#and based on the kind of person he was before regaining his memories and the thought of

[pinkseas]

thinking about wanderer constantly trying to serve a purpose needing to be useful to someone needing to fulfill a role..... thinking about wanderer with a lifetime of memories as the balladeer, sure, but a lifetime of memories without, of peace and drifting place to place and not quite knowing who he was but at the very least not being that. an entire lifetime the others will never really know. thinking about wanderer & the traveler exploring sumeru together and becoming genuine friends. thinking about adjusting to the loss of your second half after centuries if not millennia of always being together. thinking about wanderer asking, one night, about their sibling. thinking about the Very Possible Transition from “you expect the balladeer, so i act like the balladeer” to “if you told me enough about them, i could try to be like them. i could be useful to you.”

[nanamiscocksleeve]

A Tight Spot

Warnings: MDNI, pegging, piv sex, voyeurism, slightly subby Sylus A/n: I know in my rules I said I don't write butt stuff, but (no pun intended) I'm coming around to the idea of prostate massage for men.

Sylus was not in the habit of hiding things from you. However, he had his own secrets, things that he felt made him vulnerable, or he wasn’t sure you’d understand.

One of those things was his ultimate, private kink; pegging. He’d tried it once by himself after reading about prostate massage but the unbelievable pleasure it had brought him blew his mind. The intensity, the absolute delight of getting an orgasm from a prostate massage had opened up new realms for him. Of course, Sylus was kinky and he loved having sex with you, but this particular bit of information embarrassed him, and he’d never dared bring it up for fear that you might judge him. 

Which is why he only indulges in this pleasure when he is alone. The mansion was empty, having sent all his henchmen home for the day, and you were heading back to Linkon City. Sylus lays on his bed, naked, remembering the way your body felt against his, the flushed heat and soft sway of your tits as you rode him, the sound of your sweet moans in his ear. His back still carried the lines scratched by your nails as you’d held onto him in the throes of ecstasy. He missed having you in his bed. Sylus firmly grips his cock, pumping his hard flesh, gritting his teeth, little growls leaving his throat as he pleasured himself.

He imagines you kneeling in between his legs, your face looking so innocent before you opened that wicked mouth and slurped him in, your tongue dipping right into his slit, making him pathetically dribble copious amounts of precum that you licked off with enthusiasm. The memory of your small hand as you squeezed his base, followed by the wet noises of his skin being suctioned by your lips was enough to almost drive him to the edge.

Sylus stops, panting, his eyes wild, blood rushing through his veins as he tries to regain control of his breathing. He knew what would take this fantasy from amazing to out-of-this-world. His tip was weeping, and he thumbs at the milky beads forming on the tip before going on all fours. His hand creeps behind his balls and he knuckles down on his perineum, feeling the faint vestiges of pressure on the little gland hidden away under his skin. He lets out a moan, flexing his buttocks, clenching and unclenching his asshole.  He feels his body starting to tingle with need, the kind that builds up when you’ve been teasing yourself for too long. 

He reaches into his nightstand, digging through the various toys that had been used over this weekend, and finds a slim, black, silicone dildo, the one he’d personally tested amongst many for his backdoor pleasure. A similar one but in red rested in the drawer as well; he was careful to never mix these two up. The red one was yours, and he’d never risk your health by selfishly using the dildo meant for your pussy for himself. He trickles a generous amount of lube on his dildo, before sticking the suction cup base to his headboard and gently backing onto it. He breathes in and out slowly, allowing the muscles to relax, then teases his tight, puckered hole with the tip, groaning as it passes through his tight ring of muscles, filling him up so deliciously. 

Sylus wonders if this is how your pussy feels during penetrative sex and the thought has him clenching, drawing the soft silicone deeper inside of him. He hopes it felt as good for you as this was for him. His cock stands proudly erect, the sensitive head brushing against the sheets as he continues backing onto the toy until he feels it press against a sensitive patch of elastic muscle and he lets out a pathetic moan. His hips arch, angling the tip of the toy until he’s able to glide comfortably, feeling the slick dildo massaging his inner walls, stimulating him beyond belief. 

His eyes close as he sets up his rhythm, each exquisite push against his prostate bringing pops of color behind his closed lids. Sweat slickens his skin as he builds up the pleasurable tension, grounding his hands and knees into the soft mattress to keep up his speed and arousal. Taking a deep breath, he pushes back further and feels like his eyes might roll into the back of his head as the toy bottoms out inside his hole, sitting right against the pulsing gland that threatened to shoot his load out. It never failed to amaze him how quickly his orgasm could form with this particular act, and the tantalizing dance of keeping himself on the edge was an intoxicating rush.

A low, gravelly, purr leaves his throat as he thrusts shallowly, letting himself be massaged so intimately at that sweet spot that he’d been oblivious to for so many years. He wondered how long he’d last this time; he had a reasonable period to himself now that no one was home, and he intended to tease himself into a mess, just to test how much his willpower could be stretched.

 He rides the dildo slowly, his hips rolling smoothly, feeling his back muscles coordinate and his ass grip the dildo in sweet ecstasy. As Sylus’s pace picks up, lewd squelching noises fill the room as he gives in to his urges. He can feel the tension building in his balls, in his belly, his hard abs quivering as the heat starts to gather in his gut. Sweat forms on his forehead, his cock twitching as he humps leaking precum all over the sheets. He can see the stains and bites his lip, feeling the way the sensation grows and ripples through him.

The next second is a blur of motion. As he’s in the blissful throes of his own passion, he hears his bedroom door opening and his name being called. His eyes fly open and he splutters in shock as you enter, losing his rhythm and almost slamming the dildo in haste. Your eyes widen in shock at the sight before you. Your big, intimidating, boyfriend, bared on all fours, with a dildo in his ass was not something you were expecting to see. Sylus scrambles off the toy, his breathing heavy and unsteady, his face burning red as he tries to cover himself.

He’d never been caught in such a compromising situation, the feeling of being vulnerable alien to him, feeling shame burn through him. He can’t bring himself to look you in the eyes, his heart pounding in his chest. “What-what are you doing here?” He manages to ask after a long moment of silence. 

You don’t move from your position near the door and Sylus keeps his eyes downcast. After a gap, you start to speak. “Luke and Kieran almost got me to the border but there was a really bad sandstorm. It could have taken hours for it to die down. So they brought me back here.”

“Luke and Kieran?” Sylus’s head whips up in alarm, ruby eyes widening in panic and you quickly approach him on the bed.

“They dropped me off here and went back to their place. It’s ok. It’s just me.”

Relief floods his features only to be immediately drowned by embarrassment and he averts his gaze. You see the tension in his shoulders and how fidgety and nervous he is, making you feel strange. This wasn’t your boyfriend, the confident and ruthless leader of the N109 zone that you had gotten to know. Unsure how to proceed, you gently cup his cheek. His glances briefly at you and you realize he’s waiting for you to pass judgment. Your heart squeezes to see him like this.

“Sylus. Do you mind telling me what you were doing?” Your voice is soft and you kneel on the bed so that you can thread your fingers through his hair. Your touch soothes his racing heart but he’s still anxious. His voice is low as he starts to admit his actions.

“I like being pegged.” His voice sounds ashamed. 

“Isn’t that a kink?” You haven’t moved, staying close to his quivering body. 

“It’s not one that I think most men would admit to having.” You gnaw at your lip, trying to remember something, anything, that would ease his tension. 

“But…isn’t pegging the only way to stimulate the prostate? That’s a thing right? Prostate massage?” You slowly draw him closer to you so that you can rest your head on his shoulder. Your hands dip down from his hair to stroke his back and you feel him shiver.

“Yeah. It is.”

“And…it feels good right?” You probe further, trying to get him to talk. 

Sylus takes a deep breath before answering. “Yeah. It does.”

“Well, if it’s not hurting anyone and you like it, why are you so scared right now?” Sylus feels some of the discomfort in his chest release as your words wash over him. After a beat, you ask him a question.

“Why haven’t you shared this with me?” There’s no blame in your voice, just a general curiosity.

Sylus swallows, then rests his cheek on top of your hair, drawing comfort from you. “I don’t know. It’s not a norm. It’s frowned upon. Joked about. I just didn’t know how you’d react to it.”

You huff then grasp his chin and make him look at you. “Sylus, do you know how ironic it is that you made me share all the kinks that I’ve fantasized about and you’ve done them all only to hide this from me?” 

“So you-you don’t find this weird?”

“I think it’s hot when you’re being pleasured. Isn’t that that a good enough answer?” 

Sylus processes what’s been said to him and you take advantage of his distraction to push him down on the mattress, his large frame falling on it with a thump before you lay down next to him. You reassuringly cuddle his body, pressing into him and nuzzling his neck. 

“You looked like you were on the edge of a pretty good orgasm there. Before I came in that is.” 

Sylus clears his throat, traces of a blush lingering on his cheeks and ears. “Yeah, I was.” You trace your fingers down his chest.

“Would you be comfortable to do that again? With me in the room?” You ask the question carefully trying not to crowd him. Sylus finally looks at you in the face. His expression still looked guarded with a tinge of disbelief.

“You-you want to watch me?” Even as he says the words, he feels a surge of arousal. It was touching, almost intimate that you wanted to be a part of this. 

You bite your lip. “You looked really sexy there for a minute. All hot and moaning. I liked it.”

Sylus huffs, trying to regain his composure but your reaction to the whole situation was calming him down. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Your hands busy themselves on his thighs, squeezing and hard sinew, and you see his eyes softening as he realizes he can trust you with this. It pulls at you and you raise your head to kiss him, enjoying their warmth. 

His hands are working deftly to pull off your clothes, his cock hardening again at the prospect of what was to come. You, watching him, pleasuring himself, and it turned you on. There was no mistaking that little lip nibble you had done. The knowledge that he could share this vulnerability was filling him with a different kind of pleasure. 

Once he’s freed you from your clothes, he palms your breasts, groaning as your hands find his cock, pumping him enticingly. After his interrupted orgasm, the whole organ pulses, heat and sexual need filling him. He doesn’t hold back with his bites, leaving bruises on your soft skin as he touches you fervently.

Soft sighs leave your lips as you play with his cock, and you’re eager to see his demonstration on the dildo, needed to hear him make those noises of ecstasy again. “What do you need me to do?” You ask, still pumping his hard flesh. 

Sylus’s eyes are half closed, clearly enjoying your ministrations. He hesitates but asks, “Do you mind squeezing my cheeks?”

Understanding, your hands sensually leave his cock and instead, start to massage the soft rounded flesh of his rear, and he hums at your touch. You feel the muscles contracting and relaxing under your fingers and Sylus was syncing his breaths to the action. He glances over at his headboard, and you can see the dildo is still there, held in place by the broad suction cup base.

“Needs more lube,” he observes, and you squeeze his ass once more before reaching over to grab the bottle from the nightstand and hand it to him. You take note of how much he applies to the toy for future use and he begins to back himself up against it. He looks at you again, unsure. 

“What is it?” You lean up to cup his face, peppering kisses all over it. 

“I’ve…always fantasized about…someone holding me open as I…get penetrated.” He admits shyly and you feel flattered that he had opened up and asked. You move towards his legs and with care, part his cheeks, seeing his opening fluttering, similar to how your pussy would when it needed to be filled.

You watch in fascination as Sylus continues to back onto the dildo and your heart leaps as he makes contact, and watch, wide-eyed, as it starts to disappear into his hole. There’s a rush of arousal, at how hot the sight was, but you remain quiet, the room filling with Sylus’s contained moans as he pushes himself onto the toy.

“Oh Sylus…the view is so sexy.” You encourage him as he pauses in his penetration, panting. 

“Yeah?” He looks at you over his shoulder, and you nod. Your hands slowly release his cheeks which jiggle slightly as they fall back into place. Then he starts to move.

The noises that leave him drive you wild. You’ve heard him while having good sex but nothing compared to this; the way his hips started to buck in abandon, the husky, desperate way he moans as he fucks himself. Not wanting to miss a second, you quickly scramble back to his face, his expression sending a spear of pure lust straight into your core.

His ruby eyes are wide with delight, mouth hanging open in an O as he rides to climax. His gaze fixates on you and you see the flush that stains his skin and know he’s just as turned on by you, by the fact that you’re watching him so admiringly. You squeeze your breasts, teasing your nipples as you try to stimulate yourself with him, rubbing your clit in time to his thrusts, watching the way his weeping cock drags along the sheets with each thrust.

It wasn’t enough and driven by primal instinct, you quickly slide under his muscled body, surprising him. He pauses in his motions. “Kitten?” he breathes questioningly, gazing at you beneath him. 

“Sylus, I can’t. I need to experience you like this.” He lets out a guttural moan as you spread your legs and begin to guide his neglected cock into your hot wetness, the dual sensation too much for him to handle. His hole clenches, feeling the dildo snugly against his prostate while his cock was being nestled into your pussy. He lets out a deep, sultry whine.

“Fuck, sweetie. You’re going to kill me.” You stroke every inch of his body you can reach and Sylus begins to build up his rhythm, going as slowly as possible to stave off his orgasm but he feels like he’s a lost cause. 

Your pussy grips his cock, spasming with each thrust. Every time he moved forward, he’s gliding through your eager cunt, and every time he moves back, the dildo massages his aching prostate and he feels like a loser, knowing he won’t last too long this way.

You see the struggle in his eyes and talk him through it. “It’s ok Sy. You’ve held on for so long. It’s ok to cum. You don’t have to prove anything to me. Let yourself cum.” you murmur reassuringly to him and he lets out a keening groan, his hips going into overdrive as he pushes himself over the edge.

His vision blurs at the edges as an intense orgasm grips him, his hands gripping the sheets as he tries not to collapse on you. His body shakes, creamy jets of cum filling your pussy as his hole spasms rhythmically, prolonging his state of euphoria as he empties himself into you. 

Sylus carefully crawls off the dildo, then lays over you. Sweat covers each inch of his body as you lovingly stroke his hair. 

“I don’t know why you’d hide something so hot from me.”

“What’s a relationship without a little mystery?”

“Well mystery solved. Next time, we should use a vibrating dildo.”

Your eyes flicker with mischief and Sylus chuckles at your enthusiasm. 

© nanamiscocksleeve original work | no copying, plagiarizing or translating

[multi-fxndom446]

Remember me

Zoro x reader

Summary: you and the other straw hats lose your memory and you put yourself in between a fight with Zoro and Luffy and Zoro feels guilty about it when he regains his memory.

Warning: very slight angst I suppose. Happy ending. Ig you could say a little spicy at the end but not much else.

Word count: 3.6K

based off of that 5 episode filler where the straw hats lose there memory

God I have such a fixation on his earrings😭

-

“Y/n!” Luffy screamed for you as you took a protective stance in front of him. Shielding him from the attack that was coming his way.

You gritted your teeth together while you tried to hold onto the man’s hands in front of you, trying to be careful to not grab onto the sharp parts of his swords. But it was proving difficult.

You didn’t even know why you jumped in front of the guy with a straw hat or why you were protecting him from such a terrifying person. You had no idea who either of them were yet you felt a sense of duty to the both of them.

From what Luffy explained to you on the ship, you all were friends. You wouldn’t have been so inclined to believe him if the black haired girl hadn’t said the same things. But still even with what Luffy told you, you didn’t know why you felt your heart hurting having to stop this green haired man from hurting your supposed captain.

~~

When you woke up the morning before you were lost and so confused. You squinted as a ray of light hit you in the face and you looked up from your spot on the ground to see a man stood above you, staring.

Your mouth opened in surprise while you took the rest of him in. He had a hand resting on three swords?! He had a glare on his face but you almost got a feeling that was just the way he looked.

“Who are you?” He demanded but still you said nothing. You sat up, keeping a very close eye on him. “Why were you sleeping up here next to me?”

“Next to you?!” You shook your head at the implication. “I couldn’t have been!”

“Well you were!” But you shook your head in denial again and he clenched his jaw in annoyance.

You backed away as far as you could when you saw that look on his face. “What were you doing sleeping next to me?!” You demanded and his jaw clenched tighter. When he went to say something the both of you heard someone call out to you to come down.

The man before you spared you one more glance before jumping down, you following his lead but down the ladder like a sane person.

For the rest of the time leading up to the orange haired girl and the same green haired man leaving you couldn’t help the sense of familiarity about it all, or about him specifically.

You watched him go until he was out of sight and the black haired girl led you to the kitchen to explain what she could.

You sat in absolute shock upon hearing the news that you were part of a pirate group. Not only that but the fact that green haired man had a 60 million berry bounty and you were supposedly sleeping right next to him?

When everyone beside you, and the ones you learned to be Sanji and Robin, fell asleep Robin found a seat next to you. “I suppose it is a little overwhelming if you don’t remember any of it huh?”

“A little.” You mumbled before glancing at her from the corner of your eye. “Hey was I really asleep next to the pirate hunter guy?”

Robin gave you a coy kind of smile and nodded slightly. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you were. You both tend to stick close to the other.” Again you were left in shock. “Though I don’t think either of you have admitted it I believe there’s some feelings between you.”

Sanji scoffed in disbelief. “That reckless idiot with someone so beautiful? I don’t believe it. How would that even happen?” Robin shrugged.

“I’m not sure myself I was the latest to join the crew. There’s still some things I don’t even know.” You couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at that. Apparently everyone that did remember got those memories taken from them.

Well that didn’t last long when the next few moments the kid taking the memories appeared on the ship to try and take more but ended up giving Luffys back on accident when Luffy kicked him off the head of the sheep.

The kid disappeared in the next moment but none of you seemed to care when Luffy turned to you all. “I have my memories back!” He shouted in glee but the rest of you didn’t know wether the be happy about that or not.

After he explained he was actually the captain and not Usopp you were even more confused. But he refused to let the other two go no matter how much Sanji and Usopp tried to bargain. “No! Y/n would want Zoro to stay! Wouldn’t you y/n?” Everyone’s eyes turned to you and immediately you held your hands up in defense.

“I-I don’t even know him!” Your apparent captain frowned at your answer but didn’t press it further.

It wasn’t until later when everyone was starting to settle down again after agreeing to go after the two in the morning that you found questions reappearing in your head about the green haired swordsman.

“Ah y/n!” Luffy called excitedly when you came to sit next to him. “Excited for tomorrow?!”

“Actually I was wondering if you could tell me more about this Zoro guy and why you asked if I’d want him to stay.” Luffy titled his head in confusion but nodded in understanding nonetheless.

“Well we found you and Zoro pretty close together if I remember right. You were captured by a pirate group that had taken you from your home and put you to work.” You glanced down and noticed Luffy clenching his fists tightly together as he recalled the time you met. “You were incredibly sick it may have been because of all the labor they were forcing you to do and the conditions they were making you do them in.”

“But Nami, Zoro and I destroyed that group and agreed to take you home. But when we got to your village..” Luffy trailed off and refused to meet your gaze. “You had no one. So we decided to take you with us. At the time you were still very sick even when we got the going merry. Your life was very touch and go for awhile but you hung in there until we found chopper who helped you.”

“I-“ you were at a loss for words. They took you in when you had no one left? They even helped nurse you back to health? “But what does that have to do with Zoro?”

“Oh yeah! Well he became pretty protective of you when you were sick because a lot of people tried to hurt you while you were defenseless but even after you got better he was still just as protective if not more.” Luffy smiled, “anywhere you’d go he would be close behind. If you didn’t want to go he’d stay on the ship with you or if he had to leave he’d bring back a present for you.”

“You felt safe with each other.” Robin chimed in out of nowhere and you turned to her in surprise. “It’s probably why he didn’t do anything to you while you were up in the crows nest defenseless. There’s still some part of all of you subconsciously understanding that we do know each other even if the rest of you can’t accept it.”

“And-and him and I aren’t together?” You asked timidly. Robin looked toward Luffy for the answer but Luffy looked just as confused about that question.

“I don’t think so?” He said as more of a question but still you were confused.

“Why?”

“Who knows?” Luffy shrugged, “maybe because Zoros an idiot sometimes.”

You stared at him in shock. “I see.” You had no idea what was going on but you couldn’t deny the fact that the swordsman felt familiar to you. No matter how much you wanted to deny it, you were starting to believe there words.

~~

Your hands shook as you tried your best to hold onto him. He seemed to be holding back for some reason and you recalled what Robin had said, it was as if subconsciously he knew this wasn’t right.

You didn’t remember him but you trusted Luffy and Robin. You had too. There was no other way to explain the missing pieces without their explanation.

Robin and the others beside you and Luffy had gone ahead to try and find the source of the problem. So there was no rescue beside them getting your memories back somehow

“Y/n stop!” Luffy shouted when he noticed your feet sliding in the dirt below. Zoros swords were sharp even an idiot could see the man in front of you could end your life in one fell swoop.

Luffy went to punch Zoro off you but in a split second the swordsman had thrown you over his shoulder but you forced him to follow suit by keeping a tight grip on his hands.

Though now seeing your current position you aren’t sure that was such a great idea.

He had you pinned, blade to one side of your throat while the one in his mouth was dangerously close to your face and the other was creeping up on the other side of your neck. Out of desperation you started speaking to him, “I know I don’t remember you and you don’t remember me. But I believe that straw hat guy and that other girl. Because your warmth feels to familiar to be foreign.” You said softly, wincing when you felt the tip of one of his blades pierce your skin.

“Y/n!” Luffy screamed and you saw he was powering himself up for another move but you held your hand out to stop him, your other hand coming to rest on Zoros cheek. An action that felt to familiar.

“It’s okay.” Zoro hesitated for a moment when you simply smiled at him the dark look in his eye softening slightly. “Somehow I know it’s going to be okay. So if this is what you need to do, go ahead.”

Tears pricked your eyes when you felt the blade cut further into your neck and you could feel your own blood dripping down the side of your neck. Your hand that was held out to stop Luffy came to hold onto the blade in his mouth. You cried out as blood gushed out of your palm and down your arm.

The other blade was close to the other side of your neck so you took a deep breathe and closed your eyes, preparing yourself to die when everything stopped and you felt the two blades at the side of your neck stop. “Y/n?” Came a shaky voice then next a flood of memories.

Your eyes shot open in shock. Zoro seemed just as shocked if not more when he realized he was not only pinning you to the ground but had your life just barely in his grasp.

“W-what the hells going on?” He asked while he removed the sword from his mouth. You winced as it finally released itself from your hand and he noticed immediately. He dropped all his swords to the ground and made a grab for your hand before he noticed the blood trickling down your neck. “What the hell did I do?!”

“It’s okay!” You cried happily, all the things Luffy told you on the ship coming back in full but this time in your perspective. “It’s okay! I’m okay!”

But before he could respond Luffy shot himself at Zoro, knocking the swordsman away from you and into the trees. “Zoro!”

“Are you alright? He didn’t hurt you to bad did he?!” Luffy asked as he kneeled bedside you and assessed the damage. When he stood next he had a glare on his face. “What the hell Zoro?!”

Zoro came out of the trees with a glare of his own. “I didn’t know Luffy!” He shouted as he made a beeline for you both again but he had an angry look on his face again.

Instead of going to you he grabbed his swords and started walking the path the others had gone. “Stay here with Y/n I have to go finish something.”

“Wait Zoro!” Luffy shouted and instead of doing what he asked he went chasing after him.

You titled your head to the side to watch them go and laughed to yourself softly before the action made you wince. “Yeah glad I’m not his enemy.” You sighed before closing your eyes and letting the world go dark.

~~

What felt like only a few minutes later which you’re sure was probably longer, you felt someone shaking you.

“Y/n! Wake up!” The voice sounded so close yet so far. “Y/n please wake up!!” He cried his voice laced with concern.

“Chopper!” Someone else called before you felt someone grab onto your shoulders and start roughly shaking you

“Ah Luffy!” Chopper shouted as your eyes opened just in time to see Zoro punch Luffy clear across the path and grab hold of you protectively.

“She’s injured idiot!” He yelled after him and Luffy stood up while rubbing his head.

“Well it was you who injured her.” And with this new information from Luffy Sanji was quick to kick Zoro in the head.

“Stop it!” Nami yelled before zoro could drop you recklessly to the ground to fight the cook, though Zoro wasn’t going to do that anytime soon. He didn’t even seem to notice the kick to the head because all he noticed was the way your eyes were staring up at him and the corners of your mouth were curled into a smile.

Chopper stopped briefly as well when he noticed you had woken up and not only that but you were laughing. “Y/n!” He said happily before he continued going through his bag.

“Are you okay?” Zoro asked softly and you could only nod your head while you looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay.” You reassured but he couldn’t help but look down guiltily. “Though I am glad we aren’t enemies. That was exhausting even for such a short fight”

He could tell you were trying to lighten to mood and he decided to let you. “Which will never happen again alright? If I’m ever taken control of don’t try and get between me and whatever my target is. Alright?” You went to disagree but he stopped you. “I never want you to be on that side of my blades ever again so don’t try to be heroic against me okay? Please?”

You couldn’t argue with him. Not when he had that pleading look in his eyes. So instead you just nodded in agreement.

After Chopper wrapped your hand and stopped the bleeding on your neck you set off to the going merry again. You were stood with Zoro the whole way back as he refused to let you leave his sight. But that changed the moment you all were on board.

While everyone else went there separate ways to start getting the hell off the island Zoro was quick to go up to the crows nest. You watched him go in confusion until chopper came up to you, tapping your leg.

“Your palm needs stitch’s, come on.” You only nodded and started to follow him while you spared the crows nest one last glance.

His cold shoulder lasted for more days than you expected. You hardly expected him to avoid you in the first place if you were honest. But after getting back on the ship he was everywhere you weren’t, mainly up in the crows nest.

He’d have his meals after the rest of you or he’d take his with him to eat somewhere else. Everyone would watch you in either concern or confusion but you had nothing to say to reassure them, you had no idea where this was coming from either.

Your attempts at cornering him had proven unsuccessful because he would simply push you away. Albeit gently, he still did and it may not have hurt physically but mentally it hurt worse.

So after you had had enough you grabbed a blanket and pillow and while everyone else was asleep you made your way up the ladder to the crows nest.

Zoro had his arms crossed and head down until he heard you and he opened his eyes to see what was going on but he only sighed when he saw it was you. “What are you doing? You’re gonna get a cold.” He said Cooly and you shrugged.

This wasn’t anything new. On the nights he held watch you would be up here sleeping next to him and on the nights you held watch he’d be sitting next to you keeping you company even if he did fall asleep immediately after sitting down.

Usually on those times you’d cuddle up next to him but this time you made yourself comfortable on top of the door leading down so he couldn’t escape from you.

“Why are you avoiding me?” You asked, curling into the blanket to keep away from the especially cold night.

Zoro opened his eyes and stared at you silently for a moment. “I’m not.” he finally said.

“Don’t lie to me.” You mumbled trying to suppress a shiver. But Zoro could see it, he could see the way you were shaking ever so slightly from the cold and it made him frown. “Is it because of what happened? Because if it is I’m fine! You didn’t remember who we were and I didn’t either.”

“But you still tried to stop me even when you didn’t know who i was.” He could hear the chattering of your teeth now. You should be inside the girls cabin asleep, not up here. “Come here.” He finally caved and opened an arm out to invite you into his embrace.

You were quick to stand with your blanket and cross the small space to get to him. You straddled his lap and rested you head between his shoulder and jaw. His arms coming to wrap around you securely. “Do you doubt my ability to protect myself?” You whispered against his neck and he resisted the urge to shudder.

“I don’t doubt your ability.” He affirmed, “but I never wanted to be the one you had to prove your strength against. I never wanted to be the one to cause harm to you.” You were silent then, you had nothing else to say you seemed to finally understand his need to put distance between the two of you. He felt guilty.

After a few more minutes of silence you spoke again, “I remember talking to Luffy when I lost my memories.” Zoro hummed. “He was telling me about the two of us and I remember asking him why weren’t together and he said he didn’t know. But it got me thinking,” you sat up now and you could see a small blush covering his cheeks. “Why aren’t we?”

You moved slightly closer, just enough to distract him from his thoughts as he attempted to keep his gaze on your eyes and not on the way your warm breathe fanned across his lips so delicately. “What do you want?” He asked eventually, swallowing down his nerves.

If you were anyone one else you would’ve backed away at the tone of voice he used when asking that question but you could tell he was nervous to even acknowledge the shift that was happening between the two of you. “I just wanted to be yours.” You responded quietly and leaned closer again to brush your lips against his in a barely there kiss but when you pulled back his eyes were closed as if trying to commit the feeling to his memory. “Can I be yours?”

Zoros eyes finally opened as he stared at you and just when you were about to take back what you said and did he surged forward and crashed his lips to yours, pouring everything he had into it. His hands gripped your sides while yours went to cup his face in your hands when he suddenly pulled back just an inch, breathing heavily. “Tell me to stop.” He breathed but you only looked at him in confusion.

“Do you want to stop?”

He shook his head. “No. But if I keep going everything changes. So please tell me stop.” He begged his hands gripping tighter.

“Zoro.” Your lips brushed his again as you let your fingers run across his earrings. “I’m not going to tell you to stop. I want everything you have to offer me.”

He looked at you in utter shock and admiration before he finally let one of his small smiles out. He chuckled softly, leaning up until your lips were just centimeters apart and you could feel his next words on your own lips. “What could I possibly tell you that could top that?”

But your next words would have him grinning the rest of his life. “Just tell me I’m yours.” Finally he closed to gap again and he held onto you for dear life like you would slip from his grasp if he loosened his hold.

“You’re mine.” He murmured after pulling away. Then he pushed back against you, his hands slipping under your shirt where he could feel the goosebumps flood your skin.

Kissing along your neck until he was back face to face with you. He smirked, “And I’m yours.”

The end

~~

[vodika-vibes]

Hello, love your stories and I saw the alpha fic you wrote recently. It’s funny that someone asked something similar to what I was thinking for Gregor. I’ve never requested a story before but here goes. Would you write a sweet (spicy if you’d like) story about Gregors recovery and the person who helped him. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a nurse. Maybe it can be someone he meets as he’s recovering someone who he learns some cooking tips from. I dunno cover all the bases if you like or not ?

Thank you .

I'm Still Here

Summary: A large part of you dreads the day that Gregor regains his memory and he leaves. You’re not stupid. Or blind. You know he’s a clone. You know he’s going to leave. But for now, you don’t have to share him with the galaxy, and that will have to be enough.

Pairing: Captain Gregor x F!Reader

Word Count: 1611

Warnings: None

A/N: I'm not sure I managed to fill this the way that you asked, but I hope you like it anyway!

“I don’t think I’m doing this right,”

You stop kneading the dough that you’re working on to look over your shoulder at the man standing at the counter on the other side of your kitchen, “What’s wrong?”

Gregor glances at you and makes a face, “I don’t think this soup is supposed to be so runny.”

You release a thoughtful hum and set the dough back in the bowl to rise for a couple more hours, and then you wipe your hands on the rag hanging from your belt.

“Well, it does need to simmer for the rest of the afternoon,” You point out as you walk over to him and duck under his arm to peek into the pot, “It should thicken as it simmers.”

“Should?”

“Don’t worry so much, Gregor. You’re doing great!” You beam up at him, and you watch, amused, as color spreads across his cheeks and he averts his gaze. You almost want to coo at him, but you don’t actually want to embarrass him so you restrain yourself.

“I just don’t want to ruin this,” He says, “They’re your family.”

“They’re going to think you’re great, Gregor. Just like I do.”

“I don’t think most people in the galaxy are as kind as you are,” He counters dryly.

“Nonsense, people are inherently good.”

You can feel Gregor staring at you, and then you squeak in surprise when his strong arm slides around your shoulders, tugging you back against his chest, “That hasn’t been my experience.” He replies, and his arm tightens, “I worry about you, you know that?”

“How so?”

“People are going to take advantage of you. You’re too nice.”

You twist in his embrace and grin up at him, “Good thing I have you here to be mean for me.”

He laughs and releases you so he can set the lid on the pot, and you absently turn the heat down a little. Gregor’s smile is warm and focused on you, and it makes you feel a little warm.

But then, you’ve been crushing on him since the day you met him. You’d be more surprised if his smile didn’t make you feel like this.

“So, are we all set?” Gregor asks.

“Um…” You run down your mental checklist, and then you nod, “Yep. All set. Soup is cooking, dough is rising, veggies are marinating, and you’re here! All that’s left is to put everything together and wait for my parents to arrive.”

He pushes his hand through his hair, “What if they hate me?”

“Then they can go and eat dinner somewhere else.” You reply loftily as if it doesn’t matter. In truth, it’s hit or miss on whether they’ll like Gregor or not. Your father has always hated the people you introduced to him, and your mother would always go along with what he did.

And him being a clone won’t even have anything to do with why they’d hate him.

Your parents have always been funny about controlling the people you surround yourself with.

Needless to say, you had a very lonely childhood.

“That easy?” Gregor asks, pulling you from your thoughts.

“That easy.” You agree, and then you grin at him, “And you remembered the whole recipe on your own.”

He looks surprised for a moment, and then a bright smile crosses his face, “Yeah. I did, didn’t I?”

“That’s a huge step, Gregor!”

The brain injury he sustained, somehow, messed with his memory pretty badly. He’s been working on it for months now, and his doctor suggested that cooking might be a way to help his rehab.

Honestly, you thought that his doctor was a quack, but since it seems to be helping, you’re beginning to reevaluate your opinion of him. 

Though, you still think that not telling him that he’s a Clone is a shitty thing to do to someone. Surely Gregor deserves to know that he has an army of brothers out there?

But, even thinking that, you still haven’t told him. 

Oh, you’ve come close a time or two. But when he learns the truth, he’ll leave.

And he’s the only friend you’ve ever had.

You’re pulled from your spiraling thoughts at the sound of your comm ringing. You reach into your pocket to grab it, only it’s not there. Quickly, you scan the kitchen and then step into your living room.

Your comm is sitting on the table in front of the holo, and it’s still ringing.

You grab the comm and press it to your ear, and the person on the other end speaks before you’re even able to say hello. “It’s about time you answered.”

“I—”

“Not important. Listen, your father and I aren’t going to make it to dinner.”

“You—” Once again, you’re cut off.

“To be honest, darling, we don’t want to come. Also, we’re moving to Alderaan.”

“Wait—”

“We’re leaving in an hour, and you know how much I hate long goodbyes. Alright! Good talk! Bye, darling!” And then she hangs up.

You try calling her back, but she clearly turned her comm off after getting off the call with you.

A heavy sigh falls from your lips, and you drop your comm back on the table.

“Well, that was a conversation.” Gregor says from the doorway to the kitchen, “Everything alright?”

“...my parents aren’t coming.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

You shake your head, “No, it’s…” Your shoulders slump, “It’s fine. I shouldn’t have expected them to come in the first place.”

“They’re your parents. It’s alright to expect them to want to know the people in your life.” He flashes an awkward smile at you, “Besides, it’s not like I have any family that I know of.”

His words were like a punch to the gut, and you try to swallow your guilt, but this time you can’t.

“I…Gregor…”

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

“You do have family.”

He blinks at you, “What?”

“I just…I…” You grab your datapad and pull open a recent article surrounding the clone army, and you pass it to him, “You’re a Clone, Gregor. I knew it as soon as I saw you.”

He scans the article, and then scrolls to look at the picture at the top of the article, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You’re doctor—” You pause and then you close your eyes and sigh, “No, that’s an easy answer. The truth is, you’re the only friend I have and I knew that if you knew that you had family you’d leave. I was being…selfish. As per usual.”

Gregor is quiet for a moment, “Do you know where my armor is?”

“I don’t,” You admit honestly, “I wasn’t the one who found you. No one knows who found you.”

He frowns at you for a moment and then turns on his heel. You hear your front door open, and then the sound of the door clicking shut behind him. You fall back on your couch and bury your face in your hands.

You can’t even be mad about him leaving. It was exactly what you thought would happen when he found out.

You honestly don’t expect to see Gregor again, so when your doorbell rings right before you get into bed, you don’t know who you expect to see.

So you wrap your robe tightly around your body, and open the door just a crack.

You, very nearly, jump out of your skin when you see the man in armor standing in front of your door, though the fright turns to confusion when he pulls his helmet off and reveals a clean-shaven Gregor.

“Gregor?” You ask, bewildered.

“I found my armor.” Gregor replies, “Can I come in?”

“Oh, uh…yeah. Of course.” You move to the side to let him into your home and then shut the door behind him. “Where was it?”

“Oh, just laying around,” Gregor replies with a shrug as he starts pulling his armor off and stacking it near the front door.

You watch him, politely bewildered, and then finally ask, “What are you doing?”

He glances at you, confusion on his face, and then he favors you with a tiny smile, “Did you really think I was just going to leave?”

“...yes?”

“Not a chance.” He walks over to you and lightly cups your face, “Come on, how could I just leave you?”

“I lied to you.”

“Yeah, maybe. But I wasn’t in any condition to return to the frontlines anyway.” One of his hands slides to the back of your neck, and the other settles low on your hip, and he tugs you so that you stumble against his body.

“But—”

“I’m still here, cyare.” He interrupts, “And I’m not going anywhere until we settle this.”

“This?” You repeat, uncertainly.

Gregor giggles and his eyes glitter with mischief, “While I do have to return to the frontlines, I’m not leaving without giving you a night to remember.” He leans in and ghosts his lips against yours, “And I’ll definitely be coming back.”

“You…will?”

He doesn’t answer, instead, his grin widens and he closes the distance between your lips, pulling you into a deep kiss. “Well,” He mumbles against your lips, “That depends on you.” He moves so that his lips are trailing against your jaw, “I don’t think I was imagining the thing between us.”

“You weren’t,” You whisper, a soft gasp falling from you as his lips move to your throat.

“Good.”

And, when Gregor leaves the following morning, he leaves with the promise that he’ll come back as often as he’s able, several dark hickys, and a promise of his love.

He also leaves you pregnant, though you don’t figure that out until several months later.

@imabeautifulbutterfly @n0vqni @bad4amficideas @justiceandwar98 @mira-loves-star-wars

@tiredbi-peach @dukeoftheblackstar @trixie2023 @kimiheartblade @padawancat97

@falconfeather23435 @etod @bb8-99 @kiss-anon @continous-mistakes

@yoitsjay @liz-stat @cc--2224

[dewdropdinosaur]

The Reason You Loved Me Before

LUCIFER x MALE FALLEN ANGEL! READER

Summary: Lucifer had long forgotten you, at least that is what he told himself before he saw you again. Warnings: Lillith doesn't really exist in this Based on a few notes from @pixie-skull

Lucifer Morningstar, dressed in his signature tailored suit and with a swagger that announced his entrance before he even spoke, strolled through the grand lobby of the Hazbin Hotel. The less than opulent surroundings, though he meant no harm to the hand painted signs, were a sharp contrast to his dress.  He was here on a personal quest, driven by whispers of a past he hadn’t anticipated revisiting. Charlie, after the 456th hand scribbled invite, had just called her father and invited him to the Hotel; of which his depression quickly took note of and ceased to exist for those few moments. 

As he surveyed the hotel's decor with a mix of disdain and curiosity, his sharp eyes caught sight of a figure near the bar—a handsome man holding a child’s hand. Lucifer’s heart skipped a beat. The sight brought back memories of him and Charlie, but a twinge of something else. Approaching closer to the man, whose face was skewed from the way he was facing, Lucifer struggled to get a look he so desperately wanted. 

“Ahem. Hello there, my name is Lucifer. It’s a pleasure to meet another resident of my daughter’s hotel.” Lucifer extended his hand to the man who turned to face him. 

With wide eyes and jaw slack, Lucifer felt his knees almost buckle. It couldn’t be…no no…they ought still be in Heaven! 

“No need for the frilly introductions, Luci.” 

The years had not been kind to Y/N. His once-brilliant feathers were now a muted grey, and his celestial radiance had dimmed. Yet, his presence exuded a warmth that Lucifer recognized instantly. With a mix of trepidation and hope, Lucifer approached.

“Y/N” Lucifer said softly, his voice betraying a vulnerability he rarely allowed himself to show. “I never expected to see you here.”

The two old lovers stood in silence for a moment, the weight of their shared past hanging between them. It was Y/N who broke the silence, his voice trembling.

“Oh…I…how are—you?” Y/N ran a hand behind his head and chuckled awkwardly as Lucifer tried to regain his composure. 

“Well I—I am well. Just visited the gang you know! Umm..who’s this?”

“Hello mister Lucifer…my name is Matthew!”

Lucifer felt the earth shift beneath him. He approached the child, kneeling to meet the curious gaze of the small being eyes widened with recognition, a spark of something ancient and profound passing between them.

All Lucifer remembered was the fall, at least that's all he would choose to remember. The rest was too painful. The look of Y/N's tear-filled eyes as he descended down into the firey pit he had created, his hand stretched out as if he could hold their hand again. They had made love the night before, sweet and tender, a sinful bliss that neither had known till the other. All of it was over, at least Lucifer thought it was. His darling angel was still in heaven, not down here, and at least with a child.

“I didn’t know,” Lucifer said, his voice choked with emotion. “I never knew.”

Y/N’s  voice was barely a whisper. “After the Fall, I tried to hid Matthew from the celestial and infernal eyes that would have sought him out. I wanted him to have a chance to live in peace.”

Lucifer reached out and gently ruffled Matthew hair. The boy giggled, a sound that felt like a balm to Lucifer’s long-scarred heart.

“I thought you were lost to me,” Lucifer said, looking back at Y/Nl. “I thought that everything we had was gone.”

Y/N’s eyes filled with tears. “I never stopped loving you, Lucifer. Even as I fell, even as I tried to rebuild my life, my heart remained yours.”

The distance of time and pain melted away in that moment. Lucifer took Y/N’s hands in his own, his touch tender and careful.

“Let’s not waste another moment,” Lucifer said softly. “We have your…our son. We have a chance to be a family, to be together.”

Y/N nodded slowly, tears streaming down his face. “Yes. We can make up for the lost years. But that'll take time, Luci. A lot of time." Y/N grabbed Matthew's hand and walked out of the lobby.

The reunion was bittersweet, a promise of new beginnings intertwined with the echoes of a turbulent past. As Lucifer, Y/N, and Matthew shared their first evening together, curtsey of Charlie putting a surprise dinner together, the Hazbin Hotel—known for its chaos and redemption—witnessed a tender moment of rekindled love. The hotel’s flamboyant lights and bizarre ambiance seemed to fade into insignificance as the three of them embraced, united by the unbreakable bonds of love that had endured across realms and time.

For Lucifer and Y/N, the past was no longer a prison but a bridge leading them back to each other. And in the heart of Hell, they found a small, flickering spark of Heaven that promised a future filled with hope and rediscovered love.

[geotjwrs]

I would like to request one with Olivia Rodrigo x Male Reader, with smut.

Based on the premiere of "Driving Home 2 U a Sour Film"

R is a world famous actor and is Olivia's friend, so when Olivia announces "Driving Home 2 U a Sour Film" she invites R to the premiere.

When R arrives and sees Olivia, he remains paralyzed for a while seeing the beauty that Olivia gives off, after that R approaches Olivia, she sees it and is moved and they both hug each other effusively, R lifting Olivia off the ground giving a few turns, and when she comes down he tells Liv how beautiful she looks. R hears that the press say his name and Liv's, so they pose together for the photos and approach the interviewers.

When they go in to see the film, R has to sit next to Liv, after a while Liv rests her head on R's shoulder and he rests his head on Liv's, and they continue watching the film.

When it's over and everyone starts to leave, Liv asks R if he'd like to come over to her house to pass the time. When they arrive they decide not to change their clothes, just take off they shoes and R asks Liv what she would like for dinner, and R with Liv's help they start to make pasta.

When they finish eating between talking and laughing they go to the living room and lie down on the carpeted floor and continue talking, Liv casually asks R if he likes someone and R answers yes and also casually he tells her that she is the one he likes, then Liv sits down and leans towards R (still lying down) and kisses him, when Liv lies down again R still has his eyes closed and opens them slowly and now it is R who sits down and leans in to kiss to Liv, but this time more exciting and they proceed to make love right there, very tender, very passionate, R adoring Liv's body.

Please and thank you.

popular (18+)

Pairings ; Olivia Rodrigo x Male!Reader

Warning/s ; smut

The red carpet was ablaze with the radiant glow of Olivia Rodrigo's presence as she awaited the arrival of her dear friend, the world-famous actor, Y/N. When Y/N finally arrived, the sight of Olivia's beauty left him momentarily paralyzed. He quickly regained his composure and approached her, embracing her in a warm hug and lifting her off the ground, turning gently before setting her back down.

As they posed for photos together, Y/N couldn't help but notice the way Olivia's eyes sparkled under the camera flashes. They exchanged pleasantries with the press, both clearly enjoying their moment in the spotlight. With anticipation building, they made their way inside to watch the premiere of "Driving Home 2 U a Sour Film."

As Olivia and Y/N settled into their seats, Y/N could feel the warmth of her hand resting gently on his arm. As the movie began, Liv leaned her head onto his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. They laughed and cried together throughout the screening, sharing in the emotional journey of the film.

When the credits rolled, the audience began to filter out, but Olivia had other plans. She suggested they continue the night at her place, and Y/N eagerly agreed. Upon arriving, they both decided to skip changing their clothes, instead opting to remove their shoes and relax. Y/N offered to help Olivia prepare dinner, and soon the delicious aroma of pasta filled the air.

As they sat down to eat, Y/N couldn't help but steal glances at Olivia, marveling at her beauty. They talked and laughed, sharing stories and memories from their past. Once the dishes were cleared, they made their way to the living room, lying down on the plush carpet, continuing their conversation.

The mood between them shifted as Olivia casually asked Y/N if he liked someone. He hesitated for a moment before admitting that yes, he did – and the person he liked was her. Liv's eyes widened with surprise, and she sat up, leaning towards Y/N, their faces inches apart. She kissed him gently, and he responded in kind, their passion igniting as their lips met.

As their kiss deepened, Y/N gently rolled Olivia onto her back, his hands exploring her soft curves, his lips trailing kisses down her neck. Liv arched her back, moaning softly as Y/N's hands caressed her body, sending shivers of pleasure through her.

"Oh, Y/N," she whispered, her voice heavy with desire. "I've wanted this for so long."

Y/N grinned mischievously, his eyes locked on hers as he began to unbutton her blouse, revealing her lacy bra. Olivia gasped as his fingers traced the outline of her breasts, her nipples hardening beneath her clothing.

"You're so beautiful, Liv," Y/N murmured, his voice filled with awe. "I can't believe I'm finally touching you like this."

Olivia smiled, her eyes glazed with lust as Y/N continued to explore her body. She reached out, her hands finding his hard length through his pants, and she gasped at the feel of him.

"Y/N, I need you," she breathed, her voice thick with desire. "Please, take me right here."

Y/N wasted no time in obliging her request, his hands sliding down her body to unbutton her jeans. He pulled them off, revealing her delicate lace panties, and he couldn't resist burying his face in her soft thighs, inhaling her sweet scent.

"God, Liv, you smell so good," he groaned, his tongue darting out to taste her, eliciting a moan of pleasure from her.

Olivia writhed beneath him, her body aching for more. She reached out, undoing his belt and unzipping his pants, freeing his throbbing cock. She wrapped her fingers around his length, stroking him gently as Y/N continued to lick and suck at her clit.

"Oh, fuck, Y/N," Liv cried out, her hips bucking against his mouth. "I'm going to cum! Don't stop, please!"

Y/N doubled down on his efforts, his tongue flicking at her sensitive bud as Olivia's orgasm washed over her, her cries of pleasure filling the air. He continued to lick her, drawing out her pleasure as she trembled beneath him.

Once she had caught her breath, Y/N moved up to kiss her deeply, sharing the taste of her own arousal with her. Olivia moaned into his mouth, her hands roaming his body, tracing the contours of his muscles.

"I want you inside me, Y/N," she whispered, her voice filled with desire. "Please, fuck me."

Y/N didn't need to be asked twice, his cock hard and ready. He positioned himself at her entrance, sliding into her slowly, allowing her to adjust to his size. Olivia gasped, her fingers digging into his back as he began to thrust, filling her with his length.

"Oh, God, Y/N! Yes, just like that," she moaned, her hips meeting his in perfect rhythm. "Harder, give it to me harder!"

Y/N obliged, his thrusts becoming more forceful, their bodies slapping together with each powerful stroke. Olivia threw her head back, her eyes closed as she lost herself in the sensation of Y/N inside her, his cock hitting just the right spot with each thrust.

"Oh, fuck, Liv," Y/N groaned, his voice thick with lust. "You feel so fucking good. I'm not going to last much longer."

Olivia grinned, her eyes locked on his as she began to massage her clit, her fingers moving in perfect sync with Y/N's thrusts.

"I'm close, Y/N," she gasped, her voice heavy with desire. "I want to cum with you."

Y/N growled in response, his hips pistoning faster, his cock buried deep inside her. Olivia's body tensed, her orgasm building as Y/N continued to thrust, his own release just moments away.

"Cum for me, Liv," he groaned, his voice strained with desire. "I want to feel you cum around my cock."

Olivia cried out in ecstasy as her orgasm tore through her, her body trembling with pleasure. Y/N thrust once, twice, before finally succumbing to his own release, his cock twitching deep inside her as he filled her with his seed.

They lay there, panting and spent, their bodies entwined as they basked in the afterglow of their passion. Y/N kissed Olivia softly, his hands caressing her body, savoring the feel of her skin against his own.

"Thank you, Liv," he whispered, his voice filled with emotion. "That was incredible."

Olivia smiled, her eyes filled with love as she gazed up at him.

"You're welcome, Y/N," she murmured, her fingers tracing the lines of his face. "I've wanted this for so long, and I'm so glad we finally gave in to our desires."

Y/N grinned, kissing her deeply, their lips meeting in a passionate embrace.

[deripmaver]

analyzing kentaro miura’s words on casca’s recovery

Below I’ve attached three separate screenshots of translations of a 2019 interview done by Young Animal ZERO magazine with Kentaro Miura on the topic of Casca’s recovery and revival. These aren’t new of course, but I want to discuss my reaction to them, and also discuss how I think they fit in with the current direction the story has taken with Studio Gaga’s chapters. 

First up, a fan translation originally from skullknight.net, reposted to twitter:

Up next, a google translated version from kojion on twitter, who’s provided a few interviews that haven’t yet reached English speaking fans:

Finally, I’m not 100% sure what this is. It seems to follow from the above screenshots, but it’s not clear if this is just kojion’s interpretation of the interview response, or if this is specifically something Kentaro Miura said. I messaged him on twitter to ask, and I’ll update this post accordingly with his response!

This interview response was, no exaggeration, like a balm on my soul to read the first time I saw it. With how prevalent rape is in Berserk, and with how long it took for Casca to be revived, I admit I couldn’t help falling into this pit of frustration where I wondered if Miura even knew the extent of how awful what he put her through was. Her mental state, of course, did indicate he was aware of that - and then her revival happened, and the corridor of dreams, and I just remember being in actual tears because of how we went into Casca’s mind to show the trauma from her eyes. I can’t think of a more effective way to show something as serious as rape, genuinely. 

And then, of course, this interview response, and again I remember thinking: Wow. This author really gets it. It was the thing that really made me confident in his ability to tell the story of Casca’s recovery. 

First up, the very first part of the response: Casca’s awakening is not the end of her journey, it’s the beginning. This is absolutely, incredibly realistic. I think Miura likes to tease the audience in a sort of mean way lol, there’s the beautiful, dramatic panels where Casca awakens, and she’s put in that gorgeous fairy dress - almost like a wedding dress, you could say - and she’s sent off to have her romantic reunion with Guts... 

And lol. We all remember how that went. Miura is such a troll lmao (affectionate)(kind of).

But of course, just because she’s in control of her mind again doesn’t at ALL mean she’s processed her trauma. Guts has had years to process what happened, but she’s been completely stuck this whole time.

We know from her dreamscape that it was Griffith’s betrayal that really, truly broke her mind (I won’t include the panels here because I don’t want to CRY), and that sort of loss of trust is in no way mended by simply returning to herself. Again, then, two things that made me so astonishingly confident in Miura’s ability to tell Casca’s story from the interview: He's writing Casca as a human, who will react in a natural, human way to her trauma, and that she needs to face up to what Griffith did. This, to me, very clearly indicates that her upcoming arc is going to be focused on facing up to the trauma Griffith caused her, and this is especially hammered in by what’s happening to her currently in canon, being stuck in Falconia with Griffith and with her memories, again, magically suppressed so she can’t begin to process anything. I genuinely can’t imagine any other way for things to go for her.

One more note before I go on to my ~predictions~ based on the current chapters is that I want to highlight this panel here: 

If you follow me on twt you’ve seen me say this before but PTSD flashbacks have the person not just remembering the traumatic event, but feeling as though they’re experiencing the traumatic event all over again. Miura is aware that Casca simply regaining her memories wouldn’t be the end of her recovery but the beginning, knows that the real key to healing is processing the traumatic event, and knows that PTSD flashbacks make you feel as though you’re experiencing the trauma all over again. It’s far more sensitive than I’d expect most authors, let alone a cishet dude mangaka lol. 

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CASCA?

I need to admit I’m making this post because earlier I got into a conversation on tumblr with someone who claimed that people read too much into Miura’s comments on Casca’s recovery, that they don’t indicate that she’ll successfully heal, that there’s no indication from the comments that he intended to write a full deep dive into Casca’s mental state and trauma, and that for all we know this would just be a side plot a la Farnese’s growth. 

My position is that I genuinely can’t think of anything else that Casca’s upcoming storyline could be about besides her struggling with her trauma (and of course trying to escape Falconia, but in my mind those go hand in hand). I also think that I simply have different ideas about how important Casca is narratively than this person, which is the root of our difference in opinion on Casca’s recovery. 

Right now, Casca has been kidnapped by Griffith and taken to Falconia, where she is being magically drugged to suppress her memories, and her healing. Her storyline necessitates that she get away from Griffith and out from the spell currently suppressing her personality, and getting out from under this spell will mean the return of the memories she was starting to process in Elfheim. 

While it’s terrifying that Casca is away from her support system (and has been kidnapped by her RAPIST jesus christ) I actually think being away from Guts is the necessary key to her processing Griffith’s rape on her own terms. Guts is a massive trigger for her PTSD currently, and there’s the duality of her desire to see him and the likely ensuing guilt and frustration and sadness that comes with being unable to. Without his presence around her, I actually think it’ll be easier for her because there won’t be an expectation of her being with him. 

There are people who we KNOW are in Falconia and will likely be Casca’s support system, we just currently have no idea how they’ll all meet up. I know Luca and the girls will be instrumental to Casca’s story because otherwise there would be no reason to bring them back and also for Casca to mention them explicitly in Elfheim.

The other point made by this person on tumblr is that Miura’s interview doesn’t indicate that Casca will recover. Perhaps, they say, her story will end with Casca unable to cope. I think this in people’s minds leads easily into the Apostle Casca theory, which I’ll be honest and repeat that I fucking hate so much LOL. I get it in some sense, but I really do hate it as a theory. As Miura says, though, he’s writing Casca as a real person, and there are absolutely very low points in trauma recovery, so I expect her to go through a lot of strife. 

It’s difficult in some ways to look at these responses because there’s the language barrier. “she should confront what Griffith or the monsters did” and “she will now have to overcome the trauma” both, to me, seem to positively indicate that overcome is the intended outcome, but of course I’m not sure. Now, if kojion’s second tweet is a translated quote from Miura himself and not just his analysis of it, that’s kind of a smoking gun that recovery is the intended outcome of Casca’s arc, but I’m not sure one way or another. 

This is purely based on my emotional response, but I think a story where a woman is betrayed and raped by one of her closest companions, who loses her mind for years because she’s unable to cope with the trauma of the betrayal, who finally has her memories returned to her and now needs to go on the incredibly difficult and painful journey of processing this betrayal - to have her story end tragically with the result that she’s never able to recover would...

Hm. Let’s say that it would need to be handled with extreme care. It might be the thing that gets Berserk to warrant its grimdark reputation.

As a conclusion, I think this one quote has a ton of potential for analysis inherent to it, particularly for fans of Casca, who are having a bit of a renaissance on twitter right now HAHA and I’m trying to gather them on tumblr too. If you combine it with various tidbits of Miura’s chapters from before his death, as well as the continuation by Studio Gaga, it helps create in my mind a decent picture of the trajectory of Casca’s arc, though the specifics are still up in the air. 

Either way, I want to say to any Casca stans reading this that I really do think that Casca’s story is important, and will be shown as important going forward. I always hesitate to trust cishet authors for obvious reasons lol, but at least I can say that if she’s shown to NOT be important, that will entirely be on him and his sexism, and I think it will inherently make the story weaker. I don’t think that will be the case, though. 

WE’VE WAITED THIS FUCKING LONG-

[mychoombatheroomba]

Covert Operations

Between the Bones (Leon x GN! Reader) - Chapter 38

Your bed rest has proven more difficult than you thought, and you get support from a person you didn't quite expect, even if maybe you should have.

(Cross-posted from Ao3)

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You’d never thought you’d have to watch your life play out through a pane of glass. 

That was what you were reduced to, that first week. Bed rest. Doc’s orders. A week of it, wherein you wanted to do as Krauser suggested and study the less physical parts of the training. Trouble was, you’d not been given any of that training. No one had come to tell you what the hell they were learning over there, not even Krauser. 

So you’d stayed in bed dutifully for those first few days, but before long you’d pushed one of the uncomfortable chairs in the room towards that window. There you often sat, feeling your muscles crying out to be used and your eyes ever drifting towards that window. The orientation of the infirmary was cruel, giving you a good view of the base. A view of what you were missing, framed nice and pretty. 

It was like a movie. The kind that made you feel empty inside, but you couldn’t help watching. And watch was all you could do for those first few days. 

You watched Krauser and the other instructors greet a fresh batch of recruits. 

You watched lines of trainees running and heading to the shooting range, some you knew, some you didn’t. 

You watched Leon pushing himself, just as you knew he would. You watched him, beautiful and strong and sad, working through the shaking of his arms and legs. When he sparred with Valeria and the others, even when he did as you asked and faced down Krauser. You watched Leon lose to the Major over and over again, but he kept going. Kept getting up, every time. He was doing so well . . . and you knew you shouldn’t focus on him right now. It was poison to you, but you couldn’t help but drink it down. All of it. Everything you were supposed to be doing. 

A movie of should-have-beens . 

One with a soundtrack. 

“And if you go chasing rabbits-”

“And you know you’re going to fall-” 

The radio was a smartass. Or the DJ on the other end was without knowing it. Whatever the case, it always seemed to have something to say about you and your predicament. 

“Tell them a hookah smoking caterpillar-”

“Has given you a call-”

You knew that the radio had been a well-intended gift. And most of the time it was. It had kept you from delving into your own thoughts too much. It had been there when you woke in the middle of the night to the memories of friends turned monsters, or the resounding shock of a gunshot going off in the icy wilderness. You would reach for the radio in those moments, keeping it on because there was no one else you had to worry about waking. 

Sometimes, it would be that stupid, happy music. Songs that would keep your mind free. 

Sometimes, though . . .

You knew you shouldn’t have let it play those other songs. Just as you knew that you shouldn’t watch everyone else training. 

But you’d heard the news. 

Eight weeks. 

You weren’t going to graduate with Leon. That was the truth you had to grapple with. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world a few years ago. If you were two idiots having an affair in basic training. There would still be risks, but now? Leon would be thrown to the dogs and you wouldn’t be there to help him. 

So, over those days, you let those songs play, and let your thoughts play with them. 

Song after song after song. 

“In my shoes-”

“Walking sleep-”

“In my youth I pray to keep-”

What would happen, when you could finally move the way you needed to again? How much would your body allow you to do, after so long in bed? You knew the answer to that. You could remember how difficult it had been to regain your strength after . . . after the first time. You’d felt so weak, and you knew you’d feel weak again. You already did. 

That was if you even healed. 

You switched the station. 

“I could possibly be fading-” 

“Or have something more to gain-”

“I could feel myself growing colder-”

Some wounds didn’t heal right. You remembered a kid back in basic who fractured his arm in two places, falling from the obstacle course. They deemed him unable to serve when it didn’t heal right. 

If your ribs healed improperly . . . 

Another new station. 

“Distant eyes-”

“Promises we made were in vain-”

Whether you healed, Leon would be out there, fighting the fight without you. He was doing well. Better than the others, he’d pushed himself from being behind everyone to surpassing them all, but being the best didn’t matter out there. All it took was one moment of not paying attention. One second of carelessness. You knew that better than anyone. 

One moment and Leon could be gone, and you wouldn’t be able to do anything to protect him.

“If you must go, I wish you love-”

“You’ll never walk alone-” 

“You should be resting.” Doc’s voice had a way of being both caring and sobering all at once. He pulled you from your thoughts, and you turned to see him enter the room holding a sandwich. Fresh-cut tomatoes, soft white bread - nothing from the mess hall, you knew that for sure. Lucky bastard. He took a bite out of his dinner and gestured to the bed you should have been lying down in. 

“Didn’t think it mattered where I was resting, so long as I was resting,” you murmured, not wanting to climb back into that damn bed. 

The Doc just gave you a look. “Come on. Don’t be a little shit, kid.” 

Not much point fighting him on it. When it came to your health, he outranked everyone. Even Krauser. 

So, you frowned and carefully pushed yourself up from the chair, taking the radio with you. Letting it play as you reluctantly and slowly lowered yourself onto the bed once more. 

The Doc nodded, seemingly appeased. “Now try to sleep, yeah? Bed rest can be over tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. 

You’d be able to join in non-physically demanding lessons. The ones led by Reed and Hellman, then. That was something. That would at least keep your brain from becoming your worst enemy. 

Any more than it already was, anyway. 

You’d get to see Leon again, and that was something. 

Tomorrow seemed so far away as the Doc left you alone, as you tried to do what he ordered and sleep. 

You tried. You tried to sleep. 

It went about as well as it always did, so you lay there in that bed, letting the radio sing. You lay there as the thoughts ate away at you. The worries and what-ifs. The memories that always plagued you, and the fear that you wouldn’t be able to fight them. All because of some bullshit inflicted on you. More bullshit. Broken again. Fingers bunching up in the sheets of the bed, you shook your head and got up again in the darkness. Angry. Furious. 

Terrified. 

The radio played on and on and on and you paced the length of the room you were in. Your well-meaning prison. 

You would heal. You would get there eventually. 

Hopefully.

Maybe-

Your heart was beating, pounding against bones hard enough that it hurt. Breathing was just as painful, as it always was, and you felt like the walls were closing in on you. You felt like you were getting lost in the blur of it all, unsure what was wrong with you.

What was wrong with you? 

How could you be a soldier, how could you fight if you couldn’t even defeat the thoughts in your skull? 

How could you protect anyone-

There was a knock on the door, and you froze. 

Your assumption that it was the Doc come to check in on you was quickly done away with as, after a moment, another knock sounded and a gravelly voice called out from behind the door. “You fall asleep with the music that loud, or are you just ignoring your commanding officer?” 

. . . What the hell was Krauser doing here?

You hadn’t spoken to the Major in almost a week. Since he warned you not to continue on with Leon. Since you’d taken his advice but hadn’t, not ending things but not seeing the man of your affections beyond looking through that damn window. Honestly, you’d been thankful that Krauser hadn’t sought you out either, because there was a sickness to your stomach that you felt every time you thought of how Krauser had found out about your affair. 

Still, as much as you wanted to, you knew that pretending to be asleep wouldn’t get you out of whatever conversation was about to be had. 

As soon as the door was open, you found the Major standing there, his arms crossed over his chest. You expected him to be scowling at you. That he would tell you to shut the damn radio off and go to bed. 

Instead, there was an ever-so-slight curve to his mouth. A tiny smile. 

Who would be in for pain now, you wondered? 

“Get your boots on,” he ordered, not giving you time to ask what he was doing here. 

Not that you weren’t going to ask anyway. “Sir?” 

“Told you,” Krauser went on, sounding almost impatient, “I don’t want you moping around all the time. So you’re gonna make yourself useful.” 

Blinking was all you could manage, for a moment. It was the same way he’d told you that you’d be helping him with combat drills. The same way he’d told you that you’d be sparring with the lower-level cadets to sharpen their skills, the day before you’d met Leon. You wouldn’t be bruising any new recruits any time soon, so what was Krauser hoping you’d help him with? Whatever it was, it had to be better than being stuck in this room, right? So you nodded. “Yes, sir.” 

Lacing up your boots was difficult - something you hadn’t had to do in a few days. You sat on the edge of your bed, trying to hold in a grimace as you bent over awkwardly, fumbling with tying the knots. 

Krauser watched you struggle for just a moment before you heard his voice again. “Can you manage?” he asked curtly. There was another moment before he added, “Cause if you can’t lace up your boots, you can’t report for lessons tomorrow.” 

Get your shit together, in other words. 

“I’m fine.” You gritted your teeth, remembering how you’d managed this last year. When you finally managed it without hurting yourself further, you stood. You could recognize the ghost of pride on Krauser’s face. “So . . .” you looked up at him, taking as deep a breath as you could manage. “What’s the plan?” 

“Been a while since you helped me teach a lesson,” Krauser grinned. “And these CIA bastards aren’t the only ones who know about covert tactics. So you’re gonna have to leave the radio.”

⧫⧫⧫

It was quiet work, the two of you moving about the base. The first stop was your barracks. Where you would be sleeping right now, were it not for the broken bones in your side. Where Leon and the others were sleeping inside. Well, likely not. Leon was likely tossing and turning, as he always did. Or staring up at the ceiling . . . focus . Getting this wrong would fuck you over when you were doing it for real. So, you watched Krauser demonstrate, before he handed the bundle of wires and parts to you. 

He held the flashlight, watching as you worked, imitating what he’d shown you how to do. No words were exchanged, out of a need for silence as much, you were sure, as a hesitancy to speak. Your work was imperfect several times, and he would simply shake his head, moving his scarred hands in to show you where you’d made a mistake. When it was done, when you carefully tested the tension of the wire, he just nodded and cocked his head. 

Time to move on, then. Your squad would be in for a rude wake-up call. Still, compared to what you’d gone through in that prison, this would be nothing. 

You followed the Major as he went through the base. There weren’t many places to set the lines up - not that wouldn’t interfere with the flow of work for the day, anyway. Still, you followed Krauser’s near-silent direction, all the way until you reached the forested area of the base. The same path that you and the others traveled down hundreds of times on the rucks Krauser had led you on. The same path where you’d ambushed Leon’s old squad mate, back during their assessment. 

That all seemed like a lifetime ago as you laid a new kind of trap there - a tense and thin line stretched between two trees on either side of the path. 

It was there, as you and Krauser worked in the dark, that the Major spoke up at last. “The rookie give you that radio?” 

Do we really have to have this conversation? That was what you wanted to say. Or just not answer, period. 

Still, you nodded, your lips pursed. “Yep. Him and the others.” Not a lie, but Krauser didn’t look very pleased by the answer all the same. It was hard to tell. 

It seemed he didn’t hear the bit about the others. “I take it you talked to him? About what I said?” he asked, and again you felt that shame rise up in you. Shame and frustration and all manner of other things. Whatever alloy of emotions you felt, you could see just as much weight in Krauser’s eyes. 

“I did,” you answered honestly. “It’s handled.” Another not-lie. Not entirely one, at least.

Krauser, in the light of the flashlight, still didn't look convinced. “If you’re going to be doing all this spy shit, you should at least learn how to lie.” 

Fuck. What the hell kind of mess had you landed yourself in? One where your C.O. knew about your affair, and was, what, offering you advice on how to keep it hidden? Or was this him trying to talk you out of it altogether? You couldn’t tell. You weren’t even sure what this situation was supposed to be. So, you decided not to answer him further, and he didn’t press. The two of you moved on, setting up another trip line down the road. 

“What have they gone over so far in training?” you asked, because you didn’t like the heavy silence that settled between the two of you. “Reed and Hellman?” 

“Agent shit,” was the dry answer you got. “They’ll debrief you tomorrow.”

Your mouth pressed into a thin line as you tied off the wire, and you shook your head. “No. You told me to get ahead of the curb, then you let me sit in bed for a week.”

“On the Doctor’s orders-” 

“And I couldn’t have been debriefed from bed?” 

“I don’t control what those two do.” 

“But you control what you do,” you pointed out, frustrations from a week of relative nothingness coming to the surface. “If you want me to do well then I need to know what’s going on.” 

“You missed a week,” Krauser said, his eyes sharpening. “You’ll catch up.” 

“I’m missing a lot more than a week,” you snapped, and as soon as the anger was voiced, it left you with nothing but dread. No fire in the dark woods, only the chill of uncertainty. Of dread. You hated that your voice wavered. That you sounded exactly how you felt: afraid. 

The Major watched you for a moment, neither of you speaking over the sound of crickets in the night air. 

When he finally spoke over that chorus, his words were almost soft. As soft as Jack Krauser’s voice could be, anyway. “You’re not gonna be out of the fight forever.” Should have figured he’d see through that attempt at indifference. 

“I might be.” You weren’t sure where the self-pity was coming from. 

A week in bed, you supposed. 

“The hell you talking about?” Krauser sounded so genuinely confused, but he had to know what worried you. He had to be aware of the thought that plagued you. 

“I’ve had this injury before,” you said, detaching yourself because you feared what emotion would come spilling out of you if you didn’t. “If it doesn’t heal right this time-”

“You knock it off with that bullshit.” It was an order that stunned you into silence. Krauser’s stare was no less intense than his voice. He’d yelled at you before - that was his job, after all. This was different, though. He wasn’t pushing you to improve, he was telling you that you were going to listen to him. That there was no other choice. “Self-pity isn’t going to help you heal, and neither will worrying. You’re gonna be fine. You’ve lived through worse and come back stronger, right? You still want to take the fight to those assholes at Umbrella?”

The answer to that last bit was obvious. Incontrovertible. “Yes.” 

With a nod of his beret-covered head, Krauser gave you one final order. “So pull yourself together.” 

It’s harsh and not at all the comforting reassurance that others had given you in the past. Still, it’s enough of a reality check that it flips a switch in you. There was little room for argument, and all you could do after several moments of surprised silence was nod. “Okay. Yeah. Sorry, sir.” 

Krauser, after a moment, shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s . . .” he swallowed, like he was weighing the words. “It’s bullshit. What happened.” 

Your injury, you knew that was what he was talking about. You could hear it in the regret in his voice. 

“Yeah,” you agreed. “Well, bullshit happens. Have to learn to deal with it.” 

 Krauser smiled at that. Not the kind that meant harm for others. This one you recognized as something else. One you were familiar with, however rare it was - pride. “That’s what we train you for. Dealing with bullshit.” 

“And how to disable tripwires?” you offered, feeling a little better, even if your ribs still ached. 

Krauser just rolled his eyes. “Smartass.” That still-present smile told you that he wasn’t annoyed, though. Not really. He looked at you for a moment longer, like he was thinking. That same expression took his face, then. The one you didn’t really recognize. Whatever it was, he turned away before you could really puzzle it out. “Come on. A few more. Then you can get back to moping.” 

You laughed a little at that. 

⧫⧫⧫

Leon hadn’t slept well. 

Not that he ever did, really. 

He’d become an expert at willing himself to rise, though, and so when it was time, he sat up from bed and got ready with the others. He threw his fatigues on, rolling his shoulders back, sore from the sparring with Krauser he’d done the night before. All of him was sore, but it always was, wasn’t it? 

He was used to it, now. 

Just as he was used to not sleeping well, or the strain of the training, or . . . well, he was getting used to looking over to your bunk and not seeing you there, too. However much it pained him. 

So many things in life that he’d never thought he’d be used to, as he made his way towards the barracks door, the first one of the squad to make it there.  

What he wasn’t used to was the slight bit of tension he hit when he twisted the handle and pushed the door open. The tiniest bit of resistance . . . and then the sound of some faint, mechanical click. He didn’t see the little bundle of wires by the door until it was too late. Even as he moved to throw himself backwards, there was a pop and a flash of light. 

Adrenaline brought about a full-body flinch as he threw himself back. As the rest of the squad did the same, trying to get away from the door, from whatever harm was promised to them. 

Only to find that adrenaline fading when no harm came to them. 

“Okay,” Williams exclaimed in utter annoyance, “what the fuck?” 

About as done with the morning already as Williams was, Leon approached the door slowly, pushing it the rest of the way open. Looking for the source of what had caused the tiny burst. 

He got his answer in the form of a firecracker. A fucking firecracker. One hooked up to a makeshift detonator, with a now-loose wire hanging from it. 

And leaning against that very wall, with an exhausted but amused look, was the only person Leon had wanted to see all week. 

He knew full well that his face lit up as he took the sight of you in, glad that his back was to his squad mates so they couldn’t see. 

“Hey.” 

It was the first thing that escaped his lips, and he wanted to smack himself because really? Was that the best he could do?  

Still, he found himself smiling a little when you gave him that half-formed, half-lived smile. It was small, but it was enough. “Hey.” You looked between Leon and the trip-wire - one that you had no doubt laid yourself. “Gonna have to pay closer attention next time, Kennedy,” you shrugged, and then began walking away, throwing one last phrase over your shoulder with a smile. “See you in class.” 

That promise set Leon’s heart racing, just as sure as that tripwire had. 

⧫⧫⧫

“What the hell happened?” Doc sounded absolutely concerned as you returned to the infirmary that morning, enough that you stopped in your tracks, not sure why he was so worried. You blinked, looking over your shoulder. Had he heard the bang of the firework? Did he not expect you to be out of bed?

“What-”

“You? Smiling?” he asked, and you realized you’d walked in with that little grin still on your face. “Hell must have frozen over.” 

Everyone on base is a fucking comedian.  

You just deadpanned a grimace, and carried on to your room - still to be your home for a while, even if you were allowed to escape it for lessons. And setting up traps around base, apparently. 

Doc filled in the laughter for you, following you into the room. 

“Got breakfast ready for you there.” He pointed to the table by your bedside, the one where your radio was currently housed. A tray from the mess hall, with the usual slop that was served there waiting for you. 

You frowned. “Not gonna give me any of your homemade stuff?” you asked, looking over your shoulder. 

Doc just gave you a look. “Nope. Now eat up.” 

That was all he said before he left the room, closing the door behind him. 

If it weren’t for the fact that you needed to keep your strength up, you probably wouldn’t have touched the stuff. It tasted like sawdust half the time, so you weren’t exactly thrilled to be eating it. 

At least, you weren’t, until you went to move the tray and a manila folder fell out from underneath it, spilling onto the floor. 

“What the fuck . . .” you cursed as you knelt down, struggling with your ribs to scoop up all the papers. 

No, not papers. 

Reports. 

Grouped together with paperclips, though some had come loose. You quickly scrambled to gather them, your eyes widening as you skimmed the papers with sections of blacked out text - though not as many as you would expect, given the title of the report you picked up first. 

𝚁𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙾𝙾𝙽 𝙲𝙸𝚃𝚈 𝚁𝙴𝙿𝙾𝚁𝚃 - 𝚂𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 𝟸𝟽𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾

Your blood went cold as you read the words, and then read them again. 

Eyes flashing, looking through the others. 

𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆𝙽 𝙱𝙸𝙾𝚆𝙴𝙰𝙿𝙾𝙽𝚂 𝚁𝙴𝙿𝙾𝚁𝚃 

𝚁𝙴𝚀𝚄𝙴𝚂𝚃 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝙵𝙴𝙳𝙴𝚁𝙰𝙻 𝙸𝙽𝚅𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙶𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 - 𝙰𝚁𝙺𝙻𝙰𝚈 𝙼𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚃𝙰𝙸𝙽𝚂

𝙸𝙽𝙲𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝚁𝙴𝙿𝙾𝚁𝚃 - 𝙳𝙾𝚁𝙽𝙴 𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙴, 𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙻𝙰𝙽𝙳 - 𝙹𝙰𝙽𝚄𝙰𝚁𝚈 𝟸𝟿𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾

You stopped as you read that title. Those words. Your name and rank. Your report, your words printed just underneath the heading. 

It wasn’t only those reports. There were more of them, most just a few pages by the looks of things, but still . . . 

This. All of these, they were . . . it was all here. You knew it, even without having to read through the pages individually. All of it was about Umbrella. Bioweapons. The very things you’d sworn to stop. To fight. It was all here.

A name caught your eye, then, as you sifted through the pages. One that gave you pause even more than all the other information you’d glimpsed. 

𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚁𝙾𝙶𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝚃𝚁𝙰𝙽𝚂𝙲𝚁𝙸𝙿𝚃: 𝙻𝙴𝙾𝙽 𝚂. 𝙺𝙴𝙽𝙽𝙴𝙳𝚈 - 𝚁𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙾𝙾𝙽 𝙲𝙸𝚃𝚈 𝙸𝙽𝙲𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃

Your fingertips brushed the name, printed in bold. 

It was his story. Everything about what he’d survived and what he’d endured. The details he’d told you and the ones he hadn’t were all right there. Just as your story was. Two documents. A few sheets of paper that contained so much pain. Accounts of the nights that had changed both of your lives forever, and you’d been left both of them. You could know what he’d gone through at last . . . 

But you found yourself shifting that report to the back of the stack, hiding it beneath the others instead. Closing the folder . . . and then snorting a little as you saw the note paperclipped to the front of it all. 

Read up, smartass. 

You didn’t have to recognize the handwriting to know who it was from. 

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Chapter Index

A/N: Krauser is slowly going on his "fuck the government" arc, we stan. Unfortunate that said arc ends with him infecting himself with a parasite and kidnapping someone, but for a while here, it's gonna be great!

Songs that Sarge was angsting to are "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden, "Into Dust" by Mazzy Star and "Separate Ways" by Journey, all of which are bangers that I would recommend!

[yloiseconeillants]

MAYNCIENT :: Day 10 - Promise

"I told you I'd be back for them."

Mnemosyne (angel) belongs to @hermits-hovel. The explanation of this sequence got *very* long so I'm putting it under a cut but MASSIVE ARIADNE LORE DUMP LMAO

Amaurotine social conventions discourage the expression of extreme emotions, which could make the processing of things like grief and alienation difficult when there isn't a cultural framework to acknowledge those feelings in the first place. Ariadne, who lost her brother, Midas, in an accident, has a very difficult time adjusting to his loss - most Amaurotines have only experienced death through the deliberate choice of returning to the Star, which is universally considered a beautiful and respectable event. This disconnection between the grief that Ariadne felt at his passing was at odds with the pride that she was expected to show, and she withdrew from almost every aspect of her life - stopped going to theatre rehearsals, barely showed up to her classes, avoided her friends and loved ones (there was a fairly dramatic breakup with Hades at this point after he refused to fetch her brother from the Aetherial Sea - he didn't understand why she felt so despondent about Midas' death which. Boy howdy does that become a Plot Point Later) (he did try to help but he absolutely was not equipped to do so).

Over time and with the very patient help of her mentor, Halmarut, she slowly rejoined society after graduating by taking on a student-teacher job at Halmarut's personal request. She still wasn't fully comfortable being open with other people after her withdrawal and instead developed a sort of party-girl persona to interact with others. As long as she was having Fun, she didn't have to think about everything she had lost in the meantime. She met the rest of her eventual friends and lovers in the GAP at this point, starting with Timoria, who she first met in a bathroom at a party while she was crying and Mori and Ari's woo-girl energy fed off each other as they navigated Amaurot.

Of course, new interpersonal relationships and dynamics means More Feelings and Ariadne still hadn't really ever stopped grieving so she ends up easily overwhelmed by her emotions, which caused her to act out in erratic and sometimes self-destructive ways, including the ever-green clown daughter favorite Causing Problems on Purpose. When the inevitable consequences of these actions backfire on her in small or less small ways, she tries to drown them out by escalating the FUN and attempting to block out her own memories to get through the day, first by narcotics and when that doesn't work, she pressures her friend Mnemosyne, whose literal job is preserving memories, into the experimental field of removing memories. She isn't necessarily just banking sad memories, but anything that causes her to feel what she determines is Too Many Feelings.

(yes we're doing a self-inflicted eternal sunshine of the spotless mind kind of thing uwu)

Mnemo is uncomfortable with this, as it's not really what he is supposed to be doing with his powers, but Ariadne assures him that she will eventually come back to collect the archived memories, which Mnemo preserves in a crystal he developed for this very purpose. She spends years not coming back for those memories, though, instead compounding the problem by increasingly dropping memories off with Mnemo until it becomes clear to her girlfriend, Minthe, that something is terribly wrong with Ariadne's memory. Minthe confronts Ari about this, and Ari promises that she'll go and fetch the memories from the crystal (we've been affectionately calling it Ariadne's cringe compilation crystal) (there's a playlist).

Going back for the memories had its own issues and inevitable fallout, but Ariadne did try to regain those memories and work through them with her friends - one at a time, based on what she feels she can deal with. She doesn't manage to get all of them back before the End of Days - meaning that there's a memory crystal floating around with some Very Strong Feelings that's a repeated McGuffin through the eras in blorboverse.

ok i did it i wrote up the lore huzzah thank you for reading

bonus: also also this whole thing about her brother dying is why ariadne is obsessed with death and rot and decomposition and amaurot's refusal to acknowledge what is ugly about death thank you i have written enough

[emotionallychargedtowel]

about that Minato's Laundromat season 2 storyline...

As your resident psychology PhD I'm commenting on this even though I would rather forget about the whole thing and just hope it's over soon. But I haven't been able to restrain myself from ranting about it privately, so I may as well rant here.

Setting aside what I think of this as a plot device (what I think is that it sucks), this is even more unrealistic than most TV and film portrayals of traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, which as a whole are abysmal. (Please note that "traumatic" in this context refers to a sudden tissue injury due to an accident or violence, not to the person having a traumatic experience, though of course the two things can totally co-occur.)

If I can take a step back for a second, once you learn anything at all about traumatic brain injury so many plotlines in TV series and movies become incredibly frustrating. How many times have you seen a character bonk another on the head as a convenient way to render them unconscious only to find that soon afterward, the person who's been hit in the head wakes up practically unscathed after a convenient span of time has passed? I have no doubt that there are people who have taken these portrayals seriously and hit others hard enough to cause a TBI because they thought it wasn't a big deal. I'm equally sure that the prevalence of this trope has had an effect on TBI survivors's difficulties being taken seriously. It's pernicious and it makes me so angry. TBIs aren't the type of thing that you typically just walk away from in the same condition you were in before they happened, and they shouldn't be portrayed that way in media.

Back to the Minato's Laundromat plotline. Shin sustains a pretty serious fall-related TBI. He appears to have been unconscious for a good while since it looks like a bright afternoon (maybe early evening at the latest) when he falls and it's dark when Minato sees him and is told he regained consciousness not long before. It seems like he was unconscious for more than half an hour but it hasn't been 24 hours yet, which puts him in the range for his injury to be considered a moderate TBI. Don't let the label fool you--a moderate TBI is a very big deal. People with moderate TBIs can experience personality changes, cognitive deficits, and all sorts of other major issues.

Loss of memory is common with TBIs, but the most common type of amnesia with a TBI pertains to events just before or just after the injury occurred. Retrograde amnesia, where you can't remember what happened just before the injury, is rather common. Anterograde amnesia, where you don't remember events after the injury, can happen too. But forgetting details about your life? That is not a common symptom.

Guess what's even less common? You guessed it: the kind of highly specific amnesia Shin has in Minato's Laundromat. Forgetting one specific relationship or person isn't unheard-of in psychology, but it's almost always selective amnesia related to a traumatic experience. It's like an extreme defense mechanism in which the person unconsciously blocks out a whole swath of their experiences. The information that gets lost is linked not by its location in the brain, but by a semantic link--a link based on the meaning assigned to those memories. Loss of semantically-linked memories is associated with psychological causes, not physical ones. This kind of symptom is based on thoughts and emotions, not brain structures.

The effects of TBIs, on the other hand, are related to the location of an injury and the functions of whatever portions of the brain are impacted by that injury. Brain localization is the phenomenon whereby different parts of our brains are responsible for different functions. For example, our frontal lobes house a lot of our executive functioning abilities, so a TBI mostly affecting someone's frontal lobe could make them more impulsive, less able to plan effectively, and so forth. Or if a person sustained an injury to their Broca's Area (a spot near the front of the left hemisphere that is important for speech), they would likely have difficulties communicating. If Shin had an "all about Minato" section of his brain and it got hit when he fell, then sure, it would make some sense if he lost his Minato-related memories. But that's not how our brains work--except in that one genre of cartoon humor where we see inside someone's brain and each of the things they care about has its own little region. But Shin isn't a cartoon character. His memories of Minato aren't housed in one specific place separate from his memories of other important people in his life.

I dug around and found that there have been some cases of selective amnesia due to TBI. However, these are vanishingly rare, with only a handful of case studies and nowhere near the amount of data that would be needed to draw any generalizable conclusions (in other words, any facts we could apply to other cases). If Shin was a real person and he forgot about his relationship with one important person in his life due to a TBI, this would be so unusual that psychologists and psychiatrists would have come from miles around to observe him and he would likely have had his case written up in a neuropsych journal, after which it may have ended up in more widely-read publications. He also would likely have been kept for observation much longer than the period we saw in the show.

But the weirdest thing about his case, if he were a real person, would be that he is suffering such an intense amnesia symptom and yet has no other symptoms of note. Moderate TBIs can have very severe effects. They can change your personality, cause serious difficulties with communication, trigger seizures, sharply increase someone's risk of substance abuse--I could go on but you get the idea. The effects are often profound. Many people who experience a moderate TBI develop a serious disability as a result. Occasionally, people who experience a moderate TBI can get lucky and avoid the worst kinds of symptoms. But to have one highly unusual and severe symptom and no others would be extremely weird.

Once again, we find that a media portrayal of TBI is highly unrealistic. Worse, it's trivializing. Honestly, treating a TBI in this way, as a cheap ploy to further a romance plot, is pretty ableist.

Sometimes we suspend disbelief about this kind of thing when we watch visual media. There are so many other psychological diagnoses and symptoms that are inaccurately portrayed and generally overused. For example, how many TV and movie characters have had a "split personality" that bore no resemblance to actual experiences of Dissociative Identity Disorder? But if a show or movie is going to use something like this to advance a plot, they need to make it count. It needs to serve a real purpose that couldn't be accomplished just as easily by other means. And that's simply not true in this case.

The only solution to the issues created by this plotline would be to resolve it as quickly as possible and allow the characters to move on, preferably memory-holing it completely, like that time on Friday Night Lights that (spoiler alert) Landry murdered a guy and then no one ever spoke of it again.

[quibbs126]

Alright, I decided to make my designs for the All Ancients Disappear au that I’ve talked about before

I’m not sure I fully explained it before (I probably did) but basically the setup here is that when the Ancient Heroes fought Dark Enchantress Cookie, instead of just Pure Vanilla, all of the Ancients vanished and became trapped in the void, until Gingerbrave and his friends showed up that is. And like Pure Vanilla, they all lose their memories

I tried to name them all after roles, and you can see the names there. Winged Cookie however is a name that @ifreakinglovedragons suggested because I was asking for help with it, and I’ll be honest, I can’t come up with anything better

With their designs, for Pure Vanilla and Hollyberry, I just straight up took their designs from preexisting designs of theirs, and with Dark Cacao I took some inspiration from both Dark Choco’s new design and Dark Cacao’s younger one. For Golden Cheese and White Lily though, I kind of had to try and make something up. I ended up sort of basing their designs on Black Raisin and Seaweed Cookie, two cookies with nothing to do with the cookies, but I thought their designs looked good. Originally I was gonna say Golden Cheese was the weakest design, but I changed it up during the lineart phase and honestly I quite like it now. To be honest, now it’s Dark Cacao’s design I feel is the weakest. I tried to keep their outfits all fabric based, since they aren’t supposed to have anything that defines them. Originally I was gonna give Sage a lily pad for her shawl, but it broke that rule, so I changed it

Now let’s see, these characters on their own

Healer Cookie is basically the same as he is in canon, since the au doesn’t really affect him

Huntress Cookie finds going on adventures to be quite fun, but she can’t shake the feeling there’s someone she’s missing, but she doesn’t know who. She tries to keep it in the back of her head, but it’s always there (this person is Royal Berry)

Warrior Cookie feels that sense of off-ness far more strongly, and has this overwhelming feeling there’s something that he’s supposed to be doing, something he’s supposed to protect, but he doesn’t know what. But he fears that it’s something he’s too late to do, and he’s failed (what he’s thinking about is the Dark Cacao Kingdom, and likely Dark Choco, who I’ll talk about in another post sometime). Also I might make him mute? I have a headcanon that Dark Cacao used to not talk, and perhaps this comes back here. He does eventually talk, but it’s not till he regains his memory

Sage Cookie also feels a sense of wrongness like Warrior Cookie, but she doesn’t feel this drive to do something, only a sense of dread. She wishes to know what this is, but at the same time is afraid (Dark Enchantress Cookie)

Also, I haven’t quite figured why White Lily is here, because Dark Enchantress is still around as well, or at least that’s how I originally envisioned it. I just don’t know what the canon explanation for White Lily being there is. Though, I am currently toying with the idea of White Lily and Dark Enchantress somehow merging together into what we’re calling Sage Cookie. I mean, most of her actual body is currently covered, including her other eye, who’s not to say that under that hair she has a red and black eye with perhaps some purple bits to her dough? And under that hood, a small pair of horns? I dunno, I’m considering it, but not sure if I’ll do it. It kind of leaves the story without an antagonist

As for Winged Cookie…I don’t know, because I don’t have any canon Golden Cheese material to work with. All I do know is she doesn’t fly (her wings are under her cloak), but like Warrior Cookie, she will eventually

Now, as for what these five are doing, I have two ideas and I’m not sure which one I like more. Yes they’re all wandering Earthbread trying to figure out who they are (or doing other stuff), but it’s how they do it that I’m debating

Option 1 is that they all come back, but not near each other, and each of them wander to the corners of Earthbread. I’d say this is the option where they’d be less inclined to search about their past, as they may not suspect much is up

Option 2 is that they all appear in relatively the same location, and meeting each other they all decide to travel together because “hmm, so all five of us just so happened to all appear here in the same place at the same time, and none of us have our memories. There’s no way that’s a coincidence, how about we all stick together to find out what’s going on?” And so because of that, this is the one where they’re a bit more active in figuring out the truth, because it’s a very strange circumstance. Assuming Episodes 9-10 still happen with Healer Cookie, then they all wind up in the Raisin Village and help out around the village

I actually ended up making option 2 because I thought it would be funny how these five were all super close friends who traveled the world together, and even now when they all have amnesia, they’re still doing that, unaware this is what they used to do. They probably have discussions at night about who they used to be and how they might know each other. They sometimes wonder if perhaps they were all enemies, unaware of the truth. That thought to me was just funny

But yeah, not sure which version to do

But yeah, I think that’s everything about this au, specifically for these characters, that I have. However I do have more, so perhaps I’ll be able to actually go and post more of it sometime. Hope you like it!

[its-no-biggie]

gets reminded that mario and luigi partners in time exists > wow i really love the concept of adult characters interacting with their younger selves > remembers that i follow an artist who has a similar au for bsd > seems like a cool scenario to put all manner of blorbos in > current biggest interest is orv > thinks about yoohankim as kids > gets sad

anyway lets do it. orv epilogue spoilers ahead

okay first of all. canonically as kids we have: suicidal, possessed by an alternate future version of herself, and literally does not exist. so im gonna come right out the gate and say a mario and luigi-style time travel scenario is off the table just. logistically. and also thematically. you understand.

but luckily the scenario mechanic makes it pretty easy to do whatever you want, so we still have options. are the kids personalities extrapolated from who the characters are now, just younger? or are they based on what they were like at that age? (or what they thought they were like at that age?) do they have the memories of the original? all of them, or just up to that age? if not, would that affect their personality? are they based on/created from childhood memories, almost like an avatar? is it some kind of creature that transforms into a younger version of you? to what end? or is it a robot or doll created specifically for this scenario? and most importantly - how old are the kids?

so heres a potential situation - they randomly encounter a hidden scenario thats meant to test you in some way? i guess i dont really have an idea for a plot or arc yet so i have no idea what the clear condition would be but. hypothetical scenario that creates a younger version of you and forces you to interact with them until you achieve some personal growth. if you wanna get angsty with it, the best way would probably be something like, the kids have all your memories up to that age and you have to help them overcome their trauma (and therefore your own). so in this case the kids would probably be a bit older, like 10-12? i dont remember the exact timeline on the kdj stuff but im pretty sure that would be after his mothers book came out but before he started reading wos. its a liiiiittle older than i was thinking but i think its the perfect age for maximum emotional turmoil 👍

this scenario would obviously be hell for kim dokja specifically, but i think it also has interesting implications for yoo "literally didnt exist as a child" joonghyuk. yes kim dokja has to face a version of himself potentially dealing with the very fresh aftermath of the situation with his mother, but yoo joonghyuk has to face his own lack of identity pre scenarios. probably the more realistic scenario here is that he just doesnt get a kid version of him because he has no memories to base it off of, but what if he does anyway? a quiet, closed off kid with no memories or family to speak of. its just so sad....... admittedly i dont have a whole lot of ideas for han sooyoung here though. well. actually. quick han sooyoung tangent

<tangent>

now. at risk of sounding like i have no reading comprehension. i have to admit that i was never really clear on exactly what memories han sooyoung gave up to create 1863!hsy. because okay. han sooyoung regains her memories when an avatar disappears. and when 1863 disappears is when han sooyoung gains the memories of everything that happened pre scenarios, right? [its actually not at the same time in the slightest but im not here to complain about time travel in fiction or we'll be here all day. theyre presented at the same time so i think its fair to say theyre connected]

so to me that implies that han sooyoung previously had those memories and made 1863 out of them? but why would she do that??? shes pretty careless with her memories but i dont think shes THAT careless. plus she mentions fairly early on that sssss infinite regressor (or whatever its called - her "plagiarized" novel) was based on her dreams - which wouldnt really make sense for her to reference if she previously had memories of 1863 and then forgot them. and that would also create a weird loop where 1863 has memories of herself writing wos, which i dont think tracks because she herself was confused that someone else wasnt writing wos...... and we also know that if han sooyoungs avatars train then she gains the skills from it, so perhaps this is an extension of that? and she gains all of 1863s memories independently from whatever memory hsy gave her originally

once again obligatory "i havent read the back half of the novel in quite a while so i dont remember very clearly" - i could be way off base here because my first read through of anything is usually not very reliable. but the interpretation that makes the most sense to me is that we just dont know what memories she gave up. but it seems odd to me? to specifically mention that she gave up a lot of her memory and thats why 1863 went rogue? not to mention the ways 1863 is so different from hsy.......

</tangent>

ANYWAY the point of this whole tangent is that if the children are based on the memories they had at that age then child!han sooyoung would potentially have an important memory that ours is missing (because she gave it to 1863!hsy). BUT if theyre based on their existing childhood memories, then naturally she wouldnt. in fact, id wager that over the course of the novel han sooyoung has probably lost a lot of childhood memories - that could definitely be a source of angst. its different from yjh who had no say in his circumstances - hsy intentionally threw away important aspects of her childhood in order to survive the present. and these are the consequences - a child who is missing a lot of formative experiences and noteworthy memories. imagine coming face to face with a version of yourself completely distinct from the kid you know you used to be, even if you cant quite remember clearly anymore, and knowing that you have no one to blame but yourself...... ohhhhh i really like that.

lol apparently i had the least to say about kim dokja facing his past self head on - i guess he does do that several times in orv huh. (wait. oh my god. i didnt even think about the oldest dream...... ohhhh my god kim dokja....... like, okay, assuming this happens sometime in the middle of the novel he wouldnt know about the oldest dream but. i guess i failed to consider all the things about his past he might not want to address...... but if this kid hasnt started wos yet then the reader specific guilt would likely be less prevalent. but something to think about......) and in pursuit of a different angle on that struggle i stumbled into yoohans raging identity issues. incredible

omg do the kids have skills?????? well kim dokja has to have the fourth wall no matter what. and probably also orv, but at a lower level - i guess it depends on if he has memories of wos too...... wait holy shit. little kim dokja who has started reading wos....... meeting yjh in real life....... im gonna cry 😭😭 i guess idk how old kdj was when he started reading it - wasnt he in middle school? thats probably older than i wanna go. can you tell i wrote this out of order? anyway. young yjh would have whatever skills yjh started with in the 0th turn (so, not many), but he probably has high starting stats (its only natural). im sure han sooyoung has been writing since she was a kid so she would still have avatar (again at a lower level).

to take it in a different direction though, we could do more of like. a mini clone situation? similar setup but maybe instead of a personal growth scenario its like, take care of your younger self and make sure no harm comes to them for one week. something like that. but instead of who they were as kids its like if you hit each of them as they are right now with an age regression beam. definitely go younger with this one - maybe 7-8? admittedly i have very little concept of the developmental stages of kids. i dont want them to be too young though - they should have some independence but still be way too young for all the fighting. and if sys and lgy are like 10 then a couple years younger than that seems about right? omg i was just checking the wiki for character ages - i didnt realize hsy was 2 years younger than the other two...... she'll be so little....... well i could always make them all the same age but wheres the fun in that

so anyway, in this case they keep all their memories and maybe their skills? maybe only some of them, and scaled down of course. but theyre more emotional and less skilled. vulnerable. child!kdj definitely admires adult yjh more openly, child!hsy is a biter, child!yjh is. strikingly similar but a little more readable. this also has really fun potential if the group gets split up and the kids are paired off with a different adult...... and since the kids are accurate to who the adults are but with less emotional regulation and impulse control, there could be some really fun moments of. your true feelings get revealed without your consent...... ohhhh yeah. its all coming together

[ghouls-and-chems]

A John Hancock (Fallout 4) x Sole Survivor OC Fanfic

Rating: Mature (MDNI)

You are responsible for the content you consume. This work of fiction is intended for those that are 18+.

Tags:

John Hancock x Female Sole Survivor, John Hancock x Sole survivor OC, Fluff, Slow Burn, Angst, Mystery, Slight Alternate universe, Violence, Mature language, Smut. (this will be updated as I continue to write this)

Summary

Having survived 3 weeks on the surface, Bonnie Labelle finds herself in GoodNeighbor looking for answers to her awakening in a Vault. She has no memory of what happened just before she entered the Vault or even the start of the war. And she herself is shocked by her skills when surviving. The mayor of GoodNeighbor is just as shocked and intrigued by how she’s survived this long.

Click Here For Chapter One

As Bonnie worked to regain her strength, John Hancock organized a room for her to stay in with the Hotel Redford. Explaining her situation to a woman named Clair Hutchins.

Bonnie could hardly believe how kind and cordial people were here. Well except for the man the mayor stabbed. But she figured that’s why he was stabbed to begin with.

Everyone treated the ghoul so normally. And their interaction in the state house was convincing her, he wasn’t something for her to fear.

And he definitely had a lot of power around here.

“ I’ve got some things to attend to.” He said as she looked around the tattered hotel room. A simple mattress. A broken dresser. And a broken nightstand. For the wasteland, this really wasn’t all that bad. Compared to sleeping on the concrete floor of a closet in an old shop. The old tattered mattress was like a beckoning cloud for her to rest on.

“ So take your time adjusting. And perhaps we can have a chat in the third rail later.” He said with a grin. “ I’ll treat you to a drink.”

She turned and observed him as he nodded his head and turned to walk out.

“ Why are you like this?” She suddenly asked. The words escaping her mouth before she could filter them. She shook her head trying to find what she meant to say.

“ What? A ghoul?” He asked with a chuckle.

“ No..” she said quickly. “ Well I mean… I suppose I’m curious about that too but..” she took a breath. “ I mean you’re actually being… a person. Everyone I’ve met so far has either tried to kill me or wanted something in return for just speaking to them..” she explained slowly.

“ You could have easily killed me when I passed out earlier… and you didn’t…. You took care of me.” She explained.

“ Goodneighbor is for the people by the people.” Hancock explained crossing his arms as he leaned against the door frame. “ Which means we take care of each other here.” He said matter of factly.

“ You clearly need help… with what? I don’t know just yet but we got all the time in the world.” He shrugged. “ Not everyone in the commonwealth is going to hurt or kill you. Just… maybe the majority.” He joked with a chuckle.

“ Plus… a vault dweller like yourself is even more vulnerable. There’s some things you gotta learn if you’re gonna stay up here. And based on what you’ve told me, you don’t have much of a choice but to learn.” He explained.

“ So I’ll offer help. It’s just up to you if you want it.” He smiled.

She listened to his words closely before slowly nodding. Her shoulders relaxed a bit, as she smiled back at him.

“ Thank you, Mayor.” She said after a moment. “ I really am grateful. Though I may appear stand-offish. I truly appreciate the help.”

Hancock’s eyebrow raised. Her kindness and well spoken words were odd to hear. She seemed so proper. And pristine. So clean and perfect. It intimidated him a bit.

He simply tilted his hat up a bit and smirked. “ No need for that mayor crap. Just call me, Hancock.” He chuckled.

“ I’ll leave you to rest.” He said as he pushed himself off the door frame and left her alone.

She took a breath and laid down thinking over this strange new reality of hers. Ghouls. Vault Dwellers. It felt like a nightmare.

Being in Goodneighbor did provide some comfort. It felt similar to the world she once knew.

Hancock had the kindness of a politician.

She furrowed her brow.

Politicians were part the reason this happened to begin with though. She couldn’t come to terms with trusting him just yet. Or the people here.

As her mind raced she dosed off again. Her body recovering with much needed rest.

When she awoke, the clock on the wall said it was 8PM. And the town sounded more lively outside through the broken window.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stood up and leaned out the window. Down below the hotel, residents talked casually. Armed gunman talked with them. She overheard conversations about their daily lives. The errands they needed to run. Some gossip about other residents and settlements.

She couldn’t help but smile as she listened to their conversations.

After letting herself wake up more she pulled away from the window and looked to her armor on the dresser. Hancock mentioned meeting to talk more in the third rail. Would her armor be needed?

She shook her head.

If I want to fit in here I need to relax. Just a bit.

She left her armor and her rifle. But slipped a knife into the pocket of her tattered dress.

Before leaving the hotel she asked Clair where the Third rail was. And followed her directions to the supposed bar.

She was curious what a bar in this world would be like. As she entered the bouncer looked at her curiously. As she met his gaze she fought the urge to look away from fear. Another ghoul.

She simply offered a small smile. He smiled back and welcomed her inside, down a long dark hallway. As she neared closer to the end, she could hear faint music, and a lovely voice accompanying it. Along with some drowned out chatter.

As the hallway opened up to the bar, her nerves relaxed a bit more. Patrons sat around lounging with their drinks. She could smell cigarette smoke and alcohol, but the voice of the woman caught her attention even more.

A beautiful woman sang in the corner on a makeshift stage. She wore a gorgeous red dress. Her hair was jet black, cut short. She was absolutely stunning.

Her voice only matched her appearance perfectly. She was completely mezmerozied by her as she sang. Her worries drained away, as she smiled watching the woman sing.

“ She’s got quite a set of pipes huh?” A familiar voice broke her hypnosis to her right. She turned to meet Hancock’s eyes.

She nodded eagerly as she looked back at her. “ She’s absolutely gorgeous.”

“ I’d say magnolia is the diamond of the wasteland.” He said with a chuckle as he took a drink from his glass.

“ What’s your vice?” He asked, nudging her arm. “ I said I’d treat ya to a drink.”

She eyed what he was drinking curiously. Looked clear. Perhaps Vodka. Hopefully, Vodka.

“ What’s yours?” She asked.

“ Much harder stuff than this.” he laughed. “ But this is just some vodka.”

She relaxed. “ I'm really relieved to know vodka is still available.” She said with a laugh.

He chuckled as he ushered her over to the bar, where he ordered her her own drink. She noticed he handed the bartender some bottle caps. Her eyebrows furrowed.

“ Bottle caps?” she asked curiously as he handed her the glass.

“ Yeah. Guess you haven't figured that out yet. Caps are the currency here. Well just about everywhere in the commonwealth.” He shrugged as he guided her to a separate room just outside the bar. Magnolia’s angelic voice, still in ear distance, but quieter for them to speak to one another.

“ Oh…” she said softly, recalling all the Nuka-Cola caps she had tossed when she was lucky enough to find them for substance the past few weeks. “ Whoops” She whispered.

Hancock chuckled and sat down on a lounge chair. She sat across from him on a loveseat. The room was lit with red lighting, posters from the old world hung around as decor.

She lifted the glass to her lips and sipped the bitter liquid. Her body reacted with pleasure. Her nerves felt more at ease almost instantly. Hancock noticed immediately.

“ Oh yeah. You definitely needed that.” he chuckled. “ You ever need something stronger we can work something out. But that’ll do for now. Did you get some good rest?”

She nodded as she took another sip. “ Yeah actually. I haven't slept on a mattress in… “ She furrowed her brow.

Hancock raised an eyebrow. “ In…? You don’t remember?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“ well… That’s surprising. Always heard rumors you vault dwellers had a luxurious style down there. At least that’s what I’ve heard about Vault 81. They actually trade with us surface folk.” He said in confusion, taking another sip of his drink.

“ or yanno, dead bodies left over from whatever horrible shit the old folk decided to do to one another.” He sighed.

She looked at him confused. “ Why would they be different?” She asked.

He shrugged. “ No idea. All I know is I'm glad to have been born up here. Where I had the freedom to take control of my own fate… at least to some degree.” He chuckled.

“ So what was your vault’s deal? They just kick you out..? Or..?”

She shook her head and sighed. “ No… I…” She sighed. “ I woke up from this.. Pod. Like I was frozen. I was freezing for hours after I got out. I passed out in this.. Lab” she said trying to recall her first moments out of the pod.

“ Frozen?” Hancock said, leaning on his knees holding his glass between them. “ Aint that something.”

She nodded. “ When I came to, I got to explore a bit.. But I didn't find much.. Or rather I couldn't find much. I found a rifle and a way out. Everything looked like.. My home. But ruined. I found my old house, with some tattered things I remembered I owned. Luckily this dress was in an old suitcase I forgot about.” She said as she gestured to her attire.

He chuckled. “ It suits you.” he complimented. “ very well.. But you do stand out in it up here.”

She smiled at his compliment and nodded. “ yeah I’ve realized.” She laughed softly. “ I didn't know what to do so I just… kept walking.” She shrugged. “ I met these traveling settlers. Who explained some stuff to me.. Like the date, the war, and a bit of what to look out for…”

“ Why didn't you join them?” Hancock asked curiously.

“ because another group swooped in and killed all of them.” she said bluntly. After a moment she explained.

“ I tried to help. I killed some of them.. I had never killed anyone before and I just..” She took a breath. “ I took what I could from the aftermath after they finally left their bodies.” She said in shame.

“ And I just kept walking.”

Hancock stared at her with a solemn expression. It was silent between the both of them as they stared at one another.

“ I’m sorry.” he finally broke the silence. “ I know that couldn't have been easy to walk away from.”

She remained silent.

“ That’s just what it’s like up here.” he shrugged and observed her face. Her green eyes were hollow. Full of exhaustion and sadness. He frowned as he tried to think of how to shift her mind off of what happened.

“ So when did you go under the ice?” He asked.

She sighed. “ I don’t know the exact date. I can’t remember… but the last date I saw before I woke up was October 2nd, 2077–”

Hancock nearly spit out his drink. “ What”

She looked at him and sighed with a nod. “ Yeah… I was 27.. So I guess now I’m..”

“ 237 years old..” he said with a look of shock and bewilderment. He sat back in the chair. “ Holy shit.”

She nodded as she took another, much large sip of her drink.

“ And you don’t remember anything after that date? At all?” he asked.

She shook her head. “ The biggest mystery to me right now is why I was in the vault before the bombs dropped. Those settlers said they dropped on October 23rd, 2077.”

He nodded. “ So you were in there for a few weeks before you even needed to be…” He theorized.

She opened her mouth to speak when she was interrupted by a woman’s voice.

“ Well hello there Mayor. I see you’ve shown your guest the VIP room”

Bonnie turned to see the stunning woman who was singing just moments before. She looked more beautiful up close.

“ yes ma’am.” He said proudly.

“ And I trust you’re being the perfect gentleman.” She joked as she sat on the arm chair of Bonnie’s seat.

“ Only if she wants me to be, honestly.” He said with a wink and a smirk before drinking from his class.

“ Im only teasing.” he chuckled.

“ Hey there, doll. I’m Magnolia. I sing here. Who might you be?” She asked with a kind smile.

Bonnie straighted up and held her hand out. “ Bonnie Labelle… You have a beautiful voice.”

“ Why thank you!” She said with an even bigger smile. “ I love your dress… but it does look to be a bit tattered.”

Bonnie sighed. “ Yeah.. haven't had much of a fashion choice around here.” She laughed. “ Seems you got everything here but a fashion boutique.” She joked.

Magnolia laughed. “ I like her can we keep her?” She said looking to Hancock. “And she’s right. We need a seamstress or something, Mayor. Imagine the crowds I could draw in with even more stunning outfits”

Hancock chuckled. “ Those are hard to come by these days but…” he shrugged. “ For you, Magnolia, I’m sure we could figure something out.”

Magnolia chuckled and looked back to Bonnie.

“ I’m sure those clothes aren't as comfortable as they once were. Mind if I steal her for a moment, Hancock?”

Hancock smiled. “ Up to her. I don’t own her.” He joked.

Bonnie laughed softly and looked at Magnolia.

“ Come along then. Let’s get you some new clothes. I need more friends with fashion expertise.” She said pulling Bonnie up and dragging her out of the room.

This woman was so graceful. And hard to say no to. Bonnie envied her immediately, and loved the idea of being her friend.

Friends must be a hard thing to make now. So far, the company she was in would be perfect though.

Magnolia led her to an upstairs room. “ This here is my home. Just above the bar.” She explained as she led Bonnie to a closet in the corner, beside her bed.

“ I don’t got much. But I definitely have things I do not and will not wear so let’s have a look..” She murmured as she opened the closet full of clothes. She pulled some pieces out and laid them across the bed for Bonnie to observe.

An old dress. Some pants. A black coat. A Leather yellow jacket. A few simple tops.

“ There we go.. Take your pick” Magnolia said proudly.

“ These are in such good condition…” Bonnie commented.

“ Why thank you, Doll.” She said proudly. “ Need to look nice for my sets of course. I do what I can to keep my clothing in pristine condition.”

Bonnie smiled. “ Are you sure it’s okay for me to take some clothes?”

Magnolia nodded eagerly. “ Please do.. Just means I get to have one of the boys to find me more.” She winked.

Bonnie chuckled and grabbed the yellow leather jacket. It looked like something she could wear and blend in better.

Along with a pair of black jeans, and a top. It was simple. But not eye catching. Just what she needed.

She smiled to herself. “ These will do just fine.”

Magnolia smiled and turned around giving her privacy to change.

“ You know, the mayor does not always just kill someone for a guest… even if Finn was somewhat of a nuisance.” She chuckled.

Bonnie took her dress off, slipping on the clean black jeans and top with ease. “ He seems like the type to take no shit to be honest…”

“ You’ve got that right.” Magnolia chuckled. “ But… he’s taken interest. So you must be one hell of a mystery for him to focus on.”

“ A mystery for sure. But I’m sure the mayor is busy with his own things. I'll be out of here once I figure out what it is I'm meant to do up here.” She sighed.

“ He’s a great guy. Is all I’m saying. I can tell you’re uneasy around him. But don’t let his looks fool you. He’s got a big heart.” She laughed softly. “ you can trust him.”

“ How did you know I was nervous with him?” Bonnie asked as she slipped the yellow jacket on.

“ Women’s intuition I guess… You seemed on the fence when it comes to trust. And I get it. From what I’ve heard, you aint from the surface. So I can only imagine what you’ve had to see and do to get here.”

Bonnie stayed silent as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked more like a surface dweller. It helped ease her nerves a bit more.

“ Look at you.” Magnolia whistled. “ Looking good!”

Bonnie smiled and turned to her and smiled. After a moment she sighed. “ If people like you and the mayor still exist up here… I think I’ll be okay.” She said coming to terms with her trust in the mayor and Goodneighbor.

[get-rammed]

Can I get an info dump about Rodney?

I know he's a bastard as well as a bit of a soft boy with a praise kink, which really intrigues me.

I will always take opportunities to spew about my silly bug boy. This is Rodney Osmund

He's a character of mine.

This is his true form, and secondary form. The humanoid one above is his tertiary form, and what I usually draw him in.

He's had many names and many lives in his history. Within the universe I've made, he's a Fiend and can die and be reborn any time Trevor dies. Trevor being one of his 3 siblings. Veronica and Caroline being the other two.

He was once a Warlord by the name of Bog Belly. A scourge upon man and Demon (Demons being an alien race by the name of Tymos who eventually just adopted the name Demons as a secondary and or primary name)

Bog Belly slaughtered thousands simply because he was born angry over and over again, and wanted to have everyone under his heels. No truama there. No reasons. Just a dick because that's his true nature. Though he was kind to his cult members, and his breeding stock.

But roughly 200 years ago, his sister Veronica defeated him in battle. Ending his reign of terror. Veronica heads a group called the Hunters. They were formed specifically to track and kill Bog Belly. After that goal was completed, they more or less ended Warlords being a problem, and now are a government body.

Veronica is the bad twin between herself and Caroline. So she saw zero issue with parading around a defeated Bog Belly. Forcing him to be an act of sorts for a few years before making him work with Colton (Trevor) to improve his morality.

When James (Trevor) picks a fight with his sister and gets all of them killed, they're reborn into their new and current lives.

Every one of Rodney's parents have always been cruel and mean to him. Forcing his nature to always be mean spirited. Except things were different this time.

Rodney's mom was endlessly patient with him, and always showed him true compassion and love. No matter what he did. Rodney is her baby boy, and he's an absolute mama's boy.

Being there for him as he spiraled into drug problems, and there when he cleaned up. He loves his mother. The first person he's ever truly loved.

So when he regained his memories and his full personality, he was far more docile than he had ever been. Not to say he's not still a bastard. He would absolutely kill you with zero hesitation and not even flinch as you cry for help.

But he's definitely trying to feel more empathy and understand what it's like to be normal. But it's a struggle for him. But he is trying.

This man needs. A lot of therapy lmao.

- He hates going to Hunter bases because he's been assaulted a number of times in a multitude of ways.

Rodney leveled a Hunter base in Ohio because of this. He's banned from the state of Ohio. Veronica covered this situation up as she understands why he did it.

She doesn't know he's still assaulted at some bases :( and he won't tell her because he doesn't believe anything will be done about it.

- Rodney can open his pupils to freeze in terror whoever looks at them, in place

- Rodney had front horns like his sister Caroline, but Trevor snapped them off in a fit of well deserved rage.

- Rodney overall is a dick (but he's trying to get better), and uses sex, various drugs, and alcohol to try and survive instead of getting therapy.

- He is taught about in schools as a part of history. People recognize him sometimes and point and talk about him. He's used to it and generally just ignores it.

- Even though he's trying to get better. If given the chance to get his power back. He would. With no hesitation.

- Rodney uses humor and acts like a dipstick so people don't expect too much from him. It upsets him a little hit to be labeled as a man whore who has no real thoughts besides memes, but he also knows it's better than the alteratives.

- Fiends have incredibly low fertility rates, but Rodney has eggs. He has roughly 100 kids, but he acknowledges none of them. "You're my son? And? I ain't got shit for you besides some protips. Get away from me or I will kill you."

- Rodney's spit is dual functional. It is both the most caustic venom known to man or Demon kind. But it also a heavy aphrodisiac. It completely depends on his mood. So it's a risk if you kiss him lmao

- He has a motorcycle and often will still ride it around

You can read more about him, his siblings, and the universe overall here. Just as a warning though. It's long lmao

[debb987]

TEB Shredder/Karai arc

Heya! Heya! So, and I'm saying this now so you know what to expect… after musing it over, in the end:

I am shortening/summarizing TEB Shredder/Karai arc 🫣

My original idea (and reasons why this won't happen anymore lol) it's below the cut!! Possible TEB Spoilers for Ch 21 - 24(?) you've been warned!

Also, this makes more sense after reading Ch22! So I'd suggest doing that first 😂 it's coming up this Saturday 13th! Just resist temptation for 36HR! XD

So! For the 21st my original idea was for Raph to accompany Bradford all the way to Shredder's lair. Raph would cross paths with them right before Shredder and Karai leave to meet the 12 family. Raph realizes he was tricked, he tries to keep them from leaving the building…

But then (and this is an idea born from the comments of times long past lmao) Mikey's ninpo starts to act up.

What had started as warm love, a reassurance that "we're here with you" had turned into a desperate "don't leave." The orange wrappings were overcharged and starting to burn through the red projection, scolding chains reaching green skin.

The orange energy burns.

So Raph suddenly can't use his ninpo anymore and his arms are injured, so he gets knocked out and imprisoned. Shredder and Karai leave and the ending of canon TEB 21 happens. They encounter the 12 fam.

Shredder lets Splinter know he took Miwa. Other than that, nothing much changes from canon, the fight is a stalemate, the Hamatos manage to escape, and Shredder and Karai return to their base. They need to know where the 12 fam is hiding and the fastest way is to get answers from the turtle in their dungeons.

Karai passes by Raph's cell to go to her "room" (because her Ch21 POV would have remained) so she speaks with the trapped turtle, a bit teasing, a bit taunting, tries to see if she can get some intel by getting under his skin.

Except that's not Raph anymore, but Puffs.

Puffs, who is internally counting down the minutes it will take for him to regain movement in his injured arms so he can wreck the whole place, starting with her, the most cheeky person he's encountered so far. He regards her with a sharp gaze…

…that softens minutely the moment she tells him her name.

Karai was the one that protected them (system), gave up her life for them, the one they failed to protect.

Puffs decides to remain a "prisoner" for a short time, because at the beginning it's easier that way. For as long as he gives off the impression of weakness, then his questions are answered, and he gets to know more about this version of Karai, that only keeps getting more and more relatable for him.

At some point, he and Karai would have gotten to talk about their very similar circumstances, about how not all kinds of love are good.

The man that raised me wanted me to be a soldier, in an upcoming war against humanity.

I have no value to the man who raised me, not beyond my reseamblance to my mother, my worth as kunoichi.

Essentially, this was meant to be a healing arc for both, Karai and Puffs… the parallels of their circumstances.

The exploration of Karai as she unlearns Shredder 's teachings, cope with her trauma, understand that her real father is a rat that could also project onto her the memory of Tang Shen, even if to a much lesser degree than Shredder. She has brothers that are turtles, in her ignorance, she was trying to kill her real blood-related family…. and that's without delving into the Karai of Rise and how Raph (not Puffs) would react!

Can you imagine how long this arc would have been? 🫠🫠🫠

So that was the plan! But alas, longterm story-wise the most important piece of their arc was the healing journey of Puffs, who finds kinship in Karai.

And that healing can be shown in other ways.

Also, in the long run their arc doesn't affect the story. Shredder dies, Karai flies back to Japan... their presence was never meant to be longterm or a main focus in TEB.

Hence, I'm "killing the darling" cool concept, sounded so pretty...

If you're not familiar with what this means, this post is a good reference! (Expressed a bit like a vent tho! xD)

Thus the revised version of this arc! Very summarized~ sorry for those that wanted a more in-depth Karai bond, this is all I can do!

If you'd like to explore this though, feel free to write and add to the TEB AU collection in AO3, I'd love to read you 💕

And that's all, I believe. Thanks for reading me if you bothered to. Hope the story continues to be enjoyable even with the change of plans 🤗

I just wanna reach sooner the part where my Rise turtles come into play!

P.D. Casualties to this "cut" are, among others I'm probably forgetting: the plans for Leatherhead & Baxter Stockman (uwu)

[ashturnedtomist]

Keep it Covert: Ch. 2

Project James

Keep it Covert Masterlist

Previous Chapter | Read from the Beginning | Next Chapter

Summary: In which, James finds his way to club Un Esprit

TW: character death? (Asset is shut down)

Based off this post

Read it on Ao3!

Asset looked around for a moment before facing him.

“Take my memory card.”

He looked up at them again. “What?”

“Take my memory card.” They repeat. “Or at least make a copy. That way, if they shut me down, you will at least have a way to put my memories somewhere else. Maybe you could make me again. Somehow.”

A glimmer of their old personality shone in their eyes. James swallowed thickly. “Okay…okay. We can-we can do that.”

…..

James was glad he had stowed the memory card away.

3 days after the full release of D.U.M.P’s documents, the base was stormed by special forces. James had to watch as they forced Asset to their knees and ripped out their wires.

All that work, down the drain.

All the efforts, down the drain.

An entire person, down the drain.

It took everything inside of him not to lose it on them all at once. To give them a real reason to fear empowereds.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Anton squeeze his eyes shut.

They tore everything apart, searched everyone on the compound, and took the most important things for “evidence.”

Evidence of what, he still isn’t sure.

By the end of the day, most everyone was taken into government custody. Some were lucky enough to slip away, but as far as unempowereds go, not so much. They were sent home once they realized we were only working under our former government’s orders.

James had never been so glad to see his partner.

——

After what had happened hit the news, it wasn’t shocking when people he had known from his everyday life started giving him the cold shoulder. Even more so when the green band was shackled to his wrist.

He’d been disappointed when people he thought were friends stopped speaking to him as well.

After the media circus died down, James tried to regain some semblance of a normal life, but if he was being honest?

He was bored.

He needed something, anything to keep him occupied.

And he still had no idea what to do with Asset’s memories.

It was a blessing in disguise Morgan called him.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is this James?”

James raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. Who’s asking?”

“Forgive me. My name is Morgan. I have a business proposal for you.”

James grew quiet for a moment.

“What kind of business?”

——

After some long discussions with his partner, James agreed to meet with the Seer Obscura.

He called his club, ‘Un Esprit.’

One Mind.

James leaned against the bar, Morgan seated beside him.

“So, what’s the purpose of all of this? I’m guessing you didn’t just recruit the former head of Project Meridian for your club just for shits and giggles.”

Morgan chucked.

“You’re a sharp one, hm?”

The other man shrugged. “Have to be to run an entire compound like that. Now, cut to the chase.”

Morgan took a deep breath.

“I have a use for you. And that memory card of yours.”

James turned his head so fast Morgan swore he had whiplash.

“How do you know about that?” His voice was hard. Defensive.

Morgan poured himself a drink.

“Money buys a lot of things, Mr. James. Information happens to be one of them.”

James flexed his fingers. He didn’t like that Morgan knew about this at all. He inhaled sharply.

“What do you want with me?”

Morgan sipped from his glass.

“All in due time, Mr. James. All in due time. That is, if you agree to work with me. You’d be the head of management of my club should you accept.”

James squeezed his eyes shut.

“If I agree to help you, will you help Asset?”

Morgan smiled. “Of course. Their assistance is needed as well.”

James sighed. “Fine.” He turned around and poured a drink for himself. “I’m guessing I’m not the only one who’s being recruited.”

Morgan chuckled. “No. I have people working on getting others right now.”

James took a swig from his glass. “People like the other Seer Obscura?”

Morgan’s eyes flicked to James. “How did you-”

“Power tends to buy a lot too.”

Morgan stared at him for a moment before chuckling. “I think this will be an interesting partnership, James.”

The telepath sighed. “I’ll drink to that.”

He downed the entire glass in one go.

Yes, an interesting partnership indeed.