#also these poses pushed me down the stairs if i have to look at one more stock wedding photo i am going to lose it

[hinamie]

been thinking a normal amount about just how Strong yuuji is

[cressidagrey]

Looked to the Sky - Chapter 6

Summary: 

Eira Archeron was neither a Valkyrie, nor a Seer, nor the High Lady of the Night Court. She was, however, Azriel‘s mate with her own mysterious, untrained powers.

Also known as: Azriel tries to court his mate the human way.

Warnings: 

THIS IS THE LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE SEQUEL! SO READ THAT FIRST IF YOU WANNA READ THIS ONE OTHERWISE THIS MAKES NO SENSE!

Elain Bashing, Amren bashing, Azriel is an idiot, Eira has a well-deserved crying fit and without @k-godling this would have never happened.

(super pretty dividers by @tsunami-of-tears)

"Do I want to know what your mother said to you?" Cassian asked him with a sigh the next morning. They were at the River House. 

Eira was still sleeping. Or again. Resting. Pure exhaustion apparent in every fibre of her being. She had stumbled up the stairs the night before, fell into her bed and hadn’t moved. Feyre and Nesta were both with her, had been with her since then... 

Azriel let out a small huff, and glanced at Cassian from his couch seat.

“No,” he said bluntly. “No, you really don’t want to know.”

"You're brooding," Cassian pointed out. Azriel snorted at his brother’s observation, crossing his arms.

“And you’re observant,” he said dryly. “Your point?”

Cassian huffed in amused annoyance and shoved him playfully. “Come on. Out with it,” he said, propping his feet on the coffee table, his wings shifting behind him. “You’ve been quiet and broody and grumpy all morning. You need to talk about it.”

"Talk about what? Talk about the fact that whatever Amren said to my mate was enough to push her head first into a panic so bad that she winnowed? Burned down half a forest accidentally?" Azriel asked, his voice forcedly even. "Or about the fact that I needed my mother to call me out on my bullshit because I am a fucking idiot ?"

"Language," Rhys said with a sigh, trying and failing to feed Nyx his porridge.

Cassian rolled his eyes in annoyance at Rhys’s words, while Azriel gave his high lord a flat look.

“Are you seriously going to get on me for my language?” he asked Rhys dryly. “Out of everything I just said?

"I do not need a fight with Feyre, because our son starts repeating your curse words," Rhys muttered.

Cassian snorted at that, and Azriel couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth, shaking his head.

Somehow, even right now, when everything was such a mess, Rhys still managed to find ways to be a caring father.

“Can we focus on something more important?” Azriel said, his voice a grumble. “Like the fact that I’m failing as a mate?”

Cassian’s snort turned into a choke at Azriel’s comment, his eyes going wide. “Failing as a mate? You? You’re kidding, right?”

Azriel scowled at Cassian’s shocked response.

“And how exactly is it possible that I’m not failing?” he demanded, his hands clenching into fists. “Because I can think of many, many ways, Cass.”

“What exactly have you done that qualifies as failure?” Cassian countered, shifting position so that he mirrored Azriel’s pose. “Because I’m really drawing a blank.”

"I fancied myself in love with her twin sister and pretty much used Eira as nothing but a source of information about Elain. Then, when I realised that Eira was my mate, I asked for permission to court her and within that conversation somehow found it prudent to say that Elain was the pretty one but Eira was the kind one and would protect our children fiercely. Then I gave her a harp as a courting gift, while she needed to sell her old one to keep her family from starving and nobody ever even thought about the fact that maybe that would bring up some bad memories. Then instead of asking what she wanted to do, I decided on the symphony, where I spent 3 hours sitting next to her in silence because all I could concentrate on was the fact that she held my hand . I have no fucking clue if sewing and baking and cooking are actually her hobbies or just the chores she liked best and I don't even know her favourite colour. Tell me how I am not failing, Cassian!"

Cassian opened and closed his mouth a few times, clearly at a loss for words.

Azriel let out a weary sigh and closed his eyes, scrubbing a hand over his jaw.

He knew he had screwed up. That he had failed miserably in so many ways. But saying the words aloud…hearing them said out loud…somehow just made it even more real.

He slumped down in his seat, burying his head in his hands.

“You…you really are an idiot, Az…” Cassian finally managed to say, his voice quiet as he spoke. 

Azriel knew that. 

"I told Nesta that everybody hates her," Cassian admitted quietly. "I didn't tell her that I loved her until after our fucking mating ceremony. I have no clue what her favourite colour is either, now that I am thinking about it."

When Cassian told him that, Azriel’s eyes flew open and he looked up at his brother, his jaw slackening.

“You what?” he demanded, not quite believing what he’d just heard.

"Not my best moments," Cassian admitted drily.

Azriel let out a choked snort at his brother’s reply, and he buried his head in his hands again.

“And you said I’m the idiot?” he asked faintly.

“We’re both idiots,” Cassian said matter-of-factly, flopping back against the couch cushions. “Maybe all males are idiots.”

"I didn't tell Feyre about the dangers the pregnancy put her in," Rhys said quietly. "I didn't tell her we were mates at first either. I am sure there are dozens of other things I did, where I failed as a mate."

Azriel sighed, and he let his hand drop to his lap, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re really not helping,” he said, his voice quiet. “I shouldn’t feel better about being a failure as a mate because my brothers are failures too.“

Cassian snickered at Azriel’s response, but Rhys let out a huff and gave him an amused smile.

“I’m just saying,” he began, his eyes soft. “You’re far from the only person to have ever messed up with a mate, Azriel. Hell, the list of things I did wrong with Feyre is longer than your arm.”

Azriel closed his eyes again, letting out a sigh as he rested his head back against the couch cushions.

He knew that Rhys was right. Knew that all the males around him were speaking the truth. He wasn’t the only one to have messed up with a mate.

But somehow, knowing that didn’t make the knowledge that he had failed feel any less raw. Any less painful.

“I don’t want to fail,” Azriel said quietly. “I don’t want to put her through…this pain. But I feel like that’s all I’m doing. All I did was let my own emotions and wants and desires drown out what Eira really needed“

"Then maybe you should ask Eira what Eira actually wants," Cassian said with a snort.

...And he was already back to making the exact same error as before, wasn't he? That should have been his first thought.

Azriel closed his eyes again, letting out another weary sigh.

“How?” he mumbled. “How do I go to her and say ‘Hey, I realize that I did everything wrong so far. And I failed you and I’m an idiot, so how about you and I can start everything over from the beginning?’”

A hand, strong and heavy, descended on the top of his head and ruffled his hair.

“By doing it,” Rhys said firmly, a hint of a smile on his face. “By looking her straight in the eye and telling her what you just admitted to us. She deserves the honesty.“

“And when she says ‘no’? When she says she wants nothing to do with a failure and idiot of a male like me?” Azriel asked bitterly. “What then?”

"She won't," Rhys said calmly. "She won't, Azriel. She has been in love with you for years."

Azriel let out a sharp huff at Rhys’s statement. “Even more reason not to take me back,” he grumbled in response. “She’s loved me for that long and that’s all I come up with? Silence and stupidity? If I were her, I would reject me too."

"Just talk to her," Cassian said with a sigh. "We have enough other problems to deal with that aren't your brooding, Az."

There were so many other things to deal with. So many other things more important than his brooding.

Maybe there weren't many other things that were more important than his relationship with Eira, but still…

“Fine,” he mumbled at last, his shoulders slumping. “I’ll talk to her.” 

He needed to talk to her. Once she was awake. In the meantime… "What did you do to Amren?" he asked Rhys, who looked up startled.

“We had words,” Rhys said clippedly. “I suggested that she'll stay with Varian in the Summer Court for a few weeks. She’ll be welcome in Velaris when she can apologise to Eira and actually mean it.” Rhys’ voice was icy when he said that. “And I am due to have another conversation with Morrigan because I am not letting her get away with it either. Which reminds me, Cassian, you also owe Eira an apology,” Rhys pointed out evenly.

Cassian grimaced. “I know,” he admitted with a sigh. “I just really doubt that she wants to hear it,” he admitted quietly. 

Rhys sighed. "Which brings me to our next problem: I didn't want to push it...but we need to get Eira to train."

Azriel inhaled deeply and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

Of course, they would need to talk about that. Part of him was even surprised that Rhys had waited that long to bring up training.

"She needs control," Rhys continued, holding up a hand. "I am not talking about training her to kill anybody. I am talking about her learning to control her...lightning. And maybe some self-defence if she is up to that."

Azriel nodded in agreement. As much as he hated the thought of any sort of violence being aimed toward Eira — hated the mere idea of seeing her get hurt again — he knew that Rhys was right.

She needed to know how to control herself. To protect herself. She needed to know how to fight.

Azriel nodded again, raking a trembling hand back through his hair.

A part of him felt like he was betraying Eira by agreeing to this. Like he was failing her again. But another part, the part of him that was a warrior, that knew how to fight, that knew the dangers that came with not being able to defend yourself…that part of him agreed with Rhys.

"I'll be the bad guy," Rhys said with a sigh. "I'll be the one asking her. I hope I'll get away without outright ordering her."

Azriel let a small huff at Rhys’s comment.

He knew that if anyone had a chance at convincing Eira to train, it would be Rhys. But that didn’t help the pang of guilt at the thought of his mate receiving further training — being forced into training to begin with.

“And this arrived yesterday,” Rhys said with a sigh as he dropped an envelope in front of them. 

Azriel’s mouth flattened as he looked down at the envelope, his heart dropping at the sight of the Day Court symbol.

Cassian let out an identical, weary sigh as they also caught sight of the symbol.

Everyone in the room knew what that invitation meant.

"Feyre and I are required to attend," Rhys said quietly. "If Nesta won't go...there will be talk. Maybe less talk if Eira doesn't attend, but there will be talk about strive between the sisters, regardless of what information we feed them."

Azriel had to grit his teeth to hold back from letting out a snarl.

He knew Rhys was right. Knew that there would be talk no matter what.

But the thought of Eira being forced to attend that wedding...forced to endure Elain’s presence… He clenched his fist and took in a deep breath through his nose.

He was not going to like this. “If Eira goes, I go,” he spat out. 

Rhys’s mouth flattened for a moment, and Azriel braced himself for a fight.

Instead, his brother just gave him a short nod. “I expected nothing less, brother,” he said quietly.

****

Eira had slept. The first restful night in quite a while.

She still felt exhausted. Still felt like the world around her was...blurry. But it didn’t feel like all her energy had been sapped from her body, forcing her into unconsciousness.

It was an improvement.

"How are you feeling?" Feyre asked her softly. Nesta and she were curled around Eira in her bed...reminding her of their days in that bed in that cottage. Just one thing was lacking: Elain.

“I’m...better than I was last night,” she mumbled truthfully, pulling her blanket tighter around her shoulders. “…Still tired though.”

"You winnowed without training. That should probably be expected," Nesta said drily. 

"You also nearly put Amren on fire with your lightning," Feyre said with a grimace, and Eira flinched.

"She had that coming," Nesta growled. "What did she tell you? Were you a waste of life as well?" Eira flinched again, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself.

She didn’t want to talk about Amren. Didn’t want to talk about anything that had happened. Didn’t want to think about anything that had happened.

She just wanted to…sleep. She wanted to forget. Let her eyelids close. Drift away. Not feel so goddamn tired…

"She told her that not training her powers was a waste," Feyre said quietly. "That Eira owed it to me because I hunted and apparently kept her alive . It was absolutely out of line and ridiculous."

A fresh wave of heat rushed to Eira’s cheeks as Feyre explained what had happened, and a pang of shame went to her stomach. 

Because Amren was right. She did owe it to Feyre. That, and so much more. Feyre had cared for her. Hunted for her. Protected her. And what had Eira done in return? Nothing. Nothing but fail.

“You know-“ she began to ask, her words cutting awkwardly off as she felt a pang of guilt stabbed her chest.

“Yeah, I know what she said to you,” Feyre replied, her eyes soft. “Rhys got the whole thing out of her…He had a few things to say…I had a few choice words to say to her myself.”

Eira’s heart dropped into her stomach. She should’ve known that Rhys would have found out. He seemed to find out everything sooner or later. She winced, suddenly feeling even more guilty.

"I am sorry," Eira whispered. "I didn't want...I'll...I'll train. I'll learn how to control it. I'll..." She would hate every minute but if it made it easier for Feyre, she would...

“No,” Feyre told her softly, but firmly. “You will not be doing anything to make my life easier, Eira. You owe me nothing. Do you understand me?”

She wrapped her arms around Eira tightly and rested her head against Eira’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to do anything. For me. For anyone. Understand?” she murmured softly. 

"Training would be a good idea, but you don't need to do that for me," Feyre whispered. "Do it for yourself, Eira."

Eira’s throat tightened, and she swallowed thickly.

She didn’t want to do any sort of training. She didn’t want to do anything in that moment.

She just wanted to lie in bed. Forget about the world. And yet…she knew that training would be a smart idea. That she did need to learn how to control her...lightning. And she didn’t want a repeat of last night. With great reluctance, she swallowed again. “I…alright,” she mumbled. “I’ll…I’ll train. And learn how to control…my…lightning.“

She hated the words as soon as they escaped her mouth, but she didn’t take them back. She knew it was the right thing to do…even if she didn’t like it.

"I know you're not looking forward to it," Feyre said drily, and Eira smiled despite herself. A tiny, reluctant smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Who's…going to…" she began, before trailing off. “Who's going to be training me?”

"Not Amren," Nesta snapped immediately.

The words were like a weight being lifted from Eira’s chest. She was relieved more than she cared to admit that Amren wouldn’t be the one training her…and then guilt immediately set in. She shouldn’t feel so relieved. So happy. Amren had done nothing but be harsh but the truth to her, and yet…she still couldn’t stop herself from being happy that the female wouldn’t be training her.

“…That, we know already,” Feyre deadpanned as she shot her sister a fond smile. “But you’re right. Nobody is thinking about having Amren train Eira. It’ll probably be Rhys if you are comfortable with that.”

She took a deep breath.

Rhys.

Rhys was…good. She could deal with Rhsy training her. Out of all the options…he was good. It could be worse, she tried to tell herself.

“Doesn't he have...anything more important to do?” Eira asked hesitantly.

She knew that Rhys was the High Lord and…surely he didn’t have time to deal with her. Surely, he had more important things to deal with than training some…somebody like her. 

She was…waste of time, and she didn’t want to be any more of a burden on him than she already was.

“He’ll figure it out,” Feyre replied, giving her a soft smile. “He’ll make time, Eira. He’s good like that.”

Nesta made an annoyed sound, making Feyre roll her eyes.

Eira swallowed again, the words not really doing anything to reassure her that she wasn��t wasting Rhys’s time.

Rhys was important. The High Lord. He shouldn’t have to waste his time with her . She knew that she couldn’t say those things. Couldn’t make Feyre or Nesta realize how ridiculous this whole thing was…how insane it was to have the High Lord of the Night Court as her teacher .

“It’ll be fine,” Feyre repeated, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "Now...how was...your meeting with Azriel's mother yesterday?" Feyre asked. "I need to admit, I didn't even know that his mother was still....alive," she admitted with a grimace.

"He mentions her...very rarely," Nesta disagreed quietly. "She's a seamstress though...She made him a jacket he wore for solstice once."

Eira hadn't known that…but then she also hadn’t known that his mother was still alive. He had never mentioned her to Eira at all. And Esmeray…Esmeray was the last thing Eira wanted to talk about. Eira didn't want to walk about...about what she had said.

"She…was nice. Sweet, like Azriel," Eira answered quietly, swallowing. "She was...maternal. Not like our mother was." It was true. She was sweet…kind…lovely. 

Feyre and Nesta exchanged a glance. "But?" Feyre prompted her quietly. "Did she say....anything?"

Eira didn’t say anything, just closed her eyes. “Talk to us,” Nesta said softly. “What did she say, Eira?” 

"She figured out who I was after I told her my first name...and then she said that Azriel is fond of me but he is fonder of Elain..and that it's too bad that she is mated to another," Eira blurted out, her voice shaky. "He didn't tell her...He didn't tell her that our…that the mating bond had snapped." She could feel the tears burn in her eyes.

"Oh, Eira," Feyre breathed, sounding heartbroken for her.

"I am going to fucking kill him," Nesta muttered.

“Get in line,” Feyre grumbled, and Eira could just feel the scowl her friend was shooting at Azriel in her head.

She swallowed again, feeling the guilt and the shame and the hurt and the….everything, rising up in her chest.

She didn’t want to be upset at this. Didn’t want to feel like…like she had a claim over Azriel, but she couldn’t help the painful pang in her chest at the words Esmeray had said.

Too bad that Elain is mated to another… 

He is fonder of Elain… 

Those words, they just hurt. They burned. And she felt so...helpless.

And the thought that he hadn’t told his mother about their mating bond…it just made the pain even worse.

"Azriel...he said…when he asked me to court…he said that Elain was the pretty one but I was the kind one," Eira choked out. "He wanted her. I am just...I am just a consolation prize to him, aren't I?"

For a moment it was silent. 

"First of all," Feyre said firmly, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You are not a consolation prize. Don't ever let me hear you say that again, alright? You are not a consolation prize, you are a treasure ."

"Second," she continued, her voice growing cold. "He is an idiot. Who the hell tells you that? Why would he say that?"

Eira shrugged, feeling her eyes burn.

She didn't know. She didn't understand why he would say that. Why he had said any of what he had said? 

But she knew that...part of her, part of her hoped that he had meant it in an endearing way. That he had called her kind because he liked that about her.

"I thought...I thought just having him could be enough," she whispered. "But how am I supposed to live my whole life knowing that he would be happier if he was mated to Elain? To be compared to her day, after day, and found lacking?"

"For Fuck's sake, Eira!" Nesta snapped.

"He only wants me because of the bond. And maybe because of the vision he saw...he wants the babies we would have together, but he doesn't want me," she choked out. "Every other female would suffice as well."

"Stop that. You know that's not true," Feyre said firmly, wrapping an arm around Eira's shoulders again. "He cares about you; I've seen it for myself."

Eira choked on a bitter laugh. "What does it matter," she whimpered. "He might care...but Elain is still what he wants. Nothing will change that...not even the Mating Bond."

"Azriel...he's an idiot," Nesra agreed angrily. "A complete idiot who can't see that you...you're right in front of him. Yeah, Elain may be the most beautiful out of us all, but she’s clearly bone deep ugly, if she…she tried to keep your babies from you?” Nesta asked and Eira just nodded, tears pouring out of her eyes. 

“A girl,” she choked out. “A girl. Azriel’s wings but my hair. We looked so happy in that stupid vision. And I was pregnant again.” 

Feyre’s mouth fell open as she stared at Eira in shock, while Nesta’s eyes hardened furiously. “She...really…” Feyre’s voice trailed off, sounding heartbroken.

Nesta let out a loud, furious snarl. “She’s a monster . Elain is a monster ,” she spat, her hands forming into fists. 

“She…she tried to keep my babies from me,” Eira repeated, tears dripping down her cheeks. “Azriel and I…looking happy…and...and now...I..."

She had to pause, the tears making it impossible for her to continue.

Both Feyre and Nesta wrapped their arms around her, hugging her tightly.

“It’s not fair,” she choked out. “It’s not fair. I saw us. I saw how happy we were…”

It was as clear as day in her memory. That vision of them in that garden, of Azriel kissing her, of the little girl being hoisted up in the air by him…

Eira had looked so happy. Everything had been so perfect, so right…it had almost made her dizzy. It had been everything she had ever wanted. 

Only to have it ripped away. To know that she’d had a chance at happiness, a chance at…of a family, of everything that she had always wanted…only to have it ripped away so cruelly…

It hurt. It hurt more than anything she’d ever felt in her entire life.

"It's not fair," she mumbled hopelessly, burying her face against Feyre's shoulder, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's not fair...He wouldn’t have even cared…he wouldn’t have even…looked in my direction…if the bond hadn’t snapped…he wouldn’t even have looked at me…”

Don't cry, the shadows whispered, coming to wrap around her hands. Don't cry. Master was an utter fool. Blinded by a pretty face. But he does care about you. 

She let out a sob, feeling more of the shadows slide up her arms to wrap around her.

She didn’t know that. Azriel cared…but it didn’t change how he felt about Elain. It didn’t change that he didn’t care for her, for Eira. He only…he only wanted her because of the bond.

He only felt responsible for her because they were mates. All the...feelings...he had towards her...were all just because of the bond.

The shadows only continued to coil around her as she wept silently into Feyre’s shoulder, her heart aching.

She had known from the beginning that Azriel didn’t care for her beyond the bond.

But...until she had heard what Esmeray had said, and learned that he hadn’t told her the truth, she’d still had some tiny part of hope. Some small, stupid part of her that had clung to the hope that maybe, maybe, he would start to feel for her the same way that she felt for him.

"I loved him from the moment I saw him. I looked at him and it was...it was like coming home," she choked out.

“Of course you did,” Feyre said softly, gently stroking her hair as the tears continued to fall. “Of course you did…”

Nesta said nothing, the only sound that escaped her was a low, furious huff.

"I am really going to kill him," she hissed.

“Save some for me,” Feyre grumbled as she held Eira fiercely, her free hand rubbing soothing circles into her back.

His Mother had words for Master, the shadows said quietly, coiling themselves into her hair. He's brooding. 

“Good,” Nesta said firmly. “I hope he’s miserable.”

“Nes,” Feyre said quietly, giving her sister a gentle nudge.

“What?!” Nesta said, scowling. “Seriously, he deserves it.”

Eira couldn’t help the tiny part of her that felt bad for him…that felt guilty thinking about him being miserable.

She knew Azriel didn’t love her, and didn’t feel the same way, but…a part of her cared about him. She didn’t want him to be miserable.

 "Why is he brooding?" she asked quietly.

The shadows hummed again, making a soft whispering sound before they spoke again.

His Mother told him he was an idiot. 

"She did?" Feyre perked up in surprise, while Nesta’s mouth curled into a satisfied smirk.

Yes, the shadows confirmed, coiling themselves into Eira’s hair like a strange, sentient snake.

It made something warm stir in Eira’s chest, imagining Esmeray calling Azriel an idiot to his face. Master realised that he hasn't been doing right to you...Not with the courting and not with...anything else. 

The words made more tears burn in Eira’s eyes, while Feyre shifted to give her a gentle hug.

“He’s realising, huh?” she grumbled. “That he’s been screwing up?”

Yes. The shadows coiled a little tighter around her, almost as if they were trying to comfort her. It made her heart ache in a different way, feeling warm and painful at the same time.

Will you talk to him? the shadows asked softly. Let him apologise? 

She was upset, she was hurt. She didn’t want to talk to him. She wanted to avoid him and forget this whole mess even happened.

But the shadows...they wanted her to talk to him. They…wanted her to let him apologize.

Another wave of guilt and shame washed over her.

Azriel had done…nothing wrong. He hadn’t done anything wrong, he merely didn’t…care towards her.

He wanted the bond, he wanted the comfort, he wanted a mate, he just…he just didn’t want her .

The thought made a fresh wave of tears fill her eyes, which she promptly buried against Feyre’s shoulder.

Feyre hugged her tightly, while Nesta gently rubbed her back as the shadows continued to coil themselves around her. “It’s alright,” Feyre whispered soothingly, as more shadows drifted down to comfort her. “It’s going to be alright.”

The shadows continued to hum and shift, wrapping themselves around her like a protective, comforting blanket. It was somewhat soothing, the sensation of their coolness, the feel of them wrapping around her, almost like they were trying to tell her it would be alright.

Master has a lot to say to you, the shadows spoke up again. Please, just listen to him, Eira. 

So she just nodded.

Thank you. 

The shadows hummed again, coiling a little tighter around her, and it was almost as if she could feel a sort of pleasure coming from them that she had agreed to talk to Azriel, to listen to whatever he had to say.

"But they'll stay," she choked out, pulling Nesta's hand tight around herself.

“Of course,” Feyre said instantly, wrapping her arms around her as well. “We’ll both stay. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Damn right,” Nesta said, tightening her grip as well. “I may need to restrain myself from knocking any sense into him.”

In any other situation, Eira may have laughed at that, but instead, all she did was give a shaky nod, letting herself be pulled in tight by her sisters.

The gesture was comfort, the feel of them around her reassuring and warm, even as her heart ached in her chest.

A few seconds later, the door opened slowly, and Azriel walked into the room.

Every bit of his usually impassive, stoic demeanour was gone, replaced by a look of anxiety and worry. Eira could see the tension in his shoulders, and the way his hands were clenched into fists.

He stopped a few meters away from them, his gaze locking on Eira instantly.

She could feel his eyes raking over her, like a physical caress, taking in the sight of her clearly tear-stained face. The way her hands were being clutched by Feyre and Nesta.

He looked desperate like he wanted to walk over and touch her, but one glimpse at the way Feyre and Nesta had her wrapped in their arms had him hesitating.

"How...how are you feeling?" he asked her, and she could see his throat bob as he swallowed.

“How do you think she is, you idiot?” Nesta snapped, her voice low and cutting.

Azriel didn't pay any attention to her, his gaze firmly locked on Eira, staring at her as if he was waiting for her to say something.

And Eira…she had no idea what to say. She had absolutely no idea.

She sat there silently, letting words and thoughts and questions swirl in her mind, but saying nothing. And it only seemed to make the tension in Azriel’s shoulders grow even more, the worry in his gaze deepened.

“Eira…” he breathed out, his voice soft and raw, and she could see his hands twitch like he wanted to reach for her. “Can…can we talk?”

Both Feyre and Nesta tensed, their grip on her tightening.

"You can talk. She will listen," Nesta said, her voice icy. "And then she can decide if she wants to take pity on you, or if she never wants to see you again. Did you seriously tell my sister that Elain was prettier than her in the same breath as you asked to court her?!?"

Azriel closed his eyes, looking pained at that, and she could see his shoulders slump. But he didn’t deny it, didn’t try to defend himself, and Eira just…felt her heart ache even more.

"I was an idiot," he said quietly, his voice low and thick. "I…I was a fool."

He sounded so miserable when he said that, and something in Eira just…wanted to tell him to stop, to tell him that this was hurting her more than he seemed to comprehend…but she just sat there, saying nothing, letting the tears still fall silently down her cheeks.

Azriel took a few steps closer, his gaze still firmly fixed on her. He looked miserable, like a wounded animal, like he was in pain.

And a small part of her…a small, stupid part of her wanted to reach out to him. Wanted to tell him it was going to be alright, to hug him and tell him she wasn’t angry.

But it wasn’t going to be alright, and she was angry. So she said nothing.

The silence seemed to drag on, the tension rising thicker in the room. The two sisters held her tighter still, their hands clenched around her, their own gazes fixed on Azriel, shooting glares at him.

It made him look even more miserable, and she could see him taking another cautious step forward.

“Eira…” he tried again, his voice so soft and pleading. “Please, please say something…”

The silence seemed to drag on, the tension rising thicker in the room. The two sisters held her tighter still, their hands clenched around her, their own gazes fixed on Azriel, shooting glares at him.

It made him look even more miserable, and she could see him taking another cautious step forwards.

“Eira…” he tried again, his voice so soft and pleading. “Please, please say something…”

"What do you want me to say, Azriel?" she asked, her voice weak. She wanted to scream and shout but she didn't have it in herself.

"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to talk about how your mother had absolutely no clue that we are mates ? How she told me that you were fond of me but fonder of Elain? How it was just too bad that Elain was mated to another male?!"

She could see his body go tense at that, his eyes widening.

It hurt her, to see the realization and pain slowly spreading over his face. He knew what she had gone through, what she had to hear, the truth that his mother had revealed.

But he didn’t understand. He had absolutely no idea just how much all that had hurt her.

"I thought I was alright with it. I thought I could live with it. I could live with the fact that you didn't actually want me. That you wanted the life that vision promised you...that you were in love with my twin sister and not with me."

The words stung both Azriel and her.

She could see him shifting, and hear a low, pained sound leaving his lips. She could see something in his expression…a pain and hurt so deep she couldn’t even find the words to describe it.

"You…you think I don't want you...?" he breathed out, his voice so low she almost didn't hear it.

"You don't want me," Eira choked out. "You wanted Elain. And before that, you wanted Morrigan. And then Elain's vision promised you me and you go along with it, because of the mating bond."

Azriel flinched at that like each word was a physical blow. He looked sick, the misery on his face growing with each statement.

And a part of her was satisfied, seeing him look like that, seeing him look in pain. It was what he deserved after everything that he had done.

But the other part of her…the other part of her ached and bled at every expression of pain on his face.

The silence again continued to drag on, the air still and tense with the heavy atmosphere between the two of them.

He hadn’t denied it, she knew he hadn’t denied it. He hadn’t said that she was wrong, that she was wrong in thinking the only reason he pursued her was because of the bond.

The thought made her eyes sting, tears brimming and overflowing. Her heart ached, hurt, felt like it was bleeding.

"I am sorry," he whispered. "I am so sorry, Eira."

The words stung, just as much as they gave her hope.

Her heart was aching in her chest, tears still falling slowly down her cheeks. Her shoulders trembled, and she took in a few shaky breaths.

She had been hurt by him. He had never even considered her before the bond had snapped. And he hadn’t denied it when she had called him out on it.

And still, she wanted him to fix this. Wanted him to find some way to fix this.

"I am not...I am not going and try to defend myself," he whispered. "I am not going and lie to you. And yes, Eira. I did see that vision and I felt that Mating Bond and I did want to pursue you. Because I want that future. I want that future with you."

She wanted that future with him as well, she longed for it, but she wanted him to come to her because he wanted her. Because he desired her, the vision be damned.

But instead, she came second fiddle to an image in a vision. Instead, she came last to Elain and Mor.

"And I went about it wrong," Azriel continued. "I should have...I should have actually made the effort to get to know you, Eira. I should have talked to you. I should have asked what you wanted. I should have asked for your favourite colour. And I should have..."

He trailed off, the words leaving him in a choked gasp. Eira could see the misery on his face, the suffering.

He looked completely miserable, his hands clenching into fists, his shoulders hunched and tensed, but he kept on going, his voice thick and low in his throat.

"I should have cared. I should have seen you. I should have noticed you."

"And I can't change it. I can't change what I did know. I fucked up, Eira. I fucked up so badly, that you have every reason and every right not to want to see me for centuries."

The words stung, and Eira just…she ached.

She ached, she hurt, and everything inside her had tears welling. She ached because…she wanted to forgive him. She wanted to give him a second chance.

But the thought of being second rate again, of being the last choice…it hurt.

But…she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him, either. Couldn’t look away from the sight of how miserable he was, how distressed and in pain.

It hurt, it hurt so badly…but a part of her just wanted to hug him, to reassure him…Azriel took another few steps towards her, his eyes fixed on hers. He looked so wretched, his eyes pained, his whole body shaking as if it was taking him a monumental effort to remain standing there. To force himself to remain standing so close to her, to keep looking at her.

He was still a good few meters away from her, but the expression on his face, the look in his eyes…

It was like he was in agony.

She could see his hands clenching into fists, and could hear him taking a shaky breath.

"You…you don’t have to forgive me, or even want to talk to me again," he said, and she could hear how hard it was for him to form those words.

It hurt…it hurt seeing him look so miserable, looking like he was in pain. And it hurt because she wanted him. She still wanted him.

And the fact that it hurt was what got to her, what finally made her move. She shoved off Feyre and Nesta, who were still holding her, both of them looking startled.

They protested, clearly wanting to hold her back, but Eira pushed her way through, walking towards him.

Azriel hadn’t moved, his body going tense, his eyes going wide as she approached him.

And she hated that part of herself. She hated how much she still wanted him, despite everything that had happened. How much she ached for him, in ways that should be impossible.

It was a sharp, dull ache, a desperate and constant pain, a desire to reach out to him, to pull him closer, and at the same time, shove him as far away as possible.

She wanted to shove him away, push him further away. She wanted to tell him to suffer, to hurt the way she was hurting.

But at the same time…she wanted to pull him closer. To feel his skin against hers, under her fingertips. To feel his arms around her, holding her tight, his lips against her skin.

It was maddening. He was maddening.

“I am sorry,” he said, the truth flowing like clear spring water from his words. “I am so sorry. And I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.”

His words…she wanted to believe them. Wanted to believe that he was being sincere, that he truly was sorry, that he wanted to make it up to her.

And a small, naive, foolish, hopeful part of her, the part that was desperate and hopeful and greedy, did believe him. Wanted to latch onto the words, to hold them tight and not let go.

“I want to get to know you. I want to learn your favourite colour and your favourite place in Velaris. I want..”

He paused, taking a shaky breath. His eyes were still fixed on hers, pleading and desperate and aching, his entire body practically aching with the need to come closer.

“I want to learn everything there is to know about you. I want to learn about your smile and your laugh and your tears. I want to be with you, Eira.”

The words…they were everything that she wanted to hear. Everything that she had wished he would tell her, and more. They felt like a caress, like a gentle breeze, a soft comfort. And they hurt.

They hurt because she wanted to believe him, wanted to reach out and hold him close. Wanted to forgive him and let herself be close to him in the way she longed for.

“I want to be with you,” he repeated, his words a choked gasp. “I want to court you. I want to mate you. I want to…I want…”

He trailed off, choking on the words, taking another deep breath. His body was shaking, his shoulders tense, his expression aching with the effort of it all.

He looked in pain, so utterly hurt, like every word out of his mouth was agony. But he was still talking, still trying to get out the words, trying to make her understand.

“I want to spend every waking moment of my day with you,” he continued, his tone so raw and open and aching. “I want to wake up with you and go to sleep with you. I want to hear your voice and see your face every damn day.”

“I’ll do better, I’ll be better,“ he whispered.

He sounded so desperate, his voice thick and raw and pleading. It was like he was being ripped apart from the inside like he was in physical pain.

And Eira…she couldn’t help it.

She couldn’t help but believe his words, couldn’t help but let her stubborn, foolish heart hope.

“Please,” he continued, his voice breaking. “Please, please give me a second chance. I’ll…”

Another breath, another choked gasp. His shoulders hunched, his fists clenching tighter.

“I’ll do anything, just please give me a second chance. Give me the chance to right this. Give me the chance to prove to you…prove to you how much I want you. Just…give me another chance.”

His voice was so raw, so open, the look in his eyes pure pleading. He looked like he was ready to beg, ready to do anything for her. Anything to give him another chance.

And her heart, her foolish, stupid, hopeless heart…the part that wanted to hold onto him, to forgive him, to give him that chance ached.

She still hurt, still ached, the words from his mother still so fresh in her mind. The thought of being second, of being his last choice…it was a sharp blow against her.

But at the same time, she couldn’t stop the part of her that wanted to hold onto him. That longed for just a chance, just a moment where he was hers, where she was first and last and everything in his heart.

Azriel looked ready to continue, but he stopped when he saw the look on her face, her conflicting emotions warring inside her chest.

He closed his eyes, his shoulders dropping. He was probably expecting her to say no, to turn him down. He probably expected her to…

To do the sensible, rational thing. But sensibility and rationality were the last things she was feeling right now.

Her heart was aching, her body trembling, her emotions a swirl of conflicting feelings. Her mind was screaming at her, telling her just how idiotic she was for considering this.

And at the same time, her heart was yearning, longing for him. Wanting to grab onto him and never let go.

Azriel’s entire body was shaking, his eyes still closed, looking like he was bracing himself for her answer, for the words he expected her to say.

The words she should say, the words that would send him away, that would make her turn and walk away.

And yet…she found herself taking a step closer towards him. And then another.

She wasn’t even sure why she was doing it, why her body was moving before she even knew it, her mind screaming at her to stop and turn around and walk away.

But she kept moving towards him, each step sending a strange, giddy rush shooting through her, her heart aching and fluttering at the same time.

And she stopped in front of him, less than a foot of space separating them, her eyes fixed on his.

Azriel still hadn’t opened his eyes, his face tense and taut as if waiting for the blow to come.

But the blow never came.

Because Eira reached out, her fingers trembling as she reached up to touch his cheek.

Azriel's entire body jerked as if he had been struck, a gasp leaving his mouth. His eyes flew open, shock and surprise clear on his face.

But he didn’t move, didn't pull away or even flinch as her fingers made contact with his skin.

He just stood there, frozen as he stared at her.

Her hand trembled, her throat tight as she felt the warmth of his skin. His face was tense, his breath catching with every moment her fingers remained against his skin, like he was fighting the urge to turn his head and press his lips to her skin.

“Eira,” he breathed out, the word a whispered plea, a prayer. And then he seemed to realize he had moved, was on the edge of reaching out to her in turn.

But he caught himself, his hands hanging at his sides. He was holding himself back, holding himself from reaching for her…

And somehow, that made her even more determined, her decision stronger.

She wanted him to reach for her, wanted his hands on her skin, wanted him to hold her close and never let go.

She slid her hand along his cheek, her palm caressing his jaw. And she stepped even closer, closing the very last bit of distance between them.

They were so close, her body almost pressed flush against him. He was so warm, his body burning, and so large, like a rock, unflinching and steady against her.

She could feel him trembling, just barely holding himself back from wrapping his arms around her. His eyes were fixed on hers, longing and pleading and aching.

Her breath caught when she realized how closely she was pressed against him, how only a fraction of distance separated their bodies. She could practically feel his racing heart under her skin, hear every quick and desperate breath leaving his mouth.

He was breathing fast, ragged and sharp, every little inhale shuddering from his lips like a gasp. He looked like he was about to snap, his entire body visibly trembling like a taut thread on the edge of snapping.

“Don’t do it again,” she said softly. “I won’t…I won’t be able to go through it a second time.”

Her words seemed to hit him like a physical blow, his breath hitching in his chest. She could see the pain that flared on his face at her words.

“I-I won’t. I swear,” he responded, and his voice was so gentle, like he was talking to a wounded bird. “I swear on my life, I’ll never let you go through that again.”

He was holding himself back, every muscle and sinew in his body tense with the effort of it. It was like he was fighting the urge to pull her flush against him, to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight.

“I swear, Eira,” he repeated, his voice a low and achingly sincere promise. “I swear I’ll be better. I’ll be everything you need, anything you want.”

“The only thing I want is for you to be yourself. I want you. All of you.”

A choked gasp left his mouth, his eyes going wide. He looked almost stunned like he couldn’t quite process what she had said.

“I…you want me?” he asked, his voice rough and raw, filled with disbelief.

She nodded, her heart hammering in her chest. “Yes. I want you,” she confirmed, her voice firm and unwavering.

The words had a strange effect on him. It was like they had knocked the air from his lungs, leaving him looking completely awed and shocked.

He took another shuddering breath, his body trembling as he stared down at her. “You…you really still want me?” he asked his voice barely a whisper.

And just like that, the dam broke inside him. He reached out, pulling her flush against his body, his arms wrapping tight around her.

His head dropped to her shoulder, his body shuddering as he pressed his face against the crook of her neck. “I’ll do better,” he whispered, his voice ragged and raw and desperate. “I’ll be better. I’ll be the male you deserve. I promise.”

His body was shaking against hers, holding her tight like he was afraid she would disappear. He was breathing fast, hard and frantic, his chest rising and falling against her body frantically.

She could feel him shaking like a leaf, every muscle in his body taut and tense as he held her tight but oh so gently. And under that, she could feel his racing heart, beating so fast and intense that it was dizzying.

“I’ll be everything you need,” Azriel repeated, his lips moving against her skin, his words spoken in a low, ragged whisper. “I’ll be your male, your mate. I’ll never leave you, never hurt you or let you down again. I swear it, Eira, I swear it on my life.”

His fingers were digging into her skin, clinging to her so tightly that she could feel the slight, sharp pressure of his hands against her like he was trying to hold her to him, keep her as close as possible.

He was holding her so tightly that it should have hurt, but it only felt good. It felt like a comfort, a reassurance like he would never let her go.

[s0me-rand0m-d0rk]

Ok. So, you know that TV show Ghost Adventures? Let's make it Danny phantom.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker are college age. Danny's studying astrophysics and astronomy. Tucker's studying engineering. And Sam's double majoring in occult studies and parapsychology. They're not in Amity Park, I don't know where they'd be but it would probably be a really haunted city/town. They need some extra money so they start a paranormal investigation group kinda like what Ghost Adventures is, but local. They post their findings on YouTube. They basically blow up overnight and get monetized after they get a few videos out there.

Danny is the "medium". (He's not a medium. He just has ghost powers.)

Tucker's the tech specialist.

Sam's the occult specialist.

But instead of provoking the ghosts and being rowdy and screaming all the time (don't get me wrong, the show is funny and I do enjoy watching it, but we all know they're not always respectful of the spirits.), they're actually trying to solve the problem the ghost is posing. They try to compromise with them and help them pass on.

Sam sends Danny into creepy basements by himself just like Zak does with Aaron. She also pulls the most obscure and random occult facts out of her ass. One time, she told the audience that it was possible to exorcise ghosts using music. She proceeded to play Riptide on a ukulele for the spirit of a pre-teen girl and it worked. After the episode is over, people go to look it up, and low and behold, there it is.

Tucker makes progressively more insane and less believable gadgets to contact and interact with ghosts. Their audience tunes in every week wonder what he'll have next. The last episode, it was some sort of ghostly etch-a-sketch. AND THE GHOSTS ACTUALLY USED IT. Did one of them draw a dick on it like a smart ass? Probably.

Sometimes Danny has full on conversations with no one on camera. He waves when there's no one else in the room. He scolded a poltergeist that tried to push him down the stairs. He consistently says that most ghosts just need a hug. Dark spirit? Hug it. Violent poltergeist? They need a hug. Ghostly child? HUG. The audience notices his eyes glowing in the dark. Is it special effects? No one knows.

No one can tell if they're serious or not. They had a literal gun that shoots ghosts. They play music for ghosts. They have ghostly etch-a-sketches. Unless you're from Amity Park, there's no way you're believing that.

But, people who have their properties investigated often say that the activity stops or de-intensifies or changes all together. People may have to change things, like hanging up a photo of the deceased, holding a memorial service, or stopping/changing renovations. But they make the ghost happy or even pass on. That way they stop throwing the good china out of the cabinets.

[innorogers]

Lull

Steve Rogers x Reader (You / OFC)

Summary: So this is when you understood the difference between making love and banging, or, in this case, fucking.

Warning: Fluff / SMUT / MINORS DNI / 18+ / Unprotected Sex /

Characters: OC, Tony Stark, Maria Hill, Bruce Banner, Sam Wilson, Sharon Carter, Natasha Romanoff

Also: Thanks in advance for repost or any feedback ❤️ Let me know if you want to be included in the taglist (DM, comment, repost and tag, whatever works)❤️ You don't need to read the previous chapters but it will definitely enhance the experience if you do.

1: Insomnia | 2: Lucid | 3: Reverie | 4: Nightmare | 5: Awakening | 6: Dusk | 7: Hypnagogia

You slipped through the streets like shadows, holding hands, hearts racing, eyes darting over your shoulders, every sound amplified by the silence of the night. The Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder – or ‘Magic Stark-Potter Thing’ as Steve was calling it – had granted you some safe time. But time was fragile, and you both knew it.

Your powers pulsed beneath your skin, guiding Steve with quiet certainty. You could feel the city’s pulse, see through the walls, and peer into the hidden corners of every alley. You led him down paths that no one else knew, invisible threads pulling you toward safety. The streets, immersed in late hours after midnight, stretched before you like the remnants of some secret map.

When you reached a narrow street swallowed by the night, you knelt down and moved a pile of old garbage cans aside, revealing a small, grimy basement window. You glanced back at Steve, and gestured for him to follow you down.

Turned out to be an underground club, and the party was just getting good.

The air was thick with the smell of alcohol, sweat, and smoke. Neon lights painted the walls in erratic colors—electric blues and deep reds—while people shouted over the pounding music, their laughter swallowed by the deafening noise.

You exchanged a look with Steve as you pushed through the crowd. His usual composed demeanor flickered, his eyes scanning the chaotic scene while staying close behind you. You weaved through the press of bodies, brushing against strangers lost in their own worlds, music vibrating through your bones as you both made your way to the other side. It felt like a different universe—one that was wild, loud, and completely unaware of the chaos lurking outside its walls.

“I need a computer!” You raised your voice so he could hear.

“I really don’t think you’ll find one here.” He almost laughed, holding your waist and waving through the people around you as you moved forward.

“I know.” You tilted your jaw. “But that’s perfect, look.” You pointed to the computer they used as a register to take orders. “An older one, probably. I need to enter an untraceable code; our network is probably compromised, so I need to notify the only being who can’t be hacked or corrupted.”

“Really?” Now he was intrigued. “Who?”

“Vision.” You continued to scan the place as you moved through the dancing crowd. “These machines won’t work, they’re plugged into their private network. I’ll need something connected to the outside. C'mon… let’s go to another floor.” It was a huge underground bar, so you held Steve’s hand and moved to the stairs.

“I think we’ve got company.” Steve tightened his grip as he noticed some guys entering the floor. They looked like military—tense poses and sharp, alert eyes scanning the place. He looked up and saw more of them on the floor above, near the exits and moving through the whole place.

“Let’s go, we don’t have much time. I think there’s some gear on me that’s making us trackable.” You hurried with him to go down, but stopped when those military men started coming from downstairs. You pulled him aside, hiding in a dark corner, but they weren’t leaving. Steve’s figure—tall, handsome, blonde—was too easy to recognize. A lot of women (and men) were looking at him with flirtatious eyes, intrigued.

You passed by corridors and stairs full of people, using your powers and his sensitive perception to navigate the space. The men didn’t notice you were there, but their eyes were everywhere.

You felt Steve’s body tense beside you, ready to attack at any moment, and the place would turn into hell if that happened. You cupped his face, pulling him closer to the wall, your eyes scanning behind him.

“I’ve always wanted to do this with you…” You smirked as the men passed by, and with your hand on his neck, you kissed him deeply.

Shit. Steve’s body went rigid.

This was the worst place and the worst time, but somehow, it felt so right. He’d almost forgotten how much he needed this. The moment your lips met his, your body pressed against his, the scent of smoke and debris clinging to you from the chase. But your kiss, it grounded him—reminded him why every risk was worth it.

He kissed you in the flicker of shadows, under the flashing lights, in a dark corner of an underground club. Drunk, dancing strangers moved in their own ecstasy, oblivious to the danger. It wasn’t something he ever imagined doing, but then again, you always brought the unexpected. And again...How could you ever think he’d choose anyone else over you? Over this?

He deepened the kiss, pinning you to the wall, his tongue brushing yours, and it felt so right… you tasted like sweetness, laced with something wild, like sin and salvation entwined.

“Steve…” You broke away, eyes still on the men as they passed, and he lifted your leg, wrapping it around his waist. You grinned. “I really don’t think this is the time…”

“Well…” He chuckled, voice rough. “I think it’s the perfect time for this.”

“Come on. Let’s move now that we have the chance.” You pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before starting to move.

Taking advantage of the lack of enemies in sight, you made it to the last floor through doors and hidden passageways and arrived at what seemed to be a VIP room.

“There we go.” Your eyes locked onto a computer next to a more sophisticated bar. “That’ll do.” But as you approached, Steve’s senses sharpened, picking up the tension of a threat.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw a group of men—tall, armed, and bearing the unmistakable faces of movie villains. Why do they always look like the bad guys? He sighed, slowly rolling up his sleeves. Well, it was about damn time. He had been holding back this feeling of wanting to punch someone ever since a bomb exploded near your car.

“Mmm?” You turned back and noticed the surroundings. The only guy who had been on a date at a corner table rushed out with his partner as soon as the room filled with the approaching men, circling both of you. He was even polite enough to close the door behind him.

“Oh.” You blinked at the 1, 2, 3… 15 men surrounding you.

“Gentlemen, there’s really no need for this to escalate…” You advised as the tension thickened, movements slowing to a crawl before the inevitable first strike.

“Shut up, doll. We’ll take care of you later.” Said the man who seemed to be their leader, smirking at you. “And believe me, you’ll be well attended.”

“Oh … you really shouldn’t have said that.” You shook your head, already sensing Steve’s fists clenching in response.

“Sir, you’re about to get the smash of your life…” You spun just in time to grab the bartender’s hand as he reached for a weapon beneath the desk, a fight breaking out behind you. “Please don’t do that.” You blinked at him. “I just need to borrow your computer, okay?”

“Um…” The bartender, startled by your strong grip, noticed the Avengers logo on your gear and quickly reconsidered. “Um… this thing runs on Windows Millennium. Like…Yikes.” He gestured at the ancient machine. “Don’t you need something, I don’t know, more modern?”

“It’ll do, thanks.” You hopped over the bar counter and began typing. “If it doesn’t send Vision a signal, it’ll at least ping him with a virus warning.”

The moment Steve moved, the air shifted.

The first punch landed with the force of a freight train, sending one of the goons crashing into a table, shattering glass and upending chairs. Chaos erupted in the room as fists and bodies collided. Steve ducked under a wild swing, his movements sharp and precise, retaliating with a brutal uppercut that left another attacker sprawled on the floor. Damn, this is so boring. A punching bag in the training room felt even heavier.

One of the armed men lunged at him with a knife, but Steve twisted to the side, catching the man’s wrist and flipping him over with ease. The crack of bones echoed as the thug hit the ground hard, and Steve was already turning, launching a swift kick into another man’s chest, sending him crashing through the VIP room’s thin partition wall.

“Babe, you got that?” He moved his head, avoiding a knife—or whatever sharp thing was coming from the back—grabbed the guy by his arm, and twisted it like a towel.

“Just a sec.” You were typing the commands as bottles clinked and tables flew across the room, the thumping bass from the club floor below barely audible over the grunts and crashes of the fight. 

“Just… okay, there.” You turned to the bartender: “Do you want me to upgrade this system for you?”

The bartender wanted to answer, but suddenly bent over as a guy was thrown and hit against the wine cellar. He covered his head and screamed, so you raised your eyebrows and took that as a no.

With only three men left standing, they hesitated for a moment, locking eyes with each other as if silently deciding who would make the first move. But that took forever, and Steve was getting bored. He lunged forward, grabbing the nearest man by the collar, lifting him effortlessly before slamming him down onto the tables, the impact scattering bottles and glasses across the floor.

Before the next guy could even react, Steve spun, delivering a swift elbow to the second man’s jaw, sending him reeling backward into a bookshelf, knocking it over with a deafening crash.

The last man, clearly outmatched, pulled out a gun in a desperate attempt to regain control. But Steve was faster. In one fluid motion, he ducked low, dodging the shot, and surged forward, ripping the gun from the man’s hand and delivering a bone-crushing punch to his gut. The man doubled over in pain, gasping for breath, before Steve finished him off with a knee to the face, leaving him crumpled on the ground.

The room was now littered with unconscious bodies, shattered glass, and overturned furniture.

“Wow…” You said in awe. “You didn’t even sweat.” You were thinking that he sweats more when he’s in bed with you.

And he laughed, thinking the same: “I’m saving that for later.”

Just as the dust was settling and Steve was wiping his hands clean, the door burst open, and Tony sauntered in, his suit gleaming in the dim light.

"Everybody freeze!" Iron man said in a mechanical voice behind his helmet, raising his hand and pointing at… nothing. Then he lowered it, noticing the room was still, filled only with men groaning in pain on the floor, while you and Steve rolled your eyes at him.

"What? I was already nearby when Vis delivered the message just three seconds ago. It's not like I'm late..." He raised an eyebrow at the sight of unconscious bodies and broken furniture, clearly unfazed by the chaos, as the team led by Maria and Sam entered the room with their weapons raised.

"Get 'em all; we need intel," Steve sighed as he walked over to you. "There’s a lot of interrogation to do." He pulled you close. "C'mon, let's go home."

It was almost sunrise when you arrived at the compound. You slept a bit in the car, and when the heroes started debating in the command room about the next steps and strategies, you stretched your body and headed to the dressing room yawning.

You needed a cold water shower to clear your mind before helping Tony and Bruce decipher all the information. Plus, you had to get out of this suit that smelled like grilled cement, ashes, and burnt fabric.

Ugh, you were a mess. You opened the locker and started unzipping the gear when you suddenly heard footsteps behind you.

Steve’s arms locked around you before you could turn. He restrained your wrists as a frenzied kiss landed on your lips, fingers laced with yours, pinning you against the wall. While holding you captive with one hand, he explored your wrists with the other.

He was burning.

The kiss deepened, and all the feelings he had been holding back since the car chase, was poured into the embrace. 

He was so turned on by everything that had happened—the adrenaline, the action, the danger, and the risks. He was impressed, and aroused, so fucking aroused.

He knew you were special, but you didn’t even blink during the chaos. 

There were explosives, drones, and the entire freaking Iron Army chasing you in a car, and you didn’t step back an inch.

This unyielding, unwavering, fierce-as-fuck version of you was driving him insane.

“Steve…?” You broke the kiss because you needed air, though you were enjoying it. “Are you okay?” Didn’t you just kind of… escape from death?

“Better than ever.” He pressed his forehead against yours, breathing heavily. “I need you.” He said this while lowering your gear’s zipper, inhaling as your breasts sprang free from your clothes. He groaned, kneading them with desperate need.

Oh, okay… You moaned, tilting your head back when he sucked and lapped at them. Your gear was only half off as he pulled down your pants, kicked them aside, lifted your leg around his waist, and plunged into your already soaked folds.

Oh, wow. You gasped in awe as your inner walls stretched wide, completely filled by him, and your bodies slamming against the lockers.

And that’s when you understood the difference between making love and banging, or, in this case, fucking. 

Yup, what you’d been doing every night was making love. But this… 

This was Steve fucking you. And fucking you hard.

The pace was brutal, pounding with relentless intensity. He held your leg and gripped your ass to keep you in position. With one hand on your neck, forcing eye contact, he fucked you harder and harder.

His voice was hoarse and raw, groaning with lust. When he saw you bite your lip to stay quiet, he smiled and quickened his pace.

“I’ve wanted to do this since you kissed me in the nightclub…” He said, his body slamming into yours, locking you against the lockers.

“Keeping you like this in a dark corner, making love to you in the middle of the crowd…” With those images in mind, he murmured in your ear, his thrusts becoming stronger, admiring how waves of pleasure overtook you, making you pressed your leg tighter to his waist, your breath coming in silent gasps, pleading for more.

“Steve…” You could barely whisper. You couldn’t catch your breath as he pounded into you, shaking your body with the force of his thrusts. Your nails dug into his back, trying to hold back your voice, biting your lower lip so the moans wouldn’t escape. You didn’t even know if he had locked the door—someone could walk in at any moment.

But he was so hard, his pace so fast and relentless, completely out of control.

Steve never came before you did. He always made sure you were satisfied first. But this time, he cums when you finally gave in and moaned his name, his release hot and thick inside you.

Before you could even process it, he pulled out and turned you around.

Your breasts hit the lockers as his hands gripped your waist. He positioned you, and just when you were about to inhale, he was inside you again.

Fuck! This felt so good…! Steve never felt this urge, never wanted this so bad, his eyes darkening with further lust and desire, his hands pressing your waist and squeezing your bouncing ass cheek as he sees how he thrusts inside out of you. 

You are so tight, so wet, so fucking perfect for his cock, as you were tailored made for him. He was probably hard since you commanded him in the car, with that badass attitude and fierce determination, and now you were leaning there, with your elbows against the locker, your tits bouncing as he strokes, your ass cheeks marked as he squeezes and rubs them, and your folds still dripping remains of his last cum. Totally at his mercy. 

Fuck, this is hot.

He was going wild. Seeing you trying to mute what at home would be the sweetest or wildest moan, only spur him on, driving him to fuck you with greater velocity, snapping forward with greater intensity. 

“Let go, babe…” He said, snapping his hips forward. Each thrust hit that perfect spot deep inside you, sending shockwaves of pleasure rippling through both of your bodies. “Let it go… Cum for me honey… Come on… I know you’re about to…”

He leaned forward, grabbed your face, and kissed you fiercely, his tongue claiming yours. His hand found your breasts, tweaking and tugging at your nipples until they stiffened, begging for attention.

“Fuck, baby… You feel so good…” His voice was a ragged, hot breath near your ear. His fingers found your clit, rubbing fast circles as he continued to fuck you. 

Your moans were loader, and your clit was so sensitive, it couldn’t take more contact, Steve’s thumbs rubbed faster and stronger, and as he continues to fuck you in your spot, when he feels your walls about to clamp, he just whispers in a determined tone in your ear. “Cum, now.”

It was like he had a switch that controlled your body. Your inner walls clenched at his command, and you gave in, cumming long and hard around his cock, your body trembling. All you were making was lust sounds, mumbling his name, trying to breathe and to recover to the ecstasy that went from your clit to your mind. 

“That’s it, my love…” He smiled with satisfaction, hissing through clenched teeth, his fingers tangling in your hair as he guided you into another fervent kiss.

When his lips sealed yours, the thrusts became faster and rougher, uncontrollable moans escaping as his hands roamed over your breasts. His movements were frenetic, chasing his own orgasm.

You moved with him, drunk on lust, oblivious to everything else. You felt his hands squeezing harder, his gasps becoming heavier, his cock growing bigger and stronger. Finally, he buried himself inside you, erupting and flooding your depths with a hot load of cum. His hips jerked involuntarily as the last drops spilled inside you, and he was finally satisfied.

“Oh…god… fuck, babe…” He had one hand still rubbing your tits, another pressing your clit and feeling his cum overload your folds, and his body resting in yours, covered with sweat, gear at his feet, when the extreme edge washed over him. “That…was…amazing.”

"Steve..." You panted as he pulled out and turned you around, instantly leaning into him. "I need to sit..." Your knees were weak, and your thighs hurt a little, but in a good way, a very good way.

He let out a soft laugh. "I’m so sorry..." He kissed your forehead as he lifted you onto the bench and covered you with his shirt. "Did I hurt you? Oh..." He winced at the marks on your waist and thighs, nearly bruised from his hands.

"Shit, babe... I’m sorry I got carried away." His voice softened, apologetic. "Does it hurt?" He pressed a kiss on your wrists, where he had also been holding on so tight. "Fuck... I’m sorry."

"No." You grinned and kissed him back. "It was amazing..." You leaned toward him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. "I loved it. We should have more missions like this."

"As much as I’d love to..." He smiled and brushed a strand of hair out of your face, holding you close. "I hate the danger around you. But hey..." He hesitated for a moment. "About what I said earlier..."

"'Cum, now'?" You imitated his voice, and he let out a loud laugh.

"No, earlier..."

"Mmm..." You recalled your eidetic memory. "'Keeping you like this in a dark corner, making love to you in the middle of the crowd'?"

Your eyes brightened. "You wanna go back to the nightclub so we can make out?"

Steve actually considered it for a second. "We’ll talk about that later... but no, I meant what I said in the car before the Iron Army attacked us like Ultron’s possessed children."

"Yeah..." You didn’t remember. Well, no, you weren’t listening. "I was distracted by the giant bomb headed toward us, babe... I’m sorry I didn’t hear."

He leaned back, chuckling and shaking his head.

"Okay, what I was saying..." Now he was looking right at you. He cupped your face, leaving a soft kiss on your lips. "I think it’s just been proven how deeply, madly, utterly in love I am with you. I don’t have eyes for anyone else..."

"Ohhh!" Now you connected the dots. "So we’re talking about my insecurities because you hung out with your gorgeous ex-girlfriend all day?"

"She’s not..." Steve sighed, then softened his voice. "Well, there. There’s nothing for you to be insecure about. I love you. Only you. And I think I’ve proven my desire to be with you forever with the ring..."

"What?" Now you were shocked. "Wait, what?" You sat up straight. "Was the ring really... really... a ring?"

"Of course it is. What else would it be?"

"Um... you said it was a tracking device."

"It is." Steve sighed. "But eventually, when all this is over, it will be just a ring that means: you’re the love of my life, and I want to be with you forever." He smiles at your incredulous face, and holds you in his embrace, placing a kiss on your forehead: "In this life, and all the lifetimes to come. I want only you."

You stared at him, speechless, feeling the warmth of his arms around you and the weight of his words settling in. His gaze was so full of love, it made your heart race. For a moment, you couldn’t find the words, but then you leaned into him, resting your forehead against his.

"Steve..." You whispered, your voice thick with emotion. "I don’t know what to say."

"You don’t have to say anything." He replied softly, brushing a strand of hair away from your face. "Just... stay with me. That’s all I need."

You smiled, your heart overflowing. "Yes." You kissed him back. "Now. Always. Forever."

"Okay, now that we’re good..." He lifted you up in his arms. "C’mon princess, let’s take a bath, we are a mess here."

Oh. You raised your eyebrows. You don’t know who he’s kidding; you both know how this was going to end.

The End but TBD :)

Continue to:

9: Vigil |

10: Eclipse |

Divider Credits: to the wonderful @cafekitsune

And that's a wrap for chapter 8! Wohoo, I'm so glad I've made it to write a complete smut!! xD I really suck at writing it in english :D So with so many wonderful writers out there, thank you for reading up to here, hope you enjoyed it :D And thanks everyone for participating in the poll last post xD Can't believe fluff won, come on some angst and then a fluff and happy ending won't hurt, right? xD

I'll see you next friday for chapter 9! Wow 9 chapters!! <3

Tag list: @vioplay19 / @jamneuromain / @steviebbboi / @heletsmelovehim / @otterlycanadian / hisredheadedgoddess28

*can you let me know if I've missed anyone in the taglist? thanks <3

[xrenjunniesx]

BOYFRIEND HEADCANONS OF DREAMIES 🙏🙏🙏 it can be 0T7 or just chenle!! (maybe jeno). please make it delicious thanks wookie. i hope you're doing well with everything.

nct dream boyfriend headcannons

a/n : Hii, I’m doing well other than the fact that school is after me. I’m sorry this took so long for me to do :( enjoy the silly little headcannons :D

mark

there was snowman, sitting perfectly made and constructed on a ledge, and along with marks enthusiasm, created the perfect spot to take photos together. you and mark had just finished dinner and decided to go for a walk, just to enjoy each others company a little more in this cool environment and to talk about what’s been on your mind. the two of you start doing silly little poses for your camera, blowing snow at each other and getting amazing shots of the snow in action. it wasn’t until you tried to go up closer to the snowman that you realised - oh it’s slippery. very slippery. you fell over, kicking into mark by accident making him falling over as well. people walked past, laughing at the two of you as you both practically screamed out your own laughters. and oh? you accidentally recorded the whole thing? even better.


renjun

you loved going to the photo booths with your friends, so when your boyfriend wanted to take you to one during a day out you agreed in an instant. before it started you took a seat, looking into the camera and fixing your hair to fix it up. renjun watched you in awe, simply admiring you. when it started you led the way, telling him how to pose quickly before the photo was taken each time. you got the cute set of photos but renjun wanted another set, this time without any accessories. you agree, placing the accessories back and joining him in the photo booth. you are all over each other in the best possible way in this set of photos. hugs, loving stares, kisses, brightest and most genuine smiles. he loved you more than you could ever guess.

jeno

“it was just a joke” you scream, running down the road towards the playground. jeno was hot on your tail, having the time of his lip chasing after you as you fear for what he will do what he catches you - hug you to death? who knows. despite the playground clearly not being for people above the age of ten, you were running up those stairs and sprinting towards the slide. he was below the slide, simply waiting for you to slide down.

“Leave me alone you psycho”

“take it back and it’s all okay”

“okay…. um…”

“you can’t even be genuine” he cried out before making his way up the slide. you wanted to laugh at the silly action but you chose to run instead, giggling as you jumped off the playground. however, you failed to notice that jeno was already back on the ground.

he wraps his arms tightly around you, squeezing you against him as you giggle and push at him to get free.

“apologise.” “no.” he kisses your lips and then looks at your with a forced angry expression. “apologise now.” “another kiss and then maybe.”

haechan

you were exhausted at this point. It was 4 am and this trip was supposed to be a time to rest. but instead haechan had you at the karaoke room making you sing all the songs possible together. you weren’t expecting him to go on for this long, usually it was only a couple of songs before he got sick of the karaoke, but tonight he just kept making you both sing.

you were sure your voices were giving out, you were out of breath from the failed rap attempts and you had somehow made a choreography to a song that he sung twice in a row.

“babe, I need a break please.” you huffed out, placing a microphone down and breathing out heavily.

he sat down beside you, also breathing heavily. he looked at you for a full minute. just looking as you breathed and tried to ignore his stare. he then brought his hand up to your chin and turned your face to look at him, moving forward to place a gentle kiss on your lips and then pulling away.

“let’s go back and sleep, I’m exhausted.”

jaemin

you laid in bed, unable to sleep from the pure excitement of what jaemin had planned for you tomorrow. he had booked a hotel in another city and brought the flight tickets. this was to the exact city you had wanted to visit for ages. you needed to wake up in a few hours for the airport, but you just couldn’t fall asleep. jaemin woke up due to your constant moving around.

“why are you awake?” “I’m too excited I can’t sleep..”

it brought a smile to his face, but he knew you would really need to sleep at least a little bit now.

he pulled you towards him, wrapping his arms around you and bringing your face towards his neck. you inhaled his scent and tried to relax yourself. “try to sleep, you will regret it if you don’t.”

“I am trying.” you said trying to move back and look at him but he kept your head there, not letting you move. “go to sleep.” he said, half asleep himself. you did fall asleep shortly after, thanks to his comforting hold on you.

chenle

you wanted to be FREE. he was feeling like a menace. he was cuddled up to your arm, not letting go of it for the past hour. you tried to free yourself multiple times but it didn’t work. he kept finding excuses to bother you. it was all because he liked your reactions. you scoffed and laughed in annoyance at his behaviour and that was enough to make him laugh at you and continue. it wasn’t until you started actually trying to free yourself from his grip that you both ended literally wrestling each other.

you were sat on the couch, chenle clinging onto you with his arms wrapped around one of your arms and his leg placed on top of you. he laughed at your expression, not caring that you were annoyed.

“It’s not like you are doing anything important.” he claimed, and you just closed your eyes and leaned your head back.

“why are you doing this?”

“honest answer or the lie.” “honest.” you say with a sigh.

“haechan bet me that I wouldn’t be able to stick to you for one hour straight and I said I could do two hours.”

“lele… it’s been like almost three hours now.”

“he will triple the money if I make it to three hours baby please just 20 more minutes.”

“spilt the money and sure.”

“the money is all yours baby. I’m doing this to prove a point.”

jisung

you and Jisung were growing impatient with the food. It was in the oven, cooking away, but you wanted it now. you stood in the kitchen, tapping your feet on the ground and fingers on the counter, creating a beat by pure accident. Jisung noticed the beat and started dancing to it, not seriously of course but just a silly little dance move for pure entertainment. you giggled and stopped the beat and he whined at you.

“aye keep the beat going.”

“I’ll get the kitchen beat going hold on.”

the pots and pants and spoons all came out and before you knew it, you and jisung were a two person band creating the worst music alive with the goofiest dances possible BUT you were having fun. so much fun that time just went on and on until you realised oh shit the food will be ready and turns out you almost burnt the food. it’s just a little bit extra crispy.

[octuscle]

The ghost of Gamma Omega Lambda Delta

“Are you sure we're standing in front of the right house?” asked Leander. The property was in a miserable state. The porch was half collapsed, the front garden a mixture of jungle and garbage dump. The exposé had shown a reasonably presentable house, which certainly had potential as an investment property in the immediate vicinity of the campus. Leander looked at Jacob a little disparagingly. Jacob was the prototype of a sleazy real estate agent. A little too fat for his not-so-new suit. The heels of his shoes were worn out. And with the help of a little too much pomade, the top of his head painstakingly concealed his incipient baldness. Jacob struck a pose. “You know what my real estate investment is all about: location, location, location! And this is a prime location. Perfect for a boarding house for guest lecturers. Or as a commercial student residence for exchange students. The Germans and Scandinavians will pay almost any price for rent.” Leander sighed. He came from Berlin himself and knew how expensive it was to study in California. But it had paid off. He was in his late 20s, a millionaire several times over after the exit of his start-up and he had no intention of dying a millionaire. His goal was a billion. “All right, then, let's take a look at the wreckage from the inside.”

The first thing they saw was a cat fleeing from them in a panic when Jacob unlocked the door. It looked as if no human had disturbed its peace for a long time. The house reeked of cat pee and mustiness. Jacob searched for a light switch with his flashlight. Leander pulled aside a tattered curtain in disgust and opened a window. It was clear: tear it down and build a new one. There was no alternative. The wooden floor was rotten, the light switches didn't work and the stain on the ceiling suggested a leaking roof. But in his mind's eye, there was a Starbucks branch and a co-working space down here and, if he could bribe the building authorities, one- and one-and-a-half-bedroom apartments on eight, maybe ten floors above. The location was perfect. But he didn't want to let his interest show. Leander was a good poker player. “Give me a flashlight, I'd like to have a look around upstairs,” he said to Jacob. And of course he was prepared and handed his wealthy customer a flashlight. “Do you need gloves too?” he asked. Leander waved them off. He wasn't a wimp, he wasn't afraid of getting dirty.

The stairs creaked unconvincingly as he went upstairs. “What was this before?” asked Leander. “A frat house, as far as I know,” Jacob replied. That at least partially explains the dilapidated condition, Leander thought to himself, pushing a pile of leaves aside with one foot in disgust. It wasn't just leaves. There were also the remains of weathered jockstraps. The upper floor seemed to be in an even worse state than the first floor… But at least there was a light on in one room. Amazing!

Jacob left his client alone. When he sold the property, it would be renovated. The property was huge. There used to be a basketball court and a pool on the dilapidated property. Of course, both were no longer recognizable due to the undergrowth and junk. But a dormitory with 20, maybe 25 units could be built on the site alone. The battery in his flashlight was flat. He needed light… And air, it really stank to high heaven in this ruin. Jacob began to draw curtains and open windows. That made it brighter and airier. But it also made the misery more visible. Dude, this place was really run down. The floor was full of garbage and leaves, the walls were covered in graffiti… Jacob came into a hallway that looked surprisingly tidy. There were stains on the wall from pictures that were no longer hanging. Lots of pictures. All obviously the same size. Only one was still hanging:

Jacob read the writing on the plaque on the frame: "Bruh of the month 09/2024: Chad". What the hell? It was September 2024!

Leander struggled through the garbage towards the lighted room. While all the other doors hung crookedly on their hinges and were covered in graffiti, the open door to the room was almost clean and looked tidy. There was a sign on the door that read “Mitch and Scott's man cave. No entry if sock is on the door handle. Unless you can take two cocks!” The room was messy. The way a dorm room was usually messy. But it looked as if Mitch and Scott had just stepped out for a quick shower after a fierce sword fight. It smelled of musk, sweat and cum. Leander got a hard-on.

Jacob felt uncomfortable. Something's not right here. He also had to pee. No, he had to piss. Fuck, his bladder felt like after two pitchers of beer. He had to burp. And his burp smelled and tasted like beer. There had been toilets around here somewhere. Better to piss in a broken toilet than just in a corner, he thought to himself. Yes, this was where the washrooms were. A frat boy was standing at a urinal and wanking. He looked curiously at Jacob's crotch. Did Jacob have to be uncomfortable now? Never mind, he had to piss. And if a bro was wanking next to him, that was somehow a compliment.

Leander opened one of the cupboards. It smelled like a boys' locker room in high school. T-shirts, football gear, jockstraps, sneakers… Everything was just stuffed into the cupboard. Some of it was clean. Other things were obviously not. Without giving it much thought, Leander undressed and pulled on a jockstrap, a pair of ripped jeans and a shiny college jacket. He found a pair of formerly white socks and sneakers on the floor. Everything fit perfectly. But with his 35 years and beer belly, he looked really ridiculous.

“I'm Dylan, are you new here?” asked the wanking bro next to him as Jacob buttoned his jeans. “Because if you're new, you might as well leave your jeans unbuttoned. I prefer to see the cocks of the new guys who suck me off outside their pants”. Jacob looked at Dylan's hard-on. impressive compared to his own. He went down on his knees. “Wait a minute!” said Dylan. “No one blows me with a stuffy shirt like that.” Leander freed his upper body. And let his tongue play with Dylan's shaft.

Leander lay on Scott's bed. He sucked in Scott's scent. For a sophomore, Scott smelled like a real man. Leander thought about Scott's hairy balls. He liked it that Scott didn't shave. Nothing against a clean-shaven cock and clean-shaven balls. But a man was hairy, he thought as he scratched his chest hair. Out in the hallway, he heard Scott and Mitch coming. They were both praising each other's performance at football practice. The two of them came into their room. Scott grinned and said that his prayers had been answered. He had wished for an awesome cardio workout before the party tonight.

Jacob asked his roommate Dylan why they only ever had sex in the washroom and never in their room. Dylan licked some of his own cum, which was dripping from the corner of Jacob's mouth, off his face. “Because it would be totally homo if we slept in the same bed we were fucking in.” Jacob didn't ask. He was here for his wrestling scholarship, not his intelligence. If Dylan, who had at least once had a B in English and supposedly even in math, said so, it would be true.

Jacob, Dylan, Mitch, Scott, and Leander all arrived at the Gamma Omega Lambda Delta fraternity house party cave at almost the same time. The party was in full swing. Jacob and Leander greeted each other with a chest bump. It was customary among the college wrestlers. And then they started drinking. The others had been at it for an hour. They had some catching up to do.

Shit, it was 05:00. Both of them had already thrown up some of the beer and tequila they had drunk. And poured new beers and tequilas. Leander actually had to rewrite his microeconomics exam today. If he failed again, he would probably have to allow the dean to blow him again. But what was much worse was that they had wrestling practice this afternoon. If Coach found out that they had overdone it again as party animals, they would be in big trouble. Okay, but that could also be settled with a blowjob. Besides, they still had four hours to sleep, no one expected the two stallions to show up on campus before 10:00. Life as a frat boy was just awesome!

[haunt3dh3art]

Born In Blood | Yandere Dexter Morgan x reader

i’ve been watching almost a season of Dexter a day now i’m on winter break!! i know you guys lurking in the Dexter community have been waiting for some more work, so this is for you <33 i'm also posting this on my ao3 page if you prefer that formatting - type in "haunt3dh3art" and you'll find me.

TW: Blood, slight gore, slight torture, mention of blades and rope, canon-typical violence, slight obsession hinting

· ˳ . ✦ . ˚ . ✦ . ˳ · ˖ ✶ ⋆ . ✧̣̇☽༺♰༻☾✧̣̇ . ⋆ ✶ ˖ · ˳ . ✦ . ˚ . ✦ . ˳ ·

Chapter 1 - Silence

Miami is full of gorgeous, witty women, and plenty of them would love a piece of Dexter.

But, none of them have ever held his attention for more than a few months. He tries not to let his lack of emotions get in the way of relationships, but its like everybody he meets eventually gets the feeling that something is very, very wrong.

A sixth sense, like when a dog growls at the darkness. You can't see what they can, but go back the way you came anyway.

So, eventually, everyone leaves, as is the next logical step for their survival.

When Dexter first sees you, whether you are an "almost victim" of the Miami Metro's latest killer or someone he sees on the street, it’s like he forgets to breathe. His eyes squint, a darkness glazing them over and something changes. His Dark Passenger appears behind him, but Dexter pays no attention to the ramblings of his damaged subconscious.

For argument's sake, here, you present to him as a victim. Or you would have been, had Dexter not figured out the location of the killer's lair in time.

He's led to a decrepit church, stone bricks falling off the walls, thick ivy covering almost every surface he can see. He makes no sound as he creeps towards the entrance. Slowly, he pushes the door open - it makes a lowly creak and Dexter slips into the darkness.

There is no light here, no ceremonious candles for the next killing, no flashy weapons to be seen on many of the stone slabs Dexter passes. Then, he sees a soft glow in the back corner of the vast church.

A cellar. The trapdoor won't quite close, and a whisper of light is allowed to seep through the thin crack against the floor. Dexter lifts it with deft fingers, careful to not make a sound. His steps make no sound as he glides down the stone stairs down, down into the basement. It's cold down here, and the air is thick with moisture. His silence, although usually an upper hand on an opponent, was not necessary here.

Your guttering screams rang out through the entire lower level; as loud as they were, Dexter was left wondering how they couldn't be heard until down here. You sounded animalistic, clearly fighting for your life and barely hanging on. As he got closer to the awful sounds of clanging metal and splitting screams, a chill rose up on Dexter's skin.

Then, he heard the killer's voice for the first time.

"How stupid can you be? You're nothing but a sacrifice to me." A low voice cut your screams into nothing but whimpers.

The slow dragging of a metal blade rang out into Dexter's ears and he was glad he came more than adequately prepared for a fight.

The killer was one Joseph Butler, serial womaniser and priest. Clearly, God had abandoned this disciple. The victims were most often strippers caught in his charming web, or occasionally single women looking for human connection. They must have thought they had struck gold.

His call card had been arranging his victims' hands into a prayer stance, nailing nails through the palms to keep the pose in place, and deftly placing a barbed wire "crown" on the person's head. They were always sat upright, bound with rope to a chair and lathered in blood.

The blade was new - Joseph was on the cusp to evolve his method, but he would never get the chance.

Candles lit the basement with a warm light, contrasting the suffocating atmosphere. Dexter suspected Butler had been torturing you with hot wax, or something similar, perhaps flames and the heated blade?

There was only a cloth curtain separating you, the killer and Dexter now.

"These are your final moments on this demented Earth. I suggest you use them to say a prayer." The killer spoke.

Dexter pulled back the curtain with one finger and saw he had his back to him.

This was the moment.

Moving as a snake slithers, Dexter stepped towards your torturer, and injected him with a tranquilizer. He instantly collapsed to the floor, making a satisfying thud.

Dexter stepped over him, and reached for his pocketknife to cut you free of your binds. You began to scream again and writhed in petrifying fear in your seat.

It was now that Dexter, crouched to your level, could finally see your face. Butler had obscured his view of you before, but with him out cold on the floor, Dexter could take the time to look.

You, caked in dirt and filth.

You, a look of horror beyond comprehension etched on to your face.

You, born in blood, just as he had been.

The moment Dexter was to undertake his duty once again as the necessary evil of Miami, he paused. Each time he had a killer strapped to a table, he paused for a moment to collect himself and appreciate the serenity of the moment. Perpetually holding the blade above his subject's heart, the point positioned perfectly, quivering in the air for a second of peace.

It was this moment, as he looked at you, that the constant roaring and wailing inside his head fell silent.

His eyes were fixed on yours, searching for an avenue of the same peace. He saw oceans reflected in your eyes, deep and dangerous.

"Shh, shh, shh. I'm not going to hurt you, I'm getting you out." He pleads, leaning forward on his knees.

He places the cool blade of his pocketknife on the rope next to your skin, making a quick, efficient cut of each loop around your wrists. It's a welcome sensation, despite the distant threat of pain.

Your screaming subsides, replaced by hyperventilating. Dexter's eyebrows pull together as he quickens his pace cutting the ropes around your feet.

Butler was only beginning his spree, killing 3 women in only 6 weeks. You would have been his fourth, had Dexter not been 10 steps ahead of his own department.

'Clearly an amateur,' Dexter thinks. The rope was too weak to hold a victim who had fight left to give, but that's easier said than done.

Finally, you were free, and instantly pushed the chair back. It crashed on the floor with a loud bang, but Dexter paid no attention to it. His eyes were stuck to you, mesmerised by you, even in your condition.

"What are you going to do to me?" You whispered, rubbing your fingers over your aching wounds.

Some of the blood on your skin was still fresh, glowing a crimson red against the candlelight. Dexter shook his head.

"Nothing," He said. "But, you need to stay with me, here. I can protect you, keep you safe, but you have to stay."

Dexter never imagined this happening to him. He knew the chances of you trusting him were beyond slim, but he hoped that by seeing your torturer on the floor, knocked out by his hand, that you wouldn't see him as a threat.

Dexter watched you with bated breath, his hands tightly clenched into fists.

You didn't move, weighing your choices. Would you really survive if you ran? How would you know there weren't more of these psychopaths waiting outside, ready to pounce the second you walked out into the night?

You shook your head, pacing around the room.

The curtain was pulled in a circle around the chair and it waved in the air as you walked past it.

"What's your name?" You asked.

"Dexter."

Saying his real name out loud felt like a violation, a curse. Only people in his life knew his name. Were you going to be a part of that now?

You nodded and stopped pacing. Pointing at the killer, you asked another question. "What are you going to do with him?"

Dexter let his gaze break from you to the man on the floor.

He would be out cold for the next 7 hours at least, unless Dexter chose to wake him up sooner. However, on this occasion, he didn't have a plan. He had all the supplies needed for a killing in the boot of his car outside, but he hadn't anticipated for you to be here tonight. The timing of the killing wasn't quite right, and a sign that Butler was becoming a bigger problem than the Miami Metro could handle. The FBI would soon step in, and Butler would be out of Dexter's grasp.

"I'm going to make it look like you were never here, which is why you have to stay with me. I have to.. dispose of him, but it won't take more than a few hours." Dexter said, choosing his words carefully to not scare you even more.

He checked his watch. 10:47pm. If he was to kill Butler and get to the marina in time, the process would have to be quick.

The sun was beginning to rise earlier in Miami.

· ˳ . ✦ . ˚ . ✦ . ˳ · ˖ ✶ ⋆ . ✧̣̇☽༺♰༻☾✧̣̇ . ⋆ ✶ ˖ · ˳ . ✦ . ˚ . ✦ . ˳ ·

[mommys-puppy-tgirl]

Two blue screens

I wrote a lesbian robot puppy girl short story. Please enjoy :3 also the pov character is trans.

Pulling into the driveway, I stepped out of the car. Thebsweet smelling rain cascaded across my face, through my hair and soaking into my clothes on the brief stride to the front door. I fumble with the keys, sliding through three on my ring before finding the right one, all the while the water and wind sap my heat. I turn the key, open the door, and step inside, dripping water on the hardwood floors with a plop. I shut the door, remove my wet black sneakers and socks, hanging both on an empty coatrack.

From upstairs I hear my favorite thing. An excited “Woof” compressed and taken from Nintendo’s ds game “Nintendogs.” Following the sweet audio came a rumble of a heavy chassis across carpeting floor and then a “slump,” “bump” and “crash” as my beautiful girlfriend rolls down the stairs in an excited heap, her mechanical tail wagging. She quickly corrects her pose and rises to her feet to embrace me, squeezing tight enough to hinder my breathing.

Hal-E is my adorable robot girlfriend, her tummy and face each having a monitor like a Nintendo DS. The tummy screen currently has nintendogs open and all the necessary buttons to play of ones favorite Nintendo game on it. The bumpers are on her sides and the cartridge slot is hidden on her back. She wears a crop top and booty shorts so that heat can vent properly, and to cover more explicit ports. across her exposed metal are numerous stickers of bands, anime, cute animals, and flowers

I squeeze back, but stop saying. “Wait wait, I’m all wet. Down girl.”

A small green light flicks on when she hears the order. In an instant she gets on her knees, hands on her lap, and stairs up with the same dumb, cute, adorable smile she always has when I come home. I’m already colder without her natural heaters pressed against my body. So I’ll have to go quick so I can feel her again.

“Puppy, wait for me in our bedroom,” I said as I walked into the other room.

HAL-Es green light turned on and she said “I love you,” scampered up the stairs. She’s a robotic puppy girl all the way through. When we first got together she was just a robot girl, but she had fun exploring the internet and discovered puppy play. It was a recursive file in her memory banks. She pleaded with me to make a program that would help fulfill her dreams. As a programmer, I stayed up all night for a week and fulfilled her wishes and embedded it in that nintendogs cartridge. She can take it out any time she wants. But she loves it too much to ever stop being my good girl.

Now alone I removed my wet clothes and grabbed a towel from the linen closet. I ran the cotton across my skin and removed the water from it, but the cold remained. The rain left a lasting chill deep within me, and brought all the grime from that days work to the surface. Now I need my puppy to wash it all away. I walked upstairs to our shared room, opened rhe door and saw HAL-E sitting on the bed. She too was uncovered, revealing the stickers placed upon her breasts. It reads “if lost, please return to Marcy.” When I see that sticker I can’t help but bite my lip.

HAL-Es eyes widened as I entered the room, her mechanical tail wagging faster and faster, smacking against the pillows with a loud “whomp” over and over again. I could tell she wanted to jump out of bed and hug me, tackle me down and kiss me all over. She made sharp pushes against the bed, false starts as she contained her excitement. As I slowly approached the bed, I heard her cooling fans activate, pumping heat out from her head and torso to keep her from overheating. She whimpers, desperate to be played with, for someone to touch her controls and insert data into her.

“Look at how eager you are… so patient… so good…” I said, my voice shifting to a soft sultry tone. “Good girl. Do you want belly rubs?”

She let out another whimper, then a compressed yap. She rolled onto her back and looked up, her digital eyes filled with a burning heat and desire. Her vents pumped warm air all over my legs, a heat that threatened to drag me down onto her. I wanted to take it all, all her warmth and embrace her. But not yet, first we play the game.

“Good girl,” I said, rubbing my hands all over her chassis, my fingers touching the lower ds screen and sending signals into her brain. Several green lights flicked on and off as I touched her, telling me how much she enjoyed it. She was officially in “good girl mode” and now all pleasure and sensations are heightened. Just a tap of her screen sends waves of energy through her circuitry. if she wasn’t on her charging leash no doubt she would lose power.

I moved my position between her legs and told her to keep her head up. Laying down on her warm body was like a car running car in the winter, so warm it melted any ice still within my skin. I placed my thumbs on the buttons and +pad and my index fingers on her bumpers. She squirmed with each button press, the good feelings programmed into her mind. I didn’t have to play for long, for her it would feel like hours of pleasure.

Nintendogs is always a fun time, espreciallt when my girlfriend moans every time I press a buotton. Every time I play with a puppy I’m playing with her mind, and every treat given is a treat she feels. Her vents are pouring hot air, but when I check her power banks she is still charging. After 15 minutes, I pulled up her task manager, I saw how much her cpu and memory was full. All her processes were at their limit! “How about we turn some of these off…” I said.

“Ahh! Bark! W-what?” She struggled to make words after being a puppy for so long. But before she understood what was happening, I had limited her cognitive processes to 30% and boosted her pleasure centers to 120%. This was something she could turn back on if she wanted too, and was within our discussed limits. Messing with her mind, messing with her programming and messing with her wiring and attachments, she lived for it.

Now that she could only bark and whimper, reduced to my dumb, sweet, happy puppy, a puppy full of pleasure, I rose from between her legs and laid across her belly. My breasts pressed against hers, the sticker caught on my nipple, teasing me unintentionally and reminding me how much I love this woman. The warmth exuding from her chest was burning hot and nipples like fresh dripped candle wax. My eyes locked with hers, those digital girl eyes. I locked my lips with her synthetic lips just below her top screen.

Her silicon lips were warm and soft. What others see as fake, to me they were realer than any other. My tongue slid between them, and I felt the zap of her hidden mouth port. The tingle only made me want her more. I kissed and kissed, she squirmed and moaned into my mouth. It was delicious. Her hands were spazzing, fighting the urge to touch the port between her legs. She knew I’d get there later.

I shifted my weight, so that my knees were on her arms and my dick between her breasts. “Be a good puppy…” I said, my voice containing my eagerness, “and suck mommy’s cock.” Her hot lips on my skin almost made me explode, her sensation, her obedience, her eagerness. I own her, and she loves it, and I love it. The jolt of her energy through my body called me to thrust into her mouth, her synthetic tongue caressing the head. Now I had to hold myself back from explosion. I needed to hold off the building tension from below, calling me to unload inside my puppy’s mouth. “She would love it, mommy’s hot cum inside her,” I thought. The devil in me told me to do it, ruin her hot mouth, short circuit her brain with my love. But no. Not yet. I can’t.

My puppy’s eagerness brought her sensual blowjob from a savoring to devouring. Her dumb, sweet, gorgeous puppy programming needed her to get my cum. But I had to keep it from her, like waving a toy over a dogs head, beckoning it to jump for it, only to snatch the toy away before they can lock their jaws into it. I let her go fast, but now I needed to stop before I gave her the prize.

“Good girl, drop it.”

She immediately stopped, but her eyes were confused, begging me to let her keep going. She was hungry for it. She couldn’t even move her arms to bring me back in. She just had to wait, like a good puppy. The Denial fed her eagerness, she needed a release. She needed to fuck her mpmmy so bad, and I could tell.

“Let’s use the gba port.” The gameboy had an insane amount of device attachments to go with different games or products. The attachment we are going to use was not a commercially made device, but Etsy creators sold these for anyone who had a Nintendo DS branded robotic girlfriend who wanted to get kinky. With a little luck, I managed to get a hold of the attachment before they were shut down by a classic Nintendo cease and desist.

From the bedside table, I pulled out a Gameboy advanced dick attachment with vibration and cum functionality. I plugged in the cock to the gba port between HAL-E’s legs (it was placed there to mimic the ds’ original design and got past Nintendo censors). As soon as it connected, the cock hardened and throbbed. The temperature of the dick rose, using it as a heat sink. Her artificial cum leaked out like a doctor checking a syringe before inserting it and I was the patient. I poured lube all over her cock and stroked her twice to get it all over.

I laid on the bed, my legs in the air and my butt propped up against the pillows. My cock leaked across my front, and my asshole puckered. I put my hands on my cheeks and spread them, beckoning my sweet puppy closer. “Be good girl, Fuck mommy…”

Her desperate puppy eyes guided her as HAL-E moved forward and pressed her warm robot cock against my greedy asshole. She moaned and glitched moan, one that splintered and drowned out her screaming fans. Her cocks head pressed into my ass, spreading it and filling me up with her love. Unlike the doctor, she pushed her cock jn and out. “Arf” and “bark” came from her speakers with every thrust. Her eyes were locked on mine and our hands intwinned. Our love was one, her heat and mine, a building cycle. Her glitchy moans. She’s going to cum.

She’s speeding up. Im moaning, she’s barking, she’s such a good girl, such a good puppy. I’m going to reward her so good. “Good girl. Good puppy.” She speeds up again. Faster. Harder. Desperation rising. My cock tenses. I can feel her cock rubbing against my special spot. “Cum with mommy.”

She barks in response, my beautiful dumb puppy.

“3.”

She speeds up, I’m losing control of my voice and moans.

“2.”

She’s overheating, her fans on overtime, my body is so hot too, I love her so much.

“1.”

Her cock is tensing, but she won’t cum until I say. She’s a good girl.

“Good girl… cum.”

We both cum, as she pins be down with her robot body. She locks her cock inside my Ass to make sure I feel her pulsating eruption within me. Such a good puppy. Her screens both turn blue as the pleasure and heat overloads her. It’s too much, her lips lock with mine as she reboots.

Meanwhile I erupt all over our tummies. First on mine, then hers as she leans over to reboot. With deep breaths I embrace her, I give my darling puppy robot girl all of my love. I kiss her lips, sticking my tongue in and moaning “HAL-E” with every thrust. “Good girl.”

I spent 2 minutes with her as she rebooted. It was quiet, broken by a few clicks as the systems worked through and reset to normal levels. With every moment I fell more and more in love with HAL-E, all over again. But every time I couldn’t help but get scared. She doesn’t always blue screen, but when she does I can’t help but worry. She’s told me 100 times that it’s harmless, but I still get nervous.

After those two minutes to calm down, she woke up. Her eyes bright, “hey cutie” she said. Those words made my heart melt. I kissed her again and again, and forever into the night.

(This was written in my notes app, sorry for any typos) :3

[niki-phoria]

Hi!!! I’m literally obsessed with your writing. Could you do like a fiction where Yeonjun is watching y/n dancing in one of the practice rooms and is kind of like admiring them. But like somehow y/n sees and teases him about it and it gets flirty or romantic somehow (I’m curious to see what you come up with!)

pairing: idol!yeonjun x gn!trainee!reader genre: fluff word count: 611

a/n: thank you for requesting !! it means so much to me :)) also i feel like i ended this really weirdly

yeonjun sighs, stretching out his sore limbs as he turns off the music. his feet burn from hours of dancing. there aren’t many people in the building by now. he can’t hear the usual noise of other music, choreographers yelling out counts, the sound of shoes hitting the ground. 

he grabs his things, turning off the lights and closing the door behind him. he pushes a cap onto his head to hide his sweaty face, slowly walking through the hallways. once he reaches the second floor, he’s surprised to hear the faint echo of music coming from one of the rooms. curious, yeonjun pushes the door open slightly. your shirt clings uncomfortably to your back as you continue to dance. from his position against the doorframe he can see your muscles flex as you execute the moves. 

yeonjun usually doesn’t get caught up in admiring people. throughout his years of being an idol he’s grown conscious enough to realize when he’s staring at someone long enough to potentially cause a scandal. but there’s something about you that makes him pause and watch. your chest heaves as you stand in the center of the room, holding your ending pose for a few seconds. in the mirror, he sees you catch his eye.

yeonjun’s face burns when you look at him. “ah,” he bites back his embarrassment, fully entering the room. the door closes behind him as he bows. you quickly reciprocate, rushing over to turn off the music. “i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“it’s alright, i don’t mind cute boys staring at me.” something about your words throws him off. maybe it’s your tone, or the sound of your voice, or the fact that it’s you saying it, and he finds you attractive. his ears burn and he looks away with a slight chuckle. “are you heading home now?” 

“i was just about to, yeah,” he says. 

“do you mind if i join you?” 

“of course not.” you smile, unplugging your phone from the speakers. you quickly grab your own things before joining yeonjun in the corner. your shoulders brush together slightly as you turn off the lights, making your way down the stairs to the lobby and out of the entrance. 

“are you cold?” yeonjun asks. the winter air stings against your cheeks. you pull your shirt further around yourself, shivering a little. 

“a little,” when you breathe out, your breath is visible in the air. “i forgot my jacket at my dorm.” 

“you’re a trainee?” yeonjun turns to you. you nod, wrapping your arms further around yourself. 

“i moved from yg a few months ago.” yeonjun pulls you to stop, pulling his jacket off and wrapping it around your shoulders. “oh, you don’t need to-” 

“you’re shivering,” he interrupts. “we’re closer to my dorm than we are to yours.” with a grateful smile, you let him zip it up. 

“thank you.” you’re flustered. yeonjun can hear it in your voice. he smiles, nodding. “i’ll give it back to you tomorrow, i promise.”

“i have a rehearsal tomorrow. why don’t you meet me at a cafe? you can give it to me then.” you smile, nodding eagerly. “great, then it’s a date.” 

you chuckle, tucking his scarf so it’s a little tighter around his neck before turning to continue walking. yeonjun ignores the flurries of butterflies in his stomach, quick to join you. “you know, if i knew that staying late would get me a date with my celebrity crush, i would’ve started practicing overtime weeks ago.” 

“it’s a good thing i saw you, then. something to make the work worth it.” 

“i guess it is,” you smile. 

[let-spretend]

hey !! very self indulgent fanfic here, wanted to insert reader into the game itself so lots of dialogue is directly pulled from chp 15. armageddon !! could be platonic if you squint ‘cause it’s pretty vague. still open to requests and criticisms.

liu kang x reader !!

"There is nowhere to run, Shang Tsung. Nowhere to hide." Liu Kang opens his arms, looking side to side. "We have banded together to rid all timelines of your evil. The threat you pose to them ends today." He points to the ground.

"Such certainty, Liu Kang. That this battle will end in your favor." Dark Shang Tsung only spits back with venom.

"It can end no other way. Because across all timelines, the arc of history bends toward justice."

"Does it? In this timeline, it bends toward me." Dark Shang Tsung's arms engulf into flames and he starts to swing his arms into a circular motion. Chanting, he shoots a beam of fire towards the sky. Slowly, a portal starts to rip open, lighting up the area. "Behold, Liu Kang, the hell I unleash upon you!" He motions his arm toward the portal and skulls start to pour out, creating a pathway. Dark versions of everyone start to come out, with Quan Chi leading the herd. Dark Shang Tsung and Liu Kang stare each other down, while Dark Shang Tsung's army starts to line up near him. He yells for them to charge, gesturing toward all of you. You start to run up the stairs, with the rest of Liu Kang's army also doing the same. You don't pay any attention to who you were fighting, just interacting with whoever decided to stand in your way. You push and kick your opponents into the green waste between the pyramid stairs.

"My godly might will strike you down." You turn your head to see a Li Mei in similar attire to Raiden. You get into a ready stance and are ready for anything she tries. You notice crackling occurring between her fingertips and you realize she was a version of someone's timeline's Raiden. You land the first punch, cornering her into a wall. Continuously you strike, pushing her down to the floor for enough time to escape. She falls with no intention of getting back up.

You sprint toward the stairs again, climbing up to one of the many platforms on the stairs. You see a flicker of green in the corner of your eye. Before you could act, a version of Syzoth punches you right in the face. You fall to the floor, clenching your cheek. You send a low kick, causing Reptile to meet you on the ground. You push yourself into the air and aim your feet toward Reptile's face. "How you like that, Syzoth?" You chuckle, imagining your timeline's Syzoth being defeated by your hands. Before she could respond, you lift her up from the ground and throw her across the platform. After this action, dozens of dark Shang Tsung's people come rushing towards you. You start to run, sucker punching a dark Kenshi along the way. You hear Sento clank to the ground as you turn the corner. You see an oncoming shadow but no people around. You clamor to the ground as a heavy weight jumps onto you. A person that appears to be Sub-Zero towers over you, ready to strike. You roll to your right and get up onto your knees. "So eager you had to jump onto me?" You banter. She sneers and sends icicles toward you. You crouch down and go for her feet. She acts quickly and jumps up, coming down with a kick. It lands on your stomach, you grunt in pain but punch her in the face as she lands. Blood paints her face as she attempts to wipe it off. Her stance now staggered, she summons an ice flail into her hands. She lunges toward you but you block, the flail breaking on impact. You suck in from the pain and cold it left. You slap her face and punch her in the stomach three times, sending her a couple feet in front of you. As she goes down with a thud, a Dark Sonya that has Kano's eye starts charging toward you. She kicks for your face and tries to slash your arm with her blade. You block all of her attempts and reply with a punch to her face. Her face swings back as her robotic eye releases a deadly beam. You hold her face away from yours and punch her with brute force. She cries in pain and falls.

"You get to be killed by a megastar." You turn around to be met with a Shao Kahn dressed in Johnny's attire. You can't help but let a loud laugh escape your lips. He charges at you and you go flying, landing next to the defeated Sonya. He walks over slowly and you jump up and kick his stomach to keep him from coming any closer. He groans and you keep at it. Punching in any place open and finishing with a kick to the balls. He yells out in pain and topples over. "Learned that on from you, ironically." You retort. You hear a mix of low growling and yelling above you. It was Goro. He jumps off of the roof and lands next to you, making you almost fall over from the impact. He hurls his hammer into your face. Your face burns with pain and you clutch it instinctively. You thought your whole face was taken with the hammer. Goro tries to hit you again with his hammers but is stopped by a punch. He falls onto the stairs but kicks your aid back. You look up to see a Ninja Mime Cage being caught by more Cages. Johnny taps him on the shoulder. He jumps back up quickly and turns his head to the right to see why Johnny tapped his shoulder. Janet also taps him and he faces her. Johnny shouts and "Ms. Cage" does the same. Probably to hype themselves up. Ninja Mime smiles at their antics and also yells silently. You chuckle at the mime's attempt at yelling. He notices your laughter and sends you a wink, but is quickly interrupted by Goro. He swings his hammers toward the three of them and they all dodge. Johnny back kicks Goro in the balls while Ninja Mime flips in the air and kicks his calf. While he winces, Janet kicks him in the face, leading him closer to the ledge. Johnny sends a green blast from his hand hurling toward Goro. You don't remember your timeline's Johnny having powers. Ninja Mime tries to land a finishing kick but Goro grabs his leg. He bends it in an unnatural way, a crackle left his leg. Despite that, he does not make a sound. Although his face contorts in pain and distress. He is tossed by Goro into the green abyss. The Cage's both kick him onto the ledge, pushing him off politely with a send off. Johnny sends you a thumbs up but Janet gives you two. You smile and pick yourself up. You hear yelling behind you but don't bother to turn as another Dark version of Johnny starts to approach.

"You've clearly no sense of self-preservation." You sigh again. "I don't have time for this." You say, in a deadpan voice. Janet scoffs. "Oh, you will." You run towards her and she braces for some sort of attack. But all you do is push her to the floor and take off. "Ugh! Come back here, Y/N!!" You ignore her and run up the never-ending stairs. Your breathing was starting to become shallow. You try to drink your spit to somehow calm yourself and also give you hydration. But it obviously didn't help. You try to look down while running to keep you from seeing the amount of stairs left, knowing the consequences. But you stop, hearing many footsteps ahead of you. You look up to see 4 people. You scan their faces and they all seem familiar but you couldn’t quite place it. Before you could attack, you’re surprised by a weaponized fan.

“Allow me.” Kitana declares.

You happily oblige and let her slay the four in front of you. She ruthlessly slices off limbs and heads. One head with sunglasses on, rolls down in front of you. Weirdly, it felt like a taunt. You try not to think so deeply about it. "Thank you, Princess Kitana. Or.. maybe not a princess?" You say, with uncertainty. It was hard to keep track of everything and everyone. Kitana only chuckles. "You are too cute. Kitana is just fine and you're welcome. Now hurry. There's no time to waste." You were about to reply to her before she was tackled by some person. You were caught by surprise and your first instinct was to help her. You figure she was able to defend herself, but mostly it was the fact that you were being approached once again.

"Reptiloids are apex predators." She calmly says. This time it was a Reptiloid Sindel. You sigh and get into a ready stance. You don't even bother with a quip. Before Sindel could even attack, the ground starts to crackle with red lightning. You look around your surroundings for anything and your eyes land on a chain hanging from a pillar. You kick the pillar to push yourself toward the hanging chain. Sindel screams in pain from the lightning and a figure that looks like Kung Lao, lands. You could see that stupid hat from a mile away. Sindel falls to the floor with severe burns but the figure pays no attention. He removes his hat and cleanly slices the chain you were dangling from, in half. You fall to the floor but get a glimpse of his face. It was Raiden's. "Ew!" You exclaim, not being able to fathom that 'that' exists. He practically flies into you and your stomach burns from his lightning. You dodge his attacks from his hat and begin to punch once he puts it back on. Getting a closer look at the Kung Lao-Raiden mashup, your eyebrows furrow. You push him toward a torch and his clothes catch on fire. He screams and tries to put it out but falls off the pyramid, not realizing where he stood. "That was an abomination.." You breathe out, as you watch him flail to his death.

You jog up the stairs, tired, before noticing two figures. You look up to see Dark Shang Tsung and Quan Chi up at the top, staring down at you attempting to run up the stairs. You see Shang Tsung talking to Quan Chi but can't make out what he says from all the yelling around you. You keep running up the stair trying to catch up. They face each other and start to create a bubble of magic, mixed with orange and green. They both raise it into the sky and throw it into your direction. "Shit!" You dive onto the next platform, as you watch it pass by you and hit many others toward the bottom. Your body aches from the fall and fatigue. "Ugh.." You slowly start to pick yourself up try to continue up the stairs.

But distant growling could be heard from around the corner. Just as you start to catch your breath, three dark clones of Mileena charge toward you with sai in their hands. The two in the back stay in a standby position, while the Mileena in red attire attacks. You grab her arms and make them cross, using her left hand with the sai to puncture her right shoulder. You twirl her to make her face her copies. You use her body to block their advances, also using her arms to attack them. You slice the neck of the Mileena in yellow. You stab the side of one in blue and stab her again but with both sai in the stomach. You kick the Mileena in your hands and take the sai out of hers. You stab her in the chest but have no time to take them back out, as another Mileena charges. You block, but she swipes you off the ground, flipping her sai to face your eyes. You catch her arms and use all your strength to keep her away. She tries to push harder with her body weight but you turn her arms inward, gouging her eyes out with the sai. Her blood flings onto your face as you push her off of you. You stood up quickly, looking at the scene. You were breathing heavily, scared of what could’ve happened. "Fuck..” You just stare at Mileena’s lifeless body. A little bit of payback for Kenshi's eyes.

"Hurry Y/N! You are almost there!" You look up to see a very ethereal-looking Shang Tsung cheering you on, with a version of Quan Chi by his side. But they are both blasted with a green force, which seemed to be sucking their souls out. You watched as their bodies were being ripped away from their skeletons, the flesh sploshing onto the floor.

Dark Shang Tsung was on his knee, supporting himself. You start to run up the pyramid stairs again, angry, but interrupted by a different Quan Chi body slamming you to the floor. You let out a grunt, landing on your arms. "I don't have time for all these distractions.." You state. You waste no time and punch his stomach. Blood sputters out of his mouth from the sudden blunt force. You take a small knife from his belt and decide it was now yours. You swipe for his neck and push in deep, and glide the knife across. Blood spews out and you are drenched in it. "Ugh.." You lightly push him and topples onto the floor. Now you have his and Mileena's blood on your face. You sigh as you start to run, trying to find the stairs again. You hold your new knife tightly, ready for any attack. But instead you find Liu Kang on the stairs, fighting off some foes. He kicks them off and notices you climbing up the stairs. He turns his body and attention towards you. "It's only a little further, Y/N. Follow me." He lingers a little, sort of assessing you. He slightly furrows his brows but gestures for you to follow, which you do.

You both reach the top where Dark Shang Tsung and Quan Chi seemed like they were waiting for you to arrive. You pocket your small knife and form your hands into fists. You looked over at Liu Kang to see him with barely any injuries and effortlessly vibrant. You try to cover up the fact that you were heaving from just climbing all those stairs and the fact that you were admiring him at a time like this.

"Your defenses have failed, Shang Tsung. This is over." Liu kang instructed, while tilting his head slightly.

"I do not think so." Shang Tsung delivers a simple, yet defying answer.

"Realize, sorcerer, that you've brought this on yourself. Avarice and ego have again proved your undoing. We have no choice but to eradicate you." You had to be completely honest, you have no idea what avarice meant but you only nodded in agreement with Liu Kang. You note in your head to start using that Word-A-Day calendar from Johnny...

"It is you who will be eradicated. You and your followers." Shang Tsung's eyes linger on you when he mentions Liu Kang's followers. "And once you are dead, all timelines will be mine." He starts to run toward you and you react the same. You throw a punch but he dodges and extends his claws out. He raises his arms and scratches your chest. You grimace in pain but don't stop for it. You aim a kick to his face and follow with another one. He blocks them all and pushes you and kicks you in the head. You get dizzy and fall to the floor. You try to get back up, knowing Liu Kang needs your assistance. But you couldn't. You slump to the floor, trying to fight the urge to close your eyes. You try and focus on the sounds of grunting and punches being exchanged. You hear Liu Kang's high pitched yells and fire leaving his hands. You cannot stay on the floor any longer. You ignore the gnawing pain in your head and shake it. Your eyes open right as Quan Chi releases a beam in the form of a snake attack Liu Kang. It entraps him and tangles him so he cannot move. Your face contorts that into a scared one, but you take a deep breath.

You try not to seem nervous to your enemies and hold your expression blank. You slowly start to approach the two. "Your position is precarious." Quan Chi states, with a bit of enthusiasm laced within it. "To survive, you must submit." He stops walking and forms his hand into a tight fist. Shang Tsung approaches you, slowly. "Yes. The question you must ask is: if Liu Kang couldn't finish us, how possibly could you?" You didn't say anything, only replying with a solemn facial expression.

Shang Tsung jumps up and tries to land a kick onto your face but you slide and make him miss. He swiftly turns back and punches you consecutively. Every blow hurt, but reminds you that you needed to win, not just for you, but also for Liu Kang and the Realms. You block and grab onto his arm. You throw him onto the ground and start to do the same. Just punch the shit out of him. He cries out in pain but uses his feet to kick you off of him. He extends his claws again and swings in whatever directions he could think of. "Two can play that game." You pull out your small knife and pierce his lower stomach area. He instinctively clutches his wound and you take that opportunity to bash his head onto the ground. He stops moving, but you could tell he was still breathing.

"And they called me the Chosen one." He looks down at your work but looks to you smiling. You were tired but still super happy Liu Kang complimented your efforts. "Thank you, Liu Kang. Should I..?" He places a hand on your shoulder. "You have done more than enough, Y/N. Please, permit me to end this." He lightly squeezes before letting go and again lingering to take a look at you. You look back with an honest face. He blinks and turns away. He begins to swing his arms and sand starts to fall out of his hands. Dark Shang Tsung and Quan Chi slowly start to fade away into sand, then blown by the wind.

"May that be last we see of you." Liu Kang sends the sand off, watching it fade away.

The ground beneath you starts to shake and soon cracks. Liu Kang looked equally as puzzled but you still ask him. "What's going on?" He looks over at you, then back to the few specks of sand. "The timeline! Without Shang Tsung to hold it together, it's falling apart!" His eyebrows furrow as looks at you but he shakes his head, looking at the ground. "You must return to your timeline before this one collapses." His arms engulf into flames and it surrounds you. "Thank you for your aid and presence, Y/N. May we one day meet again.." Before you could process his words, his warm flames start to hug you. "Wait, Liu Kang! I've got so many things to-!" Everything around you turns into white and you're scared for what's to come. Was he going to restart the timeline? Or did he only remove you out of there? You had so many questions and everything had moved by so fast. You could only hope that he would come see you again.

[hoffstrap-yuri]

For Billy - 4. Favorite line, 10. Best moment on screen, 19. Vices/bad habits, 31. If they had a tumblr what would it look like?, 43. 3 favorite foods and 3 they despise

4. Favorite Line

"Hello Paul, you are a perfectly healthy, sane, middle class male. Yet last month you ran a straight razor across your wrist. Did you cut yourself because you... truly wanted to die, or did you just want some attention?" Iconic behavior billy. Had me dying of laughter the first time I watched Saw xD

10. Best Moment on Screen

I'm so glad you asked, you know it's the scene in Saw 3 while Jeff Denlon is walking between traps when he sees something on the ground. On the ground is Billy the puppet posed like the son that Jeff is still in mourning over that was hit by a car.

19. Vices/bad habits

Since I have an extensive hc that Billy basically just acts like a small child and is not just a doll, his vice is ice cream and his bad habit is just pushing Hoffman down the nearest flight of stairs whenever Hoffman denies him a trip to DQ/McDonald's/Other ice cream place.

When he asks the other apprentices if they also hate billy, Lawrence and Amanda just look at him like he's crazy.

"But he's so sweet." Amanda says

31. If they had a tumblr...

Let's be honest, billy's too cool for tumblr. But he would have an insta talking about how Amanda takes him to the mall, Lawrence and him play soccer at the park and then crossposts it to tumblr because that's the only social media that John uses. It's the only one that makes sense. To. Him.

43. 3 Favorite Foods/3 Dislikes

Ice Cream

Tacos, but only the ones that amanda makes for him with ground beef and a taco seasoning pack. Has gotten mad when Hoffman brought him a carne asada taco

Fudgy brownies

----

Green beans. Will try to scrape them off his plate and onto the floor but amanda won't let him get away with it. If Lawrence notices it, he'll slip them back on to Billy's plate and Billy thinks Lawrence is a magician because of it.

Pistachio ice cream. Why do they even bother to call it ice cream, Billy wonders. Queue the gif from Spongebob with the kid in the car crying about his pistachio ice cream and his dad asking "why did you order it?!". That was just footage of Billy and Hoffman

Raw tomatoes. It's a texture thing, but he loves ketchup and watching a tomato go splat on Hoffman's face.

[aemiron-main]

Massacre at HNL vs the S3 Hospital Fight

So, awhile ago I noticed that there's quite a few parallels and interesting connections between the Jancy hospital scene and the 1979 massacre. Like, Bruce has DIRECT Vecna shot parallel, and both Bruce and Vecna say "Nancy-" during that scene too.

Setting that aside for now, though, the first thing I want to talk about it “Whatever you've done, it's not you. He’s making you do this.”

Which is VERY interesting to me vs Brenner pushing 002 around like a chess piece & trying to get him to kill El & likely doing the same with Henward and the massacre.

Like, Brenner was clearly messing with them, and why did Nancy say that "he's" making Tom do this?

And we also have “Whose blood is that” vs Henward’s changing massacre blood:

Like, this is just one small snippet of how the blood on Henward's jumpsuit changes, so go read the full post I just linked for more, but there ARE multiple different versions of his jumpsuit with different blood stains.

And the fact that the bodies not only move during the 1979 massacre NINA scenes, but also CHANGE into adults and completely different people- which would tie PERFECTLY into "who's blood is that?" if there's multiple different versions of the massacre/a timeloop/various timelines.

And after that "he's making you do this/whose blood is that" scene, we get Jancy being paralleled to Henward and El when Jonathan grabs Nancy's hand vs Henward grabbing El's hand:

And look at the scene of Jonathan and Nancy running on the stairs and then running down the hallway vs Henry and El on the stairs and in the hallway:

And look at the bodies in the hallway- the body that's sitting up is in the EXACT same pose as the bottom right body during NINA and in a very similar pose to one of the orderlies in the hallway during NINA, and the body laying face down is very similarly posed compared to one of the kids' bodies during NINA. And as @henrysglock just pointed out here while I was writing this, the body of the lady on the floor is wearing HNL gown, and specifically, an HNL gown that looks like Terry's.

It’s also VERY interesting to me that we see Bruce shatter the glass & reach inside to turn the knob- the EXACT same thing that happened with the Creel house door/window (and also very interesting that Steve is paralleled to Bruce here and Bruce being paralleled to Vecna considering what I talked about in this post regarding Steve and Edward/Henry and the 'you're not a child' line):

And interestingly enough, that’s not the only time this sequence parallels a scene from the Creel house- Bruce parallels Victor when he’s looking at the wheelchair (which is especially interesting considering what I talked about in this post and this post about how the wheelchair in the Creel house is a reference to The Changeling, which is about two children swapping places and has a TON of Henward vibes):

And like I mentioned in the beginnign, Bruce is also directly paralleled to Vecna:

And nancy parallels herself running down the hallway alone.

And speaking of Nancy's S4 lab scenes, Nancy literally swaps places with Henward during the tattoo scene, something I talked about here. And considering that she also has scenes during the S3 hospital sequence that are paralleled to Henward/in his place, which makes me wonder- was there more of the vision that involved her “swapping places” with Henward? Did Henry or Edward run out and already see the bodies in the hallway like Jonathan and Nancy did, and wasn't responsible for the deaths?

And Bruce and Tom are both flayed, with those mindflayer veins, and like James I talked about here, we have that strange "eldritch thrumming" with Henward and his weirdly blue and bloodshot eyes that resemble Flayed Billy's eyes. And this shot of Flayed Bruce especially reminds me of henward, with his blonde hair and staring Nancy down:

And we also have this rainbow cup that shows up during the hospital scene- versus the rainbow room in 1979.

I just think it's interesting that there's so much talk of "this isn't you/you're not choosing to do this/whose blood is that" during a scene that's SO heavily paralleled to the 1979 massacre... I don't fully know what all of these parallels mean yet, but it's just another point on the "things are not what they seem with the massacre" board.

[alby-rei]

The Astral Artist and His Haughty Hound (IkeVamp; Luigi's Mansion AU, Part 5)

a/n: It's been a while since the last update. Since then, I've graduated master's! Wee! What do you do when you fall head-first into a world inside a painting? Happy reading~ ✨

Series: Comte's Ghost Mansion Tags: Humor, Crack treated seriously, Luigi’s Mansion AU, Spooky scary spectral vampires, Ghostbuster MC Word Count: ~1900 words Characters: You, Vincent, Theo, [Surprise] Previous: Part 4 Next: Part 6

~*~

After dealing with the frivolous phantom named Arthur, you weaved through the winding halls in search of your next target.

Sebastian had marked for you the rooms of the remaining residents and their favorite spots.

A painting studio next? Wow, this mansion has everything!

You wondered how different the manor looked in the daytime. If Sebastian does not find you a way home, would they let you stay with them? Did you want to? Shaking your head, you brushed those thoughts aside.

This is all just one long lucid dream anyway, you thought as you trekked up a flight of stairs.

"Open sesame!" You jammed the master key in. "Woah!"

As soon as you stepped inside, your foot met with air, and you plunged down a starry night cityscape. Time slowed down as the wind picked up in swirls of cobalt blue, trailing across the sky like migrating birds. Stars twinkled in zinc yellow sparks guided by the vibrant orange of a cartoonish crescent moon.

More like a croissant moon, said your stomach while growling.

You stretched your limbs out like a flying squirrel, taking in the sights of a bustling city below. Couples strolled across tiles of spotty ultramarine and red ocher. A farmer pushed a cart of straw. A waiter balanced a tray of glass drinks as he weaved between busy tables. Trees danced to the tune of the wind, each branch shimmering in shades of emerald green. In fact, every inch of the city appeared in constant motion.   

How does such a world exist within a single painter's studio?

Gravity decided you had enough time to enjoy the scenery. You swam in the air towards the farmer's cart. If there was any hope in landing safely, that was your best bet. You held your breath as you hurled down towards your impending doom.

.

.

.

Just kidding!  

You landed in the cart of straw with the grace of a cat. The straw poked into your clothes and scratched against your skin. You climb out of the cart, weighed down by the Poltergust 1899. Thankfully, it did not break on the way down. Otherwise, you would have a bigger problem on your hands.

Brushing yourself off, you looked around for any signs of the artist behind this painterly world. Upon inspection, you found that the city dwellers did not carry distinct facial features. Some had none at all, more like impressions of a face. You wondered if this was how prosopagnosia felt.

You also wondered where you heard that word before.

"Excuse me, miss," said a gentle voice. "If I may trouble you to hold that pose."

Your head darted back and forth to find the source. A blond man peeked his head behind an easel stand. Unlike the rest of the population, his features were crystal clear; cerulean blue eyes and a sheepish smile on creamy skin. Little stars shimmered and swirled onto his features like those of the night sky overhead. An astral artist as beautiful as the world he had brought to life with his brush.

This must be Vincent,*you deduced.

Refusing his request felt like a crime against humanity. Unaccustomed to this sort of attention, you fidgeted in your spot. When you stood still, the colors around you became static. When you moved, the city followed suit. The only one unaffected by this was the painter, who remained engrossed in his work. Your attempts at light conversation were fruitless. He spoke mostly with his eyes with the way they stole glances at you every now and then, studying you. Heat rose to your cheeks as your gaze traveled elsewhere. You blamed the warmth on the bright lights of the coffee shop.

Be still my beating heart, you thought. This is not the time for casual crushes on ghosts.

You were jolted when you heard a loud smack of the paintbrush against wood. Vincent was cleaning his brush from the excess paint. The astral artist's arm shook with the speed of a rubber band. You'd think that brush was possessed, given the force he used to exorcise the spirits within. He stepped back to admire his handiwork, raising the canvas to face the light. His angelic smile was disarming. 

"Can I move now?" You asked, craning your stiff neck.

"Oh, yes! Thank you for your time. You must be a guest at the mansion. My name is Vincent."

"Nice to meet you, Vincent. And what a wonderful city you've created."

He shook his head. "I just paint what I see. The real wonder is the world around us." Stars twinkled excitedly across his cheeks.

You clutched the vacuum tube, explaining to Vincent the real cause of your arrival: to return their spirits to their bodies. You almost felt bad for what you had to do.

Vincent nodded. "In that case, you should find my brother Theo here, too. But, hmm..." He pursed his lips. After rummaging through his briefcase, he scribbled on a piece of paper, then handed it to you in an envelope. "This should help convince him. Please don't be alarmed by his...fiery spirit. Deep down, he is a kind soul."

His words left you skeptical, but you hadn't the heart to voice those concerns. A fiery spirit could mean many things. Given Vincent's gentle nature, *how bad could his brother be?*

"Where would I find him?"

"He usually stays at the pub just around the corner. It's the only one on the block. I'll meet you both in front of the river Rhone."

Waving goodbye to the astral artist, you rounded the corner and found a wooden sign with a beer keg on it. Just as you made your way up some wooden steps, a bloodhound stood in your path.

Similar to Vincent, he stood out from his surroundings. His chestnut-brown fur shimmered with a spectral outline. A silver ear cuff shone on his right floppy ear. His short tail stood on end.

"Intruder! Intruder!" barked the hound. "You're not from one of my dear brother's paintings. How did you get here?"

"Woah, woah. Settle down, boy." You backed up slowly as he drew closer. "Just visiting. I'm looking for—"

He sniffed around your ankles, then your clothes. You shielded the pocket that held Vincent's envelope. The bloodhound's maw pulled back in a snarl.

"An art thief?! Not on my watch!"

"What, no!"

"You stole something of his. It’s in that pocket, I can smell it."

Unable to reason with the haughty hound, you were forced to run in hopes of losing him. He proceeded to chase you around the painted city for a solid thirty minutes.

Huffing and puffing, you looked around frantically for any sign of the river that Vincent mentioned. *Surely he would know how to pacify his guard dog, if that is what he is.*

Your legs grew heavy and rigid like planks of wood. The bloodhound leapt onto your back, sending you tumbling forward.

"Get...off...me!" You struggled against his incessant pawing at your pocket. "I NEED TO FIND THEO."

He stiffened. "For me?"

"For...huh." Still dazed, words eluded you. You revealed the envelope in your pocket, waving it.

A weight was lifted off your chest, and a hand—a human hand—swiped the letter from yours. In front of you stood a tall man with brunet hair swooped left like sharp blades of grass. His cobalt blue eyes scanned the contents of the letter.  

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"You wouldn't let me finish!"

He offered you a hand to get up. "Come on, then. We shouldn't keep Vincent waiting."

You got up and brushed yourself off with more insults swirling in your head. Theo was already walking away, cool as a cucumber, as you let out all your frustrations. 

After a short walk, the loud and busy cityscape gave way to tranquil waters and soft sand. A handful of rowboats were docked. The warm yellow light of the buildings reflected onto the river, extending from shore to shore. The shimmering lights above brightened. The crescent moon was out of sight. The astral artist waved and the river swayed in tandem with his sweeping arcs.      

"I hope my little brother didn't trouble you much," Vincent said with a gentle smile.

"Well..." You rolled your eyes at Theo, who whistled loudly while avoiding eye contact.

Though you didn't say more, Vincent's smile fell. "Oh no."

Theo flinched when Vincent pinched his cheek. "Theo... What did we say about reacting impulsively?"

"Urk... I was just trying to keep your work safe."

Vincent sighed. "I understand you meant no harm." His voice trailed off, flicking his head towards you.

Theo inhaled sharply and turned to you. "I'm...sorry. For the way I reacted." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away.

Vincent pat his head. "You can make up for it with a generous plate of your delicious pancakes."

Your stomach growled approvingly.

"But first, how do we get out of here?" you asked.

"Your device should do the trick," said Vincent with open arms. "Ready when you are."

"Wait!!" shouted Theo. "Me first. I don't...think I can handle seeing Vincent vacuumed like that again."

He has memories of previous nights? you thought. A brotherly bond stronger than paranormal curses, how sweet.

Fulfilling his wish, you captured Theo first, then Vincent. As you did, the world around you swirled in on itself. Blues and oranges blended together, and your sense of direction distorted along with it. The buildings compressed like clay, and the river washed over the stars.

Everything faded to black.

When you opened your eyes, you stood on solid wooden ground in the center of a regular studio.

Moonlight shone through a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. You recognized the paintings on display as the city you ran through. No museum experience could ever live up to what you have seen here. Maybe you should propose the idea of a walk-in painting when—if—you get back home.

Beside your feet, both ghosts had dropped something behind; a paintbrush and magnifying glass. Two more for the count. You were getting good at this.

"Into the pouch you go," you declared, exiting the room with a rejuvenated sense of purpose.

You opened the map to your next destination. The longer you remained here, the harder it was to convince yourself it was just a dream. You touched the furniture you passed by, as a means of testing that theory. The man you met at the Louvre came to mind. Sebastian’s master. The subject of the painting at the entrance hallway.

"Ah," said a velvety voice. "Sebastian didn't tell me we were expecting guests."

You clutched your vacuum tube, aimed at the source. The shadow of a figure came into view. "And you are?"

Expensive leather shoes clicked as a man walked into the light. A large beige coat framed a lithe figure of aristocratic air. Blond hair swept over molten golden irises faintly glow in the dark.

The cause of your arrival in this strange world. He raised a hand to his chest, tipping forward in a noble bow. "I am the head of this mansion. Better known as le Comte de Saint-Germain. Enchanté."

~*~

Tagging: @starlitmanor-network

Back to Masterlist

[dreamingofyeo]

crescent: chapter 10 ☾⋆⁺₊✧

Ties of frailty

1095 words

masterlist - playlist

~ chapter warnings: brief mention of blood

~ ☆彡~ Tumblr's algorithm works from reblogs so if you like my work please consider It

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so it was settled. You and Hongjoong would officially join the elves in their quest to unite the magical forces and reclaim the lands igoras usurped. The questions brought about from the revelation of Hongjoong’s relations with this Seonghwa swirl around your mind like a rainstorm. The second you’re dismissed from Fraijia, the floodgates open.

“How do you know Seonghwa? You don’t appear to think of him fondly.” You delicately pose the question, just as lightly treading down the staircase to reach the forest floor.

Hongjoong tenses lightly and sends you a tight lipped smile, he shakes his head as if shaking off a memory of great discomfort.

“My dealings with Igoras go far beyond our first meeting Arla. It was 4 years ago, Darium- king of Igoras himself the bastard- came to us and offered our group full pardons in exchange for bringing Seonghwa to him. He’d exhausted all his best assassins trying already, we were his last option. If we couldn’t accomplish it, we’d be out of the picture anyway, he had nothing to lose in retrospect. Anyway, he didn’t count on one of our own already having ties to Seonghwa- the friend I told you about. Though he would have never agreed of course. His father- our leader- kept him completely in the dark. Seonghwa got lured to us and was completely oblivious, under the guise of our healer requiring some rare enchanted herb. They’d planned to immobilise him whilst he slept before taking his leave in the morning… When my friend caught wind of the true reason for his being there, he informed me thinking I also did not know. It’s one of my greatest regrets, as a friend and as a person… Needless to say, that perspective shift led to us tipping Seonghwa off. He fled of course, but not before raising our camp to the ground, some of us didn't make it through the night. I took the blame and was banished the same night.”

You’re taken aback to say the least, the thought of Hongjoong willingly going along with something like that stirs nausea in your gut.

“You said you left?” Is all you can muster.

“same difference, I would’ve left anyway after that. The point is, Fraija thinks he will now view it as him owing me and will therefore consider helping us.”

You nod in understanding. Now at the bottom of the stairs looking out into forest. The stag from your first day in Reynyr is just visible in the distance. 

“What was your friend’s name?”

Hongjoong meets your eyes and smiles, a mournful one containing years worth of happiness.

“San, Choi san.”

You return the smile and bask in the tranquility of the forest for only a moment, before being interrupted by Hongjoong’s favourite individual.

“As fascinating and revealing as your little backstory is Hong, if you two lovebirds are quite finished it’s time to get going.” Hyunjin swirls past you both in a flurry of sass and nonchalance- an infuriating combination for the newly named ‘Hong’.

“Hong?” the man himself questions, his head tilted in mild irritation.

“I- Where are we going?” You inquire, choosing to gloss over the later part of the elf’s nonsense. 

“You, dear humans, are going to the wolves. I, am going to find snacks to watch the looks on your faces to.” He sniggers as Felix jumps down from whatever tree he’d been perched in for the past five minutes. 

You gulp in anticipation, Felix stands behind you and Hongjoong, a hand on each of your outside shoulders before sticking his head between you both.

“It’ll be fine, they’re friends.” He chirps happily before lightly pushing you both forward to follow Hyunjin.

“Just don’t look the big one in the eye when he’s all big and scary, he won’t tolerate your face as easily as me.” Hyunjin laughs over his shoulder.

“Oi, Chan is lovely what are you on about?” Felix laughs back

Hongjoong huffs under his breath before muttering something about when he gets his (your) dagger back and you can’t help but laugh too.

~

After a while of walking through the forest, you all arrive at the clearing where the wolves first made their presence known to you. A shiver goes down your spine as you step carefully around a small puddle of blood on the ground. All other traces of the attack are gone, making the area all the more eerie. Felix gives your shoulder a reassuring squeeze before offering his hand to aid you over some large rocks at the edge. The foliage on the other side is trampled, bracken leaves pressed into the forest floor haphazardly; large paw prints confirming this to be the spot the wolves had emerged from. You wonder what to expect, what form they would be in upon your official meeting, if there are any dos and don’ts depending on which. Hongjoong jumping down from the rock behind you spares you from further thoughts though, you all begin walking again. 

Not five minutes later you and Hongjoong pull yourselves up and freeze. A loud snap sounding to the left. Felix turns to you both.

“We’re nearly there. They always have a scout around their borders, today he’s here to escort us.” 

Upon finishing his sentence, the tall foliage to your left begins to part. One paw steps out, then a snout. More and more of the wolf emerges, you try harder and harder not to back away. He surveys you and Hongjoong carefully for a moment before walking past you until he’s situated in front of the elves- they all bow their heads respectfully and you and Hongjoong exchange a quick glance before following along.  Hyunjin breaks the formal silence with a step towards the wolf. 

“Hello Han.”

“Hyunjin, Felix. I see the time has come then.”

“Indeed it has.”

You’re stunned. He spoke? His mouth did not move? You look over at Hongjoong in shock, he looks back at you in confusion- yet it seems misplaced. In a hushed tone you ask him if he heard the wolf now known as ‘Han’ speak.

“No? You did?”

Felix chuckles lightly.

“You have elven blood in you, and more magic than anticipated apparently. You can hear any magical creatures words as well as I it would seem.”

“Wow…” you let out under your breath, now in awe.

Han looks at you directly then. 

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Arla.” 

His words raise questions that fill your mind for the remainder of the walk to the wolves’ camp. 

<-chapter 9 - chapter 11->

taglist: open

@itsokaytobedumb00 @walkxthexmoon

[echantedtoon]

Love Doesn't Do Encores Ch22 Spikemuth Spiral P2

(Sorry for taking so long on this. Also VERY important question for my audience. If you have any ships or interactions between the characters within the story you'd like feel free to let me know. The songs used are more lyrics from The Pheonix by Fall Out Boys and Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's but I switched a bit of the lyrics of Hey There Delilah to match the pokemon narrative and Piers's accent a bit. Links to both songs are below. Yes. Piers can play a guitar and no one can convince me otherwise. Also f/hs stands for 'Favorite Hair Style just to be clear.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQlPzrX8u0A

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JqY-6q-RNA

I got the info on speaker repairs on this video here cuz I have no idea how to really fix one. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRfOgLx8A0s

WARNING: If you do get any shoulders out of socket please seek proper help and not what's just described in the story. PLEASE.)

With Gloria's battle won and the thunder now sounding much closer than before you all went back and sought shelter in the thankfully free hotel rooms you were all provided by courtesy of Piers's generosity of course. But you were tired after all you had been through the day and traveling for so long. Plus your shoulder REALLY hurt now from being pushed against so much behind the safety mesh with all the others. So you were REALLY looking forward to just resting and just having Hop's battle to worry about afterwards. If he could beat Piers tomorrow as soon as possible the sooner you all can get to a doctor and get your shoulder looked at. Not only did it hurt it felt strangely......lose for some reason. Although you were absolutely SURE it wasn't broken. The first small sprinkles of rain had started falling from the sky by the time you all reached the hotel two buildings down from the stadium and walked right into it. The dust and cobweb covered abandoned place was cold and creepy looking, but it'll do for a night or two. Beats trying to set up tents in the rain and worrying about all your things getting wet in the process. Although you were sure your drizzlie wouldn't have minded being a water pokemon. The three children were excitedly talking about the amazing performance Piers had put on display for you all during the battle and dicussing ideas for Hop to use during his battle between him and Piers tomorrow. Somehow while climbing the stairs you convinced the lot of them that it'd be a good idea to just rest as soon as you returned to your rooms as to be as rested as possible for the next day. As soon as you all split up to your seperate rooms for the night you gave out a sigh. It had been a while since you had a space all to yourself. It was peaceful. After bidding everyone good night, you slunk into your room. Your drizzlie slowly opened an eye upon hearing your entrance into the room but soon after closed it again noticing it was you unmoving from his spot just laying around on your bed for the night. 

"Nice to see you too," you said before going over to the bed and slowly sitting down next to him as he yawned and curled onto his side in a cat like pose. You had hissed when slowly sitting down as your shoulder shot more pain down your spine again as it was lightly moved upon you sitting. You turned your head and one look at your shoulder told you you wouldn't be able to lay down tonight unless you wanted to risk more pain or a worse injury for whatever happened to it. .....You sighed turning your head back over towards your drizzlie as he shifted to lean his head against your leg with the same closed eye expression. Even when asleep he looked bored and uninterested as always. You were sure of one thing. You weren't getting any sleep tonight. ...At least you wouldn't keep anyone else up if you had your own room. "....You know. If we're gonna stay together for at least the rest of the year, I need something to call you." Your drizzlie didn't respond but you continued lost in thought. I mean might as well name him. The room you were sat it didn't have any tvs or radios and you'd stay up for a while, gave you something to do. And it'd be a lot easier to call him something than 'My Pokemon', 'Drizzlie', 'Him', 'The Pokemon', etc. "....You know. I think I'll call you River."....He opened one eye at you. "..Mmm. Yeah. I guess that's a bit predictable for a water type name. Well let's see what's a water type move." You....couldn't remember a whole lot. But maybe giving him a name based off a type move would be more fitting. "Hydro pump. Whirlpool. Bubble Beam. Water Gun...." Yeah. None of those sounded nice either. You stared at his grey self for a little while longer. Small pitter patters of the rain finally coming down outside. Well the silver lining through the veil of clouds was that you were insi-...Wait a minute. Perking up, you looked back to the grey drizzlie. "Silver Veil!" He immediately opened his eyes and turned his head to you. "You like that Boy?" His answer was to give out a loud chirp and for once smile at you making you laughed. "Silver Veil it is then. Suits you pretty well huh?" He chirped again. 

The sound of the soft rain pouring down was matched with the soft snores of Silver as he had dozed off back to sleep the lazy muffin. It wasn't loud rain like you had been expecting either. It was definitely enough to drench you if you were out there for long enough and it was enough to make the windows all watered up too. But it didn't stop the loud music and faint calling of the famous musician's voice. Carrying just faintly over the rain enough to sound like someone from the next room over from yours was softly playing music against your wall. 

"Bring home the boys and scrap, scrap metal the tanks!~ Get Hitched!~ Make a career out of robbin' banks!~ Because the world's just a tella and we are wearin' black masks!~ You broke our spirits says the note we pass!~ MALAMAR USE PSYBEAM!!" 

You must've guessed he was battling Marnie by the sounds of it. Again the only reason you were probably able to hear him was thanks to that loud as all heck mic of his, which seemed to be carrying the sound over to you but clearly muffled by the rain and occasional thunder outside. Not that you minded a bit. Having nothing better to do, you let your mind go blank for a little while relaxing your body as best as you could from the pain in your shoulder to listen. And for a few blissful moments it was peace. The calming sounds of the rain. The faint sounds of the music and Piers's voice. 

"So we can take the world back from it's heart attack!~ One maniac at a time we will take it back!~ You know time crawls on when yer waitin' for the song to start!~ So dance alone ta the beat of your heart!~ HHHEEEYYY!!~ YOUNG BLOOD!! Doesn't it feel like our time is run-in' out?!~ DODGE IT!! PHSYCO WAVES!!" You wondered if he usually battled while singing or if it was just to show off from time to time or something briefly. "M' gonna change you like a remix!~ Then I'll raise you like a phoenix!~ Wearin' our vin-tage misery!~ NO!~ I think it looks betta on me!~ M' gonna change you like a remix!~ Then I'll raise you like a phoenix!~ PUT ON YOUR WAR PAINT!!" 

It was nice. Maybe a bit odd someone found rock and roll with rain music 'nice' but you found it relaxing to say the least. But soon all good things must come to an end. The rain continued as the battle faded out and so did the music and singing signalling that the battle had ended. Whether or not it was Piers or Marnie that actually one was unknown however, and for a brief moment you wondered if you would hear the footsteps of Marnie if she decided to use the hotel for the night as well. But no one came and no footsteps were heard. So Marnie wasn't coming in. Maybe she had skipped town after defeating her brother or was camping out somewhere else? Oh well. You didn't think the player would see her again until the finals anyways. So that meant it was highly unlikely you would see her again until the end of this year anyways, so you shouldn't worry about it too much as the game's story was still well on it's way and so far everything was falling into place.  So you shouldn't hopefully have to worry about her too much. The longer you sat there the more tired you became and at one point almost even falling onto the bed asleep...If it wasn't for the incredibly painful feel coursing through you from your left shoulder where snapping you back into the land of the awake and startling Silver Veil awake as he rapidly blinked at you tired and confused from your reaction and gently grabbing your shoulder. Yeah you were definately not sleeping anytime soon with this thing. ....Now that you thought about it. Exactly how long had you been awake now?? You couldn't exactly remember but it must've been a decent amount of time as besides the rain and Silver you didn't seem to have much company now. You sighed and slowly but painfully stood up. Silver giving a small noise of question watching you stand onto your feet with a hiss. Well...you figured you might as well find someway to entertain yourself because you were weren't getting any sleep tonight. ...Maybe this place had some old books or something you could read to pass the time with? It was worth checking out. If you couldn't find anything then at least you'd be doing something with your time besides sitting and staring out the win-.....dow. You paused. Staring blankly at the window with the water running down it from the rain outside as a faint light glowed from behind it's glass.

"Huh. That's weird. I don't have a flashlight or anything that'd reflect off the glass," you mumbled to yourself as you walked on over to the window and as you got closer you realized that the light was indeed coming from behind the glass and not reflecting anything. Confused you slowly leaned your forehead onto the glass with a hand and looked out the window. It was cold against your skin and everything outside was blurry from the water, but somehow you managed to tell that the light was coming a few houses away around where the gym was. "...That's weird. Marnie should've been done with her battle by now. What's going on out there?"

It WAS odd. Marnie should've been done by now. And with how late and rainy it was no one should've been out in these conditions. There was no music blasting or singing either that you could've heard like before. Which indicated Piers must've been done with his performances for the night as well. ....So who could've been at the gym this late? All the suspicions swimming around in your head were still there and you gave a suspicious look out towards it. Something was up. Stepping away from the window you turned and Silver gave a confused thrum after you as you walked over towards your door and stepped out into the hallway. And you were going to find out what was going on around here. The abandoned hotel was even MORE creepy when you were by yourself and with rain. The wood creaked and groaned under your feet as you marched onwards and by the time you got to the lobby floor and opened the door...You fully realized you were very unprepared as chilly wind blasted you in the face and the rain poured in buckets just an inch from you. With no umbrella and just the thin jacket you wore....Maybe you should've thought this better through...But never the less you only hesitated for a moment before stepping out rain immediately hitting your body as you closed the door behind you. The outside was much more different than the inside. Dark besides the occasional lights that still worked around these streets and the occasional lightning, the rain still coming down not hard but enough to where you started to get soaked as you walked, the noises of the thunder and rain, and the over all spooky feeling you had walking as fast as your shoulder allowed you too. Still getting wet and speed walking towards the bright lights of the building that was the gym you realized soon enough. So someone WAS at the gym?? But who?? The bright light shone through the darkness like some miracle lighthouse in a stormy sea and like a moth to a flame you sped walked right towards it. It was easy to walk into the gym considering there was a giant wall piece missing so the light poured across the street as light consumed your form, as you stepped within it's warm glow. You stood there in the pouring rain for a moment, what felt like hundreds of beads just bouncing on you body in a shower like way getting you more and more soaked the more you stood there standing at the absolutely empty Gym. Before you walked forward. Gawking and blinking wide eyed at the gym around you...... What the heck? The entire place was clean! ..Well as clean as a gym with a wide entrance to the elements could be. The concrete floors were obviously swept up. The stage Piers had been standing on was also swept and it looked shiny as if freshly polished and moped. The speakers that were on stage were gone, and anything else around was neatly stacked and packed away in a small corner behind the safety mesh. The only real thing that looked messy here was the spiderweb cracks on the wall above the staff where Piers's malamar was thrown against, and your watery footsteps and the water dripping off of your half soaked body as you stood there. Under all the lights of the stadium you noticed that there was completely no one. If the lights weren't on (and the place wasn't cleaned) you would've sworn this place was just as abandoned as the rest of the town. ...So why did someone leave the lights on? That was a waste of energy considering Galar was supposedly having a power shortage. ...Wait..What was that noise?

Your head perked up at the small little faint noises that sounded like....Guitar strings?! Your head whipped towards the source of the noise and followed it right over towards what looked like a plain closet door leading into the side of the gym's wall. It was a little open too letting the sounds faintly able to reach your ears. You KNEW that noise anywhere!! That was DEF someone playing the guitar! Or at least someone playing a guitar tune on a radio...But just a lone guitar. No other intruments or singing from what you could hear. Was someone still hear after all or did someone leave a radio on as well as the lights? Hesitating you slowly approached the source of the music wafting through the air. The gentle strumming of the guitar strings was, pun not intended, music to your ears although you were curious to one thing. Who could've been up this LATE playing a guitar? The rain and thunder outside beating against the stadium's roof help to cover some of the music, but as you stood in front of the door you could definitely tell it was coming from inside. Your good arm extended hesitantly reaching out to the door pausing for a moment. Should you really be trespassing like this? You could get in biiig trouble and Hop hasn't even had a chance to battle yet, but you were also REALLY curious to what was behind this door. Eventually curiosity won out and after grabbing the knob you slowly pushed in the door. Which opened with a soft creak. The other side of the door lead down a short hallway and you noticed on the other side was another seemingly large and lit up room. The music wafting from the very end of it. And slowly you ventured forward through the dark hallway. Only now there was a new key added to the eerie guitar. 

"Hey there, Delilah.~ What's it like in Wyndon City?~ I'm a thousand miles away but girl tonight you look so pretty.~ Yes you do.~ The square can't shine as bright as you.~ I swear it's true.~" A voice. A VERY familiar voice. Was singing now. And you paused for a moment as you heard the deep british-like accented but extremely smooth voice of PIERS singing something other than rock wash over you like a hurricane as your eyes widened....That guy was seriously still singing at this hour? Wasn't his voice tired after literally singing through two battles today and even before you arrived in Spikemuth? Blinking you shook your head and continued walking as you listened to the music. "Hey there. Delilah.~ Don'cha worry 'bout the distance.~ M' right there if you get lonely.~ Give this song 'nother listen.~ Close your eyes.~ Listen to my voice.~ It's my disguise.~ I'm by your side.~" As you were approaching the end of the hall between the music, rain, thunder, and singing you heard footsteps. Not a lot but def enough to indicate that there was more than one person working around back there. Team Yell? What were they up to? More cleaning? "OH! It's what you do to me!~ Oh, It's what you do to me.~ OH!~ It's what ya do to me.~ Oh, it's what you do to me.~ What ya do to me.~"

At last you reached the end of the hallway and stood your soaked self right in the door frame. And your eyes widened at what you saw. It was a big room alright. Not as big as the stadium you had just come from but it was the size of at least three of your bedrooms back in your normal world. A bunch of chairs were stacked neatly away in one corner, a giant shelf with cleaning supplies against the opposite wall, and a whole BUNCH of speakers, instruments, and other music related items elsewhere. In the lights above they all shined and even by just looking at them you could tell they were very well taken care of. And you were right about there being a few people here. About four of them. Three members of Team Yell were currently working. One one sweeping one part of the back room floor with a broom while the other two had a speaker propped up on a table partially apart and surrounded by tools as they worked. You guessed they were either fixing it or tuning it up. And the fourth you whole heartedly recognized as Piers. You stared at him as he had his back to you. Sitting on one of the chairs, with a guitar in his hands and strumming away oblivious to your presence staring at him. But the other men noticed you and stopped what they were doing to give you a confused look at your soaked wide eyed self. 

And oblivious he kept singing tapping one of his feet to the rhythm. "Hey there, Delilah.~ I know that times are gettin' hard.~ But believe me girl one day I'll pay the bills with this guitar.~ We'll have it good.~ We'll have the life we knew we would.~ My word is good.~ Hey there, Delilah.~ I got so much left ta say.~ If every simple song I wrote to you would take your breath away I'd write it all.~ Even more in love with me you'd fall.~ We'd have it all.~ OH!~ It's what you do ta me.~ Oh, it's what you do to me.~" With a sigh escaping your lips you found yourself fully turning to him and shaking your head listening. What were you thinking? Piers being an evil bad guy? Did this sound evil to you? "OH!~ It's what you do to me.~ Oh, it's what you do to me.~" No it certainly did not! You wanted to facepalm yourself so hard. There WAS a big bad in he game but Piers it was NOT. He was just a softy who loved singing and his town. "A thousand miles seems pretty far but they've got planes and trains and cars.~ I'd walk to you if I had no other way.~ Our friends would make fun of us an' we'll just laugh 'cause we know that none of them have felt this way.~ Delilah I can promise ya that by the time that we get through the world will neva' ever be same and you're ta bla-a-a-ame!~" Was he singing a....love song?? You didn't think he was into anything else but rock. But either way you found yourself listening to his voice anyways. "Hey there, Delilah.~ You be good an' don'cha miss me.~ Two more years and you'll be done with school and I'll be makin' history like I do.~ You know it's all 'cause of you.~ We can do whatever we want ta do.~ Hey there, Delilah.~ 'Ere's ta you.~ This one's for you.~" You failed to notice the much bigger form of the thing walking down the hallway towards you as you listened. "OH! It's what ya do ta me.~ Oh, it's whatcha do ta me.~ OH! It's whatcha do to me.~ Oh, it's whatcha do to me.~ ....What'cha do ta me.~ O-O-OH!~ WO-O-OAH!!~ Oh!~" 

How was he able to hit those kinds of loud tones without a mic so easily? Yeah a few singers from your world could, but you never got to hear it up close and in person like this- Blackness pooled over you in the form of a shadow and your body froze. The sensation of something BIG looming over you and the wind against your neck as something sniffed you made goosebumps run over your body as you stood there. And slowly turned around as whatever was behind you gave a curious noise and gave a small curious tug on your hair. When your head fully turned to the thing ....you...blinked. And looked cross eyed as whatever it was decided to bump your nose with the end of it's snout in a tall form of something black and white at least a good two or three feet taller than you with eyes. ....You leaned your head back enough to look at it and noticed the HUGE thing was an obstagoon. ...Hhooooooo boy. This might not be goo- !? You blinked as the thing have a cross between a small gurgle and curious dog whine as one of it's hands...Paws?? Came up and grabbed a small strand of your bangs gazing at it's f/c coloring and toying with it as if inspecting a new toy. Almost like a curious puppy. CRAP CRAP CRAP!! Except this wasn't a small and cute puppy, this was a giant man badger pokemon thing!! Ok. Remain calm. It didn't seem to be agressive at all. Just curious. Wait. What did Gloria say about Ghost types?? Misunderstood and would rather be left alone?? Maybe it's the same case with Dark type pokemon. Just stay still and hopefully it wasn't territorial like that Onix back in the Wild Area. Behind you Piers started up some kind of other strum on the guitar but you still stared frozen as you not provoke the thing before you. Curiously the Obstagoon cocked it's head to the right and at your slumped shoulder. Before reaching a hand up and poking it. Immediately as soon as the pokemon jabbed the area of your (still very sore) skin with his sharp talon pain EXPLODED across your right half and you instantly reacted. You couldn't help it.

"OW!!," you cried out your good arm shoot up to clutch your shoulder in pain which only worsened the pain as you instinctively gripped it! Startled the pokemon gave off a garbled noise of surprise and reared his head back from you as you hissed between gritted teeth as you nursed the sore flesh softly.

Behind you piers had JUMPED from his chair and to his feet startled at the loud sound nearly dropping the hot magenta and black painted guitar in his hands. But once he whirled around obviously wide eyed and spooked from the shout....he blinked. At you. Clutching your shoulder nearly hunched over hissing with his Obstagoon in the doorway....What the- YOU!? What was the girl from the gym challenger's group doin' here?! In the middle of the night!? While it was pourin' literal buckets outside!? In fact who gave her authorization to be back here in the first place?! He quickly was able to relax back into his usually resting bored face as he realized the danger wasn't even a danger. 

"Oi. You," he said making you give a yelp of surprise and whip around to him blinking. Those f/c eyes making a strange feeling circle in his guts he couldn't place. He made no hurry to lift the guitar strap over his head and slowly place it down with a small thud into the chair he had previously been sitting in before looking back to you with a raised brow. "What are you doin' here? .....If it's for a fan greetin' the show's over." He leaned back to his full height almost and you blinked as his tone changed to a serious one. "An' I don't do encores."

Oh no. Looks like you were spotted. ...Oh well. With a sigh you fully turned to him still clutching your shoulder. "No. I'm not here for an autograph or for a show."

"Then what are ya 'ere for? No offense but it's kind of double standard you'd yell out 'bout my team sneakin' about and then do the same once ya get into Spikemuth."

You groaned. "I know, I know. But I didn't mean to intrude really." Your good hand gestured to the doorway the obstagoon was still standing in. "But I saw that the lights of your gym was still on and I was wondering what was going on. I didn't really think anyone would be up this late." You felt that guilty feeling swirling in your stomach and gave a sigh. "I'm sorry. I just...got a bit worried is all."

He didn't say anything fore a moment, looking your soaked body and guilty expression up and down with a raised brow. Before closing his eyes with a sigh. "...Nah. After everything you were put through cuz of my negligence to keep track of everything I was supposed to, it's not right of my to say you shouldn't have been worried about what ya saw." He opened his eyes to you. "But maybe next time wait to ask me in the mornin' and stay out of the bloody rain."

You nodded sheepishly rubbing your arm. After all you must've looked quite the sight dripping water everywhere and sneaking in here in the middle of the night. "Um...Y-Yeah. It won't happen again. I just....I shouldn't have just walked in here in the first place. It's not my gym."

Piers was going to say something back to you. He really was. But that was all dashed out the window when the Obstagoon looked at him and gave a loud enough noise to get his trainer's and yours attention. Unknown to everyone, he had been looking between the both of your shoulders during the entirety of yours and Piers's conversation. And narrowed his eyes at the way your right shoulder looked off from your left. Now having his master's (and yours attention with a bewildered brow-) attention, he made a non-threatening growl in the back of his throat. Turned his head back down to you as he raised his hand. And gave another soft poke to your shoulder.

"OW!!" Your reaction was immediate and Piers blinked wide eyed as you hopped away a good yard or two. The same pain from before spiking down your spine and you hissed tossing the taller pokemon a scowl. "Would you please STOP doing that!? It HURTS!!" You stressed to try and get your point across to the pokemon who gave off a garbled growl at your words.

Piers stared at you....Then to his obstagoon..Then back to you or more specifically the area the pokemon had touched. Black brows raising at the sight of your right shoulder slumped in a strange way. Curious he gazed between the both of your shoulders left and right quickly noticing the clear difference between the two of him and it dawned on the gym leader like lightning. 

"We all had to climb over that wall which was dangerous and I actually fell!!" You then gestured to your hurt shoulder that oddly slumped a bit pain still very present. "Falling and landing on my shoulder wasn't fun I can tell you that!" 

....Oh no. Oh Nonononono!! You-...You all had climbed over that stupid wall that he had FAILED to notice. And had gotten hurt because of it. Had gotten hurt..because of HIM!! An immediate pulsation of uneasy and pure guilt was suddenly dumped in the gym leader's stomach like he had swallowed a whole bucket of ice as he silently stared. This was...bad. REALLY REALLY BAD!! The gym stadium could get sued for damages and medical expenses. But that didn't concern him. How was he supposed to pass the stadium onto Marnie when if she didn't become champion!? What would the world think of her and the good people of Spikemuth if their gym leader failed to prevent a simple thing like this!? How was this woman not yelling at him that she'd sue him for this?!...Well he guessed she technically did before when they first met, but why wasn't she going to the nearest hospital right this second!? That looked so painful and serious! And the worse part was that he didn't even notice!! AGAIN!! WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIM!? It took his pokemon seeing her to bloody figure it out for him!!

You blinked and looked over at the sound of approaching footsteps and gave a silent stare to the form of Piers slowly walking over you with some kind of emotion you couldn't place in his eyes. He stopped in front of you and after a moment raised a hand up looking...lost almost between your face and the obviously hurt shoulder you had. "Are..Are ya feelin' ok there? My obstagoon might've given ya a hard jab."

....You shook your head. "No. It wasn't his fault. I hurt my shoulder when I fell, but I'll be fine. We'll be heading back to Hammerlocke first thing after my other friend battles you and win, and I'm sure they have a doctor there."

At this Piers's bright blue eyes really widened in disbelief. "Ham-....Bloody Hammerlocke!?"

"Yyyyeessss?," you asked giving him a strange look, "Why?"

"I know that place almost as good as I know Spikemuth. And they haven't gotten any doctors! The closest Hospital is in Motostoke and that's a plenty days travel from 'ere and that goes for trains and flyin' taxies too!," he nearly panicked explained to you as if he couldn't even believe what he was hearing, "An' you was just gonna stay here until your friend won against me? How do you know that wouldn't take days? Did ya even think of that problem?!"

You opened your mouth but found yourself not saying a word.....Oh. Oh you uh..Hadn't thought of that possibility. While you never thought of Hop as a bad trainer it certainly might take him a bit to beat Piers. Were you just going to sleep deprive yourself until you left? And the trip even back to Hammerlocke would take days. Were you planning on sleep depriving yourself on the way there because of the pain as well??...Man. You..really hadn't thought this through at all.

Piers let out a long sigh at your silence turning his closed eyes up to the ceiling. Before with a snap of his fingers he pointed to the man who was sweeping earlier. "You. Get Francesca over here pronto. I don' care if she's asleep. Wake 'er up and get her here to fix this. NOW!"

You blinked and watched as the man dropped the broom with a clatter to the ground before running off to and out the doorway squeezing his way past the obstagoon who made a noise of protest as he did. Before raising a brow back to Piers's upset face. You hadn't really heard him use this kind of authoritative tone before. The sudden change was strange. "Francesca? Who's that?"

"Francesca Joy." He looked back to you with a stern frown. He HAD to make this right. Even if he gets in trouble. It was his responsibility as the Gym Leader to make sure you were tended to while in Spikemuth. "She was the Nurse from the center before everyone left but she stuck 'round. Glad she did too. She ought ta be able to fix ya up or at least help you before you can get proper treatment....I hope." Turning is eyes landed on the chair he was previously sitting in. You watched as with a few big strides he was there. Grabbing the guitar out of it in one hand and dragging the thing over towards you with a scraping noise with the other. "Here!" He said placing it down in front of you. "Sit down. You've got enough on yer plate as it is so rest til they get here."

You blinked between the both of them for the moment but seeing you were pretty tired from not being able to sleep yet you accepted his kind offer and slowly lowered yourself into the chair he offered you. "Uh...Thanks." He nodded pausing a second to look over your soaked clothes for a moment before snapping his fingers again and ordering one of the other two remaining grunts to go fetch you something warm to drink. You blinked holding up your good arm. "H-Hey. You don't gotta do that. I'm fine really. I mean I can probably just take a hot shower once I get back to the hotel anyways and change to warm up."

To your surprise with that same frown he shook his head no. "Nope. That's not how this is gonna work. You wanted me ta do something' about this? Well I am. Now we just wait for my team to get back with the goods. ....How are you feelin'?"

"Honestly?," you asked and he nodded. "Well I am kinda cold and my shoulder still hurts. And I'm pretty tired cuz I couldn't get any dumb sleep with it."

He hummed giving you another look over. Again landing on your confused face and that oddly familiar feeling returned. Now he didn't have the absolute best memory in the entire Galar Region, considering he was so wrapped up in the giant hole of a problem he was still digging his way out of and not noticing his own team doing things was proof of that. But there was a particular feeling that he had seen you somewhere before. Maybe you used to live in Spikemuth and he saw you around town?....Before almost everyone abandoned ship that is.

"Crikey!" A loud noise startled you and you both looked (Piers slower and calmer than you) over towards the remaining grunt who was growling at himself and hand thrown a tool back down onto the table. "This thing's bloody makin' me annoyed on purpose I swear!"

"What's the matter, R.J.?," Piers asked and you looked between the two of them. How could he tell them apart? The all looked the same to you. In fact you had forgotten there was even another person in the room other than Piers and his obstagoon for a good moment.

R.J. as Piers had called him deeply scowled at the speaker he was attempting to fix and flung a hand at it. "Oh it's this stupid box of nuts n' bolts, Boss! I tried everything from replacing some worn down parts to polishin' the insides but it still makes that stupid noise! At this point I think we'll have to replace it!"

......Piers looked down to you when you said a small huh under your breath. "That's R.J.." You looked at him again as he pointed. "He n' Benjamin are my crew's maintenance and repair boys. They keep everything around the gym up and runnin'."

"Yeah we'll this is one thing I can't fix! Worked on it for the past three days and nothin's changed. I don't get why! There's no wires loose and everything is cleaned and undamaged, but it keeps making this weird buzzing sound every time we try and use it!" You looked at the table for a moment. Brain taking in all the tools laid out on the table as the speaker laid partially open in front of the scowling man. "It's three hundred watts RMS woofer and it's supposed ta make bass not this-"

"Did you check the amp?" Both of the men turned to you and Piers rose a brow in surprise as you pointed. "The amp. Did you check it out?"

R.J. just nodded to you still frowned. "Tested it usin' a different speaker but there wasn't anything wrong with it, so I dunno what else could be wrong with it."

You hummed more looking at the speaker before you on the table in thought. Brain wracking for what you did know about these things. "....Is it possible..." You looked back up at him. "That the voice coil could just be rubbing against the metal or something?"

R.J. paused for a good moment his face drawing a blank as Piers's brows raised in surprise you would know what that was. Before R.J. looked back down to said speaker. ".....I didn't even think of that. But yeah! That could why I didn't find anything else wrong with it. The voice coil might just need to be fixed up." He hummed looking at the small mess on the table he made. "I can check it out tomorrow mornin' and see if that works!" He smiled. "Thanks!"

"No problem!" You smiled! You were happy to help even if your know how about how to fix speakers was limited.

After a bit of silence other than Piers telling R.J. to pack everything up and call it a night, and the clanking of tools as he packed up before leaving, you two sat there waiting for this Francesca and the warm drink that was promised. You sitting down in the chair and Piers took up leaning against the wall arms crossed, eyes closed, and looking bored as usual. Your drink was the first thing to arrive. Plain tea that didn't really have anything to sweeten it so it tasted bland, but it was food and warm. Plus you didn't want to seem rude to Piers's hospitality so you excepted it with a thank you before the grunt also left. Once again leaving just you with Piers and his Obstagoon. Silence making it awkward and uncomfortable except for the weather as you sat there and sipped the bland tea trying to pass the time by looking at all the instruments hanging on the wall. What looked like the makings of a drum set. A guitar or two. A keyboard. A keytar even. You hadn't seen many of those. One or two mic stands. A trumpet. Violin. And was that a tuba? With a couple working speakers all underneath them. Definitely a pretty impressive collection of musical items. ...Speaking of which. You silently raised a brow back over towards the guitar that Piers had been playing earlier which he had moved to leaning against the wall. You didn't know he played. He certainly didn't do that in the game or any media you knew about. It must've been because like everyone else, they had more to their lives and roles outside the game and media because this was a real world where they're from and not a video game from yours. Pretty neat if- ....!? You blinked and looked up when something bunched your hair up in a makeshift ponytail and toyed with it. 

"Obstagoon," Piers spoke opening a single eye towards his curious pokemon, "Don't do that. It's rude to touch 'nother person's hair without permission."

"No it's ok." You turned to him with a smiled as the larger pokemon made what sounded to you like an amused sound and pulled all your hair up in a sorta bad version of 'The Bride of Frankenstien''s hairdo. "I don't mind. And he's not hurting me. He's actually a lot like a puppy."

"....Puppy?," Piers asked confused. 

OH SHOOT!! That's right. Dogs weren't a real thing here! "I-I meant baby rockruff. He's just curious. Although I don't see why. Nothin' special about my hair."

"Ah. It must be cuz you have a f/hs while the rest of us don't. He gets curious 'bout new people a lot since not a whole bunch of people are around here anymore. M' sorry. I'll remove 'em if he's being too much of a bother."

You shook your head and the pokemon gave out choked noises that sounded like Obstagoon laughs as your hair waved in a strange way thanks to his hold on it. "Nah. It's alright. He may be big but he's not bothering me unless he decides to suddenly poke me again."

This made Piers pause. Opening both eyes to look at you now. "Really?'' You nodded. "...Ya don't find 'em scary?"

You gave a confused look in return. "Scary? Well yeah maybe at first but he hasn't really done anything to hurt me besides poke my shoulder, but I don't think he meant to actually hurt me. Why would I be scared of him?"

....He gave a half shrug. "Most people like to steer clear of Dark Types cuz of the bad rep they get for theivin' and being mischievous. They like the real pretty ones like Rapidash or the cool lookin' ones like gyarados. I heard charmanders have actually become pretty scarce in the wild cuz of their sudden popularity in the past few years."

"Well it just sounds just like ghost pokemon." 

"....Huh?"

"A friend told me. Ghost Type pokemon usually get a bad rep because a lot of people are afraid of them, but I think a lot of them are pretty cool looking. They wouldn't even hurt you if you don't provoke them most of the time. In fact I really think Frosslass and sableeye are pretty. It's not just Fairy Types or Water Types that can be pretty." By now Piers had lost the bored look and was staring at you wide eyed and black faced. ".....What?"

"....Nothin'." He said eventually face returning to normal. "I just don't meet a whole bunch of people who have that opinion. Some of my own team are spooked by ghost types so it's....not somethin' I hear too often." He seemed to pause for a moment studying your face before looking at his obstagoon who had taken to sniff your hair for a moment. "...Not that it's really any of my business...Whatcha think 'bout Dark Types?"

You lit up with a smile. "They're pretty cool just like any other pokemon types. But if I had to pick a favorite, I'd say Umbreon! But your team's pretty cool too. I didn't think skuntanks could really move as fast as yours can."

"Usually they can't," he explained looking away for a moment hand coming up to fiddle with his choker again as you blinked.

"Really? You must've raised it really well then. It's fast enough to catch up to a rabb- Uh..Raboot."

"Hmm....Thanks."

You rose a brow a brow as he didn't look at him for a moment before your eyes slowly turned over towards the lone guitar still leaned against the wall and his blue eyes looked up at the moment of your good arm pointing over at it in question. "You play?"

Blue eyes stared at it for a brief moment before turning to your form and Piers nodded. "From time to time actually. Yourself?"

You shook your head no. "I've had a few lessons...but I had to quite." You did have a few lessons back in highschool but you were forced to stop by your mother when she made you study more and take on your jobs to help pay bills instead of in her words 'waste money on useless things'. "To be honest I can't really sing or play much of any instruments. But I LOVE the topic of music!" You gave a genuine but bashful smile. "Kinda strange right? Can't sing or play instruments but music is still my most favorite things."

"....Nah. I don't," he seemed pretty interested now as he looked over you for a moment. "But if ya loved it so much why did you quite all of a sudden if ya don' mind me asking?"

At this you stopped staring wide eyed at Piers as he patiently stared back at you. ......Oooook. That actually wasn't a question you had really been expecting to be asked. Especially coming from someone who back in your own normal world wouldn't even really exist outside a video game. HECK!! As far as you knew the man standing before you, Piers, and everyone else still might not exist and this was some kind of fantasy/dream world your brain made up. And you were still expecting one of these days to wake up. Heck. For all you knew you could wake up right now at any second to your old still messy bedroom and your own mother nagging over you sleeping in late....Again. But it was still a question you weren't prepared to answer if anyone asked. Real or not. How were you supposed to answer that? Seeing no change to his silent face you sighed and slowly leaned your head back in your chair to look skyward and the obstagoon tilted his face above yours curiously. You didn't answer for a good and long silent moment which made Piers give a small hum to himself. Maybe that wasn't a good question to ask. He might've crossed a boundary he shouldn't have but-.....There was..something. Something about this woman sitting there that caught his attention and it wasn't leaving anytime soon. He was still internally shellshocked from the half scolding half flurry of compliments she threw at him during and after the battle. .....It was..too much too soon to take all in and he was still a jumbled mess trying to figure it all out-

"Where should I start?" He blinked back up when you raised your now half empty glass into the air. "Everything's just been so....Well I wouldn't call it wrong but it was certainly not the best. For all I know I'll wake up tomorrow and go back to dealing with the same thing I did when I left."

"....Well," You didn't move from your spot when he moved from his spot on the wall, hands still crossed and slowly walked over to stand next to your chair. "Normally I don't really bother other people, especially those who are jus' passin' through. But I have my own reasons for questionin' you." You finally looked at him confused. Questioning you? The heck did that mean? Did you get in trouble after all? This wasn't good. He held up a finger. "I got a suspicion 'bout you but I need to know the bloody truth first and foremost. Specially all things considerin'."

At this your eyes really did widen in worry. OH BOY!! You really were in trouble!...Well you probably did look suspicious. Coming into Spikemuth to shout a bit at him and then trespassing into his own gym probably wasn't the best image to have. He could probably have you arrested for trespassing charges or worse this could look bad on Hop and Gloria's gym challenger reputations for having a traveling partner who snooped around in the middle of the night like some thief. ......The only logical thing to do in this moment would probably be to appeal to Piers and convince him you weren't a threat.

So with a sigh you nodded and looked at him seriously. "Sure. What's eating you up about me?"

He paused for a moment not really expecting you to be this compliant but shrugged it off. The nagging feeling wouldn't go away unless he figured out where he'd seen you anyways. You mentioned you liked music. Perhaps you attended a past concert or something?? He cleared his throat before re-asking, "Well. Ya can start with answerin' my first question."

"You mean why I stopped trying to play the guitar?," you asked brow raised and he slowly nodded. And you groaned leaning your head back again. ".....Well. Long story short. My mom was a single parent and money was pretty tight all the time. We had to save as much as we could growing up so I had to stop taking lessons."

"What about your old man?"

You went silent. Eyes wide for a sec as you stared at the ceiling for a long moment...and Piers frown softened when you turned your head away suddenly in a scowl. "...I....I think that's a pretty personal question to be asking a total stranger. Don't you?"

"....You're right. An' I'm sorry about that....But I can't help but....need to ask."

"......." Da HECK was THAT supposed to mean?! You slowly looked back at him. Your face one of pure confusion and total disbelief he'd say something like that. ".....WHAT?"

..A hand fiddled with his choker again as he looked off to the side. "...It's just that...You look really familiar n' said a whole bunch of personal compliments. No offense but I don't find it a coincidence someone I don' know would come 'ere and say all that stuff from earlier unless I knew them or they knew me from somewhere. So...Do I know ya from somewhere?"

You just.....stared. Stared at him unblinking with the blankest look on your face. ......WHAT THE HUH!? Does he know you from somewhere? No. That'd be crazy! You never met him before earlier today when you arrived in Spikemuth. And you knowing him?....Well you guess that was technically true kinda. You did know him somewhat before you officially met you. But...only because he was a characters in a video game! And the fact he was the first ever all Dark Type Gym Leader in pokemon history. You guessed you also knew him from the music videos Gloria shared wth you as well, but you couldn't just say that you used to play a video game and he was actually a video game character where you were from. He'd think you were super crazy and that would just make more trouble for you in the long run. Plus even IF you said you recognized him from his online videos, how could he possibly recognize you from anywhere? Again. You two just physically met face to face THAT day. 

''Uh..." You rose a brow earlier staring at him for a long silent moment. "....I ....honestly dunno what to say about that, Dude. I've never even talked to ya before now." 

You stared at his blue eyes for a long moment going to shrug but stopped. Like someone hit the pause button on the TV for a moment and you froze solid as like a DVD you rewound to scenes way, way back when. Those eyes.....Those electric blue eyes...You'd never seen anyone else with those unique and one-and-only shade before on anyone else...Or had you? The  shade covering his upper face reminded you of something. Not that you could place it really. It was probably just a deja vu feeling from your time back on your world remembering him like when you remembered Gordie and Melony. So why did this feel- !? It was in that moment the moment struck you like a slap to the face and your brain pressed play on a memory long forgotten. A memory that at the moment wasn't important and was so unimportant you had completely forgotten about it. But now months later it was dug up again and now replaying in your head as clear as the day it happened. THE DAY OF THE ENTRANCE CEREMONY!!

"OW!" You flinched when someone's elbow rammed into your side hard and you snapped a scowl in their direction, one hand reaching up to rub your side that got hit. Unfortunately it was too loud for Victor to notice. He was a little busy setting up his camera to presumably take pictures of his twin when Gloria eventually took the stage. The one who hit you was none other than the man who was covered in those baggy clothes and scarf hiding his identity. When you shock a glare at him he froze for a moment before holding up his hands.

"Sorry 'bout that," the man apologized with that you could a brittish accent. From what you could make out the stranger had pale skin with bright ice blue eyes. "Some bugger shoved me inta you 's all. Hope I didn't cause too much harm." 

You stared at him a moment before sighing and shaking your head. "No. It's alright. There is a lot of people here isn't there?" 

"You're not wrong." His eyes crinkled in a way you knew in what must've been a frown as he looked back towards the stadium around you two. "Bloody show ponytas gallopin' 'round like it's a wrestling ring. There's usually no darn system to calmly get people seated anymore." 

You found yourself nodding in agreement. "Yeah. Where I'm from usually you'd have to buy a ticket to enter a stadium as big as this! Not just let everyone walk in." 

You didn't notice but the man looked back at you. "That sounds like a decent system and could raise funds! Nowadays it's like a bloody mob of beedrills swarmin' a honey farm!" 

You shrugged. "Well every place is different! And I guess it's not a bad thing they're not selling tickets! I don't think I could've afforded to buy one to come see this with my friends!" 

He blinked at your words. "Oh yeah? You friends with one of the challengers?" 

You nodded. "Two actually! They're from the same town! What about you?" 

He looked over you for a moment humming. "Two from the same town, eh? Strange." He shook his head. " I'm 'ere for my lil sister." 

"Oh!" You smiled. "You're little sister is competing?" 

He nodded. "Yeah. Real proud o' her too." He sighed. "She has some really good potential. I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they see her." 

Your smile widened a bit. "I think that's really sweet of you to come here and support her then!" 

His head tilted a little bit back to you as if a bit curious or surprised(you couldn't tell behind that hood and scarf) but he nodded. "Thanks. 'S real nice of ya to support your pals too."

Piers blinked suddenly when you all of a sudden in a moment of clarity pointed right at his face and nearly jumped from your seat as you recognized those eyes. That pale skin. Surrounded by a scarf and hoodie hiding his many recognizable features. "HOODIE GUY!!"

Piers....leaned back away from your good arm pointing at his face, blue eyes going crossed eyed for a moment before they traveled from your finger to your hand, down your arm, and to your narrowed eyes blankly. "......Wot?" 

"I swear I forget things so easily," you mumbled brining your hand still gripping the cup to your forehead and let off a groan as Piers brow rose even more. Hoodie ...Guy? Who the bloody heck was 'Hoodie Guy'?? Your hand pointed back to him and you wanted to facepalm yourself hard for forgetting that so easily. Well at least NOW you have more answers and wouldn't likely get in trouble for your answer. "I saw you at the Entrance Ceremony back in January. When the Gym Challenger officially started."

It was his turn to look confused as his nose scrunched up in a frown. "Noooo...No ya didn't. I didn't attend the ceremony this year-"

"YES! You DID," you frowned back not giving him time to finish. You weren't going to get in trouble because SOMEONE couldn't remember and you weren't talking about you this time. Piers flinched when you handed your cup into one of Obstagoon's curious hands, and the pokemon was delighted to help himself to the drink, as you pointed back at him. "I just didn't recognize you til not cuz you were in disguise." You felt satisfied watching the man freeze in surprise, blank slate replacing his face. Your hand met your cheek as you leaned into it staring at him. "Fyi maybe you should try using something to cover your eyes next time you go out in a scarf and hoodie. I don't think anyone else has your specific shade of blue eyes except for your sister so it's kind of a give away if someone pays attention close enough...Speaking of Marnie, that's why you were there right? You sat next to me in the stadium to cheer her on."

The black and white haired rockstar with those bright blue eyes stared at you for a long....LONG moment. Before slowly he finally moved. Arms slowly uncrossing and one going to his side as the other reached up to point at you. "That was...you?" You nodded and it seemed to dawn on him as well the more he stared at you.....THAT'S WHERE HE REMEMBERED SEEING YOU FROM!! "That was you!? The woman who went on 'bout havin' ta pay to enter a stadium?"

"And the one you rammed in the ribs."

"Bloody freakin' sakes!" He leaned his head back and closed his eyes with a deep groan. "M' pretty SURE I apologized to ya for that!"

You nodded. "You did don't worry. But that's probably why you recognized me. Who knew you'd end up apologizing to me twice in the same year?....And I meant that as a joke. You really don't have to apologize for anything."

"Then what was THAT back there?!" He insisted looking back to you slightly frowning. "Sayin' y-ya believed in me and ....and all that cheerin'! And...And-"

You rose a brow back. "Because it was a compliment?" You gestured your hand at him. "What? You never get compliments from your fans before?"

"Nah. I do. Just not so....." He looked you up and down for a moment trying to really described the waterfall of emotions that your words had caused. Not that he meant it in a bad way either. "....Specific and direct I guess. An' right after yellin' at me?"

"Because I felt BAD OK!?" You half yelled back at him scowling. "I was mad because of what Team Yell did and that I got hurt! I said stuff I shouldn't have said in the heat of the moment and you..." You paused for a moment before flopping your head back in your hand. Maybe it was the pain or the lack of sleep getting to you but you were both annoyed and mentally exhausted from this. "You looked and acted upset after I yelled at you. Especially after your battle against Gloria. So yeah! Maybe some of that WAS my fault throwing it back in your face....So I decided to apologize. Maybe overloading you with compliments wasn't the best choice right after I exploded at you but I meant what I said." You opened an eye over at his speechless form as he regarded you silently. "And I-....I-I'm sorry. Ok? I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm sorry for making you feel bad. And I'm really, really sorry for trespassing into your gym. It..I-It wasn't right at all." A small silence followed and you started to feel a more guilty feeling swirl in your gut the more he regarded you with that bored expression you couldn't place. "If there-..If there really is anything that I can do to make it up to you I gladly will-"

"No." With a sigh through his nose he looked away. All the weird feelings about the day fizzling out at getting the answers. Of course that's why she apologized. She felt bad about yelling at him, rightfully so though. Piers you had to pull yourself together. At least he had gotten some of the things bugging him off his chest. "Don' apologize for what you said. You're right I have to pull myself together and take a better lead for my team and Gym."

"That doesn't make what you're dealing with less hard." You nodded back towards the doorway. "It must've been hard to manage things when they're in these conditions."

He huffed. "Oh you have no idea."

"Must be one heck of a job for one man to care for an entire town and keep an eye on over forty people AND a gym. No wonder you could've been so distracted. I know if I was in your shoes, I would've gone crazy by now." You said the last part in a small joking tone and it got a small hum out of him. "...Hey. Speaking of everyone, where are they?"

"I sent 'em all to reopen the city and take apart that wall they made after you all first left for the hotel," He explained, "They're probably all done and asleep somewhere now. Marn-marn's at home for the night too before she leaves again in the morning."

"Your sister's a strong trainer. I like her spirit. She's pretty blunt and to the point, but I like that about her. She knows what she wants and doesn't take anyone's hate. Marnie's a good kid."

This time you got a huff out of him and a half smile was turned your way. "Yeah. That's exactly how I would describe her." He sighed before turning back to you. "She'll make a great champion."

You nodded. "She would in her own right." You paused in thought as you hummed. "A Champion who's mysterious dark but kind personality would make for an interesting one. In fact Marnie would probably know how to handle big crowds real good since she has Team Yell and a famous brother. She'd know the ins and outs of how to take of herself in a big spotlight position. Plus her blunt and take-no-crap like personality would be pretty handy if she had to deal with some situations-....Uh." You trailed off finding him staring at you and you smiled back nervously. "S-Sorry. I'm probably boring you huh?"

"No. Not at all. 'Cause that's EXACTLY why she'd be such an amazing Champion!"

You blinked. "Wait. Really?!"

He nodded and sighed. "She has so potential. She'd make a great anythin' no matter what career she choses."..He smiled a bit more. "I'd like ta think she takes after me."

You snorted. "...You really are a unique trainer. I enjoyed watching you battle against my friend. It's amazing you're able to keep watch on the battle field and sing at the same time. You must be used to multitasking huh?"

He sighed shaking his head and crossing his arms again. "Multitaskin'...That's one way to put it I guess. Been doin' that forever."

"Well I'll tell you one thing. You have much more appeal to talk to than Raihan does..But maybe that's just my opinion."

At your words you once again caught Piers's attention as he hummed with interest. "Oh. So you met Hammerlocke's celeb huh?"

He was surprised when you gave a groan that ended in a dry huff. "Oh Yeah I met him alright." You rolled your eyes back to him. "He's like a rock type pokemon and you have to play dead." He rose a brow. "Y'know that one saying. You have to play dead or else they'll pounce on anything that moves."

"SNRK!!!" You blinked. Like in shock blinked eyes going wide as...As Piers. PIERS. The guy that had barely any expressions besides resting bored face....Snort..Wait. Did he snort for real? Are you sure it wasn't the Obstagoon who made that noise?...Piers as quick as his skuntank snapped his head to the side and you couldn't see his face thanks to his bangs covering him, but one of his hands shot up to cover his mouth. ..And...You...Y-You blinked again. As his body ever so slightly shook. If it wasn't for his hair and choker swaying a bit you couldn't tell was. "....P-pardon?" He asked and it sounded forced almost and just above a whisper. Like his throat was clenched and he had trouble saying it outloud. 

You rose a brow and frowned a bit at him. Did he think your interaction was funny!? "You heard me and you know it!" You accused pointing a hand at him. "I thought the guy was gonna try to make me a side dish for his next curry by how he looks at you!" Another snort and Piers quickly turned his full body away from you now. And you scowled! "Hey! Don't laugh at me! That guy's scarier than your obstagoon! Compared to him it makes your pokemon look like a teddy bear." Piers WHEEZED his other hand clutching his stomach trying to contain his laughter. Oh if only you knew the true reason! It only annoyed you more seeing his shoulders shaking. "Hey! It's not funny! I thought that guy was about to sink those pearly whites right into me like a whole free buffet! It was terrifying! Hopefully he'll be too busy taking selfies when we go back to go Y/n hunting."

That's it. That last line was the one that broke him. "PFFFT!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" You annoyed watched as Piers literally leaned over both arms clutching his stomach as a torrent of loud laughs bellowed out of his mouth and vibrated around the otherwise lonesome room. Mixing in with the sounds of the rain and you sat there. Your face slowly turning a red in embarrassment as he kept up his torment of laughs and wheezes. What was so funny!? "HAHAHAHAHAHA!! *G-A-S-P!!* AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! NO!!" His hair shook as he shook his head and still chuckling shoulders shaking he shakily and slowly turned his body around to your. Your red faced burnt in annoyance next seeing him actually.....shakily smiling wide and blue eyes filled with amusement as one of his hands very shakily pointed at you. "OH! B-B-B-Loody heck! Hehehe.. I-It's too much o-o-o-of-f-f-f a coinc-cidence t-t-ta be true!!"

You nearly growled at him. "Too much of WHAT, Mr. Hot Pink!?"

He didn't seem to care about the name as he asked next still smiling like a look, "Hmhmhm. *GASP!!*...*cough cough* A-Are YOU the o-o-one w-w-who shut h-him down in H-H-Hammerl-l-l-lock-k-ke!?"

"You bet your darn gym badge I DID!! Ain't nobody got time for that!!"

"AHAHAHAHAHA!!!" What followed was another torment of laughs from Piers who had to grip his knees with his hands as he laughed. And you pouted cheeks out like a chipmunk and red faced at him. "I-.Hehehehehe!! I-I'm s-s-s-sorry!! Hahaha! OH!" He turned his head up still shaking from chuckled and held up a hand. "I-I-I'm n-not laughin' at ya! Hehe! It's just what Raihan t-t-told me that's-s-s s-so ic-conic!!"

"ICONIC?!," you demanded scowling, "What the heck are you on, Pal?...Wait." Your eyes narrowed at him. "What DID he say about me?"

You let him recover from his giggle fit ending in wheezes and many many coughs as he attempted to pull himself together. After a good five minutes of this Piers gave one last inhale and slowly pushed himself back up smile  still on his face as you looked at him. "He-...H-He didn't say anythin' bad I promise. Oh crikey." his hand reached up to rub his eyes. "If only I'd known who ya was sooner."

"WHY tho? He shouldn't be surprised if someone doesn't want to be flirted with."

He inhaled again before slowly exhaling to help calm himself from his laughing high. "Hehe. He...He didn't get surprised cuz ya weren't the first one ta turn him down." He gave a look and you thought he was gonna start laughing histarically again by how wide he smiled. "But it's the way you went 'bout it." He pointed at you. "T-T-The way you jus' bluntly told the guy ya weren't his type to his face n-n-not even two flirts outta his mouth! H-He's never been rejected so short-like and fast to his face! H-He wound up tryin' ta process what had happened for a whole week!"

At this your face dropped to blink. "Really?" Piers nodded. "Oh gee. I-....I didn't mean to hurt his feelings. I just wanted to stop his flirting in the politest..but fastest way possible. I admit he's not bad to look at and a lot of people find his personality and looks attractive." You half shrugged with your good shoulder. "He's just not my type. I'm sure he'll find a nice person soon tho."

Piers nearly went into another laughing fit but managed to contain it with just another snort. "N-Nah. Ya didn't hurt his feelings. Trust me. I knew when I saw him. I-It was just so...interestin' seein' him so confused and trying to wrap his head around being rejected just like that."

"Well I really didn't mean to," you insisted, "I just don't think I wanna be the 'princess' who gets kidnapped by the 'dragon' thank you very much! I prefer to keep away from the fire as much as possible." 

Piers chuckled smiling ..warmly at you know. "Well..I always knew it was kinda just a matter of time til someone was that straightforward with him, but Rai-Rai's over it and back to the same things now."

"Lucky me." You groaned and leaned your head back more. "And HE'S the one who they have to battle against next-....Wait." You glanced to him raising a brow. "Did you just call him Rai-Rai??"

He nodded not ashamed in the slightest. "Yeah. He n' I go way back as friends during the challenge when we 'ere younger." He sighed nodding. "Good times. Good times...." He chuckled again and gave you an amused look. "Tho I can't help but wonder what he's gonna do once he sees ya pretty face again."

"OH COME OFF IT, HOT PINK!!"

Piers laughed again and neither of you two noticed the two people approaching. But Obstagoon did. His head perked up and he gave pause from licking the inside of your old tea cup he was holding to look his way back up the hallway. He made a noise and the both of you looked over as hurried footsteps approached. Not a second after two very soaked Team Yell grunts made their way out and into the room with the both of you two. You Blinked at them. Make up running down their faces as they panted and began either wiping their faces or shaking themselves out. You cringed back a bit as water droplets were sprayed your way. 

"S-Sorry it took so long, Boss," the man apologized wiping his face with one hand and smearing the already running make up and jabbing a thumb behind him to the woman who was attempting to wipe water off her jacket. "I-It a bit ta find her but I did."

Said woman behind him brushed her arms off for another moment before placing her hands on her hips and with a frown looked between you and Piers for a moment silently. ...Before pointing at you. "Is this the 'frantically hurt and in pain' woman? ...You're not 'crying out in pain like a dying snorlax'."

You rose a brow. You guessed that the guy who got her must've exaggerated your condition a bit. Piers shook his head behind you before nodding a head to your bad shoulder. "Nah. But she's definitely not right as rain either. How's 'bout it? Mind takin' a look at 'er shoulder there?"

The woman, who you guessed must've been Francesca Joy (a.k.a Spikemuth's Pokemon Center's Nurse Joy), rose a brow and eyed your shoulder for a moment seeing nothing wrong. Before leaning over and walking in a half circle to stand in front of you as you silently watched. Nurse Joy stood there for a moment looking between your shoulders and fixating on the one that slumped in a weird way compared to your other one. After a moment she pointed towards you and asked, "What happened?"

"She fell off climbin' over that blasted wall ya'll set up without me knowin'," Piers explained face giving a frown towards her. The male Team Yell grunt winced but Nurse Joy didn't look away from your shoulder and only hummed. "Said she landed on her shoulder and been havin' pain. I'm no expert but m' pretty sure it's not supposed to look like that."

"Well you'd be right about that." After another silent moment of staring at your shoulder she looked to your face. "When you fell did it feel like anything shattered or came apart?"

You shook your head. "I know what a broken bone feels like. I had a broken leg as a kid and it doesn't feel like that at all."

"I see." She took a few steps closer and reached an arm out. "Can you move it at all?"

"No. ...Not my shoulder at least. I can move my arm and hand a bit but whenever I move my shoulder or hit it, it really hurts."

"Hold still." Your eyes widened when all of a sudden she gently but kinda firmly grabbed your shoulder and you yelled out in pain against her. But she didn't pay attention to your protest examining you and looking at Piers who had widen his eyes at your yells. "She's going to be fine. The shoulder's just out of socket. I can fix it but she'll be pretty sore after for a while."

....Piers nodded. "Do it."

"WAIT!! HOLD UP!!"

Your pleas fell on deaf ears. With Nurse blocking your view of what she was doing being so close to your head, you couldn't tell what she was up too. Only the burning sensation of pain and flashes of white dancing in your vision as she grabbed parts of your right si-?!

"AAAHH!!! MOTHER FU- WHAT THE HECK!?"

With a swift and hard moment the feeling of your shoulder being snapped back into it's rightful place. You cried out possibly the loudest you've ever been eyes slamming shut and mouth agap in a scream of pain. Piers paled at the ungodly sight and sounds- THUD!! Piers blinked and looked over seeing that the other man had literally fainted and fell to the floor with a thud sound. Nurse Joy simply just slowly let go and stepped back calmly as if your screaming and struggles did nothing to her. As soon as she stepped away both your shoulders tensed up and your hand grabbed your right shoulder in a deep hiss. A couple tears forming and leaving your eyes as pain throbbed from it. Sore and raw like the after burns of fire. 

"There. How do you feel?"

"I feel like sunshine and rainbows!! How the HECK do you think I feel!?"

"A lot better considering. Now." You poked an eye open and she pointed at you. "You'll be fine but your shoulder's going to be sore for a couple days at most. I suggest avoiding sleeping on your right side and lifting heavy objects for a while to give it time to settle down. But after that you should be all good to go back to your normal routine." She looked to Piers's paled face and he blinked. "And I advise YOU to go get some sleep. Those circles around your eyes have gotten worse. Were you up late singing again?"

........It took him a moment to respond but he blinked when he did and cleared his throat. "I-I mean-.." His hand immediately came up to fiddle with his choker looking away guilty being called out like that. "Jus' one song."

"Uh huh. We'll if you want my expert advice....GO. TO. BED." She looked at the man who fainted and sighed. "And I'll wake Benji up. Someone has to lug his butt back home."

You cut out the rest of what they said out of your head as you stood up rubbing your shoulder and hissing as you rubbed it. Firmly and stiffly back in it's proper place after a few hours of pain. You hadn't noticed your tired and sore self had instinctively stumbled up the hallway and back towards your bed when someone in the form of Piers had caught up to you noticing you leaving and stumbling along. When you leaned too far to one side a strong force grabbed you and easily pulled you back up along to your feet. Blinking tiredly and slowly you turned and met the worried face of Piers who gazed over your own face.

"Hey. Are ye alright?," he asked you slowly.

...You nodded with a groan hanging your head and rubbing your shoulder more. "This SUCKS!! And I'm tired. ...Thanks for the help and everything but I think I just want to go back to the hotel so I can dry off and go to bed....Besides Silver's waiting for me."

"...Silver?," he asked letting go of you when you nodded.

"My pokemon. T-The drizzlie. I left him back in my hotel room."

"Oh. Y'mean the shiny drizzlie. Those are pretty rare to come by."

".....Shiny?" You gave him a weird look. He nodded.

"Those are worth a lot in a lot o' places. Shiny hunters make a livin' by collectin' 'em and trading them off to the rich collectors and higher ups..." His brow raised. "Did you not realize he was a shiny?"

You frowned. "No but what difference does THAT make if he's a shiny, fancy, or whatever magical word they use to describe them." Now Piers paused. Really paused and looked you up and down like he couldn't believe what you were saying. And you frowned again. "....Oh what now? Do I have something on my face?"

He jumped before narrowing those blue eyes and pointed a hand at him. "Lemme get this straight. You ...Ya don't care 'bout your pokemon bein' a rare shiny?" You shook your head a look of confusion coming over his face. "...HOW could you NOT care 'bout that?"

"WHAT DOES IT MATTER!?," you asked him back making him pause as you crossed your arms. "What does it matter if he's a different color from the regular Drizzlie? He could be black, blue, fat, skinny, rainbowified, or hairier than a fur coat with big pink polka dots!!" Piers stared blankly. "I'd still love him because he's cute, helpful, and a whole bunch of other things! Geez! What's with these people and caring just about what color whichever pokemon is!? He's a whole person with feelings! Not a pretty flower you can just trade and give away whenever you please!" You huffed and turned from him. "I don't care if Silver's a shiny. He's my baby. And if anyone like Jesse and James tries taking him then they'll find out how much muscle I built walking for miles on end!"

".....James n' who?"

....You waved him off. "Never mind." You sighed. "...Look. Thanks again for the help. And for the tea. And sorry again for everything. But I really just want to get back to my friends."

.....He blinked and numbly held up a hand. "Y-You....*ahem* Ya want me to walk you back?"

You shook your head sighing and turning back to the still pouring rain and thunder outside. "No thank you. I know how to get back, and I don't want to bother you anymore." You looked back at him one last time over your shoulder and lifted your hand. "But really! You might've saved me from an expensive medical bills and lots of pain. Thank you Mr. Piers. Please have a nice night."

"Uh....R-Right. You too." He watched you go as you turned and with another annoyed sigh made your way off back into the rain on your way to the hotel getting more soaked along the ways. Leaving Piers standing there alone watching as your form was swallowed by darkness and rain disappearing. After a long moment of standing there in silence Piers reached a hand up to rub his head in confusion. "She....doesn't care about special reputations??....Strange lady."

[browzerhistory]

tips for beginning artists from someone who's been drawing since he could first pick up a crayon:

1. anything worth doing is worth doing poorly

scared the drawing you want to make will turn out ugly? nervous you won't do the angle/character/lighting/etc justice? do it anyway. do it scared. do it weird, do it anatomically incorrect, do it uncolored, but whatever you do, draw that thing. it's better to get the idea out on paper/canvas/etc than to leave it in your brain to eventually fade away. if you still really love the concept, you can come back to it later with better skills, and if you end up disliking it, well, now that you've drawn it you don't have to ever again!

2. get a little silly with it

experiment with your art. go to a color palette generator and make something with the first thing you get. make ocs with complicated designs and weird backstories. change things about your style just to see how they look. the more things you try out, the more things you'll find out you like (or dislike), and your art will start to really feel like yours. i'm not sure if the Youth of Today get as hung up over not having an art style as i used to, but if you do, there's only one way to get it: fuck around and find out.

3. always cheat

listen. there are many people who will tell you that tracing a reference or color picking from a photo or whatever is cheating. those people are lying to you. obviously there are limits (like don't trace/recolor art and post it without credit), but the vast majority of the time, tracing and taking inspiration from other people's art is how you get better.

(one way to stop yourself from plateauing is to trace a reference, then try drawing it by hand. you can also try breaking down a pose into basic shapes/lines; if this seems confusing, just pretend you're making hitboxes for it video game style.)

4. take a goddamn break

if drawing is starting to feel more like a chore than a hobby, or if you feel like you've run out of good ideas, stop for a couple days. pursue another hobby, eat good food, observe local flora and fauna. even if you love drawing with all your heart and think you'll never get enough of it, your brain needs a refresher every now and then to come up with new cool stuff to draw. trying to push past burnout will most likely just ruin the fun of it for you.

5. make a mary sue oc immediately

there's way too much hate on mary sue characters, especially when so many stories introduce protagonists by going "what if there was a guy. and he was the Specialest Guy Ever." having a character who's sexy and smart and powerful is not only fun, but good for the soul, and nobody gets hurt when you make one. plus, it's hard to overstate how good it is to have a character you love to draw in lots of different outfits, poses, and situations.

6. your art is good because you made it

now this one will probably be controversial, since a lot of artist memes are about feeling self conscious about or straight-up hating your own art. but you've gotta find pride in what you make. you've gotta look at your drawings and say, "this fucks actually and i did an amazing job." for me, even if i don't like how a drawing turned out, i try to find at least one thing i really like about it, like the shading or colors or emotion. making self-deprecating jokes stops being ironic the more you do it, and the same applies to jokingly tearing your own art apart.

7. keep your old art

a very good poster once said that throwing away/deleting your old art is like walking up a staircase and smashing every stair behind you. even if you're very high up, you won't see it because it looks like you're just on the first step.

personally, i have sketchbooks going back to early 2018, when i first started regularly using them, and i keep some of my first ever digital pieces in an archive on my tablet, but i get that that sort of record keeping isn't possible for a lot of people. the gist of this advice is just to have some reminder of where you've been, so you can look forward to where you're going.

8. make furry characters

beyond the obvious (you're probably a furry and it's nice to be able to draw your fursona), doing furry art is also a great way to find community in art. whether you do commissions, comics, or just draw yourself for fun, furry art is a wonderful method of self-expression that has the added bonus of being basically limitless. my main fursona is a bug, my secondary one is a gastropod. follow your dreams.

there may be more i add to this list later, but these are the main ones i can come up with. obligatory disclaimer that i'm just one guy with one experience; this advice might not work for everyone; etc etc. i've just tried to base this off of what i wish i knew when i started getting into art seriously.