#*just* got it today and like i might as well allow my pipes to explode | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hellothere-generalangsty · 3 years ago

Note

If ur open to requests could u do how the members of the bad batch would react to Reader having lots of scars and being insecure about them? I know it’s kind of a heavy topic though so if ur not up to it that’s totally ok!

Hi anon, thank you for the ask! I am indeed open for requests, and if anyone is interested in making one, you can check our this post!

You did well sending this my way; even though they sometimes carry painful reminder, scars are not something to be ashamed of - I think. They play a part in telling your story; wether it be about your clumsiness or battles you fought against someone else or yourself.

I think that's the mindset the boys would have regarding scars - especially since three of them have visible ones.

It can be read as either platonic or romantic, up to you!

TW: scars, mention of self-harm, mention of accidents and surgeries(bad fall, fractured bones, burns), mention of pain and blood, clumsiness, you being insecure and blaming yourself on some occasions for your scars, stabbing and training going a bit wrong

Hunter: clumsiness gone wrong

It's no secret to Hunter that you're very clumsy, he saw you tripping on your feet and dropping mugs and datapads more than any other memeberof the Batch ever did

But he didn't expected you to be that clumsy

"Who did that to you?!" he asked as you took of shirt, revealing barely healed stab wounds and burns

"Uh... I-I did" you barely confessed, looking down. "I tried to train and it went... Well, not so good. "

He came closer to take a look, his fingers stopping a few centimeters aways from your skin, and you couldn't look away, afraid of the contact he could make

You grabbed the closest top you could find and hurried to put it on, hoping for Hunter to drop it, but he didn't

"How did you stab yourself? "

"Hunter, that's not important. It's healed, it's hidden, let's not talk about it anymore." And you left before he could think of an answer

He didn't brought the topic back, until you trained with him, and managed to catch the blade instead of the handle of his knife

"I got it." you told him, trying to keep him there, but he followed you to the fresher and took care of cleaning the wound

"It happens. To the best of us."

You barely chuckled, thinking of all the scars you got because your body Moved faster than your brain, because you couldn't double check were you were going, because you had to get them for stupid reasons instead of cool ones

"I don't think you own this one to knocking your head over a pipe, do you?" you asked as you pointed to his scar above his left brow, and he smiled

"No, I don't. But this one," he took of his arm plate and rolled his sleep up to show a scarred patch of skin on his elbow, "I own it to the corner of our table on Kamino."

"And I have one on my chest- don't tell anyone about it okay?" he caught your eyes with a false sense of seriousness that had you nodding in amusement

"Knife training. I told everyone someone tried to stab me; just never told them who it was you know."

Your eyes widened, but the spark quickly faded away as you realised that it was almost impossible for him to stab himself. That was your level of stupidity, not his

"You don't have to lie to me you know. I know I'm clumsy, it's just... I could have avoided all of it but..."

You shrugged, and Hunter allowed himself to grab your shoulder, firm but nice in his hold

"You got these because you trained. Or because you tripped, or because you didn't look twice before you grabbed something. That's who you are and there's no shame in that. "

You rolled your eyes, but his words were soothing you still

When he was done patching up your hand, he gave it a light kiss and led you out of the refresher

"Careful where you put your feet, little warrior." He gently teased you, and knowing that Hunter - Hunter - still saw you the same - he called you a warrior, even through your clumsiness, warmed your heart

Wrecker: injuries

He’s playful and always find ridiculous stories behind his scars, stories he tells everyone asking him, because being clumsy doesn’t take the cool away and he wants to prove it to you

Wrecker wouldn't see the problem at first; he quickly learned to love and be proud of his scar, even if it was the consequence of a mission gone wrong

So when he sees you trying to hide the scars running down your neck and under your shirt with cheap space makeup and a scarf, he asks you why you'd do this

"I don't like them. They're ugly, and they make me feel ugly. They shouldn't be there."

He'd grab your hand, gentle, and would ask you to stop for a minute

"You're not ugly", he'd try to confort you, but you would answer with "that's not how I feel, Wrecker" and though the words are spit to his face, he doesn't feel hurt by them

Your shiny eyes, on the other hand, feel like a stab in his heart; and he asks you to sit with him for a minute, just a minute and he'll leave you be if you really want that

So you sit, reluctant, expecting something along the lines of "don't cry, you're beautiful anyway" blah blah

But Wrecker grabs your hand and gently out it on his face, more precisely on his scarred cheek

"First mission," he starts, "we were sent on a Separatist base to blow some stuff up; the usual you know. A generator exploded next to me. "

He's speaking softly, his tone surprisingly low compared to his loud usual self

"It took some time to get used to it - mostly the blind eye and the weakened hearing - but look at me now."

And his smile is so genuine, so caring that you can't help but feel a pinch in your heart

You feel bad about it, because you called yourself ugly and now you realise he might believe you find him ugly too

"I hope it doesn't sound weird, but... You look good with the scar." You try, and the squeeze around your hand comforts you some more

"I was thinking the same about you. Seems like we could be scar- buddies, what d'ya think?"

You appreciate his effort; you truly do; but you know it will take a while before you can look at the long trails on your skin and realise they don't take away any of your beauty or your worth

"Sounds good to me."

It takes you some time to abandon the scarf you always wear, but you eventually do and Wrecker gives you the biggest, proudest smile ever

He tells you you look like a badass and call you "scar-bud" and you can't help but feel good about it

You stopped buying the cheap space makeup; or at least you don't use it to cover up the scars anymore

One day while you're eating with Wrecker, you tell him the story behind them; it's not an easy one but he's here to support you anyway

Tech: self- harm

It get easier to accept them once you've opened up about their story - and Wrecker's nickname for you plays its role too

Tech is a man of reason and logic, so when he notices your arms always covered up, even in very warm climates; and the way you flinch every time something or someone tries to grab your wrist, he deduced you were hiding something

So one day, as the team was celebrating another victory before flying back to Kamino, he pulled you apart and confronted you about it

"What's about your arms, really? "

He takes notice of your uncomfortable look, the way you twist your sleeves to keep them tight against your skin

"Nothing, it's just..."

You're not sure about that; you're scared he might mock or scold you; and though you stopped harming yourself long ago, you didn't need someone to make you feel even more ashamed of your past actions

"Nothing important."

"It's important enough for you to keep it secret." He tells you, and for a second you hate the way he's so curious about everything and anything

"Let's just say we all fought battles in the past, and some of them are not to be proud of."

He frowns a bit, but when the realisation hits him, his eyes widens and he let out a soft "oh"

"Yeah, oh." You try to laugh it off, your heart already filled with the painful reminder that you did that to yourself

But Tech doesn't see it this way; he offers a hand to you, and you look at it for a moment, unsure about his intention

"I won't hurt you, I promise"

You reluctantly let go of your sleeves and he grabs your wrist; you almost flinch when you feel the tissue coming up your arm, revealing your scarred skin

You don't even look at it, it's not something you want to remember; rather you want to bury it far from you

You jolt when you feel a light touch against your arm; and another, and another...

When you dare turning your head, Tech is giving each of the lines a feather-light kiss

"A battle is a battle," he whispers against them, "and your victory is something to be proud of. Though I can understand the difficulty in it."

You can't hold the tears back, but weirdly enough you're not feeling sad

He never tells anyone about that night, or every other similar moment that followed; that decision belongs to you and he made it clear he would never step over your privacy

That helps you get more comfortable about it - with him at least - and sometimes, when the night get long and your mind overthinks, you get up and join him in the cockpit

And if you're only the two of you, you strech your arm his way, and he gently rolls up your sleeves to pepper kiss your skin, telling you that's you're doing great, another win for you today, i'm proud of you

And he goes on with the kisses and the praises until you feel better; and if you don't he'll stay there with you, talking about everything that could possibly interest you to help your mind wander off

And you know that if you ever lose the battle one day, he'll be there to hold you and tell you that sometimes we lose, we fall and it feels wrong; but it's okay, because we can always get back up and fight stronger, harder than before

It takes some time, and a lot of work, but one day you sit in your bed and roll your sleeve up; and you gently kiss your skin

Crosshair: open fractures and surgeries

And you realise that you won today, and for the first time you can look at your scars and feel proud of your victory

He doesn't have any visible scar; and to be honest he's the one who carries the least marks because of him being a sniper, and therefore always quite isolated on safer grounds

So at first you didn't feel that comfortable with the idea of him knowing about your scars; you didn't liked them, so why would he?

But one day one a pretty rough mission, part of your armour and blacks were torn apart, and once again you got injured

The knock on the refresher made you jolt, and though you protested when he came in, you didn't had the strength (literally) to throw him out

He sat with you in the shower, a mixture of blood and water sliding on the floor, and brought the medical kit closer to him

"I can do it myself." you spit to him, and though he said nothing verbally, his eyes spoke for him

So you sighed and looked away, because if you didn't you were probably going to cry from the pain and the gutting feeling of being so exposed, so vulnerable in front of him

You expected a snarky comment, something about getting sloppy, careless. You could almost hear him- hear it, if you focused a bit-

"Stop that." he muttered as he washed away the clots around your wounds, and you looked at him, confused

"Stop what? Bleeding out? Thank you I'm trying."

He rolled his eyes, but his touch remained soft, treating and bandaging your wound with care and precision

You tried to move away as soon as he was done, but the ache slowed you down in your movement; which he didn't fail to notice

"Make it easy on yourself, let me help."

You frowned, jungling between the pain of your wound and your older scars getting sensitive again

Sometimes they would hurt like a sting - or a stab wound depending of your tolerance - and you couldn't quite explain it to yourself

"I'm fine. I-" you breathed out a difficult sigh, and Crosshair shook his head to your stubbornness

"Does massaging helps?" He asked, and when you gave him a puzzled look he completed " for the scars."

You nodded, but couldn't help the light start when his fingers gently rubbed on your scared thigh

You let him do his work; and he did surprisingly well, asking where it hurt the most, if you needed a massage somewhere else

"Thank you." you finally whispered as he stroke the large scar on your knee, and you can't help but feel the need to justify it. "Open fracture on both legs. Happened a while back, but... Yeah, I had a few surgeries to fix that. "

He nodded to show you he's listening, and his gentle touches invited you to tell him more about that story

The next time he massaged a scar, it was the one on your back; you told him about your fall on a rock and how it almost broke your spine, and he gave you a slightly worried look

"I'm fine." You reassured him, "I just broke a lot of things in my life, and my bones are no exceptions. "

He never asks about them directly, but he'll always gladly listen to the story you tell him as he rub the pain away

Echo: Burns

It helps you a bit with your confidence, because he always look at you like you're some kind of superior being; being able to survive that much injuries is in itself a miracle for him and he never misses an opportunity to remind it to you

He, better than anyone else, understands your struggles. He understand the feeling, the shame and the disgust you have toward the marks on your body and your face

He never brushes your feelings off; instead he listens to you when you rant about them, telling him how unfair it is

You hate the sensation under your fingers; the bumps on your cheek and temple, the spot unable to grow hair anymore, the reflect on the mirror

And Echo knows that, and he is angry because you shouldn't feel that way

So he takes it upon himself to boost your confidence and make you feel good about your body

He starts with pets name, "pretty one" "handsome" "beautiful"; and at first you brush it off, but it slowly grows into you

To the point of smiling at the mere thought of him giving you your food ration or your blaster and spontaneously going "here, handsome"

And you may not love your reflection, but you love Echo, and if he can do that for you then you decide you can do it for him too

So it quickly become a thing between you, pet names and compliments about your appearance, and every moment is a good moment to tell them

Fighting droids? Got your back beautiful!

Eating outside? I'm lucky to be seated with the prettiest person out there.

Laying in bed, unable to sleep? I'll hold you tight until you get your beauty sleep.

Getting out of the refresher, parcels of skin wet and exposed? Kenobi has nothing you could envy.

Sometimes, it get rough. You wake up to the ghost feeling of a sharp blade burning your face, and it takes a while to ground you and ease the sensory flashbacks

But Echo is patient, the same way you are with him when the phantom pain strikes him down, leaving him sobbing and shaking against you

That's when you start to realise you're both similar; so eager to see people love themselves, yet so reluctant to apply it to you

"Do you think we deserved it?" He asks once, still shaken by the pain

"No, we didn't." You confessed, spontaneous, "But it happened anyway. So we might as well..."

And you stop, because it's not something you can vocalize; it's something you just both get, you both feel

And when things are tough, when the reflection twists and the tears threatens to roll down, there's always one of you to whisper "we might as well"

That's the thing you hold onto when you feel terrible; knowing that someone understands

Eventually, things get better for both of you; being able to rely one someone, share the pain and the sarcasm and the love opens up a new future for you; one where you can work through the scars, turn them into something you own rather than something that owns you

You still struggle with the whole "loving your body" thing; but now you don't hate it anymore, and that's already a big step

____

It was really interesting to write! I hope it'll help some of you feel more comfortable about your body and your scars 💗

Also I hope you liked it anon, thank you again for sending this ask!

Tags: @allamarisss @loth-wolffe @m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s @dusk-dawn-and-stars @tacticalsparkles @imalovernotahater @canwestayinthisdream @wakeupjackthisisntfair @namesmox @badbatch-simp24 @lightning-wolffe @maddieskywalker @for-the-love-of-clones @m-e-w-117

@ladykatakuri @firelordillyria @andiebell2023

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb #hunter #wrecker #tech #crosshair #echo #mesa writes #star wars headcanons #tbb headcanons #scars #tw self harm

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teamxdark · 4 years ago

Text

I still want to post anything at all so. Here's the first unedited chapter of SatCK.

Also, once it's done, would people rather it all be posted at once, or a chapter a day? Let me know!

The clouds loomed low, obscuring the sun and showering the world in gray as a lone raven landed on the bones of a long-dead animal. He tapped his beak to the skull, as though to test the hardiness of the material, his eyes flashing with what might have been a sense of superiority before he looked back at the empty dirt path that cut through the grass and took off into the air.

The path did not remain empty for long; a girl ran along it just a moment later, her long purple cloak drawn closely over herself and her boots kicking up dust as she ran. In her hands, she clutched a staff tightly to her chest, which heaved with exertion as the girl kept running, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to see if she was being followed.

At first, everything looked peaceful and devoid of life behind her, and her shoulders relaxed just a fraction.

Then, from the endless gray that covered the land, dark creatures spawned from the shadows, transforming from dark spots with glowing magenta eyes to massive beasts of all kinds, both landbound and flying, burly and nimble, and all clad in faded, heavy armor while wielding great blades that glinted dully, even with the lack of sunlight.

The girl stopped as she realized that she was trapped, while from a nearby tree, the raven watched calmly. As the monstrous warriors surrounded the girl from all sides, the bird took flight, swooping high up into air before dropping down, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed.

One minute, there was a raven in the air. The next moment, a pair of black metal boots touched the earth, and the imposing figure of a man in heavy armor stood at full height before the frightened girl. He approached her, drawing his blade, his eyes glowing through the slits in his helmet as he approached, promising death. In the air, thick with tension, his voice cut through, clear and full of malice.

“This is the end for you and your treason. I will see to that myself.”

The girl’s hands trembled as they fumbled with her staff, then steadied themselves with a great show of effort. The girl took a deep breath, forcing down her nerves, and struck the ground with the magical artifact, summoning forth its magical properties as she began to chant, summoning a blue light all around her that had the armored beasts recoiling and the man with the sword halting in his tracks.

That was all she needed to finish her spell.

“O brave knight, swift as the wind! Heed my call!” she implored, looking up at the sky as though the answer to her troubles would fall before her. From all around her, the cyan light glowed bright, until it exploded upwards, a column of magical might, piercing through the clouds and striking the heavens, leaving a sole spot of light in the otherwise gloomy sky.

And something did, indeed, fall down to her, and it fell with a scream that cut itself short as the being, a blue hedgehog, faceplanted in the dirt road.

This wasn’t what Sonic had been expecting out of today.

He lifted his face, shaking away the gravel, and scrambled to his feet, scampering forward until he caught one chilidog that, like him, fell from above, and then leapt in the other direction to catch the second one just before it hit the ground. Sonic sighed in relief, bringing himself back to his feet and taking a look around.

“Hey… where am I?”

The sound of footstep behind him prompted him to turn around, and he saw the girl approach him, her eyes widening and her lips parting as she looked upon him. For a second, no words came from her, but she appeared to find her tongue quickly. “Being from a distant world, forgive my abrupt summons!” She knelt beside him, still shaking from her run, and slid her hood down, revealing delicate features and long, pointed ears.

That’s not something you see every day on a human…

Movement from over her shoulder distracted Sonic from the girl’s unusual ears, prompting him to look over at the group of beasts in armor, which were beginning to encroach upon them. Sonic took a look behind him, beholding the armored man who stood stock-still, beholding him without a word, his shadowy aura growing thick around him.

Sonic let out a chuckle, quickly finishing off one of the chilidogs in his hands. It didn’t seem like he would be having lunch with Amy after all, but he couldn’t let such a delicacy go to waste. Making a mental note to apologize to his friend once this was over and maybe reschedule the whole thing, Sonic tossed the second chilidog to his other hand, spinning it idly around as he spoke to the girl. “Oh, I get it,” he reassured her. “No problem! I’m used to stuff like this!”

Enemies all around? Overwhelming sense of dread? Tension in the air so thick you could choke on it?

He was called in to fight and rescue this girl, he was sure of it.

With a grin, he threw his snack up high into the air and dashed off, leaving behind a gust of wind as powerful as a shockwave. He vaguely heard the girl gasp as he ran through the cluster of armored enemies, creating another shockwave that, to his surprise, made them evaporate without any more fuss. Sonic pushed the surprise away 一 there was bound to be a reason why, and it wasn’t like he had to know it now or anything 一 and refocused on returning to his spot, catching the chilidog before it was anywhere close to the ground.

He glanced back at the girl, who was staring at him with open astonishment, her hand in front of her mouth and her eyes wide. Sonic allowed himself a small, self-satisfied smirk at demonstrating his abilities so cleanly, then turned back toward the last enemy, the armored man, who still hadn’t moved from his spot and was still staring at him.

Sonic began spinning his snack around again. “Don’t forget to blink,” he taunted, and finally, the man moved, bringing his sword 一 a bright, golden blade that didn’t match his dark getup at all 一 up and before him. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a face like yours,” the man said, pointing the tip of the blade at Sonic.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised. You’ve got all that armor in front of your eyes! How about I knock it away and you can get a real good look--”

“No, you mustn’t!”

A hand grabbed tightly over his arm, stunning him enough that he fumbled with his free hand and sent his chilidog tumbling to the ground. Sonic looked from his ruined treat to the girl who stopped him as she swung her staff before them both, causing a vortex of dirt and wind to surround them. As Sonic felt himself begin to get pulled away, he reached out a hand to his fallen treat and the final enemy that he had yet to even try to defeat, but it was all in vain. The armored man charged forward, but his sword only struck empty air.

The man cursed under his breath, turning away from the vanishing point and walking a few paces away, crushing the chilidog underneath one of his boots without a second thought. “She’s slipped away from me again,” he growled, the dark aura around him growing stronger. “And now she has an ally of the worst kind…”

The man kicked at the ground, wiping some of the remains of meat and beans away as he did so, and wasted no more time in jumping into the air and transforming back into a raven, shedding a single feather as he soared away, over hills and valleys, clearing a town and swooping over the outer wall of a magnificent castle, landing before five people standing in wait, clad in polished, presentable armor. He transformed back into his true form, and all five knelt before him, bowing their heads without hesitation.

My knights...

For just a moment, the man’s gaze swept over the five before him, something akin to pride sparking deep within him, before the feeling extinguished itself as quickly as it came, leaving nothing but coldness in its wake.

“She’s escaped me again, but I shall continue to give chase,” he informed them, seeing a few ears perk up as he spoke. “At this point, I cannot stand another day knowing that she evades me. Spread out, and slay her on sight. I no longer care if it is by my hand or not.”

Five heads nodded, still bowed, and the man felt satisfied until he remembered the other important piece of information.

“She has recruited an ally, a magical warrior. You will know him when you see him. Do not fall for his tricks, and slay him as well. Mercy is not an option. We have no time to lose.”

With that, the man turned away and leapt into the air again, transforming back into a bird to continue his search, while behind him, the five lifted their heads and got to their feet.

“That was vague,” one spoke; a green hawk with two fanned blades.

“Hush, Brother,” another one said; a purple cat wielding a rapier. “Our king has much to handle and no time to spare. It is our duty to help shoulder his burdens as best as we can.”

“I apologize, Percival,” a third one piped up; a pale gray hedgehog with long spines, “but I must agree with Lamorak. We do not know what this ‘magical warrior’ of hers looks like!”

“More likely than not, he will be travelling with her,” yet another spat; a black hedgehog with red streaks in his fur. “If we find one, we will almost certainly find the other, and even if we don’t, our king has made it clear that we will know him when we see him. Now, let us depart.”

“But must we?” the final one asked; a red echidna with two axe-like swords. “She is the Royal Wizard, after all!”

The black hedgehog’s head snapped over, his voice taking a hard edge as he spoke. “She was the Royal Wizard, and in any case, the king’s orders are absolute, Gawain.”

“Yes, but--”

“We have been given our task,” the gray hedgehog said, walking up between them both. “If he demands that they be slain, then slain they shall be.”

This seemed to pacify the black hedgehog, who nodded once before racing off, with the gray hedgehog close behind. The one named Gawain heaved a sigh as the one named Percival approached him. “Without loyalty to the king, we are nothing,” she reminded him sternly, though the next second she looked off to the horizon, where the hedgehogs had become little more than specks. “Still, the king… he has changed,” she murmured, much softer and thoughtful. “And this kingdom…”

“That would be putting it lightly,” the one called Lamorak scoffed, nudging Percival with his shoulder, much to her annoyance. “I need no magical gifts to see that there are troubling times ahead of us. However, there is not much else for us to do.”

“Only our jobs, and to trust our king’s judgement,” Gawain finished the thought, looking at one of his blades with a resigned slump to his shoulders. “Very well. I shall not be the one to disappoint him.”

Yet even with those words, the unease did not leave the knights as they left the castle walls in search for their targets.

#Smash speaks.#Sonic and the Cursed King.

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calpalirwin · 4 years ago

Text

True Crime

Loosely based on/inspired by True Crime by Taylor Acorn

Word Count: 2.6k

And away, and away we go!

The stars were bright as they stared up at the sky, their eyes blurry. He pressed the last sip of the bottle to her lips and pulled the blanket tighter around them. “Promise me something,” she whispered, her words slow and slurred.

“Anything,” he nodded, lighting a cigarette.

“Promise me you’ll love me forever.”

“Only if you promise the same.”

She cupped his face in her hands, looking deep into his blue eyes. “Promise.”

“Promise,” he smiled at her before bringing her in for a kiss that tasted like cheap booze, smelled like cheaper cigarettes, and felt like young love that would last lifetimes.

~~~

Y/N woke with a start, the dream replaced with the blaring of the alarm next to her bed. With a groan, she shut off the alarm, wondering if there would ever come a night where she didn’t dream of Lip Gallagher. But after seven months, she wasn’t holding much hope, and the wondering progressed to thoughts of how to come to terms with the fact that this was her life now.

Y/N had no one to blame but herself. Ian had warned her that his brother, while mostly filled with good intentions, was a ticking time bomb of self-destruction, much like all the other Gallaghers. But his charm, sharp wit, and those piercing blue eyes had made it hard for Y/N to resist the older boy. And the almost year they spent together had left her thinking that maybe Ian had been wrong. Maybe she could be the one good thing in Lip’s life that didn’t explode.

But the explosion had happened. And in the fallout, she had lost not only Lip, but herself as well.

As Y/N left her house, out of habit she started to head south. But like every day for the past seven months, she paused thinking if she really wanted to go that way. Any other day she would have turned to go the other way, not risking being in his part of town, not risking going by the places they used to frequent together. But today, she didn’t change her path. The Southside was big enough, and before the fallout she remembered Ian had mentioned his new job at Fiona’s diner. And just because her and Lip weren’t a thing anymore, didn’t mean she had to let go of Ian too. And today, missing her best friend outweighed the risks she’d been avoiding.

She sucked in her breath as she passed by the open field that had been one of her and Lip’s preferred spot to escape to when things got crazy at his house, which was often. She also picked up her pace, but it didn’t matter. The memory replayed anyway.

~~~

“If you could live anywhere, where would you go?” she asked.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Literally anywhere that’s not here. Why? You wanna run away with me? Train should be coming by soon. We could just hop on, and see where we end up.”

Y/N laughed. “We can’t actually leave, Lip. It’s hypothetical.”

“Well why does it have to be hypothetical? Nobody fuckin’ needs me here. I’m smart, you’re hot. We’d find a way to get by.”

Y/N laughed louder, pushing into his shoulder. “Real funny, Lip.”

“I’m serious. I used to think that maybe I was just fuckin’ useless, but I’m starting to think it’s just this city.”

“It is the city, because you are anything but useless.”

Lip scoffed again. “Nah. All I am here nowadays is another mouth to feed. Another body taking up space. I stopped being useful the minute I turned eighteen, and Frank couldn’t cash a check on my existence anymore. But away from here? Fuck, I could be anybody. A somebody.”

His tone was flat, a simplistic statement of facts. But his eyes betrayed the hurt he still associated with who he thought he was, and the bitter disappointment that he’d never be more than what he was now. “Oh, Lip,” she said softly, cupping his face in one of her palms. “You’re so much more than who they think you are.”

For a brief moment, he leaned into her touch, allowing himself to trust in someone other than himself. “You might be the only one who believes in me.”

“That’s what happens when you love someone, Lip.”

“Again, you might be the only one who does. And trust me, I’m not saying this shit to gain sympathy, or to bring down the mood, or whatever.” His shoulders shrugged, “It’s just the reality of the situation.”

“Well, I love you Philip Gallagher. And if you wanna run away, just say the word, and I will happily follow.”

~~~

The bell on the door jingled as Y/N pushed her way inside Patsy’s Pies. A waitress in a white top tucked into black jeans and an apron tied around her waist told her to have a seat wherever, so Y/N slid into one of the booths along the window. As she glanced around the place, she spotted a busboy cleaning up a nearby table, with bright red hair. “Ian!” she called out, her voice bright.

The busboy turned to the sound, a wide grin breaking out across his face as he recognized her. “Give me two minutes!” he told her before hurriedly going back to his task.

Not even a full two minutes later, Ian was sliding in across from her. “Oh, my God, Y/N! How have you been? I haven’t seen you s- Oh… Right…”

She smiled softly, as she reached across the table to pat her friend’s hand. “I’m okay, Ian. Still hurts, but not as bad as it did. And I’m not here to see him. I came here to see you. See how you’re doing.”

“Oh, I’m good. You know… considering.”

“That’s great, Ian. And it looks like you got a nice routine here. Working out okay?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not the greatest job in the world. Like I know I have it because it’s how Fiona can keep an eye on me. But better than nothing, I guess. How are things with you?”

“As good as they can be, I guess. Taking some classes at the community college. Nothing extremely brag worthy or anything.”

“So same shit, different day?”

She laughed, “Exactly.” She was about to work up the courage to ask how the rest of the Gallagher clan was doing when the bell on the door jangled, and both their heads turned to the sound.

“Oh, fuck…�� Ian groaned at the same time Lip mouthed the words himself.

Y/N steeled herself as Lip walked there way, one of his hands coming to rest on the tabletop. “Y/N. Good to see ya. You look good,” Lip greeted quickly before turning his attention to Ian. “I’m gonna grab Liam, check in with Fi, then we can head out.”

“I’ll do it!” Ian volunteered and shot out of the booth before either Lip or Y/N could protest.

“I-” Lip sighed, rubbing at his face. “Okay…” He sighed again before taking a seat on the edge of the bench seat. “So…” he said, fingers drumming on the wood.

“Don’t,” she cut him off. “We don’t have to do this,” she went on, waving a finger between the two of them. “Make pleasant small talk, or whatever. We can just sit here until Ian comes back, and then you guys can go your way, and I’ll go mine, and it’ll be just like it’s supposed to.”

“Alright, fuck me then…” his defensive snark came out.

“Yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you?” she snapped back.

Lip rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Y/N. God forbid I try to be nice to you.”

“See? That’s exactly what I told you not to do. You don’t get to do what you did, and then play the victim, Lip.”

“Do what?! Say hi?!”

“Do anything, Lip! Seven fuckin’ months of radio silence, and the first thing you decide to say to me is ‘hey, you look good’? What fuckin’ shit is that?!”

“So I was just supposed to ignore you?!”

“It was working so far, wasn’t it?! Until you went and ruined it by talking!”

“I ruined it?! You came here- where my family works- but I ruined it?!”

“Yes! Because I was just fine until you came along!”

“Yeah, well so was I!”

“I’m gonna see you at home, Lip…” Ian’s voice piped up, a backpack slung over his shoulder, one of his hands holding Liam’s. “Y/N, it was great to see you. Catch up soon?”

Y/N flashed a smile at the two Gallagher brothers, her demeanor shifting completely. “Of course, Ian. My number’s still the same. Hey, Liam!”

“What do you mean, you’ll see me at home? I’m coming with you,” Lip cut in.

“No,” Ian shook his head. “Liam and I are going home. You two are gonna finish whatever… this is.”

“It is finished,” they both told him.

Ian snorted. “Yeah right… Y/N, if Lip hadn’t walked in when he did, were you going to ask me about him?”

“Yes…” she mumbled.

“And Lip, were you gonna ask me about Y/N the second we left?”

“Yeah, probably…”

“So just talk to each other now, and leave me out of it.”

“I- Fiona would kill me if you left with Liam, and I didn’t go with you, you know that.”

Ian shrugged. “Guess there’s only one thing to do then.”

Lip gave a shake of his head, muttering some curses under his breath. “Fine. C’mon then,” he finally, getting up from the table and motioning for Y/N to follow them.

“Me?” she asked in disbelief. “You’re joking…”

“Really wish I was. But Ian’s right. We should probably finish whatever this is, rather than ignoring it.”

“How mature of you,” she sarcastically crooned at him as she got up. “Let’s go then.”

~~~

The happy chatter around the dinner table in the Gallagher house warmed Y/N. That had been her favorite part about being in their lives. For as chaotic and dysfunctional as they were, the six siblings were always ride or die for each other.

“So,” Lip prompted, once the chatter had died down, and the Gallaghers had disbanded to various parts of the house.

“So?” Y/N asked.

Lip jerked his head in the direction of the back porch. “C’mon, we can talk outside.”

With a huff, she followed him outside, both of them taking a seat on the steps.

“So,” he started again.

“Why?” she demanded, cutting straight to the chase. “Why?” she repeated again, her lip trembling.

“I don’t know.”

“That’s the best you got? You left me there waiting for you, and the best you got is ‘I don’t know’?”

“Don’t be so dramatic… I didn’t leave you there waiting.”

“Oh!” she scoffed, “Right. My bad. You showed up two hours late, said you couldn’t do this, and then left me.”

“Were you really naive enough to think I could leave with you? That I could ever get out of that?” he flung a hand in the direction of the house.

“No,” she said flatly. “No. I was naive enough to think I could trust you to begin with. Ian warned me about you right from the beginning.”

“Yeah, well you should’ve listened. But you were never good at doing what you were told to do now were you? Always doing the opposite just to prove you could.”

“Classic Lip, putting the blame on others for his own screw ups.”

“Aw, I’m sorry,” he mockingly pouted. “Did I ruin your fairytale by being a fuck-up?”

She snarled as she gave him a hard shove with enough force to make him have to stick out his hand to catch himself. “My life was just fine before you came along, and fucked everything up!”

“Well I guess I did you a favor by leaving then, huh?!”

“A favor?! You think you did me a favor by making me fall in love with you, letting me believe we could be something, and then leaving?!”

“You think I left for my own health?! I was in love with you, too!”

“If you loved me, then why did you leave?!”

“Because I’m a fuckin’ fuck-up! It’s what I do! I ruin good things because I don’t believe I deserve them!”

“So your solution was to break your promise to me?! You didn’t have to run away with me, Lip! In case you didn’t notice, I didn’t leave that night either! We could have just kept being us!”

The words shocked the fight out of him. “You didn’t leave?”

Y/N shook her head, the fight leaving her too. “No. I only wanted to leave because you wanted to.”

“That’s fuckin’ stupid. You know that right? Only doing something because of me? It’s stupid to pin your life on anyone, especially when that person is me.”

“I didn’t pin my life on you because I’m dependent on you, Lip. I wasn’t kidding when I said my life was fine before you. It was. My life just happened to be better with you in it. I was happiest with you. And I was stupid enough to believe you when said you felt the same.”

“You know you’re the only one I ever meant that shit to?”

“If you meant it, then you shouldn’t have broken your promise. You should have stayed.”

“Yeah, maybe I should’ve. Or maybe we did everything right, and we still end up here.”

“Guess we’ll never know.”

“Guess so. And hey, I’m sorry alright?”

“I don’t want your apology, Lip. I want you to be the person I thought you were.”

“Yeah, me too. But I am sorry. I guess part of me thought I was protecting you by walking away before I could let you down. Protecting myself by leaving before you could leave me. But it didn’t work. I just made a bigger mess of my life. And hurt you in the crossfire.”

“Did Lip Gallagher just admit to his own screw ups?” she teased lightly.

“Ha-ha,” he laughed humorlessly. “Believe it or not, sometimes I’m not a complete ass.”

“Only sometimes,” she continued to tease.

This time he chuckled a little. “Well, as much as I want to, I can’t go back and fix what I did. And I can tell you I’m sorry all night, but it doesn’t mean you’ll forgive me. And I can’t blame you if you don’t. I mean, it's not like I forgave myself, either. But, kinda glad for running into you, and getting to talk this out. I’ve uh… missed you being around.”

She smiled softly. “Yeah, it was nice. I’ve uh… missed being around you, too.”

“So… where do we go from here? Is this where I swear that I’ve changed, and I’ll do better if you give me a second chance?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I don’t know. Do I want to be with you again? Yes. But I don’t think it’s as simple as that. What if I haven’t changed? What if my life flies off the rails again- which it will- and I push you away again? I can’t guarantee that I won’t hurt you again. That my instinct won’t be to run the minute things get hard.”

“I guess we gotta decide if that’s a risk worth taking.”

“Is it? Am I the risk worth taking again?”

“Oh, Lip…” Y/N said softly, resting her hand against his face the way she used to. Her thumb brushed along his cheekbone as he leaned into the touch, his eyes watching her carefully. “You’re always gonna be my risk worth taking.”

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botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years ago

Text

Back here with another episode of:

Read Part 1 here!

If you’re on mobile, and tumblr hates this post, follow along on this google doc!

Rules/overview this rewrite in the beginning of Part 1

Alrighty then, so let’s just jump into it!

- - - - - - - - - -

Recap! So when we last left off, we had just finished off Act 1 of the story. We’ve used the character introduction segments and the gambit feature as a means to give more life to everyone, without sacrificing too much cutscene time. Allowing us to save and focus the major story details and set up on the more cinematic cutscenes.

I had forgotten, but after Part 1 came out, an anon pointed out that Impa’s character introduction could use some work, and while you don’t need to read it right now to understand the rest of this post, I encourage you to look at it eventually to see the strengths and flaws in the original Impa introduction, and the reasons for my rewrite changes! All you need to know is that eggbot was lying around, deactivated, but when in proximity to the Sheikah Slate, was turned on like other Guardians. Eggbot being activated by the Sheikah Slate is kinda brushed over in the original game? But in my rewrite it’s gonna have some later significance. Also during the Royal Lab cutscene, I want Robbie or Purah to mention how Zelda’s control of the Sheikah Slate is quite exceptional or something. It’s a bit obvious already in Hwaoc, but I need it to be verbally said in a story scene for, again, later significance. Alright that’s it for my added details, moving on now.

After Chapter 1, we moved into the characters accepting the Call to Adventure, whether by the general external reasons of wanting to save the world, and developed a little bit further with more internal related reasons to give nuances and identities to different characters. Revali wishes to prove that his hard work earns him better merit than a sidekick, Urbosa wishes to protect and help Zelda on an emotional level, Mipha wishes to get closer to Link and come back to her family proud, etc etc.

Then, the climax of Act 1 ends with the Yiga ambush, and the characters get a first taste of leaving their areas of comfort, and journeying into the unknown world. Although the gameplay and the successful defeat of the Yiga establishes the Champion team’s strength, our interaction with Rhoam shows us that they still have a ways to go. The momentum into the full story now has a bit of tension and conflict.

So now we crash into the beginning of Act 2, the longest Act in a story, as it’s the part where the....story, happens. Let’s take a look at changes to the Hollows, eggbot mysteries, Zelda character growth, and our first real dip into the character of our antagonist, the Prophet of Doom himself, Astor…

So in the game, Chapter 3 opens on the flank of Death Mountain, our heroes overlooking the view of Korok Forest.

There are a few problems I have with this scene. It’s really stale, there’s no movement, nothing dynamic about it other than the opening shot. They just kinda stand there and say words until Revali’s done ranting and summons Medoh. Also Revali’s dialogue is a bit “much” to say the least, and uh, spoiler alert, he’s gonna be reworked a bit more than the other Champions. Finally, this scene doesn’t have a lot of purpose or substance. Sure, it has some character conflict with Revali and Link and the team, but that’s kinda established already, plus it’s something that I’ve already fleshed out in the last scene with King Rhoam, so it’s a bit redundant. So that leaves this scene serving only as a boring current draw to the Medoh fight and nothing else. This is the opening set up for the Chapter where important story stuff goes down! Needs a lot more substance. So! Here’s my rework.

We open on the sound of running. Link, along with Zelda, Urbosa, Daruk, and Mipha are running upwards on a path by Edlin. They’re chasing a small group of bokoblins and it looks like it’s the end of the fight. Urbosa is more near the back, with Zelda, but Daruk and Mipha both kill a bokoblin, their bodies of the monsters exploding in a cloud of malice upon their demise. When the camera shows each of their kills, the shots are quick, but I want the angle of the camera to be in such a way that the malice evaporates center frame, with Daruk and Mipha being behind the malice. This is because for a split second, it looks like the malice lingers around them like smoke. Huh, I wonder if that’s foreshadowing or something.

Anyhow, Link chases the final red bokoblin uphill, boots pattering against rock. However, we’re now seeing this from a moving, flying, bird’s eye view [quite literally wink wink]

Cut back close to Link, he kills the bokoblins. Stands there for a sec as he sheathes his sword. And then...

“Well I’ll be plucked. You defeated it, eh?”

Reveal Revali flying from above, and he lands in front of Link, but faces away from him. “Who would have thought that some little knight, amongst a group of chosen heroes, would get some action. You must be pretty proud of yourself, hm?” Cue that classic Revali head turn with a glare. Also when Revali says “heroes” I want him to flick his scarf dramatically, while staring at Link’s armour, as if internally he were judging Link on a runway.

Zelda runs up and starts speaking. “Oh Revali, I apologize our meet up with Medoh got a bit delayed. I assume that you’ve already positioned them by now for the attack?”

Revali hums a yes, but doesn’t bother to entertain a more fleshed out answer. Instead, he flicks his wing (as if to say, “come on”) and turns his back to walk up the trail. The others follow.

“I was informed that only the Champions and yourself would be present. What are…” Revali flicks a wing in the direction of Link and eggbot, like a Karen shooing a waiter. “...they, exactly contributing?”

Zelda says some stuff about Link being her bodyguard like: “Well, my father was impressed enough with Link’s actions from the other week that he’s assigned to give me further protection.’ She can say this a bit grumpily, to Link’s ignorance. Daruk can pipe in like “And a good thing too! Always great to have little guy at our backs.” and Mipha can nod sheepishly or something. But their dialogue is cut off by another rude interjection (because hell if Revali wants to listen to more rambling about Link)

“Right, right. And this thing is still around?” Revali gestures to eggbot.

Zelda: “Well, This little one's technological prowess has been quite useful in battle, allowing us to access the rune functions and all. So I figured it’d be a big help should something unexpected happen. Plus...” cute shot of Zelda staring at eggbot, “it just...feels right.” Then the little eggshit can like, chirp happily or make some cute whistle or whatever. Just shove in a bit of that egg fanservice, might as well since I need to better establish its presence for later.

Revali mutters something about “big help,” before gesticulating with his wings as he continues walking up the trial. “Mooore like a big liability should anything happen to your little pet, and one of us be forced to risk our lives just to save it from becoming scrap. Honestly, when it comes to you, and you.” Revali points to both eggbot and Link, “Your presence is an entire waste of time. ‘Backup?’ Help?’ Tsk. Humouring.” Eggbot can make a noise or something while Link just tilts his head. Revali continues: “You’re only here because of a non-existent, fantastical, imaginary hypothetical in which I somehow fail, and I don’t, fail.” When he articulates that last part, he stops walking and does another little head turn/glare, but he still doesn’t bother to fully face him. “I’m sure that your duty will no longer be of importance once your reputation...is nothing but a memory overshadowed by today’s great feats. A forgettable knight, heh heh!”

“Revali,” Urbosa sighs, “How long do you expect us to put up with your showboating and prattle?”

That when Revali finally turns fully to face the group, with a more grim glare. They’ve reached the top of the ledge anyhow, so they’ve stopped walking. This is where the camera can view the Lost Woods in its fullest as it zooms on Revali. Then, that ending is the same as the game with the pan up to Medoh’s presence.

“Fine. I’ve said enough. The time has come to show you what I’m made of. Now witness...Vah Medoh’s divine power!”

So that’s that. Revali is toned down a bit, and his rude remarks have more of a precision as to their point. It’s a bit hard to explain over words alone, but the fact that this scene takes place as the Champions are walking up the trail, means it’s a lot more interesting to look at. (Kinda like the walk and talk premise that you see in The West Wing) Plus, the trail being uphill establishes that hint of power dynamic as Revali is above everyone else. Also there’s just a bit of some botw dialogue connection, not only in just the opening, [Hwaoc Revali vs Botw Revali “Who would have thought” is put in different context based on their development, so it’s a good establishing point to show where this Revali is at in dynamics with Link in comparison to botw, all in just one line rather than in a more longer explanation] but I also scattered a few dramatic irony pieces in there heheh. There’s a lot more reasons why this scene is an improvement [and hopefully to you, it already *feels* better] but I’m not going to explain them until near the end, as its importance is connected to the later scenes of this Chapter.

In fact, that's the overarching change that I’ve made to these cutscenes, I’ve actually connected them and related them to the other scenes. This is the very first introduction to Chapter 3, after all, so it’s important that this introduction serves to be of more significance than “ok here’s the champions, here’s revali, there's medoh. Now go wreck stuff.”

Medoh’s fight is the same, the cutscenes after are mostly the same. Except here, when everyone runs into Korok forest and you see Astor, I want this scene to end not on Astor’s face (because it’s not as significant anymore since we’ve already see Astor in full in Chapter 2 with Urbosa’s stage) but it should end with Astor reaching out a hand towards the camera. The camera angle would be just a bit below Astor. This is because I want the implication to be slightly more clear that he killed those two Yiga underlings to craft the Hollows. It’s a nice little “watch it for the first time it doesn’t mean anything” but watching again it’s like “ohh how did I not notice that” kind of thing.

Then, Hestu’s introduction is roughly the same. I don’t think I really need to rework it too much, since Hestu as a character doesn’t serve anything major to the plot, so it’s fine for it to just be fun and cute. I will however, change just a few pieces of dialogue.

Revali: “Are we even making progress? We could just be going in circles.”

Daruk: “Good point. If only someone could fly above and scout the way.”

Revali: “As though I could see anything through this muck. Honestly, do you even think before you speak?”

Revali!!! Don’t be so rude to Daruk. Like yes it’s a bit funny, but that last part with “do you even think before you speak” is a bit much, because honestly Revali doesn’t really have a reason to hate Daruk. He’s characterized as being rude to Link and those he deems unworthy of respect, but Revali respects Daruk, Mipha, and Urbosa fairly well, considering they were chosen alongside him. So personally, I’d just tweak this to

Daruk: “Good point. If only someone could fly above and scout the way...”

Mipha snickers at this. And Revali mutters more quietly to himself, “As though I could see anything through this muck.” and gives little “hmph!” at Daruk, moving away.

There we go! It still serves it purpose of showing how the Champions are still not completely in sync (which is what I can assume was the original purpose of Revali’s rude comment line) but it’s played a bit more comedic (which makes sense considering this is in the context of Hestu’s introduction) and we get to poke fun at Revali, since just early we had spent so long boosting up his ego. Also Mipha laughing a bit with Daruk while Revali broods adds to that point of them being too busy to see Hestu right behind them.

Another small change, I don’t want Zelda to discover Hestu first. I want eggbot to discover Hestu, maybe they shake their maraca and eggbot notices and gives a little curious whistle. When Zelda notices eggbot not walking with her, she looks right, and that’s when she notices Hestu. It’s almost insignificant, but I really want to establish the eggbot’s presence for this chapter. Especially since this game writes him out of cutscenes a lot.

Final small change. That Hestu scene ends, not with Revali wordlessly shaking his head and following the group after hanging back. But with Mipha actively turning back, saying something like “Come, Revali. We should all stick together. It wouldn’t do for us to get lost.” and then a reply like “As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to mystic swords, magic trees, lucky knights, and walking eggs...I already am.” I’m just trying to keep intact that Nintendo “vibe” of flicking the character stances right in your face, especially since this game's only forms of telling the story are through these less than a minute cutscenes.

OKAY! Gameplay stuff. There are no real mechanic or level design changes to the Battle of Korok Forest, BUT there is one important change that I want to make here.

When the party splits up to take on the bosses in order to get rid of the malice. I think that the Hollows should speak.

Not like full on sentences and stuff (yet) but I think they should mumble and groan and be able to speak a few simple words. Now why do I say this? Well, let’s take a look at how I think we should introduce them.

First off, I think it should be a cutscene. Not just some 2 second animation where the Hollows spawn in. Nonononononono, this needs to be a cutscene, because it needs to be acted, because we need to see the character reactions. Like, if you’re gonna have that cliche “dark evil clone of the protagonists” thing, then you might as well go all out with the angst. In fact, personally, I would have rewritten is as the hollows actually *being* the champions and astor can temporarily control them but then when he sees that fail later in the game that can be his motivator for making the blights to kill them off since they’re no longer of use to him alive or whatever but we’re scrapping that idea because like I've said I want to try to keep the integrity of the original story.

Ok, so you have a character come up to one of the map points, and when they get there it fades into a cutscene. It’s not gonna be super long, but here’s the vision.

Character is in the lost woods, they killed a stalbokoblin or whatever. Just some low tier enemy, and then it dies and becomes that whisp of malice. Great. Character turns to leave, but then they hear something. Like a snicker, or laughter. Cut to this angle from behind the trees, but instead of astor it’s the character you’re playing as.

They go over to investigate, creeping closer with caution, until they see a shadow. The shadow of a small figure, about no higher than Link, with a long, trident weapon.

FWOOSH! An explosion of malice, almost like a fountain behind the character. They turn just in time to block the attack, the Lightscale Trident, but yet...it’s not the Lightscale Trident, because it’s covered in malice. Hollow Mipha is striking from the air, because this is basically her fountain teleportation thing, but malice. Once the character blocks the attack, time slows just a bit so you can see Hollow Mipha’s face, and then cut to the other characters face to give them a reaction. And that’s it.

Then you can pop back into gameplay, but there should be textboxes on the bottom where you can see the character’s surprised reaction like

[Unimportant detail, but if Daruk fights his Hollow self I want his reaction to be like “Woah! I sure look grumpy. I look like I skipped breakfast.” and then his gambit attack is like “eat THIS!” Also Revali can say something about how imitation is a form of flattery]

Through that fight, the Hollows also have like one textbox and a line of Evil™ mumbling and/or laughing once they’re defeated. The laughing is kinda used in a later scene, but it’s never really seen again so I just want that to be more prevalent. You all could probably think of more angsty “evil version of you” lines that are specific to each character, but I’m just thinking stuff like “You...won’t...last” or even just *muttering*. In fact, this is another thing that I want to flesh out with my gambit feature. It not only serves as interaction between whatever two characters you’re playing as, but also as interaction between your antagonists. So if you use a gambit on Kohga, he’ll say something specific about the characters he’s fighting. Same idea with Sooga, or Astor, and now here, the Hollows can say stuff to you.

There’s gonna be someone out there more creative than me out there that can think up some cool dialogue for them, but basically what I want to establish is that we know that these Hollows are made from people’s like, souls? Or life force or whatever you wanna call it. So it wouldn’t be farfetched to give them the ability to speak. Over the course of the game, I want their textboxes/dialogue to be more and more lifelike, like without the pauses or muttering. This is because the entire point of the dialogue is not only to serve that trope of “I’m the evil you I’m gonna say stuff that emotionally impacts you mwahaha” but it also makes them just a bit more menacing in my opinion. Also overall gameplay wise, I think they need to become stronger with the Champions because idk if it was just me, but they were so easy that I just forgot about them.

So! Korok Forest Battle introduces these creepy mumbling Champions, people react and are a bit freaked out, but they eventually clear the malice and we hit the next cutscene.

This is where the shit goes down.

You all probably remember how this scene goes down so I’ll try not to spend too much time explaining it. But here’s my two cents as to why I’m gonna rewrite it a bunch. I think it’s not a good villain reveal.

Like first off, it doesn’t establish Astor as a threat. His memorable action here is the summoning of the Hollows, and while yes, they do beat up Link and that’s very good, it also let’s Link easily beat them and Astor as soon as he gets the Master Sword IN THAT SAME SCENE. There was no time to let the threat of Astor linger, and when we see Link instantly beat him once he gets his Mcguffin, it really hinders the effect of this reveal.

Secondly, everyone is just silent during this??? Like, obviously Link doesn’t say anything, but Zelda doesn’t do stuff? Astor just kinda says “kill her!” and thats about it. Zelda never says “who are you?” or “what do you want?” or anything because as far as she’s concerned this is just some random dude, he’s not Yiga or anything. Also Astor never even introduces himself?? Throughout the entire game??? So while we the player know who he is because of his fancy title card, as far as all the characters are concerned he’s just a Mystery Clown.

It’s just super weird how no one asks any questions during this scene like no one acts like a human being with common sense. In fact, one could say that no one asks any questions for this entire game. Things just happen, and happen, and happen, and everyones just kinda chill. And then Zelda just kinda receives 17 flashbacks over the course of two minutes at the end of the game like she’s speedrunning botw memory%. Obviously having an aura of mystery over the course of your game is fine, it’s good to keep questions lingering over the audience’s head. Just so long as you answer them in a satisfactory way later on. Like, that’s not something I need to spell out for you right? If you set up a question, give the audience a good answer. If you set up a mystery, give a cool explanation. If you set up an interesting character you have to give the people a pay off that was worth their investment into them, right? Right? Right? You understand right? Cause as the writer for a story, it’s you’re to explain the significance and importance of why things happen in a creative way. It’s almost as if that’s the entire purpose of storytelling, you know, an explanation of events in a compelling manner. Like please, this is a concept that you are able to grasp right? This isn’t just me right? See that’s how writing works when setting up anything ever, you gotta give an explanation to the choices you make in the plot. You gotta explain why. You gotta explain why. Explain why. Explain why. Explain, why? Explain, why? Why? Why? WHy? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WH

Sorry I got carried away. Anyhow, here’s the rewrite.

Link and Zelda don’t enter the forest at the same time. They run through the wooden tunnel thing, and Link makes a gesture like “go!” while he stays back a bit to hold off some monsters like stal-lizalfos or something. So Zelda runs into the center of Korok Forest.

As far as any of the characters know, this is a safe haven now, this was their destination, so there’s no monsters here, so they’re good. The princess is safe, the Champions are just cleaning up in their respective corners of the forest with the Hollows, and Link is fighting off the monsters by the entrance. So while there is still tension from the battle, Zelda lets out a sigh of relief once she sees the Master Sword.

She approaches it, cautiously, but doesn’t step onto the stone pedestal, still staying a ways back in the grass. “We’re finally here,” she says to herself. “Now we just have to protect the sword, await for the hero to retrieve it, and await for destiny to arrive.” She looks down at the ground, and then at the back of her hand (fuck what hand was the one with the triforce, her left hand? I’m gonna say left hand). So she looks down at the back of her left hand, before letting it fall. She turns away from the Master Sword and to herself she just mutters, “I only wish that I could make as much progress in fulfilling my own role...in making myself to be of actual use, like the others.”

There’s a moment of silence as Zelda wraps her elbows and closes her eyes. Then,

“If that is what you wish,” a sudden voice echos, and Zelda spins around to face it, “Then perhaps I can be of some assistance.”

Cut to Astor, standing in front of the Master Sword, facing Zelda. Roughly where he is shown here, but Zelda is a couple feet away from him, standing on one of those rocks.

Zelda steps back in shock for a moment. “W-Who? Who are you?”

“Me?” He takes one step down the stairs. “Oh, I am just someone, same as you, who wishes to see destiny fulfilled.” Zelda takes another step back, and seeing this, he stops approaching. “Ease your mind, Your Highness. There is no need to be frightened. You may call me, Astor”

Cut to title card on his face, it can be like this, BUT, no malice or glowing magic around him, it’s all still lush green forest, and I don’t want as much focus on his astrolabe. It’s just his face, and he’s giving a warm, yet chilling smile.

Zelda is still stammering. “Y-You...do I……. how did you—”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters now is taking every step towards stopping the Calamity, correct?” Astor starts to take a step towards her again, and this time Zelda doesn’t flinch.

“Y-Yes. Yes of course. But I’m afraid I’m still a bit confused. ...What exactly do you...want?”

Astor doesn’t immediately answer. He steps off the pedestal and starts to circle around Zelda, eyeing her, but still with that creepy smile. “Tell me, Princess, how fares your recent training? Adequate progress, I presume?”

He continues circling around her, still a few feet away. Zelda looks to the ground, defeated. “I’m afraid not. I’ve been trying to aid the researchers with the Guardians and Divine Beasts. But when it comes to this power…” she looks down at her hand again. “...it seems despite my great efforts and restless hours of prayers, they have yet to awaken.”

Using his free hand, Astor places a hand on his chest, tilting his head in a sorry pout. The gesture seems exaggerated. “My...you poor thing. How harrowing this must be for you.” He continues walking, eyeing her as he circles behind. “But, I am certain it is not your fault. You are but a child, after all.”

“I…” Zelda is still staring at the ground in front of her. Astor continues.

“I mean really, have you ever stopped to think about how absurd this all is? A collection of mis-match warriors, demanded to pilot gods. A sword for an unseen hero. The lives of us all, in the hands of one girl. Expected to lead us all, awaken a divine power, and save the world, all before her 17th birthday…”

After a beat, Zelda finally looks up at him, confusion and suspicion back in her eyes. “What did you say?”

Astor stops walking, he’s back directly in front of the pedestal. The camera is on him center frame, so that when he turns to face Zelda, his figure blocks the sword.

“Now Princess, is that truly what you want? Do you really believe yourself prepared to live up to such a monumental task?” He’s walking directly towards her now, arm outstretched.

“I—” Zelda pauses, before shaking her head. “Of course not, but that doesn’t mean—”

“Yeesss. Precisely! You needn’t not let yourself live like this, like some beggar to the gods, like a failure.” Astor is walking more quickly towards her, and Zelda is stepping back.

Zelda lets out a gasp of fear now, as Astor approaches, there’s a swirl starting to form around the astrolabe in his hand. “I don’t understand! What’s your point, what do you want? Who are you!?”

He stops walking, he’s so much closer now, just a foot or two away from her. “It’s quite simple my dear.” He gives another smile. “I’m a man who wants to live.”

Fwoosh! The air around them is now tinted purple, the astrolabe’s power surrounding them both. Zelda gasps again.

“If we truly wish to see this realm prosper, we must accept the indisputable truth.” Astor reaches out his hand. “You are not worthy of saving this Kingdom. You do not have the power to oppose such an unimaginable enemy! Therefore I shall relieve you of your burden, for the sake of us all. I will steal, your, destiny!”

Astor is seconds away from touching her, before suddenly...the sound of a sword unsheathing.

Astor flies back, crumpling on the steps of the pedestal, he looks up to see Link, sword at the ready. Link had pushed astor back with the pommel of his sword [because no stabbing or blood for our PG Nintendo game] and the motion has cause him to drop his astrolabe, which now lies a few feet in front of him in the grass.

“Link!” Zelda says, relieved. From behind, eggbot also appears. It walks infront of Link and gives a little whistle and does that sassy pointing thing in the direction of Astor, as if telling him off.

Astor frowns when he sees Link, but when he sees eggbot his face morphs into confusion. “You…? But I…” he glances at his astrolabe. Astor gets up to retrieve it and stands.

“It doesn’t matter how you’re here again. You can’t stop this.” Astor summons the Hollows, and they appear in front of him. It was harder to see in the lost woods, but here in the lush grass, its undeniable that the Hollows are draining the plant life around them.

“Kill whoever he is. Fight the Guardian if you must, though I’d prefer it intact. But don’t touch the girl.” He narrows his eyes. “Her thread shall be cut by my hand alone.”

Then it goes into that action sequence. Link is desperately fighting off the Hollows, while also trying to keep eggbot close to protect it. The hollows are laughing, even taunting him, as Astor is just walking calmly forwards towards Zelda, and Link can’t do anything to stop it.

Then it’s roughly the same, Link flies back as his sword breaks. Zelda is kinda helpless. And then just as Astor is about to reach Zelda again, Link cries out, the Master Sword glows. Everyone looks back, confused. Link pulls the sword. Boss fight.

After the fight and after Link defeats Astor, he’ll say something like. “That sword...is too powerful.” and blah blah blah. He looks up at Zelda. “Should you come to your senses, Your Highness,” he hisses the words, “I will delightfully accept an invitation with your company again.” He glares at Link. “Perhaps one day, when we have more time, you will fully come to understand where your arrogance is leading you.” He stands, though clutching his side in pain. “Until then, I shall make certain we meet again.” Link charges him, but he disappears in smoke and malice. End the Korok Forest arc.

Okay so! Why is this scene better? Uhhhhhhhh because it fucking is that’s why. We got 1) A villain introduction that’s more menacing 2) an establishment of character goals, but a mystery of character motivation to keep suspense 3) a more insightful look at different character’s feelings and thoughts 4) a much more interesting interaction with dialogue that raises tension and properly climaxes to the action and 5) the story’s momentum moves forward with ascending action, and new story details that set up later scenes.

I find it absolutely absurd that in the original game, these scenes are not written with more impact. This is the first look into the real mystery and substance that the story has to offer, and the first real look into the prime antagonist’s head. The actions and stakes throughout Act 2 have to properly ascend and rise in order to truly keep the audience engaged. You can’t just rely on mystery alone, you have to make use of character goals.

Reiterating Zelda’s internal struggles means that this can more easily connect and flow into the later segments where she doubts her ability and sees Link and the others grow stronger. In addition, Astor’s presence is a direct foil to Zelda’s arc. You can already see it a bit based on his dialogue, but I will more fully explain the true depths of how his is a direct foil to Zelda further down the line when all the aspects of his character are revealed. It’s almost as pacing the amount of information you give about a character can properly incite your audience to be more invested in the story, hmm. Anyhow, all you need to know for now is that good antagonists have similarities and aligning viewpoints as the protagonist in the beginning of the journey, much more, than you might think.

= = = = =

That is it for now! I can’t believe I had to dedicate an entire section to just one battle. But! That is how the story must go, as I need to flesh out as much as possible in only a few cutscenes without ruining the pacing. Tune in next time for flashbacks, backstory, Yiga husbands, token Zelink hours, aaand perhaps just a bit of Impa simping.

#Hwaoc: The Kip Cut #Part 2 #hwaoc spoilers #long post #hwaoc #age of calamity #hw age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity

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piabu · 4 years ago

Text

BAKUGO KKATSUKI (x blind reader)

Getting into UA and becoming a hero, is every young kids dream. And for some its more realistic than it is for others. You always thought that your chance was slim, but when the letter came saying you got in to class 1-B, you were more than estatic. When it comes to stealth and combat your quirk comes in extremely handy. Using echo-location you can "see" many things others can't. Your ears are more sensitive to movement and noise, giving you an advantage, even though you are blind.

Being blind you had to have an aid in classes with you to be your eyes during lessons, but during training, you quirk was better than haveing 20/20 vision. UA was very accomotading to you and your aid. And for the most part everyone was nice. Monoma wasn't your biggest fan and often got on your nerves however.

Today as you entered the school someone bumped into you. You figured it was just Monoma picking on you again tho.

"Hey, watch it extra." the person grumbled. Not Mo.. The voice is somewhat familiar though.

"My appologies." You bowed facing what you thought was the boy. He stood beside you and clicked his tounge.

"Whatever." You heard footsteps and figured he was leaving. Quickly you activated your quirk to see his retreating form and some other students in the hall. His hair was spikey and his shoulders were slightly hunched. You tilted your head studying him.

A hand on your shoulder startled you. You turned your head in the direction of the hand. "Oh hey Erushī." you greeted your aid. "Did you happen to see who I bumped into?"

"Oh yeah, the angry blonde boy. Thats Bakugo Katsuki from class 1-A." Erushī explains. You think back to the some of the "horror stories" you have heard of the explosive teen.

"I see." You laugh at the irony of your statement. "What color is his hair?" Eru links her arm through yours.

"Blonde. Why?"

"Just forming a mental image." You shrug as the two of you enter the classroom.

(Timeskip to lunch)

Erushī walks you to the lunchroom and you sit with your usual table group. You think back to your encounter this morning and use your quirk to scan the lunchroom for Bakugo. You see his figure sitting at a table with some other students you assume are from his class.

"Earth to y/n!" Kendo says as she taps your shoulder. "You okay there?"

"Oh yeah. I'm fine." You flash a small smile to your friends, and close your eyes losing yourself in your mental images. They continue their conversation as you eat.

----

"Hey Bakubro!" Kirishima greets him, and scoots over for his friend to sit down. "You've been quiet today."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!"

"Ah, theres the Bakugo we know." the redhead jokes.

Bakugo rolls his eyes and lifts his head to see you enter the cafeteria and sit at a table with you classmates. Mina notices him staring and follows his gaze.

"Her name is F/n L/n/." Pretty right! She is in class 1-B."

"Shut up Pinky. I didnt fucking ask." The blonde grumbles and focuses on his food. Mina shrugs.

"I saw you looking, and thought you might wanna know."

"Well you thought wrong." He snaps. A smile creeps onto The pink girl's face and she winks at Kirishima, then guestures to Baku with a nod of her head.

Kiri gets the hint and his eye widen. Sero and Kaminari look between the three of them in confusion. Sero shrugs giving Kami a confused look. And the yellow head returns the look.

"Anyways, so aparently we are training with class 1-B after lunch." Sero says, breaking the silence that befell upon the group.

"Really! Cool!" Mina pipes up.

Katsuki steals a quick glance at you before getting sucked into the conversation by his friends.

(Time skip to sparring)

"Students will be paired up with someone not from their class to train with. Is that understtod?" Eraserhead explains the rest of the rules for training and Mic announces the partners. You were up against a girl named Hagakure. Her quirk was invisibility. You smiled at the perfection of the situation. Someone who is invisible to most, is not to you. You raise your hand.

"Yes y/n?" Aizawa calls on you.

"Could I perhaps have another partner. Hagakure's quirk is invisibility, but I can see her clear as day." you explain. A few heads turn as not many of the A students know of your quirk, but the hero agrees and pairs you up with Bakugo, and giving his partner to the invisible girl.

You all go get changed into your costumes and meet on the training grounds and get ready to spar. Your costume is quite simple. A pair of black leggings with thigh holsters for a few blades to fit. Your (color) top is cropped, sleveless and skin-tight. The lack of sleves allows for straps on your biceps to hold throwing stars. The outfit is pulled together with combat boots and a black blindfold over your eyes for dramtic effect.

"Whats with the blindfold extra? DO YOU UNDERESTAMATE MY POWER THAT MUCH?" Sparks fly from katsuki's palms as he accuses you.

"No, sorry. Its part of my costume. I dont doubt your abilities, Actually I admire how strong you are." You beam at the blonde. A blush tints his cheeks and he is thankful for the bindfld covering your eyes. "Shall we start?" you ask.

He grumbles a response and the two of you fly into action. You immediately activate your quirk and see his figure and take in his costume. Gauntlets. Avoid his hands at all costs. Katsuki moves to launch a blast your way and you move to the side, dodging it effectively. You use this advantage to get closer and land a punch to his shoulder. He spins on you and his elbow makes contact with your stomach. You cough as the wind is knocked out of you and quickly regain your composure. The thing with Bakugo is that he is a loud fighter. So you really wouldn't need your quirk much to fight him anyways. You see, or rather hear, his attacks before they happen.

"Why do you keep dodging? STOP HOLDING BACK DAMNIT!" You laugh quietly and take your blindfold off, wrapping it around your hand.

You decide to humor him and give in to his request. Katsuki is able to land a few hits on you, but for the most part he just tries to avoid your blades. Baku jumps and a blast comes your way and you duck down and slip under and between his legs. You unwravel the blindfold and wrap it around one of his ankles slamming him down onto the ground. You tie it around his other leg, imobilising him on his stomach.

Bakugo puts his palms on either side of him but you grab them and pin them behind his back with one hand, the other holding a blade to his wrists.

"Congratulations y/n." Present Mic says to you. You nod and get off your partner untieing him.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? YOU DIDN'T EVEN USE YOUR QUIRK! I TOLD YOU NOT TO HOLD BACK!" Katsuki explodes and his hand grabs your throat. His palms are warm and you can feel the slight sting of a burn.

"Y/N!" Erushī yells as she rushes up to you. Bakugo lets you go.

"Who the fuck are you?" he snarls.

"I am her AID." Eru says firmly. "L/n is blind." You cough and rub your throat and the two of them look at you.

"Im fine Erushī. And yes Bakugo, i did use my quirk. I may be blind, in a literal sense, but I can still see." He looks at you blankly, then to the girl beside you.

"My quirk is echo-location. I use sounds to see, and you my friend are very loud." You laugh and link arms with your aid. "Good fight." You bow and walk back to the changerooms.

----

'She is blind. That explains why she bowed in the wrong direction this morning, and the blindfold.' Katsuki thinks to himself. 'So she doesn't know what I look like. She probably doesn't even know what she looks like. She can't see facial expressions.'

Part of Bakugo was saddened by that. You were quite a good looking girl. But you would never know it. His thoughts drift to all the things you can and can't do. No wonder the other girl was always with you.

Kirishima clapped Bakugo on the back, pulling him from his thoughts. "Hey bro. How was it?"

Bakugo rolls his eyes and lets out an annoyed "tch," remembering that you pinned him. He shrugs Kiri away and heads to change.

"You should ask her out." the readhead says nonchelantly.

"That's none of your buisness Shitty Hair."

(Time skip)

You sat at home listening to music, when your phone buzzed.

"You have a text from and unknown number: Oi its Bakugo, I got your number from your friend." The automated voice on your phone read the text out loud.

"Text back: Hello there. Smiley face." you say to your phone. "Please name the contact Bakugo."

"Incoming call from: Bakugo." You press on the screen to answer the call and hold it to your ear.

"Hello."

"Hi, meet me at the park near the school." Wow he is forward.

"Uhh.. sure i guess."

"10 minutes."

The line goes dead before you can respond and you turn your phone off. That might have been the shortest call ever. You go downstairs and ask your parent to drop you off. 10 minutes later you are sitting on a swing waiting for Bakugo.

"Can you see me?" Bakugo's voice startles you slightly.

"Sort of. I can see the outline of your figure. You have spikey hair." You say. He hums in agreement. You see/hear him move closer and he takes your hand in his, they are surpizingly soft.

"Can you see yourself?" he asks somewhat quieter.

"No, only from what i can feel.." You face him and your empty eyes stare at him.

"Your eyes are (e/c)." he says. "And your hair is (h/c). Your cheeks are pink."

"I know all that. Ive been told." You laugh dryly. "Can we sit on the grass?" Bakugo hums, and brings you out of the sand. He sits down and you sit next to him, bodies touching.

"Why do you keep your eyes open if you cant see?" he asks.

"I guess just to seem a little more normal. Does it bother you?" you explain.

"No. I like your eyes." You smile to yourself. The boy beside you is completly different from the one you were sparring with at school, and yet its the same person.

"I like this soft side of you Bakugo." you say.

'Its only for you.' he thinks. You feel his hand drop yours and move to your cheek. He turns your head to face him.

"Can you see me?" he asks again. You nod your head. His facial features are more visible to you but still fuzzy.

"What color are your eyes?" you ask.

"Red."

"May I touch you?" He doesnt answer, so you clarify. "Your face i mean."

"Yes."

Your hands come up to his cheeks and you take in all his facial features with your hands. Touching people allows you to have a better sense of what the person looks like and you add this to your mental image of the boy.

Katsuki grabs your wrists stilling your movements and brings your hands back down to your lap.

"Now i can see you." you say.

He stares at you for a brief moment and closes your eyes gently. His hand rests back on your cheek.

"Good." is all he says before his lips are on yours.

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sidespromptblog · 5 years ago

Text

Difficult to Love

Summary: Everything was running smoothly.

There was no stalling in Thomas’ own creative thoughts, no hesitations when it came to the knowledge that he needed to absorb for his newer video that he was working on, his anxiety was at a manageable level, and… he for all intents and purposes… he seemed happy.

Considering all of that, nothing seemed to be wrong. Everything was running smoothly, and there was no reason whatsoever to panic or kick up a fuss about anything.

And yet...

Word Count: 3700

AO3 LINK

The mindspace was oddly quiet as Remus made his way through the lighter spaces, it was warmer that was for sure but there was a silence that clung to the place like a funeral shroud to a freshly dead body ready to be burned. He wished that he could say that it was a surprise to see it that way, to not hear the chattering downstairs as the other light sides talk amongst themselves and the breakfast that they’ve made. Breakfast that he and Deceit were never once privy to, not that he could blame them, what with Deceit’s eating habits and his own attitude towards the most important meal of the day. Nevertheless, it didn’t change the fact that everything was completely and utterly silent.

And yet…

Everything was running smoothly.

Considering all of that, nothing seemed to be wrong. Everything was running smoothly, and there was no reason whatsoever to panic or kick up a fuss about anything.

And ordinarily, Remus would have cared less about any of that. Content to sow endless chaos wherever he could until either Deceit or his brother told him to knock it off, at least until he went at them with one of his beloved creations. So… he shouldn’t have cared, he shouldn’t be worried, and he shouldn’t even be here in the light space that both he and Deceit had been banned from for years. Yet here he was, his boots trekking thick globs of mud up the stairs leaving a visible trail for just about anyone to find. Not that it bothered him any, right now… nobody would stop him, not today.

Because…

Because they all knew that he had heard, just as well as Deceit had yeard.

He had heard the yelling of their argument that rang all throughout the mindspace, infiltrating even the darkest reaches of Thomas’ mind so that every side known and unknown could hear it. He had heard the shouting until the other side’s voice had gone hoarse and cracked, it had rattled Remus’ bones for the first time in… well, a very very long time. And finally… he had heard the door slam as the argument had eventually ended, shaking the picture frames on the walls and even rocking the very walls themselves.

He had heard it all, and he had heard the door remain shut still not opening weeks later.

At first, he had been fine with the silence, but now...

“So,” Remus cheerily flopped onto the floor next to the door, eagerly leaning his entire body weight back against the door as he crossed his mud-caked feet. “You’ve been in there for a while,” He began as he rattled his knuckles against the painted door, “Which I entirely get! No judgment coming from me, here! Talking to the others is more boring than vanilla sex, I’d rather pluck my eyeballs out and use them as nunchucks.” The creative side hastily amended, holding his hands up in the universal sign of peace… not that the other side would even see it though. “But…”

Here a moment of silence stretched between him and the side hidden behind the door, who still hadn’t said a single word to interrupt him from his inane ramblings.

He wasn’t worried though, not a single bit.

“Feel free to pipe up any time though, I might talk so much that I accidentally bite through my tongue and bleed out!” He giggled, waiting for something… anything really from the other side of the door.

Some shuffling, a snore, even the sound of the other snacking… anything would have been preferable rather than just having to hear his own voice like nails on a chalkboard over and over again. But there was nothing, a void where noise should have been, a void that ate everything up and spit out only the grey bones of what once was and what should have been. Not only was it boring but… it was unnerving even for Remus to have to sift through. It only served to make him that much more aware of the shrieking and repetitive thoughts inside his own head, there should be noise… there should be lots of rambling noise coming from behind the door… coming from downstairs in the kitchen where he and Deceit had never been.

But there wasn’t.

Remus’ foot bounced against the carpet, spreading even more of the dried up mud all over the place the longer that he sat there. Even with that same repetitive task, it felt like he had sat there in silence for what must have been hours, even if it was only for at most just a minute or two.

“Do you wanna play a game?” He suddenly asked, desperate for anything to break the silence at this point. “It’s a real easy one I promise. I’m not too good at those smarty pants games like chess, but this one…” Within seconds a roll of parchment had appeared in Remus’ hands along with a pen small enough and thin enough to slip under the doorway. “The theme is a feeling, hard I know. But I know you can get it.”

Drawing a messy sketch of the gallows, Remus rolled onto his stomach pressing his cheek flat against the now filthy carpet before carelessly shoving the parchment and pen under the gap in the door. Had he been a dog, particularly, a pit bull his entire body would have been wagging eagerly waiting for some kind of response from the person on the other side of the door.

This must’ve been what having a pen pal must’ve felt like, as he waited his stormy eyes still peering under the doorway eager to catch a glimpse of some kind of movement that would tell him he wasn’t just wasting his breath talking to nobody.

And for a moment.. for a split second, there was a blur in the darkness, a movement.

And Remus’ heartfelt as if it would explode right out of his chest, until-

The scroll of paper shot back out from under the door, smacking the creative side rather harshly, right on the nose.

“Hey!” Remus yelped, scuttling back as he clasped a hand over his nose. It didn’t do anything more than sting for just a second, but even so, it was the action that spoke more than anything. “That wasn’t nice you know!” He scolded, feeling heat tickling the tops of his ears as a blush easily swept over his features coloring his face in a deep red hue that Remus would have killed someone over for inflicting onto him. Or would have, had it not been this kind of situation. “I was just trying to-”

Remus stopped dead, or as dead as a living creative side could get in this case.

This beating lump of flesh shuddered in his chest, and the warmth that had descended over his face that had previously been unwanted felt like a warm summer morning as he stared down at the parchment that now had a single letter scribbled onto the corner. He was absolutely certain that in his entirety of an existence, that nothing… nothing had ever allowed him to feel like this before. It was like his entire body was a well full of adrenaline, that instead of making him simply feel buzzed and energized… made him feel dizzy and breathless.

He didn’t know if there was a word for something like this, but even if there was...

He didn’t care.

Remus shimmied closer to the door, so that his back was practically flush against the wood. “Oooh,” He eagerly crooned as he scribbled a plain circle onto the gallows, excitement squirming inside of him like worms coming up after a heavy rainfall to breathe. This.. this felt like the first time he had truly breathed in such a long time. “Close, but now you’ve got head!”

And so their game continued, their stacks of paper growing with each game until hours had passed.

With each day that passed, Remus could honestly say that their games… it was the thing that he looked forward to most with the rise of each morning. It certainly wasn’t what ordinary people would call fun, given that he just chattered to a door without having a single word to answer him back, but he knew that the other side was there, he knew that he was at least listening and paying attention to the things that he wrote on their game papers. He knew based on the doodles that he’d find messily scribbled next to his own gorey ones, he knew based on the little gradings that he’d find that would never be too harsh, and he knew because… he just did.

“I hope you’re eating.” He said one morning as the smell of waffles wafted up from the kitchen downstairs, he had felt no need to join the others even after coming to the light space every day for a week now. He knew that he wouldn’t be welcome there anyway, “I know we technically don’t need to eat, I mean look at me, I eat deodorant to piss the others off. But… you’re important you know.. You need to eat and keep your strength up.” Again silence, although it wasn’t like he was expecting anything else. “I’d care if you keeled over and died from starvation.”

Talking to someone who would never answer back wasn’t exactly the way that he thought he’d spend hours of his days, but… oddly enough he wasn’t complaining.

“Everything is so boring,” He complained one evening.

The amber glow of the fake setting sun in the window cast a warm glow down the hallway, the exact shade of fallen leaves and nostalgic times for Remus. The glow of that golden crested glow that made Remus’ scrunched up body form a long ominous shadow down what remained of the hallway.

“Ever since you ducked out… there’s no spice. You get what I’m saying?” He rambled, thunking his head back against the door as if to reaffirm that someone was still listening. “Like… I’m not into humiliation, it’s nowhere on my kink list but… the others just ignore me without you. You.. you at least knew how to take me on, and take me down a peg or two. You…” Remus’ lips tugged downward in an almost sad smile that filled him with an almost suffocating sense of melancholy that even his fake and authentic cheer couldn’t chase away this time. “You make me feel like I’m really here…”

There wasn’t an answer.

But then again Remus didn’t really expect one.

So with a heavy sigh, he picked himself back up, cracking his sore stiff bones from the position he had been sitting in for hours.

He didn’t want to leave, and yet…

“Goodnight,” He gently murmured to the door, his forehead softly bumping against the wood, letting the other side know exactly what he was doing. “You’ll have sweet dreams tonight… I promise.”

And just like that he left, his boots thunking heavily down the steps as the papers of their previous game remained clutched tightly in his hands.

He didn’t hear it… but the moment Remus was out of earshot, the harsh muffled sound of tears echoed solemnly behind the door.

But even so, their daily games continued.

They both seemingly looked forward to the hours in which Remus would eagerly climb the stairs, stomping up and soiling Patton’s carpet with whatever fluids he happened to be trekking in that day. Sometimes it was mud, sometimes red, sometimes yellow, and sometimes it was green. But no matter the color, it all stained the carpet the very same way that it always did, and with it came Patton’s annoying lecture about taking his boots off. A lecture that was always answered with Remus’ shit-eating grin, and the shifting of floorboards on the other side of that door telling the creative side that his playmate was ready.

“Okay!” He excitedly wiggled setting down a heavy book and a stack of papers, “I know I said that I wasn’t all that good at all these smarter games, but I DO know for a fact that you like chess. And there’s only so many times we can play hangman and connect the dots before it gets suuuper boring. So I found this book, yeah? It says that its chess for dummies, and I figured that it’s perfect for me.” Remus eagerly chattered, “We’ll use a pencil today instead of a pen so we can erase and move the pieces around without having an actual chess board or pieces! Cool right?”

Having gotten used to not receiving an answer, Remus scribbled his name where the black pieces would be before sliding the paper under the door. And... for the first time in the weeks since they had started their games, the paper didn’t move. Remus could see the cover of the page still sticking out, not moving from where he had initially slid it to the other side for his turn to begin.

There was nothing.

Until…

“Thank you.”

The two words were no more than a whisper to Remus, the first words that the creative side had heard from him in the months since he had ducked out and refused to come out of his room. How long had he been there? Waiting for the other light sides to finish with their guilty pleading so that he could play his games never expecting to hear a peep from the other side of the door? How long had he given up hearing anything, content to just have fun and never press matters beyond that one day?

He honestly didn’t know.

“You’re welcome,” Remus whispered back just as softly, as if raising his voice above a mere whisper would shatter reality before his eyes. “It honestly wasn’t that hard at all, I just had to find the book.. reading was a bit more difficult, but… but it was worth it. I know that you enjoy this kind of thing, so.. so it was well worth whatever effort it took to get me here. I…” Remus swallowed leaning gingerly close to the door, as if the other side was just a hair’s breadth away from him. “I promise.”

Another sound.. another noise crept past the wood of the door.

This time though it took Remus a little bit longer to actually realize just what it was, and when he did… something in his chest split open and shattered all at once. He had never actually heard it before, at least coming from this side. Deceit had done it plenty of times, when it was just the two of them and nobody else. But for him…

To cry?

Panic almost immediately seized ahold of Remus’ throat in a vice-like grip refusing to let him breathe through its suffocating grasp, “I’m sorry!” He quickly blurted out, his palms spreading against the door as he pressed himself as close as he possibly could against the door, like a pathetic dog trying so very hard to get to its wounded master. He wanted to headbutt the door, to rip and tear it down, to scratch at it with his fingernails until he could see the other side. But.. but he couldn’t, even he knew that. “I.. I truly honestly didn’t mean to! I.. I-”

A muffled sob, like the sound of someone pressing their palm against their mouth, echoed from the other side.

The sound tore at Remus’ heart and lungs, practically liquefying them in the process.

It hurt, god did it hurt to hear such a sound coming from the side that had somehow wormed their way into his brain, that had slithered past all of his gorey defenses, and had still even without saying a word rendered him completely helpless right here and now. Why on earth did it have to hurt so much? Roman was the one that always said that things like love always felt so nice, that it was always worth singing about.

Did this mean that this feeling wasn’t love? If it wasn’t love then what was it? Did that mean he could carve it out of his chest so that he wouldn’t even feel this pain again? Was that even possible?

“No.. no!” The sniffling from the other side dragged Remus right on back to what was happening. “I just…” There was a shuffling sound, like the person on the other side was just as close to the door as Remus was. “They.. I was told that my interests… my ideas are too difficult. I… was used to it.. to that. I’m… a difficult person, even you must know that.”

The other’s voice sounded even closer than ever before, and it broke with every syllable.

Remus listened like a dying man in a desert who had finally found water.

“You… Your presence here… has been greatly appreciated, but you don’t have to do this. It’s better if I stay here… not talking. Not being… difficult for those around me. It’s… the least I can do.”

Something inside of Remus snapped, like a violin string that had been tightened and tightened to the point where the stress of the whole thing had been way too much.

“You…” Remus softly began trying not to sound as angry as he felt, this time with a lot more care than he was ever used to actually giving to another being that was still alive before his words abruptly failed him.

He was used to saying a lot of things in various different ways and styles, but nothing this soft and nothing ever this heartfelt for another person.

He swallowed thickly, “Are a gentle, loving person.” He quickly carried on before the other side could stop him. “Who has been told by too many people that you, that you are too difficult to love… and that..” A snarl tinged Remus’ words as his nails dug into the painted wood of the other’s door, “That is a fucking lie, Logan. You aren’t difficult to love, loving you..it takes effort. But so does loving anything in this hellscape of our life, you’re an effort that’s well worth it. That’s it.” Irritation ate at Remus’ insides, like a blazing wildfire that consumed everything in its path. “You’re worth knowing,” He snarled again like a furious hound tugging on the end of its collar, bumping his head even harder against the door, “And you’re worth loving. And nobody… none of them know that better than me!”

It took Remus a full few seconds to realize just what he had said, and in turn just what he had admitted to the logical side on the other side of the door. But even so, there was no taking it back now, Logan knew and just about everyone that there was to hear his angry rant knew it now too as well.

All that was left now was the rejection.

“I…” Logan paused for a long moment, that felt as if it stretched from the dawn of today to the very end of time as the logical side swallowed thickly. “I…”

Remus’ head thumped lifelessly against the door, as he prepared to get off of his aching knees and leave with his tail tucked between his legs. To never ever bother Logan again, and to leave him to his self imposed isolation. To perhaps go into his own isolation, and never ever leave for fear of continuing to bother the logical side even more of where he did not belong.

“I have a chessboard in my room,” Came the uncertain whisper from inside, “If you’d like to bring your book… we can play a game. If you’d really like to.”

And just like that, the icy numbness of terror thawed, replaced by hope as the gentle sounds of the lock clicking open finally registered to Remus’ ears. As quickly as he could, he stumbled back up to his feet as he seized the book that had been laying on the floor. In an instant, relief swept through the creative side’s body like a torrent of wind, rain, and hail as the door slowly swung open allowing him to see the other side’s face for the first time in months.

He saw it all.

The exhausted lines on the other’s face from the near-constant work he was having to do in order to keep Thomas going. The dark circles that spoke of many sleepless nights. The fresh tear tracks that were entirely Remus’ doing, although not from any amount of cruelty… but instead pure kindness and worry. And his tussled hair that rose and fell in chaotic messy waves due to the lack of gell keeping them back in place.

Remus wanted to kiss him, he wanted to kiss every single freckle that stood out on Logan’s pale face.

Instead, the book slid from his hands as he lunged forward. Seizing Logan in a bone-crushing hug as he held the other close to his chest, gingerly rocking him back and forth. He buried his face into the other’s neck, breathing heavily as his own set of tears spilled down his cheeks.

“I was so worried!” He openly gushed, uncaring about the tears that ruined his makeup. “I was so worried about you,” Remus repeated, stroking Logan’s back until he felt the other sinking back into the hug the logical side’s body shaking with his own tears. “I was so scared.”

A watery chuckle fell from Logan’s lips, “Are you sure that I’m worth it then?”

“Always,” There wasn’t a hint of doubt to Remus’ words. “You’re always worth the effort. I promise.”

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willow-salix · 4 years ago

Text

Fluffember prompt: Jacket (hoodie)

Day 21 of Isolation on Tracy Island 2.0

"What the hell kind of noise was that?"

"I sneezed."

"That was NOT a sneeze," Alan argued, looking at me warily, like he expected me to explode again any second and take them all out with me. I glared at him, because how dare? I was the sick one and he was treating me like I was doing it to spite him.

"Be nice to her," John sighed, but his tone said he was barely listening and was pretty much done with all of us now.

I was camped out on the couch, where I'd been for much of the day. I'd gone past the point of having a head that felt like a steel band was rehearsing in there and had downgraded it to little demons with pitchforks that jabbed me whenever I coughed, sneezed or moved my head quickly. It was more bearable and wasn't as affected by sound levels made worse by noisy brothers.

I looked like crap, I knew that, my hair was scraped up on top of my head in a loose bun, I was wearing the shirt that John hates (but it was hidden by a blanket so his eyes were safe), soft leggings and the fluffiest socks imaginable. I wouldn't be winning any beauty pageants any time soon but at least I was comfortable. And I was still cold.

I know, I know, I could just go and put a jumper on or something, but that wouldn't work. Because I was in that awkward stage where I was too hot with a thick jumper on, but too cold without it. The blanket helped but it still wasn't right. And I was getting rather fed up.

Gordon, sweet boy that he is, handed me a mug of his famous tea (which is a lot more useful than his equally as famous squid sense right now) and immediately went into lecture mode.

"Have you let Virgil check your temperature lately?"

"Yes," I sighed and he lifted an eyebrow, clearly not believing me.

"She has," John confirmed. "And she's taken those vitamins. She's behaving."

"Makes a change from last time."

"Hey! No picking on me," I croaked, pausing to have a coughing fit. "Last time I was a strong, independent woman and now…" I paused, not sure how to finish that sentence without making myself sound bad or proving his point. I rephrased. "Look, last time I was used to doing everything for myself and not relying on anyone, now I've learnt to accept a little help now and then."

"You mean you were awkward, argumentative, you bit me and we had to resort to underhanded tactics?" Virgil joined in, earning himself a glare.

"Anything sounds bad when you say it like that," I grumped, lifting John's arm to snuggle under. "I said I was sorry for biting you but you were trying to do medical things to me and you know I don't work that way."

"Let me see your throat," Gordon asked, ignoring the ranting going on. I dutifully tipped my head back and opened my mouth.

"Not as bad as it was," Gordon admitted, after shining a light inside. "Close."

I closed my mouth and straightened my head so he could feel the glands in my neck.

"See, in being an adult and allowing myself to be looked at," I said, turning my head slightly to stick my tongue out at Virgil.

"Oh yes, you're a very mature adult," Virgil drawled. John sniggered but hid it with a cough that I knew was faked but I couldn't be bothered to argue about.

"Glands have gone down, she's definitely on the mend," Gordon told John, completely ignoring me. "Did she sleep OK?"

"I am here you know, I can answer questions." Again I was ignored. "You don't have to fuss over me, I can look after myself."

"EOS said she was very restless and woke up a number of times."

"I could have told you that," I said. "Since I was the one not sleeping."

"Did she drink much during the night?"

"They aren't listening to me, are they?" I asked Alan.

"They never do. Try being the youngest with four big brothers and a grandma. I've found it's best to just let them do their thing and just ignore them," he shrugged and offered me his spare controller. "Wanna play?"

I shook my head. "Thanks for the offer, baby bean, but I'm crap at it most days and this is not most days, plus I think the screen would make my headache worse."

Alan nodded his agreement, seeing the wiseness in my answer and went back to his game.

"I've been doing some research," a voice piped up from the portable comm on Jeff's desk.

"You have, EOS? What about?" John asked, pulled from his conversation with Gordon about my apparently fragile physical health.

"Cold remedies," she answered proudly.

"Cold remedies?" I asked dubiously. "Thank you, but I don't think I need-"

"Some of them seem to have no basis in scientific fact and so I cannot vouch for their effectiveness, but I do believe that some may help," she continued, completely ignoring the fact that I had been talking.

"Per my research I have disregarded some ideas and made plans to implement others."

"John?" I whispered, looking up at him.

"Hm?"

"Are we sure she's not still evil and trying to kill me off?"

"Well, nothing in life is a hundred percent certain," he mused. I sat up a little and tried to shift away but his arm tightened around my waist and dragged me back. "I'll make sure she doesn't try to kill you, OK?"

"Promise? Death by AI might be cheaper than a divorce."

"Tempting as that sounds, I promise."

I narrowed my eyes at him but stayed put, he was comfy and smelt nice but the second Scott got back I'd be swapping, Scott would never treat me this way.

"One of the remedies involves a drink called Gogol Mogol," EOS announced.

"That doesn't sound good," I muttered under my breath.

"What's that? It sounds vaguely Russian," John asked, already interested. Damn him and his desire to allow her to continue to grow and think for herself. He encourages her far too much.

"It is, it originates from both Russia and the Ukraine, you whisk together warm milk, honey, sugar-"

"That doesn't sound too bad so far," Gordon said, sounding surprised.

"Butter and egg yolk," EOS continued.

"Nope! I'm out, I don't do egg in drinks, it's just weird. And butter should be on bread, not in a drink."

"So you don't like eggnog?" Virgil asked.

"Eww, no, I'm English, we don't do that sort of thing." Yes, I admit, I said 'that sort of thing' like it was something disgusting and inappropriate, which to me it was.

"You never know, if this lockdown continues we might actually get a peaceful Christmas at home this year, then Dad can make his famous eggnog, the one that we all have to drink Christmas eve…" Virgil grinned evilly.

"Why are you picking on me today, Chonky? You're supposed to be the nice one."

Virgil batted his eyelashes innocently in my direction, but I wasn't fooled, I knew the truth.

"If you do not like that remedy there is also the one with the dirty socks."

"Erm, the what now?" Virgil was let off with a warning as I became instantly distracted. "I refuse to have dirty socks anywhere near me, let alone crushed up or stuffed in my mouth or whatever form this remedy takes.”

“You simply massage a substance called lard into your neck and then use dirty socks as a scarf…”

“Pass,” I declared.

"I've heard of that one!" Gordon said.

"I've looked into what lard is and my research says it is the rendered fat of the fatty tissue of a pig."

"We could try bacon grease," Alan suggested.

"No, we can't. That remedy is definitely not true," John insisted, seeing the look of horror on my face.

"It is, I read about it on Wikipedia," EOS argued.

"Oh, then it has to be real," John rolled his eyes.

"I have more if bacon fat is not to your liking," EOS interrupted.

"What are they?" I asked suspiciously.

“Pickled plums,” EOS suggested. “In Japan they eat umeboshi, also known as a pickled plum, to prevent and fight colds and flu.”

“That doesn't sound too bad,” Alan commented, obviously listening in.

“Although it’s not actually a plum, it's a variety of apricot-”

I gasped loudly, lifting my head in horror. “I TOLD you she was murderous!”

“I am not!”

“EOS, she’s allergic to apricots,” John explained. “And feeling dramatic.”

“I am not dramatic, I’m just not well,” I pouted.

“Garlic in a glass of milk,” EOS tried again.

I shook my head.

“Next?” John said.

“Onions are said to be very good, you can put them in her socks or she can wear them as a necklace.”

“Is she determined to make me smell?”

“Two pairs of socks,” EOS continued to reel off.

“I’m already wearing the thickest I can find,” I assured her.

“No, for this you soak your feet in hot water, then take a pair of socks, soak them in cold water, wring them out and wear them with dry socks over the top and sleep in them.”

I didn’t even dignify that with an answer. Wearing wet socks was never going to happen.

“That’s not healthy, EOS, wet socks will make her feel worse. Plus she already puts her cold feet on me, I don't want to suffer them cold and wet.”

“What about lizard soup?” EOS offered next.

“What, with real lizards?” Gordon asked with a laugh.

“Yes, the recipe calls for dried lizards simmered with yams and chinese dates to make a broth.”

“John, please,” I whined, burying my face in his neck in an attempt to escape all my problems. I love EOS, I do, she is our weird AI child but my gods does she try my patience sometimes.

“EOS, if you do not have any sensible suggestions then let’s not have any at all.”

“I do have sensible suggestions, I told you that I had disregarded some as they had no scientific basis or the ingredients would not be available on the island,” she argued.

“And you think that dried lizards are something we just have hanging around in the pantry?” I asked, completely bemused, my voice muffled against his shoulder.

“No, but we have lizards in Scott’s office. As far as I can see they serve no purpose…”

“I’m out!” I coughed, sitting up and throwing the blankets off. “I won’t sit here and have her suggest I eat our babies because I have a cold.”

I don’t know if John said anything to her because I’d left the room, but I hope so, she needed telling. There were some things that should never be thought about let alone suggested. Honestly, next she'd be telling me to skin Armstrong and use his fluff as a vest or something.

I had only moved from the lounge to the kitchen but I was already feeling a bit shaky and very chilly, wishing I'd brought the blanket with me.

I reached for the tea kettle, checking there was water in it before putting it on the stove to boil. I’m old fashioned in many ways and any good witch will tell you that when it comes to tea leaf or coffee grounds readings you have to have fresh boiled water over flame, it’s the law and so I have to have a proper old style kettle in the kitchen at all times. And yes they tease me about it. I flicked on the flames and that was when I heard it in the distance, the familiar whining drone of powerful engines.

“Oh, thank the gods,” I groaned, my salvation was incoming.

I had made my fruity herbal tea and was sipping it by the time Scott came to find me.

“I heard that you stormed out of the lounge,” he told me by way of greeting.

“EOS told me to eat our children," I informed him.

He blinked. “Well, I can’t say that I ever expected to hear that, but unfortunately I’m not that shocked either.”

“Mood,” I muttered, sipping from my cup and shivering pathetically.

“I might regret asking,” he started, helping himself to one of my blackberry and apple tea bags and pouring in hot water, “but how did the subject of eating Buddy and Ellie come up?”

“EOS was trying to help by offering cold cures, apparently lizard soup is a thing,” I shrugged, adding more honey to my tea. I like things sweet dammit.

"Well, you learn something new every day, I guess. Did any of these remedies sound like they might actually work?"

"Nope," I sighed. "And I'm not going back to hear more, I'm just going to sit here and freeze for a bit and then maybe got to bed."

"That's not exactly what I'd call a sensible plan, the freezing part I mean, the bed would be good."

"But I'm bored of bed," I whined, yes, I'm admitting it, I was in whining territory today, I'm not proud of it but it is what it is. "I've been waiting for you to get back to save me from them all, I'm counting on you, don't let me down."

"So the fact that I just had to save a family of hikers from a broken down Gondola cable car half way up Ben Nevis means nothing when I should have been here to save you?"

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Nope."

"Were the kids excited to ride in Thunderbird One?"

"Yep," he grinned, proud of his baby.

"Then no, it means nothing, I'm more important," I decided, sipping my tea, daring him to argue. "You need to go and sort your idiot brothers and EOS out."

"Fine, you win," he chuckled, getting up from his chair. "I'll go and whip them into shape."

"Thank you," I said. He dropped a kiss on top of my head and left me alone to my misery.

It was actually quite nice to sit quietly for a while, the only person who wandered in was Jeff, but he didn't disturb me to the point of being annoying. He just helped himself to some coffee from the pot that was on its warmer and after checking on me briefly, left again.

Scott returned after twenty minutes, finding me half asleep with my head on my folded arms which rested on the dining table.

A warmth encircled my shoulders and I sighed gratefully, sliding my arms into the sleeves.

"I knew you had it," I muttered.

"Well, it is my hoodie."

"No, it's our hoodie," I corrected him, sitting up. "But I appreciate the loan of it at this, my time of need."

"Come on."

"No, I've not finished my drink."

Scott picked up my half finished tea, felt the temperature, luke warm would be kind, and abandoned it, knowing it was a lost cause, I was just using it as an excuse. "Back to the lounge, you can't stay here all day."

"I think you'll find I can," I argued, but I didn't put up much of a fight when he dragged me to my feet and propelled me up the stairs to the lounge.

Scott deposited me on the couch beside John and took the other side, sandwiching me between them so I couldn't run away.

"EOS, don't you have something to say?" John prompted in a semi-stern voice that I would have been a lot more interested in if I wasn't feeling so close to death. I made a mental note to explore it at a later date, preferably when I had rejoined the land of the living.

"I am sorry that I suggested using the bearded dragons to make soup," she parted obediently.

"And?" John pushed.

"And I have presented my findings in a more helpful way to Gordon and Virgil and they have agreed to help me implement them," EOS continued.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked Scott, who was my saviour, champion and provider of the hoodie and there I trust him.

"It's safe, we promise," John assured me. "I checked her research and picked the things I knew you could actually stomach."

"OK," I sighed. "What am I getting?"

"EOS was right, onions and garlic do help, so, since I can actually follow a recipe and Virgil isn't too bad either, we're going to make you your favourite bolognese with lots of onions and garlic."

"And lemon, honey and ginger are all recommended ,"Gordon added, "so I'm going to make you a big pot of lemon, ginger and honey tea from scratch."

"That doesn't sound too awful," I admitted.

"We can't do anything for the reduction of stress," Scott added, "we can't do miracles, but we'll try to behave for a few days until you feel better."

"I'd appreciate that."

"While we're doing that you're going to go and enjoy a hot bath, as hot as you can stand, because sweating out a cold is recommended," John continued. "Then you're going to get dressed in your warmest sleepwear-"

"My bat onesie!"

"Oh! I'm gonna wear my onesie too," Alan decided.

"And me," Gordon grinned, glancing at Virgil.

"Sure, let's have a onesie night."

"I refuse to wear that thing," John argued.

"Me either," Scott said, joining in. "They don't fit us."

"I'll allow that," I agreed generously.

"And then we can watch that ridiculous puppet thing that you like because you always say it makes you happy," John finished.

"Seriously, you're volunteering to watch the Muppets with me?" I was so shocked you could have smacked me around the head and called me Melvin.

"Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the good of the family," he answered seriously. "Now scoot, we have cooking to do and you have a bath to stew in."

There wasn't much I could say to that, so I did as I was told, heading to the biggest bathroom where I kept the good bath oils, the one with the jacuzzi tub. I could feel the bubbles calling my name.

"You know you're not getting that hoodie back any time soon, don't you?" I heard John telling Scott as I went up the stairs. I didn't need to hear the answer to know he was right, I was keeping this for at least a week.

#Isolation Island #Thunderbirds in isolation #thunderbirds #thunderbirdsarego #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds 2015 #fluffember2020

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jebazzled · 4 years ago

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Level Up! Upcycling an Intermediate App

Hello friends and welcome to another unsolicited writing tutorial, aka my bread and butter! Today we’re going to build off of ground covered in my earlier tutorial, Level Up! Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced RP and You.

As always, I’d like to point out that there is nothing wrong with being a writer more naturally suited for intermediate sites! But if you’re looking to write in the more ~advanced or ~literary space, you will need to adjust your writing to fit the community standard. While your writing will likely improve over time as you write with more advanced writers, step one to threading in such a community is getting an app accepted there.

In today’s tutorial, I’ll be talking about how to revise an existing intermediate application to make it more suited for an advanced site. Let’s begin!

As a staffer on an advanced site, the note I most often have for applications that we pend or decline is: this feels very telly.

I don’t mean “telly” as in Telly the Sesame Street character:

I mean “telly” as in extraordinarily expository.

An intermediate freestyle application often looks like a straight-up timeline of a character’s history, delivered without much style or voice. It might feel like a Wikipedia article, or a very long explanation like you might see in a shipper.

I often find that it can help streamline the writing process to write a handful of telling anecdotes, rather than rehashing a character’s complete history, infancy to present. More on that in my freestyle application tutorial here!

But if you’re having a hard time wrapping your head around anecdotal-style applications, particularly if you’re accustomed to application formats that have you write a “history” section as opposed to a freestyle, you can improve upon your current app to make it more suited for an advanced site. It will take some work, and certainly more than ten minutes of it. Writing on a “reach” site can be very rewarding, but only if you’re willing to put in the effort.

TELLING

Before we solve the problem of “telly” writing, we need to establish what “telly” writing is. For purposes of this tutorial, I’ll be using my one application that is a full rehashing of character history. Below is a “telly” take on Sadie Shunpike:

Sadie grew up in a working-class neighborhood of London with her twin brother, Sam. Neither of her parents were very good at magic, but hid their insecurity in the belief that any magic at all made them better than their Muggle neighbors. Sadie and Sam weren’t educated at the local primary school, but were homeschooled by their mother until they could read. From there, Sadie and Sam would check out books from the local library and teach themselves, with Sadie helping Sam.

Sadie was very smart, but Sam struggled more with learning. As they got older, Sadie started to read books she ordered from Flourish and Blott’s, learning about magical theory. Sam started to show signs of magic, which he hid from Sadie. When they turned eleven, it became clear that Sadie was a squib. She resented Sam for being magical, especially when he went to Hogwarts and needed Sadie’s help to do his homework. Sadie continued to educate herself.

Sadie developed an interest in the Dark Arts and got mixed up with Death Eaters in a research and study group she attended at Flourish and Blott’s. One of them promised her a Ministry job and ensured her safety if she acted as a spy in the Ministry for the Death Eaters. Later, she got placed into a safehouse, and began to spy on the safehouse network for the Death Eaters.

This tells you a lot about what Sadie has been up to, but doesn’t tell you much about Sadie, or about my skill as a writer, or about how someone else might expect Sadie to behave in threads. There is no voice, no personality, no interest - just rote explanation.

As a staffer on an advanced site, when I see an app like the above, I know I will be pending or declining the application. The question I ask when making that distinction is: is the character development strong enough to merit working with the writer on the prose? Is the prose strong enough to merit working with the writer on the character development?

If the writing itself or the character development is there, it can make sense to help guide the writer - though this is more the case with character development issues than with prose. Character development can be improved with specific notes and adjustments, whereas generally speaking, improving prose is a gradual process over time.

It is entirely possible that a writer might have much better prose in their threads than in their application! However, your application serves here as a writing sample. which is why it is imperative that it be good writing on its own. I have said it before and I will say it again: I don’t care how much you hate writing apps, lmao! You’ve got to write a good one if you want to do well on sites that use them!

SHOWING

Writing communities are always talking about show vs. tell. Unless you’re writing stage directions, it is always better to show than to tell - or at least, there aren’t enough exceptions to the rule that you shouldn’t be aiming primarily to show.

So how do you communicate a character history without making it too telly?

DESCRIPTION

Here, I’ve described Sadie’s neighborhood as “working-class” and left it at that. What if I went into a little more detail? Explained to you what I imagine when I imagine her upbringing, and shared with you what’s going on in my head between the lines?

In a small, shabby house in a small, shabby suburb, a small and shabby family lives a small and shabby life. Samuel Shunpike, Sr. sells advertisements for the Daily Prophet, tossing a handful of Floo powder into the minuscule fireplace in the sitting room every morning and getting ash on the threadbare round braided rug every night.

This has more flavor, doesn’t it? The repetition of “small, shabby” is a deliberate style choice that communicates an idea of how I write in practice when I’m being ~artsy, and the image of a man in a shabby suit crawling into his fireplace and messing up an already messed-up rug builds Sadie’s father as an NPC that will come into play later in her app. Dynamic NPCs - whose actions impact your character, who are more than wooden cutouts - help build the fictional world of your character’s life. They don’t even need to be vital to playing your character - I’ve never really had anyone in Sadie’s family in play onsite, despite how heavily her brother figures into her character development - but they can be very useful in understanding your character.

DIALOGUE

Ha, irony, that dialogue can make an app less telly! Dialogue gives your reader an idea of how your character interacts with the world in concrete situations, not merely in the abstract. It also helps build the dynamic NPCs that make your character’s history feel more real, and feel like something that genuinely impacted them rather than something manufactured for plot.

While the Shunpikes are nobodies in the circle of wizarding society, Margie and Samuel Sr take comfort in the fact that they do have one thing making them better than the Muggles who live the small shabby lives on either side of them: the Shunpikes are magic. small, shabby magic, but magic nevertheless. "You lot are better than this," Margie says, smoking a pipe on the stoop, gesturing at the sidewalk where children walk to school with their parents. Sam and Sadie don't take their eyes off their Exploding Snap game. It's no use arguing with Margie, they know. When she goes inside, grumbling about Muggle trash, Sam and Sadie train their eyes on the walk outside. The parade of children their age, all wearing matching khakis and polo shirts. "What do you think they get up to?" Sam asks, glancing at Sadie. "Same as us, i imagine," she says, "but probably, y'know, more guided."

This brief vignette tells us a few things:

Margie Shunpike, Sadie’s mother, is mean, and relies on what little magic she has to feel like she has worth

Sam looks to Sadie for leadership/guidance

Neither of these are specifically about Sadie, but having this background information about her mother seen in action rather than merely mentioned will impact how we digest the news that Sadie is a squib. Sam, as a recurring NPC, will inform how we see Sadie develop, and seeing his changing relationship with her will give another metric for the reader of how Sadie has changed.

DETAILS

Details build your world, make it feel more real. When I wrote earlier that Sadie ordered books from Flourish & Blott’s, they could have been any books - they could have been the magical equivalent of ABC “First Concept” books - they could have been magical erotica. Don’t details tell you a lot about a person? If I tell you that Renee Rye Bread reads 50 books a year, what have you learned about her? What if I clarify that it’s 50 romance novels? 50 crime dramas? 50 political biographies?

When Sam and Sadie were younger, Margie would sit them together at the kitchen table and clumsily teach them letters and numbers. Once they could put together sentences and basic sums, she happily stepped back and let them figure it out on their own. On an average day, Sam and Sadie will watch the parade of schoolchildren, finish a game of Exploding Snap or Wizard's Chess, eat an early lunch, and spend the rest of the day doing their best to get an education. Sadie tries the hardest, dragging Sam with her to the Muggle library around the corner to read Muggle fiction and do basic research on whatever catches her fancy. She saves her allowance and coins from doing chores for the neighbors and orders secondhand books from the Flourish & Blotts catalog, poring over wizarding texts and trying to make sense of magic beyond even her parents' meager skill. Sam sometimes gives her his sickles, too. He isn't doing anything with them, and everything makes more sense with her in charge.

These details - what Sadie and Sam’s homeschooling looks like, Sadie’s attitude towards books and learning, Sam’s support in her academic endeavors - are building blocks in your understanding of Sadie’s personality. She is driven, self-directed, curious. She doesn’t ask Sam for his input. She is, perhaps, a little selfish.

DIORAMA

Trying to keep to a “D” theme here for an easy mnemonic device here! What I mean by “diorama” is that even in an app not specifically built around anecdotes it is good to provide a few key slices of the character’s life - a clear window into specific scenes and moments. What strikes you as more impactful: me telling you, “there’s a scene in Heathers (1988) where Veronica’s boyfriend has put a bomb under the bleachers during a pep rally. It’s fine, it doesn’t go off,” or me describing to you: “the gym is full of stamping feet and shouting cheerleaders; no one could hear Veronica and JD fighting under the stands even if they were interested. The bomb is beeping so loudly but no one is paying attention, no one can hear it. It’s a pep rally and everyone is cheering at their own wake.”

Rather than saying:

Sam started to show signs of magic, which he hid from Sadie. When they turned eleven, it became clear that Sadie was a squib. She resented Sam for being magical, especially when he went to Hogwarts and needed Sadie’s help to do his homework. Sadie continued to educate herself.

I went with the below:

In June, Sam is sitting in the kitchen while Sadie makes a solo trip to the library, folding paper airplanes and flying them with no success. After a dozen failures, however, he watches in amazement as a piece of notebook paper folds itself up into a perfect airplane and flies around the room on its own. He's done magic, and he has no idea how. And he keeps it a secret from his parents, but more importantly, from Sadie, who he now knows is not going to be coming with him to Hogwarts after all. Later that week, while the family is tucking into ham sandwiches for dinner, the owl arrives, and Sam's stomach sinks when Sadie proudly carries it from the sitting room window into the kitchen on her forearm. She unties the letter from its leg, looks at the front of the envelope, grinning. Samuel Sr and Margie see a shadow pass over their daughter's face for half a heartbeat before she slowly hands the envelope to her brother. But Sam sees it all: her smile cracking like broken china, her eyes widen just a little, the furrow in her eyebrow. He catches the hitch in her voice as she congratulates him. He senses her anxiety in the lightspeed jiggle of her left foot under the table, as he stares at the letter, unable to make sense of the words, as worried as he is about Sadie. She excuses herself early, and Samuel Sr and Margie exchange a look, as if they've forgotten Sam is there. Sam doesn't know what any of them were expecting, but it wasn't this. The next few days, during which Sadie does not speak to him at all, are the longest of his life. Then, one morning, as he sits at the kitchen table having a silent breakfast with Samuel Sr and Margie - who are still flabbergasted to have a squib in the family - she comes down the stairs from their shared attic bedroom. She sits across from Sam at the table as if nothing has happened. She helps herself to a slice of toast from the stack on a plate in the middle of the table, and takes a piece of bacon off Sam's plate. "Since i won't be going to Hogwarts as expected," she says, folding the toast to make a sandwich and taking an enormous bite, "I'll need to arrange for a more formal education.” She swallows her bite and pours herself a glass of orange juice. “I’m happy with our current method of self-directed study, of course, but - i intend to supplement it with the odd lecture or class audit in the city.”

We get a few things here:

Sam’s anxiety/guilt about being the magical one, a dynamic that informs how Sadie will use him later

Sadie quickly hiding her actual emotions and performing fake ones, which comes up later when she manipulates people at the Ministry and in safehouses as a spy for the Death Eaters

Sadie’s decision making, which doesn’t allow room for input, feedback, or disagreement

Think of your favorite books and characters. If a novelist gave you a quick description of a character in one paragraph, you wouldn’t feel the close connection to them that you feel after reading even just a few chapters of them acting, reacting, interacting. Of course we don’t have as much time for that in an app as we do in a novel, but there’s a happy medium between the shallow understanding we get from pure exposition and the deep one we get from 50,000 words and a hardcover.

IN PRACTICE: HOW DO???

So we’ve got our intermediate app. We’ve got our Four D’s: Description, Dialogue, Details, Diorama. We’ve got an advanced site we are lusting over.

How do we Frankenstein this all together?

STEP ONE: REREAD YOUR ORIGINAL APP

Give her a look. Get the basics in your head. Think about how you might be able to repurpose this writing for your shipper. Because, hey! It’s already done! And at least in my experience on advanced sites, shippers are a TL;DR for your app, so a quick expository jaunt through the highlights fits the bill just peachy.

But you’re not going to be able to work from that app directly for version two, okay? Be honest with yourself. How much do you ever revise things? Because this isn’t a “change a word, add one (1) sentence,” project. This is an overhaul.

Like I’ve said! Going from intermediate to advanced is HARD WORK!

STEP TWO: GET WRITING

Start writing that app from scratch. Think about the Four D’s.

If you’re approaching this as a straight history of your character, have at it wherever you want to get started. But before you move on to the next phase, address your Four D’s.

Susie was a difficult baby.

STOP! Give me the D. Was her nursery hyperfeminine? Did her nannies gossip about her parents behind their backs? Was Susie a fussy baby, or was she sickly? Show me her cold and distant mother awkwardly holding her before passing her off to her father!

If none of these D’s feel important to this phase of the character’s life: don’t include it in the app! A character history does not need to cover every minute! You can just hit the important phases, and you should! Believe me: staff usually do not want to hear about how mom and dad met each other unless it actually has a major bearing on Susie’s life!

Once you’ve given the moment its due (Due, the fifth D), move on to the next, and consider the D’s every time.

STEP THREE: REREAD & REVISE

Before you submit your app, give it another look. You’ve likely done a lot of character development between your original application and the fully-overhauled version. Is your characterization consistent? Do your character’s motives make sense? Have you left any gaping holes in their story? Look back at your shipper, especially if you used your original application to build it out. Does it align with the new application? What edits do you need on the shipper to have it describe the same person as your app?

STEP FOUR: PROFIT

Obviously, as with anything else, your mileage may vary. It might take a few tries, or even a few different characters to land on something that works for an advanced site. But the practice of implementing the five D’s - and keeping them in mind subsequently as you post with and develop your character - will be instrumental in growing your abilities as a writer, and isn’t that what this is all about? Wishing you all the best in writing as in life - let me know how you’re doing, and what other tutorials you’d like to see from me. Cheers, and happy writing!

#rp guides #resources #writing resources #rp writing #applications

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 5 years ago

Text

Humans are Space Orcs, “Paper Man.”

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED: GORE, VIOLENCE, MORAL AMBIGUITY

Ok guys, I am giving this a rated R for violence specifically. I wanted to play around with some extreme moral issues, and I ended up doing just that. So if you didn’t read the horror chapter, then I suggest very much not reading this one.

It is the third and last installment to my little prison series, so you can imagine what might be in here. I leave it up to you to decide if you can handle it or not. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. :)

I designed this specifically to expose Adam’s character to an extreme situation hes probably not emotionally equipped for.

Commander Vir wiped a smear of excess inc from the man’s skin and sat back to view his handiwork. He had to admit that he was definitely getting better now that he had figured out how to use the damned machine. Not to mention that he spent most of his free time drawing for fear that he was going to screw up and get his ass kicked.

In all honesty, he could have been a pretty talented artist if he had ever bothered to practice, but he hadn’t drawn, conventionally, since he was in middle school and, as a result, his drawing had suffered . However, now that he was in prison, he had a surprising amount of free time to work on extracurricular skills. If he wasn’t pumping iron with the others, he was working on a new tattoo design or applying the inc.

While it sucked pretty hard core to be here, he had found a relatively safe middle ground. Being able to do inc gave him certain privileges among the other humans, not to mention his personal connection to krill, who was invaluable as the crew’s medic. Having worked at the biggest trauma center in the galaxy, the kind of wounds they generally received was a cakewalk to the little alien.

The problem…..well, that was the Drev, and the fact that every human and their dog had, at one point, boasted to the larger, scarier aliens about having a member of operation steel-eye in their ranks. They did pretty much everything but directly mention his name, but they may as well have been dancing a naked jig around him with signs directed at his chest saying “Here I am come shank me.”

He wasn’t sure how well the goading would work with Drev. He had learned from Sunny, that a good Drev considered war to be impersonal, and those who beat you in battle were supposed to be treated with respect, but this was also coming from the Drev whose mother had gone off the deep end and plotted to destroy humanity, so he had a feeling he couldn’t rely on Drev honor to keep him from getting eviscerated.

He cleaned his tools off in the best way he knew how and allowed the man to finally take a look. He held his breath.

The man examined the tattoo for a very long moment, and for this horrible second, Adam feared he was about to be pounded into the concrete, “Good work Steel!” Instead, he got a heavy slap on the back, which probably would have slammed him into the pavement anyway for his trouble, but it simply sent him into a stagger, and the other man walked away flexing his arm. Adam grimaced. He wasn’t entirely sure had to do proper, post-art care was going to work down here, and just had to hope that the man wouldn’t end up with some sort of nasty infection.

His hopes were not particularly high.

At least Krill would be there to clean up the aftermath.

The rest of the humans were outside again today, but technically, all the facilities were open, still he preferred to go back upstairs to his cell for some privacy. He tucked the little case of tools into his single pocket and made his way into the building and towards the stairs. The Drev had taken the TV today and was watching some horrible remake of a classic 2000 movie. There were a lot of explosions and 0 practical effects.

Seemed like a drev thing to do, and he tried to remain unseen as he moved up the stairs and towards his cell. He made it there safely enough, got some privacy and, stupidly, stepped out just in time to meet a group of drev walking down the catwalk.

He froze just outside his room staring at them. They paused to look at him. No one moved for the longest time. Multiple arms flexed, and the large female at the front dropped her head aggressively over her throat. It didn’t take a genius to know what that meant, and before he knew it, his heart was hammering in his throat, his vision had tunneled, and his feet hammered against the catwalk as he bolted for the stairs.

A drev war cry rose behind him, and feet thundered against metal sending terrible vibrations up through his shins and knees. He made it to the stairs and nearly tripped. He caught himself with one hand watching as a life a paralysis flashed before his eyes. The thundering behind him grew stronger, so in a moment of panic, he flung himself over the side of the railing and dropped to the ground almost fifteen feet below. He took the entire impact through the inferior metal of his prosthetic leg collapsing onto the concrete with a sharp thud. Pain blossomed from that same same hip rocketing up his side and into his chest.

Something in the prosthetic snapped and splintered, but he didn’t have time to think about that, dragging himself to his feet and limping pst the tables, shoving other prisoners aside, and ducking past confused drev now being galvanized into action by the war cries of their leaders.

“RUN STEEL, RUN!” There was a thunderous roar, and a wave of humans came crashing into the tables stopping the Drev in their tracks as they tried to follow after Adam.

One prisoner wrenched a chair form the floor and clobbered a Drev in the head with it. Lights and sirens exploded around them as the guards came pouring onto the catwalks screaming for everyone to get down. The riot continued behind him as he scrambled on his busted prosthetic. He looked over his shoulder just in time to duck under the angry swing of an approaching Drev.

He hit the floor on hands and toes for a moment scrambling under a table before racing forward into one of the auxiliary hallways. A table collapsed behind him as the Drev leaped atop it. Cells flashed by him and footsteps gained.

More lights flashed, and the cell doors began to close slowly.

Footsteps were gaining, and were almost upon him as a hand shot out form one of the cells and bodily dragged him through the door, just as it was shutting. He collapsed to the concrete floor just as the Drev slammed into the bars reaching through for him with all four limbs, which it immediately regretted as a metal pipe was rammed into it’s outstretched hands. It cursed in it’s guttural language and drew back angrily.

Adam looked up to find a man standing just to his side. He was an unassuming thin man with little circular glasses, and a slightly soft physique, but he was grinning and stuck out his tongue out at the Drev who then stepped back growling and walked away knowing that he could not make it through the bars. The man dropped the pipe on the bed and turned to look at Adam.

“Close call there, Commander.”

Adam blinked in confusion and shock, “You, you know who I am?”

The man smiled, “Know who you are, I’d have to be living under a rock not to know. I have been following your career for a very long time. A big fan actually.” He held out a hand and hauled Adam to his feet, “Surprised the other's haven't figured it out yet, your disappearance has been all over the news.”

Adam limped over to the bed and sat down pulling up his pant leg to examine the damaged prosthetic. The plastic casing had been completely cracked up one side, and a few of the shock-absorbent springs had been popped from their sockets. The inside of the casing rattled. He frowned.

“I…. thanks for saving my life.”

The man just grinned, “happy to help an intergalactic hero.”

Adam awkwardly waved a hand, but inside he was more than relieved to have found someone who actually believed him. The man seemed pretty trustworthy compared to the others, and he wondered what kind of crime the man could have commuted to get himself into this sort of mess. He didn’t exactly seem like the type to be involved in overtly violent crime. Perhaps he was here on accident, just like Adam himself.

“I had actually been meaning to approach you earlier, but you got snagged up by the guys in the yard so fast, I didn’t really have the time.”

“And you weren't?” he wondered

The man shook his head, “No, I was a late night transfer. No one was here when I showed up, so I was able to fly under the radar. I don’t leave my cell all that much accept for meals, and they generally tend to ignore me.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It is, but it is also nice to have a little company every now and again. And the company of someone like you is even better. Someone who isn’t actually a violent criminal.”

“Than what are you here for if not violent crime.”

The man waved a hand, “Just something stupid. More of a misunderstanding really. Personally I think it was no big deal, but it really bothered some important people,and I ended up here. I Think they hope that I am going to rot here and be forgotten, but I don’t plan on that happening. I plan on serving my time, getting out and going back to my old life as it was.”

“That sounds nice, I would give pretty much anything to be back to my ship.” he sighed and leaned back against the concrete wall, “if I am being honest, It is nice to be around someone who isn’t totally nuts.”

“Personally, I think we should make this a habit.”

“Alright, I can agree to that…. What’s your name by the way?”

“Ted, Ted Gacey.” The two men shook hands, a pleasure to meet you.

The days turned into weeks and the weeks were dangerously close to turning into months. He had narrowly dodged a few more conflicts with the Drev, and the Boss had taken to sending him around with bodyguards as a show of force. That made slipping away to have privacy kind of difficult, but he had managed it meeting with his new friend on occasion to play cards in the other man’s single-bed cramped cell. It seemed as if the two of them had a lot in common, or at least enough. They had the same idea with current intergalactic politics, they had some of the same hobbies, and tended to agree with each other on more social issues.

It was a nice breath of fresh air.

Adam had even introduced krill to his new friend. Krill had been wary of the man from the beginning, but to be fair he was wary of pretty much everyone, and the Commander could hardly blame him. This was a prison after all, and most of the people who were here, were here for a reason, reasons they tended to make plainly obvious through their actions.

Despite being safeguarded from the Drev by other humans, he still wasn’t safe. On more than one occasion he had narrowly dodged some sort of altercation with one of the humans in the party. Generally it was over the asking price of a tattoo, which was based on yard currency in cigarettes and pills. Generally he ended up just handing them over to avoid an altercation. The issue with that is it meant some people knew they could squeeze him for his cash, and often came back to do so. He didn’t want to tell the boss for fear of being labeled a snitch, which was a pretty big insult in the yard, so he made sure to keep his earnings off his person at all times, and often lied to the guys when they came looking telling them that he had lost his currency to another guy with the same idea.

He wasnt looking forward to the day when the lying would catch up with him, but so was his current life. Of course there was also the occasional issue regarding his issue in holding his tongue, and he had ended up accidentally insulting someone on more than one occasion. He had been punched at least twice in the intervening months, but he supposed it could have been worse. He hadn’t broken his nose and both eye sockets were still in tact, so it could have been worse.

His third Issue came from Krill himself. While the little alien was mostly to fearful to do anything other than what he was ordered to do, he had an unfortunate sarcastic streak, which got him into trouble on occasion. Adam was forced to either talk the guys down, or turn the wrath away from his friend often resulting in a drop in pay, some sort of bargain or taking a hit. He was getting pretty sick and tired of it.

If he was being totally honest with himself, he had a relatively low pain threshold. He didn’t like getting kicked around. He wanted out of this place so badly, but the longer the days dragged on, the less hope he had. It was only a matter of time until something truly horrible happened, and there would be no way for him to stop it. How much was he willing to deal with?

He woke up as the hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes shot open, but his scream was muffled as the heavy, slick palm pressed into his face. He trashed against hands that held him down, but they were too strong. In groggy horror and fear he realized this was it, this was the end.

The event he had been waiting for.

The hand tightened, “Stop struggling, and shut up for a minute.” The voice hissed.

He grew very still breathing heavy, ragged breaths through his nose heart hammering eyes prickling with moisture brought on by total fear.

“It’s just me Steel, the boss. Now, I am going to remove my hand, and you are going to be silent.” A hint of relief, and he nodded his head as the hand was removed. He took a clear cleansing air of the musty cell and sat up.

The boss knelt next to his bed with krill hovering nervously behind him.

He rubbed his eyes, “What’s going on?” Adam asked groggily

The man held a finger to his lips “The boys and I just got word of someone on this block that has a less than stellar record.” Adam didn’t bother to point out the irony as the man continued, “This will be your chance to prove your loyalty to the yard kid. In the morning, we are going to fuck this son of a bitch up.”

Adam rubbed the back of his head nervously, “What…. What did he do.”

“Why don’t you take a look for yourself.” the man whispered, passing over a tiny screen showing the man’s incarceration records. As he read, Adam’s stomach twisted and hisirst reaction was one of visceral anger and an incomprehensible burning hatred. He tried to choke it back disgusted with his own feelings, but they kept coming back…. Images of his fists bloody with someone else’s blood.

The Boss chuckled darkly, “Thought you might have that reaction. You know how I feel about people who hurt kids.”

Adam wiped his mouth feeling nauseous pushing the screen back towards the boss

“So when you say, fuck him up.”

“I mean, we’re gonna kill him.”

Adam was suddenly struck with the most uncomfortable sensation in his entire life, a horrible sinking twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach negated and confused by the ravenous anger and glee that he felt at the idea. The feeling was horrible wrenching him in two different directions. One spoke with the voice of his mother and urged him to take the high road. It wasn’t his job to take care of these sort of problems, it was never okay to hurt people that is what the law was for, but another part of him disagreed. This was a lawless planet, and the law was broken besides it didn’t matter after reading that report he knew for certain that the an deserved worse than death, so really killing him was a mercy.

The nausea grew worse the more he thought. He was stuck inside a living nightmare. He couldn’t make a decision like this. Either way he would never be able to live with himself. If he chose to go along with he prisoners, he would be partially responsible for a murder, but if he didn’t he would, in essence, be siding with a monster.

The boss glowered at him with his dark, beady eyes, “You aren't going to chicken out on us are you? You know what this guy did. Not going to side with him are you because if you don’t help us ...”

He let the threat hang on the dark air of the cell. Adam felt his heart sinking even further, and now if he didn’t help murder someone he would be taking the side of the monster, and everyone would blame him for it. Who knows what would happen to him after that. He glanced over at Krill who could only look on at him in pity. He probably had no idea the internal struggle he was having right now, but it hardly mattered. Krill knew that this wasn’t going to be good.

“Who is this guy….” Adam wondered, “Someone we know?”

The man scrolled down on the report, “The guy’s name is Ted, seems to have managed to fly under the radar since getting here.”

Adam felt his heart go cold.

No no no no please no.

The screen turned to face him, and his stomach dropped into the very void itself. He knew that face, he knew that face as a friend, someone he liked, someone he had confided in, someone he had respected, someone he assumed had been innocent. He had played cards with him bemoaned their current living situation. The man had told him his crime was ‘no big deal. He felt nauseous and angry all over again. How could he help kill someone he had liked. How could he even feel remorse for a lying sack of shit that DESERVED to die. Why did he feel bad for WANTING to choke the life out of that man.

The competing emotions made him sick for real. His stomach churned.

The boss patted him on the back, “I know as a matter of course that the guy comes out once a day to eat. Tomorrow at noon, we strike. Made a truce with the bats and the beetles to get in the way of the guards so we can finish the job.”

“But… you hate the Drev.” he whispered his voice choked.

“I do, but I hate this guy even more.” He stood stretching, “I will leave you to a good night’s rest, Steel. Make sure you have your strength for tomorrow.” He got up and left as silently as he had come. Krill remained floating at the side of the cell. Commander Vir remained paralyzed where he sat. Conversations flashed through his head, he remember the man’s face, and couldn’t help his imagination as he wondered how those kids felt. Then his imaginings grew violent. He felt tendons squeeze and pop below his hands as he choked the life out of that man.

He lurched violently from his bed bracing himself with one hand against the wall as he hovered over the toilet. Behind him, his cellmate shifted in his sleep. His mouth watered as it tends to right before one loses their lunch. He squeezed his eyes shut. His skin crawled as he remembered every time that man had touched him, thought about where those hands had been and what they had done.

Saliva dripped in silver strings from his mouth. His stomach clenched. He dry heaved once, but nothing came up, and it didn’t even give him the courtesy of happening fading enough so he stood back up wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Krill stood worriedly next to him as he sunk down to the floor next to the shiny silver bowl face in his hands

“What are you going to do?” krill whispered.

“I… I don’t know.” he gripped his hair in both fists still nauseous feeling sick and disgusting wishing that he could scrub off the first layer of his skin. Wishing that he had never ended up in this hell hole, “You only have one option….. You have to do it…” Krill’s voice was regretful but clearly resigned.

He dragged his fingers down his face, “I ...I can’t. It wouldn’t be right.” His stomach churned.

Krill stared at him in confusion sensing a but.

“But…. I want to…. Krill he he LIED to me, and he…. The things he’s done.” he shook his head as a flash of inhuman or perhaps superhuman anger rushed through him, “he deserves to DIE!” Krill took a step back from him in surprise. The anger faded again to a dep profound sickness, “Krill I… I don’t know what to do. Killing people it isn’t right, hurting people isn’t right, no matter how much I want to do it…… and i want to do it Krill. I've never wanted anything so bad before. I it scares me.” His voice dropped to a whisper.

Krill rested one of his appendages on the man’s shoulder face buried back in his hands, “I don’t entirely understand.”

He looked up agonized green eye caught in the dim light of the cell, “I…. he deserves to die Krill…. After reading that. I want nothing more than to kill him. That’s the most monstrous inhuman horrible thing that a person can do, and every…. Every fiber of my being want to hurt him, wants to make him suffer.” His voice hissed through his teeth with the strength of his anger before churning downwards, “But ... but I’m supposed to be better than that, Krill. Commander of the UNSC I am an upholder of the law, I i cant stoop to beating people to death. I can't do this. If I did this I would just prove I’m not worthy to hold the position, and I would disappoint everyone who has ever known me I’d disappoint myself. Id become one of them.” He glanced towards the door, “Thi issue is supposed to be something for the law.” He tugged at his hair in frustration, “But the law here is so twisted….. Krill I…. I don’t know what to do.”

Krlil Could only stand and watch helpless as the human struggled internally. Krill himself understood what was logical. The idea of a moral right and wrong was not something he could entirely comprehend. Things either made sense, or they didn’t and right now following rule of the gang was the only thing that made sense. The guy deserved it, the commander wanted too, and he would be punished if he didn’t, so there seemed to be only one logical course of action.

But then again, the man had always had a strong ‘moral compass’ and it could potentially cause some severe psychological damage if he did…. Something that other species would never have to deal with. Either way he would lose.

Krill tried to comfort his friend, but paranoia made him return to his cell for fear of retribution leaving Commander Vir alone in the dark curled in a ball head in hands wishing more than anything that he could be anywhere else than struggling with his own indecision. The gut most human part of him leading to violence while the higher part of him told him it was wrong.

He didn’t sleep that night.

The star rose on an unsuspecting landscape. The prison doors opened with a buzz and prisoners staggered rubbing their eyes groggily as they moved out into the hall. Commander Vir stepped from his room like a zombie eyes red face pale, only to be greeted by the other members of the crew who shared wolfish, knowing looks.

He didn’t have the stomach for breakfast, and sat, staring down the hall with a hammering heart. The hours ticked on bringing him closer and closer to a decision.

His heart ached.

Sitting out in the yard, head bowed face down, he still hadn’t come to a decision. He could hear the other humans muttering around him with anticipation for what was to come. He wished the guards would take notice of the strange behavior and act on it. They had to know something was up, with the prisoners sitting around doing nothing, looking hungrily towards the mess hall doors like a pack of ravening animals.

He didn’t want any part of this.

He had never thought in a million years that he would have to make this sort of decision, and what was worse, he hated how he felt. He wanted nothing more than to watch this guy get what was coming to him.

If he really was a good person, if he really cared, wouldn’t he tell someone?

There was a sharp whistle, and all the men on the yard stood eagerly from their seats and headed towards the doors. His heart sank into his chest, and he stood but had trouble making himself move. A hand clamped about hi shoulder from behind, and he was shoved towards the open doors, “Don’t chicken out on us now Steel.” Smiley whispered from behind.

He was pushed through the door sitting down at a table slightly away from the others. He had ordered Krill off to his cell for the duration of what was about to happen. He didn’t want the little alien to have to see what was about to happen. If he could have, he would have made it so that HE didn’t have to see what was going on.

He didn’t see how the guards couldn’t sense what was about to happen. The tension in the air was palpable and could have been hacked through with a dull knife. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, hoping that the man would not come through those doors. Perhaps he would stay in his cell today, and no one would be the wiser. Perhaps someone would come and find him before this was all said and done, and he wouldn’t have to hear about it.

He tried to fight back those thoughts, the thoughts of a coward. Just because he wasn’t here didn’t mean that he should ignore it. He couldn't’ just wash his hands of the situation

He SHOULD get up and tell the guards what was going to happen and consequences be damned.

But another part of him, a secret dark part of him….. Refused to bring himself to do it. That man knew what he did. He had made the decisions that brought him here, he had done something unforgivable and disgusting, and now he deserved to get what was coming to him, it was only fair after all the things he had done. It wasn’t Adam’s responsibility to go out of his way to help a man who deserved nothing better than death. In fact, death was to easy of a punishment in his opinion.

There were just some things that were unforgivable.

He felt, rather than saw when the man entered. He sensed it on the tensing of the air. Even the Drev had chosen to make themselves scarce retreating to their cells or the catwalks high above to watch what was about to happen. It seemed as if only the guards didn’t know. Or perhaps they did, and they didn’t care.

He sat hunched over his trey praying, and felt his heart tighten when a shadow darkened the seat across from him.

He couldn’t bare to look up.

“Good morning, Commander. I missed your company this morning.” The sound of the man’s voice made his skin crawl. His heart began to race and he felt a sudden overwhelming burst of white hot hatred. The feeling scared him, and he tried his best to choke it down, but it wouldn’t go. Sensing the man there, hearing his sniveling voice and thinking about the times they had made contact with each other. Handing over a card or even shaking hands.

It made him sick, and angry.

He made no noise.

“Is everything alright.” The man wondered.

Another shadow crossed over his back. He could feel them gathering behind him. The man before him went silent head tilted back to look upwards at the looming figures beginning to gather around the table.

A hand landed on the Commander’s shoulder, “Steel…. This…. A friend of yours.” the voice was cold and hard.

There was a long silence.

“I don’t want any trouble.”

The hand on his shoulder squeezed, “Steel.”

Commander Vir lifted his eyes from the table, making contact with the pleading expression of the man across the table. His watery grey eyes, his unassuming appearance, his receding mousy hairline. He looked like your average middle-aged man…. No, he was a monster wearing the skin of an average middle aged man.

Commander Vir felt as if he was watching himself in third person over his own shoulder. The boyish, wide eyed, honorable side of him was violently beaten down and dragged into a closet as something worse appeared materialized from the darkness in his head. The natural man took the controls cold and hard empty emotionless a creature of self satisfaction, the Id, the part of him that wanted nothing more than immediate reward, sadistic, hateful, envious, and carnal.

It had no mercy.

And it was as if from the opposite side of the glass he heard himself say.

“No….. he’s no friend of mine.”

And like his words had been the damn that held back hell, the hounds were released, and a moment later the room was filled with the uproar of screaming voices and cries of horrific animalistic agony.

Adam was pushed to the side, and the table at which he sat was overturned as a riot of men threw themselves past him. He hit the floor and rolled to the side coming to land in a crouch just to the right of the overturned table. The room echoed and clattered.

Screams of absolute agony cut through the air. Sirens blared red and bloody painting the walls in a hellish light.

Something cracked.

Screaming.

He crouches watching a writing mass of bodies, a horrific amalgamation of man’s worst instincts piled together in a many legged many armed creatures. Hands raised and plunged downwards violently, repeatedly. Blood painted the floor like a Jackson Pollock painting done in red. The screaming grew until it was no longer human, a guttural animalistic wale that rent the very air around them.

They were tearing him apart.

Adam felt the corner of his mouth twist in grim satisfaction, and then immediately snapped back to reality choked with disgust and horror. Rooted to the spot doing NOTHING watching a man being murdered before his eyes, and yet...

In the midst of it all, he couldn’t bring himself to intervene.

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder shoving him forward, “GET IN THERE.” The boss growled hand coming away covered in blood. A small part of himself, that animal from earlier snarled at the door to his cage.

A part of him wanted more than anything to join in.

Watched in satisfaction as he got what was coming to him. He relished the poetic justice of it all, while at the same time feeling disgust at himself. The world around him seemed to flow in slow motion. Small droplets of blood leaped into the air where they caught the light before falling back to earth. Something else cracked.

He felt his heart jumped with a sick excitement.

“No.” he whispered

The world lost all sound. The screaming faded and died. The boss cut around to look down at him, “What.”

“I said, no.” he whispered again.

A body skidded past them on the floor ragged, torn.

Eyes narrowed, anger flared in the depth of two black pupils. He rose in Adam’s vision, “You would side with the FREAK!” “I side with NO ONE .” Adam spat.

The man stared at him, a once, predatory friendliness turned to ice, “You will wish you had never been born.” but he had more immediate matters to attend to, turning and joining the climax of the fight. Adam remained rooted to the spot sick horrified as bone snapped, and the body went silent and limp.

They didn’t stop there….. They kept going on and on and on as Commander Vir stood on and watched. The tables had all been overturned, blood painted the floor in wide arcs. And there he stood doing nothing, neither joining or helping. Holding back like a coward, like some kind of sadistic animal looking on like an unfeeling king watches an execution, watches men women and children hang from a rope. The men pulled away from the bloody husk twisted and broken on the ground, and at that moment Adam Vir was hit with a sense of horror and self loathing he couldn’t have comprehended even ten minutes before. The bloodied corpse grew up in his vision until it filled his head, dead staring eyes boring into his soul, a snapshot that would remain with him forever.

A man he had condemned to death with his actions and his words.

He was a sick twisted bastard.

And he had allowed a man to die…. Had encouraged it with his innaction, had wanted it. And deep down, he had relished it in a deep sick part of his mind he felt no remorse.

He was glad the sick fuck was gone.

Perhaps that’s why he stayed, he could have run knowing what was coming, but he didn’t deserve to run. He didn’t deserve to fight back. He didn’t even close his eyes as the circle closed in around him, men covered in blood like a pack of hyenas feeding on carrion returning to finish off a wounded prey animal.

The boss stopped a few feet in front of him, body painted with the world’s most horrific body paint, “Now that we’ve gotten rid of one sick fuck, we now have to get rid of the sympathizers.”

He saw the first coming, could have dodged…. But he didn’t.

HE was hauled to his feet by smiley jerked off his feet by the front of his jumpsuit. Hoisted into the air so that his toes were dangling inches from the ground. Lights grew up in his eyes as he stared upwards watching the balconies and the surrounding Drev staring down at him like the council at his trial their expressions uncaring…. Even pleased.

“You had your orders.” The man spat. “And you stood there like a coward.”

Adam locked eyes with the man, “You;re right.” He said simply

The first punch was a kidney shot and had him on the ground writhing in agony within the first few seconds. It was hard to remember what happened next. The boot to the face, kicked in the side, the chest ribs. He was punched in the head, it was all a blur of faces all anger and malice. People who had once considered him a friend now drove their bodies against him in a frenzy that painted his blood across the floor with that of a deadman.

The latch to his prosthetic snapped. Metal was ripped away from his body.

He screamed once, was kicked in the stomach and choked on his own missing air. But he didn’t fight them, he didn’t deserve to fight them.

He curled up into a ball forearms covering his face and despite the pain and the agony, he refused to pass out. He didn't deserve that. Inside his head visions of that bloody…. Thing repeated over and over and over again

Voices swelled up around him, yelling and barking. Men cried out in pain, and with one last kick to his thigh, he was left lying in a pool of his own blood face resting against the cold concrete/ Voices rose above him, grabbing him about the arms and dragging him away. He heard the voices of the guards, watched the lights overhead pass over him in sharp streaks. Something warm trickled down the side of his face. Spilled onto the floor to be smeared into the concrete.

A door opened, and he was thrown inside.

A concrete room with no windows, a steel door, no bed and a hole in the far corner.

In tremendous pain, the man pulled himself sitting back on his knees and stared down at his hands covered in congealing blood once steady. As he watched they began to shake uncontrollably. He hunched forward hands to his chest face contorted into an expression of pain, and agony, not from the wounds, ot from the pain, but from the realization of what he had done.

A sob escaped him, and he didn’t try to fight it. His body ached with horrific pain with every racking sob. Tears tracked pathways through the blood on his face and fell to the ground a delicate pink.

What had he done?

He had sat there, and he had watched a man brutally murdered. And he had done nothing about it….. A part of him had even enjoyed it.

He watched in turmoil as the picture he had crafted of himself shattered into a million pieces and cascaded around him to the floor. The upstanding, moral man who always did what he knew was right, who was taught by loving parents to take the high road, who modeled himself after superheroes, action heroes, and his own idols. Someone who protected the innocent, upheld the weak and righted the unjust…. Was nothing more than a paper man.

A sham.

A fake.

A lie.

He sobbed into his hands which morphed into screams with the sobs were no longer enough to express his self loathing. What kind of man was he, couldn't even stand by his actions once they were made weeping like a pathetic child.

He lay, cold on the floor for hours and hours staring at the far wall listening to the distant echoes of the prison. As he calmed he took stock of himself swept up the pieces so that he was all together despite being broken.

Though he wished it had never happened, he could change nothing now. He had done what he had done. The ends didn’t justify the means, and just because he hadn’t done anything didn’t mean blood wasn’t on his hands. How could he know what was right do you save a monster because it's morally right, or stand by and watch a monster die because that’s what it really deserves. What gave him the right to make that decision.

He lay there for what must have been hours but could have been days his skin growing sticky and then crusted with drying blood. The door to his cell opened, “Get up.” When he couldn’t do it on his own, he was hauled to his feet by one of the guards. Together they walked, and hopped, back down the halls and onto the yard. The entire room was quiet as they stared at him.

He couldn't have cared less that they could see him in such a sorry state, what did it matter now. The paper man had crumbled, they might as well see it. He was left sagging on one leg in the center of the room, and he didn’t bother to move. The men got to their feet glowering down at him with a mixture of expressions. Time moved around him as if at double speed

A figure scuttled towards him from the darkness, and to his surprise, krill took his hand.

He had never done anything like that before.

He looked down.

And the alien looked up at him, though he said nothing.

The room grew tighter, men approached from all sides, “Krill, you should go.” His slurred through swollen, painful lips.

“No Commander.” krill responded

The guard withdrew, and the room shifted forward. This time he did close his eyes. It was one thing to see another man die, but to watch Krill caught up in this was to much. He tried to urge the little alien away once more, but he refused, wrapping his spidery arms around his human friend all too sure that he was going to die here.

But if that was the case, he would not let his human die alone and suffering.

Adam leaned his head against Krill eyes tight shut.

“It’s going to be ok.” The alien muttered

Adam felt a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.How very human….

Empty platitudes.

The little alien had learned a lot.

A shadow cut past them. He lowered his head.

And the room was split in half by a Drev battle cry so powerful that it rattled the walls and the floors. The man above them staggered back hands over his ears. The catwalks clattered, and the ground shook. Adam opened his eyes lifting them towards the sky, not expecting to find an angel, but getting one in bright blue.

Sunny stood on the catwalk above face contorted with a livid anger that cowed guards, drev and humans alike, “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE.” She snarled at the human standing next to her, turning and shoving Drev two to three feet taller than her out of the way with the ease a bowling ball goes through pins.

The human scampered after her, “We… we had no idea.”

Sunny rounded on here, “DID YOU EVEN BOTHER TO FIND OUT.” Behind her, a member of the UN and the chairwoman of the GA stepped through the doors faces shocked and appalled as they looked about the room and the conditions in which the prisoners were being kept.

Sunny came to to toe with the leader of the Drev yard. At first the large female didn’t move, but a single look from sunny cowed her into groveling submission as sunny shoved past and marched down the stairs. She nearly body checked one of the prisoners over the railing and onto the floor fifteen feet beneath when he did not move fast enough.

Leaving the Chairwoman and the representative above, Sunny raced across the floor and skidding to kneel at Adam’s side. He lifted his head to look at her dried blood cracking against the movement.

A look of pain crossed her face, and a single hand gently cupped the side of his face tilting it this way and that, “Oh Adam, what have they done.” She whispered

The light above him grew very very bright filling his vision with light, “I’m a paper man,” He whispered, but that was all he could say body slumping into her arms. A murmur grew up around the room.

Sunny hugged the human against her chest.

“Commander!.” Two voices from above, and two marines came leaping down the stairs heedless of their uniforms.. Ramirez and the short, blond hair female marine ‘Maverick’.

“The hell did they do to you.” The Maverick snarled glowering at the other prisoners standing quietly back in a wide circle.

Their discussion was interrupted as the warden stepped onto the catwalk, ‘I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHO YOU ARE; YOU HAVE NO JURISDICTION HERE!” “THE HELL WE DON’T.” The UN rep snapped, “By GA law, any HUMAN allowed off earth or mars remains under the jurisdiction of the UNSC in accordance with the first intercelestial peace accord put forth by the GA in 4018. Furthermore all Tesraki Drev and Rundi subjects are bound by GA bylaw, so YES we have jurisdiction, and we have allowed this to continue long enough. FURTHERMORE.” he said speaking up over the protests of the warden, “You have violated at LEAST 50 intergalactic bylaws, and amendments. What is this 2001, we know what humanity is by now AT LEAST. Not to mention that we show up here and find one of our Commanding officers kneeling in a pool of his own blood, only to learn that you didn’t even bother to verify his identity.”

“He had no prints in the system.” The man snarled

“ONE PHONE CALL. JUST ONE PHONE CALL. And that is not even TOUCHING on his right to counsel, or a fair trial. We don’t just THROW people in prison based on circumstantial evidence. He was sent here to get down to the problem of intergalactic hormone trade only to be beaten half to death by men no better than animals in a prison, the likes of which we haven't seen since the late 2000s. You sir are a DISGRACE to the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE.” Commander Vir was only half listening idly staring at the lights as someone wiped blood from his face.

“Get him up.”

Someone ducked under one of his arms and he was hauled to his feet. He tried his best to keep one leg under him, but was finding he wasn’t a great amount of help. Maverick supported his one side, while sunny took the other. Ramirez, based on a look, made it very clear what would happen if any of them tried anything grabbing krill by the hand and pulling him along.

It all felt like a dream as the steel catwalk passed below him, and the doors slid open. The prison faded behind him into a maze of hallways.

He was out, he was free.

…. He was finally……

Free.

401 notes · View notes

edie-k · 4 years ago

Text

Conflict - R/Hr Fanfic

Today, I mentioned my dislike for one Ginny Weasley on the Romione Discord and I was met with polite side eyes. It made me remember this fanfic I wrote in 2004 (pre-HBP) in which I challenged myself to write a story where I liked Ginny but kept her fairly in character. Looking back at it 16 years later, I see all the cringe but I did accomplish my goal so I thought I would share.

Obviously, this is AU after OOTP.

Title: Conflict

Pairing: Romione

Rating: PG (I think I say hell once or twice, which is par for any conversation with me)

Disclaimer: Characters aren’t mine.

Ginny Weasley was a woman of divided allegiances. Her heart belonged to two separate factions: institutions that had been in place since almost the beginning of time. As Ginny Weasley was a loyal person, she had a difficult time choosing a position when these two sides went to war with one another.

You see, Ginny Weasley was a girl and a sister.

Of course, one may think these two went hand in hand. In order to be a sister, you must be a girl. True as that was, there were so many instances when it was difficult to be both a girl and a sister.

Ginny had six brothers and she loved them all dearly. Bill and Charlie regarded her as all significantly older brothers regard their younger sisters - she was innocent and young and could do no wrong. Apparently, Bill and Charlie did not remember much of the girls they knew at fifteen.

Percy… She was a bit reluctant to talk about Percy. She could never truly hate him, not even if she wanted to. When Bill and Charlie went to Hogwarts, Percy took on the role of the eldest child. He treated her as though she was his personal responsibility. Part of her wished he would return to the family just so she could drive him mad again.

Ginny’s relationship with the twins changed constantly. Some days they wanted Ginny as their protégé. Other days they wanted her out of the way. She was excellent in both carrying out their plans and schemes or as their unwilling test subject. Beyond that, she was a bit of a pest in their eyes. They had each other and did not see a need for anyone else’s company.

None of her five oldest brothers posed any problems when it became obvious she was a girl. They allowed guilt-free participation in girly activities, like gossiping and giggling with other females her age.

Ron was the one who always brought conflict and strife when it came to her roles as a girl and a sister. Ron was not her “favorite” brother or the one she “loved the most”. None of her brothers were. That was just not how the concept of family worked. Ron was her closest brother, and they had grown closer this summer.

The two of them spent the first month of holiday at the Burrow where the only real company was each other and it had been very enjoyable. Ron really seemed to have matured the past year, and it showed in their conversations. Ron actually listened to her, even when she could tell he thought she was being ridiculous or nosy. She found they could talk about almost anything. Ron even managed to muster up the maturity to listen to (some) details about her past and present relationships, although every time, he, not so subtly, hinted her perfect match had messy black hair and glasses.

Yes, some people may think that having one’s brother as a close friend is a bit pathetic, but something her mother said long ago stuck with her. Her brothers, especially Ron, were the only ones who knew what it was like to grow up a Weasley; who knew the holidays and memorable events the family shared. There were things her friends could never understand and the same went for Ron’s friends. They could not know what it was like to be poor or grow up in the magical world or as the babies of a large family. For that reason, Ginny was not ashamed of her friendship with her brother. He was a great person and even when Ginny was angry with him, she always found herself rooting for Ron. Therein lay the first half of the problem.

Not all areas of Ginny’s femaleness conflicted with her sisterly obligations. Ginny had plenty of friends who were girls. In fact, all of her roommates could be counted among her girl friends. They were not the pour-your-heart-out-to-and-tell-all-your-hopes-and-fears friends. No, they were more of the stay-up-late-giggling-about-boys-and-gossip friends. Yes, Ginny recognized that giggling and gossiping were not the most sophisticated of activities, but she enjoyed the frivolous time she spent with these girls.

There was a girl who was slowly becoming the heart-and-soul sort of friend. Hermione Granger listened in the same genuine way as Ron. She was trustworthy and faithful. They could discuss the serious matters in life, as well as the more entertaining aspects. Unfortunately, Hermione Granger was the other half of her problem.

Ron and Hermione were best friends. Of course, in saying that she rolled her eyes or raised a suggestive brow. Because while Ron and Hermione were just friends, neither of them actually felt that way, and more and more people caught onto that fact, Ginny especially, because she was the only one who had managed to coax confessions from them both.

Hermione already confessed the prior summer at Grimmauld Place that she possessed feelings beyond friendship for Ron. Consequently, Ginny made it her goal to obtain the same confession from Ron that summer. It was not half the challenge Ginny originally anticipated. Two weeks into holiday, she spoke a few carefully chosen words about Hermione’s impending arrival and Ron caved. Irritatingly enough, neither one of them made a move to step past the line between romance and friendship.

With the stalling of their relationship, the bickering remained. Harry remained distant and removed from the whole situation, designating her as the go-between of choice. This brought out Ginny’s two personalities, Ginny the Sister and Ginny the Girl. It actually got to the point where Ginny could visualize miniature versions of herself perched on each shoulder. Sister Ginny wore a Weasley jumper with jeans and her hair was such a bright red that it could not exist in nature. Girl Ginny wore way too much pink and an extraordinary amount of makeup. And the two of them never agreed on anything. They bickered almost as much as Ron and Hermione. What made it even more difficult was they both always had valid points.

So when Hermione exploded into the fifth year girls’ dorm, where Ginny sat on her bed, organizing pictures in her album, she was not surprised to see Sister Ginny appear on her left shoulder and Girl Ginny on the right to see what the problem was.

“Oh Ginny, sometimes he is just so awful!” Hermione cried, flopping on Ginny’s bed.

“What did he do?” demanded Girl Ginny.

“What did you do?” hissed Sister Ginny.

“What happened?” Ginny sighed. It was a beautiful October afternoon and the last thing she wanted to do was discuss her brother with Hermione and her two personalities.

“Well, Ron and Harry came down with their brooms and I said, ‘Ron, I thought you were going to work on your Potions essay with me this afternoon.’”

“She nagged him about that yesterday!” Sister Ginny huffed.

“Encouraged!” insisted Girl Ginny.

“Oh please. Are you telling me that Hermione doesn’t nag?” asked Sister Ginny.

“Didn’t you mention that to him yesterday?” asked Ginny.

“Well, yes.”

“Ha!” said Sister Ginny.

“Only because I - well, because I care about him. I want him to do well,” said Hermione.

“See, she means well!” said Girl Ginny.

“It’s because he’s much smarter than he gives himself credit for and if he just worked a little harder…”

“Well, I guess I have to agree with her there,” conceded Sister Ginny. “He is smart.”

“For a man,” agreed Girl Ginny.

“And then, he says, ‘Don’t nag!’ I told him that I, of course, AM NOT nagging and -”

“Hermione, might I ask why you’re so upset over an argument that seems so typical for the two of you?” Ginny prodded.

“Oh, good point! Now we’re getting somewhere!” said Sister Ginny.

“It’s not very nice to corner someone,” Girl Ginny huffed, crossing her arms.

“I told you; I just want Ron to do well!” insisted Hermione, but her pink stained cheeks told a different story.

“Ooo, she’s got a secret!” squealed Girl Ginny.

“Must you squeal?” asked Sister Ginny.

“Hermione,” Ginny prodded, her voice tinted with disbelief.

“Well,” she said, sitting up and primly straightening her skirt. “He just made a comment yesterday and I thought that - I obviously took it out of context.”

“What did he say?” asked Ginny.

“It’s not - it’s not a big deal. In fact, I obviously made a big deal out of something that was not.”

All three Ginnys patiently stared at her.

“Well, yesterday, he told me that he thought that I looked nice,” she said quietly.

“Good going Ron!” Sister Ginny said.

“What, she doesn’t look nice everyday?” asked Girl Ginny.

“And….” Hermione stopped and blushed.

“Hermione,” Ginny prompted.

“Well, yesterday when we were playing chess, he said it was sort of nice to spend time together by ourselves and - he kind of put his hand over mine. Of course, before I could respond, Dean and Seamus came in needing Ron to settle some sort of Quidditch argument. So I made some excuse and left.”

“She fled the scene?” asked Girl Ginny.

“See, she was in the wrong!” declared Sister Ginny triumphantly.

“Maybe his hand was clammy,” Girl Ginny said.

“Hermione, it sounds like he was complimenting you and trying to show some more than friendly affection. I don’t think my brother would do that unless he was attracted to you.”

“Ginny, I don’t know,” Hermione said as she rose from the bed. She began to pace back and forth. “All I wanted was to - to spend some time with him alone again this afternoon and so that’s why I pressed the issue, I guess.”

“Oh Hermione,” said Sister Ginny. “Homework is not the way to seduce my brother.”

“Food works well for seduction,” piped up Girl Ginny. “Or cleavage.”

“Okay, I can handle some things but let’s all please remember that this is our brother and I would prefer we never have the word seduction be uttered in the same sentence as his name,” Ginny told her two alter egos.

“Hermione, I bet if you just told Ron you wanted to spend time with him, he would happily oblige,” Ginny suggested gently.

“Hmph,” scoffed Hermione. “Why would he want to spend time with me?”

“If you want to bang your head against that wall, we’ll hang on tight,” suggested Sister Ginny.

“Because he just told you he does!” Ginny exclaimed.

“He’s just… making conversation,” Hermione said. Ginny glared at her. “Oh Ginny, I wish I knew for sure!” Hermione sank back into bed and sighed.

“I wish I could just tell her that Ron told me and this whole damn thing could be over with,” Ginny thought.

“Well of course you can’t,” said Girl Ginny. “And neither can I. But you can!” She pointed directly at Sister Ginny.

“What!” said Sister Ginny.

“What!” said Ginny.

“What?” asked Hermione.

“Just - just hang on a second. I have to think for just one second,” Ginny replied. “Now, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Listen. We can’t tell Ron Hermione likes him because Hermione is our friend and you cannot betray a friend. We all agree on that, right?” said Girl Ginny.

“Right,” confirmed Sister Ginny, looking a touch confused. Ginny herself was a bit confused as to where this was going.

“Now, you’re his sister. That means you can’t allow anyone to put him down or humiliate him or anything like that, right?”

“Correct,” answered Sister Ginny.

“But as his sister, it’s your job to embarrass and annoy him!”

“So,” Sister Ginny started out slowly. “I can tell Hermione that Ron likes her and it’s not really breaking a promise to Ron -”

“It’s being a little sister!” finished Girl Ginny.

“Wait a minute!” cried Ginny.

“This is perfect! I can’t even feel guilty because this is helping Ron. He can’t even be mad!” Sister Ginny exclaimed.

“Shouldn’t we stay out of this whole thing?” Ginny asked weakly. She needed to regain control before she was completely overruled.

“NO!” shouted Sister Ginny and Girl Ginny.

“Well, at least you two are getting along,” Ginny sighed.

“This has gone on long enough. It’s time for some serious interloping,” confirmed Sister Ginny.

“Just tell her. She’s your best friend and you should not keep secrets from your best friend,” pushed Girl Ginny.

“Don’t you want to do what’s best for your brother?” Sister Ginny asked.

“Ginny? What should I do?” asked Hermione.

“Tell her!” Girl Ginny urged.

“Say it!” pressured Sister Ginny.

“FINE!” yelled Ginny. Hermione jumped two feet in the air at sound of Ginny’s outburst. Ginny took little notice as she launched into her speech. “Hermione, Ron likes you. He told me himself over the summer holiday. He wants to tell you but he was just too scared to say it so I helped him develop a plan. He was going to try and slowly change your relationship. That should explain the decline in the rows and the increase in compliments and touching. Ron was going to see how you responded, and if he thought you liked him too, he was going to tell you on Halloween.”

“Halloween?” said Girl Ginny, wrinkling her nose. “Not very romantic, is it?”

“At least he was going to make a move,” said Sister Ginny.

Hermione was looking at her with wide eyes and a slight smile. “Really? He thought up a plan? It’s more than I managed.”

“Well, I did help him come up with it,” Ginny reminded her. “Anyway, with Halloween right around the corner, your bolting away from him last night probably made him doubt all the other responses he had been getting.”

“Which explains the fight earlier,” finished Hermione. “Oh Ginny, thank you! I’m sure it was hard for you to give up something Ron told you in confidence.”

“Well, it’s for a good cause,” Ginny said. “You are going to fix this, right?”

“Oh yes! I’ll - I’ll - I’ll meet him down at the Quidditch pitch right now,” she declared, standing up from the bed with a look of determination on her face. Suddenly, she deflated slightly. “Oh, but Harry will be there.”

Ginny chuckled. “I’m sure Harry will leave you alone.”

Hermione looked at her. “Does he know as well?”

Ginny was not sure if Ron had told Harry or not but Harry’s increased eye rolling and smirks in Ron and Hermione’s direction seemed to indicate he figured it out. “I’m not sure,” Ginny shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll leave you alone. He’s not as nosy as Ron.”

Hermione smiled as she glanced in the mirror, smoothing her skirt repeatedly. “Do I look okay?” she asked as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I mean, obviously my hair is a fright but it hasn’t picked up anything between here and the common room, has it? No stray quills, right?”

Ginny laughed. “No, your hair is fine.” While her friend’s hair was bushy, it wasn’t quite the disaster Hermione imagined it to be.

“Well, I suppose it’s okay,” she said, still smoothing it down. “It’s not as if Ron likes me for my looks.”

“Oh Merlin. She either has horrible self-confidence or she is completely blinded by love,” said Girl Ginny.

“Even I am not that delusional about my brother,” said Sister Ginny.

Ginny snorted. “Hermione, you do realize Ron is a teenage boy? I mean, yeah, he likes loads of noble things about you, but he definitely likes looking at you. Believe me; I’ve heard all about it. His eyes even glaze over when he stares at you, and you know he’s picturing you naked.”

“GINNY!” exclaimed an outraged Hermione, face burning red.

“Isn’t that a little too much information for you?” Girl Ginny asked Sister Ginny.

“I have five other brothers. I figured out a long while ago what they think about the majority of the time.”

Ginny ignored the two and turned back to Hermione. “Go on Hermione! You’re a beautiful girl; just go out there and tell Ron how you feel. While you’re at it, make him forget I was the one who let his secret slip.”

Hermione giggled. “I’ll try,” she said as she hurried out the door. Ginny sank back onto her bed.

“I hope I did the right thing,” she muttered aloud. “I feel a bit guilty for giving Ron away like that.”

“It had to be done,” Girl Ginny reassured her. “The arguments, the constant need for your advice…”

“It wasn’t good for your sanity,” finished Sister Ginny.

“My sanity? I’m in my room, talking to two aspects of my personality that have taken on distinctive voices and physical forms. Ron and Hermione were not the ones causing me to question my sanity. So if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go down to the common room and fill Harry in when he comes back up,” Ginny finished, standing up and walking towards the door.

“Harry?” Girl Ginny asked excitedly. “Is that open for discussion again?”

“You cannot date your brother’s best friend!” insisted Sister Ginny.

“And why the hell not?” asked Girl Ginny.

“Oh Merlin.”

#au romione #pre hbp #romione

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chiseler · 4 years ago

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Dastardly Deeds

If you happened to find yourself wandering around New York in the late Sixties, especially if you were up near the Columbia University campus, chances are good you might have encountered the graffito “George Metesky Was Here” spray painted on walls and sidewalks and store fronts. Even if you had seen it, though, chances are equally good it made no impression. Most people who saw the cliched slogan likely thought little of it, assuming it had been left by some poor, desperate soul named George Metesky in a pathetic bid for attention.” But those people would’ve been wrong on two counts.

First, although Metesky was still alive at the time, the graffitos had been left by a radical activist named Sam Melville, not Metesky himself. And second, as pathetic and desperate as Metesky may have been, he had more important things to do than spray paint his own name on walls all over Manhattan.

Sam Melville, who detonated eight pipe bombs in government and corporate office buildings around Manhattan in 1969, is today remembered as one of the radical Left’s first bomb makers of the late Sixties, presaging the likes of the Weathermen and the Armed Resistance Unit. He was eventually arrested, convicted, and shipped off to Attica, where he died in the 1971 uprising. Even though Metesky had no apparent interest in politics, radical Left or otherwise, he was still Melville’s hero and role model. After you learn a bit about Metesky’s story, you have to wonder why, exactly, Melville latched onto him instead of, say, an early 20th century explosives maestro like anarchist Mario Boda, but there you go.

Metesky was born in Connecticut in 1903. In his teens, he enlisted in the Marines and was shipped off to the U.S. consulate in Shanghai, where he served as an electrician. When his stint was up, he returned to the States and moved in with his two sisters in Waterbury, Connecticut. He also took a job as a mechanic with Consolidated Edison.

By 1930, Metesky had been assigned to ConEd’s Hellgate generating plant. While he was wiping down a generator one day in September of 1931, a nearby boiler exploded. Not only was Metesky blown to the ground, but he inhaled a plume of scalding, noxious gas which seared his lungs. He lay on the plant’s cement floor for hours, he said, receiving no medical assistance whatsoever. As he would later claim, breathing those industrial fumes resulted in a case of pneumonia which then developed into tuberculosis, leaving him bedridden and unable to work.

After Metesky collected six months worth of sick pay, ConEd terminated his employment. His worker’s compensation claim was denied because he’d missed the filing deadline. Three subsequent appeals of the decision were also denied, in part thanks to testimony delivered by three former co-workers, who, perhaps with some encouragement from ConEd brass, insisted Metesky’s injuries weren’t as bad as he claimed. Metesky, who was only 33 when his final appeal was denied, suddenly found himself sickly, unemployable, and very, very angry.

Five years later, it’s safe to say that everyone at ConEd had completely forgotten about George Metesky. George Metesky, however, had not forgotten about them. On the morning of November 16th, 1940, he placed a small pipe bomb inside a wooden toolbox, strolled into a ConEd substation on West 64th St. in Manhattan, and left it on a windowsill.

It was a primitive device, just a short length of brass pipe packed with gunpowder with a sugar and battery detonator. Such bombs rarely detonate as planned, which may be a moot point, as Metesky’s was discovered before anything happened. That may have been at least partially intentional, as wrapped around the bomb was a slip of paper. In a block-lettered handwriting (which would become familiar to investigators in later years) he’d written:

“CON EDISON CROOKS – THIS IS FOR YOU.”

The would-be bomb was shrugged off by the ConEd crooks, and ignored by everyone else. The same was true nearly a year later, in September of 1941, when another bomb with a similar design was found on the sidewalk several blocks away from the Irving Place building that housed ConEd’s headquarters. There was no note, the bomb did not explode, and few gave it a thought.

Despite two duds which made no mark whatsoever on the public consciousness (let alone ConEd), Metesky apparently had a grossly inflated sense of the impact he was having. That would explain the note received by a (very confused) NYPD shortly after the U.S. entered WWII in December of 1941. Metesky, an ex-Marine, wrote in that same block lettering:

“I WILL MAKE NO MORE BOMB UNITS FOR THE DURATION OF THE WAR – MY PATRIOTIC FEELINGS HAVE MADE ME DECIDE THIS – LATER I WILL BRING THE CON EDISON TO JUSTICE – THEY WILL PAY FOR THEIR DASTARDLY DEEDS... F.P.”

The “FP” signature was a mysterious new addition, but what’s not to love about someone who, apparently in all seriousness, uses the term “dastardly deeds”? The NYPD promptly filed the letter away in their “Crank Letters from Would-Be Cartoon Villains” drawer.

Metesky meant what he said about laying low in deference to the war effort, however, waiting an entire decade before planting his next bomb, satisfying himself in the interim by sending angry notes in ALL CAPS to ConEd and the cops. When he did finally get around to planting bombs again in 1951, two things had changed. First, his designs had grown slightly more sophisticated, meaning this next generation of pipe bombs actually exploded most of the time. And second, although at heart ConEd was still his target, the actual placement of the bombs had become decidedly more random. Also, whether it was intentional or the result of an increasingly unstable Metesky merely losing track, throughout the 1950s he bombed several buildings multiple times.

In March of 1951, the first of Metesky’s pipe bombs to actually detonate was dropped in a trash can outside the Grand Central Oyster Bar on the first level of Grand Central Station. No one was injured. About three weeks later he blew up a phone booth in the New York Public Library, followed by another phone booth in Grand Central.

Between 1951 and 1956, he blew up several phone booths, bathrooms, storage lockers and trash cans. He left bombs in the subway, the RCA building, Macy’s, and several movie theaters. He hit the New York Public Library twice, Grand Central five times, Radio City three times, the Port Authority twice, and Penn Station five times. He also finally got one inside ConEd headquarters, and tried mailing another to his nemesis, though it turned out to be a dud.

In most cases he would place a warning call to the targeted building in question, letting them know there was a bomb on the premises so the building could be evacuated. Considering the minimal damage his bombs generally caused, it’s also conceivable he made the warning calls to let people in the targeted buildings know the loud “bang” they thought they heard in the bathroom was in fact a terrorist attack.

Sadly for Metesky, despite all his hard work the NYPD dismissed his reign of terror as merely the work of juvenile delinquent pranksters. The press didn’t treat him any better, if they took any notice at all. These were, after all, very small pipe bombs.

Perhaps out of frustration, in October of 1951 he mailed a letter to the New York Herald Tribune which read:

“BOMBS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY IS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE FOR THEIR DASTARDLY ACTS AGAINST ME. I HAVE EXHAUSTED ALL OTHER MEANS. I INTEND WITH BOMBS TO CAUSE OTHERS TO CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE FOR ME.”

You do have to feel sorry for Medesky. After being fucked over by ConEd, and after learning all the usual channels of redress were stacked against him, he was forced to take drastic measures. But try as he might, even then he was ignored. He was nobody. All he wanted was a little attention, for someone to listen to his gripe. He clearly wasn’t out to hurt people—he just wanted a little justice. You can sense his growing aggravation in a follow-up letter to the Herald Tribune, which arrived in late December:

“HAVE YOU NOTICED THE BOMBS IN YOUR CITY – IF YOU ARE WORRIED, I AM SORRY – AND ALSO IF ANYONE IS INJURED. BUT IT CANNOT BE HELPED – FOR JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED. I AM NOT WELL, AND FOR THIS I WILL MAKE THE CON EDISON SORRY – YES, THEY WILL REGRET THEIR DASTARDLY DEEDS – I WILL BRING THEM BEFORE THE BAR OF JUSTICE – PUBLIC OPINION WILL CONDEMN THEM – FOR BEWARE, I WILL PLACE MORE UNITS UNDER THEATER SEATS IN THE NEAR FUTURE. F.P.”

Finally, the NYPD and others began putting the pieces together. Yes, as a matter of fact, there had been more bombings than usual in the city these past months, hadn’t there? And if these letters were any proof, the man responsible was completely bonkers. Sounds like he has some kind of beef with ConEd, but hey, who doesn’t?

Still, it says something that in November of 1954, a bomb Metesky had sewn into the cushion of a seat in Radio City Music Hall exploded as a sold out house of over 6,000 people watched a screening of White Christmas. Three people sitting near the seat in question were mildly injured and taken to the first aid station, 50 other people in the immediate vicinity were asked to move to different seats, and the rest were allowed to continue enjoying the film and the state show that followed. Only after the audience filed out an hour and a half later did cops move in to start collecting evidence. Bombs had been going off all over Manhattan for three years, but they were still being treated like backfiring cars or manhole fires.

It was only in 1956, after an elderly bathroom attendant at Penn Station and an audience member at the Paramount theater in Brooklyn were seriously injured that Metesky’s bombing campaign finally received the kind of banner headlines he’d been after. After years of trying, he’d finally been recognized in the tabloids as “The Mad Bomber.”

Suddenly under pressure from newspapers and the public, NYPD captain John Cronin publicly announced, perhaps tongue-in cheek, that he was launching “the largest manhunt the city’s police department had ever undertaken” to capture the Mad Bomber. He even created the NYPD’s first Bomb Investigation unit.

Although none of the hundreds of officers working the case were able to come up with a single solid clue, the campaign did have one immediate effect. Suddenly people all over the city began turning in neighbors and co-workers they felt had been behaving strangely. And the number of delusional types anxious to take credit for the bombing spree jumped precipitously. The cops found they were spending far more time and manpower fending off the cranks and crackpots than they were actually trying to find the bomber.

Essentially on a whim given nothing else was happening, Cronin contacted the assistant commissioner of the New York State Commission for Mental Hygiene, James A. Brussel, and asked if he had any ideas. Brussel, a psychiatrist and criminologist, agreed to take a look at the evidence to see what he could glean. Apart from the obvious—that the bomber was a paranoid with a serious gripe against ConEd—he also produced what is considered among the first )non-fictional) examples of criminal profiling.

Brussel came up with a 13-point list of attributes investigators should be looking for in a suspect, which in retrospect turned out to be surprisingly accurate. The bomber, he said, would likely be a male in his forties. He’d be of medium build, a good and meticulous worker, probably of Slavic origin. He was likely a loner with no wife, not much interest in women, living in Connecticut with an older sister. He was on the arrogant side, and probably didn’t respond well to criticism. And oh, when he was arrested he would likely be wearing a buttoned double-breasted suit.

(It’s unclear how he came up with that last one.)

At Brussels suggestion, the NYPD distributed the profile to all the local papers, asking them to give it a big push. The thinking was, if there was anything in the profile Brussel got horribly wrong, the Mad Bomber, being an arrogant paranoid, would feel compelled to step forward to insist on a correction. So on Christmas Day, 1956, the profile was plastered across the front pages of every paper in town.

The next day, the New York Journal-American (in cooperation with the cops) took it a step further, running a front-page plea directly to the Mad Bomber, asking that he turn himself in, promising not only that he’d get a fair trial, but that the paper would publish his side of the story.

The ploy worked about as well as could’ve been hoped. The very next day, December 27th, Metesky’s response arrived at the Journal-American’s offices:

“My days on earth are numbered – most of my adult life has been spent in bed – my one consolation is – that I can strike back – even from my grave – for the dastardly acts against me.”

He also included a detailed list of all the places he’d planted bombs thus far (some of which hadn’t been found yet), and stated he had no intention of giving himself up. The note, as usual, was signed “FP.”

Now that they had him on the hook, the cops and the Journal-American decided to play him a little. They ran his letter along with another plea that he explain a bit more clearly how his beef with ConEd arose.

Unable to resist now that he finally had an audience, Metesky immediately wrote back, explaining he’d been left permanently disabled because of a workplace injury while employed by ConEd, and that they’d refused his worker’s compensation claim.

“When a motorist injures a dog – he must report it – not so with an injured workman – he rates less than a dog – I tried to get my story to the press – I tried hundreds of others – I typed tens of thousands of words (about 800,000) – nobody cared – [...] – I determined to make these dastardly acts known – I have had plenty of time to think – I decided on bombs.”

A quarter century after the fact, having finally found an audience eager to hear his story, Medesky couldn’t stop himself, and penned yet another letter. He wrote at length about the circumstances surrounding his injury and his fight for worker’s comp, including the exact date the accident took place. The letter contained pretty much every bit of information any detective worth a damn would need, save for Metesky’s full name and a map to his house.

Well, despite ConEd’s best efforts to block access to their employment files, a clerk named Alice Kelly took it upon herself to do a little digging through the worker’s comp cases, eventually stumbling upon Metesky’s file, which had been clearly labeled “permanently disabled.” The real tip-off, though, were the letters from Metesky included in the file, many of which used the term “dastardly deeds.”

Around midnight on January 21st, 1957, a group of NYPD and Waterbury officers showed up on Metesky’s front step. He seemed to have been expecting them. He let them in, answered their questions, gave them a writing sample, showed them his workshop and all his bomb making tools, and explained that “FP” stood for “Fair Play.” When the officers sent him upstairs to get dressed for the drive to the station where he’d be booked, Metesky—and you saw this coming—returned a few minutes later in a buttoned-down double-breasted suit.

Over the course of seventeen years, Metesky planted 33 bombs around New York, 22 of which detonated. A handful of people were injured, but no one was killed. Given his motivation, you have to believe he was looking foerrward to a trial in which he’d be able to air his grievances with ConEd in a public forum that would undoubtedly receive a mountain of press coverage. And looking back now, you have to believe both the press and a jury would be sympathetic to the poor schlub’s plight. No doubt ConEd realized this too.

Before the proceedings got underway in the spring of 1957, though, a judge declared Metesky legally insane and unfit to stand trial. So there went his public forum. On April 18th, 1957, Medesky was remanded to the Matteawan Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Given the state of his health, it was expected he wouldn’t last six months.

In December, 1973, having been determined to no longer be a threat to anyone, the still very much alive 70-year-old Metesky was released. He returned home to Waterbury, where he lived a quiet life until his death in 1994 at age 90.

While he was institutionalized, the Journal-American retained a worker’s compensation attorney in an attempt to get Metesky’s claim re-opened. The hope was they might be able to force ConEd to cough up the decades worth of back pay Metesky was owed. The appeal was denied.

by Jim Knipfel

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grither55 · 4 years ago

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The Princess and the Peasant - (An Azula Epic) - Chapter 20 - Lessons in Self Defense

The princess pushed her now empty plate away with a content countenance while she wiped her lips with a cloth.

Once more Elle sat beside her.

The girl was glancing up at her with her usual sunny smile after having barely eaten half of her meal.

The two noblewomen sat at the table just having finished eating each of their own snack of choice.

“Is there anything else we have to do to prepare for our mission?” Ty Lee inquired curiously while she fiddled with her braided hair.

“No. I already have all of the preparations taken care of. But all the same Ty Lee. I am very glad you asked. I have another lesson on the schedule for this tiger monkey.” Azula commented with a sigh while her two friends listened in amusement.

“What are you going to teach me now Azula-sama? I very much enjoyed my currency lesson this morning!” Elle chirped just as she locked eyes with the smiling Ty Lee while Azula rolled her eyes ever so slightly.

“Yes well, you will be receiving a second lesson on that particular matter. But we’ll leave that for another day. For the remainder of today…we’ll focus on self-defense.” The princess announced with a twinge of sadism in her voice while she watched her young companion begin to gulp in terror.

And Mai and Ty Lee were now gazing at her with a shared fear for their adopted sister.

“S-self defense Azula?” The brown-haired woman asked in a frightened voice while she shivered over the familiar gleam in her leader’s eyes.

“Indeed. I will not allow it to be said that Princess Azula failed to teach her most loyal follower the basics of self-defense. Which is why we’re going to simulate bullying.” Azula explained just as she placed a hand on Elle’s small shoulder.

The announcement was a truly unsettling one to both noblewomen.

Strangely as it may be for once they knew that Azula had good intentions.

But even so.

Azula is Azula, and Azula is known for taking even the most minor of issues to the extreme.

“Simulate bullying Azula-sama?” Elle questioned in a trusting voice while she peered up at the nodding woman.

“That is correct. Now. Elle, Ty Lee. I command the both of you to stand. Disobey me and I will be certain that the two of you will spend the rest of your lives catering to my every whim.” The princess ordered in a supremely haughty voice while smirked when her acrobatic friend leaped to her feet in alarm.

“Please don’t do that to me Azula…as much as I love you, I do need a break from you every now and then.” Ty Lee stated with a sigh while she turned to peer down at the young girl’s adorably bewildered face.

“But Azula-sama. I’m already going to spend my entire life serving your every desire.” The blonde-haired girl spoke with a finger on her lip while her big sister’s sweatdropped upon hearing that.

“Oh of course. Well in your case I will give you all the gold that you’ll need to be set for life, I’ll buy you the finest estate and even elevate you to nobility. You’ll never have to serve me again.” Azula declared just as she stared down into the girl’s now distraught amber eyes.

“Ugh. Just take it shorty. You can still see us as much as you want.” Mai advised in a marginally softer voice than usual while she eyed Elle’s innocent face.

“Um…yeah it might be a good idea.” The brown-haired woman coughed only to fall silent when the princess glared at her through the corner of her eye.

“N-never serve you again?” Elle stuttered in a voice verging on despair while Azula smiled even wider than before.

“Never. Some other handmaid will be toiling after my every desire.” The princess replied with a smirk only to sigh when her companion grew overemotional.

“A-another handmaid? I thought it was my job as your girl to serve you.” The blonde-haired girl mumbled in a concerned voice while she twiddled her thumbs.

They all they that there was no point in telling Elle that girlfriend and servant weren’t usually the same thing.

And Mai and Ty Lee both knew well enough that Azula enjoyed the girl’s lovable eagerness to please her.

“Ugh. Quit your whimpering! I was just toying with you. I wouldn’t set you free even if you wanted me to. Now stand!” Azula barked with a snap of her fingers while stared in gratification when Elle speedily hopped to her feet.

“Wakarimashita Azula-sama!” Elle cheered in a jovial voice before scurrying over beside the grinning Ty Lee.

“So, how’s this bully simulation going to work?” The markswoman asked with a bored sigh while she turned to observe the two.

“It’s quite simple really. I am going to teach her how to respond if she is bullied when we aren’t around. In this particular scenario. Ty Lee is the bully.” The princess answered with a wave of her hand while the acrobat’s shoulder’s dropped in apparent discomfort.

“Azula! I’m not going to bully Elle! She’s my little sister.” Ty Lee protested with a shake of her head while Azula rolled her eyes once more.

“It’s not for real Ty Lee! Now play along or I’ll be the bully!” Azula snapped with her eyes narrowing in a glare only for the acrobat to stare down at their young companion in concern.

Both Mai and Ty Lee knew well enough that even if it was all just a game. That Azula would make for a far more terrifying bully.

“R-right. I’m the bully.” The brown-haired woman agreed with her hand still on the smaller girl’s shoulder.

Then the princess swiftly threw an object to her that she caught with ease.

She scrunched up her brows in a questioning manner when she promptly noticed that it was Elle’s backpack.

“I’m confused Azula-sama. What do we do now?” The blonde-haired girl pondered innocently while she gazed between her caretaker and her big sister beside her.

“Ty Lee just stole your backpack. What are you going to do to get it back?” The princess remarked in a silken voice while she met her little admirer’s gaze.

The three women observed their young companion in an amused manner when the small blonde held a finger to her chin as if she was deep in thought.

“Hm. I’ll ask her very nicely to please give it back! Oneesan? May I please have my backpack back?” Elle requested kindly while she turned to peer up at the grinning acrobat.

“Of course, you can have it back little sister!” Ty Lee exclaimed while she began to hand the bag over only to jump when a ball of blue flame exploded against the wall behind her.

“No! No, no! You will not give it back! You’re a bully Ty Lee! And you! Peace will not get you very far in this world! You need to toughen up if you want to survive!” Azula bellowed from her throne while she now glared at the two with frigid golden eyes.

Mai just leaned into the palm of her hand while she began to sigh in a disinterested manner.

At times like this it was really hard to deal with Azula’s insanity.

“Oh no that’s not true at all Azula-sama. Peace has been working out very well for me so far.” The blonde-haired girl insisted with a joyful smile while the acrobat still patted her shoulder.

“Really? How did your peace work out for you when two peasant girls were laughing while you rasped for air?” The princess demanded with a sneer while she scanned her fingernails in a regal manner.

“Quite well! A mighty princess and two noblewomen came to my aid. I’d say it’s working out marvelously.” Elle stated with a sure nod while Azula began to scowl back at her with annoyance in her cold stare.

All the while Ty Lee giggled in the background before falling silent under the monarch’s glare.

“She’s got you there Azula.” The markswoman commented with a slight smirk while her leader just glared at her through the corner of her eye.

“Just look at my situation Azula-sama. I went from living with an abusive brother to starving on the streets in a foreign land. And now I am living under the roof of an extravagant palace and I’m even best friends with the Crown Princess. I don’t make trouble. I just go with the flow. And here I have flowed. I’d say I’m doing pretty good!” The blonde-haired girl chirped with a beaming expression while all but the princess sweatdropped in amusement.

“Are you getting cocky with me tiger monkey?” Azula snorted with a puff of blue fire escaping her nostrils while her girl still smiled softly back at her.

“No, Your Highness. I am getting factual!” Elle piped with a radiant countenance while Azula still eyed her with a callous golden stare.

“Good! Because I suggest you remember that I can destroy you at any time of my choosing! You are a fool if you think that you are exempt from my wrath.” The princess spoke with her eyes narrowing into an absolutely imposing stare.

Both Mai and even Ty Lee rolled their eyes knowing full well that Azula was just spouting hot air.

“That’s just silly Azula-sama. There is no servant more loyal than me. Destroying me would be against your own interests.” The blonde-haired girl chirped while she puffed out her chest in a display of childish pride.

“I suppose it would be unpleasant to go back to having pits in my cherries. Oh, very well! For the time being you are once more spared from obliteration.” Azula announced in a spoiled voice while she waved her hand in an entitled manner.

“Thank you for sparing me master! I promise you that I will never let you down!” Elle cried out before performing a speedy curtsy while Azula began to smile in approval once more.

“See to it that you don’t. Now, back to the lesson at hand. How do you plan to retrieve your backpack from the merciless bully?” The princess queried while she observed the acrobat’s grinning face with a composed gaze.

“I know! I’ll politely ask if there is something that I did to offend her and what I can do to make it up to her. Oneesan? How can I remedy this situation?” The blonde-haired girl spoke cheerily before turning to peer up at the smiling woman.

“Well I don’t know little sister! Maybe a long snuggle in my bed would do the trick?” The brown-haired woman replied with a thoughtful hum while she glanced down at the adorable girl’s excited little face.

“I would really love to snuggle with you o-oneesan!” Elle stammered with a slight blush before she was smashed underneath the acrobat’s arm in a bear hug.

“Aww! You’re just so cute that I want to hug you all day long!” Ty Lee cooed while she held the blushing girl face first into her chest.

Mai just snorted in amusement while Azula angrily shook her head with a possessive gleam in her callous eyes.

“No. No. No! You cannot talk down bullies with a cuddle. Only violence and brutality will get your belongings back.” Azula snapped with a groan while she now glared at the two once more.

“But Azula-sama, Ty Lee is super tough. And I have a breathing condition. I really don’t think it would end well if I attacked her.” The blonde-haired girl explained from where she stood beneath the acrobat’s toned bicep.

Once more the two noblewomen sweatdropped when the girl pointed out that it was poor advice.

“I suppose that is a problem isn’t it. Ty Lee! You are too strong for this lesson. So, I am going to recreate you into a more fitting opponent for someone of Elle’s stature.” The princess announced in a tyrannical voice while her acrobatic friend just blinked in puzzlement.

“Uh…sure. If you say so Azula.” The brown-haired woman said while she still stood with her palm on the girl’s shoulder.

“Hm. Ty Lee is now a dirty, uncultured peasant. She doesn’t have a coin to her name, and she spends the bulk of her time begging the upper-class for a single copper. She is an out of shape drunk, most definitely unfit for the circus.” Azula declared with a haughty smile while Ty Lee’s face began to turn red in embarrassment.

“A-Azula! Why did you have to make me out to be a slob!” Ty Lee complained with a huff before folding her arms over her breasts.

“Of course, you are just as poor as she is. You have only one coin to your name. Likely you intend to spend it on a praline or something equally petty. But before you can get your praline Ty Lee knocks you over and steals your few meager belongings.” The princess continued to narrate with a smug smirk while she paid the acrobat’s glare little mind.

“So…what I am supposed to do to resolve it?” Elle pondered with a curious blink of her amber eyes.

“Try to push her down. Perhaps upon a slab of stone. Use the environment to your advantage.” Azula instructed with a nod while the others listened in amusement.

“B-but I am small…what if she’s bigger than me?” The blonde-haired girl queried while the acrobat placed her palm in her hair.

“You kick her in the genitals.” The princess replied while the two noblewomen nearly fell over in surprise.

“Hey! I don’t like where this is going Azula.” The brown-haired woman growled with a displeased shake of her head.

“But I thought that only worked on boys. Does that really work on girl’s Azula-sama?” Elle spoke with a curious tilt of her head while she gazed at the older female for further guidance.

“On the untrained female. Anyone foolish enough to try as such on me would regret it in their death throes.” Azula answered with a cruel smile while she folded her hands over her resting belly.

“What do we have to do to conclude this ‘lesson’ Azula?” Ty Lee sighed with her hand still resting in Elle’s soft blonde hair.

“Elle! I want you to push Ty Lee over and demand your belongings back.” The princess commanded in an icy voice while the young girl peered up at the acrobat with horrified eyes.

“B-but she’s my oneesan. I don’t want to hurt her.” The blonde-haired girl protested cutely while the acrobat ruffled her hair in response.

“Ugh. Just give her a small push. For show.” Azula grunted with yet another wave of her hand.

The princess and the markswoman observed in quiet amusement when Elle turned to stare up at the jovial acrobat with hesitant amber eyes.

The teenager began to chew on her lip once more while the acrobat just gazed down at her with a reassuring gaze.

“It’s okay little sister. I’m not going to be mad at you. Go on!” The brown-haired woman assured in a warm voice while she smiled down at the nervous girl.

Then after seemingly mustering up a tremendous amount of nerve the small girl closed her eyes just as she shakily pushed on the taller girl’s midsection.

One moment later Ty Lee still stood over Elle while she peered down at the girl still standing with her eyes closed in apparent fright.

“M-may I please have my backpack oneesan?” Elle stuttered in a mousy voice just when her pack was lowered before her.

“Yep! You clearly defeated me. I surrender!” Ty Lee called out with jovial voice while Elle opened her eyes just as she patted the girl’s head once more.

The sound of a palm hitting flesh resonated throughout the air while they turned to see Azula groaning beneath her right hand.

“I don’t know what was more pathetic Ty Lee! Your bullying skills or the tiger monkey’s laughable attempt at ‘pushing’.” The princess snarled with her arms folding beneath her breasts while she fixed the two with a cold glare.

“Sorry I let you down Azula. But she’s just too cute to bully.” The brown-haired woman responded with smile while she glanced down at her little sister’s blushing face.

“Just go back to your seat. Clearly, I need a more ruthless bully. Mai! Go stand by Elle!” Azula ordered in a spoiled voice while Mai gazed up from her finger nails with a heavy sigh.

And Ty Lee couldn’t help but flinch.

Mai certainly made for a more fearsome bully.

But still vastly preferable over Azula.

“Must I?” Mai complained in her usual apathetic voice while she turned to peer at Elle.

“Unless you want me to do it.” The princess sneered with a satisfied smirk when she watched the weapons expert visibly wince.

“No. I’ll do it.” The markswoman agreed dully before rising to her feet while she made her way over to the petite girl’s side.

“Don’t be too hard on her Mai.” Ty Lee advised in a sisterly voice while Mai gazed at them in a deadpan manner before stepping up beside Elle.

The acrobat stepped back while she watched the teenage girl glance up at her friend with even more nervousness than before.

“I-it seems like my situation just got hopeless. Clearly I should plead for mercy.” The blonde-haired girl mumbled just as she held a nervous finger to her lip while her big sister’s sweatdropped above her.

“She’s got a valid point Azula.” The brown-haired woman sighed while she turned to her merciless leader.

“I am pleased that you are keen enough to notice the disparity in your situation. Mai! I order you to bully Elle.” Azula demanded with a twinge of sadism in her voice while Mai shifted on her booted feet.

“Whatever. Just give me your backpack and let’s get this over with.” Mai remarked before swiftly snatching the girl’s bag from her open arms.

“Now I command you to attack Mai.” The princess spoke without delay while the blonde audibly gulped in fright.

“I…don’t know Azula-sama. I don’t stand a chance against Mai. So, isn’t it wiser to sue for peace?” Elle pondered with a frown while she gazed up at Mai’s aloof countenance.

Once more, the two older females were amused that the girl seemed to be catching onto the fact that Azula’s order was not in her best interests.

“Ordinarily yes. But today Mai is an overweight, ill-coordinated peasant with missing teeth and rags for wear.” Azula instructed with a raised finger while the other two women stared at her incredulously.

They were almost beginning to ponder if the princess had gone mad.

“What? The girl needs an opponent closer to her level.” The princess snapped with a roll of her eyes while her childhood friends just sighed in growing impatience.

“To her level Azula? That’s rather rude.” The brown-haired woman chided with a slight frown only for her friend to ignore her completely.

“Ha. Ha. I am now bullying you. Whatever are you going to do to stop me?” The markswoman commented dryly while she gazed down at the girl she now regarded as her baby sister.

And Ty Lee couldn’t help but manage a giggle while she witnessed Mai’s lazy attempt at bullying.

“I don’t know oneesan. What should I do?” The blonde-haired girl replied with another tilt of her head while the older female sighed once more.

“Now strike Mai down into a defeat so great that she will never rise from the ashes of her shame and humiliation!” Azula shouted just as torches flared to life behind her while a violent grin now graced her red lips.

An awkward silence reigned in the room while the two noblewomen stood staring at their leader in a comical manner.

“Just push me so we can be done with it.” Mai commented flatly while she stared down at Elle with her usual deadpan gaze.

Yet once more the small girl stood hesitant while she continued to gaze up at the weapons expert with conflicted amber eyes.

“There will come a time when you’ll discover that the only way forward is to fight!” The princess instructed in a rigid voice with her lips pursed into her usual scowl.

The teenager swallowed down her nervousness before springing forward rapidly just as she impacted with the older girl’s belly.

The blonde slipped forward while she glanced up at her big sister now stumbling backwards in a feigned display of defeat.

Before she purposefully fell upon her backside.

All the while glancing up at the girl with a twinge of surprise in her tawny gaze.

It was a soft shove, most definitely not enough to knock her down.

Yet even still…

It was a harder shove than the girl gave Ty Lee.

“Looks like I’ve been beaten. Here take it back. This is beginning to bore me anyhow.” The markswoman replied with a mild twinge of fondness to her voice while she held out the bag for her little sister to take it back.

“S-sumimasen oneesan.” Elle muttered in a fretful voice while she accepted the bag before extending her hand to her taken aback big sister.

“Don’t worry about shorty. It was just a light shove.” Mai reassured while she allowed Elle to help pull her to her feet.

“You both make for pitiful bullies. Stand aside! I’ll bully the girl myself.” Azula announced just as she stood up with her fists hanging at her sides.

The two noblewomen turned to gaze at her with unconcealed fright in their eyes before reluctantly obeying the order.

As they did so the Princes strode towards the now terrified handmaid before coming to a stop before the trembling girl.

“P-please go easy on her Azula.” The brown-haired woman pleaded in a mutually unnerved voice while the princess now glared down at the shivering girl.

“A-and now I feel as if an overwhelming doom has arisen over me.” The blonde-haired girl admitted with a gulp while she shrunk under her caretaker’s imposing stare.

The other two women just sweatdropped over how the girl had accurately gauged all three of them in order of how ruthless they were in combat.

Ty Lee the least so, if only because her heart was kind.

Mai more so than Ty Lee, but still less so than the princess.

And Azula…by far the most dangerous of all.

“As you should servant! I am now your bully! What are you going to do about it!” The princess barked before stooping over the intimidated girl with her eyes narrowing in a truly intimidating glare.

All the while the poor handmaid paled while Azula loomed over her with her breath lightly brushing against her forehead.

“W-what sort of question is that! I-I yield!” Elle cried out while Azula towered above her just as she ruthlessly swiped her backpack from her hands.

“You surrender do you! What if I told you to push me!?” Azula demanded in a glacial voice while she delighted in how her lovely girl quivered under her unyielding glare.

“I-I say I won’t do it. I…don’t want to damage our friendship by making you angry Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl stuttered with a nod while the princess continued to advance upon her.

“You can’t really blame the girl Azula. It would be suicide to do otherwise.” Mai stated dryly while she observed the girl with a sympathetic gaze.

“In this moment I am not your friend. None of us are. We don’t even know your name. We saw you walking in the street and decided that it would be fun to set your hair on fire. What are you going to do about it?” The princess hissed in a glacial voice while she stalked forward with her admirer backing away with every step that she took.

It went without saying that the two noblewomen were growing rather disturbed over how far the princess was taking this bullying ‘lesson’.

“A-Azula that’s enough! You’re scaring Elle.” Ty Lee protested with a concerned countenance when she gazed at her leader’s back.

“If surrender isn’t an option then I run away!” Elle exclaimed just when she felt her back hit the wall while Azula stood looming over her once more.

“You can’t run! If you run Mai and Ty Lee will intercept you. And now we are going to start brutalizing you. What will you do about it?” Azula questioned with a scowl while she glanced down at her admirer’s naïve little face.

“I-I…don’t know! I just don’t know Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl blurted out just as she chewed on her lip while she peered up into the princess’s entrancing golden eyes.

The acrobat began to rush forward out of fear that her friend was going too far only to pause when the princess took her by surprise.

With speed that Elle could not react to Azula swiftly but gently grasped ahold of her right hand.

All the while standing over the inexperienced girl with an almost concerned frown gracing her elegant lips.

“That is not an acceptable answer. So be it Elle. I will show you what to do.” The princess spoke just while she guided the smaller girl’s hand forward.

“Y-yes! Please show me princess!” Elle cried out with a returning smile while she stood unmoving when Azula moved her arm as if she were her puppet.

“A strike to the genitals will down most inexperienced attackers but when that fails. Provided your opponent is not wearing armor you do this.” Azula lectured with a frown before bringing the girl’s flat palm to her cheek.

Mai and Ty Lee now just stood in a flabbergasted silence to actually see the sadistic Princess Azula making a genuine effort to teach a young girl self-defense.

It was…just nothing short of astounding!

“I…don’t understand master. You want me to slap people?” The blonde-haired girl queried with an innocent blink of her eyes while the princess stared down into her inquisitive eyes.

“Not a slap! It is a strike with your flat palm to your attacker’s cheekbone. If done correctly. It is possible for even the weakest of individuals to break a portion of the jaw bone.” The princess explained with a slight smile while she peered down into her favored handmaid’s widening eyes.

“A palm strike princess?” Elle repeated in a voice of great reverence while Azula guided her flat palm forward once more.

“A palm strike.” Azula purred with her fist carefully grasping at Elle’s hand while the petite girl stared up at her in an appreciative manner.

“A palm strike…when my princess and my oneesans are not around.” The blonde-haired girl stated with an emotive smile while the princess stared down at her with stern golden eyes.

“That is correct Elle. Do you understand the basic concept behind the attack?” The princess inquired with her brows furrowing in a contemplative manner.

“I…think so.” Elle answered while Azula lowered her hand once more while they gazed down into each other’s eyes.

“Good. From this moment forward I will begin instructing you on self-defense for thirty minutes of every day. Is that understood?” Azula concluded with Elle’s hand in hers while she loomed over her dainty handmaid.

“Wakarimashita…Azula-sama!” The blonde-haired girl exclaimed with warm laughter lacing her voice while the princess’s crimson lips began to curl into a smirk once more.

“That’s my girl.” The princess commented with approval lacing her frigid voice while she allowed her dainty handmaid to clutch onto her palm.

“Ooh princess I am so honored to have a place beside you.” Elle gushed with a hand on her timid cheek while she shifted under Azula’s domineering stare.

“Aww! You know Azula you can be a real gentlewoman when you put your mind to it!” The brown-haired woman exclaimed just when the princess stiffened with a moody scowl now gracing her features.

“What are you doing just standing around holding my hand! This is a self-defense lesson! Not a cuddle session! Straighten yourself at once girl!” Azula roared with her thunderous voice causing Elle to leap up in a panic.

The two noblewomen shared a quiet sigh knowing that any kindness Azula showed the girl would be very brief.

“Y-yes master! If you say straighten! I straighten!” The blonde-haired girl called out before saluting the amused woman while she stood much like a soldier reporting for duty.

“There’s something ironic about the biggest bully I know teaching a handmaid self-defense.” Mai stated with her arms folded beneath her bosom while she glanced over the young girl with a softened tawny gaze.

“Yes, well I can’t let anything happen to this one. Otherwise, I will be forced to hire a new cherry picker. And I simply will not stand such an insufferable fate.” The princess snorted with her hands on her hips her two friends just stared at her in deadpan.

“Azula! Elle’s life amounts to much more than picking cherries!” Ty Lee protested with a shake of her head that her longtime friend chose to ignore.

“That’s not all I do oneesan! I also make Her Highness’s coffee! And I help cook her breakfast. And I wash her feet every day! And some mornings I give her a wake-up foot massage!” Elle cheered with a sunny nod while Azula just smirked down at her.

“Well…if serving Azula makes you happy little sister. Then I am happy for you too.” The brown-haired woman offered in a gentle voice while she smiled down at her young friend.

“Before we conclude this lesson. I have one final question for you. What would if I was your bully for real? What would you do if we met on the street and I thought that it would be amusing to torment you?” Azula pondered with a tilt of her head while she loomed over the girl’s now adorably thoughtful face.

Meanwhile her big sisters just stared incredulously at their leader’s back over her rather obvious query.

“That’s an easy one! I would just surrender!” The blonde-haired girl exclaimed before slamming her little fists together as she had just been hit with a brilliant idea.

“Oh? Just surrender? What if I was going to destroy you even if you surrender!” The princess growled before taking another step forward while the handmaid stood meekly in her shadow.

“I know Azula-sama! How about I answer you in role play? You can be the princess and I’ll be the peasant! It will be like a fun game!” Elle responded with far too much enthusiasm in her voice while she beamed up at the now sadistically smirking woman.

The other two members of Team Azula were staring at the girl with flinching expressions while they observed their leader’s delight in the naïve suggestion.

“Why would you ever suggest such a thing to someone as demented as Azula? You’re one weird kid.” The markswoman asked with bored sigh while the girl continued to smile even so.

“Quiet Mai. I for one think it’s a wonderful idea. Very well let’s play, the princess and the peasant.” Azula remarked with a palm beneath her chin while she turned to peer down at her small pet.

“That’s a great name for our game princess! I’ve always wanted to play games with you. I’m ready when you are.” The blonde-haired girl answered with her hands at her sides while she beamed even when the older female’s stare became as cold as ice.

“B-be gentle with her Azula. Don’t get too carried away with this…role play.” Ty Lee advised with a nervous cough while Azula now glare down at Elle as if she were any other peasant.

It was almost scary really.

In these days that they have all been getting to know Elle the princess never once graced the girl with such a merciless stare.

Azula’s glares were always marginally subdued and yet now the scene looked no different than when she had watched her friend terrorize handmaid after handmaid all her life.

If she didn’t know that it was all a game she would truly be worried for Elle’s safety.

“Uncultured peasant! Didn’t anyone every teach you to watch where you’re going!” The princess bellowed with her lips curling in a disgusted expression while the servant girl began to quiver under her stare.

“S-sumimasen Your Highness! Sumimasen! S-some girls were chasing me! I meant no personal offense!!” Elle cried out before bowing politely at the waist with a hand over her chest.

“Do I look like I care about your excuses peasant! Perhaps some time in the black cells will teach you some manners.” Azula sneered with a smug smile musing that this was indeed an amusing game.

“I humbly beg your forgiveness princess! Please! Allow me to make it up to you.” The blonde-haired girl stated with a compassionate smile while she gazed up into her master’s icy eyes.

“What makes you think that I want anything from you girl? I don’t care what you offer! It’s straight to the dungeons with you.” The princess scoffed before grasping ahold of the girl’s shirt while her companions eyed her oddly.

“B-but there’s so much that I can offer you princess! Perhaps I could make you a hot cup of coffee? I make a mean batch of pancakes! Or maybe a foot massage? If you give me a try, I promise you won’t regret it!” Elle offered with a joyful grin while Azula managed to quirk a curious brow.

And Ty Lee couldn’t help but release a soft giggle upon noticing that Azula seemed to be having a hard time behaving as if she hated Elle.

In all honesty this was a pretty accurate representation of just one of the many ways that their first meeting could have went down.

“Please. I have no shortage of handmaids!” Azula exclaimed with her handmaid’s bag in hand while her right began to drag the small girl alongside her.

“Oh, but I am not like the other girls. I really a-admire you princess. And if you give me a chance, I think I could be a handy personal servant.” The blonde-haired girl explained with a jubilant nod while her feet dragged along the flooring.

“Are you offering to surrender your free will to me peasant?” The princess queried in an inquisitive tone while she halted to fix her handmaid with a stern stare.

“Yep! I surrender completely!” Elle cheered in a lovable voice while Azula now staring gazing down at her with a thoughtful eye.

“You surrender huh? You aren’t going to make a run for it?” Azula spoke in a silken voice while she playfully restrained the girl by her wrist.

“Oh no! I am not the type to cause trouble with authority and I wouldn’t want to offend such a pretty princess.” The blonde-haired girl answered with a hum while she met her caretaker’s hardened gaze.

“So be it peasant. I will give you one chance to make it up to me. You had better not let me down.” The princess sighed with a wave of her hand while released her handmaid’s hand from her grip.

“I won’t let you down Azula-sama. I am your most loyal servant after all.” Elle spoke with her chest puffing out in a show of innocent pride while she peered upward to see Azula grinning in approval.

“Oh, very well. I will spare you from annihilation. In return for this mercy you shall spend the rest of your life proving your sincerity to me.” Azula concluded with a sage nod while she held a curled-up fist beneath her chin.

“As you command master. May I please have my backpack now?” The blonde-haired girl requested just as she bent over to curtsy her princess with a serene smile on her cheeks.

“Is that all you were worried about? Simple little tiger monkey.” The princess snorted before dropping the bag into her little admirer’s arms while the girl beamed up at her in gratitude.

“Arigatou gozaimasu Azula-sama.” Elle stated while she threw her backpack over her shoulders while she stared up at Azula with an expression of warmth in her amber eyes.

Mere seconds later Azula heard amused chortles emanating from behind her while she turned to glare at her two subordinates’.

All the while the two women continued to laugh in an entertained manner.

“You just got played Azula. And I have got to say it made my day.” Mai stated with a subtle smirk while Azula now scowled back at her in a questioning manner.

“What? How dare you imply that I was deceived!” Azula snapped before she turned to watch her pet scurry back to her seat.

“Peace worked three times in a row! That was a fun game princess!” The blonde-haired girl shouted while the woman stared after her with narrowing golden eyes.

“Get back over here girl and we’ll see how your peace works when I use my bending!” The princess snarled in a haughty voice while stood with her arms over her breasts.

“Didn’t you notice Azula? In each instance Elle disarmed all of us with a smile. Even you. We’ve been defeated and she got what she wanted every time.” Ty Lee announced with a giggle while her regal friend simmered in anger over the word ‘defeat’.

“Defeated? The Great Princess Azula has not been defeated by you! Perhaps I should bully you for real this time? So be it! I shall defeat you girl.” Azula barked just as she began to stalk forward with blue fire sparking to life all throughout the vast room.

The two noblewomen promptly ceased their chuckling in favor of shivering when the princess advanced on the girl with her palms now alight in blue fire.

“H-hey Azula! You’re taking this way too seriously!” The brown-haired woman called out yet once again her crazy friend paid her no mind.

“Silence Ty Lee. This is a direct challenge to my reign. And I will squash this rebellion underfoot. How dare you laugh at me! Just what do you find so comical peasant?” The princess demanded as she now towered over her handmaid’s chair while the small blonde now giggled up at her.

“Oh Azula-sama. You are so adorable when you are furious. Did you know that the more wrathful you are? The more beautiful you become?” Elle spoke with a flush grasping at her blouse while Azula glared down at her with a twinge of redness to her own cheeks.

“What! Adorable!” Azula hissed with lightning beginning to crackle on her fingertips yet to her aggravation her handmaid didn’t even flinch.

All the while she glared over her shoulder when she heard her friends snickering at her open back.

“T-that’s so master. You look angry. Do you need a hug?” The blonde-haired girl pondered while she chewed on her lip with the scowling princess making a point to loom over her to make her feel smaller.

But it didn’t bother her any!

She didn’t mind gazing up at her powerful princess.

“No! I don’t need a hug! I am the dominant one in this relationship. Don’t you dare forget that.” The princess growled in a voice of absolute dominance before stooping down to stare directly into her blushing girl’s amber eyes.

Both Mai and Ty Lee exchanged a stunned glance to hear Azula officially refer to it as a ‘relationship’.

That was all the proof in the world that Azula had truly grown to care for Elle more than they had realized!

“You’re so silly Azula-sama. I wouldn’t call you master if you weren’t my alpha.” Elle retorted innocently while she turned red when Azula leaned in eye to eye.

Anyone else in Elle’s position would be utterly terrified to have Azula invade their personal space in such a frightening manner.

But not her. She trusted her princess with all of her heart and soul.

“And yet you presume that you defeated me. Is that right girl?” Azula purred in an all-encompassing voice while Elle began to sink back into her seat more intimidated than before.

This pleased her greatly.

Fond of Elle she may be but her love interest must understand that her will is absolute.

“Azula? Please don’t generate lightning near Elle’s person.” Ty Lee spoke with sisterly worry in her voice as she gazed at Azula bending over the poor girl.

It was times like this that she was just astounded that this girl had the patience to put up with Azula’s insane behavior!

“Expecting me to be able to defeat you and my oneesans is just unreasonable. But with courtesy and a cordial demeanor, I got my backpack back by complying with your orders until you were satisfied. I don’t start trouble! I make it a point to be as likable as I can be. And it works wonders! Peace wins again.” The blonde-haired girl explained with a sweet smile while the princess stared back at her with annoyed golden eyes.

“The girl’s got the right idea. Elle wouldn’t be standing with us if she was any different. And you know that.” The markswoman said just as she sighed while her leader still stood with her lips pursed in a tight scowl.

“Really? How’s this for peace…” The princess trailed off with a smirk before tearing the girl’s treasured bag from her shoulders.

And just like that the teenager’s expression began to turn into a childish pout while she peered up at her in horror.

“I…don’t understand what you want from me Azula-sama. I am not a warrior.” Elle muttered with a concerned frown while Azula smiled mockingly down at her.

“In other words. If I decided to burn your belongings…you couldn’t stop me. Your words only matter if I deem it so.” Azula stated with the faintest sparks of flame beginning to burn at her fingertips while she met her now distraught handmaid’s fretful little eyes.

All the while the other two women who had already returned to their seats could only stare at their leader in disbelief.

“Azula! You can’t burn Elle’s belongings!” Ty Lee protested angrily with a scowl while her sadistic friend once more ignored her pleas.

“N-no. But you’re my best friend Azula-sama. You wouldn’t burn my only memories of my mother? Would you?” The blonde-haired girl pondered in soft voice while the princess now gazed down at her with a flicker of concealed surprise in her eyes.

Not a single one of them knew what happened to Elle’s parents.

The girl had only vaguely mentioned in passing that they died long ago.

“Azula.” Mai warned while she noted Elle’s emotive eyes growing close to tears.

“Oh, quit your sniveling would you! I was just toying with you.” The princess grunted before dropping the girl’s silly bag back into her lap.

She observed her young companion catch it with haste while she cradled it against her chest.

Azula found herself scoffing with another snide roll of her eyes while suppressing something akin to remorse over very nearly making her admirer cry.

And with that the princess plopped down onto her backside in her plush throne while she continued to eye the girl with a stern gaze.

“T-this is all I have left of her. Everything I treasure…is in this bag. That’s why I always carry it with me. So, it will always be close to heart.” Elle confessed with an emotional smile upon her face while she turned to her three taken aback friend’s.

Even the kind-hearted Ty Lee couldn’t help but feel a sudden sense of horribleness for having taken a part in teasing Elle with her bag.

It was obvious to her that it was dear to her little sister.

Yet hearing that everything that Elle loved was in that bag…

She couldn’t help but sniffle herself when Azula turned to glare her way in disgust.

“Cease the infernal waterworks Ty Lee. I was only trying to toughen the girl up. It’s for her own good anyhow.” Azula sighed before sinking back into her seat while she ignored their two stares of disagreement.

“C-can’t you try to be a little more sensitive Azula? Elle’s our friend. Isn’t she?” Ty Lee replied with her fingers wiping at her eyes while Azula glared between her and their young companion.

Sitting with her little bag hidden away in her arms as if it was her last lifeline.

“She wouldn’t be sitting at my throne room table if she wasn’t.” The princess snorted with a haughty roll of her cold eyes all the while eying her timid little handmaid’s annoyingly sensitive face.

“It’s alright oneesan. I’m not upset at any of you. And I know that Azula-sama has my best interests at heart. I trust my princess with all of my heart and soul. I know that she would never hurt me. Because we’re best buddies. Isn’t that right Azula-sama?” The blonde-haired girl commented with a hopeful smile while she turned to peer up at the ruthless woman’s glaring face.

Once more the acrobat found herself almost quirking a smile despite her sadness.

That’s the first time she has ever heard anyone refer to Azula as their ‘best buddy’.

“Hm? Oh sure. Of course, we are. Now pour me a drink! Can’t you see my glass is empty! Well! Hurry up with it ‘best buddy’!” Azula ordered just as she slammed her glass on the tabletop smirking all the while when Elle frantically scrambled forward upon command.

The remaining members of Team Azula just sighed heavily under their breath.

It was apparent that Azula’s idea of a best friend was someone that was completely submissive to her will.

“Y-yes master! I’ll be a good girl. T-thank you for looking out for me…” Elle trailed off with another sniffle before she carefully began to pour Azula a tall glass of wine.

“You foolish little thing... you wouldn’t survive without me. Now no more crying or I will punish you! Is that understood girl!” The princess barked in a tyrannical voice with a haughty snap of her fingers in her admirer’s gulping face.

“As you say Your Highness! I am so glad that we have each other.” The blonde-haired girl answered before a great smile broke out across her innocent face when a strong palm lowered into her hair.

And then she found herself compressed beneath Azula’s strict petting hand all the while she peered up at the captivating woman with a bashful blush now adorning her cheeks.

“Just…be a good girl for me Elle. Try not to worry so much. If anyone tries to burn your bag. I will mercilessly slaughter them.” Azula assured with a sanguine smile while she leaned forward just as she fondly trailed her fingers through her submissive girl’s hair.

“Yes! My princess will protect me!” Elle exclaimed with a giggle while Azula snidely snorted out a puff of blue fire in response.

“I swear you’re a strange one Elle. If you had any sense you’d run away as fast as your feet could carry you.” The markswoman muttered in a deadpan voice while she observed the bizarre scene that was the younger girl leaning into the princess’s patting hand.

“If I ever catch this one trying to run away, I will find her, capture her and leash her for the rest of her days.” The princess declared in a terrifyingly possessive voice while she reclined in her throne with her hand now gripping her little handmaid’s head.

The announcement sent shivers down the spines of both Mai and Ty Lee.

All while they watched Elle smile happily with upmost joy in her eyes while Azula allowed the girl to lay down over the arm of her throne.

“Why would I ever want to run away Azula-sama? I find your rule quite comforting.” The blonde-haired girl stated with a serene smile while she relaxed beneath the older female’s petting hand.

Just feeling her princess’s long fingernails curl into her hair was enough to send a blissful shudder down her spine.

“Well. At least she’s happy.” The brown-haired woman quipped while her fellow noblewoman just cast her a deadpan glance that made her sweatdrop.

“Mhm. And well trained. Wouldn’t you agree?” Azula purred with her fist grasping at Elle’s hair while the teenage girl began to rest on the arm of her throne.

And then the princess lazily placed the entirety of her arm over the young girl’s body with her elbow now pressing into the petite girl’s back.

While she continued to dance her fingers through her young handmaid’s hair all the while Elle was never once bother over being used as an arm rest.

“Y-yeah. She certainly is Azula.” Ty Lee agreed with a nervous sigh yet even so she managed to smile over how strangely adorable the two were together.

No matter how much Azula tried to pretend that she didn’t care for Elle…a teeny bit of affection would always shine through.

Even when the princess was trying her hardest to behave cruelly to the girl.

“And peace wins yet again.” Elle spoke in a serene sigh just when Azula glanced down at her with narrowing golden eyes.

“Do you think that you’ve defeated me tiger monkey?” The princess demanded with the flames of war ablaze in her callous eyes once more.

And the two noblewomen could only sweatdrop to see a woman as ruthless as Azula bickering with a young girl.

“Not in combat but I have defeated you with kindness twice today.” The blonde-haired girl chirped with a joyous countenance even when the domineering palm held her blushing face in the arm of the throne.

“Wrong! My dominance has won yet again!” Azula growled with her lips pursing into a tight scowl while she glared down at the girl’s little face beneath her controlling grip.

“No. Love and peace wins again.” Elle retorted sweetly while she curled up underneath Azula’s muscular bicep.

“You couldn’t defeat me even if I was asleep!” The princess exclaimed haughtily while she stared down at her petite companion with icy golden eyes.

“I don’t know Azula-sama. I think that there are a few areas where I could defeat you.” The blonde-haired girl chirped before craning her neck to beam up at the princess’s rigid face.

“Name them! And I will subjugate you beneath my boot each time without fail!” Azula scoffed just as she flicked her hair from her eyes in an arrogantly seductive manner.

“Painting princess! I can paint your likeness better than you.” Elle answered sweetly while she peered up at Azula’s beautiful face curving into a slight scowl.

“Please! I am a prodigy by divine right. I am confident that I can just as easily outdo you with a paint brush as I do in strength!” The princess announced with a conceited wave of her hand before turning her head angrily when she heard the acrobat laughing in disagreement.

“I don’t know about that Azula. I think that you are setting yourself up for embarrassment here.” The brown-haired woman chuckled while the monarch huffed in her usual smug manner.

“I love you very much Azula-sama. I don’t want to embarrass you…” The blonde-haired girl trailed off with a gentle smile while the older female growled above her.

“Really? Well I can breathe better than you. The skill of a firebender is determined by their lungs. This means that I am vastly more talented at breathing than you.” Azula spoke with a hubristic smirk while she pointed a controlling finger in Elle’s now pouting face.

“T-that’s not very fair Azula-sama. I have a lung condition.” Elle muttered pitifully with a twinge of hurt in her voice before averting her eyes shamefully.

The princess could only scowl while she tried her hardest to conceal something akin to remorse after noticing that her words had hurt her handmaid’s feelings.

“Seriously Azula? That’s low. Even for you.” Mai stated with a disapproving shake of her head while Azula rolled her eyes in an overly proud manner.

“Well. I suppose I could let the subject slide. I would hate to embarrass you after all.” The princess remarked as she scanned her finger nails in a beyond entitled manner while she peered down at her petite companion.

“You’re so amazing Azula-sama. There is very little I can do better than you other than painting.” The blonde-haired commented with admiration in her voice while the princess swelled in confidence high above her.

“It pleases me that you admit that I am superior. But take heart my pet. I am still fond of you.” Azula boasted with a broad smile before once more patting her servant’s little head.

“But I bet that I am better at video games that you.” Elle boasted with her chest puffing out in a display of innocent pride while all three of her friends blinked in confusion.

With good reason of course.

Not even Azula had heard her servant mention any ‘video games’.

“Video games little sister?” The brown-haired woman asked with curiosity in her voice while she grinned over in the direction of the younger girl’s suddenly excited face.

“Oh! Video games are so cool! That’s the only thing I miss about my homeland. The Fire Nation has no video games.” The blonde-haired girl exclaimed with a trace of disappointment in her voice that annoyed her master.

“So, you miss trivial peasant games. Why does that not surprise me?” The princess snorted with another haughty roll of her elegant eyes.

“Pardon me for saying so Azula-sama but you don’t even know what video games are. You are clearly misinformed on the subject. But don’t worry! I’ll educate you! Because you’re my best buddy.” The blonde-haired girl cheered before she happily embraced the older female’s arm while the princess began to scowl once more.

And she turned to glare in the direction of her two friends’ when they began to chuckle in amusement.

“Are you backtalking me girl?” Azula questioned with a flicker of playfulness in her voice before glaring down at her intended’s jubilant face.

“Oh no. I am getting factual.” Elle quipped with a sunny smile just as she reached for her backpack while Azula took a graceful sip of her wine.

“Is that so? Well I can only imagine that the knowledge you are about to share with us will shake the world as we know it.” The princess scoffed yet even so she found herself staring down at her handmaid with an attentive gaze.

“Don’t be like that Azula! We should be eager to listen to Elle tell us about her homeland.” Ty Lee spoke with a kind-hearted nod while they watched the girl begin to open her bag.

“Yes. Elle. Why don’t you school Azula on the subject?” Mai snickered while Azula glared between them with a foul tempered stare.

“Video games aren’t just for peasants Azula-sama. They are games that have been made for people of all ages and social classes. Traditionally they come in the form of handheld systems and game consoles.” The blonde-haired girl explained while her three older girls began to listen curiously.

“Game consoles?” The brown-haired woman pondered while their young companion nodded before proudly holding up a small handheld box that fit in the palm of her hands.

“This is a portable game system. You see after it is powered on this screen here lights up. And then you can play an interactive game of your choosing. Think of it like this… a simulation that appears on the screen. And then you control your game character through a serious of obstacles and challenges.” Elle stated with rising enthusiasm in her voice while Azula tried to hide the faint fascination that was developing in her eyes.

Once more the trio was realizing that Elle’s world had some truly fascinating inventions.

Much like the girl’s little music player all three of them were finding themselves inquisitive over the device.

Though Azula found herself growing undeniably curious.

She was much more interested in her admirer’s music player than any sort of game device.

“Wow. That’s really something isn’t it Azula?” Ty Lee commented with a smile while Azula continued to act as if she was above anything that didn’t involve warfare.

“I suppose I could see how such ridiculous games would be appealing to you and Elle. But I am more interested in the finer things in life.” Azula answered in a snobbish voice while Mai rolled her eyes from the corner of her vison.

“But Azula-sama! Video games are one of the best things in life! Maybe someday we’ll find a way to visit my homeland together? And you can play all sorts of games with me!” The blonde-haired girl called out with delight lacing her voice while she tugged on the spoiled woman’s sleeve.

“While I won’t deny that you’ve piqued my interest in visiting your homeland. The only purpose of such a visit would be to conquer it in the name of the Fire Nation.” The princess declared with a violent smile before returning her gaze back down to her chipper handmaid.

“That is just too cruel. Even for you Azula. Going to her homeland for the sole purpose of conquering it. If you ever did that, I will quit your team and no amount of force will convince me to return.” The brown-haired woman informed with a fading smile while the princess stared back at her in disbelief.

Azula was so taken aback by the statement that she had yet to form a rebuttal.

And even Mai was surprised to hear Ty Lee openly warn Azula against such an action.

What angered the princess the most was that she had just been making a comment in passing.

It was mostly just mild teasing.

“Um. I mean no disrespect Your Highness but that would be a very bad idea. I advise against plunging straight into warfare with a land you know very little about.” Elle stated just as she chewed on her lip while Azula spun around to glare down at her with narrowed eyes.

“Are you trying to tell me that I would lose? Please! You have already told me that you don’t even know if you have any benders at all in your homeland! You have what? One token woman who may or may not be a bender? The Fire Nation has tens of thousands of benders.” The princess sneered just as she gazed down at the girl with piercing golden eyes.

“I-I never stated that you would lose or succeed. But while they don’t have thousands of benders, they make up for it in advanced war machines and weapons that easily make up for a lack of bending.” The blonde-haired girl replied while Azula’s eyed flickered in sudden interest over the mention of weapons and war machines.

“Why would you even want to plunge the Fire Nation into yet another war when we haven’t even finished the one, we’ve been fighting for the last hundred years?” The markswoman queried with disbelief lacing her voice while her leader just scowled.

They all knew that Azula knew she was right.

She was just too proud to say it.

“Besides Azula-sama. If you were to invade my homeland, you would find yourself invading far more than four nations. And even worse, you would eventually find yourself pushing into Rieko’s province. There’s a saying in my homeland. Don’t cross Rieko. She’s a very vengeful person. She would not hesitate to begin butchering your people in retaliation. It…would be a fruitless endeavor. Tens of thousands would die on both sides and it’s likely you two would kill each other. And…I would be very sad to see so many people die over something so pointless.” Elle spoke softly with a frown adorning her lips while Azula’s scowl continued to deepen.

“You think that I would die! Are you doubting my strength already!” Azula barked with her lips pursed into a thin line before leaning down to glare into her pet’s now quivering eyes.

Although it went without saying that her interest in this woman had grown even further.

And though she wouldn’t vocalize it she knew that the girl had a point.

It would be foolish to invade a foreign land without performing the proper research beforehand.

“N-no princess. I…just don’t want to see anyone die…why does everything have to always be about war. It…depresses me.” The blonde-haired girl mumbled in a sullen voice while the other two gazed at the sadistic woman in a reproachful manner.

“It’s okay little sister. Pay Azula no mind. She’s just a war-obsessed meanie. Tell us more about your games!” Ty Lee chirped while Azula turned her head to stare at her with an irate gaze.

“Ty Lee! She’s my pet not yours! I dictate her life. Not you. Go get your own pet peasant.” The princess snapped rudely with a possessiveness to her voice while the other woman just sighed once more.

“Pet peasant? That’s a crude insult.” Mai remarked with a frown while Azula continued to loom over Elle in an overbearing manner.

“It’s alright! I don’t mind being Her Highness’s pet peasant.” Elle assured with a returning smile just when she felt a palm lower into her hair once more.

“And there you have it. The girl agrees with me.” Azula purred with satisfaction lining her voice while she patted Elle’s blushing head.

“A-anyway. Video games come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We have larger screens that you can play them on. About the size of that painting over there. But those ones aren’t for portable use.” The blonde-haired girl spoke with reviving excitement while she pointed at a painting on the wall.

The trio turned to the painting with growing surprise in their eyes that the games in this foreign land were seemingly so detailed.

“Servant. The size of a game ‘screen’ is of little interest to me. Such things are for lesser minds.” The princess scoffed while her friends barring her handmaid rolled their eyes at her.

“Oh, but princess I just know that we have games that would be of interest to you. You would probably love the violent video games.” Elle piped while Azula glance down at her as soon as she heard the word ‘violence’.

“Violent games?” Azula asked with a hand on her chin while her two-childhood friends shook their heads.

“Mhm! You see video games are called as such because they offer an immersive experience. You get to play a character in a world that is completely fiction. It’s like a drawing that comes to life before your very eyes.” The blonde-haired girl answered with clear delight in her tone while the older girl’s listened in amazement.

“That’s amazing Elle! Your homeland has some truly astounding inventions. It sounds fun!” The brown-haired woman exclaimed while she grinned over at her little sister’s adorably smiling face.

“My favorite games are platformers. They are more light-hearted in design. The name comes from how your character has to jump about to avoid obstacles of varying difficulty.” Elle responded in a clearly elated voice while Azula drank another drink of her beverage.

“Enough about these childish…’platformers’. I command you to tell me more about the gruesome games.” The princess demanded in a sadistic voice while she peered down at her pretty little pet.

“Of course. Leave it to Azula to only care about death and destruction.” The markswoman muttered while she folded her arms over her bust.

“W-well they’ve even created games where you can kill people in simulations.” The blonde-haired girl announced with a slight flinch while the three women stared at her with surprised eyes.

Even Azula was astonished by such a concept.

“Really? I can butcher people and wage war in a game?” Azula questioned with evident interest in her voice while her childhood friends shuddered in their seats.

“Yeah. Like I told you Azula-sama. There are all kinds of games. Horror survival games, war games, fantasy games and even crime games. I just know that you would love Grand Theft Auto.” Elle answered while Azula blinked down at her in now unconcealed surprise over how complex video games were proving to be.

“Grand Theft Auto?” The princess repeated with a curious hum to her voice while the small girl nodded speedily.

“I…liked the sound of the platforming games better!” Ty Lee spoke while Azula rolled her arrogant eyes at her.

“Of course, you would find a circus-like game endearing. But the more sophisticated minds present are more curious about the murderous games.” Azula remarked with a wave of her hand while Ty Lee just sighed yet again.

“Most parents won’t let their kid’s play the mature games unless you’re seventeen. So…I’ve only played a few. My mother never approved of such violence. She taught me to be peaceful and courteous. And even though she’s gone…I continue to do so. To honor her memory.” The blonde-haired girl stated with a reminiscent countenance while all three women sensed her inner sorrow.

“Believe me. I can tell.” The princess sighed while any remarks about her admirer’s mother swiftly died in her throat.

If only to avoid more waterworks.

“Any mother that can raise their daughter to be able to tolerate Azula of all people must be nothing short of astounding. Most people make it a point to spend as little time around her as possible.” The brown-haired woman commented while the princess’s narrowed eyes swept over her.

“Ty Lee.” Azula snarled with a twinge of offense in her callous voice while the other woman winced under her icy stare.

“Yeah. Talk about survival skills.” The markswoman teased in a deadpan voice while the princess glared at her as well.

“But anyhow. About Grand Auto.” Elle continued with clear avoidance in her voice that they took careful note of.

“I can’t say it sounds very friendly. Not with theft in the title.” Ty Lee sighed while she began to play with her braided hair.

Only to flinch when Elle laughed nervously as if to imply that it was much worse than she thought.

“Oh no oneesan it’s not friendly at all. You play as a criminal that performs various sorts of illegal tasks. Frequently the in-game bosses will send you out to rob stores, or kill another character. You start off small and eventually gain control of the entire city.” The blonde-haired girl explained with a raised finger while the trio stared at her in amazement.

Even Azula couldn’t deny that these games were proving to be much more intricate than she had taken them to be.

“Hm. So you start off as an underling and eventually conquer an entire city?” The princess purred in a disturbingly piqued voice while her friends shivered once more.

“Yep! I just knew that it would be your cup of tea Azula-sama. You can even run over civilians. Rob the elderly. And kill the innocent in mass.” Elle chirped while the three older girls sat stunned to hear a pacifistic girl explaining such a malicious game.

“T-that’s not very pink at all!” The brown-haired woman protested while she cringed over her leader’s now cruelly smiling face.

“I think it sounds quite very Ty Lee.” Azula replied while she still peered down at her pet with amused golden eyes.

“But there are some rules master. If you kill too many innocent people the in-game police will hunt you down and punish you.” The blonde-haired girl chirped while the sadistic woman listened in grudging fascination.

The fact that some killing was permitted but ‘not too many’ was just mind-boggling to even the likes of Mai.

“Punish me, would they? I would like to see fictional police try to stop the Great Princess Azula.” The princess boasted with a haughty smile while her friends sweatdropped in their seats.

Leave it to Azula to take it upon herself to wage war on people that don’t even exist.

“Oh, they would do more than try Azula-sama. They made it so the police are invincible. You can’t defeat them. They have infinite ammo, and even when you blow up a police car more follow soon after. They corner you and kill you every time! They did this so you are forced to adhere to the rules of the game. The idea is to rise up through the storyline. Because if you want to conquer the city you have to abide by the rules. This way there is no short cut to conquest.” Elle informed with a nod while Azula stared down at her with a cold smile gracing her crimson lips.

“I suppose that makes sense. You can’t really conquer a city by burning the elderly and running down the civilians.” Azula remarked with a lazy wave of her hand while Elle nodded in agreement.

“I have to ask. What’s the point to such a malicious game? It’s actually very disturbing. Even if it is all pretend.” Ty Lee mumbled with a frown while she gazed over at their strange companion.

“I don’t really know oneesan. But if I had to answer I would say it’s because there’s always a market for everything. And even though I’ve never really been into games like that. I think some people find it a good way to vent out their anger at the world. I mean…it’s better to wage a fictional war than to kill thousands in a real war.” The blonde-haired girl answered in a thoughtful manner while her big sister nodded in nervous understanding.

“Oh, I disagree. Even as fascinating as that sounds. There is no point in investing my time in a fictious conquest when I can dominate this world in the flesh!” The princess called out with flames flaring to life behind her while gazed on in a clearly bloodthirsty manner.

The other three girl’s sweatdropped while they could have sworn, they heard crickets chirping in the corner of the room.

“Um…well I guess so. But someday we’ll play video games together won’t we Azula-sama?” Elle asked with childlike hope in her voice while she peered up at Azula seated upon her large throne.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I have no time for such childish things! I have a kingdom to run. I don’t have time for games.” Azula snapped with her words causing her little handmaid’s shoulders to slump.

“Don’t you worry little sister! Azula would be happy to set aside time to play games with you.” The brown-haired woman assured while she snickered at her leader’s glaring face when the teenager’s face lit up once more.

“D-do you think that you can find a way to power my handheld game system too Azula-sama?” The blonde-haired girl requested with an innocent countenance while the princess glanced down at her in clear annoyance.

“As it stands, I must duplicate your breather, and cure your little chest pains. Not to mention the repair of your music box. And now you want me to power your peasant game device?” The princess queried with her callous eyes now staring down at her dainty handmaid’s once more fading smile.

“S-sumimasen master.” The blonde-haired girl stuttered with her amber eyes gazing away only for her princess to groan while she massaged the bridge of her nose.

“You are a needy little thing. But I wouldn’t have any other. Very well then Elle. I shall dominate even the repair of your toys! You will submit to me for all time! Even your toys will bow before me!” Azula bellowed with a controlling snap of her fingers while her handmaid stared up at her with worshipful little eyes.

“Y-yes princess! I submit to you!” Elle cried out while she saluted the power-hungry woman’s smirking face.

“Good girl. So well behaved…” The princess cooed in a possessive voice before planting her hand in the small girl’s hair once more.

“I-I…try my best Azula-sama. You know I’ll always be your faithful girl.” The blonde-haired girl stammered with a reddened tint to her cheeks while she sank back into her seat beneath the princess’s strong palm.

All the while savoring how the charming woman began to curl her fingers in her hair.

“It has long since become apparent that I am the ideal woman for you. No other woman can offer the dominance and assertive rule that you so desperately crave. Isn’t that right?” Azula purred before stooping down to peer into her pet’s blushing face while she purposefully exhaled in the young girl’s eyes.

“P-please take control of me Azula-sama. I would be scared to face the world if you weren’t here to guide me.” Elle admitted in a meek voice while she trembled when Azula grasped ahold of her cheeks with a charismatic smile on her alluring lips.

The two noblewomen had long since given up on advising their adopted sister against saying as such.

By now it was clear that the innocent girl actually enjoyed it when Azula exerted control over her.

Not that it made any sense to them though.

“You are a submissive little thing…and I like that.” The princess cooed in a honeyed voice while she leaned over the arm of her throne with her palms cupping her little intended’s face.

“I-I am so very happy that I am to your liking princess…I-I want to be your little lady.” The blonde-haired girl confessed in a lovesick voice while she turned red

“Naïve girl. You are my little lady.” Azula scoffed with a fond roll of her eyes before taking the others by surprise when she pulled the girl into a chaste kiss.

Elle found herself falling forward with her amber eyes agape in wonder to find her princess crush her into a gentle kiss.

Her heart was racing a thousand miles a minute while Azula tenderly held onto her cheek with her lips pressing into her forehead.

It completely stunned Mai and Ty Lee into a speechless silence to see Azula kissing Elle in such an astonishingly affectionate manner.

The small girl sat paralyzed in awe while she gazed up at the entrancing princess now glancing down at her with a sanguine smirk that sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine.

All the while Azula slowly removed her lips in a deliberately slow fashion before leaning down to peer into her little intended’s astonished eyes.

“Mhm. Tell me…who owns you?” The princess pondered with her fingernails gently brushing the girl’s blonde locks from her widened eyes.

The teenager audibly gulped down her nervousness all the while staring up at the older female with reverence in her eyes.

“Y-you Azula-sama. I-I am your little lady.” Elle answered with an adorable stutter lacing her innocent voice while the regal woman’s amused chuckles began to flow into her ears.

“My little lady…” Azula spoke in a silken voice with her hands grasping at Elle’s cheeks while she smiled confidently when the girl wrapped her arms around her neck.

And just like that Elle fell face first into Azula’s shoulder while she embraced the older girl’s neck as if her life depended on it.

“Aww! That’s so…ouch!” Ty Lee blurted out loudly only to yelp when Mai slapped her upside the head.

“Don’t say another word.” Mai whispered in a warning voice while she fixed the now abashed woman with a stern stare.

The acrobat nodded with a twinge of redness to her cheeks while they discreetly observed the cruel princess allow the young girl to fall into her arms.

“I…love you so much Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl mumbled with redness adorning her cheeks before blushing even deeper when the older girl’s growls emanated in her ears once more.

“I know you do. Now come here.” The princess hissed into the trembling girl’s ear before swiftly pulling her handmaid over the arm of her golden throne and into her lap.

“I-if my princess says come. I come.” Elle agreed in a spellbound voice before she fell into Azula’s lap while two strong arms clutched her in a possessive manner.

And not a moment later the young girl found herself with her face resting on her princess’s shoulder while well-manicured fingernails continued to gently stroke her cheek.

“Hm. You are a pleasing little dear. Just be good…I’ll take care of you.” Azula remarked with her hand holding onto the back of her handmaid’s head while the girl lay in a dreamy trance.

“Yes. My alpha will take care of me.” The blonde-haired girl replied in a lovestruck voice while she felt the princess’s fingernails continue to drum along her cheekbone.

“That’s right girl. I am your alpha…you have been conquered. And don’t you ever forget it.” The princess growled with her breath now brushing against her trembling girl’s cheeks.

“Oh Azula-sama. How could I? This is a dream come true.” Elle stated softly in a blissful fashion before sighing serenely in the older female’s hold.

The other two members of Team Azula could have sighed while they watched Azula’s smug lips curve into the biggest smirk she could muster.

It was obvious that the princess’s ego had just soared to even further heights.

“Humph. I am a true prodigy. Even at dating. I mean just look at this. Young girls beg and plead for the right to be in my arms. Their young minds are helpless against my charms.” Azula announced in a supremely haughty voice with Elle burrowing into her breasts while she snaked her arms around the girl’s back.

“Uh…I don’t know about all of that Azula but you two are cute together.” Ty Lee giggled with a wide grin while Azula now held Elle in her well-toned arms.

“One girl Azula. One girl.” Mai taunted with a slight smirk while Azula huffed with her fingers still fiddling with Elle’s golden hair.

“One is more than either one of you have.” The princess boasted with a proud smile while she peered down at her lovely handmaid with her little face propped up against her bosom.

The two noblewomen just sighed while never even bothering to muster a retort to the other woman’s arrogant brag.

“Azula-sama?” The blonde-haired girl began to a gentle voice while the princess stared down at her with fondness reserved for her and her alone.

“Yes Elle?” Azula answered with a twinge of attentiveness in her voice while Elle shyly traced a finger down her toned bicep.

“Since I’m your little lady does that mean you’ll play games with me?” Elle requested with a trusting smile while Azula rolled her golden eyes above her.

“Is that your only concern? Peasant games?” The princess snorted in a spoiled voice while the teenager continued to gaze up at her with hopeful amber eyes.

“You know Azula. I’ve noticed whenever you tell Elle no you always find yourself back at square one ten minutes later.” The brown-haired woman informed in a helpful voice while the other woman began to glare down at the girl in her arms.

No doubt well aware that she wasn’t wrong.

“If you’re worried about not knowing how to play. Don’t be. I’ll teach you.” The blonde-haired girl chirped in a cheerful voice while the princess narrowed her golden eyes from her position above her.

The sound of amused snickering filled the room while Azula raised her eyes to cast her friends an icy stare.

“You? Teach me?” Azula repeated with mockery unhidden in her arrogant voice while she watched the girl rapidly nod her little head.

“That’s so Azula-sama. I’ll even go easy on you while you’re learning how to play.” Elle assured in a lovable voice while Azula stiffened with her eyes widening in anger.

“What did you just say to me girl!” The princess bellowed with the torches above her now alight in ominous blue fire while her compatriots continued to laugh at her expense.

“I said I’ll hold back on you because you’ll be at a disadvantage.” The blonde-haired girl answered sweetly while the princess now glared down at her with the flames of war burning in her golden gaze.

“You think you can defeat me even at a peasant game? I have no time for such childish things…but if I did. I would surely crush you.” Azula declared in a sanguine voice with her cold eyes examining her fingernails before turning to stare down at the giggling girl.

“Oh no Azula-sama. I am an expert at video games. I have been playing them since I was a little girl. I would decimate you.” Elle retorted with a joyful grin while she craned her neck to peer up at her now angered master.

“Are you challenging me tiger monkey?” The princess demanded with her lips pursing into a regal frown while her young companion’s head rested against her chest.

“Mhm! My love for you is so great that I will even let you win a few rounds.” The blonde-haired girl assured with a finger on her lip only for a long fingertip to raise her chin upward.

Her heart began to race once more when she found herself gazing up into sanguine golden eyes that sent blissful shivers down her spine.

“You are beginning to grow rebellious. I can see that a further display of my dominance is in order! You will bow beneath my boot for all time! Is that understood Elle!” Azula bellowed just as she thrust her fingertip in her little intended’s speedily nodding face.

“I-if you say bow Azula-sama, t-this girl bows.” Elle agreed with a spellbound stutter before embracing Azula around her belly while the regal woman grunted above her.

“I am your dominant…you had best remember that little lady.” The princess grumbled with a trace of underlying fondness in her voice while she peered down at the small girl hiding in her belly.

“This little lady remembers princess.” The blonde-haired girl mumbled in an adorably meek voice while she felt the older female’s hand slide down her back.

“Now that is what I like to hear.” Azula sighed with her arm wrapped around the girl’s back while the smaller girl hid face first in her breasts.

“B-but I am quite skilled at Mario Kart princess.” Elle commented while Azula scrunched her nose up in puzzlement over the bizarre name.

As did the other two noblewomen who were now mutually curious over their young companion’s video games.

“Elle. Just shut up.” The princess ordered with another pompous roll of her eyes while Elle clung to her toned bicep.

“Yes Azula-sama. I’ll be good.” The blonde-haired girl spoke in a peaceful voice while she lay against the woman’s soft chest with a relaxed smile upon her lips.

“Good. That’s my girl.” Azula purred with her fingernails brushing through the small girl’s hair once more all the while holding her handmaid into her bosom.

The young girl just blushed with contented countenance when the older girl patted her head once more.

By now they both knew that their bond was deeper than words could ever convey.

And Azula likewise knew that she wouldn’t be letting this one go.

Of that the princess was certain.

#Azula #avatar the last airbender fanfiction #yuri #mai avatar #ty lee avatar

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