger brother, Odchigen. While having wandered off to play, their activities are interrupted by a fearsome roar. They soon discover that their migratory site is quite close to that of the Qerel.

Word Count: 5,685

Steppe by Steppe Chapter List

Nomin had been happy with the new games that were gifted to her, and she even made an effort to ask if she could play khorol with Bayarmaa and Esenaij whenever they were all available. True to her word, Bayarmaa started making a doll out of some leftover pine. Since Nomin came to the decision that she wanted a toy of a fierce baras, Bayarmaa worked on carving out the various body parts and getting them measured out to make sure everything was even.

Once Bayarmaa started painting her work, Nomin sat with her and painted along on some loose vellum. She showed diligence in starting to draw and paint the plants she had been taught about. So far, one of her favorites had been the golden safflowers that were shown to her and had even been used to make up some of the pigmentation of the paints that she was given the okay to use.

As soon as the toy baras was fastened together with some of the brass rings and declared finished, Nomin often kept it safe and out of harm's way with her other toys. She cherished it greatly, making sure that she always put it back up on the shelf when she was finished playing with it or before she was to sleep. After all, the baras was made specifically for her. It was special. It had also been a good ice breaker for getting to know the other children around the Sagahl Iloh when Nomin finally gathered up the courage to go out and mingle with others outside of Bayarmaa and Esenaij.

Nomin steadily got acquainted with the other children within the site. The first that approached her was a boy by the name of Jajiradai, and his younger brother, Odchigen, who was the same amount of summers as Nomin. They invited her to come with them to play some games a small ways outside the iloh.

As they walked, Jajiradai claimed that he wanted to get to know Nomin, ‘as was his duty as the eldest among the children.' Truth be told, Nomin was rather glad that he had taken the initiative. It was heartening, and did much in the way of assuaging her uncertainty of approaching the others right away. Not to mention that it had been more than reassuring in the sense that he paid no mind to the coloration of her scales.

“Miss Bayarmaa made that for you?” asked Jajiradai after Nomin had introduced her baras toy to him. He and Nomin had been working on making a stone outline for a pretend ger for them all to play in.

She nodded with a smile, looking down at the wooden figure. “Bayarmaa said she’d make me any kind of toy that I wanted when we went to Reunion. I watched her make it and paint it!”

“She always fixed up our broken toys and made some new ones for us if we lost any,” Jajiradai said, leaning down to pick up a stone for the circle they were making. Laying it down to fill a gap within the circle, he clapped his hands to rid them of any dirt and looked over at Nomin. "So are you gonna live with Miss Bayarmaa and Mister Esenaij for good, then?"

"I don’t know…" Nomin gazed up at the clear blue sky in thought, humming slowly as she did. "I do know that I want to learn what I can before I start wandering the Steppe on my own!"

"Whaaat? Without a tribe?" Jajiradai regarded Nomin with some disbelief and skepticism as he picked up and placed another rock. "I mean, I guess others have gone out on the Steppe all alone. But those are usually the Guardians of Chakha. Are you going to become a Guardian of Chakha?"

“No…I want to see and know the Steppe…” Nomin then grinned in Jajiradai's direction as she reaffirmed her initial desire regarding her decision. "I want to be a child of the Steppe! That's what I decided. And not like the Guardians of Chakha. I want to learn from all kinds of tribes out there. See what it's like since I didn't learn anything that wasn't 'useful' to the Tumet."

"Oh right…that's the tribe you're originally from… My parents mentioned something about that, but I didn’t remember what tribe they originally said," Jajiradai went around and fixed the circle so that it had no major gaps to it. He then waved to his younger brother, Odchigen, to come over. However, he continued to speak with Nomin; “do you at least like the Sagahl so far?”

“It's been really nice being here with everyone. I miss having meat, though…” Nomin admitted after a couple moments to think about it. “Bayarmaa and Esenaij told me that you eat vilekin since you don't eat beastkin.”

Nomin made a face after she had stated as much, and Jajiradai chortled to himself, bringing a hand up to hide his amusement. "They're really not that bad. I'm guessing Mister Esenaij hasn't brought any vilekin back so you could try something that's more of a Sagahli specialty?"

Nomin shook her head in response.

"Maybe you can warm up to vilekin by trying some that others like the most. My favorite kind of vilekin are shuvuukhai! They're the big vilekin with the green carapaces and glass-like wings. My mother makes paint out of their parts, and I know one of her friends makes jewelry from them!" Jajiradai said, looking in Nomin’s direction. He had been ready to expound upon his feelings toward vilekin until a loud, bestial roar cut through the air and made all three of them jump then look up and around for whatever had made the noise.

Jajiradai gripped the handle of his blade that had been tucked away at his belt, and drew it. He held it close and firm. While it had been nowhere near as impressive as a proper sword, the blade was large enough for him to wield comfortably.

Meanwhile, Nomin also pulled out her dagger, her heart thumping in her chest. She never once had the opportunity to fight other creatures that roamed the Steppe; she had instead always been relatively sheltered. Training to fight alongside the Tumeti warriors would have come after the naming ceremony, after all.

"Stay behind me," Jajiradai instructed, having placed himself protectively in front of both Odchigen and Nomin. His eyes were locked in the direction the roar had come from, though the hills obscured their vision of anything past them. Nevertheless, Jajiradai slowly started walking forward, keeping himself low to the ground as he started ascending the nearest hill to look at what was going on past it. Nomin followed suit -- mostly out of curiosity after seeing someone else take the lead.

Reaching the top of the hill, Nomin hunkered down next to Jajiradai and looked around briefly. There was nothing that caught her attention…not right away at any rate. Then, not too long after, a pained bellow rattled Nomin to her bones before her eyes desperately scanned the area for a trace of anything out of the ordinary visually. That was when she finally looked in the correct direction and saw a girl that looked no older than Jajiradai who was wielding a spear tipped with bloodied steel.

Before this unknown girl was a tiger, the orange of its coat streaked with brilliant scarlet from where it had been wounded. Behind the girl was a horse, alert and pacing back and forth in an unnerved trot.

The tiger was poised defensively, its ears pinned back as it snarled. As for the girl, she held her spear firm, and with a definitive thrust, skewered the tiger straight through its neck. The tiger seized and flailed with a desperate groan as it fell to the ground before it finally went limp.

The girl pushed her weight into her weapon before she then violently ripped it from the predator's visage. She tossed the spear to the ground and brought her fingers close to her mouth to whistle for her horse before pausing. Her attention went elsewhere as she became more attentive to her surroundings. She scanned the area before she looked directly in Nomin and Jajiradai's direction.

Nomin’s heart leapt into her throat at being discovered, and she shimmied down past the crest of the hill while Jajiradai remained looking out at the girl. Watching him, Nomin observed as he kept his attention on the girl and her kill. She then looked over to where Odchigen remained, a little further down the hill from them. Odchigen decided to keep to his brother's instruction and stay behind him.

“Enjoy the show?” Nomin heard the girl shout in their direction.

Edging back up in order to peer over the hill, Nomin looked at the tiger-slayer. She had her hands thrown out at either side of her, a wide grin upon her face, and a general cocky expression overall. It was clear that she was proud of her kill -- her trophy that laid lifeless now behind her.

"Let it be known that it was I, Cotota of Qerel, who slayed her first tiger and passed her coming of age trial today!" The girl laughed with a sense of triumph, her hands curling into loose fists before she placed them upon her hips. She reaffirmed her gaze upon Jajiradai and Nomin, her smirk remaining ever present before she barked at them: "well!? Don't just sit up there watching me! Help me get this thing taken care of!"

Cotota turned toward the tiger and reached for a hidden blade on her person. Kneeling by the tiger as she plucked the blade out, she plunged it deep into the tiger’s neck and started cutting away at it.

Nomin slowly got back up on her feet. She was curious about Cotota and what exactly would drive her to stand toe to toe with such a fearsome enemy; it would have been a feat that would make many warriors green with envy. She felt no malice nor animosity from Cotota when she spoke to them, which compelled Nomin to want to descend the hill to approach her. Before she could start walking down the hill to speak with Cotota, however, Nomin was stopped by Jajiradai who grabbed her arm. When she looked at him, she noticed his concerned expression.

“There’s no telling how dangerous she is…” Jajiradai warned. “She did just slay that tiger, after all… Such acts, unless made in self-defense, aren't the Sagahli way. We should go back to the iloh and just leave her to her own devices."

"But she's all by herself…" Nomin said, glancing back down at Cotota. She had been hacking away at the tiger's neck, severing its head from the rest of its body. When Nomin took another look around, she really saw no one else other than Cotota and her horse. "I guess if you get help, the adults would be better suited for helping her with taking care of the tiger, though…"

Jajiradai's mouth fell agape.

"There's no way other members of the Sagahl would help her with the tiger! Not unless it was to bury it and give its body back to the star…" Jajiradai let go of Nomin’s arm, feeling her no longer leaning into descending the hill.

"Oh… You're Sagahli kids, then?" Cotota loudly spoke up. It seemed Jajiradai's outburst had been loud enough for her to hear. "I guess you don't have to help. But if you could, that'd be really nice! The Qerel Iloh isn't too far away from here, so as long as I have my horse, I can probably manage!"

"Hm…do you know anything about the Qerel, Jajiradai?" Nomin asked, looking at him while putting her dagger away. It felt as if there were no immediate threat -- not with the tiger slain and all.

"Ah, well…" Jajiradai paused, pushing himself up onto his feet. He hesitated, glancing in Cotota's direction before sheathing his own blade. "I…I don't know that much about them… Qereli traders at Reunion usually trade leather and bone goods, though. That's why we usually don't trade with the Qerel. We make our tools, clothes, food, and all kinds of other stuff from plants, ore, rocks, and vilekin."

Nomin shrugged in response, mostly to display her ambivalence. She then turned back to look at Cotota and called down to her, "what do you need help with?"

"Need to bring it-" Cotota jabbed a finger at the tiger, "-back to my tribe! Show them I've overcome my coming of age trial!"

Nomin brought a finger to her chin in thought, consideration evident on her face. "Can't you just bring back a part of it as proof?"

Cotota paused, looking in mild bewilderment in Nomin's direction. She then threw her dagger down, blade sinking a couple ilms into the ground. "The whole tiger is my proof! I need it so that I can make my own warrior's armor from it! It's important that I kill and take it back to use every part of it as part of my trial!"

Trial…

There was that word again, and there was Cotota down the hill, reminding Nomin somewhat of herself. It was interesting to see someone else going through a trial of their own. The only difference was that Nomin felt a small ache in her chest, seeing how vastly different their two trials were to achieve what was basically the same thing: a place within their tribe. The confirmation of being 'worthy.'

"... Shouldn't there be other people with you to help bring it back? If this is the trial and you know you can't carry it on your own, why aren't there more people to at least help out?" Jajiradai asked. Odchigen had gotten up and climbed the hill to stand next to his older brother. All the while, Cotota fell silent, her attention returned to the tiger so that she might finish hacking off its head.

Silence hung thick in the air, Cotota hesitating on answering Jajiradai's question while she worked.

The question had been a valid one, the more Nomin thought about it. Tigers were large and had a lot of heavy meat on them -- it would only make sense to have more people overseeing the trial so that they could work to bring it back. Not only that, but it would have made even more sense to have had a wain or two horses whose saddles the tiger could have ropes attached to so that it could be dragged back at the very minimum.

So why did Cotota work alone…?

“It’s not like we can help her anyway…” Jajiradai said in a quieter tone, folding his arms over his chest with a huff. His voice had pulled Nomin from her thoughts as she then nodded in response; she had come to that very conclusion as well. “That tiger’s stink will draw other predators back here, though. I don’t want the other Sagahl to be placed in danger because she can’t get that thing out of here fast enough.”

“I can run and tell mama and papa…?” Odchigen spoke up, his voice uncertain.

"Yea, probably best to tell someone after all…" Jajiradai sighed after having more time to think about the situation. He then went over to Odchigen and continued, "I'll go back to the iloh with you, alright? At least so mother and father don't fret as to why you returned alone."

After Odchigen nodded and voiced his acknowledgement, Jajiradai turned his attention to Nomin. "You should come back with us. I don't feel comfortable leaving you out here on your own, too…"

"I'll stay and help with what I can… I don't think Cotota is dangerous. A-and if she is…!" Nomin brought her hand to the handle of her dagger, an air of confidence swelling around her. "I can fend for myself!"

"You're certain? You trust that Qereli girl?" Jajiradai pursed his lips, scrutinizing Nomin and gaging her bodily response as he awaited a verbal one.

"As much as she would trust in us to help her, sure!" Nomin replied.

At this claim, Jajiradai regarded Nomin with some level of incredulity before he looked around and then shrugged in slight defeat. Shaking his head, he relented, "alright. Probably good to have someone keeping an eye on this Cotota anyway. I doubt she'd even get far if she's serious about bringing the tiger back to her people, but making sure she isn’t up to no good would probably be for the best."

An uncontrollable grin spread across Nomin’s face as she skipped a little ways down the hill and waved to see both Jajiradai and Odchigen off. Once they had started on their way, Nomin made her way toward Cotota, keeping an eye on her to make sure that she was not going to attempt anything. The closer and closer that Nomin got, the more that she could see that Cotota had gotten the tiger’s severed head wrapped up in some cloth, its blood having soaked through to a blossom.

Hearing Nomin approach, Cotota turned toward her, wrapped head tucked under her arm. A smirk found itself upon her lips as she addressed Nomin: "well, well! At least one of you decided to come down here. I was wondering if I had to assure you that I wouldn't run you through with my horns or not."

Nomin looked at Cotota's horns a little more closely after her jestful quip. The horns that adorned her would have been poor skewers to have said the least -- what with them starting to take shape into more thick and bulky horns as she grew from adolescence to adulthood. Though, it was not as if Nomin’s puny horns would have fared any better, that was for sure.

On the same note, it seemed that Cotota was also looking Nomin over.

"So…where'd your friends wander off to?" Cotota asked.

"Back to the iloh. Maybe the adults can help you better…" Nomin leaned over and looked at what was left of the tiger while clutching her wooden baras toy close.

Seeing the tiger carcass up close and having a refresher on just how large a tiger was compared to her, or even just other auri people, had really solidified Jajriadai’s reasoning on questioning Cotota’s being out there on her own. Nomin was surprised that Cotota seemed to have no wounds to show for her efforts, all things considered. So, settling back on her feet, Nomin asked, “so why are you out here on your own? Are you supposed to take the tiger back yourself?”

“Well…no…” Cotota finally admitted after a moment of consideration. She whistled lowly to call her horse over before getting the tiger head secured onto her saddle. Shrugging after making sure it would not fall, Cotota then went on to say: “I just…needed to do this. So that my mother and father can be proud to have me as part of the tribe.”

“Is it really a trial that you have to do?”

“It is.” Cotota chewed on her lower lip before she returned to the rest of the tiger carcass.

Nomin grew pensive for a moment. She thought back to her own trial. Sure, she was meant to do it on her own -- as in free herself -- but she was far from alone for the most part. With that in mind, she then asked: “are you supposed to do it on your own?”

Cotota hesitated, frowning as she looked back at Nomin.

“... Yes and no…” Cotota knelt down on the ground. Her tone had come down from being self-assured and confident; instead it had become more grounded, and even sincere. “The slaying of the beast is done on my own. I would say I fair exceeded my own expectations. Surely, I would have fair exceeded my parents’ expectations as well were they here to have overseen my hunt.”

“Do people of your tribe normally watch over when others do their trial?” The idea was foreign to Nomin, though her trial expected children of age to be able to fend for themselves. Any that were unable to break free of their bonds would have just been a hindrance to the Tumet as a whole.

"Um…y-yeah…" Cotota's hesitant response made Nomin frown slightly as she held her baras toy close.

"So why are you all alone? Do you really pass your trial if no one's here to see it for themselves?" Nomin's questions bubbled forth, her curiosity getting the best of her at that moment.

"I…" Cotota furrowed her brow and then looked down at Nomin. Cotota had been taller by at least half a fulm, give or take. Placing her hands on her hips, a huff fell from her lips. "You sure do ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

“I guess.” Nomin shrugged.

Sighing and then falling to a sitting position, Cotota ran a hand through her hair, pushing her bangs from her face. Shaking her head, she let out another sigh, this one more resigned. Looking back over at Nomin, Cotota let out a scoff and finally went on to say: “... I didn’t pass my first trial. The tiger would have cut me down if my mother didn’t step in and strike it down before it mauled me.”

Walking forward, Nomin sat down next to Cotota, nestling her baras toy upon her lap. They sat in silence for a bit. For Nomin, she was not quite sure how to respond…not really. Though it seemed this silence allowed Cotota to feel a little more comfortable speaking at the very least, as she went on to talk more on her experience and feelings. “It was a couple summers ago, when I was ten and three summers that I attempted my first coming of age trial. I don’t think I’d ever seen my father look so disappointed with me after mother saved me."

Cotota's expression grew distant, a melancholic smile finding its way upon her lips. "I guess I get it. He taught me a lot in the way of combat alongside my mother.”

“... Your parents taught you how to fight?” Nomin asked, glancing over.

There was a brief pause before Cotota shifted and looked over at Nomin. Her expression had become refocused as it also twisted into a form of disbelief. “Yours didn’t?”

Nomin shook her head.

“Huh…” Cotota leaned back on one of her hands. “I would have thought maybe at least a bow, or something. Nothing? Really?”

Nomin shook her head again.

“Damn…do the Sagahl really just forage around for plants and the like? I mean…I know you all just eat grain, and fruits, and vegetables, or whatever, but not being taught to fight on the Steppe? That just seems…weird.” Cotota’s words were clumsy as she attempted wrapping her head around the answers she had received.

"Well…they do hunt. Esenaij knows how to use a bow…" Nomin replied, thinking about what she had been able to see for herself.

"Is that your brother?"

"Mm-mm…just someone I live with for now…"

Cotota's brow quirked at that before she let out another, albeit pensive, "huh…"

"I grew up with the Tumet," Nomin revealed for the second time that day. "They don't teach us how to fight -- not properly -- until after our trial."

"Oh…" Cotota hummed. Then, not long after, she went, "oh…"

Nomin tilted her head in response, her expression becoming inquisitive. Meanwhile, Cotota had placed a hand over her eyes with her realization. She then dropped her hand back down onto the ground after a moment and returned her gaze to Nomin.

"Sorry… I just feel silly complaining about my trial when…" Cotota trailed off for a moment as her gaze became distant once more. "I can't even imagine what you had to go through only to end up with a different tribe altogether."

"It's okay…" Nomin looked down at her baras toy, a slight shrug to accompany her words. She then smiled to herself. "I like it with the Sagahl at the moment. But once I’m a little older, I’m gonna travel all over the Steppe!”

“Yeah?” Cotota chuckled, looking out to the hills where Nomin and the others had been prior. “That actually sounds kind of fun. Maybe I should do the same thing… You know…once I’ve gotten back to my tribe and have shown them what I accomplished today.”

The two girls sat in silence for what felt like a long time, simply allowing the gentle breeze of the Steppe to be their additional company. Cotota's horse grazed nearby, occasionally sighing as it did. Idle banter was shared, and before long, Nomin perked up once she heard Jajiradai's voice from beyond the hill, directing others where he had been with her and Odchigen. The adults were seen first climbing over the hill, and then Jajiradai poked up soon after. Odchigen was nowhere to have been seen -- likely having stayed back with the rest of the Sagahl.

Nomin lifted her hand and waved excitedly once she recognized Esenaij’s figure next to who she guessed were Jajiradai's mother and father. She stood, bouncing on feet excitedly. Esenaij pulled his wain behind him, and when he looked in Nomin's direction, he seemed to have let out an exasperated sigh.

"That's Esenaij!" Nomin said, a hint of pride in her tone as she pointed him out to Cotota. A low 'oh…' came from her as she also got herself stood up.

The adults helped Cotota get the tiger in Esenaij’s wain with some difficulty, his expression holding some sense of disapproval at having the dead, headless beastkin in his wain. Of course, Cotota apologized profusely for the trouble, and thanked all the Sagahl that were there for their help. Though it was clear that it was not an ideal situation for the Sagahl to help in this endeavor, they did reluctantly agree it was for the best to get the corpse moved, as well as take this time to help as a show of good faith toward the Qerel -- especially if they were this close to one another for their respective migratory periods.

The trip to the Qerel Iloh felt short, though it was mostly because Nomin was able to speak with Jajiradai, Cotota, and Esenaij about a number of things as she and Jajiradai sat in the bed of the wain with the tiger, and Cotota’s horse pulled it. Nomin spoke of unimportant things, daily things, common questions that were just itching in her brain… All up until they arrived at the iloh and were greeted with some guarded tones from the Qereli warriors posted as watch to protect the rest of the tribe.

Thankfully, Cotota was quick to assuage any fears or aggression, explaining the situation briefly to her tribespeople. Though, Nomin noted more the way that Cotota’s earlier bravado had turned into sheepish meekness as the Qerel were quick to address and call her parents’ attention to her. Nomin watched as Cotota shrank once her parents arrived, her tail drooping and tucking closer to her body as she drew her hands together and looked down at the ground.

“I…um…” Cotota started, refusing to look up. She instead glanced back at the wain, toward Nomin and Jajiradai. “I, er… I came back from a hunt, and I…I…” she swallowed. “I felled a tiger on my own.”

Nomin felt compelled to look at Cotota’s parents, watching them as her father folded his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes, and how her mother turned her steeled gaze in the Sagahl’s direction. The incredulousness from both of Cotota's parents was palpable. Nomin could feel it deep down within the pits of her stomach; they did not believe her that she had slain the tiger on her own.

“You told us you were setting out to go spearfishing, yet you recklessly went out to chase a tiger on your own?” Cotota’s father asked, glaring down at her. “Not only that, but apparently petitioned the aid and watchful eye of the Sagahl besides. You've brought enough shame to our tribe, and yet you have the audacity to return to us like…like this?”

“She did it on her own!” Nomin piped up defensively, her little tail twitching with rising anger as she leaned forward on the wain's railing. Her brow was set, and she braced herself. “I saw her myself with Jajiradai! She cut the tiger down on her own! She was brave and fast and strong and she defeated the tiger all by herself!”

“Nomin…” Esenaij’s tone was terse. He had no desire to be embroiled in this family matter, though with how his own jaw had been set, he had more frustration with Cotota's parents' response toward her.

Esenaij cleared his throat after a brief moment, calling attention to himself. Walking next to the wain close to where Nomin perched herself, he hardened his gaze in Cotota's father's direction. “Forgive her, she was adopted into the Sagahl not long ago. I know not how true she speaks, for we were only notified of the tiger and its location after a couple of our own children came back to our site.”

Both of Cotota's parents looked at Esenaij. The mother's jaw was set in an effort to bite her tongue. However, the father furrowed his brow a little deeper. A frustrated sigh was expelled through his nostrils before he finally replied: "it may have been hasty for me to presume you foragers had a hand in helping her."

Nomin had picked up on the way Cotota's father had spat the word 'foragers' when addressing Esenaij. Her tail twitched again as she tightened her grip on the wain railing.

"Father, please…" Cotota spoke up. Her excitement of bringing back the tiger had faded away completely. It was more than clear that this was not the welcome she had been expecting. "The Sagahl had nothing to do with my decision to do this, nor did I petition for their aid. The…the hunt simply led me close to their site. I…I wasn't aware how close to them I had chased the tiger. I didn’t even know they were there. I would have never tried to chase it toward them on purpo--"

"What you did was more than reckless," Cotota's mother firmly said, cutting her off. "Not only did you decide to take on a hunt for a tiger, you did it without anyone's knowledge, and you endangered a neighboring tribe. What are we even to do with you, Cotota?"

"I just…I thought if I did this on my own, then maybe I--"

“There is a reason we oversee trials the way we do,” Cotota’s father interjected with a heavy sigh. He then looked over toward the wain and looked at the tiger’s corpse. He then instructed the nearby Qerel post to help take it off the Sagahl’s hands. While they filed away to do just that, Cotota’s father looked back at Esenaij and Jajiradai’s parents. “I do appreciate you seeing our daughter back safely. Thank you.”

He then reached out and firmly pushed Cotota forward. Stiffly, he said to her: “well, go on. Thank them, and apologize for the trouble you’ve caused.”

“That’s really not necess--” Jajiradai’s mother started, frowning.

“If she is to learn not to be a burden upon our family or tribe, she must learn humility. Maybe she’ll learn that she cannot deliberately and carelessly break rules that we have set in place.”

Slowly, Cotota walked a couple steps forward and bowed deeply before the rest of the Sagahl. She kept her eyes locked on anything but making eye contact with anyone else. Nomin watched with a frown, her attention going to Jajiradai, who seemed to share the same worried sentiments as she regarding this display.

“I…I’m sorry for all the trouble and for…for being a burden upon you…” Cotota said, fighting off the warble to her tone. “It was…it was wrong of me to have put any of you in potential danger. I hope that you can forgive me.”

There was silence for a long time, Cotota holding her bow all the while as her hands balled into nervous fists at hearing nothing in response. It was Jajiradai’s father who spoke up after some time, offering a sheepish and reassuring smile; “just do what you can to stay safer in the future. You're lucky our children came back and told us about what they saw.”

“R-Right…thank you as well, children of Sagahl…for informing those more responsible than I…” Cotota added to her statement.

After a few more tense moments, Cotota was instructed to go back to her family’s ger. She left all while keeping her face mostly hidden away from the others -- something that made Nomin silently sigh to herself with a sense of empathy. Little else was shared between the Sagahl and the Qerel aside from passing thanks and instruction to get the tiger carcass taken care of properly for the Qereli people. Once that had all been squared away, Esenaij got his wain situated with both Nomin and Jajiradai in the back, and the Sagahl made their way back to the location of their current site.

“Esenaij…?” Nomin started once they traveled a ways away from the Qerel Iloh.

Esenaij grunted in acknowledgement, prompting her to continue.

“Will Cotota be okay?”

For a moment, Esenaij slowly looked over his shoulder before reaffirming his gaze before himself.

“I don’t have an answer for you…” Esenaij replied. “She is not of our tribe, so it’s hard for me to even begin to tell you what may become of her.”

Frowning further, Nomin settled in the back of the wain next to Jajiradai. She looked down at the wooden baras toy in her possession, her thoughts going back to the tiger. Recalling how Cotota slayed the tiger filled her with a little hope. After all, if she were strong enough to take down a tiger like that, surely she would have been able to get back up on her own feet and walk ever onward. That was what Nomin chose to believe.

#ffxiv #ffxiv writing #my writing #ffxiv oc #oc: nomin tal kheeriin #oc: bayarmaa sagahl #oc: jajiradai sagahl #oc: odchigen sagahl #oc: cotota qerel #oc: esenaij sagahl #ffxiv au ra #au ra xaela #xaela headcanons #xaela qerel #NTK:Chronicles

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