#Bolt the skating fox

[errorthedumbone]

Ok so bolt in the ruin dlc

This is gonna be more of a fic-

Cass fell into a random hole and fell in a random area and loses the vanni mask. She looks around sees it's a roller skating rink? Oh! She remembers it's Bolt's skating rink, she remembers her dad liked him. From what she could really, he was very sweet, and cheerful! She missed him, she remembered how disappointed her dad was when he was put under construction or something.... She walks around the colorful,dirty, messy, and kinda moldy room. She hears foot steps that sounds heavy. She dashes behind a ceiling beam and hides. She sees it's a very broken bolt....bolt looks around and says in a staticky and broken voice "h-h-h-hÊllØ?....I-Î-Î-Īs sØmēõÑē t-t-thēRë?" He looks around and sees Cassy. He steps closer to Cass and Cass flitches and steps back. Bolt pauses and he bends down and puts his broken, and scratchy arm out to Cass and says trying to calm down Cass "i-i-i-i'm n-n-n-not go-g-g-g-gonna h-h-hurt y-y-y-you. I-i-i- p-p-p-prom-mise" Cass looks at his hand and grabs his hand and looks at bolt. Bolt limps to the entrance and sees its blocked. Cass looks around and realizes she is missing her vanni mask. She looks around a little, skimming the room and can't see it. Its too dark anyways. Bolt let's go of cass's hand and starts twitching and his voice is glitchy. Cass is a little scared and worried she asks "Bolt are you ok?!" Bolt puts his hand on his head and looks at Cass. He doesn't say anything and he nods. He starts walking and waves Cass to follow. He picks up a broken large, broken concrete and moves it away from a rainbow door. Bolt opens the door. Cass is a little confused but she goes in. She looks around and sees the vanni mask, she picks it up ad looks at bolt. "Thank you bolt." Bolt nods and they start walking down the lounge and Cass sees the mask wasn't working somehow. Helpi wasn't even responding either? She sighed and bolt looks down at her and raises a eyebrow and questioned "w-w-w-whats w-w-w-wro-n-ng p-p-pup?" Cass looks at him as she keeps walking and sees that the door is broken and is locked. "It's nothing..." Cass said as she tried to open the door. Bolt looks over and opens a vent and she waves her over "g-go i-in a-and- u-u-u-unlo-lo-ck t-the d-d-oor so i-i can h-help y-you o-o-ou-t." She grumbles because she is starting to hate the vents but she does as bolt says and goes in and sees its the lockers. The main entrance. Its colorful, moldy, messy. She looks at the door and it is blocked. She looks around and sees a pipe. She grabs it and opens it with a bit of a struggle. She falls over on her butt and bolt looks at her with a small bit of concern. He helps her up and they walk to the entrance. Bolt moves her back so he doesn't hurt her, Cass moves back and bolt moves heavy concrete and he stumbles back the concrete comes down and it makes a big BUNM sound. Cass and bolt both fall over and they look at each other and both chuckle. Bolt gets up and helps Cass up, then they hear the wall breaking and cracking. Bolt panicks and picks up Cass and throws her out of the area and the walls and ceilings falls on top of him. And sadly crushes him

[end]

[queencvbra]

fill this with what you most associate with your muse in each of these ( some slightly unusual )  categories !

spice:  cinnamon. lemongrass. fennel.

weather:  sunny & breezy, everything is bright and energized.

primary colour:    sunglow yellow. crimson red. neon coral pink. persimmon orange. olivine green. 

colour of the sky:    warm gold & red & peach tones, the color of a California sunset.  

animal crossing animal:    idk anything about animal crossing but probably like a cat or a fox.

magical power:    electrokinesis.  super speed.

shoe:    hi-top converse or vans.

houseplant:    a very special, tiny bonsai tree

blade weapon:    katana. bladed sai.  

school subject:    phys ed. english / creative writing. history.

social media:    tiktok is probably the only one she cares about.

makeup product:    soft red lipstick. black eyeliner. eye cream and concealer for the dark circles.

candy:    sour patch kids. jolly ranchers. cookies and cream hershey bars.

tangible fear:    sharks. spiders. friends or family dying. starving. dying alone.

shape:    the outline of a lightning bolt. 

travel:    car. roller skates.

art style:    pop art.

historical period:    1980's. Ancient Sparta at its peak in 500 BC.

mythological creature:    onryō.

piece of stationary:    a torn page from a spiral notebook with doodles all over it.

three emoji combination:    ⚡️ 🤟 💛

celestial body:    mars. the sun.

rom com archetype:    the hot mess. the tough cookie. the bitch.

tagged by: @pink6unnyhat (ily <3) tagging: @behttys (tag back MWAH), @senseibalance , @senseimercy , @princecvbra , @wickedlehane , @3ilson , @opponentcompel , @moonesq , @pointmoskowitz , @pointlarusso , @webheadedhero , @unbearablyindifferent , and @ anyone else who wants to do it !

[maggicktouched]

@bokketo so my hope is to make this a two-parter and actually write out them going ice skating, but at the rate I’m writing rn who tf knows if it’ll happen. And I thought this was cute lol.

The first real snow of the year was always exciting. Beck had curled up in the early hours of the morning, long before the sun ever rose, beneath blankets of darkness and silver starlight, as a fox on the roof. She had watched the gray clouds roll in and remembered the year she spent in the frozen north. Something had changed up there all those years ago, something other than her form. She felt the cold just as keenly as anyone else, but it no longer stung her skin or ached in her bones. And snowfall had its own sound, like a chorus of bells; haunting, beautiful, and often chaotic. Unlike the chaos of the city, in this sound she could find melody and comfort.

While everyone else in the Tower—except an ever restless Tony—slept, she watched the sky dissolve and listened to the symphony as it drowned out the screaming rush of the city. Snow gathered on her back. It melted at first, against the warmth of her thick coat, but eventually it fell so quickly that it draped across her like a blanket. 

It was not a gentle dusting. It wasn’t tentative like the first frost usually was. Relentlessly it spiraled down and down from the sky above, the clouds above sharing a seemingly endless bounty. It was a right and proper storm.

Shards of ice crusted her ears and muzzle, winding around her whiskers like tinsel around a tree and dragging them down. She had to stand and shake herself off three or four times, and eventually hopped up to a higher perch so that she would not be buried entirely. 

For the first time since she’d come to the city she felt the land sigh, and its people stilled—if only for a time. She breathed in deep, even though it stung her lungs.

The world turned. The hours dragged on. Eventually, the sun rose above the horizon to do battle with the storm. It pierced it with spears of yellow light that were only bright enough to turn the world a dismal gray. But with time, the sun grew stronger, and the winds blew harder, and the clouds passed on. Beneath the clear blue sky, she could see the city coated completely in the crisp white blanket of snow.

Beck stood up again and shook herself once more. Her paws and face were still caked in ice, and her fur was still thick with snow, but she hopped down from her perch and pushed open the door to the roof regardless, bolting down the stairs.

“Natasha!” Her mental call was punctuated by the high-pitched, exuberant squeal of a vixen. “Natasha! Natasha! Natasha!”

Beck leaped over a couch, leaving a dusting of ice crystals on the sofa as they fell from her tail. She rounded an end table and went flying around the corner so fast that her paws lost traction, and she thumped against the wall in the hallway. Her feet fruitlessly clawed at the floor for several seconds, before they gained traction once more, and she leaped forward in the direction of the kitchen. 

Nat was close. She could smell her. 

“Natasha! Natasha!” She zoomed through the door to the kitchen and vaulted over the table, sliding across the tile floor until she bumped into a warm body. Gentle hands were already on her before she could blink, as Nat lifted her up to get a look at her. “Natushka!” 

“What happened to you?” She seemed oblivious to the overwhelming joy in her lover’s tone.

Beck wriggled, pressing her cold, icy muzzle to Nat’s jaw to nuzzle against it. Her tail wagged ferociously, hitting the counter. Every thump sounded like a shattering of glass.

“Natushka, it snowed!” She exclaimed.

Nat set her on the counter and held her at arm’s length, assessing every inch of her. A slight smile was breaking through her worried expression as she gently brushed the crystals of ice off her muzzle. Beck felt Natasha’s powers brush against her magic as well as her skin, and it sent a tingle from her nose to her tail. She let out a delighted cry, and couldn’t stop herself from shaking off.

“I can see that.” Nat let out a rare and beautiful laugh, and continued to brush the snow from her. 

“Is that where you’ve been? Outside in a snowstorm?” Beck couldn’t tell if she disapproved or not, but she rolled over onto her back and pawed at Natasha’s arm, wriggling excitedly. Nat sighed. “Beck—half the tower has been looking for you.”

“I was on the roof!” She sounded nothing but proud of herself, and Natasha chuckled again, almost inaudible. Beck nipped at her finger gently. “Let’s go outside! We can build snowmen! And snow-women! And snow foxes! Come on, come on!”

Beck wriggled herself upright and went to leap to the floor, but Natasha caught her and put her right back. “Beck-”

“Oh! And we can go sledding! And ice fishing! And ice skating!”

The words weren’t coming from her mouth, but Natasha took her slender muzzle between her thumb and forefinger. It was gentle, and Nat was smiling, so Beck didn’t pull away. 

“Slow down.” She said, “I don’t even know how to ice skate.”

She never should have said that. The fox’s eyes grew wide, and a half a heartbeat later she was no longer a fox anymore, but a woman, sitting perched on the counter, eye to eye with her lover. The smile on her face was so big it could have broken her cheeks, and her eyes were sparkling with barely contained excitement.

“I can teach you!” She said, practically squealed, grabbing at Natasha’s hand. “I can! I’m really good! And you’ll be really good too! You’re good at everything!”

There was nothing in her tone to suggest she was teasing. In Beck’s mind, there wasn’t a thing that Natasha could not do, and everything she did do, she did to perfection. And if her glasses were a bit rose-tinted, she had no intention of changing them.

“This will be so much fun! Let’s go! We can go right now!”

Nat was tolerant of her exuberant moods, but she rarely shared them. Her excitement was always muted, and her passion was silent. They were complete opposites in that regard, but that didn’t dissuade the little witch at all.

“Fine. But you need to get changed first. You’ll freeze out there.”

Beck tilted her head and considered it. “I don’t think I can. But alrighty.”

She hopped down from her place on the counter and kissed Natasha on the cheek, letting her strange comment dangle in the air between them. And then in a blink of an eye she was gone, running down the hall like a child, nearly slipping to her death on the puddles of water that had been made from the ice in her fur moments before.

In the distance, she could have sworn she heard Natasha laugh again.

[marcosxii]

A list of some tracks I don't want to forget

Cocteau Twins - Little Spacey

My Bloody Valentine - Strawberry Wine

Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why

Grizzly Bear - Yellow House

Björk - Frosti

Beach House - Master of None

Feist - Monarch

B Fachada - San Francisco/ Amsterdam

Kickball - Stop Infinity

Ariel Pink - Phantasm

MGMT - We Don't Care

The Roches - Quitting Time

Breakbot - Arrested

Usher - U Don't Have to Call

Death Cab for Cutie - The New Year

Aphex Twin - i

Architex - Altitude

Charlie XCX - 365

Clairo - Juna

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Vince Guaraldi - Skating

Charlie Brown Jr. - Te Levar Daqui

Postal Service - Such Great Heights

Ramones - Sheena is a Punk

Sigur Rós - Avalon

Phoenix - 1901

Broken Social Scene - Stay Happy

Nick Drake - Poor Boy

Julee Cruise - The World Spins

Rolling Stones - She's a Rainbow

Sufjan Stevens - Tahquamenon Falls

Crystal Castles - Tuesday

Clã - Sexto Andar

Smashing Pumpkins - Hummer

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks theme

[jminter]

Picks of the Week - February 1, 2023

We roll into February, with Valentine's Day coming soon and plenty of activity in the picks of the week... Arts: There's just a few more days to take in the creative line up PuSh International Festival of Performing Arts brings to the city - it's timely, honest, politically active works of dance, music, theatre and multimedia programming continues until February 5th.

Race Horse Company - O'DD credit: Minja Kaukoniemi Concept & direction: Rauli Dahlberg Choreographer: Jarkko Mandelin ?On stage: Rauli Dahlberg & Miro Mantere ?Production: Race Horse Company Lighting design: Jere Mönkkönen & Eero Alava ??Music & sound design: Miro Mantere Set design: Rauli Dahlberg & Jere Mönkkönen Costume design: Viivi Raila & Janni Turtiainen Dine: The city’s most flavourful festival, Dine Out Vancouver Festival, also wraps up in a few day, book fixe prix menus from 350 restaurants from Abbotsford to Ambleside before February 5th. Chocolate: Continuing until February 14, the 13th annual Greater Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival is brewing up and a bigger and better festival than ever, with visions of hot chocolate flavours from cafes, bakeries and eateries to keep us warm on winter days. Voice: Friday, Early Music Vancouver returns to Christ Church Cathedral to Raise, Raise The Voice an evening with award-winning countertenor Reginald Mobley and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra Internment: At The Arts Club Theatre Company until February 12th Forgiveness, based on the acclaimed memoir by Mark Sakamoto, tells the powerful story of his family’s harrowing experiences during World War II.  Wolves: The Arts Club Theatre Company brings another World Premiere Silver Commission Production to the stage, with The Cull opening at Granville Island Stage, running until February 26 Arts: Oxford Properties unveils its 100 Amigos Art Exhibition, featuring 100 12?x12? works by local artists curated by local graphic artist Pablo Zamudio, hanging in the newly renovated MNP Tower (1021 West Hastings) lobby for public viewing (and purchase) through February 19.

Horton: Until February 11th at Burnaby's Michael J Fox Theatre, Align Entertainment is presenting Seussical The Musical, based on Horton Hears A Who and the many children's stories of Dr. Seuss. Ice: With temperatures below freezing it's the perfect time to hit 'the ice' at Robson Square Ice Rink open until February 28th for your old-fashioned outdoor skating family fun, with skate rentals just $5. Ring: It's Wrestling Night at Rogers Arena, as the Vancouver Warriors play host to Saskatchewan Rush with a post-game wresting match at centre-turf. Lunar: Lunar Fest and Lantern City celebrations pop up all around the city with sites downtown, Granville Island, and West End- Robson Street until February 20, 2023.  

Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience in Surrey February 1 to March 5, 2023 Photo: Timothy Norris Masters: As opportunity to interact with a Master’s great works, in a new exhibition, Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience opening today February 1, and running until March 5, 2023 at the Agriplex at Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey. Fly: You don’t have to go far to visit Asia as guests to Fly Over Canada can experience spectacular Taiwan from above as Soar Over Taiwan takes flight only until February 12th.  Saddest: Produced by the Firehall Arts Centre and Victoria’s Puente Theatre, acclaimed Portuguese-Canadian playwright Elaine Ávila’s play, FADO – The Saddest Music in the World returns to The Firehall stage until Sunday, February 5 Listen: The Cultch Re/Play season continues on digital, with the audio-only play The Year of The Cello  online now. Jazz: The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, has an amazing line up of Jazz @ The Bolt, curated by Jazz Impresario Cory Weeds, bringing a line-up of renowned artists from across Canada and around the world to join the best of Vancouver’s talent February 4-5

Advance: Also at the Shadbolt Centre, Ruby Slippers Theatre’s Advance Theatre Festival (ATF) showcases new plays written and directed by female identifying and gender non-conforming artists who also identify as BIPOC (Indigenous, Black or Person of Colour). This week features; Aki Yaghoubi's Parifam - Wednesday, Feb. 1, 8pm, Yvonne Wallace's ReZonance - Thursday, February 2, 8pm, Jessie Lang's Surrender - Friday, February 3, 8pm Read the full article

[lemons3ason]

SK8 THE INFINITY (Late Valentines Special Headcannon

(A/n: I HAVE BECOME A SLUT FOR THIS SERIES SK8 THE INFINITY GIVES ME SO MUCH LIFE EVEN THOUGH ITS STILL SO NEW! DIDNT HAVE TIME YESTERDAY SO HERES THE LATE VALENTINES SPECIAL WITH THE MAINS FROM SK8 THE INFINITY)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Langa Hasegawa

-Sweet clueless child is a complete idiot when it comes to love and to make it worse you’re dense to his advances.

-Met you at school with Reki and would try to be as close to you as possible, letting you borrow his board so he could enjoy your smile as you skated.

-Due to personal reasons you were extremely touch starved and Langa was more then willing to hug you all day long but he’d find himself staring at your lips in want.

-Once Valentines came around he felt like finally confessing to you despite the holiday being a total cliche.

-Decided to make you chocolates, unfortunately he kept burning the batches so he had to ask his mom for help which resulted in her finding out about you.

-Wrote a message on the chocolates himself despite his terrible penmanship and hoped you would appreciate it and accept him.

-Almost forgets the chocolates the next day since he overslept and was late for school, wishes you a good morning over texts and asks you to meet him at the front gates to talk to you.

-Was bombarded by fan girls at school that wanted to give him gifts and found himself bumping into someone, just so happened to be you, but he realizes that he knocked something out of your hands and it got crushed under another girls foot.

-For the first time ever he actually saw your face pale and tears prick the corner of your (e/c) hues, he growled under his breathe shouting at everyone to leave as he wrapped his arms around you.

-You didn’t hug him back, you just silently cried somehow not making a sound and he sighed seeing you upset.

-“I’m sorry they crushed your gift, were you giving it to someone?”, he tried to hide the jealousy in his voice as he wiped away your tears.

-You nodded your head before explaining that they were meant for him. He blushed of course but a goofy grin plastered itself on his face as he cupped your cheeks and slammed a kiss against your sweet warm lips.

-He pulled away leaving you a stuttering mess as he presented you his little pink gift box. You took it and opened it giggling at what he had wrote, “We’re already friends Langa.”, you giggled showing him his incorrect kanji.

-“N-no I-I meant boyfriend, can I be your boyfriend pretty please?”, he begged as if he still had no chance with you.

-You giggled and smiled again before cupping his cheeks and returning his sweet kiss from before. Successful Valentines Confession.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reki Kyan

-Y’all already been dating but this was your first Valentines together so he wanted to make it special.

-“Gotta head to work bye Reki.”, you hummed kissing his lips sweetly before you skated away on your board.

-He smiled watching you disappear into the sunset but once you were out of sight he bolted the rest of the way home.

-He’s not your ordinary guy and he loves skateboarding so he wanted to protray his feelings for skateboarding and you into his next project.

-Stayed up day and night in order to finish it and rushed to your house Valentines morning to spend the day with you before he presented your gift to you.

-Treated you to your favorite ice cream shop and a shopping spree at the plush store where you excitedly bought all the cute anime and animal plushes you had been dying for.

-You presented his gift to him around noon by taking him to a very special skateboard shop that your dad owned, he got first dibs at all the latest equipment and parts he needed for future projects and you couldn’t help smiling as he gasped at your father for letting him keep everything he had picked out and wanted.

-Your dad dropped you both off at Reki’s house in a pick up truck since Reki and gotten so much and helped unload it while you went in to greet his mother and sisters.

-He ran to his garage to get your gift but started getting nervous thinking that you wouldn’t like it.

-“S-she’ll like it I know she will. (Y/n)’s always spoiling me so this will pay her back for being so wonderful to me.”, he thought hugging the board tight to his chest as he ran back in to see you.

-“H-hey (Y/n), can you come here for a sec?”

-He could hear you running towards him and smiled nervously as he hid the board behind his back.

-Has you close your eyes and places the board deck side down in your arms so you can see the custom design he made for you on the back.

-You absolutely screech in joy seeing the new board in your arms, you couldn’t believe it was actually yours. Reki has to grab you by the cheeks hold you in place and tell you it was yours like five times just for you to believe him.

-You can’t help but throw yourself against him to hug him and kiss his pudgy face all over while chanting ‘I love you’ over and over again.

-He’s so happy you like your new board, he’s so overwhelmed by your affection but he absolutely adores you and kisses you one more time before dragging you off to his room for a movie and cuddles.

-A dorky sweetheart you can’t tell me otherwise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miya Chinen

-YOU ARE VIDEO GAME BUDDIES!

-Met during an online gaming tournament, you actually beat him, you became rivals for each other.

-When you both met in real life he absolutely adored you, sweet, kind, outgoing, and obviously taller than him, he couldn’t help the blush that rose to his face upon meeting you.

-You two were a match made in heaven but he couldn’t bring himself to confess to you no matter how hard he tried and then he found out you had a crush on a boy from your school.

-Helps you shop for the perfect gift for your crush despite it breaking his heart and finds himself still buying you something in hopes of confessing to you first.

-Has a little Bunny plush holding a single sunflower in its arms in his room since he couldn’t bring himself to confess to you the day of Valentines.

-Doesn’t hear from you about your confession until the day after when your both playing online against each other.

-“Come on (Y/n), you could’ve easily deflected that! Don’t become a slime on me now player two.”, Miya yells into his mic regretting it immediately when he hears you sigh.

-“Sorry Miya I’m just not feeling it tonight, I’m gonna go to bed see ya later.”

-Your sad he can tell instantly from the sound of your voice, calls you on the phone to demand an explanation on why your sad and you burst into tears on the other side.

-“S-sorry...hkk...i-it’s just that I let myself get played. I got heartbroken yesterday by the guy I liked and I realized that I’m pretty much a weirdo that no one wants to be with. He laughed at me and tossed my gift out the third story window of the school and walked away with a prettier girl in his arms.”

-You don’t hear anything from Miya and sigh hearing the call end unbeknownst to you Miya was skating his way to your house as fast as he could to comfort you, his Valentines gift in his arms.

-You jump when you hearing tapping on your window and watch as Miya sneaks in with a little rabbit in his arms.

-“Then be my weirdo! Stay by my side and we can be weirdos together, you don’t need that slime ball when I wanna be the grand knight that protects my princess!”, Miya screamed extending the gift to you in hopes that you would accept his feelings.

-He feels the rabbit leave his hands and opens his eyes to see you smiling through your tears, he kinda panics and wipes away your tears with his sleeves and just holds you.

-He presses his for head against yours and sighs, “You don’t have to answer right now it’s just that...I-I umm...I want to be the Link to your Zelda i-if you know what I mean.”

-You giggle and hug him thanking him for his kind words and softly whisper, “I love you, Miya, and thank you.”, into his ear making him smile against your shoulder.

-Sweet baby boy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaoru Sakurashiki

-This dipshit works Valentine’s Day and forgets about it due to all the orders for custom calligraphy messages for couples.

-Annoyed by all the sappy messages and honestly putting half his effort in any of them.

-Forgets he has an interview that day until he hears a knock at his office door and you nervously enter.

-His heart races seeing you for the first time, you look so adorable in your business casual outfit, and your nervous smile has him falling over himself.

-“H-hello my name is (L/n) (F/n), I-it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Sakurashiki.”

-“She’s beautiful like a cherry blossom.”, he thought to himself.

-Overall the interview goes great, you’re just a year younger then him looking for a new job to pay for your new home.

-Loves you a lot and asks you to start immediately as his new secretary, you accept and start getting right to work. Eventually he notices you running around in your socks since your feet were hurting from the heels.

-Treats you to dinner once the shop is closed to welcome you to the team and falls in love with you more as you talk more about yourself.

-You are playful but still you have a calm and collected mind something he admires greatly.

-Waits till next Valentines to properly confess to you since he found it extremely hard to put his feelings into words.

-You surprisingly accept and he treats you to a rooftop diner where you both share a sweet dance under the moonlight.

-Dubs you his Blossom and spoils you with sweet gestures and shy kisses until he’s confident enough to kiss you properly.

-Laughs when he finds out you are jealous of Carla (his skateboard), you fume and decide to race him at S which shocks him because he didn’t know you could even skate.

-Absolutely loses it seeing you in your S wardrobe, a rather revealing kunoichi styled outfit that showed all the right parts leaving him wanting more.

-“Well Cherry Blossom let’s see what you can do.”, you smirked behind your fox mask.

-You end up slaughtering him in the race just from pure skill alone, Karla couldn’t keep up with your calculations and you won by a landslide.

-Gets jealous of the fan boys that suddenly accumulate over you once the race is finish, takes off both of your masks so he can kiss you silly.

“I won jealous cherry.”

“Shut up and kiss me little blossom.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kojiro Nanjo

-This large himbo had a whole plan to make you extremely jealous by flirting with other women until you were furious with him before surprising you with a special hotel room that he rented out for just the two of you for Valentines.

-Unfortunately he was unaware of some bullying and self esteem issues you were having because of work so you patience with him dried out fast.

-“Huh baby cakes what’s the mat-“

-“If they’re so pretty why don’t you just stay with them instead of someone useless and ugly like me!”

-Regrets everything he said as soon as he sees you running away in tears, ditches the fans immediately and skates off to find you but you’re already long gone.

-Calls Cherry who has you weeping in his arms and groans as his old friend starts scolding him for being a ‘Heartless Dumbass Gorilla’.

-Hugs you as soon as he sees you practically tackling you and Cherry in the process and begs for your forgiveness.

-You pout and refuse to forgive him which in turn makes him sigh, he scoops you up in his arms and tosses you over his shoulder to carry you away despite your protest and skates off to the hotel.

-“I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you, I wanted to make you jealous and then spoil you rotten. This wasn’t how I wanted today but if you’ll let me I’d still like to spoil you and make it up to you.”, Joe admits in a soft voice.

-You agree hesitantly and he puts you down, cups your face, and presses a tender kiss against your plump lips. Smiles against your lips when he feels your cheeks heat up.

-Takes you to the hotel, chuckles at your shocked expression to the huge lavish room and invites you for champagne in the jacuzzi.

-Leans you against his chest and wraps an arm around your waist, whispers sweet compliments and praises into your ear until a goofy smile is plastered over your face.

-Smothers you in kisses and cuddles even if you playfully try to escape his strong arms.

-Watches sappy movies with you and holds you tightly until your glowing with joy. Kisses you good night as he snuggles his head into your adorable chest and happily nods off to sleep as you play with his curly green hair.

“Happy Valentine’s Day love, I’m sorry and thank you for today beautiful.”, Joe hums kissing your cleavage sweetly.

“I’m sorry I ruined your surprise, thank you handsome.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiromi Higa

-Meets you the 13th when you come in to buy flowers, there’s such a sad aura about you that he can’t help but gift you a fresh pink rose that brings a sweet smile to your face.

-Instantly falls for you as you ask for an arrangement to take to a funeral of a dear friend.

-Makes you a beautiful arrangement himself and let’s you take it free of charge despite your argument to pay.

-“Just try to be happy for me and that’s enough, you look beautiful when you smile.”, he simply says making a blush roll across your face.

-As nightfall hits the city he dawns his Shadow look for S and starts heading over but he stops after hearing a scream and finds you being attacked by a small group of idiots.

-Instantly picks a fight with them in order to defend you and wins just from knocking one out with a single punch and scaring the others away with a glare.

-Sees you trembling on the floor with a hand covering your left arm and sighs seeing the blood, you had been slashed by one of their blades so he carefully wraps it with an extra cloth that he had and picks you up carrying you to the train station.

-“Stay safe little flower, I won’t always be able to save you.”, he grins at you making you blush for some strange reason.

-“T-thank you for saving me.”

-He smiles at you and leans forward leaving a purple lipstick mark on your cheek as he disappears from sight.

-He skates his best that night at S while thinking of you.

-You appear again in the flower shop the next day, a bandage wrapped around your arm and a shy smile on your face as you walk up to him.

-He’s surprised to see you again so soon and prays that you didn’t recognize him from last night.

-You smile and press a kiss to his cheek, leaving a red stain on his cheek that has his face flaming up in embarrassment.

-You hand him back his cloth and a note and rush out of the store while shouting, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

“H-huh well seems she did notice m-ehh... i-is this her phone number?”

[dreamcatcher-faux]

"Hello, I'm Fawkes the Maintenance Fox! Got anything that needs fixing? Just ask and I'll be there ASAP!"

It's my time to be cringe one main >:3 info underneath the cut

This is my sona Fawkes, they're a new maintenance bot in the Mega Pizzaplex in charge of fixing basically whatever is broken. Got a broken bulb? No problem. Freddy's charging station is malfunctioning? No problem. Monty broke his bass again? No problem! I'm going to list some facts so that way this isn't too long :)

@hoperainbowsblog is who inspired me with their Glamrocks x Maintenance!Reader!

The reason why Fazbear Entertainment built a maintenance bot instead of hiring new employees is because it was cheaper :)

They have a small drawer in their stomach for storing tools and backup shades. (Although they also put little trinkets and candy in there)

Like Monty, they have sensitive eyes and need to wear sunglasses

Their choker acts as a flashlight if they need to see into small crevices

The orange stripes glow in the dark

The shoulder pads can come off if they need to squeeze into someplace small

Pretty strong surprisingly. They could pick up Roxanne and/or Chica effortlessly

The only one who can get Monty out of his rage (Seriously staff, just give the gator a hug)

They have built in roller skates. Why? Why not??

Sense they don't have their own greenroom, they stay in Parts and Service. They have their own little area that's just a pillow fort with nuts and bolts scattered about and a few drawings from the daycare kids

Sort of an unofficial replacement for Foxy???

The second fastest animatronic in the Mega Pizzaplex behind Roxanne Wolf but becomes evenly matched with the roller skates

[blight-magic]

Enchanting Grom Fright || Amimity

Summary: The day of Prom, Amity faces Ashmedai for the second time.

Mim finds out. 

@madmagicmim 

tw: they fight a demon! There is violence. 

Amity: In the shadows of the Lyons Cave crouched Amity Blight, holding a glimmer of magic.

She had the Rings of Carmarthen.

Well, nine of them. On her way out of the Ambrosius house she had rushed and dropped one of them. It could be on the stairs, or under a table, or in the hellish forest for all she knew– it didn’t matter now. She trembled as she slid one on each finger, praying to the Titan that they would give her some of that kind of strength: demonic, enormous, unbeatable.

Amity had one more chance to get this right.

“It’s okay,” she muttered to herself. “After this is over, prom. Just one more fight,  and  then you and Riley–”

Amity’s tongue caught, because she didn’t know what the rest of that sentence looked like.

It had always been…get the seal, go home. But now…  but if she had the Seal, at least she’d have a bargaining chip on her side. Odalia and Alador would be too happy to care about Amity and Riley after all that.

Do it for Riley.

Amity took a deep breath and then opened her eyes. Fucking show time.

This time she knew what to expect. Amity grabbed the potion she’d made with Edric and lobbed it with all her might into the cave. Glass shattered, a searing light filling the cavern. Ashmedai screamed. The entire cave shook with the force of his pain. But as dirt and pebble rained down around her, Amity ran toward it, thrusting both of her ring-clad hands ahead of her as she forced magic into every single breath she took.

“Abomination!” she shouted. “Rise!”

Her freshly minted and mixed golem poured from the pot on her belt and spilled ahead in front of her. Amity jumped onto it. She imagined she was on the ice again– gliding on skates, gaining speed, chasing after Riley. She slid forward and the golem raised in the air, impossibly strong and sturdy and full of the magic that was pulsing from the rings. Amity could do anything! She could make as much golem as she wanted! And so the golem continued to stretch and wind, rising above Ashmedai’s head, Amity pushing forward, forward, forward, while Ashmedai writhed and moaned from the effect of the light potion.

“Where are you?!” he veered to the left and to the right. He smashed into the sides of the caves. “WHERE ARE YOU!”

There it was again! The seal!

Amity’s abomination once again twisted in the air and sharpened at the end into a fine point. She’d spear Ashmedai through. She’d get the seal when she had pinned that asshole to the wall! She surged forward right as Ashmedai’s eyes rolled back and blinked open, red and bloody.

He smashed into the top of the cave. Stalactites plummeted like knives from the top and sliced Amity’s abomination into pieces in several places.

She fell to the ground, yelping, and gathered just enough of her abomination to cushion her fall.

“Nice try little witch. Now. Time to die,” chuckled Ashmedai. And he opened his mouth.

Mim: It started for Mim when she came down the stairs and kicked against an object that wasn’t supposed to be there. Of course, living in a house with two cats and an extremely sentient fox, things ended up all over the floor. But it was the slight flash as it spun away from her toe that had her stopping to take a closer look.

As soon as she did, she went cold. There was no reason for the Black Obsidian Ring of Carmarthen to be on the floor. It was supposed to be safely locked away with the others.

Head whipping around, Mim bolted for the magic study and yanked the door open, making a beeline straight for the box that contained the rings. Inside, she could see what looked like the 10 rings glittering gently in the light from the hallway. Something that was impossible with the ring in her hand. Without questioning it, Mim slid the black obsidian ring onto her finger and reached forward to lay the ring gently against its double.

Instantly, the illusions on the rings shattered and all of them dulled.

Someone had taken the other nine rings. Someone had stolen from them. As if they thought the Ambrosius siblings would be too stupid to notice what had happened or too nice not to retaliate.

They had another thing coming. No one was taking anything else from them.

Mim could feel temper beginning to rise, but she forced herself to take a deep breath. Remember Archimedes’ lessons. The ring she had exposed weaknesses, shielded from negative attacks, increased self control, and tapped into the true self. She had a feeling she was going to need all of that in the upcoming confrontation. But she had to find them first.

Not a lot of people were aware the rings were connected. But she had spent months working with them now. Closing her eyes, she lowered her shields and opened her perception wide. “Invenire.”

Instantly, she saw a dark thread ripple across the horizon and into Enchantra. She didn’t hesitate, shoving her feet into shoes and racing out the door to track down this thief and do whatever it took to take back what belonged to her.

Mim hardly paid attention to where she was going, ignoring the paths in favor of the direct route she was being shown. She could feel the way the forest shifted around her, as if it was trying to guide her away from her destination, but she didn’t care. She followed along at a steady run, making the minute adjustments so she could expand her lungs and drain the lactic acid from her muscles. She could have run forever. Instead, she found herself outside of a cave. And a lot of pieces abruptly clicked into place.

Before she could go inside, the cave seemed to shake and there was a loud crash, one after the other.

Time to die.

The words echoed out of the cave. So naturally, Mim ran straight towards it.

“Hey you bastard! Pick on someone your own size!”

Scooping up a handful of the shattered stalactites with the hand wearing the ring, Mim slammed them back into the ground and pulsed her magic. Immediately the ground of the cave rippled before a spike of pure rock when shooting up towards the shadowy figure in the center of the room.

Amity: Amity gasped on the ground, her golem a messy puddle around her, even as the magic vibrated in her blood from the extra boost of the rings. It was like she’d been on rocket fuel, but had crashed to earth, and the momentum from that crash was still spilling out. She needed to get up, but she couldn’t get up. She needed to move, to defend, anything–

Time to die!

“No,” gasped Amity as she struggled to her hands and knees–

The cave ground erupted like a volcano.

Amity yelped as Ashmedai’s massive hand crushed the rock. Debris exploded in all directions. But it was the second she needed to get a hold of her magic again. The golem around her moved up like a massive wave, shielded Amity and her rescuer–

Titan’s horns– Mim!

“Mim!” She shouted. She didn’t get much time to say anything else as Ashmedai headbutted the solid golem wall, sending a massive crack through the middle. Amity raised her hands up and the wall turned into liquid so Ashmedai’s second attempt used his own force against him. He crashed into the opposite side of the cave, covered in sticky golem, temporarily blind.

Amity grabbed Mim by the hand and dove behind a massive chunk of rock. “What are you doing?!” she shouted at her. “You can’t be here! Get out!”

Mim: Mim dodged away from the shattering rocks, pulling the enchanted pencil out of where she had left it tucked into her hair. Distantly, she could feel a part of her mind screaming at the image in front of her eyes. She had read about creatures like this, but seeing it in reality was unlike anything she could have expected.

But rage, determination, and a finely honed survival instinct kept the fear back so she could fall apart later.

She saw the golem rise up in the background and used that to dart to the edge of the cave, collecting bits of leaves, seeds, anything and everything she could use. Yanking out a strand of her own hair, she quickly tied a knot in it, tying up all the materials in the bag that grew so she could attach it to her waist, scratching a rune into it with the pencil to stabilize it.

Just as she was finishing, Amity barreled into her and shoved them both behind a rock.

“Not without you!” she shouted back, gripping Amity’s hand tightly.

Right now, she couldn’t figure out if they were friends or if Amity had only ever used her. She couldn’t figure out if she should scream and duel her or if she should be bullying Martin into giving Amity a permanent room in their house away from everything. She couldn’t figure out how she felt, and none of that mattered because she did know one thing for sure.

She wasn’t going to leave Amity to die.

“So are you leaving with me or are  you going to tell me what the fucking plan is?”

Amity: The fucking plan.

Amity had come in here with a plan. It had been a good one. For a minute– and some fights, a minute was all you needed – it had even worked. She’d caught Ashmedai off guard, weakened his eyesight, and could have impaled him through with her abomination, and the extra boost from the rings. But this was the problem with plans: if they fell apart, what happened next?

Amity hadn’t had a Plan B. This was Plan B. Now with Mim in the mix?!

She panted, looked over her shoulder at the massive moving shape of Ashmedai as he groaned and swiped at his own eyes. Then, back at Mim.

A plan.

Maybe Mim was her new plan. She’d never had a partner before.

“I– get the seal from Ashmedai’s tongue,” she blurted the goal, which wasn’t the plan, but she was taking ideas. “Once we get it, we can banish him back to the Underworld. Problem is, he opens his mouth and it’s basically a freaking black hole in here. But his eyes are the weak point.”

She scrambled for her wand and drew a light rune to help her make out Mim and their surroundings. “And light hurts.”

Mim: If Mim had known this was how the year was going to end, maybe she would have done a little more studying. But Archimedes had no interest in demons, and she’d had no interest in the Seal, so she was relying entirely on Amity’s knowledge of the situation.

So she absorbed what she could, noting weaknesses as they were listed and glancing around. She wished she had more components with her, but she’d have to make do with what she could find.

Good thing she’d always been a bit more of an impulsive scrounger when it came to magic anyway.

“Ok, got it. I’ll stab, you light the place up like it’s fucking Christmas, and I can anchor you while you grab it. If anything goes wrong, we improvise and if you die I will get a medium to bring your ass back so I can kick it myself.”

Maybe not the most encouraging final note to end on. But this was Mim after all.

Catching sight of some small bones on the ground, she grinned and scooped those up as well, shoving those in her makeshift pouch as she reached for another couple stones. Glancing around the corner, she saw the demon waiting for them, blinking and searching around as if its eyes were watering.

“See you on the flip side,” she said, right as she was about to step out from their shelter.

Amity: If Mim had questions, she saved them. Which was helpful– there was no time to explain and Amity wouldn’t know where to start. Would she go all the way back to her embarrassment at Grom? Would she tell Mim about how her parents, their standing in the Emperor’s Coven, was jeopardized? That without that seal, her own future shattered before her very eyes? She’d probably have to go into all that later, if they both survived this–

No, when they both survived this. Amity couldn’t die here. She had a freaking prom date later, with an elf hottie, who was also the coolest person that Amity had ever met!

And that prom wouldn’t be complete without Mim either.

So Amity’s hand shot out and she grabbed Mim’s arm, yanking her back. “Wait!” she hissed, heart hammering in her skull. She let go so she could slide some of the rings off her right hand. Mim’s plan didn’t suck, but to give it the best chance, they both needed to be strong.

“Sorry about stealing these but– here, I’ll give you the second half after we pulverize Hellbreath over there!” Amity said. She pressed the rings into Mim’s hand, then locked eyes with her.

“We’re not going to die,” she told Mim like she was giving an order. “Don’t. Die. Ambrosius.”

Now it was time to fight.

Amity reached out a hand, and the golem splattered around the cave started to tremble, turning into squelching worm-like masses that slithered toward her. “Now let’s go!”

They both ran out at the same time. Amity’s golem gathered around her, twisting into a funnel that lifted her up in the air so she could draw a massive light rune in the middle of the cave. It lit up, pulsing golden, not as blinding as the potion she released earlier, but–

It pissed Ashmedai off. He screeched again and flailed out an arm to dash the rune.

Mim: Mim had just taken a deep breath, ready to run out and do something that Martin was definitely going to yell at her for later (because there would be a later) when she was instead pulled back. “Damn it Am - oh. Hell yeah, ok.”

She slipped on the four rings that Amity gave her, not paying too much attention to which they were as she spread them out across both her hands. Almost immediately she felt the tingle of something powerful and energizing racing through her veins, even as clarity and focus descended.

This was Mim Ambrosius and Amity Blight, two of the best sorcerers this town had ever seen. This demon wouldn’t know what hit it.

“I won’t.”

Together they ran out and Amity launched herself into the air. Mim instead pulled out one of the bones and the rocks, slamming them together before she slammed them into the ground. It only took a pulse of energy before a sharp spike of intertwined rock and bone went shooting straight towards the demon’s center.

Just behind it, she threw a handful of seeds and fluff and they stretched into long thorny vines that attempted to grab hold of the demon’s arm and protect the rune as it was being created.

Amity:

Ashmedai was massive. Ashmedai was strong. Ashmedai was ancient– and ancient beings had magic that aged with them, like freaking wine or cheese or something. Even with the ten rings she’d felt Ashmedai’s power as it engulfed her own. She would have died, plain and simple, if Mim had not come along.

Maybe that was the difference. Not better golem, not a juiced-up potion, and not ten ancient rings nearly as old as the demon himself.

They just needed two of them, to split the fucker’s attention. What was more powerful than two teenage girls anyway?

Ashmedai broke through Mim’s vines, but they’d worked long enough for Amity to dodge his blow. Her golem swam up her frame like a coat of armor until she was covered head to toe. She jumped onto Ashmedai’s swinging arm and raced upwards.

“You girls want to be eaten!” Ashmedai roared again but this time, he didn’t close his mouth.

Amity clutched onto the dark, moss-covered demon. Her legs were lifted, but she clung tight. Rocks and dirt were vacuumed up into the monster’s black hole of a mouth again. But Amity was ready this time. She peered through her sticky armor of golem at the flapping, waving seal.

“MIM!” she screamed. She had no idea where the girl was. “THROW ME A VINE!”

Mim: Vaguely, Mim kept an eye on where Amity was at, watching the golem engulf her before she started to run up closer to the dark figure. Furiously, she sent pebbles flying Ashmedai’s way, each one lengthening into a blade as they flew that pierced its sides and arms, a dozen irritants to keep its focus on her even as it tried to bash away Amity.

“Eaten out maybe but I’m pretty sure I’m not a fan of your technique!” she shouted before leaping to dive behind one of the rocks again for a moment to catch her breath.

But the call pulled her back out into the front. A moment later, she transformed her feet into stones itself, sending a rooted stalagmite shooting through the ground from each sole to lock her into position. She could feel the pull of the wind beginning to reach her as she laced more power up through her legs and around to her waist. If he wanted to move her, he’d have to rip up the whole damn cave floor.

At the same time, she pulled out the last of the materials she’d collected from her makeshift pouch and threw it out towards Amity, the fine wrapping around her wrist even as it grew and and grew and grew. The force of the sucking motion itself was pulling it closer, but she tightened her grip.

“IT’S COMING YOUR WAY! I GOT YOU!”

Amity: She had been here before.

Before, she had been on the other end of the rope. She’d held it tightly but it hadn’t mattered. Sugar had slipped from her grasp. The seal had slipped from her grasp. In the moment, she’d screamed like she lost someone, but months later, she knew the truth.

There had been no one else on the other end of the rope. It had only been Amity. Amity’s magic, Amity’s determination, Amity all alone. When Ashmedai ate Sugar, it had been Amity who he swallowed whole. She’d left this cave with a piece of her, gone.

But now there was another person on the other end of the rope.

Amity jumped in the air and caught the vine as Ashmedai’s breath pulled her back. The suction was intense, but this was what had to happen. She held tightly as the vine unspooled and then she was in Ashmedai’s mouth, as hot as the inside of a volcano. She planted her feet on the sicko’s rough, slimy tongue. She slid back, down– almost to the tunnel of the demon’s throat.

But the vine jerked her forward again, the length of it having run out.

Amity pulled herself up, climbing up against the force of the sucking wind. “Don’t– let– go!” Amity shouted, but through her golem armor, through the roaring wind, through the dark, she couldn’t be sure of Mim heard her. She just had to trust that Mim was still there, on the other end of the line.

She had to trust that Mim trusted Amity too.

Her muscles strained. She used every bit of strength that she had, along with the strength of the rings, to fight against the storm. And then the flapping little piece of seal was there, so fucking close!

With a gutteral shout, Amity lunged. The golem peeled back from her hand so she had the dexterity to grab the seal. And then she yanked.

It didn’t budge. It slipped from her fingers. Amity grabbed it a second time and pulled again, and this time it came off into her hand.

Instantly, everything changed.

The wind stopped. Ashmedai, a solid, black mass with multiple arms and more mouth than face, literally freaking dissolved around her, into black smoke. One moment she was standing on the monster’s tongue and the next she was falling through the air. She let out a surprised scream, and had just enough thought in her to command her golem to balloon around her, like an inflatable suit.

She hit the ground once, bounced, and then hit it again. This time, her golem went splat.

And that was it.

Amity rolled over, panting. She could barely make out the wrecked, cracked ceiling of the cave in the dim wandlight. In one hand, she still clutched the stupid seal. It was not much bigger than a post it note, made out of some kind of old leather, with a golden rune stitched into it. She held it tightly and just breathed.

At some point– probably only a couple of seconds to be honest– she saw Mim’s shape appear above her. “We didn’t die,” said Amity, in amazement. And a smile broke over her face. “I get to go to prom.”

[heartsywritesthethings]

The Tickler (Pt. 1)

Author: GA!babe

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

~~~

*Insert MLB Intro here*

The College Francoise Dupont, the french secondary school that is plain in overall looks and grades. However, the students of this secondary school are anything but ordinary. 

Unbeknownst to the staff and faculty, France’s most prized superheroes regularly walk the halls, stress about homework, and rest in the library. Ladybug and Chat Noir, mere classmates when akumas aren’t around and superheroes when people need saving. 

It’s actually kind of sad that no one had ever noticed how both Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng are never around when Chat Noir and Ladybug appear to save the day. 

Sure, there have been close calls regarding their secret identities, but they both remain comfortably under the radar (somehow) of regular Parisian citizens and the owner of the Ladyblog, Alya. 

“Girl, you are absolutely ridiculous. Why are you so worried about this party? Adrien even said he wouldn’t be able to attend.” Alya said, patting her best friend on the back comfortingly. Marinette yelped, the wrapped present in her hands almost falling onto the ground. She juggled with it for a moment before it settled back into her grasp. 

“Phew…” Marinette sighed while Alya giggled at her. She looked at the present and then up to the school. “Well, since he isn’t going to be there, I have to give this to Chloe now while we’re in school. There’s no point in going to the party with everyone anyways. I don’t want to get into an argument with her in front of everyone.”

“I still don’t understand why that happened. Maybe she got akumatized and accidentally sent out everyone an invite,” Alya scoffed, looking down at the e-vite still in her email. 

Today was Chloe Bourgeois’s birthday. Her 15th birthday to be precise. It was hard to remember that she was one of the oldest in the class when she 1) acted like such a stuck-up brat and 2) rarely told anyone she was celebrating her actual birthday until days after she came back from some far off celebration.

This year, Chloe had basically invited the entire school body over to the hotel her father owned. There were going to be celebrities, DJs, clowns, dances…basically everything a rich girl could buy with her parent’s money. 

“Maybe she’s getting better, Alya. She has helped Ladybug and Chat Noir save Paris multiple times,” Marinette said, forcing a smile on her face.

“Yeah, only after creating the problem in the first place. She even tried to destroy all of Paris after they wouldn’t give her the bee miraculous back!” Alya huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m sure she knows that what she was doing was wrong. She’s getting better, you know? At least she’s not like–” Marinette started before someone ran right into her, sending her sprawling onto the pavement. 

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry Marinette!” a familiar voice said, practically dripping in insincerity. Just the sound of her voice sent Marinette’s teeth on edge. 

“I was captured by the akuma yesterday and my sense of balance is all out of whack.” Lila said, placing a hand on her head to sell the idea that she was dizzy. Alya helped Marinette to her feet before looking back at the redhead.

“Are you okay, Lila? Do you need some help walking up the stairs?” Alya asked, offering a hand out to her as well.

“I don’t remember seeing you being captured, Lila. When did that happen?” Marinette asked, brushing herself off and placing her present under her arm safely. 

“Oh, I was grabbed and pulled away pretty soon. I was taken all the way over to the Eiffel Tower and when it came down when Chat Noir cataclysmed it, I almost died!” Lila said dramatically, wobbling on her feet, unsure. Alya moved closer to her to have Lila lean up against her shoulder.

“I didn’t see that in any of the footage of the fights,” Marinette grumbled with a roll of her eyes. Of course, she knew that Lila was lying as she had made sure no one was in the Eiffel Tower when fighting off the akuma yesterday, but she couldn’t prove Lila wrong without letting her secret be known. 

“Well, maybe if Alya had been there to capture some better footage for the Ladyblog, you would have seen it. Where were you yesterday?” Lila asked innocently. 

Marinette tensed, looking between Alya, the fox miraculous holder, and Lila.

“Oh, I was at home. My cousins were too scared to be left alone. Maybe I could interview you for the blog!” Alya said with a happy smile on her face as she led Lila up the stairs.

“I would love that. Ladybug and I are such good friends after all.” Lila said.

Marinette had to chew on the corner of her present to stop herself from saying something then and there. The small red kwami floated up from her bag.

“It’s alright, Marinette. You know the truth, and you know that Lila will eventually be found out. Don’t worry about it too much.” Tikki said reassuringly. Marinette sighed.

“I know. It’s just so…so frustrating to see her lie like that. Alya didn’t even see her yesterday and she’s still utterly convinced. How does she do that?” Marinette asked. Tikki went to respond, then hid inside Marinette’s purse again before getting caught.

“How does she do what?” Another familiar voice asked, causing Marinette to jump again, though this time her fall was stopped by a pair of strong arms wrapping around her waist. 

In front of her were Adrien’s deep green eyes and his soft smile. Marinette flushed bright pink and was suddenly very aware of how close she was with the love of her life. She quickly jumped out of his arms.

“Oh! Uh, hi Adrien! I was just laking about Tyla! I mean walking about the aisle-uh.” Marinette stammered nervously before taking a deep breath and trying again. “Just talking about Lila to myself,”

“Lila? Is everything okay? Did she say anything to you?” Adrien asked, his smile vanishing and his brows furrowing. He had always tried to give Lila the benefit of the doubt as she seemed to be living a very sheltered life, much like his own, but there were times when that just couldn’t happen. She always seemed to be out to hurt Marinette and Ladybug and he couldn’t let that happen. 

“Oh, not really to me. She just gets on my nerves sometimes,” Marinette said, rubbing the back of her head nervously. 

“I know what you mean. Let me know if she bothers you again and I’ll talk to her,” Adrien said and pat Marinette on the shoulder. That’s when he noticed the present under her arm. “Is that for Chloe?”

“Uh this? No way! I mean, yeah! Of course it is!” Marinette said and held up the present for him to see. It was wrapped in golden wrapped paper with a shimmering gift bow placed neatly on the top.

“Aren’t you going to the party later? Why’d you bring the present to school?” Adrien asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Oh, well, I have to go to the bakery after school and you know all the schoolwork that I’ve been missing because I’ve been sleeping in so much. I have to catch up on that and, yeah.” Marinette rambled.

“That’s a shame. My father is allowing me to go tonight. I would have loved it if you were there, Marinette. I know you two don’t get along very well, but I think you’re a good influence on her.” Adrien said. Marinette’s blush grew brighter.

“Uhhhh, yeah, really? To the party you? Going? Well, maybe I could talk to my dad about letting me leave the bakery. I wouldn’t want to let you down. Or let her down.” Marinette continued. 

“Look out!” Alix’s voice called out as she zoomed towards Adrien and Marinette on her roller-skates. 

Quick as a flash, Adrien grabbed Marinette by under her arms and moved her out of harms way. Alix slowed herself to a stop and spuna around to see if she had hurt anyone.

“Sorry about that guys.” She said and gave a little salute, “Could you tell Miss Bustier that I won’t be in class today? My grandpa wanted me to run some errands for him,”

“Okay, Alix!” Adrien said with a smile, not realizing that he was still holding Marinette by her underarms. That was, until Marinette started giggling uncontrollable. He set her down quickly, a fond smile on his face.

“Sorry about that, Marinette. A little ticklish?” He asked with an eyebrow raised. 

“Pssh, what? I mean, a little maybe? Perhaps. That wasn’t even my worst spot. Not that I have a worst spot. What are we talking about? Oh, the party! Right, yeah. I’ll see what I can do about being there for the party. Thanks, Adrien!” Marinette rambled, making sure she had both Chloe’s present and her handbag before bolting up the stairs. 

Adrien just shook his head as he watched her stumble and almost fall again. Marinette was so weird, but in a good way. It did make him kind of sad that she could never act normally around him like this, but at least she was still a good friend. 

The only times he had ever really seen Marinette as herself, without stammering or falling over every five seconds, was when he was as his superhero persona, Chat Noir. 

“You know, Adrien,” Plagg said, floating up from his shirt pocket. “Marinette’s laugh is kinda cute, don’t ya think?”

“Marinette? Of course she is.” Adrien said before walking back up the stairs to class. 

~

Marinette stumbled into class, falling into her seat next to her friend rather ungracefully.

“What took you so long, girl?” Alya asked, resting her hand on Marinette’s shoulder.

“Adrien just tickled me,” Marinette said in a soft whine so that no one would hear what she had just said. 

“He– what? Why?” Alya asked, amused yet thoroughly confused.

“He was just moving me out of the way and picked me up by my arms. He picked me up like I was nothing and I completely embarrassed myself by being so ticklish. He’s gonna think that’s so childish,” Marinette said, resting her head on top of the desk as she pouted.

“Well, you’re lucky he didn’t find your death spot, Marinette.” Alya said, wiggling her fingers menacingly at her friend.

“Ahahalya!” Marinette giggled, scooting away even though Alya wasn’t even tickling her yet.

“Maybe I’ll tell him where they are. Wouldn’t that be fun? Oooh maybe having him tickle you would make you act more normal around him.” Alya teased. Marinette playfully pushed her friend on the shoulder and Alya poked her in one of her death spots – a spot between her uppermost ribs.

Marinette squealed and toppled off of her seat. The majority of the class laughed it off, and Marinette blushed.

“What a klutz.” Lila huffed with a roll of her eyes. Kim turned around.

“Aren’t you ticklish, Lila?” He asked innocently.

“It’s probable that she is, Kim. Roughly 73% of people in the world are ticklish to some degree,” Max said with a small nod.

“Oh, well I must be a part of the 27% of people who aren’t.” Lila lied. “I actually have a really rare condition where I can’t laugh at all anymore. It’s really sad,”

“Oh, the Pseudobulbar affect? That’s so sad, Lila. I’m so sorry to hear that.” Max said and looked over Lila with a sense of pity.

“It is, but I get by. Maybe it’ll be cured by a true love’s kiss, but I don’t know of anyone who would want to do that for me.” Lila sighed dramatically.

“I could for you!” Kim offered and puckered his lips.

“Thank you, Kim, but I think it has to be someone who has a crush on me. Like, for real. I actually think Adrien might have a crush on me, but I could be reading it wrong. Oh well. Guess I’ll never be able to laugh,” Lila sighed.

“Don’t worry, Lila! I’ll talk to Adrien at the party tonight! We’ll get you laughing in no time!” Kim offered triumphantly.

~ ~ ~ ~

“This had better be the funniest clown ever. This is my birthday party after all and I can’t have it be anything less than perfect.” Chloe said while her servants ran around the hotel wildly, setting up decorations and putting together different games for the children to play.

Chloe looked at her phone invites in disgust.

“It was really nice of you to invite everyone from school, Chloe. Everyone is going to have so much fun!” Sabrina said excitedly.

“Of course, Sabrina. A party without lots of people would be ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Besides, Adrikins needs to be able to see that I’ve grown since my last birthday.” Chloe said.

Just as she finished her sentence, the clown for the party stepped in. He was a slender guy with a brightly colored suit on and a big round nose. Le Pitre, his clown name was and he was the best in all of Paris. 

“Knock knock, is that the birthday girl?” Le Pitre asked as he wandered in.

“Is this supposed to be the best clown in Paris? He at least dressed the part, maybe you could give my classmate Marinette some fashion tips, ahahaha,” Chloe laughed and then walked away to focus on some other aspect of her party. Le Pitre watched her walk away and then shrugged.

“Not exactly the laugh I was going for, but it’ll do! I bring laughter and joy to every part of the city i’m in!” Le Pitre said.

Little did he know that there was one person in all of Paris that would stop him from achieving his hilarious dream…

<3 GA!babe. 

[m00nycore]

𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 . 𝒐𝒏𝒆 . 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 .

ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒?

[𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡]

𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡

𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑐

𝑡/𝑤 : 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ, 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎

𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 ;; @dreaming-about-fanfictions @thesweethufflepuff

“he looks so like james! i mean, remus, can you believe it?! his eyes are exactly the same, just like lily’s! you talked to him on the train, you saved him—what is he like?”

and remus smiled at her, shaking his head. he hadn’t seen lucy this happy in years—and it was as if they were young again, as if the horror had never happened.

she had fiercely loved harry since he was born. all she had wanted since lily and james passed was to be able to take him in. harry gave her hope.

“exactly as you would expect him to be, and that was only at the first impression,” he was leaned against the desk in his new office, and lucy had insisted on helping him unpack.

remus had almost forgotten she had dimples.

“i will never forgive albus for not letting me take him in, moony—“ she cut herself off, quickly, very quickly, almost as if she were scared.

and lucy potter was scared.

she never used their old names. not until dumbledore dubbed her professor vulpes—and that wasn’t her, it wasn’t. she was playing a part.

but remus lupin smiled and it just about broke her heart.

“vulpes,” he said it warmly, as if greeting an old friend. in some ways, he reckoned, he was.

“moony,” she repeated. lucy potter was reminded about what it felt like to be young.

to new beginnings, he thought to himself, as he sipped his hot chocolate.

it was the first day of term, the first time that the third year students filed in the room—and lucy potter was almost scared to see him. harry potter: the only other potter in the school—the only other potter left.

the first few lessons went smoothly, and remus was, amazing, she thought. absolutely amazing.

harry walked in, looking skeptical, accompanied by a ginger-haired boy—a weasley, she knew it.

the potters loved their gingers, didn’t they?

harry’s eyes scanned the room and stopped at his aunt, who smiled.

she wanted nothing more than to run up, to hug him tightly, to cry. she wanted to apologize for not being able to take him in, she needed to know if he could ever forgive her.

harry deserved to know everything about his parents. harry deserved to know remus, to know her, as well.

sometimes lucy liked to think that she deserved to know him, too.

the wardrobe that she and remus had pulled out began to shake, and she saw a few of the students step back, eyes wide, some faces paling.

rising from her place, she walked forward, giving a little wave as she stood beside remus.

“welcome,” remus began, nodding at the crowd. “i am professor lupin—it is very nice to meet you all.”

“i’m professor vulpes,” she added. the name still sounded foreign on her tongue. “lovely to meet you!”

the cabinet shook once more.

“ah, i suppose that’s our cue to begin the lesson, yes?” remus asked, rhetorically. “intriguing, isn’t it?” he paused. “would anyone like to venture to guess as to what is inside?”

“that’s a boggart, that is.”

“very good, mr. thomas,” remus praised. “now, does anybody know what a boggart looks like?”

“nobody knows,” a girl’s voice spoke, and lucy realized it was hermione granger, the student using a time turner to take as many classes as she could. admirable.

“when’d she get here?!” ron weasley demanded. harry seemed to have good friends—apparently, the three of them were an infamous trio.

“boggarts are shape shifters,” she continued, ignoring ron. “they take shape of whatever a particular person fears most. that’s what makes them so—“

“—so terrifying,” remus finished, smiling. “yes, yes, yes.”

the students were soon practicing the riddikulus charm, wandless, and still flinching when the wardrobe shook.

neville longbottom was called forward by remus—another reminder of the past that made lucy want to cry.

it was marleen who had managed to find the mead—and dorcas’ idea to mix it with juice.

the girls were all laughing, gossiping, talking about their love lives. lucy was laying across lily’s lap, looking up at alice.

“frank?” alice questioned, again, with lily nodding at her. “i’ll have babies with him, mark my words.”

remus encouraging him made her smile. she was unable to keep that adoration out of her face—remus was infallibly kind.

alice and frank would have been so proud.

but her blood boiled, it absolutely boiled, when neville admitted his biggest fear was snape.

“frightens all,” remus remarked, among the laughter of neville’s peers.

“truly,” she added, winking at neville. she never approved of her brother and... his best friend... bullying severus—but he was cruel.

thus, lucy laughed the loudest when she saw him in mrs. longbottom’s clothing, and beamed at the smile that neville wore. he looked like alice.

the children formed a line as remus put a record on the phonograph. remus loved jazz—and she had grown fonder of it as well. she couldn’t listen to a lot of the music she used to.

“now, i want everyone to picture the thing they fear the very most, and turn it into something funny. ron!”

snape instantaneously transformed into a giant spider, and ron looked absolutely petrified, hesitating a few seconds longer than he should have.

“you’ve got it, ron!” lucy exclaimed, nodding at him. “think of something funny, come on!”

“riddikulus!” the spider suddenly had skates on each of its eight legs, making it slide around the floor. ron high-fived harry as he made his way to the back of the line.

pavarti patil feared snakes, seamus finnegan feared banshees, and dean thomas’s boggart took the form of a disembodied, living hand.

she tensed when harry stepped up—and remus caught her eye.

as the boggart shifted, fear began to fill harry’s eyes, as well—and it increased when the boggart took the form of a dementor.

without thinking, lucy bolted from her seat to stand in front of him—and her boggart took form.

a black dog.

“riddikulus!” she shouted, forcing her voice to sound calm and willing her body not to shake.

padfo—the dog turned into a plush toy, and remus came to her shoulder to send the boggart into the wardrobe and lock it with the flick of his wrist.

“alright, well, sorry about that! that’s enough for today, why don’t you all collect your books from the back of the class? that’s the end of the lesson, thank you!”

the students groaned, and remus began lecturing on how you shouldn’t have too much of a good thing.

lucy turned, facing harry, and patted his shoulder. he looked a bit put out, and she was suddenly worried her protectiveness had embarrassed him.

“it’s alright, harry,” she assured him, a maternal smile on her face. her first time speaking to her nephew in more than a decade, and it was impossible not to feel shaken. “at least your boggart wasn’t a dog.”

remus wasn’t like the others.

james would have been the one to ask if she wanted to talk about it.

peter would have beat around the bush trying to decide if he should ask her.

remus just offered for her to not sit in for the next few lessons. she refused. he smiled, and hugged her.

and he... if he were there, he would have just demanded to know. and she would have told him. she always told him.

lucy refused to even think his name—and when she did, it felt like hell. then there were the memories—the memories, oh god, they burned.

a wolf, a stag, a rat, a fox, and... a dog.

five people trying to fit under the same cloak. the black lake during sunset. running from the source of the noise. sleepovers in the wrong dorm, and late night trips to the kitchens.

the mandrake leaves james stole that they had to keep in their mouths for an entire month, and her crying from frustration if she failed. the silvery glow of the full moon while they stared out onto the grounds until morning, waiting for when they could run to the hospital wing.

the precious time spent with lily. study sessions turned to giggles and long conversations. the two of them were thick as thieves, and lucy never pushed her to james. in fact, she smacked her in the back of the head when she admitted her feelings for him. lily evans loved kate bush and the grease soundtrack. she showed her the muggle way of life—which lucy adored.

she found sisters within alice, marlene, and dorcas. alice was bold behind her sweet face and gave the best advice. marlene had everyone wrapped around her finger in the best possible way. dorcas had a quiet charm, similar to remus’, and she was unspeakably in love with marlene... who in turn was unspeakably in love with dorcas.

her brother flirting with lily. lucy would race him through the halls, from filch, and whoever was caught would take the fall. their strange twin code of conduct, their togetherness and alliance to each other—only broken by trying to push each other off of brooms at quidditch practice. he was protective, but never smothered her. she remembered them crying from happiness when they finally were able to transform into their animagi forms. they had a very similar laugh. james was her ride-or-die.

convincing peter to let her pierce his ear. scrawled notes being passed through class—he was a great confidant, and she would hold his secrets just as well. she had punched snape in the face, she had lost her control, just because he had brought peter’s name up. he was great at charms, great at giving advice.

laying on remus’ shoulder after the full moon, reading the same book with him, even if he had to pause while she finished the page. sharing snacks, genuine, true laughter and happiness, and giving him innocent, feather-light kisses on his facial scars to make him smile. rambling conversations, messy notes hidden between pages of books and under pillows. his ability to separate her from the trouble they found.

and...

muggle rock music. cigarettes. making his family’s lives hell. barked laughter and stupid dares. he always insisted she was his favorite potter—unless she worked with the other boys against him. the promise of forming a band. when he grabbed her wrists and shushed her—she’d ruin their cover, they were supposed to be hiding from filch. the cold hands in hers while they ran from the scene of the crime.

crime.

and she was back in reality, sitting in remus’ office with him while he planned lessons.

“do you remember the mandrake leaves?” she had asked, in a very small voice, as if he wouldn’t remember, though she knew it was impossible for him to forget.

remus ran a hand over his face.

“i remember well, lucy,” he sighed. “you were too hard on yourself.”

swallowing, and willing her voice not to shake, she stared at him before speaking.

“we all were... but he was harder on himself, remember? he would get mad, start kicking things and trying not to cry.”

remus lupin’s eyes were far away.

it hurt him too.

eventually, they walked to the great hall for dinner.

harry potter wanted to put together the pieces.

a black dog. the black dog.

he had seen that dog, he had gotten the grim, and it was their new professor’s greatest fear?

he knew the expression on her face—it was the one he, himself, wore when he was scared.

harry wanted to believe in coincidences, but doing that when he was harry potter wasn’t the best idea.

“professor vulpes,” ron began, from his seat on the couch. “she’s kind of fit, isn’t she?”

hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. “honestly, ronald, of all the things... i’m confused as to why she’s even here.”

harry raised an eyebrow at her.

“well,” hermione began, sounding very slightly unsure. “i’m sure if dumbledore thinks it’s smart for her to be here, it must be alright... but we’ve never needed two professors for one class.”

“i mean, he said she’s helping lupin, isn’t he?” harry added. “i like professor lupin, i feel like he’ll be the best teacher we’ve had. and vulpes... she seems nice, too.”

“i agree,” hermione told him, hastily. “it’s just that it seems a bit weird, is all...”

“she seemed to know lupin pretty well,” ron commented. harry and hermione looked over.

“well, it just seems like they’re familiar with each other. they’re in perfect step with each other, almost, did you notice? they watch each other. and why did she run in front of harry like that?”

“i dunno,” harry grumbled. “maybe trying to save me from embarrassment?”

hermione rolled her eyes. “or, she could be trying to help you?”

“i don’t know,” harry still had a twinge of bitterness in his tone. “she seems familiar to me, though.”

“hmm.”

[errorthedumbone]

Bolt!!

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

Ml RWBY AU-

I wanted to write a basic sheet of what all the characters are and their weapons to keep track of shit, it’s pretty long though- has all of the characters on except Lila cause I’m still working her out, but here’s everyone!

Note: These stats are not permanent and things can and will change. People who know spoilers will know what I mean.

Marinette- Ladybug Faunus, antenna. Her semblance is Cure which is a wide spread heal on both objects and injuries. This takes all of her aura usage and she has no control over how much she can use yet. So training it is actually learning how to suppress it’s power to lower quantities of aura use, so for now, she always uses it at the end of battle to heal her team with whatever remaining aura she might have left. Her weapon is a wire blade yo-yo. It can plant bombs and it can open up to have three blades, like a saw.

She named it Lucky Charm. - Adrien- Cat Faunus, ears. His semblance is Deteriorate. Basically a slower and smaller version of cataclysm. However it can be used more than once. His weapons are two arm blades (holds it like a police baton, think the hidden blade from Assassins Creed). The stretch out to around three feet. They fold inwards and turn into wrist guns (like yang but more.. stabby) They shoot out grappling hooks (the hook is the blades) that let him swing Spider-Man style. It’s cool, but he’s absolutely shit at it. He named them Cataclysm and Catastrophe - Alya- Fox faunus, tail. Her semblance is illusions that can destroyed when touched. Her weapon is a flute that turns into a rifle and a machete. She named it Vixen’s Hearsay - Chloe- human. Her semblance is Paralyzation. It’s basically just venom except she had to physically touch someone for it to work, it wears off eventually, and she has to tag someone again or wait if she wants them to unfreeze. Her weapon is a rifle with a long bayonet attached(Hellsing Anderson style)- which can also shoot out and become a grappling hook. She named it Queen’s Defiance - Nino- Turtle Faunus, scales. His semblance is aura enforced and fueled shields and force fields. His weapon is named Emerald Horizon and it is a giant discus with blades lining it. No gun unfortunately. - Kagami- Human. Her semblance is basically like Nora and Adam’s fused. There more electricity she intakes increases the strength and damage she can dish out in one single KO move. Very specific but very powerful. Basically Zenitsu She wields a sword that can split into two of she needs to. She named them Rajin and Fujin. No gun. Only sword. Only stab.

- Kim- Monkey Faunus, Tail. His semblance, Discombobulate, when activated, temporarily deletes one of someone’s five senses. Whichever sense is randomized. Has Sun’s weapon except it becomes a bow instead of a gun. It’s name is Dark Cupid. His arrows can explode. - Juleka-Tiger Faunus, tail. Her semblance is Obscurity. She can turn completely invisible. To turn more than one person invisible, she must be touching them physically. Her weapon is two sickle turning shotguns that she calls Lament and Coven. - Rose-Human. Her semblance is Charming Fragrance. She releases a toxin in the air that can mind control people. However she can’t control its range and who it affects yet. Her weapon is a backpack that either turns into or holds her grenade launcher. She named it Blooming Love - Luka- human. He has a cutlass that turns into a flintlock. His semblance is Banshee. He screams. Exactly what it sounds like. It can crack concrete. He named his cutlass Basilisk. - Max- human. His semblance, Vision, switches people’s vision but not body control, and he can also look through people’s vision without them knowing. His weapon is a sniper rifle that folds into a boomerang. He named it Markov’s Faith, after his.. ‘Secret Project’

- Ivan- Human. He has a giant fucking war hammer that turns into a machine gun. He named it Titan. No semblance yet. - Mylene- human. No semblance yet. She has ribbon she can wrap around opponents and thwart them. Smgs are attached to the end - Nathaniel- human. no semblance yet. He has two long hooks that have revolvers at the end that he switches between. Their names are Orikko and Sunrise. - Marc- Goat Faunus, Horns. No semblance yet. Sniper that turns into a club. He named it Reverser - Alix- Rabbit Faunus, ears. Her semblance, Time Hop, lets her see, at most, five minutes into the future. Basically Shulk’s thing from Xenoblade. What she does with this information depends on her, and makes need to be wise about her decisions. Her weapons are her legs and (also her EmberCelica-like gauntlets). The legs aren’t named cause they’re just her legs.. but they’re strong. Her gauntlets are named Heart and Ace. Both versions of her Prosthetic robotic enhancements that can turn into rollerblades on a whim. Her battle legs are bent and rabbit leg molded to make her run faster. Yes this means she can and might run on all fours if she’s not skating and just needs to bolt, it doesn’t help her dignity but it could work. She can also jump really high and far with these legs.  The heels of these shoes, regardless battle or not, can shoot out bullets and dust.

- Sabrina- Human. Her semblance is called Parakeet. It makes her able to perfectly imitate other people’s voices, and it can be very chaotic. Her weapon is a purse that turns into a chainsaw and a smg. She named it Hellsing.

-

[boneandfur]

Restless Farewell [N*FW][1/3]

Summary: Veronique goes to The City That Never Sleeps to recruit a thief, instead she meets a man with whom she can be ordinary with for just one night. But is he really who he seems? // Pairing: Niles Edison (Thief) x THM F!MC // Rating: EXPLICIT 18+ LEMON. By clicking on "read more", you are verifying that you are old enough to be reading this fic. // Words: 2935 // Notes: this is the precursor to the sneak peek I posted. It is canon-divergent in some places, although it sticks to the canon story-line as much as possible The first fic in this series takes place in NYC, the night before MC and Rye meet with Niles Edison aka Eddie Quick in Washington Square Park. I HC the MC to be in their 30s and Edison to be late 40s. It’s full of angst and smut. If you like those two things, proceed! Lyrics are from the song Restless Farewell by Bob Dylan.

Chapter One

New York City is full of ghosts. 

The first time Veronique, once known as Alaïs Dègas Lionheart, came to the City That Never Sleeps, she was just five years old. She dreams of it, sometimes: Times Square in winter, ice skates and hot chocolate, her mother dripping with rubies and diamonds, a sheik's ransom. The Nutcracker Ballet, sugar plums and chocolate mice, her father carrying her on his shoulders to the castle in Central Park, a fairy tale of turrets and stained glass windows.  

And there are other memories too, darker ones, the kind a child doesn't understand, the kind an adult pushes away. Suitcases of gold bouillon, walking in on her father throwing handfuls of cash in the air as her mother lies on the bed, her mother's bruised eyes and bloody mouth. I walked into a door, ma petit. It was very silly of me. 

Yes, the city is full of ghosts tonight. 

Veronique walks down the city streets without really looking around, yet somehow her feet seem to know where they are going. She passes Times Square in a blur of color and light, Chinatown, with joss paper in the shop windows, botanicas in the Bronx full of colored saint's candles and Santa Muerte, until she is somewhere near Central Park, standing on the path to the castle.

The leaves whisper in the night, their music borne by the wind. Shhh, shhh. She can hear the song in her head that her father used to whistle as he counted stacks of cash, his blazing head bent in concentration. 

"Oh, all the money that in my whole life I did spend / Be it mine right or wrongfully / I let it slip gladly to friends / To tie up the time most forcefully..." 

"Daddy?" Veronique whispers, and only the leaves whisper back. Shhh, shhhh. 

She forgets she is a criminal mastermind, she forgets she is a thief. She forgets about heists in Monaco, and men with cold, flat eyes who stare at you as they kiss the mouths of their guns. She forgets about Rye, the man she loves like a brother, sleeping like a blameless man back at the hotel before their flight in the morning. There is only Alaïs, the Little Robber Princess, and a man's scratchy voice, singing a poet's song. 

"But the bottles are done / We've killed each one / And the table's full and overflowed / And the corner sign / Says it's closing time / So I'll bid farewell and be down the road... "

In the lamplight, the hair is fox-red, and Veronique runs. The man continues down the path, still singing softly. Her hand skims his shoulder, and he turns around. "Daddy?" But it is a stranger's face, craggy and rough and wrong, one eye sewn shut, the other blue as river glass. There is something cunning and strangely hungry in the man's eyes, under the lamplight they flicker for a moment, and Veronique realizes how far she is from the crowds, unable to disappear in plain sight. 

Veronique spins on her heel, and runs. Down the path, into the dark forest ramble, branches scraping her arms. She comes out on a well-lit path of cobblestones, with no sign of the man behind her. Despite her sigh of relief, she stills. She can feel someone, watching her from the dark. Waiting. A beat, and Veronique spins around, whipping her fists up, but the inky shadows remain still, seething with the secrets of the night. 

•••

Three city blocks later, she hasn't lost her tail. She wonders, for a moment, if it's one of the Rooks following her, but brushes the thought away almost as instantly as it comes. They wouldn't be so amateur. 

"Lionheart." That name, the name no one living should know. 

Veronique bolts down the nearest alleyway, and bursts out the other side, her lungs burning, just in time to see a black Lincoln with its lights turned off pull up to the curb. The window rolls down, and the long muzzle of a Berretta points straight at her. 

Time stills, and her mind goes blank. Lionheart. The last time she saw the two of them, it was snowing in the mountains, the sky a dusky purple from the ambient glow of the city. Her father had promised her a golden nightingale that would sing down the moon, and when her mother's lips brushed across her forehead, the little robber princess pretended to be fast asleep. 

"Get back!" Someone yanks Veronique by the wrist right back into the alleyway, hands braced on the brick wall over her head, body pressed up against hers, shielding her from harm. She is afraid to breathe, and all she can feel is his heart thundering against hers, under the cover of darkness. The Barretta aims, and fires, and Veronique bites back a scream as the bullet's impact rains down red brick dust on the pair of them. He grabs her hand, and whispers hoarsely, "Now!" 

Veronique doesn't look back, or up at the man pulling her through the shadows, until they are back in the well-lit streets of Times Square. She is shivering, she cannot seem to stop. Lionheart. That name. How could someone know it, after all these long lonely years? 

"Alright, luv?" The man turns around, looking down at her, and drops her hand in surprise. "Bloody hell, you're not who -- " he corrects himself "-- you're not what I was expecting." 

But who did you expect? Veronique finds herself staring up into the face of a handsome, distinguished older man with dark brown hair gone nearly gray and a trim beard, wearing a brown trench coat and a long dark red scarf. He whips off his glasses, rubbing them with his sleeve, and shoots her a charming smile. His eyes are malachite green behind his glasses, like the pendant she wears around her neck. 

There is something dangerous about this man, she thinks -- Something that could make or break an ordinary woman. He holds out his hand to shake. 

"The name's Eddie." 

She pushes a swath of golden hair behind one ear, and smiles. "Hey." 

•••

"You look as though you could use a proper drink. I know I could." Eddie shakes his head in disbelief. "You almost gave me a heart attack back there. Christ! I thought --" but he bites back whatever it is he was about to say. 

She's still shaking from adrenaline, her skin buzzing, and she realizes they are so close that they could touch, if they wanted. She wants him to touch her, she realizes. To just feel like an ordinary woman for one night, instead of one who can make or break a man. But she doesn't move away. "A drink sounds fantastic. I'm --" Alaïs. It's on the tip of her tongue, and she wonders, for a brief, unguarded moment, what it would be like to be herself with a stranger, just for one night. "Alaïs." 

He raises his brows, giving her an obvious once-over, eyes lingering in appreciation on her legs and breasts. "That's a lovely name -- Alaïs. She was the mistress of Henry the Second." He clears his throat, the distance between them fixed, neither making any move to go off and search for the promised drinks. And then his lips are on hers, the sound of the city falling away in his searing kiss. Her heart rate speeds up, adrenaline pumping through her veins as the kiss deepens, his tongue hot in her mouth as his hands encircle her hips, pulling her flush up against his broad chest. 

When they pull apart, Eddie smiles down at her, so softly that Veronique feels her insides fall apart. "How about that drink, then? I know a place..." 

•••

The hotel bar is well-appointed, with dark, heavy pre-war furnishings, a relic of a time gone by. They sit at the bar, their knees not quite touching, the air between them heady, thick with desire. Eddie levels a wink at her, and catches the eye of the bartender. 

"What'll you have?" Carter, his name tag reads, gold leaf on black plastic. He's blonde, good looking in that slick, clean cut way, and his smile is practiced, white and fake. 

"I'll take an Old Fashioned. And for the lady, a gin and tonic, I think. Make sure it's top shelf, proper gin, none of that shoddy Bombay." Eddie pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, dark green gaze locked on hers for a moment. "Did I get it right, then?" 

Veronique drops her eyes, then looks up at him from under her lashes. "Make it a gin fizzy." 

Eddie hums in approval. "A bird of refined tastes, you are." 

"Citrus Pay, sir, if you'd like to open a tab?" Carter returns with the drinks, bringing out a tablet, and Eddie recoils, a look of disgust crossing his features. 

"I don't go in for none of that bloody newfangled garbage. Cold hard cash, that's what we paid with back in my --" 

Carter rolls his eyes. "Very well, sir. Some of our older guests prefer to pay the old fashioned way, if that's what you prefer." He slides the Old Fashioned towards Eddie, mouth trembling as he tries to hide his amusement. "And for the lady, a Tanqueray gin fizzy, garnished with a fair-trade organic lime wedge, raw unrefined pink turbindo sugar on the rim, hand ground and imported from --" 

Eddie rolls his eyes. "You're not on the pull, mate, you're just serving the lady a drink. No need to slather it on." 

Carter rolls his eyes. "Very well, sir. Signal me if you need another, Old Fashioned." 

Veronique plucks at Eddie's sleeve before he can give the bartender a piece of his mind. She nods to a low-lit booth with a chessboard. "Care to place a wager?" 

Eddie's eyes light up in appreciation at the swing in her hips as she brushes past him, his eyes raking her up and down. "As long as it doesn't involve any of that bloody modern claptrap, I'm all in, luv." 

•••

"Lady's choice." Eddie sets up the board so fast that her head spins. His knees brush hers under the table, and her pulse speeds up erratically, craving each seemingly innocuous touch. "Black or white?" 

His hand lifts the hem of her skirt, caressing her just above the knee. Not so innocent after all. "Black." 

He raises a brow, sipping his drink thoughtfully. "A lady who likes to live dangerously, I see." Surveying the chess board, he moves a white pawn two spaces. "And I suppose this wager of yours is dangerous too?" 

Veronique takes a slow sip of her gin fizzy, seductively licking the foam off her lips, and watches as his pupils enlarge. "You'll have to play the game to find out." 

Eddie inhales sharply as she scoots to the very edge of the seat, parting her legs and moving his hand further up her thigh. "Oh, I intend to." His eyes are locked on hers as she mirrors his move, pawn before the king going two spaces forward. He moves another pawn two spaces forward. "So what brings you to New York, Alaïs -- business or pleasure?" His hand slides up her thigh. 

Alaïs. The name gives her heart a funny little twist, and she realizes she hasn't heard it spoken aloud by another person for almost thirty years. "I could ask you the same thing." Veronique plays with the malachite pendant around her neck, drawing his eyes to her cleavage. "But tonight... It's pleasure." 

Eddie is fighting back a smile. "Are all American birds these days as cheeky as you?" 

Veronique leans forward, long blonde hair brushing the chessboard, and asks in a husky whisper, "And just how long has it been since you've been in New York City?" 

He leans forward, their faces mere inches apart, his lips brushing against her ear, the sound of his English accent making her throb between the legs, like the beat of her heart, aching, wanting. "Too goddamned long enough." 

She turns her cheek, and his lips ghost across hers, the sensation of his stubble on her flesh causing her to inhale sharply, a tiny, yearning moan escaping her. "Eddie." 

He leans back, but his gaze never leaves hers. "You're not bloody cheeky, luv, you're downright dangerous." 

That I am. She thinks of the malachite pendant around her neck, sharpened to a point. 

All thieves live by a code of honor, my little robber princess, her father's voice whispers down the years. Never kill a man just to kill him, for it will always come back to haunt you. But if you need a friend, this stone is your best bet. Lick it and stick it, it'll work like a charm. Keep it close, and it may save your life. But I hope to hell that day never comes. 

Instead of answering, Veronique pulls Eddie's hand right to the apex of her thighs, hot and slick, craving his touch; and with her other hand, makes a move on the board, leaving her queen open. 

His fingers brush the thin strip of fabric, feeling how wet she is. He growls, his voice dark and rough. "What's the wager? We never said."

"That we both win tonight." She slides backwards in the booth, away from his hand, her heart hammering like mad. She must be crazy, she must be foolish, but she doesn't care, she wants -- "Eddie." 

"Right, then." He drains his drink and then throws some cash on the table, holding out a hand. "Shall we?" 

•••

They've barely stepped into the elevator when Eddie spins her around, pressing her up against the wall in a hard kiss. His hands glide up her thighs, cupping her ass, and she rocks against him, moaning as his fingers skim over the damp fabric of her underwear with the lightest pressure, teasing her clit. 

Eddie grunts as Veronique bites his shoulder, and all of a sudden the elevator dings. They break apart, disheveled and erect in all the wrong places. Eddie adjusts his trousers as a dark-haired man with an arrogant look steps into the elevator, followed by a pixie-haired blonde girl who looks as though she's smelled something bad. 

"The ground floor, bellhop," the dark haired man says to Eddie with a peevish air, and turns to the girl. "I didn't know the Waldorf-Astoria was hiring riff-raff these days. I'll have to have a talk with the owner." 

"Oh, Uncle Antoine, don't be such a snob," the girl says. "Like... Oh. Em. Gee!"

"This is your stop, mate," Eddie says with a grimace, slamming the emergency stop button. "'Fraid the elevator's closed for maintenance." He shoulder checks Antoine on his way out, and pushes him and his niece from the elevator into the hall, the pair of them spluttering with indignation. "Stairs are that way, guv." 

"I'm leaving a one star review on Yel--" Antoine is cut off as the elevator door slides shut, and Eddie turns back to Veronique, a smug grin on his face. "Now, where were we?" 

She can't be sure, but when she's sure, she's sure. Eddie has just picked both their pockets. A dangerous man, indeed. 

"Right... here." She tugs on his hand, and notices that there's a slight indent on one of his fingers, where a ring used to be. He can't be married, she frets in her head. But she can't be bothered to worry about it for long, because when Eddie kisses her, firmer than the first time, it feels more meaningful, more right. Like calls to like. It only makes sense that it would take a thief to make her come tonight. 

Eddie's mouth on hers is hot, her nipples are aching for his touch and as he begins rolling one nipple between his fingers, her brain short-circuits and goes blank. There is only this -- his slow, measured kiss, stretching out the pleasurable sensations happening elsewhere in her body. There's the way he tastes, like brandy and citron, and the sound of his deep growl as his hand slides between her legs again. 

It takes her nearly a full minute to realize she's no longer wearing underwear. He must have stolen them. A rush of heat throbs between her thighs, and the sound of his fingers slipping in and out of her slick, wet folds causes the coil of heat to tighten inside of her, harder and harder, biting her bottom lip as his mouth moves down her neck, sucking and nibbling a path to her nipples. The door starts to open, and Eddie slams on the floor button with his free hand. 

"I can't tell you how goddamned beautiful you are," he whispers into her ear. "Because words can't express it." 

Veronique is panting now, unable to catch her breath, and when he swirls his fingers rapidly over her clit, she comes hard and fierce, right then and there. 

"Eddie! Oh, fuck!" Veronique's hips buck uncontrollably, riding the intense wave of her orgasm. He sucks one nipple into his mouth and she screams his name, her legs nearly giving way as she collapses against him, his mouth claiming hers in a hard, possessive kiss. 

"Let's get you to bed, luv." Eddie strokes her cheek with the back of his hand. "Because I plan to shag you until you can't walk for a week." 

"Hurry," she moans.

She's never seen a man slam the elevator buttons so fast in her life. 

•••

Tag list will be in comments section since they seem to only work half the time.

[lillaxtrigger]

Young hope: Chapter 9

On the outskirts of town stood a big skate park. Mally was riding through the rails, sparks trailing behind her as she grinds. She jumps from the rail onto a wall which she road and bounced off to the bowl, which she used as a ramp to flip over to the half pipe. After riding up the half pipe, she jumps high in the sky and does twirls in the air and lands on the edge. She stretches her limbs out as she stands on the edge of the half pipe. “Ah, feels good to be at an actual skate park for once.”. Looking out, she has a view of the whole park. Rails, bowls, ramps, walls, even a loopdeeloop, all right in Townsville skate park. “Streets are nice. But you kinda have to take in stuff like cars, crack, pedestrians, and that stuff sucks. But out here, I don’t have to worry about any of that. I can skate on to my hearts content. Traffic accidents be dammed!”. Mally looks around the skate park and says: “Now how am I gonna get enough speed to get through that loopdeeloop?”. She starts to trace a path through the park in her head, determining where she might go. “I could go from the half pipe, jump in the rail, up that ramp, bounce of the wall and-”. Mally then looks over and sees somebody hanging on the opposite side of the half pipe. It was a young woman, whose bright green roller blades matches with her striped bright green undershirt that was under her short sleeved dark green jacket. The clown cap with dark green highlights under her magenta hair went with the jacket nicely. The woman dropped down onto the half pipe and jumped right in front of Mally. She then skated out of the pipe jumped onto a rail, which she then jumped out to the half pipe. The woman then jumped down into the bowl and jumped out of it onto the end of a ramp. She sped through the loopdeeloop and off the ramp on the end to back flip and land on the ground. “Whoa.” Mally gushed in awe. She watched as the woman skated over to a green duffle bag and grabbed it as she skated out of the park. Curious, she skated after the magenta woman, leaving the park and finding her walking down the street. She speeds after her as the woman walks through an intersection. She tries to follow her, but is cut off due to traffic. Determined not to quit, she backs up a fair bit before skating to get a running start. Grabbing onto a way wards streetlamp, she spins around and ascends, jumping from the lamp over the intersection. Landing on the other side, she blows on her hands to cool them, remarking: “Man, I wish I could to that without burning my hands.”. She sees the woman climbing up a weird rock wall to a forest without hesitating, follows in after. With the rough terrain, she takes off her skates and puts them and her helmet away. Walking through the forest, she listens to the chirping of the birds and the whistles of the wind, a colorful bird flutters through the trees. She then sees the woman nearby and hides. As Mally gets closer, she sees the woman scanning the area, as if she was hunting. The careless girl steps on a twig and breaks it. Before the woman could look over, Mally swiftly gets behind a nearby tree. “That was close. She almost spotted me. But what’s she doing out here?” she thinks. Just then, a laser pierces through the tree, barely hitting her head. “Alright, come on out. I know you’re back there.” the woman says as she holds a laser pistol. Mally slowly comes out from behind the tree with her arms halfway up. The woman puts down her gun as soon as she sees Mally. “A kid?”. Seeing the woman putting down the weapon, Mally immediately went from frightened, to angry. “What the hell’s the big idea for!? You almost blew my head off!”. “Why are you following me like some kind of creepy stalker?” the woman boldly retorts. Mally calms down and says nervously: “Um-Uh..I-I saw you pull off that cool loopdeeloop at the skate park and was wanting to ask h-how you did that.”. The woman groans and pinches her big pink nose, then starts shoving Mally back. “Hey, what are you doing!?” Mally shouts. A long eared, beige fox prowled around the forest ground, scurrying for food. When it sees Mally and the lady coming, it bolts away. “You can’t be in here, kid. I’m following a lead and I can’t lose it to babysit some brat in the middle of the woods.”. “A lead? Are you some kind of detective?”. “Something like that.” the woman says “What are you following?”. “Some guy called Nonya bidness.”. “Nonya bid- Hey! Don’t give me fake names like that!”. “Never mind, kid. Just shove off back home.”. Reaching the end of the forest, both of the were shocked to see the sight in front of them. “What?” Mally says. In front of of the were miles of ocean, Townsville fading into the horizon. “Where’s the town going?” Mally asks. The woman checks her phone and sees she has no signal. She sighs, saying: “Dammit.”. She turns Mally towards her and says: “Alright, listen up kid. As long as your with me, you’re gonna have to do exactly what I say, when I say it. Nothing else, got it?”. “My names, not kid. It’s Mally.” “Fine. Mally. Whatever. Just do what I say so you don’t die.”. “Jeez. Fine.”. Both of them start heading back into the wood, as whispers under her breath: “Ya grump.”. As they walk through the jungle grove, Mally asks: “So what’d you really come in here for?”. The woman groans and says: “I was looking for some weird elf guy that had been stealing from pharmacies.”. “An elf?”. “Yep. Thinking it might be the one whose piloting this moving island. If I can find it. I can get it to steer this thing back to land and get you back home.”. “What? No way. You already got me hooked. I can’t back out now.”. “Ki- (groans) This ain’t some amusement park. I don’t know if this elf is deadly or not and I don’t want a kids deaths on my conscious.”. “I ain’t some defenseless wimp. I can take care of myself. Just give me something, I can prove it.”. The woman groans and says: “Fine.”. She then digs into her bag and pulls out a two hockey sticks, one smaller then the other. She throws Mally the smaller stick. Catching it, she says: “A hockey stick?”. “Expecting something better?”. “Why not that laser pistol?”. Thr woman break out laughing, saying: “You really think I’d trust some kid with a laser pistol. I ain’t that dumb.”. As she stops chortling, she finishes with: “Beside, its outta juice.”. As the woman zips up her bag, Mally looks at the worn hockey stick and shrugs. “Now stay close.”. Continuing to hike, they pass by scurrying lemurs. The woman looks back to Mally and sees her swinging and twirling her newfound weapon. She looks ahead and spots something in the distance. The woman pulls Mally behind and tree. “Hey, what’s-”. The woman quickly puts her hand over Mally’s mouth and goes: “Shhh.”. Mally pulls the woman’s hand off her mouth and whispers: “What are we whispering about?”. Both of them look behind the tree and see a pale lumbering monster with enlarged claws and legs with a tiny head. “What is that?” Mally asks. “Not to sure. Looks like a monster of some kind. Hang back.”. The woman slowly come from behind the tree and sneaks towards the pale beast. She sneaks around to its back, being careful not to make a sound. She brandishes here hockey stick and readies to swing. She stops when both her and the monster hear Mally running at the monster from the side. The monster lifts its large hand and swings overhead down at it’s oncoming attacker. “Dammit.” the woman cursed. Mally side steps out of the beasts attack and swings at its side. The monster swipes at her, Mally ducking to avoid its sharp claws. The woman jumps from behind and hold the beasts neck with her hockey stick. The monster flails around trying to get her off, swinging its large arms around. Mally swiftly evades the arms and strikes the monsters leg to try and topple it, but they were too thick to trip. The pale beast shakes the woman off and slaps Mally away with great force. As Mally was flying back, her hockey stick hooked onto a branch and send her upwards. She landed on the branch perfectly on her feet to her own astonishment. She looked at the wooden weapon in her hand, wondering how it didn’t break. Mally then looks back and sees the pale beast blocking the green capped woman attacks. The monster then tried to crush her in between its palms, but the woman ducked and struck it in the side of its stomach. Grasping its bruised stomach, the white demon backs away as it looks at its attacker, giving a smug smile and waggling its finger at it. She then hooks onto the beasts legs and trips it up. The young woman lunges, aiming for the monsters head. The demon raises its thick arms above its head to block its opponent. Mally watches the fight from above, seeing the beast get up and strike at the young woman. The green capped girl dodges to the white demons side and try to strike the side of its head. The beasts blocks again and swipes at her. The woman jumps up and tries her hand at an over head strike. The beast raises its hands above its head and blocks once more. With the woman landing in front of it, the monster tries to smash her in using its big legs, but she evades its crushing blow, leaving behind a print on the ground. Mally then realized what she was trying to do. “Oh, I get it. She aiming for its head. With it being so small, I bet it can’t take a big hit.”. She saw how the monster was not taking its eyes off its opponent. She was trying to think of a way to strike at the monster, when suddenly some sunlight got in her eye. Looking up, she saw branches decorating trees, their leaves blocking out the sunlight leaking through the treetops. Snapping her finger, she says: “There!” before jumping towards the nearest branch, using her hockey stick to hook on them. After that, she jumped towards the next one. She keep repeating this until she nears the treetops. Looking down, her veiw of the fight was much smaller, she couldn’t even tell what was happening, just that the woman was darting around the white demon. Using her thumb to aim, bounces on the branch before jumping down jumps down. While dodging, the woman sees Mally dropping down, brandishing her hockey stick, seeing that she was going to miss. She acted quick and pushed the beast towards Mally's range. Mally bashes the white demon in the head. “Yeah!” she shouts as she lands. The monster tumbles for a bit before falling to the ground. With the battle over, the both of them approach and look down on the fallen beast “Is it dead?” Mally asks. “After poking their newly defeated foe with her hockey stick, the woman concluded with: “Yep, its deader then death.”. “My first kill…”. Mally starts to giddy with a smile, then jumps saying: “Awesome! And its a huge monster of all thing. Wait til my brothers hear about this.”. “You wouldn’t have struck the finishing blow if it weren't for me. Better yet, we wouldn’t have to go through all that if you didn’t just run at it like a suicidal maniac.”. Upset how quickly the woman brought down her moment, she folds her arms while giving a huffed face. Just then, they heard the sound of thunderous footsteps approach. Turning around, they saw a whole pack of those huge white demons closing in. Backing up, the woman says to Mally: “So, how fast do you think you can run...Kid?”. Hearing no response, she turns around and sees Mally darting away in the opposite direction. The woman runs away, catching up to the girl. “So now what?” Mally asks. “Not sure. Gimme a second.”. Mally looks around, only seeing passing trees. “Maybe we should go up. I don’t think their big feet would be good for climbing.” she suggests. The woman uses her hockey to hook onto one of the branches, grabbing a hold of Mally as she pulls herself up. They ascend up halfway to the treetops, where they saw the pack of demons swarm around the bottom of the trees. The monsters scrap away at the tree in an effort to climb up, but slide down due to their heavy ankles. “Hey, it worked. Good thinking.” the woman says. Mally shows a big smile to the woman, which was again broken when the tree they were standing on began to shake. Looking back down, they see the beasts striking at the trees. “There trying to knock us down. What do we-”. Mally looks over and sees the woman putting on a pair of skate. “What are you doing?”. “Hey, Kid. How good can you skate?”. “I’ll have you know I can skate like crazy. Why?”. The girl sees the woman take off and jump to the next branch, grinding on the wood as she traversed. “Oh.”. After putting on her skates she jumps off from the tree just as it falls down, following the woman as she grinds. Looking back, she sees the mob of white demons chasing after, getting further and further away from them. She then sees the woman take her hockey stick and hook onto one of the above branches to flip off. Using the momentum from her speed, she flips up towards the treetops. Mally pulled her stick out and tried the same thing. She hooks the branch and starts to flip. Using the momentum, she sends herself up towards the treetops and lands on one of the branches. “Cool.”. Mally pushes herself off and grinds onto another branch. With her newfound skill, she picks up more speed by jumping off a tree and hooking onto another branch. With the added momentum, she ascends further, almost towards the treetops. Upon landing, she looks forward, barely able to see the green capped lass. Thinking with one big jump, she might be able to catch up. Mally darts out towards her, pushing herself off from tree to tree when she lands on a branch to gain more speed. She hooks onto the branch and rockets into the sky. Flying past the trees, she sees over the island and towards the vast blue sea. Looking to her right, she sees waves along the water moving away from the island. Something below the island was making those waves, but couldn’t make out what it was. Before she could have time to register what it might be, Mally starts to plummet back down. She falls past the trees and starts to rocket towards the ground. Halfway down, something catches her. She looks over and sees the green capped woman hooked her in with her hockey stick. As she dragged her back onto the tree, the woman warned Mally: “Easy kid.” Putting her back on the branch, the woman adds: “You gotta control yourself. You’re lucky we lost those white things.”. “Listen, I saw something. When I was up there. I saw the island moving.” Mally says. “Well, no duh. Why do you think we’re trapped here.”. “No. I think something is moving the island. Like it was paddling it away.”. “Really? What was it?”. “I...I don’t know. All I saw was the water splashing.”. “You know where you saw it?”. “Yeah, it was right...uh..” the girl as she turned around. Looking around she tried to remember which direction she saw the splashing water. “Um...Was it...No...Ah! I can’t tell where! Everything around here looks green!”. As Mally was looking around, the woman looked over and saw a figure staring at them in the distance. Squinting out, all she could make out was its long pointy ears. Her target perhaps? Not hesitating, the green capped girl immediately heads towards the figure. Mally turns back, stating: “Wait a second! I didn’t say where yet.”, then chases after the woman. Getting a closer look, the woman realized that intuition was correct and that the figure was an elf. One wearing a Chinese robe. Just before she lands on the branch the elf was on, he jumps away, casting out vines from his hands to swing to the next branch. Mally catches up just when the woman continues the chase, leaving her behind. “Wait a minute!”. She sees beside her a photograph. Picking it up, she thinks that it dropped out of the woman pockets and grinds after her. “Hey, wait up!’. The green capped lass chases the elf out of a jungle forest and more to a temperate woods. She jumps towards one of the trees and using her hockey stick spirals down and jumps to the next tree. Mally brandishes her stick and tries the same thing, only to fly off. She saves herself by hooking onto a wayward branch and sees the elf swing to the ground, darting away from his pursuer. Mally slides off the tree and sees the woman in her pursuit. She quickly gets up and follows. The woman chases the stranger through tall, dense shrubs, where she found herself atop a cliff. Although she could see the ocean from miles around, she saw no sign of her target. Mally catches up to her, says: “Hold on! Hold on!” After looking out towards the ocean, she looks at the woman and asks: “Was that the elf you were chasing after?”. “Damn it! Lost him!” the woman shouts as she slaps her hat against her knee. “Hey, its okay. I mean as long as he doesn’t know how to swim, he has nowhere to go, right?”. “Hmm, guess so.” the woman says as she puts her hat back on. “Oh, hang on.” Mally exclaimed. She pulls out the photo out of her pocket and gives it to the woman. “Here.”. The woman saw the photo of a younger girl that looked like her alongside a boy dark skin and green tinted glasses. “What the-!”. She quickly snatches the photo out of Mally’s hands. “Did you pick this out of my pocket!?”. “What!? No! You dropped it when you went after that elf. Why would I try and steal something out of your pockets?” Mally says as the woman puts away the photo. Distracted, they didn’t see someone approaching them from behind. Just when the woman realizes there was someone behind her, she was pushed off the cliff. Mally watches as the green capped woman plummeted towards the ocean. “Ash-...Uh, Barb-...Eh, whoever you are!”. That same something pushes Mally of next, leading down to the sea. Both girls splash down toward the water. While the woman calmly surfaces, Mally struggles to stay afloat. “What’s wrong with you!?” the woman shouts. “I don’t know how to swim either.” Mally says as she flails about. The woman swims over to the girl and grabs her to keep her from drown. “Ah...Ah, thank you.”. Mally looks over and is astonished by what she sees. “Oh my god.”. “What? What do you s-...s-...see..” the woman says as she look at what Mally sees. Her speech drops as she flabbergasts at the site before. “That’s why its moving.” Mally states. Before them was the head of a giant turtle, its dim, crust filled eyes staring out into the ocean. “It’s a giant turtle.”. “Hey! over here! Look!” Mally shouts. “Ah! What are you doing?” the woman asks. “I’m trying to get its attention. Hey! Down here! You got guests!”. The turtle doesn’t respond, as if it doesn’t know that they’re there. “I don’t think it can here you.”. “It doesn’t look so good.” Mally worries. “What makes you say that?”. “Look at its eyes, they’re crusty and colorless. Its skin is pale and gray.”. The turtle blows out a long and exhausted sigh. “What you thinks wrong with it?”. “Well, I’d be pretty sick if I had those white things on my back too.” the woman says as she swims back to the edge of the turtle. Getting back on the shell, Mally looks over to the turtles head. “How do you think we can help it?”. The woman shrugs and walks off, saying: “Don’t know.”. Mally walks after her, saying: “We gotta do something. It looks like its about to keelover.”. “Listen kid. That turtle ain’t my problem. The only thing I’m worried about is finding that elf and getting you home. Come on.”. With that, Mally stops in her tracks, sad that the green capped woman refuses to help. That sadness boils into anger, when Mally stomps her foot and declares: “No!”. “What?”. “I’m not going anywhere until we fix the turtle.”. “Kid, it might be too late to even do anything. We’d be wasting our time.”. “That’s better then doing nothing.” Both of them were looking at one another, until somebody broke the silence. “Do you really want to help her.”. They look over and see the elf, awaiting a response. While the lady brandishes her hockey stick, Mally simply replies with: “Yeah.”. “Then come with me.” The elf turns around and calmly walks deeper into the woods. The woman watches as Mally follows the stranger. “What are you doing?” the woman cautiously asks. “I’m helping.” Mally responds with a disgruntled tone. Having little other option, the woman groans and puts away her weapon, following the both of them. Sitting on a big stone slate in the middle of a calm and serene part of the woods, the lady stares at the elf with a discerning eye, watching as he pours three cups of tea. He hands both of them their cups. While Mally takes her cup, the green capped lass refuses to, prompting the elf to sit it beside her. After the elf sips his tea, he sighs and looks up towards the tree’s. “Do you hear it… the sounds of the forest?” he says. Mally listens and hears the sound of the birds chirps, echo through the woods. She sees sloths hanging onto the branches of the trees. “Amazing, is it not. To think that this turtle was once the size of an egg, barely able to carry even a pebble around. And now its carrying an entire forest full of animals from all over the world on its back. Truly wonderful.”. “Hey, uh. Hate to spoil the mood, but mind telling us a couple stuff?” the woman hastes. “Like?”. The lady was about to speak, when Mally cut her off, asking: “What making this turtle so sick? It looks like its dying.”. “More importantly, who are you? What were those white things that attacked us? Why were you stealing from pharmacies”. “In order to answer all your questions. I must first tell you of an ancient Chinese tale. One that dates back over 1,000 years.” “Oooh.” Mally goes. “Oh god dammit...” the woman says in impatience. A small turtle egg, buried in the beach. Hatching from its shell, it crawled out of the sands, expecting to greet its fellow tortoises. But when she surfaced, no one was around. It looked everywhere along the beach in hopes of finding its family, but to no avail. Having nowhere else to go, she awaited, hoping for them to return. From a nearby kingdom, a young boy watched as the turtle sat patiently on the beach. Days pass, the turtle was dry, cold and starving. The boy worried for the baby tortoise. Snatching up the turtle from the beach, the boy quickly ran back to his home in an effort to save the dying tortoise. He took her to the koi pond in his garden, where everyday he fed the tortoise until her color came back. When the turtle was healthy again, the boy decided to keep her as a pet, hoping it would upset the loneliness in his heart. From the day forward, the boy had addressed her by one lone name. Zool. With no one else to play with, not even his busy parents, he went to the koi pond to play with Zool everyday. As the years went by, their love for one another grew, as did Zool. Eventually, when she grew too big to hide, the boy parents found out and told him that he could no longer house her in the pond. With nowhere else to go, the boy returned Zool to the same beach where he found her. He knew that he could no longer keep her. With a magic stone that the boy received for his birthday, he recites an enhancement. “Ravos, elfin guardian. Come forth and fulfill my wishes.”. He asked the guardian to protect and care for his friend during her voyage. Zool wanted to go back to the boys home with him, but the boy wanted her to part, promising that one day, he would return to her side. Refusing to leave, the guardian was forced to carry the tortoise into the ocean, crying out as she watched her life long friend depart.”. After hearing the story, the woman noticed Mally crying into her teacup. “That...That’s so sad.” the girl sobbed, the tears running through her eyes. “Still doesn’t explain why you robbed a bunch of pharmacies, or those white monsters.” the lady said. “Ah, but my robberies do have to do with the white monsters.”. A colorful bird roost on the elf’s finger. “You see, Zool has traveled all over the globe. Exotic animals from all over the world have gathered on her back to nest.” The bird flies away, its wings casting a shadow on the three. “Unfortunately, worldwide travel brings with it exotic plagues. Most of them are harmless to her, unable to crack through Zool’s thick shell. Unfortunately, around a year ago, she’s picked up a rare virus that takes the form of the monsters you faced. Parasites that are feeding off of Zool’s grief. The broken promise made by the boy has driven her into a deep sadness.”. “Yeah, if the turtle so depressed, why don’t you try talking to her. Give her a pep talk or something.” the woman remarked. “I’ve tried. But her hearing has been worsening ever since these white monsters appeared. I fear they might be trying to block out any outside sources, to let the depression in her fester and grow. I can barely see the color in her eyes. All that she can do now is swim and house any other animals that are still alive. I’ve tried my best to fight off these parasites, but they multiply by the day. If only I’d found them sooner, they wouldn’t be so overwhelming.”. “That’s why you were robbing from those pharmacies. You wanted to try and make her feel better, or at least get rid of those monsters.” Mally said. “Yes. I’ve heard that these “pharmacies” housed medicine that might cure Zool of this plague.”. “What kind of medication have you been bringing back?” the woman says. Ravos stands up and stomps on the stone plate. A stone cabinet rose out from the middle, prompting both Mally and the lady to back away. Within its shelves stood dozens of bottles full of various medication. As the green capped lass grabs and looks at one of the bottles, Mally asks the guardian: “Have you given her all these drugs?”. “Of course not. Any medication that I feed her would be to small too have any effect. Which is why I’ve been testing them.”. The elf stamps on the giant slate again, making another platform rise. On it was one of the white demons that both Mally and the woman faced before, struggle to break free of its vine binds. Ravos takes the bottle that the woman was holding and pulls out a single tablet. Taking the vines off of the beasts mouth, he forced the monster maw open, the elf shoves the tablet down its throat. After binding the demons mouth shut, Ravos backs up, seeing the beast swallow the pill and awaiting for something to happen to the parasite. A couple seconds, the monster went back to struggling. The guardian sighs in frustration as he bends to his knees. “No matter what I try, every batch of medicine that I’ve brought back has proved ineffective. I’m running out of options.”. The woman walks over to the vine bound beast and closely looks as it growls at her, grunting as it frantically tries to break its binds. “These things are pretty mindless. Do they have some kind of queen or something?”. “Yes actually. Near the middle of the shell. Why? Do you have a plan?”. “Kinda off. This might be a hunch, but paranormal parasites like this usually have a hive mind thing going on. Take her out, then the rest should follow suit, right?”. “But the queen is surrounded by countless servants. Getting near her would be a challenge in of itself. How do you even plan on defeating her?”. The lady points to the stone cabinet full of medicine and replies with: “You got an ass load of meds on that shelf to overdose a T-rex. Just bundle them all into one and shove it down her throat.”. “Maybe. But we have nothing to hold them all together. I doubt that it will let us take. The time to drop them in.”. “What about honey?” Mally asks. “How is honey gonna help?” the green capped lass questions. “If we get some, we can stick all the drugs inside, making them all go down in one gulp.”. “Hmm...”. The elf slammed his foot once more on the stone, making another cabinet rise from the ground. “How many of those do you have?” the woman asked. The Ravos walks over to the cabinet and pulls out a glass from the shelf. “I know the perfect place we can get honey.”. He starts to walk off, asking the both of them to: “Follow me.”. As the woman watches the elf depart, she looks over to Mally, who was smiling at her. “What?”. “I knew you cared.” Mally replied. “Shut up. I just want to get back to land is all.” she pointed out as she tailed the elf. With a frown, Mally began to follow the both of them. Leaving behind the tied up parasite behind, they didn’t see the monster beginning to break its binds. Ravos lead the both of them to a grove of tall pine trees, bears lumber around, guarding the pine. “We must be careful. The bears horde the rich honey produced in those tree’s. Driving any other animals away from their golden nectar.”. A wolf begins to enter the grove, prowling to one of the pine. One of the bears spots the wolf, growling at the dog to try and drive it away. The wolf growls back to try and heed back the bear, until other ursas join in. The wolf then wimpers as it runs out. “Alright. Lets take them down.” the woman says as she grasps her hockey stick, ready for action. “No. We must not harm them. I will distract the ursa while you climb up to gather honey.”. The elf rushes out towards the shrubs towards the pack of bear. “Wait. What do we do about the bee’s?”. The lady shrugs and says: “Guess we do whatever.”. Ravos quickly sprints past the numerous bears, making them chase after him. While they were distracted, both girls climb up the nearest tree they can and start to climb up. Mally looks towards the elf leading the grizzlies away and asks the woman: “Do you think he’ll be okay?”. “He’ll be fine. Come on.”. Both of them make it up to a hole in the tree. Looking inside, they see a hollow full of bees buzzing around through the hive full golden honey. “That’s a lot of bee’s” Mally remark. “Yep.”. The woman pulls out a grenade out of her bag and takes the pin out with her teeth. “Fire in the hole.”. “Whoa! Whoa Whoa! Whoa! We can’t blow them up. You heard what Ravos said .” Mally objects. “Kid, relax. Its a sleep grenade. It’ll just make them pass out.”. The woman chucks the grenade in the hole and warns: “Now hold you’re breathe.”. Both of them go behind the tree before the grenade goes off. Smoke erupts from the hole, leaking out to the sky. “There we go.”. The lady pulls out the glass jar and approaches the hollow. “Now we just take a jar full of honey and-”. Before she could finish, a swarm of bees comes out and attacks, making the green capped lass fall off. Mally catches the jar as the swarm chase the woman down. She looks down and watches the lady plummet towards the ground. Using her hockey stick, the lady hooks onto a branch and slides down to the ground. With the bees still chasing, she runs away from the swarm. After breathing a sigh of relief, Mally reaches into the hollow and pulls out a jar full of honey. “Got it.”. She looks down towards the woman being chased by a swarm of bees. “I got the honey.”. “Great! Throw it to me!” the lady shouts. “What!?”. “Throw it down to me! I’ll catch it!”. Mally looks at the jar of honey and shouts: “I don’t think that’s a good idea!”. “Just do it!”. The girl thinks for a moment before she puts the jar away. “I’m just gonna climb down!” Mally shouts, Just then, she hears the sound of a monstrous scream echo through the honey grove. Down on the ground, one of the white parasites runs into the grove as it roars. The bears in response charge towards the monster. “No! Don’t!” Ravos begs the bears. As they come, the parasite begins to swipe at the territorial ursa’s, knocking them aside with its giant arms. The swarm of bees swarming the woman start to head back to its hive. With that done, she then sees Ravos rush towards the scene at hand. He jumps high into the air, casting its vines downward towards the beast. After it knocks way the last of the pack, the vines entangle the white monsters neck as Ravos lands behind it. “I will not let you harm anything else in this forest!” the guardian says with a determined glare. The parasite grabs the vines and swings the elf off around. Ravos slams into one of the trees, just in time for the woman to rush in with her hockey stick. She strikes its side, giving her an opportunity to aim for the head. The woman swings with all her might, only for the monster to grab her arms at the last second and fling her upward. The woman starts to hurdle down towards the beast as it readies to attack. Ravos pulls the green capped lass away just before the monster could strike. As the elf pulls her back, he tries to instructs the woman by saying: “Their enlarged limbs are to thick to try and attack, you must-” “I know, aim for the head.”. Both of them rush at the giant beast. As Mally watches the fight from up above, she rushes to climb down. “Gotta get down there.”. The monster knocks both of them aside. One of bears tries to strike it from behind, only for the white demon to slam it into the tree Mally was on. The tree shakes, with the girl clinging to it for dear life. It then begins to fall. Mally thinks fast and puts on her skate. She grinds down the tree as it falls, speeding towards the white demon. “Over here!” she shouts to it. The monster turns around just in time for Mally to kick it square in the stomach. The white parasite staggers, falling down on its knees as it clutches its belly. “How you like that?”. Just then, vines surround the monster entire body. Mally looks behind it and sees Ravos holding it back. With all his strength, the elf lifts the monster overhead and slams its upper half into the ground. Buried in the earth, the demon goes limp. With a sigh of relief, Ravos relaxes, knowing that the grove is safe. “That was amazing! The way you just slammed its head into the dirt was all like: Shhhoo...Boof!”. I mean that seemed like something out of an action flick.”. “I could not have done it if you haven’t given me the opening. If there’s anybody that deserves thanks, its you.” Ravos confesses. Both of them see the green capped lass approach rubbing her arm. “Dammit. I think one of those bees stung me.”. She turns to Mally and says: “What the hell, kid? Why didn’t you throw me the jar?”. “Sorry. I thought you might have been a little distracted trying to fend off a swarm of bees. I didn’t want it to break.” Mally defensively responds. “Girls.” Ravos tries to interject. “That’s not the point. You haven’t been listening all day. If you want me to help, you need you to trust me.”. “Girls.”. “And why should I? You don’t seem that eager to trust me.”. “That’s because you don’t listen!” the woman scream. “Girls!” Ravos shouts. “What!?” both of them say. They look around and see the pack waking up, approaching them with low key growls “Something tells me they’re not so thankful.” Mally states. All of them run out of the grove, a jar full of golden nectar in their possession. After stuffing all the medicine that Ravos had in the honey, all of them head to the middle of the shell. With a long trek through the trees, all of them noticed the trees near them were look rotted. They find themselves before the nest, where the woman and Mally first caught their first glimpse of the parasite queen. “That’s the queen!?” Mally exclaims. Before them was a gigantic white blob, sporting elongated arms with holes decorating the queens base. The queen was surrounded by legions of her of drones, all of them waiting to strike anything comes near. At the top of the mass was a little head with a crown like growth at the top. “Holy shit! It looks like the size of a warehouse! Are you sure the meds will work on something this massive?” the woman asks the elf. “It has to. Even if it’s for a moment. While I distract the drones at the bottom, both of you must climb up the queen and jam the medicine down her throat. No matter what happens to me. You must continue with the plan.”. “Kay.” the woman simply goes as she puts the jar in her bag. The elf swung himself towards the legion below in an effort to by the girls some time. “Come on. Lets get going.” the woman says as both of them jump. Ravos lands in the middle of enemy territory and starts by grabbing one of the parasites and swinging it towards the others. After that all of them charge at him, trying to swipe at the guardian. The elf jumps up and snags one of the monsters by the head, he pulls himself towards the beast, stomping on its cranium and hops up toward the next one. Mally and the woman lands right on the queens stomach just below its countless holes. Both of them hold on by the giants fat. “So, whats the plan?” Mally asks. “We climb up and huck the honey down its throat.”. “Come on. We need more of a plan than that.”. “How bout this. Your pretty quick on your feet. So you distract this fat bitch, while I come from behind and jam the jar in.”. “Wait, why don’t you distract her, while I chuck the jar in? You’re better at fighting.”. “But I can climb up faster.”. Mally looks up at the towering figure before her with a worried stare. “Kid, remember how I said you needed to trust me, well now I’m trusting you.”. Both of us need to do our part to save this giant turtle, got it?”. “I-”. “Great! Don’t let me down.”. The woman quickly climbs around towards the back of the behemoth. “Oh boy. Distractions, distractions. Uh...”. The girl then got an idea. She whipped out her hockey stick and jammed it into one of the fat folds. A few moments later, the queen looked down and saw Mally pounding on its flab. “Got her attention, now what?”. She looked behind her and saw one of the arms heading her way. Mally quickly ascended to avoid the queens reach. With the other hand incoming, Mally leaps towards it. She dodges its grasp and starts to run up the giants arm. With her hockey stick, Mally strikes the queen in its elbow. Before the queen could smack her, Mally jumps back towards the stomach. She sees both hands coming for her and jumps down before they can crush the girl. Mally hooks herself on one of the holes and watches as the queen punches her own stomach. The giant parasite, writhes in pain, letting out a horrid shriek. “Ha! How’s that feel for ya!?” she shouts at the queen with a confident smile. Her smile disappears when she looks back and sees Ravos fighting off the horde of monsters. She sees one of them strike him in the arm. Although she is tempted, Mally stands firm, and starts to trek back up the queen, not seeing a pair of eyes glaring through the holes. The woman on the other side of the queen climbs on the giants back. She hears the sound of monstrous grunting out nearby. She stops and looks around, wondering where it might be coming from. It isn’t until she looks down that she sees small parasites coming out of the queens holes, climbing up towards her. “Uh oh.”. She whips out her hockey stick and hits the oncoming monster, knocking them off their queen. With every couple she knocks off, dozens more climb up. The green capped lass realizes that if she didn’t keep moving, she’d be swarmed. So she jumps off the queens rubbery back and hooks onto one of the trees to jump back towards the head. Landing higher, she quickly begins to climb up, but its not long before the parasites are on her tail once more. The woman sees the back of the head, getting out the jar and prepares to dunk it into the queens throat. But the little demons soon encroach upon her legs, making her stop in her tracks. “Come on!” she strains. She tries to claw her way up as they pile onto her, but she is soon swarmed, barely able to move an inch. Mally does the best she can to avoid the queens attacks. She hooks herself on one of its arms and jumps for the head, brandishing her hockey in hopes to maybe knock it out. Just when she was close, the queen traps her between its giant hands and starts to squeeze down. Mally pushes hands away to try and ease the pressure, but her strength was not enough, as the queen was closing her grasp. She looks back to Ravos and sees him still fighting the horde of white beasts. After kicking one of them back, the guardian jumps up and snags two of them, pulling them in and making the monsters slam into one another. But as soon as he lands, he is soon grabbed by one of them by his leg and pins him down to the ground, with the others enclosing. Mally looks back at the queen, staring at her with its souless eyes. “Come on...You told me to trust you. I did everything you told me to do. So where are you!?”. The woman jumps out of the pile of little parasites, twirling her hockey stick around to get them off. She jumps to the queens head and pulls it back by its gaping maw, giving her the opportunity to shove the jar down its throat. “Yes!”. The queen grabs Mally with a single hand so she could grasp the lady on top. With the queen staring right at them, its hot breath bellowing out to them, the woman asked: “Well, we’re fucked. Any regrets?”. “I never got to skate off the Egyptian pyramids.” Mally responds. Just then, they saw the queens head slowly bobbing back and forth. Its grip on the pair starting to weaken. Ravos looked around and saw all the monsters around him starting to fall over. The one pinning him down collapses on the elf. He knocking it away as he rose to sees the queen weakening, barely able to keep its balance. “Its working.”. The queen loses her grip on its two captives, dropping them down towards the ground. While both of them landed on their feet, the woman grabs her hockey stick as it dropped down. Mally tried the same thing, expecting hers to do the same, but the stick just clonks her on the noggin. “Ah!”. As she picks the stick back up, the woman tells her: “Hey, look at that.”. Staring out, they could see the queen teetering from side to side. As the queen fell, Mally shouts: “Timber!”. The queen falls the root holding her up unbind from the shell. The impact creates a thunderous boom that shakes the whole forest, the birds flutter out of the trees. “Ha ha! We did it. The queen’s down.” “But for how long.” the woman wonders. “What do you mean?” “Kid, something that big ain’t gonna stay down for long.”. “She’s right.” Ravos confirms. Both girls turn around and see the guardian limp to them. “The queen is only knocked out. I imagine it won’t be long before it gets back up.”. “Then why did we do all this!?” Mally questions. “With the queen incapacitated, Zool’s hearing might have came back. We only have precious minutes to break through to her. Quickly!”. The elf starts to run, but soon collapses on the ground. “Ah!”. “What’s wrong!?” Mally asks. “My leg. It’s broken. My arm is too torn to cast vines either. I can’t move.”. “No problem.” the woman . Both of them turn to her to see the green capped lass with her roller blades on. “Count on me!” she says before skating away. “Wait up.” Mally says as she gets out her skates. The woman races through the jungle, passing by countless trees as she darts. No sooner, Mally joins her side. “So, whats the plan?”. “We skate as fast as we can to the head.”. “That’s it? I don’t think were gonna make it in time.”. “Got any better ideas?”. Mally looks up towards the distant treetops, the twilight sky peaking out through the leaves. “Yeah. We go up!” she says as she jumps towards the branches. She uses her hockey stick to hook one of the branches to rise, with the lady following sooth. Both of them jump from branch to branch, ascending up towards the sky. Mally misses one of them and starts to drop, but the woman quickly catches her. “Gotcha. Hang on!”. Both of them start to slow down, the overall weight dragging them. “I don’t know if were gonna make it.” the woman . Mally thinks for a moment before blurting out: “Throw me!”. “What!”. “Throw me up!”. “I don’t think that-”. “Just do it!”. The woman drops over to a nearby branch and begins to spin. She spins faster and faster and faster, until both of them are nothing but blurs. The woman then lets go of Mally, launching her quickly into the air. Mally soars past the treetops and up towards the clouds. She takes in all the breath she can and calls out: “ZOOOOOOOOOLLL!!!”. Her call echoes past the forest, past the vast ocean, past the very heavens. “I heard about you and that boy! The one who took care of you! He might be gone, but you still remember him don’t you!? I know your sad he’s gone, but as long as you don’t forget him, his memory will never die!”. How do you think he’d feel seeing you like this!?” All is quite. Zool’s head begins to rise, the color in her eyes start to return. The tortoises mouth begins to open. Out from her maw a loud roar that echoed from miles on end. A joyful smile grew as Mally plummeted to the ground. Descending through the treetops, the woman caught the girl with her hockey stick. “Good job, kid.”. Mally looked at the woman with a huge grin. As they climbed down, they heard Zool roar a second time. “What’s going on?” Mally asks. The woman looks around and see the various exotic animals stamped through, some heading up toward the trees. “I think Zool’s trying to tell us something.”. Just then, they felt the ground beneath them shake. Zool starts to topple to the side. They see the ocean coming up in front of them and try to run. But running proves fruitless as the island sized turtle flips over. Hanging on to a tree with his vine, Ravos watches as all the white parasite are cast off to the ocean with their queen. The woman start to be swept away by the current, try to grab on whatever she could to save herself. She then grabs onto a familiar looking stick. When she looks, it was her old hockey stick, Mally holding it out as she clasps both it and the tree she was on. The woman starts to climb towards her. She sees the stick is about break, and tries to hurry, but is too late as it breaks to pieces. About to fly away, Mally grabs on to the womans arm before she’s taken away. The woman sees the girl with her eyes shut tight, coughing as she holds on to the tree for dear life. Zool flips back up. Waves of water falling out to her side. The forest is drenched, the woman coughs as she regains her breath. “Kid. You actually saved my-”. The woman's smile quickly drains as she sees Mally flat on the ground. She runs towards the girl, seeing her completely motionless. “Shit!”. The green capped lass acts fast and starts to pump her chest. She then puts her mouth on the girls and starts to blow as hard as she can. She goes back and forth between pumping and giving. “Come on kid! Don’t die on me!”. One final breath, Mally awakens. She vomits out a lot of water before she catches her breathe. The woman takes huge sigh of relief. After Mally catches her breathe, she gives a wide smile before saying: “We...did it...”. Their heavy breathing is interrupted when a familiar voice says: “Indeed you have.”. Both of them look over and see Ravos limp to them. “Thanks to your actions. Zool shall live another day. Your speech to her was touching, exactly what she needed to hear.”. The elf guardian bows to the two and thanks them. “On behalf of Zool, all the creatures she harbors, and myself, we are in your debt.”. Both Mally and the woman look at one another, with Mally saying: “Hey, no problem.”. “Yeah, just taking us back home will work.” the woman finishes. Ravo’s then feels a sharp pain in his leg that makes him topple over. Mally and the lady, rush to the elf and hold him up. “There you go tough guy.”. “Please, don’t. You done more then enough. I can help myself.”. “Oh just shut up and let us carry you.” Mally retorts as they start to walk off. The woman and Mally stare out towards the sea atop Zools head as she swims back. “Man, what a day. Got to ride on a giant turtle, fought a monster, fought a giant, and saved the turtles life. He he, can’t wait to tell my mom about this.”. “Yeah, I do shit like this all the time. But its fun to have a partner around.”. “Really? Wow.”. The woman looks at Mally and says: “Hey uh, sorry about accusing you of stealing my picture.”. “Who was that with you?”. “Eh, my cousin that I hung out with a lot. I haven’t seen him in years.”. “Were you two close?”. “Very.”. Mally looks out to the sea, then something crops up in her head. “Wait a minute I didn’t even get your name.”. “Biz.”. “What?”. “It’s Biz.”. “Biz?...What kinda name is that?”. “What kinda name is Mally!?” Biz exclaimes defensivly. Both of them glare to the sea, until Mally pipes up and asks: “Hey, uh...You think after we get back to town...We...we can hang out some more?”. Biz stares at her for a moment before laughing. “Sure kid, why not. I’ll even throw in my hockey stick.”. “For real?”. “Yeah, sure. I got plenty of them. Might teach you how to fight with it when I take you along on my adventures.”. “Thanks. Maybe you can teach me a couple of those skating tricks too.” “Hee...Maybe.”. Both Biz and Mally look out as Zool swims forth, Townsville in the horizon along with the setting sun.

[saulcastillo]

mucho más » semana DX (2Ag)

Encaramos el mes de agosto con una nueva y ocupada edición veraniega del ‘Mucho más’, la sección semanal donde repasamos todas las infografías que se han publicado a lo largo de la semana. Arrancamos el resumen tras el salto:

Trabajo: Tiroteos mortales por parte de la policía diariamente desde 2015 | Autor: Joe Fox | Medio: The Washington Post, del 1 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Un análisis de la semana fantástica de Katie Ledecky en los JJOO de Tokio 2020 | Autores: Artur Galocha y Bonnie Berkowitz | Medio: The Washington Post, del 1 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Los primeros 100 metros lisos después de Bolt | Autor: Julián de Velasco | Medio: ABC, del 2 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: El Zapata I, una diagonal para una plata histórica | Autor: Juan C. Sánchez | Medio: El Mundo, del 2 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Delta, la variante que provocó la tercera ola del SARS-CoV-2 | Autores: Ismael F. Mira, Roberto Alvarado y Luisa Ortega | Medio: La Razón (México), del 2 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Caeleb Dressel, el heredero de las dos grandes leyendas de la natación | Medio: La Voz de Galicia, del 2 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Riesgo de estrés y distrés acuático | Medio: La Voz de Galicia, del 3 de agosto

Trabajo: Así fue el salto que llevó al podio a Ana Peleteiro | Medio: La Voz de Galicia, del 3 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: El skate, nuevo deporte olímpico en Tokio 2020 | Medio: La Voz de Galicia, del 3 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: La escalada deportiva, deporte olímpico en Tokio 2020 | Autores: Miguel Ángel Carbonero y Sofía Valgañón | Medio: Marca, del 3 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: El skateboarding en Tokio 2020 | Autores: Sofía Valgañón y M. Ángel Carbonero | Medio: Marca, del 4 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Las claves del absentismo de Simone Biles: las piruetas | Medio: La Voz de Galicia, del 5 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Cómo son las pruebas de la escalada olímpica | Medio: El Mundo, del 6 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: La kata que dio el oro histórico en karate a Sandra Sánchez | Medio: El Mundo, del 6 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: La prueba de escalada que ha llevado a Ginés al oro en Tokio 2020 | Medio: El País, del 6 de agosto | Alta resolución »

Trabajo: Actualización de las restricciones por el coronavirus en la semana del 9 de agosto | Medio: La Razón, del 6 de agosto | Alta resolución »

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CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK 2020-21 SEASON

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - With the 2019-20 AHL and Hartford Wolf Pack season officially canceled, talk changes from what could have been, to what awaits at the next training camp that should start at some point in the final months of 2020. For the New York Rangers, their off-season decisions are many and plentiful. The NHL's proposed salary cap which was projected to be between $84 and $88 million two weeks before the pandemic outbreak is out the window as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Roster decisions will now be even harder for every team's management to handle once that actual number is decided upon. The Rangers have an excess of defensemen as they did last year. There are 19 defensemen in the system and only 12 can dress between the AHL and NHL. Some are heading elsewhere. In New York, Jacob Trouba, Marc Staal, Ryan Lindgren, Brendan Smith, Adam Fox and Tony D’Angelo have the top spots. Staal and Smith each have one year remaining before they reach UFA status. D’Angelo is now an RFA coming off a solid potentially shortened season. Lindgren will be an RFA after next season. In Hartford, there's Libor Hajek, Yegor Rykov, and Sean Day, who are all entering the last year of their entry-level deals. Hajek is at a crossroads. After making the Rangers out of camp last year, he missed 20 games with an injury was supposed to be in Hartford on injury rehab, but never made it back to Broadway. Day started the year in Hartford, then was sent to the team's ECHL affiliates, the Maine Mariners for the remainder of the season in favor of Rykov, who was a upcoming player. Rykov’s stock fell precipitously at the end of the year. He was a healthy scratch in nine of the last 10 games including the last game the Pack played on March 11th against the Providence Bruins. The team elected to play a freshly signed rookie, Zach Guitarri, from Brown University (ECACHL) instead. Rykov could be dealt this summer if the right offer comes along. Rykov was unhappy about how things were progressing with the knock-on him, according to several sources, was his skating. It's not out of the question that Hajek could also potentially be involved in a package deal. Darren Raddysh and Brandon Crawley are both RFA’s this summer. Both Vincent LoVerde and Mason Geersten were already locked up when they signed one-year AHL deals a short time ago. Raddysh played well on both sides of the puck, as did Loverde. They were the number one shutdown tandem for two months. He would appear to have earned himself another one-year deal. After a good training camp, Crawley spent the majority of the season in Maine. LoVerde was very well-respected in the locker room as well as with the coaches. In fact, he played with every defenseman the Wolf Pack had on their roster this season. Geersten proved to be worth his weight in gold and earned a contract coming in as a non-roster invitee. He was the best body-checker on the team and a true heavyweight who took care of the "physical" business and was another solid veteran signee that stabilized the locker room. Both players earned deals with Geersten seeming to deserve a one-way, NHL money deal. The Rangers signed K’Andre Miller to a three-year, entry-level deal just before the season was suspended. Tarmo Reunanen, who was signed last year but played in Finland, enters year two of his three-year deal. In the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Nils Lundkvist is coming off a strong year and at the WJC. There's also the aforementioned Guitarri. The problem for Reunanen and Lundkvist coming to North America is that in Europe, COVID-19 hit very hard and the question is where or not they will be able to come across the Big Pond because of possible visa issues. Earlier this week, the EU (European Union) discussed an immunity visa that could be issued and there is a whole panoply of security and civil liberties issues that could potentially follow that. It's a total unknown and it's highly possible both could stay in Europe for another year. Defenseman Matt Robertson, from Edmonton (WHL), will likely be signed to a standard three-year, entry-level deal very soon. Among the defenseman only Nick Ebert is the only UFA-Group 6 free agent. It's not likely that Ebert will be re-signed. He could end up elsewhere in the AHL or Europe. In the forward category, there are significant players who are Group 6 UFA’s. the Pack's leading scorer, Vinni Lettieri, and Danny O’Regan. Team captain, Steven Fogarty, is a UFA. Despite possessing a cannon of a slapshot, Lettieri could sign elsewhere. His stock fell in the Rangers' eye over the last year-and-a-half. O’Regan, an old friend of Rangers head coach David Quinn from their BU days, was highly regarded by the Wolf Pack coaching staff. He will likely get a one-or-two year AHL deal in the neighborhood of $300,000K. Then there's Fogarty. He was a solid captain who played through illness and injury. Near the end of the season, he wasn’t putting up with some of the lethargic play that crept back into the lineup and called out his teammates. He could receive another one year, one-way NHL deal, but he will likely test the market. He will get offers and will likely head elsewhere. There are four RFA’s on the roster. They are Boo Nieves, Ryan Gropp, Dawson Leedahl, and Gabriel Fontaine. Gropp, a former second-round pick, after being assigned to ain't took a three-week sabbatical early in the season. He returned to Maine and worked his way back up to the Pack lineup. He played well, but didn’t produce enough points, He could be departing as well. Leedahl spent most of the season in Maine and likely will not be back. Coming off of season-ending, left shoulder surgery, Fontaine will likely get a one-year AHL deal. Nieves is a tough call. He played very well, tallying 12 points in 10 games before suffering from severe migraines. He played just one game the remainder of the year. He was a last-minute scratch in what was to be his second consecutive game. Nieves is a tantalizing talent, but the Rangers pigeonholed him as a defensive center, which didn’t work. He's now 27 and on a one-way, one-year, $700K NHL deal. It isn't likely he will be offered another deal. A really solid player and person, he will likely migrate elsewhere. Entering, the last year of their deals, are the most improved player last season in Tim Gettinger, as well as Ty Ronning, Patrick Newell, Nick Jones, and the wildest of wild cards, a former first-round pick, Lias Andersson. Andersson's unexpected departure back to Sweden on November 18th, not surprisingly, earned him organizational scorn, however, some are said to be still willing to give him another chance. Andersson wasn’t a malcontent but made a rash, impulsive, and immature decision that put him in a box. Inside sources indicate he had a bit of an emotional breakdown two weeks before bolting. The self-imposed stress of having to live up to his being the number seven overall draft pick and producing very little results weighed heavily on him. Unless a larger trade deal is constructed that he's a part of, or he has some huge reversal in his behavior, he'll likely spend the final year of his original deal skating on the bigger surfaces in Sweden. The other first-round pick returning for year two is Vitali Kravtsov, who had a difficult first-year. He went back to Russia after just five games, came back, and showed only glimpses of his skill that made him a seventh overall draft selection as well. He was too inconsistent and did not get enough puck time and his willingness to take a hit to get the puck or to take a shot. Nick Jones, a free agent signee did everything he was asked to do and did a lot of good things on both sides of the faceoff circle. He helped set players up and was very strong on the PK. A looming minus-14 needs to be improved upon. Jones’ Achilles Heel was being unable to finish on his scoring chances. He was reminiscent of a young Jed Ortmeyer. He has likely earned a one-year, two-way AHL deal. Ryan Dmowski and Shawn McBride were the heart of the fourth line. The team relied on them before play was suspended. Both were both on AHL deals and looks like they've earned another one-year, AHL deal. Numbers plus analytics will ultimately determine if they do get offers. Returnee Jake Elmer has two years remaining on his deal. He spent more time in Maine than in Hartford. There's a batch of new signees for the Pack. The 6’7, Austin Rueschhoff, as well as Patrick Khodorenko, Patrick Whelan, Michael O’Leary, and Justin Richards will be in what should be a very competitive training camp whenever that camp actually opens though is anyone's guess. The only UFA on the Pack roster is veteran, Matt Beleskey. He and his $825K NHL cap hit and overall $1.9 million are over. He will end up either with an AHL veteran's deal somewhere else or will take a deal to play in Europe. At the start of the season, the Rangers' not even inviting Beleskey to their NHL training camp was one of the very few questionable moves. He would still be a locker room bonus and gave it his all for the team. Late in the season, he was involved in the line brawl in Springfield in the second to last game of the year that earned him a three-game suspension. Late in the year, the departure of Ville Meskanen was obviously the other "questionable" decision by the team's management. The Wolf Pack could have used him, especially when the team hit the skids during a five game losing streak and a 2-7-1 mark in their final 10 games. Meskanen could have easily made a difference in the team's slide rather than having to rely on signing guys, like Connor Bleackly, to PTO’s and ATO’s to fill in the gaps. Goaltending is a major hot button issue for the Rangers. There are presently seven in the organization. A bit of a soap opera will play out until the situation with future Hall-of-Famer, Henrik Lundquist, is resolved. He is entering the last year of his $8.5 million per year deal. Alexander Georgiev becomes an RFA, and Igor Shesterkin enters year two of his two-year deal. An option for the Rangers is to buy-out Lundqvist. Trading Georgiev is another option. Meanwhile, in Hartford, Adam Huska (UCONN) is in his second year. J.F. Berube is there and is a UFA. Tyler Wall was just signed out of UMASS-Lowell (HE) and makes for a very congested organizational goalie crease area. Toss in the drafted, but unsigned, Olof Lindbom, who is coming off an injury sustained while playing with Mora IK (Sweden-Allsvenskan), and his hopes for a bounce back season in Sweden in the SHL possibly with Farjestad BK, where he played one game with last year. He is also WJC eligible. Lots to ponder about the 24th edition of the Wolf Pack coming out of this pandemic. Stay safe. Read the full article