#Like the first act is the same and we then switch to aiden | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cilldaracailin · 4 years ago

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Hello my Tumblr Lovely’s,

Happy Sunday evening (Boo Sunday evenings)

Anywhoo, here is the next part in this Robyn and Taron story. Thanks for the love and comments so far.

*DISCLAIMER - This part contains content that may be upsetting to some with a lot of trauma anf aniexty*

Suze xx

“One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside.”

The first three hours of the course weren’t too bad and Aiden’s way of teaching with stories and jokes, kept everyone’s attention and the practical examples and breaks in between each vocal lecture, made the atmosphere light and relaxed, Robyn so thankful for his simple way of getting everyone involved through practice. So far it was the sling that she struggled with, trying to tie the knot over Emma’s left shoulder with shaking hands, cursing as she couldn’t get the sling to sit right, the material much too loose, Emma’s supposed broken arm not supported at all.

“I know you can do this Robyn. I have seen you make one before.” Aiden was supportive and patient.

“Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologise to me.” Aiden replied as he lined Emma’s arm up so Robyn could make the sling again, standing beside her. “Just take your time and don’t over think it.”

Robyn shook her hands out and took the triangle material from him. “I had to make one for Taron.” She explained as she ran the material under Emma’s arm. “Had to cut it off too.” She added quietly, bringing the second half of the material up so she could tie it again, making sure to keep it pulled tight so the arm didn’t droop.

“You really kept in contact with him?” Aiden asked, nodding as he checked the sling. “Perfect.”

“Yeah. We have seen each other a lot.”

“That’s definitely one way to help deal with all the emotions that come with what you did.”

Robyn nodded. “It’s just always with me you know? Flashes, images, dreams.”

“You ever talk to someone about what happened?” Aiden asked her very quietly, seeing her shake her head. “Might be something to think about. I know someone. Works with the paramedics. I think she would be great for you.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Right free your partners from their slings and let’s switch.”

Robyn sat down on the chair, letting Emma manipulate her arm in whatever way she wanted too, not paying attention to what she was doing. The easy stuff was covered first; simple first aid, anything that could be seen within a creche, practical tasks such as bandages and slings. First aid that didn’t really require too much concentration but the hard one was coming up fast and as Emma took her arm from the sling, Aiden said the dreaded words Robyn had not been looking forward to hearing.

“CPR next. I like to get it done before lunch, giving us a good hour and half to cover and concentrate on the theory before we then carry out the practical. We will cover adult, child and baby CPR and then take some time for lunch. We can do half an hour for lunch and finish half an hour early or take the hour lunch and finish on time. I don’t mind but we will complete all the CPR before lunch. That will be done and dusted for us then. So, let’s take a quick five-minute break and we will get going. I just need to set everything up.”

Robyn sat back on her chair and curling her hands under her arms again, she let a breath from her lungs. It was the start of what she hoped was her taking control of her nerves, of her worries and anxiety which quickly had settled in her stomach again. She had made it through the start of the morning but wasn’t too sure about how the next part of the training was going to go. She closed her eyes but immediately opened them again as a vision of a bloodied Taron sat behind her closed eye lids, the mirage staying with her. Since the middle of the week, she had been seeing such ugly hallucinations of Taron during her waking hours and as she watched Aiden set up the first of the adult mannequins, it wasn’t a boring old plastic doll that came out of the bag but Taron’s lifeless body being pulled out. Her scream was silent but no one could miss how she sprang up from the chair, the legs of the chair scraping noisily off the floor, how she stumbled backwards, nearly falling over the child sized chair. She took four more steps back, trying to get away from the heart-breaking disturbing imagine in her mind, her beautiful Taron pale and battered as he lay on the ground.

“Robyn?” Emma moved towards her friend, concerned with the loss of colour from her face and how she was still moving backwards. She had been waiting for a reaction all morning and it was the appearance of the CPR mannequins that brought the same distraught and flustered movements like earlier when she dropped the jug of water. She tentatively took another step but stopped when she heard the doorbell ring, her head moving toward the open door, an immediate sense of relief fill her as she knew who was at the front door and it was the one person who she knew could only get through to Robyn right at the moment.

“I’ll go and answer it.” Lisa said, making a move from her seat.

“Robyn why don’t you go and answer the door.” Emma stood in Lisa’s way, stopping her from going any further. “Take some time downstairs.”

She didn’t need to be asked twice, so happy to have an excuse to leave the stuffy and heated room, running down the stairs, feeling that unpleasant tightening in her chest as she reached the end of the stairs. Now that she was on the first floor of the building, away from the fear of what was upstairs, Robyn did not want to ever go near the preschool room for the rest of the day. The appearance of the actual mannequin was too much for her and her mind was running wild with terrible and disgusting thoughts. Thoroughly embarrassed by her actions upstairs in front of her work colleagues, she couldn’t bear to face them and walked to the front door, pressing the door release button, pulling the door open, stepping out to greet whoever was outside.

The person on the footpath was standing with their back to her and as they turned around, Robyn stepped back, walking into the edge of the door, her previous lightly shaking hands now trembling, her heart falling to her feet as it picked up a serious pace.

“Taron.” She stammered, completely shocked at his sudden appearance at her work, on a Saturday when he was supposed to be in Belfast filming.

“Hey Robyn.” He stood back from the door, taking his sunglasses off, lifting his hat a little.

“What… what are you…” Robyn’s words were caught in her throat. “How are…” Tears pooled in her eyes but her whole body was stiff in shock. “Taron…” She took a single pace forward, the door slamming behind her, stopping once again, trying to believe that he was there. “I don’t… How…”

“You are too damn good at keeping secrets.” He said to her, keeping his voice as calm as he could. “You think maybe the fact that you had a first aid training course with CPR was something you could have shared with me?” He asked. “Maybe leaned on me just a little? Let me in?”

“Taron…”

“The CPR was something that we both went through. Granted I don’t remember the CPR but it is the reason I am standing here talking to you. I had bruises the same shape as your hands on my chest for nearly two weeks afterwards. We have gone through a lot together and I know I lean on you a lot, have needed your comfort and care perhaps more than you need mine but it does not mean that I deserve to be thrown to the side when something as important as your first aid training comes up, especially when you have known about it for so long. I get it Robyn. I know you are independent and a strong woman and I admire that so much about you but you are only hurting yourself by closing up and honestly me too.” Taron took his hat from his head. “I don’t need to explain to you how much you mean to me and lately we have promised each other to be open and communicate so just let me say one thing.” He stepped a little closer to her. “The fact that you couldn’t tell me that you had your fist aid training has really hurt me Robyn. It’s the one thing that brought us together, what you did for me and you couldn’t even bring yourself to talk to me about the fact that you were upskilling in the thing that saved my life. You were determined to go head first into it without question and knowing you wouldn’t even let me know about it just stung me which I think is quite obvious when I am standing here in front of you and you didn’t even know I was coming. Emma called me yesterday.” He added. “Told me you were struggling. Asked me to come.”

The shame she had been feeling earlier as she hid under the stairs, doubled and Robyn couldn’t even look at him, feeling the tears drip down her nose. She could hear the hurt in his tone and when his elegant Welsh accent slipped in through his deep voice, it was so clearly full of anger that he was trying his best to hide with a cool and calm composure. Robyn knew very well she deserved every bit of his chastising and she was utterly mortified with how she had treated him, even more when he came to Kilcreen because Emma had called him.

“I would have been here in a heartbeat for you had you of asked me. To try and do this by yourself? Putting yourself under so much stress and pressure? To be expected to just act as if everything is ok when you put your hands on that mannequin and just do what you did for me without shaking or reliving the pain of what you have already gone through? You really wanted to do all of this without any support? Without a friend? When the dreams and nightmares are already haunting you? No wonder they are back Robyn. I just have never met someone who is out to sabotage themselves so much, insisting on ploughing through and I just don’t know how you do it and I just don’t know if I can do this again. I can’t care so much for you and worry about you when you won’t give me the respect I think I deserve after all this time.”

Taron had to stop speaking. He could feel other words on the tip of his tongue and needed to hold back before something was said that he didn’t mean. He didn’t want to lay everything on her in one go, wanting to be as tactful as he could despite the fact now that he was here, he felt so much more let down by her than he had as he sat in the car.

He waited for backlash he was sure he was going to get, fiery Robyn who always went for the reporters who attacked him but she never appeared. He was certain that at any moment she was going to lift her head and use her words to tell him what she really thought, but she stood still, her head still bent. Only then did he realise that she was wearing her glasses and his jumper, the one he had given her in Paris and as he took one more step closer to her, could smell his aftershave and knowing he hadn’t sprayed any on himself, it was Robyn who smelt like him. She still had to look at him, to lift her head and for the first time, it was a completely different woman who stood in front of him. Sure, he had seen Robyn emotionally upset but he had never seen her broken.

“Robyn?” He asked moving closer to her but the door of the creche opened and Robyn who had been leaning against the door, fell slightly backwards and immediately felt a strong hand take her wrist to stop her from falling over.

“Shit sorry Robyn. Didn’t see you there.”

Jade was desperate for a smoke and was routing through her coat pocket for her lighter as she pressed the catch release button for the door, not looking as she opened the door and was standing in a slight shock with who was holding onto Robyn’s arm, preventing her from falling into the hallway.

“It’s ok Jade. They haven’t started yet?” Robyn tried to keep her voice level and strong as she answered one of staff members.

“Nah. Told us to take fifteen. We were waiting for you to come…” Jade stopped mid-sentence. “I am going to go and have my smoke now.” The young girl almost took to a run to get away from the door, heading straight for the green grass past the parked cars.

“What’s next in your training?” Taron asked softly, still holding on to Robyn’s wrist, feeling how she was trembling.

“CPR.” Robyn whispered, still not able to bring herself to look at him.

“Can we go inside?” He asked, seeing Robyn nod. She shook her hand free from his and walked around him to type the code into the box, avoiding even brushing off him as she moved back to the door, holding it open for him to step inside. Once in, he waited for her to take the lead, following her into the office. “Mind if I close the door?” He asked, still waiting for Robyn to speak to him, even look at him but at the moment all he was getting was the tiniest of body movements from her. He kicked the door stop away and let the door close. Once the door was closed, he dropped his bag on the floor, his sunglasses and hat on top and turned to her. The space between them reminded him so much of the time Robyn came to New York to confront him but this wasn’t what he wanted to do. He didn’t want the space, the awkward silence and the clear distress he could see on her beautiful face. He needed to her know her actions were somewhat selfish and he really had been wounded by her thought process but he didn’t want her to be suffering any more than she needed to be. “Robyn?”

“I’m sorry.” Robyn dropped into her chair, her head going straight to her hands, battling with her breathing, trying to inhale through sobs which filled her whole body. She hated hearing Taron speak the way he did, how it was so clear in his voice that he was so upset with her, disappointed with her and she knew he had every right to be. He had always told her he would be there for her and this was the one time she should have leaned on him, should have been honest with him and she hated how she had behaved and treated him with such disrespect.

It was horrible to watch her crumble and it wasn’t what he was expecting from her. He really thought he was going to have a battle on his hands but instead his strong and fierce Robyn was in bits and his whole heart fizzled from anger to immediate concern and knelt in front of her, his hands on her knees, still feeling her shaking. “Robyn.”

“So sorry.”

“Shh. Come here to me.” He crawled a little closer to her and opened his arms a little but she didn’t even move to take him up on his hug. “Robyn?”

“I can’t.” She managed to stutter out.

“A hug?”

“I don’t deserve anything. I have been so horrible to you.” She took her hands from her face, finally looking to him. Beautiful and concerned, those deep green eyes filled with nothing but worry for her and she shook her head at him.

“Robyn, no.”

“Yes.” She insisted. “Of all the people in my life who have been consistent and there and done such wonderful things for me, it has been you and I just treat you with such disrespect and ignorance and Jesus Taron, you are worth so much more than me and my pathetic mess.” She ran her hands roughly over her face. “I couldn’t even tell you about the training in London, didn’t have the decency to call you and tell you. What does that say about me, about how I feel about you but then you still come to me, even after I have been so horrendous to you.”

“Robyn…”

“You don’t need my shitty mess Taron.”

“I happen to like your shitty mess.” He answered her. “Because if it wasn’t for you and this training you have today, I wouldn’t be here.” He gently took her hands. “I came here because you needed someone and Emma was worried about you but also because I needed to make sure you understood that you can’t keep doing this to me. You know me well enough now Robyn to know I am a pretty emotional person but even being a man, I can be hurt by someone’s actions too.” He gave her hands a tight squeeze. “You need to know that what you did by not telling me was really unfair on me and I am not telling this to make you feel any more guilt than you already do. You are not burdening me in anyway when you need to tell me these things. Robyn today is such a big day for you and you cannot be expected to face it alone and I think I did deserve to know what you were facing. You really thought I would never have found out?” He asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

“I don’t know.”

“Just out to destroy yourself.” He muttered. “You will not do this again, you hear me?” He said his voice louder and stronger. “I am right here and I want to be here for you. What happened in Florida happened to both of us and doing this CPR today is crushing you.”

“Sorry.” Robyn spluttered through tears which were still falling from her eyes, her breathing still fast and harsh.

“I know you are sweetheart. I know. I am going to hug you now and you are going to hug me back.” Taron knelt up to his full height and slipped his arms around her and once he brought her body into his, he felt her fully collapse against him, gut wrenching cries leaving her and she sobbed onto his shoulder. “You cannot keep doing this to yourself because as strong as you are, at some point you are going to break down.” He wrapped her in a tight comforting hug. “I would much rather come and see you in Kilcreen, then in a hospital bed. I love you to pieces and always will but please remember that at the end of the day, I do deserve respect and to treated as your equal.”

Robyn couldn’t stop her body from quivering as she hugged Taron, or the tears from falling from her eyes. All the emotion that had built up over the last few days, the stress of facing her first aid training was finally coming out and she felt so terrible to be burdening it all on Taron, when it could have easily been avoided if she had of just practised what she preached in using her words. The comfort she always found in his arms was still there despite the fact he was a little angry at her and when he ran his whole hands up and down her back, consoling her, she only buried her face deeper into his neck.

“You have already let me in so much. Don’t close up on me now. Nothing is going to scare me away from you. I love your massages way too much.” He was so relieved to feel her body move as she laughed a little.

“Yours are ok too.” She replied. She still felt extremely upset and disgusted with her behaviour and pulled Taron closer to her. “I will never treat you like this again. Taron you have no idea how much I am repulsed by the way I have conducted myself and I have the upmost respect and regard for you. You are one of my best friends. I will never be able to forgive myself for what I have done to you.”

“Stress and trauma always make people do things out of character. I know this isn’t you.” He moved to lightly kiss her neck, trying not to smile as he smelt his aftershave lingering on his jumper which she wore. “Let’s just take some time for you to calm down. I can feel you still shaking and before you ask, I have the whole weekend free to be here for you.”

“Taron…”

“You need me and I am right here.” Taron tightened his arms around her. “That is all you need to know right now.”

Robyn sank into his body and although she knew she wasn’t fully forgiven for what she did to him, he was there and she couldn’t fathom before he arrived how much she actually did need him. She could hear his heart racing and was sure it matched hers.

It took her a while to ease her grip around him and as she moved back into her chair, she kissed his cheek lightly. She pulled her glasses from her face and left them on her desk, finally getting to rub tired and wet eyes and when she brought her hands away, a tissue was waiting for her.

“Thank you.”

“Always.”

“I am sorry.”

“I know chicken.”

“I am trying.”

“I know.”

“I will try harder.”

“And trust in me.”

“I will.”

Both of their heads turned when there was a knock on the office door.

“Robyn?” Emma popped her head in. Seeing Taron on his knees in front of Robyn and her red eyes, she was a little worried but so glad to see them together. “Hi Taron.”

“Hey Emma.”

“Aiden wants to carry on but we were waiting for you. He said there was no pressure on coming back upstairs.”

“She will be there.” Taron replied firmly. “Tell him to start and we will make our way upstairs.”

“Robyn?” Emma saw the deer in headlights look on her face but also caught the smallest of nods. “Ok well, see you upstairs.”

When the door closed, Robyn looked to Taron. “I can’t.”

“Yes you can.”

“When Aiden, the trainer, pulled the mannequin from the bag, I saw you instead. Bloodied and battered. It’s all I have been seeing since the middle of the week.” Robyn knew she had to be open and honest with him from now on and even speaking about the visions caused a nasty shiver to run through her.

“Did you sleep last night?” He asked her.

“No and not because of nightmares. I was just awake.” She lifted her right to cup his left cheek, feeling a little chill to his skin, those dark black circles she hated to see under his eyes. “Did you sleep?”

“We were shooting late this morning and like you I was just awake.”

Robyn dropped her hand from his face. “Because of me.” She felt her chin being lifted so she had to look at him.

“We are not going to take any steps backwards and lets quickly address these new visions of me you are having.” Taron saw the instant flicker of fear in her eyes. “Like every dream or nightmare you have ever had, it isn’t real. I am real and I am alive and well and very much here in front you with a beating heart and taking in air.” He lifted her right hand to his heart. “As always. It is going to be hard. You know that but if you don’t do it now when you have the opportunity, you will never do it again.”

“Taron I can’t do it.” She took her hand away from his chest and held them out to him. Trembling so fast, she couldn’t gain control of her nerves. “It’s too hard.”

“Robyn Quinn, you have never been one to walk away from something that is hard. You walked up to Frank in that store while he held a gun to one of the workers and talked him down. You stood up to him when he shoved you into a glass shelf and you set off a concoction of coke and mentos while risking your life to get the back door open to save everyone in that shop, especially me. You have sassed every reporter who has ever given me grief and slapped that dickhead on New Year’s Eve across the face when he tried to grab you. You even opened up to me and let me in two weekends ago when you had that horrible nightmare. Going upstairs and doing two rounds of CPR on a plastic mannequin is nothing compared to anything else you have ever done.” He grabbed her hands and pressed both flat against his chest. “If it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t be worth doing and believe me, out of everyone here, I know why you need to follow this through because if you don’t you are going to feel ten times worse than you do now. It is one part of the day, an hour or so and then it will be done and this pressure you feel will ease off. It won’t go because I know you and this will always be you, but you must do this for yourself. No one else but yourself.” He pulled up his black tank top so her right hand was on the bare skin of his chest. “I will be here with you for every step and the only thing that will ever stop this heart from beating will be the day you stop giving me a head massage.”

Her laugh was broken, her face was pale and white and he knew she was completely spooked, her hand shaking against his chest. He placed his two hands over her one. “I am going to be right beside you and by God Robyn Rose Quinn you will lean on me or I am going to stop adding to your Care Bear collection.”

She finally smiled at him but tears followed and he moved his hands to her cheeks to wipe them away with his thumbs. “Ok.”

“Ok?” He questioned.

“Ok.”

“That’s my girl.” He wrapped his arms around her again, kissing her cheek. “We will take five more minutes and then head up, together.”

“Ok. I am so so sorry Taron.”

“I know darling and you don’t have to apologise any more. I forgive you for all the craziness you have been up too. I think we have cancelled each others craziness out. Fresh start from right now.” He felt her nod into his shoulder and smiled when her hand crept up to the back his neck and into his hair. It was a simple gesture of an emotional truce between them and as he ran his hands up and down her back, only now that his mind had somewhat cleared, he could feel her warmth soaking into him and it was so lovely when that cold he was feeling the car earlier made the hairs on his arms stand up now.

“Taron?” Robyn felt the shiver fill his upper body and she moved away from his placing her hands on his upper arms, instantly feeling the chill on his soft skin. “You are cold. I don’t think I have ever felt you cold before.”

He gave her a half smile. “I am getting used this Irish summer thing.” He shrugged, very much enjoying how she was running her hands up and down his arms trying to rub some heat into him. “My outfit although should be suited for June, really isn’t.”

Robyn nodded taking in his shirt sleeved shirt and low-cut tank top. She was not used to feeling the difference in temperature on him and did not like it at all. “Here.” She sat back on her chair and pulled his jumper off. “Take this. You are frozen.” She handed it to him.

“No.” Taron pushed it back her way. “You will be cold and you are going to need the heat in you for when you go upstairs.”

Robyn handed him his jumper again, almost shoving it into his hands as he reluctantly took it and then she stood up and moved to the back of the door where a navy-blue fleece hung. “I have this.” She took it down and came to stand beside him, Taron now on his feet beside her. “It’s a work fleece but it’s mine and I always keep it on the back of the door just in case something happens.” She pulled her arms in and zipped up the fleece, the logo of the creche on the left-hand breast of the warm fleece. “You put your jumper on. I have a feeling I am going to need my human electric blanket before this hour is up.”

Taron didn’t need any more convincing and quickly pulled his jumper on, remembering why he loved it so much as the soft material covered his arms, still heated from Robyn’s body and it was glorious on his cold body. His smiled a little as along with his aftershave on the jumper was the faintest scent of feminine body spray there too. It felt wonderful to have the warm knitted material on his arms and he fixed the jumper so it sat right on his frame. “Have you stretched this?” He asked, with a soft smile. “It’s looser than I remember.”

Robyn would never be able to describe in words how much Taron meant to her, how much love she had for the man in front of her who now looked like she felt. Just drained and ready to hit the floor with emotional exhaustion but he was doing his very best to keep his face bright, the mood around her light and took two steps to him. “I have done nothing to that jumper except wear it with love.”

“You sure?”

“Last time you wore this, well how do I put this.” Robyn tilted her head, trying to find the right words to explain it to him. “You were just finished filming Kingsman so obviously had a different body shape than you do now.” She stalled, her face squinting with her choice of words. “I mean because you haven’t been hitting the gym so hard, you have lost a lot of the muscle you had and…” Robyn stopped speaking. “I am going to be quiet now before I get myself into trouble.”

“Well, I guess that would make sense. It has been a while since I have worn this.” Taron ran his hands down the front of jumper. “And it is very true. I definitely don’t have my Kingsman physic.”

“I never said I didn’t like it.” Robyn quickly said, biting her lip as the words fell from her mouth before she could stop herself. “I mean… I just… Aww Jesus…”

“And at last I get a taste of your word vomit. I don’t get it very often at all and thank you Robyn and for the jumper too. I was definitely feeling cold.”

“Anytime.” With the light hearted atmosphere quickly leaving the office, Robyn looked to Taron. “I guess… Maybe I… I mean we… I think we should…”

Taron took the step closer to her and was so glad to get a hug in which he could get a good squish in. When he was kneeling down it was so hard to hug her properly. “I know you can do this and get through this. I push you because I know you are strong and resilient but if you reach the point of complete and utter mental breakdown upstairs you just say rocketman to me and I will take your hand and we will walk out of the room together.”

“Ok.” Robyn agreed. Her heart had slowed down but now it raced again as the time actually came to face her fears upstairs.

“I got you the whole time and when the CPR is done, I am staying with you for the rest of the course. Maybe I will learn a thing or two.”

“Taron you don’t have to do that.”

“I know but I am. You stood by my side without a second thought at my premier although I know you were shitting yourself and I am going to do the same for you right here.”

“When once again I am shitting myself.” Robyn pealed herself away from his safe and secure arms. “It is not going to be easy on you either.”

Taron nodded his head in agreement. “No, it’s not and I know that and watching you suffer through it makes it just as tough for me. I don’t remember the CPR. I have seen the CCTV footage and know what you did but seeing the actions up close, it makes my heart race just as fast as yours.”

Robyn placed her hands on Taron’s shoulders. “I never even thought about how this training could affect you.”

“In it together right?”

“Always.” She agreed, reaching past him to pick up her glasses and slip them back onto her face.

“Let’s go then.”

#Love #Friendship #Angst #Hurt #Anger #Worried #Trust #Broken Friendship #Emotions #Honesty #Hugs #Tears #Upset #Cuddles #Fear #Robyn and Taron

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breakingsomething · 4 years ago

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the fall part thirteen - the storm (part one)

basic summary: an unnatural storm rolls over brighton.

trigger warnings: descriptions of torture and seizure

tagslist: @synonymsforzombie @spicydanhowell @skyewardlight @dreaming-of-stories-and-stars @cest-mellow @graveyardlettuce @lower-your-expectationss

they'd fixed the gate. and not only that, but they'd put bloody barbed wire on the top of it.

all anti could do was stare numbly. there had been a hole in the fence behind the bushes for years. it was how dapper had gone in and out when they'd stayed in these very waterworks, so long ago. now it was fixed. and anti couldn't glitch inside.

he walked around the whole perimeter of the building, but couldn't find any other way in. ok, so he'd have to climb. no big deal. he'd been tortured basically every other day for five full months. he could take a little barbed wire.

five minutes later, with hands cut up and bleeding, frustratingly still on the same side of the fence, he realized maybe he couldn't take a little barbed wire.

but what were his other options? growling as much as he could with his ruined voice, he shook the fence desperately, ignoring the sharp, throbbing pains in his palms. he was absolutely going to track down every fucking council worker who'd done this and tear their throats out. he was. but for now, he had to go somewhere. preferably somewhere sheltered. a quick glance at the sky told him it was oddly dark, and it looked like it was going to rain.

anti had lived on the streets for a full year after he left jack, and then for a few months before red had caught him. well, he had discovered the waterworks and claimed it for his own a few months in to his first time alone. but he'd still basically been homeless, still fighting against the elements and people going into his territory on the daily. he was used to this. all he had to do was go find some shelter and get away from the oncoming storm. no big deal. he could handle that.

he started off down the hill, through the trees and towards the road. not many people around. just a shopkeeper closing up for the day. he looked up when he saw anti, raising his eyebrows at his shivering form.

"there's due to be a huge storm," the man told him in a thick scottish accent. anti watched him lock the doors and swing the keys on his fingers. "weather warning. everyone's to stay inside, that's why i'm closing up early. better get home quickly, son. wouldn't want to get caught in it."

anti paused, then gave a quick nod before bustling past and speed walking down the pavement. the rain had started, very light at first, but continuously getting heavier, drenching him through his hoodie and shirt to his skin. his teeth chattered, and he numbly thought that at least there was no possibility of biting his tongue now. that was something.

his tattered trainers splashed through rapidly forming puddles as he walked, rubbing his arms with his bleeding hands to try and warm himself. all he succeeded in was getting stains on his blue hoodie. the sky was getting even darker, the sheet of rain coming even closer together, and then there was the sudden, inevitable crack of -

"- thunder, do you hear?" red was saying. he'd grown more comfortable with what he was doing now, anti could tell. there was more of a swagger in his step, the grin on his face less forced and more confident. he crouched in front of anti with an upturned smirk, victory sparkling in his blue eyes. "from outside. i don't know how well you can hear, actually - we are deep down, and i can barely catch it myself. but it's definitely raining. listen, anti, listen."

anti chose to squeeze his eyes shut instead, ignoring red's words. it was a pathetic act of rebellion, but it was all he could do in this situation. he almost flinched as something touched his face; a hand, warm skin against his. he hadn't experienced that for months before now. "oh, anti," red crooned softly. "what's wrong? not feeling up to it today? is it one of your off days?"

fuck you, fuck you, anti chanted in his head. the dishrag that had been shoved in his mouth stung the stub of his tongue that was left, causing more blood to well up down his throat. the makeshift gag was no more than a humiliation, obviously. and it hurt. not the kind of hurt anti ever inflicted on himself; this pain was constant. and not only that, but the withdrawl of his carbamazepine was starting to kick in, and red had taken great pleasure in mocking his constant seizures as a result.

"no biting remark?" red laughed. he slapped anti's face, gently but just hard enough that it stung. "come on, you're antisepticeye, the eternal puppetmaster, the ceo of glitches, the - what else did jack call you in that one video? the malicious gamer!" red cracked up, snorting into his palm. anti took the brief reprive to organize his thoughts, trying to keep a poker face while the bastard was still in the room.

red noticed. "oh, well. if you're gonna be boring, that's fine by me." he sat back on his heels, making a show of considering something. "so, anyway. i was talking to henrik this morning, about the weather actually, and i mentioned you. just casually. he joked that he hoped you'd get struck by lightning. well, that got me thinking. you're a computer glitch, right? or something? what would happen if you got struck by lightning, or something close to that?"

red pulled something out his hoodie pocket; a small black device with several switches on the side. "can you guess what this is, aiden?" again with the name. anti wished he knew how he'd gotten it. red suddenly slapped his face again to get his attention. "it's yet another updated prototype of that extremely powerful electrical shock device. the one i made myself, haven't tried or tested this version yet. i suppose you'll be my first and probably only subject, won't you anti?"

anti felt the haze of an oncoming seizure already, his head spinning in a cold daze. his arms, unnaturally tied back with zip ties all the way up to his elbows, screamed in agony as he tried to lean back, away from the pain he knew was coming. "cowering away so quickly?" red laughed. anti burned with hatred. "so eager to inflict pain on others, on my brothers, even, and you don't think you can take one little shock?"

red leaned in, suddenly very close. "you know, all the switches and dials on this thing are all for show," he grinned. "it only has one setting."

and fuck, fuck, the instant pain was so excruciating that anti almost passed out immediately.

fire. fucking red hot flames being injected into his bloodstream, his body heating up in an instant and jolting entirely out of his control. like a seizure, but worse, far worse, because his seizures were more predictable - he knew how long they lasted, knew how painful they usually were. this was just agony. his tied up limbs convulsed wildly, bashing against the wall and the pipe and the floor. he couldn't even scream. all he could do was make silent cries that tore up his throat, his vision blurring, stomach roiling with what would have been vomit if he had eaten at all in the past few days. as it was, bile rose in his throat, and he choked it back, letting the current pass as his body glitched to pieces.

"there," red said once it had passed. "that wasn't so bad, was it?"

anti was shaking so hard he couldn't even look straight at him, but he could hear the smug smirk in his voice. fuck, but he hated him, more than jinx, more than the doctor, more than jack, more than everyone. he'd never been this weak and humiliated and low in his entire life and even through his agony, he found the strength to glare at red, eyes black with rage and loathing, trembling as he heard the low rumble of -

- thunder, rolling across the sky like a blanket. the sound filled his ears, his head. he hadn't realized he'd stopped dead in his tracks, frozen, eyes wide with the fucking curse of remembering.

keep going, keep going. just walk, don't think, just walk. eyes facing forward. don't think. just walk.

he knew where he was going. he didn't realize he knew until he was there, right on the doorstep, right at the pale purple door that was identical to all the others on the street. soaked through, shaking for more reasons than one, mind so muddled he wasn't even sure of his own name. but he knew this door. he knew the sound of a knock, bloodied hands ruining the paint. and he knew thunder, blocking out the sound of everything but his heartbeat.

chase had felt warm all morning.

maybe it was because he'd been getting out a lot more lately. he'd been getting exercise, drinking water, even eating healthier. that was partially marvin's influence - chase knew how much he'd scared him with his gun, and was making an effort to push down his intrusive thoughts and appear better so no one would worry. in doing that, he had actually picked up better habits, which hadn't been intended but he supposed was definitely a bonus.

maybe it was the fact that he'd made another friend. chase was an extrovert, but didn't actively socialize with one person more than the others, usually. lucas was different. he was really sweet, really funny, and was genuinely super interesting to talk to. chase had been texting him all of last night, until almost four am. neither of them had even noticed the time. that was something chase had missed; the wanting to stay awake so he could continue a late night conversation, having someone to talk to when he couldn't get to sleep. it was a good feeling. he had missed that.

no matter what the reason was, chase was in a good mood the morning he heard someone at the door.

he fully expected it to be marvin and henrik. they had went shopping, which chase was sure was also an excuse for the two of them to talk privately about some of the current going ons they were involved in. he didn't mind. however, there had been a storm warning issued about half an hour ago, and chase was hoping to see them home soon.

he wasn't expecting to see a soaking wet, shivering anti at the door.

"oh, fuck, shit!" chase yelped, and slammed the door shut. he didn't know what else to do. anti had been missing for almost two weeks, what the fuck was he doing on their doorstep? a quick glance out the window told chase he was still there. anti noticed him looking and quirked an eyebrow at him, clutching his arms and smirking despite his disheveled demeanor. chase closed the curtains.

he immediately called marvin. "hey, chase," his brother said as soon as he called. chase could hear the faint pattering of rain. "we're just about to check out, we got the text from the council and we'll be home soon. strange storm, isn't it? is there anything you need? we've got fuckin', uhh, tissues, mac and cheese, handwash -"

"anti's here," chase blurted. "he's standing outside the door."

there was a pause. "i'm sorry, anti's what?" marvin shouted, loudly enough that chase had to pull the phone away from his ear. "that bastard, what is he doing? are you hurt? i'm gonna kill him. i'm gonna -"

"he's not hurt me, no," chase interrupted before marvin could contemplate murder any further. "he's just standing there. i kinda, uh, shut the door in his face before i could find out what was up."

marvin sighed deeply. chase could hear henrik yelling something in the background as marvin spoke again. "ok, well, he can't get in anyway. kazuki protected the place, but she gave me the key to her spell. basically, with protection spells, they can only be unlocked by another magician if given the - you don't need all the details. point is, we'll be back - henrik, quiet - we'll be back soon. is he… hurt or something?"

"can't tell," chase said. he paced the kitchen as he talked, tapping his thighs nervously. "i'll - try and talk to him. please come back soon." he paused. "also, get me an irn bru. i'll pay you back."

when marvin had hung up, chase slowly opened the door again and peeked outside. anti was leaning against the wall, hood yanked over his head, rubbing his arms to warm himself. he glanced round when chase stepped out, a look of slight surprise crossing his face as chase shut the door and stood next to him awkwardly.

he didn't know what to do with his hands, so he pulled out a lighter and a pack of sterling cigarettes, popping them open and putting one into his mouth. anti watched him light it, saying nothing, and chase silently tipped the packet towards him as an offering. anti paused before taking one, lighting it quickly and passing the lighter back to chase. chase took it, then flinched in shock when he saw the state of anti's hands.

"fucking hell, what did you do to yourself?" he exclaimed. anti quickly hid his bloodied hands back in his shirtsleeves, wrapping his arms back around himself with an eyeroll. he didn't give an answer. not that chase would have expected one even if anti could talk without using his hands. chase exhaled loudly, already regretting coming out here at all.

"so what are you here for?" chase asked. he plopped down on the steps, at the very top mostly out of the rain. anti slowly followed suit. "where have you been the past little bit anyway? everyone's been looking for you."

anti unfolded his left hand to sign with. "so they can lock me up again?" he said, shivering. "fuck off. i'm here cause it's raining and i'm barely coherent and this bloody sickness means that i experience temperatures much more extremely. i'm probably susceptible to a common cold now, actually."

chase frowned. "you've been living on the streets this whole time?"

"water works," he signed, as two separate words. it took chase a second to translate that in his head. "there's barbed wire on top. i'm not sure why i came here either, to be quite frank."

chase watched his hands, but barely took in anything he was saying. wordlessly, he stubbed out his cigarette, stood up and went inside. he came back out a couple minutes later with a bottle of water, a washcloth and some bandages. "for your hands," he said simply. he didn't look at anti's face as he went to grab his wrists and turn him towards him. anti yelped and pulled his right arm away, holding it against his chest. chase looked up again, confused.

"is there something else wrong with that arm?" he said. anti didn't answer, but pulled his other arm away too, glaring. chase sighed. "fine. if you're gonna be a bitch, treat your own wounds. or don't. i'm going back inside."

anti said nothing as chase did exactly as he said, shutting the door behind him. something darted past the kitchen door, making chase smile. "jaffa, jaffa," he called. the black cat stopped to come smell chase's hand before racing away again, leaving him alone.

it was ten minutes of internal debate before chase came to a decision as to what to do. in his mind, he knew anti was an awful person. abusive, manipulative, a man who thrived on schadenfreude, as henrik had said. and yet. and yet. there was a part of chase that could never stand to see others hurt. he was a high empathy person - always had been, even in the few memories he had from being a kid. it was why he was so determined to believe that jackie couldn't be too far gone, that chase had to be able to save him. he felt other's pain, and always wanted to be able to help. even anti. even anti, of all people.

all he could think of was connor and louise and their three weeks away from home while anti pretended to be him. they'd been in london the whole time. fucking london. like a fun little holiday while chase had a breakdown in a jail cell because he was a suspect for kidnapping. then anti had returned them, and chase still didn't understand why. they kids had been fine. chase had gone free. everything had gone relatively back to normal, except for the fact that the kids were going to private therapy in case there was any underlying trauma from the incident. none of it made any sense to him.

then there was henrik and his two months away. that time period had been hell for chase, and he knew it had obviously been a lot worse for his brother. henrik had never fully told him everything anti had done to him, but he knew it wasn't great. he'd seen henrik's reactions to nightmares and flashbacks. although, henrik had once joked that anti was the absolute worst at torturing people. he had laughed, and chase to this day had absolutely no clue if he was kidding or not.

on top of all that… jack. just jack. chase honestly didn't want to think about jack at all.

he went and sat back outside as far away from anti as he could while sitting on the same step. anti barely looked up. he seemed half asleep, the side of his face pressed against the fence leading up to the door. he had cleaned up his hands, but left the bandages unused. he was also still chewing on the end of his cigarette, which seemed to have somehow gone out.

"you know you don't eat the cig, right?" chase asked. "you smoke it. have you never smoked before?"

anti flipped him off. "i have. bitch. but it's fucking cold and i can't be bothered."

chase rolled his eyes. "well, then why did you accept it?"

"because it was free. i'm fucking poor, and cigs are hard to steal."

chase was about to ask something else when he glanced down the road and saw his brothers walking up, holding bags of shopping. he leapt to his feet and raced down the steps and the pavement, splashing through the puddles and grinning weakly at henrik and marvin as he approached. "heyyy, so. anti's at our door."

"he's not coming in," henrik said immediately. he was shaking with rage, eyes blazing. his fingers were white as he gripped the handles of the plastic bags. "that fucker is not getting anywhere near -"

"relax, hen, we know we're not letting him in," chase said. he turned to marvin, suddenly uncertain. "right?"

marvin had never been good at hiding how he was feeling. "uh, i," he articulated. chase took a bag from both him and henrik while marvin stammered, lifting them in his arms to carry. "i - well, we can't just -"

"are you fucking serious?" henrik spat, whirling on marvin. marvin's shoulders shot to his ears, eyes widening. henrik took a step away from him. "after all we've been talking about, this whole time we've been out -"

"i just feel it's inhumane!" marvin protested. his diamond shaped pupils had shrunk to thin slits, like a cat. "this storm is bad already and it's barely even started, i wouldn't want to just leave him -"

"well, he can drown for all i care," henrik snarled. they'd arrived at the base of the steps now, and henrik immediately stormed up, past anti and into the house. the door slammed shut behind him.

chase sighed. "that went well." he shot marvin an apologetic glance. "i should go talk to him. get inside quickly. storm's due to get worse."

marvin nodded. chase bounced up the steps, not looking at anti as he went by, and dropped the bags on the kitchen table. "henny!" he called. "are you ok?"

henrik was sitting on the living room couch, fuming. he had taken his wet jacket and shoes off, but hadn't changed anything else. his short hair dripped over his eyes. "you should get changed," chase said softly. "you'll catch a cold or something."

henrik yanked his hoodie over his head, angrily tossing it to the floor. "i cannot believe that bastard had the fucking gall to come here," he raged. "and marvin's on his side - do you know, while me and marvin were out, i practically poured my heart out to that fucker, i told him a ton of shit i haven't told anyone else - and he still - ugh!" he stood and paced round the room, kicking the leg of the table. "fuck, i don't know. anti can rot out there for all i care."

marvin came in a couple minutes later. "i'm sorry, hen," he said meekly. he ran his fingers through his hair. "i didn't think."

"whatever," henrik mumbled. "is he still outside?"

chase looked through the window. "yep," he confirmed. "he doesn't have anywhere else to go, apparently, so he came here."

"no doubt to piss us off." henrik went into the kitchen and flicked the kettle on. even that one motion was somehow angry. "can we call someone from hecate or something to come take him back? kazuki, or someone else?"

"weather warning, remember," marvin reminded him. "it's too bad out for even magicians. well, i suppose not, there are weather related mages, and i suppose kazuki does have aerokinesis - still. i don't think they can."

they were all very quiet for a moment, listening to the booming drum of thunder outside. the dark room lit up with a flash of lightning, and the wind roared, knocking the trees against each other with piercing whistles. the rain pounded against the front of the house, and all three men looked at each other, thinking.

"i feel henrik should be the one to make this decision," chase said eventually. "he's the one who's been most badly hurt by anti."

henrik flashed him a quick, grateful smile, rubbing his shoulders unconsciously. "i don't think i want him here," he mumbled. "this is the one place we're safe. or… was, i guess. since jackie's boyfriend got in."

"no one will again," chase promised, patting his arm. he glanced at marvin as he spoke. "kazuki fixed this place herself. we're definitely protected."

both he and marvin knew that was a silent threat.

"we wouldn't want you to feel unsafe," marvin said softly. "i'm sorry if you feel that way." he let out a shuddering sigh, tapping his fingers against the table. "so… what do we do now?"

"i don't care," henrik said suddenly. he smacked the table and got up to march over to the fridge, throwing it open to look. "someone go tell anti to fuck off or something."

marvin bit his lip and looked to chase, who sighed and silently went to the outside door. the sheet of rain hit him in the face instantly, almost blinding him. "fuck," he spat, covering his eyes with his arm. anti was still sitting right where they'd left him, head in his arms. chase swallowed. "uh. henrik told you to fuck off."

anti lifted his head and shrugged.

chase tapped his socked foot against the doorway. "are you seriously gonna stay here?"

"well, what else do you want me to do?" anti said angrily. he was shaking, and chase could barely see his signs through the rain, but he got the general idea of what he was saying. "i can't go anywhere else. might as well stay here and piss off the doctor, if nothing else."

chase went back in and shut the door. "he says he's staying here cause he can't go anywhere else and also to piss off henrik," he announced. his brothers looked at chase, shirt soaked from just a minute or so outside. marvin made a face and left the room.

half an hour passed like this. they went into the living room and turned the tv on, flipping through the same shows and movies on netflix. marvin paced. henrik didn't eat the food he'd made. they were all very aware of anti outside, waiting for the storm to end.

"we might as well throw him to jackie," henrik mumbled at one point. this comment had been completely unprovoked, but they all knew what he meant. "maybe then he'll he satisfied and stop trying to kill people."

"i'm not giving anti over for my brother to torture," marvin snapped. "no matter what. i wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing i'd participated in helping him do that."

they went quiet. another ten minutes passed, and chase tried to calm the bouncing of his leg and think about anything else.

then he snapped. "ok, i don't know about you guys, and i - i know this might make me a horrible person, but i feel awful knowing he's just sitting out there looking like a kicked puppy."

marvin nodded, wringing his hands together. he'd changed into a baggy white tank top, his hair down around his face. "yeah. i - yeah."

henrik didn't answer for a bit. he was curled up in the corner of the couch, staring at the wall. eventually he turned to see chase and marvin looking at him. "what?" he snapped. "are you expecting me to change my mind?"

they both turned away again. the tv suddenly cut out without warning, and the rest of the lights in the house followed.

"great. an outage." chase flipped his torch on to see around the room. "well, that's fun."

they were definitely all thinking of anti now.

"he can't survive without electricity, can he?" marvin asked uncertainly. "that's why jackie kept him in that room."

chase hummed in agreement. he felt sick.

henrik suddenly let out a loud yell, and chase could see his silhouette leap up and march across the room. "fuck! fuck, fuck, fuck, i hate the lot of you! let's just get it over and done with, ok, because as much as i fucking hate the bastard i don't wanna go out in the morning and find a fucking corpse on my doorstep! fuck!"

marvin and chase stumbled to their feet. "we're - we're doing this?" marvin asked disbelievingly.

"apparently so." henrik walked purposefully towards the front door, chase and marvin in tow. he hesitated when he reached it and closed his eyes tight. "fuck, marvin, just let him in before i change my goddamn mind."

marvin opened the door once more. anti was curled up so close to the door that he almost fell inside, blocked only by kazuki's protection spell. chase watched, amazed, as marvin muttered a few words and then stepped outside, taking hold of anti's shoulders. "help me," he ordered chase, who obliged, trying to help lift him into marvin's arms. it seemed that anti had gone into some sort of shutdown, unmoving and limp but still breathing. henrik's breath hitched when marvin carried him inside, setting him on the floor with great difficulty. anti moaned softly, shivering and glitching out of place.

"oh god, oh mein gott, i can't do this," henrik fretted, and covered his face with his hands. chase got off the floor and pulled henrik into a soft, reassuring hug. he didn't need words to communicate what he was thinking.

"he's unconscious," marvin said. he sat anti up, pulling his sopping wet hoodie off over his head. "i'm, uh, not an expert on this stuff. but hen, i can absolutely understand not wanting anything more to do with this. i'm honestly not too pleased with it either. but, for what's it worth - thanks for letting him in."

henrik just nodded. "yes. hm. i'm going to - i think i am gonna go lay down. i don't feel great suddenly, how very odd…" he left the room, mumbling to himself.

anti coughed, trying to sit himself up with marvin helping him. "stay still, you bastard, god." then he frowned. "blinding christ, what is up with your wrist?

anti's right wrist was extremely bruised, jutting out at a slightly odd angle. "what the fuck?" chase murmured, bending down to look. "i thought he got the cast taken off cause it was healed, how could they have missed that?"

anti's eyes suddenly opened. for a moment he looked shocked, grabbing at his arms, looking back and forth across the room. marvin waved a hand in front of his face. "anti, hey. you're in here for the time being. i'm - chase, can you go get him some new clothes? he's soaked through."

anti shook his head rapidly. "no, no, i'm fine," he signed. "i'm fine, i'm fine…"

he clutched at his stomach, waving marvin off as he tried to help. "fine, fine, fine," he said frantically, looking like he was doing a repeated thumbs up. he was still shivering as chase left the room, wincing at the sudden pain in his temples. one of the signs of an oncoming migraine. how fantastic.

he got another alert on his phone. "all brighton residents to stay inside until further notice," it announced. and the storm didn't look like it was letting up anytime soon.

this was gonna be a long night.

#jacksepticeye #boop writes #chase brody #marvin the magnificent #henrik von schneeplestein #antisepticeye #the fall

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bellygunnr · 5 years ago

Text

The Sweets Shop ch. 13

Ushering X through the self-checkout and out the doors was a simple affair. Iris kept a grounding hand on his shoulder as they moved, a constant pressure applied to keep him moving forward. She was acutely aware of the Reploid behind them in constant pursuit, but half her concentration was dedicated to her brother whispering in her ear.

"Bring X by the post office on 8th Street. A guard will grab the Reploid, and you two should be home free."

Her affirmative was nonverbal, a mere data packet. She glances over her shoulder to check the Reploid's progress. It was a slow, shambling pace the Reploid took, so at least their lead would not be quickly eliminated. They just had to be careful.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" Iris hums, finally releasing her grip on X's shoulder as they reach a complex intersection. People mill about at either corner, conceding to the vehicle traffic buzzing through the streets. She watches X grimace at a passing Enforcer cycle, a minute pull of the mouth. He doesn't respond right away.

"It's going to rain," X says as traffic stops.

X pulls ahead of her. Iris has to lengthen her stride to keep up, all while avoiding pedestrians and keeping an eye on their pursuer. She spares an iota of power to looking up the weather. Rain was going to come, but not for a while yet.

"We haven't had rain in a long time," Iris says belatedly. "It'll be good."

"Maybe," X replies, then he smiles. "Do you need to go anywhere, Iris? I know we have groceries, but they can withstand some jostling, I think."

They're walking quickly. From here, Iris can see the street signs indicating 8th Street. She looks over her shoulder surreptitiously under X's inquisitive gaze.

"I actually need to stop by the post office," Iris says, returning the smile. "I need to pick something up there for work."

"Oh? How has work been, anyway?"

They stop. This intersection isn't nearly as busy and crossing onto 8th street is done after a moment's pause. She knows the Reploid is tracking them still.

"It's been kind of a mess," Iris sighs. "All of the recent attacks..."

X nods solemnly. Iris looks at him, suddenly aware that they've crossed into utterly sensitive territory-- X himself was a victim of such attacks. She bites the inside of her cheek, frustrated at herself. The post office looms ahead.

"Do you have any afternoon plans?" Iris blurts. The post office is a nondescript brick building, generic front and back. She follows X to the glass doors, sending another affirmative packet to her brother.

The target was being handled.

"I think Zero and I are going out for lunch," X replies, but he sounds uncertain. "Um, do you want me to go inside with you?"

"Oh, we're here already! I'll be just a moment, don't worry."

Accosting the reploid is a simple affair-- a unit from the van ambushes it from behind, binding its limbs together with magnetized cuffs. Its slung over their shoulder and hauled away into an alley.

"Look at the poor bastard! Man, this case sucks."

"Sure does."

The reploid is dumped unceremoniously onto the van's floor. Its head twitches back and forth, as if taking in its surroundings.

When the van door slams shut, the reploid goes slack.

X is readjusting his groceries when it happens.

Iris is walking out to meet him when she hears it.

A concussive blast, an explosion.

Mere seconds later, smoke can be seen rising from behind the post office, wispy at first but gathering in volume.

"X, wait! Don't!"

X is gone by the time the glass doors hit their stops. Iris looks on in horror as the blue Reploid leaps onto the building's roof, booster assisted. His groceries swing wildly in his hands-- a can slips out from its plastic prison, bursting as it hits the concrete.

"Iris! What's your status?"

"We're safe! We heard an explosion, and X just ran off- I'm trying to pursue now! What happened?"

X was difficult to chase. Where he leapt across surfaces, Iris was forced to skirt the perimeter, just barely keeping the reploid in sight.

"The van was destroyed. I'm not sure what happened. I've already called emergency services-- get X out of there."

I'm trying, she thinks bitterly.

By the time she arrives, panting--

X stops himself from leaping into the fray. He perches on the edge of a flat roof, fingers digging into the brick as he surveys the damage. Through the thick smoke he can see two caved in walls-- the alley had been narrow, so the explosion easily caused collateral. Piles of reddish-brown rubble have a vehicle trapped, partially consumed by the brick. The vehicle's cabin is separated and laying on its side.

Its burning from the inside out. Further away from it, an armoured Reploid is curled up, damaged but not actively alight.

X finally leaps, landing beside the Reploid.

"Are you alright?" X asks, for lack of something better to say. "I'm here to help!"

"I'm not dying, but my legs are no good. I had friends in the back of the van-- I don't know..."

The blast wasn't severe, just...

"Of course. Stay here."

X turns. He eyes the front of the van warily-- clearly, the motor hadn't ignited, but his systems refused to dismiss the probability. Still, he starts to dig through the smoldering rubble, the alert hanging in his peripherals.

The pain is indescribable. X debates switching off the nerves in his arms when he discovers a broken body-- green, leaking fluid, reminiscent of-- he can't remember. Dead. He moves on, digging elsewhere, until--

"No good," X says in a wheeze. "This is no good!"

"X! What on earth are you doing?!"

Two bodies in the brick rubble, decimated by the blast and entangled with the broken hulk of the vehicle. Worse, their leaking fluids were now out to the world to ignite and burn wantonly, though the low fires were not near enough. His body goes limp as Iris grabs his middle, pulling him back down to solid earth.

"You scared me to death, X. Come on, are you alright?" Iris asks, gently bringing his face around, earnest green eyes meeting X's.

"I'm fine-- I'm fine... There's someone hurt behind me, um, two dead, I can't tell what caused the explosion, though. Have-- you know, been called?" X says, voice wavering.

"Yes, they have," Iris says reassuringly.

X smiles, relieved, even as the cold consequences of his actions sink in.

It would be okay, though. It had to be.

"What do you think, Iris?" Colonel asks of his sister. They sit across from each other at a round table, a single lamp illuminating their space. Several screens are laid out in front of them in the form of laptops, tablets, and data pads, while papers lay in organized piles. Two mugs of energy are nestled amidst the mess, nursed half to hell.

"I think there's a lot we don't understand, obviously," she replies. "Today's events..."

"I know. Aiden is recovering well, though."

But the same could not be said for Skipjack, who had been in the epicenter of the explosion. Iris sighs while her brother's hands tighten on the wood, making it creak. In tandem, they return to flicking through screens and poring over data.

"How is X, do you think?"

"I don't know," Iris replies honestly. "What do you think of that Reploid we saw today?"

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who saw it in person."

She rolls her eyes. "I think it moved odd. Like a zombie. It didn't respond to outside stimulus except for X."

"But it had to be aware of its surroundings if it exploded," Colonel points out. "To an extent, at least."

She nods. It makes sense.

"We won't be able to do anything for a while, though," Colonel continues. "The media's watching us pretty close after today."

X is tired. X is tired, and while Zero's constant steady presence abates it, the sterility of his home does not. Everything is barren-- from the kitchen, devoid of food, to the living room, furnished sparsely and without decoration. It's another reminder that his own home is destroyed, but--

He can't afford to think about that right now. There was too much to consider.

"That was really scary," X whispers to himself.

Questioning had taken place at Zero's work, after all. He felt like a mouse running willingly into a lion's den, defenseless and foolish. It had taken every ounce of his will power to act as if he felt safe. As if nothing was wrong, save the fact he tried to be a hero.

"I'm going to have to do that again, aren't I?"

He couldn't calculate any other outcome. Becoming an Enforcer-- the process of which had been smoothed over by Sigma himself-- would force him into working directly beneath the 17th.

"You look dreadful," Zero says, cutting into his thoughts. "I ordered takeout. Do you want to put on a movie?"

The couch squeaks under Zero's added weight. X loosens up, a hand immediately wandering for his friend's gauntlet. He nods, unable to speak until his shakes pass.

The TV screen in front of them flickers violently.

"It's okay if you're not okay, X," Zero murmurs, leaning into X's space. "You've been-- you've been through a lot."

Astro Boy's familiar music fills the room. It wasn't a movie, but close enough. X sags into Zero, head resting on his shoulder, eyes drifting shut. Here was safety-- here was security.

"Are you offering to listen to my feelings?" X asks, slurring somewhat.

"Yes," Zero says, squeezing his shoulder.

They sit like that in the dark room, illuminated only by the TV screen.

#megaman x #mega man x #xzero #rockman x #mega man #fictitions #Three Laws of Robotics #the sweets shop

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romansrace · 4 years ago

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What If: RuPaul liked Jan in S12?

This What If deals with the scenario in which RuPaul takes a shine to Jan and favors her throughout the season. Jan's performances are kept as they were in the episodes she appeared in, unless an elimination or win changes things, but Ru sees her in a more positive light and is more critical towards other girls as a result. Full run below the jump:

Ep2 (1) is the first episode in which Jan appears. She performs well in the challenge and on the runways as originally. In this scenario, the judges are amused by her kooky take on a tulle/toolbelt runway, and as such, Jan and Sherry Pie are the top 2 [as we know Sherry will also be favoured] and Jan wins the first lipsync. Jaida is High where she originally placed Top2.

Ep3 is the first acting challenge. Jan, as the winner of the first challenge, will now be choosing her team. Jan will rank the other girls in order of strength: Gigi, Brita and Jackie [who she knows], Nicky, Crystal, Dahlia, Heidi. Heidi and Aiden will thus be the other team captains once again. Heidi will pick Gigi as the strongest available partner and the one from her episode, and Aiden will pick Sherry for the same reason. Jan is likely to pick Brita as a strong teammate who she knows and is close with. Widow picks Nicky as the strongest-ranked remaining from her episode. Heidi next picks Jackie, both because she did originally and to remove her from Jan. Aiden picks Jaida as the other top2 from her episode. Jan picks Crystal as the strongest-ranked queen remaining over RockM or Dahlia, Widow picks RockM to not be stuck with two fashion queens, and Dahlia is last to pick. She joins Aiden's team as it has the strongest competitors overall. Meaning our teams are: JAN, Brita and Crystal AIDEN, Sherry, Jaida and Dahlia WIDOW, Nicky and RockM and HEIDI, Gigi and Jackie Aiden's team this time are the fruits and vegetables, allowing Dahlia once again to be the meme broccoli throughout the whole season. Sherry and Jaida are likely to bicker over the standout role of Bad Apple, and Sherry is likely to win that power struggle based on how she got her way in Gay's Anatomy. For the three-part skits, it looked like the scripts were assigned randomly, so it could go any way for the other three teams. To switch things up a little, Heidi's team retain the three old ladies act, but this time Jan's team get the girl scouts act while Widow's team are this time Three Girls One Brain. In any case, Nicky will struggle with this challenge. The first acting challenge in a Drag Race season is usually judged in groups, however in this season Sherry won while her team were only Safe, while the B2 was made up of queens from two teams. As such, Sherry will still win this challenge, bringing as much or more to Bad Apple as she brought to the leader of the three girls originally. Jackie and Heidi remain High. Jan and Brita are Safe and Crystal's runway drags her down to Low. The B2 remains Nicky Doll and Dahlia, and Dahlia is duly eliminated.

Ep4 is the Ball Ball. Jan's soccer outfit and ability to display sports skill on the runway earns her a High on this challenge; in place of Nicky who is now critiqued based on the similarity of her outfit this week to the previous week's, and pushed down to Safe. Gigi still wins the challenge and Brita eliminates RockM in the B2.

Ep5 is the Gay's Anatomy acting challenge. Nicky and Gigi once again win the mini challenge. Nicky is now hungry to prove herself after thus far only coming Low, B2 and Safe, and assigns herself a more central and goofy role - half of the fork, with Heidi. The baby role instead goes to Crystal who is happy to work opposite Widow. Jan retains her role. Widow and Crystal had worked together before in Missouri and play together well; as such their mother and baby act goes down a storm and Crystal gains a first High this episode. In order to facilitate this, Aiden is bumped down to Safe. Brita - who now hasn't worked with Aiden before, nixing that subplot - remains Low and Heidi and Nicky, now scene partners, are in the B2. Heidi eliminates Nicky as originally.

Ep6 is Snatch Game. Nothing changes here - Crystal is once again Low, while Brita eliminates Aiden from the B2. Jan is safe - Ru can't justify placing her above Sherry or Jackie.

Ep7 is the Madonna Rusical. Jan this time is praised for taking on Early Madonna as the hardest part and opening the show, and is given the victory. Gigi now gets slight criticism for 'misunderstanding' the task and Michelle makes a jibe about not even remembering her blonde days. Jan is now on two wins, equalling Gigi and Sherry. Other placements remain and Brita is eliminated.

Going into Ep8 Jan is on a much more even keel. In this timeline Ru likes her energetic ad and puts her Safe with Jaida - good, but not as good as either Jackie or Crystal’s efforts. Gigi is pushed down to Low. Sherry is criticised for not selling a 'product' and is put in the B2 against Widow, and executes a comedy lipsync to Madonna's Burning Up to knock Widow out one episode early.

Ep9 now has Jan for the political episode. Jan takes Gigi's Low, pushing Gigi into the B2 with Jackie for relying on a schtick and repeating something she already gave us before in terms of the robot girl act. To avoid the negative publicity of the white girl in the colonizer outfit eliminating the show's first queen of Islamic heritage after Jackie's heartwarming runway story, this episode now has a double shantay.

Ep10 is the Makeover challenge, now with seven remaining queens. Jaida wins the challenge and Jackie B2s for the second week running with Heidi. Heidi eliminates her. Jan is either Safe with Gigi, or the only Safe, pushing Gigi down to Low for this episode.

Ep11 is the standup challenge, with Jan here now in place of Jackie. Jan will likely do a routine about being sporty, either a personal story or a comedy routine. Given that hosting is what Jan does on her own New York shows, she’s very likely to take the High placement here that originally went to Jackie Cox. Jaida and Heidi remain the B2 and Heidi is eliminated in 6th.

Ep12 is the final performance challenge. Gigi convincingly wins after an energetic performance, while Jaida and Jan with the strongest performances otherwise (with Jan’s vocal being singled out for particular praise) proceed straight to the final. This time it's Sherry to lipsync against Crystal, knocking her out of the running for winning. I can see Crystal winning this lipsync against Sherry unless Sherry has a bag full of tricks for On The Floor, as it's also her first lipsync vs Sherry's second. Given that we know in the actual series they filmed two endings to the final competitive episode, Sherry’s disqualification means that Crystal winning and proceeding to the final is the most likely outcome.

The FINALE takes a lipsync for the crown format. If Sherry makes the final, Jan knocks her out in round 1. If it's Crystal...the same thing happens. Jan wins the lipsync against either Jaida or Gigi thanks to being able to equal them skillwise and Ru's favoritism, as is the point of this prompt. And thus, Jan, on two wins, four highs, no B2s, and the best seasonal track record would be the winner of Season 12!

#drag race what ifs #s12 #drag race season 12 #fantasy drag race #jan #jan sport #jantasy #ru pauls drag race #rupauls drag race #all stars 6 #rpdr as6 #what if

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worryinglyinnocent · 5 years ago

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Fic: Pure (3/?)

Summary: Belle wanted to wait until marriage before she had sex for the first time. It was the one thing that still stuck in her mind after leaving her small town upbringing steeped in religious doctrine and abstinence culture. When her wedding night comes, however, the purity ideals of Storybrooke’s sex education are hard to shake off, and making the transition from virgin to sexually active is more difficult than she anticipated. With the help of a patient husband, Belle begins an intimate journey into understanding her body, her desires, and her identity as a woman.

Rated: E

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[One] [Two] [AO3]

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Pure

Three

“So, how do you want to spend our first evening in New York?”

They were meandering their way back to the hotel after an excellent meal, Aiden’s arm around Belle’s shoulders. There was certainly enough nightlife in New York to keep them entertained; after all, they were in the city that never slept. Belle didn’t want to go out, though. They had tickets to a Broadway show for the next night, and they’d already done a lot of walking today. What she really wanted to do was go back to their room for a cup of tea and some more kissing. She’d been sneaking kisses from him all day, and he had been providing them readily.

They had chosen New York for their honeymoon. Whilst Aiden would probably have been happy to take Belle on a round-the-world trip if she had expressed such a desire, Belle had wanted to explore more of New York ever since their flying visit the previous spring when Neal had been looking at colleges. He’d decided to stay in Boston in the end, but Belle had thoroughly enjoyed her time in the Big Apple; she wanted to see it at her leisure, without fitting in university visits around it.

Aiden didn’t fly well, so most of the journey had him pretending to be anywhere other than on a plane whilst Belle read and re-read her travel guides, picking out all the places she wanted to visit and drawing the most efficient routes around Manhattan on her map, to take in the maximum amount of tourist attraction for the least amount of walking.

She didn’t think that she was going to be able to see everything in the week they had booked, because a small part of her was hoping that they’d spend a decent amount of time in their hotel room as well. She was still nervous about what was to come, but something inside her had sparked back into life, the same spark that she had always used to feel before the wedding, whenever she saw Aiden with his tie off and the top few buttons of his shirt undone, exposing that lovely sliver of neck.

It was the spark that she had always tried to deny in the past, or at least put off until they were married. Now, she didn’t try to push it down. She still wasn’t entirely sure whether she ought to be feeling it or not in the first place, but she was married now. Sex wasn’t sinful anymore, so she was using that loophole to beat her snide voice into submission.

She thought back to the analogy that Aiden had taken such great pains over this morning. If she was Jefferson’s vintage convertible Mustang, then the ignition had just been switched on and she was purring.

There had been such a thrill in checking in as Mr and Mrs Gold, and Belle hadn’t been able to stop grinning all the way up to their room to dump their bags before heading out to begin their touring. They’d spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Central Park and the zoo, and now that night had fallen, Belle was still feeling buoyed up on the high of exploring new places and finding hidden gems.

Going back to the room would be a reminder to both of them of how come they were in New York in the first place. They were on their honeymoon, and there was going to be sex involved at some point. Aiden had said that he would wait for as long as she needed, but Belle didn’t want to keep putting it off, or she would never take that leap.

It wasn’t something to be gotten over with, but perhaps it was something that could be gotten started. She could take a leap of faith with Aiden. She knew that he would never do anything to hurt her; he had proved that admirably last night even if he hadn’t done so tenfold during their relationship thus far. She trusted him to know what he was doing even if she didn’t know what she was supposed to do, and she had even less idea how she was supposed to feel.

She was already in ignition, so maybe it was time to take the plunge and get started on the maintenance before she got into gear. Amazingly enough, the car analogy was really helping.

They had reached their hotel by this point, and Belle realised that she hadn’t actually given Aiden an answer to his question, several minutes ago by now.

“I think that we should just take it easy tonight,” she said. “Go back to the room, have some tea, get an early night.”

She left it dangling, hoping that Aiden would pick up on it.

“Oh, Belle.” He pulled her in closer and kissed her forehead. “You never fail to be remarkable.”

They entered the hotel and made their way back up to their room. They hadn’t unpacked earlier, just leaving the bags in Belle’s eagerness to get their exploration started, and it took them a while to get things sorted out and comfortable before they were sitting on the bed with their tea, channel hopping. Belle glanced down at the nightdress folded on the end of the bed. She’d not intended to wear it more than once, but she didn’t want the memories of last night to taint it for her. Even if everything had turned for the best in the end and she had gone to sleep happy, she would always remember the fear and frustration she’d felt unless she could make some more positive memories with it.

Aiden grabbed the remote and the TV winked out, leaving them in as much silence as there ever was in New York.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. “You keep looking at your nightie.” He reached across and closed his hand over hers. “We don’t have to do anything.”

“I know. And I love you for that. But what if I do want to do something? You said this morning that the first step to conquering your fears was to name them, and I’ve done that now. So… What’s the second step?”

She’d ultimately been worried about the pain, but Aiden had assured her that it didn’t have to hurt. The other things she could deal with in time, but she didn’t want to remain a virgin forever. She wanted Aiden; she’d wanted him for a long time, and now she could finally have him, and not have to worry about hurting at the end of it.

“Well, shall we start by getting into bed?”

“That sounds like a good idea. At least whatever happens then, we’ll be nice and comfy.”

Aiden snorted with laughter and sat up to start unbuttoning his shirt. Belle grabbed her nightdress and was almost into the bathroom when she stopped.

“Belle? Everything all right?”

“Yeah…” She came back to the bed, pulling her hair over her shoulder. “Unzip me?”

She felt his lips brush over her shoulders and the top of her spine as he pulled her dress zip down, and she looked back at him and he raised his eyebrows at her. “Good?”

She nodded. “Yes. Very good. I, erm…”

The slight tilt of Aiden’s head prompted her to go on, and she turned around to face him fully, slowly pulling the dress down off her shoulders to leave her in bra and panties. Somehow, the act of undressing in front of him felt so much more intimate than just being naked with him. It was an act of vulnerability, uncovering oneself piece by piece in the gaze of another person.

Aiden smiled, a wolfish little smirk at the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were still soft and kind as he took her hands and kissed her fingertips before bringing them to his remaining shirt buttons.

“Fair is fair,” he said.

Belle’s hands were shaking a little in anticipation as she unfastened the buttons, and once his shirt was off, he made quick work of his trousers too, before resting his fingers on Belle’s waist and bringing them slowly up towards her bra band.

“May I?”

Belle nodded. He’d seen it all this morning, and she wanted him to see it again.

He reached around to unfasten her bra and pulled it off her, gazing at her bare breasts for a moment as the cool air hardened her nipples, and then he was laying her down on the bed again, holding her close like they’d done this morning before they caught their flight. Belle pulled her covers up to their waists, pressing in close.

“I think the first thing to do,” Aiden said, punctuating his words with kisses, “is to find out what you like. What makes you feel good?”

Belle shrugged. “I don’t know. Masturbation was up there with sex before marriage as one of the big no-nos. Touching yourself was as bad as having someone else touch you. There was always the worry that you’d get a taste for it and start seeking out such carnal pleasures elsewhere.”

Aiden sighed. “I’ve heard a lot about your town and its ideals over the last couple of years, but even now, I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I hear about some of the things that they taught you.”

“Believe me, this isn’t the half of it.” Since nice girls didn’t talk about sex, they also didn’t really talk all that much about sex education and what twisted version of it they might have received. Now that they were commencing on this voyage of discovery together, it was inevitably going to start coming up a lot more. “Considering I had a teacher who firmly believed that the clitoris did not exist because it served no practical purpose as a sex organ, we might have a long way to go.”

Aiden snorted, burying his face in the pillow to muffle his laughter.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t laugh at the abysmal state of Storybrooke’s education, especially considering how it’s affecting you now, but like I said, the other alternative is crying.”

“It’s all right. I may be a virgin but I’m not completely naïve. I am completely aware of my anatomy and how it all fits together. I’m just not as sure how the various bits of it like to be touched.”

She remembered the first time she’d looked at herself in the mirror, trying to angle her little compact so that she could get a proper look at what was between her legs. She’d locked herself in the bathroom and sat with her back against the door as a double safety measure against anyone coming in, but she’d still felt certain that someone would be able to tell what she was doing in there. It had been after biology class with the inked-out textbooks, and she had been curious to see for herself what was down there.

Even though she’d just looked and not really touched, she’d been convinced for weeks afterwards that she was going to hell just for that; that what she’d done was somehow tattooed on her forehead like a scarlet letter, visible to everyone except her. She hadn’t taken another look until long after she’d left home and she was trying to trim her pubic hair. She was twenty then, and sharing a flat with two other girls, both of whom were far more open-minded than the entirety of Storybrooke’s population put together and who brought their lovers home to bed regularly, but she still waited until they were both out of the flat, and she still locked herself in the bathroom and sat back against the door to guard against intrusion. With two years of what she termed the Real World under her belt, she hadn’t felt quite as much shame as she had done the first time, and she’d allowed herself a little more exploration. She’d found her clit properly that time, and the touch had nearly given her a heart attack.

It was only now, coming to terms with her burgeoning sexuality and, moreover, being allowed to come to terms with it, that she could recognise the feeling of intense and sudden pleasure for what it was.

Aiden kissed her again. “Well, we can find out together. So, where shall we start?” His fingers were dancing up and down her side, just grazing the side of her breast, and Belle felt her nipples pebble into hard points.

“Where you are right now seems like a good place,” she whispered. Aiden smiled, tracing one fingertip down over her breast and circling it around her nipple. Belle squirmed under his touch, allowing herself to just give in to the sensation and enjoy it.

He kept teasing her nipple for a little while, then skimmed his hand lower, down over her stomach to rest on her hip. Belle wriggled again. The spark of desire was back, and it was burning hotter than ever, railing against every instinct that told her she shouldn’t be feeling it. She wanted Aiden to touch her, to do all the things he’d talked about this morning to make her ready for what came next.

He slipped his fingers under the waist band of her panties and she responded by pulling them off entirely, kicking them out from between the sheets. A hand cupped her ass, fingers tracing along the line where her cheek met her leg.

Belle wondered whether this counted as sex. When she had been at high school, there had been all sorts of whispered conversations in the halls and the quad about what constituted going all the way, and whether you were still technically a virgin if you had done this or that thing. They weren’t heard often, after all, they were good girls and they didn’t talk about sex, but occasionally these things would find her way into her hearing, and they stuck with her. Certainly, in the eyes of the town, being naked in bed with someone and having them touch a place normally covered with clothing and considered obscene if seen without, well, that was definitely a black mark against one’s purity credentials even if nothing further came of it.

His hand slid back up her body again, coming to cover her breast and rub her nipple against his palm, and she gave a little gasp, but then the touch was gone; his arm resting lightly against her waist, nothing sensual in the gesture apart from the fact she was naked.

“How far do you want to go, Belle?” Aiden asked. “I’ll follow your pace, but I don’t want to push you too far before you’re ready.”

Belle sighed.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I know last night you said that this wasn’t something to get over with, but maybe I’ll stop overthinking it all if I just go for it.”

“As much as I admire your plucky attitude towards everything else you’ve shaken off from your conservative childhood, I don’t think it’s necessarily the best idea here.” He kissed her forehead, then her nose, then her lips. “I don’t want either of us to do anything that you might regret. Maybe it’s better to take our time.”

“I know.” Belle sighed. “I want this. I really do. I want to stop thinking about it and just enjoy it. More than anything I want to shut up the little voice that tells me I shouldn’t want it. It’s just not as simple as telling it to be quiet.” She paused, trailing her fingertips over his neck and shoulder. “What do you want?”

“This is about you, sweetheart, not me.”

“Not really. Sex involves two people, right? It’s all very well working out what I want and what I like, but what about you?” She bopped his nose. “Fair is fair, after all. We can’t have me having all the fun and you doing all the work.”

Aiden laughed. “Have I told you lately that you’re remarkable?”

“Yes, but I’m not averse to hearing it again.”

“You’re remarkable, and I love you.”

“I love you too. And I’d like to touch you.”

It wasn’t that she’d never touched him before. They’d been together for three years and Belle was a tactile person. Hell, just this morning they’d spent half an hour cuddled together in the nude. But touching him with the express intention of eliciting a pleasurable response, well, that was definitely new.

“All right.” Aiden rolled over onto his back, taking her hand in his and kissing the palm as his other arm snaked around her shoulders. “Shall we keep things above the belt for now?”

Belle nodded. They had plenty of time and it wouldn’t do to get ahead of herself. Better to take things slowly now and be sure that she was ready than to go too far too quickly and start freaking out again.

Aiden placed her hand on his chest and gave her that little smirk again. “All right then. Go wild.”

She danced her fingers across his skin, mimicking the same patterns that he done to her. She grazed over his nipple, grinning when it tightened under her touch and he gave a sharp hiss, twitching against her hand. It was good to know that he was just as sensitive as she was, and it gave her a little boost of confidence. If Aiden found the same things as she did pleasurable, then it gave her something to work from. Now all she had to do was work out what she liked. Probably best to keep exploring Aiden for now.

She moved across to repeat her touches to his other nipple, and he wriggled again. Belle let her fingers still.

“That’s good?”

“Oh yes. That’s good.”

She snaked her hand lower, over his belly. She knew that he was conscious about beginning to gain middle-age weight there, so she hoped that she wasn’t drawing undue attention where it wasn’t wanted. She dipped a finger into his navel and his entire body jerked in response, which would have been alarming had it not been for the expression on his face, obviously trying very hard not to laugh. Belle bit her lip as a thought occurred to her.

“Are you ticklish, Aiden?” Oh, she could have so much fun if he was.

“Yes. A bit.”

She wondered how she’d never known this before, and then decided that she’d had no reason to. She’d never been this intimate with him before. Over the coming days, they were both going to be learning all kinds of new things about each other’s bodies. Hell, Belle was going to be learning all kinds of new things about her own.

“On no account are you to use that against me,” he warned. There was a gleam in his eye, and she Belle knew that he already knew that his words would be entirely in vain. So, naturally she started tickling him, and then he was trying to bat her away, and then his fingers were on her own ribs and making her squeal, both of them descending into fits of laughter until Aiden finally silenced her with a kiss, his hands cupping her face and carding into her hair, the tickle war over with no clear victor.

Belle sighed with happiness, cuddling in close against Aiden’s side and bringing her hand back to his chest. It felt good to be able to relax and have fun like that, and she trusted Aiden not to go too far. Her main concern was pushing herself too far in her desire to get going. Maybe she could get Aiden to help her set the boundaries, and they could go just a little further each night, building up and up until they went all the way. That seemed like a sensible way of going about it. That would give her time to stop worrying about it hurting, and time to shoot down the voice that kept telling her that this was wrong.

Surely something that felt so good couldn’t be wrong.

#rumbelle fic #rumbelle #Belle French #Mr Gold #virgin!Belle #Fic: Pure

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hadirtybubble · 5 years ago

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I Wrote This Because I Watched Underworld pt. 5 (Aiden POV)

When I try to talk about the attacks, all I can do is cry.

I always want to scream, just to know that I still can.

My heart is caging my anger, but the anger is digging its way out.

I won’t be able to control it when it’s free.

I don’t know how.

I was behind the bar at the pub when I felt that something was wrong. It was quiet, though that wasn’t unusual on a Tuesday afternoon. There were only two patrons at the bar who had ordered a margarita and a beer. Ria was nowhere to be seen and Anna had come through the front door with the look of wrath that would put Aries to shame. The sight of her made a shiver go up my spine.

“Aiden! Where is Ria?” Anna shouted over the bar.

I slowly put down the bottle of tequila I was holding, confused on why she was so angry. I’d never seen Anna this angry before, which could only mean one thing. “Anna, what did she do?”

“She’s not here, is she?” Her blue hair was wild around her face and her brown eyes nearly looked black. Her small nose was scrunched up in a scowl, with her teeth bared through her lips.

I sighed then said, “Anna, what is this about? Why are you so angry and what does Ria have to do with it?”

Anna grabbed my arm and pulled me closer toward her, knocking over several glasses in the process. “Ai, we have to find Ava.”

I rolled my eyes and shook off her grip. “And why in the world would I want to see that miserable crow?”

This time Anna grabbed my shoulders and pulled me toward her until her lips were almost touching my ear. Her hands were trembling and her voice shook as she said, “She’s been found.” She pulled away and the stoney look on her face was enough to make me kick into hyperdrive. I grabbed my jacket and jumped the bar before sprinting toward the front door, Anna hot on my heels.

We ran down the street toward Ava’s apartment. It was only a few buildings down so it wasn’t far, but between the running and the adrenaline, we were both panting by the time we got there. I pulled the spare key from the heel of my boot and opened the door. I ran to the bedroom while Anna ran to the bathroom. “Clear!” I yelled from the doorway.

“Clear!” Anna called from the bathroom. We met up in the living room and looked at each other. “Where could she be?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been keeping close tabs on her lately.” I growled in frustration. “She could be anywhere!” I kicked the door frame, cursing myself for being so careless. I should have kept a better eye on her. I didn’t and now she’s in trouble and I can’t find her.

I felt something touch my shoulder and turned to see Anna. She had a worried expression on her face that told me that she felt the same way I did. “We need to find Sabbath,” I said while taking her hand in mine. “He should know where she is.” I turned into the living room to see the black cat sitting on the coffee table, looking right at us. “Nevermind, he was watching us search for nothing this whole time.” I sighed. “Sabbath, talk to us. We need to know where she is.” He flicked his tail and switched his gaze from me to Anna. “Come on, we don’t have time for this! She’s been found, man. We need to find her right now before something happens.” His eyes became more alert at that. He flicked his tail once more before running through the front door. “God, I hate that damn cat.”

Anna and I ran after Sabbath. Down the stairs, up the street, all the way to the park at the end of the road. We stopped shortly after entering. “Dammit, this park is huge. Where could she be?” I nearly yelled in frustration.

“Maybe she’s at the bridge.” Anna offered.

“She could be at the back near the woods.” I countered.

“You’re both wrong,” a deep voice said. We both looked down to Sabbath, whose green eyes stabbed daggers at us. “She’s at the Ancient. We need to hurry.” With that, he sprinted down across the field, toward the bridge.

We chased after him, barely keeping pace. “Do you think Ria is with her?” Anna yelled from behind me.

“Maybe,” I shouted back between gasps. Dammit, I’m out of shape. “If she is, we need to hurry before it’s too late.” With that, we doubled down and ran as fast as we could. Sabbath hadn’t even looked back to see if we were following. He kept sprinting as fast as he could over the bridge, through the trail through the trees until we reached a clearing where he suddenly stopped, with us right behind him. Anna and I nearly collapsed as we gulped down air. I haven’t run this hard since high school and it still sucked as much as I remember.

When I was finally calmed a bit, I took stock of the clearing. All that was there was a giant tree as big as a building right smack in the middle of it. I have no idea how long it’s been here, but given that it’s called the Ancient, I’ll put my money on incredibly old. Much older than the town, that’s for sure. It’s branches were bare, twisting in seemingly impossible directions high off of the ground. The trunk was at least as wide as the inside of the pub, with roots appearing then disappearing through the ground for yards around it. We stood there for a moment, listening and looking for anything suspicious, but found nothing.

“What the hell, cat,” I said with vinom toward Sabbath. “I thought you said that she was here.”

Sabbath growled before saying, “She is here. I just can’t hear anything-” He stopped abruptly before sprinting toward the tree. We chased after him. We were halfway around the side before we ran into something. There was nothing there, but there was definitely something blocking us from going any further.

“Oi, a heads up would have been nice, cat.” I said as I rubbed my forehead.

“Ai, they’re here. She found her.” Anna whispered next to me. “What if we’re too late?” I looked at her. She almost had tears in her eyes and looked like she would crumple any second.

“No, we can still get her.” I touched the block again. It moved slightly under my touch, almost like silk. “I know what this is.” I said, quietly. I looked at the ground at Sabbath. “Step away, cat, before your fur gets singed.” He and Anna both moved away as I placed my hand on the block and focused. I placed all of my focus on picturing symbols of flame. I pictured fire and heat, lava from a volcano, the sun. I felt my hand heat up and saw the block turn into a swirl of red, orange, and yellow as I began to burn it away. It took a few moments, but it eventually burned until it broke into small threads from my hand.

Behind the block, we saw a horrendous scene. There was Ria, saddled on top of Ava, holding a knife covered in blood, with a crazy look in her eye that would make a grown man cower. She had blood splatter across her face and on her shirt. Her hair stuck to the blood on her face, making her look even more wild. She was smiling as if she had just won the lottery. She was the most terrifying image I had ever seen.

Ava looked like a mess. She had blood covering her chest from her wound, with more pumping out with every breath. She had leaves and dirt all over her from struggling against that monster. Her raspy and feeble breathing made her seem like she was more dead than alive. She didn’t have much time before she was a corpse. We had to act fast.

Recovering from the initial shock of what we had just seen after a few seconds, I ran toward Ria, kicking her in the chest. She tumbled backward from the shock, landing on her back and losing grip of the knife. She scrambled to pick it up again, but I was already on her. I grabbed a handful of her hair from the back and rammed her face first into the ground. I repeated this two more times before picking her up and throwing her as far as I could. She was back on her feet in a second and rushed toward me. She threw a punch that made contact with my face. I grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, while knocking her knees out with my foot. She knelt on the ground, struggling to break free. I twisted her arm more until she cried out, but she still struggled against my grip. I twisted again, this time until I heard a satisfying snap. She screamed in pain and struggled even more. I put my foot on her right calf and put all of my strength into the pressure before I felt it crunch beneath my heel. She screamed a final time before going limp. I threw her on the ground and checked to see if she was still conscious. She wasn’t.

Turning around, I look at Anna and Sabbath kneeling next to Ava. Anna was applying pressure to the wound while Sabbath had his two front paws pressed to her forehead. His eyes were closed in concentration and I don’t think he was even breathing. Anna was sobbing quietly with her eyes closed, her face getting closer to Ava’s chest as she collapsed into herself. Her shoulders shook and her breathing came in gasps. I rushed over to her and wrapped my arm across her shoulders. “She’ll be okay,” I whispered in her ear. “We’ll make sure she’s okay. She’ll be better before you know it.”

Anna looked up at me with her now red eyes and sniffed. “Ai, I don’t think you understand.” She shook her head and looked down at Ava. “She’s not breathing anymore. I don’t think we can do anything now.” She gasped again before more sobs came, her shoulders shaking almost violently under my arm.

I looked at Sabbath, but he was still concentrating. He was as still as a statue, providing no hint as to what he was doing. I looked over at Ria, who was still unconscious. A black shadow passed over my heart and I saw red for the first time in a long time. I wanted to kill her and make her suffer like she made Ava suffer. Like she’s making Anna suffer right now. I wanted to make her scream and beg for mercy while I gave her every reason to believe in Hell. I was just about to walk over to her when Sabbath finally spoke.

“She’ll be alright.”

Shocked, Anna and I whipped our heads toward him. I was just about to ask how he could possibly know that when Ava took in a huge gasp of air.

“She’s breathing!” Anna yelled. She was so shocked she stopped crying.

“But, how? Sabbath, what did you do? How is this possible?” I looked back and forth between Ava and the cat. There was no known way to bring back the dead. Once the heart stopped, there was nothing any type of ancient knowledge that could bring a person back.

He provided no answer. He simply licked Ava’s forehead and looked toward where I left Ria. I followed his gaze, only to see that she was gone, along with the knife she used to try to cut Ava’s life short. I jumped up and started heading around the tree when Sabbath called out, “It’s too late. She’s long gone. We won’t see her for some time.”

I looked back at him, quizzically. “Did you know she would escape?”

“That sounds like an accusation.” He slowly walked toward me until he was sat next to my boot. “No, I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling she would escape while we were focused on Ava. She’ll need to heal after you broke her arm and leg, so we won’t see her for at least a few weeks.” He looked up at me. “You need to be better about guarding Ava. Ria may have been the first to try, but she won’t be the last to attempt to take her life.”

I scoffed. “And why weren’t you watching her? Aren’t you supposed to be her live-in bodyguard?”

He licked his paw. “Of course I am, but I’m only useful at her home. You are the one who must watch her while she is out.” He stood up and turned toward Anna and Ava. “Do not make this mistake again, Aiden.” With that, he walked toward the now-living Ava and said something to Anna.

I was shaking with rage as he walked away. I knew he was right and I knew I had been slacking the past few years, but nothing had happened until now. She was fine until Ria came into town and ruined everything. This is all her fault. If I ever see that maniac again, I won’t hesitate to burn her alive. I will kill her and leave no trace of her behind in my wake.

I took a deep breath, then turned toward the would-be corpse of my charge, the worst feline in existence, and my best friend. I walked toward them and helped Anna pick up the dead weight of Ava before heading toward the main road. Once we got Ava back into her apartment, we stripped her of her blood-drenched clothes, cleaned all traces of blood from her body, and dressed her in pajamas before putting her to bed.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t take her to a hospital?” Anna asked. “She was stabbed through the chest and lost a lot of blood.”

“No, she’ll be fine,” Sabbath assured her. “She just needs to rest a few days, then she’ll be back to normal.” He hopped onto Ava’s bed and curled up next to her on a pillow. “You two just leave the recovery to me and make sure this never happens again.” With that, he closed his eyes in dismissal and began to purr.

Anna and I walked out of the apartment and locked the door behind us.

“Do you really think she’ll be okay?” Anna asked me while grabbing my hand.

I patted her shoulder and said, “Sabbath has it under control. She’ll be fine, just like he said.” I sighed as I stretched with my free arm over my head. “You know, we’ve had a pretty long and stressful day. Wanna get a drink?”

Anna laughed for the first time that day and shook her head. “Sure, Ai. Let’s get a drink.”

#pt 6 #urban fantasy #writing #underworld #forsaken #gruesome

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ssunveinsarchive · 5 years ago

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❝ i don’t want to have a relationship with you. ❞ / ❝ i wish i’d never met you. ❞ / ❝ i’m not sorry. ❞ ... I DON'T WANT TO SAY IT.... but braiden.

❝ i don’t want to have a relationship with you. ❞

brooke understood that those words should hurt; they were meant to upset her, to make her feel exactly how he felt. and it did hurt, but not in the way she was sure he intended, but in a way that confirmed those nagging thoughts that always occupied the back of her mind. while she loved aiden, deeply and irrevocably, within the deep confines of her mind existed the notion that no matter what, their relationship was ultimately doomed. therein the dark crevice of her brain lie her own personal doomsday switch; his words triggering the alarms and signaling the disaster survival protocol within her head. brooke was a chaotic mix –– ruled by her constantly changing and fiery emotions, while also possessing the ability to detach from them at a moment’s notice. right now, she was slowly but surely shutting down, trying to ignore the ache emerging within her chest. if she let it envelop her, she wasn’t sure she would ever come out of it. it had always been brooke breaking up with aiden, always getting scared and attempting to run away, with aiden extending his arms even further to accommodate her instead. she never thought he would be the one breaking things off with her, even if that disaster protocol existed within her head.

stumbling backwards a few steps, she finally looks at him, trying to hold back any aggressive displays of emotion. “then what are we doing, aiden? if you don’t want a relationship, then there is none.” it had to be a quick break, so brooke would have less to dwell on later. she would dwell, and she would weep – but not right now. not in front of him. every time she imagined their break up, she was always the one initiating it, and in a way she felt completely blindsided by his sudden confession, stammering quietly before looking back up at him once more, a bit of anger tinging her vocals. “just… why? why, after all this time? i told you from the beginning that this wasn’t a good idea, but you begged––” the added emphasis was only to hurt him, anger coursing through her body then. while lashing out defeated the purpose of making it quick and painless, she couldn’t help the embarrassment she felt –– unable to truly wrap her head around the fact that she was the one being dumped this time around, completely ignoring her own hypocrisy. “you begged to be with me. for this. and now you don’t want it? after all this fucking time?” another scoff leaves her lips before she snatches her jacket off the back of the chair, huffing. “fuck you, aiden. fuck you. don’t ever call me again.” and with that, she was gone.

❝ i wish i’d never met you. ❞

arms cross defensively over her chest, a huff of bitter laughter passing through her lips. his words are the match that sparks the flame inside of her, poison collecting on the tip of her tongue before she even opens her mouth. she knew that he knew any smart remark would be returned, at three times the intensity. that was merely how brooke operated, a smirk now threatening to cross her features as she looks at him. “oh yeah? well, here’s an idea: invent a time machine, or find a worm hole or whatever the fuck those things are, and go back in time before we ever had a chance to meet and burn spin city to the fucking ground. i’d love to live without those memories of fucking pencil dick in the supply closet and your heavy breathing whenever i’d make fun of your favorite records, that would save me so much crucial brain space now,” she chuckles lightly, a slight shrug rolling off her shoulders as she makes it apparent that she’s not done talking, yet. “hell, maybe go talk to my parents before i was born and convince them not to have premarital sex, so as to prevent the conception of the spawn of satan, or whatever bullshit you’d tell them about me. now that would earn you a medal or something, i’m sure,” she scoffs, that bitter laugh reemerging once more from deep within her chest. “maybe our lives would both be better if we’d never met each other.”

❝ i’m not sorry. ❞

“of course you’re not,” a tear slid down brooke’s cheek then, unable to wipe it away as her head cast downwards, away from his gaze. “and that’s why i don’t deserve you.” she chokes those words through a sob, desperately trying to wipe her tears away. this couldn’t have been any harder; she loved him so wholeheartedly that it hurt, but brooke always held the fear that she was only a hindrance to his life, and by being the one to end things now, she was saving them from even more pain in the future. happily ever after didn’t exist in brooke’s mind, not for her; that was something that happened to other people. she knew it existed for aiden, but it wasn’t meant to happen with her. that’s what made this so hard –– she could see his future, but her own felt too murky, too polluted to ever live in harmony with his. everything they’d been through, all the years spent together working through each other’s issues, all the running away and the fights that ensued, it all made her a better person, but in the end, brooke wasn’t sure that was enough. there was a piece of her that was too damaged, leaching into every good thing in her life and bleeding it dry. she wanted that happily ever after, but it didn’t feel that simple or concrete. maybe it was her shoddy upbringing; her turbulent relationship with her mother and her parents’ rocky divorce that kept her from maintaining a healthy, stable relationship with someone she loved more than anyone else before. whatever the reason, it wasn’t clear, and truthfully, it didn’t matter. in her eyes, she was unfixable.

“you’ve nothing to be sorry for in the first place. you’ve done everything right,” she pauses, a few lone tears falling down her cheeks as she continues to avoid his gaze, already too painful to even look in his direction. “i’ve never had someone so loving, so caring, so fucking stupid in the funny way that makes me wanna scream and also laugh at the same time––” she chuckles slightly, sadness emanating from the noise. “all you’ve ever done is love me, despite everything. despite all the times i’ve run away, acted like an idiot and broken your heart. and even then, you let me come back, and you love me harder than before. but i don’t think––i don’t think it’s working. you can’t do it anymore, aiden, i can’t be fixed, i can’t be the same person for you that you are for me,” a sob gathers in her throat then, too heartbroken to hold back any of her emotions this time. she knew what she felt for him must be love, because this moment was more soul-shattering than anything she had ever experienced before. “and you don’t deserve that. you deserve so much better, and that’s not me. and that’s why i’m the one that should be saying sorry –– i’m so fucking sorry.”

#haha... do NOT fuckign text xx H #im so EMOOOOO i cant believe this is happening... they've risen #and i still hate brooke as much if not more!#brooke & aiden tba #synosures

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rahimaldemir · 5 years ago

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Dying Light 2 - Q&A

In the official Dying Light discord one of the representatives, Uncy, from Techland held a q&a session during E3 2019 and I took the time to copy everything down. There were a lot of questions asked, but I only copied down the ones that were answered.

Uncy said they were going to post a FAQ with all of these questions and I’ll make sure to link it when they do. As of right now, I don’t think it has been released.

A lot of people were typing during the session and unfortunately a lot of questions got repeated. There is also a decent amount of typos in these questions, but it felt important to keep the Q&A session in an honest a form as possible, so I have not corrected any typos or omitted any duplicate questions.

I did add a “Q” and “A” to the beginning of every question and answer for clarity. Uncy used emojis sometimes in their answers, but I did not copy those over if they weren’t text emojis.

I have put my own notes in [italicized brackets].

WARNING: There are huge spoilers for The Following in these questions, they are marked to make them easier to avoid, but please be wary.

@tafferfield I know you got a pretty wicked master list of DL2 stuff, so if any of this helps you feel free to grab it and add it.

Putting under a read more because this is long:

Q: Are all current zombies considered volatiles? A: Not really, there are still regular zombies and volatiles

Q: Zombies only exit the night? A: now that's a hard one, zombies can stay outside for some time during the day but they get weak IN THE SUN

Q: How much diffrent endings are there? A: About endings - more than one, don't want to spoil it

Q: Battle royale mode? A: no BR mode

Q: Are you able to clear the city of zombies? A: Basically human learned how to deal with infection, so the more humans the less zombies

Q: how does Aiden stop from turning? does he use antizin or something else A: antizine is finished but human discovered that strong UV light weakens the infection, that's why you have the biomarker

Q: Is Aiden a foreigner to the land like Crane? A: Aiden doesn't even know Crane exists Q: I meant is Aiden from around there or did he come from somewhere else A: he's not from the city, he's an outsider

Q: What are future plans for multiplayer? A: multiplayer wise - we have some stuff coming apart from co-op, but I can't really share multiplayer details now

Q: Will there be a fallout kind of karma system? A: karma system? nope but your choices and actions will affect how people see you

Q: How long will one playthrough of the game be? A: hard to tell, but i know that dl2 will be a game for a long time

Q: Will dying light 2 feature the same great ragdoll physics as the first. A: upgraded ones

Q: Will the game be translated into Brazilian Portuguese as the first? A: more languages will come, cant really tell for now

Q: Can we expect to see actual time sensitive activities within the game? (IE: Do this now or forever lose the chance) A: Yes, but its more like choice wise, like do one thing and u will never be able to do another

Q: Will you play Dying Light 2 with me on release ;d? A: why not

Q: Will Aiden be customizable (e.g. hair, individual clothing pieces,etc) A: yup there will be customization

Q: Is there a weapon combo system? A: what do you mean by that? Q: Like a combo like last game you could spam attack and hold it for a more powerful attack, I'm asking if you can combo attacks like 2 quick attacks and then a charged attack or stuff like that [This question never actually got fully answered]

Q: Did anything replace the grappling hook. Did it change in anyway? A: there's a grappling hook - and some more options to travel cause the city is huge {you will be able to upgrade them}

[SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING]

Q:if the vial ending from the following is canon (if the following is canon) is crane a Volatile?

A: in some way - both are canon. It's up to the player to choose it Q: will Crane make an appearance or not. If you cant answer then atleast say which ending is canon A: not really

[END SPOILERS]

Q: Will the game launch with any DLC's? A: i dont think it will launch with dlc's but post release support is planned

Q: The last trailer showed working vehicles, will we be able to use some? A: Yes

Q: How many different kinds weapons are there (number) A: too many to mention, we're still adding more weapons

Q: is it sticking with the old crafting system or are y'all switching it up A: crafting system is upgraded a little

Q: are in dying light 2 developer tools having the chance to make custom movements and animations? A: I don't really have info about dev tools right now

Q: Are firearms coming back ? A: No guns, no firearms - but there will be distance weapons like crossbows

Q: do we gain strength or anything when nighs fall? since we are infected A: during the night you need to use UV lights to stop the infection, you wont get stronger

Q: is the choices you make permanant (one save only) or can you save and go back? A: you can save and go back on some difficulties

Q: Czy będzie drzewko umiejetnosci tak jak w 1 ? A: tak

Q: Is the max number in a party still going to be 4 or will more team members be able to join in co-op multiplayer, if there is any. A: 4 player coop

Q: is there a system where our beard can grow out and cut it same with hair like rdr2 asked a few times chat just to fast lol A: hmm, i don't think so

Q: Can you turn into a zombie if you dont pay enough attention to your wristband? A: that's still under discussion, i don't think you will be able to play as a zombier tho

Q: When the game releases, are you able to link your old account from DL1 to get rewards? A: we wont forget about dl1 owners

Q: will you be able to upgrade/modify tools like grappling hook and the UV flashlight? A: yes, tools will be upgradeables

Q: are we going to have trading cards to craft badges on steam with dying light 2? A: Yup

Q: Will the UI be changed completely, both in-game, etc? A: there will be some changes for sure, i dont know how hard tho

Q: How many skill trees are there, and are they any more complex? A: you can upgrade a lot of stuff now

Q: Are ranged weapons going to be as powerful as they were in DL1 or is it a bit more balanced A: there are no guns, so its balanced

Q: I wonder if we will see some more gameplay (apart from the trailer) from E3? A: something will come this month

Q: what are the main factions in dying light 2? A: Peacekeepers and scavengers - those are two main factions, but there are more

Q: Who is the girl in the trailer? A: that's actually one of our employees but for now all I can say that she's singing in one of the bars in the city

Q: Has the infection gone worldwide A: yup

[SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING]

Q: What happened to kyle crane? Will he have anything to do with the game

A: he ded

[END SPOILERS]

Q: will there be an enhanced edition or any other editions or just the normal one? A:there will be different editions - more details coming soon

Q: Will some weapons from Dying Light 2 (before release) be added in Dying Light? A: watch the trailer closely

Q: Are you taking in any alpha testers any time soon? If so I would like to be the first volunteer. A: there are no tests planned for now

Q: Referencing the Trailer, will we have the ability to choose our siding, survivor or what seem to be the "law"? A: its all up to you and your decisions!

Q: during the first game the side quests were some of the most amazing in the whole game, my question is, will those little side quests be present in the second game as well and will they also impact the game A: Yeah! side quests will be there and there wont be just easy fetch quests, but rather a small stories on their own

Q:There's a post. On twitter(?) That mentions something like "as Aiden you can do things no one elese can" Does that mean there will be benefits in having your infected level reach a certain level? A: Aiden is simply well prepared to live in The City - that's all I can tell right now

Q: Will there be new skill trees or the same ones? A: would be weird to put in the same skill trees

Q: can you upgrade parts of the town? and is roger smith coming back for Voice acting A: depends what do you mean, if you help certain people by your actions or choices, they will start to build stuff like bridges, farms etc which will help you, they will also get rid of the zombies from buildings etc

Q: Is it possible, that BTZ will be in Dying Light 2? A: possible but not confirmed

Q: can we get the song from the trailer? its sick A: I think i got the name somewhere, ill add it to faq [Couldn’t find Uncy’s link, but I was able to find two of the three soundtracks featured in trailers on youtube: Help I’m Alive and Crimson Blaze & Battlefields]

Q: Please dont add lootboxes A: Cmon

Q: Why can't we pre-order A: cause we don't have all the editions ready yet

Q: got 2 questions: - Will we have a season pass for a limited time just like in Dying Light so we can get the DLCs for free? - can us console players please get a fov slider A: 1.There will be a season pass 2. I'll let the devs know about fov slider

Q: Will there be a new type of villain like Rais? A: nothing is white or black in The City

Q: Will it be the same loot system or a loot system at all? A: what do you mean by loot system? like those crates etc? Q: I'm referring to weapons and stuff like that. A: then I don't really know, afaik it got changed a little

Q: Can we expect to see a different climbing mechanic, same with the grapple? A: parkour system is upgraded a lot, grapple is coming back ofc

Q: 1. are there gonna be volatiles in dl2? and are the zombies in dl2 more faster, brutal and better in movement to chase u down? A: There are new and old zombies, can't tell more atm

Q:Will some of the old zombie mutations be returning? A: yup

Q: Distance weapons are mentioned, does that mean a weapon smith we can get distanve weapon blueprints from? A: you can created your own weapons

Q: Are there other zombie types than the ones mentioned in the interviews? If so can we know a bit about them? A: there will be more, no info now tho

Q: On the topic of Grapple, is it expected to behave the same as DL1, or will it have a different mechanic, such as a swing? A: grapple is different now and you can upgrade it

Q: an we drop kick zombies and humans from sky scrapers? A: Yup

Q: Will the grappling hook operate the same as in DL1? I think it was overpowered and needed bigger cool down, it took away from parkour element a lot for me. A: as I said later, it's reworked a little - not OP now

Q: Is Brecken alive in Dying Light 2? Or is he maybe related to protagonist? A: no one from DL1 comes back

Q: Does no ranged mean guns or are we also losing the bow/crossbow A: never said no ranged, i said no firearms, ranged weapons will be there

Q: Will the gore be overhauled or different in Dying Light 2? A: it will be upgraded, there are also new finishers coming in

Q: Will quarantine zones come back? A: dark zones will be in the buiuldiings

Q: what happen to the cure A: gone

Q: will there be more weapon upgrades than in the first DL? A: a lot more

Q: can we put miniguns on vehicles or weaponize them like the buggy from The Following? A: I don't think so - nothing for now at least

Q:What happend to the GRE? A: They were there when the infection started - they are the ones that gave away the biomarkers - no sight of them in the city now

Q: If there's a co-op mode, what is the max amount of players in 1 lobby? A: 4 players max

Q: Will there be more end game content then dl1? A: yup, first of all you will have to finish the game multiple times to experience the game fully, end game will also be improved

Q: What do you think will be there an epic crossover mission when we meet kyle but he's turned A: I don't think he will come back

Q: Infected animals? A: animals will be there, you can hunt them, dunno about infected ones tho

Q: Are there children in DL2? If so, can we kill them? A: Brutal

Q: Referencing the ease of combat in DL1, can we expect to see actual struggle when going against enemies? Will we have the feeling of should I fight or run? A: Ups [???] depends on the difficulty for sure, some of the fights will be hard, for example - you fight some guys near to the building and then zombies hear it and come out for few minutes, and you have XvXvX fight to go trough

Q: Kiedy pre order? A: Niedługo

Q: are the voliatile hive quests coming back? A: you will be cleaning some mess for sure, I don't know if those particular quests will go back

Q: Alright. I asked if we'll get skin to customize our weapons as in we keep them forever as blueprints and we can apply them to any weapon? A: customization will be upgraded, that's for sure, I believe we will actually share more details about it in the future

Q: Will there be brutal finishers after stun, like in old Dying Light version where Kyle pulls out smth from the chest? A: yup, we're still adding more and more finishers

Q: Are safezones upgradable in any way? A: you can't upgrade them as in "click a button and its happening" it changes when you do something for the city or you act in some way

Q: is there gonna be a volatile chase mission in the sewer like dl1? "extraction" with more running action? A: that's a really gameplay-detailed question, I don't think i have answer for it now

Q: Will there be weapons rarities? A: some weapons will be stronger than other - don't know about how will we deal with rarities

Q: can we do farming? A: i think that other people are meant for farming, not Aiden

Q: Is dl2 going to have the same docket system like dl1 if not please explain A: dockets are cool, would be good to have them back

Q: Will zombies give a fight for your life feel, or will it be light DL1 where they are primarily just nuisances? A: try going to dark zone during the day, you wont get out of there alive

Q: do we have a different type of vehicles or just one like dl the following we only had the buggy + we are going to have horses and motorbikes or no ? A: there will be some vehicles - more about that coming soon

Q: is there going to be any refrences from dl1??? A: yup, there will be differences [I’m assuming the question was misread]

Q: you said that there wont be any firearms in DL2, but can you maybe tell what's going on in here, as a game dev? It confuses me quite a lot [pic of peacekeeper with what looks like a gun] A: concept arts are not 1:1 gameplay

Q: Is there gonna be something that can make you even stronger if you maxed out all skill trees? (Like the Legend in DL1.) A: that's a really late-game stuff, i believe something like that will come

Q: will the hostile factions attack you if you go into certain areas (i.e if you take a safe zone for a scavenger will the peackeepers attack you in an office building A: yup

Q: how much is pre order and when will it go live A: we are still taking care of different editions and prices

Q: Are the weapons going to become more modern as you level up ? A: nope, weapons are really "hand made" but they all look cool

Q: Will there be any stational turrets, which you can craft/use in some safezones to clear hordes? A: people are dealing with the infected, turrets are too modern

Q: we can pre-order the game soon ? i mean like next month maybe or after a while ? A: yup, preorders will go live when we will figure out the versions etc

Q: Will multiplayer/coop loot be instance based, or client base? (DL1 uses a client base, as each player gets their own drops/items from chests/zombies) Instance based would be there's only 1 item for all players, first to grab gets. A: We still need to figure that out, I believe we will check which one is better

Q: any cool easter eggs coming? A: a lot of them

Q: Will there be any missions that require 4 players, and can more people join you for the final boss? A: 4 people is max

Q: will there be any more presentations or info about DL2 at e3? A: there will be more + new s this month

Q: Will there be boss fights and if there is at the last story mission do we have to be alone? A: don't ask about last mission when the game is not out

Q: we can play with animals like far cry ? i mean like u send animals to attack zombies or something like that, and will there be infected animals too or no ? A: you will be able to hunt animals for resources, i dont think you will be able to tame them

Q: what your prediction about the pc spec? A: i think you will be fine if you can run modern games, We go for FPS over resolution and we aim for 60 at ps4 and xone, its not confirmed tho

Q: so is there going to be some sick loot if we have dl1 and bad blood?? A: there will be something for DL owners

Q: Are there gonna be hunger and thirst bars, and food and drinks you can loot around the world or get from faction cities and safe zones? A: that's still under discussion, its not confirmed

Q: Will we see random wildlife throughout our explorations? (Not those of zombies.) A: yup and you can hunt them

Q: Will we be able to use the dying light companion app in Dying Light 2 A: probably yes

Q: so is there infected animals or no ? A: I dont think so, it's not really confirmed, so we will see

Q: Can we get a confirmation that the dev tools will be available eventually considering it massively increase the longevity of the game and wasnt a total fuckup of a decision like bad blood was? A: about dev tools - im still waiting for confirmation

Q: sorry for the torture but will there be a PVP gamemode or any special gamemode for DL2? A: we will have multiplayer based discussion, for now there are no details to tell about mp

Q: will DL2 get better mod support ? Something like Fallout 4 so we can add more stuff to the game A: i hope so

Q: asking again, will there be seasons? like winter and summer with weather changes? A: I don't think so

Q: Do i have to side with 1 faction completely? Do certain factions control certain safe zones or are safe zones neutral territory? A: nope, you don't have to side with 1 faction

Q: limitation (character inventory)? Like we can no longer have unlimited or 99x items in stacks - including crafting materials. A: I think there wont be limits to crafting materials, like 99x, i need to confirm that with devs tho

Q: Will there be walking zombie hordes, which will try to destroy safe zone's gates? And will it be like event? (is it really possible)? A: people's safe zones are protected with UV lights, zombies wont cross them

Q: Can I sleep in Dying Light 2 to skip night? A: the whole day-night cycle is changed in DL2, more details coming soon

Q1: will there be xray like in the old game A: what x ray Q2: Survivor sense, he meant I think Q3: the critical blue hit, when u hit a zombie, thats what he means A: oh, survivor sense is coming back

Q: Will duplications be patched frequently? As in DL1 there are still many that can occur. A: well i hope there wont be any dupe glitches

Q: Around how long would it take to playthrough the game once? A: quests etc are still coming so i cant really tell how long it will be right now

Q: Btw every pre-order got a bonus content so ofc dl2 got bonus content so when i buy the game after the release i can get this content even if i buy higher edition or its for pre-orders only ? A: i dont think we will have any preorder exclusives, time will tell tho

Q: How many quests Will there be? A: a lot

Q: how many or which of the zombie types from the first game will we see again in DL2? A: everyone from DL1 is coming back (zombie wise) wise some cool additions and upgrades

Q: How many factions are confirmed so far or at least under disussion? A: 2 main ones are confirmed, and there will be more side ones

Q: will there be any sort of vehicles we can drive in DL2? A: yup there will be vehicles

Q: Will there be shields and (fast?) counterattacks after blocking? A: ripostes will be there, im not sure about the shields but u can block without it

Q: The map takes place in a City, is this city based on a real life counterpart? A: it's a fictional city based on european cities

Q: what happened to the firearms i mean why they are removed from the game ? A: they are very rare commodity 15 years after diseaster

Q: can we drive vehicles? A: yes

Q: When does the Q&A end? A: in around 10 minutes

Q: I don't know if this was asked. But Will we be able to explore more then the city? A: the city alone is 4 times bigger than the first DL, there is a lot to explore, dunno about going outside tho

Q: Will there be some type of pvp in the game? A: more info about multiplayer modes will come very soon

Q: Who is the voice actor for aiden A: dunno to be honest xD not the kyle voice actors and that what matters [This has been released. Aiden’s voice actor is Jonah Scott.]

Q: So there is firearms in the game but they are very rare and hard to find ? i mean u can still find them but its hard right ? A: i mean that they are so rare that you wont find one, but as i said, there are still ranged weapons, and some you can craft on your own

Q: Will it be a new Be The Zomby ? Or Human player invading other world like DS3 ? A: as i said, no details for multiplayer this time, sorry! :x

Q: Will the implemented day/night cycle have any special amendments? (Can we expect to see random encounters/anomalies on random nights/days?) A: would be cool, ill ask devs

Q: In the trailer we saw bracelet and how "charges go down". What will happen if it goes down and will we have "antizin"? Can we buy or trade it? A: there is no antizine, strong UV lights weakens the infection, its still under discussion what will happen when it will go to 0, most possible outcome is simply dying and having to restart the game

Q: Hold up. "No guns" or "very rare guns"? I saw both those answers from Uncy A: its pretty much the same, like, they're all pretty much gone

Q: what about invasions? Be the zombie A: no multiplayer details now

Q: Is the game 4 times bigger then just the slums? Or the WHOLE game A: the whole game without the following

Q: Will there be more interactions within the game? (IE: Fishing, skinning the animals we hunt, cooking, etc) A: yup, there will be a lot to do in the city

Q: Will DL2 be on next gen xbox as it just got announced? A: right now we plan ps4 xone and pc release

Q: Will it be possible to take (offline) single-player saved games online, and if so, what proactive measures will Techland take to prevent game-save mods from disrupting the online multiplayer experience? A: as i said, multiplayer details will come in the future, those things are still under discussion

Q: Can we go and roam outside the city? A: Aiden wants to stay in the city

Q: my final question what is the virus called is it still called the harran virus A: well it's not in harran only anymore

Q: Is there some way to calculate just how many final outcomes you can get out of the game? Like in Detroit Become Human for example A: not really, not right now at least

Q: will screamers have more of a purpose then obstacle you have to get around A: they will be different this time

Q: Legend levels made the first game really easy so are they in dl2 or no ? and if they are there so is it balanced now or it will still make the game so easy ? A: legends levels are still under discussion as well

Q: Still another question about that charges... Will there be some visual and sensitive effects (like in Dying Light where the screens goes green and we dont have stamina)? A: yup, i think so at least

Q: Will there be more detailed animations for each thing we do? (If we activate our flashlight, Aiden would reach to his shoulder to turn it on) A: some things are speed up of course to not be annoying, but there will be more animations, like imagine having to reach the uv light for a 10000 time when volatile is at your face

Q: Will this channel remain so we can review all the previously stated questions? A: it will be closed but it will remain (i need to make QA out of it)

Q: Will it be possible to take (offline) single-player saved games online, and if so, what proactive measures will Techland take to prevent game-save mods from disrupting the online multiplayer experience? A: i responded to that with - no multiplayer details for now, I really don't have any info about it

Q: Can we ride horses ? A: nope

Q: Is korek in dl2? A: i dont think so

Q: anything to mention about Night hunters? A: night runners you mean? actually Aiden is the only man capable of reviving hte nightrunners caste

Q: wingsuit? A: maybe this will be one of the things we will be talking about - i mean, new traversal options

Q: Will we have the ability to pursue affections of NPC? Such as a friend meter, or even a lover? A: you will be able to interact with every single npc in the game - how? you will see

Q: Any building destruction in ds2? Like walls collapsing when you use explosives, would be cool A: just the last one - yes environment is destructible in some cases

#dying light 2 #dying light #the following spoilers #aiden caldwell #techland #long post #mod post #stills #dying light spoilers

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tinybibmpreg · 6 years ago

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Day 95 // ft. Clyde, Mishal, Sawyer, and Aiden/Aster

#74 / Cousin

“I can’t take the loneliness anymore.” Teary eyes looked down into his own as Clyde stood at the doorway, mouth agape. “Please, can I come in, brother?”

“Sawyer?”

Aster opened his eyes and immediately tipped over. His whole body felt strange and tired, and when he got his bearings and looked around, he could see that he was at the edge of a forest and a wide field full of tall grass and yellow flowers. It was bright and sunny, the air pleasantly warm.

He’d never left the city before.

As he pushed himself up, his clothes were clearly not his own. He didn’t own a pair of overalls and velcro shoes, and he never wore short sleeves.

His arms were not his own. His scales and scars had been replaced by smooth skin, and his dark nails were a normal human shade. His skin was a healthy brown instead of his dark, greyish-green flesh tone.

“Where am I? What… what am I?” he asked aloud, though there was no one around to answer him.

He spotted a building on top of a hill on the other side of the field and began walking towards it. Maybe he could find someone to help him, tell him where he was and help him figure out whose body he was currently occupying. While he’d never personally occupied someone’s body before, he knew it was possible. He’d heard someone mention it before.

Someone…

His parents, he was sure. But why they were discussing it, he wasn’t sure. Things were a bit fuzzy as he tried to recall what his parents were like. The image of a terrible monster came to mind without any difficulty, his father, but he couldn’t remember what his mother looked like. It was as if someone had erased his face and name from his memory.

At the end of the field there was a path leading around the hill up to the building, so he walked along it. His head started to hurt, and when he brought a hand up to his forehead, his fingers came back covered in blood.

“Hey!” Someone said, rushing off of the porch of the building as he reached the top of the hill. She came straight for him and knelt down in front of him. “Kiddo, where have you been? You’ve been gone for hours- you’re hurt!”

“Y-yeah…”

“Come on, let’s get you to the infirmary.” She picked him up and started walking off in the opposite direction of the field. Beyond the hill was a campus of some kind, with all sorts of different buildings and stone paths connecting them. There was a large expanse in the center, a park.

The person brought him into a white building labeled ‘medical center’ and went up to the front desk. They were waved into a hallway, where a doctor greeted them and lead them into a room. Aster was put down on an exam table.

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. I found him wandering around. Kiddo, what happened?”

The doctor gave her a pointed look and drew back with surprise when Aster answered, “I woke up in the forest, and walked across the field. I don’t know how I got hurt.”

“Ah- he talked! He never talks-”

“You don’t remember?” The doctor got over her surprise far quicker. “Might be some memory loss due to a head injury. Alright, hon, can you tell me your name?”

His mother had warned him never to tell his name to anyone. So Aster decided that he would run with it, pretending to have amnesia. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know your name?” He shook his head. “Ah… How about your birthday?”

“June 21st.”

“Good. You got that. And the year?” He gave the right year as well and felt sick. What was this? Why was this body the same age as him? “Do you know where you are?”

“A doctor’s office. I saw the sign. And you’re obviously a doctor.”

“No, no. Where is the office located?”

“I don’t know. It looks like a school.”

“And where is the school?”

“I don’t know.”

“What day is it?”

“Tuesday.”

“No. It’s Friday.” He was missing time. Why was he missing time? The doctor dabbed at the wound on his head. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I woke up in the woods, and then I fell down,” he lied. The last thing he remembered was pulling on his coat to go out and get groceries with his mother. “But that’s not how I hurt my head. It was already hurt.”

The doctor fixed the wound and concluded that he didn’t have a concussion. The blood was cleaned off of him, and a bandage was placed over the gash. She checked him over for any more injuries, only finding a bruise on his arm from when he’d fallen.

Two people came in, and only one of them looked familiar, a pale man with dull black hair and anxious, light green eyes. But he didn’t recognize either of them.

“Aiden!” The green-eyed man came to hug him, a relieved smile on his face, and Aster scooted away, eyes wide. “Aiden?”

“Wh-who are you?”

The man’s smile slowly faded away as he searched his face, confusion going to shock and then dismay. “Aiden…? What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“Aiden. Is that my name?” Also disturbing, that this body had a name similar to his own. Starting with an A, with the same amount of letters, an e second to last. Aster could hardly bear it. What kind of cruel joke was this? It must have been his father’s doing, though he hadn’t seen him in months.

But… his father had never done something like this to him before, so it wouldn’t make sense. He had no reason to put his son inside a different child’s body. Aster was sure they’d swapped places. Why would his father switch him with some boy he’d never met?

“You don’t remember who I am?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

He was brought to the hospital to make sure he didn’t have some sort of hard to detect head injury, and after two days, was allowed to go home, to Aiden’s home. The green-eyed man was his mother, Clyde Raleigh, and the other man, who had dark skin and one blind eye, was Mishal Raleigh, his father.

When they got home, Mishal carried him in and said, “Home sweet home! Anything familiar?”

He’d never been in this house. “No.”

“That’s okay. The doctors said you should start getting your memories back in familiar surroundings. And these are the most familiar surroundings you’ve got!”

The house was open but cozy. There were pictures and paintings on the walls, little knick-knacks on shelves and surfaces. All the outlets were childproofed, and Aster noticed that anything sharp or breakable was placed out of his reach.

Mishal showed him around the house and then set him down in his bedroom. “Here’s your room!” Everything was his favorite color of turquoise and light green, which made him sure this was specific and malicious. It was tormenting, the similarities. Aster went over and picked up a toy, a stuffed bear. It looked ugly, a red color he didn’t like at all. “That’s-” Mishal faltered when Aster dropped it on the ground and moved on to look at a box of building blocks.

“Huh?”

Lifting up the bear, Mishal finished, “This is your favorite toy, Mr. Bear.”

“Oh. It’s kind of ugly.”

“Your grandma got it for you.”

“Mhmm.” If he was going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future, he needed to explore. There was a plastic snowglobe atop his dresser, so he took it and shook it. Snow fell down on the tiny city inside, a mini Boston. Where he lived.

He made a mental note to smash the globe and set it back down. The majority of the toys in Aiden’s bedroom were plushies or toys meant for very young children. Mishal watched him as he explored all his toys, and Clyde joined in as well.

Finding an abandoned box of thick crayons made him happy, and he soon found a notebook he could draw in. The first few pages were filled with scribbles, so he found a fresh page and did some scribbles as well, not wanting to call any attention to his difference in art skills.

“Aiden, are you hungry?” Clyde asked.

“Yeah.”

“Come on downstairs, and Mom will make you something to eat.”

What Clyde made him was something bland with rice, and he ate part of it before deciding that he’d really rather not. He picked at the rest of it.

“What’s wrong, Ai? That’s usually your favorite.”

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t? What would you like?”

“I don’t know.”

“How about some of Dad’s leftover lunch? I’ve got half a sandwich left.” Mishal got a lunchbox out of the fridge and put it down in front of him. He opened it up and unwrapped the sandwich.

Clyde sighed. “Mishal, you know he doesn’t like that kind of thing.”

Aster picked it up and started to eat it. It was much better than whatever else he’d been eating.

“Well, it looks like he likes that kind of thing now.”

“Ah…”

Aster knew that he was far too different from Aiden for Mishal and Clyde to accept easily, though Mishal was delighted to introduce him to ‘new’ things that Aiden had previously shunned. What he didn’t expect though, was for Clyde to figure out that something was dreadfully wrong after just two weeks. Aster belatedly realized that Clyde, who had suddenly begun to encourage him to paint whatever he wanted after a trip to a therapist, was tricking him. Since he’d told the story that the pictures of his father were just a creature from a nightmare, he’d continued drawing him, drawing other things from his real life.

He overheard the two of them talking and hid around a corner in order to listen to them. Clyde sounded nervous, while Mishal’s voice was disbelieving, “What?”

“I don’t think he’s our son.”

“Clyde, what are you talking about? Aiden is ours.”

“He feels like Aiden, and looks like him, but- he’s completely different. He talks different, acts different... He’s so much smarter, and his whole personality is completely warped. It’s like he’s a whole new child. He had no injury to his brain, so there’s no explanation for his amnesia.”

“That the doctors could find. Clyde, I think you need to relax.”

“Mishal, he’s been lying to us. Aiden never lied.”

“Lying?”

“I can sense it. I didn’t, not at first, but now I can. He remembers things, but he’s not telling us. And I don’t think what he’s remembering is Aiden’s memories.”

“What? You think someone is controlling him?”

“I don’t know! I think we need to take him to the university, have him checked for any curses or spells. There’s a holiday in three days, we can take him then.”

“Alright. But Clyde, remember… He could very well still be our little boy. Don’t treat him differently, in case. He’s smart enough that he might resent you if you start treating him like a stranger.”

Mishal shook his shoulder to wake him up two days later. Aster mumbled, burying his face against Mishal’s neck when the man lifted him up. He brought him downstairs, and Clyde whispered to him, “Why did you bring Aiden down here?”

“I thought he might like to meet his uncle.”

“Uncle?” Aster looked up. Standing in the entryway was a man who looked very similar to Clyde, but taller and with older, sharper features. There was a long scar across his face, a line of small ones on his lips all the same size and width. Pale green eyes identical to Clyde’s stared directly into his own, and Aster fought to keep his expression neutral as a rush of altered memories came back to him.

“Mishal, Aiden, this is-”

“Sawyer Ganelon. I’m Clyde’s older brother, by five years.”

He was Aster’s mother. The body he was stuck in was his cousin’s. That was why their faces were similar. It didn’t explain why they were exactly the same age, but… It made sense why someone would choose this body to stick him into.

His mother looked exhausted, face gaunt and pale. Under his eyes were heavy bags, and around them, faint bruises. Aster looked down at his hands and saw that his fingers were in a similar state, mottled with bruises and small cuts.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sawyer!” Mishal held out a hand. His mother took it after a moment of hesitation. After a quick shake, he pulled his hand back. “What brings you here?”

“I need a place to stay for a while.”

“Sawyer…” Clyde bristled.

“Not forever. And not to do magic. I… I just need a month or so of peace.” He put a hand on his heavy belly. “My baby is due soon, and I’d like somewhere I can stay until we’re both strong enough to find a new apartment back in Boston.”

Aster couldn’t remember any reason why they’d have to move. He thought back to when he’d put on his coat to leave, and was surprised that now the memory continued. They’d gone to the store and gotten normal ingredients. Then they’d stopped at a magic shop, and his mother had told him to stay in the car and out of sight. He’d ducked down on the floor of the car. When his mother had come back with a strange smile on his face, his bags had been full of odd ingredients and devices.

He’d felt uneasy at the sight of them, even more so when his mother had locked them in his bedroom. The rest of the day had gone normally, and the last thing he now recalled was his mother giving him a kiss on the forehead before telling him to go to bed. He couldn’t remember going to sleep, or even moving from where he’d stood frightened in the hallway.

“Fine. Mishal?”

“Of course! Come on in, you look like you need to sit down. I’ll get you something to warm you up. Aiden, why don’t you show your uncle to the living room?” Mishal put him down, and he walked to the living room. The brothers followed him, Clyde going silent. His mother said nothing as well, not even after they all sat down.

There was a crash in the kitchen, and Clyde sighed and went to go investigate. As soon as his brother was gone, his mother turned to him and smiled. “Hello, Aiden, is it?”

He nodded. Then, voice a whisper, asked, “Mom?”

His mother pulled him into a tight hug. “I’ve got you, Aster.” It was so nice to hear his name again. But his mother pulled away from him and took his hands. He cupped them together in his own and mumbled something under his breath. When he separated them, a ball of Aster’s power hovered between them. It grew to the size of an apple and then fizzled out. Frowning, his mother said, “It didn’t work.”

“What didn’t work, Mom?”

“You don’t have to worry about that, little bug. I’ll take care of everything.” He gave him the eerie smile he’d had at home. “I always do.”

#Oblio's fics #original #mpreg #male pregnancy #Clyde Raleigh #Mishal Raleigh #Sawyer Ganelon #Aster Wittenberg #Aiden Raleigh #The Winter Demon

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becomingmac · 6 years ago

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My So Called Life

I realized I never put my story on here. *for TL;DR will be in bold for people who doesn’t care to read.

Adolescents: This story starts at a young age, It starts with my dad. My father wanted a boy. As a toddler we played rough games, I played Sega and played only football games. I wore shirts out of the boy section, I loved spider-man, Pokemon and Dragon ball Z. All things that related to boys. My grandmothers and my mom dressed me as girl, in pink, in dresses, capris, and other stuff that girls liked. But me, I didn’t like any of that. Barbies were a no. Girl coloring books were no. I thought care bears are the closest I got to them. I had Barbie sheets despite not wanting them. I was five years old when a girl punched me for liking blue and she told me that wasn’t a girl’s favorite color. I moved towards having friends that were boys. But never the popular boys though I envied them for all the girls wanting to be around them. Girls became more beautiful the older I got. I wanted them to see me the way they saw boys that they liked. Muscular, cool hair, boys clothing that was simple. But that wasn’t me. The older I got the more I was told I was a disappointment by my grandmother for not liking dresses and not wanting to have anything to do with being feminine. I had to wear bras despite not wanting boobs, I had to wear girly deodorant besides not wanting to smell girly.

Pre-teen: This body wasn’t mine and I didn’t want it. I began having crushes on all (not all but like most) my friends at the age of 11. But they all wanted boys so I pretended not to like them and liked boys. I made up lies and rumors, to cover up what I felt. At thirteen I learned about being a lesbian and I thought this was it. But don’t tell my friends they wouldn’t get it. I began to like my best friend. I tried to tell her, but she didn’t get it. I had my first girlfriend and I hid her away from everybody. She was proud to be with me but I didn’t feel the same. It was simply because I didn’t really like her and when everyone found out they didn’t act shocked. I told them I was bi so I seemed less strange to them. Girlfriend #2, When we would talk, I would take on the masculine role. That was me, the man. Another friend came out… or I outed. But she stayed with boys. Boys who were a mess and I didn’t understand. Again, I was not muscular, my voice wasn’t getting deeper and I wasn’t comfortable with me. I began dreaming about being what these girls wanted. Handsome, tall and muscular. But girlfriend #2 came back and forth. To feel the way I wanted I started doing.. unconventional things.

Teenage: Girlfriend #2, dumped me because I got a haircut and she told that I no longer looked like a girl and she wanted nothing to do with it. Eventually she came back and we spent months together. She left me for someone who looked even more manly and was athletic. Things I wasn’t more of.I began cutting off my hair more and more. Eventually I was getting called Sir. My grandmother began complaining that I had too short of hair. But I finally came out to them and they understood and eventually I was out to everyone. My dressing turned manlier and honestly then and now, Boy jeans are fantastic. Truthfully, I felt relieved that I could dress how I feel and have my hair feel the way that I wanted. But I became embarrassed to dress on the boy’s side because I was a girl. But as equally hating the women’s side because I didn’t belong there. Bathrooms started getting uncomfortable and having to wear a band dress became uncomfortable. My favorite super heroes were all male and I related to them so much. My ships were heterosexual couples and I wanted to be the men in them. I was constantly being told “If you were a boy, I would date you.” Girlfriend #3, She made me into something masculine, taught me how to dress fully comfortably on how I wanted to look. I was 16, I was introduced through one of my friends to a Person #1and Person #2. Person #1 wanted help on figuring out how to be manly and how to officially come out. The more P1 explained to me all the terms and one stuck with me, Genderqueer. Genderqueer is (noun): a Person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both or a combination of male and female genders. Was this me? I began talking about my feelings to Friend 1 and she told me whoever I was, she’d still be my friend. P2 and talked and she told me she didn’t see it but I felt it. I started getting mistaken more, hardly having boobs was truly helping me. My mother was angry and she said that it made her feel sad that people weren’t seeing her daughter and for me to stop cutting my hair. I made my own mother embarrassed of me. Eventually I told Girlfriend #3 what I was thinking and what if I was this term, and what if I was a boy. she said that we wouldn’t be together because she could never see herself with a man. So, I buried my feelings deep down to continue in my relationship. Now I felt more weight I didn’t understand on my shoulders. The more I buried my feelings down, I began feeling unhappy, I was seeking attention from other girls, especially one. But she had a boyfriend. But Girlfriend #3 was still around, we were trying to keep things together, though she was cheating with someone more feminine then me. Why wasn’t I the girl I was supposed to be? I began to hate my relationship more and more every day. Bye girlfriend #3. [Insert Complicated mess that is me and Friend 1] Again still a lot of people telling me that I was a better boyfriend than their boyfriends. Sorry your boyfriends sucked.

College: I became increasingly not comfortable in my body again. I began changing the way that I dressed, I switched to shorter shorts like frat boys. I might as well be one because that’s how douchy I look. I met Girlfriend #5, who was so much better than any girl I met. She matched my intelligence, she had an interesting life and we shared interests. Towards the beginning I told her about my gender problems and she said “boy or girl, I’ll love you no matter what. It doesn’t matter to me, You’re still you.” I had never cried so much like a baby. Her little sister I feel like she knew, in some way somehow “I’m girlie girlie and you’re boye boye.” [Fast forward like two years] As of march the conversation started popping up more and maybe because I didn’t feel like the person I was supposed to be. I would say things like “I don’t know, I’m not a girl.” Eventually I came to the terms of Non Binary. It just made sense, I wasn’t a boy or a girl. She supported that decision. I told my family, they were okay with it. My mom named me Thor. But it just didn’t feel right. I began feeling overwhelmed and unhappy. My grandmother she told me “You know what I don’t like about you? You’re not girly and you think you’d dress the way I want to make me happy.” I began thinking of what my life would be like as a male. A man, that’s a dream. At UTSA, I made a friend 2, I never paid a lot of attention to him but he was very nice to talk too. The conversation started over Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysphoria (GD), or gender identity disorder (GID), is the distress a person experiences because of the sex and gender they were assigned at birth. In this case, the assigned sex and gender do not match the person's gender identity, and the person is transgender. I made some comments on how I felt. Things like that I loved having short hair. Always being drawn to Boy gendered things. The happiness of being mistaken for a boy. How I had a name picked out if one day I decided I was a trans man. “That’s not normal, Cis people don’t say that. Oh yeah, and by the way I’m trans.” From that moment on, I began questioning my life. Who was I really? Why can’t I be Veronica? I wanted to be someone else. Anyone else, but Veronica because I wasn’t Veronica. I had never been. I stayed up sleepless on how I felt. I cried constantly because I didn’t understand myself even more now. I wasn’t the person I was supposed to be. I wasn’t muscular, I wasn’t tall, I wasn’t any of the things I wanted to be. And all I wanted was to be me. Girlfriend #5, she started noticing the crying and she started talking about this man she followed named Chella Man. Little by little she showed me more. Until one day I said “What if that’s me?” and she’s like “he has a ted talk lets watch it.” Chella Man, he was known as the boy named Rachel. I related to him and I started to understand him. Chella man identifies as Gender Queer. He talks about the difference between gender identity and presentation. While he was gender queer. He presented himself as a man with male pronouns. He said this way he didn’t have to get rid of his feminine qualities and he got to express his masculine qualities. There was a lot of crying but “No matter who you are, I am always going to love you and I’ll be here every step of the way.” I sobbed like a baby. That’s me, and that’s who I wanted to be. I reached out to Friend 2. He talked to me about himself and his life before. He showed me somethings that he wrote and they really hit home. I found out who I am and I felt all the pressure go away. While one thing still bothered me, how would my family take it? Later one night I wrote out this long facebook message about who I was along with that video. I lied to everyone though, I told them that I didn’t know which pronouns I wanted. I wanted He/Him. The decision of not telling them bothers me. But I assured them that I was still going to be me. Because I am me. GF #5 and I started looking up names and making me comfortable with male pronouns and other words like Boyfriend (I hear big time rush in my head right now) We even choose a name, Mateo Aiden Carranza. MAC just like my uncle and my dad. I started by buying a binder and continuing my conversations with Friend 2. I told my three best friends about my decision and my name change and immediately they went into helping me. “can I call you Matt for short?” “love you no matter what, bb.” “Is that how you would like me to address you?” “It doesn’t bother me.” “you’re an inspiration.” I started reading things online and researching how to go about everything. I released a video on snapchat asking people to help me. Everyone supported, and people started asking how to help. But It didn’t help the way I felt, and it caused me to spiral – Quit my job, went through a break up, tried to die. The usual problems. I came out to my family. I started realizing somethings such as I constantly compared myself to Boys from the age of 5 to even the ones I see now. I created doubts and faults of myself that way. I had no way of being them. I lead myself down a path where I pretended to be someone else. Someone who tried so hard to be happy with the cards they were dealt, but man they were some shitty cards. Being Veronica was exhausting. It made me realize this whole, I didn’t care who I was because GF #5 made me feel like it didn’t matter, I could have been like a furry and she probably would have been down with it. But I’m happy now. Got a decent job, I love the people I work with and I got to start fresh with them. Started T as of this week. I have the support of all of my family. Schools aright. But yeah. I still have the rest of my journey ahead.

Always Forward, Never Back.

#My Story #MAC #Sorry if someone I know is reading this #Sorry if you're included in here somehow #BUT YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE

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notgoingtohappen · 7 years ago

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Revenge, Interrupted (Part 21)

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A/N: *Waves* Hello! Sorry for the super long wait, but the good news is here! I’m finally in a position to write again, this is the longest chapter yet, and it has something you guys have been asking for for ages!! I really hope you still like the fic lol enjoy!

Caroline hadn't gone for a proper party since the string of wild bashes that had happened to celebrate college graduation. Needless to say, she was excited. And the extrovert in her was delighted at the opportunity to meet some new people in this city.

She, Bonnie and Elena crowded around the fairly big bathroom mirror, applying finishing touches to their makeup and carefully styling their hair. She had to admit, they looked hot. Bonnie wore a tiny, flimsy black dress and had her hair falling in waves, Elena wore a sheer crop top with super short shorts and her brown hair in a long ponytail, and Caroline had on a glitzy off-shoulder top paired with her plain old cheerleading skirt that was so tiny she almost threw it away, but it looked good and she was celebrating. She deserved to de-stress.

There wasn't a particular reason she was putting this much effort into her appearance or anything, she thought as she flat-ironed her hair straight. She had been ignoring the nervous ball of energy in her stomach all day, which Stefan's declaration of love had only intensified. She knew it was for Damon's benefit, obviously, but she couldn't help the feelings it stirred up.

She just had to focus on having fun in the last few days of this stage of her life. Soon, she'd start her job, and everything would be different. She was going to get over this mess.

"Care, wear the red lipstick," Elena's voice interrupted Caroline's stream of thought. "It looks like, bomb on you."

"And maybe some smokey eye?" Bonnie asked, eyeing Caroline's soft glimmery eye makeup.

Caroline looked at the clock and saw they barely had fifteen minutes. She turned to them suspiciously. "What's up? In high school you usually suggested I tone it down."

"It's just, this is a rave, and your first party with your perfect new boyfriend, we want you to look perfect. Not that you don't already look stunning." Bonnie said.

"Aw, thanks you guys." Caroline smiled warmly at her best friends. "You both look fantastic too, by the way."

Fifteen minutes later, the girls were ready to go. Caroline grabbed her purse and followed them out of the apartment, where the boys waited near the lift. Stefan did a double take when he saw her, and she beamed with satisfaction on the inside.

"Wow... you look..." Stefan cleared his throat, looking serious again. "Great." He seemed unable to tear his gaze away until Damon punched his arm.

"Stefan is very taken with you, Caroline, but none of us wants to be witness to this ogling session going on."

Caroline looked away, blushing, a smile on her lips, and Stefan seemed to turn slightly red too.

Was his reaction real? Or just some brilliant acting?

Ugh, she was too exhausted to try and figure this clusterfuck out. She just wanted to relax. Feeling annoyed at this Stefan situation and simultaneously optimistic now that the awful cloud of her mother's illness was no longer hanging over her head, she grabbed Elena's purse and took out the small flask of vodka and took a long swig.

Bonnie and Elena burst out laughing while Enzo and Stefan stared at her in mild shock.

"Woah, slow down Blondie, let's at least get to the rave first."

"I'm fine," Caroline muttered, draining the flask, which made her head swim. "College increased my tolerance by like, a twenty-fold." She thrust it back into a now speechless Elena's hands, and tried to walk to the lift but stumbled and was about to hit the ground when Stefan caught her instantly, his arm securely around her waist, his deep eyes looking down at her intensely like... some kind of green fairy pool.

"Stupid heels." Caroline sighed, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach.

Stefan took her hand in his and helped her up, and then wrapped an arm around her back, propping her up just in case. "You okay?" He seemed concerned.

"Yeah, let's go!"

"Caroline, do you want to sit for a bit?" Bonnie asked, looking a bit worried.

"You shouldn't have downed that on an empty stomach," Elena said, exchanging glances with Stefan.

"I'll be okay, don't worry you guys. I just want to have fun."

She was aware she was being unreasonable and acting out of character. It was like a switch had been flipped in her, and she felt free and euphoric, all of her apprehensions and past anxieties dissolving. She wasn't even sure where this was coming from. Looks like she had been a lot more stressed than she'd let herself realise, and with all the change going on, she'd unconsciously been longing for the careless days of uni. This was her chance to unwind, and she was determined to take it. It really wasn't a big deal, she wasn't going to go out of control or anything.

"I'm not high school Caroline, Elena. You've both been off having fun together for the last four years, well guess what, so have I. We don't know each other as well as we used to, but I can handle myself now." She shot back, and pulled away from Stefan, walking into the elevator without stumbling. "I'm already sobering up." She said, carefully enunciating every word.

"Care, where is this coming from?" Elena asked, looking hurt.

"It's fine, let her have fun this one night before reality catches up with us again," Damon interjected.

She grinned at him. "Thank you. I knew there had to be something good about you."

Damon clutched his chest in mock emotion. "I'm touched."

Stefan followed her into the elevator, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he stood beside her silently, looking like he was a statue cut from marble. She wondered if he knew how beautifully chiselled he was. As she gave him another once-over, she realised that of course he was well aware. Guys who looked like that had girls fawning over them all the time. How hadn't it gotten to his head like Damon? Was this an act? It couldn't be, she chided herself. Stefan Salvatore was annoyingly sincere and noble.

"Chill, Stefan. I'm fine. Let's all have fun." She said to him.

"Okay." He said, still looking serious. The rest of the elevator ride passed in dead silence.

The fresh air outside cleared her head more, and as she walked behind the group with her boyfriend the guilt of what she'd just said to her best friends hit her. She knew where it had come from; she'd felt super excluded the first few months of college knowing her best friends were having fun without her. She'd always been insecure about her friendships and the situation had just magnified the FOMO. Even when she'd made peace with it and adjusted to her new life, she felt pangs of it sometimes when she saw their Snapchat or Instagram. She'd been elated when they moved to the same city, but there were moments every day she felt left out. She did her best to ignore it, but the alcohol had made her vocalise it in a way she would never have done before.

It wasn't fair of her; it wasn't their fault. They were always good friends to her and had best of all, they understood her. They'd always tried to make sure she’d feel as little of her trademark insecurity as possible. She caught up to her best friends and slung an arm around each of their shoulders from behind.

"Hey guys, I'm so sorry. I lashed out, it wasn't fair. I'll be in control for the rest of the night, I promise."

They moved to the side, making space for Caroline to walk in the middle, and threw their arms around her too.

"It's okay, babe. We don't realise sometimes how it must have felt for you to watch us spend all those years without you." Elena said, smiling apologetically at her.

"Yeah, we forget sometimes that you had a whole different life in college and don't know what we're talking about," Bonnie added.

"We're together now," Caroline grinned as they came to a halt in front of the cars.

"I have an idea! Let's divide into guys and girls for the ride to the warehouse." Bonnie said.

"Yes! Quality time." Elena said happily as Enzo tossed her the keys to his car.

"Sure, as long as the Salvatores don't bite each other's heads off at the red light or whatever."

~*~

It was a fun journey, with them blasting hits from their high school days and singing along at the top of their voices. Caroline was pretty sure Elena was sexting Damon from the back seat because of the picture she'd caught her taking when she had turned around... good for her and her relationship, she supposed.

She stared at the warehouse once they pulled up at the rave, listening to the music pounding in the distance. It seemed promising. "This better be like Aiden's blacklight rave at that Hale loft," she muttered as she made her way to Stefan and entwined her fingers with his.

Upon entering, they were greeted with the sight of hundreds of bodies packed closely together, moving to the deafening music. Caroline's spirits instantly lifted upon seeing the drinks glowed, as did the paint on people's bodies.

"Well, you got what you wanted, Caroline," Enzo said, looking around.

"It glows." Stefan finally spoke, the corners of his mouth twisting up a little.

"Let's hit the bar."

They found the massive bar with no problem, and she turned to one of three bartenders. "Let's start with shots. Keep 'em coming." She said.

"For us too." Elena gestured to the group.

After the first two rounds, they drifted off into couples. Elena was showing Damon something on her phone and giggling, and Bonnie and Enzo were making out against the counter. Caroline looked away and her gaze landed on Stefan.

She herself hadn't been very love-y towards him that day, what with blanking during the "I love you" in front of Damon in the morning and brushing Stefan off and barely speaking to him in the evening. Emboldened by the alcohol and registering the need to prove their relationship to her friends, she threw her arms around him, revelling in the feel of his hand on the small of her back, holding her close.

"Did I tell you I love you?" She said, loudly enough for them to hear.

"I love you too" he gazed at her in his broody, intense manner.

She noticed his second glass lying untouched and raised her eyebrows.

"No more for me, thanks. Someone has to be sober."

"Who says? Enjoy your youth, Stefan. Come on."

Stefan looked unconvinced, conflict brewing in his eyes.

"Or do I need to break out the weed? I'm sure this place is crawling with dealers."

Stefan's face broke into a smile, and Caroline grinned back, warmth spreading in her chest.

"You should smile more, you're hot."

He gulped down the shot and signalled for another round. "Thank you." He said, sounding slightly cocky. Well. That was a side of Stefan she hadn't seen before.

She ordered another round.

"Just one more," Stefan said.

She rolled her eyes. "Ignore him," she told the bartender. "We deserve some fun, Stefan. When was the last time you let go?"

He nodded. “Okay, you’re right.”

After a few minutes of drinking and laughing over how brilliantly they were playing their friends, just like the first night they had met, and slipping furtherer and furtherer away from sobriety, they saw Bonnie and Enzo making their way towards them.

"Shh, they're coming!" Caroline hissed.

Without missing a beat, Stefan pulled her to his chest, holding her close as he cupped her cheek with a hand and kissed her.

The addition of alcohol to Stefan kissing her passionately made Caroline feel the most incredible high. It was like liquid fire had spread to every nerve in her body. She melted into his strong arms, wanting to savour the moment forever, and was interrupted by the sound of Enzo clearing his throat.

They pulled away, but Stefan didn't move his arm from her waist or his hand from her cheek.

"Ahem, mate, we're going to dance. Catch you later." Enzo said awkwardly.

"I have my phone if you need to reach me," Bonnie added.

"Don't worry, we aren't getting out of here until morning light," Caroline replied.

"Let's just leave whenever we want, couples-wise. See you in the loft." Stefan said, his voice delightfully hoarse, sending a wave of desire shooting through Caroline.

"Sure"

Caroline grabbed the neck of his T-shirt and pulled his lips to hers, resuming their slow, electrifying kiss that sent thrills down her stomach.

Suddenly, the music blasting from the massive speakers registered in her mind. "Wait, this is my favourite song. Come on!"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the crowded dance floor.

"Hey!" A girl with a large number of piercings grinned at her. "Want some body paintings?" She asked, holding up a handful of paints.

Caroline glanced around and noticed everyone had some form of glowing artwork on their bodies. She even saw Bonnie and Elena dancing a few meters away with some patterns that shone on their arms and legs.

"Yes, oh my god!"

"What would you like?"

"Um... a butterfly on my cheek, and some swirly patterns on my chest and torso."

The girl looked at her questioningly. "Your top kinda covers that, sweetie."

"Oh, that? I wore this bra for this very reason." She grinned, taking her top off in one quick move. Her bra glowed as blue.

It had been a genius buy from three years ago. It brought out her eyes, and it was perfect for parties like these.

Stefan seemed unable to tear his darkening gaze away from her as the girl painted her body with the shimmering colours. Once she was done, she stepped back to review her work, and Stefan stepped in.

"I think you missed a spot," he said, taking one of the brushes from her can and dropping to his knees before Caroline, gripping her side with one hand and beginning to glide the cool paint against her burning body in smooth strokes, making her shiver.

"So you're painting on me now?" She asked, trying her hardest to sound unaffected but failing as her voice came out in a husky tone.

"You'll like it." He gripped her more firmly, as the brush moved all over one spot on her side, and Caroline tried her hardest not to tremble.

"Done." He said, and moved to blow over it to dry the paint. It was too much for Caroline and she dropped down to him, hands gripping his hair, and kissed him desperately. His hands moved from her waist to her face, and she welcomed his pull, moving closer to each other until there was no space between their bodies and they were just making out on the floor. The rush was exhilarating.

"Uh, I'll leave you to it then." The girl's voice floated down from somewhere.

Stefan pulled away. "No, wait. One more painting, please."

The girl looked at Caroline's face and laughed. "Looks like you took care of her cheek."

Caroline whipped out her phone and stared at herself in the reflection. Instead of the butterfly she wanted, there were three streaks of ice blue paint from Stefan's fingers. Surprised, she turned to him with a smile. "I like this better."

Stefan smirked.

"Wait, what did you paint?" She remembered suddenly. Her mind had completely blanked once Stefan's hands were on her. The girl held up a mirror and Caroline saw a perfect star on one corner of her waist, glowing blue among the pink swirls.

"You shine." He said simply when she looked at him questioningly.

Damn it. Even when they were drunk out of their minds and he had just been painstakingly teasing her, he was romantic. He really was the perfect boyfriend. She was so unlucky.

"I didn't mean her," He turned to the girl, and took his shirt off.

It was Caroline's turn to stare.

After the girl was done painting flames down his back and onto his torso and shoulders, she handed Caroline the brush. "I'll leave you to it." She muttered, walking away.

"Thank you, they're beautiful!" Caroline called out at her retreating back.

She turned to Stefan and ran a hand across his muscled torso, making sure her touch was soft and fluttering, and then slowly, deliberately, delighted in his laboured breathing, painted a blue symbol on his side, right where her star was.

The moment she was done and began to blow on it, Stefan yanked her up and started kissing her neck, making her eyes fly shut and her breaths come in sighs.

"Stefan," she whispered. No response.

"Stefan." She said louder, and he pulled away at once, looking at her curiously.

"Come on," She grabbed his hand and pulled him further into the dance floor. No way was this night going by without her dancing.

She spent what seemed like hours dancing to her hearts content, with Bonnie and Elena, with Enzo, with strangers, with Liam and Nadia, until her back suddenly crashed into something hard and warm and she felt a strong arm snake around her.

“Stefan,” she breathed.

“Caroline.” was his simple response.

They started swaying to the pulsating music, bodies pressed closely together, and she grinded closer to him. The skin-on-skin felt amazing, and their hands were all over each other. They seemed to be hypnotised, her body rising and falling, his hands teasing, their hips rocking, breaths uneven, and eyes widening with desire. Aching lust ran through her body and Caroline never wanted to stop.

The ever-present voice of caution in her head was nowhere to be heard, and she doubted she’d listen to it even if it was. They had been too intoxicated the whole night by the lights, the music, each other, and their feelings of lust and desire, to think of their relationship or feelings or policy of distance.

“What did you draw?” His breath was hot against her ear.

“An S,” She replied. “The symbol on your ring, and also your superhero hair.”

His seductive smile melted into one of those intense, burning stares, and he pulled her into him. Once their lips met, it was over. They managed to stumble to the stairway, but the narrow space just had them crashing into each other again, until Stefan was sitting on one of the stairs and Caroline was straddling his lap as she kissed him, burning pangs of desire coursing through the pit of her stomach, making her grind further into him as he let out a curse, followed by a desperate moan of her name which nearly drove her off the edge.

Somehow, they found a bare, empty room upstairs with a single mattress, and spent the night away in pure ecstasy, finally, after dancing around it for what had been too long.

#steroline #steroline fanfiction #steroline fic #stefan salvatore #caroline forbes #steroline fanfic #ri #hello please give me feedback at this crucial time #after a 6 month break i'd love to hear what you guys think!

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