#HOPEFULLY we simply do not lose power again ugh

[threnodians]

fingers crossed that the wind calms tf down so we don’t have to deal with another outage, especially considering the temperature is going to be down in the low teens with the wind chill at like -10℉ 🥲👍🏻

[p-artsypants]

I’ll Handle This (4)

In Which Gabriel and Plagg Argue

“I’ll solve all your problems,” Plagg had said. “You just have to agree to it.” A fixed relationship with his father, Lila to stop bothering him, and Ladybug to fall in love with him? Who wouldn’t agree to that?

Except Plagg was the God of Destruction and Chaos and had a more…hands-on approach. Adrien just wants his body back.

Ao3 | FF.net

After the shopping trip, the teens walked back to the school together, and then separated. 

“Ugh, walking is exhausting.” Plagg groaned. 

“You’re using my muscles, you know.” Adrien spoke, poking out of the pocket. “I don’t usually walk this much, since my bodyguard drives me everywhere.” 

“Well, then I’m sure this is good for you.” Plagg stomped in big steps. “But I haven’t used legs since the last time I switched with a wielder, so I get to complain.” 

“I think by that logic, you don’t get to complain, because you usually get to float. And not going to lie…it’s pretty sweet.” 

“Just wait until you start floating in your sleep, and then you phase through the ceiling and then keep going and end up in space.” 

Adrien froze, staring up at his own face from the pocket. “That can happen?” 

“Oh yes. Good luck sleeping tonight!”

Not too much longer, Plagg arrived back at the Agreste manor. 

He could feel Adrien shaking in his pocket. “What’s up, Bub?” 

“My father is going to be waiting for you. I just know it. He’s going to yell and threaten to pull you out of school—“ 

“What, like he did this morning? Relax. There’s plenty of windows in the mansion.” 

But Adrien came spiraling out of the shirt to look Plagg in the eyes. “But I don’t want you to break anymore windows! I don’t want you to make my father angry anymore! You’re hurting him!” 

Plagg gave him a hard look. “Is that what you think, Adrien? That your disobedience hurts him?” 

“Why else would he be mean? He loves me...” 

Plagg reached up and scratched his ears. “Of course he does, kid. But...sometimes, in people like your dad, love isn’t the strongest motivator. I know it is with you. Love is about the only thing that controls you. Your love for your friends, for your family, your city, for Ladybug...that all drives your decisions.” 

Adrien was quiet as he agreed. 

“But for people like your father, they’re driven by power. They base decisions on what will make them look good and get more respect. He does love you, Adrien, but he wants your unconditional loyalty. He doesn’t want you to question him, or to disagree with him, because you’re his son. He made you, and you’re half of him. So if anyone is to be completely submitted to his will, it’s you.” 

Adrien frowned. “I don’t believe that. I think...I think he’s just scared. Of losing me, that is. Like we lost mom. So he keeps me restricted.” 

“But he’s always treated you like this, even before you lost your mom.” 

Adrien had no argument to that, and just slowly lowered himself into Plagg’s hands. 

“Just think about it. I’ll do all the talking, you just listen and see.” 

“Okay.” 

Plagg tucked him back into the pocket, before approaching the gate and ringing the doorbell. 

The camera didn’t even come out, the gate just opened. 

It felt like walking into a hell mouth. 

Inside, Gabriel stood at the bottom of the stairs, with his arms crossed. Next to him, Nathalie stood with her own arms crossed. And next to her stood Lila, with her arms also crossed. 

Plagg couldn’t help but snicker. They looked like three Russian puzzle dolls. Would Lila pop open and show another smaller, angrier creature? 

“What’s so funny?” Demanded Gabriel. “Where have you been?” 

“Chill man, I was out with my friends.” 

“And spending my money?” 

“You literally let me spend whatever money I want. I just usually never have anything I want to buy. I treat my friends to a nice lunch and it’s the end of the world?”

Gabriel sniffed, “you obviously can’t see that your so-called ‘friends’ are only hanging around you because of our wealth. I disprove of the company you keep, especially Mr. Lahiffe—“ 

“Why?” 

“You don’t get to question my authority.” 

“I’m just honestly curious as to why you don’t like them. I don’t buy stuff for my friends, despite what you think. Nino is a really good friend and a nice person. He doesn’t get in trouble, and his grades are pretty good. So what’s up?” 

“I simply don’t care for his plebeian attitude.” 

Plagg scoffed. “Plebeian?! Excuse me, what century is this again? Are we nobles or something I didn’t know about?” He pitched his voice high to have a ‘proper’ voice. “Oh yes Martha, we shan’t have our child run around with the rift raft in the fields. He must get a proper education so he may marry his cousin, have a child with three eyes, and die at the ripe old age at 26!” 

“Adrien!” Gabriel yelled. “How dare you mock me!” 

“Then stop talking like a 17th century noble! We have money, but high society never did anyone favors! You just sound like an old idiot! An old, out of touch, insensitive idiot!” Then he pointed at Lila. “And if you want to talk about people taking advantage of us, why don’t you turn yourself 90 degrees that-a-way to grill this blood sucking parasite.” 

“On the contrary,” Gabriel interrupted. “Miss Rossi only has your best interests at heart, which is why she came here and told me all about your little charade you put on during school today. You assaulted your bodyguard!” 

“He’s fine.” 

“Whether or not he’s fine is beside the point, Adrien. I hired him to protect you, and you attack him?” 

“He wasn’t protecting me. He was trying to kidnap me! I wanted to be at school!” 

“Well naughty children don’t get to do what they want to do!” 

“Do you want me to be happy or stupid?!” 

“No! Wait—“ 

“Ah ha!” Plagg pointed. “You just want me to be miserable!”

Gabriel flared his nostrils. “Stop trying to twist my words. The fact remains that you have been completely out of control these last few days, and I have no choice but to discipline you accordingly. From now on, you will have no contact with these teenagers that are encouraging you to behave like this monster. Instead, you will only be allowed to interact with Miss Rossi at photo shoots.” 

Plagg saw the corner of the man’s mouth curve up. Check mate, the gesture said. 

Time to take it up a notch.  

“I’m not sure the best way to handle this situation, so I’ll handle it the way Chloe would.” He laid down on the floor and began to kick and scream. “DADDY! DADDY I HATE HER! FIRE HER AT ONCE!!” 

“If you don’t stop this tantrum this instant, you’re being pulled out of school.” 

“Ha!” He laughed, still from the floor. “I’ll just reenroll! I broke one window getting out the first time, there’s not a lock in this earth that can hold me, old man.” 

“Adrien, go to your room.” 

“Make me.” 

“You’re angering me, and you won’t like me when I’m angry.” 

“I don’t like you now.” 

“This attitude of yours is disrespectful, disgusting, immature, and embarrassing. I raised you better than—“ 

“Are you done?” Plagg asked, scratching his ear. “Because you just keep talking. That’s all you do. This gaslighting is getting really old. I know I’m acting immature, that’s the whole thing. Pointing it out just makes you look stupid. Are you going to hit me or something?” 

“I’m not going to hit you, Adrien.” 

“Huh. Didn’t know you had it in you.” 

Gabriel frowned. “You really think I would hit you?” 

“You’ve already hit emotional and verbal abuse, I assumed that was the next step.” 

“I am not abusive! I am strict, but I only have your best interests at heart.” 

“Right, like making me schmooze with Miss Sausage Hair here?” 

“Hey!” Lila cried. 

“Oh shut up, you’re plenty at fault here too.” 

“That’s it. Adrien, you’re grounded. No phone, no computer, no tv, no video games, and no school.” 

“So you want me to just sit in my room and stare out the window? Or are you going to board those up too?” 

“There’s plenty of books for you to read. Books that will hopefully change your mind about this rebellious streak.” 

“Until when?” 

“Until I say so!” 

“Cool. I quit modeling.” 

“WHAT!?” 

“You heard me. I quit modeling. Or you can fire Lila and unground me. Your choice, Gabe.”

Gabriel ground his teeth as Lila just stood there in shock. 

“I’ll give you some time to think about it.” Plagg cracked his neck. “I’ve got homework to do.” 

“But—“ 

“Ah ah ah,” Plagg held up a hand. “Talk to the hand, cause the face ain’t listening.” He skipped up the stairs, and out of the lobby. 

Gabriel simmered in rage, feeling the control which had been so firmly in his hands slip away. 

“Mr. Agreste—“ Lila began. 

“No.” He interrupted. “I need some time to think. Keep your eye on Adrien and let me know exactly what he’s up to, who he’s with, what he’s doing. You do this, and I will reward you greatly.” 

“Of course, Mr. Agreste.” 

—

As soon as Plagg closed the bedroom door, Adrien spiraled out of his pocket. 

“Hey kid, I know that was rough...” 

“Rough?! No kidding! You’re a monster! How could you talk to my father like that!? How could you insinuate that he would hit me? And you got me grounded and pulled from school! You quit modeling!” 

“Honestly Adrien, I thought he might hit me. His anger reflects violence. You see it too.” 

Adrien rubbed his paws over his cheeks, trying to stop the tears. 

“Come on kid, it’s for the best.” And he reached out for him. 

But Adrien darted away. “I’m going to see Tikki! I need comfort from someone that’s not trying to ruin my life!” 

Before Plagg could protest, Adrien had flitted out the window and into the streets. 

The sun was setting, and traffic was dwindling, as working folks made their way home. 

Finding Marinette’s house was a matter of finding the school, and then going from there, while sticking to the shadows and staying high enough away from straying eyes. 

When he reached her balcony, he loitered at the window, trying to figure out how to phase in. Then he wondered if he should even bother. Tikki might scold him for leaving Plagg. Or maybe she’d laugh at him for being upset. She was millennia old too. His problems probably would sound trivial to her as well.

Eventually, he just knocked. 

Marinette answered, a grave look on her face. “Plagg? What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Is Chat okay?” 

“He’s fine.” Adrien sniffed. “Can I talk to Tikki please?” 

Shocked by his politeness and shy demeanor, she blinked twice and answered, “Uh, sure.” 

Tikki appeared then, looking at him with concerned eyes. 

“I’ll just leave you two alone then,” Marinette stated, closing the window. 

“Adrien? What’s wrong?” 

It all came out of him then. “He’s a monster!” Adrien blubbered. “He’s ruining everything and making it all worse! I don’t know how to stop him! But my father is done with me and is going to pull me out of school! Plagg keeps acting like it’s no big deal, but he doesn’t understand! He’s just treating this like a big game!”

To his relief, Tikki hugged him tightly. “Oh Adrien. Plagg means well, I promise. His methods don’t make much sense, but they do produce results. It’ll be alright.” 

Adrien just sniffed, taking comfort from the hug. “I feel so helpless. I can’t do anything without outing myself as Chat Noir, and that’s the last thing I need...unless Plagg beats me to it. I know everyone is suspicious of him. This is a nightmare.” 

“I’ll talk to him when I get a chance,” promised Tikki. “He does mean well, I promise. But this is your life, and making you watch him work is torture.” 

“Exactly! Tikki you understand! If he does pull this off, I will thank him, but like...what if it doesn’t work? He acts like humans are so predictable and easy to manipulate, but even with all his life and experiences, he can’t account for everything. I’m worried he’s being too cocky.” 

Tikki petted his head. “Plagg can get over his head sometimes. He’s lazy and stubborn, but that just makes him ridiculously creative. Some of his attempts may fail, but I really think you just have to trust that he’s in control.” 

“I know, I know, and in my head, I know he’s doing this for me. I know he doesn’t want to be in my body, and I know he’s crazy smart…but I feel…betrayed? Scared? I don’t know what I’m feeling.” 

“Unstable.” Tikki provided. “Because you have no control over your life.” 

He frowned, holding onto his tail. 

“But, from what Plagg has told me, you didn’t have much control of it before either.” 

He rubbed a paw against his cheek. “Sadly, no. I didn’t.” 

The trap door opened again, and Marinette peeked her head out. She placed a plate with a cheese danish on it on the ground nearby. “Anything I can do?” 

Tikki answered for him, only slightly lying, “sometimes Plagg gets emotional when he thinks about past holders that we lost tragically. He said Chat was busy and he didn’t want to bother him.” 

“Oh Plagg, I’m so sorry.” 

Adrien rubbed his eyes with his paws again. He may not be in his body, but he did feel a little embarrassed to be crying in front of his crush. 

“Say Marinette, now that you’re the guardian, it would be really helpful if you could comfort him.” 

“Me? I...I guess. What do I do?”

“Just do what feels right.” 

Adrien floated a little closer to her, desperate for her affection, but hesitant to take it for himself. 

She cupped him in her hands, cradling him, holding him, cocooning him with her skin. She brought him up to her face, leaving a lingering kiss right between his ears, then caressed him to her cheek, her fingers encircling him in a hug. 

A stray finger itched the back of his head, sending tingles all the way down to his tail and making him purr. 

This was heavenly. Her scent surrounded him, dulling his senses and calming his tears. 

“It’s okay.” She said softly. “It’s alright to be sad. Things will get better.” 

Her words soothed the day's pain, and he really did feel more optimistic. He could do anything with Ladybug’s support. 

Finally, he pressed a little kiss to her cheek and allowed her to pull away. “Thank you Marinette. I do feel a lot better now.” 

Her smile was so warm and so wonderful, he could stare at her all day. 

But an Akuma alert had to go and ruin the whole thing. 

“You better get back to Chat! If you need more comfort, come back tonight after patrol!” 

“Thanks Marinette! Save that Danish for me!” And he rushed off back to the mansion.

[orangeoctopi7]

A Negligible Price

I guess it’s becoming a tradition for me to add another chapter to A Minor Inconvenience every year for @stanuary . I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen. It’s just that the prompt “Sacrifice” got me thinking about this story and where I thought it could go, and then I got writing and I started coming up with ideas for how I could actually put a finish to this story. So yeah, hopefully it won’t be another year before I post chapter 4, but not promises!

Also, first time I’ve had to do this, but:

CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSION OF SUICIDE/MARTYR COMPLEX AND SUIDICE ADJACENT THEMES.

* * *

Bill rushes to gather himself together again. Now that Sixer and his idiot brother have caught on, he knows they’ll probably be making a move against him soon. The time for lying in wait and keeping a low profile has passed. He’s been getting faster, better at finding the tiny flecks of gold scattered into the dark abyss below. 

Unfortunately that also means that he’s noticed that some missing pieces just never turn up. As an interdimensional being who’s existed in countless dimensions across innumerable timelines, Bill likes to think he knows himself pretty well now. What he’s made of, how much power he’s accumulated, what he’s capable of. And if he had to estimate now, which he does, he’d say he’s been reduced to maybe a third of his power. Roughly two thirds of him are missing. 

What happened to those missing pieces? Were they simply deleted by that memory eraser? Did he leave some of himself behind in that physical form he left to enter Stan’s mind in the Fearamid? Bill can only guess, but really, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. What matters is getting out of this moron’s brain and starting again on his path to a universe free of rules.

* * *

Stan recovered from his latest memory lapse quickly, despite the fact that it was the worst one he’d experienced since he sacrificed himself to the memory gun last summer. The experience had clearly put Ford on edge, and as much as he tried to bottle up his emotions and remain calm, Stan could practically feel the panic coming off him in waves. 

They were both relieved when they reached Spitsbergen. There was a hospital in Longyearbyen, where Ford insisted they stop to give Stan a check-up. Stan felt fine, but if it helped ease Ford’s nerves, then he could sit through a check-up.

Explaining Stan’s condition to the doctor was a struggle, considering English was not his strongest language. They definitely got across that Stan was experiencing memory problems, but the doctor seemed to be under the impression it had been caused by an injury to the head in an accident, rather than a purposeful exposure to a memory-erasing device. 

Eventually, Ford had lost his patience and just asked if they could use the CT or MRI machine themselves. The doctor spoke enough English to tell them that the nearest CT or MRI machine was in either Iceland or Russia.

The elder Pines twins left the hospital in low spirits. Ford kicked at little pebbles as they walked down the street.

“There’s a research facility in Ny-Ålesund. Perhaps we could sail up there and commandeer some equipment to rig up our own CT scan…”

“I think it’d be easier to just hop on a plane back to the States at this point.” Stan suggested.

“If we’re going to hop on a plane somewhere, it’ll be to Reykjavik, where we won’t have to pay an arm and a leg for any treatments.”

“Yeah, we’ll just have to wait half a year.” Stan rolled his eyes. “I don’t think they’re gonna take ‘revived demon in my head’ as an urgent need.”

“Probably not…” Ford admitted.

“And you’re sure you didn’t figure anything else out the last time you were pokin’ around in my head?”

Ford grit his teeth. The truth was, he was afraid what would happen if he tried to revisit that memory. The cold flames of the memory eraser had felt so real, even just revisiting it in Stan’s mind, and they seemed to be the trigger of his latest memory lapse. Would they have a similar effect within Ford’s own memory?

“Nothing I’ve been able to make sense of.”

Stan grit his teeth. “So what now? Just leave that jerk in my head?”

Ford sighed. “I want to do some more research into what we’ve learned so far. Perhaps a trip to the library will help me find some insight. But truthfully… I may have been too hasty with punching out Bill, when I encountered him. He’s a liar who can’t be trusted, but he’s also a braggart. If I’d just let him run his mouth a little longer, we may have learned something about what he’s up to.”

* * *

Longyearbyen’s library wasn’t any bigger than the public library in Gravity Falls, and had significantly fewer books relating to Bill and mind magic, but it did at least have access to several library databases that Ford couldn’t typically log into from the Stan’O’War II. (According to Fiddleford, these databases could be hacked into quite easily, but Ford didn’t have the time or the wherewithal to learn how) It would have to do for now. Ford took a seat at a computer, and with a little help from a librarian, he was soon scrolling through peer-reviewed articles from different archeologists and anthropologists and folklore experts and descendants of the Aztecs and Mayans debating who Xolotl was, what his role was in the Aztec religion, how much his lore changed from Pre- and Post- Colombian invasion, and so forth. 

What he’d learned so far was interesting, to say the least. The things that most people agreed upon was that Xolotl was a god of death, fire, and lightning. What caught Ford’s attention was the fact that they were also the god of twins and deformities. He glanced down at his twelve fingers, which rested awkwardly on the small keyboard meant for people with just ten. It seemed odd that Bill would call on this particular death god, when they seemed far more likely to be a patron to Stan and Ford. 

While Ford puzzled over this new information, Stan browsed the library, looking for something to entertain himself while he waited. Unsurprisingly, there weren’t a whole lot of English books in this Norwegian library. Luckily, it wasn’t long before he stumbled upon an extensive comics section. Even though he still couldn’t read most of them, the pictures were at least enough that he got the gist of what was going on.

 European comics were very different from American comics. They featured a lot less costumed superheroes punching bad guys and a lot more weird, quirky characters setting out on adventures and exploring the world. They also seemed to lean more heavily on comedy rather than drama. Stan decided he liked them.

He’d been looking at a story about some rich duck when he noticed he felt odd. He didn’t know how else to explain it other than to say that his brain felt itchy. The more he concentrated on it, the more it faded away, but when he went back to looking at the comic and got absorbed back into the story, it came back.

After almost an hour of the feeling coming and going, Stan decided he was not imagining the sensation. He stuffed a tissue into the comic as a bookmark and got up to see what Ford would have to say about it. Almost as soon as he laid eyes on his brother, a wave of anger washed over him. Just like the itchy brain feeling, it went away almost as soon as he stopped and thought about it, but it had been so strong, that he couldn’t deny it had happened.

“Hey.” Stan tapped his brother on the shoulder as the old researcher skimmed an article about why the Aztecs associated lightning with twins.

“Hmm?” Ford acknowledged him without looking away from the screen.

“Am I forgettin’ to be mad at you about somethin’?”

That got Ford to turn and look at him. “Are you having a memory lapse!?”

“I don’t think so, but just a second ago I looked over at you and I felt really mad all of a sudden. Can’t really think of a reason why, though. I’m just wondering if maybe the other day, when I had the big blank-out, maybe we missed somethin’?”

The old researcher’s face contorted with guilt. “You have ample reason to be mad at me. I didn’t stand up for you when dad kicked you out. I never reached out to you for over ten years. I expected you to drop everything and help me with my problems without any explanation. I refused to thank you for saving my life--”

“Yeah, no, none of that stuff.” Stan shook his head. “I remember all that stuff, and I’ve already forgiven you and junk. Mmmm… did you try to enchant the mop again and not let me remember it?” But even as he joked that the underlying reason must be the latest chapter in a minor argument, he knew that couldn’t be right. The sudden bloom of anger had been much more deep-seated and horrible than that. It had felt like… it had felt like Ford had ruined everything. 

To be fair, there had been a long period of Stan’s life when he had felt like Ford had ruined everything. But Stan was over that now, and this brief brush with anger had felt even more heated than that.

Ford gave him an appraising look. “Were there any other memories or emotions associated with this feeling?”

“Oh yeah, my brain was feelin’ itchy right before that.”

“Have… you been using shampoo?” Ford asked, unsure of what to do with this information.

“Not my scalp, genius, like the actual thinking part of my brain!”

“... I can’t even begin to guess what that means.”

“Ugh, I don’t know how else to describe it, ok? It’s like somethin’ was squirmin’ around in my mind!”

The brothers wore twin expressions of realization as the words left Stan’s mouth. 

“We need to get back to the boat.” Ford stood from the computer desk abruptly.

“Yep.” Stan set the comic he’d been reading down on the desk, not even bothering to remove his improvised bookmark. 

* * *

Bill throws his hands up and roars in frustration. He can’t seem to take control, even when the moron’s mind is zoning out, losing himself in some stupid comic book. He’s already in the mind! He’s been here for months! He knows his way around here. So why isn’t it working? Is it because he never made a deal with this guy? That shouldn’t matter! The last thing they did before the whole memory gun thing was shake hands! 

There's no time to waste complaining, though. Sixer will be poking around here any minute. Bill needs a plan. Before, he'd spent millions of years in the Nightmare Realm planning. Now he's making everything up as he goes.

It's clear that Bill can't just take control of Stan like he'd been counting on. But do the other two know that? He might still be able to use that to his advantage.

If Bill is going to trick these losers and get out of here, he needs to play his opponents right. Luckily, he's got years of experience fighting against Sixer. It's the Big Mackerel that he worries about. 

Before, Bill hadn't paid much attention to Stan. He thought he understood what made the simple con man tick. But then, in the end, he found he didn't understand at all. Even after months of being trapped in his mindscape, Stan is very much still a mystery to Bill.

But there is one thing about Stan that Bill does understand.

He’s willing to sacrifice himself for his family.

* * *

Once they were back aboard the Stan’O’War II, Stan allowed himself to relax, just a little. At least here his surroundings were familiar, and the only person he had to worry about was his own brother.

Under normal circumstances, “the only person he had to worry about” meant he didn’t have to look over his shoulder for law enforcement or old criminals who might recognize Stan from his drifter days. 

Today “the only person he had to worry about” meant the only person he could possibly endanger if Bill was able to take control of him. Ford was the last person Stan wanted to put in danger, but he also had to admit, his brother knew more about the demon than any other living being on the planet. 

Stan may have been able to relax a tiny fraction once they were back aboard their boat, but not Ford. Ford was in full-blown panic mode.

He frantically searched around the storage room for something, anything, that could help protect his brother from Bill. Unfortunately, they hadn’t thought to bring unicorn hair or moonstones on their voyage. He did have titanium, but he wasn’t confident enough in his emergency medical knowledge to perform cranial surgery on his own, and he doubted they’d be able to find a doctor crooked enough to do it for them. Currently, his best idea was to build an updated version of Project Mentem, but that would take time. Time he wasn’t sure Stan had.

“I can re-enter your mindscape and shatter him again.” Ford decided, pulling out the candles again. “That should at least buy you a few days.”

“Ok.” Stan nodded. He’d definitely prefer to know Bill was shattered again, and not moving around in his brain. “But it’s not like he’s doing anything right now.”

“He’s probably trying to get us to lower our guard.” Ford assumed. “I’ll need to tie you up. He usually makes his move while his victim is asleep.”

“If I need to fall asleep for your spell while tied up, we’re gonna be waitin’ a long time.” Stan warned. “I dunno if I could even fall asleep right now if I had the world’s most comfortable bed.”

“Fair point.” Ford nodded. “I may have to drug you.”

“You gotta be kidding me!” It was abundantly clear that Ford was not kidding in the slightest.

“Would you rather be used as his puppet!?” The old researcher shouted. The outburst rang in the air for a few seconds while Ford tried to steady his breathing. “Stan I… I’m sorry, I just--”

“It’s ok.” Stan pulled him into a hug and tried his best to calm his brother down. “I know you’re just scared.”

“I’m not scared for myself.” Ford explained in a small voice. “I’m scared for you. Waking up to find that you’ve hurt someone, it’s-- I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, least of all you--”

“Stanford, look at me. We’re not gonna let that happen. What if we do it while I’m awake, like we did with the memory before?”

Ford nodded meekly. “That… that could work.”

“You can still tie me up if that makes you feel better.”

The old researcher bit his lip. “...It shouldn't be necessary...”

“Ford.”

“...But it probably would ease some of my fears, yes.” he admitted.

“That’s what I thought. I’ll go get the rope.”

Still unwilling to let his brother out of his sight, Ford followed Stan up to the deck while he retrieved said rope. Once they were back below deck, he wrapped Stan tightly in a large blanket before sitting him down on a chair and tying him up, to ensure he was as comfortable as possible while still restricting his movement.

“How do you feel?” Ford asked as he lit the candles.

“Like I’m about to be shipped back to Oregon in the mail.”

“And Bill…?”

“I haven’t felt anything else from him since we left the library.”

The lack of activity should have reassured Ford, but instead it just added to his general unease. At least he was able to compose himself enough to perform the incantation.

Just as last time, after a flash of light, he found himself on the deck of Stan’s mindscape, with Stan himself standing beside him. This time, though, Bill was floating there, waiting for them.

“I KNEW YOU’D BE BACK HERE AFTER I GOT YOUR ATTENTION IN THE LIBRARY!” The demon taunted. “OH, AND LOOK. STANO HERE EVEN MADE A MENTAL CONSTRUCT OF HIMSELF WITHIN HIS OWN MIND JUST SO YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO FACE ME ALONE! HOW CUTE!” He prodded Stan in the stomach like he was the Pillsbury Doughboy.

“Back off, bucko!” Stan threatened. “We’re here to break your whole face!”

“WHAT, YOU COULDN’T WAIT UNTIL TONIGHT TO DO IT IN YOUR DREAMS LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO?” Bill asked, voice dripping with false innocence. 

“We’re not able to risk the chance of you parading about in Stanley’s body.” Ford growled.

“HA! YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN ANYONE, FORDSY, I ONLY DO THAT TO STUBBORN KNOW-IT-ALLS WHO WON’T WORK WITH ME WILLINGLY.”

“If you think I’m gonna work with you willingly, then you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.” Stan grunted.

“HEAR ME OUT, MAC! WE BOTH WANT THE SAME THING HERE! ME, OUT OF YOUR SAD PATHETIC MIND!”

“You can’t leave!?” Ford asked in surprise.

“WHAT, YOU THINK I ENJOY SPENDING TIME IN THIS BOZO’S MIND? YOU THINK I WAS PLOTTING MY REVENGE?”

“Honestly, yes.”

Bill gave a long, mocking laugh. “AHAHAHAHAHA! YOU REALLY THINK I CARE ABOUT A COUPLE OF INSIGNIFICANT FLESH SACKS LIKE YOU?”

“We’re the insignificant flesh sacks who killed you!” Stan reminded him.

“WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY. THE BEST REVENGE IS LIVING WELL.”

The brothers exchanged a suspicious glance. They highly doubted Bill actually believed that adage.

“BUT I CAN’T EXACTLY LIVE WELL TRAPPED IN YOUR MINDSCAPE. I MIGHT GET BORED AND DECIDE THE BEST REVENGE IS KILLING YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY WITH YOUR OWN HANDS.”

Ah yes, that was more along the lines of what they expected from Bill.

“So you’re saying you’ll just let bygones be bygones if I cooperate with you?” Stan asked skeptically. 

“WE’LL GO OUR SEPARATE WAYS, NEVER TO MEET AGAIN!”

“And what are you planning on doing once you’re free?” Ford asked coldly.

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SIXER.” The demon waved him off. “NOW ARE YOU GONNA HELP ME OUT OF HERE OR NOT? THE SOONER THE BETTER. YOU TWO AREN’T GETTING ANY FURTHER AWAY FROM THE AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF A HUMAN MALE, AND FISH FACE HERE DOESN'T EXACTLY TAKE GOOD CARE OF HIS BODY.”

“Hey!” Stan shouted indignantly.

“Why should Stan’s life expectancy factor into this?” Ford asked.

“HMMM? OH, NO REASON.” Bill said evasively. “I’M JUST, Y’KNOW, IN A HURRY.”

“You’re an immortal, extradimensional being. You’ve been trying to find a way out of the nightmare realm since before multicellular life developed on this planet. If you’re so sure we’re close to the end of our lives, why not wait until we’re out of the way? You must realize we’ll try and stop you from starting Weirdmaggedon again!” Ford reasoned.

“WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT STARTING WEIRDMAGGEDON AGAIN?” Bill denied. “AND MAYBE AFTER A BILLION YEARS, I’M TIRED OF WAITING!”

“Unless you aren’t immortal any more.” the old researcher concluded.

“YOU’VE SEEN FOR YOURSELF, FORDSY, EVERY TIME YOU OR YOUR IDIOT BROTHER SHATTER ME, I PULL MYSELF BACK TOGETHER.”

“Immortal in the mind, perhaps. But what happens when the mind you’re occupying finally dies?”

“ALRIGHT, YOU FIGURED IT OUT!” Bill sneered. “I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN A GENIUS LIKE YOU WOULD. YEAH, MY LIFE’S TIED TO THE BIG MACKEREL’S NOW. SO WHAT? YOU GONNA KILL YOUR BROTHER JUST TO GET RID OF ME?”

“Of course not!” Ford barked.

“Hey, I’d be more than happy to take you down with me if it meant making sure you never hurt anyone else ever again!” Stan challenged the demon.

Ford stared at his brother with wide eyes. “Stanley, no!”

“Hey, relax, I’m not talkin’ suicide or anything.” Stan assured him. “But he’s right about one thing. I’m not gonna live forever.”

I’ll only do it if I have to. A stray thought cawed overhead.

Stan cussed under his breath as Ford gaped at him with a mix of alarm and pity.

“I’m not gonna take it back.” Stan insisted after a moment. “If that’s what it comes down to, to keep him from hurtin’ you or the kids, then I’m taking him down with me.”

Ford placed his hands firmly on Stan’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eye with all the intensity he could muster. “We won’t let that happen!” 

Bill laughed at them cruelly. “RIGHT, CUZ YOU’VE HAD SO MUCH SUCCESS STOPPING ME IN THE PAST.”

“I’ll find some other way!” Ford insisted.

“I’M SURE YOU COULD, WITH TIME.” Bill agreed. “BUT I’M GONNA STRANGLE YOU IN YOUR SLEEP BEFORE THEN!”

Not if I strangle myself first! Another one of Stan’s stray thoughts called.

Ford gave his brother a frustrated shake. “No! Stanley, I swear to you, that won’t be necessary!”

“Alright, that’s it. We’re not havin’ this conversation in my brain, where you can hear all my unprocessed thoughts.” Stan decided.

Suddenly, Ford’s form and everything around them flickered and began to fade to white. Stan and Bill were the only ones who remained solid and whole. Stan was waking up? But he’d never been asleep before the spell in the first place!

“Don’t you try any funny business!” Stan pointed an accusing finger at Bill. “I’m coming back to shatter you into a million smaller pieces as soon as I fall asleep tonight!”

[alice-angel12x]

Cherry Blossom wedding PT.2

"So Darx took over the school to force Y/n into marriage with him," Riddle summarized. 

"What?!" Everyone gasped.

"What so scary about Darx?" Jack asked.

"Darx is currently the most powerful wizard, and he didn't get that title though fair or clean means," Vil explained.

"And as of late he's been looking for a suitable bride," Lilia added suddenly, " I'm familiar with him cause at first he's been taking many fae brides, some I've known personally. Then they disappear suddenly, and Darx simply moves on to the next."

"S-so were dealing with a possible murder," Kalim stuttered in fear.

"Well nobody has ever shown up, and there is no evidence that he killed them. So all those sad souls are still considered missing," Azul clarified.

"We have to rescue her!" Inir and Ortho shouted.

"Ummm," Everyone backed away.

"What?" Inir gasped.

"Why? Please help us!" Ortho begged.

"Look we all like Y/n and we don't want anything bad to happen to her, but we also don't want to be the ones who die pissing off Darx,"  Ace said.

"while Idia always avoids me yet he only asks for me when he's troubled, that's too easy," Vil added.

" It's your "brother"'s problem. Solve it on your own," Leona sighed.

Inir began to tear up and cry out loud.



"Don't worry Inir, If they won't help then I'll do something," Ortho said to his crying friend.

"Hey, hey. You can't do anything just by yourself," Kalim gasped.

"Stimulating patterns to take back Idia Shroud and Y/n Ebonywood. Requirements: Least time of operation...the simulation has been completed successfully. We will now operate the plan. Charging magic energy. Aiming for Night Raven College's main school grounds," Ortho said as he readied his attack, "Magic beam firing in 5... 4... 3... 2..."

" PLEASE STOOOOOP!" Crowley shouted, "Do you want to make our legendary school turn into ruins!? Magic beams are prohibited!

"Since everybody won't help us, I had to do it," Ortho glared.

" ...everyone. Is it okay to decline that easily? If you abandon Shroud and Y/n just like this..," Crowley scolded.

"What should I say? It'll be pointless even if we fought back..," Ace sighed.

"Ah! There they are! Night Raven College's students!" Crowley said pretending to be a news reporter.

" Wh-what is it so suddenly," Ace gasped.

 "I'm a reporter from TBC News! You're a student from Night Raven College, right!?" Crowley continued.

" Eh? Y-Yeah, I am but... wait, close, too close! Headmaster, you're too close!" Ace stuttered

 "Is it true that it's possessed by ghosts? Please answer the question! It'll be featured by tomorrow morning, so let me take some pictures too. Click-click!" Crowley acted.

"Ugh, the flash is too bright!" Ace groaned.

 "I heard a student was abducted? And you abandoned her?"

"I-I have different dorms from the kidnapped person! I don't know anything!" Ace tried to argue.

  "You left him because you weren't close to him? I can't believe you! I need to compile a special feature... Shocking! The dark side of the prestigious school!"

" Whoa, I said stop it! Don't point the camera here!" Ace shouted.

 "Click click click! Click-click! Click!"

"STOP IT! Ace shouted again.

"And so if Y/n doesn't come back, you'll be pressed by the mass and be interviewed no matter morning or noon. I don't want to see my students getting tired like that, or Shroud getting even more stress on top of his possible trauma. Since I'm kind," Crowley warned.

" If you don't cooperate, I'll hack the news channel and put it on the news. I'll write in big marks "The Student Who Abandoned Their Friend" and air it!" Ortho threatened.

"I think the one who would be troubled the most if there's a scandal on the school is you, the school's responsible person, the headmaster," Riddle stated.

"But, it would trouble me. My mother would cry if she saw that news," Deuce sighed.

" Gossips will affect my image as an entertainer. I don't want it," Vil stated.

" It seems that we have to help then," Lilia smiled, " I can't have things like...Malleus, the next king of the Valley of Thorns couldn't save a human to be spread around, and he does hold Y/n in a special place in his heart."

" Yes. As you said, Lilia-sama!!" Sebek shouted.

"Then, everyone! Let's save Shroud and Y/n  from Darx together!" Crowley cheered, "Ah〜〜〜〜 I'm happy that I only have nice students〜〜〜."

" Let's think of a way to save my brother and Y/n together!" Ortho cheered.

"First of all, why don't we talk to Darx," Kalim suggested.

" What a magnificent thought, you are Golden. Though I don't think he would let go of a beautiful maiden like Y/n so easily. If I were in his shoes I certainly wouldn't," Rook smiled.

" In the end, we just have to get him back by force, don't you think?" Leona stated.

 "We all ended up here because we can't do that. Did you forget?" Vil said.

"Yes. We can't "defeat" the ghosts in a face to face battle. They're troublesome as an opponent. Let's avoid a battle with them." Crowley said.

"You know from what I've heard Darx is a narcissistic wizard and happily excepts challenges from anyone," Riddle stated.

"True, a Fae friend of mine challenged Darx to save his lover, but he disappeared along with her," Lilia added.

"Maybe Sam has something useful in his shop," Inir suggested.

So it was off to the school shop and Mr.Sam. Who surprisingly had had something that could maybe help with Darx. A pure white crystal that can undo any spell of a specific caster.

"That was something I did have, but those darn ghosts came by and raided my shop and getting away with lots of my stuff," Sam sighed.

"What they took the crystal too?!" Crowley gasped.

"Yep, but I'll give you advice instead. Darx specializes in summoning and capture Magic," Sam explained, " That is probably why Y/n and Shroud hasn't come back to us yet."

"So I guess the only option is to beat him at a match in hopes to win both student's freedom," Crowley sighed, " Alright those I call, step forward, you will be the first to challenge group to challenge Darx," 

" Trey Clover, Jack Howl, Jade Leech, Floyd Leech, Kingscholar, Schoenheit, and Zigvolt," Crowley called.

"I was so troubled getting chased by ghosts, so this is where you all evacuated," Trey smiled.

" I'm glad we could gather," Jade greeted.

"Headmaster. What are you going to do with we seven?" Vil asked.

"You are all strong with your unique magic, so maybe you can outfox Darx, or maybe you could all challenge him together," Crowley suggested.

"W-what why can't I go? I feel like I'm abandoning my duties as a dorm leader if I let Trey, the vice dorm leader to challenge this mission," Riddle asked.

"What sad you can't be Y/n's knight in shining warmer," Ace teased.

"N-No that not it at all," Riddle denied.

"We don't know what Darx is capable of, and Riddle you heavily rely on your unique magic and we cannot afford to lose you so soon," Crowley explained.

"I'll have the CCTV's footage be connected so we can watch you from the sidelines," Ortho smiled.

"Vil will surely win not only is he beautiful, but he is also strong too. Don't you think so, Epel-Kun?" Rook smiled.

"Eh! I-I guess," Epel stuttered.

-----------

(Cafetaria — Wedding Ceremony)

"*chuckle* What a beautiful day today, and not so powerful without this pendant protecting you," Darx smiled as he grabbed Y/n's chin.

"Keep this out of her reach," Drax ordered a troll servent.

Y/n simply glared at the man, he had placed a magic seal on to keep her in place and to prevent her from using her magic.  Y/n dressed to the nines in a beautiful wedding dress that Drax's troll servants put her in.



As Y/n stood in her frozen spot she noticed that all the short troll servants looked at her with sorrow and pity as they stood next to her. Drax had seven troll servants and an army of ghosts. Drax was still ordering his ghost and monster servants around trying to get the ceremony ready. Y/n sighed as she looked over at the front row seating area to see Idia struggling at his bindings that tied him to his seat. A similar seal was cast on him too.

"SOMEONE SAVE US—-!!!" Idia cried out.

" I suddenly got surrounded by ghosts, got roped and tied up... and now I have to watch a friend get forced into marrying some brute?" Idia said in fear, " A brute that might kill her soon."

"Not fish, how about beef served at the wedding?" Drax said as a troll servant stepped up with her tray of food.

Drax chuckled as he took a fork full of beef all the while the strolls stood nervously and uncomfortable in front of him. Drax growled in disappointment that the food tasted cheap and knocked the plated out of the hands of the troll and dropping food onto his servant.

"Soon I'll have a new wife, and hopefully you won't disappoint me," Drax said simply as he looked over to Y/n, who only glared at him.

Idia wanted to hurl at that sentence as side glared at his kidnapper. Suddenly a ghost rushed over to Darx with some urgent news. Apparently, some NRC students came to challenge him for "His bride's hand". Drax laughed as he ordered the ghosts to let them in.

"You hear that Y/n, Were going to be saved," Idia smiled in relief at his friend.

Soon the seven students quickly barged through the door demanding to challenge Darx in magical combat.

"So you all think you can take what is soon to be mine," Darx laughed.

"The marriage hasn't happened yet, so Y/n doesn't belong to anyone," Leona growled.

"And a rude brute like you doesn't deserve a lady like Y/n," Jack added.

"Plus forcing women into marriage is a disgusting trait," Vil glared.

"So you're her friends I'm assuming," Darx said simply in a bored tone, " Look dear all your friends have come to watch our marriage.

The boys looked up the alter to see a beautifully dressed Y/n staring at them with a relieved smile on her face at the sight of them. The boys could feel their hearts flutter in their chests at the sight of here. Oh, and there was Idia in the front row.

"Darx we challenge you to a Magic duel, If we win You will set our friends free," Trey said in a serious tone.

"hahaha, I can't wait to squeeze the lights out of him," Floyd laughed.

"Challenge excepted,"  Darx smirked.

_____

[sixx02]

One More

“Arc… Arc… vs Arc… and Nikos… ugh… why are there three of you?”  The combat professor scratched his head as he stared at the names on the board.  “Whatever…”  

Jaune did not like where this was going, they had only been here for a few weeks but he’d seen just how good Pyrrha was.  Okay, well he could tell right away after her first fight with Nora.  He just kind of hoped they’d be together… ‘Not together together!  Just on the same team… right that’s what I meant!’  Yep he definitely didn’t think she was super darn awesome, or really pretty, or super badass or anything like that!  He also didn’t notice her well toned arms and legs when they were training, nope!  He’d never pay attention to things like that.

Of course… he couldn’t help but pass glances to her now and again, she was really awesome.  Though… he doubted he’d have a chance, and honestly he needed to concentrate on himself… right… he didn’t want a repeat of before.  Turning towards the professor he waited for the actual teams. 

“Ugh, whatever, boys versus girls.”

Both Lie and him stopped, “Uh… sir, could we uh… could you reconsider?”  

“No!  Now get your stuff and get up there!”  

Both boys turned towards one another, “Oh no.”  

Lie and him weren’t terrible by any means, heck they were in the upper half of the class!  But, well… Nora and Pyrrha were at the very top constantly competing for first place.  And there was talk about Pyrrha actually competing in the upcoming tournaments!  The trio had opted out of it, they didn’t really want the attention and honestly speaking they didn’t want to be in front of a crowd.  

“Hurry up!”  Both boys sighed, relenting to their future domination. That was till they were both pulled into a powerful hug.

“Yes!  I can’t wait to fight!  It’s going to be a ton of fun!”  

Jaune loved Nora, she was his wonderful sister after all.  But, well… he wasn’t sure he could agree with that last bit.  Though he didn’t really have the heart to deny her answer as she continued to squeeze the two boys together.  

“Nora I think they get the point.”  Pyrrha’s gentle tone caught his ears.

“Okie dokie!”  Nora let them go at the behest of her, in her own words, besty better than the resty forever!  Honestly despite his obvious… not so obvious, crush on her, he was just happy that she got along with Nora.  Like he said he loved Nora, but she had a lot of energy, a lot of energy that caused a lot of people to think she was stupid or dumb, well they always got what was coming to them.  

“Still, this should be a grand fight!”  

“Right right!  Grand.”  

“Yes… Grand.”  Lie’s response was far less enthusiastic than his own.  Both boys however gave way, once they gathered their things adjourning at the arena.  The girls had already been prepared, Pyrrha had her own specially made weapon.  “It seems they’re taking us seriously.”

“Yep… I wish they wouldn’t!”  Jaune didn’t like where this was going!  He had seriously thought about how they’d handle the dynamic duo, but every single idea and thought was always just crushed by overwhelming prowess and might.  “Well nothing left but to do it then ya?”  

Lie simply nodded, they would have to take this one step at a time after all.  

The moment they lined up with the girls the professor started the count down.  

“Alright!  3...2...1… GO!”  

Hopefully this wouldn’t be too terrible.

“This is terrible…”  

A week earlier.

Charles couldn’t believe what they’d run into, he was starting to truly and fully believe that him and his wife were harbingers of doom… or at the very least ones that came in the aftermath of great destruction.

“Who would do this?  This wasn’t a grimm attack… they don’t just set fires to homes!”  Jeanne didn’t like this, not at all… they’d been on a mission when they’d seen the smoke rise into the air.  When they got to the small farm they’d found the home razed to the ground, if only they’d gotten here sooner!  She clenched her fist as the air around her began to warp, her aura flared wildly, the ground cracking beneath her feet.  

“WAAAAAAAAAH!”  

In an instant she cooled off, “Did you hear that?!”  

“Yes!”  Both husband and wife turned towards one another, in an instant they were off, the ground cracking beneath their feet as they made their way towards the sound. 

In an instant they found themselves in front of a Cellar, wasting no time they dug through the debris blocking their way.  

“What…”  Once they’d opened the doors they’d found a young boy who appeared to be the same age as their twins.  “Oh god…”  Jeanne winced at the terrible wounds on his chest rising up to his neck.  

“No… not again.  What do we do?”  Her husband’s words sunk in.

“We...  we have to take him… see if he has family?  Find out who he is…”  

“P...please… help him…”  Their eyes snapped towards a younger woman.  They hadn’t noticed her before, but… but she wasn’t going to make it.  The clear indications of severe wounds present on her body, scars and gnashes… the seasoned hunters almost looked away.  “Please… he has… no one else…”  

“Hold on don’t ta…”  Charles stopped as he drew closer, “...She’s dead.”  

Once more they let the silence seep in, “We… we have to take him.”

Her husband stood there for a moment, “Alright…”  

They would bury the woman, and they would take the young boy home with them.  The young man who they would later learn the name as Oscar Pines, the young man that would later be known as Oscar Pines Arc.

Jaune had been wrong, he had been terribly terribly wrong!  This was worse than terrible!  This had gone downright ugly!  

His legs buckled at Nora’s powerful swing, the arena beneath his feet cracked.  “SERIOUSLY?!”  He knew that these things were supposed to be made of sturdier stuff, and he knew that if he hadn’t been pumping aura into this metal sheet of a shield it would have caved right in.  

“AHAHAHAH!”  Her body was surging with dangerously high levels of electricity.

“Your semblance is so unfair!”  

“Says the walking living aura generator!  Now on your knees my favorite minion!”  

“NOPE NOPE NOPE!  LIE!”  In an instant Lie pulled himself away from trying to defend from Pyrrha, pumping his aura into his legs he dashed over towards his manic sister, his palm colliding with her waist sending her flying.  Unfortunately she was able to stop herself from getting ringed out by smashing her hammer into the ground beneath them.

Jaune’s hand swiped past Lie as he continued after Nora, in a single burst he’d filled his brother’s Aura up once more.  WIth a burst of strength his own Aura began to refill, only to stop a Pyrrha peppered him with dust rounds.  

“Really Pyrrha?!”  

“Sorry!  But I can’t let you do that!”  She was ever the fighter after all, so he knew she wouldn’t just let him recharge.  

“Fine!”  Putting up his shield he dashed forward, allowing the bullets to graze past it or hit less important targets, like not his head.  

Upon reaching her, he did what he did best, he attempted to ram his shield into her face.  Only for her to deftly avoid him, his shield flashed black as she attempted to nudge it away.  

Ever since her fight with Nora, she’d apparently been using her semblance a lot more, taking the time to really practice with it.  Or at least that’s what she’d told them anyways.  Which was great and everything!  But it made her really frustrating to fight, so he did what he knew he could.  Pumping more aura into the shield he was able to overpower her attempt at control.

“You really do have a lot of aura!”  He would have blushed at the comment if not for her shield attempting to ram him into the face.  

He didn’t have many options, he couldn’t really avoid it, he wasn’t exactly the fastest person, so once more he did what he thought he could.  “ACHA!”  With a might slam he hit her shield straight on with his empowered forehead causing her to pull back in surprise.

“Jaune!?”  Her worried tone was apparently warranted as that blow nearly knocked his lights out.  Aura could do a lot of things, but when he messed up, well sometimes his brain couldn’t really handle the rumbling.

“I’m okay!”  Straightening himself he attempted to swipe at her midsection, only for her to parry the blow using her blade.  

“Good!”  In that moment he felt her aura wrap around his blade disarming him as her knee hit him straight in the gut.  Thankfully his Aura protected him, but that hadn’t been her goal.  In the moment that he instinctively buckled over she’d applied her aura instantly onto his shield and pushed him straight out of the ring.  “Sorry!”  

To his surprise Lie had already been there waiting for him.  “Did she golf swing you?”

“She golf swung me…”  

“Nikos and Arc win!”  

The boys could hear the cheering from the crowd, their own egos slightly wounded as no one really had expected them to win, not even themselves!  

But, well that didn’t matter in the end, “YOU GUYS DID AMAZING!”  

Pink and Sapphire eyes glanced upwards, meeting emerald and turquoise.  

“She’s right you know.  You had gotten our aura’s rather low.”  

Both boys turned towards the monitor at the same time, they’d managed to get both Pyrrha and Nora down to about 60 percent.  That may have seemed like nothing, but well, when most people couldn’t drop them even a single percent?  It wasn’t a bad thing.  “Huh!  Hey look at that, we got you guys down another 2 percent this time.”  A part of him did want to have a little snark though.

“That we did.”

“Yeah!  You guys are improving!”  Nora pulled everyone into a tight hug, her arms wrapped affectionately around her family, Pyrrha included.

“I agree you’re both improving at a remarkable rate.”

Neither of the boys could really deny it, while it felt bad to lose, well… well at least they knew they were getting better and that wasn’t a bad thing.

“Alright… well how bout… we go get cleaned up and then we can go to Saph’s house.  We could have a sleep over?”  He turned towards Pyrrha, “If you can come of course!”

“Oh!  Yes, my parents should be fine with it.  They quite like your sister.”  Pyrrha’s warm smile caused his chest to feel oddly pained.  Right, gotta concentrate on getting better.  

Pyrrha parted ways with them wanting to get ready and prepared for the oncoming sleepover.

Once they’d gotten home after getting ready, they’d noticed extra sounds coming from the living room.  “Saph?”

“MY BABIES!”  In an instant the three Arc siblings were pulled into one powerful hug.

“MOM!”  Nora was the only one to return the powerful hug meeting one with equal strength.

“Hey kids… we got something to tell you.”  As their mom dropped them they eyed a small figure behind them.  “Meet Oscar… Oscar Pine Arc, he’s your new little brother.”

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

RWBY V8E02 - Refuge

Who needs "refuge" besides our protagonists? Well, besides the entirety of Mantle. I have no idea, so let's do this!

Watching the OP again I just realized what these lights remind me of:

Welp.

Looks like the friendly scene from the opening is not happening any time soon.

ooh, now it makes sense.

It also probably reflects Qrow's state of mind with the camera framing him during that line. Blaming himself and all that.

I wonder. Having Jacques in jail is a perfect excuse for Whitley to transfer the SDC to himself if he wanted.

Other characters wiping Jacques's smirk still is very satisfying.

Well, I didn't expect this scene from the OP to happen so quickly. I guess Ironwood is making recovering Penny a priority. Nothing like working with a former enemy (who made him lose an arm) to keep making it clear he's willing to do anything and everything to defend Atlas, "no matter the cost"

note: there's no exciting music

Would that be Ironwood or Tyrian? Probably the latter, unless he sees Ironwood ordering their arrest as the ultimate cause for Clover's death. Which is a bit of a jump but it's not like it doesn't make sense, especially from the point of view of someone grieving.

Okay, she's awesome.

Not so subtle reminder of their motto(?) with the graffiti behind her.

The previous episode (and the previous scenes of this one) were so serious that Yang's face looks reaaally weird in context.

And so short too. Which I guess is good, but it just makes it feel more out of place.

"Refer to owners manual for diagnostic information"

Can't wait for the bike to explode because no one found the manual.

That's ominous. The grimm hunting for Oscar?

I'm glad someone volunteered to stay as bait.

You know this is fiction because she didn't continue arguing.

This really feels like the set up for something bad to happen. Which is probably unavoidable with Salem being up there.

I really, really hope this pan up to show Atlas doesn't mean they'll end up working together with Ironwood.

big fan of weiss's face

Doesn't help that she left her only "friend" behind.

I think I spent most of last season saying that Penny was trapped in Atlas by her responsibilities. Her being the Winter Maiden means she'll never be free. Which kinda makes me want to try and think of ways for her to escape.

If she dies (again * shakes fist at RT's general direction *), would her powers go away before Pietro revives her soul? I guess it depends on the exact way Pietro's semblance works. Did he give part of his soul to Penny's memory core (so now it's a different soul inhabiting the same body, with the same memories) or did he kickstart Penny's surviving soul in her core? Would the powers look for a successor during that state of limbo?

Interesting expression there for Penny, even if I don't what it's supposed to mean. Maybe she doesn't really believe Ruby yet? With Ironwood being her "boss" all her life, it's probably rather hard for her to go "yeah, he's wrong"

Simply amazing

very capable sheep

but still cute

oof, not very tactful though

Yeah, bad approach there

It feels like the animators/writers really took to heart the complaint of Fiona's semblance not being very clear last season.

And here's the fight scene we didn't get last episode. Is Oscar going to get kidnapped while everyone is distracted?

That was way faster than I expected.

ah

...what scares Grimm?

I like this, good source of tension, because really, what makes Grimm turn the other way? Maybe the Grimm hunting for Oscar?

lol at me saying this Grimm needed a distraction. Couldn't care less about anything

1) that was really fast

2) why does it look like his body is made of play-doh

They learned their lesson with the Nuckelavee: adding some bone cracking sounds really amps up the creepiness

And it's smart too!

It reminds me of the more advanced nomus from My Hero Academia. Grimm are already scary, add some smarts or even sentience and they jump to horrifying. And it's a good way to add some difficulty to beating them. The show just showed us how fast they can beat the normal Grimm after all.

"my baby"

ew

Wow. I really didn't expect Oscar to get kidnapped right away. I guess the season taking place in a couple of days makes it a necessity to move things faster than usual.

I didn't quite pick it up while watching this episode, but thinking about it, the heart of it seems to be Penny's chat with Ruby. Sure, Oscar getting picked up like a fry by a hungry seagull is more exciting but we know where's that's going. Penny though? I'm not so sure.

Was it only me or did it feel like Ruby was talking past Penny?

Penny has never been able to choose what to do. First she was told to participate in the tournament, then after getting revived she was told to protect Mantle and then she had to take the Winter Maiden's powers. Which, sure, she could have chosen to say no but in that situation there was no other acceptable alternative for her. She did choose to leave with Ruby but that doesn't erase the weight of everything else in her back. So now she's finally learned enough about herself and her feelings to realize she doesn't like the roles and responsibilities she has been thrust into. But Ruby completely misunderstood what she was talking about and just reinforced that being The Protector of Mantle is her job.

There's a painful look to the side before Penny thanks Ruby. A look that screams to me "you don't get it." Which, oof. Let the poor girl be happy before she gets hacked, please.

Something interesting is Qrow's new quest for revenge. That usually never works for anyone in fiction, always ending in never-ending cycles, suffering and being consumed by hate, the dark side and all that bad juju. Hopefully Qrow can reign it in and kill Tyrian just enough feel satisfied. Because, really, who can say that Tyrian doesn't deserve to be very dead and buried? Qrow already stopped drinking, let him have a little murder instead.

Unless he meant Ironwood. Which, sure. It could happen. And it has a ton more possibilities for drama since they were "friends" before, but I don't know. While with Tyrian feels more cut and closed, with Ironwood it feels like the show would go for Qrow being stopped or realizing revenge is wrong or something like that.

The last thing I wanted to talk about is Yang's team and storyline. They are having many more problems than Ruby's, their interactions having a lot more friction between them.

They are not really "saving" people, they are preparing for a last stand. We know Salem, we know it's hopeless unless something or someone comes to saves them. I mean, where do you go story wise when your goal is to get everyone inside a crater?

And the show knows it too, making their scenes the most serious of the episode. The few moments of humor are some quips and Yang enjoying her motorbike, and even those feel slightly out of place, probably on purpose, compared to the humor in Ruby's scenes. They are tired, frustrated with their friends, and they have to know they are just delaying the inevitable. Oscar getting kidnapped almost felt like a respite.

I think the episode struggled a bit with all the parallel storylines to the point it didn't feel cohesive but I guess those are the struggles of being an extremely serialized show.

Very happy to see the Happy Huntresses having more of a role this season.

I'm going to stop myself from reading too much into how Ozpin's comment about how they everyone needed to work together seemed to imply they need to work with Ironwood. I think that ship already sailed and to do it now would feel very "we have to compromise, hear all sides" which ugh.

I'm really curious about where this is going, especially Penny's arc, so that's all for now. Until next time!

[the-wondrous-imaginator]

The New Legends of Monkey: Season 2 Thoughts

So, I am a bit disappointed that our fandom is so darn tiny at the moment, but I think ima dwell on all the great stuff this season gave us instead : )

GREAT and not so great STUFF AS FOLLOWS: 

- WOW this season looked so good. I mean, it just seemed a lot more polished in terms of the aesthetic and the fights and all that. Seriously impressed with the upgrades

-Um, the plant? The Sandy development we got? Simply fantastic. We got more exploration of her character, some exciting fight scenes where she kicked butt and plenty of bonding with each member of the crew. Honestly was so scared that she would be overlooked, but she wasn’t. What an interesting, dynamic character. I really can’t wait for her powers and the deep sadness inside her to be explored.

-Tripitaka really is a Disney princess, huh? She completely drives the narrative forward and hold the one and only brain cell in the entire group. Even though I don’t find her quite as easy to love as Sandy, I do still admire her for being so strong and independent. This girl had to make a handful of REAL tough decisions this season and I applaud her. Constantly assaulted by doubts from everyone around her, constantly underestimated. Made of steel, this one. 

-MONKEY. SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THIS ONE. Legitimately the most complicated character in this whole darn show. He’s self centred and egotistical, but cares so deeply for everyone. He fights non-stop with Tripitaka, but she’s canonically tHE WORLD TO HIM. He just seems so young in some ways, and so old in others. Half the time you know exactly what he’s about to do, and half the time you don’t. In all honesty, I don’t know whether it’s good writing or bad writing, but I was most definately invested. And now he’s essentially been reborn?! Like, will he remember anything? UGH, I just cannot keep up with him. I’m constantly on the edge of my seat whenever he’s on screen. I love it. 

-Pigsy.... probably the most frustrating part of the show. Not him, of course, but all the fat jokes. Like, guys, I’m getting some serious Hunk (Voltron) flashbacks here. PLEASE don’t let his personality be fat jokes, dry humour and cooking. There was almost no real development for him this season, and I am underwhelmed. Like, come on, guys. Monkey gets to be half jokes and half serious, so why not Pigsy? Why let us get attached to him and invested in his trauma if you were just going to turn him into a laugh? Maybe I’m exaggerating here, but it seriously did bug me. Fingers crossed that things change. 

-ROMANCE DISCUSSION TIME. Tripkey. Let’s talk about this. 

I was kind of upset that they lead us on to quite the extent in season one, and then dropped the romance almost entirely in season two and replaced it with bickering, but I have to remind myself that it isn’t that big of a deal. I mean, shipping isn’t the only reason I watch. So, I’m a bit salty, but not McDonalds fries salty. You know? At least we got a couple moments. And we’re probably gonna get another season, if all goes well. There’s still time. Maybe Tripitaka needed to lose Monkey to understand his value? I mean, there was A LOT of arguing between them until the whole dark!Monkey thing happened. I think she needs to understand that, despite his faults, he is one of her best friends. She isn’t just his babysitter. So, even if they don’t end up together romantically, I’d be mostly satisfied if they just both came to grips with their love- platonic or otherwise. 

-OK, so, the villains. Plenty of pros and cons to go with this one. At times they seemed really dumb, at times they were reasonably intimidating, and, at times, downright confusing. I mean, that moth lady definitely seemed like she was telling a lie with that flashback with the fake Monkey and Tripitaka! But it wasn’t brought up again! And that red hand dude was so boring. The blue guard lady  was at least kind of interesting. Funnily enough, the forest-keeper-of-the-scroll lady was probably the most interesting villain. She had real motive. She wasn’t completely evil. I thought she was neat. Her, and (of course) dark!Monkey. Wow. Like, they probably should have introduced him earlier, but he was SO well done. I mean, the fight scenes with him were amazing. The design was great. His dynamic with Monkey made a lot of sense. I mean, he’s essentially the demon version of him. Both have a need for attention and a love for fun, but one values human life and the other does not. Very clear distinction, very interesting to watch. Despite not hating his clone, Monkey realized that, to protect what was most important to him, he needed to destroy it. It really makes you wonder what Monkey’s true motization is- the quest, or just protecting his friends? It’s just amazing to watch him transform when he gets serious about something. 

-Puppet master dude. Knew pretty early on that he was pulling the strings, but still loved the reveal. I thought that he was a much more interesting villain than just “strong armour demon”. Not much to say about him, but he was good. 

-Extra little things: The love potion scene was pure fanservice, and kind of hilarious and kind of cringy. Still processing that bit. 

The boy was cool. I liked him. Didn’t love him, but liked him. I thought it was good for Tripitaka to have a decently sane person around for a change. Always in the mood for appreciating the absolute gems that are decent child actors. 

MONICA IS EVIL NOW- LIKE, WHAT?! DEMON LADY BACK. ME SCREAM. Hopefully bad boi Devarri makes a comeback to team up with her. I lowkey need to know what the heck happened. 

Fake!Tripitaka... was he that boy seen in the flashback burning the body with Monica but disguised? If not, how did he return to life? If so, how did that monk boy have the magic to disguise himself? 

I think that’s all the notes I have right now. I know we’re all starving for content, so I thought I’d toss this out into the interwebs. Fingers crossed that our fandom grows a bit more!

[lilyharvord]

The Chain (Part 1)

I’ve got two words for you all: Time Travel. Main concept: Two love struck idiots get sent back to a pretty UGH time period in their lives (that required me to reread all the books again) and have to hide the fact that they know everything. Stupidity ensues. Enjoy everyone. @redqueenetwork (this is what I mentioned to ya’ll in the chat, it’s finally here!!!) If you want a tag let me know. I don’t even know who is in the fandom anymore. 

“Don’t back her into the corner, whatever you do. We still don’t know what she’s capable of.” I hiss into my receiver as I sprint down another tight alleyway with Ella close on my tail. My hair sticks to my face as raindrops roll down my nose, and thunder rolls overhead. I swipe my hand across my forehead to push the annoying strands out of my face as we go. Behind me, Ella puffs out an annoyed sigh.

“She helped blow up a building Mare, I think we have a pretty decent idea of what she can do.” She admonishes as we round the corner, following Kilorn’s quickly relayed instructions from a moment ago. Ella and I had originally gone after the accomplice but after he hoped a fence and vanished into thin air, we had realized our mistake. He was a fucking teleporter, and therefore the perfect goose for our wild goose chase. We should have guessed something like this would happen. We needed the girl more than anything now. Sometimes I really hated being called into things like this. 

“Ella has a point.” 

“Agree with her one more time, Cal. I dare you.” I grumble into the receiver, pissed he is even chiming in. “Shouldn’t you be more focused on following our suspect and getting her to a place where we can make an arrest?”


“Trying.” Is his reply, followed by a burst of static from Kilorn probably messing with his receiver again. I reach up and bat at the piece in my ear, grinding my jaw against the sound. I could always just short the thing, but that wouldn’t really help with my frustration. It was my fault we lost the teleporter. I’d let him get too far ahead of me instead of just trying to incapacitate him. The last thing I wanted to do was cook him by mistake though. We wouldn’t get any information from a dead body. We needed that information if we wanted these bombings, and other things like them to stop though. 

We rounded the corner and I almost slammed into Kilorn’s back. He manages to dance out of my way. HIs expression is drawn tight, as he puts his arm out to stop Ella. With a quick gesture to the alley beyond the corner he says, “Cal is trying to talk her down.”

I push his arm out of my way and say, “No one engages Ardents alone, it’s a rule.” 

“She’s a kid Mare, they tend to respond to him better.” He says with a shrug, making me shake my head. If there is one thing Cal is still incredibly good at, it’s being a royal pain in my ass. He shouldn’t face anyone alone. Tyton had learned that the hard way when a young Ardent had put him in intensive care for three days. The last thing I need is Cal getting his leg broken because a kid hears what he has to say and doesn’t like it. My mother will never forgive him if he so much as has a bruise going into our wedding planning. Not that that was happening anytime soon, not now with the information I have tucked away to share tonight. I step around my best friend, who only passively tries to stop me. He knows that’s futile and steps back to stand with Ella as I slide around the corner.

My skin barks in protest as a wave of heat rolls over my skin. I hold my hand up to cover my eyes from the flames that circle Cal and the girl who has her back pressed up against the wall. She glares at him, her palms pressed to the brick and stone. I reach a hand out for the flames, knowing Cal will sense the shift in the flames distribution. Sure enough, the flames die in a small me-sized hole, giving me a chance to slip through them. They kiss the edges of my jacket and burn away the rain there.  

As soon as I enter the makeshift ring, the girl’s eyes fly to me over Cal’s shoulder. I know a cornered animal when I see one. She reminds me of myself too, which screams trouble. She’ll do anything to get out of that corner. Talking her down might not be an option, but we have a duty to her to at least try. Forcing my hands to remain at my sides I say, “We want to help.” 

“The last thing I need is your help.” She spit with a sneer and a raised chin. Definitely red, I realize in the light of the fire. She’s either an Ardent or a Red. I’m praying for a Red, they are far easier to apprehend and deal with during interrogation. 

The girl takes a step off the wall and holds a hand up in threat. Immediately my own hands light up with sparks, and Cal takes a step back to give me a clearer shot. The flames around us die as he channels that fire to a more useful source. Hopefully Ella senses the shift in the air and joins us to apprehend this kid. She can’t be older than sixteen, but that just makes her that much more dangerous. Younger Ardents were untapped fonts of power. 

The shadows from the early morning cut into the alley, and my lightning bathes us all in a deep purples glow. The dark shadows under the girl’s eyes are like bruises in this light. Her ragged breathing turns her into a woman possessed though. I try to dim my electricity, to prevent her from acting too brashly. She doesn’t take the hint, and instead takes another step closer to us. The air around us condenses until my ears pop painfully. 

I cry out at the sensation, almost dropping to a knee, and press my hands to my ears. Next to me, Cal pushes himself in front of me, using his own body to shield mine. I wish he would stop doing that, but no amount of arguing is going to change instinct, I’ve figured that out. Four years is a long time to spend with someone. You knew the intricacies of everything. In fact, if this still goes to plan, I can name exactly what he will want for breakfast after, down to how many cups of coffee he will need to stay awake for the rest of the day. 

A wicked wind snaps at me, ripping strands of hair out of my braid and extinguishing Cal’s flames completely. His hand on my shoulder is both a question and an order. If I’m incapable of standing, I need to get out of his way. If I’m capable, then I need to stand and help him. His voice carries even with the hurricane building around us, and he speaks to her like she hasn’t already made herself a danger to us. “Giselle, at least listen.” 

I have no idea how he got her name, but I file it away for later as I look up. She laughs at his attempt to negotiate, and brings her other hand away from her body, palm side up. The wind whips her auburn hair into a frenzy, but she does nothing to tame it. She should do what’s best for herself and listen. If she blatantly attacks us, her punishment will be more severe than blowing up an abandoned building. 

I grab onto Cal’s sleeve, as the wind tears at me as well. If I could just get a well-placed shot off, then I could disable her. Bringing my hand up, fingers spread, I take careful aim for the space right below her heart. Her eyes fly in my direction, and her lips fall into a tight line. “Don’t make me do it.” 

“Whatever you plan, you won’t be as fast as me,” I assure her, trying to rise to my feet completely. She shakes her head, her eyes growing just a hint wider as she states, “I can’t stop it now.” 

My stomach plummets, and my blood runs cold. What has she done? Is there another bomb? Is she about to set another one off somewhere else in the city? Somewhere that might actually be populated? 

“Whatever it is, we can stop it, if you just stand down.” Cal argues, keeping a tight hand on my arm, while his other arm tries to shield his eyes from the debris in the alley that the wind kicks up. Giselle shakes her head one more time, before looking down at her hands. Her entire body begins shaking, and with a smirk she says, “I’d tell you I’m sorry, but I’m not even sure where you’ll land.” 

My brows fly up into my hairline, and I grab Cal to pull him out of the way as she holds her hands out again. A body blow sends us flying backwards though, and through a wall. 

Immediately, my body goes into free-fall, and instinct kicks in as I try to flip myself over. There’s nothing but a wash of color around me though, and I end up tumbling in circles, simply trying to keep myself in one position. 

My hands seek purchase, and I manage to grasp Cal’s jacket again. His hand latches onto mine and I try to pull myself closer to him. I’m gasping for air though, unable to breathe. It feels like I’m being squished through a pipe the size of my pinkie, like how it used to feel when Shade teleported me. I wish I had opened my eyes during those times, maybe I would have seen the same wash of colors. Those trips always took a heartbeat though; this is taking seconds. I had never seen an Ardent that could teleport people and not themselves. Were Ardents evolving again? Julian said it was a possibility, but it should have taken hundreds of years, just like it had taken that long for us to appear in the first place. 

“Don’t let go,” I managed to gasp to Cal, as he tries to wrap an arm around my hips. I grip the front of his jacket with two hands, terrified of what will happen if I lose him in this tunnel. His answer is to squeeze me tightly to him. 

I press my face into his shoulder trying to inhale the scent he always carries with him. He smells more like the lake in Monfort now, probably because he keeps wearing this jacket when he walks around the lake with Kilorn. He should know better. It reeks of moist lake water. 

I glance over his shoulder only for something to catch my shoulder. I try to scream an alarm as my fingers release Cal, and I go spinning off to the side. My vision is limited but I still see him go limp from whatever hit he took. I scramble to grab at him, my fingers managing to catch his sleeve before we both collide with the side of the tunnel. 

It is like passing through a window, with multicolored glass shards explode around us. I spiral into darkness then, losing my weak grip on Cal completely. My chest heaves for air, and I try to force myself to be as loose as possible in case I end up hitting the ground. It’s a pointless exercise, any hit will kill me at this point. The pressure around me changes again, making me ears pop once more. Only a heartbeat later, I slam into something else, and finally fall unconscious.

[emybain]

Quarantine: Renegades Edition

so please don’t take this seriously. i honestly don’t remember writing half of it, but it be like that. this is simply a glimpse into the lives of Nova and Adrian during a global pandemic, aka snippets of the few months they’re in quarantine together. also, happy birthday to my girl nova. there’s a bonus/crack scene at the end that was inspired by tiktok, as well. i regret nothing (other than this poorly written fic)

ao3

“They’re saying this thing could spread into June, July, maybe even August,” Adrian said, relaxing back into the leather couch, pulling the laptop with him. Nova adjusted against him, pulling the blanket over her legs just a little higher as the AC powered on. 

“That’s if people keep being dumbasses,” Danna replied from behind the screen, leaning forward to rest her head in her palm. “It’s our job as citizens to prevent the spread of this disease. Why can’t people get that through their thick heads?”

Nova and Adrian were on a video call with the rest of their friends, who were all also quarantined in their homes. Nova had her own apartment, but at the very start of this outbreak—a new disease that was rapidly spreading around the world—she decided that quarantining by herself for an unknown amount of time wouldn’t be good for her mental health, so she packed up clothing and other essentials and headed over to the Everhart-Westwood residence. Not to mention that a mansion was vastly better than a one room apartment. Oh yeah, and she supposed being stuck with her boyfriend every day wasn’t so bad. 

“They’re being ignorant,” Nova chipped in. “People think that they’re immune, or that this virus is being blown out of proportion.”

“When they get sick, I’ll laugh.” Ruby popped a cracker in her mouth before the camera became blurry as she moved. She appeared to have shifted from lying on her back to her stomach from a spot on her bed. There was minimal background noise from her end, which was suspicious since she shared a room with two teenage boys. They must’ve been off playing video games, probably who Max was laughing with from his room upstairs. 

Narcissa poked her head out from behind a lengthy book from her place on Danna’s bed in the background of Danna’s screen.. Like Nova, she lived by herself, and would rather be with her significant other than be alone. “This isn’t the first time a pandemic has spread throughout the world. There was the European Virus fifty years ago, coronavirus back in the 21st century, the Spanish Flu in the 20th century, and so on and so forth.” She waved a hand in the air. “Hopefully, people will come to their senses. History always repeats itself, no matter how hard we may try to prevent it.”

“Thanks for the optimistic input, babe.” Danna rolled her eyes and cast a glance back at her girlfriend.

“It’s what I do,” Narcissa replied, returning her attention back to her book, but there was a smile on her face. 

“Well, maybe when things start to calm down a bit, we can all hang out. A picnic or in cars or something.” Oscar shrugged. “Six feet apart, of course. I’m not about to catch something from you nasty people.

“Did you just suggest a picnic?” Ruby snorted. “You might want to check your temperature. I think you’re getting sick.”

“You seem to forget all about the many picnics we’ve had.”

Ruby stuck her tongue out in response, then straightened a little and turned her head to the side. “What?” she yelled. After a moment, she turned back to the screen and groaned. “Ugh, I have to go. Mom’s making me bake with her again. Maybe this time we’ll try something besides bread or cookies.” She waved at them before she vanished from the meeting. 

At that moment, the front door clicked and opened, revealing Hugh and Simon, both carrying multiple grocery bags. 

“My dads just got home from the store. We should probably go help.” Adrian sat up, leaving Nova to fall a little in his direction as she had been leaning on him. 

“Hi Adrian’s Dads!” Oscar yelled, though they were already out of the room when he did so. Nonetheless, they both shouted back their greetings from the kitchen. 

“I should probably go, too. There’s this show I started bingeing and I finished the fifth season last night. I’m dying to know what happens after that cliffhanger.” Danna leaned back in her chair. 

“Oh, is it that one you were telling me about?” Nova raised her eyebrows. “Based off of that movie series?”

“Yes! And watch it so I can rant to you about it! I’m so pissed off at the main characters. They’re just...so stupid.”

With that, the remaining five waved and said their goodbyes. Adrian set the laptop down on the coffee table in front of them, and they both stood up. Nova stretched, her muscles tired from sitting for nearly an hour. 

In the kitchen, Hugh was unloading the bags while Simon busied himself with spraying the items with cleaner and wiping them down with a paper towel. A couple of weeks into quarantine and Nova and Adrian knew what to do. They got to work putting stuff away, with Nova on pantry duty and Adrian at the fridge. 

Although Nova hadn’t been out in public since the world went into quarantine, she could tell that the grocery stores and other places were beginning to recover from the initial shock of the pandemic. With each trip to the store, Adrian’s parents came back with more and more food and supplies. Hugh had even decided to buy a fridge to store out in the garage for extra food that didn’t fit inside. She found that to be a bit ridiculous, but it seemed to make him happy. What was it with men and having fridges out in their garages?

“Is Max upstairs?” Simon asked, pushing a milk jug toward Adrian. 

“Yeah. I think he’s playing video games.” Adrian shot Nova a look, and she repressed a smile; they both knew what was about to come. 

“Has he done any schoolwork since we left two hours ago? Or at least left his room?” 

“I think he left to use the bathroom about forty five minutes ago,” Nova said. She glanced at the knock-off brand of her favorite crackers in her hand and sighed, placing it on a shelf. The off-brand wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t the same. It was the type of product that you had to buy name brand, as the imitations were just a waste of money. Alas, with the pandemic, she knew it was a fight to get the good products before anyone else. 

“He’ll get it done, Pops,” Adrian reassured. “He’s been doing fine the last couple of weeks. Just going at his own pace, is all.”

“I know.” A sigh escaped Simon’s mouth. “And I’m glad that he’s able to be a kid now, but being a kid includes doing your homework.”

Nova thought of the classes she was taking at a local university. She was doing her best to keep up with her online work, but as the weeks dragged on, she was losing motivation. “This quarantine is probably nothing for Max, remember? I’m sure he does his work whenever he wants to because he actually enjoys doing it.” She shrugged. “Better than sitting around surrounded by glass walls.” 

“You’re probably right,” Hugh added, washing his hands once the last of the groceries were out of the bags. “I’m not too worried about him, just as long as I get to see his face once a day.” He chuckled at his own words. Simon offered a smile in support. 

Once all the groceries were stored away, Nova and Adrian headed downstairs, taking the laptop with them. 

__________

Adrian stood from his seat, where he had previously already been on edge. 

“Nova, where are you going?” The glare he received was enough to scare off anyone else. He had seen this side of her before, though, and was unfazed. “It’s almost midnight,” he added, only increasing the glare.

“Anywhere but here.” Her eyes turned to Hugh, who crossed his arms in response. The two were arguing. Again. It was something that was new to their quarantine, having only surfaced about a week ago. They liked to argue over literally anything, from who got to have control over the remote to whether or not Nova should be a part of their daily “family walks” to the current state of the government and the involvement of the Renegades, who were no longer in charge but were still heavily tied into politics. Hell, even the weather wasn’t safe from their growing agitation with one another. Today, everything had been going fine, for once, until Hugh just had to bring up a curfew, as Nova liked to leave the house at odd hours. 

“This house is a fucking nightmare.” She gripped the keys to her motorcycle in her hand and turned to the door. From beside him, Adrian heard Max mutter something about irony under his breath. He too, despite entering the years of being a disagreeable teenager, was sick of the fighting. 

“Language, young lady,” Hugh said, warning laced in his tone. 

“Once again, you’re not my dad,” Nova gritted out. She opened the front door, revealing the darkness outside. “And you never will be.”

“Nova, what he’s asking isn’t completely unreasonable.” Simon ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You’re in our home for who knows how long, so as parents, you’re now our responsibility. Even when you’re not under our roof, you’re our responsibility. We just want you to be safe.”

“If you don’t want to follow our simple rules, then why are you even here? We’re paying for an apartment not two miles north from here, and you’re not even there. Instead you’re here, wasting our time and resources.” Even though the words weren’t directed at him, Adrian felt a chill go down his spine. 

Nova’s mouth opened, and she stared at Hugh blankly. Adrian could’ve sworn he saw her eyes welling up. “I’m here because I didn’t want to be alone. I’ve been alone my entire goddamn life, and I didn’t know if I could handle doing it again.” She swallowed, hand turning on the screen door. “But it’s not like I expect you to understand.” And then she was out the door. 

Adrian rushed forward, eyeing his dad coldly. “Seriously?”

“She’s out of line!” Hugh defended, although Adrian could see the regret in his features. 

Choosing not to answer him, Adrian shook his head and went outside. Nova was at the end of the driveway, sitting on her motorcycle and looking down at the ground. Adrian approached her slowly, making sure his steps were loud so that she knew he was there. 

“I don’t walk to talk about it.” She hid her face even more from him when he bent down. “You’re welcome to come with me, but I don’t want you to get in trouble for breaking curfew.” Her voice soured at the word. 

“I understand why you’re mad, but don’t avoid me because of it.” He lightly nudged her chin with his knuckles. 

“He’s just so...so…” she lifted her head up, running a hand through her hair in frustration as she tried to find the right words

“Stubborn? Controlling? Self righteous?”

“Yes.” She let out a laugh, though it was void of humor. “It’s just...who does he think he is? I’m an adult. Even if he was my father, he can’t control what I can and cannot do.”

“You seem to forget that I’ve had to live with him for years,” Adrian said dryly. He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together. “I’m an  adult, too, but that doesn’t matter because he pays the bills.”

Nova gave him a long look. “You really need your own place.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“But you get what I mean.” She looked down at their hands, turning them around to examine the back of his. “I’m not his kid. It’s different with you because you’re his son.”

“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to keep you safe.” Her grip on him tightened, just slightly. Even though it had been a few years since the events surrounding the supernova, Nova still had trouble believing that her former enemies actually cared about her. It was hard to trust them when it had been ingrained in her from a young age that they were the bad guys. 

“I can take care of myself fine. I’ve been out in the middle of the night so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.” 

Adrian sighed and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. There wouldn’t be any reasoning with her, at least not tonight. He had to let her cool down and return to the subject when she had a clearer mind. “At least come back inside? We can go play video games downstairs, or watch a movie, or do anything you want. I’m sure once you and Hugh are both calmed down, you can reach a compromise.” 

“But I don’t want a fucking com-”

“Or he’ll see things your way,” he tacked on quickly. Right. When she got like this, it had to be her way. It was funny, how she resented Hugh at times for his stubbornness, when she was equally as stubborn if not more so. This quarantine was really getting to all of them. Adrian couldn’t wait for the day life could go back to normal. 

“Adrian? Nova?” Adrian turned his head around to see Max, who was squinting at them through the dark, despite the outside lights being on. 

“What’s up, Max?” Nova shifted her body on the bike to face the teen. 

“Pops wants to know if you’re coming inside soon. He needs to set the alarm so he and Dad can go to bed.” Max paused, eyeing the bike. “Unless you’re going for a ride, then he’ll leave it off.”

Adrian waited for Nova to answer, as it was up to her. Nova ran her free hand over the bike, then sighed. 

“We’ll be in right behind you. I was just...checking some things on her.” All three knew she was lying, but Nova was still learning how to express her emotions in front of others. Even in front of Max, someone she got along with as well as she did with Adrian. 

“Alright.” Max turned to leave, then glanced back at her. “You know, things are rough right now, and I know it isn’t easy for everyone to be in isolation for so long, but,” he shrugged, “at least we’re together. I was able to make it in a quarantine for ten years with no one but myself and the doctors for company, so this is easy for me, but I know I’m probably the only person on this planet who thinks that way.” He let out a soft laugh. “I guess I’m just trying to say that I’m glad you’re here, and that I’m glad our family is quarantining together.” The smile he shot her was genuine. He turned back around and walked back to the house, where Adrian could see the outlines of his dads watching at the door. 

“Huh.” Adrian watched his brother go inside. “Just when you think he’s starting to learn how to be a proper kid-”

“-he goes and spouts shit like that?” Nova finished, shaking her head. Adrian could see the small smile on her face through the curls hiding her features. 

“Yeah.” Adrian squeezed her hand. “C’mon, let’s go back inside.”

“Okay.” 

__________

Nova placed the mixing bowl in the sink and turned on the faucet. She reached into a drawer and grabbed a towel, placing it under the running water. The kitchen was a mess, although she had seen it in worse states. At least the ingredients were all stored away so that she could get started on wiping down the counters. Hugh and Simon were at headquarters for the day, as their presence was required for something Nova didn’t care enough to know about, and they figured it would be best to work from there instead of coming home. And, according to Simon, them being out in public and at headquarters would be good for publicity. It had been a while since they stepped into work, seeing as even the Renegades had to obey social distancing orders. 

Point being, they were out of the house, so Nova could do whatever she wanted without questions being asked. And she had grown to appreciate baking during quarantine, among her long list of new and revisited hobbies. The Everhart-Westwoods always, to Nova’s surprise, had sweet tooths, so they never minded that Nova made a mess of their kitchen; it was just when Hugh or Simon entered the kitchen and started asking a bunch of questions that got on Nova’s nerves. Today, she could bake in peace. 

Or so she thought.

“Mm. Smells good in here.” She looked up at her boyfriend, who just entered the room. He peeked at the oven. “Cupcakes?”

“Muffins,” Nova corrected, setting the used towel next to the sink. There was dried paint on his forehead, as well as on his hands. She had to shake her head. How was it possible to get so dirty? Well, she should speak for herself and her flour-covered apron. 

“Oh, well, same thing.” He shrugged and grabbed a water glass from a cabinet. 

Nova blinked and reached for the remote, which was sitting beside her, and paused the show she was watching on the kitchen’s small TV. “No. No not really.”

Adrian chuckled and nudged her lightly as he passed her to the fridge. “Yeah, kind of. The only difference is cupcakes have frosting.”

Nova scoffed. “The only difference? They’re two completely different things. That’s like saying ice cream and gelato are the same.”

Adrian turned to face her, leaning against the fridge. He took a sip of his water. “Ice cream and gelato are the same. One’s just claimed by the Italians.” 

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Those aren’t the same, either, dumbass. Ice cream, clearly from its name, has more cream than gelato. And gelato’s more dense than ice cream. Those are just two differences.” She crossed her arms. “There are more.” 

“And? What does that have to do with muffins and cupcakes?” 

“Because they’re not the same.” Nova had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. And Adrian claimed he was a smart person. Yeah, maybe smart compared to sloths. “Muffins are considered a bread. Cupcakes are...well...cake. Two completely different recipes. You can’t just slap some frosting on a blueberry muffin and say it’s a cupcake. Maybe it looks like one, but the flavor and textures are way off.”

“They both are made the exact same way, babe. No difference.” With the way he was smirking, Nova had the thought that he could just be messing with her.

“Don’t ‘babe’ me.” She glared at him. “Fine. If you won’t believe me, the baker, then you don’t have to eat any of my muffins. Not cupcakes.” 

He groaned and reached for her, but she dove out of his reach. “Nova, don’t be like this. I’m sorry. They’re not the same, okay? Happy?”

“Not until you’re honest.” She checked the timer above the oven. “I’m going downstairs for a minute.” Pointing a finger at him, she added, “Don’t mess with them. I’ll know.”

“Admitting defeat?” he called at her back. 

“Hell no,” she tossed over her shoulder. “This conversation is far from over, buddy.”

She definitely heard him mutter rudely how he knew, but chose to ignore it. After all, she was the bigger person in the relationship. 

__________

Adrian turned into a parking spot and turned off the car. He glanced over at Nova, who was giving him a very pointed look.

“The park? What did you plan? A picnic?” That was, in fact, the plan, but only part of it. 

Leaning over, he planted a gentle kiss on her lips. It only softened the look a little. “You’ll see, nosey.” He unbuckled himself and opened the driver door. “Now, come on.”

She rolled her eyes, but got out as well. Seeing her in a pair of cutoff shorts and a simple t-shirt was refreshing, as she had been wearing sweats for the past two months, ever since the world was sent into quarantine. She and Adrian both had been dawning the same three pairs of pants and shirts for weeks now. But, this was the first time they both actually got out of the house, save for their daily walks or motorcycle/car rides, so it was only fitting to get dressed up for the occasion. And by dressed up he meant ditching the sweatpants. 

Also, it was Nova’s birthday. Adrian hated that she was being forced to spend it unceremoniously, when so many of her birthdays had gone practically unnoticed growing up with the Anarchists, so he took it upon himself as her boyfriend to do what he could for her. And that meant having a socially distanced picnic in the park with their friends, who they hadn’t seen in person in months. 

They walked down the sidewalk hand in hand, going into the grass whenever a biker or runner passed by them to maintain distance. Adrian almost wanted to pull his mask out from his pocket, but knew he was probably fine. Besides, if he put his mask on, Nova would follow, and he knew how much she hated wearing them, for obvious reasons. They were outside, and there were hardly any people in the park.

“You’re an idiot, Adrian Everhart,” Nova said once they could see their friends, but there was a smile on her face. They were all spread out on blankets, making a circle, and in the center sat an unoccupied blanket piled with food and gifts. 

“Hey, I can’t take all the credit.” He squeezed her hand, grinning down at her. 

“It’s about time you two showed up,” Oscar said, checking his watch. “We’ve been here for hours. We’re starving.” He stood and went to the middle to start making a plate. Adrian made a face at his back. He had specifically asked that they wait for Nova until they started eating in the group chat, so he guessed Oscar was holding his word. He waited, after all. 

“Twenty minutes,” Danna corrected from her spot beside Narcissa. She looked at them and rolled her eyes. “Happy Birthday, Nova.”

Everyone chorused in their ‘Happy Birthdays’ and Nova thanked them as she and Adrian sat down on the one remaining blanket. “You guys didn’t have to go and do this for me.” She turned her gaze specifically toward Adrian. He raised his hands in defense.

“Blame Oscar for putting the idea in my head. All he ever talks about when we video call is how bored he is.”

“That’s true.” Nova shook her head in amusement. “This is very sweet, but don’t expect me to cry or anything.”

“You cried on your seventeenth birthday, and that’s enough for us,” Ruby teased. 

“That was literally two years ago.” Nova ran a hand over her face. “It meant nothing.” 

“Mhm,” was Ruby’s response, but Adrian could tell she wasn’t convinced. None of them were, obviously.

Nova peered at the food pile. “Is that Mediterranean pizza I see?”

“Yeah, and it’s all yours,” Oscar clarified, passing a plate he made for Ruby to her before sitting down himself. “I still don’t understand how you like that. There’s not even meat on it!”

“There’s also cannoli’s.” Adrian stood to go make them both plates. He knew that cannoli’s were one of the few desserts she liked, probably because they weren’t that heavy. “Do you want one or two?” 

She pondered the question for a moment, then smiled at him. “Two.”

When he returned with their food, she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“What was that for?” He handed her plate over.

“For being you, and for giving me the best birthdays ever.” She shifted her body to lean against him. “How’d you know I wanted to see everyone for my birthday, anyway?” 

“Because I know you.” He kissed her forehead. “Happy Birthday, Nova.”

__________

Bonus crack scene:

“I would like to thank everyone for joining me today,” Nova said, swirling the water in the wine glass she snatched from the cabinet. Since Hugh wouldn’t let her drink actual wine, this was the next best thing. She cleared her throat. “I took it upon myself to observe the members of this household over the course of a week and rate everyone on their performances.” She pointed to the pyramid of papers set up on the wall, held there by type. There were pictures of everyone in the household behind a white sheet of paper. Starting at the bottom on the left side was the worst member, and the one at the top was the best. Why she decided to do this, she had little clue, but she figured it would be an entertaining activity to spice up everyone’s day.

“Is that what this is? I thought it was something actually serious.” Hugh leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. There was a smile on his lips. 

“It is serious.” She pointed her glass at him. The fast movement caused a bit of water to slosh over the side. “It has come to my attention that there are people in this household who have some improvement to work on if they want to move up next week.”

“If I’m not at the top, I’m breaking up with you,” Adrian joked, adjusting the glasses on his face. She narrowed her eyes at the camera he was pointing at her.

“I do not accept bribes.” Tearing off the first piece of paper, she began. There was a snicker, probably Max. “Hugh.” He immediately started protesting, but Nova silenced him. “No, no, no. You’re mean to me. Always looking to post up or some shit.”

“Language,” he warned, though his tone was light.

“Not to mention you don’t let me express my true self by cussing,” she added sharply. “Also, you tried to kill me three years ago and I’m sorry, but I just can’t forgive my haters like that. Try better next week, okay?”

“Hold on, wait a second.” Hugh held up a hand. “First of all, young lady, if you want to bring up the past, it goes both ways, but we’ve both changed for the be-”

“No comments at this time,” Nova interrupted. She ripped off the next sheet of paper. “Next up is Nova.” Laughter broke out in the room. Even she couldn’t help from smiling. “Not gonna lie, I held out hope for this one, but she’s got a lot of issues, if you know what I mean. Always picking an argument, refuses to participate in family activities, and is kind of just there. Doesn’t really do much of anything. The only reasons she’s above Hugh is because, for one, she’s far more attractive, and she bakes stuff for everyone.

“Adrian-”

“Oh, come on!”

“-you refused to cuddle with me yesterday and watch guilty pleasure movies because you said you were busy. You argued with me the other day on the validity of the Star Wars prequels and sequels.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “And you’re filming me without my consent. Other than those things, though,” she shrugged, “pretty cool boyfriend. You didn’t say anything when I stole one of your sweatshirts the other day, so that gets you some points.”

“Wait, the gray-”

“Max is next.” She tossed the white paper to the ground. “You never say anything mean to me, unlike some members in this household, but that could also be because you spend all day on video games. Because of that, I’m afraid you can’t be higher.”

“Hey, I’ll settle for third.” Max shrugged, grinning. 

“And that’s why I like you!” She nodded firmly. “In second place, we have Simon. Who doesn’t like Simon? You always have something nice to say, and on occasion, you’ll back me up in an argument because you’re an intellectual. I always enjoy our deep conversations, too. Truly a wonderful person.”

“Thank you, Nova. I enjoy our talks, as well.” Simon chuckled. He looked pretty pleased to be on top. 

“And that leaves us with,” she ripped off the last paper at the top, causing the room to erupt in laughter and clapping, “Obi Wan Kenobi. Truly an iconic and handsome man. Every time I watch Star Wars, he brings up my serotonin levels. Not just because he’s cute, but because he can land some sick burns.”

It was easy to say that, thanks to Adrian’s video, Nova started a trend all over the world.

[snowdice]

Things You’ll Never Do (Part 4 of the Series “Is There Anything Left of Patton?”)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Virgil & Logan, Logan/Patton(?), Virgil & Patton (?)

Characters: Logan, Virgil, Patton(?)

Summary: Season change. Life changes. Patton doesn’t.

Notes: Zombie Apocalypse AU, Past major character death(?), Look it’s a zombie AU so you can probably guess why there’s a question mark after everything involving Patton. Angst. 

The fourth part of a series of one-shots called Is There Anything Left of Patton?

Previous parts:

“Something Left”

“Someone You’ll Never Meet”

Food You’ll Never Eat 

Logan glanced up as Virgil shifted on the couch next to him to pull the blanket he was wearing more securely around his shoulders. He was working on patching his hoody once more and seemed even more anxious without its normal weight around his shoulders than he had been in the past week. Logan tried to ignore him but couldn’t help but grit his teeth just a bit as he squirmed around a bit more, jostling Logan with the movement.

“It’s getting colder,” Virgil commented.

“It is,” Logan agreed, hoping that would be the end of it.

���Yeah…” The other man started to tap his foot and stopped sewing altogether in lieu of fiddling with the fabric in his hands.

Logan closed his eyes and took a breath. “We will be fine, Virgil,” he assured. He knew, of course, why Virgil’s anxiety rose as the temperature dropped. He hadn’t gone into detail, but Logan had pieced together from what he had said that his last winter had not gone well. There had been a reason why he’d been alone when Logan had found him last spring, and it was not anything like the reason Logan himself had been “alone.”

“I know,” Virgil replied.

Logan nodded and went back to his book.

“But what if…”

Logan snapped his book closed. “Virgil,” he said, and it was a good thing Patton was currently tied to the rocking chair out of reaching distance because the sharpness of his tone drew the man’s attention instantly. “As I have explained multiple times before, we have plenty of supplies for the winter.”

“But what if there’s a big snowstorm and the solar panels break, and we freeze?”

“We have stored battery power as well as gasoline for the backup generator. If all else fails, we have a fireplace and wood.”

“But then we wouldn’t be able to cool the food and we’d starve…”

“If it is cold enough that we could freeze to death, we can simply put the food in the freezers outside in the snow instead. Besides, all of the canning you insisted on doing this fall would easily get us through the winter twice over.”

“What if…?”

“Then we die Virgil,” he snapped. “What do you want from me?!” The other man slammed his jaw shut. Logan sighed. “I will go on one more hunting trip for the season if that will assuage your anxiety. You can make jerky out of whatever I bring back. However, you will need to find some activity to amuse yourself during the winter months other than overpreparing supplies else we will surely drive each other mad.”

“…Fine.”

“Very well. I will go tomorrow,” Logan said and then paused. “Do you want me to put Patton downstairs while I’m gone?” Recently Logan had simply… stopped putting Patton downstairs during the night and Virgil had yet to protest. It was likely not a rational decision, but he… didn’t like putting Patton downstairs. Logan knew logically that the distress he expressed when he realized he was being put in the cage was not true human suffering, but it still always left a bad taste in Logan’s mouth.

“Nah,” Virgil said glancing at the mentioned man still pulling at his leash. “It’s cool. Patton and I’ll just hang out.”

Logan tried not to show his relief on his face. “Very well.” Hopefully by the time he got back, Virgil will have calmed down some, or at very least, Logan would have more patience to deal with him.

  Virgil glanced through the inventory Logan had carefully written out and marked off the one can of peaches that he’d eaten for breakfast. There were still enough cans for four cans of those per week until next April, but the numbers only partially calmed his anxiety over the situation. He sighed and tried to forget it, walking into the living room and hoping to find something productive to do.

He paused in the doorframe. “Patton? What are you doing buddy?” Virgil asked. Patton was standing in the corner of the living room trapped between a potted plant and the wall like a video game character clipping. He stared at the plant blankly. “Pat,” Virgil said a little more sharply to attract his attention. He turned at the sound to start toward Virgil and promptly walked right into the potted plant, tumbling it and himself over. “Patton!” he exclaimed, rushing over to him.

He realized his mistake a moment too late. He must have moved in the wrong way or spoke with just a bit too high of a pitch because Patton suddenly went from his must-investigate-weird-object mode to attack mode. Virgil tried to hop out of range of the leash, but felt a hand grab his ankle with surprising strength considering how the zombie was usually easily pushed and pulled with the lightest of touches. Virgil’s leg was pulled out from under him and he fell. “No!” Virgil said as he was yanked backwards. He tried to find purchase on something, but all he could do was dig his fingers into the carpet. They often forgot with how docile Patton was 95% of the time, that Patton had all the strength of an adult man and perhaps a bit extra from the turning. “Patton please! I hate it when you do this!” Virgil groaned. He was pulled inexorably back by the hold on his ankles, his fingernails scrapping against the ground uselessly like a scene in an old horror movie.

Weight flopped down on top of him, a knee digging into his back. Cool breath brushed against the back of his neck and too cold fingers grabbed at one of his ears. A chill went up his spine.

Virgil flopped his forehead onto the floor in defeat. “You know,” he grumbled. “If you’re not going to eat me then WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS?” Patton’s fingers tried to find the source of the sound, but Virgil was luckily on his stomach and could easily press his mouth against the floor. That didn’t stop the fingers from scraping against his neck though. “I fucking hate you sometimes Patton,” Virgil hissed. Patton just patted at his cheeks. “Logan!” he called. “You didn’t possibly get back from your hunting trip and just not tell me, did you?!” There was no answer. Figured. Virgil pushed against Patton’s hold and was shoved firmly back down, fingers digging into his hair with renewed vigor.

Unfortunately, when Patton got like this, there wasn’t much you could do without help besides waiting and hoping. He had to lose interest in you before you could get away from him. The problem was that even if he did get bored, when you tried to wiggle away, there was every likelihood he’d just get more intrigued by you and the cycle would repeat again and again.

They went through the process a couple of times before Virgil was finally able to get away from the weird forced cuddling. He shoved back suddenly, and Patton toppled off him. Virgil scrambled away and out of the leash’s reach before he could get grabbed again. Patton rolled, confused at the sudden exodus of his pillow and got caught up in the leash. He promptly started fighting with it.

“Ugh,” Virgil said flopping on his back on the floor. After a few more moments, he stood up and surveyed the damage. The poor plant was likely unsalvageable, the pot it had been in now broken into three big pieces and a few smaller ones (he’s glad they didn’t roll onto that), and wet dirt was everywhere.

Virgil sighed. “We both have mud all over us now Patton.” He was careful to pitch his voice low. Patton barely even spared him a glance. Instead he just continued to claw at the leash.

Well, Virgil couldn’t just leave him there no matter how much he wanted to after that trauma. He edged carefully around the writhing mass on the floor and grabbed the edge of the leash, quickly untying it from the armchair he’d been attached to. Next came the game of untangling Patton from the leash while said zombie did everything he could to resist Virgil’s efforts.

Eventually, Virgil managed to get him untangled and gave a non-so-gentle tug on the handle. He stumbled forward, made a hissing noise, and tried to pull himself back the other way. Virgil dug in his heels and tugged, whistling a couple of times to get his attention.

It took probably 20 minutes to drag him upstairs to Logan’s bedroom. He tied him to the headboard of the bed. “Stay,” Virgil commanded, uselessly he knew. He dashed into his bedroom and quickly changed into a different outfit before returning.

Patton had sat on the floor while Virgil had been gone. “You got mud all over the rug,” he moaned. Well, that would be a problem for later. First… he ran down to the kitchen where the water supply was and wetted a washrag.

He did his best to wipe the mud off of Patton’s face and arms despite the way he fought back like Virgil was pouring acid onto his skin. “It’s just water, you asshole,” Virgil hissed, throwing down the rag once he’d gotten the worst of it off.

He turned toward the dresser and started rooting through the drawers a bit roughly, trying to find something in them that would be easy to wrestle Patton into. He dug through the clothing, growing more and more frustrated by the moment. He pulled out something that looked promising: a pair of sweats with some university logo on them, but as soon as he held them up, he could tell they were too small for Patton’s waist. He tossed them over his shoulder.

They made a clanking noise when they hit the floor. He paused, blinking over at the pants. There weren’t any buttons or metal on them to make that noise. Now that he was paying attention, he noticed when he reached over to pick them up that they had an unusual weight to them. He dug his hand into the pocket and pulled out an engagement ring.

Oh.

It was easy to forget sometimes that Patton wasn’t in fact some really stupid dog he had to deal with. He’d been a full person once who liked to cook and garden; in fact, the peaches he’d eaten this morning were grown and canned by his hand. He’d kept a closet full of stuffed animals despite being a fully-grown adult, and, by what Logan had said, had no shame about that fact. The truly horrendous 100-pound armchair they tied Patton to in the living room was picked out and somehow dragged into Logan’s home without his knowledge or consent by that man.

Patton had been someone who was loved so much that Logan couldn’t let him go even now, still looked at him with all of that love even now. He was a man who’d bought a ring and made plans for a future that would never come.

All of Virgil’s agitation at Patton drained from him in a moment.

“I…” Virgil said, drawing Patton’s attention to him, though he could never reach him from where he was tied up. “This is a really nice ring Pat. Nice and simple. He would have loved it.” He would have loved anything Patton gave to him. “Would you want him to have it, I wonder.” He looked over at the man, searching for an answer on his vacant face. “I think…” Virgil concluded. “I think that would be cruel, and I think that you didn’t like to do cruel things.” Virgil nodded to himself and carefully placed the ring back into the old sweats’ pocket, folded them up, and put them back where they had been in the drawer.

He much more calmly picked out a pair of pants and a shirt. “Okay Patton,” Virgil said and turned to him. “Let’s get you into something clean.”

Thanks for reading!

Ah and we finally have foreshadowing for the plot. Gee this AU moves slowly...

...

What plot you ask? Well.

Want to read more? The next part of this series is...

There are Things You Have Lost 

[sceptilemasterr]

Defenders of the Flame (TE Rewrite) Act 1, Scene 11 - The Girl in the Mirror

Title: Defenders of the Flame (A CIU Screenplay)

Main Pairings: Shreya x F!MC, Beckett x F!Atlas

Other Pairings: N/A

Genre: Full Rewrite (The Elementalists, Book 1)

Rating: PG-13 for violence, blood, swearing, alcohol, and sexuality

Summary: After a dark conversation, Fiora finally opens up to the others about the mysterious reflection she has been seeing.

Previous Scene: New Routine

Masterlist: Link

INT. FLETCHLY HALL - LOUNGE - NIGHT

The Pend Pals, now including Beckett, are gathered in the Fletchly Hall lounge for a study session. Beckett is sitting near a podium similar to the one Dr. Religast uses in her Stoicheal Theory class. A diagram of various stoicheal techniques and theories is displayed above it, which only Beckett himself seems to be paying attention to; his Grogue sits on the podium, trying to shoot down the display with his metal pebbles. Fiora and Shreya’s Lumians sit perched atop the ceiling light, sleeping contentedly, while their owners sit side-by-side on a couch, engaged in rapt conversation. Zeph lays on his back on the floor, playing one-handed catch with a sphere of water he had conjured as Ishi tries in vain to flash-freeze it with his breath. Griffin pages through a textbook on his lap, frowning at one particular page. His own companion, a Talpea (a cross between a mole and a rabbit) named MUGU, is trying and failing to dig through the carpet.  Suddenly, one of Ishi’s ice blasts misses Zeph’s water sphere and hits Griffin’s leg.

GRIFFIN: Ow! Hey, what was that?

ZEPH: Sorry! That was Ishi. Ishi, no!

Ishi whines and walks away from Griffin. Shreya looks over at Griffin and Zeph.

SHREYA: Hey, be glad it was just ice and not fire. Our element is much stronger, I must say.

ZEPH: What, still sore about losing to me ten duels in a row this week?

SHREYA: Okay, that isn’t fair. Everyone knows water overpowers fire. You had the advantage!

ZEPH: Then why did you keep challenging me?

SHREYA: Because I wanted to win!

GRIFFIN: C’mon. All Attunements have their pros and cons. Don’t think there’s one that’s necessarily better than the others.

ZEPH: I dunno, maybe not in terms of power, but personality? Metal-Atts leave a lot to be desired.

BECKETT: I heard that, you know. Besides, I’m the only one here who has already thoroughly studied everything. Is anyone else going to use this study session to actually, well, study?

The others exchange glances.

SHREYA: Apparently not. Come on, Beckett, join us! That display isn’t going anywhere, after all.

BECKETT’S GROGUE: Croak!

FIORA: See? Even he agrees!

BECKETT: Hmm, very well. But only if you all promise to get through at least another two lectures’ worth of concepts by the end of the night.

ZEPH: It’s a deal.

Beckett takes a seat in an armchair near the others.

BECKETT: If we’re speaking of Attunements and personalities, such things have only minor effects on one another at best. True, certain personality types are more or less common among certain Attunements, but nothing is absolute.

ZEPH: I dunno, you and Dr. Rallah sure both seem to have the stiff, uptight, boring routine down pretty well--

Beckett’s Grogue lets out a loud croak and launches a stream of pellets right at Zeph’s forehead.

ZEPH: Ow! Hey!

The rest of the group dissolves into laughter. After a moment, Zeph joins in as well.

BECKETT: Frankly, even I will admit that her lecturing style leaves much to be desired.

SHREYA: Wow, this from you, of all people? I am shocked!

GRIFFIN: I mean, all the Earth-Atts I’ve ever met have been pretty friendly and outgoing, but that might just be because I only hang out with friendly people to begin with.

SHREYA (shrugs): Seems sensible enough to me.

FIORA: Okay, hang on... but what about the Wood-Atts? They don’t have a mean bone in their body. Every single one of them is a nature-loving, friendly, peaceful, hippie-type! Even Dr. Kontos!

The room suddenly goes quiet. Everyone except Fiora exchange uncomfortable glances with one another.

FIORA: ...What? It’s the truth! I mean, Shreya, you’ve met Aster, she’s so--

SHREYA (uncharacteristically serious): Not Aster. Someone... else.

Fiora scans the room. Everyone has serious, downcast expressions on their faces as they stare at her.

GRIFFIN (gently): Fiora... surely you’ve heard of... the Dread, right?

Fiora looks over at Shreya, realizing that this is something she should know, but doesn’t. Shreya gives her a subtle nod.

FIORA: I... uh, yes? But I don’t know much--

GRIFFIN: He was a Wood-Att.

Fiora continues to stare, puzzled, at Griffin. Zeph picks up the slack:

ZEPH: Fiora... the Dread was the worst mass-murdering criminal of the last century. He killed hundreds. Some even say thousands.

Fiora shudders.

FIORA: And... he was…

GRIFFIN: A Wood-Attuned. That’s right. Listen, Fiora... do you remember the Primal Force for Wood?

Fiora thinks for a moment.

FIORA (muttering): Light... Gravity... Motion… (louder) Oh! Life, isn’t it?

Beckett nods.

BECKETT: That’s right. And you can imagine why that particular Attunement would be so dangerous in the hands of someone such as the Dread.

GRIFFIN: You’ve noticed with your own fire, right? Attuneds can’t just create their element, but erase it as well. Now, imagine a murdering psychopath with that kind of power over life itself.

FIORA (uneasily): I can imagine. But how could a Wood-Att become that... that... horrible?

ZEPH: Exactly. Our Attunements don’t make us who we are. It’s our choices. And some people... well... choose awful things.

FIORA: I guess. But, I mean, he’s gone now, right? What happened to him?

The others all exchange another glance.

SHREYA: Honestly? No one really knows. I mean, he was obviously stopped, but as for how? No idea.

GRIFFIN: That’s right. Growing up, he was just a story our parents told us to scare us into doing what we were told. Y’know, “If you don’t eat your peas, the Dread will get you!” That kind of thing.

BECKETT: Ugh, please don’t remind me of that. It was my parents’ excuse for essentially everything.

FIORA (sarcastically): Sounds like amazing parenting right there.

BECKETT: Unfortunately, it was a very real possibility. The Dread--or, to use his real name, Raife Highmore--had a horrifying tendency to target children. No one knows why.

FIORA (terrified): O-kay, enough creepy murderer stories for me, thank you. This guy’s from forever ago, right? He’s gone now?

Zeph creeps closer to Fiora, and says in a mock-spooky voice:

ZEPH: Ah, Fiora, he’s gone for now. But one day, he shall return... and then, he will be out for BLOOD!

Zeph claps his hands in front of Fiora’s face, startling her. She shrieks and falls over, landing flat on her back on the ground. Zeph and Griffin laugh uproariously.

ZEPH: Wow, Fiora, you really fell for that one!

GRIFFIN: Nice one, Zeph!

He and Zeph high-five. Fiora frowns.

FIORA: Oh, ha ha, very funny. Look, I just…

As she looks around the room, desperate for a change in subject, her gaze alights on a mirror in one corner of the room. She flinches back in shock when she spots her silver-haired reflection looking back at her. Fiora rubs her eyes, and in the time it takes her to do so, the strange reflection is gone, replaced by her normal one.

FIORA: Hey, guys... does anyone see anything weird in that mirror there?

She points to the mirror. Everyone follows her gaze curiously.

SHREYA: Nothing but my lovely face, why?

GRIFFIN: I don’t see anything…

BECKETT: It’s simply a mirror.

ZEPH: What, did y’see something there?

FIORA: I mean... it’s gone now. But for a moment, I saw a weird version of myself. Basically the same, but with silver hair and a different expression. Is that normal? Have any of you seen something like that here?

Beckett frowns in puzzlement. He looks to Griffin, who shrugs.

GRIFFIN: Beats me. Weird reflection, you say?

FIORA: Exactly. A weird reflection. I even saw it in--

She stops herself when she realizes she was about to accidentally reveal her origins to the group.

FIORA: Uh, saw it in another mirror. Somewhere before I started at Penderghast... and then again, during the Test of Attunement. It... she... looked just like me, but wasn’t matching my expression or movements. And her hair was silvery.

She absently tugs on a few strands of her own red hair. Griffin frowns.

GRIFFIN: Can’t say I’ve heard of anything like that before. You’re sure you saw it, right? It couldn’t have been some kind of illusion?

Fiora shakes her head.

FIORA: Don’t think so. It sure looked real. You’re sure this isn’t some kind of normal thing that happens in this place?

SHREYA: I haven’t heard of anything like that, either.

Beckett abruptly stands up and starts walking back toward the projection in the corner.

BECKETT: You can continue discussing this phenomenon if you wish. I, however, shall begin my own research into this event. Perhaps I can uncover some insight during my ample free time.

ZEPH: Wait, “ample free time?” Since when? With all of our classes, we’ve got--

BECKETT: You mean to tell me you haven’t completed all of the assigned homework for the entire quarter yet? Nor read each and every textbook twice by now? Hmph.

Zeph visibly shrinks in his seat, embarrassed. Griffin rolls his eyes.

GRIFFIN: Seriously, Beckett? It’s not a competition.

BECKETT (genuinely confused): I did not mean it that way. I apologize. I only meant that, as I have plenty of time available to me, I am best suited to investigating this “strange reflection” that Fiora mentioned.

FIORA: Well, whatever the reason, thanks, Beckett. Hopefully you can find some explanation. It’s kinda creeping me out…

BECKETT (smiles): Naturally. Happy to assist, Fiora. Isn’t that part of friendship, after all?

FIORA: You’re right about that. Thanks!

Shreya yawns, stretching her arms out widely.

SHREYA: Well, I’m not sure about the rest of you, but... (yawns) ...je suis fatigue. Fiora, care to walk back to our room with me?

FIORA: Sounds like a plan, Shreya!

BECKETT: Wait! What about your promise? Two more lectures’ worth of concepts, do you recall?

SHREYA: Please, Beckett. A mademoiselle like myself needs her beauty rest, non? We shall review more of our lectures tomorrow. I promise!

Beckett starts to object, then sighs.

BECKETT: Very well. But I assure you, I will be holding you to it!

SHREYA: Of course you will. Goodnight, all of you!

FIORA: Night!

Everyone says their goodbyes. When it’s Zeph’s turn, however:

ZEPH: Have a romantic night, you two!

Shreya splutters with surprise as Fiora stares at him like a deer in headlights.

SHREYA: What-- what could that possibly-- I don’t-- excuse you--

FIORA (simultaneously): Wait a sec-- no-- we’re not-- hold on--

Zeph breaks down into laughter. After a moment, he stops laughing and simply looks at the two girls with a knowing smirk.

ZEPH: Have fun…

Shreya and Fiora look at each other awkwardly.

FIORA: Uh... right. I’ll just... go now.

SHREYA: Goodnight, Zeph.

The two of them leave the lounge. Zeph stares after them, then turns to look at Griffin.

ZEPH: Ah, young love... am I right, or am I right?

GRIFFIN (shrugs): Who knows?

_______________________

Scene Notes: At long last, we find out about the Dread in this version. Since all of the “super-Attunements” from canon were wrapped into the Primal Forces here, Blood became the Life Primal Attunement, thus making Raife a Wood-Att. Terrifying how the most kind and gentle Attunement can be twisted so far... but as Griffin said, it’s all about our Choices. (See what I did there...?)

Timeline: November 23rd! Still in the ES time jump.

_______________________

Next: Unexpected Saviors

CIU Tag List: @brightpinkpeppercorn @endlesshero1122 @bbaba-yagaa @acidsugar0 @shaylan211 @griselda1121 @acanthisorbis @marmolady

DotF/Elementalists Tag List:

[tslasvegas]

Episode 8: “On the upside we got the numbers.” - Andrew (who is then voted out by those numbers)

It’s always a sad and unfortunate thing when a player needs to leave a game for personal reasons. I’m wishing Kevin all the best! 

Welp. I don't wanna say that this sucks, but this sucks. My closest ally walked from the game, and I hope he's ok. I really hope everything is ok with him. But now, I'm a green in a world of pinks. What my pink friends don't realize though, is I have a Safety Without Power advantage. Nobody knows about it. So if we lose, they cannibalize themselves, and that will be a sight to see. But I'd like to keep my advantage for as long as possible. But if we lose, that'll be a fun tribal council. I can only hope it's a double tribal. Now this - this is a redemption arc.

If a merge at 13 is next, then we are done! ugh. 

MERGE HAPPENS

We merged!! And I only had to attend a single tribal council in the premerge with 8 eliminations. That’s wild! We’re sitting here in merge with 7 OG Palazzo, 3 OG Bellagio and 3 OG Luxor. If Palazzo sticks together, we’d have the majority whichever way you look at it. However, I don’t imagine that group is going to stick together very long. Joey wants to get myself and Jaiden into single digits. I’d love to help get Jake into single digits as well. And I’d also like to get Livingston to at least 6th place. Honestly a group of that 5 sounds like a pretty good idea, and I might pitch it to Joey later today. And now we’re doing mastermind! A game I love but rarely ever win. I usually come close and I’m hoping this time around I can snag a win and be safe this first tribal. Nothing is scarier than the merge round of the game. Anything at all can happen. There’s still some idols and extra votes floating around, maybe some steal a votes too. There’s also that safety without power and the legacy advantage, which may be able to be played this round? Exciting things are brewing im sure. 

We made the merge!!

So OG Palazzo must be tight. Good thing Steph and Joey are still reaching out. But I don't know if we can build up a resistance with the non-OGPalazzo. I mean, in theory, it can happen. 6 of us, with a steal a vote. But so much has happened voting on opposite sides, I don't know if it is doable. We can try. Better to go out blazing at 13th, than just waiting for your turn to be voted out before F7.

I MADE IT TO MERGE AGAIN... okay I feel good about my surroundings, as well as the people I’m next to. OG Palazzo wants to go all the way to Final 7, but I know that ain’t gonna happen, cause I’m turning on them as fast as humanly possible. I need others to see that I’m a strengthener to their games, and now that its every player for themselves, I think I can grab some allies and make shit happen. I have a Legacy Advantage, and I’m just trying to get to 6.

I’m sad I lost all my chips. On the upside we got the numbers

MERGE BITCH

Ok but for serious I don't have much to say so I'm just going to do an assessment of everyone on the tribe. Andrew - I thought I was gonna like Andrew bc I thought he was c*te then I find out he likes The Sims so there was something easy for us to talk about!! But then... come to find out. He's not really interested in talking I guess. So I'm just going to leave him alone and not carry on a conversation. Ben - WHY is Ben still here. I'm so annoyed. Ben tries so hard to be my ally but I don't trust him that much. Before the merge, he pitched a plan to pool our coins (meaning: I had to send him all of mine) so that I could spin the wheel and avoid going bankrupt. Then he said we're a final two. I was like,,, no thanks. I feel like he's going to blow up his game at some point, but I just gotta pretend better to be on his side. Idk how to do that exactly... Jake - Jake has been THE biggest surprise of the merge to be honest. I actually really like Jake. He's a little "irritating" I guess, but more in the sense that he is just pretty bro-y and that's not my energy. I respect Jake's desire to be great in Tumblr Survivor, we have that in common here. I think right now, Jake and I are as close as you can get to working together without actually being a legitimate alliance. I want to see where this takes us because he's a cool guy and I really feel bad for talking shit about him before the merge. Jeff - Part of me likes Jeff, but part of me views him as the enemy simply because he's part of the "Palazzo 7". I want to try and work on Jeff because maybe he and I see things the same way? I don't think this game is strictly "seven strong" like Joey perpetuates, I'll get to that in a minute though. Anyways, I want to see how things go with Jeff cuz he seems like a cool dude and I'm definitely a meninist and want to be his bitch! Joey - I hate that I'm in a position where I both know Joey is vital for my game right now, but also that I can't stand his strategy. I like him as a person, let's make that very clear for the post-season - I just don't subscribe to his idea that there's a seven person alliance (which btw includes him according to numbers???) running the show. I will definitely feel Joey out some more before I make any decision to attach myself to him fully or throw him to the wolves. John - THREAT. I'm on high alert for John and kinda trying to maintain a safe, social-distancing-approved level of space between us. I think that John is definitely running things at least in one or two circles and I don't want him to turn that target around on me. I also can't let him know that I'm onto him. John is probably playing it where everybody just likes him and includes him in plans, but in the event that he is pulling strings, that's where the issues start. Kailyn - I don't really care for Kailyn anymore tbh. I kinda think Kailyn is playing a good under the radar game and I think it's in a lot of people's benefit to send her off to the jury sooner rather than later. I have no read on who she's close with though so that's the danger. Probably John? But who knows. Keegan - I also am surprised that I like Keegan as much as I do. He seemed a little bit too smart for his own good? But he's actually rather nice. He flops like I do but I think he's a danger if I'm not careful. I'll keep on this guy and hopefully he doesn't target me <3 I'd rather work with Keegan than against him especially now. 

Livingston - WOW I thought I'd like Livingston but goddamn this guy is BORING. Not only does he not message back, but he has nothing interesting to provide to a conversation. If he was the first person to go this round I wouldn't really be upset oop Pat - We talked a lot about drag race. We played an org together and I remember now that Pat was fucking IRRELEVANT so I'm surprised to see this new energy. Who are you and what did you do with the real Pat? Stephanie - I don't really like Stephanie's strategy either, she's just too damn likable and kind of floats on by, I wish she had left last time instead of Rachael because then it's likely Rachael gets the boot soon. But we'll see what happens. I just hope that me voting for her isn't going to kill our relationship and we can work together at some point, at least until she gets voted out. Xavier - I have a hard time reading Xavier. I think I'm calmed down from feeling threatened by him. I trust Xavier enough to not go and screw up a vote again, but does he trust me? Don't really know. I want to work with Xavier at least for a couple votes but I know that he and Ben aren't on good terms and Ben is a vote that I need right now :/ The issue I have with Xavier is that he is positioning himself to kinda be a doormat just doing whatever people want and not necessarily.. taking control of how people look at him I guess. He sticks out for being the "dad" on the tribe and doesn't bring a lot of his own personality to conversation - it's just really basic strategy. I don't know anything about him that I didn't have to go fucking find out about him on his public YouTube. Insert clown emoji here. Anyways, overall I feel okay about my chances on this tribe... So far. I honestly don't see myself playing a winning game right now - BUT it's final thirteen and there is a lot of time to turn that around for myself. I feel good in comparison to my previous Tumblr Survivor seasons because there hasn't been a vote where I've completely made myself stand out like a sore thumb. My head is in a good place to finish out this game strong, just gotta put the pedal to the metal and work shit out. Maybe win a couple challenges! Whatever twists are ahead... I'm not prepared. But I am going to walk away from this season for the better, one way or another. Eight people down, twelve left to go. 

Well, I came close to winning but unfortunately didn't. Kailyn won immunity and we had a twist where we all had to choose between two buttons. Aaaaand Kailyn now has immunity this tribal and next tribal. Lovely. After the challenge, Andrew immediately threw out Jake's name, which was worrying but I think Jeff and I have managed to sway things towards Ben. Which is a little scary, since it's highly possible he has an idol or advantage (though he did play an idol on himself at the Rachael boot. So maybe not?) Now, the question is going to become: how do Livingston and myself navigate these next few tribals with Jake? We need to keep him safe and the target off his back. There's also Joey and Jaiden who I definitely want to keep working with moving forward. I think I'm in a decent spot. I really don't see Jaiden or Jake keeping their mouth shut if my name comes up. I think I've managed to build enough of a bond with them that they won't target me. My concern is definitely Ben being a little sneak, as well as Kailyn and Xavier, who really don't talk at all. John... can also be kinda sneaky and he also has been super quiet. However, when all is said and done, I just want a single digit placement. I don't care what happens before/after that, just please let me get there. 

My first merge in 3 seasons of Tumblr Survivor, finally! It would be awesome if the tyrannical force of pink wasn’t here. Right now I’m practically a sitting duck. I’ve made connections with Jaiden and Joey who I just met, I’m hoping they’d watch my back. Ben and I are great friends from outside the game, we’re called the Jew-O Duo, for obvious reasons. I’m in a duo with Jeff called Jeff Squared, a duo with Pat called The Best Men, a trio with Liv and Keegan (that’s super dangerous cause I know they’re friends), and me John and Xavier are the Luxor Losers. I should feel protected - but I don’t. I need to keep working socially and hope that I can scoot by a couple more rounds. I wanna buddy up with Steph and Kailyn, I have no interest in working with Andrew after he flat out told me he wasn’t turning on Pink. It could be me tonight. We’ll just have to see.

....five seconds later

No. No no no no no no no. I'm sick of Andrew trying to get me out, and then going after my allies instead. I can't just sit here and let him walk all over me the entire game. He has been wishy washy and fake with me since I met him. I'm not gonna play a game of what ifs, I'm taking a gamble and gonna get his own tribe to flip on him. I've got enough information from Jeff, Pat, and Liv to spin into a lie. I know Andrew said my name - but Jeff and Keegan changed it to Ben, so if I tell Keegan that Andrew blamed him on my name coming up I think I can flip him. I can try to get John, Ben, and Xavier, Keegan can get Liv and Joey, that's 7. If it blows up in my face - Oh well. This is season 99! We're high rolling now.

Had a nice long conversation with Jake this morning. Andrew has been throwing my name under the bus for some reason? Well Andrew, better watch out because I’m driving that bus and swerving it at you. OG Palazzo is... not my favourite. Honestly I’m okay if it dies tonight. Jake, Livingston, Ben, Joey, Jaiden and myself can definitely switch things up. I imagine we can get John and Xavier on board as well, maybe even Kailyn. I was perfectly okay riding the pink wave for a few rounds, but Andrew you just had to go and mess that up. Why? For what reason? Hoping it’s you tonight. xoxo Gossip Girl

I feel good about tribal, rip Andrew I guess, but I'm nervous as hell for some reason that it could be me. It would be perfect because I don't even see it coming... :/

I don't know what happened, but there seems to be a "merging" of tribal lines. Which is good for me. The vote is going Andrew with 9. And the 4 are voting Ben. Or everyone is playing everyone. I am just happy I am not one of the options BUT I was told that Steph and I are being mentioned by people as a tight 2. Well, they're right, but I didn't want that to come out.

Andrew is being his paranoid self. And rightfully so. Unless I’m getting completely bamboozled, the vote should between 7 and 9 votes for Andrew, and between 6 and 4 votes for Ben. Fingers crossed this goes off without a hitch

Okay so premerge wasn’t too hard tbh. Just making friendships with my og palazzo. I just hope that every week people see someone else as less important to their game. I have a long mental game for this and I am prepared to take this game week by week and adjust to everything that comes. I just pray that I make it through this week and even if I lose Andrew I don’t mind tbh because then I have an idol to myself. I’m obsessed with Livingston tbh he’s so funny and I like a good amount of the people I didn’t get a chance to meet premerge so I think there’s good room to move about 

After last tribal I honestly want Ben gone. He’s kind of rude and frustrating. OG Pallazzo has the numbers so in theory we should be set but who knows? 🤷🏼‍♀️

[writeyouin]

I don't know if someone requested this already--- But I would like to see something about TFP Starscream and a fem!human s/o~ please! Like, they're first meeting? Or something different if you want! Also, I really love your writing! And sorry for my English, isn't my first language

Starscream X Reader – Undeserving Part 1 of 3

A/N – Hey, your English is incredible, you’re doing great sweet-pea.

Warnings – Angst.

Rating – T

Starscream gritted his dentae, hissing as he forced his arm to bend, breaking free of the icy build-up within his joints. The cold was locking up his mechanics every few clicks, but that was the cost of setting up his base in the Antarctic. His current problems of freezing up could be easily rectified if he went inside, but he couldn’t bring himself to… not yet anyway.

Until now, he thought the day had went well. He’d taken a risk, attacking the Autobots for some much energon in one of the dilapidated mines, long since picked dry by Megatron. Instead of finding energon, Starscream managed to capture you from that bumbling oaf Bulkhead. After that, he’d taken you back to his base where he’d formed the perfect plan to trade you for a functioning T-Cog; it was simple and elegant. Starscream didn’t care where the Autobots got the T-Cog from, they could tear one out of themselves for all he cared, so long as he got one; hell, they probably would do that to save one of their pet humans, but what did it matter? They weren’t flyers anyway, inferior Autobots.

By all accounts, Starscream should have been happy, but as he felt the ice locking up his knee joints, he still didn’t want to go inside. Although he’d never met you before, he remembered all previous encounters with the other Autobot pets. They were rude and full of insults which he pretended to ignore until the time to recharge came, when the ugly words scarred his mind, almost making him believe them. Despite always claiming to be perfect, after millennia of being harassed and tortured for any minor inconvenience, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Starscream to view himself as anything but worthless.

With a heavy sigh, Starscream fought away the darkness in his processor that threatened to be his downfall. He left the icy tundra in favour of the base which could protect him from the cold but left him vulnerable to the much shaper attack of your words.

Putting up his usual façade of confidence and superiority like a knight donning armour, Starscream passed you, frowning when you said nothing. He turned to check you were still there, despite knowing escape was impossible. Sure enough, you were huddled in the corner, rubbing your arms to keep warm; Starscream didn’t recognise the action and he didn’t care enough to ask what you were doing.

Under Starscream’s scrutinous glare, you began feeling awkward; maybe that was why you gave a small wave. Starscream stepped back, shocked by the action.

“Sorry,” You said bashfully, retracting your hand. “I don’t really know what the social convention is for being uh… kidnapped.”

“…Yes, well… It’s not that,” Starscream answered almost dutifully.

You nodded slowly, “Right, yep, noted. I um- Sorry, could you tell me what you’re planning to do with me? I mean, I don’t really know what the protocol is for this, usually you take Miko or Raf, y’know.”

Starscream eyed you curiously.

You felt more pressure to end the silence, “I um- I think I’ve made things weird and not the good weird, it’s more like the weird you get when you call a teacher dad or something. Should we start again? I feel like we should. You should go out and come back in and I’ll be quiet and then you can say something, and I’ll follow your lead.”

Starscream had no intention of repeating the unusual interaction, but he did find your assessment correct; the situation had indeed become ‘weird.’ Despite the unusual situation, he was glad he didn’t have to deal with the usual insults, escape attempts, and general bad behaviour; it was about time he got a reasonable captive.

“To be honest,” You babbled, “I’m just glad you came back. You pretty much left straight after putting me in here and without you, I’d starve. You shouldn’t just leave like that okay? What if something bad happened to you? I can’t call for help in here, what would happen to you then?”

“I won’t kill you, human,” Starscream said in an attempt to regain control of the derailed conversation.

“I gathered that much, but it still begs the question, what are you going to do with me?”

He grinned, eager to monologue his brilliant plan to a civilised hostage for once. “Well, if you must know human-”

“(Y/N).”

“What?”

“My name,” You told him. “It’s (Y/N). Sorry, no more interruptions, carry on. I was just setting the record straight… Take it away.”

Starscream bit back a lopsided grin, turning it into his trademark scowl. How was it possible for you to be so awkwardly uncharismatic? More importantly, why did he find your social ineptitude so endearing? Concluding that he was simply starved of intelligent conversation, Starscream continued, “Whatever hu- Ah, (Y/N). To put it simply for your tiny organic brain, I’m going to trade you back to the Autobots for a T-Cog.”

“What’s a T-Cog?”

Starscream rolled his eyes, wondering how he was going to get anything done with your constant interruptions.

“You don’t need to know what it is, only that I plan to trade you for one.”

“Does it have something to do with your alt-mode?” You persisted.

“How did you-”

“When we were in the mines… You didn’t use your alt mode. To be honest, I’m impressed you managed it, I mean, your missiles must be very effective to trump Bulkhead’s brute strength. Oh, and how did you get the ground-bridge to work without a console? Did you rig it up to a remote or something?”

Starscream was astonished that you’d figured all that out from an educated guess. If he was honest, the ground-bridge remote didn’t work according to plan; after he’d taken you, and barely escaped through it, the remote lost all power and without the proper tools, he knew he wouldn’t be able to repair it. “Ugh, why do you ask so many incessant questions?” He huffed. “Never mind, I have much work to do-”

“Do you have more plans?”

“Excuse me?”

“Unless you have more plans that I don’t know about, you don’t really have that much work to do. All you have to do is call the Autobots with your demands, right?”

“Uh, well I-”

You patted the floor, indicating for Starscream to sit outside your cell.

“You expect me to lower myself and sit on the floor?” He said disgustedly.

You shrugged, “Sit, don’t sit. Either way, I think you have time to talk with me, come tell me about yourself.”

Starscream stared at you somewhere between hope and suspicion, “Why?”

You smiled, “Would you relax? I can’t do anything from in here, I just wanted to understand you better. You seem like a smart guy, I think it’ll be nice having you to talk to while I’m here, and from the looks of things, I’d wager you’d like a bit of decent conversation as well, right? So, tell me about yourself.”

Starscream raised an eyebrow plate before relenting, “Very well, I suppose I could spare a few clicks.”

Starscream didn’t know what he was doing, hanging around with you like you were his equal. He’d even considered letting you out of your cell more than once, which was insane; if you were free, you would run, and he refused to lose you like that. He hadn’t even called the Autobots yet, and they were bound to be searching for you and him by now; it had been exactly three weeks since your capture, so they had to be closing in on his location.

Starscream desperately needed a T-Cog, he didn’t feel whole without one, yet if he gave you back would he be left with the same kind of emptiness? Were you now a part of him like his T-Cog had once been? No, it would be far worse to lose you because unlike a T-Cog, you had the capability to care for him, evidently valuing him for some reason he didn’t understand.

Starscream growled, careful to keep the sound low as he sat in the dark, watching you sleep, ever peaceful in your cell. What he needed was another plan, one that would guarantee him both you and a new T-Cog. He considered the conundrum for a long time, attempting to come up with anything that would help. If he was aboard the Nemesis with all his previous resources such a plan would be easy, but now he had nothing and thinking of the past wasn’t helping.

You shivered in your sleep, an action Starscream now understood. He sighed, knowing the only way he could keep you truly warm would be to hold you against his spark. What was he thinking? He was thinking of you like a spark-mate, not a prisoner or even a friend. How much longer could he lie to himself? Eventually, his walls would crumble, and he feared what would happen when they did.

He got up silently, leaving you to your world of dreams. He would return to you in the morning, hopefully with a plan that would allow him to keep you.

Starscream put up a front on confidence to greet you the next morning. “Are you awake yet (Y/N)? I want to talk more about-”

He stopped, gasping anxiously at the sight that met him. You were stood in the corner, holding the wall for support, purging your tank of the little contents it had left. The food Starscream had brought for you was supposed to last a few days, but it had been weeks and you’d carefully rationed everything you had, until finally, your weakened body could no longer handle the strain.

“(Y/N)…” Starscream whispered. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?! Is this one of those awful human processes that’s normal? If so, you will be cleaning it up.”

You shuddered, groaning when you were apparently done, “Don’ feel so good.”

Starscream panicked at your lack of a comeback, you were supposed to laugh it off and tell him you were glad he was concerned; you always saw through him, why didn’t you say anything about his façade now? “What’s happening? Is it the cold?”

You took one wobbly step from the corner before losing your balance and stumbling to the floor.

Starscream lowered the cell’s barrier, dropping to his knees and picking you up. He cradled you close to his spark, which radiated warmth even behind the thick metal plating that protected it. “See,” he said, “I can keep you warm… I can fix this.”

Your head rolled back as you lost consciousness. Starscream knew this was more than a simple matter of cold; he also knew he wasn’t equipped to heal a sick human. Carrying you over to the computer console, he found Prime’s contact details, hesitating to make the call, all too aware that if he did, he’d lose you.

“I- I don’t want to let you go. You won’t come back… Nobody ever comes back.”

Coolant leaked from his optics. He quivered, unable to remember the last time he’d cried. How were you able to elicit such powerful emotions in him after only three weeks? Mixed in with the sadness was a feeling he’d only ever hear of, yet he recognised it instantly. Guilt. He felt guilty that he’d somehow caused you to be ill.

“I’m sorry,” He said, pressing his helm into your clammy skin. “How could I ever think that you could be with a monster like me… Dreams are a waste of time.”

He pulled himself together long enough to place you gently on the computer console, which he then used to call Optimus Prime. “Filthy Autobot, I’m sending coordinates to your disgusting human pet. After all this time it didn’t know anything; torturing it was useless after all.”

With that lie, Starscream hung up, leaving the base without so much as a look back. He wondered if you would ever come to know the reason he lied, should you live. He hoped you knew it was so the Autobots would take every precaution to keep you away from him; clearly, he couldn’t be trusted to protect you himself.

After staying out in the cold as long as he could do so without shutting down, Starscream risked going back into the base. As suspected, the Autobots had clearly used a ground-bridge to collect you; they’d probably left immediately afterwards, seeing the state you were in.

Dejectedly, Starscream went to your cell, unable to tear his optics from the stale vomit in the corner. This was for the best, you deserved the world, and he had to suffer the inevitably long life of a Cybertronian alone. He punched the wall, buckling against it afterwards and crying for the second time that day; once again he had failed, but for the first time in his life, it mattered.

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[pumpernickel-simswood]

A Devoted Friend: Pt 3

Part 1 Part 2

Marinette got up and quickly helped set the table. 

Adrien, polite as ever, ended up sitting between Sabine and Marinette. He waited for everyone else to begin eating before he started.

"So," Tom said between bites, "what were you kids studying? Is there a big exam coming up?"

"No, actually, it was a business plan Adrien made for me." Marinette replied, sounding equal parts proud of Adrien and blown away that it was for her.

Both sets of parental eyebrows went up.

Adrien swallowed and smiled politely, "Well, I overheard Marinette discussing opening an online store for her designs and I… I have access to a well of knowledge about that, especially for fashion, so I don't see why I wouldn't help her."

"That's very sweet of you, Adrien." Sabine smiled, "Thank you."

"It's nothing, really." Adrien looked down, feeling his cheeks warm.

"Even if that's true," Marinette began. He glanced up to find earnest eyes peering at him. She continued, "I'm incredibly grateful you put any time into helping me."

"Of course, Mari," Adrien said immediately, "we're friends."

Marinette canted her head at that, slightly.

***

"Thanks so much, Marinette!" Rose hugged her tightly.

"Of course, Rose." Marinette grinned and hugged back.

"We'll see you at school." Juleka smiled.

"Of course." Marinette waved.

"Bye~!" Rose waved back and they descended the stairs.

"And now, Adrien." Marinette muttered as she turned to look at him with an analytical eye. She let out a long sigh, "You got taller again."

A chuckle escaped Adrien, "Sorry?"

"Let's hope I made the pants too long." Mari shook her head in amusement. 

"Capris could work if they aren't." Adrien suggested easily. 

"Uh-huh, sure. Just go try them on, long legs." Marinette laughed.

Adrien snickered and took the clothes, "Be right back."

Marinette made some notes as Adrien changed. The wiki was gonna have to get updated once she actually checked his height. She was pretty sure his shoulders had gotten a bit wider too but she'd have to check.

"So, good news and bad news." Adrien said, stepping from behind the screen, "Good news, the pants fit perfect."

Marinette turned to him, "What's the bad ne- Oh my G-d."

Adrien's shirt was a good inch too short, his midsection showing, "I mean, it's not that bad."

"Adrien, it's at least an inch too short." Marinette put her hands on her hips.

"Truuuue." Adrien chuckled. 

"Alright, let's get measurements." Marinette laughed. 

***

"Alright, I just gotta make you a new shirt." Marinette said, looking up from her notes.

"I can buy replacement fabric if you want?" Adrien offered.

"No, I have enough left over, but thank you. Hopefully neither Ivan or Luka hit a growth spurt before next week." Marinette laughed. "Also, do those colors work for you?"

"Green and black?" Adrien's lips pulled into a playful smirk, "Yeah, I like to think so."

Marinette's brow furrowed but she nodded and made another note, "Okay, good. You can change back, by the way. At the very least, I need the pants back. Not sure how I'll repurpose the shirt yet…"

"Well," Adrien stepped behind the screen to change, "if you just shorten it, then I could have an awesome crop top."

"You want me to?" Marinette asked, surprised. 

"Yeah, the material is awesome and super soft. Plus, may as well make it a crop top when it's already short, right?" Adrien replied.

"Fair point." She shrugged, actively pushing down the desire to imagine him in it.

"Pretty please?" Adrien offered the shirt, redressed.

"Okay." Marinette held it up to his chest, "Where should I cut it to?"

"Uh, here." Adrien indicated. 

Marinette grabbed a marker and made a quick mark. And shortly she handed him the shirt back, now officially a crop top.

"Thanks Mari." Adrien beamed and kissed her cheek, "You're the best. See you later."

Marinette blinked after him as he climbed down the stairs. She raised a hand to her cheek then melted into her chair, "Yeah."

***

"Ugh, and they want Cat Noir specifically to show up for their birthday party." Alya groaned.

"To be fair, that's not that far of a stretch to get. You do actually know Cat. Plus he's pretty good with kids from what I hear." Marinette shrugged, hands in pockets. 

"I know but I dread asking him a favor like that. It seems like small potatoes compared to what he does daily." Alya argued.

Marinette snorted, "Alya, their patrols literally involve getting kittens out of trees and retrieving balloons most days. Just ask. I'm positive he'd love to."

"How can you be so sure?" Alya squinted at her friend.

"Cuz I've met him? And we did work together for Evillustrator, remember? Besides, I've seen how many pics you've gotten of him for your Instagram." Marinette started walking away. "And if you don't ask him, I'll do it for you."

"Hey! No! Don't you dare!" Alya bolted after her.

"I think his solo patrol comes by my balcony tonight, actually." Marinette hummed thoughtfully.

"Why on Earth would you know that? They always randomize their patrol schedules." Alya frowned.

"Because I keep track of everyone's schedules due to my anxiety and I noticed he does what might appear to be a random pattern but is actually just an extended rotational schedule. It, of course, varies based on akuma attacks, but he should pass my balcony tonight on his patrol." Marinette explained with an air of discussing weather.

Also he'd told Ladybug on their last patrol, but it did fit the schedule she kept so.

"Girl, can I just say I'm glad you're not on Hawkmoth's side?" Alya said.

Marinette shrugged, "So, sleepover?"

"Yes!" Alya grinned.

***

Cat Noir bounded across rooftops,delighted by the feeling of weightlessness at the apex of every leap. Things had been quiet so far tonight. A few strays to feed and that one shelter that needed an extra set of hands, but nothing big. Which was great.

He grinned as he raced across the top of his school. He could see the familiar and inviting balcony lights shining tonight. He was going to have to figure out how she always seemed to know when he was out and about one of these days.

As he got closer, he noticed Alya was up there with the princess tonight. Huh. Maybe tonight was a coincidence. Either way.

A well timed jump and flip landed him neatly atop the railings.

Alya jumped and yelped.

Mari simply glanced up, a playful smile pulling at her lips, "Hey Cat."

"Good evening, ladies." He bowed deeply. "Sorry to startle you, Alya."

"N-no, it's okay. I just didn't see you coming." Alya mumbled.

"He is pretty fast." Marinette shrugged. Her eyes returned to Cat, "Aren't you, showoff?"

Cat chuckled at that and crouched, "Oh, so you did see that awesome flip."

"I've seen better." Marinette said.

"Meowch, you wound me, Purrincess." Cat dramatically placed his hands over his heart.

"Mm-hm." Marinette was clearly trying not to laugh. It egged him on more than he cared to admit. She, sadly, turned to a very confused Alya, "Anyway, Alya wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?" Cat canted his head toward the blogger.

"Oh, uh, right." Alya took a deep breath, "I was hoping that you could maybe put in a quick appearance at my sisters' birthday party?"

Cat blinked, "The tall, kinda scary, buff one or the twins?"

Marinette snorted.

"Hey! You try fighting a boxer with spider powers!" Cat objected.

Marinette fell into giggles, "No, not that, just the idea that Anasi would want you at her birthday party."

"It could happen." Cat crossed his arms and scowled.

"Uh, for the twins." Alya interrupted, though she was looking curiously between them.

"I would love to. When is it though?" Cat turned back.

"In two weeks, on Sunday." Alya replied.

Cat hummed, trying to remember if he had anything scheduled, "I think I'm free. I'll message you on the forum when I get home and double check."

"Thank you!" Alya grinned.

"Of course." Cat smiled easily.

Mari nudged Alya, "I told you."

"Fine, you were right. There was nothing to worry about." Alya sighed.

"Hey, if you need anything Alya, seriously, let me know." Cat said.

Alya smiled, "Thank you, Cat."

Marinette picked up a plate of cookies that had somehow escaped his notice and handed them over to the hero.

Cat beamed as he took one, "Y'know Princess…"

"If it weren't for the Bug having your heart, you'd marry me for my baking alone?" Marinette raised a brow and practiced recital, eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Can you blame me?" He chuckled, wrapping the plate back.

"Well! If that's all I'm good for!" Marinette crossed her arms with a huff, though her playful air never truly left her.

"Oh, c'mon, Purrincess, if that was all that drew me here, I'd just buy from the bakery mask off." Cat leaned his face close to Marinette's, sincere and earnest, "You know you're one of my best friends."

She turned her pursed lip glower to stare intently at him. She sighed and turned away, cheeks pinking some, "Yeah, I know. You're one of mine too, Kit."

His heart filled with warm delight. He really loved her caring so much about him. It made him feel so full of light. He knew he was grinning ridiculously but couldn't bring himself to care, even with their audience.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Go fall off a balcony, Prince Ali." Marinette snorted.

"Oh, as the princess wants." Cat saluted and fell backwards off the balcony.

With quick, well honed reflexes, he bounded back up with his baton onto the next roof, never losing grip of the plate of cookies.

"I want that plate back when you're done!" Mari called after him.

He turned, bowed one last time and bound off. He was almost out of earshot when Alya spoke.

“Girl, what the hell was that!?”

Part 1 Part 2

@ijustwannabecanadian @rianoel @hellolovelyscientist @theworldslittlesis

[astoria00]

We’ll find our Way

Snow was a nuisance.

Even if it didn’t really pose a threat to her temperature wise, it had become a hazard to travel through…especially because she had to hold Neo’s hand oh so often while outside.

It was embarrassing, it was mortifying and…it messed with her head.

She avoided physical contact where she could, but this…this didn’t feel so bad.

Similar to how she had caught the short girl fast asleep, curled up against her side that one day.

Which she probably would never admit.

 …not that there even was a reason to do that.

She was just stressed.

Unsurprisingly, keeping in mind just who was definitely going to come after her sooner or later, but fortunately they hadn’t run into any grimm under her control yet.

…which would change as soon as Salem gave them the order to capture her.

 Sighing softly she inspected her surroundings.

Trees, snow and even more trees as far as one could see.

Neo trailed behind her, visibly strained from the overuse of her aura lately.

It tended to make Cinder nervous.

There was only so much backstabbing she was willing to endure.

Traveling by foot was far more demanding and slow than she had anticipated.

They had passed Argus only a few days ago, the whole city in utter uproar at the news of Atlas destruction, rumors of war whirring around.

Cinder knew their options where to…run to were quite limited, with Beacon overrun by grimm and Vacuo being the next big target on Salem’s list, so it seemed Mistral was the safest place for them right now.

 ‘Ugh.’

 She wished they wouldn’t need to return to that blasted kingdom.

Not for the first time Cinder cursed herself for failing the attack on Haven.

To see it burned to the ground, just like…

 What have you done?!

You will regret this, Cinderella!

 Clenching her hands into fists, she ripped herself from these disturbing thoughts.

It wouldn’t do her any good.

Not when they needed to focus on finding another shelter for the night.

 It was then that Neo caught up to her, pointing excitedly to a point farther ahead.

Following her line of sight Cinder managed to make out the blurry schemes of a building.

 “Good job, Neo”, she praised the shorter girl, while internally calculating how long it would take to get there.

 Since losing her eye her depth perception was pretty much gone and she had to draw everything from experience and muscle memory…or in this case, Neo’s vision.

Neo grinned at her, as she went for her right hand.

 ‘Ah…’

 That could only mean her companion was almost out of aura.

Oh well…she guessed she had to get used to this from now on.

Entwining her hand with Neo’s they both tracked through the snow.

 It took them maybe half an hour to reach the gate leading to the land’s property…half an hour too long of holding hands, while running through the wilderness in Cinder’s opinion.

Not that she complained…

…and that was exactly what was bothering her.

Her almost nonchalant reaction to being touched by Neo.

 Coming to a halt in front of a wooden post that read: Brunswick Farms, the dark haired girl squinted at the half destroyed main building with suspicion.

This looked like a small village of sorts…or at least a small community, so…where was everybody?

Aside from the central house, everything else looked to be in pristine condition…just…abandoned.

Neo however didn’t seem to care too much about this strange occurrence, instead she simply stared in disbelief at the wooden plate.

 ‘…interesting.’

 Cinder would file that away for later.

Right now they needed to find out if this…ghost town was a good enough shelter for the night.

Tugging lightly on Neo’s hand she got them moving again, her eye always trailing back to the burnt out main building at the center.

 What could have happened here?

…and more importantly, when?

 The dark haired girl had the distinct feeling that the fire wasn’t what drove all these farmers out of their homes.

There was this…soft tingling along her spine…something that felt awfully familiar for some reason.

But maybe she was just getting paranoid.

 In the end she let Neo pick the house they would be staying in.

Her complaints about Cinder’s inability to choose comfy shelters, as she put it, just got too annoying after a while.

An incredible feat for someone who couldn’t articulate herself at all.

 ‘Let’s see if you can do it better.’

 Neo could be certain, if anything bizarre happened tonight she wouldn’t let her live it down.

 Following the short girl into one of the spacious houses she had the distinct feeling she was being watched, but it disappeared as soon as she turned around, peering through the falling snow.

Nothing…

She really needed to rest her head a bit, or else she would go crazy and hallucinate apparently.

 Inside the house it was just as eerily silent as outside.

Not that Cinder was afraid of ghosts or anything like that, but something wasn’t right here, she just knew it and Neo seemed to share her opinion in that regard, as they both searched the building for any sign or clue to the whereabouts of the owners.

It was better to be safe than sorry.

And yet…it didn’t feel any more reassuring once they found them…dead in their bedrooms.

 Cinder had seen her fair share of corpses in her life, but the couple laying under the blankets creeped her out. There was this…familiar icy fire inside her, running through her veins the longer she looked at them.

As if…they just fell asleep and died…

The expression on their faces quite like…

 ‘Drowning!’

 Enough!

Turning around hastily, she made her way back downstairs sitting in front of the chimney.

It didn’t take Neo long to follow her.

The dark haired girl bit her lip in frustration when she spotted concern flash through her companion’s eyes.

Muttering a silent curse under her breath she raised her right hand and jumpstarted a fire inside the dusty old fireplace.

Hopefully that would keep the shorter girl distracted from asking too many questions right now.

She didn’t feel too comfortable talking about…that day.

To be honest, she wanted to forget it ever happened.

 The warmth of the flames chased the cold away, causing it to recede back into the depths of her soul, as the tension left her body.

Neo plopped down next to her on the carpet, visibly enjoying the heat radiating from the chimney, peering at her cautiously before giving her a beaming smile.

She held out both her hands, letting them assume some…curious looking shape, while regaining her grin.

Cinder sighed defeated.

 How many times did she have to remind her partner that she couldn’t understand her weird hand talk?

 “Listen, Neo, I don’t…”

 She trailed off, after the short girl motioned for her to turn around and face the wall across from the fireplace.

Perplexed, she followed her instructions…although begrudgingly, and found herself staring at a big shadowy wolf.

 “What the-?”

 Her eye shifted back to Neo, who grinned at her even wider, wiggling her fingers.

Cinder shook her head in disbelief, her tone full of annoyance.

 “Very funny.”

 The short girl looked at her almost innocently, searching for her scroll in her bag.

 /You never played with shadows before?/

 Now Cinder, let’s play a game.

It’s called hide and seek.

 The maiden couldn’t help the cold shudder that ran down her spine.

This definitely wasn’t the time to recall her carefree childhood days.

 “No, playing hasn’t been on my mind for a long time now.”

 Seemingly on instinct, Neo raised her hands again, before realizing it wouldn’t yield any satisfying results.

Staring at her palms in frustration her face fell.

After some deliberation she grabbed her scroll and typed:

 /Would you want to learn it?/, looking at her expectantly.

 ‘…huh?’

 Cinder felt heat rushing to her face.

Did she look like a child who wanted to fool around?

 “…what of my last sentence implied that I want to learn your shadow game?”

 The short girl rolled her eyes.

 /Not that, sign language./

 ‘Oh!’

 To be honest…Cinder had already contemplated taking up that strange language. Not only would it make communicating with Neo easier, but also give them an advantage for sneaking around…their enemies she supposed…or maybe the townsfolk they would come across soon.

 “Yes…I suppose that could become useful.”

 The short girl’s expression lit up. Apparently the prospect of teaching her this concept of communication delighted her to no end.

Sighing softly, the maiden crossed her legs on the carpet and tried to replicate one of the strange motions she had seen Neo do before with her right hand, eliciting a few silent giggles from her companion.

 /It’s easier if you use both hands./

 Reaching forward, she corrected Cinder’s sign, one of her hands grasping the maiden’s left one…before she pulled it back immediately with an uncomfortable look on her face. The dark haired girl cocked her head to the side questioningly before her eye settled on her left arm.

 ‘…oh…’

 Right, her grimm arm.

Of course Neo wouldn’t be comfortable to touch it.

 You turned yourself into a monster just for power.

 Cinder gritted her teeth.

Why did this lowlife bandit’s words still bother her so much?

She was accepting of who she was.

That’s why she had even chosen this outfit.

To make a statement!

Her arm was a part of her and she was not ashamed to show it off.

 She stood up, gazing at the warm fireplace with something akin to longing, before addressing her companion, her voice calm despite the turmoil she could feel building up inside her.

 “Let’s reschedule our little learning session and call it a day.

One of us needs to recharge her batteries after all if we want to reach the next village tomorrow.”

 She didn’t bother checking on Neo before she left the room and wandered upstairs into one of the more empty ones, making herself a little make shift shelter next to the bed, using all the blankets she had packed in her luggage. There was no way she would lie down on that mattress.

Who knows what had been going on in that community to drive them all out?

 Lying down onto her blankets she stared at the dark ceiling and tried to give her head some needed rest, only the pale moonlight falling through the window illuminating the room.

The shadows dancing in front of her eye reminded her of her first night in Evernight Castle…back when she had been a scared, little girl so in need of a place to call home.

 Can I stay with you for tonight?

 Come here.

There is no need to be scared of the dark, Firefly.

 That’s right…the darkness wasn’t as dangerous as people loved to paint it as.

She felt a pang of sadness wash over her when she recalled the time Salem personally had tucked her in…just like the mother she never had and yet…her affection had always felt…

 ‘Conditional!’

 Cinder knew, as soon as she started to perform under expectations, Salem would withdraw her love, if one wanted to call it that.

Sighing in resignation she couldn’t stop the yawn that escaped her, alerting her once again to how tired she actually was.

The maiden closed her eye.

Thinking about these things wouldn’t result into anything useful.

With that she began to drift away into an uneasy sleep.

  xxxxxxxxxx

  She couldn’t say what woke her up, only that it was cold… no, it was literally freezing!

And yet she couldn’t seem to move.

Cinder’s head felt so heavy, her eyelid too hard to open.

 ‘Wh…what’s…going…on?’

 Even her thoughts were so hard to focus on, so incredibly slow that it took all her efforts to stay in the here and now and not slip away to sleep again.

And why would she when it was so cold?

 That’s when she heard it!

An almost inaudible heavy moan right next to her head that send a cold shudder down her spine.

Fear and shock ripped Cinder from her stupor, forcing her to open her eye and blink through the darkness…

Only to be met with a black skeleton like hand, its sharp nails mere millimeters away from her skin!

 ‘APATHY!’

 With a strangled yelp the maiden blew the grimm away, throwing a blast of unsteady fire in its face, as she scrambled to her feet in a hurry.

Running outside the room she cursed herself.

 Of course this was the work of Apathy grimm.

Why hadn’t she bothered to check the other houses?

She should have known immediately that something wasn’t quite right about this farm’s state.

 ‘Neo!’

 Gods, Neo was still inside this building and if she knew anything about the Apathy it was that they were never acting by themselves.

And that meant the rest of the pack was probably here as well.

At the very least she hadn’t heard the short girl scream-

 ‘Shit!’

 Almost flying down the stairs, she bumped into yet a dozen more Apathy, their eyes glowing ominously in the dark when they seemed to spot her, blocking her way into the next room.

They were simply everywhere.

Standing in her way, hanging on the ceiling, weirdly entwined on the railing, staring her down, while approaching her slowly.

The deep breathy moans made Cinder’s hair stand on end.

She could feel the cold creep up on her once more.

 She couldn’t risk losing her will to fight right now, or else…

 Breathing in deeply, she closed her eye in concentration, before fire burst from it.

The maiden’s powers filled her with enough warmth to keep the cold at bay.

Summoning her weapons she tore through the grimm blocking her way downstairs and made a break for it, stumbling into the next room…and froze.

 It was as if she just entered a hellish nightmare.

The whole room was crawling with Apathy grimm!

A grotesque blackish void with demonic crimson eyes that tried to bore into her very soul and right in the center of the nest…laid Neo!

 ‘No!’

 The short girl seemed physically unharmed, nevertheless, the blank stare she gave the ceiling told Cinder exactly in how much danger her companion was in.

She needed to get her out of there, but…she couldn’t seem to move forward.

To the contrary, she felt herself backing away, only to find the exit behind her now blocked as well.

Her body felt so incredibly heavy, there was no way she was able to raise her weapons.

 ‘STOP!’

 All of a sudden the pressure in her body receded slightly, allowing the maiden to think more clearly, just as one of the Apathy moved towards her almost tauntingly.

 (Stay down, girl!

The Master wants you unharmed.)

 Cinder’s eye widened.

Had she been able to get through to them?

Connecting with grimm was always so…demanding.

A language of weird pictures and emotions that somehow translated into words for her once she succeeded finding the small right link to them.

That wasn’t to say that she had a lot of experience at how to control grimm.

 You must make it dread you!

 Cold sweat trickled down her brow, as she concentrated as hard as she could to make the Apathy cover to her will.

 ‘Let me through!’

 (No.

You are favored by the Master, however SHE is not.

That one is ours!)

 It was almost ridiculous how easily the voices made their rebuttal, causing Cinder’s head to spin.

Frantically she tried to think, to come up with an idea how to salvage this.

She couldn’t just leave Neo!

 […why not?]

 Because…

No, that was right.

She was able to escape.

The Apathy told her as much. They only wanted the short girl, she was free to go.

…but go where?

 [Home!]

 Yes, home…back to Salem…to get the power she was promised…maybe even to learn to control her new one…

It would be so easy…

She even missed her…

 …

 ‘To hell with it!’

 With an unexpected surge of strength, the maiden spun her weapons around, using her maiden powers to create a whirlwind to keep the Apathy in the room at a distance from her as she sprinted to the middle of the room, trying to rouse the apathetic girl on the ground.

 “NEO! GET UP!

WE HAVE TO GO!”

 The yell seemed to startle the short girl out of her stupor, blinking around almost disoriented, before horror washed over her face once the memories of what must have happened before came back.

Cinder didn’t have time for Neo to regain her marbles again and dragged her onto her feet.

Gripping her companion with her right hand, she threw multiple flaming daggers at the surprised Apathy still blocking the exit, before she balled her grimm arm into a fist, blasting through them along with the entrance door.

 In hindsight maybe staying in the house would have been preferable.

 The maiden had heavily underestimated the Apathy grimm…namely their numbers.

There were so many of them, cowering and weirdly perching and prancing around the rest of the farms. It was hard to even make out the white snow underneath their black, long, inhumanly feet when they slowly circled around them.

 Panicked Cinder looked around.

There had to be a way out of this!

 But more and more Apathy wavered out of the main building, joining the others around them.

 Pulling Neo behind her instinctively, she summoned her weapon again, her grip tightening around the handle when she pointed it at the grimm with her left hand.

 [Yield, Cinder!]

 The maiden automatically straightened her back.

That voice…

 Her eye widened in disbelief.

No, that couldn’t be…and yet her left arm began to twitch subtly, as if trying to head the command she had been given.

Neo pressed herself against Cinder’s back, her hands covering her ears.

This time the dark haired girl didn’t have the urge to shove her companion away.

Her wound only a faint burning of the past.

The short girl wouldn’t try to kill her again and…somehow…Cinder didn’t want to save herself if it meant losing her.

 ‘I…’

 Can’t?

Shouldn’t?

Mustn’t?

 ‘I won’t!’

 For a split second there was silence.

 Then the Apathy screamed and Cinder lost the ground under her feet, her face meeting the cold, but soft snow.

She was dimly aware that Neo had fallen behind her as well, but…she didn’t care anymore.

What even was the use in fighting?

What did it matter if she was brought home again?

She was just so tired…

Her head felt so heavy…

 As her eye finally closed she was calm.

This was totally alright.

Just like it should be.

…

 What’s the matter, Cinderella?

 ‘…leave me alone…’

 Your daddy can’t save you anymore.

 ‘…stop it.’

 Neither can he.

 ‘That’s not true!’

 Just give it up already. You will never escape me.

 ‘Forget it!’

 An icy fire erupted inside her, sweeping away the numbness in its wake.

People always wanted to control her!

Wanted to hurt her!

Wanted to force her!

Opening her eye she felt her view shift, her field of vision tinting in a bright gold tone, as the Apathy screamed again.

Nothing…

A cruel smirk spread over Cinder’s face, raw power bubbling right underneath her skin, begging to be freed…

And she was so done with listening.

Obeying.

Bowing down.

 The maiden rose slowly to her feet, making her way to the Apathy.

 (Why do you struggle so much, child?

When the outcome is always going to be the same.)

 She didn’t bother to answer it. Instead she raised her hand…and the Apathy evaporated, leaving only black ashes behind.

 ‘So easy.’

 Why had she ever been afraid to use this marvelous power?

 The ashes swirling through the air began to glow in a golden hue, flowing to Cinder’s still outstretched hand, getting absorbed as soon as they touched her skin.

A wave of euphoria washed over the maiden, making her head spin from the increase of her energy, as it spiked to yet a higher level.

 This was…

 ‘Astonishing.’

 [There is more where that came from.]

 Oh right.

Lifting her head she mustered the hundreds of Apathy with something akin to hunger, before feeling herself rise from the ground.

Fire mingling with the cold gold, as she raised both of her arms to the side, a storm raging inside her, spreading outwards.

Just like that the Apathy scattered one after another, black ashes circling around her, growing more potent with each grimm’s demise until they swelled on and practically swallowed her whole.

 Cinder couldn’t see anymore.

Some…unidentifiable noises reached her ear, but she paid it no mind.

It didn’t matter.

Only the steady flowing source of power did.

It felt so…

Exciting!

Exhilarating!

 ‘…overwhelming?’

 Her head spun even more.

This…was too much, wasn’t it?

It felt as if something would rip her apart from the inside!

What…how was she supposed to handle so much power?

 [I will teach you.]

 ‘…you…will…?’

 [Yes…but for that you need to come home, Cinder.]

 ‘…I...’

 Cinder couldn’t concentrate anymore.

She felt like she was going to explode.

 [Now, unleash your power!

Show the world your true potential!]

 Of course.

The dark haired girl was the eye of the storm.

It was time to let it run rampage.

Everything finally fell into place…until something…warm enveloped her.

 ‘Wha…?’

 Puzzled she lowered her gaze and saw a pair of hands hugging her midsection tightly.

Her head cleared a bit.

That’s right, she had been traveling with…someone and…

 [Cinder, focus!]

 But…

 ‘I don’t want to.’

 The maiden felt some of that unbearable power ebb away, as the person behind her slowly reached for her hands, tugging them down softly and the storm abruptly stopped as if it never happened in the first place.

 Cinder blinked through the now peaceful night, only the pale moon shining down on them, revealing the horrors the storm had left on the farms.

Sinking to her knees in disbelief, she stared at her hands with a sick feeling inside her gut.

 She had caused this…but…

 ‘Not of my own volition.’

 Salem had been able to…entrance her two times!

That realization was more than she could currently bear.

 With a strangled shriek she couldn’t help but break down in tears.

There was no control.

It had all been a lie…an illusion.

Salem was inside her head.

No one could run from her…and now she knew why.

 The short girl dropped next to her, dried tear streaks under her eyes and cheeks, obviously just as shaken by the events as Cinder and entwined their hands…both of them.

She gently squeezed her left one, her thumb running over the black knuckles soothingly, giving her a sad smile, as she wrote into the snow:

 /I’m sorry this happened to you./

 No, that wasn’t right…

 ‘I’m the one who should…’

 “Neo…”, Cinder’s voice sounded strangled and hoarse even to her own ears,

“I’m…”

 ‘I’m sorry!’

 This whole mess was her fault and yet she couldn’t seem to apologize.

Nevertheless, Neo’s words filled her with something warm…something she couldn’t quite describe.

 The short girl’s eyes softened, a teasing grin stretching over her face, as she tried to help both of them recover from the ordeal they just had.

 /I promise, I’ll never complain about your camping spots again./

 ‘Ridiculous.’

 Not that it hindered the maiden’s lips to twitch upwards.

This girl was just so unbelievable.

 Leaning forward she let her head rest against Neo’s shoulder.

 “Thank you.”

 AN: Hello again ^^

I know it’s a bit late, but I had quite a rough few weeks.

That being said, I will continue this to the very end.

Also for the ones reading Shattered Destiny, I will update very soon.

Enjoy ^^

[unadulteratedfandomtrash]

Loki Laufeyson x Reader ~ Rest Assured [Pt.6]

[My Marvel Masterlist]   [Previous Part]

Word Count: 1596

“What’s the matter,” Wanda asks from behind the black-haired god. 

“I am unable to break this spell alone. Another spell-caster is required.”

“What do you mean you need someone else? Can’t you and Queen Frigga do it together?”

Clint squints at Loki with skepticism. Though Loki may have another agenda other than taking over and terrorizing innocents, the archer still treads with caution around him since Loki is the only person to successfully interpret a small portion of the jinxed door, so there is no other person who can call him out for lying. Plus, Clint is unhappy with his luck for receiving the first shift with the trickster god.

“These doors are locked with a variety of spells, but only half of them are recognizable since I was the one who taught (Y/n) the incantations. The other half is some sort of light-based magic. I have never seen anything like it, but the formations are very specific and individual depending on the spell, that much I can guess. As with most sorcery, I assume there is also some form of signature embedded within the spells that serves as the caster’s identification.”

“Well,” Pietro concludes, exhaling audibly, “looks like you need to figure it out then.”

The three Avengers lean against the wall opposite to the doors as they listen to Loki’s explanation as to why he cannot simply ‘figure it out’ as Pietro commented.

“I would venture to continue this discussion, but that would be a waste of valuable time standing around and idly chattering about subjects mere mortals such as yourselves would never understand.”

“You wanna take a stab at this, Maximoff,” Clint offers. “Maybe there’s something there you recognize.”

“There is no point in her trying, archer. (Y/n)’s knowledge in the different types of sorcery was acquired long before your existence.”

“He has a point,” the brunette points out. “Besides, I know nothing about magic. My powers are psionic-related and telepathy.”

“Ugh, fineee. I know what Cap said about three of us watching Loki at all times, but his mother is here, so you two watch him while I go gather some information.”

“Barton, why are you here and not watching Loki like you’re supposed to!”

Without any warning, a pillow comes flying across the room and hits the archer in the face with a satisfying thump, startling the man enough to trigger his reflexes, along with eliciting a shriek of panic. Quick hands reach for an arrow from the quiver on his back, only to cut his fingers along the sharpened edges of the vanes, causing Clint to drop his bow so that he now freed hand can grasp the injured digits.

“Nice. I can’t believe Fury hired you as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s top agents.”

“And I can’t believe that I recruited such a mean person. Was the pillow really necessary?”

Shrugging while sporting a triumphant smirk, Natasha slides off the silken sheets of her bed and waltzes over to her friend to inspect the damage. Only a tiny trickle of blood escapes the minuscule tear in the archer’s flesh, so she ignores his whining to return to the comforts of the pillow-covered mattress.

“Why are you here, Barton? Steve isn’t going to be happy when he finds out you left your post.”

“If he finds out, Nat. If. And I’m here to get your opinion on something.”

“Go on.”

Soft scratching noises echo in the room as Natasha files her nails. One of her temporary partners for the trip, James Rhodes, shuffles around the room aimlessly while to two agents converse about the recent events that had taken place. A stone bust catches the colonel’s attention, but upon inching closer to inspect the sculpture, his foot accidentally kicks the gold pedestal.

“Hey, hey! Be careful,” Clint all but screams at Rhodes. “Who knows how these guys will make us pay for that if you break it!”

“Please proceed with caution. That sculpture is one of three in existence.” If not for his warning, Thor’s heavy footfalls announces his entrance as he strolls into the room. “You nearly demolished my grandfather.”

Wincing visibly, Rhodes backs away from the bust and opts to sit on a carved wooden chest that sits at the foot of his mattress instead. 

“As I was saying,” Natasha clears her throat before continuing her argument, “I don’t know if Fury even knows about any activity to begin with. I mean, it’s possible for a few people possessing magical abilities to be in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, but that would require us to physically be present to look through all the files.”

“Why must you search for masters of sorcery when my mother and brother are ones themselves?”

“Because Loki needs a very specific person to unlock that door. He said that (Y/n) learned magic from a lot of different people, so there has to be some way to contact all her teachers.”

All eyes focus on the God of Thunder as the man in question rests a hand on his chin, stroking the strands of hair on his beard while thinking over the statement. As far as Thor knows, (Y/n) had left to seek apprenticeship from over a dozen times during her lifetime, but he was never very close to the young sorceress in their youth, so his knowledge of her travels is limited to gossip and brief exchanges he heard between Frigga and Loki. If there were any tangible records of her journeys and experiences, it would be kept in journals in her chambers, which is currently the issue at hand.

“I have no knowledge of any of her instructors. (Y/n) and I were quite distant as children. It was only after her marriage to Loki that we started getting acquainted with each other, but we still remain distant to this day.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…You mean to tell mean that this (Y/n) person is Loki’s wife?! That’s why we’re here? To let Reindeer Games see his wife?”

“Yes. I thought you knew this.”

“Though the wording used during the meeting did not directly state this,” Vision states as he phases through the golden walls, ”I do believe that many of the Avengers have at least gathered that (Y/n) holds a significant importance in Loki’s life.”

“Which is why I ask you to please do whatever you can to help my brother. Though he can be quite ill-mannered, Loki does have another side. One that shows kindness. In time, he may reveal his true self around us all, but I know very well that (Y/n) brings out the best in him.”

It takes a lot of convincing from Natasha, but Clint eventually agrees to bring up the newfound information to Steve, who scolds the archer at first for leaving the twins— despite Frigga being there with them. The super soldier works with Thor to modify a new plan to accommodate the time differences before bringing in the rest of the team for briefing. 

Surprisingly, Odin remains level-headed when the news reaches his ears, however, the AllFather denies the Avengers’ request to immediately return to Midgard. Instead, he suggests a much more simple plan— one that does not involve a blind search for possible magic teachers— that neither they nor his son thought about: Heimdall.

“The man you seek, he is heavily concealed by magic. His exact location is proving difficult even for me to determine.”

“How is that possible,” Thor demands.

“I may be all-seeing and all-hearing, My Prince, but there is little I can do when such powerful sorcery is involved.”

Seeing as the God of Thunder is losing his patience, Natasha steps in to speak to the gatekeeper. She words her questions carefully, trying to pull as many details as possible from his obscure answers.

“Wait,” Heimdall announces suddenly, his gold eyes widening in surprise. “I believe I just saw a glimpse of the destination you seek.”

Quickly pulling out a small pad of paper and a pen, the Russian spy hastily jots down the series of numbers and letters Heimdall reads out. The address is nowhere near complete, but it is more than enough for Natasha. With the bits of information, Natasha can simply input the partial address into a computer and let the Internet’s autocomplete do the rest of the work.

“Let’s go, Thor!”

Clint returns to his previous location before Loki’s chambers bearing news for the Maximoff twins, Frigga, and Loki to hear. He wants to withhold the information from the God of Mischief, but the possible consequences outweigh the satisfaction of witnessing Loki’s unrelenting frustration over a hexed door.

“Alright, listen up, kids, ‘cuz I’m not saying this again.” Glancing over at the Asgardian queen with a moment of realization, the archer apologizes for his wording before continuing with his announcement. “Natasha and Thor are leaving to make a quick visit on Earth, so because of that, Stark’s group will be the one to take over after our shift. If they’re not back by the time Stark’s shift ends, we’ll have to come back and fill in until then. Cap will take an extra shift if Nat and Thor are still gone by the morning. I don’t like this anymore than you do, but hopefully everything runs quickly and smoothly. Any questions?”

“And where exactly are they going,” Loki inquires wryly, his tolerance for his current group of guards diminishing by the minute.

“177A Bleecker Street, New York City, New York.”

[Next Part]

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