#I knew it had been a while but criminy | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

klutzymaiden123 · 4 months ago

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Have you read Helga G. Pataki: Hillwood's New Superhero? It's my Magical Girl AU where Helga is secretly the superhero that Arnold is in love with

As if my life hadn't already been difficult. I already had to watch the love of my life, Arnold, make goo-goo eyes at little Ms. Perfect while completely ignoring me. Now, I had to juggle school, keeping my feelings for him secret and battling evil dressed in a skimpy bathing suit, all the while keeping my lifestyle as a superhero from my nosey classmates.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Arnold said and when I looked, he was already smiling. It made the edges of his eyes crinkle.

I wanted to sigh.

Arnold thought I was speechless because of Blue Jay. Not because I’d . . . done that.

To be fair, this whole thing was bizarre. Downright fictional. Not only were aliens real, but apparently, so were superheroes. I should be happy that Arnold was choosing to focus on her and not—

Wait a minute.

I looked at him—really looked at him—and recognised something.

“Um, football head,” I said, cheeks already beginning to turn warm. “What do you actually think of this girl?”

It was not a smart choice to ask this. Because once I asked, then I would receive my answer. And depending on that answer, that could result in something either really okay, or really, really bad.

And that’s exactly what happened.

“What do you mean?” he asked, cheeks dark, as he suddenly became unable to look me in the face.

The bad thing, that is.

Oh.

Oh, crud.

“Uh, not that you’re not justified or anything, because, um, wow, that was totally neat and awesome and—geeze, who woulda thought? Real life superhero and all, but um—” I cringed. Arnold had begun looking at me strangely. “Well, you’re only focusing on her and not, well, whatever that is and . . . you seem to kinda admire her . . .”

I trailed off because when I said those words, they flipped a switch. I suddenly could hear my words, imagine my face, from another perspective. Criminy, how I must have sounded. I was trying so hard to be casual, to be a cool girl who wasn’t really bothered. But it didn’t matter how I tried dressing it up. It was obvious what I was asking: do you have a crush on this girl?

And that wasn’t a cool, casual thing to ask.

“I, uh, yeah, I guess that’s right,” he cast his gaze to the park across from us. His eyes softened and the corners of his mouth lifted. “I don’t really . . . know what happened last night—no one does, despite what they say—but whatever it was . . . she saved us. She—Blue Jay—she protected us against that thing—whatever it was. And I . . . it’s hard not to admire that, y’know?”

I could tell you the moment that it was all over.

It wasn’t when he said those words, or even when his cheeks began turning red. It wasn’t his voice softening into a warm, pleasant sound. Not even the fact that he had become so enamoured with watching his video, that he didn’t hear anything around him unless it was blaring to get his attention. It was his eyes—they were soft, gentle. They had taken on that same look that he got whenever he watched Lila in the mornings. Like he was looking up at her, even when he towered over her. Like he was ready to dedicate so much of his time and life to making her smile. The tenderness that he felt became so strong that when his voice wrapped around her name, it pushed her so high, that she became his oath.

He looked at her like he looked at Lila, the girl he had a crush on.

Which meant that Arnold had a crush on Blue Jay.

Arnold had a crush on . . . me.

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Arnold was out, searching.

For Blue Jay.

He knew it was stupid—foolish. He shouldn’t expect to find someone like her, but he couldn’t help it. She made his head spin until he saw colours he had never experienced before. His chest would dissolve and collapse into a pool of sweltering heat that slid to the bottom of his stomach. He couldn’t explain why he was so affected by her. I mean, aside from the very obvious. He wasn’t blind, he obviously found her beautiful. She was beautiful, and strong and courageous. Whenever he thought of her, it burned a hole through his chest. But it wasn’t like her team—team, he could hardly believe that there were more of them now; he briefly wondered if any more would pop up—weren’t also that.

Lark was gorgeous and though Raven was a new edition, she had been caught a few times on camera and become a trending hashtag on twitter for days due to how fierce she was. They were obviously just as strong and as capable as Blue Jay was, but there was something specifically about their leader that kept his attention. Some had switched their fascination to the others, but his interests were pressed firmly onto her.

His mind brought him back to this morning, when someone had managed to capture a photo of Blue Jay. She had been handing a child to their weeping mother when someone must have called her name. She had turned to look past her shoulder and as her eyes had skimmed the crowds, the photo had been taken.

Thinking about it, Arnold swallowed.

She had been so beautiful.

The cold light had spun around her and as she had turned, it fanned across her curls. Her braid had been dishevelled and fallen down her shoulder. She mostly maintained a polite but guarded expression, but in that moment, in her surprise, her expression had become open. Blue was the stars burning in her stare. Her eyes were still hot and wild from the battle, but they no longer had that pressed look. It was like those crystal orbs had melted, if a little, but the light hadn’t yet gone out. There was still a luminescent glow that made everything around him turn to nothing.

He couldn’t describe it but when he looked at her, he became cold as ice while she stayed warm as a flame. She was just so dazzling, and it filled him with such hope that beckoned him toward her. He could imagine that a string had wrapped around and was pulling him after her. She was a contradiction, a puzzle he wanted to solve. She was seditious; there were laws that had to be obeyed but she went against every one of them.

Blue Jay was the most absurd thing in this town, and he loved watching every second of it.

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But Blue Jay . . .

Arnold wasn’t sure why he hung back like he had. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to turn up. She had disappeared and so should he. But something twisted in his chest when he thought about that. Because what if she came back? He wanted to see her again. She was a colour he had never experienced before. A sound he wanted to keep hearing. She had a tall and electrifying presence that stung the air and everything around him. She was beautiful and dazzling and . . .

And her eyes . . .

He couldn’t shake them from his mind. They had been carved into his head, something he couldn’t wash away from his memories. When she looked at you, it felt like shooting stars had you pinned to the spot. Electricity shot through you, but it didn’t hurt. It excited you. It excited him.

They stirred something in him. He didn’t know what. He wanted to chase after her to find out what.

He knew that he wasn’t different from anyone else. Everyone stared at her in awe. Of course they did, she was magnificent. Her presence enticed enchantment and beckoned everyone towards her. He couldn’t get that image out of his head when she had been walking towards them. It had felt like a scene from a movie that had been caught in slow motion. Light had rolled down her back and fanned out beneath her neck and shoulders like she was an angel. The wind had whipped her hair around her face, making it dance beneath her chin and over her chest. Her hair was a cascade of golden curls but when the light caught it, her strands were turned into gilded ringlets. She had looked like a goddess.

But then, she had looked at him and he felt like he had been struck with lightning.

Because her eyes—they were beautiful, but . . . there was something about them. Something that made him feel like he was taking part in a scene he had already experienced. That her presence, as beautiful and hazy as it made things, it wasn’t as foreign to him as it had felt before.

But why? What was making him feel like this?

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Green eyes found mine.

I stopped and realised where I was sat.

Oh, no.

I had been so hasty in trying to make my escape that I hadn’t actually registered where the spare spot that I took was. Two rows behind from them. Gerald was rambling, having not noticed anything, but he had since shifted his position. He sat in his original seat, but Arnold had apparently switched, moving to the seat behind where he could sit with—ugh—Lila.

I forced my hands into my lap. I didn’t want anymore incidents. But come on, since when had she been here? I mustn’t have noticed that we had already stopped—which was ironic, considering how much better my senses had become since last night. I wanted to look away because I didn’t need for the knife to keep hammering into my chest. But I couldn’t wash away how close that they sat, how there was a natural forwardness that oozed from Arnold’s body. She seemed oblivious and listened to Gerald babble, nodding along as she soaked up his words. I couldn’t believe her, having Hillwood’s Adonis in the palm of her hand, and she didn’t even seem interested . . .

Hillwood’s Adonis who was looking at me.

I froze, finding that yes, that was true—Arnold’s eyes . . . they were on me. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t know when. But his bright eyes were there, pinning me in my spot, and the space between his brows was furrowing. I smushed my bag to my chest, feeling self–conscious. Had he seen what had happened? I forced my eyes to stay away from the crushed seat bar. I didn’t want to unintentionally drag his attention there, in case he hadn’t actually noticed. But why else would he be looking in my direction?

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If you would like to read the full thing, you can check it out here!

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jonesyjonesyjonesy · 2 years ago

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Wildflowers (pt. ixx)

a john paul jones x fem!oc fic

summary: Julia Morgan knew nannying for three girls who had recently lost their mother would come with many challenges. But she never thought their father, the enigmatic musician John Paul Jones, would be causing her the most trouble. And while Julia is not in the business of saving broken men, her tenderness might be meant for more than little girls and wildflowers.

table of contents │ previous chapter

masterlist│ko-fi

notes: nsfw, exhibitionism

a/n: well, i know it's been a while, but life just kind of goes goes goes when you're not looking, doesn't it? thanks for your patience. if you feel inclined to leave a comment or a word or two, it would be much appreciated. love you all.

pt. ixx, ground ivy

"You're mine, you're mine, you're mine."

“We have to stop meeting like this.”

“You love it. Now put this on.”

I eyed the white dress hanging on the end of Pat’s finger. “I’m not sure it’ll fit.”

“Oh, criminy. Don’t act like you’re dragging a trolley around.”

I blushed, spinning my arse toward the mirror and running a hand over my dress to show off the curve. “It’s deceptively large, Pat.”

“Julia, I’ve had two children,” Pat scoffed.

“And it doesn’t show.”

She huffed. “Put the bloody dress on, would you?”

I snatched the dress out of her hand and went behind the dressing screen in the corner of the guest room.

“I’m surprised you don’t have a tennis dress, love,” she piped.

“Why’s that?” I asked, voice muffled through the fabric of the dress as I pulled it over my head.

“Oh, you just give off that sort of tennis playing girl feeling. Don’t you think?”

I was not about to admit that I played quite a bit in school. I’d given up the sport altogether while I was with Nick. I hated being stuck with the girlfriends and wives of his barrister friends who were mostly vapid (and that, I thought, was a rather generous assessment). “I feel like that’s not a compliment.”

“No! Of course it is. You’re very elegant. Posh, even.”

I groaned. “Don’t say that.”

“I’m only telling you what’s true.”

I straightened out the dress before coming out from behind the screen.

“Oh, Julia, you look darling.”

I turned to look in the mirror. It did fit rather nicely, showing off my assets, but also the pudge of my arms I didn’t particularly like. I pulled at the fabric to lay flatter on my stomach. “Posh is how I’d describe my mother.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

I laughed. “It is.” My mother was the textbook definition of the word, made even worse by the fact we were not wealthy by any means, but right on the cusp of upper middle class, which made her feel entitled to pretension. “Well, I guess it’ll do.”

“Yes, more than do.” Pat came up behind me and fluffed out the skirt. “You should keep it. Looks better on you than me.”

“You know, if John had given me some forewarning this would be happening, I’d –”

“Don’t be too upset with him. The planning was very last minute, what with the children and John – my John – he always bristles against leaving for too long, the blessed thing. And plus there was the whole issue of Miranda and –”

My ears perked up. I hadn’t heard that name in quite some time. “Miranda?”

Pat’s eyes widened innocently. “Oh yes, I had planned on inviting her. An extended date for John. Thought I’d try again with her since things didn’t seem to…work out between you.”

I blinked. “Why didn’t you then?”

Pat smiled. “Well, John told me he wasn’t interested.”

“Oh.”

“Said he was preoccupied in…other ways,” Pat said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

Immediately, I was struck with ire. Didn’t John know the old adage ‘loose lips sink ships’? “He told you?! Are you serious?”

“No, he didn’t. But you just did.”

I gaped and tried to recover, but all that came out of my mouth was stuttering nothingness.

“To be fair, John isn’t the best at keeping a secret when he’s had champagne. I had to suspect when we were at Jimmy’s and I asked after you and instead of answering he just giggled.”

I balled my hands into fists.

“Julia,” Pat said in a girlish drawl, leaning her arm on my shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I wanted to tell her the honest truth: that it felt too complicated to tell. If I had thought Montreux was hard to explain, the past month would have been even more difficult.

Though I desperately clung onto the days leading up to John’s departure, my fingernails left no marks in the passage of time. Between managing the girls and balancing my emotions whilst also providing my usual ministry toward John (physically, emotionally, desperately), time was not on my side and before I knew it, it was the first day of school.

It helped that everyone was in good spirits. I could smile along, laugh, and enjoy life the way we had been in those twilight days of summer.

When I was alone with Annie, though, I was able to divulge my fears and secrets. She had either gotten over her resentment or pitied me enough to lend me an ear. Either way, I was grateful for it. I needed somewhere to pour out my feelings. I couldn’t taint John’s excitement and delight at the idea of “getting back at it”, as he put it.

It still didn’t make much sense to me after all the time he’d spent avoiding being goaded into returning to the madness of Zeppelin. But I had no place to question it.

I was just the lover.

Although…it was not lost on John that our time together was waning. He was exceptionally attentive when he could be. The moment we returned home from dropping the girls off for their first day of the school year, he shepherded me into the studio to sate his growing desire.

“Tomorrow…” he muttered. A cigarette hung from his mouth as he lazily buttoned up his shirt.

“Tomorrow, what?” I asked, moving at a much more sluggish pace, having to recover from being ruthlessly shagged.

John tugged his belt closed. “Bonzo and Pat are going to be popping by.”

I widened my eyes. “Popping by?”

“Relax, Julia.” He handed me his cigarette as he headed over to the piano. He was moving awfully fast these days. “Pat’s been nagging me for a visit and since we’ll be heading out on Wednesday, it just made sense for them to come down a day early. Then we can take off together.”

I took a drag of the cigarette, picking up my underwear from the floor. John began to play a tune as if I wasn’t even in the room. “They’ll be spending the night?”

His eyes flicked up to me and he smiled. “Yes. You’ll have to be on your best behavior.”

I suddenly felt exposed with my sleeve hanging off my shoulder. I readjusted it and rested my elbows on my knees. “I haven’t spoken to Pat since we were in Montreux.”

“She won’t hold it against you. You’ve been preoccupied.”

I giggled. “I suppose so.”

John’s playing paused. He jerked his head toward the bench. “Come sit.”

I ashed the cigarette and went to the piano, sitting tentatively on the bench next to him. The studio was cleaner than it had been, mostly because I’d forced him to tidy up. No clothing on chairs or errant stacks of records.

John went back to playing, something quieter. “You’re off, Julia.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“You think I haven’t noticed.”

I couldn’t respond because it was true. Perhaps I had misjudged him.

“Are you scared?”

I chewed on my lower lip and nodded, unwilling to answer him verbally.

“Because I’m leaving?”

A child. I felt like a child as he tried to coax out an answer from me. “I’ll be fine,” I said with a deep breath, forcing a smile.

John stopped playing again. He didn’t look up from the keys.

I had considered that I should ask. But I was always too afraid to utter those words. If I asked where we were going, I was worried John wouldn’t know or, worse, decide “nowhere” was the answer. “I don’t want you to worry,” I said, softly touching his wrist. “I know it will be hard for you to be away from the girls.”

This wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t my truth.

“Yes, but I know the feeling. I’m not looking forward to it, but I remember it somewhat,” John replied. He turned his hand over and interlaced his fingers with mine. “Besides, I know they’re in good hands.”

My heart sang. I would take every win I could, even if it wasn’t the thing I needed. It was better than nothing. “I’ll take good care of them.”

John started to trace his fingers along the back of my hand. “Is that what you need to hear? That I am confident you’ll take good care of them?”

I needed to hear so much more than that. But I could not bring myself to ask. “That’d be nice.”

He smiled. “I am confident that you’ll take good care of my girls.” Then, he brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I trust you completely.”

I leaned my head onto his shoulder. “How far we’ve come.”

“Very far. And you better get out of here before either of us ‘comes’ any farther,” he said, pushing me away playfully, hand against my sternum.

I laughed and tumbled off the bench to my feet. We both had work to do. John started playing again as I headed for the door but spoke before I could slip out. “You don’t happen to have a tennis skirt, do you?”

I turned around with a bewildered look. “Pardon me?”

“A tennis skirt. For tomorrow.”

“What do you mean a tennis skirt for tomorrow?”

“We’ll be playing tennis tomorrow per Pat’s request. Naturally, you’ll need a tennis skirt.”

This man left me more and more speechless by the minute.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” John stopped playing and notated something on the sheet music in front of him. “It’s no matter. I’ll tell Pat to bring something for you.”

“Right. Tennis.”

“Don’t get in your head, Julia,” John teased with a smirk.

“Not in my head at all.” Very much in my head, thank you for noticing. I opened the door and said wryly, “In fact, if you’d refer to me as Billie Jean King for the rest of the day, I’d much appreciate it.”

John laughed, “Alright, Billie Jean. If Battle of the Sexes is what you want, it’s what you’ll get.”

Now, here I was in Pat’s white tennis dress, having shown my whole hand to her because I didn’t see through her trickery. “I don’t know. It’s very tender.”

“So, didn’t anything happen at Montreux?”

I rolled my eyes. “Pat –”

“If you don’t answer the question, I’m just going to assume, you know.”

I smiled at the memory of that first kiss.

Pat batted me on the arm. “You little tart! You know how badly I’ve felt all this time thinking I’ve made things awkward, and it turns out you were just being secretive?”

“I’m sorry,” I said through laughter. “I’m sorry, you know, it’s just so…tender.”

“Tender sounds perfect.”

“Yes, but that’s not how I mean. I mean that it’s tenuous.” Tender and tenuous.

Pat narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know where you stand, then.”

“God, you’re good.”

She shrugs. “Just been around the block. You know I’m awfully old.”

I didn’t know how old she was but “awfully” was not how I’d describe it.

“Anyway.” She gave me her arm to take and guided me out of the guest room. “We’ll figure out where you stand today. Mark my words.”

“Don’t do anything stupid or obvious, Pat. We’ve never been around other people. I’m sure we’re going to pretend like nothing has been happening at all.”

Pat snickered. “Please, it doesn’t take a genius to spot two people who want to tear each other’s clothes off pretending they don’t want to tear each other’s clothes off.” Then, she tossed her blonde hair back and sniffed. “Besides. I’m not obvious.”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that.

The two of us tittered and made our way out to the terrace where the Johns were waiting in similarly matching white tennis sets.

“Aren’t you two adorable?” Pat exclaimed and bounced over to Bonzo, leaping into his lap and spreading her hand across his broad chest. “Just suits you, I think.”

“Don’t lie. I look like a meringue,” Bonzo grumbled.

She patted her hand on his stomach. “Don’t be silly.”

John was standing near the edge of the terrace, his foot up on a stone to tie one of his shoes. I was avoiding looking at him to hopefully put on an air of distance, although that seemed rather silly considering three of the four of us knew what was going on. And it was doubtful Pat hadn’t been talking to her husband about it.

So we’re just going to posture until someone keels over and dies, are we?

“Well, shall we?” Pat asked excitedly.

“If we must,” Bonzo said, pushing himself up to standing with her still in his arms.

She laughed and squirmed out of his arms. “Oh, no you don’t.” She picked up their racket bag from the table. She really could have been at Wimbledon. The whole look suited her. “Let’s go.”

Bonzo followed his wife off the terrace toward the tennis court.

Strings of a racket entered my visions. “Got one for you.”

I followed the contour of the racket, held by a hand I knew so well, up his arm, and finally, looked into John’s sapphire eyes. “Thank you,” I said, delicately taking the racket from him.

John glanced at the court where Pat was already practicing her swing and Bonzo was imitating her. This was met with riotous laughter from her. “You look nice.”

“John.”

“What? I mean it, the little skirt,” John teasingly glanced down at my bottom, “suits you.”

I sighed. “That’s not…Pat already knows about…” I crooked my finger and gestured between the two of us.

John feigned shock. “What? Did you tell her?”

“I said nothing.” One little white lie wouldn’t hurt. “Apparently you spilled the beans while you were drunk on champagne at Jimmy’s.”

I started for the tennis court; John quickly caught up with my stride. “Now, just a second. I did not ‘spill the beans’. I did nothing of the sort.”

“How would you remember if you were so drunk?”

“I’d certainly remember if I told people about –” John mocked the earlier move of my finger.

“Don’t move your finger like that at me!”

“You did it first!”

“Yoo-hoo!” Pat called out, waving her hand excitedly. “Are you going to just stand there gawking at each other or come play?”

“We’re coming! Goodness, you’re as impatient as a calf on a tit!” I shouted at her.

Bonzo guffawed. “Yes, that’s about right.”

I touched my mouth softly, mortification setting in.

“Calf on a tit, mm?” John asked with a humored waggle of his eyebrows.

“Sometimes the farm just comes out,” I grumbled. “Especially when I’m annoyed.”

“Julia…” he admonished. “Don’t be cross with me.” Then, to my surprise, he wrapped his hand around my waist and pulled me close. “If they know, they know. Makes it more fun, doesn’t it?” He capped off his public display with a soft kiss to my cheek.

I was stunned. I was absolutely ready to disdain him for a long while before I had to be my sweet self. Now, he was kissing me out in the open.

“Let’s have some fun before I go, shall we?”

He was smoother than butter and yet I was the one melting.

“Fine,” I replied and kissed him again, this time on the lips. If he wanted to have fun, I wasn’t taking any prisoners.

From the court, I could hear the hollers of the Bonhams. Brought me back to my school days when everyone was daring one another to kiss over an empty bottle of ale.

“By the way, those suit you,” I said, eyeballing the tiny white shorts doing a poor job of concealing his package.

I walked away before he could respond, wiping my lips clean of his spit. “You didn’t see any of that,” I said to Pat as I approached her.

Her eyes gleamed. “Definitely not.” She popped her hip up against mine. “What do you think? Mixed doubles?”

“No, no, I promised Julia a battle of the sexes and that’s what it will be,” John announced, swinging his racket over his shoulder as he brushed by me. “Johns against Janes, come on, mate.” He patted Bonzo on the chest and the two walked to the other side of the court.

“Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, aren’t they?” Pat murmured.

She had a point. Big lumbering John and the smaller, more skittering John. A dynamic duo, an attraction of opposites. I hadn’t seen them play, but I’d heard. You’d be daft not to recognize their enigmatic fusion, full of power and nuance, neither one ever too much or too little.

Perhaps it had been predetermined by their biology.

“We’re serving first!” Pat cried out.

“Ladies first,” Bonzo conceded without any fuss.

Pat prodded my hip with her racket. “Want to serve, or should I?”

“You do it. I’m too rusty. Need to warm up.” I moved to the front of the court.

John and Bonzo mirrored us, John taking the front of the court and Bonzo the back. I got myself in a ready position and gave John a sly smile. “Best of luck.”

He blew me a kiss, sticking the racket out in front of him.

Game on.

“Alright, boys! Watch out!” Pat cried out before throwing the ball upward and elegantly serving the ball over the net, the pop of the tennis ball echoing over the court.

The ball went straight to Bonzo who crudely volleyed it back to me. I backhanded it over the net, right past John, quite literally sending him back in a tailspin; that’s all it took to earn us the first point.

“Rusty, are you?” Pat cackled.

I cocked my hip to the side and smiled. “Some say it’s like riding a bicycle.”

“Or riding something else, eh?”

We both snickered. This was going to be fun.

It quickly became apparent that I had no reason to be worried about my rustiness. Not only was Pat an adept partner, but our opponents were as laughable as the Three Stooges. Practically a slapstick routine how big and little John tripped over one another, darting back and forth, nearly running smack into one another and the ball bumbling between them.

“For God’s sake, could you try at all?” Pat cried out when we'd just surpassed them at forty-love.

“You takin’ the piss or what?” Bonzo said through heaving breaths. “Didn’t you see me running back and forth around here or –”

“Oh don’t be breathing like you ran to Waterloo and back!” Pat snipped in return.

I couldn’t help laughing. Their rapport was so easy, endearing and needling in the best way.

“I tried,” John (my John) said, leaning up against the net post.

Pat went to him and touched the little curl of his hair at his jaw. “All you’re trying to do is make sure the ball doesn’t hit you square between the eyes while you admire Julia’s tits.” She yanked the lock of his hair playfully.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“Someone’s got to keep you in check. I know Julia’s too sweet on you to do anything about it,” she said with a shrug of her shoulder. “We’ll go again. Try harder.”

Pat waltzed back to her spot on the court. I should have known she would be competitive.

“You heard her. Try again. And harder, while you’re at it, hm?” I said, emulating Pat’s attitude.

John and John gave each other a look, resigned to their fate. “If I have a coronary…” Bonzo droned.

“I know mouth to mouth,” John replied, shoving him off to the back corner. Before I could return to my place on the court, he caught my eye and smiled. “You’re sweet on me, hm?”

I glanced back at Pat and cocked my head to the side. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

And with that, I flounced back to my spot on the court, more smug than I probably deserve to be.

The second match went just as poorly except with less balletic antics. They had Pat and me in stitches the way they were stumbling about. We didn’t have it in us to finish the match – wanted to preserve their integrity – and Annie didn't have it in her to continue watching the massacre from the window. She interrupted us with a trayful of aperitifs (an ale for Bonzo, sherry for the rest of us).

I suddenly understood why people liked to play tennis. There was a whole lot of standing around and chatting. A lot of lazing about in the sun, cheeks blushed with alcohol, veiled and not so veiled, teases thrown around.

It felt even better to be at the elbow of a man I was coming to adore much quicker than I could make logical sense of. I liked being eyed over John’s glass of sherry and enjoyed the playful touch of his hand from time to time.

“How’ve you got a whole court in your backyard and you’re that daffy at tennis, Jonesy?” Bonzo asked, a mustache full of foam.

“I’m a busy man,” John replied. The sherry glass looked like a delicate spider web between his fingers.

“Yes, been keeping very busy…” Pat smirked.

John let out a knowing laugh. “Compared to Jimmy’s dart playing, I think I’m a competent tennis player.”

“A caterpillar would be a competent tennis player compared to Jimmy at darts,” Bonzo added with a shrewd smile.

I knocked back the rest of my sherry. “Well, John, I had my battle of the sexes. Maybe we ought to mix things up so your ego isn’t too bruised by the time the day is out.”

“Me? An ego?” John clutched his heart. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Sure you don’t,” Bonzo laughed low and patted his friend on the back. “Come on. Take your girl, I won’t be hurt.”

Pat wrapped her arm around her husband’s bulging bicep as she joined him on the opposite side of the court.

I didn’t mind being John’s “girl” even if I usually abhorred being called anything but a woman. In the presence of the right man, diminutiveness feels safe and welcoming. In fact, seeing how John treated the girls in his life made me want to be one. A delicate little flower, nourished by his dotage and admired with tenderness. Rather than tenderized like a piece of meat.

“You better serve,” John said.

“So I can make up for your fumbling, hm?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Seems like I’m the Tin Man between the two of us, if we’re comparing rustiness.”

I touched his chin. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.” I leaned in to kiss him and quickly spun away from him before our lips could collide. “Later.”

John guffawed as I slipped out of his grasp. “Later. Alright.”

I walked away with a spring in my step like I’d never felt. Whether it was the sherry or our attraction being witnessed, I didn’t know. I didn’t need to know. All I had to do was work the court with everything I had in me.

Looking at the length of the tennis court, I was suddenly struck with my reality. Julia Morgan, nanny, standing on a tennis court in the sprawling gardens of a Georgian manor house, sleeping with her employer.

If only the Bronte sisters had gotten a load of me.

“Alright, Julia. Give it a rip!” Pat shouted. She was taking the front of the court, counting on Bonzo’s width to control the back of the court.

I gave the white wooly ball a few bounces, then threw it up in the air and gave it my best serve.

Pop! The ball flew across the court. It thwapped the ground and bounced toward Bonzo.

“Got it?!” Pat yelped.

He backhanded it over the net. “Got it!”

“You have to say, ‘got it’ before you get it!”

I couldn’t concentrate more on the conversation. I skittered up the court the moment I saw John whiff it. “Mine,” I grunted and knocked the ball back over the net. Pat and I kept a good volley with the Johns contributing now and then, until I sent the ball to the back corner, and it bounced out of bounds.

“Oo! Fifteen-love to Julia. No thanks to John!”

“I helped a little.”

“Yes, you did, darling,” I cooed, pinching his cheek.

The game was more interesting than boys versus girls, but still ended up being Pat and I doing most of the work which is, when you think of it, sadly true to life.

However, with the alcohol running through our systems, even Pat and I went silly some of the time. Tripping over ourselves, skipping around the court, throwing our heads back with laughter The score went out the window, and we all did a feral, gameless dance.

“I think we’ve won,” I said after several bouts.

“No thanks to me, hm?” John murmured, coming up behind me and stealing a kiss.

I latched a hand onto the breast of his shirt. “Certainly not.”

“I’ll allow it only because you’re sickeningly adorable together,” Pat said with a long, heavy sigh. “I’m awfully tired though. Will you be gutted if we call it quits?”

I wanted nothing more than to retreat into the house for a shower and a number of other things. “No, I think it’s about time.”

“We need a catnap before dinner,” Pat said and then tucked her mouth behind her hand to whisper to me, “At least he does.”

“Are you talkin’ about me over here?”

“Never.” Pat smiled at him innocently and batted her lashes.

Bonzo eyed her and then swiped her legs out from under her and threw her over his shoulder. “Likely story.”

“Oh, you brute,” she sighed dreamily. “See you two at dinner!” Pat yelped, hanging over her husband’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, attempting to wave goodbye.

John and I both laughed and watched them go off. I smiled surreptitiously at him, touching the lapel of his tennis shirt. “Well, should we follow them?”

He cocked his head, almost confused. “You all finished?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You wanted to play more?”

“Oh, I just thought –” John picked up the tennis ball from the ground and popped it in the air, catching it right back in his palm. “You and I could have a go.” He placed the ball into my hand. “Thought you could teach me a few things.”

“John, my skills cannot be taught,” I teased.

“Mm, can’t they?” He stepped up to me, toe to toe. He might not have been much taller than me, but when he acted cocky, he managed to tower. “Humor me, Julia.”

Damn him. So pretty and intoxicating. And so little time left. Less than twelve hours before he’d be gone. I pointed to the other side of the court with my racket. “Alright. But don’t be upset when I beat you.”

“Trust me, Julia, it will be an absolute honor to lose to you.”

I smiled to myself and crossed to my position on the court. “You ready?”

“Whenever you are, Billie Jean.”

“Watch and learn, I guess,” I said through a giggle. I’d gained a lot of confidence in my serve since the last game. My body remembered the pattern, the reach and the arc.

The ball flew across the court. John was on his toes, fast and precise with his movement. I was impressed. He might have been the Tin Man to start, but his joints had clearly been oiled. However, with a final swing of my racket, I managed to make the point. John ran to catch it but stopped short of the sideline. “Damn. Thought I had you,” he called out.

“You get the idea. You want to serve now?”

John smiled in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“That was just a practice,” I said with a casual shrug. “Besides, you’ll have to keep up with my technique,” I said, springing on my feet and swinging my racket playfully.

John laughed. “Oh, Julia…”

“What?”

John retrieved the ball and sighed. “I’m going to miss you.” Bounced the ball a few times. “That’s all.”

My heart fluttered. “You’re trying to distract me.”

A childish grin spread on his face. “Is it working?”

I set myself up at the back of the court and watched John ready his serve. A few bounces of the ball, tossing his hair out of his eyes, rolling his shoulders back. Throw and…

I wasn’t prepared for the strength of his serve. The ball flashed like lightning across the court. I didn’t even see it before it hit just before the baseline and out of bounds. “Bloody hell!” I screeched.

“Sorry!”

I looked at John. He still wore a hapless sort of expression. “What was that?”

“Luck, I guess?”

I collected the ball and tossed it back. “Alright. Fifteen-love, huh?”

“Is that my first point of the day? Goodness…” John mused as he readied his serve again.

This time, his serve was powerful, but I was quick this time and hit it right back onto his side of the net. John leapt up to meet it, smacking it back toward me. It whipped past my ear and out of my reach. I looked at him with wide eyes.

“Coincidence?” John said with a shrug.

I wasn’t so sure. “Thirty-love.” I threw the ball back his way.

Sure enough, his serve was quick and exacting. I was prepared though, and we were able to volley back and forth. Each time I hit the ball felt more and more out of my reach. I was having to take longer strides and leaps to get to it. And eventually, John made the kill shot, sending the ball off the court.

I stopped to catch my breath, placing my hands on my knees. “What…the hell…”

“Maybe I just needed to warm-up.”

I glanced over at him, breath still heaving. The fucker didn’t even seem plussed. He was smiling ear to ear. Almost like a maniac. “Are you hustling me?” I called out.

John frowned. “No, how would I be doing that?”

“Because you barely managed a point all afternoon and now it’s forty-love.”

John grabbed a new ball and readied himself for another serve. “I assure you, Julia, I haven’t been doing anything of the sort.” He bounced the ball waiting for me to be ready. Then, he lifted his head, sneaking a smirk on his face. “Besides…if I was hustling you, we would have had to have made a bet, wouldn’t we?”

I didn’t have time to argue the semantics of hustling before he thwapped the ball back over the net toward me. I had to think fast on my feet, just as I’d been doing all day. However, whereas I’d been at the top of my game all day, John had been storing his up for later. The sneak.

To the surprise of no one but my past self, John won with one stroke, leaving me with nothing but an aching elbow and sweaty brow. The ball whipped past me, bouncing off the court and into the grass. I turned to look at it, looking almost like an egg that had dropped from a nest.

“A fluke.”

My whole body went rigid at his voice.

“Shall we try again? Just to see?”

Growing up with two brothers, it was impossible for me not to be competitive. Wedged between the two of them in the birth order, I was always pushing myself to keep up. I knew I could wipe the floor with them.

And this would be no different. “Your luck is running out, Jones.” I grabbed the ball from the lawn and prepared to serve.

“Do your worst, Julia.”

My worst, or should I say best, fell short.

Fell really short.

Because John…well, if I hadn’t been the one losing to him, I would have said he was stunning. For a casual tennis player at least. He was quick, direct, agile. It seemed like every move was planned out before it happened, even though there was no way he could have known.

The final point had me stumbling toward the net like an idiot. I was Tweedle Dee and Dum wrapped into one.

He’d tricked me. And now he was just rubbing it in my face.

“What a surprise, huh?”

I stared at his pristine white shoes, hoping I could set them on fire with my gaze alone. “You…hustler.”

“I can’t be a hustler if –”

“Don’t.” I glared at him.

John still smiled stupidly.

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Of course I am.”

I let out a guttural shriek and dropped my racket to the ground. I’d known enough children in my life to know what made a good tantrum. “You hustled –”

“Ah, ah, ah,” John taunted, wagging his finger.

I huffed. I didn’t even want to look at him. It didn’t matter that the only people who knew my foolishness were John, myself, and God.

“You fooled me.”

John grinned. “That’s the word!”

I gaped at him. So he admitted it. I wasn’t going to put up with this treatment any longer. I turned on my heels and stalked back to the house. Through his childish antics, the entire day had been tainted.

“Oh, oh, oh!” I heard John run after me. The metal of his racket hits my hip bone. He looped his arm around me, grabbed the metal of the racket, and pulled me flush to his pelvis. I gasped, struggling to continue walking. He only pulled me tighter. “Are you really so cross at me you’re going to throw a tantrum?”

I tried to wriggle, but with every step forward, he pulled harder. I turned to look at him over my shoulder and felt his hot breath slide across my face. “Yes.”

“Really? You’re going to ruin our…” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Wonderful day because…” my jaw.

“John…”

“…of your pride,” he murmured into my neck before pressing his lips to the delicate skin.

I couldn’t deny how he melted me. I couldn’t stay mad at him. Not when his mere touch made me feel like this. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” John mumbled and tightened the racket even more. I could feel his hardness up against my backside.

I grabbed the racket and tried to push it away. “I’m mad at you.”

He chuckled darkly, sliding his mouth up to my ear. “Are you?”

I didn’t have time to respond before he nibbled on my ear lobe. I let out a moan despite myself. “Fuck…”

“I knew you couldn’t be mad for too long.”

With him leaving tomorrow, there was no way I could be mad for too long. After all, I wanted him to come back to me. To adore me all the same. “I hate you.”

John sighed, pleased. “I know.”

I raked my hand through his hair and pulled him into a deep kiss. The moment our lips collided I knew I was done for.

John dropped the racket, one hand grabbing for my chest and the other sliding under my skirt, knocking up against my wet panties.

“John, not here,” I said breathlessly between kisses.

John bit down on my lower lip, pulling away. “Why not?” His hand on my chest caressed my breast eagerly, thumbing at my nipple until it stood erect through the fabric. “We’ve done it outside before.”

I looked in horror at the house. Thinking about all the life inside. “But the house –”

John’s hand threaded into my underwear, fingers dipping inside me. My legs went weak. “What about the house?”

“I…” All words left my brain as he pulsed his fingers inside me.

“What are you scared of?”

“They’re…” I tried to swallow. “In the house, there are people –”

John shoved his fingers deep inside me, thumb skimming my clit. I let out a strangled whine. “So what if there are people in the house?” he said through gritted teeth.

The feelings were so intense that I had to drop to my knees, grass breaking my fall. John didn’t let me go for a second. As the house loomed, my pleasure grew. It was so wrong and perverse.

And it felt so good.

John began to push my underwear down, further and further until I could feel his bare cock against my ass. “John, they’ll see!” I said in an urgent whisper.

His fingers curled around my chin, jerking my head back to look at into his eyes. Almost completely black, edged in blue.

Who was this man? What had gotten into him? Only weeks ago he had been whimpering in my arms, terrified of coming too fast. Now he was…an animal.

“Listen to me, Julia,” he said, each word tight with consonants. “I don’t care if anyone sees.”

I gulped.

“Because that house,” he said eyes flicking toward the house momentarily, “is mine. I can do whatever I want. I can do who I want. You understand?”

I nodded, completely hypnotized.

John’s finger traced the outside of my mouth. “The house is mine; the court is mine, the ground under you is mine.” He kissed me softly. “And Julia?”

“What?”

“You are mine.”

I couldn’t respond before John forced me down onto the grass, pushing himself inside of me. I cried out in surprise, the stretch sending a shock of warmth through my body. His hand pressed into my upper back, keeping my chest tight to the ground while my ass stayed in the air.

John made quick work, fast and hard.

And despite all the terror, the fear that someone was looking through a curtain from somewhere inside, I loved it.

I loved every second.

“Did you hear me?” he grunted through his teeth. “You’re mine.”

I moaned, feeling blades of grass fold into my lips.

John continued to mercilessly thrust, doubling over my back. I could hear every one of his breaths, his spit moving in his mouth, whimpers tucked deep in his throat. I dug my fingers into the dirt, clinging for dear life as my body was rocked back and forth with electric pulses from his cock buried inside me.

John’s fingers curled around my hips, so hard it was almost painful.

Nothing was pain, though, when I knew how much he wanted me.

I turned my face into the Earth and let out a huge, plangent cry. My whole body tightened with impending euphoria.

John let out a pathetic grunt. “Oh god, oh my god, I – ahh!”

My orgasm caught me off guard; my cunt clenched around him as warm, angry pleasure sent me spiraling.

As I reveled in pleasure, John pressed himself up against my back and with each final thrust, he grunted, “You’re mine, you’re mine, you’re –” John cut himself off. Even he couldn’t stay composed when it came to his desire. “O-oh.”

And then he came, deep inside me, his seed feeling hotter and more desperate than usual.

I could feel his heart pounding into my back like a drum.

John’s head drooped beside mine; he kissed the crest of my ear tenderly, as if he hadn’t just fucked me without repentance out in the open.

His words echoed in my head. You’re mine. It seemed so simple, just two words. But I had no idea what that meant to him. Which part of me was he claiming? My body? My heart? He could have all of it, but I didn’t want to give it away and look rash.

John rolled off of me with a sated sigh. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”

“Don’t apologize,” I said, following suit and flopping onto my back. I looked down at my dress. White splotched with green. “Oh god, Pat’s dress.”

“I’ll buy her a new one,” John sighed. He reached out and pulled on my skirt. “Besides, this looks too good on you to get rid of.”

I gave him a small, bashful smile. “It’s probably nearly time to get the girls from school.”

“Oh, them. Forgot about them.”

“Shut up,” I snipped.

He laughed through closed lips.

“I’ll need to shower before I go to get them.”

“No, no. I’ll get them.” John pushed himself up to sitting with a heavy sigh, collapsing over his chest.

I giggled. “You sure you’ll make it?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Not to worry.” He got to his feet and dusted off the few blades of grass from his white shirt and tiny shorts. “Are you coming?”

My whole body felt like a part of the earth. I couldn’t leave it now. “In a minute. I’ll be up in a minute.”

John put his hands on his hips. “You’re not still cross with me, are you?” he asked, eyeing me.

I waved my feet back and forth. “Oh, of course I am.”

“Guess I’ll have to make up for it later then, hm?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

I sighed, considering his expression. That sneaking little smile. Deep dimples. It broke my heart knowing tonight was our last night for a while.

John blew me a kiss. “I’m off.”

I kissed the air, too tired to even motion backward.

John sauntered up to the house.

“Change before you go,” I called out after him.

No response. I was bathed only in the delicate sounds of nature.

I could lay there. Forever, maybe. Let the worms devour me until I became a part of the earth. Then I wouldn’t have the question if I was John’s. I’d be a part of the ground that would belong to him.

Then, he could never get rid of me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have that kind of time. I had to get myself in proper shape for the girls when they got home. I scurried upstairs to the apartment, narrowly avoiding a collision with Annie, stripped off my clothes, and jumped in the shower, washing off the tramp and stepping back into the role of Madonna.

I could be both for him. While he was away, I could take care of his children, keep his home. And then when he returned, I could tend to him. All his needs.

He’d be a fool to let me go, wouldn’t he?

When John returned with the girls, we corralled them into the kitchen where Annie had set the table with lemonade and tea cakes. They stuffed their faces while they excitedly talked about their day at school.

The Bonhams joined us shortly after to the thrill of the girls. Pat doting, Bonzo teasing. John and I of course retreated into our respectable distance. After all, a confirmed romance is one thing, but involving his children would be another. However, I couldn’t ignore the prolonged glances through dinner, the tiny smiles exchanged over dessert, and the graze of his hand on my neck as he passed behind my seat.

You’re mine, you’re mine, you’re mine.

Bloody hell, that meant something, didn’t it?

Evening turned into night. Pat and I took care of bedtime while the Johns retreated into the studio, already chomping at the bit to get back to the music. While I was dreading John’s trip, their excitable chatting over what was to come let me know it was right.

Pat and I stayed up for several hours gabbing away, catching up on every little thing since Montreux. I was pleased to be able to call her a friend.

However, when midnight came and went and there was no sign of our respective male companions, Pat had had enough. “What are they getting up to down there anyway?”

“Any number of things.”

She got to her feet and went to the door to the stairwell. She listened for a moment and then huffed. “I don’t even think they’re playing anymore! What on earth do they have to talk about?”

I giggled.

“I want him to get to bed. otherwise he’ll be grumpy in the morning and we’ll have to wake him up with smelling salts.”

“I’ll do it, I’ve got a lot of experience interrupting John in the studio.”

“Mm. Well, I’ll go with you in case my husband gives you grief.”

I tiptoed down the stairs, with Pat at my heels. We could hear the muffled conversation of men through the gap in the studio door.

The closer we got the more words we could make out.

Pat shot ahead of me and cocked her ear toward the door.

“Are you listening?” I whispered.

She put her finger over her mouth to silence me and pulled me close to her. “We can have a little fun too, can’t we?” she said, lips so close to my ear she might be kissing me.

I wasn’t above eavesdropping. In fact, it seemed like a fun little game for two adult women having something resembling a slumber party.

Oh, but how wrong I was.

“You’ll keep quiet about it, won’t you?”

“Who would I even tell?” Bonzo could be heard asking.

“I don’t know,” came John’s voice. Quieter. Nervous even. “Robert, maybe.”

“Don’t be thick, Jones. We don’t talk about your extracurriculars,” he replied with a deep chuckle.

“Ah, right.”

“Besides, what would be the harm in anyone knowing you fancy Julia anyway?”

Pat and I exchanged a look. My heart started to pump in my chest. He was talking about me.

Making sure I was a secret.

“Because…I don’t know if I even fancy Julia.”

Pat grabbed my arm.

Luckily, Bonzo was there to defend my honor. “You’re mental. The way you two were acting out there today.”

John didn’t reply. Pat and I leaned closer to the door in case we missed him whispering.

“She’s a pretty thing, she’s good with your girls, what more is there to it?” Bonzo continued.

“Alright, well, it’s not that I don’t fancy her, I guess. What I mean is…”

There was a long silence. I would have liked to jump into it and never be heard from again.

“It’s all been moving so quickly. And –” John cleared his throat. “You know, I still think about her all the time.”

That “her” was not me.

That “her” was Mo.

“‘Course you do, mate.”

“My mind just gets so…scrambled up.” Another pause. “And I need to get that all straightened out before I move forward with anything.”

Pat took that moment to pull open the door. I darted out of view, wringing my hands in the skirt of my nightgown. “Well, you two might as well just marry each other how long you’ve left us cold in bed, huh?”

I hurried up the stairs and left the chastising to her. I could hear my blood rushing in my ears as I leapt into bed and tucked myself under the covers.

Of course he wasn’t ready. How could I have been so foolish? Men never, ever say what they mean. They say what they think and don’t bother to evaluate whether they should say it. They feel entitled to every stupid thought that pops into their head.

You’re mine, you’re mine, you’re mine.

By the time John crept into bed and slid his arms around me, I was not in the mood to indulge his impulses.

“You’re tired?”

“Mhm.”

He kissed me softly at the base of my skull with the lips that had just had the audacity to denounce me behind closed doors. “Goodnight, angel.”

For the first time since finding out he was leaving, I couldn’t wait for him to get out of my bed.

tag list: @jimmys-zeppelin, @kari-12-10, @grxtsch, @edal-weis, @ritacaroline, @kyunisixx, @salixfragilis, @rebel-without-a-zeppelin, @jimmypages, @dollyvandal, @cassiana-on-dark-side , @thepinklovewitch, @faisonsunreve, @sastrugie, @seventieswhore, @t4ngerinedr3am, @mayspringcome, @barrettavenue, @foreverandadaydarling, @glimmerofsanity, @montereypopgroupie, @lzep, @jimmysdragonsuit13, @n0quart3r, @larsgoingtomars, @paginate54, @leveeisbreaking (let me know if you’d like to be added 💋)

#john paul jones #led zeppelin #john paul jones x oc #wildflowers #wf #john bonham #pat bonham #julia morgan

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lene-loki · 2 years ago

Text

Overdose

Warnings: Drug abuse, drug overdose, mentions of death, swearing, angst, spoiler for Kin Season 1

Pairing: Michael Kinsella x Female!Reader

Words: 2,390

Summary: After robbing Eamonn Cunningham's stash, the Kinsella's celebrate their success with drugs and alcohol - until (Y/N) overdoses on cocaine and the happy vibe immediately disappears.

"Let's make a toast!" Eric yelled enthusiastically after hours of heavy drinking. "We already passed that point." Said Jimmy slightly laughing.

"Yeah, but with the alcohol. Now we've gotta toast with the drugs!"

"Idiot." Nikki said smiling about her boyfriend who had obviously been very drunk.

"Fuck you two." Eric said before he turned to you. "You'll toast with me, (Y/N), right?" He babbled while you let out a nervous chuckle.

You absolutely hated being put on the spot and could already feel your cheeks redden from embarassment.

When your close friend Nikita invited you to a party earlier you didn't quite expect whatever was happening here.

You knew that Nikki's boyfriend had a criminal record but not that his entire family was criminial and celebrating a robbery. You shook nervously. The fear of getting murdered by one of the family members didn't leave your mind for the entire night. It didn't make it any better that you were the only one who didn't drank a single drop of alcohol - well, except for Michael who also seemed to avoid it.

Speaking of the devil, Michael just returned from the kitchen, sitting down on the sofa beside you.

You definitely felt the most comfortable with him out of the entire Kinsella family. He seemed nice altough he's been really quiet the entire time.

Eric ended up toasting to himself with some nonsense before preparing a tablet with lines of cocaine on the surface of the silver. Your eyes widened, desperately searching for eye contact with Nikki.

What did she drag you to?

"A-Are." You swallowed hard. "Are those drugs?" You could hear your voice break. "I thought you were joking." You admitted, now more scared than ever while everyone around you started laughing hysterically about your naivity.

"That's cute how clueless you are." Eric commented and you felt really insulted, humiliated even.

You weren't some dumb, little girl without a clue about the world. It simply made you uncomfortable to be around such illegal actions.

Why was Nikki so invested in all of this stuff?

"(Y/N) you're our guest of honor, you can go first." Eric said while holding out the tablet in front of you.

Michael seemed to sense your discomfort as he immediately moved the tablet away from your face - earning an annoyed look from Eric.

"I don't think that she wants to do that." He simply said but left an intimidating vibe around him, making Eric swallow.

It stayed awfully quiet after Michael's words and the uncomfortable silence became too much for you to bear.

You excused yourself from the table and went outside on the patio to catch some fresh air, still shaking in fear.

After a few minutes you returned. You still felt a bit shaky but calmed down enough to face the family again.

Michael wasn't sitting on the sofa anymore - leaving you alone to deal with Eric. He indeed wasted no time in persuading you again to try the cocaine served on the silver platter.

All eyes on you, you began hysterically shaking again. You knew you should have stood up for yourself but you were too shy to decline his offer even though you really wanted to say no.

Under all the pressure you finally gave in. Eric along with Nikki and the rest of the family cheered as you nervously accepted the platter, unsure of what to do.

Nikki demonstrated it once to you after taking the empty seat beside you. Still being clueless about it and scared as hell you did the same as Nikki. Pressing one shaking finger to your right nasal cavity to block it. You used the left side to inhale the entire line of cocaine through a curled up bank note. You almost coughed from the uncomfortable feeling in your nose.

They clapped and cheered around you. You smiled insecurely. Although you satisfied their wish you didn't feel fullfilled, because you gave into the peer pressure.

Immediately after putting the tablet away you excused yourself again. In the hallway in front of the bathroom, you encountered Michael.

He looked tired but nevertheless showed you a kind smile. He also noticed you being even more nervous than before.

"Is everything alright? You know, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to." He said sympathetically.

"I-I know." You started fidgeting with your hands.

Michael gave you an encouraging pat on your shoulder and if your heart didn't race before, your pulse was now faster than the speed of light.

Maybe it was the drugs.

But you felt extremely attracted to Michael.

Either you hallucinated his touch on your arm and the longing stare he gave you or the cocaine opened your eyes to what has been there the entire night. Could that be?

Could Michael really be interested in you?

You shook that thought right off. That was ridicoulous.

He lingered in his position with his hand on your arm, not moving an inch as if he waited for something.

"Uhm..." You cleared your throat but before you could say anything else, your mind got so dizzy to the point where you couldn't think of anything anymore.

"Bathroom." Was the only word you got out of your mouth just like that.

He nooded understandingly, smiling again.

You didn't even know him and he wasn't really much of a talker but still you felt a connection to him as if you two have been knowing each other for decades.

After returning from the bathroom you felt the complete intensity of the cocaine kicking in. Your adrenaline jumped through the roof and you seemed to be unable to keep your legs from moving around. You just couldn't sit still.

To Nikki's joy you came out of your shell.

And the best part was that everyone around you was intoxicated to the point of being totally carefree. You danced wildly with Nikki and Eric to some eighties tunes while sipping on a drink that Jimmy had made you.

You were painfully excited about everything. Even about Jimmy's snake as you followed him and Michael downstairs.

Michael wasn't stupid.

He knew that something was off with you. Just an hour earlier you were a shaking, nervous mess and now you were the definition of the life of the party - totally letting loose.

When you felt the effect slowly starting to disappear, you looked for the silver platter for more of that magical white snow. Somehow you made sure that Michael didn't see it. You didn't know why but you didn't wanted him to be disappointed in you that you gave in to the pressure from Eric.

But you couldn't stop doing it now as well.

It was like a higher force was dragging you to the tablet and you started to become addicted to the person you are when you're under the influence of the drug. You didn't wanted the fun to stop so you took another line without anyone witnessing. It made you braver. And you wanted the effect for a little while longer, so you took another line - not thinking about the risks even once.

After you had inhaled every last crumb of that fine as dust white powder, you suddenly got the feeling of choking and you seemed to be unable to keep breathing through your nose. You made a choking sound - gaining everyone's attention. Just as Michael walked in, you could feel a wetness dripping from your nose. Even without looking at it you knew that it was blood. You could smell the coppery scent dripping out of your nose.

"(Y/N)!" Michael yelled startled at the look of your pale form, with cocaine sticking to your upper lip since you didn't use a Dollar note this time and just inhaled it straight up from the surface and of course your nosebleed. He reached you just in time as your surroundings started to fade into darkness. Michael caught your unconscious body and could watch inch for inch how the blood left your body and you became as white as a sheet in his arms.

The music immediately stopped, everyone was shocked about what was happening. "CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Michael screamed angrily at his family members as they just continued to stare. Jimmy was the first who shook out of his rigidity and grabbed his phone, dialing the emergency number as fast as his shaking fingers allowed. Michael carefully put you on the sofa, ignoring his own overwhelming feel of shock so he could take care of you. After he watched your lifeless body for a little moment longer, hoping your chest would rise in breaths even if they were almost nonexistent. He needed something. A tiny sign that your heart was still beating. But then he lost it.

Furiously he grabbed Eric by the collar who was still frozen in shock. "I told you that she didn't want to do drugs." He growled. "And you little son of a bitch just pushed her into it." Eric was intimidated by his cousin and swallowed nervously. "Michael, please." Frank sighed. "So what, that kid can't properly tolerate cocaine like the rest of us. That's not Eric's fault." Frank said nonchalantly, which only put fuel to Michael's fire. He let go of his cousin and now approached his uncle.

"If she dies, her blood is on Eric's hands." He said, deeply annoyed by Frank's careless attitude about the girl.

Michael did care about that girl.

And he knew from the moment she stepped into the house that she didn't belong in that circle of people. She was way too shy and sweet. She deserved better company than the Kinsella family. And she definitely didn't deserve to die because of a bad decision she made. Shortly after Jimmy announced that the paramedics would be here soon, they hurried to hide the drugs and any indication of something illegal happening. Nikki came back from the bathroom - oblivious to what happened to her friend. But then she looked between Frank and Michael how tense their both were and how raging Michael was. Then her gaze fell onto your lifeless form on the sofa. She gasped in shock, hurrying over to your side. "What happened?" She sobbed over her friend. Regret washed over her. She knew that this party wasn't for you and still she dragged you along. Michael didn't help her with feeling guilty. "What do you think happened?! You should have supported (Y/N)'s decision instead of pushing her with Eric to do cocaine."

Finally the ambulance arrived and Michael watched you getting transported into the vehicle. His heart cramped in pain. The rest of his family didn't care what would happen to you, but Michael did and Michael didn't wanted you to be alone in hospital, so he left alongside Nikki to be there for you.

Your condition had been dangerously critical but nonetheless the Doctor's were optimistic about you. Of course they knew what caused your health issue but they weren't there to judge rather than to save your life.

After three long hours of waiting, unsure about your medical state, the Doctor finally proclaimed that you would make it and that you were in a stable condition given the fact that your heart at one point had stopped beating for almost an entire minute. As well Michael as Nikki were extremely relieved with the news.

Michael stayed in the hospital until you woke up to show you that he'd been there and you weren't with your health problems all alone. He knew himself how it felt to be all alone in this world and to be rejected. He didn't wanted you feel the same about the Kinsella's - well, at least not about him. Although you felt like you just jumped from the deaths shovel, you couldn't surpress the happiness you felt when you saw Michael's glossy eyes - from concern and tiredness. You felt touched that he was there although a part of you was ashamed of yourself. Since you took the drug although he knew you didn't wanted to.

"I'm sorry." You mumbled, your voice hoarse. "Don't be." He said softly, while taking a seat beside your hospital bed. His smile was enough to light a firework inside of your heart and you were reminded that you truly were alive. "Nikki went to get something to eat from the cafeteria." He said to let you know that your friend was there as well. You nodded.

You needed to say something. You couldn't keep on biting on your tongue. "I'm sorry. Really." He wanted to tell you again that it was alright but you stopped him. "No, I did the opposite of what I wanted. Of what I said I wanted. But you defended me and I still did it behind your back." Feeling emotional from your trauma of almost dying, you sniffed. "I don't want you to think that I didn't care about what you said. Because I do." You whispered. Haven't you been on medication you would have found this situation ridiculous. Michael was a total stranger, yet you felt the need to share your soul with him.

"Everyone makes mistakes. I won't judge you because of this one. I'm just glad you're awake." He said, reaching out to grab your hand. Reassuringly, he rubbed small circles with his thumb on the skin of your hand. You smiled at the touch.

But still you had a question lingering on the tip of your tongue. "How come, you are here?" Your cheeks reddened, insecurely lowering your gaze onto your hand which was still engulfed in Michael's big one. "Because I worried about you." He admitted sincerely, making your heart jump. "Really?" You asked shyly, not being used to being cared about. He showed you his heartwarming smile again and that was enough answer for you. You smiled back at him, hoping your smile would show him all the words you were too shy to say aloud. He gave your hand a loving squeeze.

It was after Michael left the room that Nikki grinned at you knowingly. "Do you want Michael's number?"

You blushed, but then nodded laughing in which she chimed in. "I'll get it for you, hun." She promised, letting you linger in the beautiful feeling of falling in love.

#michael kinsella #kin #kin amc #marvel #mcu #marvel mcu #imagine #charlie cox #daredevil #matt murdock #angst #fluff

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adultswim2021 · 3 years ago

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Minoriteam #19: “Behold Balactus!” | July 17, 2006 - 12:00AM | S01E19

For the first time in my life I’m like, “damn, I’m glad it’s a Minoriteam night”. I was out of town and let my queue run dry while I was visiting my mommy for mommy’s day. So now it’s 15 minutes till press time and I gotta post a post. I can simply dismiss this show out of hand because it doesn’t deserve respect. Furthermore: it’s a two-parter, and I can just recap the stuff from part one on the second episode!

MAIL BAG

When I send a mailbag to you the screen says, "Thank you! Your question has been received." Did you put that there yourself or is that an automated message. Have you ever been thankful for anything anyone has mailed you. Would you even know how to be thankful?

I like some of the messages, but many of them I despise. I am pissed off from the Minoriteam show so I can’t tell how I feel about this message here. I’m still screaming from TV

Anyone ever tell you that Tim and Eric are fucking annoying as shit. Not saying they aren't funny, but criminy.

A co-worker, who I already hated, once found out I liked Adult Swim and started asking me what I thought of the recent Robot Chicken special that had aired, and I told him “oh, I don’t really like that show at all” and he was like “don’t tell me you like that Tim & Eric crap?” and described the show as spazzy. Maybe I’m a spastic!!!!

We ask. You answer. You don't like it, too bad. That's how the mailbag works. Now get off my phone.

YUP!

What is your ideal Celebrity Deathmatch matchup? How about your ideal Celebrity Deathmatch matchup only using Adult Swim characters. Let's get READY to RUMble!

I would like to see Sam Hyde vs, I don’t know, any woman I guess

I believe Tim always wanted Jerry Seinfeld on Awesome Show or another product but knew he wouldn't do it if they worked with Bobcat. Guess it didn't work out and the damage was done.

Jerry would freak out if he did the Tim & Eric TV Show. He’d probably flee to Israel, putting himself in custody of the IDF, and never come back to America. Boy, I wish he’d done it.

You sure like popping of these mailbag questions. Okay? Ever consider doing a special mailbag where you take pitches for Adult Swim shows from people? Could be good for a gag and maybe I have one? Maybe I do. We'll just have to see what you have to say.

This is a good idea! Send me your bitches and I will make you SUFFER. 9 minutes before this posts, AHHH!

What's Blu-Ray TV and how do I start watching shows on it?

It’s kinda like Sega Channel but you need to buy a receiver (blu-ray player) and some blu-rays (pee wees playhouse complete series set shout factory 2014)

When was the last time you called a woman "mamacita"? It was only Cinco De Mayo five days ago. Did you pull it off?

What am I, Peanut from Harvey Birdman? GET OFF MY PHONE

Do you think if they, as a gag, started showing seinfeld on Adult Swim it would have had a profound effect on the channel.

All at once Adult Swim’s audience grew up. Damn. It would be the end of everything. We’d all be dead.

Good random DVD news: In July 2022, Warner will release a 20 disc complete series boxset for Aqua Teen - repackaging the older sets and movie with new discs and the first time release of seasons 9-11. Absolutely a relief since the movie DVD quit working recently

This is cool news, yes, but I would really prefer freaking a VHS AHHH I’M DONEPOST POST POST POST POST

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #minoriteam #very fast #last minute flights #last minute

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storydays · 3 years ago

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Season 1, ep 6,p1

-The Next Day-

You were humming happily, brushing Neo's fur as he groaned happily."Feels good huh, Neo?" You laugh as he looked at you and flopped onto his back, exposing his belly for you to brush. "Ha! Okay, point taken." Suddenly your radio playing music turned into something unexpected. "Good morning, citizens of Republic City. This is Amon. I hope you all enjoyed last night's pro-bending match because it will be the last.' You turned to the radio, your body frozen in fear as the man continued to talk.

"It's time for this city to stop worshiping bending athletes as if they were heroes. I am calling on the council to shut down the bending arena and cancel the finals or else there will be severe consequences." With that ominous message, the radio went dead. You jumped when Neo nudged your arm in concern. Sighing shakily, you smiled even though it didn't reach your (e/c) eyes. "I'm okay, but how do you feel about taking a swim?"

*At City Hall*

You walked in with your Uncle Tenzin and immediately took your seats, Tenzin placing a hand on your shoulder in comfort. "Here we go." You whispered.

*20 minutes later*

The door made a loud bang sound as the Avatar and your teammates walked in. Your Uncle stood up, addressing her. "Korra, you shouldn't be here! This is a closed meeting." "As the Avatar and a pro-bending player, I have a right to be heard. You can't cancel the finals." she stated, walking closer. "I know winning the championship means a lot to you, but as far as I'm concerned, we need to shut the arena down." the Airbending master stood his ground.

"What about the rest of you?" demanded the Avatar. "Tarrlok, surely there's no way your backing down from Amon, are you?" "Actually, Tenzin and I agree for once." "The council is unanimous--we're closing the arena." "No!" Mako cried. "You can't!" agreed Bolin. "(Y/N), what about you? Out of everyone here, pro-bending means the most to you." Korra tried desperately. You looked at her, with a mix of emotions. "Yes, but it'd be selfish of me to want the arena open for my own needs. Part of our job is to protect the innocent, Korra." She turned to Tarrlok, confusion clear in her face.

"I thought you of all people would take a stand against Amon." He glanced at you quickly before turning his attention to the blue eyed girl in front of you. "While I am committed to bringing that lunatic to justice, I will not put innocent lives in danger at stake just so you and your friends can play a game." At that point, Mako had enough. "Pro-bending might only be a game to you, but think of what it means to the city. Right now, the arena is the one place where benders and non-benders can gather in once place to watch benders--" "Beat each other up..in peace! It's an inspiration to everyone!" You couldn't help but laugh at the Earthbender.

"I appreciate your naive idealism, but you're ignoring the reality of the situation." Tarrlok replied coolly. "The reality is: if you close the arena, you let Amon win!" Korra tried once more. "I'm sorry, but the decision has been made. This meeting is adjourned." Before he could bang the hammer, a wire came out of no where and snapped the wooden hammer in half. Everyone watched mesmerized as Lin pulled it back to her suit.

She raised an eyebrow before speaking. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with the Avatar." "You do?" "You do?" "Yeah, you do?" You, Tarrlok and Korra wondered. "I expected this kind of cut and run response from Tenzin, but the rest of you?" You cough to cover your laugh at Lin's jab at your Uncle. "Come on, show a little more backbone. It's time the benders of this city displayed some strength and unity against these equalists." Her green eyes peered at you in particular.

"We must prevent the conflict between benders and non-benders from escalating to into an all-war! The council is not changing its position, Lin." "Now just a moment, Tenzin. Let us hear what our esteemed Chief of Police has in mind." Your Uncle tossed his hands up, as Lin began to talk. "If you keep the arena open, my metal benders and I will provide extra security during the championship match." "As will I." Everyone turned to you in shock.

"But (Y/N)--" Mako started as you held up a hand. "Right now, the lives of the benders are more important than a championship. Korra will take my place, and I will be in the crowd to jump in if needed." Lin looked at you with a hint of pride, and while Tenzin felt pride for you as well, the fear of you being hurt was stronger. "There's no one better to deal with Chi-blockers. Our armor is impervious to their attacks."

"Are you saying that you will be personally responsibility for the safety of the spectators in the arena?" Tarrlok sneered. "I guarantee it." Your Aunt said firmly. "It is hard to argue with Chief Beifong's track record. If she and (Y/N) are confident her elite officers can protect the arena, then she has my vote. I am changing my vote--who is with me?" The Earth, Fire and Southern Water Tribe representatives raised their hands and Tenzin knew he was defeated.

"The arena stays open. Good luck in the finals." Your teammates cheered, while you sent them a weary smile. "And good luck to you, Chief Beifong and (Y/N)." With that you waked off, your hair swishing behind you. Your teammates, Aunt and Uncle watched as you left. Korra turned to the woman next to her. "Thank you--" "I didn't do it just for you. I also did it for (Y/N), he's been different for a while, and I think this will help him."

"A word, please, Lin." The woman followed out of ear shot, but was unaware of you meditating in the rafters. "Tarrlok is playing you, and I don't want to see you (Y/N) get hurt." "I know what I'm doing, and the risks that come with it. As for (Y/N), he's stronger than you give him credit for, he's not that same child he once was." "In that case, I'm going to be by your sides during the match."

You peeked an eye at his figure, waiting for his response, "It's for (Y/N) and Korra. I want to make sure they're safe." "Do what you want. It's not like I've ever been able to stop you before." With that she stalked off, ignoring Korra as she tried to approach the woman. Korra turned to your Uncle with an annoyed look. "What is her problem? Even when she's on my side, she's against me." "I've known Lin since we were children; she's always been challenging."

"What did your father do to make her hate the Avatar so much?" "My father and Lin got along famously...I'm afraid her issues are with me." Korra seemed to have a light bulb moment. "Wait a second, it all makes sense. You and Beifong, Beifong and you....you two were a couple!" You sputtered a laugh, as your uncle replied. "What? How...where'd you get that idea?" "Ha! Your wife." Korra smirked as your Uncle muttered.

"Criminy! I'll have to have a word with her.." "So, Pema stole you from Beifong? I'm surprised our 'esteemed Chief of Police' didn't throw her in jail." Korra mused, looking at Tenzin as he looked back wistfully. "Oh she tried. Anyway, Pema didn't steal me. Lin and I had been growing apart for some time; we both had different goals in life--why am I telling you this?" he sputtered.

Your curious (e/c) eyes glowed slightly in the dark from your hiding spot, as you watched their interaction. "It all happened a long time ago, and we've moved past it." "Apparently Beifong hasn't." Your Uncle clenched his fists. "What do you...? Of course she has. Anyway, this isn't any of your business." He began storming away and Korra could't resist calling out, "See you at home, Mister Heartbreaker!" she laughed, before yelping as you appeared out of nowhere.

"Gah! We should put a bell around your neck, (Y/N)." You chuckle at her. "Sorry, Korra, but you should be more aware of your surroundings. And that is what we're going to work on when we're waterbending." You started to walk away with your hands clapsed behind your back when Korra wondered, "(Y/N), how come you train with the airbenders and I when you're a waterbender?" 'Finally.' You turned towards the girl with a giant smirk on your face. "Well, now you're asking the right questions, Korra. But I'm hungry! Let's go find something to eat! Your treat!"

Your laughter echoed in the halls as Korra chased after you, demanding an answer.

*The next morning*

You opened your eyes to see your Aunt Pema holding a plate of food in offering in front of you. Her green eyes sparkled with motherly concern and love. "Be safe tonight, (Y/N)." She said, sitting next to you before you fell in peaceful silence.

*That night*

You pulled your hair into a high ponytail, similar to Korra's hairstyle, before tightening your armor Aunt Lin gave you for your 18th birthday. "All clear, Chief. " an officer called to her, her intimidating presence powering over yours. She made hand signals before turning her attention to the approaching Airbender behind you. "How is the security sweep going?" "Fine." the Earthbender said dryly."They checked under the stands?"

"Yes, Uncle." "And you have enough officers to cover all points of entry?" With a irritated sigh, she turned to him. "I have the skies, the bay, and every nook and cranny of this place covered. Now leave me alone and let me do my job." You rolled your eyes, and walked away from the bickering adults in search of your tiny companion. "Nevermore! Where are yo--" Suddenly the (f/c) dragon appeared with a bone in her mouth.

"Ah! Nevermore what is in your mouth?" You yelped, trying to take it out of her mouth. It was comical: you the oh so stotic (Y/N) fighting with a baby dragon. She thought it was a game of tug a war and you were sorely losing. A soft giggle in the corner caught your attention and you looked towards a grinning Asami as she came out of the corner.

"Relax (Y/N), it's a vegan chicken bone. I know how you feel about how much meat she eats." You smiled in relief that your pet hadn't take an actual bone from somewhere else. "Heh, thanks Asami." She then pursed her lips and studied you for a moment while you were chanting silently in your head for her not to say anything about your almost full on confession.

"So, (Y/N) about what you said the other day,--" "What do you mean? I say a lot of stuff the other days." You tilted your head, making you look like a polar bear pup. Nevermore looked at you with a look that screamed, "Tell her the TRUTH," You turned away from the girl, with a hand cupping your ear, "Huh, what's that Aunt Lin? You need to talk to me?" You turned to the unimpressed girl with a grin. "Sorry, Asami; They're calling me, so I gotta--bye!" You left as quick as your feet carried you away.

The dragon looked at Asami who looked at her and they both laughed at your silliness when really Asami wanted to talk to you.

*20 minutes later*

"The anticipation is palpable as we are just moments away from the championship match. Will the Wolfbats' ferocity help them repeat as champs or will the under dog Fire Ferrets serve up a surprising bowl of smack down soup?" You scoff next to your Aunt and Uncle who looked at you curiously, "It isn't a surprise if he says it." You said sassily making them chuckle at you.

"Introducing the challengers, the Future Industries Fire Ferrets!" The crowd went wild as Bolin started doing some silly poses. "Oh it seems the Avatar is filling in for (Y/N) today! But where is the young Councilman?" wondered the MC as your fans began booing and calling for you. Lin smirked and elbowed you from where you crossed your arms. "Seems like someone's got himself a fan club."

Even though you were part Bumi, you were also part Lotus. She was a shy and reserved thing. That's a part of her personality that you got as well. You chuckled bashfully. "Nah, they just like having me for bets." You looked closer at the Ferrets, noting Korra was rolling her eyes at Mako. Nevermore chirped from your shoulder, and you snicker.

"You said it, girl." Pabu started chirping from the ring making Nevermore fly up and breath fire onto Bolin's Earth disk making the crowd cheer in wonder. "And their opponents! The WHite Falls Wolf Bats!" Said team started howling and cheering while you rolled your eyes at their dramatic entrance.

You held your arm out for the baby dragon to land on like a hawk. "Isn't the leader of the Wolf Bats your ex?" Tenzin asked while Lin sent him the stink eye. "Yes Uncle he is. Jerk." You sniffed in disdain. "The champs and challengers face off at the starting line and here we go!" Your left eye twitched as your ex tried to get Korra with some dirty trick. "Tahno tries to clean the Avatar's clock with some dirty water-boxing. Ming shakes off Mako's attack and returns the favor."

Mako and Korra were both knocked into second and Bolin was soon knocked back after making you wince. "Ahh, maybe I should've made Korra be on guard duty." You face palmed at the girl as your aunt laughed slightly at your misery.

Nevermore chirped from where she was perched on your shoulder, making you bark a laugh.

"Hush Nevermore or no meat for you for a week."

You got a nip on the ear for that.

"Ow!"

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polkahotness · 4 years ago

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SHORTAKI WEEK DAY 1

FFN // AO3

Long Gone

Sometimes when I look at Helga, it's difficult to remember what it was like before we admitted our feelings for each other. Granted, Helga had admitted her feelings to me countless times and on numerous different occasions, but I had never been all that great at that sort of thing in response.

I supposed that my 'love language' just wasn't the same as hers and it made navigating through our relationship a tumultuous and difficult process at times.

Helga had always been so good with words—her feelings, though oftentimes hidden deep inside, were always so well-articulated. When she wanted to give up the truth behind them, her sentences were thoughtful; poetic, and they came out of her mouth with ease, despite inwardly struggling with that piece of vulnerability.

But me?

It seemed that I still hadn't quite figured out how to best voice my feelings.

It wasn't that I had a problem voicing them—I had no issue whatsoever telling Helga, Gerald, my next-door neighbor, or the entire world how I felt about her. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that I couldn't do it well. My attempts were often clumsy, and I had the tendency to ramble and stumble over each word like I was once again learning how to speak for the first time in my life.

Thankfully, Helga never held it against me. In fact, her response to my feeble attempts usually sounded something like, "Still struggling with that word thing, are we, footballhead?" Then she'd let out this soft little laugh while I blushed and would open my mouth to try and dispute her, though she never let me get that far. "I get it, babe. You love me. And I love you—" then she'd pause and smack my butt while following it up with, "—and that cute little ass of yours."

A lifetime of confusing feelings had changed a lot in the dynamic between Helga and myself—the last six of those years cementing our relationship in a way that 10-year-old-me could have never imagined.

We were the couple people oogled over. Our stories of the bully and the victim turning into lovers was one for the ages, and we never grew tired of talking about it or reminiscing over the foolish children we once were. While anyone with eyes could see the love that we held for one another, it was always Helga who seemed to vocalize it best. As the self-appointed designated speaker, she was usually the one who told our complicated love story as I draped my arm over her shoulders to hold her into me wherever it was that we sat.

Helga had figured out in our time together that I was the shower, and not the teller. My love for her looked like me making dinner when I knew she had a hard day at work and would be too tired to even heat up a tv dinner. It looked like me rubbing her feet while she lay unsuspecting on the couch with her legs on my lap as we binge-watched another series. My love was shown through buying her that book she'd been talking about for three weeks because it was the long-awaited follow-up to her favorite author's poetry book—and I'd even gotten the limited edition copy with the ornately designed cover and gold-lined pages because, while she'd never say it, I knew she preferred the special copy over the boring (and cheaper) paperback version.

It was all of those little things and more that told Helga how much I loved her. But all of those little things could never express what I needed to tell her next. The emotions and feelings I had to say this time around would require me to put my strengths of showing and my weaknesses of telling together so I could be bolder than I'd ever been before.

Because there was nothing in the world that I wouldn't do for her.

It may have taken us a while to realize just how deeply our love for one another went. Even after we'd admitted our feelings, we struggled to get to a place where we mutually realized we were each other's end game. I'm sure Helga already knew this fact because she seemed to have always known, even when we were children, but me? It had taken me much longer.

With Helga, I was always just a few steps behind.

But it was okay.

Helga always managed to wait patiently…always somehow knowing that I was making my way to her.

Throughout our years of syncopated dating habits, a funny thing happened that I could never push away. Helga never left my mind. No matter where I was or what I was doing with who, Helga always remained. It may have taken until we both hit 21 for the stars to officially align, but that night six years ago when we reconnected on our favorite bar's balcony that overlooked the bright lights of Hillwood… that night forever changed my life.

I could only hope it would provide that same luck tonight as we stood together, once again, on the bar's balcony while looking out at our hometown on a quiet autumn evening.

"You know, Arnoldo," Helga said after taking a swig from the bottle she was holding, "I was kind of surprised you wanted to come to this joint on our anniversary of all days."

Smirking at her statement, I shrugged my shoulders. "The balcony here is nice. I like looking out at the city, don't you?"

"Well, sure," she replied while focusing her attention out on the dotted lights of the faraway buildings that made up the skyline. "But we could have easily done it from somewhere less…" Twisting her body, she glanced behind herself towards the hubbub of noise from within the bar. Turning back around, she returned her gaze outward while finishing her sentiment. "I don't know, somewhere less… cheesy."

"Cheesy?" I intoned while eyeing her carefully. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know," she simply said while fixating her eyes ahead without so much as a flinch in my direction. "Taking me to the same place where we first 'officially' rekindled our relationship. I guess I would have thought you'd pick some fancy-pants restaurant to propose to me at."

My jaw instinctively dropped as I stared at Helga with my mouth agape.

Slowly she turned her head to look at me with a wicked grin. "I like the sentimentality part though," she offered as some kind of consolation prize. "But if you were to take us back somewhere and be all romantic by talking about the past, I would have chosen P.S 118 or something. Now that's a good throwback."

I was still in shock as she spoke; my mind not comprehending that Helga had so easily figured out my plans and then called me out on them without so much as a care in the world.

It seemed that, yet again, Helga was still one step ahead of me.

"But you… how did you… but," I shook my head while struggling to force out a somewhat-coherent response. "Didn't you, how could you have—"

"Arnold," she deadpanned, though a hint of a smile twitched at the corner of her lips, "You were at Gerald's for four hours the other day. You really think I didn't hear about your little 'plans' from Phoebe?"

"Phoebe told you?" I repeated in shock. "Phoebe. She's smarter than that, Helga. Why on earth would she think it was okay to tell you something this important?!" I exclaimed and Helga remained unphased; merely tilting her head in thought before looking away from me again.

Casually, she explained, "I never said she thought it was okay. I mean, criminy, I practically had to force it out of her."

"And you did that because…?"

Helga let out a chuckle before fully turning her entire body to face me directly. "I've been waiting for you to propose to me for years now, Arnold. Years." I could feel heat beginning to rise and fill in my cheeks. "Honestly, I was about ready to propose to you, and then Phoebe kept telling me that I couldn't do that because our anniversary was coming up so then I told her that it was the perfect time to propose, then one thing led to another and—"

"She didn't actually tell you, then, did she." I finished for her in a statement rather than a question, and Helga let out a heavy sigh.

"She didn't have to tell me," Helga said with a twinge of humor beneath her tone. "By the way she acted, I knew immediately what you were up to."

Silence settled between us and I fought the urge to explode in anger, frustration, and sheer disappointment. How was it that I was still so incapable of surprising Helga? How was it that even after all of this time, I was still that dense little boy unable to catch up to Helga and be the first to admit something for once.

How was it that I was somehow perpetually in the fourth grade, avoiding acting on my feelings?

Impulsively, I grabbed Helga's hand and began pulling her towards the inside of the bar, "C'mon," I told her as she followed along with an inquisitive set of eyes. "We're going somewhere."

"Where?" She scoffed out. "I thought you were going to ask me to marry you…"

"Oh, I am," I answered immediately and in a firm tone. "But I'm not doing it here."

"Ahh, a field trip, I see," Helga replied as we dodged and weaved our way through the drunken crowd of dancers cluttering the small bar. "And just where is it you have decided to take me for this romantic gesture?"

"Somewhere you won't be expecting this time," I told her with about 86% certainty. "At least… I hope."

As she set her half-empty bottle on a table that we passed by in pursuit of the door out, we finally exited the bar and began making our way down the sidewalk. I led us forward with determination while Helga trailed along in my wake; her longer legs allowing her to keep at my pace with ease.

"Seriously, what are you up to, Hair Boy?" Her tone was becoming almost nervous, and it only heightened my confidence that this new destination was where I should have brought her in the first place. It was a deep-seeded memory that we hadn't discussed since we were teenagers. This had to be the perfect place for a proposal.

This had to be it.

Continuing to drag her along, Helga's eyes shifted to take in her surroundings. Her brows furrowed as she tried to piece together the strange environment that I was leading her through—an old part of Hillwood that had been long forgotten. Most everything on each block had either been abandoned or demolished; the promises of new complexes and mini-malls now only graffitied rubble lost to the recent economic recession.

"Do you even know where we are?" Helga continued to try and coax my true purpose out of me. "You do realize that if we're lost, I am not paying for the taxi back."

It was a backhanded joke that signaled Helga was out of her element. I knew her tactics by now and she was currently baffled as to what was in store. The fact that I was going to propose tonight was already out in the open and there was no pretending it wasn't still going to happen. The way it was going to happen, however… now that was going to be vastly different.

I just hoped I was going to be able to pull it off. I didn't exactly have the greatest track record with speaking my feelings on the fly, but maybe that was for the best. In fact, by doing this completely unrehearsed, Helga would know that my words—as jumbled and clunky as they may come out—would be directly from the heart, my heart. Unrehearsed. Unpolished. Unfiltered.

Pulling Helga to a stop as we reached the corner of an unassuming block hidden in the outskirts of Hillwood, the two of us stood in place in front of a small building. Inside the window was a faded, 'For Lease' sign, and the cement that made up the foundation was filled with cracks that had allowed wild weeds to spurt from the ground and wiggle their way up towards the sky. At first glance, the building was old and decrepit—absolutely nothing special and certainly not somewhere worthy of a marriage proposal.

Glancing around at where I'd brought her, Helga eyed the building carefully before slowly turning to face me. "An abandoned building? What's so special about this place? There's nothing here."

"Exactly," I answered as Helga's brow raised in curiosity. "There isn't anything here. Not now, anyway." Looking over my shoulder, I gestured towards the dilapidated structure before continuing my thought. "It's been a lot of different things in the past, though."

"Oh really?" Helga humored me while letting go of my hand to cross her arms loosely over her chest. "Like what?"

"A clothing boutique. A tailoring company. I'm pretty sure there was a craft store in here too at one point—"

"What in the hell does any of that have to do with—" Helga interrupted, though I didn't allow her to keep talking.

Instead, I finished my sentence by asserting dominance and talking over her as she unsuccessfully tried to speak over me. "—but before all of that, this was a daycare."

Helga's eyes widened minimally, though she remained silent as if to give me the chance to continue.

And that's exactly what I did.

"Not so much a daycare as it was a pre-school, though."

More silence settled between us as Helga's eyes drifted from mine to look at the run-down building she hadn't recognized. "Urban Tots," she muttered out as though it were an afterthought rather than a declaration of acknowledgement.

At her fixation towards our old pre-school, I took the opportunity to shakily get down on one knee; my hand fumbling to reach the small box I'd been hiding inside the pocket of the jeans I was wearing. Pulling it out, Helga's eyes returned to me; water gathering at the base of her vision as she looked down at me with laser-focus.

"Helga," I began precariously, though I tried to keep myself calm as I turned the blue-velvet box over and over in my hands anxiously. "As you've proven tonight, you are and always have been one step ahead of me. Since the moment we met, something in you had the wherewithal to know that we weren't just classmates in some random neighborhood in a random city in this random universe we find ourselves living in. Something inside of you knew that we were more than that. It knew… you knew that we were so much more, that we were… that we are, soulmates."

"Arnold," Helga breathed out, but I held up a finger to stop her from saying anything else and throwing me off of my groove.

"Do you remember when we were fifteen?" I started and Helga smirked while staring at me incredulously. "You told me that you had loved me from the moment you first saw me which, to be fair, wasn't the first time you'd told me that, but I asked you when that was, when you had first seen me."

A small laugh escaped Helga as she recalled the moment I was referencing. "You'd never asked me that before. It was a stupid question."

"Not really," I countered while adjusting from where I knelt on the pavement; my knee suddenly telling me that I'd chosen the wrong time to begin kneeling. Unfortunately, it was definitely too late now to get back up, so I instead took a deep breath to calm my angry kneecap and proceeded with my story. "It's funny because the memories that I have of you and things you've done or random conversations and moments we've shared… they're different than your memories."

"How do you figure?" Helga pressed and I knitted my brows together while trying to find the most effective way to explain my thoughts.

"You have a whole other set of memories that I don't remember because, at the time, they didn't mean anything to me yet. Just like some of my memories don't align with yours because they weren't as significant to you as they were to me in that moment." I took in a sharp breath before finalizing, "A lot of your memories are different because you've known about us a lot longer than I ever did."

"Long before there even was an us, you dingus," Helga chuckled out, and I rolled my eyes at her comment.

"Anyway," I emphasized before pressing onward. "You told me all about that day, that day back at Urban Tots when we apparently first met—a memory I had never actively remembered but suddenly did as you told your side of the story. It was one of the first times you broke down that wall, completely destroyed it to bare your soul to me without insults or nicknames or jokes to cover up the raw truth. You told me about what happened before you got to the pre-school, about Olga and your parents and the rain and your lunch and-and…"

I had to stop myself because the rambling had begun to rear its ugly head. Taking a moment to collect myself, I inhaled deeply before re-routing my conversational direction so I could get back on track with the task at hand.

"I never forgot that story," I admitted while looking down at the ring box I was still playing with in my grip. "You went back to the casual bullying and nicknames, both of us knowing how we felt about each other, but I never forgot that story. Each night I'd lay in my bed staring up through the skylight at the stars and imagine that memory I'd forgotten over and over again. Your pink overalls covered in mud. That sad look in your eye. It was like you'd never been loved… like you didn't know what it meant to be loved or to love another person."

Helga chewed on her lip for a moment as though trying to find the right thing to say—something she didn't typically struggle with. After a moment, she settled on, "What's your point. Aren't proposals supposed to be romantic or something? Not some… excuse to go drudging up my messed-up past and all of the memories that I've worked really hard to forget—"

"I know, I know," I tried to subdue her before she could indulge any further in the anger that was rapidly bubbling up inside of her. "What I am saying, is that the little girl who stood right here all of those years ago… that unloved toddler is gone now, Helga. She's long gone, okay?"

Her deep azure gaze bore into me as I kept talking; my knee now completely numbed from any pain or feeling as my body began to follow suit from nervousness alone. "The woman who stands before me isstill the same feisty, stubborn, thoughtful, smart, talented… and amazing person she has always been, but unloved?" I shook my head a couple of times. "That girl from long ago and the woman of now and forevermore is not unloved. She never will be or feel unloved, ever again. And that's something that I can and do promise you."

With that, I at last presented the box and carefully opened it to reveal a golden engagement ring with an opal at its center. Surrounding the stone was a halo of small diamonds; the ring itself appearing as the most dazzling of flowers attached to a plain gold band. The ring sparkled effortlessly under the glow of the moonlight, though the sky threatened its romantic lighting with oncoming and fast-moving storm clouds.

As Helga's eyes went back and forth between the ring and myself, I kept talking; the next set of words something I had always planned to say no matter where I ended up proposing. "Helga G. Pataki, you have been my bully for as long as I can remember. You teased me relentlessly and never stopped giving me attention, no matter how much I thought I didn't want it. You confessed to me time after time that you loved me and yet, even after all of this time, I've never confessed how I feel to you—at least, not entirely. So, I guess… well… here goes."

Nodding her head for me to keep going, she pressed her lips together in a tight line as though trying to hold back the tears I could see pooling in her eyes.

"I love you. I'm head over heels, wildly, desperately, endlessly in love with you, Helga," my words were earnest; genuine. Each sentence I said with the utmost care and sincerity. "I don't just want to have you in my life, I need you in my life. I need your nicknames, your teasing, your each and every thought, your embrace… your everything because you are my everything. And this ring—" I took it out of its box and held out the specifically-chosen engagement ring for her approval, "—I chose it for a reason."

"The opal," I said while using my other hand to point to the main stone, "it's iridescent. It looks like one color, but it never really ever stays that way. It changes and evolves and looks different under whatever light is shining on it—and yet it always somehow stays the same. And that's us. That's our love. We've always loved each other. It may have looked different as we grew, but it's always been there. And if you marry me… I promise that it will always continue to be there."

Swallowing hard, Helga let out a tidbit of her own, "I thought opals had to do with love and passion," she paused for a moment before adding, "and desire. Seduction. Are you trying to get in my pants, Shortman?"

"Always," I admitted which made Helga giggle; a few stray tears jiggling loose from her laughter. "But yes, those are the other reasons why I picked it. Every time you look down at this stone, you will know that I love you. That I desire you and to be with you. That I want you passionately in every meaning and interpretation of the word. That I will be faithful, and loyal until my very last breath. With this ring… I promise that you will never, ever, ever spend another second of your life being a muddy little girl who doesn't know what love is. I will spend every moment of my life proving to you and showing you and making up for all of those times when you needed love and didn't have it."

The two of us stared at each other as I held the ring out towards her, my arm growing more tired with each second that passed. Our eyes remained locked on one another as eons, and decades, and lifetimes seemed to happen while I agonized over her answer. Why wasn't she saying yes? I'd shown her the ring… she knew what I was doing… so why hadn't she accepted yet? Was she not going to accept? Worry fluttered through my mind as a sudden thought filled my senses, What if she doesn't want to get married?

As I lost myself in my thoughts, the clearing of Helga's throat brought me back to reality; her eyes no longer wet with tears and instead looking down at me skeptically. "Hey Arnold?" She asked me and I blinked my eyes a couple of times to refocus my attention on the current moment. "I'd love to say 'yes' here and put on this super sexy and seductive ring you've so thoughtfully picked out for me—"

"Well, my mom helped…"

"Of course Stella did," Helga affirmed with a smirk before sucking in a deep breath of air. "But the whole point of a marriage proposal, as nice as your words were and all… well, you kind of left out one very, very important part."

"…huh?" was all I could manage as I stared up at her in horror.

A sly smile spread across Helga's face. "You haven't actually asked me anything yet."

"Oh god," I mumbled while shutting my eyes in utter embarrassment. "Oh, god, I just… I got so caught up in all of this and then I kneeled way too early—"

"I know!" Helga exclaimed in amusement. "Your knee must be killing you right now."

"Eh," I quickly dismissed, "I stopped having feeling in my kneecap about a minute in so you might need to help me up—"

"Because you're an old man, now. Yeah, I know," Helga teased before sighing and tilting her head slightly. "You're only getting older the longer you wait, Footballhead."

"Yeah. Yes, of course. Right. Okay," pushing through the numbness of my knee and the nervousness I still felt for no reason at all, I held the ring out once again and looked deep into Helga's ocean blue eyes. "Helga G. Pataki. Will you marry me?"

Her smile widened to reveal a toothy grin. "Criminy, Arnold. I thought you'd never ask."

As I slipped the ring onto its new home of Helga's finger, she helped to yank me up from where I'd potentially done permanent damage to my left knee.

I didn't even care.

From where the two of us kissed under the moonlight at what remained of Urban Tots Pre-School, I knew that the Helga and Arnold who had once occupied this exact spot years ago were long gone. And as the sky at last opened up, allowing buckets of rain to downpour on us, we laughed while getting soaked to the bone because this time, the rain itself didn't matter.

The only umbrella Helga needed was one made entirely of love. And, just like when we were mere toddlers, I was happy to provide it for her. Not only in the rain, but through every storm we may weather and every warm day that is enjoyed safely under the shade.

For Helga, I was prepared to hold that umbrella over her for the rest of our lives.

And I couldn't wait.

#shortaki #shortakiweek #shortakiweek2020 #shortaki week 2020 #shortaki week #hey arnold #heyarnold #helga g pataki #helga pataki #arnold shortman #helga and arnold #helga x arnold #writing prompt #fanfiction #fanfic

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hazbinhoteltheories · 5 years ago

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What if the Demons' names refer to how they died? Like, Angel Dust is another term for PCP and he died of a drug overdose. "Alastor" means "avenger" - maybe he was killed by someone trying to avenge one of his victims?

The Angel Dust one is pretty much canon. The drug he overdosed on was actually angel dust. So he literally named himself after the drug that killed him. The Alastor one also makes a lot of sense. He was a serial killer, so chances are a lot of people wanted him dead.

As for everyone else, I don’t know if I could link everyone’s names to their deaths. I think a lot of them are tied more to their personalities and who they are as characters. But if it was true that all their names refer to how they died, it would make for some clever foreshadowing and it would be fun to make guesses on how they died. And I do think some of their names are, at least partially, tied to their deaths and for the sake of interaction, and because I overthought one of these submissions again I’m going to go ahead and list those and what I think each character’s name means in general.

Vaggie: Vaggie’s name started out as a joke. It was going to be short for Vagena and no prizes shall be given for what some of the others mostly Angel Dust would have called her. I have no way of knowing if this is still true, as this information came from her earliest concepts, but I think it is because Vaggie’s nickname/the name most people call her hasn’t changed.

Husk: The word husk means an outer shell and an empty husk is vacant and hollow, with nothing on the inside. This word is often used to describe people who have lost all the qualities they had before. Or people who don’t have anything within them at all. This is so in sync with Husk’s character, it’s almost self-explanatory why he chose it but I think it could have a double meaning. Given that Husk struggles with a gambling addiction and that he lived to be an old man, I think it could represent what was left of him by the time he died. After he had long since lost everything.

Nifty: Nifty is a somewhat dated trendy buzz word. The 1950′s equivalent of neat or cool. But its actual definition, or at least the main one, is particularly good, skilful or effective. This could mean that Nifty herself is highly skilled or very good at what she does, which is why she works for Alastor. But of all the characters in Hazbin Hotel, I think Nifty might have put the least amount of thought into what she wanted people to call her. So even though I think the potential for a deeper meaning is there, I think consciously, she just went with her favourite word.

Katie Killjoy: I think Kaite took inspiration for the name she chose from her job. News anchors cover all the terrible things that happen in the world and broadcast far more bad news than good. Most news stories are really depressing and I think Katie was aware of this. I think she knew full well that her reports were bumming people out. That, even if the people watching at home were in a good mood, she sucked out anything positive they were feeling with her daily reminders that the world sucks. To them, she was a downer. A buzzkill. A Killjoy.

Tom Trench: Here’s one whose name I think does tie in solely with his death. I think he literally died in a trench while fighting in the First World War. Possibly from a gas attack, which is why he’s stuck wearing a gas mask all the time.

Mimzy: Mimzy is a nonce-word created by Lewis Caroll and it means a blend of miserable and flimsy. The only thing I have to say about that other than yeesh is that having this be her name could really mean anything. It could refer to her career or a relationship or just her life in general. It could maybe, not really likely, have a tiny per cent chance of being tied to her death. If the only guess I have for how she died somehow turned out to be miraculously right. I always had a feeling Mimzy was sentenced to death for the crime of murder, just because she strikes me as the type that would poison her husband for the insurance money. If that turned out to be true, it could symbolize how she tried to appeal her sentence and lost. Prisons tend to take their sweet time when it comes to executing someone on death row. This would have especially been the case for Mimzy, as I don’t think they would have been keen to execute a woman in the 1920′s. She might have had time to make multiple appeals for a lesser sentence only for them all to be denied and the word that became her name might have been the best word to describe how she felt. About the fairness of her trials and to have her hopes for survival dashed over and over.

Baxter: I couldn’t find much about Baxter’s name I thought could mean anything. It’s an Anglo-Saxon/Scottish name meaning Baker and it’s more commonly a surname than an actual name. I doubt very much that Baxter was a baker when he was alive but there was a form of this name, Bakster, that was feminine, with Baker being the masculine equivalent. So for anyone who thinks Baxter might be transgender, that could be more fuel to add to the fire. Or that could be me grasping at straws. Other than that, I’ve really got nothing other than pure guesses. It might have been an alias he took on. It might have been the name of someone he was close to and wanted to remember. Or it might have been his real name and he couldn’t be bothered to change it.

Crymini: Crymini’s name is taken from the word Criminy. Which is basically a mild oath expressing surprise or disbelief. I think those two words could some her entire outlook of the situation she’s in. Surprised that she died so young. Disbelief that she’s in hell. A place she might not have even believed was real. Or that her death came out of nowhere and happened in a way she would have never seen coming. I also think the way her name is spelt is quite interesting. Obviously, if this was a mistake, it would have been corrected by now so it must have been intentional. It looks like her name is comprised of two words, cry and mini and perhaps this was a way of giving yet another character’s name a double meaning. Perhaps these words refer to Crymini being in despair and feeling small or insignificant.

So there you go. To some it up, I think the ideas and meanings behind the names of each of Hazbin Hotel’s characters are different and unique to them. And while there could be lots of different things their names refer to, one of them could indeed be how they died.

#hazbin hotel #angel dust #alastor #vaggie #husk #nifty #katie killjoy #tom trench #mimzy #baxter #crymini

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blackhakumen · 4 years ago

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Mini Fanfic #435: A Golden Auntie's Day (DuckTales 2017)

12:00 p.m. Outside of the McDuck's Mansion....

Louie: (Sitting On a Picnic Table while Looking Up at the Clear Blue Skies) ('Sigh').......

???: I knew I would spot a certain "Sharpie" here today.

Louie: (Turns to see Goldie Making her way to the Picnic Table) Oh hey, Aunt Goldie. Here to see Scrooge today?

Goldie: Somewhat. (Sat Down on the Other Side of the Table) Just wanted to see what the old coot been up to these past few weeks. Whatcha doing out here, Lou? Aren't you supposed to be celebrating Mother's Day with the others?

Louie: (Shrugged) I did. We made mom Breakfast, gave her each separate Mother's Day Cards, and watch some home videos together. Well, I watched half of it, anyways. I decided to come out here and clear my mind a bit, you know?

Goldie: Understandable. Everyone needs their alone time every now and then.

Louie: Ain't that's the truth.....

Goldie: (Frowns a Little) I take it that things between you and your own mother isn't too well, is it?

Louie: Yep.... I know I should be happy and grateful that our mom was even able come back Earth at all, but.....('Sigh') I dunno....I just.... can't, for the life of me, accept her as my own mother.....not yet anyway. (Rolls his Eyes) Pretty self-centered and selfish of me, I know....

Goldie: I don't think so.

Louie: Really?

Goldie: Yeah. I mean.... Listen, kiddo, if you don't think you're ready to fully welcome your mom in your life, then that's perfectly fine. You don't have to keep forcing yourself to do so just because your brothers are doing it.

Louie: You're right. I shouldn't have to keep forcing myself to do so. The thing is.....Part of me wants to welcome her....want to understand her and stuff....But she seems more interested in spending time with Dewey, Huey, and even Webby a lot more than she wants to with me. Plus, whenever we do spend time together, it would always ends with us Inna sour mood. (Groans to himself) I still can't get what she said in that video off of my head......

Goldie: What video? If you don't mind me asking, of course.

Louie: (Took One Deep Breath Before Speaking) Okay. So......Once I got grounded that one night, she program this crazy robot to guard the mansion so everyone else can go on their Adventures without me. Tried to find ways to get out with little prevail when suddenly....she sent me a video message through the robot and.....('Sigh') Said I need to stop doing schemes and cons if I want to be a part of this family.....

Goldie: (Eyes Widened in Shock) Criminy, kid..... She told you all of that?

Louie: ('Sigh Heavily') Yeah........ Hence the reason why I'm feeling distance towards her.....

Goldie: I can see that now. I'm....('Sigh') Really sorry you had to go through with that, Lou.

Louie: Eh. It's fine. At least it gives me all the more reason to prove her wrong about me. So there's that.

Goldie: Well, that's good. But my point still stands on this. You don't have to welcome her now if you're not fully ready. (Especially if she's gonna say all that to you. Sheesh.....) Just take as much time as you need, alright?

Louie: Will do. (Smiles a Little) Thanks, Aunt Goldie. Really.

Goldie: (Smiles Softly) Anytime, Sharpie.

Louie: (A Thought Comes into His Mind) Oh! And uhh...

Goldie: Hm?

Louie: (Pulls out Something From his Hoodie Pocket) I know you're not really an actual mom or anything, but.....(Gives Goldie a Long, Black Mini Box) Here you go.

Goldie: (Genuinely Surprised once She Looks Inside the Box) Louie.....is this....

Louie: An Emerald Crystal Necklace? Yes. Yes it is. Save it up just for you. Don't know what everyone else think about you, but I kind of considered you as part of the family. Even Uncle Scrooge thinks so too. (Chuckles Lightly) Especially when he tries wayyyyyy too hard to deny that fact. So what do you think?

Goldie: (Smiles Softly Once She Feels Her Heart Is Actually Starting to Melt) Louie, I.......('Sigh') You didn't have to do for me, you know?

Louie: I know. But I wanted to. To show my appreciation and whatnot.

Goldie: Thanks, Kid. Really.

Louie: No problem, Aunt Goldie. (Smiles Brightly) Happy Auntie Day.

Goldie: (Chuckles Lightly) Auntie Day?

Louie: (Shrugged) Something I just came up with. Not the best Holiday name in the world, but it's something. You like?

Goldie: (Smiles Sincerely) Honestly, name is so corny that I might actually like it.

@keyenuta

@26shann

@cyber-wildcat

@chompycroc

@albion-93

@lettheladylead

@raidenraccoon

#ducktales #louie duck #goldie o' glit #della duck (mentioned)#louie still having the video della recorded to him in his head #goldie is best aunt to louie #scrooge mcduck (mentioned)#takes place after louie wrote a letter to della #louie needs a hug #fluff #mother's month #sort of...#it's more like auntie day if anything lol #have to edited it again to make it perfect. sorry about that

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decima-flottiglia-mas · 4 years ago

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26 AGOSTO 1974. ONORE !!

DECIMA COMANDATE !!

In Italia… dice una nota canzone, il Paese delle mezze verità… In Italia c’è un primo sottomarino U212/A (progetto tedesco)che si chiama S.TODARO, è da il nome alla classe, il secondo si chiama invece SCIRÈ, classe Todaro. Come nella maggior parte dei casi che fanno riferimento alla storia recente è tutto sbagliato.

S. Todaro fu una figura di secondo piano nella storia dei sommergibili italiani, J.V.Borghese fu invece il più grande comandante di sommergibili del mondo, a detta di tutti. Osannato da tutte le marine militari del mondo, mentre la X Flottiglia MAS e i suoi metodi di combattimento hanno dettato le regole di tutti i corpi speciali del mondo.

In un famoso e recentissimo film sui Navy Seal americani si vede un sottomarino classe 688 Los Angeles che porta sul ponte un contenitore per “Maiale” e la cosa viene fatta vedere con enfasi, noi lo facevamo già nel 1941, grazie allo Sciré, comandato da JV Borghese; tutti sono stati decorati con medaglia d’oro, ancora in vita, sia il comandante, sia l’equipaggio, sia il sottomarino. Quindi il primo sottomarino all’idrogeno italiano dovrebbe chiamarsi “J.V.BORGHESE” ed il secondo “S.TODARO” classe “Borghese”.

Todaro; pochi sanno che in Francia, a Betasom, la base sommergibili atlantici italiana nel 1942/44, durante una visita del grand admiral Karl Doenitz, fu definito dallo stesso «un buon comandante per navi ospedale», data la sua tendenza a salvare i naufraghi delle navi che affondava; mettendo però a repentaglio la vita del suo equipaggio.

Un accadimento che mi viene dalla testimonianza diretta di chi era lì a guardare e a sentire, quindi è cosa certa.

Non basta, magari fosse tutto lì… invece il 26 agosto 1974 moriva a Cadice il comandante J.V.Borghese due volte medaglia d’oro al valor militare, Cavaliere dell’ordine dei Savoia, croce di ferro al merito, eccetera.

Come molti sanno, suo figlio, il principe Andrea Scirè Borghese, è un mio intimo e caro amico e pertanto sappiamo con certezza che quando i figli giunsero a Cadice al capezzale del padre, la salma era già stata imbalsamata con l’asportazione di tutti gli organi interni. Per le tecnologie dell’epoca era a quel punto impossibile stabilire con esattezza le cause della morte, che furono accertate dal primo ed unico referto medico come: pancreatite acuta. Curiosamente l’effetto di alcuni noti veleni, produce proprio quella che sembrerebbe una pancreatite acuta, ma che tale non è.Junio Valerio Borghese sapeva molte cose sia sul finto golpe, mai avvenuto, sia su quello che stava capitando in Italia in quel triste periodo.

Le ultime parole dette alla stampa, dopo la sua assoluzione in contumacia per non aver commesso il fatto (il famoso golpe del principe nero) furono: «tornerò in Italia e dirò tutto».

Quella frase gli è certamente costata la vita, all’epoca non era ancora di moda il caffè alla Sindona, ma in Italia c’è tornato: morto ed imbalsamato, una cassa di frutta e verdura, in un furgone bianco senza insegne che doveva raggiungere Roma alla velocità minima di settanta chilometri all’ora, questi i dettami della Farnesina.

Ed ecco che cosa è giunto alla nostra redazione, speditoci da uno degli ultimi superstiti della RSI, una sigla che in Italia, in questo magnifico Paese, dove l’ultima cosa che si vende, ma proprio l’ultima è la giustizia, seguita a pari passo dalla verità, pronunciare RSI sembra un’eresia, all’epoca invece se eri in età di leva avevi due scelte: 1) andare in montagna e rubare i polli ai contadini, per mangiare, 2) presentarti al comando territoriale della RSI per evitare l’arresto e diciamolo francamente anche perché si mangiava meglio e senza dover rubare i polli. Chi ha scelto la montagna è diventato un eroe, chi l’arruolamento regolare per la molto imprecisa e disattenta storia ufficiale, un boia assassino che ne avrebbe fatte di tutti i colori. Per poi scoprire in epoche recenti che anche i meravigliosi partigiani ne hanno fatte di tutti i colori, vedi la Strage di Codevigo, nel film “Il sgreto di Italia” interprete Romina Power, che è stato ostacolato e messo alla gogna con ogni mezzo.

Tralasciando tutto quanto ci sarebbe da dire su una Italia vergognosa, ecco il testo della lettera e relativa denuncia arrivata a noi il 21 dicembre del 2008:

Denunciante Angelo Faccia, ex GNR

Oggetto: denuncia penale a carico degli ignoti autori dell’omicidio del Comandante Junio Valerio Borghese.

Ci si domanderà: perchè dopo tanto tempo? Perchè attendere 34 anni dalla sua morte?

È documentato nella nuova edizione del libro”Affondate Borghese!”

Nessuno aveva interesse che questa sconcertante verità venisse pubblicamente rivelata: da una parte i Carabinieri del SID con il sequestro del materiale investigativo e dall’altra ignoti killer che hanno tentato più volte di farmi tacere per sempre, ma… GOTT MIT HUNS, “Dio è con me”, era inciso sulla fibbia della cinghia dei camerati germanici…

E dato che oggi si ragiona in termini di “casta”, anch’io voglio poter dire che appartengo alla CASTA più nobile, mai conosciuta e mai esistita prima: quella dei combattenti dell’Onore, i Cavalieri della R.S.I. e come tale non potevo non presentarmi al più nobile dei Cavalieri di questa CASTA, il Comandante Junio Valerio Borghese, senza dirgli: Comandante, ho lottato fino all’ultimo, non vi ho abbandonato né come soldato né come amico.

Questo è l’unico scopo di questa mia iniziativa…

Sarei grandemente ingenuo se pensassi che la mia denuncia possa raggiungere uno scopo pratico…

Angelo Faccia – G.N.R.

Che altro si può dire?

Beh, innanzi tutto che l’omicidio non va in prescrizione, quindi che le autorità giudiziarie preposte dovrebbero chiedere, anzi ordinare l’esumazione della salma per stabilire con le moderne tecnologie se JV Borghese è morto per una pancreatite acuta o per avvelenamento. Se fosse vera la seconda ipotesi dovrebbero cercare e se ancora vivente/ti arrestare l’assassino o gli assassini.

Attenzione però, solo un idiota potrebbe pensare che lo abbiano ucciso i “compagni” italiani.

JV Borghese sapeva troppe cose, troppo compromettenti per i governi (uomini di potere dell’epoca), su un golpe mai avvenuto e entrato in cronaca ben tre mesi dopo la sua presunta esecuzione.

Se omicidio c’è stato è stato comandato da uomini di potere che volevano pararsi il culo, uomini che durante la “Guerra Fredda” non potevano essere messi in discussione. Si perché all’epoca l’idea del golpe circolava, eccome se circolava, all’epoca il sottoscritto lavorava con documenti Top Secret e di movimenti strani ne ho visti parecchi.

Borghese era presumibilmente in contatto con i servizi segreti americani e inglesi tant’è che uomini della Xa del Sud, passavano allegramente la Gotica avanti e indietro per portare notizie e altro e cambiandosi d’uniforme. Processato alla fine della guerra dagli americani, fu assolto da qualsiasi imputazione inerente a crimini di guerra. Ricordiamo anche che il Porto di Genova fu salvato dalla distruzione da uomini della Xa, che salvarono anche molte aziende del Nord per favorire la ricostruzione post bellica. Questa è la vera storia.

Marcello Toja

In Italy ... says a well-known song, the country of half-truths ... In Italy there is a first U212 / A submarine (German project) called S.TODARO, which gives its name to the class, the second is called SCIRÈ, Todaro class. As in most cases that refer to recent history it is all wrong.

S. Todaro was a second-rate figure in the history of Italian submarines, J.V.Borghese was instead the greatest commander of submarines in the world, according to everyone. Acclaimed by all the navies of the world, while the X MAS Flotilla and its fighting methods have dictated the rules of all the special forces in the world.

In a famous and very recent film on American Navy Seals, we see a 688 Los Angeles class submarine carrying a container for "Pig" on the deck and this is shown with emphasis, we were already doing it in 1941, thanks to the Sciré, commanded by JV Borghese; all were decorated with a gold medal, still alive, both the commander, the crew and the submarine. Therefore the first Italian hydrogen submarine should be called "J.V.BORGHESE" and the second "S.TODARO" class "Borghese".

Todaro; few people know that in France, in Betasom, the Italian Atlantic submarine base in 1942/44, during a visit by the grand admiral Karl Doenitz, was defined by the same "a good commander for hospital ships", given his tendency to save shipwrecked sinking ships; however, putting the life of his crew at risk.

An event that comes to me from the direct testimony of those who were there to look and hear, so it is certain.

Not enough, maybe it was all there ... instead on August 26, 1974, commander JVBorghese died twice in Cadiz, a gold medal for military valor, a Knight of the order of Savoy, an iron cross of merit, and so on .

As many know, his son, Prince Andrea Scirè Borghese, is a close and dear friend of mine and therefore we know with certainty that when the children arrived in Cadiz at their father's bedside, the body had already been embalmed with the removal of all the internal organs. For the technologies of the time it was impossible to establish the exact causes of death, which were ascertained by the first and only medical report as: acute pancreatitis. Curiously, the effect of some well-known poisons produces exactly what appears to be acute pancreatitis, but which is not such.

Junio Valerio Borghese knew many things both about the fake coup, which never happened, and about what was happening in Italy in that sad period.

The last words spoken to the press, after his acquittal in absentia for not having committed the crime (the famous coup of the black prince) were: "I will return to Italy and tell everything".

That sentence certainly cost him his life, at the time coffee alla Sindona was not yet in fashion, but in Italy it returned: dead and embalmed, a crate of fruit and vegetables, in a white van without signs that he had to reach. Rome at a minimum speed of seventy kilometers per hour, these are the dictates of the Farnesina.

And here's what came to our editorial staff, sent to us by one of the last survivors of CSR, an acronym that in Italy, in this magnificent country, where the last thing that is sold, but the very last is justice, followed by hand in hand with the truth, pronouncing RSI seems like a heresy, but at the time if you were of military age you had two choices: 1) go to the mountains and steal chickens from farmers, to eat, 2) present yourself to the territorial command of RSI to avoid arrest and let's face it also because we ate better and without having to steal the chickens. Those who have chosen the mountains have become a hero, those who regularly enlist due to the very inaccurate and inattentive official story, a killer executioner who would have made all kinds of them. To then discover in recent times that even the wonderful partisans have made all kinds of them, see the Massacre of Codevigo, in the film "Il sgreto di Italia" starring Romina Power, who was hindered and pilloried by any means.

Leaving aside everything there is to say about a shameful Italy, here is the text of the letter and related complaint that arrived to us on 21 December 2008:

Complainant Angelo Faccia, former GNR

Subject: criminal complaint against the unknown perpetrators of the murder of Commander Junio Valerio Borghese.

We will ask ourselves: why after so long? Why wait 34 years after his death?

It is documented in the new edition of the book "Sink Borghese!"

Nobody was interested in this disconcerting truth being publicly revealed: on the one hand the Carabinieri of the SID with the seizure of the investigative material and on the other, unknown killers who tried several times to silence me forever, but ... GOTT MIT HUNS, "God is with me ", was engraved on the belt buckle of the Germanic comrades ...

And since today we think in terms of "caste", I too want to be able to say that I belong to the most noble CASTA, never known and never existed before: that of the fighters of Honor, the Knights of the R.S.I. and as such I could not fail to introduce myself to the noblest of the Knights of this CASTA, Commander Junio Valerio Borghese, without saying to him: Commander, I fought to the last, I have not abandoned you either as a soldier or as a friend.

This is the sole purpose of my initiative ...

I would be very naïve if I thought that my complaint could achieve a practical purpose ...

Angelo Face - G.N.R.

What else can be said?

Well, first of all that the murder does not go on prescription, therefore that the judicial authorities in charge should ask, indeed order the exhumation of the body to establish with modern technologies whether JV Borghese died of acute pancreatitis or poisoning. If the second hypothesis were true they should try and if still alive / you arrest the killer or killers.

But be careful, only an idiot could think that the Italian "comrades" killed him.

JV Borghese knew too many things, too compromising for the governments (men of power of the time), about a coup that never took place and entered the news three months after its alleged execution.

If there was a murder, it was commanded by men of power who wanted to cover their asses, men who could not be questioned during the "Cold War". Yes, because at the time the idea of the coup was circulating, indeed if it did, at the time the undersigned was working with Top Secret documents and I have seen a lot of strange movements.

Borghese was presumably in contact with the American and British secret services, so much so that men from the Xa of the South happily passed the Gothic back and forth to bring news and more and changing their uniforms. Tried at the end of the war by the Americans, he was acquitted of any charges relating to war crimes. We also remember that the Port of Genoa was saved from destruction by men of the Xa, who also saved many companies in the North to encourage post-war reconstruction. This is the real story.

Marcello Toja

#decima flottiglia mas #war world #world war 2 #world war ii #history #repubblica sociale italiana #histoire #storia italiana #military #hist?ria #ww2italia #ww2incolor #w #ww2daily #ww2images #ww2italy

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the-headbop-wraith · 4 years ago

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3_43 Wheels and Collars

The sound of some small, delicate thing clattering to the floor awakens him. He thinks. He can’t remember quite what it was he was dreaming, but he still smells soot and his head is killing him. A portion of this is soon explained, when a washer bounces off the side of his brow.

“Ooh,” Arthur groaned. He sat up a margin. “Galy? C’mon.” He can hear the distinct squeaking of the wheels turning, though not far enough away from his head. He would need to oil those. The whining noise became intolerable, and Galahad was at Arthur’s face nudging the side of his cheek hard. Arthur has no choice but to curl a hand around Galahad and drag the hamster to the side of his shoulder, where he pins the mismatch of metal and puff. “Not wake time yet.” However, Arthur doesn’t close his eyes, but sits pinned to his work desk staring at the wall near him.

Dozens of hand drawn schematics are tacked to the pin board, lines choreographed in blues or reds, sometimes orange. Among the pictures are the printed copies of numerous prosthetics in varying degrees of complexity and style. Arthur sighs. He ignores the squirming hamster struggling in his fingers. Galahad nips hard, but his metal fingers don’t feel but a slight vibration.

“You asked for it,” Arthur muttered. At that comment, Galahad gives a little huff and settles down. Arthur rubs his finger over the hamsters head as he muses, his shoulder quivers but he manages to lessen the shakes as he sits and waits. He had an idea of what he was dreaming, but that understanding does nothing to satisfy his unsettled nerves. It wasn’t good that’s all he knew, and he didn’t need to find why his subconscious insisted on hiding it.

A heavy rapping bounces from the metal frame, and Uncle Lance tilts his head in through the open door. “Arthur. Y’mind?”

Arthur leaned back in his chair and spun to the doorway, he mutely nodded to Lance. “I got up a while ago,” he murmured. He knew what Lance’s first question would be, it was almost impulsive, and Lance shut his mouth the moment he began to speak.

“Aight. I came up to let you know your friends are here,” Lance harrumphed. He flung a thumb back over his shoulder as he stood in the doorway. “You get the day off to get the van squared off.”

Arthur was rubbing his eyes with his knuckles. His fingers were stained with traces of grease, and Galahad had the same yuck on his paws – little hamster paw prints covered the oldest layers of grim and paint. “They’re kinda early. What time is it?” A sharp pang bolts through Arthur’s spine, and he lurches back in his seat. “Wait! Who’s all here?”

Seemingly unperturbed, Lance stared at Arthur. A bolt was jarred on the work table, when Arthur bumped the desks underside with his knee. Lance watched the bolt make its long journey to the desks edge and fall, the sound of it hitting the floor clashed in the absolute silence of the room. “Y’know? Vivi and that… er, he gets snarly if you call him mutt. They’re here. They’n all who you expectin’?” Lance followed the bolts progress across the floor, amongst a collection of bits and pieces left scattered about from Arthur’s multitude of personal ‘projects.’

Arthur stood up, he tried to slow down. “I dunno, I dunno,” he mumbled. He had to set Galahad down and brace his arm to the sturdy table. “I thought she— can I bother you to let’er know I’ll be down?”

“Yeah,” Lance grumbled. “She said take your time. You should listen to her more. Can I get ya somethin’ in the mean? Coffee, a pizza pocket?” Lance stepped into the room and idly picked up a misplaced wrench that lay on the floor near Arthur’s couch. He gave the room a mild scan as he revolved in place, before looking back to Arthur. “Maybe a broom?”

Arthur wheezed out a laugh. “No, Uncle. Some coffee would hit the spot.” He lost his smirk when Lance gestured to him with a finger, and fearing the worse Arthur shuffled over to Lance.

“Have you been smokin’?” Lance mumbled, voice low and gruff.

“No!” Arthur whipped around. Did Galahad growl? “No, I’m not!”

“Well,” Lance says, with a light shrug. “You smell like smoke. I didn’t wanna bring it up yesterday, give the wrong impression or get Vivi involved – not over this, but you’re supposed to quit. Remember? I’m not tryin’ to pressure you.” A scratchy voice cut through the communicator on Lance’s belt. He plucked the device from his side and clicked it, the noise ended abruptly. Lance gave it a slight scowl before he moved to reattach it.

“I tell you, I’m not,” Arthur insisted. He took the travel bag from the couch and began going through it. He needed a clean shirt, the least wrinkly. He slowed in sifting through his assortment of clothing, all mashed together. “Honestly though, I did turn back to it.” The shirts were tossed out flat onto the couches back, he needed to have them out and look at them under the light. “I did. But I’m working on it, and my last pack was a week ago, no, way longer.” He tensed when a heavy hand fell on his back. His first instinct was to cringe away, though he knew it was Lance. Arthur gave his head a shake and peered over his shoulder.

“I’m proud of you,” Lance said. He had this manner of speaking that felt tense, but it was warm and heartfelt. It was the kind of persona people didn’t expect, but it meant the world to Arthur. “I’m proud you felt comfortable in sharin’ with me, and you’re tellin’ me you’re not done yet. Your health comes first, but I get you gotta move at your own pace.”

Arthur nodded. He tucked his metal arm closer to his side and gripped the wrist band. “Thanks. I… isn’t Vivi waiting for me?”

Lance sniffed. “Probably. What d’I know? I saw her drivein’ up, and I came over to see if you’re up.” He lowered his arms and motioned the walkie-talkie on his (pro wrestler) belt. “In fact, that might’ve been one of the guys callin’ for me.” Arthur shrugged off his vest and grabbed for one of the better shirts.

“I kind of doubt that.”

Lance paused before the door. “What’s’at?”

“Nothing! Nothing!” Arthur burbled. “Galahad, go with Lance! Let’er know I’m getting ready. Please!” Arthur scrambled around the room seeking pants. While he was at it, he tossed some of the tools scattered from the day before, back onto the couch.

The lower floor of Kingsman Mechanics had a shower station in the back, installed primarily for standard safety requirements. Arthur was usually the one that used the showers; more often than he used his shower at home. Blearily, he wondered when was the last time he left the shop?

It didn’t take Arthur long to get freshened up, and head out to meet his group. He was a little apprehensive as he trekked from the garages back to the front shutters. Likewise, he was a little surprised when he stepped out into the late noon of the day, to find only Vivi and Mystery waiting. “That’s right,” Arthur chided himself. He was all worked up for nothing.

A few vehicles were parked in front of the garage, and some of the repair crew wandered outside doing routine paper work before moving the car and trucks into the open slots of the garage. It was a relatively quiet, overcast day with a chilly breeze. The road that ran alongside Kingsman’s was placid, maybe due to the construction work going on up the road that had half the lane shut down.

As Arthur exited the garage, a bright and gleeful bark greeted him. Mystery nearly plowed into his shins at full speed. “Whoa there, bud!” Arthur swooped down and grabbed Mystery around his shoulders, and he nearly fell over with the excited pooch as he barked up a storm. “Twelve hours tops. You can handle twelve hours, huh?”

“I get this distinct impression he missed you,” Vivi proclaimed. She stepped away from the open driver side door of the van, but not before excusing herself from whoever was inside. “That, and he was pretty worried. You didn’t go home with Lance last night.” It was a statement, and Vivi’s eyes squinted behind her glasses. “How’d you do?”

Arthur rubbed Mystery’s shoulders with his palm and stared, a little too long, at Vivi with suspicion. “I got a little busy with that dampener equipment. You know, so we won’t be busting our wallets on a surplus of batteries.” He frowned. “At least, that’s the idea. Actually, maybe some simple wards would work.” Vivi laughed.

“I hope you didn’t build some sort of elaborate contraption, only to come up with that solution in the moment.” Vivi shifted her hands behind her back. “Is that all you worked on?”

The van creaked on its wheel wells, as its occupant moved around. Lance’s heavy boots hit the cement, and he ducked back behind the vans back doors. “You two might think about going on ahead,” Lance called. “Your appointment for the body shop is set for four, so don’t keep them waiting.”

“Ooh, thanks Uncle Lance,” Vivi chirped. “We have plenty of time. Artie, you ready?” Vivi pulled up the tassel end of her sweater, and wrapped it around the flashlight she carried. She smirked and shrugged Arthur’s way.

“Yep,” Arthur muttered. He dithers to rise, when a little orange ball came racing his way from under the van. Galahad rammed at Arthur’s knees and whined. “Galy, you should—” Arthur stopped, and heaved a breathy sigh. “Never mind. You can come, but behave yourself. We’re not having a fiasco like at the petshop.” Arthur scooped the hamster up in hand, and motioned Mystery toward Vivi. When Arthur reached the door open door, he was met by Lance. Something about Lance seemed edgy, and Arthur half expected his uncle to ask him to wait or stay behind. Instead, Lance looked Arthur in the eye and frowned.

“You take care of yourself,” Lance said. He gripped the bundle of tattered ceiling liner in his hands tighter, as if trying to wring out the soot. “And for criminy sakes, get yourself some good food.” Lance didn’t stick around. He marched by Arthur and back into the open doors of the garage and its symphony of pumps, embers, and cranking wrenches.

Vivi leaned up out of the driver side door and waveed at Lance’s retreating back. “I’ll look after him, Uncle Lance!” She swung back inside the van, and sprang into the back. She began hissing, and puffing erratically. “Ow. Hot-hot.” A weighty clunk echoed from the vans back. “Sorry Lew.”

“Nudge over some, Misty.” Arthur scooted in beside the dog, his arm deposited the orange puff on the seat between them. “Make room for Galy. And no fighting.” He pressed his finger to Mystery’s nose, before Mystery could shuffle over into Galahad’s space. “What is our first stop, madam? And where are those keys?”

The first stop was the Tome Tomb. Arthur guided the van into one of the parking lots that dotted every cluster of blocks up and down the road, and found an open slot to park. He twisted the key out of the ignition, and leaned back with a yawn escaping.

“It’s so warm and pleasant sitting in the sun,” Arthur mentioned. “It’d be stellar to just nap, y’know? Sleep the winter away.” He set a hand down on the fluff pile that was Galahad, nestled beside his thigh. “I’m juz digging thinking about being home for a bit.”

With backpack in hand, Vivi slid squeezed down beside Mystery in the passenger seat. She tugged on the door handle. “I know what you mean, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do.” Vivi pulled a pen and small notepad from her bag, and began writing. “How long d’you think it’ll take them to get the van repainted?”

Arthur sniffled. “Well. They have to prime it, which doesn’t take long, but it has to dry first.” He winced a bit, and shook his head. “The whole time slot will be about three weeks, for a vehicle like the van. Yeesh.”

“And the price?” Vivi inquired. She frowned, and stuck the pen tip between her lips.

Arthur leaned over and stole the pen. “Can I borrow that notepad? What’re writing on it?” Vivi didn’t protest, she handed the notepad over. Arthur set it on his lap and began writing.

Lewis popped up over the passenger head rest. “Vi, my shades? Did you pick them up?” The radio garbled static briefly, the sound of it fading before Arthur reached over to fumble at the nobs.

“Here,” Vivi hummed. She dug around in her backpack quickly, before leaning over and poking through the cup holders. She plucked up one pair of sunglasses and a walkie-talkie and handed them back. “This won’t take us long, and Art, please-please get yourself something to eat.” She checked the notepad when Arthur handed it back, and grimaced. “Ah, heh. On that subject, can you boys pick us up something, too?” She slide out of the van, Mystery followed.

“I think we can manage that,” Lewis replied. He slipped on the sunglasses, and leaned over to check his reflection in the rear view mirror. He taps the mirror a few times, and waves a hand in front of it. Discreetly, Arthur scoots aside. “Any requests?”

“Leave it up to Artie,” Vivi says. “I’m not picky.” Mystery yapped. He was already walking away. “I’ll get in touch when I’m done.” She waves the communicator she claimed, before she hurried off after the hound, and down the streets sidewalk.

Arthur huffed and leaned a little more on the driver side door. “She’s treating me like a child.”

Lewis slipped over the bench seat, his eyes flash behind the shades. “You don’t provide evidence to indicate otherwise,” he muttered. “C’mon, you get picks. When was the last time you ate, anyway?”

Arthur rotated his shoulders, and pulled at the door handle. “I probably munched something late last night.” He didn’t remember munching anything any time last night. The hot pocket his uncle had given him, that had been pretty good. Not as good as a real pizza, but whatever.

“You brought your hamster?” Lewis uttered. He shut the vans doors and went around double checking. Arthur had stayed standing where he was, watching the road and holding a hand cupped around Galahad’s wheels. “Isn’t it kind of dangerous to travel with the lil guy? Especially with… He’s kind of big for a pocket.”

Arthur snickered. “He’ll be fine. He’s tougher than he looks. But thank you, thank you for your concern.”

There wasn’t anything that could be done with the hamster. Lewis reasoned that this was something Arthur did, he couldn’t be certain. Galahad didn’t seem too upset by his change of environment, he simply looked content to be with Arthur.

The bell of the shop twittered its faint harmony as Vivi pushed the door open. She paused, giving Mystery the time to enter, and stepped in behind her faithful companion. The Tome Tomb was as she left it before, if not a little chiller come the winter months, and a little darker; if possible with the windows filled with scripture and charms. Mystery’s footfalls paced gently beside hers; the hound kept close, his sharp ears aimed forward. From the ceiling dangled glittery talismans of protection, carved from bone and rock, each piece unique.

“Hello,” Vivi called. “Chloe? New guy?” She never got the last guys name. “Duet?”

A figure poked its head through a beaded veil, causing the trademark clatter of beads to ring out. Vivi lurched back, knocking her legs against Mystery’s shoulders.

“Jeez and crepes,” Vivi snapped. “Why do you do that?”

Duet, arms loaded with books and ratty magazines, approached the front counter. “I thought you liked the creepy, and spooky atmosphere.” The stack of merchandise thumped onto the surface of the glass counter. “I have wares if you have fares.”

Vivi took another breath. “Very funny. I didn’t peg you as one that plays video games.” She glanced down, as Mystery padded away to give the shop his cursory examination.

“I don’t,” Duet went on, smile falling. “But Chloe does, and she has frequented the store since the new help outlived his usefulness.” Vivi took a step back, a thin gasp wisped between her lips. Duet’s deep frown evaporated, and a smile splint the face. “Oh, no. Not like that. The demanding work schedule was interfering with his grades, so he had to resign from us. He’ll be back come summer, I assure you. Now.” Duet gave the air an audible sniff. “Vivi! You practically radiate a vibrant spirit flame. Interesting case?”

“Cases,” Vivi said, and emphasized the Ss. “We were on a roll, boss. That’s kind of a portion of the reason why I came in early.” She pulled her backpack off and set it on the counter.

“Ooh,” Duet hummed. The figure stepped forward, arms folded on the counter top, and leaned beside Vivi’s backpack. “Tell me your dark secrets then.” The shop darkened by degrees, and the bright grin in the face was contrasted by rich shadows setting into the contours of Duet’s face. Duet’s eyes gleamed unnaturally.

Vivi surveyed the shops interior mildly. “I wouldn’t call them dark.”

Light floods the shop, and Duet dropped the once intimidating gaze. “Oh.”

“I’d like to buy one of my books back from you,” Vivi went on. She slipped the laptop out of the bag, then headed around the opening in the countertop. “And I need to use the printer, if that’s cool?” She disappeared through the beaded veil and hastened to the stores back.

“Sure, knock yourself out.” Duet looked down as Mystery made his way back to the countertop. Mystery stopped and stared up at Duet, and Duet gazed back into the hound’s crimson eyes. “How are you this evening, Mystery? Keeping Vivi out of harm, hmm?”

Mystery chuckled, unlike a dog, and grinned back.

“‘I don’t have pockets.’ What sort of an excuse is that?” Arthur muttered. He climbed the duel steps to the top of the restaurants patio roof, he and Lewis walked side by side with Lewis carrying the cartoons with white paper bags. “Tell me to order whatever, then make me pay.”

Lewis passed under the arch and scanned over the open patio. It was gray brick from the floor to the wall that encircled the numerous tables and chairs, with wide awnings stretched partway over the expanse. Aside from a few clusters of customers, it was empty. “I kind of misplaced my last coat.”

That comment shut Arthur up. He rubbed his fingers up under the fur in Galahad’s chin. “It, well, it did find a good home. If that’s any consolation.” He began walking across the floor. Lewis made his way towards a corner table, under a potted tree shrub. Lewis pulled out a bag of food and the drink, and set them before Arthur. Lewis paused, before opening the paper bag.

“Can you manage this on your own?” he murmured. “With the hamster and… Galahad won’t run off?”

Arthur set Galahad on the table beside his bag. With one hand Arthur brought forth his toasted sandwich and chips, and folded out the bag to set his lunch on. “He knows better. Galy, you wanna chip?” Arthur held the chip over to the hamster.

Lewis took his seat, and settled to watch the birds plodding around the empty seats and tables hunting for tidbits and handouts. “Was Dimitri really okay? I know, you said the kids made a one-hundred percent recovery, but what about Dimitri?”

Arthur picked a piece of crust from his bread and gave it to Galahad. “He was shook up. What else is there to say?” He took a bite from his sandwich and set it back to the paper wrapper. “I wasn’t there, anyway. Vi talked to him about it. Mostly, it seemed he was upset he yelled at you. So there.” He had to shoo Galahad from his chips, the hamster wanted to nest in them. A sudden thought caused Arthur’s hand to twitch, and he debated on relinquishing his chips to the hamster. “Weren’t you… sort of there?” Arthur wanted to try and ask more, but his arm… was trembling. He reached across his chest and gripped the edge of his vest. “Lew’s?”

Lewis turned his head a fraction, the corner of his eye socket smoldered. He had a frail suspicion why Arthur denied himself the false arm, but he couldn’t press himself to draw attention to that. “No, I wasn’t,” he murmured. “I was asleep. Look, you complained to Uncle Lance about feeding your hamster weird stuff, and here you are feeding him all that stuff.”

This was true. In Arthur’s distraction, Galahad had crawled into the pile of chips and had laid claim to the salty, sweet crispiness. “This is different,” Arthur retorted. “This is just a treat. It’s not the main course.”

“Is there a difference to a hamster?”

“Hold on.” Arthur rubbed some of the sticky from his fingers, and set his napkin aside. He reached into his pocket and produced his phone; with it, Arthur began working his thumb across the screen. “Give me a moment. Okay. Here, check this out.” Arthur paused and watched the phones screen a second, then handed it across the unopened lunch sacks, to Lewis. “This.”

Lewis took the phone and watched the video playing on it. “Tiny hamster eating tiny pizza,” he read. He pushed the shades up a bit and set the phone down on the table. He glanced up when Galahad wheeled over, and climbed onto his arm lying parallel to the phone.

“Galy’s favorite youtube series,” Arthur mentioned. He nibbled on his sandwich, then set it down.

“It’s really cute,” Lewis admitted. He reached over and rubbed the small space between the hamsters twitching ears.

“I know. Too bad there aren’t a lot of the vids, Galy drives me nuts watching the same ones over and over.” Arthur jerked in his seat when a crackle of static snapped. He and Lewis exchange a look, and Lewis shook his head. The crackle of static rasped through once more, and that’s when Arthur remembered the communicator in his pocket. “Viv-vi? Hey?”

“It’s me,” Vivi’s voice scratched through. “You’re a little – Where’d – z go?”

Arthur took a sip from his drink and responded back. “Must be the patio. We’re at Masterful Sauces. Do you read? Masterful Sauces? Over.”

A few minutes later, Vivi and Mystery arrived up the steps. Lewis was already making places up at the table. While Lewis did this, Vivi rummaged in her backpack before presenting an envelope to Arthur.

“Wait-wait, lemme clean your hand.” Vivi set the envelope aside, and brought out the ninety-nine and a rag. “It’s important— don’t roll your eyes at me.”

Arthur held his hand out. “Fine.” As Vivi wiped off the sandwich grease, Arthur eyed her backpack. “Vi, people are gunna start calling you a bag lady or something.”

“I will inherit that title with pride. Okay, you can open it now.” Vivi wedged herself into her seat with her supply bag, and tore into a pasta dish. “I have no idea why you got me this, and I don’t care. It’s delicious.”

Lewis stared at the phone. He wanted to tap on another video, but that didn’t work. In fact, when he tried to manipulate the phone, it went straight to the phonebook listing. “You should also eat the salad, you need more veggies and greens.” A strangled squawk came from Arthur, and he nearly dropped the folded sheet of paper he held.

“Vi! What is this?” Arthur choked. He was drinking soda while he read the sheet, clearly a mistake. He was futilely mopping up spilt soda from the tables top, one handed.

“That’s what—” Vivi paused mid-sentence to eat. “Don’t get it dirty. That’s the most formal check you’ve gotten in a while, right? I mean, aside from Uncle Lance….”

“Vi! What is this,” Arthur repeated, voice strained.

“Some new calculations I did,” Vivi stated. “The percentages from the cases we had – we had a few low key, but it all added up. Those are the correct sums, Duet helped me. And a bit for the damages, because those were on fault of a case, so I have to pay.”

“Vi!” Arthur resumed. He held the sheet of paper in his lap. “No, this can’t be right!”

“It is,” Vivi insisted, calmly. She picked at her food, eating quickly. Mystery would glance her way, then across the table to Lewis. Lewis was still staring at the phone. Vivi stole it away, and touched at the screen. “What’d you need?”

“I was watching hamster videos.” Lewis hunched down, when Vivi stopped and gave him a curios stare. Lewis had Galahad on his shoulder, and it looked like the hamster was fast asleep. For the best, probably. “Tiny hamsters eating tiny food.” Vivi AND Mystery, held their solid stare for a full minute. Vivi tapped at the phones screen, then, slipped it back over to Lewis.

“Calm down Art, we need to discuss some things as a group.” Vivi took a sip of her soda, then began cutting her food into smaller bites. “Yeah. We got a sizable bonus, but only from that one case we did. For the Hershey’s.” Lewis rasped a sound, and a little flame sparked from his shoulder. Arthur hadn’t noticed. “Yeah. That case. It’s a problem.”

Lewis slipped his shades up as he raised his head. “The Hershey’s got what they wanted. How’s it a problem still?”

“They got what they wanted, that’s why,” Vivi snapped. “Not that what you did was wrong, Lew. We had no choice, in the interests of the spirits confined to that home.” She continued eating bites of food, as she explained. “The school made a point to mention we didn’t spend a whole lotta time with the Hershey’s. I think maybe to keep us wary, if the Hershey’s get back in touch saying we didn’t do our job.” Vivi never doubted Lewis once, and Lewis didn’t converse vividly over what had been done to free, escort, release the family? She wouldn’t ask, and they had procured VERY little evidence from the investigation.

“This bonus worries me,” Vivi resumed. “We’re not under contract to do expulsions on demand, and we don’t go out of our way to do them. Unless they are absolutely necessary.”

Arthur glared, as Mystery pushed over the remaining half of his sandwich. “We used to,” he said. “When we started out. So, they have those files.” He turned to Lewis’ perplexed gaze. “We had to hand over those files, as credentials.”

“Yeah, but that was wrong,” Vivi grumbled. “We didn’t go far with that. I just wish we realized what we were doing sooner.”

“Fritz,” Lewis murmured. He didn’t mean to utter the name, but it had stuck to him. And his warning.

“That was different,” Vivi said. “Fritz was becoming dangerous, and he couldn’t be left in those conditions. It was the only thing we could do for him. But that’s the difference.” Vivi set aside her utensils, and placed her elbows to the table. She made a net with her entwined fingers, and set her chin there. “We’re trying to stay out of that field of service. The college thinks we’d be willing to reconsider.”

Arthur scoffed. “Thanks for the funding, but make it clear to them we’ll pass.” He and Mystery were currently mid argument over who would finish off half the sandwich. Mystery seemed to believe Arthur needed extra food.

“I’m working on it.” Vivi took a breath and sighed. “I put it in our report, clarifying that we are certified investigators, and anything otherwise is a violation of our contract.”

Arthur sat a moment, picking at the edge of the sandwich that now sat with his half eaten meal. “What do we do if they violate the terms of our contract?” He took a bite from the sandwich, but didn’t feel like chewing or swallowing. He sipped some of his beverage instead.

Vivi leaned over the table and looked to Lewis. “It won’t come to that.” Lewis turned his focus back to the phone on the table. “If it does, then they can have another ghost hunting, investigating group. Stability is something we need if we wanna continue our line of work. I won’t have it otherwise. Arthur?”

Arthur raised his eyes to meet Vivi’s, and nodded. “Well, if it ever comes to it… we could have that ghostbuster business. Y’know, if Lewis is—”

“No,” Lewis rumbled, glancing Arthur’s way. “Not in your lifetime paly.”

They finished their meal in near silence, with a few in-between occasional comments of possible scenarios and idea situations of how to progress with work. By the time they had finished – mostly – with their meal, it was almost time for the appointment at the body shop to get the van prepped for panting. The temperature was already on a steady decline as the sun swam behind the thick clouds, and sought refuge from expulsion behind a far gone horizon and a waiting forest.

#msa #mystery skulls animated #mystery skulls fanfic #mystery skulls #fanfiction #mystery skulls fanfiction #mystery skulls ghost #msa mystery #msa arthur #msa lewis #msa vivi

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blackcatanna · 5 years ago

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LET THE ORGY OF SADNESS CONTINUE: Okita's Route Part 3: Edo Blossoms

I'm very interested to see how this plays out. Tbh, I don't really get this relationship yet but that seems consistent with how I felt before Edo Blossoms in the other routes so, yes, I am excited! :D I hope that Kaoru doesn't die X_X I want at least one route with Kaoru redemption but I am not at all optimistic...

Chapter 1:

"Something else entirely had me preoccupied..." Could it be... one spicy, stabby boi?

Wait, are we... LIVING TOGETHER? 👀

Quick question: do silver bullets affect demons or just furies?

BWWWWAAAARRRP!!! PHYSICAL CONTACT ALARM! "I held his soft, trembling fingers in my hands," Whoa there. Please calm down. I cannot allow this level of unbridled eroticism in my Good Christian Suburb.

In all seriousness, though, I GUESS this is SOMEWHAT sweet and romantic but I want everyone to know that I'm saying this under duress. >:( If I fancied him, this would wring the fuck out of my heart.

"Are you sure? You aren't just saying that?" Glad to see that Doctor Chizuru studied under Doctor Gregory "Everybody Lies" House.

"Why is it that you're always here when I wake up?" If you can't figure it out, I sure as hell am not going to tell you!

"Okita seemed to take pleasure from my surprise, and he stared into my eyes." X_X Of course he did... Because he loves to provoke reactions.

"Answer me." MAKE ME >_<

"looking off to the side in a fit of feigned indifference." < Okita in a nutshell

Is he upset because I said that I was here because of worry and guilt? Because, tbh, fair enough. Those were pretty dumb things to say, making out like it's a burden instead of admitting that I actually like being around him >:(

"Well, I guess that's fine then." X_X Oh, come on! Don't use the f-word on me like that! D:

"She's lying." YAMAZAKI!!! >_<

"Look, I know you can't stop thinking about me, but this whole doting-all-day-and-night thing is tiring." Called. The fuck. Out. X_X

Tbf, it seems kind of hypocritical to be fussing over someone while refusing to let them even inquire about your own health. Plus, it's a very one sided arrangement, which is not healthy X_X

"stop throwing a bitch fit" XD Okita is my new hero :')

"I didn't know that my behaviour became a cause for concern for them, too." Then, perhaps, you are foolish and inconsiderate -_-

O: Okita!?? Did he faint?! O_O

Woo! Going on an adventure with YAM! :)

There had better not be any creepy bald fuckers waiting in mah house! >:(

Are all doctors bald in 1860s Japan????

I'm so happy that Yamazaki's still alive in this route :) TOUCH WOOD.

"*Grunt* *Cough*..." Ah, I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught tb -_- (jk)

No, never split the party! D:

"However the price to pay is life itself." DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUUN!!! So much for it granting "immortality"

"the poisonous Water of Life" uh... Isn't that kind of an oxymoron X_X

"Retaining your sanity is impossible without feasting on blood." Ah, so all along, the Shinsengumi were just feeding the furies a poor diet.

O: ):< WHO DARES THUMP MY YAMAZAKI?

Of course. It's fucking Kaoru -_-

Blah blah, sadistic fuckery, blah blah. I'm starting to get real tired of your shit, BROTHER.

"Was he trying to play a trick on me?" -_- probably, yeah.

Wow, that's... Actually pretty helpful? Thanks!?

Okay, the doctor folk have gone! I give Okita delicious blood now? :)

Oh. HE GAWN!!! O:

WHY ARE YOU UP AND DRESSED? >_<

"Sleeping all day is such a drag." True, so DRINK MY BLOOD AND GET BETTER >:(

Bloodlust time :O Good thing I'm a walking blood pack! :D

"How long have you been doing this?" Uh, haven't you been watching over him night and day?

"I wrapped my arms around Okita and held him tight " BWAAAA- Okay, yes, physical contact. Hug = gud >:(

"Pease, drink this " DRINK THE BLOOD >:(

"I could feel his breath brushing across my skin..." o_o Saucy...

Why are the blood drinking descriptions so erotic XD I mean, I'm not complaining but-

Who is this strange, apologetic man?

Blood > Porridge

Heh heh, apparently, Hijikata acts "all hoighty-toighty"

Oooh! Looks like Okita's trying to break free of his diligent YAM nursing...

"I am calm" Okita, last time you said that, you went on a killing spree...

Ooh, I wonder why Yamazaki and Okita don't get along... I remember seeing a picture somewhere with casual Yamazaki abuse in the background...

"Okita was acting like a petulant child, throwing his toys out of the pram..." X_X Sexy...

"Do you think the Shinsengumi still needs me?" HONEY, the Shinsengumi needs all the help it can GET!! O_O

Omg, Yamazaki's threatening to tell on Okita! XD He's playing a dangerous (and childish) game!

Side note: the painting in Okita's room is distracting me because it kind of reminds me of the dead mice my cats bring in on a regular basis.

WAIT, IT'S A FISH!!! X_X A NICE, INNOCENT LITTLE KOI FISHY X_X I need to stop spending so much time with my cats...

"What, already? Can't I stay up just a little longer?" Hakuoki: Mum simulator!

"I'll turn in on one condition..." Oo-er :O

"Okita grinned mischievously, and he peered directly into my eyes." O_O OO-ER!

"My palms became sweaty, and my heart skipped a beat." IT MUST BE LOVE O_O

"Since you're here, mind laying down next to me?" DUN DADA DUN! *fanfare plays* We got there in the end, folks! :D

DON'T YOU DARE SAY NO XD

"That's not a funny joke." True. And the only way to teach him a lesson is to PRETEND to take him seriously by DOING AS HE SAYS >:)

"You're so dense." FACTS.

WELL DONE, CHIZURU, YOU DONE COCK-BLOCKED YERSELF, I said, berating the fictional character as if that's not totally something that I would do in real life ..

"Okita blushed, turning away in embarrassment." O: CTRL+Z CTRL+Z CTRL+Z ):<

"I want to, erm, talk to you for a little bit longer..." Oh, we can "talk" all night long ;)

"Talk...? With me?" But I'm only a stupid woman, huh dur, with naught to say but um and er! Actually, Chizuru does say ""um..." I couldn't think of anything to say" in this route A LOT so maybe FAIR PLAY.

Just realised that I accidentally made a rhyme.

"Okita sighed, frustrated" HONESTLY, ME TOO.

"How clearly do I have to spell this out for you." I'm beginning to wonder that myself. He just wants some company, Chizuru! Is that SO HARD to imagine? X_X

"He began to run his fingers through my hair." Oooh! Physical contact :3 Chizuru = pet cat!

"as the tip of his finger touched my skin, my heart skipped." Yeeeesssss... Feel the thirst flow through you... 3:)

Are we gonna get a thirsty Western uniform pan, now? :P

"I tried facing him directly, but for some reason my heart was thudding in my chest..." :O Oh my! I cannot think of a possible explanation! You should get that checked out! >:P

"you find me sexy right now, don't you?" AH-HAH! >:D Caught red handed!

Ugh, can't believe he tricked me into saying he looks good. >:(

UGH. Doctor Matsumoto still needs to perform a final exam on Okita?! Just let him go already X_X

Wow, has Okita been seething against Hijikata this whole time? That... Can't be healthy -_-

"Okita had the tendency to act rashly and avoid looking at the bigger picture, particularly when Hijikata was involved." No shit. He's going to be such a handful X_X

"You're coming, right?" Of course. I'm not just going to sit around here while everyone I care about gets killed O_O besides, you need my nutritious and delicious blood to keep you nice and healthy ^_^

"she can't keep her eyes off me for long enough, to the point where she'll follow me wherever I go" Yeah, because that's how you win at this game >:P

"Aw, is that some blushing I see? It's the truth." Yup.

"Well, yeah," SHE ADMITTED IT!!! 8D

"So, Yukimura. It appears you have some feelings for Okita, is this true?" OH, FRICKING GREAT!!! NOW I'M BEING INTERROGATED BY MY DAD'S EX- COLLEAGUE ABOUT MY LOVE LIFE X_X IF THE GROUND COULD SWALLOW ME NOW, THAT'D BE GREAT! OKITA IS SUCH A DICK XD

OKITA. STOP.

Doctor, why you gotta be so serious? O:

"Criminy..." Uh... Is that a real word?...

Omg, it is a real word! I have never heard anyone use it but, tbf, this is the 1860s :P

Okita needs to stop saying that every decision that Kondou makes that he doesn't like is because Hijikata "coerced" him. He's a grown man. He can think for himself. Please respect his autonomy X_X This is not healthy.

Uuuuuugh. Kaoru >_< Seriously, get a life!

"I'm here to watch the Shinsengumi flail around like pathetic losers as they watch their friends die." ... KAORU, THAT DOES NOT COUNT AS A HOBBY >_<

"Looks like you made it in time for the show, though. You'll be able to witness the glorious execution of the Shinsengumi's idiot chief." Or, in other words, we arrived in time to try and rescue him >:)

"You look nice. All your little boo-boos patched up?" Uhh... There's a lot to unpack here...

"Okita reveled in the vicious display, allowing Kaoru's blood to shower him as he swung repeatedly at the Demon." O_O Umm... Okita? Maybe CHILL THE FUCK OUT. O_O HE IS MY BROTHER, YOU KNOW?!

Aaaand, seemingly Kaoru's going to milk that fact... -_-

Did he... Stab me in the mouth?!?? What am I looking at here? X_X

Also, why doesn't he just activate his demon form!?!

Wait, is he feeding me the Ochimizu?!

Kaoru says that the water of life will eat away at Okita's body faster than if he'd just succumbed to TB but that's clearly not true if he's living long enough to see the end of the Shinsengumi. Plus, a short life of action is better than spending the rest of your days fading away in a sickbed.

"Okita comforted me with the soft tickle of his hands as they wiped away each tear with a warm touch." :3 Pretty darn wholesome! I will concede this point!

"you're a sweetheart." :3 Thank.

"You're a good girl" And am I supposed to wag my tail at that? X_X

"I... I am in love with Okita." O: Damn, that'll go straight to his head X_X

"more than anything or anyone" not that that's saying much :P Sorry, romantic moment, must resist shit talking urges!

"I believed that if I died, no one would give a shit." </3 O: )': DX Neveeeeeerrrrr!!!!

I prescribe HUG INJECTION >:(

"You look like shit" -_- Way to kill the mood.

"Here, come closer." :D Okay, I forgive you! <3

Oh, he played the uno reverse card on my hug plan :O

"How could I keep myself calm when the man I loved held me delicately in his arms?" BIG. MOOD.

Awe, he didn't kill Kaoru because "my heart knew it didn't want you to hate me..." <3 <3 <3 >.<

"My heart melted." SAME.

Chapter 2:

Damn, we're only on Chapter 2 and things are already getting pretty fluffy...

"Do you want me to sleep next to you?" DO IT. XD I dare you :P

"I wonder if Okita thought of me as nothing more than a silk kimono and a warming stone, as if that was all I could offer..." Girl, come on! Don't sell him short like this! Oh, and tell me more about what you want to offer him 3:)

Well, it looks like blood is the answer, for now O_O

"Y-You're not gonna offer me a-any blood today? Trying to play hard to get?" -_-

"his warm mouth drew my blood into his full, tender lips." X_X Sounds like someone needs a cold shower...

"I'm a diseased freak with no hope for the future." D: Don't say that! Everybody dies eventually! You still have strength to achieve the things you want and we can still be happy together! :'(

"I will be by your side, Okita... No matter what." YUS >:)

SEN!!! <3

"Would it have killed you to at least write us a letter?" O: I'm sorry! X_X

Ha. Bold of you to assume that Kodo's continued research might be in your favour.

"Kondou has surrendered to the Imperial Army." O_O OH FUCK.

And of course Okita is blaming Hijikata X_X

"You are making assumptions, most of which are uninformed" Yeah, you tell him, Sen-bae!

I still don't see why we can't at least try to rescue Kondou >:( Are we just supposed to sit tight and wait for him to be executed?!??

" I'm sure that Kondou would be very unhappy to hear his life was saved at the cost of Okita's." >:( And I'm sure that he would be even more unhappy to hear that Okita spent the rest of his days confined to his bed, in misery and anguish. >:(

The dream was pretty wholesome :'o

I guess protecting the things that are important to Kondou, like his legacy, is more important than protecting Kondou himself. Kondou entrusted his legacy to Okita, and so his efforts might be better spent elsewhere, rather than on rescuing Kondou. :'( That's up to him, though.

HUG ALERT!!! 8D

"No matter how many times he touched me, I couldn't have imagined ever tiring of the sensation..." XD The thirst is real!

"Y'know, ever since you came into my life, I've always given you a hard time..." WHERE IS THE LIE?

These two assholes in each other's arms, like "Welp, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of telling you that I love you so we're just going to continue this totally not heterosexual hug right now and stfu."

:D I am happy to see Hijikata! However, I know someone who may feel differently -_-

"Would you like me to wake him." O_O Nooooot a good idea, Chizuru!

"Without me to blame, I doubt he'll have anything to motivate him, and I'm worried he'll lose the will to live." :O Hijikata, that's kind of sweet in a fucked up kind of way but you underestimate the power of LOVE >:)

THIS HAD BETTER NOT BE FUCKING KAORU AGAIN!!!

:O Kazama and Amagiri?! I was beginning to think that Kazama had lost interest in me. Or, at least, hoped he had.

"This evening... Isami Kondou was beheaded." I just gasped out loud! Kondou, no! D':

OMG, IS CHIZURU TRANSFORMING INTO A BADASS DEMON?! 8D 8D 8D

"A woman who has sullied herself with the water of life is unworthy of my love. Consider this over." ... IF I KNEW THAT THAT WAS ALL IT TOOK, I WOULD HAVE DRANK THAT FUCKING CONCOCTION YEARS AGO >_<

"You are dead to me." GOOD.

Awe, Okita! :'(

NOW I'M CRYING, TOO D'X Damn this game DX

Chapter 3:

Chasing down the Shinsengumi >:) ... Again! If this is anything like Kazama's route, this is going to be depressing af...

We're like two fuzzy wood creatures, going from cozy spot to cozy spot to snooze in during the day :')

"Be a good girl," >_< Staaaaaahhhp!!!

"They went thattaway!" XD I know that this situation is pretty dire but that sentence makes me chuckle!

"Fight...? You?" Ye bitch! >:) I got me my ochimizu powers now!

"How dare you, you bastard!" UM. YOU ATTACKED US!!! WE WERE TRYING TO HAVE A NAP!

*Slash, slash, squelch, splat* X_X

"Ahahaha! You're just helpless pigs!" -_- Uh, Okita? Calm the fuck down, k? You're starting to sound like Kazama!

"his sadistic display of sword mastery." Yup, they be the right words -_-

Ugh, I got shot. Probably shouldn't have been standing around doing NOTHING X_X

D: I killed a guy! GUYS, CHIZURU JUST STABBED SOMEONE IN THE HEART, COME AND SEE!!! :')

"Chizuru, you're trying to hard." *Hides guide* I don't know what you could possibly mean :) :) :)

:O a kunai?! Could it be... my boy YAM?!

YAM!!! :'D

"I just assumed you died or something." Okita is the queen of tact, as always :')

Wait, Yamazaki, don't stay behind on your own O':

NOOOOOOOOO O_O

YAMAZAKIIIIIIII!!!!

OMG HE'S OKAY!!! 8'D 8'D

"I... Cannot afford to die yet..." Doesn't stop you in most routes, though, does it? X_X

"This doesn't look good..." Oh no! Is he going to succumb to his injuries off screen?! D': Classic Yamazaki D,X

"You've been spying on us for days, and I didn't even notice." :') That's our Yam boy!

Aw, Okita gave Yamazaki the thank you!

I reeeeeaaally don't think that Kondou would want Okita to murder Hijikata X_X

"I am going to be late, but I promise to return." YOU HAD BETTER. >:( DON'T DIE, YAMAZAKI!

Owl <3 Hoot hoot to you too, my friend!

Don't kill Hijikata, you dumbass. -_-

"A penchant for violence" X_X That's Okita all right!

It would be funny if he were drinking from Chizuru's foot, instead... Just, something about the way he's holding her hand invites that image XD

FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!! WHY DOES A BATTLE HAVE TO ERUPT EVERYWHERE WE GO!?!

"Okita grabbed my hand" 8D < Happy Chizuru!

Wait... I'M GETTING BLOODLUST?!? MONSTER CHIZURU IS UNLEASHED >:)

Oh, I guess not. Kinda disappointed, tbh XD

Ugh, can we just catch up to Hijikata already? Let's get this over with.

Wait, his sister was "wedded off to some deadbeat"!?! I wonder how old she was... :/

"I was bullied and given shit all the time." :'(

The CG of Okita giving Hijikata the evils is BEAUTIFUL! X'D

"He was a rich snob" somehow, I doubt that...

Wow, Okita really is seething with passionate jealousy for Hijikata... Even though Kondou gave him the sword X_X

I feel like Kondou's relationship with Hijikata is different enough than Okita and Kondou's that Okita's intense jealousy seems a bit much...

It sort of feels kind of like a kid being jealous of their dad's new girlfriend X_X

MORE HUGS >:D

"Before I knew it, you slithered your way into my heart..." That's a pretty weird but also adorable thing to say X'D SLITHER SLITHER

"And you know just what to say," I KNOW, UNCANNY, RIGHT :) :) :) *hides guide*

"We couldn't help but succumb to the hypnotic lull of our passionate embrace." XD Does this mean a fade-to-black is coming :P

I love that their following Hijikata tracks like they're hunting the wild Hijikata beast XD

Is he all alone?

Oh, he has a bodyguard XD

Really inappropriate time to mention this but this route makes Hijikata seem more attractive to me than before XD Maybe it's because of the contrast with Okita's sadistic, violent, volatile side... Maybe it's because he seems more vulnerable when being berated by Okita, idk XD Leave Hijikata alone, Okita!

"You could have saved him!" But Hijikata has RESPONSIBILITIES. He can't just abandon his men and their cause to save Kondou, even if he wanted to :'(

"I COULDN'T!!!" Yeah, you tell him, Hijikata >:(

OKITA, DON'T PUNCH HIS BEAUTIFUL FACE!!! I mean, uh... XD

Wait, we're not going with the Shinsengumi?! O_e

"Hijikata's a real dumbass, don't you think?" -_- .......NO!

Kondou reading to tiny Okita = mega cuteness!

"If I never met Kondou, there's no doubt in my mind that I'd be waaaaay more cuckoo than I am now." And nobody, NOBODY WANTS TO SEE THAT O_O

"You and Kondou are pretty similar" Obviously, that's a compliment and I'm super flattered but I reeeeeaaally hope that this relationship isn't just because Chizuru reminds him of Kondou XP

"My heart suddenly melted in my chest." What, again!?! Chizuru's heart had been through A LOT during this route -_-

"To be fair, it was a little strange of Okita to compare a woman he loved to a man he viewed as a father..." <<< See?! :P

Skipping off, hand in hand :')

Chapter 4:

Aw, tiny Chizuru sadness flashback </3

It's unthinkably awful, what happened to the village, but revenge =/= genocide.

Chizuru, y u lie? -_-

"There were men who took pleasure from their evil deeds." And demons, too... And Okita, to an extent XD

Ugh, I bet Kaoru's gonna sneak up on me while Okita's gone and be all, "Yeeeeesssss.... Give in to your anger... Feel the hate flow through you..." Fucking annoying hate goblin child.

OH, LOOK WHO IT IS!!!

"You're a real bitch, you know that?" Oh, I'M A BITCH??!! Sure thing, tiny asshole. -_-

"At long last, we can come together. We can be the siblings were born to be." ... Happy and free from the burdens of hate and bitterness? O_O

"We are going to massacre the evil forces conspiring within this country, for the good of our people." ... What people? The dead ones? Yeah, I'm sure they'll be reeeeeeaaal grateful from their graves. Sounds like you just want an excuse to torment some humans, you sadistic piece of shit -_-

"Suddenly, I craved blood..." OH HO!

"I... I craved Okita's blood..." 'Sonly fair >:P

"my entire body screamed to tear Okita limb from limb." 8O Yikes.

I... Kinda want to know what happens if I give in to the bloodlust... 😏

Buuuuut I gotta endure it. Damn.

Oh, it's cold up North, is it? ;P What can we possibly do to stay warm in bed?

PENGUIN HUDDLE is hopefully the answer.

<3 :D Looking up at the stars together!

"I want to make your wishes come true. All of them..." :D Okita is every girl's dream sexy murder genie :)

""If you still plan on walking away from me and everything you have..." Okita reached his hand to me kindly." :) :) :)

"Then, I will kill you " FFS XD THIS BITCH!!!

I bet we're gonna kiss now or something. Damn that sexy murder genie X_X

Oh, no kissing, just crying XD That's... Actually more appropriate, even if they are happy tears :')

O WAIT, "I grabbed ahold of him madly" ...

SMOOCHY SMOOCHY >:)

"For once in my life, I felt whole," Awe </3 "the thought of which nearly brought my tears." BITCH, UR ALREADY CRYING XD

"each breath between our zealous smacking grew more strained and sensuous." O_e ... Uh, what did I just read? XD XD XD

"now that Kondou's gone... I only have one reason to fight." Uh... I have a feeling that it's a Chizuru reason... He really needs to find his own motivations, instead of just attaching himself to the causes of people who give him attention. Okay, that was a bit harsh. X_X I'm sorry, Okita!

"How about another kiss, huh?" "B-but, um... W-we just kissed..." ... SO!?! GIRL, YOU KNOW YOU'RE HOT FOR HIM!

"I'm askin' you if you'll have me or not." ... When he says "have", does he mean . . .

"Well, I think there's a time and place for everything." ... Damn. Is this game suggesting that if I say yes, I'm a slut and he'll think less of me? XP BOOOOOOO!

"Watching you squirm like that makes me want to play with you even more." XD As I predicted: Big Dom Energy!

"As long as I will live, I will crave your touch..." *Munches popcorn* Just screw, damn it!

"Our plump lips smeared against one another, and he pulled at a fistful of my hair, drawing me deeper into him as he bit forcefully into my lower lip." :O ... Kinky! >:P I totally called it XD

"I do not mind putting up with anything you might do to me, Okita." How... Romantic?? O_e Just admit that you're horny, Chizuru! There's no shame, I swear!

"I bet when I'm gone, you'll sob like a baby." :'O YES. OBVIOUSLY. >:'(

"Okita spooned me," Classic XD

Ew, Kodo.

"You look pale. Please do not tell me that you have been refusing to drink blood." XD Thanks for your concern...

Bless Okita for offering himself as an all-you-can-eat buffet X_X

"If I were to commit to this relationship, then it meant I needed to separate myself from my family." DRAMAAAA! :D *Pulls out another bag of popcorn*

"I have no desire to carve a life that comes at the expense of hurting others." PREACH B)

#hakuoki #hakuouki #okita #okita souji #edo blossoms #LONG #SALT #otome adventures #SO MANY WORDS #I DIDN'T KNOW THAT TUMBLR HAD A WORD LIMIT BUT I GUESS I FOUND IT #Tune in for part 4 #i have an addiction

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shewhowantsmouseears · 5 years ago

Text

The Little Peach, Chapter 14

Notes: As always, huge thanks to my editor Drucilla, who has been my life saver again and again.

This last chapter took me a while as there were several plot points I had difficulty wrapping up, and while it's a rushed production, I'd rather it have it be finished than left dangling.

I believe I said it before, but just to reiterate - I'll be taking a story hiatus from now until Jan/Feb. I feel my writing juices have been drained and I need a break so I can do proper justice to the tales in my head, and proper justice to all my loyal fans. Speaking of!

Thanks to everyone who read this silly little story, to all who commented, reblogged, etc, you guys are a big reason why I do this. When I return, I hope to be better than before. This isn't a complete "see you later" - if inspiration strikes, I may do the occasional drabble and upload it, but we'll see what the future holds.

Once more! Thank you very much, and I hope you enjoy the final chapter!

Summary: As the Oni King casts a dark shadow over all of Japan, Mickey takes one last heroic stand, finally becoming his father's son.

Fear and surprise can do wonders to the rational mind. Looking outside of the situation, one would think the obvious thing to do when seeing a maniacal rapidly growing Oni is run in the opposite direction and never look back. To be entirely fair, several of the villagers did exactly that. But the majority of the kingdom, especially those who had previously been inside the palace, could do little more than gawk at who had been one of their most trusted guards.

“I quit,” Marsupilami said while raising his hand and tail.

“How could this have happened?!” Clarabelle was close to having her legs give way, her arms tightly around Minnie. “To think that Pete would use the Lucky Hammer...!”

“How could he do such a thing?” Jose lamented, hand on his heart. “Why, he's never been anything but rude, mean, judgmental, selfish, lazy...” He stopped to click his tongue. “Huh. Hindsight is not a pleasant thing.”

“How did he even know where to find it anyway?” Donald pointed out, keeping Daisy behind him as if that would protect her from Pete's wrath – although all he was doing at the moment was continue to laugh in victory. “It's supposed to be hidden away in a secret location!”

“I only ever told Sir Mickey where it was!” Minnie answered, and automatically everyone's heads shot to little Mickey atop Pluto's head.

Once upon a time, Mickey noted that being small was almost like being invisible. Now he realized this wasn't true at all, because even when he did try looking away, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He knew he should apologize, perhaps try to explain why he'd done it, but the words were hollow and dry in his throat. Saying the right thing wasn't going to fix the problem they were in now. He clenched his fists, eyes on the ground, head lowered shamefully.

“Oh, Mickey,” Daisy broke the uncomfortable silence, voicing everyone's thoughts at once. Pity was evident in her voice, and Mickey nearly would have preferred their anger.

“We can chastise Mickey's actions later!” Panchito declared, stepping forward and unsheathing his blade. “Right now, we literally have a bigger problem! We have to stop Pete from taking over all of Japan with his size!”

“But how do we do that?” Goofy asked, holding his own sword to his chest like a child's teddy bear, full of fright. “One wrong move, and he could stomp us flat!”

Pete let out another belly laugh, sending shockwaves of sound throughout the kingdom. “ALL ONI, ASSEMBLE AT THE CAPITAL AT ONCE! WE'LL MAKE THIS PLACE OUR NEW HEADQUARTERS, AND ALL THE PEOPLE HERE OUR SLAVES!”

Jose whipped out his own sword, ready to do battle. “We'll never submit to you, Pete!”

“LET IT BE KNOWN THAT FROM NOW ON, EVERYONE WILL CALL ME THE GREAT ONI KING!”

“I'll call you a great palooka, and nothing else!” Donald snapped, fingers trembling but ready to fight as well. At this, Mickey began to notice something, lifting his head and raising an eyebrow.

“ALL ONI WHO REFUSE TO DO AS I SAY WILL SUFFER THE SAME AS THE MORTALS! ANYONE WHO DISOBEYS, DIES!”

This “back and forth” between the small and tall could have gone on for some time if Mickey hadn't snapped his fingers to try and get everyone's attention. “Y'know, sometimes I have to shout in order for people to hear me, cause I'm so small. So...” To test out his theory, he rather calmly began to say, “Boy, Pete, one of the worst parts about this is now that you're bigger, everyone can smell how badly you reek!”

Mild panic broke out among friends and family, thinking Pete would stomp down in revenge, but Mickey held out his hand, signaling them to wait and watch.

“AND NOW THAT I'VE TAKEN OVER ALL OF JAPAN, WHY STOP THERE? THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BE MINE!”

Mickey then held out his hands again, in a light “ta-da” gesture. “I don't think he can hear any of us.”

“Huh. How about that?” Donald put a hand above his eyes to try and see where Pete's head actually ended. “We could plot a whole take-down right in front of him and he'd never know.”

“You guys have fun coming up with that.” Marsupilami tried to turn tail and run, but Maurice merely grabbed his tail and kept him in place. “Hey, cowards have common sense! How are we supposed to take down a guy as tall as a mountain?”

“Dear friend Mickey defeated Maurice, did he not?” Panchito reminded them.

“It's our 'dear friend Mickey' who put us in this mess to begin with!” Clarabelle snapped, hands on her hips. “If he'd never come to the palace, this never would have happened!”

“He only came to the palace because Donald said an awful thing to him!” Daisy fought back, fists balling up.

“So you're saying this is my fault?!” Donald gawked.

“It's somebody's fault!”

“It's Mickey's fault!”

“He didn't mean it!”

“I say it's the Emperor's fault!”

“How can you blame a dead man?!”

“We never should have trusted the original Oni King!”

On and on the arguments circled, with Mickey staying silent, knowing that getting involved would only make things worse. Yet he couldn't think of a way to make it stop without the flaring tempers only burning hotter. He was starting to get one of his big headaches again, worse than even before. How could they take down Pete if they couldn't even agree on who to blame? Even if they did, they were all ants compared to Pete's height – he might not even feel their blades on his skin, just something close to a mosquito bite. He couldn't be reasoned with, and the only thing he wanted was more power.

It was then that Pete accidentally did them all a favor, distracting them from their arguments by taking one step forward – it was enough to shake the earth and remind them all that being so close was being closer to death.

“Run!” It was not something that really needed to be said, but Mickey said it anyway, as one does in these rare type of situations. No one was sure where they could run to, as Pete could catch up to them without much effort, but they all began to jolt as far away and as fast away as their feet could take them.

Pete, for his part, had run out of evil things to say, and only now remembered where he was. He looked down, though he had to squint to see the specs of people on the ground. “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, PRINCESS? I CAN'T BE EMPEROR UNLESS YOU GET HITCHED, HUH? LET'S SEE ABOUT THAT!” With another great, wicked laugh, Pete began to walk forward, enjoying the feel of the earth moving beneath him. This joy lasted for a very long five seconds, as in the next step he wound up planting his foot into a small building – given how tightly packed the capitol was, he didn't have much of a choice.

But being tall didn't make him impervious to pain. “OWWWW!” He held his leg, which was cut up by walls and ceilings. “THAT SMARTS AND... AW NO, THAT WAS MY FAVORITE SUSHI PLACE! WHERE ELSE AM I GOING TO GET MAKI ROLLS AT THREE A.M.?” He tried to back up, but that made him collide into a taller building, which made him wobble and sit upon a third building – his howl as he clutched his rump was loud enough to part the very heavens. “OW OW OW OW! AH, CRIMINY! I'M GUNNA WIND UP DESTROYING THIS PLACE BEFORE I CAN RULE OVER IT!”

He tried to stand up straight, dusting off bits of city block from his armor. “OKAY, EASY DOES IT...” Surely he was still intimidating even though he was tip-toeing through the capital, he told himself. As it was, he was doing the heroes another favor, as this method of walking made him much, much slower.

The small group made it to the gates of the capital, as terrified villagers continued to flee. But Minnie wouldn't move another step. “I cannot and will not abandon my people!”

“They don't seem to have a problem abandoning you,” Clarabelle pointed out as people ran past them. “Besides, if we stay here, the Oni he called will wind up at the gates, and then we'll be stuck between a rock and a very, very, very hard place!”

“You women ought to get out of here,” Donald decided, eyes on Pete. “As samurai, it is our duty to take on this menace and protect you.”

“Donald, you can't be serious!” Daisy grabbed her husband's good arm. “You're in no condition to fight, and you can't possibly win!”

“But what about all the people across Japan?” Panchito could feel his head spinning. “At least before, some Oni were willing to live and let live...but now they'll all be forced to take over the remaining villages, and Japan will be completely conquered! If we don't stop him here and now, this might as well be called Oni Land!”

“If we must die, we'll die with honor!” Jose gripped his fist. “I would proudly die if it meant my last stand was against such an evil foe, defending my home and my people!”

“Speak for yourself, bub.” Marsupilami held out his hands, with Maurice copying. “I just discovered the joy of doing a hard day's work, and now I have to die for it? That just sounds like another way of giving up!”

Goofy didn't have much to add, twisting his hands and looking around at everyone, until his eyes fell on Mickey. Mickey was watching Pete very seriously his chin cupped, eyebrow raised. Goofy never considered himself an intelligent man, but he knew a plan in mind when he saw one. He knelt down beside Pluto in order to somewhat-meet Mickey at eye level. “What are you thinking?”

Mickey glanced over at Goofy, then back to Pete. “Where'd the Lucky Hammer go?”

Goofy blinked thrice, then joined Mickey in staring at Pete. One hand was open, trying to help himself wiggle through a pair of tight towers, but the other hand was clutched tight. “Gee, I don't see it at all. Did he drop it somewhere?”

Minnie quickly caught on to the conversation. “It must still be in his hand! If he were to let go of the Lucky Hammer, he'd pop back to normal size...the Lucky Hammer doesn't change it's own size, only the people who hold it.”

“Which means if we made him drop it,” Donald concluded, “Then we could get the drop on him!”

“Except his fist is wayyy up there,” Jose pointed up, “And we're wayyy down here. The most we can do is attack his big smelly toes, and even then, that's no guarantee he'll let it go. How can we do anything when we're so small? He may as well not even know we're here.”

Mickey's head jolted up, his eyes flashing. Just like that, everything he'd seen had come together. “And to him...” He said quietly, his voice getting louder with his revelation. “I'm even smaller than before. He might not even feel me walking up his arm...”

“NO!” Daisy shrieked, trying to grab Mickey with her hands, but this time he'd prepared and jumped away in time. “I don't know what you're thinking, but there is no way you're going near him! I won't allow it!”

“Sir Mickey, you mustn't!” Minnie knelt down, hands clasped together, the sheer thought of Mickey dying bringing tears to her eyes. “I couldn't bear to lose you too! I'd rather never see you again than see you dead!”

Mickey looked back and forth between the two most important women in his life, unsure if they cared for him or for what he represented to them. The rest of the men looked equally unsure, and Mickey was starting to consider giving up for the first time in his life. He shut his eyes hard, and when he opened them, he saw a hand reached out, palm flat, the usual gesture one made to him as a signal to climb up for a close talk. That was nothing new.

What was new was who it belonged to – as Donald had never done it before.

Mickey's eyes widened in disbelief, and Donald's expression was difficult to read. No one spoke, unsure of what to make of this moment, as Mickey walked onto his father's open hand. Slowly and gently, Donald lifted Mickey up to his face.

“This plan you've got,” Donald finally said, “Do you really believe it'll work?” It wasn't accusatory or mocking. It was an honest question.

Mickey swallowed, but then stood tall, his back straight, staring right into the eyes of the man he'd always wanted to be like. “I do. I never act unless I'm sure of my actions! And sometimes they're wrong... what I did to the Princess... what I helped Pete to do... that's something I'll never forgive myself for. But I have to make it right! Not to be considered your son, not to win over a girl who thinks I'm just a drawing, not for honor or glory or anything useless! I have to do this because it's the right thing to do!” He then inhaled sharply, lowering his shoulders. “But... it's also time to admit... there are some things I can't do alone.”

Mickey looked around at the friends he'd made along his journey, the new companions he'd befriended at the palace. “I've been acting like having help just makes me weak...when the truth is, my real strength comes from everyone. Maybe if I'd asked for help more often, instead of just assuming everything on my end... this wouldn't have happened. Instead of trying to prove things on my own, we need to work together. I'm not asking you to help me as my father, or as a fellow samurai. I'm asking because I know you all can do great things – I've seen it myself! So, please...give me one more chance.” Then Mickey closed his eyes, and waited. While he had faith and hope that his pleas would be heard, there wasn't a sure guarantee in the bond between these men.

After a brief moment, the hand moved again – this time to Donald's shoulder. “Then let's not waste any time. What do you need us to do?”

Daisy let out an agonized whine, but Minnie stood up, realizing there wasn't anything she could do to persuade Mickey otherwise. Mickey himself was a little startled at the acceptance, but hopped onto Donald's shoulder. “Marsupilami, Maurice, Goofy, you guys stay here and make sure the villagers get out while keeping any Oni away!”

While the trio were still frightened, having an order and thus something to do eased their nerves a smidgen. “You got it, Mickey!” Marsupilami saluted, with Maurice and also Goofy copying.

“Mother, Clarabelle, you two search the capital for anyone hurt and who needs help. If this doesn't pan out, we need this entire place evacuated!”

Daisy sniffled but nodded. “If you don't come back to me in one piece, you're grounded for infinity!”

Clarabelle was hesitant about something else. “What about the Princess? I need to stay by her side!”

“I'm sorry, but I need her for a big part.” Mickey and Minnie met each other's eyes – while she was trying to put on her cold, ruling appearance, the comment about him being a “drawing” had clearly hurt.

Yet she knew it was her own fault, and if there was a time to make up for it, it was now. “I'm ready and willing to do whatever it takes to help.”

“Good... because the best way for this to work is for Pete to stand still so I don't get knocked off. I need you to distract him while Pluto, Donald and I get in as close as we can without being spotted. Jose and Panchito, I want you with her to protect her.”

Clarabelle clutched her chest at the idea, ready to pass out, but while Minnie felt a cold fear run down her spine, she didn't back down. “I'll do all that I can. I won't let him move from that spot.”

“We'll protect you with our very lives, Princess!” Jose came to her left, and Panchito to her right. “We're ready when you are!”

“Then let's not waste any time!” Mickey slammed a fist into his open hand, the heat of battle already beginning to burn hotly in his heart. “Father, I need you to get me to Pete without us spotting him. Let's circle 'round while the Princess goes right on ahead!”

“Then you better hang on tight.” Donald kept one hand on the hilt of his blade, memories flooding back to him of how he injured his arm in the first place. Mickey had always been told it was merely “in battle” but not many details otherwise. He never planned on sharing that story, and had told Daisy the same. But now of all days, now of all times, he wondered if speaking of it could have saved them all some trouble. “Everyone... head out!”

Though Donald's arm was weak, his legs were not, and he bolted off like a flash of lightning, Pluto having to race in order to catch up. The group split up as they were assigned, each one having an equal share of doubt and hope in their hearts for whatever the plan ultimately was. Yet they all also knew giving up was not an option. Now they were all small, compared to Pete – now they all had Mickey's burden.

Minnie picked up her dress – mentally noting that perhaps in the future, she should have much shorter kimonos designed – and ran back the way she came, Panchito and Jose steadily at her side. Pete hadn't moved in some time, as he was still trying to decide the best way to move around without destroying the city. It would be rather silly to be ruler of an entire city of flattened wood and brick! Because of this, Minnie and her guards had no problem approaching him – but getting his attention was another issue. “If he can't hear us, how do we get his attention?” Minnie asked out loud, trying to wave her arms in an effort to be seen.

“We just have to crank up the volume!” Panchito tossed up his sword, twirling it around before pointing it at Jose. Any confusing, awful, weird feelings towards him would have to be set aside. “Jose, smash me!”

Jose stopped in place. “Eh?”

“Come at me! Give it to me! Hard and fast, right now!”

Jose, who had always been the one hitting on people and never the one hit on, felt his mind go utterly blank. This was a new feeling. Not a bad one, exactly – rather he wouldn't mind if Panchito kept going -

“Hit his sword, Jose,” Minnie interrupted the train wreck of his thoughts.

“Oh. Right. Yes. Of course.” Jose cleared his throat, not noticing Minnie's eyerolling, and then held out his sword, smacking it against Panchito's and creating a loud TWAAAAANG!

Panchito gave it back in full, trying to create as much noise as possible. “Come on, you can give it to me better than that! Don't hold back, give me everything you've got! Harder now!”

Jose was finding it difficult to look Panchito in the eyes. “Yes, sir. Doing my best, sir.” Boy, his armor was really hot today!

“Harder! Faster! Louder!”

“Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir!”

Fortunately for everyone involved – especially Minnie who was starting to wonder if Princesses could officiate marriages because it seemed like it was soon going to be necessary – the loud smashing of the swords was starting to gain some traction. Pete was growing annoyed, wondering where that blasted sound was coming from before he finally looked down and squinted - “IF IT AIN'T THE LITTLE MISS! I KNEW I'D FIND YOU!” Yes, he was ignoring the fact he hadn't. As far as he was concerned, every move was his victory.

Minnie doubted he'd be able to hear her no matter how loudly she shouted, so actions would have to do the talking. In order to save her people, she'd have to throw away her pride and dignity – a small price to pay for their safety. She also saw it as a way to apologize to dear sir Mickey – if only she had been honest with him from the start! While the books had gotten Mickey's foot in the door, it was the real him that had made her smile and feel like more than a Princess. Maybe a cold, unfeeling Princess would keep her pride no matter what – but Minnie wouldn't, because Minnie was more than a title.

She took a breath, and then knelt down on her knees, placing her hands on the dirt. Panchito gasped, a hand to his mouth. “Princess!” A sign of deep submission! “Jose, can you believe this?”

“Not really, no.” To be honest Jose wasn't paying attention, as he was bemoaning the fact that cold showers had yet to be invented.

Pete was just as surprised – he would've thought the royal family would rather die than surrender to him. He had planned on humiliating her himself, but for her to do it on her own? Why not enjoy the show? “THAT'S RIGHT, PRINCESS! FROM NOW ON, YOU'RE DOWN AND I'M UP! MAYBE IF YOU DO WHAT I SAY, I'LL LET YOU LIVE! HA HA HA HA HA! I COULD WATCH YOU DO THIS ALL DAY!”

Which suited Mickey just fine. He clung onto Donald's shoulder, him and Pluto making their way through debris and broken buildings, their bodies covered in the darkness of Pete's shadow. Donald still wasn't wholly sure what Mickey planned to do, but the time to get a full explanation was running short. He had no real choice but to trust that all would work out. “We're almost there!”

“Just a little closer!” Mickey kept his eyes ahead, squatting down, ready to jump. “Once I get on, you need to join the Princess. If this works, he's gunna come down in a big way!”

It was only then, when they were close enough to Pete to smell his stench and have his voice rattling in their ears, that Donald realized the worst part of this plan. “Mickey, once you get up and do what you're doing... how are you going to come back down safely?”

Mickey didn't answer. It wasn't that he didn't have an answer – it was just one he knew Donald wouldn't like. And he was right, with Donald getting a cold stone dropped into his stomach. “Wait a minute, Mickey, you're not saying you-”

“Thank you for everything, oto-san!”

It was too late, and Mickey had jumped from Donald's shoulder, landing on Pete's leg, grabbing onto some bits of black fur that stuck out from the enlarged armor. Pete's clothes had, thankfully, grown with him, and the edges of the armor allowed Mickey to climb up, up, up. Donald stood in place, frozen with horror as he understood what it was Mickey planned to do – or rather, not plan.

Mickey wasn't expecting to come back from this alive.

Long ago, when Donald was young and the war with the Oni was dwindling, a few straggling Oni had come into the capital, causing trouble while the Emperor was out visiting his people. Donald was there with his maiden fair, and the Oni themselves were easily defeated. They had hung their heads in defeat, willing to peacefully surrender, and the Emperor was just as peacefully ready to let them go on their way. But two of the Oni, embittered and angry, had lashed out in a last ditch effort to get revenge, no caring who they struck.

As a loyal samurai, it was Donald's duty to defend his Emperor above all else.

“NOW STAND ON YOUR HEAD!” Pete commanded, having decided Minnie was his toy to play with however he pleased. Minnie obeyed without hesitation – physically difficult as it was – to do all that he said, whether it was standing on her head, cartwheels, dancing... so long as it kept Pete's attention and allowed Mickey's plan to work, she'd roll around in the dirt like a pleased pig if need be. “HA HA HA HA! SOME PRINCESS YOU ARE NOW! I WOULDN'T TAKE YOU AS A WIFE EVEN IF YOU BEGGED! BUT I WANNA SEE YOU BEG ANYWAY!”

Mickey climbed onward, even as Pete's sweat made his fur slick, even as the heights made Mickey dizzy, even as the roaring of Pete's voice made his headache even worse. He made his way up Pete's leg, past his hips, on his back, and still kept going. His body ached, his senses gagged, but not once did he stop, not once did he look back down. His headache was worse than it ever had been before, almost blinding him with sheer pain. But if his father could fight with an injured arm, so could Mickey climb on with the feeling of a stabbed skill.

But on that day, long before Mickey was born and entered their lives, Donald hadn't protected the Emperor. He'd thrown himself in front of his bride, taking the blow meant for her and damaging his arm for life. The Emperor had been protected by his other guards, but he'd made his choice all the same. Instead of acting out of honor, he had acted out of love. A real samurai would have seen that as an act of shame, and a part of Donald had carried that with him always, even as the Emperor absolved his actions.

Now as Donald stood there, his eyes feeling hot and wet, he realized that shame and pride meant nothing at all. If he had only shared his stories with Mickey instead of Daisy doing it all – if he had been a better man, a better husband, a better father – Mickey wouldn't sacrifice himself out of some sense of honor that had been forced upon him. What had he done?

At last, Mickey reached his goal – Pete's head. Pete was laughing so hard at Minnie's antics, now making her stand on one foot while trying to dance, that Mickey had to cling on to keep from falling off. Pete's stubble threatened to cut Mickey at every opportunity, and his breath was as noxious as any poisonous gas. Mickey continued to climb and only stopped when he reached Pete's ear and climbed right inside. Balance was the key, and in Mickey's short life, he knew that once you took away balance, it was difficult to keep anything else. Also, this was going to hurt a lot, no matter what size you were.

It was difficult to see, with not much sunlight and the inner workings of any living creature not equipped to shine. But there was just enough light for Mickey to see one large shape in Pete's ear, and while Mickey knew little about anatomy, he guessed this was the important part of any person's hearing – the eardrum. He pulled out his mother's sewing needle, approached the cone-shaped body part, held his breath - and stabbed just once.

It's said the scream from Pete was so loud, it shattered the smaller planets into stars, it divided the heavens and frightened the gods, it split apart the oceans and made the entire world go deaf for one straight minute. He raised one foot to kick whatever was nearest – but now his balance was so off, he fell backwards -

Pluto grabbed Donald's clothes by the teeth, urging him to run and remind him of what Mickey had sworn him to do. Donald gasped for air, and bolted, running right for the surprised Princess and her stunned guards. “MOVE!” He threw the young woman over his shoulder, and all of them ran as fast as their feet would go – for the force of Pete's fall was so great that it sent a storm of dust and debris for miles and miles in all directions. The earth shook so hard that Panchito lost his footing, stumbling right onto Jose, but when he landed, he kept his back to the air, ready to shield the Jose with his life.

It seemed to take an eternity for the dust to settle, for the world to be silent, and when Donald dared to look over his shoulder, he could no longer see the gigantic form of Pete taking up all that space. If he couldn't see Pete in all the destruction of the broken buildings, then that must have meant he let go of the Lucky Hammer, and the plan had worked – but at what cost?

Panchito lifted his head, wining in pain, a hint of blood running down his face as he looked down at Jose. “Are you all right?”

Jose – who had always been the one saving and never the one saved – for some reason thought he saw a swirl of cherry blossoms moving in slow motion around his savior, and he was fairly certain it wasn't because he had a concussion. “About that senpai thing...”

“Where's Mickey?” Minnie asked quietly, fingers trembling as she didn't truly want an answer.

Donald swallowed, putting Minnie down, his heart beating hard at his own idea of the truth. “Mickey... Mickey!” His sword lost, forgotten, and mattering little now, he sprinted to the crater Pete had left. Pete could be heard moaning in pain and dizziness, likely not to get up anytime soon. Doors, windows, walls, ceilings, were scattered and shattered everywhere in an endless sea of ruin. Donald began to tear through it all, even with his bad arm, looking for any small sign of the small boy. “Mickey! Mickey, answer me!”

Minnie quietly began to weep, and Panchito took her into his arms to console her, even as his own tears started to flow. Jose took off his helmet, showing respect to the samurai who made the ultimate sacrifice. Pluto whined, but then began to sniff around the area.

It wasn't long before Clarabelle came upon them, who turned her head away in grief. Soon after that came Daisy, who held her husband from behind, her crying the quietest it had ever been. Marsupilami, Maurice and Goofy came running with urgent news, but upon seeing this scene of devastation and anguish, were shocked into silence. Marsupilami swallowed hard, forcing the words out. “We...we've got to go! There's a whole bunch of Oni coming this way, they must have heard Pete's commands!”

“I can't go!” Donald snapped without looking up, his fingers torn and bleeding as he kept digging. “Not without him!”

“Listen, he wouldn't want you to be captured or killed by these guys!” Marsupilami tried to grab Donald by his shoulder, but he was violently thrust off -

“I AM NOT LEAVING MY SON BEHIND!” Donald screamed, slamming both of his hands to the ground, even as pain stabbed his old wounds because it couldn't compare to the pain in his soul. “I will not, I cannot, I... I...” He choked on his words, and the world became blurry, the tears coming so fast he couldn't see any longer. Marsupilami staggered backwards, unsure what to do know, and the world around them came into silence...

…But then there came the sound of laughter, of all things. Quiet, muffled, but it was definitely there. Confused faces were abound, and Donald's grief poured into rage. “Who thinks this is funny?!” he stood up so quickly that Daisy rolled off haphazardly, Donald cracking his knuckles and whipping his head around to see the offender. It wasn't coming from anyone in the group, but a few feet into the air of toppled building, with Pluto sticking his head in. As Donald approached, he could make out a few words between the hysteric laughter.

“Q-quit it, boy! That tickles!”

And there, underneath the dirt and debris and defying all logic, was Mickey, his face being licked by a very happy pup. Except Mickey wasn't the size of a peach pit anymore, which was why Donald briefly thought the sight was an agony-induced dream. Mickey, whose old clothes were now tattered and frayed, his body covered in dirt and dust, was about the same size as an average young adult. Pluto quickly caught the scent of something else, and resumed sniffing elsewhere, allowing Mickey and Donald to see each other.

Mickey blinked a few times, and then cracked a tired smile. “Hello, oto-san... I mean, Don-”

Donald fell to his knees and held Mickey for the first time in his life. He wasn't sure he could ever let go again. “I am so sorry, Mickey,” he said softly, not caring how or why he was able to do this. “For all that I said, for all that I did... I was wrong. You deserved so much better than me as a parent...but I am your parent. I am your father. I promise you this – you are a member of this family, and you always will be!”

Mickey had never held anyone before in his life. He wasn't entirely sure how to go about it, how much strength to use or how long it was supposed to be. Slowly, he lifted his arms, in quiet awe that he could put his arms around anyone now, and he felt his father's warmth. Hints of tears began to dribble down his cheeks, and for the moment, he buried his face into his father's shoulder.

The tender moment alone didn't last for too long, as obviously everyone wanted to know what was going on – and when they came upon the scene, all burst into joy. Panchito and Jose danced merrily, Clarabelle momentarily fainted into Goofy's arms, Marsupilami and Maurice couldn't stop laughing, and Minnie and Daisy joined in on the hug with tears and relief. The oncoming Oni threat was forgotten for the moment, which was unfortunate, as there were a great number heading for the gate.

“Oh, Mickey, you clever dear!” Daisy squealed, rubbing Mickey's shoulders. “Managing to the grab the Lucky Hammer as you fell, that was amazing!”

“Uh...yeah, that would have been amazing.” Mickey awkwardly replied, now realizing a thing or two. “Except I didn't do that.”

All at once, the joy was paused. A little “woof” cemented things, as Pluto now sat among them with the dug-up Lucky Hammer in his mouth, which had landed away from Mickey.

Minnie looked back and forth between Mickey and the Lucky Hammer, perfectly puzzled. “Then... how did you turn this size?”

“Beats me.” Mickey shrugged helplessly. “All I know is that I was fallin' down, with a really bad headache, and then... I dunno, just before I landed, I felt really strange.” He scratched his head, some clods of dirt beginning to fall off. But as he scratched his head, he felt something funny – three little bumps. He supposed, given how far he fell, that having a bump on the head was normal, but why three? And why did they feel kind of pointy?

“I hate to break up the party,” Panchito suddenly declared, seeing figures over the horizon, “But it looks like part two of the battle is upon us!”

Dozens and dozens and dozens of Oni had arrived, all shapes and sizes, one horns and two horns, none of them wanting to be there but all of them wanting to avoid Pete's wrath. Would they even listen if they were told Pete was defeated? There was no time to risk it – Panchito, Jose, Goofy, Marsupilami and Maurice readied themselves for battle, swords drawn and willing to fight. Mickey shoved his father off, wanting to join in, even if his original sewing needle blade was now lost in the mess. “We won't let them get any further!” He heroically declared, as he ruffled his hair to remove the last bits of dirt from his head, and he stood with his friends, ready for anything – so he thought.

The band of Oni headed right for the guards, but the strange day only got stranger – the ones upfront took one good look at Mickey and stopped in their tracks – which led them to get tripped and trampled by the ones in front, until they saw Mickey, and the process repeated itself until most of them were laying on the ground, confused and embarrassed. Mickey would have laughed if he wasn't very baffled. “Huh... I guess they won't let themselves get any further either.” He looked at his friends to confirm this – but now they were all staring at Mickey with wide eyes and open jaws. Maurice was frantically pointing to the top of Mickey's head. “What?” Mickey felt his head, trying to understand what was causing such a fuss, but he didn't feel any open wounds. Just those three pointy bumps, almost like horns -

Oh.

Wait.

What?!

“I don't believe my eyes,” One of the Oni said as he began to get up – the one Mickey recognized as Hutch. “I thought the previous Oni King's family was all taken out!”

“Guess he must've missed one,” one Mickey recognized as Pacuvio answered. “He's got the three horns, and only royal family blood gets those! I did hear that the Queen was running away to her peach orchard before she got killed with the rest of 'em...”

“TIME OUT!” Donald squawked, storming up between Mickey and the Oni, his head spinning. “What are you guys saying?! That Mickey's an Oni?!”

“Not just any Oni!” More Oni that Mickey knew piped up, like Bigtime. “This kid's the real deal! He's the real King, not Pete! We don't have to follow Pete anymore!” He looked so happy he could start crying, as did the rest of the exhausted and weary Oni.

“Hang on, my baby can't be an Oni.” Daisy interrupted. “All his life, he's only ever been as small as a peach pit!”

“So?” Bouncer shrugged off the question. “All Oni start out that small. It's when we get older and our horns grow in that we reach our full size. Everybody knows that!”

“EVERYBODY DOES NOT KNOW THAT!” Donald yelled, with Mickey still feeling his horns in disbelief. “HOW WOULD WE EVER KNOW THAT?!”

“Did you ever ask?” Burger quipped.

Daisy grabbed her husband and pulled him away before he tried to smack someone. Mickey crossed his arms, remembering a few odd things – in past encounters with Oni, hadn't they always called him a kid, a child, someone very young? What an odd revelation – but what to do now? He only wanted his size to change – he never wanted power over an entire race of people! “Shoot, this is a lot to handle in one day.” He glanced at Minnie, who still had her mouth open in surprise. “Hm...let's see...if I'm the Oni King now...that means you have to do what I say, right?”

“That's the deal,” said Hutch. “Even if we don't like it.”

“Then my first act as Oni King is...that you no longer have to obey me.” He expected and received plenty of stares, along with “huh”s and “really?”s thrown in. “What do I know about being King? You guys are citizens of Japan, just like the rest of us. If I'm an Oni, than that must mean Oni ain't different from everyone else after all, cause I can tell you right now I don't feel any different. Just live with us, that's all.”

What a new concept! Living with people! Pacuvio chuckled quietly, finally losing a sense to nap. “He really is just like the old Oni King.” The rest of the Oni talked among themselves, some in disbelief, others in happiness – they didn't know their future anymore, but it had be better than being under Pete's thumb.

Mickey was feeling rather good. He'd gotten his father's love, a normal size, and settled an old war in a matter of minutes! “Can this day get any better?” He expected to wake up from this amazing dream any second.

Then a sudden snap caught his attention. Minnie was now standing up, having pulled out one of her classic fans from her sleeve. She was wearing her cold, stony expression of royal business, and Mickey felt a chill down his spine. “This is all well and good, but... Sir Mickey, you did break your promise to me, you did attempt to steal the Lucky Hammer, and as a result, you did help destroy a major part of the capitol. As Princess, I cannot let this stand without proper punishment.”

Donald and Daisy gasped, getting in front of Mickey to protect their child. “But he saved everyone too, doesn't that count for something?” Donald asked, not wanting to lose his son after he finally acknowledged he had one.

Mickey's heart ached, but he couldn't deny what had been said. “No... she's right. As a samurai, I dishonored my master. What I did was wrong.” He walked around his parents, and then knelt before Minnie, his head bowed. “Whatever punishment she gives me, I'll take it without question.”

Donald and Daisy held each other, afraid of what was to come, and it seemed all were holding their breath. Even the Oni began to worry if this would mean punishment would come their way as well. Minnie opened the fan again, hiding her mouth, studying Mickey intensely. “As eager as you are to throw away your birthright...we cannot ignore your blood-right. Not everyone, nor will every Oni, so readily accept your order to simply live freely. They may even see you working for me as a sign of aggression. In order to pay back for your crimes, and to keep peace with the Oni, you must stay here at the capitol so I can keep an eye on you... as my husband.”

Mickey lifted his head up, unsure he heard right. “Huh?”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Now it was Daisy's turn to be dragged away by Donald. “HE'S MY BABY, I'VE STILL GOT THREE TO FIVE YEARS OF MOMMYING LEFT!”

“You're welcome to stay, of course, to make sure your son is carrying out his punishment.” Minnie replied, and although her mouth was hidden, Mickey was certain she was grinning underneath the fan.

“Can it be a double wedding?” Jose asked, giving Panchito whiplash.

Mickey blinked up at Minnie, still on one knee. “Well, uh... if that's my... punishment, and you're the princess, guess I gotta live with it!” He'd try to make it through, somehow, even as his own grin was giving him away.

“Well, what do we do now?” Hutch asked the general population, feeling more confused than ever.

“I say, if we're going to be living among people...” Pacuvio began to pick up broken bits of walls and doors. “We help them live again.” It seemed as good a plan as any, and the Oni began to clean up – which would eventually confuse the townsfolk when they realized it was safe to return again.

All in all, it was an odd sight to behold – Daisy and Minnie starting to have a tug of war over Mickey, Donald laughing his fool head off, and Jose insisting on Panchito bridal carrying him. Marsupilami looked at Maurice. “Y'know...this may be one of those happily ever after type deals. But I have to say, it's the oddest one I've ever seen.” Maurice nodded in agreement. “I thought about ditching this whole place once we repaid our debt to Mickey, but with things this weird... it kind of makes you want to see it through, don't it?” Maurice smiled, and ruffled the top of Marsupilami's head. Eventually they'd chip in and help – but for now, watching everything unfold was far too entertaining.

At some point, they'd unearth and lock up Pete – at some point, there would be more official talks between the Princess and the Oni – at some point, there would be a wedding, perhaps two. But there didn't seem to be any big rush. Time would flow as it always had, and there were uncertainties all around. But as the day ended, and more days would come, there was one thing that would be agreed upon, and shared with as the tales became legends passed from new fathers to new sons.

Mickey's heart would always be the biggest thing about him – and while not through blood, he inherited it from his father.

#disney #fanfic #the little peach #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #donald duck #daisy duck #panchito pistoles #jose carioca

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cursedvessels · 5 years ago

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meet + random ( human zoe ! )

LOCATIONS PROMPTS.

send meet + [number] to meet my muse at that location.send meet + random to leave it up to a generator.

1. a place of worship

It had been a while since his last master. In fact, Ambrose was starting to wonder if anyone would actually find him again. Most people usually only found him if they knew something about black magic, if they were hunting for power. It wasn’t easy to just find this box, its location constantly changing, constantly finding a new home to keep him forever hidden from the human eye. This time, though, it had found its home in a particular space within a church of sorts. The box was settled easily within sight of the human eye, yet it seemed to fit in with its surroundings as if it were part of some sort of shrine. Perhaps that was how it had been so easily opened…

As lavender smoke billowed from the freshly cracked seal of the box, it seemed to fill the room, suffocatingly thick, the glittering green sparks that floated away amidst it like embers slowly revealing the shape of a frail young man with short, stubborn curls. As the smoke cleared, it was easy to see that he was wearing nothing but a pair of black leather grommet skinnies, lace down either side. In one hand he held a blunt between his index and middle finger, his back facing the young girl who had opened the box as he reached up toward the shelves along the wall of the shrine. However, he seemed rather startled by the fact that he was suddenly not in that box… And as he turned around and saw the girl standing there out of the corner of his eye, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

“ Jesus Criminy! Am I out again? It’s about time, I thought maybe this time I was actually going to be stuck in there for the rest of eternity… “

#telepathybound

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simplyauroras · 6 years ago

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yeethaw & howdy for what will hopefully be the last time partners. i love her with all of my heart, and she just deserves all of the love in this world okay? but enough of me stalling let me introduce you to the love of my life aurora.

biography: ( tw: death tw, r*pe tw, abuse tw, eating disorder tw, self-esteem tw, heart disease tw, suicide tw, mental health tw, depression tw )

it is of my upmost pleasure to introduce to you crowned princess of aurora haraldsen bernadotte of norway

aurora haraldsen was born to a commoner mother turned queen named sonja, by some twist of fate her mother met the king who told his family he would remain unmarried unless he could marry sonja, before they knew it the two were wed

though it was apparent to anyone who was around sonja for even a little while, that the title had gone to her head, and who better to know than her own kin?

aurora came shortly afterwards, and was the eldest of eight six children, ( ages twenty-one, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, ten & six respectively, aurora herself is twenty-two )

when aurora was around three years old tragedy would strike as her father was killed in a tragic accident, aurora’s mother would continue reigning as queen, but would never remarry

aurora became responsible at a very early age, while at her various lessons the men who were paid to teach her various skills, taught her all the same thing, trust no one, as these men would often rape and abuse the young princess making her believe that it was her fault, this continued until she left the castle ( more on this later )

when she was ten, her youngest sister belle would die because of the abuse and rape inflicted on her, though her mother afraid of staining her image, covered it up to make it look like natural causes

aurora learned from her tween age that there was no room in the castle for anything other than perfection, that a princess should be perfectly poise at all times, she was taught what to do, what to say, how to sit properly, the proper utensils, and all of those other things she found useless

though when striving for perfection you’ll come to realize there’s no such thing, just as aurora did, as her weight constantly fluctuated due to an eating disorder that she developed

she was never anyone’s idea of perfection, she always stumbled over her words, slouched too often, and was always terrible at hiding her emotions, because of this she was often ‘put in line’ by her mother

as if her mother’s words didn’t scorn aurora enough she often hit aurora, who was told very simply to ‘cover up and act like a princess’ a mantra her mother forced into her head, aurora was constantly spilling sorry as if it were an accident

quickly she learned her place, she knew everything someone needed to know about being a princess, though deep down her self-esteem issues were abundant

aurora often spent time with the people who worked around the kingdom, mostly in the kitchen, and that’s where she learned her love for the culinary arts, but more specifically baking

her mother didn’t approve of her past time and aurora was regulated to certain activities throughout the day, on an even stricter schedule than before, so honestly it’d be a huge understatement to say that aurora didn’t have many friends ( or at least many friends that weren’t paid to talk to her )

though despite this it was apparent to anyone who spoke to her that aurora was extremely gifted in anything that she did, including school, any activity she took up she seemed to master, even if it was nothing more than the fact that her mother expected nothing less than perfection from her

when aurora was sixteen she would face tragedy once again when her brother eric would pass away of heart disease, with the loss of belle still not healed, aurora never truly recovered from either

aurora had enough of everything going on in the castle, she planned an escape disguised as volunteer work to sweden, to the royal family there, the bernadottes

while at the castle she met prince nicolas, and quickly the two kids fell in love, everything seemed to finally be falling in place, the two were set to be wed, and at twenty they’d have their first and only child together duchess stjärna ( pronounced star )

two months before their wedding, when star was only six months old, her father prince nicolas would pass away in an apparent suicide

aurora fell into a downward spiral of depression, but knew that she needed if nothing else to provide of her daughter, and although they were never married aurora changed her name legally to bernadotte

aurora had endured too much, she needed a break from europe, well more like an escape, and so she fled to the americas, or more specifically new york

she took star with her ( scared that if she didn’t star would grow up in the same conditions but also afraid that she wouldn’t be able to provide ) and appeared on a baking competition show, concealing her true identity from the rest of the world, she ended up winning, and in the process was offered her own baking/reality tv show ( think the real housewives mixed married to medicine and with cooking & baking shows )

after her mother finally managed to regain contact with aurora last year, they’ve come to an agreement, when the time comes aurora will come back to sweden to rule as queen as she was destined to be ( her mother constantly sends her money even though it isn’t needed to try and make up for aurora’s childhood )

until then aurora is fine with hiding who she is from the public, even though it isn’t very successful because she’s been in the spotlight since she was young

personality:

obviously being raised in royalty she was taught to be eloquent and grace, can maneuver her way anywhere without falling or faltering once, when she opens her mouth it’ll seem to you as if she’s just read an entire thesaurus

can’t advocate for herself, but if you talk about or mess with the people she loves or her family? she’ll fuck you up, not literally, but her gracefulness will be replaced and she’ll scorn you with her words

is very gifted, can be considered a jack of all trades in a way?

she’s extremely supportive of her friends okay??? like if you’re looking for someone to be your cheerleader, and stand by your side no matter what

speaking of falling in love, she’s lowkey a hopeless romantic??? like she’s the kind of girl who falls in love with strangers, or sees people in coffee shops and then envisions their wedding, she’s hopeless but ever since her fiance passed away she’s been slower to fall

has extreme trust issues, afraid that everyone is using her something, or wants something from her

she’s very peristent when there’s somethng she’s striving for, hates giving up on anything especially people ( despite having already given up on herself ) she’ll always push to get what she’s aiming for

is the very defintion of kind, does everything in her power to never ever do something mean unless again it comes to those that she loves

still constantly apologizes for just about everything, is afraid that if she doesn’t say sorry for every other thing she does it’ll cause people to hate her or leave her somehow

despite yearning for love and the feeling of being in it, she’s very philophobic, committing to anything romantic terrifies her, especially since she’s under the notion that it’s even more difficult to fall in love with a single mother

hates letting others know that she’s vulnerable, is often disguising her emotion behind a joke, or by baking things in the middle of the night

wanted connections: ( most of these were taken from nova, sue me, criminial minds is owning my ass right now okay )

frenemies

friends

best friend: after arriving in new york aurora sorta didn’t see the use for a best friend, she simply shrugged off the thought of finding someone who could understand her, and then suddenly she found them, her best friend, she loves them to bits and pieces, and somehow they just feel like an extension of her, nowadays aurora could never imagine going about life without them

protective friend: let’s be real with each other aurora could use all the protecting she can get, not only is she easily hurt by others, but she often gets her hopes up hurting herself in the process, this is probably someone who sees that and is constantly there for aurora, whether it be reluctantly or not, she can always count of them to be by her side

unlikely friends: aurora is the exact opposite of this person, personality wise, fashion wise, and yet the two are still friends, and she actually enjoys it? sometimes she wishes she was outspoken and brash as they are, that she could learn to distance herself so easily, but they constantly prove themselves to be one of the closest friends she has

confidant: aurora never rushes to open up to anyone, but with this person, things just seem natural, she can tell them all of her secrets and for once not be judged for it, even if most of their conversations have to do with aurora crying her eyes out, or showing the true side of her temper, they haven’t given up hope on her just yet

flirtatious friends: aurora can be a flirt, sometimes, okay never. but with this person things are just different? she’s not drawn to them they way that she’s drawn to anyone else, but what’s the harm in flirting? especially if it doesn’t mean anything to either of them, right? this doesn’t mean anything to either of them, right?

friends who used to be enemies: aurora has never really hated anyone, other than her mother, but she draws tons of enemies by just being herself, she hates knowing when people don’t like her, so often she’ll try to be friends with them, try to show them there’s more to her than whatever they think, and by pure luck just this once she was successful

roommates: aurora has a fairly big penthouse, and to keep herself from getting lonely she got a roommate, and about a billion animals for her daughter, although their house looks like a zoo, aurora actually loves her roommate? they’ve seen her at her highest and lowest points, and have decided to live with her dumbass through it all, they don’t even have a problem with star living with them, where would she be without them?

lifelong friends: aurora has known this person for what feels like forever, whether or not they know of her ‘idenity’, she couldn’t imagine functioning without this person, they know the in’s and out’s of aurora bernadotte, her deepest darkest secrets…but maybe that isn’t such a good thing

volunteer together: aurora likes to do a lot of volunteer work, so this one’s pretty self-explanatory, they’re friends simply because they enjoy helping out others together, they’ve become closer the more that they do it, but most of the times they talk it’s simply about charity work

ex-best friends: aurora hates knowing that people don’t like her, plus they were really close and aurora really thoguht maybe she could glue their friendship back together, or that somehow if she held on tight enough then her best friend would stop slipping from her fingers, but it turns out the tighter you grip something, the easier you lose it, aurora still misses them, and still probably accidentally texts them from time to time

forced to be friends because of their social status/family: this muse doesn’t have to particularly like aurora, and aurora may not particularly like them, not that she’d ever admit to that, but because of their social status and who aurora’s parents are she’s constantly forced to hang out with people…who don’t exactly run in the same circles as her

pr relationship: ( tbh give me this & i’ll cry tears of joy thanks ) aurora is essentially america’s sweetheart, there’s no noticable blemish in her reputation and that’s exactly what happened when their agents set these two up, i mean after all, how hard can faking a relationship be?

exes: uhhhh there’s too many different kind of exes to make this general enough, so instead give me exes on bad terms, exes on good terms, exes who might even still have feelings for each other

will they, won’t they: aurora and this person have been flirting for what seems like ages, they have a somewhat stable friendship, and she’s been harboring a crush for quite sometime but there’s always some sort of obstacle, a pr relationship, a secret, the universe has a very funny way of saying these two shouldn’t be together, or maybe it’s the universe proving that they can get through anything?

unrequited love: like i said before aurora has a really bad tendency to push away those who love her the most, and this time is obviously no different, they’ve probably never told them about her crush, and she has absolutely zero notice that they even have one, but we all new york has a funny way of making people confess

one night stand: aurora is still trying to find herself, this one night stand was most likely an accident, she probably left in the early morning with no intention of seeing this person ever again, but somehow she can’t seem to escape them

literally anything give me all the angst and feels you can, i promise either way i’ll probably cry about it

#this is? a novel?#i'm not sorry though #death tw #r*pe tw #abuse tw #eating disorder tw #self esteem tw #heart disease tw #suicide tw #mental health tw #depression tw #intro

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