#and i think it's bc i keep turning things into full oneshots oops

[xochitai]

There's a knock on the door in the middle of the night, and when he opens it, the person standing there is exactly who he thought it would be. "Can-"

"Yeah, yeah. Just get in here."

"Thanks!" He flops onto the bed. "It's always easier to sleep in your room."

"Can't imagine why." He mutters.

"Because you're in it!"

"...go to sleep."

[0ssianic]

havent written much recently so im gonna talk about/summarize some of my wips because i can (this ended up as all FFXV based ones oops)

-Mermaid AU: mostly pulling from the little mermaid and various mermay fics ive read. noctis and regis are at cape caem on vacation and while playing on the shore, noctis falls into the water and is saved by mermaid!lunafreya. the two eventually keep meeting up and talking. some specific things to bond over include magic and being prince/princess. soon after, the two do some kind of spell that turns lunafreya human. noctis helps her back up to the house from the shore, but its difficult going for the two of them since a) luna doesn’t know how to use her legs yet (and for parts like this, i was thinking of incorporating og little mermaid stuff, like every step hurting) and b) helping luna aggrevates noctis’s old injury (as something i was trying to keep in line with canon).

dont really have more than this, but a possible second half of this would go like this: regis wakes up in the morning and when going to wake noctis up, also finds an unknown girl in noctis’s room. he tries to figure out who she is and whats shes doing here from noctis, but only gets the full answer from luna later. would mostly be regis trying to figure out what he’s supposed to do when he finds out she’s a mermaid princess (with magic!) who’s effectively just run away from home

-Fateswap AU: Noctis is the oracle and luna is the chosen king. main focus on noctis, ignis, and prompto. main “story” i have is noctis and ignis are plotting to escape their niflheim guards, of which prompto is one. the two put their plan into motion: noctis pretends to be sick, prompto goes to help/check out whats happening, and ignis disarms him. its right at that moment that prompto decides yes, he really does want to defect and can he go with them pretty please? ignis thinks its a bad idea, but noctis does agree. thats where i initially ended my outline, but i can see expanding it to include some roadtrip stuff, but its harder to find a solid stopping point after that

-Insomnia: started this one with “somnus couldn’t sleep” purely bc i find the irony amusing and i have fun writing hooks. then i had to work backwards with why he wasn’t able to sleep and it turned into one of my standard introspection oneshots. ends up more as a reflection on being in someone’s shadow/being expected to be like/just as good as an older sibling and deciding to do your own thing despite expectations/comparing yourself to others. this one partially arose because i was on an ardyn & somnus kick as seen in my next wip

-Somnus gets the ring: this one is a mix of gap-to-fill type of fanfic and wanting to do something with the high messengers (theres 24 messengers, but we only see a few of them. soo... [insert free real estate meme here]). I had fun coming up with a High Messenger OC for this, who i mostly based as being an opposite of gentiana in appearance and is dressed a bit like a roman soldier. i also sort of incorporate my HC that the gods/bahamut/messengers very rarely interact with the line of lucis and don’t tell them much when they do. this would be dialogue heavy which is where im getting stuck.

my current outline for the story goes like this: somnus realizes he’s in a dream and in front of him is the crystal and a soldier. somnus quickly realizes the man’s not human, but something divine. the messenger delivers what he’s supposed to say from bahamut and theres a bit of back and forth as somnus tries to pry more info out of him. somnus eventually accepts (almost a vow-ish type thing) and wakes up with the gem of the ring in his hand.

-regis, noctis, and the crystal: takes place when noctis is really little, before regis finds out he’s the chosen king. main thrust would be its cute, and a bonding moment as regis teaches noctis about the responsibility that comes with their (literal) god given powers. events would be: noctis has been slipping out of his room to sleep on the throne room steps (which i HC the throne room to be right above the crystal). regis takes this as a good opportunity to teach noctis about the crystal, their magic, and the duties the gods gave to them as the world waits for the chosen king. they go to see the crystal and noctis finds himself both drawn in and frightened by the crystal and the magic (his magic).

[begluketostay]

don’t wanna fall in love (c.h.)

summary: you don’t want to give him your heart but he already has it

author’s note: haven’t read the entire thing yet through and edited, so there may be some mistakes. just wanted to get this out there because i’m tired of staring at it :) also, ironically, i listened to the song wicked game by chris isaak on repeat while writing this but couldn’t name it that bc i named my last oneshot after wicked game by the weeknd oops

word count: 4038

You remember the night you met Cal.

He was all smiles and chubby cheeks and drunken happy dancing as you all celebrated the birthday of a friend.

You were used to meeting famous people - living in Los Angeles had made the glamour and shininess of celebrities wear off, and while you were starstruck your first couple years there, you were used to it now. Having friends in the music business gave you the in to meet so many people, and you often found they were just like everybody else, only they had a lot more money and the freedom to do whatever the fuck they wanted.

So having a half-drunken hookup with Calum wasn’t anything significant at the time. It was just like hooking up with anyone else.

Except that he actually called you like he said he would afterwards.

And then he started inviting you to more parties and kickbacks and hangouts.

And then you actually started getting kind of… attached.

It was foolish of you. While celebrities were like everyone else to you, they were different in one way: they were undateable. You’d sworn off ever getting into a relationship with a celebrity, especially any musicians, because you knew the paparazzi and the traveling and the pressure and the fans would be too much. It just wasn’t the lifestyle you wanted to commit yourself to forever.

That’s why you can’t stop feeling a twist in your stomach as Calum gets closer and closer to you, arms nearly touching as you’re all bunched up in the corner talking at another one of Ashton’s house parties. Luke says something dumb and everyone is laughing, but your head is somewhere else, fixating on the heat of Calum’s skin barely brushing yours and hoping that no one here can read minds or else you’re screwed.

Calum presses his elbow into your side, looking at you with his brows furrowed. “You good?” he mouths over the music, concern on his face. You’re normally pretty talkative, but you haven’t said a thing during this conversation.

You nod, taking a sip out of the beer in your hand and trying your hardest to focus on the discussion at hand as Luke and Sierra argue over who got the most drunk at Ashton’s last party.

“I’ll be right back,” you say before you sneak away to the kitchen, finishing off your beer and throwing it in the trash and opening the fridge to get a new one. You take a deep breath and try to collect yourself.

You know Calum is off limits to you, that it will only end in heartbreak for the both of you, and that you can’t let that happen. But it’s so hard to focus when he’s around you, and it’s almost like you’re starting to forget what would be so bad about getting your heart broken by him. You’d have the pleasure of having him for at least a little while.

A deep breath and another sip of beer has you feeling composed enough to go back and rejoin the circle of your friends, but they’ve dispersed now and you’re left trying to track down someone you know in the packed house.

A pair of arms wraps around you from behind, lifting you up in the air and swinging you around. Your squeals stop as soon as they put you down, and you already know that when you turn around you’re going to find a head of bleached blonde hair and full lips turned up in laughter.

“Cal!” you swat him, rolling your eyes. “You could’ve made me spill my beer,” you pout.

“Ah, but I didn’t,” he points out with a smirk on his face. “I’m talented at what I do.”

You smile unamused, shaking your head at him.

“You alright though? You looked a little out of it earlier,” he mentions.

“Yeah, just a bit tired. Long day at work,” you shrug, “but I didn’t wanna miss the party.”

He studies you, seeing the tired lines under your eyes and wishing that he could make them disappear. He knows how hard you work and how important your job is and thinks that it’s so badass that you do what you do. He thinks it’s badass that even though you have such a hard job, you can still outdrink the rest of them and light up the room when you walk in.

“Wouldn’t be a party without you,” he nods. “That’s why I noticed ya when we first met. You were the life of the party.”

You can see the truth in his eyes as he speaks and it makes you want to melt into him. He makes it so hard to resist him.

“Oh, shut up,” you groan, bumping your shoulder against his playfully.

After a while, people are starting to leave, slowly trickling out until it’s only those who are close friends left in the living room, sitting on the couches and so deep in conversation that they don’t even notice the room emptying out.

“I’m not ready to go home,” Calum sighs, looking around. “I get a little lonely after drinking so much wine. Not totally sure I should be going home and sitting in the dark,” he admits, eyes flickering to yours to try and gauge your reaction.

You kick the ground with the toe of your shoes, trying to decide if you should offer him to join you tonight, not sure if it would be a good idea. But when you look up and see those chocolate eyes, genuine hesitation and loneliness in them, you don’t care if it’s a bad idea anymore. You want to protect him from all things sad.

“You could come to mine for a bit?” you suggest, biting your lip. “We can watch a movie or something maybe,”  you shrug. His eyes light up with warmth at the offer. He nods.

“Alright.”

--------------------

You pop open a bottle of red wine as you and Calum settle on the couch, pouring each of you a glass to sip on as he searches for something to put on the tv. His arms flex just slightly each time he clicks on the remote and you can’t peel your eyes off of him. You look up and realize he’s turned towards you, asking your opinion on a show, and you know he’s caught you staring by the way the end of his sentence just kind of fades out. His eyes are latched onto you now.

The air feels like it’s thickening around you and you can’t bring yourself to tear your eyes away from him. It was much easier when the two of you weren’t alone in the silence of your empty apartment.

“You’re something else tonight,” Calum bites his bottom lip and shakes his head. “God, you know exactly what you do to me.”

“What do I do to you?” you ask.

“Make it feel like all the air is sucked out of the room,” he admits. “Like I can’t breathe.”

You adjust yourself in your seat, looking down at the floor. You know where this is going to go, and you’re not sure you can handle it if it does.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he affirms. “Ever since I met you. God, you don’t even realize how you are,” he laughs. “You light up the room when you walk in. Can’t ever keep my eyes off you.”

He’s spent weeks thinking about your drunken hookup, wishing he had been softer and sweeter and savored your lips on his body. Wishing he’d gotten you out of the dress you’d been wearing and been able to see you and feel you all the way. There were so many things he’d have done differently now.

“You don’t care that I’m famous or that I have money or any of that shit. You still call my ass out and put me in my place and drive me crazy,” he chuckles. “I’ve been trying to make moves for weeks now and you keep pulling away from me and acting like we’re just friends, but I... I can’t be just friends with you.”

You bite your lip, not sure how to answer him. You know that what you want, more than anything in this moment, is him.

But it’s not that simple.

Your last heartbreak was so hard to get over. It took months and months of tears and distractions and drunken nights out at bars and fake smiles to get you to a point where you could even live your life normally again. And you already liked Calum more than it was healthy, way more than you’d ever liked any boy this early on.

You knew if you gave in, if you let him in, that he would have the total power to absolutely wreck you. He’d be able to crumple your heart in his fist and throw it away. It was terrifying.

And you knew how much he’d be on the road, especially having just released an album. As soon as he’d get back home, he’d have to be busy in the studio. Every time the two of you would go out, there would be pictures and camera flashes and crazy fans. You’d have to put your social media on private and remember how to calculate time zone differences and become best friends with facetime and heartache.

The soft, hesitant touch of Calum’s hands against your face bring you back to the present. The calluses on his palm are rough against your cheek and you fight off a shiver as your eyes go to his. There’s a softness in them, and you’ve never seen Calum look so… afraid.

“I really like you,” he murmurs. “I know it’s scary.”

You nod in agreement. It is scary.

He hasn’t dated anyone in a long time. It wasn’t because he hadn’t wanted to or he didn’t have the opportunity - there were plenty of decent girls that he’d crushed on over the years. But he didn’t want to put them through the pain of dating him. He knew that there were a lot of unfair things that came with a relationship with him. He felt guilty and ashamed asking someone to deal with all the baggage of loving someone always on the road.

You nod.

“I know it’s not fair of me to ask you for anything. I know I’ll be gone a lot and it’s not ideal. But I really like you.”

You sigh, closing your eyes as his fingers trace patterns on the skin behind your ears comfortingly. He’s so soft and safe and cozy, even when his shirt smells like beer and his heart is racing.

“I don’t wanna fall in love,” you whisper. Your eyes are still closed at your confession, and you feel so small and vulnerable. “I know you’ll be able to break my heart and I know I won’t recover if you do.”

He shifts and pulls you closer to him until your face is in his neck and your knees are curled up in his lap. No words are exchanged as the two of you sit in the quietness of your living room, breathing in each other’s air.

“I won’t break your heart,” he murmurs against the top of your head. His hand is moving up and down your back slowly, heating your entire body with every movement. “Wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I did.”

“No one ever means to break someone’s heart,” you say.

“I know,” he kisses the top of your head.

And then he kisses the top of your ear, and your cheek, and his hand lightly grips your chin and tilts you up to face him before he kisses you right on the lips.

He’s soft and sweet and the opposite of everything he was the last time he kissed you. There’s no rush now, and you’re both filled with red wine instead of vodka, soft and sleepy as your lips meet over and over again.

He pulls you into his lap, your legs wrapping around his waist as he lets his fingers trail up and tangle themselves in your hair. You let yourself relax into him, his tongue parting the seam of your lips and you open your mouth to him, letting him explore you. Instead of rough tongues battling for dominance like last time, it’s a timid exploration. He wants to memorize what every part of you feels like.

One of his hands lowers until it slides down into the back pocket of your jeans, cupping the curve of your backside and holding on tightly. You arch your back against him, and he moves his mouth from your lips to your neck, pulling you close until your chest is pressed flush against him and his teeth nip at your throat.

Ever so slowly, he plants kisses all the way down your throat, soft and light against your skin, until he reaches your collarbone, leaving little marks against you as he goes.

“Please,” he whispers against your skin, and you can feel every movement of his lips brush against your chest. “Tell me you want me.”

“Cal -” you start.

“No,” he whispers, cutting you off. “Don’t think about anything else. Think about right now. Do you want me?”

You grasp at the short hair on his head, pulling on it to raise his head to look at you. You nod, and that’s the only answer he needs. He reaches behind you and grabs the bottom of your top, pulling it over your head swiftly before he reattaches his mouth to your chest, suckling the skin exposed by the top of your bra as you hold him close. Warm fingers dig into the skin of your back, feeling around for the clasp of your bra and unhooking it. Slowly, gingerly, he slides the straps down your arms and drags the fabric off of you.

There’s a breeze across your chest and you feel even more exposed and vulnerable, but it feels right to open yourself up to him like this. He lips close around a nipple, tongue swirling it over and you throw your head back, mouth open as you hold back soft whimpers.

His hands are moving all over you, desperate to feel every inch of you before you change your mind. You reach down and yank his shirt off to you and press your bodies together to feel the warmth of the skin to skin contact, lips meeting once again as he reaches down to unbutton your jeans. Legs still wrapped around his waist, he stands and rushes to your bedroom, barely able to get the door open in his frenzy.

You’re laid down on the bed and he’s hovering over you, unzipping you and pulling the jeans carefully down, pressing soft kisses on the skin of your legs as it becomes exposed. Once the fabric is finally off, he makes his way back up, stopping to press his lips softly over the center of your underwear, just barely enough pressure for you to feel it, but it’s enough to send goosebumps across your body.

Lips meet again in a tangled frenzy, soft and slippery and yearning for each other, and you don’t even take the time to breathe between kisses anymore. It’s getting frantic and desperate and you’re not sure how much longer you can keep your hands off of him. Your nails scratch down his back as his mouth engulfs you and his arms wrap around your waist, pulling you as close as he can possibly get you.

“You want me?” he asks again, breathless and lust-filled. You nod again, but that’s not enough for him this time. “Say it,” he commands. “Say you want me.”

“I want you,” you breathe.

“How badly?” he continues.

Truthfully, you want him so badly it feels like you could burst. So you grab the back of his neck and try to pull him back to you, hips lifting upwards desperate for contact. He pulls away, unsatisfied.

“How badly?” he repeats, pushing your hips down against the mattress.

“So bad, Cal,” you sigh. “Please - just c’mere,” you practically beg, still trying to pull his face back to yours.

Content with that answer, he kisses you again, but his hand is snaking down and teasing you over your underwear with light, delicate touches. You moan out, and his pants get a little tighter just from hearing you.

His fingers dance over the skin of your inner thighs, leaving ghosts of traces where you want him most until you’re almost writhing beneath him.

“Please,” you whimper again, and it spurs him on enough to finally add some pressure, pushing down and rubbing on the little bundle of nerves right below the only fabric you’re wearing.

He yanks your underwear off impatiently now and lets his fingers explore the most secret part of you, feeling the wetness on your outer lips before spreading them and collecting more of the juice on his fingers. You’re moaning and he’s moaning and you’re both lost in the exploration of your body.

He reaches a hand up slowly and sucks on his fingers, tasting you for the first time. You watch as his lips pucker around his fingers and he takes them out, holding them up to your lips right after for you to do the same thing. It’s strangely arousing, tasting yourself and his mouth at the same time, and it feels so intimate.

When he pulls his fingers out of your mouth, he presses his forehead against yours and kisses the tip of your nose so lightly. “So pretty,” he murmurs, and the moment is so soft and tender and it feels like time has frozen and then suddenly his fingers are back against you and moving in fast circles until you’re left unable to breathe.

“Oh my god,” you gasp when he slowly plunges his fingers into you, moving around and stretching you out. He’s slow and steady, curling his fingers and testing different methods until you grab onto his arm, nails digging into the skin, and moan loudly, mouth thrown open and back arched, and he knows he’s found the right spot.

His arms are flexing deliciously, muscles and veins popping out, as he continually hits that spot inside you with his fingers, watching eagerly as you become more and more unhinged and desperate beneath him.

You’re still holding back, and he can tell. “C’mon,” he mumbles against you. “It’s okay, I’m right here. Let go,” he encourages you, and it’s what you need, because you’re becoming undone and gasping and groaning and writhing and he’s never seen anything more beautiful in his life than this.

“Good girl,” he kisses your forehead and you slump against the mattress, skin growing sticky with sweat.

“Cal,” you whisper, reaching for him until he brings his lips back to yours. You wrap your arms around him and feel his skin beneath the palms of your hands, craving his touch. His pants are still on, but you’re determined to change that as you reach to undo them, attempting to pull them off his hips, but he stands up and gets them off himself. Much faster that way.

He’s rock hard from the show you’ve put on and desperate to get inside you. He pushes away your hands and positions himself right above you, lining himself up.

“I wanna do it right this time,” he says seriously, looking you in the eyes and swallowing. “Wanna go slow. ‘S that okay?”

You close your eyes, so ridiculously turned on by the fact that he wants to go slowly and carefully with you, heart fluttering at the effect this boy has on you. You nod and moan as you feel him against you, coating himself in your juices before slowly pushing in. You feel every inch of him as he lets his hips move forward, both of your mouths hanging open as you take it in.

“Feel so fucking good,” he groans lowly, stopping once his entire length is inside you and breathing. You’ve never felt this full before. He pauses there for a moment to allow you to adjust to all the stretching before he starts to move, pulling his hips back before rolling them forward again.

He reaches for your hands and pins them above your head, fingers intertwined as he continues his movements, rocking in and out of you at a steady rhythm.

This is the opposite of the last time he had been inside you. Before it was frantic and drunk and sloppy, but this time it was calm, careful.

You feel so safe with him, engulfed in his body as he shows you how much he wants you in the best way he knows how. Your foreheads press together and your arms wrap around his back, pulling his chest up against yours as you both lose yourselves in each other, panting and crying out as you reach your highs.

He rolls off of you, pulling you to the side to curl up next to him, not wanting to break the contact between you even though you’re both covered in sweat. When you look at him, you agree that it does feel like all of the air is sucked out of the room, just like he said.

You know it’s too late to keep your heart out of it now. It’s already too late. You know that you’ll break your own heart if you try to stop what’s already started now, so you have no choice to give in.

“Don’t break me,” you whisper against him.

“Never,” he smiles softly, kissing the top of your head and closing his eyes, happy with you in his arms.

------------------------------

You smile at your phone as Calum’s face pops on the screen, your nightly FaceTime waiting.

It’s been hard with him on tour, especially with your relationship being so new, but it’s been okay so far. You miss him at night, having gotten used to him staying over each night for the few weeks before he left, and he misses waking up next to you in the morning instead of in a new hotel bed, cold and alone.

The FaceTimes were holding both of you over for now until he flew you out for one of the shows in the next few weeks.

“Hey,” Calum’s bright smile filled your screen, camera way too close to his face. “There’s my girl,” he smiles softly, proud to be able to call you that.

“Of course,” you respond, pushing the hair out of your face as you look into the camera and examine yourself. Your eyes look happier. You can tell. “What are you up to?”

He raises the camera and shows the room he’s sitting in, plopped on a couch by himself as the boys are messing around in the background. “Just got to the venue for tonight, we’re just setting some things up,” he says. You can see Luke and Michael play fighting behind Calum and laugh.

“Seems like you guys are having fun,” you chuckle as Michael falls to the ground overdramatically.

Calum nods as he looks over at his friend, but gets up off the couch and moves out of the room, walking to what looks like an empty concrete hallway. “Yeah, it’s fun,” he says, “but I miss ya. Wish you were here to make it more fun.”

“Just a couple more weeks,” you sigh.

“Thanks for putting up with me traveling and the phone calls at weird hours and the sporadic texts,” he mumbles, still feeling guilty.

“Hey,” you coo. “Don’t apologize. It’s worth it.”

You know in your heart that it is worth it, that he’s worth it and your relationship is worth it. You’ve fully accepted that he has your heart and all the power to break it, but you trust that he won’t.

And Calum knows as he looks at the sparkle in your eye and feels his heart pang in his chest that he won’t ever break your heart.

He knows that if he breaks your heart, his would break as well. So for now, you’d just have to trust each other and finally let yourselves fall in love.

[cicinicole-14]

I know you haven't even posted Part 2 yet but just for when you get to it ... and need to post Part 3.... feel free to use this ask hehe ! Just preempting ya know

jkyk anon, I’m gonna need at least 5 more of these asks, seeing as ive written through part 8 so far. 

anyway, here’s part 3! its unedited bc we die like men… 

“Alex.” 

Her voice edges on surprise, but doesn’t quite match it, teetering on the verge of a warning almost as well. She’s genuinely confused seeing him leaning up against her car in the rain.

She unlocks it, ushering him to get in and out of the drizzling rain she knows is going to soon pick up. 

He looks over at her with solemn brown eyes, and she can read him like a book, just as she’d always been able to once he’d let her past his walls. 

She could see the immense amount of guilt swirling behind the friendly front he’s put up. She can see the regret in his eyes, and knows the hurt is evident in his chest as he looks down, breaking their eye contact. 

“I’m sorry.” The first words he speaks to her as he reaches for her hand across the console, but she pulls away, not ready for that. Had it not been raining, she wouldn’t have even invited him in the car and would’ve made sure there was much more distance between them still, but alas. 

“I don’t need your apologies, Alex.” She says softly. And it pains her to even speak to him. 

“I know.” He replies back before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. 

The silence in the car hangs heavy over both of them, but neither are willing to break it yet. Jo has tears welling in her eyes, threatening to spill over but she refuses to show even a slight sign of weakness by letting a tear fall in front of him. 

Alex finally caves, facing forward, not sure if he could even do this while looking at Jo. 

He’d given up everything for a notion of a happy life, and it had all fallen apart instantly. He’d given up his entire life and happiness at a notion of a life, that fell through cracks and ruined his joy. 

He clears his throat before speaking. 

“Izzie and I aren’t together.” He finally breaks the heavy silence. It’s enough to pull Jo out of her intense daze and look at him for the first time. 

She can see from his profile view, the bags laying heavy around his eyes, the redness rimming them, and how hollow he looks compared to what she remembered. 

It makes her feel sick and dread fills her chest, but she pushes it down before quickly looking away, staying silent, hoping he’d take it as a cue to continue. 

He doesn’t. Whether it’s lack of not knowing what else to say or how to continue, or that was all he had to say, he remains silent. 

“What do you want me to say, Alex? Come back home? Marry me, again? Let’s just be a happy family again and forget that you left me for your ex-wife and supposed children and moved halfway across the country without consulting me, your wife, first?”

She didn’t mean for it to come out so harsh, but things were still fresh and raw and she had a lot of hormones flowing through her at the moment. She was exhausted after her twelve hour shift and had just wanted to crawl into bed tonight and forget things for a while, but the universe obviously had other plans. 

“No. I don’t expect you to take me back, but I just wanted to clear the air between us. I wanted you to know, and know how truly sorry I am for leaving like that. No one deserves to be broken up with, like that, especially you. It was a really crappy thing I did and I know that. Also, I want you to know that I’m fighting Izzie for custody of the kids. I currently have a two bedroom apartment in Kansas and split custody of the twins, but I'm fighting for full.” 

Jo grips the steering wheel in her hands until her knuckles are turning white. “So you’re going to sue me for full custody of this baby too?” 

“No.” Alex barely lets her finish her sentence before shutting her down. “No, Jo, I’d never do that to you. The fact that you’re telling me already, that we’re having a kid, makes me so happy. That even with how much you hate me, you’re still willing to tell me about this baby. Izzie––” He pauses. “Izzie deprived me of over five years of that with Eli and Lex. You’re––you’re still letting me in from the beginning. So thank you.” 

Jo still sits, gripping the wheel, though this time the pressure is lighter as the color returns to her fingers. She stares at the tan line that had started fading from where her wedding rings used to lie. 

She hates a lot of things at the moment, like how empty her ring finger feels without the weight of the rings. She hates how angry she is at the universe. She hates not having any control over her emotions at the moment, and hates that she can feel the tears starting to fall down her cheeks. 

She hates a lot of things right now, but not Alex. Never Alex. 

“I don’t hate you.” She says after a beat, managing to find her voice. It’s raw, wavering and barely audible but by the way Alex’s head lifts and his eyes meet her in slight surprise, she knows he heard it. “I hate a lot of things right now, but not you. I’m mad, angry, furious at you. I want to smack you upside the head and maybe punch you, but I don’t hate you. Especially after giving me something to be happy about among all my anger.” 

Alex looks back down. “I don’t know what else to say.” He taps his foot lightly against the floorboards of the car. 

Jo just nods subtly. She pauses before digging through her purse sitting on her lap, pulling out the folded sonogram picture and handing it to him. “Here, I have another copy.” She says, offering the olive branch. 

Alex takes it, tentatively, staring down at the grainy photo. 

“That’s a baby in there.” He says in slight shock still, a smile gracing his face. 

Jo quietly stifles a laugh before shutting herself up. She looks up at him with teary eyes. “Our baby.” She says, ever so softly, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. 

“Yeah, our baby.” Alex echoes softly. 

She can’t take the tense feeling in the car any longer and she pulls it into reverse. “What hotel are you at?” She says, clearing her throat and pushing back her tear-filled voice, trying to sound as normal as she can manage as she turns around checking her surrounding areas for other vehicles in the parking lot. 

The drive to the hotel is silent as Jo keeps her eyes on the road and focuses on the blades of the wipers going back and forth as she pulls up to the building. She puts the car into park and waits for Alex to unbuckle and exit. 

He ducks out of the car, and just as he’s shutting the door, he looks back at her, back at Jo, the woman he loves with everything in him, and smiles. “It was never going to work with Izzie because my heart still belongs to someone else, Jo. I still love you.” 

Jo looks up from the steering wheel just as Alex shuts the door and turns, heading into the lobby of the hotel.

She watches as the man who once owned her heart walked off, leaving her swirling with emotions. She rests her head on the back of her hands on the wheel, letting the tears finally freely fall, once again, not sure what to feel at this moment. 

oop so, Alex still loves her…wbk… wonder what’s happening next? what are y’alls thoughts? what about the twins? Izzie? is jo going to take him back? cant wait to hear what y’all think! and if there’s anything you’d really like to see in this story/series lmk, I can work it in here, or maybe in a oneshot for the verse. :D 

[sapphosclown]

Snowball Fights - A Tyrus Oneshot

Cyrus loves winter and TJ Kippen.

———

———

Beams of sunlight poured through Cyrus’ blinds, causing his room to be lined with streaks of orange light. His eyes fluttered open slowly as the rays of light were lined up directly to where his eyes were. He softly grunted to himself and tossed himself onto his other side, facing away from the light. He grabbed his phone that was sitting on his bedside table with a charger hanging out of it and looked at the time.

8:53

Without a thought he put his phone back down and curled back up into his sheets. His comfort didn’t last very long though as he suddenly bolted straight up, wide awake.

8:53??

He had overslept. He was supposed to have been at school half an hour ago, why hadn’t his alarm gone off? Why didn’t his mom wake him up? The panic was starting to settle in as he scrolled though his notifications hurriedly. Just as he was about to abandon his phone and throw on the closest combination of clothes most readily available to him, he saw a text from his mom.

Mom: Snow Day!!! No school, I’ll be in my office if you need me! <3

He let out a breath of relief and continued to look at his notifications in a much calmer manor. He had texts from every one of his friends rejoicing about their day off. Cyrus jumped out of bed and ran over to his window like a little kid, pulling down on his blinds so only his eyes were peaking through. Sure enough, the ground had been coated with a thick layer of snow.

It was honestly kind of magical. The untouched snow glistening in the light of the rising sun, snowflakes falling delicately from the sky, tree branches covered in snow hanging above the roads, mimicking a tunnel of sorts. Cyrus loved it.

Frankly, Cyrus loved pretty much everything about winter. Well, he wasn’t too fond of the below freezing temperatures or midterms but other than those things, he loved winter. He loved the seasonal drinks, the holiday season, winter break, snow days. The overall energy surrounding winter never failed to put Cyrus in a good mood. 

A smile crept onto his face as he let out a small yelp of glee and pounced back onto his bed, phone in hand, messages already pulled up.

GHC + JB

Cyrus: be at the park at noon if you enjoy snow filled activities

The Buff ™: Slightly ominous, but I’m there!

Andi oop: count me in

JB: sounds fun :)

Cyrus smiled at his phone and bounced on his bed joyfully. He felt like a little kid again, it was a nice refresher from all the stress that had been swarming his brain as midterms approached.

His phone buzzed again.

Andi oop: is it ok if i invite amber?

The Buff ™: and Marty?

Cyrus: as long as they love snow filled activities

That reminded him, he closed the group chat and clicked on TJ’s contact.

Cyrus: happy snow day!! everyone is going to the park later for Snow Filled Activities™, you should come :)

Cyrus set down his phone and went to get ready for the day. He went downstairs and looked in one of the closets to make sure he still had all of his snow gear. He did, although he wasn’t totally sure how well it would fit considering he had grown since he last wore it, so he decided he’d be sure to wear extra layers. When he got back to his phone, he saw a message waiting for him.

Teej: sounds good underdog :)

Today was going to be a good day.

***

The cold air bit Cyrus’s cheeks as he slid down the hill again with Buffy and Marty following close behind. He had gotten a head start, kind of. Cyrus was just sledding down the hill on his own terms, his friends however appeared to be starting up yet another competition. Cyrus heard Buffy and Marty count to three in unison before they sped down the hill. He walked over to the swing set and laughed to himself as Marty accused Buffy of cheating. He took a seat on a snow covered swing and looked out at the park.

It really had snowed a lot that night, there was plenty to do. While Marty and Buffy continued to race each other down the hill, Andi, Amber, and Jonah were attempting to build a snowman. Well, Jonah was attempting to build a snowman, Andi and Amber were just wondering aimlessly around the park, occasionally picking up random items that could be used to decorate said snowman. Cyrus smiled sweetly at the sight of all of his friends enjoying themselves.

“Whatchya smilin’ bout there?”

Cyrus’s train of thought was interrupted as he swiveled his head to see TJ walking up to him, hands behind his back and an innocent smile on his face. Almost too innocent…

“Just enjoying the show,” Cyrus answered suspiciously, a giggle slipping through his words. “What about you?”

“Oh, no reason.” TJ answered, his innocent smile turning into one of mischief.

“Something tells me that’s not true.” Cyrus teased as he slowly rose from his swing.

TJ replied with a mere shrug and lowered his eyes to the ground, his grin still plastered on his face. Suddenly he looked up again. “Hey what’s that?” he pointed up past Cyrus’ head. The brown haired boy turned to where he was pointing, regretting it a moment later when he felt a thud against his arm.

He turned back towards TJ who was now sporting a large toothy grin, his gloved hands in front of him, dusting off snow.

“TJ Kippen, did you just throw a snowball at me?” Cyrus laughed.

“Maybe…” He shrugged, eyes pointed to the sky and a cheeky smile on his lips.

Cyrus felt a sudden warmth in his cheeks, despite the icy breeze, as he bent down and grabbed a fist full of snow, wearing a smirk of his own. He quickly hurled the snowball at TJ and by some miracle, landed him right in the chest.

The blondes face turned to one of playful shock whilst Cyrus plastered on his own innocent facade.

“Oh it’s on, Goodman.” TJ laughed as he bent down to grab another handful of snow, sending Cyrus running.

They chased each other around the park for a few minutes before finding their way to a clearing with no one around and nothing but a few trees and large rocks. Cyrus ducked behind an oddly large boulder and slapped his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” TJ sang as he crept through the field, snowball in hand.

Cyrus let out an involuntary squeak to which he cursed himself and prayed that TJ hadn’t heard him. When he thought the coast was clear, he sneaked a peak from behind the rock, but TJ was no where to be found. Cyrus stood up straight and looked around in confusion for a moment. His confusion turned quickly into fear as he felt a pair of arms being wrapped around him. The suddenness caused the both of them to loose their balance, a small yelp emitting from Cyrus as they fell to the ground. Before he could process what had just happened, TJ was laying on top of him.

They looked at each other for a moment before bursting out into hysterical laughter, tears forming in the corners of their eyes. Their amusement dyed down and they looked at each other again, smiles turning soft.

“Looks like I found you.” TJ hummed. 

“Looks like it.” 

And then Cyrus noticed how close they were. They were like, really close. Their noses were only a few inches away from touching. The smiles melted off of their faces, scanning every detail about each other.

TJ’s eyes look really pretty in this light. Cyrus observed. His eyes usually looked pretty, but the way the sun hit them today made them look glossy and gentle. Faint freckles popped up along the bridge of TJ’s nose and his cheeks were blotchy and red from being out in the cold. 

TJ looks really pretty.

He broke eye contact with Cyrus, his eyes flickering down to the brunettes lips for not even a second. Cyrus didn’t even realize he did the exact same thing. 

“I really want to kiss you right now.” TJ mumbled.

Cyrus couldn’t help the sheepish grin forming on his face. Feeling uncharacteristically bold, he whispered. “So kiss me.”

And he did. As if that day could not have gotten more magical, here he was, in the middle of the park, kissing TJ Kippen. Cliché as it sounds, Cyrus swore he saw fireworks. The kiss lasted for only a few seconds before they pulled away from each other and broke out into the dorkiest grins imaginable.

Just then, the cogs in Cyrus’ brain began to turn and an idea popped into his head. 

“Wait, what’s that?” He said, looking past TJ’s head.

The other boys face contorted slightly with confusion as he turned to face where Cyrus was looking, finding himself regretting that decision as he felt cold, damp snow pressed into his ear.

He turned back to Cyrus, who was biting back a prideful smile at his prank. A look of mock betrayal took over TJ’s face.

“I thought we were having a moment!” He pouted, only half serious.

“Oh, we were,” Cyrus deadpanned, “but before that we were in the middle of a war.” he smiled.

TJ smiled back despite himself. “Fine. You win.”

“Wow, I didn’t think you would give in so easily.”

“Well, if I’m chasing you around with snowballs I can’t do this,” He leaned down and once again connected their lips. Cyrus giggled when the pulled apart for the second time.

“Who would have guessed that TJ Kippen is such a sap.”

“What can I say, I enjoy a good rom com.” TJ shrugged, provoking a smile from each of the boys.

TJ clamored off of Cyrus and extended a hand to help him up, to which he gladly accepted. Once they were both upright, Cyrus kept his hand attached to TJ’s and they began to walk back towards their friends.

Today was a good day.

———

———

here’s some snowy fluff for this dreadful lovely winter season, you’re welcome.  winter tyrus is a mood i’m here for. full disclosure i wrote this story like back in august and then just now rewrote it bc i didn’t really like most of the first one. also i got this idea from a scene in Until Dawn but i made it soft and gay.

anywho i hope the 5 people still active in these tags enjoyed lmao. happy holidays :)

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

session 11 notes (i’ll fix them one day but i’m agro this was tea hate this)

Two minute one shot while dom pees

Adam has a floaty tube

Asyna can't turn into a hippo

Giant seahorse

Jane austen

Elizabethh and darcy my hands are shaking

Dom has 4e books

Dom was pretty out of it last session

It's afternoon

Dom is toasty

In jacob's other campaign a goat bit off his penis so the goat's name is richard byter

"at first the goat was reluctant"

"what a goat"

Last week on dragon heist

We were meandering through the city

"one of you met with an old friend, briefly"

Zoo time

Aerana knows where the zoo is in the sea ward

Raised brick gate w high walls; on top are intricate metal railing spiked stuff

Entrance is v wide, not too many people going in bc it's raining a lot

Maybe

Apparently the weather is super important and I still don't know why the weather is so important

It is currently raining

Pouring

Ticket booth in the front

Gold piece per person

Botanic repository

We walk up to the booth covering ourselves w the hoods we have

Velvet rope line but we just navigate through it like in shrek

Adam goes first

Walks in and see smiling figure, human male middle-aged, heavyset, festive outfit, "thank you for visiting - oH how's it going?!" it's volo

He's doing research for his newest obok

Hi jacob's dad

Jacob's gonna go fishing

Volo under impression he would be one of zoological experts but no

"recommendations?"

They brought monsters in from the isle of chault

Points us off to the exhibit to go

Originally zoo was not a zoo as we think of but like throwing them in a pit and being like look at them think httyd

Now it's closer to what we'd consider a modern day zoo

Lots of foliage

It's a big zoo

Like the San diego zoo

Or disneyland

Dom talks abt his brother's haircut

We can run through it

Can asyna just sprint

Aerana and asyna r gonna run

Adam cel and theo r gonna not run

Most of the zoo taken up by exhibits devoted to the island

Looking in the entryway a lot of ppl r carrying pamphlets n papers and speaking in foreign tongues like tourists or smth ig

Adam casts disguise self to make him look as fancy as everyone else

Has feathered cloak

Three major pathways

Chault exhibits for weird stuff r left

Marine stuff and some chault r forward

To the right r monsters from the interior continent

Adam cel and theo (?) go to the right

Most ppl r in pairs

A lot of biologist-type ppl; ppl who look like they're used to handling animals

First real exhibit on the right is a human woman inside the exhibit throwing down pieces of meat to lions

Is asyna a moon druid ? Yes

How did the human woman get there ? But she doesn’t notice

"does this zoo have dippin dots" - lillian 2020

Perception check, 15

There r ppl selling stuff, sees dejected gnome sitting under a pedal cart w a dingy umbrella and he's grumpy n angry

Adam walks over to him

Selling diff snacks n refreshments

He's mostly selling a fizzle pop

Strawberry flavor, blueberry, butterfly flavor

"are ur fizzle pops made w organic butterflies ? Bc I'm kinda on a diet rn"

Adam says it's disgusting

"I'll have a blueberry thank you"

Cel is gonna try the butterfly one

It's sweet; doesn't taste like blood but does taste almost nutty

So like what I would think pistachio tastes like

Fun size popsicle

Theo gets strawberry

They go to the next exhibit

A really vertical exhibit

 Oneshot

Cel is gonna try and ride seahorse asyna but rolls a nat 1 for acrobatics and then a nat 1 for dex save

Smashes head on rim of the pool, bleeding out and unconscious

Healing words from adam

Climbs out of the pool

The water is now red

Three children on the other side of the pool

One of them gets really excited and pees when adam tells them that there's a chemical that turns pool water red

Asyna left the pool when the kid peed

Asyna leads everyone over to the hospital

Adam is gonna try and healing words fix cel

Cel is back to full health

One of the kids is crying scared when she finds out the water is blood

Theo is gonna go get the kids ?

Ok back to the zoo

There's a hippo exhibit

We go check it out

On the way there run into different typical zoo stuff

Apes

Monkeys

The younger ppl r around these exhibits

A lot of closed sections bc of weather like "don't worry next winter this animal will be back"

Alligators

Ringtails that r lemurs ringtail lemurs

Birds

Carefully curated trees that r uber high

Hawks and giant eagles

Oops my phone froze

Tap on the glass to say hi to the what now

Theo wants it to come say hi to her

Animal handling check, 10

Can't attract their attention but

The hippos

Asyna has speak with animals LMAO

Basically can't talk to worms

No more tapeworm talk :/

"Theo says hi . This is theo"

"everybody gangsta until they find out jacob thinks barney is a hippo" - dom 2020

Colombian drug lord one time built private zoos and the hippos broke out but now there's a hippo problem in colombia

Pablo escovar

Speak with animals is ten minutes

We're also probably fighting later

We're gonna talk to the hippos

Theo waves

One of them paddles over and tries to sniff

"hm . Can you eat it ?"

"pleaes don't"

 I just remembered seaweed is not a plant it's an algae

This hippo does not have a name

Calls sister sister

"ask about juicy hippo gossip" - adam

"no but if I did I would share it"

Originally zoo was place for research

Anything else to ask hippos before we check out rare animals ?

The hippo floats away and we say bye

To the chault exhibits

Getting late but there r a lot more researchers

First exhibit has a lot of strange, unfamiliar trees

Monkeys w really big fluffy sideburns clustering around overhanging branches bc it's raining

Some of them r taking leaves and using them to keep the rain off

One of the monkeys hops off the branch

The sideburns actually extend into wings and it goes to another branch

"it's like the wizard of oz"

"adam what's the wizard of oz"

Flying monkeys

Adam walks over to a researcher and asks the most must-see

Woman who is probably from chault bc wearing strange woven beret w branches n stuff

Alien to anything they've seen

"I would point you in the direction of the behemoths"

"what are behemoths"

Adam rolls nature check

9, he doesn't know what a behemoth is

She is from chault

Behemoths r considered friends there

Asyna and aerana know where chault is

Everyone else just knows chault is v far away, almost like a nightmare story told to children

Described as a hellscape

"I'd sooner go to chault than-"

Asyna and aerana know chault is a massive island to the sw of the sword coast, home to v tropical, intensely humid climate w lots of rain + some invasions in the past but now things r opening up

We're gonna check out the behemoths

From a distance, this exhibit much larger than others, much more heavily excavated

Not so much walls as railing looking into a deep cavern

All manner of plant life brought in to accommodate the creatures

Huge lizard of some kind

Huge size category

Irl a horse is large

Humans and dwarves are medium

Exhibit says it's a macetail behemoth

Ground trembles w each step of the behemoth

Slow, ponderous

Gigantic armored lizard w tough plating on its back and spikes on the sides of its head w bony, protective coverings all over it

Massive swinging tail protruding bone swinging back and forth as it walks

Looks like that one dinosaur

We would call it an ankylosaurus

Things that go over my head : see description bullet points before this

Tail end of speak with animals

Asyna can turn into dinosaurs

"you look really cool do you have a name"

One of them looks up but doesn't really respond

Doesn't answer

Look for velociraptors

Gonna look at all the exhibits

Spirehorn behemoths

Faces almost look like shields

Triceratops

Alien to us tho

I can't believe that like as dom's explaining these everyone else can like ,, imagine it

Like that's crazy they see pictures inside their heads

Feathered behemoths

Occasionally jump around

Claws and walk around on two legs

Bloodspike behemoth

Stegosaurus, baby and two parents

Asyna can turn into a deinonychus

We have enough time for one more exhibit

We see a creature alone in its pen save for two researchers dropping treats in front of it, other has a pickaxe and is tapping the ground and scooping smth up trailing the creature and brushing it into a bin

Creature reflects rainbow of colors ? I think

Huge snail, has three eyestalks but they kind of droop down and have heavy spikes off each individual one

Cel reads description

Flail snail?

It's a big boi

Described not as a beast but as something that comes from a realm of earth

As it moves it excretes glass

Generally docile but if prodded r really dangerous bc the things it has r more weapons than eyes

Adam asks if it's a petting exhibit

The flail snail is just as slow as a regular snail

"that is the most disgusting magic resistance I've ever seen in my entire life" - jacob 2020

Everything starting to shut down

We realize we should probs skedaddle

Time to find loser boy

Rain has not stopped but has kinda calmed down

Heading straight to the wig shop

Lamps in the trades ward r lit

Brighter than what we've seen recently

Adam peers into the shop

Perception check

6, tries to get water off the window, looks empty

Theo's gonna pick the lock

25, it's a simple lock and theo gets it open easily

Shop is empty

Somewhat eerie for those without darkvision bc the mannequins

Cel will go and investigate the back room, door is locked

Theo tries opening again

23, opens easily

Immediately smells weird powder

A lot of the perfumes for preserving dyes n stuff kept back here

Cel makes a perception check

16

V organized, neat and tidy

Manhole cover in the back

Sewer system v advanced in waterdeep but also means there's a lot of it

A lot of ppl will build over sewer openings bc cheaper real estate

"sewer access authorized city officials only"

Adam rolls nat20 for boxes

Looking for anything necromancy related, licking things, doing all manners of investigation

Feels a small leather sack, pulls it out, kinda heavy

Opens it up, sees coins that are kind of heavier and thicker; not silver, 5 platinum pieces

Platinum is 10 gp each

Could take the platinums

Scry the money and sack

There are cupboards at the front desk

Necromancy considered suspicious, looked down upon

"ah . It's like watching anime ." - jacob 2020

"no, it's not like watching anime" - dom 2020

The art itself is not a crime but the things that occur in tandem w it r usually crimes

Discussing what to do in character

Cel insight check, 16

Earlier dom mentioned we're aware many ppl in waterdeep use the sewers to traverse unseen in the city; kinda suss the building was built on top of a sewer

Adam is borrowing aerana's warhammer

Adam hits the floor, leaves big dent and a v loud sound

Cel makes strength check w advantage w crowbar

Rolls a 12, can't get it open

Can sort of shift it up

Adam smashes a jar over the floor

Dex check, 5

Cloud of neon yellow sprays out like a cloud of dust and smoke, just the color

Covered in bright yellow dye

Theo tries lockpicking

23, lock is more difficult and takes a little longer, but eventually it opens

Once it's opened, the chains undo themselves and snake out on their own accord

It's just a dark hole

Can see a short drop that leads to a staircase

Adam holds lantern

Cel's just gonna go w adam at the front, pitch dark

Darkvision lets us see to some extent; everything is in grayscale

Lantern beam does help us see a little

Asyna closer to front as well

Leads to a room, 10' x 20'

Descending down short flight of stairs, room totally bare save for a barred door that u can see out of, also locked

Hear faintly some water

Theo rolls 23 for lockpicking

Door opens

Adam investigating room for secret door, tunnel, anything

Investigation check, 10 and 5 for investigation checks

Look around but room is barren

Nothing stashed anywhere, nothing to indicate a secret door or anything

Adam and cel step out, to immediate right extends for 10ish feet before merging into wall

Directly in front is water and like a sewer river flowing to the right

"are there any rats" "make a perception check" "nat 1"

To left, passage curves so hard to see but for at least 40 or so feet the pathway continues

Adam rolls another 5 for investigation check

We eventually get to a small stone bridge

I FORGOT I RESEARCHED THE SEWER SYSTEMS idk if I should bring it up I brought it up

A 15 intelligence check

Waterdeep's sewers are a subject of fascination for the city

You know the passageway like the one ur in often has arteries or iron doors set in them leading to different areas

Also know sometimes due to poor planning or smth some areas without walkways also have access tunnels

There's a bridge ? Nasty water under it

Over the bridge we go

Cel rolls a 22, plenty of damp areas around ,, no light in the passage, walking for a minute or so and w each step just hear a wet squelching noise; we're leaving behind wet, muddy footprints

No sign of recent mud in front of us

10 minutes go by and every once in a while pass side arteries w more sewage flowing in

This part seems relatively well planned

Can only go straight ? No other curvature in the path

Traveling south

"I'm gonna try and get that rat" - adam 2020

Adam picks up the rat for sleight of hand check

22

"you're able to grab up that rat pretty good" - dom 2020

Adam holds rat out to asyna and tells her to do her thing

"hey buddy"

"uh you have to cast your spell first"

"hey pal how's it going"

"let me go"

"uh we'll let you go if you answer some of our questions"

"don't even"

"no he's saying don't eat him"

"my friend here holding you is gonna take a big chomp of you if you don't answer our questions"

"have you seen anyone"

"don't know"

"I open my mouth"

"I kind of want to squeak" - marguerite 2020

Rat points north

Adam wants a piece of string to tie onto the rat like a leash

Adam is starting to feel short of breath after 10 minutes of walking

"that's either from the powder . Or the key"

Adam doesn't feel indigestion right now just that it's difficult to get air

Adam tries to tie a leash to the rat

Dex check

Nat1

Rat runs away

We go back the way we came, another 10 minutes, we pass three of those stone bridges

Cel investigation checks the dead end again, adam will give bardic inspiration

"Open sesame" - song

18, nothing there

It's a maze, we'll try naya

Adam takes out sack of platinum

Naya appears, looks around and shudders and bounds away

Following the deer

Naya is guiding back to where we originally where

Moving south again

Looks at passage back again passage then vanishes

Naya was standing on one of the bridges

First artery

It's a passage

We gotta wade through the sewer

Aerana readies weapon

Wading through, halflings get disgusting smth in their boots

Passage goes 20 ft before turning on a diagonal, turn onto passageway then it extends v far into distance

"adam's adding to the sewage right now probably" - jacob 2020

Adam's feeling lightheaded

Cel makes medicine check on adam

Rolls a 6, don't know what's wrong bud

Adam rolls around in the sewer water to get the powder off ??

I guess he is

Adam makes a constitution save, a 3

OH? OH NO

The yellow stuff is off but adam is smeared in shit

Did I make a good or bad decision

We keep going but adam feels better like fine like nothing's wrong

Oh no adam's gonna die it's like hypothermia where u feel super hot at first then u die

Passageway stretches on for awhile until coming across a rusty ironed door raised so that we'd have to step up to access it

Aerana makes perception check on the door, 20 not a nat

Hears people shouting and what appears to be a cat

Can't tell if the shouting is bad or not

Theo wrings out cape

Go up to the door, realize there's no lock; the entire lock has fallen out bc the door is so rusty

Adam checks door for traps, 12 investigation

Does not appear to be trapped, looks p old

Adam is in middle, cel towards back, aerana at front

About 25' ahead is a wider chamber and a door set into the wall, the areas are lit

We already walked through the rusty door

Massive screeching sound that came from the door when u opened it

Gotta b stealthy

Door to the right is unlocked

Adam opens the door open, looks like a storage room w different crates and sacks; bland

Some water barrels, adam pours it on himself; the rest of us also do it

Moving into room adjacent to passageway; triangle things in the wall has arrow stuff to make it easier to fire from but the room looks abandoned

Deeper in we go

Don't go that far but hit a wider room extending out 40'

Center of the room; at one point looks like there was a wall covering the room but has since collapsed; several ppl looking at us

Far corner opposite to us is an old halfling man in dark robes, clutching wound at chest, long gray braid down back staring at us as if he heard we were coming

In front of him are two smiling skeletons

It's the necromancer

The skeletons r also looking at us

They appear to be guarding him

In front of skeletons are three kenku looking at us

Bingbong is not one of the kenku

"I can explain" - adam

"we came down here and I was covered in shit and" adam casts pyrotechnics centered in between skeletons and kenku

Initiative

Aerana, 19

Cel, 17

Asyna, 15

Adam, 15

Theo, 9

Aerana

Holds attack, if kenku move within 5 ft of her she'll attack

Cel

Skeletons have bows and shortswords

Kenkus have shortswords

Will hold an action if attacked

Skeletons

Appear to b human skeletons, medium size

Lash out at kenku

One kenku able to parry away an attack, other skeleton slashes another kenku

Asyna

Attacks kenku closest to her, the one not hit

15, "what are you attacking with" "iiiiiiiii don't knowwwwwwwwwww"

Asyna turns into ape

Runs up to terrified kenku

Swings both times but it gets out of the way and hisses like a cat

Adam

Casts pyrotechnics on kenku

One passes, one fails

Failed one is blinded for next turn

Cutting words on the kenku by asyna

Kenku

Blind

Tries to escape, skeleton misses and kenku staggers away and starts feeling way along wall and runs into room west of where we are

Other one

Makes attack on skeleton, half of ribcage slashed but it's still standing

Other other one

Tries to attack ape, misses

Halfling

Stands up, tries to flee

Theo

Hits kenku that tried to get asyna, 5 damage

Has sneak attack, deals 12 damage

Arrow shot into neck, still alive but not for long

Aerana

13 damage to other kenku

"how do you want to do this"

Kenku drops dead

Skeleton turns smiling to aerana

Cel

15 to hit, 6 damage, dead

"how do you want to do this"

Pulls arrow back as far as she can "and I don't know if it's bingbong, but I'm gonna pretend it's bingbong and shoot it right through his eye socket"

"I want to keep bingbong as a pet" - jacob 2020

"kenku are sentient beings, that would be slavery" - dom 2020

Looking around we see the bodies of three other kenku and remains of two other skeletons

The skeletons attack aerana

One hits, 3 damage

Asyna

Goes into the room to follow the halfling and the kenku

Some kind of exit around

The blinded kenku is in here

Can reach halfling or kenku

Marguerite wants to hug the halfling

Athletics check to do it

21

Old man screams but asyna can hold him, unable to escape

Kenku still feeling around on the floor

Adam

Follows asyna

Gonna cast sleep

Kenku falls asleep

Yells over at the halfling

"can you call off your skeletons please"

Halfling

Loser boy's turn

I don't remember how to spell losser unless it's losser

Tries to escape asyna's grasp

"he does not escape your grasp"

Asyna rolls another athletics check

17, he does not escape

Theo

14 to hit, 16 damage

"how do you want to do this"

Arrow to the skull just goes really far in and the skull falls off as do misc bones

Aerana

Misses hit

Tries to thrust forward w sword but it drops and contracts, sword slipping through ribcage

Cel

19 to hit

8 damage, hits shoulder and arm falls off

Skeleton

Misses

Asyna

Waddles the halfling over to adam

Gives him a little squeeze

Adam

baned halfling

And cutting words

No cutting words nvm

Halfling

Asyna rolls a 25

Can't squirm out

"unhand me there are more of them there are more kenku"

Theo

"ok. Bye bye skeleton boy"

22 to hit

12 damage

"how do you want to do this"

Hits him in the smile; teeth knocked out and all of it collapses like a xylophone type noise as the bones hit the floor

Out of combat

Aerana ties up sleeping kenku

Adam casts charm person

Cel is gonna loot

Investigation check, 7

10 gold combined on the kenku; takes

Halfling is charmed to consider adam a dear old friend

Says he just finished work on his new purse; his fanny pack (basically)

Not sure we recognize the material

Adam says he knows who sent the kenku

"you have the stone"

"they stole it from me"

Says he randomly found a nice stone from a rat

Adam puts his hand on loser boy's shoulder and asks if he wants to work from home

Trying to convince loser boy to come with us

Declines

The purse is made out of elf skin

Bc it's supple

Adam trying to get a magical weapon out of loser boy

Has a potion that protects from necromancers

Persuasion check, 24

Goes into side closet

Damage resist potion

Aerana kills him

Wow are you ?? Desensitized ?? Are you desensitized or does it help not being able to see anything ever

Adam rummages through loser boy's desk

Investigation check, 15

False bottom to one of the desk drawers w 100 gold inside

Cel investigation checks loser boy, 13

Finds a little wand w a skull tip

Adam is gonna look at the purse

This bag is a faint gold

Adam shakes the kenku awake, wisdom 13 saving throw

Fails

Charm person

Making dog noises

"you want to take us to your friends"

"I don't know where they are"

"then let's just go back to your base"

"get back to base ? No one knows where that is"

Adam introduces himself, mentions bingbong

Gets theo and cel's names, mimics sound of a hammer hitting metal when asked his name

His name is bonk now

Asks asyna's name, asyna is still an ape

Big hairy git

Aerana says she'll trade information for her name

Adam swings warhammer into ground to threaten kinda

Adam makes 12 insight check

We don't recognize any of the voices he uses

Asks if we live in a hole

Asks if the house is nice

Copies adam's voice for the house boom

Adam asks if he knows about the puppet

"couldn't tell you if I knew"

Nat20 adam runs insight check across entire conversation

He's lying abt not knowing where his friends are

I DFJGSLGJS THAT'S WHAT I WAS SAYING ABT US STILL GIVING UP INFORMATION ASFKJAFD

Adam asks him why he was lying

Hear a voice we've never heard before

But this one in particular is bizarre and warped as if it's through some filter

"do you know what happens when you lie to me"

Adam

Anyone w passive perception over 9 hears a bottle break and a door slam in one of the rooms to the south

Cel hits his brain basically

Some of you starting to piece together that smth strange is happening

Pattering of footsteps from room to the south

Session over for the night