#And it wasn't until now that I could formulate what it was about the story I loved and what about the ending I just didn't enjoy

[flare-dragon]

Ron's Gone Wrong: An Analysis

I recently rewatched (most of) Ron's Gone Wrong and remembered a few reviews I'd read of it, describing how its message seemed muddied and not very clear...which, ultimately, is true.

But, with that said, there's something I realise about it that it almost gets right (literally, all the way up to its second-last climax is so perfect, and even its ascent to its final climax is still consistent with this realisation). The realisation is that there's one thing it describes really well:

Artificial/Algorithmic "Friendship" vs Organic Relationships

It seems almost simple or obvious that this is the message the movie tried to portray, but the way that it ultimately ended tells me that they either missed the point they were making or someone else forced them to have a different ending (sadly, I think it's the former). I cannot call it a bad movie for missing that point (it's still one my most watched recent movies), but it makes me wonder what it could've been had it brought this point home.

So, without waffling on for too much longer, here's a quick analysis on how it goes about this message, and why it's a good message that doesn't inherently contradict the pervasiveness of social media (even if it also didn't do much about that point)

Barney vs Friendship

The beginning of the movie shows us a "revolutionary invention", designed for making friends: The Bubble Bot (B-Bot for short). From the get-go, we're given a presentation of what the modern friend-making dynamic intends to be: Interact with interests and media, share them online, and the algorithm uses that to help connect with others who shares those interests and enjoyment of media. It's an intentional reflection of modern social media, albeit a somewhat simplified version.

It quickly shifts to a large number of kids connecting to their B-Bots for the first time in a short montage, cut at the end with a hand touching a similarly-coloured door. An assumedly unintentional, but well-placed, contrast and summary of the story. Here we meet Barney.

Without rehashing too much of the beginning of the movie, we learn that everyone else at his school (supposedly?) has a B-Bot and he's the only one without it. Similarly, he doesn't have any friends he talks to during school (or outside of it apart from family). He himself states that he "kinda, actually" needs a B-Bot to make friends these days. One could call this a simple set up to the idea of "You won't make real friends using computers" by starting us off with a B-Bot-less Barney...if it weren't for the fact that he gets one the next day.

This is when we really start to see what I mean by "Barney vs Friendship": His attitude towards what his new B-Bot should be is pretty consistent with how everyone else has been using them: "You are meant to be my friend, and know everything about me." It's hammered in later on during the friendship montage, with Barney making a board on "How to be my friend" (underline by me).

Barney's perception of friendship, then, is revealed as "You are my friend. You are on my side. You like the things I like." A very selfish and self-centred perception. This might seem to set up Barney to be a selfish person...but isn't that how the algorithm is supposed to work? Finding people with the same interesting ("the things I like") and rejecting those who don't share it (which we see at the school, two B-Bots rejecting each other, and thus the two kids, Savannah and Ava, simply walk away from each other). It isn't Barney's fault his understanding of friendship is like this. He's been inundated and surrounded by it.

Barney vs Ron

Up to this point (after the school "riot"), we see Ron as trying so hard to be Barney's friend, to the point of taking Savannah's words to heart and going outside to find people to be friends with Barney (since Ron wants to not be pointless and is connected to Barney). It isn't until now that Ron asks the question: "Barney, are you my friend?"

Barney's response is typical and expected: "What do you mean? My dad bought you for me." After all, Ron is just a robot, right? It does make the idea of the message "Artificial Friendship vs Organic Relationship" difficult to apply since Barney literally doesn't see Ron as a person. He's just a self-moving machine designed to be a friend.

But, interestingly enough, that makes Ron a perfect vehicle for the message. A machine that was intended to just follow the algorithm, instead forced to (and willing to) create their own way through life by whatever limited tools it has access to. Even in the moments Barney sees Ron as just a machine, he's also treated him as an important person in his life.

When they meet up again in Barney's shed, it all finally shifts into what it always should've been: A two-way street. They'd already spent so much time bonding, regardless of the way they'd perceived each other before then (Barney seeing Ron as just a friend machine, Ron seeing Barney as the one person he needed to be a friend to), that the change to actually being a friend to each other and allowing each other's individuality to shine but never be the only priority allows them both to be better friends, differences and all.

To contrast, we also follow in pieces the journeys of Savannah, Rich, Noah, and Ava's own experiences with their functioning-as-intended B-Bots. We see Savannah and Ava miss an opportunity to be friends (and Ava's loneliness from very few B-Bot owners showing an interest in science). We see Noah's constant struggle to be at the top of the leaderboard. We see Rich attention-starved and making as much "content" as he can just to get some. Instead of exploring the possibilities of relationships with people who may not share the same interests, they're steadfast focused on what they're used to, never really getting a chance to evolve it into something more joyful (more on that later)

Barney & Ron vs The World

...a dramatic subtitle, but this is when the two of them run off, away from Bubble's attempt to capture Ron to stem the damage they've seen from him. Barney still doesn't have any friends aside from Ron, and Ron doesn't have any friends aside from Barney. Barney refuses to lose his one and only friend, so they run off, separated from the rest of the world, and just...enjoy each other's company.

In the montage and subsequent scenes, we see more bonding from both of them. Ron is still trying to be a good friend, but Barney gives him a chance to say things for himself and to do things for himself, even if Barney doesn't like it. Even when they argue later from the stress of living outdoors in the woods, they stick together and try to keep warm.

There's not a lot to say about these scenes, except that we see a very stark differences from when they'd first met. It's almost as if this is where we get to see how far they've come as friends. We've seen the relationship grow over time, shifting from seeing each other as a particular purpose into treating each other as individuals. A shift that would've been impossible if Ron simply followed the same algorithm the others did.

Would Barney have found friends if Ron functioned as intended? Would Ron have shown the personality he does if he had ever been connected to the Bubble Network? Would there have ever been a discussion on how to actually make friends? It isn't until later that we find a likely answer to all of these: No. Barney would have fallen into the same trap every other B-Bot user did: A constant hunger for validation that only resulted in disconnection and loneliness.

It al comes to a head when they both find themselves in danger from being caught by Bubble (by remote-controlled B-Bots being controlled without user consent or knowledge. Makes one wonder~). Barney does everything he can to hide and protect Ron (which only succeeds due to Andrew's complete disregard to human life), even risk death from asthma. Ron then does everything he can to ensure Barney doesn't die in the woods, even if it meant being taken away and destroyed.

It's a beautiful relationship, given a chance due to them having to discover who each other were over time and in an organic matter. Ron had to learn Barney's interests manually and even began to observe new things about him over time. Barney shifted the way he looked at Ron to seeing him as his own person, and spent the time to learn his own likes and desires.

Barney vs "Ron's Gone Wrong"

I figure it's also important to include where - in my opinion - the movie loses the message and the storytellers mess up. In the last segment of the movie, we have Ron having been connected to the Bubble Network and losing everything that made him unique, each interaction with Barney being a shallow facsimile of what made Barney become best friends with him (right down to Ron's individuality being erased).

I'm sure there was a way to make this work, but it instead has Barney try to rescue Ron's personality (a backup Marc created somehow) and then, after getting it back, Ron sharing his personality with every other B-Bot (due to seeing how the original algorithm just lead to sad kids disconnected from each other) at the cost of his own life (although that's technically ambiguous, especially with the ending).

I'm...not sure what the intent is, but it misses something big. What made Ron special to Barney was not simply that he existed outside of the mould that every other B-Bot was forced to fit into. It was that Barney got to know him and his eccentricities, and Ron got to grow and evolve alongside Barney. They both grew organically alongside each other, and demonstrated the need for a more natural approach to friendship making compared to the rigidity of the algorithmic connections that occurred through the B-Bots (and not questioning this algorithm or given much chance to examine the issues).

By simply sharing Ron's personality to every other B-Bot, it only really achieves one thing right in relation to the message: It forces each person to operate on their B-Bots level and develop their own connection to their now-chaotic buddy (I suppose not focusing on "online vs offline" as far as friendships go was also a good point for it, as it didn't really feel like a strong enough point for the movie and there's better ways to go about such a message.)

Had there been a greater focus on how it was that Barney's friendship had developed - or at least some kind of portrayal that the updated B-Bots weren't just copies of Ron but had actually become wide and varied individuals for their owners(?) to get to know - the ending might've been able to work better. Ron's sacrifice was a tragedy, but it displayed Ron's sheer selflessness and self-developed kindness and generosity.

If there's one scene that at least supports the message of "Artificial/Algorithmic Friendship vs Organic Relationships", it's the moment Barney sees how unhappy his former-now-again friends as they stare at their B-Bots screens and try to make some semblance of happiness, however shallow it is. Having a contrast of their artificially-built connection compared to Barney and Ron's hard-earnt friendship felt like a good way to help demonstrate the point. I just wish it could've lead to a more satisfying ending.

Barney and Friends

This is just a short little bit, but I wanted to at least point out one other good thing that happens in the last segment and ending. Barney may have started out friendless, but his friendship with Ron and Ron's selfless sacrifice (to get him medical attention) allowed Barney to reconnect with his former friends. It was a moment of realisation for Savannah, Ava, Noah, and Rich: After all this time, they let their friendship decay and be lost.

Seeing them, then, be together and hanging out alongside Barney? It showed another element of an organic relationship: Organic connections. Algorithms can give you other connection points, but it may leave you limited to other perspectives too similar to your own. Organic connections, though, force you to figure out if this thing that you never really thought about before is something you like or not, and if this person's appreciation and interest in it is something you like. It's one of those things that can just grow on its own and become something beautiful.

Just to note: I do not believe online friendships are worse than offline relationships, nor more shallow. Rather, it's algorithmic friendships that fall flat. The power of the internet is that it lets you get in touch with so many people you normally wouldn't have the chance to. Leaving it entirely in the hands of an algorithm (and not thinking critically about it) has you miss out on the beauty of the mish-mash nature of the internet. It's why Tumblr's such a fun place to be~ ^^

Conclusion

So yeah. The thing that always disappointed me most about the movie isn't that it didn't stick the landing. It's that it has such a beautiful message and the story it tells is so heart-warming and charming, but the message isn't carried to the end so you wonder if it was ever intended (I believe it was, but it's hard to say).

Seeing the way Barney and Ron's friendship evolves - and the way they each grow as individuals - contrasted with everyone else using B-Bots as they were originally designed/programmed makes for a pretty compelling portrayal of the differences between a friendship formed and informed by entirely through an algorithm, and a relationship that grew from organic interactions that, even when influenced by expectations from and of each other, created something much more different and complex and much more fulfilling for the two of them.

It's a beautiful friendship, and it's still worth watching to the end~

Bonus

It's more a funny coincidence I noticed, but the way that Andrew kicks Marc out when Ron loses his individuality, and then how Andrew was removed and Marc taking charge again when Ron's personality was distributed to every other B-Bot? Almost feels like its own reference to that message (Algorithmic Friendships may be ubiquitous and everywhere, but ultimately Organic Relationships will last the test of time)

A funny comparison honestly~

[gguk-n]

Wheels of Desire (Fernando Alonso x Lance Stroll's friend!Reader)

Summary- Finding an older man attractive is the oldest rule in the book, what if said older man is a little hesitant?

{Reader's POV}

Lance and I had recently made acquaintance through our fathers a few months ago. Since we were closer in age, we started to get along quite well. That's how I found myself at the Canadian Grand Prix. Did I know anything about cars? Nope. Did I know anything about Formula One? Nada. But was I supportive friend? Debatable. My dad wanted me at the race, I have an inkling they are trying to set me and Lance up but I believe that ship sailed a long time ago since he already has a girlfriend. That's Lance's burden to bear not mine, I'm here to keep up appearances.

I had the Aston Martin paddock pass slightly sway along as I strode to the hospitality. I did not know anyone here and that asshole didn't even come to greet me at the entrance. As I walked in, I spotted Lance. I smacked the back of his head, "You knew I came here for you, yet you wouldn't even come and greet me" I whined. "I thought you were a big girl" he laughed giving me a hug. "Whatever" I mumbled when my eyes met the man in front of me, who was also dressed in the same shirt as Lance. "Fernando, this is Y/N Y/L/N. Y/N, this is Fernando Alonso, my teammate" Lance introduced us. I smiled at him and shook his hand.

I pulled Lance to the side before whispering, "I didn't know your team was this hot" "He's old enough to be your dad." he pointed out. "He isn't my dad and my dad's way older than him" I explained. "Y/N come on" he whined. "Listen, you don't have to do anything, I'm pretty enough to handle it on my own, my only qualm is you hid that beautiful Spanish man from me" I said flipping him off. "How do you know he's Spanish?" he quizzed. "Accent and name, pay attention Strulovich" I sighed. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have a hot man to woo" I whispered and sauntered over to Fernando.

It was tragic honestly, even I could tell the way I was practically throwing myself at Fernando at this point and this man wouldn't even bat an eye. My spirit was starting to run low. But I wasn't giving up just yet, the weekend had just started and I had 2 more days.

Lance took me out to dinner to cheer me up. "In your defence, Fernando probably likes older women not infants" Lance chided. "I hate you" I seethed. "You're just hangry, here have a bite" he said placing a forkful of pasta in my mouth. "You do know how to cheer me up, Lancey" I hummed chewing on the food.

The dinner from last night made it on the tabloid, here, I am trying to woo Fernando and the tabloids are running a story of me and Lance. I think I might have to have a strongly worded letter with the said media houses.

Fernando seemed even more off than the last day; my jokes weren't landing, I couldn't even make him smile at this point. I found myself subconsciously chewing on my lower lip. "You're bleeding" Fernando said holding up a tissue to my lips. His fingers brushed past my lips and now sat on my chin as he added pressure to the wound. "What's got you so anxious?" Fernando asked. "Nothing" I shook my head. "Don't move, yet" Fernando reprimanded holding my head from the back in place with his other hand. I stood still, my brain running a 100 miles an hour, my eyes scanning his face which had creased in focus and his eyes laced with worry. He slowly moved his hand away to see the blood had stopped, I wish it hadn't. All I could think about was how maybe Fernando held your head as he kissed you aggressively.

Fernando left to talk to his engineers. I stood there staring at him until Lance came and closed my mouth. "You're drooling" he chided. "I mean how can I not? Look at him?" I chuckled. Lance just shook his head and walked away.

I spent the whole night formulating but I never came up with anything to at least peak Fernando's interest in me. None of my flirting was working.

I walked into the hospitality with my head down, it was Fernando who greeted me. "You don't look so good" he remarked. "Yeah, I didn't sleep much" I replied. "What's on your mind?" he asked. "Nothing, it's stupid" I brushed him off. "If it was that stupid why'd you stay up thinking about it?" Fernando quizzed. I felt so stupid and annoyed. Before I could open my mouth, Lance had come with a cup of coffee my saving grace. I moaned as I took a large sip from the cup. "You are the best" I said, warming my hands up against the cup. The weather had gotten colder due to the rain and the clothes I had worn were covered in a thin sheet of cold mist.

I watched them move about the hospitality get ready for the race, my eyes lingering on Fernando longer. I had only found out about him 3 days ago and right now, he was taking up an unprecedented amount of space in my head.

I tried to flirt with him as the day progressed but it seemed futile. He would brush me off or just laugh it off. I was starting to lose all hope. I lost all my hope at the end of the day when the team was packing up after the race. "You staying or leaving?" Lance asked. "I have a dinner date with your parents tomorrow and then I'll leave" I said. "Have fun" he remarked. "Aren't you coming too?" I asked. "Nope, I have plans" he said winking at me. I saw Fernando looking at me with sad eyes; I felt weird.

I was out at a bar finishing up my mocktail when I felt some one sit next to me. I turned around to find Fernando. "Hi" I greeted him with a smile. "I thought you were having dinner with Lance's family" Fernando pointed out. "Ah, that's tomorrow. I'm....free today" I said. Fernando seemed like he sighed a sigh of relief but I could be hallucinating. "I'll your finest wine and for the lady" he began now looking at me, "No, I'm good. I'll be leaving now" I said gathering my stuff. "huh....stay" he whispered in the moment the song changed.

I was shocked but I sat back down. "Why?" I asked. "You look like you don't want to be alone" he commented taking a sip of his wine. "I would like company, if I am being honest" I stated. "If you don't mind an old man's company, I'm here" he shrugged his shoulder. "You're not old and I would love your company" I smiled. "Did you drive here?" I asked. "No, taxi" he said. "Great! I'll have your finest champagne" I told the bartender. The two of us sat there enjoying each other's company.

After a while, we decided to exit the bar together; Fernando had called a cab and offered to drop me back. I'm not sure if it was the close proximity in the cab or the alcohol but when our fingers brushed I felt electricity course through me. I turned to see if he felt the same and he must've since he was staring at me. Without a second thought I crashed my lips against his. It took me a moment to realise but when I did, I suddenly pulled away, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that" I mumbled trying to put as much distance between us. "I...I....I thought you liked Lance" he muttered. "What? Eww!! He's like a brother to me. I've been trying to flirt with you since I laid eyes on you" I explained. "Really?" He asked. "Oh My God, did you think I'm that friendly to everyone?" I retorted. "I don't know" he mumbled running a hand through his hair. "Don't you think it's weird since I'm so much older than you?" he asked. I just shrugged, "I don't really look at people's ages" He looked hesitant. "Fernando, I wanna go on a date with you, I wanna date you, I wanna be your girlfriend, maybe" I spoke loud and clear. His mouth opened and closed a few time, "It's okay, take your time. Can I have your number though?" I asked hopeful. He took my phone entered his number and as the taxi driver pulled up to my hotel, Fernando pulled me in for a kiss. "I'm not completely sure but I think I want to go out on a date with you too" he muttered with a smile. "I'll be in Spain next month, see you then" I whispered kissing his cheek and exiting the taxi.

[pinkexpertnerdghost]

A Rose for You!

Lyney x Gn!Reader

Pt.2 to Watch and Be Amazed!

{ Ok! Ya'll asked for it. I kinda wanted to write more in the first part but it was already kinda lengthy. As in the last part there wasn't much one on one Lyney and Reader moments. But don't fret dear [Name]! You'll be in the lovely company of this little magical menace for a tour around the Nation! }

! Some Spoilers for the Fontaine Archon Quest Act 1 and some nudges to Lyney and Lynettes Backstory/Personal Stories !

General: sfw, fluff, Grin Malkin Cat, small Freminet and Lynette cameo, Lyney being the charming little flirt he is, flustered Lyney, french, a wee bit of angst here and there towards the end,

It was a new day, and you felt refreshed. Truly, Fontaine is one of the most snazziest places you’ve ever been in. Alongside the technological advancements, there was much attention to the intricacies of decorum and an artistic romanticism in the most mundane activities. Although, the air was a bit smellier than the countryside and the stars couldn’t sparkle as brightly.

You had woken up from your slumber, the sun beaming through the thin curtains by the window. Next to your bedside was a small nightstand with a beautiful lamp and the prop card laying face down. 

You rolled a bit around in your bed until you laid on your back facing the ceiling.

Your mind wandered to the events that unfolded last evening. The colorful memory replayed in your mind like moving photographs. 

The doves, cats in hats, paper butterflies and a pair of soft lilac eyes. 

You sighed.

From the walk to your hotel yesterday, you had viciously tried to recount the events that happened. At what point did Lyney slip this note in your sleeve? And why didn’t you notice sooner?

You had trouble sleeping that night. 

Lyney couldn’t have been serious could he? It was just a part of the show, of course he would shower you with pretty words and a suave demeanor . It's part of his charming routine, nothing more. 

Then again…

Why did he whisper at you so much? Now you thought about it, you were up there for at least one two..TECHNICALLY FOUR ACTS?! Also, he stopped you after the show to talk. AND NOW HE HANDED YOU A CARD ASKING YOU OUT?! No WaIT- Not ‘Out Out’ like a date or anything, an outing as friends? Can you even call him that?! What acquaintance just requests a day to hang out together? HE ISN'T BREAKING SOME PERFORMER AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE REGULATIONS IS HE?!-

Overthinking can lead to a very unsettled mindset preventing you from getting proper rest. 

So here you were, laying like a beached seal on your bed. You didn’t bother to get up right away. Too lazy and your head was fizzed out of thoughts.

You shifted your head around, the bedding beneath you shuffled along. On the nightstand was the prop card you had found in your sleeve last night. 

You eyed the shiny piece of paper. The little red grinning cat silhouette on the backside felt like it was taunting you. Calling you pathetic as it stared at you from atop his side table throne.

Stretching your arms above your head, you finally sat up. 

You reached and picked up the card, holding it with your index and thumb. Once again you carefully read the words that were written on the front in cursive. 

 “ I hope you had a magical evening, [Name]. Meet me by the bench near the potted flowers by the station at noon tomorrow. If you show up, best prepare for I still have tricks up my sleeve that will leave you dazzled! ”

You stared at it and noticed it was written on what was a blank playing card. 

Staring at how the curved letters formulated each word you wondered. 

Meet him at the benches by the Aquabus station by noon. Did you really trust this man? Even though he is technically a celebrity, you just met him not even a day ago. 

You swung your feet off the bed, card still in hand. Stepping down onto the small bedside rug, you idled around near the window. It looked to be early morning, you’d guess around eight o’ clock. 

“ I don’t have much plans today. Other than wandering the streets and walking into what I think will be interesting.” You said, your voice a bit groggy. 

You twirled the card in your hand.

You thought carefully of what you’d do next.

“ I think he might it want back.”

Yeah, that’s it.

“I’m sorry, sir?” You yelped. You had to crane your neck a bit to be able to make eye contact? You didn’t think it had eyes, but nevertheless you made the best effort to stare into its face.

Or what looked to be a face.

 You had seen some of them walking about freely in the main city. When you were making your way towards a staircase you bumped into one. 

The robotic garde halted and nodded.

‘ Ah, so they can communicate.’

It went back to walking down the street, undeterred. Turning around after that odd exchange you went back to the matter afoot.

You were lost. Lyney never specified which station he’d be waiting in. You were almost half convinced he was going to be at the Marcotte Line; the one closest to the Opera Epiclese. Although, the more you thought about it the less likely he would be there. 

He did mention that he might be available to take you to see around Fontaine. So he must have meant the main station hub located in the main city.

Even if he wasn’t there, you’d have that station checked off the list of possibilities.

You hurried up the stairs, the small journey reminding you of the Nation of Freedom surprisingly. Although both were vastly different, they did share a similar style of building upward rather than outward. 

Reaching the top, you made your way to the station. You kept your eyes open as you scoped out your surroundings hoping to find a tall tophat. 

It shouldn’t be hard right? Someone as extravagant as him would surely stand out.

You stood corrected. It looks like many people here in Fontaine take up the fashion trend that was tall extravagant head wear. You had gone over almost every suspect bench near flora, most of them were occupied by either locals, adventurers or both. 

He didn’t seem to be near the reception or the inner waiting area. 

“ It's almost noon” you turn to look out a window, the sun is high in the sky now. 

“ If I were a famous magician with an outgoing personality, where would I be?” You muttered as you had your eyes peeled, wondering in the same space.

Your eyes followed the cheers of children. Near a bench a group of kids surrounded someone. 

“ Wow!”

“Where did it go?”

“Could you do it again mister?”

“ Alright! Since you asked nicely. Watch carefully now!~” You heard a jovial smooth voice. 

Looking above the kid group you spot him, seated comfortably playing with his card deck. 

‘ Of course! You’d be where a willing audience was present!’ 

You waltzed over subtly. He was entertaining a group of little kids with some card tricks, you’d let him finish his mini performance before you made yourself known.

“ Is this your card little Mademoiselle?”  Lyney knelt down and held up a four of hearts card. The little girl with blonde hair jumped up excitedly.

“ Yeah! That’s my card!” 

Lyney laughed, a warm expression graced his features. His eyes met yours for a split second. Not knowing what to do, you sent a little wave. Well at least he knows you're here. 

His gaze flitted back to the group of kids. He got back up with the card in hand. “ Before I go, I’ll leave you all with a grand finale!”

The children gasped in unison and quieted down instantly. 

He brought the card close to his face. He flicked it two times before crumpling it into his hand. 

He shook his hand and reeled it as if he was going to throw a shot ball. He brought his hand up in a presenting way and when his palm opened there was a pop sound. It rained rainbow confetti and small cut out paper stars.

The children ooo’d and awe’d, and two were reaching their little arms up to catch the popper’s confetti. 

“ Ta-da! This has been a special performance, brought to you by Magician Extraordinaire Lyney!” The magician lifted his cape from behind him and took a bow. The children clapped and cheered. 

Two adults came walking up to the mini crowd. 

“ Thank you for entertaining them, Mister Lyney. Getting our little Anais to sit still is a magic trick on its own.” An older woman laughed, as she picked up a small girl who wore a Boater styled hat. 

“ Alright Hugo, let's go. Our boat will leave in a few minutes. Say thank you to Monsieur Lyney.” A man with a distinguished mustache taped a young boy in overalls. The little boy with his hands behind his back, thanked the magician before he went off with his father. 

Lyney waved the kids off as he walked off towards you. 

“ Hey there you. I hope managed to get a full night's rest.” He said, there was this sort of bounce in his voice. You may have only known him for a little while now, but you couldn’t help but pick up some recurring little quirks about him.

He wasn’t much different casually like he was on stage. This guy really does live and breathe in the spotlight huh?

“ Sort of. I had a bit of trouble sleeping.” 

‘No way you were going to tell him you were thinking about him. That would make the rest of the day awkward.’

“ I did end up getting some shut eye though, eventually.” You mustered up a reassuring smile. 

“ Trouble sleeping?” Lyney tilted his head as his index finger came up to chin. His eyes slightly narrowed as a mischief inducing grin made its way onto his face. “ You weren’t laying awake thinking about me were you?~” 

You couldn’t help but widen your eyes and sputter out. Is telepathy in his book of magic tricks too?!

“What? No, of course not!” You forced a cough to cover your small blunder. “It’s just, I need to get accustomed to the climate, that's all. It's like that the first few days in a new location.”

Lyney laughed, his smirk melting into a more genuine expression.

“I’m kidding! That might have been a bit much, sorry about that! Hehe.” He said apologetically.  

You crossed your arms as you held a small jaded stare at the cheeky magician. You were doubting if he really meant that. You blew out a held breath.

Reaching into your pocket you fetched the prop card

“ I found this in my sleeve when I left the Opera House. I believe this belongs to you.” You extended his card to him. His eyes suddenly lit up and he swiped the card away from you.

“So this is where it went! Honestly, sometimes my card deck has a mind of its own.” He mused as he twirled the card in his hand. 

His eyes traveled back to you. “Well since it got you here today, why not take a walk around town! I did say if we had free time we were going to show you around. Call it an encore if you will.” 

You looked around you, noticing something amiss after he said that.

“ Is Miss Lynette not going to join today?”

Lyney shrugged as he slid the card back into his deck. “ Lynette had something urgent to take care of, So she can't join us today unfortunately. So it will probably just be little old me and you today.” 

He was idly playing around with the deck before he made it disappear. “ Oh, you don’t need to be so formal! Just Lyney is fine.” 

You hummed.

“Alright. So any places to recommend visiting?”

At this the magician sported a confident smile and walked ahead of you. “ I have a full day planned out, a surprise around every corner. I want your stay in Fontaine to be an unforgettable glimmering memory.” 

He turned on his heel to face you and extended a hand to you.

“ Now if you’d allow me to be your escort, mon cher?” 

You could do nothing but stare. You couldn’t come up with any words to say except stepping forward and taking his hand. 

With a content smile, Lyney gently pulled you along. His gloved hand felt smooth where his fingers grazed your palm yet there was a distinctive tougher texture where the white detailing was sewn on. The people wandering the streets around you felt like the fizzling suds of a wave.

You felt your face becoming a bit warmer. 

He really does have a flair for the theatrical doesn’t he? 

Lyney had taken you everywhere, one exciting place following the next. But before anything, he invented you for a meal. It was noon and the complimentary breakfast from early morning wasn’t going to keep you going for the entire day. So you both stopped by a humble cafe. The food was absolutely delicious! The smell of toasty bread invaded your senses and the savory taste of garlic on your tongue made you smile with each bite . 

You were perfectly content with the garlic bread but you curiously asked Lyney for any recommended dish for the main course.

His answer was; “ If you want my word, then I’d say try this dish right here!” He pointed to a warm soup bowl as he leaned himself over to you.

After lunch, Lyney brought you to see many sights and places. From the tall waterfalls that made up the borders of Fontaine, you could stare at it for hours. He had to subtly pull you away from the viewing point as you kept your eyes glued to the running water. 

You took the Aquabus every so often to get around. You were looking out into the distance. The water seemed to stretch on for infinity, islands broke through the surface making the land seem like one big jigsaw puzzle.

While the ride dragged out, Lyney made quick conversation to pass the time.

“So, what brought you to Fontaine, hm? If my memory serves me right, you mentioned that you don’t get out much.” Lyney sat next to you with his legs crossed. 

“ Yeah. I see travelers but I'm never the one traveling. My job is not something exciting like an adventurer or extravagant like an artist.”

You shift in your seat. You folded your arms onto your lap.

“ I’m just a shopkeep. So, you can already say that I live a perfectly mundane life” You chuckled a bit dryly. 

Lyney was uncharacteristically quiet. He was paying his undivided attention to your words. You continued. 

“With every passing day, I gradually realized that my life had possibly reached a stalemate. Every day felt like a repeat of yesterday. It was the same route, same building, same aisles, and same feelings.” You said. You couldn’t exactly remember when you began to feel like this. It was a thought that had crossed your mind one day. And ever since, it had stayed in the crevices like gunk you couldn’t wipe off.

 “ So, I decided that I’m just going to throw myself out there into the world!” You spoke. You couldn’t really say exactly what your ideas were, but you described what you felt. 

Comfort. Trapped. Empty. Jealous. Fear. Doubt. Excitement. 

“ It may be reckless of me, but If I was never going to do it, I knew I would end up feeling regret for not having done anything about it. And even so, my boss was kind enough to grant me time off.” 

You snickered. “ I’m probably just assuming, but I feel like they might have let me have this because they probably noticed something. Not to brag, but I was their best employee. Swooping in to save the day when my colleagues were out.” 

You stretched your arms a bit, not having realized how still your body was the entire time. Once you were done it felt nice; it was as if your entire being took a fresh breath of relief.

“ So now I’m here. In Fontaine on an Aquabus with you.” You look up to see Lyney again. His eyes were soft and he had this understanding expression on his face. 

Really, any expression he wore felt as if it were through a pair of rosy lenses. Perhaps it was the natural charm artists like him had. Maybe. 

Besides,he could get away with just about anything because of his attractive face.

You shook your head away to look out into the Fontaine waters around and below. 

“ Well, good on you [Name]! I hope your ventures have been nothing but amazing and brought you happiness! ” He finally spoke. He inhaled deeply before he sighed out. His gaze faced the bow of the aquabus.

 “ Do you agree that birds create wonderful music for the ear to hear? Not to mention the splendor of colorful feathers and their ability to fly.” 

“Due to their natural charm, they are sometimes kept as ‘decorations’, provided food and shelter so long as they continue to amuse the people.” He said, his tone shifted ever so slightly. It was barely noticeable, but there was a very micro edge to his word. 

He crossed his arms, the brim of his hat covered the sun creating a little inkling of shadow cast over half his face blocking out the sunlight that might’ve stung his eyes. 

“ But being kept in captivity for too long, it will yearn for the open skies. It’s only a matter of time before the initial luxury turns into a finite cage.” Lyney hummed. His words brought you an unexplainable comfort yet somehow it felt very out of character for him. You subtly shift your gaze to his face. His expression didn’t seem to be exaggerated. His features were calm like a still lake, unmoving. His eyes, although trained forward, seemed to be not fully there. A misty reflection had settled over his lilac irises. 

The intermission lasted for a few beats of seconds. His mouth effortlessly shifts up into a cat-like grin. He turns his head back to you and straightens his posture, his signature tophat tips back slightly. His eyes conveyed excitement as the lilac once again seemed as vivid during his performance.

 He was no longer a still freshwater lake, but instead a lively and winding river. 

“Which is why you’ll get the best tour of Fontaine by yours truly! Mark my words when I said I’d leave you dazzled today, for I Lyney will see to it that you have nothing but laughs and smiles upon your lovely face, mon cher.~” He declared proudly.

You felt dazed. A warm bubbly feeling began to infest your chest. It was very much like when he placed a kiss to the back of your hand.

You smiled happily at his declaration. “Thank you for listening to me. And also..”

You couldn’t help the hot sensation over the apples of your cheeks or your muted heart rate from your ears. Yet you persisted, not breaking away your gaze from him.

“Thank you for being with me today.”

Lyney’s confident facade had faltered ever so slightly for that moment. But he recuperated and mirrored your expression. 

“It’s no problem at all, [Name].”

This was nice. He was nice. Despite knowing him for a little while, it felt as if you’d known him for much longer. 

However, you barely knew anything about him other than he had a twin sister who was coincidentally his assistant and that he was a popular performer in Fontaine. 

It irked you a bit, but you wouldn’t voice this opinion out loud.  It is as people said, once you learn the inner mechanism to a magic trick, the magic itself is lost and you're left to face the raw and sometimes cruel trick. 

You wouldn’t question why he went quiet. You wouldn’t question if he himself felt similar. You wouldn’t question why his demeanor sometimes felt too whimsical to be true. You didn’t want to ruin the mood. And you didn’t want to linger on the thought any longer. 

You both went to many shops, Lyney had insisted you try out anything that caught your fancy. And if you liked it, to get it! Of course you were on a travel budget, but you did end up purchasing two items. 

Your favorite stop however was the Hat Boutique. Lyney had a rather interesting insight on what headwear would ‘shape a face better’. 

“Hm, you could probably store triple the amount of props in this one.” He studied a scarlet red top hat that looked suspiciously similar to the one he owns. He then looked over to another hat sitting on a display. “But that one brings out my petite and charming face more.” 

He turned to face you. “ Help me out here [Name], should I go with this one or that one?”

You looked between the two options, narrowing your eyes and looked closely at the detailings. You looked at Lyney’s face and imagined how he’d look with either on. 

“If you want my opinion, why not go with this one.” You walked over to a particular Hat you saw as you were pursuing. It was a Fedora like hat in a rich dark violet color; it looked more like an inky black purple. It had a gray sash wrapped around it that shined slightly silver when the sun hit. 

“ It looks nice, and the material feels smooth to the touch. The color brings out your eyes too.” You said as you held up the hat for him to look. 

“Oh my, aren't you the charmer?” He smirked playfully.

You avert your eyes to the aisles of material and color, “ It’s just an astute observation is all.” 

He took the hat off your hands and studied it. “ Color me impressed! You have quite the eye for fashion mon cherie.” He sent you a proud smile and his eyes glowed with pride. 

You shook your head. “ I work full time at a small shop remember, so picking up on the interest of buyers is a skill I’ve gained. I wouldn’t say I’m a fashion expert.” You felt the corner of your lips twitch up into a little smile. 

“Are you going to tell me what you mean by that?” 

“What do I mean by what?” He repeated your question blinking owlishly 

You pouted. You got the feeling he was doing it on purpose.

“The nickname? You refer to me by that sometimes. What does it mean?” 

Lyney thought for two seconds before his mouth formed an o shape in realization. He gave you an innocent close eyed smile. “ That’s a secret~! But, I have faith you’ll figure out what it means on your own.” 

You gasped and brought a hand to your heart. “ How do I know you're not calling me a mean name? What a cruel scheme to pull one over me like that!” You whisper yelled in an over the top voice of hurt. 

 His shoulders tensed. Lyney suddenly became the slightest bit flustered. He shook his head, “I-I would never! Honest! I can assure you it doesn’t mean anything like that.” 

 

You let out a quiet snicker. You found it adorable really. He suddenly became embarrassed despite the brimming confidence he usually carries himself in.

After purchasing the hat, he decided to keep his signature cat still on but suggested making a stop by his house to leave the newly purchased hat. 

“ It won’t be long I promise! It’s just that, I wouldn’t want it to get weathered by bringing it around with us today. You did end up choosing it and I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to it.” He reasoned.

It was a small but cute home. It was built in a typical style that the main city carried; geometric edges, a very advanced looking outdoor light, and a beautiful door with a stained window. 

“Wait here okay! I promise I’ll be in and out before you can tell I left.” He quickly spoke as he jogged over to the front door. You couldn’t help but laugh a little as he sped off. 

So you stood outside. You looked around, and spotted a potted plant. 

CLANK TICK CLANK

The sharp sounds of metal and objects clashing made you sharply look at the direction it came from. You suddenly felt a bit confused.

The door swung open and you were expecting to see the charming magician. Instead it was a boy running out the door. He spotted you and suddenly skidded to a sudden stop.

“...” 

He had a giant metal helmet next to him. He had ash blonde hair that almost covered the left side of his face. His apparel reminded you of a sailor.

He just stared at you and stepped back a bit. His form seemed slightly shrunken and he held his helmet thing closer to him. Not wanting wrong assumptions to be made you sent the boy the most casual smile you could.

“ Oh, don’t mind me! I’m just waiting on a friend, said he had to drop off something. He should be back any minute.”

The boy didn’t say anything, and just nodded. And he stood there. Unmoving.

 Some glances at you and back to the floor.

 He taps around his helmet. 

Well this was awkward. Should you make small talk?

“Er, cool helmet. What is it for, if you don’t mind me asking?” 

The boy nervously glanced at you from the corner of his eye. His eyes were a very vibrant blue color. He didn’t answer for a while. You purse your lips feeling bad. Maybe the silence was better. 

“ving…” You barely heard it. You look over back to the boy.

“Diving..a diving helmet.” He spoke quietly. He didn’t make eye contact as his eyes were glued to the floor. 

“Diving? As in underwater?” You spoke with some bubbling curiosity. Before the boy could react, the door opened again.

“ I am here! Haha, sorry. That may have taken a bit longer than I thought. I hope you didn’t get too bored while I was away.” Lyney announced himself. He no longer had the hat box with him and he scratched the nape of his neck.

He noticed the other blonde boy. 

“Hm? Ah, Freminet! Where are you off to today?” 

Oh, he knows him? You thought, glancing between the two. 

“I was on my way to the beach.” The young man known as Freminet spoke. His voice sounded soft yet slightly raspy, perhaps he wasn’t used to talking much you figured.

Lyney approached you and eagerly motioned for you to join in the conversation.

“ [Name], allow me to introduce you to my little brother, Freminet. Freminet, this is my new friend [Name]. They were the ones to share the spotlight with me and Lynette during last evening’s show.” Lyney proudly chirped.

Freminet looked a lot less tense. “Oh, yeah. I remember. You rambled on about that show, saying how well they-”

Lyney coughed loudly. You look over at the magician with a raised eyebrow. 

There on his pale face was the smallest smidgen of a rosy color. Freminet immediately hushed. But he had a small nervous smile on his face.

“ I’m sorry If I seemed quiet just now.” Fremeniet now said addressing you. “ I recognized you from your appearance, but I didn’t know what to talk about. Or If you would find me odd for knowing about you.” 

You shook your head, understanding the full picture now made you feel a bit more reassured. “ Don’t worry about it, really. But, it’s nice to meet you, Freminet.”

You turned to face Lyney who looked a lot more relaxed. “ So you have two siblings? What a nice family you three are! There probably isn’t a shortage of banter or boredom then.” 

Lyney chuckled. “ Well, I’m usually the one who does most of the talking. I’m the eldest so it's my duty.” 

“Sometimes you take it a bit too far and become a blabber mouth.” A familiar voice suddenly joined the conversation. Looking about you were met with another familiar face.

“Hey Lynette.” You sent the twin a little friendly wave. She turned to you. Smiling a little and returning it, albeit more lazy. 

“Really? You see me as a blabber mouth? But Lynette, I mustn't let the audience’s cheers and support fall on deaf ears. Especially that our friend [Name] here has been on a grand tour with me as their guide.” Lyney ground proudly as he placed both his hands on his hips.

“Whatever you say. But, you’ve been taking them on a tour? How come you didn’t invite me to tag along?” Lynette deadpanned. 

Huh? You tilted your head in confusion and furrowed your brow. Didn’t Lyney mention earlier that his sister was busy. Lyney must have felt the obvious sudden awkward tension placed upon him as his shoulder tensed and he chuckled nervously.

“A-ah, b-but dear sister, you see since you were busy in the early time of today I didn’t wish to trouble you, so I took it upon myself to show them around. Hehe, please don’t be mad at me.” Lyney stuttered out all while looking at Lynette as he brought his hat closer to his chest.

 Lynette sighed and shook her head before she turned to you with a laid back expression. 

“ I hope he hasn’t caused you too much trouble, [Name]. He can go a little too far sometimes but that’s just Lyney being Lyney.” 

“Hey! I’m right here you know.” Lyney whined sadly. Lynette didn’t bother to look at him and Freminet had turned his head to the side. His shoulder’s bounced and looked like he was suppressing a giggle.

“ It’s really okay. More than okay really. Lyney has been nothing but kind and patient with me. He is a good listener and always manages to make me smile and laugh!” You said happily. 

Lynette’s deep violet eyes got slightly bigger with confusion and curiosity. Lyney stood beside you and took a quick glance at your direction. It was quiet for a moment. You suddenly became a bit nervous, was there something wrong you said?

Lyney laughed heartily as he threw an arm over your shoulders. “You see! Take it from them, that I never let my audience down!” You quickly glanced in his direction, not minding the close contact. You could see some red culminating around the tips of his ear and beneath his eyes.

“Well that's good to know.” Lynette crossed her arms. 

“ We must get going, the daylight is short so we mustn't waste it idlying.” Lyney said. Before you two left Lyney sent his siblings goodbye. “Take care Lynette, remember to be on alert alright? And Freminet, remember to get back home before curfew! I was about to dive into the waters last time you had forgotten about time.” 

“ Okay.”

“Of course.”

Lynette and Freminet replied in unison. 

“ Looks like we’re on the move again. I hope to be able to spend time with you Lynette.” You said. You wanted to get to know this family better. Lynette was blunt and to the point but you could tell she cared about the people closest to her. 

Lynette nodded and her lips curled up into a small but sincere smile. You turned to Freminet.

 “ It was nice to meet you, Freminet. If we ever meet again, would you mind explaining diving to me? It sounds interesting.” 

Freminet tensed slightly but managed to nod in agreement. 

“ Bye Bye! Take care!”

After you two had left, Lynette turned to Fremeinet with a pensive look.

“ Freminet, do you think our older brother is perhaps getting attached to them?”

“ I don’t know. But, he really seems to like their company. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him being this flustered in the presence of someone else.”

Lynette hummed. “ I hope he knows what he’s attempting to get himself into. Out of all of us, he knows what kind of situation we’re in.”

Freminet was quiet as he fidgeted with the nails and guards on his helmet. 

“ Do you think that [Name] would like Per?”

Lynette glanced at Freminet with an unreadable expression. She stood still and thought of last evening's performance. 

“Did... Did you go into idle mode?”

“Yes.”

“Huh?”

“ I think [Name] would find Per cute.” 

The rest of the day was spontaneous. From a walk by the sea shore, trying out pastries and free samples, Lyney explaining Fontaine history and technology. 

It was now close to night time and you were both currently walking through the garden close to the Opera House. The road towards the Opera House was beautiful, ever since you first came here a day prior. You had almost ran late to the Magic show seeing as to how pretty it was. The carved marble statues, the beds of wildflowers beyond the decorative iron railing, and not to mention the fountains. Water was almost everywhere you’d look, it was a given as this was the nation of Hydro. 

“Well, today was certainly a fun day.” You spoke softly. You looked up into the sky. It was the final rays of daylight and the sky was a beautiful swatch of evening gradience. All of the orange, blues and reds bled right into each other.

The water beyond mirrored the sky. The land was akin to a watercolor tray, a smokey mixture of cool and warm colors. 

“Thankyou, again for taking time out of your day to guide me through the nation’s cities. You didn’t need to know?” You walked alongside Lyney who was too admiring the sky. 

“Nonsense. I took you on this little journey because I wanted to. It was one of my prop cards that called to you, yes?” He glanced at you out of the corner of his eye.

“Yes but-”

“And you answered. You could have very well ignored it, even kept the card as a souvenir. But you didn’t. And that choice led you to today.” He spoke calmly.

You said nothing. Lyney was a stubborn man, no matter how many times you could protest against his kindness he would fire back with a reasonable explanation. 

“ The card, how did you manage to put it into my sleeve?” 

Lyney grinned like a bobcat. “ Uh uh my dear, a magician never reveals his trade secrets.” He mused teasingly.

“ Of course.” You sighed, giving up. 

“Have you always had a talent in magic? In performing?” 

Lyney finally turned his head to glance at you. Skipping ahead of you, he manages to turn his whole body towards you.

“ If you must know, It is a rags to riches tale!” He exclaimed as he bellowed out his arms dramatically in front of him.

“ As a young lad, me and Lynette were street performers. Everyday little crowds of people would congregate around us on the side of the street. Card tricks, Flower tricks, and even the feathered friends would aid in our little shows.” He exclaimed as he walked backwards.

“We would give it our all and Mora would rain down upon us.” He spoke with a triumphant smile on his face. He slowed down his pace and you managed to catch up. He was now walking next to you like before.

“ You could guess the rest. We eventually became so well renowned, we were able to afford high end venues and quality equipment for our shows. And soon we went from paupers to famed actors.” 

You had listened carefully. Despite his colorful disposition, the underlying tone of his small backstory felt off.

“ I’m sorry you had to go through such tribulation. It must have been tough on the two of you early on.” You frowned. Although he framed the tale as a dramatic novel, the implication that he and lynette had been living in the streets tugged at your heart.

He did say when he was a lad, so this probably must have happened while they were both children. Where were their parents? The rest of their family? You decided to stave off these questions as they could be delicate. 

Lyney had gone quiet for a moment. He smiled warmly at you. “ It’s alright. There is no need to feel sad for us. That is long in the past now. And besides…” He grinned widely. “ I think a smile would suit your lovely face more!” 

He took off his hat and dug around it and pulled out a curious plant. It was a glowing blue color and its shape resembled a pearl. It shined a mixture of a translucent lilac and ocean blue. 

He outstretched it out to you. You went ahead and tapped the leaves that looked like sea shells. The flower suddenly released some bubbles. The translucent orbs floated around you. You couldn’t help but pop a few, some giggles escaping you as you whirled around. 

Lyney chuckled. “ I did promise you that I would keep that smile on your lips followed by the melody of your laughter.” 

“ I-” You brought a hand up to your face. Your heart suddenly began to beat as if you had just ran a distance. 

Why did his words have to feel so..so..like this? Why did it feel as if what he said was true? Would that explain why your heart feels like it would sprout wings and fly away any moment?

You were positive your face was burning up. You coughed into your hand.

“You did, didn't you? Thank you for the reminder.” You had managed to sputter out. You heard the soft chuckling of the magician. The flower was no wear to be seen, he must’ve vanished it away when you weren’t paying attention. 

“I’m glad we’re on the same page, [Name].” He had a lopsided grin. Lyney was a cheeky man, a person with a silver tongue. He was a conman. And yet…

He managed to make you feel like you had a tornado of butterflies in your stomach all the time. 

You were left speechless, as you both continued to walk down a few more minutes. You both made it to the Opera. In front of the opera was a bigger fountain, and a few pairs of people were collected around it. 

You went up to the fountain, interested to see it up close. In the water collected at the bottom, you could make out a few glittering coins of Mora beneath the water. You heard a few steps up behind you and guess Lyney must’ve followed you. 

“ People wish at this fountain, right? What for?” You looked around at the elegant structure. The reflected moonlight in the water gleamed against the little gold accents around its edges. 

“ Fontainians come to this fountain to wish about anything, really. Better fortune, health, and happiness. But mostly, people come to this specific fountain for love or hopes for a healthy baby.” Lyney answered, his hands behind his back. 

‘Hmm, the pairs of people make sense now.’ You thought as you glanced around the area. Satisfied you walk around the front of the Opera house. The fountains shooting water high into the air makes you wanna take a closer look. Leaning into the thin railing your eyes stayed glued to the water. 

You could feel a ghost coolness of the falling mist from the tall fountain. 

Although it was a fun outing today, you had ran around almost everywhere in the nation. Lyney in toe with you, making you ignore the aches you felt for doing so much in such a short time. Now in this still moment, all your tiredness was catching up to you.

Lyney must have noticed, as his lilac eyes flitted between your face and the fountain ahead. 

“ Hey, want to see something cool?” 

You turned your head over to the cheeky magician with a brow raised.

With your attention now on him, he took off his hat. You leaned more on your arm against the railing with a warm smile. Half expecting him to pull out something out of his hat again, he did something else. He shook it in front of him, emptying it out of nothing. Nothing left the hat. 

Lyney hummed aloud. “Hmm, I was sure I had it stored in here.”

You couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Maybe you dropped it somewhere?”

“No no. I was sure It was in here.” He pouted as he now looked in, under and above his tophat. It was rather cute.

He eventually gave up and placed it back on his head. “ You might be right, maybe it slipped out while we were on the aqua-”

Just as he was about to finish, something dangled in front of his face. It moved from side to side, as if it was dusting off his face. Upon a closer look, It looked like a cat tail.

The look on Lyney’s face was endearing, his lilac eyes had dilated in surprise and followed the tail. 

“Ah, there it is!” The hat suddenly lifted up his head, floating just above.

To your surprise, you see a smaller tophat along two little black ears pop out. Two little black bean paws followed, grabbing along the inner rim of Lyney’s hat. 

Pop

“!!!”

You finally saw its face. It was a black cat with mismatched eyes of a droplet and star. It had a permanent toothy grin on its face. It wiggled in the hat and turned itself to look down at you. 

“?!!”

You could make out the red bow behind its back. You weren’t sure what to do so you waved at the cat. It moved its small pudgy body around the hat and twitched its tiny ears.

“!!!”

Lyney let out a giggle at the interaction. “ Aww, I think he likes you.” He managed to grab his floating hat by the rim and brought it down in front of him. The cat in the hat seemed bothered and was now looking up at you. Its tiny hat was slightly tipped back.

“Can I pet it?” You asked almost too excitedly. 

“Since you asked, of course! He is a bit mischievous but a glutton for attention.” He mused, side eyeing down on the cat. 

You gingerly brough your hand down onto the cat. Its surface was surprisingly smooth yet soft, and the cat wiggled towards your touch. It’s two little ears ducked back as it seemed to love the attention it was given. It’s face never changed, however. 

“ Does it have a name?” You asked as you kept petting it. Lyney nodded and smiled.

“ It’s a Grin-Malkin cat! I’m sure you're quite familiar with it, as it’s not only a prop for Lynette and I’s show, but our cute mascot.” He said.

“Prop?” You asked slightly confused. So it wasn’t alive? Then how did it move so life-like? 

“ The Grin-Malkin cat is a puppet, but its movements are based off of a real cat.” He said. 

You smiled, but kept petting the cute kitty. Even if it was just a puppet, the cat seemed to have a familiar personality. Its little paws stuck out, and one came up to ‘attack’ your finger. You quietly giggled at its playfulness.

“ So, cats are a part of your show’s soul huh?” You asked. 

“ If it wasn’t that obvious, yes.” He said with a charming smile.

“ ‘Based on a real cat’, so who was the lucky cat this little bean was based on?” You asked curiously. 

“ When Lynette and I were street performers, we managed to run into a lot of stray cats. Lynette was shy, so most of them got along with her.” He said as he looked down to Grin-Malkin.

“But, there was one troublesome cat. He kept on running off with my hat. Apparently, it made for a better cat bed than anything. He would be curled up inside when I found it.” 

“ Eventually, I thought of replacing my old friend with a new hat. A hat that wouldn’t disappear when I didn’t tell it so. But, me and the cat came to a mutual agreement. I would bring him along to the show as a replica puppet!” He said with a proud smile. It slightly faltered however as he continued.

“During one particular performance, there was a little mishap that happened. I had forgotten a card in my deck and the trick required that one card that I misplaced.”

You winced at the second hand embarrassment. “Talk about bad luck. What did you do?” You asked. The kitty that you were petting now turned around to look up at Lyney. It looked interesting in his story. So now, it was you and the cat’s eyes on Lyney.

“Well, as I was coming up with an improvised outcome, out came this little guy.” He motioned down to the cat.

“!!!” It bounced slightly in the hat as the attention now was on it. 

“ He had the card that I had misplaced and was able to save the show. And ultimately, make it better. The crowd and even I wasn’t expecting such an outcome.” He shook his head. 

“Aww, so he became the star of the show.” You laughed. 

“!!!” The cat whirled around to face you again and puffed out its chest in pride. 

Lyney laughed alongside you. “ That’s one way to put it.” 

Once you calmed down you noticed that you didn’t feel as tired anymore. 

“ It looks like today is coming to a close.” Lyney said as he looked around. There were now very few people outside, and the sky had turned darker than earlier. The magician tapped the tiny tophat on the cat.

“Before today the curtains come to a close, let me send you off with a grand finale.” He whispered. 

The Grin-Malkin cat wiggled its tail and his paw came up to the brim of its own hat. The cat tipped its tophat to you before Lyney grabbed his own and placed it back atop it’s hat. 

“With your permission, could you close your eyes for me.” He said as he leaned in close to you, his hands behind his back. 

“Okay?” You smiled nervously.

You shut your eyes and saw darkness. You could still hear the rushing of water and a faint sound of chirping crickets. 

“Okay, no peeking until I tell you too.” You heard the magician. 

You waited for what would happen. You felt someone get closer to you. The ghostly presence of someone close to your face. You refrained from moving, yet your heart began to pick up its pace.

You felt something warm touch your cheek, and something soft tickle your ear. At the same time you felt stiffer material tap against you above your head. 

It came as quickly as it went, as you felt a small breeze and you could no longer feel the close presence. 

“Okay, open your eyes now.” You heard Lyney say. 

You opened and saw the magician in front of you with a warm smile. 

“Do you feel anything different? Perhaps something is missing!” He said in a cheery tone.

Your hand reached up to where you felt something earlier. 

“Huh?” 

There was something behind your ear. Carefully, your fingers outstretched and touched something soft. It was a delicate circlet of petals connected to a smooth stem. Looking up from the corner of your eye, you spotted a blur of prisma like colors. 

A blurb of pink and pastel yellow. 

“ A rose? How?” You quietly questioned.

“Mhm!” Lyney nodded enthusiastically. “ That is a rainbow rose. A beautiful flower that grows wild only within Fontaine.”

“Ah, thank you! It’s really pretty and soft.” You delicately felt a petal. Beneath the bloom, there were smaller outstretched petals that pressed against your temple. 

“ Have you found it yet? The thing I stole from you.” Lyney asked, tilting his head to the side.

You glanced back at him confused. You didn’t feel anything missing from you, as you checked your packets and around your person. 

Lyney’s eyes followed your attempts to look for the missing something, slightly amused. 

“Given up yet?”

You really couldn’t find anything off. 

“ Is this a trick question, because I don’t feel like anything was taken.” You asked.

Lyney raised a closed hand next to his face. He smirked mischievously. 

“How strange, because I have something of yours in the palm of my hand.” He teased me. “I’ll give you one more chance, could you guess what it is?”

You nodded. You guessed it was either a prop card or maybe some mora.

“ I give up, what is it?” 

Lyney opened his palm and there was…

Nothing.

“Ta-da! The thing I stole from you was your attention.” He exclaimed with glee. He walked over to me and extended his hand over to me. 

“Here you go, you can have it back now!”

 …

This little- 

You may have had the tiniest urge to smack his shoulder. Shaking off that urge, you huffed and played along. Once you reached his hand to get your ‘attention’ back, his finger’s gently encased your hand.

He bowed down dramatically and kissed the back of your palm. 

 Very discreetly, he cracked one eye open and glanced up at you. You had frozen in place and with a flustered face you could only stare. 

He had the gall to smirk and send you a wink. 

There was an odd sense of Dejavu, the memory of when you were approached by him after the magic show that evening. 

“And it seems that…I have stolen your heart as well ma chérie.” Lyney whispered. 

He gently let your hand fall back to your side as he stood back up. He had an innocent smile on his face. 

You just stared at him completely dazed.

It was quiet for a very. Long. Second.

Lyney’s pale face slowly became redder and redder although he did not move.

The awkwardness was beginning to thicken and soon Lyney couldn’t take it anymore.

“Ahem…Ahaha hah haa... D-Did you get it? Because I had you focused on me the entire time so I stole your attention right under your nose. And now I just did a chivalrous act to make you feel flustered! I didn’t go too far again did I?” He muttered as he brought a hand to his mouth and averted his eyes. 

His rambling snapped you out of your dazed phase and you suddenly became very aware as to how hot your face was. Lyney being in some sort of distress in front of you made you sputter out.

“Nononono, It’s fine! I was surprised, very surprised actually…er that was a nice trick there, very smart. So don’t worry about it.” You went ahead and leaned forward from the railing to look back at the fountain. Lyney might have gotten the message because he did the same.

After a few minutes of cooling down, you turned your head to look at Lyney and see if he was alright. His lilac eyes spotted you out of the corner, and he ducked under the brim of his hat. 

“I think it’s getting late, I’ll take the Aquabus back to the main city.” You said, there was a small tight feeling in your chest. You were sad as to how fast the day went, how fast you had to say goodbye. 

“Let me walk you back to the station then. It wouldn’t be very gentlemanly to let you walk back on your own this late.” Lyney offered, his voice sincere.

And so you did. The walk back was slightly quieter. Again, he became uncharacteristically quiet.

Was it because of what happened earlier? Did he feel like he did something wrong?

“You know I had fun today, right?” You began. 

“It was very kind of you to take me on a tour around the city. I got to learn about the nation, eat good food, spoil myself with samples and sweets, and saw many hats I didn’t even know existed.” you slightly laughed. You heard him laughing quietly too. 

“ I met your siblings, met your prop cat and I got to meet you in last evening's show.”

You might’ve never gone out today if you hadn’t met Lyney.

You might’ve never got to know his family if you hadn’t met Lyney.

You might’ve never gotten to meet Lyney like this if you weren’t picked to participate in the final act.

The more you thought about it, the more you became grateful that for some miracle of coincidence you were picked from the audience. 

“I’m really happy that I met you. You made my time here in Fontaine feel magical. I’ll keep this day close to my heart, if that’s okay with you.” You smiled happily, the giddy feeling making you feel all sorts of floaty.

Lyney said nothing, only humming in approval.

Once you had gotten to the station, there was already a bus sitting there. The tour guide, or Melusine as you later found out, was sitting and leaning against the bus. Once it heard the sound of footsteps it sat up quickly, it’s tall ears snapping up.

“Ah! Oh, all aboard the bus! No wait, that’s not it..uh- everyone boarding please be careful with your arms, feet and legs inside the boat!” It spoke, half asleep.

You turn to Lyney. “ Are you going to go back to the main city?”

He shook his head.

“ No, I think I’m going to go back to the Opera house. I hate to be the naggy brother, but I just want to make sure Lynette didn’t forget any of the props backstage.” 

“ Oh alright. I guess this is goodbye then.” 

You had the urge to hug him. You weren’t sure how busy the Magician might be tomorrow, but somewhere in the back of your mind you believed you wouldn’t see him again for a while. The thought once again made your chest feel tight. 

“ I believe so.” Lyney said quietly. 

Well, no point in delaying your leave. 

“Wha- HEY!” You heard Lyney yelp, and quickly you turn back to see what happened. His hat was off its what and seemed to zoom over to you. 

The Grin-Malkin cat drove the Top hat like some dune buggy as now right side up was swirled with pyro elemental energy.

The grinning cat raced in the sky towards you, there wasn’t enough time to get out of the way so you braced for impact. But it never came.

The hat had swerved around you, drifting mid air as the cat kept facing you. 

Suddenly the thing nudged itself into your face, the Grin-Malkin cat rubbing its pudgy dark body against you. You could almost hear purrs. 

“ Hello, nice to see you again.” You giggled as its ears tickled your chin. Wrapping an arm around it you used the other to scratch above its head. 

“!!!” 

Lyney got closer and smiled nervously. “ I think he likes you too much. It never usually takes off on it’s own.” 

He bent slightly down to be on the hat’s level and he put both his hands on his hip.

“Hey now! Come on, back up here alright?” he tried to sound like a scolding parent.

“!!!” The cat shook its tail in his face.

“I’m serious. C’mon, back on Lyney’s head” He pointed to his hat-less head of hair. 

“!!!” The cat dug itself deeper into your embrace. 

Lyney frowned. “ I know you like [Name], but they really have to go. It could be dangerous for them to be out in the streets this late. The sooner you let them go, the sooner they’ll go back safely.” He reasoned with a reassuring tone of voice.

The cat retracted itself from your hold and glanced down at Lyney. Having made up its mind the cat’s paws extended to you.

You tapped them both. “ Lyney’s right. I have to go. I’ll miss you too.” You leaned down and pressed a small peck on the robotic cat’s forehead. 

It wiggled and a paw came up to its hat and brought it down in an attempt to hide its face. Although its features couldn’t exactly express, it looked to be shy. 

Lyney had noticed and brought a hand up to his mouth to cover his snickers. 

The cat then ducked into the hat, disappearing from view. You looked inside the hat and it was empty. 

Grabbing it from in front of you, you flipped it right side up.

“Here, let me help.” You raised it above Lyney’s head. Slowly you set it down and secure it in its place. All the while doing it, Lyney had his soft lilac eyes on your face. 

Fixing the hat a bit, you dusted off any dirt that may have gotten on it. “There we go! Now you look as sharp as you usually do.” You grinned.

You didn’t notice but when you smiled, especially at such close proximity, Lyney couldn’t stop the flush of color rising in his face. 

You kept staring at his hat and his face as well to see if anything was out of place. 

Without realizing your hands hover just above his arms. You weren’t sure if this was right. Maybe ... .Everything was going a step too far. Just as you were gonna reel back, Lyney raised his hands to hover right beneath your arms.

Without saying much but a nod, you hugged.

His cape felt soft, and his arms held you with care and protectiveness. You smiled as your face dug into his shoulder. You felt the hard material of the brim bump your temple. 

He smelled like flowers and ash. An odd combination yet somewhat comforting.

For what felt like a full day, you two finally separated. He had a warm and sincere smile on his face. 

Most of his smiles are bright grins that could light up a room. 

But somehow after a while the spark is lost, and the smiles feel all the same. But this one, the one you saw before your eyes. No, this was different.

The kind of smile that was not rehearsed nor under scrutiny of the captive audience’s eye. 

This one felt raw, special, authentic. 

It made him look beautiful. 

Realizing you were staring, you stepped back.

“ I….really think I need to go, or the Melusine will go back to sleep.” You turned on your heel and headed towards the boarding area. Before you left you took a big breath in. the cold air of the night and mist sending a current of energy through you.

As you were about to step on the bus, you heard him walk behind you.

“When will you be leaving?”

“What?”

“When will you be leaving? You said you were here on holiday, so when will you go back?” He asked. 

You stopped and thought. When will I go back? 

Go back.

Do I want to go back?

Can I go back after having a taste of what the world is outside of what I once knew?

“I leave in two days. Two days, yes.” You managed to say out almost in a flat voice.

“Why do you want to know?” You asked, you hadn;t turn your back to face him.

I want to see you again.

“ No reason in particular. I just thought you would be around to watch me and my sister perform in three days at the courts theater.” He said, there was a cheapness to his voice.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to go. I'm sorry.” 

“Yeah, Sounds like it.” Lyney dejectedly said. 

You step onto the bus and Melusine shoots up on it’s tiny feet. 

“ Leaving Marcotte Station!” They yelled. You sat down on one of the benches. You didn;t have the heart to look at Lyney as the bus started to move along the river.

You did however outstretched your hand behind your ear. The rose was still there. 

“ Ah, a rainbow rose? Oh oh! Did you have someone propose to you?” the Mesuline asked. 

“Wh-What?! What do you mean by ‘propose?!’ ” You shrieked. The Melusine set comfy on top it’s little pedestal.

“Oopsie, I’m sorry you probably don’t know the rumored implications of that rose do you?” They asked, tilting their head as their ears flopped to the side.

You shook your head.

“Well, since you're my only passenger for tonight, I suppose it’s okay for me to add on to the guidelines. And I’m tired right now.” It yawned.

“ When someone gifts you a Rainbow Rose, much like the one on you, it usually symbolizes passion and romantic encounters. It’s very common for couples here to gift each other a single rainbow rose or a bouquet of a dozen roses as a way to express their devotion to one another.” The Melusine mused. 

“Oh.”

“ But it’s also used to express platonic love for a dear friend or family. Flower gifting is a language that revolves around love no matter which kind.” It said happily. 

It hummed a little tune, and the boat sailed along.

“ But for it to be placed behind the ear, someone may be interested in you. Romantically I mean, haha.”

Oh dear…you might realize what the nickname he gave you means now.

“Ah- AHCHOO!” You covered your face as you sneezed.

“ Bless you!” the Melusine said.

You sniffled. Maybe it was the cold. 

Lyney had stood there watching the Aquabus get farther and farther away. He had his hat to his chest. 

He quickly placed his hat back on his head and walked back to the garden path.

There was no one around. He was alone.

Had his siblings made it back home yet? Probably.

The steps of his boots bore a fast and rhythmic pattern as he stepped.

His lips were in a flat line. His mind was preoccupied on many things. 

His sister, his brother, the rest of his siblings, “Father” and you.

You. He shook his head. 

He had a blast today. Although he had known Fontaine all his life, he practically lived on the stone walkways for a good part of his life, he never saw it like he did today. It felt new to him, a wondrous view!

Like that of an innocent curious child. Something that he never thought he would experience ever in his life.

He snapped away the thought. 

He made it past the fountain in front of the Opera House. Getting past the gates and the lonely lobby he made it into the audience area.

He had met you here. 

From when he was looking for a willing participant, he spotted you amongst the sea of eager people. 

He spotted you. You weren’t a local, perhaps a tourist. You intrigued him.

Foreigner’s often brought in the best source of intel. A web of secrets and truths hidden beneath the veil of illusions. The normal people and Magicians were similar in that aspect, despite the other living in ignorance. 

He never would have expected you to complete the trick well. Oftentimes, stage fright took a hold of the non troupe assistance, some on the spot improv would be on set in case the trick went off the rails. 

That is why Lyney wouldn’t often pick from the audience. It was a rare occasion. 

He would seek you out. Get you into a sense of comfortability, his silver tongue had a way of making people profess their hearts out to him. 

The world was a stage to him, and thus he must always perform his best. At least, that is what “Father” told him. 

You didn’t have much useful information. He was hoping for something more scandalous or perhaps a secret you were ashamed of. Instead, you were just some person seeking out the world that you never had stepped foot in despite being born into it. 

And yet.

Lyney sat down on one of the cushy seats of the audience area. He crossed on foot atop the other.

Why had he stayed with you today?

Perhaps he was afraid of seeing you upset if he left suddenly to shop for props he needed.

Maybe, he didn’t want to go back on his promise he made to you backstage. 

Maybe, he didn’t want to see your angry face if you found out the initial reason he asked you out. 

Lyney looked around, his eyes wandered to the stage. No one was performing. It was empty. The spotlight wasn’t shining down. It was devoid and completely useless to its intended purpose at the moment. 

Lyney had purposefully left out key information when you had asked about his background in magic.

You didn’t need to know of the desperate times where he pushed through with a smile while the tummies of he and his sister gurgled for food.

You didn’t need to know the cruelty of Nobility and their disgusting greed and wicked selfishness. 

You didn’t need to know about the House and the Fatui.

And you didn’t need to know about “Father”. 

Lyney exhaled. 

All of that would probably make you look down on him with disgust and fear. He much preferred to see a beautiful smile on you.

He didn’t need to see you again. You were useless to “Father”, to the grand scheme of he and his sibling’s mission. You would be a distraction, and distractions lead to silly avoidable mistakes.

Yes, that’s what “Father” would say to him.

And yet.

Lyney scrunched his face. He didn’t like feeling like this. He thought he was over this. After all, he had a home and a supportive family now. He shouldn't feel like this, he had his sister, little brother and the other younger ones to look after. 

And yet he wanted to see you again.

You made him feel like he had freedom. It wasn’t like the one he was granted when he and Lynette were free from being street rats. And strangely enough, it wasn’t like the freedom “Father” granted him when she took him away from the cruel mansion. 

He felt bliss with you. He felt like how the audience looked in the countless times he performed on stage.

Was that how it felt like to live normally? To live in bliss and ignore the world’s harsh reality, even for a few moments.

He used to stutter a lot as a young boy. Whenever his juvenile performances went wrong or a slip of the tongue in pronouncing large words. 

Yet he seemed to awfully flustered around you a lot of the time. 

He even gave you a Rainbow Rose of all things. 

It’s what felt the most appropriate he thought.

“ Oh no..” 

The realization hit him like a Mitachurl’s Axe.

“ Father is definitely going to kill me if she ever finds out about this. Lynette might as well.” He cried. 

“ACHOO!” 

“Ugh, I should’ve gotten out of the port sooner. I might come down with a cold.” He sniffled.

‘Maybe someone’s thinking of me.’ He thought. 

Before you went into your room, you had asked the reception for a vase you could borrow. They immediately noticed the flower on you and gave you a sneaky glance. Ignoring them, you went and filled the vase with water.

Before going to bed you placed the rose in the vase, on your nightstand so when the morning came it would get sun.

The last thing you saw when you fell into slumber was the rose. The memory of that charming magician is still vivid in your mind.

Perhaps, you could delay your trip back home.

After all, 

He did steal your heart and had yet to give it back.  

A/N: CWNCWNCONCON I WAS KICKING MY FEET AND CRYING WHEN I WORTE SOME PARTS CBKEBCIB The Fonatine siblings have a choke hold on me fr. Fontaine water giving that same energy that 3 am cold crispy tap water- I'm now tempted to make a Lynette x F!Reader fluff were they have a nice little tea party and make paper flower arrangements like cottage core girlfriends Tags: @b0rninh3ll @yukiaei @xiaossocksniffer @nayumeas @scarletrosesposts @sol3chu @rionah @jar-03

[ilovetheriddler]

Hi, I don’t know if you’re still open to this kind of fic but what about the riddler stalking the reader and they are doing the same thing, so basically him meeting his match

I do still take these types of requests, so don't worry! I'd love to! This is funnily enough my second request that involves the riddler and stalking, I love it! You didn't specify what Version you wanted, so I'm just going to choose one at random! I'll be honest. I horribly misread part of your request and didn't realize until I had already finished the fic! I'm so sorry if this isn't exactly what you wanted, but I hope you enjoy it!

Mutual Observations.

(2022 Batman) Edward Nashton x F!Reader.

(Declaimer: I don't condone or approve of the actions taken in this story. It is purely a work of fiction.)

Word Count: 802.

Contents: Stalking, obsessive thoughts, kidnapping.

Edward had been following you, attempting to observe your every action for weeks now. You were one of the only three things that relentlessly plagued his mind. Which were his desire to cleanse gotham from its own corruption, puzzles, and, of course, you.

You were truly fascinating to him, He craved knowing every possible thing there was to know about you. What annoyed you, what you took pleasure and joy in, what would upset you, what scared you. All of it, he desperately needed to know all of it.

He found it interesting how you'd sneak around at night, even going as far as to break into a few places after hours. What exactly were you up to? The numerous possibilities intrigued him greatly.

The truth was that you were also looking into exposing Renewal for what it really was. You had countless relatives and friends who had been wronged by it, and you just couldn't stand by and do nothing. That's why you became a journalist. You wanted to expose the filthy corruption in this city, make it a better place for everyone who lived here.

Edward came upon this realization himself when he broke into your apartment while you were at work. You had all your collected evidence against renewal kept neatly in an overflowing folder on your desk, a lot more well-kept than his own setup at home.

He couldn't help the gleeful grin that came across his face as he looked through all of your files. You wanted the same thing as him. You wanted to clean up gotham, although with a less... extreme approach than he was taking. However, despite that, this was fantastic!

He was borderline giddy with how excited this revelation made him. You weren't like everyone else in this corrupted city. You wanted to help people. You were just like him.... you were absolutely perfect in his eyes, and he couldn't help but imagine what it would be like if you were willing to assist him in his endeavors as the riddler.

He tried to picture the way that you'd smile at him so kindly, you always did it with everyone else you saw, so why wouldn't you do it with him? He was sure that you would, after all... you both wanted the same thing ultimately, and he'd be oh so happy to help you, in his own way, that is.

He was positive that you'd love working with him. The two of you could have breakfast and dinner together. You could both compare your notes and evidence so far to help each other. He felt his face heat up considerably when he briefly thought of if you'd be okay with perhaps cuddling him at night? He knew, however, that he shouldn't attempt to push you, that he'll have to allow you time to properly adjust once he gets ahold of you.

Edward wasn't stupid. He knew that you wouldn't assist him willing, and that was fine. You were kind, sweet, and compassionate. It made sense in his mind why you wouldn't exactly approve of his methods. But that's okay... he was sure that you'd eventually warm up to his way of thinking.

It had been a few days since he originally broke into your apartment, and first formulated his plan to have you. And only a few hours ago, he had knocked you out and carried you back to his apartment. He knew that you'd be understandley upset and even scared of him, but that would all pass in due time, and he could wait.

He felt his heart rate speed up as he noticed that you were waking up. You were drowsy and disoriented, but you looked absolutely angelic to him.

Your eyes widened with fear as you fully regained consciousness and realized that you weren't at home. You screamed when you noticed the man sitting in a chair right next to you, just silently staring at you.

"Shh.... it's alright.... Everything is perfectly fine, I'm not going to hurt you...."

You glanced around his room in a panic and quickly noticed all of the newspapers and other notes, pictures, and more that he had all over his walls. All things relating to Renewal.

"W-why... do you have all of this stuff....?"

"Because.... I want the same thing that you do.... I want to see those who have wronged people pay...."

Something about the way that he said it made your skin crawl, and you couldn't exactly place what it was. You knew that you had to try to get out of here, but you also had no idea how potentially dangerous this man was. So it would be safest to play along until you worked out a way to escape.

You just genuinely hoped that it wouldn't backfire on you.

[p1a9u3]

PeepHole Ch2: Disturbances

Masterpost Ch.2 - Ch.3 Pairing: Dylan Matthews x Fem Oc

Rating: 18+ (mdni)

Genre: Neighbors/Strangers to Lovers, Smut, Angst, Fluff, Slow-burn

Summary: First impressions are always important, luckily Amoya didn't fuck her's up...right?

Words: 1.4k

Warnings: (This story takes place in 2024) Mental illness (anxiety, OCD), Language, Age gap (5 years), nothing really happens in this chapter.

Status: Unedited

Authors Note: I am so sorry, this took forever to come out, it's not even a long chapter. There happened to be a lot of shit wanting to happen as I was trying to finish this chapter, so things got pushed back. I will try my best to not be so lazy and get shit written and posted in a timely manner, but for now, here is the second chapter, I hope you enjoy

"Hello?"

You silently cursed yourself for waking up your neighbor at six in the morning. You step to the side to apologize profusely. Looking up from the floor your eyes trail up seeing black socks, grey sweatpants, a plain white t-shirt, finally reaching his face to see round glasses and messy hair.

'He looks familiar'

"I am so sorry I didn't mean to wake you I just tripped and this thing is really heavy, I hope I didn't damage your door, I'm sorry if I did and I'm sorry for waking you again." You spewed out

Dylans POV- Tuesday, February 27, 2024 Time: 5:57AM In a deep sleep, Dylan rolled onto his side, dreaming of himself as a best-selling author. He signed books for his fans, gave speeches about how his book was several years in the making, and how happy he was that his fans stayed long enough to see it finished.

-thump!-

Dylan jolted up from his sleep, looking around his room, thinking maybe someone was trying to break in,

"The fuck?" He sits up straight letting his eyes adjust to the dark and looks around the room, not seeing anything.

Or maybe it was in his head. Laying his head back onto his pillow, he closed his eyes slowly falling back to sleep.

-thump!-

Dylan's eyes shoot back open, grabbing his glasses from beside his bed and turning on his side lamp, he looks around his room. Getting out of bed and exiting his room, he quickly and quietly searches around his apartment. Not seeing anything out of order, he silently steps to his front door to look out the peephole. Seeing what looked like a large wall instead of the door that faced his, he also saw fingers wrapped around the side facing him. Letting out a sigh he opens the door

"Hello?" placing his right hand on the door frame and holding the door open with his left, waiting for a reply from the person who woke him from his dream.

Dylan wasn't really the type to get all flustered over a pretty girl, he'd acknowledge a good-looking face but then move on. But he couldn't help himself, you were gorgeous, he almost forgot why he was standing there in the first place until he heard your voice.

"I am so sorry I didn't mean to wake you I just- I tripped and this thing is really heavy, I didn't damage your door- I hope I didn't, I'm sorry if I did and I'm sorry for waking you again." You spewed out, fumbling over your words.

Why did he think that was kind of cute? He's gonna blame it on the fact that he just woke up and is still delirious, he didn't notice how your eyes slowly dragged up his body before, too busy dragging his own eyes over your body. When his eyes finally met yours the first thing he thought of was a siren, not one of those magical mermaids, but a siren, the ones who sing to sailors and drag them to their deaths and eat away at their drowned bodies. He's not going to lie to himself, he definitely thinks it's sexy, your eyes included. If he wasn't supposed to formulate a response to you he'd just keep staring, but he's been staring for too long.

"Ahem- You're fine- it's fine, you're good. Are you ok, that was pretty loud, did you hurt yourself?" If he could slap himself right now he would for sounding so stupid. -End of Dylan's POV

"I'm good, just hit my head a little, again I'm really sorry. You can go back to sleep, I'll be sure to not disturb you anymore." You apologize again, feeling like you probably ruined his routine.

'He really does look familiar'

-click-

You hear your own door open this time, turning to see your mom step out with a worried look on her face until she notices you standing away from her.

"O moj Bože, What is taking so long? Why are you just standing there?" Your mom steps out of your apartment, finally noticing the tall man standing in front of you. (Translation: oh my god)

"Sorry Mama, I tripped and woke him up, the thing is so damn heavy I dropped it twice." You motion to the man standing in front of you finally breaking eye contact with him

You hold onto the bed frame, bracing your shoulder against the side of it and sliding it down a little so it isn't blocking your door anymore.

"Oh we're sorry, please go back to bed we'll be sure to not bother you anymore." Your mom apologized for again you as she looked up at the man.

"Yeah- no it's ok, I wasn't even sleep. I- Do you guys need help?" He lied. He was asleep, having a nice dream too.

"Nonono- you don't have to do that we can figure it out ourselves, please don't let me bother you anymore." You look back up at him, giving him a small smile before turning to your mother.

"Amoya, maybe let the man help. My back is killing me anyway." Your mother looks back at the man smiling up at him. "I strained my back bringing these boxes up here, you wouldn't mind helping my daughter bring this one thing in would you"

Stepping next to you, your mom sly whispers to you. "He's cute" Sighing to yourself, you pinch the bridge of your nose

"No no, not at all." Dylan steps up grabbing onto the headboard. "It's just this right?"

You nod your head as you step to the other end to help him carry it inside as your mom holds the door open "Thank you, again I'm so sorry for waking you up."

You know you're apologizing a lot but you can't help it, you feel like an idiot.

"And again it's fine really." Noticing you stepping to the other end of the headboard "I got it, just hold the door for me, yeah?" Crouching down Dylan lifts the headboard from the middle letting it lean against his chest

'I- oh ok" You step back letting him carry it, stepping next to your mom you hold the door open, your mom stepping inside and out of the way.

Turning to the side Dylan steps into the apartment

"Second door to the left, you can set it against the wall" your mom instructs watching him effortlessly walk to the room. You follow closely behind.

Setting the headboard against the wall. Dylan stands up straight with a huff pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. You stood at the doorway, unintentionally gawking.

"Is there anything else I can help with" Turning to you, he takes a few steps toward you looking down at you.

"I- uh- no no, that's it. Please don't let me keep you any longer." Snapping out of your daze and breaking eye contact, you take a step back and to the side getting out of his way. “I’ll be sure to pay you back sometime soon”

Dylan nods with a smile stepping out of your room to the front door, your mother not far from it smiling to herself. Getting closer

‘I’ve definitely seen his face before’

You trail behind as he approaches the front door “I’m Dylan by the way, forgot to introduce myself” he spins around before stepping out of your apartment.

‘The name’s familiar too’

“Amoya, I’m Amoya.” You replied back meeting him at the door “I won’t apologize again cuz I’m sure it’s annoying but I promise I will pay you back.” Your mom steps next to you placing a hand on your shoulder

“You should let her cook for you sometime, you two could get acquainted with each other” Nudging you slightly she smiles back at Dylan pleased with her suggestion

“I’ll keep that in mind when thinking of my payment, I’ll uh- I’ll go now then” Stepping back to into the hall he gives a small wave before turning to his own apartment and steps inside.

You shut the door after seeing him shut his, turning to your mother who simply smiles back at you playing innocent as she walks into your living room. Sitting on a folded chair you had brought with you, she crosses her legs giving you a look you know well enough.

“I’ve already ruined my first introduction and apologized profusely like a babe who just stole some candy” You already knew what she was thinking; you usually do.

“I didn’t say anything Ini, Znam da misliš da je sladak” She smiles slyly standing up and walking into the kitchen to unpack spices. (Translation: I know you think he's cute)

Walking back into your bedroom, ignoring your mother’s comment you enter your room to set up your bed.

prev. - Ch.2 - Ch.3

Authors Note: Again I am so sorry, this took forever to come out, I wish this chapter was longer to make up for the amount of time it took to be published. I hope I haven't pissed anyone off, and that people are still interested in this story. I genuinely want to write this story, my life just gets really hectic sometimes and I lose the motivation. If you are reading this, Thank you for coming back, or if you weren't here when I uploaded the first chapter. Hi, thanks for checking this story out. This is nowhere near done which scares me a little, but fingers crossed it doesn't take me a lifetime to finish.

[racefortheironthrone]

How did all the heresies and theological arguments of the Late Roman Empire lead to "the Arab caliphates getting a decent navy and winning the Battle of the Masts"?

This is actually a fascinating story about the nature of the religious world and religious politics in the Late Roman and Byzantine Empires and the Rashidun Caliphate.

Because heresies and theological arguments tended to start at the level of bishops and patriarchs fighting with the bishops and patriarchs of other metropoles (and that filters out to which missionaries were sent where), there were strong regional variations as to which position was in the local majority.

Skipping over the Arian controversy because it's not relevant to the Battle of the Masts, Cyril of Alexandria was the leader of the Monophysite faction ("physis" meaning "nature," i.e Christ has one nature, which tracks with the Council of Nicaea's declaration that he had one "essence"), and his dyophysite (meaning two "natures") rivals were based out of Antioch - and Alexandria and thus Egypt became Monophysite. However, Constantinople and Anatolia were dyophysite and worked to make sure that the Second Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon declared monophysitism a heresy and dyophysitism as Orthodoxy, thus leading to the Chalcedonian Schism.

Following on from this, the emperors Justin II and Justinian I were Orthodox. Now, Justinian tried to end the Schism through the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, but this didn't really work and it remained state policy to persecute Monophysites. However, the empress Theodora was Monophysite and acted as patroness and political defender of Monophysites throughout the empire - which made her very popular in Egypt...and with the Greens in the Hippodrome, who were also Monophysites. Naturally, if the Greens were Monophysite, the Blues were Orthodox, because why not turn your sports rivalry into a religious rivalry and a pseudo-political party system? It's not called the Byzantine Empire because it's simple.

Even though Theodora was a Green, Justinian supported the Blues, which meant that no matter what your sports team or religious views or pseudo-partisanship you could support the imperial family. (Indeed, many historians think that the two at least somewhat arranged their religious and sports affiliations with this in mind.) This worked...up until the Nika riots ended up with Belisarius turning the Imperial army on the sports fans turned revolutionary rioters in the Hippodrome, leading to the deaths of as many as 30,000 people.

And so it went, with Alexandria tending to be the losers in the monoergism vs. dyoergism (does Christ have one "energy" or two?) debate, and the monolethitism vs. dyolethetism (does Christ have one "will" or two?) debate. Notably, these debates saw the Emperors of the time trying to get the Church to adopt a compromise (both monoergism and monothelitism were essentially an attempt by the Emperor Heraclius and his Patriarch to find a new theological formulation that the Alexandrians could live with while pointing urgently in the direction of first the Persians and then the Arabs) and failing due to religious partisans digging in their heels, or Emperors siding violently with one side or the other, ironically in the name of Imperial unity.

And this brings us to the Arab Conquest that gave birth to the Rashidun Caliphate. Now, the Christian population of Alexandria was not exactly thrilled about suddenly being ruled over by Muslim Arabs in 642...but in a genius stroke of enlightened self-interest, the Rashidun Caliphate adopted a policy whereby non-Muslim subjects (dhimmis) would be left alone in terms of religious matters as long as they paid their jizya taxes on non-Muslims (with the idea being to create a financial incentive to convert). While this wasn't the most popular, the Alexandrians realized that having to pay religious taxes and then getting left alone in peace and quiet to be Monophysite was a much better deal than having to pay Byzantine imperial taxes and getting religiously persecuted all the damn time.

This mattered geostrategically, because the Port of Alexandria was one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean, and thus had one of the largest shipyards and a lot of shipbuilders, and a hell of a lot of trained ex-Roman sailors and marines who were heavily Monophysite. These recently-unemployed sailors and marines were very happy to work for the Rashidun Caliphate, especially when the Caliphs started to shift resources into the navy to combat Byzantine dominance on the seas. Thus, only a few years after the Rashidun conquest of Egypt in 642, the Arab navy was suddenly able to fight on equal terms with the Byzantine navy - and then started kicking their ass.

This at last brings us to the Battle of the Masts in 655, where an Arab fleet (crewed mostly by Monophysite Egyptians) of 200 ships under the command of admiral Abu al-A'war came into contact with a Byzantine fleet of 500 ships led by the Emperor Constans II off the coast of Lycia...and smashed it to pieces. According to the historian al-Tabari, it was called the Battle of the Masts because there were rough seas and both fleets lashed themselves together to allow for marine boarding operations, so that soldiers were literally crossing from mast to mast. Constans II supposedly only managed to escape by changing uniforms with one of his subordinates as a disguise.

The defeat was so crippling that Constantinople was brought under siege for the first time by the Rashidun that same year, although that brief siege (the brevity of which is why historians refer to the siege of 674-678 as the "First Arab Siege of Constantinople") was unsuccessful due to a storm that sunk the Arab ships carrying the artillery and siege engines that the land army was counting on. Naturally, the Byzantines attributed this storm and the first Arab civil war that broke out in 655 (which bought the Byzantines some desperately-needed breathing room) to divine intervention.

Just to show how the past is always with us, I wanted to share a bit of a statement by the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Southern United States:

"The Coptic Orthodox Church was accused of being 'Monophysite' in the Council of Chalcedon. The term monophysite comes from two Greek words meaning "single nature". Monophysitism merged Christ's humanity into His divinity so that effectively it meant that in Christ there was only one single nature, a divine nature. This is NOT what the Coptic Orthodox believes. We believe that "Christ's divinity parted not from His humanity, not for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye" and we recite this statement in every liturgy. As a result, we are Miaphysite and not Monophysite. Miaphysitism (one nature) means the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect human and perfect divine and these two natures are united together without mingling, nor confusion, nor alteration in one nature; the nature of God incarnate."

[damnaation]

On Camera

A little borrower spy gets caught by an enemy operative.

Soft, safe, unwilling vore. Fearplay & mentions of digestion. Borrower prey with wings.

"If it were up to me, I'd just kill you. But Zor was insistent on getting some footage of the Phoenix. Don't ask me why, if things had gone according to plan you'd already be dead."

She writhed in his hand, her wings and lower body trapped in his fist but arms free to shove against his fingers. Not that it did anything, but it was certainly an interesting feeling.

The slash he'd gotten from the hidden claws on her wings last time still stung. He'd had to throw out that pair of gloves, too.

Luckily the camera wasn't too difficult to set up. He could manage with one hand.

"So small—it's almost hard to believe how much of a pest you can be. One little bird, causing so many problems for me." It's not like she's going to get out of this—he can monologue a bit. "Really, it's amazing. You borrowers are so tenacious."

"What're you gonna do to me?"

The first time she'd spoken since he'd caught her.

"Ah, so you can talk." He smirked down at her, getting a sharp glare in return. Cute. "Zor will get their footage. But they said I could choose how to be rid of you on my own. Really, I was planning on killing you, but now that I've got you I have to admit. You're quite the stunning specimen, little bird. And I'm fond of peacocks. Marvelous birds."

He hummed, pausing for a moment to ponder his options. The camera clicked and whirred, ready to start filming.

"I could keep you. Pretty little songbird in a gilded cage. Dress you up in little outfits like a doll—I'm sure someone would make them. For a price."

A pause. She didn't say anything in response, just gave him a tense stare.

"Well, business first. You have a performance to give, little bird."

~~~~~~~~~~

Red hadn't really been paying attention to what had been happening while he was recording. Or, rather, they'd been paying more attention to their surroundings than him. Trying to catalogue anything useful and formulate an escape plan.

Nothing came to mind. None of the objects small enough to move with trick were useful, and there were no convenient vents to escape through when he'd briefly released them to record the video for Zor—with a threat that if they tried to escape, he'd pluck their wings bare and stuff a pillow with their feathers.

Not very creative, but enough to keep her from attempting anything until she had a solid plan and escape route.

"Now. Where were we? Right—deciding just what to do with you." His grin felt almost hungry, hazel eyes scanning her appraisingly. Something deep in her screamed to fly, get away from the predator, but she stood her ground.

"Brave little bird, aren't you?" He murmured, leaning on the table and looming over them ominously. "How cute. I could just eat you up."

A sudden spark in his eye. They felt their heart drop out of their chest as he leaned closer, snatching them up in a tight fist.

"Well… that's an idea. You're certainly small enough. And it's not like you could escape."

They'd met other borrowers on missions who swore up and down that bigfolk ate borrowers. Red had always thought it was a ridiculous fear—humans could be cruel, yes, but that was incomprehensible.

Now, she was wondering if the reason it was so widespread wasn't a sign. If those borrowers didn't think her as ridiculous as she did them.

"You're insane." She blurted out, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. He'd seemed more than a little unhinged before, but this-

"On the contrary, little bird. I've thought about this for a long time. Since I learned about your kind, and heard stories. What must it feel like, to have that much power over someone? To be their entire world?"

He grinned, a little too wide and sharp for their comfort, before bringing his other hand up to flick their hat off. They gasped, flinching away—if he missed it would hurt. But all they felt was a rush of air and the sudden disappearance of the familiar weight of their hat.

"Th- the Agency knows where I am. They'll send someone for me." It was a desperate gamble, her voice breathless. She had no idea if they'd come for her—she'd lost contact, been captured by the enemy. She didn't even know if they knew what had happened yet.

"And how do you expect them to know where you've gone?" He purred, stroking their cheek with the back of a gloved finger. They let out a little whimper, wanting to pull away but unable to. "Face it, little bird. You're stuck. I'm the one with all the cards here. Now." His hold on them shifted, hand turning so they were almost seated on his fingers with their legs stuck in his grip but their arms and torso were free. Tugging at the hem of their coat he ordered, "Take it off."

Her hands automatically went to the buttons, before she froze. No—why make it easier for him?

Apparently her hesitance was a step too far, as he lifted her closer to his face, pulling sharply on the hem with his free hand.

"Either you take it off or I rip it off you, little bird." He snarled.

They unbuttoned the coat with shaky fingers, pulling their arms out before freeing their wings from the back slits and letting it drop to the table below with their hat. He hummed approvingly, gaze sweeping their tiny form before tapping their foot with a finger.

"Shoes."

She didn't resist this time, wiggling until she could reach the laces of her boots and untying them. His thumb pressed into her stomach from the position she was in, prompting a small gasp out of her when it twitched slightly. Almost stroking her leg. After a few seconds she toed her boots off, and they fell with tiny thumps. Straightening back up, she wrapped her arms around herself, trembling and not wanting to look at him.

He stroked their leg with his thumb again, before sliding it to flick at the hem of their blouse. They clutched at the front of it but didn't move to start taking it off.

"Pants or shirt."

Briefly glancing up at him in confusion, they shuddered at the intense stare he had fixed on them.

"You can keep one. Pants or shirt."

Small comfort. But after a few seconds of thought she let go of her blouse to ball a fist in the fabric of her slacks. He chuckled.

"Interesting choice."

And with that he slipped his thumb under the hem of her shirt, briefly pressing against her stomach with only the thin fabric of his glove separating them. A simple flick ripped it apart, tiny buttons popping free and scattering to leave the ruined shirt hanging from her shoulders. She bit back a gasp, heart skipping a beat at the effortless show of destruction.

Of course, he still felt it, judging by the low chuckle as he trailed his thumb up to their chin, forcing them to look at him. They swallowed nervously, feeling the press of their throat against his finger as they did.

"What a pretty little treat you are." He murmured, pushing the remains of their blouse off their shoulders with faux reverence. They shivered, feathers ruffling and wrapping their arms around themself in an effort to hide but he just pushed them out of the way with an almost hungry smile. "Now now, none of that. No need to be shy, little bird. After all, I'm going to have all of you soon enough."

She shuddered at the mockingly gentle way he handled her, gloved fingers lightly stroking her wings as he folded them flat against her back, carefully pinching her forearms between his thumb and first two fingers and lifting them towards his face. A terrified whine escaped her—the only thing she could force past the lump of fear in her throat—as he pressed her hands to his slightly parted lips in a mockery of a gentleman's kiss. She tried to pull away, trapped wings struggling to flare and tail curling tightly around one of the fingers wrapped around her body, but his grip may well have been steel for how immovable it was. The sickening warmth of his breath sent goosebumps down her spine and nausea roiling in her gut, her breath starting to quicken into desperate, terrified panting as she frantically cast her gaze around for anything she'd missed that might help her make one more daring escape from certain death.

Nothing. The camera was the only new object in the room, and it was still far too heavy for them to be able to use trick on, its light shining almost mockingly at them.

A wet heat pressed against their hands and they flinched, squeezing their eyes shut as a shudder ran through them. They knew what it was, they didn't have to look. But the warmth crept up to their elbows, the grip on their forearms vanishing to be replaced with a thin line of something hard pressing lightly against their wrists. Immediately, gruesome images of him biting down filled their mind, and whatever thin line of composure they still had snapped.

She was hyperventilating, pleading sobs nearly incomprehensible as she struggled helplessly against him—until the pressure on her wrists increased to the point she swore she could feel her bones creaking, and she went still, her only movement the shaking from her panicked, sobbing breaths. After a few seconds the threatening weight lifted, fingers gently stroking her head and shoulders as if trying to soothe her while he ran his tongue over the marks left behind by his teeth. And then she felt a tugging suction around her arms as she was pulled free, damp skin prickling at the change in temperature.

He hummed—a low, satisfied sound—before very deliberately swallowing. This close they could hear it, a quiet glk accompanying the bobbing of his throat and sending a shiver down their spine.

That's going to be me at some point.

"I'm surprised someone hasn't already eaten you up, little bird." He murmured, breath fanning against them as he brought them closer to his face and pressed a damp kiss to their stomach. "You're delicious. If I'd planned better I'd have brought something to pair you with. A sweet rosé would be perfect."

"Pl-lease-" she choked out, voice barely more than a breathless whine. Maybe she could bargain—not even for freedom, at this point she'd accept being a pet or a Zoraxis prisoner over this. "'ll do w-whatev-ver you wa-ant, J-Jun-niper-r."

He smirked, gathering up her hands again and stroking the backs of them with his thumb. "Anything?"

A frantic nod, their voice dying in their throat—he was egotistical, a bit of a megalomaniac, but as far as they knew not a murderer. If they could appeal to his ego, flatter him enough to make it worth keeping them around-

"I want to know what it feels like when you squirm, little bird." He purred, lifting their hands to his lips for another mocking brush before giving them a sharp Cheshire grin.

She could feel herself shutting everything out, the complete opposite of the hyper-aware, focused state she entered on missions. The only thought she had was that she would be another unrecovered body, another mystery never solved. If the Agency even existed for long after this. God, she hadn't even said goodbye. No headset, no backup, no way to tell what had happened. The only thing left behind would be her clothes, but those could be easily disposed of.

If they didn't think about it, the warmth was nice—they'd been shivering since they'd lost their coat and blouse, the room temperature more fit for humans than borrowers.

She kept her eyes closed and jaw locked tight—Red knew, deep down in the same part of her that knew the taste of the sky, that she would scream and plead for her life if she didn't. And she refused to give him that satisfaction.

Even as she felt the soft flesh at the back of his mouth press against her fingers, his tongue sliding against her bare skin, his teeth resting lightly at the bottom of her ribcage—too big to fit entirely in his mouth, her legs held in a firm grip.

His tongue curled around them, saliva soaking their bra, feathers, and hair until they clung uncomfortably to their body. A low hum echoed from his throat as he licked at their exposed middle before pressing them up against the roof of his mouth. Their breath hitched, heart skipping a beat as they started to squirm, panic welling up past the disconnected haze they were in. He hummed again, softer this time, stroking along their feather-train as if trying to calm them before swallowing around them. The saliva that had been pooling beneath them vanished as the muscles of his throat tugged at their hands but failed to drag them down, pinned in place as they were by his tongue.

Just get it over with, she wanted to scream, stop toying with me and just do it already. But if she tried to say something she didn't know what would come out. So she stayed resolutely silent, biting down the desperate pleas and sobs that wanted to escape.

She didn't have long to wait, though. He swiped his tongue over her face, leaving her coughing and sputtering, before gravity started to shift and she began to slide closer to his throat. His teeth inched from ribs to waist to hips, and a desperate, terrified whine escaped her, struggling once again in the last few seconds she had before her fate was sealed.

And then their hands pressed into the opening of his throat, and with a sickening lurch he swallowed.

The powerful muscles of his throat yanked them forwards, arms now trapped and their face pressed into soft flesh that seemed to ripple with his breathing. Their own frantic breaths echoed in their ears, heart racing almost painfully in their chest from terror and dread. They didn't doubt he could feel it, pressed against his tongue as they were.

At the time she'd thought his comment on how she tasted was either exaggeration or an attempt to get under her skin, but he was drooling enough that her slacks were almost immediately soaked to the point where his teeth rested just above her knees. The tip of his tongue trailed over her stomach, briefly playing with her belt before flattening against her hips and upper thighs.

For a brief, irrational moment they wondered if, had they chosen to keep their shirt instead, he would have paid as much attention to their legs as he seemed to be giving their torso. For some reason the thought made them flush and squirm.

He made a quiet noise that could be a chuckle, carefully unwound their tail from where it was coiled around one of his fingers—they'd known it wouldn't be enough to save them, but something about it had a grim sense of finality—, and almost lovingly stroked what little of their body remained outside his mouth before gravity shifted once again.

His tongue pressed them up and back, the entrance to his throat flexed, and he swallowed hard, powerful muscles finally pulling them down past the point of no return.

She felt his tongue curl around her feet and tail as he swallowed again, sealing her entirely in the hot, slick, tight confines of his throat. Overwhelmingly strong muscles forced her down with rolling waves of pressure, so tight she could barely move. Barely breathe, her lungs seizing in her chest in unadulterated prey-animal fear. She was going to die—might as well be already dead, with the unstoppable force of his body's autonomous movement dragging her towards the churning pit of acid that no doubt awaited her.

They felt lightheaded, the heat and terror and lack of air starting to get to them as his heartbeat sounded loud in their ears. If they were lucky, maybe they'd pass out from asphyxiation before they reached his stomach. Suffocation would be a kinder death than being digested alive, at least.

Just as she started to lose her grasp on consciousness, lungs burning and static growing at the edges of her mind, a tight wave of pressure began to roll up her body. Her arms were free—she'd reached his stomach.

As the tight squeeze slid past her head she gasped for air and immediately cringed, expecting her lungs to be filled with thick, noxious, stinking air, if anything. But—fortunately or unfortunately, she wasn't sure yet—it was breathable, hot and humid but without the sting of acid in her nose.

Through the static in their head they distantly heard what might've been a gasp, his heartbeat stuttering as they spilled into the empty cavity of his stomach. They lay there in shock for a few moments, muscles feeling limp as boiled noodles and lungs heaving to draw in as much air as they could, before they felt something pressing against them.

Digestion, muscles kneading and crushing her into churning acid, flesh dissolving and sloughing off bone-

She panicked, shoving against the encroaching press and flailing wildly as a terrified keen echoed from her throat. Far beyond the point of words, but if she caused enough of a disturbance it might force him to cough her up.

A low voice, sounds that they distantly recognized as words but couldn't understand in their terrified state. The pressing weight resolved into something more targeted, almost-

Almost like fingers pressing from the outside to toy with them, seeking out their body wrapped up in his.

Somehow, the thought of him denying her even the chance to die in peace was the final straw. The last frail strands of restraint she had snapped.

And she screamed.

~~~~~~~~~~

The stretch was just on this side of painful, a twinge like the feeling of swallowing too big a mouthful of food. Which, he supposed, he had. A few of them, in fact.

He pressed his fingers to his throat, shivering at the feeling of the little agent slipping further into him. Her taste still lingered, salty-savory and a little sweet, with something almost like woodsmoke running through it. Next time—and he intended for there to be a next time, the feeling was too intoxicating to only indulge in this once—he would be sure to have a drink; her feathers tickled the back of his throat and made it a bit difficult to get her down, but he'd managed. And the thought of her perched on the rim of a glass like an elaborate garnish was impossible to get rid of. He wasn't typically a fan of rosé, but he could made an exception for her.

God, he could feel her in his chest, the deliriously satisfying stretch tipping a bit closer to painful before-

He almost passed out at the feeling of her finally sliding into his stomach. That warm, fuzzy sensation of a good meal, magnified exponentially by the fact that what filled him had its own warmth and weight. A whole other person tucked deep inside him.

"Shit." He panted breathlessly, leaning heavily on the table and gently putting his hand to where he could feel her curled up inside.

And then she moved, and his legs almost gave out beneath him. The frantic fluttering of tiny hands deep in his core sending fireworks through his body, forcing him to grab the table tight just to remain standing. It astounded him just how sensitive he was, imagining that he could distinguish her individual fingers when she pushed against his hand.

"God. I don't think anyone could even notice you." He murmured, pressing a little harder to feel out her body beneath skin and muscle. "I could walk outside with you in there right now, and no one would be any the wiser."

The Phoenix, wholly and completely his, perfectly hidden from the world. Not a single sign as to her presence tucked away inside him.

She was trembling, a light fluttery feeling reminiscent of nerves. It sent sparks dancing through him, satisfying some dark, predatory urge in the back of his mind that wanted nothing more than to keep her there, a perfect little morsel only for him.

But unfortunately he had work to do.

A sudden beeping drew his attention to the camera—which had apparently been recording the whole time, judging by the light on the front.

… He was suddenly incredibly interested to see what it had looked like from the outside. And maybe, just maybe he would hang on to the footage. For his own personal perusal.

Apparently the beeping was a low storage warning. He stopped the recording, staring for a few seconds at the gallery thumbnail—the Phoenix, looking so very small on the table. His free hand drifted to his middle again, where he could still feel her slight, warm weight. She'd gone still, aside from the occasional trembling shiver.

"At least this time you'll stay put." He murmured a bit vindictively, pressing enough to feel her little form again.

She recoiled, the shaking growing worse.

And then a piercing shriek echoed from inside him, muffled but still loud enough to hear the sheer terror in her voice. He flinched, hand gripping his shirt tight in surprise.

As many times as Zoraxis had tried to kill her, she'd never sounded like THAT. He'd watched all the footage they had—no matter how grim or seemingly insurmountable the situation, she always maintained a collected, annoyingly playful attitude. If she were human, he'd characterize her actions towards him as almost flirtatious. Even his earlier attempts to capture or kill her had gotten the same response.

"... Phoenix?" He murmured, almost without realizing it.

She didn't respond, but he could feel her shaking like a leaf in the wind, curled tightly into a tiny weight inside him.

Something sour boiled up in his chest. He'd enjoyed her trembling, her desperate pleas, that infuriatingly collected attitude finally cracking to reveal the small, scared creature underneath. But this-

There wasn't any sport in this. She was terrified past the point of reason, near catatonic in fear. There wasn't anything he could do about it, though. He had a role to play, a part in Zor's plan. And with her finally out of the way he could do what they needed from him.

He would just have to leave her to straighten herself out on her own. Eventually she'd realize her place, learn that he'd decided to keep her as his prize. A pretty little bird in a gilded cage, safe and protected like her little Agency never would, far too willing to throw her into situations that should've killed her.

… Even still, his hand never strayed far from his middle for very long. After a while his little bird seemed to relax, uncurling from the tight huddle and going limp. Either she'd fallen asleep, passed out from terror, or completely given up, but at least she wasn't a tight knot of fear anymore. He could've purred at the feeling of her limp and relaxed inside him—hopefully some day she'd be this relaxed without the wordless terror beforehand.

[f1-disaster-bi]

Hello

How are you in the first place? I hope you have recharged your energy and that you have recovered definitively from Sore Throat.

I don't know if you still accept prompts (I don't even know if this is the right way to formulate the request because it's the first time I've done it) but I've read the list of prompts and these two

"I'm not leaving you here." "I promised to love you forever, and that is a promise I intend to keep."

particularly struck me because they made me think about the answer yuo gave when I asked your impression on the current situation of Lando and Max.

So if you could consider writing a story about them too, I would read it super gladly.

Thank you very much :)

Thank you so much for the well wishes, and for being interested in my take on Norstappen and this season!!

I hope you like this ❤️

"No" Max had expected Lando to agree with him. He hadn't expected to look up from his hands to see a fire blazing in Lando's eyes. It amde the blue-green colour of them look like a raging sea, but Max could tell the rage wasn't aimed towards him. He was used to seeing anger aimed his way but this was different. Max knew Lando like he knew himself. He knew that this was frustration and hurt that had been building over the last few months. He knew that it was anger aimed at the situation and the world and not at him. Still, it amazed Max a little as the other leaned forward and a made a point to look Max in the eyes. Lando had never been one for confrontation in his personal life but here he was, beautifully fierce and not backing down when Max had expected them to fall apart. "I am not leaving you", Lando spoke slowly, letting the words wash over Max and ease a fear that had steadily been building all season. "I am not leaving you here, Max" It was exaclty what Max had wanted him to say but hope was a dangerous thing. It was a posion that spread through the body and choked you with disappointment in Max's experience. He had been ready to be let down again. He had been ready for Lando to agree that this was too hard, that it wasn't worth it. Max had been ready to break his own heart because he wanted Lando to look like Lando again and not someone that was just surviving. He wanted Lando's smile to reach his eyes. He wanted to ehar his bright laughter, and not watch him fade away. If removing himself from the equation would do that, then he would. He'd understand it because everyone in his life had made it clear Max was hard to love and easy to leave behind. His dad. His mum. His teammates. Old friends. All of them moved on because Max held them back or brought a pain and guilt to their lives that they couldn't bare. And yet Lando was going nowhere as he slid onto his knees before him and reached up to cup Max's face in his hands. "Things are hard. They're shitty and we've hurt each other. The media has hurt us. Our fans have hurt us, but Max, you are my heart" Lando's voice never wavered because it was the truth, "I promise I'd love you forever, and it's a promise I intend to keep. If it is really too much, I will let you go, but I don't want to loose you" Max didn't even realise he was crying until Lando was brushing away the tears before Max slid off the couch and into Lando's lap, letting the other hold him close as he burried himself in Lando's arms. "I love you", Max choked out because it was the truth even if things were painful right now, "I don't want to loose you, either. It's just..." "Shit" Lando laughed a little, holding him tight, "But we'll get through it. You and me to the end baby, yeah?" Max had to laugh softly too as he sniffled, resting against the other because Lando was strong enough to let Max be vulnerable for a moment. "You and me, always"

[cheribl0ssom]

Oliver Aiku x Fem!Reader: Coffee & Daydreams

Word Count: 1.6k~

CW: fem reader, post breakup angst, happy ending

A/N: Felt like writing something for the first time in a very long time. I hope you like it!

You once had the glory of calling him yours. U-20 Captain Oliver Aiku. He had been your on and off boyfriend for years, up until you both called it quits for good. It wasn’t what either of you wanted, yet you convinced yourself it was for the best.

How many months had it been since you had seen his face in the flesh? More than you’d like to admit. You knew fame would change your relationship dynamic, but you didn’t think it would completely destroy it either. You craved his touch, only to receive it in small doses when he had time in between his busy schedule. It wasn’t enough; you wanted all of him. But no matter how much you begged and pleaded, he didn't seem to care, or at least he wasn't great at showing it. And after some time the feelings began to appear one sided.

That’s life, right? You sighed to yourself looking out the window of the new coffee shop you frequented. After you did what anyone in your position would do: moved across the country and started a new life. There was no possibility to create a new life in the city your relationship started and ended in; everything there would just remind you of him.

Even after all this time, you still wanted him and only him. No one could catch your interest like he did; everything about him was so captivating. He had you hooked. Any dates you had been on were total flops. How could you enjoy yourself when all you could do was think about what Oliver would be like in the same scenario? You were completely enamored and as far as you knew he was over it. As if failed romance pursuits weren’t bad enough, day after day you constantly saw his face plastered all over the news and TV. Nothing in your circumstances was helping you get over him.

But, over time you felt like things were getting easier. You adjusted to life in the new town, gradually finding places you could frequent and getting comfortable in this new setting. Your favorite place became this small, locally owned coffee shop that was easily overlooked by most passersby. It was a quiet spot, and you were uninterrupted for the most part aside from the occasional chat with the barista. Although the chances of you two crossing paths again was astronomically slim; you knew it was never zero. You tried to not think about it though. You needed a fresh start. He had already moved on, so how was it fair for you to have to rot in the ghost of a relationship passed?

As you relaxed in the coffee shop, you sipped on an iced latte and held a book open in one hand. You never came here to read, it was just an act. In reality, you sat there and replayed your cherished memories with Oliver over and over in your mind. Changing locations didn’t change your feelings, nor the fact that you still longed for a lover lost. When you weren’t drowning in your daydreams, you had other hopes like maybe meeting someone - friend or lover. It hadn’t happened in the months of trying, but that didn’t discourage you.

Every time the door chimed you couldn’t help but peek up from your book. What kind of person would walk through the door? Could this person be a friend or a foe? You enjoyed making up stories in your mind for each individual to pass some time. You were getting ready to leave for the day, when the high pitch door chime sounded; your gaze instinctively rose.

Fuck.

You froze in place as a familiar figure entered the coffee shop. As you brought your book to your face, you began to hyperventilate. There was just no way this was happening right now. In all the possibilities you considered, this wasn’t one of them. You hoped you weren’t spotted and you tried to mentally formulate a plan to escape. But your mind wasn’t fast enough. The voice you longed to hear for months entered your ears.

“Y/N?” Oliver asked tilting his head to the side and glancing over in your direction. Busted. It was obvious from the moment he walked in that he recognized you, but now he was playing coy. This was a classic move he liked to pull.

Rather than order a drink, he walked over calmly and took a seat across from you at the table. You tried to maintain your composure as a whirlwind of suppressed emotions began to surface.

“What are you doing here?!” you quietly stammered, unsure of how you should feel in this moment. Relief? Anger? Sadness? You felt everything and nothing all at the same time. You couldn’t read his emotions either; he was always so good at keeping his cool, unlike you. You set your book down as he made himself comfortable in his seat.

“I came here for a cup of coffee. What else?” He laughed, smirking nonchalantly. You clenched your jaw in annoyance knowing you should have predicted this type of answer. You decided it would be best to not make a scene- you didn’t want to earn a negative reputation at your favorite hangout spot.

Your eyebrow arched up, “So then where’s your coffee?” The beauty of this situation was you knew how to play this game too. “Go ahead and order - I’ll wait.”

The minutes felt like hours as he placed his order and the barista made it. An undeniable rage filled you as you heard the barista’s flirty tone when interacting with Oliver. Typical. It was the exact thing you had come to expect when going out in public with him. People swooning over him leaving you as nothing more than a background NPC. I mean who wouldn’t act up being around someone like him? He was an undeniably handsome, professional soccer player. Regardless, situations like this one got under your skin and were a huge driving force for your breakup.

As he was about to take a seat, you stood up and grabbed his hand, faking a smile that only he could tell was not genuine. You strolled out of the coffee shopping still holding his hand, your grip tightening with each step you took.

“Where are we going?” He chuckled. You knew he was enjoying every second of this based on how easily he played along.

Luckily, the walk back to your flat wasn’t a long one. Not even a sound was made on the walk since you were at a loss for words and he was putting up his usual facade. As you closed the door behind you, you prepared yourself for anything.

“Ummm… I guess help yourself to a seat.” You mumbled, motioning towards the loveseat in your living room. You let him choose where he wanted to sit, and decided to stand in front of him with your arms crossed. You inhaled deeply, trying to process the past half hour of your life.

“Aren’t you going to take a seat too?” Oliver laughed, patting the small spot next to him on the couch. A burning sensation filled your face at his question. Was this nothing more than another joke to him? You didn’t budge, hoping it would make it clear to him that this wasn’t funny to you.

“So are you going to answer my question from earlier? Why are you here? How did you find m- that place?” You stuttered and wished your thoughts and mouth would cooperate in a time like this. Before you could continue, Oliver leaned forward and grabbed your arm, guiding you to the cushion next to him.

“You think too much and yet you don’t see the answers right in front of you,” he sighed, “Believe it or not - I’ve been searching everywhere for you. I know we had broken up but I didn’t want things to end.”

His words stung and you couldn’t meet his gaze. You felt his eyes piercing into you though, as his usually cool demeanor started to fade.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Cause that was the only issue we ever had, right?” You became defensive, attempting to hide your true feelings and desires.

“Before I could even convey my true feelings, you stormed out. I had to leave for a soccer trip soon after and by the time I returned you were moved out with no trace of where you went. I wanted to talk things out and you never gave me a chance to try.”

He wasn’t wrong. Your solution to the breakup fight was to change your phone number, move to a different place, and cut ties with most people in your life. You were fed up and felt like no one understood what you were going through. You had lost all hope in your relationship; the back and forth, on and off was tiring. What was so hard to understand about that?

As you tried to put together a response, Oliver’s rough hand cupped your cheek, “Look, y/n, I understand why you did everything that you did. I was neglecting your feelings and I wasn’t being the partner you deserved. I was so caught up in my own life and I wasn’t prioritizing us the way I should have. I realize it now and I’ve regretted every second that I wasn’t the partner you needed. ”

It was bittersweet hearing those words. You wanted to believe him, but you ached inside too knowing that it wasn’t all on him either. Warm tears filled your eyes as you finally met his gaze.

“I know I could have done things better too. I’ve thought about it thousands of times,” you responded, blinking back the tears. “But in all this time, I’ve never wanted anyone other than you, Oliver.” A small smile appeared on his face and he wiped away the remnants of the tears you couldn’t blink back. “Where do we go from here?”

You both sat in silence, unsure of the “right” answer. This whole situation was a lot to process. Inevitably, your mind filled with the anxiety of what he might reply since neither of you explicitly knew what the other was feeling. As closed your eyes to take a deep breath, you felt his warm lips press against yours and he lifted you onto his lap. You instinctively pressed back exchanging saliva and soft moans until he pulled away to catch his breath.

“I don’t know, but I’d like to figure it out together if you give me the chance,” he breathed, leaning back into you for another passionate kiss.

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

The Glass Merchant Part Three

Masterlist

Part two

Contains: Angst, fluff, violence, gore, hurt/comfort.

3.3K words

Kai remembers

She smiled and looped her arm in his. "Good. Now no more talk of war and killing, the airship's here." She pulled him back as it landed at the docks, and a man stepped out with a tray. "You ready?"

A wonderful smell emanating from the cabin made his mouth water, and he smiled. "Hell yeah."

They were welcomed into the gentle lantern bee light of the airship with a flourish and directed to sit down as someone approached the table with two drinks on a tray. The waiter placed the glasses down in front of them, and Kai noticed Minna's careful work as he spoke. "Jade leaf cordial with ice berry syrup."

Minna picked up the glass and titled her head in thanks. "Thank you sir." She turned to Kai and watched as he picked up his own glass and brought it to his lips, the incredible taste filling his mouth as he took a sip. "Thoughts?"

He grinned. "It's fucken amazing."

She smiled and downed hers in one. "This is nothing, wait until we get to the restaurant, and you try the food."

She stood up and offered him her hand, smiling as he wove his fingers with hers, and they made their way to the balcony. They were far enough off the ground now that the lights of life below were a blur of indistinct colour. Minna rested her elbows on the railing and he watched as her chest rose as she breathed in the night air. "I was thinking, after dinner's over, they can drop us back at one of the main islands and we can go on a night whale tour."

He had no idea what a night whale was, but he didn't care. "Ay, that sounds nice."

The smile she gave him was filled with affection. "You'll like it. It's mating season in a few months, and now that storm reeds are growing again, the males have started to adorn their horns, it's fascinating."

He took another sip of his drink and thought back to his home, how it went from lush green to hellish and barren so fast that the overgrowth he ran through as a child felt like nothing more than a fleeting dream. "You talk like I should know what all this is, I mean, what even is a night whale?"

She sighed. "Night whales are the second largest whales we have, and they mate for life. The males swim through reed beds in the shallows to cover their horns in storm reed sprouts, then during mating season, when the reeds are all grown, they use them as a gift for their mate. You can see the reeds growing on their horns through the bottom of the boat."

He thought that sounded painfully romantic, but so did everything else about this place. "Shite. So what, you just learn all of this in school?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she took a breath. "But I was also a biologist before the war so there's that."

He raised his eyebrows, there was a story there, but he wasn't going to miss his chance to impress her. "Really, what was your area of expertise?"

She was taken aback; while she could tell he was trying to charm her, his tone held genuine interest. "The planet's cave bacteria, nothing all that exciting."

He finished off his glass and placed it down, taking a moment to formulate his response, but he found himself halted by the way the moonlight danced off her skin as she watched the ground pass below. He moved closer to her and placed his arm around her body, he told himself it was because she had goosebumps on her arms, and he didn't want her to be cold, but that wasn't really the truth. "So when is the right time for me to ask you on a second date?"

Her eyes crinkled at the edges, and for the first time, she didn't baulk at him. "Let's see how this one goes first."

His heart swelled with ego, she made him feel so bold. He reached his hand up and took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and when she didn't pull away, he leaned in close and brushed her nose with his. "Can I kiss you again?"

Her lips grazed his as she smiled. "You may." His hand slid to her cheek as their lips met, and she all but melted into him as he placed his other hand on her lower back and pulled her to him. He could taste her sweet berry lipstick under the lingering of the cocktail, and if he weren't so entranced by the feeling of her soft hands as they gripped at him, he would have been pleasantly stunned by how yielding her lips were.

He was just about to nip her plump lower lip when there was the sound of rushing air, and her hand left his back as it shot out to grab the railing and she pulled away with a smile as the airship started to sway. She was grinning as he jerked with the movement, all wicked and playful, while he tried to brush off the jolt. "We're here."

He shook his head fondly. "I can see that."

Kai took a look around; the restaurant was the same style as all the other buildings he had seen, with one large central dome and two smaller ones shooting off from one side. The island was lush with plants, with rows and rows of fruit trees and garden beds, and the path leading to the front door was one long arch of trained fruit trees.

He looped his arm around Minna's waist as they walked through the door, and the maitre'd grinned when she saw her. "Minna, hello." She turned to Kai with a smile. "You must be her guest? I'm Erica, your table is this way."

She led them towards an alcove, and he was once again in awe of the amazing glass art that surrounded him. "Holy shite this is pretty."

Erica nodded. "Now you know why we let her eat here for free. Your food will be out soon."

He blinked. "No menus?"

Minna shook her head. "Nope, the chef takes a look at you when you walk in and gives you what he thinks you'll like, so if you have anything you can't or won't eat, you should speak up now."

It had been a while since he had an option like that. "Nope, I'll eat anything."

Erica smiled. "Wonderful, enjoy your night."

Kai turned back to Minna, only to find her looking proudly at the glassware as it went by. "You really did all of this?"

She shrugged. "Most of it, I trained two of the staff as well."

Before he could ask more, a waiter appeared with another tray of drinks. "Creamed sugar peach rum for the lady and mint and sliver blub vine gin for the gentleman, although you are encouraged to share."

He was gone as soon as the drinks were down, and Kai reached across the table to grab Minna's drink, smiling when she rolled her eyes. "He told us to share."

She shook her head as she acted him in kind, lifting his glass with the distinct tilt of a toast. "To sharing." Her sip was much more restrained this time, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he enjoyed her cocktail.

The light pink drink, while delicious, was a little too fruity for his liking, and he slid it back across the table to her as she returned his. "It's too bitter for me." A taste of the green liquid had him marvelling at the skill of whoever made it, it was the best thing he had ever tasted, but the cooling freshness with just a hint of bitterness made him feel like he had fallen face first in the herb garden had nothing on the way Minna was smiling at him. "Good?"

He nodded. "Amazing." He reached his hand out and grabbed hers, lacing their fingers together as she began to rub her thumb over the back of his hand. "Thank you for bringing me here."

She flashed him a smile, and he found himself admiring the fine wrinkles that formed around her eyes. "Hey, maybe I wanted to impress you."

He felt like a schoolboy after the pretty girl waved at him. "Ay, you've succesed."

The food came out next, piled high on beautiful plates that he was still scared to touch despite her insistence that they wouldn't break. Each dish showcasing a part of her planet as she explained them with pride, going into detail exquisite detail about every ingredient while he sat and listened, brewing in her words like he could taste her stories in every bite.

A different person brought dessert out, in fact, it was the head chef and owner, and while he only stayed long enough to thank them for coming, the look on her face at the dish in front of them gave him pause, she looked sad. "What is it Love?"

She cleared her throat and looked away for a moment, her eyes simmering with tears. "I'm sorry, it's silly."

He understood as she picked up the fine golden spoon and poked at the dish what she was feeling, he knew he wore that look sometimes too. "Brings back some memories?"

She nodded. "My dad." She wiggled the spoon one last time before taking a scoop and lifting it towards him. "Try it, I think you'll like it." He thought nothing of the intimate act of eating off her cutlery and did as she asked. "Good?"

He nodded. "It tastes like something my grandmother would make."

"Yeah, it's just milk, sugar and some pollen that makes it set, but it takes all day to cook. It was the only dish my dad didn't screw up, he would always make sure my brother and I got a bowl when we got home from school." He wasn't going to ask, he already knew what happened to them. She took a deep breath and smiled softly. "My brother used to heat his up so it was a little runny, I fucking hated that."

Her face was awash with emotions before she finally took a bite, her eyes sliding closed as her lips sealed around the spoon. They ate the rest in silence, his hand linked in hers as the world went on around them. When the table was cleared, the chef gave her a knowing smile from his station, and they returned to the airship arm and arm as it floated through the night sky towards one of the large islands in the distance.

****

"It looks different here." The buildings were much larger on this island, and there were wide streets lined with trees on both sides. The occasional vehicle went by, hovering above the ground as they passed. "I mean, there are cars."

Minna nodded. "Yeah, we're in the north end financial district. Next time you're here I'll have to take you on a rail cart tour to the old vault museum. The dock is in the other direction."

Kai sighed. "I still don't get this place."

She let out a chuckle. "We all have food and homes, we've got time to build museums and enjoy life."

He snorted and yanked her hard towards him, pulling her into his chest and taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "You're a braggart."

She grinned, and he admired the sparkle in her deep brown eyes. "Guilty." He leaned in close with every intention of kissing her again, right in the middle of the streets, but she placed a finger on his lips. "If we miss the tour, I will be very unimpressed."

He sighed and threw his head back. "Alright, lead the way love."

She ran her hand down his arm and took his hand in her, pointing behind her with a soft smile. "That's what I was doing."

As they got closer to the dock, he could see the soft blue glow of the water and hear it beating against the shore, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder as the cool breeze came towards them from the gentle waves.

He could see himself doing this all the time, as long as Minna was with him. "It really is nice.."

He stopped as she stiffened. She reached her hand into her purse and turned to attention to a man standing by the dock. "Distinguished guest, can I help you find something?"

There was a sharp change in the air, and the man smiled and stepped closer. "I'm waiting for the boat south, do you know when it's going to be here?"

The gun was out of her bag and pointed at the man's head in a flash. "At nine but you won't be getting on it. Get on your knees Motherworlder or I'll put you on them."

The man's hands went up, but there was no fear on his face. "There's no need for that miss, I mean you no harm."

Her eyes never left the man as she addressed Kai. "Go over to the street light and hold down the crossing button until the lights turn red." He did as he asked, and the street flooded blood red.

"I won't ask you again. There will be soldiers here in less than a minute, so get on your knees and make this easy for yourself." She was watching his hands like a hawk, and Kai moved to pull his own gun to back her up, but it was still level his hip when the man's hand twitched towards his belt, and Minna's gun went off.

There was no bang, just a strange swishing sound like a sword being drawn for its scabbard, and the man was on the ground, half his head gone as his blood left his body. They were surrounded seconds later, the soldiers he had seen everywhere rushing towards the body on the concrete as she put her gun away.

One soldier, who must have been the commanding officer, gave Minna a curt nod as one of his men took a photo of the corpse and then wandered over with a swagger in his step. "Good work. We caught his comrade half an hour ago heading towards the power station, he was taken alive."

She nodded. "You need a statement?"

The soldier shook his head. "Nope, but I'd head home if I was you, there won't be any tours tonight, we gotta get this shit cleaned up." He turned to Kai and shrugged. "Sorry man, the night whales are really something to see, but we can't have to kiddos see this."

Kai nodded. "No worries mate."

The soldier pulled something from the belt; it was a small piece of cylindrical metal, about as long as a hand and twice as thick as his thumb. Minna presented her forearm, and he pressed a button on the top, and after a few seconds, a long thin, red hot rod with a tally at the end pooped out of the bottom. Kai only had a moment to realise what was happening before a sizzle filled the air, and another black mark was added to the ring of tallies on Minna's forearm. She acted like the burn was nothing more than a bug bite as she pressed her thumb to the data pad to confirm the camera footage playing across the screen was real.

He breathed away the pungent smell of burning flesh and swallowed down his nausea as the soldier turned towards him. "You staying with her tonight or do we need to find you a place to crash?"

Kai blinked and set his jaw. "I'll be staying with the lady if she'll still have me."

Minna smiled. "Of course."

The soldier nodded. "I'll take you guys home then."

A small shuttle landed moments later, and he led them towards it, Kai didn't know what to say or where to start, and she certainly didn't look like she wanted to initiate that conversation.

He finally came to his senses and spoke when the shuttle took off towards her home. "Are you alright?"

She blinked in confusion and nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged. "That was pretty fucken intense, I just figured.. People don't walk about the Motherworld here, but I can tell something went down." He still didn't know what to say, and her eyes were pointed directly behind him as she formed an answer to the question he'd wanted to ask since he first landed.

When her eyes met his again, it felt like he was looking at a different person, the sparkle of warmth replaced with the hardness of long-calloused hatred he was getting used to seeing when the Motherworld was brought up.

"We were resisting the Motherworld long before Arthelais took up the cause." There was something so emotionless in her voice as she spoke. "Black is for Motherworld soldiers, and red is for traitors."

He blinked, very aware of how many she had. "Shite, can I ask why?" Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, and he clarified. "I mean, why keep count? The people here don't seem like the kind to advertise that."

She shrugged and spoke of the old Gods, all their violent anger and hunger for blood that left a chill running up and down his spine as he finally understood why things were the way they were. Part of him ached to reach out and run his fingers over each line, to ask her the stories behind them until she had bared her soul so he could do the same in return. "Why didn't the Motherworld obliterate the planet?"

For a brief moment, a look of shame came over her face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. "Because we're the ones that created the world ender and we gave it your leader in exchange for her forgetting about us when it won her the war." The world ender, for the longest time, it was only a story, Motherworld soldier touching down on a planet only to return half rotted and dying from a disease that ripped through their ranks like the pale hand of death itself; that was until Arthelais got her hand on a few vials of it.

"She told us she found a weapon created from the caves of a warrior planet." The realisation washed over him like the coldness of death. "Minna, Love.."

He wanted to tell her that it changed nothing, that he didn't think any lower of her, but it was like she had closed off to him completely, her explanation robotic and soulless. "When we heard about the Motherworld, we gave all the other planets in the system a clocking shield that made it look like no one could land on them. My father was the main engineer on the project, and well, the last time I saw him, they were dropping his half dead body on my doorstep."

He reached out his hand and placed it on her knee. "I was working on a cure for the disease that was killing my brother, but that's not what I created. My father didn't give up the codes, and I wasn't going to shit on his memory by being a coward. I had a hard choice to make so I did what I knew I had to do to save my people."

She cleared her throat and rolled her shoulders. "I'm not a total monster, there's an antidote, we just make sure the Motherworld didn't know about it."

He took her hand, uncaring that she made no attempt to squeeze back. "It was war, you did what you had to do."

She swallowed and gave him a nod. "That I did, every single time." There was a rush of air as the shuttle landed, and she raced to jump out before he could react. They didn't speak during the short walk to her home, and the house was peaceful when they entered, but he once again felt closed off from the woman in front of him. "It's late, and it's been a long day; you should get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning." 

In the morning, he could settle for that.

Part 4

@rayslittlekitten @laurfilijames @red-orchid

[softpine]

Two things: (1) would love some behind the scenes thoughts on your most recent post, especially regarding the background convo Elaine is having (her reactions aren't shown and I just feel like she could be so helpful in piecing some things together/formulating theories) and (2) I'm especially curious about Finn's book selection. What was your thought process when you picked them? Which are his favorites and why? Do some of the themes of the stories, symbols, lessons, or characters line up with Frozen Pines or specifically Finn's arc in general? I love pretty much every single book in Finn's stack and my brain has been going wild all day analyzing them lmao!

thanks for asking!! so originally i did include elaine's dialogue too, but i found it really wasn't necessary and i was able to include more hints by cutting out all the transitions between each piece of information. the thing i found interesting is how lucy is reluctant to speak to them about who finn was as a person, because that's where the majority of her guilt lies. asa and elaine are certainly not the only people who've asked her to talk about her son, and she must know how bad it sounds that she can't name more than 1 thing about him. it clearly causes her a lot of distress. so when asa leaves the room, elaine doesn't bother asking her more questions about griffin -- she gets right down to business, talking about the case, not the person. and lucy opens up to her immediately, because this is easier to detach from. she feels secure in the knowledge that she did everything she could after finn went missing; she has no guilt over that. here's a full breakdown of everything she was saying:

(… why I called my sister first — ’cause that’s where he would’a gone! I never thought something bad happened to him, just thought he ran off …) the first question elaine asked is "why did you wait so long to call the police?". finn ran away from the camp site in the evening, and no one noticed until the next morning, when everyone sobered up. lucy & richard didn't call the police for many hours, instead choosing to look for him themselves. lucy called her sister first, because she thought that would be the first place finn would run away to. when her sister told her she didn't know anything about finn coming to stay with her, then lucy called the police. by then they'd already lost a whole day of potential evidence.

(... come to find out, the only thing they took prints off was the cigarettes. Now tell me how that makes any sense, that a killer would stop to smoke Griffin’s own damn cigarettes? They never found ...) finn didn't smoke, but he did carry a pack of cigarettes in his back pocket at all times; mostly to look older. when his body was found, the cigarettes were also found, alongside a bunch of broken glass from a beer bottle. the police never took fingerprints from the bottle shards, only the cigarettes. this is ridiculous to lucy, and elaine agrees. the killer never would've touched the cigarettes. they used the bottle as a weapon, so if ever a fingerprint was going to be found, it would've been found there. but now we'll never know.

(... cousin was never the same. She got herself institutionalized, you know. She said she could see Griffin, hear him talkin’ to … ) this one is a deep cut lol. lucy's sister has a daughter, liz, who finn was pretty close to despite them living so far away. after he died, he spent most of his time following liz around, trying to talk to her. she couldn't see/hear him at first, but slowly she began to recognize his presence. she was terrified. eventually she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she was prescribed heavy antipsychotics. at the same time, finn decided to leave her alone because he didn't want to scare her, so she falsely assumes she was hallucinating the whole time due to grief. this is when finn got so lonely & sad he basically hibernated for a few decades.

(... damn cruel, that’s what it was. They had no right to tell me that way. No right. Treatin’ me like a murderer ...) finn was missing for 2 weeks before his body was found. the police have long suspected finn's parents are the ones who killed him. as a way to get them to "crack" they decided to inform them finn was found dead while they were in the middle of a televised interview, so everyone would see their reactions. ever since, people have judged lucy & richard for how they went completely stone cold and "showed no emotion". elaine is angry on her behalf too, because there's no possible "good" way to react to that information. it was always meant to be a trap.

(... always getting himself into trouble. He used to be such a good kid, and then, well, I don’t know ...) elaine had to bite her tongue at this part. lucy is basically saying she doesn't understand why finn started getting in trouble at school, stealing things/money, fighting back against his parents (to some extent). she still doesn't understand the gravity of the abuse she played a part in. like no shit he started acting different after his most formative years were spent in survival mode 🙄

(... ’bout two months before our old friend Chris killed himself, cops brought him in again. Yellin’ at him. Telling him they had all this evidence they don’t got. He was …) she's talking about chris porter, steven's dad. the guy who jada saw a vision of and who asa sees in spirit form every night. steven also wondered if his dad might have killed finn. when steven himself was about to die and was briefly able to talk to finn, he said: "[Chris] came home late that night drunk out of his mind, and his shoes, his pants, everything was soaked. I know they were, 'cause he threw a shoe at me and I had to clean up the mud. And he was different after that. I never saw him smile, never again. When the cops finally came 'round, I lied and said he was home all night. He was my dad, what was I supposed to say?". but lucy clearly doesn't believe chris did it. elaine remembers hearing about chris' death (it's not every day someone decapitates themselves on the train tracks) so she was more curious about what evidence they claimed to have gathered on him. she's not sure she believes it was ALL a bluff on the police's part, but she doesn't say that to lucy.

sorry that was so long omfg but to answer your question about the books: i think the prevailing theme is mostly "books a 10, 11, 12 year old shouldn't be reading yet" -- not because i think pre-teens can't handle these types of themes, more so because i wish no kid could relate to them yet. these themes include forming concepts of morality and justice, feeling ostracized from society, lacking control over your own life, complicated family dynamics, loss of innocence, and of course, abuse. there are moments in finn's journal entries where he sounds exactly how old he's supposed to be, but mostly he just sounds so much older and more exhausted than he should be. he couldn't relate to most kids his own age, let alone books meant for his age range. instead, he took solace in horror and mystery novels because of these themes. stephen king is clearly his favorite; he has almost every book of his written before 1982. he also has a TON of books that were later turned into movies (some he was able to watch, some came out too late). i can't even list them, there's so many. he loved comparing film adaptations to the original work and he was a big fan of movies in general. the really sad thing is he writes about wanting to see blade runner and that he's going to read the book that inspired it first (do androids dream of electric sheep? is actually in his stack of books) but blade runner came out just a few months after finn died, so he never got to see it :(

oh and i also was going to scan my own copy of the outsiders and create some annotations that finn would've written (which is why lucy mentioned him writing in the margins in the last post). because the outsiders was my favorite book that i read when i was around finn's age and i can seriously quote it cover to cover, so i had plenty of ideas about how finn would've reacted to it. but i decided it just wasn't necessary after all those journal entries. maybe i'll still do it for fun someday lmao

[audi0med1c]

heyy, firstly, I want to ask, how have you been? I don't really know how it is to go through so much, I'm sure that time will heal everything <3 Secondly, I'm curious abt the state of the next chapter, I can't wait to read it! I hope you feel better soon ❤️‍🩹

Thanks, yea i'm mostly just numb most days, not really sleeping all that much. I've done zero writing in probably almost 3 weeks now? In the past even when I wasn't writing I'd be watching my visuals, listening to my curated playlists for either the 'current chapter' or one of my specific character's playlists...formulating little dialogue exchanges....or finding pictures that would spark an idea for a text convo or a tweet or I'd bounce ideas of any little scenes off my creative partner....

But I haven't done any of that in weeks, nothing to even try to sink into anyone's mindset since my own mind is trying to numb itself to minimize my real emotions that I can no longer just compartmentalize while writing this story.

Here, you may have the current chapter as it stands now, there's only about 1,100 words written trying to do a brief re-cap of that very first event Murphy got Clarke to tag along to. Our first steps into Clarke's POV will START by rewinding to the beginning of summer to just get inside her head about how the whole secret hookup arrangement felt to her.

(I haven't even really gotten in her head/emotions yet in this first scene because that was where I started realizing how painful and impossible it was and just kept getting blocked. This leaves off just as Clarke is about to pull her stunt in the hallway, and as we know from Lexa's POV how this night goes with the whole 'mirror night' Clarke was quite dominant and possessive with Lexa, setting up how summer starts off much more about that power-dynamic and sense of control/posession for Clarke....)

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*PREVIEW* CH. 35- "Cruel Summer (If I Bleed)

(MOSTLY* Clarke's POV)

____________________________

(May 1st - After Clarke went home the morning after Anya's)

(Two weeks later: Mid May)

Clarke smelled something fishy the moment Murphy hit her up to ask her to accompany him to a high-profile event at The Arts House.

She had an inkling, but just had no way of proving Lexa was somehow involved until they arrived, and their eyes met across the venue for the first time.

"How much she pay you to bring me here tonight?" Clarke asked out the corner of her mouth, as the pair reached for some champagne off one of the circling trays.

"Ugh!" Murphy feigned offense, taking a sip, "I resent the accusation that I can be bought."

"So she didn't pay you....?" The blonde repeated, watching Lexa casually carry on with several people across the way, looking stunning in a very short black dress, her hair pulled neatly back into a sleek, low bun.

There was SO much skin on display, the blonde's eyes could not stop roaming up and down that hourglass figure but mostly over those strikingly long legs, and Clarke coulda sworn the girl was standing angled so that both her arm and back tattoos were facing the pair looking on.

"I told you, this is a perk of my new job!" Murphy nodded at some random guy passing by like he knew them,

"Your new job that you can't tell me about?"

"I did tell you."

Clarke uses her fingers for air quotes, "In the entertainment industry" is not exactly a job title.

"It's doing what I was doing before....just, for different people."

"You were a PA." Clarke says flatly.

"And now I personally assist RICHER people!" Murphy says smoothly, "How hard is that to understand?"

He really was made for this though. Out of the whole friend group, he could definitely be a professional schmoozer. However she saw right through whatever this whole arrangement clearly was that Lexa must've concocted, but it was fun seeing how far he would push his blatant lie.

Except it wasn't like she had any idea what she was actually supposed to do here, since she sure as hell wasn't about to walk straight up to Lexa in front of everyone. So she continued teasing Murphy.

"And those richer people needed you to come to this event tonight because...."

"To network on their behalf!"

"And what exactly are you networking for them?" She grinned and squinted her eyes.

Shifting his weight, Murphy continued looking around the room while sipping from his glass. 

"My new employer expects a certain level of privacy and decorum with regards to conducting business on their behalf." He said in his best professional tone and smooths his hands over the front of his suit, which looked brand new and like it cost several thousand dollars. More than Murphy has probably spent on dress clothes his entire life combined.

"Now if you don't mind...I need to go network...uhhh over there." He gestured in the direction of where one of the waiters holding a tray of caviar and scallops was standing.

"Oh yes" Clarke chuckled, "Looks like some very important business to be discussed over there."

Once she was left standing alone, she meandered on the outskirts of the crowd, keeping a watchful eye on a particular actress, trying to figure out exactly what her game was here.

When she finally saw Lexa disappear into a dark, secluded exhibit room, she decided that was her chance to move in. The room was extremely dark, and luckily there was no one else currently in there so Clarke felt brave enough to walk directly up to the brunette in the far back of the room.

"You think you're slick, huh?"  She said in a low voice once shoulder to shoulder with her ex.  Just the close proximity already had her whole body vibrating in anticipation.

"Don't know what you mean?" Lexa replied nonchalant. Just hearing the purr of her lower register had Clarke's skin tingling.

They both stayed looking ahead at the art installation in front overhead of them, some sort of space display.

"You Murphy's new employer?"

"Of course not."

Lexa was playing it cool, and goddammit was she smooth as ever with her line about inviting Clarke to such an event so that she herself could have something beautiful to look at.

The blonde wanted to hate how cheesy it came out except it stirred up enough flutters in her stomach she thought her feet might be lifted off the ground.

She wanted to roll her eyes and not give her ex the satisfaction of knowing how well it worked but not nearly as bad as she wanted to push the girl up against the nearest wall and kiss her breathless.

Most of the remaining night Clarke spent eyeing Lexa across the room, watching the actress keep mostly to herself along the outskirts of the crowd, while the blonde politely accepted blatant advances hidden behind corporate pleasantries from a handful of middle-aged men.

So far no one recognized or knew who she was, and she sure as shit was not about to offer up her real name if asked - instead giving the man her two middle names instead.

It was increasingly hard to concentrate on anything being said to her, feeling those eyes locked onto her from across the room.

"And what is it you do Ms.....?" A rather handsome Marketing exec asked her. 

"Jane." Clarke answered his attempt to get her name, "Eliza Jane."

The man nodded and she believably explained that she worked in fashion, feigning interest enough to not be rude, before excusing herself to the ladies room. 

She was counting on being followed. 

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^^So.... there you guys go. I started writing that about 3 weeks ago... and haven't been able to continue since. It feels weird to be so upset with my own character haha but yea me and Clarke just....not on good terms so writing her POV may take a little while.

Now if there's any real-life Costia's around.... uhh... hmu

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (222/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball,  which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made  on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: This story This story takes place about 66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[9 May, Age 791. The Tuffle Planet.]

To overcome a grave threat to history, the Time Patrol recruited two of the Legendary Super Saiyans: Luffa and her successor, Son Goku. After defeating the evil Demigra, the two of them decided to fight an epic battle on a replication of Planet Vegeta in an isolated time fragment.

The battle had been as intense as anyone could have expected, but things took a strange turn when Goku underwent another incredible transformation. Luffa had feared for his safety, and Goku could not explain himself until after the change was completed. Now, he stood before her, ready to continue their fight.

"Super Saiyan 3?" Luffa asked. She had been gawking at him for some time, struggling to find the right words. All she could do was repeat what Goku had told her and add: "What the hell?"

"I guess you weren't expecting this form either," Goku said with a grim chuckle. Despite his smile, there was something forboding about his voice. Even when he spoke pleasantly, there was an air of menace in his tone. You already saw me in action as a Super Saiyan 2, though, so this can't be too hard to understand. This is the next level beyond Super Saiyan."

"I know how to count, Kakarot!" Luffa snapped. "That's not the point! I didn't think you had another transformation because I thought you would have used it a long time ago!"

"Yeah. To tell the truth, I wasn't planning on using this one," Goku said. "It seemed like I could make this work as a Super Saiyan 2. Turning into a Super Saiyan 3 isn't easy, and I wasn't sure it'd be worth the risk. But you just kept on getting stronger, Luffa, and I decided I had to try."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Luffa asked. "It took so long. All that time you were powering up, I thought… I thought you were going to die…"

"You did?" Goku asked.

"I was shouting at you the whole time," Luffa said. "Begging you to stop. I tried to stop you myself, but that didn't work."

"Sorry about that," Goku said. "I didn't even notice you. Turning into a Super Saiyan 3 is pretty… intense. But I guess you saw that for yourself."

Luffa nodded. She didn't bother mentioning how she had attempted to contact him telepathically, or how she had accessed the thoughts and feelings running through his mind during the transformation. Seeing him now, confident and secure in his strength, she felt like a fool for worrying about him at all.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "So," she said, "is this it? Is there a fourth one I need to be worried about?"

"Maybe," Goku said, "But if there is, I don't know how to do it. Besides, Super Saiyan God seems like the better way to go, if I can ever figure out how to do it on my own."

"All right then," Luffa said. "Let's continue."

"Are you sure?" Goku asked. "You seemed pretty upset. Your hands are shaking. If you want, we can pick this up later and--"

"I said 'Let's continue', Kakarot," Luffa growled. "I've come this far. I'm not about to back down now!"

"As you wish," Goku said. "Heh. You're really something, Luffa."

They both floated down to the ground, and touched down at the same time. Luffa readied herself to fight, while Goku stood there, fifty meters away, simply watching her with his arms hanging at his sides.

She did not let that concern her. In the time it had taken them to talk, Luffa had managed to formulate a reasonable guess as to how strong Goku had become. If she was right, then it would be a challenge to stand up to him, but she still had two advantages.

First, she suspected that this Super Saiyan 3 form was unstable. Goku had been reluctant to use it before, and now that he had committed, it was likely that this was the only card left he had to play. If that was so, then Luffa only had to survive Super Saiyan 3 long enough to find and exploit its weaknesses.

Second, Luffa had become stronger as well. She couldn't transform into these "ascended" Super Saiyan forms the way Goku could. Her "Super Saiyan 1" was the best she could do, but it had still been enough to push Goku this far. Unlike her successor, Luffa's ki capacity steadily increased for the duration of her time in the transformed state. The longer she stayed a Super Saiyan, the more powerful she became. And it had taken Goku a long time to complete this new transformation. The whole time he was screaming, Luffa's body had been getting stronger all on its own. And she would continue to get stronger from here.

The question was, could she hold out long enough to surpass Super Saiyan 3, the way she had outstripped Super Saiyan 2? If Goku managed to do enough damage, then Luffa might be forced to power down to her base form. She could transform back into a Super Saiyan, but the ki capacity she had accumulated would be lost, and she would have to start over.

In short: The longer this battle went on, the more it would favor Luffa. Goku would try to take her down quickly, and she had to play defensively until she surpassed him or he collapsed from exhaustion, whichever came first.

Fortunately for her, she had been fighting him this entire time, and she had seen everything in his arsenal. There was very little he could do to surprise her now, and no matter how much faster he had become, she was sure she could roll with the punches long enough to outlast him.

They stood apart for a few tense moments, and finally, Goku crouched and drew back his right arm.

"I might as well start it big," he called out.

Luffa made a confident smirk. His posture had given it all away. He was going to try for another Kamehameha. It was his signature technique, and he had demonstrated just how versatile it was in his practiced hands. But Luffa had experienced plenty of Kamehameha waves before. This would be the biggest, fastest Kamehameha she had ever dealt with, but she was sure she could counter it, as well as any follow-up attacks.

But as she readied herself, Goku suddenly flipped the script. He was not crouching to brace himself for a ki blast. Instead he leaped toward her, and threw his fight hand forward.

"DRAGON FIIIIIIST!" he shouted.

Luffa's entire strategy suddenly crumbled. She leaped backward, desperate to put more distance between them, but it was almost impossible. Goku seemed to be closing in her no matter how hard she tried, and there was more to his strike than a simple punch. For out of his right arm, there came a burst of golden ki energy that coalesced into a long, tubular shape.

Within moments, it took form, and a golden image of Shenron now flew from his fist to her face. The dragon moved like a striking serpent, only much, much larger.

It overtook her so quickly, that Luffa found she had no other choice than to try to block it, and grabbed the dragon's snout in both hands. This did little good, as the dragon continued to push against her, even as she tried to use its own momentum to carry her forward. It made little sense to her, but she had no time to puzzle it out.

For as she struggled to fend off the dragon's head, the coils of its long, serpentine body began to loop and wave all around her. To Luffa's horror, she found that she was being boxed in. If she did not get clear soon, there would be nowhere for her to go.

"Aghh! Rrrnnngghhh!" was all she could say as the attack continued. There seemed to be no way to slip out of the path of the Dragon, and the coils kept tightening around her. And then, finally, she made a terrible shriek, and the dragon surged forward, pressing its body around its prey. There was a pause, and then the entire ki dragon vanished in a tremendous explosion.

All that remained was Goku, who now stood, seemingly victorious, on the ground directly beneath Luffa's position. His fist was raised high in the air, and an observer might have mistaken his pose as a celebration of triumph. But he quickly shifted to a defensive stance as his blue eyes darted back and forth. As dramatic as the attack had been, he was not convinced that it was decisive.

The answer soon revealed itself when an arm thrust out of the ground and grabbed Goku's boot. Luffa emerged beneath him, and before he could react, she blasted away at his face with a burst of rapid fire ki blasts. Goku blocked them with his arms, and kicked away from her with his other leg, then hopped away to ready his next move.

Luffa floated out of her hiding place to face him. As her lower body came into view, it was clear that she had not escaped the Dragon Fist unscathed. Her right pants leg was reduced to yellow tatters, and there were trails of blood from her thigh to her boot.

"No way!" Goku said. "Not even you should have been able to stand up to that kind of attack!"

"If it's any… consolation, Kakarot," Luffa said through gritted teeth, "I didn't exactly 'stand up' to it. You really messed up my leg. I don't think I can put any weight on it."

As she spoke, she ran her hand over her quadricep and winced.

"Are you okay?" Goku asked. "We can stop this right now and get you a senzu bean--"

She brought her hand up from her leg and licked the blood off of her gloves.

"Ewww…" Goku said, curling his lips with disgust.

"For shame, Kakarot," Luffa said, "We don't stop… ergh!…. until we have a winner." She then wiped her blood-soaked hand through her hair, tinging the golden glow with red streaks. Then she pointed at him and made a vicious smile.

"In case you hadn't noticed," she went on, "I'm still getting stronger, Kakarot. I may not be able to stand, but I can float around just fine. If you've got a problem with that, then come on! Finish me off."

"I tried," Goku said. "That Dragon Fist was supposed to be my closer. To be honest, I don't think I could pull off another one."

"I thought so," Luffa said with a bitter laugh. "Your new form is impressive, but you can only do so much with it before you have to power down. Well then, it looks like you'll have to finish this the old fashioned way." She held out her hand and curled in her fingers to invite him to come forward. "If you still dare," she added.

"The old fashioned way, huh? Well, whatever works!"

Despite Luffa's bravado, she made sure to fly back as Goku approached, hoping to soften the blow of their inevitable collision. It scarcely mattered, as Goku's strikes were too fast for her to dodge and too strong for her to block. As they rocketed across the ruined steppe, Luffa found herself being overpowered.

She spun around in mid-air, using her tail to grab hold of one of Goku's arms, and pulling herself out of the line of fire. As he tried to catch her, she managed to get onto his back, where she wrapped her legs around his torso and desperately plunged her arms through his hair to get a hold of his neck. A rear naked choke might have seemed like a disappointing way to win a fight like this, but by this point Luffa was willing to take anything she could get.

It nearly worked. Luffa managed to get her arms cinched around his throat and squeezed for all she was worth. Her left leg felt like it was on fire, but she blocked out the pain and focused on the satisfaction of cutting off the circulation in Goku's carotid artery. He reached over his shoulders in a desperate effort to grab her and throw her off, but Luffa was small enough to avoid his hands.

Then he teleported. Luffa had experienced the Instant Transmission technique before, when Goku had taken her from Earth to King Kai's Planet during the Demigra crisis. It was a disorienting experience, but she knew for certain that she was exactly where she needed to be relative to Goku's body. He could not shake her loose that way. As long as she was in physical contact with him, wherever he tried to go, she would still be there.

He teleported again. It did not matter. Again. It did not matter. By now, Luffa was concerned that she had misapplied the hold. She was sure that he would have fallen unconscious by now. Then she noticed the shadow above them. Over Goku's shoulder, she saw the scenery receding into the distance.

Before Luffa knew what he had done, she slammed back first into a mountain. The Instant Transmission was never meant to remove her at all. He was simply trying to get close enough to something solid before he passed out. As Luffa shook her head to recover from the impact, she found herself embedded into the rock, and saw Goku floating in front of her with his open palm aimed at her face.

With a sharp cry, Luffa suddenly released an intense burst of light. The flash had only a trivial offensive power, but it was enough to temporarily blind Goku and distract him long enough for her to duck under his arm. She tackled him and tried to slam him down into the rocky ground below.

At the last moment before impact, they suddenly came to a halt, and Goku released an explosive wave to drive Luffa off his person. She tumbled away from him, but fired a barrage of ki blasts at him the entire way. Goku chased after her immediately, batting her attacks away like they were leaves in the wind.

His hands were glowing yellow, with such intensity that Luffa couldn't even make out his fingers.

"Rrrraahhhh!" he shouted as he brought his hands forward and blasted Luffa with a beam of energy wider than she was tall. She flew as fast as she could to stay ahead of it, then charged her own ki into her good leg. When she was ready, she kicked the head of the beam, splitting it into two halves, which separated and continued on in opposite directions.

Goku was already on top of her, giving her no time to rest. Now he was shooting ki blasts in a wide field, as though trying to box her in. This at least, was a bit of a relief, for Luffa had a great deal of experience in battling multiple hostiles in the air. She weaved through his fire like a needle and thread, and while she could have used the opportunity to get to a safer position, she pretended to be trapped for a bit longer so that she could play for time.

So far, it seemed that the main feature of Super Saiyan 3 was that it allowed Goku to wield major ki attacks more judiciously than ever. In his lower forms, Goku would have tried to lure Luffa into a favorable position before committing this much power into an attack. Now, he was slinging energy around like had plenty to spare.

Or, more likely, Goku knew he only had a limited time to use this form, so there was no point in holding back. He had to go big or go home. As much as he seemed to regret wasting power on the Dragon Fist, he wasn't bothering to conserve the power he had left.

The good news was that if Luffa could hold out long enough, he would almost certainly power down.

The bad news was that she wouldn't be getting a breather. Goku was going to go after her with everything he had until the last possible moment.

Even as she realized this, Goku suddenly cried out and launched a much larger ki blast. All of the smaller ones around it were absorbed into its bulk as it bore down on Luffa.

He wasn't even trying to box her in!

He just needed her to stay in this general area!

Luffa knew only one way out. As the yellow light surrounded her, she quickly shot off a Gallick Gun. She did not aim at her opponent, and made sure to point it away from the planet, for the magnitude of her blast would surely destroy it otherwise. Instead, she directed her fire against Goku's blast, but at an oblique angle, so that the resistance would be less than if she countered it head on. Such a powerful Gallick Gun would have been enough to finish a formidable opponent, but it was a pittance compared to what Goku was putting out now. All Luffa could do with her own attack was to drill a tunnel through Goku's blast, and then fly through it to escape out the other side. The only drawback was that it would put her even closer to Goku than she already was.

As she emerged, she realized she would have to go on the offensive. He had already spotted her, and there was no time to fall back.

With a grim smile, Luffa flew straight at him. She doubted that she could hold out for long in a melee with him in this form, but she found the challenge of it exhilarating.

She focused on his hands. As strong as Goku was right now, he couldn't shoot off a ki blast like that without needing a moment to recover. A nerve strike to his wrists could be very effective in this moment, but only if she could connect.

As she kicked at his head to set him up, Goku spun around in mid-air like a wheel, floating upside down relative to Luffa. She blocked a kick with her arm, and struggled to get her own offense in while protecting her wounded leg. She couldn't tell if he had chosen this upside-down fighting style to protect his own weak spot or to go target hers.

It didn't matter, because he had forgotten her tail. As she allowed a lighter kick to connect, she turned and swatted him with her tail, catching him on the right shoulder. The whipcrack sound and his pained scream made it all worth it.

Almost automatically, he lashed out with his left arm. Luffa couldn't avoid the blow in time and caught the full force of it in her good leg. She fell to the ground as her quadricep spasmed from the impact.

It made little difference, since her left leg was in such bad shape that she couldn't stand anyway. Still, it took away her kicks, which made Goku's reach advantage even more dangerous than ever. She rolled into a back handspring to get back into the air and raised her hands over her face, certain that Goku would press his advantage. But to her surprise, he wasn't pursuing her at all.

Instead, he was kneeling with his left hand planted on the ground, and he looked at her with a knowing smile. His hand began to glow, and before Luffa could piece it together….

The whole terrain suddenly erupted with golden energy. The only safe direction was up, and Luffa flew as fast as she could, wincing at the heat of the blast as it seemed to scald her skin.

"This isn't working," Luffa muttered to herself as she fled. "I'm still getting stronger, but he's too far ahead of me now! I'll never close the gap in time! Not like this! I've got to-- Whoa!"

As she flew clear of the destruction below, she ran right into Goku, who was waiting for her with a double axehandle. Luffa barely managed to cross her arms over her head before the impact sent her flying back down. She had blunted the worst of his attack, but it was becoming hard to tell the difference.

She flipped on her way down, and used her hands to bounce off the ground and back into the sky. This time, Luffa prepared herself for another attack. Goku was relentless in this form, and she couldn't count on even the slightest respite. And yet, to her surprise, when she looked up to see which way he would attack next, she found him floating in the air, perfectly still.

A chill ran down her spine as she realized what he was doing.

She suddenly wished he had kept pressing his attack. That continuous, relentless offense might have been her only sliver of a chance. Instead, as he stared at her, Luffa knew he was doing the most dangerous thing he could be doing in a situation like this.

He was thinking!

"Incredible!" Goku said to himself. "She's standing up to me, even at Super Saiyan 3."

He didn't take his eyes off her as he clutched his right shoulder with his left hand. "Rrnnn! She might be doing a bit more than standing up to me. I can't keep chasing after her like this, or she'll wear me out for sure… Hmm…"

As much as Goku enjoyed the thrill of using this form, he could already feel the fatigue it brought on. He would need to rest soon or his body would take the decision out of his hands. Even standing still as a Super Saiyan 3 took a small toll, but Goku had been taught several times that patience was key in a fight. The time he spent formulating a plan would be a bargain compared to what he would lose if he continued attacking Luffa blindly.

"That bad leg of hers… it might just be her only weak point. But if I try to attack it, I'll leave myself open to that tail again. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way…"

Across the expanse separating them, he could tell Luffa was charging her energy, desperately gathering her strength while she had the time.

"Sorry, Luffa," he said. "But I think I've finally figured this out."

He held his left hand over on his right side, and began to gather energy. A bright blue-white glow soon appeared, and this immediately got Luffa's attention.

"Ka… me…"

She did not run, probably because she knew Goku could follow her with Instant Transmission, or steer the attack to follow her. Instead, she continued gathering her power, and held out her hands to block.

"Ha… me…"

His shoulder still throbbed from Luffa's tail strike. He wasn't sure if he would be able to use it again before the end of the fight, but if she could fight on one leg, then he could manage with one arm. He had been there in spirit--literally--as his son Gohan defeated Cell with a one-handed Kamehameha. There was more than enough inspiration for him to draw upon.

Luffa still had not moved, which suited him fine.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Doing the Kamehameha with one hand at this scale was harder than he expected, but it still worked. The column of blue light was enormous, and it erupted from his hand like hot water from a geyser. It would be enough to doom almost any opponent, but he knew it would be useless here.

Luffa knew better than to try to take it head on. She would resist it just long enough to make it look convincing, then move to the left or right to circle around and catch Goku's flank. And since his right arm was vulnerable, it only made sense for her to come at him from that direction.

Sure enough, he felt the resistance to his Kamehameha begin to fall away, and he immediately ceased the attack and allowed the energy he had already released to continue on its path into outer space. He turned to his right and found her coming at him. The bright light of the Kamehameha made it hard to see, but her energy was unmistakable. She was reaching for his right arm, but he swung his left leg out to catch her on the chin instead. It was ironic to waste so much energy on a Kamehameha just to land a knee strike, but that was the handy thing about Super Saiyan 3. For the short time he could use the form, Goku could afford almost any blunder.

As her hand reached out for him, Goku grasped her wrist in his left hand to stop her, and felt his knee hit home. He couldn't help but smile, but then the light of the Kamahameha faded, and his smile went with it.

It looked like Luffa, but her body was all white. And then she began to cackle like an old witch.

"Whoopsy-daisy!" the ki ghost squealed.

"Oh crap--!" Goku blurted out just as it exploded in his face.

As the Kamehameha wave streaked along the surface of the planet, it gained altitude as it moved in a tangent to the planet's curvature.

Luffa was still at the head of the wave, holding on for dear life.

It was either the stupidest thing she had ever done in a fight, or the smartest. The ghost wouldn't stop Goku for very long, even if it did successfully explode, but he would still have to figure out where the real Luffa had gone, and this would be the last place he would think to look.

She would have to get clear of the wave soon, before it carried her into space. But she would ride it for a little longer first, assuming she could continue to hold back its destructive power. Her left leg was throbbing, and she knew that it would only be a matter of time before it cost her the match. Stunts like this only hastened the inevitable.

Still, she had managed to buy herself some time and space, and that was her only leverage she had left in this fight. All she had to do now was to figure out how to make use of this pause in the action.

There was no way to fight him at a distance, and no way to stand up to him in close quarters. She ran through every technique she knew, and none of them were of any use in this situation.

With a painful grunt, she began to push herself off the center of the Kamehameha, until she slipped off of the edge and fell away like waste jettisoned from a spacecraft. As her descent took her to terminal velocity, Luffa contemplated her dilemma.

She needed something Goku wouldn't expect.

A secret weapon.

Except Luffa didn't have one.

So why not make one?

As the ground rushed toward Luffa with breathtaking speed, she decided it was worth a try.

NEXT: Last Call

[highwaytothedangerzone502]

Foxtrot Alpha Alpha - Chapter 10

Pairing: Hangman x Female OC

Word Count: 1973

Warnings: Discussion of bad home life, pregnancy complication

Summary: Hangman learned his lesson a long time ago to never show his true feelings when someone's words or actions hurt him. To do so showed weakness that could be exploited, and Seresin men couldn't show weakness. Of course, there was an exception to every rule, and Jake's always came in the form of women, three in particular: his mom, Juliette Kazansky, and the girl whose name he could no longer bring himself to speak. She was the girl that got away; she was his biggest 'what if' and his biggest regret; she would forever be the ghost that haunted his dreams. Jake believed that's where she'd stay, for he would surely never see her again after what he did.

Or so he thought.

Notes: This is the sequel to India Lima Yankee; I'm using the same callsign for the Female OC as in Ghost Story because I just really like it, but they are different characters; chapters in italics are flashbacks.

Chapter Songs: Closure Low

****

Hangman

Where had they gone so wrong? Jake had only one idea, but if that was the case, then he had no hope of ever formulating an apology that could suffice to make up for it. Besides, Annalise seemed perfectly content to act like he didn't exist, now or in the past and future. The behavior threatened to shatter him, but he was Jake Seresin, and Seresin men didn't break. So he sucked it up, pretended to be absolutely fine, and kept his aviators on so no one could see the pain in his eyes.

He did stay uncharacteristically quiet, so much so that he received a text from Juliette stating: You're quiet. You okay?

He sent a quick one back that said he was, but judging by her expression reading it, she didn't wholly believe him. Juliette relented for now, but Hangman kept an eye on her. Even underneath her makeup, she appeared pale. Rooster must've noticed, too, because he continually looked over at her even when she wasn't speaking. It prompted him to text Juliette almost the same question: You okay?

I'm really hot, and I have a stupid migraine. That's all.

Been getting those a lot?

Yes... I'm heading to the doctor's tomorrow. Be on standby in case it ends up being bad, and I need someone to help me calm him down.

Jake smothered a snort by clearing his throat. Not sure I have a calming effect on Bradshaw. Ghost or Phoenix might be a better option there, but I can be there to support you if you need it.

Thank you :)

Hangman shoved his phone back into his pocket. Rooster mumbled a question to Juliette, who whispered the answer in his ear and placed a comforting hand on his thigh. He covered it with his own, lacing their fingers together. Jake's gaze involuntarily shifted to Ghost, who sat next to Juliette. He ached to reach for her hand, to whisk her away and talk everything out until they were back on more than just speaking terms. He wanted to go back to the way they were before with the inside jokes, the time spent together, and their own personal, secret way of saying "I love you."

Ghost excused herself to go to the bathroom, and it took all of Hangman's willpower not to lie and say he needed it to, just to go confront her again, ask what he could do to make her forgive him, but he didn't. However, his buzzing phone and the surprising name flashing on the screen forced him to get up and head inside for privacy. Reluctantly, Hangman answered the call with a gruff "Hey."

Matt Seresin's tired voice replied, "Hey, can you talk?"

"I wouldn't have answered if I couldn't, but do I want to? No."

"I know you don't, but Dad told me he called you last week."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"What did he tell you?"

"Uh, nothing, really. He was asking how I was doing and if I was coming home to visit any time soon, which was really weird, come to think of it."

Matt sighed. "He's not doing well, Jake. Dad had a massive heart attack two weeks ago, and he's in kidney failure. Doctors are trying to save him, but in the event they can't... I'm just saying now might be the time to come see him and maybe say your goodbyes."

"Dad hasn't called me since I joined the Navy. He never even came to my graduation. Dad wants nothing to do with me, and I want nothing to do with him. Besides, he could've asked me to visit when he called me last week, and he didn't, so no. I'm not coming down. If that's all you had to say-"

"There's more," Matt interrupted. "I caught Nick embezzling funds from the company. I alerted the cops, and he's on the lam. I know you two were never close, but-"

"I was never close with either of you," Jake snapped more harshly than he intended. Reining in his temper, he said more calmly, "But if I see him, trust me, I'll call the cops on him and will let you know."

"Thank you, but be wary, Jake. Nick's armed, and he was always the most volatile. He has Dad's temper. I'm worried about what he might be capable of, and soon, you might be the only family I have left."

"Don't tell me you want to try and make amends now?"

"It's late in the game, but you and I have talked more since you left than you have to Nick and Dad combined. I'd like to think there's some hope for us, man. Besides, I'd like you to meet your niece one day. Sophie asks about you whenever she sees pictures of us from when we were kids, and she always loves the gifts you send her for holidays and her birthday. Don't make her pay for the sins of her father."

Jake sighed, leaning against the bar. He hated how his brother made a point. "I'll look at my schedule, see what I can swing, but only to visit her. I'm not seeing Dad. Maybe you can come here too. Disney isn't far from here; I think Sophie would like that."

"We've already been looking. I didn't think it wise to tell you until I was sure you wouldn't mind us coming to visit. Hey, uh, on a different note, I saw Coyote's post that Annalise was in town. You two talking again?"

Jake scoffed. "Pretty sure she'd rather talk to a wall than to me."

"I'm going to take that as a no. I'm sorry, man. I know how much she meant to you."

"Yeah, well, I caused the accident, so I don't blame her. Did you know she dated Kyle?"

"Yeah. It was only a few dates, but she dumped him, thank God. From what I've heard, he hasn't taken it too well. I swear that guy has a screw loose and will become unhinged sooner or later. Tell her to be careful and watch out. If he and Nick pair up-"

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ghost might be in danger."

"Why am I in danger?" Annalise queried, causing Jake to whirl around. He'd completely forgotten she'd gone to the bathroom.

"Is that her?" his brother asked, bringing Jake back to the conversation, but his gaze never left Ghost's.

"Yeah. I gotta go. Talk to you later, Matt." Hangman hung up his phone and fiddled with it.

"So? Why am I in danger?" Ghost repeated, maneuvering behind the counter and grabbing a glass of water.

Hangman sighed, unsure of how she'd react to the news. "Long story short, Matt's worried Kyle will become unhinged and that you'll be in danger if that's the case, especially if he pairs up with Nick, who's currently on the lam. He wanted me to tell you to be careful and watch out."

Puzzlement etched itself onto her face. "Why is Nick on the lam?"

"Matt reported him to the cops because he caught him embezzling funds from the company."

"Oh, shit," Ghost breathed. "When did that happen?"

"Not sure, just that it's recent." An awkward silence fell over them. Jake pondered what he should do or say, knowing the things he desired to do or say would do nothing to help the situation, that they'd most likely earn him a slap from Ghost more than anything.

"I'm sorry," she said genuinely sympathetically, which took him aback. He hadn't heard her use such a tone with him since before they'd parted ways. He never thought he'd hear it again.

He offered her a small smile. "Thanks. Certainly not the call I was expecting from him. Between Nick and Dad-"

"What's going on with your dad?"

"Nothing. Not going to burden you with that whole thing."

"Burdens aren't meant to be carried alone."

For some unfathomable reason, her words ignited an anger in him. How dare she pretend to care for him when she'd treated him like shit since she'd arrived? Stoically, he replied, "You're right; it's meant to be shared with someone who cares for me, but that's not you. Not anymore. You've made that explicitly clear since you arrived here."

Before she could respond, he turned on his heel and walked out. Jake realized by the time he set foot onto the sand that he'd taken his anger over his family situation out on her, which had been the last thing he should've done. If he had even the slimmest of chances of reconciling with Ghost, he'd probably lost it in that very moment. However, he didn't have long to mull over that because Juliette's panicked voice saying "Bradley" caught his attention. His eyes barely fell on her before she slumped forward. Rooster caught his fiancée before her face smashed into the table.

"Jules?!" Rooster exclaimed, cupping her face and turning it toward his. "Jules!"

Hangman froze at the sight, a flood of memories crashing over him. Ghost rushed past him, barking orders. "Get her on the ground and lay her on her back. Coyote, grab an umbrella and get her shaded. Phoenix, prop her legs up twelve inches. Rooster, keep her head and neck still. Mav, can you check her pulse?"

Maverick did as ordered, staying silent momentarily before confirming it was there and steady if not a little fast. Ghost nodded, checking the time on her phone. "If she doesn't wake up in a minute, we need to call emergency services."

"Already have the number dialed. Let me know when to hit call," Penny said, kneeling beside Mav. Hangman sank to his knees next to Ghost, casually placing his fingers on Juliette's wrist to check the pulse himself. As Maverick said, it beat steadily and swiftly. Meanwhile, the rest of the Daggers crowded around, blocking the view from passersby and staring worriedly at the friend.

Near the forty-second mark, Juliette's eyes fluttered open, and a small groan escaped her lips. Ghost placed a gentle but firm hand on her friend's shoulder and said, "Hey, you're okay. You passed out. I need you to stay still for a bit, okay? Can you tell me your name?"

Juliette stated her name weakly, then added, "Surname is Kazansky, but it'll... it'll be Bradshaw soon."

Rooster chuckled and said shakily, "Yes. Yes, it will be."

Ghost smiled. "And we can't wait to see you two get married. What's your fiancé's name?"

"Bradley," Jules answered. "Callsign Rooster."

"Very good. And you know where you're at?"

"On the ground."

"Well, you're not wrong. I'll let that answer slide. Last question: when's your birthday?"

"February 2."

"All right, you seem pretty coherent. That's a good sign," Ghost said, sighing in relief. "Jules, you need to stay lying down for a bit, okay? We don't want to move you too soon, but once we can, I think the best course of action is to get you to a hospital."

"Bob, can you bring my Bronco over here?" Rooster requested, tossing his keys to the WSO, who deftly caught them. "Mav and Ghost, can you come with me?"

"Of course," Maverick and Ghost said immediately. The former's face was a deathly shade of white as he held Juliette's hand. 

Ghost's head turned to Hangman. "Jake, you want to come too?"

Her question took him aback, but he managed to reply, "No, no, I'll, uh, I'll get Raptor and Lightning back to the house and watch over them until y'all get back."

"Here," Rooster said, handing the house key over. Hangman took it and swallowed the rising fear in his chest. Of course he wanted to go to the hospital with Juliette, but at the idea, he quickly reminded himself: I'll be the death of her if I do.

****

Tags: @lgg5989 @shanimallina87 @polikszena @summ3rlotus @icemansgirl1999 @supernaturaldawning @thedarkinmansfield @lyannaforpresident @lapilark @getmyprettynameoutofyourmouth @simpofthecentury @shadeops21 @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @double-j @bradshawsandbridgetons @catsandgeekyandnerd @peachiicherries @multifandomcnova @fandomsstolemylife00 @bookloverhorses @mak-32 @midnightmagpiemama @luckyladycreator2 @ellamae021 @genius2050

Chapters: Chp 1 Chp 2 Chp 3 Chp 4 Chp 5 Chp 6 Chp 7 Chp 8 Chp 9 Chp 10

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[scarred-but-still-smiling]

Sleep Deprivation And Its Effects On The Immune System.

In which Pix thinks it's all over, but he couldn't be more wrong if he tried.

The third installment in the "Pixlriffs' No Good Very Bad Few Days" series

Also on AO3

Landing on the bridge of Cogsmede, Pix looked around, shivering slightly. He never realised just how cold the air was around here until he was flying through it at speed while both wet and half naked.

"False?" He called out, cupping his hands around his mouth, "False are you home? I need a favour!"

"Pix?" False's voice, cautious as always, echoed down from the clocktower. "Give me a moment, I'll be right there."

As he waited, Pix's mind wandered; it wandered to what had happened at the edge of The Great Lake, to what he'd seen before he'd awoken; cracked ribs and a mouth full of water and Scott's face barely an inch from his own. It wandered to the last words he had heard before he was wrenched from the jaws of oblivion.

"We will always be a part of you now, don't ever forget that~"

His head pulsed, and he rubbed his temples, but he knew oxygen deprivation, especially for extended periods of time, could cause neurological issues, so a little headache wasn't unexpected. In fact, he had a feeling he'd be in for worse.

Hearing footsteps, Pix looked up and saw False approaching with her sword drawn and looking at him with great confusion. "Hey, uhh, Pix? Lose your shirt somewhere buddy? Or did you lose a bet instead?"

He laughed, striking a pose with his hands on his hips, "Like what you see?" The laugh faltered, "for real though, that's a long story that we don't have time for right now. I need your help dealing with Cubfan, or rather, the creature that is claiming to be Cubfan." He gestured to the patches of sculk that dotted the bridge, "I'm sure you've seen his handiwork."

"You need me to kill someone?" False asked.

"Yeah, I kinda tried myself already but he just kinda came back, so I get the feeling I didn't do it right."

False shrugged, "Okay."

Pix's eyebrows shot up, "Really? I kinda expected it to be harder to convince you, but honestly I'm not complaining. Grab your killing things and follow me."

As they flew over, Pix tried to formulate a plan; clearly just Killing Cub wouldn't work, he'd tried that already, and he knew that doing to Cub whatever happened to him wouldn't work either, as the sculk had been a part of him for too long. He wracked his brains for any shred of an idea, but his mind felt thick and thinking as though trudging through a swamp.

They landed outside of Hermitopia and quietly approached Cub's challenge house, seeing his nametag inside, and Pix walked up to the front door and knocked.

"Oh Cub! I've brought a friend!"

Cub opened the door and Pix forced himself inside the small house, sword drawn, as False entered behind him.

"I've brought FalseSymmetry to say hi, she's also seen your handiwork; lots of sculk spreading around Cogsmede."

Cub's face split into an unnaturally wide grin, "Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it the best thing ever?"

False grimaced, "Is there a reason for it?"

Cub shrugged, "I mean, spreading the sculk is the only reason I need."

"Is that the only reason?"

As Cub and False talked, Pix manoeuvred around the room, carefully trapping Cub in a pincer formation.

"I mean, you also gotta spread the souls," Cub gestured to the soul lanterns hung in the corners of the small room.

He shot False a look, indicating he was ready when she was.

She nodded ever so slightly, "Oh is that what these are for?" She asked, "What about that one there?" False pointed at a lantern behind Cub.

"Oh, that one?"

As Cub turned, False pulled out her trident and swiftly thrust it at him, just barely grazing his side as he stepped out of the way.

Cub laughed at them, "Really?" He glanced at Pix, and Pix felt something primal in him open one eye and take notice as their eyes met. "You already tried killing me once, Pixlriffs. I thought you were supposed to be smart~"

False thrust the trident again, and again Cub dodged, jumping from the large window despite Pix trying to take a slash at him to stop him as False threw her trident after him, and Pix watched with a sinking heart as it flew far into the distance.

He and False jumped after him, gliding over to where he stood against one of the outer walls of Hermitopia. They finally had him cornered.

Glaring at Cub, Pix could feel that primal Thing inside him rear its head, could feel the very ground beneath his feet trembling, and he closed the gap between them, grabbing Cub by the back of the head and driving his sword deep into his gut in one fluid motion.

As Cub's body dissolved in his grasp, sculk rapidly devoured the grass beneath their feet, the rot spreading up his sword and to his hand, his wrist, halfway to his elbow before it lost steam.

"Pix!"

Pix shook his head, breaking out of the daze he was in and turning towards False, seeing she had jump up on top of a tree to escape the spreading sculk. But before he could respond, he saw Cub jumping down from his window again. "He's coming back for seconds, ready yourself!"

He threw his sword to the ground just as Cub came out into the open. "Come on then!" Pix taunted, arms spread wide, "aren't you just furious at me for betraying you earlier? For pretending like I believed in your insanity just to stab you in the back? Don't you just wanna tear me apart for that? Like the monster you are?" He grinned, baring his teeth and lowering his head, his voice becoming an animalistic growl and his long tangled hair falling wildly in front of his face, "Well come and get me!"

"Um, Pix? Are you feeling okay?"

Pix could barely hear False over the rumbling in the air between him and Cub that his challenge had caused, staring the sculk monster down.

Suddenly, there was a shattering of glass and a wave of fatigue washed over him, causing him to stumble and fall against a nearby tree.

Hearing an impact beside him, Pix looked up and saw Xisuma had come out of nowhere, presumably from above, and was dragging a dazed Cubfan into a hole that False had just finished digging.

Weakness potions never used to knock him on his ass this badly, what was wrong with him?

As False filled in the hole around Cub, Xisuma walked over and offered him a bottle of milk, "You okay mate? I've never seen you like this before."

Pix drained the bottle hungrily, the fatigue from the potion being washed away. He sighed, "I don't know man, I've just had a really long day like you wouldn't believe." He brushed his long hair out of his face, grateful that it was finally dry, "we gotta get this over and done with, I could really use a good night's sleep right about now."

Xisuma tilted his head, "Hang on, I just noticed but why are you-"

"Shirtless?" False walked over to them, shovel over her shoulder, "According to him it's a long story we don't have time for, so hopefully once we figure this out, he'll tell us." She looked down at Pix, "Feeling better there, Rambo?"

Pix got to his feet, "Much. Now then, how did the potion work on Cub?"

"Seems to have gotten rid of a good amount of sculk actually." She said, motioning with her head towards where Cub had been buried, "he really didn't like it. I reckon we go grab a whole bunch from Shelby and just throw everything at him and see what happens. Worst case scenario it does nothing and we need to think of something else."

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Xisuma?"

X straightened up, "Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on him. You know how to brew weakness potions, bring a brewing stand over here and get some going, just in case he tries anything."

With a nod from X, Pix and False took off in the direction of The Evermoore, arriving in record time, Shelby there to greet them having been sent a message by False on the way over.

As soon as landed in the heart of The Evermoore, Pix felt something change in him; it felt strange, like he belonged there, like the trees were calling to him. He shook his head, he needed to focus on fixing Cub.

"Pix?" He looked up, Shelby was looking at him with concern and the slightest hint of suspicion. "You okay dude?"

"I'm fine," he replied, "just distracted. Worried about Cub, you know?"

False didn't look convinced, but she turned her attention to Shelby, "You have the potions I asked for?"

Shelby nodded, "Yup! One of everything, just as ordered. Let's get back over to Hermitopia, and fast."

The two ladies took off immediately, but Pix hesitated, looking around at the trees. They had it under control, surely? Surely he could just...

A rock made contact with his bare chest, and he looked up, seeing False flying in circles above him, "Pix I swear to the void if you fuck this up..." she caught herself, "Just, just get up here!"

He launched into the air, and he and False spammed rockets until they caught up with Shelby, and the three quickly landed in Hermitopia, with Xisuma strangely nowhere to be seen.

False got to Cub's location first, removing the dirt above his head as Pix and Shelby joined her, "Oh good, he's still here."

Shelby smiled brightly as she approached the hole, placing down the shulker box and removing a few potions, "Hey there friend! I heard you're not feeling too good. Well, don't worry, I'm here to help fix that."

False took out a few potions as well, and Pix followed her lead, feeling the light hum of magic through the glass bottles, and joined the two women by the side of the pit.

Cub chuckled at Shelby's words, and Pix could feel the laughter resonate in his own chest as though he were the one laughing. "It's almost cute that you think you can beat me." he said, as his eyes swept over the three of them, eventually landing on Pix, "No matter what you do to this body, you'll only be cutting off the head of a hydra. The Deep Dark will always rise."

Pix felt every word, felt the feral Thing bear its teeth deep in his soul; oh how desperately he wanted to cut this bastard to ribbons over and over again for what he did to his city. But he grit his teeth and fought through it.

"Okay, that's enough of that." False said, thoroughly unimpressed by the speech, and threw her potions into the pit with he and Shelby following suit.

As the cloud of vapours from the splash potions filled the air, Cub cried out in pain, but Cub wasn't the only one having a bad time. With every breath, Pix's head spun and his stomach lurched.

Staggering away from the cloud, Pix fell to his hands and knees and dry-heaved, feeling something inside of him that desparately wanted to escape.

"Hey! Sorry for wandering off," a voice from above them, Xisuma, "I just realised you'd all probably want some milk!"

Pix raised a hand, grasping in the general direction of the voice, "Very much so," he groaned, "please, quickly."

"Oh boy of course, are you okay? Here, fresh from the cow."

As soon as he felt something in his hand, he quickly brought it to his mouth and drank, feeling once again that comforting wave as the potion effects were cleansed from his system. "No, I don't think I'm okay, honestly. I'm starting to think I might have an allergy to one of the potion ingredients." He got to his feet, walking over to the hole in the ground; as much as he wanted to go to bed, he had to see if Cub was okay.

"Hello? How did I get here?"

Just as Pix reached the edge of the hole, it seemed, Cub woke up. He looked down, and was relieved to see Cub's normal face and normal eyes looking up at them, full of confusion rather than arrogance or malice. He smiled, "It's a long story my friend, and honestly one you're gonna have to ask Shelby about because I'm just," he laughed, "I'm very tired."

"Yeah," Cub sounded concerned, "No offense but you look like garbage my guy." A curious tilt of the head, "Nice, uh, nice physique though. I can think of a few people who wouldn't complain if this was a permenant change to your usual look."

Too exhausted to respond coherently, Pix just smiled, nodded, and turned to leave, taking out his rockets as Shelby placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If you want, you can come over to my place tomorrow and we can take a look at why the potions affected you so severely today? After you get some rest, naturally."

Pix nodded again, it was getting so hard to keep his eyes open, he needed to get home soon or he was gonna pass out. With a few rockets, he sprung into the air and headed in the direction of The Ancient Capital, the cold air in his face just enough to keep him alert as he raced with the setting sun to get back.

He managed to stay conscious long enough to land next to Winchester, who was perched up on one of the walls around his cow pen. But, before he could register why that was, the last ounce of strength left him, and the last thing Pix felt as he passed out from sheer exhaustion, was his face sinking into a patch of sculk as he hit the ground.

He found himself floating above the ancient city again, just like earlier that day when he had drowned. He tried to speak, to call out to whatever the voices from last time were, but he couldn't, even in this dreamscape, and when he felt his face to figure out why, he found his mouth was completely filled with sculk

The voices spoke.

"It was very rude of you to take our vessel away from us, mortal."

Pix felt multiple presences all around him, growing closer and closer.

"However, now that we aren't distracted by it, and now that sufficent time has passed to prepare, that will not matter."

The many coalesced into one, and Pix could feel something right behind him, but found himself unable to look.

"You will serve us just as well~"

At that, Pix felt something sharp pierce directly through his heart from behind and come out through the front of his bare chest; a spire of sculk, one that spread out tendrils of corruption across his flesh.

Suddenly, he felt the presence vanish, and Pixlriffs was alone in the dark of an ancient city with only pain for company.

[original-orbus]

Stories from Argo Academy part 2

Once again crossposted on A03. Will link that and the last part at the end.

Hello once again, and welcome to my 3 a.m. writing, Sesh. Today I have for you a follow-up or parallel chapter following Josephine. To set the scene, this is the second part of a three- or four-parter, setting up Argo Academy and opening the floor to more demigod stories. Don't worry though; you will still see a lot of these two after this resolves. Also, I don't know how to denote text messages in writing, so I will place them in these things until I get a better idea.

Being a child of Poseidon comes with its ups and downs. On the one hand, you have an incredibly powerful heritage, only truly rivaled by the children of the other big three. But on the other hand, you are perpetually stuck in second place, always falling behind someone or something.

For Josephine, this wasn't as big a deal; she was always comfortable where she lay, able to satisfy her desires, and fit wherever she needed to be. However, there were times when even she would look towards someone else and wish that maybe she could stand where they stood, have what they had, or perhaps even drag them down to her level. She was like the ocean in those kinds of ways, fluid and warm, but also greedy and envious at times.

There had been a lot of that this week. First, she had to deal with a transfer camper practically hanging off her partner Charlie (the son of Apollo), which, all in all, wasn't actually that bad, but it set a precedent for the week to come. Then she got into a fight with a son of Zeus over bathroom cleaning duty, where she so desperately wanted to emulate a previous Poseidon child and blast their ass. And to top it all off, tonight her frustrations almost boiled over because her friends cancelled their night out at the last minute, only to go out with their other friends. Maybe this last one wasn't as bad, but she had been looking forward to tonight, giving her a much-needed escape from her camp responsibilities for just one night, and so to have it pulled out from beneath her left her feeling some type of way.

So now she lay upon the roof of her cabin, staring up into the night sky, watching the stars, and trying to get her mind off her woes. It wasn't as easy to see the stars out here as it was back home, but at least laying here like this brought her back then momentarily.

She couldn't help but remember those nights every now and then, back when she still lived out at sea, when nothing else mattered besides the metal beneath you and the dark waters around you. Back then, it was just her and her mom, living off the sea for half the year and staying on the mainland for the other half.

As these memories rose within her, she began to feel the sting of saltwater in her eyes once again as she clenched her jaw and fought to stay afloat as the waves came crashing down inside her.

After what seemed like an eternity but was most likely just a matter of minutes, Josephine regained control of her vessel and stilled the waters.

She would sit up from her position on the roof and look out over the camp, the place she called home for half her life, and something she had been musing about for weeks would click into place.

Despite every bad thing she's experienced since coming here, Camp Half-Blood was truly home to her.

But it was time to move on, to find something better. She would push herself off the roof as she pulled out her phone, steps of water forming underneath her as she formulated a message to send.

~If you are receiving this message, then I think you would be interested in what I have to say. I love Camp Half-Blood, but despite that, I'm leaving camp. I'm hoping to go out there and create something new, another safe space for demigods. I don't know if I will succeed, but I feel like it is something I must do. I am extending an invitation to you all, whether you choose to accept it or not. If you are interested, meet down at the lake at midnight.~

As she typed and erased, and typed and erased, she would make her way over to a familiar cabin, covered in colors that seemed to drain life out of everything around it. The Hades cabin is the home of Kenneth Michael Armstrong.

Unfortunately for her, as she climbed the steps towards the front door, she would find her friend missing. Normally, at this time of night, she could find them sitting on the steps of their home, sketching whatever ends up wandering through the night. Tonight instead, all she found was Kenneth's personal Undead, Arthur, cleaning up the empty cabin. As she approached, Arthur would look up slowly before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders before returning to the task at hand.

Despite this setback, Josephine would type out another text to her dear friend before waving to Arthur and doing an about face to walk off.

~Hey Ken Ken, I stopped by your cabin on the way to the lake but found you weren't home. I'm going to assume you went out and lost track of time. If or when you get back tonight, let me know. We need to talk.~

As Josephine walked the path towards the lake, she would feel the shadows shudder beside her as a familiar presence appeared beside her and matched her stride. She gave Kenneth a quick glance, immediately placing the frost covering their clothes and the snow dusted throughout their hair.

"Aww, I'm sorry, did I interrupt your trip to the tundra? I'll try to keep it quick so you can go back." Josephine would tease her friend as she reached out to brush some of the snow away.

"If you must know, I decided to stop by the arctic to see some penguins, and I would really like to get back to them. They’re almost ready to accept me into their pack." Kenneth would respond back in kind, their voice rough as if it hadn't been used in a few days. "Anyway, what's this about? Did something happen?"

As Kenneth spoke, they would take note of the state of Josephine’s eyes, seeing the telltale signs of her crying. Silently, they would reach into the shadows around them before retrieving an ice cream bar from his stash for her, to help her feel better.

In response, Josephine would pass her phone over to Kenneth in exchange for the ice cream bar, with her phone screen open to the message she sent out on the way over. She took the time when Ken was reading to begin snacking on the sweet treat.

As she ate her treat, Josephine would once again look over at Kenneth. It was moments like these that reminded her why she loved them so much. If it were anyone else, they might have made a big deal out of it or even not noticed that she had been crying. But Kenneth always seemed to notice and offer silent support until she needed or wanted to talk.

"Oh, you're working on Argo again? I can't say I'm surprised, but what decided it?" Kenneth had previously been Josephine's partner in crime when it came to working on Argo stuff, so they immediately recognized what this meant. After reading through the message once more, they opened up the member list of the group chat to look over who was recruited.

"I don't know, Ken. Something finally clicked for me tonight. But you and I both know it was going to happen sooner or later." Josephine would briefly pause in her speech, her tone full of certainty and emotion. "Despite everything, this place just ain’t right for us, and it's not right for a lot of people."

Kenneth would remain silent in response, thinking through their own feelings. She was right; despite how much they both tried to make it work, as they grew older and older, it became more and more obvious that they were mismatched.

"What're your thoughts on the recruits? Anyone missing?" Josephine would take her phone back after Kenneth was done reading.

"I think it wouldn't hurt to include a few more people, reach out, and see if anyone from Jupiter wants in. I'm sure someone from there feels the same as we do." Kenneth hadn't spent as much time over at Camp Jupiter as others, but there were likely to be people like them. "Aside from that, you have a decent split of gods, which should make construction and planning easier. Let's just hope they all show up."

And with that message, the two would continue on towards the lake, discussing the pros and cons of the different people on the list as well as possible locations to set up shop.

Alright, everyone. I think I feel moderately good about this chapter. I didn't really plan to update this so soon, but this sort of mini-introduction arc should hopefully lay the groundwork for more stories in the future. As always, let me know your thoughts, and thanks for reading. Next time, it will probably be the meeting or the aftermath of the meeting. Maybe a whole new perspective. Who knows? Not me.