#I’m very afraid this will simply wreck any and all trust and love between us. she’s quite hesitant over me now already

[oberon-king-of-the-cherries]

I think they should be allowed to put, idk, crack cocaine in cat medicine. Get them hooked so they want it stuffed down their throats.

[justnerdthings]

New Beginnings Ch. 16

F!Reader x Liu Kang/Kung Lao

Oh boy oh boy.

@ancientowlgirl @poor-unfortunate-soul-85 @shang-hung

You were requested by Raiden the next morning. Your shoulders were slumped as you made your way to his hall. You knew what it was about. Last night, you'd told Kung Lao that this was all too much for you. You couldn't do it anymore. You couldn't be around them anymore. Of course you would still train and still fight in the tournament; Raiden and Earthrealm were counting on you. But you couldn't do this around Liu and Lao. It was painful.

Finally entering Raiden's quarters, you weren't surprised to see Liu and Lao both there as well. You pushed yourself towards them, but tried to keep your distance.

"Y/F/N," Raiden greeted as he looked over your defeated demeanor.

"Lord Raiden," you bowed your head to him.

"I've been told you wish to leave us," he said.

You nodded and couldn't bring yourself to look at him, nor Liu and Lao.

"The issue you told me of before..." Raiden spoke. The way he said 'issue' made you flinch. "It is… difficult for you?"

You nodded.

"My offer to assist you still stands."

You took a deep breath and sighed. "How could you possibly help?"

"What do you have in mind?" He asked curiously.

You thought for a moment. There really wasn't much that could be done. You shook your head. "It's insanely distracting. I just… I've never had this before. And I want it. I do. But…"

"You're worried for the sake of Earthrealm," Raiden concluded.

You finally looked up at him. You felt so useless. So pathetic.

"Y/F/N, you have the soul of a warrior."

"Some warrior," you mused. "I can't even focus on training when I'm around them."

"A good warrior can defeat their enemies. But a great one fights for those they love."

Your brows knotted.

"When I relieved you of your illness, I told Liu Kang that he and Kung Lao would not only give you a reason to fight, but a reason to live."

Lao had looked to Liu then. Liu simply nodded his confirmation.

"You are not weak… nor are you pathetic for having romantic feelings towards them. This was to happen."

You couldn't believe what you were hearing. This was supposed to happen? Raiden knew it was going to happen? How? Why?

"I can not reveal more to you at this time."

"What are you saying? I'm supposed to be this much of an emotional wreck?"

"You are free to decide for yourself. But you are indeed on the right path."

"Path to what? Die in the tournament?"

Raiden didn't answer that. In fact, he seemed to frown at it.

You were going to break down again. You could feel it coming on. That tightness in your neck. That knot in your stomach. Your heart had begun skipping beats.

Raiden's glowing eyes traced over your form, seeming to see past the physical being of you and right into your soul. He offered a hand out to you. You took it. He led you over to what you figured was a throne of sorts. But you knew Raiden was not the type to sit in it very much.

You sat in it. He was still looking at you as though you were a completely open book… You suddenly realized that this is where Liu had picked that habit up. Liu had shown you that exact look so many times.

"I do not wish to see you perish in Mortal Kombat," he told you. "I would very much like to see you succeed in your coming challenge." He was speaking to you so carefully, like a loving father to their child. “This is difficult for you, and I will not force you to stay… But I believe no one could convince you to leave. You are not someone who enjoys giving up.”

He was right. You didn’t like giving up. You wanted to keep going. Even now, you didn’t really want to leave the temple. You didn’t want to leave Liu and Lao. You didn’t want to give up on earthrealm… but it all felt so overwhelming. You were not going to be ready in five years.

“You will succeed, Y/F/N,” He told you. “You have no other choice.” His tone had hardened, but only enough to drive the point home. He was right again. You didn’t have any other choice. Sure, you could leave and pretend this never happened… but you knew you wouldn’t. You couldn’t. It wasn’t an option for you. You had to do this. You wanted to do this. But…

“I admire your restraint,” Raiden said as he continued to watch you. “But it seems that your restraint is more distracting than your emotions.” He had turned to Liu and Lao as he continued. “I do not like the idea of you three wasting time with such matters while Mortal Kombat is so close, but, I would be lying if I said I do not respect them.”

That seemed to throw all three of you for a loop. “Lord Raiden?” Liu said in his confusion.

“I am no stranger to love,” Raiden admitted. “I have felt the sting of it constantly for the past— nearly five hundred years.” He sighed and closed his eyes briefly. “It is not something I enjoy speaking about.”

“You loved someone?” Lao asked.

“I still do,” Raiden answered with a single nod.

“Who?” Liu asked.

“I have already spoken too much.” He shook his head and looked back to you. “Do not let your feelings get in the way of what you need to accomplish. But do not let what you need to accomplish get in the way of your feelings.”

Your brows knotted. You weren’t entirely sure how to apply that lesson. But it was clear that Raiden was telling you to find a balance.

You were training with Liu. Your footwork had improved, and you were learning how to properly land your strikes. But neither of you were very committed today. You, trying to figure out how to balance your emotions with your need to train. And Liu… You imagined he was still fighting his feelings.

He caught your wrist and forced you around. He pulled you flush back against him and locked you there with a strong arm.

You tried to squirm out of his hold, but each attempt was expertly blocked by the warrior monk. You weren’t supposed to use your arcana. You were training for hand to hand. He’d caught you.

You let out a sigh in your defeat and stopped struggling. You’d expected him to let you go then, so you could begin again… but his arm stayed right where it was.

Your brows knotted and you turned your head to look back at him curiously. You caught him staring at you. He wanted to say something, you could see it on his face, but he wasn’t talking. “Liu?”

Your voice seemed to jar him, as if he’d just realised what he was doing. He quickly pulled his arm away and stepped back. “Sorry.”

Now free, you turned to face him. “Are you alright?”

He nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”

But you weren’t buying it. Something was obviously bothering him. “What is it?”

Liu shook his head. “It’s nothing.” He readied his stance for another round. But you didn’t make any move to start a new round.

“Tell me.”

“I don’t want to upset you.”

“You’re already upsetting me.”

Liu frowned. He relaxed and straightened. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

Liu’s jaw clenched. “I’ve lost you.”

Your brows rose, then knotted again. “What? No, you didn’t. I’m right here, Liu.”

“You chose Lao.”

“What?... No. I— What?”

“You slept with him last night.”

“What? No. Liu, we didn’t— You interrupted us before we could…”

“But, you were going to.”

“I—” You sighed heavily and looked away. “I don’t know.”

“It’s alright, Y/N.”

“No. Liu. I didn’t choose Lao. I haven’t made any choice. I can’t.”

“Then what was last night?”

“I don’t know. Frustration? Starvation? I don’t know. It just… If you had been there instead of Lao, it would have been you. It was just… It just… I don’t know.”

Liu was watching you with eyes that spoke desperation. He was so worried Lao would win your heart. Lao got everything else he ever wanted… Liu should have you. He deserved you. “Do you want me to be more like him?” Liu asked cautiously.

“What? No! Gods, no!” You stepped over to him, your own eyes pleading with him. “Liu… I like who you are. You were the first one I trusted. You were the first one to be honest with me. I don’t want you to be like Lao. What happened last night was just a fluke. We just got too caught up.”

“He gets everything he wants… Always has.”

“Liu…”

“Just this once, I want to have what I want.”

Your jaw hardened. You were afraid this was going to happen. You knew it was going to happen. That’s why you made such a big deal about them backing off. That’s why you wanted to find someone else to train you. You were going to get between Liu and Lao. You were going to cause them to fight each other. “Liu, I—”

“Please.” He’d grasped your hands as he begged. Your heart sunk. Dammit.

You took a deep breath and let him pull you closer. “What about what I want?” you asked him gently.

“What do you want?” he asked, voice just for you as he looked into your eyes.

You frowned. “I don’t know,” you admitted and looked away as tears began welling up.

His eyes searched your face as you denied him eye contact. Letting one of your hands go, he brought his then free hand up to hold your face. His thumb wiped at a stray tear. He coaxed you to look at him again. “I want you,” he whispered.

You could have melted right into him. Dammit, Liu. Your lip pouted as you fought the urge.

“Please…” He asked you again. You had to close your eyes so you wouldn’t see his face as you pulled away from him, against everything.

“Liu. You’re asking something of me that I just can’t give right now,” You told him. “I’ve… I’ve hardly given either of you a chance. I just shut down. And there’s a reason for that.”

“The tournament,” Liu said. “I know. But—”

“Not just the tournament. You. Lao. Me.”

Liu’s brows were knotted again as he stepped towards you.

“If I choose one of you, then the other is going to hold some grudge. You two are going to fight over me like I’m some prize.”

Liu’s jaw was clenching.

“I don’t want that to happen.”

He sighed heavily.

“I can’t choose, Liu.”

He nodded. “Alright,” he said, but you could tell that it wasn’t.

“Dammit, Liu,” you hissed.

He just stared at you… Dammit. He had those puppy dog eyes too. Just like Kung Lao. You could whine. You almost did. You shifted your weight. You even gave a little frustrated stomp. “Don’t look at me like that,” you pouted. But he just kept staring at you… those brown eyes of his even seemed to grow more desperate.

He must have known what he was doing. He had to have known what he was doing. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

“Fine!” You said. He wanted you to make a choice. You couldn’t. But fine. At least for today you could choose, right? “But just for today…”

Liu’s brows knotted.

“Just today,” you told him. “Just to… try it.” Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea. Just take this day by day. Date them both? That wasn’t wrong, was it? Then you could figure out which one was a better fit for you…

Oh, but that would still drive a wedge between them. Shit. No. This wouldn’t work. “Wait. No—”

“Does that mean I can get you tomorrow?”

Both you and Liu turned to see Lao at the top of the stairs.

Ah, shit. “Wait—” you began, but were interrupted.

“Because, I’ll take it,” Lao said.

And that made you freeze. Lao… was okay with that? You looked to Liu. He didn’t look as excited by the offer. “Wait.” You held up both your hands now, to make sure neither of them interrupted you this time. “Just… Wait… Hold on,” you said. You had to get your thoughts straightened out. This problem obviously wasn’t just going to go away. The only way it’d get solved is if you three finally faced it… together. Maybe Raiden was right. Maybe you just had to find the right balance. Though… He probably didn’t mean to date both of them.

“Okay.” You sucked in a deep breath. “Obviously, I’ve been shit at handling this… I keep saying this, but I don’t think you two are really getting it: I don’t have any idea what I’m doing.” You were looking between them, gauging their reactions. “I can not choose. I can’t. I just can’t. I’m sorry. Do you both understand?”

You watched them both exchange a look with each other, then look back to you. They both nodded.

Okay. Alright. So far, so good. “The truth is… I like you both. You’re both great. Amazing… but together… You’re perfect. You compliment each other.”

“What are you saying?” Liu asked.

“I… don’t know.” You frowned. They both gave you inquisitive looks. “I just… What if I dated you both?” You let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing. “I know how it sounds. But… What better way to figure out which one of you is the right choice?” You had a point. You knew you did. And judging by their faces, you knew they did too.

“I don’t like it,” Liu said, which made you frown.

“I don’t either,” Lao told you.

You were sinking. They weren’t going to make this easier on you, where they?

“But, I’ll do it,” Lao added.

You perked up. You looked to Liu.

Liu sighed. He nodded. He didn’t like it, but he’d go along with it. He didn’t seem to have a choice. If he wanted you, he’d have to compete with Lao.

You sighed in relief. “And one more thing,” you said. “No fighting.” You looked between them.

Liu straightened as he looked to his brother. Lao looked Liu over. When they both looked back to you, they both nodded.

“I mean it,” you told them. “If you two fight, then we’re done. I don’t choose either of you.”

“We understand,” Liu said.

“No fighting. We promise,” Lao assured you. And god, did you hope they meant it.

[wesimpforxiao]

Say My Name and I’ll Be There:  10.3: The FINAL Chapter!

Author’s Note: IM SO SORRY IM A DAY LATE I ENDED UP BEING BUSIER THAN EXPECTED AND HAD TROUBLE WRITING BUT HERE IT IS!!!! THANK YOU FOR READING! Be sure to stick around for Inception(Childexreader) ;)

"Xiao! Come here real quick!"  

The yaksha glanced your way but didn't bother to get up since you were the one approaching him.  It took a moment to register that your hands were entangled in his hair, placing something in it.  Your smile was unusually bright today--so much so that it was blinding.  Not that he minded though; you've been through a lot these past few months.  Maybe this was the happiest you've been in awhile.

"I knew it," you beamed as you admired the flower crown atop his head, "You look so cute!"

"C...Cute?"  His gaze flicked away from you for a moment while the tips of his ears reddened. "I-"

"Oh, take the compliment already.  We've been together for awhile now.  You don't need to be so shy around me."  You let yourself fall back onto the grass that was shaded by a large orange tree.  Is it a gingko?  I need to ask Aether next time he comes in here, your mind trailed.

"I..."  Xiao returned his attention to you and lay down next to you, careful not to invade personal space and always leaving an inch or two of space between the two of you.  He let his hands lay on his abdomen until he jumped a little from you scooting over without a word.  When he looked at you, he was greeted by a cheeky smile.

"I know you're not used to this type of thing called affection, but I can tell you don't mind it."

"Hmph.  You've gotten smarter."

"Hey, I told you I'm not a stupid human!"

"You're beginning to sound like Aether's companion."

"Okay, there is a huge difference between emergency food and a stupid human."

"So you admit it?"

"Ugh, keep this up and I'll have no choice but to put more flowers in your hair."

"Do you dishonor every adeptus you come across?"

"Well, you're the only adeptus I've met besides Rex--Er, Zhongli!"  The filtered sunlight peeking through the leaves above blinded you when you broke eye contact with Xiao, so instead you propped yourself on your side and admired the view behind him.

Aether's Serenitea Pot was massive.  It had to span a mile or two in every direction, and the entire territory sat upon five tall cliffs that were connected via wooden bridges and held flowing waterfalls.  The weather was always pleasant day-round.  There were several pets outside of the main house on the main cliff that you had befriended, while Xiao seemed to connect the most with one of the gray tabby cats near the entrance.  You had caught them sitting quietly together on several occasions.

"Granny would've loved this place," you sigh.

"I shall go with you to visit her grave."  He didn't look at you as he said this, but the sincerity of his words rang as clear as the sky above.  "...She'd be happy to know you're safe."

"All thanks to you."  Despite originally admiring the scenery, your eyes had drifted downward and landed on his stomach.  Both of you were fully healed by now because of Bennett, and neither of you had any lasting effects from your battles minus the required resting time.  Your side held a prominent scar both at your front and your back, but did Xiao even get scars?  He never revealed the answer--mostly because you were too embarrassed to ask--and thus leaving the idea to your imagination.

"I should probably check on the situation outside soon; it's been awhile since Aether updated us."  Xiao sat up and summoned his spear--he had mentioned a few times that it was difficult for him to relax here and needed to keep himself busy since a comfortable life is a foreign concept.

"Oh, right..."  Your gaze followed his figure as he rose to his feet.  Sensing your--what was it, disappointment?--Xiao turned to you and removed his flower crown before gently placing it atop your head.  That action was followed by a faint smile, then his lips lightly pecked the tip of your nose.

"I shouldn't be long."

"You two love birds have made quite the nest here!  I've gotta say, Aether's got great taste."  A familiar voice caught both of you off your guard and Xiao's stance became aggressively defensive in an instant.  You and Xiao were supposed to be the only ones in the teapot at the moment, and even then, those who did occasionally stay in here didn't greet you like this.  The person that voice belonged to wasn't welcome--or at least, belonged to a presumably-dead man--regardless of that savior act he pulled in Snezhnaya.

"Childe?"  More shocked than afraid, you too rose to your feet.  "What're you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?  I came here because I had something to say."  The harbinger was as carefree as ever, but as he walked towards you a slight limp became noticeable in his steps.  He was hiding an injury, but was it from Scaramouche or from Aether?

"What did you do to Aether?"  Xiao's voice was as low as a growl as he raised his spear higher.  He stood slightly ahead of you to ensure your safety since you no longer had a vision and couldn't use those mysterious anemo powers ever since the rescue.  And knowing you and your idiotic tendencies, he had to make sure you didn't do something stupid like try to fight Childe if provoked.

"Haha!  Relax!  Aether and Mr. Zhongli are doing just fine; in fact, they allowed me to enter!"  Childe hid a wince when he stopped walking, but noticed the flicker of recognition in your eyes.  His lips curled upward with flattery.   "Don't worry, ojou-chan.  A little scuff isn't going to take me out."

"I-I wasn't worrying about you."

He seemed unconvinced but faced Xiao again anyway.  "You'd be pleased to know that both Aether and Zhongli let me in on their own accord--no manipulation from me whatsoever."  The fact that he had to clarify that! "Why don't we chat over lunch?  I'll cook.  Show me to the kitchen, girlie?"

.............

To say that you and Xiao were staring was a bit of an understatement.  Here you were, both sitting at the dining table in the main hall of Aether's adeptal house watching Childe cook up a meal fit for a large family while expertly navigating the kitchen like it was his own.  And when he served you, the delicious aroma that wafted into your nose was nothing short of enticing.  You and Xiao withheld your utensils--one out of weariness, and the other because it's not almond tofu.

"What?"  Childe let out a slight chuckle as he took his seat and dug into his plate.  You have no idea how thankful he was that there were forks in the drawers instead of chopsticks.  "Oh, perhaps you two already ate before my arrival?  More for me then I suppose."  

"Um, so why are you here?"

"I figured I'd give you an update regarding our little situation outside."

"'Little?'"  Xiao couldn't contain his scoff.  He hadn't dismissed his weapon either, and it levitated beside his seat.

"Seems like the quiet life hasn't changed you one bit, yaksha."  The harbinger stopped stuffing his face and set his fork aside to look at you.  "Regarding what happened with Scaramouche, I think it's safe to say I won."

"If it weren't for you coming here today, I would've assumed your untimely demise."  Ignoring Xiao's look of disapproval, you reached for your utensils and started to eat.  Both of you hadn't taken your eyes off of the harbinger as he cooked, so the chances that he may have tampered with the ingredients were low.  Plus it'd be out of his character to go about eliminating enemies like that.  "I'm grateful that you saved my life, but don't think for a second that that makes up for everything you've done to us."

"Oh, I wouldn't dare.  I know I've been aggressive for lack of a better term, but I'd like you to know that I'm only like that when it comes to my duties as one of the eleven harbingers.  Aside from that, I'm happy to call you a comrade just as I view Aether and Zhongli."

"Woah woah woah," you nearly choked.  "I'm certainly not going to start viewing you as a friend now."  

Childe simply laughed at your objection.  "Think what you may, but I do respect you and the rest of Aether's party.  As for my motherland and it's affairs, I think you'd be happy to know that the Tsaritsa has stopped her pursuit of you and Xiao.  She's not exactly appreciative of you wrecking the palace and would like to avoid any further destruction that can hamper her current plans."

"That's all it took for her to leave us alone?  You must be joking."  The archon had spent so much time and resources on hunting and imprisoning you--the idea of her giving up just like that had to be unrealistic, right?  And the fact that Xiao managed to bring the entire palace down...there's got to be some sort of bounty on your heads.

Childe met your gaze and held a level of sincerity equivalent to the time when he confessed his feelings and offered you a position among the harbingers on Dragonspine.  "Not in the slightest.  Regardless, you're free to lead carefree lives from now on.  Though if you'd like to rejoin the Fatui I'm sure I can pull some--"

"Nope.  I'm done with that."

"Ha! Very well then."  Childe resumed eating with an amused grin on his face, but Xiao wasn't satisfied with this conversation yet.

"You've given us no reason to trust your words."  His stare was hard and calculating as he tried to decipher any hidden motives behind Childe's friendliness.  It wouldn't be unusual for this to be some kind of trick.  In fact, he expected that there'd be some sort of catch.

The harbinger sent a brief glance Xiao's way before guiding another forkful of food into his mouth and shrugging.  "...Like I said, think what you may.  I don't care if you two choose to live in this realm or in Teyvat with the rest of us.  But then again it must be incredibly boring for a guardian yaksha to be lounging around in this domestic place.  I know I'd be driven mad if I had to live in such a quiet place for so long."

Xiao didn't flinch or give any indication that he was right, but your eyes briefly flicked his way.  It was uncomfortable for him to be 'relaxing' here with nothing to do.  It wasn't surprising that he'd be yearning to go out and uphold his contract with Rex Lapis again.

............

"Childe, wait."  Your hand gripped his forearm rather aggressively as he reached for the door handle to take his leave.  Xiao had heard a disturbance outside and went to check on the realm just in case, so it was only the two of you inside the mansion.

"What is it, ojou-chan?  Miss me already?"

"Yeah right."  As he turned to face you, your grip lightened until you let go.  He hadn't called you 'Mezzetin' once since he got here, only referring to you with this nickname like old times...Childe raised a confused brow.  "Why?"

"...Why?  Why what?"

"Why did you save me?  You could've just let Scaramouche kill me back there.  So...why did you risk your life to save mine when you didn't care less when I was tortured?"  Your stance was firm as you faced him head-on.  "I need to know."

"Ah," Childe awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "that."  Some sort of conflict flickered in those blue eyes of his as he formulated an answer he didn't quite know himself.  "Like I said earlier ojou-chan, I've always seen you as a com--no.  As a friend.  Just as Zhongli and I converse despite the Osial controversy, I see you in the same light despite my loyalty to the Tsaritsa."

"That doesn't answer my question, though.  You had several opportunities to stop what was happening, and it was only then when you decided to step in.  So why then?  What changed your mind?"

"I don't know."

"Bullshit, Tartaglia.  There's got to be strings attached to this, right?  You expect something in return from me? Just get on with it already and tell me."

"I doubt you'd be satisfied with my answer regardless," he muttered mostly to himself.  "I may be kind of a bad guy, but I'm not completely heartless."  He observed the stumped expression that sat on your face as the gears turned in your head.  Then, he turned to the door again.  "When you're ready, you should join Mr. Zhongli and I for drinks sometime.  Farewell, girlie."  He was gone.

Despite the deep-rooted grudge you held against the harbinger now, you couldn't help but still hold some sense of familiarity or gratitude for him.  You might just take on that offer if only to purposely antagonize him at the dinner table.

......

"Xiao, how did you get your tattoo?" The two of you were sitting beneath another one of the many trees native to Liyue in the adeptal realm, still waiting for news regarding your return to the mortal realm.  Several days have passed since Childe paid you a visit, and Zhongli and Aether still had yet to check in on the two of you.  To keep Xiao occupied and keep him from worrying, you'd ask him questions.  "I don't have any of your memories of it."

Despite his memories being shared with you due to your bond, the further back in time they're from, the blurrier they got.  The oldest memory you could 'remember' dealt with the god that enslaved him, and even then, there was no mention of the mysterious green markings that sat on his arm.

"I've always had these markings," he answered gruffly.  He had sat up a moment prior with the intent to exit the teapot out of concern for your companions, but your random question caught him off guard.  His amber eyes narrowed cynically when your fingers traced them.

"Do they have a special meaning?"

"'Meaning?'"  His gaze averted for a moment as he decided whether or not to indulge such a topic.  But your eyes were so full of life as you traced his arm, and your touch was so warm...  "They represent my true form."

"True form?"  You tilted your head and attempted to picture whatever the heck he would be, but all you saw were a bunch of random shapes.  The other adepti in Liyue are shaped like deer and cranes, but what the heck was this mosaic supposed to be picturing?  "And, uh, what would that be?"

Xiao let out a tiresome sigh and realized he may have made a mistake in answering these questions.  Now that he had told you, you weren't going to stop asking until you got to see for yourself.  He never uses his true form; very few had ever seen it and those who have have already passed.  Zhongli had only ever seen it once.

Seeing his apparent concern made you raise a brow.  "No way.  Don't tell me your true form is a bug or something!"

"Tch.  Is that really what came to mind?"  Xiao shot you a glare before standing.  He was planning on walking away and ending the conversation, but your silent pleading made him reconsider almost instantly.  We are alone, he thought.  Perhaps I could show her once.  "Fine," he grumbled.  "Close your eyes."

You obeyed.  He didn't exactly say 'no' when you asked if he'd be a bug.  He wasn't going to appear as such...right?  Butterflies fluttered in your stomach at the anticipation.  And just as your excitement grew, so did the winds that brushed past you.  Even the leaves in the tree above were shaking violently. Then, everything stilled.  Something soft brushed your fingertips, which were resting on your knees.  It was a cue.

"Hm?"  Xiao was no longer standing over you.  Instead stood a majestic bird with blue and green feathers that shimmered like glitter in the sunlight that filtered through the tree branches. "You're--!"

"--a bird," he finished.  He didn't say anything for a moment and allowed you to take it all in, seemingly shy or even embarrassed as you instantly reached out to touch him.

The blush that rushed to your cheeks was ignored by the both of you while your fingers grazed over the feathers that stuck up from the top of his head. He was beautiful; as breathtaking as a peacock, even.  Your fingers trailed down the back of his long neck, earning a rise of feathers as Xiao contemplated your movements.  His feathers were softer than the finest textiles in Liyue! And the tail feathers he had must've been as long as you are tall.  They glowed a light blue that's similar to the eyes of his mask.

"So beautiful," you whispered in adoration.  Xiao shifted his wait to his other foot.  "Thank you for showing me."  The fact that he did showed how much trust he placed in you--

The sound of a twig snapping scared the crap out of both of you--so much so that Xiao immediately transformed back into his mortal self.  Since he was so close to you though, it looked like he was sitting on you from the front angle.

"Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to check in--" Aether nearly stumbled when he approached you.  "Um...am I interrupting?"

"No!"

"The Vigilant Yaksha is BLUSHING?!"  Paimon squealed so loud that the three of you scowled.  "And what's with that sitting position?! You--"

"Paimon!" Aether swatted at his companion before she could say something that angered the yaksha.  "We came here for a reason!"

"Hey! Paimon is NOT a fly!"

"It's confirmed to be safe now.  You two can come home!"

"Wait, really?"  The two of you stood up.  "Are you sure?"

"Yep! There's no issue with the Fatui anymore.  Everyone's backed off.  We'll see you at the Pavilion for dinner to celebrate, okay? Don't be late!"  The two partners exited the realm in a flash.

"Ready?"  Xiao turned to you.

"Right now?! It's so sudd--"

"You don't have any belongings here anyways."  The statement cracked a smile on both faces.  "Let's go."  He reached to tap the symbol on his hand.

Your hand grabbed his.  "Wait!  Let me see you a little longer."  He was confused to say the least, but you didn't bother explaining how gorgeous he looked in the light right now.  Those amber eyes mirrored your own--though perhaps it'd be more accurate to say the opposite.  This is the last chapter of the crazy 'adventure' and the dangerous waltz with the Tsaritsa.  In just moments you'd be back in reality, return to Liyue Harbor, return to your Granny's grave, and he would return to his duty of protecting Liyue.  One more moment in this peaceful environment is all you need to admire him before life got hectic again.

Now your new adventure will be permanently at Xiao's side for however long your lifespan is: training with him, supporting him at his darkest moments, and loving him.  No matter what Teyvat brings next, you'll be able to take it on head-first despite lacking a vision and at his side.  You'll both thrive, not just survive.  And as you peered into his eyes, you could tell he felt the same.  "Okay," you nod.  "I'm ready."

[ourloveisforthelovely]

A Perfect Storm Part 3

Harry Potter Marauders Ers- Post Hogwarts

Link to Part 2 

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M 

Song in Chapter: Weather by Molly Parden 

__________

I've been watching the weather where you are to see where it is that you're taking my heart. I've been praying that you haven't lost it yet. 'Cause it's times like these I don't want to forget

For the next few days, you decided that you weren’t leaving your room or talking to anyone. It didn’t matter how many letters and expensive pieces of jewelry that you received from Regulus or how many times that your mother came to harass you; there was no coming out. Evan didn’t bother, you knew that you brother was smarter than to even try.

It wasn’t until day 4 did the family elf Curly turn up in your room did you speak to someone.

“Mistress Y/n, your father ordered Curly to come up and tell you that the dark lord is coming to dinner. Master told Curly to inform you that you are to get decent and…”

Before Curly could finish there was a knock at your door. Your father’s voice came from the other side.

“Y/n, I want you to open the door this instant. I want to have a word with you.”

You quickly pulled on a robe before opening the door. It was very few and far between when your father came to your room for anything. Something had to be very wrong for him to show up.

Opening the door, you faked a smile.

“Father, I’m glad you’re home!”

You said as cheerfully as possible before wrapping your arms around your father’s shoulders. He held you back for a moment before motioning to the sofa in the corner of your room.

“We need to have a chat.”

You had a feeling of just where this was going to go but decided to play dumb.

“Of course.”

Your father, for the most part, decided to leave the child-rearing and decisions to your mother or nannies. He only came when something was unmanageable for the previously mentioned parties.

Sitting down beside your father, you decided to let him make the first move. Maybe he wanted to talk to you about something else. Maybe he needed advice on a new necktie or something? If you were lucky that was going to be the topic.

When am I ever lucky?”

You thought bitterly as your father smiled before cupping your cheek.

“You’re always such a pretty girl, Y/n. I think that is why your mother and I worry so much about you. While we support your career and the wonderful growth that we have seen in you over the past few years there is a topic that I need to discuss with you. If I don’t, I wouldn't be a good father, in my eyes. Your mother informed me of the situation regarding Regulus Black. I believe that it would be in your best interest to take him up on the offer of a proposal.”

You swallowed. This was going to be the conversation that you expected.

“He never mentioned that.”

Your father chuckled.

“Evan also told me everything that happened. I don’t think that Regulus really was able to get to that point. Y/n, you used to be so crazy for Regulus.”

You scrunched up your nose. This behavior would have earned a slap from your mother but your father was more willing to let you speak your mind.

“That was before he left me for another woman. Father, I don’t care if it was due to a love potion. I was and am still hurt but I do love him. I suppose that I am afraid of being hurt again.”

Your father nodded.

“He apologized and is trying very hard to earn your favor again. You can’t blame Regulus for situations that he couldn’t control. I don’t think that he would go to the extent of sending you such nice gifts if he didn’t care. This brings me to the topic of our discussion. I have spoken with Orion Black and the dark lord himself, we have all decided that it is in your best interest as well as our family’s best interest that you marry Regulus…”

“Father...where was I in this…”

Your father held up a hand.

“You will marry him, Y/n. Like it or not, I have to think of all of my children’s futures. Felix is in Italy. Evan is busy with being a death eater. For you, my only daughter, I have to make sure that you secure a smart match with a good family. The Black family is more than a smart match. I know that you and your children-to-be will be more than financially secure and your history with Regulus makes the decision either. The dark lord, although he typically doesn't get involved in family affairs, agreed to this match as well. Now, Regulus will be here soon as will everyone else. Get up, put on a nice dress and fix your hair. You will not embarrass our family. I have worked too hard to disappoint the dark lord. Therefore you will not disappoint me. Do you understand?”

As much as you wanted to fight back, you knew it would do no good. To be a woman and fight back in a pureblood household, yours especially, would just get you banished. Knowing your luck, your parents would find some way to sabotage your career and leave you penniless.

“Yes, father.”

You finally replied. Your father grinned before patting your face.

“Wear the black dress.”

Your father was gone before you were able to make an argument. He left you sitting alone on the sofa with wide eyes and a completely shattered mental state. Had this been five years ago and your father dropped this kind of bombshell on you, you would have been thrilled. You would be marrying the man of your dreams. There would be no confusion on either of your parts. Regulus wouldn’t be in a state of panic and you wouldn’t feel like a mess of nerves,

As you pulled on the black dress that your father requested you finally let your mind go to Regulus. As much as you didn’t want to you couldn't help it now. All you could see were those grey eyes locked on your face, the way he smiled (when actually did that), the way he had always been beyond gentle with you when other boys weren't...everything. Even with everything that you had gone through it was impossible to stop loving Regulus. You couldn’t just stop loving someone that you had loved since childhood.

The two of you had been shoved together at any spare opportunity by your mothers. Both Walburga and your mother had it decided since before the two of you were born that you would be for each other. To both mother’s delight, both Regulus and yourself “clicked” from day one.

That is what made Regulus’ betrayal with Ambrosia all the more painful. You didn’t just lose your lover...you also lost your best friend. Regulus (whether it was by love potion or not) was gone and wanted nothing to do with you any longer. The pain was more than words could really say or anyone could understand. It felt as if you were missing your right arm. The person that you went to for everything was gone.

Maybe you were being harsh on him now...especially since you knew that it wasn’t his fault but one had to protect themselves right? You had, for the most part, figured that out over the past few years. Sure, Evan was there but you wouldn’t have your brother forever. There was also the realization that Evan would agree with whatever your father (and most certainly the dark lord) ordered. It wouldn't matter what Evan actually felt. If it interfered with his sense of duty, his feelings would be placed on the back burner. Your other brother Felix didn’t really care either way. If he had to step in to fight for your honor he would but he would rather not be bothered by your train wreck of a personal life. His comment on the matter to your parents was “Betroth her to someone else. Problem solved.”

The sense of duty...That had been shoved upon Evan, Feliex, and yourself from dayone. As much as you wanted to throw your hands up and say “fuck it” you couldn’t. You could be like Sirius and say to hell with everyone but you weren’t able to do it. There was the very real knowledge that you would lose your family as well as the possibility that you father would have you killed. This was one way that the Rosiers was even crueler than the Blacks. If you were Walburga’s daughter, she would simply blast your name from the family tapestry and “forget” that you were ever born. Your parents, however, were not like that at all.

Your eyes had fallen to the photo of Regulus and yourself that you had never taken off of your vanity. It was the picture taken on the day that he had given you the engagement ring. You smiled at how “in love” the two of you looked. Regulus was nuzzling your face before kissing you softly.

Maybe it can be like this again?

You thought, hopefully. It would take time that was for sure. Regulus would have to gain your trust back and maybe you would need to let some of the walls that you had built fall.

That would be easier said than done…

After taking more than enough time, you finally decided to go downstairs and face the music. Walking through the formal living room and dining room, you saw more than plenty of familiar faces...just not the face that you were expecting. You had expected Regulus to be waiting for you to come out of hiding.

You know better than that. He isn’t going to draw that much attention to himself.

You thought as your attention went to your mother who was talking to Walburga Black. Smirking to yourself, you couldn’t help but wonder if that pairing is where bad ideas came from?

“Hey, you’re alive.”

You turned to face Evan, who had come to join you. Focusing on your brother’s face, you narrowed your eyes on him.

“Have you heard about my apparent engagement?”

Evan nodded.

“I have.”

You were suddenly unnerved by Evan’s calm stance.

“And your feelings?”

Evan shrugged. He wanted to say that he thought that it was a train wreck in the making but he couldn't. Evan believed that the tension between Regulus and yourself could be fixed but it would take a lot. Was he worried that Regulus would hurt you again No, Regulus had clearly learned his lesson but that didn’t stop the older brother in Evan from worrying.

“Father nor the dark lord asked for my input.”

Evan watched as you made a shocked facial expression.

“You’re supposed to be on my side, Evan!”

Evan wrapped an arm around your wrist and pulled you into the empty drawing-room.

“I am on your side...for your information but I have a job that I have to do. When the dark lord says something is a certain way, we go with it. You know this. Do you love Regulus?”

You nodded. Evan sighed.

“There...then this will work out. Y/n, we have duties that we have to fulfill no matter how personally difficult.”

Evan replied in his cold death eater voice. He looked over his shoulder before his eyes softened.

“Look, if Regulus is unkind to you in any way...I’ll know about it. I’m bigger than he is so I think that you will be just fine. Now go back in there and put a fake smile on your face...like we do all of the time.”

You wanted to say more but knew that it would be useless. Evan was on the right side of the tracks and apparently you were just being difficult...whatever.

Stepping back into the dining room, you noticed Regulus finally. He had apparently just walked in. You were thankful that he hadn’t seen you yet. Looking him over, that desperate feeling of love returned again mixed with the undying need to run for your life. Turning you slipped into the kitchen without making a peep.

I've been watching for the tiniest warning signs, and I'm afraid they might be right, I've been praying for a tell-tale sign, So I can keep you there in the back of my mind, I'll keep you there in the back of my mind,I could never understand, I'd have to ask him again and again, It was out of my hands, I'd have to ask him again and again

You stood in the kitchen focusing on the song coming from the record player that your mother was listening to. Resting your head against the wall, you wanted to come to a conclusion if things were really out of your hands or if you had the “chess pieces” as your mother suggested a few days before. If your mind wasn’t such a pretzel of emotions this situation may not be so damn difficult.

“Y/n?”

You looked up to see Antonin Dolohov standing in the doorway. This was the last person that you wanted to really deal with at the moment. You found Dolohov as interesting as a block of wood.

“Hello.”

You replied as he stepped further into the kitchen. He looked around the room with a forced smile (that he never needed to do again.)

“You look awfully pretty tonight...if no one told you.”

Internally gagging, you forced a polite smile. You wanted to tell the man that was obviously desperate for companionship to go find someone else. There were enough “man” problems in your life without his help. If Bellatrix hadn’t married Rodolphus Lestrange, you would have pointed Dolohov in her direction. They would make the perfect psycho couple.

You internally sighed as the realization that Bellatrix would soon be “family” to you. This day was just getting more and more magical by the moment!

“Thank you, that’ s a very nice compliment.”

You said. Dolohov smiled again.

“I was wondering if you would like to have dinner sometime. You’re a fine woman of quality.”

Oh, Jesus Christ

You thought, mentally giving yourself a facepalm. This had to be the worst “please date me” proposal that you had ever experienced.

“She’s engaged.”

Both Dolohov and yourself turned to see a very annoyed-looking Regulus in the doorway. You smirked as Dolohov put two and two together.

“To you, I am assuming? Black, you waited no time to move on. I can’t compete with this.”

He turned to you with a smile before walking from the room. Regulus scowled at the other man until he was gone from the room. Once Dolohov was gone, Regulus turned to you.

“Are you alright?”

You nodded, rolling your eyes.

“He’s repulsive.”

Regulus nodded. He waited a moment to say anything. This was the first time that you spoke to him like the “old” days. Even if it was about another man and only two words, Regulus would take what he got.

“Try working with him.”

You turned back to the kitchen sink, pretending to be doing something.

“I suppose you heard the same news that I did?”

You questioned, as you cleaned up a mess that Curly obviously forgot. Where the elf ran off to, you had no idea. What you did know was Regulus had moved beside you. You smelled his scent and internally sighed. Regulus being this close to you was both a comfort and wrecking your nerves at the same time.

“I did. Just so you know, I didn’t plan any of this out.”

“I know.”

You replied. Regulus blinked a few times. He had expected a bit more of a “spark” out of you. In fact, he was half expecting you to start throwing things at him. When you didn’t, he wasn’t for sure what he was supposed to do. You had always been the one that was quick to anger and he was the one that had to talk you down over whatever the event was.

“Y/n, I’ll be a good husband and I think that you know that.”

You still didn’t look up, which annoyed Regulus a bit more.

“I know. We’ve been pushed together since we were babies. I know everything about you, Regulus.”

Regulus finally got annoyed enough and reached out to take the cleaning cloth away from you. You quickly looked up as Regulus turned your body to face his.

“Then you know that I never...ever...would have hurt you intentionally. I think deep down under all of the stubbornness that you were blessed with that you know that too. I also think there is also a part of you that is still in love with me no matter how much you want to deny it.”

“I never denied it.”

You replied as Regulus wrapped an arm around your waist. The two of you stood quietly for a moment before you pulled away. Regulus looked as if you had taken his heart and smashed it.

“Regulus, we’ve both changed since school...since all of this nightmare began. I am not the wife and mother type...I don’t want to be like my mother or your mother.”

Regulus crossed his arms over his chest. He decided to go with the “olive branch” that he had saved for this conversion. It didn’t matter how much he disliked what he was about to say. If it helped him get back with you, he would be willing to give it a shot.

“I’m not asking you to give up your life. You can still be a model if you want. I’m not asking you to give up your life for me. In fact, I would prefer that you don’t be like our mothers. They are horrible enough. As far as my daughter, I don’t want her having the kind of example that we had growing up. Y/n, i’m not asking you to take the place of her mother but she needs a good example of what a woman should be. I can’t do everything on my own. I miss the us against the world thing that we used to have going. What do I have to do? What do I have to say? I am running out of ideas. I am almost to the point of pulling out the sass card and telling you to get over here…”

Regulus stopped his monologue when you smiled.

“Why are you smiling? What about this is amusing?”

You shook your head. When your mouth opened, you weren't sure yourself what happened.

“Come here, Regulus.”

“You’re not going to hit me are you?”

He asked with a small smile earning an eye roll from you.

“No, I am not going to hit you. I need you to prove to me that I can trust you fully.”

You replied as Regulus wrapped his arms around you. He considered trying to kiss you but decided against it. Pressing his luck at the moment didn’t seem like a great idea.

“That isn’t asking much. I’ve missed you.”

He said in a near whisper. You lay your head on his shoulder as all of the emotions of the past five years hit at once. If you were much of a crier, you would be sobbing right now.

“I’ve missed you too.”

Regulus didn’t dare attempt to let you go. Having to let you, the person who provided the most comfort to him, go was not about to happen. You were the one that fixed a lot of the bad things in his life. He wanted to hold you for as long as you would let him. Part of Regulus was surprised that you hadn’t tried to kick him.

“I have a feeling that you are still a bit of a handful.”

Regulus said with a small smirk. You scoffed.

“A bit?”

Regulus tilted your face to his with a small smile.

“Not that I’m complaining. I am kind of looking forward to a life of wondering just what in the fresh hell that I have gotten myself into.”

Before he was able to kiss you, your parents stepped into the room with Walburga, Orion, and Voldemort behind them. Regulus quickly let you go, choosing to ignore the look of approval that his mother was giving him. Walburga had sent him a scathing letter the day before with the news of the engagement arrangement that he better step up his wooing game. Expensive jewelry clearly wasn’t winning you over and if Regulus wanted to win you back then he better do something quickly before another man stepped in. Regulus would have rather taken his time and repaired the broken relationship in a “healthy way” but with parents like his and yours...that wasn’t going to happen. If he was lucky all of the bullshit that just oozed out of his mouth would be enough to please you for the time being. Things were a lot easier when the two of you were 10 years old and your biggest worry was what kind of bug that the two of you were going to throw on Sirius.

The moment that Voldemort stepped into the room, you watched Regulus go from himself to death eater mode. You hated how both Regulus and Evan would become almost cold robots anytime that Voldemort was around. It was required of them, you knew this, but that didn’t mean that you had to like it. Watching their faces turn ice-cold wasn’t something that you really enjoyed. Now you were going to have to forever watch it (unless something truly sudden and unexpected happened to the dark lord).

You also knew to limit your own thoughts as well as not be too “showy” when it came to emotions. If you touch or babied Regulus or Evan too much, you would hear about it later. You had to sit by either Regulus or Evan and be the supportive fiance and sister. It seemed only Bellatrix was able to get out of the “female norm.” If it meant doing things that Bellatrix did to step out of the norm, you would remain where you were. You wanted no part in having Bellatrix Lestrange as a mentor.

“Good, there the two of you are.”

Your father replied.

“Father.”

You said, simply as Voldemort strolled over.

“I suppose the two of you have been informed of the arrangement at hand. While I normally don’t get involved in domestic affairs because I don’t want to, I really think that the two of you have a lot to offer. I have been informed of the love potion incident and this is to be forgotten. Do you both understand?”

Both Regulus and yourself nodded.

Forgotten my ass.

You thought, hoping the dark lord didn’t pick up on that. To your relief, he didn’t seem to.

“Yes, sir.”

Regulus responded as Voldemort turned to you with a smile.

“The both of you have been arranged to marry since you were children. There is no sense in letting a little roadblock ruin what is good planning. We need more purebloods in this world. Y/n, dear, I will make sure that the Parkinsons are punished for their daughter’s doings. You can be assured of that.”

Voldemort turned his attention back to Regulus.

“As for you, take care of this pretty girl. Now, we have a meeting to get to. You’ll be okay without your fiancé for a few moments.”

________

@amelie-black @regulusslut @truly-insatiable @fandomsxxregulus @quuenofblacks @teletubiswszpilkach @mimisparkle12 @fific7 @acciosiriusblack @jessyballet @knreidy1 @rubyroscoe1 @bennyberry @hazncalsgal @criminalyetminimal @whymyparentscheckmyphone @lucasfilms77 @exhsle @spiderxalmighty @authoressskr @brokencasbutt67-writer @fandom-trash-worth-it @hankypranky @summer-novak @emiwrites3reads @shaylybaby2032 @li0nh34rt @tas898 @shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @knight-of-gleefulness @marichromatic @stuckinsaudi1 @untoldshortsofthefandoms @sprnaturallover @deanwherescas @wontlookaway @shitfaceddaniel @mycuddlycorner

[rhabakoli]

Reunion

this has been in my WIP folder for like, 84 years... 

Also, that stupid chicken wing song was stuck in my head during half of the writing process. I wanted to die. 

This is the reunion kinda scene from the very beginning of chapter 24 of Beutiful and Damned by @dreamwritesimagines​  It’s smut, so like, stay safe and sane y’all. 

Enjoy.

The moment the door opened was the very same moment Geralt found himself a princess. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms around is neck, her lips found his; she barrelled into him, her trust in his abilities to catch her absolute. 

He huffed in surprise and pushed the door closed to press her up against it. “I missed you so much.” Her voice was low, almost demure, but her hands definitely weren’t. She clawed at his shoulders, brushed them over his chest, tangled her fingers in his hair to pull him in. Geralt would be lying if he said her sudden boldness and forwardness wasn’t welcome, but it was certainly surprising and slightly confusing. “Princess, are you alright?” 

“Not until I’ve had one or two orgasms, Geralt.” She looked at him, face as innocent as possible. “Will you deny me?” She was actively trying to kill him then, alright. He groaned, his lips finding hers once again. “As if I ever could, princess.” He pressed closer, his torso flush against her, his hands smoothing down her sides, then gripping her ass. She was wrapped in a thin camisole, and nothing more, and it absolutely killed him. She was so precious, so sweet, so adorably sexy – He groaned, shoved the fabric out of his way to get his hands on her skin. “Fuck, princess.” She sighed against his lips, smile on her pretty face. “I really, really missed you, Geralt.” He bumped his nose against hers, his voice rough: “I missed you too, princess.” She arched her back, squeezed her thighs around his middle and giggled. “Are you going to take care of me now?” How she looked so innocent saying such meaningful things while she was most definitely able to bring him to the brink of an orgasm with just a couple moans and sighs… Unbelievable. “If you let me.” And in the breathiest, most seductive voice, she answered: “Please.” Geralt felt his restrain crumble. As usual, around her. He cupped the back of her head and his eyes almost rolled back into his head as her scent reached his nose. Something animalistic awoke inside his chest, and he had to fulfil her wish, lest he’d die right there on the spot. She could feel his chest expand as he took a breath, and then she could almost pinpoint the moment his control slipped. The effect was instant. His kiss was searing, hot, desperate, almost as desperate as she felt. It made her hips roll, made her thighs quiver with the force she used to press herself against Geralt’s rigid body. Her cunt clenched in anticipation, her mind filled with nothing but his name, “Please” and “More”. He devoured her, bit her lip and pulled, the tiniest, lowest rumble making itself heard. She wasn’t even sure he was aware of the noises he made. “Geralt, please, give me something, please.” “As you wish, princess.” He shifted his hold on her, his fingers trailing down her bum, before he found her slit. “Oh, princess.” She moaned at the soft-gravely sound of his voice. He sounded about at wrecked and needy as she felt. “You’re drenched already, fuck.” He gathered some of her wetness on his fingers and brought them to his mouth, licking them, tasting her. She watched him, head thrown back against the door, eyes half closed and mouth hanging open, her breaths coming in pants. Seeing his reaction to her taste, how his nostrils flared, how he licked his lips and rolled his eyes back, the appreciative groan – she whimpered, her hand curling in the fabric of his shirt. His eyes were aflame, the gold piercing through her; there was a carnal hunger inside them. Geralt didn’t hesitate any longer then; he ripped open his belt, unbuttoned his breeches one handed, and was inside her in seconds. The first thrust was almost painful, made her feel like he was pushing all the air out of her lungs – it had been a while and Geralt was a beast – but she loved it. One hand curled around the back of his neck, her nails probably leaving marks for everyone to see, the other fisted in her own hair, as she tried to keep in control of her voice, lest the guards patrolling the halls would hear. “Oh, fuck. Fuck, princess.” Geralt bent forward, curled into himself, rested his forehead against her chest, his hands wrapped around her hips now, holding her still. “Geralt, love, please.” He just nodded before he curled an arm around her to press her close, hooked his fingers into her nightshift to pull it down and lay her bare. Her nipples were stiff, sensitive; just his breath on them made her clench around him. He sighed her name, then latched onto one and simultaneously started to pull out. They were quick to find a rhythm, almost as if they’d never parted. He’d been so stupid. So incredibly thick-headed, to give this up because he was afraid to lose her, to hurt her. In pulling away he’d already managed to do just that, but he could feel their wounds mending now that they found their way to each other and poured their love into every touch, every word, every breath upon the others skin. It didn’t take long for her to come, clenching hard around him, as if she never wanted to let go again. Her back arched, her naked breast rubbed against his clothed chest, the friction giving another layer of pleasure to her orgasm. He held her, slowly fucked her through it, tiny motions, almost non-existent. He kissed her neck, her jaw, bit her earlobe and then started talking. She was sure she would start crying if he continued to assault her like that. His voice was so soft and low, it felt like she was wrapped in velvet and silk at the same time. “You are so beautiful, my princess. You’re beautiful and smart, and incredibly strong. I am so proud of you. You are everything to me. The best thing that ever happened to me. You make me feel loved and at home. Let me stay with you forever. I love you, princess.” Tears sprung to her eyes; her orgasm seemingly never-ending with the continued influx of sensations. She cried his name, shivers wracking her body, her nails cutting his skin where she held onto his arms. He hummed, pressed his face to her neck and took deep breaths. The scent of her arousal, her own fragrance, her soap; it all drove him crazy and at the same time calmed his senses, calmed his heart. It smelled like home, like happiness, like his future. Geralt waited until she relaxed, then he pushed away from the door and walked over to her bed. She whined at the movement but sighed when he went back to covering her neck and shoulders in kisses and bites. When her back touched the crisp sheets, she let go of her man and stretched, her eyes never leaving his. He was so imposing, gigantic. He was safe. He was home. Geralt knelt between her legs, ran his hands up and down her thighs and just admired her. There was a blissed smile on her face, a healthy flush spread down to her breasts, her nipples tight and calling out to him. Her neck was mottled with red spots already, her shoulders starting to look alike. “Geralt.” She watched him from beneath heavy lids and reached for him, wriggled her fingers at him. When he leaned forward until she could cup his cheek, her smile grew wider. “Geralt.” Her thumb brushed along his cheekbone and he thought he was going to melt. And then he thought he’d died and ascended to heaven, because she licked her lips, raised her head just the tiniest bit and whispered: “Fuck me like you mean it, Geralt.” He was so dumbfounded by her words, he didn’t move or react for a couple seconds. Her giggles snapped him out of it, and he smirked. “As you wish, princess. “ He scooted back, kissed her knees and then proceeded to flip her over fast enough to make her get whiplash. She bounced a little bit on the bed, and then his body was pressed along her back, hard lines against soft skin, his lips next to her ear, his dick pressing against her ass in the most teasing, heady way possible. Geralt rubbed himself against her, her soft skin a delight. “Do you know how hard it was to old back all the time?” He gathered her hair in one hand, his other hand buried in the sheets, muscles straining. Carefully, he pulled. “Do you know how often I wanted to simply throw you over my shoulder and take you away? Or bend you over some sideboard in the hallways and fuck you senseless, until you scream my name loud enough to make everyone know you’re mine?” She was panting, her heart racing. He liked her like this, all pliant and putty in his hands. “Do you know how much I missed your juices on my dick? How you feel when you get especially excited? How you start to drip, just from my words?” He let go of her hair and sat up, got comfortable between her legs. He teased her clit, rubbed his entire length through her folds and chuckled at her needy moans. “You like that, don’t you. I missed how you sound when you’re desperate, princess.” He let the head of his cock slip into her, barely enough to breach her, but certainly enough to have her press back. “You look so good like this, princess. I love to see you all pliant and fucked out. I know I’m the only one to get to see you like this, I know you’re mine as much as I am yours.” He caged her in once more, his arms to her sides. She sighed at the feeling of him shielding her like that, and at the way he teased her opening like that. There were three words filling her entire conscience at this point: Safe, Home, Mine. “I will show you how I am the only one to ever make you feel this good, princess. No other man can stretch you like this, ever.” He finally, finally, pressed in; one harsh thrust followed another. He didn’t start slow, no. He fucked her like he meant it, like she’d asked of him. And she LOVED it. Her hands were fisted in the sheets, holding on for dear life. She felt as if her brain leaked out of her ears; she was lost in desire and lust and pleasure. She’d forgotten how it felt to be desired, loved, cherished. “Geralt, fuck, please.” He shifted, his hips not losing rhythm, when he ducked to bring his lips against her ear: “What do you need, princess?” “More.” He grunted, moved his legs, and pulled her up. Her mouth fell open in a silent curse as she suddenly found herself in Geralts lap, her legs spread, held open by his. One hand came up to cup her breast, the other held her hip as he fucked up into her wet heat. Her head fell back against his shoulder, her neck stretched and presented beautifully. Oh, how great she’d look marked up, so everyone would know she’s taken, satisfied; that he was the one to bed her, to taste her all over. Geralt could feel the possessive growl in his chest built, could feel himself losing control. “Geralt.” A soft hand on his cheek snapped him out of it, brought his attention back to her face. “It’s okay. Let go.” “But-“ “You won’t hurt me.” She rolled her hips, clenched around him. “Please.” “Fuck.” He complied, wrapped both his hands around her waist and started fucking into her without restraint. She felt so good, so ready for him, so wet. He really thought he was going crazy. “Princess, oh fuck.” His voice in her ear made her break out in goosebumps, and she was fairly sure they’d be heard outside. Did she care? Not at all. Let them hear. Let them know, how was she supposed to care when he was inside her, loving her like he did? So intense, so honest, so real.   “Geralt, please.” He laughed, barely registered how unhinged it sounded with all the pleasure and want clouding his mind. All he wanted was to make her feel good, make her scream his name, fill her mind and body and never let go. The fast slapping of skin on skin mixed with the panting breath of them both, with the moans and cries of pleasure, the curses, the pleads. It was a cacophony of love and desire, of lust. It was lewd. Her wetness was gathering between them. She was glistening with it and he wanted to eat her up. She whined, his name on her lips like a prayer. “Please.” Her fingers were clawing up his arm, looking for purchase when he reacted with a snarl and a smack to her thigh. “Cum for me, princess, I know you want to.” He helped her along by finding her clit, playing with it, rubbing and occasionally pinching. She bucked in his arms, her voice that of a songbird. It was intoxicating and he never wanted it to end. But it had to. He wanted her to hit her high, to come around him, for him. “Princess”, he groaned into her ear. Shivers ran down her back, lightning and ice and molten gold. When she clenched, a curse escaped him; he wasn’t far behind at all. Just a couple more thrusts as he held her up, and he unloaded inside her, her moans filling his ears as he filled her with his seed. He stilled, curled is arms around her form; he’d never let her go. His princess caressed his arm, let her fingers roam up and down and play with his arm hair. “Hmmm, that was very nice.” She grinned at his nonverbal grunt, snuggled into his warmth. He was still inside her, and they were making a mess on her bed, but neither cared. She was basking in their comfortable bubble, until Geralt shifted and kissed behind her ear, just to say: “I’ll make you come on my tongue later, princess.”

[lizacstuff]

What did you think of the latest SCK episode? I’m torn. There were some really good scenes, but \insert annoyed sigh\ there was also Celine.

Actually, I really enjoyed it. I watched it last night and then immediately rewatched. There was so much Edser goodness and enough emotional movement that it kept the shipper in me happy even though I am dying for resolution to the secret.  

I'll get to Selin and all the delicious Eda/Serkan down below, but I have to give props to some of the side stories this ep. Erdeem humor is hit or miss for me, but this episode it was a hit. The entire montage of the security camera footage had me laughing out loud. Literal, loud belly laughs, my neighbors could probably hear me. The whole scene was gold from the hilarious footage to the reactions. Erdeem was probably the best, but shout out to Leila photocopying herself, who doesn't want to do that? Then there was the reactions, Engin and Piril being mortified, Efe looking guilty and nervous worrying about what they were going to see, Ferit not being able to hold it together. The way he was turning and laughing sort of charmed me, I wasn't sure if that was acting, or if Cagri was breaking during the scene, or both. Either way, it worked, and I loved it. The only thing missing in the scene was Serkan, because Kerem's reaction expressions would have been amazing.

This got LONG so I’ll put the rest beneath the read more:

Loved Aydan getting out of the house and fully joining Team Edser. It's self-serving to some extent because she rightly thinks that losing Eda due to the secret is the wedge driving Serkan away from her. However, to give her props, the breakup also made her recognize how deep and real Serkan's feelings are, actually Eda's too, and I think she genuinely wants both of them to be happy. Now can we have Seyfi and Aydan actively matchmaking? This would be great after Eda finds out since I assume she's going to be angry and need time to process, so there probably won't be an immediate reconciliation. AySey to the rescue! 

Ayfer on the other hand needs to chill. Most of the time her end advice "protect your heart" is good, but her overreactions and mocking judgements are annoying. It's got to be clear to her that Eda and Serkan love each other and are working through some things, and there is no need for her to wade into it constantly. Eda is an adult and can make her own decisions and mistakes.  As for the other couples Engin and Piril can be funny, but I have no idea what they see in each other and could not be more mismatched so I'm not sure where it's going. As for Ceren and Ferit, I don't understand what Ferit did to upset her throughout the episode, I don't think he did either, but he was sweet about it. I like him more and more. And welcome back Melo! A breath of fresh air.

Now on to the best stuff. The number of heart-felt declarations this episode between Eda and Serkan warmed my cold, icy heart. The fact that they are broken up, but at the same time are at the point of just letting their feelings hang out there for the other to see is super fun to watch.  

Eda believing in Serkan when no one else did, and then being determined to find out what happened and bring the culprit to justice is as romantic as it gets. You go, girl! She might be so mad at him, and so annoyed at him, or even feeling hurt, but at the end of the day she is gonna be in his corner no matter what. That's love. 

Serkan on the other hand. Serkan, Serkan, Serkan. He can't have her around, but he also can't be apart from her. The poor dear is being pulled in half by a tornado created by his own intense desire to be with her fighting against his noble intentions. It's not fair to Eda at all, but his see-sawing should give her every indication that he loves her and is wrestling with something huge. For his part, I hope he's starting to catch a clue on the depth of Eda's feelings. "You want me to leave, because you're afraid of the woman who loves you  more than anything."  Seriously. Seriously!?!!? Wow. She'd never told him she loved him, just that their feelings were mutual. He's always feared that he doesn't deserve her and she'll get tired of him. Well she's standing there, with a broken heart and a bruised ego after he took Selin's side, and still telling him that she loves him more than anyone. He also looked absolutely wrecked, as he should, when she said he had just discarded her. He never wanted her to feel that way. 

On the other hand, I'm not sure Eda fully digested some of his avowals. "I only trust you." HUGE. Eps 7-9 told us everything we need to know about his trust issues. He loves easier than he trusts. We knew how much he loves her, but now we know not only does he trust her, she's the only one he trusts. Swoon. That was huge for him to admit, Eda, HUGE. But also, "I have never valued anyone as much as you." Once again, huge and a huge breakup fail. I don't blame Eda for not realizing the full weight of these declarations, he says them, but they're apart. Still, you take those and add to the way he can't stay away from her, how he's personally invested in her professionally, actively mentoring her, the password (oh man did I love that), the photo, the mug. Lots of evidence of his real feelings piling up there, Eda.  

Which leads to the fact that we're at the point where the pain/gain assessment for Plan A (breaking up to protect her) is in the red. Meaning it's starting to cause more pain than it's prevented. That's where we get to Selin, because she unwittingly pushed things forward for them this episode. I'm not sure what's motivating her, because she seems like a character that would have too much pride to put herself in the position of having to watch a love sick Serkan chase around after Eda like a heartbroken puppy. However, Selin's feelings are in no way the point on this show. They simply don't matter, because in this instance she is a device. A device to ratchet up the tension between Eda and Serkan. A device to drive Eda's impulsivity and showcase a bit of her jealousy. A device to show that Serkan is so far gone over Eda, he doesn't even notice another woman vying for his attention. Also it gave us this:

"I never loved Selin."

Okay, Serkan. I DIED. Like we been knew, but know we KNOW, and we know that he knows. His relationship with Selin was 100% habit and convenience. That also pretty much tells us that Eda is his first and only real love, which makes the way it's changed him so tangible and believable. Also, more importantly than the audience knowing he never loved Selin, now Eda knows. I get Eda's frustration with Serkan not being annoyed at Selin, but she's missing the point that Selin is simply not important enough for him to care. She doesn't rouse any sort of emotion from him, the way he treats her is all fueled by professional duty and personal guilt. The scene in the office was unfortunate, and I wish Serkan hadn't lost his temper, (but not really because it drove their most important conversations) but Eda's impulsivity sort of led it to that place. I get why Eda suspected Selin, in her shoes I probably would have done the same thing, but I also think Serkan is not putting Selin on a pedestal by knowing that she had nothing to do with the sabotage. And Serkan getting angry was the only thing that got Eda to back down, so it was a very inelegant way of de-escalating the situation. On the plus side, it gave us Serkan trying to make things right for the rest of the episode which was amazing. I will never be over the library scene, the autumn walk scene, Eda being his first guest in the new apartment scene. çok romantik!

As for Selin, look, she's ANNOYING. I'm right there with you. The character is entirely self-absorbed and while I think her motivations are murky at best, I think she's driven in part by competition with Eda. Eda won the war when it comes to Serkan, but Selin is still trying to take a battle or two in order to save face. On another note, she spent most of the episode knowing there was a saboteur, that Serkan suspected Efe, and still didn't put 2 and 2 together with the direct threats Efe made towards Serkan in her presence. Seriously, if something doesn't directly affect her, she can't even retain the information. What a useless lump she is. 

Thank you Aydan, for calling out how ridiculous it was that she didn't go to a hotel. I love that Selin was probably like, "Wasn't she on my side the last time I saw her?" Hilarious. Serkan allowing her to stay there, when she wouldn't have been welcome while they were together, was eyeroll inducing. But I think Selin is such a nonissue for him, that he just could not wrap his head around why it was bothering Eda so much. Also his guilt. The thing that makes the game that Serkan was playing with her forgivable, is the fact that he actually feels bad about the part he played in her life falling apart. I'm not saying it was his fault, but he rightly feels guilty. 

However, from that last scene, I think he's going to learn a hard lesson about guilt getting in the way of common sense. Eda is now ready to push him to his jealousy limit!  That final scene escalated quickly, but I think both of them were driven by a fair bit of pride combined with the frayed nerves that have to come with being broken up while they're both still currently, and obviously, in a romantic relationship with one another.

That's hard and I wholeheartedly look forward to them navigating that next episode. From the Fragman it looks like it's all finally coming to a head. Can't wait!

[sierraraeck]

In Anticipation

Spencer x OC Aundreya

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Summary: Partially inspired by 8x10 The Lesson. Spencer is stressing about meeting ‘Phone Booth Girl’ and Aundreya breaks down and gives him a pep talk. Story twelve.

Category: Some angst, some fluff.

Warnings: Cussing. Some self doubt I guess.

Word Count: 3.9k

A/N: I love Alex Blake. I do. I want her, and all of the characters, in my fics but I think a 13 person BAU team is a bit excessive. She just doesn’t exactly fit with my series so unfortunately I’ve made the executive decision to leave her out. Sorry. I still love her though. =D

Four weeks and three days.

That’s how long it’d been since essentially cutting all ties with Reid.

Not only had myself and my beliefs reverted back to old ways, but so had Reid and I’s relationship. We were avoiding each other, only speaking when we had to for the case. Neither of us were too proud to allow our problems to get in the way of our job, which was probably the only reason that Hotch didn’t interrogate us or scold us for whatever was going on.

They were all profilers, so of course they had their theories, but I don’t think any one of them understood the magnitude of what was really going on. What had gone on. Not like Reid and I were particularly easy people to read anyway.

During this last case, something was up. Reid was acting strange and the rest of them seemed to be in on it, but I had no idea what was going on. I assumed it had to do with his mystery woman. There was a small chance they could have been talking about the new/old dynamic between Reid and I, but I doubted it.

I wanted to ask to be let in on whatever was going on, but thought better of it, remembering that I was no longer someone he confided in, and whatever it was he was doing was no longer any of my business or concern. But just because I wasn't going to ask them for answers to their faces, didn’t mean I wasn’t going to scope them out behind their backs.

Whenever I approached any door that I knew they were whispering behind, I would just casually stand there for an extra few seconds, seeing if there was anything I could pick up on. I would walk by the same door multiple times if I had to, slowing down each time, all in an effort to pick up just a couple of keywords. The majority of the time, all I got was a ‘Spencer’ here, a ‘she’ there. Super specific stuff. But I hit the jackpot when everyone had been out in the field while Reid and JJ stayed behind to work on the geographical profile.

“... Phone booth girl?” JJ asked. That quickly got my attention.

“She wants to meet,” Reid answered.

“Wait, you guys have never met? Aren’t you curious what she looks like?”

“It doesn’t matter what she looks like. I mean, she’s already the most beautiful girl in the world to me,” he replied. I knew it was a bunch of shit when he tried to tell me that he was just making phone calls to her about his headaches. “It’s just … What if she doesn’t like me?”

There was a moment of silence before I heard JJ sit down and ask in a caring but stern way, “Why wouldn’t she like you?”

“Because I’m weird,” Reid answered with no hesitation. “I slouch, my hair’s too long, my tie’s perpetually crooked.”

“Your hair’s fine,” JJ said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

Reid's voice was quiet, almost shy when responding, “Really? Thanks. My mom thinks it’s too long. So does my aunt Ethel.”

“Well, you’re not dating them,” JJ pointed out.

“I just - I - I just wouldn’t want to ruin something so special over something so trivial as looks.”

“I think you’re excited but afraid. Seeing her will only make the relationship better. Trust me,” JJ said with confidence. I agreed with her in spite of myself, even though I still felt bitter about the whole thing. “When does she want to meet?”

“Right when we get back.”

“Do it,” JJ encouraged. “Don’t psych yourself out.”

“We’ll see,” Reid responded with his classic hesitation, especially when it came to ‘Phone Booth Girl’ as JJ was now referring to her as.

I leaned against the door frame to announce myself, not wanting to risk being caught lurking outside the door. As expected, they both immediately stopped talking and looked up at me, like I was a parent that just caught her kids stealing cookies out of the cookie jar.

“Hey, how’s it coming?” I asked.

“Fine, fine,” JJ answered. She revealed the fakest smile, but with knowing eyes, followed by, “I’ll be right back, I’m going to use the ladies’ room.”

I just leaned back out of the room and pretended to go in the direction of the main conference room we’d initially set up in, but quickly turned to follow JJ into the bathroom.

I was so eager to know what she was going to say that the moment the door shut, I immediately asked, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“What do you know?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I know it’s been killing you not knowing what’s going on, and I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed or put it together, but I’m sure you’ve been eavesdropping or doing something to figure out what’s going on,” she didn’t even wait for my reaction before continuing, “He’s going to meet that girl he’s been talking to on the payphones.”

“I know,” I said, confirming her theory. I didn’t know what else to say, but I could tell there was something more to this conversation. “What is it?”

“He’s stressed,” she simply put.

“Right…” I said. I was confused as to where this was going.

“Look. All of us-”

“Who’s ‘all of us?’” I asked before she could proceed.

“Me, Derek, and Emily. And Penelope of course.” I nodded for her to continue. “We’ve been thinking about how things have been rocky with the two of you lately, and we don’t exactly know what happened, but we do know that Reid has some new woman in his life now and he needs our support.” Her words rushed out, as if she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to get all of the necessary information out before I … what? Stormed off?

“Okay…” I prompted. I still couldn’t figure out what she was getting at. I hadn’t made any snarky remarks or discouraged him from talking to her or seeing her. Hell! If it was up to him, I wouldn’t know jack shit.

“We noticed that, despite how much we all pressed for information or assured him that things would work out, he still seems on edge.” I leaned slightly forward. She was doing a real good job dragging this explanation out. She let out a heavy sigh of defeat, like if I couldn’t read her mind, it wasn’t worth it. “I just think we all need to support him.”

“Are you saying I don’t support him?”

“No that’s not what I’m saying, I’m just merely-”

“No. That is what you’re saying,” I said, somehow keeping my voice normal and neutral, but cocking my head to one side. “But I do support him. I haven’t made any efforts otherwise. Plus, he doesn’t really seem like he wants me in his business and I respect those boundaries.”

“Okay,” she said a little harshly, eyes wide and arms crossed.

I could tell she wasn’t convinced so I followed with, “Seriously, JJ. I don’t have a problem with his personal choices. I don’t care what he decides to do, or who he decides to talk to in his free time.”

“Exactly. You don’t care,” she huffed. What the hell?

“And you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” this caught her off guard and I could tell her face switched to one of concentration, profiling concentration, so I finished with, “I’m fine with his choices, he’s fine with his choices, everything’s fine. There’s nothing to worry about, he has my support or respect or whatever it is you came in here looking for.”

“Great,” she said, obviously still incredulous and exited the bathroom.

I followed right after, following her into the conference room to catch up on the case.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

I had a tough time focusing because I was paying more attention to Reid and mulling over JJ’s words, trying to find hidden meanings behind them. But before I could further my silent investigations, the vital question to all of this jumped into my head.

Do I support him in this?

I couldn’t tell. I felt like my mixed emotions balanced each other out so that I was just feeling … nothing. Thinking about him with another girl didn’t trigger any reactions, and neither did thinking about him sitting at home alone.

On one hand, I was still hurt and pissed at him for what he did. He was literally calling a girlfriend before and after sleeping with me while helping me over a major obstacle. He made me believe he cared about me, then had sex with me, then basically left. He’d broken my trust, which was very hard to earn, and impossible to regain.

On the other hand, I figured at least one of us should come out of the whole mess happy. Why not have it be him considering I don’t deserve it and am probably destined to continue my path of pain and loneliness? Or I’d wreck whatever good situation lies ahead of me. Either way, he deserves happiness, and I’m fairly certain he is not going to find it with me, so he might as well find it with her. Whoever ‘her’ is.

So I didn’t know. Did I support him? Did I not support him? Was I just a neutral third party that couldn’t make up her mind whose opinion was also irrelevant to the matter? Who knows.

For someone who doesn’t like to dig too deep into her psyche, I’d sure been spending a lot of time holding a shovel as of late. The two sides of my brain played tug-of-war while I was trying to concentrate on saving lives, but luckily, each side got tired and gave up allowing me to focus on the case, but leaving me no where closer to an answer than I was hours ago.

I continued to go about my work as usual, not going out of my way to avoid him, and not going out of my way to see him. We finally wrapped up our case and boarded the jet, leaving everyone drained due to the late nights the past few days.

I, however, refused to sleep on the jet. I never got any good sleep, and then I couldn’t sleep later, and I didn’t like the idea of the plane crashing down and me not being fully awake and ready to deal with that. Plus, as an ex-hunted criminal, I didn’t like the idea of being vulnerable with a bunch of FBI agents around, even if they were a part of my team.

Clearly Reid didn’t like the idea of sleeping on the jetride back this time either, because he was sitting in a corner by himself with a cup of coffee and a book. I could tell he wasn’t as relaxed or as focused as he usually was, because it took him longer than usually to flip through the pages. After spending nearly a year doing a book swap, I got pretty used to the rhythm of his page turning.

It’s because he’s stressed, I reminded myself. He is still worried about meeting that girl, and according to JJ and company, he ‘needs our support’ and you haven’t been too sharing on that front. Maybe you should talk to him.

At the same time, though, I don’t owe him anything. He hasn’t approached me about it, hasn’t shared any information with me whatsoever, so why should I cross that line? And what good would it do anyway? It’s not like anything I say is going to make a difference.

But what if it does? What if, even though I’m trying to push him out, not give a single damn what he thinks of me anymore, he still does? Could he still care what I think, what I have to say about... all this? I was basically his ‘best friend’ for a while there, and maybe after everything got complicated, he feels … bad? Well, obviously Aundreya, but like bad in the sense that he feels like he can’t move on without me telling him it’s okay or something? He’ll probably continue to beat himself up over it and then he’ll never be able to enjoy himself and will just stress himself out and wallow in guilt.

Not ‘probably’. You know him better than that. That’s exactly what’s happening, and that’s got to be what JJ was getting at.

But what if he doesn’t want to talk to me? What if I just make him feel worse? And why should I care if he’s worried or not?

Come on, Chambers. You’re trying to be better and you know it would mean a lot if you just talked to him.

I’d made up my mind.

I was sitting with my own book and cup of warm tea and wanted to laugh at how, even though we weren’t doing it together, we were literally still doing the same thing we always did. I got up and made a fresh cup of tea, careful not to spill any or cross contaminate, then I set it down next to mine on the small table right beside the couch.

I took a deep breath, and with my book still open and in my hand, walked over to where Reid was sitting before I could talk myself out of it. Without a word or tearing my eyes from my own book, I casually picked up Reid’s coffee mug, then turned around and walked back to the couch. I sat down and put his mug next to the other two. I refused to turn around and look at his reaction. Instead, I just waited for his presence to appear across the couch.

It came soon enough, which I knew it would because he’s kinda a caffeine addict. He reached for his coffee but I slid it across the table toward me so he couldn’t get it. I quickly slid the fresh cup of tea I’d made across the table, practically pushing it into his hand, the whole time continuing to look at my book. I stifled a laugh when he picked up the tea, examined it, then made a pouty face. I took a sip of my own, then set it, and the book, down on the table.

I sat with my back leaning against the arm of the couch, my legs criss crossed in front of me, facing Spencer head on who was sitting in nearly the same position. Finally looking up at him I whispered, “It’s going to be okay, you know.”

He slowly looked up at me but didn’t say anything, so I continued with, “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. And it’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it with me. I just wanted to tell you that she’s gonna love you. She probably already does.”

We sat there in silence for a while, and I was about to pick my book back up again, thinking that he wouldn’t say anything, but then he said, “I just don’t know if I can do this.”

“Why wouldn’t you be able to?” I inquired.

“Because of …” he trailed off but I followed his train of thought.

“Don’t worry about me. It happened. It’s over. I don’t want you guilt tripping yourself out of happiness. I am not worth that,” I whispered, careful to keep my voice low enough the others wouldn’t wake. This wasn’t exactly a conversation I wanted anyone else to be a part of.

“You are worth that-”

“I’m not.”

“-and I do feel guilty-”

“I know. And I appreciate that but there is nothing either of us can do now except move on. So do that. Move on. This girl, whoever she is-”

“Her name is Maeve,” he blurted. It stopped me right in my tracks. I think I was the first person he gave her name to.

I quickly recovered, “Maeve. She seems right for you. She’s obviously smart, she’s helping the FBI solve cases and she’s keeping up with you, and you, you seem … you seem … you’re happy. You get that goofy smile on your face when you talk about her. When you think about her. When other people talk about her. I know it’s in your nature to worry, but seriously, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“What else?” I asked. There was more but I knew he felt awkward opening up to me about it because … well.

“Huh?”

“What else is going through your mind? I know you need to get something off of your chest and remember, we used to tell each other everything before things got complicated. That wouldn’t be a bad place to return to…” I offered, hopeful he’d be okay with that.

He gave me a small smile and said, “I’d like that.”

It was odd but I was relieved. I don’t know why there would have been any pressure on me to begin with, but I did feel relieved. More and more of the bitterness I felt was dissipating every day, and was continually replaced with the feeling of missing the one person I’d opened up to the most. I wanted that back. I needed that back. “Great. So what else?”

“It’s just - we’ve never met and she wants to meet.”

“Okay, that’s exciting, right?” I asked, testing the waters.

“I mean, yes.”

“But…”

“But I’m nervous. I want her to like me and I’m afraid she won’t once she meets me,” he expressed.

“Spencer,” I started, leaning over the one cushion in between us, “you are an amazing guy. She already likes your personality, and considering how long you’ve been talking to each other, you’re already past all of the small talk too. You’ve already completed all of the hard stuff, and now you just get to enjoy the easy little things, like her hair, her eyes, her smile. As for her, she gets to enjoy your hair,” I ruffled it up a bit, “your eyes, and your smile.” He fixed his hair and flashed me that very same goofy grin I was talking about, golden eyes twinkling. It was honestly a shame he didn’t smile more. “There you go. Flash her one of those and she’s done for,” I chuckled, “Plus, you are a phenomenal judge of character. If you believe that she is worth taking a bullet for, I’d trust that gut feeling. And like I told you when we were first starting to get to know each other: I’ve met a lot of people, like a lot of people, and you are by far one of the coolest. If she doesn’t see that, it is ultimately her loss and her problem,” I concluded. It still hurt knowing that I was encouraging him to continue on with the relationship that almost ended ours, but I could tell it was what he wanted, and who was I to get in the way of that? I had no reason to feel spiteful toward Maeve, she hadn’t done anything to me, and besides, she seemed like she would be exponentially better for him than I could ever be. I was going to have to start coming to terms with that and getting over it. Getting over him. But at least I knew we could start rebuilding our friendship and that would have to suffice.

“You don’t know how much it means to hear you say that,” he looked down at his fiddling thumbs. “I’ve just been sick this whole time that in doing this I would really lose you forever and I didn’t want that.”

“I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. You should do what makes you happy.”

He nodded and I could visibly see the weight being lifted off of his shoulders. I was glad I could be the one to do that.

He took a sip of his tea and scrunched his nose up. This time I had to laugh.

“Oh come on. It is not that bad,” I rolled my eyes.

“It’s just not coffee,” he complained.

“You don’t drink coffee. You drink caffeinated sugar water with a dash of coffee,” I accused. He just shook his head and set his tea down about to reach for his other mug again.

“Nuh-uh,” I scolded. The last thing he needed was to be over-hyper and jacked up before meeting this girl. Maeve. “Tell you what,” I got up from my seat and grabbed the sugar and honey, “Usually I only put a little bit of one of these in my drink, but because you have the taste buds of a five-year-old child, I will break down.”

He smiled at me and quickly poured a kidney-failing amount of each into his tea. I put my palm on my forehead as he swirled it around and took a sip.

“See. That is much better,” he commented happily. “You should invest in adding more to yours.”

“Oh no. I am quite alright, thank you.”

“You know you want to.”

“Actually, there’s this really cool thing called blood sugar levels, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of them,” I teased, “but I’m all good leaving mine where they’re at. I wouldn’t want to induce a heart attack.”

He laughed, and I laughed, and it felt good to be laughing together again.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

“Are you sure?” Spencer asked.

“We’re sure! You go and have fun. The rest of us will finish up for you,” Emily said, and Derek, JJ, and I all nodded enthusiastically.

“Okay. Thank you,” he said, turning toward the parking lot.

“He’s in a much better mood about this than he was before,” Derek acknowledged.

“Yeah that’s true,” Emily agreed, “I wonder what changed his mind.”

It was more like a statement than a question, all three of their heads turning to look at me. I shrugged and feigned confusion, “I have no idea. Maybe the stars are aligning,” I said sarcastically, raising my eyebrows.

Derek rolled his eyes and said, “At least we can always count on you.”

“To what?”

“To be an irritatingly helpful smartass.”

“Wow,” I put a hand to my chest in appreciation, my voice becoming velvety as I wiped away a non-existent tear, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so accurately described.”

We chuckled and entered the office, ready to file some closing paperwork.

Penelope met us at the doors, hugging us all and offering us special drinks she’d been practicing making while we were gone.

“Wait where’s Spen - wait! Is he with Phone Booth Girl!” she cheered, not even waiting for a response. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” She giggled then turned to Derek, “How come you don’t take me out anymore?”

“Oh, baby girl, we have so much more fun staying in,” he returned, smug.

She stepped closer to him and turned her tone from pouty to sexy, “How could I forget? It could have been because I was near blacking ou-”

“Woah!” I interjected. “Some of us would actually like to sleep tonight without the graphic details.”

“That’s the problem. I’m not one for sleeping,” Garcia purred.

“Dammit. I asked for that one,” I shook my head.

Both Penelope and Derek placed a hand on one of my shoulders, and I’m not shitting you, said at the same time, “Yeah, you did.”

They walked away as I knit my brows together and turned toward JJ and Emily. I put one hand out, gesturing at their backs and mouthed ‘what?’ JJ shrugged and Emily just shook her head in amused disbelief.

As the night was coming to a close and we were all about to leave, a sudden crashing came from the stairs and elevator. We were halted by a stampede of police officers, weapons drawn, barging into the bullpen.

“Everyone put your hands up.”

We quickly complied, looking around at each other for silent answers. There were only the seven of us in the office, but it was the eighth they were looking for.

A woman, probably 5’8” with short brown hair demanded, “Where is Doctor Spencer Reid?”

Taglist (open)

@justanothetfangirl

@kris-stuff

@blameitonthenight21

[banashee]

Part 3 of my @badthingshappenbingo​

prompt: “Accidentally hurt by a friend”.

                    Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

 It starts out like any other, uneventful evening in the tower where all of them are present. Dinner, movie night, falling asleep on the couch - nothing unusual at all.

 That is, until Natasha starts fidgeting and muttering in her sleep. Clint blinks awake, carefully running a hand over her shoulder in a soothing motion.

 But when she doesn’t stop, doesn’t calm and instead, a cold string of Russian flows from her lips, he tenses up and curses out loud in a hushed  voice.

 "Everything okay?“ Steve asks from where he’d been dozing off on Bucky’s shoulder, sounding concerned.

 It causes everyone else to look up as well, just in time for Natasha to tense up, muttering once more in Russian - Bucky tenses as well, since he’s got a pretty good idea of what might be happening. He keeps his eyes locked on her and Clint in understanding, while the expressions of their teammates range from confusion to worry and slowly dawning understanding.

 “I need you all to get out of the room. This might get ugly and too many people here won’t help.”

 Clint sits up, very carefully, and gets his feet on the ground in preparation for what he knows will follow soon - any further questions are cut off, because Natasha shoots up from the couch, angry snarl on her lips and then, without a warning, she kicks Clint into the coffee table with enough force for it to break under him.

 The whole room erupts in chaos - people screaming, wanting to help and unsure what to do. Meanwhile, Clint forces himself up from the floor, blocking the next vicious blows from Natasha as she attacks him in a cold rage. It’s like she doesn’t even recognize him.

 As devastating this whole thing is, it’s over in a matter of just a few minutes - but the room lies in shambles around them, furniture in pieces, shards of glass and spilled drinks on the floor. Blood splattered across a wall and the floor from when she broke Clint’s nose earlier.

 Now, Natasha sits on the ground and in the middle of the wreckage, clearly shaken and very, very silent.

 Her green eyes are filled with pain and sadness, shining suspiciously wet. Clint is sitting in front of her, dried blood on his face and one eye swelling shut - he’s moving very carefully, probably because of some cracked ribs. He’d fought off any attempt in medical care, simply shoving balled up pieces of tissue paper up his nose to stop bleeding all over the place.

 The injuries don’t seem to bother him very much right now, because he keeps talking in the same calm and low tone of voice he’d used the entire time in an attempt to bring Natasha back to herself. He has one hand stretched out in between them, a calm offering of comfort, but Natasha doesn’t take it - not yet, not trusting herself, even now that the red fog in her head has cleared up and she is back to her own self. Back, but shaken.

 The others had, despite that Clint asked them to, not left.

 Usually, they respect each others requests to be left alone, but this is different. No one wanted to leave, too worried about Natasha’s state of mind and too worried about Clint getting seriously hurt to the point where he wouldn’t be able to fight anymore - and he’d refused to fight back, not wanting to hurt his best friend when she wasn’t in control of herself and even more so, refusing to use the trigger words that would stop her.

 As it is, they managed to restrain her with Steve and Thor holding onto her, firm but as non-threateningly as possible while Clint had gotten a chance to catch his breath. He managed talk her down and back to her own self after the nightmare that triggered something in her. Even after she’d calmed down and gotten back to herself, and her friends stopped holding onto her, she’s still holding her arms tightly crossed around herself.

 The team is keeping their distance now, but still worried and hovering. They want to give her privacy,  while still staying close, just in case any of them is needed in some way.

 As a compromise, they pile in the kitchen, where Bucky had gone first to make tea.

 Natasha and him have history that dates back many decades - with her being back in a old mindset, he’d been unsure if his presence would be helpful or make it even worse. So he keeps his distance and keeps busy with preparing a mug of herbal tea with honey, just the way he knows Nat likes.

 Natasha keeps her breathing carefully even. Slowly, she uncurls herself, scooting a little bit closer to Clint and finally taking his hand. The grip is gentle and reassuring - it feels warm, slightly rough and calloused. This is a feeling she’s associated with home for a long time.

 She has told Clint about the trigger words years ago - told them to Phil, too. Just in case something or someone compromised her.

 Neither of them have ever used this knowledge, not wanting to manipulate her. They always managed to bring her back without it.

 Part of Natasha is disappointed that they willingly let her hurt them instead of putting a stop to it with the most efficient way they know, but another, slightly selfish part of her is thankful that they love her enough to try their damn best to bring her back without using any of this delicate knowledge - that they love her enough as to not mess with her mind, even when it would be for the best of everyone else.

 It assures her in her decision to trust them with it in the first place.

 It’s been years since she’s had the last setback into her red room programming - before they even formed the Avengers years, and right now, she’s slowly catching up to the damage she’s done.

 Wrecking their home, probably scaring the team and most of all, hurting her best friend. Natasha feels sick, and wonders if that was it with her new life.

     “What if they hate you for this”    a mean voice in her brain whispers, smug and gloating, rubbing it’s disgusting little hands.

 She doesn’t realize she must have asked this out loud - or maybe not, and Clint just knows her too well to not catch on.

 “Nothing changed. You’re safe and all of us still love you. Promise.”

 Natasha doesn’t answer, but she crosses the distance between them and wraps herself around Clint, holding on for dear life. It must be causing him pain, what with his newly damaged ribs because he can’t suppress a slight flinch at the sudden pressure there, but still, he simply hugs back, holding her close and pressing a kiss into her messy red curls, not letting go of her.

 “I’m sorry I hurt  you.” she mutters into his shoulder.

 “It’s okay, I’ve had worse. Not your fault, Tasha.”

 She wants to disagree, but it won’t get them anywhere. They’ve had this kind of talk many times over the years, so she simply holds on for longer.

 When she finally lets go of Clint, pale and red eyed, there is a travel mug placed on the floor near her, but no one else is in sight. Natasha didn’t even realize it got placed there. It’s something that would usually never happen to her, because she always notices things around her, but this particular set back left her shaken.

 She still recognizes the gesture for what it is. The ghost of a smile crosses her lips, and she takes a careful sip.

 It’s her favourite herbal tea and it tastes perfect - sweet with honey and instantly calming.

 Breathing is a lot easier now.

     The rest of the night, she spends curled up around Clint in his bed. Part of her wants to fight it, too afraid she might slip back again and kill him in his sleep, but the part that wants to accept the offered comfort is stronger this time - they know the drill by now. It always works out, and Natasha wants the company.

 Sleep doesn’t come, but she manages to doze a little bit at least and the next day, she feels a little better and shuffles off to the shower, stealing ancient sweatpants with holes in the knees and a cheesy touristy T-shirt out of Clint’s closet.

 He simply puts a clean, folded towel on top of the pile of clothes, then he makes his way to the kitchen.

 When Natasha joins him there later, she is greeted by the rest of the team. While this kitchen is a lot smaller than the common area downstairs, they all fit around the table - she knows they try and keep her away from that area until the damage is repaired, not wanting to upset her - she’s torn between being annoyed, because she can handle it for god’s sake, and being happy that she won’t have to deal with it.

     “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”     a calm voice in the back of her head gently reminds her, and it is no coincidence that it sounds very much like Phil - she still misses him.

 All of them do.

 But the team is here and everything is the same as always - Clint stands at the stove, cooking while inhaling black coffee straight from the pot. His injuries look worse now that bruises have formed, and some time in the night he actually managed to set his broken nose in place - his face looks horrible right now, a reminder of what she’s done. But she also knows he doesn’t blame her, and most importantly, despite looking banged up, he seems to be otherwise okay.

 A cooking Clint is one who is feeling good, she knows. He’s also occasionally humming along to the song that’s playing faintly in the background, in between sips of coffee and flipping eggs and pancakes.

 Steve, Bucky and Thor set the table, chatting away and greeting her just as happy as always. Bruce chops fruit into a large bowl, looking up with a smile and Tony is propped up against the counter, drinking coffee out of a giant mug and keeping an eye on the waffle iron - the only cooking task they trust him to do without supervision.

 He’s using nicknames just as always, “Red Sonja”, “Itsy Bitsy” and all the other names that keep earning him her elbow into the ribs on a daily basis - it’s a comfort.

 A comfort, and prove for what Clint promised her earlier - nothing changed and they still love her.

 *+~

     Square: Accidentally hurt by a friend  

[danetobelieve]

Car Shellsman || Alain and Winston

Despite a giant crustacean attacking their car and forcing Winston to run away with a weirdo who would then go onto buy them lunch, Winston managed to get their car to Babineaux Garage. They had to admit that they were starting to wonder whether mechanics were bound by the laws of an automotive equivalent of patient and doctor confidentiality. There was a giant rent down the side of their car, starting on the left side of the bonnet and taking an immediate sharp left down it’s side, ending in the wheel arch. Not to mention the already pre-existing problems with the car. Gently, carefully, they wheeled their vehicle into the garage and came to a neat stop. Stepping out of the vehicle, they headed towards the ‘office’ section of the garage. “Hey,” they said adjusting their thick lenses as they spotted a somewhat dishevelled mechanic that they thought they might’ve spoken to online, “we spoke online, I was the guy with the rattling car… that chugged out a load of smoke.” They really hoped that this mechanic didn’t notice the giant sheet of torn car bonnet.

Alain was doing bookkeeping when he heard what he suspected was the rattling car from that guy online. Yeah, that did not sound good at all, like someone shaking a box of rocks underneath it. The exhaust system, probably. He did not look up from his computer screen, however, his eyes narrowing at what the software was telling him to do. He hated this goddamn thing. Things would have been a lot easier had it been done on paper. “Fait chier,” he mumbled under his breath, spinning in his chair to get a look at his invoices. Scratching the back of his head, he glanced up at a young looking person, happy to get a break from the paperwork. “Alright, let’s have a look,” standing up from his chair, he headed in the garage. The first thing he noticed was the giant sheet of torn car bonnet. What the fuck. A loose catalytic converter, ok, that was normal. This? No. This car was a wreck. Between the car body and the converter, this would not be cheap. “You cannot drive with your hood looking like that. You’ll get arrested.” What the actual fuck.

Raising an eyebrow gently, Winston winced at the obvious sight of the hood. Swallowing somewhat awkwardly, they shrugged gently. “Uh, I don’t know what to tell you other then it wasn’t like that when I left the house, you probably wouldn’t even believe me if I did tell you what happened…” They trailed off and shuffled their feet. Their car was a touchy subject. It had never really run well, even when they got it. But then again by the time it made its way into their possession it had already been around the block thousands of times. “Normally I wouldn’t be driving this,” another lie, Winston drove everywhere they could, “but the truth is that I really need it to get to and from college, I can’t really afford to pay for a bunch of body work right now so maybe we could … I don’t know … patch it up with duct tape or something and try and make sure that it stops overheating.” They were hoping to avoid a fiery death if they possibly could but it seemed unlikely with the now trademarked bag of rocks sound that their car was making. “Can you save her?”

“Huh,” scoffing, the mechanic rubbed at the back of his neck. Of course Alain had seen cars in worse shape, but they were usually classic cars people had bought and wanted to be made brand new again. This, was a whole other situation and another kind of damage too. “Try me, you have no idea what stories I’ve heard in the past,” obviously his stories weren’t as wild as stories someone working at the ER could hear but still, people were never proud of their accidents. Alain walked around the car, running his hand on the dent on the left side. “If you’re going to be using duct tape, you’ll be the one responsible for that. I don’t want to be associated with that kind of job,” he took pride in his work, and that was simply unacceptable. Of course he was used to broke kids crashing his garage and expecting a discount because they would rather get a new pair of brand new Nikes rather than save a couple of bucks in case of such scenarios. The entitlement was terrifying. “So, just to be sure, you are completely broke, and I should save your car because…?” His hands on both hips, Alain was now chewing on his lower lip and shaking his head slowly.

“Well, the car overheated, but that isn’t that weird, it does that a couple of times a year and normally if you just leave it to cool down then it is completely fine,” Winston paused a little guilty. Cars weren’t meant to just overheat and they knew that. “Then after that I was accosted by a woman jogging who said it looked like a shit car and a shit car had had sex and given birth to this beautiful baby,” they rubbed the roof of their car affectionately, “it was at that point a giant lobster and / or crab thing turned up and assaulted my poor automotive.” They raised an eyebrow about the comment on duct tape. “Well, y’know I was joking about using duct tape but whatever you feel would be the best tool for the job, I trust your professional expertise.” They hated it when someone tried to tell them how to do their job when it came to working with computers, they were sure Alain felt the same way about cars. “Obviously I will pay whatever the work costs, but I’m a college student who works an unpaid internship and inherited this car from my elder siblings, it has a lot of sentimental value. If I can save her I want to, I’d rather not scrap her for the sake of it.”

“Did you ask her out ? She sounds lovely”, Alain commented as he squatted and had a look at the back of the car, putting on gloves before he grabbed the exhaust pipe to shake it a little bit. As he expected, that thing was loose, and that fella’ was lucky it had not fallen down on the road. “A giant lobster?” His eyebrows raised up on his forehead. This was .. interesting. Even if he did not have a habit of going after beasts, the variety of them always astonished him. At least, with vampires, you had a certain routine, the night, the solid ground. Beast hunters could easily end up several feet above the ground, or beneath the surface of water. Alain admired them but he did not envy them. His time at the ring had been very instructing and while he wouldn’t be completely clueless in front of those things, he left their care to those who had trained for them. There were enough unholy things for him to stake care of. “You don’t have to pay it all at once,” scratching his cheek, he rubbed a recent scar, one he could thank Deirdre for. “Okay, here’s what I’ll do. I’m going to look for used car parts in junkyards,” he only had to make a phone call or two, maybe look online, which wouldn’t take long. “It might not be the right color, but we can change that if necessary.” Most people did not particularly enjoy having a patchwork car.  “The catalytic converter on the other end, it has to be brand new, or it’ll just go back to making sounds,” he shrugged. The kid could go for a used part for this too if he wanted.

Shaking their head, Winston shrugged. “Honestly she was way older then me … and I don’t really go for girls that are there to make fun of my car. I don’t see why it matters what I drive as long as I get from A to B.” Pausing for a moment, they gazed as the mechanic set to work. “Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it kind of stood on my car and did that to it, honestly I was worried it would rupture a fuel line or something but I guess I got off lucky because I managed not to die or anything.” Honestly they weren’t sure what they expected this guy to believe. They probably wouldn’t believe it if they heard it. But so many weird things had been happening recently and they weren’t sure what the hell was really happening to this town. Listening to Alain’s recommendations, they paused and nodded. “I can deal with that, I think it's probably best to fix the car so that it runs as best it can, but I don’t know how far away from going to the junkyard it really has left on it.” The car should’ve been scrapped years ago really, Winston knew it, they were just too cheap to let it go.

"I've heard worse stories," Alain took a step back from the car. If a gigantic beast had stood on this car then there might be more damage than what he could see here. He'd have to check that too, but that meant dismantling everything under the hood and checking each piece which would take hours of labour. Besides he had no way of really knowing whether the damage was due to the giant lobster or to the fact that this was a wreck anyways. He did not question the veracity of the story. It probably was true. "To be honest, it'll probably cost more than what the car is worth," he scratched at the back of his head. Fixing it was something he could do and he was not afraid of that ; he felt bad for that kid, and while he would fix it if they really wanted him to, they had to know that it was a waste of money they apparently did not have. "I can already fix what we said, I would count around $500 if I can find used parts for everything." And it was unlikely that they had an insurance that covered any of this either… Alain held back a sigh and motioned them to follow him back to the front office. He'd have a look online and maybe he would even have good news.

“I dread to think what worse stories there could possibly be.” Winston wasn’t even joking, with everything that was happening recently. There was no real good news here. They could probably afford to pay that, but at that point they might as well just scrap it and sell it for parts. “Damn,” Winston winced and adjusted their glasses, “look, I appreciate the offer but I don’t even think that the car is worth that much…” they sighed and pulled their glasses off. Rubbing their eyes exhaustedly Winston sighed. “Do you have like a good scrap guy that I can try and make some money off of what is left of this thing…?” Winston looked at Alain hopefully, wishing that they had a better option than this. They felt like this was something that they could do without, but for now they would just have to deal.

“Well, the giant lobster did not eat anyone alive in your story,” Alain’s smile grew wide, so wide you could not tell whether he was joking or not. Shaking his head, he took off his gloves and headed back to his computer to have a look at prices for late 90s Buicks like Winston’s. He did not expect that they could be, after all this time, still priced at over $2,000. Well, then, maybe repairing it was worth it, but they could probably get a good price from a junkyard too, and buy another used car with that money. “Change of plans. It might be worth it. I’ll do my best to keep it affordable,” turning the monitor so that Winston could have a look, he waited for them to take a decision. Even if this car wasn’t what you could call a nice car, he could see that they cared a lot about it, and Alain appreciated that. “This might take a bit longer than two weeks,” he rubbed his bearded chin. “I could let you leave with a courtesy car if your insurance covers it.”

“Would that be something that would do? Why don’t you sound like you think I’m having a nervous breakdown or something? Why is no one concerned about how weird all of this shit is?!” Pausing for a second, Winston scratched at their stubble and considered Alain’s apparent new proposition. The possibility of keeping their car intact would be good, but only if it was worth it. There would of course eventually come a point where Winston knew that they would have to just cut their losses and hope for the best. But despite that they were somewhat attached to the car. “I can cope with a bit of a wait if there is something that you can do, I’d have to check with my insurance if they cover a courtesy car but I truly doubt it. I guess if there is anything you can do then that’d be good, but if it is going to get really expensive then I’ll have to scrap her…”

"What? Eat a person whole?" His eyebrows raised with concern. Maybe he was indeed a bit too laid back about all of the things happening in his town. "Look kid," Alain almost raised a hand to pat him kindly on their shoulder, but decided against it, scratching at the back of his neck instead, "if you're new in town, you'll either get used to it or you'll end up in complete denial," this had to be the case for about 90% of the town population, he estimated. Alain was not representative of the normal White crest citizen, far from it, and this dated back to his childhood. It was probably best for Winston to not dwell on it. Maybe they would even forget it was ever real. "I'll have a look under the hood, check if there's anything damaged. I doubt you could have drived here without lights flashing red or orange on your dashboard," he observed, filling out a form for him. "I'll need your name, address, phone number and assurance papers, etc." Pointing at different spots on the form, the mechanic glanced up at Winston's face. "Don't worry, I'll email you a quotation in a couple of hours. I'm not doing anything until you respond to the mail, ok?"

“You were the one who didn’t seem that bothered about it moments ago,” Winston replied with a laugh, “not me!” They shrugged gently and sighed. “I’ve actually lived here all my life, things were always a bit weird, you know like my neighbours cat once turned up with no fur, or one time a tree moved gardens,” they scratched at the edge of their sleeve, “but I’m starting to realise that maybe I’d been in denail before, I’m not sure how I didn’t realise all of these things before.” They sighed gently and listened to Alain’s procedure for the car. It sounded as if they were going to do a good job with it and they quickly set about filling out the requisite parts of the form that Alain had given them. Writing down their name, phone number, address and the various details that would be needed, including an email address where they could be reached. “Thanks, you’re … you seem cool.” Despite the fact that the news of a giant lobster hadn’t seemed to phase them, Winston thought that they seemed to be at least halfway decent, and they had only had a brief professional interaction.

“It’s not that I’m not bothered. I’m…. blasé ? Jaded.” Alain shrugged, sitting back in his office chair and idly playing with a pen. “Oh, I’m sorry, I assumed…” he trailed off and looked away from them. Taking the form back from Winston, Alain looked at the information for a moment, holding poorly back a smile at the compliment. “That lobster, where was it by the way?” If it had attacked once, it could attack again unless they had killed it, in which case they would probably get along very nicely. "Hey it's okay. Just don't get willingly in trouble because you no longer are in denial…" Alain had witnessed it before in others. Curiosity was something Alain had also been cursed with but at least he could afford to be curious, unlike regular humans of White crest. "Don't hesitate if you see anything weird, ok? I might be able to help," an odd offer, but he wasn't taking any chances here.

“Blasé?” Winston replied somewhat bemused, “Is there something that I’m missing here? If you’re blasé about it then you’re going to have to have been aware of it for sometime so that you could have reached your jaded state… so I guess what I want to know is what your secret is.” They shrugged. “Don’t be sorry, I’m still learning about it all. I just, I didn’t realise it was so obvious until it whacked me across the head, kind of. Figure of speech y’know.” They considered it before pulling up google maps on their phone and pointing to the road they had broken down on. “Uh, it all happened over here, so I’d avoid it …” then Alain was saying that maybe they could help and Winston was once again curious, “so you could help?” they asked somewhat skeptically wondering exactly what a mechanic would be able to do in this instance, “What is it exactly that you would be able to do against a giant lobster … thing?”

“I started learning about those things before I could read,” leaning back in his chair, Alain raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Yeah, I had a weird childhood,” and that was all Alain would say about being a child in a slayer family. “I see. Well, I can’t blame you for being in denial for a while. None of this make sense,” it was against everything they taught you at school, everything your parents normally told you. Don’t follow strangers was normal advice. If you see a vampire, stab it with a pointy stick, was not normal advice. Glancing at the map on their phone, Alain rubbed at his chin wondering if he should just tell that fella about his activities. While he doubted that they were dangerous, Alain was not willing to start a fight with a protector of supernatural creatures in his own shop. He had a glance at the shredded car and sighed. No one would have gone through so much trouble to confront a hunter, right? “I don’t hunt these specifically, but I might know someone who does,” he finally replied, scratching at the back of his head.

“Woah…” Winston couldn’t really imagine what that would be like. Deliberately choosing to learn about this. That was something that they were having to do now and they already felt as if they were behind on the game. But if they had known since they were younger then maybe they would have been able to come to terms with all of this or at least know what to do. “I mean, weird sure, but at least you know what you’re doing and how to deal with all of this … y’know … stuff.” They paused for a second more and shrugged. There was only so much that they could do. “Well, if you could put me in contact with them then I’d really appreciate that, it would be nice to know that there is someone that I can call incase I get trapped by one of those things. I don’t even know what the cops or animal control would be able to do against these things.”

“Woah indeed,” raising his eyebrows, Alain started typing a couple of things on his keyboard before putting phone numbers on a post it note for later. He’d have to make a couple of phone calls to fix Winston’s car and those always took time because he didn’t particularly talking over the phone. Heh, maybe he’d ask his employee to do it for him instead. Iker probably hated it too, but that was a perk Alain had, choosing who did the things he personally disliked. “Sure, I’ll send you that by email,” now whether Kaden charged people for doing his job, he was not sure, but Alain felt like saving a life was priceless. He would never do it for money, but some people had to make a living, and he could not blame them for monetizing life. “It’s quite easy, they’ll do nothing. All you’ll get is your face on the front page of the newspapers and a headline saying it was a wild animal who did it.”

[thenonbinarydetective]

The Secret of Shadow Ranch Game VS Book

Howdy folks!

I’ve decided to check the differences between the book and the game. I had no internet yesterday and I was bored. Fortunately this was kinda fun.

I’ve got two pages of differences so stick your heels down and settle in your saddles, it’s gonna be a long one.

I would say spoilers but the games kinda old and the book is ancient so i really don’t think there are spoilers at this point. Also it’s not in perfect order because from going back and forth from book and game. This isn’t a criticism of the game just a note of the differences.

It’s a lot and if it’s hard to read don’t be afraid to ask about parts

Bess and George arrived a week before Nancy in the book. In game they arrived after she did

Shorty’s last name is Steele in the book not Thurmond(like in game)

Uncle Ed and Aunt Bet got the ranch as repayment for a debt(two months prior). In game they simply sold the store they owned and brought the ranch(three months prior). Both were shopkeepers before though

When Nancy arrived in game Dave Gregory took her to the ranch on horseback. However in book, Nancy rented a car that overheated and Dave came out to fix it. The girls were guided to Shadow Ranch in car by Dave also in car. It was seriously hot and there was a sandstorm, also Shadow Ranch is practically two hours from the airport in Phoenix. The cars were used to get around multiple times afterward.

Sabotage in Game: Possible unmentioned things(?) - Rattlesnake bite- Water Pump explosion- electricity

Sabotage in Book:-Unnamed sabotage-windmills-trashed house and missing dog-missing palominos- electricity and water pump wrecked

There were also other acts of sabotage but the horse wasn’t “apart” of them. That sounds confusing but it makes sense in context.

Uncle Ed and Aunt Bet were present throughout the book. Absent in game due to Rattlesnake bite

In the book the rattle of a rattlesnake was dropped into Nancy’s knitting bag with a warning to leave Shadow Ranch alone. Which she ignored.

Also she was trying to knit a sweater for her dad during the course of the mystery. in the game there is no in progress sweater. Side note: the sweater was meant as a birthday present but in a later book when they had a birthday party for Carson(first in a while apparently) she didn’t even give him the sweater.

Hannah actually answers when Nancy calls her in book.

Like half of the cast for the mystery

Alice Regor- Bess and George’s little cousin

Ross Regor-Alice’s father and the cousin’s uncle. Artist and bank president

Bud Moore-Young hot cowboy who dated Bess during the mystery

Mrs.Thurmond-The real cook of Shadow Ranch(not Shorty)

Walt Sanders- The real foreman of Shadow Ranch

Tex Britten- Young hot red-haired cowboy. Very unlike in game Tex. No sister. Dated George instead of Mary.

Dave Gregory- Young hot cowboy(same obviously). Much more hostile to Nancy. Not shy and bashful. Isn’t nice to Nancy until much later. He’d thought she’d interfere with his finding the treasure but realized she wouldn’t. Was a total dick. Not Cowboy/Southern Charm. From New York so that check out.He’s sweet for the rest of the book.

Apache Chief- The handsome guard dog of the Rawleys’. Usually called Chief.He’s a large black german shepherd and a very good boy. Chases after the phantom horse and goes missing for a bit. Returns and helps solve the mystery.

Al Diamond- Boss of the Bank Robbers. Real Mastermind.

Sid Brice- Accomplice of Diamond and Shorty Steele.

Shorty Steele- regular cowboy and dumbass accomplice planted at Shadow Ranch to get rid of the Rawleys

Mary Deer- A young shopkeeper that literally tells everyone about the Valentine Treasure. Set the bad guys on their hunt unknowingly

Sheriff Curtis- Just Sheriff Hernandez with a different name

The game cut out a subplot mystery involving Uncle Ross Regor. Six months before Ross Regor went to the bank to get some papers he needed to work on. Unfortunately he came during the robbery and the bank president was kidnapped by the robbers so that they would not be identified. He falls under suspicion because other robbers disappeared and it made it look like he was one of them. He wasn’t. Nancy and the three cousins found him starved but alive near Dirk Valentine’s treasure.

Mary Yazzie doesn’t believe in the Valentine treasure. Mary Deer does.

In book Shorty left canteens empty and could not be trusted to fill them. In the game he mostly was.

The final encounter with the criminals stands in a similar rock formation/hide-out sorta deal but instead Diamond threatens to blow up Nancy, the cousins, Uncle Ross, and the treasure. It’s too late to keep it so he decides to destroy it. Nancy stalls for time until Dave saves them

The final encounter in game is pretty much just Nancy tricking Shorty into falling through a hole. Then she steals the phantom horse and rides off.

The girls go to a barbecue and square dance with the handsome cowboys. There she announces she found the treasure. Unfortunately, Game Nancy doesn’t get to square dance.

 In the book Dave is a direct descendant of Frances Humber Dale. Sheriff Humber intercepted a letter from Dirk to Frances and learned of a meeting spot of the lovers. He went and hid with his gun. Dirk arrived and was subsequently shot and killed by the Sheriff. He went home and told Frances as she was lighting an oil lamp. After hearing that her lover was killed she fainted; Frances then had become extremely ill. When she got a bit better her father sent her to Buffalo, NY to fully recover. She continued to stay with relatives after fully recovering. She married a man called Mr.Dale and had two children with him before dying at a young age. Later Dave and his family moved from Buffalo to Phoenix and heard of the treasure. Hearing of Frances’ descendants, an old friend of her’s sent Dave some of Frances’ things. It’s pretty likely that Frances never fully knew what belonged to her and her heirs. Dave Gregory’s father died and left him to take care of his younger brother and sister. Dave didn’t have enough money to raise and pay for their education. He began to work at Shadow Ranch to earn some money until he found the treasure.

In the game Dave is only distantly related to Frances Humber. His great Aunt was her cousin. Frances left Shadow Ranch in perfect health and taught in Ohio before dying. She never found love again and never went for the treasure. Dave’s brother is dead broke and sick so he needs the money to help him out. Instead of being shot by the sheriff, Dirk was captured and hanged.

There is a horse named Choo-Choo in the book. The others went unnamed but the fact that Choo-Choo wasn’t mentioned is a crime.

Bob, Tillie, Frank, Dandy, Cookie, Clyde, Don, Pako, Zeke, and Ace are to horses in game.

Fun fact Dave refers to Nancy as “cookie” in the book. But like in the cooking sense

In game Nancy had a steady back home but in the book she didn’t. However there is a set of “Miss prints” that were published that mention Ned even though he is first introduced 2 books later. Somehow Nancy knows he’s in Europe.

In the game the ranch lost water and electricity separately. In book, it happened at the same time. They did try to break the water pump separately but were caught and couldn’t finish. So they ran and cut the electricity; Effectively cutting both water and power. The spring house used electricity.

Nancy makes sure to check her girth/cinch before getting on a horse. In the game we had to make her so she didn’t end up upside down.

The phantom horse usually arrived seconds after a special whistle by Dirk as it had done so in life. In game the horse just appeared.

Shadow Ranch is near Tumbleweed. No town is mentioned in game but Mary Deer’s shop is located there.

The cake in game was a recipe from Shadow Ranch. In book it was Nancy’s own recipe. Also it’s chocolate.

Phosphorescent powder was used on a white horse in game. In the book the criminals used phosphorescent paint on filmy Japanese silk on a black stallion to create their phantom.

In the book Dave talks to the Rawleys and offers to split the treasure with them once he finds it. Uncle Ed and Aunt Bet refuse to take any of the treasure but thank him for telling them. He offers some to Nancy and she also refuses. In the game the Rawleys split it with Dave.

The treasure in game is entirely heart-shaped gold pieces. In the book the treasure included the heart-shaped pieces with bank notes and jewels. The gold is handed over to the state government but he does get money from the bank notes and jewels for him and his siblings.

The “green bottle in the cellar” wasn’t found by the cellar in the book. As mentioned above, Frances had found the bottle and the letter. When she went to read it her father told her about killing Dirk. Because she fell ill so soon after she couldn’t continue the hunt. In game, she didn’t want to find it anymore so she gave the hunt to Dave’s aunt. Who then gave the hunt to Dave.

In game Nancy discovered the phosphorescent powder when her gloves started to glow. In the book, the dog started glowing. After biting the horse, the paint stained his teeth. This was discovered when “floating phantom specks” where found in the living room. Poor Chief was just trying to play with his ball in peace and accidentally scared everyone.

Tex doesn’t have a sister. However he does have a 15 year old brother named Jack who went on a date with Alice Regor.

Obviously the Hardy Boys weren’t involved at all.

Sure there are a bunch of things in common. All of the clues are more or less the same. The book features some incidents that were caused by nature. Also features less annoying puzzles. Anyway, this was fun and tiring. I’m gonna go play FFXIV. I will do one for Secret of the Old Clock but that will take me a bit because the game is based off of four books and not just one.

I know there’s a lot of little details but hey I’m a mystery fan. What kinda fan would I be if I didn’t look into the little details?

One last time, if you need clarification or have questions, I’ve got an ask box.

[diminuel]

(Rant Anon trying to human)

Yes, yes, this is good!! This makes me very happy. (Your answers don’t feel like babbling at all, which is why I felt a little embarrassed. I kind of go off, rambling in a bunch of directions until whatever thought I have burns out, but you have a very clear, organized approach and it’s a pleasure to read. I’m always like ‘how is English not your first language??’ when I read your stuff) I (mostly Sister) did a thing! (and I didn’t explode, yay! why am i this person) Maybe that makes answering easier? I still don’t understand all the things, I’m sorry. Anyway, it probably goes without saying, but if at any time you don’t feel like reading/discussing, please don’t feel obligated. Your time is valuable and it’s yours, so if you’re busy with other things, I totally understand and will not be offended in the least. Regarding performance between the brothers; I totally agree about Dean’s performance (and I do love the difference in the way he gets when he has Cas to himself. Well, except when he’s being a jerk to Cas *cough*). The performing is a double-edged sword; it’s not something that’s explicitly negotiated, so while it allows them to be comfortable with each other and respect each other’s comfort zones, it’s not a perfect system. Dean is afraid of being open with Sam, for the reasons you talked about (living up to a certain ideal - though I think he underestimates how well Sam knows him. Sam’s not stupid); I also think Sam’s well-aware of his brother’s communication/expression issues, and while most of the time, Sam treads carefully, sometimes I think he deliberately takes Dean at face value when he knows better because hey, he gets frustrated, too. I do wish we could see more of Sam’s ridiculous side. I think Dean tries hard to be a stable adult for Sam, and only in later seasons do I feel like he’s internalizing the idea that Sam himself is not a kid anymore, but there also seems to be a thing that happens where Dean exaggerates his own absurdity or plays dumb so Sam has an opportunity to assert his grown-upness - just like a big thing for Sam, for a while, was trying to prove himself and his competence and adultness, since he wants to be part of a team with Dean instead of someone else for whom Dean is taking responsibility. Unfortunately, I think that means Sam doesn’t feel comfortable goofing off as much, since they can’t both be ridiculous (or they can, but circumstances have to be right). Not that I begrudge Dean his antics; deliberately saying things you know are silly/stupid, particularly in front of other people, just so you can see a sibling give you the “are you fucking kidding me right now” face and try to compensate for you by being Extremely Professional is one of life’s great pleasures. Sorry, tangent. I started in S10 so cannot hope to match your internal screaming prowess, but it’s true that these are consistent problems with SPN. I kind of think it has something to do with the way they divide the episodes/the minimal collaboration between writers (as far as I understand the situation)? I agree with you, though, that there seems to be an increase in it. I just lately feel like I can’t even find the guiding thread throughout that ultimately makes me feel like “This is a flawed story, but it’s overall a decent one with a vague sense of continuity.” I have never been exactly happy with how they handle the show’s potential, but it’s entirely possible I’m getting tired and nitpicking, at this point. And yes, not just with Sam and Cas, I think the show wants us to assume a lot of things that I really feel like they need to explicitly put in. ‘Show, don’t tell,’ as they say. And your points about Jack! Ahhhh, my Jack bitterness. I was dreading the nephillim plot, to be honest, because I didn’t trust the show not to do it stupidly, and then there the adorable little bun was and I was pleasantly surprised (I mean, I was still frustrated with some things, but overall, I was optimistic about Jack’s introduction). And then. Obviously, this is just personal opinion, but the direction they took in S14 just … all the affection I’d developed for the character sort of started a backslide, I guess. I didn’t appreciate it or how it fit into the plot or how it fit with other character dynamics and I became very frustrated. I also kind of feel like - some of the Cas & Jack dynamic felt forced, because of how they handled S13, and then the thing you asked “does Sam no longer feel that way?” was one of my points of irritation. They were kind of developing a thing with Sam and I felt like it just got dropped completely (as Sam plots tend to do. I recognize my bias where Sam is concerned, but I don’t think it’s biased to say that in the last several seasons - since the Hell trials, even - he feels more like a supporting character even though he’s there all the time. I’ve even felt like we’ve been promised things, but Sam development/plot feels like one of the first things to go if there’s no space. That may be better than the way they tend to just use Cas for plot without even having the decency to put him in all the episodes, but lately it feels like all of TFW is getting shafted and at the same time, the plot doesn’t feel particularly well-developed or executed, which leads me to wondering, “What’s happening?? Where is all the time and energy going, then?”) My expectation with Jack would have been what they started in S13 - he’s a powerful entity in a grown up body trying to understand his nature, which can serve as a good exploration of good vs. evil and how choice factors into that, so very on topic for SPN, if something they’ve toyed around with before. And I would have assumed Jack was a lead up to closing out Lucifer’s storyline once and for all. But then they went places that didn’t really make sense to me and - well, basically, I’m a very frustrated fan, at the moment. “I would also love more TFW and the profound bond definitely has overshadowed anything else. Before. But now with Jack thrown into the mix there’s even less time for the original TFW. (And I don’t like that. Sometimes I like the addition of Jack and at other times I’m jealous of all the attention he diverts away from the things I’m most interested in.)” Yes, this. There’s so little time left and it’s precious and even if you like Jack, it’s sort of like - in your dying moments, you want to be surrounded by dear friends and family, not a next door neighbor you just get on quite well with. You care about them, sure, but you’re gasping your last, here. As for where Cas and Dean are at … gosh, but it’s frustrating. You’re asking great questions and I want to be able to speculate on the what-ifs, but I actually don’t feel like I can. My understanding of what place Dean and Cas are in kind of fell apart in 12x19 when Cas stole the Colt. I just - I struggled with that, a lot, because it was literally right after Dean gave him an incredibly specific, profound speech (especially expressive for Dean) about being better together, about being a team. I often feel frustrated with Dean because he’s so bad at using his words, and I feel like someone like Cas really needs words, since he just doesn’t pick up on all of Dean’s pining cues. (Which, I know Dean tries, but even if he says things like ‘you’re family, you’re our brother,’ Cas’s experience is that he’s not valued the same way Sam is so I’m not sure why he’d believe that or know what exactly it was even supposed to mean). But that was like, the one instance where I felt like Dean was actually pretty clear and open with Cas, and Cas turned around and stole the Colt and ran off to handle things his own way. Which - in some ways, that’s in character, historically Cas has sort of arrived at what he thinks is a good solution and tried to tackle it on his own without communicating a lot about it (miscommunication is the real villain of SPN), but at that point in time, I felt like they should have been past those types of shenanigans. If I were Dean, that would have been really hard to accept (though I know Dean’s attitude is why Cas thinks he has to try and do things on his own). But they never really addressed it, because Cas died and Dean was a wreck, and then Cas came back and it felt like there was no payout to any of Dean’s grieving. They made such a blatant, undeniable point of it, and then I didn’t feel like anything came of it, and if anything, there’s more distance than ever. So I don’t feel like I can predict how they’re going to respond to each other, because I don’t feel like it’s necessarily been consistent/in-character, lately. (That’s not meant to be critical of Cas, though. I think Dean and Cas are in a frustrating, endless cycle of unintentionally hurting one another, but overall I feel like Cas gets taken for granted a lot.) I’m left feeling like ‘I miss my OTP.’ Just my two cents, though! In any case - I’ll send that rant separate, since they’re different topics, but I just want to say thank you so much for all the discussion! Effi insights are the best and this very much helped me think about and try and articulate some thoughts about things/my dissatisfaction here. I know you’ve been busy with work and art (is this still the thing you teased? it sounds like a new thing? i want to know moree) and I’m so sorry if you’re feeling obligated to use time you don’t have for this, but it’s really interesting and I’m very grateful to you for indulging me, either way! I do ramble a lot so I hope it’s still fun for you >>

—

Yay at trying to human! :DD

And sorry for the late reply, I got into art mode and then into fic writer mode. I simply couldn’t make clever words happen at all.

(I’m glad you think my writing is organized, because it feels like rambling to me. Especially when I’m nervous it’s very hard to structure my thoughts and monitor my word choice. I feel I’m getting more and more out of practice when it gets to English even though I use it regularly online. And I’m insecure about it to a new degree since there are people in fandom who ridicule/ attack others for not having a perfect grasp of English. It’s sad. Also… people making fun of fic writers for very nitpicky things. I don’t know what has become of the fandom if this is the constant atmosphere. Or maybe it’s just me because I’ve been targeted. And look at that, I went off an incredible tangent again. Way to go! *lol*)

I think the time you put into writing me, something which brings me joy, is also valuable and I try my best to answer! :D

I’m going to put a read more link now, because this post is already getting very long!

I do wish we saw more of Sam’s ridiculous side too. Just him goofing around with the fidget spinner was so unexpected. Sam’s not all serious research mode, though it’s clearly the show’s focus to let us see Dean being geeky. Dean generally feels more fleshed out as a character, with many details about him that we don’t get from Sam. Maybe that is because we’ve been peeling away at Dean-the-hunter/brother and getting to see more of Dean as a person. And maybe Sam’s always been more straight forwards in recent time. So there’s not a lot of new things we learn about him anymore. Which is a shame. I would love to get something as small and exciting as Dean wearing novelty socks is (or Dean being ridiculously jumpy about small things when Sam or Cas aren’t watching).

That Sam tries to assert his independence by being reliable and serious and competent makes sense to me. Dean does try to accommodate that from time to time, though I think it’s interesting that Dean tends to give and revoke Sam’s right to make decisions and/ or call the shots. The show has made Sam’s “emancipation” a topic more than once. We saw it in S12 with the British Men of Letters, where Sam acted on his own (I wasn’t actually a fan of it because I was, for a big part, on Dean’s side when it got to working with the BMOL but that’s beside the point *lol*) and then again at the start of S14. But the issue is that the plot point of Sam growing into his own as a leader in his own right is usually stopped, dropped or torn down as a story line demands Dean to revoke Sam’s right to be an equal. We have moments where Dean’s all “this is a dictatorship” (S10) or just generally pushes Sam into things/ expects him to follow along with his plans. Like he gave Cas the option to fall in line or get out in S14, he does the same with Sam, just implicitly. I understand that those are always crisis moments, but it’s interesting that they fall back into a familiar pattern in those cases. With Dean calling the shots and Sam following along. Though at the end of S14 I’m pretty sure that Sam was just overwhelmed with the situation and glad that his brother took matters into his own hands until he could at least process what has happened to some degree… Maybe. (I actually haven’t rewatched S14. I should get to that but worrrrrrrrrrrrk.)

I got into SPN when S6 was airing, but I only caught up with it maybe around the middle of S7? So I was spared some amount of despaired Cas girl screaming *lol* As to the writing in general… I feel lately they have had strong (and in some cases very strong) first half of seasons but then I struggled to see coherence in the second half of the season. Things that were important got dropped and sometimes even become completely meaningless due to what happened later. I scream at my laptop at things which I feel didn’t happen all that much in let’s say S6 (and as I get from the gossip – I have no sources so I call it gossip – the late decision to make Cas the villain made it a fact that Cas had been lying all the time which had absolutely no foreshadowing in the first half of the season, so it was hard to swallow. But S6 is painful anyway, I just have to deal with the angst and trauma!)

I’m glad to know that others feel Jack bitterness as well. I hated the Nephilim plot in S12. I found the Lucifer storyline ridiculous and not palatable. And – for me – it destroyed what S11 did. What a waste of air time if they were going to do that with Lucifer. (Aw, I’m bitter, I’m sorry). But it’s how you say, in the end Jack was an adorable little bun and I was lulled into liking him despite my reservations. And then he messed up, but he was cute!! And then he messed up again… But wait, he’s still cute!!! And that repeated until it went downhill in S14… It’s a relief that you have the same experience with it, makes me feel less ridiculous about it *lol*

I totally agree that Sam hasn’t been the focus of the story for a while. He’s a spectator usually. He reacts to what Dean dishes out. Why devote so much time to the Nick plot (I mean, seriously, why. Who liked that?) when that could have been used to do something more profound with Sam and Jack’s relationship. Maybe it’s deliberate that Sam seemed to have stepped back, I don’t know. Because the moment Dean warmed up to Jack, it seemed to be mostly about Dean’s emotions. Dean got the meaningful, heart-warming (or breaking!) scenes with Jack. Not even Cas. Dean. Why? I mean I love it, I love Dean getting these scenes with Jack, but Dean became Jack’s father. Sam’s just… there. (I might be remembering it wrong, I really do need that rewatch). And don’t get me started on the Jack-Cas relationship. I can’t make sense of it.

I have actually never thought about the stealing of the Colt that way. I was mostly a “gosh darn it, Cas, again?!” moment for me, but now that you state it like that, it was pretty… not good. Dean did try very hard to talk to Cas and he tries and tries but doesn’t seem to find just the words that Cas needs to be convinced. Miscommunication really is the real villain of SPN. *lol*

It is hard to make predictions, especially because the things that have been developed and have been – in my reading – pretty on the nose, have had no pay off. It makes me doubt my own eyes. Did I really see Dean grieving like that? Did I just make that all up? Because nothing really happened as a pay off. I must have imagined it. Sam is probably lying awake at night, wondering if he had just dreamt it all. And then S14 presented a Dean Cas dynamic that had a conspicuous distance between them. But I’m not sure how to read that distance because I’m not sure if it was deliberately written or just a consequence of focusing on external things like the Nick plot. Or the inconsistency you mention. It’s just hard to work with it. I mean I can grasp where Cas is better than where Dean is or whey they are as an unit, because Cas has opened up his mouth and told us - or rather Dean, when he explained why he didn’t mention Jack killing the snake. He was finally feeling like they were a family and he didn’t want to lose it. I think he felt closer to Dean than ever before because they have Jack. But where he will be now, after Dean said what he said and did what he did and they lost Jack a second time… Well… I don’t know. But I also miss my OTP. Stop being at odds with each other and kiss already. :CCCCCC

Thank you for the discussion! I so rarely get to discuss SPN in detail anymore ;w;

(And the art I teased is a new thing, it’s for a Destiel fan zine. So it’ll be some time until I can reveal it. But I spent a lot of time on it and I hope people will like it!)

This has become a veeeery long answer, haha. I might not get to the other message today because it’s already 11 PM and I have to work tomorrow. ;w;

[jacksonroseroth]

Is Thicker Than The Water Of The Womb Chapter 2

Warnings: Angst, mild violence, a sprinkle of fluff

Words: 2,520

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Tora took a step back and fell back on the stairs, clutching her chest. Ubbe rushed to her and helped her up, holding her waist to keep her steady and letting her grip his hand as her whole body shook in shock.

“Why did it take you so long to find her?” Bjorn asked, stepping forward and blocking his view of Tora, defensively. “Everyone in Norway knows that raid was done by King Ragnar.”

“That was not what we were told.” The young man beside Keld, the one he named as his son Rolf, spoke up. He stepped forward, standing next to his father. “We asked if Ragnar had raided England once more and we were lied to. If we knew it was Ragnar, we would have come here and claimed her long ago.”

“Forgive us for not trusting you,” Ubbe said, letting Ivar take Tora as Ubbe stepped forward next to Bjorn, Hvitserk flanking Bjorn’s other side. “Tora is our sister. We will not allow some man claiming to be her father take her from us.”

“You must prove this before we even think of letting her part,” Hvitserk said. Tora clung to Ivar, staring in disbelief at the two men, and touched at how the brothers rallied around her in solidarity. Rolf glared at them.

“My wife, Brenna, was an Englishwoman. I was taken in by her family when my father’s ship wrecked on the beach. I lived with them and learned their ways, soon convincing her father to let me marry her and bring her here to Norway. We couldn’t leave. We didn’t have the money to build a new boat that would hold until we arrived. Brenna abandoned her Christian ways for the gods.” Keld said. “When Tora was born, she had a birthmark going up her thigh. The same mark that killed my father when he was cut by his own sword in the shipwreck, making him bleed out. I told my wife this was a sign from the gods that it was time to make the journey home. Tora is my daughter.”

Tora’s breath hitched and her heart seemed to stop. She had wondered about that mark and what it truly meant all her life, but kept her questions to herself. Since she was mute, she never said anything, therefore no one ever knew she even had such a mark. Tora broke away from Ivar and pushed through Hvitserk and Bjorn, who tried to keep her back. She gave them both a look and laid a hand on their arms before stepping forward. Aslaug lifted her chin even more as she watched her. Tora took a few tentative steps forward and Keld beamed with pride as he looked over his daughter.

“Tora.” He said, softly. He stepped forward and took her hands, the touch making all the Lothbroks twitch in anger. “I understand you are mute, but please...I am your father. You do not need to be afraid.”

“I am no longer mute,” Tora said as a small smile came to her face. “I-I have wanted to know who my father was for a long time, but...How-How do I know you are who you say you are? I am sorry, but my-”

Tora glanced back at the brothers.

“ They ...Are right. I must ask for proof that you are my father.” Tora said, pulling her hands away. “If you are who you say, we shall speak. If not, you must leave and never return. If you truly trust in the gods and believe I am your daughter, you will respect my wishes and do as I ask.”

Tora took a step back toward the boys. Ivar had inserted himself between Bjorn and Ubbe and now stepped forward and slid a protective arm around the front of her waist, keeping her close, as Ubbe and Bjorn stepped forward, protectively as well. Rolf took a step forward also, but Keld stopped him.

“No, my son.” He said, not giving him a second glance. “She is right to ask these things. Tora, I cannot express my regret for not trying harder to find you. But I will do as you ask and prove to you we are family.”

Keld looked to Aslaug and said, “My Queen, I respectfully ask for shelter as we meet your family’s needs.”

A snarky smirk came to her face as Aslaug said, “You have but a week to make your case. If Tora doesn’t believe you, you shall leave and never return and abandon any rights to her as your daughter, whether she is or not. We have raised this child for 14 years and she has come to be like a daughter and sister to us all. We will not willingly let you take her from us without sufficient evidence.”

Keld bowed his head in respect. Satisfied, Aslaug added, “You and your company will be shown to your rooms outside the hall. Gather your evidence and we shall call on you.”

“Thank you, Queen Aslaug,” Keld said. The rest of his company bowed and they all turned to leave. Once the doors closed, Tora let out a soft whimper and gripped Ivar’s arm, burying her face in his neck and crying softly. Ivar held her close and sighed.

“Mother, you cannot let him take her, even if she is his,” Ubbe said as all three boys turned to Aslaug.

“If we had claimed her, he would have a weaker case. But she was never officially adopted. I have no power but to give him the right to prove himself.” Aslaug said as she stood and stepped down. She went to Tora, touching her shoulder to make her turn. “But I will leave the decision to you, Tora. Whether you stay, whether you go, even if you should like to invite them to stay here. You have the final say.”

Aslaug pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her cheek.

“No matter your choice, you will always have a place among this family, Tora. Never forget that.” Aslaug whispered to her. Tora smiled and nodded as they broke apart.

“Thank you, Aslaug. You have always treated me with kindness and I thank you.” Tora said. “You have truly been the mother I never had.”

Aslaug cupped her cheek and smiled.

“Go rest, child,” Aslaug said. Tora nodded and left. Once she was gone, the brothers all slowly trickled out. “Ivar.”

Ivar stopped and sighed, turning to his mother.

“Yes, Mother.” He said. Aslaug went to him.

“If you wish to marry her, you had best make it known now. If Keld doesn’t want her to marry you and he proves he is her father, he takes all control away from me to decide.” Aslaug said. “I know you love her and care for her, so make your decision wisely. This is what she has wanted for years. Her family, her father. Now she has a brother. If she wishes to leave, you must let her.”

Ivar stayed silent. He didn’t want Tora to leave. He wanted her to stay here in Kattegat with him. The thought of simply strangling Keld and Rolf in their sleep was appealing, but if it turned out this man was her father, he might lose her for it. Aslaug cupped his cheek and lifted his head.

“You’ve told her you love her. Now you must ask her to marry you or you need to let her make her own choices.” Aslaug said. She kissed his cheek and left him in the hall. Ivar sighed and rubbed a hand over his chin. He turned to leave and stopped, seeing Hvitserk leaning in the doorway, arms crossed and looking pissed.

“You are truly going to ask her to marry you?” He asked, looking up at him. Ivar sighed and pushed past his brother.

“I don’t have time for your jealousy, Hvitserk,” Ivar growled. Hvitserk turned and caught his arm before Ivar got too far. Ivar snapped and turned on him, slamming him up against the wall. Hvitserk chuckled.

“What are you going to do, brother?” Hvitserk hissed. “Kill me? Beat me? You think any of that will win over our sweet Tora?”

“If you wanted her, you should have asked her a long time ago,” Ivar said. “I am not going to pay for your mistakes and I’m not going to stand for your childish jealousy.”

“I didn't come here to fight you, Ivar,” Hvitserk growled, prying Ivar’s hands off his shirt and shoving him back, making him stumble away and hit the wall. “Just tell me the truth! Do you truly, honestly love her, or is this just to prove a point?”

“And what point is that, Hvitty ?” Ivar hissed.

“That you can have any woman you want,” Hvitserk said.

“That point has well been proven. I want her because I love her and I care about her. If you truly felt the same, then you would let her be happy with her choice, whether it’s me, or Ubbe, or another man.”

“Would you be happy for her if she chose me?” Hvitserk challenged. Ivar clenched his fists. He would hate Hvitserk for the rest of his life if Tora chose Hvitserk over him. But she would be happy and that’s all he wanted. Ivar sighed and unclenched his fists.

“If that was her choice. If she was happy with you, then yes. I could live with it.” Ivar said. Hvitserk blinked in surprise, shocked he didn't say he would fight for her. In the silence, Ivar gave his brother one last glare before taking off down the hall. Hvitserk leaned back against the wall and sighed.

~

Late in the night, Tora stole away again. She didn't know if she wanted to be alone or to be with company, but she knew she needed to be anywhere but the hall. She made her way out to the dock and stood at the edge, staring out into the darkness of the night. As the moon shone onto the water a crisp breeze blew past, making her tug her shawl tighter around her.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone.” Tora jumped and turned, giving a smugly smirking Ivar a look as he approached.

“I just needed a moment.” She said as he came up beside her, sliding an arm around her. They looked at each other for a moment before they both turned to look out over the water. Tora moved closer to him and rested her head on his chest, huddling against him in the cold night air. Ivar sighed.

“Do you truly believe this man is your father?” He asked, softly. Tora slowly lifted her head and looked up at him. She was surprised, yet hurt, to see Ivar looking disappointed and sad, almost as if he knew she had made up her mind to leave.

“I don’t know. I’ve never told anyone about my birthmark. My mother told me the story, though it didn't make much sense at the time, and no one else ever knew. It’s very vague in my memory, but I remember enough.” Tora said. “My mother’s name was Brenna and I knew she was an Englishwoman, not a Northwoman.”

“You didn't know your father was?” He asked, looking down at her. Tora shook her head.

“My mother never really spoke about him. Not that I remember. And I always assumed my father was an Englishman.” She said. Ivar nodded and looked back to the water. Tora watched him a moment, before reaching up a hand to cup his cheek, making him look at her. “Do you think I’ll leave?”

He gave a soft laugh. “I hope you won’t.” He said. “I don’t want you to leave.”

A small smile spread across her face. “I don’t either. But if he is my father…”

“You should go with him.” His response shocked her. The Ivar she knew would always fight for what he wanted. A toy when they were children, the best sword when they got older, he even fought to raid with Ragnar when the time came. So the fact he didn't seem to fight for her now made her wonder.

“I don’t know what I want to do.” She said, pulling her hand back, resting it on his chest. Ivar reached up to grab it, gently, then turned to her, taking her other hand.

“You know I love you, Tora. I would do anything for you, to have you.” Ivar said. “But if this is what you want, I won’t stop you. If this makes you happy, I won’t stand in your way. I’ll let you go.”

Tora’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut, pressing her forehead to his chest.

“Why must you do this, Ivar?” She asked with a small chuckle, accompanied by a sniff before she looked up at him. “Why must you say such beautiful things and make me question everything?”

Ivar chuckled and cupped her chin. “I don’t know. You force them out of me. I can never lie to you now.” He said. “All I want is to know how you feel, to know what you want. Tell me, please.”

Tora rested both her hands on his chest as Ivar took her waist.

“I love you.” She said. “I want you, but it all can’t be this simple.”

Ivar chuckled and pushed her hair back as he cupped her cheek.

“It can.” He said, softly. “Right now, Aslaug still has the power to see us betrothed. If this man is your father, he will see your happiness and allow it. We can have everything, Tora. We just need to try...Marry me.”

Tora opened her mouth to respond, but Ivar’s was quick to be on it, making whatever was on her mind disappear. Tora wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer. They kissed again and again, letting their emotions for the other overtake them and fill them up without any hesitations or fear. They broke apart and looked at each other, briefly, before Ivar buried his face into her hair and neck as Tora clung to him, sliding her nails over his scalp as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“Tora,” Ivar spoke, softly. “Stay with me tonight. Please. I promise you will leave with your purity still, I just want you with me tonight.”

Tora nodded and smiled as Ivar straightened to look down at her and smile. He kissed her, deep and slow, one last time, then took her hand, leading her back to the hall and to his room. Once they were there, Ivar lowered himself onto his bed, rubbing his aching legs. Tora knelt in front of him and helped him remove his braces, then helped him settle himself on his bed. Tora had stopped in her room to change into her nightgown and now took down her hair from earlier and settled herself next to Ivar. He held her close and smiled, pushing a hand through her hair. They settled themselves for the night and soon fell asleep.

~

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 6: The Masked Grave’s Ritual

Deadly Life

Kaede still didn’t want to believe it. She thought she was finally regaining some control of their situation. That things were going to get better. How could this have happened?

Maki was no stranger to bloodshed so who could have possibly killed her? (Was she killed trying to defend herself or did this happen because she attacked someone else? Would Maki really do that?)

The fact this was Kiyo’s lab was a smaller area of concern. Unlike Angie’s lab, his didn’t have any locks so anyone could have done this if they weren’t complying with the student council’s nighttime curfew.

While Kirumi told her and Maki that Kiyo wasn’t Kaede didn’t think this was his doing. Something about how the artifacts were being treated didn’t line up. He was too protective of them before. (Not unless that was an act. Make you think he cared about others damaging them so him abusing them is unlikely.)

His surprise at seeing Maki’s body looked genuine enough when Kaito brought him for questioning. At least Kaito was suspecting him less now than when he first rushed down to see if this was connected to Maki wanting to pay him a visit last night. Not that it was saying much, Kaito’s still quite clearly a wreck.

Ryoma was trying to help ease Kaito’s nerves but he was also too shaken to be of much help. No one objected when the two excused themselves to see if there was anything else around that could be connected. She figured too many felt ashamed of how they treated her and Ryoma before to complain.

“For the sake of our investigation does anyone have any complaints if I go over Maki’s body? Unless Gonta would rather try, as he might be more used to corpses than I am. Not human ones of course.” Kirumi calmly asked. Kaede couldn’t help but notice Kiyo kept glancing at her like he had an objection, but he must have thought better of it as he resumed looking into what else in his lab might be involved here instead.

“Gonta can’t! Gonta not… Not smart enough to be useful like Kirumi. Kirumi smart so she do good. Besides, it not proper for gentlemen to touch a lady without her permission.” Gonta was trying to hide a light blush that came with his explanation, an odd contrast to the tear tracks that still stained his face.

“It is a bit late to ask her about that sort of thing I’m afraid. Particularly if we think we should check her for injuries that may be unrelated to the fall. I doubt anything else could be the cause of death, however. You can see where the banister underneath her broke off from even from where we’re standing.”

Kaede had to crane her head up to see what Kiyo was talking about but he was right, on the highest level there was a break in the rails. With little prompting Tenko made her way up the stairs as quickly as she could to see if there were signs of a struggle or any other clues as Angie followed, hopping all the way. (I’m impressed they have the stamina for that, since that’s on the fifth floor. Why is this so damn tall?!)

While the two were up there, Kirumi informed everyone that she kept finding some sort of ashes on Maki’s body she couldn’t explain. Kaede thought better of bringing up the candles she sent Ryoma and Maki to collect, as she didn’t want Angie to be made aware of her attempt at sabotage, and as neither he nor Angie were here no comment was made about it possibly being the Necronomicon.

This might get messy if it needs to come up in the trial though. Was Maki’s death an accident her killer tried to undo? I don’t know if someone other than Angie and I knew how this motive worked.

Nothing else seemed out of place though, no weapons or injuries on her that didn’t make any sense. Except for that weird stone mask that was laid over Maki’s face, modern looking in all but its medium.

“Why would someone want to drag poor Sun Witch ♪ Esper Ito into this anyway?!" Tsumugi bemoaned, looking torn between whether or not to pick up the mask before Kirumi waved her off to spare her the dilemma. After a depressed sigh, she got a curious expression as she looked around the lad. "Actually why is her mask even in here? It can’t really be culturally relevant right? Beyond like normal festival masks I mean.” (Leave it to Tsumugi to know what the heck that thing was or where it was from. It really is out of place.)

“You aren’t wrong about what it is, but what it represents is a fair bit different." Kiyo began, despite Tsumugi's brief attempts to assure him that he didn't have to. But there was no retracting an excuse for him to lecture. "This is the mask most associated with the serial killer Kirakira Seigi or “Sparkling Justice” who supposedly came from Spain. Naturally given the title and style of their trademark mask I am inclined to doubt that theory, as it’s too distinctly Japanese to think they would consider Spain to be their only point of origin, but they do make for an interesting modern connection to both cultures as a result. Being a serial killer who exclusively kills others of their ilk in poetic gruesome recreations of the targeted serial killer’s preferred methods also taps into various other figures and notions regarding popular concepts of “Justice” and “Karma”.” (Right, that thing again. He talked at me about it before too. It has no right to look this cute with what he says.)

For all her early objections the lesson stirred Tsumugi's geeky interest enough that she was simply bubbling with questions, as if they weren't still talking in the middle of a murder scene. “Is a stone mask really their trademark? What do you mean “they”, is there more than one person who uses this name? Do you think it’s related to that other Kira-”

“No. For all of those things." Kiyo sternly cut her off, but he obviously enjoyed having peaked her interest as he lead her off to a side of the room to continue without bothering anyone's work. "First off, the person known as Sparkling Justice is elusive so their gender is a point of debate, though I do lean in favor of that person being male myself, so I tried being as neutral as I could. Second, typically the mask they use is of the common cheap plastic affairs so I can’t really explain why this is was made to be so much more permanent and without any of its common colors either I’m afraid." And with his more basic deductions done his tone soured. "Third, I just told you they were thought to be Spanish so any similarities this has to a certain older manga are likely coincidence.”

Kaede tried to give Tsumugi a sympathetic smile at seeing her flinch at Kiyo’s surprisingly harsh response before asking a question of her own. “So do you think this mask was used to accuse Maki of something? Or mock her because of her talent? I mean an assassin and a serial killer would be kinda different right?”

“The irony is highly possible if the Kirakira connection to this design is known, and they are distinct enough that all of Kirakira ’s confirmed kills did what they did out of passion rather than a paycheck.”

“Should we be concerned by how our biggest suspect knows so much about niche serial killers?” Kokichi piped up from the second floor, staring down at them with his chin resting on his folded arms. Something felt off about him though. He was smiling like a cat toying with a mouse but there was a new cruelty to it.

“If you want to be that’s your own prerogative I’m sure. I merely felt it best to be aware given how often I travel and get considered to be either highly suspicious or a person of interest in dangerous situations.” Kiyo called back up to him, looking annoyed by how loud Kokichi was to make sure he was heard.

Kaede felt a tugging at her skirt before she looked down to find Monodam looking up at her at a loss. But much like his siblings, he’s also had a slight change in appearance. While he still hardly had any shoulders to speak of unlike the others he had somehow managed to attach Monokid’s shoulder pads to his chassis. (What? If he hates others being afraid of him why is he wearing the clothing of his victim like a trophy?!)

“Why-Did-This-Happen-Again-Miss-Kaede? Did-We-Do-Something-Wrong?” He retracted his arm as he turned to look at Maki, visibly depressed over what he was seeing. “Did-Miss-Maki-Deserve-This?”

“No. I’m not sure your motive even had anything to do with this. I mean all we found are some ashes, and that could have been anything. But don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

“Kaede, stop being buddy-buddy with a member of the beer-stain bears! Unless you think the ashes matter for something?” Kokichi paused for a moment to look up and theatrically held his hands to his mouth before calling up to the highest floor. “HEY ANGIE YOU STILL GOT THAT WEIRDO BOOK ON YOU?!”

Angie’s head poked over the broken railing looking for Kokichi before she replied, both ignoring Kiyo's seething down below. “Nooope, It went missing sometime yesterday! Why?”

“Any reason why someone might have wanted to burn it beyond it being obviously evil and stupid?”

“Oh? Did someone find an effigy of Maki with ashes on it?”

“Depends, does her fucking corpse count as an “effigy”? ‘Cause this is one duuusty cun-”

And that last bit of vulgarity proved to be Kiyo's last straw. “Can you both please stop yelling?! You’ll find the room carries sound very well on its own.”

“Hey we’re being helpful Kiyo, stop complaining!" Kokichi yelled back down, making everything worse as per the usual. "This isn’t even a real library, Jeez.”

Kiyo's eye actually twitched as he struggled to restrain himself. “Allow me to rephrase then: If you don’t settle down I will come up there and tear out your tongues. ”

“Kaaeeeeeeeeeeeede Kiyo’s threatening meeeeeeeee~” (Oh for the love of-! Isn’t Kirumi your mom?!)

With a hand to her face, Kaede muttered some curses as she shook her head before trying to settle Kokichi's latest mess. “I’m sorry Kiyo, just bear with it for now. Trust me I know how bad loud noises can be. Or maybe you can check out one of the other rooms? Like if the book went missing maybe Angie’s lab has something.”

“Oh yes, because leaving these relics unattended with Kokichi and Angie around is a simply  marvelous idea.” He replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“They are far from unattended." Kirumi was quick to assure him to help de-escalate the situation. "I will do my best to keep them from causing harm to any of your other pieces Kiyo. Feel free to help Ryoma and Kaito if you think it may be of more benefit to us.”

The look she gave him a look that was hard to tell if it was understanding or pity as Kirumi returned the mask to its proper place in the glass case. Kiyo looked reluctant, almost angry, to follow her suggestion but he hardly had any reason not to do so with how much stress seeing his room so crowded caused him.

With Kiyo out of the way, Angie continued to confirm it was probably the Necronomicon that was burned, though she didn’t think a body would count as an effigy in this case. That would explain why Maki was still obviously dead at any rate. Unless the ritual never had a chance at succeeding.

Kaede also felt a bit more at ease going around the room now, and quickly found another distressing detail. The golden katana was gone. The sheath wasn’t, which was why she didn’t notice at first, but the blade was nowhere to be found. When she asked Kirumi confirmed she didn’t see anything that looked like it had been hit by a rusty sword, which only made its absence all the more suspicious.

Seeing nothing else of note Kaede left to see if anyone else had made any progress. Aside from Monophanie’s efforts at repainting parts of the floor with her own puke, which she only just caught before she was going to step in the mess. (EWWWWWW, as if this floor wasn’t bad enough already!?)

Trying to be a bit more pragmatic she phrased things a bit differently. “Are you alright Monophanie? Can’t you just leave this to the others? Who would have the Monokuma file in this case anyway?”

“No! No, nothing's alright! This floor is gross, the body is gross, we can’t stop daddy’s game even if we try, and we still can’t agree on anything! It’s all just making me sick. In more ways than one. Monosuke’s the only one who really likes daddy’s game so he’d have it, but why bother? Nothing here is changing!”

It was odd to see one of her captors driven to such a manic state, even Monotaro’s scarf seemed to be acting in accordance to Monophanie’s frustrations. Things being as they were she was probably also assuming that like the two times prior either she or one of her brothers was going to die soon too.

She wasn’t really paying attention to Kaede though, so she just left the bear to her own devices. With a real horrifying situation on her hands going to Angie’s lab didn’t seem nearly as stressful as before, but she didn’t even have the chance as she saw the three boys were heading back already.

“Did you guys find anything?”

“You mean aside from the wax museum thing she had going on? Not much, Kiyo saw some gold leaf might be missing from her art supplies and Angie’s probably a bit loopier than we already thought.”

“Now now Ryoma, making mementos to honor those that are gone is a common response to grief, and I find her attention to detail to be rather touching. Obviously, they lack the particular beauty that comes with bearing the human soul but she matched their likenesses to an otherwise astounding degree yes?”

“You mean she made things that look like they crawled right out of the uncanny valley of robotics man!” Kaito argued, which given Ryoma's sigh wasn't the first time he made his discomfort over the figures known.

As Kiyo shook his head with a shrug he paused as a thought came to mind. “... I do hope you won’t use such a phrase within earshot of Kibo, that could be considered most rude.” (Actually where is Kibo anyway? Or Tsumugi? Did they go to find Monosuke for the file since it’s late? There’s a better question to be asking here though. We’ll see both of them soon enough I’m sure.)

“Why would gold leaf be missing?" Kaede asked to help address the more relevant evidence. "It’s not like money matters in here or anything. Do you think it could be related to the anthropology lab’s katana? I couldn’t find the blade and it’s the only gold thing here.”

“Huh? You sure Kaede? Kiyo, you didn’t say anything about that!” Kaito said.

“Didn’t I? Must have slipped my mind, my apologies. Besides, it struck me as a more personal issue, given how Kirumi hadn’t mentioned finding rust in any of her injuries. The blade hasn’t been taken care of well at all, so I can’t see how something that rusted could be used here, and had someone recently held the handle or sheath we’d find gold on their hands from where the leaf coating tends to peel off.”

“So Angie’s missing supply could just be someone trying to replace the older gold leaf that came off when they messed with the sword without permission?” Ryoma suggested. (Or a sign someone was setting something up.)

“I could believe that, the sword has been missing since at least last night and I suspect it was taken when I spoke with Kaede yesterday. As its uses as a weapon are limited I didn’t feel a need to worry anyone, given how Maki’s lab allows for equally easy access to a wider array of much more effective tools to use”

“Seriously man? You still shoulda said something so we could help you find it!” Kaito said though Kiyo seemed to just brush him off.

As Ryoma and Kaito continued to ask about the missing antique, Kaede saw Tsumugi and Kibo come out of one of the classrooms Maki and Ryoma took candles from before. It wasn’t clear how long they tried investigating in there, but without the candles Kaede assumed they’d be pitch black so she was confused.

“Hey, aren’t those rooms a bit too dark to be checking? Or are the candles back now? Kirumi did say something about finding ashes on Maki’s body so I’m not sure where else a fire could be from.” Kaede asked them, trying to hide her involvement in the candles being moved to avoid concerning Angie later.

“Not to worry, my new flashlight function was more than sufficient enough to be most thorough in our investigations!" Kibo happily informed her. "Kirumi had said she saw Maki remove a set of candles from this area before, and they are indeed still missing. Aside from that, we didn’t see anything unusual though, so this is unlikely to matter.”

“Even if it is kinda pink for a flashlight…” Tsumugi softly muttered behind him, looking kinda embarrassed for how improvised this "function" was.

“Would you have rathered I used a different color? I should have a more traditional yellow too.”

Before she could get dragged into a debate over Kibo's abilities Kaede quickly tried to excuse herself. “I don’t think that’s the issue, but that’s still good to hear! Now if we could just get the Mono-”

And speak of the devil, there he was. Monosuke’s pacifier was still absent, but he at least had the file in hand that should narrow down when Maki was attacked last night. Or it was a file at any rate. The pad in his paws did look a bit different, like some yellow stripes were doodled on the black half of it last minute.

“No need to get your panties in a twist toots, the Monosuke file’s right here! Just had to get some kinks for it worked out. Nice to see even without using a motive you bastards are still more than bloodthirsty enough on your own to keep this game going! Even when we got some brats insisting on playing house.”

Monophanie was near enough to still overhear him and was none too pleased about his snipe from the look of things. As if to complete the set Monodam came out from Kiyo’s lab too, trying to see what the noise was about which just led to the three bears bickering again. Seeing Monodam wearing Monokid’s shoulder pads did seem to intimidate Monosuke some, though if she noticed Monophanie didn’t care.

As it quickly proved to be just another petty power struggle, and one that didn’t concern the case at hand, Kaede and the others returned to Kiyo’s lab so everyone would have access to the file’s contents.

At the very least it did confirm the fall was what killed her, so the missing katana could be unrelated. She was also killed at midnight which with the council’s curfew further narrowed down their list of suspects.

Being shoved through the railing could also make this look like her killer acted in self-defense. But Maki doesn’t like swords and if she had it then it’d still be here. There’d be no reason for anyone to have hid it, it’s not like we can test blood or anything. Unless they just didn’t want us to know there was a fight?

“See? Atua was right after all! Had Maki heeded His warning like the rest of us she wouldn’t have died-”

Angie barely had time to blink before Kaito’s fist was only inches away from her face, as Gonta stopped him mid-swing. Kaito’s face was more distressed than angry though. Like he couldn’t believe he just tried to hit a girl, but he also wasn’t regretting the attempt if it was enough to make her stop talking like that.

“Bull-fucking-shit! You can’t go blaming the victim for this! It’s not like the killer was following your rules either. Cut the crap with your “divine protection” shit already, you know we’re all in danger right now!”

Despite his words she didn’t seem phased at all. Only a bit of surprise and disappointment showed on her softly smiling face. Kaede could swear she caught a flicker of fear in her eyes, but only for a moment.

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? Atua said the next victim would die after nighttime again and here we are.”

Ryoma’s eyes were dark and cold but there was no doubt he was nearly as angry about her accusations as Kaito was. Angry enough something about him made him seem larger than he actually was. Tenko was responding badly to it at any rate, but she was posed to try striking at him if he acted against Angie first.

“That doesn’t prove anything. Murders happening when the least people would be out is just common sense on the killer’s part, to limit witnesses, and your rule only made it easier for this to be the case. Don’t go trying to make this sound like this was somehow Maki’s fault. Not without some proof for it.”

That gave her some idea as Angie put a finger to her chin in thought, before turning to Kiyo with a broad grin. “Hey-hey~ that’s an idea! Kiyo said something about wanting to perform a seance before right? Sooo why don’t we just try asking Maki herself?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were under the impression no one was ever actually killed in this game yes?” Kiyo pointed out, looking suspicious at her suggestion.

“Exactly! So either we can reach Maki, so she is dead and we can just ask her about what happened, or we can’t reach her because she isn’t dead and you and the others will have proof that Atua was right!”

“Or we can’t reach her because Kiyo’s seances are also full of-” Kokichi wisely shut his mouth at seeing the glare Kiyo started sending his way, but Angie’s grin just got larger at the prospect of Kiyo failing too. (Am I seriously watching some sort of occult pissing contest right now? Do we really have time for this?)

“I assure you if all the steps are followed it will work. And we do have all the supplies needed for the Caged Child seance already, we merely need to pick a darkened room to have it performed in first-”

“Why not use a seance you’ve done before huh? Experience would make it easier to work right?”

Kaede was pretty sure Kiyo was pouting as he gave Angie a look. Even his zipper seemed to be frowning. “Well, where’s the fun in that? And besides, I don’t have the supplies for any other seance that would be this… Non-invasive, I suppose you could say. Unless whoever we pick as the medium wouldn’t mind risking some… “Physical changes” while Maki speaks through them.”

“... What sort of changes are we talking about?” Tsumugi looked really nervous over the notion before getting lost in her head again with a finger to her lips. When she came back it was soon replaced with an aura of excitement as a different question occurred to her. “Are you telling me the way Maya and Pearl would change when Mia possessed them wasn’t just a silly excuse to give them her big boobs?!”

“I would say it’d be best for a girl to act as the host to minimize any such risks, but it’s not out of the question no. Though given Maki’s build I’m fairly certain it would have the… Opposite effect on you. However things like the changing of one’s eyes or hair color are typically the more common reactions.” (“Minimize” the risk? Does this happen to guys too? How the fuck is that even supposed to work?! WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?)

“Awww, never mind then. I’m not really sure a plain girl like me would work anyway. Even if red eyes and black hair are the best combination, if I don’t have my blue hair anymore I’ll be even harder to notice...”

“Unless she would have a personal reason to take issue with you I doubt Maki would mind. Any other volunteers? In addition to the host and myself, we need three other people to perform it correctly.”

“What exactly would everyone else be doing?” Tenko asked, looking a bit nervous and guilty as she twiddled her fingers. “‘Cause even if Maki and I kinda look alike I don’t think I’m up for something like being a host either. L-like just in case she’s kinda mad when she comes back.” (Makes sense that if Angie was onboard for this plan the rest of the student council would be too. So I should probably offer to help.)

“Even if she was in a volatile state the medium would be under the iron cage and the dog statue so there no danger of her lashing out at anyone aside from potentially the host herself. Unintended suicides may be something of a... “side effect” in a worst case scenario, but I don’t think Maki was that sort of person. Everyone else would merely be there for the summoning ritual itself, like placing those two objects.” (SIDE EFFECT ?! KIYO STOP BEING SO CALM ABOUT HORRIFYING THINGS. Ugh, I don’t want to do this...)

“Wow~ Kiyo you’re really bad at convincing people aren’t you? But I’ll help you guys out, it sounds fun.”

“Would you rather I lie about the dangers that may be present Kokichi? This was Angie’s idea, not mine.”

As if the terrified look on her face wasn’t answer enough Tenko gave him her most honest of replies. “ YES. TENKO WOULD HAVE GREATLY PREFERRED THAT THANKS. This was creepy enough already...”

“... Ah.” He obviously wasn’t expecting an answer that blunt. “So should I start doing that now then?”

“I’m sure it’s fine. As long as the spirit we get is Maki everything should be okay. She wouldn’t hurt us. Would the medium have to do anything other than just sit there? I could do that I think, but not help.” (Even if Tenko could lift those things by herself I’m not sure I could manage anything else this spooky.)

Kiyo really brightened up at Kaede’s unexpected suggestion, which was nice to see at least. “Yes, I do believe you’d work quite well. Being one of those she was closer to should also make the process go more smoothly. Not to worry, some forms of possession do come with memory loss surrounding the act so if the situation’s setting proves distressing for you it would only be but a... momentary discomfort.”

It almost looked settled, before a solemn but determined looking Kirumi chose to interject.

“No, I think I’d be better suited to this Kaede. Kaito’s still in a rather delicate state and I’m not sure you being involved with this too would help put him more at ease at all. I’d be happy to act as the medium.”

Kiyo was conflicted for a moment as he considered her offer, but even though his eyes indicate he’s still smiling under his mask Kaede couldn’t shake the feeling there’s something crueler about them now.

Maybe he’s disappointed I won’t be a part of this now despite knowing how much I hate this stuff? I mean I am on better terms with him than… basically everyone else, so he might just miss having a friend. Ugh, now I feel kinda bad. This wouldn’t be a problem if Himiko was still here, she’d be up for this.

“On second thought this may be for the best, thank you Kirumi.”

“Are you sure Kiyo? I could try to help with something else if you need me to.”

“No, I think this’ll be just fine. Unless you were exaggerating before about how you thought Kagome, Kagome was “terrifying”, given the Caged Child does have an associated song which it is similar to-”

“Hahaha no, we’re good! You all have fun with that, call me if Maki needs me or something!” (NOOOPE. NOT A CHANCE IN HELL. At least he remembered this now instead of later. Thank you sooo much Kirumi.)

Kaede did her best to ignore the sound of his chuckling and the feeling of Kirumi’s confused stare as she beelined her way out the door to find Kaito and Ryoma. Because she was definitely not running away. She was just trying to help investigate whatever else she could. Absolutely anywhere else.

Besides, finding Ryoma was a good idea anyway. He should know where the candles that belonged in those rooms were which would probably be helpful to have back now. Even if he doesn’t know where Maki left the candles she took, if they split them evenly Ryoma should have at least one for each room.

She found Kaito and Ryoma at the end of the hall, past the three empty classrooms Kiyo wanted to use, into the area that looked more mechanical. Kaito probably took off the second Angie said “seance” as he was clearly having some sort of panic attack again, while Ryoma was comforting him where he could.

At least that’s all she thought Ryoma was helping with before Kaito turned to look at her.

“K-Kaito, are you okay?! You’re bleeding!”

“I know, nothing to worry about. Just bit my tongue wrong earlier, it’s nothing I promise.” Kaito assured her, but Ryoma obviously didn’t buy it which made it hard for her to believe his words. But if he doesn’t want to talk about it there’s probably nothing she could say to convince him otherwise right now.

“Are they seriously going to waste their time on that ghost stuff Kaede?”

“That’s the plan, but I don’t want to call it a waste. I mean I can understand if Angie and Kiyo think it’s the only way they can really help investigate right now. It’s not like we have a whole lot of evidence yet, or any ideas where else to look for some. Speaking of, they probably need those candles back now.”

“Humpf. Likely right about that. Maki and I just put those things in our rooms so I’ll get them. If her’s is locked they’ll still be enough to put one in each room for now anyway. I’ll be right back.” Despite his attempt at an aloof attitude Ryoma was gone in the blink of an eye. It was still a shock to see how fast he could be when he took something seriously, especially up close unlike when he avoided Tenko before.

And this is him being “rusty”, not in his prime or anything! The world of tennis must be super impressive. Maybe I should try asking him more about it some time. He’s mostly just hung out with Kaito, Maki, and Kiyo as far as I know so branching out a bit more might be nice for him. Especially with Maki gone now.

“What are you two talking about?” Kaito asked, but not with suspicion despite their situation. That didn’t make Kaede any less nervous as she decided to answer him honestly, since Angie wasn’t in earshot.

“When I joined the council I was able to look at the motive the bears gave us. It couldn’t be used if Angie couldn’t burn it, so to be on the safe side I asked Maki and Ryoma to hide any sources of fire we could. Since they were the closest to her the candles were the first things to go. Just to buy us a bit more time.”

“Hmm, good thinking then. Ya coulda tried telling me earlier though, I wasn’t going to talk to her.”

“I know, I just didn’t want to risk being overheard or overloading you or anything. Are you really alright? I mean your health wasn’t the best before and now Maki’s…”

“I told you, I don’t need you worrying over me! I’m fine. Guys are tough ya’ know, just focus on yourself.” Kaito tried offering her a cheesy large grin and a thumbs up as if to prove his words, but she knew better. She could see he was pushing himself, but returned his grin with a weak smile and nodded back anyway.

He’s too stubborn to accept anything else from me right now. He’ll just need some more time. Then when he’s ready I can only hope he’ll seek me or Ryoma out. I’m not ready to try fighting with him about this.

Kaede helped Kaito take refuge in the computer lab when she saw Angie, Kirumi, and Kiyo come out of his lab, heading towards the three classrooms. Given what they were saying it sounded like they were just checking to see which of the three should be used for their ritual, to see if any of them “felt” right.

When Kaito insisted he’d be fine there alone Kaede went back to wait for Ryoma and the candles, but she couldn’t tell who went into each room. But Ryoma was true to his word as it was only a matter of minutes before he got back with five candles in hand. Not six. So one room would be short a candle.

She tried asking him about the missing one but he only said he couldn’t find it in Maki’s room. He assumed she may had it with her when she died and then someone else took it, as with the warehouse locked there wouldn’t be that many other sources of fire to burn whatever made the ashes on her body.

Angie’s timing couldn’t be better as she walked out of the middle room at that moment, so Kaede was able to give her the fifth candle to return it to that. Luckily she was too grateful to them for “finding” it to ask how they managed it in the first place, but Kaede couldn’t help but notice her hands had some gold flecks on them that wasn’t there before. At least she thought it was gold, with how they caught the light.

Rather than comment on it, given how messy making art could be and how she just may have missed them before in the lab’s lighting, Kaede took her two candles and headed towards the one on her left as she faced them while Ryoma took the remaining two to the side room farthest right.

She had no idea what a mistake that would turn out to be.

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[livinthechoiceslife]

Believe [Diego x Varryn]

Believe

Characters: Diego x Varryn, F!MC

Summary: Diego is afraid he just lost his friends; he’s afraid he just lost her. Varryn takes a moment to comfort him.

Rating: General

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned belong to Pixelberry. Pic credit here.

Note: Takes place in the final chapter of Endless Summer, right as Diego, Varryn, Michelle and Raj run for cover. This was a half-written piece sleeping in my folders for a while, and since I hit 100 followers today, I wanted to give you guys a small piece of fluff. Angsty, but a little fluffy as well. Hope you enjoy this.

Also, Variego is the end game. They are it.  No one can convince me otherwise.

We run towards the wood for cover, as fast as we can. Varryn leads us into the thicker part of the woods immediately, so that we are covered – but still close enough to the edge so we can still see what’s happening.

It’s like a train wreck I cannot look away from.

“Seven of them against that one person…and he’s flying into their freakin’ faces,” Raj comments, and Michelle snorts.

“Nothing has ever made sense in this place, why should this?” comes her reply.

“I…oh man, she keeps running to him head-on,” I mumble, watching my best friend trying to bring the Arachnid down, and failing. She’s clearly getting herself hurt.

I feel a warm hand on my shoulder, and turn to see Varryn giving me a comforting smile.

“She’ll be fine, Diego,” he says, and for the first time, I doubt his words.

Eventually, after a few painful minutes, the Arachnid seems to disappear (which is only temporary; this much I have learned in my time at La Huerta), and my friends take off once again back into the facility.

“Are they mad?! Why are they going back??” I yelp, and Michelle nudges my side, gesturing at me to stay quiet.

“They have to find a way across, don’t they?” Raj says, his tone unnaturally sad. I glance at him, and we share an uneasy look. Venturing back into enemy lines isn’t the safest thing to do…

I don’t move from my spot, even though Varryn is suggesting that we should make a move. Arachnids might be tracking us already, at this point, and they might close in on us at any given moment.

But I don’t budge. I need to know that they, she, has made it out safely.

Just then, a chopper rises up from somewhere behind the MASADA facility. Varryn grabs my arm, while Raj swears under his breath.

“The Arachnids,” Michelle murmurs.

“Or, it could be our friends,” I insist.

“I don’t think we should wait to find out, Diego,” Varryn insists, gently tugging on my arm. I swivel around to look at him, meeting his stern gaze with my own.

“I need to make sure she is okay. I need to, Varryn,” I emphasize. “Let’s just wait for the chopper to get a little closer – it very well could be them.” Varryn opens his mouth to rebut, but he hesitates when he sees that I’m not faltering.

“Oh it’s them alright.”

Hearing Raj, I turn back around….only to see Lundgren falling into the ocean, his hand clearly grabbing onto a rather distressed Zahra.

“NO!” Michelle, Raj and I shout simultaneously, just as Zahra’s body hits the water’s surface.

“We have to help her!” Michelle cries out, and I see Varryn’s other hand reaching out to stop her.

“We can’t, Michelle,” he says, his low tone seemingly reflecting his helplessness.

“Dude, she’s gonna die!” Raj argues now, looking between Varryn and the spot at which Zahra fell through. “If we don’t –“

BOOM!

The explosion is almost at the edge of the cliff – we dive for cover. I struggle for a bit, before parting a few thin branches to figure out what happened.

Quinn is floating above the clearly damaged chopper, taken over by the island’s heart again.

“That is not good, that is so not good,” Michelle whispers under her breath, shaking her head.

My eyes, though, are now on the chopper. It is swirling uncontrollably, having lost its tail rotor. In the blink of an eye, a figure drops out of the passenger seat, hanging on to the landing skid. I squint a little to see who –

“NO!” I yell, shooting out of from the cover of the tree trunk. I almost step out into the open, but Varryn pulls me back, holding me.

“She’s going to fall, Varryn, she’s –“

“We cannot reach her!” he bellows over the sound of the malfunctioning chopper and the screams of our friends. He makes sense, sure, but I can’t just let her go.

“Just, let me –“

Before the words leave my mouth, I see it happening. Her hand slips, Jake fails to grasp her, and she’s falling. It takes me some time to realise that I am struggling against Varryn’s strong grip, struggling harder than ever, as I try to reach her. An agonized cry escapes me as I see her disappear into the rough waves of the sea below.

It doesn’t even register in my head before I hear a gunshot, and we duck for cover once again.

“They’ve got us,” Varryn spits.

“But how did they even cross over? It’s impos –“ Raj starts.

“We don’t have time for that, let’s go!” Varryn yells as he begins to guide us further into the woods. I follow him, in a daze.

Hours later, we are in the thickest part of the wood, freezing in the snow. We don’t even light a fire, Varryn being worried that we are still at risk of getting spotted by the Arachnids. So we simply huddle together for warmth, resting our legs before trudging on again.

I must have dozed off while at it, because I wake up suddenly – all I see every time I close my eyes is her falling into the ocean.

Gasping for breath, I avoid the other three’s concerned gaze, and get up quickly. I walk quietly for a bit, still within their sight, but far enough to just be alone. I spot a log and sit on it, looking up at the sky amidst the thick woods. Seems as if the sun’s setting. I take a deep breath, and bend over, resting my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands.

I don’t know how long I stay here, but I eventually feel a movement next to me. I don’t have to look over to know Varryn’s next to me, his thigh grazing mine as he takes a seat on the log.

“She’s going to be fine,” comes his deep voice.

“You don’t know that.” My voice is still hoarse.

“You speak as if you don’t know your friend,” Varryn sighs, and I shake my head.

“You know, there is only so many times one can survive a near-death experience,” I tell him as I now look up at him. “We, she, has encountered far too many of them for her to be spared this time. None of us are that lucky.”

Varryn frowns, and I look away from him, into the darkening forest ahead.

“I just…She fell from the sky, Varryn. Right into the cold, deep, ocean. Both she and Zahra did. And Quinn, who knows what happened to her? Don’t even get me started on the rest – the chopper they were in was literally spiralling down to its death. Honestly, what’s the chance of all of them surviving that?!” I am frustrated at this point – at Rourke, at the Arachnids, at La Huerta. At myself. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and once again, I see her crashing into the ocean.

“She’s my person,” I whisper after a few long moments of silence.

“Your person?” Varryn asks, puzzled.

I nod my head, eyes blinking open again.

“But…isn’t everyone else…a person, as well? Michelle, Raj, Zahra…all of your friends?” he asks again, and I surprise myself by chuckling softly at his confusion.

“No, she’s my person. She’s the one I go to for everything, the one I cannot stay mad at; the one who supports me and loves me unconditionally. She’s my person. I never have, and never could, imagine a life without her,” I explain to him, biting down on my lower lip. “I just…don’t know what to do without her, you know? And I feel like I should’ve protected her. Kept her safe from the imminent danger. It’s stupid, because I can barely keep myself safe, but…I should’ve tried harder.”  I bury my face in my hands again, letting out a quiet groan.

I feel Varryn’s sturdy arm wrap around my shoulder, and I lean against him.

“You need to believe more, you know?” he says after some time. I raise an eyebrow as I look over at him. He nods.

“You need to believe that you tried your best. And you need to believe in your friends, in her,” he stresses. “She, and Zahra, they are both tougher than you think. If there is anyone who can survive a fall into the cold, dark depths of the great ocean, it’s them.”  

I am still unconvinced, and it must have shown; he takes me by my shoulders gently, forcing me to look at him.

“She. Is. Going. To. Make. It,” he emphasizes each word. “We are going to stay undercover and keep searching, we are going to find Sean and the rest of them, and from there – we are going to look for her. We are going to get your person back to you. And we are going to get to Zahra and Quinn as well. I will not let you leave this island without your friends. All of them.”

My gaze is faltering. I want to believe him, I really do, but with everything that we witnessed just a few hours ago…

“Believe in me, at least, Diego. Believe in my promise,” he urges, and I meet his gaze. I slowly nod my head.

“Still working on believing in myself, but I trust you, and I trust my friends. They are going to make it. She is going to make it,” I say. It’s as if saying the words made the faith I have in them stronger – I am smiling a little.

“Good,” Varryn smiles, and before I know it, his lips are on mine. It takes me a moment, but I wrap my arms around him, kissing him back, finding comfort and companionship in the kiss.

We break away a few moments later, and I rest my forehead against his.

“I liked that,” I whisper.

“I liked that, too,” he whispers back, and we chuckle.

I move to lean against him again as he wraps his arm around me, and we stare at the now-dark path ahead of us quietly; the sun has completely set. Behind us, Michelle and Raj are snoozing on each other. We should be moving soon, but I try to make the most of the quiet moment we have. Eventually, I hear Varryn’s voice.

“This ‘person’…is that one of your references?” he asks, and I nod. “Then…can I be your person as well?”

Despite the heaviness in my heart, I throw my head back in laughter. Varryn cracks a smile.

“Well, there can only be one person,” I tell him, and his smile falters a little. “But…I think it’s safe to say that you, my dear Varryn, are my lobster,” I suggest instead.

He blinks in surprise and confusion, and then a slow grin spread across his lips.

“I am your lobster,” he repeats, as if in acceptance, and I laugh again.

“Yes, you are.”

He wraps his arm around me once again, and kisses the top of my head. “It’s going to be okay, Diego. They’re going to be okay. And she’s going to be back; you will be with your person once again,” he quietly says.

This time, without an inkling of a doubt, I believe him.

Note: I live for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Friends’ references.

[allenmendezsr]

Cure Ibs Naturally - Blue Heron Health News

New Post has been published on http://autotraffixpro.app/allenmendezsr/cure-ibs-naturally-blue-heron-health-news/

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    Once upon a time IBS used to cripple me. Fighting it was a constant battle.

And without the risk of being or sounding melodramatic, it nearly ruined my life!

Thankfully, I’m well rid of it now!

IBS…Irritable Bowel Syndrome…Nervous Stomach…Irritable Stomach…Irritable Bowel…Irritable Colon…call it what you like, it’s all the same – awful!

It left me feeling frustrated, exhausted, depressed, and at times, just plain angry, but today I can confidently say that these things are all a thing of the past.

When It All Began

Now that I’m IBS free I’ve managed to get my life on track, but this hasn’t always been the case.

It first hit me at college – during my exams. Terrible timing, but not really that much of a surprise when you think about it.

Thinking back to when IBS really began to rear its ugly head, stress and assignment deadlines were constantly hanging over me.

In retrospect, after everything I’ve learned since becoming IBS free, it was an accumulation of things that contributed to my deteriorating health, stress being just one of them!

But still I had no idea what was going on with me. Back then I guess I just put it all down to those “exam nerves!” Wouldn’t you?

Food slowly started to become my mortal enemy.

Without going into too many unpleasant and graphic details, it either disagreed with me and went straight through me, or bloated me to the point where I sometimes appeared pregnant.

My typical diet was that “usual student diet”. You know, the kind that was ridiculously high in carbs, lots of grease, salt galore…basically, I ate anything sweet and stodgy, as you do in your college years.

But that wasn’t anything new. I’d been eating like that for some time. Partying was also the norm. It wouldn’t really be college if it were any different, right?

But like I said, my diet hadn’t really given me any grief up until that point.

BANG – Just Like That It Came From Nowhere

Even now that I don’t suffer from IBS anymore, I can vividly remember the physical and emotional turmoil my body went through time and time again.

Mild cramps that turned into gut wrenching ones (thank God I finally said good-bye to these IBS symptoms once and for all a while back).

I always thought that I had a high pain threshold, but the first time I really suffered from it properly I knew all about it.

I remember buckling over with the worst cramps I’d ever experienced. I have no words to really describe how it felt.

At times it felt like a knife had been stabbed into my stomach and twisted around ever so slowly.

I ended up going to the campus doctor. He sent me home, told me to drink more fluids and stop my worrying.

“Exam stress!” He said.

Stop worrying?

How?

Easier said than done. I guess he didn’t remember how he felt at medical school when his entire future was riding on a few hours in an exam room.

Luckily, I haven’t had to see a doctor for any IBS-related symptoms for years now, which I’m grateful for, as I felt like I had a medical loyalty card at one point, which would give me X points for every visit.

If loyalty cards for doctors’ visits were actually a thing, I’d have certainly racked up a fair few points.

Next…

Another doctor put it down to bad menstrual cramps and put me on the contraceptive pill to try and control it better.

It didn’t work.

And Then This Happened…

Two days before my exams I found myself in bed writhing in pain and suffering from diarrhea.

Despite not having experienced such excruciating pain in years, it’s all still very vivid.

You just can’t un-forget some things!

Every few minutes I found myself in the bathroom, afraid if I moved I’d have a very embarrassing mishap, which of course was the last thing any college student wanted.

Imagine!

Again, I found myself back in the doctor’s surgery staring at the sterile white walls, trying to blink back tears, and begging him to fix me so I could do my exams.

The same doctor as the last time gave me Imodium and told me to rest up.

Needless to say those exams didn’t go so well.

I listened to the doctors and wrote it all off as performance anxiety.

They were the experts after all! They knew best!

Ironically, it wasn’t a doctor that eventually cured my IBS.

Making Acquaintances With Doctors

After the whole college experience, I did see a number of different doctors with my various symptoms.

The exams were well and truly over, and by some miracle I passed them all and got the results I needed, but I was still experiencing strange gut sensations, lethargy, and uncomfortable pain.

I couldn’t blame those exam nerves anymore.

Something wasn’t right.

They all said the same thing – that I was the only one that could measure the symptoms, because unlike a simple sore throat that could be easily diagnosed by simply looking in the mouth and seeing redness and inflammation, and possibly even some miniscule white spots on your tonsils, my symptoms were broad and as most of the doctors said “immeasurable” from a medical standpoint.

How I Nearly Lost My Firm Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars

Fast-forward a few years when I was working in busy advertising firm.

I loved my job, and I was good at what I did.

I was slowly working my way up, and there were even whispers that I’d one day make partner, which of course is every person’s dream in the world of advertising and marketing.

We worked with some major clients and big-name brands, so the office was always buzzing.

Over the years I learned not to get star struck by some of the famous faces that walked in our doors, and I’d go as far as saying that I was in my dream job.

One day, in a board meeting, as I was listening to our Director pitch a new project idea to one of our longstanding clients (who also happened to be a Hollywood actor and director), I felt a sharp pain run across my stomach.

It took me by surprise. I grabbed onto my stomach. I may have even gasped.

The room went black and I could hear people buzzing around me.

My stomach bloated and I felt like it could explode at any moment.

I remember the Director’s PA giving me some water and asking me if I were OK.

I can’t remember what I mumbled back, but I do recall the looks of horror in the sea of very important faces that were sitting around that table.

I made a quick exit, without explanation, and ran to the bathroom.

It was at that stage my boss said to me I needed to get to a doctor quick. He cared, I knew he did, but he was also thinking about work.

Now that I’m 100 % healthy again, I completely understand where he was coming from. Having fewer people on board and having to hire temps could have potentially cost our company thousands, if not millions, of dollars.

Thankfully, our client was a loyal one and we were still able to get him on board.

I’d Been Lying To Myself

Honestly, I had been burying my head in the sand. Obviously, now that I don’t suffer from any of these awful symptoms anymore, it’s easy for me to say. But I really was petrified of what the doctors were going to tell me.

I replayed the worse case scenarios in my head over and over again.

I sat in front of another doctor yet again. I was pale and slightly yellow, almost jaundice, holding my stomach, and trying not to cry.

He nodded his head knowingly as I listed my symptoms.

Pain, excruciating pain at times.

Cramps, much worse than any monthly female ones.

Bloating and constipation…sometimes so bad, my stomach felt like it had tripled in size.

Diarrhea. This came and went. It was almost as if I alternated between being constipated and having diarrhea at times. Over the years, this had become more frequent, but I just hadn’t ever properly addressed it since my college years.

Fatigue was a massive one. I’d always been a bit of a night owl, but my body struggled to stay up late.

All of these symptoms wrecked havoc on my personal life.

I barely went out in a social capacity, and at times I became a recluse, isolating myself more.

This obviously led to even more things, such as depression, panic attacks and anxiety.

I had many a sleepless nights.

I relayed everything to the doctor, hoping he’d give me an answer.

He did!

But first he asked me to rank my pain.

There were two different types of criteria he worked on:

Rome criteria – this gauged the pain and discomfort I felt in my abdomen, and;

Manning criteria – this gauged the pain and discomfort I experienced when I was either constipated or passing stools.

I gave him my honest answers – they were high numbers!

“IBS!” He said quickly! “It looks like Irritable Bowel Syndrome!”

However, he could not be 100% sure since there is no actual formal diagnosis or tests for IBS.

Do you know that feeling of relief?

No pun intended, trust me!

Relief is what I felt at that very moment, relief that someone was finally able to put a name to what I had, although I’m even more relieved now that I don’t have to worry about any of this at all.

I think I may have even smiled through the pain at that moment!

I wasn’t even sure I knew what it was. I’d definitely heard of people having it before though.

My gym instructor, who was in her late 40s, was as slim and as fit as could be. She often complained about her IBS “flare ups” (as she would call them). There were times when I even had to do a double take – she often appeared “pregnant” out of nowhere.

“So what’s the cure?

“How do I fix this?”

My questions were innocent enough and quite ‘normal’ considering I was in a place where most people would expect to receive some sort of answer.

It Was Like A Slap Around The Face

“There is no cure!” The doctor replied in a very matter of fact way.

“Excuse me?” I shrieked.

He went on and on. I zoned in and out. I tried to force myself to listen and pay attention to what he was saying, because I’m sure something that he was saying must’ve been of value – he was a medical practitioner after all.

But those words kept ringing in my ears, “THERE IS NO CURE!”

All of a sudden I forgot my stomach cramps and nauseating pain. I felt sickness of another kind. I wanted to desperately throw up.

“No, no, no, no!” My voice screamed at me inside! “No!”

“But there are ways you can manage it!”

Honestly, if only I knew what I know now, and I could’ve been free from the shackles of IBS long ago.

I Couldn’t Believe What I Heard Next

Apparently there were ways to manage it.

Change your diet. I nodded solemnly. Although admittedly, my eating habits were far better than my college years when I lived on take-outs, pasta and beer. I considered my diet to be quite healthy.

He didn’t tell me what I should do to it though.

Cut out alcohol. Or at least limit it. I breathed in. Of course a doctor was going to say that.

Take laxatives for the constipation and Imodium for your diarrhea.

That was like an oxymoron.

He was telling me to take two drugs that basically triggered two of my major IBS (I was so glad I had a name for it finally) symptoms.

It didn’t make sense.

But he was the doctor. He knew best. Who was I to disagree with his six-plus years of medical school?

“Relax!”

I really wished doctors would stop telling me that. If it were that easy to sit back and take it easy, we’d be living in a hippie-type world and wearing flowers in our hair.

Needless to say I think I was left with even more questions than answers.

The Truth About IBS

I just don’t think doctors get it. Well how can they if they’ve never experienced the pain, discomfort, tiredness, and not to mention the sheer embarrassment themselves?

The honest truth is that IBS can turn your world upside down, and it can also catch you off guard, so I discovered the hard (and embarrassing) way.

When it strikes, it can mess up and disrupt everything going on in your life.

IBS doesn’t care if you’re in the middle of a multi-million dollar deal. It doesn’t care if you’re on the sideline watching your kids play Little League. It doesn’t care if you’re on a second date with someone. It really doesn’t care at all!

If that’s not bad enough, it also affects you in different ways, even between your episodes.

Once officially “diagnosed” (if you can call it that without any real tests), I found myself feeling anxious all the time.

“When is it going to strike next?”

That was why I found the doctors’ advice to stop stressing out to be a bit ironic.

I felt like it was impossible to enjoy life like it should be enjoyed.

I certainly couldn’t relax.

In fact, I’m almost certain that my constant worrying also negatively impacted my condition even more.

IBS Changed Me

I wish I could say that my initial confirmation from the doctors gave me comfort, but it didn’t.

I couldn’t see how taking both laxatives and Imodium could help me.

Nor could I see how I could relax more and stop stressing when I had no idea when it was going to catch me out again.

I did seek second and third opinions, but they all pretty gave me the same advice.

In the next year or so, the situation got even worse.

Sometimes I’d be off work 3 or 4 days in a row.

I’d lock myself in my room, in total darkness, praying that it would quickly pass.

I lost friends because of my IBS.

It’s not because they weren’t supportive of me; it was because I just couldn’t face going out into the real world. I went where I had to go and then headed immediately home.

I’d cancel on friends and family at the last minute. I’d turn down invites. And not surprisingly, the calls, messages, and invites slowly began to cool off.

My Career Suffered Too

Forget the day when I had to run out of the boardroom holding onto my stomach in agony…that day was just one of many!

And because I’d had no “cure” it meant that I still had IBS.

Chronic fatigue set in. As a result, my productivity suffered too, to the point that I was hauled in front of my boss and asked if I had some dependency issues. I think he was referring to drugs or alcohol.

To be fair, I’d lost weight, looked pale, and had permanent dark rings under my eyes.

I wasn’t a pretty sight.

I explained that I’d been diagnosed with IBS, but this meant nothing to him. He had a business to run.

I got a formal warning.

I got a written warning.

I lost my job.

The Tipping Point

Losing my job was a bit of a reality check.

I guess I could’ve fought it. I possibly could’ve sued them. But what was the point?

I had to figure it out. I needed to take control back. Because who, in their right mind, would ever employ me in such a state?

I wouldn’t!

Desperation sunk in.

No way was I going to pump myself up with a concoction of laxatives, Imodium and anti-depressants.

I joined every IBS forum I could find. I spent hours chatting on Facebook to people that were also suffering from it.

Some people had it even worse off than me. There were some that had lost their homes, and their families.

How could one condition that some stated wasn’t even a proper medical condition cause so many problems and wreck so many lives?

I’m just so thankful that I have a happy ending to my story and my IBS has well and truly gone.

Unfortunately, there are so many other people out there that can’t say the same. Because just like I had once done, they rely solely on the advice of doctors.

The Triggers

To say I became a little obsessed in ridding myself of this condition is an absolute understatement. All you had to do was go into my computer history to see what I mean.

Some friendly people online had been experimenting with treating their triggers.

What did I have to lose?

Surely, focusing on the triggers could at least minimize my flare-ups. Doing this could help me get back on track with everything. I was desperate to try and rebuild my life.

What I had learned about IBS was not one size fits all. Every single person is different, and what might trigger my IBS could be something completely different for someone else.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as the doctors made it out to be.

Dieting

One thing many doctors told me was to change my diet.

They told me to eliminate things, but they didn’t tell me what to remove.

I had no idea about how to eliminate and then re-add.

Was it a matter of going cold turkey with certain food?

I had no clue!

So while the medical experts’ advice sounded good and made sense to me in theory, it was difficult to put into practice without guidance.

So I took it upon myself to try almost every diet I could find online that came up when I tapped in the words “Diets for IBS”.

High-fiber diets, low-fiber diets, low-fat diets, the ketogenic diet, a gluten-free diet, and a low FODMAP diet were just some of the diets I attempted and failed at.

Nothing seemed to work!

Again, if I were armed with the information about how to get rid of IBS back then, things would’ve been completely different.

A Random Online Encounter Changed My Life

I lose count now as to how many online groups and forums I joined, however one thing for sure was that these were the groups that I regularly (and still do) interact with.

The difference now is that I’m often the one giving advice and pointing people towards the thing that can change their lives.

On particularly bad days, I sent public pleas for help and advice. I wanted to know anything and everything that has worked for other IBS sufferers.

Julissa contacted me on a random Saturday morning. She’d seen a post that I’d written. The post that referred to doctors telling me to eliminate things from my diet without giving me any details as to how to do it.

Elimination Was The Right Answer

She explained to me her family’s personal experiences with IBS and how elimination had worked for her niece.

But it all had to be done in a systematic way; otherwise the “elimination process” would be a fruitless exercise.

She definitely had my attention.

How I Became IBS Free In Literally No Time At All

Apparently I didn’t need long to reduce and perhaps get rid of some, or all, of my IBS symptoms.

I’d been fighting these symptoms for years. For the longest of time I didn’t even know I had IBS. I’d even lost the job that I’d absolutely loved because I just couldn’t get on top of things, which included my mental health.

This short period of time for healing myself compared to the countless days of anguish that I’d previously experienced was a drop in the ocean, and something I was 100 % willing to have a go at.

There were rules to be followed to get the answers I was looking for, which I did, and what I found out shocked me.

I learned that there were a few foods that set my IBS off; they were not dairy or wheat products like I’d originally thought or had been told.

I discovered I’ve always been quite an anxious person, long before my IBS problems – the IBS just exasperated everything. I learned that I couldn’t cure it, but I sure as hell could get it under control so I didn’t have to suffer from it on a day-to-day basis like I had been.

I found out that doing some simple meditative exercises and practicing some forms of mindfulness actually ease many of my triggers. They’re so easy (and also helpful in many other aspects of my life) that I still to this day do them despite being in the clear.

I’d pretty much consider myself to be IBS free.

Well, I haven’t experienced any of those awful IBS symptoms that are commonly associated with this crippling condition for well over a year. I’ve learned that there are ways to beat it and minimize the risk of having an episode again, and now that I’ve made those necessary and very easy tweaks in the way I live, my quality of life is so much better.

Empowerment and control are just two words I’d use to describe what this simple program has given me. And obviously, because everything has a knock-on effect, I feel more relaxed, less anxious and much happier.

Here’s to being IBS free now and the rest of my life!

The Truth About IBS

Once you go through Julissa’s step-by-step plan, you’ll quickly see and understand that there are more triggers (and secondary triggers) than what research tells us.

It’s about understanding your body and your environment. Each person is different.

But as well as triggers, there are other factors that contribute to IBS, which in a way I guess could be classified as triggers as well.

Your gut’s flora, its ability to chemically break down food, and intestinal and gut muscle spasms are all pieces of the bigger puzzle.

So What’s It All About?

This thorough and well laid out step-by-step plan addresses the physical and emotional triggers and the possible medical explanations of IBS.

I found the program easy to follow, and because of it I am now a happy and healthy person once more.

A clear cut diet, explicit instructions how to eliminate and re-introduce food, exercises, supplement advice, and additional information about alternative therapies are what make this step-by-step plan more useful and valuable than anything else I’ve read, including advice I received from doctors.

Because let’s face it, all the doctors I’d ever spoken to said that I could never get rid of my IBS, and how wrong they were…

Because I never suffer from it anymore!

Here’s The Thing…

To make it work, you’ve got to follow it. No cutting corners, no nonsense.

But it works.

I’m forever grateful for the advice I received from Julissa that day.

She reached out at the right time, when I needed help the most, when I felt like I was losing control.

I followed the step-by-step program and her advice down to a tee, and even in week one I began to notice differences.

I feel like a whole new person, mentally and physically, and I’m happy to report I am currently IBS free, and I have been for some time, and I credit it all to this amazingly informative plan.

Although I do consider myself cured, I still follow the plan – I consider it to be my bible.

My diet is on point. The exercises have become a regular part of my daily life. I supplement with Vitamin D, turmeric, and magnesium, AND…

I’ve never felt happier and healthier!

Not only am I back working, I’ve also managed to land a position I love.

My friendships are back on track, and I’ve even found happiness in love as well.

OK, so this program isn’t magic in the fact it will find you a new romance or rekindle friendships, but it will point you in the direction you need and give you all the necessary information.

One thing I can vouch for is that it definitely worked for me.

Over To You

If you suffer from IBS, whether it’s a mild form or chronic, I know you’re not 100% happy.

I also know that you’ve been suffering from pain and discomfort.

The thing about this step-by-step plan is it is so incredibly easy to follow. Like super easy!

I didn’t need to buy anything new!

No expensive “diet” foods. No gym memberships or equipment. No expensive experimental drugs. Nothing!

The best thing is I don’t have to spend endless hours in doctors’ surgeries or hospitals waiting for answers anymore.

I’m proud to say that I haven’t stepped into a doctor’s office for almost a year and half, which is quite a feat for somebody that had once frequented every family practice in the locale on a regular basis.

The exercises I did (and still do) at home. Sometimes, when I have a moment, I also do them at work, because they’re that short and that easy. And when I have to travel for work, I often find myself doing them on the plane.

They’re great, because I can incorporate them into my everyday life with ease without any disruption.

I’ve learned to change my lifestyle. I continue to follow all the instructions. Because by doing this, I know that I’ll be able to maintain a life free of IBS and its crippling symptoms.

Click below to get your easy to follow step-by-step program today.

Yes, please send me my step-by-step plan now…

Nothing To Lose

What have you got to lose by trying this method out?

Other than your awful IBS symptoms and unhappiness?

Even in my desperation I was a little skeptical of it all, especially since I’d tried and failed so many other methods, and no doctor I’d visited could help me like I’d hoped they would.

This clear program isn’t made up from nothing. It’s based on scientific factual evidence concerning the triggers of IBS.

It’s an easy-to-follow plan, and because it is so easy, it’s not that difficult to include it in your life and make the necessary tweaks in the way you live.

And if you’re anything like me, once you start noticing the differences, you’ll become determined to make it work for you and continue with the program well after the suggested time is up.

Julissa’s program is different to the rest.

It’s so simple. It’s easy to follow and it also offers some step-by-step instructions.

What makes this plan even more unique is that it looks at IBS holistically. It looks at every aspect of IBS and all its triggers. From there, everything is separated into manageable chunks, which make it easy (and even fun) to follow.

Trust me when I say you won’t live to regret this.

I hope that you too can find all the answers for your IBS you’re looking for just like I did.

Here’s to living IBS free forever!

You’re 90 seconds away from owning a program designed to make things right for you.

Click here and it’s yours….

PS: I really hope that you too can find some relief from this awful condition like I have. But if for some reason you aren’t satisfied with your outcome, Julissa offers a 60-day money back guarantee, no questions asked, however, I’m almost certain you’ll never need to use this guarantee.

Believe me, I’ve never been happier and healthier in all my life!

[miraculousstorytelling]

Five Times Chloe Sabotaged Marinette’s Dates and One Time She Didn’t

So, @simplyagreste mentioned me in this post-breakup prompts list, and I fell in love with a couple. In particular, the prompt “are you?? sabotaging?? my dates?!?!?” seemed perfect for Chlonette, so have this masterpiece that was definitely not supposed to turn out to be 100 words shy of 4k.

Marinette knew she should have tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. As soon as the topic of past relationships came up, she should have done something: talk about the weather, pretend she received a call, even dump her drink on her lap just to get out of the inevitable question.

“So, what about you? How was your last relationship?”

“It was…” Marinette searched for a word as her date began to look increasingly concerned. “Well, let’s just say it was an experience I’m glad is behind me.”

“Funny, you seemed to enjoy it at the time.”

Marinette turned to look in the direction of that irritatingly familiar voice. She should have known even thinking of Chloe would catch her attention and draw her in like a beacon tailor-made for blonde narcissists.

Chloe smirked from the table behind her. “Hey, lovebug.”

Marinette scowled. “What are you doing here, Chloe?”

“Wait, is she your ex?” Marinette’s date asked, looking between them. Clearly, Alya had mentioned Chloe a few times before setting her up with Marinette.

“Yes. And, I’m on a date, obviously. Same as you.” Chloe turned back to her date, a model Marinette recognized as one of Adrien’s coworkers. “Sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. You were telling me I could be a model myself?”

Marinette snorted. “Model? You know there’s work involved in modeling, right?”

“I have an excellent work ethic when I’m interested in what I’m doing.”

“So, the fact that you’ve gone through fifteen jobs in the past year is just… what, boredom?” Marinette asked, now fully turning to look at Chloe.

“I wasn’t challenged,” Chloe shot back.

“You’re enough of a challenge on your own.”

“Excuse you. I’m a delight.”

Marinette smirked. “The only delightful part of you is watching you walk away.”

“That’s cause I have a great ass.”

“I...should be going,” Chloe’s date murmured, gathering her things. “I’d hate to interrupt whatever this is.”

Marinette’s date shot to her feet. “Me, too. I’ll, um, call you.”

“Wait, I’m sorry. We can go somewhere else.” Marinette stood. “I’m not like this, I swear. She just brings out the worst in me.”

“Sorry. I just don’t think this will work out.”

Marinette slumped back into her seat, watching as the two women left, chatting between themselves.

Marinette turned to shoot Chloe a glare. “This is your fault, you know.”

“My fault? I’m not the one telling people our relationship was a mistake,” Chloe snapped.

“Just mind your own business.” Marinette snatched up her purse and stormed out. “And you can cover the dinner if you’re wrecking my dates!”

This time, Marinette found someone online. Someone who could have no possible idea of her history with Chloe. Someone who was interested in anything but her relationship history, thankfully, and appreciated fashion enough to hold a good conversation.

“So, did you design the dress you’re wearing?”

“Yes!” Marinette grinned. “It’s one of my favorites, actually.”

“It’s such a nice color on you.” She grinned. “Normally, I wouldn’t think yellow and pink would go so well together.”

Marinette’s mood soured when she realized exactly why she’d chosen those two colors, but she tried not to show it. “Oh, yeah, it was a bit of a challenge making sure they didn’t clash.”

“That’s because yellow stands better on its own.”

Marinette grimaced and closed her eyes. “Not again.”

“And it’s never been very flattering on you, honey.”

“Chloe,” Marinette ground out, “I am in the middle of something.”

“Is everything okay?” her date asked, glancing behind her at Chloe.

“Oh, of course.” Chloe smiled, her tone almost nauseatingly sweet. “I just wanted to go ahead and send this over on the house.” She set down a bottle of what had to be the most expensive whiskey on the menu along with a single glass, which she placed in front of Marinette’s bewildered date. “To help you through the evening. I know she can be a handful.”

Marinette glared back at her. “No, thank you. We’re fine.”

“Is there gold flakes in this?” her date murmured, staring at the bottle.

“Of course not. That would be overkill.” Chloe winked. “But, if you want something a little more rich, just let your waitress know. No charge.”

“We’re not. Interested.” Marinette picked up the bottle and handed it back to Chloe. “Go away.”

“That’s rude, Marinette.” Chloe smirked. “Your lovely date might want something to take the edge off.”

“You’re the one who’s being rude.” Marinette scowled. “As usual.”

“Really? I’m rude?”

“Maybe I should go?” Her date stood.

“No, please stay.” Marinette turned to look at her. “We can go somewhere else.”

“That’s alright.” She eyed Chloe, then Marinette. “I’m suddenly really tired.”

Marinette frowned. “Okay. I really am so sorry about this.”

Chloe watched her leave with the tiniest flash of triumph in her eyes.

“I hate you,” Marinette grumbled as she slumped back in her seat. “I can’t believe I spent an hour getting ready for this.”

Chloe looked her over, her lips curving into a smirk as she scrutinized every inch of Marinette’s appearance. “I seriously doubt that took an hour.”

“Shut up.” Marinette blushed and pushed herself to her feet, grabbing the bottle of whiskey on her way past the table. “This is coming with me, and you,” She jabbed a finger in Chloe’s direction. “You are not showing up to any more of my dates.”

“If you say so.”

“Excuse me, I’m going to need to ask you to leave.”

Marinette groaned when she saw who was standing beside them. “I don’t believe this.”

Her date stared up at Paris’ resident bee-themed superhero, eyes wide. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes. I’m afraid this area is dangerous.” She held out a hand. “I’m here to take you to safety.”

Marinette held her tongue, beyond furious that Chloe would use her powers like this, especially because Marinette couldn’t say anything that might expose her identity. “Oh, is there an attack nearby?” Marinette finally managed to ask through gritted teeth.

“No, but this date could be incredibly unpleasant and toxic.”

Marinette scowled. “Don’t you have anything better to do? Like saving people or keeping the city safe? Real hero stuff?”

Abeille scoffed. “Trust me, this is heroic.”

“It seems like a waste of time,” Marinette snapped.

“This is a public service, actually.”

Marinette’s date glanced between the two of them. “Do you two know each other?”

“No,” they snapped in unison.

“It seems like there might be some history…”

Marinette frowned and stood. “Let’s find another place to eat. This restaurant is terrible anyway.”

“Funny, you didn’t think it was so terrible the first five times you brought a date here,” the hero said, folding her arms over her chest.

“Well, I won’t be coming back,” Marinette snapped.

“I actually think I should be leaving. I just got a text that my aunt’s gone into labor, and I should be there.” Marinette’s date quickly darted away from the table, leaving a handful of bills and coins to cover the cost of her drink.

Marinette tossed enough money onto the table to cover the rest and dragged Abeille away to a hidden corner of the restaurant. “I cannot believe you showed up like this. You can’t abuse your power to scare off my dates.”

“I’m pretty sure you scared your date off on your own.”.

Marinette grabbed her arm. “Stop interrupting my dates and let me move on.”

“Hilarious. You think I’m the reason you aren’t moving on?”

“What does that mean?”

Abeille raised a brow. “You don’t know?”

“Know what exactly?” Marinette struggled to keep her voice soft, hoping to avoid a scene.

“Why don’t you call me when you figure it out.” Abeille then sauntered off, flying out of sight once she was away from the restaurant.

Marinette frowned and returned to her table. She ate the rest of her meal in silence, running through every possible explanation she could conceive of. Nothing made sense. Obviously, she wanted things to be over with Chloe. Sure, their relationship had been filled with ups and downs, and sure, they’d fought and made up at least a dozen times now, but Marinette had meant it when she said she wanted to end things. She wasn’t the sort of person to say one thing and mean another. Chloe knew that.

So, why in the world, would she insist that Marinette wasn’t moving on?

Perhaps it was asking too much of the universe for her to catch a break. Maybe she needed all her luck for when she was Ladybug and couldn’t spare any for her dating life. Maybe Chloe was just annoyingly persistent.

Either way, she really should have known that Chloe would be standing over her in a waitress uniform that fit her too well, holding back a smirk, and asking what she’d like.

Fine. If Chloe wanted to play that game, then she’d play that game.

Maybe Marinette was a little demanding and just maybe she’d given the most complicated order she could manufacture on the spot, but really what could Chloe do to wreck her date besides hovering and maybe spilling a drink or two.

Unfortunately, Marinette had vastly underestimated Chloe.

“Oh my gosh, where did you get that dress?” Chloe exclaimed as she looked over at Marinette’s dress. “It’s so flattering.”

She blushed. “Oh, thank you! It was a gift.”

“Darling,” Chloe leaned in closer to brush her fingertips over the woman’s shoulder. “You simply must tell me where it came from.”

Marinette frowned, a flash of something she refused to call jealousy searing her heart. “Shouldn’t you be getting our order?”

“Of course.” Chloe straightened and shot Marinette a wicked smile over her shoulder. “What would you like, honey?”

Once she confirmed both meals, she walked off, her hips swaying too much to be anything but intentional. Marinette almost considered chasing her down and throttling her.

“So, what do you do?” her date asked, shifting uncomfortably at the tension in the air.

“I’m a designer for-”

“Oh, madame!” Chloe hurried back to the table. “I’m so sorry to inform you we’re out of the meal you ordered. Is there anything else I could get you?”

The words “another waitress” were on the tip of her tongue, but Marinette just smiled instead of speaking them. “What would you recommend?”

“Well, you could get the same thing as your date. She seems to have exceptional taste.” Chloe even had the audacity to send the woman a wink.

Marinette chuckled. "I have to agree with you on that." She reached over and squeezed her date's hand. "I'll have what she's having, then."

The look on Chloe's face almost made what came next worth it. Clearly, Marinette wasn't the only one who was struggling with a touch of not-quite-jealousy.

When Chloe returned with their food, she slipped a piece of paper over to Marinette. "I was a little nervous about doing this, but..." She lowered her voice so Marinette and her date were the only ones who could hear what she said next. "Here's my number again. You must have lost it the first time I gave it to you."

Then, she did the unspeakable. She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Marinette's lips, smirking as she drew back.

“It’s nice to see you around here again, gorgeous.”

Of course, she left Marinette with the mess as always.

"Bravo." Marinette glared at Chloe once she returned to the table. "That was a great performance."

"Maybe I should have gone into acting." Chloe sat in the empty seat across from Marinette, a smug look on her face.

"I suppose you're proud of yourself for driving another one away."

Chloe smirked. "I'd say it was a team effort."

"Right, of course you'd try to pin this on me," Marinette grumbled.

"Well, you were the one who got upset when I flirted with your date."

Marinette frowned. "I think that's a pretty normal reaction."

"Really? Why should you care if I flirt with anyone?"

Marinette could tell they were venturing into dangerous territory again, hinting at what Chloe had implied last time she'd interrupted one of Marinette's dates. Something about Marinette not really wanting to move on. Was Chloe convinced Marinette still had feelings for her?

"Besides, you weren't exactly on your best behavior, either." Chloe leaned in and chuckled. "You were staring."

"Yeah, well, you do bring out the worst in me," Marinette shot back, perhaps a bit more vicious than she meant it.

Chloe tensed and looked down, trying to hide the reaction by picking a piece of lint off the table. “Don’t blame me because you made a bad impression.”

“If you hadn’t been here, I would have made a great impression.”

“Please,” Chloe scoffed. “I’ve been on dates with you. I know exactly what kind of impression you leave.”

“Buzz off,” Marinette spat as she stood and stalked off.

By now, Marinette expected the intrusion. She’d been watching for any sign of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye, and her date quickly picked up on her distraction.

“Is everything okay?”

“What? Yes!” Marinette straightened. “Sorry. Everything’s fine. I just thought I saw a bee.”

She heard the stifled laughter before she saw Chloe, once again sitting near her. This time, Chloe had a date again, and Marinette was irritated to note that Chloe’s latest partner looked and dressed an awful lot like Marinette.

“Careful, I hear bees can sting if you get them mad enough,” Chloe commented as she flipped through the menu she must have known by heart now.

“I thought bees only stung in self-defense,” Marinette muttered.

“Actually,” Marinette’s date jumped in. “Bees sting when they perceive you as a threat.”

Chloe smirked. “That sounds about right.” She turned to Marinette’s date. “Do you know a lot about bugs?”

“My dad was an entomologist, actually,” she said with a smile.

“Tell me, what do ladybugs do when they’re threatened?” Chloe asked with a sugary sweet smile Marinette wanted to kiss.

No, she quickly corrected internally, a smile she wanted to wipe away, hide, ignore, or flip upside down. Not kiss. Definitely not kiss.

“Well,” her date answered, “They secrete a liquid that deters predators. It smells and makes them taste unappealing.”

Chloe snickered. “So, when Ladybugs are scared, they make themselves smell?”

“At least they don’t hurt other people,” Marinette grumbled.

“The bee is killing itself when it stings you, though,” Chloe’s date chimed in. “It’s kind of sad.”

Marinette and Chloe fell silent, each unwilling to voice the obvious while Marinette’s date explained that not every species of bee had that problem. An instinctive, barbed comeback sat on the tip of Marinette’s tongue, almost as painful to hold in as venom, but she swallowed it down and turned back to her date anyway.

“I’m not feeling so well,” Marinette lied, ignoring Chloe’s eyes on her. “Can we just head back to my place?”

“Sure,” her date answered, brows furrowed. “Did you want to reschedule?”

“That’s probably best.”

Marinette considered what had been said as she walked home, her pace slow and steady. She could have sworn she caught glimpses of blonde hair in the shadows of buildings overhead, but she ignored it every time she noticed, hoping Chloe would take the hint. By the time she reached the front door of her apartment, she half expected to see Abeille on her couch, staring up at her as she walked in. The window had been left wide open. It would have been so easy for Chloe to sneak in while Marinette was walking home.

Instead, there was nothing to greet her but the nighttime breeze and Marinette’s lingering thoughts.

Marinette spent the entire day insisting she was fine right up until the moment that she arrived for her date and actually sat across from the well-dressed woman waiting for her.

Her eyes weren't blue enough. Her hair wasn't the right shade of blonde. She was too sweet, and she probably should have been absolutely perfect for Marinette.

Except the only thing she could think about now was Chloe interrupting her date. She couldn’t stop obsessing over it, startling at each laugh that was almost the right pitch and looking twice at each hint of yellow in her periphery. Of course, none of them were actually Chloe. Part of her wondered if maybe her last date had finally scared Chloe off.

Well, that was better, wasn’t it? Marinette could finally enjoy a date that was completely Chloe-free. No more bee jokes or insults or warnings about what a terrible girlfriend Marinette was. She could make a good impression and maybe walk away with a pleasant story for once.

Only, it was half an hour into an uninterrupted date, and she was still making a terrible impression. Her attention kept wandering at the worst possible moments, and she couldn’t stop glancing at the clock nearby. Every time she caught herself, she wanted to scream. She knew better. She knew this wasn’t how to treat a date. This was the sort of thing that Chloe would do.

Where was Chloe anyway? It was long past the time she usually showed up with some snappy remark or obvious plan to sabotage Marinette’s evening. Not that Chloe kept much of a schedule, but she usually didn’t keep Marinette waiting this long.

"Are you alright?"

Marinette's attention snapped back to her date. "Oh, absolutely. Sorry."

"That's okay. You seem a little tense. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

The only thing Marinette wanted to talk about was how she absolutely didn't deserve this absolute angel of a date. "No, I'm fine. I just thought I saw someone I know."

"We could go over and say hello,” she offered.

"Oh, no. It isn't her." After a second, Marinette added on a half-hearted, “Thank you, though.”

No matter how many times she looked, it continued to not be her through the entire dinner. Not-Chloe would laugh, and Marinette’s eyes would snap over to check. Not-Chloe would walk by, smelling of overpriced, floral perfume, and Marinette would make a face in the middle of her date’s joke. Not-Chloe would flick her hair over her shoulder, the light catching in the wrong shade of blonde, and Marinette would try to pretend it didn’t make her skin itch with a need to correct all of it by finding the right person instead.

Marinette's date was more than pleasant throughout the miserable experience. Not that Marinette didn't try to be equally pleasant. She just couldn't seem to focus on anything that didn't involve Chloe in some way.

In the back of her mind, she could only imagine Chloe's reaction to that. She'd probably find it hilarious, Marinette thought sourly.

"Well, I had a great time."

"Me, too," Marinette answered, a beat too slow to sound sincere.

"Thanks. I'll call you." She sounded tired, and Marinette's stomach churned with guilt.

"Look, I..." Marinette grimaced. "I'm so sorry. I know this was a bad date, and I know it was my fault. I'm still getting over an ex, and I was..." She heaved a sigh. "Please just know that it wasn't you. You seem really nice, and I hope you meet an amazing girl who falls for you."

Her expression softened. "Thanks. I hope things work out for you, too."

Marinette waited until she was gone to transform. Ladybug took off through the streets of Paris to land on Chloe's balcony and knock insistently until Chloe answered.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"I had a date tonight."

Chloe stepped back. "Congratulations. Did you come here to brag?"

Ladybug released her transformation, leaving Marinette, still dressed in her heels and handmade dress, to approach Chloe. "Why didn't you stop it?"

"You asked me to leave you alone."

"That didn’t stop you the first twelve times."

Chloe scowled. "What do you want from me? You’re upset when I don’t listen and now you’re upset when I do!"

Marinette was quiet for a moment before she finally asked the question she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to voice. "What did you mean when you said I had another reason for not moving on?"

"You really want me to answer that?"

Marinette nodded. One constant in their relationship had been Marinette's unwavering respect for Chloe's honest opinion. Even after breaking up with her, that hadn’t changed.

"You kept bringing dates to the restaurant attached to my father's hotel." Chloe raised a brow. "If you really wanted to move on, why would you keep bringing them to my front door?"

Marinette tensed. "I..." Of course, it seemed so obvious now. Every date, she’d been the one to pick, and every date, she’d always picked the same place. She almost wondered how she missed it before now. "I did, didn't I?"

"Look, I'm not interested in killing myself trying to hurt you," Chloe murmured, the exhaustion in her voice tearing at Marinette's heart. "I'm done. Just take your dates somewhere else."

Marinette bit her lip and stepped closer. When Chloe flinched away, she paused and looked down. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you tonight.” She sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, you were right. I didn't really want to end things." She reached out, waiting for Chloe to take her hand. "I'm sorry."

Chloe stared down at her hand for a moment. "I'm sorry, too. I was just mad. I thought you knew I didn't mean it."

"I know now."

Chloe finally reached out to lace her fingers in Marinette's. "I do love you."

Marinette tugged her into a hug. "I know. I love you, too."

"But you thought I didn't." Her grip tightened around Marinette's waist.

"I was hurt, too, you know," Marinette murmured, the echoed memories of their last fight still ringing in her ears.

For a moment, she didn't realize that Chloe's shoulders were shaking with quiet sobs. She almost missed the tears gathering on her shoulder, but the hot breaths over her collarbone caught her attention.

"Chloe..." Marinette hugged her tighter, rubbing her back as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. "You can't cry. If you do, I'll cry, too, and then you'll ruin my makeup."

"Your makeup looks terrible anyway," Chloe mumbled.

Marinette chuckled, her vision blurring. "You're horrible."

"You bring out the worst in me."

Marinette grimaced. "Okay, I earned that."

Chloe finally peeked up at her. "The best, too, though."

Marinette's expression softened as tension eased from her shoulders. "You, too."

They spent the night cuddling in bed while cheesy movies played in the background. By morning, they were both dressed in Ladybug pajamas, makeup long since gone and replaced with a moisturizer Marinette could never hope to afford on her salary. Empty containers of ice cream sat on the bedside table, left behind after Chloe's midnight call to room service.

Waking up beside Chloe felt natural, and Marinette was sure she hadn't slept this well in days. She smiled, drinking in the warmth of finally sharing the bed with Chloe again, and turned to kiss Chloe's forehead. "Morning, honey."

"Mmm..." Chloe blinked and looked up at her. When they locked eyes, her smile was brighter than the sunshine filtering in through the window behind her. "Morning, lovebug."