#I had to pull out certain parts or change them so I wouldn't get skinned alive

[modmad]

Would RGB sing somewhere over the rainbow? Woke up in a cold sweat and thought that’d be in character for him then went back to sleep then woke up in my cozy bed so cozy got so cozy in my bed

fascinating question, as in the original version of TPoH he does sing that. As with when hero sings "I"m going to go back there someday", TPoH was littered with references to pop culture, but I have had to cut back on a lot of them out of fear of copyright infringement (this is why in the printed version she sings "I'm forever blowing bubbles": as the website version is and always will be free I am able to have the original there). I am unsure about Over the Rainbow's status in TPoH canon, similarly I had planned for a rendition of Pure Imagination in one part, but this story is as fluid as it is set so I will simply wait for the time and listen to what it tells me to do.

[hoejosatoru]

(Un)Lucky

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Endo. Readers skin color, hair color/texture unspecified

Summary: When a Bofurin member swoops in to save you from some creepy men, you think it's you lucky day. However, he has a little secret and a sinister plan

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: dub con but leaning more into noncon (reader resists a bit but ends up submitting, but it is clear that Endo does not care about the consent). If that makes you uncomfy I recommend skipping this one. Endo is a little rough (grabbing, pulling hair, pinning against wall), public sex, degradation, blood/tasting blood, dirty talk, fingering, PIV sex, cream pie, Endo is a jerk

The only sound that accompanied your walk home was the click clack of your heels against pavement. It was late into the night and the streets were empty, just a few blocks between you and your cozy bed. You'd been out with your friends, who were keen on staying out a few hours more, but you were wiped and decided to cut out early. They urged you to get an Uber, but the weather was nice. It was early fall, that perfect time of year where the days are comfortably warm, but the nights haven't chilled. You figured you should enjoy it before the temperatures plunge.

It wasn't a great idea, given the area you lived. Makochi was a town on the mend, but there were still seedy people around. You convinced yourself that you were protected, that you wouldn't ever get so unlucky as to bump into those who seek to do you harm. Well, unfortunately, your luck had run out.

"What do we have here?" a man questions, elbowing his friend. They had nearly knocked you over rounding the corner.

"Excuse me," you muttered, trying to step around them, but the men didn't budge.

"Aw don't run off," the other man said, "The night is young. Why don't you hang out with us?"

"No thanks," you tried to get around them again, but this time the man stepped fully in front of you. Your heart started to race, realizing that they weren't going to let you go.

"Don't be a bitch. We are going to show you a good time. What you think you're too good for us?" the friend sneered. They were getting agitated, which you knew was bad news for you. You were trying to assess if you could get away, but not with two men hunting you down. And not in these stupid shoes. You cursed yourself for opting for heels.

Suddenly, a third voice cut in. "Can't you tell when a girl's not into you? Pathetic." You whipped around, finding a man in a green jacket behind you. Relief flooded you as you recognized the jacket as a Bofurin one. Your luck had changed.

"Fuck off, this doesn't involve you," the first man spat.

"If you're gonna run your mouth like that at me, it certainly does," the bofurin replied, stepping between you and the two men. The first one swung at him, missing by a mile. The Bofurin man laughed. "Fucking idiots."

The Bofurin member took down the other two men easily. They were laying on the cold concrete, completely unconscious before you could even process what was going on. "Are you okay?" the man asked you finally.

"Y-yes," you replied.

"Good. Can I walk you home? Pretty girl like you clearly shouldn't be out here alone," he said.

"Okay, yeah." Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let a stranger walk you home, but clearly he was looking out for you. You were a little shaken up from those two men and wouldn't mind having someone escort you. "What's your name? I'm y/n."

"Endo," He grinned. "C'mon, let's get you home." You walked side by side with Endo, your heart still racing. You peered over at the man beside you, eyeing his tattooed fingers and throat. There was something about him, the glint in his eyes when he smiled at you, maybe, that made you nervous. You couldn't deny that you felt a spark of attraction when you looked at him. Part of you was drawn to the energy rolling off him.

He didn't seem like the type that would be in Bofurin, though living in this town has taught you to not judge books by their covers. Many members has a certain bad boy look to them, while being kindhearted and dedicated to upholding the safety of the town. Still, you couldn't quite shake the sense of anxiety. The little, nagging sensation that something was not right. You willed it away, telling yourself it was left over adrenaline from your encounter.

You spoke to distract yourself. "Thank you, by the way, I realized I never said that. I don't know what they would've done if... I just mean that I owe you one, so thank you."

"Owe me one, huh?" Endo a sly smile on his face. The next thing you knew his hand was gripping your wrist, pulling you down a dark alley.

"What are you doing?" you demanded. He pressed you against the wall, caging you in with his arms.

"Why don't you show me just how thankful you are," Endo replied. You tried to push him away, but he didn't move an inch.

"L-let me go!" you cried.

"Hmmm," he pretended to think about it, "No, I don't think I will."

"B-but you're in Bofurin. You guys are supposed to be good," you stammered, your heart rate spiking once again.

Endo snorted with laughter. "I stole this off one of those idiots after I beat his ass. Thought it might come in handy one day." He leaned, breathing in your scent deeply. He could sense your fear and it only aroused him more. "Looks like that day is today."

"Please just let me go, I won't tell anyone," you tried.

"No can do," Endo replied. "Too pretty to give up." His eyes raked over your body, making you feel fully naked. He took the hem of your skirt between his fingers, playing with the material. "I mean, what did you expect sweetheart? Going out in a little outfit like this? You're asking for trouble." Endo licked a stripe up your expose neck, making you gasp.

His lips found yours, kissing you deeply. His tongue forced its way into your mouth as he pressed his body against yours. You could feel his hard on against your thigh. You saw your only chance and took it, biting down on his tongue hard and trying to bolt.

Endo pulled away for just a second out of shock, but was able to grab a fistful of your hair before you got out of reach. You were slammed back against the wall within seconds, him caging you in even harder than before. You expected him to be angry, but he was grinning wildly.

"I like my girls a little feisty." End wiped the blood off his tongue and then shoved his fingers in your mouth. "But you're gonna be a good girl and listen to me now, yeah?" With the way he looked at you, you had no choice but to nod. "Good girl. Suck 'em clean for me."

You did as he bid, the salty, metallic taste of his blood filling your mouth. You licked up and down his fingers, gagging a little as he pressed them deeper. Endo's leg slipped between your thighs, pressing up against your clothed cunt.

"You're lucky it's me and not those other guys," Endo said, squeezing your tits through your silky little top. "I'll fuck you good. Those guys wouldn't have cared if you came, they woulda just fucked you and left. But cause I'm such a good guy, I promise you'll be cumming around my cock."

Your thighs instinctively clenched around his at his words, which did not go unnoticed by him. "Oh? You want more?" Endo yanked your top down, exposing your breasts to him. Your nipples hardened in the cold night air, his warm tongue swirling around them. His fingers were out of your mouth now, letting both hands focus on your tits. You should be scared, you should use the opportunity to push him off or try to run away. But fuck, the way he was touching you was clouding your head. You could feel your arousal pooling as he sucked on your sensitive nipples. Your body responded, grinding against his thigh. A soft moan escaped your lips at the friction.

"You really like this huh?" Endo smirked. "How'd I get so lucky? Saving a little slut like you?" He pushed your skirt, making anxiety flare in your stomach again. You shouldn't be doing this.

"N-no," you mumbled, pushing at him. But it was no use, he was too strong.

"No?" Endo sneered, pulling your panties to the side. His finger traced your slit, feeling your wetness. "How can you say no when you're soaked like this, sweetheart?" He was kissing your neck again, licking at your racing pulse. A finger slid inside you and you gasped. "It'll feel better if you don't fight it. And I know you want it. I can feel your cunt sucking my finger in."

"I-I d-don't-oh," your voice crumbled into a moan as he pressed into your g spot.

"You d-don't what?" Endo teased you. "Don't want me to stop? You don't have to worry, I didn't plan to." You gasped as he pressed another finger inside you, stretching you. "See, I'm such a nice guy. Prepping this tight, little cunt for my cock. You should be thanking me." You squeezed your eyes shut and turned your head away from him, embarrassed by the sounds your pussy made as he fucked you with his fingers.

Endo's tattooed fingers gripped your jaw and turned you back to him. "I said, you should be thanking me."

You sniffled. "T-thank you."

"Good girl," Endo grinned, "So easy to tame, cause you want it. Know you do." He pulled his fingers out of you and sucked on them. "Mmm and fucking sweet. I could lick your cunt all night and you'd like that wouldn't you? But I'm too fucking hard, I gotta fuck you. You don't mind right? You're thanking me for saving you, remember?"

You whined in response to his babbling. You hated how his words made your body react, aching for relief. Endo was already pulling his cock out of his boxers and flipping your skirt up. His cock head nudged your swollen clit, making you squirm.

"You don't want me to stop, do you?" He questioned, his tip teasing your entrance. "Say no, c'mon tell me you don't want it." He was so close to be inside you, but not quite. It was maddening. Your pussy was fluttering around nothing, begging to be filled. You couldn't push him away, not now. Your body was in control, desperate to release. "You really do want it, huh?"

"Please," was all you could whimper. Endo grinned devlishly, finally pressing inside you. Despite the prep he did, your body still stretched to accommodate his size. Your head fell back as you gasped at the feeling of him filling you.

"Fuck," he hissed through his teeth. "So fucking tight. You're not a virgin are you? Fuck I wish I coulda been the first one to fuck this pussy. But I'll be the best. Make you forget about those other men."

Endo didn't care to let you adjust. This thrusts were rough and hard, making you hiccup. Your hot skin was scrapping against the cold concrete wall with each snap of his hips. His cock bullied it's way deeper and deeper into you, pulling sinful sounds from your lips.

"My cock feel good? You like me taking you like this? Fuck you're a nasty slut," Endo babbled on, punctuating his words with hard thrusts. "Letting some random guy fuck you raw. Such a dirty girl for me."

You gripped his toned biceps, your nails biting into his skin. You were moaning shamelessly, letting the pleasure Endo was offering take over any other thought. the sound of you crying out coupled with the sting of your nails set Endo off.

"Fuck, yeah take me like a good girl," he groaned, shooting his cum deep inside you. The twitch of his cock and the feeling of the warmth inside made your body shudder. You pussy fluttered around him as you came with a weak whine. "That's it, fucking take it."

When Endo pulled out of you, your knees buckled and you slid down to the pavement. Endo looked down on you, chuckling. "You look real fucking pretty like this, ya know?" You were sure you looked an absolute mess, but you guess that is what Endo liked. You pressed your back further against the wall as he loomed over you. This only made him laugh more.

"Aw, don't look at me like that. I showed you a good time, didn't I? Let me take you home like I promised and we can have some real fun."

[bunnys-kisses]

trust - astarion ancunin

pairing: astarion ancunin x fem!reader rating:  18+ tags: pwp, smut, outdoor sex, intimacy & love, missionary, sappy & sweet

Oh how times had changed. Astarion was a new man, more of a man than he was for the past two hundred years. He was no longer a captive to a sadistic vampire master who only saw Astarion as a means to capture prey.

And it all changed because the vampire spawn made the acquaintance of a young traveller. If Astarion had a bit more malice in his heart he would've killed you or at least tried. But you showed him a kindness that he didn't understand at first.

 'Why me?' He'd often think to himself when you proved that there was no malicious intent with your actions. If he wanted to be free from the curse of a spawn, then you'd help him with his goal. It took him a while to get adjusted to the freedom.

But Astarion was a curious man. The way a moth is curious when nearing a flame. He wondered if he'd get burned, or worse, fully disintegrated. Dust from your simple touch.

  “I want you.” He said softly one night, his voice low in your ear, “Will you join me tonight?” His slender fingers caught strands of your hair. It was an old seduction tactic, but it wasn't to find food for his master. It was to indulge in passion for himself.

You looked over to him. Your eyes met his, you were captivated by the red of his eyes. You could only describe them as rubies, but you knew they held a lot of heartbreak. Only one look at his back gave you all the answers you needed.

  “Astarion.” You replied, “Do you want me to join you?”You fully turned around. There was a slight height difference between you two so you had to tilt your head to look at him, “Do you want me, or do you want to feed?”

He frowned, “Of course I want you, why wouldn't I?” He leaned in closer, “I want to know what our party leader tastes like. You freed me of my strings, darling. I am no puppet to no master. If I want you, it's of my own free will.” His expression softened.

You reached for him and touched his face. His skin was cool and soft. Part of you expected it to be like marble the way his features were carved. Your gaze quickly dropped to his lips before you made eye contact once more. You dragged your touch down to his chest and placed your hand over where his heart was.

If it was still beating you wondered if it would be racing. Questions of Astarion's mortal place died on your tongue, bringing up the past would only ruin the mood.

Just as Astarion was curious about you, you were curious about him. A high elf turned vampire, a magistrate turned spawn. A creature of the night with an insatiable lust for blood. So many questions yet so little answers.

  “Tell me again you want me.” You said.

He leaned closer, he crowded into your space as he said softly, “I want you. I want all of you, darling. I want to know what you feel like inside and out. I wish to devour you whole.” He pulled away, his hand took yours, “Is that enough convincing?“

You frowned, ”I am trusting you, Astarion.“

He chuckled, ”That's the first I've ever heard that. I don't think anyone has ever trusted me.“ He took your other hand, his fingers locked with yours, ”This will be exciting then, Trust.“ You could see the hint of a smile on his lips. You were inclined to smile back.

You gave him his freedom. You ripped the chains from him and gave him the choice to determine his own life. You could not heal his vampirism, but you could care for him. Maybe make him believe he wasn't a monster.

Trust. There was a nice ring to it. Trust between two willing parties and as he led you through the thick of the woods, you were more than willing to see how deep the trust ran.

-

The moon hung heavy in the sky as if it was threatening to drop on the earth. It cast a light across the land as you stepped out from the woods and into a clearing.

You held his hand tighter when you heard the call of an owl from the top of one of the trees.

  ”I'm certain an owl won't hurt you, darling.“ He led you to behind a grand rock, ”If It does, however. I'll slit its throat.“ His smile grew before he took you by the face and pulled you in for a tight kiss.

You tensed for a moment, your eyes widened before you relaxed into his touch and melted into the kiss. You held onto his arms and further the kiss. You could hear your heart racing in your ears. This was a strange feeling.

You had been intimate with men before. You were no stranger to their anatomy. But there was something enthralling about Astarion that you couldn't put into words. He was unlike any other being you had known.

He shuddered against your kiss before he pulled away, his breathing was a tad heavier. He sank with you down to the grass. The boulder obscured you both from viewing. It allowed you a little more privacy.

No owls had to see what you two were about to do.

  ”I've become addicted to you, my dear. I had been in a cage for so long and you freed me without a second thought.“ He took your face in his hands and he gazed down at you, ”You could've easily made me your slave. But instead you are more than willing to put a stake through the heart of my master. We have killed for each other and quite frankly,  I'll continue to kill anyone who gets in our way.“

You wrapped your arms around him delicately, ”I want you to be a free man,  Astarion. Even if I want to, I could never tame you. It would be like taming the great North Star, it's impossible.“

He chuckled softly, ”Getting soft on me now, aren't we?“ He tried not to feel the tug in his chest from your kind words. Maybe it was a desire to be in control and not collapse from the weight of your kind words.

You moved his hands away from your face and you held both of them to your eye level. You kissed his cold knuckles, all of his skin was smooth and soft. He hadn't aged a day in over two hundred years. You closed your eyes, ”You are the brightest star I can see.“ You opened them once more to meet his gaze, ”I would follow you to the pit of hell if it meant being by your side.“

Astarion looked at you, with minor shock across his face. He turned his head briefly to compose himself before he looked back to you, ”I think you'll be leading me to hell, darling. But it shall be much warmer with you by my side.“

You two kissed once more. Slowly you were stripped of your clothes. You parted so he could get your armour off of you along with the clothes underneath. Soon your items laid around you. You pressed your bare chest up against the front of his shirt.

The softness of the material tickled your breasts and paired with the cool air, your nipples grew hard. You exhaled deeply as you propped yourself up against the rock. You could feel the heat lingering in your face.

You could feel the heat intensify as he began to strip himself. You had seen Astarion nude before, you have seen all of your members nude at one point or another. It was the reality of being so close together. But under the pale moonlight, he looked less like a monster and more like a divine being.

Carved from the highest quality marble, the lines of his body enticed you. You swallowed as your eyes reached his hardened cock. Your hands dug into the green grass under you. It was impressive, sizable but not intimidating. To see it that close was far different than seeing it from a distance as he bathed in the river.

He noticed your gaze and reached down to touch the top of your head. His hand combed through your hair as he said, ”No need to feed my ego, darling. I know what you're going to say.“

You looked up to his face and straightened up, ”I didn't say anything.“

He laughed, ”You don't have to, I can see it in the lines of your forehead.“ He rubbed his thumb against the creases to smooth them out, ”I guess you want me as much as I want you.“

  ”I want you.“ You confirmed.

He got down to the ground quickly and encroached on your space once more. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, mindful of the scars on his back. The kiss you shared was more heated then the previous ones.

The time for affection was over as lust emerged. It heated your body as you both laid in the grass. His hands explored your body. He ran fingers across your own scars. He felt every curve that you possessed,  he felt the moles and the raised scars from your dedication to training. You heard him hiss into the kiss as he grew more aroused by the feeling of you so close to him.

In over two hundred years he never had the fortune of a lover like you.

He laid you out on the grass,  he gazed down at you. He kept himself up as he dug his hands in the grass under you. He took a moment to admire you. He had seen many mortal nude during his time on this planet. But there was a connection between you two that he couldn't deny. It wasn't sex for the sake of a meal. It was sex built on a foundation of trust.

For the first time in a long time,  Astarion trusted you. In his eyes you could do no wrong.

If he was a star, then you were the angel that hung him up in the night sky.

  ”My darling." He said softly as he grabbed you by the waist and rested himself on his heels. His cock stood at full attention as he rubbed it up against your cunt.

You covered your face with his hands, “Astarion.”

  “Don't hide yourself from me. I want to see how I make you feel.“ He replied as he reached to your face and pulled away your hands, ”Don't make me pin them down.“

You swallowed, ”You don't have to."

  "Good.“ He replied softly. He brushed his cock up against your wet slit. He exhaled sharply from the feeling. It made his cock twitch with excitement. He soon guided his cock into your sweet sex.

He tried to pace himself so as to not cause you discomfort. He kept his eyes on you for any signs of pain as he sank further into you. His jaw tensed as he felt the warmth of lust spread from his gut. Soon he had every last centimetre inside of you.

You had taken him so well. He leaned down to pull you into a tight kiss, his hands were back on your hips as to guide them up and down his cock. You let out a high pitched noise that was muffled by his lips on yours.

  ”You feel divine, darling.“

  ”Shit, Astarion.“ You replied. Your heart drummed in your chest, your breathing was heavy as you laid in the soft grass. When he thrusted up into you it felt like his cock was pushing your insides up into your throat or maybe it was your heart trying to make a quick escape from the amount of pleasure you felt through your body.

You'd dare to say that your intimate encounter was romantic. Two bodies together in the depths of lust. He leaned over you and you wrapped your arms around his neck to pull him into a kiss. In an effort to keep both of you quiet as you rutted like animals.

He played with your breasts as you tighten your legs around his waist. The sounds of your love making filled the open night air. You were thankful that you were far enough away from camp that there wouldn't be any curious members trying to seek you two out.

As if Astarion wasn't going to let the others know in his own sly way. Especially in front of Gale, who he thought had his eye on you. The vampire could have a jealous streak run through him like a splash of light in a dark sky.

Your hands roamed his shoulders, your fingers dipped low enough to touch the scars on his back. He melted into your touch, a sign of comfort towards your hands on him.

When he broke the kiss, he continued to thrust inside of you.. His eyes met yours once more, ”You look lovely under me.“

You reached out for him and held his face as you moved in time with his thrusts. You replied, ”I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.“

  ”Good.“ He said, 'Because I have no intention of letting you under another man or woman. For as long as your heart beats, you will be mine.”

You leaned up to kiss him on the nose. It was so intimate as you replied, “That sounds good to me.” Then you two kissed once more as you felt yourself nearing climax.

Hands roamed, bodies moved. Lust filled the night air as the two of you made love under the moonlight. A life with the vampire didn't seem so horrible. You tightened your legs around him as he rocked back and forth against you.

Your heart fluttered at the feeling of intimacy between you two. Trust was all you could think of. It was the adhesive that kept you two together, that and an undying, unwavering commitment to one another.

Astarion, the vampire and you, the mortal, rutted against one another in the dead of night. You gripped onto his shoulders as the intense feeling of climax flooded your bloodstream and made you light headed.

You yearned for the release. You wanted to orgasm on his cock. You could feel the grass stick to your sweaty back as the two of you moved together. The gentle sounds between you two as the urge became stronger.

You were no longer alone in these travels. You didn't only have a party to rely on, but also a vampiric lover who wanted nothing more than to devour you. You were his; mind, body and soul. But he too was yours in the same way.

Matched in wits and skill. Fighters till the end. The thought excited you. What would become of your future?

With another searing kiss, you both climaxed in each other's arms. You clawed your nails down his arms as his grip bruised your hips. With a final thrust, he finished inside of you. He marked you as his, and the thought made his body run hot.

When he pulled away, he looked down at you. He said with a smile, ”Forever mine.“ Before he pulled out of you and laid beside you in the grass.

Your breathing was laboured as you laid next to him. You could feel  his cum stick to your inner thigh as he spooned you. You held his hand as he held you by the middle.

His lips grazed at your neck. He sighed with content, ”I could turn you tonight and we'd be together until the sun melted the earth.”

You chuckled softly, “How about we finish our quest first. Then we can spend eternity together.”

He replied, “I can be impatient. But I will be patient for you, my love.”

You relaxed into his arms and felt your eyes grow heavy, “Good. Now let's kill Cazador.”

He chuckled, “Of course, my dear.” Then laid one last kiss onto your heated skin. He was scared at the thought of seeing his master again. But maybe, just maybe, with you by his side, he'll gain the courage to break himself fully free of the chains he carried.

If you believed he could be free, then he'll trust you and believe it himself.

[irishmammonagenda]

hiiii ! ^_^ I love your writing sm

I was listening to music just relax, and randomly I thought of MC with "You're loosing me" AND I HAD TO SHARE IT WITH SOMEONE. Especially from minute 3:00 to the end 😭😭😭😭 imagine a fic inspired in that song with a traumatized mc after their death 🥲

hiya!! i'm so glad 🫶🫶🫶🫶 tbh i dont really listen to taylor so i had to look up this one, but oml it kinda does fit MC sm???!!!

honestly tysm for the ask, i don't normally write seriousish fics so this was a fun change grma <3

ALSO IM SO SORRY THE TITLES SO CRINGE I COULDNT THINK OF A GOOD ONE

Surface Tension- Obey Me x Reader

Summary: MC died 😱 and reincarnated as a demon, only their death affected them more than they thought. Word Count: 2.8k+ Warnings: Mentions of Death, leans more into Lucifer x Reader, especially at the end. (i am so sorry abt that I had no idea where this fic was going myself tbh) Descriptions of drowning. Hurt/Comfort? I have no idea how to write trauma I am so sorry, (this isn't apart of my 'Death is a Debatable thing Au) dividers are a mixmatch of ones by @plum98 @isisjupiter and @cafekitsune bc im indecisive

The thing you missed most were your pact marks. Intricate designs etched into your skin, that shone the colours of the people you loved, a reminder you were someone. You had something. A security blanket of sorts. Now they were gone, clear glass sin, almost poreless, uncanny replaced the lines and marks and humans´ perfect imperfection that provided a canvas for the hues that you were sure had painted your heart.

It hurt.

You fiddle with your hands, trying to contain the urge to just...pop. The horns and the tail had been disorienting to get used to. You still preferred your 'human' form, the only issue was controlling it. It would come with time, or so everyone had told you.

They told you a lot of things would come with time. You weren't so hopeful.

"I....it's just-" you flick your gaze around the room, looking anywhere but the demon in there with you. "...the dying part..."

"The dyin' part..." Mammon sits by your side, ever your first man, his eyes gaze at you, so loving, so adoring, it hurts your heart. "I don't understand the dyin' MC....I couldn't never understand the dyin'...." He brings a hand to rest on yours hesitantly, his false bravado nowhere to be found.

"I know you don't Mams..." You meet his gaze, his eyes as blue as the sky on a summer's day, warmer than the sun, and softer than silk when he looks into yours.

"It doesn' mean I won't try te....understand...I mean." He clears is throat awkwardly. "There's nothin' I wouldn't do for ye...not now not ever."

Your heart feels heavy.

Rushing water beats against porcelain. Steam slowly rose in swirls as the bathtub filled up. You fold your towels and set them by the sink beside the clothes you had set out. Pulling the satin robe that was a gift from a certain Asmodeus, you placed it on one of the hooks on the door, before twisting the taps to a stop. You submerged yourself into the warm water, your tense muscles relaxing as you leaned backwards in the tub from where you were sitting, legs touching the bottom of the porcelain. 

It had been so long. 

So long since you were able to just relax like this. You loved the brothers and the others, but sometimes you needed the solitude of your own thoughts. That wasn’t to say Asmo’s self care nights weren’t relaxing. 

You sighed. 

The water enveloped you, you had leaned back enough to where your head had begun to submerge. All was well. The water was warm, your muscles slowly relaxed, along with the rest of your body. Your eyes slowly blinked closed. 

All was fine. Your relaxed muscles let your head fall back. All was well. Your ears were now submerged. All was fine. 

Except it wasn’t. A switch had flicked. Your eyes shot wide open. You could no longer feel the bottom of the porcelain bathtub, panic and dread tugged at your arteries, squeezing your jugular. You flailed and thrashed your limbs, your head dipped under for a millisecond. 

Clear water turned murky. 

Your arms burnt after another weak attempt, head breaking the stormy surface of the lough for a moment; only a moment. Hardly long enough to draw a breath. Your eyes stung. Your throat ached, desperation choked at your airways. 

You found yourself submerged again. The currents slammed into rocks. Your hair rose upwards, strands sticking to your face like some sort of seaweed, hindering your vision as the waves flung you against hard rock. Your hands clawed at the stone, too slippery to catch a grip. The stormy water slammed you against another rock. You broke the horrid surface of the water, gasping and spluttering. Your throat burned like sinners in the 7th circle of hell. You just barely gasped in a morsel of oxygen before being dragged under by the force of the waves. 

You were slammed mercilessly into another hard wall of stone, your attempts at clawing for a grip so desperate you drew blood at your fingertips. 

You had survived demons, witches, angels. You had survived hell. Yet earth would be the one to take you out, so it seemed. You couldn’t hold your breath any longer, your mouth opened. You inhaled desperately, lungs aching for air. Water filled them instead. 

You gasped and spluttered. The surface of the water too rough to do a dead man’s float without risking your life further. The waves smacked you against hard rock once more, eroding at your hopes for survival. 

This was it. 

You were going to die. You’re drowning. You’ve drowned. 

The last thing you felt before you succumbed to the wild waves was the dull glow of your pact marks. With the last of your strength, you let out a silent scream, submerged by the water. 

You screamed. Frenzied hands pull your sobbing form out of the clear water of the bath pulling your soaked, sobbing form to their chest. You gasp for air, lungs burning. 

“MC! Y-you’re fine! Don’t worry…you’re okay…you’re okay…!” An uncharacteristically frenzied Beel holds you to his chest, massive arms enveloping you, he cards a gentle hand through your hair as you sob and upheave, your chest tight and your breath running from you. “You’re okay MC….follow my breathing…”

Hardly hearing him, you comply either way. Matching the breaths of the sixth born, your heart rate begins to slow, your breathing begins to even. Eventually, you sit wrapped in the arms of the Avatar of Gluttony, breathing deeply and slowly, your heart rate slowed, your sobs quitened to the occasional sniffle, the tightness in your chest remains. 

You chuckle humourlessly. “I’m sorry Beel….got your clothes all wet.” 

Beel shakes his head seriously, eyes on yours. “It’s never a problem. Not if it’s you MC.” He stands up with you still in his arms. Carefully, the redhead sets you down on your two feet. Strong hands on either side of you, a stabliser. “C’mon…let’s get you dressed MC…can you stand?”

Slowly you nod.

That night you found yourself in the living room, Belphie asleep, head on your shoulder. Mammon splayed across your lap, Asmo’s arm around your waist, Beel was on the other side of his twin, but held your hand, rubbing soothing circles subconsciously into your palm. Levi sat on the ground, switch in hand, cheek leaning against your thigh.  Satan and Lucifer sat on the nearest armchairs though they sat facing opposite each other, Lucifer half reading official documents, half watching the show his brothers and little human demon were watching, Satan doing the exact same, except his reading material was a book. 

You weren't sure how or if they knew what had happened an hour prior, but you were sure they knew this would cheer you up in some capacity.

You squeezed Beel’s hand, the knot in your chest coming undone just enough you feel light.

The transition from Human to Demon was a hard one to get used to, one thing that hadn't changed however; were the balls hosted by Lord Diavolo. The only difference being that now you sported curved horns on the top of your head. You quickly found that Asmo liked to decorate them with little trinkets.

Which he had done today, as well as helping you pick out your outfit for the ball. You gave a twirl in one of his full length mirrors.

"Thanks Asmo I love it." You smile, messing with an ornament on your horn. Those are taking a while to get used to.

Asmodeus laughs gleefully, waving his hand. "It was nothing darling. I'd love to do it again! Oh...~ You look so gorgeous...." He says dreamily before he turns back to his makeup, carefully lining his lips in a dark pink.

You blush at the praise before leaving the room, not wanting to risk being (fashionably) late.

"MC!" Lord Diavolo greets cheerfully, pulling you in for a hug against his bare, tanned chest. The gold in his eyes and horns glow like fire in the light of the ballroom. "I'm so glad you could make it! You look stunning!" He laughs, strong arms wrapping tighter around you.

You smile, "I'm glad to be here, Dia."

"I'm glad..." He says softer now. If the both of your words were an innuendo, neither of you pointed it out.

Barbatos appears silently at the left hand side of the Demon Prince, shaking your hand, you give him a sweet smile.

You barely get to greet him before the Demon Butler swiftly makes his way across the ballroom, and out of the glazed, oak door that led to a short corridor and then led to the kitchens.

After more peasant conversation with Diavolo, another Demon Noble had arrived, the scarlet haired prince pouted at the thought of leaving you before waving and making his way towards one of Hell's Aristocrats.

You wave him goodbye, you scan the Ballroom, eyes locking with violet ones. The seventh born gives a small smirk, lazily making his way toward you.

Belphegor had seen your dreams. He had felt the water pool into your lungs, the air escaping your grasp, the harsh bruising of the rocks you were slammed into.

He saw every dream, tried to stop them from reaching you. Sometimes he failed, your mind wanted to return to that moment. To pick it apart, to relive what it didn't understand itself, to find an impossible answer.

Sometimes your mind, your wonderful, horribly beautiful mind; would be too adamant, would loop back to it.

He didn't protect you. Not when he first betrayed you, not when he crushed your bones in his grip.

He couldn't protect you. Not when you were flung from rock to rock, sharp edges digging into fragile skin. Not when water burnt through your throat like fire.

He couldn't protect you. Not when your dreams bypassed his control. Not when the thin threads of your trauma induced nightmares slipped through the cracks.

The Avatar of Sloth could only do so much, yet, it never felt like enough. He couldn't protect you.

"Hey Belph!" You grin, closing the distance between the two of you. "You seem distracted, whats up?"

Belphegor snaps out of it, lips upturning. "Oh nothing, I just thought of something for the Anti-Lucifer League....What about you, MC, enjoying yourself?"

"For the most part yeah! But I haven't seen Mammon anywhere...." You say thoughtfully before deadpanning. "He's going to be strung up upside down by tomorrow morning, isn't he?"

"Yep."

Hours passed, a sleeping Belphegor had been handed over to Beelzebub, who was currently carrying his twin home. You were tempted to ask to join, but decided against it.

You weren't made of glass, you had agency. You could handle a silly ball.

Standing in one of the corners, beverage in hand, you'd elected to just people watch for a while.

Levi sat semi-hidden by a curtain at the grand window, switch in hand, noise cancelling headphones in, no doubt reaching the end of his social battery.

Satan stood at the other side of the Grand Hall, talking with contacts and connections you couldn't recognise. Golden blond hair perfectly in place. Asmo must've fixed it up for him.

Speaking of Asmo, he was on the dance floor with various succubi, giggling, smiling, and just in general being a social butterfly.

Mammon however, was still no where to be seen. Probably looking for treasure. Classic Mams. You smile to yourself.

Lucifer stood, being entertained by admirorers of all shapes and sizes. You stiffened.

Sometimes you forgot the brothers were Hell's Most Eligible Bachelors. It was easy to forget, seeing as you lived with them, and they were all idiots.

You could feel Levi's worried eyes on you none the less. Your stomach twisted with his sin, orange as a yolk, what came first? the chicken or the egg? You didn’t know nor did you care. Why would Lucifer choose you anyway? A weak human demon who couldn’t even survive a…-

You gripped your drink tightly, knuckles lightening. You took a sip, but with your tense muscles, the liquid burnt its way down the wrong side of your throat.

You spluttered.

Even the droplet. Even the sip. It grew, multiplied even, filling your lungs like goop, you gasped for air. The ballroom flooded a murky green. Stumbling, you pushed through the oak door to the hallway, where it was quieter.

Your heart beat out of your chest, your breathing was laboured, leaning against the wall, you lost your boyancy, dripping down until you sat on the ground, knees to your chest.

You stayed like that for a moment, catching your breath, engaging your senses.

Three things you could hear;

Idle chatter from the ballroom, completely muffled by the heavy wooden door and stone walls. Your own laboured breathing, although it was catching up to you. The blood rushing in your ears, evaporating from a rapid raging river to a small sparkling stream.

Three things you could see;

The stone wall, dark liath limestone blocks and bricks melded together, midievil in their design, they reflected the light of the overheard torches in a subtle, orange glow. The glazed panes of a glass window, the moon shone bright tonight, as it always did in the Devildom. You liked to think it was watching over you. Maybe it was.

If you turnt your head to the left, an archway was visible, a simple one. It dug into the stone wall and ceiling, pushing against the internal structures, standing out whilst holding together.

You continued your listing, smell and taste were ruled out, on account of you not being able to taste, and there not being any real noticable smells.

Three things you could feel;

The fabric of the clothes Asmo chose for you streched on your skin, the seams digging into your thighs where you sat on the ground.

The stone floor, hard and cold, even with the layers you had on, you shivered ever so slightly.

And lastly, you could feel the phantom ache of pact marks long faded, your heart heart, though it had stopped beating out of your chest. You felt calmer, more in control, yet still;

You sniffled.

After all; you didn’t have the best track record for keeping your head above water.

That’s how Lucifer found you. The door hissing open and his signature boots clacking softly along the ground announced his presence.

“MC, my love, are you alright?” He raises an eyebrow, The Avatar if Pride putting his aside and hunkering down so that he was more or less eye level with you, concern pooled in his expression. He reached a gloved hand out and caressed your cheek.

You nod, croaking out an "I'm okay now..."

"Are you sure, my darling?" The first born looks into your tired eyes, before tilting his head, asking for permission. You grant it.

He pulls you in for a hug.

"What upset you, dove?" He asks softly, rubbing soothing circles on your back.

"I-...I just feel like I've...like I've lost you all...and myself I guess...It sounds stupid! I know...but I just...-"

Lucifer hushes you, "Nothing you could say could ever sound stupid. He pauses. "Unless you're with Mammon...or planning something with Satan and Belphie."

That squeezes a giggle out of you. He smiles, tilting his head, a strand of raven hair falling ever so out of place at the movement, crimson eyes stare into yours.

"But that's not all, is it, dear?"

You mumble something unintelligible, but count on Lucifer Morningstar to hear it. "Have I told you yet? That you look absolutely gorgeous tonight, MC?" He asks in all seriousness. You avert your gaze.

He grabs your chin softly, "I'm serious, Darling. You're the best person at this ball, the best thing that has ever happened to my brothers...to me. Sometimes I feel you truly don't realise that...seems I must take care to remind you more often, my love."

You try to speak, but the air swallows up your words, your mouth open and gaping like a fish.

Lucifer's lips quirk up, he pulls you closer to his chest. You lean into him, giving a weak smile, ear pressed against his breast, listening to his heartbeat.

You felt calm; content even,

T he hug wasn't a fix it all. It wasn't some magic wand that had been waved, you weren't suddenly better. You were still traumatised, that emptiness, though dull, still ached in your heart, along with the places on your body the bright beautiful symbols of your pacts had been sketched onto your skin.

The hug was comforting none-the-less. Lucifer was impossibly gentle. He would cradle the ashes until you built yourself back up again in his arms, phoenixes need time to adjust before they can spread their wings, after all.

It would be hard. It would be so so difficult, so taxing, to rise from the ashes once more, to thrive again, but you had an army of idiots that loved you, who would go to the ends of the earth just to see you smile. It wasn't okay yet, you weren't 'fixed', you wouldn't be for a long time but you had years upon years, decades upon decades, centuries upon centuries.

i physically cannot write anything overly angsty bc im a wee softie smh this took me ages i am so sorry abt that </3 also i had another ask that i started planning out halfway through writing this and the contrast in the tone i was going for is so funny🧍‍♂️

[hiskillingjar]

What if? Fox was infatuated to unhealthy levels with MC, from the beginning (even before the kidnapping).

me when i flirt with an older man (he runs a human trafficking ring and has an anxious attachment style)

2000+ words, sfw, ren hana is a chubby chaser and no you will not change my mind

"Hey, what can I get for you?"

It was a cold day in December and he had been called to the office on a weekend due to a technical mishap from one of his staff the previous day. It was a day that he would have been annoyed, angry even, a day where he would have taken one step into the building and tore the head off the first person who dared speak to him.

But, for whatever reason, he always found his anger dissipated when he saw them.

The barista smiled, their soft, freckled cheeks dimpling with an expression that insinuated sincerity and sweetness, an innately trusting nature, traits so rare in Fox's profession, in the city that surrounded him, rare enough that he cherished and obsessed over them whenever he found them in someone.

He had been coming to this cafe every morning for weeks, not only because it was on the corner of his office in the financial district, a place close by where he could escape his moronic employees when he needed to, but because he found that he had to see their face to even feel slightly at ease on the more stressful days of work.

Just one look of their smile and hearing their voice was enough to settle him in an instant.

"Just a cup of coffee, please," Fox replied with a slight smile, jolted out of his train of thought, one of his ears twitching when they chuckled kindly.

"Well, yeah, I assumed," They said with another little chuckle, crooked teeth (so familiar, so sweet, wouldn't they look nice on the ground, scattered like pearls?) biting their lip to stop the chuckle from growing into a laugh. It was a quiet Saturday in the financial quarter, so they must have had time to banter with customers. "What kind?"

Fox smirked just a touch, one of his fangs hooking over his bottom lip.

He couldn't deny that he was a little curious about the young barista and what they were doing working in this part of the city (since, for one, they looked like they had a modicum of personality compared to everyone else who worked there).

They were a far cry from the kind of people he usually saw and interacted with on a day-to-day basis, soft when all he saw was hard, kind when all he saw was cruelty, and there was a certain, naive charm to them that Fox found almost magnetic.

He was always the obsessive type, falling in love with every pretty face who was nice to him, and years of therapy and unpacking his trauma never really stopped that obsession from blooming.

But what was the harm, really? What was so bad about a little crush and a few intrusive thoughts?

"Hmm…" He hummed thoughtfully, his tail idly wagging behind him. "Surprise me?"

"Adventurous. I like it." They chuckled again as they set to work on his drink. When they turned, it gave Fox a good opportunity to…assess their assets, his gaze scrutinous as he leaned against the counter, elbows up on the glass pastry display.

All things considered, their figure wasn't exactly remarkable, certainly not compared to the call girls and 'staff members' he was accustomed to working with. Average height (taller than him, but that wasn't hard), a heft to their hips and backside, a small (possibly bound) chest, and a constellation of acne scarring on their freckled cheeks…but he found himself drawn to them, regardless of all of that.

It had indeed been a cold day…but there was a certain warmth that he felt coming from the young barista that he hadn't felt in a long time.

Indeed, despite his violent intrusive thoughts, there was a part of him (buried beneath his hardened surface) that yearned for them.

He almost wanted to reach out and touch them, right then and there, the urge to simply embrace them, touch their skin, run his fingers along their cheek, dig his claws into them, pull their hair, break their jaw, make them bleed, make them cry, growing with every passing second.

But something stopped him, a sensible part of him that kept pulling him back from the brink of his obsession, his face remaining impassive as he continued to stare.

He probably looked like any normal, lecherous, older man, making advances on someone years younger than him. He could deal with that.

"You work around here?" They asked, making idle conversation as they steamed a jug of milk, a gust of steam fogging up their glasses.

"That I do," Fox replied with a nod, his golden eyes glinting with amusement as he took in their form once again (they were cleaning their glasses with their shirt, making it ride up and expose the soft skin of their belly) and stood back from the counter, putting his hands in his pockets (adjusting his growing bulge). "Right around the corner, in fact. And you?" He asked curiously.

"I'm a student," They smiled, turning back towards him and putting their glasses back on. "Obviously. I mean, I'm a barista, that comes with the territory, right?" They laughed and Fox smiled, nodding again curtly. "I work the weekend shift when I can though, when it's nice and quiet."

"A student, huh?" Fox asked curiously, casually, raising a brow and running his tongue over one of his fangs, his ears tilting forward. His attention was torn between the barista's face as they spoke and the still-exposed flash of skin above the waistband of their jeans, a little fold of soft fat spilling over them. His eyes shone brightly as he continued to stare downwards. "What are you studying?" He asked, eyes quickly returning to their face so as not to look too obvious in his ogling.

"Criminal psychology," They replied, finishing up the coffee with a dusting of cinnamon and setting it on the counter in a to-go cup. They had him clocked as a businessman, then. "Postgrad."

"Criminal psychology?" Fox repeated, accepting the offered drink as he took the cup and raised it to his nose, inhaling the aroma as he spoke. "I'm curious, what sort of career are you hoping to move into with that?" He asked, tilting his head, his tail still wagging idly. "Not just after university, but after all of it?"

"I wanna work in rehabilitation," They said, tilting their own head and giving him a considered look, their dark eyes flitting from his well-groomed fox ears (beast-kin in the wild were still relatively rare, after all) and down his handsome face and his suit, admiring him casually, as any person did (and they often did). "And help people get back on their feet after prison."

"Rehabilitation, eh? Helping people get back on their feet…" Fox repeated their words again with a thoughtful look on his face, his wrinkles looking a little more pronounced as he thought over what they said. He took a sip of his coffee, meeting their gaze for a minute (noting when they smiled eagerly at him as if waiting for his approval). "Well, I think that's just wonderful….and a hard job, too. You must be pretty driven to want to do that."

"Yeah," They laughed, scraping back dyed hair behind their ears. "Tell me about it. It's really tough sometimes. But…" They bit their lip again, but despite their bashful expression (those crooked teeth digging into their soft skin, like he wanted to do), their eyes never left his. "I believe people deserve a second chance…everybody, even the worst people. We should do everything we can to make sure of that, and I want to be part of that. I want to help people."

Something about those words, their eyes on his, speaking to him as if those words were for him and him alone, made something tight catch in Fox's chest, and he almost spluttered a mouthful of hot coffee around the rim of the cup.

"Everyone…even the worst people," Fox said softly to himself, wiping his mouth clean as he glanced down at his shoes, hoping his expression made him look thoughtful instead of…well, complacent. "How very noble of you."

He ran his tongue over his teeth, tilting his head back while the barista typed his order into their register.

"Even people like me?" He then asked, his voice low in the back of his throat, golden eyes flitting upwards, half-lidded, as his brows knitted together with an ominous kind of consideration.

"What was that?" They looked up from the register, not catching what he said.

"Ah, it's nothing, nothing at all." He then said quickly with a subdued laugh and a casual smile. "This is lovely, by the way. What am I drinking?"

"Oh, it's just an oat milk latte," They chuckled with a shrug. "But…" They then continued in a quiet whisper, leaning into him over the counter, like they were telling a secret. "I infused the milk with fresh lavender and thyme this morning. This is the first time I'm trying it out in the shop."

When they were this close to him, their scent was overwhelmingly intoxicating and attractive, so much so that it made his guts twist in ravenous hunger and his growing bulge throb even more.

"Ah…how unique." He grinned, taking another sip of the coffee, doing his best to look deliberate. "The lavender adds a really nice touch, as does the thyme. Very subtle, but distinct. It's wonderful, really." He said, forcing a slightly impressed look on his face as he looked up at them, his golden eyes sparkling at their own grinning face, ecstatic at the praise.

"I'm so glad you think so," They grinned, before turning the register around for him to see and pay. "That'll be four-fifty today. No charge for the extras, of course."

"How very kind of you," He said softly (and mostly to himself), taking his phone from his pocket and tapping it against the register's contactless sensor in a quick and fluid gesture.

So fluid that he was almost certain that they didn't notice him taking their picture.

The register let out a high BEEP in recognition of his payment, and a receipt was quickly spat out on the barista's side.

"Great, that's all gone through. Well," The barista's grin faded into a polite smile, as the interaction wound to a close, tearing off the paper receipt and stuffing it in the cash drawer of their register. "It was great speaking with you today, Mr…"

"Fox." He said, taking another sip of coffee with a light smirk. Their picture must have been scanned into the database by now, from the way his phone was buzzing in his pocket. "Just Fox. No titles."

"Fox." The barista said back to him with a nod. "See you around?" They added hopefully.

"Certainly," Fox replied with as close to a genuine smile as he could still manage. "It was lovely speaking with you too, darling. Take care of yourself."

Once Fox left the cafe, a tinkle of a bell above the door marking his exit and leaving the young barista to attend to their other tasks while it was still quiet, he took out an old flip-phone and dialed a familiar number, still thoughtfully sipping his coffee as the cold chill of the morning ran down his spine.

"Hey…yeah, I have a special request for you."

His voice was low and quiet once the person on the other end of the phone silently picked up, waiting for his instructions.

"I want a pick-up from a specific spot, today if you can. I'll send you the location." He took another sip of coffee as he idly paced the front of the cafe, hearing a few words from the other end of the line. "Yeah, I've just uploaded them to the database. Local university, no housemates, family not around, it looks like…mm, and cute as a button, I know, I know."

Fox smiled widely, his tail wagging a little more frantically as his mind raced with gruesome thoughts.

"As soon as you can. No damage in transit or no bonus, got it? Great."

He hung up with a snap of the phone and drained the last of the coffee from its cup, running his tongue over his lips in silent consideration.

He could get used to lavender and thyme.

[wishluc]

I love yandre himeko thou what about kafka thou??😍😍

Literally insane about her it's crazy

A Stellaron Hunter has no business in the Space Station, as far as you're aware.

But it's not like you can go anywhere with Kafka's gun under your chin, her pink eyes looking up at you with unabashed interest. The contrasting sensations of cold metal and her burning gaze sends your heart faltering, your mind spinning as you try to come up with a way to escape the situation.

"Now, my dear," Kafka's smooth voice sends shivers down your spine, and she grins, clearly having noticed the effect she has on you and taking great delight in it, "no need to be so rash. Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

You gulp, watching closely as her eyes narrow, "Uhm, Miss…" Your tongue falters mid-sentence, terror tightening its grip on you as Kafka pushes her weapon into your skin, as though to serve as a reminder, "I don't have access to—"

"Shh," she whispers, slowly withdrawing her gun. Just when you thought you could finally relax your tense figure, she swiftly grabs you by the waist and spins you around, slamming your face up against the wall, wrists held behind your back. Your gasp echoes through the room, but Kafka merely chuckles, "My apologies. I need to take certain precautions, as I'm sure you'll understand. Though if we're being honest, I don't mind your fight. It's what I like about you, your resolve, your determination…you're a clever little thing, aren't you?"

"And please, call me Kafka. We have more than enough time to get acquainted with each other, don't we?"

You only manage to wheeze out a few words before Kafka shushes you again, "I don't have—"

"That's perfectly alright," Her voice is still light, her tone airy, like your current predicament was just a normal occurrence for her, "I don't need any of that."

Then, with a steady hand pushing against the small of your back with unexpected force, you feel her other hand dig into your pocket. Your shuffling and twisting do nothing to slow her exploration, as she finally pulls out your ID card (although you couldn't see her, you could swear that she had a triumphant smile on her face).

"[Name]…a researcher, I see? How interesting. How long have you been working here, darling?"

"3 years now," you focus on your trembling fingers, ignoring the way they grazed Kafka's skin whenever you tried to stretch them out.

"Are you interested a change in careers, by any chance? I have a wonderful opportunity for you. Though…" she trails off, as if internally contemplating something, "I wouldn't want any of my companions getting too close to you either…"

You're not sure if her question warrants an answer, especially considering the clear fact that a researcher like you has no place among the criminals of the Stellaron Hunters.

"Or not," she chuckles, "maybe," she brings her lips right to your ear, and you go absolutely still, too afraid to even breathe, and then she lowers her voice, "you'd like to be my pet instead?"

You don't even have the time to process her words before she's laughing to herself, a soft, lovely sound that worms its way into your soul, "just kidding, of course."

You're not sure what to make of this woman, except for the fact that she was probably half-mad. And you were going to be stuck with her longer if nobody came in to help, and who knew what she'd do to you then?

"How about this?" Kafka's grip on your wrists loosens, and she instead goes to hold your shaking fingers, gently squeezing them in her hands, "I have work to do here, unfortunately, so we'll have to part ways. But I promise you that I'll find a way to come see you again, so then…You'll come to greet me, won't you?"

You nod, wordlessly, and she finally steps away, allowing you to turn around and come face-to-face with her. She's smiling, just as dangerous and as beautiful as when you first saw her, her eyes glimmering with something you can only identify as amusement, and she holds, in between gloved fingers, your ID card.

"Good," she looks you over one last time, pocketing the card, "I won't forget, darling. So you keep your end of the deal too, alright?"

You nod again, not trusting yourself to speak, and she begins to walk away, stopping at the door. Her head turns ever so slightly, her piercing gaze directed right at you as she utters her parting words, "I'll see you soon."

all works © wishluc. do not copy, steal or repost my works on other platforms. (including translations)

[d1xonss]

Desert Rose

Chapter 64 ~ The Rain

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 5

✧ Word Count : 7k

In this chapter ~ Through the many hardships and struggles the group comes to face, none of them could've predicted that they would end up in this predicament. No food, no water, walking endlessly for miles while looking for nothing and everything at the same time. It seems all hope is lost...until it isn't.

If you were to ask how long we had been on the road now, constantly searching for sanctuary and a safe place to rest our heads at night, I wouldn't know what to tell you. My guess would be about a month, hell, maybe even longer than that. Longest month of my life.

It's crazy how much can change in such a scarce amount of time, how little hope you have left in the end. Everyone around me was barely hanging on as we continued to make our way through life with no clear destination. Our food had dwindled down to nothing, our water being the next thing to hit the ground, not being able to find more no matter how long we looked. It was clear we all tried to remain strong, but the reality of it was, I had never felt so weak.

I had completely stopped sleeping, insomnia taking over my mind as I tossed and turned throughout the entire night until the sun peeked out from the horizon into yet another day. The others remained starving, but I didn't have much of an appetite anyway, finding it truly didn't matter for my sake anymore. Nothing really mattered anymore. Though the scorching, hot ball of fire beating down on us every day wasn't something any of us were getting used to. I remember a time where Bob was trying to be positive, preaching about how being in the sun all day would give you a nice tan. But the slight red burns on my skin would say otherwise.

My knees were tucked close to my chest, looking around to all of us crammed together in the white van as we drove down the long road ahead. Again, with no certain purpose. I was squished between Carl and Maggie, continuously knocking into one other with every bump and swerve of the car. I tried to adjust my position to give the others more room, specifically Daryl who sat right in front of me with his legs awkwardly crossed. We still had yet to speak. The only conversations we seemed to have were when he was reminding me to eat, or asking if I found any trace of water when it was my turn to search.

He was concerned for me, it was constantly etched on his face, but even that couldn't bring him to mention the two major losses that wounded me so badly. Truth be told I was glad he didn't. I was still content with being alone, being left by myself to grieve the friends I had cared so deeply for. It was easier that way. At least for me it was.

Maggie's subtle sniffles from just beside my ear brought my presence back to the current situation, fighting the urge not to look at her. She was someone else I found myself avoiding like an illness, still not being able to face her after what happened. Shame and guilt filled me to the brim every time I caught a glimpse. Though instinctively, my mind began to drift again as if it was trying to help me cope with the trauma, constantly finding myself zoning out. It was like a part of me was dying, a piece of my soul being ripped away from me. But the sad thing was, I didn't care.

Our heads all slowly turned to look up front where Abraham sat in the driver's seat, hearing the dreaded sound of the van running out of gas. The man groaned in clear aggravation as he then let out a deep sigh, turning the wheel all the way to the right to fully pull over before the vehicle came to its final halt.

"We're out." he muttered in defeat.

"So, we walk." Rick said from the passenger side.

I sighed and slowly pushed my aching muscles up to get out of the vehicle, following behind the rest of them. The sun was already beating down on my sore flesh as we leisurely walked in a line down the long path ahead of us now on foot. I felt disgusting as I looked down at my dirt covered clothes, silently praying to find a cool river to just jump into. If I did get any sleep at all, surely that was all I would dream about.

I trailed slowly behind Rick and Daryl who were leading the way, overhearing them speak quietly about the urgent need to find some kind of body of water, and soon. We all knew that we wouldn't last much longer without it, the heat only making it worse. We needed a miracle. But something like that just didn't exist these days, and hope seemed like a fever dream.

Though the moment I heard Judith begin to fuss in Rick's arms, Daryl making a comment about how she might've been thirsty, I had heard enough.

"I'm going to head out, see if I can find anything." I stated loud enough for them to hear, before turning to my right to stride towards the tree line.

But I hardly made it two steps before Rick's voice called out from behind me, "Hey!" he spoke, grasping my attention at the last second, "Don't stay out too long."

A slight huff left my lips in annoyance, "Yeah..." I muttered obviously before pushing past the branches to truck deeper into the dry forest.

My boots stomped lightly through the dirt as I passed by the plants surrounding me, trying to find any indication that there was water nearby. I didn't understand how everything for miles and miles could be so dry, no sign of any kind of life. Dead...I felt dead just like the world around me seemed to be. And just like the walkers that were only creeping closer to us as we moved.

The only thing that I seemed to have left was my family whom I couldn't even speak to anymore. It was almost like I was putting up some kind of wall, preparing myself in case something unexpected happened just like with Beth and Ty. Waiting around for the inevitable. I knew they were strong, capable of defending themselves, but that didn't really matter anymore. We all learned the hard way that it didn't matter how strong someone is. Everyone goes eventually.

I kept going, pushing past the bushes and greenery in my way until I made it out into a clearing, pausing as I glanced around to the ground ahead of me. But to no surprise, it wasn't any different from the results we had been seeing for weeks. I felt like pulling my hair out with the amount of frustration coursing through my body, watching the pattern of uncertainty just grow larger as nothing seemed to be working out the way it was supposed to. We had all come so far since that small group in Atlanta, and if this is how it all ended...I felt it would've all been for nothing.

Just then, the sound of sudden but heavy footsteps could be heard approaching from behind me, pushing past the things I had once come across as they tried to keep up. I didn't turn around, only letting out a quiet sigh of annoyance at his presence.

"Stop." I spoke.

The noise faltered immediately upon hearing my voice, slowly glancing over my shoulder to see Daryl standing a good distance away from me, almost like he was scared to get too close. But then again, I did tell him to stop.

"She speaks," he muttered in a quiet tone, "Almost forgot what yer voice sounded like."

At first I thought he was joking, using his humorless sarcasm at a terrible time. But the moment I heard the genuine concern and seriousness in his voice, I came to the conclusion he wasn't. He had actually forgotten what it was like to hear my voice, to speak to me, and to be honest I was starting to forget myself.

"Why're you out here?" I asked, choosing to ignore his comment.

He took a few hesitant steps closer, "...Didn't want ya to be alone."

My jaw clenched, feeling myself grow more irritated by his words, "Did it ever occur to you that I step away from everything else because I want to be alone?"

His expression didn't change from the permanent frown he seemed to constantly carry, standing there silently for a long moment before daring to speak again, "Can't have ya out here by yerself."

"I can handle myself, and you know that."

"Do I?" he countered back.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Yes." I spoke harshly.

He sighed to himself quietly, cautiously stepping forward again, "You can talk ta me." he tired, "There ain't ever been a time where I wouldn't listen to what ya have to say. Hell, you can just spit out a buncha words, I'll put em together, just...you gotta say somethin. Yer killin me here."

My mouth remained shut as I didn't know what he wanted from me, finding I had absolutely nothing to say as I just squirmed under his gaze that wasn't meant to be harsh. But that's how it felt. A pathetic scoff was the only thing that left my lips as I turned around to walk further into the forest, even though I knew nothing would come out of it. His gruff voice called my name the moment I stepped away, but I ignored him, to a point where his heavy footsteps approached heavier than last time, his hand landing on my shoulder to get me to stop.

I shrugged him off as soon as the feeling registered, "Don't." I snapped.

"Just listen to me." he all but pleaded, "Stop pushin me away, stop runnin off every chance ya get, just let me help you."

I clenched my fists at my sides, "Daryl, I don't need your help! Why can't you understand that? Why can't you fathom the fact that I don't need you! I just want to be left the hell alone!"

A flicker of hurt passed through his eyes, though it didn't quite reach the rest of his face. Almost like he didn't want me to see how hard my words hit him, but it was clear it affected him greatly. Of course it did.

"Well, I dunno what else to do. Feels like...yer just slippin away...from everyone who cares bout ya." he admitted quietly with a shake of his head.

I felt myself snap. "Then just let me go." I spoke harshly before brushing past his shoulder, heading back toward the others in the opposite direction.

My feet harshly slammed down on the ground below me, loud enough to send the noise echoing across the empty forest. Infuriation was radiating off of me, the feeling being so intense that I could've sworn my skin had tinted red at the fire the ignited in my veins. But even I couldn't escape the regret that hit me like a giant bus the minute I had put a vast ocean between us.

Tears flooded my eyes again as the words I expressed to him replayed in my mind, knowing damn well I didn't mean any of the things I said. He wasn't losing me and I never wanted him to think that. But the moment he expressed those words out loud, something just clicked inside my mind. I was terrified of losing him. I was terrified I was pushing him away to a point where if I went back to him, he would brush me aside. And rightfully so.

In the back of my mind, I knew deep down that wasn't true, but it still managed to cross my mind. I immediately wanted to turn back and tell him that I didn't mean it, apologize as many times as he needed to hear, but I was too embarrassed to even look at him. You would think after losing two people that completely shattered me, I wouldn't want to completely isolate myself from the family that remained. But somehow that's just the way it was. The only way I knew how to cope when everything around me was only crumbling further.

While my thoughts were somewhat distracting me, I made it back to the group faster than expected, coming back onto the road in slight shock to see the others standing on a small bridge surrounded by a shit ton of dead walkers. They all breathed heavily as I assumed they took them all on, apparently sick of them hot on our trail. But everyone's attention seemed to be towards Sasha with glares plastered on their faces, watching as Michonne stormed up to her in anger.

"I told you to stop!" she snapped.

"What the fuck happened?" I asked loudly, watching everyone's eyes whip toward me.

They all looked at me like I had two heads, but I still stood there expectantly as I wanted to know what the hell went down in the obvious shit show. But Rick was the only one who made an attempt to answer, shaking his head reassuringly.

"Nothing," he said quietly, "Find anything?"

I took a second to look around at the rest before my eyes landed on Rick again and I shook my head, "No...too dry." I answered in slight defeat.

The disappointment grew thicker, the hope diminishing, picking ourselves up to continue the journey as we put some distance between us and the dead corpses that piled on the concrete. Sasha looked angry and pained, knowing that she too was grieving in her own way after losing her brother. But by the looks of it, she was going to get everyone killed with her actions. I saw how reckless she had become in the past few weeks, though I always brushed it off as I viewed it as her way of coping. But now that it was affecting the others, I was worried it might turn into a problem.

Nonetheless, we continued to move. It felt like that's all we were doing these days, but there was no "better on the other side," it was just this. It would always be this. I couldn't find hope that we would come across someplace safe, finding the prison when we did was just pure luck that we no longer seemed to hold. All we could do was keep going.

I walked mindlessly in the middle of the swarm, feeling a presence moving beside me as they kept up with my sluggish pace. My eyes trailed over to see Abraham, his eyes filled with concern, handing me a bottle of water to take a swig of. I silently shook my head at him, but he gave me a pointed look in return before picking up my arm himself and lightly shoved the water bottle into my hand to take. Clearly he was insistent without even saying a word. But the silent scolding seemed to work as I took a drink of the liquid, noticing the cut he now had on his arm, the fresh blood being a dead giveaway that it happened recently.

I pointed to it, "What happened?"

He raised an eyebrow at the sound of my voice, huffing a small breath, "Uh, Sasha cut me while she was..." he trailed off with a gesture of his hand.

I nodded in silent understanding, seemingly not thinking twice before I reached back in the side pocket of my bag, pulling out a clean cloth before pouring a little water to dampen it. The man tried to protest but the damage was already done, raising it up to his arm to try and wipe the blood off, attempting to clean it at least a little.

"Thanks." he muttered quietly.

I nodded again as I handed the bottle back, continuing to walk side by side. Though I couldn't help but notice the side glances I received from him every few seconds as the quiet consumed us. "Do I have something on my face?" I deadpanned.

He shook his head, "No. It's just...we're all real worried about ya."

"Yeah, I got that." I said without taking my eyes off the scenery, "I'm not the only one struggling here, we're all just about as defeated as the rest."

His head bobbed up and down with a nod out of the corner of my eye, silently agreeing with me, "Okay, sure... but if you ever need a listening ear...I'm around." he said honestly.

The sincerity of his words caused me to look back over at him, "You barely know me." I muttered a bit defensively.

"Doesn't matter." he was quick to say.

I couldn't find the words to respond to his selflessness, but my eyes must've shown some type of appreciation because he looked pretty pleased with himself at the reaction he got out of me. From just the few conversations we had ever since we were first introduced, Abraham seemed okay, but that was all I really gathered. I didn't really believe that he cared about anyone else here but his own two people. But somehow, he just managed to prove me wrong in the best way possible. Maybe he was a little more than okay.

It wasn't long before the group collectively slowed to a halt when we came across a few cars scattered on the side of the road, all of us silently knowing the drill by now, beginning to pick through them for any kind of supplies. Though I caught a small glimpse of Daryl speaking to Carol for a moment, before slowly slipping away back into the forest. My guess was he left to find food, or really anything he was able to bring back to the rest.

My eyes followed his figure until they couldn't anymore, a part of me yearning to follow him so we could talk, but I didn't know what I would say. That I was sorry? But I shouldn't be sorry, feeling it wasn't my fault that my mind was constantly clouded in this depressive state. However, it was my fault for how I yelled at him, saying many things that were far from the truth.

Though after debating back and forth in my mind, I stayed put, knowing that he left the others for a reason. To have some space.

My mind wandered off as I absentmindedly moved toward a nearby vehicle, peering inside to see if there were any kind of supplies left. Of course there was close to nothing, but the keys dangling from the ignition sparked an idea to look in the truck that I noticed had a lock. I treaded back towards the other end of the car with the item in hand, sticking the key inside to crank it to the left, opening it up to see what lied inside.

But my eyes only widened with horror when I saw the weakened walker that was trapped inside, my stomach churning uncomfortably. Her hands and feet were tied up to keep her in place, a cloth covering her mouth to keep it from screaming for help from when she was once alive. Deja-vu ran through me like a shiver, causing goosebumps to form on my skin as my hands stayed firmly planted on either side of the car.

I couldn't leave her like this, feeling as if I had to end her suffering as if she was still somehow alive.

My hand slowly reached for one of my knives before I pulled it out swiftly, hesitating for a moment or two before leaning forward to stab her in the forehead, silencing her muffled snarls. I swallowed thickly before closing the trunk again with a slam, trying to collect myself as if what I had just seen didn't affect me as much as it did.

In the end, no one had found a thing, the cars having nothing of value as someone else had probably cleared these things out ages ago. Thus the journey continued, the atmosphere oddly silent as I felt myself mindlessly staring down at the ground below, kicking rocks beneath my feet as I became hyper fixated on my shoelaces. My mind was plagued with a million thoughts, but yet none of them came clearly. It was as if I was too tired to even think.

Hours passed us by before we all collectively settled down on the side of the road, taking a much-needed break as we got of our feet for a while. The first type of rest we'd gotten since this morning. I scanned the people around me as if mentally doing a headcount when I realized Daryl hadn't come back yet. But in a way, it gave me hope. Maybe he found some tracks to follow and we could actually have a real meal for the first time in weeks.

But after only a few minutes of holding onto that bit of hope, it was suddenly squashed when he eventually found us, emerging from the trees. Safe but empty handed.

He practically dragged his feet as he walked over to join us and took a seat, plopping down on the cement right in front of me, pulling out his crossbow to tinker with to avoid my gaze. I eyed him for a moment, but only a moment, seeing how drained he seemed and how dirt seemed to cling to every bit of skin that was exposed. Yet somehow, he still looked incredible, his arms flexing as he pulled at certain parts of his weapon.

"So, all we found was booze?" Tara's voice suddenly broke me away from my thoughts.

My eyes moved over to see what she was talking about, glancing back at Abraham who seemed to have found some whiskey in one of the cars we searched through. The man gulped down the majority of it like it was the water we needed, but I just knew by the face he made that it wasn't clenching his thirst like he hoped it would.

"Yeah." Rosita said simply.

Tara eyed the man just as I was, watching and witnessing the expressions he made as he continued to sip it down, "It's not going to help. Just make it worse." she said quietly.

"He knows that." Rosita said.

"He's a grown man." Eugene chimed in, "I truly do not know if things can get worse."

I looked over in their direction, "Just wait...it can." I muttered.

No one said a word after that, though I could tell by the looks they had on their faces that they knew I had a point. We had only gone downhill for days and days on end, leaving none of us looking on the bright side because we truly didn't know if there was one. How could there be when everything around us had just suddenly turned to shit.

Although the peacefulness didn't last long, our heads all whipping up at the sound of growling coming from just beyond the forest. The sound wasn't as familiar, none that a walker could've made at least, those were always very distinct. This was coming from an animal.

As if on cue, four dogs cautiously made their way out of the shadows with lowered ears, starting to bark threateningly as they bared their teeth. I instinctively took out one of my knives in case they tried to attack, noting how everyone else seemed to tense up, not wanting to draw attention or make any sudden movements. The animals continued to growl with drool hanging down the sides of their mouth, their eyes completely blackened as if they were under some kind of possession. Though they never got the chance to lunge forward, a series of silenced gunshots firing toward them as each of them dropped dead, causing me to look over in time to see Sasha lowering her gun. Great.

I never thought I would be able to say that I've eaten dog meat before, but life sure is full of surprises. I somehow felt even more defeated while I took slow bites of the tough substance in my hands, looking around at everyone's faces as they seemed to resemble my own. Well, except for Daryl who was practically shoveling the meat down his throat like it was his last meal. But then again, it might be.

I tried to eat what I could, but only finished about half of what I was given before not being able to choke it down anymore without wanting to throw up. My eyes spotted Carl sitting a few feet from me, wordlessly offering the rest of my food so he would have a fuller stomach than I. His brows furrowed, as if he was silently asking if I was sure, but I insisted, feeling good knowing he would have a little more to eat.

Looking at the fire not too far from me, I started to drift off yet again, but this time with the image of the crosses we handmade for the graves of our loved ones. It felt so long ago, yet so recent. Time was a weird thing, not fully knowing whether it was something to cherish, or something that bleeds you dry. It was hard to tell the difference sometimes.

I blinked rapidly when I felt a gentle nudge on my shoulder, seeing Daryl's hand extended out to me as he handed me the rest of his food with just a simple nod. But I was quick to decline his offer as my gaze fell away from him once more, only to feel him nudge me again in insistence.

"I'm fine." I sighed as I glanced back over to him, "I honestly feel kind of...nauseous."

All the man did was grunt in response, seeming to give up at the mention of my unease.

My legs were burning, my muscles clenching and releasing, feeling as if I could sit down and rest forever. But I knew we had to keep going. It was as if everyone was sharing the same mind as we all just focused solely on survival, watching the last person swallow their final bite before we all collectively stood again.

It never felt like it was getting any easier. Every passing second was a struggle as we all fought to stay alive and not pass out from heat exhaustion or dehydration. I knew I was pushing my body to the limits when I felt my lungs burn, but I knew we couldn't stop, not now anyway. Everything felt like a blur, fuzzy in the back of my mind as I could only force myself to stay conscious enough to move. But that was all.

My eyes scanned the woods to the right and left of us, noting there was a hint of thinning just a few yards out which could only lead to another clearing close by. I was prepared to brush it off, to keep moving with the others, that is until I heard the briefest conversation happening just ahead of me. Glenn's voice sounded through the quiet, the mention of Beth's name on his tongue was enough for me to almost lose it. I thought I could handle it; I thought that maybe I was finally ready to listen to someone at the very least bring up her existence. But I was very wrong. I clearly wasn't ready at all as I started to feel myself get overwhelmed, the tightness in my chest growing too uncomfortable for me to handle.

Without a word, I took a sharp right into the forest where I sensed some peace, walking further and further away from the prying eyes until I couldn't anymore. I ended up right where I wanted, scanning the large fields ahead where a rundown barn sat in practically the middle of nowhere. There wasn't a sound to be heard, not one single rustle in the bushes or song of a bird. There was just...nothing.

Realizing I was finally alone, I reluctantly allowed the tears that threatened to fall, completely paint my cheeks. I slumped down with my back against a nearby tree and held my face in my hands as I cried once again for the girl I couldn't save. For the man I couldn't save. I let out everything that was built up, sobbing into my palms quietly as my shoulders shook with so much emotion.

I often found myself wondering how different things would be if both of them were still alive, here with us in this moment in time. I knew that Beth would try to keep everyone's spirits alive; she was always the best at that. And Ty would most likely be taking care of Judith, protecting the group in some way with his giant heart and strong hands. They were both such incredibly amazing people, and I considered myself lucky just to say I got to know them while they were still here. Even though the universe selfishly took them too soon, knowing them at all was something that I should never take for granted.

Drying my eyes as I sniffed back any remaining tears, I reached in my pocket mindlessly for a carton of cigarettes that I found not too long ago, fishing for the lighter I had recently taken from Daryl as well. I placed the death stick in between my lips and lit it as the smoke quickly filled my lungs, sighing in satisfaction as I felt the familiar tingling burn. It tasted awful, leaving an itching sensation at the back of my throat, but the feeling alone somewhat made me feel alive.

My head instinctively leaned back on the tree as I closed my eyes, allowing myself to just feel. Feel whatever emotion that would resurface before I would ultimately have to do the walk of shame back to the group, knowing they would notice my sudden absence soon.

But then there they were again. The same heavy footsteps that seemed to follow me everywhere I went, eventually found my not so secluded hiding spot. And before I could even blink again, he was right there, sensing his eyes staring down at me with the most concern a person could possibly contain.

"Your loud footsteps give you away." I mumbled, taking another drag.

He huffed and slowly sat himself down next to me with a breath, "Yeah, well...the smoke gives you away." he retorted as he gestured to the cigarette.

I nodded, "That's fair." I said quietly.

There was a long but comfortable tranquility that followed, filling the remaining space between us that words never could. I silently offered him the cigarette to which he accepted without question, clearly needing it just as much as I did. I could sense however, that he was a little uncomfortable, not really knowing what else to say even though there looked to be a lot on his mind.

The way I saw it, I felt he didn't want to push me any more than he already had earlier that day, but in my mind, I already brushed it off. I was just struggling, but I didn't know how to tell him that he wasn't the cause of my outburst without completely breaking down. Which that was something that I didn't want to do, at least not right now. So, I just sat there with him instead.

"Do ya wanna talk?" he asked after the silence stretched.

I paused and thought for a moment, "The quiet's nice."

He nodded in understanding before letting out a small sigh, "Can I just...say one thing?" he asked, watching as I glanced over to him and nodded for him to continue. "M' not goin anywhere...alright?"

A lump formed in my throat as I saw the certainty behind his eyes, somehow knowing he would say something like that. "I know." I whispered.

He nodded once more, "Good."

Not another thing was exchanged between us, and I sighed in content. Knowing he was here no matter how much I wanted to pull myself away, gave me a little more strength that I desperately needed. I knew that I needed to keep fighting, and I didn't want to let myself slip into nothing. I knew that neither Beth or Ty would want that for anyone, so I had to be strong for them, for everyone else. But I also had to be strong for me.

I scooted a little closer to Daryl ever so slightly, allowing my head to fall on his shoulder, feeling him breathe in and out shakily as his frame relaxed into me. He gently grazed his hand over mine before grasping it carefully, holding it so softly as if my hand would crack like glass if he gripped it too roughly. For once, it was calm. A moment we both very much needed.

Though we eventually came to a simple agreement to head back, wanting to see where the others had ended up just to make sure they hadn't gone too far. The walk back was wordless as well, the only difference being the hand he kept on the small of my back, as if he needed the comfort only I could provide. And I let him. This time, I finally let him.

When the two of us eventually spotted the group just beyond the thin tree line, they looked a little taken aback and scared. Their heads spun toward us when they heard our rustling steps, relieved to see it was just us, watching as Rick didn't waste any time walking over to show us a piece of paper. Daryl took it from his hands, my eyes glancing over his shoulder to see the words - "FROM A FRIEND " written on it in black ink. My brows furrowed in confusion until I looked up again to see what the group was surrounding. There right on the ground, were jugs and bottles of what looked to be clean, fresh water, but I didn't trust it for one second.

I immediately scanned the area while taking my bow from my back, bringing an arrow in place to be on high alert for the unexpected guests. How we managed to not realize there were strangers following us, I had no fucking idea. All I knew was it was about to end right now.

Daryl tossed the note carelessly to the side, glancing at our surroundings just as I was when someone finally broke the silence, "What else are we gonna do?" Tara asked.

Rick shook his head, "Not this."

"We don't know who left it." I muttered.

"If that's a trap we already happen to be in it. But I for one like to think it is indeed from a friend." Eugene said, staring daggers at the water like a rabid dog foaming at the mouth.

"What if it isn't? They put something in it?" Carol pointed out.

I glanced back towards the others once I knew for sure there wasn't anyone watching us from what I could see, and noticed how everyone went quiet. They all wanted the obvious, to drink the damn water, but we couldn't. That "friend" could easily be trying to kill us out here.

But then Eugene made a move, stalking right over towards the many bottles and grabbed one of them harshly in his grasp to open. He ignored everyone's loud protests as he only held it up closer to his mouth.

"Quality assurance." he muttered before bringing the bottle to his lips.

Abraham then took two long strides over to him and knocked the water out of his hands before he could get a sip. The water splattered all over his face and the ground below, feeling some splashing on my shoes, and I honestly would've laughed if it were a whole different situation. But it was very serious, and everyone was at rock bottom. We all wanted to believe this water was safe to consume, but how could we be so sure when everything had been going so wrong in such a little amount of time.

No one uttered a word after Abrahams sudden actions, but then the unexpected sound of thunder started to echo around the space, grumbling harsh enough to shake the earth. I looked up along with everyone else to see that there were dark, thick clouds starting to cover the sky, raindrops suddenly starting to kiss my cheeks. I flinched a little, not believing for a moment that what I was feeling was actually real, but then it only began raining harder as if to prove how real it truly was. The weight we had all been carrying seemed to melt away in an instant, hearing sounds of joy from all around as they ravished in the forecast while our gazes remained locked on the sky. I hadn't heard such happiness in so long I forgot what it sounded like. It was nice.

I tilted my head back and let the rain hit my face as I tried to get it to wash away the dirt that lingered there. My shoulders relaxed at the coolness of nature's shower, and I ran my hands through my hair that was now getting drenched and dripping down my back. My clothes now stuck to every part of me, the heavy downpour finally soothing my hot skin.

My eyes fluttered opened again, looking to my right when I heard a deep, dry chuckle escape from Daryl, seeing him with a small smile on his lips as he pushed his longer hair back from his face. It was shocking to hear, being deprived from the beautiful sound for so long, but I would play it on repeat all day if I could. He looked so peaceful now in this scene, like he had been waiting for something like this, some kind of sign. And now he had it.

He felt my gaze on him after only seconds, looking over at me and sending me a small wink before turning back to grab a few empty bottles to put out and fill with the rainwater. My expression didn't falter as I watched him walk away, but my heart swelled.

Though the sweet moment couldn't last forever, the thunder only booming louder and the wind growing stronger, Judith beginning to cry at all the loud noises as Carl attempted to cover her with his hat. The group's relief died down as we all quickly realized it wasn't safe anymore to be out in the open in the storm that was clearly coming our way, and we needed to go. With the way the gusts of wind howled and the downpour falling heavier, I knew we needed to find some kind of shelter.

"Let's keep moving!" Rick yelled over the claps of thunder.

My mind ran for a moment before my eyes widened in realization, "There's a barn!" I shouted.

"Where?!" Rick asked.

I quickly nodded for them to follow, leading them into the woods and all the way back to the barn that was peeking out from behind some trees, sitting still in the emptiness. I didn't know if it was safe to hunker down, but it was our only chance, telling them to stay close over the intense sound of the storm as we slowly made our way in through the doors.

We rushed in with our weapons raised, looking in every corner of the big wooden structure only to find a single walker that was trapped inside, killing it off with ease so everyone else could pile in safely. Judith still fussed as the sounds didn't seem to be dying down, but we all tried to ignore it for the most part as everyone slowly got settled, knowing we would be safe in here until it passed.

I dropped my belongings in a corner of the barn and slouched down against the wall with a huff as I finally allowed myself to breathe again. I still felt the droplets of my hair dripping onto my skin, running my fingers through it once more to try and ring everything out. The rain was nice while it lasted, but now I was just freezing my ass off the longer I sat still. Though luckily, Rick didn't hesitate to start making a fire just a few feet away.

My eyes opened once more the moment I felt a presence growing near and looked to see Daryl settling not too far away from me, picking at his nails to have something to do. I sensed a pattern, noticing he did this every time we would camp somewhere new. He would always linger close by, but not too close so I could still have as much space as I needed. He was so incredibly patient it blew my mind. I thought that by now he would've gotten tired of whatever the hell is going on with me, but yet he was still right here, waiting for me to feel okay enough to let him back in.

The idea alone just made me feel even more terrible. I had pushed him away simply because of the hardships we continued to face, only doing it so it wouldn't hurt as badly in case I lost him too. But I couldn't do that, not anymore. We're all still here; alive. And I needed to take advantage of that. I needed to cherish these moments with my family, not isolate myself from them simply because I was afraid of my own demons.

Something clicked in my head that night and I hadn't thought this clearly in a long time, but it was very much needed. I couldn't keep doing this. I knew it would be hard, and I knew things wouldn't immediately go back to how they were, but I wanted to push myself to try. I wanted to try to move on. I wanted to try and just...live.

Things would eventually be okay; I mean we were practically dying of thirst...and then it rained. That was the little bit of hope that we all needed, and I wasn't going to take it for granted. I thought of it as a sign. A sign to keep fighting. To keep pushing.

At that very moment as I thought these things through, I silently thanked Beth for the rain that made me come to my senses.

~ Thanks for reading!

Taglist - @justareader95 @hayley1998 @ryoujoking @sipsthecoffee @winterassassin1804 @marsmallow433 @catlalice @writingstreetspirit @silentlysurffering98 @mystictf @remuslittlesister

[luvfy0dor]

“Temporary Tattoos” - Dazai x GN!Reader ੈ♡˳

Warnings; Implications of (past) self harm, silliness

Description; Doing silly little temporary tattoos with Dazai, inspired by a convo w my bsf

A/N; There's a short conversation summary at the bottom.

Scenario !! ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

You sat on your sink, your boyfriend standing between your legs as he unraveled his bandages from his long arms. The lack of the familiar white fabric often made him feel a little naked because of how often he wore them, but he could care less about feeling naked around you. He trusted you, after all.

In your hands, you held small temporary tattoos Dazai insisted on getting from one of those small little slot machines in the entrances of stores. They weren't all that small, probably about 2 ½ inches wide and tall and had pretty flower designs.

Dazai wiped his arms down with a small, wet, cloth before patting the skin dry, following the instructions on the back of the tattoo carefully. The healed scars on his arms raised the skin ever so slightly, giving it a bit of a bumpy texture in certain areas. You watched as he held the thin cardboard close to his face while he read the small letters.

"Could you please do the transferring part for me, my dear? It's really hard to rub the towel on it without it sliding all over the place." He says, looking at you and handing you the tattoo. You nod and remove the transparent plastic from the top before pressing it to his skin. You gently rub the towel on it, which makes him snicker a little.

"Sorry, it tickles a little. It's moving my arm hairs around." He says, a grin plastered on his face. "Mhm, or maybe you're just that touch starved?" You reply, lifting the corner of the paper to check whether or not it was transferring, deciding you needed to leave it on for a couple more seconds.

"Hey, that would mean you're not doing your part in this relationship." He teases, to which you scoff. "I give you so much physical affection it's overwhelming." You laugh a bit as you continue pressing the damp paper into his arm. You lift it after a couple more seconds, revealing the perfectly transfered art piece on his forearm. "Well, one could argue that point." He sarcastically says, making you playfully roll your eyes.

"And only one would." You sigh. "Do you like it? You know, I put my heart and soul into this." You say, gesturing to the temporary tattoo. The bright colors stand out on his arms, making it very eye catching. He nods, still smiling. "It looks as if it were done by a professional." He says, leaning in closer to your face, meer centimeters apart. You could feel his breath on your lips as he locked eyes with yours, a slightly pink coloring to his face.

You smile at his praise, leaning in to quickly peck his lips before parting. "Well I hope it looks that way, I wouldn't want you walking around with some busted tattoo. And professional temporary tattoo artist is not a profession, you'll have go through the pain and commitment if your really want it perfect." You say, your eyes flicking between his eyes and the tattoo. He scoffs. "Oh wow, babe, do you really doubt my commitment skills?" He says, staring at you, his hands on your shoulders. "Not nearly as much as I doubt your pain tolerance." You say, gently pushing him back and scooching off the sink.

He thinks for a minute before nodding. "Yeah, that's fair." He mumbles, pulling you into a hug. You wrap your arms around him, pressing a kiss to the side of his head before releasing him from your grip. "I know you very well. Now let go, I wanna get changed into pajamas." You say, patting his back and hearing him groan, but releasing you. "Alright, alright." He leans against the wall as you walk past him and into your shared bedroom to change.

When you finally open the door up again, Dazai pours into the room like water out of a wrecked dam. You jump a little at his very swift entrance, your boyfriend falling right onto you. You smile, holding him and pushing some hair out of his face. "Woah there, handsome! That was close!" You say mockingly, pushing him to stand up right. He laughs and walks over to the nightstand, turning on a small lamp and sliding some rings off of his fingers and placing them in a small jewelry dish. "So you really do like that thing, don't you?" You ask, looking right at the floral art on his forearm. His hand holds onto the lamp, near the bulb as his attention is redirected to you.

"Yeah, it's a shame no one but you is gonna see it though. I can't loose my mysterious element for it, as much as I love it." He says matter of factly, shrugging a bit. "Oh, how intimate." You say, sliding under the the blanket and waiting for him to join you. "I know, right? You're the only person who will ever see that piece of me, baby." He snickers, flicking the light off before you hear a loud gasp.

"Oh my god, babe! It's even glow in the dark!" He says, you can hear the audible smile on his face and surprise in his voice, making you laugh a bit. "Come cuddle with me and give me a closer look." You say, feeling him crawl into your arms quickly at your request. You take his arm into your hand, inspecting the tattoo with a smile..

Convo summary; My friend and I were basically talking about what is really under Dazais bandages. We both agreed that he kinda likes the dramatics and there's a chance he doesn't have anything under those. We were just throwing ideas around, I said something about tattoos but probably not because he specifically dislikes pain, so I settled on a bunch of cutesy little temporary tattoos.

[novelizt]

LOVELOCKED ☁︎ ANTHONY LOCKWOOD

PEOWIF BONUS CHAPTER !

GENRE ➺ fluff

SYNOPSIS ➺ sharing a life with lockwood comes with unexpected changes and new-found habits

WC ➺ 1k

NOTE ➺ i just can't let them go 😭😭 (kind of all over the place because i didn't follow an outline while writing — this is 100% indulgent and spur of the moment), this is pure, tooth-rotting sweetness!

The thing about growing up and then drifting apart is that there are so many contradictions when you're faithfully put together again. There are so many things that stayed the same and there are so many things that changed. It's kind of dizzying when you wake up and remember you're no longer strangers.

You caught yourself holding in your giggles that morning whilst trying not to wake Lockwood. He had stayed up all night helping George sift through a pancake stack of files. By the time they were done, he barely had the energy to slide into bed.

That was the biggest change you had to adjust to; the fact that you woke up next to him. The rest of the bedrooms were occupied, so Lockwood found it most fitting that you stay in his.

Maybe it was just an excuse to stay close to you, but you weren't one to complain. You were just as guilty of finding excuses to be glued to his side. Most mornings consisted of you playing with his hair until he was ready to face the day. Every now and then, he'd be the one twisting your hair around his fingers until you were ready.

When you moved in, his clothes had been pushed to the left side of the armoire while yours were on the right, because — in his words —,you were always right.

That wasn't all. There was a long list of things that changed. You, for one, weren't used to being sought out all the time. Lockwood would do just about anything to hold your hand or steal a kiss. Even in the tranquil afternoons where you two would sit next to each other in the kitchen, he'd draw shapes on your elbow or your thigh—just craving the closeness.

Who knew years of cold shoulders and passing glances could make one so touch-starved?

A prime example of this is his newly developed habit of slipping his hand up your shirt at any opportunity presented to him. He'd rather hold your hip and feel your skin against his than simply clutching your belt. Even in his sleep, his hands seek out the softness of skin-to-skin contact. He wouldn't stop tossing and turning until his palm was splayed over your bare back, feeling the steady up and down of your breathing. You can't be too mad about it when you smile every time you feel his hands on you.

To George's surprise, Lockwood volunteers to do the grocery shopping just to spend some quality time with you. He had a list mapped out so you two could efficiently find what was needed and head home. He'd carry all the bags in one hand so he could give you his other. If you even suggest helping him carry a thing, he will ignore you.

Lockwood also developed the habit of tugging your hair. If you were busy pouring over a certain document, he would take a lock dangling before your eyes and give it a light pull; Flashing you a smile when you'd look up in annoyance. You didn't understand where it came from but it soon became ritual for him to give your hair a wee tug to remind you that he's around.

When you joined him on cases, he did it as a form of goodluck before you two had to part ways for a few hours. If the case went well, he'd wail on about how much time you could have saved if he just sent Lucy and George.

—

Lockwood's latest achievement was acquiring what he calls a Love Lock. In layman's terms, it was hair tie of yours that he around his wrist. If you ask him about it, he'd go on about the deeper significance of such a responsibility. He rolls up his sleeve to show it off and gets sulky when you need it back.

For his birthday, you gifted him a red string bracelet so there would always something on his wrist even on the dreadful days you asked for it back. You have a matching one, of course.

—

About six months into living in 35 Portland Row, you took it upon yourself to bring chapstick everywhere because the boy didn't know how important smooth lips were when you kiss as often as you do. He shared the one you brouggt along until he picked up the habit of trying different flavours on his own.

"How's this one?" He asked, bending down to steal his umpteenth kiss of the day. He's made it a sport at this point.

Not that you were complaining, and for any curious souls, the chapstick was Cola-flavoured.

"Good," you replied. "Not as good as the cherry though."

He chuckled, smiling that smile that makes you weak. "Of course you'd say that."

He doesn't reapply before kissing you, slow and tender. Like he was figuring out how to say 'I love you' without actually saying anything.

When he pulled away, you were still reeling and leaning towards him for more. He, much to your annoyance, pinched your cheek and laughed victoriously. "Look at you, cherry cheeks. Careful, I might start to believe you're in love with me."

It was no longer funny when you deprived him off the right to kiss you for a few hours.

—

You couldn't even stay mad for long when you were living in the same space as a bloke as charming as he is. On the mornings after arguments, you'd head into the bathroom to shower away your worries, just to find little love notes and apologies written in the condensation left on the mirror.

If the mirror apologies didn't work, Lockwood always made it a point to get you your favorite flowers. Desperately measures involved refilling all your office stationary for you, so you'd be less hassled when you're in your element.

—

Hands down, your favorite part of the day is watching him fluff your pillow. He does it without fail, even if you two are in the middle of quarreling. You can set your anger aside for a five minute cuddle, or a few hours. You find yourself losing track of time when Lockwood's involved.

NOTE ➺ i want to make stories but i actually have to write to do that 😭😭 i love writing but goodness, it's hard to translate my brain vomit into pretty paragraphs.

⌠ @novelizt 2023 ⌡

[jamil-s-wifey]

Hi there fellow Jamil stan! I see your requests are open and I would love to ask for some basketball trio OT3 please. It can be as sfw or nsfw as you want. Honestly I'm just starved for content of this trio and I wanna see these idiots attempting to date each other.

UGH, THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVE REQUESTS. LITERALLY I HADN'T EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT THIS SHIP BEFORE, HOW COULD I?! THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS, oH MY GOSHH ❤️❤️ What's better than one disfunctional moron with a strong personality? 3 of them. Gosh the comedy, the romance, the interractions. Yes. This isn't very NSFW, but it has its savoury taste here and there. Overall, I'm not sure what to categorise this as, it went to places I didn't expect it to. However, I really hope you like this, because I HAD A BLAST writing it!

P.S. under the cut for some nsfw-ish elements.

So..............

You chose violence, huh?

This was a relationship that came as a surprise to literally everybody, especially Jamil himself.

It all started when they had a regional basketball tournament, which required them to travel outside of NRC grounds. Jamil was much too stressed over it, of course. Not only did he have to spend 2 whole days with two of the biggest menaces at school, but he also had to leave Kalim to his own devices?! How was that even allowed??

Regardless, the trip was organised and they set off. Truthfully, the three of them had already become fairly accustomed to one another, after all - basketball requires a certain level of sportsmanship (which in Floyd's case depended mostly on his ever-changing mood swings.)

On TOP of it all, Crowley had decided to cram all three of them in one room - something about funding again and his OH SO GRAND generosity!

Needless to say, neither of them was very ecstatic at the prospect. .....However, when night rolled around, the mood in the room was just...different. Ace, Floyd and Jamil found themselves sitting cross-legged in a circle on the floor, talking (and pretty casually and calmly too.) Maybe it was the pre-game jitters, or perhaps some deep-rooted understanding which they had reached unknowingly at some point, but the conversations they were having were... exceptionally nice. Deep even, and they kept getting deeper. Each revealed parts of themselves unknown to the outside world. ...but nothing else happened, right? And they're classmates, and friends, and teammates.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

It wasn't until after the game, when the *climax* of their story *came* around .

And it was all Floyd's doing. The win, the adrenaline, the excitement - a recipe for a good time.

A touch here and there, a growl, a moan and then suddenly they were tangled in each other, sweaty and spent, barely fitting on a bed way too small for 3 people.

"So uh- that was something." Ace's voice...or whatever was left of it, rang through the silence. "Fuck, I don't think I'll be able to walk tomorrow..." Floyd's smile widened, showing sharp teeth which once terrified Ace and Jamil... But unsurprisingly, not anymore.

"Awe, little Crabbyyy~" he teased him, leaning in to bite him on the shoulder, not enough to break skin, but enough to pull a painful yelp out of the boy. "You're just so delicious, I want to eat you riiiight up~"

"I don't want to ruin the idyllic setting, but I think we have to talk this through." Jamil, of course, chose to be the voice of reason in the situation, "This shouldn't happen again." He tried to be as adamant as possible.

Floyd's brows furrowed. "Don't pretend like you didn't like it, you were moani-"

"Shut up."

"Hnnn, you're blushing.~ And you came sooo much~"

"Yeah, dude. Don't act all high and mighty now. I mean- uh. I... wouldn't mind it... happening again." Ace would have crossed his arms....if he had the strength.

"Oh, we're definitely doing this again."

Jamil could only sigh. As much as he wanted to deny it - he wasn't opposed to the idea either. It was the best he'd felt in a long time, amd he could have something of his own, far away from duty and status and-

And so it was settled.

What was supposed to be a friends with benefits type of deal turned....so much more with time. The more time they spent together, the more they learned about each other's quirks - the deeper their bond grew. It was only natural for things to progress into something something more serious. And oh, was it glorious.

Floyd was... eccentric, primitive, nearly unstable, but he was the most passionate, the most emotional, the most affectionate, the most provocative (in every sense of the world.) And he was oh so deliciously physical in his affection. Ace had a boyish charm to him, a carefree take on the world, much unlike Jamil. He brought to the table excitement, unforgettable memories and enough dumb jokes to write a book...or five. Jamil was. unsurprisingly, the one to actually take care of his two feral boyfriends. He was the calm and collected voice of reason, who would make sure nobody ACTUALLY got hurt in any way. And what did he get in return? Unconditional love, the feeling of being on top of the world, a wonderful way to practice his master kink and immense loyalty. Loyalty he would return tenfold.

Now don't get me wrong, this relationship is nothing short of chaotic. It's already bad enough that Ace is part of it, but Floyd too?!

At times Jamil really questioned his decision making skills, but then the very next moment, Ace would come to tell him of whatever shenanigans he'd got involved in, instantly putting a small, barely noticeable smile on his face. And then Floyd - who would always be there for both of them. Who would attack threaten anybody daring to throw a less than savoury look, or GOD FORBID: comment at Jamil. Who'd make sure nobody would lay a finger on Ace, and in return Ace - who was always there to cure Floyd's endless boredom. And both of them were Jamil's means of escape from his tiring daily life.

And maybe it was a bit unorthodox, but neither of them would change it for the world.

Honestly, I'm tempted to write more - like headcanons for different situations in their daily life together and stuff like that, this was WAY too much fun and somehow turned out far more emotional that I originally expected..

[pinkydevil16]

Eric Northman x reader: part 7

Y/n laid in Eric's arms, her mind racing as she looked at him, the sun would go down soon and they would be expected to sit next to Sophie and act normal, but now Y/n didn't know what normal was. Normal wasn't making out with Eric or saying she belonged to him just for show, none of this was normal for Y/n. Y/n climbed out Eric's arms, staring at the lingerie for a moment before collecting everything the Queen had gotten her. Standing in the bathroom she changed into the lingerie, spraying perfume on her pulse points before stepping back to admire how the colour looked on her, the frilly garter belt made her waist look smaller and the bra pushed her breasts together making her look ethereal as she turned. The diamantés sparkling in the light as Y/n grabbed the small dress, carefully pulling it on as she looked in the mirror, the dress fit her well, not showing off her figure too much but going in at the waist to define her natural shape, although the sparkles showed through in certain areas which made Y/n pull at the fabric. 

Y/n walked over to the sink as she applied some foundation, her skin naturally glowing due to Eric's blood, adding some blush and eyeliner before using mascara to darken her lashes. Looking between her lipsticks she stared for a while, thinking about Eric kissing them as she touched her lips, quickly pushing away the thoughts and applying a nude tone. Sighing she looked at herself, looking sown at her wrist and remembering how Eric's fangs had felt, how he'd held her so softly and been honest. Shaking her head Y/n brushed her hair, pining it out her face for the meal, placing in some earrings and stepping back to look at herself. She didn't recognise herself as she tilted her head, pulling at the dress again as she frowned, she didn't like white it always got dirty and it wouldn't have been her first option for a meal either. Leaning down Y/n looked at the heels, baby pink, a slight different tone to the lingerie with the same diamantés on the back of the heel, slipping them on Y/n smoothed down her dress, taking one last look before walking out the bedroom. Eric stood buttoning his shirt as he looked at Y/n, an awkward smile on her face, Eric buttoning his shirt quickly and throwing on his blazer before walking towards Y/n as she stood higher due to the stairs. His hand extended as Y/n took it, using him to help herself down the steps as he looked her over, pride washing over him as he saw his necklace still around her neck, cupping her face for a moment before Y/n hit his hand.

"You'll ruin my make up. No touching." Eric grinned, his usual Y/n was back, Y/n began walking towards the door as Eric stared at her, the lingerie barely hidden by the dress as he grinned. He needed to buy her more clothes like that, so many more. Eric moving to open the door with a grin as Y/n rolled her eyes, although he could hear her heart race as he neared her, offering his arm which she took quickly.

"You look beautiful." Eric whispered as they walked behind guards into a large room, fake sunlight coming through the windows with a marble table in the middle of the room. Servants and guards along the wall as Eric pulled Y/n's chair out for her, Sophie sitting at the end of the large table with Y/n and Sookie either side of her, Bill and Eric next to their respective partners and across from one another. At the far end of the table sat Sookie's cousin, Sophie's adviser and another woman in lingerie who all stayed silent, a gap between the two groups as Sophie smirked at Y/n.

"I am so glad you all decided to come and visit me, Sheriff, Bill it is so sweet of you to bring me two new snacks." Y/n eyes widened as Guards grabbed Eric and Bill pining them on their knees, three guards holding Eric as he bared his fangs.

"Touch her and i will rip your head off Sophie." The Queen smirked, walking up to Eric and caressing his face, Y/n and Sookie getting up and trying to get out the room but were quickly grabbed.

"So protective of someone who isn't even yours. You really need to learn who to trust Eric, Bill sold you out the second you got here." Eric's eyes flashed with anger as he stared at Bill who fought to get out the guards, Y/n moving in front of Sookie as a guard took a deep breath.

"You said you would let Sookie go." Bill glared at Sophie as she pouted at him, ruffling Eric's hair as he growled at her, Y/n pushing Sookie further behind her as Sophie walked up to them. 

"Back the fuck up Queenie." Y/n spat, knowing her heart was pounding in fear and she had no power, she was useless and defenceless. Sookie held onto Y/n as the Queen stepped forward, mocking a hurt look as she placed a hand on her chest. 

"That's not a nice way to speak to your Queen, you look so adorable protecting your little Fae friend, but we both know i could drain you before you could even scream." Sookie's hand tightened in Y/n's, reading Y/n mind as she panicked, Y/n's eyes darting to Eric as he kept fighting against the guards. 

"You could, yeah you could but what's the fun in that Sophie huh? You said you like the chase right? So how about a game?" Sophie grinned as she stepped forward, Sookie trying to pull Y/n back as she stood her ground, Sophie's hand coming to twirl Y/n's hair around her finger before tugging her head forward. Y/n biting her tongue to stop from yelping in pain but Eric felt it, he felt it like Sophie had just done it to him instead and it infuriated him even more. 

"What game do you want to play Y/n? Because i'm pretty much winning right now so i don't see why i'd want to play a game." Y/n looked at her with wide eyes, her brain scrambling before she answered.

"Well, uhh, hide and seek. I want to play hide and seek, if you can find me, then you can kill them and me and Sookie will play nice. But if you can't find me, in the time frame, then we all go." Sophie smirked, smoothing Y/n's hair as she walked her backwards, Sookie moving as Y/n stumbled back hitting a wall, Sophie slamming her hand next to her head. 

"You want to play hide and seek with a vampire who can hear your heart beating miles away. How can i refuse." Sophie gripped her chin, leaning down and kissing Y/n harshly, pulling back and licking her lips.

"To seal the deal. You have an hour to hide before i come searching for you, i'll give you a little extra time just because you'll be so cute when i find you." Y/n grimaced as Sophie stood back, allowing her space to move away from her. Y/n getting ready to run before she turned around, hands behind her back.

"You have 20 minutes to find me, since you're a vampire with super speed and super hearing i think 20 minutes is more than fair. And no guards, anywhere." Sophie gave her a look before nodding to the guards, a few moments later Sookie's cousin coming back with silver chains, placing them on Eric and Bill before the guards walked away, Sookie being handcuffed to a chair. 

"Looks like the game has begun." Y/n nodded to Sophie, turning quickly and running, hoping her plan would work. 

Eric felt Y/n's fear as Sophie walked around the room, a wide grin on her face as she listened, Bill trying to save his own skin.

"You promised to let me and Sookie go, you wanted Eric. Now let us go." Sophie laughed, a sickeningly sweet laugh, gripping Bill's chin as she pouted at him, blood thirsty eyes staring into his.

"Your biggest flaw Bill Compton, is your lack of loyalty. Eric has gotten you out of so much, i have had so many chances to skin you alive and use you as a rug but each time your sheriff has saved your skin. You sold him out the second you could, you lured him here to die and expect me to reward your disrespect." Bill pulled his chin from her hold and dropped his head, his eyes cast towards Sookie as she tried to hear Y/n's thoughts, struggling carefully with her handcuffs, eyes constantly darting between Sophie and the door. Eric could barely kneel, silver chains draped over his skin, rows and rows of chains holding him down and searing into his skin. Sophie smirked as she laid across her day bed, in front of Eric as she played with her white dress, fanning it across herself before grazing a finger over Eric's forehead to push back his hair. 

"This whole plan started as a way to get the little fae, then Bill sold you out and suddenly it was too hard not to add a fae and you to my collection. And little Y/n? Your bunny? Well she's just the icing ontop isn't she, torturing you by having her will be so much fun." Eric ignored her, trying to find any strength to be able to throw the chains off and rip her limb from limb. 

Y/n rushed into the kitchen, finding weapons before turning to the door, a few wooden chairs by the door, acting quickly she smashed them against the ground, splinter of wood crashing onto the floor as the chairs fell apart. Y/n grabbing a leg before using the knife to sharpen it, her eyes darting between the clock and her weapon, panic setting in. 40 minutes until Sophie would be released, she had a plan, but it very much relied on being able to get back to Eric and Sookie reading her mind at the correct time. Y/n ran through the house, stake in one hand and knife in the other as she slowed nearing the dining room once more, she had 30 minutes before Sophie would begin searching for her. She needed time to set everything up, thinking loudly Y/n tried to reach out to Sookie, praying she was listening and not arguing with Bill.

Sookie could hear Y/n louder than ever, like she was shouting in her ears as she winced, Eric noticing quickly, sensing Y/n way too close for needing to be running and hiding. Sookie nodded, agreeing to Y/n's plan, looking at Sophie as she huffed at the time, rolling her neck. 

"This is boring. I think the games can start now." Y/n's eyes widened as she heard Sophie, her ear to the door before she tucked herself against the wall, the door slamming open as Sophie raced out. Too excited to use her powers and realise she could hear more than Sookie's heartbeat so close, following Y/n's scent, leading her to the kitchen where blood laid across the counter, hand prints on the door leading outside, Sophie grinning as she followed. Y/n waited a moment before ducking into the room, the door locking behind her as she ran to Eric, pulling the silver from him as blood dripped from her arm. Eric standing as soon as he could, pulling Y/n into him, gripping her face looking her over, he could hear Sophie getting closer, she wasn't fooled by Y/n's charade. Taking the stake Eric hid by the door, Y/n wrapping the silver around her and Sookie as the door flew off it's hinging, Sophie grinning as she walked towards Y/n.

"Well well well, you are smarter than you look. Although...i wouldn't stab me if i were you Eric. You kill me and both of you die, the magister takes vampire crimes very seriously." Eric grabbed her neck, pushing her against the wall, stake against her chest as he bared his fangs glaring down at her. Sophie panicking, her eyes darting around the room before landing on Bill. Y/n standing in her line of vision with a smirk, Sookie now unhandcuffed as she raised her hand, Eric moving behind Y/n, a ray of light coming from Sookie's hand. Sophie screaming out in pain as she stared in horror at the light burning from her chest, her skin burning and charring as she rippled in pain. Eric holding Y/n's waist as they all watched Sophie burn up and die, Bill horrified before Sookie gagged, turning around and vomiting. Sookie wiping her mouth then rushing to Bill to pull off the silver, Eric baring his fangs at Bill, Sookie holding Bill close as she tried to defend him.

"He did it for me Eric. Please." Y/n rolled her eyes, Eric stilling holding the stake as he stepped forward, Sookie raising her hand as she protected Bill. Y/n moving in front of Eric with a scowl, crossing her arms as she glared at Sookie.

"Are you fucking serious right now? He sold us all out! He's the whole reason this happened and you're defending him? We all almost died, i got assaulted on so many different levels for you and now you're going to threaten to kill Eric for your lame ass boyfriend?" Sookie's eyes watered, squaring herself as she nodded, Y/n letting out a laugh as she dropped her arms, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Jesus christ Bill, you must either be the ultimate god of sex or a god of manipulation to be able to keep someone on such a tight damn leash. I mean you sell out everyone around you, endanger her life, throw her under the bus and use her constantly." Sookie's hand wavered as she listened, looking back at Bill, giving Eric the perfect opportunity to knock her out, Sookie's body hitting the ground as Eric slammed Bill to the wall, stake at the ready.

"Wait, what's the magister Eric?" Eric explained to Y/n quickly, his eyes not leaving Bill's as he slowly pushed the stake closer and closer, his mind swimming with rage.

"Eric, give him to the magister, we can say he killed Sophie, he glamoured Sookie and forced her to do it." Eric gave it a thought before snapping Bill's neck, his undead body hitting the ground next to Sookie's. The damage was done, and now he had to clean it up. 

True blood taglist:

@m00n5t0n3 @celibacy-or-death @elle4404 @katsav17 @

i don't really like this part, sorry it was so late i had some personal stuff happen so this feels really rushed

[kittystargen3]

Story Summary: A time traveling Grandmaster, to the Prequel Era, trying to fix the mistakes the Jedi made, and get rid of a certain Sith too. Only Time Travel is not that easy, as Yoda will soon learn.

Hi all,

Today I published a new chapter to Time Travel: To the Past Yoda Goes. Below is a small selection. Please use the links above to read more.

Chapter 68- Darkness

30 Years ago:

Yoda looked up at the time-piece against the wall and sighed.  

“Master, I won’t say I didn’t tell you this…” Dooku growled from the other side of the chamber.  “In fact, the whole council warned you about his fit as a padawan.”

Yoda tuned out his previous Padawan’s lectures, and he turned around the room to pace again.  

Suddenly the door opened and a teenaged boy with dark skin, and long brown hair, fastened back in dreads, timidly walked in.  Unsurprisingly, he seemed to immediately sense the judgment from the masters in the room.

“Well, there you go then.  I’d love to stay for the grilling, but Qui-Gon will be taking his trials next week, and I promised him to help him prepare for it.”  Dooku made his excuses and quickly skedaddled from the room, making sure to glare at the boy before he left.

The other Masters soon did the same, and Yoda was alone with a youngling that refused to look up and give him eye contact.  

“You’re angry, Master.  I know it was a risk, but if I'd had a few seconds more time, I could have made it work.  And then…”

“Angry, I am not… Disappointed, I am.”  Yoda corrected.  The boy’s face fell.  “Recovering from severe burns, two other Padawans are.  Included in their number you almost were.”

“But if Master Rancisis hadn't pulled me away, it wouldn't have exploded.” He sighed.  “I know everyone thinks I’ve fallen to the dark side, or that I’m flirting with it, or something.  But I haven’t.  I'm just tired of everyone waiting for me to fail.” 

“Padawan Windu. With me, come.”  Yoda said, and the youngling looked up in surprise.  

He followed Yoda down a seldom used lift to a part of the temple few Padawans had ever been to.  Technically it was a part of the Jedi Archives, if anyone looked at a temple floor plan.  But those who knew what it contained simply called it, ‘The Dark Vault.’

“Sense what, do you?”  Yoda asked.  

“Power, there’s a lot of it down here.”  Mace answered.  “Hey, if we have all this, why don’t we ever use it?”  

Yoda glared at his Padawan, and subtly used their new forcebond to remind him why they were having this conversation in the first place.

Mace shuffled a step back and corrected his wording, “I mean the Masters, of course.  The criminals wouldn't stand up to this being used against them.”

“Of the start of the Jedi-Sith Conflict, how much do you know?”  Yoda asked.

“Ancient history now,”  Yoda responded with a glare before the youngling could make a comment about his age.  “Uh, The Jedi were the original Force-users.  They used to use the whole force, light and dark, and…”

“What?”  Yoda asked.  

“Huh?” Mace responded with.

“Original Force-users our predecessors were.  Distinguish between light and dark, they did not.   Because Dark yet, the force was not.”  Yoda paused to look up at his Padawan.  Mace looked even more confused than he usually did during a Force-Physics class when his instructor started ranting in Rybese.  “A time for living, all things have.  And a time to die and rejoin the Force, all things do as well.  Both, a part of the Living Force, it originally was.”

“So then what changed?” Mace wisely asked....

[paytato435]

Chapter 6: Pink

Early Birds

Casey had only slept about three hours, and when he couldn't stand tossing and turning in bed any longer, he finally gave up. It was useless. The initial worry from the night before had compounded as a new and terrible thought plagued his brain.

How was he supposed to get to the Battle Nexus everyday without the turtles noticing?

Even if they seemed to sleep better than he did, their schedules were more fucked than their apocalyptic counterparts. Because they were part-time ninjas, and because they tried their best to avoid humans in general, they tended to go out at night fairly regularly. But now with school starting for Mikey and Leo, their schedule would have them awake in the day more often. In other words, Casey couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be someone up and about at any given time wondering where he was. Someone was going to notice he was awol and ask him what he was up to.

Even worse, if he did have a convenient enough excuse, they would wonder when he had gotten the courage to go out by himself. What could possibly motivate him to do that? Casey didn't even want to go out on his own as it was, but he had no choice.

He should have never mentioned Synth to Leo. This was all one big ugly mess.

Casey eventually dragged himself out of bed and maneuvered quietly out of his room to go sit at the kitchen table. He stole a piece of paper from the grocery list notepad and started mapping out his day. Of course, he couldn't write anything incriminating down, so he just had to box down certain points in the day as "free time."

Unfortunately, staring down at the blank spaces turned out to be a fruitless endeavor.. He hadn't any idea what he could do to keep the others off his back. Maybe he'd figure something out after school.

“You’re up early,” Casey nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Raph peeking over his shoulder.

“Holy shit, dude!” 

The snapper backed up and raised his arms apologetically. “Sorry, my bad. Thought ya heard me walk in.”

Casey balled up the paper in his hands. “I really didn’t! What are you doing up?”

Raph shrugged and shuffled drowsily over to the coffee machine. “I’m always up early. S’more peaceful. My breakfast is safer when Leo’s not around.”

Casey snorted. He had a point. On more than one occasion Leo had tripped while trying to wake up in the kitchen. He was a menace to everyone- knocking over cereal bowls, sprawling out on the floor to agonize over the perpetual rising of the sun, pulling things out from the pantry and cupboards only to return them when he changed his mind suddenly or realized they were out of milk too late into his tea, cereal, or even mac and cheese prep.

Yeah, it was probably a good idea to eat before Leo got up. That would get one stressful thing out of the way, at least. He stood up from the table and moved over to join Raph on the other side of the bar, where he pulled down a box of cereal from atop the fridge.

“Are you ready for school today?” Raph asked as he squinted at the coffee machine buttons that were a little too small for his fingers. With little coordination, it took him several jabs of an increasingly frustrated index to get the machine running. When he finally got it going, he leaned his head against the nearest cupboard door.

“Not really,” Casey answered, tilting his head in concern for the big guy. “Doesn’t that have a timed setting so the machine makes it for you in the morning?”

“Depends if Donnie stays up all night,” Raph grunted. “He picked up my pot thirty minutes ago.”

“Oof.”

The two of them milled around in the kitchen for a few quiet minutes more before Casey settled back down in his seat again with a small bowl of flakes. To his surprise, the snapper joined him.

Casey tried to eat his cereal, but the combined nervousness he’d been wrestling with since last night and now the quiet awkwardness in the air made it difficult. Instead, he aimlessly tapped his spoon into the bottom of the bowl, trying to stab poor unfortunate bits of wilting cereal. He missed more often than not.

“Dude,” Casey looked up and saw Raph staring at the bowl as Casey’s spoon dinged the glass for what was perhaps the twelfth time.

“Sorry,” Casey stopped, putting his hands in his lap and staring at the table. He was a little unsure what to do with himself.

“You alright big guy?”

There it was. Raph’s classic big brother concern. It was hard to avoid most days, even though Casey tried his best to. 

“Not really.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

There was something about the way Raph talked to Casey that always made him want to open up. Not just because he made it a habit to ask, but also because he just seemed like the kinda guy you could just cry all your frustrations out onto and he’d take it all in stride. He wouldn’t tease you about it either, which Casey knew Leo and Donnie were far more likely to do. Casey felt uniquely vulnerable to him, especially when he had a lot of things he’d like to cry about right now. Casey wasn’t actually all too used to Raph’s thoughtfulness, and that perhaps contributed to his ability to get Casey to freeze like this.

But that was not something Casey could allow himself to do, right? He had to get through today. He had to be fine.

So he shrugged and forced himself to eat instead. Raph looked a little sad by the rejection, but tried to cover it with another question.

“Whaddya think people would do if they saw me goin to school, too?”

“Do you think they’d be scared of you?” Casey asked, raising an eyebrow.

Now it was Raph’s turn to stare at the table. “Probably, yeah.”

“I dunno how they could be, you’re just about the squishiest person I’ve ever met.”

“Squishy?”

“Uh, yeah, you know…” Casey scratched the back of his head. “Like a big teddy bear.”

The expression on Raph’s face was a little hard to read, but it looked like he was trying his best not to smile.

“I think you’d do great up there if you wanted to,” Casey told him earnestly. “I mean, you go to the cat cafe and talk to Lucy, right?”

“Well yeah, but… wait. Who told you about Lucy?” the snapper squinted his eyes. “It was Mikey wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah. He really wants us to go together sometime,” Casey smiled nervously, remembering he wasn’t supposed to tell Raph they had already gone.

“We should go,” Raph nodded, seeming more alert now. “She’s really nice, you’d like her.”

Raph was probably going to tear into Mikey for this when he found out, but Casey didn’t want to be the one to ruin it.

“I’d like that,” he agreed.

“Actually, we could probably go when you get off school if you wanted,” Raph offered. “She’s usually not too busy on Wednesdays.”

“I can’t,” Casey frowned, uncrumpling his paper and looking at his schedule. “April’s making me try out field hockey.”

“Ah, well, it can’t be helped,” Raph shrugged. “Sounds like fun though.”

Casey nodded, but he wasn’t so sure. He wasn’t sure about anything today.

“If you’re worried about school, just remember you’ve overcome a lot worse,” Raph told him. It was clear he was trying to reassure the kid, but it only reminded Casey that things were already a lot worse than him just going to school.

Much, much worse.

-

And yet somehow, Casey still felt utterly lost and helpless upon actually getting to school only a few short hours later. It was about as bad as Casey had imagined. He had thought he had at least gotten used to big crowds, but as it turned out, he'd never really been in a school-hallway-minutes-before-class kind of crowd.

As soon as he walked in he was hit with just how many people were crammed into such a small space. People were standing shoulder to shoulder, others weaving between each other like they’d done this their whole lives. The noise was unbearable. This was a bad idea.

“Guys I don’t think I can do this,” he said to nobody, because when he turned his head Leo and Mikey had already shuffled to the other side of the hallway. Leo waved for him to join them, but Casey just kinda froze. His eyes darted from one stranger’s face to the next. He hadn’t so much as tried to take a step before he saw Mikey squeeze up next to him and grab his hand.

“Come on Future Boy, we got places to be.”

 He’d never been pushed around so much. Mikey was his lifeline as they slowly made their way across the school. He vaguely remembered April telling him that his advisory class was up on the third floor, but thankfully Mikey knew how to get there.

The stairs were similarly crowded. At least here people had the sense to go up one side and down the other, but the stairway was so narrow that they had to go up single file. When he couldn't hold his hand, Casey grabbed the back of Mikey's bag instead. He kept his eyes straight ahead the whole time. His heart was pounding.

And class hadn't even started yet.

Somehow they made it to their room. Casey took the closest seat to the door and immediately opened his bag as Mikey sat down next to him. He dug out his class schedule and the map of the building and began memorizing the room numbers. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t done this sooner. 303, 107, 405, 201… 

“You good Casey?” he jumped in his seat.

“Uh, yeah, yeah I’m fine,” he lied. Well, he was trying not to lie about it. He wanted to be ok. He could handle this.

“Do you want me to walk with you to your other classes too?” Casey only had this one class in common with Mikey. After this he’d be on his own. He felt like his stomach was going to turn inside out.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Casey admitted, hugging his bag.

The good news was that advisory turned out to be very boring. There was roll call, the teacher struggled with the projector for twenty minutes and missed morning announcements, and then the bell rang for his next class.

He had had plenty of time to calm down.

The bad news was that the journey to his second class was just as bad as the first. And this time, as he was going down the stairs, he tripped over his own shoes and fell down the last three stairs, knocking Mikey down with him.

"Shit!"

"Language!" called out a teacher from down the hall who was too busy walking to notice why Casey was swearing.

The kids in the hallway didn't even acknowledge him either as he scrambled back up and adjusted his bag.

But someone did acknowledge Mikey. As he was trying to stand up, some asshole knocked into him again.

"Oops, sorry freak!" he shouted back as he took the stairs.

"Who you calling a freak, lemon head?" Mikey snapped back, picking up his backpack.

The poor kid did have an unfortunately shaped head. But he didn't engage. In fact, nobody seemed to care about the lemon head. Instead, Casey noticed people were giving Mikey a wide berth.

It was the first time Casey noticed that Mikey stood out like a sore thumb. There hadn't been any yokai in advisory. He might have seen one on the way in, but he was too panicked to remember much. Looking around, he thought he would see more, but he didn't. He had completely forgotten that maybe the students in school weren't exactly used to them yet. Well, Mikey and Leo. What they didn't know about Casey couldn't hurt him.

He didn't know why, but seeing some asshole push Mikey over snapped Casey into action mode. He pulled out the school map again and noted where he was going on the first floor.

"Mikey I'm going to walk with you to your class," he said with a tone halfway between pissed and concerned.

"But-"

"I'll be fine."

"I don't need help," Mikey bristled.

"I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about them," Casey pointed out, taking Mikey's hand again. "April said no fighting. That means avoiding confrontation."

Mikey narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "My class is this way," he pointed, leading Casey to the left. "We better hurry though or we're going to be late."

-

So Leo had tried his best to look like the stares weren't getting to him, but he was still surprised to see that so many were openly scowling at him.

They had to be joking; he was in the news! He saved New York! It seemed some people missed the memo; what a town.

He made his way to Geometry and realized that most of the kids in that class were a year or two younger than him. That was a little embarrassing. Even more so when the teacher asked them to draw a plane with four points and Leo realized he hadn't meant an airplane with teeth. He had wondered what teeth had to do with math.

He wished Donnie were here to help.

People didn’t seem to laugh at his jokes either, or at least couldn’t tell when he was kidding or not, because nobody so much as tried to hide a smile whenever he spoke up. After asking for help for the fifth time on his assignment, he caught the Geometry teacher rolling his eyes. That wasn’t a great sign, either.

At last, the bell rang, and Leo fled from Geometry like a rat from a cat. He hoped the whole day wouldn’t go like this. He sprinted up stairs to the second floor, but slowed when he saw a group of kids all congregated at the top. He put on his best smile and asked to be excused so he could squeeze by them, but they didn’t move.

They all looked at him and then continued on with their conversation as if he wasn’t there.

“Hey, move it!” a kid behind him called. Leo looked behind him and saw a small kid in a black sweatshirt push past him. The group moved out of his way easily, and then immediately spread back out again to obstruct Leo's access.

“Oh come on!” Leo groaned. This was stupid. He jumped up onto the rail and over the group, giving them each a smug grin as he did so. They couldn’t help but look at him now as he soared gracefully over their heads. “Can’t keep a good guy down,” he winked back at them before continuing on. What was wrong with those guys?

Ok, he probably didn’t have to wonder about it much. He knew exactly why he was being treated this way. He’d watched enough movies to know people hated different people. Especially monsters and aliens, which he might as well be to them.

As it turned out, most of Leo’s classes were much the same as the first. He didn’t know shit. All he had was his gorgeous handwriting and the persistence to keep trying. He’d never felt so stupid in his life. He knew he probably wasn’t the smartest guy in the world, but damn. Everything that was brought up was completely foreign to him. At least in Government class all he had to do was sit and listen. He took furious notes on everything the teacher said. He’d probably have to read it again half a dozen more times before it got through his head.

God he hoped Casey and Mikey didn’t feel like this.

-

Pink

Faster than expected, the rest of the school day came and went. After the second period, Casey had managed to make his way around the school by just pretending everyone around him were just more obstacles to climb over. He didn’t try to talk to anyone, he just treated school like a mission. Get from one place to the next, listen, observe, take notes as needed, and get out. It was just recon; he could do that, at least.

On the other hand, Casey noticed there was a lot of attention on the few yokai and mutants he did spot, despite their attempts to blend in. Not a single one spoke up in his classes, they all sat together at lunch, and the human students couldn’t help but stare and gossip whenever they had a free moment. The atmosphere was tense, to say the least. It made Casey scratch his ankle with his shoe nervously as he ate.

After classes, April recommended Casey try out the field hockey team. Why not? It sounded fun, and it wasn’t as if he had sixteen years of education to catch up on that would significantly cut into his time outside of school, right?

Casey had brought a change of clothes, but wasn't ultimately sure where to go or where to change. Instead he just went out onto the field. The coaches and players were already out there, warming up. Casey was quick to notice that the team was made up of exclusively human players.

"Excuse me?" Casey approached the nearest adult: A tall woman with broad shoulders and cropped brown hair. She had just finished shouting at the players in front of her to start warm ups. She looked down at Casey expectantly.

"I'm here to join the field hockey team."

"Oh are ya?"

"Uh, yes, please?" The coach did not look impressed.

"In those clothes?"

"I- I can change." she blew her whistle. It was loud and made Casey wince in discomfort.

"Crale, get over here!"  A tall kid with warm brown eyes and sandy hair pulled back into a loose braid shuffled over. "What's your name, kid?"

"It's Casey, Casey Jones."

"Jones, this is Gavin Crale. I'm Coach Dennis. He'll show you where the lockers are. Crale, get him a hair tie too if he needs one, that's not gonna fly." she gestured at Casey's loose hair.

-

"You're that kid from the news, aren't you?" Gavin asked when they reached the locker rooms.

"From the news?" Casey asked suspiciously. He didn’t remember his face being on the news.

"When the aliens attacked. You're kinda hard to miss."

"Well, you're the first one to notice, actually," Casey shrugged, trying to play it casual.

"Most people probably don't see the hockey mask in your bag."

Casey snapped his head back to see that in fact, his mask was sticking out.

"Have you even played field hockey before? Your methods downtown weren't exactly consistent with the rules." Casey figured he must have seen the footage of him online.

“Nope.” He wished Gavin wouldn’t talk about it anymore, but it seemed an alien invasion that Casey was directly involved in was probably too interesting a subject for the perfectly normal teenager to ignore.

“You were with those green guys too, right? I think one of them is in my biology class.”

“They’re turtles,” Casey huffed. “Did you get the short one or the… striped one?” Casey wasn’t sure how to describe Leo to someone in just one word.

“The loud one.”

Casey wheezed.

“What?”

Casey struggled to keep a straight face. “They’re both loud,” Casey explained. “But one of them is taller with red stripes going down his face…”

“That’s him!” Gavin pointed to Casey in understanding. “He kept asking the teacher a bunch of weird questions.”

“Oh boy, what did he say?” Casey raised his eyebrows, a little amused now.

“There were so many questions,” Gavin sighed. “And none of them were like, genuine, by the way, the first question out of his mouth was if he should categorize himself as a mammal or a reptile on his worksheet, which was not even a question to begin with. He also wondered if the curriculum would be amended to include mutants and yokai, and was… very upset to find out it was not. Like, he clutched his hand to his chest and looked like he was going to fall over. Then he… cried about how the system was exclusive, unjust, and unable to accommodate the needs of the new and diverse student body.”

Casey nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“He was sent to the office to address his complaints in ‘a more appropriate environment,’” Gavin rolled his eyes and threw up air quotes.

“Would you dissect him for me? I heard that's a thing in that class."

Gavin snorted.

"I might. Nobody wanted to be his lab partner. He’s very…”

“Oh I know, you don’t have to explain,” Casey laughed. “You’ll get used to him.”

They sat in awkward silence for a minute, before Gavin found something else to talk about.

"I'm really glad you're trying out for the team. We've lost a lot of people since last season."

"What happened?" Casey asked, tightening his cleats.

“Some kids left town because of… the whole yokai situation. I think it's mostly just the parents who were scared out of their minds, but some of the kids on the team feel like it’d be unfair if yokai students filled in the gaps. I think the… uh… yokai… feel that resentment.”

“Resentment…” Casey wasn’t sure what this kid thought about this whole situation, but he sure seemed hyper-aware of it.

Gavin looked down at his shoes.

"Jones, I'm not gonna lie, this is all batshit crazy."

"You don't even know half of it." 

Gavin shrugged as if he could somehow make the situation normal by just pretending it was.

"In field hockey, you don't raise the stick over your head, and you definitely don't mod your stick with a chainsaw blade."

"Fair enough."

"And don't just go crashing into anybody you see on the field, we have some girls playing with us."

"What does that mean?"

Gavin scratched his head. "Well, you know, you wouldn't want to beat up a girl, right?"

"About as much as I'd beat up anyone else?"

"Oh, uh, I guess not." Casey was confused, but Gavin looked embarrassed.

"I'm ready," Casey stood, stretching his back from being hunched over.

"Zip up your bag too. The others would probably give you hell for that," Gavin warned, pointing at the mask again.

That was probably a good idea.

"Oh, and don't forget to pull your hair back. Do you need a hair tie?"

"Crap, yeah," Casey remembered, running his hands through his hair. Gavin pulled an elastic from his bag and handed it to Casey.

"This is a hair tie?" Casey asked, rolling it between his fingers, dumbfounded.

"Uh yeah, how do you tie your hair back? Rat tails?"

Casey tried his hardest not to think of how nasty that would be. "With like… a ribbon… if I need to. I don't use them often."

"Good grief. Have you ever used a rubber band?"

"No."

"Give me it back. I'll do it for you, we don't have time." 

Casey handed the band to Gavin and the boy moved to stand behind him. The hairs on the back of Casey's neck rose up as Gavin pulled his hair back away from his face. Casey tensed. He couldn’t see Gavin from this angle, and nobody else had touched his hair in years. Not since he was a kid, when Master Michelangelo taught him how to tie it back. Now this stranger was dragging his fingers across Casey’s scalp, and every nerve in his body screamed that he was in danger.

The experience was both very nostalgic and deeply alarming. He couldn’t tell if he was about to cry or kick the supposed threat off of him. He had to make a conscious effort to do neither, and instead did his best to count the linoleum tiles on the floor under them.

When Gavin tightened the ponytail, Casey jumped.

"Ah! Shit man, are you alright?"

Casey kept his eyes glued to the floor.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Let's get going."

When Gavin and Casey returned to the field, the players were setting up to scrimmage. Coach Dennis had Casey sit out for the first few minutes to watch and learn the rules, and then threw him out onto the field.

Field hockey was exhilarating. He didn't notice it so much while he was inside, but his muscles had been begging to get this exercise. Casey and his teammates quickly realized he was significantly faster on his feet than anticipated, as he made his way back and forth down the field. When he had the ball, hardly anyone could keep up. 

Hardly anyone except for her.

On the opposing team was a girl with a nose ring and raven black hair tied back into pigtails. A bright violet streak of hair in her bangs screamed to get anyone and everyone's attention. And she probably deserved it. She was good. Like, really good. 

The first few times Casey got the ball he quickly outpaced her and even managed to score once, but after about the third time cutting past her he found he could not lose her. Had she sped up? Was she predicting where he'd go? She never let up and was always right on his heels until-

Whack.

He lost possession of the ball. Looking around him he saw the girl had sniped it from him. He hadn't even seen her coming this time. By the time he had recovered, she was already long gone.

"So you've had your first run in with Angel," Gavin prodded as the team took a water break.

"That fast girl?" Casey looked downfield and noticed she'd actually been looking in his direction. As soon as she caught his glance, she started walking toward him. She looked like she'd just eaten a sour grape.

"Oh you are in trouble now," Gavin smiled, stepping away.

"Hey, new kid. Had enough yet?" Oh geez, she was mad already? He just got here.

"Uh, no?"

"No? Some nerve you got. What's your name?"

"Casey Jones."

Angel took a step closer, getting right into his face.

"Listen up, Jones. You're a shit forward and your awareness is trash. If you don't pay attention you're gonna get mowed over."

"Uh, thanks?" He was having trouble focusing on what she said; how did she smell so sweetly of bubblegum when she wasn’t chewing any? And in the middle of practice???

"You're welcome. Pay attention. I don't play nice with pink fucks like you."

"Pink?" He blinked in surprise.

"Your whole vibe is neon pink.” She twirled her hand before returning it to her hockey stick. “It's off putting." Casey froze. Angel had just correctly deduced his life color. Not even Mikey could...

"Do you have synesthesia?" Casey asked, earnestly.

Angel snorted.

"If you aren't here to play with all you got, go home. I can tell when people aren't trying. You're wasting space."

Angel turned back and headed onto the field, bouncing on the balls of her feet when she’d settled down.

"That was awful," Casey muttered to himself.

"She thinks you're a threat," Gavin smiled. "She's going to be."

"Why?"

Gavin shrugged.

“Her friend used to be on the team. She was really good too.”

“Where’d she go?”

“She’s dead.” Gavin said it like he was trying to convince Casey it was true. Most people wouldn’t be that explicit.

“She’s dead?” Casey looked back at Angel. She looked closer to beating someone up than breaking down. He felt that way sometimes too.

“Might as well be. Missing persons rarely show back up alive.”

Yikes.

After that, Casey couldn't keep up at all with Angel anymore, although everyone said he did very well. Despite the animosity, Casey couldn’t help but notice everyone else seemed to get along very well with the girl. It seemed he was her only target.

-

"Hey Angel, wait up!" The girl with the purple hair spun around to face him with a dangerous scowl. Ok, maybe not dangerous dangerous… Casey knew the difference between a scowl that preceded chastising and a scowl that preceded losing a limb. Angel definitely gave off the former, although he wouldn't be surprised if she was also capable of the latter.

"Whaddya want, Pink Fuck?"

There it was again. It had frustrated him for maybe a moment, but after thinking about it for a little longer and seeing how Angel treated the others on the team, Casey quickly picked through Angel's facade.

She was the only one at practice that was openly abrasive. He was the only one she had been abrasive to. Every joke she had made today had seemed to come at his expense.

The pout on her face and posture were over exaggerated. Before he called over to her, she had been talking with two of her friends, who now shared an exchange between themselves that Casey had traded with Michelangelo on too many occasions in the future. All three of them could see what Angel was doing:

She was the textbook definition of a tsundere. And Casey would know; he had the unfortunate experience of listening to his sensei with painful disinterest as the slider complained and insulted his way into eventually asking another one of his dozens of boyfriends out. Once Michelangelo had pointed the behavior out, Casey realized what a broken record Leonardo was. (He was infinitely thankful that Leo in this timeline hadn't started dating yet. There was no closing Pandora's box.)

Casey wondered if Angel was even aware of her behavior. Was she trying to scare him because she didn't know how to hide her feelings any other way? Or was it a habit of hers to poke fun at people she was interested in just in general? Either way, Casey felt confident he could use it to his advantage.

Ok, that probably sounded bad. If it made things any better, he kinda liked the attention.

"Yeah it's me, the pink one," he answered, raising his arms in surrender. He shared an apologetic smile with the students standing with her. "Could I talk to you for a minute? I need some help with something."

"You might be beyond help, Pink," she snorted, crossing her arms defensively. 

"Maybe," he acknowledged, which only made her snort again. "But uh, you're in my history class aren't you?" He remembered seeing her sit at the very back of the room, her feet kicked up on her desk and giving him a vicious glare even then.

"Yeah? Whattabout it?"

"Do you, uh… think you could help me with that assignment the teacher gave us? I was looking over the questions and I was completely stumped.”

"What?" She seemed completely taken aback by his question.

"Could you help me with the homework?" he asked again, not sure how else he could explain it.

Angel's eyes darted around the campus for a moment, thinking really hard very suddenly. 

"Uh…"

"It's ok if you don't want to, I could ask someone else, I just don't really know anyone here yet so…"

"No no! I can help you!" she protested immediately; probably too quickly. "Do you wanna go to the library or something? The public one's not far from here."

"Uh, yeah! Yeah that could work!" he agreed with his best smile. He noticed her lips quirk in just the tiniest fraction of a smile before she narrowed her eyes.

"If you're joining the team you gotta have good grades," she told him pointedly. "If you're too stupid they'll kick you off the team, got it?"

Casey swallowed and nodded. He didn't know that.

"You're lucky I love this team so much, punk. Purple Dragons gotta stick together, ya hear?"

That was a load of crap, but Casey agreed anyway. "Uh, yeah, I guess.. "

"Don't 'uh… I guess…' me! Do you want my help or not?"

Casey couldn't help but chuckle. Her face twitched dangerously. She looked like she was about to ask him if he wanted to die.

"Your laugh is stupid," she said instead, pulling out her phone from her duffel bag. "I'm gonna text my brother that I'll be home late. But he's actually cooking for once so we can't be out too late."

Casey felt as if the world had just been lifted off his shoulders. Finally, something was going right for once.

"I guess we'll see you tomorrow, Angel?" one of her friends asked. Angel blinked and turned back to them, as if she had forgotten they were there.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry guys…"

"No no, it's fine!" the friend assured her. "Go have fun," he winked before turning away.

"Go have… ugh!" Angel stamped her foot. "That guy, I swear…"

-

Angel seemed to have rebuilt her facade while she was changing out of her athletic clothes, because she seemed particularly and purposefully cool to anything Casey tried to say on the walk over to the library. She had put herself entirely on guard. It was a little awkward, but not completely surprising. She had, after all, suddenly found herself on a study date with a strange (BEYOND STRANGE) boy she had just met today.

"So how far do you live from the school?"

"Why? So you can stalk me?" Angel asked with another scowl.

"Yeesh, it was just a question," he scratched the back of his neck.

"Try a better one," she rolled her eyes, but there was little humor there.

"Ok… what's your brother like?"

"Why do you keep asking personal questions?!" she snapped. "You're weirding me out."

Oops. What was he supposed to ask her?

"Where'd you move from?" Angel asked him instead.

"Wait what?" He couldn't ask about her living situation but she could ask him about his? Not to mention there was no way he could answer THAT particular question.

"Where'ya from ding-dong?" she asked again, squinting one eye at him.

"I uh…"

"Not so fun being on the spot, huh?" she noticed, stepping ahead of him as they walked.

"What? No, it's fine I just-"

She spun around and stopped in front of him. He had to stop too suddenly to avoid bumping into her.

"Just what?" she smiled at him.

She was trying to intimidate him.

"I grew up here," Casey told her. It was kinda true. His New York was just a little more… dusty… and dead… and filled with monsters…

"Uhuh," Angel said without belief. He was surprised that she didn't pry further, but instead turned around and kept walking, letting him catch up to her stride.

"So did you grow up here?"

"Yeah," was her only answer for a moment, before adding; "I wasn't born here though. My parents are from Florida."

"Oh really? I heard it's really nice there." Casey had actually heard so many things about places like Florida in the past, where the weather was nice all year round and the beaches were beautiful. Casey had never been on the beach before. Of course they could still go to a beach much closer to New York than Florida, but it hadn't come up in conversation yet from the younger turtles. Maybe they could go before the weather turned.

"It's a shithole, don't go," she glowered.

"Oh." She seemed pretty good at killing a vibe. At least they had something in common.

They approached the library and Casey realized that even though he didn't feel exactly comfortable hanging out with Angel, he had made it all the way from school to the library without being jumpscared by an automobile. In fact, he hadn't been stressed by the usual traffic at all. It was only when they stepped into such a quiet space as the library that he noticed how loud the outside world was, and how it was starting to bother him just a little bit less.

Or he was distracted by trying to engage in a conversation with Angel. OR he was too worried about his family discovering that he was a turtle and that it was Donnie's fault and Leo never forgave-him-for-that-ergo-Casey-had-to-keep-them-safe-by-neverfiguringoutwhathewas. Ugh. Yeah, Casey had bigger problems than big and scary traffic noises.

Casey followed Angel to the back of the library, in which they found large desks surrounded by rows and rows of massive bookshelves. It made the shelves at school look empty, and it made the small handful of books Casey had seen in the past look downright depressing by comparison.

Until Casey had arrived into the past, he had read every physical book he had ever seen. Master Leonardo had made him, so he did. All six of them. There were rumors that there was a secret seventh book that Donatello hid from everyone, but by the time Casey knew of it he had little reason to dare seek it out. If he had to guess though, it was probably just smut. Donatello never made a habit of hoarding his knowledge for himself.

"You gonna sit down or…?" Casey snapped to attention when he saw Angel had already sat down at a table, her duffel bag on the polished wood surface as she hugged it to her chest.

Casey did not realize he had been looking around so long. He grabbed a chair and sat down quietly, all too conscious of his awkward and stumbling attempt to scoot himself and the chair under the table.

"You got your textbook right? I left mine in my locker."

"What?" Casey had been trying to figure out what to do with his hands. Funnily enough he hadn’t paid it that much attention when he had been sitting in class.

Angel gave him an irritated look. “Your textbook?”

"Oh yeah, I have it," Casey stumbled, opening his bag and pulling out their textbook. He needed to focus or she was going to think something was up.

She was probably already thinking something was up anyway.

As it turned out, Casey was probably far more hopeless a case than Angel had imagined. Growing up in the apocalypse did not afford him the time to learn whatever or wherever Mesopotamia was supposed to be.

"Jesus Christ, Jones, where the fuck did you go to school before?"

Casey slumped over the table. He knew it was only a matter of time before she asked.

"I was homeschooled."

"I'm surprised you can read," Angel scoffed, crossing her arms. He looked up at her, and her face changed to one of concern. "Well, I'm exaggerating a little," she admitted, looking over at his notes. “Are you alright with your other classes?”

Casey shrugged. “It’s been one day, the others haven’t given out assignments. Math was easy though.”

Angel made a face.

“Don’t like math?” he asked.

“It’s awful. If I have to do anything more than graph a line my brain starts turning somersaults.”

“Maybe I could help you with it sometime,” Casey prodded, giving a small smile.

“I don’t think you’ll have time with this whole situation going on,” Angel waved her hand over his homework. Casey’s smile disappeared. “It’s like you’ve been living under a rock. Do you even know who the President is?”

“I plead the fifth,” he shifted nervously in his seat.

“And what is the fifth?” She asked, checking her phone and propping her feet up onto the table.

“It’s probably better than pleading the fourth?” He turned his palms up to the ceiling in defeat.

Angel burst out laughing, the sudden sound turning heads and catching glares in the otherwise studious environment. Casey sank further into his seat, his ears burning. If he went any further down his nose was going to hit the table. Upon seeing him sink, Angel sighed and rolled her eyes.

“You’re going to need a lot of help, Pink,” she told him, pinching her eyebrow. He nodded, a little embarrassed, even if this was exactly what he was hoping she’d say. “Do you want to work on this some more tomorrow? I’m getting a bit hungry.”

Another perfect excuse for his absences from home. “Sure. My head hurts anyway.”

“Don’t know how it could when there’s nothing up there,” she teased, giving a smirk.

“Shut the fuck up,” Casey grumbled, closing his book. “At least I know how to tie my shoes.”

“I know how to tie them!” Angel scoffed, shaking her sneakers so the aglets clacked against the table. “I left them undone on purpose.”

“What if you trip and fall?”

Angel narrowed her eyes and uncrossed her legs. “If it bothers you so much why not tie them for me?”

“Pft, I’m not your mom,” Casey scoffed in turn, putting his book into his bag. When he reached back up for his notebook however, Angel had pinned it down with one of her shoes.

“Damn right you’re not,” she scrunched up her nose.

“What are you doing?” Casey asked, appearing unamused. Angel cracked a wide grin.

“They look cuter this way,” she insisted.

“Uhuh, sure,” he conceded with heavy sarcasm. Thankfully that seemed to be enough for Angel to release her hostage.

This girl was insane.

Prev. Masterpost Next

Notes: I have rewritten so much of this heckin' chapter that the only thing that's original is Angel calling Casey a shit forward and Pink Fuck. It was the only important part anyway, lol. Anyway, the big result of the rewrite and break this week is MORE ANGEL. She is very fun to write. She is a menace and will continue to bully Casey for absolutely no reason whatsoever. So why did I add her to the fic? She was my favorite character in the 03 series when I was little; I thought she was so cool. I'd only seen like, the first 12 episodes tho so my only point of reference for her character for the longest time was "Fallen Angel." She's a total brat and I love her. She will always pick on Casey Jones because she can. I hope you love my Rise version of her as much as I do!

Also I think I got the field hockey idea from Mutant Ninja Midlife Crisis. It definitely makes more sense for Casey to play field hockey over ice hockey like he usually does given his backstory. I can't imagine they had many ice rinks in the apocalypse, so I think him getting into ice hockey at this point would be quite the learning curve.

Also also I would fucking scream if anyone saw Casey's classroom numbers and could recognize what they mean. Hint: They're referencing a different sport altogether.

[gunsli-01]

Showed my father (80 yrs old) Milgram trial one yesterday, and his takes are scalding.

Haruka- Guilty (he saw him bludgeon someone with a rock.)

Yuno- Abstained (He asked if he could not vote on people, and I said yes. He explained that he wasn't voting on her because he didn't know what happened.)

Futa- Guilty (Due to him being my friend's favorite, did not watch the video fully. Decided solely off that.)

Muu- Guilty (stabbed a person on screen)

Had this fun conversation though-

"What does she mean sorry spells? She's casting spells like doing magic-"

"You know when someone apologizes for doing something but doesn't really change their actions after."

"Oh, like your sister."

"Yeah, like her. I mean, you said that, not me."

Shidou- Guilty (He asked to be voted guilty. Then said regardless of what happens, he'd still be guilty when the morning came. Did what I did and assumed verdict wouldn't change his mind and if he was that adamant about it what he did was fucked up. You don't say shit like that when you've done good things.)

Mahiru- Innocent (Told him this was Star's favorite character he jokingly said Guilty then switched to Innocent. Commented on Mahiru's in his opinion large feet said her hands were nice, though. Stated after that, he hadn't seen what she did or her kill anyone, but since Star liked her, he was willing to say Innocent instead of abstaining.)

Kazui- Innocent (He didn't see him kill anyone. However, this did not mean he didn't drag the old man from the position of someone older than him. Forty is half my dads age when he was forty he was very much still fucking around and finding out.)

"This character reminds me of you a bit he's the oldest here going on forty."

"Hm, okay-" seconds into Kazui's video.

"What the hell is wrong with his pants?" Me internally, huh?

"What do you mean?"

"In the part there! Something was wrong with his pants." Rewound and paused.

"Oh, they're tight." Directly in the crotch area causing a very literal bulge to be seen if he moves a certain way. Huh, "Isn't that how fitted suits work-"

"No, they're supposed to be smooth/relaxed. not tight. Guilty he can't even get his suit pants fitted correctly-" He basically explained that suits that are fitted correctly shouldn't have that tightness in that area. They are supposed to well ya know fit the shape of one's body, making them more comfortable to walk in and cover it in a more natural way.

Which is something we see in Kazui's Birthday art-

As he's sat in a wide spread position, but it's significantly less pull than what he wears on stage in Half. So, my fathers' comment literally pointed out that Kazui may be wearing a suit that was made for someone else. In a same snake, different skin way.

Amane- Abstained (Didn't see her do anything wrong explained the cult aspect, and he still abstained but laughed at Amane's belief that her murder was religiously right, which means it can't be wrong.)

"Oh, she's adorable- how could she have killed someone?"

Me making swinging motions

"Oh... she seems like a good kid, though."

His response was very much she seems like a good child. So, I have no questions here. I didn't see her kill anyone and the cult thing doesn't really change my mind. So, I'm abstaining. For context sometime earlier "Oh this is that friends favorite guilty hang him by his balls-" Futa had a good life before guilt by association ruined it again.

Mikoto- Guilty (Saw him commit murder.)

Before even starting the video-

"This character is my favorite."

"Oh, yours- Guilty, guilty as sin if you like him he must've done that shit probably the most fucked up one here."

"Hey, you're right, but hey!"

Kotoko- Guilty (Saw her commit murder.)

He was tired of all my nonsense by this point but it was very fun.

[bafflement]

Deaged Oz AU - A Rather Delayed Meeting Part II

[Apologies for the wait on the part II of this.]

Glynda stormed down a corridor towards one of the private rooms that had been put aside for the use of those of them from Beacon. Glancing behind her to check Ozpin was following, she growled to herself. Would it have been so hard for him to tell those who loved him that he was still alive? But then... this was Oz, after all. Maybe he'd believed that they wouldn't care? They were his friends, though... had he truly thought they wouldn't have mourned him? She was almost glad she was so angry, or she might be crying over this. She had missed him, so much. The others had, too.

Getting to the room, she turned and gestured towards the little boy that was still somehow her best friend, raising an eyebrow as Oz hesitated before entering. Winter followed him in, which was, well, certainly an interesting development. She stared at the other woman imperiously, but Winter returned her gaze evenly.

"I assume you're here to guard him from something?"

"In a way." Winter admitted. *It is rather more complicated than that, however. It isn't my secret, though."

"Ozpin? Explain. And do you trust Miss Schnee enough to stay in the room? Some of what we need to discuss is highly sensitive, after all." Glynda was proud that her voice was so even, considering the circumstances, but... brothers, he was so small like this, so young.

"Salem happened." Oz said, flatly. "She has already snatched me once, I would rather not give her a second attempt. But yes, I trust Winter, James told her more than either of us knew at the time, but the more people who know at this point, the better." His face was drawn and pale and he leant against the wall heavily. Glynda sighed and gestured to one of the chairs, Oz taking it in obvious relief.

"Well, that's certainly a change in attitude. What bought that on, exactly?"

"People know about Salem. But they don't know about the rest of it yet and... they probably have to. It is difficult to talk about secrets that have been held for millennia, but... if we don't tell them, then we just hand Salem more of an advantage than ever." He sounded conflicted, but resolute and Glynda nodded. There was never any reasoning with Ozpin in this sort of mood, but at least this time he may have more justification than usual.

She glanced from Ozpin to Winter, curiously. Stood together like that, they almost looked as though... no, no surely not. Surely someone would have seen it before now? But she'd heard the rumors that James had located at least one of that set of kidnapping victims... and it being Oz would make a certain amount of sense. Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Oz sighed again, looking briefly apologetic.

"Yes, Glynda. As far as we can work out, I'm exactly who you think I am." Winter looked lost for a second, before staring at Glynda with a new respect. She hadn't expected anyone to put things together quite that quickly, though the fact that Atlas' council was aware was enough to realise that, sooner or later, she would have been informed.

"You're Winter Schnee." Her voice was flat, but she sounded more accepting than shocked at this point. "Because of course you are, this wasn't bad enough already. You two? Stay here, I have some people who will want to talk to you. And Oz? If you ever pull anything like this again, I'll skin you myself!"

Glynda left the room, moving far enough down the corridor to be in relative privacy before she screamed in frustration. Ozpin had always acted a little like a child, though... the fact that he actually was one, now? Well, then.

She ran into Theodore quickly enough, after that. He knew her well enough to know her voice, after all, though from the raised eyebrow he shot her he hadn't been expecting the scream. His gloves sparked slightly, mute testimony to the fact that he had come prepared to fight anything that would make Glynda scream like that.

"Ah, the beautiful Glynda. I would enquire as to your day thus far, but from your scream, I assume something has frustrated you. Were your students being overly tiresome again, my dear?"

"No more than usual. I need to borrow you for an hour or two, though. There's someone you really need to meet. Speaking of, do you have any idea where Peter and Barty are? They'll need to be in on this, too."

Theodore's eyebrow remained raised as he looked at her, enquiringly. That was certainly an interesting grouping, after all.

"Care to elaborate, my dear?"

"Not really, no. You'll know when you meet them." The frustration in her voice, however, sounded far too similar to the way she occasionally spoke of a certain mutual friend to be coincidence, and Theodore brightened considerably.

"Ah, good. So he's reincarnated already?"

"Yes and no. As said, you'll know when you see them. Things are about to get very, very complicated. Again, where are the other two?"

"Ah yes, last I saw them, they were in the library, discussing Grimm. I do believe dear Peter scared several of my students away, which is a great pity since his stories are always so very entertaining, don't you think?"

"Not always, no. Care to accompany me to retrieve them? We'll deal with the other... issue then."

"Now Glynda, I admit it might not have been very nice of him not to tell us he's back already, but under the circumstances, won't you cut him a little slack? It isn't his fault he died, after all. What's his name this time, anyway?"

"You... Theodore, you don't really want to know. As said, we'll discuss it between all five of us when we've retrieved the others."

"Five? This seems more and more intriguing by the second..."

Getting the other two to follow her back to the room where she'd placed Ozpin wasn't hard. They seemed intrigued to meet someone who had obviously angered Glynda to this extent, after all it was a vanishingly rare sight. Oobleck seemed to be counting on his fingers as they walked though, a worried expression on his face.

"Salem, maidens.. wizard? Maybe... the maidens are real, the witch is real. Fairytales are tales, history is supposed to be the only thing that's real." He'd been doing that a lot since the news of Salem had broken, though and the others were almost used to it. He'd be getting answers soon enough, after all.

She nodded towards the room and the men entered, staring at the occupants in shock. Winter Schnee was stood against one wall, smiling gently at the little boy in one of the chairs, whose hands seemed to be trembling slightly. He held an instantly familiar cane in one hand, though, hair silvery and just as familiar as the cane.

Oobleck swore. Well then, that was hopefully not going to set the tone for the meeting, or anything...

[blnk338]

Could you share the issue regarding the inclusivity poll please? The one you said was resolved? Just so it helps other writers. I think it's important to share such information<3 or maybe do some notes us other writers should be aware of?

I didn't vote because I am not a poc but since we're on the topic of reader insert: the one thing I felt a bit uncomfortable with was "your mom's name" when reaper was visiting her mom. I personally don't have an issue imagining myself as an oc persona such as a ripped reaper but my mom is so nice and that part bugged me. For example, I feel like parents' names shouldn't be inserted or mentioned at all. OR give them a random name at the beginning as a starter disclaimer. Just a personal thought. Everything else is very much well thought through. Kudos as always 😉

hello!!

so the issue that was brought up from the poll was solved here, but i have so far not gotten a response for the "not good" answer. i suppose it could have been a misclick or perhaps someone just wanted to see the answers and didn't read the title first, but if there was an issue (or issues) that caused them to genuinely pick that answer, i'd love to be able to fix it!

some general notes when it comes to writing a race-neutral mc:

don't describe showers (or really, certain morning/night routines); it's important because a lot of people don't wash their hair every day. whether it be for preference, for hair type, or for how they wear their hair, it can be alienating to detail every shower as "washing your hair."

this mistake was actually corrected in the tagged post-- but be aware of how some skin scars! it had slipped my mind that not all scarring ends up pinkish-- it'll just be a dimmer version of the person's skin tone.

don't use major descriptors for hair. "billowing in the wind," "[your ponytail] pulled at your scalp," "curling around the face." all of these can be linked to a certain hair type, usually.

when describing skin, use vague terms. for example "the light from the shades dappled across your skin," instead of "the light sheened off your pale skin."

"your cheeks grew pink," "your face went red," can't always be applied to people with darker skin tones. but yk what can? growing physically warm, sweating, getting goosebumps, or feeling rushes of adrenaline! if you're gonna write something fluffy, make sure everyone gets included.

sometimes eyebags aren't easily seen, either. a lack of melanin means the purple under the lids sticks out more, but eyebags are also sometimes visible with creases, puffiness under the eyes, or a slight droop.

don't go into major detail with facial features. when describing reaper's facial scarring, i keep it general and try not to describe how lips look, whether freckles are cut up from the scarring, etc.

also, when i talk about reaper's mask, i don't talk much about her nose. obviously, larger noses might stick out more from the base of the mask, but plenty of people have flattened noses, so that wouldn't really work. instead, i used a general description (not verbatim) "fits perfectly to your nose."

bonnets and durags! people wear them all the time! in the house, out of the house, but for sleeping, too! mention them as an option for your readers to better immerse them.

really try to remember, especially as a white person, that most fanfics (intended or not) use white people as a default. there're probably a lot of people who will enjoy your fic more if they can see themselves in place of the mc. if you don't sit back, reread your chapter and think "yeah, i could picture anyone in this position" (unless the fic is specified to be black!reader x character or something of the variation), you might want to change it up.

thank you for the comment on reaper's moms name! i sort of can't change that much considering how far we are into the series, but I've removed the times where specifically "your mom/mother's name" (or a variation) was mentioned. (let me know if i missed anything).

sorry about dissing your mom, I'm sure she's lovely :) (/gen)

i also partially didn't add any details on reaper's mom's name because i didn't want to allude to any specifics on reaper's background

thank you so much for the support!

as a small disclaimer... i'm really grateful to get this kind of feedback, from my readers of color and not, it's great to hear how I'm doing because i want to make a fun fic for you guys! if the change is something quick and easy (like this and the tagged message), i don't mind it!