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i-am-distressed · 4 years ago

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JJK Boys getting accidentally flashed by their Girlfriend

Characters: Megumi, Itadori, Yuta, Noritoshi, Nanami, Toji, Naoya, Geto, Gojo, and Sukuna

Warnings: Implied 'nudity' cause, y'know, getting flashed. Naoya + Sukuna, Yuta’s turned out very detailed and warning for his cause curses are gross, mentions of injuries/implied blood, Noritoshi’s is eXTREMEly self-indulgent, allusion to sex in Toji’s and Sukuna’s but nothing explicit or suggestive (obviously), you guys are married in Toji’s, Naoya’s and Sukuna’s. Kids in Naoya’s, cursing in Sukuna's but I 'censored' it :)

**I write Naoya and Sukuna with some necessary changes, please hold your judgement☺ These are long but give it a chance-**

Fushiguro Megumi:

Due to his job as a student/Jujutsu Sorcerer, Megumi was usually pretty tired when you guys got to hang out.

So, the first thing you guys typically did when you met up after school was nap for a good hour or two.

Which worked out well for both of you since he finally got some rest and you got cuddles and a chance to play with his hair.

On this particular afternoon, Megumi had basically crashed the minute he hit the bed, you not far behind to lay on his chest while he zonked out on his back.

It had been just about 2 hours when he woke up, one hand going up to rub his eyes while his other arm wrapped around you to hold you tight.

You smiled when you felt him moving, turning ever so slightly to give him a small peck on his shoulder.

He smiled and turned to look at you, only to see that while he was sleeping you had changed into a loose tank top. A loose tank top that had...shifted, to give your boyfriend a view you had not intended to give him.

He was so flustered he didn’t realize how red the tips of his ears had gotten and how wide his eyes had gotten, not to mention the fact he hadn’t said a word.

Thinking he had fallen back asleep, you looked up only to see your boyfriend seemingly stuck in time as he looked at something.

Following his gaze you gasped, rushing to fix your shirt.

That seemed to snap Megumi out of his daze, that and your non-menacing ‘pervert’ you muttered, it’s not like you really cared (you were more embarrassed than anything) but the opportunity to tease was much too good to pass up.

“I- hEy! It wasn’t on purpose! You’re the one that flashed me…”

“I don’t know Megumi...you were awfully quiet for awhile there, didn’t even warn me😔”

You may or may not have gotten hit with a pillow following that remark.

Itadori Yuji:

You and your boyfriend Yuji were celebrating your two year anniversary, and this year you had both decided on going to an amusement park!

It was a pretty hot day, and you’d be walking a lot so you decided on a cute loose t-shirt and shorts and some walking shoes.

You guys had just gotten on this rollercoaster, and from the looks of it this one was going to be fast.

The ticking as you went up the first and very tall hill did nothing to quell the excitement/fear you were feeling, and it also did nothing to keep you from taking your boyfriends hand in yours.

After that first drop, it wasn’t too bad! But it was definitely on the faster side.

You guys were almost done, the end was in sight.

You turned to ask Yuji what ride you should do next when one sharp turn caught you off guard and flipped your shirt up into your face.

Right when Yuji had just so happened to have turned to talk to you.

Trying to ignore the utter shame you felt you tried to fix your shirt, your boyfriend then leaned over you to stop anyone from getting a peak as the car pulled back to the start.

You felt so embarrassed after it, but when you tried to apologize he just shook his head, gave you a kiss on your cheek and grabbed your hand to drag you off to the next ride.

Okkotsu Yuta:

**Unlike the others, this happened before the two of you started dating, you were still just really good friends**

You and Yuta had been sent out on a mission together.

You were a little nervous since it would be your first time going against a special grade, but you were confident you’d be able to do your part. Plus, having Yuta there was helpful in more ways than just his power.

The fight was a tough one, this curse you guys were fighting kept breaking the ground and shooting debris everywhere, it was easily blockable and it really wasn’t that dangerous.

But it did prove irritating.

Along with making tears everywhere in your jacket and skirt, you had been left with no choice but to kill the curse when it was up close and personal, so you were also covered in gross stuff.

To keep yourself from throwing up then and there, you unbuttoned your top and shrugged it off your shoulders, wincing at the cuts that had amassed during the fight.

You planned to quickly exchange it with the spare you kept in your bag, the debris had caused a bunch of dust which was acting like a curtain to shield your half-naked self from the eyes of the world.

But most importantly, from the eyes of your crush.

Unfortunately for you, your bag had gotten caught under a somewhat heavy piece of concrete.

Which would be no problem for you to lift if you hadn’t run through a fair amount of your cursed energy.

In your exhaustion, you must have made your struggle known with the grunts and obvious sounds of struggle you were making.

Yuta, who had a radar for you on anyway, heard this and started making his way over to you since he’s a considerate lad and you could be hurt!

You had just gotten it off the ground when it finally shifted enough for you to get your bag out, and you, being ever so coordinated, stumbled backwards.

Right into the open arms of Yuta, who immediately went red when he realized you were no longer wearing a shirt.

His jaw dropped as he tried to form a sentence, say something, anything to make sure you knew it was an accident.

Poor guy was so scared you thought he was a creep, he couldn’t look you in the eyes for almost 3 days.

That is until Maki locked you both in a room until one of you confessed💖

Kamo Noritoshi:

(This one may or may not be self-indulgent since I’m a clutz-)

You and Noritoshi had been sent to get something from the principal’s office by Utahime.

You were walking in front of him, paying little to no attention as to where you were walking as Noritoshi lost years off his life watching you stumble and almost trip.

So, okay, maybe you were a little bit clumsy, so what?

“Y/n, would you please be more careful? You’re going to fall.”

You turned your head to look at your boyfriend with an unimpressed look on your face, continuing to walk as he was even more on edge now that you definitely weren’t looking where you were going.

“Have a little faith in me, would you? I’m not that clumsy-” Just then, your foot caught a root perfectly, resulting in an untimely fall to the ground.

Which, thanks to years of falling face-first, you were more than prepared for.

Noritoshi, who felt his heart stop, quickly went to aid you, only to realize that your skirt had shifted with your fall, leaving you partly exposed to the world.

Partly exposed to him.

He quickly made his way to your side, helping you up as you laughed and dusted yourself off, noting the quietness of your boyfriend.

Usually when this happened, and he was quiet, you’d be in for a lecture.

But this time you noticed he was quiet...but he was also blushing.

You guys continued walking, you definitely weren’t complaining about not being told off, but you weren’t a fan of his silence. And...since when did Mr. Blood manipulation blush…?

“No lecture today?”

Noritoshi, who had been very deep in thought almost jumped at your voice, huffing as he tilted his head downward and picked up his pace a little.

“No tights today?”

You stopped at that because...he typically didn’t care what you wore, he was actually pretty laid-back except when it came to your safety.

“It’s August...so no?”

“Then i’d recommend you be a little more careful, had it been somebody else walking behind you, they would have seen something they shouldn’t have.” Your eyes narrowed at his words because...what was he talking about??

Sensing your confusion he turned towards you, eyes cracked open and a small smirk on his face. Leaning in close, he whispered.

“When you fell, your skirt lifted.”

And proceeded to walk ahead and into the principal’s office, leaving you in a whirlwind of emotions with no idea how to process them.

Nanami Kento:

You were over at Nanami’s place, in his kitchen cooking dinner with him.

You guys didn’t get to have dates often, but thankfully you guys both had tonight free. And seeing as you both have been busy, a home-date sounded nice to both of you.

Nanami was working on opening a bottle of wine while you were fiddling with the stove top.

Nanami had recently moved into this apartment, and it was really nice. But the oven was much different from yours, so it was taking awhile for you to get used to it.

You had finally gotten it on and you put the frying pan on the burner to heat up.

You turned your back to it and leaned against the nearby counter, appreciating the view you had of your boyfriend’s back and biceps.

It was safe to say you were distracted.

So distracted, that you didn’t notice that the shirt you were wearing had been just close enough to the burner that it had caught on fire.

You felt your hip getting a little warm, so you looked down and gasped when you saw that you were literally catching on fire.

You scrambled to rip the shirt off you, throwing it in the thankfully empty sink as you turned the water on, successfully avoiding a major problem and any serious injuries.

Shaking your head, you turned to your lover with an apology ready on your lips, only when you met his eyes, he quickly turned around.

Clearing his throat, he returned to his previous task of cutting the vegetables while he instead nodded his head towards his room.

“You can wear one of my shirts, they’re in the second drawer.” You nodded and made your way into his room, shaking your head to try and rid yourself from any further embarrassment and cool down your overheating face and neck.

Little did you know, Nanami was trying to cool down the burning red on his own face, as well as trying to focus on the vegetables.

Fushiguro Toji:

**In this you two are married and you’re Megumi’s momma**

You guys had recently adopted a cat from a nearby shelter, Toji didn’t want a cat, but between the puppy eyes of not only his young son but his wife, he was never walking out of the shelter without one.

Only, you didn’t walk out with one, since the cat Megumi chose was a female, and pregnant.

So now you guys have 4 cats.

Your kittens were older now, just about 4 months. So you and Megumi would let them out during the day (supervised and with their momma of course) and bring them back in at night. Toji didn’t really care what you did with them since they made you both happy (and it kept you both occupied-).

Toji had come home from a particularly grueling day at work, his shoulders were stiff and he had a small headache, and all he really wanted was to drag you to the bed so he could sleep on top of you while you ran your fingers through his hair and he could finally get some decent sleep.

Does he get that? No.

What he does get is you and Megumi yelling up the tree in front of your house for “Cat! Come down from the tree!” ‘Cat’ was the name of the kitten you and Megumi had forced Toji to name since ‘he had to have one too’, even though it was really just so he had no choice but to let you two keep them all.

Sighing he walked over to you both, ruffling Megumi’s hair and giving you a kiss before he stuck his hands in his pockets and asked the question he didn’t want, or need, the answer to.

“*sigh* what happened?”

Frowning, you looked back to the tree and pointed, revealing the small kitten who had managed to get herself, or himself he couldn’t remember, stuck on one of the lower branches.

“Well, he’ll come down eventually.”

You smacked his arm as Megumi’s eyebrows pinched together, little arms crossing in front of his chest, “It’s a she, daddy. And she’s just a baby! You have to get her down!”

Groaning he brought a hand up to rub his eyes, “There’s no way i’m getting up that tree, I’m way too big, and daddy’s tired”

Pouting, Megumi stood in front of his dad (Let’s say Megumi is 3~), little hands tugging on his pants leg, a little “please daddy?” coming from his trembling lips.

“No, daddy’s right, he’s too old to get in the tree,” You smirked at the glare you got from your husband, “But, if daddy helps me, I can get in the tree.”

So, that’s how you ended up in a tree, gently handing ‘Cat’ down to your husband, who quickly passed her down to Megumi, and found yourself struggling to get down.

You and Megumi had been out and about earlier, and you were wearing a comfortable dress that day, so being in a tree was less than ideal.

With the promise of Toji catching you, you jumped, not expecting the wind to carry your dress, and unintentionally giving your husband a show. Luckily, your son was much more interested in the kitten.

You felt your face heat up as you quickly fixed your dress, your husband just laughed with a ‘nothin’ I haven’t seen before babe’ which was quickly followed by an ‘ow!’ when you smacked him. </3

Zen'in Naoya:

You and Naoya were preparing to have dinner together.

He was sat at the table, finishing up some paperwork while you finished up the food.

Your 2 children, your 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter, were also sat at the table. Your children both telling their father about their days while he listened. (I know he’s literally awful, but if I can pretend Toji isn’t an awful father, I can pretend Naoya isn’t an awful person✌😌)

“And then, Momma told the guy off! It was awesome daddy!” Naoya raised his eyebrow with the smallest hint of a smile tugging the corner of his lip up. “Oh? Did he start crying too?” You gave your husband ‘a look’ while you walked to the table, setting the first dish down on the table before you turned to get another.

Your son giggled, “Like a baby!” Naoya chuckled, shaking his head as he took a sip of water.

He couldn’t help but think back to your younger days, specifically the day the two of you met when you told him off, the day you changed him, and finally the day you made him cry as you walked towards him down the aisle.

“I bet, Your mother has a habit of making men cry.” You sternly called his name from the kitchen as he snickered, your kids breaking out into their own fits of giggles.

You walked back into the dining room carrying in the last dish, shaking your head as you lightly bumped him with your hip as you passed him, him lightly patting your butt as you walked by. “Stop feeding my kids lies.”

He just smirked as he lifted his glass to his lips, he was in the middle of taking a sip when you bent down to place the dish on the table, your shirt dipping low to the point your chest was on show, giving your husband an, albeit welcome, unintentional view.

Choking on his drink, he set the cup down in favor of beating his chest with his fist, you coming over to rub his back, your children looking over in confusion cause...what the heck dad, that was weird.

“What happened? Do I need to get you a sippy cup?” Glaring at you he was finally able to stop coughing, you patting his back as you went back to your seat and sat down.

You raised an eyebrow at him, since he had still yet to tell you why he had suddenly choked on his water. But it was then you noticed just how red his face was, and how low his gaze was.

Looking down and realizing your shirt had drifted down, you fixed it and smirked, struggling to hold in the laughs and snorts that were sure to explode out of you.

Even after almost a decade of marriage, it was good to know you could still make your husband blush like a teenage boy.

Geto Suguru:

You and Geto had gone out on a date!

It was a nicer place, so you were wearing a cute spaghetti strapped dress with some nice shoes, and he was wearing a button down with slacks (sleeves rolled up to his forearms of course🥵).

You had just finished dinner and were now on the walk home.

All night you had been paranoid about your dress, you had gotten it when you and a friend had gone thrift shopping. It was honestly in pretty good condition, the only problem was that the dress’ straps had a good amount of wear on them, so the straps weren’t really that great, and you could feel them loosening as the night went on.

BUT, you were going home now, so it really didn’t matter much anymore.

Geto was lightly swinging your hands between you both as you told him the recent drama you had learned at work.

You were holding your uncomfortable shoes in one hand, and obviously Geto’s hand in the other, so your hands were occupied.

“You would not believe how messy that got. In case you ever think about cheating on me, just remember that man’s gonna be finding glitter in his car for at least a few decades.” Geto laughed as he shook his head, nudging your shoulder with his, “Good thing we don’t have to worry about that, I’m not dumb enough to cheat on my crazy girlfriend.” You made a ‘hmph’ sound and nodded, “Crazy for you~” and laughed when he shook his head.

You guys kept walking, discussing whatever topics came up.

You were almost home, so close to freedom. You called Geto’s name, about to tell him something you had remembered, when you both heard a faint *snap*.

Guided by the rush of cold air you felt hit your chest, you looked down and gasped, you would’ve been quicker to cover yourself except for the fact that both of your hands were occupied.

Working quickly because...you both were still in public, Geto let go of your hand and shrugged his jacket off, draping it around you and grabbing ahold of your hand when you were covered.

You apologized for flashing him and he shook his head, obviously it wasn’t your fault and it’s not like he was complaining.

Gojo Satoru:

Due to a particularly bad run in with a cursed spirit, your usual uniform was trashed, so you had to wear your backup uniform, which also ran small.

All day, you had been fighting with your skirt. It was too tight and too short, and was providing you with a substantial amount of stress.

It was lunch, you were half way through the school day, half a day away from going home and getting to wear your sweatpants.

“Oh Y/n~” Half a day from getting rid of the walking headache you called your co-worker.

Sighing, you stopped from where you were walking in the hallway, turning to face him you raised an eyebrow. “Yes Satoru?”

So, yes, you were ‘co-workers’ and yes, you were technically just friends.

But there was also a painful amount of mutual pining and tension that hung between you two.

“Hey, hey, what’s with the attitude? You’ve been like this all day, it’s gonna start hurting my feelings.” You grimaced as you once again adjusted your skirt, “Yeah, well, you’d be a little irritated if you had to keep fixing your skirt every 2 seconds.”

Gojo hummed, “I can imagine, so, care to join me for lunch?” You replied with a ‘sure’, and the two of you made your way to the teacher’s lounge, side by side.

You walked to the fridge and pulled out your lunch, Gojo not far behind you and you both did the necessary prep you needed for your food.

Gojo finished just barely before you, and was already sitting on one of the couches, happily digging into his food.

Once the microwave stopped you pulled your food out and started walking over to the couch.

You sat down, carefully, and began to eat your lunch.

Despite causing you mass amounts of pain and most likely a gray hair or 2, you thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Gojo, I mean, you were kinda in love with him.

“Ah, Satoru, Y/n, just the two I needed to see.” Gojo’s (likely inaccurate) account of his latest mission came to a pause when Principal Yaga walked in.

He had some information about a mission the 2 of you would be going on in 3 days. Apparently this one would be an undercover mission, and a few days.

During the conversation, Gojo (who tries to always have one of his six eyes on you at all times), had noticed your skirt riding up, and seeing as he liked you, the last thing he wanted was for you to embarrass yourself in front of you guys’s boss.

Keep in mind, it’s not like Gojo was having a great time either, you were sitting right in front of him, but it’s not like he could interrupt the principal and loudly announce you were about to expose yourself.

Thankfully, Kusakabe walked in at that moment, stealing just enough of his time for Gojo to catch your attention (like he didn’t already have it🙄) to mouth ‘Your skirt’ while he made a subtle tugging motion with his hand, going back to like nothing happened and stealing the attention of the men while you fixed your skirt.

That mission may or may not have preceded your first date with him.

Sukuna Ryomen:

You and Sukuna would be going on a date tonight, and you had spent the last half hour or so getting ready.

Your hair and make up was done, you had showered earlier, and all you had left to do was get dressed.

You had gotten dressed in your underwear when your mom had called.

You didn’t get to speak to you often and it had been awhile since you had talked, so you spent a good amount of time catching up and filling each other in on the things you had missed.

It had been about 15 minutes, you were sitting down at your vanity, pants on but still no shirt (hey man, a distraction is a distraction, let me have this i’m tired-).

You were so caught up in your phone call you hadn’t noticed that Sukuna had walked into your shared apartment.

He called out to you, but you didn’t answer. He would’ve been more worried than irritated if he didn’t hear you talking on what he presumed to be the phone.

If he knew you weren’t ready yet, he would’ve knocked, but seeing as you were on the phone, the last thing he expected when he opened your bedroom door was to see you half-naked sitting on your vanity stool like this kind of thing was normal.

“Sh*t. Warn a guy, will you? I’m not complaining but you near gave me a heart attack.” You screeched as you almost threw your phone, apologizing to your mom, you glared at Sukuna as he gave you a look that tip-toed between amusement and bewilderment.

“What, it’s not like I haven’t seen your-” You threw your pillow at him before he could finish his sentence, with your mom of all people listening to your conversation.

You two might have been married, but the last thing you needed was your mom pestering you about grandchildren again.

In case you’re wondering, he was laughing the whole time as you beat him with said pillow for saying those kind of things to your mother.

#megumi fushiguro x reader #itadori x reader #okkotsu yuuta x reader #noritoshi kamo x reader #nanami x reader #toji fushiguro x reader #naoya x reader #geto x reader #gojo x reader #sukuna x reader #masamichi yaga x reader #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #JJK #jjk headcanons

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bots-and-cons · 4 years ago

Note

Arcee, Optimus and Wheeljack's reaction to their charge making a metal shield with flash charges capable of blinding anyone within the flash range? (Think R6S Blitz)

I get the main idea, even though I didn't look up the reference you gave, but I hope this is okay

~Wheeljack~

•Jackie definitely thinks it’s a great idea and that you did a really good job on the shield

•You temporarily blinded yourself and Jackie while you worked on it, the effect doesn’t last as long on him as it does on you, but you two were basically blind for a couple of minutes

•It was weird but kinda funny, but also very scary since you couldn’t see anything and neither could Jackie

•Ratchet checked you both over after the whole “going temporarily blind” thing and concluded there wasn’t any permanent damage

•You get to test out your shield pretty fast, because you sneaked after Wheeljack while he was going to check out an energon deposit the cons were mining

•Jackie made the shield out of a material that could take like maybe two hits from a blaster, but definitely not more

•It is quite heavy but you carry it on your back, and when you need it you prop it on the ground and kneel behind it

•It’s definitely useful at a close range and you can cause some real headaches by using it

~Arcee~

•When you come to Arcee, like “hey, I can’t see anything” she doesn’t believe what she’s hearing

•You explain to her what you were working on and by the time you’re finished, your sight starts to come back and you’re like “nevermind it’s fine” and try to go back to work on the shield

•Arcee keeps you company and there aren’t anymore mishaps with the flash charges, thanks to her

•You finish the shield and are eager to test it on some cons but no one at the base really approves of the idea

•But you eventually end up testing it on them anyway and the results are great, aka a lot of “what the scrap?” and “why can’t I see anything?” from the cons

•Arcee knew what to do when you yelled “fire in the hole” and she closed her eyes, but obviously the cons had no idea so you managed to catch quite a few of them off guard

•Arcee had a pretty easy time taking them out after that, since they were just shooting blind

~Optimus Prime~

•Optimus finds you tinkering with something one day and he managed to kind of sneak up on you because you had your headphones on

•You of course accidentally activate the flash charge you’re holding, tell him to close his eyes but he doesn’t really register your order in time and he is on his aft on the ground, and confused because he can’t see anything

•He doesn’t panic, he just asks what you’re doing and blinks a few times

•You closed your eyes and turned away on time, so you’re fine, you’re just profusely apologizing to Optimus and telling him he will be fine in a few minutes

•You don’t get to test the shield on action, but Optimus does

•He basically grabs it from you, activates the charges and throws it right at Megatron’s face

•The big con isn’t very happy with this and grabs it in the air, looking at the contraption right as it goes bang

•So yeah, he doesn’t see crap for a while after that

•You run and Optimus decides that protecting you is the priority and he isn’t going to attack someone who can’t see anything

•So you retreat through the ground bridge and as soon as you’re all in safety, you’re like, “awesome” and Optimus kinda agrees in his head to be honest

#transformers #tfp #transformers prime #autobots #optimus prime #wheeljack #arcee #tfp headcanons #reader insert #platonic transformers x reader

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jess-the-vampire · 4 years ago

Text

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 49

Previous / Next

Mason felt he searched every room in the castle, but there was no sign of his older brother, he had very much vanished. He couldn't have gone too far, there was no way they could even leave the castle without anyone knowing about it. But he clearly put in a lot of effort to hide himself from everyone else, not even wanting to be seen by anyone else.

As soon as he saw him mason wanted to drown him in apologies but that required finding him first.

But apologies might not be enough here, landon just accidentally confessed to his crush.

This was pretty serious, especially since even bernard had gone cold from texting, as if the boy wasn't exactly sure what to respond with or that he was waiting to hear more from landon before he even attempted to respond. Part of mason wanted to text him back, pretending to be his brother to ease the situation but that felt more then a bad idea, plus who knew if he might make it worse or not.

Right now he needed to find his brother, that was the most important thing he needed to do.

Though he was moving so fast, his guards could barely catch up with him, zooming past servants and guards who were worried the boy was trying to run away. He had wings so that gave him an extra edgae over other demons, he could fly faster then most could run and though who could fly could barely catch the smaller boy who could get around with more ease.

He was moving so fast he didn't notice Sunny until her hit her full force, catching landon's violin safety before it hit the ground with his telekinesis. Galexia helped sunny up, dropping her own stuff, the floor now covered with papers and drawings as sunny helped gather everything. Sunny thankfully was not one to hold a big grudge so she didn't seem really mad, but upon seeing what dropped she looked at mason with more confused eyes.

"Are these...landon's? Mason...everything alright? You were going pretty fast?".

Mason was red with embarrassment.

"Have you seen landon? I'm trying to find him and return these, he kinda ran off and it's all my fault and i'm so sorry i ran into you i wasn't trying to cause i wasn't trying to and-", he was speaking so fast, panic in his voice that sunny could barely tell what he was saying. "Mason, what's going on? Why are you so upset, you both didn't like...have a fight or something right?".

"Well...i uh...".

"Mason, c'mon, you gotta tell us if something is wrong, friends tell friends.".

"He accidentally confessed to bernard...cause of me...on accident", he spurted out, still red faced and panicked.

Sunny seemed to take a moment to process what he just said before looking to the phone, "Oh...oh no...wait, how did this even happen?". Mason nearly about to say before remembering landon didn't want anyone to know about him doing magic, quickly changing gears to tell a bit of a half truth to save face, "I uh...watched a confession video he made and i kinda might've sorta accidentally pushed a few buttons...".

"Oh...yeah that's...oh no".

"Look, landon ran out and i need to say sorry to him and...i can't find him anywhere, you need to help me !". The girls looking between each other, their visit to seeing Arana being cut short in the blink of an eye, but...they couldn't not help their friend. "Ok, we'll spread out and try and find him, the guards will help! right guys?!", she eyes the huffing guards around them, who had been tailing them, getting thumbs up in return.

"Thanks so much".

"Nah, anything for our fellow dungeon buddy, the sooner we find him the better right? Tell us where you already checked and we'll check everywhere else, maybe get the others to help us out, cover more ground", she was quickly reassuring him as they picked their spots and spread out around the castle, informing whoever they could that the prince had run off somewhere.

He wasn't going to go too far, but it was a big castle.

And indeed he didn't go too far, landon pressing himself against a wall before slumping down and crying, hugging his body close as he felt his marks start to glow even more despite the fact he didn't want them to now. Everything was such a mess he didn't even care if he got caught like this anymore, his life was doomed, it was over, he was finished.

There was nothing he could do the laugh the situation off or pretend it didn't happen and he knew it, there was no going back now.

His emotions were starting to get unstable, he couldn't be around anyone like this, no way, there was more then a high chance he'd hurt someone in this kinda state. He didn't know what to do or say and maybe running out was a bad idea but...he felt so lost, his world was suddenly crashing all around him, burning to the ground and he couldn't stop it.

"Landon?".

He sniffled, looking up to find a famialr kindly woman above him.

"Eclipsa? You're...here?".

"Well, i mean, this tower is where i'm supposed to be going over the evidence, did no one tell you that?", landon shook his head and he backed up against the wall, "Go away, last thing i need is to get in trouble for hurting someone with my magic on accident". Eclipsa watching his marks glow further as she squatted down to get a better look, "Something happened didn't it?".

"It's...not your concern".

"Landon if you're not going to talk about it, then i'm not going to be able to help you like this".

"What makes you think i want help?", he snapped back.

"You said you didn't want to hurt anyone just now".

He fell silent, sniffling some more as he wiped at his face, "Look, i...bernard knows, mason accidentally leaked it to him and i...panicked, i...don't wanna go back out there, i don't wanna know what he's going to say to it ". Eclipsa felt pity for the boy, patting at his head and trying to ease his worries, "It's alright, but you'll have to face him eventually, you can't hide from him, even if you really want to".

"I know, it's just-".

"Landon, dear...c'mon, join me, have some tea and chocolate, you can hang out with me for now". She ushered him to join her and he reluctantly stood up, still batting at his eyes and face, looking upon all the junk laid everywhere. It was kinda organized, but not as well as someone like judas would have, but all of it was some form of evidence she was going over.

For fingerprints, dna, anything they could use to find their criminal.

Most of this stuff was probably stolen, or even there when she moved into the underground part of the bar, but some of it might actually be theirs. Apparently it had been hard to even get most of this stuff as there were a few traps lined in the room. Grab mask off the wall and vines lung at you, take a book you aren't supposed to and it blasts fire at you.

The room was practically trying to destroy it's own contents, to keep it's secrets hidden. It was cleverly enchanted, the person behind it must've spent hours trying to get it booby trapped in case someone broke it and started messing with any of the stuff, frankly they were all lucky they went right for Bernard and completely ignored most of the other things if they anted to avoid possible death.

"You...been here awhile?".

"I did hear you slamming the door and heading in yes, thought you were star for a second, she's been coming in and out to see if there were any new leads, and as an excuse to get away from moon", she handed him a teacup and a seat and landon sat down, still sniffling, "Sorry, i didn't mean to walk in on you or anything, i didn't know you were doing this in here". But she didn't seem to mind at all, sitting down with him, "It's alright, i should've had a sign out there or something, but we didn't want anyone to know this was were we were keeping this stuff in case the thief came back for any of it, much rather they be confused where to even start".

"I would've ignored it anyway, i just wanted somewhere to be...alone. I wanted to get away from mason and the situation and everything, i didn't want to see things get worse, i didn't want this...i didn't ask for any of this, i didn't ask for all of this to happen to me...to be so ignored, to get powers, to constantly be a screw up and to expose myself like that to my crush of all people".

He tugged at his hair, rubbing at his horns and trying to hide his red face, "I don't know if i'm just unlucky or if i'm cursed...i just can't seem to win, i can't seem to get anything to work how i want it to...i just wanted to confess, that's all i wanted and i screwed up and now everything's going to get so much worse. I just want things to work out for once, i want to stop being the screw-up brother".

He didn't mean to lay so much out on the table to eclipsa but thankfully she wasn't judging so much, listening intently.

"Dear, we all have bad days like this, bad months, bad years, and i doubt anyone thinks of you as a screw up like that...you've simply have had some bad luck these last few months, and you've gotten yourself into bad situations. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself for this, not everything is your fault or is part of your control, you'll have your time.".

"But-".

"Haven't your brothers had bad days too? Days where they also felt the world was against them and nothing was going right?".

He thought about judas almost immediately and all the bad luck he was currently having, or mason losing his plants and his garden, "Yeah".

"And haven't they screwed up? Countless times and had to deal with problems resulting from them?".

"Yeah...".

"Then you're not as alone in this as you think you are, your brothers also probably think of themselves as the screw up brother right now. Landon your issues are not dumb, but your own brothers are not feeling much better either, you all have messed up these days. You're all screw ups". Landon sent her a look, eclipsa noticing the daggers in his eyes.

"Uh...is this supposed to make me feel better?".

"Yes...well, i'm trying at least, but i'm a screw up as well, so think of it as one screw up to another on this", she winked and went back to her work, "I haven't exactly had the best kinda life either and i've had more then enough days where this happened. Imagine how i felt having to tell meteora the truth recently...but regardless, your brothers aren't perfect either."

Upon thinking about it more, she was indeed right.

"Well...I guess i can sorta see what you mean, i mean i'll be honest...to some extent i was...jealous of jude. He had his curse but he was special, he got so much attention from anyone...not always great attention but attention, i wish i had so much of that attention. But i guess now that i have powers, now that i'm actually kinda special now...i can't think of it like that anymore.".

He rubbed at his temple, still sniffling and wiping at his eyes, "My powers don't always work how i wanted them to but...i understand them to some extent, judas never really did and like...i know he was miserable when we were younger...he didn't like being cursed". He shouldn't have been jealous of judas, judas didn't want his arm curse. he wasn't getting attention because he wanted it, but he had been.

"Now that i have these powers i'll admit, it doesn't feel as good, and...i don't want people to see them".

"Now that's a surprise".

He turned his head away from her, "Yeah well, ever since they found out everyone is hammered on me and me using them and doing this and that with them, now that i'm getting this attention i kinda just find it a little...annoying. I can't go anywhere without feeling like people are judging me for now having powers...i guess, this is how jude felt for years".

He reached up to feel his face, "It's everything i wanted to have and i'll be honest, it's so much more stressful...i wonder if judas...well...if he wishes he had been given these and not his arm. If he thinks i got lucky compared to him...". But no, judas probably wouldn't think of it like that, he knew about what happened during their creation very well at this point.

"I wouldn't say anyone is "Lucky" in this situation, magic is dangerous and not everyone who has it...deserves to have it, or even should have it at all. I'll admit, i think there's something good about being in the shadows and away from the spotlight, all that ever did for me as get me imprisoned and miserable...a lot like how that poor demon feels, i can understand his pain that way".

"So...what? I should feel bad for having powers?".

"Landon...".

He huffed, "Sorry...".

She handed him a candy bar, he unwrapped it and took a bite as eclipsa kept speaking. "These powers are a part of you whether you like it or not, it's something you'll just have to adapt to, but there's nothing wrong about wanting attention and fame, a lot of people do. Your parents have three kids and royal stuff to deal with, of course that would mean some of you kids would feel neglected at times, even if they didn't mean to".

"They're trying...i know".

"You should address it more with them so they can work into making up for it, you know they never intended to hurt you...taking the time to talk about this with them might help a lot right now. I know you're going through a lot of emotions right now, teenager...y'know? But you're going to have to start talking to people more about these issues, especially your direct family...".

She wasn't wrong, he barely really sorted all those issues out with his family, and he was still angry as a result.

But right now he could only think about bernard, it was too fresh for him to ignore.

"I don't know why you're helping me...", he muttered, "You really have to have better things to be doing then listening to all our drama and sorting out our problems like some weird therapist. You can't just talk to us like this and expect things to just...get fixed, things just don't work out like that...even if you want them to". But she seemed to agree, nodding along, "Well that's why I'm mostly making suggestions, things you could do...".

"And whose to say if i do anything things will go my way for once?".

"I mean, it's worth a shot isn't it?"

Landon took another bite of chocolate, "I don't think no matter what i do i can laugh off what just happened with bernard, i knew i should've deleted that video, i just...i didn't want things to go this way, not with him. I shouldn't have run out...i'm just...bad with this stuff...i don't...like talking about it that much, especially not with...people i care about".

"I'm not the best at people either, might have something to do with me being considered strange to mewmans, but well...if you want a good relationship with them...you're going to have to work on talking about things.". Landon stared into his teacup, "I know, i know i'm never going to be able to have a real relationship with bernard if i don't just talk to him or even keep what ever friendships i even have if i keep doing this...i just...can't help it".

"Old habits die hard".

"Or they just never die...".

He put down the tea and chocolate , "I always chicken out eclipsa, what am i supposed to do? ". He was to punch something right about now, his hands shifting into fists, "I just...i just...i don't know how i'm supposed to do this". He quickly relaxed himself lest he risk some form of magical outburst, and in a room full of evidence that he couldn't risk destroying no doubt.

"Well, you can start by talking to bernard i suppose, and work your way up from there, if i can talk to meteora about hard topics then you should be able to".

She was right.

As much as he wanted to he couldn't just hide in here for the rest of his life, he had to go out there and face this whole mess. He wasn't ready to right now, right now he was far too emotional to really deal with it without making things worse, but he knew he had to. He was terrified bernard knew, but he was more terrified they'd never speak ever again.

This was not how he wanted their friendship to go out.

"Can i stay..a bit longer?".

"You can stay as long as you need dear, but don't stay too long, they'll all get worried and you know they'll start to panic unless you say something. Last thing we need is for them to tear up the entire castle looking for you, we already had to fix one castle", he understood, eating the chocolate and tea some more, Eclipsa getting back to work as she went through all the odds and ends in her midst.

"Hey, i'm happy you came anyway though, i like having company, been sad ever since sky and angel stopped taking my classes due to everything happening. Maybe you wouldn't mind me having you apart of my lessons next time, better i help you with your magic then you going rouge and attempting to do it all by yourself in secret, though i did do that when i was younger too".

Landon forgot she read minds, his face more flustered.

"I considered it".

"And how do you feel about the idea now?".

He shrugged, "i feel i want to deal with my current problem first before i pile that on top of it. But i mean...i dunno, do you really want me there? Like i'm not even next in line to my family's throne or anything". But the woman didn't seem to care, sending him a smile, "That doesn't matter, you have magic, you outta learn to control it, next in line or not, besides it's a part of you now...might as well get the hang of it to help your out".

"Well i'm trying to...but...", he started, before realizing exactly where this was going, "-I need more help...i'm not very good at tryng to do it, i only get...a spark at most and at worst...yeah". He didn't really have an excuse, especially if eclipsa knew. But then again, wasn't he hiding enough behind everyone's back? Hadn't he been exposed enough trying to do this kinda thing? His change of expression from considering it to sad worrying eclipsa.

"We could tell them together, no more secrets, i'll openly take responsibility for you...sky and angel have their reasons for not taking my classes, but you don't have the same excuses, so if you're interested...?", landon wasn't going to jump into it, but maybe now that he talked about it he could consider it a little more. It would be better then doing...what he was doing.

"It's ok if you don't, but i am impressed you've been able to do anything without practice...or a wand", she really needed to stop going into people's heads, it was really uncomfortable. "Yeah...thanks, it just seems to work when it's a perfect balance of my emotions and music, there's almost a math to it...i never considered it before but it gives me the best results...".

"And when one is off balance...things go wrong?".

"Exactly".

"That's why balance is important in magic, you go too far one way and things go off the rails...", she laughed to herself, thinking back on old memories, "But you should be impressed, even the littlest bit can help. You can get back to me on if you want my lessons, but in the meantime, are you feeling any better? Even a little bit?". Landon nodded softly "Well, you distracted me enough from what happened i guess".

"Does that mean you plan to talk to him about this?".

Landon hesitated, but eventually he did cave, nodding and taking a long breath. "Yeah, i...i can't hide in here...but i might...give it a few days...i...don't want to speak to him like this...i want to speak to him when things have cooled, not when i'm so upset...and i'm so upset. I still didn't want this to happen, but i guess now i'm stuck with it and just gotta hope for the best".

"Hey, your friend seems like a nice kid, i think he'll understand ok?".

"Yeah, you're right, i'm just...really embarrassed".

She gave him some pats on the back as he finally stood up, "It's ok, crushes are like that, globgor was the same way when we were dating, he said so many embarrassing things but the best part is we handled it together and laughed it off. At least you have the bandage ripped off now, it's out in the open and you have it off your chest finally, no need to panic about telling him".

"That's...true, i guess, it's out there, whether i want it or not".

"Hey, for the record, i think you'll do great, have more faith in yourself", she sent him a thumbs up, "Have more confidence in yourself, you're no less capable then any of your brothers, just take it easy for a bit ok?". He understood, getting ready to head out before stopping to get a better look at the stuff around the room, he had mostly ignored it when he walked in but something caught his eye.

"What's the spellbook doing in here? Was that like...in the hidden chamber thing as well or did you take it from sky's room or something?", he wasn't a butterfly, but he knew that musty old book when he saw it.

"Evidence", she said that like it was obvious, even though the spellbook never left the castle during the whole kidnapping event as far as he was aware, what in the role did eclipsa need it for? He was about to question further before the door opened and sure enough, marco was standing there, tired and relived to see landon was ok. They quickly hugged landon and he could hear eclipsa giggling from her work.

Guess it figured the minute he would hide away like this one of his parents would start going all over the caslte to find him, frankly he was just shocked how quickly they found him. At least it was his mom of all people, if it had been mason he might've had more of a heart attack after what just happened, and he felt he needed a good hug from his mom right about now.

Marco clearly had been panicked, and for good reason.

Nowadays, a kid going missing wasn't reassuring much anymore in terms of their safety.

"Landon you scared your brother and us half to death! Were you in here all this time?", they looked really tired, they probably had been running all over the place to find the teenage boy and make sure he was safe. Landon feeling slightly guilty about freaking out his mom like that, he was probably going to be in a bit of trouble for the upraoar but at least marco could breath again.

"Uh...yeah, kinda", marco let him go and he admitted," I just...things went so wrong with bernard and i needed to get away, i didn't mean to panic anyone...i just...got really stressed and emotional and...i didn't know this room was occupied". Marco finally noticed eclipsa, who sent them a wave, before going back to their son, "It's ok, just don't scare me like that again...i was really worried when i heard you ran off without anyone...c'mon, let's head back, ok? We can talk about it more if you want and vent if you need to."

His mom was too nice to him sometimes, though landon felt his stomach growl and he mumbled under his breath awkwardly. Marco blinked at him, still worried before landon got himself together, he needed to talk to his parents properly and adress his needs to them right? Now was a good time to do so if any time, he spoke more clearly this time, shifting his head.

"Can...we eat something?", he didn't mean to sound needy, but at the same time, food might help. "I'm kinda...hungry...and i just need a break and everything...if that's ok and stuff i know you're busy but it might help".

"Anything you want?", they asked with no hesitation.

"Uh...ice cream...might be nice, i mean i know it's not exactly FOOD food but i-", marco smiling and petting his hair, "No no, i've had ice cream binges during sad moments in my life as well, i perfectly understand, i'll accompany you and we can talk about what happened ok? If you want to at least i won't make you i know this whole thing really upset you".

"Are you sure i'm not bothering you...i know you're busy right now with everything-".

"Landon, you're my kid, i can take a bit of time out of my day to spend with you and help ok?".

Landon nodded, smiling.

"Here, go get something outside of the castle for once, my treat", eclipsa smiled as she pulled out some money and threw it over to them, "Landon was lovely company today, but he might need to take some time out of the castle briefly, just stay safe and take care of each other, in the meantime i'll keep up with what i'm doing and send you updates later!".

Marco didn't even fight back against it, holding the boy tight as they headed out, leaving eclipsa to her work. She sighed a bit sadly as they left, maybe landon could take her offer? Put her back in everyone's good graces after all the other messes she had caused for years at this point. It was nice to think about at least, going though the papers upon papers of spells. "Whoever is making these is obsessed with multiverses...and people thought i was silly for liking monsters...", she flipped through a few more, before eyeing the spellbook landon mentioned.

"I've never seen anything as crazy as this in all my years of being in this bizarre kingdom. Kids from multiple universes, masked people with unusual powers, and all of this...there's something here for sure we're missing that should clear things up but what is it? Why are they going through so much effort for magical items? This is so...bizarre...but maybe...hmm..".

She had a few theories of her own, stuff to ponder, but for now...if she had any idea what was actually going on...she didn't like where this was heading.

"Hi luna".

"Sky...".

Sky put down her bag and took a seat on the nearest chair, facing her sister coldly. "Sorry i'm late, hung out with judas for a little...he's seeing angel and his mom right now, then mom wanted to talk with me about...uh...you, so...yeah now i'm here". Luna really seemed like she could care less about how "Late" sky was, especially since for her, time was blending into each other.

She didn't even really answer sky, just sipping on her tea and resting.

"Look, it's simple, landon brought her to me, we got into a fight, that's all", she put down her cup, "Yes we shouldn't have been out there, you're right about that, but it was a situation we had to settle, celeste got a bit out of control and i was forced to go a long with it". Sky was already rolling her eyes, "You could've settled it without trying to agree to a fight at all, you guys are supposed to be trying to hide yourselves here, you should know better. Like, you especially should know better, you didn't even attempt to fix things, if we hadn't stepped in things would have gotten bad, celeste nearly combusted at you!".

Luna said nothing.

"Look, you know this by now but...people don't like you...that much, you stink at making friends around here. Maybe it's worth considering not tolerating fights and maybe try saying sorry to the people trying to help save you right now? You're not getting out or here without us and you're not making this easy for anyone involved, sometimes we aren't even sure if you are innocent...".

"Your accusing me of being under that mask? You've seen us int he same room together, just because i was found with the costume on and i was asleep during the sleepover incident does not mean i played both sides the entire time, if i wanted to steal from you or kidnapp Bernard going through this much effort to dress up and make myself a separate persona is a lot of effort on my part...even if i had a partner".

"Well, we're not certain you actually did it, but you're so good with magic we wouldn't be shocked if you had fooled us for so long...you don't exactly have the best track record right now, like we want to believe you are innocent but it's hard to not have some doubts with how you've been, you need to give us a reason to trust you and believe you are on our side for sure. No offense here luna but of course we're all not sure if we can trust you after how shady you've been in the past"., the blonde biting at her lip and facing her sister intently, "Look, back home i could never get too attached to anyone, not even my own parents, we were in the middle of a major conflict and i never could focus on something like that...".

"So what? You just push people away? Boss people around so you can feel less sad when they're gone?".

Her silence was a yes in sky's eyes.

"Maybe it's time to consider having friendships or forming bonds...judas has been my rock for years, i dunno where i'd be without him. Like, we're your sisters and you treat us like we don't even matter, makes us wonder why we even bother trying to help you! I know you wanna get back home but we're not pawns for you to play with! These are people you're messing with and hurting!".

"If you don't care about me then why are you-".

"That's the thing luna! We do care about you, even though we shouldn't, we do! It's more then you deserve, you have done a lot to help us luna but that doesn't change the fact you hurt us constantly and made us feel...like garbage. Luna if you don't start working on yourself...you know it's going to get so much worse, we're only getting out of this as a team and we aren't a team if you keep doing this".

Sky didn't expect much from this talk but something about luna's facial expression did show signs of some remorse.

"Look, if you want nothing to do with us when you get home then fine, but i can't imagine life back home is so great because you treat people like this. At the very least you could tell celeste you're sorry, she shouldn't have like...threatened you but...it's not like i don't fully get why she's so angry either. You're just so...hard to deal with, more then my mom or eclipsa or anyone for that matter".

Luna looked as if she had been told this countless times, it was nothing knew to her, but to an extent it did seem to hurt.

"I mean, do you actually like doing this? Everyone being pissed with you can't be THAT much fun, you keep going off about how it's a defense thing or whatever but have you ever tried to not be a jerk? Tried to actually keep these friendships? I'm not just concerned for you but like...judas is my friend and you really hurt him too!. I can't just ignore that! He likes to see the best in most people and help people if he can and you really hurt him!".

Sky really wasn't expecting luna to change her mind much about this situation, but venting this out did feel really good, and since her wand wasn't there she didn't have to be fearful of her anger setting off any magic. She had reached a point with luna where she was just kinda done with her, and luna couldn't do much to beat her down. She was in deep trouble, she was in no position to do anything.

"I never really meant...to hurt anyone that badly".

"I think landon would argue against that, and judas, and me...what did you expect was the result when you said some of this stuff? You're a bully luna, nothing but a bully".

Luna took a moment of silence, the tension in the room rising, carefully planning her next choice in words before things got any more heated.

She grumbled, "I'm not good at any of this, not good with relationships and i'm not great at...keeping them. It's not even as if...i don't want any friends or anything but i just, can't deal with losing people or things getting worse because they were friends with me during a time of danger back home. I have always been better off working all by myself outside of my soldiers".

"But like...what happens after it's over? You'll just be...alone, right? You won't have anyone to celebrate with all that much, you make it sounds like nobody misses you much back home".

Luna hadn't seemed to think that far into the future, she had been very preoccupied with the conflict, little thought had been put into what her life would be after it was all over. Sure she was planning to be one of the most powerful and respected queens on mewni but...sky was not wrong, there was little to do outside of being a queen and doing all the stuff that comes with it.

"What sky? What exactly do you think i should do? You're...so much of an expert on me right? Clearly you should tell me how to live my life now right?".

"I'm not saying i'm an expert on you! I just...i just don't think you actually really want any of this and i'm trying to help! You're the only one of us five who...still distances themselves, even celeste is getting slightly better. Look, when you get home, i just don't like the idea of all of us parting on bad terms...i'd...like to see everyone again, and it feels like-".

"Like i don't want to?".

"I just...i guess part of me wants you to be my sister, even if it's probably never gonna happen".

"Honestly...surprised you even still want that, i'd think at this point you would have fully given up on me, everyone else seems to...", but sky interjected, "Look, personally, i think...not all of them, but a decent portion of them would like to get along with you, if you just said sorry and started working on yourself. It's not my problem if you don't but...at least consider it? Consider thinking about how you treat people...cause y'know...it can really bite you".

"That, i do know".

Sky sighed, "Look, i'm gonna go, if you got nothing to talk about i might as well go back and see jude and everything. Me and angel wanna try and get him through his emotions and at this point i'm better off there then here." Luna huffed as she sat back and mulled over her tea, "Tell him i wish him well...and...that i want to see him, at some point soon".

Sky seemed surprised.

"Why? Need him to lawyer you too?".

"No it's just, it's...lonely, in here...i've been away for so long and well...he was always a good listener, not that he has to i just...wanted you to tell him". Sky didn't protest, just shrugging and nodding as she gathered her things, "Look, we all got some serious issues going on, but you got a lot of issues luna, maybe it's worth looking into a solution for".

She shut the door behind her as luna pulled her wand back out, mulling it over as she touched her marks. She didn't exactly regret leaving but had to admit things were better before she left around here, at least for her. Now no one wanted to really speak to her unless they had questions about anything and she was left more alone then she ever was back home.

She could feel her cold exterior wavering a little, whether she liked it or not.

Pacing around her room for a few minutes, she headed back towards the door to her room and knocked, hearing a guard come to open it, armed in case she pulled anything. "What exactly do you need?", luna huffed and made it short and sweet, "I want to talk to queen eclipsa...and...queen star, if they'll have me...i have some things i want to say to them".

She was still a prisoner, and she couldn't just ask for anyone.

But the queens were an exception, they would hear her out if anyone was to, she was a prisoner after all.

They gave her a nod and shut the door, luna sitting and waiting on her bed. She had been trying her best not to really speak directly to her mother but it seems it was time to face the music and just get it over with. The girl clutching her hands together and staring at the door, ready to be prepared for anything when facing the queen of mewni in the position she was.

She needed to stay cool, she couldn't lose her cool, but she could feel things starting to boil.

A tear running down her cheek, wiping it quickly with her arm.

"Alright luna, It's time to talk".

"Sky!".

Angel, Judas, and Nora greeted the girl with a large smile, and one big group hug. They were so happy to see her, even judas was in a slightly better mood still by being here with friends. Sky had to imagine nora and angel spent a lot of time giving him attention and trying to ease him while she had been out, and for now it had been putting him at ease.

God she was lucky to have some sweet friends.

"Sunny and lexi aren't here yet?", she ended their hug and looked around, "They told me they were heading over here awhile ago...did they leave?". Only for the rest of the group to look at her questioningly, "We thought they changed their minds and went to help you or something...but i guess if they also aren't with you...i'm not sure, we haven't seen them".

Judas quickly pulled his compact out, "Here, lemme ask them, don't mind me". He quickly made his way around the corner so he wouldn't disturb the others as they caught up, hoping nothing bad had happened to the girls in between time. At least he could rely on sunny to check her compact extremely quickly if they were just caught up, quickly messaging her.

Leaving sky with both spider royals, who seemed in pretty good moods now that she was here, nora especially seemed to be in a decent mood and before sky could ask she quickly answered. "I know you're going to ask...well, since luna got captured, my parents have eased up on their...anxiety...and well...they're no longer considering separating us...especially with how judas protected me and everything...i can't believe it! They're giving me the choice to stay here if i want! All because of luna's capture, i'm sticking around longer!".

She looked like she had been wanting to say that for days, and she probably did, if she hadn't been so occupied with all the stuff she had to do in the medic wing she might of told everyone in mewni. "I kinda almost wanna thank luna, but i also know she's probably innocent, but at least for now my parents are considering putting things back to normal and not locking me away".

"They really think it was luna?".

"They...have no reason to think otherwise, they never saw her like we did".

Guess to a lot of the outside world it would seem that way, and with luna having been a guard they probably chalked up her knowledge of queens to sneaking through the castle and learning via her guard abilities. How anyone was going to explain her clear magic abilities on the other hand- now that would get very messy if they didn't act fast, unless they did assume she wasn't working alone.

"Well the important thing is we clear her".

"Yeah but, it's a lot harder then trying to clear you angel, you at least had the ability to claim you were fooled and you barely knew what you were doing, luna doesn't exactly...have that, we can't fake her out of this one because there's too much against her. And it's hard to explain what was actually going on without...y'know...the only reason she's not being crystalized is my mom right now".

"So...what is the plan then?", nora set them aside, and away from the guards nearby, trying to talk as quietly as possible. "I'm not fully sure, i think right now our best bet to to hold till we catch whose under that mask and expose them, that way people will know luna wasn't it and hopefully we can maybe pull it off like she was being framed or mind-controlled or something".

If they couldn't win through a trial, they could win through catching the real culprit. Maybe get a confession and therefore, they could free luna and finally get themselves back home without dealing with the issues they did. Luna was just going to have to hold out till further notice, unless something else came up that would get her out of the eyes she was under.

But on the plus side, no more running away for her.

"Sunny and Lexi are looking for landon...mason says he ran away to hide somewhere or something", the three turned to judas, still holding his compact, "Maybe we should-". Then his compact buzzed again, "Wait, nevermind, mom found him...he seems to be ok, and they're on their way back to join us and see arana. I wonder what happened, please don't tell me landon did something crazy again...he worries me".

"You're one to talk".

He pushed sky gently.

"Well, scare over...everything ok over there by the way?", sky ld them away and towards arana's room, "Just luna stuff, oh and that reminds me by the way, she wants to speak to you judas, like...one on one i guess". Stopping the demon in his tracks, "Wait, she wants to speak to me personally? You know why? We haven't spoken privately since...well...before she left".

"She didn't elaborate".

"Maybe she wants to apologize?", nora added, more optimistic then the others, "Well...maybe i'm just trying to give hope...but...i don't know what else she would do that for...but it must be important if well...she is asking for it. But i mean, if you don't want to you don't have to, i know she really upset you and you're still not fully over it and everything-".

She was starting to panic, worrying about hurting judas accidentally by pushing him to luna but he tried to relax her. "No no, i can handle it...i think, i'll see what she has to say and if i have to leave i'll leave, if she has something important to say i think i should hear her out. It might be useful or important...even if it's not an apology or anything for what happened".

"Don't push yourself too hard judas".

"I know, i'm not going to from now on, but i think at the very least i can handle that...worst thing she can do is break my heart again...", he laughed it off but everyone knew it was true. But he took sky's hand, ushering them to head inside, "C'mon, enough stalling, let's go see how she's doing, sunny and lexi can join us when they get here". He didn't mean to be pushy, but he just wanted to change the subject before he got emotional again.

And frankly, everyone was on the same page, they wanted to change the topic too.

Heading inside, they were delighted to see the spider couple waiting for them, the two eating together as notes were spread all over the walls of arana trying to recover as many memories she had. Her body finally getting stronger as she got more food into her system, her husband never leaving her side as much as he possible could. A sleeping bag having been brought into the room in case he wanted to sleep in it instead of on the bed with her, but he hadn't even touched it.

The appearance of judas delighted him, maybe because judas looked actually like he was in a good mood this time around, and his presence seemed to light something in the queen. She sat up, Her white eyes practically glowing, she knew this boy from somewhere and of course she should. Judas was hard to forget and the image of the small boy whose arm had been chained with a metal glove came to mind fast.

"Judas".

He lit up in response, "You remembered me too...i didn't think you would, we never met THAT often outside of royal stuff". But she ushered him over, quick to take his arm and look it over, which did seem to strike something in him though he didn't wish to upset her. She looked as if she had been expecting it in the glove again, or even as the monster arm, not a normal arm.

They must've been so striking in her mind it was the biggest thing she remembered.

"It's good seeing you in better shape your majesty, i hope your stay here has been pleasant for your recovery", she nodded, clinging onto her husband's hands affectionally, "Oh it's been wonderful, the food is great, everyone's been so nice...i've never seen the spiderbites...so...friendly with us before, i...i don't remember us getting along that much before".

"Well i mean, with nora and angel being on decent terms...it kinda backed them into making changes.".

Even for as progressive as the spiderbite kingdom was in terms of monster rights, the tension between them and and the arachfords was very much still a sore spot. So this kinda progress was indeed something to be happy about and a good thing for her to basically wake up to. She'd probably thought she'd never see the day, especially with how angel was.

"I'm so happy to hear angle has friends! He always wanted friends to hang out with, spend time with, oh...when he was little he used to go off about having sleepovers with friends but all the kids thought he was weird . He just had them alone with his stuffed animals before, maybe now we can have sleepovers and dinners, and oh we have so much catching up to do!".

Angel loved his mother to death and he was more then happy to have her alive and well, but he forgot how mushy she was, especially about him. He felt himself red in the face, even though he had nothing to be ashamed of and his friends were not going to judge him at all, they knew exactly how lonely he was before, nora especially could relate.

"That sounds like fun, maybe we could do that sometime in the future", sky chimed in happily, "Last time i hosted a sleepover, angel kinds barged his way in, not exactly by choice but yeah that did happen". Not that he was the craziest thing to happen to them that night of course, but maybe now they could have a normal night in the future at some point.

"Sky, i almost feel right now, we're having constant sleepovers, like we all sleep in the same room every night now for protection, we might wanna wait on having a sleepover for at least a little while", judas snickered, nora perking up excitably. " I don't mind, i like being able to sleep outside of my own room and surrounded by friends!", she was getting better at talking, though her shyness snuck through on occasion as her voice slightly softened.

"It's better then sleeping next to my parents...i can barely go anywhere when they get so freaked at me, i know they're getting better but they're just...very protective after what happened in our castle and now with bernard...".

"Oh yeah, i want to thank you parents again for sleeping near the medical wing so they could check up on us when they needed!" Amir, exclaimed happily, "They've been so kind i might do a celebration for them the next chance we get, we haven't had one of those in what feels like forever". Sky and Judas eyeing towards each other as they knew what they other was now thinking about.

"Well, let's just wait till, we have one less criminal on the streets...".

"Oh, i'm well aware".

"How much of her memory has been recovered exactly?", amir clutching the other mother's hand carefully as he eyed the notes nearby, "A decent amount, not everything, though her strongest memories are of angel it seems...she still remembers most of everything about him, from his birth, his habits, she even remembered the time he started singing in the shower...it's impressive".

Jee, did his parents want to say anything else to make him look silly in front of his friends? He was suddenly regretting having his friends come and visit them at all. But they could all relate to this kinda stuff happening, judas's grandparents were renowned for embarrassing marco and their grandkids when they got the chance. They all playfully smiled to the prince and changed topics.

"Well, you'll be invited to my coronation ceremony, as long as you're in good health for it", the mention of it seemed to spark something for the couple, how long had it been since they went to a party together? Both of them? One usually had to stay back and keep and eye on angel and of course the illness didn't help at all, the mere mention of it sounded wonderful.

Even if arana's memory wasn't good, she still seemed excited.

"Well, as long as we're guarded and things go well that sounds like fun, i'm sure since we're in good hands you'll be able to catch the crook and make this the best coronation for a king in years! I mean, if you're really sure you'll catch a crook with it, i'll trust your word in thinking the capture of the girl wasn't the end of it", he looked more excited then ever but judas did feel some anxiety creeping up on him, the pressure of a ceremony like this was already a lot...but also catching a crook with it?

"Don't worry, we got this", judas felt sky take his hand and clam him down, reassuring him as she spoke confidently.

"Well in the meantime we'll prepare to go...as long as arana is healthy, you just keep us in touch with your uh...plans, last thing we need is to get ourselves in more trouble then we already have. " No one could complain about that, after bernard no one wanted to see anyone end up in danger again, at least not in danger they didn't plan for, angel made good bate but his protection was going to be high.

"The ceremony is going to be...different this time, we got a theme going and we are changing up how we do things...so it should be kinda fun, maybe, if things don't blow up or get any worse", and hopefully if they were lucky things were not going to blow up. "The castle is pretty much back to normal at this point, we're moving all the servants back in there so butterfly castle isn't so crowded".

"Aren't you worried they'll break into the castle again? If there really is a criminal still on the loose? They could quickly break in and repeat the cycle and with how things have gone so far...".

The demon gritted his teeth, "We might've considered trying some new security methods, so hopefully things will be fine, but we can't keep them here, they all have families down there and it might be more dangerous to keep them here with targets like angel". As rough as it was, the safest place they could go was anywhere other then the place where all the targets tended to be.

But at least it meant they were finally fixing the damage that had been done, though they might not be moving in anytime soon.

"Well i'm happy to hear the repairs are nearly complete, we know better then anyone what it's like having your home...destroyed like that. "He trailed off, before moving a little away from his wife, he didn't want her to hear any that right now. Angel quick to catch on and get his mother's attention away from the others real quick by asking if she wanted to see some of the new magic he'd learned.

Amir addressing the others as she was distracted.

"I know this may not be the best time to say it, but...if i may be so allowed, i do want to request...help, from the queens of mewni...more then i asked before. On account of the damages solaria caused...years ago, i know for years i never pushed hard because i wanted the approval of your parents but...i also acknowledge my son was at least right in the fact that i could ask for more to help us...we're still a poor kingdom".

"Well...maybe we can get you selling silk again, angel talking to that freak managed to bring power back to your people and it got taken away when he left, so if we bring it back you might be able to earn your way back into being a rich kingdom again, though we could probably help a bit to set you up...i'm...still very sorry what happened to your people".

"It's not your fault, i know eclipsa shares a lot of love towards her mother but even in good conscious we can't share the same feelings despite our respect for eclipsa. the massacre of our people due to their magical abilities brought us to near extinction and wiped our culture from mewni's map and...while it isn't on you and you can refuse to help...i at least wish to ask you".

Sky looked over to angel, who was still keeping his mom distracted before nodding.

"Yeah, we'll run by it...and we'll try and do better for you...".

He pulled her in for a hug, "You are most gracious princess, thank you for your help, we will cherish it forever". Judas snickering nearby, "Hey, i'll ask my parents what they can do too, maybe help rebuild some parts of your run down castle, it'll take some time but we can work our way up there and get the whole thing done. We should've helped handle it years ago to be honest".

"We'll also try and help make sure you end up on every map from now on, i mean you're technically on most of the new ones but we could still help with that...maybe if we capture them we can find out where they got their magic and spells from to help and we can totally give them to you so you can pull the kingdom together! It's entirely possibly solaria kept some of them and they got their hands on them".

"Well if you think about it...that would explain why they raided the archives that day", judas explained to the king, "There was a raid, and we never really could tell what happened, just that the place was damaged, but if there were anything that important from a past queen, they'd find it there for sure. They might of been planning this as soon as well...when things first got crazy".

"For the record though", sky said before amir could question her further, "If it was down there, we had no idea, in fact i kinda doubt my mom even goes down there enough to even attempt to look, the place is such a mess it's hard to find anything down there...much less something from over 300 years ago. But i kinda gotta assume they didn't get the info from just anywhere".

"I'm surprised to hear solaria might of kept them, we always thought she destroyed them forever to wipe us out completely...".

"Well, eclipsa always says to an extent she could be...complex, it was probably not for the right reasons, but she might've thought having them would be beneficial to her and therefore preserving a part of your history in the process. I don't think she probably expected you all to ever get it back though...but it's not worth lingering on, if there's a way to do it...we'll figure it out".

"Doesn't that mean they well...had the knowledge to access the archives? isn't that VERY secretive and hard to find outside of the very few?", his questioning glance to sky, "Forgive me princess, but...the impression i'm being given is the person responsible for all of this, is someone who should not know the things they do, that's not a good sign for someone to face against...you never know what else they might know...that girl could escape if she's guilty".

They did make a fair point, but it was all they had to go with.

"Look, we've weeded out through everyone we can, it's hard to pinpoint anyone exactly...but we are making this plan for a reason, we...don't think it's luna...we really don't".

"Well as a friend i can only take your word, and i take your word for helping my son and wife...but i at least suggest being careful if you are indeed right".

"Will do".

The door opened and finally Sunny and Galexia made it, both of them tired from running around so much. But sunny had treats with her and galexia had a pile of drawings, they seemed super happy to see judas there, putting their stuff down to hug him. "Sorry we're late...things got a little crazy and we had to help mason, he looked like he was about to have a panic attack", looking towards the others and back at judas.

"Uh...you told them what happened right?".

"Yeah, i did, don't worry, but...you found him? He's not injured right? Well actually if he was injured i would've heard them running past this direction...but at the very least tell me he didn't get into anything crazy".

"Technically your mom just was lucky when finding him, but yeah, he's found and he's ok. Sounds like the whole thing was a mess though, he's apparently taking some time alone i guess...mason is upset he can't talk to him though", which prompted the demon to look behind them, "Wait, where's mason then? If he's not with either of you girls and he's not with landon...".

"He's with your dad, he found us when landon was found and took mason out of there to calm him down, i wanted to invite him to join us but he didn't want to...he...really feels bad about what he did to landon". Considering how emotional mason was that really seemed to hit judas, last thing the king wanted was to hurt anyone, much less his own brothers, bot that this seemed to be his fault, he'd never do something like this on purpose.

Maybe it was good he was with his father though, someone who could help calm him down.

Still, judas felt his brotherly instincts kick in.

Only for sky to put a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head, "Rest jude, let your parents handle this mess, you're dealing with enough as is, you can talk to mason later...you need to rest and relax". He backed off, nodding, knowing he needed to do more of this self-control, even if he really wanted to go check on his little brother. "Ok, but...just let me know how he's doing, i just want my brother to be ok...you know how he can get when he feels bad", he to an extent, hated feeling powerless in this situation even if it wasn't his fault.

"Ahem".

Oh right, angel's parents were in the room and were looking at them and what was happening, this had to look weird without context.

Sunny beamed at seeing the queen, expecting her to not remember her much at all, but not caring in the least. Seeing her up and with her son seemed to make her grin ear to pointy ear as she headed over to shake her hand, "Hello, you might not remember me but i'm sunny, i hung out with you once and drew you stuff, it's good to meet you all over again".

Her memory was fuzzy, but she seemed comforted in sunny's presence.

"Judy!", galexia quickly gave judas a hug, her positive personality still at it's highest. "Hey lexi, i'm glad you're alright, i got worried for a minute when you both weren't here already, it was nice to go and hang out with sky though...you been up to any new ideas?". The girl nodded and pulled a drawing out of her many drawings, showing it off to judas proudly.

"Wait...is that...sky's bubble charm?" You think we could use that?.

She nodded, looking actually pretty happy with herself and this idea.

He took a second to ponder before looking at her approvingly, "Actually, that's not a bad idea, sky's bubble charm is...well...rather useful...even when it's used...for evil, that's a pretty handy suggestion, thanks lexi". The masked foe did know the spell obviously but maybe if they caught them entirely off guard they could catch them in an instant, it would keep them entirely still too and bam, problem solved.

"This...might work, if we're careful not to well...trap everyone in bubbles...we should look into this idea more, thanks lexi. Sky's not really bad with this spell so we should consider it...never know if we might need it.", lexi then proceeded to show judas in more of her artwork, judas laughing at her antics as the room once again felt positive and hopefully.

"You kids are all so lovely..." Arana said softly, her ears twitching in delight, " Where did you all even come from? I don't seem to have much as far as memories with you, but if i did i really am sorry i don't mean to.". Sky looked over to her sisters and shrugging playfully, "Long story, we'll tell you another time though, when it's a good time to talk about it".

"Good time to talk about what?", Jackie suddenly entered the room, decked out in her gear to spot everyone inside, "Oops, sorry for interrupting, i'm just here to escort prince judas...your grandparents want to see you to chat, i'm sorry to take you away from your break. But you can go back to it after you're finished, they just needed to take you out for a-".

"No jackie, it's not a good time, let him stay here", sky stood in front of her friend, blocking him like a shield. "Just tell them to wait and do it later...it's probably not that important, or at least it's not so important they can't do it through text or something...please...no more forcing him all over the place, he doesn't need it right now...let him be".

Jackie simply looked at sky, her lip biting as she closed the door behind her, not even attempting to argue with the princess.

"Sky...you didn't have to-".

"Jude, i know, but i'm not letting you get any worse, they can wait, your health cannot".

She carefully grabbed onto his cursed hand and gripped it tight, "We're partners in this, and that means i protect you like you do me...call it even from all my previous owes...".

"Thanks sky...really...i mean it", they pulled in for a hug and sky breathed into his chest, burying her face into it. "You're going to stay out of this mess as much as possible, get some help, and deal with all of the junk you're going through, if your parents need to pull you side they come through me first?". She didn't wanna come off like she was being possessive but if she didn't do this, judas's mental healthy might decline even more then it already was.

"Pardon me your majesty but if you may be dealing with some personal issues and can't focus i suggest you may not want to be king so early", amir glanced to angel, sighing, "Being a leader requires a good head on your shoulders and if you don't have the best head, then perhaps you need to work on your head...i saw how you were, it was very troubling.".

"I know, you're not the first to say it, but i can't just...back out".

"I think your parents would make an exception for you...and if they're good parents, they very much will".

"We care about you, we just want you to be healthy and happy", sunny brightened up, "We want you to be the best leader you can be...and you can't be the best leader without working on yourself, you've been trying so hard to stop and you keep falling back into it, it's not healthy...it's time to slowly get you to focus more on yourself then others".

"You guys really don't have to-".

"You can't do it entirely alone, you need support", everyone crowding around him and hugging him tightly in a large group hug, "We all care about you and we're going to get you entirely through this...and i know we've said that like a million times but you never have to go through all of this alone anymore, we'll have your back and make sure you get through this...".

"I don't honestly think you all can...fix...me".

"Jude, we're not going to "Fix" you, we're going to help you, however we can, you mean a lot to everyone in this room...no one wants to see you how you were, you've been nothing but a positive light to everyone here, so we're going to be the same for you right now while this is happening...", judas felt himself about to cry, his head rest on sky's, shaking.

"I don't...deserve friends like you guys, i...i keep saying i want to do all this alone but...i just...i don't like being alone...i don't want to have to go through this alone...but i also don't want to feel like i'm dragging you to fix my personal issues either...last time i did that...nora nearly got hurt..."., he sniffled some more and nora only held onto her friend tighter, she didn't blame him in the slightest.

They hugged him gently as he let his feelings out properly, sky refusing to let him go the entire time as he cried.

"We love you jude...you're not alone, and we're going to get you through this".

"You should'nt have to".

"Jude, we all need help, you've been helping me for years and you've helped everyone in this room to an extent, time to take a break officially as everyone's support system, and let us be yours right now".

Judas finally calming down as tears flowed freely, smiling and hugging his friends tight. There was a lot of work to be done, but at least he knew people were going to help him at every turn in his journey. He didn't have to force himself to do it alone, and he didn't have to feel like a burden anymore. He needed to handle his issues, but not without his friends, he needed them as much as they needed him.

"I love you guys too...i promise, i'll take better care of myself from now on...".

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svstfoe #sky and the forces of the multiverse #tomco bby #janstar bby #tomstar bby #starkie bby #ostar bby #eclipsa butterfly #marco diaz #marco #spiderslime #fanfiction #fanfic #my art

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danny-chase · 4 years ago

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Teen Titans (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Tempest (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson & Garth Characters: Dick Grayson, Garth (DCU) Additional Tags: Titans (DCU) feels, Garth needs a hug, Garth gets a hug, Tula is dead, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hot Chocolate, Sunrises, Snuggling, Hugs, Crying, POV Dick Grayson, sand dunes, Grieving, dick grayson is a good friend Summary:

The one where Dick Grayson comforts Garth over Tula's death.

Dick crept through the dimly lit halls of Titans Tower. Well, he supposed it ought to be called Titan Cave or something, now that it was underground, but that was besides the point. His friends were light sleepers, and it was late, or early, he wasn’t exactly sure – it was dark outside, so someone was probably sleeping. He should be sleeping; at this rate someone was going to yell at him (a few someones already had), but he hadn’t been able to put down their latest case until he finished analyzing the evidence. It wasn’t his fault; if he tried to sleep then… it wouldn’t have gone well.

Passing Roy’s room, he heard a thud behind the door. Okay, maybe not everyone was sleeping. Donna’s room was noticeably empty across the hall. Dick couldn’t help making a face, yeah, the Titans were like family, but he considered Donna a sister (they sometimes pretended to be twins) and ugh. That was weird. He didn’t disapprove but like, nope, not thinking about it anymore.

Pressing on, his eyelids heavy, a second open door caused him to pause. Garth’s room was empty. Alone, it would have been innocuous, but he’d seemed distant earlier in the night and retired to his room before the rest. A photo of Tula sat on the edge of Garth bed.

Dick snapped to attention, shuffling in the room, scooping up the evidence. He flicked-on a nearby lamp, and held the photo close, finding exactly what he’d expected: the faint outlines of teardrops. Sleep be damned, it was time to find Garth.

Garth had never been the same after Tula died. Dick had fully expected the two to marry; he’d already been working on a wedding gift when the news hit. It was still half finished, sitting in his workshop, collecting dust. Dick strode out of the room, dashing back towards the stairs. Garth didn’t talk about Tula, never to them, never grieved with them. And Dick was tired of leaving grieving teammates alone.

He took the steps three at a time, mind sorting through the possible places Garth could be. He wouldn’t have gone back to Atlantis; the man was too loyal for his own good sometimes; he wouldn’t leave the tower when they expected him to be around. Likely not at the pool either, Garth would go someplace he could remember Tula, and though they’d swam together in the old tower’s pool, Tula had died before the new base was built. And so, that left one possibility, Dick sped up his pace; Garth was by the shore.

He stopped on the level just before the surface, popping into the communal kitchen. He pulled one of his leather jackets off the back of a chair and pulled a couple travel mugs out of the cupboard. The Keurig was the single best investment the team had ever made (he again put it on the mental shopping list for his new apartment), and he grabbed a hot chocolate cup for Garth and extra-caffeinated coffee for himself.

After starting the coffee, he leaned back against the counter, hopping up to sit on it. Closing his eyes, he could still picture Garth and Tula swimming together; the joy they exuded simply by being near to one another. He leaned his head back against the cupboards, sighing heavily. Tula had brought a lightness to the team, a lightness to Garth. He’d gotten so much more confident throughout their relationship, he’d always been kind and loving, but the two brought out the best in each other.

It was painful to see the changes wrought by her death.

Even more painful to think of Garth being forced to destroy her possessed body.

Dick learned at a young age that this world was cruel. And he’d learned that lesson over and over again with every new friend he made.

It wasn’t fair that Garth had been abandoned at birth. It wasn’t fair that Wally’s parents abused him. Or that Joey and Raven died. Or that Victor had lost everything but his mind. If he listed all the injustices against his Titans family, he’d be here all night.

His coffee finished next to him, and he started the hot chocolate. He pulled his socked feet up on the counter, wrapping his arms around his knees. He took a careful sip, not minding as the coffee burned his throat. The sensation helped ground him back in the present.

Bruce had taught him, that even though this world was cruel, there were things you could change to make it more kind. Dick could change himself. He could make Garth hot chocolate. That wasn’t enough, but at the least it was something.

He refused to wallow, instead turning his thoughts back towards Garth. He hopped off the counter, doing jumping jacks and squats to get his blood flowing.

By the time the hot chocolate finished, Dick was way more alert and awake then before. Grabbing the mug, he half ran up the stairs, careful not to spill a drop. He slipped on his crocs, flinging open the door with one hand, and balancing the drinks in the other.

A shiver ran down his spine as the cool ocean breeze danced across his face, tossing his bangs in his eyes as he hustled across the beach. The stars illuminated his surroundings, they were far enough from the cities to avoid light pollution, and coming here from Blüdhaven, he was always stunned by the beauty of the natural world.

“Garth?” He called. He couldn’t see past the sand dunes, but Garth had excellent hearing, so hopefully he wouldn’t catch him off guard. He was sneaky, but he wasn’t rude. Most of the time.

He winded his way around, looking for his friend’s footprints. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be found; the wind kept blowing the top layer of the sand, whipping it up and masking the presence of those who’d journeyed through. “Garth? I know you can hear me.” His shoes hadn’t been by the door. “I’m not sleeping until we talk.” He threatened, stopping in his tracks. He glanced around. A hand waved out from behind another dune.

Dick rushed forward. “Garth are you…” the question died in his throat; Garth was tucked in a little ball, his face buried in his knees, arms blocking any sign of expression. “…oh Garth.” He breathed, squatting down and settling the drinks in the sand. Garth’s ragged breathing cut through the hum of the night. “Can I…” Dick raised an arm. “…do you want a hug?”

Garth was unmoving, so Dick sat back in the sand, lying against the dune, listening to his painful breathing. He stared up at the stars, listening as insects chirped and waves lapped against the beach. He looked for a shooting one, because if he could, he’d wish his friend’s heartbreak away.

If Dick controlled the fate world, things like this would never happen.

He’d wish away all his friend’s sorrows in an instant.

But messing with the timeline always had disastrous results. So really. Dick was the one thing he hated to be.

Useless.

Back on top of a platform, watching his loved ones fall.

“I’m sorry.” He murmured, his heart sinking. “Garth, I’m so, so sorry.” His stomach clenched; Tula never should have died. He should have been there, done something more, led the Titans better. But, this wasn’t about him and Garth likely felt the same.

Garth plopped back into the sand next to him, throwing an arm over his eyes. Dick was at a loss for words, but he continued anyways. “She would be so proud of you.” His brain ran through a list of platitudes he’d memorized. “I’ll always remember how she smiled when you were together. Remember that time she tried making you a cake for your sixteenth birthday and caught the oven on fire?”

He didn’t move.

“What about the time she-”

“Dick?” Garth’s whispered, voice rough.

“Yeah?” His heart raced.

“I’ll take the hug if you shut up.” He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

He sat up and pulled a half-limp Garth into his side, tucking him against his chest. He carded a hand through Gath’s course curly hair and rubbed circles into his back with the other. Garth trembled in his arms, his eyes squeezed shut.

He bit his lip. He could handle victims of horrid crimes, but he had no idea what he was doing right now. No training in the world could have prepared him for this, no matter how many of his friends lost a loved one, it was different every time.

He leaned back against the dune, tear drops staining the exposed part of his shirt as Garth began to sob anew. He held Garth tight, squeezing gently, reassuring his friend he was still there.

They sat like that, for a long while, Dick only moving to take sips of coffee, because there was no way in hell he’d accidentally fall asleep. Garth’s breathing evened out as time went on, and eventually, Dick could pretend things were fine. He played with Garth’s hair for a few minutes more, not wanting to do anything to provoke more heartache.

Garth let out a long, quiet sigh. “I’m pathetic.”

“Nope, cut that out.” Garth sat back up, and Dick followed him, keeping an arm slung around his shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Not what I meant.” Garth glumly settled his head in his hands. “Tula… she wouldn’t want to see me like this.”

Dick handed him the mug of (cold) hot chocolate. “Maybe not, but she’d want you to take as much time as you needed grieving.” Garth accepted it reluctantly. “She’d wouldn’t want you to ignore your feelings.”

Garth snorted. “Dick Grayson. Lecturing me about ignoring my feelings. Oh, how far I must have fallen to sink to these lows.” He felt heat rise to his cheeks.

“Hey.” He objected. Garth grinned, ruefully, apologetic.

“I’m not ignoring them.” He assured, though his smile fell. “I’m managing.”

“I’m just saying, you don’t have to manage alone.” Dick paused for a moment. “My door’s always open.”

“I know.” Garth leaned against his side. “And I love you for it. But with all due respect, you don’t have time left to give.”

“I-”

“Neither does Wally,” Garth continued, cutting him off. “Donna and Roy, I don’t wish to interrupt, Victor is dealing with a lot, and the others wouldn’t understand. They didn’t know Tula.” Dick pressed his lips together. “I don’t intend on being a burden to the team.”

“You’re not a burden, we wouldn’t exist without you.” Dick nestled his head on Garth’s shoulder. “Trust me, I’ll always have time for you. And so will the others.”

Garth hummed, warming the cold beverage with his hand, and taking a long sip.

“For real.” Dick continued. “I can take time off my job, I’ve been thinking about quitting anyways-” Garth’s laughter echoed across the water. “-okay fine, I get your point, but Garth, please you can talk to us… you can talk to me. But I get it if you don’t want to, or feel like you can’t, so promise me, you’ll talk to someone if it gets too much… we have people approved by the JLA.” Therapists. Psychologists. Psychiatrists.

The sun was starting to peak up over the horizon, the sky lightening into a melancholic shade of blue, not a single cloud in sight. Garth nodded. “I promise.” Dick sighed in relief, his chest deflating at the words. He pressed his mug to his lips again. Empty. He frowned, tossing the cup aside. Traitor. “Promise you won’t worry?” He could hear the hope in Garth’s voice.

“Sure.” Dick answered, nonchalantly.

“Liar.” Garth accused. Dick grimaced. “You’re quite easy to read when you haven’t slept in two days.” Garth patted his shoulder placatingly. “I wouldn’t expect you to not worry.” Silence fell between them.

“Thanks.” Garth whispered after a few minutes. Dick squeezed his shoulders in response. This was, at the least, something he could do.

The sky turned purple and pink, chasing away the dreary colors and reflecting beautifully off the water. They sat together, watching the sunrise, huddled together against the harsh world. The caffeine was wearing off and Garth had dark circles under his eyes. If they were ambushed, his paranoia screamed, they’d be easy targets. But as he lay back down against each Garth and the sand, Dick didn’t resist the urge to let his eyes close.

He snuggled close to Garth, content with the knowledge that some alarm would wake him if things went wrong, and aside from that, his friends were nearby. Here, with Garth, he felt safe, and it seemed Garth held the same sentiment. Dick listened as his breathing deepened, taking in the moment until he too drifted off to sleep.

#my writing #Dick Grayson #garth of shayeris #Titans #Tempest #Nightwing #god i read tempest and was so flipping sad i had to write about Garth getting a hug #how could they do that to him *cries*#emotional hurt/comfort #Garth deserves better

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one-boring-person · 4 years ago

Text

Behave Yourself.

Paul (The Lost Boys) x reader

Warnings: some bad language, mild injury, implied/very mild sexual content

Context: The reader works as a security guard on the Boardwalk, and is in a relationship with our favourite Count Fidget, Paul.😁

A/N: I hope to hell my inspiration comes back quickly, as this is already not quite to the standard I wish it was at, but anyhow, I hope it is enjoyable 😅💛💛

Masterlist

Every job has it's perks. Some of them totally out do the cons of a particular job, but some, like mine, have very little influence on how enjoyable the experience is, especially since the job itself can be incredibly energy-draining at times. Any job as a security guard takes a certain knack for not taking anyone's crap, a courage which any good one needs in order to be able to ignore the remarks and jibes from disgruntled people around them, but as a security guard working on the Boardwalk of Santa Carla, it can be very difficult to uphold these standards.

A dull ache has started in my chest from where some Surf Nazi has jabbed me, trying to threaten me into submission after I wouldn't allow him to use the carousel, having recognised him from a few nights before, where he started a brawl amongst a group of young kids, severely injuring one or two. Naturally, I'd taken this in my stride, not rising to the bait despite the rising frustration within me, my hand itching to crack him across the face, a neutral expression remaining in place on my face as I calmly told him to leave. Of course, he couldn't just do as he was told, instead deciding that squaring up with me was the better idea, though I quickly showed him the error of his ways, disabling him in seconds with only a hard prod against my chest being landed by him, sending him on his way with an angry grumble. Internally, I'm glad he hasn't tried to get back at me yet, though I'm well aware my shift has half an hour still to go, which is plenty of time for him still to try.

A pair of arms wrap around my waist, snapping me from my thoughts as a familiar scent envelopes me, alerting me to who my assailant is immediately. Chuckling, I remain standing upright, knowing that if I'm caught being "intimate" with a member of the public whilst on duty, I'll be fired, choosing instead to keep my eyes focused on the busy crowd ahead of me.

"Hey there, hot stuff." Paul greets, pressing a kiss to my cheek as he presses his chest to my back, trying to get a response out of me.

"Hey Mophead." I return, briefly turning my head to give him a swift kiss on the lips, pulling away seconds later so as not to draw attention to us, laughing at his whine of complaint.

"Busy night?" He asks, tightening his grip when I try to unlatch his arms from around me, holding me against his lean yet muscular body with ease.

"So-so. Sleep well?" I confirm, finally managing to pry his arms apart slightly, only to groan when they instantly move to pin mine to my sides.

"So-so." He mimics, the grin on his face almost audible as I wriggle in his grip, trying to escape, "Where're you trying to go?"

"Paul, you know damn well that I'll get in trouble if anyone reports seeing me like this. Let me go!" I playfully scold him, eyeing the crowd dubiously.

"Nah, I like having you in my arms. You're comfortable." He declines, pressing his face into my hair, or rather, trying to, the stupid cap my superiors make me wear getting in the way. He whines a little at this but is quick to remedy it, using his teeth to pull it off and drop it to the floor.

"Hey! Behave yourself! As much as I hate this job sometimes, I'd still like to keep it! Let me go, I promise I'll give you lots of attention later!" I protest, trying to bargain with him, especially when I feel his hands start to wander, "Paul, I swear to god if you even try something innapropriate here, I'll personally bathe you in holy water."

He only chuckles, kissing at my neck in response, his hand moving to untuck my uniform shirt from my belt, icy fingers tracing the skin that he manages to reveal before my own hands have clasped his wrists, having finally gotten free.

"Paul!" I warn him, spotting another guard a little way off, the muscular guy heading in my direction even if he isn't really paying much attention.

"Aww, such a killjoy." The vampire teases, licking a stripe up my neck as he pulls away from me, moving to stand beside me, a smirk on his face as I tidy my uniform up again.

"At least wait until we're somewhere private. You can come over to mine after I finish, if you want?" I offer, adjusting my composure accordingly.

"I'd never say no." Paul grins, winking at me suggestively.

"You are unbelievable, is everything about sex with you?" I say in exasperation, shooing him off as the other guard gets closer.

"You love it." He responds, leaning over to catch my lips in a rough kiss before he saunters away, leaving me frustrated and eager to get my shift over with.

Unfortunately, this takes longer than anticipated, due to a fight breaking out near the entrance, where a Surf Nazi has managed to offend a Metalhead, the two of them already beating each other into the ground by the time the guards in the area get there. In the process of separating them, a few of us (including me) got a little knocked about, resulting in some bruises, and even a nosebleed in someone else's case, meaning we needed to be checked over before we could leave. By the time it's all over, it's nearly twelve, at which point my shift should've finished an hour ago.

The walk home is no better, the stretch of road lonely and long as I go over it, knowing that Paul is most likely waiting for me at the house, which is why I can't get a ride off him. The air around me is cold, which is surprising given the time of year, making me shiver a little as I go, my hands instinctively moving to pull my jacket tighter over my uniform, concealing it from the view of the few other pedestrians I pass, though none of them pay any attention to me anyway. About half way through, my ribs start hurting on one side, where I took a blow from the Metalhead involved in the fight, the bruise starting to play up, making me slow in my stride so as not to hurt myself too badly, though I know it isn't a bad injury at all, just an awkward one. Annoyingly, this means I only arrive at my house twenty or so minutes later than I should've done, but I don't think much of it until I open the front door.

Instantly, I'm pressed up against it, a lanky body pinning me to the hard surface, hands pushing mine above my head. In the dark, his eyes appear black, though I don't get much time to see them before he's buried his face into my neck, lips busying themselves there as he kisses and licks at the soft skin, biting down here and there as harshly as he can without breaking skin, his actions drawing a surprised groan from me, my chest arching into his. Paul chuckles lowly into my pulsepoint, nosing his way back up to my jaw, where he nibbles a path to my lips. To my dismay, however, he stops there, pulling back a little.

"You're late." His breath fans hotly over my face, his hips pressing into mine.

"I got held up. There was a fight." I respond, eager to get back to it as I lean forwards, kissing him carefully, fully expecting him to back away and tease me for it, brief yet pleased surprise flaring up in me when he reciprocates with equal roughness, trailing his hands down my arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake. As soon as they are released, I move my own hands to his hair, where I intertwine my fingers with the soft strands, pulling him closer as his move further down my body.

Once more, Paul's lips travel down the length of my neck, leaving hot, open-mouthed kisses along the prominent vein pulsing under my skin, reminding me of my vulnerability, a moan leaving me as he brushes past my sweet spot, my grip in his hair tightening. Smirking against me, the vampire bites down on the area, being sure to leave it unbroken, his hands smoothing up and down my sides, having pushed up under my shirt, until a gasp of pain manages to escape me from where he passes over the bruise on my ribs, at which point he pulls away, confused and concerned.

"Are you ok? Did I hurt you?" He questions, moving back a bit so he can look me over, trying to find the source of my discomfort.

"I'm fine, you didn't do anything. I just took a blow from one of the kids in the fight." I reassure him, caressing his hair with a small smile on my face.

"You took a blow? Where?" His worry is sweet, hands pushing up my shirt to look for the offending injury.

"My ribs, but it's honestly fine, it's really not that ba-" I go to say, only to be cut off by a hiss of pain when he drags a thumb over the area (accidentally of course), eliciting a little noise of apology from him.

"I don't believe you." Is all he says before he's lifted me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he carries me further into the house, going to my bedroom. Once inside, he somehow manages to pull off my boots and jacket without putting me down, climbing onto the bed with me on top of him, arms cradling me against his chest. For little while, we remain there, his fingers massaging soothing circles into my tight muscles, encouraging out the knots as I let little gasps of air leave me every now and then, thoroughly enjoying being in his arms.

"I was wrong." I suddenly speak up, resting my chin on his chest as I look into his eyes.

"About what?" He inquires, looking puzzled.

"About everything being about sex with you. You can be really sweet, too." I smile at him, chuckling when he rolls his eyes.

"Only for you." He promises, now laughing at my own eyeroll.

"Bullshit, you can be really sweet with the boys, too." I remind him, tracing a pattern into his chest with a fingertip.

"Now, that is bullshit." He says in response, smirking at me.

"It isn't."

"It is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Is-"

"I won't tell anyone." I reassure him, grinning at the protesting vampire.

"Fine. Swear to it." He grits out after a few moments, having apparently considered the offer.

"I swear."

"Good." He smiles down at me, chuckling when I yawn, the hours having caught up to me, "You should get some sleep."

"Are you sure? Won't it be annoying for you?" I question, too tired now to argue.

"Nah, I like sleeping with you." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at this, obviously having an alternative meaning behind the words, giggling when I slap at his chest in mock disgust.

"Weirdo."

"Your weirdo." He points out, blue eyes sparkling in the dim light.

"Of course."

#the lost boys #joel schumacher #vampire #david(thelostboys)#kiefer sutherland #paul(the lost boys)#dwayne(the lost boys)#marko(the lost boys)#santa carla #star(the lost boys)

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silvokrent · 4 years ago

Note

So since Tyrian's arrest screen didn't list everything he was wanted for, what else do you think he did? My brother thinks arson, I think more along the lines of torture.

It’d probably be easier to ask, “What crimes didn’t he commit?”

I think you’re both right. Arson and torture seem like equally valid possibilities, but they’d have to be the result of context and circumstance. On one hand, Tyrian always struck me as someone that’s adaptive, flexible, and capable of improvisation, which is why I doubt he’d be averse to either. On the other hand, Tyrian appears to have a modus operandi—speed and stealth. Like most Faunus, seeing in the dark (presumably with tapeta lucida, the eyeshine a lot of nocturnal and crepuscular animals have) affords him an advantage many of his victims lack. That, coupled with his stinger, sets him up by default for a very specific tactic: hit-and-run assassinations. Catch your target off-guard, deliver the killing blow, then melt back into the shadows before anyone’s the wiser. Fire lacks discretion, and torture involves prolonged interaction with the victim (which increases the odds of him getting caught, as time/duration would be proportionate to the risk of being discovered).

If a situation called for it (like setting a car on fire in order to distract pursuers), or he was contracted to complete a specific job (like torturing someone for information), then I could definitely see him committing arson and torture. But if he’s recreationally killing, then I think it’s more likely that he’d indulge in his preferred repertoire, envenomation and stabbing.

The nice thing about his criminal record being truncated (with a “see attachment for more details” appended to the file) with multiple redacted sections is that it leaves a lot of room for speculation. Bear in mind that much of this is either conjectural with little supporting evidence, or my personal headcanons.

One of the things that I found interesting about Tyrian’s character was his reverence of Salem. “Goddess” isn’t just an affectionate title or a term of endearment—he literally apotheosizes her. Compare that to how his teammates interact with her. While they treat her with respect, none of them use the same venerating language as Tyrian (“Your Grace,” “my lady,” “our divine savior,” “our goddess”). This tells us that his worship of her isn’t the norm amongst her followers, which also means that he has a reason for doing it.

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of labelling people who commit heinous crimes as crazy or insane—not only because it implicates nonviolent mentally ill and neurodivergent people, and scapegoats them for the actions of others—but because in this instance, it robs Tyrian of the complexity that comes with rationalizing one’s choices. Tyrian’s decision to deify Salem shouldn’t stem from some sort of psychopathology, but rather a logical, personal, or historical precedent.

Let’s reverse-engineer this thought process:

Tyrian worships Salem.

Salem (in Tyrian’s eyes) is the extreme embodiment, manifestation, or expression of cathartic violence.

Tyrian worships this form of violence.

And what else in RWBY’s universe embodies those traits?

The Creatures of Grimm.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about all the illegal things Tyrian’s done over the course of his life, and more specifically, why.

Archotherolatry: This is a term I coined for my RWBY worldbuilding blog. If you break down the etymology, archotherian (Greek - ruling beast, the scientific term for Grimm) + -latry (Late Latin - worship of), it translates to “the worship of Grimm.” The practice was outlawed by the King of Vale (King Ozark) after the Great War. While the decision was rooted in common sense—like, you really don’t want people to see the Grimm as gods for fairly obvious reasons—Ozark had ulterior motives for outlawing it. You see, Ozark was one of Ozma’s incarnations, and the immediate predecessor of Ozpin. While archotherolatry had been falling out of favor over the last few centuries, it was still a religion with a presence in certain corners of Remnant. Salem used to recruit these cultists directly into her ranks. By making the practice illegal, Ozma was hoping to cut off a potential source of followers.

Prior to meeting Salem, Tyrian was one of the surviving few practitioners of the faith. Not only that, but he had a particular mania about it. Grimm worship in Remnant changed depending on where in the world you went, but one of the recurring practices involved human sacrifice. Now, while Tyrian didn’t subscribe to any specific holy doctrine and wasn’t a member of any secret groups, he did adhere to certain rites and ceremonies. He savored the taking of lives, but even more than that, he enjoyed offering up his victims to the Grimm. During the months that Pickerel spent hunting him down, his trails would often lead him to secluded areas outside cities or towns. There he’d often find a large ornately-detailed circle on the ground painted with blood, with the tattered corpse of the victim lying in the center. The surrounding trees and rocks would sport eye-like patterns drawn in blood, similar to the patterns seen on the bony white protrusions on a Grimm’s body.

When selecting potential victims, Tyrian didn’t discriminate. Gender, age, nationality, race, economic background—they all bleed red, so it didn’t matter. Not technically, anyway. That wasn’t to say he didn’t enjoy abducting business owners that were prejudiced against Faunus, or that he didn’t find ironic humor in sacrificing Huntsmen to the Grimm. He just wasn’t particularly choosy about who he sacrificed.

In a similar vein, I think this is how Salem first learned about Tyrian’s existence. Whenever her scouts or sentries returned to Evernight and reported in, they’d inform her about a man that would drag people into the woods and invite the Grimm to feast upon them. This possibility excited Salem for several reasons: not only was he predisposed to loyalty to her, but the fact that he’d clearly been doing these sacrifices for some time meant he was talented. It took a lot of skill to kill so many people without being caught by the authorities. She needed an assassin, and he would do perfectly.

When Tyrian wasn’t feeding people to the Grimm, he probably murdered for sport. He thrilled in the hunt, in the dizzying slick of blood beneath his fingers, the intoxicating coppery smell, the beautiful song of his victims as they cried, begged, and screamed. Acts of violence honor the Grimm, but in addition to that, he simply relished in the joy of killing. And he was good at it.

Of course, sacrificial manslaughter doesn’t pay the bills, so Tyrian had a day job. Well, I say “day job,” but it was more along the lines of contract killer/thief/kidnapper/smuggler. Tyrian operated largely out of Mistral’s criminal underworld, particularly in the capital (though depending on the work he was doing, he’d travel to Wind Path or Kuchinashi). Potential clients sought him out and hired him for any number of jobs: collect the debt that this person owes me and kill them if they refuse to pay; abduct the member of this rival syndicate and bring them to these coordinates; assassinate someone for me, and bring back proof that they’re dead; transport this contraband (weapons, drugs, Dust) and ensure the shipment arrives safely; kill these people and destroy the evidence; capture this person and extract information from them by whatever means necessary; follow this person without being detected, and collect information about their routine. Although Tyrian preferred jobs that involved bloodshed, he’d still accept contracts for more mundane work (even if he found it somewhat boring). Tyrian didn’t have a ton of dealbreakers in terms of jobs, though he refused to do anything that involved sexual assault. (Even serial killers have standards.)

Destruction of public and private property was likely an unintended or indirect consequence of his work. As much as Tyrian enjoyed wanton carnage, he prided himself on being stealthy and thus had to exercise some level of restraint, so as to not leave behind damning evidence in the form of collateral damage. Breaking a window or kicking in a door is a liability. Accidentally setting off a Dust explosion is a good way for the authorities to track you. That being said, there were a few memorable occasions where Tyrian absolutely wrecked shit up. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was the day that he was finally captured by Atlesian and Mistrali law enforcement. On the day of his arrest, Tyrian caused nearly 50,000 lien’s worth of property damage, including the destruction of three Paladins.

Tyrian’s name, while spoken among the criminal element, was unknown to the public. Even so, he garnered a reputation as Anima’s most infamous serial killer. People often referred to him by his title: The Ghost in the Mist. (Years later, a documentary by the same name was released. It was an hour-long production that detailed his activity in Mistral, all of his victims, an analysis of his signature, and other relevant or interesting trivia. It even featured an interview with Pickerel, prior to his death. Tyrian absolutely loves this documentary and has re-watched it several times.)

I’m sure there’s more that he’s done that I can’t think of presently, but hopefully this gives you a general idea of all the criminal activity I think he’s committed.

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bread-elf · 4 years ago

Text

Where is Jiroki now?

The wind bellowed across the snowy landscape and spurred it along the decaying corpses, frozen by now as remains of Scourge and Cultists lay in heaps. But new cultists always reappeared, and the dead always rise again with having no King to yield control. Leadership of the world gathered in Icecrown often, some having gone beyond the hole in the sky to places no mortals are meant to walk, on the hunt after the Banshee. Rumors often spread of strange lands in the beyond, how there is so much more than any thought possible, but Jiroki always had the personality of a skeptic. But such thoughts steered clear from her mind as she lined her sights, releasing her docked arrow and watching as it penetrates the skull of a ghoul. Quick as can be she pulled out the next one as more came at her, but she had nothing to fear as a large green figure rushed ahead of her. A large staff in hand, bearing a mask fitting for any well practiced Witch Doctor, the troll pummeled a wave of the oncoming corpses with a single blow. They fell in a heap, but more still were on route, and the ones before the Revantusk troll were beginning to piece themselves together again.

Coming from his left an Orc huntress joins him, dual wielding double bladed axes dripping with ichor, wearing her own skull mask more fearsome than the undead she faced, she aids her comrade in the slaughter of the Scourge, giving off an eerie shrill of a laugh every now and then. Jiroki had never dealt with those of the Laughing Skull clan before, but she grew appreciative that she wasn’t the one facing those blades right now. “Where the hell are they?!” Jiroki sneers out loud to herself as she glances around the blurry snowscape. She had sent some of her mercenaries to infiltrate a burrow where members of the Cult of the Damned lurked, and she started to think she should have gone with them with much time started to tick by. But as if on cue she not only hears but feels a distortment in reality near her, turning in alarm, and out pops a Ren’dorei male she had sent with the others. “Ow, my hip!” Ianasrial, also known as Ian, had bleeding gashes along his torso and arms, but favored his hip as he held a hand on it and nearly buckled at the knees, but he remains standing as he uses his free arm to give a mock salute towards his Shield Mother while nearly doubled over. “We got it, boss! The others are routing back!” “It’s about time.” Jiroki looks back towards the Scourge. Now she was starting to see that they were becoming less organized, not stitching together fast enough as they became feral in their ways. Still very much a big problem, but they can be culled and pushed back now. The Laughing Skull Orc had managed to push herself through the Scourge and descend further, getting too far away for Jiroki’s comfort, and the troll was starting to back track. “Rii’mah be havin’ a spree, I’ll fish for her latah.” Zim’bowa the Witch Doctor speaks, his voice piercing through the wind. “We should meet wit’ de others.” “Yea some of them are battered. But hey, it’s getting easier facing the Scourge each time!” Ian cracks a joke, but earns a glare from Jiroki. “Don’t joke about things like that.” “This is, what, third, fourth time I’m facing the Scourge now? I think I get a fucking pass for making jokes.” Jiroki could hear the lace of void amplifying in Ian’s voice; despite her prude nature, she didn’t need to question Ian’s distaste for the Scourge in the slightest. Without anyone even realizing it Rii’mah had made her return, blood and gore splattered all over her. The stench of death clung to the Orc, making Jiroki’s nose wrinkle, but she didn’t dare show distaste for it around the crazed one. Her head tilted side to side, cracking each way as she let out a breath of satisfaction, blood lust sated for the time being. “Let’s rendezvous with the others and head back, we still have a lot of work to do.” Jiroki is the first to turn and head back to one of the Argent outposts she and her Greyshields were assisting with, and the others followed. ~~~~~~~~ Jiroki carefully cleaned her armor and weapons inside her tent, mindful of the stain of the Scourge and not wanting to accidentally inflict their foul magic on herself. With her stood Drax’ara, doing the same with his own daggers, having gone with the other team that infiltrated and sought the Cultists. They shared the silence, just grateful for one another’s presence in these times. “How are the kids?” Drake ends up asking, the male Kaldorei sitting in a chair as he cleans his weapons, setting the cleaned ones down on a table beside him. “They’re fine, they’re with my sister in Shattrath. Did you want to see them soon?” Jiroki had chosen to stay standing in front of the table, her bow already cleaned but now addressing individual arrows she had retrieved, needing all that can be spared. “Yea, I do. When we have a bit more hands out here though, I don’t want to jeopardize anything.” Setting down his final dagger he stretched his legs forward, wiping his hands down on a cloth and then stretching his arms above his head. “I’m still waiting to hear back from my brothers.” “Hm.” Jiroki tried to keep her focus on her weapons, but her mind raced with current events, and she tried to remind herself to breathe. “Aztook should be back soon, he left to get something from the Black Temple. Once he’s back, you should go see them, before anything else happens.” As if yet again on cue there’s movement from the entrance of her tent. Jiroki half expected to be Aztook her mate in question, but coincidentally enough it was another Demon Hunter. Her half brother, Alldreas, pulled aside the tent flap to peer his sightless gaze in. “Jiroki, we need to talk.” Alldreas had always been prone to pestering Jiroki for fun when they initially first met and even when she had learned they were partially blood related, but that started happening less since Teldrassil burned. So now when he insisted they speak, she knew it was for something. As she turned and left her things there Drake remained in his seat, reaching over to claim one of her arrows to clean for her, and she stepped out into the chill. “What is it?” Jiroki peers up at the taller elf. “Your former enemy Zest and I have encountered some ‘unique’ individuals that you should meet.” Alldreas wore a blindfold that covered his eye, but the blazing fire of fel could be seen through them. “But they’re over in Stormwind, so you need to make haste.” “What? Why should I meet them?” Though Zest now partnered with the Greyshields, he was renown for siding with a Warlock during the Legion invasion who tried to eliminate all the Greyshields, now only running with them out of fear and so that Jiroki could keep an eye on them. “Why are you with Zest anyway? You know not to trust anything he says.” “I don’t trust him, but I implore you to go see these people, for I have seen them myself. They speak of the Shadowlands, and are looking to meet adventurers such as our ilk. This may be a way for us to get more involved and help.” There’s a flare in the fire in his eyes, as if expressing his inner emotions. “Wait, the Shadowlands? But…” Alldreas danced around the subject instead of describing these individuals bluntly. Jiroki grinds her teeth, but she lets out a sigh. “Fine, I needed to head to Stormwind soon anyway, I’ll see them while I’m there. But you’re coming with me.” ~~~~~~~~ Once in Stormwind Alldreas right away led his half-sister to where they had to go, walking to the more deserted and shady parts of Stormwind. Jiroki already started to get uneasy with where they were going, but she trusted Alldreas enough that he would not lead or astray. Or would in the least be the first to catch wind of trouble and alert her. Down an alley they walked until Alldreas stopped dead in his tracks, Jiroki nearly bumping into him as a result. She looks around, seeing no one and nothing out of the ordinary in sight, and she stands beside him to take a look at his face. All he did was just stare ahead. “What is it?” Jiroki asked, a brow raised high. “Is your demon struggling again?” “No, she is cooperating.” Alldreas speaks in return, still staring ahead. “They see us. They will make themselves known when ready.” The hairs on the back of Jiroki’s neck start to stand at that, glancing around now. They were both being watched, assumingly by these people Alldreas wanted her to meet, yet she still had no idea who or what they are. But that doesn’t take long to answer as a figure starts to come from the shadows. “Ah, it is you again.” A rich, exotic, otherworldly, and deep voice speaks towards the demon hunter. “I am impressed you found us so easily; perhaps we need a new approach to this city. Is this the one you had spoken of?” At first Jiroki thought she was looking at an Ethereal, but this was no ordinary one if that. A humanoid figure of clothing and armor with a blue flame flickering behind a floating face guard, taller and much more regal attire compared to the Ethereals that wore mostly wrappings to display their forms. But something stirred in the pit of her stomach, something that told her this thing wasn’t meant to be here, and it caused goosebumps to rise on her skin. “This is my half-sister, and the leader of the mercenaries I run with. She would be the one to speak with about the work you have.” Alldreas redirected the conversation to Jiroki, and the being gave a bow from the waist. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ma’dam. I am called Te’ani; I had heard some wondrous praise of your group of adventurers from your fascinating brother here. I am very much interested in procuring some items from your realm, and he reassured me that you and I could form a business relationship with one another.” Jiroki shot a quick glare towards Alldreas, the two already have spoken more with one another than she had been told, and she looks back to the strange being. “What is it that you have offer in payment? We’re very busy as is.” Her words didn’t seem to face Te’ani, though she couldn’t tell much from him anyway. “My partner and I are still learning the ways of your world’s currency and market value, but we have an assortment of items from where we’re from that should interest you. That, and we have means to guide you to even different realms where you can assist the heroes of your realm.” “What do you mean?” “I come from the Shadowlands. There is much, much, much, to do over there, many souls to be rescued, many planes of existence suffering from the drought that need aid. I know well enough that there is a notorious figure your world wants dead treading the Maw, and they have the upper hand as the Maw’s forces grow stronger. With the terms I discussed with your brother; if you help me procure items from this realm, I can assist with having a stable way for you and yours to go too and fro in the Shadowlands. But I am more than happy to discuss further details with you, since it seems he did not share anything with you.” Jiroki could almost hear the sass coming from the being if that was what it was, and Jiroki looked up to Alldreas once again to see the twitch of a smirk forming at his lips. She nearly growled, but kept herself quiet as she couldn’t deny the curiosity growing inside of her. “I think I’d like to discuss this more with you as well.” Jiroki tried to ease herself into this conversation with this strange being from the land of the dead, but her head already spun with ideas and possibilities, already deep down knowing she had made a decision for herself anyhow. This is a business opportunity she will not refuse.

#stories

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luxfurem · 4 years ago

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slam dunks this in here🎰 also lmk if u need a list of my muses, cries, i know there's a lot

this randomized ships meme. / not accepting. | @gildedscripture

lowkey this took two days, i’m not going to do this again adgjdfgfd. anygays, here are the candidates:

gildedscripture:

lisa

nemesis

misa

howl

khrysophos:

Alice Longbottom.

Rheanys III Targaryen.

Harshaw.

Nikolai Lantsov.

Theodore Nott.

lisa & alice: gryffindor kids. alice is, as a matter of fact, from germany, so all i’m saying is exactly what i’m saying here. she was born in germany, went to durmstrang for a short period of time, but after her father died, her mother moved back to england and she was sorted into gryffindor belatedly. they could at the very least be friends based on having that in common, OR, you know, be a powercouple, where alice is that badass auror, and lisa… well i don’t know what she does in hp context, but we can talk about it :)))

lisa & rhaenys: honestly dunno where to start. rhaenys is my dornish dragon daughter with a determination to get back her father’s throne from the usurper. she survived the sacking of king’s landing because she was whisked away by someone. she grew up in dorne, raised by her uncles. we can totally talk about other verses! i think the two of them would totally get along because they’re both kind, easy to befriend, readily smiling, that kinda vibe? rhaenys can be ambitious and driven but she would never be unkind for no reason --- she’s much too smart to make enemies like that, anyway.

lisa & harshaw: oh man. harshaw is a silly one. he’s an etherealki, basically he controls fire. bit of a pyromaniac, but he won’t burn anyone. he just really likes fire. has a pet cat. don’t think he’d like all the dogs she has. i don’t know how well she’d handle his unusual actions? he’s not a bad guy, though. can be relied on. does she need a firemaker of sorts? he’s a simper. he’d probably simp for her, easily. powerful women make his dick inflate a little. i dunno what else to tell you.

lisa & nikolai: so? honestly? it could be either/or. nikolai OOZES confidence, like. you haven’t seen a man ooze confidence the way nik does. he’s prince-hiding-as-privateer in his own world, and in hp he is a ravenclaw who leads a guerilla movement against death eaters that’s a little different than the order. he’ll do anything for his people, really. he’d try to get into her good books, especially if she could help him in his endeavors, but he’s not cunning or underhanded about it. i think his attitude could amuse her? business partners?

lisa & theo: see. theo is… he’s a loner. when you get on his turf and he doesn’t want you there, be prepared for a volley of sarcasm or just plain closed-offness. he struggles with his asexuality and how to put it into words, and as a result is hard to befriend. his type of kindness is a sort of aloof kind. it’s simple and without comment. making sure you drink by placing a waterbottle in front of you, reminding you to take your meds, that kind of stuff. he likes kind people, so lisa would probably at the very least not bother him. friendship-wise, something sibling-y could definitely bloom if given the time and energy.

nemesis & alice: unlikely gryff/slytherin friendships? nemesis is technically older than alice, so there’s that. gosh idk where to go with them. pls help me out.

nemesis & rhaenys: uhm….. slytherin friendships! or wink-wonk-yness. they would probably get along? rhaenys is very outspoken, but to the people she thinks she can trust. nemesis would probably be one of them? could prove interesting.

nemesis & harshaw: he wants to know if she wants to pet his cat. her name is oncat. the cat is cute. maybe next up they can advance to her petting him? on his head!!!! i have no idea. he’s a bit of an oddball, say luna but with a… love for fire.

nemesis & nikolai: nik will be sweet to her, esp if she isn’t too deeply stuck in pureblood ideals. he’s the type of person that tolerates the “nobility” bc he needs them, being prince in his own verse, but he’s very much a forger of his own path, a man of the people, and yeah…

nemesis & theo: i mean, does she want a silent but solid presence at her side? theo’s her man. he wouldn’t bother her i suppose. also nemesis being way older i suppose would mean a different dynamic, unless we’re talking aus here? i dunno. god i’m shit at this.

ai & alice: do i think alice would contact ai for some vengeance, the cost being her own soul? hell yeah! send voldemort to hell, ai, the world will be better off. alice would be a little intimidated, but she’s a lioness so she wouldn’t let it show afgfdgd.

ai & rhaenys: rhaenys would try to figure out a way to have ai’s type of vengeance without it costing her soul. wouldn’t work, i assume, but not for lack of her trying. they’d get along, i think? rhaenys would be kind to her.

ai & harshaw: harshaw saw she can throw fireballs and they’re instantly best friends. that’s just the way it is now. they’re pals, besties, a team. she throws the fireballs, he’ll help them along. oh hey, ai, did you know he has a cat? lmao.

ai & nikolai: first of, that rhymes. i think nikolai would find her very interesting, but wouldn’t be too interested in her services, mostly bc he’s got more than one person in his way in his verse and to sell his soul for just one when he can figure out other means to thwart them… seems useless to him.

ai & theo: they’re both closed-off people. i suppose they could get along in silent companionship. he’d be scared of her, tbh, if he knew what she was/what she does, but still, silent solidarity is a strong motivator?

misa & alice: gryffindors! GRYFFS! alice wants to protect her tbh. she’s so sweet! i wonder if alice knows better than to see her as just dumb. that it’s an act of sorts. in any case, alice can be the butch-esque girlfriend misa is looking for, is all i’m saying.

misa & rhaenys: rhaenys would… tolerate misa, but the dumb act is lowkey getting on her nerves. still, so long as she’s not opposing rhaenys in any way, shape or form, all is good! so… so yeah, that’s the tea here. sip sip.

misa & harshaw: they’re both edgy. a little oddball-ish. does she want to see his cat? god i need to stop with that joke. anyway! uhm. they can get up to some shenanigans. he thinks she’s sweet, and cute. not his type but that sentiment goes both ways so there’s that.

misa & nikolai: nik doesn’t have it in him to be mean to her. he’s observant enough to have a guess that she might not be so airheaded as she pretends to be, and he admires her for that. i don’t know how well they’d get along, nikolai is always busy, learning, helping. could prove to be interesting, i suppose?

misa & theo: theo probably thinks misa is a little annoying, he doesn’t really know how to talk to her without feeling like it’s kind of empty. this could change, though, they could learn to get along. i feel like it’d take a lot of time and a lot of patience, perhaps an incident that would help them understand each other a little better, that kind of jazz.

howl & alice: see i feel like this could either be the greatest success or the biggest disaster. howl being flamboyant versus alice who is straightforward and sassy, either they hit it off immediately or they are arguing the entire time. alice definitely wouldn’t put up with some bs, being upfront with him, but maybe he needs that?

howl & rhaenys: she’s fascinated by his magic, thinks he’s a little extra but it makes her laugh? so in a sense, that couldn’t be bad. since she’s a targ, she’s fireproof? that’s her trick. hope he likes it. oh and she has a special bond with dragons, maybe he thinks that cool, too. teach her some magic, she wants to know. for innocent reasons, no like… overthrowing usurpers, no no!

howl & harshaw: a wizard with a fire-demon versus an etherealki with a fire-obsession? what could go wrong tbh. howl will have to put up with the cat but i’m sure he’ll manage. i think they’d get along? harshaw is odd enough to catch howl off guard every now and again. maybe do keep an eye on him, though. wouldn’t want him to accidentally set a fire.

howl & nikolai: they’re both flamboyant and blonde, i feel like they might as well be the same person, except one is a wizard and the other is a prince. nik isn’t as dramatic, but he’s still kind of extra. thinks very highly of himself, always has a comeback, a backup plan. i have no idea what kind of relationship can come from this, but i feel like they’d get along, somehow. just bc they’re so similar. they could potentially trip over the fact that nik is very duty-oriented and howl avoids active duty? or the draft, rather.

howl & theo: if howl can drag theo out from behind his walls, all the power to howl tbh. either i imagine howl will be frustrated at the lack of response to his antics, or he’ll try harder? hope howl likes getting dragged fgdgd. maybe they’ll drag each other. i’d pay money for this tbh.

#gildedscripture #*✧･ﾟ OUT OF CHARACTER.#//i worked on this for TWO DAYS

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blackberrywidow · 6 years ago

Text

You’re It

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Word Count: 4.1k

Warnings: Fluff and mild language

Summary: College AU. During a game of Humans vs. Zombies, you find yourself falling for the enemy.

A/N: This is my submission for @spideypeach and @astral-parker‘s writing challenge. I hope everyone likes this! I know everything I've been writing has been super fluffy recently, but I can’t stop myself so here’s some more.

It was day three.

For three long days, you had been living in this apocalyptic hell, dodging zombies left and right just to make it to the goddamn food court. It was frustrating, always having to have your gun out and ready to fire at any handsy obstacles, but it was also fun. A nice change of pace to break up the dull monotony of university. And you were determined to win—well, at least be the last to lose anyway.

According to the webpage that was tracking the game, there were still about 29 of the original 134 still in the game, including yourself. Zombies were starting to drop out of the game like flies with so few people left to feed on, but you were determined to keep your wits about you and stay in this game until the very end.

Your bandana was tied securely around your arm, the vibrant orange signaling that you were one of the few remaining humans in play to feed on before the 48 hour deadline to “eat” another passed. Yesterday was hard enough—you had barely avoided being tagged 4 times. You knew today was going to be even more challenging.

But you were determined—if you could run away from the star quarterback for a whole block, you could survive anything. You were smart. You were fast. You had a fully loaded nerf gun and an air of ruthlessness that would make anyone hesitate to approach you. You—

A flash of orange appeared in the corner of your eye and you instinctively dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding an outstretched hand.

“Hey,” the owner of the grabby hand shouted in surprise. He rounded on you, smile exuberant and brown curls wild as he laughed. “I really thought I had you for a second there. Great reflexes!”

“Uh… thanks,” you responded dumbly, watching him with cautious eyes. Your cheap plastic gun was clutched tightly in your right hand, but you had yet to raise it. You wanted to attribute your hesitation to his strange reaction to missing you. But if you were being honest, he was quite possibly the cutest boy you had ever seen. He was dressed casually in a band t-shirt and jeans, and the orange bandana that he had tied around his head to signify that he was a zombie didn’t look as ridiculous on him as it did on everyone else. It was his eyes that really drew you in though—they seemed to reflect his smile and happiness. If nothing else, he was certainly the most lively looking zombie you’d ever seen.

“I’m Peter, by the way. Peter Parker,” he introduced himself, holding out a hand as though they had just met under normal circumstances. But these weren’tnormal circumstances, so you stared pointedly at his hand until he dropped it back to his side with a chuckle. “Oh right. No touching. Well, I mean, I am about to touch you though.”

You raised an eyebrow in response, still resolutely silent as you waited for him to reconsider his words before you really had to hurt him. It only took the space of a heartbeat.

“Oh, no! Sorry, no, not like that. I mean, not that I’m like disgusted by you or anything, just that I, uh… meant for the game. Like I’m gonna tag you.”

Your lips twitched up involuntarily, despite your best efforts to keep a straight face. His rambling was endearing, if a little strange. “Right. Just one small problem with that.”

“Problem?” Peter repeated, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Yes, just a small problem though. If you wanna touch me,” you teased, grinning wickedly when he flushed, “you’ll have to catch me first.”

And with that, you were taking off down the sidewalk.

You weren’t sure why you didn’t just raise your gun and shoot him. If you had managed to hit him with the harmless foam dart, he would have been immobilized for 15 minutes per the rules of the game, which would have given you ample time to get away without all of this physical exertion. Yet there you were, laughing exuberantly while being chased down the street by a practical stranger.

But you could hear his yelled threats of “eating your brains” and “turning you into one of us” from behind you, the amusement clear in his voice, and you knew that you had made the right choice.

You stumbled around a corner, accidentally knocking into a stranger and dropping your only weapon as a result. You didn’t slow down long enough to retrieve it, though you did turn to offer a hurried apology. Once you had made another sharp turn, you finally allowed yourself to slow down minutely. You sucked in greedy gulps of air and hoped (and feared) that you had lost Peter with your evasive turns, before looking up and realizing that you had just cornered yourself in an alley.

“Shit,” you cursed, just as Peter rounded the corner after you with a triumphant “Gotcha!” You closed your eyes, desperately formulating ideas to get you out of this as you slowly turned to face your zombie attacker, completely defenseless and with nowhere to run.

“Okay,” you panted, trying desperately to regain your breath even as your smile widened. “How about we make a deal Peter.”

“What?!” The idea of making a deal seemed completely preposterous too him as he laughed and shook his head, not even the slightest bit out of breath. The jerk. “No way! I’ve got you cornered, completely weaponless. There’s no way you can make it out of this un-zombified. I can’t just let you go, no matter what you offer me. I have some pride you know.”

“Mmmhmm,” you hummed, stalling as you tried desperately to think of something that you could offer him that wouldn’t injure your pride. “Well… if you let me go, I’ll go on a date with you.”

That seemed to catch him off guard. His chocolate eyes widened comically, his mouth dropping open as he tried to sputter out a response. You’d be embarrassed if it weren’t so cute. “I—I can’t just agree to let you go in exchange for a date! That’s—that’s like… well I don’t know! But it seems wrong!”

“Why?” you challenged, an excited gleam in your eye. This game was turning out to be much more fun than you had expected. “Nowhere in the rules does it say that you have to tag me—just let me go and I’ll go on a date with you. It’s as easy as that.”

He raised a skeptical brow in response. “That seems kind of manipulative, doesn’t it? That you’ll only go out with me if I do something for you.”

“Well…” you hesitated, realizing that he was actually kind of right. Dammit. “Okay, fine. I would probably go on a date with you even if you tagged me, because you’re cute.” You were kind enough to ignore the way his face flushed at the praise. “But if you want to go on a date with me, shouldn’t you be willing to sacrifice this one kill to let me live? You’ve got me cornered here. Hardly seems fair.”

He crossed his arms, eyes narrowed in contemplation as he mulled it over, blessedly not pointing out that it was actually more than fair. It was how the game was supposed to be played—you were the one trying to play by different rules.

“Okay,” he finally agreed. “If you go on a date with me tonight, I won’t zombify you… now. This agreement will enact a treaty that lasts from now until the moment I walk you home—not a second later. Then, I can tag you whenever I want.”

“If you can catch me again,” you shot back, a smug smile on your face as you stepped forward to shake his hand in agreement. “I accept your terms, Mr. Parker.”

Peter grinned at you in response before slowly lowering his gaze to your still-outstretched hand.

“Oh.” You blinked down at your hand before slowly lowering it to your side. Now you were the one being obtuse. “Right. No touching then.”

“It’ll make for an interesting first date at least,” Peter offered, though he immediately backtracked when he caught the widening of your eyes. “Not that I was gonna touch you! I mean, it’s not like I’m opposed to it or something, just that I, uh—”

“Relax, Peter,” you laughed, rolling your eyes and taking a step back. “I’ll see you at six, yeah? I live in Teter Hall. You can pick me up there.”

With that, to turned around and strode off down the street, looking to retrieve your gun before heading to your next class. Hopefully you could find some ammo along the way.

“Wait!” Peter called after you, though he made no move to follow now that you had a treaty. “I didn’t catch your name!”

“Oh,” you chuckled, the giddiness of your near-“death” experience and your upcoming date getting to you. “It’s (Y/N) (Y/L/N),” you yelled back, turning just long enough to flash him a smile and give him an answer before disappearing around the corner.

---

Four hours later and you were descending the stairs leading up to your building to meet a nervous-looking Peter at the bottom.

“You’re early,” you teased, trying for casual despite the tight ball of nerves that had taken over your stomach. It had been so natural this morning—flirting had never come so easy to you. But now you had time to rethink your actions and you had lost all of your confidence. You would at least do your best to pretend though. “Hope you’re not trying to do some recon for after our treaty.”

“I would never,” Peter swore solemnly, holding a hand over his heart. His expression quickly softened into a smile as he drank in your appearance though. “You look amazing, by the way.”

“Thank you,” you said, doing a little twirl as you took the last step down to meet him at the bottom of the stairs. It was your favorite dress, one that you rarely had the opportunity to wear, so you were glad to break it out for the occasion. “So do you,” you noted, taking in his slightly more formal outfit—he had swapped out his t-shirt for a blue sweater over a checkered red button-up, though he was still wearing jeans and looked as disheveled as he had earlier. He seemed like he was always in a state of disarray.

His cheeks flushed at the praise, and he ran a hand through his previously well-styled hair. “Thanks.”

“So, where are we going?” you asked after a beat of silence, wondering what someone like Peter would consider an ideal first date.

“Well, the animal shelter that’s just a few minutes from campus is open for another hour. I uh… thought that maybe we could go there first, then go get dinner at that Italian place across the street from it?”

He seemed nervous, waiting for you to criticize his plan even as your eyes lit up with excitement. “That sounds amazing!” you decided, taking off in the direction of the shelter without further prompting. “I absolutely love animals. I actually volunteered at the local animal shelter back home when I was in high school. And I’ve always wanted to go to Buchetto’s!”

“Yeah,” Peter said with a relieved laugh, easily keeping pace with you. “I know.”

“Oh do you?” you challenged, glancing at him with narrowed eyes and feigning suspicion. “How do you know that? Did you run a background check on me?”

“Yes,” Peter confessed solemnly, expression suddenly serious. “I wanted to be prepared, and luckily the first thing that popped up was ‘loves dogs and pasta.’ My second date idea was to take you to court to pay for all of your speeding tickets.”

Despite your best efforts, you couldn’t contain your laugh at his dry humor. “Speeding tickets, huh? I think you might have found the wrong girl.”

“Ah,” Peter sighed, ducking his head down to try to hide his answering smile. “Good thing I looked you up on Instagram as a backup then.”

“So… you did stalk me on Instagram then?”

Your grin widened as you watched Peter flounder for a response. You considered taking mercy on him, but instead choose to wait a full minute for him to settle on a simple. “Well… basically, yeah.”

“Good,” you answered, moving your gaze to look straight ahead as the shelter came into view. “I’m glad I wasn’t the only one. Having an internship with Stark Industries is amazing, by the way. Kudos to you.”

Peter’s smile was relieved and more than a little grateful. “Thanks. So, shall we pet some puppies?”

He opened the door to the shelter with a flourish that made you giggle. You played along, dropping into a clumsy curtsy before entering. “Yes sir, I believe we shall.”

---

As far as first dates go this one was… well, definitely the best you had ever had. After spending nearly an hour playing with the adorable dogs and cats—all of which you wished you could sneak into your dorm room—you made the short walk across the street to the Italian bistro that Peter had suggested. It exceeded your expectations as well.

The puppies were cute, the food was delicious, but Peter blew them both out of the water.

He was amazing, simply put. You could tell that he was nervous at first—and though you wouldn’t admit it, you were too—but that quickly faded throughout the night. He was funny and charming (but not in a charming way, more like a this dork is hopeless but it’s so endearing I think I may swoon way). He was also smart, which shined through in the things he said and did without him having to brag or draw attention to it. And he wasn’t putting any pressure on you the entire time—the date was casual and relaxed, without any hint of aggression or creepiness on his part. And considering your past dates… that was a major feat.

Most importantly though, he had yet to touch you.

This fact was also one that was becoming increasingly disappointing.

It was great that he appeared to be taking your treaty very seriously. There had been plenty of opportunities for him to hold your hand or place an arm around your shoulders, effectively tagging you and making you a zombie, but he hadn’t. You hoped that it was solely because of the game, but you also had a small fear that he just wasn’t interested after all.

Thanks to your circumstances, you really had no way of knowing short of asking him outright. Which you were not going to do.

“So…” Peter said once you were out of the restaurant and heading back to campus. He tugged subconsciously at the orange headband he wore around his head as he smiled down at you, only reminding you again that this game was effectively the biggest cockblock at the moment.

(Not that you were thinking about that of course! Just that…yeah. No touching.)

“So…” you mimicked, returning his smile and wondering if it would be worth losing the game just to reach out and grab his hand.

“I had a great time,” he finally decided on, meeting your eyes briefly before his gaze darted away. “I’m really glad that you blackmailed me into doing this.”

“Hey!” you protested, barely catching yourself before you playfully hit him in the shoulder. Something he noticed, if his smirk and glint of mischief in his eyes indicated anything. “It wasn’t blackmail. It was… a negotiation.”

“Okay, fine. We negotiated,” Peter acquiesced with a chuckle. “I uh… hope we can negotiate again in the near future?” His voice sounded so unsure and hopeful that any previous doubts you had faded away.

You grinned as you came to a stop in front of your dorm, wishing that this wasn’t the end of the night but glad that you now had the promise of more. “I would love that.”

“Hey!”

The voice made you both jump, and Peter’s gaze snapped somewhere over your left shoulder, his eyes narrowing. You whirled around, more than a little irritated that some jerk was interrupting your nice night, and was surprised to find that it really was just some random dude about twenty feet away from you.

“Do you know him?” you asked, raising a brow. You certainly didn’t recognize him from anywhere and couldn’t come up with a reason that he would be yelling at you—and it had to be at the two of you as there was no one else around at this time of night on a Friday. Everyone was either inside catching up on school work or out socializing elsewhere. Everyone except you and this jerk wearing a—oh.

“No, but he’s a player,” Peter pointed out in a whisper just as you came to the same conclusion. The guy was of average height and build, with shaggy blonde hair held back with an orange bandana that signified his zombie-status. And he was moving steadily toward you, a slow grin forming on his face.

Peter stepped up behind you, closer now but still not touching. Your eyes snapped to the side, gauging the distance between you and your dorm building and your chances of making it there before the guy tagged you.

“Hey,” Peter called back, making an effort to sound friendly but assertive. Unfortunately, assertiveness wasn’t really his strong suit and it came of as weary more than anything. “What’s up man?”

“You do realize that you’re standing next to one of the last fifteen humans in play, right?” the blonde zombie asked, bewilderment coloring his tone as he came to rest only a few feet from you. “Why haven’t you tagged her yet?!”

“We’re… friends,” Peter answered, stepping up beside you and glancing you out of the corner of his eye as though to confirm. You shrugged—you hardly knew what you were, but you knew you hoped it was more than friends. Now just wasn’t a good time to hash that out.

“Well, she isn’t my friend,” the guy responded with a snicker. He took another step forward the same moment you took one back. “And I’ve only got thirty minutes left to tag someone before I’m out of the game. So, sorry sweetheart, but you’re about to be it.”

A tense moment followed his statement, one that seemed to last forever but in reality, only took long enough for Peter to glance back at you to mouth one word: run.

You didn’t hesitate to listen. You spun on your heel, taking off toward your dorm as fast as you could, but the zombie was faster. He lunged after you, hand outstretched, and barely missed your shoulder when Peter tackled him.

You gasped in shock, eye blowing wide at the unexpected save, and froze.

“Go!” Peter called out, rolling off of the guy. You understood that he couldn’t exactly restrain the guy forever—you were just playing a game and at some point, it would become assault—but you wished that he could have bought you just a few more seconds. “I’m right behind you!”

Your feet responded before your mind did, which was great except that they decided to carry you in the opposite direction from your dorm. You suppose it made sense as Peter and the other zombie were blocking your path, but now you were just running aimlessly away. Impulse decisions really just weren’t a strength of yours.

You heard footsteps pounding behind you, and you picked up the pace. Man this guy was fast—even the quarterback from yesterday hadn’t put you through this kind of workout.

“Hey!” a voice you immediately recognized called out, and you stumbled in surprise. Peter’s hand shot out to help you, but he quickly caught himself and let it drop as he came to a stop beside you. “This way!”

He inclined his head in the direction of a gazebo to your right, and it was only then that you realized you had made it all the way to Campus Square. You nodded, taking his advice and dashing over to the gazebo with Peter hot on your heels. You both dove down to find cover in the bushes behind the gazebo and got as close together as you could without touching.

You sat there in silence, listening intently for the arrival of your zombie attacker before you started giggling.

“Uh… What’s so funny? Shouldn’t we be trying to be quiet right now?” Peter whispered, looking down to meet your eyes. You could barely make out his features in the dim lighting of the nearby lampposts, but you saw affection warring with the confusion and it made you smile.

“Yeah, it’s just… isn’t this so ridiculous?”

“Ridiculous?” Peter repeated, clearly still confused though he smiled when you laughed again. “What do you mean?”

“I mean this game,” you explained quietly. “We just spent this entire evening together, not touching once, so that I could stay in as a human. And then as soon as we get back to my dorm and our treaty is technically over, some other guy shows up to tag me. The timing is impeccable, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed with a soft laugh, shaking his head. “I guess it is pretty ridiculous. But it feels wrong to tag you now, even with the treaty, you know? I just hope that we can make it back to your dorm without that guy finding us. He doesn’t really seem like the type to give up.”

You considered that, taking in the truth of his words. The solution seemed obvious.

“Peter.” You whispered his name like a prayer, tone suddenly sober and serious when previously it had been full of mirth.

He noticed the change immediately, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to interpret your meaning. “(Y/N)? What—”

You didn’t give him the chance to finish, deciding that it was now or never. Your hand shot out and grasped peter by the collar of his dress shirt to pull him down into a heated kiss.

His surprise was obvious—he jerked back in surprise and his lips remained frozen under yours. You were just about to accept that you had misread the situation and made a fool of yourself when he finally responded.

Losing the game was definitelyworth it.

His lips were soft and gentle as he brushed them against yours, and his touch was tentative but firm when he raised a hand to hold the back of your head. But it was sweet and loving in the way first kisses should be, and a warmth spread in your chest and stole your breath.

“Oh, come on!”

You both jumped apart, faces flaming red as you turned to find the zombie from earlier staring down at you in horror. “I was so close to getting you!”

“Sorry man,” Peter replied with a chuckle and a shrug after he got over the initial shock of being caught making out in the bushes. “I got her first.”

“Yeah, I see that.” The guy rolled his eyes but held a fist out for Peter to bump his against. “Good for you dude.”

He left after that, clearly sulking now that he was out of time to stay in the game, and you sighed in relief. “Boys are stupid.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed with a laugh before standing and holding a hand out to help you up. “That we are.”

“Well, at least some are more tolerable than others,” you teased, unable to contain your smile. The only consolation was that Peter seemed to be having the same problem.

“Here,” he said, reaching out with steady hands to untie the orange bandana from around your arm. “We have to make it official.”

Your cheeks heated as he worked on retying the bandana securely around your head, marking you as a zombie. You hoped he didn’t notice. “I was really set on lasting longer you know.”

“Sorry,” Peter said with a sheepish grin, though you got the feeling he really wasn’t. “I guess that’s what you get for going on a date with a zombie.”

“Yeah, I guess,” you sighed heavily, casting your gaze to the ground. He tensed as he finished tying the bandana, and you knew he was seconds away from making a real apology when you said, “Worth it though. There’s no other zombie I’d rather have bite me.”

Peter pulled back, cheeks tinted pink and smile daring as he laughed. “Well, I didn’t bite you. But—”

“Slow down there Zombie Boy,” you laughed, grabbing his hand and leading him in the direction of your dorm. “Walk me home first and we’ll see where it goes.”

“Sounds like plan,” Peter agreed, easily falling into step with you. “Well negotiated as always.”

Taglist: @desir-ae, @sugarplumparker, @tina8009

#mcu fanfiction #Peter Parker #Spider-man #Peter Parker x Reader #Spider-man x reader #Peter Parker imagine #Peter Parker oneshot #Tom Holland #Tom Holland x reader #Tom Holland imagine #Peter Parker x you #Peter Parker x OC #college au #fluff #shrutialliewc #my writing

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rarestereocats · 5 years ago

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While discussing how we plan to do successful recon on the plantation, the traveling circus is brought up again. It worked as a perfect cover to get into the city, but we're not looking to make contact with the target just yet. Amelia insults Owkbanok's fire magic, stating it's little more than a gimmick because he can't do anything else. He assures her that he's more than capable of doing other magic, so she tells him to show her some lightning. Forgetting that we're inside of the cafeteria, Owk can't resist the challenge...and unleashes a bolt of lightning right into the ceiling. It's left destroyed on impact, which nearly sets Stabby into a blind rage. He threatens Owk, telling him not to pull something like that again, and seals his message with a stab to Owk's arm. The captain needs 600 gold to fix it, stating that if the gold isn't in his office by sundown today, he'll pick one of us randomly to bite the cost.

Of course, none of us want to pay up for somebody else's whoopsie. None of us, including Owk himself, pay up. Once morning rolls around, we leave for the city to follow TT's map to the plantation. I'll scout the property with magic, sending Cayde in with the others to take note of guard positions and paths. Owkbanok hits up the servants quarters and finds nothing of interest except for a gnome who's mighty suspicious of him. Amelia sprints out of the grass like a fucking madwoman to make it to the greenhouse, alerting many people to her presence. She's able to lie her way out of it at first, but upon trying to leave, several guards are ready to tear her apart. After sending out her creepy clones that plead for their lives and flee, she manages to escape and catch up with Cayde. She regales him with the tale of her mishap and relationship problems while TT scouts out the main house. She memorizes the layout of the interior for us, also learning that the baron has a few daughters within the home.

Amelia, fearing that she still might be in trouble; tries to flash her mirror signal. The problem is, she's invisible, thus making the mirror invisible. She watches as the rest of us sneak off of the property and to the meeting place, silently fuming as she follows Cayde there. We have only a few minutes to talk before she angrily asks why none of us responded to her signal. We claim we didn't see it, but she doesn't believe that for a second, and proceeds to show us how it works. With her light now flashing because her invisibility had been dropped, we all scramble to flee back into the city before the guards can catch us. It seems any hope we had of making this assassination look accidental is out the window as all of the baron's guards are on high alert. Once back at the ship, we go over the sick ass map me and Cayde collaborated on. It's wishful thinking if we think we can still pull this off, but we go over the "accident" options anyways.

We could have Amelia poison him, make it look like he choked to death on his fine wines and food. A house fire would be a quick and easy way to make anything look accidental...provided nobody suspects or finds out it was arson. There's ways we could drive him to suicide with magic, but we worry such an option wouldn't count as us completing the job. The house fire's our best bet. Amelia will sneak into the basement to destroy the supporting structures of the house, ensuring it's destroyed quickly once the first flames begin. Me and TT will take our circus disguises once more, pretending to be looking for investors. We'll handle the actual assassination while Owk, who's posing as our personal cook, will start the fire within the kitchen. It's a ridiculous plan, but it's better than nothing. We decide to carry this out as soon as possible, heading out for the plantation the following afternoon.

Surprisingly, we're let onto the premises. TT and I work hard to butter up Elron, complimenting him on his elven heritage and culture, while also being awestruck by his collection of art. He's more than happy to show us around and talks fondly of these pieces, stating he has better paintings upstairs. With Owk in position and Amelia getting a handle on the chaos downstairs, we set the plan into motion. As the fire's set off, we manage to convince Elron that nothing's wrong, urging him upstairs to his art before most of the slaves flee the home in terror. Once the supporting structures are destroyed, both Amelia and Owkbanok manage to get out of the manor in time as it begins to collapse in flames. Unfortunately for me and TT, our attempts to be rid of Elron alert him that his end is coming. He puts up a fight...but it still isn't good enough. We shove him down the flight of stairs, straight into the inferno raging through the lower levels of the home.

Job well done? Not quite. The previously mentioned daughters raced out during the ruckus to see what had become of their father. Witnesses mean this death isn't accidental and we can't risk losing out an extra gold because they won't keep their mouths shut. I throw the first daughter to the flames with her father while TT manages to pin the other down with a table. She pours alcohol atop the girl, making sure she'll light up when the fire reaches us. The third daughter tries to flee, but it isn't long before I catch up with her and keep her pinned to the nearly collapsing floor with some furniture. With everything settled, I slip into my bird form and fly out the window, TT swinging out soon after. We all reconvene at the meeting spot to go over everything that happened and being mostly satisfied with our results, we head back to Vita for our payment.

Along the way, we're stopped by one of Elron's former slaves; a dwarf by the name of Brahmin. The dude has skills and muscles for days, so we offer him a place aboard our ship. With money and a new companion obtained, we head back to the ship.

#adventures of the volunteer fire department #oc: huey romero #game: pathfinder pirates

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emblemevents-newyear · 6 years ago

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Set 2: Howling Wyverns vs. The Royal Fortune Crew

“The oceans are about to shift -- the tides of battle turn every second.”

“Hey there again! So it looks like we got two young captains duking it out now, with Captain Nora leading the Howling Wyverns and my own daughter Lilina leading The Royal Fortune Crew! Of course, I’m not gonna have any biases here...” Or at least, he’ll try.

“The two teams scramble to ready their cannons, hoping to gain some leverage over the opposing ship before the air starts raining cannonballs. Linus looks ready to start bashing some heads together and has his cannon loaded up right away, not even waiting for a cue -- he fires it, which hits Clara in the chest while she was prepping up herself (Royal Fortune Crew+3 Points!). Ruthless, but ruthless are the seas! Lilina decides to follow suit and rush ahead to get the slip on the enemy ship, however, it backfires! And I can’t rush in there to punch that cannon for doing that! Err, anyway... the teams are quickly thrown into the battle, though Nora decides to offer a friendly wave of no hard feelings. Though it seems Lon’qu -- Captain Frown himself -- isn’t here for mercy and responds by firing at her head (Royal Fortune Crew+5 Points!).

“And now, it’s an all out assault between the teams, with several of them getting in clean hits! Karin strikes Valter by the foot (Howling Wyverns+2 Points!), while Linus and Lydia both strike each other in the arms (Howling Wyverns+1 Point & Royal Fortune Crew+1 Point!). However, in the ensuing chaos Nora tries to take aim at Morgan, but instead hits Gaius who happened to be standing in the way -- who may or may not have been looking for candy. The two teams continue to trade shots left and right, with Morgan hitting Grima’s foot (Howling Wyverns+2 Points!), followed by Tobin striking Bat by the arm (Royal Fortune Crew+1 Points!), and Carrie hitting the captain Lilina herself by the leg (Howling Wyverns+1 Point!)! All the while, the ships themselves continue to take hits -- it’s a back and forth battle with no clear side dominating the other!”

“In the first calm before the next storm, both teams hurry to reload their cannons while taking a few extra shots at each other, only managing to hit the ships instead. Nora maintains caution when reloading the cannon as to not get hit again, and thinking they’ll get rained upon again, she fires -- straight into Linus’s torso (Howling Wyverns+3 Points!), of all places too! Lydia decides to try following up with this steam, however, her haste ends up hitting Haru by accident and right in the torso too! This could only be a sign of what’s to come next...”

“With the cannons reloaded, the teams begin trading shots once again, Morgan in particular trying to hit as many targets possible... by hitting her own teammates, Karin and Carrie, in the process. This wasn’t all a practical joke, was it? Anyway, the suspension continues as both boats are rocked -- somehow -- with cannon fire hitting against their hull (and friendly fire taking place with the waves crashing against the boats in tandem). After awhile, Bat gets a hit for their team by striking Kaze in the hand (Howling Wyverns+2 Points!), as Lilina retaliates by going straight for Nora herself -- effectively hitting her in the arm (Royal Fortune Crew+1 Point!)! Are the two captains forming some sort of rivalry here...?”

“After the second volley, the two teams return to reloading their cannons, seeing to how tensions are growing to knock off as many team members as possible. Tobin decides to be cheeky and make a statement by immediately firing off his cannon, which hits Morgan right in the torso (Royal Fortune Crew+3 Points!). Carrie notices this as the opposing team rushing to take the next offensive and thus fires at the nearest target, hitting Grima himself in the torso... e-err, they’re not gonna start wreaking havoc from that, right (Howling Wyverns+3 Points!)? Meanwhile, Raigh decides to use the chaos to sneak a hit in, but all that lead up, and it misfires right onto the poor kid.”

“The sea air begins to rain again with cannon fire from both teams, starting with Nora’s arm getting struck by Tobin (Royal Fortune Crew+1 Point!). However, another moment of chaos befalls them as team members begin striking other team members! C’mon, get it together, you’re wasting cannonballs like that!! Fortunately, Lydia breaks the habit and delivers a blow to Grima’s leg, who I hope isn’t gonna destroy everyone after this (Howling Wyverns+1 Point!). And Kaze has the honors of unloading the last round for now...... which misfires in his torso. Everyone with their chests out like that are just bound to this, huh?”

“The crew members go back to reloading after that rather shoddy display of accuracy, with some surveying the area as other try to sneak in some hits which only strike the other ship. Fergus decides to join in and get a clean hit on the enemy team, but as luck had it for someone from Thracia, it misfires on em’.”

“The next barrage commences, with rapid fire shots from both sides! And... oh gods, what the!? They’re all hitting their own team members instead? Oof, ack... uhhh... yeah, that’s not good. Especially since Lilina and Lydia both offed Lon’qu and Morgan respectively right in the chest! This isn’t a battle between crew members... it’s mutiny.”

“After literally wasting all that ammunition hitting each other, the teams return to reloading for the next round, starting off with Bat suffering a misfire right after trying to sneak a fast one. Something’s really wrong with these cannons, huh? All the while, Grima finally decides to get revenge and aim right for Lydia, who gets struck in the torso (Royal Fortune Crew+3 Points!).”

“At last, they’ve reached the cooldown period where most team members decide to rest up, now with their crew members dwindling to so few. Nora, in a last ditch effort to gain the advantage, continues to fire but instead hits her own teammate, Karin, in the process! A bold move, but one that’ll cost her dearly. However, on the other side, Tobin doesn’t even try to take a breather and aims for the most visible person he could see -- Grima himself. And just like that, the fell dragon is struck right in the head, which is probably what he should’ve done those thousands of years ago in the labyrinth. Too bad it was his own teammate too!”

“The two teams immediately proceed to the next assault, with Nora trying to hold her own team down with herself getting outnumbered slowly; she takes aim and hits Tobin in the hand (Howling Wyverns+2 Points!), while also turning to hit Valter in the arm (Howling Wyverns+1 Point!). Lilina sees her crew members almost getting picked off, to which she responds by open firing... but accidentally hitting Joelle in the leg instead! Meanwhile, Carrie’s rounds come to an end as the cannon misfires on her. And then there was one...”

“The Royal Fortune Crew seems to have everything in the bag with only one more person to knock out, as they go back to reloading. Getting nervous, Nora proceeds to reload but the cannon misfires on her, but she’s still standing. Tobin, trying to continue his reckless streak of hitting others out of nowhere, makes an attempt to end this, but instead hits Joelle in the torso!”

“He also gets Valter by the foot while reloading, so it’s becoming obvious that he really isn’t being a key player here. However, Lilina picks up the slack by having a one-on-one between captain, firing at Nora and striking her by the arm (Royal Fortune Crew+1 Point!). It’s not looking good for the Howling Wyverns...”

“In what appears to be the last chance to reload, Nora defiantly readies the cannon to take on the others, though Lilina receives a boost of confidence to take the win here. But out of nowhere, luck isn’t on their side as she and Tobin both have their cannons misfire! And now, it’s just Valter left, a duel to the finish.”

“In hopes of making this one count, Nora fires off as Valter does so too, with both cannonballs going straight for each other. However, it seems the path veers right into a curve and catches the latter off guard, knocking him straight in the head (Howling Wyverns+5 Points!). And just like that, the lone captain pulls through it all and claims victory for her crew, earning her a bonus for being the last one standing (Howling Wyverns+5 Points!)!”

“It was another close one, people, so you oughta give yourself a pat on the back. I was shaking in my sandals just lookin’ at it!”

Howling Wyverns: 28 points The Royal Fortune Crew: 19 points

**see below the cut for all simulation results!

#season segue ;; summer solstice #pirate panic ;; summer solstice #mod hector

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giftfromthesleepprincess · 6 years ago

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Chapter 3–The Green Flower Seeds Fluttered to Toragay; Scene 2

Gift from the Princess Who Brought Sleep, pages 79-90

Hanne walked through Toragay for the first time in weeks. There hadn’t been any official statement regarding the matter of Kaspar’s death from the World Police since she’d been there last. She had once more arrived in town, both to inquire as to the progress of their investigation as well as to conduct her own research.

First she decided to meet with Constable Ayn Anchor. He might have despised Hanne, but to her he was the easiest person to talk to among the police. That was because she knew that Ayn was, essentially, a ridiculously soft-hearted person.

And then…while it wasn’t on level with an epic tale, she’d managed to obtain a small tidbit regarding his roots during her research on Toragay, and planned to tell him about it.

“…You have some business here?” When she visited Ayn at the police station, he had greeted her with a curt attitude as she’d anticipated. “I’m very busy, myself.”

“Doesn’t look it to me. Idling here so far away from the scene of the crime—is your investigation at a halt?”

“It’s not so much that it’s at a halt as it is on the way to being wrapped up. The only reason it’s been continuing on so long is because it involves the death of a man who had court rank.”

“So in other words the World Police sees his death as being from natural causes as the official report states? …You lot are more incompetent than I’d thought.”

Upon being told that Ayn’s countenance became openly indignant.

“There’s no point in you telling me that. That’s what the good doctor told us.”

“You honestly believe in the word of that Dr. Felix?”

“Naturally, I had a doctor properly investigate for myself. …In the end, he said the same thing; ‘suffocation by respiratory failure’. Only, he wasn’t completely certain on tobacco being the cause. Apparently it seems implausible at this point that any acute abnormalities would come about from it...Basically at present, we have no choice but to declare it as an accidental death by illness.”

“But that’s not what you think, is it Constable Ayn?”

“...Why do you say that?”

“You said ‘there’s no point in telling me that’. In other words, you don’t agree with the investigation results.”

Bulls-eye. Ayn’s brow furrowed. And then he checked to make sure there was no one else around them.

“…It seems the deceased Marquis Blankenheim was a shady character.”

“Enough to have a mistress. I know he wasn’t a man of good morals.”

“It’s not just that. The Blankenheim family has had wasteful habits since the previous generation, and thanks to that their financial affairs have been a disgrace. Though apparently they temporarily recovered by having him be married to the daughter of the Felix family, a family line of affluent doctors. However…even the Felix fortunes have run dry lately.”

“Now that you mention it, I didn’t happen to catch sight of any servants there. Or guards. They don’t have the funds to hire anyone?”

“On the contrary. According to nobles in the marquis’ social network, his financial standing had rapidly improved several months ago. They said he’d been buying up many expensive imports from the new continent.”

“That tobacco being one of them.”

“That was close to one thousand ev. Not the sort of thing you’d expect an impoverished marquis to be able to buy several of so freely. …Which means there’s a chance he had a means to earn money no one else knew about.”

If Kaspar was the manager of a black market, then there was the connection.

“Were you able to find any clues on this income source from the marquis’ home?”

“No...Although, there was something of interest there.”

“And that is?”

“In the mansion’s cellar. It looked as though it was being used as a food larder, but one of the rooms in it was empty. Well, thinking on their money troubles it’s plausible that all the private property in it was sold off…But I couldn’t be satisfied with that. All the others were untouched, with that one room being completely empty...I tried carefully searching the room one more time. When I did, I was able to find a single piece of paper in a gap in the wall. It was part of a front cover that a story title was written on.”

“Was it...a Freezis Fairytale?”

It was obvious that it was, but Hanne ventured to ask pretending to know nothing.

“Yes. I had no doubt that it was one of the items on the ‘Lost List’. I have a strong suspicion that the marquis was involved in the underground sale of Freezis Fairytales….Though I don’t have any solid proof yet.”

“If that’s the case then you really should investigate more. That’s what you’re for, isn’t it?”

Ayn said something for a moment, gazing at the wall. Regret was spreading across his face.

“...I was told not to look into this matter. By my boss. Apparently someone’s been applying pressure from somewhere.”

“--? From where?”

“Isn’t it obvious who could put pressure on us?...The Freezis Foundation.”

“You’re joking. Why would the Foundation need to stop it? That’s the last thing they’d do.”

The ones who wanted to eradicate the backroom dealing of Freezis Fairytales was none other than the Freezis Foundation itself. They were the ones who controlled the author rights.

It seemed Ayn didn’t know the reason for it either. He silently shook his head.

“Anyway, it means that the World Police can’t pursue this matter from there. …It’s for that reason that I’m talking about this with you now.”

“So, basically you want me to look into this myself?”

“The fact remains that you and I are both subordinates of the foundation. But as I can tell that you’re not the type to get overly bound up in organization—"

“No wonder, I thought you were telling me everything awfully easily today. …I guess I ended up not needing to tell you your souvenir story.”

“My souvenir story?”

Ayn made a strange expression.

“It’s nothing major, just forget it.”

“When you put it like that it just makes me more curious.”

“It really isn’t all that outrageous...Very well, I’ll tell you. As I recall—you got the name Ayn from your grandfather, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I hear that when my grandad was a baby he was abandoned at a church in Lucifenia, and given that name by one of the sisters there. My dad revered my grandad, so when I was born he gave me the same name. He said he wanted me to become a splendid officer like him.”

“He was the founding commissioner of the World Police, wasn’t he, your grandfather? Well, that just leaves the question of why that sister gave him the name of ‘Ayn’ to begin with, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not sure on that… Though I did hear that the sister was a Netsuma just like my grandad and me.”

“Sister Clarith. The woman who later became the founder of the Sisters of Clarith. Well, there were several things written in her autobiography—things written about Toragay. When she was young…there was a period where she was held as a war prisoner in Toragay during the war between Lucifenia and Elphegort. And it’s written that there was also a single soldier working for then-lord of Toragay, Earl Felix, who had been a childhood friend of hers. The name of that childhood friend—was ‘Ayn’. It seems the sister gave your grandfather his name based on that one.”

“…I wonder what kind of person that ‘Ayn’ was.”

“He was very brave. It’s written that to the end he protected the sister as she was being pursued by the Lucifenian soldiers, and laid down his life for her. You inherited that name from your grandfather, but at the same time you also inherited the name of the bravest soldier in Toragay.”

“I see…What an astounding tale…”

Ayn nodded several times, deeply moved.

“That you and Toragay have such a connection—it must be fate. The land of Toragay protected by the ‘soldier Ayn’…As time has passed, a new incident has occurred here…Well, do you have the confidence to uphold peace in this land, Constable Ayn Anchor?” Hanne said bombastically to Ayn. She could see that the shine in his eyes was distinctly growing.

This young, hot-blooded constable loved heroic narratives like that. The simplest method for persuading him was historical tales of heroism—telling him the combined names and stories of heroes like, for example, “Leonhart Avadonia”. Once you had he would become fired up on his own, and in a state of great excitement answer anything asked of him.

Hanne knew that very well.

“Got it! I’ll do it! Miss Hanne! I will hold to the name of ‘Ayn’! To uphold! The peace in Toragay!”

It seemed the effect was immense. It was particularly intensified by the fact that it was something related to his own roots this time.

“I will keep on and investigate regarding the marquis’ death! And so Miss Hanne, I entrust the black market of ‘Freezis Fairytales’ to you!”

“No thanks.”

“…Huh?”

“Hate to say it while you’re all excited, but I’ve got no interest in that—in the black market. What I want to look into is the death of Kaspar Blankenheim…or rather, his murder.”

“Sigh…But, we haven’t determined it’s a murder yet…”

“There must be some method to make a murder look like natural causes, yes?”

“Such as?”

“Like a poison that’s untraceable after use...”

“If there is such a thing, then that would be the perfect crime. There have been cases like that in the past, but nowadays we’ve become able to detect such poisons. You mustn’t turn down your nose at the advancement of medical science. Especially the doctors that the World Police take on; all are top of their class,” Ayn boasted proudly.

“That’s not something you should get all pompous about. And just because they’re top rate doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily flawless, does it?”

“If you’re going to say that, then maybe you should hear it from him yourself. The doctor that inspected the marquis’ body, I mean.”

“Is that man here in town?”

“No, he’s already returned to his country, unfortunately.”

“...Wait a second. You mean he’s gone to Marlon again? I’ve only just gotten back myself!”

A round trip to Marlon, no matter how fast, took four days. There was nowhere in Elphegort where you could come and go that quickly.

“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t talking about Marlon. It’s Lucifenia. Doctor Rogzé living in the royal capital Lucifenian was in charge of this case.”

Hanne also remembered having heard that name before. A celebrity in his own right.

“...Puerick Rogzé. The authority on pharmaceuticals. If he’s in Lucifenian, then I could get there on a day trip.”

When her various investigations in Toragay were finished, she should probably try to visit him.

“Let’s leave that aside for now…Say for the sake of argument that Kaspar was murdered—the problem is then, who did it. Were there any signs of someone trespassing into the house?”

“All the windows were locked. Same for the front door. But apparently Dr. Felix had a spare key. He found the body using that to get in—at least, if his testimony is true.”

“And Kaspar’s wife? She didn’t notice the marquis’ death despite being in the house?”

“It seems she was prohibited from entering his room. Whenever that—mistress was coming over. She first learned of the deaths after entering the room with her father. She didn’t hear any unusual noises during the night.

“During the night?”

“Yeah, all night through.”

“That’s peculiar isn’t it? She couldn’t possibly have been awake the entire time, could she? Couldn’t something have happened while she was asleep?”

“Well that’s—”

There Ayn suddenly grew tight-lipped.

“What is it? Tell me now.”

“The wife...This Margarita, somehow it—it appears she has a condition where she doesn’t sleep.”

“...Huh? She doesn’t sleep...ever?”

“It appears so. Ever since she was born she allegedly hasn’t slept once.”

A human being that doesn’t sleep—could someone like that even exist?

“At first I also thought she was lying, but according to her father it seems it’s true, somehow. Maybe it’s some kind of idiosyncrasy? Actually, after the incident I’ve had one of my colleagues stay in the house to serve as a guard, and from what he’s told me she’s always awake, showing no signs of having slept at all.”

“That’s a little…actually a lot concerning, for multiple reasons. –Was there anyone else in the mansion at the time?”

“Like you said before, there aren’t any servants working at the mansion. So from night to morning, the only people to enter were the marquis, his mistress, lady Margarita, and Dr. Felix. That’s assuming that all the involved parties told the truth.”

“On the other hand, if either the wife or the doctor or both of them are lying—then it’s hard to deny the possibility that there was an intruder from outside.”

The fastest way to ascertain that would be to ask them personally, after all. Especially the wife that Hanne hadn’t met yet…She couldn’t help but be drawn in by this Margarita’s “sleepless” condition.

“Ah, pardon. There is one other person,” Ayn suddenly blurted out.

“What?”

“Someone who entered the mansion…You. Hanne Lorre.”

Certainly, Hanne had gone to the mansion to visit Kaspar that day.

“W…wait a second! Are you seriously suggesting I could be the culprit?”

“I guess that could be true--Augh! Dammit! What’s the matter with me, blathering on about case details with a suspect of all things…”

Ayn immediately went on guard.

“Give me a break. I didn’t have any motive to kill Kaspar. I’ve never even met him.”

“Motive, huh? That’s true. A killer’s gotta have a motive.”

“The wife and the doctor must have plenty of motives to kill Kaspar.”

Margarita must not have thought very highly of Kaspar, publicly fooling around as he was. And it wouldn’t be so strange if Dr. Felix harbored anger towards Kaspar as well for making his daughter bear such ill treatment. And in addition to that, the Felix family were the original lords of the land. The one to inherit the lordship now that Kaspar was dead—

“Did the marquis and his wife have any children?”

“No, they didn’t.”

Then that meant that the one to govern the area in Kaspar’s stead would be, as was customary, his wife Margarita. A member of the Felix family had bloomed once more in their territory. And if Margarita were to marry some other man and bear his child, that child would take over after her, and from then on the Blankenheim family name would disappear from the genealogy of Toragay’s sovereigns.

Though it was, after all, a theory. At this point she had yet to find any certain proof that the wife or the doctor bore Kaspar or the Blankenheim family any ill will, and furthermore taking into account the existence of “Pere Noel” made the case much more complicated than that.

“Well, I suppose for the time being I’ll see about arranging a meeting.”

She had heard the main points of the case from Ayn. Now it was her turn to do some digging.

“Who are you going to meet?” Ayn asked.

“Who…For now I think the wife,” she replied.

After a moment of thought, Ayn said, “That might be difficult.”

He likely meant that his colleague staying on at the Blankenheim house would get in the way.

“He’s more stubborn than I am. I doubt he’ll let a newspaper reporter meet with the wife.”

Hanne did have her trump card of “the chief minister’s signature”. Any World Police officer, not just limited to Ayn, would be able to do anything with it when it came down to it; but, from what she’d heard from him earlier, there was evidently some turbulent developments going on within the police and the foundation itself. She’d rather avoid making the situation more serious until the very last minute, if possible.

“I’ll go on ahead and talk to him for you. Though it might take a little while—Well, I know some of his weaknesses, anyway. I’m sure I’ll figure it out somehow,” Ayn said. With that, Hanne decided to rely on him to take care of it this time.

“I see. Then I leave it to you.”

She had no choice but to bide her time while Ayn persuaded his colleague. But that being said, she didn’t have enough free time to go see Dr. Rogzé in Lucifenia and get back here.

Then that leaves…Dr. Felix I guess.

That doctor had been fairly suspicious. He was bound to have some skeletons in his closet.

<<prev------directory------next>>

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arrianna21 · 6 years ago

Text

~Freedom Aligned~

Life as a Runner is not as easy as everyone thinks. While mostly consisting of being a courier that run on the rooftops to deliver packages and messages, it was important to always keep moving. When your hard ass mentor tells you to practice at the crack of dawn, he makes sure you put in the effort.

Game: Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst

Word Count: 4,742

You run.

Vaulting over the glass wall, you run past the fancy black couches accompanied by white tables.

Stopping at the outdoor patio, you admire the city skyline, the large bodies of water and trees unavailable to the rest of the citizens. It was beautiful. Unlike the quiet breath of life, neon billboards and neverending power of technology could not compare to the sight in front of you.

Tranquil environments, like the one before you, was something ordinary Employs did not experience; it was something you’d only seen once, maybe twice in your life. It had been some time since you made the choice to leave behind the life you once knew, only to give it all up to become an outcast.

You didn’t regret it. Not because you hated your life, no not that, rather it was because you didn’t want to be molded into whatever civilian society wanted you to be. Not after witnessing a Runner hide in your home while the police looked for them. The blond’s nonchalant and almost cocky attitude was something you would never forget. While you had threatened to call the authorities, he called your bluff instantly, and patiently waited until said authorities called off the search. That had been five years ago and it was only until you became a Runner yourself that you would run into the same Runner again.

“Are you there yet?” an impatient voice asks in your earpiece.

“Almost.” You automatically respond, breaking out of your reverie as you continue making your way to your destination.

“Hurry up, it’s going to be morning soon.”

“It is morning, 4:30AM to be exact.” Thankfully the weather isn’t too chilly despite you being on the rooftops.

Yoongi, one of the best Runners, and also your mentor, wanted you to practice one of the dashes in Ocean View, a more affluent area in the city. Dashes were time trial exercises for Runners. They had to get to a certain point within a set time, but where that point was no one was told how to get there. It forces them to look for alternate routes when on missions.

While you had only seen Yoongi run a handful of times, the first one being your chance encounter, you knew enough to know that he was good and had definitely earned his high Runner status.

Running up the next wall, you stop in the shallow pond, having reached your destination. “Okay, I’m here.” You report.

“About time. I sent the location to your map I want you to get there as fast as you can. Start whenever you’re ready.”

Checking the map, you pinpoint the little red arrow that wasn’t far from your starting point. Just jump across a couple of buildings and you’ll be there in no time.

You take off running, the clock starting automatically as you jump down onto the little walkway and barrel roll, ducking under the first vent. On the other end, there’s another vent you have to duck under and then you springboard off the glass railings.

Landing on the next building, you run through an extravagant waterfall, glowing lights changing colors as you pass by. You follow the hidden Runner symbols scattered along the path, inconspicuous red arrows guiding you. Running past more couches decorated with luxurious purple pillows, you hop over the glass barriers and run down a set of stairs, climbing up a wall and turning to springboard off of a potted plant. You run up another wall to get to the next floor, sprinting in between two glass gardens before grabbing on to a zip line. Sliding between the gap separating the section of buildings, you let go and climb some shorter walls until you turn the corner, finishing in another gorgeous glass garden.

“Done,” you pant.

“2 minutes and 10 seconds. You followed the arrows, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah. I can’t take a shortcut on the other side of the building because there nothing there besides windows. It’s not like I’m going for 3 stars or the fastest time.” To be honest, you never really cared about being the fastest Runner, you just wanted to do some delivery and covert jobs because you enjoyed it. The Scrip that came with it was also nice too, as having some money helped keep you fed.

“Change of plans, your goal is to get 3 stars. To do that your time has to be 55 seconds exactly.” Yoongi tells you.

“55 seconds! How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“Get creative,” is all he says.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” You mutter to yourself, but he still catches it. “Trust me, brat, I most certainly am not.”

And he very well meant it.

~*~

“Again,” Yoongi tells you.

“I got it down to 1 minute and 3 seconds! Isn’t that close enough?” you complain, slumping against the window of the white garden. Your body feels extremely hot from the workout and the cool glass feels wonderful on your skin. You didn’t know how many times you’ve run back and forth between the buildings.

“Close, isn’t going to cut it. Now get your ass back to the start and go again.”

“Considering the fact that I found the quickest, and possibly the only way to get here, I count that as a win.” You retort.

“After how many attempts?” he dryly asks. “It’s not my fault it took you so long to figure out that you should go through the building instead.”

“Do you not remember the last time I tried to take a shortcut through a house?”

You had been doing another dash similar to this one and you tried to save some time by going through someone’s apartment. Needless to say, you had accidentally destroyed their kitchen by landing on the dining room, which resulted in expensive dishes being broken.

“That was pathetic,” he snorts. “You should be lucky no one was home.”

“At least I didn’t take a break and lie in some poor girl’s bed,” you huff.

“You were fine. I’m sure you probably washed those precious sheets after I left anyway.” He counters. “At least I hope you did because they sure as hell didn’t smell pretty.”

“Oh, shut up!” you yell as you make your way back up to the start.

A few more tries later and you were finally under a minute, clocking in at 56 seconds. It was an improvement to say the least, but that was the fastest you could get, fluctuating between 56 and 58 seconds. Unless you stumbled or didn’t land a jump properly. You were very certain some parts of your body were bruised.

“Keep going.”

“Ugh, Yoongi.” You whine.

“Suga,” he interjects. Everyone had to call him Suga when talking online because the more notorious Runners had to remain anonymous in their identity, just in case.

“Suga, I can’t get any faster. I’m taking all the shortcuts and even perfected the landings. It’s not possible.”

There’s silence on the other end. “Fine. Then you’re not going on the mission.”

“What?”

“If you can’t get 3 stars on a simple dash, then you’re not cut out for a mission.”

You say nothing before you sigh harshly, breath turning into a low growl as you run back to the start.

“Asshole,” you grumble.

“Brat,” he fires back.

Using your MAG rope to grapple the side of the building, pulling you up so you can go back to the start. At this point, you wouldn’t be surprised if you could do the run blindfolded. Almost blindfolded, you correct to yourself when you climb up the enclosed garden and step around the open gap in the ceiling, remembering how you missed seeing it that last time.

“You know I have to do the mission for Agust,” you say to him, running up the wall.

“Yeah, I know. Why do you work for that prick again?”

Agust was the underground crime boss of Glass. There was speculation that he was Dogen’s successor to help keep the business alive, but no one knows for sure. From what you could gather from the few times you’ve been in contact with him, was that he has no allegiance to anyone. Granted, he seemed to be a little more lenient/sympathetic to the rebels, but again, it’s only an assumption. Everything about the man could only be guesses and rumors because no one has ever seen him, not even the people who exclusively work for him.

“Isn’t it obvious? He pays good Scrip and money is money. Plus, I think I’m one of the only Runners he trusts, considering the others rarely do missions for him. At least someone has faith in me.” The last sentence being muttered under your breath.

“I do have faith in you,” he argues, “I just push you because I know you’re capable of doing better. Besides, if you need Scrip-”

“No!” automatically shooting down his offer. “I’m not desperate and I don’t want to take money that you earned. I’ll get to 55 seconds one way or another so don’t worry about it.”

Once you get back to the start you immediately begin running the way you came. This time you adjust your route along the way. While you enter the building and jump down, when you get to the glass gardens you instead hop over the railing before it rather than vaulting up to the roof. You land better as a result, rushing to get to the zip line and spring boarding past the tree before scaling another wall. Running around the corner to get to the end, you immediately check your time in anticipation.

55.27 seconds.

“Yes, I got it!” you cheer, though your happiness is short lived by a crackle in your ear.

“Not quite. You barely missed the 3-star mark so do it again.”

“Oh no, you don’t You said 55 seconds and I would be done! Do you not see the two fives next to each other?” you point madly at the numbers even though you know he can’t see them.

“I told you that to get 3-stars, you needed to get 55 seconds exactly. And even then that’s cutting it close by a few milliseconds.” Yoongi informs you.

“You’re mean.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

Half a dozen attempts later and you were still stuck. Even going through the same motions wouldn’t reward you with a victorious finish. It wouldn’t be long before people and guards start moving out and about, going on with their day or surveying the area for Runners.

At one point, you even waited 5 minutes before starting the stopwatch and stood around for 55 seconds. Your scheme doesn’t last long, being foiled 15 seconds later.

“If you were remotely smart, you would go off camera and pretend that you’re not trying to cheat.” Yoongi drawls.

You curse your stupidity, forgetting that Runners could hack into the cameras across the rooftops. It was even more embarrassing because there just so happened to be one pointed directly at you, your mentor watching through the lens.

While you walk back to the beginning, you make sure to flip your middle finger as well before disappearing out of the screen.

“Yeah, fuck you too, brat.”

As you return to the start, you remember the pathway and wonder how else you can improve your time. Going through the motions, you slide under the same two pipes you’ve seen plenty of times, but you change things up by staying to the left and jumping over the small glass barriers at the waterfall instead of going through the open middle. It results in getting your clothes wet, but you don’t care as long as you could save time.

You run past the same couches, cutting across the patio with big umbrellas and running through the same building. Leaping over the guardrail, you roll when you hit the ground and sprint past more fancy black couches. Vaulting over another barrier, you slide down the zip line and go in between familiar white trees before running up the last wall.

Your shoes slide on the slick floor, dislodging the leaves as they flutter around you as you run to the center of the garden. Panting, you check the time with mild trepidation.

54.57, a 0.70 difference.

“I did it. I actually did it, Suga!” you laugh breathlessly.

“Good,” is his praise. “Now I never want to hear some stupid bullshit about you not being able to do anything.”

“Got it. Wow, holy shit that was insane, but so exhilarating.” You let your body drop onto one of the sofas, pure relief overcoming you as exhaustion creeps in.

While lying down on the thick cushions, you watch the white leaves, colored pink by the purple lights, flutter through the gentle air until they touch the ground. The gentle wind breeze glides around the now tranquil and quiet space. No one was nearby, no voices at all, and you feel at peace.

If things were different, you might have envied the families who lived in these extravagant homes. Even though Runners have the ability to run and hide through the wealthy and modern houses, the owners didn’t care. Almost as if they enjoyed showcasing their fortune and wanted people to know it.

“Suga, do you ever wonder what it’s like to live on this side of town?” you abruptly ask, turning your gaze to the rotating camera scanning the area.

As much as you enjoyed the view, you would still rather live your life as a Runner, wanting to keep your freedom no matter what. Despite the money and fancy parties along with the high social status, you had no interest for it. These hiCastes were under heavy surveillance just like everyone else, if not more, being kept under a watchful eye by each other, enemies, and KrugerSec alike.

“Not really. Too pretentious if you ask me. Why, you thinking of moving to the rich part of town?” he scoffs and you snort in return.

“Hell no. I was just asking.”

“I’m sure it’s nice and all, but no thanks.”

“I don’t blame you. Living like a normal Employ while your every move is being watched and tracked? I’ll pass.”

You continue to bask in the early morning, relishing it while you can until the door leading to the rooftop garden slams open, the loud noise startling the birds in the trees and causing them to fly away. A group of men walk out and you climb over the back of the couch, hiding behind the furniture.

“What the hell?” you say when you see the group of guards surround a disheveled man in a suit.

“What is it? Why’re you hiding behind the couch?” The door is right under the camera so the Runner can’t get a good view.

“A bunch of KrugerSec are messing with someone, a hiCaste I think.”

“Can you get out of there without being seen?”

You take a quick peek around the side before quickly reeling back upon seeing the figure shrouded in black.

“No, I can’t. There’s a Sentinel.”

Sentinels were the highest trained guards in KrugerSec and they were extremely difficult to fight. Not only were they strong, they were also fast, easily able to dispatch a person or Runner in the blink of an eye.

“Shit! Stay out of sight. Wait till they leave and then get the hell out of there.”

“Why would they be messing with a hiCaste? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t know, but it’s not our problem.”

“Please, just give me more time. I can get all the information, but it’s not easy.” The man tells them, fear evident in his voice. It was shocking because you’ve never heard a hiCaste beg. Then again their lives were hardly ever in danger.

“We don’t want to hear any more excuses! You’ve already the Conglomerate once and it’s rare that they give second chances.” One of the guards tells him and you hear a grunt as the man is shoved.

Leaning around the arm rest you count the guards. One Sentinel, one Enforcer, and two Guardians. Minus the Sentinel, you could take them out easy.

The man rights himself and stands up straighter, an act of faux bravery, as he glares at the guard. “You can’t do this. I’ve given almost all the documents, pulled all the strings I can, and used over half of my resources. I may work for the Conglomerate, but I still have power.” His words are meant to be threatening, but his voice undermines them by wavering.

“Unless the Conglomerate think you’ve gone deviant. Then your services would no longer be needed.” The Enforcer pats his gun lightly, a menacing reminder not to rebel. “Come with us peacefully and we’ll sort this out shortly.”

“They’re gonna take him away.” You whisper frantically at the realization.

“Don’t even think about.” Your mentor’s words cut off any thoughts of stepping in, or at least they try.

“You can’t do this, this is illegal!”

“An innocent man is about to be taken away, I can’t just sit and watch.” you whisper to Yoongi.

“I don’t care who it is. A Sentinel is there, Y/N, they’re not going to play nice and they near impossible to fight.”

You knew that, of course you knew that, but it felt wrong to not at least try to help.

When the hiCaste refuses to comply, one of the Guardians nods to the looming Sentinel who approaches the man, grabbing ahold of him as he proceeds to drag him towards the door.

The man begins screaming and fighting back in return, flailing madly as he yells. “Help me! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“Suga, I have to do something.”

“Y/N, I’m serious. Stay out of this.” He growls darkly, a strong warning you were meant to listen to.

“I’m sorry but I can’t,” is all you say.

As much as the hiCaste looked down on you and the Runners, they were still civilians just like everyone else. So you do what you have to do.

You vault over the couch, wall-running on the side of the greenhouse and kick the first Guardian, knocking him out as he runs into the other wall.

“You are in breach of policy, submit now!” a guard yells though you ignore him, responding by simply attacking him.

Pointing his gun at you, you disarm the Enforcer before he gets a chance to shoot you, kicking him in the head.

Only two guards are remaining, but before you can take out the lesser challenging one, the Sentinel strikes first. He hits hard, the force sending you to the ground and you scramble to your feet before he can retaliate. Shots ring out as the other guard picks up the gun and begins firing at you. You run around the glass enclosure to try and put distance between you and them. Running up the wall, you do a 180-turn and kick hard at the Sentinel. He stumbles briefly, but it’s not enough to bring him down.

Going back around, the Guardian starts shooting at you and you jump, getting ready to kick until the Sentinel yanks you back. You roll backwards and dodge the incoming punch, nearly running into the hiCaste who ducks out of the way while you turn to run up the wall but the strong guard is one step ahead as he grabs you by the shirt and pulls you down. Legs flailing, you try to get out of his grip while the other guard prepares to shoot you.

Surprisingly, he is stopped by the hiCaste who tackles him and they begin fighting for the gun, pulling it back and forth between them. Bullets fly out through the struggle spraying around you and the Sentinel though the guard doesn’t seem to mind at all. The Sentinel eventually throws you to the ground, kicking you harshly and you cough, struggling to crawl away. More bullets ring out and they hit the camera above the door, destroying it in the process.

You can hear Yoongi cursing in your ear as he loses visual of you and the fight, but you can’t do much to reassure him when you are backed up against the wall of the garden. The Sentinel swings at you and you barely move out of way, his gloved fist punching into the glass and causing it to shatter. Maneuvering around behind him, you repeat your previous actions and run up the wall so you can spin around and kick him. This time you actually manage to break his helmet, the plastic cracking, revealing a green eye and a nose through the hole.

Running around the space to gain momentum, he chases after you and after doing a loop you spin around to wall run while you hit him with all the force you can muster. The punch is enough to knock him unconscious and the guard falls over. You do as well, panting as sweat pours across your body while you slide to the ground. Through the adrenaline, you barely hear Yoongi shouting your name in your ear.

“Y/N! You need to get out of there, now! The Wire is going crazy with chatter and there are reports of a hostile conflict in Ocean View. What the hell did you do?” Yoongi screams.

“It’s okay, the Sentinel is down.” You pant tiredly, rising to your feet unsteadily as you prepare to leave before reinforcements come.

“Thank you.”

You look at the sound and see the man drop the Enforcer’s gun, looking even more disheveled though he seems relieved.

“If you hadn’t stepped in, they would have interrogated me for information and then killed me afterwards.” He explains, confirming your worst fears and yet his words also solidify your interference. “Let me repay you.” The man says, stepping towards you.

“It’s no problem really.” You tell him, but he doesn’t stop until he abruptly shakes your hand. There’s something in his hand as he passes it to you and you see it’s a piece of paper.

“Here’s some money as compensation.” He tells you before walking away and going out through the door, leaving you confused in the broken garden.

“Kid, they’re sending another Sentinel. You need to get the hell out of there!” Yoongi’s desperate voice yells.

His voice disrupts your train of thought and turn to see more guards gathering on the rooftops. You don’t need any more incentive as you stuff the paper in your pocket.

Already exhausted from the fight, you run through the open apartments you had been previously admiring, dodging around more tables and luxury sofas. When you get to the wide gap between Ocean View and Eden Village, you know they won’t be able to catch up as you swing across with your MAG rope. You can hear the blades of a helicopter as the VTOL approaches. Sliding down the incline inside the museum, shoes skidding down the orange interior until you crash through the window at the bottom.

While you run across Eden Village, you hear the crackling static of radios and see a group of guards patrolling the area.

“It’s that Runner!” One yells when he spots you and then immediately begin coming towards you.

“Don’t try to fight them, kid, just get home.” Yoongi tells you upon seeing the group on the cameras.

You shove past them when they approach, not slowing down at all while you splash through the various waterfalls on top of the building. The VTOL’s spotlight shines down on you, the bright light reflecting in the windows, a contrast to the still early morning sky. Taking a shortcut through Crystal Valley, a small area clustered with buildings, where you proceed to lose the guards and the helicopter by moving inside the bright blue buildings until they can’t find you.

When everything quiets down, you eventually emerge outside and make your way through Shimmering Heights as you run towards the lair. Running past the blaring billboards and loud televisions, you are reminded of the stark contrast of Ocean View. While this area shared the same colors of purple and blue as the hiCaste city, its environment was loaded with technology galore instead of having trees and infinite waterfalls. You knew you were close to home when all you saw were white buildings and nothing more.

Going underneath the transit tunnels, you run along the metal grates, and swing across the giant gaps where trains raced by. Spring boarding up some boxes before going through a doorway, up a flight of stairs and you were safely in the Lair. Safe in the sense that KrugerSec couldn’t get to you.

When you turn the corner, you find Yoongi already there waiting, pacing back and forth across the large room until he sees you.

“What the hell were you thinking?” His low voice only makes his dark expression even more terrifying as he stalks towards you.

“I was thinking of helping someone who was in trouble.” You reply, getting upset at his accusatory question.

“And for what? A damn hiCaste?” he scoffs.

“They were going to take him away and then kill him after they got what they wanted.”

The blond breathes harshly in frustration. “Y/N, they had a fucking Sentinel. KrugerSec doesn’t just send one out for no reason.” He pauses, raking a hand through his hair, messing up the bandana around his forehead, as he continues to glare at you. “Why did you do it, huh? Was it to prove a point?”

“No! Yoongi, you know it’s nothing like that.” You say, walking towards the open window, leaning against the wall so the breeze can cool you down.

“What about money? Figured you do this good deed and the guy would pay you some big money as a reward?”

“What?” you look up and find Yoongi’s narrowed eyed staring at the note the man gave you before he left. “I didn’t do it for anything, I did it because it was the right thing to do. That’s it.”

He shakes his head before crumpling the note and tosses it on the desk. “No, that’s not it. You went up against a Sentinel even though you’ve had no training. You’ve only fought the Shock Protectors once.” Crossing his arms, he regards with disappointment and you feel irritated at the helpless feeling it gives you.

“Why are being like this? Yeah, I’ve never dealt with one before, but I took care of him. And even if I hadn’t I know how to get away.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is? Enlighten me.”

“The point is, you acted irrationally.”

“How, by not listening to you?” you smart off and the glare he sends has you wishing you could take back the question. Any more prodding and his face would be the same color as the red bandana on his head.

“No,” he replies, upper lip curling into a sneer, “by not fucking planning. You immediately started a fight without thinking and it almost got yourself killed.”

“Well, I’m sorry! Next time I’ll be sure and take 5 minutes to think of a plan when I’m in a dangerous situation.”

His eyes close as his fingers dig into them and he sighs heavily. “This isn’t a game, Y/N, you need to start thinking about the rest of the Runners instead of going around playing hero.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do. And I would never put the other Runners at risk. If I got captured, then it was because it was my fault and I’ll do better next time.”

Yoongi stills, his fingers stop rubbing his eyebrows before he directs his gaze to you. “You’re an idiot if you think everyone gets a second chance.” The air seems to chill as he stalks out of the room, his blond hair is the last thing you see before he disappears around the corner.

Sighing in exhaustion, you wish the release of air would help relax the tightness in your chest, but it doesn’t. Walking to the desk to retrieve your crumpled note, you see another piece of paper next nearby.

Congratulations and good luck, Brat

-SUGA

A/N: So…this is longer than expected. Can you tell this is the idea, the story that started it all? When I was playing this game for the first time, I could not get Yoongi out of my mind. For some reason I could just imagine him in this world and I couldn’t get out of my head. Then I started thinking about other members in other games and lo and behold, VideoGame!BTS was born! I really hoped you liked it and please leave me feedback, it really helps and I love hearing your thoughts! Thank you so much for reading!

#suga scenarios #bts scenarios #bts imagines #suga #bts #videogame!BTS

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