#Things have gotten a bit better but im just pointing out the pattern of becoming a A/A fan 😭😭 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

now-im-a-belieber · 4 years ago

Note

Hii❤️ can j please request "i love you so much that it terrifies me" with Bill? Thank you❤️

prompt: "i love you so much that it terrifies me"

bill guarnere x female!reader

a/n: annnnd im back to writing angst! don't worry the ending is mostly happy and i kind of have an idea for a part 2?! but here's this for now, i'm kinda proud o' this one!

taglist: @capsparkyspeirs @wecomrades @tvserie-s-world @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant

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Your enlistment was nothing short of a miracle.

It happened during the last attempt you'd given yourself out of about a dozen other times. The officer, who'd become used to you storming up to his desk every other day, sighed upon noticing your return this time. Until then, he'd only ever glance your way and then back down at whatever work lay upon his desk. But this time, he sighed.

Hell, so what if you'd worn him down more so than convinced him you were fit to fight? He'd finally agreed to let you sign your name on the dotted line.

"Fine." The officer said. "You wanna prove something so badly, go on, prove it." And he went on to ramble about how he wouldn't be surprised to find you back home in a week's time after failing to meet any requirements at Toccoa.

"War is no place for women." He huffed, finally.

"Then I'd better hurry and get out there. Since anyone who shares your ideals clearly has no fight left in them on the behalf of people like me."

You brushed off his discouragement and marched home to the beat of your ever quickening heart. Bill was certainly going to have a lot to say about this. But so were you...

He was packing when you arrived. There were no more days left until Bill was due at the training camp. Just one night's rest. The last night you'd planned to spend together for only God knew how long.

But before any goodbyes could begin, you hovered in the bedroom doorway with news to share. Better to get this out in the open and out of the way...

"I got in." You breathed, stood with the confirmation papers in your vice grip, like if you let go of them they'd cease being tangible.

"You got in?" Bill repeated in monotone. You weren't expecting a fight. You'd actually thought Bill would burst at the seams with pride and joy, like he said he would when you first wondered aloud, if your joining up was wise.

But then he repeated the same sentence in some kind of realization. And there was a smile affecting his tone as he spoke in the charming draw you'd always adored. He abandoned his poorly packed bags and swept across the room to stand before you, with a gleam in his eye. And then came his rambles of praise and excitement. Telling you he knew you'd make it. Telling you he'd be right behind you every step, ready to give hell to anyone who might try and break you down along the way.

You let your man fawn and flatter you, but knew this night couldn't end without making yourself perfectly clear.

"That's the thing though." You revealed with a shaky breath. You hadn't thought much about how to say this. But you knew you had too.

"Your help.... I don't think it would help. Bill, I have to do this on my own. The officer's right. I *do* have something to prove. And I don't want anyone thinking I made it to where I'm headed because my boyfriend knocked enough barriers out of my way."

You didn't wanna fight. You desperately didn't want this to be a fight. But this was something you were sure of. So you braced yourself at the sight of your man's jaw clenching.

And there was no hiding the flash of sadness in Bill's eye's, though sadness for what, you couldn't be exactly sure. As you held your breath, you watched as Bill slowly relaxed his shoulders. And through the pregnant silence that had settled, he reached out to you and said, "Alright, doll."

"Alright?" You wondered in suspicion. That was almost too easy.

"I know you ain't gonna change your mind about somethin' this important to ya." Bill pointed.

So then it was decided. You'd be headed to the same place with the same goal with the person you'd loved longer than you had fingers to count on. But you wouldn't let on that you'd known Bill long before stepping foot onto the camp grounds. After a while longer of your making your aspirations clear, Bill promised he understood. And you hoped your selfish determination wouldn't be misconstrued.

And still, your man went on another monolog about how proud of you he was.

"But if ya think I won't be around every corner waitin' up to steal you away, you'd better think again." Bill kissed your head and coaxed you to bed, reminding you this was the last of night's like these.

So you stayed entirely swept up in Bill's orbit. Talk of what things would be like quickly washed away by your appreciation for the moment Bill implored you to stay focused on. This was the last of night's like these indeed...

///

He'd been at Toccoa for a week already. You realized entirely, that your late joining would affect you just as negatively as every other aspect of your joining at all.

But this only made you want it worse than ever. Not just to prove yourself. Not just to prove others wrong. But you felt the desire to be a part of this for reasons much more profound than you'd ever had the means to understand for yourself, let alone explain to anyone.

So you followed every rule like it was do or die. From which path to walk to find your barracks- to the drills you were sent to practice before you'd so much as stepped out of the cab ride here.

And to your surprise, you seemed to blend into the background of things. There were no gasps or whispers traded as you found your place among the men.

It was hard to tell if they could care less about your presence, or if they collectively, subconsciously, decided to freeze you out; finding it the easiest way to focus on reigning supreme themselves.

And it was just as you'd gotten used to the silence you'd been receiving, when you saw him. Your man. Your Bill, yakin' with some fellas who reminded you of the kids you'd hung around the school yard with, back home.

And at the sight of the man you'd loved for so long, after a fortnight gone from his side, you were inclined to run into his loving arms- despite your fuss made about keeping a distance.

And then he saw you, too. And the bunch he was with had begun walking off. Bill seemed to turn, to follow along, in a moment that sent your heart to plummet. But over his shoulder Bill shot you a wink and a sly smile.

And something about the smile he gave you beyond the space he respected made your heart rise back up and melt all the while. And you realized he was completely on your side. How did you get so lucky?

Things went on like that for a couple weeks. Most of the company would pay you no mind. This meant your accomplishments seemed invisible and the times you might've been bold enough to ask for a helping hand fell on deaf ears.

But some started to pester you, unable to hold back their snide remarks any longer. An odd pride swelled within you, when your existence started becoming meaningful enough to irk them. And eventually, a few of the sweeter souls seemed to recognize that you were, in fact, a human, just as eager to be a part of the great big fight as they were.

So with the few friends you'd made, you'd found occasional moments of respite side by side. But of course, there was one soldier who managed to hold your attention everyday- though you were damn good at pretending this wasn't so.

Bill, on the other hand, couldn't be stopped from shouting encouragement across obstacle courses and casting longing stares across the dining hall. And some of the guys you'd started getting on with kept cracking jokes about how Bill must've had some secret crush on you. In a way, they weren't wrong. And the whole act was almost a little bit fun.

Bill went as far as introducing himself to you, acting a bigger flirt than you'd ever recalled him acting when he was very first pursuing you- which was really saying something.

And when the pair of you managed to sneak off on those weekends you were set free, it was almost as if you'd never been parted at all. Bill would trace patterns across your skin and laugh with you about nothing into the night, like always.

And every one of those rare opportunities ended by you asking if he was still alright with this whole strange arrangement you'd created. And Bill assured he was fine to sit back and watch you out run easy company's fastest sprinters, and give Shifty's near perfect shooting record a little competition. Bill knew you were on a personal mission to accomplish all the things you knew you could, without any implications. But you *were* starting to miss him.

Because those days and nights where you got to steal a moment of Bill's time were becoming sparse. And your rough plans together were almost always thwarted- by surprise drills and punishments.

And it came as a shock to no one that you'd most often get the worst of it from Sobel. His unhinged language somehow sunk lower when aimed at you. You knew his demeaning of your gender was intended to break you down. But you didn't let it. His discipline was often set up for you to fail, and make a fool of yourself. But you powered through the worst of it, and shot the bastard a grin each time you managed to come out on top of each ridiculous task. If you hadn't been motivated to push yourself before, you'd become mad to gain power by now.

Trouble was, on the few nights Bill made a point to sneak into your bunk, there was just no time for much besides dutifully listening to him drone on about how he missed you.

You'd been made to double your workload when everyone else got the rare chance to take it easy. And during then, Bill sought you out, like he once promised he would. And though you couldn't help but appreciate the nights he offered to stay up with you; to help finish some nightmarish task made to drive you to throwing in the towel- you sent him away. Bill would argue that any fight you had to face was his fight too. And you argued back that you thought he'd promised he understood that you were dead set on coming through this on your own.

Some mornings he'd let his hand squeeze your own below the table in the dining hall; while the others were busy fighting over desserts. But you eventually started shooting down Bill's attempts to display even the smallest affection- feeling strangely endangered by and entirely undeserving of his kind attention, at least until you earned your wings.

Those moments were already so few. And eventually they ceased all together, and the weeks started to fly by. Before you knew it, the time that had passed almost seemed to push the two of you further apart. Bill would be sent on one exercise while you were banished elsewhere. And on and on, until d-day.

As you slipped into your gear, a pit grew in your gut. Not for fear of what might be to come, but because you couldn't find Bill. And you *needed*to find him before thing's got even more complicated.

The sight of the man boarding a separate plane only brought you a blink of relief. But hardly so, it was no goodbye. Only confirmation that he was headed toward the same fate as you.

You were pushed onto your own flight, and the worry within you increased ten fold.

As the plane idled, some men chattered to ease their nerves. Their conversation had passed through one of your ears and out of the other, until you heard Bill's name repeated a couple of times.

"What's his problem? Seems to be more of a bitch than usual." One of them griped, wondering about the state of your man. It made you sick to realize you hadn't been near enough to him to realize he'd been in a strange mood, for a while.

"Yeah, well you'd be a bitch too if you found out your brother died, just before your flight out to hell." Johnny Martin pipped up. His tone more defensive than usual. You couldn't help but gawk at the peevish soldier who'd often, perplexingly, been kind to you. Had he really just said what you thought he said?

"Bill's brother?" You begged to know, trying quickly to hide the way your face fell.

"Yeah. He was killed in Italy, somewhere." Martin informed, keeping a quizzical eye on you.

"I see." You played, shoving all the terror and hurt deep deep down. There simply was no time to feel such things, and certainly not enough time for an explanation, should you start to lose it a little.

Before you knew it you were rocketing toward the ground and scrambling through tall grass to find a familiar face. Smoke and flames led your way, and one day and night passed before you saw your man again- two days that seemed to pass slower than years and decades.

And when you did spot Bill, he was relaxing with some of the others on the steps of a blown up building; and some horrid resistance within you grew stronger than the usual natural instinct to run into his embrace. The mixed emotions caused a cry to lodge itself in your throat, but you wouldn't let it out of course.

And by then Bill had made his way close enough to you to notice the sheen of tears you were reluctant to let fall.

"Still blerry eye'd from that shit storm we dived into, huh?" He nudged your side with his elbow and the smile he wore was gentle and encouraging despite the mayhem that had shadowed your senses, and his no doubt, for days now.

"You didn't tell me about your brother." You spoke in a whisper that came out in more of a hiss, unintentionally.

"Yeah, well you didn't tell me goodbye. But who's countin'?" Bill shot back, not speaking in anger so much as dejection. The two of you stood holding each others gaze for the first time in longer than just the two days you'd been separated.

"So what are we gonna do?" Bill wondered. But the ending of his statement was drowned out by the officers shouting for your company to fall out.

And for weeks that was as good as it got. The looks you shared across rooms were scant. And if there was ever time you might've had to find each other and sort things, you didn't take it- too terribly afraid he'd tell you how horribly you'd been treating him and break your heart in the middle of this already loveless bedlam.

It was all your fault, creating this chasm between the two of you and having no clue how to close it up. You'd walked around it many a time and met on the edge but the space was only growing.

The distance you insisted upon at first was never supposed to last this long but it seemed to have found a permanent place between you.

And what was worse, were the instances Bill found himself at your side- sharing silence on patrols and long rides from one place to another.

He was right in your reach. Just like he promised to always be. But that only made the storm of emotion within you seem to rage even wilder.

By the time your company had reached Belgium, you'd convinced yourself that everything you'd once shared with Bill was long gone. For all the times you failed to reach out to him, Bill seemed to pass up reaching out to you all the same.

Until one night. You were headed back from viewing some old film with a few of the guys who'd become used to your presence. There were still a few troopers who grimaced at the sight of you mixed in battle near them. But there were more who'd been proud to fight beside you, and invited you to take in a film on one lucky night off.

Bill was among them, listening to their banter while you lagged behind the bunch. You'd been certain that he'd finally crossed over to the side if the men who'd found it easier to turn a blind eye your way. But then

your crew rounded the corner of some weather worn barn. And Bill broke away from the group and stopped you from walking on- grabbing you by the elbow and gently holding you to stall.

"Bill, I don't think-" you began, croaking past the ever present lump in your throat. Worried that the others would hear should you start to bicker. You didn't care what they knew, anymore. Only hoped to prevent any further upset. There was already so much sorrow you're lot had to carry and sort through. And selfishly, you couldn't dream of stirring up any more upset.

"Shaddup. This ain't how it's gonna be no more." Bill returned, his voice full and insistent. He still held one of your arms and brought his other hand to follow suit.

You were too stunned by his insistence and his closeness after so much confusion that you keep your mouth shut.

"I miss you, damn it."

Your brow furrowed at his gentle confession and your mouth hovered open. Too many words jammed in your throat but you manage to stammer out the one's that reign truest.

"I miss you too."

Bill's worry seemed to fade into relief. His eyes shut as he brought his lips to your head, like he always used to do. And you let him.

"Well, we can't have that." You closed your eyes then, as he spoke against your temple and ran his hand up to your shoulders, bringing his fingers to hold your face. You let Bill lean in for a real kiss, feather light and sweet as ever. And you didn't try and stop as he followed behind on your decided way back toward your billet.

But as you turned the corner at last, a drunken member of your company stopped you from walking further.

Cobb stood in the middle of the rest of the path, sipping from a foreign bottle. He never liked you much. Before you could shove past the guy, he spoke up.

"Who the fuck do you two think you are?" Cobb spat, eyeing Bill past your shoulder. "What makes either of you think you deserve happiness, let alone love? In the palm of your hand in the middle of all this? It's audacious. You disgust me." Perhaps Cobb had seen the way Bill had only just so tenderly held you. Or perhaps he was just on another senseless bender.

Either way, you let your eye's roll and breezed on by, leaving the drunken fool behind. He didn't let Bill pass so easily, though, slurring something about your character in the face of the man who'd so far unconditionally loved you.

"Get fucked, Cobb. Maybe that stick up your ass'll come lose, then." Bill pushed past the soldier who'd been insulted enough to shut his mouth. But his alcohol fueled barb rang in your ears the rest of the walk to the place you were headed.

The walk was quiet. And you debated over speaking your mind even as you crept into the room. It had to be done, you realized. The room was empty of listening ear, and equipped with a door to shut the world out. You and Bill hadn't had many chances like this in a year or so. And you knew fate had designed this opportunity, a chance to finally say everything that you hadn't been able to.

"Bill." You stared, turning to face your man after you'd turned the lock on the door. He stood with his arms crossed as if to brace for impact.

"Maybe Roy wasn't wrong."

Bill shook his head as you spoke and met you in the middle of the room where you'd stood.

"I just got you back. You're nuts if ya think I'm gonna let you slip away from me again."

"But I didn't slip away!" You corrected with urgency. "I pushed you away. More than a couple of times!"

"Maybe, but you had a good reason." Bill assured, his eyes going wide under his strong furrowed brow.

"No, I had a selfish reason. And Cobb might be a drunk asshole but he's right! I don't deserve you, not now!"

"Fuck that guy. He gets a say in what happens to us? Don't fuckin' think so. You're not walkin' away from me after all this time just cause some pessimistic asshole-"

As Bill shouted, you lost all the strength you'd been enforcing to keep from falling apart over this. Your throat burned as a pathetic sob escaped and hot tears ran down your face.

What had started as some mechanism you'd used to get through training turned into something bigger and uglier. This was war. This was what it turned you into. Some selfish monster greeded for more credit when you'd already earned your place.

You'd pushed Bill away time and again and you knew he had to be near his breaking point. He proved so tonight, by grabbing you close and demanding you not stray so far again, like you'd ever really come back from doing so.

And what was worse than the realization that you'd pushed him away, was the realization that Bill might not always come back. And what if you couldn't change? What if, on your road back to being less selfish, he'd finally realize you weren't worth the chase?

"I fucked up." You admitted, heaving the realization through sobs. "Oh God, Bill, please don't leave me."

"Hello? You heard a thing I've been sayin'?" Bill rang, reaching out to you much like he did not even an hour ago. One set of fingers came to lovingly brush the tears still rolling from your eyes. And then he held your head in his hands so you'd look at him as he spoke up.

"It's always gonna be you. That's what I'm put here fightin' for. Even when you get all determined and leave me in the dust. Hell, I'm so in love with you it terrifies me, doll. Scares me that one day you'll get too good at bein' on your own, and leave me, all alone, still be fightin'." Bill poured forth, searching your gaze as he spoke.

"Point is, I'll always be on your team. You just gotta let me stay cheerin' you on, damn it."

You nodded and tried to swallow your emotions to no avail. And finally just let yourself cry again as you repeated to Bill how sorry you were. He wrapped you in his embrace and let you lose it.

"I'll do better." You swore, meeting his eyes.

"Just feel better, for now, huh? That'll make me a happy man."

You didn't deserve Bill. But damn it, if he'd still have you, you'd be right there ready to cherish his very existence with each set and rise of the sun. You both agreed that there was no way either of you could make it through the rest of this hell without one another close by.

And you figured some of the guys had already pieced together that there was something between you and the man with an unforgiving nickname. And, apparently, Bill had entrusted Babe Heffron with his entire life story by now. That explained the curious glances the replacement had now and again thrown your way.

To hell with what anyone might've made of the two of you. To hell with any future or past where Bill wasn't in step with you.

The next night your company was hauled off toward the forest without a coat to trade between the lot of you. Teeth chattered and breath fogged the freezing air. But Bill clasped his hand in yours, and an incomparable warmth spread across everything that made you whole.

Some new kid was the subject of the company's pestering tonight, but it hardly lasted. Spirit's settled and someone near the front of the ride seemed to rhetorically wonder about home, and what it would be like to get back.

Some men answered, voicing hopes and dreams of the future. You only turned to look right at Bill, who already had his sights set on you. And then you realized, nothing much had really changed. You'd always been lucky with Bill at your side. God how you'd be glad to let it last...

#bill guarnere #bill guarnere x reader #bill guarnere imagine #band of brothers

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tuanhood · 4 years ago

Text

hypnotic | part one

paring: vampire!im jaebeom x reader

genre: angst, eventual smut (part two), vampire au

warnings: language, cringey vampire cliches i’m sure

word count: 9,800+

summary: jaebeom has been waiting 200 years to find his mate - the one who can break his trance and isn’t affected by his hypnotic abilities. You don’t seem to be that person, but he just can’t seem to get you out of his mind… why?

a/n: hello guys! so i originally had this planned to post tomorrow (the 30th) but it was so long i decided to split it up and post one part today and the other part on the 31st! This first part is mostly Jaebeom and not a lot of Y/N but SO BE IT. This is also my first time writing in the genre of vampire/fantasy loL so please forgive me because it’ll probably be cringe and not make sense. if that’s the case lol drop me a message!! also vampire jaebeom was requested FOREVER ago. so here it is practically 3 decades later. and i attempted to make a banner. if someone can make me a better one it’s v much WELCOME.

part two

Knock Knock Knock

He wished he could just pretend like he was asleep. He wished he could use that as an excuse to not answer the door, but based on the very strong feeling he was getting from who was behind it – that wouldn’t work.

“I know you’re in there! Just answer the damn door Jaebeom!”

Jaebeom rolled his eyes, leave it to Bambam to be at his front door before the day even had a chance to truly begin. Before letting him in, he went through all the possible things or excuses he could use to get out of whatever his younger friend had in mind.

“Is your vintage YSL here or is it still at the dry cleaners?” Bambam asked, pushing past Jaebeom as soon as he has the door partway open.

Gruffly, Jaebeom turned back into his apartment to Bambam already halfway to his bedroom – no doubt to look through his closet, “What are you doing here Bam?”

“What does it look like? I’m here for the vintage YSL asshole!”

He’s learned by now that it’s better to let him do his thing – whatever that may mean. So instead of following Bambam, he plopped down onto the same couch he’s had for nearly 15 years. “You know when I first bought that shirt it wasn’t considered vintage!”

Jaebeom waited for a response, but instead, he was met with silence. After a few moments – many of them thinking about how maybe it was time to replace the couch – he felt his “vintage” YSL button-down hit him in the face.

He groaned; the impact was surely going to create wrinkles in the material he tried to keep in pristine condition. It was ironic since he was often heard making fun of how much Bambam cared about clothes, but Jaebeom liked to keep his things nice. “Bam I just got it back from getting cleaned a couple of days ago.”

“Put it on.”

The tone of his friend’s voice seemed rather impatient. If he had closed his eyes, Jaebeom would have thought he was talking to Jinyoung or even himself.

“Why do I need to put it on? It’s 8 in the morning; where are we going?”

“Um excuse me? Did you forget what day it was? Now come on, we’re meeting Jinyoung at that new café down the street in fifteen.”

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, trying to picture the café on the mental map he keeps in his mind, “the one that used to be a video store in the 90s?”

Bambam made his way into the living room, picking up a few glasses that rested on the coffee table Jaebeom’s feet were on top of, and marched over to the small kitchen. Jaebeom has lived in this apartment more years than he’d like to admit, especially because enough time had passed that the neighbors he had were clearly aging and he just stayed 26. The thought of moving somewhere new often enters his mind, but with this place, he just can’t bring it in himself to go quite yet. It’s almost as though something is tying him to this city, this place – like he’s waiting for something.

“Yes, and a speakeasy in the 20s both of which are not important right now because we live in the 21st century Jaebeom. Now come on, Jinyoung’s waiting – that asshole is always early.”

He heard Bambam mumble something along the lines of known him 100 years, would it kill him to just be on time for once, as he furiously dropped the glasses on the kitchen counter.

“Do I have to go?”

Bambam paused his motions of putting Jaebeom’s dirty dishes into the sink to stare the older vampire down, “Jaebeom you only turn 200 once.”

He scoffed in response, “Jesus don’t remind me.”

“We have to make a whole day of it! So please just put the shirt on, because I want you looking presentable,” he stopped in the middle of his sentence, suddenly wiggling his eyebrows, “you never know what could happen.” The final word is drawn out, almost sing-song like and it drives Jaebeom up the wall because he knows exactly what Bambam is referencing.

For Jaebeom and those like Jaebeom, they didn’t consider the day they were born as their birthday, but instead as the day they turned. There was no point in celebrating their birth anymore as they were no longer alive. However, at this point after 200 birthdays, – alive and dead combined - Jaebeom was beginning to believe that there was no point to those either. He always knew being immortal was a curse but day by day that idea was only solidifying itself in his mind.

Jaebeom let out a gruff breath which only made Bambam look up from the fork he was scrubbing, “Bam I don’t know what you think is going to happen today… but it certainly isn’t that.”

The “that” he was referencing was one of the main factors that as of late had made him feel like living forever was indeed a waste. It was the thing that was supposed to make him feel “complete.” According to old texts and traditional vampire folklore, he was now walking around half full, but once he met his mate, he would become whole. At first, he didn’t believe the tale. He had gotten by so far without a mate that the idea of him not being complete made him laugh. But watching both Bambam and Jinyoung find their mates – Bambam 70 years ago and Jinyoung 16 years ago – made him finally acknowledge and reflect on the piece of himself he was missing.

And fuck he was lonely.

Bambam chuckled at him as if being in on his own personal joke. His friend was strange like that sometimes, “just put the shirt on Jaebeom.”

By the time he’s had the shirt on and Bambam has somehow convinced him to let him wear his Rolex he got as a gift from his friend Jackson in 1920, Jaebeom feels mentally prepared to leave the house and embark on this dreadful day. The reminder that he has now been around for 200 years and still is not whole.

“Finally,” Jinyoung sighed when Jaebeom and Bambam finally reached the café down the street, “I’ve been waiting 20 minutes.”

A disgruntled Bambam checks his watch, “well if you don’t want to wait every single time, don’t be so fucking early,” he promptly turned to Jaebeom to share his grief regarding their friend, “you think he would learn after all this time.”

“Let’s just go order,” Jaebeom shrugged, not caring to be in another disagreement between his longer than life friends.

“Be honest you’re early on purpose just so it gives you something to complain about and a reason to make us feel bad!”

Jinyoung ignored Bambam’s theory, replying to the oldest, “no need. I already ordered for the three of us. It’s a special day, the birthday boy doesn’t need to pay,” he glanced at Bambam, “you on the other hand…”

The two new arrivals, flop down into the sofa chairs on either side of Jinyoung, along of them situated to make a half-circle in front of a low coffee table. The three of them had somehow stuck into this… pattern. Years of friendship that contained years of Bambam/Jinyoung squabbles that Jaebeom would often have to mediate. Patterns were nice, but sometimes they would get old – especially after so long.

As the two of them argue over whether or not Bambam should pay Jinyoung back for a simple iced Americano because Bam swears he got the drinks the last two times, Jaebeom looks over to the counter where the baristas work on – no doubt – the plethora of orders they have. The factor of the café being new has certainly been the cause of the popularity and amount of people in the shop. He can’t help but feel bad for the individuals working on the drinks – three years ago he had been one of them for roughly 18 months and knew that it wasn’t as easy as it appeared to be.

In retrospect, Jaebeom didn’t have to work. He had so much time to learn and understand what it meant to be financially responsible. Not only that, but he’s literally had hundreds of years to save. Plus, his early investments in companies ended up landing him some pretty substantial and valuable shares. Jaebeom was sitting on quite the pretty penny.

“Wow your portfolio is remarkable… I’ve never seen one like it,” his latest financial advisor had said to him in complete awe, “I mean an early investor in Amazon? Apple? Mastercard?”

Jaebeom had laughed nervously, “What can I say? My grandpa had good intuition, I guess.”

Money aside, he had wanted something to do with his time – hence his barista job. It was fun, but like most things, Jaebeom just grew tired of it and as he watched the girl working the espresso machine let out an exhausted breath, he realized that he wasn’t missing it.

Jaebeom has become good at studying people. It was something he still wasn’t sure of whether it was a vampire thing or just something he had picked up over time. Watching the girl at the machine, her hair is in a low bun, a few strands falling in front of her face. It’s clear with the way the hair tie is situated, that the hairstyle was once a bit neater, tighter, and sat at the middle or even top of her head. However, the now fallen placement and slight disarray signal how busy she’s been working and how fried she must be feeling.

He looks to the string bracelet on her wrist, visible from far away enough for Jaebeom to conclude that she must have someone in her life deemed important to wear one of those “friendship” bracelets. He never saw the point, but humans were strange creatures, despite him once being one.

Jaebeom’s breath hitches when he catches sight of the delicately drawn tattoo on her wrist near the bracelet. It’s of lavender and it immediately reminds him of his mother who had loved exploring the lavender field that had been near his home when he was a child. Despite all the time that has passed since he lost his mother, the pain that aches inside of Jaebeom when he thinks of her isn’t any less.

His thoughts are interrupted by the call at the coffee bar, “Order for Jinyoung.”

The call comes from the overworked girl he had been studying and Jaebeom wants more than anything to stand up and retrieve their orders. He finds a weird want to hear what her laugh sounds like. Maybe he could say something or strike up a conversation that would-

“What are you doing?” It takes Jaebeom a moment to notice that he has partially stood up from his chair as if he’s about to go somewhere. Cluelessly, he replied, “going to get the drinks.”

The youngest shook his head, “No way! Birthday boys don’t get their drinks, they don’t lift a finger.”

He knew Bambam was one to take birthdays seriously, but this was beginning to feel like it was going the extra mile too many.

“I’ll get it.”

Jaebeom watched Bambam get up to retrieve the drinks. He expects him to just grab the drinks and return to the table, but instead, Bambam says something to the girl. Arching his neck to the side, he tries to make a clear path to eavesdrop on what’s being said, hearing being one of the benefits of turning. Unfortunately, the café is too loud for him to focus on the conversation and he’s defeated by the fact that he’ll have to stay in the dark.

The girl laughs loudly at something Bambam said and Jaebeom can’t help but feel mixed about it. On one hand, he got his wish – hearing her laugh – but on the other hand, he wasn’t the cause of it. For some reason it makes him bring his clench and unclench his fists which rest on the arms of the sofa chair. Jinyoung takes notice.

Jaebeom quickly looks down at his lap when he senses that Bambam is returning to where they’re sat, not wanting to give away that he had been staring. First, he places Jinyoung’s and his drink on the table, soon turning back around to go back and fetch the last drink – Jaebeom’s.

When he comes back, Jaebeom looks up to see a large grin spread across the youngest’s face. He has that look again – the one as if he knows a joke Jaebeom doesn’t.

The latter nodded his head in thanks for getting the drinks as he inspects his green tea on the table. Just as he’s about to pick up the mug, he’s stopped in his tracks by an announcement coming from the coffee bar.

“Hello everyone! Sorry for the interruption, but I’ve been told that we have a birthday here today,” you said. Giving announcements wasn’t your strong suit, but you figured now that you were an actual owner of something, you were going to get over your shyness. But you didn’t think it was going to be that often that a tall, skinny and pale boy with a Rolex on his wrist would be asking you to get your coffee shop to sing happy birthday for his friend. Even when you were a barista working for someone else no one had made such a request. This was a café after all, not an Applebee’s.

Jaebeom wished more than anything that he could sink into his seat and just disappear. If only that cliché that vampires turned into bats were true, then he could just fly away at a moment’s notice. Leave it to Bambam to torture him like this. It wasn’t intentional of course, but it certainly felt like it to Jaebeom.

It was especially tragic to him because the girl he had been studying was the one leading the entire café in singing “Happy Birthday.” He did his best to avoid looking at her, feeling like his entire body was heating up in embarrassment even though he couldn't heat up.

You on the other hand felt a little insulted by the birthday boy’s lack of eye contact. You hadn’t even managed to get a good look at him before you started singing and now it was not possible with the way that he was looking down at the ground, his long hair falling in front of his face, concealing itself to you. It wasn’t difficult to conclude that he felt awkward about a bunch of strangers he had never met singing him happy birthday, you had felt the same whenever your friends tried to ambush you on your birthday… but you at least looked up and acknowledged the presence of the people singing. A tight smile from this guy would even be happily accepted.

When the song is over and the claps that follow finally subside, he looks up to see the café back at its previous state of normalcy, not a single person looking at him anymore. Jaebeom lets out a sigh of relief.

“You could at least act like you liked it,” Bambam huffed in annoyance. He wished Jaebeom could appreciate the idea of birthdays like he did.

“I really didn’t need to be the center of attention today Bam.”

“But it’s your bir-” Bambam begins to explain, but Jaebeom abruptly cuts him off, not wanting to hear his reasoning for today’s antics, yet again. The day hadn’t even started.

“My birthday, I know. Thanks for reminding me.”

Jinyoung clears his throat and plays with the spoon that came with his Flat White. Just as Jaebeom is the mediator for Bambam and Jinyoung, sometimes Jinyoung has to be the mediator for Jaebeom and Bambam. Essentially the commonality in the disagreements of their trio friendship is Bambam and currently, Jinyoung feels as though he should route the conversation elsewhere.

“What else is in the cards for tonight then boys?”

It’s then based on the look on Jaebeom’s face, that Jinyoung thinks that maybe talking about the plans for tonight – on Jaebeom’s birthday – isn’t re-routing the conversation. Especially since it’s Bambam’s whose eyes light up and is the one to reply to him.

“Obviously we’re going out tonight,” Bambam paused and turned to Jaebeom, wagging his finger in the latter’s face, “there’s no way you’re getting out of this. I’m not taking no for an answer this time.”

Jaebeom rolled his eyes and didn’t respond as he knew he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He had rejected Bambam’s invitations to go out consistently for the last 6 months and on his birthday of all days, Bam was going to force him out of the house just as he had done this morning to come to the café.

He looks back to the front counter, his eyes searching for the barista who has now suddenly disappeared. A frown begins to make itself known on his face, feeling a bit disappointed by the fact that she may have left already or gone elsewhere, but soon she’s popping up from behind the counter, no doubt getting something from the cabinets below. Jaebeom feels relief.

“What did you say to her?” he asked suddenly looking back at Bambam.

He cocked his head to the side, confused, “What did I say to who?”

“The barista behind the counter.”

His friend nodded his head slowly, suddenly realizing what Jaebeom means. A smirk appears on his face, “nothing much… Just how it was your birthday and it would be really good if we could all embarrass you by singing about it. She’s not a barista, by the way, she owns the place. Kinda backward thinking there Jae. It’s the 21st century, women can own things now, they can vote.”

“I know that,” Jaebeom hissed.

Bambam puts up his hands in defeat, “I’m just making sure.”

“Don’t you know her?” Jinyoung asked, “isn’t that why we came here?”

Jaebeom’s interests are perked. It’s not often that the three of them meet new people. It’s not like there’s a huge point to it. The last new person the three of them met was Mark – also a vampire – a bartender at their favorite club in the city, but that was in 2007.

He waits for Bambam’s explanation as to how he knows this girl and why they came here specifically beside it just being near Jaebeom’s apartment.

Waving his hand nonchalantly, the Thai boy gives his answer, “I don’t really know her. Minji does. Met her in some kind of class, I think. SoulCycle? Pilates? Zumba? I don’t know. I can’t keep up with her and her activities these days.”

Minji is Bambam’s mate. He had turned her only a month after they met.

Jaebeom’s not sure what he would do if he met his mate. He doesn’t know if he would want to subject them to turning and living the same kind of life as him, but he also doesn’t know if he could continue life alone after meeting his mate. If he ever meets them.

“Why the curiosity?” Jinyoung asked, for once finding it hard to remain stone-faced. Even his usual chill, non-revealing demeanor seems to fade away when it appears that his older friend might be attracted to someone.

Jaebeom simply shrugged, “it’s nothing…”

“What do you think? Could she be the one?” Bambam asked teasingly, pointing to the girl behind the counter.

Jinyoung rolled his eyes almost immediately at the younger boy, “if you’re going to keep bothering him about it, don’t make it so obvious idiot.”

Jaebeom had been alive – or more like undead – for 200 years and more than half of that time he had to listen to this same conversation from his friends over and over again. His patience was wearing thin and 180 years later, he was tired of their pestering.

He leaned forward slowly and grabbed his green tea off the table, making sure to visibly flinch at the heat of the drink, Bambam, and Jinyoung chuckling at his reaction. Out of the three of them, Jaebeom certainly had the most practice when it came to “putting on a show” for the humans and “acting” the most human. Taking a sip, he looked back at the girl behind the counter.

The youngest vampire had spent many of their outings and conversations hypothesizing who Jaebeom’s mate could be. Despite being the oldest of the three, Jaebeom was the only one left who still hadn’t found his mate and he was beginning to feel hopeless. Typically, Bambam pointed out any human girl as a candidate – all of them of course ended up not being his mate. Therefore, Jaebeom didn’t pay attention to his picks anymore, but he had to admit… He did get a strange feeling from the girl behind the counter.

Jaebeom looked to you, hoping to catch your gaze as you quickly made the coffee orders for the few people waiting to the side of the cash register. Just when he was about to give up and focus his attention back on his friends, you tore your concentration away from the drink in your hand and looked up at him from across the cafe.

Jaebeom focused his gaze deep onto you with his eyes – testing, checking, and trialing your focus. You didn’t look away, instead, you trained your eyes deeply into his and stared at him until finally, it was Jaebeom who broke the contact.

He shook his head at his friends, disappointed by your inability to break the trance and ultimately confused at the feeling he still got from you despite that.

Jaebeom took another sip of the tea, “it’s not her.”

“Did you have to debate that Uber driver on the Twilight franchise?” Jinyoung groaned at Bambam as soon as they’re out of the car.

The entire twenty-minute ride, he had got into a heated discussion with their driver on how Twilight was not “true” or realistic to most actual vampire folklore. It had been an excruciating thing to listen to.

“Got to stand up for our kind dude.”

“Okay, but what happens when she starts asking how you know all these things or why you’re so interested in vampire stuff?” Jinyoung tended to always be right. This wasn’t an exception.

Brushing off his pants, Bambam gives him a nonchalant wave, “chill out man. Everyone loves vampire stuff.”

“Maybe in 2008,” Jaebeom said just barely loud enough for his friends to hear them. The two of them laughed, Bambam shoving him playfully on the shoulder, “Birthday boy getting funny on us.”

“I was always funny,” Jaebeom deadpanned.

“Funny and looking good tonight. Let’s get you laid, shall we?”

After a day that was jampacked full of various activities planned by his youngest friend, the last thing Jaebeom wanted to do was spend extra energy on trying to get some girl to come home with him tonight. Besides, he wasn’t that guy anymore.

Jinyoung scoffed, “he doesn’t need to get laid tonight.”

“Yes, he does! Jaebeom how long has it been?”

This time it’s Jinyoung that shoves Bambam’s shoulder – except it’s not all that playful.

“Fine don’t answer that, but I’m just saying there will be quite a few girls here that you can have your pick of, despite your plain outfit.”

Jaebeom looked at the clothes he had changed into when Bambam spared him a sliver of time to go back home to digress and feed his cats. The latter had wanted him to borrow clothes of his, but instead, Jaebeom decided on pulling pieces from his closet that felt more like him, less like Bambam. A plain pair of ripped jeans, an oversized black shirt that he had bought at a shop from his trip to London last year, and his mother’s necklace that often wasn’t missing from its spot around his neck.

Bambam’s earlier critique was that he was dressed too basic and that no girls would bat an eye at him. Girls don’t like plain guys, he had said. The comment makes Jaebeom wonder about you and whether you’d fall under the category of not liking “plain” guys.

He bites the inside of his cheek. It was probably the eighth time he had made himself do it today. Jaebeom had found his mind often drifting to you throughout the day for some unexplainable reason. During their walk in the park, he wondered if you would take strolls during your breaks from the café or when Bambam forced him to go paint pottery for an hour and a half he thought about what you would paint. It frustrated him because he hadn’t even spoken to you – not a word and yet you were clearly on his mind for one reason or another. It wasn’t even like you were his mate. He had tried to see if you were unaffected by his trance, his hypnotic capabilities, but you had just stared at him completely fixated just as everyone else was.

Jaebeom was not going to think about you any longer. He was already planning on avoiding your café.

“We’re on the list,” Bambam tells the bouncer when they arrive at the entrance of the club. He scans the list and motions his head towards the direction of the door to signal to the three of them to go on ahead. There’s a bit of a whine coming from the people waiting in line which admittedly so makes Jaebeom feel a little guilty, but Bambam ensures him it’s fine, “why have a friend who works at a club if we can’t use him for the perks?”

“Why does he keep bartending again?” As soon as the question is out of Jaebeom’s mouth he realizes it was a stupid thing to ask since the answer is apparent.

Bambam laughed at him, giving his long – irreplaceable he’d like to remind everyone – leather coat to the person at the front of the club. Jaebeom swears he hears him tell the coat check guy the “proper” way to put it on a hanger.

“Obviously for the girls Jaebeom.”

Mark’s mate – Hana had passed on a long time ago. Jaebeom had never got the chance to meet her, only hears about her in passing from some stories that Mark has told the three of them. He hadn’t turned her. Jaebeom’s never asked why.

“Girls… of course.”

He can’t help but think about how Mark must feel inside. Although Jaebeom doesn’t know him as well as he knows Bambam and Jinyoung, whenever he’s with the older boy he’s always got a smile on his face. Often quiet, but he’s always got certain energy bouncing off of him that would indeed make him popular with women. However, if what they say about mates is true, would that mean that a piece of Mark was now missing? Did he feel like he was less of a person? Jaebeom felt like that sometimes and he hadn’t even met his mate yet. Mark had his, but now he didn’t.

“Drinks?” Jinyoung asked the two of them and Jaebeom is partly surprised. Out of the three of them, Bambam was the one who was the most comfortable in a club or even bar setting. He figures that Jinyoung must be using his birthday as an excuse to cut loose and become someone else for the night.

Bambam instantly nodded his head at Jinyoung’s suggestion and Jaebeom finds himself trailing behind the two of them as they make their way over to Mark at the bar who is throwing his head back at something the girl across the bar is saying. Judging on Jaebeom’s intuition – it’s a bit fake and overplayed, but you got to do what you got to do.

“My man!” Bambam yelled over the music, leaning against the counter in a way to make sure he doesn’t get the elbows of his long sleeve turtleneck wet. Mark in response, turned to them and smiled, then routing his attention back to the girl, giving her an apologetic smile. Her half-smile says everything Jaebeom could need to know – this girl would not be going home with Mark after his shift tonight.

“What can I get you guys tonight,” Mark turned to Jaebeom and the latter can barely make out his sharp canines in the dark club, “birthday boy you want anything special?”

Before Jaebeom can reply that he wants to be at home, Bambam answers for him.

“Could we maybe get something that’s off the menu?” He wiggled his eyebrows at Mark who gave him a shit-eating grin, knowing immediately what he was talking about.

“Off the menu” meant Mark’s secret stash of O negative underneath the counter. While alcohol had the same effect on them that it had on the average humans, adding a bit of blood just made a little bit better. Okay… it made it a lot better.

“Three negronis coming right up,” Mark winked to give a little signal that these would most likely not be as well composed or put together as a negroni, but due to them being in public, he couldn’t necessarily announce a shit ton of alcohol mixed with human blood was going to be served up to them.

“How has your birthday been Jae?” Mark asked as he was in the middle of placing three glasses onto the countertop in between them.

It was difficult to explain since to Jaebeom it had just been another day except for a little bit more excruciating. The celebration of another year “older” filled him with thoughts of how much time has passed, whether he’s done anything truly important and why he still hasn’t found the person who is meant to complete him… but like he said only a little more excruciating than any other day.

Jaebeom shrugged in response, “Bam planned a lot and for the most part, it was…” he paused for a moment, wondering if he should say how he felt – numb, lost, and wishing the day would come to an end as if tomorrow won’t bring the same thoughts or problems. But as he looked at his friends who had tried so hard today to make him happy and celebrate, he decided to guard them against the ultimate truth, “for the most part it was fun – really good. I mean besides the singing at the café of course.” He throws in the last part to at least have some kind of believability to his story.

He notices Mark’s eyebrows lift out of curiosity as his concentration focuses on measuring out each part of the drinks, “An entire café sang you happy birthday? Damn, I don’t think I could ever get through that, so I can only imagine how you feel.”

“That was Bam’s idea,” Jinyoung muttered.

Once again, Bambam does his nonchalant waving of the hand, “it wasn’t that bad. I mean okay, maybe it was… But Jaebeom was obsessed with the girl who led it.”

Jaebeom suddenly feels like he wants to put duct tape over his friend’s mouth.

“I was not obsessed with her! I don’t even know her!” Jaebeom for some reason felt the need to defend himself, which was probably the worst option. Him getting defensive was usually a tell-tale sign for his friends being right on whatever they were confronting him with.

Bambam scoffed, bringing gliding his drink across the bar to be directly in front of him once Mark has poured it neatly into the short glass, “I noticed you staring at her before I went to get the drinks. That’s why I asked her to do it in the first place.”

“So, she doesn’t know Minji?” Jinyoung questioned.

The youngest takes his first sip and immediately lets out a hissing noise, signaling to Mark that it’s both strong and good. “No, she does, but Jaebeom’s weird staring only made it that much better.”

Mark pushed the other two glasses towards Jinyoung and Jaebeom, “Was she your…” he drifted off, almost as though he was finding it physically difficult to get the word out. Jaebeom can’t help but feel the want to reach his hand out towards Mark and place it comfortingly on his shoulder, but his group of friends don’t do that. Instead, he saves him the trouble by answering back right away, not forcing him to say it.

“No, she wasn’t.”

The bartender nodded slowly, suddenly avoiding his gaze from the three familiar boys across the bar from him, “That’s uh… too bad that she wasn’t able to break the trance. Sorry, Jaebeom.”

He knows that Mark is just trying to be nice, especially when they’re on a subject that he clearly can’t and doesn’t want to talk about, but the attempt to be comforting makes Jaebeom nauseous.

“Well maybe he’ll find her here tonight,” Jinyoung quipped, placing a hand on Jaebeom’s back. Sometimes the latter swore that his friends treated him he had just found out he had a terminal illness.

“I sincerely doubt it,” Jaebeom commented gruffly.

There’s a sound from the other side of the bar from a customer who seems fed up with the conversation being had between the four of them – distracting Mark from serving anyone else. He gives a signal to them to notify them that he’ll be there in a second. “Well… come to me if you guys need more drinks. It’s on me tonight.”

“Thanks, man,” Jaebeom tells him honestly because he might need a couple more drinks before he gets to the state of wanting to be in this room.

Mark said a final word of “see you guys later” and heads to the other end of the bar to help customers who have been waiting. Grabbing their drinks, Jaebeom, Jinyoung, and Bambam turn around to depart the bar, to find somewhere to sit for a bit before the drinks truly begin to hit them.

With his drink in hand, Jaebeom took a sip and reveled in the perfect balance of alcohol to burn his throat and blood to soothe it. The drink was probably the most relaxing part of his day thus far and as he looked out at the crowd, he could already tell that maybe the mixture was going to his head due to his sudden thinking that this place wasn’t all that bad.

Despite not being a club guy, if he were to go out, Jaebeom would always choose this club that Mark works out. To put it simply – it was vampire friendly. With Mark behind the counter and his “secret” supply free-flowing, it became a notoriously known place for vampires in town. If he had to guess, the attendance on an average night was probably evenly split 50/50, humans and vampires.

The humans weren’t aware of the vampires of course – for the most part.

Jaebeom cleared his throat once they’ve found a booth to sit in, “so… Bam what do you know about that girl?”

Both Jinyoung and Bambam exchange glances before looking back at the birthday boy. The latter tried his best to conceal the smile on his face, “not much… just that she owns the café, knows Minji, and is very single.”

For some reason, Jaebeom’s stomach does a little flip, but he wishes it wouldn’t. “S-So?” Through his stutter, he tries to remain as confident as possible, but his friends see right through his façade.

Jinyoung leaned forward until his elbows rest on the top of his thighs, “Jaebeom you can be honest with us… Why the sudden fascination with this girl? Are you sure she didn’t break the trance? Just with the way that you’re acting…” Jinyoung drifted off, not bothering to finish his final sentence, but once again looking at Bambam. It makes Jaebeom lean forward in his seat as well.

“With the way, I’m acting? I’m completely normal. I’m fine. She didn’t break the trance and now I’m just curious about her as curious as anyone would be about someone they meet.”

There’s the silence between the three of them until Bambam speaks up, “You didn’t meet her though.”

It dawns on Jaebeom that he didn’t even speak to you and he wonders why does it feel like he did. Why did it feel like he knew you but didn’t at the same time? Why haven’t his mind and body been cooperating with him since this morning at the café?

Just with the way that you’re acting…

The way he was acting? What did that mean? Was the way he was acting mean something specific?

He feels like he blinks and thirty minutes go by. And in that past thirty minutes, Jaebeom had somehow managed to drink 6 of Mark’s “negronis.” He felt like his head was beginning to get dizzy. It wasn’t often that Jaebeom found himself drunk on the verge of drunkenness due to alcohol not affecting him as much as humans. To even remotely get to that state, he had to drink a lot and it had to be strong.

“You feeling it Jaebeom?” Through the darkness and the haze of the alcohol, Jaebeom could barely make out the hint of the smile playing on Jinyoung’s face. He had switched to a glass of wine at some point while Jaebeom was binge drinking which had to be the most Jinyoung thing ever. Who drinks a glass of wine in a dark, sweaty club?

He’s afraid to answer him verbally which would give his friend an obvious sign of how he was feeling. So instead he just shrugged – as usual.

“Dude let’s get out there!” The youngest shouted, motioning his hands to the middle of the club, “dance… maybe find you a girl?”

Jaebeom watched the people pressing up against each other on the dancefloor, moving their bodies, and drinking like their lives depended on it. He wondered if he wanted to be a part of that. Everyone out there was so full of life and vigor… he just wasn’t. He also didn’t know if he was that drunk, but bless Bambam because he didn’t need alcohol to be out there.

For what feels like the millionth time, his mind drifted to you. Was this your kind of place? Would you come here? If you did would you come alone? With friends? Someone else? You didn’t seem like the type of person who would like this place. You seemed more like him – the observant, calm, inquisitive type who would much rather be at home with a book than at a party.

Then for a moment, he can picture it. It’s almost like he’s in a trance – an image of you curled up on a couch – his couch – under a large white cable knit blanket fills his mind. Rather than reading, your painting with watercolors – the kind that seems to be in every elementary school classroom – and he hears a voice out of view. His voice.

“Painting really?”

Jaebeom sees you glance up from your painting to look at him, smiling.

“Looks like I’m gonna have a lot of time on my hands so… might as well get good at something.”

Jaebeom hears himself laugh, “Okay but watercolors?”

He feels like he’s going to pass out when he finally hears it – your laugh.

“Let the artist work Im Jaebeom! She needs to get good enough to live off auction house money once her paintings get sold! Shh!” Despite your words, you smiled and suddenly moved the tools away from you onto the coffee table. You lifted half the blanket off of you and patted the space of the couch beside you, “you know I can’t say no when you give me that face. Come here.”

And just like that, the vision is gone. Jaebeom feels confused because it didn’t feel like a dream or fantasy, but it felt real… it felt like a memory.

“Hello, Earth to Jaebeom?”

Right… dancing. Maybe dancing would help him forget whatever game his mind was playing on him.

“Yeah let’s fucking go.”

Another instance occurs where Jaebeom blinks and everything moves so fast. Suddenly he’s no longer sat at the table with Bambam and Jinyoung, but instead in the middle of that mess on the dancefloor with everyone else. He almost feels like one of them. He almost feels human again. But as soon as that feeling washes over him, it quickly dissipates.

He knows it must be the drinks doing all the work, because otherwise, he would have never found himself in the middle of all these people, thinking that dancing is a good idea. Dancing had never done anything remotely good for him before, so why now? To help forget? Was it going to help him do that?

“I swear it’s like he’s not even here.”

Jaebeom tuned back into the moment, and it’s when he realizes that Jinyoung and Bambam have been trying to get his attention this entire time.

“Sorry I was just- the alcohol you know…” He says it so quietly that he knows his friends won’t be able to hear him over the music and the millions of conversations happening around them. But he thinks that maybe it’s better that way and that it truly doesn’t matter what he says.

Jinyoung comes closer to Jaebeom, until his mouth is right next to his ear, “we were just asking if there’s anyone that you’re interested in.”

They’re still on this idea? Jaebeom asked himself.

Even in his drunken state, he didn’t think that finding some random girl to fuck was going to help with the emptiness he’s been feeling lately, but for the first time since getting up and onto the dance floor he takes in the people around him. As depressing as it was to observe, most people were here with someone else.

It’s then his gaze falls onto a couple that stands far on the left side of the floor, behind where Jinyoung is standing. The two of them have their fronts pressed up against each other, dancing so closely with arms exploring one another’s bodies. The female has her head resting on the male’s shoulder as if she’s too exhausted to keep going, but can’t dare to part with him. It’s like they’re part of each other and any distance would cause them to lose all sense of themselves.

The girl lifts her head off the male’s shoulder and gives him this look that makes Jaebeom’s heart – if it was still beating – ache. She says something to him and he nodded happily in response. Even through the dim lights and large crowd, Jaebeom could see the sharp teeth inside her mouth.

She placed her head back against his shoulder, this time, however, the male had his head angled back, stretching out his neck. The girl moves in closer until her mouth just ghosts over the skin, breathing on it until the boy shuts his eyes awaiting the sting and pleasure that will come next.

Biting down against his flesh, breaking skin, the girl drinks from her partner. Even though he’s at a distance from them, Jaebeom can tell by the look on the man’s face that he’s enjoying being fed on and that it certainly isn’t his first time.

He feels like his eyes are frozen on the couple. It’s been so long since he fed off someone instead of the stuff that he gets from his connection at the hospital. Jaebeom tries not to think about the way his fingertips tingle and his throat dries up at the thought of drinking from a warm body. The alcohol has only dehydrated him and made him feel even more thirsty – he’s afraid that going back to the bar and asking Mark for a glass of O negative exclusively isn’t going to make that go away.

After a moment or two, the girl removes her mouth from the boy’s neck and drags her tongue over the spot where she had drawn blood from, ultimately covering the wound and signaling that she was done drinking.

He thinks of how risky it is to do that at a place like this. Although half of the people around them also take part in the activity of drinking blooding and granted most of them aren’t paying attention to those around them – there are still unsuspecting humans everywhere. If one wrong person were to see then that could be it for this club being a haven for the vampire community in the city and that would probably be… it for vampires in this city in general.

But who was he kidding? He was being a hypocrite because he’s for sure done the same thing.

You’ve once again entered his mind. However, this time it isn’t an image, picture, or vision that occupies his thoughts, but instead just the idea of how you would react to who he is, what he really is. Throughout his time that he’s been undead he’s only done the “reveal” to a handful of people and even then, it took him a long time to get there. Well except for one person who ultimately was a mistake and his friends hadn’t hesitated to let him know.

With you, Jaebeom felt that you wouldn’t be the kind of person to judge him instantly based on what he was. You would be shocked of course, maybe even scared, but you wouldn’t let that cloud your judgment. You wouldn’t let yourself reject something just because it was unfamiliar.

What the fuck was he on about?

It must be the alcohol doing this to him. He would have to thank Mark for making them strong this time around, but also make a mental note to never let this happen again. Jaebeom was already a deeper thinker, but this was getting out of hand.

There’s a sudden grasp of Jaebeom’s elbow and he feels himself jump at the sudden touch. His eyebrows furrowed when he realized it wasn’t one of his friends considering Bambam and Jinyoung were both dancing over to his right side.

When he turned around to greet the person who had grabbed him, he was disappointed, surprised, and annoyed all in one. It was the last person he had expected to see her, except not really because it made perfect sense.

“Jaebeom… hi.” Ara smiled shyly at him, tucking a string of hair behind her ear and slightly looking down at the ground. He wants to groan because he knows she’s doing this because he had once mentioned that he thought it was hot when she looked innocent. He shouldn’t have ever said that.

He’s not sure what to say, because what are you supposed to say to someone you’ve been trying to avoid for the past year and a half? Jaebeom had said everything he had wanted to say to her.

At one point in his life, he had been stupid. He had been stupid and he had abused the power that had been bestowed upon him since the day he had been turned. Perhaps one would assume that he’d been foolish with his ability just at the start – 100, maybe even 150 years ago. Instead, Jaebeom had gone through a rough patch about a year or two ago.

The overwhelming pressure of finding his mate had started to get to him again. All he needed was someone, anyone to break the hypnotic trance and that was it. A task that seemed so simple, yet never came. So, Jaebeom had used hypnotism to his advantage, getting as many girls as he could in his bed in the shortest amount of time possible. He wasn’t proud of it and it was something he would constantly regret as long as he was ali- around.

One of those girls… had been Ara.

Jaebeom felt relieved when she didn’t wait for him to answer back at her greeting, “How are you? I-It’s your birthday, right? How old are you turning again? 27?” She winked immediately after her question and he wants to roll his eyes.

She was the mistake by the way. The mistake that knew about who he was.

He doesn’t even remember how it happened, how his secret slipped, or what the circumstances of her finding out was. Part of him thinks he was just horny, thirsty, and weak, but she found out and she… loved it.

Weirdly enough, Ara loved the idea of him being a vampire and his “lifestyle” which at first Jaebeom didn’t think too much about. He thought okay she’s taking this extremely well… better than anyone else I’ve ever told, but whatever, but then it became strange.

She was what those in the vampire community call a “vampire fetishizer.”

He coughed awkwardly, his gaze wandering over to Jinyoung and Bambam, hoping they would catch sight of him stuck with Ara and come rescue him. Jaebeom wasn’t that lucky though, not even on his birthday, “Yeah… 27.”

Jaebeom can’t help but look at her neck. It’s fully on display and it was clear that Ara had come here to find someone to feed on her. He had been the one to show Ara this place before he had been clued into her little… vampire obsession.

“Well did the birthday boy get everything he wants today?” She smiled and gave Jaebeom those eyes. He feels his cock twitch in his pants and he realizes he has to keep himself in check because he’s not that weak tonight… right?

His eyes flash to her neck again and Jaebeom feels his throat get even drier. He was so thirsty and he knows Ara would be so willing.

No Jaebeom… No.

“I-I uh yeah… you know got- yeah today’s been good,” he stuttered awkwardly, bringing his tongue out to wet his dry lips. Judging on the look on Ara’s face, she’s taken the action the wrong way.

“You look thirsty Jaebeom… do you want a drink?”

He knows what she means and Jaebeom swallows hard in an attempt to distract himself, to remind himself that he’s not that thirsty. He doesn’t need it that bad.

“I-I think I am.”

The words come out faster than his brain can process to stop them and the part of Jaebeom that’s coherent, sharp, and aware wants to punch the weak and drunk Jaebeom in the face.

Without a word, Ara turned from Jaebeom and began walking to one of the exits at the side of the club. He feels like he’s the one in a trance, mindlessly following her through the people, not even hearing Jinyoung and Bambam calling out to him. The only thing that Jaebeom makes note of as he follows her is Mark’s face behind the bar, giving him a tight smile. It almost stops Jaebeom. Almost.

When they finally get outside through the exit door, they find themselves in a small alley between the club and a dry cleaner.

Jaebeom doesn’t even get a moment to think before Ara is pushing him against the wall of the dry cleaner, her hands roaming up and down his body, her lips going to his own. They’re pressed up against each other so closely that he recalls the couple he had watched earlier. He feels sick comparing this moment now to the two of them.

“Fuck I missed you so much,” Ara sighed seductively into this ear, making Jaebeom’s stomach churn further at her clear longing for him. Well not him, but the vampire part of him.

“Please, I need it,” she mewled. At her words, he almost puts a stop to this whole thing and has to question whether this is the right thing to do. Jaebeom wonders if this is old Jaebeom behavior – the one that just used women and threw them away later like toys, but then he remembers that this is Ara. She’s using him as well.

It’s almost as though that old, cocky, snide Jaebeom appears out of nowhere as he says his next words and brings himself closer to her neck, “do you really need it?”

“Yes, Jaebeom I do, please.” Ara already sounds so desperate and he’s barely done anything. He can’t help but smirk at her reaction.

“Then I guess I better give it to you then.”

He’s about to do it. He’s about to bite down and finally relieve his thirst, his craving, but then he looks to the side of the alley – towards the street. He feels like he’s seeing things again like he’s in the middle of a hallucination or mirage. That thought is pushed away when he locks eyes with you.

“Don’t mind me,” you placed your hands up in front of yourself, to show him you’re not eavesdropping. Your action frustrated you because it would have been much better to say nothing, but you felt yourself panic. The prolonged eye contact with him while he’s just seconds away from pressing down – bitting down? – on the girl’s next for some reason pushed you into defensive mode. Not to mention his eyes… his eyes were – red?

The girl hadn’t noticed you; you aren’t even sure if she heard you, but she certainly noticed Jaebeom’s stare fixated on you. When she faces you, she wears an unpleasant sneer, clearly annoyed by your interruption of whatever this was.

“Can you go?” She said, the agitation in her voice more than apparent.

Rather than immediately leave the scene, you continued to stare at Jaebeom. It’s difficult to say why you decided to walk this specific way home despite it being so late and dark out, but for some reason, you couldn’t help but be pulled in this direction. You weren’t someone who believed in signs or fate, but it felt so wrong to go any other way tonight. That was another thing, you felt this kink in your neck that practically forced you or taunted you into looking down the alley between this dry cleaners and club. It was yet another thing about today that felt unexplainable to you as you certainly weren’t expecting the birthday boy from the café today to be in a compromising position with some girl.

After a moment of more uncomfortable staring – something else that had happened at the café today with him – Jaebeom breaks your gaze and looks down at his feet. The eye roll and acrid look on the girl’s face don’t go unnoticed by you.

You shouldn’t be here.

“S-Sorry. I’ll just get going then,” you concluded, unsure why you felt an uncomfortable sickness spread throughout the entirety of your body.

You barely knew this guy – all you really knew was that today was his birthday and that he was friends with Minji’s boyfriend. Basically nothing. Yet now and even earlier back at the café you had felt this weird sensation within yourself. Not even when you looked at him, but just being in the same presence. It had been so hard to focus on making coffee today when he was seated across the room. Every part of your body just wanted to get closer, gravitate towards him. It was fucking weird… and scary.

The girl nodded as if to signal “yeah about time,” at the announcement of your departure. Jaebeom on the other hand, still had his eyes glued to the ground as if looking at you once again will cause him some kind of pain.

Just as you’re about to continue your trip back home, you stop yourself and look back at the couple in the alley.

“Happy birthday by the way…” you paused wondering if it would be weird to say his name considering he doesn’t even know yours, but you shove the thought out of your mind, “Jaebeom…”

Hearing you say his name causes that tingling feeling in his fingertips to come back and his entire mind is sent into a frenzy. He feels too awkward, too shy to look at you again, but a sudden thought washed over him. What if earlier was a mistake? What if you are his mate? With the way he was currently feeling just at you saying his name, the visions he had in the club and the nonstop place you know had in his mind, it was difficult to believe that you weren’t his mate.

Bambam and Jinyoung had found it difficult to explain to him what it felt like to find your mate, but surely what he felt right now wasn’t normal behavior or feelings. Unless he was a psychopath.

Tightly shutting his eyes and drawing together all his strength, Jaebeom aims to try once again to see if you can break the hypnotic trance, unaffected by his abilities. However, as soon as he’s finally ready, head turned up to face you – you’re gone. You didn’t wait for him to respond to the happy birthday message. Instead, you simply left not wanting to be a burden or troublesome to whatever it was those two were doing in that alley.

“Thank fucking god, let’s get back to it,” Ara concluded with a final roll of her eyes, gripping Jaebeom’s shoulders to get him close to her once again. He stares at her neck, but this time he doesn’t feel anything. He no longer feels thirsty and his appetite is gone.

Jaebeom shrugs her off slightly. The encounter with you has caused him to wake up and realize what a bad idea it would be to do this right now. He hopes that Ara won’t put up a fight – he doesn’t want to have to hypnotize her if he doesn’t need to.

At his actions, Ara takes a step away in disbelief, as if she actually can’t believe that Jaebeom is changing his mind and no longer wants her, “are you serious?”

He doesn’t say anything but instead avoids eye contact with her just as he had done for you.

Snorting, she glared at him, “Fine. Whatever. I don’t fucking care. I can find someone else to feed off of me. Yours never felt that good anyway. Asshole.”

Just like that, she’s out of his life once again and Jaebeom can’t help but feel thankful. He should have never been weak enough to be dragged out by here anyway. He had just been consumed by thoughts of you, alcohol, and the couple on the dancefloor. Then again, not coming out here would have robbed him of the opportunity of seeing you again and finding out that you actually knew his name.

That’s when it dawned on him.

Fuck… how much had you seen? What did you see?

Jaebeom realized that he might have some explaining to do

#got7 fanfic #got7 smut #im jaebeom fanfic #jaebeom fanfic #jaebeom smut

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shsldepressedlesbian · 4 years ago

Note

for the smut ask meme,,, maybe 74 with komahina? 😳 👉👈 (with bottom hajime bc that shits hot)

74: "Wow, I think you're blushing even redder than that vibrator inside you."

ao3

ah, yes, bottom!hajime... i was expecting and hopeful towards this HDHDHDH

please allow me to apologize for the wait 🙇‍♂️ there was one paragraph i had to write that im ashamed to say took me a good time to hype myself up to do JDJSJJS either way i hope u enjoy this!! even tho its been forever so im worried you might not get a chance to see this 😔

“So, it’s fine, right?”

Had he not grown used to it, Hinata would have been disturbed at the nonchalant grin on Komaeda’s face compared to his own already feeling incredibly hot at the very sight of the silicone object he held in hand.

...He really shouldn’t get flustered over this, however. Afterall, he’s already agreed and talked about this beforehand.

A simple discussion about Komaeda wishing to get a chance to use a vibrator on him. And of course, Hinata had agreed, finding it only fair with how many times he’s used one Komaeda.

And yet…

The one Komaeda holds is a simple penetrative kind, definitely new, with a noticeable red color. It certainly was far from large- but bigger then what Hinata had initially expected.

Perhaps he had just been expecting one of the small, stringed ones. Though, maybe a bigger one would be better…

As though sensing his hesitance, Komaeda falters. "Well, of course, if you changed your mind, we don't have to-"

"NO," Hinata interrupts, only to immediately bite his tongue at just how loud he had accidentally been. "No, it's fine. We've… already gotten me ready, anyhow."

Right. If he could handle Komaeda's dick and nonstop teasing, he could handle something as simple as this. Besides, he doesn't want to drag this out for too long.

Komaeda pauses for a second, before regaining his smile. "Ah, excellent, then. Could you… spread your legs for me, again, Hinata-kun?"

Another wave of embarrassment briefly hits Hinata at the request. It's not even that lewd- in fact, it should be expected- but that doesn't stop him from averting eye contact with Komaeda as he obeys, allowing his knees to fall apart and become exposed. In order to become more comfortable, he finally lays down on his back, pressing his head against the pillows below him.

He doesn't have to look at Komaeda to tell his expression, but in a way, that only gets his face to heat up again, turning his head away even more. Unfortunately, on his back, he can't bury his face in the pillows fully like he usually does.

Hinata bites his lip when he finally feels the head of the toy push against his lube-slicked entrance, but can't keep in the shaky, quiet gasp when it's being pushed further in him.

It… really is a different sensation. Completely different from the ones they had sometimes used on his outer body or, of course, Komaeda's cock.

It's cold from it's material and the coat of lube Komaeda had lathered on it, and while it doesn't hurt, it doesn't feel good yet, either.

"If it gets too much, you'll warn me, right?" His boyfriend asks, his warm voice already enough to get Hinata to calm down. Ah, he was the one who was making too much of a deal about this- of course, he could trust Komaeda. If it hurt, he'd pull it out in a second.

But instead of saying anything, Hinata merely nods, closing his eyes and instinctively holding his breath. He probably looks pathetic, like that, however, and so he brings his arms up to further cover his eyes from view.

Komaeda, at first, is incredibly gentle, like always. Pushing it in bit by bit, occasionally stopping whenever Hinata gave a noticeably rough shudder.

Still, Hinata isn't sure how much he can handle even that, considering it only seems to drag on the event, making the toy feel much longer than it actually is.

As though having read his mind, Komaeda, who also seemed to be kind of impatient, easily thrusted the rest of the toy into Hinata, all the way up to the hilt.

This doesn't go without a reaction, as at the unexpected fast pressure, Hinata let out a gasp, digging his nails into his own arms, having forgotten he didn't have them on the sheet.

There's a second of silence, as he gets used to the deep intrusion, before Komaeda gives a hesitant, "are you okay?"

Hinata once again responds with only a nod. Despite him having not expected it, it hadn't hurt, per say- but it still felt a little strange, and uncomfortable.

Or, so it did, before he distinctly felt Komaeda grab the hilt, gently dragging the toy out, and before Hinata can object, quickly pushing it back in, brushing his prostate head on.

Another cry leaves his throat, as his arms leave his face in order to properly grasp the pillow beneath him- only to catch sight of Komaeda's face, who looks as though he's finding the greatest possible joy from this, face dusted with red but focusing intently on Hinata's body, flickering from his face to see his reactions to his entrance and at his psychical reactions.

At the sheer arousement of his gaze, Hinata once again covered his face with an arm, heat and embarrassment filling his senses.

Komaeda, however, merely chuckles at this.

"Aha, sorry, was that too much?" His voice is as cheerful as usual, but it has a certain undertone to it Hinata could only describe as sultry. "I just wanted to make sure I memorised all those spots correctly. Afterall, with these kinds of things, you sort of need to do the whole 'back and forth' to get the most pleasure. At least, that's how it is for me."

Hinata can't get any words out of his throat, and so he once again responds simply, this time with a small grumble. Komaeda seems to also find humor in this.

"Here, Hinata-kun," and he takes a hold of the arm Hinata was using to cover his face, pushing it out of the way.

Hinata had kept his eyes open this time, and in this position, he had no choice but to make eye contact with Komaeda. He doesn't find it much fair that he looked much more stable then himself, aside from the obvious arousal.

In fact, he looks almost amused, and Hinata is reminded of why exactly he enjoyed keeping his head buried in pillows.

"Wow," is his unneeded observant, "I think you're blushing even redder than that vibrator inside you."

This is what finally seems to get the words out of Hinata, somehow finding it in himself to be peeved despite the current situation. "Well, obviously, you ass," he objects, covering Komaeda's face with his hand, though not with enough pressure to actually push him away, much less hurt him. "When you do shit like this, I…"

"Aha, are you actually peeved at me?" Luckily Komaeda didn't take the wrong idea from this, merely grabbing ahold of the hand used to block him and entwining it with his own, in order to properly pin it beside Hinata's head. "Apologies, then. It's hard for me not to tease you when your reactions are so… cute."

Ah, that word again. With how many times he's used it when they're together like this, Hinata would figure it was one of Komaeda's favorite words.

He opens his mouth to say something, though he's not sure exactly what yet, only for Komaeda to seize that opportunity to bring their mouths together.

It's embarrassing just how easily Hinata finds himself melting into the kiss, allowing himself to shut his eyes and fully revel in the feeling of their tongues together.

It's undignified and sloppy, but it's enough to get him into a bit of haze, to the point where when Komaeda pulls away and warns that he's going to "turn it on", he isn't quite sure what he means until it's too late.

Luckily, Komaeda starts the toy at an incredibly low pace, but with it still being pushed against his prostate, Hinata still reacts wildly, giving out a strangled noise as he tilts his head up.

Right. How did he forget it was a VIBRATOR?

The feeling is almost completely foreign, the faint buzz that courses through him surprisingly pleasurable, compared to the previous uncomfortableness he had felt before.

"Good?" Comes Komaeda's almost concerned voice, Hinata hearing it only distinctly.

"Yeah," he manages, his voice already slightly strained, and he almost considers just shutting up when he realises it. "Really good."

Encouraged, Hinata feels as Komaeda grabs onto the hilt of the toy, before slowly pushing and thrusting it in, bit by bit.

Hinata had his eyes squeezed shut so hard he was practically seeing patterns. He keeps a hand to his mouth, as though trying to muffle any more noises from his mouth, but for the most part, failing.

Even just this is overwhelming, Komaeda purposely brushing past all his sensitive parts, but the vibrations still hitting them dead on.

And when Komaeda tests pushing up the intensity level, it only has Hinata writhing more, abandoning the idea of covering his mouth in favor of grabbing onto the sheets beneath him.

"Fuck," He exclaims, squinting open his eyes only enough to make out a blurry view of the ceiling, "good, that feels good, Komaeda-"

And all at once, when it feels like it was going to go for another amp, the pleasure stops as the vibrations suddenly turn off with a click.

Hinata's eyes suddenly snap open fully, looking through his haze as though seeing would help him find out why it stopped.

"Ah, sorry, sorry," is Komaeda's small apology, and Hinata uses his spare strength to prop himself up on his elbows in order to look at him properly.

While he no doubt looks much worse, Komaeda still looks like a bit of a mess himself, face flushed red and eyes reflecting that of almost desperation.

"It's just that I'm close to my limit too," and he pauses briefly to sit up on his knees, making a point as he slinks his fingers underneath the waistband of his underwear, pulling them down enough to reveal his cock, the tip already dotted with pre cum. A small smile and a low voice asking a simple question of, “can I?”

With how fast he feels his face fluster, Hinata wishes he had just kept himself lying down, but instead reverts to looking away once again. Despite this, he nods, by now probably afraid of his own voice sounding weird.

Well, to be perfectly honest, he had been expecting them to try out the vibrator more, but he wasn’t going to object to doing it the “natural” way. It really wasn’t a big deal, afterall.

And so he gets back in a comfortable position for Komaeda to get on top of him, happily allowing him to bring their mouths together again, wrapping his arms around his neck.

Though the kiss gets more sloppy when Komaeda takes their dicks in one hand, grinding them together in a way that has Hinata moaning into his mouth, though it isn’t as intense as it was when the vibrator was on.

But that quickly changes, when almost out of nowhere, Komaeda uses his free hand to switch back on the toy.

Komaeda was lucky he was wearing a shirt, or Hinata would have definitely scratched him hard enough to bleed, with how hard he clutches onto his short sleeves.

He makes a strangled, loud gasp, that separates the kiss for only a moment, before Komaeda merely deepens it once again.

Overstimulation hits Hinata like a truck, with the frotting that only gets more messy as pre cum spills over themselves, and as Komaeda uses his spare hand to do the “back and forth” that he had before. Combined with the almost suffocating feeling of groaning into each other’s mouths, his head is already getting into that hazy state that only Komaeda can make him feel.

“Nng- ha- Nagi-!” incomprehensible cries spill out of his mouth whenever Komaeda leaves it for a split second in order to take a breath, but never objecting to any of it. Because in that haze is an unfathomable pleasure, whenever Komaeda brushed their tips together, or when the vibrations directly hit his sensitive spots- feelings that are quickly building up to an orgasm.

He knows that Komaeda is getting close too, when he finally breaks their kiss(that was hardly a kiss anymore, but just a wet clambering of tongues), and instead moves to teasing Hinata’s collarbone with nips and sucks, not even bothering to continue thrusting the toy into him. But that’s unneeded anyways, because any lost pleasure is made up for by him turning it up a full notch.

After that, Hinata is most definitely doomed to not last any longer. His instincts take over him, as he digs into both Komaeda’s hair and shirt like it’s a lifeline, toes curling up in the sheets, and all at once, his vision goes blurry.

If he makes any noise in his climax, he doesn’t hear it, and he briefly thinks that he must have passed out with just how hard he had come.

When he regains his senses after what feels like a half-hour, his breaths are heavy, barely registering Komaeda in a similar state on top of him. He does, however, register the feeling of the vibrator still buzzing inside him, but by now, it’s just uncomfortable. He reaches a shaky hand to shut it off, but Komaeda beats him to it, and with a small click, he finally feels relieved.

They stay in that state for what feels like hours, before Komaeda finally speaks up, his voice still exhausted.

“So, ha, how was it?”

Hinata opens his mouth to respond, but he can’t find the right to say, so he merely let a single word spill out of his throat; “Wow.”

Had he had the strength, he probably would have lightly hit the top of Komaeda’s head when he heard his giggle ring in his ears.

#pineapple writes #unsafe #hajime hinata #nagito komaeda #komahina #confusement and betrayal: komahina

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 4 years ago

Text

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch8 Battle Gym Leader Milo

(I have read somewhere sheep love dandelions so Im applying that fact to wooloos. I would also like to note that all side quests shall also be considered a part of the story.)

It would be nice to wake up without pain in your neck, sides, or back wouldn't it? That's what you wished you could do as you were shaken yet again the very next morning by someone. The four of you had decided to set up camp in the nearby camping grounds near the stadium since the day was starting to come too a close and you still weren't used to not sleeping on anything between you and the ground besides the thin floor of the tent and had fallen asleep feeling the hard ground beneath you and it must've taken you at least a good three hours before you had fallen asleep that night. Your sobble softly snoring sleeping on your head. And this morning was just like the rest when you woke up with a slight pain in your neck and back, popping them as you stretched. And with what happened yesterday you must've looked a sight-

"You look like you haven't slept in a month." Yep. It was Gloria decked out in her white gym uniform again ready to take on the day and battle ....or so it seemed.

You yawned and rubbed at your neck. Giving a groan as you already felt your sobble climbing on your back to reach it favorite riding spot and you gave him a look when he flopped half of himself over your shoulder. You were starting to see a pattern with this little guy liking to hitch a ride instead of walking himself.....Hm. Well if he was gonna stick with you for a while maybe you should give him a name? But right now you were more concerned with how much you were yawning. "Haha. I wonder why."

"Is she up?" Victor's head appeared in the opening of the tent next to his twin's and rose a brow at you blinking at the sunlight. "Oh...Wow you weren't wrong? Real case of bed head there, Y/n."

"Glad to know I can scare off Prince Charming," you sarcastically stated, "Although I wasn't expecting any kissing from any royalty anyhow."

Gloria snorted and Victor quickly held up his hands. "WHA- I-I didn't mean to be rude I swear it's just-"

"Ah. It's fine." You cut him off moving to grab your lumpy backpack/pillow at this point and made to crawl out of the tent. "Im always like this in the morning anyways. All I need is a quick hair brush and Im fine. ...What time is it?"

"Pretty early in the morning. We can all head on over to the stadium if you want but we'll still have to wait. Milo's still battling someone at the moment."

It must've been one of the trainers from before you guessed as you completely crawled out reaching up to straighten your hair out in an attempt to look presentable from a night of little sleep. "I guess he's still busy today. Kinda makes me wanna rethink my whole business liscence schtick if this means I'm gonna run a business like that."

"Business stick?"

"...Nevermind. Help me put away the tents then we can head on over to the gym ok?"

The four of you scrambled to put the tents away as you fumbled to get yourself looking half way decent. You doubted anyone would pay too much attention to you being only one random person sitting in the crowd of possibly hundreds of more people...That reminds you. You looked over your shoulder at Gloria who was currently in a pretty deep conversation with her twin whil Hop (tried to-) wrestle the tent down into it's more compact form. Victor mentioned she had stage fright. Not as bad as before stage fright, but still stage fright. He mentioned she had gotten A lot better but it seemed there was still some left since you could still remember her stiff smile and the way Hop had assurringly held his friend's hand out on the field there, which was real sweet of him. You could definately tell he was related to Leon. But it won't be the same here. It's not like you or anyone else would be there to encourage her while on field. The best any of you could do was cheer her on from the stage. Guess the two of you would have to roll with the punches as they were about to hit you. It didn't take too long to pack everything away, and you had helped Hop with his struggling battle to put the tent away. As soon as it was tightly packed away and placed onto Hop's back, you turned ready to journey to the stadium-

"Hey." Gloria's voice stopped you mid step as she pointed back up the way from the stadium. "Before we head on out I need to buy me some dandelions."

You gave her a look like she was crazy. "Dandelions? What would you buy dandelions right now for?"

"Milo's still busy right? Then we have time to get some before we go!"

You had zero idea what in the world Gloria would want with dandelions especially before her first gym battle, but you agreed since it meant you'd have some more time to straighten your hair out. So you agreed and she proceeded to buy dandelions at the florist shope. Stuffing them into her white uniform's pants pocket. She had bought a good amount and you wondered what in the world they were for. A gift for Milo perhaps? By the time the four of you made it back down to the GIGANTIC stadium. Her brother turning to her as you three stopped by to part ways. From here you could hear the cheering from the hundreds of people within and briefly wondered for a moment exactly where all these people came from. Certainly not this small town unless they traveled to see the matches. Which seemed more likely.

"Don't forget to show them your League Card to get in," Victor reminded her.

"I know."

"And stay calm."

"I know."

"Have a clear head and think things through alright."

"I KNOW!! Vic I'll be fine! You guys should get seats and watch me kick some butt!"

You heard him groan and shake his head. "Just....Don't forget what we talked about earlier alright?"

She nodded her head before giving him a smile and turned on her heel to trot on over to the front doors, which was guarded by more of those security people from the first stadium. Hop caught your attention when he nodded his head towards the stadium and you agreed following him as he turned to walk towards around the far side of the stadium with Victor hurrying to following behind. The three of you walked around until you came to two large double doors with stairs leading up and up into the stadium and you followed them screams and cheers becoming more and more promanant until you exited through the top and found yourselves high up and in side the stands....Huh. There wasn't as many people as you thought there would be. There was still a lot of people filling the seats around you but there was considerably less than at he opening Ceremony. There was still a good chunk of empty seats scattered about even with the large crowds. Surrounding the field was hundreds of seats with spectators cheering loudly and chattering likely excited for the next battle with Milo but said Gym Leader was no where to be seen on the field. Your guess was that he was taking a small break before the next battle to be had. You still followed behind them as they walked down the steps(thank GOODNESS that it wasn't as loud as the other stadium. You didn't think you could take that loud of a racket again.) and the lot of you were able to be seated a lot closer to the field this time thanks to the variety of open seats. As the three of you sat down the cheers of the crowd soon turned into loud but managable to your ears murmurs. Your sobble had taken to pushing itself up half on your head to look around interested but you reached up to take him into your lap instead. Neck still stiff from your awkward sleeping position.

It was then you noticed there was no one on the grassy fields below. "Hey. Where is everyone?"

"Gloria must be going through the challenge right now," Victor said it was easier to talk to him now than at the Opening Ceremony. "It took Hop about twenty five minutes to make it through so we'll have to wait and see what happens."

"It wasn't too hard," Hop commented crossing his arms, "In Postwick it's practically a need to know skill how to herd wooloo. A right of passage if you will. That challenge was practically begging me to solve it!"

That's right. Hop and the twins were born and raised amongst these pokemon. This should be fairly easy for them you thought. Or more likely hoped.

"Is this being broadcasted on TV as well?"

"No. Only the Entrance Ceremony and the Champion Matches at the end of the year will be. All the battles at the stadiums are recorded though, but they're uploaded to the Gym Challenge League's official Poketube website. So Mom would still be able to watch us if she wanted too. It helps with the pacing of TV channels and networks and makes it more convienet for anyone watching."

Ah. That makes sense. Guess you just had to wai- ....You blinked and squinted your eyes towards the field and pointed. "Hey. Who's that?"

Both boys looked towards the stadium's giant TV and Hop answered. "Oh. That's Dan. He's the gym's referee here, but he doesn't usually step out on field unless the battle's about to begin."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! THE BATTLE BETWEEN GYM LEADER MILO AND GYM CHALLENGER GLORIA SHALL BEGIN!!"

All three of you looked rather surprised at what was just said by the blonde man before Hop said what the three of you were thinking. "WHAT?! Already?! How could she have finished the challenge that fast!? It's barely been ten minutes."

You weren't sure yourself but were distracted by the sudden amount of cheers from the crowd as two more figures stepped onto the field. From the far left came Milo, the same man who worriedly apologised for letting his wooloo knock you over and from the right came Gloria..but she looked a bit different. Unlike last time, instead of stiff her movements were fast, jogging her way to the middle keeping her eyes slightly downward as the cameras caught her image and placed them on the screen for everyone to see. The two of them met somewhere in the middle of the field by Dan and although you could see their lips moving as they exchanged a few words you couldn't hear anything. You had guessed you wouldn't unless they had microphones to speak into. Before long the two bowed to each other before turning on their heels and walking away from one another. The flash of Victor's camera making you blink as he proceeded to capture his sister's first real battle of the league. Hop watching with a set determined face. The referee taking a few steps back himself, most likely not wanting to get caught in the crossfires.

"Here we go."

In one fluid motion with a cheer from the crowd, Milo threw a ball out and in a flash of light out came a gossifluer. Gloria mimicked the motion with her own pokeball and to your light surprise it wasn't a scorbunny. It was a corvisquire. The crow bird like pokemon gave a loud caw as it fluttered there awaiting orders. You didn't remember her catching that pokemon. Must've been one of the new ones she managed to capture back before you left Motostoke.

"BATTLE BEGIN!!"

Immediately Milo pointed and his lips moved in yelling in order. Immediately his gossifluer responded by a wind blowing around itself and suddenly leaves danced around it it a tiny tornado before being flung forward towards the bird pokemon. Razor Leaf move perhaps? Gloria's small form (or big form on the giant tv depending on which one you were watching) pointed back and barked something and like a blurred shadow the bird thing shot forward, dodging the leaves thrown at it, and like a seagal plucking a fish from the sea, the tiny gossifluer was quickly snatched up into the claws of the crow thing. You could only watch in worry for the poor thing as the corvisquire flew up, up, up until it would've been considered out of bounds of the gym. Before plummeting like a rock down below. THEY'RE GONNA crash!! Was the first thing in your mind as they went and just at the right moment the pokemon snapped it's wings back up and easily managed to fly away unhurt. A sigh of relief escaped you. Thank goodness....Only...it no longer had the gossifluer in it's claws. Your hold on your sobble increased making it give you a confused chirp, as your f/c eyes instantly went to the part of the field it would've crashed into. Only to catch the part glimpse of a light going back into the pokeball in Milo's hand. That could've only meant that Gloria managed to one hit K.O. the poor pokemon. That didn't sound right, unless the corvisquire she caught was pretty strong or-...Oh no. It couldn't be that- No time to wonder on that now as Milo sent out another pokemon who looked like a walking puffy dandelion. Eldegoss if you remembered right. While Gloria kept her corvisquire....before returning it. Guess she was changing it after all.

"ALL RIGHT!! DYNAMAX TIME!!"

You didn't have time to ask Hop what he meant. A bright red glow oozed out of the band Gloria wore upon her arm as she held her pokeball, it quickly was surrounded by the glowing energy before becoming bigger in her hands. She stumbled a bit seeming to have trouble with the added weight where you for sure thought she'd fall, before uprighting her self and turning around. With her teeth grit, Gloria raised the gigantic red pokeball above her head and tossed it. Your eyes followed it as it sored as high and far as she could- CRAP!! Your hands came up as an explosion of red appeared out of no where like multiply giant fireworks, followed by a whoosh of wind strong enough to push your body back and an UNGODLY giant cry in such high volume you could've sworn your ear drums could burst. There was a very loud chirp of panic and your eyes opened in a panic down to your shirt just as your sobble dove under it to escape the now......FREAKING. GIANT. BIRD THING!!! THAT THING WAS MASSIVE AS YOU STARED AT IT FLYING!! Thank god the stadium was built big enough for that thing to flap it's wings!! Speaking of which every flap sent a gust of wind flying from it, making Victor have to hold hit hat with one hand as he continued taking photos! Good gosh! No wonder your sobble was shaking against you! That'd thing give would give you nightmares too! A red circle of dynama clouds hung over the Corvisquire and it's black body now had a red shine to it. Looks as if Milo had decided to do it as well, because he did the same process of returning his own pokemon and adding the same red energy from his dynamax band. Giving the precious red pokeball a few pats with a smile before turning around and with one arm chucked it into the air behind him. Once again you had to shield your eyes from the bright explosion of red as the giant eldegoss made it's appearance with a slam down on the field that disleveled the ground and shook the stadium from under you. In an instant Gloria pointed towards the dynamaxed grass pokemon and must've given some kind of order you couldn't hear. Because it was at that very moment what you could only describe as a giant whirlwind of a tornado whipped from the corvisquire and straight for the eldegoss in a dead hit. That's right. Dynamaxing was a cool thing, but neither pokemon could dodge each other's attacks they were too big. Dynamaxing was a test of brute will to see how much you could hold out. And you were pretty sure Gloria had the upper hand but not because you thought she was super strong. The high winds made the three of you clutch your seats as it hit the eldegoss head on. If your hair wasnt a mess before it was now. Once the winds (other than the powerful breezes from the bird's wings) died down, you nearly choked seeing Gloria's form on her hands and knees clutching the grass to not be blown from the dirt. HOW WAS MILO STILL STANDING!? With a shriek of it's own the eldegoss leaned it's large head forward and you were surprised when three large green seeds fired off from it's head and landed with giant thuds under the bird's feet. Thank goodness Gloria was already ducking. What sprouted forth was GIGANTIC green mushrooms and grass surrounding it, then it exploded in a giant flash of green light. Giant glowing petals made of energy shooting everywhere before disintergrating into thin air. Green waves of energy washing over the crowds as the bird gave off a giant eagle cry of it's own but still flying in tack. ...That was one tough chicken!

"Eldegoss's Dynamax Move!! Awesome isn't it!?"

You couldn't answer. Another giant eagle cry pierced the air making your ear hurt and two black jet streams poured from it's wings. You watched in horror and shock as the dark jetstreams encircled the poor grass pokemon. Encasing it with a dome of black before exploding in a blast of black. The eldegoss crying out in pain as is tilted towards the ground- OMG! That thing was gonna crush Milo!! The eldegoss went out in an explosion that sent dirt clouds flying up everywhere as it timbered glowing brightly through the dust clouds as it magically shrank down winthin it's own mess. You all watched with baited breath as the clouds spread out and covered the famous gym leader as well, Gloria's bird pokemon glowing a bright reddish color before beginning to shrink down until it was back to it's normal size. It's normal size being about as big as Gloria herself (which was still pretty big but when again you remembered how big corviknight are supposed to get), and perched back onto the ground right next to it's trainer who was staring from her kneeled position as the dust literally settled. At least the giant gusts of wind weren't pushing you against the seats anymore. Maybe you should suggest to Leon to install seat belts on these stands. As the dust finally settled with great relief you saw Milo, unhurt and waving his big sunhat to shoo the dust away. Behind him was a giant crater in the ground and disheveled land. All that was left behind from the battle that had taken place.

"THE BATTLE IS OVER!! VICTORY GOES TO GYM CHALLENGER GLORIA!!"

The absolute UPROAR of the crowd's cheers along with Hop standing up to shout his own cheers to his rival/friend and another flash from Victor's camera signaled him capturing the shocked look on his sister's face just standing there looking around herself....Before you saw the brightest smile Gloria's ever given on her face and hugged her corvisquire making the poor pokemon wobble on it's feet as Milo placed the hat back on his head. The gym leader took a moment to look behind him at the disheveled field and big crater in the ground before looking back to the teenager and approuching her. Gloria seemed to notice because she stopped hugging her pokemon to face Milo with wide eyes as he approuched her. The two exchanged words for a moment before Milo held out his hand in a fist with a smile. Wide eyed she took a moment to stare at it before slowly holding out her own hands and he dropped something into the palm of her hands. Wide eyed and staring straight at it, it only took her a few moment for her to hop about excitedly and hold up the small thing in her hands. The cameras zoomed in enough for you to see that she was holding the same badge Hop had showed you the other day on the TV. She did it!? Her first badge! One more step on your way home! ...At Least you hoped. In the end the two of them shook hands and soon after excited the field as the three of you exited the stands, you taking your sobble and putting him on your shoulder again. The poor shaking pokemon calming quickly noticing there wasn't anymore giant pokemon. Hm. You might have to put him in your backpack from now on if he was gonna react all scared and hide like this. By the time the three of you excited the stands Gloria was already waiting outside the doors she went in. Smiling and bounding over towards you waving the badge around in her hand.

"LOOK AT THIS!!," she yelled excitedly shoving the badge in your faces the bronze-gold shining in the sunlight. "On my first try too! I told you I could do it!"

"You must've took my advice then."

You gave Victor a curious look. "Advice?"

He nodded. "Yeah. We used to play VR battles when we were younger as practice since we didn't have any pokemon. I suggested she pretended it was like the game and try her best."

Oh. Well that worked out pretty well for her anyways. Hopefully it'll work for the next battle as well, but you were a bit concerned that Gloria(and Hop-) only won because Milo and his pokemon was overwhelmed and tired by the onslot of trainers coming so early. But you were reluctant to say so. Not only because you didn't want to disturb the progress of the game's story more than you might have already did just by being here, and because you didn't want to hurt either of their feelings. Weighing your options, you decided that not mentioning it was the better choice for now.

"Congrats! I knew you could do it!," you complimented as she smiled wider.

"Thanks! I guess Hop and I must be on the same battling skill level then!"

"HECK YEAH! Wouldn't expect anything less from the greatest trainers to come out of Postwick!" You chuckled at him. "Oh by the way. What'd you do with all those dandelions you bought? Did you give 'em to Milo or something?"

A sly smile spread across her face. "Nope! I'm surprised you didn't remember."

He rose a brow. "Remember what?"

"Expert on wooloo huh?" She shook her head. "Wooloo love eating dandelions! That's why you barely find any of those flowers where wooloo graze or on farms in general. The objective was to get the wooloo to knock over the hay bails right? What better way than to get them to chase after you with their favorite food?"

Wow. That was actually a really smart idea you had to admit. Growing up in a farming community must really pay off. Hop's jaw practically fell open with this new revolution and his hands hands came up to grip his head. "AW MAN!! Why didn't I think of that!? I got my own wooloo for crying out loud!"

"Hey. It's ok. You're still smarter than me when it comes to science and research. You'd be a pretty good scientist too!"

"Science? Really?"

Hop nodded with a sigh. "Yeah. But it's more of a hobby, I just find learning stuff interesting y'know. But my main goal is to become the next Galar Champion!!"

"Not if I beat you to it!"

"Bring it on, Glory!

"Speaking of becoming champion," you interrupted the two, "Have you guys figured out which person you're gonna battle next?"

Both of them paused before looking at each other and Hop shrugged. "Well, there's really no particular order you have to have to battle in so I can pick anyone I want to battle next. It really doesn't matter as long as you get the eight badges for your Badge Circle...." She looked at you. "But Mr. Milo suggested I should go battle Nessa instead. He said she might be a good challenge for me."

"Nessa? Isn't she that model lady you showed me before?" She nodded.

"No way! That's where we were headed too!" Hop smiled. "This is a great chance to do a bit of traveling together!"

"Hey that sounds like a great idea! But first I want to check out this Turrfield treasure."

You all looked at her confused. "Turrfield treasure?"

She nodded. "I heard from a kid that there's supposed to be some kind 'o treasure around here. I think I figured out the riddle since then and I wanna go check it out before we leave."

"What kind of riddle?"

She made a thinking face. "Uh...Hang on a sec. What did she say how'd it go again? Some treasure lies in Turffield and the way to find it is with the standing stones and a riddle."

"Standing stones?"

"She means the ruins around Turffield," Victor answered you seeing the confusion on your face. "Some people call them 'Standing Stones' since most of them stand upright with their strange carvings."

"Seek the standing stones with Grass before the other ones," Gloria recited, "Use well that strength and find then the strength of it's strength in the end. Dally not if you've a mind to find what time has left behind...I don't know what it means tho."

"I do! It's about Pokemon types duh."

The three of you looked at Hop. "How did you solve that mystery?"

His answer was to point upwards towards the small florist and gift shop. "You remember the gift shop up there we were in?" You nodded confused. "They have this brochure in there with info on the Geoglyph and Standing Stones. I got curious after what Glory said about the thing and had a lil peek. It turns out one of the older standing stones has symbols that spell the word 'Grass' on it. And then there's two other's with 'Water' and 'Fire' cut into 'em too. It's like the three pokemon types. Grass types are usually stronger than water types but water types are usually stronger than fire types. And Fire Types are usually stronger than Grass types. It's a whole cycle of advantage type strengths."

You all were completely floored with such a logical and smart answer to come out of the teen but Gloria seemed the most impressed when she suddenly grabbed onto his hands making the poor boy freeze. "NO! WAY!! Oh my eevee! That makes so much sense! Hop you're a genius!!"

....He blinked a pink hue coming to his cheeks. "I-...I-I am?"

"YES!," she insisted eyes wide, "Who else would've been smart enough to figure out that riddle in one day!? And make the connection with pokemon advantages!" She gave him a tug and he stumbled a bit as she pulled his hands. "C'mon! We gotta go check 'em out! You know where they are right?"

"Wha- GLORIA!! What about our travel plans!?," Victor shouted after her gesturing towards a road that if you looked, was the way out of town.

She waved him off tugging Hop quickly down a different path back towards the Geoglyph. "It's just a quick look see! We'll meet you guys at the Pokemon Nusery on Route Five!!"

"GLORIA WAIT!!.....UGH!!" Victor facepalmed himself with a groan as he stood there and you blinked. "This is why I'm glad she has a traveling buddy." He looked back up at their disappearing forms with a scowl. "She gets one idea in her head there's nothing stopping her from getting it! Then she just rushes off into it without a second thought."

"Then I take it she didn't tell you about tresspassing on the Chairman's mine shafts."

"She did WHAT?!"

"Uh...Nevermind," you deflected pointing down the road. "Should we uh...Go wait for them?" In the end Victor huffed, shook his head, and turned on his heel to begin walking down the road. So you took that as a yes and made to follow him. "So....Where's the way to this Nessa person?"

Victor took a minute to respond with a sigh. "I'm not too sure. I know it's all the way on the other side of Galar in a coastal town called Hulbary. So it's safe to say it'll take some time if they insists on battling her gym next. Let me check my map." You watched and walked beside him patiently as Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Turning on to where the screen lit up and then spoke. "Hey Rotom. How long would it take to travel from the town of Turffield to the town of Halbury?"

Now you know you shouldn't have been surprised considering all phones had a rotom pokemon in it acting as this world's version of 'Hey Google' but you still blinked at the almost robotic voice answering him back. "ZZZZT. Follow on Route 5 to your destination. By Flying Taxi it would take approximately a week. By foot near a month."

"A WHAT!?"

He gave you a look. "Flying is a lot faster than walking, and Halbury's all the way across Galar from here. Of course it would take that long to travel by foot." Oh...right. Not a game. R.I.P your poor feet and the many night of awkward sleeping positions to come. He looked back to his phone messing with something on the screen a few times. "...According to this, Route Five starts once we pass the Pokemon Center and cross Turrfield Bridge. From there it's a straight course right across country to the east coast. It might take a while but it's the most convenient one for all of us."

"Isn't there a train or those taxi things?" Even if you REALY didn't want to try using those birdbrain powered taxi's you didn't like the sound of you walking across country for about a month either.

"Even if we got a taxi you heard Rotom. It'd take like a whole week of flying. And the corviknights need time to rest and eat and sleep too. They're living things just like us. Even cars, trains, and planes need to stop and need time to tune up and refill on gas don't they? And besides there's no train stations or Flying Stations set up in Turffield. If you want a train you'd have to travel back to Motostoke which is half a week, or you'd have to call a taxi from there to pick you up. Besides Gloria has a whole year to complete this task. One month out of eleven more isn't going to hurt anyone."

Except your feet and sleeping abilities but you couldn't argue. He was right. You traveled for four days and waited five for Gloria to get her first badge. You could do it again but longer. As the two of you walked down the road, the town began to fade away a bit behind you as you two traveled down the road. You both were just crossing over a small hill when you noticed a small cabin like building with a sign above his door reading: Turffield Pokemon Nursery. That must've been it! It looked as cozy as it did cute. And a little bit a ways from it was a bridge. That must've been the Turffield Bridge Victor spoke of earlier. Maybe you two should wait for the other two inside? It was pretty sunny out and you've been in the sunlight for a while. As you two walked towards the building, some movement near the bridge caught your eye and your eyes turned towards said movement. And your vision was filled with blurs of black and red and your hearing clogged with yelling. Your hand instinctively coming out to grab Victor's shoulder. The teen stopped from the tug on his shoulder a few yards away from the Pokemon Nursery before giving you a confused look as you stared. He followed your gaze just as what was happening finally registered in your head. It was those goons again! The weird ones that looked like they just stepped out of some kind of rock concert! The same ones from the hotel back in Motostoke! Why were they here tho? Two men who looked about your height a bit taller, were standing there on the bridge just as it connected with the road and backed against a part of the bridge was another man who looked all dressed up to be a doctor. Blue jumpsuit and a mask over half his face as he held up his hands to the men. Now yelling could be heard.

"OI! Just hand over that bike already!," One of them shouted pushing the smaller man's shoulder once, "We need it to cross this long bridge!"

"N-N-No!" The doctor man stammered out backing further against the wall of the bridge. "I-I bought this with my own hard earned money f-f-fair and square! What would two blokes like you even do with it!?"

"We're gonna use that bike ta chase around Gym Challengers! It'll be a scream!," the other said before cackling out with laughter.

"WHAT!? N-NO WAY!! I-Im not letting you two meatheads use my bike to chase around innocent children!"

"...Victor?"

"Yeah I see it." He peered around you brow raised looking at the scene before you two. ''Who the heck are those guys?"

You didn't answer, just stared as the two brutes jabbed the man again demanding his bike (or lack there of as you couldn't see one-) be handed over to them. How mean! But what really caught your attention was mentioning chasing around gym challengers. Now you couldn't remember if anything like this had happened in game but chasing around innocent kids for whatever reason just didn't settle right on your gut. There was two kids with you that were challengers and one could easily mistake Victor for one if you weren't careful.

"....You stay here." To reiterate your point you pulled Victor to the side of the road and firmly planted him there. He blinked and opened his mouth- !? He blinked again once you shoved your backpack into his arms and began walking. Your sobble giving a small chirp of surprise with the sudden movements. "Hold this."

"Wha- H-HEY! Y/N! What're ya doin'!?"

"C'mon old man! Give us the darn bike and we'll leave ya alone! You can get another one!"

The man scowled up at them. "T-Then why dont the two of you BUY one!?"

"Money's tight man! Just give it to us!"

"HEY UGLY!!" Dust sprayed everywhere or at least over one of them. As the three men turned to the sound of a woman's voice only for one of the weird rockstar wannabes to receive a splat of dirt picked up from the road to hit him square in the face and have the rest of it cover his front body. The man sputter/screamed out and hands immediately went to wipe at his face. Luckily none got in his eyes so no pain, but that didn't stop the annoyance. Especially since when he looked back up there was a girl standing there hands on her hips and sobble half hiding behind her head as she point. You gave them the angriest scowl you could muster. "You two KISS lookin' airheads leave that poor man alone! He already said no so beat it before I make you!!"

Behind you Victor's jaw dropped and the two goons seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment. Looking between the two of them confused before scowling and looking back to you. Crap. These two were both at least a good foot or two taller than you were. You hadn't really thought ahead but no turning back now.

"Oi! Girly, why don't ya mind your own business?"

"Yeah! This doesn't concern you!" They said leaning over you. Unknownt to anyone your sobble was starting to get a bit teary eyed at the two above him.

"It IS my concern if you're going around hassling innocent people! What'd the guy do to you two?! Back off and leave him alone before I call Officer Jenny on your arses!" Really you didn't know if this region had an Officer Jenny, but it seemed to work as their scowled wavered a bit.

"Whatcha gonna have us arrested for!? We haven't done any crimes yet!"

"Yeah yet! And what about you two planning on scaring everyone you see?"

"Last chance Girly!" One poked your shoulder as if to intimidate you. "Mind your own busines-"

"WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The three of you were interrupted by a loud almost baby like wail as you immediately cringed from it being from directly next to your head. You hissed hands coming to cover your eyes in a panic feeling tears start to sting from them. Was the pain of the yelling so loud you started crying?! If you could've seen past your furious wiping and tears you would've noticed the other men starting to cry as well, face paint starting to run down their faces.

"AAA!! M-Man what's goin' on!?", one shouted to his companion.

"I-...I D-DONT KNOW!! LET'S JUST GET OUT OF HERE OK!?"

They fled. Bumping into you and knocking you over in the process. You yelped as you fell to your butt on the dirt road and your sobble let out a choked hiccup as it was jostled from your head and onto the grassy ground in the men's haste to escape. Well...the baby cry was gone at least, but there was still a few hiccups from behind you as you hissed and used your sleeve to furiously wipe at your stinging eyes. WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT!?

"OMG! Y/N! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?"

"Here young lady. Turn your head up." You blinked crying to see past the stinging of your tear soaked eyes and someone gently grabbed your jaw. A Second later a wet cloth was wiping at your eyes. Almost instant relief came from your sore red eyes as someone wiped at them. "There we go. Lucky for you I always have a Sobble Tear Cloth handy on me due to how sensitive the little ones can be." Once you got enough clear vision you could see the faces of Victor and the doctor man who were both kneeled next to your fallen body. "There now. How do you feel?"

".....Peachy,'' you mumbled shaking your head from his grip. "What was that?"

"Your sobble crying. When sobbles cry it's like someone chops a hundred onions near you. It's a defense mechanism that's highly affective as you can see. The effects take a while to wear off but luckily for you I happen to be an expert on these kids of things." Grabbing your arm the man carefully helped you on your feet and smiled behind the mask. "Thank you kindly for the help. But you didn't have to, Im sure they would've left sooner or later."

You waved a hand sniffing as said sobble began to immediately start climbing up your pants leg again. Combined with your wooloo bowling trip, you must've really looked a sight. "It's fine. Can't be worse than being knocked over by a wooloo. Are you alright, Mister?"

He nodded. "Yes. Thanks to you. Here. Let's get you to the Nursery. There's some eye drops in my office that might help you further. I work there as one of the nurses with the caretaker and her assistant."

You nodded and with the urge to wipe at your eyes the Docter and Victor helped you stumble walked your way towards the Nursery, your sobble continuing to climb up your body with little difficulty as it reached your shoulder. You felt it touch your cheek and give a small chirp but at the moment you paid it no mind trying not to fall over.

"Hey, Vick-...Oh wow. What happened? Was Y/n crying or something?"

Oh great. Well at least they finally showed up.

"Ill tell you later. Opening the door over there and let's get her inside."

The next thing you knew you were inside a cozy looking house and was given eye drops. It took a few minutes for you to go back to normal and the redness around your eyes to subside. But by the time it did you were feeling way better and sitting on a green couch. One hand petting your sobble who happily accepted the affection with a smile. Hop and Gloria had returned from their small search a little bit after you had managed to chase those men off, and they happily explained their trip from standing stone to standing stone...But unfortunately didn't find anything other than an old ten dollar bill that someone most likely accidentally dropped while visiting them. And Victor got to scold you about just walking up to strangers like that. Weren't you the grown up here? Glad to know everyone was ok tho. The elderly lady at the center had offered the four of you tea as thanks for helping to rescue their nurse and Gloria excused herself to check out the Center's Free Pokeboxes in their own rotomi stations. When you asked about it Hop was happy to explain.

"Oh. Free Pokeboxes are basically boxes from people's rotomi boxes. Usually Nurseries and Centers get a whole lot of them if a pokemon's trainer passes away, or if they were donated or abandoned to the system. From there they're sorta put up for adoption or released back into the wild if no one claims them within a year or so.....Y'know I think Ill take a look too. I might just find a neat new partner." He got up to go join Gloria currently flipping through options on the rotomi leaving you with Victor sitting on the couch.

You sighed. "Man. Some day it's been huh? A riddle solved. A gym battle won. And now a nurse was saved."

"All thanks to you. But please maybe don't be so reckless next time. I was afraid something bad might've happened to you by what those brutes yelled running off."

"Oh? What'd they say?"

He hummed. "Um....I think....'You're too strong!" He tried to repeat in a failed attempt at a deep man voice. "If you stay in the Gym Challenge you're gonna cause problems for our lady! You haven't seen the last of us! We're gonna make sure you stay out of our lady's way!'..Or something like that."

Well that perked your interest. You stared at him. "Our lady?...Does that mean someone ordered them to go after Gym Challengers?"

He hummed a more worried look coming over him. "Could be. But I wouldn't know who or why. Who'd want to go after the Gym Challengers?"

That was a very good question. You wracked your brain for a moment. Was there any person in the game with a pack of goons? And was there any lady out to stop the gym challengers? Your memory turned up nothing as you sighed and sunk back into your seat on the couch as you did. Those goons were at the hotel and now here as well. That couldn't just be a coincidence could it? No...You had a feeling there was something linking those guys to whatever's about to happen to you. Too bad you didn't know. As you both silently sat there, another person walked in through the door and up to the counter but you paid them no mind even as Gloria approuched them.

Eventually you sighed. "I wouldn't know either it seems, but just in case I think we should all be keeping a really close eye out for anymore of those guys and let Leon know the first chance we get. As the saying goes better be safe than sorry."

"Couldn't agree more. Especially since this is concerning my friend and sister."

"What's concerning us?"

Oh that was Hop. You turned. "We wanted to tell you about-" You blinked coming face to face with a grumpy purple face in the arms of Gloria as she held the tiny pokemon clinging to her like a baby. ...You pointed. "Where did you get that?"

"My Toxel? The lady that just came in wanted to drop it off. Somethin' bout hatching it and not being the pokemon she wanted or some speel. I couldn't just let a cutie like this go into adoption or tossed out in the cruel wild after just being hatched." She held it up to her face as she smiled. "Look at how cute you are! Who'd wouldn't want acutie pie like you?" The baby toxel in her arms responded by reaching an arm out and grabbing her nose. Aw! Cute.

You shook you head with a smile before standing. Lifting an arm up with your sobble clinging to it to allow it to freely crawl back onto your shoulder before you stood up slinging your pack over your shoulders. "C'mon. I'll tell you as we walk. The sooner we start the sooner we can reach Halbury and our next step of this little adventure."

#pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #Pokemon Piers #pokemon piers x reader #Reader #piers x reader #reader x piers

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megalony · 4 years ago

Text

Heartbeat- Part 6

I know it has taken me a while to get back to this Ben Hardy story but I finally managed to finish this next part which I hope you will all enjoy. There is some fluff and confliction ahead, feedback is always lovely.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem @butlegendsneverdie @langdonzvoid @jennyggggrrr @rogermeddow @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogertaylorsbitontheside @chlobo6 @rogertaylors-lipgloss @sj-thefan @omgitsearly @luckytrashgooprebel @scarsout @deaky-with-a-c @killer-queen-ofrhye @bluutac @vousmemanqueez @jonesyaddiction @ambi-and-sunflowers @milanosaurus @httpfandxms @saint-hardy @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls @mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me @peterquillzsblog @im-an-adult-ish @crazylittlethingg @allauraleigh

Series taglist: @ispewglitter

Series masterlist

Summary: Ben and (Y/n) haven’t been together long when they find out their pregnant. But (Y/n) fears she’ll lose the baby after suffering miscarriages before with her ex, Gwilym who is making things complicated.

Enjoy.

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Ben didn't know what woke him up at such an early hour in the morning, but he could sense and feel that something wasn't quite right. He laid on his back, his eyes trying to make out the patterns on the ceiling through the darkness as he felt his mind very slowly beginning to wake up and come around. But when he started to become aware of his surroundings, Ben realised why he must have woken up so suddenly like this.

(Y/n) was mumbling something.

For a few seconds, all Ben could think of was that she was talking to someone quietly on the phone because all the times they had slept together, Ben had never known (Y/n) to sleep talk or mumble or make a sound in her sleep. But when Ben looked over at her, he noticed she wasn't really speaking, it was soft murmurs leaving her lips suggesting she wasn't awake and talking on the phone or to herself.

Reaching over he turned on the bedside lamp to try and get a better look at (Y/n) laid beside him. He'd never known her to talk or mumble in her sleep like this and she never normally had any vivid kind of dreams that she acted out. But right now she was mumbling something he couldn't make out and she was laid on her back which was unusual for her. She had both arms wrapped around her stomach and her knees pulled up like she was in some kind of pain, but Ben couldn't tell if it was pain or the dream making her distressed like this.

When (Y/n)'s features scrunched up like she was in pain, Ben delicately placed his hand on her shoulder, trying carefully to wake her up without causing her any further distress.

"Baby... baby wake up. You're okay, it's okay."

Ben jolted almost as harshly as (Y/n) did when her eyes opened and frantically scanned around until they found his. Her breathing was fast and erratic and for a moment it was like she didn't know where she was.

The frantic look in (Y/n)'s eyes didn't disappear, it seemed to increase when tears started to fall down her features but the moment her hand pressed to her stomach Ben saw it, she looked like she had shocked herself. She started to shake and her breathing got worse to the point he didn't think she was really breathing at all.

Moving his hands, he cupped her face and smoothed his thumbs over her cheeks to try and calm her down.

"Shh, hey just breathe with me, in and out." Ben tried to get (Y/n) to copy his breathing but even though she managed to breathe better, she still looked confused. Whatever she had been dreaming about, she had been stuck in very deep to the point she still wasn't out of the dream yet.

"T-the baby..." (Y/n) didn't know what she was asking or trying to say to Ben but she worried him all the same. He pulled back just enough to be able to look at her baby bump, wondering for a moment if she was in pain or thought something was wrong. He very slowly and cautiously placed his hand over her own that was pressed against her stomach like she was trying to press down and touch the baby or reassure herself that their daughter was really there.

"She's right here, love."

His words didn't calm her down, if anything they made (Y/n)'s tears fall faster as she moved her hands to press down on the bed so she could try and push herself so she was sitting up in bed. Ben moved back so he could sit up properly before helping (Y/n) to sit up, it took a lot out of him to stop himself from crying at how broken and unsettled she seemed, especially when he didn't understand why.

"The blood, t-there's so much blood." (Y/n) wiped the tears from her eyes before she threw the cover off her frame, running her shaking hands over her legs before looking at the bed. The word 'blood' passed through her lips again and Ben could see the way she was tracing the bed sheet like she thought it would be soaked with blood.

"Baby... there's no blood. You're not bleeding, you're fine I promise you." Ben traced his own fingers over the sheets as if to prove his point before his saddened, worried eyes locked with her own as he waited to see what her reaction would be. "Look, she's still here with us, you're both fine it was just a dream."

Ben moved his hand back to her stomach and started tracing small designs over her skin, trying to prove that he wasn't lying. Nothing had happened to either of them during the night, they hadn't lost their girl and (Y/n) was fine, she wasn't bleeding or in any danger or pain, both his girls were okay. (Y/n) just had some kind of bad dream that was affecting her.

(Y/n) took Ben by surprise when she suddenly pushed herself forward until her head was tucked into Ben's neck and her arms were wrapped around his shoulders. When he wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her closer (Y/n) felt like she was both panicking yet calming down at the same time.

"I- I remembered... the bleeding w-wouldn't stop, it was the furthest I'd got..."

Ben turned his head so he could kiss (Y/n)'s temple, holding her just a bit tighter to try and reassure her she was okay.

Now he understood.

She'd dreamt of when she lost her baby at fourteen weeks, that was when she said the bleeding wouldn't stop for days and Gwilym had to take her to hospital. (Y/n) had never gotten this far in a pregnancy, she'd never gotten to seven months before and it was unnerving her because she knew something could happen at any point and she could lose the baby.

"I d-don't want to lose her-"

"We won't. We've gotten this far and nothing's happened, trust me she's gonna be fine. Our perfect girl."

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Raking her fingers through her hair, (Y/n) quickly gathered up the strands and tied a band around her hair to keep it from her features as she made her way over to the door. She hummed a tune as she headed down the hall, wondering who was here. Ben wasn't home so it was unlikely someone was here to see him, they weren't expecting anyone or any deliveries or family or friends over. And (Y/n) couldn't think of anyone who would come to see her considering many of her friends didn't know her new address yet since she had moved in with Ben.

The random melody that (Y/n) was humming abruptly stopped the moment she unlocked the door and looked at who was standing there on the other side of the threshold.

"Gwil." She breathed through the name she didn't want to say anymore due to the memories it provoked.

What was he doing here? Was he here to see Ben, did he know that (Y/n) was living here now and that was the reason he was here? Why would he want to come and talk to (Y/n) considering that the last time they properly spoke it was to argue about how he found out about the baby.

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Ben isn't here."

"That's good, because it's you I'm here to see." He looked rather boyish and if not shy with the way he stuffed his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders, looking up at (Y/n) through his lashes with his chin tilted down. It was as if he was afraid she was going to shut the door in his face or shout and tell him to leave. (Y/n) half felt like slamming the door and leaving him there after what had been said between them over the past few months. But Gwilym didn't look angry or hurt or like he was here to start a fight and (Y/n) didn't want anymore fights or hardship between them.

(Y/n) forced a small smile before she pulled the door open all the way to allow him inside. She knew Gwilym knew his way around, he had been to Ben's place before but she saw the way he looked around the hall as he walked in. He looked around like he expected everything to be different or changed because (Y/n) was here, he seemed to think she would waltz right in and change the decor or add pictures or paint the whole house.

"Why are you here?" (Y/n) tried her best not to sound rude or inconsiderate but she didn't want to beat around the bush when they both sat down on the sofa. She wanted to know what he was here for and what they were going to be talking about because she was unnerved that he was here.

(Y/n) didn't know how to act around Gwilym anymore or what she was meant to say or do. Everything felt tainted and wrong and she felt awful that things between them were rocky and uneven but she couldn't change the past and she wouldn't want to. (Y/n) didn't want to change anything with Gwilym but she also didn't want to change what happened with Ben either. Even though things had gone a bit wrong along the way, this was how their lives were planning out and it wasn't all that bad.

"I wanted to see how you are... and to try and patch things up. I knew you wouldn't answer if I rang and I'm not exactly on speaking terms with Ben either." Gwilym rubbed at the back of his neck in a way he always did when he got nervous about something.

"I'm doing okay, but there is a reason we wouldn't answer your calls... Ben told me what you said at the bar and you were pretty angry when I tried talking to you about it."

There was no beating around the bush on this subject. The reason (Y/n) and Ben didn't answer Gwilym's calls or texts was because the last time they had both spoken to him it had ended in arguments. Ben rarely ever lost his temper but on that occasion in the pub he had almost started a fight with Gwilym and after that (Y/n) tried calling him but they only ended in another fight. It seemed easier to just try and ignore his calls and forget about the arguing than to try and make amends which didn't seem or feel at all possible.

"I know, I know what I said and it was wrong, but I was upset. A baby is the reason we broke up and then I found out you were having a baby with him, you didn't even tell me."

"We broke up because we weren't working anymore, it wasn't just about a baby and me and Ben weren't trying for a baby I never led him on like that."

"It felt like you didn't want me to know-"

"Ben wanted to tell you but truthfully I didn't. We were going to tell you but then you found out but I knew the moment you found out this would happen. You would think I was using Ben to my advantage and dumping you because it wasn't working for us."

(Y/n) wasn't stupid, she knew that no amount of time was ever going to help if she did decide to have a baby in the future. Whether it was now or years into the future it was always going to hurt Gwilym if she managed to have a baby because they tried so hard to make it work and it never did. But (Y/n) knew having a baby with Ben so soon after leaving Gwilym was going to make him think she had broken off their engagement so she could find someone else to have a baby with.

"I only said that because I was hurt. I watched you go to all those hospital appointments and come out crying, I sat with you when you took every test and I drove you to hospital when you were so sick I thought you were dying. Then suddenly your pregnant with my friend and you're perfectly fine like you never miscarried at all."

"And that's my fault that this time I haven't lost the baby? Like I planned it out perfectly? Do you know how badly that scared me, that every single time with you I was incapable of doing something every other woman can do and then on the seventh time it worked? And you were the one who hurt me by telling Ben about my miscarriages which should have been my decision to make."

(Y/n) never chose to lose any of the pregnancies with Gwilym, she didn't plan this perfectly so that this one time with Ben would work, it was such horrid yet twistedly perfect luck that (Y/n) seemed fine to have a baby this time around.

As soon as (Y/n) got past the fourteen week marker she knew something was different. It was scary to think that after being with Gwilym for years and losing six pregnancies with him, all (Y/n) had to do was be with Ben for four months and she could get pregnant and have almost nothing go wrong. She knew how that would cut through Gwilym like a knife.

"That was a decision you wouldn't have made and he had to know. What if you lost the baby and were ill again, you were told by the doctor not to try and conceive and even if this wasn't planned you're still putting yourself in harms way. If Ben didn't know and something happened to you I don't think he would forgive you for not telling him."

"That doesn't give you the right to make him suspicious and tell him Gwil. If I told Ben outright from the beginning I'd lost six pregnancies or that the last one hospitalised me that would be it, it wouldn't be my decision to have a baby anymore. He would have told me he wasn't taking the risk like you did and I would have lost any future chance of having a baby with him. I'm not with him to get a baby but it's my choice if I want to take the risk, not yours."

If (Y/n) didn't want to tell Ben it was her decision and if she wanted to wait that was up to her too but Gwilym forced her hand even if he thought he was doing right by her and Ben.

It was clear as day that had Ben of known from the off, he wouldn't have agreed to having any kids with (Y/n). He would have used protection so it couldn't happen because it was a risk to her health and her life and Ben wouldn't take that risk. Ben wouldn't have kids in the future with (Y/n) and he still wasn't going to now after this baby, if (Y/n) said from the beginning then this baby now wouldn't be here. She would be robbed of the chance of being a mother even though the risk was hers to take, not Gwilym's or Ben's.

Ben might of thought that (Y/n) had planned this out as well by not telling him and getting pregnant but (Y/n) thanked the stars that Ben knew and believed that she wasn't trying to use him in any way and that she didn't plan this out.

"Alright, I'm sorry I just... I care about you, I love you and I was scared that this pregnancy would hurt or kill you. And it pains me to see that you're managing to have a baby with someone else, but I am happy for you. I want to put everything behind us and be friends, I don't want to fight anymore."

(Y/n) tipped her head down and rubbed at her tired eyes, trying to rid herself of the headache forming behind her eyes that were welling up with tears. He couldn't say that, he couldn't say after everything that he loved her because he shouldn't. (Y/n) had hurt him by breaking things off with him because she didn't love him anymore and she had hurt him further by falling for his friend and having a baby with him. Gwilym shouldn't love her after everything and he couldn't say he did because that wasn't fair to any of them.

"Then you shouldn't tell me you love me because you-" (Y/n) brought her hand to her mouth and bit down on her thumb when the sound of the front door caught her attention.

"Who loves you?" There was a playful tone to Ben's voice that made (Y/n)'s eyes well with fear as she couldn't bring herself to come up with a response.

Her eyes locked with Gwilym's who looked a mix between calm and terrified because they both knew Ben wasn't going to be very nice when he walked in and saw who was here and put the pieces together. It was as if Gwilym was scared of what was coming but he was still rather calm like he was expecting this to happen sooner or later.

(Y/n) saw the exact moment Ben's face fell, going from a smile to pursed lips and a tight jaw when his teeth bit down tightly on the corner of his lips. His eyes looked bleak and his brows narrowed on Gwilym who tried to keep eye contact but it didn't last for more than a few seconds at most.

"I should have guessed." A sinister, crude grin pulled at Ben's lips for a few seconds as he cocked a brow at Gwilym like he wanted him to challenge him or apologise or just say something so Ben could bite back at him. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"Maybe I should go-"

"Why are you even here in the first place?" Ben snapped back like a crocodile taking a shot at its prey. He stood beside the side of the sofa (Y/n) was sitting on but he felt awkward in his own home like he had walked in on something and should leave.

"Ben, it's- it's okay, he wanted to talk and sort things out."

"What, and telling you he loves you sorts this out? I thought that would complicate things and make them worse but maybe I should just go instead." Ben couldn't fathom how Gwilym saying he still loves (Y/n) would sort this mess out, it made things worse rather than building the bridges that had been burned between them all. But maybe Ben was missing something or he shouldn't be here and should just let them work this out.

"No, it doesn't sort this out and maybe I shouldn't have just said that but I can't lie and say I don't still love her."

"But you can't come here and say that. Do you honestly think telling her you still love her with make a difference or make things better? You were out of order practically shouting at her down the phone and implying to both of us you thought she was playing me but then to come round and say you love her is cruel."

Ben didn't care why Gwilym said the things he did or how this had affected him because what he was saying and doing weren't okay. He couldn't keep telling (Y/n) he loved her and then be angry with her, he knew she didn't love him and he knew that he had no chance of being with her when she was happy with Ben and was having a baby. If he wanted to be on good terms with her and Ben he had to stop this now.

"I've already tried talking to (Y/n) about this I don't want to argue with either of you and what I said was wrong I know that but I can't take back what I said when I was hurt-"

"I don't give a shit what you've already said, you're sorry for what you said but you wouldn't accept me or (Y/n) saying we were sorry for hurting you by being together. You're a hypocrite and a lovesick puppy Gwil and if you want to be on good terms your going about it in the wrong way."

"Ben that's enough."

(Y/n) sighed through her words before she pushed herself up from the sofa and moved to stand beside Ben like she thought he was going to lunge at Gwilym any second now. What he said made sense but Gwilym was here to make amends and (Y/n) was sick of the fighting and the arguments and the pain they were causing each other. She just wanted it to stop and another fight wasn't going to make things any better.

"Gwil, I think it's time you left. If you want to make amends then you have to move on." (Y/n) knew that the only way they could all make things better was for them to keep the past behind them. She and Ben weren't blameless but they were trying and if Gwilym tried to move on too he would find things so much easier. He could move on with someone else and be happy and they could all try and be civil with each other.

Gwilym nodded and stood to his feet, moving around the sofa to head in the direction of the front door but his expression made (Y/n) rather worried. He had something to say, something on his mind and although he was usually good at biting his tongue and dropping and not starting arguments, it seemed to be rather hard for him to do that today. He got into the hallway and close to the door before he turned to look at (Y/n), knowing she was following to walk him out.

"It feels near impossible to move on after everything we went through and it's harder than I ever thought it would be to try and move on when I know you've finally got the family you wanted without me. I feel like you've left me behind, but I know I can't expect you to understand that, given how quickly you decided to move on and how easy you found it to be with someone else. You may not have intended to have the baby but you certainly got what you wanted."

He knew it was wrong to be angry that (Y/n) was finally able to have the baby she had wanted but it hurt to know she could have that wish without him and with someone Gwilym was close to.

"I think there's a reason for that."

Gwilym had been so close, he had opened the door and was so close to walking out and not looking back or letting this form into another argument but when he heard Ben's voice he had to stop and look over his shoulder. He had to know what Ben was referring to before he left, just like a fish, Gwilym took the bait Ben was throwing his way.

"What?"

Ben looked down at (Y/n) who was stood in front of him and it was as if she knew what he was going to say. There was a warning look in her eyes and she shook her head, they didn't need an argument but Ben was too riled up to stop now.

"Think about it. All those years with you and all the times you tried for a baby and it never worked. Then (Y/n) got with me and look where we are. No doctor could find anything wrong with her and we didn't even have to fucking try to get pregnant. I'd say that means there's something wrong with you if all it takes is a few months with me to have a baby."

A shudder ran down (Y/n)'s spine at Ben's rather cruel words towards Gwilym but she would be wrong if she said she didn't think about that even once during this pregnancy. Deep down (Y/n) was sure there had to be something wrong because she lost each pregnancy without cause and even this time she lost a twin even if nothing else had gone wrong during this pregnancy.

But Ben was right when he said that they didn't even have to try to get pregnant or have this pregnancy work. With Gwilym they tried hard to have a baby and make sure nothing went wrong but they could never prevent any of the miscarriages.

"Don't you dare go down that road-"

"Why not? It's a fair assumption considering there isn't anything wrong with (Y/n) because that means it should probably be you, right? If all it took to have a viable pregnancy was me then she should have fucked me years ago and saved you the trouble."

(Y/n) took a step back when Gwilym slammed the door shut out of anger and Ben took a few steps closer to him like he wanted a fight but his head briefly turned to look at (Y/n) when she grabbed his arm. She was not having a fight break out no matter how angry any of them were, it wasn't worth it and she wasn't in the mood to play referee. What Ben said was cruel and out of order just like what Gwilym had said before about (Y/n) and she had been wrong in wanting to wait to tell Gwilym about the baby. They had all been and were all wrong at some point but it had to stop now.

"That is enough! Gwilym, you need to leave. Now. And you need to go and cool off because that was uncalled for and beyond cruel."

The moment Gwilym left and slammed the door so harshly behind him that it almost came off its hinges, (Y/n) took a moment to catch her breath before she dared to follow Ben who had stormed into the kitchen in a rage. He was stood leaning against the island in the middle of the kitchen, a look of unfiltered anger on his face that (Y/n) had never seen before.

"Why did you have to say that? He may have been wrong about saying he loved me but there was no need for you to say something like that."

"I said it because I think it's true." Ben folded his arms over his chest, leaning his hips back against the counter as his head turned to the side to look over at (Y/n) with raised brows. His response seemed to have taken her by surprise, but not in a good way. "He was spiteful when he told me about your miscarriages and he was pissed we got to fifteen weeks but neither of you think about it like it is. There isn't anything wrong with you (Y/n), no medical issues whatsoever and we're seven months along and you've had no problems-"

"I still lost a baby this time Ben, remember?" (Y/n)'s tone was bitter but it had no effect on Ben like he hadn't heard her.

"You had vanishing twin syndrome which is common, other than that you've been fine. No other bleeding, no pain, no problems with the baby or how she's growing, everything is picture perfect without Gwil in the picture and you think that's normal? It might not be true and something might be wrong with you but if he can say spiteful shit why can't I?"

Ben grabbed a drink from the fridge and took a long sip before he leaned back against the counter.

He could be wrong and he knew that, there was no evidence or proof or proper suspicion that there was something wrong with Gwilym or that him and (Y/n) just weren't compatible to have a baby. But Ben found it odd that he and (Y/n) were this far along on their first try with a baby and there had been nothing seriously wrong at all. Ben was glad nothing had gone wrong but it just made him wonder why, he wondered why they were so special that this attempt was finally working and paying off for (Y/n).

With a shake of her head, (Y/n) grabbed her previously forgotten drink from the counter before she turned on her heels and went to walk away. But she stopped when she caught what Ben whispered in such a malice, sinister joking way which left her speechless.

"Six failed attempts before you get a baby. Come fuck me ladies, guaranteed to work first time."

#ben hardy #ben x reader #ben hardy imagine #BoRhap #imagine #dad! ben #gwilym lee #gwilym imagine #heartbeat

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set-phasers-to-whump · 4 years ago

Text

“who are you?”

prompt: “who are you?”

whumpee: nick burkhardt

fandom: grimm

hi im back on my grimm bullshit this time with some torture! sorry for posting this so late in the day i was out and didn’t have enough time before to post. i edited beforehand but there is a chance some stuff might be weird idk and i am too tired to bother looking it over again.

His hands are tied up behind him, so tightly that they’re starting to go numb. His legs are tied up, too, but separately, each to the one of the legs of a chair. There is a thick blindfold covering his eyes, again tied far too tightly for him to have any hope of getting it off (he’d tried. Several times. But nothing had happened).

Nobody’s here. He supposes they must be coming, though. People don’t generally get tied to chairs and blindfolded for no reason.

He wishes he knew where he was. Who had taken him. He’d been exploring an old house, off the record, for reasons barely tangential to the actual case he was working. As far as he’d known, it didn’t belong to anyone, and no one in particular was using it, so he’d thought it’d be safe.

He supposes it could still be. Just because being in that house is the last thing he remembers doesn’t exactly mean that it’s the last place he’d been. Whoever has him could have grabbed him from anywhere. Which is decidedly not a comforting thought.

Finally, he hears a door open and close. He figures whoever it is isn’t going to be anyone pleasant, but at the very least they’re a sign that something is happening. Maybe they’ll tell him what’s going on.

He hears the person approach, heavy, even footfalls and steady breathing. Someone well acquainted with people tied to chairs, presumably. They say nothing. Just stand in front of him. Nick pictures eyes scrutinizing him, calculating. He wonders whether it isn’t better that he can’t see.

“Who are you?” he asks, after he becomes sure that several minutes have passed. The person still has said nothing, hasn’t moved. It’s a little creepy and entirely too suspenseful. If they’re going to do something to him (which they have to, he figures), the least they can do is get on with it.

In answer to his question, he hears something slosh, and scarcely has time to wonder what it is before freezing-cold water is poured onto his head. He coughs, sure for a second that they’re going to waterboard him, but nothing else touches his face. He shivers.

“What the hell was that for?”

No answer.

He sits there, dripping, trying to figure out what the game is here. He has to admit, pouring water on someone doesn’t sound like the most effective torture technique out there. He’s cold, sure, but that’s it. There must be something worse coming, he thinks.

And there is.

At first, it doesn’t seem so bad. He feels metal prongs poke into his neck, and then a jolt of electricity that moves his whole body. This happens a few times. It’s fairly exhausting, but not extremely painful, though being wet definitely isn’t doing him any favors.

Eventually, the shocks stop coming, leaving him shaking, whether from the electricity or from the water, he doesn’t know. Presumably both.

“Wh-who are you?” he asks again, through chattering teeth. If he just knows who they are, maybe he can reason with them, tell them what they want to hear…

No answer. “What do you want?” he tries. Still, nothing.

Someone punches him in the stomach, which is...unexpected. They hit him a few more times before stopping abruptly, like they’ve changed their mind.

Which he supposes they have. He’s hit again, across the chest, but definitely not with a fist. It feels...like some kind of pipe, maybe? Definitely metal. It makes a sort of hollow clanging sound every time it hits him. He tries to think of other things about the pipe. Maybe it was from a plumbing system, or maybe left over at a build site...anything to distract himself from how it feels slamming into his torso, over and over, each time causing him to lose his breath, barely able to catch it before the next hit is coming. It’s a dull kind of pain, but it hurts more than the shocks had, and he can’t stop himself from making occasional noises of pain. He’d ask them to stop, too, if he had the breath to do it.

Like they’ve read his thoughts, the beating stops. It takes a moment for that to sink in, as his body feels so raw with the pain that for all he can tell they may very well still be hitting him. But it must stop, because he hears the pipe clatter to the floor.

Everything just aches. He tries to take a deep breath, feeling it catch in his throat with a kind of choking sound. It hurts. His whole torso throbs in time with his heartbeat.

“What…” he tries to ask, but the person slaps him across the face, sharp in contrast to the pain in his torso, and he feels tears well unbidden in his eyes. Shutting up, he thinks. I got it.

The water comes back, for a split second welcome against the burning in his face and the aching in his torso. Then it’s just cold. He shivers, feeling the movement interact unpleasantly with his injuries.

Then they stab him. He doesn’t even feel it at first. Not until the warmth of his blood becomes noticeable against his cold skin. Then he feels it. Shallow and thin, but definitely a stab, into his right shoulder. It burns.

Evidently, the knife is not done being used with just the one stab. Nick feels it trace a slow pattern across his face, and then cut a thin line from the corner of his right eye down to the middle of his cheek. It’s actually not that painful.

And then the knife is back, tearing cuts through his shirt until he’s sure the fabric must have turned red. Each cut on its own doesn’t hurt too much, but all together they do. Several of them are right across the area on his torso where they’d beaten him with the pipe. These ones present an especially intense pain that makes him wish that they’d knock him over the head just a little bit too hard. Unconsciousness is sounding really good about now…

Another round of water is dumped over his head, stinging unpleasantly on his new cuts. Then they punch him in the jaw, and then again on either side of his face, sending his head from one direction to the other entirely too quickly. They finish off the punches with a powerful one to his already battered and cut torso, which makes him scream for the first and only time. He takes a shuddering breath that turns into something like a sob, and can’t stop himself from muttering, “please...stop.”

They...listen? He feels his legs get untied, though he’s in too much pain to use them to kick out at his captor. Then he’s being lifted, his arms never getting untied, just moved upwards until they clear the back of the chair. He feels his body get thrown over someone’s shoulder with a jolting pain that makes all of his injuries hurt at once, and then something is held over his mouth and nose and he doesn’t try to fight it at all, just breathes in as deeply as he can and willingly falls into unconsciousness.

He wakes up confused, shivering, cold, aching, still tied up, still blindfolded, lying on something that feels like dirt. He focuses his ears above the blood pounding in his head and hears a bird caw, hears distant cars. He’s outside. He’s free.

The ropes around his wrists are looser now, and he manages to wriggle his hands free, feeling his wrists grow slick with blood.

As soon as he gets a hand free, he’s reaching up to tear off the blindfold, noting with discomfort the pulling feeling on every single injury on his torso. It comes away, and...he still can’t see. Because it’s night, he reminds himself, blinking hard. A few stars twinkle in the sky, and faint moonlight comes through a cloud. He turns his gaze to his surroundings as he unties his ankles.

He’s on a dirt path, surrounded by trees. They grow denser to his right and seem to disappear to his left. He hopes that means there’s a road, rather than some kind of cliff.

He slowly gets to his feet, legs shaking underneath his weight. His body aches, and it feels like the hardest task in the world to just take a step, but once he starts walking it gets a little easier. He curls an arm protectively around his torso and starts off at a slow limp for the edge of the trees.

A road. He’s never felt luckier in his entire life. It’s a fairly small road, with no cars on it and no lights on in any of its buildings, but it’s a road, and that means people, somewhere. People that can hopefully help him.

He looks around, squinting in the darkness, shivering in the cool nighttime air. There are no visible landmarks, just vague shapes that might be buildings or might be nothing at all. He wishes that the clouds would uncover the moon.

Which they do, after a time. The moonlight reveals nothing but an empty stretch of road and a solitary billboard. Great, he thinks, and then he looks at the billboard again and realizes that he knows it - he’d driven past it earlier, on his way to the house he’d been exploring. It can’t be far, then. He doesn’t know whether he should really go back there, but it’s the only familiar thing he can think of, and familiarity sounds pretty damn good, so he sets off.

At some point, he passes the billboard. The moon disappears back behind the clouds, and when he turns around he can’t see the billboard at all. He wonders for a horrible second whether or not he’s delirious and imagining things, and then he sees lights up ahead. He goes towards them instinctively, not particularly caring who they might belong to. He’s nearly gotten close enough to make out distinct figures when he hears footsteps behind him, and the sound of a gun clicking.

He raises trembling hands into the air, hoping he’s not about to get killed after all of this.

“Who are you? Turn around slowly,” says a voice, and Nick knows that voice. He’s safe.

Any adrenaline that might’ve been in his body leaves it all at once, and he collapses to the ground, which hurts quite a lot, but the relief of lying down more than makes up for it.

Until he feels a gun press into his back.

“Stop, stop,” he mutters, hoping he’ll be heard. “‘S me. ‘S Nick.”

“Nick?”

He nods jerkily, face scraping against the asphalt. The gun leaves his back, and he feels himself get turned over, then finds himself looking directly into the face of his boss. He doesn’t think he’s ever been more grateful to see the man in his life.

Renard is still for a moment, kneeling in front of him on the ground, looking him up and down.

Nick waits for him to finish doing...whatever the hell it is he’s doing and ask him what had happened. But the question never comes. Instead, Renard very gently helps him up into a sitting position. Then he pulls off his jacket, and Nick wonders what he’s doing, because it’s really cold out here, and if he had a jacket on right now, he wouldn’t take it off for the world.

And then there is a jacket on him, Renard’s jacket, too big but incredibly warm and dry, and he burrows himself into it as much as he can, grabbing its edges and pulling it tighter around his body.

“What’s happening?” he hears someone say from above him. He resolutely does not look up at them, in fact scrunching his eyes shut. He really doesn’t want to share anything with anyone at the moment.

“I found him,” Renard says, and Nick experiences a shocking array of emotions in a few seconds as he realizes that there’s people out here who were looking for him. “Or, he found me.”

There’s a bit of chatter that he doesn’t really focus on, and then Renard’s hand is on his shoulder, and he’s asking whether Nick wants to tell them about it.

He really doesn’t. He shakes his head, feeling slightly overwhelmed as everything that had happened to him starts to sink in.

“Okay, that’s fine,” Renard says, which is definitely not what Nick is expecting him to say.

His next statement is not addressed at Nick. “Clear up,” he says, and Nick hears feet moving away. “Thank you all for your help, but Detective Griffin and I have it handled from here.”

Hank.

Nick hears another pair of feet approach and opens his eyes, relieved when the only people he sees are his Captain and his best friend.

“Hey,” Hank says, sounding concerned but not pitying. “How are you doing?”

Nick shrugs. “Cold,” he says. “Wet...achy. Pain.” Not the most coherent sentence he’s ever uttered, though he figures it gets his point across well enough.

“I bet,” Renard says, rather gently. “We’ll get you to the hospital, and they’ll fix all that for you.”

He nods. The hospital...actually sounds pretty good, for once. He feels someone pick him up, very gently, though it hurts like hell anyway.

He finds himself in the backseat of Renard’s car, lying down with his head across Hank’s lap. He’s pretty good for a makeshift pillow, Nick decides, as Renards starts the car.

A short drive later, he’s being picked up again, and he watches with unfocused eyes as various doctors hurry up to their little group. Someone comes up with a gurney, and then he’s being set down onto it, and then he’s moving and Renard and Hank aren’t there, which is a scarier feeling than he’d like to admit, but then something pokes into his arm and everything fades away.

He wakes up hurting less, feeling rather warm and very much dry. He feels a bandage on his face, another on his shoulder, something wrapped around his torso…

“You awake?”

He blinks his eyes open and looks around for a second, until he sees Hank. He gives him a tired smile, which Hank returns.

“Feeling better?”

Nick nods. “Much,” he says. “Thanks.”

“No thanks for me?” comes a voice from his other side.

Nick turns around carefully, eyes landing on Renard, standing next to the bed with what looks like two steaming hot cups of coffee in his hands.

Renard must catch Nick’s eye, because he steps around the bed and hands one of the cups to Hank, pulling the other close to himself. “Sorry, no coffee for hospital patients,” he says, almost smiling. Nick gives him the same tired smile he’d given Hank.

“How long until I’m not a hospital patient?”

Renard sighs. “A day at most. Nothing required stitches, but they’d like to keep you for observation for a while.”

Nick nods. “Thanks,” he says, figuring Renard will understand he doesn’t just mean thanks for the information.

Renard nods. There’s silence for a second.

“Nick…”

He knows what’s coming.

“I’ll file a report,” he assures his boss. ��Just...not until I’m out of here.”

“Okay.”

He’s immensely grateful that neither of them presses him to talk about it any further. He will talk about it, he knows, and it’ll be fine, but for the moment, everything’s a little too raw and he’s a little too tired to be able to do it.

His eyes slip closed, and he hears Renard leave. Hank doesn’t move, staying right where he is, and Nick knows this means he’s safe, so he gives in to sleep.

thanks so much for reading!! love u <3

#febuwhump2021 #febuwhumpday12 #who are you?#grimm #nick burkhardt #tortured #my writing #i say things

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like-rain-or-confetti · 6 years ago

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Coming back from the Lights (Demetri Volturi x Reader)

When I woke up, I was standing on a beach. La Push...was that it's name? I was oddly calm for my situation, I didn't remember anything from before. My earliest memory I could think of was a blur. I was crying but I don't remember why. Yet I knew that I didn't live far from here. I knew exactly where I lived, my name, my age. I looked down at myself. Nothing seemed out of place. My eyes caught a deep looking scar on my hand. I couldn't remember how I'd gotten it but once again, I felt completely calm. I wasn't sure why I was on the beach but I put it behind me and began my walk home. It was strange, like I was expecting this to happen but I just couldn't remember ever preparing for this.

Either I was horrifyingly messy or I hadn't been here in a long time. Everything had a layer of dust as the sunset beamed through the window, illuminating the room with an orange glow. Letters were piling up behind the door, a heap on the floor. The kitchen disheveled as though I had hurriedly left and never returned. There was no doubt this place is definitely mine but I hadn't been here in a very long time- for whatever reason. I feel like I'm radiation, I left leaving everything behind the only proof that I existed. Naturally I eventually faced the kitchen, there was a foul smell emitting from the fridge. When I opened it, I gagged. Spoiled milk and chicken that had went off long ago. I immediately opened a window and got rid of the two putrid items. I scanned the fridge to find no other food, hunted through cupboards to no avail. If you wanted to eat tonight, you'd need to make a shopping trip.

I walked to the grocery store, still not entirely sure how much I'd buy or even what i wanted to buy. I went undisturbed until i inspected the apples. In the corner of my eye, I saw a girl, she looked to be about ten years old, looking right at me. She tugged at a woman with light brown hair who followed the girls gaze. Seeing me seemed to startle her, she stared me down as i even lifted my gaze to let her know i was aware she was looking at me. However, it didn’t seem to bother her. It was like she had seen a ghost and i just grew more and more uncomfortable. She raised her hand to her mouth and that was when i turned away to move out of her sight. I cut the journey short, making a quick decision of a microwave meal and would quickly call it a night. My anxiety increased vastly in that moment and i wasn’t sure why. I went straight home, fighting the urge to sprint but wasn’t sure why i felt so. Somehow the woman didn’t frighten me, nor the girl but the fact that i was noticed scared me.

Esme contacts the Volturi to tell them about reader being alive “(Y/N) is alive! I don’t know how-!” Esme’s voice breaks slightly as she tries to process what she had seen. “Tell Demetri, i’m sorry. I really thought-!” The three leaders sat in deep thought, all looking at Demetri who had a blank expression, slowly, the information sinking in.

The lights were almost blinding but blurred around their outlines. I'm almost certain their lights from the city. A life-long dream of mine was to live in the city. Yet I settled with Forks, enjoying the simplicity and peace, neither were available in the city. Perhaps a holiday would suffice. The lights are always moving, rushing past me. They were white, but weren't pure white, there was a slight grey as well as well as yellow tinge to them. Some lights had more visible details such as this than others, which where just white blurs. I woke up from the same dream of lights that I had grown accustomed to. I knew I'd been having them for months however, I didn't know how such knowledge could be possible. I still wasn't afraid. Those lights were beautiful, even comforting when having to sleep in a house that no longer felt like home with no memories to link it with. Yet my belongings told me otherwise. I decided to leave the house, try to find my memories and explore my surroundings. The lights giving me a new found inspiration.

After many streets, I found an empty playground. The swings singing slightly with the wind. I went inside, the aim to sit on a swing but halted about two feet away from the swing, something rushing to my mind. You were sitting on the swing, swaying slightly as Alec on the other swing beside you did the same. “When are you going to tell Demetri?” He asked and you sent him a look, unhappy that he had brought it up. “I wasn’t going to. What would be the point?” “True, but you still need to tell him.”Alec blinked. “Why?” You said quickly. “Being changed against your will won’t sit well with you and you’ll need to live with it for eternity. You’’re better making peace with it and letting him help you. Not to mention, he’s noticed somethings wrong.” You chewed your lip, biting back your frustration. “You can’t avoid this, (Y/N).” I remembered more about the boy, Alec, as the scene played out in my head. It kept my mind busy as i moved from the playground to find myself at a cliff after no more than a fifteen minute walk. You tried to think about who this Demetri could be as he was clearly someone of somewhat importance in your life but nothing came to you. You had known Alec for a while, but ever since this Demetri came around, you had developed some sort of a friendship with Alec. He was a vampire, a part of the Volturi- a form of police and court for the vampire world. It came back to you immediately.

Being on the cliff made you feel a little sick, you were never a fan of heights. “Your gift... tell me about it.” You looped your arms around Demetri’s neck who pulled you closer. “Well, i’m a tracker, as you know.” Demetri gave you a charming smile. “Yeah, but tell me more.” You pressed. “How does it work? If i were to toss my keys over this cliff, would you be able to locate them?” Demetri shook his head “Not quite.” He was clearly enjoying the attention you gave him. “I have to know you, i just have to meet you once. That’s when i get a sort of...impression, i suppose you could call it, of your mind, how it works- like a pattern and when you leave, i follow it and i could find you anywhere.” “Impressive. So there’s no getting rid of you then?” Demetri hummed in amusement. “No, my apologies.” He grinned. “However, i will disappear from time to time.” “Oh really?” Demetri nodded with a loving smile. “I’ll always come back to you. I can’t wait for you to come to Italy.”

Demetri Volturi... I loved him. I loved him with every fibre of my being. I met him the same time I met Alec. He was a charmer, a bit of a flirt but he was mine as soon as he got to know me. We had been together for months and Demetri made it clear that he wanted to be with me forever. I turned to the woods behind me and began to walk, but had to stop after about fifteen minutes- feeling nauseous.

It was an argument- one that had went on for too long for either of you to keep control.”How could you not tell me this? How could you tell Alec before you told me!? Do you understand what you’re saying!? Do you understand the consequences, the position you’re putting me in!?” “What’s so wrong with me staying human!? I’m not going to tell anyone about-” "Humans are temporary! It's a blessing for them and I hate you for it. I hate that the next sixty years will be nothing for me yet most of your time is up." Demetri grew more aggravated. "I had everything until you came along. You've become my whole world. You can't leave me now!" He didn’t want you to leave, he didn’t want to carry on knowing you would die of old age in what felt like no time at all. He moved closer as you moved back but you lost your footing, falling to the ground. Demetri gasped and immediately turned away, covering his nose and mouth. Once the shock wore off, you looked down at your open hand, a sharp stick jutting out of it and that was when you started screaming.

I stumbled back out of the woods, feeling overwhelmed. The memories coming too quickly. “Carlisle!” You cried with your phone to your ear, your bleeding hand in front of you, and pouring. “Are you alright, (Y/N)?” “I’m hurt! It hurts!” “Where is Demetri?” “I told him to leave! There’s too much blood!” You sobbed as pain rushed through you. “Carlisle, please come find me!” As you got to the road white light hit your face and you screamed before everything went dark. You stumbled into your dark house, rubbing your eyes. It was dark outside and who knew how many hours had passed. I got to my couch but as soon as I did, I passed out, everything going black just as it had in the memory.

I awoke to a knocking on my door, i sat up, it was late morning, almost afternoon as i checked the time. I heard another knock that reminded me to answer the door. I slowly opened the door, uncertain who could want anything with me when i didn’t know anybody here. A blonde haired man with gold eyes stood at the door. He inhaled, in what looked to be surprise before composing himself. “Hello, I’m Carlisle, a doctor here in Forks but im aware you might not know that.” “Do i know you personall-” I halted, mid-sentence remembering the voice and the name I spoke to on the phone before the light me. My eyes drifted to my hand, where the scar resided. “It’s healed nicely.” Carlisle commented, also looking at my hand. “I hope you don’t mind the scarring, it was the best we could do at the time.” “At the time?” “May i come in? I am certain you have many questions.” I didn’t answer but held the door open. He entered and looked around. “It hasn’t changed much, even after all these months.” “Months?” I repeated. “That’s how long i’ve been gone?” “Three to be exact. How have you been feeling as of recent?” Carlisle asked, looking me over. “A little strange...since i’ve been remembering things. I’ve been having flashbacks since i woke up yesterday morning. I remember up to being on the road, seeing a light and then...nothing.” “I see... do you know what triggers it?” “I was in places the happened. That’s my best guess.” My mind went back to Demetri. “Where’s Demetri?” “In Italy.” “I’ve not heard from him...no calls, no letters nothing. Am i missing something?” “Let’s sit down.” Carlisle said gently. “I’ll tell you what happened.”

Carlisle took an unnecessary breath. “You ran out of the woods and onto a road, into oncoming traffic. You were hit by a car which cut off the call with me. Not too long later, i was called in to the hospital. I was specifically called in on your case. We had you awake as we rushed you to the OR, for a minute or two. You were staring up at the corridor lights, mumbling. You didn’t seem to hear us.” I remembered rushing city lights that filled my dreams, those yellow tinted lights that the more i thought of the clearer they became. They weren’t city lights, they were the lights on the corridor ceiling. “You lost consciousness again but after a lot of hours, we saved you. I don’t know what happened after i left the hospital but i was informed that you had passed away, that your body just couldn’t keep it up and gave out. It was then that i had to inform Demetri, not that you were in an accident and recovering but instead that you had died.” “Was he okay?” I asked, horrified as to where this story was going. Carlisle shook his head. “I will save you the details.” Carlisle’s face twisted into one of thought and confusion. “I don’t know what happened, but your body disappeared. There was a mix up of sorts between you and another body being transported. It was the last we heard, that the morgue there took care of you. That was until Esme and Renesmee saw you in the store yesterday. The young girl and woman you saw with brown hair.”

Carlisle stayed for a few hours to help me piece together my life and tell me that the Volturi was informed of my sighting.I asked him what would happen now but he told me not to worry about it and that he’d sort it. All i had to do was make sure i rested. When Carlisle left, i did exactly that, i had dinner, watched some TV and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. As i filled up my cup, my eyes lifted to the window in front of me and jumped to see someone standing behind me. I turned around sharply and gasped. Demetri stood in the doorway, as widened and mouth agape. “You’re alive...” It came out like a whisper whilst my next words came out as a whimper. “You’re here...” “How could I not?” Demetri breathed as I moved towards him, leaving the glass in the sink and pulling him into a hug. After a moment, the shock lifted from him and his arms moved around me tightly. “I’m so sorry.” He mumbled into my shoulder. “Forgive me...forgive me.” “There’s nothing to forgive.” I told him, a tear running down my cheek. “I love you so much.” I knew what i wanted as soon as i saw him again. “I’ll come with you to Italy. You can change me. I don’t care, as long as i get to be with you.” The tears just kept falling, raw emotion i hadn’t felt before came back to me seeing his face, telling me just how much he meant to me. Demetri squeezed me, confirming he had heard me, unable to speak yet. He pulled away to grab my face and full me into a passionate kiss. “Thank you.” He said against my lips, unable to find the will to let you go.

#twilight #oneshot #one shot #the volturi #volturi #demetri volturi #reader

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condiscum · 5 years ago

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(Asks are being super dumb and not publshing so I’m replying this way, gomen…)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OKAY SO. I’ll definitely gush about him in weird headcanon ways at some point in the near future but because im too tired to formulate good sentences right now, have his extended bio! (If you wanna see more brief bios of the Oasis cast, including Denzel, with no spoilers for the fanfic, click here to go to the collective story blog! This extended bio post is spoiler-free too tho

This is gonna be long, so its under a cut!

Without further ado, Denzel…

Basic

Name Pronunciation: DEHN-zel

Nicknames/Aliases: None

Gender: Male

Age: A fifthborn, 26

Birthdate: Scion 86, 1306 AE

Cycle: Night

Physical

Height: 5’9”

Weight/Build: 150ish lbs; slender, lanky

Physical Health: Not bad, but could probably use to eat more real food.

Mental Health: Pretty shit. Struggles with depression/anxiety.

Assets (hair, eyes, etc.): Deep green and brown leaves that look like perpetual bedhead, oak brown skin, bright white eyes and a mint green glow.

Tattoos/Alterations: None

Scars: Self harm scars on his wrists and thighs.

Sexuality: Homosexual

Romantic Orientation: Homoromantic

Handedness: Ambidextrous

Gait: Awkward alternating stride lengths that don’t properly gauge the space that needs to be covered (too many small steps/too long steps requiring fast halting, not quite approaching what he’s aiming for). Often overthought, hesitant, or “on a mission”.

Voice: Light, accented tenor. Wide range in pitch, volume, and emotionality.

Psychological

MBTI: INFP

Intelligence: Incredibly smart. His mind often runs faster than his mouth or body can keep up. Learns very quickly through basically any means. Keen wit.

Temperament: Unsure and reserved around those he doesn’t know well. Hides a lot behind dry humor. More emotional around those he trusts. Only actually lashes out around people he feels safest with.

Happiness Level: Pretty fuckin depressed.

Habits: Talking to himself mentally, sticking his tongue out a bit when deeply focused.

Outlook: Tries his best every day and means it. Wants nothing but the best for others, but especially those he cares about. Despite being prone to crippling bouts of hopelessness and self-doubt, he has optimistic tendencies that push him through his anxiety, depression and isolation.

Personal

Wealth: He gets by alright.

Friends: Few and close. Lierik is his closest and oldest friend, who he met at age 7 while living in Mabon. Lierik was 12. They became fast friends, mostly because Lierik took an interest in him and his inventions and was very dogged about spending time with him and working together on projects. To this day they act like siblings, unafraid to call each other on their bullshit or fight, but always with deep respect. His second closest friend is Vivienne. They live as neighbors in Mabon village, and have always gotten along well due to both being quiet, self-conscious, and relentlessly kind.

Sapling Years: At his awakening, Denzel was curious, kind, and painfully shy. He was intensely empathetic, and as such, had a stronger empathic connection to other Sylvari than most. Unfortunately, his mind often twisted the emotions of others internally. Happy people he’d never met were happier without him. People who were upset or angry while around him were only feeling that way because of him. It drove his anxiety to a point where he couldn’t handle it, and so first he tried isolating himself, and then a few months later, becoming Soundless. After learning to shut off his connection to the Dream, and therefore, others of his kind, his anxiety got a bit better, but he was still reclusive and kept few friends. Despite living for years in Mabon Village, his only friend in town was Vivienne, and his other closest friend lived in Metrica Province, causing them to communicate mostly by letter and radio. As such, he spent most of his time in the company of his inventions, which he gave names and attributed personalities to as though they were people.

Education: Basic sapling mentorship.

Likes: Tea (particularly oolong, bergamot, and chai), books, blankets, pillows, patterned fabric, sleeping, inventing, witty humor.

Dislikes: New people, crowds, drudgery, coffee (but he drinks it for the caffeine anyway), expectations.

Hobbies: Inventing, taking things apart to study them, reading things cover-to-cover in one sitting, analyzing schematics, solving complex theoretical equations, and watching people and animals from a distance.

Values: Morally sound. Sees the good in others sometimes more than they deserve, but can never see it in himself. He sees compassion, confidence, and sharp intellect as noble skills to have.

Lifestyle: Likes to sleep. Spends time feeling comfortable and cozy and stimulated whenever he can. Often forgets to eat, but drinks a lot of tea and coffee as though that makes up for it.

Relationship Status: Single.

Romantic History: None.

Religion: Soundless.

Profession: Engineer, Inventor.

Prized possessions: Zigy, his first gyro. A large, thick reprint of one of Zinn’s journals on golemancy. A flat, smooth stone that he found near the water one day when he, Lierik, and Vivienne skipped stones near the weeping isle years ago.

Personality

Wants: To be happy. To make others happy. To be useful. To make a difference. To feel like he’s good enough.

Hopes: That there are happy endings. That even really bad things will get better if you just give them enough time.

Fears: Abandonment. That people do truly view him as worthless and stupid.

Regrets: Many things that aren’t very noteworthy, usually overthought because of anxiety.

Resentments: Few.

Dreams: Inventing something that makes the world better. Living a happy and simple life.

Notable Memories: Moving to Mabon, meeting Lierik, meeting Vivienne, the time he jokingly challenged Lierik to a rap battle and failed miserably, and many other little simple happy moments he holds onto with a tight grip.

Practices

Says: Often has a hard time expressing what he means. Tends to use a lot of snark and dry witty humor.

Eats: Not overly picky, but also not very interested in food. Enjoys sweet things and flavored beverages.

Wears: Comfortable clothes. Rarely seen without a utility belt when at work or on the go.

Buys: Books, candies, drafting supplies, soft blankets, fancy specialty tools.

Wields: He’s not a fighter.

Is Skilled at: Inventing/building machinery, picking up new skills.

Came from: The Grove

Currently Resides in: Mabon Village

Allies with: Has no need for “allies” in the classical sense.

Plays at: Literal games, joke fighting, teasing his friends, reading stories aloud with dramatic voices and acting out scenes.

Works at: His workshop, improving his inventions and problem solving skills. Household tasks.

Do his speech and thought patterns change around certain individuals?

With Lierik, he’s slightly more open than around others, and much more snarky. They like to give each other shit a lot, so despite feeling inherently more comfortable around Lierik than most people, he also doesn’t want to lose respect or pride points.

Over all, he’s pretty socially anxious, but he’s a lot more eloquent when he isn’t around new people, or is at least in the company of someone he trusts.

What sort of contradictions and conflicts does he have?

Despite struggling day in and out with depression, hopelessness, and self-loathing, he has an undying hope that things will get better eventually, and it makes him resilient. It keeps him open-minded and loving and trying to see the best in everything even when things are really bleak.

Who or what influences him most?

Lierik is his first influence. He’s always challenged Denzel to prove himself and encouraged him through competition to feel more confident.

Vivienne influenced him heavily by showing him how to appreciate simple things when the complex things get too hard to deal with. She teaches him some of the self-care skills he uses to cope with his depression.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #guildwars 2 #sylvari #oc meme #denzel #oasis #ask #bio #cw: self harm mention #griffyreplies #anon #:D

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angrylizardjacket · 6 years ago

Text

And All The Queen’s Men {Roger Taylor}

A/N: 5486 words. Okay wow. Please bare with me, this is a long one and also a bit of a different one. Written in the style of a Rolling Stone article. Finished it at 7am. Prompt & support from the lovely @ginghampearlsnsweettea

[And All The Queen’s Men ‘verse masterpost]

Warning: Minor character death, in both senses, it’s a baby, it’s not graphic it’s just mentioned, but just thought I should let you know.

And All The Queen’s Men: how the lines blurred between Queen and and the Queen of Jazz Rock.

An article almost two years in the making, after their last tour, which I was invited along to in order to write the initial article, the rock sensation Queen split, a decision, I am lead to be believe, was instigated by front man Freddie Mercury, and though Giselle Jones had continued to make music, even before her very public, on-stage breakdown, her lawyers had me keep the article to myself. Now, with the band’s reunion, and Live Aid having been a massive success with both powerhouse musical names coming back into the public eye, I’ve invited them back to my office for one last interview, but mostly to beg them to let me publish this article.

Which, obviously, they allowed.

It’s 1985, and with them all sitting in front of me, I feel a sense of deja vu. There are some changes, of course, Roger Taylor’s hair is shorter, Giselle Jones is wearing jeans and a sweater rather than her well-known cocktail dress, but John Deacon’s still smiling at me, Brian’s looking about the room, perhaps seeing if anything’s changed, and Freddie Mercury’s draped casually on the left of the only non-Queen member of the bunch.

But before I get into the past two years, maybe I should take you back a bit, to when Giselle and Queen began collaborating.

Giselle Jones began in the late sixties as the front-woman of a swing band in a thirties theme pub known as Modern Glamour. Tall, elegant, with a voice like honey, she had a small following of regulars that frequented the pub, but had kept her passion from music from her family, claiming she was merely a waitress at the establishment, since her father was an executive at EMI, and she didn’t want to seem like the subject of nepotism.

However, one fateful day, her father brings music industry giant to the pub for lunch, hoping to catch Giselle at work and introduce her, but as you know, they both got a lot more than they bargained for. Foster sees potential in her, and offers her a contract if she’s willing to modernise her act, and as we all know, she does.

When Giselle releases her first album in 1970, Velvet Roses, which would be the first and only “Jazz” record to hit the Top 40 charts for that year, Queen are still playing pub gigs around London, though they’re looking at recording their first album, which would eventually get EMI’s attention, but that’s still not for a while. At this point, they’re the biggest fish in a very small uni-pub pond, and they need the means to grow. So out goes the band’s van, for one night in a recording studio.

“Like, in retrospect, of course it was the right decision.” Taylor leans against the back of the sofa he’s sitting on in my office in 1982, voice contemplative and fingers locked together as he looks into the past. “But I was twenty-two at the time, selling my van was a big deal.”

“A big enough deal that you wrote a song about it.” Giselle adds, sitting beside him in the middle of the sofa. Deacon hides a smile though May doesn’t hide his snort of laughter.

The smirked remark is at odds with her look. While the boys are all in various states of brightly patterned shirts and jeans, looking casual and comfortable; Giselle wears white, sequinned, off-the-shoulder gown that hugs her figure and hits the floor, a slit in the thigh where her leg crosses, dark skin a stunning contrast to both the white fabric of her dress, and the leather of my sofa. Hands folded in over her knee, there’s not a singular hair out of place where she’s got it slicked back; I can’t look at her directly, she’s so focused and well put-together that it’s like staring at the sun.

The contrast has always been apparent in their various works, though Mercury has, in the past, cited her as an early inspiration for his desire to add a certain classical gravitas to rock and roll, and though she hasn’t publicly stated anything, the amount of covers Giselle has performed lived could fill an album. And now, here they are, about leave for a double-billed tour of the US, which I have been asked to join.

But their connection goes back much further than this, all the way back to 1975, to the release of the smash-hit single Bohemian Rhapsody That very same year, Giselle releases her fifth single, Dinner and a Show, a lyrically dissonant, heart pumping anthem that’s a metaphor for the way any type of review fuelled her, since it meant people were talking about her work.

You serve yourself on a platter; your putrid delights, / yet how can I refrain? / You don’t come to flatter, you don’t want to go / so come on baby, / don’t you know? / You’re treating me to dinner and a show.

Giselle’s usually silky performance is turned into a masterclass of vocal gymnastics as she slides easily from the rough intensity of rock and roll, to the smooth purr of jazz as she sings about eating critics for breakfast.

They say a free mind makes the meat so tender / now you’re on the menu and I’m a big spender

The song itself comes as a response to her former manager about how her “aggressive” move to music that more stylistically rock and roll was alienating older audiences, though Foster, still her producer at the time, was pushing for her to skew to a younger audience, and it seemed as though he had gotten his way.

The real change, however, was the B-Side of the record. After speaking to Jim “Miami” Beach, Queen’s lawyer, regarding potentially covering one of the band’s songs, Giselle reveals that she was eventually told to just ask them directly.

“I gave Miami a letter that basically explained that I’d like to cover one of their songs for my new album,” Giselle gives me a thin smile, and I feel like I’ve done something wrong, even though I’m assured by Brian that her public persona “is just like that sometimes”.

“- and I thought it was a joke! I said ‘yeah, sure, what’s the worst that could happen’.” Mercury laughs, leaning forward elbows on his knees and eyes shinning with amusement. “I did not believe for one second that Giselle, Giselle-” repeating her name for emphasis, his hand comes to quickly rest on hers where she still has them perfectly still on her knee, a moment of solidarity, “wanted anything to do with us. Hand Held Heart had been at the top of the US charts for almost three whole weeks the year before.” Letting out a long, wistful sigh, Mercury sits back, still grinning, though he’s got this far away look on his face now.

“So we’d been stuck on a farm, recording A Night At The Opera for weeks with no outside communications, ” May fills in where Mercury’s faded into his own memories, and Taylor slings arm around Giselle where she’s actually relaxed somewhat, hands now in her lap. Curiously, she doesn’t shrug him off. “And when we get back, it turns out that she’s put a jazz cover of Jesus, yeah, that song from our first album, on the B-Side of her newest single.”

“Freddie practically had a heart attack.” Deacon adds, patting Mercury’s shoulder fondly.

In her own way, she was continuing the trend that Dinner and a Show had started, and that seven-inch single would bestow upon Giselle the title of Queen of Jazz Rock. It hadn’t been the first time she had acknowledged the band publicly, by the time she had released the single, her public persona had gained enough traction that, a few months prior to her recording of the cover, a reporter had asked if Killer Queen, Queen’s biggest hit at the time, had been written about her. The question had been caught on camera by the reporter after one of her tour stops in the Midwest of America; the footage is a favourite of fans, including myself, of the way she doesn’t even turn, simply calls over her shoulder, ‘they should be so lucky’, and she gets into her waiting car.

“I never took offence,” Mercury tells me, both in 1982, and 1985, as I bring it up both times to consolidate the origins of their musical partnership.

“You wouldn’t, you were all starry-eyed for her back then.” Taylor leans back to address Mercury behind Giselle’s head, but only when he says it the first time, in 1982.

“It was a bit of a dig at us,” Deacon agrees with the drummer, nodding before shrugging. “A lot of good came out of it, though.” The others seem to agree, but Giselle herself has stayed quiet. For the first time since the interview started, she looks away from me, gaze dipping as she seems inclined to speak, though she takes her time to weigh up her words before she says them, wondering exactly what will and will not be printed.

“It was a bit of s**t thing to say. I was twenty-four and I panicked, I had to keep up my... this persona.” She gestures now to herself, breaking the entire physicality as she lets herself lean back, and I feel like I can breathe, seeing her act so human. Adjusting, she lets herself rest of the slightest of diagonals, shoulder to shoulder with Taylor’s arm still around her, now with Mercury petting her knee in solidarity.

Once in the tour bus, the difference between Giselle Jones, the woman, and Giselle, the singer and personality, becomes almost jarring to see. As soon as we get into the bus, she strips off the gown she was wearing, I turn away, though the others don’t seem to be bothered by it, May takes the dress to a waiting assistant by the door, and when I turn back, she’s in a pair of sweat pants and Taylor is tossing her shirt several sizes too big for her. For the first time since I’ve learned about her, Giselle looks comfortable, looks approachable and, for lack of a better word, non-robotic, taking a hairbrush from a drawer and flopping onto one of the beds as she brushes out the gel, apparently not bothering with a shower just yet.

“I showered this morning.” She seems to have caught my confused look, and explains herself. With her guard lowered in the familiar situation, her natural voice shines through, a rich, yet feminine alto, reminiscent of her singing voice. It adds to the list of things that add character to her beyond what her “persona” could ever convey. Or perhaps that’s the point.

The bus itself is almost too small for the five performers, and I’m certain it won’t fit me, but Giselle and I watch as they cram a blow up bed onto the kitchen table. It looks stable, and for the opportunity to experience living in such close quarters with such big names, I’d take anything.

“Sorry, darling, Paul takes the only spare bed.” Mercury informs me as I shimmy up onto the bed to test if it would hold. I had thought that the vehicle was at capacity, though it does make sense that the band’s day-to-day manager, Paul Prenter, would be travelling with them. That being said, I hadn’t realised there was even a spare bed, there was only five, perhaps none of them had wanted to be subjected to the blow up bed and decided to share instead.

When we finally get on the road, I get to finally see their true dynamics emerge. We all know the Queen dynamics by now, brotherly yet volatile, at times. I had worried for Giselle at times, the concept of living with four men (five if you count Prenter, who Giselle does not seem to, when I ask her about it, though I don’t think that’s a subject I should pry about, judging by the look on Taylor’s face where I can see him lounging at the back of the bus). However, I should have not have been worried; first of all, despite the youthfulness of their appearances, performances, and spirit, these are all men in their 30s, Giselle herself being 31 at the time of writing (1982), and they all have experience living with women, and with each other.

“First tour was a nightmare.” Deacon’s joined me on the blowup bed, is sipping tea as we travel along. “We learned real quick how disgusting close quarters can be.” He’s a quiet soul, but observant, and honestly I really enjoy his company. Anyone who can weather over a decade of rock and roll and come out as calm as him deserves some sort of recognition. “It’s much better now. Mostly.” He smiles like it’s an inside joke, but won’t elaborate. Giselle and Taylor refuse to clarify what he means by that, May just laughs when I ask him, directing me back to ask Taylor and Giselle, and Mercury calls them all gossips.

It’s something about the tour lifestyle that must bring out the childishness in them all, which comes out strongly during dinner. They shove my blowup bed into the sleeping quarters when dinner is served, and the five of us manage to cram into the tiny booth the bus allows. May, Deacon and Giselle are in charge of cooking dinner, sausages, potatoes, and peas, since apparently Prenter and Mercury have taken lunch duties, and Roger has put himself in charge of getting coffee and tea for everyone in the morning.

“We should really eat breakfast.” Giselle muses through half a mouthful of food.

“I do!” Deacon, next to me, comes back with, pouring some more peas onto his plate.

“You just eat cereal from the box, Deaky, that’s not breakfast.” Taylor counters him, which just causes the rest of the table to devolve into an argument about what counts as breakfast. Prenter, who has joined us for the meal, looks like he’d rather be napping or still driving, and makes quiet work of his meal.

Roger Taylor goes to sleep after me, and wakes up before I do, and I’m not sure how he does it. Or where he sleeps, the other beds seem taken. He wakes me up on the first morning by shoving my bed, which slides a few centimeters, but isn’t about to fall off it’s perch.

“You want coffee?” I’m barely functioning at this point, and his question baffles me. “Tea? Coffee? Deaky’s cereal? We got some left over sausages.” He lists off, probably due to my clear confusion, he seems exasperated, even though he’s definitely wearing pyjamas too. He’s still scowling a little when I tell him how I like my coffee, but he doesn’t complain, and it tastes exactly like I like it when he hands it over. The bus is stationary, so he can put the cups by the bedsides of those they are for, but interestingly enough he joins me on the table/bed.

I know the origin story of Queen, I think everyone does at this point, so I ask him instead about the subject of my article; how Queen got involved with Giselle.

“You wanna know how I met Giselle?” It’s not exactly what I asked, but he’s already thinking about it, looking past me to the sleeping quarters with a frown. He plays absent-mindedly with the chain around his neck, and with the ring attached to it. “I thought everyone knew about that, the whole thing where we hated each other from the start?” When I ask if it was true, he actually laughs, though it’s more a snort of derision, if I’m being honest. “Of course not. Mostly.” They all seem to like that word, I hadn’t taken them all to be vague.

“I told him to take a long walk off a short pier.” Giselle will clarify for me later that day, joining me as I take a smoke break at one of our bathroom stops, not that there isn’t a toilet on the bus, they just try to avoid using it as much as possible. She doesn’t smoke, claims she never has, but enjoys the company, while the boys are buying snacks at the gas station. I ask when it was, she gives me another thin smile, but not like it had been in the office. Here it’s the punctuation to an earlier joke rather than a judgement.

She tells me about how she actually met them all, recording her second album, after her 1972 performance on Top of the Pops, you know the one. It had cemented Giselle’s now iconic aesthetic of an off the shoulder, floor length sequinned gown, silk gloves, and bold red lipstick, dark hair falling victory curls, the whole look reminiscent of an old Hollywood star, though there was red glitter trailing from her lips, and on her gloves in a theatrical fabrication of blood. It had been a look inspired by her musical roots, and the theatricality of the then-popular glam rock, a movement which would inspire many of Mercury’s tour looks also.

She was twenty-one at the time, still “developing her persona”, when she found that the in-house recording equipment at EMI was being used by the then-still quite unknown Queen. Or rather, according to Giselle, just Taylor.

“He was packing up the last of his equipment, and he makes a pass at me, thinks I’m an intern.” We can see the boys leaving the gas station, Taylor himself heading the pack. “So yeah, told him to take a long walk off a short pier.” She laughs, seems to hold the memory quite dear. “That b******d has the gall to look me in the eyes and ask who I am.”

“Did he know who you were?” When I look at her, she’s still smiling, tipping her head to the side as the boys draw close. She seems to be paying attention to me, but not a lot.

“Yeah, told me later he was just pissed I didn’t throw myself at him. That’s why I said that, ‘they should be so lucky’ thing, actually, that motherf****r right there.” The way she says it, raising her finger to point at him, makes me think it’s a story she’s told before, one that he knows about.

“You talking about me?” Taylor yells, and Giselle is quick to answer that she is. “Don’t spill all my secrets.” It sounds like an order, but his smile says it’s not, it’s weirdly playful, a dynamic I didn’t expect from them, especially considering their history. I raise the point. She laughs at me.

“You’re kidding, right?”

Prenter calls for everyone on the bus, and Giselle doesn’t think to clarify once we’re back on board.

The tour, I should have mentioned earlier, is a double feature; Queen is promoting their album Hot Space, while Giselle is promoting her own, The Bend Before the Break. When I ask her about the album itself, she talks happily about a few of the songs, however when I bring up my personal favourites, Ache and Heaven Sent, she turns very quiet.

I will end up watching most of her performances, and to this day, I have never seen something as raw and spiritual as Giselle performing Ache.

The lights dim as the joyful Meant to Be finishes. On the studio recording, a double bass starts the song, long, grieving and angry notes that pick up in tempo as it’s joined by drums and a piano, and finally, her voice, low, bitter and seductive in equal measure. Here, there’s silence, as she gently croons the open lines, face illuminated by only a single gold light, as swirling red and purple lights move about the stage.

While saying you were sorry, / you burned me from the outside, in. / Now I’m calloused all over, / And too tired to feel the sting. / But I feel the ache, / feel the ache / feel the ache. / I’ll still let you back in.

She plays the piano herself for this song, a skill, I later learn Mercury had taught her many years ago. It’s a song that tugs at your gut, gets you thinking about how you keep people in your life who aren’t the best for you. She ends the last chorus with a long, mournful wail that you feel in your bones.

I’ve never heard a crowd so quiet as when she finishes Ache, the penultimate song of her set list, unless you count encores.

The final song of the night is always Heaven Sent, a bright, headbanging anthem with the musical gravitas of a full jazz band. It was her single from the album, it topped most charts. You know the one. The radio won’t stop playing it.

Divinity with a neon glow / it hung above his head, / promoting his next show. / Didn’t even try to find my light, / just the darkness he’d bestow. / Heaven sent me the Morningstar.

“I was cheated on.” Was all she will say about the songs.

The others steer clear of those songs as well, when talking about the album, as well as the titular song, The Bend Before the Break, though Giselle claims she has moved on from the feelings associated in all three songs.

“I wrote them first on the album, I’ve moved on.”

Each of the boys seems very protective of Giselle at times, though Taylor is by far the worst. If I’m being honest, was weird to me, they’d been at each other’s throats publicly and professionally for almost a full decade after Giselle’s initial comment, however the vitriol had died down in the past few years, so I enquire about that about halfway through the six week tour.

“We set them up.” May is the first to answer, sipping tea with myself, Deacon and Mercury. Since both Giselle and Taylor adjourned to the sleeping quarters. I ask him what he means.

“They tell it better.” Mercury interjects, but May argues that they’re asleep anyways so it’s not like it matters. Deacon agrees with Mercury, but quiet enough that May ignores him.

“So by ‘79, we’ve collaborated together, us and ‘Zelle, I mean,” the nickname is mostly used by May and Taylor, though Deacon uses it on occasion, “a couple of times, and we love her, right boys? We love her-” looking around, both Mercury and Deacon are nodding along, responding to a story they’d both heard before, though it was interesting for my first time hearing it, “but Rog is about ready to stab her with his drumsticks, but that’s just how he is.”

“Threatened to stab me once.” Deacon adds the unnerving information with complete serenity, focused on his cup.

“Me a couple of times.” Mercury shakes his head, as if it were some schoolboy prank rather than a stabbing threat.

“Like I said, just how he is. So we decide to send them to a place where they can bond over complaining about everything else, apart from each other.” I asked how it worked out for them and I watch as their faces fall. This terrible blind date idea must have gone horribly. “They hate the restaurant, which is good, but he goes to leave and bumps the table, spilling beer all over her dress, which is bad,” well, obviously. He pays me no mind, “and she elbows him in the face when she’s putting her jacket on - still don’t know how that one happened - but he still says he’ll take her home because it’s late, except-”

“To preface,” Deacon jumps in here, adding a little more milk to his tea, “she hates I’m In Love With My Car.” The song? Deacon nods. “Rog wrote it.” I can connect the dots, but I’m still confused as to how that lead to them being friends.

“Friends.” Mercury actually laughs into his cup.

“He takes her home anyways, she tells him the song’s s**t bu the sentiment wasn’t far off.” May finishes, shrugging.

“It was a real nice car.” Deacon shrugged, before looking straight at me. “And she still hates the song to this day.” There’s an air of finality to his words that is entirely unwarranted. That isn’t the point of the story; how are they friends now? Did they hook up in his car? Is that what they’re implying, I feel like such a gossip asking these questions.

“Did they ho- ? Yeah, of course.” May laughs, and though it clears some things up, I’m still rather confused. It’s probably reading on my face, because it looks like something else is dawning on him. “You know they’re married, right?”

No. No I did not know. Now I feel like an idiot.

I wonder if The Bend Before the Break is about Taylor? I can sense I’ve touched a nerve when I ask, and Mercury abruptly changes the subject, though the air still doesn’t feel right. When I head back through the sleeping area to get a new pen from my luggage, I catch a glimpse of Giselle napping in her bunk, Taylor too, asleep with his arm around her. She’s even wearing a wedding ring. I’m kicking myself for not noticing sooner. The chain with the ring around Taylor’s neck makes sense now. A lot of things make sense now.

For the next four days I feel like I’m being shunned, I’m the last to be told about dinner and have to eat the leftovers, Giselle barely says two words to me, Taylor just keeps glowering, and someone let the air out of my bed on the second night. It’s childish, but it’s in line with what I expect from them, regarding this sort of issue, I’m just glad Taylor hasn’t poured my coffee on me in my sleep, or spat in it. He just didn’t make it, which I suppose is probably the safest option for me.

The only apology I can think of is to offer to buy them all drinks, but it works well enough, and the next morning I wake to a fresh cup of coffee, and a very hungover Taylor. At least he’s dedicated to his job.

The rest of the tour passes without further incident. I still stand by Ache as one of my favourite musical performances of the decade, though I don’t mention it to Giselle, and now that I know the dynamic between her and Taylor, I can’t stop seeing it. Honestly, readers, they’re all over each other, which is expected from a man of Taylor’s reputation, but it’s still a little jarring to see the two of them so cozy. I must have been blind not to see it before.

When we part ways, Giselle is a little stiff with me.

“You brought up some feelings that I just... hadn’t actually dealt with at the time, which f******d me up.” She tells me in retrospect, sitting in my office with the rest of the boys in 1985. Live Aid was a few weeks ago, and since they all returned to the spotlight, I asked if they wanted to come and reflect on the past few years. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that Giselle still swears like a sailor.

“A lot’s happened in the past few years.” Taylor’s still very protective of her, and after everything that’s conspired, at least from what I know, it’s warranted. We talk about the band splitting, how it had hurt the band as a whole, and even Giselle, who was at the time seeing a counsellor with Taylor. I’m hesitant to broach the topic of their relationship, though they seem like a solid until now, sitting before me, holding hands and leaning against one another.

I ask if Giselle’s breakdown was due to the band splitting, though I’m hesitant if I’ll get a response. Her smile is sad, which is mirrored by the rest of the band. I can guess her response before she says it.

“No.”

You all know the moment I’m talking about, the last concert for her last album, as of this publication, Finally, Sunlight where she had receive pleas from the audience for an encore. When she came back out, part of her makeup had been smudged around her eyes, and you can hear her sniffle over the microphone. (”I’m so sorry, I lost someone close to me, I thought I could keep it together for one night.” Dabbing at her eyes, she sits at the piano and laughs, but there’s no heart in it. “But I’ve got five more minutes left in me, let’s go, Atlanta.”) The song she plays is Somebody to Love, a slow, soulful cover, and the audience is almost unanimous in their raised lighters and slow swaying. As she goes on, she just starts crying harder, missing notes, hands shaking; the extended ‘Looooord’ before the chanting becomes a desperate wail, a plea to the heavens, and she collapses onto the piano, sobbing audibly as the instruments all come to uncertain halt and lighters go down in confusion.

From the crowd, a single voice begins to chant ‘Find me somebody to love. / Find me somebody to love.’ and a single voice turns to a theatre, full to the brim, as they sing when she can’t, still crying against the piano. Lighters go up, and together the audience and the band finishes the song where words have failed her. It was televised locally on the night, and still brings me to tears when I watch it now.

“We lost our daughter.”

For those of you reading this who are shocked, I am too. Sitting there like a fool, not saying anything.

“I was on tour, and Rog was at home with her,” even now, Giselle is getting a little teary-eyed, not that I blame her. Both Taylor and Mercury have an arm around her, and May has a hand on her shoulder, Deacon sitting on the back of the sofa right behind her. A unit. A family. “I wanted to go home, she was getting really sick, and I know he was doing everything he could, but I just- I wanted to be there... but my label threatened to sue me for... millions.” It sounds like it’s hard to say, and she’s wiping a tear from her eyes. I offer her the tissues on my desk. “But I should have gone home. I should have been there by her side, I should have done more.” Taylor whispers something to her and she leans against him, taking comfort in him.

“I had to call her, tell her that... that she’d passed. The day of the show. She’d been so upset for week, ‘Zelle that is, and everything just-” Taylor manages to get a great handle on his emotions, despite his misty eyes and shaking hands. “We’re alright now though, see? Nothing can tear us apart.” Though his voice does drop, so I think he’s saying it more for Giselle’s benefit. I give them all time to collect themselves, stop to get hot drinks for everyone, and everyone finally seems happy enough to answer when I ask what’s next for them.

“Music, of course.” Mercury says, now holding what was Giselle’s free hand. The rest of the gathered musicians agree. I ask if we’ll be hearing any sort of collaboration between Queen and the Queen of Jazz Rock. Taylor snickers, pulling Giselle close.

“Yeah, but not in the way you mean.” He ignores the rest of the men’s shouts of disgust, as well as his wife’s own gagging noise, which I can see on her face she regrets as she covers her mouth with caution, before giving the okay.

“No, we’re okay, we’re good.” She assures everyone, before looking at me. “What he meant to say is that I’m pregnant.” She clarifies. Taylor is still grinning.

“Don’t be gross, Rog.” May calls from the other side of the sofa, and Taylor has the gall to look accosted.

“What’s next for me, after everything that’s happened, is family.” Giselle says over the sounds of her husband’s indignant huffs, though his expression turns soft at her words, and they ignore the ‘boo’s of everyone else as they kiss.

“Could you be less gross around company?” Deacon asks, still mild-mannered as ever. This seems to be the cue for the interview to end, as Taylor of Giselle-

“It’s Giselle Taylor, by the way, I’m sorry I hadn’t corrected you earlier.” She corrects me now, as [Roger] Taylor leads her out of the door. The rest of the band seem mildly exasperated at their antics, but still ready to answer my questions. After everything that’s happened, I’m a little overwhelmed, I’m not sure where to go from here.

Perhaps my next article will be on Live Aid.

#roger taylor #roger taylor imagine #roger taylor x oc #queen #bohemian rhapsody #borhap #bo rhap #queen imagine #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #the angry lizard writes #bohemian rhapsody imagine

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letstalksymphogear · 6 years ago

Text

Symphogear, EP. 3 (Cont.)

“aight fellas im here for the fortnite session where we droppin boys”

Hibiki shows up, ready to participate in this four player game of sociological tension.

“hope hibiki’s doing okay. im worried about her. ryoko, stop resting your arm on my head.”

“ryoko does as ryoko pleases baby”

Vibrates angstily.

“im missing my wife for this guys please lets just do this”

“wish i had a wife too instead of this vase filled with fucking ashes” SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORP

The squad analyzes the statistics of all Noise outbreaks over the last month to see if there’s a pattern somewhere. Somehow, Hibiki is regarded as an authority on this, despite being just a normal girl.

This is not the face of someone who has a degree in Noisology, let alone even listened to a Noisia album.

“looking photogenic while this girl describes how these horrible, lovecraftian entities butcher entire populations will look great on my acting resume”

Strained sounds of holding back laughter at this absolute clownery.

*coughs quietly*

Exposition goes on about the UN acknowledging the existence of Noise, but them existing for far longer, existing in myths as demons and monsters of long ago. This makes little sense, but fuck it, just roll with it. They also say the Noise is rare, but this being Symphogear, the Noise will be here forever, until the end of time.

“its like the noise are a metaphor........................”

Hibiki, looking dead inside as the average overnight studying student would, muses whether someone is behind the noise. She also asks if you can hear the sound of one hand clapping.

Tsubasa makes a very relevant observation that the school is smack dab at the center of all these outbreaks. In retrospect, you probably should have asked her first. She points out it may be because someone wants their get their hands on the almost complete relic hidden away in the 2nd Division: Durandal. Why anyone wants an old ass french sword is beyond me.

“yeah i can do exposition too, fuck you”

Finished relics are extremely rare and as a result extremely powerful. Incomplete ones are pretty powerful, but need to be rebuilt a bit.

“i discovered all this, conveniently, as the only person left to do so! totally not suspicious at all.”

“anime plot hurting brain. bullshit levels make think no good.”

“wish i got hired for a macross anime instead, they get to go to space”

“being meguca is suf- wait, im confusing my roles”

The exposition goes on to note that America wants the relic. This is one of the few shows that depicts America in a very serious and antagonistic light. America never cooperates in any useful way except once.

“it should would suck if someone was sending us them noise monster all on purpose-like”

“yeah............! suuuuuure would suck.... mmmmmmmmmhmmmmmmm...”

Tsubasa and Ogawa quietly plan idol ruminations. This animation used to be far, far worse.

This is the moment where Tsubasa becomes sword-kin. From here on out, she will always refer to herself as a sword. This is law. Literally every single season has this same deal. She believes she is a sword. I know it’s not literal, but I like pretending it is.

Succ Intensifies

“gonna get her number later after the season is over, damn”

Hibiki muses on the nature of war.

“why we gotta fight”

“cause yall suck”

Ryoko then says some very not nice things that we’re just going to walk right around because Ryoko is a little bit of a weirdo and should probably keep her flirting to the short haired lady working on the bridge.

“i will call the cops, lady”

Hibiki starts her next day at school as she spots Tsubasa during her choir class.

“forget my nintendo switch with the latest smash bros game in the classroom goddamnit”

“hibiki please tone down the gay for five seconds while we try to get through this dumb singing class in one piece”

“i smell a homewrecker”

“THE GAY CAN NEVER BE TONED DOWN, IT CAN ONLY BE TONED”

Hibiki is then fed by multiple classmates for this statement.

The Anime Janai crew is fond of Hibiki, much like a group of Lords being fond of the royal court jester. Hibiki clowns it up by working on a report she procrastinated until the very last minute. “Your life sure is an anime!”, one of them says. Hibiki then says, “I wish!”. They smile in unison at the irony.

Look at how they mock the threads of reality. Absolute monsters.

Hibiki nails the report at the skin of her teeth, Miku’s gonna get ready for the meteor shower, everyone’s real fucking happy, the evening looks peaceful, all is well.

“i cant wait to do all these fun things we promised several times over!”

Unfortunately, the worst case scenario happens.

Her tiddies start ringing.

“no.... fuck.... my tiddies... they’re ringing...”

She knows now she cannot go.

In retrospect, she probably could’ve blown them off. I mean, what are they gonna do? Fire her? She’s practically irreplaceable. Alas, her conscience is too strong. The ringing from her tiddies too loud to ignore.

“okay im back for the thing you promised we’d do repeatedly that we planned for a good amount of weeks now”

“...”

“i got fucking ghosted didnt i”

“cannot fucking believe i got ditched on my hot date with hibiki. bet its because her tiddies rang, isnt it. always her and her... GODDAMN tiddies ringing ALL THE TIME. LET ME BE WITH HER... god...”

“bae. im sorry. the tiddies rang. i have no choice.”

Miku tries to keep it together. Neither of them are happy about this state of affairs, and rightfully so, because it’s fucking stupid. Hell, it would have made more sense of Miku knew but still got jealous anyway, because she feels her job is establishing too much distance! And they talk those problems out instead of issues that only arise if everyone’s a goddamn moron about communication!

“but thats the point of the pl-”

NO! IT’S NOT CLEVER! IT’S FRUSTRATING! THERE ARE CLEVER WAYS TO SHOW A LACK OF COMMUNICATION BESIDES A CHAIN OF OBSTACLES TOO STUPID TO EXIST!

Miku takes the whole thing with grace even though I’m absolutely certain she threw her phone at the wall in raw, gay frustration.

Hibiki, understandably, is pretty fucking pissed.

“im gay. im angry, and im gonna fuck yall up for RUINING MY DATE AFTER HAVING FINISHED MY DAMN REPORT”

Hibiki fights the Noise. She’s gotten slightly better at fighting, but for now she’s still sorta trash at it. A grape themed Noise throws bombs and crushed her under rocks from a ceiling.

You’re a student. You’re the lone survivor of a concert that you got flak about for years. You go to an institution for singing with your best friend and basically get shoved into a life of crime fighting unwittingly. Your only teammate hates you and tried to kill you. You don’t get to hang out with your best friend anymore. Your teachers hate you. And you’re losing against the abominations that may have potentially warped your life negatively, forever.

This is probably the pivotal moment where Hibiki fucking snaps and decides she ain’t taking shit anymore. She’s not at her strongest yet, but mentally? She has decided to tell the world to go fuck itself.

“MY WIFE THINKS IM CHEAAAAAATING, MY TEAMMATE THINKS I SUUUUUUUUUCK, AND I’M SICK AND TIRED OF IT”

My, Hibiki, what big fangs you have. All the more to grit your teeth and beat the shit out of things with, I assure you.

Needless to say, even without having the skill, she’s starting to understand and get more comfortable with the full extent of the power her suit provides her.

She’s gotten so mad that even the illustrators are afraid of her.

To note: this isn’t just anime drama silhouette stylization. She is actually physically turning into a red eyed shadow. You’ll know why later down the road.

“YOU WANNA FUCKIN FIGHT ME NOW TSUBASA? HUH? HUH? YOU WANNA FUCKIN’ FIGHT ME?!”

Needless to say, her rampage goes on for a while.

She manages to dispatch all the Noise except for the Grape themed one. Up in the hole it made, she sees the meteor fall from the sky...

Wait, look closer. Is it a bird?

A plane?!

No, it’s...!

“i aint gonna tell her i just did a wish on her”

Sword!

“why the fuck does SHE get jetpacks?!”

Hibiki randomly yells out she wants to protect things too, for absolutely no real reason. Who would even break the ice with that. Hibiki, please.

They sorta stare each other down in a field awkwardly, like a bad high school reunion. But, a mysterious voice breaks out of literally fucking nowhere.

“didnt know they legalized gay marriage in japan already, otherwise id be showing up to this joke of a marriage sooner, you absolute buffoons”

“did this bitch just insinuate id waste my time getting married to this complete idiot, let alone even contemplate getting married in a public park as opposed to having a customized karaoke based marriage in the FUCKING HILTON?!”

“hey time out dont say that shit im already married and my wife already feels enough like im cheating so please keep those comments to yourself okay please”

“eat my ass, nerds. id tell you to come to the park in 15 minutes for an ass kicking...

but we’re already here, now aren’t we?”

#symphogear #symphogear season 1 #recap #anime

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littlebitoffanfic · 6 years ago

Text

Afloat

Fandom: Breath of the Wild Character: Sidon Relationship: Sidon/reader Request: can I send you a few requests for one character? They don’t have to be done all at once or be connected. Great! One where the reader gets injured and Sidon is worried and asks her to stay with him so he can protect her You ran through the woodland area, hoping that you were close. Your attackers followed, yelling after you as they waved their weapons. You knew once you got into the Zora area, you wouldn’t have to worry. They would help you, Sidon would help you. Just as your legs were about to give way, you saw the entrance to the Zora distract. On the top of one of the guard tower, you saw Prince Sidon speaking with two guards. “SIDON!” you screamed, your lungs burning. All three of their heads snapped towards you and they saw instantly you were in distress. You had gashes all over your body, your clothes ripped. It was now only drizzling but earlier it had been pouring so you were soaked through, your body shaking violently. Your nose had been bleeding and you had split your bottom lip. Just as you manged to get to the gate, your legs gave way as you slipped and fell to the floor in a tumble. Your attackers ran at you, not even noticing the three witnesses. Scrambling backwards, you shrieked out of fear. They slowed to a walk as they smiled evilly at you. There was three of them, all big and brute like in nature. “Where yah runnin’ to, little lady?” One sniggered, the blade of his sword waving threatening as the approached. You scrambled back then you heard a thud behind you. The mens eyes widened as they stared at the source of the noise and you looked over your shoulder to see Sidon only a foot away and towering over you. But he wasn’t looking down at you with kind eyes as normal, he was glaring at the men. His sharp teeth were bared as he stepped forward and over you to stand between you and the attackers. You wanted to scramble to your feet to help, but you didn’t have any strength left in you to even hold yourself up. You collapsed on the floor, gasping for air as you lungs burned like they were on fire. The cuts on your face stung with the fresh water of the rain and your whole body throbbed. You couldn’t hear anything apart from a buzzing noise in your skull but you tried to keep your eyes opened to watch what happened. The men sneered at Sidon, but then the two guards must have sounded the alarm before jumping down behind you. One placed a hand on your shoulder and rolled you onto your back before shouting behind him. More guards ran past you and you looked back to Sidon, who was pointing at the men who were starting to run back into the forest. But the guards were nearly on top of them. They had no chance. your head lolled back to look up at the sky as a familiar face came into view. It was Lunu, one of the royal nurses and a close friend of yours. She looked like she was going to be sick as she spoke frantically with the guard, who you recognised as Tare. Blankness started to cloud your vision and your eyes began to feel heavy. You knew you were going to sleep and you didn’t know if you would wake. The last thing you saw was Sidons worried face coming into view. ---------------time skip------------------- When you woke, it felt like you were lying on a cloud. Your mind was awake well before your body as you remembered the horror when you had last been awake. You had been walking through the forest on your way to the Zora domain when you were ambushed. They pinned you down but you managed to wriggle out of their grasp but not before they got a few flesh wounds on you. You had ran through the forest to the Zora, knowing your close ties with them would certainly protect you. the rest was a bit of a blur. You opened your eyes, eager to see where you were. Perhaps the hospital wing? Or had Lunu took yu back to hers. She was always ever so sweet to you and you considered her one of your closest friends. But as you looked up at the ceiling of the room, you knew this wasn’t either of your thoughts. It had a high ceiling with intricate patterns around the walls which, if you didn’t know any better, were gold in colour. You were lying in a large fourposter bed. With deep red curtains which were pulled back so you could look at the rest of the room. The bed itself, was massive. At least double the size of a queen size. While there was only 2 pillows under your head, you looked and saw a number of other pillows surrounded the head of the bed. The thick cover felt soft against your skin and seemed to be made from the best material yet reminded you of a towel in how it felt against your skin. The room was very tidy and minimalist. A desk with fountain pens and parchment sat in one corner and the other was a door. You could see light peaking in through the curtains of the window, but then you realised it was a glass door, probably to a balcony or something. The curtains matched the ones on the bed and fell to the floor. In the farthest away corner, the ceiling seemed to sparkle with the reflection of water. Perhaps a bath? Sitting up, you stretched with a soft groan. Your body felt like it had slept for a century. You saw your arms had bandages up them and as you looked down, you saw you were wearing a light blue night grown. You couldn’t help but wonder where it had come from, until you remembered Lunu had insisted on keeping some of your clothes at hers in case of an emergency. You needed to thank her later. Your eyes looked to the place where the water was. Built into the ground, was a pool, big enough for at least a few Zora. One side seemed to have steps into the pool but then it must have dropped to a decent depth. But then your heart stopped. Lying, face down in the pool, was Sidon. Jumping out the bed, you sprinted over to him, not caring about your nightgown or bandages. The pool was deep, too deep for you to be able to stand up in and you weren’t sure you had the strength to swim. But thankfully he was close enough to one side that you could grab his arm. “Sidon?” You called out as you fell to your kneels at his side and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the side. His body jolted and then his head raised from the water with an expression of confusion and shock. “Whats happening? Are you okay?” He spoke quickly as his eyes scanned the room for threat. You sat back, your mouth opened slightly. “Were- were you sleeping?” You asked, your hands letting go of his arm to fall to your lap. He moved so he was standing in the water due to his height. With his elbows on the side of the pool, he was now at eye level with you. “Yes.” He answered, seeming just as confused as you were. There was a brief moment before you started laughing. You raised your wet hands to cover your mouth, feeling it might be seen as stupid or inappropriate but it was just too funny. “What?” He asked, cocking his head to one side in a sweet way. “I woke up and saw you lying face down in water. Natural instinct told me you were drowning. I forgot that you were a Zora.” You laughed, one hand holding your side which was starting to hurt. Sidon took a moment before bursting into laughter himself, throwing his head back. It felt so good to just laugh with him. Despite being royalty, you never saw him the way you saw many other royal leader. He was down to earth, friendly, kind and compassionate. It was one of the reasons you had fallen in love with him so long ago. “Im so sorry.” You finally said when you ran out of breath to laugh. “wait, you are just awake? Have you seen Lunu? Oh, your bandages!” Sidon suddenly reached out and took your hands, showing that your bandages had gotten wet when you tried to pull him out the water. “they’ll be fine. I think my arms need a little air anyway.” You shrug, taking them off and showing your arms. They weren’t nearly as bad as you had thought they were going to be and they looked like they were healing nicely. Glancing up, you saw Sidons eyes were also on the cuts, but he had a blank expression which reminded you a little of disgust. “Did Lunu leave a cardigan or something?” You ask, wrapping your arms around yourself to try cover them a little. “No, she did not. Why? Are you cold? I can put on the fire.” He looks to the side where there was a fireplace but you shook your head. “No, I-I know its not nice to look at.” You shrug, looking away from him and regretting taking the bandages off. But when you glanced back to him, he had a soft smile. “My dear. You are the most beautiful creature I have ever met. That has not changed become of some cuts. I just cannot believe someone who ever want to hurt you in this way.” He reached out a hand and ran it down your arm, carful to avoid the cuts. But the water from his hand let a couple of droplet run down your arm and across a cut or two. “My apologies!” “No not its fine. I felt nice, actually. The waters nice and cool.” You smiled to reassure him. “Would you like to join me then?” He asked, stepping away from the side to invite you in. “Im not exactly dressed for a swim. Plus I don’t know if im strong enough to tread water.” You giggled but wanting nothing more than to have a dip. It wasn’t uncommon for him to take you swimming in the nearby rivers and lakes. He always kept close to you and if you ever looked tiered, he would dive underneath you so you would end up on his back. This was not something that was extended to everyone and you were grateful for that. “Lunu left some dresses of yours over there.” He nods to a chair by the bed which had some of your clothes folded on it. “And I shall not let you drown. Come.” He held out his hands to you, motioning for you to join him. Smiling, you knew you couldn’t say no to him. Taking his hands, you sat on the side of the pool and dipped your legs in first before sliding into the water. Instantly, Sidon wrapped one arm around your waist to make sure your head didn’t dip below the water. You had been right, your legs and arms were too weak to swim but Sidon moved so his arms supported you enough to keep you afloat without needing to tread water. He moved so your back was pressed against his front and one arm was around your waist. Leaning your head back, you closed your eyes, enjoying the way the water seemed to calm you. You didn’t know how long the two of you stayed like this, but Sidon seemed happy and content moving around the pool slowly as he held you. It was moments like this that allowed you to pretend perhaps you were more than just friend. Occasionally, you spoke with him, asking him how long you had been asleep, to which he had told you 3 days but Lunu had assumed him it was okay because you were healing. The king sent his best wishes and a lot of the Zora were asking about your health. You couldn’t help but feel wanted and needed unlike anywhere else you had really been. “By the way, where are we? Is this like a private room?” You asked, looking up at Sidon. “well, not exactly. This is my private quarters.” He admitted, looking slightly embarrassed. “What?” You moved quickly and, because he was holding you with such delicacy, he lost his grip. Your head went under the water as you managed to take a breath quickly. But as soon as you were under, you were out of the water completely. Sidon lifted you up so you were sitting on the side of the pool, Sidon right in front of you with a worried look upon his face. “I am dreadfully sorry, my dead. You moved so quickly and I-“ He was cut off by your laughter. “I swear one of us will drown today.” You giggled, covering your mouth with you hands as Sidon smiled, showing you were okay. “I apologies if I gave you a fright.” He bows his head to you but you reached out and hook your finger under his chin, raising his head back up. “Its fine.” You smile, seeing his eyes widen at the touch. His hands were still on your waist, making sure you didn’t slip. “Stay.” He suddenly blurted out, looking slightly surprised at himself but not taking it back. “What?” You couldn’t help but offer him a surprised smile mixed with confusion. Your hand dropped from his chin to your lap. “Stay here. With me. I can protect you. I wont let you get hurt like this again.” His eyes dart to your arms and the small cuts on your face. “Sidon, I don’t-“ You start to protest, unsure if you could take his request but he interrupted. “Why?” He asks quickly, his eyes pleading with you. “I don’t really belong anywhere.” You shrug, dropping his gaze from embarrassment. “You belong here. My people adore you. Your friends here only speak of goodness and kindness.” He smiled, mirroring your actions from before by placing his hand under your chin and lifting your gaze back to him. “And you?” You ask, your heart hammering in your chest. He had asked you to stay with him. Not to stay in the domain, not to stay with Lunu who often begged you to extend your stays. To stay here with him. “I love you.” He breathed, a soft smile playing his lips as thought just saying the words to you bought him joy. You couldn’t control yourself any more. Pushing yourself forward, you wrapped your arms around his neck but under the tail so you could press your lips against his. They were soft and wet from the water, but quickly started to kiss you back. His arms wrapped around you the second you moved so he could pull you into the water with him once again. Your legs couldn’t help but lock around his waist, although due to his size it was more likely closer to his chest. He towered over you, yet never used that to intimidate you or make you feel fear for him. he lay back in the water so he was floating on his back while you straddled him. Pulling back, you were panting but you knew he could hold his breath for a lot longer than you, yet he was also panting. “Please tell me you’ll stay.” He breathed, moving so he was standing once against with you in his arms. “I don’t think I can leave after a kiss like that.” You giggled as you pushed a stand of wet hair out of your face. “That’s fantastic new!” Sidon exclaimed, his face beaming with happiness as he ducked down to give you a celebrator kiss. You giggled as you kissed him back. “So, is this the only reason why I stayed in your quarters?” You asked, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. Sidon ducked his head, looking away from you. “I was so worried when you wouldn’t wake. Lunu told me you would be fine but I couldn’t leave your side. I told them to bring you here so I could keep watch over you.” He spoke with pain as he remembered the dark days before this one. “you know, I didn’t know how Zora slept. But I didn’t know you had both a bed and a pool.” You look back at the bed in thought. “Many Zora do. We prefer the water but if one is ill, or has been wounded or such then the bed is more practical. Especially during winter.” He tells you, speaking like the two of you were drifting down the stream while telling stories. “Lunu has a bed in each of her spare rooms.” You state, only knowing because she always let you chose where you slept but you had never seen her bedroom. “Will I be staying with her?” You ask, wanted to broach the subject now rather than have it play on your mind. “Well, I thought you might prefer to stay in here. You may have the bed. And I give you my word that I shalt enter unless you say so. Or you could stay in the spare room next-“ he speaks quickly but you interrupted. “but what if your sick?” You ask, remembering what he said. “well…” He trailed off, obviously not thinking about that. He didn’t even notice your smirk as you raised a hand to place it on his forehead. “Hmm, you feel really warm. Maybe you should come lie down.” You couldn’t help but giggle a little, seeing his eyes dart back to yours. “I am not-“ He trailed off, realising what you were saying. “You would like to share a bed with me?” “If you care to join me.” You look back to the bed, feeling tiered yourself. Sidon, seemingly unable to speak, gently moved to the steps into the pool. He let you get out first but followed closely behind. You now understood the bedding material was made to get wet so you didn’t mind climbing back under the covers while still dripping. Sidon was quick to join you yet seemed a little out of his depth in the bed. In the pool, he had his arms around you, touching you easily but now he seemed scared to touch you. But you were quick to fix that. Cuddling into him, you pulled the cover up to cover you both as you rested your head on his chest, feeling tiny in his bed and presents. his arms were quick to wrap around you, one hand even playing with your hair. “Oh, and Sidon?” You looked up. He hummed in response, seemingly comfy and content. “I love you too.” His head snapped down to before smiling widely. You moved to press a kiss ot his lips once again before cuddling back into his side. “You know…” He signed contently as he played with your damp hair. “… Ive never really liked this bed. But now I think it might just be my favourite place in the world.” “At least we cant drown out here. Unless you count the amount of pillows.” You chuckle, your eyes heavy as you yawned. “I will always keep you afloat, my dear.” Sidons voice was the last thing you remember before falling back into a pleasant sleep.

#sidon #botw #prince sidon #Sidon x reader #prince Sidon x reader #reader insert

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softstraykidsimagines · 6 years ago

Text

Boyfriend!I.N (Jeongin)

MASTERLIST

WOOT WOOT

Little Jeongin!

This is gonna be so damn fluffy watch out

Here we go!!!

Ok so Jeongin is shy at the best of times

So God help this poor child while he has a crush on you

He won’t even be able to talk to you properly

Most likely runs away whenever he gets embarrassed

Which is very often

Just

Can’t function

If one of the members even try the subject of his crush on you when you’re in the room

He lets instinct take over

And he dolphin screams to distract everyone

As people look in his direction

Because he is hella loud

He’ll scream again and die on the inside

Why can’t I think straight with y/nnnnn

He’d be so frustrated with himself

He’ll probably mentally slap himself every other second when he talks to you

Why did you say that? What is y/n gonna think of you?! IDIOT

I highly doubt he’d confess to you himself

At least in person

One of the members probably told you

So you went to see him

And scared the bejesus out of him when you asked if it was true

But he eventually nodded and confessed and VERY quietly asked you out this baby my God save him

To which you OBVIOUSLY said yes

And he probably jumped around happily to your response

Tried to stay cool, because he is Mature™

But as soon as you were not around he’d scream with happiness and run around because he is a ball of energy and he’s gonna explode

He’s whipped, your grace

Dates with Jeongin

Is it really such a mystery?

So so SO soft

His first date with you was going to a carnival

Because he made it his new goal in life to win you a stuffed toy

And win your heart forever

Little did he know that had already happened

Got really grouchy when he didn’t win anything

But immediately felt better when you both had something to eat who doesn’t feel better with food?

Forgot how to human when the date came to an end

And you kissed him on the cheek

Half as a joke, he collapsed onto the ground in a heap of giggles not really a joke it was genuine

He was, at that moment, the happiest boy to walk the planet

You can probably guess that this kid is too shy for PDA

But he’s all for hand holding wherever you two go

He really loves to swing your arms back and forth like children cause that’s what you are

Sometimes will peck your cheek if he’s feeling bold

If you initiate skinship out and about, he’s gonna turn a dark shade of red

But will hold in his squeal thank goodness

If the members tease him for being shy

Because where’s the lie

He’ll greet you and become insanely clingy

If you ask him why he won’t tell you

“I just really really really wanted to hug you”

“Jeongin you’ve been clinging onto me for 10 minutes, are you okay? And what if the boys tease you”

“They won’t I’m proving a point”

“Say what?!”

First kiss.

You’d think it’d be you who would have to make the first move right?

Wrong.

So freaking wrong

Because realise: once he makes his mind up about something, Jeongin carries his decision through to the end

And he decided to make a certain evening walk in the park very special

You were walking around, and it had gotten dark, only a few street lamps lit your way

You were both talking about absolute nonsense, laughing at each others jokes etc

And then he suddenly became very serious

“Can I ask you a favour? It’s really important to me…”

You got kinda nervous, because when was the last time Jeongin managed to keep a strait face like that?

From his pocket he pulled out a chain bracelet, with a pretty but subtle pattern on it. “Can you wear this? For me? And whenever you’re sad, or scared, look at it and think of me, and I can protect you”.

You were absolutely dumbstruck, so you just quietly let him out the bracelet on

You were about to cry as well

He showed you a second one which he had on his own wrist. “I want this to be something special between us”

And then he siezes the moment

And connects his lips with yours

Very gently

He kisses you so delicately, like you’re made of ice, about to break

When you part, he smiles softly

And starts walking again, calmly

Making you stand there confused af

Like where tf is shy Jeongin? Who is this?

Spoiler alert, it’s I.N, not soft Jeongin

Oh lord prepare yourself before meeting the rest of SKZ

Physically and mentally

Knowing them they’ll probably try to lift you up and get you to crowd surf

While still teasing the Maknae

They’ll be so protective of you, just like with Jeongin

You have become family, don’t doubt that for half a second

You are also now in charge of being the mood lifter for Jeongin

And his reassurance

Especially if he’s sick

Because he gets really tired whenever he so much as catches a cold, because he refuses to stop working and rest common sense who?

And when he’s tired, he thinks way more negatively

You were once alone with him in the practice room, and he was trying to improve a few moves to a really difficult choreography

For a while he kept smiling like the child he is, staying positive

But after trying over and over, having to catch his breath from fatigue, having trouble breathing from a blocked nose, he still couldn’t get the moves right

And out of pure exhaustion and frustration, he burst into tears no judging I’ve had this it’s painful

You immediately went over and hugged him tightly, reassuring him and calming him down

You both sat together on the floor, until he wasn’t upset anymore, but you still refused to let him practice after that

You took him home and looked after him until he passed out that night

The members were confused af as well

“What’s wrong with Jeongin?”, asked Chan, being his usual protective-leader self

You replied simply because you didn’t want to upset the other boys. “He got frustrated at the dance he’s learning, and was exhausting himself, so I dragged him home to sleep...”

They were all really grateful the you were looking after Jeongin so well, and their love for you with the Maknae you only grew

Now this boy is not at all afraid of speaking his mind

So you two basically leave everything out in the open

No secrets

If one of you is pissed at the other, you will freaking say that you’re pissed at them

You don’t hold back

So then you can both talk rather freely about why you might be pissed

Basically what I’m saying is that fights are super rare

Because they don’t even get a chance to start when you two are so open with each other

So at most you bicker over food

But there are times

Like I said, insanely rarely

Jeongin doesn’t tell you how much he’s struggling

He doesn’t want to seem like he’s complaining too much so he stays quiet about his worries about being an idol

It’s a bit like his situation during The 9th: he doesn’t want to burden anyone about feeling down, so he keeps a bright smile on his face

You kinda sense that there’s something up, but he convinces you for a long time that he is totally fine

But when it becomes too much

Being tired, frustrated, stressed and worked to the bone, and he still hasn’t said anything to anyone

He’ll break and yell at you over something not even worth yelling about

It’ll shock you so much that you’ll flinch away from him

He won’t just yell at you

He’ll yell about how tired he is, about how unfair he thinks it is that he can’t learn a dance as quickly as anyone else

He’ll yell about everything and nothing

You understand quickly that he’s letting of steam, getting it all off his chest

So once he’s quiet again, breathing heavily, crying silently

You’ll hug him gently, and reassure him that you’re there no matter what and that he can ramble and complain all he wants with you

NO MORE ANGST IM OUTTA HERE

He tries to force you to watch Mukbang, until you threaten him that you’ll secretly feed him black beans

You both love blasting Bruno Mars in the dorms, driving SKZ up the wall as you sing at the top of your lungs

He’ll try to teach to sing trot like him

But you both know that you’ll never be as good at singing it as him

He loves texting you whenever he has a spare half-second

He always gets in trouble with the other members because as soon they stop what they're doing, he's off to get his phone

“Where did Jeongin go”, asked Woojin. “He was here a second ago...”

Chan sighed. “I can take a guess. JEONGIN PUT THAT DAMN PHONE DOWN!”

He uses his Maknae Influence™ to get our of trouble lol

You both like to try and cook together

Doesn't really work

You usually end up making a mess

Or if you’re baking something

Like cookies

You'll end up eating all the batter before it even reaches the oven

Stray Kids will be deprived of cookies RIP

When you suggest him meeting your family

He gets super nervous

But refuses to show it

You'll kind of pick up on his attitude

The way he answers questions on the matter so directly and seriously

But you're too kind and high-key impressed to point it out

But when he does meet your fam he's super smiley and actually seems genuinely comfortable

You on the other hand

Get hella stressed when you're supposed to meet his parents

Will they approve?

Will his brothers like you?

As soon as you voice your concerns to Jeongin

He hugs you, reassuring you that they'll all adore you

He couldn't have been more right

His parents are so so sweet and love you from the word go

Both his brothers love you just as much

Especially his younger brother, who just idolises you

It’s so cute

You immediately exchange contacts and stay in touch

Jeongin ended up making a group chat with you and his bros because he was so excited that you got on so well

His favourite thing to do in the evening with you is just watch a random show

From a K-Drama to a weird comedy neither of had ever seen

He just likes relaxing with you, usually with your legs draped over his lap

Probably screamed the first time you walked over wearing one of his jumpers

“ISN'T THAT MINE?”

“Oh, sorry I'll go put it back...”

“DON'T YOU EVEN DARE I LOVE IT”

Low-key snuck his hoodies into your closet just so he could see you wear them

But as soon as you brought it up

He'd refuse to give any answer on the matter

“What are you talking about? You must have stolen them yourself, thief”.

“Alright, I'll give them back, then”.

“No no, you stole them, so you must keep them”

“... Right”

The first time he said 'I love you’ resembled your first kiss

He had thought about it and planned it out

The plan didn't really work

He'd meant to cook something for you

And watch your favourite movie

And surprise you by just saying ‘I love you’ casually

But he messed up dinner

Accidentally spilled too much salt into the dish

So instead ordered takeout from your favourite place

Then

Just because the universe was against him, for some unknown reason, the movie wouldn't work

So you ended up watching something else

And he was about to give up and plan for another day

But it just kinda slipped out?

“I'm sorry I couldn't make this a perfect night”, he said, dejected. “I wish I could just... easily show you how much I love you...”

Sort of panicked after he said it

He started stuttering while trying to explain himself

Until you kissed him to shut him up

Telling him that you loved him too

And that's how he had a happiness heart attack

This bean will go public after a couple of years

He posted a photo of you smiling brightly in a cafe

With a simple caption: 'Love you so much’

Now naturally the internet is gonna die because hello?

Little baby Jeongin is dating?!

But after a few hours of commotion there's gonna be something unexpected

People will recognise you

From clips in SK TALKER

They'd seen the two of you

Just barely within the view of the camera

Messing around and playing a bunch of games to pass the time

Some had naturally insisted that you two were dating

But you were mostly just written off as Jeongin’s best friend who had come to see him a few times backstage

But now that he had officially announced your relationship

There were A LOT of people saying 'I told you so’ on the internet

Whoops

Low-key, kpop fandoms area group of mini Sherlock Holmes’

He becomes so happy at the very mention of your name

Low-key hopes in every convo that someone will bring you up

Just so that he can talk about you nonstop

He talks a lot about you

SKZ always get a real earful

Especially when they’re away

He'll never stop talking about you which pisses pretty much everyone off

His coping mechanism for being away from you is just to recap a bunch of his favourite moments with you

So naturally anyone within earshot of him will hear a bunch of cute stories about you two

Right up until the moment he sees you again

Thank heavens the rest of SKZ will say as they watch the Maknae crush you in a hug, giggling excitedly

All in all, you two have a soft af relationship

With lots of giggles, cuddles surprisingly, and a lot of love

Can I please just get a Jeongin??

There we go! That concludes my soft-ass day!

Now, I’m going away on holiday (sooner than I thought I would), but that’s not gonna stop me from writing! There’ll just be a few posts that won’t be on the Masterlist for a while. But as soon as I get access to any computer, I’ll update the Masterlist :)

#stray kids #stray kids imagines #imagine #kpop imagines #jeongin #jeongin imagines #yang jeongin #stray kids jeongin #JYP #jyp entertainment #scenario #kpop scenarios #stray kids scenarios #jeongin scenario #boyfriend

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retoucherdark-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Photoshop Tutorial

Plenty of people have inquired how exactly I really do lots of my characterizations and peculiar aliens, and so I thought I would finally sit back and write a new tutorial.

I presumed a pleasure image to concentrate on is my face-off image for the Alien Nation 3 competition.

To begin with, I thought I d explain a bit about my strategy. I do a lot of modification layers, curing brush combined with a little liquefy, and cloning. My theory with characters is I try to leave as a number of the pixels. What I attempt to accomplish is create them a color that is different. I scarcely hotel to doing some other paint pops that are destructive.

First things first, I did not have the full concept in your mind once I started this image, and sometimes what the alien had been about to appear to be. In reality, I even plan for this to function as Tom Cruise for almost just about any reason other than that I enjoy the high end photo retoucher intense look in his head and it turned out to be a resolution record to govern without needing to work around .jpeg artifacts.

That said it evolved to some ridiculous goof on Mr. Cruise that wound up having a fantastic reaction from the Republicans thus, go figure!

Let us start...

Mr. Storm has too much hair to generate a persuasive alien, therefore, enables take it off!

Start by cloning out of the middle of the eyebrow outside developing a digital bald-cap.

Remember it doesn't fundamentally matter how far how to wash that your cloning is. It we'll fix it.

(Hint ) I sporadically un-check the aligned button towards the very top once I find an excellent subject of eyebrow which pits to function as a standard skin feel.

After roughing into a new mind contour from the eyebrow outside, then replicate in the gray backdrop from the surface, in creating a new border for the form of the mind.

Following Tom's new eyebrow is glistening and it could still look somewhat like a demanding patchwork of both skin-tones and feel.

Establish the magnitude of the healing brush into something moderate like 20 pixels or so and get started targeting the obvious of one's lousy trademark marks. Clone from the middle of the forehead. (preferably from the unaffected parts ) Magically up on letting upward out of each brush stroke, it's going to set the feel you've set merely there, and then auto color-correct it into to coincide with the nearby pixels! (obtained Id love that curing brush! ) )

Time and energy to eradicate a few of the pesky facial features...

To begin with, let's keep on with the rubber stamp tool and demanding from the removals of Tom's eyebrows in addition to his nose. Once those are all gone, I want to get rid of the piece of stubble and feel on his brow to acquire a complete smoother face.

Measure 4: Much like measure two we are likely to go straight back during these areas with the healing brush and find yourself a beautiful mixture of skin-tone and feel. (for all those wondering why that can be really just a two-step procedure involving the rubber stamp and also the healing brush, then the reply is relatively straightforward. I've gotten a better result from regions of the facial skin having a closest to my result color. Like that once the healing brush does its magical color-correction into the nearby pixels that you don't have any lingering color from the initial pixels inhabiting that place )

Time and energy to get started making his face a little more alien...

I decided I needed to bisect his head having a slit which travels the course of his head in addition to alter the functionality of the mouth.

To accomplish so I generated a new modification layer setting it into degrees.

At the degrees dialog box that I took in the low right white triangle to the middle of the histogram. This left the high lights of how the image rip-off.

Today every time a flat's modification coating is inserted into an image it creates a new clean white coating mask. Target this mask from the layers dialogue box and then invert it shifting. (Command/or Control Id )

Your image should look as if you inserted the degrees adjustment layer. You are all set to begin painting. Then I placed two vertical lines, then one on both sides of the lip of the mouth area.

(that is precisely what the coating mask appears like if you've completed painting )

Today I wish to provide these lines somewhat of thickness. Therefore, I will bring a layer style to the alteration coating.

Either tap into a negative subject of the coating in the coating's pouch or click onto the layer and select Blending Options from the menu that arises to match a coating style.

Here are the configurations that I've selected:

Fundamentally I only noodled up until the light also matched it gave the illusion of thickness into the traces of the facial skin.

I want to provide the traces some modeling to signify there are arteries at the borders of the trails. Therefore went to bring another alteration layer with levels. Now my guideline to be able not to adjust their color. The means to get this done would be to take away the difference of the color I am attempting to incorporate. Therefore that I can take away blue and green, in cases like this, I need a wash.

From the RGB slider that I shoot out high lights together with the underside white arrow taken towards the middle. And that I take out mid tones by slipping the gray shaft to the best. I am the green histogram and choose out green from the high lights, (underside white arrow, then go on into the left) I then do the same with all the gloomy. Even though I take more blue out to compel at the color into more of the opposed to your red. Reach fine from the dialogue box and then aim the mask at the modification layer and invert it.

Today, we're prepared to paint with all the reddish color correction. Make use of a soft border brush 20 30 pixels in size and gently color in approximately every one the traces of the facial skin. Im by applying this particular color correction to begin a number of the bone workaround the eyes together with to generate several shadow locations.

That is a measure that's going to become replicated again and again! I tend to possess heaps of modification layers every serving a color-correction which advertisements or remove from the coating before it. If things get somewhat tricky. .Sorry!

I initially thought I would desire this alien to become aquatic, and so I started down the trail of bright coloring to produce him fish just such as (apparently at any time after I decided to change directions somewhat ).

We are going to accomplish a little shading with a turquoise green tone.

I need this alien to possess a wrinkled feel to his head, rather than glue within a feeling will use my same procedure just like the former modification layers and go to town along with my Wacom tablet computer and stick to the contours of his head and begin to introduce some intriguing shapes and lines that'll start to shape the personality.

With this modification layer Im color adjusting to your rusty orange tone.

Continuing the simulating of the facial skin, I make a dark reddish color correction and get started painting squiggles all around the face area. You'd be amazed how effective that is when warmed on while inside the quantities that are ideal. I discovered this method called figure eights with the way of a make. (They do that kind of item to find skin blotchiness for good special effects makeups, and so I figured why not check it out for virtual blushes, huh?)

Fundamentally what I do will work in tight nit spots with varying amounts of pressure in my pill computer.

Eliminate a couple of other pesky body parts.

Only at that point, I started getting an adequate idea of the way I needed the final piece to check and that I chose people ears to go!

A great deal more color!

I inserted red into the slits of the head to produce them stand out more.

A little cardiovascular work. I included a few darkish veins.

Produce a glowing whitish, yellowish adjustment coating and then sew the mask to paint having a huge feathered brush. Do the shadow areas using a dark brownish color correction focusing into the shadow and light regions of the face being careful not to place shadows where they don't belong.

Another highlight color-correction that time around stained with a 10-pixel brush to essentially make textured lines around the base of the eyes and also at the borders of the lips.

Another dark color-correction to create a few colored stripes and wrinkles to the lips and forehead, creating shining lines into the face area.

Another accent color-correction to put twist specular hi-lights on the newly generated wrinkles.

Full color to a light green. I made the decision now I wasn't going to help keep him. Therefore, a muted coloration was generated by me and then also did a coating mask to sweep it.

I followed up this with a dark reddish color to generate darkly shaded sections of the head and put in comparison to the bone restructuring.

His face appeared too high now, and I am a sucker for older StarTrek type extraterrestrial beings, therefore that I thought I'd opt for a beautiful seen Trill-like pattern (if you watched STNG or even DS9 the mention is eloquent.)

I wanted to possess stains which were trimmed having a darker color and also maintain a lighter color at the middle. I Command/Control-clicked onto the layer mask for the stains color-correction loading its coating mask. I then produced a new adjustment layer which brightened the last one building an outside stroke to my stains and a green tone.

My idea once I began directing this alien to get a peculiar form of species was I would displace Tom's eyes. It looked interesting nonetheless it rendered him unrecognizable. And that I picked the intense look in his eyes which steered me to the image since the origin from the first location. I merely shifted to reddish to the color of the eyes.

Now I had been happy with the cryptic face, and I chose to proceed and produce a scene outside of it.

Therefore I spared my multi-layered color-correction alien and then piled all of my layers together and blended them that I might work somewhat faster (things get somewhat slow with this numerous layers!).

After consolidating the layers that I stored this for a new version and proceeded on into the upcoming few information.

With hardly any modification I watched this as a rubber mask that was lost that was perfect to place to the dining table facing the newly revealed alien.

Then I moved to Liquefy.

I flexed and warped the facial skin area into squish it and also make it seem like churns up rubberized putting onto a desk.

Then, also that I understand in this time sef mccullough, this could shock you...I inserted a modification layer!

I started using a darkish color and gently slit in certain huge wrinkles to signify the folds of the mask.

Then I emphasized those traces with another modification layer.

Then I went over the new springs using a sizable brushed dark color-correction to smooth out things a little.

Another glowing color correction to get things to appears shiny.

And a super-dark color correction to the shadow.

I packed most this up into friends, replicated it and then merged the copy bunch.

Then put the mask onto its side and left a dark gray solid to be a symbol of a desktop for it to lay.

Then following some more Google hunts for several Scleral lenses, some spirit gum glue, and a few sponges for application of the adhesive, I put all together using some vertical blurring to the flopped reflections onto the desk... Done!

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shooter-nobunagun · 6 years ago

Text

Orphanage of the Cosmos [Bloodborne AU]

//Covers lore and events from Upper Cathedral Ward through the Orphanage; usual spoiler warning.

“Tell me something; why are you really here?” The hunter acted as if he hadn’t heard the other man, only continuing to etch the rune patterns along his skin but Adam knew he was listening. “You Executioners only care about the Vilebloods, and you certainly don’t need our strength.” There was no response still, and Adam felt his eyelid twitch.

“What is it you’re really after?”

The pick was laid down with a soft “clink”, Tell methodically bandaging up the scars until the etchings healed and the rune’s power would take effect. “Adam Muirhead. That is a question I could ask you myself; Your strength is impressive and your hunts, even moreso. Why you would take such an interest in a newcomer I do not know, but it’s not just for her skills.”

Though Tell didn’t say anything explicitly, Adam felt his pulse increase. Just how obvious was their relationship becoming... Even though he was sure they were taking enough precautions around each other, and hell it wasn’t as if anything more happened after the kiss in the gardens (and there had been nobody else around, he’d made sure of it). Regardless, if Tell was subtly hinting he was aware of this bond between them, then anything was game.

“...This hunt, it’s different than the past ones, somehow...I know you can sense it,” he replied, though avidly looking away. “It ain’t my first, and I’m not stupid enough t’ turn away help for the sake of pride.”

“Different, you say...?” Tell’s voice carried only a hint of further knowledge, but it wasn’t enough for Adam to make a judgement of whether or not to push for more. “In any case, it’s none of my business; as you so rightly said, I am merely with your band for the time being because I find it an interesting change of pace. I do not need your strength to survive.”

“Then keep yer bloody nose outta this,” Adam muttered, wondering if Tell really was a threat or simply a hunter who’d been on too many hunts, and now merely found ways to keep himself amused during the never-ending nights. “Call us interesting if yeh want, just don’t stir up unnecessary trouble.”

Tell hummed a questioning note, before finally strolling over and eyeing Adam face-to-face. “Unnecessary trouble...I have a feeling it’s not me who’s at risk.” It was unnerving, both the double entendre and also how close Tell was standing to him, those dark eyes piercing his own.

It felt like forever before he blinked and stepped away, Adam letting out the breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. Shit; Tell was definitely onto them but unlike Mirza, it didn’t seem to be malice so much as curiosity, or perhaps even caution.

“Just remember, Muirhead; anything more than the occasional midnight visit will come back to bite you, sooner or later.” Adam nearly dropped the tool he’d been holding while embedding a blood gem into his gun. There was a chance Tell was simply poking fun in jest, but after all that, he had a feeling the Executioner knew.

About his true feelings for the huntress.

“Adam...? Is everything okay?” Speak of the devil. His head turned and there she was, eyes large and questioning as she handed him the turnscrew he’d dropped. “Did Tell do something?”

“...It’s nothing.” He took the tool and turned back to the workbench, Sio looking a bit hurt at his abrupt attitude but he couldn’t risk revealing anymore than they already had. If only he could find some way to be sure they could get some privacy, he could tell her... “Oy, Sio—”

But when he turned around again she’d already disappeared. ---- “Tha’s a mighty long face ye’ve got thar, lass. Sumthin’ the matter?” The surgeon gave her a friendly pat on the head but Sio’s expression remained unchanged, only focused on tuning her blunderbuss. “Och, somethin’s got yur goat; did that Muirhead do sumthin’ again?”

Sio barked out a laugh. “Ha! More like not do anything...” she muttered, hands going through the motions of oiling the locks and switches along the gun’s shaft. “Even now, I feel like he’s so hard to get a read on...one minute he’s being all nice, the next he ignores me like I’m a brat,” she growled, tossing the dirty rag into the supply trunk. “If you’re just using me for your own pleasures, then why the hell did you say all that in the gardens...”

Hunter raised an eyebrow at the insinuations Sio’s words carried, but kept it to himself. “Well, tha’s how he’s always been, fer as long as I’ve known ‘im. Hell, I’d say he’s actually gotten a lot better, since we’ve started traveling wit’ ye. Take it easy lass, it’ll take ‘im some time t’ get used to...uh, well,” Hunter cast her a sheepish glance, not sure if he should reveal the fact he already knew about their relationship. “A-Anywho, I’m sure he’s got his reasons; ‘f there’s one thing I can assure you, it’s that he isnae th’ type of man t’ act carelessly. Well, least I dinnae think so...”

“Well, if you say so...” Sio grumbled, not entirely convinced. Then again, what did she know about love and relationships? This was her first one, and with a veteran hunter from Yharnam, to boot. Maybe displays of affection were rare among their kind? Or maybe she was thinking too far in him giving her anything beyond the occasional compliment or even kiss. ‘Seriously Sio, you couldn’t have fallen for a more normal guy?’

A tap on her shoulder nearly sent her jumping out of her skin again, but to her relief she managed to control it—even moreso after she realized who it was that wanted her attention. “Oh! Uh, William Tell...right? Is there...something you need?”

“I was discussing the state of things with Vidocq earlier; he mentioned you and Muirhead were able to communicate with a Great One—Rom?”

A familiar shiver crawled down her spine at the mention of that topic. Surely Tell wasn’t suspicious as well...she hadn’t sensed anything foreboding from him, but he could very well have an ulterior motive, like so many of their fellow hunters.

“U-Uh, y, yeah...I-I mean, I wouldn’t really call it...communicating, but more like...” She twisted a lock of her hair nervously, wonder how wise it was to reveal everything. On one hand, if Tell already spoke to Vidocq then there wasn’t a point in hiding it. But on the other...who knew what he wanted this information for. “Um—can, can I ask...why are you interested in this anyway? It’s not like Rom’s around anymore...and to be honest, I’m not sure what more I can tell you that Vidocq already hasn’t; if anything, he could probably tell you more, considering his research...”

To her surprise Tell shook his head. “Actually, I am asking because I know someone who might be helpful in figuring this out.” She stared at him blankly, not sure what to make of this. “Sio Ogura, are you interested in learning more about why you are able to hear those thoughts? With creatures beyond any imagining, and what they mean?”

“H-Huh?” Now she was really confused. “W, Wait, what do you mean...Tell, do you know what a Great One is? Can you also hear their voices?”

“...Not really. Well, I suspect not as well as you can. However, an acquaintance of mine recently wrote to me about a great discovery that may shed more light on this...phenomenon. He is an elite member of the Healing Church; the Choir, if you’ve heard of them.”

Sio shook her head slowly, still trying to grasp everything. “O-Oh, I...see.” Though she wasn’t truly interested in figuring out a mystical entity that was probably best left alone, a part of her curiosity couldn’t help but be piqued. Perhaps this would yield a way to break that strange connection somehow, or at least explain it. The blood sickness was bad enough, she didn’t want another potentially fatal condition to deal with. Besides, these Great Ones and the beasts they fought had to be connected somehow...right? Though Sio didn’t know how exactly, instinct told her they co-existed for a reason. “Where is this friend of yours?”

Tell was about to speak when another voice cut in. “Oy, what’re you two doing...” The look Adam was casting him could only be described as daggers, but the other hunter didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Ah, Muirhead. Nothing much, was merely asking Miss Ogura if she would be interested in heading to the Orphanage at the top of the Upper Cathedral Ward.”

“An orphanage? Whatever for...” Adam’s eyes narrowed at that comment. He’d never heard of anything at the top of the Cathedral...though it was true, there were rumors of a locked gate leading to a secret place where only the most skilled and wise hunters were able to venture. “This isn’t the time to be taking any grand detours—”

“—You are not interested in why you could hear her? Rom, the Great One?” Adam tensed at the mention of that battle. “From what I’ve learned during my travels, not every hunter hears them, you know. The Great Ones...and to be able to understand more than just feelings and images...”

“...What are you insinuating?” A cold sweat ran down his spine. “I—yeh, sure, it would be nice to know, but I don’t think it’s anymore important than finishing the hunt—”

“—Is it?” Both Adam and Sio could only stare at Tell, unsure of what to do. “You have never wondered, how these beasts came to be in the first place, why this night continues so?” He was walking in circles around them, pose non-threatening as usual but Adam slowly gripped the handle of his pistol underneath his coat.

“The Orphanage. At the very top of Upper Cathedral Ward." He held up an elaborate, rusty key. “I will see you at the headstones if you wish to accompany me, and seek the truth.”

And then Tell left, coattails swirling behind as the girl collapsed on her knees while he continued staring, and wondering.

“Oh man...that was intense,” Sio shuddered, slowly picking herself back up. “What the heck was all that...”

“I don’t know; this Tell figure, I don’t get what he’s doing...bloody hard to figure out,” Adam muttered. “Sio, you alright? He didn’t do or say anything, did he?”

“N-No, it was kinda the same as he told you...he asked, if I wanted to know why I, I can hear those...things,” she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to erase those horrible memories. “I-I mean, I know you’re right and we don’t have much time, b-but I can’t help but wonder...what if he has a point? He said he has a friend or something there...a part of the Choir?”

A member of the Healing Church? Adam raised an eyebrow, but didn’t dismiss Sio’s words. The Church was definitely not his favorite group of people, but at least they were better than the Vilebloods. Marginally. “It’s true, I’d rather not take anymore unnecessary detours...but I am curious as well. And especially for you...”

Sio blushed with embarrassment and guilt. “A-Ah, I’m sorry—seriously, it’s not like Tell is forcing me to go, he just asked; honestly, we probably should just get on with the hunt—”

She stilled as he leaned over her, a somber expression on his face. “If you really want to Sio, then it’s your right and your choice. You don’t need my approval for everything; least of all something that so deeply affects you.” There it was again, this weird change in attitude he only showed sporadically. Still Sio couldn’t tell if really cared about her, or just put on a front to make her feel better.

“Erm, yeah sure...by the way, this isn’t related to anything, but...what’s with you?” She gave him a pointed stare. “I don’t want you to coddle me or anything, but I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t just dismiss me at the drop of a hat.”

Adam winced internally at that stare. Of course, Sio never let anything slip her by, not even when he brusquely brushed her off. “Ah, look, about that earlier...I apologise, I didn’t mean to. It’s just...” He glanced around, before nodding his head towards the more secluded part of the woods just beyond the gate. “There’s a reason I don’t want others t’ catch on about...us. Anymore than they already are.”

“O-Oh...makes sense.” Suddenly she felt guilty, thinking back to all the possible moments she might’ve let slip that they were involved now as more than just allies. “Sorry...you’re right, I should be more careful myself...I’m pretty sure Hunter’s already put two-and-two together by now—”

“—Hunter we can trust, and yeh, like you said he...pretty much already figured it out,” Adam muttered bashfully. “I’m talkin’ more about the others. Not just folks like Tell...but also Geronimo...and Mirza.” His eyes narrowed at the thought of those two. More than once already, they’d each hinted at how Sio was special somehow, not just as a hunter but to him, personally. “Especially those two; hate to admit it, but I’m startin’ to regret keeping them around...”

Sio felt a shiver of fear at Adam’s words. Just from working together with them, she’d learned the two were not to be trifled with; things were uneasy enough with her blood sickness, but if Adam was starting to become concerned, then there could only be consequences down the road if they weren’t careful. To be sure, Geronimo was always polite towards her, but her intentions towards infected hunters were painfully clear. And Mahesh Mirza...

“U-Uhm, Adam?” He gave her a curious look, but didn’t interrupt. “A, About Mirza...I, I don’t know, if this means anything--ah hell, maybe I was just imaging it—”

“—What is it Sio? Did he try anything with you?” She was surprised by how alarmed Adam seemed at the mere mention of the man, his expression changing and quickly he strode over to her. “What’s wrong?”

“U-Um, well...it’s just, you know how I was sleeping...in your lap, right after we came back from Cainhurst Castle, right?” A nod. “W, Well, this was right when I woke up, b-before you were awake...I, I noticed him just...staring at me...” Adam’s hand gently laid itself on her shoulder, the weight comforting her even as Sio felt her stomach twist at the memory. “I...I-I mean, I didn’t see him directly...it was only because, of the angle and where I was lying...I could see his face in the Stakedriver’s reflection...I-I don’t know if he could see back at me, o-or what, but...”

His grip on her shoulder tightened slightly but Adam didn’t say a word. So, his suspicions were correct...Mirza was indeed after the huntress, and not just on a flirtatious level. ‘This must have something to do with her blood sickness...and perhaps the ability to hear the Great Ones...’

“A, Adam... I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this earlier, but...” He shook his head, gently patting her on the back as she tried not to cry. “I, I was just so shocked by it, a-and then we were getting ready to all go to Yahar’gul, I-I didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble at a time like that...!”

“It’s all right Sio; I understand.” Adam sighed heavily before sitting down next to her. “Honestly, it’s my fault; I should’ve kept a closer eye on ‘im myself...and also not made it seem like things would be fine as long as I was around.” He should’ve known Mirza would find a way to get what he wanted, even with him and Hunter practically standing guard around Sio. “Thanks for telling me that, Ogura. And next time, trust your instincts. Hell, I’d trust yours more than I’d trust mine at this point...”

Sio nodded, burrowing her head slightly against his arm and was rewarded with a small embrace. “Thanks, Adam...but I’m just curious; how come you and Hunter always talk about Mirza like he’s some sort of...well, vagabond? Yet he’s part of our group?”

“Oh boy...now that’s a story.” Rubbing his temples, Adam wondered how much he should tell or where to even begin. “I guess the best way t’ put it is, he’s a bit of an...enigma. Born into a rich family, stable life and all that—then for some reason he throws it all away and goes about acting like a hunter and ends up gettin’ disowned by his parents...guess he’s got some skills, but it’s just...” Adam gave an aggravated sigh as he leaned back against the stone pillar. “It’s just, something about him doesn’t add up; he claims he just wants to ‘see the glory’ of being a hunter, and yeh he ain’t half-bad on the field, but still...he’s hiding something, that much I can sense. There’s just something about his actions and intentions that don’t make sense. He’s a hunter, but not for the reasons he says... And that’s not even counting his womanising behaviour. So yeh, tha’s why me an’ Hunter are wary of him...but I figured, it was better than lettin’ him wander away where I can’t keep an eye on him.”

“I see...” Sio contemplated Adam’s words with her own musings. Her suspicions weren’t far off either, the sense that Mirza was definitely after something, yet he acted with just enough charm that made it difficult for them to pin any sort of accusations of underhanded doings. ‘The type of person who knows how to get what they want, how to play the game without getting caught...’ The man reminded her of a snake, lying patiently in wait until the prey was close enough for a single, deadly strike. “In any case, I’ll be sure to watch myself around him...”

Adam nodded in agreement. “Yeh, I’ll mention to Hunter as well tha’ Mirza’s likely to try something if he thinks he can get away with it...hopefully two people might dissuade him from doing anything stupid...”

“Have you worked together with him in the past before? With Mirza?”

“Hmm? Well...wouldn’t exactly call it working together. After you’ve been in this business for a while, you tend to know who’s around and who’s likely to not get killed. We’ve teamed up once or twice to take on some particularly nasty beasts but that’s about it—went our separate ways pretty quickly afterwards, no need to stick around.” Adam shrugged. “Back then, my policy was t’ mind my own business, even if those I worked with weren’t exactly...trustworthy.”

The huntress hugged her knees and thought about Mirza’s behavior, and now Tell’s mysterious words. “So...do you, wanna go to the Orphanage, then? With Tell? I-I mean, I...personally, I kind of want to...if only I can finally understand why... Plus, I feel he at least has more morals than Mirza.”

Adam stood up at her words, lending a hand to the smaller girl. “Hell, why not. Hopefully won’t be a long detour...and I am kind of curious myself. Plus, there’s no way in hell I’m lettin’ ya go by yerself, ‘specially now,” he gave her a slightly roguish grin to which Sio blushed, “Tell himself asked me if I was curious as well...which makes me think this phenomenon concerns more than just you.”

The two strode in a comfortable silence to the headstones where the stoic Executioner awaited, eyebrow slightly raised but otherwise un-surprised to see them. The trio knelt at the headstones as the fog encompassed them, unaware of a fourth who then knelt down right behind them. ----- “This...can’t really be an orphanage...can it?” The foreboding atmosphere, thick fog and onerous shrieks that greeted them the second they arrived...and that wasn’t even counting the steps leading into the Upper Cathedral Ward, which were littered with countless grotesque, larval-like creatures that tried to spit acid on them with every step. “Ouch—damn this acid—!” The pain in her foot burned, but even worse was the familiar feeling of losing herself, her control slipping away and giving in to that frenzied bloodlust... Growling low in her throat, she transformed the Rifle Spear, charging it up towards those stupid larvae—

“Oy Sio, careful! Here, drink this,” and before Sio could push him away a dark, pungent liquid pushed past her lips, the girl swallowing clumsily and coughing as she choked on the thick sedative. “There...feeling all right now? Have some water as well.”

“Ugh...ooh, what the...” Still coughing, Sio wiped her bloody mouth with her sleeve, flinching as she noticed the crimson color. “What th—wh, what did you just give me?”

“A sedative; concocted at Byrgenwerth, it helps calms those whose nerves are easily frayed...such as yourself, Miss Ogura.” She turned to the voice of William Tell, who was picking off the creatures with several molotovs. “I noticed it when you were fighting in Cainhurst, and again in Yahar’gul...but you have an affliction towards frenzy...do you not?”

Sio could only nod helplessly, upset and frightened this hunter had figured her out so easily. Not just that...but what he could do with such knowledge... Even with Hunter and Adam’s support, it wouldn’t be wise to strain things anymore within the group. “Y, Yeah...I guess it’s pretty obvious by now...but, wait a minute, you called it frenzy, and this...sedative, you knew...this place, the Choir...” Tell was looking at her with an almost amused gaze, as if he enjoyed watching the huntress putting the pieces together at last. “You...know about this condition. And it’s related to the Great Ones...and how I can hear them...isn’t it?”

As she finished her hypothesis Sio knew she was correct, judging from the rare smile Tell was giving her. “Again, you astound me with your insight and knowledge, young huntress. You are correct; the reason you tend to go into a frenzy, is because your mind is particularly vulnerable to the whisperings of those Great Ones...so whenever you come in contact with them or one of their kin, you are at risk to lose your mind to whatever madness they try to tell you.”

“B-But then, that means...a-are you saying I’ll eventually go insane? And why the hell are they trying to talk to me?” Sio felt herself go numb with dread, wondering how much her sanity was already gone.

“That’s what the sedative is for. It will help to counteract and strengthen your mind against such probings,” Tell answered, “though as with any form of blood ministration it should be used sparingly, so it’s best to avoid coming in too-close contact with any of them. As for what and why...well, perhaps my colleague will be able to answer it better than any of my own delusions.”

Sio nodded mutely, still distraught over her own realizations and the fact that she’d just swallowed an entire bottle of human blood. As if having to inject blood vials wasn’t bad enough...but if she wanted to protect herself from any more madness, what choice did she have?

“This place...it’s so dependent on blood—no, they’re obsessed,” she muttered to herself as they proceeded inside the dilapidated hall. Adam and Tell took the lead as they scouted ahead cautiously, while Sio waited until a signal for her to either charge forward or else stay back as they handled the numerous brain suckers, werewolves and other horrors present inside the cathedral. A terrible shriek and shattering of broken glass startled her out of her thoughts, as a pair of monstrous werewolves crashed through the thin frame and into the crowded corridor where she waited. Shaking off the glass, she didn’t even wait for the two men to catch up before her Rifle Spear pierced deep into one of them, shooting the second to fend it off while she finished the first. The floor was slick with blood and entrails by the time Adam and Tell returned from dealing with the third, Sio already wiping up her weapons while two massive corpses lay at her feet. Though he didn’t say anything, Tell gave her an even glance, before the three of them continued up through the center of the mansion.

Even as a group of three, and her increased experience, still Sio felt the constant dread of fear, hanging just out of reach to prevent it from overwhelming her completely, yet enough unease remained to keep her pulse high and all senses hyper-focused for any potential threat. Despite its innocuous name, Upper Cathedral Ward was anything but mundane; beyond the numerous threats of werewolves and brainsuckers was the building itself, rotting and dark with stairs that creaked ominously and evidence of hideous experiments strewn about.

As they reached the top Sio’s eyes slid over to a curious statue, posed with arms outstretched in peculiar manner. If it weren’t for the gravity of the situation, she might’ve even laughed. Still, when Adam and Tell were taking a breather, Sio couldn’t help but raise her arms as well, mimicking the strange pose and then it seemed as if she’d...gained something, although nothing physical happened.

“That’s an interesting gesture you’re doing, Ogura.” She yelped in embarrassment as the two men came rounding the corner, Tell raising an eyebrow and Adam giving her just the slightest of winks, as she mumbled something about ‘just stretching’, before following the two in an awkward silence. When would she be able to act like a real, grown-up hunter instead of a bumbling newbie?

The anxiety eased slightly as they finally reached the tall doors, which Tell handily opened with the key. The actual orphanage didn’t seem to be much better, though the outside air was an improvement compared to the stale and fetid damp that stuck to her nostrils no matter how much she breathed. They were now in some sort of garden, filled with large flowers she didn’t recognize that faintly glowed whenever she approached them.

“What are these flowers? I’ve never seen them before...” She was tempted to reach out and touch one, their soft light lulling her into a bit of a trance-like state.

“Lumenflowers; for some reason, they’re quite common in this area. To the best of my knowledge they’re not dangerous, but one does wonder why they glow like that...”

Sio quickly withdrew her fingers after that comment. Better to be safe than sorry, especially in a place like this. Still, the garden was much needed after fighting the dark for so long; Sio didn’t even notice how tight her grip was until they paused for a break, having to pry her fingers from the dirty bandages that wrapped around the Rifle Spear’s shaft.

“Oy, how’re you holdin’ up?” It took every fiber of her being to not jump suddenly as his voiced pierced her ear, even as she welcomed his presence. “A bit jumpy, huh...don’t blame yeh; been gettin’ weird vibes this entire time...and it’s not just the unwelcome company.” Adam gave a slight glance around the area. “I just hope this friend we’re supposedly meeting ain’t gonna be another lunatic we need to worry abou...” His voice trailed off and Sio felt a sudden quiver of unease run through her, the very air itself becoming charged with a kind of energy that set all the hairs on her neck straight up.

“Wh-what’s, what’s going on...there’s, something...”

“...It seems we’ve company to deal with first, before meeting up with Nostradamus...wonderful.” Sio barely caught the name of their contact before strange, little blue pygmys streamed into the room, their bulbous heads aglow with an ominous light as they ran on spindly little legs that somehow did not snap under their own weight. They did not growl like the usual monsters, only gibberish as they ran around the hunters, the circle growing increasingly tight as Sio felt the suffocating frenzy building up again...ignoring her own disgust, she forced another bottle of sedative down, resisting the urge to heave. No matter how repulsive she found the blood to be, there was no denying it did help to keep her calm, to focus on the task at hand instead of blindly charging forward.

“What the hell are these things?” Adam’s Stakedriver was working full-time in knocking out the seemingly endless wave. “They’re not beasts, are they?”

“No; from what I’ve gathered, and Nostradamus’ notes, these creatures were once human, but did not turn into beasts. Rather, they’re something else entirely...” Tell’s arrows fired effortlessly into the distance, picking off the stumbling blue blobs one-by-one. “Tch...there’s no end to these things...”

“There must be a leader of some sorts...I’m sure if we can find and take it out, the underlings will lose their direction and be easy enough to pick off.” Sio tried to scan the creatures to discern which one could be different, but they all looked the same. But their behavior...her eyes narrowed as she noticed a particular creature standing around, not running or attacking. ‘Wait a minute, why’s that one not doing anything...? Maybe...!’ Without another word she shoved herself through the fray, ignoring the bumbling blue hands that tried to hold her back and their arcane magic that left painful burns through her clothes. Those could be healed up, but not if they couldn’t stem the flow...

“Tell! Adam! I think I’ve got it!” The two men turned towards her shouts, as Sio’s spear sank into the blue creature. “Over here!” Although this particular creature hadn’t been attacking, now that she was effectively ripping it to shreds, it too started to become hostile. The more she struck, the larger it seemed to grow; until suddenly there was a burst of light and the creature instantly swelled in size, now with additional tentacles sprouting from its head. “Uh oh!”

“Sio!” Adam tackled the girl down just in time before both of them got hit with an arcane blast. “You hurt? Damn, th’ thing’s huge now!”

“True, but at least we finally have a target!” Her face was pulled back in a wide-eyed grin, Adam feeling a little uneasy about her battle lust but at least she seemed to be resisting their frenzy. “Come on, let’s take it out!” And without even waiting for a response she tore back into the alien, firing a shot to disable the tentacles as she tore out its guts in another visceral attack as Adam attacked its flank.

With their combined efforts and Tell’s arrows, soon enough the creature toppled over, the smaller underlings vanishing in an instant and all was silent in the gardens again. Adam took a quick glance over at Sio, who was panting with exhaustion but otherwise seemed none worse for wear. The dangerous grin she wore during battle had faded, replaced with a tired grimace. “Oy, you all right? Here, we should patch up your burns...”

“Oh, it’s not a big deal—yeeoow!” Sio couldn’t help but jump from the pain as Adam swabbed her burned skin with an antiseptic, all the while giving her a look. “O-Okay, maybe I should take care of these...ow, don’t press so hard!” She winced as he went over a particularly deep wound.

“Sorry, my bad...” He was no Hunter when it came to the gentle dexterity needed to not unintentionally hurt patients, but sometimes the basics had to be enough. “Apologies; this better now?”

“Y-Yeah...thanks.” He nodded and then stood up, using his body as a curtain to give her some privacy while she quickly changed into a spare shirt, the breeze chilling against her bare skin.

“So what, is this friend of yours ever goin’ to show his face? Or was this all for nothing?” Adam eyed Tell with a wary glance as the archer came trotting up. “Unless there’s more...”

Adam didn’t even finish his sentence before they all heard the slow clap, clap, clap, footsteps now approaching the trio from seemingly nowhere. He was a young man, with orange-red hair and slightly shorter in stature compared to Tell, dressed in the classic uniform of The Choir: billowing white robes, long black glove and their signature blindfold cap, signaling their desire to commune with the heavens and their debt to Master Willem.

“My, my...you did not inform me you were bringing guests, dear friend? Let’s see...two additional hunters, one male and one female...one who is on the verge of succumbing to the blood sickness, and both...ah, I understand now, Tell. I understand all too well, why it is they came with you...”

“Muirhead, Ogura. My contact from The Choir, Michel de Nostradamus.” Tell nodded towards the man, who bowed slightly in return. “Do not be afraid; I can promise he does not mean any harm towards you.”

Sio found his words hard to believe, instead shrinking back towards Adam who subtly wound a hand around her shoulder in a protective manner. Despite the blindfold, Nostradamus had identified them with an astonishing degree of accuracy; not only who they were, but her affliction, which she didn’t even think Tell knew.

“Oh dear, perhaps I’ve frightened them?” Nostradamus gave a tinkling laugh. “Come come, there’s no need to stand around like strangers. Please, come this way, and I shall explain everything. He continued beckoning them towards the other building, able to navigate the hallways as if he didn’t have a blindfold at all.

Part of her wanted to just forget about this wild goose chase and return to the dream, but another part was burning with curiosity. That, and the fact they’d already fought their way through this entire Cathedral and then the gardens, meant they might as well go through with whatever secrets this Nostradamus held. There was an encouraging pat on her shoulder and she turned to see Adam giving her a small smile, Sio nodding silently as both of them followed the other two inside.

#documentation #hunt or be hunted #//wow i am in update mode #//kind of #//more like a bunch of chapters were hanging for a long time until finally figured out how to continue #//my bad #//feels bad for taking so long...i know folks were waiting on this one

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