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training4theapocalypse · 2 years ago

Text

Thirsty (Adrian Chase x fem!reader)

Rating: Explicit - 18+ only

Word Count: 7.5k

Warnings: SMUT, Mutual pining, Romance, Canon typical descriptions of murder and violence, Dubious consent (they are both kind of drunk), Oral (fem receiving), P in V, Safe sex (male condom), Multiple orgasms

Summary: Your job restocking vending machines takes you to businesses all over Evergreen - including Fennel Fields where the cute busboy keeps making eyes at you. (Based on this ask by @kpopgirlbtssvt)

A/N: There’s a part where Adrian picks the reader up over his shoulder but he is a very strong boi, I am confident he could shoulder carry any thirsty MF. PS My toxic trait is that I slip a reference to Scotland in literally everything I write.

Masterlist

Tag list: @likeficsinthewnd, @she-wolf09231982,

Chapter text:

The muscles in your forearms ache as you drag your hand cart, stacked with cases of soda and water, up the ramp at the back of Fennel Fields.

You wheel your final delivery of the day straight into their break room, as usual, and park your cart beside the vending machine, ready to start your restock. You’re greeted amicably by the staff, who know you well enough that they’re not surprised to see you.

But one particularly familiar face spots you from across the room and practically leaps off his chair. Adrian Chase looks forward to your weekly trip to Fennel Fields, and today he can’t help but notice the glow on your face from hauling your delivery. He wonders what else makes your face glow like that. He bets he could.

“Hey, stranger,” you say, and he blinks at you as if snapping out of something.

“Stranger? It’s me, Adrian.”

You grin. You can’t tell if he’s joking or not but either way, you find it sort of cute. And, yes, Taylor warned you to stop flirting with the hot but kind of dorky busboy because he’s gonna end up catching feelings, but there’s something fun about getting him all flustered and making his cheeks burn.

“I know, Adrian. I could never forget that pretty face,” you tease. He turns slightly pink. There it is. “Thirsty?” you ask.

“Yup, and wait til you see what I got you.”

This has been your routine at Fennel Fields for a few months now. You pick up some speciality soda while you’re delivering beverages across Washington and Adrian brings you something- usually a snack or anything else he thinks you might like.

“Three… two… one.” At the same time, you pull the soda out from your bag and Adrian hands you a small, blue rectangular box.

A cassette tape. Aqua- Aquarium.

“Adrian! This is so sick- it’s so hard to find tapes these days.” You flip it over to read the tracklist. “I fucking love Barbie Girl.”

“Me too! And I noticed your Walkman, so I thought you could use some more music.” He looks down at the orange and blue soda can in his hands, reading the label. “IRN BRU?”

“This is the weirdest soda I’ve found yet. It’s like bubblegum cream soda but it burns.”

He cracks it open, takes a sip and looks confused. “I think I like it?” He takes another sip. “It’s like my mouth hates it but needs more.”

“I know, right?” You put the cassette in your bag and open the vending machine.

“Thanks for the soda.” He nods at your tired arms as you start loading in your delivery. “Sick forearm pump, by the way.”

“Uh, what?”

“Yeah! You can totally tell you’ve been working on them- they’re huge.”

You raise an eyebrow. It’s probably meant as a compliment, but you’re not sure how you feel about Adrian talking to you like you’re one of his bros at the gym.

“I mean- not huge! Like normal. But nice. And-“

“Have you seen Taylor?” You decide to step in before he can dig this particular hole any deeper. “I need him to sign for this.”

“What’s up, Cuz?” Taylor appears from around a corner.

You hold out your electronic POS and stylus, awaiting his signature. “Just need you to sign this, then I’m done for the night.”

“Nice!” says Adrian “You got any plans after this?”

“Depends on who’s asking,” you tease him, a small balloon swells up in your chest with excitement. You’ve never been sure whether Adrian’s always so excited to see you because he likes you or if he just really likes soda.

“Uh, me, Adrian. Remember?”

“Hey man, what did I tell you about hitting on my cousin?” Taylor gives him a stern look. “Don’t you have a pregnant girlfriend to be worried about?”

You’re surprised, to say the least. The fact that Adrian has a girlfriend (a pregnant one at that) but he still goes out of his way to exchange gifts with you every week is kind of disappointing. It reaffirms your belief that there are no decent men in this town.

“Yes! I mean, no. We, uh, we broke up.”

“Because of the party you tried to throw her?” asks Taylor.

Aw, that’s kind of sweet.

“Uh, yeah, she did not appreciate the abortion party.”

What the fuck?

Taylor signs for the delivery and hands you back the device, giving you a meaningful look- I told you so. The balloon of excitement in your chest feels well and truly punctured.

“But I mean, I’m not hung up on her or anything. I actually dumped her.”

Yup, no decent men alright.

You and Taylor exchange glances. You can practically hear the wet raspberry of the balloon deflating completely.

“I’d better go. Thanks for the tape, dude,” you say a little more coolly than you’d intended in your hurry to hide your dismay before wheeling your cart out of the break room.

“Hey, let me help you with that,” Adrian’s voice calls from behind you, but Taylor grabs the door before he can.

“I got it, man.”

Taylor walks with you to the van. You lean up against the cab door in exasperation. Taylor offers you a cigarette which you go to accept, but he retracts the packet.

“Nuh-uh, let’s hear it first.”

“Fine,” you sigh. “You are so full of wisdom, as always, and I will forever heed your dating advice from now until the end of time,” you concede to Taylor, snatching a cigarette. He grins and lights you both up.

“Y’know what the weird thing is? I don’t think he ever had a girlfriend.”

You exhale a puff of smoke in surprise. “What was that about then?”

“I dunno. I caught him out here celebrating one night, and he made up a weird abortion party story. I think he was really out here dancing because Peacemaker came into the restaurant-“

“Peacemaker?! Jeez, isn’t that guy in jail?”

“Musta released him. But I think Adrian was being an excited fanboy and got embarrassed when I saw him. Dude’s a serial liar- I thought he’d come clean if I asked him about it in front of you.”

You lean your head back against the van. “Where are all the decent men in Evergreen?” You lament and start rhyming off, counting on your fingers. “They’re either obsessed with capes, racists, racist capes or racists who are obsessed with capes!”

“Well, speaking of capes, it’s getting dark. You better hit the road before you run into that nutcase, Vigilante.”

“Yeah, or the escaped gorilla,” you laugh, stubbing out your cigarette.

“Put that in the trash or you’ll end up with a bullet in your head for littering.”

“I’ve charmed my way out of worse situations. Besides, maybe he’ll be the one to sweep me off my feet.”

“Vigilante? Or the gorilla?”

“Honestly, at this point, I’d take either.”

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

The following afternoon, your delivery route sends you off down the highway. It’s not a glamorous job, stocking vending machines at different businesses all over the place, but it’s easy, and you can listen to your own music. It takes you all across this little corner of Washington, and the more you see, the more grateful you are that you get to live in this beautiful, rocky state.

Even if there isn’t a single eligible man to be found on your entire route. You still feel a little crestfallen thinking about Adrian Chase. Why was he so intent on lying to Taylor yesterday? How deep does his Peacemaker obsession go if he was that embarrassed?

You pull up to the back of the Glan Tai bottling plant on the outskirts of Evergreen, put on your headphones and turn on your Walkman. You want to keep a low profile because the clients are much weirder here than the rest- Adrian Chase excluded.

They weren’t always like this. The facilities manager at Glan Tai was a friendly old man - Clive- who let you use their bathroom, and gave you filter coffee from a polystyrene cup to ease your two-hour journey home. Until one day recently, Clive wasn’t so friendly anymore. New management, you expected.

Head down, you drag your cart through the service entrance and make your way to their storage room. Aqua blasts in your ears as you wheel your way along the corridor. There are loud bangs and the ground vibrates slightly, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary in a site with heavy machinery.

You get to the room where they keep the IT equipment, files and vending machine and start unloading. You feel a heavy hand on your shoulder and pull your headphones down around your neck.

“Oh, sorry Clive, I didn’t see you-“

You freeze, icy fear spreading through your veins as you find yourself face to face with - you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me - the escaped gorilla from the zoo.

You scream. Loudly.

Two people burst into the room, startling the gorilla. It backs away from you. For a second, you think they’re factory workers running to your rescue. But they slam and bolt the storage room door shut behind them.

“No! Unlock the door!”

They whip around and point their guns at you. You drop the case of water you’re holding and hold your hands up in surrender.

One of them, you recognise from the news. A man in a black and teal suit, armed to the hilt, with his face almost entirely obscured- except by a red visor covering his eyes.

It’s him. It’s Vigilante. And a blonde woman you don’t recognise.

He lowers his gun and nudges hers away from your direction.

“Shoot her before she kills us both!” snaps the woman, irritated.

“She’s not a butterfly,” says Vigilante, his voice muffled behind his mask. “I know her.”

He knows me? How?

“I’m just delivering water, I swear!” You beg her, looking between them.

Just then, the gorilla appears from behind the shelves and launches the blonde woman across the room.

An involuntary yelp of shock escapes you again and the gorilla returns its attention to you. Thinking fast, you tip your cart forward, and the giant ape trips up on the cascade of cans and bottles.

“You didn’t think to tell us there was a gorilla in here?!” Comes the annoyed blonde woman’s voice from behind a broken table.

“I was preoccupied with the guns in my face!”

The door to the storage room is blasted open and another woman bursts in, followed by none other than Peacemaker.

Adrian would lose his shit right now, you think to yourself.

Peacemaker looks at you through the eyeholes of his helmet “She’s clear, Adebayo” and the other woman lowers her gun. The gorilla gets up. “Oh shit!” says Peacemaker as it sends a swipe in your direction, sending you tumbling off your feet and onto the floor.

You cower in the corner as they fight the gorilla. Vigilante stabs it but it bats him away easily and does the same to the woman called Adebayo. Peacemaker launches himself onto the gorilla’s back but the beast throws him off onto the hard floor.

“Die, human!”

Did that gorilla just speak? What have you gotten yourself into?

The gorilla raises its fists, ready to crush Peacemaker, when a man with an oddly patchy beard runs through the door, chainsaw in hand and proceeds to kill the gorilla, sawing it almost in half and sending blood splattering everywhere.

A small winged creature crawls out of the dead gorilla’s mouth. The blonde woman gets to her feet and shoots it casually. What the…? Was that some kind of parasite?

The gunshot leaves your ears ringing but hearing your name whispered in your ear brings you back to reality. You blink stupidly at Vigilante, who is now crouched down inches from your face and you try to make out his eyes through the red visor. You know those eyes. But how? How does the mass murderer of Evergreen know you?

He hooks his arms under yours, lifts you to your feet and wipes the smattering of blood off your face. Your heart is racing as you continue to stare at him silently, dumbfounded. You know you should be scared of this masked man, who’s wanted on multiple counts of murder. But here he is, claiming he knows you, making sure you’re okay.

“What do we do with her?” asks the bearded man with the chainsaw.

“Who, me?” you try and sound nonchalant. “I didn’t see anything. I’ll just get out of your beard- hair! I mean hair.” You go to put your headphones back over your ears but the blonde woman rips them off.

“Hey!” Vigilante steps between you and her. “Look, she’s cool. She says she didn’t see anything, so she didn’t”

“How do you know she’s not a butterfly?” she challenges Vigilante.

“X-ray helmet,” interjects Peacemaker. “No butterfly in that pretty little noggin.” He winks at you and Vigilante bristles, folding his arms in an irritated sort of way.

“Listen, I’ve got like four more deliveries today so…” You trail off as your body starts to go on autopilot. There’s an awkward silence as they watch you bustle around, stacking the blood-covered cases of water and soda back onto your cart.

“She’s clearly in shock,” says Adebayo, more gently than the blonde.

“Hey, let me help you with that,” says a muffled voice from behind you.

‘Hey, let me help you with that.’

In the exact same cadence as yesterday.

“A-Adrian?” you say hoarsely and you turn back around in time to watch Vigilante drop the case of water. “Adrian Chase?!” you repeat, your voice slightly hysterical.

“No!” says Adrian unconvincingly but at the same time Peacemaker says:

“Godammit Vij. How does she know you?”

Adrian groans in frustration. “She delivers drinks to my job too!”

“That settles it- she’s a witness and she knows Vigilante’s identity. Adebayo, you need to end this. Don’t make her beg for her life like the other guy,” commands the blonde woman, clearly in charge of the team.

“Nonononononono,” Adrian stands in front of you with his arms folded. “No way. I am not letting you kill her.”

“That’s an order, Adebayo. Vigilante- move.”

“Wait,” says the guy with the beard. “She might actually be useful, Harcourt.”

Harcourt raises her eyebrows. “Well?”

“We’re looking for other leads, right? Other places where the butterflies are?” He looks at you. “Hey, water girl. Does this company have any other locations?”

“Y-yes,” your throat feels dry.

“Can you tell us where they are?” he asks.

“Will you let me live if I tell you?”

Everyone looks at Harcourt. She groans. “Fine. But we’re gonna need to figure out what to do with her to keep her from blabbering.”

“C’mon, she already said she was cool!” says Adrian.

“And you trust her?”

“One hundo percent.” He gives you a reassuring thumbs up.

“I wouldn’t trust his judgement,” says Peacemaker and you immediately feel faint. It must be obvious on your face because he backtracks. “No! Not that we should kill her! Definitely not. But Adrian would trust any hot girl. We can’t just let her go.”

Harcourt pinches the bridge of her nose as she thinks.

“Vigilante,” she says finally. “I’m telling Murn that water girl is your responsibility. You’re going to keep her with you 24/7 until the mission is over. Any fuck-up, if she does or says anything that jeopardizes our objective, she’s dead and you’ll be doing black ops in Belize. Got it?”

“Cool, got it!” says Adrian enthusiastically, as if that isn’t the most horrifying thing he’s ever heard.

“Wait, don’t I get a say in this? I have a job! I have people who will be looking for me.”

“Do you want to cooperate or do you want to die?”

“Which one do you wanna do?” asks Adrian.

If you hadn’t already figured out that Vigilante was Adrian Chase, that would have been the dead giveaway.

A few moments later, Adrian is leading you by the hand back through the factory to where your van is parked while you cover your eyes with one hand. He had suggested it after your knees almost gave way when you saw the pile of bodies at the door. And he liked that you had rejected Peacemaker’s offer to hoist you over his shoulder and carry you out.

“Oh, no… Clive,” you whisper, making the mistake of opening your eyes and seeing the old man crumpled on the floor, next to the coffee machine. You cover your eyes again.

“Watch you don’t slip in the blood here,” says Adrian gently, guiding you to side-step.

You groan. You think you might puke.

“I can’t believe you killed all these people,” you whisper, wishing you could disassociate from this whole thing.

“We didn’t, not really- I promise. I’ll explain on the ride home.”

Harcourt instructs Adrian to drive your van, following theirs back to Evergreen. When you’re both out of earshot and in your van, Adebayo sits in the driver’s seat turning to Harcourt, Peacemaker and Economos. “Isn’t it kind of weird seeing Vigilante like this?”

“Like what?” asks Economos.

“Like, compassionate, sweet… not all hell-bent on murder?”

Peacemaker shrugs “He’s like this all the time. You should hear the way he talks about this other girl, his friend Taylor’s sister, or cousin, I think. He’s just a sucker for anyone who’s nice to him.”

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

Hours later, you’re sitting on the couch in your apartment, waiting for Adrian to finish up in the shower.

On the drive to their headquarters, Adrian had explained all about their mission and how an alien race called ‘the butterflies’ had taken over the bodies of (and, therefore, killed) all those people in the factory long before Adrian’s team had arrived.

At headquarters, you had told them everything you knew about your clients at Glan Tai and had given them the coordinates for their other delivery location- a small farm thirty miles north of the factory. Murn seemed to be satisfied with your intel and approved of Harcourt’s plan to have Adrian keep you under close surveillance. Great.

Adrian grabbed his go-bag from his Sebring and drove the two of you in your van back to your apartment, where you immediately ran to the shower, to try and rid yourself of all the negative feelings from today.

He now appears in your living room, fresh out of the shower in a pale blue t-shirt and jeans, looking much less out of place than when he was in his full combat gear. But he still stands awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself.

“Thirsty?” you ask him. “I’ve got wine.”

“I shouldn’t. I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you.”

You find two wine glasses and place them on the coffee table. He sits on the edge of your couch. “What am I gonna do, Adrian?” You open up a bottle of red wine and start pouring. “I could barely stand seeing all that shit at the factory. Do you really think I’m gonna kill you?” You slide a glass towards him and start filling your own.

He looks down at the wine but doesn’t touch it. You raise your glass. “To forgetting the worst day of my life.”

“The worst day of your life? Today was awesome!” He looks genuinely surprised that you’re not sharing his elation. “We killed a ton of butterflies, and now thanks to you, we know where they keep their cow.”

It’s a sentence that wouldn’t have made sense to you a few hours ago. And you hate that it does now.

“We’re saving the world,” he continues. “And you helped!”

You push his wine glass closer to him. “To saving the world, then.”

He takes a sip and screws up his face. “Do you have any beer? Ooh, or soda!”

“It’s in the van. And most of it’s covered in blood now.”

“Then this is great,” he says, a little too politely.

“If you’re not used to it, the first glass tastes like acetone,” you tell him, draining yours. “But the second one…” You pause, pouring yourself another. “The second goes down real smooth.”

Adrian copies you and gulps down the red wine. You refill his glass, and he takes another sip.

“The second one isn’t so bad, actually.” He sounds surprised.

You sink down on the couch next to him. “So now what?” you ask. He looks confused, so you elaborate. “What do you usually do with hostages all night?”

“You’re not a hostage!” He looks offended. “I’m more like your bodyguard.”

“Oh yeah? Who are you guarding me from? Your friends?”

He looks up over his glasses in thought. “Well, just Harcourt. And Murn. But it’s mostly to keep you safe from the butterflies.”

You take another drink of wine. Studying his face, you think he’s telling the truth. He really doesn’t consider you to be his hostage. As you look him over, you realise you’ve never noticed how curly his hair is before- he’s normally wearing that dorky little Fennel Fields hat.

You’ve always thought he was cute in a wholesome kind of way but now that he’s out of his work uniform, you can appreciate that he’s, like, ridiculously, conventionally handsome. You wonder if he knows it. You wonder a lot of things about Adrian, especially now that, come to think of it, everything you know about him is probably a lie to keep his secret identity hidden.

“Truth or dare?” you blurt.

“What?”

“Go on.” You gesture towards him with your glass. “We’ve got a long night. I want to find out more about you. Adrian. Vigilante.”

He looks excited. Maybe it’s the prospect of playing a game, or maybe he’s just happy someone wants to know more about him. Both sides of him.

“Truth then.”

“Does your pregnant ex-girlfriend exist?”

He groans and leans his head back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. “No. I was just trying to cover how stoked I was that Peacemaker was out of jail.”

You laugh, but your eyes linger on his exposed neck and the way his Adam’s apple moves when he talks.

He turns his head to look over at you through his wire-rimmed glasses. “I don’t think Taylor likes me.”

“Taylor likes you just fine,” you lie, sipping your wine.

“Truth or dare?” asks Adrian.

“Truth.”

“Has Taylor ever told you that you shouldn’t date me?”

“Ugh, fine. Yes. He told me not to give you my number.”

“Why?!”

“If you want to ask a follow-up question, then you need to take a drink. That’s the rule.” He does so- quickly. “Okay, fine. He says he doesn’t trust you because you’re always lying about things, and it kind of annoys everyone because you’re a bad liar.”

“Everyone?! I thought we were talking about Taylor?”

“If you want to be liked and have a secret identity, you need to be a better liar.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” admits Adrian, twisting the stem of the glass between his fingers. “Your turn, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

He thinks for a couple of beats. “I dare you to finish your drink.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?”

“It was the only dare I could think of that wasn’t a sexy dare.”

The newly formed idea of Adrian asking you to do something sexy for him makes you pause. Warmth pools deep in your tummy as watches you, waiting. God, why does red wine always make you feel so slutty? You raise your eyebrows over the rim of your glass, and you drain the rest of the liquid. “Why don’t you want to give me a sexy dare?” you ask, setting your glass down.

“I dunno, don’t you think there’s kind of a power imbalance?”

“That’s true. You are my bodyguard after all.” You nod contemplatively. “And I guess it would be awkward since you need to stay here for a few more days.”

“Oh, I meant-” Adrian cuts himself off. What he really meant would sound incredibly childish now.

You get up from the couch to retrieve another bottle of wine from the breakfast bar that separates your kitchen from your living room. “Go on, what did you mean?”

“No, I meant what you said.”

No, he didn’t. What he meant is that you have all the power because he has such a huge crush on you. And the way the wine is going to his head, he’s not sure he trusts himself to give you a dare without it having an ulterior motive. Adrian watches as you twist the corkscrew into the bottle with precision. Your chest jiggles in your tank top with the recoil of your arm extracting the cork, and it makes Adrian blush bright red. He discreetly adjusts himself in his jeans.

You bring the new bottle of wine over to the couch and sit down cross-legged, your back leaning against the armrest so you can get a better look at him without constantly straining. Fuck, he’s gorgeous like this, you think, as he gets comfortable, changing position so he can look at you too. In the soft light of your living room, you can make out that his cheeks are pink again. “Does wine usually make you flush like that?” you ask.

“Uh, I wouldn’t know. Can wine do that?”

“To some people, yeah. For me, it just makes me feel kinda sexy.” You clap your hand to your mouth, watching Adrian’s eyes widen. “Ugh! Sorry, I wouldn’t have said that if I hadn’t had two glasses already.” You scoff and shake your head. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

The wine is making you feel bolder. “Have you had sex in your Vigilante costume?”

“Today?”

You almost choke on your newly poured drink with laughter.

“Okay, that answers that question. In which case, I have a follow-up,” You take a sip, pointedly. “What’s Vigilante’s favourite sex position?”

“Oh, uh…” Adrian thinks back to when he last had sex as Vigilante, with Amber and Peacemaker a few days ago. “Any, I guess.”

“Any? C’mon, you picked truth!”

“It is the truth! I don’t take my mask off, or my suit if I don’t have to. So it always feels the same. Fun, I guess, but sorta uncomfortable. Funcomfortable.”

You smile and rest your head on your hand, elbow leaning on the back of the couch. “What about Adrian?”

“Is that another follow-up question?”

You acquiesce and take another drink but before you can even swallow he says “Missionary.”

“Boring,” you tease but he doesn’t seem fazed.

“It’s not. Not when you really like someone anyway. Missionary is fucking great - when you can kiss them, hold their hand, stare into their eyes…” He pauses, his green eyes burning into yours. “Boring is not being able to even taste someone because of my mask.”

You realise you’ve been holding your breath. You look away and exhale slowly, trying to steady the growing arousal burning hot, deep in your pelvic floor.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I-” When you raise your head again, he’s still looking at you intently. “I just realised I haven’t been fucked like that in a really long time.”

He shakes his head. “Yeah right! I bet you go on tons of dates.”

“I do,” you admit with a tilt of your head. “But did you know that like 90% of women don’t orgasm on a one-night stand?”

Adrian’s eyebrows knit together “That doesn’t sound right. Women always cum when I-”

“That’s what all men say, Adrian. But honestly, I don’t think a man has made me cum in, like, the entire time I’ve been single.”

“I could,” he says, matter-of-factly. It’s not a boast, it’s a simple statement.

Honestly, you're not sure if it’s the alcohol or the vivid image you have of Adrian making you clutch at your bedsheets and moan his name, but something’s making the blood rush to your face and other parts of your body that you’re still desperately trying not to think about.

“I’ll do it right now if you want?”

He’s asking if he can try to make you cum as casually as if asking if he can help you restock the vending machine. It’s bolder than you’d expected from the shy busboy. Then again, you’d never expected him to be Vigilante either… maybe you should review all the preconceptions you have of him.

Your abdomen clenches. Fuck, you can feel how hot and sticky your underwear is as he blinks at you behind his glasses, waiting for your response.

You look at his face hungrily, eyes lingering on his lips, now stained with red wine. “Adrian, listen. I’m sure you’re very good, blah blah blah. But I just… I don’t want to set you up for disappointment. It’s kind of hard to make me cum.”

“Let me give it a shot. And if I can make you cum, you let me take you on a date.”

You stare at him, feeling your chest pounding as you contemplate his offer. There’s something about his voice that’s so sincere and so fucking desperate for you, your brain can’t think of a reason not to say yes.

“Truth or dare?” he asks, breaking the silence.

“Truth.”

“Do you want me to go down on you? I’m really good at it.”

Yes! You want to scream- already stupidly soaking fucking wet at the mere idea of it.

Instead, you squeeze your eyes shut and nod. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Yeah?” His tone makes you think that he wasn’t really expecting you to say yes.

“Yes, Adrian.” You laugh in disbelief. “If you make me cum, you can take me on a date.” He grins and you shift inelegantly, not sure how to proceed. “So… how do you wanna-”

Adrian pounces on you before you can ask the question, his red-stained lips crashing against yours. You kiss him back- hard. You’re thirsty for him, you realise, as you taste the alcohol mixed with the slightly metallic taste of his saliva. You want to drain him, drown in him.

He groans when you grab the nape of his neck and suck on his bottom lip. He can’t believe that you’re kissing him like this- like it’s you who’s been pining after him and not the other way around.

You pause, lips barely touching his. “Fuck, I’ve wanted to kiss you like this for so long,” you whisper.

“You- you have?”

“Adrian, I spend half my week trying to find you new kinds of speciality soda just so I have an excuse to talk to you.”

“Oh.” Realisation dawns on him. All this time he just thought you were really, really into soda.

Adrian gives you one last deep kiss and pulls away. He gets on his knees on the floor, and the sight of him there, with his hands on your hips and his body between your legs, makes your cunt clench. You bite your lips in anticipation.

His fingertips hook the hem of your sweatpants. “Can I take these off?” You lift your hips, permitting him to remove them.

“Fuck,” he breathes, staring at your pussy.

“Adrian…” You mumble, suddenly self-conscious. Exposed. You try to bring your knees together, but he places a hand on each of your thighs, holding them firmly open.

“You’re wet already,” he says, in a self-satisfied sort of way that makes your skin feel like it’s on fire. “When did that happen? Was it when I said I’d make you cum?”

You shake your head. “When I was wondering what kind of sexy dare you wanted to give me.”

He grins “I wanted to dare you to take your top off.” He traces a finger along your hot, wet folds. You gasp, feeling the calloused texture of his fingertip brushing up and down against your skin.

“Like this?” You lift your tank top up and over your head, tossing it aside and then you squeeze your tits together.

He sits on the floor, lips parted slightly in awe. You feel like he’s looking at you like you’re the most-

“You’re the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

Now you really are embarrassed but before you can respond, he dips the finger that was sliding along your folds into your pussy. You bite your lip to stifle the vulnerable, blissful sigh that leaves you.

“It’s okay- you can moan for me.” He reassures, pushing a thick finger in and up. You feel your walls squeezing around him in response. “God, you’re so tight around my finger.”

“Fuck-” you plead, as he teases you, gently stroking your g-spot. His lips haven’t even touched you yet and you already feel like you’re having to consciously stop yourself from cumming.

“You needed this, huh?” he asks and you watch as he kisses your inner thigh, sucking the sensitive skin there. You have to look away- just the sight of his jaw muscles moving as he traces his tongue along the crevice where your thigh meets your body almost sends you over the brink.

“Adrian, I’m- fuck-” After all your warnings about how difficult it would be to make you cum, you’re are shamefully close already- and Adrian knows it. Everything below your waist is hot and shaking and swollen as his finger curls up inside you, tapping rhythmically.

“Wait not yet- I’ve got to taste you. I want you to cum on my tongue.”

Warmth envelopes your clit as Adrian opens his mouth and slowly glides his tongue over the bundle of nerves there, tasting you for the first time. He barely moves at all but you’re so close that just the pressure of his mouth on you sends the crashing wave of your orgasm rolling across his hot tongue. Your back arches and your walls clamp down around his finger.

He lets out a groan, sending pleasant vibrations across your clit.

“Shit, Adrian-”

Blinding lights appear somewhere between your eyelids and the centre of the universe. Your thighs tense as the pleasure shoots through your body, your pussy flooding his mouth between your legs.

When you finally stop twitching he removes his tongue from you, giving you a moment’s respite.

“That was, like, really easy,” he smirks as you run your hands through your hair in disbelief. “I didn’t even have to take my glasses off.”

“I’ve never-” You try to catch your breath, blinking at him. You’re not sure you’ve even made yourself cum that quickly before. “That’s never happened -so fast- ever.”

“I shoulda asked what two orgasms would get me.”

“Literally anything. Do whatever you want with me-” you babble, staring up at the ceiling. You pause to look down when you feel him remove his finger from inside you.

And he takes off his glasses, ready to make you a fucking mess.

It’s the singular hottest action you’ve ever seen anyone do in your entire life- Adrian Chase is going to be the end of you.

He hooks his arms behind your knees, lifting your ass off of the couch and pulling you towards him.

“You’re so beautiful like this,” he says, mesmerised by the way your chest still heaves in the aftershock of your orgasm. Adrian buries his face between your legs, delving his tongue between your lips and exploring your entrance.

He pulls back for a second “I knew you’d taste so fucking good.”

Fuck.

You watch as he sucks on two of his fingers and sinks them deep inside you, up to his knuckles. When you repeat his name over and over, he answers by flicking his tongue over your clit.

You gasp at the sensation and grab a fistful of his thick, curly hair. His tongue rolls gentle circles around your clit as his fingers work in and out, softly stretching your pussy. Adrian takes his time now and it’s agonising.

For so long he’s been having sex as Vigilante. Adrian’s missed this, the freedom of having his mask off. Of taste. And he can’t believe that it’s you that he’s devouring.

Fuck, and you could lie here like this forever, just enjoying him exploring you, like he wants nothing more than to make you gush all over him and cry his name again. Normally you’d feel under pressure to perform, to give him that second orgasm he’s so determined to draw from you, but the way he’s taking his time, lazily swirling his tongue in circles, and curling his fingers into you makes you dissolve into a puddle.

“Fuuuck,” you whine helplessly, feeling the familiar sensation of you losing yourself, the heat that’s been slowly building deep in your core threatening to boil over. “Can we do this, like, the whole time you’re here protecting me?” Your eyes try to find his but he’s staring at your tits. His other hand is on your hip, fingers not quite stretching up towards you - as if unsure what the boundary is on touching you when it comes to this silly little deal you’ve made.

You pull his hand to your chest, encouraging him to squeeze you. He moans needily between wet, sloppy licks. The sound of him being so turned on just from touching your body, when you haven’t laid a hand on him yet sends ecstasy searing through you.

And it comes, whipping through your core and cracking like thunder. You squeeze your thighs around his head and he lets you set the pace, as you grind yourself wildly onto his tongue, his lips, his chin. Adrian groans in encouragement when you grip the back of his head, his fingers still pressing into your g-spot as you press yourself against his mouth.

You cum hard again, your rocking hips eventually shuddering to a halt as he gives you a few last long, slow licks. The faint prickle of embarrassment you feel from letting yourself come undone like that vanishes when you see Adrian’s face light up, his lips swollen and sticky, totally enamoured by your now slightly dishevelled appearance.

His mouth looks irresistible. You slink down off the couch to join him on the floor so you can kiss him desperately. Fuck, why did you ever listen to Taylor? You needed this. Needed him. You taste the sweet, salty juices on Adrian’s lips and on his tongue.

“I’ll admit-” you breathe, pressing your forehead against his. “- you’re like really, really fucking good at that.”

“Told you.” He leans on the couch and gets to his feet. “So, where’s your bedroom?”

“Uh, down the hall, across from the bathroom. Why?”

“Two orgasms and I can do what I want with you. Deal’s a deal.” Before your brain can catch up, he hoists you to your feet and over his shoulder, making you squeal involuntarily with delight.

Oh my fucking god.

Adrian slaps your ass and carries you through to your bedroom, tossing you onto your bed where you burst into a fit of giggles. He smells warm and clean, like your favourite shower gel he must have used earlier. He crawls on top of you and plants tiny kisses all over your lips, your cheeks, your nose- every inch of your face and neck peppered with his affection.

He pulls off his T-shirt and - Jesus Christ, he has abs. But you also notice his torso is covered in scars and bruises, the evidence of his double life painted across his body. A streak of white scar tissue here, a purple welt there-

“Don’t girls usually ask about all these injuries?” You ask, tracing your hand down his chest.

“I usually keep my suit on.” He shrugs.

And that’s when you realise- he doesn’t just happen to have sex as Vigilante. He only has sex as Vigilante. You feel a pang of understanding, thinking about the way he so wistfully described missionary earlier. You’re the only one who’s seen him like this. Both sides of him.

Adrian undoes his belt buckle and looks down at you lying spread out of the bedsheets in front of him, still flushed and glowing. He knew he’d be able to make you glow like that.

He pauses. “Do, uh, do you have a condom? I wasn’t expecting to…”

You find a condom in your bedside drawer while he undresses and then you help to put it on him as you kiss the small trail of dark hair below his belly button. He’s big- bigger than what you’re used to. You’d really, really like to suck it, you think. But Adrian has other ideas. He guides you back to lie on your pillows and climbs on top of you.

Wanton anticipation bubbles over inside you, you sigh needily as he kisses your neck and brings his calloused hand between your legs again. He slides his fingers into your folds and you hear the wet sounds of him rubbing your slick on his cock. It’s greedy but you’re already impatient for him- you want to cum for him again.

He positions himself at your entrance and looks into your eyes. “You okay?” he murmurs.

“Yes,” you breathe. “Fuck me- please.”

The way you plead makes him twitch- he can’t take it anymore. The erection he’s had since you opened that second bottle of wine is throbbing. Adrian’s hips press into you and you feel his cock pushing through your folds, into your centre. A soft whimper escapes your lips as you feel him filling you up, the walls of your pussy struggling to accommodate him.

Watching your reaction, he double checks “Sure you’re okay?”

You nod. Because it aches - but in the best kind of way.

“Good,” he says. “Because you feel so good. Your pussy feels so fucking good around me.”

You wrap your legs around his waist. Fuck, he has such a slutty little waist, you think to yourself as he grinds into you, pushing deeper, the head of his cock pressing into your g-spot. You slip your hand between your bodies to touch yourself and he moans quietly in your ear.

“Oh my god, yeah. Fuck, rub your clit because I’m not gonna last long.”

He clasps your other hand, fingers intertwining with yours- half holding it, half pinning it to the bed. Your body writhes under him, leaning your head back into your pillows and he takes the opportunity to suck at your freshly exposed neck.

“You look so good taking it so deep like this,” he groans, tilting his head down to watch his cock slide in and out of you. “I can’t believe I’m fucking inside you.”

Everything he says makes the hairs on the back of your arms stand up. You feel so, deliciously full- the indecent slapping and squelching noises as he picks up pace and pounds into you only makes you wetter.

Your legs squeeze around his waist as your whole body tightens like a spring coiling, ready to be released. The friction of his body moves yours, driving you into your mattress, and putting even more rhythmic pressure on your fingers against your clit.

“Adrian, I’m- ah, fuck- I’m gonna cum again.”

“Fuck, look at me. I want you to cum when I cum. Let it all out for me.”

You try and keep eye contact with him while bliss rockets through your body as his hips slam into you harder. It spreads from your centre right down your legs, now in a vice-like grip around him. You curse his name incoherently, your pussy tightening and releasing as you cum around his cock.

“That’s it- fuckfuckfuckfuck-” His full weight collapses on you as he empties himself. You feel Adrian’s cock pulsing inside you as he groans your name and comes to a halt.

You both lie there for a few moments, Adrian breathing raggedly into the crook of your neck, his heartbeat and yours pounding against each other. Your euphoria is interrupted only briefly when he pulls out of you and disposes of the condom.

Adrian returns to your bed and pulls you into his chest.

“I am never listening to Taylor ever again,” you say, face pressed against his pectoral muscles.

“Yeah?”

“I mean, unless…” You tilt your head up to look at him. “You still want to take me on a date right?”

“Are you crazy? Of course, I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Nevermind.” The dating scene in Evergreen has sucked so hard for so long, your first thought was that he might not want to see you again.

He grabs your face with both hands, trying to drum sense into you. “I’ve wanted to ask you out for months. You’re not getting rid of me.”

Adrian plants a kiss on your forehead.

Maybe there is a decent man in this town after all.

#adrian chase x reader #adrian chase #vigilante #vigilante peacemaker #vigilante x reader #adrian chase x female reader #adrian chase x you #vigilante x you #vigilante x female reader #smut #adrian chase smut #vigilante smut #fanfiction #fanfic

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nightmarearian · 2 months ago

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Turns out, Odysseus thinks hysterically, being on a magic island with a Titan’s child for seven years has… affects.

What the fuck, he thinks. Calypso and Hermes looks just as confused as he feels. (Which rules out that this might be one of Calypso’s schemes. She can’t truly act for the life of her; It’s always in her eyes and she can’t do a long act).

There are scales on his arms. And legs. And neck. And basically everywhere, actually. They come in patches and in different concentrations; The biggest batch is the one already consuming his abdomen, and meeting with the ones growing on his thighs and just generally his legs The other highest concentration is on his elbows, and they spread faster down towards his hands.

They’re a mix of sea-green-blue and gray; Some of the pale-soot colored scales bounce off a warm hazel or sunset-orange in the dappled sunlight that leaks through the trees. The gray - and especially the warm-gray - patches have some dusky gray and sepia feathers peaking out, in between the scales. The most of them are around his neck or from his elbows through his forearms. His hands have grown into aqua tipped webbed claws as well.

What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck, he thinks on a loop. As he huffs a hysterical laugh, he can feel his teeth having sharpened into needle point snake-like fangs and on that point - his tongue has thinned into something rough and forked. A snake’s tongue as well. The panic increases. (There are whispers in the wind now, feeling of his dead crew).

His ears twitch as he looks at his reflection in a nearby stream, peacefully running like everything in Ogygia, and - holy mother of Zeus what the fuuuuck

His… ears (can he even call them that? His hearing still seems the same…) have transformed into… fins? They remind him of the sirens’ ears, actually, though a bit wider and thinner. They’re mainly the same sea-green-blue color that the scales decorating mainly his lower half are, only fading into a cool blue gray as they near his head. …Are those more feathers behind his fin-ears??? (Scratchy ghost hands reach out of the water, like they did the River Styx. Not real, not real, he automatically tells himself, ignores them).

He turns back to the two gods, who are still staring at him; He feels his fin-ears(???) dip down in panic.

Hermes at least seems like he’s thinking - and worried - even if Odyseeus can’t see his eyes. He doesn’t want to look at Calypso much for anything, but the quick glance he gives seems to spell a similar expression, if not with a bit of… anger. Or disgust. (He hopes it’s the latter; He still feels a spike of fear at the anger. Nothing good ever came of her, much less of her anger).

(Odysseus doesn’t notice in his hysteria, but as his breathing picks up, his legs fuse together, into a snake tail. Hermes catches the moment).

Hermes seems to have thought of something, as his shoulders drop just the slightest and he slowly floats towards Odysseus, as if he was an unbroken horse (or monster, Odysseus thinks. He did say he’d become the monster but this- this is-), holding his hands in front of him in a placating gesture.

“Calm,” Hermes breathes in soft voice. Odysseus tries to follow the god’s orders. “Calm,” Hermes whispers again.

He’s done this before, he thinks, as he turns his gaze on the grass floor, unfocusing. Despite whatever in his gods forsaken travels or the war. Shut it all off. (turn off your heart, a ghost Athena murmurs behind him. Not real, he knows. Follows anyway. Why didn’t he listen to her all those years ago.)

Odysseus can’t do it as.. cleanly as usually could with the whole… well. But he tampers it down a bit. Evidently at least Hermes is willing to help. (He ignores his thoughts on how Penelope might react). They’ll… figure something out.

He tries to think about it calmer; He can feel his panicked tangled thoughts flow into a familiar, calmer weaving feeling, like whenever he makes a good plan and all it’s variables. Is it a curse from Poseidon? The fins and sea-green make him think that, if not for the feathers that are definitely not part of the Earthshaker’s realm. The feathers actually make him think of Athena but- but she didn’t answer him earlier- or did she? Hermes seemed uncomfortable and oddly tightlipped about… something; Something happening in Olympus, Odysseus can guess that much. Regardless, the most of… this seems to a snake. Snakes are either of Athena, Hermes, or Ares.

“d...eus,”

Odysseus has never even met Ares, that goes to Diomedes, he absentmindedly thinks - only Hermes and Athena, and the silver & sienna scales and feathers are very in their domain, however, Hermes obviously doesn’t know much about it, so he can really only think it’s Athena - the myth of Medusa flashes in his mind - except again, he points out against himself, the fins. They’re so clearly Poseidon, and he knows the both of them - Athena better - enough that he knows they’d rather impossibly die that work together for something as so small as a curse.

“Ood...seuusss,”

But if Poseidon can hold a grudge and he knows Athena well enough to know that she does to, as much as she denies, but still then, why would it be years after - is it cause he called to her?

“Odysseus!” Hermes half yells. The mortal in questions jumps, standing again. …When did he stop standing in the first place …wait a minute was he higher than usual earlier? Think about that later, Odysseus tells himself, shaking off the familiar feeling of fading into his thoughts.

Odysseus looks up towards Hermes, who looks a bit worried, but not as panicked as he did earlier. Odysseus looks back down at himself. There are still some scales and feathers, but considerably less. His hands have dulled down - they’re still sharper than usual, but they’re not claws, and the webbing between them is similarly less.

He feels around his mouth. His tongue is still… forked, but that’s all - still a human tongue otherwise; his fangs are still sharp, though.

“Yesss?” It’s harder to speak with a forked tongue and fangs. There’s a slight hiss and lisp at the end of the word.

Hermes doesn't respond, glancing at Calypso, then Odysseus, then Calypso again before partially turning to her, lips pressed, adopting a colder expression, like he did when he was addressing Calypso earlier, to tell them Odysseus was finally free. Hermes nods his head towards the general direction of Calypso’s ‘home’. Calypso opens her mouth, indignant, but the pressure in the air increases as Hermes’ wings stretch up and out, spreading the feathers in an act Odysseus can somehow instinctively tell is meant to intimidate. Calypso closes her mouth, still looking upset but cowed, and she runs off.

Hermes turns back to him, the wings furling back into resting near the god's ears, pressure in the air lifting. He stares for another moment, before sighing and giving Odysseus a small smile, infinitely softer than his usual mischievous ones.

He floats towards Odysseus (careful and gentle and so much unlike Calypso-) and tucks some of his curls behind his slightly-webbed ears, careful around the scales; he lightly ruffles his head like he used to when Odysseus was so, so much younger.

"Should be fine, my friend," Hermes whispers. "Rises with your emotions, no?" Hermes watches the wheels turn in Odysseus' head. Yeah, Odysseus thinks, mind blank in a good way that it hasn't been in a long while. Okay. He nods. "Smart, kid," Hermes whispers.

One of Hermes' ear-wings twitch, and his head minutely tilts towards Calypso's 'home' before tilting back to Odysseus. Hermes softly runs his hand behind Odysseus' head and leads him towards the beachside. There's a raft bobbing back and forth with the waves.

They're really letting me go, Odysseus walks towards the raft, water splashing against his legs. He turns back to Hermes who- is gone- wait no; Hermes flits back from somewhere, wings fluttering and a moderately large basket full of food, water, and clothing in his hands that he pushes into Odysseus' hands.

The god gently hurries Odysseus onto the ship, and after setting down the basket helps him push the raft into the open sea. With Hermes' help, Odysseus is far enough out to barely see the shape of Calypso, once she made to the coastline; Odysseus turns his head away from her. From Ogygia.

Hermes stays with him for a while, until Ogygia's silhouette is shrouded in fog, fading into sky. Hermes watches it fade away, as Odysseus keeps his eyes trained to the open sea (Captain-).

The messenger god turns back to Odysseus, and hovers in front of him. He lightly ruffles his hair again, and his hand cups the side of his head as Hermes ducks his head down and presses a kiss to his great-grandson's forehead.

"Call my name, and I shall be there," Hermes murmurs with a fond smile. With that, Hermes dissipates in a quiet flutter and feathers.

ok. so. this developed into great-grandfather hermes. uhm. yeah. anyway. so, in procrastinating on this I now have a full tag for monster-ody-au, it's called Ithacan Naga AU.

*ody has been dissociating his entire stay on Calypso’s island, besides maybe the first year, where he hadn’t spent enough time to be affected. His heightened emotions at leaving cause the actual affects to show, btw.

So! There's absolutely a ref post with a verrry long conversation in the replies that talks about it but to formally do it/add onto it: > Ody's scales are mainly/usually sea-blue-green to gray/purple, but changes colors based on lighting! > Ogygia isn't meant to be inhabited by normal people (or smth), so after seven years + Calypso's inherent magic (as a titan's daughter) it changes Odysseus into basically what Ithacans/Ody would be if he was greek monster, which is why he doesn't notice it & why it's overall very natural. -> Ithacans would really just be sea-snake nagas with some feathers. Ody is special cause he's a descendent of Hermes (and maybe Zeus) & Athena blessed, so he gets wings. > He's venomous! > He can "unhinge" his jaw (Snakes have an extra[?] bone called a quadratic bone that connects the top half of their skull & their jaw, which lets them extend it more. The jaw is also in two parts & has a stretchy ligament to let it stretch). > Full length naga, Ody is like... 27-33 ft? > He has three pairs of wings, one of the small of his back, near his waist, and the other two on the side of his snake half. > He gets gills! Three near his human ribs, a few several spaced out throughout his snake half.

Small headcannons that make a cameo in this: > Hermes used to hang out with little Odysseus (and Ctimene) before Athena (and Ares) came along and chose Ody (and Mene) > Ody has schizophrenia (and PTSD, by now).

...my battery is about to die & I can't remember anything else so that's all for now

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slyvester101 · 4 months ago

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After everything that happened with Crunchbite (the bastard) and Junior’s probably horrific and painful birth, I imagine Tucker is more than a little wary about letting strangers near him.

He gets this hollow feeling in his gut when he’s around people he doesn’t know, gets an itch in his skin if he’s touched by someone he doesn’t trust. His throat tightens and his heart squeezes and his hands shake. He’s not able to sleep well around strangers, has to keep his back to the wall or else he’s waking every five minutes to make sure no one’s snuck up behind him.

He spends his whole diplomacy curled up in a ball in the corner of his room with Junior tucked under his chin, keeps his distance from the soldiers stuck on his missions and keeps them away with sharp smiles and horrible flirting that would make anyone cringe away.

At the desert temple, when he’s all alone with nothing but hostiles banging on the door, Tucker laments in how much he misses touch, misses the freedom of being able to hug someone without fear of harm, of being able to know if a touch was friendly or manipulative. He misses Blood Gulch. He misses blue team. He misses his son.

Even after Sidewinder, Tucker still isn’t in the clear, isn’t allowed some respite with his team because the latest member is yet another Freelancer who was chasing to kill them not even less than twenty-four hours ago.

His skin is buzzing the whole time they’re being shown around their new base by Caboose, his heart not settling despite the action being long over, his brain screams as someone grabs his shoulder. He screams out loud too, it seems, because the hand is pulling back quickly and a soft apologetic voice is echoing through his head.

“Are you okay?”

“Don’t fucking touch me, asshole.” Tucker all but hissed before he stormed away, unwilling to let this new prick see the way his hands shake and the way his face has gone pale.

He hates it. He hates it. He hates how he can’t even stand close to the fucker without feeling ill, can’t help but track his every movement and every word for some kind of malice or cruel intent.

He finds none.

He’s kind to Caboose, politely nodding along to whatever he rants about and keeping him out of trouble with much kinder words that Church was probably physically incapable of speaking. He’s kind to Tucker even though he’s been nothing but a paranoid asshole the whole time they’ve been at Valhalla, never taking offense to the distance Tucker puts between them and respecting whatever lines Tucker draws.

It takes a long time for him to feel comfortable enough to let Washington touch him, not quite as long to start giving him shit like he would’ve with Church. Slowly and cautiously, they fall into a groove that’s uniquely theirs and Tucker feels like he can finally breathe in his own goddamn house.

His trust in Wash is cemented when Carolina comes into the picture and constantly steps in as a barrier between the two, Washington knowing that Carolina would try to scruff or yank Tucker around for his big mouth and that Tucker would probably rip her hand off if she tried. He’s the only reason the two aqua soldiers don’t kill each other. That fact becomes undoubtedly true when Wash choses Tucker over Carolina, pointing his gun at her as she threatens Tucker.

Caboose was always a steady presence to the chaos in his head, the gentle giant sometimes being the only reason Tucker didn’t fall apart at the seams while he cried his fears into his chest, but Wash is a different kind of support that Tucker didn’t know he needed, one he doesn’t think he’s ever had.

It doesn’t stop him from getting that itch in his skin when he’s surrounded by strangers, it doesn’t stop the sick feeling he gets when he wakes up from a nightmare, it doesn’t make everything better.

But Tucker thinks, kind of incredulously, that maybe he can finally be safe with these two by his side. Maybe, just maybe, he can really let his guard down and have someone else watch his back.

Maybe he can finally let someone in.

#tucker uses his horrible flirting as a defense mechanism to push people away #carolina and tucker hating each other on sight will never not be canon to me #wash and tucker spend a lot of time bonding before carolina shows up #caboose and tucker are brothers #wash and tucker are close and lean on each other #Tucker and Wash are really good at dealing with each other’s nightmares because they’ve had so many themselves #anyways #rvb #red vs blue #lavernius tucker #rvb tucker #agent washington #rvb wash #rvb caboose #micheal j caboose #writing #character analysis #can be read as tuckington or gen

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terrorsbeauty · 16 days ago

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Truly

notes: geto x f!reader, possible sukuna x f!reader ;college au!!!! everyone is kinda the same age???? reader and shoko are med school buddies; everyone is slightly ooc

part 1

“Anatomy is crucial in medicine. Why? Because it is a language. How can you treat the body, without understanding it first?” he started, pacing around the room, his lips in a straight line.

“ I’ll save you some time. You can’t. That’s your only job, as medicine students. Learn the body’s language, learnt its intricacies, and you’ll find that everything is connected, and everything has meaning.”

Professor Yaga had this somberness to him, that made everything sound like a verdict. It was either this, or that, never grey. You supposed he would need to be so sure of himself in his line of work. Being a surgeon leaves little room for uncertainty, and it certainly requires a deep knowledge of the human body, that could be seen in the way he spoke about the subject. He was clearly fluent in this language, and you had the chance of learning it from the best. That only meant you had better get on it.

The class was over, but there was a stillness in the air, like everyone just now realized what they were getting in to. Oh well. You took your bag and swiftly made your way out to the back of the Anatomy building, to the smoking area, and lit a cigarette, sighing at the fact that there was only one left. You just got here yesterday, and the pack was already finished, how the fuck did that happen? Clearly there was some damage control that needed to be done.

“ You have a lighter?”

You raised your eyebrows, startled by the voice, and hand her your brand new clipper, bought at the gas station not too long ago.

The girl just nodded her head in sign of appreciation, and stood besides you, neither wanting to start any kind of conversation. The silence was eventually too much to bear, so she started speaking, but you didn’t quite register it, because you kept looking at her eyes. They were so peculiarly bright, not in color, but there was something… unusual.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

She looked at you funny and laughed. “Parliament. Aqua Blue. You have good taste.”

It was your turn to laugh. “I suppose. Better than those Lucky Strikes you’re smoking.”

“They’re the real deal, not those Vogue bullshits.” she said, her mohth corner slightly dropping in disgust.

“ Yeah, but by the end of college we’re both gonna need new lungs.”

You both smile, a small cloud of smoke forming over you.

“I’m Shoko. I think you’ll be my new cig partner.” she says finishing her cigarette and stepping on it.

“Y/N. You in Dorm B?”

“Yeah, don’t tell me we’re on the same floor, cause that would be some freaky fucking shit.”

“Last floor. I have to climb all the fucking stairs cause the stupid elevator doesn’t work.” you said rolling your eyes. What a pain in the ass.

Shoko nods her head understandingly, pursing her lips and slightly squinting their eyes.

“Makes sense. I bet those fuckers put all of us first years there.”

You throw her an amused look, fiddling with the lace of your hoodie, thinking maybe this wasn’t going to be as hard as you thought it would. Yeah, you had to climb seven floors just so you could crash in your bed, but having someone to share that torture with would make it bearable. You liked her. She was blunt, but also reserved, the real embodiment of not giving a fuck, something you clearly lacked but desperately tried to achieve; she was the kind of girl you could sit in silence without being awkward, not needing to make useless conversation just to fill the air with words.

The day flew by extremely fast, and when you finally got back to your dorm at 8 pm and realized you hadnn’t eaten anything but half a cookie Shoko gave you, you sighed. How were you going to keep up with med school if the first day already has you in shambles? You didn’t even want to think about having a social life, going to the gym, and maybe taking up some extracurricular activities, no, you couldn’t think about that because you didn’t even unpack. The stacks of boxes seemed to stare at you in disappointment, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. You stared at the stained ceiling- how did that stain even get there- your eyelids starting to slowly close, when your phone started ringing. Shoko’s contact appeared on the screen and you contemplated letting it ring, but ultimately decided do answer, because college was supposed to be about making new friends, trying new things, having life-changing experiences, and staring at the duck-shaped stain on the ceiling only brought you closer to wanting to sink into the mattress and hibernate for a couple months.

“Are you in your room?” she asked with a curious tone. You answered her and suddenly saw your door open large, your guest making herself at home.

“ You look like you’re having an existential crisis, get up.” she said not even sparing you a glance and immediately opening your closet, sighing at the emptiness of it. Not even a second later she started rummaging through your boxes, opening every single one and groaning for a reason you couldn’t figure out.

“ Hello to you too, of course you can come in, yeah , sure, have a look around, it’s not like I care about my privacy or whatever.” you said , standing up and stretching with a yawn.

Shoko squealed happily upon finding a pink box - fuck, you thought, not the party box - and bringing it to your bed.

“ That’s the way things are going to be from now on, so you better get used to it.” she raised her shoulders, smiling and wiggling her eyebrows. “I love this box, by the way. We’re going to be very good friends, I can tell just from looking at it.”

“ You can tell that by the fact that I have a box full of alcohol and skimpy clothes?” you said incredulously.

“ Yup. You should wear this top tonight, it’s perfect, classy and slutty at the same time.” she huffed out and then threw it in your face.

“ You can’t be seriously thinking about going to that stupid freshman party.” you whined.

“ We,” she said while pointing at the two of you, “are going to the party. You can start getting dressed, I’ll make the drinks, we’re meeting my friends in an hour.” she explained casually, as if it was the most obvious thing, and you couldn’t do anything but comply. Even though you were more than tired, the truth was, you could never say no to going out - you were only human - and it seemed like Shoko read you perfectly. You liked her, and more than that, you liked that she acted as if you were best friends since birth.

“ We have to do shots then, because I am not going anywhere sober.” you added, while reaching for the tequila bottle in your box. Shoko gave you a big smile and the fun began. It took more than an hour, but it was to be expected, because getting ready for a party makes up for more than half of the fun. A couple shots and cigarette breaks later, Shoko knew the story of your life, you knew hers, you were planning matching tattoos and moving in together- it came naturally, as if the two of you were always meant to be friends, and the universe only now put you in the same place.

After successfully walking in the cold for 20 minutes, you reached the designated party place and calling it overcrowded would be an understatement - even the sidewalk was full of people. Shoko simply grabbed your hand and guided you through the house, which she seemed to know perfectly (you were definitely asking her about it the next day), and after bumping into countless sweaty people, you reached a closed black door. What the fuck was this?

“It’s a long story.” she said looking at your confused face, then knocking.

“ How could they hear over the fucking music?” you asked her and for a moment she just stared at you, and then quickly got out her phone. You couldn’t hear what she was saying while talking on the phone, partly due to the loud music, and partly due to the fact that just maybe, you were a little tipsy.

The door suddenly opens and this tall, white-haired guy looks at you grinning just like the Cheshire Cat. He was freakishly tall, and he had these weird round glasses on- what was going on? You enter the room, and took a look around, seeing way fewer people than you expected. What was this?

“So you are Shoko’s friend!” the white haired guy said almost screaming at you. “I’m Gojo, Shoko’s love of her life, nice to meet you, sweets.” he continued while putting his hand over your shoulder. You couldn’t even answer because Shoko snorted loudly and slapped his hand away.

“ Call yourself that again and I will use your cadaver as a learning tool for my anatomy class. I can’t stress this enough Toru, you are the reason I have so few girl friends. Just shut up.” she said half smiling at him.

“ What’s up with the glasses? You have some sort of disease or what?” you asked, studying his glasses. He gasped and flashed you a boyish grin.

“Why? You want to study me or what, sweetheart?” he said mimicking you.

“Yeah, I’m just dying to, sweetheart” you laugh, taking a sip from the drink Shoko just shoved into your hand and then get dragged away by her.

“ Don’t get too flirty with him, we don’t want his ego getting bigger than it is - if it’s even possible. ” Shoko whispers to you and you both giggle like little schoolgirls.

“What’s up with this room? Is this the VIP section or what?” you ask as you go sit on a kitchen counter.

“Gojo’s father basically owns the whole uni, so everyone will kiss his ass so they’ll get on his good side. We’ve all been coming here since high-school, and we decided the kitchen is our safe space - sort of.” she explained while lighting up a cigarette.

“And he lives here or what?”

“ No, he said he wanted to have the “full college experience” ” she said while rolling her eyes, “ so he lives in the dorms. ”

“ Not to be mean, cause he’s your friend and all, but that’s typical rich people bullshit.” you answered, shaking your head.

“ Yeah, he may be a little peculiar but he’s a good friend. Don’t tell him I said that though.” she muttered through the smoke.

You brought your own cigarette to your lips when a spark appeared in front of you. You looked up in front of you, only to see another freakishly tall guy.

“Damn, everyone here is so tall.” you thought out loud, making the guy in front of you raise his brow, while getting a laugh out of Shoko.

“ You’re welcome.” he said, calmly while also lighting his cigarette - the same brand as yours. You nodded, feeling a rush of blood in your cheeks and mentally thanking whoever it was that turned off the lights, leaving on only the red neon sign on the wall. You took a drag and looked at him through your lashes - broad shoulders, gorgeous black hair and cold, dark eyes. Shoko had good taste in friends, for sure. If the other one was Gojo, this had to be Geto, which made Shoko right - they truly were the embodiment of Yin and Yang.

“This is Suguru, Satoru’s husband.” Shoko chuckled and he slightly rolled his eyes while fake punching her shoulder.

“This is Y/N, my future wife.” she presented you, and you blew her a kiss.

“ Don’t you think we’re moving a bit too fast?” you asked her pouting.

“Not at all. I told you we were meant to be from the start.”

Geto scoffs. “You’ve been hanging out with Satoru so much you start to sound like him.” he said and Shoko’s eyes widen.

“ Take that back!”

He put his arms in the air and cracked a tiny smile, and as his shirt rolled up just the tiniest amount, you couldn’t help but notice some tattoos going down his abdomen. You didn’t let your eyes wander for too long, because you felt an arm on your shoulder - Gojo.

“ Shoko, you mind if I steal your beautiful gorgeous fellow doctor-to-be for some shots?” he lolled his words while squeezing you.

“ My darling handsome whatever you are going to be, if my wife doesn’t come then I won’t either.” you added, and Shoko sighed.

“ Enough with this talk, you’re making us all sick. Let’s just go.” Shoko deadpans, making a disgusted look.

“ You and I are going to get along perfectly.” Gojo exclaimed, looking at you through his glasses, revealing a concerning shade of blue. That definitely had to be some disease, you thought, not giving voice to your said thought and just smiling at him.

You looked at Geto who had a completely flat face - frankly, he didn’t look happy to be here. You flashed him an awkward smile that he didn’t return - what a dick - and made your way through the crowd, guided by Gojo.

The huge living room smelled awful, the floor was sticky, and there were so many people you could barely breathe, but you were in a perfect state of inebriation, not completely drunk off your mind, but close enough so that you didn’t care. You became extra social, as you usually did in this state, flashing smiles left and right, talking to everyone about everything. You and Gojo seemed to make an unstoppable duo when drunk, that couldn’t be stopped when there were shots involved, leaving Shoko surprised.

All the dancing and the smoke started to make you dizzy so you made your way outside, leaving Shoko talking to a very pretty girl from your class, Utahime you thought was her name, knowing you’ll definitely tease her about it in the morning - fuck, morning.

Tomorrow was tuesday, it was currently 2:37 am and you were on your way to being seriously drunk - so much for being responsible in college. You took out your phone, setting an alarm at 7 am, and looked for your cigarette pack, only to come to the pained conclusion that you must have lost it somewhere inside. You sat down on the wet grass, thinking about how annoyed you’ll be when you’ll have to wash your jeans, and put your head on the wall behind you, sighing.

“You lost your pack.” you heard a deep voice to your right, only to see Shoko’s brunette friend throw you your pack.

“ Holy shit, thanks.” you said, confused and grateful at the same time, while taking out a well-deserved ( or so you told yourself) cigarette. Realizing you had no lighter, you looked at the man with the best puppy eyes you could muster, only for him to roll his eyes.

“You sure looked like you were having fun with Satoru.” he said coldly, almost accusatory.

“ What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” you asked annoyed at his tone. Was he jealous that his friend was actually having fun instead of sulking around like a loser? “Thanks for the lighter.” you added curtly.

“ Nothing.” he stated, lighting his own cigarette, continuing stand at an awkward distance - close enough so you could hear what he was saying, but still far, like you were in first grade all over again and he didn’t want to get caught talking to a girl.

“If you’re not having fun , why are you here?” you said taking a drag and turning towards him.

He laughs - a short, almost bitter laugh. “Who says I’m not having fun?”

You scoff. “Please, you look like you’re one inconvenience away from killing yourself and everyone here.”

“You know, that’s kind of rude to say to someone you’ve just met.” he replied, still not looking at you.

“I have a feeling you’ll get over it pretty fast.” You thought you saw a small smile in the corner of his lips, but it quickly went away. As you finished your cigarette, you looked at the time again, groaned and got up.

“ Thank you for rescuing my pack, Geto. It was nice to meet you.” you uttered, giving him a forced smile and leaving him outside. As you entered the house, Shoko latched onto you.

“ We have class in 4 hours.” she murmured in your year. “We’re fucked.” Exactly your thoughts. You intertwined your hand with hers and exhaled.

“ Let’s go sleep.” you said, mentally preparing yourself for walking drunk and cold back to your dorm. Shoko just hummed and followed your lead, as if you were in a better state than her.

The bed felt like heaven and you quickly drifted away to sleep, with the room slightly spinning, thinking that maybe this wasn’t such a bad start to college.

let me know if you like it!!!!! <333333

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flevflev · 2 months ago

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My Most insane Yanqing Theory Yet

I just had the random idea of what if he’s related to Ruan Mei, hear me out- I have to make this brief since the mobile app is very slow for me so my apologies 🙏

Luocha’s voiceline about him is suspicious enough (Very unnecessary at first glance) Jingliu said that they were “fated to meet” after she fought with him, maybe she realized he wasn’t a normal child soldier. Both of them work with Ruan Mei

His origins are unknown , in one of his chats he was protecting a litter of kittens until their mother comes back, and he suddenly thought it was similar to his and his bio parent’s relationship except they never came back.

(See the full chat on the wiki!: https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Messages/Yanqing )

and then 1.6 happens and we see how the Critters (cat cakes) were waiting for Ruan Mei to pay attention to them despite she sort of abandoned them. (Before someone attacks me, I know this isn’t tied to Yanqing at all nor I think all of that was just a parallel to my theory, but I find this a interesting coincidence, this is just a theory post XD)

Ruan Mei has a historial on the Luofu before, maybe in one of those visits she left Yanqing so Jing Yuan could find him and take him as his own

And then there are the funny meaningless coincidences that are potentially just design choices but I’m delusional-

Yanqing and Ruan Mei aren’t musicians yet they’re one of the few characters that have a traditional Chinese instrument as a core part of their design

Also this is 99% most likely a coincidence but hey this is a theory post so I can try to be as delusional as possible LOL. Yanqing has Blue-Aqua-Pink undertones like Ruan Mei has, with pink being somewhat of highlighted, unlike Jingliu who doesn’t have a highlighted pink detail on her design. Is a different kind of pink from March’s and is more similar to Ruan Mei and Tingyun’s

This is just for fun since idk… seems too good to be true for me

#Yanqing #ruan mei #honkai star rail #hsr #Honkai Star Rail Theory #Luocha #Jingliu #HSR theory #I know some people won’t like this post so I’m sorry 😭#The Tumblr app deleted 3 paragraphs out of nowhere and idk how this works so it will def look messy

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artzychic27 · 10 days ago

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I’m hyperfixiating on Beelzebub right now so… I’m giving Izuku a different quirk based off of her

Izuku’s quirk is an odd one, one he and Inko decided to call Honey Fox because he looks like a fox but with green fur and bee-like features

His hair and tail- yes, he grew a tail- are prehensile and can be manipulated at his will

They also look as though they’re made of a lava lamp based substance colored in bright green, aqua-blue and white with his waist also resembling the substance

He has two sets of arms, and he possesses small, blue bee-like wings which allow him to fly, digitigrade legs, and his fox-like ears have black antennae at the tips

He’s able to materialize items, namely sweet drinks and sweet food like cotton candy from seemingly nothing and he has, mélikinesis which allows him to manipulate honey freely, levitating, moving, expanding, or shrinking it

Izuku is ALWAYS hungry because his lava-lamp waist is always burning his food, and he never gets cavities so he can eat as many sweets as he wants

Katsuki thought it was lame until Izuku trapped some older kids messing with them in a glob of honey

Anyway, they’re in junior high, Izuku’s still triple double his weight, Katsuki’s boasting that he and Izuku will be the only ones going to UA, canon canon canon

Someone else meets All Might, but who?

Anyway, Izuku took down the Zero Pointer by shifting into what he decides to call his ‘Hornet’ form while protecting Ochako

Also, Hanta is seriously OP for some reason. Anyone know why?

They get into UA! Yay!

Mina immediately LOVES Izuku

Quirk Apprehension Test goes about the same, but Izuku create a cloud made out of cotton candy to float the ball up to the sky, tying with Ochako for her record of infinity

Also, Shouto’s wondering, “Are you Lunch Rush’s secret love child, or something?”

Izuku: Maybe. I never knew my dad. Wanna test that theory?

Katsuki: It is too early for this bullshit, Deku.

That’s it for now

#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha au #midoriya izuku

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marlynnofmany · 1 year ago

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Scary Stories in Space

If you’ve ever wanted to experience the rapt attention of bodybuilder-shaped swamp monster/goldfish crosses, who are equal parts muscles, fins, and floaty silk clothes with absolutely zero interest in blinking, then I can’t speak highly enough of telling ghosts stories to a pair of Frillians.

That hadn’t been the plan; it just came up in conversation while we tidied the storage hold. Our ship was going to take on a lot of cargo soon. There were things on the floor that needing picking up, which was boring, so we passed the time with stories.

As it turns out, Frillians love ghost stories.

“Then what happened??” asked Blip when I paused for effect. She’d frozen in place holding a wrench and a heat sensor, wide-eyed in a cloud of fluttering silks and fins, all electric blue and bright red and deeply invested in my story. Her brother Blop was her mirror in aqua and lavender.

“Then,” I said, picking up a crowbar, “When he went to let her out of the car, he found a hook on the door handle!” I caught the crowbar on my hand dramatically.

“Ohhh!” they chorused with a gratifying flinch, for all the world like frat bros watching someone get hit in the nuts. “Near miss! Oh, wow!”

I grinned and put the crowbar in a cabinet while they rehashed the very simple story to each other. I’d already told them a few others, and I was going to run out of stories before they ran out of enthusiasm.

Blip asked, “What do you think they did when they found that?”

With a shudder like a bird fluffing feathers, Blop suggested, “Throw it as far away as possible? Run into the house?”

Blip nodded, fins still flared slightly. “Maybe both. Then call the authorities.”

I walked past to collect a stray cable. “I don’t know about the authorities where you’re from, but mine wouldn’t have been much help.”

The twins discussed this some more, then agreed that the best response would be to run screaming into the house and lock every door they could find. Only then did they remember that they were supposed to be cleaning, and resume putting stuff away.

After three seconds of silence, Blop asked, “Know any more?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Lemme think.” I shelved a box and looked around the room for inspiration. No ghosts hid in this storage hold, though it had been home to many an animal cargo. The reinforced clear pen was still empty, and had been for a while — our cargos were mostly boxes these days. The door to the hallway stood open, and I almost had a thought about some doorway-based haunting, but couldn’t pin it down. I moved to stack a few stale tubs of animal food while I thought.

Then my cat Telly walked in, recently free to roam the ship on a provisional basis, and I had an idea. The fact that Telly had made a beeline for Blip’s spare overcoat helped. She burrowed right under, sniffing out the shrimp sticks that were undoubtedly hidden in several pockets.

Neither Frillian noticed.

“There was one story,” I said, watching them both perk up like meerkats. Fishy, musclebound meerkats. “The legend of the Pants With Nobody Inside Them.”

“Pants With Nobody Inside Them?” they dutifully asked.

I tugged at my own pant leg. “People where I’m from wear a lot of clothes that are shaped to fit our bodies, and have the same silhouette when they’re empty. Just imagine how creepy and unsettling it must have been for the first person to venture into a dark forest at night, and see the shape of another human — but only the bottom half. Walking … steadily … towards them.” I took slow and deliberate strides toward the far side of the animal pen, drawing their gaze away from the shrimp stick excavation.

“That sounds terrifying,” Blip declared. “Did they run?”

“Oh, you bet they did!” I said, jogging slowly in place, then speeding up. “But the pants ran after.”

Blop squeaked in fear, muscly arms bent to bring his hands to his mouth.

They had no idea how hard I was working not to laugh. “That first person got away, and so did the next. But it kept happening, and the pants got faster each time. People started to worry about going outside, and wonder about their own clothes — they’d look at a pair of pants on the floor, and imagine it starting to get up on its own. Then OH JEEZ WHAT’S THAT?!” I pointed through the clear walls of the pen.

Both Frillians whirled and screamed at the sight of — as promised — an item of clothing moving around.

Telly bolted in panic, with one shrimp stick in her mouth and several others scattering in all directions. I heard someone down the hall yelp, though it was hard to make out over the Frillians screaming.

“WHAT WAS THAT?”

“WAS THAT AN ANIMAL?”

“WAIT, THAT WAS YOUR ANIMAL, WASN’T IT?”

“WHAT WAS IT DOING IN MY COAT??”

I leaned against a wall, laughing. I couldn’t hold it back any more. “Stealing your shrimp sticks,” I managed. “Sorry.”

After a little more yelling and hyperventilating, during which three other crew members came to see what the emergency was, they finally calmed down. The rest of the crew was waved away.

“So,” Blip said, clearly determined to speak evenly, “How does the story end?”

I was still grinning. “Somebody makes friends with the pants. They were chasing after people because they were lonely.”

“What!” Blip exclaimed, fins spread and eyes wide, which just made me burst into laughter again. Blop echoed her.

“It’s a children’s story,” I explained. “I think the pants wanted to dance with other people. Or they wanted someone to wear them; I honestly don’t remember the details. But they were lonely.”

Blop shook his head. “Lonely haunted clothing,” he said. “Your planet sure has some memorable ones.”

Blip picked up her coat at arm’s length, and I couldn’t tell if she was looking for damage or ghosts. “Maybe it was hungry,” she suggested.

“I’m sure many ghosts like shrimp sticks,” I said, picking one up from the floor. “I’ll bet we could think up a new story about that. Maybe they’re haunted by the ghosts of the shrimp, mad about being eaten?”

Their dismayed expressions told me that such a story might ruin their favorite snack for them.

“Or,” I said, turning on my heel, “We could think up a story about a haunted… stun gun! Maybe it keeps a ghostly copy of all the people it’s stunned. How do you think a story like that would work?”

To my delight, Blip and Blop proved just as interested in composing new stories as listening to old ones. The rest of the tidying session passed quickly.

I take no responsibility for the nightmares they inflicted on the rest of the crew.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!

(And yes that’s a reference to the Dr Seuss story.)

#my writing #The Token Human #humans are weird #haso #hfy #eiad #humans are space orcs #humans are storytellers #ghost stories #featuring the return of everybody's favorite space himbos #even though one's a girl #their species handles gender differently anyway #they definitely qualify #writeblr #writers on Tumblr

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goldenchocobo · 1 year ago

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Kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, but I wanted to solidify my eye-colour head-cannons for the Trios (plus Isa, Namine and Vanitas). Plus, I really do like drawing eyes. More words past the Keep reading;

This was mostly inspired my dog, Loki. Normally, he has really kind-of dull brown eyes, but when he’s in the light, they really shine a lovely ochre.

And I had a neat lil’ thought: “What if Terra’s eyes were like that?” where, they’re kind of a deep earthy-brown, but when the light shines on them, they reveal a yellow colour, to remind himself (and others) that he was tied to the darkness for so long. I did this with every character who has ties to the darkness; Sora, Vanitas, riku, Aqua, Siax, Axel and Xion. all but Vanitas aren’t as extreme as Terra’s, though- just very subtle hints.

Everyone’s eyes- apart from Vanitas, Roxas, Terra and Isa’s have kept mostly to the same colour, although have different kinds of shades to them. Sora’s eyes are mostly the same, although I tried to make them more of a sky blue. Riku has a mixture of his post KH3 and Pre KH3 look, with the duller green being mostly in the shade and the bluer colour being highlighted in the light. Kairi’s got her original kind-of-purple going on, although I kept them more in the blue spectrum. Aqua’s are more purple-y than Kairi, because she looks really nice with them, as well as the shared purple-ness alluding to their master-and-apprentice connection. Isa’s eyes are a little different from OG material- they’re originally a similar shade of blue/green to Lea’s; so I made the difference more extreme, and made Isa’s ice blue, and Lea’s more green-hued. I also gave Isa eye-shine, because he looks neat with it. I’ve always imagined Xion having really deep blue eyes; like, if there’s no light on them, they’d just be black voids. With Namine, I just made her eyes super-blue; like incredibly sapphire blue. Ven and Terra’s new eye colours are fan-interpretations (and ones that I stand by). Vanitas’ is red from the novelisation (again, a colour that I stand by); and Roxas’ is my own personal headcannon- he’s got a teal-blue eyes, because he’s a mix of Ventus and Sora. Ven and Roxas’ hair is also my interpretation; Ven is blond and Roxas is strawberry-blond/ginger.

#Kingdom Hearts #KH #scopophobia #Sora #Vanitas #Roxas #Ventus #Riku #Kairi #Terra #Aqua #Siax #Isa #Axel #Lea #Xion #Namine #Goldenchocobo's Art

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teshadraws · 1 year ago

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 50]

<< First | < Previous | Next >

Tobias and Nia take the ferry north to the guild, but the river might not be as peaceful as they would hope.

When Tobias wakes at sunrise, he has to take a few minutes to settle his thoughts. For once, they’re racing almost as soon as he’s conscious, still tangled up in all of the information Nia dumped on him after her impromptu talk with Giratina yesterday.

As if that situation wasn’t terrifying enough on its own.

No, she also had to come back from her little chat with news of the world ending. And somehow, Nia and Tobias are the ones put in charge of stopping it.

No pressure or anything.

Tobias knows they can’t just ignore it, though. If Giratina is telling the truth—and Tobias is still a bit iffy on that, but can’t find much reason for why he would lie about such a thing, either—then it needs to be fixed. It’s not something he’s willing to take a chance on.

At least they have a plan. Tobias isn’t looking forward to groveling to Will for the assistance Nia is convinced he can give, but he’ll feel better once he loops August and Alistair and some of the other guild ‘mon in on this. See what they know. Someone has to have an idea of where Xerneas’ resting place could be.

But before worrying about all of that, they need to actually make it back to the Lexym Guild. Even taking the ferry, it’ll probably be a couple of days until they reach home. They can think over how to bring all of this to light once they’re back.

Tobias sits up with a groan and goes about his usual process of rolling Nia out of bed. She whines in protest, but he manages to hurry them both out of the inn and into the heart of Shivergleam just as the first rays of dawn start to peek orange-bright through the foggy gray morning.

Shivergleam is strange to see in the light of day. Most Pokemon are either already asleep or heading to bed, and as they pass a grocery store Tobias sees a yawning gourgeist flip their OPEN sign to CLOSED. The ominous, twisted wooden structures around them suddenly look harmless. Almost like a town of whimsical treehouses, some distant cousin to his own home in the Lexym Tree.

Tobias leads Nia across creaky bridges (which are scarier in the day, when he can see just how far down the drop is to fog-capped swamp water) towards where he’s pretty sure the Aqua Jet had docked the night before. It’s not like it’s too big of a town, and Cordelia’s white and orange ferry stands out against the much more modest wooden canoes that the locals own.

The two of them hurry down the steps to the ferry, catching Beck just as he pulls himself out of the swamp. Water runs in rivulets through his thick orange fur and splatters onto the wood as he looks up.

“There you are! Perfect timing. Our other passenger just boarded so we’re ready to go.”

“Who’s the other passenger?” Nia asks.

Beck scratches at his chin. “A sableye. Some kind of researcher? He’s heading to the caves north of the Lexym Guild, near the foot of the mountains.”

Nia perks up at the word researcher. “I wonder if he’d tell us what he researches!”

“Not sure. He was a bit mumbly—real quiet guy.”

Tobias can handle quiet. They don’t need any shenanigans on their trip back north, especially considering they have to be on the water again. Not exactly any fire type’s favorite place to be.

“And they’re back!” A voice crows from up near the captain’s cabin. A blue and yellow maw leans out to peer down at them, teeth bared in an obnoxious grin. “Couldn’t stay away from the beautiful riverfront, could you, Charmander?”

Tobias curls his lip at her in return. While Nia waves and says hi, Tobias boards the ferry and moves to the back deck out of the croconaw’s line of sight.

It’s there he spots their new co-passenger: a spindly, dark purple ghost type with large, unnerving gemstone eyes. As in they literally look like cut gemstones. Creepy. The Pokemon is curled around a backpack and tucked up against the cabin of the ferry, half-hidden in shadows.

Tobias’ gut instinct after last night with Edme (and the general distance of the Shivergleam residents as a whole) is to be wary of their fellow passenger. Not that it would be likely for Edme to send someone after them for information about Giratina or revenge or something, but…

“Tobias, did you—“

Nia stops as she catches up, blinking as she notices the other passenger. It takes her a beat longer than usual, but she does step closer to give the ghost type a nervous smile.

“Hello! You must be the researcher Beck mentioned, right? I’m Nia and this is Tobias. I thought we should introduce ourselves since we’ll be traveling together for a few days!”

The sableye curls in a bit more at the greeting, but does quietly say, “H-Hello. Carnelian. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too!”

Carnelian gives a jerky nod. Not rude, but clearly anxious and maybe not used to socializing.

They take a few steps away to give him some space. As the crew finishes preparations, Nia looks to Tobias, probably waiting for him to head back down to the boiler room with Ignatius.

Tough luck. After last night he’s not letting his danger-prone partner out of sight quite yet. He waves her off, gesturing for her to sit wherever she’s planning to sit so he can figure out where he’s settling for the morning.

Nia frowns, catching on. “You can really go inside if you’d like.”

Tobias rolls his eyes and takes the initiative, plopping down against the ferry’s middle, as far as he can from Carnelian. “I’ll go in if I want to.”

Nia doesn’t look convinced, but she doesn’t argue as the ferry starts up. Tobias hears Beck and Nori leap overboard with a quiet splash. Ignatius must’ve already descended into the boiler room to get the steam engine running. Which only leaves—

Caspian comes plap plap plap-ing around the corner. The little quaxly is clearly full of energy despite the early hour. He waves happily to Nia and Tobias before scampering from one side of the deck to the other to make sure that everything is in place and properly tied down. Tobias still isn’t sure if the kid is actually responsible for that part of the routine, or if the crew just gave him a “job” to help him feel useful.

Regardless, as Nia and Tobias watch, Cas runs to and fro before deeming the ship worthy. He leans through the railing to wave down at the river, and Tobias hears a quiet splash as Beck swims around to the front of the ferry to give Cordelia the all-clear. Within a minute, they’re moving slowly across the swamp, through the narrow channel leading back to the Lilycap River.

In the light of day, the swampy environment just looks…peaceful. Inviting, even, if you don’t mind water.

Carnelian doesn’t seem too keen to chat, so Nia sighs and lays back across the deck. “…I should probably practice my aura.”

Tobias raises a brow. It’s not unusual for Nia to practice her aura abilities, but it is unusual for her to jump to that option immediately, especially this early in the morning. She must be thinking about what Giratina said. Tobias has the itch to train too, knowing what they’re up against.

“Aura?”

Cas has moved to their side. The quaxly tilts his head at Nia.

Nia sits up. “Oh. Um, it’s sort of like….a specific set of moves I can use as a riolu. Everyone has aura, but I can use it for attacks and sensing things and reading someone's energy.”

Cas’ brow furrows. “‘Reading?’ Like a book? How do you do that for energy?”

“Well…aura is sort of like each pers—each Pokemon’s, um. Life energy, I guess? And everyone’s is unique! Like a fingerprint. I can look at them and know more about someone’s character and personality.”

“Could you read mine?!” Cas asks, confusion dropping in exchange for sheer excitement.

Nia looks torn between amusement and discomfort. “I-I mean. I could? But it’s sort of…personal. I see a lot about who you are. Some Pokemon find it kind of…invasive.”

“I don’t mind!” Cas insists, plopping down and scooting closer with all the reckless excitement of the child he is. “Please? It sounds neat! And I’m not big enough to help out with anything else right now so I have time.”

After another moment of hesitation, Nia huffs a laugh. She relaxes and holds out a paw. “All right. Could I have your wing for a minute?”

Cas complies, and Nia closes her eyes. Bright blue energy outlines her body, and the appendages at either side of her head lift as she concentrates her aura.

Tobias watches this process with vague curiosity. While he’s been adamant from the start that Nia not read his aura, the process doesn’t seem quite as awful to him as it once did. Not if Nia’s the one looking at his soul, at least. He would still rather she not, a little uncomfortable with what she might find, but the thought doesn’t send anxiety rushing through him, either.

Plus, she already glimpsed it down in the mines. Red. He’s red, apparently. Whatever that means.

“You’re sort of a bright pinkish-purple,” Nia says. “Almost fuchsia.”

Cas, who had been nervously staring at Nia, perks up. “That sounds pretty!”

Nia smiles, eyes still closed. “It is pretty. It’s like…the reflected colors in a bubble. Fun and light. Or…coral? Supportive. Tougher than it looks.”

Caspian looks like he’s feeling self-conscious but isn’t sure if he should be. “So is fuchsia…good?”

Nia releases the quaxly’s wing and smiles. “Well, I sure like it!”

Caspian looks down, feathers fluffing with pleased embarrassment.

“A lot of water metaphors this time,” Tobias notes, amused.

Nia shrugs with a smile. "Just felt right."

“Is that because I'm a water type?" Cas asks. "Do all types have the same color aura?”

“No, as far as I can tell your type doesn’t actually matter,” Nia says. “I’m sort of a turquoise blue, but I’m a fighting type. And I know another water type who’s green.”

“Oh.” Cas looks up thoughtfully. “I wonder what color Delia is.”

Tobias snorts. He can’t imagine Cordelia feeling comfortable letting Nia look at her soul. She seems like the fiercely private type—not that he has any room to talk.

Nia shrugs. “Could be anything, really.”

Cas mulls that over, leaning to the side and trying to peer around the tall cabin of the ferry as if he could actually see Cordelia at the wheel, let alone into her soul.

“Your aura control is really solid now,” Tobias comments.

Nia's tail wags a bit. “Thank you! I still feel like I have a long way to go, but I’m getting better. I’ve been practicing a lot!”

Tobias knows, considering he’s been around for most of her practicing.

“You going to show Val the new aura radar trick you figured out in the mines?"

“Yeah! I just hope I can recreate it when I talk to her.”

Cas tunes back into the conversation, chirping, “So what all can you do with aura?”

Nia gives Tobias a wink before forming a short staff of aura and giving it a twirl.

Cas gasps. “That’s so cool!”

“You have any cool tricks?” Tobias asks the little water type.

“I can’t do anything like that, but Auntie has been working with me on a lot of other moves and stuff. Here, watch this!”

The quaxly hops to his feet and spurts a weak water gun attack out over the railing to splatter harmlessly into the river channel.

Nia claps, and Tobias makes a suitably impressed face.

“I don’t have much else, though. I’ve mostly been working on, uh, status moves,” Cas says, sitting down. “Auntie’s a primarina, so she’s really good with that sort of thing. And she says that I shouldn’t be in the middle of serious fights at my age anyways.”

“Status moves, huh,” Nia echoes, idly twisting her aura baton through her fingers.

Tobias knows that look. She must be thinking about which ones she could use herself. He nudges her. “You ever gonna try learning work up? It’s a normal type move.”

Nia’s eyes widen. “I forgot about that one! What does that do again? Raises attack, right?”

“And special attack.”

Nia’s brow furrows. “Great. So now all I have to do is just…learn it.”

“Is it a TM?” Cas asks.

Nia blinks, first at the water type and then at Tobias.

Tobias barely bites back a rude remark. “No, it’s not a trained move for you. Should be learned naturally.”

Cas turns a confused look onto Nia.

“I…have trouble learning new moves,” Nia explains, sheepish. “Learning moves naturally. It doesn’t come to me as easy as it should.”

“That’s all right!” Cas says, surprisingly genuine. “I struggle sometimes with the moves Auntie and Delia teach me, but eventually I figure ‘em out! Usually I just gotta figure out how to form ‘em.”

Nia tilts her head. “How to form them?”

“Yeah!” Cas nods. “Like how a water gun is all about focusing my power in my belly, where my water sac is, but for disarming voice I try to push my energy into my lungs and throat.”

“Oh! Right.” Nia watches Cas with a quiet intensity as the klinklang turn inside her head. “How…how would you try using a move like work up? Where your whole body gets stronger? I was thinking that I would just need to spread my aura—my energy throughout my body, but that doesn’t seem to work.”

Cas glances at Tobias, as if unsure of why Nia is looking to a twelve year old of all ‘mon for guidance. But then he speaks up, “Well…does it feel like you’re giving your muscles any kind of boost when you do that?”

Nia closes her eyes for a moment, as if testing it out, and frowns. “…No. it feels like it’s just leaving my body without doing anything.”

“Oh, I used to do something like that!” Cas says, clearly thrilled to be able to help. “It's probably ‘cause you’re just pushing your energy out, away from your body. Auntie said you just waste it when you do that.”

Nia groans, head landing in her paws. “Great.”

“She told me that instead of pushing your energy away from you, you have to, um…how’d she put it? You have to use your energy like a river.”

“A river?” Tobias asks, doubtful.

Cas nods. “Yeah! Like, channel your energy through your body in one big loop instead of outward, starting at your shoulders then down to your feet and back up. She said that keeping it moving is what makes the power.”

Nia’s eyes widen as she straightens up. “Like a water wheel. If the energy is the water, then keeping it in a constant river loop keeps it contained in your body—“

“Instead of just pushing it away from yourself and wasting it,” Tobias realizes.

Nia grins. “Of course! Oh, that makes so much sense. Thank you, Cas! I’ll try that.”

Cas fluffs again, happy but shy. Once Tobias asks him about his aunt who taught him that, he starts chattering again, clearly super proud of the primarina.

As he does, Tobias glances at their sableye travel-buddy, who is still hunched over in the shade of the boat’s middle. Then Tobias lets himself fall back to the warming deck and closes his eyes, pillowing his head with his arms to listen.

While he might not be fond of boat travel, there isn’t much else to do over the next couple days aside from plan and do what little training they can. Might as well chat with Cas and relax while they can.

—————————————————————————————————

Over the next day and a half, Tobias’ fear of leaving Nia alone dies down, allowing him to retreat to the warm isolation of the boiler room when the river starts to become too much. He still doesn’t stay with Ignatius as much as he did on their first trip, though.

He feels the need to keep an eye on Nia, worried about where her head is at. It’s just like the period after her illness, when she would space out and drown in her own thoughts. Sometimes Tobias catches a sheen of tears in her eyes too, like she’s just barely holding it together. Tobias doesn’t know if it’s the fear and pressure of the mission dropped onto their shoulders, or if she’s worried about being able to return to the human world.

Either way, he can tell that she’s…off.

Tobias doesn’t know how to ask her if she wants to talk about it. He feels hot embarrassment burn at his face and close his throat any time he considers it. Instead, he opts to just stay close.

Not that Tobias is much better, between his own fear regarding their world-saving mission and…well.

He’s thinking about Team Zenith again.

It starts with the crobat—Asra or Vesper or whatever his name was at the end. Tobias still hates him, still feels loathing sit cold and heavy like a ball of steel in his chest. He hates the crobat more now that he knows the coward got to live a happy life with his family after what he did to Tobias’ own.

Even if his mate was right and the crobat regretted what he was a part of. Even if Tobias recalls in scattered memories that the crobat didn’t do much more than corral them, he still didn’t stop Dismas or Sulien either. Instead, he let them kill Tobias’ family then ran away.

At least he’s dead now. Tobias should probably feel bad for the quiet satisfaction that thought brings, but he doesn’t.

Instead, Tobias thinks about Dismas and Sulien. The pangoro and arcanine presumably still out there, living their own lives. Do they regret it? Have they had their own families too? Tobias doesn’t remember much about the pangoro aside from flashes of black and white fur, snarling and grappling with his mother, before the arcanine pinned Tobias down and took up the entirety of his vision.

Tobias can only think of what happened to him in pieces before forcing himself to focus again on the world around him, digging his claws into the wood of the boat and looking out over the river. His heart pounds and a chill rises over his skin. He feels his head go light.

Funny enough, the end of the world is somehow a less terrifying thing to focus on. Tobias and Nia haven’t talked about it much since learning of it, seeing as they already have their vague plan and nothing to do until they get back to the Lexym Guild anyways. Tobias doesn’t think talking about it in circles would help.

So they both stay quiet.

Beck catches on quickly to their distracted thoughts and somber mood. The floatzel doesn’t ask, but Tobias notices how he checks in with them when he can, recruiting Cas to buoy the atmosphere. Beck talks to them about the river and the crew’s travels, clearly working hard at making Nia smile. Normally, Tobias would find something like that annoying, but Beck isn’t overbearing about it.

Tobias does find their sableye co-passenger—well. Not annoying, per se, but off-putting. He keeps entirely to himself, occasionally digging through his backpack to write in a little notebook, and Tobias can’t help how suspicious he is of what the little ‘mon writes so fervently.

The last time they trusted a ghost Nia got yanked into the distortion world against her will. Tobias doesn’t think anyone could blame him for a little caution. Well, anyone but Nia apparently. The third time she catches Tobias glancing warily at Carnelian, she pulls him aside to ask him what’s up.

“Weren’t you the one who said ghost types get unfairly discriminated against all the time?” She whispers.

“I’m not doing that!” Tobias hisses.

Nia gives him an unconvinced look.

“He’s just…weird.”

Nia huffs a laugh. “Just because he’s quiet doesn’t mean he’s weird. Maybe he’s anxious because he’s not used to being away from Shivergleam.”

Tobias sighs, rubbing at his face. Is he being suspicious for no good reason? Would he be less suspicious if the passenger was just as weird but not a ghost type?

…Probably, some small, ashamed part of him admits.

“Sorry,” he mumbles. “Just…on edge.”

“I get it.”

From that point on, Tobias does his best to just ignore the sableye lurking around the ship. Even when they stop to eat in the evening and the sableye mysteriously vanishes.

“Probably finding his own food,” Ignatius explains once he notices Tobias looking around.

“Ah, right. Sableye eat rocks or something, right?” Cordelia says through a mouthful of the stew they’d cooked up.

“Rocks?” Cas echoes, eyes wide.

“Gems,” Nori corrects quietly. “Crystals and minerals.”

“Eh, same difference,” Cordelia dismisses.

The second day of travel dawns as calm as the first. The river is still flooded, rushing by at unsettling speeds, frothy and impossible to see through, but Nori and Beck manage to navigate the rough waters with ease, and Cordelia’s hands are steady at the wheel.

Even the weather is decent. Slightly cloudy and overcast, but no longer pounding rain like it was on the way into Shivergleam. It’s even warm enough for the deck to heat under Tobias’ scales and lull him into a nap while Nia practices her aura.

It’s not until early afternoon that something goes amiss.

Their first sign of danger is Carnelian, scuttling to his feet and looking around. The little Pokemon is fidgety, but something about the abrupt gesture speaks of panic.

Tobias and Nia snap into ready positions themselves a moment after, looking around. Cas, who had been perched on a crate nearby and watching the river, looks nervously between the three of them.

“Carnelian?” Nia asks, quiet. “Did you notice something?”

Carnelian opens his mouth, only for an unfamiliar shout from the front of the boat to snag their attention. It’s more feminine than Beck’s deep voice, and it takes Tobias a moment to realize that it’s Nori. The golduck who has been nearly silent the entire time they’ve known her.

That can’t be good.

Nori is calling something up to Cordelia, who Tobias can vaguely hear cursing in the captain’s quarters. The boat swings suddenly to the side, as if trying to slow to a sudden stop. Nia and Tobias stumble and grab onto the railing, and Caspian falls into Tobias’ side. Carnelian yelps and goes sliding across the deck.

A second later, Tobias feels what Carnelian and Nori must’ve noticed first. A tingling against his skin, in his limbs. Something uncomfortable and off, hard to pin down but familiar enough by now.

A mystery dungeon.

Nia, probably still unable to sense it due to her fighting type nature, frowns at his paling face. “What?”

“Mystery dungeon,” he grits, trying to determine how close it is. If he can feel it in the air, it must be dangerously close.

Cordelia finally manages to ease the boat against the muddy bank of the riverside. It shudders to a stop, and everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Cordelia leaves the cabin and rushes around the corner, eyes honing in on Caspian and relaxing once she catches sight of him. Then she glances around. “Everyone all right back here?”

They all nod. A moment later, Beck and Nori leap out of the river with a splash and thud on deck.

“Everyone okay?” Beck echoes. “Where’s Natius?”

Right on cue, the door to the inner cabin swings open and Ignatius stomps out on-deck. “By Moltres’ flames, what is going on out here?”

The crew relaxes seeing their last missing member in good shape.

“Got a bit too close to a mystery dungeon,” Cordelia sighs, rubbing a clawed hand down her snout. “Nori caught it in time.”

Tobias is glad she did. Even now the tingling is strong, still blaring alarms in the back of his mind that danger is nearby. Tobias looks at Nori. The golduck is staring out into the forest, ruby eyes narrowed.

“U-Um,” Carnelian pipes up, voice high and nervous. Everyone turns to him, surprised to hear the sableye speak.

He shrinks, but glances at Nori, claws twiddling anxiously. “M-Miss Nori, I could be incorrect, but do you still..?”

Nori’s beak flattens out into a grim expression. She nods. “Something’s wrong.”

Tobias exchanges an uneasy glance with Nia.

There’s a tense moment of silence, save for the loud rush of the river. Tobias’ heart pounds as he swears the tingling feeling gets stronger, somehow. His head feels fuzzy, which is strange. He didn’t hit it or anything.

Tobias sees the moment Nori figures it out. “The dungeon is still forming. Right on top of us.”

Oh. Oh no.

Cordelia, who had crouched to pick up Cas, stares at her crewmate.

“W-Wait—it’s still forming?” Nia asks, glancing out at the forest. “Here? Right now? But if that happens—“

“We’ll turn feral,” Ignatius sighs, sounding almost resigned. He puffs out a cloud of smoke. “No telling what’ll happen after that.”

Tobias feels his blood chill, goosebumps rising on his skin. Now that he knows what’s happening, he can consciously recognize how slow and clumsy his thoughts suddenly feel. Like his mind is trying to wade through thick, sticky sap. If the mystery dungeon forms on top of them, they’ll turn feral until it clears again, which could be weeks. And in the meantime they’ll be mindless beasts. If one of them gets hurt, then—

Cas whimpers, burying his head in Cordelia’s stomach. Everyone else looks quietly terrified, eyes down and hands balled into fists.

“C-Can’t we do something?” Nia presses. “Can we outrun it?”

Beck shakes his head. “‘Fraid not. I’ve heard musings, but…”

“Musings?” Tobias asks.

“Unsubstantiated musings,” Nori says.

“I don’t care if they’re substantiated or not!” Tobias snarls. “If you’ve got an idea then say it!”

“Safeguard,” Beck says. “Heard a rumor ‘bout it. But unless one of you has safeguard in your arsenal, we ain’t got no way to protect ourselves even if it would work.”

There's a heavy moment of silence. Then—

Nia’s head whips up. “Protect. Would protect work?”

The crew blinks slowly at Nia, as if trying to process her words. Tobias hears Carnelian let out a animalistic whine of fear.

Nori is the first one to shake out of it enough to speak. “I don’t—“

“Do it!” Tobias growls.

Nia throws out her paws, and her aura snaps into being around them, surrounding the group in a thin dome of blue energy. Immediately, Tobias feels his sluggish thoughts clear, like the first breath of fresh air after a stuffy nose. He realizes he’d been hunched over in a crouch, and straightens up.

Everyone else snaps out of the creeping effect of the dungeon too, standing taller as their eyes clear. Cordelia almost seems to be ashamed about succumbing to the effect, and focuses on murmuring reassurances to Cas. Beck lifts his chin to look up at the protect bubble in awe. Nori is rubbing her forehead, wincing, while Carnelian whimpers and cowers closer to Nia.

Ignatius simply says, “Huh. I’ll be.”

Tobias relates. He kind of can’t believe that worked. It’s…unheard of, to get firsthand experience from Seekers or researchers who were caught in a forming mystery dungeon and able to ward it off. He didn’t know it was possible for a move to save them from such a thing.

“It worked,” Tobias breathes, relieved.

“Why did it work?” Cordelia asks, frowning and looking to Nori. “And why haven’t I heard about these rumors?”

Nori, still rubbing tenderly at the red gem on her forehead, shrugs. “Beck and I heard a rumor earlier this year. About someone using safeguard and escaping from a forming mystery dungeon unscathed. We didn’t think it was true.”

Safeguard…so that means—

“You saying Pokemon going feral is nothin’ more than a status condition?” Cordelia asks, squinting.

Nori shakes her head. “It has to be more than that. But it might work in a…similar way. A form of confusion. If so, it makes some amount of sense that it could be stopped by a strong safeguard.”

“Or a strong protect, apparently,” Beck says. “We’re real lucky you were here, Nia.”

Nia smiles, but Tobias can see the beginning of strain in her expression, in the way she doesn’t respond. She used her protect in the mines at Fort Asra, but Tobias doesn’t think she’s ever made a shield this large. It’s going to drain her quickly, even if she has been practicing with her aura.

“However it worked, we've bought ourselves a few more minutes of sanity,” Tobias says. “But now what? We’re still stuck in the middle of it and Nia can’t keep this up forever.”

Nia’s mouth twists unhappily, but she doesn’t argue.

“Could we move the boat?” Cas suggests quietly.

Cordelia shakes her head. “‘Fraid not. We would need the whole crew at their stations for that, and we’d be too far apart to protect everyone.”

“C-Could we send a distress signal?” Carnelian pipes up, voice shaking. He glances at Tobias and Nia. “To the guild.”

Oh. Right. Tobias feels a little angry that he didn’t think of that himself. He hurriedly reaches into their satchel to grab one of their badges. Then he frowns.

“No go. Too far out.”

Carnelian shrinks back into himself.

“Okay,” Tobias says, running a hand back and over his head. Think, Tobias. They aren’t technically on a mission right now, but they are Seekers. It’s their duty to protect the crew and make sure they’re safe. And Nia is busy as is, so he has to take the lead.

“Moves,” he says. “Or items. Does anyone have anything that might help? Something to stop confusion or get us out of here. Safeguard, protect, uh…fly, teleport. An escape orb?”

“Aren’t you the Seeker?” Ignatius huffs. “You should have the items.”

Tobias shoots the torkoal a nasty look. “Any helpful suggestions?”

Each Pokemon grows quiet, then shakes their head. All except Cordelia, who is looking down at the top of Cas' feathery blue head with a furrow to her brow.

Tobias stares at her, expectant.

She glares back at him, but relents. “We…might have something.”

Then she detaches the teary quaxly from her front, kneeling down to meet his eyes.

“Hey, bro?”

Cas sniffs. “Yeah?”

“Do you remember that move Auntie’s been working on with you? The one with the pink misty stuff?”

Caspian’s brow furrows. He tilts his head. “Misty train?”

Cordelia chuckles, but it’s strained. “Misty terrain, yeah. Can you do me a favor? D’you think you could try to use that?”

Tobias frowns. Misty terrain? The move sounds vaguely familiar, but…

The aura shield around them flickers. Weakens and thins and grows more transparent for just a moment as Nia growls. Tobias, concerned, steps closer and presses his arm against hers.

“A big burst of it, yeah,” Cordelia says, encouraging. “Enough to fill this whole bubble!”

Caspian glances around at everyone’s eyes on him. “W-Would it help?”

“Honestly, bite? Not sure. But it might. And we gotta try something.”

Cas falls silent, looking down at his feet.

Tobias glances at Nori. “Misty terrain?”

The golduck hums, gaze flicking between Cordelia and Cas. “Similar to safeguard. If he can use it, then we might be safe while the dungeon finishes forming.”

Tobias tries not to cling to that hope. He doesn’t want to put that kind of pressure onto a kid. But as he watches, Cordelia braces her hands on Cas’ small shoulders and gives him a squeeze before stepping back.

“All right, Cas. Give it a go. Just like Auntie showed ya.”

Everyone stills as Cas close his eyes. After a moment, he bobs his head—one, two, three, four. His little webbed foot taps along to an unseen beat. Nia, at Tobias’ side, is breathing hard as she continues to hold the protect.

Then Cas starts a little dance, surprisingly rhythmic. His feet tap and arc across the wood, his wings twisting and turning. Before Tobias can question what the heck he’s doing, he spins.

A cloud of pink energy bursts out from him in a wave. Tobias throws up his arms, and when he lowers them the air in their little bubble is…sparkly, the wood beneath their feet tinted with a shifting pink fog.

“Did it work?” Nia asks, voice tight.

Caspian, panting, looks between Nori and Cordelia.

Nori says, “No way to tell.”

Tobias grows colder. “So we have to just…”

“Try it,” Beck sighs. “Well? Do we want to rip the bandage off quick?”

“Awful casual about it,” Tobias growls.

Beck shrugs, though Tobias catches the concerned look he gives Nia.

Tobias sighs.

“Nia,” He says. “Drop the protect.”

She cracks open an eye, unsure.

“You can’t keep this up forever. Either it worked or it didn’t.”

Nia is clearly uncomfortable with that sentiment, but Tobias can see the way her arms tremble. How her ears fight to pin back with the strain.

“Nia,” he says, sharper.

She lets go with a gasp. The blue around them vanishes, leaving the open air of the river and the forest on either side. As Nia pants, Tobias holds his own breath.

The pink mist plays across the ground around them in a circle. It doesn’t dissipate, hovering around their feet like a protective presence.

Tobias glances at the others and can see the same nervous caution on their faces. But as the seconds pass, Tobias counting each beat until one minute passes, then two…he doesn’t feel that same fuzzy confusion return to slow his thoughts like tar.

“Did it work?” Ignatius asks, hushed. “Or did the dungeon already finish forming?”

Nori shakes her head, pointing out into the trees.

Tobias follows her gesture, feeling his skin crawl. The forest looks…restless. Trees roll in waves as the landscape shifts. Like the earth below them is a great waking beast. Even the boat tilts and groans, as if it too is being pulled into the distortion of the mystery dungeon.

Loud, sharp cries echo from the forest: Pokemon who weren’t as lucky as them. Pokemon caught up in the dungeon's haze. Within their circle of pink mist, however, their minds seem untouched.

Everyone releases a collective breath.

Cordelia whoops, scooping Cas up and spinning him in a tight hug. She’s yelling about how she knew he could do it and that he kicks tail. The quaxly giggles, a little teary-eyed.

Tobias finally relaxes, sinking down to the deck next to Nia. She laughs, tired and relieved as she bumps her head into Tobias’ shoulder.

“G’job, little ember,” Ignatius says to Cas. Then he turns to Nori. “How long will this hold?”

“Long enough, hopefully,” Nori says. “Eventually the dungeon will settle. All we can do is sit and wait for it to finish.”

Since Nori is keeping a watchful eye on their environment, Tobias allows himself to take a moment to breathe. He can’t make himself relax entirely, but he can’t do much at the moment either. He looks around at their companions.

Ignatius and Cordelia are murmuring to each other quietly. Cas looks exhausted by his big burst of energy, and leans heavily against Cordelia so she can scritch at his feathers. Carnelian is curled into a nervous ball around his bag, plucking at the backpack's cloth with his claws. He has scooted closer to Nia, as if soothed by her presence. Beck seems to be lost in thought, until Tobias notices how the floatzel glances at the edge of their protective circle. Ah. Keeping an eye on the misty terrain, then. Good.

Nia, finally having caught her breath, turns to sit against Tobias. He leans back as well so they’re spine to spine and tries to reign in his nerves. They need to stay calm and hope that the dungeon finishes forming before Cas’ attack wears off. Then…he supposes they’ll need to fight their way out of the dungeon.

He and Nia need to be ready to lead them when that time comes. They’re young, but they likely still have the most experience with navigating through situations like this.

“Huh,” Nia says, almost too quiet to hear.

“What?”

“Oh. I was just thinking that it makes sense. What Nori said, about the dungeon causing something similar to confusion.”

“Why’s that?” Tobias asks, tilting his chin back to look at the side of her head.

“Well…” her voice lowers. “If what Giratina said is true, then the borders of the rift are made up of aura. Of…life energy. And moves also come from our own life energy, our own aura. So I guess it just makes sense to me that damage in the border could…confuse the world in the same way Pokemon get confused by like, a confuse ray or something.”

Tobias snorts, remembering what Nia told him after her last breakthrough with aura. “Avery is going to lose their mind when you tell them that.”

Nia laughs. “I know.”

The group starts up a quiet conversation while they wait for the dungeon to finish forming, everyone likely trying to avoid thinking too hard about whether or not Cas’ misty terrain will hold. Tobias eyes the changing surroundings as they talk.

The forest almost seems alive, closing in tighter and tighter to form the mystery dungeons' trademark “rooms” and “hallways.” The trees shift and twist, weaving together with loud cracks that make Carnelian, Cas and Nia flinch. Weedy grasses and muddy banks rise higher into sharp inclines, boxing them slowly into a long corridor. It’s unnerving to watch happen, as if some invisible giant is ignoring the laws of reality and molding the world around them, stretching trees out like putty and raising the earth like sandcastles.

Slowly, the movements settle. The open air of the wide river has been contained to something much smaller, partially blocking out the overcast sky. An uneasy quiet descends on the forest, and Tobias isn’t sure why it feels this unnatural until he hears Cas murmur something about the river.

That’s it. The loud roar of the river is just…gone.

“I believe it’s finished,” Nori finally says.

Everyone stands tall to try peering over the lip of the boat and into the corridor they’re now trapped in. The “walls” of the hallway are unnaturally steep banks of mud, smooth river stones, and long grasses, with tree roots twisted throughout here and there. Tobias thinks he can see rivulets of water trickling down them, and hears the gentle burble of running water that can’t compare to the roar of the river.

The rivulets bleed into the “floor” of the hallway, which is covered in a sheen of water, as if it has become its own modest stream. Tobias feels his heart drop at the sight and squints, trying to look past the bright reflection of the sky to see if the water is deep or just surface-level. He has no idea how they’re going to fight their way out if the dungeon is covered in deep water. Just walking through a floor of the stuff would burn Tobias’ feet raw.

Nori is the first one to move. She exchanges a look with Beck, then calmly walks out of the protective circle. Tobias' heart jumps. Cordelia makes a sound of alarm and darts after the golduck, but Beck steps in her path.

“Beck, if you don’t move that waterlogged orange pelt—“

“Someone has to test it, and Nori is the most sensitive of us to psychic fields. She knows what she’s doing.”

Cordelia’s eyes flick past him to Nori. She grits her teeth and watches the golduck take a few more steps to the railing of the boat before turning to look at them, crossing her arms to wait.

“Give her a few minutes,” Ignatius says. “If she feels fine after that, we should be safe to move.”

After a moment, Cordelia returns to Cas' side. But she keeps her eyes trained on the golduck to watch for any signs of her being affected.

Luckily, Nori calmly stays in place, looking out over the corridor. After a few minutes, she pushes off and walks back into the protective circle of the misty terrain.

“I believe it’s safe.”

“Clearly,” Cordelia snorts. Then her voice hardens. “Don’t do that again. Captain’s orders.”

Nori nods, as if she didn’t just deliberately make a decision knowing Cordelia would object.

Cordelia grunts. Then she turns to look around at the rest of her crew and their passengers. “Well, Cas and the riolu saved our tails, but we still gotta get out of here. We ready to fight?”

“We’re not going to fight unless we have to,” Tobias counters, crossing his arms. The crew members look at him, surprised.

“And what makes you think you’re calling the shots here, kid?”

“Because Nia and I are Seekers, remember? Unless you’re secretly dungeon divers yourselves, we’re the most familiar with navigating places like this.”

“You suggesting you two lead us through this mess?” Ignatius asks, incredulous.

Tobias nods.

“Can you fight?” Cordelia challenges.

Tobias rolls his eyes. “Of course we can fight. But we should avoid ferals when possible because we have a giant group and an unknowably deep dungeon—we have to conserve our energy where we can.”

“He has a point,” Nori says.

Beck's tails twist worriedly, like a propellor. “This is unfamiliar territory you two aren’t used to. You sure you're up to this?”

Tobias snorts. “Every dungeon is unfamiliar territory. You wouldn’t be any more used to it than we are.”

Beck frowns, conceding the point but not looking happy about it.

“I would like to keep an eye on Cas,” Cordelia admits. Then, more of an order than a question, “What’s your team rank?”

“U-Um. D, right?” Nia says, glancing at Tobias.

Tobias winces, then hurries to add, “We’ve only been Seekers for a couple of months.”

“Awful proud for such shiny new recruits,” Ignatius mutters.

Tobias opens his mouth to snap something at the torkoal, only for Nia to stop him with a gentle paw on his arm.

“I know we’re young,” Nia says. “And we haven't been doing this long. But we’ve already been through…a lot. We’re stronger than we look.”

“And we’re the Seekers,” Tobias stresses. “Even if you can battle, this is different than a spar between two sane Pokemon. Let us lead.”

“We can clear a path for you,” Nia adds. “If it turns out that we can’t handle it, you guys can step in.”

The air is still heavy with uncertainty.

Tobias is irked that this is suddenly an issue at all when they face dangerous missions every day, but he knows Nia’s calmer approach is more likely to prove their point about them being mature enough to handle this, so he keeps his mouth shut.

The crew exchange looks with one another. Nori seems to surprisingly be on their side. She stares her crew mates down, apparently firm in her decision. After a moment, Ignatius grumbles something about young startups, but backs down. Cordelia, after a long and wordless exchange of expressions with Nori, nods once.

Beck is the only adult crew member who hasn’t agreed.

“What? What’s the problem?”

The floatzel sighs. “…Nothing. Just getting old and letting my instincts as a dad win out over my instincts as a crewmate.”

Oh. He’s…worried about them? He shouldn’t be. They just got the fate of the world dumped on their shoulders. They can handle a little mystery dungeon.

“We can handle it, Beck,” Nia says, echoing his thoughts. Her voice is firm but not unkind. She gives him a smile. “I know you’re worried, but this is kind of our job.”

Glancing around and realizing that no one else shares his concerns, Beck caves. “All right. Just…let me know if you two need help, all right? These old bones can still fight if need be.”

“Deal!”

The group cautiously moves out of the protective effect of Cas’ circle and to the edge of the boat. Beck insists on going down first, “Just to check how deep it is,” before slipping overboard. Tobias frowns when Beck goes entirely underwater, confirming that the path is too deep to walk through. The floatzel surfaces, glancing around to make sure nothing is about to attack before waving up at them.

Cordelia smirks at Tobias. “You sure you still want to lead, flame?”

Tobias, on completely stupid impulse, glares at her before hopping over the edge of the boat. Beck barks a startled sound but manages to catch him on his chest.

Tobias pushes roughly at the paws on his arms. “Let me go! I’m fine.”

“You can’t be implying you’re going to swim through this.”

“I said we’ll lead and I meant it!”

Beck tightens his hold. Tobias could break free, but he doesn’t want to hurt the stupid old ‘mon.

“Just…let me give you a lift through the water,” Beck says, meeting Tobias’ eyes. “In return, I won’t fret about you two leading us.”

“Or you could just let me go and not fret anyways.”

Beck’s gives him a look that feels too fatherly to be comfortable. As if to say he has the patience to wait out Tobias’ stupidity.

Tobias growls. “…Fine.”

Beck releases him, and Tobias sits up on the floatzel’s stomach. The water type is long and flat, admittedly perfect for ferrying passengers.

Nori slips over the boat next, into the gentle current with a quiet splash. Then Cordelia and Cas. After that, Cordelia yells up at the boat until Ignatius stops hollering about dying on solid ground where sane fire types belong. Then the torkoal tumbles over the edge in his shell for Nori to catch and hike carefully onto her back.

Finally, Carnelian peers over the edge, shaking visibly even from here. Nia is clearly trying to soothe the sableye, but whatever she says must work, because he eventually hauls himself over the side of the boat with jerky movements. Nia climbs out after him, watching the sableye’s feet and murmuring reassurances.

Tobias rolls his eyes. “Nia, watch your own paws!”

It’s a clumsy effort, but the two of them manage to slide down the boat in fits and starts. Beck drifts closer and Tobias holds onto the boat so the floatzel can roll over onto his belly. Then all three of them climb atop his wet back—Tobias in front, with Nia and Carnelian behind.

“Everyone good?” Cordelia calls. She’s treading water easily, Cas perched on her back.

Irritation gnaws at Tobias as the croconaw takes charge, but he nods.

“Keep an eye out for ferals,” Cordelia adds. She swims forward to take the lead, but hesitates and glances at the quaxly over her shoulder, clearly not wanting him to be in the first line of defense.

Tobias takes their chance. He gives the thick orange fur below him two pats, before anyone else can try to take point. Beck hesitates, but eventually obeys, moving forward to lead the group down the corridor with a near-silent lap of water.

Aside from the gentle rush of the stream, the air is silent. It feels even more tense now that they’re in the dungeon proper.

Tobias leans back to murmur to Nia, “I’ll keep an eye on the water since I have sharper eyes. You take above.”

Nia nods.

Their group drifts down the corridor and around the corner. Halfway down the next hallway, the terrain slopes up to grassy, muddy land before dipping back into the water again. Looks like they’ll be traversing a dungeon of streams and islands.

Lovely.

When they reach land, Nia and Tobias slip off Beck's back to stand on their own feet. The ground underfoot is damp and sticky with mud between smooth river stones and long patches of lush grass. Tobias tries not to let his distaste with the damp environment show as he takes lead, Nia right behind him.

So far no ferals, but Tobias can see Nia’s ears twisting and turning to catch distant sounds out of the corner of his eye.

“What kind of Pokemon do you think we’ll run into here?” Nia whispers.

Beck answers from right behind them. “It’ll be the Pokemon who live near the river, right? So water types for sure. Otherwise, likely grass and bug. Normal. Some dark types.”

Tobias flicks his tail. Most of those types shouldn’t be an issue, but the water types could be a pain for him. He’ll have to watch out for them.

Once they reach the stream on the other side, the group wordlessly moves back into their previous formation. Tobias grudgingly climbs atop Beck’s back in front of Nia as they wait for Carnelian to scramble on behind them. The floatzel slips into the water, and Tobias hears Cordelia and Nori follow behind.

They don’t run into their first feral until they reach the next patch of land, luckily in the same room as the stairs. The staircase sits eerily in the corner of the room, cutting off into nothingness six or seven steps up. They’re made of wood like Cordelia’s boat, with chipping paint to match.

The feral standing in their way is a thwackey nearly twice their size. It screeches with blank white eyes when it sees them, then launches at their group with sharp fangs bared.

Tobias and Nia rush forward to intercept. Nia is faster, and ducks low to kick out a leg and topple the grass type into the dirt. Tobias takes the opportunity to engulf it in a cloud of embers. The thwackey screeches and skitters back on four legs.

Nia hesitates on her follow-up attack, probably caught up in her own head again. Not that Tobias can blame her this time—it’s hard to think that this thwackey was probably a regular Pokemon living their life just an hour ago, and now—

Not thinking about it.

The thwackey wipes embers out of its eyes and goes at Nia with fists swinging. Nia creates a staff of aura and blocks the attack with a grunt. Tobias takes the opening while it’s turned away to breathe a plume of fire onto his hands. Then he darts forward to slash at the thwackey’s back with heated claws. 1-2-3-4—

The thwackey cries out, stumbling. Before Nia and Tobias can attack again, the feral spins and crashes off through the foliage, down one of the dungeon's hallways.

Tobias huffs out a breath, snuffing his fire down to smoke. He glances at Nia to make sure she isn’t injured, then back at the rest of their crew.

Beck is blinking at them, halfway into a battle stance and clearly surprised. Cas' eyes are starry, and even Cordelia looks a bit impressed with them.

“Not bad,” the Croconaw says. “Guess you two are a bit tougher than you look.”

Tobias rolls his eyes despite the warmth spreading in his chest. “Yeah, yeah. Everyone just hold hands already so we can go to the next floor.”

Cordelia looks sour once he repeats the command and she realizes he’s serious. Only the explanation that they might lose each other warping to the next floor makes her acquiesce.

Tobias climbs the stairs first, Nia right behind him. When Tobias reaches the top creaky step, his stomach turns with vertigo and their surroundings shift. In a blink, they’ve warped to a location that is eerily similar but distinctly different in its layout.

Unfortunately, they also warp to a room that is almost entirely covered in water. Tobias lets out an embarrassing yelp as he falls under with a splash. The gentle current feels freezing against his hot skin, and the immediate wave of prickling pain knocks the breath from his lungs.

A strong arm scoops him up and out of the water before he can thrash for more than a second. In a whirl of movement, Tobias finds himself still drenched but out of the water. He cracks his eyes open, panting hard and shuddering through shocks of pain. His clenched hands hold onto thick, creamy fur.

“Tobias!” Nia coughs, seated atop Beck’s stomach as well and dripping audibly. “Are you all right?”

Tobias wipes his mouth with a shaky hand. Ugh. “Fantastic.”

Nia’s paw lands lightly on his shoulder, but even that touch feels overly sensitive and raw. He jerks away with a hiss and she whispers a string of apologies.

Tobias takes a moment to catch his breath and calm his pounding heart. As the water falls off his body, the painful burn on his skin starts to die down to a more manageable ache. Finally, he looks around.

Beck, lying on his back, is watching Tobias with concern. Nia, sitting next to him on the floatzel’s belly, wears a similar expression. Carnelian is shivering as far away as he can get on their makeshift raft, tipping his backpack to clear it of water.

Nori seems to have caught Ignatius before the torkoal could get similarly dunked. Cas is floating anxiously next to Cordelia in the water. Most everyone’s eyes are on Tobias, so he flushes and forces himself to sit up straight so he can look around.

They’re in a room filled with stream water, the surface finally calming down after their sudden entrance. Two hallways branch off on either side.

“Everyone all right?” Tobias rasps.

Cordelia arches a brow. “You’re asking us?”

Tobias takes that as affirmation and scowls down one hallway, then the other. There really isn’t any rhyme or reason to how he and Nia usually pick directions in dungeons, so he points Beck in the direction of the one he sees grasses poking out of farther down.

“We can wait here a moment for you to catch your breath,” Beck starts.

Tobias shakes his head. “We shouldn’t. It’s best to keep moving in a dungeon or we might get ambushed. I’m fine. Go.”

Beck’s gaze flicks to Nia. The riolu looks like she wants to agree with Beck, but Tobias gives her a hard look so she doesn’t argue.

Finally, Beck swims down the pointed direction. Cordelia and Nori follow quietly behind. When they reach land, Tobias gratefully stumbles onto the marshy ground. His limbs are still a bit shaky and his skin feels tight and uncomfortable, but he’s fine all in all.

A rustle ahead is their only warning before a new, bipedal green Pokemon shambles out of the grass, something oddly rhythmic to its steps. The lilypad atop its head and its bright pink beak tip Tobias off.

“Lombre,” he hisses, he and Nia moving into defensive stances. “Water and grass type.”

The lombre chitters aggressively when it sees them with its milky eyes. It lunges. Nia meets it head-on with a burst of aura, then dances out of range.

The lombre turns on Tobias and sucks in a breath, clearly about to spit out a water type move. Tobias braces to dodge.

They're interrupted by the sound of crashing water, and then a bright blue streak slams into the lombre and sends it rolling into the tall grass. Tobias blinks, stunned, as blue water splatters to the ground and Beck cuts off his aqua jet attack to land on four paws.

Beck glances at Tobias and opens his mouth to say something, but he's cut off by a bright green ball of energy as it shoots from the safety of the grass and hits him hard. The floatzel stumbles back into the wall of the dungeon, then slides down to the ground.

“Beck!” Nia calls, distraught.

Nori is already moving to Beck’s side, so Tobias decides she can handle that. He focuses back on the fight with the lombre, only to hear a startled squeak from behind him, near the back of their group.

He looks just in time to see a blue Pokemon—a tirtouga?—spitting attacks at Cordelia and Cas. Cas hides behind Cordelia as she turns on the tirtouga with a snarl.

“I got ‘em!” Nia shouts, using quick attack to flash past Tobias. She leaps out over the water, staff arcing high over her head, and Tobias has a good feeling she’s going to hit her mark.

Tobias turns back to his own fight as a water gun shoots from the grass, narrowly missing him. He growls. If his opponent is hiding, he should just burn the feral's cover to the ground. But lombre are half water type and the grass is probably too wet to catch, so—

Dragon rage it is.

Tobias sucks in a lungful of air and releases it in a stream of purple fire. The flames catch on the damp grass much easier than regular fire would, quickly scaring the lombre out.

Tobias takes his shot amidst the feral’s panic and shoots off another dragon rage. The lombre shrieks under the fresh onslaught. Tobias rushes forward and spins, slamming the feral into the dungeon wall with his tail.

Tobias pants in the ensuing quiet, watching the lombre for a moment to be sure it’s down. Then he looks behind him.

Nia is paddling through the stream back towards land, waterlogged but no worse for wear. Cordelia pulls her out. The little quaxly in her arms is clearly spooked but seems unharmed.

Nia hurries immediately to Beck’s side, kneeling across from Nori. “Is he all right?”

The floatzel groans at the sound of her voice, eyes fluttering open. His gaze is bleary and unfocused.

“Beck?” Nia prompts.

The floatzel closes his eyes, scrunching up his snout. “‘M fine, Hazel. Stop worrying. Where’re the kids?”

Nia stills. She stares at Beck with a stunned expression. “H-Hazel?”

“His mate,” Nori says, watching the way Beck is blinking back to reality. “I suppose you do sound a bit like her.”

“His mate,” Nia murmurs, frowning. Tobias can tell that this info means something to her. The name Hazel is actually tickling something in the back of his mind, too, though he can't quite pin it down.

Cas escapes Cordelia’s protective hold and scampers to Beck’s side. “Are you okay, Beck?”

Something about the quaxly’s voice seems to clear Beck's mind. The floatzel shakes his head and slowly props himself up on his arms. He gives Cas a shaky smile. "I’m fine, dewdrop.”

“I’ll decide if you’re fine,” Nori says, pushing Beck back down with a webbed hand against his chest. “Follow my finger.”

Beck sighs but patiently follows her instructions as she checks for a concussion. Once she deems him safe to move, Beck climbs to his feet with a groan, using the shifting wall of mud and grasses to stand.

Good. He’s up. That means Tobias can chew him out.

“Beck.”

“Yeah?”

“What was that?!” Tobias snaps. “I told you to stay back and let us handle the fighting!”

Beck winces. “I…was worried about you facing a water type. Especially right after falling in.”

Tobias jerks an angry thumb over his shoulder.

Beck follows the gesture. Smoke is rising from the ashes of the large patch of grass Tobias just burned, purple embers still sparkling. The lombre is knocked out cold to the side.

“Riolu one-hit KO’d a tirtouga, too,” Cordelia laughs, glancing over her own shoulder to the water.

Beck blinks, then barks a laugh. “Well. Suppose I look a bit foolish right now.”

“…What.”

“You two said you could handle yourselves, and it looks like you were right. Sorry for doubting you.”

Nia beams. “That's all right! I know we’re not, uh...all that intimidating.”

"Speak for yourself," Tobias grumbles, rubbing at his face. Unsatisfied anger burns in his belly as all the wind leaves his sails. It doesn’t feel right to go on a tirade if the floatzel just…immediately apologizes. “Whatever. Just…don’t do it again.”

“Not planning to. That knock to the noggin hurt.”

“We should rethink how we travel,” Nori says, her quiet voice heavy enough to cut through their conversation. “If we continue this way, we have to worry about the back half of the group getting ambushed.”

“Yeah,” Nia agrees, frowning.

Tobias and Nia haven’t really taken many escort missions through dungeons—and especially not with a group this large—so they didn’t think about it beforehand, but…

“You’re right. We need a better formation,” Tobias says, crossing his arms. “Who here has experience fighting? Actual fighting, not just friendly spars.”

Nia, ridiculously, raises her paw. Tobias gives her a dry look until she lowers it again.

Cordelia snorts. “I can fight if I have to, but my first priority is keeping an eye on Cas and my crew.”

Tobias nods. “That works. Cas will stay in the middle of the group, so stick with him.”

Cas pouts but doesn’t argue.

“Nori and I are in decent shape, but we aren’t used to fighting often,” Beck says. “As you just saw.”

Ignatius puffs a wisp of smoke. “Hate to say it, but I’m probably as weak as Cas at my age.”

Tobias nods, looking between everyone and calculating. With Nia’s abysmal sense of direction, Tobias needs to be in the front of the group to direct them. But they do need someone to watch their backs, too, and Tobias trusts no one else but Nia for that. The most vulnerable members should be sandwiched in the middle when possible.

“In that case, I’ll take point. Nia, you take back. Cas, Cordelia, Ignatius and, uh…Carnelian. You all need to be in the middle. Beck and Nori, you flank me and Nia.”

“And when we’re in the water?” Beck asks.

Tobias hesitates.

“Well, we can’t do the same formation in the water,” Nia says, half to herself. She jumps when she realizes all eyes have turned to her. “C-Could we swap? Have Ignatius rides with Tobias and Beck up front and Carnelian and I go to the back with Nori? That way we don’t have to rearrange much when we get to land.”

To Tobias’ surprise, no one questions the idea, seeming to agree with both of their judgment calls.

After checking that Beck is good to go, they form up. Nia takes the rear, giving Tobias a thumbs-up. Nori moves in front of her with a quiet comment that makes her smile. Carnelian shuffles nervously in front of them, clutching his backpack close. Then it’s Cordelia, the croconaw keeping little Cas right in front of her, then Ignatius. Finally, Beck stands right behind Tobias, the floatzel acting as a taller lookout. He gives him a nod, all his previous uncertainty with Tobias’ abilities seemingly gone.

Huh. Tobias feels kind of proud about how well that went. He’s still uneasy about how large of a group they’re leading through, but they’ll just have to try their best and hope they make it out with minimal injuries.

“All right,” Tobias says, trying to sound more confident than he feels. “Let’s go.”

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #pmd seekers of soul #golduck #croconaw #quaxly #charmander #riolu #floatzel #torkoal #sableye #tesha draws #tesha writes

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aquagirl1978 · 5 months ago

Note

I’m judging by a post you just made that requests are open, so I’d like to make one of you wouldn’t mind, Aqua!

Could I please request Kate (IkeVil MC) with the prompt “serenity” please? And maybe the trope of forbidden lovers? (This totally isn’t an excuse for my gay ass to read some pining lesbian fanfic. Nope, nuh-uh, not at all!)

Thank you for taking the time to read this request, I hope it wasn’t a bother for you! Have a lovely day and please accept this hug to help you if you’re not feeling well!!!

I am so so so happy someone requested one of the MCs - and Kate no less!

kate x f!reader | prompt: serenity | word count: 597 | tags: spicy/forbidden lovers

“Hello, I'd like to buy a bouquet of flowers.”

Without turning around, you recognized the sweet like honey voice – you could say she was a regular customer, but there was nothing regular about her.

The woman standing before you was drop dead gorgeous. Dressed head to toe in black, she wore a wide-brimmed black hat that shaded her eyes from the sun while also hiding them from the world.

“Yes, madam. What can I get you?”

“Surprise me,” she replied, tilting her face just enough that you caught a glimpse of her eyes – clear as the skies above, they were the most beautiful blue you had ever seen.

Biting your lip, you quickly surveyed the flowers in the cart until your eyes landed on some that were just delivered earlier that morning.

“These will be perfect,” you said under your breath as you grabbed a bunch of branches and wrapped them in a scrap of burlap tied with twine.

“They represent strength and serenity,” you said as you handed her the bouquet of French lavender.

“Thank you, they’re beautiful,” she said softly.

Just like you, you kept to yourself.

“Excuse me, do you have any yellow roses?” another customer asked.

“Yes, we do….they’re over….” Your eyes scanned the cart searching for the roses; out of the corner of your eye, you saw the beautiful woman walk away.

And the bouquet was left on the cart.

“You’re late,” she said with a laugh.

You made your way down the alleyway, the bouquet of lavender in your hand. Your customer – the gorgeous lady in the big black hat – was perched on a stack of wooden crates like she owned the place. She jumped down once you got closer and approached you.

“What took you so long?” she asked, a pout forming on her pretty pink lips. She lifted her hand and dragged a single finger across your cheek.

“Kate…” you murmured, your skin burning from her touch, “you know I can’t just leave the flower cart.”

“Not even for me?” she said breathlessly, taking another step closer. Her hand found yours and laced her fingers through yours, gently tugging on your hand, pulling you closer.

You stumbled towards her, your chest pressing against hers just how she wanted it. Her gaze was alluring and captivating; unable to look anywhere else but her deep blue eyes, she took you by surprise when her lips brushed against yours.

Soft, sweet like strawberries, you craved more after this taste of her lips. More of this forbidden fruit.

Forbidden love, Kate called it soon after you met in an alleyway much like this one. It’s best for you that no one knows about us, she said that same night.

With her hand on your chest, you found yourself soon pushed against the cold, brick wall. Kate deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue inside your mouth. Knocking the hat off her head, you tangled your fingers in her long locks. Tugging gently, you savored those sweet sounds she made.

“Kate! Kate!”

It was over as quickly as it started. You swallowed a sad whimper upon hearing the man’s faint call; this was how it always ended, with your forbidden love called away.

“I have to go,” she whispered between kisses, taking your lower lip between her teeth. This was the part you always hated, the part that always came sooner than you’d like.

The goodbye.

Her arms slipped away from your body as she took a step back. She left you wanting more, but that’s how Kate liked it.

Leaving you wanting more.

#ikemen series #ikemen villains #ikevil #ikevil kate #ikemen fanfic #ikevil fanfic #otome #otome games #otome fanfic

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areislol · 2 years ago

Text

do not worry, for you have me.

neteyam, lo’ak, tsu'tey x omaticayan/metkayina! reader

ft— neteyam, lo’ak, tsu'tey, ao’nung(irrelevant) warnings— brief mentions of blood, gn! reader, established relationship, teasing, name calling, jake is mentioned a few times. i have no idea how to write fighting scenes. a/n— i’ve always had the idea of hybrid! reader, so here it is! ♡ also send in some more requests im loving these ideas sm!! tsu’tey doesn’t have any fighting scenes but it has a whole bunch of comforting. oh, and smut fic coming idk but it’s there :)) synopsis— being half omaticaya(n) and metkayina(n) means a lot of staring and ill-treatment, but what is there to worry, when you have them.

your parents were both in different clans, your mother was from the metkayina clan while your father was in the omaticaya clan.

although they were in different clans, that didn’t stop them from falling in love, forbidden love if you can call it that.

shortly after falling in love and dating they had you, y/n.

throughout your life you’ve been the centre of attention, both good and bad, everybody who came in contact with you always stared at you, but you don’t blame them, it’s not everyday you see a na’vi whose parents come from different clans.

you’d think that they’d be in awe but you’re wrong, they sort of.. despised you, thought of you as weird. your features were different, your eye color was a mixture of blue and yellow, you had enlarged doe eyes like the metkayina, your skin color was a mixture between aqua and dark blue, you had a combination of the omaticaya and metkayina marking on your body.

you were thin just like the omaticaya but strong and perfect in the water, knowing how to breath correctly under water.

you were truly breathtaking. but nobody wanted to believe that.

how could two people from different clans mate? it was outrageous to them.

they always stared at you, their gaze was always on you. it always made you feel nervous, you hated it.

good thing is that they never called you names or teased you, only ever staring at you, but that all changed once you moved with your mate to the metkayina clan, your mothers clan.

and as usual, everybody's eye was on you.

but ever since you arrived there there was a particular group that would harass you for your looks, your background. they would tease you, call you names, pull your hair and touch your features without asking you, it infuriated you.

but their constant teasing would come to an end once your mate “came to the rescue” (what they said) and fought them or told them to “back off or else serious consequences will happen” which was normally them fighting the group and them winning even though it was a 1-4.

today was no different.

you were mindlessly drawing hearts in the sand, minding your business when you heard (multiple) footsteps coming behind you, you recognize them. it was the foot steps of ao’nung and his group.

you stop drawing for a second, scared.

“hey halfie! what are you doing?” one of the boys shouted, “pfft- they’re probably doing something dumb!” a girl shouted, going around to see what you were doing, once they saw the hearts drawn on the sand she held back her laughter.

“this loser was drawing hearts on the sand!” once she pointed out what you were doing the group started to snicker, covering their mouths to gossip.

ao’nung scoffs when you don’t talk, “why aren’t you talking?” no reply. with your fists clenching you get up and start to walk away, not wanting to make a scene.

ao’nung stares at you in disbelief, looking back at his group he nods his head to the direction where you were and they all ran up to you, hearing their footsteps you quicken your pace, but it was no use as your hair suddenly gets yanked by ao’nung.

falling down you winced, face scrunching up. rubbing your head the group surrounds you

“just leave me alone!” you cry out, tears threatening to fall, eyes glistening when you get an answer, “why should we? you’re easy to pick on, you’re special.” ao’nung states bluntly.

before they could pick on you any further they heard someone yell out your name, turning around they see them, you looked to the direction where you heard your name, seeing someone running furiously where you and the group were.

before they knew it your mate was standing right in front of them, getting in their face, chest heaving up and down.

“leave them alone.” they said in a dark and commanding voice.

their eyes switched between you and the group, “what if i don’t? what will you do, huh?” ao’nung says teasingly, looking left and right to his group to which they nod.

“this.”

neteyam x omaticaya/metkayina! reader

Lunging at ao’nung, he lifts his leg up, knee hitting ao’nung’s stomach, ao’nung hands grabbed onto neteyam shoulder, throwing him aside where he falls to the floor, your eyes widen as you saw the other members walk up to where neteyam laid, you get up and start to run over to where neteyam was but stopped when he stood up, clutching his head. Neteyam hissed, his tail swaying vigorously and he bared his fangs, ao’nung hissed before running towards neteyam, pushing him to the ground, he started to punch neteyam, only hitting him on the face a couple of times before neteyam caught his hands mid punch, you could see his face bruised, blood coming out of his nose. Hissing, neteyam punched ao’nung in the stomach, making ao’nung fall back just enough for him to sit up and get up. You started to panic when you saw the other members surrounding neteyam, this time you did not stop running after he threw punches to the other members, you jumped on the other members that neteyam did not punch yet, when they fell down you hissed and kept your body on them, you grabbed both of their wrists and held them up high to make sure they didn’t try anything funny. It was the least you could do anyways, neteyam already had multiple people down groaning, clutching their stomachs. ”Let me go!” they yelled, thrashing around trying to get free, you tugged on his arms that were still up high, making them groan, “how about.. no?” you say, a smile creeping on your face. While you held them down you don’t realize ao’nung creeping up behind you, a scowl on his face, neteyam was finished with the last of the group when he looked at you, his eyes widen in fear, he ran as fast as he could but to no avail. Ao’nung had jumped on you and tackled you to the floor, rolling before stopping, you groaned in pain, before he could punch you, you felt a rush of adrenaline throughout your body, staring up at ao’nung who was glaring at you, fist in the air you lifted up your knee and hit him where it hurts and once you did he rolled off of you, whining in pain as he clutched his part, neteyam’s face went from being worried about you to being proud, he was grinning ear to ear. Neteyam ran to you, holding both of your arms, eyeing you up and down to make sure you were okay. Luckily you only got a couple of scratches and bruises on your legs but no blood to which neteyam sighed at. While he’s inspecting you, you were doing the same to him, you noticed how he had scratches and bruises on his arm and legs and a few small bruises on his lip, blood was trickling down his nose, neteyam smiled weakly at you when he sees you staring at his nose. You suddenly reach into your satchel, retrieving a small cloth, placing it on his nose before wiping the blood away, your brows furrowed in concentration, lips pouting, god you looked so pretty right now.. and also when you held that boy down. Upon realizing how close you were to neteyam and how.. intimate this interaction felt you cleared your throat, “t-there was just blood.. on your nose.” you state, averting eye contact. Neteyam gave you a nod before asking if you were okay, “yea im fine, legs hurt though.” you reply, looking down at your legs. Looking up a neteyam he was already staring at you, you noticed how his expression changed, his brows furrowed as if something was on his mind, he was staring at you, staring into your eyes deeply. You were about to ask if he was okay when he cut you off with his own question, “why were they there with you? were they picking on you?” You looked away when you heard the last sentence, which gave away your answer. Your eyes were downcast, you were pouting. Neteyam sighed, catching your attention, you looked up at him with your doe eyes, his eyes catch yours and he looks away, panic was written all over his face. ”Gee you look horrible” you laugh to ease the awkward tension you two had, “and you look gorgeous.” he looked and sounded dead serious, you were caught off guard with his comment, and what neteyam said was true, even though your hair was sticking to your face, sand on your arms, legs and on your cheeks, you looked completely flawless, breathtaking in the sunlight. Neteyam could’ve sworn his heart skipped a beat when he looked at you. Before you two could talk more you two heard a groan, “i’ll be telling my parents about this! just watch!” ao’nung says, running away to the village, you and neteyam looked at each other before shrugging, laughing. You and neteyam decide to go to kiri who always had some medicine in her satchel, leaving the others behind as they rolled on their backs, groaning and moaning. Walking to the village meant that the people would be staring at you two, since you two were bruised and looked like they’ve been in a fight (you did) and would be looking at you, again. You’ve been at the village for a few weeks now but nobody seems to get their gaze off of you, the children stared at you, the parents were interested in you but also scowled at you when the other parents whispered something in their ear. Neteyam noticed your silence, turning to face you he nudges you lightly which prompted you to look back at him, “are you alright?” neteyam asks, worry filling his voice as he grabbed your hands, squeezing your hand softly if he needed to, to make sure that you were looking at him. When you don’t respond he sighs, he didn’t want to pry into your and his business so he reluctantly stops asking you questions. ”They were teasing me. I was minding my own business and they just.. came.” when you finished your sentence you felt neteyam’s grip on your hand tighten, you looked down at your hands, realizing that he still held your hand, but you didn’t want him to let go so you didn’t say anything about it. Your heart was beating 100 times faster, a red hue appearing on your cheek, thinking about how you two are literally holding hands. Neteyam on the other hand was thinking about murdering ao’nung and his friends, mainly ao’nung though. Thinking about how he was going to creep into their marui and- wait, are you holding his hand? He snaps out of his thoughts when he feels something tighten their hold on his hand, that’s when he looks down and sees your hand intertwined with his and right there and then he explodes (inside), letting out a small and quiet “eek!” that you caught, but not from him, you thought that maybe it was a insect beside you. You were looking around for the supposed insect but found nothing so you look forward and resume walking. “You know y/n, you can always tell me anything that’s on your mind, whatever you’re feeling or thinking, you can always come to me.” neteyam says, breaking the silence. You look at him, giving him a small and beautiful smile. “Okay.” You and neteyam finally reached the village and immediately after tuk notices you two she runs over, but stops in her tracks once she sees neteyam littered with bruises nearly all over him and you with a few scratches and bruises on your legs, she runs even faster to you two and hugged both your and neteyam’s leg, “what happened?!” she exclaimed, looking up at you and neteyam, her eyes glistened. ”Tuk! what are you-” kiri asks, looking at her hugging both your and neteyam’s leg, she’s confused for a second but upon seeing how both of you looked hurt she quickly rushed over and helped you two to her marui. You and neteyam sat down and let kiri scold you two for doing whatever that made you two get hurt before bandaging and putting some herbs on the bruises and scratches, giving you and neteyam some pain killers and some water. ”What were you two doing?” kiri asks, giving you some water, before you could answer, neteyam answers for you, “ao’nung and his friends ganged up on y/n, so i helped them.” he states angrily, his ears tucked downwards. Kiri gives you a look, raising her eyebrows, you sigh and nod, agreeing with neteyam. Kiri gives you a sad look on her face, “you did the right thing neteyam, they wouldn’t have gone down without a fight anyway.” kiri says with a smirk on her face. You and neteyam stay there and talk until jake storms into the room, absolutely furious. ”Neteyam! what were you thinking, huh? you can’t go beating people up randomly, same goes for you y/n.” jake said in a dark tone, his jaw clenched, glaring at you and neteyam, but his expressions change upon seeing you and neteyam bruised and scratches littered on both your and neteyam’s arm, legs and faces. He immediately rushed to neteyam, holding his arm before glancing at you, he did not know what to make of this, many questions in his mind, but the main was, how did you two end up like this? Neteyam gestured jake to sit down beside you and he does so, his eyes both on you and neteyam, he scans you up and down, his mouth agape from what he’s seeing, “what.. what happened?” jake asks, placing his arm on your shoulder, you looked down at your feet, trying to avoid the question at first, “ao’nung was teasing y/n, harassing them so i, hit them.” neteyam states with no hesitation, he wanted everybody to know what happened to his y/n. Jake listened intently, his brows furrowed in anger and confusion. His hand clenching your shoulder tightly making you wince. He looked down at his feet as well before looking back up at neteyam, “listen neteyam, i can understand why you did that but you don’t go hitting people first,” he says before getting cut off by neteyam, “i asked them to leave them alone! they didn’t. I did what i had to.”, jake noticed how his fists clenched. After explaining everything jake scolded neteyam for fighting anyways, sighing, he turns to kiri who was listening to everything, “how are they doing?”, “okay other than some bruises obviously, it’ll take only a few weeks or maybe a month for it to heal.” jake sighs again, face palming before getting up and starts to head out the marui. Before he could really leave the premises neteyam got up and rushed over to his head, grabbing his arm jake turned around looking at neteyam who had a stern look on his face, “do something about this, please. You know how hard y/n’s life is, you know, because of their background and looks.” his voice cracking when he mentioned your name, even though this was about you, you’re his mate. It pained him to see how being different affected your life, how you were teased relentlessly, being called names, everything you had gone through made his heart pang. Jake stares at neteyam who was still holding onto his arm, jake glances at you who laid on the bed and had a hand over your forehead, the image of his son and his mate being bruised pained him, looking back at neteyam he reluctantly nods, placing his hand on his arm, “i’ll see what i can do.” and with that he pulls his dad in a hug with a smile on his face, “thanks, dad” he whispers, pulling back and running back to where laid. bonus!! Jake walks over to ronal’s and tonowari’s marui, peeking through he looks for the two, once he spots them he whistles, catching their attention. “Where is ao’nung? i need to talk to him, in private.” jake asks with a “friendly” smile on his face, ronal and tonowari exchange glances before agreeing to tell you, it was the least they could do, the point to his right where another marui was. Jake thanked them and walked over to ao’nung was. “Hey, boy.”, ao’nung whips his head around to see jake standing there, he stood up immediately, he shivered. Was is in fear? Jake clears his throat, “Listen,” he starts, moving closer and closer to where ao’nung stood, each step he took sent ao’nung stepping backwards in fear. Once he was in his face (but more up?) he spoke again, “if you and your friends ever lay your nasty fingers on my family and y/n, you’ll never see the light of the day. If you have a problem you can speak to me right now or whenever. Understood?” Ao’nung nodded which made jake’s dark expression change into something more.. friendlier than what ao’nung had endured. Slapping his head he tsks and walks away, leaving ao’nung stunned and scared. He would never dare to lay his hands on you.

lo’ak x omaticaya/metkayina! reader

Lo’ak pushed ao’nung chest resulting in ao’nung toppling back, once he regained his balance he ran up to lo’ak who looked unfazed, when he was about to land a punch on lo’ak’s face he swiftly avoids the punch. Ao’nung has a look of fear in his eyes as he realizes that he’s about to fall, his fist still in the air. Lo’ak watches as ao’nung falls to the ground, his face hitting the sand making him huff. He laughs before staring at you who’s still on the floor, you stare up at him with a small smile on your face. Then you hear a grunt coming from beside you, looking up you see one of ao’nung’s friends, he runs and lunges to lo’ak who was slow to respond to the sudden attack, since he was focusing on you, he and the boy tumbles down the sand, once they stop lo’ak is quick to use his strength to push the much, weaker, boy off of him. Getting up you see ao’nung also standing up, he nods to his friends where lo’ak and the boy fought, you see the rest of his friends nod and run over to lo’ak, yanking his tail trying to pull him down but to no avail. Lo’ak is throwing punches, not even missing ONE hit, hissing and scratching him once he was close. You got up and ran to lo’ak when you saw one of the boys come up behind him, “lo’ak! behind you!” you scream, rushing to where the boy was and hit him in the face which sent him to the floor, you stood still and looked at your fist, then looked at lo’ak who was looking at you with a look of pride, “woah.” you laughed out. ”Nice hit, y/n!” lo’ak yelled before punching another boy who was coming right at him. Needless to say you two spent the next few minutes fighting them off and attracting attention from all the screaming, yelling and hissing. Just as you was about to tackle ao’nung to the floor you saw him smirking, he was looking at you before glancing behind you, raising your eyebrows you turned around and your eyes widened, it was jake. Lo’ak dropped the boy he was holding and cleared his throat, looking down at his feet, you noticed how he looked scared at first but then his expression changed, he looked dark to say the least. Your eyes met jake and once they did you looked away, ashamed. Even though you knew others were watching you and lo’ak fight you didn’t feel anything but when it comes to jake? every single negative emotion you can think of comes flooding in. Jake had a look of disappointment and anger on his face, he was stomping angrily towards lo’ak but was glancing at you, glaring at you. “Lo’ak what were you thinking?!” he angrily muttered under his breath, looking at the boys who were groaning and laying in the sand. Lo’ak didn’t answer him, instead he was looking at you. ”Answer me, lo’ak.” jake stated, placing his hands on his shoulder making him look at him, lo’ak gave him a very loud, obnoxious, sigh before rolling his eyes, “they were picking on y/n, okay?” lo’ak answers while giving ao’nung and his friends a glare. Jake pauses for a second and turns to look at you, you gave him a small nod which said everything. Looking back at lo’ak he observes him, seeing how he has many scratches on him and blooding dribbling down his nose. Jake sighs and tells lo’ak to go to ronal to tend his bruises and others, lo’ak grumbled, looking at you, muttering a “sorry” and went off. You walked over to jake and poked his arm which prompted him to look at you, “sir- jake, please don’t be mad at lo’ak. I mean ao’nung is the problem, it is true that he made fun of me and you know but it wasn’t his fault.. please don’t be.. mad at him?” you state, looking over his shoulder to see ao’nung smirking. Just like lo’ak, he grumbles and looks behind him, ao’nung quickly switches his demeanor, he was no longer smirking but had a “ouch he hit me super hard” type of face, he was scrunching his face and groaning, rubbing his arm. That guy, you thought. If it was possible, steam would be coming out of your ears right now, face all red and looking.. scary. ”So.. is he still in trouble?” you ask, “yes..?” jake replies unsurely. You rolled your eyes but before you could speak jake cuts you off and tells you to go to ronal to also get treated. Nodding you skipped your way there, you were just happy to see him there, if he was even there. Arriving there was a little bit nerve-wracking. I mean, what would ronal think? two people fighting their son, on their land, but she didn’t know that her son was involved so it was nothing, when you entered the marui, lo’ak and ronal simultaneously looked at you, ronal sighs, “another one.” she says and gestures to you sit down beside lo’ak. “At least you don’t look that bad?” you chuckle, lo’ak purses his lips and gives you a nod. Sooner or later ronal leaves the room so you two could have some space and to also see what the ruckus was all about. Both you and lo’ak were sorry for each other, you were sorry that lo’ak got in trouble even though it wasn’t really his fault, lo’ak was sorry that he got you involved, sorry that because of him, you were hurt. He hated it, you got hurt because of him, but then again, ao’nung and his friends started it. It was silence at first, you could hear the waves crashing, people talking to one another, the wind. But that silence was broken by lo’ak, “im sorry.” he muttered, “huh- wait, why? sorry for what?” you ask, placing your hand on his, giving it a small squeeze. Lo’ak looked up and stared at you, your face, it was bruised. “That you got hurt. I should’ve stopped you from getting involved.” Your shoulders eased, a soft look now adorned on your face (which lo’ak noticed), but before he got comprehend anything you pulled him in a hug, a very tight one. His head rested on your shoulder, your arms around his body, he could smell your scent, you smelled nice, no, beautiful, if you can even say that. He immediately melted from your touch and leaned into you more which made you giggle, lo’ak always loved it when you hugged him or just touch him over all. “Listen lo’ak,” you say, pulling him back making him pout, he tried to hug you again but you lightly pushed him back, “no lo’ak, listen to what i have to say.” you say while giggling, upon hearing this lo’ak stopped trying to hug you and sat still. ”I want to say thank you lo’ak, for helping me from those boys, it was very brave of you to do that, you hear that? brave. You’re my hero lo’ak,” you finish, your hands were on his shoulder this whole time, staring deep into his eyes, telling lo’ak that what you were saying was true. You could’ve sworn that you saw a shine in his eyes, tears, when you asked him if he crying he immediately snapped out of his “trance” and shook his head, “no way.”, with his answer you giggle, “sure.” You pressed your foreheads together, hands cupping his cheeks, your thumb caressing his cheeks, both you and lo’ak had a smile on your faces, suddenly you perked up which almost gave him a heart attack, “oh! and i loved it when you punched that boy! you need to teach me.” you said, lo’ak gave you a scared look but gave you a nod which made you smile. Lo’ak then rambled to you about fighting techniques and interesting things that happened today, in the middle of his talk you pulled lo’ak into a hug which made him stunned at first but melted into your touch almost immediately, you played with his hair while he spoke, and this time, you weren’t going to let him go anytime soon.

tsu’tey x omaticaya/metkayina! reader Before tsu’tey could even do anything, they had already backed away, all of ao’nung’s friends had a scared look on their faces, almost ghostly pale. Ao’nung didn’t look as terrified as his friends but you knew that he did feel some sort of regret for taunting tsu’tey. “What’s wrong? are you scared?”, now if was HIS turn to taunt them. Ao’nung looked up, tsu’tey was much taller than him, although ao’nung may be a bit much bulkier that doesn’t change the fact that he, tsu’tey, was the greatest and toughest warrior from the omaticaya clan. They knew that if tsu’tey wanted the fight them, he would, but they also knew that he was very, very strong. So if they ever went up against him they would most definenetly lose. Tsu’tey had a scowl on his face, he clenched his fists tightly to the point where it turned white-ish. Before tsu’tey could do anything or say anything ao’nung and his friends backed away even more and bolted away. You and tsu’tey was left alone after they ran away, tsu’tey was stunned at first but once he realized that you were still there, laying down and hurt he immediately rushed to your side and started to check if you had any bruises of blood on you. “Are you okay my love?” tsu’tey asked, his arms around your body to help you up, once you were standing up you nod your head, “im okay tsu’tey.” you whisper, wiping the sand off your arms and body. Tsu’tey grabbed onto both of your arms prompting you to look at him, he had a stern look on his face, “are you sure?”, you stare at tsu’tey, giving him a small smile you nod. Tsu’tey looks unsure but your sweet smile reassures him, after that you and tsu’tey walk along the shore, tsu’tey keeps an eye out for ao’nung and his friends, making sure that the group doesn’t come back to taunt both of you or harass you. He’s glancing at you and quickly looking around just incase they decide to come back, but he knew that they wouldn’t come back, but still. “Are you even listening tsu’tey?” you ask, stopping your rambling. You keep on walking but this time you were looking up and tsu’tey, a faint frown appears on your face. You start to fidget with your fingers and clothing, waiting for his answer. “Sorry ma y/n, i was just seeing if those boys will come again, i was listening.” tsu’tey explained, resting his hand on your shoulder. Nodding you give tsu’tey a gentle smile before resuming to your talk, the entire time you were talking tsu’tey was admiring you, how you looked so adorable when you waved your hands around when you explained something, how your eyes lit up when you remember something you love or enjoy and then go on to ramble about it to him. Your smile was beautiful. Every time he saw you smiling or thinks about it he can’t help but melt, a faint smile appearing on his face which makes jake elbow him and smirk, sometimes raising his eyebrows which makes him roll his eyes and rest his face, but then that same smile would make an appearance once again. Stepping into your shared marui you immediately flop down on the bed, tsu’tey giving you a chuckle before laying down beside you, “tired?” he asks, when you give him a nod and a small mumble to which he could barely make out a “yes” he rests beside you, pulling you closer to him and places his arm around your body, embracing you. The drowsiness then takes over, sending you into a deep sleep while tsu’tey stays awake for a while, admiring your features. His fingers lightly grazing your face, brushing your hair off your face, after a few hours minutes of admiring your face he kisses your forehead, holding you closer before drifting off to sleep. When you awoke you instinctively squint your eyes to see more clearly from the sun shining on your face but you realized how it was dark, no sun whatsoever. Getting up you made sure to do slowly and carefully, you didn��t want to wake up tsu’tey, once you sat up you stretched your arms and stared at the sky, many stars adorning the sky. It was beautiful, but not even the thousands of words that are similar to beautiful can describe what you saw. You slowly got up and walked out of the marui, your eyes focusing on the thousands of stars that were in the sky, once you got close to the shore you sat down, the water rising up and down, the water hugged your foot whenever it did rise. The cold wind made everything better, the glowing fish swirled around in the deeper parts of the water, they caught your attention, after observing them for a bit you noticed how they stayed in one spot, swirling around. They did not move to another place, you decided to get up and see what they were doing. Stepping foot into the water you shivered, the water was cold, way too cold, but you were determined to reach the fish. Once you did get close to the fish they quickly swam away and went to another spot, it wasn’t far away so you decided to go there, every time you got close to them they would swim away and go to another spot, you would laugh whenever one of the fish was left behind and caught up to it’s group quickly, this repeated for a bit before you got tired. You swam up to a rock and climbed up on it, sitting down you kicked your feet in the water, getting a better and closer look of the beauty of the ocean. Schools of fish swam everywhere, some even swirling around where the rock was before going some place else. A smile creeps on your face, sighing you look up at the sky again. You stared mindlessly at the sky, taking in the beauty, but you were disturbed when you hear someone yell out your name, “y/n!”, turning around you see tsu’tey on the shore, you waved at him and gestured him to come over to where you were. Tsu’tey wasted no time and stepped into the cold ocean, once tsu’tey was near you he hopped onto the rock and sat down beside you. You two did not speak, the silence was way too loud. “What are you doing out here y/n? something on your mind?” he asks, placing his hand on yours, staring at you, you stopped observing the sky and turned to face tsu’tey, you ponder for a bit before speaking, “mhm, i guess something’s on my mind,” you start, tsu’tey gives you a nod, “tsu’tey?” you ask, “yes y/n?”, “do you think im weird?” Tsu’tey is taken aback from your question, mentally questioning why you’re thinking that, his grip on your hand tightens, “y/n, why do you say that? you are not weird to me, not to anyone. If they think that then let them think that, but nothing will change the way i look at you, think about you, the way i love you.” His answer makes you heart swell, falling for your mate even more. You gaze softens, leaning in you give him a chaste kiss on his lips, it’s a small, passionate kiss, nothing too rough. “Thank you tsu’tey, i guess ao’nung and his friends have a toll on me. They’ve been teasing me relentlessly when you’re not around.” after stating that tsu’tey’s gaze sharpened, tsu’tey had a irritated look on his face. Noticing this you placed your hand on his chest, “but don’t worry, just teach me how to defend myself. I don’t want to burden you with my troubles..” you mutter, “nonsense y/n, your problems are my problems.”, you let out a soft laugh and nod. You then went on about how they “would never lay a finger on you since he always had an eye on you, far away or not.” How once he was away, once you had nobody to “protect” you, they would start to pick on you. Every time you explained to him about what they did and said when he was away angered him even more, his chest puffed up. You would be lying if you said he didn’t look attractive when he was mad. After some calming down he held you close, promising that he would never let harm come your way, and if it ever did he would be there to protect you, dead or not.

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another note: WE FINALLY HIT 1K!! WOOHOO!!! im extremely grateful for everybody and their love and support <3 i want to get out an event but im not sure what to do.. also i have like matchup reqs from my last event that i haven’t done yet since i was so busy :(( ANYWAYS, i finished this in like a few hours so way to go me!! hope everybody enjoys their day. also not proofread so any mistakes just ignore <3

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!

#avatar x reader #neteyam x reader #lo'ak x reader #tsu'tey x reader #atwow #avatar the way of water

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