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specialagentlokitty · 1 year ago

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9th doctor x reader - the pull of the wild and space

Everybody got angry, frustrated, annoyed even.

But never once had you seen the doctor so furious with you as he paced up and down the TARDIS, Rose glanced at you and you shuffled a little closer to her.

You had never been scared of the doctor, but right now you were terrified to say the least.

“One rule! That’s all I had!” He yelled.

You flinched at the loudness of his voice.

“I told you to stay in the TARDIS and what do you do?! Go running around the spaceship nearly getting us all killed!” He yelled.

“I’m sorry…”

The doctor spun around and looked at you.

“How did you even know?! We were 300 floors above you!”

You stayed quiet and he walked over to you and you backed up into a wall.

“How did you know?” He asked again.

“Just a feeling…”

He narrowed his eyes at you a little bit.

“One rule (Y/N)!”

You looked down and you looked at Rose who held her hands up and you looked down at the floor instead.

“You put yourself in danger and you nearly got me and Rose killed!”

“I was trying to help!”

“You are a liability! Every time you come with us we nearly die!”

“Doctor!” Rose snapped.

“No! Every single time you somehow nearly get us all killed!”

“I’ve saved you both numerous times! But when I seem to be in trouble where are you?! Huh?! When it’s just me and I’m on the verge of death where are you to save me?! You never do!”

“You’re the one putting us in danger! Danger seems to follow you like a cloud! A cloud of death and destruction wherever you go! Just go home I don’t want you here!”

You had tears burning your eyes, and you pushed him away with some force that made both him and Rose look at you.

“You’re right… I shouldn’t travel with you anymore. But don’t talk to me about death and destruction when you’re the one who whole civilisations are scared of doctor.”

Before they could stop you, you had left.

Rose tried to run after you but you had melted away into the bustling crowds of London and she walked back into the TARDIS.

“What’s wrong with you?!”

“We nearly died because of (Y/N)!”

“They were just trying to help us doctor!”

Rose stormed over to him, slapping him making him step back in shock.

“Apologise and bring them back!” She snapped.

Rose left as well and the doctor huffed, going back to trying to fix his ship.

You had gone home for maybe two minutes, packing a bag of clothes, and writing a letter, and then you left again, hopping from train to train and bus to bus until you found yourself walking around in the far countryside of Scotland.

You saw a man standing in front of you, arms crossed over his chest and he rose a brow at you.

“Never thought you’d come back, thought you hated the wild?”

“Turns I hate people more, take me home Demtri, please?”

He nodded and held his hand out and you tossed him your bag, then you followed him.

And of course when you reached the small settlement everybody stopped to look and the whispered among themselves.

“Stop your staring you lot.”

They all looked away and you were lead to a large tent, and you walked inside, walking over to the bed you looked down at the man on it.

“How is he?”

“No better than before you left a few months ago.”

You sighed a little and nodded your head, placing a hand on the elderly man’s forehead.

“I’m home dad…”

Leaning down, you kissed his forehead, and you took your bag back, going to the back of the tent you changed into the old and muddy clothes, putting your clean ones away.

You looked at Demtri and he smiled a little bit, holding his arm out to you and you walked over, hugging him as tears fell down your face.

“You cannot keep doing this to yourself…” he whispered.

“I know…”

Your old friend hugged you as you cried, and soon you went to greet the rest of the people who were all waiting for you.

Rose was telling her mum everything that had happened when the doctor came waltzing in, and the moment Jackie saw him she slapped him.

“Ouch! That hurts you know, that’s twice now!”

“And you deserve it! Why did you run (Y/N) away?!”

“I was angry, I lashed out. Where do they live?”

Rose stopped up, picking up her jacket.

“I’ll take you, but you better make this right doctor or I swear a slap is the least of your worries.”

He quickly nodded his head and followed Rose down the block to your flat, and she let herself in, calling out your name.

“(Y/N)?” The doctor called.

They began to look around, and it was the doctor that found the note.

“Rose?” He called.

She came wondering over and he showed it to her.

“I’ve gone home, I’m not coming back..” she read.

“I thought this was their home?” The doctor asked confused.

Rose shook her head and looked at him.

“No, she came here a few years ago, but she’s not from here. She’s from Scotland and that’s all I know.”

“No town or city?”

Rose shrugged a little bit.

“Never wanted to talk much about where they came from, I assumed maybe a bad home life or something.”

“So.. we have no clue where they went?”

Rose tried calling you a few times, and they spoke to everyone you knew, but they still had absolutely no leads.

And they didn’t know what to do as the time slipped by and there was no sign or word from you.

You in the other hand adjusted to life as it was pretty quickly, and you missed it.

You missed the freedom you had here, no laws or rules, just the rules that had been set in place for centuries for your people and that was it.

“What was it like?” One of the boys asked.

Looking down at him, you sat next to him by the fire, your eyes meeting his yellow ones.

“What was what like Otter?”

“Travelling in the stars?” He whispered.

You smiled a little bit.

“It was different, fun. I saw we are not the only different ones out there, I saw futures where we didn’t have to hide away, and futures where we never existed. I saw the past and how we lived centuries ago, and I saw creatures… things you would never believe.”

He beamed brightly, practically bouncing with excitement, and more children came to sit with you and listen.

“But if you leave who will be our leader?” A little girl asked.

“Well, Demtri will. He has been the leader thus far, and I believe he would make a good leader.”

“But you are our born leader.” A man spoke.

You looked up and nodded your head.

“I know, but I am still thinking of where I wish to be in life.”

“Does the wild not call to you?” A woman asked.

“Of course it does, it always had, drawing me back here whenever it could. But I have a taste for travel, a passion for it.”

They all nodded and you sighed, standing up.

“For now, I am, and will be your leader, along with Demtri, you needn’t worry.”

They nodded again and you slipped away, making your way down the hill towards the river and you crouched at its edge, letting your fingers run through the water.

“You worry them you know.”

“I know, but I am torn.”

You looked up at Demtri.

“Here I can be who I am, I can run as human and animal, I do not have to repress it. But there… there I am different… I do not have to be a leader..”

“It is your given right, you must run the pack. If you don’t then all will fall.”

You took a deep breath.

“I know… when my father passes I must take on his role, I know.”

Demtri walked next to you, and he took your hand giving it a small squeeze.

“You were, and always have been the leader. We will accept whatever choice you make you know this, but the people need you more than ever right now.”

“I know…”

That’s why you never went back, it’s why you never turned on your phone, never visited a town or a city, you stayed hidden deep within the Scottish highlands away from everything.

With your people, guiding them back into the right direction.

And more time slipped by, until nearly a whole year had passed, and you had mostly forgotten what it was like to live as a human.

You had adapted back, and as you crouched over your fathers grave, you ran your fingers over the rock placed at the head.

“I’m sorry I never returned sooner…”

You sat down, and you took a deep breath, closing your eyes.

Only you snapped them back open and got up, running down the trail back to the village to find everybody growling and glaring into the trees.

“What is it?” You asked.

“We don’t know, a scent we cannot recognise.”

You watched as Otter came running over, and you ushered him behind you, and you glanced back at him.

“What did you see?”

“Strange creatures… not humans…”

Your eyes widened.

“Change and run!” You yelled.

“What about you?!”

“Just go! Demtri take them!”

He nodded and they all left with a chorus of howls and barks, and you stared straight away as the creatures came through.

They stopped and they looked at you, their black eyes boring into your yellow ones.

“Leave this place, there is nothing for you here.” You warned.

“We seek the doctor…”

“He is not here, he has never been here.” You growled.

The aliens narrowed their eyes at you.

“You are neither human nor alien..”

“We live in peace among the highlands, I ask you again to leave, and never return, you will not find what you are looking for here.”

You noticed more and more coming out, nearly surrounding you.

“The doctor shall come, we have seen you with him. He will come.”

They pulled out their weapons and you snarled, bones snapping as you changed, and you dug your paws into the ground, raising yourself to stand at nearly 5 foot.

“A shape changer…” one whispered.

“We have heard legends but never seen one…” another said.

They seemed a little conflicted about what to do, torn between fear and determination, and you snapped your jaws making a few of them jump back.

“Capture it do not kill it! The doctor will come!”

The lunged at you, and you did the same back to them.

The doctor had planned on picking up Rose for another adventure, so as he stepped out into vast empty country instead of London the grin from his face fell.

“What?”

He walked back into the TARDIS which was flashing a small light at the current location he was in.

Scotland.

And he walked back outside, taking the screwdriver from his pocket to scan around, and he looked at it.

Slowly he lifted his head to come face to face with a ground of people and animals, all looking at him.

“Are you the doctor…?” A boy asked.

The doctor put his screwdriver away and he knelt down, looking into the boys yellow eyes.

“I am, and who, or what, might you be?”

“There’s creatures taking over our home, they told us stories about you. You have to help, the leader cannot take them all…” the boy whispered.

“How do you know about me?” The doctor asked.

He looked around at all of them, all with yellow eyes meeting his eyes.

“Wolves shouldn’t be in Scotland.”

“That’s what people think.” A man spoke.

He walked up and placed a hand on the boys head, ushering him back to his mother.

“Otter recognised the sound your box made from the stories he was told. It has been nearly a week, and we haven’t heard from them, not a word or a whisper, if you are what they say you are, you must help us take our home back.”

“How far away is is?”

“Not far, we were sent away for safety.”

Otter stepped forward again.

“Please doctor, help us…” he begged.

“Take me there.”

The man from before whispered a few things, and the ground split up, and the doctor was surrounded by wolves and the man.

“What are you?” The doctor asked.

“We don’t have a name, but the humans call us many names, shapeshifters, werewolves, beast blood.”

“Then what’s your name?”

“I am Demtri, I am the second leader of our pack.”

The doctor nodded his head.

“How long have you been hear?”

“Our stories tell us hundreds of years.”

The doctor gestured for them to stop and they did, and he raised his screwdriver, furrowing his brows a little bit.

He looked around and walked over to a pile of ash, and touched it.

“Dead.”

He stood up.

“Most of them are dead.”

“Then why have we not been given the order to return? What do they want with us?”

“Which way do I go?”

“Straight on, just down this path.”

“Wait here.”

The doctor began in his own, noting everything around him, and he found himself looking at a small empty village.

It must have been where they all came from, and he scanned everything, looking at his screwdriver.

It was saying there was something still alive here, so he began to walk around.

He found one of the creatures half alive on the floor, clutching its chest.

“The beast…”

“Why did you come here?” He asked.

The alien pointed at him, blood falling from its mouth.

“We.. wanted you doctor… to kill you…”

The doctor went to say something, but a noise made him stop, and he watched as another alien came flying out, turning to ash as it hit a tree.

“The beast…”

He heard a low growl, and he stepped away to watch the larger wolf come out, teeth bared, fur coated with blood and dirt.

And he quickly hid behind a tree.

Walking over to the alien, you changed back, and placed a clawed hand around its throat.

“How many more?” You whispered.

“No more…”

You looked at it, grabbing its commutations device and you killed it, standing up, you held the commutation device in your hands, pressing the button.

“Send anymore… they will die to…” you snarled.

You crushed it and dropped it to the floor, and you carefully looked around.

You let out a breathe, and you touched your side, hissing a little in pain.

Looking around, you began to double check it was safe, and you stopped next to a tree.

The doctor hide on the other side, listening as you let out a high pitched whistle.

Then you turned to the tree, and you made your way back to the village.

“I can smell you.”

The doctor said nothing.

“Hide if you want, but I know you are there, and if you do not show yourself I will drag you out by force.”

“Alright, okay.”

The doctor came out, and he looked at you, and your tired yellow eyes locked with his in shock, and you took a step away, hand holding your side.

“What happened here?” He asked softly.

“Leave, leave and never come back.”

“(Y/N)…”

“I said leave!” You roared.

“You’re hurt!” He yelled back.

You glared at him.

“We have our medicines.”

“Then why is it green?”

You looked down at your hand, pulling it away to see your blood was green, and the wound itself was slowly turning green.

“(Y/N)…”

You looked at him and dropped to your knees, and you hit the floor with a heavy thud and he called out your name.

It wasn’t your only wound, and there was a larger one along your back.

“(Y/N)!” He doctor yelled.

He picked you up, unsure what to do or where to take you, and he went to rush you to the TARDIS but he was stopped by Demtri and the rest of your pack.

“No, you treat them here, if they die they die in the wild.”

“They’re going to die if I don’t take them!”

“If they die they die in the wild!” Demtri snarled.

The wolves snarled and him and circled him and he realised he wasn’t going to be able to take you, so he stepped back and they stopped.

“Fine, then where to I put them?”

“Big tent!” Otter rushed.

He ran and the doctor ran to follow him, they had to act fast, and he began barking out orders and the people followed without question

#doctor who #doctor who x reader #doctor who x y/n #doctor who x you #doctor who imagine #ninth doctor #ninth doctor x you #ninth doctor x reader #ninth doctor imagine

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fenrisdefender · 7 months ago

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my HC for how Malcolm dies is completely different than the canon story we get. my HC is below, if you're curious to read it.

First of all, I never liked that Leandra's death was a random serial killer who had nothing to do with the rest of the story. Instead, my HC has an ongoing connection to the blood cult of Corypheus, which we know would have been in pursuit of Malcolm himself, as well as his offspring, for their blood.

When Marian Hawke was a child, she was as rambunctious as ever and even then too much for Leandra to handle alone. For income though, Malcolm traveled around South Ferelden as a healer, and was sometimes away for periods of time. Leandra herself was an herbalist and potions maker and Malcolm also sold her concoctions.

(That is how the two of them met and fell in love in my HC: Leandra was learning her craft - much to the chagrin of her parents, but she wanted something of a skill that went beyond boring nobility - and subsequently was paired up to work with Malcolm. And so it goes, they fell in love.)

So, it follows that when they arrive in Ferelden with nothing but what is on their backs (and in Leandra's belly), they choose to put their skills to use. In my HC, South Ferelden is more tolerant of an apostate if they provide community and services, since the Chantry seems to neglect the people there. They protect the Hawkes in exchange for healing and medicines that Malcolm and Leandra provide.

But as Malcolm travels around the countryside a couple of times a year, Leandra finds that Marian is too restless and rebellious to watch after while attending to the twins. As a result, Malcolm offers to bring Marian along with him to the other cities, towns, and villages across South Ferelden while teaching her about magic and the world.

While traveling, they end up trapped in Gwaren in a terrible snowstorm. It keeps them sheltered in the city for a time where Marian meets a curious older man who eventually reveals himself to be a mage. During the month or so they are snowed in in Gwaren, Marian Hawke becomes friends with this man - a fellow apostate such as herself.

His name is Quentin, and he seems kind to her.

Now, with a name like that I'm sure you can imagine that he is not, in fact, truly kind.

Hawke is subsequently kidnapped by Quentin, who has a faction of mages (including his wife) obsessed with a mysterious figure communicating to them from beyond the Veil. The voice told them to find the blood of a "Hawke." Figuring a child is easier to kidnap than a fully grown adult, they took Marian.

Malcolm, as any father would do, desperately searches to find Marian, of which he is eventually successful. However, in the process of trying to save his daughter from a cult of blood mages, he dies tragically. In his last moments he says goodbye to his eldest daughter, and tells her to run as fast as she can to safety.

Hawke, being a grieving child and bearing the immense burden of survivor's guilt, convinces herself that she cannot face her mother and siblings. She believes her father's death is her fault and runs away in the opposite direction from Lothering - back to Gwaren.

At this point, she is under the impression that the blood mages all died. Quentin, of course, survived and later turns up in Kirkwall for his revenge and rematch with a fully grown Marian. And so, that is the motivation behind Quentin's kidnapping and murder of Leandra. This all also ties nicely into the DLC Legacy plot.

Hawke stays a runaway on the streets of Gwaren for nearly three years, adopted by a mercenary group that teaches her what she knows later in Kirkwall (because it wouldn't come out of nowhere, would it?). When she finally goes home to Lothering, her family - Leandra, Bethany, and Carver - all think Hawke has been dead the whole time.

In my HC, the bitterness and resentment Leandra and Carver carry toward Hawke comes largely from her running away and "abandoning" her family after the death of Malcolm.

And thus starts the story of my version of Marian Hawke!

Hope you enjoyed my version of the story (is enjoyed the right word in a story of tragedy?).

#marian hawke #dragon age #dragon age 2 #dragon age hawke #hawke dragon age #headcanon

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lagingersnapz · 3 months ago

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Some Rain Must Fall - (Fallout Fic) Chapter 2: What's In A Name

Chapter: 2/?

In the past, Lucy sees the Ghoul for the first time in Filly.

Then, in the present, while travelling and trying to come up with a name for her new companion, Lucy and the Ghoul come across their first obstacle.

Characters: Lucy MacLean/Cooper Howard(The Ghoul), Dogmeat(CX-404), Original Characters

Word Count: 3687

Warnings: Violence, Swearing

Author's Note: I've decided to post a chapter a day until I am caught up to what is posted on Ao3, because I don't wanna spam the tags with 15 chapters of my fic right in a row, so if you want to read more than what I have on here, you can hop over to Ao3 and pick it up there. I try and post weekly new chapters there, so once I am caught up here it'll likely be the same schedule. No alpha or beta readers ever. We fly by the seat of our pants, for better or worse. And each chapter for the first 10 chapters is going to cover an interaction of Lucy and Cooper from the show at the start.

ALSO! An important note, I am going to name the sheriff from The Man From Deadhorse in this chapter. I looked around and didn't see an official name anywhere, so I took two famous Old West sheriff names and mashed them together because why not.

Previous Next

Ao3

~~~

Lucy’s face burned as she stood outside the doorway of Ma June’s Sundries. As soon as she had started to say that the mission of the Vaults was to save America, she had known she said the wrong thing. It sounded weak even to herself now that she had seen the surface, even in this limited capacity. Yet the hostility that had fallen over Ma June had still taken Lucy by surprise.

At the sound of barking she looked up and almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing in front of her. It was the same man and his dog that had showed up at her campsite before, warning her to go back to the Vault.

“You again, Miss?” His voice was soft. He didn’t sound surprised to see her, so much as disappointed. “Really think you should go home. You are not safe here.”

Lucy found herself nodding with a sigh. “That’s what people keep telling me.” She shrugged helplessly, looking back at the man’s stern but tired expression. “No one understands my situation.”

“You come from Vault 33,” he said, hardly missing a beat. “Your primary crop is corn.” He glanced up and away as though searching his memory for the information, and Lucy was too stunned to respond. “You have a Telesonic projector on your farm. It loops images of the Nebraskan countryside. You’ve been brought up in a meritocracy, where people pride themselves on doing the right thing.” He gave a quick glance around. “I think I know enough to know you need to go home.” His eyebrows rose in emphasis of his last statement.

Lucy’s mouth had fallen slightly open in shock as he spoke, her eyebrows pulled down in confusion. She stepped closer. “Who are you? And how do you know so much-?”

“Hey.” The voice of the woman from the counter in the shop cut Lucy’s questions off, and she came walking outside to join them “You Wilzig?” She was looking at the man with the round glasses. He gazed back, looking a little nervous, nodding his head.

“Let’s get you inside,” Ma June said. Then her gaze fell on Lucy, and her voice dropped to something between a hiss and a harsh half whisper. “I told you to get the fuck out of here.” Her eyes widened a little, and she gave her head a meaningful shake, like she was appalled that Lucy could have the audacity to still be standing on her doorstep.

Lucy opened her mouth to speak, to explain that she had been leaving, but that she had met this man before, and frankly she had a lot of questions for him that she would really like him to answer. But someone else spoke up first.

“Wilzig?”

All three of them turned to the source of the voice, a man, standing from a rocking chair on the other side of the market. Smoke from a nearby food stall drifted across the open space, obscuring him as he started to walk towards them. His steps were slow, almost lazy. He seemed relaxed, like nothing concerned him but the man in the round glasses standing in front of Ma June’s Sundries.

A hush fell over the market, and tension lanced through Lucy. All around the place people were whispering, and some even got up, gathering their tattered and rusted possessions and scuttling away to hide somewhere. As the man got closer, past the smoke, Lucy got a proper look at him, even if she couldn’t quite believe what it was she was seeing.

Growing up, her father had taught her that first impressions were extremely important, and this man certainly left an impression, though maybe not a good one. His skin looked strange, the texture appeared almost burned, and was almost the color of a sunburn as well. His eyes were severely sunken into his skull, on top of that he didn’t appear to have a nose. Lucy knew staring was rude, but it was hard to tear her eyes away from that particular feature… Or perhaps lack of a feature.

The leather duster that he wore looked practically ancient, the ends of it tattered entirely beyond repair. A bandolier crossed over a leather vest on his torso; leather gloves on his hands, and he wore an old cowboy hat on his head, which looked like it might be bald. The entire ensemble looked filthy, and he had a gun strapped to his back, as well as at least one on his hip.

“Now, you wouldn’t happen to be a doctor, would ya?” His voice carried over to them as a thick, southern drawl. He both looked and sounded like some sort of Old West bandit straight out of the movies she had watched with her dad. “‘Cause I happen to be lookin’ fer one.”

Ma June stepped forward. “You know your kind ain’t welcome here.”

“Well,” the noseless man said, drawing the word out for a moment, “maybe not.” He tilted his head back and the ridge of his brow rose. “But I’m gonna make myself welcome.” He turned his head and his voice rose, addressing the rest of the market. “Now, last night a bounty came in through all six agencies!” He looked back at Ma June, but quickly focused on the man behind her.

“A hefty price,” he went on. “On the head of a man that fits the description of that fella right,” he pointed at Wilzig, “there.”

Lucy’s hand inched towards the handle of her gun. She might have been new to the surface, but she could sense that something was about to happen. She wasn’t, strictly speaking, involved yet, but there was no telling what the noseless man might do. Wilzig hadn’t spoken the entire time. He looked afraid, and she felt her stomach clench a little at the sight. He had seemed so confident out in the Wasteland before, but the noseless man had him spooked.

“Now, I may not know much,” the man continued in his thick accent, “but I do know a bidding war when I see one.”

“Maybe,” Ma June said. “But I’ve been paid a whole lotta caps to provide this man safe transport out of Filly.”

The words had barely finished leaving her mouth when the noseless man’s gun appeared in his hand, quick as a snake bite, and he fired a shot at Wilzig, who’s left leg just above the ankle exploded in a mist of blood and bone bits, taking his entire foot off.

Lucy’s jaw dropped and she stumbled backwards, away from the gory mess as Wilzig let out a wail, and Ma June dove to the ground behind a pair of metal oil drums.

A grin spread across the noseless man’s face. “Change of plans, I guess.”

Lucy’s heart hammered in her ears as she looked back at the man, trying to comprehend how the situation had gotten out of control so quickly.

“I got a thousand bottle caps for whoever kills that fucker!” Ma June screamed from her place behind the oil drums. Lucy didn’t know where she had been keeping her rifle, but it was in the woman’s hands now, and she was clearly gearing up to use it. “But you don’t get shit if I kill him first!”

Wilzig was sitting on the wooden boards of the walkway outside the shop, his mouth gaping open as he groaned and grabbed at his now missing foot. People started running around the edge of the marketplace. Some were scattering to leave, but others were clearly trying to find better strategically placed spots to shoot from.

The noseless man smiled wider, looking very much like he was enjoying the direction the situation had taken, and he raised one arm, his gun still clutched in his hand. He turned slowly, looking over the people that were assembling, waiting for one to make a move. When nobody did right away, he let his arm fall again, taking a few steps as he continued to look around. His smile remained tacked on his face.

Across the marketplace, someone finally raised their gun, but before they could fire so much as a shot, the noseless man had his weapon up again and he pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed right through the body of the unfortunate combatant, hit the shack behind them, and promptly exploded, sending splinters flying and knocking their companion off of their feet.

Spinning on her heel, Lucy charged back into the shop, while behind her the sounds of gunfire continued. It seemed a little rude to use the gunfight as a distraction, but there had been something in the book at the counter that Ma June hadn’t wanted her to see, and now seemed as good a time as any to try and sneak a peek. Her dad was depending on her.

***

Curiosity burned in Lucy’s chest. Back in the dilapidated clinic in what had felt like a lifetime ago, Roger had asked how long it had been since the Ghoul had started ‘Wastelanding.’ The Ghoul had said that it had been a long time. And at the observatory he had told her father he had waited 200 years to ask someone where his family was.

How could it be possible that he had been walking the planet for over 200 years, honing his craft and his instincts? She had asked him how he lived the way he did and why he kept going. Lucy couldn’t have imagined at the time how long he had actually been going for. But the answer was obvious now. Family. He was looking for his family. Lucy didn’t know exactly what that meant, but the Ghoul had said something about how her dad had once picked up the Ghoul’s wife’s drycleaning, so it was safe to assume that he was looking for at least a wife. Did he have children? Siblings? Did he have a dad out there somewhere?

What had his wife done that she earned enough for someone to do chores like that for her? And that it was her father… She rolled his comment about if her dad had wanted another autograph over in her mind. Whose autograph? She couldn’t imagine who the Ghoul could be that her dad would want an autograph, so maybe it was for someone else? And then, of course, he had quoted the movie The Man From Deadhorse. Lucy knew that movie well enough to recognize a line from it. It was her dad’s favorite movie, and he watched it all the time. Lucy could almost quote it by heart simply from having heard it playing all the time in their housing unit. The most obvious answer was that the Ghoul had something to do with those movies.

This brought the issue of his name back to the front of her mind. He claimed he no longer had a name, and had given her free rein to give him one herself. Not only that, but the dog couldn’t stay just ‘the dog’ in her head forever. But what name might fit? It had never been Lucy’s job to name anyone before, and it was turning out to be a lot more difficult than she had anticipated.

“Wyatt,” Lucy said out loud, testing the name on her tongue.

The Ghoul cast a look over his shoulder, but didn’t stop walking. “Who?”

The morning had come and gone almost entirely in silence, and the afternoon brought an oddly muggy heat as the two of them passed by some sort of marsh. Lucy had been continuing to try and keep her mind off of the miserable conditions, the betrayal of her father, and the loss from leaving Max behind by focusing on the issue of the Ghoul and a name for him.

She shrugged her shoulders and offered a smile to his back, as he was already facing straight ahead again. “That’s gonna be your new name. Wyatt. You know, like the sheriff from The Man From Deadhorse? Wyatt Hickok? You quoted it to my dad back at the observatory.”

Now the Ghoul did stop, and he turned back to stare at her, though his expression didn’t tell her what he might be thinking about, face shadowed by the brim of his hat.

“My dad watched that movie all the time,” Lucy went on. “He was a big fan of the actor who played the sheriff, Cooper Howard.” Lucy cocked her head to the side. She had stopped as well, close enough to the Ghoul that she could really study his expressions. “Did you know him at all? I mean, like, did you get my dad an autograph from him or something? You mentioned… an, uh, autograph.” The sentence had started out strong, but she watched the Ghoul’s face darken a little, and the ridge of his brows clearly showed that if he had eyebrows they would be drawn down, his lips twisting into a sneer, she felt her voice falter a tiny bit.

For a moment he was silent, staring at her like he always seemed to, as though he was trying to decide if she was worth keeping around anymore. “Yeah, I knew him. Real people-pleaser. Damn annoying. Reminds me of someone else I know, come to think of it.” His sneer turned into a scowl.

Lucy huffed, not wanting to be cowed by his intimidation attempt. “You’re the one that told me to pick a name for you. I picked. Deal with it.”

“Oh, I’ll deal with it,” the Ghoul snapped, taking another step closer to her. Lucy wanted to put her hand on her gun, but that would hardly do for de-escalation of the situation, which she wasn’t really sure how she had gotten herself into in the first place. He had been the one to tell her to make something up to call him, after all. She waited for him to do something more than crowd her space, but he simply stood there, glowering at her for a moment, before glancing off to the side, his eyes narrowed.

The hair on the back of Lucy’s neck stood on end and a shiver ran down her spine. The overwhelming sensation of being watched draped itself over her like a thick, stifling blanket. Although she couldn’t see or hear anything out there, the Ghoul clearly had.

“What-?”

A sharp gesture from the Ghoul cut her question off before it could fully form and she looked around to see what had him spooked. The dog stood still as well, sensing her master’s unease, and her ears swiveled around to try and catch the source. Lucy still didn’t see anything.

The three of them stood in silence, waiting and listening, until suddenly the Ghoul lunged for her and knocked her off of her feet. At the same time, several gunshots rang out. Lucy had a flashback to when the Ghoul had tried to shoot her back in Filly, and Max had tackled her through a wall to save her.

They landed heavily, and Lucy felt the air go out of her lungs, but the Ghoul didn’t give her a chance to recover, hauling her onto her knees and forward across the soggy ground until they were half sheltered against a wall of stone that may have once been part of a building.

The Ghoul’s hat had fallen off and when he picked it up they both spotted a hole in the brim.

“Well, now they’ve gone and pissed me off,” he growled, drawing his gun. The dog had followed the pair closely, and was pressed into the little alcove by the wall next to Lucy, but her hackles were raised and she looked ready to charge out there in defense of them both. “Stay,” the Ghoul said, and with frustration Lucy realized she couldn’t tell if the command was directed at her or the dog. She opened her mouth to protest when he held up his free hand to cut her off.

“The third rule, Vaultie. What I say, when I say it.” Then he turned, putting his hat back on and slinking around the edge of the wall as quietly as he could. The sounds of gunfire had died down almost immediately after he had tackled her, but Lucy still strained for a sign that anything might be out there.

Logic suggested it must be people of some sort, since animals didn’t use guns as far as she knew, though the surface was just wild enough that she didn’t think she would be all that surprised at this point if Bigfoot came charging out of the swamp at her waving around a machine gun. It could have also been a robot.

Something crunched not far away, and the dog let out a small growl and hunched down, preparing to leap at something. Lucy drew her gun and switched off the safety, though she didn’t put her finger on the trigger yet, as she didn’t know what she might be shooting at. A nearby bush rustled, and she aimed the gun.

“I ask that you come out with your hands up, or I will be compelled to use force.” Lucy did her best to sound commanding. The bush rustled again, and a small form stepped forward. Whatever Lucy had been expecting, it wasn’t this. The child was young, though it was hard to gauge their age, or gender for that matter, since they were also clearly malnourished. Gripped in their little hands was an entirely too large gun, and it was aimed right at Lucy.

“Hello there,” Lucy said in a much softer tone when the child didn’t immediately shoot her. “Um, look, I’m not going to hurt you, so could you maybe not hurt me?” She held up her hands so her gun wasn’t pointed at the child anymore. “See?”

The kid was struggling to see her through thick, unkempt hair that would have certainly been blonde if not for the amounts of dirt in it. Their arms shook with the effort of holding up the gun, and Lucy saw the determination on their face falter for just a second.

“You ain’t come to take what’s ours?” they asked.

Lucy's smile brightened and she shook her head. “Nope! Look, I’ll put my gun away and you can put away yours and we can just talk. I’m just traveling through with my friend. We thought someone was trying to kill us,” she explained as she put the safety back on her weapon. After a second of hesitation the child did the same, and at Lucy’s side the dog relaxed her aggressive stance, her tongue lolling out.

“That the ghoul in the hat?” the kid asked.

Lucy nodded. “Yeah. Hey, you look tired. Want anything to drink?” She was doing her best to move closer to the kid. The Ghoul was out there somewhere, and Lucy doubted the kid was alone. “You have anyone out there taking care of you?” She took a few slow steps towards the kid and was gratified to see they didn’t move away from her, though their little eyes narrowed a bit, and they raised one hand to swipe the hair from their forehead

“I don’t gotta tell you nothin’,” the kid said, and Lucy smiled again.

“Don’t talk to strangers is a very smart thing to know,” she conceded as she moved a little closer. On the rocks above them, she heard the click of a hammer drawing back, and felt her stomach turn to stone. Without thinking, Lucy jumped forward, throwing herself in front of the kid the same way the Ghoul had done to her only minutes before, and she felt something slam into her side.

The little kid gasped sharply but dropped the gun as Lucy pushed them out of the way of the bullet, and a string of curses rained down on them both. The dog started barking frantically and bounced around at Lucy’s side.

“Gosh damn it,” she hissed out, sitting up and looking behind her. Sure enough, the Ghoul was descending from the rocky wall above, his gun still in his hand. The kid was frantically searching for their weapon, but the Ghoul must have seen where it dropped, because he stooped down to snatch it up first.

“Of all the harebrained, stupid things to do in this world, jumping in front of a bullet has to be pretty high on the list of things one should normally like to avoid, Vaultie.”

“You were gonna shoot a kid!” Lucy snapped back, her hand on her side as she stared down the Ghoul. She had pushed herself up to her knees, and her hand was pressed hard to her side, but she could practically feel her heartbeat pulsing blood through her fingers.

“Was gonna shoot the gun out of her hand,” the Ghoul growled, and he stooped down to pull her hand away from her side and look at the wound. Lucy knew that he might be lying to her, but the rush of relief she felt at him telling her he had not been about to murder a child made her head light. Or perhaps that was the blood loss.

“Maybe I’ll call you Joey, after the villain from that movie, instead of naming you after the sheriff,” Lucy said, trying to make a joke.

“Maybe I’ll call you Hazard, because all you seem to be is a walkin’ one,” the Ghoul replied, putting her hand back on her wound so he could dig through his saddlebags. “Sonofabitch,” he snarled, and the sentence came out smashed together into a single word. “I don’t think we have any stimpaks. Don’t normally need ‘em, Ms. Hazard.”

“We do.”

The voice came from right behind Lucy, and she turned to find herself staring down the barrel of a gun. She hadn’t even heard anyone coming. The child from before was standing at the side of the man who had appeared out of nowhere, staring up at him.

“If ya can think of a reason for me not to blow ya’ll’s brains out, speak now or f’rever hold yer peace.”

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mandsleanan · 10 months ago

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Article text under cut.

Elizabeth Johnson and her husband hit the vacation circuit hard over the past couple of years.

They went boating in Florida, hiking in the Swiss Alps, snorkeling in Hawaii, waterfall exploring in Oregon, and leaf peeping in Canada. They saw moose and orcas in Alaska, manatees in the Dominican Republic, and sheep in the Irish countryside.

"We also volunteer at a local food bank each month, go to comedy shows at Mall of America, routinely go to concerts," she said.

Neither Johnson nor her husband grew up wealthy, and the couple never expected to have such an indulgent lifestyle. Johnson's husband, in particular, faced "a very bleak outlook" for his career when he graduated from college in 2008 at the height of the Great Recession.

But now, 16 years later, the 30-something couple make a generous joint income of just under $300,000. That income, their hard work, and a dash of savvy investing are largely responsible for the lifestyle they lead — but there's another big factor. The Johnsons are DINKS, a dual-income couple with no kids.

The costs of rearing a child have skyrocketed in recent years, especially as parents get less help from their families and communities. Raising a kid could cost parents upward of $26,000 this year. Being a DINK has always been a way to save money, but as the stigma around the choice to be child-free has faded, more and more Americans see being a DINK as the key to a new American dream of financial stability, freedom of choice, and a comfortable retirement. DINKs are proudly emerging as an aspirational class for young people — and they're ready to live it up.

Lifestyles of the DINKs and the child-free

Johnson's Tinder profile set her on her path to DINKhood. In early adulthood, she never felt the desire to have children but wanted to keep an open mind. As the years went on, even as she saw her peers having kids, she said her "beliefs just never changed and completely solidified." So when she set up her dating profile, Johnson included in her bio that she didn't want to have kids of her own.

"I just wanted to weed out the ones I wouldn't be compatible with," she said. It worked. Johnson recalled that on their second or third date, she and her now-husband discussed the topic to make sure they were on the same page. The pair married in 2022, and Johnson said their decision to live as DINKs had been enriching.

"It makes my life more meaningful," the occupational therapist said of her choice to be child-free. "I feel like I can give more to my patients at work. I have more time to see my loved ones and family."

Beyond the emotional value Johnson ascribes to her DINK status, there are the dollars-and-cents benefits to the lifestyle. Her husband, who works in banking, is "a very big spreadsheet guy," Johnson said, and the couple track their finances "religiously." Part of that maniacal focus is tracking their net worth. The latest tally? About $1.1 million, a combination of the equity they've been able to accumulate in their new-build, suburban Minneapolis townhome and their retirement accounts.

It makes my life more meaningful. I feel like I can give more to my patients at work. I have more time to see my loved ones and family.

As an occupational therapist who works with older people, Johnson said, she sees "one of the biggest downsides to being a DINK is not having your children there to support you and help you age in place as you get older." So in addition to enjoying travel now, it's important for the couple to have "the financial resources in place to support safe living when we're old," she said.

For many adults, having children holds a massive amount of intrinsic value, but there's no denying that those who choose to forgo parenthood gain a serious financial edge. In fact, the net-worth data from the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances showed there's never been a better time to be a DINK. Child-free couples' median net worth of $399,000 in 2022 was the highest of all types of family structures studied by the survey and almost $150,000 more than couples with kids. The median net worth of DINKs was also more than $100,000 higher than it was in 2019, and the gap between child-free couples and couples with kids has only widened as prices on items and services parents need most, such as childcare and food, have spiked.

Amy Blackstone, the author of the 2019 book "Childfree by Choice," said that the financial gap between DINKs and couples with kids wasn't solely because of the choice about children. In many cases, it's also a bit of selection bias.

"It's the people who already have higher incomes, higher education, and are generally more privileged who opt out of parenthood," she said.

Still, DINKs like the Johnsons demonstrate that as the American dream of homeownership and putting kids through college gets further out of reach, forgoing children is one way to achieve the upward economic mobility that many parents find more difficult to reach. Child-free couples have more free cash flow that can be invested in real estate or stocks. And while the pandemic's fiscal stimulus left pretty much everyone with more cash, DINKs seemed to emerge victorious in the battle to grow wealth. After a few years of saving, the Johnsons are free of student debt and said they're in a financial position to start planning for an early retirement in their 50s.

"I am from a middle-class family, and my husband from a lower-class upbringing," Johnson said. "He experienced paycheck-to-paycheck living, started his first job at age 11 delivering newspapers. We feel very fortunate for our current economic stability."

Of course, not all DINKs are raking in six-figure incomes and investing in real estate. Alex Killingsworth is a 25-year-old entrepreneur building a content-writing business, and his wife is a full-time graduate student. She makes $14,000 a year as a teaching assistant, while his business earned them $84,000 in 2023. Not having kids has allowed them to invest in his startup and her higher education, both of which they believe will pay off.

"I'm 'investing' in the work I'm doing," Killingsworth said. "Likewise for my wife, almost all of her income is going into research, so our actual take-home pay is quite a bit lower."

If they had kids, paying the bills could be tougher for them. Instead, they're buying wine and whiskey, maxing out a retirement account, and taking advantage of the freedom to spend Thanksgiving in Alaska, visit family in Texas, or go to Broadway shows in New York.

"I don't know if we have any hacks or tricks here, but I have been told all of the extra income has a tendency to dry up when you have kids," Killingsworth said. "I don't know if that's true, but it's better to overprepare than under, right?"

Growing acceptance

The financial upsides of being a DINK used to come with a cost: In 1974, a substitute teacher named Marcia Drut-Davis was fired from her job and received death threats after discussing her choice to be child-free on"60 Minutes."When another school asked her to give a speech on her decision, angry parents carrying signs calling her "the devil's sister" crowded the entrance, and the teacher who provided closing remarks after the speech denounced her in front of the auditorium.

In her 2013 book, "Confessions of a Childfree Woman," Drut-Davis recalls the teacher saying: "How will you feel when you're old and alone with no one to take care of you?How will you feel without a grandchild to give you chocolate kisses? You're a sad excuse for a woman."

For decades, the social stigma around choosing not to have children has been substantial, but Blackstone said that she'd noticed a major shift in acceptance since she began research for her book in 2008.

"I would say that it's millennials and Gen Z who have really done the heavy lifting in terms of bringing this conversation out into the open," she said.

That's not to say Gen X didn't contribute to the conversation — Blackstone is a child-free Xer — but she said the younger generations' experiences with the 2008 financial crisis, accelerated climate crisis, and increasingly divisive politics made the choice to forgo kids more acceptable to a wider group.

One 2022 Nature paper from the researchers Zachary P. Neal and Jennifer Watling Neal found that nearly half the adults they studied were parents and 22% were child-free by choice. The rest were ambivalent, undecided, unable to have kids, or planning to have them. In the 2020 US census, 87 million Americans were between the ages of 20 and 46. If you apply the findings from the Neals' study, that means roughly 19 million millennial and Gen Z adults of childbearing age were child-free by choice. That same research, which polled 1,500 Michigan adults, found that while parents felt warmer toward fellow parents, "both parents and child-free people feel about the same toward child-free people." The report concluded: "Although parents really like other parents, they don't dislike child-free people."

Sentiment actually seems to be shifting in the opposite direction: In a summer 2022 Harris Poll of 1,054 American adults, 20% of all adults — and 27% of millennials — agreed "that people should stop having children because of the harm it causes," specifically the harm to the environment, animals, and even other people. Similarly, about one-third of all adults — and over 40% of millennials — said that they agreed "people should stop having children because their children's quality of life will be poor."

And then there's social media and our identity-obsessed culture. Child-free people now have more and more platforms to connect with each other and flaunt their no-kids lifestyles of extensive travel, impeccable homes, and spoiled pets. The communities devoted to a child-free lifestyle are booming: The subreddit r/childfree, focused on "topics and links of interest to childfree individuals," boasts 1.5 million members. TikTok videos about DINKs rack up millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes. DINKs, GINKs, "rich aunties," and DINKWADs — DINKs with a dog — have become aspirational identities for younger generations.

We hang out with other people's kids every once in a while, but then we happily just give them back to their parents.

Stigma against DINKS certainly remains — just look at the comments of "selfish" and "missing out" on child-free TikTok videos. But they're overshadowed by comments of support. As Blackstone, who wrote the 2021 book on the topic, said, what happened to Drut-Davis wouldn't happen today.

"I've gotten the random email telling me that I'm miserable and going to die alone or that I'm right, I shouldn't have kids anyway," she said. "But nothing like what Marcia got in the 1970s."

With the rise in childcare costs, education, and other parenting expenses that have outpaced inflation, it's hard to deny that a two-track economy has emerged. There are the DINKs who can seize the American dream and the parents who are struggling to stay afloat in a country without guaranteed paid leave or affordable childcare. It's no wonder that so many people are suddenly interested in becoming a DINK.

Johnson said that her DINK lifestyle kept her plenty busy. She invests time in her hobby of landscape photography, and though she's questioned whether it's a selfish choice, she overall feels more "well rounded and healthier" than she would if she had kids, she said.

"We hang out with other people's kids every once in a while," she said, "but then we happily just give them back to their parents."

#Childfree #Live Deliciously #Happy Hedonism #Dink Life #No kids

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shiningdesignersreflections · 10 months ago

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Chapter 4: Revisit

Narrated by Lingwu.

~Content Warning: animal abuse~

Narrator: I travel around in Cloud after leaving Yue Prefecture City.

Narrator: I listen to policy debates at Cloud Capital Academy, and I work alongside farmers in the countryside.

Narrator: The distant desert of Lor River carries in its depths beautiful legends, and the smoky rain of Zither River plays like a piece that never ends.

Narrator: On my trip, I run into disasters and epidemics, and I bear witness to peace and celebrations...

Narrator: Just when I think I have grown more worldly, I find myself still clueless when I'm back at Yue Prefecture City.

Narrator: It is New Year's Eve when I return. There aren't many people out on the streets because most people are enjoying their time with families at home.

Narrator: Snowflakes fall on the renovated streets, and people's homes are shining with warm lights. The years that have passed seem to have healed the wounds of war.

Narrator: It's then that I see a man lying on the roadside... right in front of a clinic. Strangely enough, nobody knocks on the clinic's door for him.

Narrator: I help him stand up and knock on the clinic's door, and out comes a child. When the child sees the man, he immediately wears a disgusted frown.

Child: Sir, please just leave him alone! He's done all the bad things you can possibly imagine, and he's just going to keep harming people if he's back on his feet!

Lingwu: But he needs help, and your family runs a clinic...

Narrator: The child, however, looks more upset now. He doesn't seem to want to hear any excuses.

Child: You can't treat a person who's rotten all the way down to his core!

Child: You see, this man broke into our clinic a few days ago when only Grandfather and I were at home, and this man broke my dog's legs when it caught him red-handed!

Child: My poor dog... Anyway, this man won't be getting any treatment from us!

Narrator: The boy slams the door shut.

Narrator: Looking at the man I'm trying to help, I grow hesitant.

Narrator: He reminds me of the young man I saved years ago... and the young man's devilish face and the faces of all those innocent people who died by his sword.

Narrator: Those innocent people died all for a deed I thought would be benevolent, but what about this time? Should I save this man?

Narrator: Would he end up inflicting pain on people again if I save him?

Narrator: I stand for a good few moments in the snow... until the man starts mumbling.

Narrator: He's trembling as his face grow paler by the second. Apparently awoken by the pain, he raises his head to look at me with imploring eyes.

Narrator: But I can't just leave him to die.

Narrator: I clench my teeth together and decide to carry him to a different clinic.

Narrator: Guess I'll just keep tabs on this guy and school him when he crosses the line again!

Narrator: The man wakes up two days later. I wasn't there when he woke up, but I'd asked a staff member there to tell the man what I expected of him.

Narrator: A few days later, I see the man personally going back to the first clinic to apologize to the family.

Narrator: His apology doesn't sit well with the family, however, but the man isn't upset. He even chops firewood and leaves it at the clinic for the family to use.

Narrator: He finds a daytime job and spends his very first salary buying rice and noodles for the orphans living at a local temple.

Narrator: When I see him praying to the Buddha statue, it seems to me that he's really learned his lesson.

Narrator: I'm observing him from the temple's hall, showered in the fragrance of sandalwood and the cozy sunlight. It's a moment of relief.

Narrator: This reminds me of the old monk.

Narrator: We were never able to communicate through language, but I still learned a great deal from him during the 10 years we spent together.

Narrator: On cozy afternoons filled with the fragrance of sandalwood, the old monk would caress me again and again. His wrinkled hand had a shallow scar on it.

Narrator: I wanted to lick it for him because the scar reminded me of what I had done to him. With a smile on his face, he carried on stroking my head.

Monk: Don't let the past bog you down. Let things happen naturally without asking what's going to come out of them.

Monk: It's only when you are able to do so that you're truly free.

Narrator: I didn't know what he meant then, but having come full circle, I finally understood what he was trying to tell me.

Narrator: That was a nice, cozy walk down memory lane. It feels like I'm still standing in the hall, listening as a monk knocks on a temple block.

Narrator: I never thought about what would happen when I saved the chick from falling out of its nest, nor did I expect the mountain cat to give me anything in return.

Narrator: When the old monk saved me in the snow, he had no idea what would become of me down the road.

Narrator: Nobody can tell what's going to happen, so we should do what we think is right instead of letting trivial worries stand in our way.

Narrator: The fluttering of birds' wings is so light and soothing that they put my mind at ease.

Narrator: So the answer has been with me all along.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 5

#lingwu #shining nikki #chapter 4 #transcript #new year #cloud empire #revisit #journey #second chance #buddha #memory

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realityhelixcreates · 5 months ago

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By Talos, This Can't be Happening pt 12: In Another Time In Another World

Helix lets Swag in on a secret, and they finally reach civilization once more.

?~?~?~?~?

“His name is Adrel.” she said over dinner. “I met him just after being ejected from my world. His was the first new world I fell into.”

Swag looked up from organizing what little loot they'd scrounged from the ruined fort. There hadn't been much; the skeletons all carried weapons, but they were rusty, pitted and coming apart. There had been a small pile of un-animated bones, remains of other travelers who thought to find shelter in the ruins most likely. They'd been able to pick out a handful of coins, a set of lockpicks which he had naturally claimed, a bronze ring that just barely fit his pinky, and an assortment of potions.

“I was injured. The...event...had damaged my hearing, my insides, temporarily blinded me. I was dying, and he brought me in, tended to me. He was tender, and gentle, and attentive.”

He scooped everything into a pouch, then moved next to her. Helix didn't talk about this time in her life. She just didn't. She would speak of what happened before, though not in detail, but the time just after? He'd never heard a word.

“I couldn't have been more vulnerable. Necromancers can heal. They can save lives, but they so rarely do. I don't know what it is about the magic that twists them so, but nearly every one I've ever heard of all go the same way. I didn't know it at the time, but Adrel was a Necromancer. He was also so very charming, so considerate and kind, so manipulative and evil. He had my heart in no time, but what he really wanted was my soul.

His obsession was a ritual that extended his lifespan indefinitely, kept him young, using the souls of people who loved him so much that they would volunteer. To that end, he charmed, controlled, isolated, emotionally abused, and gaslit. I don't know how many times he had already done it. He contained them in crystals, I found out once my sight returned. Used them like batteries. I saw my crystal. It was blue.

And still, I stayed.”

Swag wrapped his arms around her, dropped his face to the top of her head. She would have been, if he had his numbers right, nineteen.

“I couldn't think of anything else to do. My family was dead. My whole world was gone. I could think of no other purpose for myself, and he was slowly convincing me that this would be a greater use for my suffering soul. A glorious end to my pain.”

“Oh, Helix.” he whispered into her hair.

“But I've always had that rebellious streak. So he also tried to convince me that he was the ruler of that entire countryside, and the people there all loved him. There was nowhere for me to go.

But one day...one day, I found that one of the crystals was flawed. That the woman trapped inside had magic, like me, and had been trying to break the crystal from within. So we made a deal. I would break the crystal, and she would use her magic to take me wherever it was her soul ultimately went. Anywhere was better than there, surrounded by undead servants who were probably the leftover bodies of his previous 'wives'. And it worked. It worked, but I wasn't dead, and I didn't belong in that afterlife. So I was ejected once again, and I landed...here.”

She'd spent two years healing in body, but having her spirit chipped away by someone who couldn't accept the idea of aging. Of course he hated this man now, though they'd never met. Even though, while she was suffering under this traitor to the concept of love, Swag had been out there being exactly as bad a person for her to meet. But they had both escaped.

“But he haunts me.” she continued. “He can't follow me. He'll never find me, but he haunts me. When I see things like that-” she waved her hand in the direction of the ruined fort, far down the road. “-I get lost in the rage. I can't stand seeing them like that. I have to destroy them. To free them.”

“Then do.” he said. “Tear 'em to pieces. Let them rest. Or run. Run if you want, I'll follow. If we run into them again.”

To think of what could have been lost, if one mans vanity had been fulfilled, all those years ago. Narci would be dead again for sure. U.S. too probably, and maybe himself, at the same time. Even if not, how much duller and lonelier would their lives be, without her bright spark? None of them would have ever known what they were missing.

“Well, I'll just remember, next time I wonder if I'm really good enough for you, at least I never tried to shove your soul into a rock.”

“Even at your lowest, you were more worthy of me than he was.”

“Dunno about that.”

“At least you'd have been honest about it.”

Pressure on his throat. He crammed smoked chicken and bread into his mouth, forced it down with a gulp of water.

“I'm...not happy exactly, but pleased more like, that you trust me with that info. It sounds really damn hard to deal with, much less talk about. And maybe I can't really understand-well, no. I can understand what it's like to have your spirit sanded down by constant control and abuse...and to retain that little bit of rebellion anyway. I could wish I'd utilized it more like you did, but that's far away now. We've got all that behind us now. So...anything else you wanna talk about? I'm primed to listen.”

She stared out into the fire. She hadn't looked him in the face the entire time.

“Nah. I...I just needed you to understand. Why I react to this the way I do, and a little bit more of what's really out there...beyond the edges of familiar worlds. You don't play the mind games with me, not ever. So you earned the information, when it became pertinent.”

Did anybody else alive know what she had just told him?

Pressure, pressure on the throat. He took another drink of water.

“In that case, maybe you can tell me something about these potions. They look a little different than the healers.”

He laid them out in the firelight, uniquely shaped little vials that weren't glass, weren't any substance he was familiar with. Bright blue, lemon yellow, tangerine, and brilliant tyrian purple.

“Oh yes. Let me look at them.”

She picked each one up in turn, handling them delicately, peeking through them into the firelight.

“Can you tell just by looking?” he asked.

“A mage can, yes. These are...eh, they're cheaply made. Full of sediment, poorly filtered, ingredients not well integrated. Might have been made by the travelers themselves, with bad equipment. They show signs of impatience.”

“No good, huh?”

“Nah, they'll work. They're just not all that great. Not as strong, won't last as long, that sort of thing. In a pinch, yeah, but I can do better. Probably will, once we get to Chorrol. Their guild has got to be better stocked than Bruma. The Imperials actually like magic, you know?”

“That another reason for all the plants?”

“You know it. I can make us some very nice things out of what I've got. Just need the equipment. But, ah, these ultramarine help speed the replenishment of magical energy within a person. Pretty useful if you're me. This yellow lets you see in the dark. Might fetch a good price. The orange protects you from fire, at least a little, and that purple one is the same, only for electricity. We could sell all of them when we get into town, and I can make us better ones.”

“Like to see that.” he said.

“It'll be frightfully boring. I tend to get very focused where herbalism is concerned. You have to be really precise with some of it. Little bit of arrowroot makes your muscles work better for a time. Little bit more makes them so loose and weak, you can't lift your arms. Gotta know your dosage. And there's magic involved with the transformation too, so you've gotta keep an eye on that.”

“So you're gonna need someone to remind you to eat.”

It was a pretty little picture, like something out a Ghibli movie, a room full of herb bundles and mysterious shiny things, a bubbling cauldron, Helix in an oversized witch hat, grinding things to powder in an old fashioned mortar and pestle. He would bring her little snacks to share, convince her to get up and move around every few hours. She tended to curl like a shrimp when she concentrated on things for too long. Every now and then, smoke would rise from her workings, and-poof!-a prismatic potion in a crystalline vial, worthy of any Christmas tree.

It was so, so much better a vision, than that of a faded baby Helix, wandering through halls full of the walking dead, than of his own blood covered hands. The future was so much better to look to.

She smiled.

“Yeah, I probably will, actually.”

“Ooh, I get to be the responsible one this time.” he teased.

“Think you can handle it?”

“Baby girl, I can handle you easily.”

“Really?” she purred. “You are awfully good at...handling.”

“Oh yeah.” he purred right back. “It's 'cause you love being...handled.”

They gazed into each others eyes for a few moments, then burst out laughing.

“Ahh, helluva day, huh?”

“Yeah, let's not do it again. We should reach town tomorrow, yeah?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, I think so. Hope so. The chicken won't stay good any longer than that, and we don't have as much bread as I'd like.”

Roughing it sure wasn't the most sanitary thing in the world, was it? It was a damn good thing he'd gotten over all that. Mostly. He wasn't freaking out about every little germ, but gross was gross, and this lack of hot showers thing was no fun. They were making do, but damn if he wouldn't be happy to see those high city walls.

The night passed so calmly it might as well have not even been there, and he awoke to a scent so sweet it defied description. Actually, it reminded him of the dream under Azura's shrine, and he glanced around, groggy and wary. There were no ephemeral maybe-gods teasing him with terrible possibilities...had she been trying to tell him something? Or was it no more than a paranoid dream?

He snuggled Helix, who mumbled unidentifiable sounds against his shoulder.

“C'mon Starlight, we better get up. Wanna get to the city today.”

They wriggled out of the bedroll, got breakfast, and got their hygiene in order as well as the wilderness allowed. Swag missed coffee quite a bit. Did it exist in this world?

The incredible sweetness turned out to be supplied by large patches of what Helix called wild clematis, great frothy masses of white flowers on bright green vines. Helix clipped a few, twining them around her head like a crown.

The redolent perfume followed them all the way to the city gate. They weren't as heavy or as guarded as Brumas, hopefully a sign of fewer minotaurs and vampires.

Now to see what the inside of this city's jails looked like.

Not really though. Helix would kick his ass for making her worry like that. Well, not really really, but really.

Chorrol was picturesque. More like a model of a city. Stone and half timber, copper shingles, lozenge and rosette windows. The richer and more important the building, the more stone, and of course, the more glass.

Unlike Bruma, the thoroughfares were all clean cobble, with raised curbs and walkways, even wrought iron fences. It felt like there should be toy soldiers marching down the street, wooden dolls dancing in the avenues. It was the cleanest city he'd ever been in, and it felt surreal because of it.

There were plenty of people out and about, even several elves. He'd only seen the dark elves so far, with their dusky faces and bright eyes, but another approached them, as they neared the huge, verdant oak in the main square, skin golden in the dappled sunlight, and taller than them both.

“You!” she called authoritative, a little snobbish. “Young Breton! I wonder, are you associated with the mages guild here in Chorrol?”

“We just arrived ma'am, why do you ask?”

“Oh good! I need assistance with a small matter requiring a mage, but it's really too small to bother involving the guild as a whole. They're unlikely to have time for something so insignificant. But you look like you could use some honest work.”

That sounded like some underhanded rudeness to Swag, and absolutely like an invitation to some shady backalley shenanigans...but Helix knew how the mages worked here. Maybe they were really picky about jobs.

“Honest work, sure.” Helix said, and her smile had teeth, but the elf woman didn't seem to notice. Swag knew that look, however. Helix already trusted nothing this elf had to say. “If you've got some, we're happy to take it on!”

“Excellent. It's quite simple really. I'd even do it myself, if I weren't so averse to filth. Up in the mountains, north of here, there is a ruin of Ayleid origin. There is a book there I would like you to fetch for me. It is titled 'Fingers of the Mountain', and you will likely not be able to read it. I, however, can, and would very much like to. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Keep it between us, and I can make it very much worth your while.”

Helix tapped her chin.

“Just finding a book for you hm? Sounds easy enough. We'll see what we can do.”

“Glad to hear it! My name is Earana and I'm currently staying at the Oak and Crosier. When you find the book, meet me there.”

Satisfied with their answer, she turned and left, trying so hard to be inconspicuous, as if she thought she had been stealthy in talking to them.

“So, uh, are we gonna do what she says?” Swag asked.

“Of course not!” Helix exclaimed. “We're telling the guild about this for sure. She's trying to pull something. 'Not big enough to bother the guild', they either already told her no, or she's trying to go under the guilds radar, and I can't think of a reason to do that which isn't nasty. Besides, my whole plan for getting us out of here hinges on getting into the guild's good graces, and she just handed me something juicy, the snooty twit.”

The Chorrol mage's guild was a charming building, like a miniature manor house with an eclectic collection of windows and a sign out front. To his surprise, they seemed willing to let him in alongside Helix, so he eagerly entered the mysterious place.

To find himself face to face with a monster.

?~?~?~?~?

#swag!riddler #helix #elder scrolls #crossover fic

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astro-b-o-y-d · 4 years ago

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Leon and Boyd are becoming bros in my Miitopia game, and it’s really cute 🥺🥺🥺

#Hayley Plays Miitopia #Miitopia #Also the only reason I added Leon and not like #Mondo or someone #Was because I wanted him to be a popstar #He deserves it #Anyway my team is composed of son boys and I am their loving parent who cooks for them #As we travel around the countryside saving people's faces

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falconcoast · 3 years ago

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Idiots to lovers

my #1 trope!! if you’d like to see another version of this trope, you may want to read playing cupid

you don’t know how it started.

one moment you were falling into a gorge and the next you were wrapped up in a handsome stranger’s arms.

his eyes are the color of currency, piercing and shining. his touch is gentle and firm all at once. his lips were pressed thin.

as he lays you down on the ground gently, you’re still shaking with adrenaline. when you finally find your voice, you go to thank him, but he’s already disappeared.

for some reason, you wished he stuck around a little longer.

you don’t see him for a while after that. in between trying to gather herbs for the elderly, you ask around if anyone knows the man who saved you.

granny ruoxin looks at you with a coy smile and says, “dear, i believe you met the last yaksha.”

yaksha? no, those were people from fairytales. to be fair, liyue had its fair share of strange and wonderful things, but yakshas were legends of old.

but doing more research, you found some old accounts of a young man wielding an emerald polearm

you push away the thought for a while, thinking of yourself as crazy.

when out on a craggy cliff in search of one more qingxin flower, you find him sitting on the edge. his stance is firm, back straightened and eyes looking forward.

“you’re here,” he says before you can even let out a gasp of surprise. “what do you want? it’s dangerous for mortals to be here, lest you want to end up in a situation like the one where we first met.”

reluctantly, you approach him. “i-i just wanted to thank you for saving me the other day. i’d be dead without you,” you say. standing behind his figure, you offer the single qingxin flower you were going to gather for the village. you place it by his side, watching it wilt sadly. a breeze blows between the two of you.

“it must be hard being the last yaksha,” you say quietly, watching as he tenses up. “it’s important to take breaks sometimes. ...and if you need anything, i can help you.”

“‘help me’?” he echoes. “mortals...so foolish.”

embarrassed, you look away from him. did you really just offer to purge demons alongside one of the most elite adepti? “i’ll be taking my leave now--” you begin as you grip your flower basket and start down the cliff, but he speaks up.

“when you face danger, call out my name--adeptus xiao,” he says. “and i will be there.”

more utc!

you begin to see him much more often then. wandering by the bamboo path, traversing through rocky mountainsides, traveling to wangshu inn to see if they have any herbs for sale--he accompanies you from a distance

at wangshu inn, the receptionist, verr goldet, says that you have a special bond with the yaksha. “he’s very reluctant to talk to humans,” she explains. “perhaps you could get closer to him with a plate of almond tofu.”

so, when you prepare the dish back at the village and call out his name, you aren’t exactly expecting him to hold his polearm to his throat. “i told you to only say my name when you’re in danger,” he says as he lets down his guard.

“well, then, consider this an emergency,” you reply, pushing the plate of almond tofu towards him. “i properly needed to thank you.”

he’s quick to roll his eyes, but one look at the almond tofu, and he’s gone. you stifle a chuckle admiring him from across the table.

something shifts in the air and you feel flustered all of a sudden.

you brush it off as that you’re just becoming friends with xiao, and that’s what it’s supposed to feel like! right? right?

when you try to give him more and more qingxin flowers, when you feed him copious amounts of almond tofu, when you place flowers in his hair and admire him, that’s just something friends do.

xiao does the same thing too. he puts crystalflies in your hair, brings you qingxin flowers that you just can’t reach, and takes you traveling across liyue’s countryside.

all of a sudden, every time you brush hands, you become very flustered. you can’t even look him in the eye when it happens. he seems to react the same when you wrap your arms around his neck when he takes you up in the air to gather herbs.

you chalk it up to that you’re sick, that you’re sleep-deprived, or that’s how’ve always been

but when you meet a man in the harbor that says otherwise, you’re starting to reconsider it all.

you were originally only going to the harbor to get some medicine for the elderly folk. how you ended up liuli pavilion, you don’t exactly know.

it feels odd for a simple herb gatherer to be in an elegant restaurant. the teacup in front of you was still steaming, untouched. the little leaves float to the top of the golden liquid. swallowing, you look up. “so, uh, mr. zhongli, was it?” you ask. “you...wanted to talk to me about him? wait, no, first of all, how do you even know who i am?”

he chuckles, still sipping on his tea. “i don’t necessarily belong to the harbor. i take a stroll to the countryside every once in a while and see xiao with you.”

“ah...” you muse, hands on your cup of tea. you look to the window briefly, where sunlight is flooding in. mr. zhongli doesn’t say anything in return, hands placed on his lap. “so, uh, how do you know him?”

“xiao used to work with me,” he shrugs nonchalantly.

you try to wrap your head around that. you thought that xiao was the last yaksha, but you supposed that didn’t mean he was exempt from working with humans or mortals. but that didn’t make sense either; xiao wasn’t particularly fond of humans.

“i see,” you nodded.

“so, about him,” he started, resting his arms on either side of the chair. “you see, xiao is a busybody. alongside that, as a slayer of demons for almost 2000 years, he finds it a burden to be close to people as karmic debt follows his every move.

“thus, it makes it hard for xiao to comprehend warm, emotional feelings. while he’s certainly a strong fighter, it’s hard for him to see what’s right in front of him. and so, he believe himself unworthy of love. however, he can’t seem to see that’s he’s in love with you.”

“ah, yeah, i get that--wait, what?” you exclaim suddenly. you hide your face in your hands, refusing to look at the older man. “how do you know all of this?! you and i just met!”

“oh? does the same apply to you as well?” he questions. “did you not know you were in love with him?”

“no, well, i mean, i kinda had feelings for him, but i didn’t think he would actually say or do anything in return, and--”

as he pours another up of tea, you continue to ramble. “but i mean, xiao, sorry, adeptus xiao is a really big deal. and he’s, like, immortal, and--”

with a gust of wind immediately cooling your tea down, xiao enters the room in a flash. looking around briefly, his eyes widen. “what did you need? why are you with rex la--nevermind.”

flustered, you look away. “well, mr. zhongli here was telling me a few things about what you thought of me.”

xiao gives an eyebrow to zhongli before the older man stood up. “then, i will be taking my leave,” he waves a hand, going to the door. as he turns out the door without being fazed, you urge him to sit across the table from you.

“to be honest, xiao,” you clear your throat. “mr. zhongli and i were talking about your feelings for me.”

he flushes, red coloring his cheeks all the way up to his ears. “oh,” is all he says.

looking at your lap and at the discarded basket by your side, you pick up a qingxin flower and fiddle with it. “was he...was he right, xiao?” you ask hopefully, but turn crestfallen when he doesn’t reply. “because i, um, really like you too.”

xiao looks up. reluctantly, he gets up from his chair and approaches you slowly. looking between the flower in your hand and himself, you cautiously give him the flower. you look at him with wonder, suddenly awestruck by his ethereal nature. “i am not good with human customs, nor am i with human romance,” he begins by taking the flower in your hands. softly, his hand brushes by your cheeks and places it in your hair. “but for you, i am willing to learn.”

zhongli playing matchmaker is a very good concept,,,,,,,,,,,

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact imagines #xiao x reader

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minsyal · 4 years ago

Text

The Fugitive (Finding Home), Pt. 1

Karl Heisenberg x Reader

Warnings: strong language, Resident Evil-esque violence and descriptions of gore, and dark/sexual themes

Summary: A once-in-a-lifetime trip turned dark. You're quickly exposed to the sinister and mysterious world of a cursed village under the control of dark leaders. How long will you last and will you ever return home in one piece?

Backpacking through Eastern Europe was not a top priority on your “to do” list. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Being one to preplan everything, you were completely caught off guard when your roommate sprung the idea of the trip out of the blue. You roommate, Jezebel Haine, was your first and only roommate from college onward. All legs, she was one of the stars of the track team but was most certainly not one of the brightest shining ones. She was considerably dim-witted, fanatical, and had a booming over-the-top personality that scared every potential boyfriend who had the disservice of meeting her. There were times, though, that she was rather endearing. Her childlike sense of self and emotional drivers consistently put her at a crossroads between what everyone else was doing and what she should be doing; she was, and always will be, a follower.

After four years of becoming “the bestest of friends,” you had a hard time imagining such a hard shift either into another roommate or living alone. Plus, her parents funded most everything she did and, in turn, funded the apartment the two of you shared.

“It’s an amazing opportunity!” She insisted, waving her hands in a simple manner as she rose from the condensed cushion of the leather-clad couch. “Think about it.” Gathering your hands in hers like a 20’s actress who had just met the man of her dreams, she pulled the bundle to her chest. “We frolic through the European countryside, it’s golden hour. My skin looks absolutely gorgeous… yours too, of course. The sun is just about to set, but alas!” She let out a dramatic gasp, removing one of her hands to cover her mouth. “It’s growing dark out!”

“That’s what happens when the sun sets.” You noted, causing her to drop the act for a moment only to immediately go back into character.

“We hear the crunching of leaves and twigs all around us as if something…” she drew close and lowered her voice to a whisper, “sinister is coming. Out of no where we’re ambushed! By what, I’m not sure. Then,” her eyes became glassy as she lay a delicate hand to her forehead, “two absolute studs… and I’m talking big bulging muscles, gorgeous trendy hair, captivating eyes… really everything a simple girl could ask for… seemingly drop from the sky! We’re saved!” She throws your hands into the air as if they’d fall like confetti. Drawing both her arms in, she sways back and forth in a waltz of one. “We’d be married by the next day! Hell, maybe we’d even end up as princesses.”

Oh, how utterly wrong she was.

“I told you this was a stupid idea.” You groaned, haughtily holding your chin up while feeling your spirits low. A few miles back, on an asphalt road that quickly turned to dirt, sat the dingy red rental truck with a blown out engine and a deflating tire. With no cell service and the last town being over 100 miles back, your only choice was to walk.

“Don’t blame me!” Jezebel stopped walking, feet falling flat to the ground as she stomped her foot in a childish manner. “I,” her lip quivered as all the anger held in her body dissipated, “I just wanted to have a fun time with you.” Big tears flowed from her eyes quickly after finishing her proclamation, leaving smearing black lines down her face from the eyeliner she insisted was necessary in the Romanian countryside. God, if her parents weren’t funding this trip, you’d throw a fit for your money back.

“Jess, just,” reaching backward, you fished a rag from your backpack, “don’t cry. That’s not going to make this better.” Sniffling, she accepted the rag and wiped her eyes, further smearing black all over her face. You couldn’t help but feel a shred of sympathy for her. “Let’s just keep going. No use in wasting daylight. I really don’t want to get caught out here in the dark.”

“Where are we supposed to go, then?”

“I’m sure the next town will have some sort of inn or hotel. At the very least, they’ll have directions to the nearest city.”

After another five miles of walking, the sun was beginning to set and no gorgeous studs were waiting to save you. The blazing yellow ball inched slowly beyond the horizon. Its warming rays that had kept the snow from freezing the two of you in the day crept down below the snow peaked mountains that were nestled in the distance. Shadows began dancing between the trees, sending the forest into a theater of silent performers. The dirt road that was once large enough for two cars was now only a walking path so slim that Jezebel had to follow on your heels. Every now and again you were reeled back by the piece of rope that she had attached to your backpack that was firmly gripped in her hand. She claimed it made her feel safer.

“You think those two hunks are going to come save us now?” You joked, attempting to make light of this dark situation.

“I wish.” She huffed, frustration evading her voice as exhaustion took center stage.

Flickering light caught your eye. Hues of yellow and red mingled together in the distance, the outlines of rooftops and smoke-filled chimneys littered the ground below. “I think that’s a village.”

Another mile of downhill travel was all it took to reach the place where the once distant flickering of torches and lanterns grew into the quiet streets of a cluttered settlement. There was no clear indication of movement once you stepped foot in the village; the only evidence of any life came in the form of fresh boot prints, livestock, and the ever-blazing lanterns. Jezebel was all to happy to release your makeshift leash from her fingers, trotting mindlessly by to examine the street corners and homes. Your eyes continued wandering up the rooftops, finally landing upon the eerie looming castle situated on the mountainside above.

From around the bend, you heard Jezebel screech.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” You threw caution to the wind, quickly rounding the corner to scold her like a parent would to a misbehaving child. “You don’t know if these people are violent or not. We can’t just go parading ourselves into the town center.”

“I think they’re violent.” She mustered the shaky words. Her hands covered her eyes and the majority of her face as she backed away from whatever had caused her distress.

“What?” The unpleasant squelch of snow beneath your feet caused your attention to draw downward. Dark snow surrounded your boot, an unnatural red hue stained the pure white. Gaze moving upward, your chest restricted feeling as if it had crushed inward on itself. The putrid smell finally fell upon your nostrils as you backed away from the scene. Severed animal heads hung lazily above you, their tongues flopping from their opened mouths.

“I want to go home.” Jezebel sobbed, rasping her cries into her cupped hand. Shaking her head as if to knock this moment from her brain, her short-lived façade of curiosity gave way to her immediate feeling of impending dread.

“That’s what I’m trying to do right now, Jess. Just, calm down.”

A low grumble had you standing further on edge, if that was possible at this point. The sound was clear as day and was anything but human. You weren’t even sure a human could get to an octave so low without the help of technology. Eyes darting upward once more, a chill ran from your shoulders to your toes.

Hauntingly yellowed eyes lingered upon the two of you. The beast-like figure was silhouetted by the moonlight, outlined like a ghost. It looked to be a man, but also anything but a man in the same sense. Its mouth was parted, baring old rotted teeth that looked to have dried blood caked between its gums. Its hands were bloodied as well, small cuts were painted across its forearms only hidden by the rags that clung to its chest.

Before you could process the situation, Jezebel let out another yelp. In an instant, the beast lunged down from its perch, landing with a ground shaking thud nearly five feet before you. “No!” Jezebel’s open palm collided with the space between your shoulder blades as she pushed you toward the monster. The last thing you saw was her backpack falling to the ground as she began running toward one of the homes. You landed face-first in the snow, groaning as all the air in your lungs were forced out. The beast snarled, once again showing its teeth as it hunched down to your level. This was, most certainly, not the way you envisioned dying. Things like this weren’t supposed to exist; this is myth, this isn’t real. It all felt like bad dream gone worse that you couldn’t wake from.

“Pesky creatures, aren’t they?” A new voice called out as the horrendous sound of metal crushing bone and muscle slithered through your ears. The disgusting feeling of gore instantly trickled down your hands. “Please,” the voice continued, “feel free to thank me anytime.”

A moment later, the stranger let out a scoff with the squishy suction of whatever he had used to quiet the monster. The tap of a boot on your elbow finally prompted you to uncover your eyes. “Or don’t.”

“I,” you started, opening and closing your mouth multiple times unable to find the right words, “thank you.”

“Oh.” He tiled the stiff rim of his frayed hat back, exposing a pair of circular sunglasses perched upon his nose. “Foreigners, eh?”

“Yeah, um.” You gathered yourself, finally pushing up to stand on your feet. “We got lost.”

“And ended up here, no doubt.” A stifled chuckle left his lips as he tilted his hat back in place and swung whatever he used to kill the beast over his shoulder. “If I were you, I’d get the hell out of here.”

Without another word, the stranger sauntered off with a backward wave of his hand. “Oh, and have someone clean this mess up.”

“Y/n!” Jezebel’s shrill voice called as she returned with a rather confused villager. He held a shotgun with both of his hands, Jezebel shone a flashlight in your eyes.

“Are you okay?” The villager moved forward with extreme caution after peering around you dumbfoundedly seeing the crumpled body.

“I’m fine, no thanks to her.” You spat, anger swelling in your throat causing a particular acidity to your words.

“All of you! Inside this instant.” A matronly holler came from behind Jezebel and the villager. “You know Miranda’s protection only runs so far as we grow closer to this time.”

Who is Miranda and, more importantly, who was the man who saved you?

The home you were ushered into was on the outskirts of town. It was one of the larger estates given the fact that some people seemed to live in one-room shacks. Upon entering, you were greeted with the warm glow of yellow light trickling in from what looked to be a formal living room. The sweet aromas of honeyed tea wafted through the air, drawing further in as the woman led the three of you deeper into the home. What was worse? You pondered. Being killed by that beast or potentially being murdered by the inhabitants of this home? You couldn’t decide. Thus far, the two gave no indication of malice.

“Please, sit.” The woman pulled out two of the chairs at her table, the wood scratching against the floor. “I’ll fetch the tea.”

Jezebel was so brainless. She smiled at you as if she hadn’t just offered you up as a midnight snack. Surely there was no hamster running on that squeaky track that powered her.

“What was that thing?” You turned to the man who was now seated to your right. “The monster.”

The man ignored your question, instead grabbing a piece of rounded bread from the plate at the center of table. Slathering butter on it, he looked to you. “How’d you kill it?”

“I didn’t.” You frowned, recalling the mysterious man who saved your life without even dropping his name. The villager raised his brows and kicked his foot up on the table. He was waiting for more information. “Some man came out of nowhere. He had some hammer-like weapon.”

As soon as he processed the words, his foot fell from the table and he leaned forward, uncomfortably close. You could smell the distinguishable bite of alcohol percolate from his lips. “Did he wear glasses? A hat?”

“He did.” The words slowly drifted from your mouth. “Hair to about here.” You motioned to the halfway point of your neck.

“Adelina,” the man called, presumably to the woman who guided you inside. He got up quickly, rushing to the other room leaving you and Jezebel alone.

“What the hell is going on here?” You whispered in a harsh tone, leaning forward to get closer to her. “Is this not weird at all to you?”

“I think they’re nice people.” Jezebel responded at full volume without a second of thought.

“That’s coming from someone who tried to feed their supposed best friend to a monster.”

“I was buying us time to get help.”

“Help? I almost died!”

“But you didn’t.”

“When we get back to the U.S. I never want to speak to you again.” You seethed. How could she be this bad? You knew there were a few… a considerable amount of screws missing from Jezebel, but how in God’s green earth does she justify her actions at this point? The thought of it accompanied by her dazed and empty stare only fueled the fire of anger more.

“Dear,” the woman, who you now knew was Adelina, reentered the room accompanied by the man with a tray of cups and a kettle in her hands. She set a delicate china glass in front of you, softly filling it with a reddish colored liquid that she assured you was Celestial Seasonings, a tea imported from Africa. “I hear that you’ve met Lord Heisenberg.” Placing a hand over her heart, she gave a warm smile that only sent another wave of dread through your body. There was something so alluring about this woman, yet so sinister.

“Lord, who?”

Adelina stiffened, craning her neck to the side as she plastered a forced smile upon her lips once more. You had upset her, that much was obvious. “One of the four Lords that rule here alongside our dear Mother Miranda.” She explained, pushing the cup of tea closer to your body. Jezebel had already finished her first glass. Warily, you lifted the cup in your hand and allowed the warm water to heat your frozen body. An elongated finger pointed to the framed painting that hung to the wall. “Mother Miranda protects us here.”

Mother Miranda. You could only focus on the image of the woman silhouetted by six black wings and a halo outlining her head. Her eyes were indistinguishable behind the raven-like mask that clung to her face. Adorned in a black garb, she looked to be a holy figure in this town. But like Adelina, something just wasn’t right with Miranda.

The unsettling reverb of crickets and cicadas chirping grew louder and louder with each passing hour. You counted the seconds between waves of mass chorus; so far, it was roughly thirty seconds between each bleating scream of their nightly tune. You couldn’t sleep. Despite the somewhat comforting, but entirely unsettling welcome given by Adelina and Marion, you couldn’t help but feel like a caged animal in the tiny cupboard room they had given you. A curious thought tickled the back of your mind, willing you to remain as alert as possible after an exhausting day of hiking; where had they put Jezebel? Not that you particularly cared at this point. After the attack she had done a 180, dropping all suspicion of malice in this village. She simply flushed the pictures of hanging heads and wild beasts from her memory. You sometimes envied her lackadaisical memory accompanied by a fanatical view of the world. Living blissfully ignorant, especially in a situation like this, seemed to serve her best.

After a small dinner of fish that smelled of ammonia, of which you politely picked at, Adelina insisted the two of you stay the night. “The beasts will return!” She exclaimed, holding a firm hand over the intricately carved wood of the doorframe. “Early tomorrow we can arrange for a car to pick you up from the next town over.” Hushed murmurs climbing up from the cracked floors pulled you from your thought. The voices spoke in an incomprehensible argument.

“I’d quite like to keep...” the words faded in and out.

“No, no, no. Don’t be ridiculous...”

“What if....”

The floor spoke a soft squeak from beneath your feet as you shifted to get closer to the voices. Their conversation stopped, and you waited with bated breath for it to continue.

“We have to offer someone up tomorrow.” It was Adelina.

“I know, I know.” Marion sounded frustrated. “But you know Mother Miranda prefers only the purest. How are we supposed to know if either of them are-”?

The words faded once more as the two moved from room to room. Walking on the sides of your feet, you followed. Peeking around the corner, your eyes landed on Adelina and Marion illuminated by a flickering fire. They stood close to one another, keeping their tones low.

“Clearly, we offer the frumpy one. Take a look at her. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s unexperienced.” Adelina snickered, taking a seat on the worn couch with her back to you. “She wouldn’t fit in here anyway.”

“The dumb one would get along nicely with our son.”

“I agree.”

A knock at the front door sent a shiver of adrenaline down your spine. Quickly scrambling to hide, you took in a deep breath as Marion passed by with his shotgun in hand. From the parted door, you could see the sun barely peeking over the horizon. Had it really been that long already?

“Are you sure she’s pure?” The new man stood in the doorway rushed past Marion, looking in the direction of the room they had put you in.

“I suppose we could check.” Adelina called, rising to join the others. “The both of them had that tea. They shouldn’t wake until the ceremony later today.”

“Is she in there?”

“Yes, the other one is upstairs.”

“Let’s check this one first.”

With heavy footsteps falling upon the rotting floorboards of the somewhat dilapidated home, you slunk further into the shadows of the room behind you. The glint of something metal caught your attention; a small handgun sat perfectly on a dresser as if set there intentionally for you to find. Holding your breath, you crept forward to it. You’d never shot a gun in your life, but you knew the basics... both hands, check for ammo, rack the slide, pull the trigger. At least, that’s what the movies told you.

“Out of bed so soon, are we?” The soft voice turned malevolent as Adelina appeared in the doorway of the room. “I wouldn’t use that if I were you.” She motioned to the gun that was aimed rather unskillfully for her chest.

“What the fuck is going on in this village?” You spoke with purpose now, tone wavering slightly as Marion stepped behind his wife.

“You don’t understand things around here, girl.” Adelina spat, moving aside as Marion began charging into the room. The loud blast of the gun echoed from the walls of the home followed by a harsh curse and the sound of a body crumpling to the floor. You had shot Marion in the leg; he’d live.

“No,” you started, re-racking the slide as Adelina’s other friend approached wielding a similar gun to your own. Adrenaline washed over your nervous system, your hands shook violently, but you attempted to remain composed. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand. This isn’t normal! Tell me what’s going on now or,” your eyes trailed down to Marion who was attempting to control the flow of blood from his wound.

“You wouldn’t.” She laughed bitterly.

“Like hell, I wouldn’t.” You exclaimed, training the gun onto her. “Now tell me, what’s happening here.”

“You’ll understand soon enough.” Adelina’s friend’s words were the last thing you heard before your ears rang and the sting of a bullet burnt white hot in your shoulder. You weren’t sure if your gun ever went off again.

Despite being tied, bathed, dressed, and currently sitting on a freezing alter-of-sorts, you still hadn’t the slightest clue as to what was going on. A crowd of villagers surrounded from the south, all carrying on with a rumble of conversation. Adelina shot daggers at you, Marion as well, from a small, inclined hill at the edge of the crowd. The clothes you wore were your own, she had fished through your backpack claiming that it was of no use to waste a nice dress on “someone like her.” Jezebel was likely still fast asleep at their house.

A woman with the likeness of the framed photo you had seen appeared out of nowhere. So, this was the famous Mother Miranda that everyone regarded so deeply. She stood before you as the crowd’s voices hushed and their eyes became hazed with looks of admiration and devoted appreciation. Surely, she was a human, deities and gods didn’t exist in a physical form, you assured yourself.

Without a word, Miranda moved gracefully as if flowing across the ground to stand before Adelina. Taking her face between her hands, she whispered what you assumed to be praise as Adelina’s lips moved rapidly thanking Miranda. She then moved to Marion and grazed her hand against the wound on his thigh, speaking of how his steadfast devotion would quickly heal any injuries of cruelty spread by evil. When her attention finally fell back to you, she frowned. Stalking around you in circles, Miranda’s imposing figure made you want to shrivel to nothingness.

“Thank you.” She turned to the villagers as if to dismiss them. “When the time comes, I will return for another.”

The black wings you had seen in the photo sprouted from her back, shielding your sight of the villagers as they retreated to their homes. Hopeful cries and shouted blessings to Miranda echoed from the crowd as the village gate slammed. The only evidence of them once populating this empty square were flowers and offerings of fruit and grain left for the supposed goddess.

The world swiftly darkened once more.

Part 2 - Paths Meet

I promise there's more Heisenberg in the next part..

Feedback is always appreciated

#karl heisenberg #heisenberg x reader #karl heisenburg x reader #resident evil village #resident evil heisenberg #re8 heisenberg #heisenberg imagine #lord heisenberg

556 notes · View notes

ratmonky · 4 years ago

Text

Death Drive

Word Count: 5.5K

Warnings: non-con, mild blood, choking, biting, fight/violence, burns, tentacle

AO3 Link

A gift to my lovely friend who also drew this gorgeous piece for this fic, @bacterialheaven <3 (Your art fascinates me so much ahh T^T)

Although most of the devil hunters have the life instinct, I think Hirofumi doesn't care much about survival while doing his work, making him the perfect example of an individual with a death drive. Just like Kishibe (:

The depths of the ocean had many things hidden at the bottom where sunlight never reached. Fish still yet to be discovered, monsters and devils.

Swimming in the ocean was something you could never do since the thought of never knowing what might be hiding underneath the dark waters was horrifying.

However, the terrifying creatures of the ocean could never get you as long as you stayed on the land.

Right?

~~~

Hitchhiking wasn’t as dangerous as you had anticipated. When you told your close friends that you would be making your way out of the city by hitchhiking, they warned you about the dangers of getting in the car with someone who might want to hurt you. No matter how much you tried to explain to them how you had to lay low and stay away from any public transportations to not get caught, they didn’t listen.

However you hadn’t listened to them either, that was why you were sitting on your luggage near the roadside. You were only a couple of towns away from the city but you still had a long way to travel.

It had taken you more than a dozen rides to get to here from where you had started. Normally it would take two hours by car to travel here but it took you eight hours to get where you were now.

It was getting late, your last ride had promised to drop you off next to a place you could stay the night but the man was too creepy to look at and you felt uneasy to be stuck in the truck with him.

Naturally, you had insisted that he dropped you off on the first roadside diner.

You regretted it now. It was the middle of the night, you didn’t have any place to stay and the roadside diner you had been planning to eat was out of your budget.

Either you had to get a ride now to save money to travel to a cheaper roadside diner or go out of your budget and stay the night here feasting on food… The latter option was the worst. Saving money was more important.

You knew how to attract a ride anyway. Smile in a friendly way, hold up your ‘going to the countryside!’ sign, and hope for the best. You wouldn’t wait any longer than between ten to fifteen minutes before hitching a ride but it was almost impossible to get a ride at night.

There was no way that someone would drive you to the next town or somewhere you could sleep. Everyone was on the edge because of the devil attacks that had started happening more frequently.

No. Don’t think about devils. Not now. Not ever.

With a long sigh, you redirected the light from your flashlight onto the map. You could wait until the morning or start walking on the side of the road until you came across a gas station; however, it all felt like a waste of time and effort. This side of the city didn’t have anything but trees on the roadsides. It could be dangerous to walk close to the forest at night too, you had heard the devils who lived in nature would come out at night.

The sound of your stomach grumbling brought you out of your frantic thoughts.

You were starving, the last thing you ate was a granola bar in the morning. It had been quite a while since you had last eaten but if you went over your budget, you might not be able to make it to your destination.

“Where are you headed?”

Startled, you turned your head to the man who was talking to you. He looked around your age, he had black hair and a rather creepy smile tugging at his lips.

“Um, the countryside.”

“Oh, you’re all alone?” he asked.

You nodded to confirm. Then internally yelled at yourself for telling him that you were alone. He could be someone dangerous.

“I’m headed to the countryside too, want me to give you a ride?” He gestured towards a black car parked in front of the diner.

You would have taken his offer if it weren’t for the sinister smile on his face.

“Thank you but I wouldn’t want to be a burden.” You averted your gaze from him and shone the light back on the map.

“It’s dangerous to be out this late at night.” He put his hands in his pockets, shrugging slightly. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing I didn’t take you to safety.” He gestured towards the parked car behind him once again. “I'll give you a ride, free of charge.”

He had cornered you, there was no reason for you to refuse his offer. You were still conflicted though, you would have turned him down if it wasn’t this late in the night. He didn’t look like the type of person to take no for an answer either. You couldn’t say no to his generous offer but you kept hesitating. If you were to find the perfect excuse maybe he would leave. However, you didn’t have any excuses.

Ugh!

Why were you even hesitating? You needed a ride and here was this guy, offering to take you away from the doomed city. You hit the jackpot!

“A-are you sure?”

“Come on, I was about to leave.”

“Ah, I can’t thank you enough.” Gathering the stuff you had with you and putting away the flashlight, you forced yourself to smile at him. “You saved me from waiting who knows how long for another ride.”

He didn’t say anything as he led the way towards his car. Opening the baggage, he let you put your luggage in the back and closed it. As you were walking around the car to open the door and sit on the back seat, the guy spoke before he hopped on the driver seat himself.

“I have stuff in the back, sit on the front.”

You stared inside through the window to see two large black bags on the backseats. Reluctantly, you reached to open the front door and climbed inside the car.

“So, where are you exactly headed?” He asked as he put on his seatbelt.

His question brought you out of your frantic thoughts. “Somewhere remote.”

“Hmm, so no specific destination? Don’t you have a family member who’s waiting for you? Where are you going to stay?”

You didn’t have anywhere to stay. At least not yet. Your plan was to find a motel and stay somewhere remote until people forgot about you.

Most importantly, it didn’t feel like he was asking these questions to start a conversation. You changed your mind, wanting to get out of the car.

You turned your head to tell him that but his unsettling stare left you speechless.

He asked a more particular question. “Do you have a specific address you want me to drop you off to?”

“I-in front of the first cheap motel we come across would be perfect.” You clutched on your small shoulder bag. You felt nervous when people stared at you for too long.

He hummed in acknowledgment as the car rolled forward.

“You seem to have a lot of luggage. Moving somewhere?” he spoke again, taking a turn and getting on the highway.

Your head jerked up, looking at him. “Um, uh.” You were hesitant to lie. “I’m just backpacking around the country.”

“Wouldn’t it be cheaper to bike instead of hitchhiking?” He wasn’t even facing you but you could tell he was smirking at your utter stupidity. “Or rather do it with a group?”

Although your throat felt dry, you didn’t dare to swallow. “Probably but I wanted to have a little adventure for myself, alone.”

“Don’t backpackers usually have a backpack and not a luggage?”

“I just have too many things I need with me.” Ahh, you were so bad at lying. Stop fidgeting with your fingers and looking around like that. He will notice. Just… change the subject. “A-anyway, I don’t think we introduced ourselves. I’m (name), what’s your name?”

“Hirofumi.” He grabbed the gear shift, changing it to a higher level and speeding up. You sank deeper into your seat and started to panic. Only then you realized you hadn’t put on your own seatbelt. While you were hurriedly trying to put it on, Hirofumi pressed on the cigarette lighter button. You hoped he wasn’t going to smoke inside the car but failed to notice how there weren't any cigarette tar stains on the interior of the car.

He took a sharp turn, you grunted but managed to put your seatbelt on. As you sat back in your seat, the first thing you noticed was that he was driving down towards a road leading towards the forest.

“Um, I think you took a wrong turn,” you said, bringing it up to his attention.

“It’s a shortcut.” He kept his eyes on the road that was only being illuminated by the headlights, everything else was dark, you had no idea what kind of shortcut he was taking.

There was this feeling of being in the middle of the ocean. You could feel something sinister was lingering in the deep dark water underneath you. Something was about to emerge and grab you by your ankle, pull you down, and drown you.

You knew how to swim.

However, could you swim if whatever thing was pulling you down turned out to be a lot stronger and scarier than anything you had ever faced?

Could you struggle when you were this weak?

Could you fight when you had nothing to fight with?

Without your weapons.

Without your badge.

Without your devil.

“You know, hitchhiking was a great idea,” he said, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel as he continued smiling. “It was a smart option but for someone as dumb as you, there was a way to ruin it. You went and told all of your dumb friends about your plan.”

You stared at him for some sort of explanation but you didn’t need any. Yet you still asked him, whimpering, “W-what are you talking about?” Your bottom lip had started trembling.

He knew.

“For a devil hunter, your sense of danger is too low.”

A tremendous wave of panic washed over you when he sped up.

“Who are you?” Did you even need to ask? He was one of those private hunters. Makima had most likely sent him after you.

Despite being a devil hunter from the city, you were now weak. You had resigned from your work without notice and broke the deal with your devil. Although it had been an impending decision rather than a sudden one, you had left your work abruptly.

After watching so many people die and losing who you had thought would be your friends for a long time, the bitter truth of being a devil hunter had resurfaced.

Devil hunters were destined to die on the job, sooner or later.

The money you earned from being a devil hunter could let you live in comfort materialistically until the day you died but having to suffer from nightmares every single time you put your head on the pillow or closed your eyes could never be comforting. It wasn’t worth it.

You didn’t want to lose more people or see any more grotesque devils murdering civilians but once you started working under Makima’s orders, leaving wasn’t that easy.

That’s why you were on the run.

Even though you had sworn to protect the people of your country, you were running away from the job that gave you a purpose to your insignificant life like a coward.

How childish.

The cigarette lighter popped off with a soft click sound, bringing you out of your hectic thoughts.

He was taking you back… He was going to hand you over to Makima. You were going to work until you died.

“You should’ve gone up north, going south was predictable. Well, at least if you hadn’t told your friends about the hitchhiking part, maybe you’d go under everyone’s radar. However you’re a chatty one, aren’t you? Some ‘friendship comes before work’ type of person, huh? That would explain a lot-”

Hirofumi’s words didn’t reach you anymore. The color drained from your face and your ears started ringing. Your whole body started to shake, and tears started streaming down your cheeks. “Please,” you sobbed, your voice came out shaky, pathetic. “Please don’t do this. I did nothing. I’m just tired of all of the deaths and I can’t handle it any-”

“You can’t talk your way out of this,” Hirofumi said as he took another sharp turn, driving deeper into the forest.

You found yourself stuttering, ”Y-you don’t understand.” You looked at Hirofumi with tears in your eyes. “I’ll be killed.”

“What are you so unhappy with?” Hirofumi spoke again but he wasn’t even facing you. “It’s not like you were living contentedly up until now, were you? In that case, it makes no difference where you live or what you do for a living. Or if you’re killed or not.”

Your face found a new shade of pale. He wouldn’t understand. He was one of those crazy devil hunters who had shut their humanity off.

“You only had to kill demons for a bit and you got rice every day. It might as well be heaven but I guess you weren’t a real hunter.” His smile grew wider as he was watching the trees creep towards him slowly before zooming past the window. “You can die in peace now.”

You got quiet but your tears didn’t stop.

With a vicious smile on his lips, Hirofumi turned away to face you. “You know, a pro devil hunter wouldn’t cry.”

Everything was spinning, it made you believe that your head felt fuzzy. It didn’t even occur to you that he was driving at a normal speed now. Almost immediately you tried to think of an escape plan. Could you manage to run away if you were taken to the headquarters? There was no way you could and that was why you had to fight with everything you had to refuse to go with him. You looked out of the window, the forest could be a great way to lose him. The trees and the darkness could cover you, giving you the advantage to sneak away without having to face this guy in a battle. What was your next move going to be?

You didn’t know but you had to get away.

You stared at the door lock, it was locked but you could lift it even without him noticing. The speed was still accelerating but if you managed to jump out of the car you would have a head start by running. The car wouldn’t stop until his shock wore off and that would give you the great advantage of looking for a place to hide.

There weren’t many people or devils out in the forest at this time of the night. Hopefully. It would be easy for you to run without being seen by another person who could tell him where you went.

What if a devil attacked-

Getting overwhelmed, you took a sharp breath and exhaled loudly. You had to calm down. You didn’t have much time to think over the plan, you just had to do it. If you waited for too long you were going to lose this chance of getting away.

Hesitantly, you glanced at Hirofumi. To your luck, he was only focused on driving.

Cone on. Come on. Come on.

Your heart was pounding, a single cold sweat droplet trickled down from the burning skin of your temple to your cheek as you carefully and suddenly unlocked the door. But you forgot about the most important thing. Your seatbelt. Your biggest mistake was forgetting to unbuckle your seatbelt. As you had twisted your body to jump out of the car, you had found yourself stuck, slammed back into your seat from the force of the seatbelt itself.

Hirofumi stared at you as if it wasn’t a big deal that you opened the door of the moving vehicle or how you were trying to escape. He lifted his right hand up while he crossed his middle and index fingers, “Octopus.”

Your blood ran cold as a giant tentacle emerged outside of the car from a dark cloud and slammed the door closed. You were frozen in your seat as if your muscles had dried up and turned to stone.

What was that?

No, you didn’t want to know.

The car decelerated until it slowly rolled to a stop.

You didn’t dare to look at Hirofumi but you knew he was smiling at you. You knew he had that sinister smile plastered on his face, glowering at you with his big dark eyes.

“Ink.”

He turned off the engine, the headlights flickered off and it became pitch black. Darker than black. It all swallowed you whole. It was as if light didn't exist, the only thing you could see was the dangerous glint in his eyes.

Hirofumi calmly plucked off the burning hot cigarette lighter and held his hand out towards you but you couldn't see. “Ms. Makima told me to bring you to the headquarters,” he said, pausing momentarily as you were trembling in fear, unable to move a muscle. “Dead or alive. I get paid either way.”

You gulped audibly. This was it, wasn’t it? The end.

There was another long pause before he sighed and pressed the cigarette lighter on your thigh. “Look me in the eye when I’m talking to you.”

The sharp pain made your eyes widen and your mouth popped open in pain. You could run away, you just had to unbuckle the seatbelt and bolt out of the car.

However, as soon as your hand went to the buckle to pop the latch plate out, he firmly pressed the metal lighter on the back of your hand.

Yowling in agony, you refused to retrieve your hand and instead unbuckled your seatbelt. Without giving him another chance to attack, you opened the door.

As soon as you fell on the mud, you took a couple of wobbly steps before finally gaining your strength and used the ground as a springboard to start running without looking back. Things weren't as dark now, you could see well but you still were confused about things. Without actually having a clear idea of your whereabouts you kept running deeper into the forest but you couldn’t run in a straight line, you had to confuse him with which way you were running. Abruptly, you stopped to look around to see where you could run. The sudden movements made you lose your balance, stumble and fall down. You scraped your knees. Without checking your injuries, you got up to make a sudden bolt to your right.

Your own heavy footsteps were echoing each time your foot made contact with the wet mud. Or... no. Those weren't echoes of your own footsteps they were more like- They belonged to someone else-

“You’re running too slow.” A scoff.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him running next to you. He wasn’t out of breath like you were but he lifted his hand towards you, pointing his forefinger at your face before crossing his middle finger over the other digit.

He was going to call out his devil again.

With a sob, you made a move to change your direction but it was too late.

“Octopus.”

Black smoke appeared behind him. From the dark mist, a tentacle emerged, abruptly grabbing you by the waist, you flailed violently as soon as your body crashed onto the tentacle. It lifted you up, punching the air out of your lungs from the force of its grip around your body. You started hitting the tentacle’s slimy skin, crying and yelling at the same time. “Let me go, let go!”

Hirofumi pressed his hand on the tentacle and walked towards you while dragging his hand on it. “You’re more fun than I thought.”

As he was getting closer, you struggled within the tentacle’s hold by kicking helplessly at the air. “Get away from me!”

He stopped in front of you and looked up at you with that same disturbing smile before tapping on the tentacle twice. “I took a liking to you.” The tentacle lowered you down until Hirofumi tapped on it again to stop. “You’re quite interesting.”

The tentacle tightened its grip around you and forced your arms to be pressed against your chest. You were getting crushed, you kept trying to inhale but no air was going inside your lungs.

“However it still would be less of a hassle for me to take your corpse to Ms. Makima. You’re just too annoying.”

Fear came rushing back, the bitter reality of how insignificant your life was a harsh truth to accept. Hirofumi could kill you without batting an eye, he would be fine with taking your life because at the end of the day he was going to get paid for doing his job.

You opened your mouth to beg for his mercy but nothing would come out. Your face was turning blue from lack of air instead.

Hirofumi said something you couldn’t hear. Instantly the tentacle’s hold loosened around you. With the pressure gone, you greedily inhaled air, filling up your lungs and coughing.

“I’ll make it quick,” he said, this time frowning instead of smiling. “What a shame though, I thought we’d be able to work together in the future.”

“W-wait!” you coughed, trying to catch your breath to talk to him. “No, no, no! Please, I’ll do anything. Please, I won’t try to run again, I’ll sit patiently and- and-”

He was very quiet, almost silent, but resolute. The blood in your face drained away when you heard his cold and terrifying tone asking you a question with three simple words, “You’ll do anything?”

Your eyes widened as you tried to process the meaning behind his words, you could feel your blood being pumped through your veins but something was wrong, there was a heavy feeling of something crawling under your skin.

“I’ll do anything.”

That sinister smile returned to his face.

The tentacle lowered you, now, your feet could touch the solid ground.

“I want you to prove me wrong,” he said, stretching his arms above his head.

“Huh?” The tentacle unwrapped around you but remained at the back while you stared at the guy in front of you in confusion. “Prove what?”

He positioned himself in a fighting pose. “Prove that you’re a devil hunter worth keeping alive. Let’s duke it out.”

He had to be kidding. You were nothing without a weapon or your devil. It was unfair to you and-

Hirofumi landed a sudden kick on your stomach, doubling in pain, you took a couple of wobbly steps back.

When you glanced up at him, you saw him jumping in his place as if he was only warming up. He was taunting you, don’t fall for it.

Yet you knew he wasn’t kidding about you proving him that you were a good hunter. He had made it clear. So you had no choice but to take him down if you wanted to live.

You aimed a kick towards him but he caught you mid-air by your ankle. Whimpering, you tried pulling your leg back to no avail. The panic of the situation started to settle in as he got closer to you. “That’s cute, you didn’t even put any strength behind your kick.” He tucked your leg around his waist, closing the distance between the two of you. His face had gotten awfully close, his hot breath ghosted over your face. For the first time tonight, you looked at his eyes directly, his pupils were dilated to the point of being completely black. You could see your own terrified expression being reflected back to you in them. To put it simply, you were at his mercy once again, balanced only on a single leg with no way of escaping his hold.

“You lose,” he grinned. “You really aren’t cut out to be a devil hunter.”

“Please,” you began but he interrupted you, his other hand pressing on the small of your back and sliding down your curves to squeeze a generous amount of the supple flesh of your ass. Your breath hitched, the uneasy feeling of being powerless against a higher rank like him made your stomach churn in fear.

“Let’s have some fun before you die.” You could hear the smile in his voice.

With that, the tentacle returned, abruptly going under your shirt, pulling it up and over your head. You didn’t even get the time to react as Hirofumi let your leg down to shove you forward against the tentacle. Gasping, you planted your hands against the tentacle in a pathetic attempt to push yourself up but it was now impossible with his weight pressing you down. His hands were holding your hips in a death grip and rubbing your clothed ass onto his own clothed crotch. You were moving away from his hips helplessly, unaware of the tentacle pushing your bra up to let your tits bounce free. Only when the cool air hit your bare chest, you became aware of what the tentacle was doing. Your nipples perked up and the slimy skin caressing your skin made you flinch, the feeling of one of its suckers on your nipple was enough to make you shriek in disgust.

Hirofumi chuckled, his hands on your hips slid up, feeling your curves before dragging you against his clothed cock. He couldn’t help but grab your hair to pull it as he grinded against your ass with a little too much force. You could feel him growing bigger, he had to be a twisted creep to get off to this.

“Stop… no more…” Begging, you turned your head to look at him. With the way he was pressing you down, you couldn’t meet his gaze, instead found your cheek being pressed flat against the tentacle. Ignoring your pleads, Hirofumi pulled himself back to yank your pants down hurriedly as the tentacle latched one of the suckers on your nipple, toying with the sensitive nub. You started to breathe hard as the realization of how vulnerable you actually were hit you hard. All you could do was to pathetically attempt to get away from Hirofumi to be assaulted by the tentacle instead.

Then the loud sound of his belt buckling made you jolt, the tears and begging for him to stop came right after. You would do anything for him to stop. However your cries were ineffective, they didn’t stop him from pulling down your panties and drinking up the sight of your naked lower half. They only seemed to spur him on even more.

“Stop…” you whimpered and struggled. Tears started streaming down your face as a choked sob left your lips. He smiled against the skin on your shoulder in response while lining himself on your entrance. Twisting your arm behind your back to keep you still, he put his entire weight behind his hips to surge them forward and buried the entire length of his cock in your cunt.

Wincing, you gasped. Hirofumi took it as a signal to move. You were awfully wet, each time he pulled back himself to slam his hips forward, the squelching sounds of your pussy filled the silence of the forest. If that wasn't gross enough, your cheek was being grazed against the slimy skin of the tentacle, its fishy stench started to overwhelm you, making you gag.

“Ahh, you like this don’t you?” He tentatively pulled his hips back to abruptly slam them into your pussy.

“No…” You bit back a moan, closing your eyes and begging for all of it to stop internally.

“You’re getting off to this, you’re sopping wet.” Hirofumi mounted you completely, you could feel his entire weight settle on your back. “Be a good girl for me, will you? Be honest, it’s just the two of us here.”

You grumbled in response.

“Makima isn’t listening.” He nosed some hair out of his way to whisper in your ear. “Only I will hear your confessions. You can tell me anything, trust me.”

“Go to hell,” you hissed. If he was going to kill you, so be it! You weren’t going to give him the pleasure of humiliating you. All you had left was your pride and you were planning to keep it until the very end.

He slammed his hips forward, hitting your sweet spot on the first try. His firm thrust was all it took for you to silently scream, with the air in your lungs completely gone from the impact, you were clenching around his cock. You opened your mouth to take in some air but the tentacle wrapped around your neck, squeezing tightly around you to prevent you from breathing. The tip of the tentacle forced its way into your mouth and swirled around your tongue before diving deeper down into your throat. Hirofumi placed his hand on the tentacle, tapping twice for it to loosen around your neck. The tentacle left your mouth with a disgusting pop sound. Then he replaced the tentacle with his own hand, shoving his fingers into your mouth and grabbing you from the inside of your cheek.

Now, when he thrust forward and picked up his pace, you couldn’t bite back your moans. To your utter horror, it worked. Every thrust of his hips left you moaning, gasping for air. His merciless, rough thrusts remarkably sped up, especially in comparison to before. He was humping you like a rabid dog now and he responded to your surprised moan with a long, pleased hum.

Your drool started to spill out from your mouth and down to your chin since you didn’t have the luxury to swallow the saliva with three long digits prying your mouth open. You moaned audibly and threw your head back when his cock stroked a specific spot along your insides, Hirofumi took this opportunity to bite into your nape hard enough to draw blood, on a second note, you started to think he could be an actually rabid dog.

A scream left your lips, more out of pleasure than pain.

Hirofumi’s teeth sank deeper into your flesh as he felt your gummy walls pulsate around his cock, clenching and begging to be filled with his seed. He gave a muffled chuckle against your flesh, chewing on the raw skin. Although you weren’t honest in the slightest, your body was.

The tentacle’s tip went between your legs and the sucker latched onto your clit, catching you by surprise and making your entire body shake in pleasure.

How cute.

With a delighted smile, Hirofumi stopped biting your nape. He licked your blood off of your skin all the while he was fucking you frenziedly, thrusting in and out your pussy with sloppily wet sounds that started to make your knees unbuckle. Swallowing down your pride, you gave in to the pleasure so you could move your hips and arch your back to meet his frantic thrusts. At the same time, the tentacle toyed with the sensitive nub. It all made your legs trembled under you as your moans got louder than before.

Hirofumi's pace suddenly slackened when his cock throbbed upon your walls clamping on him. Taking his hand from your mouth, he placed it on your shoulder to grab you. He pulled his hips back and abruptly slammed forward, punching the air out of your lungs one last time as you felt the slight twitch of his balls on your skin before a pleasing warmth filled your belly.

The tentacle moved in tight circles around your clit and you clenched around Hirofumi’s cock for the last time, milking more of his seed using your pulsating walls inside of your cunt. Even after the tentacle left you alone, Hirofumi continued fucking his cum into your pussy, gross squelching sounds from his seed gushing out from your abused hole had become a white noise to you at this point. By the time he pulled out of you and let you go, your legs gave up from under you. Before you could crash on the dirty mud, the tentacle caught you, holding you up in a gentle grip.

Hirofumi was tucking himself into his pants while you watched him in exhaustion. He noticed your stare and gave you the same unsettling smile. “I think you’d be a great devil hunter if you were partnered up with me. Makima would agree if I said so. Won’t you agree too?”

You couldn’t keep your eyes open anymore but you managed to blink slowly in response, mouthing a ‘yes’ in defeat.

Hirofumi’s eerie smile grew wider, his eyes squinted from his cheeks puffing up. “I look forward to working with you in the future.”