#also you KNOW she must have already had a reputation as a hothead as a kid if alysanne thought they'd be a good match

[wearethewitches]

inspired by my own fic idea - but why do folks write enemies to lovers daemon x reader, or daemon x ofc, when rhea royce is right there?

[shypotato-translations]

QTVW Chapter 17

Showbiz* Sexy Queen (IV)

----

“……”

Even though Mei Mu Lan's heart was in a state of shock, her face was still slightly stiff as she said,

“Haha, I'm just kidding, I'm actually a big fan of yours and I love your movies, so can you sign my autograph?”

As she said this, she took the script from the hands of the petrified director and kneaded it in her hands, smoothing out the curled paper before handing it over with a slightly shy expression,

“Then, just sign here.”

Ling Yi Yao looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes, and there were unreadable emotions in them.

She took the script, signed her name on that, handed it back, and said,

“Thank you for your support, Miss Mei.”

Mei Mu Lan took the script and stared at the three big words on the page with glowing eyes, her face was uncontrollably excited, and she performed the image of a fan getting an autograph from her idol with perfection.

She blinked her charming eyes and looked at Ling Yi Yao with an affectionate expression, saying,

“I'll always be there for you, you're the best in my heart! Keep up the good work!”

The director, who had been ignored as a set-piece for a long time, suddenly made his presence known, smiling broadly and saying,

“I didn't know you were so fond of her, but since Ling Yi Yao is your idol, she'll be your mentor for the rest of your life.”

Mei Mu Lan was immediately surprised and said,

“Is it really possible? But……”

With a look of embarrassment on her face, she said,

“This will not affect and delay the work of Queen Ling, right?”

With a gentle smile on her face, Ling Yi Yao said,

“No, I have long admired Miss Mei's reputation, I won't find it troublesome. Moreover, Miss Mei's previous performance platforms are all top international art theatres, your performance experience is very rich, I believe you are a good student who can easily start.”

With a big smile on her face, Mei Mu Lan said,

“In that case, I'll be counting on you after that, Teacher Ling.”

“You're welcome, just call me Ling Yi Yao.”

Ling Yi Yao replied with a light smile.

At this time, an abrupt phone rang, and Mei Mu Lan looked in the direction of the voice, and saw the director answering the phone in a frenzied manner, saying,

“It's me…… I've already got the part of the second female character…… You have to be interviewed by the producer to do this? Who said that? Big Boss…… All right then, I'll send her over now.”

The director hung up the phone with an embarrassed look on his face as he scratched his head awkwardly and said,

“So, the producer just called and asked you to audition again, because the producer seems to be holding an audition for the supporting female character. Sorry, go for another interview, go through the motions, you'll be selected anyway with your strengths.”

Mei Mu Lan froze for a moment and said after coming back to her senses,

“That's fine, it's the process, I can't make any special distinctions, I'm on my way, director, where's the interview?”

The director smiled toothily, reached out and pointed in one direction, and said,

“I'll take you there. I guess the staff will give you a script and let you do an impromptu performance based on the script, and those who perform well will be selected as real supporting female actresses.”

“I see, then you can take me there first,”

With that, she looked at Ling Yi Yao again and said,

“See you later, Ling Yi Yao.”

Ling Yi Yao also stood up, smoothed out her ancient dress and said,

“I'm one of the interviewers, I'll come with you.”

The three of them walked together to an ancient style tavern, Mei Mu Lan said goodbye to the director and Ling Yi Yao, then went to the waiting room for the female supporting roles.

As soon as she entered, she saw a dozen young and gorgeous women, who were now studying the script carefully in their hands. When they saw Mei Mu Lan walk in, they raised their heads and stared over, and only when Mei Mu Lan found a place to sit in the corner did they avert their eyes.

Mei Mu Lan sat alone on a sofa, her head hanging slightly, her long hair hiding the expression on her face.

In her mind, she recalled what had happened earlier, when her emotions were out of control and she had done some of the original owner's daily actions. Even though the original owner's soul is completely dissipated, the body still gives some instinctive reactions to reality.

She didn't know why this was happening, and she didn't know if anything like this had happened in previous missions. But this sudden event today has clearly given her a direction for her strategy.

The villainous BOSS mentioned in the plot is an apparently gentle and generous film queen, but in reality, she is a woman who has blood on her hands, was secretly raised in the underworld and has been a mentor to killers in the underworld for her entire adult life.

She's a hothead, a frightening figure in the dark world, and even her uncle, who raised her from a young age, chose to kill her when their interests diverged.

At the same time she also sent people to murder the female lead several times, the novel explains that it was because if she could not be loved then it was better to destroy, not to say whether this is true or not, but the description of her ruthlessness is definitely the real deal.

And this time, such a woman became the object of her raid.

Ling Yi Yao is dark and ruthless, confronting her enemies and eliminating their roots. If she wants to take her on, the first thing she needs to do is to reduce her threat level, so that Ling Yi Yao feels that she is harmless and can be approached in depth, so that she can drop her guard.

And in order to achieve this, she must show herself to be harmless.

At the same time, she must show her affection for her in order to stop the "I only think of you as a friend" type of outcome from happening.

During her growing up years, many people must have wooed her, but they chickened out when they learned of her indifference, while this time, she chose to do the opposite and insisted on persistently adoring her to impress her.

When Mei Mu Lan thought of this, she suddenly recalled today's oops incident, and she made this decision because of today's incident.

Anyway, her image has already been ruined in public, so why not 'break the pot' and 'not do anything' and choose the active pursuit mode, expressing her sincerity in all sorts of ways to brush up Ling Yi Yao's goodwill?

Plus, the original owner's situation would make this method work very well.

For example, the original owner's background is so clean that even if the villains wanted to investigate her, they wouldn't find out much dark information;

The people around the original owner knew about Mei Mu Lan's affection for Ling Yi Yao, as well as the original owner's posting and microblogging accounts, all of which could show that the infatuation for Ling Yi Yao herself came to light;

She was unable to control her feelings for Ling Yi Yao many times and basically got emotional and her eyes lit up when she saw her……

So, after combining all the above, Mei Mu Lan embarked on the path of a "martyr who is afraid of stalking girls".

Mei Mu Lan figured this out and breathed a huge sigh of relief in her heart, no matter what, she already had a direction for her strategy, after that she just had to work hard in that direction.

With a goal to strive for, she was in a much better mood. She lifted her head and tilted the long curly hair on her forehead to the side, and then a woman dressed in a Republican student girl's dress, innocent-looking and lotus-like, came into her eyes.

The woman had her hands folded in front of her at the moment, holding a folder, her smooth flat fringes hanging down in front of her forehead, and one foot on tiptoe. The whole person carried a strong school freshness style, two very different types from Mei Mu Lan herself. One is as light as a chrysanthemum, the other as enchanting as fire.

Mei Mu Lan noticed her at first because of her charming aura, but when she saw what she looked like, a deep thought flashed in her eyes.

This woman, she looked familiar, she had seen it in the original owner's memory, and she had seen it many times.

Because this woman, the daughter of her father's newly married stepmother, her stepsister, is also the female lead of this showbiz revenge reversal novel, Bai Jieying.

After recognizing her, Mei Mu Lan did not go over to talk to her, because their relationship was already full of conflicts, and now this white lotus-like harmless woman was already a blackened and mutated version, in the novel, she went from gentle and lovely mode to cold and ruthless mode in just one day.

Mei Mu Lan has always stayed away from these types of women, except for missions of course.

She leaned her back on the sofa, her whole body taking on a lazy pose, and Bai Jieying across the room must have recognised her too, but it was clear that she had no intention of recognising her on the spot either.

Mei Mu Lan suddenly thinks of the original owner's death by poison. According to the original owner's memory, the most likely people to poison the original owner are the stepmother and the female lead.

It seems that she still needs to get in touch with them, and perhaps in a few days she should also go back to the Mei family to investigate in person.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, the director's assistant came in with a stack of envelopes, which he placed on the table, and then said loudly,

“Here are the excerpts of the plays you will be performing, now come one by one and collect an envelope. After half an hour, those whose names are read out will be interviewed in the interview room next door. Okay, now who's first?”

After his words landed, the women in the room, all of them, stepped forward slowly and unhurriedly, picked up an envelope from the table, then stepped aside to open it and look at it.

Mei Mu Lan waited until the end before she slowly got up to get her envelope, she brushed past Bai Jieying who also stayed at the end, ignoring each other like fellow passers-by.

Mei Mu Lan took the envelope and returned to the sofa to sit down. She tore open the envelope, picked up the white letterhead on a black background inside and read it line by line.

Half an hour later, the first person was called out for an interview, and the atmosphere in the room was noticeably more depressing.

Mei Mu Lan closed her eyes to herself and waited until her name was read before she slowly and enchantingly picked up the envelope with her fingertips and slowly walked out.

Entering the interview room, she was greeted by a completely empty place and handed the letterhead to a staff member who in turn handed it to the interviewer.

She stepped into the room without a glance, then turned to face the dozen people sitting across from her.

The director, sitting at the very centre, casually scanned the letterhead, then waved at Mei Mu Lan and shouted,

“Action!”

Mei Mu Lan then moves into the role of the female supporting role.

【Inside the dark and empty tomb room, two urgent footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

Through the faint light of the candle, one can see a wonderful trajectory formation in the middle of the room. A woman in a purple body-hugging cheongsam, now looking at the formation with a wolfish look, said to the man beside her,

“Blood leads to the formation, the next hurdle requires blood to open the formation before the door to the tomb will open.”

The stocky uniformed man at her side, propping himself up on one leg, raised a rigid eyebrow at the words and said,

“Let's wait for the next person to come and then turn it on. Let's take a break, you come and hold me.”

The cheongsam-clad woman walked slowly over to him and the two leaned in intimately.

The uniformed man said with deep emotion,

“When you get that elixir of immortality, you can surely preserve your youthful beauty.”

The cheongsam-clad woman shook her head and inclined her head to look at the uniformed man, her beautiful, demon-like face could be seen in the dull candlelight, she was now licking her red lips gently, her eyes looking at the uniformed man with fascination, and then said with a soft smile,

“Say……”

She whispered;

“You love me……”

She murmured.

The uniformed man smiled at that and he said in a low voice,

“Mmm, love you.”

The cheongsam-clad woman laughed delicately, a vivid and seductive expression on her face, but as she laughed, tears streamed down her face, crossing her cheeks and falling into the man's chest.

The woman in the cheongsam laughed and cried at the same time, she frowned slightly and said,

“You're very kind. You've always been very kind to me,”

She lifted her hand and caressed the man's neck and cheek.

Then, like a snake-like white arm, it fell behind the man's ear, a silver needle appearing abruptly, revealing its unsettling colour in the dark, obscure light.

The cheongsam-clad woman stabbed the silver needle deep into the back of the man's head, and the long, thin silver needle actually pierced through the man's brain and penetrated the whole thing.

The man stared with blood-red eyes, the expression on his face was one of distortion and disbelief as he died.

The cheongsam-clad woman 'giggled' softly, singing a love song from Shanghai at night on her lips, and pushed the man to the ground, blood crumbling out of the corpse as the blood-initiated formation was broken and a blackened tomb passage was opened.

The woman in the cheongsam stroked her long, dishevelled hair and walked enchantingly into the tomb passage, the grey walls falling abruptly as she passed.

The scene is dark and the only thing in the air is a love song that is softly sung.】

[marshmallowprotection]

Oh my gosh she would definitely refuse to acccept her and Saeyoung being similar. Because as much as they would get along in some aspects, she's also very hotheaded and sometimes Saeyoung would definitely remind her of one her coworkers (who i came up with like two weeks before i got into mysme, so when i saw how Seven was i was like :0)

Jeth-TEN is similar only to Saeyoung's mischievious/sadistic side; Jeth doesn't have some depressing backstory, and its not a mask (though that's not to say he cant be serious or that he's shallow... i think u get what i mean). Jeth is also a lot more... shark-like, if you will. That's how I like to describe his grin, at least; whilst with Saeyoung, I prefer "wolfish." Jeth is bit more intense and pushy with his antics, still a bit of a prankster but mostly just likes to mess with people verbally. He isn't Rigby's typical partner, but they pair up here and there and, well, he has a reputation.

As does she. A reputation at her agency for excelling. She also has a rep for being serious, because she is a bit more serious at her job. And, amongst the medical staff, a reputation for refusing treatment, but i'll touch on that later. She even dresses semi-formal whenever she goes in and isn't doing action-based field work or training. But its reminiscent of Suit Saeran's style; ya know, the chain? Formal suits (you'll never see her in a dress, skirt, or heels) with an edgy flare.

Her agency's primary goal is assisting those with powers. Her sector focuses more on the youth. Soemtimes, they have to remove the kid(s) from their home situation -- which can be for a few reasons, such as the family is abusive, or the child's power is too out of control -- and stay in the care center of the agency, where they are well taken care of and trained to control their powers and utilize them efficiently and safely.

Vasyl and Amara both went through this, and they both ended up under the care of Rigby's parents.

Rigby is, as Hughes, another coworker, likes to call her, a "jack of all trades." She hates that term, but it's kinda true. When she was young, her parents weren't only training her to control her powers, but they also taught her the basics for pretty much everything they knew, and then at a certain age, she was allowed to pick a few favourites, which they then focused more on, although they still gave occasional lessons on other skills (such as dancing, but there's no way in hell she's ever telling anyone that she knows how to dance lmao). They wanted her to have a lot of options when she got older.

Hacking/info gathering, general investigation (which is when she gets paired with Jeth), infiltration (including undercover), rescue, and when needed, trainer. Her main/"official" ones tho are the hacking and rescue.

Also, hardly anyone uses their real names there. She smushed her last name to get "Nova."

Hdbdhsvsj the dynamic between Vasyl and Rigby is adorable, but i also love the dynamic between Jeth and Nova. Like- look at this:

"A gut feeling, huh? Are you sure it's not just the tacos?"

"I don't eat tacos."

Jeth gasped loudly, as thought she had offended some revered figure. "You've never had a taco?" he exclaimed.

"I've had a couple. But I don't like them." She parked the car along the curb.

"You're insane! How can you not like tacos?"

"How can you not like ice cream?"

"Ice cream is f--king disgusting."

"Oh, my days." Nova unbuckled and opened the door. "I- I refuse to hear such blasphemy."

Also, insults:

She shook her head. "Are you sure you weren't dropped as a baby?"

He opened his mouth, but Nova continued.

"Oh, wait, we already established that when you decided mixing strawberries and barbecue sauce was the best thing ever."

He grinned. "You should try it~. It's delicious!"

"Not for a million USD." They stopped before a door. "Something definitely went wrong during the development of your tastebuds. And your brain."

"Agent Nova, why must you be so cruel?"

"Because your presence is a truth serum."

I live for banter tbh lmao.

Oh, and about her brother. She does her best to make sure he doesnt adopt that self-sacrificing behaviour -- call her a hypocrite; she's well aware. Alfhough, she's only that way with certain people, but still.

[417]

I am thriving on this banter. It's made me laugh so hard. It's about the chaos all the time. I think that's kind of hilarious that you struck gold and then found that another game struck gold. You can't go in the wrong direction when it comes to some wild cat.

These are just screaming what we all want in a friendship. Someone to call you out and bop you on the head for being a little shit. It's simply as it should be. Just a little something about chaos mixed in with the rationality can be really fun to play around with. You said tacos. Now you gotta sing the Jaehee Spicy Taco song.

I do love a woman with a flare for style and that's WHAT WE'RE THRIVING ON. I would like to be her friend the more that I learn about her and her universe, NGL.

It's good that the two of them have a sibling relationship where they can be honest with each other about this sort of thing and have a good laugh about it... or a playful shove to the shoulder as a reminder to lighten up and work on how hard and intense one is. It's good to want to care about your family but always remember that you can put yourself first sometimes! Easier said than it is done... that girl is asking for trouble but she's thriving. My condolences to her brother who deals with that daily.

[softforcal]

HCs for Gryffindor!Ashton who has been crushing on Slytherin!Reader for the longest time, but she doesn’t really give him the time of day because she’s also been crushing on Gryffindor!Ash

GRYFFINDOR ASH X SLYTHERIN READER

-so he thought you were cute as fuck since first year when all of you were waiting to get sorted into houses

-your name was called and you went up there and before the hat even touched your head it announced “Slytherin!” and Ashton could feel his heart sinking

-there goes that crush

-but the thing is… even after Ash was sorted into Gryffindor, the crush never really went away.

-he’d see you around the school but your Slytherin clique mostly keeps to themselves so he doesn’t really talk to you

-he knows you come to the Quidditch games and he always makes sure he plays his best when he sees you in the crowd

-but you two never really talk or interact because you’re both kinda worried about the whole slytherinxgryffindor thing and both of you try to hide your infatuations

-then, in your fifth year, Slughorn assigns you and Ashton as lab partners in potions class

-its like the stars have aligned

- (in reality the teachers have totally shipped you and Ashton together for years but never done anything about it but Slughorn finally snapped and was like ‘fuck it, i’ll be cupid because none of you have the balls to be’)

-so you and Ashton have met in person once or twice and when he sits next to you and flashes that beautiful grin you can’t help but smile back, forgetting about the house rivalry for just a moment

-”this should be fun.” he muses. “just try not to light me on fire Irwin.” you laugh. “no promises.”

-and thus begins the partnership

-”so Slughorn’s got you sitting next to Y/N.” Gryffindor!Luke grins, “how’s that going?”

-yeah, Ashton’s close friends know Ash is into you and it’s been a lasting joke that he won’t be a true Gryffindor until he mans up and talks to you

-even Hufflepuff!Cal and Hufflepuff!Michael are in on the teasing but Luke’s the only one who ever takes it really that far

-and now Ashton has no excuse not to put himself out there

-but there’s still the fact that your houses usually hate each other

-sure, some students from your houses have dated in the past but the house rivalry always makes it really difficult for that to even happen

-meanwhile some of the Slytherins your friends with are kinda like “can’t believe you got sat next to Ashton.” “he seems like such a hothead Gryffindor.” “i bet you he’s totally going to light you on fire before the terms over.” “yeah i had his friend, that Hemmings kid, you know, the tall one, as my potions partner two years ago and he spend more time carving things into the desk than actually making potions.”

-you can’t really tell them that you’re excited because they all have it out for the Gryffindor team captain and Beater

-he is the ultimate Gryffindor and your friends hate it

-he literally embodies everything Gryffindor

-but thats kind of why you like him?

-like he seems like a hothead, and yes, he seems overly confident but thats sexy as fuck?

-he just seems… warm. and your cold blooded Slytherin self needs some warmth

-and those warm honey curls and strong beater arms are just to die for

-and its just like ‘you know what, fuck this. im a fucking Slytherin. we break rules. fuck my house mates, Ashton is hot as fuck and i’m going to go for it.’

-meanwhile he’s like ‘i’m a fucking Gryffindor. i’m going to make this happen because this is too good an opportunity to waste.’

-if there’s one thing your houses share, its ambition

-but you both chicken out the first few classes together, opting to just enjoy getting to know each other and ignore the weird looks from your house mates

-one day, you get to class and Ashton is already there, looking at his book and dicking around with some of the ingredients and your heart just stops in your chest because he looks so good

-and when he looks up and notices you walking over he smiles and of course, he looks soooooo gooood

-”there’s my favourite Slytherin.” he teases. you laugh, “don’t you mean: there’s my favourite Slytherin because she’s the only one i talk to because house pride and house rivalry?”

-he shrugs, “not my fault our houses don’t get along as well as we do.”

-”do we? get along?” you ask, turning to look at him.

-he’s fidgeting with one of the ingredients and you put your hand over his to stop him from rolling it around on the table because that shit is annoying AF

-his eyes go to your hand then up to your eyes, “i think so.” he says, then he squares his shoulders and you can see that true Gryffindor power as he says: “yeah. we do.”

-Mcgonagall is in the potions room asking Slughorn about something but he shushes her, “look.” he says, motioning to where you and Ashton are sitting, your hand still on top of his, “my plan is going swimmingly, don’t you think?” Mcgonagall has to stop herself from laughing because of course if any teacher was going to get this to work it would be Slughorn. Plus, Mcgonagall likes you. does she think you’re the best match for her Gryffindor golden boy? no… but she can always pimp out Luke to someone suitable. plus, Ashton looks so happy

-Ashton is looking at you and he sighs, running a hand through those curls you’ve come to enjoy so much, “look, i know out houses hate each other but that doesn’t have to affect us. I like you, I’m pretty sure you like me. i wish we could just put the rivalry aside and go out sometime.”

-”are you asking me out Irwin?” you grin, for once, thanking that courageous Gryffindor trait that forces red wearing students to put themselves out there and shoot their shoot

-”yup.” he sighs, “so what do you think?”

-”i think it could work.” you smile

-Slughorn begins giving instructions and you pull your hand away from Ashton’s

-the two of you sit next to each other, smiling the rest of class

-class ends and Ashton is just like, “so should i come pick you up from your common room after dinner?”

-you’re about to say yes when you realize “if my house sees you coming to get me, they are going to freak out. how about we meet at the entrance to the astronomy tower just after dinner, around seven?”

-”it’s a date.” he grins

-the day continues and you keep your mouth shut about the whole thing

-while Ashton is doing everything but having a full on rager with his mates because you said yes

-Cal and Michael are super supportive and Luke is flipping his shit, “when you said you were going to ask her out, i thought to myself: ‘he’s never going to make it.’ but you did! you’re all grown up and a Gryffindor mate!”

-you can tell Ashton has told his friends because at dinner Luke is staring at you a lot. Ashton’s back is to you but he looks over his shoulder at you every once and a while and Luke just grins

-the fact that he’s told his friends says something

-it’s like… you’re a Slytherin but his friends are happy for him which must mean something.

-and meanwhile you haven’t told anyone because your house can be kind of elitist. and it’s tough. to not share your excitement. because you are excited.

-dinner ends and you head back to your common room, counting down the minutes until you can sneak away to go see your Lion

-it’s finally five to seven and you leave, walking to the entry way to the astronomy tower. Ashton is already sitting on the steps but he stands when you approach, “i was worried you weren’t going to show.” he says, pulling you into a hug.

-”i’m a Slytherin, Ash, if i want something, i go out and get it.”

-before he can prompt you to elaborate on exactly what you want and what you intend to get, you grab his hand and begin pulling him up the steps.

-the tower has a lot of really beautiful stained glass windows with sort of seating areas. and no one comes up the tower after classes. you go as far up as you deem necessary that no one will be able to hear you from the base of the tower.

-you sit down and Ashton sits across from you

-you begin talking about anything and everything

-what made him become a beater?

-why did you choose Slytherin?

-why did he choose Gryffindor?

-the houses are pretty similar eh?

-why did the rivalry even really start?

-fuck, what will your Slytherin friends think?

-”depends on what this is.” “what do you mean?” “well… do you want to date and try for a relationship? or are you taking a page out of Hemmings’ book and looking for a good shag?”

-he laughs at your forwardness, “not the second one. besides, Luke makes it clear that he’s not looking for anything serious so if he has a reputation, it’s built on the testimonies of girls who understood what they were getting themselves into… what are you looking for from me? am i just a good shag?”

-”pretty sure you’d be a great shag.” you grin as he gets closer to you. “really?” he hums. “yeah.” his lips are almost on yours but you pull away, “but i’m not looking for just a shag either.”

-Ashton pulls back and sits next to you, hand going to your thigh, “okay, i admit, kinky public sex in the astronomy tower on a first date is a bit ambitious.”

-part of you knows this boy is baiting you. because you’re the ambitious Slytherin. but part of you doesn’t care at all.

-because kinky public sex with a Gryffindor in the astronomy tower? yes please.

-before you know what you’re even doing you find yourself straddling him, “ambitious is my middle name.”

-his hands on your ass as you run your fingers through his beautiful hair and look down at him with a grin

-you tease him. you know he wants to kiss you but you can move just out of his reach due to your power position

-and you know it’s driving him wild

-you grind down against him and his grip on your bum and waist tightens

-he finally snaps and one hand comes up and goes behind your head, pulling your face down to his so your lips can finally meet

-you grind down into the kiss, hands wandering his chest, shoulders and big beater arms

-his tongue glides against your lips and when you grind down harder you’re both groaning messes

-you begin to nip at his throat and ear which you can tell are particularly sensitive spots because he moans loudly, “fuck, you’re naughty aren’t you?”

-that line just gets you going because it totally plays into the whole house dynamic

-he pulls off your shirt and you pull off his as his hands explore you

-and thats how you end up fucking a Gryffindor in the astronomy tower where practically anyone could walk in.

-plus like. it’s already kinky so going that one step further by him calling you ‘a naughty girl’ and you calling him ‘sir’ or ‘daddy’ just drives you both wild

-spanking, choking. the whole 9 yards fam

-its exhilarating because you both know how fucked you would both be if anyone saw you two, but you’re too into each other to care

-you both finish, breathing heavily

-then he helps you grab your clothes and put them back on which makes you both laugh at how difficult it is to clothe another person

-”that was-” “insane.” you finish for him, laughing.

-and the thing is, you’re both hooked now.

-like. as if you’re going to go through the rest of your lives without doing that again because holy fuck

-he leans back against the wall and you lean back against him, back to his chest as his arms wrap around you

-you can feel his warmth and your little snake heart just eats it up

-”can you believe i’ve liked you since first year?” he asks

-”what?! no fucking way! me too!” you scream, turning to look at him over your shoulder

-”thank god for potions class.” he grins

-okay so neither of you wants to make it obvious you’re dating because of the back lash

-but he does not have much patience and you’re both super horny

-so lots of sneaking around

-and this Gryffindor is down to do it in such odd places

-”what if someone needs a broom?” you ask as he pulls you into a broom closet

-he rolls his eyes, “live a little.”

-”all i’m saying is this is a public bathroom, Ash.”

-”its the prefects bathroom, no one comes up here, i promise.”

-yeah, he is way more brave than you are when it comes to places to fuck

-but he is the Gryffindor so that makes sense

-you wish you had a bit of his bravery so you can finally go public about the relationship

-its so hard to go to his Quidditch games and watch him be hot as fuck and not be obvious about the fact that you’re tapping that

-sneaking into the Gryffindor Quidditch change room as soon as you’re sure everyone is gone

-so you two are fucking day and night and you are shook no one has stumbled across the two of you yet

-then one day you’re walking through the hall and he pulls you into a broom closet

-it’s hot and heavy and quick but holy fuck does this guy know how to make the most out of the time available

-you fix your clothes and leave the dark closet, running to your next class

-when you sit down next to one of your Slytherin friends, she’s looking at you with a weird look, “what?” you ask.

-”you have a hickie.”

-no. fucking. way.

-”i uh…” you calculate your ability to lie and realize there’s no use, “yeah i guess i do.” you sigh

-”who’s it from?” she asks, “which lucky Slytherin guy did you finally deem okay enough?”

-”um… he’s not a Slytherin.”

-”holy shit Y/N, you fucked a Ravenclaw?… Jesus, not a puff. please tell me it wasn’t some poor Hufflepuff boy… well, if it wasn’t a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff-” realization hits her and she lets out a squeal that can be heart through the whole class, she lowers her voice, “a Gryffindor?”

-”look, I like the guy okay?” you sigh

-”please tell me it isnt Luke Hemmings. please.” she says, gripping your arm, “anyone but him.”

-”no, not Luke… Ashton.”

-silence. her jaw drops. “no. fucking. way.”

-”he’s nice okay.” you sigh, putting your face in your hands, “look. i wanted him so i went and got him, that’s a Slytherin thing. we don’t back down when we want something.”

-”did he slip you a love potion? do i need to tell Slughorn-” your friend says, grabbing your face and looking at you.

-”no. i’m fine. really.”

-she sighs, “okay.”

-”okay?” you ask in shock.

-”yeah. i mean, i don’t like that he’s a Gryffindor but he seems, and i can’t believe i am saying this, but he seems like an okay guy.”

-going to your next class which is potions and when Ash sees you, he grimaces, beginning to fuss with your shirt, “shit, sorry, i marked you up a little-”

-”i told one of my friends we’re together.”

-he stops fussing, eyes widening, “and?”

-”and she’s okay with it.”

-”does this mean we don’t have to sneak around anymore?”

-”no more sneaking.”

-”thank fuck.”

-he grabs your face and full on kisses you in front of the entire class

-Slughorn enters the room and the two of you pull away while Ashton grabs his scarf from his bag and wraps it around your neck to cover the mark

-his arm goes behind you chair

-and it’s just like the most natural thing in the world

-the two of you leave class together hand in hand

-everyone is talking about it

-he walks you to class like such a fucking Gryffindor and kisses you again before winking and going to his own

-going to sit with your Slytherin friends and they all just stare at you and the red scarf around your neck but none of them say anything about it and class goes on as normal

-at dinner Ashton sits next to you at the Slytherin table and everyone stares at him, including you, “Ash, what are you doing?”

-he puts his arm around you, “testing the waters babe.”

-you can tell some of your housemates want to say something about him sitting there but none of them do. and those who stare too long get a harsh look from you and your best friend

-dinner ends and the two of you leave the great hall and you’re just like “Ashton what the fuck.” and he’s like “it could have been worse.”

-true

-”besides, they have to get used to seeing me around.” he says, hands settling on your waist

-you melt in his arms because you’re so in love with this boy and his warmth already

-but also what a fucking classic Gryffindor move. a lion walking into a snake pit. like what the fuck.

-you go back with him to his common room and you’re awkward at first before you realize that his Hufflepuff friends are there too and unlike Slytherin, the Gryffindor common room has a bunch of people from multiple houses hanging out

-they welcome you warmly and it’s just like holy shit i can’t believe this is just a thing for them

-Hufflepuff Mike and Cal are super nice to you as they chat with you and Ashton. “he’s had a thing for you since first year.” Michael grins. “yeah i heard about that.” you laugh

-”i heard it’s some big teacher conspiracy.” Cal says, flipping through a text book absentmindedly, “Slughorn sat you two together on purpose.”

-”that can’t be true, where did you hear that Cal?” Ashton laughs

-”teacher like to talk to me.” Calum shrugs.

-and it’s like… Calum is known for being an absolute Sweetheart and people do like to tell him all their darkest secrets so…

-your house doesn’t try to be accepting of him but they do tolerate it

-but you find yourself sitting at his table more often than not

-and if Gryffindor beats Slytherin at a Quidditch match you have to keep Ashton away from your house table at meals otherwise people will try to fight him

-he is pretty arrogant sometimes but it’s hot as fuck

-he calms down for you though, doesn’t rub it in your houses face so much when Gryffindor wins

-he even begins to say good game to the other team captain and mean it

-wearing his scarf to games and you look like a traitorous Christmas tree because you’re in your green robes and a red scarf and your entire house gets kinda bitchy about the fact that you’re cheering for your boyfriend and not your house

-you and Ashton fighting over who made the relationship happen

-”well i asked you out.” “yeah but i’m the one who got on top of you and-” getting cut off with a kiss

-still sneaking around for hot quickies wherever you can

-being caught my Michael a few times because “Hufflepuffs are good finders but fuck i did not need to see that!”

-you and Ashton don’t always agree on everything but you respect each other

-yeah, this relationship would include a lot of respect for individuality

-respecting that you’re different but that’s okay

-Slughorn stopping you one day as you’re leaving Potions and he’s just like “so you and that Irwin boy? i see my seating assignments were particularly beneficial this year.” and you know by that mischievous glint in his eyes that he totally did set you and Ashton up on purpose

-sneaking out of the Gryffindor common room some nights when you stay longer than you’re supposed to

-yeah, you two are open about your relationship but there’s still a lot of sneaking but that’s kinda hot fam

-you two are also a definite power couple because you are so fiercely loyal and protective of each other

-you both have the resting bitch face down and will stare down anyone being an asshole.

-this is just an interesting dynamic.

-it would be so kinky fam

-Gryffindor Ash is the love of my life what have you done.

-okay. welp. this has been a ride.

[thejackal64]

Pillars of Magic: Paradox | Chapter 2: Anomaly

It was a beautiful day in Mewni. As long as the flow of magic continued uninterrupted, every morning would remain the same. It might seem boring, but the people living there expected such perks. It wasn’t only about having money or possessions. It was also about life itself being marinated in luxury.

“Ugh!”

But while citizens of Mewni enjoyed being pampered by it, certain individuals who were just going through were appalled.

“There really wasn’t any other way to reach it?” The man asking the question was rather short, with a full beard covering his face. He had a peculiar expression, telling everyone around him that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and anything could set him off...

“It’s pretty in here.”

...or anyone.

“Can we buy some candies?”

Despite the rather odd request, the new question was asked by a massive man, always cheerful and smiling. His name was Kobi.

“Oh yeah, sure. And then I’ll shove them down your throat so I don't have to listen to your stupid questions!”

“Can it, you two.”

With a strong and authoritative voice, and without the need to raise it, the third man, Lucan, was keen to keep their presence under the radar.

“We are in public and even though these people generally mind their own business, we do not need to risk attracting their attention.”

"Then why in the hell did you bring this bastard along?"

“Because no one else can work with him. Furthemore, this mission might require brute force.”

Kasper didn’t like Lucan’s answer. “We could've taken a couple of explosives instead of this blubbering oaf."

“Do I really need to remind you that we are on a covert mission? We are to retrieve the object and return to the base without causing a commotion.”

“According to your doo-hickey, that thing is deep within the old tunnels of this place. How the hell would they know about us being down there?”

“It’s an unnecessary risk that needs to be avoided to the best of our ability. We do not know how far the secret police’s reach goes and we might end up finding ourselves in a dire situation. And down there no one would come to our rescue.”

“I hate when you’re right.”

“I expected nothing else.”

Lucan was going over the data in his head again and again, trying to make sure he would be ready to predict any and all possible problems along the way. But, as history had taught him, no amount of pre-planning could circumvent the consequences of working with his two colleagues: one a violent hothead and the other a behemoth with a child-like attitude. All he could do was to prepare his best with the limited knowledge he had at his disposal.

Anywhere else, their blue jumpsuits would raise at least a few eyebrows. Not here. The queen and authorities made sure that Mewmans were involved so deeply in their cushy lives that they were all but blinded by their hearts desires. Three dudes dressed like plumbers were absolutely none of their concern.

The three followed the steady flow of students into Paragon Academy. Thankfully, the main entrance wasn’t their goal, so a few meters before reaching it they turned right and crept along the side alley toward the back. Even just this little piece of Mewni that they saw before them was sparkling clean; it was truly a sight to behold, and the side alleys weren’t any different. To someone living in dirt, this scenery was utterly bizarre. Pieces of banners were floating above their heads as they reached their destination. They were mesmerizing to look at, something Kobi enjoyed to the fullest.

His sight-seeing was cut short as a mere minutes later they appeared in the school's backyard. The back door entrance they were looking for was a solid block of steel without any handles or windows, and it wasn’t exactly clean. Lucan hit it in a specific pattern: thug-thug-scratch-thug-scratch-pause-thug. For a while nothing was happening, but soon enough they heard the screeching sound of doors trying to be opened from the inside.

“Looks like our intelligence department was right,” noted Lucan silently.

“I’ll congratulate them for not fucking up their job like last time when we go back,” replied Kasper.

Lucan nodded in agreement.

Every place in the world had a certain reputation. When people visited them, they expected their lives to be enriched with unique, local experiences. Very few visitors were coming to Mewni, but they were expecting riches and comfort beyond their wildest dreams, not a fat greasy face looking at them with glass eyes.

“Yeaaahhh? *blurp*”

Of course, for someone living in the swamps, such sights were living standards for them.

Lucan brought up a piece of paper. “As requested by the school board, we are here to clean up the toilets.”

The man standing in front of them gave them an empty look. “Yeah? You have - ugh - any papers?”

Lucan was caught surprised. “There wasn’t a mention about papers.”

“Yeah, see, that is a problem, because-” He obviously had a hard time not only standing on his feet, but also collecting his thoughts. “I… uh, still need to see papers.”

“They didn’t say anything about papers. We were told this was already settled.”

“That’s your problem, bud.”

Diplomacy was always Lucan’s first choice when dealing with people, but if that failed, Kasper used his own methods. He pushed Lucan aside and raised his head to make sure the dude standing over him would understand him very clearly. “Listen here, you fat fuck! The higher ups decided we had to come here to clean up your shit. We are more than happy to start with the biggest shit standing right in front of my face. Or you can move your dick aside and let us in to do our job!”

The man was shocked by his reaction. “Whoa there, now listen up, you can’t talk to me like that!” His voice would certainly have sounded more threatening, if it wasn’t for the high level of alcohol in his blood.

“Oh no? Then let me introduce you to my friend over here.” He stepped aside so that the guard could see Kobi standing behind him. “His name is ‘I’m gonna break your limbs’.”

“Hello!” Kobi waved his hand.

“I don’t-” Some understanding was seeping into his alcohol marinated brain, but it wasn’t enough.

“Kobi, why don’t you shake his hand?”

“I’ll be happy to!”

“Show him how friendly we are.”

“Oki doke!”

Kobi’s face was constantly smiling at him, but there was something behind that smile that alarmed the guy, like a much needed wake up call, if only for a few seconds.

“Alright, alright! I- I’ll let you in! Just- Go… *blurp* do your job.”

“A wise decision.”

Lucan never liked Kasper’s aggressive attitude, but he couldn’t dismiss its efficacy in situations like this. He smiled at the guard, trying to ease the tension a bit. “Thank you for your cooperation, sir.”

“Just… Get out of my sight.”

With subtle disappointment in his eyes, he took his comrades into the bowels of the school’s ground floor.

The interior wasn’t that much different from what they were used to down in the suburbs, but there were some notable differences. The biggest one was in the generator room they were passing through. Since everything ran on magic, many magical creatures were used as conduits for the magical flow. In here they utilized fire-flies: flies that actually generated fire and heat. But since they only did that when provoked, Mewmen engineers pioneered a solution to force them to keep releasing the energy they need. The process involved what were known as Adium Crystals. These crystals were tiny, sharp and spiky shards that could easily be found laying around near the outskirts of the city. It seemed to exist as a byproduct of several magical wars. Any magical properties were harmless to Mewmens, being only a small walking hazard if stepped on, but forcing Fireflies to go nuts. So they threw a few of them into a generator together with a swarm and let them explode with anxiety until they died.

It wasn’t a pleasant view for any of them, but their goal wasn’t to enforce their opinions about the environment. They needed, and quickly, to find entry to what they expected to be an ancient tunnel running somewhere under the school. With this in their minds they calmly left the ground floor and, using steep stairs, they approached the floor above.

The school was full of students getting ready for the day, but they didn’t think it would be so… sterile. Regular schools were unremarkable in design to keep distractions to a minimum, but the ones in Mewni took that a step further. There were steady pure white lights illuminating dark purple walls, floor and roof, reaching to every corner. The doors were a plain dark wood with no windows. There were no pictures, no flyers, nothing that would catch the eye and get in the way.

“Fucking hell,” noted Kasper silently.

“I have to agree,” responded Lucan. “I can’t even find the proper words to describe it.”

“Did someone die here?” asked Kobi. His question caught them both by surprise.

“They may as well have. The sooner we find that entry point the better. I shudder to think how those poor kids must feel after spending several hours in here almost every day.”

Kasper was visibly repulsed by this remark. “These kids - as you call them - wouldn’t hesitate to smash our skulls into the nearest wall if they learned we’re from the Resistance.”

Lucan pondered the thought for a few seconds. “Indoctrination.”

“Yeah. Let’s go now.”

But before they could move on, one of the students dropped her notebook at Kobi’s feet.

“Excuse me,” said the girl.

And in that very moment Kobi felt a sensation like never before. The same was true for Kasper as well, although for a different reason.

He slowly turned to Lucan, trying not to raise any suspicion. "Of all the people, we stumbled upon a Woolett. A fucking Woolett!" he muttered toward his partner.

"Keep your cool and we'll be fine."

She bent down slightly to pick up her notebook which she’d dropped. Kobi was quick to snap it up before she could. It was ridiculous how fast he moved to make sure his huge hand reached it before her more slender one.

“Uhm, you dropped?” he questioned, despite the obvious answer.

“Yes, thank you.”

Kasper's desire to end this encounter as soon as possible was palpable. Unfortunately for him, so was Kobi's desire to prolong it. He was demonstrating this by refusing to return her notebook.

“Sorry,” he said, his cheeks flushing red. “Your book?”

“Yes, may I have it now, please?”

“The book… uhm, yes, it’s yours!” He stumbled on his own tongue.

“Yo, Kell, this dude don’t seem right,” said the voice coming out of her hair.

"Shit! There is another Woolett in her hair! Is she breeding them?!" Kasper barked beneath his breath.

"Lower your voice! She will hear you."

Her polite smile became increasingly more nervous, as she tried to pull the book harder from his grasp.

He finally loosened his grip and allowed the book to be taken back.

“I’m sorry,” he said, wiping his brow and trying to find some kind of words to fill the moment that was making his heart race. “Kobi.” He extended his hand her way.

The girl chuckled loosely and took his hand to shake.

“Kelly. And hey, thanks for picking it up. Sorry I bumped into you.”

“No trouble,” he smiled. “I like Kelly. I-I mean!” he bungled over his words again while trying rapidly to recover, scratching his head. “I like to meet you. T-that is-I mean, good to see your p-pretty face. Uh-I-uh!”

Kasper was growing angry, but he couldn’t risk making a scene. “Lucan,” he whispered, “do something before he blows our cover!”

“Right.” Lucan stepped in. “We don’t mean to be any trouble, he means to say, miss. Sorry we got in your way.”

Kelly shrugged her shoulders and slipped the notebook over her shoulder and into her backpack. “Not a problem,” she said as she finally saw her exit and headed away towards the cafeteria.

With the students on their way, Lucan tapped his elbow. “Let’s go, Kobi. We don’t have time to linger.”

They went in another direction. The expression on Kobi’s face was as if someone had stolen away his happiness. But Kasper wasn’t so tactful.

“The hell you doing?!” he cussed in the loudest whisper he could muster.

Trying not to risk a racket, they quickly went on, turning behind the corner to hide from the eyes of the students. The hall looked pretty much the same as the previous one, but it was less cramped.

“She was so pretty,” noted Kobi with sadness in his voice.

“Ain’t nothing pretty about the things I’ll do to you if you pull shit like that again!”

“Guys stop! Listen!” They all could hear a faint beeping coming from Lucan’s backpack. “It’s here.”

“What?” asked Kasper. “The artifact?”

“No! That would be ridiculous. It’s the entrance.”

“Your thingy is showing the way?”

“Of course not. Nothing can do that. My tool is… Er - the magic. With such a low intensity in Mewni, it tends to behave like a river and my tool simply points the way to the strongest nearby current.”

“Uhm. So where is it?”

“Let me check.” Lucan looked around to make sure that no one would spot him. The hallway was even more empty than before. “Huh. Interesting. I wonder where they-”

“Dude!”

“Righ, right.” He placed his backpack down on the ground and reached into it. After rustling through it for a few seconds he brought out a somewhat bulky piece of equipment. “So I was right. According to this, there is one magical current flowing through these halls. It’s quite interesting if you think of it.”

“I don’t give a fuck about how ‘fascinating’ or whatever it is! Just point us to it so we can get the hell out of here.”

“Checking.”

He kept turning around until the device made the strongest sound when pointing to a specific direction. “It appears that it is coming from there. From… the cafeteria, it seems. Hmm. This might be challenging. They might have some questions about our presence going in there.”

“I have an even better question for you: where the hell is Kobi?!”

They were both looking around. Spotting a huge man among young teenagers should have been easy, but their efforts were fruitless. Kobi was simply gone.

Kobi was smiling. He had every reason to. It didn’t happen every day he met a girl that took his breath away. Or any girl for that matter. To be fair, he could be rather easily amazed by a lot of stuff, people included. But this was different. Because she was different. And he felt that in every bone.

He went back to the spot where he met her, being sure she would still be there. He was determined to give her a present he was holding in his hands. He approached the place, completely ignoring all other students. In everyday business they were ignoring everything that didn’t concern them, just like every other Mewman; but seeing a funny looking dude in a jumpsuit just standing there with an idiotic smile did get their attention. Some of them even stopped walking and just kept watching him, wondering what he would do.

Kobi was so sure that Kelly would come back that he didn’t doubt himself even for a second. He was friendly, smiling wide because he had a pretty present for her. In his mind he did everything to make her want to stay with him. Alas, their reunion was not meant to be, which he started to painfully realize after his hands started to cramp. Reality crept into his mind, forcing him to reevaluate his short term plans.

With apparent sadness in his eyes, he decided to leave the package on the ground. Even though she didn’t come back to him he still hoped that she might like the present he’d picked for her. However flawed this logic was to everyone else around him, it made perfect sense to him, so he left it exactly where he had laid sight on her for the first time, and with great disappointment decided to return to his fellow agents.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Kasper.

“I’m afraid so. We must hurry before he runs into her a-”

Just as he was about to finish his sentence, Kobi appeared from behind the corner.

Kasper was thrilled to see him. “Where the fuck you have been?!”

“I wanted to give Kelly a present, but I couldn’t find her, so I left it on the floor for her to find it when she comes back.”

“We didn’t come here to find you a date, you shitstain!”

“Wait,” Lucan stopped him. “Kobi, what kind of present did you have to give her?”

“Oh. I found a really good looking box in your backpack.”

“A bo-” When his eyes met with Kasper’s, he knew they were in deep trouble. “The Black Box!”

Kasper didn’t waste a second and hard slapped Kobi. “That was a weapon of mass destruction, you fucking retard! FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY!!!”

“But it looked so nice!”

“I’ll rip off your dick off and beat you with it!”

“Hurry! Maybe there is still time before someone ope-”

BOOOoooooom

A massive shock wave passed through building. The sound cut out and lights went off abruptly. Aside from a few sounds of crumbling rocks and the voices of shocked students, nothing else transpired after the explosion.

Lucan brought out his flashlight and shined it down the hallway. “Interesting.”

“Do you think it didn’t get out?” asked Kasper.

“In theory the inner casing could withstand the blast, but it is very unlikely. The weapon engineers were perfectionists and always made sure their creations would work.”

“So then where is all the yelling and panic?”

There were brief squeals and scramblings from students here and there, down the the distant corridors and rooms, as if panic would abruptly set in only to suddenly die away again. The space between the horrified sounds lengthened until everything went quiet for a fairly long while in the dark. The minutes stretched on, the trio scanning the darkness for signs of movement.

Kobi wrung his hands worriedly as Kasper gritted his teeth, looking to Lucan for direction.

Lucan held up a finger the other two could barely see. “Shh!”

They could hear a person sneaking out of the cafeteria. “C’mon, Kelly, let’s go this way.”

“Kelly…” gasped Kobi.

“Stay where you are!” Kasper commanded.

Lucan picked up his backpack. “We need to get out of here immediately.”

“Wise words,” agreed Kasper.

“But what about all those students in here?” asked Kobi with sadness in his voice.

“They’re doomed,” replied Lucan.

“B-But Kelly…”

Kasper gave him a pat on his shoulder. “That’s just your everyday’s shit. Now move your ass!”

AAaaaaaaaaAAA!!!!

The yelling forced all remaining students in the cafeteria to run away, leaving it completely empty.

“The timing is impeccable. Great work, dude!”

“Kasper, stop teasing him. He is sad as it is.”

“He should be! His stupidity caused all of this!”

“And we will deal with it after we return to HQ, but right now we need him focused on the mission. Kobi? Follow us.”

Without any enthusiasm he followed his teammates into the now empty room. The smell of coffee and various other drinks were still hanging in the air. It was as if the students had never really left the place. The scents combined with all of the screaming and echoed noises, creating a haunting atmosphere.

Lucan lead them into the kitchen in the back. Many things were still being cooked and some were even starting to get burned. But culinary secrets weren’t what they were after.

“Where is it?” asked Kasper.

“Near.”

“Is that supposed to help?”

“You have to realize that tracking down and following magical currents is a delicate work. This isn’t a river you can simply follow upstream to find the spring.”

“Huh. That’s a good point. But I feel compelled to note that we are in a building THAT IS BEING EATEN!”

“I suggest you lower your voice unless you want that thing to follow us here.”

“Just find the fucking entrance!”

“I told you it’s- there!” Lucan suddenly pointed at a massive rack filled with food and spices.

“It’s in… a black pepper jar?” Kapser smiled.

“Underneath the rack, obviously.”

“Yeah, obviously. Kobi, make yourself useful and get rid of it.”

Big fellow was still sad, but he didn’t wish to enrage Kasper even more, so he just did what was asked of him. Unfortunately his enthusiasm got the best of him, and with a flair of his own he threw it to the other side of the kitchen.

Kasper realized the mistake he made. “Well, if those things didn’t hear us before, they surely heard us this time.”

“Kasper…!” Seeing Lucan even subtly angry was rare and unpleasant enough even for Kasper.

“Alright, I fucked up, I’m sorry. But look! There is the entrance and it’s…” He was staring at it for a few seconds, trying to figure out if this was the punishment for his screw up. “Holy shit it’s small! I don’t think Kobi will even fit.”

The big fella didn’t like the prospect of being left behind. “What???”

“He’ll fit. Barely, but he’ll get through.” While ensuring Kobi of his survival, something got his attention. It was small, placed just above the entrance. A marker of some kind. “Hmm.”

Kasper noticed his interest in the object. “What is it?”

“Not sure.” While trying to inspect the item with intriguing markings, a fast-paced movement was heard coming from outside the cafeteria. And it was approaching. “That’s our cue. Move on.”

“But…”

“What is it this time, Kobi?”

“It stinks in there!”

Lucan looked over the hole to check its bottom. “Huh. It appears the kitchen staff discovered it and kept using it as a trash bin for spoiled food. Regardless, this is the path we need to take.”

“But I don’t wanna!”

Right on cue, Kasper stepped in. “KOBI, GET YOUR FUCKING ASS IN THERE OR I’LL RIP OFF BOTH OF YOUR LEGS AND SHOVE THEM UP INTO YOUR ASSHOLE!!!”

“Grrr!”

With complications, Kobi managed to get through and landed directly onto the pile of stinky old food.

“Eww!”

“You’ll live. Now, catch Kasper and then me. And hurry; whatever is following is getting close.”

They both promptly jumped into the hole, leaving the mess they caused behind them.

After a short while of slow walking in squats, they entered a bigger tunnel. To their amazement, it was still lit. Dusty, but otherwise undamaged.

“An access tunnel,” noted Lucan.

“Huh?” wondered Kasper.

“What we left behind has to be an access tunnel, which would make this one here a maintenance tunnel.”

“So you know where we are?”

“No. I’m just assuming.”

“Based on what exactly?”

“Educated guess.”

“And this helps us… how?”

“That remains to be seen.”

“Terrific.”

“It was worth mentioning because this kind of architecture was used only rarely, at least in lower Mewni. I only know about such structures existing over there, but still… this appears to be in an astonishingly well-preserved state.”

“That’s fascinating and all, but we didn’t come here for sightseeing. Left or right?”

“Indeed. Let’s see… Hmm, now this is interesting.”

“Enough of this bullshit! Just tell us where to go!”

“Right. The flow comes from the right.”

“Finally! Let’s move our asses before that thing decides to fuck ‘em.”

“Right, of course.

Leaving the cafeteria behind, they pressed forward. With the sheer importance of the mission on their minds, they were eager to reach their destination swiftly. Unfortunately, their intentions were getting harder to reach, which was becoming more and more apparent with every meter they traversed through the tunnel. It snaked left and right, stretching and bending without an apparent end in sight.

“Argh!” growled Kasper. “This tunnel goes on forever!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” objected Lucan, who, for lack of a better word, was enjoying the scenery, or lack thereof. “I’m confident that we will reach the end in no time.”

Kasper hated many people and many things, and reassuring pep talks were at the top of the list. Hearing his artificially soothing voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard. “Oh yeah?” he replied as coldly as possible, “and how do you know, huh?” He was trying his best not to squish his face to cover up his idiotic smile. “Is one of your gadgets showing you something I don’t know?”

“Not at all.”

“Then how do you know where we are going?” The acoustics of the tunnel amplified his angry voice to new heights.

“This is not the time for you to unload your frustration. Logic dictates that eventually we will reach the end. Furthermore, this is unknown territory. Who knows what lies at the end of this tunnel. And now, thanks to your vocal performance, whatever might be there knows about us at this point.”

“So what?! We have mister muscle here!”

“Kobi isn’t invincible, which is why we always have to assess the situation. It’s the part of covert missions you keep failing to understand.”

“So after Kobi fucked up half of the school, you suddenly realized we have to be covert. That’s interesting. Let me just-” Kasper started to search his jacket for something.

“What is it?”

“Wait. I know it’s somewh- ah! Here it is.” He brought his hand up, presenting his closed fist as if he was holding something. But after opening his palm, there was nothing there.

“It’s empty,” noted Lucan.

“Yeah. I was searching in my jacket for my portable Fuck-O-Meter and this is the exact amount of fucks it gave me about your speech.”

Lucan raised his finger, preparing to fight back. Alas, he was interrupted by a sound that caught their attention and sent a shiver down their spines. Whatever made it, they could hear it coming down the tunnel, slowly, but surely approaching their position.

“Shit! It did follow us here!”

Something about the sound seemed chaotic; it was excessively unnatural. There was a mix of sounds, one distinctly weirder than the other. The noises meshed together, creating a hellish soundscape.

“How could that thing survive without a fresh host for so long?!”

“Your guess is as good as any.”

It didn’t take long for their stalker to appear in their sights. And it wasn’t pretty.

“Fuck me!”

“It appears to be some kind of head and is still alive even after several minutes of infection.”

Kasper squinted his eyes, trying to make out details of the host body. His discovery sent his mind into a spiral of deep fear. “A Woolett! That thing got ahold of that motherfucking WOOLETT!!!

“It appears to be confused. I don’t think its behaviour is by design. This is quite extraordinary.”

“Extraor- What do you think this is, a fucking zoo?!”

Before anyone could do anything, the Woolett boy, or rather what was left of him at that point, opened his mouth filled with goo and released a bunch of tentacles with their own little screeching mouths.

“Fuck!”

The creature screeched in agony.

“FUUUUCK!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!”

They didn't need much of a reason to start running for it, even though Lucan did wonder if that was the best thing they could do. “Maybe we should think this through.”

“Are you for real?! What the hell you wanna think about in the middle of running for our lives?!”

“That’s the issue. We don’t know what lies in front of us.”

“An escape!”

“Even if that is true and there is nothing else on the road ahead, we can’t say for certain when we’ll reach a safe haven.”

“We are running away from certain death! Is that logical enough for you?!”

“We can’t keep running forever! We need a plan and we need it soon!”

“The plan is to stay alive!”

“That is no- Wait, what’s that?”

“An imminent death, that’s what!”

But Lucan wasn’t paying attention to what was behind them, but rather what was standing in front of them. Against all odds, he saw a young blond girl, eagerly waving at him.

“That’s not possible…”

Even at their fast running pace, she was getting close real quick and he began to notice her grotesque dress and what appeared to be horns on her head. It all seemed surreal and he had trouble accepting it. “How…”

“What are you mumbling about??? That thing is getting closer!”

When death was breathing down one’s neck and the situation was spiraling out of control, one must take all the help he could get, even if it came from a girl that shouldn’t be there.

“All of you, into the room on your right!”

“What room?!”

The moment they were just a few meters away from it, the girl went inside, followed by Lucan holding Kasper’s shirt and Kobi with fear in his eyes.

“It’s right behind us!” Kobi squealed.

“Shove the door!” But Lucan knew that wouldn’t be enough.

He immediately started looking for something to barricade them. To his surprise the room was filled with old equipment of some kind. All that was left to do was to choose.

“That big heavy looking box! Lean it over the door so it can’t get inside!”

“Roger!”

Before they could all say “quickly” Kobi grabbed it, and with an incredible ease barricaded the door. Not two seconds after, the banging started; heavy, strong and loud, with a Woolite on the other side desperately trying to gain access to their safe haven.

“Not that I’m complaining,” said Kasper while trying to gasp for air, “but what the hell is this place? And most importantly, how we will get outside?”

“That… I’m not sure.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I was led her by a girl.”

In visible confusion, Kasper started to look around. All he could see was a mess covered by a thick layer of dust. “Not to ruin your parade, but there is no one in here.”

“I can see that, but I’m telling you that I saw her showing me to come here.”

“Oh that’s wonderful. A girl popped out of fucking nowhere, she points her sexy little fingers to this cute little room and you jump right in without thinking!”

“My decision saved our butts.”

“They’re called asses and maybe you didn’t notice, but this place is a FUCKING DEATHTRAP!!! There is no way out of here except for those doors and by the looks of it they won’t hold much longer! All you did was you handed our asses on a silver plate for that shit out there!”

“I refuse to think this was a mere accident. There must be a purpose to it!”

“I’m this close to giving my fist a purpose of meeting with your face up close and personal!”

Among all that noise, a new and different one started to come out from one of the walls. They didn’t hear at first, but in those short moments when the creature outside stopped smashing itself against the doors, they could hear it - the tinny sound of someone moving around in a shaft. Without saying a word, Kobi removed a tool shed of the wall and revealed an entry into the ventilation shaft.

“That’s our purpose.”

“Hmpf! Lucky guess.”

“Be that as it may, that’s our ticket out of here. Kobi, can you see if you will fit through?”

“Now this I want to see,” smiled Kasper.

Kobi bent over and went head-on inside, and to everyone’s surprise, with ease.

“Well I’ll be…”

“Excellent! Kasper, you follow him. I’ll be right behind you. And make it quick - the doors are starting to break down.”

“With pleasure!”

After Kasper disappeared in the shaft, Lucan looked at the door one last time. “For what it is worth: I’m sorry. I never intended any harm to any of you students. You didn’t deserve this.” With the guilt off his chest, he followed his teammates to escape the place.

“Kobi!” yelled Lucan from behind. “Can you see where it leads?”

“No! It’s dark in here. I’m scared.”

“It’s alright! Just keep on going until you reach the exit. Don’t be scared if there isn’t any light ahead either.”

“If there is an exit…”

“Kasper, shut it! We are all stressed as it is. There is no need to make it even worse.”

“But it makes me feel better.”

“You and I will have to have a talk about morale when we get back to HQ.”

“If we even get back…”

“Kasper!”

“Uhm, guys? There is something weird in here.”

Now they were both paying him attention.

“What kind of weird?” asked Lucan.

“I can feel the floor wobbling.”

“I can feel it too,” confirmed Kasper.

“This part of shaft might be suspended on the wall. Kobi! Keep on going, but do it slowly! Move one hand at the time and-”

CRAAAAACK!!!

They felt the entire shaft tilting forward and it showed no signs of slowing down. Soon after they all slid outside and started to fall. The new place they were in was completely dark, which only strengthened the anticipation of imminent death. Fortunately for them, the fall wasn’t too long. It was several more seconds before they would land, but first they hit something metallic, judging by the sound, followed shortly by a second clanging sound, which was their stop. Even though it didn’t take them long to hit the ground, the impact itself was unpleasant enough for them that they felt the need to check their bones.

“That… hurts,” noted Lucan. “Oh, my back.”

“Your back?” replied Kasper with sharp irony in his voice. “I can feel pain in bones I didn’t know I have!”

“Well, all things considered, I did save us, didn’t I?”

“If only you ‘saving’ us didn’t hurt this much.”

“Wait, I’ll use my flahlight. Here we go. Hmm.”

“Hmm? Don’t say hmm after the shit we just went through!”

“I’m just wondering where the girl went.”

“This again…”

“Whether you believe me or not is inconsequential. We survived because she intervened.”

“Have it your way. What is this place anyway? I don’t recognize a thing.”

“Yeah, this is…” Lucan’s mind was working on the question way before it was even asked, so even though he couldn’t name it just yet, the answer was already taking shape in his head. “This…” He touched the cold, rusty metallic pole. “This…” He then inspected the now mostly damaged seats on both sides. “This…”

“I swear, if you say ‘this’ one more time I will rip your tongue out and wear it like a tie! Just answer the fucking question: do you know what this is???”

Lucan looked into his eyes with a spark. “A railcar.”

“A what?”

“A railcar. This is an intact railcar.”

“I don’t know what a railcar is but…” Kasper looked around to inspect all the damage that took a bite out of the place. “I’d hardly call this intact.”

“Well, yes, of course, time is merciless to everything. Still, taking into account the age of this contraption, it is surprisingly well preserved.”

“Alright then. Let me rephrase the question: where the fuck are we?!”

“You really don’t know? Huh, come to think of it, it’s not really too surprising. You never really did pay attention to history lessons.”

“History doesn’t save your ass, bombs do. Now will you answer my damn question or what?!”

“Very well. Come with me.”

He proceeded to take them out of the carriage. They couldn’t move much even there, as there were multiple wagons all over the place, stacked close to each other. “This way.” Thankfully, the wagons weren’t derailed or otherwise damaged in such a way that might hinder their progress, so after a while of walking between them, they reached a spot where the tracks began to spread further apart from each other.

Kobi was fascinated by all of the new stuff he could explore, though he couldn't care less what it actually was; every new thing was a good thing. Kasper, however, never really enjoyed the whole exploration gig. He was only interested in blowing up the things they found.

Lucan turned around and raised his hands. “Gentlemen, welcome to the depot of Warnicorn Metro.”

“Wait, you mean to tell me that Warnicorn Metro is real?”

“Indeed it is, despite its almost legendary status, as you can see.”

“I thought it was just a rumor.”

“That’s because the Queen doesn’t like failures and she made sure to wipe its existence from public memory by simply killing everyone who dared to even acknowledge its existence. All the remaining physical evidence was destroyed.”

“Why not destroy the whole thing?”

“Because by the time she had a change of heart, the whole system was so complex that they couldn’t get rid of it without turning everything on top of it into debris. But they did lock it out from the reach of common folks by building additional tunnels and buildings around it.”

“How do you even know all this stuff?”

“Knowledge is power.”

The sound that came from above their heads made them look up, even thought they couldn't possibly see anything in the pitch black darkness. Still, the noise was distinct, and considering the recent events, it was obvious what was making it.

"You think it's that girl you saw?" asked Kasper.

"I hope so, though I somehow doubt it."

"Yeah."

The fact that they couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the noise was making the whole situation worse. All they could do was continue staring into dark nothingness.

Kasper huffed. "Shouldn't we get out of here? I'm not exactly thrilled to face it again."

"But where to? We didn't have the chance to explore this place. We might end up wandering for hours, days even, and never finding a way out nor what we came here to find."

"Guys?" Kobi interrupted them. "I think the girl is showing us the way."

As a welcomed distraction from the imminent horror, they looked left and noticed a blond girl in the most unusual dress, holding a flashlight and waving at them to follow her.

"Holy shit."

"Now you believe me, Kasper?"

"I believe my eyes."

"Uhm, all right. We should move be-"

Before Lucan could finish his sentence, they could hear what sounded like something crashing into one of the boxcars not far away from their position. All three of them had the same thought; each of them had hoped that they were wrong. It wasn’t clear at first, as the thing that landed inside wasn’t make any noise; if it was moving, it was doing so with the utmost secrecy.

“Maybe it’s dead,” said Kasper with a nervous chuckle, trying to hide the growing fear inside him.

“Maybe.”

“Er, guys, the girl is still waving at us. Maybe we should go meet her instead of waiting for that thing to eat us?”

Now this sent shivers down their spines. It was one thing to feel fear when a horribly deformed mutant was chasing them, but hearing that fear in the voice of their big gun made them realize the gravity of the situation. They were keen not to die.

“You’re right Kobi,” agreed Lucan. “We should leave this place before-”

The silence that was giving them some hope of being safe dissipated like a morning fog the moment the car started to keel from one side to another. A noise like that of steel being ripped apart emanated from it. They wanted to run as far as possible, but their legs were locked in place by the crippling fear of aggravating the creature and, in turn, of accelerating their journey toward their own demise. All they could do was to watch with hearts beating like crazy.

The sound started to move from the point of impact along the car. It was clear that it was ripping its insides out, though the purpose of doing so was unclear to them. That was, until it came out and they could see the thing by their own eyes; and that sight was haunting them.

“MY HOLY DICK!!!”

“My dear!”

“I’m scared! Can we go home now?!”

It was Tad. Or rather what was left of him. The impact was so great that despite being covered by the goo creature, he broke all of his bones and even a small part of his skull. But the entity wasn’t ready to give him up, so it improvised: it took all the steel pipes it needed to replace the cracked bones and cover the exposed brain, which was already looking like a dry plum. The creature certainly didn’t cater to aesthetics, so the thing standing there in front of them looked like a pure eldritch horror snatched straight from the worst of nightmares. It wasn’t doing anything, save irregularly breathing through semi-broken nostrils, but it was enough for them to shit their pants.

“Lu-Lucan?” stuttered Kasper.

“Yes?” answered Lucan with shaking voice.

“Tell me you have a plan. For everything that’s holy to you, tell me that you know how to get us out of here in one piece.”

“W-Well, erm, I…”

“No. No no no no no!”

“Just let me think, all right? I need to… assess the situation.”

“What do you need to assess?! That: a deadly monster - us: dead meat!”

“Don’t you think I don’t know that?! But if we want to survive this encounter we need to think smart about our next step.” Standing there against the creature, Lucan began to calm enough for him to formulate a plan. After a while of stressful thinking, he said, “Poop bombs.”

“Excuse me???”

“Didn’t you hear me?! Poop bombs!”

“Wha- Ooooooooooh!!! Poop bombs!”

“Yes, poop bombs.”

“So does this mean I have your permission to make shit go boom?”

“Only that specific shit, nothing else. We still need to finish our mission.”

“Man, how can you still think about the stinking mission?”

“Training. Now do your thing.”

“Right, right.” Kasper was, within the limits of the current situation, happy. He could finally shine with his explosive personality against a worthy adversary! If only he could force himself to make a move.

“What are you waiting for?”

“It’s just that… It might recognize they are bombs and chop me into pieces before setting them off.”

“I don’t believe it will do that. At least not right away.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Its behavior. Just like a few minutes ago, it isn’t doing anything. Chasing us all the way down here, but not proceeding with killings.”

“Now that is weird.”

While the two could hide their fear for the most part, Kobi wasn’t so fortunate.

“Can you PLEEASEEE make it go away?!” There was a subtle hint of cry in his voice.

“Alright, alright! You’re acting as if we are about to die or something. Sheesh. OK then, I’m reaching for my belt, slowly!” And he was really slow, straining every muscle in his arm to keep its movements to an absolute minimum. A sloth standing next to him would appear as if doped on caffeine.

Lucan was watching him the whole time. “What are you doing?”

“Trying not to startle it.”

“Just pick those bombs and throw them at it already!”

“Pfft! OK, fine, have it your way!” He angrily reached into his pocket, picked a handful of small black balls, and threw them at it as if in tantrum. “There! Happy?!”

There were several scenarios they could have imagined once Kasper threw the bombs: a premature explosion, a late explosion, an explosion doing not nearly enough damage, an explosion that was misdirected… Basically every idea contained some form of explosion. What they got instead was something completely not expected: tiny, nasty tentacles reaching out from all over the hijacked body and eating those small bombs, not leaving a single mark after them. No flash, no sound, no smoke. Just gone.

“Well, that just happened, “ summarized Kasper. “I think it’s safe to say we are fucked.”

“Not just yet.”

“What do you mean not just yet? It ate them! They didn’t leave a dent on it! That’s an apt description of being fucked!”

“But it still isn’t doing anything. That’s a good sign.”

“It’s a sign of it playing with its food.”

“You and your pessimism.” “You still don’t believe me? Here, let me make this jump to end this fucking sharade.”

“Wait, what are you doing?!”

But it was too late. Kasper made a swift jump away from the monster to demonstrate just how wrong his leader was. And the monster did the most unusual thing he could think of: once again, absolutely nothing.

“What the- WHAT THE FUCK IS ITS PROBLEM?! First it chases us, then it stops, then it chases again and when it has us on a silver plate, it doesn’t do shit again! That thing is broken! Fuck it, let’s go!”

“No!”

“Oh fuck you Lucan! I had enough of your bullshit!”

“Just wait a second! I think I know what is happening here. And if I’m right…” He raised his foot and made a step back. Tad, as previously, did nothing.

“I give up,” Kasper threw up his arms.

“Just one more thing. Kobi, make one step back. Slowly.”

“But I’m scared.”

“I know you are. We all are. But I need you to do this one thing for me. Please? Just one slow step back, nothing more.”

“Uhm, erm, o-ok.” Kobi carefully lifted his leg and started to move it behind his back. That immediately triggered a growling in the monster. “Gah!” He quickly returned his leg back to where it was previously.

“Ha! So I was right after all!”

“I am so fucking happy for you, man. Like, I would give a hug and shit, but unfortunately this place kills the mood for it.”

“Yes, yes. Do you remember that encounter we had with the girl, the one with the book?”

“Her name was Kelly,” Kobi quickly corrected him, which awarded him an even nastier growl from the creature.

“Hush now, Kobi. Let me talk. So anyway, we heard another voice coming out of her hair. Head to be more precise. I now believe that was her boyfriend.”

“Even if so, how the hell is this supposed to help us?”

“Because now I can come up with some kind of plan to get us out of here in one piece while achieving our mission goal.”

“Do tell.”

“You see, when the goo attacked him, it went on with its business; sucking out all the brain energy and all that. But the substance wasn’t created with Woolites in mind. And there is a good reason for it: back then no Woolite was living in Mewni and they were considered extinct after the great Magical Wars with their people. My guess is that it couldn't fully merge with its host and when it was about to be done with this boy here, it wanted to jump to another victim, but at that very moment it tapped into his rage against Kobi. ”

“Because he was hitting on her!”

“Exactly! So now they are both locked in endless agony: the boy is alive just a split moment from death and the goo is dying of hunger, and both want the opposite things. Although at this point my guess would be he just wants to die.”

“Awesome mental work, dude! Now, let me ask you this: HOW THE FUCK IS THIS SUPPOSE TO HELP US?!”

“We can use Kobi here as bait.”

“What?! No! No bait! I don’t want to die!” Kobi objected.

“Don’t worry, I don’t want you dead either. We will just make sure it will follow you to a place where we can kill it. The boy deserves his peace and we deserve to live. Are you with me, Kobi?”

“So I won’t die?”

“Not if you will do exactly what I tell you to do.”

“O-OK.” Even though he agreed, he wasn’t convinced.

“This is all dandy and sweet and shit, but what is the actual plan?”

“I’m not exactly sure.”

“Say what?!”

Kobi lit up. “But the blond girl appears to know how to proceed.”

Kasper looked over his shoulder to the opening in the dark. “She was holding that flashlight this whole time? Damn she has to have a strong arm.”

“I believe it is safe to assume she wants us to follow her there. Which we’ll do.”

“Excellent idea boss, but it seems you forgot about one small, tiny, itsy-bitsy, but ever so crucial detail: we can’t move our asses out of here without turning Kobi’s ass into a ham!”

“Well it looks like the girl disagrees with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at her.”

“Why- I was just checking a minute ag- Oh.”

The girl was still holding her flashlight, but now she was pointing it at something above their heads. He looked up and saw a train car hanging on a steel rope, though he didn’t recognize the contraption holding it there.

“The fuck is that?”

“No clue. But that is unimportant right now. All we need to do is to make it fall down on that thing… that… is- Is it growling?”

“Yeah,” Kobi confirmed, “and I didn’t move from my place, like, at all. I even slowed down my breathing so I wouldn’t enrage it. It really hates me.”

“Yeah, who doesn’t? Lucan, while that thing hanging above our heads is certainly convenient, how do you want to get it down and break its skull with it?”

“Simple: with your help.”

“My help? I ain’t going up there!”

“I didn’t mean that, you simpleton. You’re a demolition expert. Don’t you have a means to shoot it down or something like that?”

“Oh that kind of help! Yeah, sure, I should have something tha- Oh, I know!” Kasper reached into his pocket again and this time he brought out something yellow and bright resting in his palm.

“A firefly.”

“Yes.”

Lucan looked at him with suspicion. “With all those explosives you have at your disposal and you picked a firefly.”

“Ah, but not just any firefly. A Blind Bandit.”

“I really hope that’s just a name.”

“Nope. It’s really blind.”

“Kasper, we don’t have time for this.”

“What?! This is the perfect solution to our problem. Look, these fireflies are rare and really hard to train.”

“You mean to tell me you trained this thing?”

“Of course! They are really dumb. Even dumber than Kobi here. But they also have what you would call an explosive personality - they make a lot of damage upon contact.”

“How come it didn’t explode in your hand?”

“Because it’s not flying, duh! So you want that thing to fall down, right? Then I’ll just point it at the rope keeping it there and BOOM!”

“How precise is it?”

Kasper was beginning to be annoyed. “It goes exactly where I show it to go. I could send it towards a moving hoving car and it would splash against it with a smile.”

“All right, I believe you. Kobi, are you ready?”

“Yes please!”

“Kasper, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Kasper aimed has hand at the illuminated rope and gently blew air at the little creature. As if being a leaf, it took off and started to fly in a straight line. “See? Easy.”

“Excellent. Now, both of you be ready to start running.”

“Running? Aren’t you exaggerating a little? We just need to move away.”

“That car won’t kill it.”

“What are you on about? Of course it will kill it!”

“A fall from 10 meters won’t end its life, so I doubt this will be successful in that regard.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Perhaps. But she does,” Lucan pointed at the girl still pointing her flashlight. “It’s apparent she wants to help and that she knows this place.”

“You think we can trust her?”

“Unclear, but we don’t have much of a choice.”

Kasper looked up. “Well, we will see soon enough. Ten seconds!”

“Kobi, we will all start running towards the girl on my mark.”

“OK!”

“Three, two, one, RUN!”

They all quickly turned around and started to run away from the creature. That enraged it and it immediately began to follow them, but it managed to make only a few steps before a loud explosion was heard above and the massive train car landed on top of it. None of them dared to look back, as they believed it would be pointless. When they were approaching the gal, she didn't wait for them and started to run as well.

“Hey, wait for us!” Lucan yelled towards her, but she didn’t pay any attention to him.

“Should we follow her?” asked Kasper.

Suddenly a loud and unnatural screech was heard from behind.

“There is no turning back. Keep running!”

The air inside the hallway they entered was stiff and old and kinda smelly. But all that was irrelevant to them. What mattered was the fact that they were being chased by a monster that now looked like a living nightmare. Kasper was the last one and he could hear it following them the best. It also meant he could just turn around and take a glimpse of it if he wanted.

Left, left, right, up the stairs.

The idea of seeing its current shape had made his mind so preoccupied that he didn’t notice the change of scenery. Instead of a plain tunnel they were now in a hallway with a lot of doors, and the further they went the wider the hallway got.

Right.

He didn’t want to turn back. The fact he could hear it more clearly with each step suggested it was getting closer. But his curiosity took hold of him and forced him to turn his head around, if only for a split second. That split second was more than enough to scare him to death.

“FUCK! That shit is really pissed we took its favorite chew toy and it wants it back! BADLY!”

“I can hear it too! It sounds extra motivated!”

“No shit! Do you still see the girl?”

“Yes! But I’m clueless as to where she is taking us!”

“We will find out in one minute!”

“Why one minute?”

“Because we will be dead in one minute!!!”

Up the stairs and through big doors.

Now the place had turned into a wide square full of shops and vending machines. There was also a weird, blueish flickering light coming from behind turnstile, which was exactly where the girl was leading them. This made Lucan suspicious and question his decision to trust her. Whatever the case, it was too late to change his mind, and all he could do was follow the whole situation through.

They turned right to the light. With full running speed they barged into an abandoned boarding platform with a huge hole in the middle of it. Lucan saw it at the last moment.

“KOBI, TURN RIGHT AND GRAB KASPER!” Even he had trouble steering his body to the side, so seeing Kobi steering his while grabbing Kasper along the way was truly something. They were safe from falling to their deaths, but not so much from being eaten.

Not five seconds later a massive black blob beyond recognition emerged out of the darkness from behind, covered by steel shrapnel and tentacles. The creature too had the problem of staying on their tails while going after them at full speed, but it managed to attach itself onto nearby pillars to keep itself from falling into the abyss. Still, a small part of its mass did lurk over it, and that small part was enough for it to sign its death warrant.

Out of the blue and without any prior indication of its presence, a huge, nasty looking reddish tentacle appeared from the sinkhole and wrapped itself around the black creature. The creature shrieked, trying to hold itself in place, but the fight was predestined to fail. It was being loud, attaching itself to various things around in total panic, but the sheer difference in size was simply too great for it to stand any chance. After a short horrifying theater they had to witness, the blob was snatched against its will down into the pitch black.

Lucan was pointing with his flashlight at the scenario the whole time and even after it was done he couldn’t force himself to move his hand away from the hole. The shock of it all took hold of his nerves, keeping him from doing anything at all.

“Well,” noted Kasper, “I believe the smaller problem is gone. Can we now panic over the bigger one?”

“I- uhm,” suttered Lucan.

“This place is fucked up, man. How anything with magic can exist in this place is beyond me.”

His mention of magic jump-started Lucan’s mind. He got back on his feet and started to search for the girl. She was the only thing he could focus on to regain his sanity after what he had just witnessed. Lucky for him, she wanted to be found. But this time she wasn't showing any sign of movement. In fact, she was standing across the chasm perfectly still, almost like a statue.

That wasn't the reassurance he was looking for.

“Uhm, OK, well, I- I think we should reach out to her here before that thing decides it needs a dessert. Kobi, are you feeling well?”

“No.” His voice was weak and silent.

But Kasper wasn't convinced by his plan. "Dude, that chick is giving me creepy vibes. And that says something, considering the shit we just went through."

"I can't deny feeling a degree of… uncertainty. I'm still shaken by these events, just like you. But that wasn't our mission."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me…"

"Without purpose we are lost. More so in this uncharted place."

"All the more reason to get the fuck out!"

"That is my goal as well, but first I need to know why she brought us here. Now, follow me around this pit. Surely a few extra steps wouldn't hurt you."

Kasper mumbled something inaudible but agreed to get a move on, quite reluctantly though, as the passage to the other side was narrow and the possibility of being eaten alive very much probable.

Kobi was shaken the most, almost to the point of not being able to move from his place; a place he grew to like over the last few minutes. It gave him a sense of security, even if it was false.

Lucan, who had some problem of coping with the situation himself, needed to muster every last drop of confidence he had left to comfort him. "Look, Kobi, the pretty girl is just over there. We just need to get to her and then we will be on our way."

"I don't like her."

Kasper felt the need to join the discussion. "At least something we can agree on."

But Lucan quickly shut him off with a look in his eyes. "We will just check what she wants, nothing more."

Kobi looked up with his sad puppy eyes. "And we go?"

"Of course."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

He looked over to the girl just standing there with an unnatural look on her face. "Well ok."

Lucan grabbed his hand, though thanks to his massive body it was a mere symbolic gesture. He then turned to Kasper. "Lead the way."

"Gee, thanks."

They were moving along the edge of the pit in one line making sure not to fall down. Only Lucan kept watching the girl, than his own footsteps. She didn't appear to show any signs of movement and the flickering blue light above her was giving her an almost eerie feeling. Just before he was behind a pillar, she suddenly turned her head his way and smiled. But it wasn't a smile of a girl; it was a smile of a winner.

And as if she wasn't really there, once they got past the pillar, she was gone. He quickly approached the spot he had seen her standing. The floor was dusty, but didn't have any footsteps. The creepy feelings intensified, as did Kobi's anxiety.

"Can we go now?"

"Not yet."

Kasper disagreed. "Oh come on, dude! Now you're just being an asshole. There is nothing here!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Think about it: we enter a centuries old piece of architecture, seemingly abandoned for the same length of time, and then this person appears out of nowhere and starts helping us, leading us to a specific place. This place."

"You're just making absurd connections that aren't there."

"I don't think they are. It's beginning to make perfect sense to me now."

"How convenient that your brain lit up in this place in particular."

"Your doubts are understandable. But I believe I can disperse the gloom looming over your head - with this."

"Your doohickey?"

"I'm convinced that if I'll turn it on here, it'll immediately light up."

"I want to see that."

And so Lucan flipped it on and to Kasper's surprise, and to Kobi's relief, it did just that.

"Well I'll be…"

"I believe that she wasn't just leading us out of harm's way. She was also leading us to the very thing we came here to search for."

"How's that even possible???"

"I have no idea, and just this once I'm fine with it."

"But what about the pretty girl?" asked Kobi.

Kasper nodded. "I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with him, but he has a point. She did help us after all."

"I don't think she wants to be found."

"What makes you think that?"

"Do you see her?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then we're leaving her where she wants to be. Now, let's see what we get here."

Kasper was somewhat shocked by his response, but taking into account what happened and the place they were in, he just shrugged it off.

"Well, even though we're here, wherever 'here' is, how the hell do we know what to look for? Do you know what the damn thing even looks like?"

"Not yet. Here, hold the flashlight. I'm going to find the source."

Lucan's apparatus was definitely going crazy, but still wasn't at its peak level. Aware of this fact, he began to search the place. He was glad when the signal weakened when he pointed it towards the pit. But when facing what appeared to be a glass wall, the readings hit the ceiling.

"In there! Kasper, shine some light into it."

The light rays revealed a curious sight: toys. A lot of them, being thrown around the place in random order.

Kasper was surprised. "A toy shop?"

On the other hand, Kobi was happy. "Yay! Toys! Can I take one?"

"We didn't come here to steal useless crap, you doofus! Now, which shit in there is the thing we're looking for?"

"I'm not sure. My equipment isn't that sensitive."

"Then you better make it sensitive enough, because I sure as hell ain't going in there to search for it!"

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Go back a little. Yes, there! Do you see it?"

"See what exactly?"

"It's buried beneath all those toys, but I think I can see a small part of it peeking out."

"I see nothing."

"You will. Kobi, break the glass, please."

"Wee, toys!" Kobi broke it with quite the enthusiasm, resulting in glass shattering all over the place.

Kasper shielded himself from the spray of glass. "Not so hard, you fucking twat! You almost cut us!"

"Oopsie. Can I take toys now?"

"No! Lucan, tell me you see that damn thing."

"Indeed I do. Hold on."

He reached his hand into the pile of cushy toys. To his surprise they were in quite good condition for being hundreds of years old. But this realization went quickly away when he touched a very slick handle and felt a slight tingling sensation in his fingers.

"Got it."

And when he brought it out, they couldn't believe their own eyes.

Kobi’s pupils almost dilated with glee. "What a beautiful toy!!!" he gasped.

What was a mere toy to Kobi, was something entirely different to Kasper and Lucan. A wide range of new possibilities opened just before their eyes.

"No. Fucking. Way. It can't be!"

"But it is! Do you realize what this means? This changes everything! We can finally make a final move against the queen!"

They were silently staring at the object in Lucan's hand. The handle was smooth, with a spiral ornament and a small crystal at the bottom. On the other side it had a star shaped crystal surrounded by small hearts and embedded in half a sphere, which had two wings attached on both sides.

Lucan was ecstatic. "The ultimate source of magic in the whole world: a magical wand!"

"But I thought there is only one and it belongs to the queen."

"I'm holding the proof that we were wrong this entire time!"

But then Kasper noticed something weird about it. "Uhm, dude? Not to ruin your parade, but doesn't it look kinda weird to you? Because to me it looks dead. There are barely any colors, just shades of grey."

Lucan clearly didn't like Kasper's remark. "It is of no consequence. We have it. It is ours. We can use. We will use it."

"Yeah, sure, awesome stuff, except that we are still stuck in this hellhole. How the fuck do we get out?! We can’t go back the way we came in."

It was unclear if the wand actually heard his question, or that it could even understand his question; but the fact remained that for a few seconds it regained all of its colors and shined bright as a sun, followed by lights lighting up a hallway leading to a stairway. They kept staring at the possibly most convenient getaway that ever existed. After being tired by looking just one way, they carefully looked down at the wand, expecting it to talk to them or something similar. But it remained silent.

“That didn’t just happen, right?” asked Kasper, looking for moral support. “I mean, wands aren’t alive, right?”

“Sentient is the word you are looking for. And honestly I’m not sure about anything anymore, except that this thing is the key to our victory. So let’s just accept this offering of good faith and get back to base.”

“Spooky wand,” added Kobi.

They left the horrors of Warnicorn Metro behind and began to rise to the surface. The climb was quite long and exhausting, but after all they went through, this was a walk in the park. And truth to be told, they enjoyed it. After all, they had the most powerful, and most likely also the only known, weapon strong enough to defeat and kill the queen, Omnia Butterfly.

[justice-duwang]

Eightfold Way

“Hey, Therion,” Alfyn said suddenly.  “For some reason, I don’t think I like Cyrus.”

Therion nodded.  “Me neither.”

The offending scholar was currently surrounded, speaking to several local women about the town’s history. They hung onto his every word, captivated by the teacher’s charisma.

Naturally, Cyrus was completely oblivious to it all.

“That was a surprise,” he said after the ladies left, giggling to themselves.  “I had no idea this town was so appreciative of its culture! I’m quite impressed!”

“ . . . Yeah,” Alfyn nodded. “I don’t like Cyrus.”

The thief grunted in agreement.  While he had his fair share of disagreements with the apothecary, there were things both good agree on, such as the fact that apples were better skinless, Ophelia looked better with her hair down, and Cyrus definitely did not deserve the attention he got.

“You two . . . .” Olberic sighed.  They turned to see the warrior shaking a disapproving head in their direction, accompanied by one amused Primrose.  

“I don’t know, Olberic,” the dancer said.  “I think it’s kind of cute.”

“Shut up!” Alfyn and Therion said in tandem.

The party of four had met the others in a tavern in Rippletide.  Primrose and Olberic had been traveling together ever since she had left the desert, while Cyrus had ventured out from Atlasdam on his lonesome. At first, the three separate groups paid the other little mind—it was only a commotion in the town square, thanks to a pack of pillaging pirates, that had drawn them together.  They even gained a new member from that incident—a young merchant girl, eager to reclaim the valuables they had stolen.  She was all ready to charge off on her lonesome with her cask of drugged wine, but Alfyn, Primrose, and Cyrus weren’t having it, running off after her without a second glance.  Olberic and H’aanit eventually followed after making sure their more hotheaded companions didn’t get themselves hurt recklessly.  Ophelia tended to the townsfolk injured in the scuffle.

Therion, as he saw his teammates (by force) dash off without him, shrugged and sat back, flagging down a waiter for another tankard.

By the time the six returned, Therion was two drinks fuller, several hundred leaves richer, and the recipient of a particularly long lecture by Ophelia concerning the sins of theft which he mostly tuned out.  Upon their re-arrival to the tavern he quietly slipped away upon the priestess’ momentary distraction, smirking smugly to himself as he walked away, her indignant protests fading into the background.

Unfortunately for him, the next day he woke up to discover that the three groups had since joined forces, with an additional member consisting of the merchant girl from the previous day.  

“My name’s Tressa!” she said, sticking out her hand for Therion to take.  “I’ve already met the rest of your group!  I hope we can get along!”

“ . . . Therion,” he said, ignoring her outstretched arm.  

That didn’t seem to put a damper upon Tressa’s spirits.  “So, what do you do?  Your pal Alfyn says that everyone here is some kind of adventurer, right?  So you gotta be one too!”

“I’m . . . just an adventurer,” he said cautiously.  “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Aw, come on!” she whined. “Tell me!”

“No.”

“Come on!”

“No!”

“Please?”

Therion glared at her. “No means no.  There’s nothing more to it.”

“He’s embarrassed because he’s a thief,” Primrose said smugly from behind her fan.

Therion already didn’t like the dancer.  He liked her less now.

Tressa immediately backed away from him, glaring daggers in his direction.  Therion gathered that she hated thieves.  Internally, he shrugged.  Thieves and merchants were natural enemies, after all.  Not much he could do about that.  So, he ignored her, and sent his own glare in Primrose’s direction, whose smug aura seemed to brighten the more he glared.  Out of the corner of his eyes he caught Alfyn trying to mask a snicker with a disapproving expression and failing.  He sighed, already wishing he had never got out of bed that morning.

Tressa continued to be wary of him for the next day, and the next day, and the next, all the way until they reached the town they currently resided in.  It had gotten to be quite annoying, really, as every time he ended up close by her in battle she scurried away, oftentimes placing herself—or him—in danger.  Olberic lectured her about that, and, while she stopped endangering the party with her actions, she was still on-edge around the thief.  

Therion didn’t really care what she thought of him.  He did, however, care about how Primrose knew he was a thief.  He was able to deceive the other three—so what was with her?

He asked her as such, and his suspicions were confirmed when she pointed out the band on his wrist. “Your reputation proceeds you,” she had said, “but you must not be that good if you got caught.”

Therion found himself beginning to hate Primrose.  

Still, she wasn’t the worst of his new unwanted companions.  Aside from the aforementioned thief-hating Tressa, there was the ever-stern Olberic, who watched his every move with hawklike eyes. The knight generally stayed out of his way, but he could tell that the big man was less-than-fond of him.

Then there was Cyrus, the current cause of Therion’s frustration.

“My dear boy!” Cyrus said, clapping Therion on the shoulder.  The shorter man sighed wearily.  “Might I see that bangle upon your arm?  I’ve heard tell of its significance, but I simply must see it for myself!”

How did he even know?!  Therion cried internally.  Externally he jerked his arm away.  “No thanks,” he said curtly.  “Did Primrose set you up to this?”

“Hm?  Ah, no.  I simply happened to notice the bangle during our last fight,” Cyrus explained.  “I thought this would be a rare chance to study such a thing!”

“Well, you thought wrong,” Therion replied.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have places to be.”

He caught Alfyn’s eye as he made his escape from the overbearing scholar.  Alfyn gave him a sympathetic nod, and Therion felt himself nodding in return.  Really, his old group wasn’t so bad in comparison to the new people he had to put up with.

---

Tressa sighed as she closed the inn door, shrugging her pack off of her shoulders as she collapsed into a chair.  Today had been particularly bad for her in terms of business—not only had she barely sold a thing, but it had been terribly hot.  Also, a dog had run off with her lunch.  All in all, it wasn’t a good day.

She waved down a waiter and got something to drink.  She was halfway through it when Ophelia approached.

“Hey, Tressa,” the priestess greeted kindly.  “Do you mind if I take a seat?”

“No problem,” Tressa scooted over slightly as Ophelia took a seat beside her.  “What brings you here?”

“Just wanted to see how you were holding up,” Ophelia replied.  “It was a hot one today, after all.”

“Tell me about it,” Tressa grumbled.  “Not only that, but I couldn’t sell anything!  And a dog stole my lunch.”

“Oh no!”

“Don’t worry, Alfyn came by with something to share,” Tressa reassured her.  “He’s a really reliable guy.”

“Indeed he is,” Ophelia agreed.  “He’s always taking care of us.”

Tressa sighed.  “As opposed to that thief.”

“Tressa,” Ophelia scolded lightly.  “Therion is a fine man once you get to know him.”

“But he’s a thief, Ophelia!” Tressa repeated.  “The natural enemy of us merchants!  We can’t get along!  We’re like dogs and cats, oil and water, Cyrus and recognizing that he’s ridiculously good-looking!”

Ophelia blinked. “Wait, repeat that last one.”

“My point is,” Tressa enunciated, with just the barest hint of a blush upon her cheeks, “that you can’t trust a thief.  I’ve seen my fair share of pickpockets in my time, so let me give you some professional advice.”

“Well, Mr. Therion has been perfectly good to us so far,” Ophelia stated firmly.  “I won’t have you slandering him behind his back.”

“But he’s a thief!”

Ophelia sighed.  It looked like getting the party to cooperate was going to take a while.

---

The party of eight were on their way the next day.  Their destination was Quarrycrest—Cyrus had some business there, and they meant to stop at Saintsbridge on the way there.  They were a mere two days away from Saintsbridge when they found themselves ambushed.

They were surrounded by a number of rather large, monstrous frogs, lead, it seemed, by a small, bipedal cat carrying a sack.  They were more than a score in number, and steadily advanced upon the party’s position.

Cyrus and Ophelia immediately began to conjure their respective magic while the rest of the party formed a circle around them.  Olberic—legendary knight that he was—charged ahead with a mighty shout, his massive sword sweeping aside the Froggens’ own blades.  H’aanit dove into the fray alongside Linde, covering her companion’s attacks with a hail of arrows.  Primrose hung back to protect the casters, slinging her own spells at the creatures. Alphyn, having partially frozen a frog halfway solid, leaped off of the incapacitated monster and cleaved another’s arm right from its body.  Therion disappeared, reappearing to slit an amphibious throat before vanishing amongst the chaos again.  Tressa, for her part, hung back near the casters and jabbed at any incoming frogs with her spear.  She’s not as used to battle as the others are, but she’s learned a little from traveling with them, and she begins to grow confident that things are looking up.

That’s when, of course, things went wrong.  

All of a sudde, a harsh buzzing filled the air.  Tressa glanced wildly about, startled by the noise.  Alfyn pointed and shouted from atop his icy perch, and then Tressa saw it: a swarm of massive, yellow wasps.  Stingers bared, they divebomb the party.  Tressa tried to whirl about to face them but realizes with a frightened jolt that her spear was still lodged in a froggen.  She tugged and tugged but is unable to yank her weapon free.  The wasps get dangerously close.  She braced herself.

The pain never came. Instead, she heard a sickening thud, and she opened her eyes to see Therion standing over her with stinger in his shoulder as he drove his knife into the wasp’s brain.  It fell to the ground, dead, gravity causing it to rip its barbs from the thief’s shoulder with a splatter of blood and a gasp of pain. Therion grunts as he collapsed to the ground.  Tressa gasped and scrambled over to him, forgetting her spear in her panic.  

“T-Therion!” she stammered.

“Leave it,” he hissed through his teeth.  “Don’t get distracted!”

Shakily she unlimbered her bow, remembering at the last second she packed another weapon with her. She fired at a wasp, but it went wide, and only served to aggravate the insect.  Panicking, she thrust out her hands and summoned a razor-sharp blade of wind and flung it at her advancing opponent.  It sheared off a wing, sending it tumbling to the ground, where Therion finished off with a thrown knife.  

“Therion!” Tressa knelt by his side, helping him up.  “A-are you okay!?”

“Just fine,” he grit.

They fell back to Ophelia, where Therion collapsed by the priestess.  She immediately knelt and began administering aid, coating the wound in the holy light of the Sacred Flame.  Tressa nocked another arrow and managed to hit a froggen in the shoulder this time.

Things were turning out for the worse, however.  The party had been driven back to a tight circle, the frontline fighters surrounding the mages and the injured.  Their foes advanced, encircling them.

Tressa noticed that most of the rest of the party were sustaining injuries of their own—Linde’s coat was matted with blood, H’aanit’s arm dangled by her side, Alfyn had blood running down his face, and Olberic—well, Olberic was positively coated with wounds.  His overcoat was ruined, blood was splattered all over him, and he even had a knife sticking out of his back.  Tressa gulped.  

“Thank you, everyone!” Cyrus announced suddenly.  They looked at him, surprised to see him positively glowing with magical energy.  “Brace yourselves!”  He swirled his hands bout in the air before pointing towards the sky.  “By the power of thunder, make yourself known!  Come, tempest!  Nothing will quiet the storm!”

The air explodes.  Tressa screamed in a rather dignified fashion as a massive lightning bolt tore through sky to slam in all of its electric glory into the small army gathered before them.  Thus, as soon as it had started, it was over—the travelers stood above the remains of their ambushers, startled by the suddenness of their victory.

“Ah, that one’s getting away!” Alfyn shouted.  Olberic hurled his spear like a javelin, nailing the fleeing cait sith in the back. Tressa still had her hands clapped to her ears, waiting for the world to stop ringing.

Ophelia and Alfyn patched the group up, and the were once more on their way—after looting the monster corpses for anything salvageable.  As they walked, Tressa fell silent, reviewing the just-transpired events in her head.  Eventually, she shook her head, adopted a determined expression, and marched up to Therion.  

The thief noticed her presence.  “What do you want?” he asked testily.

Tressa met his gaze with her own.  “Mr. Therion, I misjudged you.  You’re not just a common thief after all.”

Therion’s eyes widened. Clearly, he had not been expecting that. “Er, thanks?  What are—”

“You may be a dirty sneak thief, but you’re a good guy,” Tressa admitted.  “So I apologize.  I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” Therion interjected, unsure whether to be insulted or complimented.  Before he could get another word in, Tressa dashed away, her massive pack clanking.

Ophelia sighed.  It’d take some work, but it was a start, at least.

---

“So Cyrus,” Alfyn began casually.

“What is it, my dear boy?”

“Next time could you warn us before dropping a massive frickin’ lightning bolt from the sky?”

“ . . . I can see how that can be unnerving, yes.  I’ll be sure to warn you all adequately next time.”

“Please do,” Primrose complained.  “I still can’t hear out of my right ear.”

“Er, sorry.”

[kurara-black-blog]

Terror Of The Ancient Noah Mask

Date: 02/12/18

Words: 2048 *snorts*

Warnings: Klance, Inuyasha AU, Crappy.

Tag: @moonsworllld ; @xarphay ; @skydisneylover ; @mutantgurls ; @spooky-the-owl

A/N: I love Inuyasha, I love Voltron. I love Lance. his is not very good, but I really wanted to write it~

This is episode 11 of the anime!

With his bicycle ready to go, Lance carefully looked around him, trying to spot any red in the middle of the green forest. He was alone, thankfully, no signs of the hothead nearby. With a short relieved sigh, he started pedaling with everything he had, which was a lot, mind you, in direction of the well.

Sadly, Lance didn’t have much luck.

“Wait a second, idiot!”

Lance was able to stop before he rolled over the boy, although a part of him told him he should have just rolled over that annoying dog. Said dog was standing there, looking like the angry bastard he was, violet eyes flashing with a temper.

“You’re going back to that weird world?! Are you trying to run away?! We have shit to do!”

“Oh, out of my way, mullet dog! I have exams to take and I can’t afford to miss them!”

The fact was that Lance had to keep his grades up if he wanted his Exchange Program to go on without any difficulties. He was already risking a lot by not attending class for so long, and maybe Mr. Shirogane was destroying his reputation with all the weird diseases he used as an excuse. Because life couldn’t be hard only in Feudal Era, no, it had to be hard in his world too.

“Well, fuck that! I’ll destroy this so you can’t run away anymore!” Keith—the half-dog—grabbed a large rock, ready to destroy the wooden well. Lance didn’t hesitate.

“Keith, sit!”

Keith stubbornness was no match for Lance’s consecutive commands of “sit”, the boy falling face first on the floor, the rock falling on top of him. He groaned, cursing Lance in between his groans of pain.

“Who said I’m running away, dog?! I’ll be back in three days! Stay here!”

With that, Lance was gone inside the well.

“Why didn’t you bring the dog man with you?”

“No way, that mullet head is impossible to deal with! It was a bother to even come here without him stopping me!” Shoving the last bit of food in his mouth, Lance huffed, “Talking about coming back, Mr. Shirogane, I am glad you worry so much, but can you not throw sake in my head next time?”

The old man only laughed heartily, petting the family cat, Black. Lance smiled softly, it was hard to be angry with the man. He reminded Lance of his own grandpa, all wise eyes and cheekily knowing smiles. Finishing his meal, Lance thanked Mrs. Shirogane, Mr. Shirogane’s daughter, for the food, messed Tsuna’s hair, Mrs. Shirogane’s son, washed his dishes and went to his room to put on his uniform.

It would be a long day at school.

At least his hair didn’t smell like sake anymore.

After a very embarrassing conversation with his friends about his really bad health, and an even more embarrassing encounter with who could be the cutest boy in school about his very poor health, Lance could say with absolute certainty he was done.

“You’re dating Inai?!”

“No.”

“I think he likes you!”

“I know, Taira.”

“Well? Don’t you want to date him?”

“I’m not really interested in dating right now.” It was a complete lie, of course. It is not that Lance didn’t want to date, it is because how could he explain to his boyfriend or girlfriend the reason they couldn’t go out in the next month it’s because he has to go back in time to collect pieces of a super powerful glass ball?

Yeah. No.

Ushijima Amari, Akagawa Taira and Yuhara Natsumi were three kind and funny girls that were glued at the hip even before Lance came in the picture. They had promptly welcomed Lance in their group, and he was forever grateful. He hated feeling like a fish outside water.

Staring at the honestly horrendous slippers Inai Hachiro gave him, Lance wondered if the boy was somehow related to Mr. Shirogane, remembering the old man’s weird medicines and whatnots.

“Could it be… that you are already dating someone?”

“No, no, no! Nope. Not dating. Single as they come.”

“Then, then! What’s your type?”

Lance sighed, knowing they wouldn’t shut up unless he gave them something to satiate their hunger for gossip. He loved the girls, but they could be pretty annoying when they wanted. Not as annoying as Keith, but almost.

“Someone who’s not violent or selfish… Also, someone accepting and affectionate.”

The complete opposite of Keith, go figure.

While Romelle prepared some herbal medicine for a sick villager, Keith grunted. Hot pain pierced his spine every time he tried to get up. That rock really did a number on him.

“Keith, stop laying around and go find information of the Jewel fragments.”

“Shut up, you old witch! Go eat some grass!”

Keith swore that day, laying on the floor of the old priestess’ house, that he would punch Lance in the face as soon as that boy came back from his world.

“Can I sleep here today?” Tsuna asked, interrupting Lance’s studies.

“Of course, if you don’t mind the lights being on.”

That day could, at the very least, be called weird. A sudden fire in one of the deposits, Mr. Shirogane getting hurt and being found passed out with sacred seals all over his face and even inside his mouth, then suddenly one of the firemen trucks taking off like a madman was driving it. As if it wasn’t enough, Mr. Shirogane had recovered the conscience for enough time to mutter some random words about the Meat Mask and how no one should touch it.

Lance surely didn’t blame the boy for not wanting to be alone.

“Something weird is happening, I think. Grandpa wouldn’t do something so weird.”

The older boy opened his mouth to agree, but the sudden noise made him change his plans. Grabbing the flask were he kept the Jewel fragments—it was an instinct to immediately search for them when something happened—, Lance threw himself on Tsuna, protecting him from pieces of what once was a wall.

The basket of a firetruck was struck inside his room, and from it came out something. A creature made of melted blackness, with no defined form. It seemed to leak away and yet gravitate towards its center, that center being a white mask in the middle of the blackness. Painted eyes stared at Lance, carved smile sending shivers down the boy’s spine. The creature’s voice came, smooth and monotone.

“The Jewel… give me… the Jewel…”

“A demon! In this time?” Lance thought, eyes widening, “Must be the jewel’s presence!” As soon as he reached that conclusion, the boy lifted Tsuna in his arms and ran. He had to get out of that house. He had to get Keith. He had no means to fight at the moment, dressed in his cotton pajamas and comfy slippers. He should’ve brought his bow.

He would do that if he survived to see a next time.

Lance did not stop running when the monster attacked, dogging to the best of his abilities. He was glad Mrs. Shirogane was visiting her father in the hospital, he really didn’t want to think what would’ve happened if she was. Stopping for a moment, he put Tsuna down. His bleeding hand-when had he cut himself?—left a trail of blood on the boy’s shirt, but they didn’t have time to worry about it.

“Tsuna, I need you go to the well and get Keith.”

“And you?”

“I’ll distract it until Keith gets here. Please, Tsuna! Go get Keith!”

With that, Lance started to run in another direction, attracting the monster’s attention to him. All he could do was to hope for Keith to come quickly.

If anyone asked, Keith was not anxiously expecting Lance’s return while staring intently at the bottom of the well. He was not.

“How about of going after her instead of staring at the end of the well?”

“Shut up, stupid fox, isn’t it time for you to go to bed?”

“I’m just saying, you should go after her, you know, actually be productive?”

“Pidge, you have five seconds before I kick you back to where you came from.”

The damn fox just smirked, amused by the dog’s temper. Keith opened his mouth to growl out some insult when his nose picked up a familiar smell and his head snapped to look back at the bottom of the well. Pidge looked at him puzzled.

“I can smell… Lance’s blood.” Pidge widened her eyes, staring at what to her was just a normal well. Keith didn’t waste time, preparing to jump inside, “Pidge, go back to Granny Romelle, I’ll go find Lance,” Without giving her time to answer, he jumped.

“… That idiot is so in love with Lance.”

If anyone asked, Keith would admit being a bit surprised at finding the boy that Lance lived with crying while trying to open a hole in the well’s floor. Not sure how to deal with kids, Keith smiled cockily, hoping his show of self-confidence would somehow calm the boy down.

“What’s the matter? You seem troubled.”

In a few minutes, he was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, the boy on his back. He could smell Lance’s blood clear as day, even with the overall weird smell that world had. The hanyo disliked the smell a lot, Lance’s smell wasn’t made to be tarnished with blood, his own or otherwise. Keith could feel a growl trying to rip through his throat, whatever made that boy bleed would bleed twice as much.

He almost sighed in relief when he saw the boy alive and relatively well.

“Sankon Tessō!”

With his claws he opened the way by slaying the strange glob monster in half. Getting near Lance, he let Tsuna get down, who immediately hugged the blue-eyed boy.

If anyone asked, Keith was not glad the boy was ok.

“Don’t worry, Tsuna,” Lance said, trying to make the boy stop crying, “Keith will help us now.”

“Dunno about that.”

“What do you mean, mullet?” Lance soft gaze rapidly turned into a glare.

“I may help if you apologize.”

“Apologize? For what?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot!” Keith pointed accusingly at him. “You almost destroyed my back with your sit command and now you’re asking for help as if nothing happened?!”

“Oh, that! Well, I’m sorry.”

“You aren’t being sincere!”

“Just help us already, mullet dog! That thing has a fragment and I can’t fight right now, so stop whining like a kicked puppy and fight!”

“Who are you calling a kicked puppy, stupid boy?!”

Their fight was cut short when the monster’s body came together again. Lance informed Keith about the mask being the center of the creature, the half-demon taking out his sword, ready to fight despite his last fight with the Cuban. It’s not like Keith was actually planning to leave the humans to fight the demon alone. The mask did had a fragment of Jewel.

“I am the Meat Mask… centuries ago, I was carved from the tree trunk that received a fragment of the Jewel… I have been devouring people since then… I want a body… a body that won’t deteriorate quickly…”

Lance shuddered, muttering about creepy masks and stupid glass balls. Keith let a growl finally get out at seeing the boy’s fear.

“I don’t know how many people you’ve devoured until now, but you’re way too fat!”

To think all it took was a swing of the Tessaiga to end it all. The mask was gone in a flash of light, the fragment falling in front of them. Lance was quick to grab it and put in the flask with the rest of the fragments.

“Hey.” Lance turned to look at him, bluest blue eyes soft and thankful, “You okay?”

“Thank you, Keith.”

“Tch, whatever.”

If anyone asked, that was not a blush on Keith’s cheeks.

“Can I ask you one more thing?”

“Hm?”

“Take us home? I have exams to take and Tsuna has to go to school too.”

“What am I?! Your horse?!”

“Oh, c’mon, mullet dog! Just take us home before I get late!”

“No!”

“Keith!”

Tsuna could only watch as Keith begrudgingly let Lance hop on his back, the two still bickering.

“Tsuna, come on!”

“I’m coming!”

[zaraegis]

Come At The King| Part 3| T

Fandom: Cuphead

Pairings: Ride or Die QPP Wheezy & Dice

TW: haha, blood, violence, descriptions of injuries, unhealthy alcoholism, underage drinking

Notes: Female pronouns are used for Dice in flashbacks before transitioning, just to be clear.

prev|next

/Casino King

So what he may have forgotten to tell Wheezy, was that he wasn't just going to challenge the Casino employees. But that he was going to sell his soul to the Devil to do have a fair chance to do it.

It seems like the most straightforward way. He wants his reputation to be ironclad, and his title to be unwinnable until they've paid the price he had. Also, if the Devil holds his soul contract, then he's automatically off open season for any Tom, Dick or Harry who wants his head.

It'd be nice to live without the crushing paranoia he's had for the past ten years after his "retirement".

So that leads him to here, in his new white shoes and slacks, all carefully padded so nothing clinks and all ten decks are well hidden within the finely tailored suit. Lucky purple bow tie in place and all. Waiting.

In the Devil's Casino. For his appointment.

He sits still enough that wandering denizens of hell, do a double take at the sight of him. He's kept the full force on his smile on the skeleton across from him for the past half hour and hasn't batted one perfectly lined eyelid.

The skeleton shifts the slightest bit and he can feel his smile turn mean, thankful Wheezy isn't here to try to save the hapless victim-

"Sir? Your appointment?"

He looks at the skeleton secretary. He nods to her and pretends not to notice the rattling of the skeleton in the other waiting chair. It's Polite not to call attention to other's fear responses.

"Thank you, I'll make my own way up, don't trouble yourself."

"Oh!" The skeleton flutters before smiling and waving at him. He doesn't know if skeletons can do anything else but smile, really. Well, he hums as he enters the ornate elevator that will take him to the owner, he knows they also shake in fear like everyone else.

What a fun trip it's been so far.

-

"You...made an appointment." The Devil repeats incredulously. The Devil was...fuzzier than Dice was led to believe. The horns are cool though. So is the trident propped up behind his ornate desk.

"Yes. I didn't want to trouble you unduly. So it seemed like the thing to do." King Dice feels like Wheezy would be proud of him at this moment. Not the selling the soul bit oh no- he's going to be furious about that. But look at him, being a law abiding member of society and all that jazz. Making appointments and being an adult. Someday he might even go to a doctor instead of stitching up his own wounds. Wild.

He might be a touch too giddy. But lifelong dreams and all that.

The Devil rubs a clawed hand over his face. The cigar in his mouth puffing wildly. "This is so weird." he can hear him mutter. Inhaling loudly the Devil looks back up and tries to explain:

"Usually, people burst in dramatically, or summon me, or play in the casino and then we make a deal."

Dice blinks two perfectly lined eyes."Well, I didn't want to get a leg up on the competition beforehand. It's not sporting."

The Devil is temporarily distracted. This whole situation was throwing him off. Time to get back to familiar ground.

"So what do you want in exchange for your immortal soul?"

The lights in the office flicker omniously, there's a darkening in the colors of the room, like something Dice couldn't see was weighing everything down.

Dice places his terms in front of The Devil. The dramatic lighting cuts short and The Devil grumbles loudly, "Don't tell me you're a lawyer."

Biting back an undignified laugh, Dice shakes his head.

The Devil reads the paper, and looks back up with a raised eyebrow. "You don't just want me to make you king of all games or something?"

King Dice smiles. It seems like he'll never stop having to say it to people. "I'm already King. I just want to prove it once and for all."

"You might not even get the title kid, and then you'd have sold your soul for nothing."

"Are all the casino employees the best in their field or not?" King Dice asks sharply, leaning forward.

The Devil frowns at his taunting, "They are." He growls.

"Then that's all that matters to me. Winning. It's not a game if there's no risk." He doesn't remember standing up to try to loom over someone who probably invented looming. "A chance. That's all I need. And I'm willing to pay my soul for it."

He hold his gloved hand out for a shake. "Deal?"

The Devil shoots out an unnaturally strong hand to grip his in a handshake that feels like liquid fire.

"Deal."

-

He and his small luggage are taken to a guest suite that looks like a bigger nicer version of his own apartment. Sans the tipsy hothead on his sofa.

He hopes the bar is doing well. He's never been away so long before.

A knock on his door moves him from his absent gazing out the window into what is most certainly Hell. He opens the door to a beautiful elegant woman who inclines her head at him. "King Dice?"

"Ma'am." He bows slightly and lets her in.

"You are the one who wishes to challenge?" She perches daintily on the pure white sofa. Dice is kind of afraid he'll stain the sofa if he so much as breathes near it.

"Yes, you must be Pirouletta. It is an honor to meet you."

She smiles and arranges her checkered skirt, "You have manners, how... refreshing."

They make chit-chat. The exact kind that grates on his nerves but he's still giddy from everything so he serves her tea and finds some cookies to plate up. While they nibble on snacks she gives him his 'schedule' for the upcoming week.

"You'll fight each of us everyday this week. Pip and Dot always fight together so 8 challengers in 7 days. It's the only way we can continue to run the Casino while this is going on and bring in a good crowd. You understand."

Dice nods, and before he can stop it, laughs out of sheer excitement. Pirouletta pauses in the act of bringing her cup up to sip.

"What a lovely smile, dear. I hope you survive the week."

-

The first fight takes place in the Casino, strangely enough. There's a pool table that the Devil shrinks them for, so that every curious casino goer could see the fight. Dice looks down at himself, now the size of a hand, and feels something welling up in his throat.

Looking up at the Devil, who's lounging at the other end of the table amongst cheering demons, ghosts and skeletons he wonders if it's fear.

When he sees his opponent squaring up, Mangosteen, now many many times smaller and only a head (presumably his arms would get in the way?) he feels his heart racing and smiles.

"A good day for a swell battle!" He hears over the noise of everything. "You're UP!"

Then he laughs, an eerie sound that seems to cut through the crowd's cheers. He doesn't pay attention to how the crowd quiets at that for a bit, everyone strangely unsettled. The Devil keeps his grin in place, eyes focused on the white-suited challenger.

Finally, minutes later and with Mangosteen worryingly vomiting up what seems to be his guts, Dice realizes what he's been feeling.

Excitement.

-

Wheezy sighs at finally reaching Inkwell Hell. He's dusty, tired and still vaguely nauseous from the boatride but dammit he's going to watch his best friend beat the Devil's Casino no matter what.

It's emptier than he thought it'd be.

He makes his way to the bar, something soothingly familiar. A short man in a server uniform is on a stool, standing to try to see over what seems to be a crowd but sounds like a boxing match. The lady nods at him and quirks a brow at his suitcase.

"What'll ya have darlin'?"

"A glass of water ma'am."

There's a guy as big as he is who frowns at him, "You a teetotaler or somethin'?" Wheezy laughs at that.

"Naw, just celebrating something. Do you know where I could find someone called King Dice?"

As the man sets his drink down in front of him, the gal jabs one finely painted nail to the middle of the screaming crowd.

Wheezy sighs into his water, "Figures" he mutters before he knocks it back.

-

He makes his way through the crowd, thankful of his bulk. He didn't have Dice's pointy elbows or his willingness to use them to make a path.

He ends up in what seems to be a domino table. Except, there's a grinding wall of spikes on one end of a conveyor belt. That his friend is running on.

He rubs his eyes.

Dice is...like five inches tall. What the hell...

On the other side of the conveyor belt are two dominoes swinging with the meanest grins he's ever seen. Dice is dodging strange winged creatures and seems to be shooting...cards.

Oh god I hope he's not using the deck with the sharp edges.

He'd seen Dice slice a block of wood in half with one well flicked card, it was kind of horrifying.

The two swinging split open and spit out a bright pink many sided die. Ooo, bad move.

Dice bounces himself off the spike wall and just...punches the dice back at them. Wheezy is pretty sure his brass knuckles are under those suspicious gloves now that he thinks about it.

A loud bell announces the end of the match, the vicious lower domino kicks the upper one in an impressive show of flexibility and rage. But Wheezy only has eyes for the tiny white-suited figure of his friend.

Without thinking he reaches in and picks up the small Dice. Dice whirls around with one of those terrifying sneers, still panting from presumably running nonstop the whole battle. But he perks up right quick when he sees Wheezy.

"WHEEZE!" His voice is TINY. Wheezy is going to die because he cooed at Dice and got his fool self murdered. "HOW ARE YOU HERE??"

He seems to be unaware he's shouting, although that might be the only way to get heard over this crowd. Dice collapses back on his open palm as Wheezy raises him up to eye-level.

"I couldn't miss this. You've only been talking about it for the past eight years Dice."

Out of nowhere Dice grows a couple of feet and Wheezy is left holding him up until he fills out completely. Luckily, he's as bafflingly light as ever.

Dice thanks him but Wheezy catches the annoyed flicker of an eye towards a corner. He casually glances that way and sees what could only be the casino owner.

The Devil.

He's ...fuzzier than Wheezy thought he'd be. He's also got one of those terrifying smiles in their direction.

Distracted with that, Dice steals his handkerchief from the inside of his coat, to pat at the sweat on his face before it stains his clothes. Wheezy tries to put that unsettling yellow and red stare out of his mind.

"You're out of shape."

"Shut up." Dice beams. Jeez, he's positively giddy, Wheezy hasn't seen him be this chipper since the last time someone challenged him to darts. He's grabbed and dragged back to the bar to escape the pressing crowd that's slow to disperse.

"Wheezy, these are Ms.Martini, Mr.Whisky and Mr.Scotch." He introduces the three. Wheezy takes off his hat and shakes hands with everybody, kissing the back of Ms. Martini's hand to her delight.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all."

They make polite small talk while Dice drains three cups of water in rapid succession. They kind of watch him incredulously, but Wheezy has long grown used to Dice's ability to just...not need to breath for a long time.

"Three matches left my dear, how are you feeling?"

A beautiful lady in a roulette checkered dress glides towards them, she's got a sly smile on and Wheezy can barely keep her gaze. She moves like a dancer, he thinks.

"I'm feeling good. Ah, Pirouletta this is my good friend, Mr. Wheezy."

"It's an honor to meet you ma'am." Wow, he's never felt so grubby in his life. He forgot to shave this morning. Oh god, this is terrible-

"Another gentleman I see," She hold out her hand and curtsies shallowly as he places a kiss on the air above her knuckles. Dice is smiling widely at him, canines dangerously glinting in the casino light. He's never going to live this down, he knows.

"Will you be staying to support your friend, Mr.Wheezy?"

"Ah yes, I wouldn't miss it for the world." He puts an arm around Dice's shoulders, squeezing lightly. He thinks he can feel Dice vibrating in place.

"Will you be requiring a guest room? I can make sure you're accommodated." Was she the manager? She seemed like an important person if she could do something like that.

"Well, I-"

"He'll be staying with me." Dice interrupts, green eyes pale and smile still in place. Wheezy has half a mind to object out of fear of declining anything to the lady's face, but that was basically what he'd been hoping for as well.

Pirouetta raises one fine eyebrow and inclines her head with a smile. "Very well. I'll see you tomorrow then, King Dice. Mr.Wheezy."

She glides off and Wheezy is left feeling his cheeks redden. He looks down to see Dice's judging eyebrow. "Shut your gob. Take us to your rooms."

They waved to the bartenders, who had been busy filling out orders as patrons trickled back to all corners of the casino.

-

Wheezy stares. "It's..."

"Big, I know. I keep feeling like someone is hiding in it, it's so big."

He's set his dusty suitcase by the door, looking at the fancy white walls and white carpeting in trepidation. Then he sees the sofa.

"I'm kind of scared to go near it."

Dice laughs, carefully stripping off his suit and vest. Despite his words, he seems already used to the opulence of the room enough to mess it up with hangers everywhere and what seems to be three different decks splayed across the dining table.

"There's a table. How's it feel to be so fancy?" He ribs.

Dice snorts while unbuttoning his shirt. Everything is white except for the bow tie he'd bought Dice as a present. He makes his way over, suit jacket in hand to help Dice with his binder.

There's some slight bruising, and Dice probably hadn't been breathing well by the end of all that running with it on. Wheezy makes a protesting noise but Dice flaps his hand at him. "It's fine, those were just some hits that Chips Bettigan got in yesterday."

"Leave it off for a while," Dice opens his mouth, but Wheezy cuts him off, "I know- I know. Ruins the lines of your suits and all that. Just for tonight then. Give your ribs some rest."

Dice laughs and shoots off an insouciant "Yes, mother.". Wheezy slaps his ass in retaliation like some nickering horse at the races and has to duck the spray of harmless cards. He's never forgotten that poor block of wood.

"So, how long can you stay?" Dice asks, folding his pants up neatly and meandering towards the bathroom in nothing but his boxers and sock garters. He looks like some strange advert for menswear.

Wheezy shrugs, even though the other can't see, wandering the strange suite,"As long as it takes you to finish, I guess. I got two weeks off."

"Nice!" comes out muffled from the open bathroom. Steam is coming out from the fancy glass shower. There's a hot tub next to it. Wheezy is kind of insanely curious about it, but ducks back out and checks the next room. It's the bedroom.

Where the living room is all white, the bedroom is done in tasteful shades of black. The bed could fit five people comfortably and has what are probably silk sheets. It is of course, scarily neat and looks unlived in. Dice's work.

He goes back and is entranced by the fiery depths of hell out of the big windows until a freshly showered Dice throws a plush black towel at him.

"Go shower, you smell like a bar."

"Piss off."

Cackling, Dice dodges his halfhearted swipe and goes to the shiny black phone to order dinner for them both.

A while later he hears Wheezy shout from the bathroom, "There's fancy shaving cream in here!"

Dice snorts and shouts back, "It's to keep my mustache nice and groomed!"

There's a laugh before the clinking of bottles. "I'm going to use it!"

"It's too late, Pirouletta saw you with that scruff." Dice sing-songs back, rifling through Wheezy's stuff for a change of clothes he forgot to take with him. "She won't recognize you otherwise!"

There's a pause and then Wheezy sticks his head out of the bathroom, chin and cheeks lathered up with shaving cream. He points the straight razor at him. "You think you're funny, Dicey, but you're not."

"I think I'm hilarious."

They're interrupted by a soft knocking and Dice goes to take the platters from the server while Wheezy finishes beautifying.

-

After the fancy dinner, Wheezy will just call everything in this place fancy, they avoid the couch and decide to lounge around the bed. It's not as nerve wracking.

"Black hides the bloodstains best, didn't you say that?" Wheezy mumbles sleepily, victorious after gathering half the pillows around him to keep them from Dice's pillow thieving ways. There comes a sleepy affirmative from the other side of the bed, where Dice is curled up almost into a ball. They've made strange nests out of the exaggerated amount of pillows on the bed.

Who would ever use so many pillows?

They've shared a bed before, but it was Dice's small one. It was either curl up together or fall off. Dice didn't make much noise but woke up on a hair trigger and came up swinging. This huge bed would hopefully keep Wheezy out of punching range.

That was the last thought he had before he dozed off all the way.

[musicallisto]

Hi❤️ Can I have a ship w/TMR & HP(male), pls? I’m 5'7,have a long black hair,dark eyes,fair skin. I'm ENFJ,the eldest of 4,making me reliable & a good leader. Very caring,affectionate,kind,strong both physically & mentally,competitive & fearless. I'm a good listener so as a good adviser. I adore animals,children & LOVE cuddling,skinship,coffee,theme park & advanturous things.I hate heat & worst w/directions. I'm always there for my sis. Smile's always on my face & I hope everyone can smile,too.

(Thank you so much and take your time with my ship if you’re too busy, I understand! Hwaiting ♥ I’m supporting you~ 🌹🌷🌺💐🌼🌻 I hope you have a lovely day filled with happiness, smiles and love.❤️❤️❤️)

I Ship You With…

T H O M A S

• If Thomas had to describe in one word everything he felt when he looked at you, it would be admiration. He was completely mesmerized by the way you moved, the way you talked, how good of a leader you were, how everyone seemed to rely on you, how you were so tender and yet so brave, how you were so altruistic and generous, how you were determined to save everyone no matter the price. It was what drew him to you. Your personalities were so alike in many ways. Although you weren’t one of the official leaders in Group B, you quickly became the head of the operations because the girls soon realized how good you were at taking the lead, scheming and making plans, and leading people to victory. You were a rebel, a fighter, and Thomas loved that about you. You didn’t try to talk him down, to tell him what he was doing was worthless. You believed in him and he believed in you, and it was enough for the both of you, despite all the death and the chaos surrounding you. You showed your utmost potential in the Scorch: you were an absolute badass, saving Thomas and the others Gladers several times. Your fearless and commander nature was Thomas’s favorite thing about you.

• Besides being one of the strongest and most physically capable ones in the Group, you also valued intelligence a lot, so it was very important for you to keep doing mental puzzles and things like that after all the situation died down. You taught Thomas how to play chess and even if he didn’t understand a lot at the beginning, he was more than happy to play with you. It often ended up in Thomas being frustrated because you won extremely easily, in only a few minutes, and he didn’t understand how you did it. You laughed and told him that he was just really bad at that game, and you wondered why WICKED had even bothered studying his brain. He smiled light-heartedly; your little jokes never failed to bring a smile to his lips, no matter how pained he was by all those he had lost. Evenings in Paradise were spent playing chess on a makeshift board as the sun was dying down behind the horizon on your right, and it was peaceful and quiet: everything you wanted and deserved after the trials.

• Since you loved children a lot, you tried to convince Thomas to have some of your own, years after the dreadful events of the Maze and the Scorch. He was skeptical at the beginning, not wanting his children to live and to be raised in a world so dark, a world so cold, but you told him how amazing of a father he would be and how incredible the kid would feel having a dad like him, and eventually, after a few months of asking and persuading, he accepted. Your first born child, a boy, was named Newt. It felt like a proper tribute to your best friend, and although you wished he could be there to see his small alter ego, you were filled with happiness with your little family. Thomas turned out to be a really good father, treating his child with respect, love, and being firm when he needed to. Sometimes, you could hear Thomas’s voice crack when he called your son by his name, but you shared a comforting look and he smiled lightly. Everything was going to be alright.

M I N H O

• Minho must be your best friend, there is no discussion here and it seems OBVIOUS to me that you two fit each other perfectly. Like honestly I don’t see a romantic relationship between the two of you but sign me up for the bff stuff. You both get so competitive and teasing when you are around each other, especially because you were both the best runners in your respective Mazes, and Minho can’t have his ego beaten by *cough* “a girl” (he regrets those words as soon as he realizes that you’re indeed going to beat him God knows how and that you’re actually one helluva girl). You’re always throwing snarky comments at each other and being what others would think is nasty, but you both know it’s just for the laughs and it’s your way of being affectionate.

• HOWEVER, as soon as the other is in danger, shit gets wild. When Minho is threatened by WICKED because of his immune condition, you’re the first one to react and try your best to protect him, and Minho would be the quicket to jump in front of danger to protect you (I mean, Thomas would too, because they’re both such hotheads). Sometimes, and especially in the Scorch, when everything seems desperate and after Minho gets hit by the thunderbolt, his playful banter slowly turns to more philosophical and deeper conversations that he shares with you at night around a bonfire. At first, you’re taken aback, because it’s a side of Minho that you don’t know, or are not used to seeing. You find some stupid joke to make because seeing your lively best friend so down in the dumps is very frustrating, and he uncontrollably laughs because you know him so well. He’s uncapable of keeping a frown when you’re around.

• After the Scorch and all the Flare shit, when life goes back to normal, you suddenly realize that animals must have suffered as much as humans, if not more, and you instantly find a new goal: adopt and care for any stray animal that you find near Paradise or on the roads. And every g o d d a m n time you see a wounded racoon or a pathetic-looking dog, you must take it in, to the great displeasure of Minho who doesn’t understand that fascination at all. From his point of view, it’s already hard enough to keep humans alive, let alone furballs. However, when you pick a little blind in one eye kitten, pleading eyeing Minho with his only blue orb, and literally shove him under his nose, he can’t help sighing and agreeing with you. From that day, he helps you put up an animal shelter in Paradise and surprisingly becomes the most whipped and gaga in front of the baby animals.

J A M E S   S I R I U S   P O T T E R

(faceclaim: Blake Steven)• So you didn’t specify which era you wanted so I thought you were okay with any, and I never wrote anything about Next Gen (actually, yes, I did. I wrote a Lorcan x Rose fanfic years ago and it was actually quite decent. It was called Kiss From A Rose bc, yanno, the song and the wordplay, rose, haha, lol, so funny 10/10) so I thought why not? So you two would be King and Queen of mischief™ just like the two amazing bastards he was named after. You may not be the most malicious, and that’s exactly why you make an excellent duo: teachers never suspect you because they know how intelligent, mature and responsible you are, and therefore would never do anything as childish and frivolous as putting pranks on people, right? but they fail to remember that you are dating James Sirius Potter, grandson of James Potter and nephew of Fred and George Weasley. (actually, McGonagall knows very well what’s going on, but she doesn’t interfere a lot because she misses the lively and funny atmosphere in the castle from the Marauders time, or the twins time).

• Soooo many dares, tournaments and stupid challenges between the two of you. At first, they were light-hearted and simple, nothing too extravagant, like “I bet you can’t eat two turkeys in one dinner!”, but as days went on and neither backed down, it escalated until it reached the point of “One hundred Galleons if you dye Professor Longbottom’s hair green in his sleep”. You always come up with the w o r s t dare ideas, or at least the most maleficent, and the thing is James Sirius always executes them. He never backs down from a challenge or dare, partly because it amuses him a lot and partly because he doesn’t want to be seen as cowardly. When you fear it’s going too far (because you have the most common sense, so even if you find it funny, you know when it’s time to stop and be serious), you tell him that it’s okay if he doesn’t do it, and it will absolutely not degrade his reputation or the way you view him, but once he has an idea in mind, he doesn’t let it go. Which leads him to detention quite a handful of times per semester, and as a consequence he receives a lot of Howlers while you’re laughing on the other side of the table.

• Because you both adore animals, and because that kind of stuff seems to run in your blood, you decide during your fifth year to become Animaguses, or at least attempt to do it. It takes a lot of months of preparation, and at first, you are very intimidated by the processus, but James Sirius convinces you to try to do it with him because it will be so much fun and imagine the endless possibilities if you can transform into an animal at will! Finally, after months and months of bizarre spells and disgusting concoctions, after several times escaping from detention because you were brewing potions after hours in the bathrooms, you finally manage to make it. It’s very confusing at first to change shape and become an animal, and not knowing what animal you would change into when you first transformed was very stressful, but after a lot of practice and training, it became easier and easier to get used to changing into an animal, and you could use that new, secret ability to meet with him without anyone knowing.

T E D D Y   L U P I N

(faceclaim: Chace Crawford)• So despite being much older than you both and therefore leaving Hogwarts years before you, Teddy is your best friend because of his mischievous, happy-go-lucky nature that really mirrors James Sirius’s personality. You get to hang out with him a lot, because he is a very good friend of the Potters, and also because you get on well with Victoire too. He is your favorite partner in crime and when he gets a prank idea to pull on someone in the castle and James Sirius is there to follow him, he basically is unstoppable. Your trio is very well known in Hogwarts when Teddy is still attending because of your creative jokes and pranks, and, to tell the truth, a little feared.

• Even after Teddy leaves Hogwarts, you still are in touch with him and talk a lot via letters. You tell him everything that’s going in Hogwarts, the classes, your friends, your family, gossip about the professors and the students, every little thing that he never would have thought he would miss when he was a student himself. He’s the only person you tell about your Animagus journey, and he’s very impressed because he knows it’s a very advanced form of magic and few wizards are ever capable of doing so. He doesn’t need it, obviously, but he loves hearing stories about your adventures and animal escapades nonetheless. Your letters are always the highlight of his days because he loves hearing from you and James Sirius and you are the closest thing he’s ever had to a brother and a sister. He loves hearing from you, your friends and your handwriting always reminds him of the times when you would spend days scheming jinxes and hexes to traumatize the poor other students.

• During the holidays, instead of staying at Hogwarts that becomes completely empty and dull, you would go back to the city and spend one week with your family and the other with the Potters, who basically adopted you as their second daughter. You love spending days with them because most of the time, the Weasleys and Teddy are there too, and it’s one giant family gathering where everyone knows each other and everyone gets along. You usually take long walks in the countryside with your best friend, trying to catch up the time you’ve spent without talking to each other, laughing and running in the corn fields, laying in the grass and laughing at the clouds that ominously look like McGonagall, or that Malfoy kid, reaching a pond and pushing a fully-clothed Teddy in there, then fleeing from the crime scene under his infuriated shouts… You’re so grateful for your friends and the amazing family that took you under its wing.

Moodboard

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Playlist

Muse - Knights of Cydonia

Martin Garrix - Virus (How About Now)

Eminem - Not Afraid

The Cab - Angel With A Shotgun

(the playlist & moodboard are mostly TMR related, but I was much more inspired, hope you don’t mind!)

[sqgworld]

30 Day Watcher Challenge: Day 11

Prompt list by @ohyashas​

11. Companions: Tell us about your Watcher’s opinions on their inner circle! Do they recruit all of the available companions? Do they do all of their quests? Are there any that your Watcher is particularly fond of/hostile towards? Do their opinions towards any companions change during the game or their personal quests?

Right, let’s just go through the companions in the order we meet them, White March included, shall we? I’ll be keeping this as spoiler free as possible, though there will be hints at how the companion quests end. Also, yes, all the companions were recruited. 

Under the cut, this post is looooooong.

Aloth: Their introduction to each other was certainly... unique, shall we say. Ninleyn found himself very amused with the entire situation before he convinced the drunkards to back off. And though Aloth seems a bit too eager for Ninleyn’s company after he recounts what had happened at Cilant Lîs, they grow to be very good friends over time. They grow so comfortable with each other, in fact, that by the end of the journey it was not uncommon to see the two turn their heads towards each other and either of them whispering something snarky that would make the other smirk in return. At the revelation in the beginning of Act III, Ninleyn can only look at Aloth with empathy; his soul was once in a similar position as the slightly younger wood elf and so he can’t bring himself to be angry.

Edér: “Seventeen and a half.” And Ninleyn thought his encounter with the wizard had been strange. They’re initially a little sceptical towards each other, though not in any hostile way; they’re just not quite sure what to make of each other. But after enough shows of genuine concern on both parts all of that disappears. They quickly discover that they have similar senses of humour, and Ninleyn enjoys the more simple times he spends with Edér, the air sometimes silent filled with the smell of the smoke emitting from the meadow folk’s old, trusty pipe; sometimes filled with quick quips or pleasant conversation. When Ninleyn cannot help Edér find peace the way he had hoped he could, he feels immensely disappointed in himself, and has trouble facing the man for a while. They get over it pretty quickly, though.

Durance: Their relationship is a bit strained, as is to be expected. They are not actively hostile towards each other, at least Ninleyn is not hostile towards the priest, but the continued questioning, the avoidance behaviour does irk the hunter quite a bit. Why was the ugly old man supposed to travel with him? What did he have against Watchers? Halfway through his journey Ninleyn has concluded that the gods really do hate him for his blasphemy and so have decided to torture him both with unending nightmares and this infernal priest. But by the end of their trek, Ninleyn finds himself sympathising with Durance in his anguish. A part in both of them, no matter how small, suddenly understands what the other must be feeling. They’re still not friends, by any means, but there is suddenly a mutual understanding that remains until they part.

Kana: Oh, Ninleyn likes him. Unconditionally. Sure, he’s a bit too much on the gaping-at-things-in-amazement side of things for Ninleyn to handle sometimes, but Kana is cheerful and curious and sometimes that’s all the wood elf needs to cheer up. Many long conversations are spent going back and forth with questions: “What was your birth village like?” “What’s that scroll you’re reading there?” “What’s it like to have your soul be bonded to a lion?” “Hey, can you teach me how to read?” Kana’s a bit surprised at that last one, but agrees with a cheerful grin. A heartbroken Kana is not what Ninleyn wants to see, even if they have only known each other for a short time, so when Kana’s quest for the Tanvii ora Toha ends, Ninleyn does all he can to console his new friend.

Sagani: Hunter meets hunter, what can I say? She’s sceptical at first, of course, wouldn’t you be if you’d already been swindled by a so-called Watcher? Still, there’s an immediate recognition of each other in their meeting, rangers and hunters as they both are, and all throughout the journey there lingers an understanding between them that none of the other companions ever quite grasped. They share many a tale of great kills with one another, and both come to see the benefits of the other’s hunting techniques, both learning as they grow. That Sagani then also decides to mother Ninleyn a bit when he doesn’t immediately get up for supper, is not unexpected. When Persoq is finally found Ninleyn stands ready and protective as Sagani tells her former elder all she feels he needs to know. She is thankful to him but all the wood elf does is nod curtly, like it was a matter of course.

Pallegina: At first, Ninleyn is simply amazed at her appearance: tall, strong, and with feathers growing along her hairline. He’d never seen anything like it. He gets over the fascination quickly, however, and Pallegina seems to appreciate that. They quickly begin bonding over their mutual dislike of the gods and have many conversations about how terrible they are. Honestly, they do not interact too much, but they come away liking each other well enough, and by the end of the journey Pallegina trusts Ninleyn’s judgement enough to let him guide her words as she negotiates the trade deal.

Hiravias: Their first impressions of each other were mainly related to smell: “Well, he’s been on the hunt for a long time.” “Hm, he smells a bit like cat.” They bond initially over their similar encounters with the Seeker God, Ninleyn expressing that he understands why Hiravias made the choice he did as regards his faith. But they quickly devolve into juvenile bantering back and forth, spewing stupid comments at one another like they breathe air: constantly. Ninleyn was always very much of the opinion that people’s opinions of the gods were their own affair, and the same goes for Hiravias in his final moments of ideological struggle.

Grieving Mother: This is another relationship that is hard to pinpoint. Throughout their travels, Ninleyn goes from being intrigued by her, to sympathetic for her profession, to nearly enraged at her actions. She is a good woman, he can sense that, but what she has done... just remember that Ninleyn has a reputation for honesty in-game and that he is very dedicated to not concealing the truth from anybody, even if they so wish it. He does like the Grieving Mother, however, on a personal level, and her dedication to the lives of others is one he enjoys witnessing.

Zahua: Ninleyn thinks he’s good fun and an intersting man, though his nose does not appreciate the savannah folk’s lack of bathing. Still, Ninleyn has never met anyone from Ixamitl before – which was frankly a miracle with how much he had travelled – so he takes the opportunity to learn as much as he can. Ninleyn sympathises very much with the loneliness that Zahua expresses, not through words, but through tone of voice when he talks about his lost home; the hunter knows what that feels like, to an extent, though nowhere near as potently as Zahua, he suspects. Fulfilling one’s ascribed purpose is not always easy, Ninleyn knows this very well as he refused the one ascribed to him, but he still does his best to help Zahua achieve what he had always been told he should; to bring peace to the old man, maybe, he wasn’t quite sure.

Devil of Caroc: No immediate problems with her, Ninleyn thinks she seems fair enough, if a little hotheaded. She is also uncommonly intrigued with his abilities, which does admittedly freak him out a bit the first time he finds those lifeless eyes staring at him so intently. He does feel a great amount of sympathy for her current condition, having almost had his soul torn out himself by that bîaŵac in Cilant Lîs. He doesn’t express this however, he gets that that’s not what she needs from other people. He also easily understands her desire for revenge, and though he finds the final decision hard to make, what must be done must be done...

Maneha: Another person that Ninleyn likes right off the bat. She’s good fun, always up for a bit of fun and Ninleyn is almost always willing to comply. But he quickly gets the distinct feeling that there is more to Maneha’s search for the Abbey than she lets on. He doesn’t press the issue, however; everyone has their own reasons for being here, very few of those reasons being altruistic. When Maneha does ultimately entrust him with her secret he promises to help however he can. And when they finally reach the Abbey of the Fallen Moon and Maneha is confronted with the choice that might change the course of her life, Ninleyn leaves her to it, with only a few words in warning.

[randomnessunicorn-imagine]

~My Little Pony Headcanons ;

{ Awww~ At the end, I wrote some HCs for every pony because they are all fabulous ~! 

I put a lot of effort in it but I had so much fun writing something different C: }

👑 Rarity~

She truly cares about her S/O’s opinions especially when she creates new dresses and S/O is the first to see her creations. Rarity is always so excited and curious to know what S/O thinks about her new outfits. Anyway, Rarity is very touchy so if S/O confesses to her that they don’t like so much her creation, she would feel offended and she will pass all the next days working on the same dress until it’s perfect and S/O will give their approval. Then, if she truly cares about that outfit she could just ignore their opinion, sometimes she acts a little paranoid and she’s divided by her own desires and others but she just wants every client to be satisfied by her clothes.

Rarity always shows to S/O all her drawings and projects and S/O can always give her advises about some new dresses and things she can create. It’s better talk to her when she’s free because Rarity becomes a little stressed when she works since she concentrates so much and she’s such a perfectionist pony.

S/O is her muse and personal model, Rarity enjoys organizing fashion shows in her own house, and she considers these events like a training for when she will do her true fashion shows and all the most important ponies will wear her outfits, it’s one of her big dreams. Sometimes, she invites also her pony friends and it becomes a Fashion Sleepover. 

Rarity thinks about S/O’s wardrobe because S/O must be as best dressed as her and Rarity cannot be seen by all (and by possible designers) with a beggar pony, she’s got a reputation so they have to wear the best clothes when they date her but she’s happy to create them for S/O. It can be a little exaggerated but, at least, they are sure her outfits are gorgeous.

Her favourite dates are the ones in the SPAs because she loves so much massages, baths, sauna and all this relaxing stuff. It’s something paradisiac, so she will invite her S/O to have a great time there and they won’t deny it. It’s totally awesome and S/O will feel so good.

.

📑 Twilight Sparkle~

Since she is a bookworm she always gives S/O advises about the books they should read and she is very attempt and acute searching for the best volumes because Twilight wants to impress her S/O showing to them how much she knows them. All the books Twilight suggests to S/O are totally fit and she knows all their tastes, their favourite authors and genres. It’s impossible finding Twilight Sparkle unprepared.

Her favourite dates are the scientific ones (she’s a sort of scientist herself but her interests are so much and all of them regard culture and magic). She loves bringing her S/O to the Observatory, telling to them stories about the constellations. She knows everything about it. Everything. It seems she’s unable to stay quite so S/O should ask her to be more silent so the two of them can enjoy this romantic moment and stars remain always beautiful even if you don’t know all those theories and facts. Sometimes, she’s too much talkative.

Another of her hobbies is magic and she likes showing to S/O how expert she is with it and maybe Twilight seems a little too superb and she thinks to be the most intelligent pony of Ponyville but she’s just so passionate in what she does. S/O could make an alliance with Spike, pranking the poor pony and hiding her potions and books. Seeing Twilight nervous and stressed is funny so maybe Twilight will learn how to be less serious.

Everyone knows, she’s so fond of Princess Celestia so Twilight will bring them into her presence because it’s so important S/O and Celestia become friends, it’s like Twilight wants her blessing since Celestia is like a mother for the little pony so you have to befriend Celestia and she wants only the best for Twilight.

Staying with Twilight, S/O will become a fountain of knowledge and they will learn so much things without realizing. Twilight is the kind of pony who loves explaining the origin of phenomenon and stuff so they have to listen all her lessons. S/O is still Twiligh’s S/O, so we may think S/O is a geek too if they’re able to handle a pony like Twilight

.

🍎 Applejack~

Her S/O can help her with the apples picking since we all know how she cares about apples and her job in the ranch. Applejack would tell to S/O everything about apples and she will train S/O to become the perfect farmer.

Every weekend Applejack invites her S/O to enjoy her and her family in the ranch so they can do so many games and activities. It’s like an agritourist experience and S/O will learn so many things about the agrarian life and even her family will be glad to know them since Applejack always tells about them saying how they’re fantastic and she’s so happy so her family is glad seeing Applejack so content thanks to S/O.

It’s obvious, S/O must have the approval of her family because they want Applejack to be happy and this pony must be strong, smart, funny and dutiful since if they will become a part of the family they will have new duties and they can gain all the supreme knowledge about apple’s production and it’s so important. They are traditions that pass down from generation to generation and S/O should feel honoured to be part of this.

In particular, Applebloom will check on S/O because she cares so much about her sister since Applejack is her heroine and one of Applebloom’s duties is to protect her sister even if she is the little one. Applebloom organizes games and challenges that S/O must win if they want to be with Applejack (the poor Applejack is unaware of it). S/O must demonstrate to Applebloom to be the perfect pony for her sister. She’s just a little pony so there’s no need to take her so seriously.

Applejack loves telling stories to S/O about her ancestors and all the various legends about her family. They will enjoy hearing also the weird fables of her grandmother and S/O will have so much fun because Applejack’s family is so special and, even when Applejack is too busy with her job, S/O can spend time with the other members of the family. There will never be a dull moment.

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🌈 Rainbow Dash ~

It won’t be easy to win her heart because her standards are as high as the sky where she lives. She will dare her S/O to demonstrate they’re strong, brave, cool and talented enough to be her special pony. Dash will organize so many challenges and competitions about different disciplines. They will be trials of strength, intelligence, speed, resistance, comedy. She’s quite needy and, at the end, she’ll understand her standards are too high and she will accept S/O for what they are.

Dash is so competitive so every occasion is gold to challenge her S/O but she will take these contests too seriously and her S/O must be so patient and understanding with Dash, it’s just her nature. She’s born to compete.

Sometimes, Dash is a hothead and she can be so stubborn so her S/O has to be a strong pony who is able to tell her the truth even when it’s unfair and Dash appreciates honestly so she will be glad when her S/O confesses to her what’s wrong. At first, Dash would feel offended but, after an attempt analysis, she will take their criticism like an advice to become a better pony. It takes time but it’s worthy.

If S/O is not a Pegasus like her, she will bring S/O everywhere because Dash wants them to see the vast and beautiful sky, her primal element. She will show to S/O every cloud, rainbow and peace of Cloudsdale. She’s just like a tourist guide. In the meantime, she will pump herself showing to her S/O all her flying skills doing exhibitions (especially when there are other ponies that can see and applaud her).

We all know she’s the greatest fan of the Wonderbolts and she will always talks about them to her S/O. Dash will invite S/O to see all their competitions and races. She acts just like a fangirl and she does not stop to say how they are fantastic and cool. If S/O wants to conquer her heart, it would be a good idea to bring Dash to one of their exhibitions, buying to her gadgets branded Wonderbolts and if you are able to take hold of their autographs then you have already won.

.

🌺 Fluttershy~

Before S/O can consider themselves like her special pony they have to be approved by Angel and all her animal friends because they are her family and they want Fluttershy to be happy. She is so timid and candid so people usually take advantage of her kindness, so S/O has not to be a bully.

Obvious, S/O does not have to do matches or challenges to demonstrate their value but they have to show they truly care about Fluttershy because she’s too precious and she does not deserve to suffer. S/O has to be a gentle, comfortable and understanding pony who accepts Fluttershy for the pony she is. Her animals keep an eye on them studying their behaviours towards their loved pony. Then, when they understand S/O’s love is sincere and real, they will approve this union. 

Fluttershy is so shy, especially with her crush, and she will stutter like crazy, becoming as red as a tomato in front of them. She’s afraid to be rejected and S/O has to be the one to declare their love to her and Fluttershy will explode for the embarrassment and joy, she can’t believe they share the same sentiment. She will act like a baby pony with her first crush and she becomes so clumsy since she daydreams a lot.

Fluttershy loves gardening and flowers so her S/O can buy to her seeds the two of them can plant together and she will be happy to talk about botany with them. She will feel so useful if she can share her knowledge with the pony she loves.

She often thinks she’ s not enough for her S/O and she feels so inferior because of her shyness and insecurities but she’s super just like all the other ponies. Sometimes, her S/O has to remember it to her so she can gain some self-esteem. She’s such a cutie and she’s so adorable when she blushes and she hides herself under her mane.

.

🎈 Pinkie Pie~

It’s rare Pinkie gets crushes on other ponies because every pony is her friend and she wants to befriend every creature of the earth so she thinks S/O is her friend too and Pinkie will treat them the same way. They are still so special and great friend to Pinkie. S/O will suffer so many friendzones with this pony *pat pat to S/O*.

Pinkie is so weird and noisy so her S/O has not to be too much perfectionist or scorbutic because Pinkie is a pony who loves life and have fun. S/O can bet they are not going to have neither a dull moment with her and Pinkie knows all the funniest activities of the world.

Every day she spends with her S/O is a party. Literally. Pinkie will organize a party for everything and all will be an anniversary. For example, the first time they have hold their own hooves, the first time when they have laughed, the first time S/O has smiled for a Pinkie’s jokes, the first time they have had a party. Pinkie remembers every date, hour, place and word. Her memory is impeccable. S/O won’t have the time to think about the situation that Pinkie starts another party proclaiming another important date.

Pinkie screams to everyone S/O is her special pony, and they have to know all her friends… Which is the entire Ponyville, good luck! Then, all the city is invited to the special party for your 392 day anniversary (actually, she knows the exact second, minute, hour, latitude and longitude S/O and her become a couple).

Every moment is the perfect moment for a song and Pinkie loves serenating S/O under their balcony. Pinkie has a team of singer ponies that accompany her. They also play instruments but Pinkie is the soloist. Sometimes, Pinkie sings at random when she is so inspired but she can’t contain her joy and she has to demonstrate how much she loves her S/O. 

[incorrectmidc]

Something Stupid

Note: MC is Albert’s younger sister. Leo and Alyn are still twins but they also have Cosette as their younger sister and one of MC’s good friends. I also took the liberty of giving names to Albert and MC’s parents, plus the Crawford parents.

Hn. What else? Main pairing is Leo x MC. Also, title was just randomly chosen. I actually can’t think of a decent and appropriate one.

"This was all over the papers today!" (Y/N)'s eyes landed on the newspaper that her older brother tossed on her lap while she was peacefully breaking her fast that morning. Blue eyes, the same as the bright summer sky, narrowed by a fraction as she took in the image displayed on the very front page of the paper. It was an image of a man and a woman estimated to be in their late teens to early twenties. She was seated on his lap, his arms were wrapped around her waist while her hands were tangled in his hair, and the two of them were kissing. Making out was the right term actually.

"So?" she asked before taking a long sip on her fifth glass of strawberry milkshake. On the outside she might seem to look nonchalant and uncaring but on the inside, she's really quite worried. How did it get on paper? Paparazzis. Seven hells, she cursed in her mind, vowing to urge Nico to go into a killing spree with her later. "So? That's the only thing you can say?!" Albert snapped, his dark brown orbs that were very much like their father's, were now shooting daggers at her. "What in seven hells, (Y/N)?! You were caught by the press making out with Leo Crawford! What the hell were you thinking?!" I wasn’t actually. (Y/N) rolled her eyes at her brother. Ever since they were just kids, he'd been overprotective of her. She appreciated his concern but sometimes it just irritates her. "Shut up, Al. You're overreacting," she said as she leaned back on her chair. "Leo Crawford and I just kissed. Who cares if everyone saw us?" Albert groaned in frustration as he sat across her. "The Crawfords are one of the oldest and most influential families in Wysteria, my dear sister. Do you really think the Crawford patriarch would let this tarnish their image? Their family is notorious for being honourable so I wouldn't be surprised if they wed you off to their eldest son and heir soon." (Y/N) snorted this time. Trust Albert to say the most ridiculous things anytime. "Albert, again, you're overreacting. Please don't joke something like that, you might jinx it." She huffed when he scowled at her. "And besides, this is the modern times. We're not in some medieval setting where they would marry us off to save my tarnished honour," she sarcastically added. Albert sighed before he gestured to the paper that was still on her lap. "Explain to me how that happened then," he said. "Before mother and father finds out," he added when she was about to protest. (Y/N) paled a bit at that, making Albert laugh vindictively this time. Between their parents, their mother, Cordelia Burckhardt, was the hotheaded one. She was known for her short fuse and the number of men she beat up on her teenage years, earning her quite a reputation. And it was that infamous temper of hers that she passed on to her eldest child, Albert, the only trait he got from her given that he looked so much like their father. But it wasn't their mother that (Y/N) was worried about. It was their father, Alistair Burckhardt that was her true worry. He wasn't hotheaded like his wife. In fact, he's the total opposite of her. He was the gentle and polite type yet when angered, he was a force to be reckoned with. He's fiercely protective of his children, especially his baby girl, who's a spitting image of his lovely wife. Albert's overprotectiveness pales in comparison to their father's. Baby blue orbs widened when realisation dawned in on her. "Dad's going to kill him," she stated in a monotonous tone then before Albert could speak again, she suddenly yelled, "Oh, no!" Getting to her feet, the Burckhardt Heiress ran out of the dining area, intent on finding their father before he sees the morning papers. "DAD!" Albert shook his head as he watched his younger sister disappear. A small but satisfied smile intact on his face, he grabbed an apple from the table and took a huge bite from it. "Damn right, baby sister. Leo Crawford's a dead man once father sees that paper."

But it seemed like she was a second too late when (Y/N) finally found her father. He was in his study and he wasn't alone. Sitting across him on the couch was none other than the patriarch of the Crawford family, Daniel. "Good morning, (Y/N)," the older man with the platinum hair, the same as his son Leo’s, greeted. "Good morning, Mr. Crawford," the youngest Burckhardt greeted back politely before she turned to her father who was calmly taking a sip of his coffee. "Dad, I have to talk to you for a second." "Talk to me about what, sweetheart?" Alistair asked as he placed the mug of coffee he was holding. His tone betrayed nothing to (Y/N) and it made her even more wary. She heaved a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Both her father and Daniel Crawford were looking at her and waiting for her to talk again. It was then that she realised that she was too late. They already knew. "Okay, I know you've seen the papers already." Alistair leaned back on his chair while Daniel just remained silent, understanding that it was a conversation between father and daughter. "What do you have to say to it then?" he asked rather calmly which made (Y/N)'s nerves go haywire. Her calm father was scarier than her furious mother. And she knew that lying to him wouldn't help her case. "What you saw in the papers was true," she admitted, her eyes not wavering from Alistair's gaze, knowing fully that eye contact was imperative. "But that was just it. Leo and I just kissed." "Just kissed?" Alistair repeated coldly which made (Y/N) wince at his tone. "You made out in public! And the boy wasn't even your boyfriend!" He shook his head at her. "Your mom and I never taught you something like that." He looked at the Crawford patriarch this time. "No offense, Daniel." Daniel nodded, an indication that he wasn't the least bit offended, "I understand, Al. Layla gave Leo an earful over the phone this morning when she saw the news. It was all over the television and the internet, too, sweetling," he told (Y/N) who winced in a more visible manner this time. "This news must be contained," Alistair said while rubbing his temple, the news giving him a massive headache. "It wouldn't be good for you and Leo, but most especially you, to have this story go on," he added as he turned back to his daughter. "You know how cruel this society is. You know what they say most about women than men." Daniel nodded in agreement at that. "I'm sorry, dad," (Y/N) said softly, her baby blue orbs trailing down her feet in shame. She didn't really know what came into her when she kissed Leo Crawford last night. Of course she had been drinking but she was sober enough to even remember that she was the one who pulled him into a corner and began kissing him without any inhibitions. Alistair sighed again before getting on his feet and approaching her. "Don't cry, baby," he said as he pulled her into a hug, her face buried on his chest. "Your mother is probably going to kill me for this but I'd better tell you now." "T-Tell me what?" she nervously wondered as she looked up at him. What does her father have in mind? Alistair looked pained for a moment before he spoke. "To control this mess, Daniel and I have decided to have you and Leo wed at the soonest time possible." "WHAT?!" (Y/N) exclaimed as she pulled away from her father, her baby blue orbs wide. She could hear Albert's words echoing at the back of her mind right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they wed you off to their eldest son and heir soon. "Dad, you can't! It was just a kiss. We didn't actually..." she trailed off and blushed furiously when she realised what she was about to say. Alistair and Daniel looked uncomfortable for a moment before they managed to compose themselves. "I wasn't supposed to tell you this this early but what happened decided for us. Daniel and I have been planning for a while now to have Crawford International and Burckhardt Industries merge. And your marriage to Leo would solidify that." "But... But..." she sputtered (which was new), not quite accepting the fact that her father have made the decision for her. "Why me? Albert's the older one! He should wed first!" "We actually thought of that, sweetling," Daniel piped in, an almost amused look in his face. "We planned to have Albert and Cosette wed but this incident happened." (Y/N) groaned as she buried her face on her palms, making Alistair and Daniel sigh. "I shouldn't have gone to that party," she muttered. Alistair nodded in agreement as he went back to his seat and got his now cold coffee. "Yes, you shouldn't have, young lady. You shouldn't have."