#anyway. me holding my breath trying not to scream about where is mercury and the infinite forest

[thefirstknife]

The Observatory

I've been rotating a piece of the TFS CE lore in my brain so long I forgot to write about it. There's no transcript yet that I can find (I might do it myself tbh if nobody else does), but here's the scans with the whole text.

So, there's a lot going on in that CE, but the main gist of it is that the whole CE is written like a report from Eido. She investigated information about the Witness and the Collapse to try and help prepare us for our inevitable fight against it. Through her investigation, she found old Eliksni databanks that contain ancient records of past civilisations; main one being discussed is the civilisation that would eventually end up becoming the Witness.

There was a lot going on with them, shown to us through discussions between two specific individuals; they're only identified through code as HNW047622 and RS6243199. I'll call them HNW and RS. I've mentioned this before because we could see one of the pages in the preview of the Collector's Edition.

These individuals talked a lot and gave us insight into the Witness' civilisation. In short, they were super advanced and had something they described as the "Gardener's tools" which they apparently used to terraform other planets. They also talk about the concept of "the final shape" a lot and lead philosophical debates about its meaning and whether or not they have a responsibility to bring that concept to others in the universe. I'll probably go into their civilisation in-depth at some point, but for now I want to go off about something that appears to be a minor detail.

As part of their conversations, In the 5th image from the scans, they extensively talk about the final shape. The RS individual mentions something called "the Observatory." It is apparently some sort of a prediction machine. Full transcript of the relevant conversation and the rest of the post under:

[RS6243199]: I agree with you, in theory, but we do not exist purely in the theoretical. This suffering is already happening now, all the time, everywhere we look. Come see me, and I will show you the Observatory's readings. Such sights as we have seen, my friend, make me sick to my soul. [HNW047622]: I thought that the Observatory could only see possibilities. The future-branches of past visible-light readings. [RS6243199]: We have made improvements. The glass-minds*** trim the excess branches. What we see now are the strongest paths. And in the seeing, they become true. [HNW047622]: Then tell me what you have seen. I gain nothing from running from the truth, no matter how uncomfortable. [RS6243199]: Cities turning on themselves in a frenzy of self-destruction. Children offering up parents in superstitious sacrifice to bloodied gods. An entire people who would boil off their own atmosphere rather than let their neighbors enjoy fresh air! Great waves drowning worlds. Bodies which do not decompose, for everything, down to the very bacteria, has died as well. Machine-plagues carving their prediction-machines into moons. Your garden, destroyed. As the Observatory saw it, so it came to pass.

The footnote is a text from Eido:

*** From the context, some sort of computational assistant? There appears to be some etymological overlap with the names of Vex Minds. Something to investigate later, perhaps!

This made me instantly lose my mind when I was reading. Very early into Lightfall's release, I made a post about the Veil and the history of the universe. It's about some very peculiar similarities between a lot of prediction technology and caches of information that preserve ancient history and ancient civilisations and how they may connect to the Veil.

Mind you, this was before we knew a lot about the Veil; I wrote this pre-Veil logs and before it was confirmed that the Veil is linked directly to consciousness and memory. It was also before Season of the Deep which gave us Akashic Revelation: a lore tab in which a Guardian tries to go through the portal and experiences a vivid flashback of memory of his own pre-Guardian life. The name of the tab is important: akashic records is an esoteric concept for a supposed existence of a record of everything that has ever happened in the universe, past or present or future, human and non-human.

This is basically what I proposed in my post, before this lore tab, about the Veil; that the Veil or some source the Veil can tap into, is something similar to that. That all of the prediction machines are essentially pulling from this same source. In the post, I mentioned the OXA machine (the "black box for galactic civilisations" that allowed the Psions to see the future), Inspiral lore book (in which various civilisations and individuals left their records in the Darkness), the Device (the machine built on Vex technology by the Future War Cult in the Golden Age, led my Maya Sundaresh, used to displace consciousness and also see the future as used by Lakshmi-2), and even maybe the Sundial made by Osiris. I also mentioned how there's a possibility that even the whole scope of Vex prediction technology is somehow based on or tapping into this same source.

I am very amused at how I wrote: "It’s also interesting that Maya Sundaresh seems to be quite involved in pretty much every aspect of this." So true past me, that really is interesting! Her connection to the Veil and Lakshmi (and the importance of the Device and FWC) will later be revealed in Veil Logs. Almost like these connections were made deliberately, between all of these machines and the Veil.

With the benefit of new lore being released in the time since I made the original post, I am even more convinced that there's something going on here, and especially after TFS CE because the section I copied here mentions yet another incredibly similar machine: the Observatory of the Witness' species. It's not described in a lot of details, but from what we did get, it's quite unmistakeable that this is similar to things like the OXA and the Device.

The Observatory is clearly shown to be some sort of a machine that can see the future. Or, rather, as HNW says, it can see "possibilities." This matches what we've seen of the Device when Lakshmi-2 was using it; she was able to see different possible futures, futures that were getting increasingly narrow and biased to what she wanted to see. Identical formatting for using some sort of a machine to predict the future is shown as well with a Psion Ixel using... something (? maybe the OXA?) to do the same.

And again, the same formatting is used this season when a Psion Qorix uses her inate Psion abilities to project visions of the future into the minds of those present at Caiatl's War Council. It's worth noting that Psions have huge ties to Darkness abilities, as well as their entire species having been influenced by Nezarec to an unknown extent, but enough for them to share psionic/psychic abilities, an affinity to void, helmets that reflect his head shape and possibly more we don't know about. It's also worth noting that Nezarec was the one who was transporting the Veil on his Pyramid ship and lamented how Neomuni were not using it to its full potential. Nezarec may have used the Veil to influence the Psions.

This is important because these devices aren't exact, and the Observatory seems to share the same caveat. It shows possibilities, not certainties. Different users might see different things, painted by their own desires and experiences. However, there's something in all of these prediction machines that can lead to a real prediction of the future. The invididual RS mentions several visions, most of which are not specific enough to identify, but sound plausible given the sheer size of the universe; they must've happened somewhere at some point. There's one specific that we know: "great waves drowning worlds." And there's one mentioned by RS that also happened; the destruction of the "garden" made by HNW. This is mentioned in the beginning of the CE. HNW terraformed a planet, but that planet was later completely destroyed.

Even more interesting, the way the Witness' species used the Observatory seems to imply that they employed the Vex directly to help them manage this machine. RS explains that the "glass-minds" are capable of "trimming excess branches" and allowing only the "strongest paths" to be explored. Perhaps this was their way of not falling into the trap that the people using the OXA or the Device could fall into; by having the Vex monitor and manage this prediction machine, it stops the user from inserting too many personal variables. And yes, as Eido noted as well, "glass-minds" is a phrase that indeed shares similarity with the Vex and is almost certainly referring to the Vex.

This is incredibly interesting for a lot of reasons. First, as I've already mentioned, these sort of prediction machines are common throughout the universe and keep being mentioned. Different species at different times have been capable of creating similar machines for similar purposes. Inspiral also goes deeper into how species could use the Darkness to access memory and history through it; the Ecumene and the Qugu had these abilities and used them as part of their civilisation. Through Psions, we get a mix of these two things; the Psions have both tangled with prediction machines like the OXA, but they also posses seemingly inate Darkness abilities that function similarly. They can project futures and possibilities to others, they can merge their minds (and bodies!), and their old religion was based on ancestor worship. Emotions, memories, consciousness itself: these are part of Darkness and governed by the paracausal entity we know as the Veil. It seems like machines capable of giving insight into the past and future are connected to the consciousness of the universe.

Second, these things somehow always come back to the Vex. We don't know how the OXA was built, but the Vex could access it. The Device was build from Vex technology and so was the Sundial. The Observatory is very closely linked to the Vex as well; either built by them or simply being close enough to be accessible for the Vex to manage it. The Vex are more or less known for their manipulation of time, their ability to move through it and use it as a tool, as well as for their prediction and simulation machines and constructs.

And of course, this year revealed to us that the Vex, or at least a part of the Vex, have tried recreating the Veil in the form of Black Heart, but failed due to their inability to understand paracausality. However, it seems like the Vex are drawn to the Veil even outside of just the Sol Divisive, as can be seen from Neomuna. The Vex were a constant threat to Neomuna throughout its existence and the Vex have been trying to access the CloudArk, an alternate reality engine built on the energy of the Veil.

This season in particular has been fairly suspicious with the Vex as well, showing us a concerning evolution of the Sol Divisive and the Vex in general; their radiolaria emitting Darkness energy, Oracles appearing outside of the Vault of Glass and also resonating Darkness, their attempts to "merge with the Witness" and a strange message that seems to be implying they're still not done with reaching out to the Veil in the form of the Black Heart. I talked about this more here.

Are the Vex drawn to the Veil for a particular reason? Perhaps they unknowingly tap into something the Veil is responsible for, like prediction, through the simple fact that the Veil is the paracausal entity responsible for Darkness which is memory? For the Vex, memory could work outside of time; perhaps their prediction abilities are simply them being able to "remember" the future, because they can exist through and outside time.

There is also the even more mysterious possibility here that revolves around a few hints in regards to the Veil and the Traveler being a single entity at some point in time. If the Veil and the Traveler used to be one before becoming separated, this may be what Unveiling talked about through metaphor; the mythical Garden before the universe existed could've been this singularity that was just the Veil and the Traveler together as one. And as Unveiling also noted, in one of those parts of Unveiling that seem to be closer to the truth than others, the Vex already existed then. The reason they're so out of place in a universe of paracausality is because they appear to have come into existence before paracausality so it is foreign to them. They might remember the time when the two were one, therefore they still have an instinctual draw to the Veil; and honestly, to the Traveler too, given how close to it they've settled in our system. As the lore on Scatter Signal notes, someone told us that all Vex agree that "Sol is Salvation." It's where both the Veil and the Traveler are.

This is beyond speculative, but it's been on my mind since that first post well over a year ago because of how closely linked Darkness, the Vex and these peculiar prediction devices have been throughout the history of the universe; now added with one more, the Observatory, most likely the first one ever made (or found), by the species that would later become the Witness. I could be off on the exact nature of this connection, but I feel like there is some sort of a connection all the same. I also feel like they wouldn't have mentioned this in TFS CE for no reason, especially because we're clearly not going to deal with the Vex until after TFS.

Either way, the Observatory mention and description really got me spiralling into unhinged territory. It added such a specific little detail about something I've speculated about before and made it fit perfectly. I wonder if this will remain just like a little curiosity and background worldbuilding or if there's a more direct reason for including it; namely if this is more hints about post-TFS stuff regarding the Vex.

Until we know for sure, I will continue to believe that all prediction abilities and prediction machines are tapping into a single source; the consciousness/memory of the universe, produced by the Veil as a part of the inherent propery of Darkness. The Vex are key to this because they may be doing it in a very specific way given their relationship to time, the possibility that they existed in the universe before anyone else, and possibly because of their memory of a time when the Veil and the Traveler were one.

It could be also something simpler and not entirely interconnected. But I was very pleased to see yet another Vex-based prediction machine being introduced into the universe, adding to the existing ones that have been fairly relevant this year and mentioned several times like the OXA and the Device. Can't wait for TFS and post-TFS content to see if this is something we'll be exploring in more detail, especially as we start dealing with the Vex!

All this about a half of a single page of TFS CE. Girl help.

[bratz-kitten]

ASTRO OBSERVATIONS [part 5]

— people with jupiter in the 8th may experience an “abundance” of traumatic experiences throughout life, often relating to death; these are the people who truly feel like everyone they love ends up dying. at their worst, they can become desensitized to death— jupiter is ruled by sagittarius, a sign known for being in denial when in difficult situations in favor of optimism. these natives can pretend like nothing actually happened, or minimize the situation in their head so that they don’t have to face it.

— okay this might be a weird one... like, you know in asoiaf when arya was walking through the streets and was always like “i’m as quiet as a shadow”? that’s literally the energy of someone with planets in the 12th house/chart ruler in the 12th house. these people are so stealthy. they’re able to move so quietly and without anyone noticing, both literally and figuratively. on one hand, they’re very quiet about their plans and ambitions to the point where other people only find out when they’re achieving success over it; on the other hand, they just. don’t like making noise while walking idk bitch you’ll only see me coming when i’m right beside you, i even get paranoid that i’m breathing too loud and that other people will hear 

— people with moon aspecting mars can be incredibly impulsive when they feel hurt or triggered. yall need to be careful with doing things in the heat of the moment that you know you’ll regret later... but in the moment, you feel so hurt that it clouds your rational side. please be more self-aware about this because you may make decisions that will directly affect you for the worse in the future 

— people with leo mars ft. constantly asking you for pictures... about anything. they just wanna SEE LMFAO THEY DON’T CARE WHAT IT IS THEY’RE SEEING. you just got ready to go out? “send pics of your makeup and your full outfit”. you’re waiting in a long boring line to get the covid vaccine? “send pics of the line”. your mom baked cake? “send pics of the cake”. plus they send so many random pictures while texting, it’s their special love language

— having moon conjunct moon/venus in synastry feels insane. you tell them something you’ve been through, and they’re immediately like “that happened with me as well.” it doesn’t even have to be something grand, sometimes just very specific things you thought were particular about you. the amount of understanding that comes with this aspect in synastry can feel very new and intense especially if you’re used to seeing yourself as the “odd one out”, used to feeling isolated in your experiences 

— people with pluto in the 1st house often feel the need to erase “traces” of their existence, for example deleting messages that they sent people, deleting all of their social media posts. they can feel anxious and paranoid about other people having access to their past self, even if the past self in question is from, like. a week ago 

— people with chiron in the water houses (4th/8th/12th) might’ve suffered bullying to the point where they repress their memories. a lot of their memories of their school years may feel foggy if they were bullied in those years

— also. people with chiron in the 8th house may feel as though they’ve been punished for wanting to experience intimacy. it’s like, the people who were supposed to be the closest to them – for example, their sibling or something – were the ones who hurt them the most. 

— people with mercury-neptune aspects and strong pisces/neptune energy in their birth chart might struggle with only remembering things when they’re right in front of them. you should keep things in your peripheral vision to remind you of reality, especially when it comes to feelings— so that you won’t start getting lost inside your own head. like... keep the letters your friends wrote you by your bedside table so you can read them every time your brain starts convincing you that you’re not loved. keep the gifts you’ve been sent on display in your bedroom wall, or sentimental material things that remind you of past happy experiences.

— earth placements and their thing for asmr... omfg. it’s like they’re always looking for things to up their sensory experience/sensitivity. like, earth signs are the ones most connected to worldly experiences so they feel so soothed with the whole asmr experience: just hearing someone gently whispering or tapping on/scratching things calms them down and helps them fall asleep. they love the tingles it’s heaven for them

— moon-saturn aspects might hold and caress themselves while they sleep because their parents never did. yes i woke up and chose violence <3 your secret is NOT safe with me 💋

— while we’re on the topic of sleeping, a majority of the pisces moons i know need to sleep while hugging something, at least a pillow. they can’t just not hug something while they sleep, it’s very instinctive for them. anyways if any pisces moon needs a pillow to hold, i volunteer as tribute 💋

— virgo placements feel sososo soothed by hearing their cats purr. thinking about how my virgo placement friends are always the ones who send me videos of them petting their cats... and then i get soothed by how soothed they feel. it’s a win win situation, if you have virgo placements it’s hereby your duty to send me a video of you petting your cat while they purr. right now. GO

— people with gemini in the 3rd house might have shaky movements of the hands when other people look at them doing things. very specific i know but the third house rules hands and gemini is a sign that has somewhat of an anxious, twitchy quality to it. on the other hand, people with capricorn in the 3rd house (scorpio risings, using whole signs) have the steadiest hands i’ve ever seen lol their movements ooze confidence, these bitches know how to make you feel as thought they know exactly what they’re doing

— people with venus in the 1st house ft. altering their pics with photoshop and hating posting selfies without filters because they never feel like their appearance is good enough. stop it. you don’t need to always look your best and especially not if your ‘best’ isn’t even what you actually look like. also... don’t even think about making self-deprecative jokes about your appearance. next time i find one of yall saying “ahaha im not bad for a 5 without talent” i’m squishing your head between 2 pieces of toast and calling you an idiot sandwich. you’re BEAUTIFUL 

— having venus in the 3rd house in composite with someone? do you mean calling each other the absolute ugliest nicknames in the most endearing way? 

— leo deals with themes of the ego, and it seems that leo placements often struggle with attracting narcissistic people into their life... leo suns/mercuries can be raised by loud, overbearing, narcissistic parents who see their kid as an extension of themselves and who teach the kid to always be very supportive and caring towards them or else they’ll deny them of words of affirmation-- either by insulting them to shatter their self-esteem or simply never complimenting the kid back. leo moons/mars/venus tend to attract narcissistic partners who only care about serving their own emotional needs and ignore the ones of their partner, and who feed off of their supportive and giving nature. which is why leo placements really need to watch out for being gullible, naïve and dismissing the red flags because my god, you be falling for some shady people. 

— people with personal planets in the 12th house/chart ruler in the 12th house might feel like they can’t let go of their past life— they may dream of memories, people or places from another life. it’s like they can’t detach from it, and even if they can’t directly remember their past life, it’s like they feel it in their bones. also, they might’ve felt... estranged from their family ever since childhood; there may have been feelings of being unable to emotionally connect to their (often, distant) parents, and they might’ve even wondered if they were adopted because of how different they felt to the rest of the family. 

— okay so, a thing that people with saturn in the 3rd house need to look out for is mentally checking out of conversations while they’re still happening. these people can detect when they’re being manipulated really fast and their way of dealing with it can be to immediately shut down, to grow cold and silent and not even bother answering when you’re expected to respond. and, like, that’s great when someone starts screaming at you or being insulting/trying to coerce you into shit, but take notice if you find yourself shutting your loved ones out as soon as they say anything that triggers you. don’t simply detach from them, communicate what’s wrong

— aries placements, ESPECIALLY aries suns and moons, value generosity so much and they get so turned off by stingy ppl who don’t share with others, especially when others need it. like.. if you’re hanging out in a group with them and someone asks for a bite of your food because they have no money and you say no... espect them to never respect you. ever. 

— people with libra placements use soooo many adjectives to describe things. something can’t just be beautiful, it has to be DIVINE and CELESTIAL and INTOXICATING. they can be so expressive god it’s so fcking funny 

— capricorn placements HATE asking others for advice because they think no one knows better than them (and they’re not wrong, lol). when they truly care for someone, they might ask the person for advice simply as a sign that they respect, trust and value their judgement. even if they don’t plan on taking it LMFAO 

— people with mars in a water sign can have this terrible habit of expecting other people to guess what they want. and then they get passive agressive when you don’t instinctively feel what it is they want... and when you ask them “do you want this?”, they go like “FINALLY. i thought you’d never get there”. stop it. i know that you want people to understand you in a way that transcends words, but you can’t expect people to read your mind and then get disappointed when they don’t, thinking “oh if they loved me that much then they would’ve known that i really want chipotle for dinner :(” GIRL WHAT. COMMUNICATE YOUR NEEDS  

[johnkrrasinski]

dwindling, mercurial high

full masterlist

Pairings: Andy Barber x female!reader 

Word count: 2,733

Warning: SMUT!!! infidelity/cheating, age gap, unprotected sex, dirty talk, angst, lots of angst. (MUST BE 18+) 

Summary: based on the song ‘illicit affairs’ by taylor swift. things changed between you and andy, the man you’d been crushing on for the longest time, after you returned home from college. what was born from a single glance & stolen stares turned into a secret addiction, something neither of you could get sober from. 

a/n: the idea piqued my imagination after watching taylor’s folklore long pond studio session and i wondered what it’d be like to be the third person instead of the cheated one, thus this angsty fic was born. reblog & feedback are always appreciated. 

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

You closed your eyes as your back hit the wall repeatedly, you held onto him as tight as possible as you moaned in his ear. The bristle of his beard tickled your neck as he nipped your sensitive spot, causing your head to spin. The coil in your abdomen tightened, so did your legs around his waist, and you clenched around him, pushing him to thrust harder into you, chasing your orgasms. Your wailings grew louder and you cried out his name like prayer as his pace become sloppier.

Time became hazy as you plummeted into bliss while he continued to impale you, prolonging your release as well. You wanted the moment to last as long as possible as you presented your body as a vessel for him to obtain pleasure, the kind that he couldn’t get at home from his lovely wife. You didn’t mind that it took him longer to reach his peak, the comforting feeling of him being inside you was like cozying up to your favourite knit sweater and a cup of hot chocolate whilst it was raining outside.

But rains don’t last forever, and the sun was always around the corner, lurking to appear and scorch the planet once more, waking everyone up out of their comfortable place. And that’s what it was like being with Andy.

He groaned as he released deep inside you, resting his face on your shoulder while trying to catch his breath. He kissed you on the lips, claiming your mouth as you ran your fingers through his hair until he needed air. But you didn’t, because he was the air that you needed. Then he set you on your feet gently and he began putting on his clothes. “It’s stopped coming down, I should head back now, Laurie’s going to come home soon and I told her that I’d be working from home today. It’d be suspicious if I left the house without telling her.”

You nodded, “…okay.” But it wasn’t okay, how much longer were you going to have these clandestine meetings? How could you tell him that you wanted him to stay and hold you close just for once?

He slipped his feet into his shoes and untied the lace. You leaned on your hands against your study desk and watched his flushed state longingly as if you were trying to speak with your gaze and you wanted him to get the message because words would hurt both of you. He put on his coat and swung the hood over his head then stood before you, “are you okay, kid?”

No, how could you even ask me that? “Yeah.” He always asked the same question after every time you both made love but never once did you tell him the truth and he believed you. He kissed you on the forehead and there he goes, leaving you with your tears and fury once more without a single weight in his heart.

How did you end up here? It began last summer after you came back home from college. You were going to work in your father’s law firm once you finished law school and obtained your degree. Your father was a lawyer and had a good friendship with the Barbers since you were little. You even watched Jacob being born when Laurie went into labour. Besides living across from each other and worked in the same field, you were like a big sister to Jacob too. He was always a shy, introverted kid who didn’t make friends easily so Andy truly cherished your companion for his son.

You were always happy being a big sister figure to Jacob, you were both the only children so it was easy to bond over that. But what you’d never admit out loud, was also the fact that yous secretly had a crush on Jacob’s dad. What’s not to swoon over? Andy was extremely good looking, a good father and a loving husband. He was a top lawyer, courteous, soft-spoken and always treated you kindly whenever you came over.

It affected your dating life in high school because, despite all the boys asking you out, you never said yes to them. Because there was only one man that you wanted and you couldn’t have him. Even in college, you tried to forget him and seek for someone else, but even college boys couldn’t live up to Andy.

Three years went by and you finally returned home and were ready to start your career as a lawyer. Law and crimes always fascinated you because you believed that justice wasn’t as simple as black or white, or the good guy versus the bad guy so it came naturally for you to follow your father’s footsteps.

Your father invited the Barbers over for dinner to celebrate your homecoming. Laurie asked you about the college life and teased if you might’ve had dated a few boys and you nervously refuted the question by telling her that you were too busy with studying. Andy sat across you and you tried so hard not to make eye contact with him but you couldn’t fight the urge and you swore you saw him glance at you once or twice and he’d quickly look away once you caught him.

One afternoon, a couple of days after the dinner, when your father was at the court, and your mother was at her boutique, you decided to come over to the Barbers’ house. Jacob texted you earlier about his Physics homework and asked for your help on doing it. You were going to start working at the firm on Monday so you had plenty of spare time at home, doing whatever you wished for. You were bored, you had been reading books and watching Netflix all day so you decided to spend time helping Jacob with his homework.

You knocked on the door and texted him, “I’m outside.” You were a little early than the agreed time so Andy opened the door instead of the person you expected.

“Mr. Barber, hi! Is Jacob home yet?” You tried your best to keep your composure.

“No, he said he was staying for Math. He didn’t tell you?”

“Uh, he must’ve forgotten. He asked me earlier to help him with his homework and I thought I could come by early to hang out, but it’s fine, I’ll just come back later. Thanks, Mr. Barber.”

“You could come inside and wait for Jacob here if you want?” He offered.

“Um, are you sure, Mr. Barber? I don’t wanna be a bother.”

“No, please, Laurie hasn’t come home yet, and I’d appreciate the company. And just call me Andy.”

“Okay, yeah, sure. I’ve got no one to talk to at home yet, anyway. Except for my cat who only comes to me when she’s hungry.”

He chuckled at the joke as he closed the door behind you. “You want anything to drink?”

“Coffee would be nice, thank you Mr. Barber.”

He gave you a look at the nickname. “Sorry, I meant, Andy.”

“You’ve really grown since the last time I saw you, ____. You’ve even gotten good-looking.” He nonchalantly said whilst he was making your coffee. “Milk?”

“Huh?” your heart was beating fast at his flattering words. “Do you want some milk in your coffee?”

“Yes, please.” You gulped, mentally screaming at yourself to keep it together. “Are you saying that I was an ugly duckling, Andy?”

He chuckled, “no, what I meant was, your appearance definitely changed and I like it.” He served the coffee on the dining table where he laid a bunch of papers and a laptop and you tried to maintain your distance despite every cell in your body was begging for you to sit closer to him.

You hoped he couldn’t hear the way your breath hitched so you drank your coffee with shaky hands. He asked you about college or shared some advice in becoming a young lawyer. He also caught you up with stories that you missed while you were away. How he found out Jacob was bullied by this kid in his school and how he and Laurie had been arguing a lot lately.

“I’m sorry about that, Andy. But you two will work it out, what marriage doesn’t have its disputes, right? If you both had made it this far, I’m sure you can make it for many more years.”

“Thanks, ____. Be sure to keep that in mind if a guy starts a quarrel with you, okay?” He sipped his own coffee.

“I’ll have to find a guy first, I guess.”

“Are you not seeing anyone?” He gave you a quizzical look.

“No, just haven’t found the time, I guess.”

“Oh, c’mon. You’re an intelligent and attractive young woman. You should go out and explore.”

“And what if I couldn’t find one that I want, Andy?” You stirred your coffee, unable to look him in the eye.

“What do you want, ____?” He inched his face closer to you, making it hard to breathe. His ocean blue eyes bored into yours, with the kind of look that you never saw before. In this proximity, you could see how his pupils had dilated, filling the rim with darkness lust. And you didn’t question his intentions or what he was thinking but at that moment, you had never wanted him more. And you needed him. You needed him to grant your heart’s greatest desire. Him.

“You,” you voice was barely a whisper. “I want… You.”

“Say it, say it louder.”

“I want you, Andy. I’ve wanted you forever.”

Then as if the time had frozen, he slammed his lips onto yours, nearly causing your chair to fall back if only he didn’t catch you. Andy grabbed your face and kissed you with a burning passion. You shut your eyes, reeling from the swirling emotions in your stomach. It wasn’t butterflies but the whole damn zoo. Andy licked your bottom lip and you parted your mouth for him, allowing his tongue to enter and tangle itself with yours.

You whimpered and you felt Andy smirked at the way your body reacted to him. Andy then stood up and lifted you onto the table, and he slightly pulled your hair back, exposing your neck to him. He began trailing kisses there and his right hand roamed around your body until it reached the hem of your off-the-shoulder top and it travelled to your breast and he toyed with it, pinching the nipple and fondle with the globe.

“Andy…” taking your whimpers as a green light, he moved his hand down to the zipper of your jeans, fumbled with the buttons and he pulled them down just enough for his hand to caress your womanhood. Blood rushed to your cheeks when he felt your arousal. He shoved the G-string aside, allowing his fingers to stroke you.

“If I knew how much you wanted me, I would’ve made a move sooner, baby.”

The coalescence of his voice, his plump lips and his hands touching you all over nearly made you forgot where you were until the act was interrupted by Jacob’s voice from the door, “Dad, I’m home!” Andy quickly stopped his assault on you and let you go. You stood on shaky legs as you tried to smooth over your rumpled top and zip up your jeans.

Luckily, when Jacob found you both in the kitchen, he didn’t suspect anything and you followed him to his room, walking away from Andy as if nothing even happened. And that was the beginning of your doomed affair.

His infidelity carried on for months and none of you had found the strength to break it off. You knew it was wrong in so many ways. You always considered The Barbers as your second family despite your latent feelings for Andy. You’d be letting down so many people if they found out about this affair. Each time you both ran off to find escapism in a secluded place, you were consumed by guilt. Every time you told yourself that you can always stop, that he can always stop, you were choked with words. The desire has rooted itself way too deep and none of you could go back now.

It started in your room and once he’d grown weary of the atmosphere, he’d take you to a motel a little outside of town where nobody really knew who you were and it has now taken you to an empty parking lot. Andy laid on the reclined shotgun seat with his clothes off and his pants around his ankles. You leaned your hand on the window as his cock stretched you open from under.

He loved the way your breasts jiggled with each thrust. You had your shirt lifted just enough to display your breasts for him while your shorts and underwear were thrown off to the backseat. His cock was hitting your G-spot repeatedly, creating tantalizing friction. You writhed above him, screaming his name as loud as you possibly could with your mind disarrayed from his thrusts. He had both of his hands gripping your hips solidly, controlling your move as you rode him.

“After all the time I’ve fucked you, you’re still so tight,” He groaned. He moved one of his hands to breast, pinching the nipple and you mewled from the pleasurable sting. He slid his hand up to your throat, cutting off your airway, suffocating you. Your whimpers your muted but it didn’t stop you from moving up and down on him. His other hand slid under your body, he toyed with your wetness and rubbed your clit, causing you to clench around him. “You gonna cum all over my fat cock, baby?”

His filthy words never failed to arouse you. If anyone had told fifteen years old you that the man you had such admired and respect, though from afar, had a foul mouth during sex, you would’ve told them to piss off because they had no idea what the hell were they talking about, but now you had an explicit, front-row seat view of it, you couldn’t look at him any other way.

The way his cock rutted into you and the way his digits worked you over and over again, while his massive hand made you struggle for air, sent your body into overdrive and you cried out his name as if it was your salvation. Your brain was clouded with ecstasy as he continued to ram into you, chasing his own release.

You lost the power to straddle him and collapsed on top of him. Andy’s hands travelled back into your hips, locking you in place as you were pliable with your prolonged orgasm. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum too, baby.”

Then Andy emptied his seed into you, filling you up with his load, and he groaned out loud in your ear. You both tried to abate your breathing while he was still sheathed inside you. The closeness felt intimate and comforting and somehow it felt like you were committing treachery. Your limbs were intertwined and you didn’t wanna untangle yourself from him because you knew if you did, he’d drive you home and take the less travelled by road and that would be it.

There was no post-sex cuddling or aftercare. There was no murmuring soft words under a duvet and exchanging tender kisses while basking in the afterglow with him. Because that’s all this was, an illicit affair. All there was after a steamy rendezvous were quick showers to wash off traces of each other as if you didn’t even exist and a spontaneously fabricated tale so the other person wouldn’t know where the other one had truly been.

You wanted to throw things at him and scream, don’t you fucking call me kid or baby, I’m neither of those things. You wanted to hate him for the godforsaken mess he’d turned you into, but you couldn’t. Because he had shown you colours you couldn’t see with anyone else and you couldn’t erase the secret language he taught you from your mind despite the idiotic fool that he made you.

And no matter how many times you witnessed him kissing his wife like a loving spouse would and how long he made you wait for a call, you knew damn well that you’d do it all over again for him in a heartbeat.

[alinastracker]

If you’re still doing the prompts I have oneeeee hehe

" i mean... i-i'm cool with sharing the bed if you are. "

you got it baby 🥰

but i know something’s starting right now

It’s a sweltering Ravkan summer day, but nothing brings heat to her body like watching Mal in the pool, water droplets racing down his chest. His shaggy hair is a mop on his head, and she realizes this is what he must look like in the shower.

This is exactly why she didn’t want to bring him on the trip.

It’s the first week of July, and for the past three years, that’s meant a trip to the Os Alta Resort with Genya and Zoya. It’s a way for them to relax after exams and catch up now that they all attend different schools. But at the end of May, the two of them had FaceTimed her about a change for this year.  

“We were thinking of taking the boys with,” Genya says gently, nervous for her reaction.

Zoya is frank as ever. “It’s cheaper that way. Besides, after all this long distance, I could use a week of uninterrupted fuc—”

“Zoya!”

“Relax, Starkov. We’re all adults here.”

“Anyway,” Genya cuts in. “We’re just telling you in case you wanted to bring someone, too. Maybe Mal?”

“Mal and I aren’t dating.”

Only in her dreams.

“Might as well be,” Zoya mutters.

So in the choice between bringing Mal on what has basically turned into a couple’s retreat and going to said couple’s retreat alone, she’s chosen the former. It would be fine. Mal knows her friends. Him and Nikolai like to talk sports. Maybe it’ll be a little weird, being the only non-couple, but they could deal.

It would have been fine, if it weren’t for this morning’s check in.

"So it looks like we have you booked for three single rooms," the concierge says.

Alina frowns. "One of those should be a double."

The concierge checks again, each click of his mouse making her anxiety rise. He frowns. "Sorry, miss. It's showing me all singles."

"It's fine," Mal says. "Could we just upgrade it to a double, then?"

"Er, I'm afraid we're all booked, sir."

Nikolai claps his hands together, cheerful as ever at Zoya's side. "Well, I'll just switch with Alina, and Mal and I can — shit, Zoy!"

Zoya had stomped on his foot.

"We are not switching shit," she hisses under her breath.

Nikolai sighs. "My deadly dearest, certainly it's no big deal—"

"I bought us a new toy for this trip. We are not switching."

There is a brief moment where everyone freezes, then Genya groans, shaking her head as she murmurs apologies to the concierge, who is trying hard to pretend he hasn’t heard a thing. The tips of Mal's ears go red, and Alina is sure hers match. David, lost in his audiobook, is oblivious to all of it.

Nikolai clears his throat and turns to the two of them with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, mate. You're on your own."

The concierge slowly raises a finger and says, "We might be able to supply a cot?"

Alina can feel everyone's eyes on her, which is the last thing she ever wants. She has the strong desire to curl in on herself, but that only really works in the winter when she dons large coats and sweaters. But it’s summer, and she is in only a mustard yellow crop top and jean shorts, though she suddenly feels as exposed as if she were completely naked.

Mal takes one look at her and gently nudges his foot against hers. "I mean . . . I'm cool with sharing the bed if you are?"

Her brain is looking for anyway out of this whole conversation, so she nods.

So far, they have been in their room once to drop off their things and change into bathing suits, both of them dancing around the bed without ever touching it. The air in the room feels charged even with sunlight still pouring in. What would tonight be like?

More importantly, how was she supposed to handle sleeping beside him when she can’t even handle watching him in the pool?

Genya climbs on Mal’s shoulders for a game of chicken — David is, unsurprisingly, not in the pool, but sitting beside Alina on a lounge chair. She feels a pang of something like jealousy as she watches the game commence, which cannot be more ridiculous.

They can’t avoid the night forever, and it comes much too quickly despite how long they spend mingling at the resort bar. In their room, Mal lets Alina use the bathroom first. A kind offer, she thinks, until she realizes it leaves her to stake out a spot on the bed first. No more dancing.

Left side or right? Does Mal have a preference? Does she? How long until Mal finishes in the bathroom and comes out to see her staring at the bed like a mental person?

Right side, she chooses finally. She curls up on the left side of her body usually, so this way, she doesn’t have to face him as they sleep. Good call. As she untucks the covers from the bed, she secretly hopes to find something horrifying, like blood or bugs, so they can get a refund and leave. Sadly, it is a perfectly fine bed. Alina plops onto it and tucks herself in.

Mal finishes in the bathroom a few minutes later, and if he’s as rattled about their sleeping arrangement as she is, he does not show it. There’s plenty of space between them as he settles into bed. Maybe this won’t be as bad as she feared.

“Well, goodnight,” Mal says through a yawn.

“Goodnight,” Alina replies.

They each turn off their bedside lamps. Mal is softly snoring soon after, but Alina stays awake much too long for her liking, thinking of how close he is.

They fall into a similar routine for the next couple nights. During the day, all is fine. Their little group meshes well. Genya and Nikolai are often off together, both of them on a mission, it seems, to try every flavor of ice cream from Os Alta's ice cream bar. Or sometimes it’s Nikolai and Mal running off, joining a game of pool volleyball, both of them stupidly competitive. When Zoya gets annoyed with the overload of children at the waterpark, she joins David on one of the lounge chairs to read for a while — Zoya a smutty historical romance and David a nonfiction on modern space travel. We just shouldn't let Jeff Bezos come back, he argues to Genya later, while Zoya murmurs to Nikolai something she wants him to do to her that night.

Alina thanks the saints her room isn’t next to Zoya’s.

The trip is going so smoothly that she doesn’t realize what trouble Sunday brings with it. It’s always their favorite part of the trip: bottomless margarita night. They all have absolutely horrific, hilarious pictures and videos of themselves from the past three years thanks to bottomless margarita night at Os Alta. But the thought of being drunk like that while she’s sharing a bed with Mal?

Okay, so she just won’t drink tonight. Problem solved.

“You can’t not drink!” Zoya says, personally offended.

“Come on, it’s tradition!” Genya agrees.

But she’s determined to hold out. Only when she sees the others with their drinks, she decides one sip won’t hurt. One sip becomes one drink, and one drink becomes a couple. Soon enough, she’s drunk enough to sign herself up for karaoke, another Os Alta tradition.

“I dunno what I should siiiing,” she slurs, swaying lightly on her feet.

“I have the perfect song for you!” Genya cheers excitedly.

So that’s how she ends up on stage, drunk off her ass, horridly singing Taylor Swift’s We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. She really gets into it, jumping and nailing the talking parts a little too well. But she can hear Genya and Zoya screaming the lyrics along with her, and it only encourages her.

Genya records a Snapchat of her performance, snickering to Mal and David about how she’s going to accidentally send it to the asshole Alina dated last year who’s still entirely too obsessed with her.

Nikolai is the only one of the boys drunk enough to sign up, taking the stage after Alina to perform a disgustingly off-key version of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. They all agree that Freddie Mercury is rolling in his grave.

By the end of the night, the four of them are totally wasted. David, who had spent the night nursing one drink, his focus on getting Genya her drinks and ensuring that she didn’t trip over herself, has to help the aforementioned redhead up to their room. Nikolai and Zoya are a sight, both wickedly drunk, trying to help each other stay upright. Mal had only downed a couple drinks and is mostly sober, which Alina is very thankful for, as she can’t hold herself up to save her life. She nearly trips on absolutely nothing so many times that Mal finally scoops her into his arms, carrying her the rest of the way to the room. Alina giggles the whole way. 

There’s no getting ready for bed that night. Mal sets her on the bed, and she resigns to sleeping in her red summer dress. When Mal joins her after having a shower, drunk Alina has no qualms curling up against him and sniffing him.

“Mm, you smell good,” she hums.

Mal chuckles even as he tenses. Alina has her arm around him and her face pressed into his side. He’s not sure he can breathe. She’s too drunk to notice the blush on his face.

“That’s probably just because you smell like alcohol,” he hedges.

Alina giggles and shakes her head. “No, you always smell good.”

He doesn’t know what to do with this information, but he does a lot of thinking instead of sleeping as Alina passes out next to him.

Monday morning brings with it a pounding headache for Alina. She prepares for the bright sunlight streaming through the window, but the room is dark when she opens her eyes. Mal isn’t beside her, but he left aspirin and a glass of water on the nightstand in addition to pulling out the blackout curtains. She falls in love with him a little bit more. 

The day is a quiet one. The girls and Nikolai spend their time at the spa, Mal and David off doing saints know what. She gets the best massage of her life, and while her head still aches despite the pain pill, seeing Nikolai get his toenails painted bright red makes every sip she had last night worth it.

When they’re in the room again after dinner, tucking themselves into bed, Mal says, “You told me I smell good last night.”

Alina pauses. “I did?”

The night comes back to her. She totally told him he smelled good, and she had closed the space between them on the bed, curling up right next to him. She remembers all of it, suddenly and painfully.

“Oh, saints. Mal, I’m so sorry. I didn’t . . . I shouldn’t have—”

He cuts her off. “It’s okay, ‘Lina. You don’t have to apologize.”

“I don’t?”

Mal smiles an amused smile and leans over, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “No, you don’t. Not you. Never you.”

Alina is almost positive she can hear her heart pounding as Mal reaches for something tucked in the drawer of his nightstand.

“For you,” he says, handing her a long rectangular box. “Saw it today when I was out with David and I just— I thought of you.”

She can’t even process the image of Mal and David out shopping together, needing to open this damn box. With shaky fingers, she lifts the lid. Waiting for her inside is a dainty necklace with a gorgeous gold sun charm.

“Oh,” she says softly.

Mal blushes, and this time, Alina notices. “Do you like it?” he asks. “I just thought of you singing last night when I saw it. You’re so bright, Alina. All the time. Just like the sun.”

She has no idea what this confession means, or how she earned it from drunkenly telling him how good he smells — which his really quite good — but her heart has kicked into overdrive. She isn’t sure what, or how, but she knows something’s starting right now.

“I love it, Mal.” She turns so her back is facing him and hands over the necklace. “Will you help me put it on?”

He wraps the chain around her neck. The sun rests perfectly against her heart. She notices every little brush of his fingers against the back of her neck as Mal works the clasp.

When the necklace is secure, they both lay back down, noticeably closer this time. Not as close as last night, but close enough that their arms occasionally brush, close enough that she’ll end up kicking him during the night. Alina sleeps on her right side. 

Their trip might be ending tomorrow, but something better was beginning tonight.

[your-eternal-muse]

I Watch Your Eyes

Heather Series Part Three

Part One  Part Two

Summery: Reader isn’t one for parties. What happens at one solidifies that for her.

Words: 1.7k (they’re getting longer folks, just you wait)

Warnings: Drinking, mentions of vomiting, description of breakdown, swearing, ANGST

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Heather, Spencer Reid x eventual Female!Reader, Platonic!JJ x Platonic!Reader

A/N: Y’all......it hurt to write this. I broke my own damn heart, which hopefully means it’s good. Also, Heather needs a last name and I just can’t bring it in me to think of one. Suggestions? Anyway, Tag List is open! Enjoy this painful chapter!

I’ve never been one for parties.

Small get-togethers at Rossi’s with the team, that’s different.

That’s family.

But wearing a cocktail dress and being around people I didn’t even know worked in the department? Sucks ass.

So, why am I here again?

Oh yeah.

I have to be here. Hotch’s orders.

I have to smile and exchange pleasantries and sip more champagne than I’d like to admit to.

But mostly, because Spencer asked me to be,

“Please? I just really want you there. I’m planning something, and I’d really like my best friend there.”

I have no backbone.

 I caved as soon as he said please.

I don’t know what he’s planning. I don’t even know what he's thinking half the time.

I used to know him like the back of my hand.

No, I don’t think I even know myself.

But here I stand, around a table, sipping on champagne, not really listening to the conversation the girls are having around me, wishing I was anywhere else but in this banquet hall, watching him twirl her around in her pretty pink dress.

“Y/nnnn…” A sing-song voice hits my ears and a hand waves in front of my face.

I blink, coming back to the present. “Yeah? What were we talking about?”

JJ laughs. “Where are you tonight? You’ve been staring off into space for the past 15 minutes.”

I scoff, shifting my weight on my feet. 

Stupid, fucking heels.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve just been….admiring Heather's dress.”

All their eyes turn to look, and they hum in agreement.

A beautiful rose gown adorns her body, flaring at the waist, flowing around her as she spins.

I’m sure Spencer is the one who bought it for her.

She was the center of attention tonight, though I’m sure she’s used to it at this point in her life.

“She’s gorgeous.” Emily says, swaying her head slightly to the music.

I’m sure she’s fully aware of that, Emily.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this happy.” Penelope smiles, gazing happily at them. 

JJ glances at me, a soft look in her eyes.

I can’t help but agree.

He’s glowing.

His eyes are brighter than I’ve ever seen them.

I don’t think he’s stopped smiling since he met her.

You’d never make him that happy.

I down the rest of my champagne.

“Well, watching them dance makes me want to, so I’m off to search for my knight in shining armour. I’ll see you all later, my loves.” Penelope blows a kiss, before she leaves in search of Derek, and I watch as the song ends, and they exchange a kiss before Heather walks back over to her table, and he makes his way towards us.

“I didn’t take you as someone who danced, Spence.” Emily questions, taking a drink from her own glass.

He laughs, adjusting his tie and running a hand through his hair. “She convinced me.” He wipes his palms on his pants.

“You okay there Spencer? You seem nervous.” JJ speaks with a chuckle in her voice. 

If only I could be so light hearted.

“I will be.” He turns, smiling at me. “Thanks for coming tonight. It means a lot to me that you’re here.”

I reach up and straighten his tie, smoothing down his jacket, smiling up at him genuinely for the first time in what feels like years.

Huh.

I guess it has been a little over a year since I met Heather.

“Anything for you Spence.”

“I missed that smile.”

You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?

I can’t help the blush that spreads across my cheeks. I don’t know how to respond to that, so I simply don’t say anything. 

He doesn’t seem to notice.

He takes a deep breath. “Wish me luck.”

I roll my eyes, and chuckle. “Good luck with whatever it is you’re planning.”

“It’s a surprise. For everyone.”

I see him swallow and take a final deep breath before he walks away, back towards his table where Heather stands, charming the people around her.

The wheels begin to turn in my head.

“What do you think he’s on about?” Emily asks, laughter lacing her words.

I watch as he stands next to her, grabbing her hands to hold them within his own.

“Who knows what goes on inside his head nowadays.” 

I can feel JJ staring at me, but I can’t take my eyes off the scene playing out in front of me.

They exchange a few words, and then he’s on his knee,holding out something for her.

Her hands cover her mouth.

No...

“Oh my god.” 

Emily and JJ follow my line of sight and I can hear happy gasps as Heather exclaims “Yes! Yes I will marry you!” for the world to hear.

The hall erupts into cheers and applause and I. Can’t. Breath.

“Y/n? Are you okay? You look like you’re about to be sick.” JJ’s voice is soft, and motherly.

I wish someone would scream at me.

“I’m fine. Just too much champagne. I’ll be right back, promise.”

The words don’t even register before I’m walking away from the happy moment.

Their happy moment.

I barely make it out of the hall before I burst into tears, a hand clasps over my mouth to keep the sobs and bile back.

I run down the hallway, slamming into the bathroom, rushing into a stall where I promptly empty my stomach of tonight.

This is it. There’s no chance anymore You missed it. And now you have to live with the fact that he will never love you like her loves her. It’s your fault you feel this way, and no one else's. Your fault.

I reach up and flush, falling to sit on the floor and lean against the wall of the stall.

I hold my arm over my mouth, trying to swallow down the sobs that threaten to echo throughout the building.

The door opens, and heels click to stand in front of my stall.

“Y/N?”

It’s JJ.

Her voice is laced with concern.

I try to take a deep, quiet breath, but it comes out shuddery.

Fake it ‘till you make it, right?

“I’ll be right out, JJ, just needed a minute. Go join the celebration.” My voice cracks at the end and I want to hit myself.

She’s quiet for a moment.

“I know, y/n. Please open the door.”

God fucking damnit.

I sniffle, reaching up to slide the latch over, before pushing it open.

She sits down next to me, and without asking, pulls me into her arms.

I let go.

I curl myself into her, and sob.

Sob for the what if’s and could have beens, for the future I saw between us, for the chances I should have taken but didn’t, for the fact that Spencer Reid deserves someone so much better for a best friend.

She rubs my back and holds me close until the sobs have subsided.

“How did you know?” My words are wet.

“It’s the way you look at him. Like he’s your entire world. Like you would do anything for him.” She brushes some hair out of my eyes, and swipes away some of the tears that are still falling down my face.

“It’s the way he used to look at me.” 

Her smile is sad, and her eyes are distant.

“Does anyone else know?” That’s the last thing I need. For everyone to figure out my secret, to look at me like I’m a child who’s upset they can’t get what they wanted.

She shakes her head.

“No, not that I know of.”

Good to know my acting skills are solid.

I nod, standing up and walking over to the sink.

My eyes are red and puffy. Streaks are run through my foundation, and mascara coats my cheeks.

There’s no salvaging this.

JJ sets her purse down on the counter, digging through it until she pulls out a small pack of makeup wipes.

“I always end up taking off my makeup before I leave these things anyway.”

She hands one to me, and the small smile on my face isn’t forced.

“Thank you.”

She smiles back, and we both turn to the mirror, wiping off the evenings makeup and any signs of breakdown.

My eyes are still puffy, but I can blame that on getting sick.

She hands me a container of mints, and I open it, popping one into my mouth before closing it, and returning it to her.

The air is quiet between us.

“I was planning on telling him. The day I met her, I was going to tell him.”

I bite my lip to hold back more tears.

“I love him, JJ. I love him so much, and he’s never gonna love me the same way. How do I go on, living my life like it never happened?”

I’m cold. 

My chest feels hollow and heavy at the same time.

“I don’t know. I wish I did, but I don’t.” She grabs my hand, holding it between hers. “But I do know that you’re not alone anymore. You don’t have to bare the weight of it alone anymore.”

I nod, pulling her in for a hug, my arms around her waist, my face in her neck.

A home hug.

“Thank you, Jennifer.”

I feel her breath hitch.

She kisses the side of my head. “You’re welcome, y/n.”

We break, and I wipe away a few straggling tears before standing straight, and shoving a smile on my face.

She walks out first, and I follow, trying to look as okay as you can after having a breakdown on a bathroom floor.

We make our way back to our table, and I see JJ shoot a glance at Emily that tells her not to ask questions.

Spencer and Heather are standing in the middle of the hall, glasses of champagne in hand.

He has an arm wrapped around her waist, and he keeps glancing down at her. 

For a moment, his eyes scan the crowd, and when they land on mine, his smile grows.

He raises his glass, and I raise my empty one.

He laughs.

My hands shake as I set my glass down and he goes back to the conversation around him.

Another glance down at her, a kiss placed on her temple.

I down the rest of JJ’s drink when she’s not looking.

God, I fucking hate parties.

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[tanakavox]

Look into a the multiverse chapter 2

Inspiration:Spyro's Bad day.

The screen plays and Oscar was on the screen. He has small horns on top of his head and tiny wings on his back. He is currently chasing a sheep.

"Look,it's Oscar!" Ruby gasped.

"Aw, he looks cute with his little wings and horns" Nora cooed.

"Yeah he's really cute,just like our Oscar!" Yang said as she ruffled the Oscar in the theater hair. Oscar blushed at the treatment and slapped Yang's hand away, Yang grinning as he does.

Oscar kept chasing the sheep until he ran into a stone statue. The statue shook and broke revealing Salem looking human but she had also had horns and wings like Oscar, but bigger.

Ozpin looked at Salem with a bit of sadness. It hurt seeing his former lover like that compared to the more human looking version on the screen.

"Mistress is that you?" Cinder asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, a form I had long ago." Salem replied looking back at Ozpin. "But this version of me, like the boy, is not human."

"If they aren't human then what are they?" Mercury asked the group.

"Maybe their demons like Cinder and I were in the last one?" Jaune suggested.

"Thank you for releasing me Oscar." She said with a smile.

"Uh, I did what now?" Oscar replied, confused.

"Gnasty Gnorc has imprisoned the dragons across the many worlds, you're our only hope of saving us!" Salem continued like the smaller dragon didn't say anything.

"Dragons? Oh my god that is so cool!" Nora said with a grin.

"If they are dragons, why would Salem give Oscar, a seemly undeveloped dragon child, the task of saving all the dragons?" Ren questioned.

"I'm sure this Oscar is capable of handing this!" Ruby said

"Those are all well and good." Yang began, "But are we gonna ignore Gnasty Gnorc? What kinda name is that?"

"Are we gonna ignore the fact that this Gnasty Gnorc managed to turn EVERY dragon into stone? Blake stated

"Then why didn't little dragon Oscar also turn into stone like the other dragons." Emerald asked

"Perhaps he was considered too weak to be threat?" Cinder said with a smirk. Like the Oscar here."

"Hey!" Oscar shouted offended.

"Huh? You're kidding right?" Oscar exclaimed. "Dude I'm tiny!" He spreads his small wing to prove his his point.

"There's no time to explain!" Salem said waving off Oscar. "You need to take these!" She shoved the boy a dragonfly, a jar, and a bunch of gems into his arms.

"Just wait a second!" Oscar cried as the items where shoved onto him. Salem wasn't having it and picked up Oscar by the scruff of his neck and walked him over to a portal that said 'Gnasty Gnorc'.

"Come on, do I get a say in this?!"

"No." Salem replied with a smirk."

"Wow, Little dragon Oscar is just really thrown into this."Ruby said with a shake of her head.

"Yes,it's just like Salem to throw a child in the fray without warning and a laugh." Ozpin said bitterly. Salem fired a glare at the wizard.

"As if you're one to talk Ozma." She growled. "Or do I have to remind you of your little school?" The air seem to become more tense as the two glare at each other.

"Off you go!" And the older dragoness threw Oscar into the portal. He fell planted into the ground and drop the gems and jar he was holding.

"What's happening?" He asked to no one in particular.

"I'm with you, what is happening?" Oscar asked, feeling bad for his counterpart

"Who dares enter the domain of Gnasty Gnorc?!" A green giant wielding a big hammer that was apparently Gnasty Gnorc bellowed out.

"Huh?" Oscar asked lamely.

"That's Nasty Gnasty Gnorc?" Weiss ask her nose wrinkling in disgust.

"What a hideous creature." Cinder said her face filled with disgust as well.

"You! Punny little dragon child!" Gnasty Gnorc bellowed out before jumping down to Oscar.

"Yeah, ok apparently you did something and everyone's really mad." The dragon said with a nervous smile as the green giant stomp toward him. "So listen I'm sure you're a perfectly reasonable guy so I don't see why we could, put down the ham-" The dragon was cut off by Gnasty Gnorc swinging his hammer at him and sending him flying toward a table with a vase on it breaking it in half. "Yeah, ok cool." Oscar deadpanned from under the rubble.

The group had a little laugh at that. Oscar blushed and sinked into his seat a bit.

"You know I think I'm getting why no one likes you." He snarked as he get up and dodges the giant swinging his hammer down at him. He runs off with Gnasty Gnorc giving chase.

"I'M GONNA HANG YOUR HEAD ON MY WALL!" The giant screams.

"Oh yeah? Lets see you get a hang of THIS!" Oscar said with a smirk as he let a small breath of fire at Gnasty Gnorc knees.

"Such weak flames will do nothing."Cinder scoffed

Gnasty Gnorc falls over and then turn into ashes.

"Well look at that" Jaune said with a grin as he watch Cinder scowl at him. Oscar sat up a bit as his dragon counterpart beat Gnasty Gronc so easily.

"Huh, ok." Oscar looked surprised at how easy it was to beat the Green giant. "So, how do I get out of here?" The dragonfly that Salem gave him poked his head and turns his attention to a portal nearby. The dragon and dragonfly walked through the portal to see they were not in the realms of dragons. He looks around to see Sun, Velvet, and Professor Oobleck.

"Hey It's Professor Oobleck, Sun and the Velvet girl! Ruby exclaim.

"Judging from the fact that Oscar didn't go home they must have brought him here for a reason." Ren pointed out.

"Woah professor! Your portal worked!" Sun exclaimed in stilled lines.

"It's a real dragon!" Velvet said excitedly.

"What's your name young man?" Oobleck ask with a smile.

"I'm going home" Oscar stated, about to walk where he came from but a energy blast blew in up in his face covering it in soot. "Ok." The dragon mutter after sucking air from his teeth.

"Oscar sounds really mad now." Blake observed

"Well he didn't want to go on this trip to begin with and now his only way home got blown up. Yang repiled. "Who blew it up anyways?"

Adam is onscreen now holding a scepter that blew up the portal gate. He was on top of some kind of creature.

"Adam."Yang and Blake growled at seeing the red hair bull faunus.

"Who brought a dragon into Avalar?!" He demand an answer.

"HE DID IT!" Oscar shouted holding up Oobleck.

"I'm the professor" Oobleck said with a dopey smile.

The group had a another laugh at Oobleck dopeyness.

"Dragon Oscar was sure quick to throw this Oobleck under the bus." Emerald said.

" .DRAGONS!" Adam growled.

"I hate you more, what's your point?" Oscar snarked back with a scowl."

"Well, Oscar got really sassy." Yang said.

"Well his only chance to get home just got destroyed so i imagined he doesn't want to be nice to Adam." Mercury said "I'd be snarky as well."

"You better listen well boy." Adam began. "These lands belong to me. So as long as I'm around everyone will bow down to-" Adam was cut off by Oscar throwing Oobleck in his face. The red head grabbed his nose in pain as a little blood seep out, his face clearly had shock on it. "Did you just? He ask stunned.

"Whoa Oscar you didn't need to do that!" Jaune exclaimed looking at the Oscar in the theater.

"It's not me! I wouldn't do that" Oscar shout back. Everyone mirror Adam's shock at Oscar throwing Oobleck.

"I don't care, leave me alone." Oscar said.

"You're so mean!" Adam stated before smacking the creature he was on top of head. "Gulp take me home. I need a band aid. As Adam left he shouted to Oscar: I'll deal with you later dragon!

"I still don't care!" Oscar shouted back.

"Adam's right. This Oscar is mean!" Nora exclaimed

"I can respect his thought process. Just doesn't care about anything" Mercury grinned.

"Woah, that's Adam. He's the bad guy" Sun said in a stilled tone of voice.

"Who's he and what's wrong with his mouth?" Oscar asked a bit freaked out by the guy.

"This is Sun and we don't know." Velvet responded, her face grimacing.

"I have a disorder!" Sun said cheerful, his eyes not looking straight.

"What's wrong with your boyfriend Blake?" Yang ask cleary teasing her

"One, he's not my boyfriend. Two, if the Velvet in that universe doesn't know why would I?" Blake said with a frown.

"Oh dear, it appeared the portal has been completely destroyed." Oobleck said with a sad look. He sided up to Oscar and wrapped his arm around the dragon child's shoulder. "Well, look like you're stuck here. You're going to collected all the things and defeat Adam!"

"No this is extortion! This is bullcrap!"

"Please Oscar? We don't want to try anything else." Velvet pleaded.

"Oscar doesn't want to help save the world? Why?" Ruby asked.

"They did bring him here against his will and are basically holding him hostage until he's done doing their bidding. I wouldn't want to help either." Jaune repiled.

Oscar plants his face into his hand and groans. A scene cut showing the little dragon collecting a bunch of gems and getting hurt over .

"Oh, boy. This seem like it's gonna hurt for dragon Oscar. Nora said bracing herself.

Getting eaten by a metal shark,

"Why is there a metal shark under the ocean?" Emerald cried out in horror.

"And what luck that it happened to be in the same spot Oscar was. Blake pointed out.

hit by a car,

"That guy didn't even slowed down for him, that was so on purosed! Ruby shouted in anger.

being frozen after trying to catch fish,

"Jeez, Did Oscar piss in someone cereal or something? Because this kid's luck sucks! Yang exclaimed. Who gets frozen while fishing?!"

blown up, electrocuted, the works.

Oscar swears he can feel everything that happened to the dragon Oscar on screen. All this to go home.

It wasn't long until Oscar collected all the gems.

"That's one tough kid. All that and he's going." Mercury mused.

"And it seem that aura doesn't exist in this universe." Salem said. "This dragon must be extremely during if could survive that and his only child by dragon standard.

The screen then cut back to Oobleck, Velvet and Sun near a fixed portal gate. Sun was babbling on with some story about helmets, with Oobleck not paying him any mind and Velvet looking annoyed. Oscar pushes up a bag of gems toward them, panting in exhaustion with cuts and bruises over his body.

"Alright, it's done. I got all the things. Can I go now?" Oscar asked tiredly.

"Oh no of course not. That would be too easy." Oobleck replied.

"What?! Oscar had got all the gems! What else is there for him to do!" Nora shouted.

"Great job Oscar! Adam's is at the top of this RIDICULOUS STAIRCASE!" Velvet said pointing at the aforementioned huge ass stairs."But that's no sweat considering you can just fly up there!"

"Yeah totally." Oscar lied. He couldn't use his wings to fly, he wasn't old enough for them to work like that. He could only glide, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"That is basically Child labor you know?" Mercury realized. "Oscar is still a kid by Dragon standards."

"Yeah, You're right."Yang agrees. They basically made a kid go through all these jobs.

"What assholes," Nora said with a grimace.

"I've been flying all day so I'm just gonna climb the stairs and rest them.." The dragon then began his long tread up the stairs.

"Are you sure? Velvet asked, her tone full of worry. "Because there's a lot of-."

"YEP, I'M GOOD THANKS!"

"There isn't like an elevator or anything? Give the kid a break!"Emerald cried out.

The scene cuts to Adam sitting on the throne with a cellphone on his ear.

"Yeah, mom. I actually took over the place! All by myself it's great!" Adam's mother said that something that made his face go to shock. "No I'm not gonna kill all of them! That's not how you-" Adam's face was annoyed now. "You see, this is why I didn't want to call you."

"Adam's mom alive?" Blake asked confused.

"He's not gonna kill all of them? I'm surprised that he can hold himself back." Yang grumbled.

"OKAY!"Oscar screamed burning down the door.

"JESUS CHRIST!" Adam jump up in terror.

"Jeez!" Ruby jumped as well.

"It's seems Oscar is done with games now." Weiss said a scared by dragon Oscar bit as well.

A puff of smoke came out of Oscar's nose, his face full of rage as he stomps toward Adam.

"Now you listen to me!" The dragon began.

"Um…."

"I have been through ICE."

"Okay."

"I have been through the OCEAN."

"Right"

"I've spent two hours in a maze with snail elephants looking for a PENCIL!"

"What?" Adam asked confused

"Snail elephants?That sound cool?" Nora said imagining riding one into the sunset.

"Two hours in a maze looking for a pencil? Wow…." Jaune said in wonder

"The fact Oscar still has his sanity is something to behold," Weiss said equally impressed.

"I did this because I want to go home. And if I wanna go home, YOU have to go AWAY."

"And why would I do that" Adam smirk grabbing the specter. Oscar glared and shoved a gem into his mouth and spit a fireball toward Adam. He swung the scepter and smacked the fireball, but it splits in two and hits his minions behind him. Adam looked to the burning ashes of his minions and back to the growling dragon in front of him.

"Because now? I'm not asking anymore." Oscar simply states before torching Adam.

"Did he just kill Adam?" Blake asked bewildered.

"That last line was pretty badass though," Mercury said.

Oscar sighs and jumps down the staircase and ran into the portal without a word to the others back into the realms of the dragons. Salem was standing outside the portal and smiles when she sees the little dragon come out of the portal

"Oscar! How did your mission g- " She was cut off with Oscar spitting a fireball at the portal gate blowing it up, covering her face in soot.

"I'm going to the beach." The dragon child simply said and he walks off.

"Okay.." Salem said after sucking air through her teeth. And then the screen went dark after a scene where Oscar was on the beach wearing sunglass and sipping on lemonade.

"She had it coming," Ozpin said with a grin and Salem glared at him again.

"I'm just glad that Oscar got home. He deserves a break after all that." Ruby said.

"I just wanna see what's next," Yang said.

Everything in this part was done by me.

[ineloqueent]

I’m not sure who else you write for but I keep thinking about enemies to lovers with Deaky. 😉 He kind of gives off those vibes, ya know? hehe

hello lovely! sorry this took me so long. i can literally never write anything short

hope you enjoy this!

As a roadie, it was generally considered important to get along with the band.

And you did. For the most part.

On your first day, Freddie had clucked in dismay at the sight of your overalls and a washed out t-shirt, paired with scuffed Doc Martens.

“You’re not working as just anyone’s tech, darling. You’re working for Queen, and you’ve got to look the part.”

“Uh, Mr. Mercury—”

“Freddie, please.”

“Freddie,” you’d reiterated. “This is really the most practical thing to wear around here.”

“Hm. I suppose we do make more messes than we clean up,” Freddie conceded. “But surely, you can find something else to wear on show nights.”

“Um. Not really.” For most of your life, money had been tight, so fashion had not exactly been something that you could afford to prioritise.

Freddie looked horrified. “Well, we’ve simply got to do something about that, dear.”

And then he’d taken you shopping.

And paid for your new clothes, and insisted you come along on his future shopping trips.

You got along with Freddie.

A week into your employment with Queen, soundcheck had been an utter mess, because Brian’s guitar couldn’t be heard through any of the sound equipment, until you’d scaled a shaky ladder, crawled across some rickety scaffolding, and fixed a lead that had got loose and had disconnected everything else in the process.

Below, the other roadies and Brian had looked on in petrified silence. The rigging really was quite high above the stage, and you’d almost slipped and fallen more than once.

When you’d made it back down in one piece, Brian had called, “Drinks all ‘round!” and you’d been his most trusted sound tech from that day since.

You got along with Brian.

A few months ago, Roger had come running out of the dressing room screaming bloody murder about having put two much peroxide in his hair, the same mistake he’d made before a concert in Germany, in 1979. He’d been virtually hysterical when he’d realised that showtime was in less than an hour.

Around the room, laughter had been stifled, and no one had known what to do, but your cousin had once pulled a similar party trick, so you’d hurried down to the shops and bought a box of hair pigment stripper. You’d then had spent the better part of the remaining hour prior to the show working the stuff into Roger’s hair, because he was still in too much of a frenzied panic to manage it himself. You’d tried not to laugh, but it had really been very funny, how quickly he’d gone from behaving like a normal person to a petulant child.

Thankfully, Roger had laughed with you.

“I’m laughing in relief. This is definitely not in your job description. I owe you a drink, Y/N.”

You got along with Roger.

But you did not get along with John Deacon.

You didn’t know what it was, but he barely spoke to you, and when he did, it was out of necessity, and always in clipped tones.

You could only guess at what it was in you that repulsed the bassist so acutely.

Brian said he was just sore about Queen’s previous sound tech having left the job.

Roger said John was just overly finicky about his sound, and didn’t trust anyone but himself to get it right.

Freddie said that Deacy was just quiet, that you shouldn’t take his behaviour personally.

But though you tried, you couldn’t ignore it.

He was everywhere, because he was in the band, and because you worked for the band, you were everywhere that he was.

There was no avoiding him.

Even when you could avoid him, on your breaks, on the nights after the shows, on your days off, out of sight was not out of mind. You couldn’t shake the thought of how much he disliked you, because you had never given him reason to. And to be honest, you had never before encountered anyone who didn’t like you. It irked you that John was the first.

You’d started out by being as polite as humanly possible.

After that had fallen on deaf ears, you’d started to go out of your way to be kind and considerate toward him, offering to buy him a drink when you and the band and other crew headed for the local pub, to get him the missing lead at soundcheck, to run upstairs and grab the jacket he’d left but meant to wear. He always accepted, but he never softened toward you.

At first, his coldness had upset you, given how good friends you were with the rest of the band, but as time went on, you slipped into reluctant tolerance.

Tolerance didn’t mean acceptance, however, and the uneasiness that arose when John entered a room already occupied by you was palpable, felt by everyone.

He’d walk in, all quiet and composed, and his gaze would flick over you. Where his face remained expressionless, his eyes made up for it in their intensity, their green-grey tone casting shadows over you that could have eclipsed the sun in its entirety.

You always stared right back at him, daring him to ask you to leave, but he never did. He just stood there, twisting the diamond shaped ring he often wore, at once both hostile and pensive.

He’d break your gaze and go and sit with the others, and you’d exhale quietly, because you could never breathe when he stared at you like that. It felt as though a weight were pressing down on your sternum, your shoulders turned rigid, your skin prickled.

It was damn near unbearable.

You were unloading half a ton of equipment in Montreal when John walked past, uttering a quiet ‘good morning’ to a few roadies, nodding to others in greeting. You paused in shifting one of Brian’s many amps from the lorry, pushing your hair, matted with sweat, off your forehead.

You happened to look up as you caught your breath, your eyes accidentally drawn to John in the process.

He met your eyes briefly, but swept past without a word.

“D’you need help with that amp, Y/N?” Ratty, another tech, asked you, reaching out to brace the amp against his arm.

But you were distracted. “What the hell is his problem?” you muttered, still staring after John as he disappeared around the corner.

“Who?”

“Oh, come on, Ratty,” you set your hands on your hips. “John, obviously.”

Ratty let go of the amp, crossing his arms. “Why don’t you just ask him?”

“Ask him?”

“Yeah?” Ratty frowned with a look of puzzlement.

You scoffed. “Walk into the lion’s den, yeah, no thanks.”

Your retort was met with a shrug from the other roadie. “You’d never believe me if I told you, so I think you need to hear it from him.”

“Hear what from him?” you pushed. “What could he possibly have to say to me?”

“Many things, I’d say.”

“Well,” you said, hoisting the previously abandoned amp onto your hip, “I have nothing to say to him.”

With that, you took the amp and made for the stage. Vaguely, you could hear Ratty laughing as you left, and then his mate Crystal telling him to stop arsing about and actually help shift equipment.

Onstage, you stacked the amp amongst the others, careful not to set it too close to the floor where the bass would be overboosted.

“Y/N!”

You turned toward the sound and found Freddie joining you, smiling as always.

“Hello, Freddie,” you returned his smile. “What can I do for you?”

“Well for one thing, darling,” he said, clasping your hands in his, “you can come to my little after-show party tonight.”

You raised your eyebrows. “You think you’ll have the energy for that?”

Freddie waved his hand. “Of course, of course,” he assured you enthusiastically. “Never worry about my energy supply, dear, it’s practically bottomless. Just worry about what you’re wearing tonight, because it bloody better not be those overalls.”

You laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of wearing these outside of my working hours.”

“Good. I should think I’ve taught you something.”

“Not at all,” you grinned.

Freddie shook his head at you. “Anyway, bring your lost-cause self to my hotel suite at midnight.”

“Will do, Fred.”

The rest of the afternoon passed with an uneventful round of soundcheck, and in the evening, the show went smoothly. Of course, this was Queen, so smoothly did not quite do the show justice. Magnificent might have, though.

When the show had finished and a hefty amount of clean-up had been done, you made your way to Freddie’s as promised, knocking politely on his hotel room door.

Someone called, “I’ll get it!” and you rubbed your hands up and down your arms while you waited, a little on edge about going inside. John would likely be there. There would be no way of avoiding him.

And then, in one heartstopping moment before the door swung open, you recognised the voice that had called out.

But it was too late to turn around and flee in the other direction.

John opened the door, and almost as though on cue, the brilliant smile that had illuminated his eyes, his mouth, the whole of his face, faded.

He still was dressed in his concert outfit— a bright blue from head to toe that brought out his eyes in stark contrast— and his permed hair sat in a gorgeously soft bundle atop his head, looking like he’d just run his hands through it.

“Hi,” you hazarded.

“Hello,” he replied flatly, not moving from where he stood in the doorway. His standoffishness nearly made you squirm, it was so overbearing. “Oh,” he said after a moment of motionlessness, “come in.”

“Thanks,” you murmured awkwardly, as it was Freddie’s hotel room and Freddie’s party, but it seemed the only thing to say.

“May I take your coat?”

You whirled around to find John holding out a hand, his expression oddly gentle in temperament. Almost as though he were trying to be friendly.

You frowned in confusion, then realised how this must have looked and nodded in response to his question.

You didn’t expect him to help you out of it, but that he did, his fingers curling around your collar and skimming down your shoulders as you shrugged the coat off into his hands. His touch was light, and yet it made the little hairs of your arms stand on end, a shiver passing down your spine.

You turned around as he took the coat from you, but you’d misjudged the distance between the two of you and nearly collided with him.

Nearly. But maybe a collision would have been better.

You found that now, your palms resting on his chest, was definitely the worser option.

He’d breathed in sharply, and his hands hovered at your waist.

You pulled back your hands, a blush fanning over your cheeks as you stepped back, glancing away. You were mortified.

“Sorry,” you apologised quietly, and in your peripheral vision, John looked equally embarrassed, one hand resting over the back of his neck as his eyes bored into the floor.

“It’s okay,” he said, then walked past you into the next room. “Y/N’s here,” he told the others.

You followed John and found Freddie, Roger, Roger’s girlfriend Dominique, Brian, Ratty, Crystal, and a couple of other girls assembled around the radio that sat on the coffee table.

Hellos were offered to you in greeting, and Freddie grinned at you.

“Y/N! Just the person we need.”

You narrowed your eyes. “I’m not here to work, Freddie,” you joked.

“Nor is the radio, it would appear. And what’s a party without music?”

“You’re a band, play some,” said Crystal, and Roger elbowed him in the ribs.

You folded your arms as Freddie eyed you pleadingly.

“Can’t John fix it?” you asked, and John glanced over, seemingly surprised that you remembered this aptitude of his. “Haven’t you got a degree in electrical engineering, or something?”

John nodded, “I have. But all those years of studying and exams wasn’t enough, apparently. I can’t get it to work.”

You smiled bemusedly. “The legendary John Deacon can’t fix a radio?”

John crossed his arms. “You fix it then, smarty pants.”

“Look out, Y/N,” Brian laughed as oooohs were chorused by the others, and John stared you down.

He was always staring you down. But for once, he was the one daring you to say something, not the other way around. And say something you would.

“Alright, then. Hand it over,” you beckoned to Freddie, and he passed you the radio with a glance between you and John.

You picked up a screwdriver from the coffee table, then tiny pliers and electrical tape.

Moments late, when you switched on the radio, pop music blared loudly and clearly.

They all erupted into cheering and clapping, with the exception of John.

“Impressive,” he said but it sounded like sarcasm. Then he left.

He just left.

The others quieted, and you stared after John as he opened the door to Freddie’s balcony and went outside.

“Am I really so detestable that he needs to leave every place I go?” you demanded of the silent onlookers.

Freddie frowned in sympathy, Roger looked uncomfortable, and Brian winced as though you’d told him that he personally was at fault for John’s behaviour.

“I think you should talk to him,” said Ratty, for the second time that day.

You surveyed the room, feeling your anger grow thicker, creep up your skin in a flush of acrylic-paint red. “You know what,” you said, “I think I will.”

“Y/N!” Dominique called after you, and you turned back. “Be kind.”

You frowned in puzzlement. “Okay…” you said, without fully understanding what she meant.

Dominique nodded, and you made for the balcony door.

Outside, John was leaning his elbows on the railing, looking out over the twinkling skyline of Montreal. Tonight, the moon hung high above in a waxing crescent, like a shard of light bleeding into the sky from a rift in the universe where night was day.

The wind was cool, and you wrapped your arms around yourself in an attempt to retain some warmth.

John had yet to realise your presence; he was fully immersed in gazing out over the view, lost in thought. The lights of the city reflected in his eyes, and up above his curly head, there was a whisper of starlight. He seemed dreamlike in the way the light caught on his face, the outline of his nose and mouth rendered soft by the dimness of the balcony.

You could almost pretend that there was no hatred between you, that his presence did not turn your insides to mush, that yours did not cause him to turn away, to leave.

“John.”

He startled, pressing a hand over his heart. “You nearly gave me a heart attack,” he said, straightening up slowly.

“Sorry,” you apologised.

John only shook his head in response, and returned his eyes to the view of the city. Before he’d noticed you, you’d been content to let him stare off into the shadowy sky, but now he knew you were there, it was just plain rude of him to ignore you.

“What is your problem?”

John twitched, turning to face you. “Excuse me?”

“I asked what the hell your problem was.”

His brow furrowed. “With what?”

You couldn’t stand his confusion, the feigned innocence. It was enough to make you want to yell at him.

“Christ, John,” you said exasperatedly. “How can you ask? You hate me, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.”

John blinked. “I hate you? You’re one to talk.”

“And you never are!” you exclaimed. “You never say anything. You just— you just stand there.”

And stare at me. Like if you stared for long enough, I’d disappear. Like you want me to.

“Oh, so it’s wrong to stand still now, is it?” The easy sarcasm in his voice baited you. It was infuriating, how calm he was.

“Why are you defensive?”

“Why do you have to know everything?!” John threw up his arms, finally fighting back.

“This isn’t everything,” you protested, “this is just me asking why it is you can’t stand to be around me when I’ve never been anything but nice to you.”

John fell quiet. His voice was mild when he spoke again. “You really think I hate you?”

“Yes!” you cried.

“I don’t mean… I don’t mean to be that way.”

“Then what do you mean, John?”

“I don’t…” he drew a heavy breath, his hands going to his hair. “I don’t know. I’m just—”

You folded your arms. “Just what?”

“I’m just sick of this!”

“And this,” you muttered, “is why we can’t have a civil conversation.”

“I’m sick of you!” he shouted, before his eyes widened, like he’d said too much.

He had. You were affronted.

“Excuse me?!”

But whatever swell of anger had previously possessed him had subsided.

“You make me sick to my stomach,” he whispered, and if the wind had blown at that moment, you wouldn’t have heard him. But there was no wind, and his words hung suspended between you, curled through the air like smoke. You breathed them in, you didn’t speak.

“You’re really making me say this?”

The thoughts in your head had gone suddenly quiet. “Making you say what?” you asked slowly.

Across from you, John bit his lip. He looked at his shoes, then back up at you.

“I get fucking butterflies all the time, and god knows I don’t need them when it’s already hard enough to talk to you.”

You sucked in a breath. “Are you— are you intimidated by me?”

“Intimidated?” he laughed. “Congratulations, Y/N, you’ve made the greatest understatement of the year.”

You couldn’t believe it. John Deacon, intimidated by you.

“But… how?”

“Everything,” he said, and you noticed that his hands were shaking. “Every goddamn thing about you is so intimidating. I— I have no idea how to speak, how to move, how to breathe.”

“John,” you murmured, “what are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” he sighed shakily, “you’re rivetingly smart and you always seem to know what to say—”

“I never know what to say!”

“And there you go again,” he shook his head with a fond little smile you’d only ever seen directed at Freddie or Roger or Brian. “You’re honest. It’s so refreshing, when everyone I try to get to know just plays up their charm because I’m a bloke in a band.”

Your face twisted. “You’re saying I’m charmless?”

“No, no, not at all. You’re charming. Very charming.”

“I—” You’d opened your mouth to speak, and realised you had nothing to say.

But then he was staring at you again, for the thousandth time, only now, his eyes were soft and his head was canted slightly to one side, and his breath rose and fell in his chest shudderingly, as though he were fighting for air as much as you.

And then he leaned forward and touched his lips to yours.

Your breath caught.

Your heart rose in your chest as his hand rose to your chin, holding onto you gently, pulling you closer, kissing you in a rush of warmth. His mouth was soft and his fingers were light on your skin, and you sank into his arms, feeling the steady hum of his heart reverberate through you where your hands pressed against him.

He smelled of fresh air and soap, and for all the resolute firmness he had always treated you with, no one had ever touched you more delicately than this, with such care that you might have believed yourself a flower, blooming beneath his caress.

He paused, and when you opened your eyes, you found green-grey gazing back at you. He ran his thumb softly over your lower lip.

“You’ve charmed me,” John whispered, and his smile could have rivaled the sun.

[thirsty-x1]

Thriller Night | Han Seungwoo

Request:

hi can i request a fluff one shot where you got scared while watching horror movie with seungwoo? tq!

↬ Pairing: Seungwoo x gn!reader

↬ Genre: Fluff

↬ Warnings: Seungwoo. That’s it, that’s the warning.

↬ Word Count: 1.4k

You wanted to show Seungwoo that you were not a scaredy-cat and you were determined to it, even going as far as researching, which involved simply asking around what was the scariest movie your friends had watched and such.

“Babe, you don’t need to do this, you are not easily scared, I’m sorry to have said that.” Your boyfriend is spread on the sofa, his look tired as you are looking for the movie.

“That sounded so fake, you don’t mean it, besides I really am not!” You pressed play, quickly going to sit next to him.

“Why are we even watching the third part instead of the first one? And the american version? Those aren’t scary–”

“Because Seungyoun said that this one is better, has more scary scenes and you don’t really need much story to understand, so shut up and watch.”

The first three minutes you managed everything amazingly. But as soon as the sound of the low “scream” started, your body stilled, and the brutal murdering left you completely frozen in the spot, whilst Seungwoo laughed loudly.

“That was terrible! How can this be sca–” He shut up as soon as he noticed your posture.

He got closer, you not even realizing as your eyes were fixed on, and placed his arm around your shoulders causing you jump out.

“What are you doing?! That wasn’t funny at all!” You could see him trying to hold back his laughter, but the corners of his lips went up constantly.

“I just wanted to cuddle, it’s kinda scary.” Liar. He didn’t even flinch once, but considering how you could feel goosebumps all over your body, it might not be that much of a bad idea.

You sat next to him, letting him hug you although you tried to keep your head up, as if by doing that you could gain some composure. Having a relationship a musician had its perks, but the full high quality surround sound system was not one of them, at least not in these situations when a whole movie is based in making you shit your pants with noises so when the hoarse rattle filled the room, you couldn’t help but to grip Seungwoo’s sleeve and slouching in a dissimulated way into his arms, your hands coming up to cover your face partially as the music increased, preparing for the jumpscare, but it turned out it was a fake move so you relaxed and got away from him only to let out a high-pitched scream when the real one came up.

“Fuck movie directors! What the fuck was that!” You shout in anger to the screen while being curled up against your boyfriend, his vibrating chest against the side of your face as he caressed your hair. “It shouldn’t be legal!”

“We can just change the movie.”

“N-No, I can finish it. I’m not scared, just frustrated at the incompetence of the editing–”

“It’s intentional.”

“Shut up.”

Ten minutes passed and no more scary parts came out, besides the movie was almost about to end so you eased in, laughing at yourself and your reactions. It wasn’t that scary, really, you could easily see some flaws here and there that made the film lose the realistic scary effect. Or so you thought until it finished with another fucking jumpscare and you turned off the TV, silence taking over as you saw your terrified face on the now black screen and Seungwoo looking to the side to not make eye contact with you.

“Babe–”

“I lost. Yeah, whatever, it doesn’t matter.” You let out a small humph and laid back, embarrassment running through your veins as you remember how much you insisted that you weren’t a coward to Seungwoo but now you felt so pathetic for showing him that side of you.

“You did so well, though.” You thought he would laugh again or something, but he was... praising you? “You watched the whole movie and endured the scary moments despite shaking as if you were jelly.”

“That was rude–” He stood and wrapped his arms around you as he kissed your forehead.

“My brave baby.”

You could sense the blood rushing to your cheeks, your head dropping on his chest as your heart exploded in thousand of small butterflies. How dare he be so cute and act all sweet towards you? His scent was comforting... Maybe this is how it felt to have a safe spot: right now, you felt like nothing could ever hurt you, nothing could make you flinch because you were sure he would protect you. His phone started ringing but he ignored it.

“I’m all good now, you should pick up.” You raised your face and gave him a soft smile. You went and sat in the sofa, barely listening to his conversation and focusing on his expressions, the way his voice sounded, his hands moving softly, his weight changing constantly from one leg to another until he hung up and came to you.

“They are asking me to go back.” Oh. “Are you fine with being alone?”

“I- Uh, yeah, yeah, I can manage to do that.” What were you going to say? ‘Stay with me, I’m fucking terrified a blood covered lady will come down the stairs!’?

“Remember, they are just actors. The make up was terrible, the fake blood too, it’s a curse so you would need to be in that place and you are not there, you are in this really nice apartment that smells wonderfully thanks to my candles, so everything will be alright, yes?” You nodded and he could see the evident lie. “I’m so sorry, babe...”

“Hey, I will be alright! It’s just one night, right? I can just grab a baseball bat and hit them with it.” He chuckled at your mimicking of the scenario before walking to the door. You held his hand instinctively, but simply smiled when he looked at you with big eyes.

“Are you sure that you will be ok?”

“Yes! Now go to work, you snoopy boy.”

He giggled and pecked your lips before getting out, you waited until he disappeared at the end of the hallway before closing the door and running to your room, covering with the blankets. Although in one of the scenes of the other movies that Seungyoun had shown you, the bed wasn’t really a safe place... Actually, the whole bedroom wasn’t a safe place. You got up again and sat down in the sofa, knees against your chest and putting happy music, but it just made you afraid of not hearing if there was any creepy sound around you.

Fuck. Why did you even try to pretend you weren’t afraid? What a terrible idea. Now you were all paranoid, staring at every corner of the room and to the roof whilst also being careful because... What if you saw something? What would you do? Die.

You heard a knock and almost shit your pants. The ghost didn’t knock on the door... Did it? Oh fuck, what if it learnt some manners? You were terrified to look through the peephole, so you decided to grab one of Seungwoo’s microphones as a weapon and opened the door violently to find a very surprised... Seungwoo?

“What are you doing with that?”

“... Hit Kayako?” He started laughing uncontrollably.

“Were you really going to- to hit someone with that? Oh my...”

“S-Shut up! What are you doing here anyway?”

“I went, told them I couldn’t stay tonight and rushed to come here. Have you been like this for an hour?” A-An hour?

“Uh... Maybe?”

“Jeez, you are adorable. C’mon, it’s late, lets go sleep.” He ruffled your hair, passing past you, closing the door and holding your hand as he guided you to the bedroom. You were about to say something but it felt right to just accept.

Now you were in bed, Seungwoo his strong body acting as an armor against any kind of evil out there and also against oxygen, your face being fully buried in his chest, its gentle movement and the sound of his breathing functioning as a calming draught.

“Can you put some music?” Your muffled request made him smile, his hands ceasing to caress your hair only to grab his phone.

“Oh, found the perfect one.”

You felt like punching him as Thriller by Michael Jackson started playing.

Ok but he’s a Capricorn (Sun and Mercury + Jupiter and Thalia in Sagittarius) and I’m sure he would pull off some terrible joke like that one, I hate him.

~Nani

unedited

[andiandyandee]

We Are Going To Be Friends Pt 13 (The End)

Fuck. Fuck me sideways I made myself cry writing this and I’m upset and feel free to yell at me in my asks because I deserve it because FUCK. 

Tag List: @datfearlessfangirl​ @princemesscharming​ @illogicalthinking​ @holliberries​

Here’s The Series on Ao3 | Here’s the Last Part | Here’s the First Part

I’m actually very sorry, but here’s the last chapter:

     “Listen, We are living in what can only be described as the future. The first probe to enter into orbit around Mercury, they just found a tiny Moon orbiting Pluto! They found like, dozens of planets within the “Habitable Zone”. Fermi’s paradox can kiss my ass, we’re absolutely about to find aliens.”

     “Great, Buzz-Kill Aldrin. Now will you stand still? We have a practice dinner for your brother’s wedding in like, a week, and if you don’t stop moving this damn suit is never going to be tailored properly.”

     “I don’t know why I can’t just wear it like it was, anyway. It was fine.” Logan gave Roman a look that was both a pout and a glare.

     “Babe, I love you, but if you think this thing fits fine I’m gonna have to take you to get new glasses. It barely touches you.” 

     “You didn’t say anything about it not fitting me when I bought it!”

     “You’ve lost twenty pounds since you bought it, so I can’t imagine why it doesn’t fit you.” Remus’s voice snarked from the doorway. “Really, who could guess as to why it looks two sizes too big. Must have grown in the wash.” Logan groaned, and Roman swatted at him to keep him from moving.

     “It isn’t my fault I’m losing weight again. Why must I be punished?”

     “This isn’t a punishment you drama queen-” Logan kicked Roman’s shin “Ow! Stop! Moving!” Logan just smirked in response. “But you won’t let us buy you a new one, so we have to get this one to fix you like it’s supposed to. Unless you plan on gaining weight before the thirteenth.” Logan pouted, but let Roman continue pinning the jacket. Once they had finished, Roman allowed Logan to take it off and relax, which immediately led to him debating Remus on which space discovery in the last seven months had been the best. 

     And then, right as Logan began to argue with Remus’s frankly very good point that sending probes to mercury was cooler because it was something done actively, rather than just spotting something, Logan’s phone rang. It was his mother, so he rolled his eyes and declined the call. He hadn’t even gotten a word out before it rang again, and he groaned loudly before answering.

     “What, Mother?” He spat out the question as if it was a curse, and Roman and Remus both wrinkled their noses when they realized who it was. Their expressions turned to panic when Logan went ghostly pale at whatever she said, and bolted from the room. 

     They found him outside, about two blocks from the house, among commotion of a car accident. They both looked at what almost certainly used to be a car but now resembled a pretzel in shape and a burning scrap pile in everything else, and looked at Logan, who was screaming and trying to get past the cops towards the crash. Fire fighters, cops, and an ambulance all had sirens blaring, and Logan was still yelling when they pulled who could only be Larry out of what remained of the car. Roman nearly fainted, and Remus let out a hollow cry, but their reactions were nothing compared to Logan’s, who took one look at what was left of his brother, burned skin and scraps of a purple jacket stained red, both legs bent at unnatural angles and just barely breathing, and he immediately stopped fighting. The cops who were holding him back seemed to be completely supporting his weight as they lowered him to the ground. Even through the abrasive lights, the twins could see the way Logan had gone from milk pale to grey, the only color left in him the blotchy red on his face, and he was crying, mumbling something that they couldn’t hear from where they stood. The cop looked up and saw them, waving them over insistently. Larry- or perhaps his body- had been put in the ambulance, and it had sped away. By the time Roman and Remus reached Logan, another paramedic was kneeling in front of him, trying to get him to focus. Logan was staring blankly towards the spot the ambulance had been, and now that they were closer they could hear his mumbling, which turned out to just be “That’s my brother” over and over. 

     When they made it to the hospital, Logan’s parents were already there. The police had called them, and offered to drive Logan to the hospital to meet them there, but Roman had declined, and taken Logan back to the house to put on shoes and a jacket before Mr. Sanders had driven them there. As soon as they stepped through the doorway, Mrs. Starr had burst into tears, and grabbed Logan. Remus and Roman were frankly too busy being surprised that she didn’t reek of cheap liquor to be surprised that Logan hugged her back. 

     Logan explained, in the car, that His mother had called to make sure Larry had made it to the Sander’s house, because she heard from a neighbor that there had been an accident on the road Larry would have taken. Logan had of course, presumed the worst, and despite his pessimism rarely being accurate, it had been this one time. Now, though, all Remus could think about what it would mean for Logan if Larry didn’t pull through. Roman was on the phone with Dot, who was supposed to be picking up her veil, explaining as gently as he could what had happened, and Logan’s father was stock still, standing with his wife and son and just barely shaking. 

     A doctor came through the doors, and at the pale and defeated look on his face, the three Starrs all held an identical look of horror. Roman felt sick as the doctor apologized, and his voice broke when he told Dot not to come. He told her to go home, and he apologized, and he hung up. He had barely put the phone in his pocket when Logan wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck, tucked his head into his shoulder, and whispered brokenly “He didn’t make it” before Roman felt him collapse. Roman held him, supporting his weight and gently moving to the sofa, and he only briefly registers that Logan’s parent’s actually seem totally okay with the contact, neither looking put out at all, which shocks him if only because he expects them to have no redeeming qualities. They sat near Roman and Logan, and didn’t quite acknowledge anything, and the waiting room mourned in near perfect silence.

     Logan was packing his clothes while Roman tried to convince him he didn’t need to leave, that he could stay with them as long as he needed, but it was a battle already lost. Logan hadn’t spoken, hadn't eaten, and had hardly slept since they returned home from the hospital three nights prior, and when his mother had called, asking him to come, he simply mumbled ‘of course’ and started packing. Roman didn’t know what to do, had no idea how to help as Logan moved mechanically around the room. 

     “I know you feel like you need to be there, Lo, but I don’t know if that’s a great idea. You were on such bad terms, and being in that house can’t be good for you. Please, just stay one more night, and Dad can drive you there in the morning.” Roman was nearly begging at this point, uneasy with the thought of being away from Logan right now. Logan only shook his head, and smiled sadly at Roman.

     “She’s right, Ro. I need to go home.” 

     When Roman heard that, heard Logan refer to what had always been his ‘parent’s house’ as home, he knew that whatever fire and spite had kept Logan going for so long had fizzled to nothing more than smoke. So when his boyfriend, who looked less and less like a person and more like a walking corpse every minute lifted his bag and pecked him on the cheek before leaving, Roman let him go.

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG // CHAPTER 19

IN THIS EPISODE OF MURPHY IS SCREAMING, CONSTANTLY, TRAPPED IN THEIR PERFECT NIGHTMARE:

Glynda was saying: “I know we aren’t friends. I know we aren’t partners. I know you’re a criminal. But—I think I can trust you. I think I have to trust you, even if you’ve done awful things before.”

EVERYTHING GOES WRONG BUT LIKE SOMEHOW WORSE THAN EVER? LIKE A WHOLE NEW BRAND OF LOW. LIKE CINDER’S GOT A PICKAXE AND THE CENTRE OF THE PLANET CALLS FOR AID.

IT’S BEEN A WHILE HUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but dw offal hunt, like the rising of the sun, the arrival of winter, and the eventual downfall of capitalism, always returns. so lets go.

(i just quickly reread chapter 18 liveblog to remember what happened and Ah Yes I Remember Now. The Suppressed Memories)

The place was emptier without Glynda. Quieter.

/gunshot oh we’re in danger right out of the gate huh? we got some yearning right out here? right now? how quickly the turn do tables.

Cinder appraised her work, holding the beige coat up to the light and squinting.

man i forgot. i FORGET. how much i just love cinder in this fic. sometimes she kinda zones to the back of my mind where she sits waiting for me to start thinking about her again, but now i remember that this cinder is Peaque. look at her GO, minding her own BUSINESS. im proud of her. does she know i love her.

It didn’t take long to don her new, fire-proofed clothes.

in another world, in a more comical plot, she used asbestos. it didnt go well.

The subtle warmth of the Dust teased tension from Cinder’s stiff muscles, even as she marvelled at the strangeness of her own bedroom’s space. It seemed bigger now than it had the last two nights.

h

She chose not to dwell on it.

h

i choose to dwell on it! ME!!!! I CHOOSE TO DWELL ON IT. HEY CINDER WHAT THIS GAY SHIT. hello. ma’am. can we look deeper into this. i, for one, would like to, and i, for one, think its of value to think abt this. that said, small segue

Quietly, Cinder murmured, “I didn’t freak out.”

THE FACT SHE SAYS IT ALOUD LIKE EM AND MERC CAN HEEEEEEAR HEEEEEEEER i am. INFATUATED with this family. cant wait for the 100k spinoff thats basically an elongated beach episode where they go to like. alton towers. or butlins. six flags??? thats a thing in america right??? anyway. beach episode. call me. (wink wink nudge nudge push push shove shove)

 We had to stop back in because Merc left his favorite binder, and it was 2 in the morning, so it was easier to crash here for the night than mess with the ship’s autopilot.

them,,, THEM!!!! mercury is just a son and childe. thast it. he canot change this. i love these kids so much i am SHAKING THE MONITOR RN!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAA

Stuck here in one of the homes they’d shared, Cinder missed them terribly. Missed the sound of their voices and the easy comfort of their presence. Finding the time to contact them had been difficult, between managing Glynda and Hati both, but Glynda was gone, and she’d sent Hati onwards to Atlas. She remembered her call with Emerald, before arriving in Umbraroot; she knew it had not soothed her or her fears.

im sorry was this chapter targeted at me, specifically, as a human being on planet earth? GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS FAMILY!!!!!!!!! THIS WONKY OLD BANDAGED UP FAMILY UNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! i thrive every time they are mentioned on the page. it is a blessing. my succulents grow stronger each time they show up.

“No,” Cinder argued softly, “I had to. Mercury, you deserve to hear it from me as well. I am sorry. And I am promising you: I’ll come back.”

For a long, heart-wrenching moment, he was completely quiet. It was good that Cinder was alone in the apartment; laying herself bare like this would be unbearable with an audience.

GODDDDDDDDDDD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

i am OBSESSED WITH THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT THIS UNTIL I D I E. of all thing the remaster does better than og, this is just. SPEEDING AHEAD. this whole CONFLICT this whole MESS just makes everything so much RICHER its like when u splash some wine in yr fancy food or stick some cinnamon on yr favourite desserts u dont NEED TO but it adds that lil SOMETHING,,, that little KICK that just ties the flavour profile together and in this case ofgughugguhu it just GIVES SO MUCH. im making SNOW ANGELS in the WORDS on the PAGE.

“Mercury. If I could prove it to you, I would. But you have to—trust me. For just a while longer.”

“It’s getting harder,” he said. He didn’t sound like he was lying just to hurt her. That wasn’t spite. That was honest anger. And it made her feel like dirt.

im less picking these for specific instances of like, things i want to say, but more just because bits of this r rly just so /chef kiss. cinder has these.... endearingly (take that whichever way u like) human qualities in OG to rly make u realise she had ties to add to her #Doubt but the remaster is just AMPING it up and u FEEL IT and ive never been more SYMPATHETIC to a round-faced sinnamon bun of assholery and fire id DIE for cinder fall and this is a fact PUT IT ON MY GRAVESTONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Is there anything you need?” What was this? Cinder could barely focus on her words. It felt like... “Anything? At all?”

“We’re fine.”

“Mercury, wait please—” She was losing him. “I think—”

“Just hurry up.”

The line went dead.

this place is not a place of honor.................. no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here........................ nothing valued is here................ IM DYING

Cinder began to type out her response, and that was when the nausea really kicked in. 

[...] 

She recognized this now.

Glynda.

stress stress stress stress STRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

There shouldn’t be anybody. Cinder had done everything in her power to cut Glynda from people who would interfere. To isolate her. Make it easier to bring her to Atlas, to the frozen north, to her mother and the machine…

Cinder’s esophagus quivered; furiously, she shut her eyes and thought of nothing.

god cinder don’t remind me that you’re an asshole and dipshit and also a moron im trying to be NICE and CARE ABT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP REMINDING ME YOU’RE A PIECE OF SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

FOR FIVE MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The front door clicked open.

Cinder couldn’t have said how much time had passed, only that it had passed slowly. What she did know was that it was Glynda returning, the sensation of boils bursting wafting off her soul. It crawled over Cinder’s flesh. She curled in on herself.

There were mites under every nailbed. Salt in her weeping mouth.

offal hunt’s brilliant use of this horror aspect is something i have tried previously to emulate and here’s a fact, take it from me: that shit is HARD. offal hunt consistently able to whack those real nasty, really Disgusting vibes on the head EVERY TIME is a work of art. i mean, kc and diesel do not fuck around, and therefore i am NOT surprised, but it’s only when u try this shit yourself that you realise: this is hard! this is difficult! it’s a huge testament to how GOOD this fic is in every way. also this whole fucking body horror aspect is something i didnt know this fic needed, but it did, and here we are. 

Thickly: “Things were going okay. If you hadn’t gotten nasty, I might have smoothed things over. I could have fixed things with my son.”

with my son

with my son

with my son

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I CANT TAKE IT EVERY TIME ITS TOO MUCH FOR TO BEAR I CANNOT HANDLE IT I CANNOT STAND IT ITS LIKE BEING SHOT JUST DIRECTLY IN MY DICK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

im like sweating rn

Glynda said, “I’m scared.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to tell you.”

I SAID IM SWEATING

Glynda asked, “Are you lying to me?”

And Cinder said, “What?”

“About me. About Witches. About Ozpin—” Cinder’s guts went sour. “—About anything. I need to know if I can trust you.”

I SAID I! AM! S W E A T I N G

“I know you’ve lied to people. Hurt people.”

Adrenaline and the image of her kids’ faces behind her eyes made a potent, sick cocktail. “—Not. Now.”

so lets like double back to when i said hey was this chapter written to target me specifically and as it turns out, yes. yes it was. yes it was and as MUCH AS I AM LIVING FOR THIS MOMENT THIS SWEET BUILDUP THE EXPLOSION AND THE CRATER IT ALL LEAVES BEHIND

I

AM

so this next bit is like. i cant really quote one section but as i was saying in Vague DMs, this whole bit feels like wading through mud. usually if you say something consumes energy to Read it’s in a Bad Way when yr bored but this is more like. you Feel cinder all over everything feels so sluggish and it’s like dragging your own corpse around as you try and leave and you’re TIRED and your LEGS HURT and you’re kinda thinking god what if i just fell face down for just a moment of my LIFE.

The putrid weight of Glynda’s soul filled the room until there was no space left for her.

it’s like being trapped in a sauna, like getting stuck in a humid waiting room. where do you GO. what do you DO. god this whole section is fantastic and offal hunt NEVER fails to fucking nail the Vibes but reading it is HARD. i literally keep having to stop and breathe like ive been holding my breath. jesus h christ.

a small intermission for a mood:

“Get fucked.”

back to regularly scheduled hell

Out of the bedroom. Down the hall. The walls were sweating with heat. She tasted smoke. 

i love that i just said how i feel like im trapped in a sauna and it turns out: thats because me and cinder both, baybee!!!! hahahaha help

Glynda’s soul chewed her to the marrow. “Move, Glynda.” 

cinder being hunted at the start of this fic: teehee! im running away! now im gonna getcha! heehee! arent i clever :) cinder being hunted now: this uh. this blows, actually,

Cinder’s pulse roared in her ears. Her hands twitched. She smelled Ochre Brown’s round face melting off. His wide smile shattered with each of his teeth, going black and popping like corn.

this chapter is probably my favourite so far for this blending of so many elements. i cant even begin to like. THINK STRAIGHT about how all of this is tying together. the lore. the THEMATICS. like i said this character rly is just Rich with what og lacked and oh is it RICH. im gonna read this chapter in future and see so much that i know ive already missed. holy shit.

“Ms. Fall,” she said. “The White Fang requires your presence immediately.”

NOT NOW

Cinder stood there looking at it for a moment. Her thoughts were slow. Copper-tinged. Something small and indulgent whispered to her through the blood-fog.

It was obvious enough what would happen if she got into this car. The driver would take her to a secluded place, where she would be ambushed by a squadron of battle-hungry White Fang grunts.

They’d try to take her down. And she was a killer, wasn’t she? Ochre Brown wailed in her ears with every thump of her runaway heart. Her hands itched for action; her teeth, for blood.

She’d burn them black.

never mind! you are already dead,

She thought about Glynda. About her saying that if there was trouble with the Fang, she wanted to come. That she would fight for Cinder.

She thought of Glynda’s question: What aren’t you telling me about Ochre Brown?

Yeah, fuck that.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A MOMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! MORE MOMENTOUSLY: WHAT A CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is EASILY my favourite chapter so far. EASILY. everything about this was peak offal. the relationships. the dynamics. the dialogue. the vibes. the Grossness. the fighting. the EVERYTHING. this is some other level and its BITCHIN. PEAK. that said im now very tired. im going to have a cup of tea and Consider Things for a few hours. brb.

[p4nkow]

You take my breath away - Part I

As soon as this idea popped in my mind I couldn’t resist not to write it down. The title of course is inspired by a Queen song — which I suggest you listen if you still haven’t done it — but I need to clear some things out. 

While reading this fic you need to pretend that Dominique was given much more space on the storyline, just like to the other love interests of the boys. Of course it is just fiction, even though I tried to make it as realistic as possible. The dates are pretty accurate, too, but I know it might seem a bit confusing so if you have any questions or if you’d like to let me know what you think of it just know that my DMs and Inbox are always open :) 

This is a slowburn fic and I believe it’s really important to chronologically follow all the events of their story before diving into the present day drama. ;)

Summary: reader has always dreamt of being an actress and she gets the chance of a lifetime when she’s cast as Dominique Beyrand in the infamous biopic about the legend himself, Freddie Mercury. But what will happen when she gets to know better the man who plays his love interest in the movie, Roger Taylor? Will Ben and Y/N’s story be as lucky as the one of characters they portray or will they be starcrossed lovers? Because it happens that things might get complicated because of Ellie, Ben’s long-term girlfriend.

New York City - present day 

“Y/N, over here!”

“Is it true? Is there going to be a Bohemian Rhapsody sequel?”

“Y/N! Hey, Y/N! Just a few questions!”

“Are you and Ben Hardy dating?”

All those flashing lights blinded you for a couple of seconds, forcing you to blink a frenetically. Your manager, a redhead named Callie, grabbed you firmly by your arm, leading you towards the entrance of the TV-studio. The fans were screaming your name and you couldn’t help but wave at them, causing them to cheer even louder. You hated the fact that they were forced to remain behind the fascinators, but it was for your own security. You apologetically smiled at them before following Callie inside the building. You let out a sigh as soon as the doors closed behind you, finally being able to breathe again and relax.

“You okay?” Callie gave you a quick look from above her shoulder but you noticed she was worried, so you nodded to reassure her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” From where you were standing you could still hear the fans screaming your name and you turned towards the door to give a better look at the crowd. You’d never get used to it.

“The boys are already here. Look, over there.” Callie tapped on your shoulder and you turned around, looking at the spot she was pointing at. Her red hair caught the attention of those presents but she didn’t seem to care. “I’ll go take a look at the schedule. Please don’t disappear.”

As you watched her walking away you decided to join the boys, but not without taking a deep breath first. Joining the boys would’ve meant to meet Ben again, a concern which had kept you awake all night.

When you got the role of a lifetime in one of the most eagerly awaited movie of the year, you didn’t count the fact that you’d constantly be on the spotlight.

When you were young you dreamt of being an actress. Needless to say you annoyed your mother to death by performing movie dialogues and God knows how many soliloquies she was forced to hear.

You considered yourself lucky for succeeding in achieve your dream — your annoying monologues had led you to something greater. The day your manager called you to announce you’d been cast in a Hollywood movie you cried your eyes out. And the proud look in your mother’s eyes — oh man, you’d remember it ‘till the day you died.

The infamous movie which had been your springboard to Hollywood was a biopic about Freddie Mercury called Bohemian Rhapsody. Of course you knew who Freddie Mercury was: you’d grown up blasting Bohemian Rhapsody in your bedroom, annoying the neighbours by doing so — who didn’t miss the chance to complain about it with your mom almost every day.

The idea of being cast as Dominique Beyrand, Roger Taylor’s first wife, made you feel ecstatic at first.

But then you realised the greatness of the situation and you freaked out.

What if you screwed it up?

What if you didn’t get along with your cast mates?

What if Dominique wouldn’t like your portrayal of her?

The idea of playing a living person terrified you, but all your fears slowly disappeared during the first week of filming.

You had the chance to meet your cast mates during the first table read, where you recognised some familiar faces. Even if that had been two years ago, you remembered that day as if it was yesterday.

London - September 7th, 2017

The room was filled with strangers, who were all chatting to each other. The table read was a perfect occasion to know better those who were going to be your cast mates and you were more than happy to recognise some of them.

You were thrilled by the fact that Rami Malek was going to play the legend himself, Freddie Mercury. You’d seen some of his works and you were a huge fan of Mr. Robot, the TV show in which he played the main character. You couldn’t wait to see him in action and for sure you just couldn’t ignore all the looks he was throwing to a blondie standing close to the window, chatting with another girl who you didn’t recognise. You could swear you’d seen the blondie somewhere but you really couldn’t recall.

You also recognised the man who played the Sgt Charlie Nelson in Midsomer Murders, Gwilym Lee. And it was a challenge for you not to fangirl over him — you and your mother were crazy about that show. You never missed an episode.

Among the other unknown face you spotted the guy who played one of the main characters in Downtown Abbey: Allen-something.

He was sitting right next to a man who had a familiar face to you, but given all the anxiety and enthusiasm of the moment you couldn’t really recognise him. His shirt read: “Dinosaurs are dino-mite!” And you couldn’t help but chuckle, but you couldn’t understand why he was wearing a hat.

As you gave a quick look at the rest of those presents your eye was been caught by a blonde, handsome guy. He was chatting with the dino-guy, who you later found out was going to play the bassist, John Deacon, but God, even his left side made you feel things.

You weren’t sure you’d seen any of his works but you were definitely willing to know him better, given that according to the sign placed right in front of him, he was the one who was going to play Roger Taylor, your love interest in the movie.

You were more than aware that to know better those people you had to actually have a conversation with them, but you were too nervous to do that so you were just leaning against the wall, casually sipping your cappuccino while giving a better look to the script. You were involved in reading your lines when you noticed someone approaching you.

The blonde Adonis slash the fake Roger Taylor was standing right in front of you, holding a bottle of water in one hand. Being this close to him gave you the chance to give him a better look. His features were delicate but his body... oh, his body. He was hot, a perfect representation of the greek god Apollo. You didn’t get the exact color of his eyes at first, it was a shade of green so clear that you found difficult just to look away.

“You must be Y/N.” His voice was deep and hoarse, very much different from what you expected and for sure very much different from Roger’s, too.

You shook his hand with a smile, managing to hold both the cup and the script with one hand only. His touch was nice and gentle and not sweaty and unpleasant at all. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Ben.”

Ben. Short and concise. He definitely had a ��Ben’ kind of face.

“So, it seems that we’re gonna be a couple.” Probably it hadn’t been the best way to break the ice but he smiled anyways. He stuck his tongue out while doing it and you thought it was the hottest thing ever.

“It looks like that, yeah.” He lowered his gaze to the script before looking back at you. “Could I have seen you somewhere before? Your face looks familiar.”

“Unlikely. Uhm— that’s my first movie ever, actually. I’ve been doing theatre most of my life.” And you cleared your throat, trying to relax in his company. He wasn’t intimidating or anything, you just had to know him better. You had the feeling that you’d spend an incredible amount of time with him on set.

“Theatre?” He asked in an amazed tone. “Wait, is there any chance you were involved in the adaptation of Les Misérables?”

Was there any chance for him to be interested in theatre? You didn’t know anything about him so never say never. “If you’re talking about the one of the South London theatre then yes, I played Éponine.”

As his smile grew wider his green eyes seemed to light up. Aaand there it was again, that goddamn tongue. “That’s where I remember you from.”

His excitement was captivating and because of that you couldn’t help but smile back at him. “I don’t remember you in the company, though.”

“Oh no, no”, He hurried to say. “I haven’t done theatre since ages, but my girlfriend played the role of Cos... Cosette? Is that right?”

His girlfriend.

Of course he had a girlfriend, you shouldn’t even be surprised. You tried not to seem too caught off guard by hearing his words and you took a sip of your drink to temporise. “I vaguely remember her, yeah. Y’know, we didn’t have any scenes together”, You lied. You remembered her perfectly, to be honest. And she was very talented. And very lucky too, now that you knew she was dating Ben.

He nodded in understanding and you both turned towards the door as soon as you heard the voice of the director, who was calling the attention of those present. He genuinely smiled at you before going back to his seat.

You took yours too, which happened to be between the blondie — who grinned at you and introduced herself as Lucy Boynton — and Gwilym Lee. Ben’s seat was right in front of yours and you gave him a thankful smile when he grinned at you in sign of support.

You remember that the exact same day Dr. Brian May himself posted a picture on Instagram of the full cast taken right after the ending of the table read. You were standing between Priya, the girl who played Kashmira Bulsara — Freddie’s sister — and Gwilym, whose arm surrounded your shoulders. You were all smiling at the camera and it was one of your favorite memories. 

The caption read: “We’re making a movie !! It’s finally official. These great guys are already living and breathing their roles as us in our youthful prime. The Bo Rhap ship is now sailing under her own steam. Bon Voyage to all who sail in her ! So proud to see this fabulous team go forward. Honoured! Bri.” It was a very special picture and now, almost two years later, you had it framed.

After the table read it took the crew only two days to list the shooting schedule but you started filming only two weeks later, when the director had finally taken all the shots needed to recreate the infamous Live Aid.

And that’s how you met Ben Hardy.

London - September 27th, 2017

It was the fourth time Rachael politely asked you to stay still but doing it while having a conversation with Joe — also known as Dino-boy — was a difficult challenge. Maybe pissing off the hair stylist during your very first week on set wasn’t the best was to start that journey.

You heard a loud ‘chop’ as another strand of your hair fell on the ground. Moreover, that day you finally understood why Joe was wearing a hat during the table read: he had a bloody perm, which made him look like a mushroom. A very big one.

“So what is it about?” He was really interested in understanding the dynamics of ‘Love Island’ and you couldn’t believe he’d never watched a single episode of it.

“I already told you, Joe!” Rachael gave you a death stare through the mirror when you turned towards him, clearly amused by his words. You murmured an apology to her before focusing back on Joe. “A group of people—”

“Singles?” You were about to nod at his question but you knew that would’ve pissed Rachael off, so you replied “Yeah. They live in this beautiful villa in Mallorca, constantly under video surveillance.”

You heard another ‘chop’ and then one more. You tried not to think about your hair, focusing on Rachael’s gentle hands stroking what was left of it. Joe took a sip of his Coca-Cola, his eyes narrowed as he was thinking. “Basically it’s another version of the Big Brother.”

He was really involved in your explanation and you could see it by the look on his face. His brows were narrowed as he tried to understand, but you couldn’t take him seriously with that perm of his. “Nope, ‘cause they’re coupled up with someone and at the end the only couple left wins lots of money. I can’t believe you never heard of it!”

And the following hour was spent explaining the dynamics of the show to Joe under the amused but focused look of Rachael. When she was finally done with your hair you slipped your fingers through it. It was way much shorter than before but Dominique had it like that back in those days. You could’ve definitely grown used to it.

“You’re lucky, y’know?” Joe looked at you with the corner of his eye while you were heading to the set. You raised your gaze from the script just to give him a questioning look. “Huh?”

It was weird seeing him in the typical 80s clothes but that was exactly what you were wearing, too. The delicate fabric of your dress caressed your legs as you walked on the grass. “At least Dominique didn’t have a perm.”

His exasperated look made you chuckle while he threw his arms in the air. You moved a strand of hair off your face as he opened the door of the building for you. “Oh, c’mon. Don’t be such a drama queen. You’ll cut it sooner or later.”

As soon as you stepped in heard loud noises of hammering and shouted commands — they were still building the set, which happened to be the Taylor’s house. 

“Oh, yeah. But I’m afraid to know what’ll come next.”

“Nothing can be worse than that perm.” You giggled at the sight of his funny face and in that moment you spotted Ben in one of the corners, accompanied by a blonde. “I had forgotten Ellie was coming to set today.”

Joe gave you a questioning look before keep checking the shooting schedule. You nodded towards the pair, who was standing not so far away from you, and Joe followed your indication. “Ben’s girlfriend”, You clarified.

You lowered your gaze to the script you were holding, giving a last look to your lines as Joe asked you “D’ya know her?”

“Barely”, You lied, but luckily Joe didn’t know that. The two of you approached them and you genuinely smiled.

“Hey man” Joe said in a cheerful tone and Ben gave him the biggest smile while Ellie, who was giving her back to you, turned around.

“Hey buddy, Y/N. That’s Ellie.” He placed a hand on her back as she extended her hand towards Joe first, murmuring “Nice to meet you”, and then at you. Her face lit up when she finally recognised you. “Y/N, what a surprise!”

You shook her hand and smiled at her but then your gaze fell on Ben. He was wearing a wig, a very short one, but it looked good on him. The shirt he was wearing was a blue one with a tartan pattern, matched with a pair of very tight blue jeans and Adidas shoes. The perfect 80s style.

“Ellie, hey. It’s nice to see you again.” She wrinkled her nose as she smiled at you and Ben seemed really happy about the two of you meeting again. When you met his green eyes his smile widened and you felt his gaze studying your face.

“Your hair’s shorter.” You were flattered by the fact he noticed the change and you shyly smiled at him, voluntarily ignoring Ellie’s look.

You murmured a soft “Yeah” but Joe came in rescue, surrounding your shoulders with his arm and playfully squeezing your arm. “She wants to catch the essence of Dominique.”

“I can’t wait to see you in action”, Ellie said and you thanked her with a smile.

The truth was, you were nervous as hell. You were about to shoot your first scene ever and you were terrified you’d screw it up.

Ben, Ellie and Joe started a conversation about the building of the set when your phone rang, announcing a new message. It was from your best friend Laura, so you immediately unlocked the phone to read it.

‘Today is the day! Kick their asses, girl. Break a leg and please, not Ellie’s. Luv ya :) X’

You genuinely smiled at her words and you shook your head, amused by her insinuations. She knew all the story behind Ben and Ellie and to be honest you barely knew him, so there was nothing to be jealous of. So Ellie’s legs were just fine.

You put away your phone and tried to follow their conversation when the director called you and Ben to reach him. It was showtime.

Ben placed a kiss on Ellie’s lips before reaching you and starting to walk by your side. “I love this new hairstyle, it looks good on you.” You were caught off guard and you didn’t even had the chance to thank him because you were now in front of the director. You noticed, however, that he seemed pleased by the effect his words had on you.

“Okay, guys. I know this is your first scene together and you still need to get along, but try your best. I wanna feel all the frustration and despair of the situation. Y/N, if needed, don’t hesitate to improv. Give me goosebumps, ‘right?” And when you nodded in agreement you turned towards Ben, just to find out that he was already staring at you.

“If you’re gonna improv please don’t punch me.” His playful tone made you giggle as you both placed in your predefined spots. You were just a few inches away from him and by the way the was tapping his hand on his thigh you knew he was nervous, too. Despite that he didn’t miss the chance to reassure you. “You’ve got this.”

Ellie was standing right next to the director’s chair, her eyes fixed on Ben as the crew got ready to shoot the scene. Joe was standing on her side and he showed his thumbs up in sign of support.

You cleared your throat and you raised your chin to meet Ben’s blue eyes. The director was shouting commands through his megaphone and you narrowed your brows in a hurt expression just before he shouted “Action!”

And with the most dramatic tone you knew, you exclaimed “Roger, how could you?”

London - October 10th, 2017

As far as you could remember, Ellie was always around when it came for you and Ben to shoot scenes together. Not to mention all the embarrassment when you had to shoot a love scene, under Ellie’s observatory gaze.

“You nervous?” Ben must’ve noticed the way you were nervously tapping your feet on the floor. You bit your lower lip and slowly nodded, turning towards him. The wig he was wearing was a bit longer than the previous ones, perfectly nailing Roger’s look in the late 70s. He was wearing a half-unbuttoned black shirt and a grey jacket, which you remembered seeing in some old pictures of those days. You wondered if it was the original one, courtesy of Roger himself, or if it was an exact reproduction of it.

The dress you were wearing, on the other hand, came directly from Dominique’s wardrobe. It was a nice sensation feeling the silk against your skin.

“A bit”, You replied. There was no point in lying. It was your very first love scene for the cameras and having not only Ellie but also Roger and Dominique to witness it made you incredibly nervous. The warmth of Ben’s green eyes hit you like a running train when you met his gaze.

“Don’t mind them.” His words were nothing but a whisper now that he had come closer to you. “Pretend it’s just you and me.”

“It doesn’t help at all.” You grinned at him and immediately relaxed when he placed his hands on your shoulders, gently squeezing them.

“Guys?” The two of you turned towards Roger who, with the phone in hand, was standing right next to Dominique. You couldn’t even imagine how they’d be feeling at the moment, given that they were seeing someone portray a younger version of themselves. We were their alter-ego’s.

“Yeah?” Ben let go of your shoulders and you both turned towards them. Dominique’s friendly smile helped you not to overthink about the scene you were about to film, so you tried to avoid Ellie’s burning gaze and focus on her only.

“D’ya mind smiling at the camera?” Dominique asked pointing at Roger, who was smiling behind his phone.

“‘f course”, You replied with a smile and you moved closer to Ben. You remembered seeing a picture of a young Roger and Dominique wearing those exact same clothes hung in the costume fitting trailer, so shortly before Roger took the pic, you pretended to put a finger on Ben’s nose who, immediately understanding your intentions, parted his lips in a surprised look. Dominique bursted into laughter and you could be wrong but you noticed her eyes becoming glossy.

Not long after it was time to start filming and by taking a deep breath you reached your spot. Ben was standing not so far away from you and you noticed him grinning at Ellie before turning towards you. His smile grew wider and you tried to focus only on him when the director started to shout orders.

“Just relax”, He mouthed and Fletcher finally said “Action!”

It was like you were leaving your skin just to empathise with Dominique — and to be honest, that was the best part of being an actress.

You threw your arms in the air in sign of frustration as you thought about your next line. “I can’t believe I had to know it from John!”

Ben — or rather, Roger — took a step towards you, his green eyes so different from Roger’s yet so mesmerising were fixed on yours. “I was gonna tell you, love. I was just waiting for the right moment.”

You could feel Ellie’s gaze on you as you took a step towards him, your eyes narrowing in — fake — anger. “The right moment? There may not have been the right moment, Roger! For God’s—”

And Ben’s lips crushed on yours. They were incredibly soft and... kissable, of course. His touch made you feel things you didn’t want to feel, firstly because he was dating someone and his girlfriend was right there, watching the two of you kissing, and secondly, you barely knew him. But you’d be a liar if you denied the fact that you were attracted by him.

His hands cupped your cheeks as he started to gently move his lips on yours and you threw your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you. You heard the director murmuring orders from his chair behind the screen while you kissed Ben back.

“Lift her up”, you heard him say and Ben’s hands moved from your face to your body, gently caressing the curves of your body. You were still kissing him back, almost breathless, when he lifted you up by grabbing the back of your thighs.

You surrounded his hips with your bare legs and he placed a hand on your back to hold you. Your body was so pressed against his that you could easily feel his muscles under the shirt.

“Y/N, the jacket.” You followed Fletcher’s order and you backed away from his lips just the time to slip your hands under his jacket and quickly taking it off. It fell on the ground and Ben avoided it while recoiling towards the bed, just as Fletcher ordered.

His hands gently caressed your bare thighs and his touch gave you goosebumps. You could feel the corns in his hands due to the constant practicing on the drums so that he could properly prepare for the role.

Your hands gently caressed his neck while his hands moved to the zip of your dress, which easily opened before leaning you on the mattress.

“Look at her in the eyes”, Fletcher said, but there was no need because his eyes were already fixed on yours. And you hoped he was a terrific actor, even more than you thought, because if it wasn’t so Ellie wouldn’t have liked the look on his face while he was looking at you.

As you opened further your legs so that he could be comfy between them, his clothed hips pressed against yours. It took you all the strength you had in your body not to blush hard at the feeling of his crotch pressed against your right thigh.

Ben noticed the look in your eyes and he gave you an amused grin when the director shouted through his megaphone “And... cut!”

“Sorry”, He murmured while moving off you, sitting on the mattress right next to you. He offered you a hand which you gratefully accepted and you sat down. Fletcher stood up from his chair and while he walked towards you, you vaguely gestures towards your back and asked Ben “Could you gimme a hand?”

“‘f course.” You turned your back to him and his touch sent shivers down your spine while he lifted the zip of the dress.

“Amazing. Simply amazing.” The director started gesturing as he took off his headphones, his face lit up by a big, excited smile. “There’s no need to do a second shot. It’s perfect. Love your chemistry, by the way.”

If a look could kill, you’d be already dead by the hand of Ellie.

Later that night you were finally taking some rest in your trailer when you heard your phone buzzing. By unlocking it with a groan you found out that Roger had posted a picture on Instagram in which you were tagged. The pic in question was the one he had taken that afternoon on set — you were looking at the camera with the biggest smile while pretending to put a finger on Ben’s nose, but his gaze was on you. He was looking at you with the brightest smile you’d ever seen, his lips parted in a fake shocked reaction.

You genuinely smiled while reading the caption: “The talented @benhardy and @y/n doing me and Dom on the forthcoming Bio-Epic — Bohemian Rhapsody the Movie. Now this is cool!”

You immediately reposted it, not knowing that the web would’ve freaked out for days for that photo.

And the situation has stayed the same for another month or so, in which you’d grown closer to almost every cast member. Lucy was now like a sister to you and she was for sure one of the people who knew you better in the world.

But everything suddenly changed in November.

London - November 3rd, 2017

“Bloody weather”, You heard Lucy murmur as the two of you hurried to get back to your trailers before it started to rain. You went shopping for the upcoming Queen gig you’d been invited to that night and saying you were excited was nowhere near the truth. You were bloody ecstatic.

“Are you coming home for Christmas, auntie?” You looked at Lucy with the corner of your eye as the voice of your little nephew through the phone made your heart sank.

“Hopefully yes, lovie. D’you miss me?” Lucy gave you a nod when you finally got to her trailer and you waved her goodbye before rushing to reach yours before it started to pour.

“Yeah, so much. What’s my Christmas gift?” You let out a laugh as you closed the door behind you, sighing in relief for succeeding in avoiding the rain.

“What’d you like to get, Fra?” Your nephew — Francis — seemed to think about your question and you smiled just at the thought of him. You missed your family more than anything but thankfully you’d be seeing them in a month thanks to the Christmas break.

“Do I really have to choose?” His words made you giggle as you laid on your bed, eyes to the ceiling. “Would you like for it to be a surprise?”

“Yes, auntie.” But you were barely listening to him, given that someone was knocking on the door.

“I’ll call you later, love. I gotta go. Say hi to mommy for me.” After saying him goodbye you hung off the phone, placing it on the desk near the bed as you got up to get the door. The knocking was now louder and more persistent, a change which made you worry,

But you weren’t expecting what you saw after opening it. Ben was standing under the pouring rain, wet from head to toe. “Can I... Can I come in?” His voice was shaky and at first you thought it was because of the rain but as you moved aside to let him in, murmuring a soft “Yeah, ‘f course”, you noticed that he looked devastated.

You closed the door behind him and by doing so you moved closer to him, which allowed you to give a better look at his face.

His features were tensed and his brows had never been so narrowed. Wet strands of hair had fallen on his forehead but despite that you could easily see his green eyes. But their typical light had faded: they were incredibly red, full of sadness, and the look he gave you made you fear the worst.

“What happened?”, You asked in a whisper while placing a hand on his harm, trying to reassure him.

“I...” He rubbed his eyes while taking a deep breath and you raised a hand to drive the blond strands off his face. When his gaze met yours again you felt a sudden knot in your throat. “We’ve broken up, Y/N. Ellie and I just broke up.”

There will be a part 2 so if you wanna be added in the taglist just tell me :)

[itsakpopalypse]

Park Junhee Astrology : How he loves

A/N The last member in the set !!! also my bias and i am already combusting just thinking about this

as always there will be 18+ below the cut

pls his smile is sunshine i cannot breathe

OOOF MY BIAS 

IDK IF I  AM READY FOR THE FEELS 

but I am gonna try to be honest and go by the stars so heeeere we go

Virgo rising, Gemini sun, Pisces moon

let’s start by saying what a beautiful, intuitive split that is 

i am already soft

because your Virgo means he is a perfectionist  but he expects more of himself than anyone else 

so he might sound harsh, and in his head he probably is, except, he won’t say those things because his pisces moon won’t let him

so instead he will stop and think of the kindest way to say it

he is such a good leader and would be such an empathetic boyfriend whew

we stan HEALTHY COMMUNICATION 👌

So instead his Virgo will translate into being a soothing presence.

someone who seems like he has his shit together even if he doesn’t

really amazing at getting people to work together and think

so if he likes you he will be confident on the outside and inside he will worry about everything

Virgos and their attention to detail tho

so he is going to think of the most sincere way to confess

and you know with that Gemini Sun he has been flirting for ages

and you might even have an idea he might like you

but if you don’t act on it he is gonna think you have NO CLUE CAUSE HE IS SO SMOOTH LIKE THAT 

this man i stg

He will probably take you somewhere breathtaking

maybe the ocean or something

and then he will have some hand written lyrics he wrote just for you and he will have shaking hands as he recites them cause his voice is not working well enough to sing

he got choked up on the emotions and got shy

will low key be kicking himself for how cheesy it is but he won’t break eye contact no matter how embarrassed he is

will give bite his lip and wait for you to say something without breathing

please just tell him he is gonna pass out

Once he has a yes from you he will smile like the sun itself

the Gemini will pop out

inquisitive and happy and excitable and fun

he will be a bouncy baby

he’ll grab your hands and giggle and ask you if he can kiss your cheek and then when he does it he will full body wiggle and run away for a minute he is overwhelmed just give him a second to process

SO 

FULL 

OF LOVE

Pisces moon the man has been planning his dream wedding, marriage, and number of kids since he was like 14

he’s such a dad at heart and he will want to take care of someone

so he may not tell you immediately but  you’ll see the hints. 

he is casting longing glances at the baby shoes in the store and you are like

NO not yet okay

and he’s like a guilty puppy

what me ?? I wasn’t??

His mercury is Cancer so he CANNOT HOLD ALL THESE LEMONS FEELINGS 

He will get frustrated if you don’t empathize well

he is a fantastic communicator but if he is truly in his feels he is gonna need some time to chill before he explains because it is overwhelming

venus in Cancer

if you read Byeongwkan’s breakdown you know where that is heading

needy for your time

jealous if you spend too much away from his side

his Gemini balances that a bit since it’s a free spirited air sign

but he will have moments where he is like

you come here and sit with me or i will literally combust thanks

and will probably tug on your hand until you do

or do that cat like thing of just

being in front of whatever you were doing and irritate the shit out of you until you pay him attention

Mars is Taurus so artistic by nature and good with his hands

touch is a huge communicator and driver

he will be clingy but if you are clingy with HIM instead???

oooo

that is his KINK

give him forehead kisses and hold his hand YAS THAT HOW HE LIKES IT

YAS

reciprocate that affection hunny he will pop a boner in his heart, okay.

is more husband than boyrfriend

expect him to immediately start taking care of things 

not in a controlling way but in a worrying way

it’s second nature to him

Jupiter in Scorpio he wants to pull you apart layer by layer and know you better than you do

he wants to make you happier than you have ever been so so many questions to learn everything about you

they love psychology and it will help him understand you 

so when conflict arises he will be like look i understand why you are upset it’s because that one time when you were 15.....

he is so sweet and caring and wants to take care of your soul he is such dad ddy

someone get him away from me before i fight him

I AM A MESS

Gemini is an adventurous sign

this man wants to try EVERY kink that he can find that sounds hot to you 

like if you’re not into it that’s fine but Gemini’s are high key horny

sex drive is let’s see how many times we can get through before one of us passes out

with that Cancer venus that DADDY is coming with it

he wants control

he wants domination

but he wants you to fall apart begging for it

a TEASE

“Ask nicely, baby, and I’ll think about it.”

Loves a pillow princess

lay back and let him make you feel so good

he’s not the tallest guy okay and he’s a little insecure about it so if you are smaller that is such a kink for him

it won’t bother him if you’re not

he just will get horny AF comparing sizes if you’re smaller

look how cute your little hands are in mine

Lowkey loves to see you on your knees

if you beg and make it pretty he will reward you

probably let you palm him through his pants before the main event

but don’t open that belt unless he directs you to

he wants to state things clearly and with purpose and have you falling over yourself to please him

once he’s got you in the bed though

oh lord

he is a little rough but it’s in a needy way ya know

probably an ass man

so he’ll kneel at the end of the bed

grab you by your ass and drags you down the bed and up to his mouth

eats you half suspended in the air

nasty noises while he does

praising and body worship for sure

smirks down at you as you squirm in his grasp and tells you not to hold back 

wants to hear you scream his name

asks you to tell him who could fuck you like him

the right answer is no one

and he is fucking THRILLED by that

he’ll let you suck him but only if you are  D E S P A R A T E

likes to hit it from the back so he can push your head down and leave bruises on your hips

runs his hands down your spine and tells you how pretty you look being good for him

do not be a brat  repeat to not be a brat

he doesn’t put up with misbehavior and will either not let you cum at all or will make you cum until you cannot words anymore

likes to see tears stream down your face from overstim

Taurus mars means he is so thorough and he is so hands on get ready you are his to break and bend 

MAYBE okay don’t fight me on this MAYBE

maybe he has a breeding kink

he doesn’t want anything between you and he has already imagined your family

he is impatient and he wants to start right away

so after a discussion about it ,it’s coming out in the bedroom

“Gonna fill you up baby, can’t wait to make you so full.” 

“You like it when I fuck you raw baby? That’s right tell me how I make you feel”

if you cuss you get a slap to the thigh but he really likes it too

wants you thrashing under him incoherently

Mirror sex...

I said he’s kinky!

aftercare is a must

soooooooo gentle

takes a bath with you

probably gets turned on again and ooops time to finger you in the tub

listen

once everything is done and you are both satisfied

he is going to pull you into his arms and praise you until you sleep  and in the morning he has a cup of coffee and breakfast next to the bed but somehow you are still in his arms ??

a sneaky caretaker

i am so sOFT for him 

Okay !! 

A.C.E is done!!! I hope you have enjoyed the series!!!

I AM A MESS

Anyway who should I do next send me asks requests are OPEN

[gibmb]

Remnants-of-light ch 3 black rose

The chamber shakes and rattles, pebbles and stones fall from the ceiling after each heavy blow to the ground where Ruby once stood. Ruby jumps and Petal Bursts from platform to platform as the Nuckelavee Grimm lunges its arms at her just narrowly missing her. She alternates between using her Semblance and blocking attacks from Cinder and her lackys trying her hardest to find an opening to strike back. As she tries to Petal Burst away from another attack the Nuckelavee charges from the side roaring at her and slashing at her, Ruby blocks but gets launched back into a rock  and lets out a pained scream. Ruby slides down the rock slowly stunned from the force of the impact cinder letting out a low laugh. 

”Well well if I had known that ozpin was going to be sending you I would have worn something nice for the occasion." cinder comments cockily as she walked over a bow in hand "Though  I will say with what we're going to do to you I think this was the right choice." 

Cinder notches an arrow and draws it back slowly ready to let it fly through the air. Ruby’s angry glare only made cinders smile grow "Say hello to amber for me." 

Cinder releases the arrow but Ruby acts fast, using her Semblance to disappear into a cloud of Rose's flying past the Nuckelavee, pass by the arrow and straight past Cinder. 

Once past Cinder Ruby comes out of her Petal Burst with Crescent Rose up over her head ready to strike. Ruby brings down her weapon on a surprised Cinder cutting right down the middle of her form. Cinder’s form slowly split in two her eyes wide with surprise and horror at the sudden strike, but no blood comes from her. Cinder’s body begins to fade away into nothing causing Ruby’s eyes to go wide in shock and confusion. That confusion is quickly replaced by pain when the feeling of something hard and sharp goes through Ruby’s stomach. Ruby falls straight down for a minute before landing with a loud thud on the platform below, her weapon leaving her grip and skidding on the ground away from her.” well that was disappointing id think after all the times our little group has clashed  you'd remember poor ol emeralds gift  “ cinder said in a taunting tone “ you’re only hurting her feelings when you forget things like that you know” 

“ oh its fine after all she seems to forget a lot  and rush in i mean look at her” emerald gestures” not exactly the brightest person” emerald teased as she reloaded her weapon

Through gritted teeth Ruby rolled over towards her weapon sending pain shooting through her body. Bleeding over the rocky platform, she takes up her weapon to steady herself as she pushes up onto her feet. 

“Don’t underestimate me.” Ruby says through clenched teeth.

Ruby hold onto her wound glaring at Cinder’s group and their Grimm pet. She thinks about her next move, should she go for Emerald instead or even just take down the Grimm? She watches Cinder waiting on her to make a move before reacting.

“Afraid? Heh I don’t blame you.” Cinder says tauntingly “You are nothing to us alone after all. Where are the rest of your group anyways? Did they abandon you, poor dear.” cinder looks to emerald and mercury with a ruthless smile “I guess mine are more reliable and useful” 

“Shut up!” Ruby exclaims lifting her weapon. As she noticed more of the shadows began to appear on the upper levers of the cavern there gazes locked onto her  as if waiting for something.

Ruby swings Crescent Rose around pointing the barrel at the ground behind her and pulls the trigger to send herself straight at Emerald. Emerald gets caught off guard, stumbling back as Ruby kicks her down a level and landing on the platform again. She clutches her side in pain and swings her weapon at Mercury with her free hand. As Ruby expected Mercury blocks her blow with his leg and steps on the blade bringing it down to the ground. 

“Nice try red.” Mercury sneers.

“Wasn’t trying to hit you!” Ruby says slyly. Her hand drops to the trigger pulling it twice sending the blade of her weapon up from under Mercury’s foot knocking him off balance. He stumbles back near the edge before regaining his composure, but it was too late. Ruby goes into her Petal Burst and tackles him off the ledge and uses him as a kick off point to send herself up onto a higher ledge. Ruby lands on the platform ledge panting and holding her wound as her blood spilled onto the floor. Ruby was panting heavily her vision slightly blurring as she felt the ground shake behind her as  the ear piercing screech was let out by both of the nuckelavee ruby quickly  turned taking aim with her weapon and firing a shot tearing threw ones shoulder but not stopping it, as they charge ruby took a deep breath in her mind remembering all of the happy moments she could channeling it into energy before releasing the power of her silver eyes on the closest of the nuckelavee were turned to stone completely while the other only had it’s arm and some of the horses head turned to stone causing it to jump back in pain. It releases a pained growl as the light faded revealing Ruby looking ragged and exhausted. Glaring at the injured grimm the Nuckelavee looks at Ruby in anger just before a fireball slams into Ruby’s chest launching her to the side breaking her arua as she landed on the ground painfully  cinder claps her hands together slowly and tauntingly 

“What a wonderful attempt you even killed one of the grimm, but “ she smiles grabbing ruby's hair lifting her head up to look at her face to face ”a futile meaningless effort from a pawn of Ozpin’s and now you'll die here with nobody to mourn you” cinder chuckles but ruby growls at her before spitting blood in her face causing cinder to growl back at Ruby, she delivers a brutal punch to Ruby’s face before letting go and walking away with emerald and mercury walking over to her side. 

“So I think it’s time to finish our little play date.” cinder extends her hand towards Ruby another fireball forming in her hand as she looks to ruby ”I guess I’ll send you out just like Amber. As ashes in the wind.” As Cinder prepares to release the fireball in her palm Ruby closes her eyes  and readies herself for the end a voice speaks to her.

“ oh don't worry my sweet rose your time hasn't come just yet i still have use of you” Ruby’s eyes open wide as she glances around in confusion not knowing where the voice came from. The fireball comes right at her but before it could hit her and finish her off a mass of darkness appears before Ruby and the fireball collides with it. The mass begins to take form in front of her  and becoming solid as Ruby's vision cleared her eyes widen in shock and horror at what she saw. A large shadow mass stands before Ruby protecting her, the only thing she could think of to describe the shadowy mass was to call it a nightmare. The nightmare stood taller than anything she'd seen before and the weapon it held in its hand was a vicious looking axe of dark metal that complemented its dark bone like armor and white head which was looking at her “Don't worry Alak-Hul and Hashladûn serves me.“ the voice from before spoke to her just as the nightmares gaze turned from Ruby to Cinder and her entourage. 

“I’ve never seen one do that before.” Mercury says stepping back as the massive nightmare took a step forward before letting out a  ground shaking roar. Mercury and Emerald instinctively ready their weapons but a screech from the second nightmare that forms behind the one in front of Ruby. This nightmare floats in the air with its head glowing green and its boney body twitching almost uncontrollable, both of the nightmare’s gazes on the 3 of them “I think we may have gotten its attention.” Mercury adds.

Cinder and Emerald begin firing on the nightmares but to no avail. Cinder’s fireballs engulfed the nightmare in the front but it just shrugs the attack off. It doesn't even have a scratch or seem fazed by the attack. Emerald fires from her two pistols but the bullets just get absorbed or ricochet all across the chamber. A stray bullet even hits Mercury in his mechanical leg making him flinch back. “Watch your fire!” Mercury shouts. “Quit complaining and do something.” Cinder sneers.

Mercury charges the nightmare spinning around and planting his boot into the leg of the nightmare. The nightmare simply stands unfazed, simply looking down at Mercury’s leg. 

“That… did nothing?” Mercury says in surprise. 

The nightmare takes hold of Mercury’s leg and lifts him up into the air and slams him to the ground. The force of the impact knocked the wind out of Mercury’s lungs along with a little bit of blood from his mouth. It then drags Mercury on the ground and swings him back towards Cinder ripping his leg off. Mercury flies through the air colliding into Cinder sending her to the ground with him atop her. The nightmare begins to advance on Cinder’s group its menacing look sending fear into them as it came closer. A long black appendage comes out of nowhere grazing off the nightmare’s shoulder and impaling itself into the ground. The remaining Nuckelavee Lunges itself into the nightmare doing its best to fight. Seeing an opening Cinder grabs Mercury and drags him with her as she hurriedly gets to her feet and runs.

“This is our chance! Fall back… for now…” Cinder yells giving Ruby an evil look. 

The nightmare grabs hold of the Nuckelavee and slices its top half off of its bottom horse half then throws it to the side. The Grimm begins fading away into mist, by the time the nightmare looks back in Cinder’s direction she was gone. With Cinder’s group gone the nightmare turned fully to face Ruby. 

Ruby was breathing ragged looking at the large nightmare as it kneels in front of her lowering its head and as it did more shadows formed around it, their hazes solely on her as she slowly bled. As they surrounded her the second floating nightmare lowered in a prayerful posture as it set something down in front of her an object that she'd never seen before, as it was set in front of her the light of the cavern seemed to recede as if in fear of the object.

A small glowing device floats down, it has a form with many angles in a shiny chrome finish and with a small ball in the center that seems to act as an eye. The ball has a small dimly glowing red light in the center that seems to be studying Ruby. It’s outer parts begin to glow an even brighter blue as the device’s frame begins to spin and move around the eye like part. Against Ruby's better judgement she reaches towards the strange device the effort a great strain but the moment her hand touched the device her vision went white not from death but adjusting as it did she was shocked to find she was no longer in the cave but a massive garden with flowers of all types even some that she has never seen before. As she looked around she saw that she was on top of a tall pillar one of thousands by the looks of it as the pillars seemed to stretch on for ever all of them topped with flowers each one with their own gardens, as she looked around she saw a figure standing on the pillar she was on top of. The figure looking to the sun before it turned to look at her its body like that of the twin gods but different, it was a pitch black body but the limbs a ghostly glowing white and its eyes a deep red as his gaze locked onto Ruby his head tilted to the side "So... what brings such a lovely rose into my garden?"

[rosebelladonna]

That AU where they were partners... headcanons pls?

After Ruby tells her how she wants to be a hero and make the world a better place, Blake goes off the cliff planning on finding her.

Blake finds her easily and steps out in front of her while she's rushing about looking for Yang

Ruby is really quiet and shy while they look for the 'relics' and Blake is like "??? You're allowed to like. Talk yknow" and Ruby kinda blushes and goes "I...don't know how to hold a conversation with you..." and immediately Blake is like "Yes This Was A Perfect Plan" bc. Ruby is So Cute

When Ruby says they should hitch a ride on a Nevermore, Blake is just like "no you're absolutely right. lets go" bc truly? Blake is canonically always down for Ruby's schemes (except for at the beginning of v2 but she turned around p quick when the food fight happened)

just. so much slow blinking. and ruby picks up on that fast and does it back.

blake, soft smile, slow blink:

ruby: weiss,,,,,blake keeps blinking at me???

weiss: blink back, cats do it to show affection

ruby, blinking back:

blake: O///////O *runs away*

volume 2 is a lot of ruby being upset and jealous ab sun tbh. (just bc i feel like ruby is more predisposed to jealousy even if she doesnt realize the extent of her feelings)

when blake is overworking herself and doesn't want to go to the dance, ruby asks yang for advice on how to convince blake to go and yang is like "just tell her how much youd like to see her there!"

anyway where im going with that is ruby taking blake flowers and stammering her way through asking blake to the dance

blake is blushing and furious and asks if ruby is making fun of her or if sun set her up to do this and ruby is just like "no!!!!! i really want you to come to the dance and i especially want you to come with me!!!!" and basically they get kicked out of the library for yelling

blake rests up and meets ruby outside the dance and yang cheers and tells them how pretty they look

ruby clings to blake because she cant walk in heels and blake is just like "WHY AM I SO FLUSTERED BY THIS SHE'S JUST MY PARTNER. MY TEAM LEADER. WHY AM I BLUSHING!!!"

sun tries to cut in and ruby shoots him the nastiest glare. she doesnt know why either but SHE asked blake to the dance, dammit!

pyrrha and yang steal her away to dance with them in the end though and blake does dance with sun! she has fun! but she kinda misses how it felt to lead ruby in their awkward stilted dance (bc not being able to walk in heels is bad enough. trying to dance in them? eugh. hell.)

then weiss and yang both dance with blake and ruby steps out for a breath and so the dance arc goes about like it did in canon (with blake being Very Stressed when ruby comes back after disappearing for the last half of the dance and its much later than it should be)

i feel like the mountain glenn arc goes similarly, but with ruby actually listening to the rest of her team's conversation by the fire and her being the one to comment "youre not one to back down from a challenge, blake" and blake looks at her through the glow of the fire and she looks so sweet and sincere it nearly breaks her heart. ruby tells them to get some rest and that she'll wake the next person at shift change

and then yknow she gets caught by torchwick and goons

uhhh v3 headcanons include

ladybug going into the doubles match

ruby being the one framed (for injuring neo instead of mercury - em casts an illusion so that neo can still be the getaway driver)

blake being horrified bc like. ruby's emblem, dyed hair, speed, black + red aesthetic, red weapon and now her SWEARING this was an accident? its just too much.

but ruby's eyes are honest and so blake chooses to believe her and even does a little slow blink at her while yang wipes at ruby's face and promises to bring her back something sweet from the fairgrounds

yang + merc showdown happens in the tunnels to get to the other side of the arena after yang talks to velvet and realizes what the hell is going on during the penny pyrrha fight when she spots emerald

yang firing off shots at the nevermore in front of pyrrha and weiss rushing in with penny's sword to scream "get away from her!" (global warming? on MY ladybug blog? its more likely than u think)

blake is already calling her locker and trying to figure out how to get back to her partner

the blake adam fight happens in front of the tower and happens bc im shifting the timeline around to suit my needs

basically in my au here,,,,,,,,,pyrrha is taken to get the maiden powers earlier in the fall and cinder makes adam stand guard while she goes to get the wyvern

which means jaune calls the girls and wby goes to get pyrrha and then run into adam. blake even though she's terrified and not ready, tells them she'll hold him off. so then weiss and yang go off up the tower. (yang still loses her arm, cinder cuts it off instead)

the reason i changed it up like this? ruby stumbles on blake being stabbed and activates her eyes. the blast is so big it still takes out the wyvern and cinder. unfortunately it knocks ruby out but similarly to canon, blake leaves a copy of them and runs. adam flees when he realizes he has nothing else to do there (he does still promise to destroy everything blake loves starting with ruby but big blinding flash of light means he didnt get to)

qrow shows up and helps weiss bring pyrrha and yang (who are both injured and unconscious) down from the tower

sun sits by yang's bed until she wakes up and then tells her that blake left -- but he's going after her and asks her to tell ruby

pyrrha stays at the rose-xiao long house while recovering, weiss is taken away by jacques, blake runs, ruby leaves with jnr on their big journey and just. hopes she'll see everyone again

also when they get to the battle of haven, blake very quietly says "ruby?" and yang has to snap ruby out of her reverie. they fight alongside one another and when all is said and done she stretches her arms out to blake for a hug while she sits on the floor and blake rushes to her

(yang brought pyrrha along so jnpr has a big reunion and then both teams sink into a big group hug)

ruby tells blake all about her adventures with jnr and blake tells her about taking back the white fang (and about adam)

theres even more feeling behind ruby blasting the apathy when theyre about to get blake (and she gets a little embarassed when she's talking with maria and remembers that silver eyes are fuelled by love bc she activated them to save blake twice now)

adam v ladybug - ruby races through the woods and just comes over the cliff in rose petal form and slams crescent rose into his face

blake tells ruby how adam's semblance is similar to yang's but how he's super fast and ruby is just like "i can guarantee im faster" (canonically ruby's semblance is at least one part teleportation)

basically she uses a move like qrow did with tyrian and catch adam's sword in crescent rose. she then smashes her head into his face and he stumbles back and then blake jumps back up and kicks him in the back and he stumbles over the broken piece of gambol shroud and yeah they stab him.

they get back to find the leviathan and then it plays out basically how it did in the finale (but yknow with ruby and blake sitting together and yang gives ruby The Look™)

blake is freaking out bc she has no way to help and now the leviathan is staring ruby down

most of ruby's memories focus in on blake as something to activate her eyes and some of the bad memories is adam standing over blake at the fall and him throwing her off the side of the bridge

when ruby gets back into the airship blake is so relieved she kisses her and ruby is just like "aaaaAAAAAAAAAAA"

also ruby helps blake figure out what she wants to do to fix gambol shroud and plans it out with her so that when they get to a weaponsmith, all the plans are there

blake kisses ruby again after her haircut and ruby cant stop running her hands through it

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

Better Late Than Never

My last minute contribution of something that will not happen in COIE, but what’s fanfic for anyways?

AO3

Earth-73

This was not supposed to happen.

              Everything had been going perfectly when the GATE was first activated. They had expected it to stay that way, given they’d checked and double-checked all the parts of the machine. Still, something had gone wrong. Dr. Jackson had sent Thea to get her and Jax to help. When they arrived on the floor where the GATE had been built, the woman herself seemed to be struggling to put in the override codes. Her mother and Caitlin were struggling too to stop the impending disaster.

“Mom!” Lily Stein screamed, jogging forward before lightning crackled in front of her and put her to a stop.

“Lily!” shouted Clarissa as she and Jax’s mother looked up at the arrivals. “Get out of here!”

Jax was at her side, shaking his head. “You sent Thea to get help!”

“I thought we could,” Dr. Jackson’s face crumbled when she looked up at them. “But it’s too late. The energy is overloading. An explosion is coming. We can’t stop it- just prevent its direction. And we have to stay with it.”

Her eyes found Cait’s reddened ones before her fiancée sniffled and rubbed a sleeve over her face.

“Mom,” Jax shook his head. “No, we all need to go.”

“Someone has to redirect the power. We can’t get out through the lightning. I’m sorry.”

“No!”

“Just get out of here, both of you!”

“NO!” they screamed together.

“Lily, Jax, you have to-“

There was an explosion above the GATE. For two seconds, time seemed to freeze. Then it resumed to its speed, a pulse of energy surging out to hit the two young scientists holding on to try and shield each other.

              Lily Stein’s eyes snapped open. Her entire body shook with residual panic from the nightmare. Gritting her teeth together, she reminded herself where she was- in an apartment, not in the basement of Mercury Labs. When that didn’t work, she turned to her breathing exercises. Eight counts in, eight counts out. Repeat four times.

She was alive. Jax was alive. They were safe.

But her mother, his mother, Caitlin…they were gone, or not who they once were in Caitlin’s case.

              Light was streaming through the thin curtains of her room. Lily wrapped the sheets around herself tightly, thankful she had the day off. After finding Caitlin again, she needed some time for herself. Jax and Thea understood and told her to go. The city survived years without Firestorm before the GATE blew, and it could absolutely handle a few days now.

~~~

              Across town, Jefferson “Jax” Jackson was frowning at the screen of a computer. Like his late mother, he was considered a genius and could back it up with his doctorate and project history. His latest participation in sending satellites out across the multiverse to make contact with other Earths was Mercury Labs’ latest and potentially last push to win back public favor after the GATE disaster. If this didn’t work, then the labs would close for good and his mother’s legacy would not be the lab she and Clarissa built, but the disaster that took their lives.

              Now one of the satellites had stopped transmitting data without warning. The launch had been a month ago and the other three satellites were working perfectly fine. But this fourth one had been functioning just like the others two nights ago. Yesterday, it had just stopped transmitting data. He couldn’t figure out why.

“Still hung up on the satellite?”

Jax turned around to see Thea standing in the door, surprised not to have heard her. “When did you get here?”

“I’ve been here an hour. Did you go home last night?”

“No, I stayed here and tried to figure this out.”

Thea raised her eyebrows. “Not to use her against you like this, but you know that your mother would have-”

“Told me off?” Jax gave a ghost of a smile. “Yeah, she would. She’d probably already know what to do. So would Clarissa.”

“I know,” Thea took a seat across from him. “It’s been hard without them. But we’re holding up. And we’ve figured out countless things without them. This one is just taking more time.”

“I think I’m going to need to call in Lily from her day off to help. But I know she’s still processing Caitlin too.”

Thea nodded. “Can you blame her? She believed her fiancée was dead only to find out she’s been alive all this time. Not only that, but she’s not the Caitlin we remember.”

              They fell into silence, both trying to think about the satellite but their minds drifting back to Lily. A quarter of an hour later, Thea decided to try and get into the computer system of the satellites not to examine data, but the live data from the satellite before it had lost all contact. She managed to get it up soon enough before sending him off to cafeteria to get some food for himself. He didn’t realize how much he needed the break until he had it and decided to thank her by bringing back lunch and coffee for her.

“Ready to watch the last recording the satellite sent out?”  Thea asked, taking a sip of her cappuccino.

              Jax nodded and pressed on the file. Together, they watched the Earth from the view of the satellite. For a few moments, the two talked about how beautiful the other Earth looked and what life must be like on it. As the rest of the video played, their awed expressions turned to horror at the events on screen. Thea covered her mouth and Jax put a hand on her shoulder. Then they replayed the video, slowing it down so they could see the details closer.

“We need to call Lily in now,” Thea murmured.

Jax shook his head in agreement.

~~~

              Within the next hour, Lily was watching the same video the other two scientists had seen. The other Earth rotating peacefully one moment. In the next, a wave of…something was surging across the screen to consume the Earth. The satellite captured it all before everything went to static, then black. Likely due to being hit by whatever that matter was.

“Do we know what that stuff is?” she inquired softly once the video had played through.

Jax shook his head. “We don’t. And because of the satellite’s positioning, we don’t know a point of origin either. Whatever it is, it destroys everything in its path.”

“So all of that…it’s gone?”

“We don’t know for sure,” Thea bit her lip. “But there’s no longer a signal from that satellite, or that Earth.”

A chill ran down Lily’s spine. “All those people…”

“I know,” Jax murmured. She knew he could feel flickers what she was feeling. “But the other three satellites are still working. The project won’t be a total loss. I figured you would want to see this though. It could be a potential risk for our Earth or another one day.”

              With a few strokes of the keyboard, he had pulled up the live transmission date for the three remaining satellites. Lily studied them and the Earths they were focused on. This was the first step in moving towards inter-Earth cooperation. Soon, they could make contact with the citizens of those universes. Strike up a relationship and share technologies. Maybe there was even something on another Earth that help Caitlin’s new powers, bring her back them and her…

“How have you been holding up anyways?”

Jax’s question startled her out her observation of the satellites. “Okay. Although finding out your fiancée has been alive for the past two years and not dead is a lot. That’s not even counting that she’s become some sort of energy vampire.”

“We’ll figure it out. Just like we always do.”

A smile slowly made its way onto her face. “Thanks, Jax.”

              He opened his mouth to answer, then stopped and leaned towards the computer screen. Lily followed his gaze, trying to see what had caught his attention. It took a moment before she and Thea both saw the substance in the corner of the satellite creeping towards the Earth. Before they knew it, they were watching the strange mass surge towards the other Earth, wiping everything out before the satellite’s feed went dead.

“That’s another one…” Thea swallowed. “Just like the last one.”

“Exactly like the first one. How is this happening.”

Lily frowned. “There are two ways. It might have originated in this universe too somewhere. That’s one way, maybe the better way.”

“And the other?” Thea asked.

“It’s the same wave, one of destruction that can cross dimensions.”

Jax grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. “Thea, where are the positions of the Earths where we launched those satellites too?”

She ran to another monitor and began to recite them to him. His pen scribbled a graph and circles down as fast as she could read them. Lily stood to the side, watching him.

“Thea, when did the first satellite go down again?” she asked.

“Two days ago. Exact time was 23:08.”

“Great,” Lily nodded before she grabbed a pencil and started writing on the other side of Jax’s paper. “And this one just went down a minute ago, so I can get the rate down with the distance. I know we don’t know it for sure yet, but this would be how fast that wave is traveling through the multiverse.”

She set her pencil down at the same time Jax dropped his pen. With Thea, they all examined the work.

“So if that material is all the same, and it’s traveling through the multiverse,” Thea began. “How long would take before it reaches us here?”

Jax was silent for a few seconds, picking up the pencil and writing down the numbers. “Three days.”

“Three days until the end of everything,” Lily’s shoulders sank.

Silence fell over the trio.

“Firestorm can’t stop this one,” Jax sighed, looking over at Lily. “We can do a lot of things. But stopping a wave of destruction from space? There’s no way we can transmute that.”

“I know,” Lily nodded. “But I don’t want to die.”

“Me neither.”

“Hey, I don’t want to die either,” Thea chimed in. “But it’s not just our Earth. There are others out there, and not all of them might know about this. Some might know how to overcome this.”

“Like that one,” Jax pointed to one of their remaining satellites. “There’s been a lot of traffic over there for the last three years. If we get to them, then we can warn them or get them to help save the other Earths.”

“And how do we get there?” Lily asked. “Can we use the system that got the satellites to the other Earths, Jax?”

He shook his head. “We didn’t design it for organic material.”

“But the Gateway to Alternative Timelines and Earths was,” Thea reminded them. “And it can be again.”

Lily stared. “You want to try to use the GATE? Thea, you know what happened the last time it was activated. People died. Others got powers like Jax and I. Threats came over from another Earth for a whole year before we put a stop to it.”

“But the DeVoes tampered with the system,” Jax looked between the two of them. “Without their sabotage, it would have worked. Not that we’ve ever tried to.”

“The GATE was two and a half years ago,” Thea said. “Since then, we’ve all learned more about the multiverse. I think I can create a program that will connect the GATE to that Earth everyone keeps going to. When I do, we can reach them and explain what’s happened.”

“The last time we ran the GATE, Mom and Dr. Jackson never had an exact coordinate planned. It just scanned for signs of life to lock onto as a breach. Having that specific place we go to might make things easier. But the explosion did do damage. It’s going to need repairs.”

“Then we can do them while Thea works on developing the program. How long do you think it’ll take?”

“I don’t know. If it’s possible, at least a few hours. A day at maximum. Plus I want to run a few simulations with it.”

“Do we have time for that?”

“Need I remind you France won the Space Race because America didn’t run tests and ended up with astronaut jelly?”

“I don’t want to be Firestorm jelly,” Jax gulped. “Okay, simulations are good. Lily and I still need to assess damage.”

~~~

“Our mothers’ greatest undertaking,” Jax sighed, staring at the arch before them. “Now we’re the ones who are depending on it to save Earth.”

“And all the other ones,” added Lily, approaching the twelve-foot structure with their toolbox.

“Yep. Are you okay coming back to this?”

“Peachy. But you’re not.”

Jax crossed his arms. “This killed our mothers. It gave us a great power, but it also made Caitlin what she is now. The GATE gives and it takes away from my point of reference.”

“It didn’t take away our fathers. They were there that night instead the building, but we still have them. And it never took away Thea. It just brought her closer to us.”

His partner grinned knowingly at him and Jax rolled his eyes. “After we deal with this…crisis that’s happening, I’ll tell her. Promise.”

“Good,” Lily chuckled and tossed a roll of paper to him. “Spread out the blueprint. Let’s see what we have to work with.”

For a while, the two worked in silence studying the blueprint, comparing it to the GATE, and making the fixes necessary to it. They didn’t need to talk at times with their psychic link. If Lily needed the pliers, Jax passed them to her wordlessly. In turn, she knew what he needed, whether it was holding the ladder for him to climb up or to pass him some new screws. Other scientists thought it was freaky whenever they did it in the past and avoided them. Thea told them it was kinda cool.

“This is going to work,” Lily finally told him.

“I know.”

“But you need to hear it. Thea is better with computers than anyone I know. We’re both brilliant with mechanics and how things work. I admit it, I have my trauma from what happened. I’m still seeing Dr. Horton about it. But I trust you and Thea and I believe this is going to work.”

“I just don’t want to bring down Mom’s or Clarissa’s legacy anymore than people have already done,” Jax told her. “And I don’t want to bring any more hurt to the city than I already did with the GATE, even if the DeVoes did sabotage us last time.”

“We won’t fail, because we can’t.”

Jax snorted. “When did you get so hopeful?”

“One of us has to be.”

“In that case, let me tell you something, Lily. We are going to get Caitlin back one way or another.”

~~~

              In the end, it took a day and a half, a combined total of fourteen hours of sleep, several coffees or beverages containing caffeine, several alternative pop mixtapes, and only one use of the first aid kit before Jax, Thea, and Lily completed the project. The trio stood in the basement to gaze up at their work. The GATE was rid of dust and gleamed a little brighter than it had hours ago, save for the large burn mark on the base of the right leg. All that was left was for it to be powered up, Thea to upload her program, and then they could walk through to another Earth.

Too bad the founders of Mercury Labs were not here to witness it.

“How long is it going to take to power up the GATE?” Lily asked.

Thea slung off her backpack. “About half an hour. Then we can enter and should find ourselves on that Earth.”

“I’ll go power up the GATE now,” Lily looked right at Jax. “It should take me a while.”

“Then you better get going.”

              She smirked a little as she hustled over to the control booth. Once inside, the memories of the night she’d lost her mother crashed into her. It had been the first time she and Jax had fused, which was terrifying given they’d never done it before. They had crawled into the control booth and tried not to get into a lengthy panic attack over how they were one. Thea had been the one to find them and helped them split. Team Firestorm was born in the early morning hours after the GATE failed.

              Lily yanked the lever down to start the power-up. Most of the employees at Mercury had already gone home, which was all the better. The rest were probably going to experience power problems for a while. Hopefully none of them would find their way down here to see what they were doing. Everything about this was off the books and could cost them their jobs. But when it was compared to losing the world, Lily would rather be jobless. So would Jax and Thea.

              Speaking of the duo, Lily fell back into an easy chair and spun around to watch through the control booth’s window. Jax was doing all the talking. Lily didn’t need the psychic link to tell that he was anxious about talking to Thea. But then those fears evaporated as Thea put her hand over his and kissed him. Good for them.

She gave them another moment before exiting the booth. “Did it go good?”

“It was great,” Thea chuckled. “As soon as all this is over, we’ll do something proper, like dinner or coffee.”

“Or you can do it on the other Earth?”

“Lily, there’s a wave of destruction that’s taken out two Earths already,” Jax reminded her. “I want to stop it first. Then I’ll take Thea on a date.”

“Point taken,” she smiled. “I’m happy for you two. Not the best time, but…better late than never.”

Thea’s expression softened. “Thank you, Lily.”

~~~

“It’s almost time,” Thea announced as she looked at the GATE’s readings on her computer. “Another two minutes and we’ll be good to go.”

“Anyone else feeling a little nervous now?” Lily asked.

Jax raised his hand. “Not sure if it’s me or if it’s because of you. Probably both.”

“I am, but I’m hopeful,” Thea told them. “We always need hope.”

The halves of Firestorm nodded.

“Once the GATE is at power, I need to input the code. Then we can-“

“NO.”

              Someone was in the room now. A towering man in some kind of armor stood by the door. It had been locked, but none of them had heard him come in. His skin was white with eyes that were sunken and gaunt. It was as if someone had taken a corpse and brought him back to life. There was even a stench of death about him, one so repulsive that all of them took a step back.

“This Earth must fall, and so must those who tread upon it. You will not be spared.”

Jax held out his fist to Lily behind Thea’s back. She bumped hers against his. With a swirl of flames, Firestorm appeared, inhabiting Jax’s body this run. It was his turn after all.

“I’d get out of here now, buddy,” they warned, stepping in front of Thea.

“You cannot frighten me,” the corpse hissed. “I have seen many Firestorms. None of them strike fear. None of them have overcome me. Fire can be put out easier than you think.”

The lights flickered above them. It made the corpse frown, so it was not his doing. Jax frowned before remembering they were using a lot of energy.

“She’s coming.” Lily’s voice echoed.

“Thea, get ready,” Jax whispered.

A second later, the lock on the door clicked loudly before the door itself fell to the floor. In stalked a woman with tangled white hair and pale skin. Dark circles formed rings around her eyes. If they didn’t know her, they could have assumed she was related to the corpse. But they knew her name. Who she had been. Who she had loved.

“Caity.”

              Caitlin Snow, now known as Blackout, stared around the room. She frowned at the corpse before relaxing a bit at the sight of Thea and Firestorm. Once she laid eyes on the Gate, her expression became a mixture of hunger and anger. The device that had changed her life was now offering itself as a food source.

“Let me take over. Just for a moment.”

Jax relaxed control over their mouth so Lily could assume it.

“Caity,” Lily’s voice came from his mouth. “Help us get out here. He wants to destroy the Earth.”

Caitlin turned back to her. “Lily?”

“Please, Caity. We’ll help you. We’ll find a way to stop the hunger.”

Two long strands of energy flowed from Caitlin’s hands. “You had me at destroying the Earth.”

“Careful, girl,” the corpse warned.

The metahuman laughed. “I’ve been much more than that for a long time.”

With that, she ran towards him, her energy whips flying forward to wrap around the wrists of the corpse.

“Guys,” Thea whispered. “The GATE is ready. I have to get in the coordinates.”

“We can’t let them follow us,” Jax reminded her, taking control of Firestorm again. “At least this freaky guy. He’s the one who wants us dead.”

Thea smiled. “Well, we’re lucky that I was the one who made sure the code has an instruction to close after two organic lifeforms enter it.”

“Thea, you’re a genius.”

“Go help Caitlin first, then compliment my brain.”

Firestorm rose into the air as Thea made a run for the control booth. The corpse was holding up well against Caitlin’s energy whips, which was saying something. Together, Lily and Jax hurled fireballs at him to keep him distracted from Thea. But just as she almost reached the booth, the corpse bent backwards to avoid one whip, which smashed into the metal frame of the window. Thea yelped and fell backwards, her laptop skittering out of her hand all the way to the boot of the corpse.

The corpse stopped and stared at the laptop. Without hesitation, he brought his foot down on it.

Thea did not scream as her pride and joy was reduced to a cracked screen and a broken keyboard, but she looked devastated.

“Thea Queen,” the corpse boomed. “You are not like your doppelgangers. And you shall die different from the rest of them.”

“Not interested, but thanks.”

The corpse smiled cruelly and raised his hand. Jax started to fly towards her.

A strand of energy coiled around the hand before it could swing down.

Both Firestorm and the corpse stopped and turned to see Caitlin clinging to her whip with gritted teeth. “Leave my friend alone!”

The corpse growled at her and yanked his coiled arm forward. Caitlin flew forward and landed on the floor. Thea took the chance to scramble her feet and out of the way. Jax didn’t look to see where she went, but he couldn’t fly anywhere. Lily was too transfixed in horror, watching Caitlin struggle in vain to hold her group as the corpse dragged her across the floor.

“Caitlin Snow,” the corpse pulled the whip forward, so she landed at his feet. “Any final words?”

“No no no no no no.”

Lily wanted to move forward, so did he. But they couldn’t somehow. They were just guests.

Caitlin scowled as the corpse lifted her up into the air by the whip, but then looked towards them.

“I love you,” she said. “Kick his ass.”

The corpse snarled. “Pathetic.”

His hand wrapped around her neck. Jax closed their eyes, but they still heard the snap and the thump of a body.

“Now, Firestorm. It is your turn.”

Jax reopened their eyes and felt feeling return to their body. He lowered them to the floor. Caitlin’s body was behind the corpse. A cry that did not belong to him escaped his mouth. Lily’s anguish was almost overpowering, but it was fueling a fight in them.

Flicking their hands out, Jax and Lily summoned handfuls of fire. If they were to go down, they were going down together in a fight.

Behind them, the GATE was filled by a dark blue hue. It was active and ready for transport.

Jax flew up in the air a little, just enough to see past the corpse and Caitlin. Thea was inside the doorway of the control booth, a smile on her face. She was also crying.

“Thea?” he shouted, throwing the fire out to throw off the corpse

The corpse growled. “How-”

“It’s called a flash drive, E.T.!” she screamed at him. “You killed my computer, but not the back-up!”

Then she looked up at them. “Now go!”

“Not without you!”

But the corpse was turned towards her now. She wouldn’t have the time to make it. Logistically, Jax knew this.

Emotionally, he could not accept it.

Thea looked up at him with love, not fear. “Go save this world.”

“Thea!” he cried out.

Lily took control and flew toward the GATE. Jax peeked back one last time at her before they entered the arch. Everything became blue and cold and fast. This was what he imagined going down a sink felt like. Images of people and places flashed around them, but there weren’t very many. He didn’t focus on them when he had just left Thea in the hands of the corpse who wanted to kill all the Earths.

Then everything went black.

~~~

“You’re a foolish girl,” the corpse said as he stepped inside the control booth.

Thea was backed against the wall. Moments ago, she had been brave. Now she was terrified.

“I’m no fool,” she proclaimed, yanking the flash drive out. “I’m a freaking genius.”

The GATE sputtered and shut down.

Raising a hand, the corpse stared down at her. “Then enjoy a taste of your planet’s demise.”

~~~

“How long ago did you find him?”

“An hour, and it’s not really just him. There’s another brainwave signature.”

“So it’s Firestorm. Did Jax find a new partner?

“This isn’t our Jax. Gideon pulled up his location. He’s out in Zenith City.”

“Well, I kinda figured he was from another Earth given how he burst out of that breach.”

“What Earth did he come from?”

Jax groaned. Lily was groggy inside his skull. Summoning as much energy as they had left, they split apart.

“Whoa!”

Jax sat up first and opened his eyes. He was jammed with Lily on a bed in some medical wing. Three people were crowded around the bed. A man wearing something between armor and an exoskeleton, a woman in a white jumpsuit, and a second man wearing all red.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Earth-1,” the woman answered. “You landed outside STAR Labs and passed out. We know your doppelganger pretty well, so we brought you inside. Where did you come from?”

“Earth-73 is our positioning,” Jax told them as Lily started to rise up beside him. “Something has been destroying Earths. Ours is going to be hit by it within a day. We travelled here to warn you if you didn’t know, or to get help to fight against it.”

The three exchanged a look before the man in red answered. “We know it’s coming, and we can use all the help we can get to fight it.”

“Consider us invested,” Lily told them. “Can you use two people who become a superhero with nuclear-based powers?”

“Definitely,” the man in the suit told them before frowning. “Hey, are you okay?”

Jax didn’t realize he was crying. “I…I…”

Lily finished for him. “We lost people coming here.”

He nodded. She’d lost Caitlin. And Thea was probably as good as dead, but at least he’d told her how he felt.

Better late than never, right?

[anenddarysden]

My entry for the Warframe Macabre Premier Contest 2018! 

The galleon was a derelict floating high in the orbit of the first planet. Attempts to hail the ship were met with an eerie silence, broken only by the sob of a low-frequency distress beacon. Static scratched at the empty vault of space, and very little could be discerned from the guttural voices it carried. The Grineer were difficult to understand at the best of times. Still, some progress had been made once the dialect had been recognized: “Liberate mae- liberate mae. Liberate mae!” The message repeated, looping over and over. It came as a surprise to Tudk, that the Grineer still remembered the language of the Creators, though they did not use it in common parlance and most could not force the syllables through the degraded mush of their minds. The fact that one had chosen to record a distress call in such terms spoke of a certain degree of madness, or delirium. Liberate mae. Save me. The message did not offer specifics, but Tudk could guess. With their decrepit machinery and dirty, chugging engines, the Terminus was not the first Grineer ship to loose life support out in the black, nor would her crew be the last to suffocate on their own breath. Ultimately it didn’t matter. All indications were that of ghost ship, so Company procedure was to strip it for salvage. Everything had value. Even the greasy components of a galleon could be sold for a profit – usually back to the Grineer themselves, for they were rarely able to grasp the workings of anything beyond their own outmoded technology. Tudk lowered the box-like helmet over his head and sealed it, feeling the subtle change in the engines as the Christi came up alongside and initiated docking procedures. A muted thud rocked the bones of the ship. “Umbilicus sealed, Captain Tudk.” Hoisting toolkits and thermal lances, the salvage team walked onto the galleon. The ship was dark and in a state of deep freeze, the rust-colored walls glistering with frozen condensation. Despite the bone-chilling cold, however, Tudk was surprised to discover that life-support was still operational, albeit at minimal power. Atmosphere was reading nominal. It wasn’t asphyxiation that’d killed the crew. Tudk’s heavy bootfalls echoed in the corridor. To his rear, someone had already fired up a plasma cutter and applied it to the conduits that ran the length of the hall, throwing a rooster tail of sparks that caused the shadows to leap and float in phantasmagoric patterns. Tudk palmed the comm on his chest. “Jhon, you getting anything on the crew?” “Negative, Captain.” The Grineer weren’t known for ambush tactics; if any had been on board, they’d have come to investigate by now, so Tudk remained comfortable with his original assumption. The ship, a derelict. The crew, lost. To what, however, Tudk was admittedly curious to find out. Radiation levels were dirty, but that was normal for a Grineer vessel of this size. Tudk pressed deeper into the confusing warren of bulbous, vaguely organic architecture. A veteran of many such ships, however, he kept his bearings and steered a course for a the bridge. The cover of a maintenance hatch lay in the middle of the corridor and steam fogged on Tudk’s helmet as he passed under the open vent, leaving a thin sheen of oil. He was glad he didn’t have to breathe it. He found the first body crumpled in the corner by an access panel. The Grineer had been taken unaware, terminated by something that’d punched through his spine and crushed his beating heart to pulp. A dark puddle of blood had drained onto the floor, glistering with a thin mantle of ice. Tudk was no stranger to corpses, either, but the brutality of the kill left him uneasy. He unlocked the door and stepped through. With the exception of the massive, floor-to-ceiling viewport on the far wall, the bridge was a strictly utilitarian affair. The ship’s slowly decaying orbit had brought it around to face the dark-side of the planet Mercury, which hung, rusted and barren, less than a thousand miles away. Tudk set his toolkit on the ground. He’d found the rest of the crew – the command staff, anyway. Grineer corpses littered the bridge like confetti, crumpled and sprawled and draped amidst gallons of spilled blood. Tudk swallowed the knot in the back of his throat, unable to shake the feeling that something had been playing with them, like a cat tossing the corpse of a mouse. His comm gave a squelch that nearly startled him onto the ceiling. “Captain Tudk?” He slapped his comm, his heart jackhammering against his ribs. “This is Tudk. Go ahead, Decima.” “I’ve found the crew – what’s left of them, anyway. Looks like most of them tried to clump up around the mainframe.” “Any survivors?” “None. There’s as much on the floors as there is on the ceiling, if you get my meaning, sir.” Tudk got her meaning very well. There was a soft, furtive clunk from the overhead vents, exactly like a fan settling on its bearings. He paid it no mind, carefully stepping over the frozen lakes of blood to the command console. His gloved fingers worked to bring the security holograms online. If he was lucky, the aging technology would have caught the intruder on file – information that was liable to sell for quite a bit of money. “Sir?” Decima’s voice was hesitant. Tudk could almost hear her chewing the words. “I’ve been listening to the transmission and I think the Company made a mistake.” “Go on.” Tudk pressed a button on the console and the bridge lights flared, first yellow, then a dull orange. Jittery holograms sputtered out of decrepit emitters mounted high on the walls, rendering the galleon’s occupants as they had been recorded in life. One of the holograms passed through Tudk’s chest, making him feel as though he’d been brushed by a ghost. “They thought it was repeating Liberate Mae – ‘Save Me’– but I don’t think that’s it,” said Decima. All around him, the holograms moved about their daily tasks, their movements growing more and more agitated. Rifles were unslung. Orders were barked to underlings. Something flashed through the bridge doors before they could close. A cloud of pixels fountained into the air and dissolved, falling exactly where blood gathered in heavy beads. “Here, listen. Can you hear it?” She played a scratchy copy of the distress beacon back to him, filling his helmet with the screams of the dead as their final moments played out around him. Grainy orange specters appeared to rise from the bodies lying dead at the top of the stairs, lifted up by shafts of pure energy impaled through the back – leaving them to hang like fish writhing on the tip of an Ostron spear. Inside his glove, Tudk’s fingers were icy cold with sweat. He pressed the console and the twitching image slowed to half speed. Something appeared at the top of the stairs, something humanoid but certainly not human, floating a half meter above the floor. Tudk had never seen anything like it. Lithe and small, adorned with trailing ribbons and armor reminiscent of the vanished Orokin and their gilded halls. It hung there suspended, bobbing up and down. Alive, but not living. A Grineer lancer stumbled across the floor, trying to hold his entrails inside, and collapsed at Tudk’s feet – collapsed through him to cling at the console, dragging a clumsy hand across the buttons. The Thing at the top of the stairs tilted its blood-spattered head to the side, regarding the act with a kind of demented curiosity. “It’s hard to make out, but it’s not ‘liberate mae’,” Decima continued nervously. “It’s 'liberate tutemae'... followed by something that I think is ‘ex inferis’,” her voice overlapping with that of the dying Grineer at Tudk’s feet. Liberate tutemae ex inferis. Save Yourself from Hell. Tudk knew now what had lurked at the top of the stairs, blood pouring from claw-like fingers. There had been rumors, but nothing substantial. Nothing more than Quill-whispers- but they weren’t rumors, were they? No, it was something more. Myth given flesh. Legend turned to terrible reality. They were awake, they who had journeyed beyond the universe and returned from the place the Orokin called Hell – the hollow soldiers in twisted frames, things of such unholy beauty that even the stars wept. The Betrayers. The Twisted. The Tenno. Tudk lifted shaking eyes back to the top of the stairs. His heart stopped and fell coldly into his stomach. The hologram had suddenly gained a twin, formed not of lasers and embered pixels, but of bone-white limbs spattered with the blood of those it had killed. Parts of it glowed with cold turquoise light, light that glistened on the curtains of blood that’d poured down the stairs. Not a derelict. It had been waiting here all along. The paused hologram suddenly timed out- -and the Tenno lunged with a harrowing shriek.