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dolce-peach · 2 years ago

Text

all i need

pairing: steve rogers x reader

warnings: angst, action, fighting

a/n: soooo i haven't written for steve in a while 🥺 this was originally gonna be an angsty mess BUT your girl is absolutely touch starved sooooooooooooo in the midst of finishing another request, i had this other idea pop up and just ran with it -- hope yall enjoy 🥰 also happy new year!!

permanent taglist: @kaitlynmalikisnotonfire @just-another-loki-fangirl

** TO MAKE A REQUEST -- please check the status in my bio **

masterlist

----

The wound wasn't as dilapidating as you thought it would be, but it was still a pain in the ass.

You gritted your teeth as you stumbled back, your knees nearly giving way. You should’ve known better. Perhaps it was your confidence, or rather ignorance of the enemy. When you finally noticed Peter’s worried-sick expression as he caught you before you fell, you swallowed hard, mustering a smile.

“Cap, Y/N’s been hit!” he nearly screamed into the radio. “Please send backup! Anything!”

You shook your head as Peter pressed his gloved hands on your wound. The strength of his pressure practically knocked the wind out of you. “It’s fine. Just a flesh wound.”

“On my way. Are there any more soldiers in the area?”

“No, sir!” Peter exclaimed, the eyes on his mask squinting as his head darted around. “Holy cow, that’s a lot of blood -- please hurry!”

You placed your hand on his before giving his hand a squeeze. “Calm down, Peter,” you hissed through the pain. “I'm not gonna die, but I might have a few cracked ribs from you putting too much damn pressure.”

His eye pieces expanded widely. His hands fell away. “Oh, uh, sorry…agh!” His hands darted back to their position as you had more blood pool and drip through your suit.

“You’re doing great,” you said patiently.

Footsteps approached quickly, stopping at the entrance of the lab.

“Oh my God,” Steve breathed as he knelt quickly, taking in the situation. He eventually secured his shield over his shoulders. “Stark, evac, now.”

His face was stone as he easily lifted you in his arms. “Move out, Queens.”

“Yes, sir,” Peter answered with a squeak, following closely behind.

You couldn’t see much as your vision was beginning to fade, so you leaned your head against Steve’s chest. When your eyes fluttered closed to catch your breath, he gently shook you.

“Eyes open.”

You groaned. “One more minute.”

His eyes were fixed up ahead at the opening Quinjet. “Nat, we need the trauma kit,” he told her as she came rushing out. He put his finger to his ear. “Stark, we have to go.”

“Jesus, what were you hit with?” Natasha muttered as she helped set you down on the floor of the jet.

You winced as she injected you with painkillers. “A bullet, I think.”

“You think?” Steve shot, his voice low.

Even if you could answer him, you decided not to. You closed your eyes, trying to drown out the dull throbbing that covered your entire stomach. Truth be told, you actually couldn’t really remember what happened. It was all so fast. One moment you were using your momentum to throw someone to the ground, the next you pushed Peter out of the way just as some goon pulled the trigger.

Steve opened his mouth to say more when Natasha shot him a look. Her attention turned back towards you. “Well, I don’t think it hit any of your vital organs,” she said. “You’re bleeding pretty badly, though.”

“What a miracle,” you said dryly.

Before long, the Quinjet was up in the air. The ride back to the compound was pretty turbulent, or maybe that was just the pain talking. It was damn near impossible to take a nap, mostly because Natasha kept changing your bandages.

You hissed through your teeth in pain.

Peter’s eyes were wide as he sat across from you. Thoughts zoomed behind his eyes, and they weren’t going to slow down any time soon.

”Peter,” you called.

He was by your side in less than a second. ”Y-yeah?”

”You okay?”

The poor boy had tears threatening to fall as he nodded vigorously. ”Yeah, I’m okay.”

You pursed your lips into a smile. ”Good.” You sighed. ”I’m not going to die, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

”Oh, no, I was just concerned, that’s all, I mean…” he trailed off before looking down. ”I’m gonna stop talking now.”

You immediately regretted laughing as more blood soaked through. ”Ah, shit…” you groaned. ”You know, it’s not your fault, kid.”

Peter wiped his eyes with his gloved hands. ”Okay…”

Unbeknownst to you, Steve sat in the corner. His blue eyes watched you carefully, as if you were going to disappear or breathe your last. They were filled with guilt with the fact that if he went with you instead, maybe you wouldn’t be bleeding out on the jet floor.

But something else stirred, a certain frustration. You weren’t always the most careful. Even in something as trivial as board games on game night, you were always the first one to sacrifice yourself, and that quality was something Steve always feared. It was like looking in a mirror, into the eyes of someone who wouldn’t hesitate laying their life on the line.

You were a loose cannon.

—

“What the hell were you thinking?” Steve shot as you both stormed into the infirmary.

The rest of the group decided to congregate in the lab just outside, though you noticed they kept their distance. It wasn’t the first time you and Steve were arguing, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but there was something about his aura that seemed different.

He was comfortable with you, and that was always a good thing, but when it came down to keeping your relationship as professional as possible is where things were grey.

“I stepped in because Peter needed backup. That was my job.” You didn't dare catch his eye as you set your gear down on the long table. You quickly got some gauze and put pressure on your wound. “I did what I needed to do. End of story.”

“Your job was to fly recon and report back, not get tangled up in that mess and nearly get yourself killed.”

You were snapping. “So I should’ve just left Peter there to die? He’s a kid!”

“He knew the risks, and so should you,” Steve said coldly.

You couldn’t believe your ears. “Do you hear yourself right now?”

You could almost see his pupils constrict dangerously.

“The mission was —“

“Never in jeopardy,” you finished with clear diction. You approached him slowly, glaring up at him. “And I managed to save both the kid and the hostages.”

“You’re missing the point,” he said, his voice low. “You could’ve died out there.”

“No, you’re missing the point. It’s fine by me if everyone comes home but me. That’s the sacrifice I’ve always been willing to make. I thought you understood that better than anyone.”

He slammed the counter with a fist, shattering the plastic of the tray holding surgical instruments you had yet to use. They fell clanging to the floor. Your eyes widened with a fear you never knew you could have around him.

He removed his hand from the table with a crunch and walked out without another word.

“Uh, Miss Y/N, ma’am?” Peter tentatively chimed in at the door. “A-are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” you told him with a pursed smile. “Good work today, Peter. C-could you send Bruce in? I might need help stitching this up.”

He gave you a sweet smile before bounding down the hall to get said doctor. You wanted to follow him, but your feet were glued there at the table. If you ripped yourself away, you would’ve collapsed with the way your knees were shaking.

Instead, tears began falling on their own. You gasped for air as a sob wretched its way out of your throat. Fearing someone might hear, you clasped your hand over your mouth, though your body still shook from your cries.

Fear was the one thing keeping you from running after Steve to make this right.

—

You kept yourself sequestered in your room for the remainder of the day, emerging only for dinner before going back again. You hid yourself under your blankets, trying to sleep, but the pain kept you tossing and turning.

Steve was nowhere to be found. Part of you was relieved, but the other part of you was insanely worried. Even though he was always the level-headed one, you hoped he wasn’t doing anything too rash.

As you turned in your bed, you sighed as you sat up, shaking your head. This wasn’t going to get better without you being the one to apologize, or at least say something to salvage your relationship as teammates, if not for the sake of your friendship.

You started for the door to your room, only to open it to find Steve standing there.

He mirrored your shocked expression, his ocean eyes holding waves of emotions — relief that he found you, remorse for what he did, anger that you were alone with the tracks of your tears paved into your cheeks. He was afraid to touch you, to make any sudden movement that would send you back into your cave.

Your heart was in your throat as you managed to squeak out his name. “Steve…”

It was more than enough permission for him to take a cautious step closer.

“I…” The words were right there.

With his hand slowly raised, his rough thumb grazed your cheek. You found yourself sighing into his touch, closing your eyes as you came home.

He silently took you in, studying you for a moment as he moved closer. You could tell he didn’t want to make a wrong move. It honestly scared you to see him so unsure.

“I’m sorry.”

You shook your head, your eyes shooting open. “No, I shouldn’t have —“

“No no, sweetheart, it was my fault,” he murmured again. “You must’ve been scared.”

“I’m fine,” you reassured him. It was a small white lie, but it didn’t matter, because at that moment, with him there, you were fine.

He gave you a small smile before it faded, his thick brows furrowing. “I shouldn’t have raised my voice like that,” he said. “I shouldn’t have left you alone. It wasn’t your fault. I was just scared.”

Guilt made you heavier as you thought of the torment he probably put himself through the entire day. You took his face in your hands, your fingers trailing over his jaw and neck. “I only did what I did because I knew in my heart that I needed to save Peter. I wasn’t even thinking of the consequences. I just knew I would never forgive myself if I stood by and did nothing.”

“I know,” he said softly with a small nod. “I know.”

You knew he knew.

The tension was still suffocating.

“Would you believe me if I said I had a whole speech planned out and everything?” he tried joking.

When you cracked a smile, relief washed over his expression.

“But when I saw you, all of it went out the window,” he finished, searching your eyes. “All I needed was to see you. That’s it.”

“Me too,” you whispered.

He leaned down, his lips hovering over yours, your foreheads brushing against each other. You closed his eyes as his begged for permission. You answered by closing the gap. For a few moments you were lost in his taste and how full his lips were. He held you so gently, so carefully as his hands pulled your waist closer to his hips.

His skin felt so hot, and you could feel it through his lips, your arms brushing against each other, and his chest that he cocooned you in. He tried to show you that he could be your home, that he was your home. Your arms trailed from his chest to wrap around his neck as you raised yourself on your tiptoes.

You wanted him to hold you forever, to keep you locked away in his embrace. You wanted him to whisper sweet nothings in your ear the entire night. You wanted him to kiss you and praise you and make you new.

You desperately needed him to revive you, and you had a feeling that he knew it too.

The kiss was broken when he lifted you, your legs locking themselves around his waist. You quickly caught your breath, gazing down at him.

He was looking at you like you were his world, and his eyes were the universe you lived in.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

“Steve.” A guilty part of you loved it when he overthought, but now wasn’t the time to tease. “I always love it when you kiss me, and that’s not gonna change.”

It was always funny whenever he grew bashful. A guy his size and reputation — it was almost comical. His broad shoulders caved in a bit, and he nervously bit his lips before pursing them into a half-smile.

There were more things you wanted to say, but you didn’t. Instead your brain succumbed to the overwhelming thought of kissing him again.

“Hold me,” you gave the soft command before you gave in.

And that he did.

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quillandink333 · 10 months ago

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꓄ꋪꍏꌚꀍꎇꀤꋪꏂ

As the red shadows retreated and the lights in the basement flickered back on, Yoongi had taken the shell-shocked Emily into his arms, holding her tight and letting his shoulder shield her eyes. “That’s my girl,” he praised, his tone low and loving and utterly nonchalant. “I’m so proud of you.”

After a long, heavy moment of silent reflection, she mumbled, “For what?”

“What else, dummy? For seeing this through with me. For getting rid of our miserable fucking excuses for parents.” He looked down at her with nothing but an indecipherable grin before pressing a silent kiss to the crown of her head. “You did great.”

Her first instinct was to feel flattered, to accept his sweet nothings without question, but then something about what he’d just said clashed in her head with something else she remembered him saying seven years ago on a night just like this one, in the aftermath of her very first ritual. “But…I didn’t do anything, right? I mean, technically it was the demon who…”

His smile was only accompanied by a warm chuckle as he played with strands of her hair. “Yes, you’re right, I’m sorry,” he dismissively said, and to her guilty conscience it almost sounded like sarcasm. “You’ve done nothing wrong at all, have you? My innocent little butterfly.”

Word Count: 2.1k

And yet, there was something the demon had whispered to her during the rite that she couldn’t get out from under her skin. Something about ‘her volitionless puppet over there’ and how she would no doubt go crying to him ‘like a snivelling hypocrite’ after it was all said and done. The sickening sigil he bore on the back of his neck… She was the only human alive who knew about it; he couldn’t see it even when she tried to show him. Wondering in vain about what it could possibly represent had kept her awake at night for the past seven years—it got so bad at one point that she’d started to wonder if it was all just a delusion��but now her main theory had finally been confirmed thanks to the passing jab from her little friend on the other side.

Her next absence seizure was the only thing saving her from spending the rest of her life knowing she’d cursed her brother to be her scapegoat, acting not by free will but by her own deepest, darkest, most shunned desires so that she would never have to dirty her own hands.

“Alright, let’s get these good-for-nothing sacks of flesh filleted and up to the kitchen, yeah?” he said, squeezing her shoulder once before setting to work untying the bleeding bodies from the support post in the middle of the summoning circle.

“We’re eating them?” she inferred while reluctantly following his lead.

“Aren’t we?”

As she yanked their mom free of her candy-coloured restraints, she felt something. It was the slow, shallow expanding and collapsing of her lungs. She and their dad were still breathing.

Emily froze. This changed everything—everything she thought she had done and everything she feared she’d grown capable of. It might’ve relieved some of the weight of her own sins, but it also meant that the sins of her beloved weighed all the heavier. Every ritual she’d held, every sacrifice she’d made, he’d always been the one to dispatch what remained after the souls had been taken.

“Uh… Yeah…”

Thankfully her Oppa didn’t seem to give himself the chance to realise what she just had, wasting no time getting the butchering process underway. Snuffing out the flames of their parents’ lives once and for all.

He hid it well, but in reality Yoongi indeed had noticed the vital signs of life as well before taking his knife to them. He chose not to bring it up, however, as it seemed both unnecessary and counterproductive at this point. Over the past week, he’d watched her make so much progress in her ability to ‘kill’ without remorse through these sacrificial rituals. The main reason he encouraged her to undergo this ‘exposure therapy,’ as he called it, was because he was sure it would help her move on from her guilt of seven years ago. Even so, her grief aside, he couldn’t deny how proud of her he was. With each time she ‘took a life’ he saw more and more of himself shining through in her. If she ever found out she hadn’t actually killed anyone and that the one responsible for the deaths had been him all along, all that progress would be lost and there was no telling how her esteem for him would shift.

To his delight, as he dismembered, disembowelled, and decapitated the soulless creatures, she for once didn’t turn away. She watched quietly the entire time, almost looking like she wanted to offer her help but was holding herself back for some reason. He considered pressing her about it, but decided against it. He was happy enough just to see she could stomach the sight of it all.

“I’ll…go find some trash bags or something to carry them in,” she announced, not waiting for a reply before running upstairs.

Dinner went just about as smoothly as the sacrifice had. There was a home-grown vegetable garden in the backyard, which he used along with some side dishes they found in the fridge to make lettuce wraps. It was a feast fit for royalty, especially compared to their diet consisting of nothing but salt water that they’d been not sustaining off of for the past three months of isolation.

At least the kimchi covered up the smell of blood and gore for the most part.

“So…hypothetically, if we ended up having to go off the census completely after this,” she posed, “could you see us having a little veggie garden like the one here? Like, if we had to live out in the woods away from any supermarkets.”

“Mmh,” he hummed in agreement around a mouthful of their dad’s arm with a side of pickled radish. “I can picture that. We could grow all our own produce and hunt all our own, uh, meat. I can’t imagine growing your own rice could be all that hard, right?”

“Yeah…” Her tone dropped somewhat after his addition, the change too subtle for anyone but him to pick up on.

“Hey, don’t worry.” He let his own tone shift to something a little softer as he gave her a light nudge in the shoulder. “I doubt it’ll actually come to that. We have our money; all we need now are some fake IDs and we’ll be able to live out the rest of our lives as a normal couple.”

She stayed quiet for a few seconds even after his attempt to reassure her, not that her response offended him like it would have their parents on the rare occasion they’d ever felt a need to pacify her. “‘Normal…’” she echoed with an unsmiling scoff. “Yeah, okay.”

“Baby, you trust me, don’t you? Look at me,” he pressed gently and held her by the chin.

Even though the demon’s cruel revelation from earlier was as good as erased from her memory, when her eyes met his, she was still haunted by the gut feeling that something was wrong. Then again, she couldn’t recall a time in her life when that feeling hadn’t followed her everywhere she went.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I trust you, Oppa.”

Once they’d packed away as much delicious nutrients as they could, Yoongi resumed the process of dealing with the remains while Emily watched timidly from the sidelines. “Uhm… Shouldn’t we be more careful not to make such a mess?” she asked. From the basement to the kitchen, there ran a copious trail of bloody puddles on the floor. “Since that’s how we did it in the apartment—I dunno.”

Her brother kept his gaze lowered. “Don’t worry about that; we won’t be leaving any traces behind this time.” He then clued her in by pulling his cigarette lighter from his pocket and holding it up. She gasped, but gave no reply other than that. “Hey, think you could go look for some propane tanks or something while I take care of this?”

“What?!” Her eyes widened, but she reminded herself how much she trusted him and relaxed to the best of her ability. “But how can we… H-How would that work? I mean, we’d have to light it from pretty close up, right?”

“Eh, we’ll figure it out as we go,” he shrugged. “If they’re too heavy for you, just leave them and tell me where you found them.”

“Okay…” The more she thought about it, she supposed she wouldn’t mind if they burned or suffocated to death at this point as long as they died together. “But what if we get caught inside and we can’t escape, and then someone around here calls the fire department and gets us out alive? They’re gonna know what happened, they’re gonna know what we’ve done… And then we’ll be—”

“Lily. It’s gonna be okay,” he interjected, stroking her cheek and tucking her hair back with a crimson-covered hand. She leaned into his touch. “I promise. Just relax and let Oppa take care of everything, okay? You don’t have to take on anything you can’t handle. Just…try not to overthink.” Like he was one to talk. “Why don’t we get cleaned up and changed now? The fire should do the rest of the work for us, and we can talk about whatever you want while we take our shower.”

Finally, for the first time since yesterday, a smile graced her features. “That sounds nice.”

As an experienced arsonist, he’d worked with propane once or twice before, but the circumstances were different now. Not only were supplies limited, but he had his little sister with him and was thus putting her at risk. Thankfully they both came out of it unscathed. She was resourceful enough to come up with an idea in the shower that would spare them. First he would put one gas tank in the basement and another in the living room, covering his face with a rag while he unsealed the nozzles. Then he would use whatever gunpowder was left in the warden’s pistol to create a fuse running from the porch to the living room.

Having to resist every nerve in her body telling her to run back and stay close to him, in the end, Emily complied with his wish for her to keep out of harm’s way and she waited in the lot where their stolen car was parked. She waited and waited. It seemed never-ending. What if he didn’t make it out? What would she do if she couldn’t follow him? But the moment she spotted smoke rising in the direction from which she had fled, the car door opened behind her and Yoongi climbed into the driver’s seat, making her jump.

“Aww, did I startle you?” he chuckled and placed a quick kiss on the bridge of her precious hooked nose. “Sorry to keep you waiting. You alright?”

“Yeah. Well, I am now,” she stammered, despite her heart still racing beyond reason. “I think…”

“That’s good.” He kissed her once more on the lips for good measure, letting it linger for a moment in the hopes of calming her down. This seemed to work; she gave a deep sigh and leaned into it, her shaky hands coming to rest on his lap until he broke away. “Let’s get out of here.”

The drive, aside from having no end in sight, felt strangely ordinary, like they were going on a regular road trip together and nothing more. Yoongi kept a clear head and a calm disposition as he navigated the deserted highways. It would have worried her if she weren’t aware of his impeccable ability to mask his own inner turmoil.

“Did you make sure our death certificates got destroyed?”

“Yes, and the neighbour’s letter saying that losing us was ‘a blessing in disguise.’” He rolled his eyes.

“And their faces?” she fretted. “What about their fingerprints? Wait, did you leave any of yours anywhere?”

“I was plenty thorough, sis, I promise,” he told her dismissively. “No one will be able to link this back to us, assuming they even bother to do an investigation. The world already thinks we’re dead after that god-forsaken operation they sold us into got burned to high hell.”

“Okay…” She couldn’t fathom that he could be so free of doubt in a situation like this. He didn’t use to be so sure of himself. It was probably for the best, though, considering how riddled with insecurity she tended to be. His self-assurance (or at least his facade of such) was the perfect counterbalance to her self-doubt—one of the infinite reasons she could never afford to be parted from him.

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kivaember · 8 months ago

Note

Do you have any head canons or ideas for what O'Keeffe was up to when he was working for ALLMIND or how they met? I was wondering what you thought about their relationship to one another since you're the biggest O'Keeffe fan I'm aware of!

pulls up a plastic garden chair and sits down

OKAY SO

o'keeffe was pretty content with his position within arquebus

he was initially hired as the head of its intelligence department, but when the vespers were spun up, he was placed onto it alongside snail to act as a balancer to freud (who was the first and only vesper for a while... but that's it's whole separate post and fic)

then he met flatwell

flatwell, the rubiconian spy that had infiltrated schneider via a compromised executive vouching for his citizenship

o'keeffe had him pegged immediately, but he'd been bored for a long while and smth about flatwell intrigued him so he decided to do the long game with him

oops he caught feelings

flatwell and o'keeffe had a very unique relationship for several years: consensual exploitation of one another, with a dash of feelings neither of them would ever admit to or voice.

gradually though, o'keeffe started to want more... which surprised him, bc he'd been so apathetic with his current lot in life that he'd forgotten how it felt to ever want anything or look forward to smth, he'd just been going through the motions, surviving bc it's the only thing he knew to want

anyway bc of this he totally blew it with flatwell

pointing out that flatwell's ambition to liberate rubicon was a lost cause, he tried to convince flatwell to abandon rubicon and actually build a proper life for himself in arquebus, with o'keeffe. he'd go far! he could be head of intelligence too! he wouldn't want for anything!

flatwell... did not take this well

anyway tl;dr they had a big blow out argument, and flatwell broke off their arrangement and left. o'keeffe just lost the one thing that had actually penetrated his apathy... but he just kept doing what he was doing, bc he didn't know how to do anything else

ENTER ALLMIND

she actually does have contacts beyond rubicon, and not long after flatwell had left, she saw her chance to snag a vitally important contact and candidate within one of the big corpos

she was pretty upfront with him: she's an AI stationed on rubicon, and it seemed that the coral wasn't completely gone, and she also had a proposition for him...

with o'keeffe already emotionally low, at the time coral release sounded like the only thing open to him: he could be with flatwell again, not conventionally, but it was better than whatever he was stuck in right now. it'd even give flatwell what he wanted (just not in the way he actually wanted)

so he worked closely with allmind, feeding her info on arquebus and other company movements as well as the PCA (he was still intelligence after all), which allowed her to prepare accordingly on rubicon and whatnot

ENTER RUSTY

flatwell actually contacts o'keeffe (in my The Flag fic) to ask him to look after rusty for him, which o'keeffe reluctantly agrees to for old time's sake. he can't help but notice similarities between rusty and flatwell, and it makes him feel all kinds of ways

tl;dr getting to know rusty kind of makes him questioning the coral release plan, but he sticks with it still...

FAST FORWARD TO RUBICON, AFTER RUSTY FIGHT IN THE DEPTHS

at this point, o'keeffe has a realisation that the coral release plan isn't the way to go. he knows rusty escaped alive, and that steel haze ortus was completed, and it looked like flatwell's ambition actually was going to come true. it took a lot of hard work and grit to get there, but flatwell's desire for a free rubicon actually looked like it was going to happen, as he wanted it

so, he decides to do like flatwell does, and takes a chance...

Ofc in canon this is when 621 kills o'keeffe when he betrayed ALLMIND, but obvs in APV this goes very differently... but anyways yes. uh. that is my VERY abridged rundown of o'keeffe and allmind's meeting and stuff.

their dynamic was always very professional. allmind knew o'keeffe wouldn't fall for any flattery or underhanded schemes, with him it was best to be upfront and blunt, which worked at the time mostly bc she knew how emotionally rattled he was, even if o'keeffe was pretty good at hiding it. once she had that hook, she knew she could reel him in without having to mince her words about anything...

anyways, i hope you enjoyed this lengthy response... i enjoy talking about my headcanons and characters and esp about apv ;o; even questions about my 621 uwgh...

#armored core #armored core 6 #v.iii o'keeffe #as you can see i'm a little insane #i'm actually writing big wiki docs too of the characters for apv-verse specifically...#this fandom has me in a chokehold tbh

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kayssweetdreams · 2 years ago

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Maestro Hiccups 3: Chaos Incarnate Ch 8

The curiosity in you was just too overpowering, You HAD to see what was in the Maestro Quarters. So summoning all of your courage, you shakily placed a hand on the door handle...and twisted it open.

You slowly venture into the room, and find out that it's also been affected by the odd power. Inside, the room seemed to have thrown up every random thought in the universe, and spat it out in that singular room. "Um...Hello?" You call out, hoping to find someone among the mounds of junk "Oh? Is someone in here? Now is not the best of times I fear." A deep, but bombastic voice Said in worried tone. "I-I was just wondering if anyone was in here..." you say.

The sounds of someone wading through the junk was heard until you saw a VERY strange figure...and yet, he seemed to seem like the most normal thing right now. He was a tall, lean being, with strange markings littering his body, a glittering outfit adorns his body, but it's torn and the shimmer is gone in several places. His golden eyes study you, before a very big (if not sharp) smile appears on his face. "Oh! A new face! Let me be the first to welcome you to this place!" He said, bowing in front of you.

"Uh...Hi? I'm Y/N. And you the one that's causing this weird stuff to happen?" You ask. His cheeks glow a bright gold as he looks to the floor "I'm afraid that is true...For my hiccups are causing the-HIC!" He was interrupted by another loud hiccup before you found yourself and him sitting on the wall, having a weird tea party. "As you can see. My hiccups cause tears in reality. Things get strange when my hiccups leave my mouth, and if not kept in check, things go south." He explained.

You paled. You already saw the effects that his hiccups were having on reality, as well as what they were doing to the inside of the building. "I-Isn't there a cure?!" You stutter out, still a bit unnerved about having a tea party on the wall. "Of course! There is thankfully a cure. The kids are making it for me I'm sure!" Balan said. "Oh! So that's why they were in there...but the ingredients keep turning into random stuff." You say. Balan's smile vanished "Oh dear. That isn't good I fear. For there is one ingredient that is vital for my curing tea. A special "Wonder Fruit" that grows on a transporting tree." He says.

You cock you head to the side "Wonder Fruit?" You ask "Yes. An ingredient most hard to obtain. Last time it happened, it truly was a pain." Balan says...just before another loud "HIC!" Causing you now to be on the ceiling...in front of an audience? You see that the ceiling has become that of a sitcom set...and you and Balan were the ones on camera. "So all the kids have to do is just make the tea? And reality patches itself back up?" You ask.

Balan shakes his head "I'm afraid it's not that simple, for I'm not the only one my dear. My other half Lance, has the hiccups to I fear. His are quite different, and as you can see. His hiccups cause one's worst fears to become reality." He says "Well...how do you cure his hiccups?" You ask. "Lance's cure comes from a special berry. But not here it seems. For this is a special Berry you see in your dreams." Balan said dramatically. You gulped before Balan let out another "HIC!" and the two of you are now roller skating on the other wall, with Balan sporting a big poufy afro.

You bite back a laugh, trying to hide the humor in his new do, when you find yourself stumbling in your OWN new shiny roller skates. "You better help, for my hiccups will get stronger. And it won't just be this world that can hold it much longer. He says, skating circles around your before another Loud "HIC" rattles the room, and you find yourself back on the ground, as if nothing ever happened. "H-Hey...nothing happened that-" You were cut off by the screams of the humans that you had met before. You rush out of the room, only to be stopped by another loud "HIC!"...but this one came from a much larger, and darker door...The screams of the kids got louder as another "HIC" rattles the room, and knocks

#Balan Wonderworld #Balan

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demigodforfend · 1 year ago

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Twilight of the Demigods: Forfend Edition - Session 20

Erzor stopped as they entered the city. "Alright, well, I got you home. I'm sorry about how things went."

"Erzor," Forfend hummed grimly, "I am staying very near here. If you would follow me to my temporary place of residence, I would very much appreciate it. I want you to know where I am should you need me, and I have information I wish to write down for you to take back to the earth genasi."

"Alright," Erzor agreed. "Lead the way."

Forfend nodded and strode into the residential area.

Erzor scrambled to keep up with its comparatively long strides.

Forfend escorted him straight into Eamon's house. It froze when it saw the arrangement of shoes by the door.

"What?" Erzor asked.

"If you could take off your shoes and leave them there for a moment, that would be appreciated," Forfend said.

It backed up onto the porch and dusted its feet off before returning inside.

Erzor seemed perplexed, but he did as Forfend requested.

"Thank you."

It led him straight into the guest room.

Melzaryn passed them on his way out of the bedroom.

"Oh, uh, hi," Erzor waved.

Melzaryn nodded in acknowledgement and kept moving.

Forfend went straight to the desk and pulled paper out. It immediately started writing out its thoughts as quickly as it could.

Erzor bumped against Forfend's back, watching Kagoshi and Kairi. "Hey. Um, nice to see you. I was just hanging out with Forfend."

Forfend glanced over its shoulder.

Kairi was still in bed. She waved politely, smiling in her friendly way.

"Who are you again?" Kagoshi gruffed rudely as he packed ice-coated pillows back into their storage cabinet.

Forfend had questions about why Kagoshi had taken them out and how he'd gotten them frozen, but now wasn't the time to ask.

"Don't worry about it," Erzor shrugged. He glanced around the room and clocked Duncan still sleeping soundly in his bed. "Whoa, what happened to that guy? He looks out cold."

"He is former Envema," Forfend answered. "He is doing alright now."

"Oh. Oh. Huh. Is he, you know..." Erzor passed his hand back and forth across his face.

Forfend nodded. "He is free of the magics, yes."

"Alright. I guess when he wakes up, you should extend the genasi's courtesy to him."

"I will make certain to do that," Forfend promised.

"So, uh..." Erzor stood on the tips of his toes, trying to see what Forfend was writing over its broad arm. He wasn't quite tall enough to catch a glimpse. "What did you bring me over here for?"

Forfend signed the bottom of the note and passed it to Erzor. "This."

Erzor's eyes skimmed over the note, widened, and shot back to the beginning to scan more carefully.

Forfend wasn't surprised. The information it had shared was vital, concerning, and urgent.

It leaned over, reading through the note again as Erzor did the same. It read:

Flint, Jewel, and River:

I have been informed that your guardian is ill with a poison that lights his veins blue.

I have seen something like that before. A Calamity Crystal.

I cannot know for certain that is the cause, but it is the only thing I am familiar with that could create such an effect. It is particularly likely to be a shard if the guardian is also experiencing despair.

If you search for and find a shard anywhere on or within your guardian, I beg of you not to touch it directly. Please, please place as many layers between yourself and the shard as you can. If you touch it directly, you will be lucky if it only kills you. If you are unlucky, it may create a maligned, murderous, monstrous caricature of you that would immediately attack everyone in its vicinity.

If it is a shard, please alert me. I may be able to assist in its removal if you cannot or do not want to attempt it yourselves. Additionally, I have been informed that the shards cannot be destroyed, but I do not believe that is true. I believe I have destroyed one before and I believe I may be able to do it again.

Please, if you want me around for nothing else, I will understand. But a shard could destroy everything you have left. I do not want that. I am sure you do not either.

Kiyori:

I did not know demigods had an aura that altered the people around them. Knowing that, I am now fearing for my family and friends.

I will seek out a way to stop the influence if it is at all possible. I do not want to bend others to my will, involuntarily or otherwise.

In the meantime, I will do my damnedest to mitigate the influence and make certain what is not mitigated is as kind as possible.

I am truly sorry for the hardships you have faced. I will not make you face them again.

-Forfend

Erzor's jaw worked, though no sound escaped him. He started to say something or ask a question several times as he read through the letter, but he never decided what to say.

"Okay," he finally breathed, folding up the letter and tucking it into his back pocket. "Wow. I'll deliver your note, uh, now. Right now. That's kind of really important. I have to go."

Forfend nodded. "You know where to find me."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks." Erzor scurried off, barely taking a moment to throw his shoes back on before he all but ran out the front door.

With all it could do at the moment done, Forfend turned to Duncan. It sidled to his bedside and checked him over.

He still seemed to be resting without trouble.

Melzaryn nudged open the door and leaned in. "It's almost time to go."

"Alright," Forfend responded.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Kagoshi dropped his last handful of pillows and started past Melzaryn.

Melzaryn put his hand out, almost but not quite touching Kagoshi's shoulder. "Did you break the chairs?"

"What chairs?"

"The chairs in the common room."

"Oh." Kagoshi's brows knit. He shrugged. "I did hear some breaks while I was doing some testing, so maybe."

"Well, kudos for testing something, but maybe toss Eamon a gold piece for the damages," Melzaryn suggested.

Kagoshi growled, looking visibly pained. "Maybe." He skirted past Melzaryn and up the hallway.

Melzaryn tilted his head at Forfend. His eyes were piercing, almost glittering with curiosity and the vague implication that he knew something he shouldn't. "Did you learn anything interesting today?"

Forfend could almost feel the weight and severity of the information it had learned crushing its core with brazen claws. "Exceptionally interesting, yes."

"Me too. We'll talk about it later," Melzaryn promised.

With that, he tromped out of the room.

Steam hissed deep in Forfend's chest. It turned, helping Kairi up out of bed.

Kairi brushed herself off and tested her feet. She seemed much less exhausted and far more put together, if not a bit somber.

She moved into the common room without assistance, Forfend trailing right on her heels.

"Hello," Eamon greeted as they walked in. "I'll ask you not to sit on the two far couches there." He pointed at where he'd already placed plates on the seats and propped up notes stating "Do Not Sit" in neat handwriting. "I'm not sure what happened exactly, but it seems they've gotten too worn. It seems something broke them. I don't want anyone falling through them and getting hurt."

Forfend turned its runic head slowly, locking gazes with Kagoshi.

Kagoshi shrugged and admitted to nothing.

Eamon sat down on one of the two good couches remaining. "We don't have much time, but let's sit down and go over everything one more time."

Kagoshi took the far end of the other couch, as far from Eamon as he could possibly sit.

Forfend knelt on the floor near Eamon's side.

Melzaryn leaned against the wall.

Kairi settled in next to Kagoshi. She glanced down at her dress and seemed to notice for the first time that the front of it was torn where she'd been stabbed. She pressed her hand to it and, with one quick flash, the fabric was repaired.

Forfend hummed. The arcana lacked her usual pomp and flair. She still wasn't feeling well.

"Alright, Kairi," Eamon began, "we're about an hour out from when we should be leaving, but I haven't heard your version of events yet. Would you please share?"

Kairi nodded. "Of course."

She relayed the story, leaving out the Calamity Shards just the same as the rest of the group had.

Eamon listened intently. He nodded once. "Good, that all seems to line up nicely. It's always best to have everyone on the same page together. I like to get all the details from all perspectives."

He flipped through a notebook. "I actually spent a good bit of time researching what the creature might be. I called in a few favors, and I'm pretty well certain Melzaryn was right. It was an oni. That fact definitely helps our case. They're known for trickery and cruelty, so that'll lend credibility to our story if anything goes awry."

Everyone nodded.

"I'm not sure if your friends told you, Miss Camilla," Eamon started, "but you've attracted the attention of King Falco Ledrian. The case was moved to the high court. The Galloford side of the story seems pretty full of holes. They're untrustworthy and they have quite a habit of picking on the less fortunate. Luckily, you have me. As long as you don't incriminate yourselves, everything should be fine. Whatever you do though, don't lie in the high court. There's enchantment magic that will alert the judge to any lies spoken. Half-truths and withheld information will pass the test, but lies will be outed immediately. I'd personally prefer if you all kept an honest, cohesive story."

Forfend hummed, feeling guilty for the information they'd hidden from Eamon.

No one else seemed to react. It felt it may be the only one harboring any shame or regret over the decision to lie about the Calamity Shards.

"Just let me do the talking and everything will be fine," Eamon assured. "Now, since you've all had some time to yourselves to reflect on the situation, is there any other information you'd like me to have before we go into this?"

No one spoke.

"No?" Eamon prompted.

"Not anything that should be relevant to the case," Melzaryn piped up.

"Alright. I'm going to give you one last warning: the Gallofords are going to try to paint you as unfavorable individuals. As eloquently as I can put this, they're going to try to piss you off. Don't get aggressive. Don't lash out. Stay calm." Eamon pat his knees and stood. "I'm going to get my documents in order. We'll be leaving in about fifteen minutes."

"Thank you," Forfend said sincerely as Eamon disappeared into his office.

"Of course. Let me know if you need anything." Eamon shut the door.

"Since your memory is supposed to be altered, you should try to keep your responses to the absolute minimum," Melzaryn told Kagoshi.

"I'll try. I don't speak lawyer," Kagoshi grumbled.

"Just be vague," Melzaryn instructed. "If someone asks what you did yesterday for example, you could just say you were reading. You don't even have to mention that you were at the library."

"Alright, fair enough," Kagoshi conceded.

"It's kind of your usual schtick," Melzaryn teased.

"One word answers. As rudely as possible," Forfend agreed.

"Yeah, just be yourself. Only minimized," Melzaryn suggested.

"Got it," Kagoshi huffed. He settled back in his seat with his arms crossed.

Silence loomed amongst them.

Forfend fidgeted nervously. It wanted to tell them everything it had learned about demigods, but it didn't have the time. They'd have to leave soon.

It rubbed at its face.

Melzaryn caught its gaze and subtly shook his head.

Forfend nodded.

After the trial. They'd talk after the trial.

"I learned I can transform into more different types of giants," Kagoshi blurted. "So that's cool."

"That figures," Melzaryn said.

"More than just the cloud giant and the fire giant?" Forfend asked.

"Yeah! I can become all of them." Kagoshi didn't smile, but he looked very proud of himself.

"That's how you broke the chairs," Melzaryn nodded to himself.

"Maybe. You can't prove that," Kagoshi argued.

"They're your ass prints in the seat."

"How do you know what my ass looks like?"

Melzaryn shrugged. "You like to lead."

"Look, buddy," Kagoshi pointed at him. "I appreciate the compliment, but I don't swing that way."

"I never considered as much. You were a lost cause from the start," Melzaryn idly insulted.

Kagoshi looked affronted.

"Do your new forms include frost giant?" Forfend interjected.

"Yeah," Kagoshi growled, now irritated.

"Is that what happened to the pillows in our room?"

"Maybe."

Forfend shook its head.

Kagoshi leaned over and nudged Kairi. "Hey, you doing alright? We don't need you passing out on the courtroom floor."

"I'm fine," Kairi muttered. "I just feel bad that I wasn't able to help very much last night. I'm also a little worried about how crowded the court room will be. I'm just going to try to stay quiet as much as I can."

"I mean, you did get stabbed pretty bad. You could just clutch yourself and yell 'oh the pain!' And then just leave," Kagoshi suggested.

"That's not really a bad idea," Kairi giggled softly.

"Yeah, you're a performer. I'm sure you can act your way out of it."

"I can definitely think of something if I have to." Kairi smiled, a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Stunningly deceitful pair," Forfend mused.

"What was that?" Kagoshi snarled.

"Nothing," it hummed, looking away.

"Listen here you little shit," Kagoshi snapped. "I will bring you down to my level by force if I have to and beat you senseless!"

"If you just ask, I will kneel," Forfend returned.

Melzaryn and Kairi laughed.

"I'm gonna bust your fucking shins like the rocks they are!" Kagoshi threatened.

Eamon froze halfway out his bedroom door. "Whoa, uh, everything okay in here?"

"We are fine," Forfend assured.

"Well, okay then," Eamon said skeptically. "It's time to go then. Best to be early, before the crowd gathers. You guys have been making waves and I don't want us to be late because we were swarmed by curious onlookers."

Eamon started out the door.

Everyone followed after him.

He tracked them carefully through back alleys.

"Since the king is presiding over the trial personally and all of you have been very public figures as of late, this whole situation is making waves. I'm expecting a big crowd of nosy busybodies. I'd like to avoid them as long as we can," Eamon explained.

"Makes sense," Melzaryn said.

The walk was quiet again for a long while.

Eamon slowed as they approached one of the main thoroughfares. "We have to cross this one. Courthouse is just a quick jaunt once we're on the other side, but..."

Forfend watched the busy road, bustling with carts and foot traffic. Many of them seemed to be headed in the same direction as its own companions. That wasn't reassuring.

"Since you're trying to keep us out of the public eye and Forfend is a giant beacon, do you want me to just teleport him across the road?" Melzaryn offered.

"Uh, sure, if you can do it discreetly," Eamon accepted. "The rest of you just keep your heads down while we're crossing the road."

Magic encircled Forfend's legs. It had the brief sensation of falling.

Suddenly, it was standing on solid ground on the opposite side of the street.

Forfend shook itself and sidled further into the shadows of the narrow pathway Melzaryn had dropped it in.

Eamon and the others quickly but casually made their way across the thoroughfare.

"Neat trick," Eamon complimented as they rejoined Forfend.

"Thank you," Melzaryn smiled.

"Come on, we're almost there."

Eamon led them through a couple more narrow alleys before they finally reached the courthouse plaza.

There was a significant crowd already gathered outside. Guards kept a tight line around the entrance, only permitting in relevant parties.

The crowd whispered and muttered amongst itself.

"Stick close to the side of the building and don't get separated, alright?" Eamon rushed across the plaza and hugged the edge of the courthouse.

Forfend and its companions stuck close behind him.

As they started up the stairs, the crowd took notice. The chattering grew louder. People pointed.

"Keep your head down," Eamon whispered. "Don't worry about it."

Forfend ducked its head.

A hand grasped Forfend's stone fingers, startling it.

It turned, slowing just enough to get a look.

The former-Envema gladiator edged a hair closer to it, tugging his hood further over his head. He was covered head to toe in cloth. He particularly had several layers of clothing covering his chest. Everything he wore was dark leather, but not black. Envema wore black.

"Forfend, I have to thank--" he started, but the crowd squeezed in around him.

"We have to go," Eamon hissed through his teeth, glancing from face to face to face in the crowd. "Come on. Inside."

Forfend leaned in, "We will talk soon," it promised in the quietest voice it could muster.

The gladiator nodded and let go of its hand.

Everyone nearby responded at once to Forfend's words. They converged on the gladiator, asking questions and yelling over each other.

Forfend swore. It wished it could be quieter.

The gladiator held his hands up and backed away. He made excuses, dodged questions, and started hunting for an out.

Eamon was already tugging Forfend along again. It didn't get to see if the gladiator found his escape before it was pulled indoors.

"Would now be a good time to tell you I know this cantrip that allows two people to communicate telepathically," Melzaryn's voice rang in Forfend's mind.

"Yes," Forfend deadpanned in its thoughts and assumed they'd reach Melzaryn. "About thirty seconds ago would have been best, actually."

"Well, I'm not a mind-reader." Melzaryn shrugged visibly, though he was still speaking telepathically.

Steam hissed in Forfend's chest. It looked up to take in its surroundings.

The architecture was beautiful, if a little extravagant for Forfend's taste. Perfectly balanced scales and other symbols of the god of justice, Carcer, adorned the space.

Judicator angels were carved into the buttresses along the walls.

Carcer came into existence after Forfend and it had never seen his angels in person, but the depictions it had seen were somewhat frightful.

The angels were made up of a central metal core with a single blindfolded eye surrounded by spinning concentric rings. Jagged wings sprouted from thin air just outside the angels' largest rings. A halo vaguely resembling a set of scales hovered over their heads. They weren't humanoid in even the vaguest sense. They were off-putting.

Given what Forfend knew of Carcer however, if figured that was the point. Justice was blind and he adhered to the letter of the law without consideration for broader circumstances.

Eamon tapped the metal brace on Forfend's chest. "Keep moving," he said quietly.

Forfend nodded, following him through the foyer.

Off to the side, a short, heavyset human surrounded by an ensemble of guards conversed with a taller, leaner, more sharp-eyed elf.

The stocky man was gaudily dressed, rings adorning every finger and a miniature cape draped over his shoulder. The cape bore the Galloford crest.

The taller elf was dressed smartly in yellow-toned noble attire. He straightened his spectacles and spoke in a snooty tone that matched his upturned nose.

Forfend couldn't make out what he was saying from this distance, but his haughty air and the crest on the shorter man's shoulder made it clear who they were.

Clayton Galloford's lawyer and Clayton Galloford himself.

The lawyer glanced up, appraising all of them. A smirk sliced his gaunt face. He turned back to his hushed conversation.

A pair of guards approached Eamon. After a moment, Forfend and all of its associates were escorted into a waiting room.

"Please wait here," one of the guards instructed. "If you need any accommodations such as water or food, please let us know. Your trial will be starting soon."

"May I get some water?" Kairi requested.

"Of course, Miss Camilla," the guard nodded.

He left and returned a moment later with a pitcher of water and four small cups. He set them out on the table and filled Kairi's glass for her before returning to his post.

"Thank you," Kairi said and sipped on her drink.

"Alright, everyone," Eamon said, fiddling with his stack of papers, "just remember what we discussed and everything will be fine. As soon as we walk through that door, no lies."

Everyone nodded.

Forfend touched the symbol on the medallion magnetized to its chest. It bowed its head and hummed to itself, mentally sharing the events of its last several days with Fornax.

It held off on airing out its new concerns about its demigod status. That was a mess it would deal with when it had more time and a more proper worshipping station.

"Alright," a guard called, "follow me."

They all stood and were escorted into a kind of holding room.

A Sagemantle arcanist, denoted as such by the green of his robes and the crest on his chest, watched them with stern curiosity.

"Alright, please stand still..." the arcanist trailed off and glanced at a sheet, "...Mr. Smith." He arched an eyebrow as he glanced from the sheet to Forfend itself.

Forfend straightened and remained completely, uncannily immobile.

The arcanist cast a series of spells.

His face scrunched up as he absorbed whatever information the magic was telling him. He shook his head. "Alright, everything seems to be in order." He waved Forfend off to the side.

It stepped out of the way.

Melzaryn took its place and held still with his arms outstretched.

The arcanist cast the same handful of spells. "Everything seems to be in order, Mr. Collymore," his tone audibly rose on the last word. His eyebrows arched up nearly to his hairline as he blinked at his name sheet. He cleared his throat, composing himself. "Next."

Melzaryn stepped aside to make room for Kagoshi.

Kagoshi moved forward, scowling.

The arcanist cast his magic.

"Mr... Hm. No last name given. Mr. Kagoshi then. Could you turn around? Just give me a slow spin?"

Kagoshi obliged. He grumbled under his breath about it though.

The arcanist cast again. His brows creased.

"Stand with your back facing me?" he requested.

Kagoshi did as he was asked.

Forfend hummed, concerned. It was sure the arcanist had locked onto the shard in Kagoshi's spine. It had no idea what would happen if they figured out what it was.

Kagoshi looked annoyed, but remarkably unbothered by his predicament.

Again, the arcanist cast. "You checked in all your magical items, yes?"

"Yeah, why?" Kagoshi asked.

Forfend only then noticed Kagoshi was missing the odd jacket he'd gotten from the Brightcrossing cultist's things.

Rather than answering, the arcanist simply tried another spell.

The arcanist hummed, suddenly perplexed. He cast his first spell again.

"It appears there's nothing there," he said haltingly. "Sorry for the hold up. Proceed on."

Kagoshi shrugged and sidled over to Forfend and Melzaryn.

Forfend watched him. It wanted to ask what he'd done, but now was not the time or place.

Kairi stepped forward.

"Ms. Camilla, please stay still," the arcanist said.

Kairi nodded.

He cast his series of spells, nodded, and turned to the guard escorting them. "Everything is in order. Proceed inside."

The guard escorted them into the courtroom proper.

Immediately upon crossing the threshold into the room, Forfend was struck by the ambient magical energy in the air. The magic felt similar to its own internal power source, though distinctly different in key ways it couldn't parse.

The energy was certainly divine. Forfend was sure of that. What deity it stemmed from, Forfend wasn't certain.

If it had to guess, it would assume Carcer.

Especially given the towering statue of him monopolizing the back wall of the room. The statue's head nearly scraped the ceiling.

Forfend swayed left and right. The statue's stone eyes seemed to follow it, judging it with harsh scrutiny no matter where in the room it stood.

The pillars about the room sported intricately carved judicator angels just like the ones in the entry. These didn't seem to watch the entire room with hawkish sharpness the way Carcer's statue did. Instead, they each seemed to have their own section to observe.

"Oh, I really like this room," Melzaryn muttered under his breath, awe and fear just barely visible on his largely impassive face.

Eamon guided the group into their seats.

Shortly thereafter, Clayton Galloford and his lawyer were escorted into the room.

Clayton dropped heavily into his seat and glared across at Forfend and its allies.

The Galloford lawyer settled in next to his client with his back ramrod straight and his chin tilted into the air. He cast a much more subtle glare across the courtroom.

A gaggle of guards shuffled into their places.

A door in the back of the room opened.

Two more guards entered, followed promptly by an enormous man.

He was less than a foot shorter than Forfend and muscles strained beneath his stone blue skin. He was bald, his head instead decorated with typical goliath markings and tattoos.

The toga he wore was deep purple. When he turned to close the door behind him, the tattooed scales of Carcer on his back were put on full display by the shifting fabric.

The goliath strode into the room, his face so staunchly stoic it looked to be carved from stone.

He sat in a raised desk at the base of the Carcer statue, looking imposing and regal as he took in everyone below him.

He slammed his gavel into the desk twice, startling Clayton Galloford who hadn't been paying attention.

"Order," he commanded just a notch above a whisper. He didn't need to be loud for his deep voice to be commanding.

Everyone immediately snapped their attention to him.

He motioned to a guard off to the side and nodded.

The guard unrolled a parchment as a curtain rustled a ways above his head.

Forfend looked up. It hadn't initially noticed the balcony sitting to the side at chest level with Carcer's statue.

King Falco stepped through the curtain and out onto the balcony. He was dressed in fanciful attire, colorful and gaudy. He tugged at the cape and straightened the jewel-encrusted crown on his head.

He sat down in a veritable throne, fiddling uncomfortably at the arms of it.

"Presenting King Falco Ledrian," the guard read off, "patriarch of the Ledrian line. Presiding as the judge, the honorable High Judicator Dornan Duskhelm."

He took a moment to take a deep inhale before continuing, "Presenting the participants of this case, the individuals representing defendant Jessie Smith for appeal: Forfend Smith of Foumedo Village, Melzaryn Collymore of the Corona Collymore household, Kairi Camilla of the Adamantine Mountains, and Kagoshi... no last name given, no place of origin given. Representing them in turn is Eamon Brighthorn. The accuser in this case: Lord Clayton Galloford, son of Highlord Adhron Galloford. Representing him is Traferen Amberfall."

The guard shut the scroll, turned to the side, and bowed to the High Judicator.

High Judicator Dornan nodded once.

He slammed the gavel down, drawing all attention back to himself.

He pulled out a handful of documents and tapped them on his desk to straighten them. He browsed through them for what didn't seem to be the first time.

"Proceed with the notes of the case," he rumbled.

Traferen stood. "Of course, your honor. We're gathered here today to discuss a grisly murder and a theft. Goods procured and assembled by the Galloford family have been stolen by the inhabitants of Foumedo Village and, as a result, someone must be held accountable. Of course, it is not prudent to blame the entire village for the actions of a few. Surely, some of them were ignorant of the situation. As such, Jessie Smith, as the presiding leader of the village, must be held accountable."

Traferen paused dramatically, letting his statement hang in the air. He pulled a paper up from his table and scanned over it. "Now, the items in particular were a number of animated armors that were intended to be used as the premier war force. New inorganic soldiers at the frontline so none of our men must die in the future. Unfortunately, these prototypes were stolen, as the caravan was attacked and absconded into a cave just to the north of Foumedo. Alongside the vicious attack and theft, one of the Galloford children was kidnapped. Shortly thereafter, he was brutally murdered. We conclude that Jessie Smith is guilty of both murder and theft."

Traferen bowed to the High Judicator before taking his seat.

High Judicator Dornan nodded and gestured to Eamon. "Proceed."

Eamon stood. "Your honor, many facts were left out of this case. It was not Jessie Smith who committed these grievous actions. No, these were the actions of a horrible creature known for its cunning, ability to shapeshift, and penchant for cruelty and malice. These were the actions of an oni, assisted by a number of conniving creatures known as will-o-wisps. These were the creatures that absconded with both the armors and the Galloford child."

Eamon cycled through his papers until he found the one he was looking for. "Unfortunately, the facts remain: the armors were stolen and the child murdered. However, the Galloford boy was not the only victim of this oni. A number of other children were abducted from Foumedo."

King Falco leaned forward over the edge of his balcony, his hand cupping his face and his brow creased.

Eamon gestured to Forfend and its allies. "These individuals were there at the scene of the crime. Forfend Smith, a resident of Foumedo, caught word of children going missing. He investigated, alongside helping hand Melzaryn Collymore and two hired adventurers, Kairi Camilla and Kagoshi. They discovered the true culprit, the oni, as it attempted to kidnap yet another child in the night. This group tracked down the beast, slew it, and recovered the armors. They simply wished to return them to their rightful owners, but the Galloford caravan that arrived would not hear their story and falsely accused Jessie Smith. Simply because the armors were in his vicinity, they were assumed to be in his possession."

Eamon set his papers down and steepled his fingers. "All Jessie Smith wanted was to return the armors, but he wasn't given the time to draft letters, much less send them off to be read. It takes significant time to compile a report with all the necessary documentation for an unusual case such as this, as everyone here is aware. The distance between Foumedo and any major city is prohibitive to quick correspondence. There is no way he could've alerted the proper officials between the time of the discovery and the arrival of the Galloford caravan. We plead that Jessie Smith is innocent."

Eamon bowed and took his seat.

High Judicator Dornan nodded. "I see."

He skimmed through his documents again. "Traferen Amberfall, you may begin with your questioning."

"Of course, your honor," Traferen smiled mirthlessly as he paced to the center of the room. "Now as we're all aware, the true concern of this case is who will take responsibility."

Traferen cut sharp eyes towards Forfend. "Forfend Smith, was it?"

"Yes," it answered.

"Would it be fair to say that Mr. Jessie Smith is the de facto leader of Foumedo?"

Forfend hummed, tilting its head as it considered.

Jessie was captain of the town guard and many people went to him for advice or assistance, but he wasn't in charge. He didn't run Foumedo any more than Erest Ledrian could claim to run Cragwall.

"No, not truly," Forfend answered.

"Then who, might you say, is the leader of Foumedo, Mr. Smith?" Traferen squinted at it.

"We are a village of less than one hundred people. We do not have a mayor. There is no one in charge of the town," it answered truthfully.

"There is no one to keep your people under control in the event that crimes run amok?" Traferen hissed, appalled or pretending to be. His facial expressions were so exaggerated it was hard to tell where the theatrics ended and the genuine emotion began.

Forfend suspected there was no genuine emotion.

"You all must simply trust each other?" Traferen asked.

"Yes," Forfend nodded.

"And what would happen if someone were to act untoward?"

"I cannot recall an incident," it replied.

"How long have you lived there, Mr. Forfend Smith?"

"Consciously, two years."

"Interesting," Traferen mulled. "You've only lived there two years." He turned to the judge. "That is not nearly enough time for someone to know a place intimately. They could be simply hiding their true nature."

"After all, look at this individual," Traferen gestured to Forfend, his face contorting into disgust. "This golem."

Forfend made a conscious effort not to let the comment bother it. Irritation settled in its center anyway, cracking pebbles in its chest. Luckily, it had no facial expressions to share its feelings.

"This golem with its immense power," Traferen continued. "Why would they risk losing such a valuable asset simply to keep up appearances? After all, that's the only world he's known thus far, isn't it?"

Forfend shook its head, uncertain what Traferen was trying to get at, but knowing he was wrong.

Traferen wasn't watching it however. He turned to Melzaryn. "And what of this investigation? Melzaryn Corona Collymore, was that your name?"

"That would be me," Melzaryn shrugged.

"Let's hear about the investigation, shall we? Curious, isn't it, how easily they solved it? Mr. Collymore, what are you doing this far south?"

Melzaryn started to answer, but Eamon cut him off.

"Objection, your honor. Relevancy," he called.

Treferen scowled openly at his opponent.

"Objection stands," High Judicator Dornan decided.

Traferen grumbled under his breath.

"This investigation, Mr. Collymore," he tried again. "How exactly was it solved? Please regale us with the details on how exactly you found its lair. What happenstance?"

"Given my background in construction work, I identified a cave system. We followed it to its logical alterative entry point and explored it until we discovered the oni's cavern," Melzaryn answered astutely.

"Interesting," Traferen mused in his slimy voice. "So a Collymore with just the perfect skill set happened to be just in the right location to find these stolen items? Curious. Would it be fair to say, Mr. Collymore, that your appearance there was merely by chance?"

"I'd say so," Melzaryn nodded. "I'd been intending to leave soon."

"Curious," Traferen said again. "Now then, you are an established wizard. Is that correct?"

"More or less, yes." Melzaryn shrugged.

"Would it be fair to say that you would've been curious about the armor itself?"

"Not really my study focus," Melzaryn shook his head. "That said, under the circumstances with us finding them at a crash site, I did need to investigate them alongside the rest of the scene. As any wizard worth his staff would have."

"And you discovered all aspects of the armor, correct?" Traferen heavily emphasized his sentence, his eyebrows arched expectantly.

"I would hope so. Otherwise, my spellcasting would be in need of major review."

"Interesting." Traferen straightened his back and paced to the side of the long desk they all sat at. He gestured over Eamon and the rest of the group. "These individuals claim to have simply discovered the armors on chance, but I do not believe that is the whole truth. You see, they could have simply left the armors where they were. Why abscond with them to the town itself? After all, these items hold immense power within them."

Forfend tilted its head at his phrasing. Did he know what the armors were powered by? Was that actually done by the Gallofords and not the oni? Did they know what kind of terrifying, violent power they were playing with?

Traferen studied his fingernails and sliced his eyes sideways at Eamon. "They have the potential to cause major harm. After all, they did discover all aspects of the armor itself. Which included its power source."

"Which I'm sure," he announced as he stalked over to Kagoshi, "Mr. Kagoshi could tell us more about. That was your name, yes?"

"Last time I checked." Kagoshi cocked an eyebrow.

"Did you happen to interact directly with said power source?"

"Objection: relevancy," Eamon piped up, confused.

High Judicator Dornan tilted his head curiously. He squinted. "Objection denied."

Eamon cast a questioning gaze at Kagoshi.

Kagoshi didn't look any less perplexed than Eamon did.

Forfend quietly drummed its fingers together. Had they actually told Kagoshi what the shards had been for? And if they had, did he bother to listen? Did he remember?"

"Did you physically interact with the power source of these armors?" Traferen hissed again.

"Are they dangerous? Would I have been hurt if I did? I didn't see any." Kagoshi shook his head.

Traferen's eye twitched. His mouth drew into a tight line as he cocked his head. Genuine confusion crawled over his theatrical smugness.

Forfend buried the combination of rushing steam and rock-grinding chuckle that immediately rose in its core.

Kagoshi's penchant for astoundingly self-centered behavior and casual dismissiveness of the world around him was undermining Traferen's point.

Traferen took a brief moment to compose himself. He took a deep breath and started again, "These machines are powered by these small crystals. Did you or did you not interact with these crystals?"

"What does the crystal look like?" Kagoshi requested clarification. "I've touched a lot of gems you could probably consider crystals."

"They are small. About the size of one's pinky nail," Traferen provided.

"Mine or yours?" Kagoshi gruffed, eyeing his own fingers and trying to size up Traferen's far more slender hands.

Traferen grit his teeth to bite back a comment. "Mine," he only just managed not to snap.

"Oh. Well, you have dainty hands," Kagoshi casually insulted. "A crystal that small might break if I tried touching it."

"Did you or did you not touch one directly?" Traferen's sharp irritation had surpassed his theatrics and was now hinging on genuine rage.

"No," Kagoshi said.

A dozen or more simultaneous white flashes lit the courtroom like lightning. No thunder followed. Only the gentle dimming of the statue of Carcer and all his Judicator Angels.

So that's what happened when someone lied.

Forfend hummed grimly to itself.

"So that's what happens if you lie," Kagoshi unhelpfully echoed its own thoughts.

"You did interact with those power sources!" Traferen almost shouted, suddenly bordering on giddy. "And you're still alive! Interesting!"

Traferen turned and spread his arms wide. "Your honorable High Judicator, these power sources are of a very unstable nature. And of very, very high importance. You see, these power sources were discovered not too long ago by the Galloford family. Proven to have immense power held within, we attempted to do the country a service by producing tools that would allow us to move into a brighter future. We were not aware of what they truly were. I was not aware of what they truly were. Until recently."

He paused dramatically, his hands spread and a malicious grin cutting his face in two.

High Judicator Dornan only very slightly cocked an eyebrow and drummed a single finger with vague impatience.

Traferen seemed to take the subtle hint. He cleared his throat and continued. "For these little, tiny, unassuming crystals are Shards of Calamity."

The entire room sucked in a breath.

"They are what?" High Judicator Dornan demanded.

"Shards of Calamity," Traferen repeated confidently. "We had initially thought they were just immensely powerful arcane sources. The Galloford family had no idea what they truly were. At least, surely, Lord Clayton didn't. He was simply meant to put together the method of transportation. There's no way he could've known. But one thing is clear: the moment these individuals interacted and saw the truth of these power sources, they became entranced with them."

Forfend couldn't honestly say how it felt about the shards, but "entranced" was hardly the word. Maybe "terrified" or "wary" or "incredibly anxious," though none of those were quite strong enough to explain the raw dread that settled in its core whenever it had to deal with the things.

"After all," Traferen continued, "how else could a person who directly contacted a Shard of Calamity be able to survive? Unless they were a true accepted vessel? And what does that mean for the people around them? Did he simply hide the truth or are they all in cahoots? I'll let you decide that, honorable High Judicator."

Traferen bowed and backed away, returning to his desk. "No further questions."

High Judicator Dornan glared down at Kagoshi. His eyes were more stern than any Forfend had ever seen except perhaps Fornax's own, but blessedly not malicious.

"Is this true? Are you aware of this fact? Any of you? Were you aware that Kagoshi was an accepted vessel of Calamity?" High Judicator Dornan asked.

Silence loomed. All of them had been stunned.

An accepted vessel of Calamity? What was that? What did it mean? Forfend glanced to Kagoshi and then Melzaryn.

The former seemed confused. The latter was characteristically nonplussed.

"Were you aware?" High Judicator Dornan demanded again.

No one seemed to want to be the one to answer under the withering gaze of the High Judicator.

"Forfend Smith," he tried a more direct approach, "were you aware?"

"No," it answered honestly.

High Judicator Dornan hummed.

Traferen blinked, his nose wrinkling and his brow furrowing until his whole face was scrunched with confusion.

"Melzaryn Corona Collymore," High Judicator Dornan rumbled, "were you aware that this man is an accepted vessel of Calamity?"

"I was researching the possibility, but had not yet discovered any concrete evidence," Melzaryn shook his head.

Overhead, King Falco was leaning so far over his balcony he looked in danger of toppling off the edge. His eyes were wider than saucers. His hands clung to the railing until his knuckles turned white.

"Kairi Camilla," High Judicator Dornan carried right on with his questioning, "were you aware?"

"No," Kairi rapidly shook her head.

Traferen lightly bit the knuckle of his forefinger, looking increasingly more nervous. It seemed he'd bet on all of them being significantly less ignorant than they apparently were.

Forfend couldn't tell yet if that would be a good thing in this instance or a very, very bad thing.

"Kagoshi," High Judicator Dornan fixated his sharpest gaze yet as he called the name, "were you aware that you are an accepted vessel of Calamity?"

"No," Kagoshi said simply.

High Judicator Dornan tilted his head curiously. "You're saying that the Calamity Shard that resides within you... You weren't aware of it?"

"Not until recently," Kagoshi admitted.

"When did you learn this fact?"

"When I researched information on it. I wanted to know what it was and how to deal with it."

Traferen stared up at Carcer and his Judicator Angels as if trying to will them to light up again. They remained impassively unlit.

"Call for the cleric of Genesis," High Judicator Dornan ordered. "Now."

A guard swiftly exited the room.

"We will see whether or not you are truly an accepted vessel in time," High Judicator Dornan told Kagoshi. "Though, that is the most likely explanation. Unless you have another answer as to why you are currently alive despite coming in contact with a shard?"

"I don't know," Kagoshi grumbled. "I'm trying to figure it out, but I don't know."

"And what of the rest of you? Mr. Collymore, you were the most aware of his situation. Do you believe there may be any other explanation?" High Judicator Dornan prompted.

Melzaryn opened his mouth, but hesitated as he glanced around the room. "Possibly, but the information isn't and shouldn't necessarily be public knowledge, and it isn't my place to decide if it should be stated right here and now. May I counsel with my legal representative and the man in question, Kagoshi?"

"Proceed," High Judicator Dornan allowed.

Eamon immediately shot out of his seat. "Follow me," he whispered as he walked as quickly as possible out of the courtroom.

Kagoshi and Melzaryn were right on his heels, and a pair of guards were on their heels in turn.

Forfend looked to Kairi.

She wore stress plainly across her features.

Forfend placed a hand that might've been more comforting if it wasn't trembling from its own stress onto her shoulder.

Kairi pat its hand and interlocked her fingers on the desk in front of her.

Forfend copied the motion to keep its fiddling hands still. Nervousness coiled up in its center until it thought it might crack like an overheated stone.

The courtroom was eerily silent.

The only noise was an extremely hushed argument between Traferen and Clayton Galloford. Clayton seemed irritated by the turn of events, judging by the scowl on his face. Traferen seemed to be trying to placate him.

High Judicator Dornan rubbed at his forehead, perhaps feeling stressed as well.

After several long minutes, Eamon led Kagoshi and Melzaryn back into the room.

"Well, what have you decided?" High Judicator Dornan asked.

"To share the full truth. Mr. Kagoshi is a demigod," Eamon revealed.

Gasps sounded all throughout the room.

High Judicator Dornan leaned back, his eyes slightly widened. "Kagoshi, are you a demigod?" he asked directly.

"Yeah, I'm a demigod," Kagoshi sighed.

"This claim holds a lot of weight. I'd like for you to prove it. All demigods have unique powers. Show us yours." High Judicator Dornan leaned forward again to watch intently.

King Falco wavered so precariously over the edge of his balcony Forfend thought for a moment he was actually going to fall. He caught himself, but didn't move any further back from where he leaned over the railing.

"My ability is to turn into a giant. I also have the strength of one," Kagoshi explained. "Should I demonstrate both?"

"Yes," High Judicator Dornan decided.

Forfend withered. It was becoming all too familiar with this song and dance.

Kagoshi stepped over to Forfend and tossed his head back toward the empty middle of the courtroom floor.

Steam hissed long and slow in Forfend's chest. "May I stand?" it requested forlornly.

"Yes," High Judicator Dornan nodded, his brows furrowed.

Forfend trudged its way to the center of the room.

Kagoshi gripped its ankle with one hand and hefted it effortlessly into the air.

Forfend spread its arms out and struggled to maintain its balance. "You could stand to do this in a way that would provide me more support," it complained.

Kagoshi ignored it as well as the second round of gasps that circled the room. He set it down none too gently.

High Judicator Dornan stared unabashedly, leaning forward with considerable interest. "And what of the second aspect?" he asked.

Forfend dusted itself off and quickly made its way back to its seat where the ground would remain solidly beneath it.

Eamon looked pale, shocked by the series of revelations he'd been exposed to thus far today.

Kagoshi sidled foot to foot. "Give me a second on that one. It's a bit more complicated. It's a mindset I have to enter."

Kagoshi closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath.

After a moment, his muscles bubbled and bulged beneath his skin as he doubled in size. His skin turned the brown of wet clay and his hair took on a grassy green quality.

A hill giant, Forfend figured.

A third round of gasps filled the air.

"A demigod would be able to withstand the terror of the Calamity Shards," High Judicator Dornan whispered reverently. "Then you speak truth."

Kagoshi released his breath and melted back into his original form. He returned to his seat.

High Judicator Dornan pressed his fist beneath his chin and leaned on it, considering everything he'd just learned. After a long moment and several thoughtful grunts or hums, he locked his weighty gaze onto Eamon.

"Eamon Brighthorn, you may begin your questioning."

"Yes, your honor," Eamon said as he stood.

He crossed the room and straightened his back as he sized up Clayton Galloford. "As we're all now aware, Kagoshi is a demigod. Demigods have an intrinsic duty to the world, to its people. They have a rite, an oath, an intrinsic moral value that devotes them to us mortals. And so when it was discovered that these children were indeed going missing, of course Kagoshi and company had to step in. When it was discovered that an oni was the perpetrator, and that it was also abusing the powerful magics in these animated armors, well, of course they had to protect Foumedo. Of course they had to protect Foumedo's children. I think it has been shown clearly here today that they had no idea what the power sources were. They were not coveting them."

Eamon nailed Clayton to his seat with the intensity of his gaze. "I think the better question is why would the Gallofords be so swift to shift blame? Why even go to such lengths as to try to demonize an individual such as Kagoshi?"

Clayton sank into his chair, suddenly prickling with nervousness.

Forfend knew he was in the wrong and it knew the man knew that, but his lack of composure was frankly embarrassing.

"Lord Clayton Galloford," Eamon began, "were you aware of what those crystals were?"

Traferen clicked his tongue and leaned into Eamon's laser-focused view. "Ah, no, of course he--"

"I didn't ask you," Eamon said sharply. Mr. Amberfall, was it? I didn't ask you."

Traferen's jaw clicked shut. He leaned back into his seat, thoroughly quelled.

"Lord Clayton Galloford," Eamon repeated with heavy emphasis, "were you aware of what those power sources were?"

"No, I wasn't aware," Clayton squeaked.

"Were you aware that the armors had gone missing?"

"Yeah. That's why we sent out a caravan to go searching for them."

"Did you know they'd go missing?" Eamon asked.

"What?" Clayton startled.

"Did you know they'd go missing?" Eamon placed his hands on the desk. "After all, if these items were as important as you said they were--and they should've been given that we all know animated armors are extremely expensive--and if they were truly military grade designed to replace soldiers on the front lines, then surely these prototypes would've been extremely valuable. It begs the question: how did a single oni manage to abscond with both the child and all the armors? Surely, if they were as important as you claim, there'd have been an immense guard detail. But from the descriptions of the caravan crash site given to me by the defendants, there was only one cart. Two horses. Easy pickings for an oni. So tell me, Mr. Clayton Galloford, were you aware that these armors would go missing?"

"No."

The statues of Carcer and all his angels lit up blindingly white again.

Clayton hissed through his teeth as the light faded out.

"Looks like we've caught a lie," Eamon said casually. "Tell me, Mr. Clayton Galloford, why was there a child along for the ride on this important mission?"

Clayton hemmed and hawed for a moment.

"Was it to cause exactly what happened? Exactly this scenario? After all, Foumedo is not a common place to travel to or through. Not many even realize it exists." Eamon leaned in to Clayton's profusely sweating face. "Would it be fair to say that it was a place you thought no one would miss?"

"No!"

Another bright flash.

"Mr. Clayton Galloford," Eamon continued right along with growing confidence, "may I ask why the cart was not well-protected?"

"Well, we meant for it to be under the guise of a commoner's vehicle to prevent attacks--" Clayton flinched as the white light flooded the room again.

"Mr. Clayton, what is the truth of the situation? Why did you send it there?"

Clayton remained silent for a long moment.

Traferen seemed to be trying to spontaneously develop the ability to disappear, his face screwed up in so many emotions he'd turned red all the way to the tips of his elven ears.

"Did you send that cart out with the intent for it to be attacked?" Eamon asked.

"No," Clayton almost mumbled.

Again, the statues flashed.

"Did you send that cart out knowing that a child would die?"

"No!" Clayton objected much more loudly.

Another flash.

Forfend felt horror seeping into its core. It hadn't considered this could've been a set up from the start, that the deaths were engineered. It couldn't fathom anyone allowing such senseless violence. And towards children?

"Mr. Clayton, what was the purpose of sending those armors out almost entirely unguarded?"

Clayton clenched his fists, his whole body shaking. "We... wanted a field test and we wanted to keep the armors a secret. In order to do so, we..."

Traferen nervously pushed himself halfway up out of his chair. "Sir, you don't have to..."

Clayton sank down as low as he could into his seat.

"No further questions, your honor," Eamon declared. He returned to his place.

King Falco finally settled back into his own chair. He steepled his fingers in front of his face. Intensity radiated off him. His gaze caught Clayton's and sharpened into daggers. His nostrils flared.

High Judicator Dornan inhaled deeply. "I see no reason to further this case. The defendant, Jessie Smith, is not guilty. All charges shall be rescinded and forces pulled. With the revelations in this case proving the intentional death of a child and the attempted obstruction of justice by framing an uninvolved town, Mr. Clayton Galloford, you are guilty on many accounts. I shan't list them all here. There will be a subsequent investigation into this matter. Case adjourned."

High Judicator Dornan slammed his gavel down twice with heavy finality. "Guards, detain him."

The pair of guards at Clayton's side were adorned in Galloford colors. They glanced at one another, then at High Judicator Dornan, then at Clayton.

"No, no," Clayton pleaded.

One more glance at the High Judicator determined where their loyalties should lie. They hauled Clayton up and escorted him from the courtroom.

Traferen huffed and shook his head, defeated and inconvenienced but not particularly upset. The case was over. The theatrics were done. He took his leave in bored silence.

Clayton craned his head around as he was dragged out, all his fear turning to rage. He scowled and snarled at Forfend and its allies.

Melzaryn smirked the slightest bit, showing off a hint of his sharp teeth.

Forfend only shook its head.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Eamon whispered under his breath.

"Seconded," Melzaryn said.

"Agreed," Kagoshi huffed, already getting up out of his chair.

"Wait, shit." Eamon paused just before stepping through the door that would lead them to the lobby. "Excuse me, guard."

The guard by the door had his lips pressed tight together. His eyes were wide as though he were still processing the events he'd just witnessed. "Yes?" he managed.

"Do you mind if we use the back door? We'd prefer to avoid the crowds at the front."

"Sure, yeah, give me a moment to get permission," the guard mumbled.

It took him only moments to get his answer and return to them. He wordlessly led them through a much more remote door with far less decorum surrounding it.

Forfend guessed this entrance was meant for staff.

"Bit of a curiosity here," Melzaryn said as everyone slipped outside. "How quickly do you think that information will spread?"

Eamon shrugged. "It'll depend on what the guards do. They didn't take an oath of secrecy. Now that the case is over and the results will become public knowledge, they'll be allowed to talk about it."

"Good," Melzaryn nodded.

"I can't promise that Kagoshi's demigod status won't immediately be revealed," Eamon sighed regrettably. "But, I can assure you that news that a lord let one of their own family's children get murdered will spread like wildfire."

"It should," Forfend hummed.

"Hopefully, it'll spread much faster than my secret," Kagoshi grumbled.

Eamon clapped and rubbed his hands together. "Alright! It's been... one hell of a day. I'm ready to go home and get some rest."

"I'd say today went pretty well," Melzaryn grinned. "Thanks."

Kagoshi muttered something under his breath about getting out before the cleric of Genesis arrived.

Forfend had forgotten about that, but it figured that had probably worked in their favor.

The guard that had escorted them peeked out of the door again. He passed Kagoshi his cloak and Melzaryn his broom. "Alright, that should be everything that was checked in at the front desk."

Forfend tilted its head. It figured it had been too busy observing the architecture to see them turning over their magical things. It hadn't brought anything with it that would've needed to be checked in.

"Thank you," Eamon said. He turned to the party, weariness in his eyes. "Let's go."

Melzaryn jumped up on his broom, floating with his toes just barely hovering above the ground.

Eamon tried to sneak the group back through the alleyways.

Unfortunately, some of the crowd out front spotted them. Shouting and scrambling ensued as everyone tried to get to them and scream their questions first.

"Fucking shit!" Eamon swore. "You all, go. Go, go, go! You know where my house is. I'll handle this."

"Sounds good to me," Melzaryn agreed immediately, putting on a burst of speed.

Kagoshi, Kairi, and Forfend all followed him as quickly as they could.

Eamon turned to the crowd and spread his arms to block the road the group was disappearing down. "Hey, hey, no! Respect the privacy of these individuals! They're citizens of Tyrwedia protected by..."

His voice rapidly faded out. Between the din of the crowd and the increasing distance, Forfend could no longer hear Eamon.

It didn't slow down.

After what was surely minutes but had felt like hours, they finally arrived at Eamon's home.

Forfend felt its core freeze in its chest as soon as the house came into view.

The front door was slightly ajar.

"Looks like someone is visiting," Melzaryn whispered. "The door was unlocked, not broken into."

Forfend shook its head. There was a sinking feeling dragging its core lower and lower in its chest. This didn't feel like a badly-timed visiting friend.

It rushed into the house with reckless abandon.

Dirty footprints led straight into the guest bedroom. They stuck out starkly on Eamon's glitteringly clean floor.

Forfend followed them, throwing open the bedroom door.

Duncan was missing.

The bedsheets were wrecked. The table and chairs in the room had been toppled over. The bed itself had been pushed out of its original position, as though something heavy had slammed into it during the scuffle.

Forfend's note lay unfolded on the floor. It had been read, but now it was crumpled and stepped upon.

Its words had been a lie. It had believed them when it left the note, but it had been so horribly wrong.

Forfend's head felt dizzy, its center spinning with anxiety. A veritable rockfall cascaded in its chest.

It crashed its heavy hand into the medallion on its chest. "Duncan!" it all but shouted as it hurriedly tore its mace and shield out of the storage closet.

Orange magic burst forth, leading straight out the opened window and, Forfend sensed, arcing immediately north.

Duncan was more than seven hundred feet away already and moving northwest at incredible speed.

Melzaryn rushed in right on Forfend's heels. His eyes darted everywhere.

"Whoever did this dragged him out the window," Melzaryn said. "They had to have picked the lock unless they had their own key. Duncan didn't leave this room to open it for them or the fight would've started in the hallway."

"Kairi's going to ask the plants!" Kagoshi yelled from the front porch.

Forfend grasped Melzaryn's shoulder and pointedly stared at his broom. "Duncan is northwest. Approximately eight hundred feet away from this exact location. Please."

Melzaryn held up his Sending Stone. "Keep in touch."

Before Forfend could respond, Melzaryn was zipping out the window on his flying broom.

It pulled out its own Sending Stone.

Kairi wandered around to the bushes beneath the opened window.

"They saw a man with a big brown cloak," Kairi reported.

"Fuck," Forfend swore.

"He knew Melzaryn's name. I think all of our names, but the plants could only remember the one because it was so odd."

"Fuck," Forfend swore again. It relayed the information to Melzaryn via their paired Sending Stones.

"Do we know a guy in a brown cloak?" Kairi asked.

It paused.

Kairi had never seen the man. Of course she hadn't in all that chaos.

"We do. He was leading the assassin team last night."

"Oh." Kairi frowned. "Oh. I'll ask the plants more questions."

She wandered back around the corner of the house.

Forfend rushed back to the front porch.

Kagoshi stood with his arms crossed, watching Kairi work.

"They want water." Kairi rubbed at her face and pinched her nose. "They said they heard something else, but they won't tell me unless they get water."

"It was that goddamn cloaked fucker? The bow guy?" Kagoshi growled. "Fuck."

"That is what I said," Forfend hummed. It rifled through its things. It pulled out a waterskin.

It didn't need to eat or drink, but everyone around it did. It preferred to be prepared.

"What was he here for?" Kagoshi demanded.

Forfend paused briefly. How had he not put it together yet? Why hadn't he checked for himself?

"Duncan has been kidnapped," it explained as it poured water over the bushes.

"Oh, godsdamn it!" Kagoshi swore. "Where did Melzaryn go?!"

"I cast Locate Creature to pinpoint Duncan. Melzaryn went after him, but I fear Duncan will leave my range very soon. He is already nearing the edge of it," Forfend fretted.

"I'm following Melzaryn," Kagoshi decided.

He ran down the street, bounded straight up the side of a wall, hauled himself onto the roof, and disappeared from view.

Kairi hummed uncomfortably, tugging at the hem of her dress as she squinted at the plants.

"Is everything alright?" Forfend asked.

"They, uh, said thanks for the water. They're kind of... weird," Kairi muttered. "It also sounds like the brown cloak guy might be under mind control too. They said he seemed confused about where he was for a moment. Like he was a completely different person for just that one second, and then he was back under control again."

"The cloaked bowman is also under the effect of Envema's mind control," Forfend spoke into the Sending Stone. "He is another victim."

Eamon came around the corner, cocked his head at what must've looked to be a very nonsensical situation, and jogged over. "What's going on? Why's my door open? Is everything okay?"

"Duncan has been kidnapped," Forfend said without a hint of tact. Its monotonous voice hid its panic, but its nervous gesturing didn't.

"What?! What do you mean kidnapped?" Eamon immediately matched Forfend's feverish emotions.

"It was the man who attacked us at the Brass Buffalo. He took Duncan," Forfend explained.

"Shit!" Eamon swore. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Do you guys want to go after him?!" he shouted and paced. His hands were in his hair, on his hips, clasping his shoulders, rubbing one another, and cycling through those same motions over and over again. "Because I'm not going to go after him! I'm just a lawyer! I'm just a guy!"

"Melzaryn and Kagoshi are already in pursuit," Forfend assured. "I am providing all the information I can, but I will lose track of Duncan very soon."

"Do you have any means of communication over that distance?" Eamon asked.

Forfend held up its Sending Stone.

"Okay, okay," Eamon tried to calm himself. The attempt didn't look successful. "Do you want to keep that or do you want me to keep that? Because I can tell the guards wherever you're going to end up."

Forfend nodded, slowly at first and then faster. It glanced at Kairi. "Do we go? We should go. We must go!"

It dropped the stone in Eamon's hands and ran, thudding down the street as quickly as its marble legs could carry it.

Kairi dashed after it.

"Wait, who is this?!" Eamon yelled.

"Melzaryn!" Forfend called without slowing.

Forfend heard Eamon start speaking into the Stone, though it was already too far away to hear what he was saying.

"I hope he's okay," Kairi panted at its side.

Forfend nodded. "I promised him. He must be okay. He must."

#forfend #twilight of the demigods #session notes #session 20 #cragwall #dnd

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ourspeakeasy · 2 years ago

Text

Bucky Barns AU Pt. 2/2

The more silence that was surrounding Bucky, the more he wanted to get up and shout at the top of his lungs. He went to bed at 'way too late' o'clock and didn't sleep. What had happened kept replaying in his head, playing with all the different outcomes. But that didn't change the current outcome that had you laying down in a sterile room trying to recover from the bullets he had put there.

"Fuck...," he breathed as he got up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom. Seeing himself in the mirror, he wanted to smash it to smithereens, but that wouldn't stop his reflection from being there. A mirror is still a mirror.

Quickly finishing up there, Bucky walked back into this room, the alarm clock said 5 am. Great, people should be getting up and doing their morning shit. If he left, people would definitely look at him and if he was caught visiting her, it could be even more awkward.

Face the music and just get over it already, Bucky thought as he got himself together and headed out. Steve gave everyone the day off because of how close she is to everyone. No one would be able to think straight.

Bucky's whole body went on autopilot and he started walking towards the recovery rooms. Steve and his idea must have worked because no one was operating on her anymore.

Steve caught Bucky first, "Going to see her?"

"Uh.. I was thinking about it."

"Good," Steve nodded and put his hand on Bucky's metal shoulder. "She would like that."

"Did our idea work?"

"It wasn't easy, but the short answer is yes. The long answer is that I don't know what is going to happen should she wake up."

Bucky nodded and headed towards the rooms again. He really should go and apologize immediately, but then again he shouldn't even be in her presence. Here he was, standing outside her door, breathing like all the air was suddenly taken out of the room. Opening the door, he was shocked on what he saw.

She was pale. So fucking pale. Heart beat was all over the place, breathing mask was on her face, IV was pumping God knew what into her. Finally, his body got with the program and he planted himself in the chair next to her bed. Her hair was braided and away from her face.

He should say something. Has to say something. Bucky was the reason she was there and looking like she was next to death. Taking in a huge breath he let it out slowly and slightly shaking, "I'm - God, I am so sorry."

Everyday he would say that and he would sit with her for hours. It was his own way of doing a penance and also keeping a close eye on her should anything happen. His routine was getting pretty bleak, it was go to sleep at an ungodly hour, sleep for 5 hours max with a ton of nightmares in-between all that, get up, shower, and come here. At times someone would bring him food of some sort and check on her as well.

Missions were being handed back out, but nothing too big. Everyone was still relatively distracted, including himself.

The first indication that things were looking up was when her heart rate went from erratic to steady. The next was when all the other vitals started doing the same thing. Everything was going back to be as normal as they were before he fucked them up.

Finally after almost a week of him sitting on his ass in her recovery room and going through the scenario a thousand times she took the biggest inhale of breath he had ever heard. Immediately, he got up and went over to her bedside. She was looking around frantic and trying to get her body to respond to her commands. With all of that, her heart rate was going nuts and she was panicking.

"No, no. Shhh. Baby, it's alright. You're alright. We are back at the compound. Everything is alright," was all he could come up with.

But she was still freaking out and not listening to him at all. Bucky thought about calling for Nat or Wanda, but stopped that one short. He should take care of this, he put her into this mess and he should be the one to calm her back down.

Making a quick decision Bucky had undid the railing of the hospital bed. Putting his knee on the edge of the bed, he got up and got right into her line of vision, "Hey, I know. It's alright. You're okay, you're alright I swear."

When Bucky finally got her attention and line of sight, he went in closer and put his normal hand on her face, "We are at the compound. You are fine. Everyone is fine."

Staring deep into her eyes, and not caring what was shown coming out of his own. The beeping of the heart monitor started to slow down and he kept holding his breath, waiting for her powers to kick in. But when they didn't, Bucky kept physical contact and moved his other hand towards her head, "It's okay. We are safe. I am so fucking sorry, Baby. I am sorry."

Her hand moved between their bodies and went for the mask, moving it down a little, "You missed."

Bucky closed his eyes, "I know. I am the reason why you are in this position."

"How long have I been out for?"

"Over a week. Everyone is devastated that I did this to you," Bucky gladly admitted.

"You have got to stop saying it like that," You said while taking a long look around the med bay that you were in.

Bucky didn't move from where he was, "Because it is the truth?"

Your eyes landed back on his and looked at him confused, "Because it was an accident, James."

His eyes closed when you called him by his real name, "I fucking shot you."

"Twice if I recall. But it was an accident. He went one way, you went another and shot before you could recalibrate. It happens," You reasoned and your body started to become more relaxed.

Not happy with your answer, Bucky moved off you and sat back down on the chair that he had practically claimed. All of the sudden, he didn't know whether or not it was a good idea to touch your hand. Considering how close he was a moment ago. "I don't make mistakes like that."

"Everyone makes mistakes. Century old super assassin or not," you again reasoned out.

Huffing out a puff of air, Bucky leaned back on the chair and looked at the wall on the other side of the bed. Now that he knows that you are okay and don't blame him. What happens now? Would you still harbor harsh feelings for him? Hate him - could he live with himself if you did? What if -

Suddenly, you hand was in his and you were looking right at him. Not through him, but at the guy sitting down on the chair. "Stop."

"Stop what?"

"You are thinking so loud that you are the loudest thing in the room. Even beating out the heart monitor," you joke and smile softly.

He kept staring at your hand in his and sighed out, "I am half ass expecting you to use your powers on me in revenge."

This time, you sighed, "I don't blame you. I would never harm you over this."

"But you should I know better. My reflexes are better than this - how could I ever do this-"

"Did you mean it??"

That made him stop again, "What?"

"Did you mean to shoot me? Twice?" You looked at him like that was the answer was pretty obvious. And it was.

"Of course not. Never." He adamantly said.

You smiled and nodded your head like it all made sense, "Then I am not mad. It was an accident. I would never harm you on purpose and you wouldn't harm anyone let alone me either. Accidents make us human, Bucky. Super solider or not. You are still human under all that."

Bucky let out a long breath and sniffed a few times, "I am really so so fucking sorry."

"I know you are. And I accept your apology," you said while smiling at him like you two understood something secret.

"Finally! You're awake!" Nat said as she came in the room with Dr. Strange behind her.

#bucky barns fanfiction #bucky barns au #bucky barns imagine #fanfiction #fanfic #alternate universe

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jeon-s-sins · 2 years ago

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Moon's Sun | 5 | The Deal

Warning : None

Word count : 2.1k

↤ Previous | Index

You were tired. Your eyes struggled to open, but you persevered and forced them open.

Your head hurt like hell, and your throat burned, making the process of breathing - usually an easy, common, and vital task - almost impossible.

It was then that you remembered recent events. The last you heard, you were lying on the floor in your bathroom. Just like now, you couldn't breathe - it was worse than now.

The lights kept flickering, and the room was unbearably hot and humid.

You also remembered using your phone to call someone for help, and before you could completely lose consciousness, you heard footsteps in your apartment.

As you sat up and slowly opened your eyes, you looked around the room you were in. Against all odds, you were lying on your bed in your room, and daylight illuminated the room.

"How the hell did I get here?" It didn't take long to finally know the answer to your question. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. Did we sleep well?" Sitting on the chair at your desk was the only person who made your heart beat at lightning speed.

Jeon Jungkook.

"What happened? And what are you doing here?" Surprised, he looked at you as if you had lost your mind. "What do you mean, what am I doing here?" He gets up from the chair and slowly walks over to you. "YN, you were the one who called me. Don't you remember?"

Shit.

You remember using your phone and calling someone, but you don't know who. It was random.

You looked left and right, looking for your phone. You saw it lying face down on your nightstand. You picked it up and unlocked it, and the first thing you saw was that the phonebook application was still open, and you were on your list of favorite numbers.

In fact, Jungkook's number was the first one you saved in that list.

Damn it.

Moving closer, he touched your forehead as he stood before you. His palm was warm, soft, and rough from the weights he lifted during training. As his palm made contact with the thin skin of your forehead, a wave of heat ran through your entire body.

"Uh... Yes, but I dialed a random number when I couldn't remember who I was calling. Sorry." He shakes his head and smiles for all his answers, revealing those bunny teeth you loved so much - giving his bad-boy look an adorable edge.

You couldn't hide the fact that the older you got, the more adorable he became, and the more he lost his innocent, shy boy side.

You knew him well. You knew that despite his bad-boy clothes, he was still that fifteen-year-old boy, his head full of dreams and his eyes sparkling with admiration for his friends.

As always, he was dressed all in black. From head to toe. He wore black denim pants with holes in the knees and thighs and a black t-shirt under his leather biker-style jacket. He had boots on his feet.

His hair was parted down the middle, slightly raised, revealing his forehead. His trusty earrings adorned his ears.

Around his neck was a silver chain with a silver cross. There were rings on some of his fingers, while his left wrist was adorned with a silver watch.

He had a piercing on his right eyebrow. As a rule, men with eyebrow piercings were not attractive, but Jungkook was an exception.

Not only because he was Jeon Jungkook, your longtime crush, but because it made him even hotter than he already was.

Plus, the many tattoos on his arm just screamed "dominant and dangerous man" and danger. You loved that.

Enough to make you lose your mind and feel even more attracted to him.

"Here." There was a glass of water in his other large hand. "Thank you." He helps you sit up a little better on your bed before you can drink the contents of the glass.

"Hey, YN. Can I ask you something?" He sits down on your bed next to you. "You just did." You smile, "Sorry, it was too tempting." He smiles back at you. "I'm listening."

He takes a deep breath before he starts. "What happened?" You didn't like to think back to the events of the past days, and the last thing you wanted was for someone to think you were crazy. Let alone Jungkook. But you couldn't keep it to yourself anymore. So you told him everything from the beginning.

"Do you remember what I told you the day before yesterday before you and the others disappeared like thieves?" You ask him, clarifying what he and the others had done. They had cowardly left you without any explanation. But it was not the time to blame him, so you go on.

"I told you that I felt a presence while I was alone in the cafe, but when I turned around to tell the person that it was closed, there was no one there." He had nodded to let you know he remembered. "And then I heard a voice." Again he had nodded.

"After you left, I sat on the couch - after cleaning up your mess. Suddenly an evil laugh came out of nowhere." His face had fallen apart. His lips were parted, and his eyes were wide.

"That is not all. Yesterday, before you came, I was quietly taking a shower when the lights flickered. I thought it was because of the steam and the hot shower I had just taken." At that moment, your gaze was lost in the void as you recalled the events. Just thinking about it made you shiver.

"I felt as if the oxygen had evaporated. I couldn't breathe. I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't open. All my efforts were in vain. Without realizing it, tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Against all odds, Jungkook did something that usually would have made your heart race and sent you over the moon. Under the circumstances, you were just happy to be in his arms as he comforted you by stroking your head and rocking your body back and forth as he encouraged you to keep going and that he was and would remain by your side.

"My vision was blurred, but I felt like the walls and the silt was moving. That they were coming closer and would crush me." Automatically, your hands closed over his shirt as you clung to him as if your life depended on it. "That's when I fainted."

After explaining everything from A to Z, he grabs his phone and calls the rest of the group. As each member arrived on the scene, you had to do the same, explaining to them what had happened to you.

Of course, none of your friends liked your story. They were unhappy that you had hidden what had happened to you.

What surprised you most was that they believed you without questioning your words. As if that wasn't shocking, which you didn't understand.

Usually, a sane person would have thought you were crazy, making it up, or just tired and starting to hear and imagine things. There, with your friends, that wasn't the case. And they seemed to believe you.

"I don't like this at all." Jin was the first to break the silence by speaking up. "Joon, what should we do?" You were even more confused. Two things came to your mind at that moment.

Either they didn't tell you openly that you were crazy and tried their best to make you believe that they understood what you told them. Or your friends are just as crazy as you are. And why on earth would they ask Namjoon what to do? You'd think he'd have the correct answer to make your problems disappear.

Namjoon, who has been quiet since he arrived and staring blankly since you started your explanations, gets up from his seat and sits on the coffee table facing you.

"YN," he sighs before taking your hands in his. "I'm not going to hide from you that I've been worried about you the last few days." He begins, stroking the back of your hand with his thumb.

"To tell you the truth, I've always been worried about you." Turning his gaze away from yours, he looks at your friends before returning to yours and continuing. "All of us here are very worried about you."

"I hate that you live so far out of town alone." His eyes harden a little, though his words and tone remain calm. Still, you could hear the worry in his voice. "I never really get any sleep at night knowing that you're a few miles away from both of us."

He leans forward a little more to get a little closer to you. "I'm always worried that you'll find yourself in an unpleasant situation, like the one that happened recently, and we won't be fast enough to intervene." You understood what he was saying, and on the one hand, even though you love your independence and your apartment, you couldn't stop feeling lonely sometimes.

"That's why I think it would be nice for you to have someone here with you." What? You agreed with everything he said, but you couldn't afford to be selfish and think only of yourself if one of them was forced to move in with you.

You couldn't imagine letting one of them give up their independence and habits to keep an eye on you. Even though it would have given you company, you couldn't accept it.

"Joon," you sigh, giving yourself time to find a suitable way to turn your sentence in your head, to make it as convincing as possible. "I hear your concern, and thank you for it, but I don't think it's possible."

He frowns and clenches his jaw. As if he didn't like your answer. "I'm fine, don't worry. I won't allow you to change your ways and come to my house as my babysitter."

In response, you lean forward to hold his gaze and show your resolve. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"No way." Out of nowhere, you hear Yoongi's voice, which makes you put a bit of distance between you and Namjoon. "Don't be such an idiot and accept that we are your friends, your big brothers, and we will do our best to keep you safe." Sitting on the couch to your right, Yoongi raises his eyes to show you he doesn't want to give you a choice. No matter what you say.

"But..." You didn't have time to protest when Hoseok cut you off. "It's decided. One of us will move in with YN. As soon as possible." Everyone nods in turn.

It's nice to offer this 'solution,' but which one will volunteer?

Against everyone's expectations, Jungkook was the one who volunteered to move in with you. "Are you sure, Kook?" Taehyung looked at his friend, surprised by his spontaneous volunteering. He would have thought that Namjoon, Hoseok, Jimin, or himself would have been assigned this task.

As for Jungkook didn't know why he volunteered and was determined to keep an eye on you, knowing that you rarely spent time together, just the two of you, without your friends around.

He had been drawn to you for years, not physically or emotionally, but like a magnet. He always wanted to protect you or keep an eye on you in a discreet, borderline unnoticed way. "Absolutely." He had said.

"Besides, you all work. You don't have to get up early to work on time. I haven't found a job yet, and the way things are going, I won't find one for this summer. Besides, I'm getting tired of the noise of the city. I think some time in the quiet will do me good."

He sits beside you before placing his big tattooed hand on your thigh. Dressed in shorts, your skin and his are in direct contact. Your heart races, and you start to feel hot. "It'll also give us a chance to bond a little." You felt like your heart was going to explode with joy and excitement.

As your eyes darted in front of you, you couldn't ignore the smiles on the lips of some of your friends. The ones who knew about your crush on your young friend, Jimin, Taehyung, and Namjoon.

"Well, then, it's a done deal. From now on, YN and Jungkook will be roommates." Jin had concluded.

Now the question was whether they would survive this roommate situation.

Next ↦

#Moon's Sun | 5 | The Deal #moon's sun #yaya #bts fanfic #bts smut #demons #guardians #jeon s sins #jungkook x reader #bts #bts x reader #moon's sun 5

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drabblesandmoredrabbles · 2 years ago

Text

You will love again

Note: I can't believe this is my first time uploading a fic or drabble or whatever it calls. I'm excited to share this! It might be OOC because writing it's not my thing but i did my best for comfort my self 💕 Enjoy

Also this is clearly a self insert. Some Vent/personal stuff ahead!

ALSO I'M NOT THE BEST AT ENGLISH SO I DID MY BEST WITH MY OWN KNOWLEDGE AND WITH A TRANSLATE APP.

Words: 1625

Warnings: None.

Fandom: TFP.

Relationship: Ratchet x Reader/Self Insert. Platonic.

"Don’t you have classes tomorrow?" the old bot spoke without taking his eyes off the screen in front of him. He just glanced as Y/N kept muttering something inaudible on the balcony couch.

He knew it was late, he didn’t understand why she was still here. It’s not like he hates her company.

"Y/n".

Y/N gave a small jump from her seat and let out a big, nervous sigh. "It 's Sunday. And I can do my homework tomorrow, you don’t have to worry about it." She mentioned looking at the doc, seeing how he stopped typing and turned his gaze to focus on the only human in the room.

"I’m not worried about your homework. I’m worried about... your parents, are they okay with you coming this late?" His optics inspected the girl and for a moment he swore something was not right.

Y/N used to always come home early even if it was a weekend. Was there a special occasion? Did something happen? Sure, it’s not like Ratchet cares... or that’s what he wanted to prove.

There was a small silence on both sides until the girl broke eye contact and looked at her phone, clearly contemplating the 11:00 at night. Was it so late?

"They're fine with it. I told them I was going to sleep with a friend" She stopped looking at the man that was meters away and before she said something, a click was heard. That was like a…

"Hey! Did you scan me? I don't like when you do that." Because you clearly can see when I'm down.

"I always do this. You should be used to it by now. I also wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with your physical condition. Is everything okay Y/n? Your vitals are in good shape, but, uh, I can see that you’re feeling nervous and…" He said in a serious tone without taking his optics off the girl.

"I also noticed that you didn’t talk much today. You distanced yourself even from the children."

Y/n was not surprised at how well Ratchet read her. Was she so obvious? She does not usually show her emotions but when she is down she tends to move away from others and close herself. Boy, has Ratchet known her long enough to notice her mood swings.

"I'm okay Ratchet… you really don't have to worry about it."

"Then why did you lie to your parents?" Ratchet ended up pulling away from his screen completely and looked at the young woman.

She hated this. She hated that he knew her so well. Maybe she should thank him?

"I wanted to be alone. I just wanted to get away from my friends and my parents." She didn’t know when she started touching her hands. She felt some sweat on them, why was she getting so nervous? " I just wanted... to be here alone. With you. I wanted to talk to you."

Y/n got up from the couch and without turning up she approached the balcony bars, coming a little closer to the bot. She gasped and just felt a lot of nerves at the time. Why was it so hard for her to talk about her feelings?

Ratchet looked at her and was quiet waiting for her to say something. He wasn’t a very patient bot, but he understood that she could take her time. He’ll wait for her.

"Do you remember my girlfriend? That girl I told you about sometimes". She scratched her cheek, feeling eyes on her. It was only her fav medic but still, eye contact made her uncomfortable. But she can't stop now. "Yes, yes, yes, I remember her, it's been a while since you talked about her, what happened?"

"We are not dating anymore." She finally felt like a big truck got out of her. Why did she feel like she couldn't tell anybody? It wasn't that bad, right?

"Oh. Sorry. The both of you were so in love. Why did you guys stop talking?" The moment Ratchet asked that, Y/n felt like her heart hurt. The bot noticed his mistake and immediately felt pretty bad.

Those were the 2 most awkward minutes of his life.

"We loved each other, but that was a long time ago. We both felt like that spark inside of us just… vanished. That feeling of love we once felt, it was going away these past months. We didn't talk like we used to and then… It happened. We broke up." For a moment, Y/n swear she felt a horrible pain in her chest and her cheeks just burnt. She didn't want to see Ratchet. He couldn't see her face in this vulnerable state.

The doc didn’t have much to say. He didn’t understand humans and their eagerness to have relationships with other people from time to time. It is not as if his planet’s situation were different, they could also have a conjux, which was the equivalent of having a mate on earth. It’s just that they prevailed with that bot they loved for eternity until their spark was extinguished.

He didn’t want to belittle her feelings. It’s just, he had a hard time empathizing with the subject.

"I… sorry what happened Y/n." His tone of voice sounded disturbing. He was really worried about the girl’s feelings and what happened to her. " It's all right, Ratchet. That’s how it goes all the time. I... it doesn’t hurt that we’re done. It hurts me the fact that... I would never hear an I love you from her again. I would never feel her warmth. I would never... love again?"

Everything was getting a little awkward. Not the type of awkward he feels uncomfortable with, but the one who doesn’t know what to say. His words are stuck. His voice box feels like... What do humans call it? Like he has a lump in his throat.

I would never love again.

What words were those? You can obviously love again. "Why do you say that? Your world is not going to fall apart just because of a... love breakup. I can understand how hard it is for you humans to have an affective relationship like that but it is not the end of times Y/n". The chestnut’s gaze was pinned on the Autobot. His words might sound a little harsh but for her they were on the one hand... very comforting.

"Listen Y/n, I'm truly sorry about what happened. But you know, moving on without the person we thought we would spend the rest of our lives with is always difficult." He decided to not look at her while saying those cheese and inspiring thoughts. He doesn't want to embarrass himself more; "How can we leave behind a life that, once, made us happy? How can the love we once shared have ceased to exist?" His voice no longer sounded rude, there was a kind touch on it.

The girl just couldn’t look away from that brilliant being standing in front of her. Her eyes kept burning and moistening and she knew what it meant and she didn’t want it to happen but it was inevitable with all those sweet words that the bigger man was saying to her.

"Even when your relationship has deteriorated and isn't fulfilling you quite the same way as it did, deep down, you are still tempted to cling onto the memories of how it had once been." He kept going, looking at her.

"Even though part of she and I know that there is no future, we can't quite talk to ourselves… out of the habit of being together. " She added, looking at him.

"But holding on tightly to somebody who has already gone will only cause you more pain Y/n." Ratchet extended one of his servos to the young one, still with his sad but determined face, he touched her cheek.

"You must experience the pain and the shock and the trauma , and then, to heal, you must concentrate on yourself, and your future. For life goes on, and you can exist… without them."

She simply dropped her face at the touch of someone else’s hand. That rubbing felt so comforting that she never wanted to peel off. Not wanting to walk away yet, she took one of the digits from the doctor who was stroking his cheek and hugged him tenderly.

"Ratchet. You really don’t know how much I appreciate your words. I didn’t know you had such a cheesy side." she chuckled a small laugh that only made the doctor angry and embarrassed, glancing a little, letting the other keep hugging his digit.

"Please! Don’t start with your m-

"Thank you Ratchet."

He was speechless. The major could not remove his optics from her. His sight was grateful for what he was witnessing at the time. Y/n was willing to show her most vulnerable side to him. She was allowing herself to cry in front of him, something she never does with others.

"I… Thank you very much Ratty. Thank you for listening to me and for your advice. You improved my mood ha, ha" She smiled painfully, wiping her tears slowly, looking up to see her bot." No... it’s nothing Y/n. I’m glad I helped."

"Te quiero" again, he was speechless. The girl hugged the digit a little harder.

"Can I stay on the base tonight? With you?"

"I... um- sure Y/n."

Ratchet reached out and gave the girl a chance to climb. She was more than delighted and somewhat nervous about going to sleep with the great doctor. But she was happy. Both would take their due rest.

For now.

#ratchet x reader #tfp imagines #transformers prime #tfp #tfp fanfic

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sugarfluffandallthatgoodstuff · 3 years ago

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Defense towards the fences Doctor!hawks x fem!patient!reader

ALSO REALLY QUICK THANK YOU @ari-tart-3114 FOR HELPING ME WRITE THIS!

2037 words

You are 22 in this story and he's also the same age, you have a quirk that can make a force field out of crystal and also make weapons out of crystal (basically you can do what Yaomomo can do but with crystals and make a force field) your quirk also activates and makes the force field when you feel like you're scared.

Key:

y/n=first name

l/n=last name

f/g= favorite gem

f/n=friends name

Now onto the story...

Normal POV

You hadn't planned for anything like this

nope

You had originally had tried to cover up the fact that you hadn't seen the doctor in several years but nooooooooooo your friend just had to intervene when you made a goddamn joke

So now here you were sitting in the waiting room your arm being held so as to keep you down because you kept trying to get up and leave

Your POV

stupid f/n keeping me anchored to this stupid chair in this stupid waiting room. like why am I even here I don't need to be here.

"y/n l/n" the nurse called out

"I will never forgive you for this f/n"

"Trust me I wouldn't pick a bad doctor for you mainly because I don't want you to kill me lol"

*sigh*

"hello ms.l/n my name is Tokoyami I'm an intern here but will be serving as your nurse today I'm going to be running a few vitals for you before the doctor sees you"

so he takes me to an exam room and starts taking my vitals

"so it shows here that the last time you were here was 5 years ago "

"I'm well aware of how long it's been sir"

he then finished taking my vitals and then the thing I've been fearing came out:

"the doctor will be in shortly"

fuck

fuck fuck fuckity fuck

what am I gonna do now?

do I even have an escape plan?!?!

how will I get back home without people knowing?

do I even have my purse with me?

how will I even get out of this room without people knowing?

will I be able to smoothly sneak out?

maybe I can-

"Ms.l/n may I come in?"

well shit

"u-u-uh s-s-s-sure?"

"well hello there, how are you today?"

maybe I can outsmart him?

"um I-I'm g-g-good t-today?"

"ok well, I'm going to ask you some questions and check a few things out."

"u-u-u-um o-o-o-ok?"

"alrighty, let's get started" he said as he put on the latex exam gloves ;)

Welp no escaping now

I look at him, blushing at what he is doing. Hawks looks at my blushing face, he looks at me smirking.

“Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“W-what?”

“I mean,” Hawks says, moving his hands up and down his own body, “I may be hot but this body is for the bird's eyes only”

“The woman was too stunned to speak” I thought to myself.

“However,” Hawks says (oooh gosh) “I am more than willing to make an exception for you Ms. Swan lady”

AHHHHHHH.

MOTHERFUCK WHY IS HE SO DAMN HOT?!?!?!?!?

WHY IS THE ANXIETY SUDDENLY WORSE

DAMN YOU SEXY BIRDMAN PERIOD

“I-I-I-umm,”

THINK Y/N WHAT DO WE SAY?!?!?!?!?

“What’s wrong y/n cat got your tongue?”

MOTHERFUCKER WHY

THE FUCKING AUDACITY.

“N-no I-I’m f-fine”

“Then answer the question I asked you”

“W-what d-did you ask me I-I z-zoned o-out”

“I said,” he looked straight at me, “Do you…want me?”

“T-to -w-what?”

“To ya know…give you a few so you can actually function again?”

“N-n-n-no I-I-I-I w-want t-t-to g-g-get t-this d-done a-as s-soon a-as p-p-p-possib-ble”

“Fine, then I’m just gonna… come under your shirt…”

THIS CANNOT BE FUCKING HAPPENING

NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

I scooted backward more a little as my eyes widened to be larger than goddamn dinner plates

“Oh come on y/n It’s not that bad it’ll just be a little cold but that’s the worst of it”

*gulp*

“O-o-ok u-u-u-u-u-u-um”

*sigh* “ok then let’s see who can maintain eye contact the longest how about that”

“U-u-u-um o-o-o-ok”

So I stared at him and focused on that then I suddenly felt this cold ass thing on my chest and my eyes widen even more than before

“Breathe in cutie”

“W-w-what?”

“Breathe in deep I said.”

“Yes daddy” I say under my breath.

I gasp, and so do Hawks.

I walk away from him and create a force field made out of f/g away from him.

“So that's your quirk” Hawks says quietly. Just as he is about to approach you, the field gets thiccer.

“I-I-I’M S-S-SO S-S-S-SORRY!”

“Say y/n,” Hawks looks at you, or more like, at your quirk, “How about you stay at UA, as a defense teacher”

“Wwwwait, what?”

“Your defence shield looks amazing, I’m assuming this is your quirk, correct?”

“Yes, that's correct”

“Good t-then I can l-leave r-right?”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA no”

“Wwwhyyyy?”

“You need to pack and finish here with me”

“B-B-BUT-”

“No buts I have an obligation as your doctor to carry out this check-up and make sure your body is running the way it should”

“I survived this long didn’t I?”

“That doesn’t mean it’s healthy”

“DILLIGAF”

“What?”

“D-I-L-L-I-G-A-F DILLIGAF AND THAT MEANS: DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A FUCK”

“Yeah nice try Y/N just because you are being sassy doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you go before I finish doing my job”

“yOU cAnT MAkE mE”

“Wanna bet?”

“I just want to go doc”

“Fine fine I’ll go as quick as you can but the speed at which I can go at or finish relies completely on your compliance”

“No promises on my end”

“Fine”

I reluctantly went on with the rest of the appointment and everything was going fine until-

“Ok now I’m going to need you to lie down and lift your shirt up for me”

“W-W-WHAT?!?!?”

“What’s wrong now y/n?” and THIS MAN HAD THE AUDACITY TO SAY THIS IN AN EXASPERATED TONE

“I- you know what you w-wouldn’t understand”

“What are you talking about-”

“HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU NOT NOTICE HOW FAT I AM?!?”

"Y/N you are literally the opposite of fat you are actually underweight by 20lbs”

“OH YEAH THEN WHY DO PEOPLE TELL ME I AM FAT THEN?!?!?” tears were welling up in my eyes

“They probably need their vision checked or because you don’t seem to wear anything that really accentuates your shape. Now can you please lay down so I can get you finished up? Because I wouldn’t want you feeling more anxious than you probably are.”

“F-f-fine”

“Thank you”

He then lifted my shirt up and started to press his hands in all different places on my tummy and then we ran into a little issue-

My abs. They were EXTREMELY ticklish

*squeak*

“Was that a squeak I just heard? Are you ok?”

Me now flustered more than I was earlier when he walked in

“U-u-u-uh yeaha”

“Are you sure about that sweetheart?”

“Y-yeah”

“Then you shouldn’t mind me doing this”

And of course what he decides to do is tickle the crap out of me.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO”

“Awwww look at you you’re so cute all flustered and giggly for me and I’m barely touching you~”

“YOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOU AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHASS”

“Aww now that’s not very nice now if only you could comply and you wouldn’t be in the position”

“FIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHHINE”

“Good now let’s keep going”

And just when I thought the nightmare was finally over…

“Well it looks like you haven't had any immunizations in a while so you’ll need to get those today”

“OH HEEEELLL NO”

“Sorry Y/N this is necessary”

“NOPE I’M DONE HERE”

I then proceeded to sprint out of the room and down the hall and make it back into the waiting room and manage to almost leave the building

Notice how I said almost

I had no idea how fast this guy was and massively underestimated what someone with wings could do in a building

Because this fucker managed to catch up to me and restrain me as I was about to leave the building

NOOOOOO I WAS SO CLOSE

“Sorry Y/N but you’ve gone too far”

“LET ME GO DAMNIT”

“No”

He then takes us both back to the exam room and restrains me to the chair with… his feathers?

WTF

“I’m sorry Y/N but I have to do this I know needles are scary I completely understand but you can’t just run out like that”

I had started shaking in my place tears filling my eyes and tried to scoot back but I was held in place very tightly

HAWKS POV

Poor kid she looks terrified what am I gonna do I can only keep her in place for so long before

I go to speak but she beats me to it

“I-I-I’M-M-M S-SC-CA-ARE-D-D P-P-LE-EASE N-NO”

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you,” the girl looks confused at my comment, sort of relaxed.

“EASY FOR YOU TO SAY IT’S NOT HAPPENING TO YOU”

“What do you mean by that?” Now I’m the one confused

“IT DOESN’T HURT YOU BECAUSE YOU AREN’T GETTING STABBED WITH A NEEDLE”

“WELL I’M NOT GONNA STAB YA HOWS THAT” that was the first time I ever yelled at anyone. Y/N looks at me then breathes in.

“Ahhhh thank goodness” she looked so released, and for the first time that day, i notice the little shine in her eyes.

“So h-how many do I need to get?”

“Never mind that,” I say, jumping out of my chair.

“Huh?” She looks confused, “What do you mean?”

“How would you like to be a student-teacher at UA?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

I’m not gonna tell her because it would totally make her more aware of the situation

“What’s wrong with me asking? Weren't we walking about it earlier?” I ask her as I prepare the 3 needles with my back turned to her

“Y-yeah but still makes no sense”

Crap I needed to act fast if I want to keep her mind off of it so I can keep her stress down

“I just wanted to pick up where we left off ya know?”

“O-oh o-ok”

YOUR POV

“So what do you think of my idea?” he asked me as he turned around and stared into my eyes with his golden ones

“U-um I don’t think I-I would b-be qualified”

And I somehow didn’t notice him rolling my sleeves up and wiping both my shoulders down with an alcohol wipe

“You seem smart and qualified to me and your quirk is really strong from what I can tell”

*poke*

“OW WHAT THE FUCK”

“There now your shots are done. All three of them”

“Wait HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!?!?!”

“My quirk allows me to be able to multitask and I was able to administer all three at once”

I was speechless

Truly fucking speechless

“And you managed to take ‘em like a champ,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders

“So how about we meet up sometime maybe… at a nice restaurant?”

“Uh uh uh uh-” damn this man and his ability to fluster me easily

“Just nod or shake your head maybe that will be easier”

I nodded my head

“Great! Then how about tomorrow night and maybe we can talk about that student-teacher position at UA?”

“Sure”

He then handed me a post-it with his number on it and a smiley at the bottom with a little note saying ‘call me’

“See you then cutie”

TIME SKIP TO THE NEXT DAY AT THE RESTAURANT

“Hey, nice to see you again Y/N”

“Nice to see you again too,” I said shyly and looked at the ground

“Aww there’s no need to be shy, you look lovely by the way”

He then moved behind me and pulled the chair out for me and sat across from me

And then we got to talking about the student-teacher position and he promised to get me a job there

*BONUS*

“NO BAKUGOU YOU CAN’T JUST YEET KAMINARI ACROSS THE ROOM”

“WHY THE HELL NOT?”

“BECAUSE THAT’S YOUR TEAMMATE YOU BAKA”

~FIN~

#doctor!mha #hawks x reader #anxious!reader #mha x reader fluff #lee!reader #ticklish!reader #ler!mha x lee!reader #shy!reader #mha x reader #ler!hawks

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dem-obscure-imagines · 4 years ago

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Try

Warren Worthington III x Reader

Fandom: Marvel/X-Men

Summary: Warren has been through hell and then some, but will meeting his soulmate turn that around?

Note: That’s right, it’s ya girl, back on my BS. I watched Apocalypse again and BIG SURPRISE, I’m in love with Warren and Kurt all over again. Still hyperfixating on Pietro also, so…expect more fics for him as well. Anyway, I’m a ho for soulmate aus and I haven’t written one for birb boi in literal years, so here ya go.

Reader is: Gender Neutral

Warnings: swears, mentions of alcohol

Word Count: 2.8k

Warren knew one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt: he didn’t deserve a soulmate. He didn’t. There was no question in his mind. Anyone who was destined to end up with his winged, alcoholic ass had been fucked over by the universe. No one deserved to be stuck with him for the rest of their lives. And yet, these thoughts didn’t seem to erase the words written on his forearm:

Hey, um, you’re Warren, right? The Professor wanted me to talk to you.

Professor. He scoffed. He was never going to college. If his parents had gotten their way, their son “cured” of his wings, he would have ended up at Harvard or Yale or somewhere similar. But it was far too late for that. Sitting in a cage in the back room of an illegal underground mutant fighting club in Berlin…it was far too late for that. He’d probably die before he met his soulmate anyway, rendering the prophecy on his wrist—and theirs, for that matter—useless. A waste of space.

That was all he was anyway.

He spiraled. His dependence on vodka got worse. The fights got harder. He wasn’t making it out unscathed anymore, winding up with burns and scrapes and cuts, depending on what kind of mutant he was up against. One night, one of his cuts had gotten dangerously close to the writing on his wrist. He stared at it for a long time, tears burning his eyeballs until they escaped and dripped down his cheeks, angry and hot.

He hated it, but even after everything, he still had hope. He still had hope that things would get better; that he could be better, even if it seemed impossible.

And then it got…worse.

Apocalypse had come, turned his wings to metal, tuned into his anger, his rage at the world, turned him into a monster, complete with knives for feathers and winding tattoos framing his face. He wished he could blame it on mind control or something, but Apocalypse hadn’t brainwashed him, only used his anger against him. Turned him into a weapon.

And then everything went black.

When he woke up after the battle, he was in an unfamiliar room, large and white and sterile; it smelled like hand sanitizer. He heard the steady beeping of a heart monitor and when he sat up, he noticed how sore he was. His whole body hurt. His head spun. But he was alive. And when he looked down at his tattoo, the words were still there. Wherever his soulmate was, they were fine. His stupidity in joining Apocalypse hadn’t caused anything to happen to them.

For the first time in what felt like years, he breathed.

“You’re awake.” A voice said as a tall man with brown hair entered his room. “I’ll let the Professor know.”

“Where…” his deep voice rasped and the man pointed to a glass of water sitting on the table adjacent to the cot he was situated in. He picked it up and took a few long, greedy sips, not realizing just how thirsty he was until the cool drink hit his tongue. “Where am I? What is this place?”

“This is the infirmary at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.” The man told him, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. “You’re safe here.”

Warren nodded hesitantly, but didn’t say anything else. Safe. The word was almost a myth to him at this point. But at least he felt like he could rest for a little while.

***

It had been a few weeks since Apocalypse and his horsemen had almost ended the world. Erik had decided to stick around, and two of the younger horsemen, Storm and “the Angel of Death,” respectively, had been absorbed into the school’s student body. You didn’t know the Angel’s name. No one really talked to him, not even Ororo, Storm, who had been quickly adopted by your friend group.

Supposedly, Peter had tried to talk to the Angel guy, but he didn’t say anything to him. Ororo theorized he probably felt guilty about the whole thing. She did. But you all knew she didn’t know what Apocalypse was really trying to do. He probably hadn’t either, but that didn’t seem to keep the grim expression off of his face.

It was on a nice, sunny day that Xavier called you into his office, and you went down without complaint, knocking on the door a few times before he called you inside. You sat in the chair across from his desk.

“Hi, Professor. What’s going on?” You asked.

“Ah, yes. Just the empath and healer I wanted to see.” He smiled brightly. “(Y/N), if you don’t mind it too terribly, I have a small job for you.”

“Of course! What do you need?”

“I’m sure you’ve seen our newest pupil, Warren, around.”

You thought for a moment. “The, uh, guy with the wings? The big metal ones?”

“Precisely.” He nodded. “Warren…he’s been having quite a hard time adjusting.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“He came to me yesterday discussing…well, quite simply, he was wondering if any of our mutants here would be capable of…reverting him to his previous state. His wings, before Apocalypse, were made of feathers. They’ve been serving as quite a reminder to him and it’s been weighing pretty heavily on him, both literally and emotionally.”

“Yeah, I’ve, uh, caught his vibes from across campus.” You nodded. “It’s like there’s always a rain cloud hanging over his head.”

“Yes,” Xavier agreed. “It doesn’t have to be right away, but at your nearest convenience, if you see him around, would you talk to him? Tell him I sent you?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll see what I can do.” You promised him.

As an empath and a healer, your first priority was helping others. And even if he was known to be a bit intimidating, you wanted to help him if you could.

So, you walked out of Xavier’s office, attended your final class of the day, and when it was over, you wandered out into the courtyard where, because of the nice weather, students were everywhere. And luckily for you, just as you suspected he might be, Warren was sitting under a tree, still sporting his leather jacket despite the warm weather.

You shielded your eyes from the sun and walked over towards him, your heart racing as you built up the courage to talk to him. So, you took a breath and said, “Hey, um, you’re Warren, right? The Professor wanted me to talk to you.”

He stared up at you for a long moment, his green eyes wide in shock. He took a breath, blinked a few times, glanced down at his wrist, and then back up at you. You could have sworn you saw tears beginning to form along his waterline, and you didn’t realize why until he said, “You’re my…No…Oh my God…I’m…I’m so sorry.”

You froze, your knees going weak. You glanced down at your bare forearm and read over the words he’d just said, exactly the way he’d just said them.

You’re my…No…Oh my God…I’m…I’m so sorry.

“Why are you sorry?” You whispered, lowering yourself onto the grass beside him, not trusting your legs to support your weight for much longer. Now you were the one with tears in your eyes. “Don’t be sorry.”

“You deserve so much more than me.” He insisted, his eyes locked on his boots, unwilling and unable to meet your gaze. “I can’t drag you into…this. Me.”

His emotions were heavy, a bleak blue and gray haze and you felt it radiate off of him in waves. His pain, his everything. And you felt it, deep within his chest. He thought you wouldn’t want him anyway.

“Warren…” You shook your head. “Why…Why would you think I don’t want you?”

He was shocked into silence for a few seconds, thinking over his words carefully, his jaw tense and hands shaking. “You’re a telepath?”

“Empath.” You corrected quietly. “And…a healer. Which is why Xavier sent me.”

“Oh. Right.” He swallowed thickly, nodding. “Did he…tell you why?”

“He did.” You smiled softly. “And I’m willing to try if you are.”

Finally, his eyes met yours and he could tell that you meant more than just the healing when you said it. The weak little voice in the back of his head was screaming for him to push you away like he pushed away everyone else, but looking into your eyes, a genuine and warm smile on your face, he just…couldn’t lose you.

He couldn’t lose anyone else.

***

Today was the day. Warren was sitting on a stool in the infirmary. Hank had run his vitals and the two of them were in the room waiting for you to come down after your class was over.

“(Y/N) is the one who saved you, you know.” Hank told Warren while he jotted down some notes.

“What?” Warren asked, snapping out of whatever daydream he had been caught up in. “What do you mean?”

“(Y/N) found you in the rubble. We didn’t think you would make it, but…they healed you. They insisted we bring you back here. Give you a chance.”

Warren was quiet for a long time, thinking about what that meant. Part of him wondered if (Y/N) had known back then that he was their soulmate, but he decided that would have been impossible with just their tattoos alone. Especially without context. They hadn’t known and yet, they’d still wanted the best for him.

“Didn’t know that.” Warren said, his voice soft and deep. He stared at the words on his wrist for a little longer, a hint of warmth swirling around in his stomach. Was this happiness? Was that what happiness felt like? He barely remembered anymore. But he knew there must have been a reason that when you walked through the door, his heart started beating a little bit faster.

“Sorry I’m so late. Professor Leaf kept us a little later than she was supposed to. Are you ready?” You asked taking off your backpack and setting it against the wall. As soon as you looked up at Warren, you felt the way his heart rate was increased and you didn’t miss the warmth swirled with the anxiousness. The anxiousness, you had expected. Even you didn’t know if you could pull off what you were going to attempt to do, but the warmth…it was a pleasant surprise.

“Don’t worry about it.” He told you, shaking his head. Was he…was he smiling? It was a small smile, sure, but you didn’t think you had ever seen him smile before. It looked good on him. “I’m ready when you are.”

“Alright.” You nodded, walking over towards him. Underneath where he was situated on a stool, Hank had laid out some pads from the training room, you assumed, to catch his metal feathers if they fell out rather than transforming back to his normal…feather feathers. None of you really knew how this would unfold. “Again, I’m not sure this will work. I don’t want to get your hopes up in case it doesn’t.”

“I’m not expecting it to.” Warren assured you, but it wasn’t in a rude way. “If it does, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Cross my heart.” What he didn’t say was: You could never disappoint me. Not even if you tried.

“Okay.” You nodded, taking a few steps closer until you were standing right in front of him. He looked up at you and for the first time, you didn’t feel any negative emotions from him. Only anticipation and that lingering warmth. “Here goes nothing.”

You focused on the warmth in your own chest, the tingling yellow healing power that constantly swirled around your heart, and you forced it into your palms. You reached forward for his hands and he took the hint, his larger hands wrapping around yours.

Immediately, he gasped at the sensation, warm tingles running up his arms, down his spine. It stopped in the center of his back, right where his wings intersected with his body. At first, he didn’t feel anything. And then, he felt everything. The pleasant warmth flooded his metal wings, and one by one, the knife-like feathers fell out, each one landing with a thud against the mat situated underneath him.

Hank’s pencil jotted against his notebook as he took notes. He knew you were powerful, but he’d had no idea you were capable of something like this.

Neither had you.

Once the metal wings were gone, Warren felt a new sensation: another pair of wings, this one soft and familiar, slowly emerging from him. Part of him expected the process to be painful, like the one Apocalypse had forced upon him was, but it wasn’t. Warren chuckled to himself. Of course you would never hurt him. Not even unintentionally.

After a few minutes, the feathery wings had fully emerged, stretched out to his full former wingspan and he stared up at you in awe. You stopped your flow of power to him, but he held onto your hands, squeezing them to keep them in his grasp.

He looked back at his new wings, flexed them and moved them. They felt familiar, like they had always belonged to him.

“Thank you.” He said, giving your hands another squeeze, the warmth in his chest brighter and bolder than it had been before. “Thank you so much.”

“Of course.” You told him, squeezing his hands right back in a way that caused his heart to lurch. “I’m glad I could help.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but do you mind if I keep some of these for research?” Hank asked.

“Keep all of them, if you want. I don’t want them.” Warren told him, standing up from his stool, his hands still in yours. “So, um…do you want to go grab dinner or something?”

“Sure.” You nodded, smiling up at him. “See you later, Hank.”

“Bye, guys, have a nice night.” Hank said as you and Warren walked out of his lab. He couldn’t help but notice the way one of your hands remained in one of his as the two of you left.

***

Later that night, after dinner and after you and Warren had split for the evening, you were walking back to your room from Jean and Jubilee’s and you found Warren, lingering in his doorway, his toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. His eyes widened when he spotted you and he held up a finger, indicating you should wait for him, so you did while he went into his bathroom and rinsed out his mouth, returning a few moments later.

“Hey.” He said, the word casual as it fell from his pink lips.

“Hey yourself.” You chuckled, feeling ridiculously underdressed in your pajamas. But then again, he was wearing his pajamas, too, a large black Metallica shirt and a pair of plaid pants.

“How…how are you? Feeling?” He stumbled over his words, chuckling as he rubbed the back of his neck. You felt a wave of nervousness rush through him. “Hank said sometimes you get tired after, uh, bigger healing jobs?”

“I’m fine.” You nodded. “For whatever reason, I never get tired when I’m healing you.” You chuckled, your cheeks heating up the slightest bit. “Well…I think I know why…”

“Heh, yeah.” He nodded, mulling over his next words very carefully. “Did you, um…I don’t know how to ask this. Did you mean what you said about…trying? About us trying…this. Trying us.”

“Of course I did.” You nodded and took a few steps closer to him. “You’re my soulmate.” You reached for his hand and he gave it to you, letting you play with his fingers. You felt the way his heart fluttered when you did. “Of course I want to try.”

“I’m broken.” He told you. “I’ve never done this before. I’m…I’m a lot, and I know that.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’m a healer, huh?” You tilted your head. “And if we’re being honest, I’ve never done this before either. So how about we teach each other? Learn together?”

He smiled softly, nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that.”

You let go of his hand and instead took the last few steps between the two of you, wrapping your arms around his torso. He froze for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. It had been…a long time since anyone had hugged him. But after a few moments, his arms got the hint and wrapped around you, pulling you to his chest. He rested his head atop yours and exhaled a long, long breath. And for the first time since you’d met him, you felt a wave of peace wash over him, encasing him entirely as his wings gently cocooned you in their warmth.

You felt his lips brush against your temple, pressing a soft kiss there. You looked up at him and his eyes met yours before fluttering shut as he leaned in to press his lips to yours.

#warren worthington iii #warren worthington x reader #warren worthington imagine #angel #xmen angel #angel x reader #angel imagine #archangel x reader #archangel imagine #xmen imagine #marvel imagine

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dazai-fics · 4 years ago

Text

Stargazing – Dazai Osamu

Pairing: Dazai x Reader (high school au)

Word Count: 2.6k*

Warnings: slight cursing, smut/nsfw- oral, fingering

Summary: Having Osamu Dazai as your boyfriend has never been boring.

A/n: This has been stuck in my head for a while and I finally was able to sit down and write it out so I hope you guys enjoy and don’t judge me too much because this is my first time writing out smut !

Inspired by: Stargazing*- The NBHD

You could feel the cool of the evening seep into your bones as you groggily sat up in your plush bed. Once, then twice, did you blink to remove any bit of remaining sleep as you looked over to the source of your annoyance.

Your phone lit up with a string of messages from only one contact; a contact that as of late had made your heart pound in a way that was indescribable in every sense of the word. Sighing, you picked up the phone and began to read over the messages your extremely clingy boyfriend woke you up with.

‘Samu ♡:

1:04 AM

hey baby i can’t sleep u up?

1:04

Belladonna ? :(

1:05

I’m coming over, have a surprise for us :)

He’s what?

You were now fully awake at this point and groaned at the spontaneity and impulsiveness of your brunette lover. Knowing you had no choice but to go along with his antics, you got out of your bed and quickly ran to your closet hoping the faster you went, the quicker the chills would go away as they flared your arms and legs up with goosebumps.

You were already wearing sweatpants, so you decided to just throw on a black hoodie that was suspiciously too big on your figure.

You inhaled deeply as the smell of vanilla and mint overcame your senses causing a serene smile to overcome your features. Yes, this was indeed the sweatshirt of the Osamu Dazai; a man that in the last couple of months has invaded your every waking thought and had claim over any flush in your cheeks, dimple in your smile, and crinkle in your eyes as they closed shut-tight over the unbearable laughter released at one of his cheesy jokes.

Of course that didn’t mean everything was all raised heart beats and shared smiles with the boy as dating Dazai also meant caring for him and all his dark thoughts and emotions. As well as vise versa since your life by no means was easy and perfect. However, no matter how bad things got; or who left or entered your life, you could always count on Dazai, and him you, to be there whenever life caught you both in it’s gloomy and seemingly inescapable hold.

Another smile escaped your lips and you once again inhaled the calming scent; now thinking back to how you met the lanky, mysterious, goofball.

You had moved to your new town back in your freshman year of high school which of course meant having to make new friends and basically start a whole new life in a time that was so important and vital.

You remember your first day at ADA highschool so vividly; the sweat that built in your palms, and the barely visible motion of your toes curling into your shoes from anxiety. You had thought making friends would be impossible no matter how many times your parents assured you that your “charming” personality would help you make friends so very easily.

It was the end of the day and you were sure that your still very much lack of friends would mean that would be the truth for the rest of your four years in this high school you were very much forced to attend. You felt a tear quickly escape your eye as the anxiety started to take physical form; quickly you ran to a quiet corner and began to wipe furiously and harshly at your eyes as you reprimanded your sensitivity.

“What am I five? Why am I crying so hard?”

You jumped suddenly as you heard quiet giggles next to your ear.

You felt embarrassment flood your body as you wiped even harder to stop the tears. He was a bit blurry, but you could faintly make out the long, curly, brunette hair; dark chocolate eyes, and white bandages that wrapped around his long, lanky, figure. He also wore casual clothes which consisted of jeans, a hoodie, and sneakers.

Your first thought, of course besides the initial embarrassment and anger, was why he was wrapped in those seemingly endless rolls of bandages.

“Who is this weird banaged guy?” You scoffed to yourself as your sniffles came to an end.

“Done crying?” He asked teasingly, that stupid smug smile still on his face.

“I don’t remember asking for your help or comfort,” you said defensively, the venom not really reaching your still red and glossy face.

The boy laughed again good-naturedly; not intentionally trying to rile you up but he couldn’t help but think your anxiety was misplaced.

“Well then, why don’t you come walk home with my friend Atsushi and I, could be fun~,” he offered, his hand held out to you in an act of trying to make you feel comforted.

Your eyes widened as you hesitantly accepted his offer; the boy rushing you along as soon as your hands made contact, going into a rant over another boy named Kunikida mothering the absolute shit out of him.

Four years had gone by and you were both in your senior year; nothing really changing between you except the now official titles of ‘boyfriend’ and ‘partner’ which you had longed for since as long as you could remember.

Since that fateful day, you had become a part of the best group of friends you could ask for consisting of Atsushi, Kunikida, Yosano, Kenji, Ranpo, kyouka, and of course Dazai.

However, you knew you wanted something more with Dazai since freshman year and although you two were… close, he never seemed interested in more. He seemingly always had a new girl on his arm bragging about the various amounts of… sexual interactions he would have with them and each time it broke your heart a little more.

Despite all that, he would hold you whenever you were down, wiped your tears whenever they fell, and held you close when you couldn’t sleep; pressing gentle kisses when he thought you were knocked out by exhaustion finally hitting you.

Dazai had intimacy issues and fears you knew were holding him back from officially committing to you which is why you never pressed anything and kept your feelings locked up nice and tight… until a couple of months ago when it all came to a head.

Harsh words; honest words were shared by you both in an argument you thought would rip the person you had come to love and rely on most from you forever. Luckily it did the exact opposite as Dazai decided he was done with denying himself from your pure and warm love that made his dark world just a bit brighter everyday.

And now you two were inseparable; lips never too far from each other, limbs entangled whenever chance allowed. Your other friends were definitely sick of it but you both didn’t care as you denied each other from this comfort for too long to let any time go to waste.

You were snapped out of your reverie by gentle tapping at your window. You quickly turned your head to see the man of your thoughts sitting patiently on the ledge, a goofy smile etched into his pretty, pink lips.

You scoffed playfully as you made your way across the room to open the window for him. Immediately, he placed his lips on yours in a passionate kiss as his hands came up to cup your face lovingly.

“Mmm missed you so much,” he mumbled against your lips causing you to giggle.

“We saw each other, like, six hours ago!” You exclaimed slapping him playfully, causing him to release a laugh himself.

“Exactly! Now c’mon I’m taking you somewhere,” Dazai commanded you gently, grabbing your hand as he guided you out the window.

“‘Samu it’s one in the morning, where are we going?” You groaned in annoyance wanting your boyfriend to join you in bed and cuddle you back to sleep.

“Nuh uh uh~ It’s a surprise!” He exclaimed playfully booping you on the nose as you both made your way to his black range rover.

“Alright, whatever, can I at least get a hint?”

“Hmm, okay, okay, fine,” Dazai relented as he began to type away on his phone playing a song from his spotify that came out on his connected bluetooth, touch screen.

Take it from the top, if I start I just can’t stop…

You giggled silently as you shook your head, your boyfriend rolling down both of your windows and turning up the music for what he likes to call ‘the full midnight drive experience.’

“So are we going stargazing?!” You yelled over the wind and music.

“Yep!” He yelled back cheerily taking one hand off of the wheel to rub at your thigh comfortingly.

“Pull it out of park put in drive, I can feel your heart beating with mine, underneath the stars, lookin' for a sign glowin' in the dark 'til the sun shines, made it pretty far on the first try, might've set the bar a little too high, started with a spark, now we're on fire-”

You both yelled together which winded up with you both laughing uncontrollably. Dazai continued to sing along with the neighborhood as you took this as a chance to examine how gorgeous this man truly was.

His silky, curly brunette hair went everywhere as the wind entangled with it, his dark chocolate eyes shined with the headlights from the cars going on the opposite side of the freeway, his bandaged hands gripped at the wheel allowing you to see every vein and bone from his knuckles, and his face was flushed pink from the yelling and wind.

You laughed freely as you once again joined in with his singing; utter and complete joy filling you both which was rare.

Eventually, you both reached a secluded park with a hill; perfect for sitting and stargazing. Once you both got out, Dazai layed out a towel for you both to cuddle on without getting soaked from the freshly sprayed grass.

You both giggled loudly like the teenagers in love you were as you made yourself comfortable on your boyfriend’s chest; his lanky arms coming to wrap themselves around you, one occasionally letting go to point out the constellations or meteors blinking past in the inky sky.

You had to hold in your snickers whenever he would wrongly name a constellation but nonetheless; you would place a soft kiss on his cheek and thank him for teaching them to you.

Soon, the soft kisses on the cheek would turn to passionate kisses on the lips as Dazai changed his position to where he was on top of you. He began to leave a trail of kisses down your jaw to your neck; the juxtaposition of his warm kisses to the cold air surrounding you both caused small whimpers of pleasure to leave your lips.

“‘Samu…” you called breathily causing your boyfriend to look up from the dark hickeys he was ever-so-carefully placing on your collarbone.

“What is it, my belladonna?” He asked teasingly, returning to his methodically placed kisses.

“More…” you whined as arousal began to pool in your gut.

“As you wish.”

Dazai kissed lower down your belly to the elastic band of your panties. After leaving a couple small kisses on your hip bone, he looked up into your eyes for confirmation it was okay to go further. You nodded urgently and placed your hand in his soft locks as if to urge him on. He let out a chuckle at your eagerness but complied nonetheless; you were his princess and whatever you asked of him he would do, even at the cost of his own wellbeing.

After pulling down your sweatpants and panties, he immediately attached his tongue to your clit; moving it in small circles he knew would make you fall apart. Your whines and whimpers fuled him on as your fingers harshly pulled on his locks.

“‘Samu… want your fingers” You ordered in between moans.

“Where baby, tell me,” he whispered, placing a soft kiss on your clit.

“inside…please!”

“As you wish.”

Dazai slowly placed his ring and middle fingers into your tight cunt, “Fuck belladonna, so wet for me,” he all but moaned as he gently moved his fingers around trying to find the spot that would have you fall apart all over him.

“‘Samu there! Please!” You gasped as he found your G-spot; not letting up until your back arched and you cummed all over his fingers.

“Good girl; my good, pretty girl that’s it,” he whispered gently as he coaxed you down from your high.

He licked away all the wetness from his fingers as he came back up to meet your lips in a passionate kiss filled with lust and love.

“‘Samu, want more..” you begged softly against his lips.

“Mmm what could you possibly mean~” your boyfriend teased causing you to groan.

“Oh like you don’t want the same thing I can see your hard-on from here,” you teased back looking down to see he was indeed impossibly hard in well fitted grey sweatpants.

“Ha-ha touché, belladonna.”

You both shared a loving laugh as you once again met in a kiss, your hand cupping the back of his head to bring him even closer. Dazai separated for a second to take off his pants and underwear letting his painfully hard cock hit against his abdomen, Dazai letting out a hiss from the cold hair hitting it.

“Need you baby, please,” you whined as your boyfriend soothed you with a kiss to the neck as he began to line his dick up with your wet pussy.

“Almost in, tell me if it ‘urts,” he mumbled as he began to fill you up.

You gasped, never truly used to his size but feeling complete nevertheless.

“Okay?” He asked gently and you nodded kissing his cheek giving him the silent permission to keep going.

“Feels so good ‘Samu!” You moaned as he picked up speed.

“Fuck you’re so tight baby, always so good and tight for me,” your boyfriend praised as he kept up a gentle pace trying to bring you both to your respective highs.

“Gonna cum ‘Samu,'' you whimpered as you felt the coil in your abdomen beginning to snap.

“Go on belladonna, cum for me,” he praised as you did just that; the fast tightening of your warm cunt milking Dazai’s cock as he began to cum with you.

Dazai collapsed on top of you, burying his head in your warm neck and you wrapped your smaller arms around his waist.

“Love you so much ‘Samu,'' you whispered as you felt soft kisses being placed on the dark hickeys your boyfriend left prior.

“Love you more, belladonna; thank you for always being by my side,” he whispered back.

After indulging in each other’s warmth and comfort for a while longer, Dazai cleaned you both up with the towel and dressed you both as he then gently picked you up and placed you in the back seat to lay down as you had fallen asleep.

He took a warm blanket he always kept for you in the trunk and tucked and buckled you in as he took his place in the driver’s seat and drove you both back to your house.

Once you both arrived he took you in arms and walked you both up to the front door where he used the key you gave him to let you in. As quietly as possible, he then took you both upstairs to your room where he tucked you in again and then got comfortable in the bed next to you; gathering you in his arms and then pressing a kiss to your head.

“Good night, my love sleep well.”

#dazai x reader #osamu dazai x reader #osamu x reader #bsd x reader #bsd imagines #bungou stray dogs x reader #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs imagines #dazai #osamu dazai #smut #bsd smut #my writing

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rikalovesrice · 3 years ago

Text

My Thoughts on Trollhunters : Rise of the Titans

WARNING : ALL THE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW

Mmmmm. Okay. So I just finished the movie. I’m fatigued as always so this’ll be a bit of a mess lol. Gotta spew the thoughts while they’re still fresh, y’all know how it is.

Right out the gate, I definitely want to talk about the things I loved.

The animation was, of course, phenomenal and gorgeous!

Voice acting was incredible as always

MUSIC SLAPPED

Douxie. I just loved seeing Douxie again and honestly kept my eyes trained on him for most the of movie lol

OK DOUXIE AND NARI SWITCHING?? BODIES??? Definitely didn’t see that coming and I legit started screaming lol

Nari in Douxie’s body is the most precious, chaotic, and wholesome thing like holy cow that was so adorable LOOKIT DOUXIE CROUCHING AND CRAWLING AROUND ON ALL FOURS WITH THOSE NOODLE LIMBS OF HIS I CAN’T --

We called Nari’s mind control and Douxie trying to reason with her!

In the very few scenes they were together, Douxie’s love and affection for Nari really came through. You could really feel how much he cared about her. ALSO THAT TENDER HUG AND NARI’S LITTLE HAPPY SQUEAK MY HEART NO--

Loved Barbara. Always love Barbara.

Walter and Barbara getting engaged

Nomura back in action

Claire being the powerful sorceress she’s become

Loved seeing Aja, Krel, and Varvatos all together again.

NARI VS SKRAEL WAS ALL SORTS OF EPIC AND CRUSHING EMOTIONS.

The way Douxie yelled Nari’s name and ran to her after she died and the remnants of her magic falling all around him, like she was saying goodbye, just *UGLY CRYING*

It was so cool to see Charlie out of his den and flying about like the mighty dragon he is

Loved the Guardians of Arcadia pulling Excaliber out together.

All the gang all going after Bellroc together

YES JIM MY BOOOOOOY

BLINKY DIDN’T DIE

Aarrgh I love you so much

Stuart, what a bro!

We saw a hint of mercy in Bellroc towards the end.

Toby’s death... That was a huge curveball. Jim might as well have cut my heart out with Excaliber as he sobbed over his best friend.

Uh.....um....and.....Er...what else........ .___.

..........Alright so.......It’s about to get a bit brutal from here on out as I talk about the things I didn’t like at all. And the really sad thing is, at least to me, the cons far outweigh the pros in this movie. Because I’m actually having difficulty picking out things I enjoyed, they were so few and far between...which really sucks.

So here we go.

Gosh, where to begin... I guess I’ll go ahead and say this : I’m really disappointed.

Like as I’m here typing this, I’m just thinking, “...That was it? That was the movie?? The big finale???”

So much of this movie just felt....unnecessary. I hate to say almost like filler. The entire intro re-caping the series really wasn’t needed. And then Toby went and restated it all again when he was being interrogated. The pacing, oh my gosh...Guys, the pacing in this movie was not good. The action started and it never seemed to stop. There wasn’t a single moment of rest, of levity, of our characters just being themselves, getting to know each other, being friends outside of the battle. No Reckless Club Segment. No fun, just... I mean Claire and Aja didn’t speak to each other at all. Douxie and Toby hardly interacted. Steve was turned into a gross male pregnancy joke. Jim and Krel barely spoke. Douxie and Aja had nothing to say to each other. Even Aja and Krel didn’t have any moments together. The list goes on. The whole movie was just go, go, go. And it’s so frustrating because there was time for it but it was poorly executed.

Like was the whole break-in to the Chinese Trollmarket really necessary?? Guys, I really found myself not caring. I didn’t care to see this random side quest involving an insignificant new troll character and a Trollmarket that had little to no bearing on the plot. Did I love seeing Charlie, Archie, Blinky, and Claire? Of course! But these scenes were so pointless. So needless. They could’ve written other ways for all our heroes to go after the chronosphere (Maybe we could’ve had Zoe for crying out loud). But instead this vital artifact was the hands of a character we don’t know and don’t care about in a place that turned out to have basically nothing to do with anything.

Deaths. The deaths in this movie. Because of the pacing in this movie, there wasn’t nearly enough time for the emotional impacts to sink in. Nomura? Gone and the only ones mourning her are Aaarrgh and Douxie, who barely knew her. Walter’s death was handled better since we got to see Jim and Barbara actually having a moment to mourn him. The weight of Nari’s death was singlehandedly carried by Douxie, but even that was over before it started. The immense gravity of Toby’s death, which really got to me, was also short-lived to make way for an ending that...I don’t know.

ALSO DOUXIE JUST??? BEING OKAY WITH HIS FAMILIAR, THE ONE WHO RAISED HIM AND WENT THROUGH SO MUCH WITH HIM FOR CENTURIES, LEAVING HIM FOREVER TO BE TRAPPED IN THAT DUMB TROLLMARKET WITH CHARLIE LIKE???

“I hope he’s happy.”

WHAT. THE. EVERLASTING. FRICK.

Douxie’s reaction objectively doesn’t make a shred of sense. Geez, it’s almost like Douxie was expecting Archie to up and leave him someday to be with Charlegmane. Just...what???

What also frustrates me so much is how this movie undid so much characterization and development that happened in Wizards. Or more like all that development didn’t even matter.

What was the point of Steve’s arc in Wizards if he was just going to be reduced to...this?

I was so excited to see Douxie really being a Master Wizard. To see him lead the Guardians of Arcadia alongside Jim. To see him in action as Successor to Merlin and Protector of this Realm.

But no.

Douxie, who had such an incredible arc in Wizards and a character who’s come to mean so much to me in my life, was nerfed and sidelined.

And then time restarts and I can’t help but wonder why any of this mattered at all. What the heck was the freaking point of the suffering, the loss, the pain, the growth, enduring and overcoming so much, the friendships and family spanning across three shows... All gone. Starting all over. Undoing everything, except what Jim went through. As much as I love Jim, I didn’t think he’d be the only character I’d be getting closure for at the grand finale of this entire franchise. But that’s what happened and I really hate it.

Just...all in all, this movie wasn’t satisfying. Not to me. It had its good moments. But not nearly enough. The comedy was misplaced and fell flat. The climax was sorely anticlimactic and didn’t hold a candle to Eternal Knight. The writing, the direction, characterization...For some reason it was all lost and confused and none of it felt right and so much didn’t make sense.

I’m not at all upset with the writers, though, because they still pulled through and did what they could. When the movie did something right, it was beautiful. The things I loved about it I truly adored. No, I’m not upset in the least bit with any of the creative team.

I’m upset with Netflix. I’m upset that Wizards was robbed of the seasons it should’ve had. I’m upset with big cooperations stifling creators. I’m upset that this’ll be it. This is the ending we got and nothing can be done about it.

Aaron did say there’s every possibility for the franchise to continue in some capacity, and I’m hoping for that someday. Because so much, too much, has been left unanswered. So much left to be explored that couldn’t. But until then....I guess this is it. This is what we get.

Now, I want to remind everyone that this is my own personal experience with the movie. These are all my opinions. If you enjoyed every second the movie, that’s wonderful! And who knows how my thoughts will change upon another viewing. But in the meantime, Rise of the Titans really missed the mark for me. I wanted found family badassery and fluff. But nope. Just fighting and heaviness and no payoff. It’s such a letdown...a real shame.

But yeah...Thanks to any and everyone who read to the end of this haha

I still love Tales of Arcadia. It’s a series that has blessed and inspired me so much as an artist, writer, and as a person in general. I do want to keep making ToA content for a while. Cause this movie isn’t the end. Not my ending, at least.

I’ll continue to hope for more Tales of Arcadia in the future (a Douxie spin-off series please Lord pleaaase). We shall see. Until then, fics and fanart fixing this mess galore haha

Until next time everyone! God bless!

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johnkrrasinski · 4 years ago

Text

illicit affair;

full masterlist

Pairings: Professor!Andy Barber x female!reader (AU)

Word count: 2,898

Warning: SMUT!!!! fingering, blowjob (male receiving), dirty talk. (MUST BE 18+)

Summary: you had been crushing on your sexy professor, Andy Barber since the beginning of the semester but he made it hard for you to focus in class. lucky for you, he was willing to give you the best lesson in your life though.

a/n: this one’s written for @stargazingfangirl18 and @navybrat817‘s shameless hoes for chris writing challenge. i picked the prompt “your professor has a different kind of extra credit in mind.” hope you like it! leave a like and comment. enjoy!

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

There he goes again, captivating the entire room with that dashing suit and tie, making it difficult for you to breathe. Andy Barber was the professor of your criminal law class. To say he was attractive would be an understatement. The man is the living embodiment of every girl’s wildest dreams. When you first took the class, with the hopes of becoming a social worker, you didn’t expect it to be this challenging. You were confident in your own work ethic and in being a fast learner. No major was too onerous for you to ace.

Until Andy Barber walked into the class on that first day and you realized he was going to teach you for the entire semester.

You had never had a man spellbinding you this badly before. You had a few crushes here and there, but not once did they make you feel the way Andy Barber does. And you knew that it was inappropriate to lust after your professor but, it wasn’t a crime if he is a divorcé and the whole class could relate, right?

It wasn’t only wrong but it was also cruel and unfair that he succeeded in making you lose every bit of your focus whenever he was around. No matter how hard you try to pay attention to what he is lecturing about, your mind would always drift away to nasty places that you shouldn’t even be thinking about visiting. No matter how hard you try to simply open your laptop and type away the vital points that you would need to memorize for final exams, you just couldn’t. It’s like you were paralyzed by his magnetism and oh, how well did he do it.

Like how you currently had a pen stuck between your teeth as if you were fellating it because you were imagining what it would be like to have those plump lips of his on yours and so your pen had to take the beating.

You didn’t know whether he noticed you at all from where you were sitting, you always choose to sit in the middle row, where you could still see things clearly on the board but you didn’t have to feel so exposed because sitting on the front row means everyone who sat behind you could see every movement you make and you would have to deal with the uneasiness of the proximity between you and your professor gave you and you had no wish to make it worse for yourself.

It wasn’t only that he was insanely good-looking but he was also a gentleman. He always charmed the class with his humorous comments and witty jokes while he was doing a lecture or simply when he called out a student who fell asleep. He always made himself available for his students who were confused about the subject or needed guidance on some complex topics. He always greeted the class with a warm smile and he always tried to understand the struggles of being a college student.

You had lost count on how many filthy dreams you had about this man, and how many daydreams you had lost yourself in during his class or simply when you were wide awake. He truly got you on a chokehold. A part of you would sometimes wonder, how could anyone divorce this man? If he were your husband, you would feel like the luckiest woman on earth. You wouldn’t ask for anything else in life.

“Any question…?” He ended today’s session by allowing the students to raise their hands if they needed some enlightenment.

Several students raised their hands and presented their questions and he answered them all eloquently. When there was no more question asked, he dismissed the class and all of the students got out of their seats and exited the room. You were still stuck amidst of your fantasy where Professor Barber was devouring you like you were the last tasty meal on earth and he hadn’t been fed for a month. The thought of his mouth lapping your juices as his beard creating delicious friction on your inner thigh alone was enough to soak your panties.

You didn’t realize that the class was over until everyone had left and your professor called out your name. There were only the two of you now in the room.

“Y/N? Y/N! Class is dismissed.” He shook you out of your daydream with the gentleness of his voice.

“Uh, yeah, sorry, sir I was- I’m gonna leave now.”

“Are you alright? You zoned out a little there.”

“Yeah, I’m okay, I just- I… I was thinking… of… finals. Yeah, I was thinking of finals.”

“If you need a brief tutor, I wouldn’t mind.”

“No, no! It’s fine, really, I’ll manage. Have a good day sir.” You hurriedly pack up your laptop and stationery and you immediately ran for the door. But you were abruptly stopped by his voice that had slightly shifted its tone.

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you, Miss Y/L/N, do you have a minute?”

Oh shit. This is it. This is where he is going to interrogate you for always being absentminded throughout his entire session and you are probably going to say something really idiotic and you are going to embarrass yourself or you might even spill your own secrets and he is going to get you suspended and then-

“Yes, sir.” You swallowed the lump in your throat.

“Come here, have a seat.” He pulled a chair from one of the tables and placed it across his seat.

You nervously approached him and sat down as your hands trembled because if there’s another word to describe Andy Barber, it would be intimidating. His charisma isn’t only appealing but could also conquer his interlocutors.

“I’ve noticed that your grades have been slipping lately, why is that?”

“I just- I don’t know, maybe I’ve been really tired, sir. College can be really stressful.”

“I understand. But what puzzles me is that I did some background check on you and your grades in other subjects are doing really well. In fact, you had kept a solid 4.0 GPA for two years in a row now. So, what is the problem here, y/n?”

You gulped. Fucking hell, how the hell were you supposed to answer that? “Oh, don’t worry, it’s simply you being so ridiculously hot that you have been distracting me every time you’re lecturing. Maybe, I don’t know, if you could just bend me over on your desk and make me your girlfriend, that might help me take my mind off you.”

“I just- I’ve had a lot in my mind, sir, and it’s just- this subject is really hard,” you spoke meekly. “I promise, I will work really hard on my finals, sir. I won’t let you down.” You hoped that it was convincing enough so that you could carry on with your day and not sit here like a scared mouse.

“Final starts in two weeks,” he reminded you. “How are you going to convince me that you could wrap an entire semester within only two weeks when you have other courses demanding equal attention, y/n?”

“Um, I don’t know, maybe I’ll ask a friend to help me study. I’ll do whatever it takes to pass the test, sir. I give you my word.” Goddamnit, what the hell was he doing to you? Of course, you weren’t going to ask for anybody’s help, you were always the one who was giving help to your fellow classmates instead of needing one. Now you were just making silly excuses to get you out.

His brows furrowed. You knew he wasn’t going to buy your answer so easily. Andy took his job very seriously and it disappointed him to the extreme when one of his students wasn’t doing well in his course. It made him feel like he didn’t do enough in educating these young people. So when one of his students didn’t fulfil his expectations, he was going to address it and solve the problem together.

There was a silence that lingered between the two of you until he broke it off, “how far are you willing to go to pass this class, y/n?”

“Anything sir, I-, I care about my grades. I know I don’t show it enough but I won’t fail you this time.”

“Anything?” Suddenly, the expression on his face transitioned into something impish.

“Yeah, anything at all, sir.”

“How about I offer you a proposition?” His tone was sultry.

“You do something for me, and I’ll make sure you get an A+ on your test. You don’t have to worry about failing.”

“What do you have in mind, sir?”

Instead of giving you a direct answer, he stood up from his seat and sat on the edge of the table. His hands were folded on his propped up thigh.

“I’m gonna ask you one more time, y/n and I want an honest answer. No bullshit or the deal is off.”

You were taken aback by the word that he just used. It wasn’t very in-character of him to cuss, especially in front of a student. You didn’t know if he was a completely different man outside of the university, so this was certainly something you weren’t used to.

“O-okay…”

“Why are you failing in my class, y/n?”

You bit your lip so hard you thought it might bleed. Your lips quivered as tears began brimming in your eyes. You were scared of telling him the truth but you knew if you lie again, he would see right through you and you would end up failing his class for real and there will be no second chance. You refused to retake the same course next semester when you could be getting closer to getting your degree.

You drooped your head down in defeat. The eye contact was overwhelming you and you sucked it up and gathered every last bit of dignity you had in you to give him an answer.

“I… I’m attracted to you, sir.”

He nodded. What you didn’t see was a wicked smirk forming on his lips, as if he knew what he was going to hear when he made you confess. “Go on.”

“I can’t stop thinking about- about making love to you, sir.” you stuttered your words. You cringed at your own words. There was no way to unring the bell now. You just humiliated yourself in front of the person whose attention you wanted the most. He disclosed your dirtiest secrets and this was going to be your doom.

“Good girl. Now, we better not stall any longer, yeah? I’ve got another class in twenty minutes.” He sat back on the chair and ordered, “get on your knees.”

“Wh… What?”

“You heard me. On your knees, I won’t tell you anymore.” his tone sent a shiver down your spine. You didn’t know what was happening but you were excited. You got on your feet and before you could even take a step, he stopped you. “No, no. Crawl.”

You stared at him incredulously as if he had just told you a joke. But you did what you were told to anyway, fearing that you would disappoint him before the act could even begin. You got on your knees with your hands on the floor and crawled to between his spread knees.

You waited for his next instruction with your hands on your thighs as your head hung low. “Take off my pants.”

Without further delay, you undid the zip of his pants and pulled the waistband down along with his boxer briefs, just enough to let his enormous cock spring free. “Good girl. You listen well. Now… you know what to do.” He rested his forearms on the arms of the chair and leaned back on the headrest nonchalantly whilst still maintaining his gaze on you.

Shit, you always fantasized about him using your body but you weren’t actually experienced. Yes, you’ve had a few casual hookups now and then, but it was nothing like this. Your professor who seemed to really enjoy turning you into a puddle by simply commanding you around like his own personal sex slave.

“C’mon, sweetheart, don’t act like you haven't watched porn.”

You start by doing what you had learned from a few pornographic videos which is by stroking him with your hand and then you wrap your lips around his shaft. The taste of his pre-cum mixing with your saliva made you moan. His hand then went to grab a fistful of your hair to push you forward until his tip hits the back of your throat.

“Ah, fuck. That’s better.” Then he took the wheel from there, using your hair as leverage to guide you up and down at a moderate pace. He grunted as he threw his head back against the headrest. “Shit, that’s good. Keep going, baby.” A part of you was a tad elated when he praised you for something you had very little experience in. The ecstatic look on his face amplified the dampness in your panties, your body begging for more. He kept using your face to get himself off and you felt him convulsed in your mouth. He quickened his motion and then released deep inside your throat.

A few seconds later, he pulled himself out after his cum painted your trachea. “Get up and bend on the table,” you did what he says and pressed your cheek on the wooden surface. “Who knew a 4.0 GPA student like you would be such a dirty slut? You might fool everyone but you can’t fool me, baby.”

He lifted the hem of your plaid skirt and smacked your buttocks with both of his hands, leaving a fiery red handprint on your buttcheeks. You yelped as it echoed on the walls. He pushed aside the crotch of your underwear, and he inserted two of his fingers inside soaked holes, scissoring you wide open for him. You moaned in pleasure as you gripped the edge of the table.

“Fucking slut. I’ve barely touched you and you’re already this wet for me?” You didn’t answer as you continued to cry out. He smacked your left bum once more, “answer me!”

“Yes! Yes, sir.” You stammered between your ragged breathing.

“Is this why you can’t get your shit together? ‘Cause you keep fantasizing about my fingers buried deep in your needy cunt?”

“Yes sir…” your voice quaked.

“Extra points for honesty.” He retreated his fingers and replaced it with his cock. The unwarned intrusion sent a jolt through your body. You squealed in shock as you closed your eyes, trying to adjust yourself to his size. “Ah fuck, you’re so tight.” His hand went to your hair once more and grabbed a fistful of it as he began driving his hips forward. The friction in your G-spot sent electricity through your veins.

He didn’t waste any time by picking up the pace as he lifted your head and brought it closer to his, making you look up to him. “Does that feel good, baby? Is this how you imagined?” He kept thrusting brutally in between his foul words. “yes… Sir. You feel so good around me.” He pecked a brief kiss on your lips and kept pounding you like an animal.

A few more violent strikes and you clenched around him, pushing him to the edge along with you. “Cum baby, show me what a dirty whore you are.” You shut your eyes as you felt the tightening coil in your belly and then it burst, your orgasm dripping all over your thighs. Andy was so close to his climax and a few more deep-seated thrusts, he reached his own and he ejaculated deep inside your womb.

You tried to regain control over your breathing with Andy still engulfed in you. A few minutes later, you both came down from your highs as Andy pulled himself out of you. He put his pants back on and threw himself back on the chair. You stood up on your wobbly legs as you felt your panties squelch with both yours and Andy’s cum blended.

You straighten your rumpled skirt and shirt, as Andy did so with his tie. “You should go, don’t you have another class?”

“I do, but… Did I pass the test, sir?” you batted your lashes at him. The fear and agitation that were there ten minutes ago had dissolved.

He chuckled at your coquettish remark. He stood up from his chair and closed the distance between you. “Yes sweetheart, you passed the test.”

You beamed as you bit your lip once more. “If you got another test for me, I wouldn’t mind…” you spoke timidly.

“You really are something, aren’t you?”

You shrugged, “I’ve got layers, sir.”

He looked at his watch and realized that he only had five minutes left for his next session. “You are dismissed… For now. I’ve got more lessons that I’d like to teach you, baby.” He winked at you and pecked your lips.

“I’ll be looking forward to our next class, sir.” You packed up your bags and exited to the hall. Looks like you just bent every rule of the university, but you had no doubt in mind that you would do it over and over and over again for your favourite professor.

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