#but generally they don’t leave unless we release them

[egrets-not-regrets]

After Stormbreaker: Little Bird, Problem Children

Of Fin and Feathers AU: In the aftermath of the incident with the Grey Knight, more bonds are formed. Rhitta and Addax are ready to cause problems, but Mara and Broug says "no".

Author's Note: Rhitta is the name of Escanor's giant axe from the Seven Deadly Sins anime. I thought it was fitting. :)

Ocean divider (c) @saradika-graphics

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

@gra93fruit-blog, @i-am-a-dragon34, @felinisnoctis

It’s been a night since the wounded mers were brought to the gannet colony’s temporary roost to be stabilized and worked on by healers and apothecaries. Mara frowned. All this damage just from a single Grey Knight. The gannet elder rubbed the bridge of her nose to release some tension and stress. With Lana intensely bonded to this Grey Knight, it added a new complexity to this whole situation. It didn’t help that Lana got badly wounded in the process as well. 

Though it seems like the ones who took the brunt of the injuries were the mers who were chaos-aligned. She wondered if they were specifically targeted. Luckily, they were surprisingly not-too-difficult patients. For the most part. It did help that they were on bedrest and that both Osteron and Zariel, and the Alpha Legion brothers were there. Especially to deal with some of the more restless patients.

Her colony avoided the area where the mers were, being wary of the strange mers that arrived in their temporary roost. Only a select group of healer harpies and their assistants were assigned to assist the apothecaries and care for the injured. 

Mara walked around the healing ward checking in with her harpies and the patients. She passed by one area, hearing the restless World Eater mer loudly argue with the Iron Warrior captain. 

“We should pay blood for blood! Our battle will be legendary!”

“Let’s get that asshole!” A young voice popped up. That’s Rhitta. Oh no. 

“Don’t be daft! You are not going to fight the Grey Knight, Addax! Y’barely survived the last fight with him.”

“The little one agrees with me! He’s a threat—”

Ignoring the World Eater, the captain fixed Rhitta a dour, pointed look, “Child, don’t cause problems. It’s only out of courtesy to Addax that you’re staying here.” 

Mara decided to step in before the situation got out of hand, “I have to agree with Captain Broug, I cannot allow you to fight with the Grey Knight.” 

The chaos Iron Warrior mer shot her a relieved look and straightened his posture, reassured to have Mara’s support in agreement. 

Mara glared at the young harpy and scolded her, “Rhitta, before you get all bloodthirsty and vengeful on Claude and Jophiel’s behalf, remember that Lana’s life is tied with the Grey Knight’s. If he dies, she does as well.”

“Oh.” Rhitta’s feathers deflated at the reminder. 

The elder harpy was annoyed, she had no need to deal with more issues right now, let alone have another merAstartes fight on her claws, “Do not encourage more conflict unless you want your privilege to assist the healers here taken away.”

“She’s not leaving.” Addax growled loudly, scarred chest and tattered fins puffed out in a challenge. 

Broug tensed, ready to act should the Addax start going under the influence of his Nails. He had struck a somewhat strange friendship, no, more like a camaraderie with the World Eater, as both of them had fought together against loyalist forces and other warbands back in their time. Though both of them nearly ended each other when they met again in Ancient Terra with Addax having lost control due to the nails. 

Broug was generally indifferent towards the gannet harpies, he was however not interested in facing the wrath of the Alpha Legion brothers, Erriox and his scoutlings, and possibly the Grey Knight, should Lady Mara get injured. 

“Addax.” He said in a warning tone. 

The World Eater sat up, ignoring the complaints from his healing wounds, his large stature protectively blocking Rhitta from Mara’s view, “No, the little bird is not leaving. My nails have been quiet since she arrived. I can think… clearly right now.” he said. 

“Nails?” Mara asked, looking at Broug in question. 

The Iron Warrior Mer sighed; he did notice that Addax was less… reactive and less aggressive than usual ever since that little harpy came into their space. That was the reason why he even allowed her to stay. “Most World Eater mers from my time, like Addax here, have technology called the ‘Butcher’s Nails’ implanted in their brain. It increases their rage and aggression, making them more formidable on the battlefield.”

Mara heard what Broug left out of his explanation, putting two and two together between what both mers said. It seemed like these nails impair Addax’s other thought processes, which is concerning since aggression is the only thing that is left, making the World Eater a potential threat. Rhitta’s presence, however, took away or dampened the effect of the Butcher’s Nails in Addax’s head. That brought on another question, was Rhitta bonded to Addax? So far, the young one remained quiet, hidden behind the large World Eater mer. 

“Rhitta, dear?” 

“Yeah?”

“Do you feel a bond or magic connecting you to Addax?”

“I think so? Like he feels familiar? I feel safe and comfortable here even though he looks scary.” She became thoughtful and grinned, “but it’s also like I know he’s my partner and we’re gonna fight the world together and cause problems without fear!”

“Yes!” Addax matched her enthusiasm, feeling a surge of fierce pride towards the little harpy.  

Both Mara and Broug replied with a resounding “NO”.

It was disconcerting how there was no familiar biting of the nails deeper into his mind after his outburst. Addax palpated the implants on his skull curiously. This confirmed his suspicions about Rhitta’s presence. For the first time in a long long time, he could feel emotions: pride and amusement; without the pain of the nails’ influence. And all due to this harpy child’s presence. How ridiculous. A rough chuckle emitted from his throat and grew into a laugh, cracked and rough unaccustomed to being able to do so loudly and not quite as long previously. 

A small set of claws tapped on his arm, “Are you ok?” Rhitta asked worriedly. 

“Yes. Yes, I am.” Addax replied, eyes crinkled as he felt relief and something he dared to think is akin to hope. He gently patted Rhitta’s head, marveling at the softness of her crest feathers. Such softness and yet there was no building rage, no compulsion to rip and tear her apart. Rhitta’s resulting giggles made him feel an odd warmth bloom in his chest. Perhaps this was what a bond should feel like or at least how he understood from what the bonded battle brothers had explained. 

Mara’s expression softened as she watched the heartwarming interaction between Addax and Rhitta. She sighed, “Since Rhitta’s presence keeps away the nails’ effects from you, she is allowed to stay.” Rhitta was about to cheer when Mara continued sternly, “However, Addax, you are absolutely not allowed to fight ith the other mers, especially the Grey Knight. You should still be in bed rest while your injuries heal, not looking to pick fights with others.”

The World Eater mer was about to protest, but Broug’s immediate hiss of “shut it” silenced him. 

“Rhitta, since Addax needs to heal, you are not to encourage that behavior. Is that understood?” 

The young harpy gave a little dejected huff before replying, “Yes, Mara. I understand.”

“Good.” Satisfied by their response, the elder harpy turned to Broug, “Captain, would you mind keeping an eye on them? If you need assistance, the apothecaries and Zariel and his brothers are here to help. When Addax is better it will be worth testing how far Rhitta can go before the nails’ effect returns and we will need to discuss the logistics of how to make this work.”

“It’s not the first day, nor the last that I’ve minded that thick skull of his. It will likely be easier with his nails calmed. You have a point however, and I will keep that in mind.” the Iron Warrior mer chuckled. 

Mara gave him a small smile, “My thanks, captain.”

“Of course.”

[simplyghosting]

So glad that we trained our dogs because while I was running around like a headless chicken I apparently didn’t realize I didn’t shut the front door all the way and so when I came in 10 minutes later from the back door they were just waiting by the open door staring out waiting for permission to leave like thank God they’re the goodest boys I thought my heart was going to stop

[the-girl-wh0-cries-w0lf]

You're waiting for a train...(10)

You knew?

Robert Fischer x reader

description - Y/n is left alone to be confronted with her greatest fear.

word count - 1.7k

warnings - attempted SA, attempted r*pe, offensive language, tears, major angst.

a/n - this is a very important and angsty chapter.

Previous Part Series Master list Master list

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“You’re in a dream, honey.”

Once the words had been whispered there was no way I could take them back. Each syllable had put a target on our backs and as I saw the realisation alight in Robert’s eyes, we simultaneously felt constricting gazes begin to penetrate the three of us.

I took deep breaths, refusing the desire to turn around to meet their eyes. My hand had remained on the back of Roberts neck. It had started as a sign of comfort but as my nails gripped tighter it became a warning. ‘Don’t look at them. Look at me.’.

“Darling,” My dads voice broke through my façade and pierced a vein which released all new gushes of anxiety. “Go. Take some off our tail. Give us two minutes.” I understood my fathers request and it’s logic was sound but still I could not move. My feet were planted next to Robert’s and that’s where I needed to be. I feared for his safety more than mine. I had been under attack more times than years I’ve lived. But he had no experience of combat and his danger could mean a one way ticket down to limbo. I stroked my fingers through the hairs at the nape of his neck. This gesture was caught in my dads steely gaze and his demeanour became stern. “Now!” Upon daring to look up at him I found no room for argument.

I reluctantly left the warmth of his body to stand. I fixed my dress as if it would right everything else. I swiftly turned on my heel to leave the bar. The purposefulness of my walk was bound to attract others, as I had left my subtlety in favour for a bright red danger sign. My heels clicked down the hallway and I picked up on several presences beginning to manoeuvre in my general direction. None explicitly heading my way except one pair of footsteps which I could feel breathing on the back of my heels.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

*Arthur’s pov*

I walked beside Ariadne ready to assemble the team for the next layer. My eyes darted around on the watch for behaviour that would cause suspicion or warrant action. I also looked for Y/n.

We had reached the elevator and were waiting for it to arrive. But when I looked to my left I spotted Y/n. She was walking towards us in a manner of confidence. She didn’t blend in. She stood out. All eyes flocked to her unusual presence as she strutted down the hallway with an apparent presupposed destination.

The mark had been made aware of the dream; the projections were alert. This was not the time for anyone to be walking alone. Even Saito was with Eames. I had Ariadne. Cobb swore he’d stick with Y/n. So why did she leave? Unless she didn’t of her own volition.

I assessed her situation, analysing every eye that was solely fixed upon her. She was heading into the bathroom which seemed an unusual move. The soles of her feet picked up quicker and it seemed adrenaline spiked her blood to speed her forward in a speed out of the norm. Her body seemed desperate to remove itself from an unknown threat. I couldn’t discern the logic of any of her actions until she turned the corner to open the door.

My fist clenched but before I could move I was dragged into the now waiting elevator by a bustle of people wanting in. I loudly cursed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

*your pov*

The heavy door pushed back against my bones, but I was forceful and nearly threw my whole body against it. I practically collapsed inside the room, stumbling in my heels which burned. My breathing quickened and I had to grip the edge of a sink to ground myself once again. There was no time. There was no time. But Dad needed time. Robert needed time. I could give them time.

My heart jumped through my bones as the familiar creak of the door sounded once again. I refused to meet his gaze in an admittance of surrender. His steps got louder until he’d gripped my arm to throw me around to face him. He slammed his pelvis into my own making my back crash into the sinks edge. I cried out feeling the burn through my muscles. My legs begged to give out but they only managed to slide around on the tiles as he gripped my other arm.

“Who do we have here, ey?” His words poured out of his mouth like slime. A build-up of saliva decorated his teeth like tinsel and formed fangs when he separated his gums. I winced in disgust as he leaned down closer to my body. He found purchase in my neck and inhaled deeply. My arms struggled fruitlessly knowing no amount of strength would ever be enough for me now. A tear dripped down my cheek over my expressionless face. It was the only way I knew.

“Not a talker.” He spat out both literally and figuratively. “Don’t matter.” He pulled me up using my elbows as handles. As limp as a ragdoll meant it was easy for him to throw me against one of the closed toilet doors. “I have a much better use for that mouth of yours.” His grin consumed his entire face.

At the throw my head thwacked back with the reverberated force and for a moment I prayed that I would not have to be awake for what was to come. But the darkness never came, and it never would. There was no way out.

I felt his grimy fingers grip my shoulders in a pushing motion. Staging my limp frame in a kneeling position. My eyes burned with tears through their tight close. He used his fingers to stretch out my cheeks, taunting me of what was about to happen. My skin ached at the movement. His thumb entered my mouth and danced across my rows of teeth. I gagged at the intrusion. “Now, now. No biting.” I resigned myself with one last influx of tears until my ducts had dried fully.

The sound of a ripping door startled the man and he barely had chance to look for the intruders before he was punched square in the eyes. He toppled down next to me and I flinched away before any of him could touch me anymore. My tears blurred my saviour but I pushed them away and I managed to catch a glimpse of Robert standing over me with a hand reached out. I fearfully took his hand and my shaking seemed to stop once we were linked. He helped me up and checked me over. He was careful with his hand placements fearing a reaction to any sudden movement. My body unconcsciously leaning towards his in search of comfort was all the confirmation he needed to wrap me up in his arms. My head relaxed onto his chest but my arms remained tightly held to my chest looking as if rigor mortis had set in. He tucked his chin on the top of my head and delivered a light kiss. No words were spoke about it. He stroked through my locks and the consistent feeling slowed my racing heart.

Through all of this, my dad was searching my attacker for weapons.

“Your daughter was just – what the fuck was that?” Robert shouted through his breathy confusion. But his arms never left my frail frame.

Without looking up from the body, my father answered. “Projections usually react to attack whatever subject is put in front of them,” He gestured up to myself and Robert looked at me and his gaze held pure anger. “Projections are actually one of the weakest parts of the dream and can only focus on one threat at a time…”

“You knew?” I whispered, raising my head from Roberts embrace. “You fucking knew.” Rage began to build up in my veins and I separated so I could stalk towards his uncaring stance.

He still would not look me in the eyes. “Did you know?” I shoved his shoulder. “Look at me. Did you fucking know?” I used both hands to childishly bang on his back in a tantrum. “LOOK AT ME!”

He spun around to meet me. He raised so he towered over me. I shrunk in this unfamiliar gaze. “Yes.” My lip shook when the tears fought to climb out once more. I’d never cried more in this short amount of time than in my whole life.

“All this time?”

His gaze seemed to soften before his next phrase. “Every single one.”

I tightened my eyes to will myself to fight on. Once they reopened, they had steeled. “And you still ordered me to go.” I scoffed at his unapologetic confidence in the face of this confession.

“You knew what projections do. And yet you still sent me away.” The lump in my throat meant the words didn’t come out easily but I fought on. “No actually.” I searched through his face which screamed of guilt. “You hoped it would happen. Well, projections can only focus on one thing at a time. Right?” He couldn’t give me a confirmation but worse, he couldn’t deny. He passed by my body which I could no longer will to move. My eyes held nothing, and the only sign of life were my quick shallow breaths and the final tear that fell.

“Mr Fischer,” Robert’s eyes remained fixed on my back even as Cobb spoke at him. He was confused by the conversation which had just transpired between father and daughter but he was sure of his deep desire to comfort the girl. I felt his eyes on me but I couldn’t let him see me like this. He didn’t deserve to be sucked into the crazy knots which were my life. I could hear my dad speak, asking Robert for a number. But nothing registered. As if they were merely acting out on a screen which I had a viewing for.

I sucked back and planted a faux smile over my dried tear tracks. I spun back around the armour of character concealing any open wounds.

“I guess we should start with room 528 and room 491.” My confidence seeped through and left my body.

Robert’s brows furrowed at my sudden demeanour change. But they more so held concern and disbelief at the appearance of contentment I was portraying.

We left the bathroom, led by my father. I felt a hand ghost against my lower back. I almost succumbed to the show of genuine comfort. But it only confirmed the worries in my heart. I stilled myself to force the decision I didn’t want to make.

After this, I will never see Robert Fischer again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Omgggg Cobb always knew??? What did you guys think of the new chapter??

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[paperweight91]

Dream a Little Dream of Me Part 2

Summary: Your mission with Captain Rogers doesn’t exactly go to plan.

Warnings: Death (not major character), no others really.

A/N: this part has been reworked a couple times to get it to flow better. Please let me know what you think!!

You awoke the next morning to the buzzing of your alarm. Today was the day, your mission with Captain America. You purposely set your alarm early so you could go get a workout in before the briefing and getting ready to leave. Rolling out of bed you pulled on a pair of comfy yoga pants and a sports bra with a tank over top.

You stopped in the kitchen on the way down to the gym to grab a protein bar and some water, saying a quick “Good Morning” to Bucky before slipping out of the room. When you arrived at the gym you were surprised to see Steve and Sam running on the treadmills. You gave them a short wave then put your earbuds in to start your pre-workout stretches.

You sighed as you shifted and felt the bruises still left on your hip. How could you have done that yourself? No, not the time to think about that. Focus! You wrapped up your stretches and made your way over to the furthest treadmill from Steve and Sam. Sam raised an eyebrow at you, but said nothing.

As you programmed in your usual pre-mission run you felt eyes on you. You looked up to see Steve staring at you. He hadn’t noticed that you saw him looking at you yet. The look on his face was different from what you were used to. Not the fierce anger, or the sneering scoff. You weren’t sure what to make of it really. You shrugged it off and continued with your workout.

After showering and grabbing a quick bite to eat you met Steve in the briefing room. He was already suited up, and ready to go. You hoped this would be a quick in and out mission.

“So glad you could finally make it to the briefing,” his tone set you on edge. If anything you were early, what was he trying to do? You scoff but take a seat across from him at the table. Not willing to give him the satisfaction of arguing.

Steve ran down the mission details. It was fairly straight forward: release the hostages and grab any Intel. No kill mission, unless of course yours or the hostages lives were in danger.

You nodded along as you scanned through the tablet with the additional information. The hope was you both would be in and out before anyone even noticed you were there.

“This is a mission I would generally do on my own, but I think this will be good practice to see how you work with your teammates.” God he was such an ass!

“Right,” you replied, keeping your voice even, and trying but failing to keep the edge out. “So how do you want to split this? Or are we working through this whole thing together?”

“I think it’s best if we don’t split up unless necessary. Go suit up, we're wheels up in twenty.” You nod, surprised to find yourself agreeing with Captain “stick-up-his-butt.” Not knowing each other well enough meant splitting up was much riskier than sticking together, even if you could complete the mission quicker.

You quickly don your suit, and race to the Quinjet. Hoping to beat Steve there, if only for the satisfaction of being there first. You’re not sure who’s looking out for you today, but by some miracle you manage to make it there before Steve. You drop your duffle of supplies in the back and grab a seat. As soon as you sit you feel that slight wave of dizziness crash over you. No, no not now!

You shake your head and the feeling passes. Thankfully, it’s then that Steve climbs up the steps of the Quinjet. He nods to you before taking his seat in the cockpit.

The trip is quiet, letting you run through the information over and over in your mind. It was Steve’s voice that drew you out of your thoughts. “What are you doing?”

He was looking back at you, intrigued. At least he’s not annoyed. “Just running through all the intel, making sure I have everything memorized. I hate going into places blind.” You picked up the tablet to go over the layout of the building for the 10th time. “You suspect they’re keeping the hostages on the lowest level, right?”

Steve nodded, it looked like you were closing in on the location. He was definitely descending. “Do you have an ETA once we land?” You were nervous, and had trouble keeping the warble out of your normally confident demeanour.

Steve nodded as he guided the Quinjet closer to the ground. “It’ll likely take us thirty minutes on foot once we land. You have your supplies?” Was he being nice?

You nodded even though he wasn’t looking at you, going through your mental checklist of all the weapons and gadgets you were bringing with you. Nothing crazy or flashy, but enough to protect yourself and definitely enough to download any Intel you could find quickly. You ran your hands over each item you had equipped to your suit. Physically checking that everything was in its place as Steve finally landed the Quinjet.

There was enough cover that you could likely be back before anyone noticed a rogue Quinjet, but still Steve turned on Tony’s tech that made the jet near invisible unless of course you knew what you were looking for. You walked side by side with Steve as you approached what appeared to be an abandoned hospital.

Your mouth twisted as you looked over the place, “Are you sure this is the right place, Captain?” There were no vehicles or any signs of life. No smoke from an errant fire, nothing. This whole situation was starting to feel off.

Steve hummed, “Doesn’t look very promising does it?” You shook your head in response. “We’re here, let’s check it out and if there’s nothing we can regroup back in the Quinjet.”

Together you scoped out the building, and found a hidden entryway. Once inside, the mission seemed slightly more promising. Steve tapped his ear then pointed down the long hallway, indicating he could hear something you couldn’t. Damn super soldier hearing. Your pulse picked up as you realized this was likely the group that was holding the hostages. You needed to find a way to gain access to them without alerting this group to your presence.

Suddenly a thought occurred to you, the fire routes. That was going to be your easiest way to navigate any hostages out of this situation. You pointed to the map across the hall, Steve’s eyes followed and he nodded. As quietly as you both could, you entered into the fire stairwell and made your way down to the lowest level.

Upon opening the door to the hallway the first thing you noticed was the smell. It smelt like that one time your mission had gone sideways in Brazil, turning your three day mission into a month long stay. When you had returned home everything in your fridge was so rotten you had been worried you would never get the smell out. Except this was worse. It was stronger, more pungent and definitely was more than some rotten food left in a fridge for a month.

Steve preceded you around the corner, his shield held high in anticipation of an enemy. Until he suddenly deflated infront of you. You walked around him to see what had changed his demeanour so quickly, and gasped at the sight in front of you. Bodies. Dead bodies. There was no telling how long they had been there. A while judging by the smell. You let out a whimper as your eyes scanned the faces. Women, men, children. They had taken all of these people from their lives, just to what, kill them?

Steve’s hand on your shoulder stopped you from moving. You had started walking towards the bodies, searching for any sign of life. You shook his hand off, and started walking forward again. It was a whisper of your name off Steve’s lips that stopped you in your tracks.

“It’s too late, they’re gone.” He said, voice wavering on the last syllable.

A choked sob left your mouth before you could stop it. The knowledge that you were too late, too much for you to bear. You raised your hand in front of your mouth. The sight in front of you triggering a memory, or is it a dream?

Before you can react any further Steve starts pulling you away. “C’mon,” me mumbles, “let’s get the intel and get out of here.” You stumble as he pulls you, still caught between the sight in front of you and the distant memory pulling at the edges of your brain. You fall into him and he holds you close. “I’m sorry,” you murmur into his chest, knowing he’ll still hear you. “I don’t know why it’s so bad this time, can I-could I have just a minute to…” you trail off, not quite sure what you’re asking for.

You feel Steve nod his head as he holds you close. This isn’t a position you ever expected to find yourself in. Showing Steve this vulnerability, but there was no way you could continue this mission without getting your head back in the game. His large paw-like hands ran up and down your arms in a soothing gesture, it was then you realized your heart was racing and you were crying. He guided you both back to the stairwell, away from the sight and horrific smell.

“Feeling better?” His voice was a murmur into the top of your head. You nodded, and shyly looked up at him. “I’m sorry Captain, I don’t, I’ve never been this emotional on a mission before. I-I promise it won’t happen again.” You can barely look him in the eye as you take a step back, and decide to focus instead on the chin strap for his helmet.

Steve opened his mouth to respond when suddenly a wave of dizziness unlike anything before hit you. You felt like your skin was burning and your head spun until you couldn’t tell up from down. “S-Steve…help…I’m…”

It was all you could get out before passing out, feeling the warmth of strong arms briefly before the world went black.

You felt your skin start burning again as you came too. This time from cold. Except for how you normally woke up here in the clothes you had begged, borrowed and stolen, you were still in your stealth suit. Not only that you felt the strong arms of Steve Rogers wrapped around you holding you tight.

Before you can untangle yourself you see the flurry of movement up ahead. Curtis. You jump to your feat Steve doing the same. He looked around confused, then stared at you shocked.

“Sweetheart,” Curtis looked like he had seen a ghost when he saw you. “How? Where? What’s going on?” You’d never seen him so flustered. But you were also confused, what was he talking about?

“I think I have the same questions as you. Captain Rogers.” He held out his hand for Curtis to shake. Curtis looked at him like he had the plague before begrudgingly shaking his hand. “Is there somewhere private we can talk here?”

Curtis nodded and lead you both back to where he and Gilliam would plan the rebellion. There wasn’t much privacy in the tail, and this was the closest you ever really got.

You sat atop an overturned crate shakily as Steve stood beside you. His arms were crossed and as you looked up at him you could see his no nonsense Captain America face was on. You hugged yourself trying to figure out where to start.

“Start from the beginning.” Curtis’ voice shocked you. You must have said that out loud.

“I-I don’t know what’s going on. Ever since I was a kid I remember dreaming of this place. It wasn’t every night, but most nights…I always hated this dream.” You looked straight at Curtis. His face was always easy to read. For a man who said so little you could always tell the emotions right from his face. He looked confused, and a little hurt if you were honest with yourself.

Although you spoke to Curtis it was Steve who responded to you, he said your name barely above whisper, “I don’t think this is a dream, maybe it never was…” he trailed off as he looked around. Turning his attention to Curtis he spoke next, “where are we?”

“This is Snowpiercer, a train built to house the remnants of humanity after the planet became too cold to be habitable. I’ve been here for 19 years. I wasn’t able to afford a ticket at the time, none of us in the tail were.” Curtis still looked confused as he turned his attention to you. “I remember when we boarded you were there. Alone. You seemed so small, and scared that day, like you had no idea what was going on…you didn’t did you?”

You nodded as you took in a steadying breath. You remembered it vividly, the first time you dreamt of the train. You had come home from school to find the house empty, your parents still at work. You had done some homework and made yourself a snack before finding yourself asleep in bed before they even got home.

You remembered the biting frost of the air. The people begging to be let on the train. The dizziness that surrounded you as you stood on the platform, looking around helplessly. You remembered a young man, a few years older than you, making sure you got on the train with a flash of blue eyes.

“None of it was a dream?” Your voice shakes, along with your shoulders. Your head starts to pound as all the memories of both your lives rush through you all at once.

The pile of bodies on the mission, it was so similar to before you had the protein blocks. People just started dieing from hunger. No way to help, nothing you could do, but just wait until they removed the bodies.

“No sweetheart.” Curtis sinks in front of you to wrap himself around you. “I was so scared one minute you were right there in front of me. In my arms. And the next, you were just gone, like you had never been here in the first place. That was days ago. No one has seen you since.”

You sob into his shoulder. It’s too much. You look up to see Steve standing behind Curtis now. His Captain America facade is gone, and his face showing more concern then you’ve ever seen him direct towards you before.

“You didn’t know this was happening? The SHIELD screening didn’t pick up on it?” You shake your head no to both of his questions trying to gather yourself. You cling to Curtis, your safety in the tail. Here you always felt weak, not like in the Avengers compound. Home. A tiny voice whispers in your head.

Steve nods once before starting to pace, “we have to figure out a way out of here. These people, they look like they’re malnourished, and freezing we have to get them to safety.”

Curtis snorts and stands to his full height. He stands equal to Steve in height and build. You never noticed before, but they are almost carbon copies, besides Curtis’ dark hair and beard. They could almost be the same person.

“And how do you expect to do that? There’s nowhere to go outside of the train. We’ll all freeze to death the moment the doors open. Not to mention, the disabled and the children. The only way to ‘save us’ is to help us rebel against the front. To take the train.” Curtis gestures around as he speaks to show the state of the tail.

You nod then stop. “Wait if this is real, and I brought us here,” you gesture between yourself and Steve, “couldn’t I just bring everyone else back?” You stumble as you get to your feet feeling the gnawing hunger in your stomach. The dizziness you always felt here is a constant buzz behind your eyes.

Curtis immediately pulls you close with an arm around your waist. “Careful Sweetness, can’t have you hurting yourself.” He murmured into your crown.

“Before we do anything I need to have a look at you.” Steve pointedly looked at you, and you nodded. How do you explain everything here? How you always felt unwell here. “Can you give us a minute?” He asked Curtis.

Curtis hesitated looking at you first, before nodding and leaving you and Steve, closing the curtain behind him. Steve stood before you his hands on his hips. He was scowling at the floor trying to put his thoughts together. You swayed on your feet again, but there was no Curtis here to catch you now. Steve quickly lowered both of you to the floor pulling you close to him.

“I need you to tell me everything, I’m blind here. And you look like you are getting sicker and sicker by the second. Is it always like this?” You had already been vulnerable with Steve once today, might as well spill everything you knew about the tail and yourself here.

“I’m weak here, vulnerable,” you started shakily, the dizziness was coming in waves. It felt like they were crushing you every time you got a gasp of fresh air. “Curtis has always protected me. I always thought it was my brains way of letting me be vulnerable, you know? Like a coping mechanism for what we do. A place where someone looked after me, rather than…” you trailed off as visions of the corpses you saw with Steve floated into your mind.

Steve didn’t say anything, simply rubbing your arm and nodding. He urged you to continue with a small smile, “I don’t know much, but we have nothing here, very little food and no exposure to the rest of the train. Curtis and Gilliam have been planning, I don’t know exactly what, but it’s going to be big. A rebellion. They have a plan, a way for us to take the train and reclaim some of our dignity if nothing else.”

Steve hummed as he processed your words. Before he could respond Curtis was pulling the curtain behind you open. “You two should try and sleep, they're going to be coming by with protein block rations soon. I’ll make sure you both get some.”

You smiled up at Curtis and he offered you his hand to pull you to your feet. You let him pull you into his chest, and you nuzzled into him. Although you only had rationed showers in the tail, Curtis’ scent had always meant safety, and you gulped down his scent like you would never smell it again.

He walked you and Steve over to your cubby. Steve watched as Curtis gingerly helped you into the cubby, then leaned in to kiss your forehead. There was a dusting of pink on his cheeks when he pulled back enough to allow Steve to climb in behind you. He made sure to leave his shield on his back, in case of any more unexpected departures.

Surprisingly Steve cuddled himself up to your back. An arm thrown around your waist and his face buried in the back of your neck. “I hate the cold,” he whispered. It was so quiet you weren’t sure you even heard him correctly. “How can you stand it here?”

You snorted a short laugh, “I mean normally I’m wearing way more than just a stealth suit…” you trailed off. Steve had never been this open with you. This whole day, it was like you had been with a totally different person, more like Curtis. Not to mention this was the most physical contact you had had in, god how long had it been?

“So are you and Curtis…?” Steve let his question trail off. You felt heat raise in your face at his words. What were you and Curtis?

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know he was real until twenty minutes ago, I thought he was figment of my imagination. He’s - he’s a good man, and a strong leader. He wants to protect us all.” You knew that didn’t really answer Steve’s question but you also didn’t have an answer. None of this was supposed to be real!

Steve simply nodded and tucked himself as close he could. You could feel him shivering from the cold of the tail section. The guilt began then. It was your fault Steve was here, your fault he was likely reliving a terrible moment, the moment he thought he was going to die. You slowly turned yourself over so you were facing him. Steve only looked at you curiously, not sure what you were doing. You reached for him and he let you pull him close offering your warmth and comfort as best you could.

It was then you felt the crash of dizziness, much like it had hit you at the hospital. “Steve…ugh I think…” your vision was narrowing, but you made sure to keep a firm grasp on him. Not willing to leave Steve behind in what would likely be his worst nightmare. Before the blackness took you over completely you felt him grip you tightly.

And then nothing.

[deuxcherise]

Collar Crimes: All Bark, No Bite (1/2)

C/w: Unhealthy behavior (?) | Yandere | Female OC | Gender Neutral Reader | Reader is a bit of a… gold digger here (pun intended lol) | Comfort (?) | Fluff (?) | Slight Angst (near the end)| Swearing | Includes a cute pic of a Golden Retriever x German Shepherd mix dog for reference

A/n: So a long time ago, before reader met Eris, reader met a certain dog~ Hint, hint: she was mentioned in the last chapter (can I call it a chapter? It was in part 2). It’s not the bartender, by the way. So this is going to be a two parter because it got too long. Huh… Is it just me or are these getting longer and longer? Even the animal is getting bigger lol. Enjoy~

Masterlist | Part 0, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (1/2) (you’re here!), Part 3 (2/2)

[Seven years ago…]

“Hiiiii~ Welcome to Petal Blush Cafe, dear guest. We’re so happy-happy to see you~”

“Oh, what do we have here? I heard a lot of great things about you. Come give Papa a big ol’ smile, why don’t cha?”

You keep your ever present resting blank face on, place your index fingers together in front of your mouth and drag them apart in an upward curve. You throw in a tilt of your head, as a bonus.

He throws his head back in ecstasy. “AHHH! So it’s true what they say. I feel so refreshed. Papa’s got an appetite for some sandwiches… unless you’re on the menu today?”

“Oh my~ You flatter me~ But unfortunately, nooooo sir~” you say with a high-pitched cutesy voice that heavily contrasts your stiff-robot face, fanning yourself for show.

You’ve always hated these kinds of customers– actually you really hated this job in general. Not only were you forced to wear a ridiculously, scandalously short pink waitress dress uniform regardless of your gender, but you had to listen to yourself talk with an ear-gratingly high-pitched tone because that’s what sells the performance here.

It’s not like you can just leave, as much as you wanted to. Where else would they pay you enough to make rent? Besides, with who runs this cafe, do you think you’d be able to leave scot-free? No.

Ah… if only someone with a lot of money could just… sweep you off your feet. Someone kind. Someone considerate. Someone polite.

Pff. Like that’s ever going to happen.

You take his usual order on your paper notepad. As you leave, you feel something heavy slap against your behind, the action sending a jolt through the rest of your body. You glance behind you and see him don a sleazy smirk, which further adds to your disgust and increasing resentment for this place and this man, as you pick up the pace to hand over the order to the chef. You slam the paper down onto the counter with a little more force than expected, warranting Remy’s attention.

“Which table?” he nonchalantly asks, cracking a couple of eggs onto the pan.

Somehow, despite wearing the same outfit as you, he maintains an extremely powerful look with his exposed bulging muscles and trimmed beard held by his hairnet. You envy the man.

“Table 13,” you grumble.

“Special sauce?”

“Special sauce.”

“Got it.”

The bell rings and in comes a trio of brothers in fancy suits, three of your most loyal customers, along with an unfamiliar face. Upon their request, the hostess leads them to a table in your section. You grab four menus before walking over and greeting them as usual.

“Hiiiii~ Welcome back to Petal Blush Cafe, dear guests. We’re so happy-happy to see you~” you say, with your iconic blank face.

The three men roar with delight. The lady with them, wearing the same kind of suit, simply pinches and pulls at her sleeve as she keeps her face downcast. One of the brothers turns to the lady with them while pointing at you. “Hey, Sis. Whatcha think of (Y/n), huh? That straight face and cute voice– combo’s real nice, ain’t it?”

“O-oh… um…” The woman makes eye contact with you for a split second before she looks away, a blush appearing on her face. She nods animatedly, releasing another roar from the men, much to your confusion.

“Oh right! (Y/n). You already know the three of us: Dante, Vergil and Nero. This,” Dante says, placing an arm around the lady’s shoulders, “is our baby sister, Lyn. She may look shy right now, but put a weapon in her hand and–” He whistles before chuckling.

“Ah. Happy-happy to have you, Lyn~” you say, cutely wiggling your fingers.

“... T-thank you… (Y/n).”

“Good girl,” one of the brothers sitting across pats her on the head. She reminds you of a golden retriever, with her blond hair and gentle, round eyes.

“Yay~ Now, what will it be today~?” you ask, clicking your pen.

They order some sandwiches and some drinks. You place the order in exchange for picking up the order for that sleazy customer who calls himself Papa. You and Remy exchange knowing looks before you deliver the food.

“Oooh. This looks delicious. Thank you very much, sweetheart.”

You nod and start walking away, before your arm is grabbed by a meaty hand. You turn your head around to see the man grinning at you maliciously. 

“Now, wait a gosh darn second. I heard that this establishment offers a… special service. Now… you aren’t holding off on me, are ya?”

You rip your arm out of his grasp, used to being grabbed by unscrupulous individuals like this man. You answer, “Oh~ The special service~ Sorry, hon~ That’s a privilege only reserved for customers who have dined here more than ten times~ Since you’ve come here once, that means you’ll have to come back nine more times.”

The special service in question refers to asking any server to sing the cafe’s jingle and perform a cutesy dance for the customer asking. Everyone who works here must learn this song and dance before they can be placed on the floor. Each server adds their own twist to it, of course, thus providing a unique experience.

The man slams a fist on the table and stands up, his face red with anger. “WHAT? I CANCELLED AN IMPORTANT MEETING FOR THIS. NOW IF YOU DON’T GIVE ME THE SPECIAL SERVICE, I AM GOING TO–”

Click!

Both your heads turn to the side to discover Lyn pointing a loaded revolver with one hand just a feet away, aimed directly for the man’s skull. Her eyes are sharp and narrowed, unlike the gentle, round ones you were introduced to earlier.

She raises her eyebrows. “Is there a problem here, sir?”

“D-do… do you know who you’re pointing that gun at, lady?” the man stutters, sweating beading up on his forehead.

Lyn shrugs. “Does it matter?”

“O-of course it does! Shoot me and you’ll have the West Razors going after you and your entire family.”

She raises an eyebrow. “... Never heard of them before.”

“What? Who are you then, huh bitch? Some don’s lady?”

She scoffs to the side. Her eyes widen, pupils contracting, as she cocked her head with a smirk. “Lyn Aurem-Diavolus. Of the May Devils.”

The man gasps and immediately lowers his knees, Lyn’s gun following. The man clasps his hands together in a prayer as he begs for his life. “I didn’t know! I didn’t know! Please forgive me! I didn’t know this server was your lover!”

…Who? Is what now?

Lyn’s eyes soften back to their round shape, her face darkening to a red hue as she stutters, “E-eh?”

“That’s right!” Dante pipes up with a smirk, coming behind Lyn, followed by the other two brothers. “Mess with (Y/n) again, and we’ll send you straight down to hell, capisce?” He gives the man a thumbs down with a frown. “Now scram.”who want to get on the bad side of the May Devils. The less competition, the better anyway.

Lyn replaces the safety lock before she puts it back into a hidden holster. She bashfully asks you, “Are you okay… (Y/n)?”

You nod and give a thumbs up. “Yeah. Thank you, Lyn~”

“N-no, well I mean yes, that too. But what I meant was–”

“Ooh, free sandwiches,” says Dante. “Don’t mind if I do–”

You throw a hand out. “No, wait!”

-----🔔-----

Ever since the brothers introduced you to Lyn, she has been visiting the cafe every day you’re scheduled to work for months now. Sometimes she comes with the brothers, sometimes by herself if they’re too busy dealing with… probably mafia stuff.

“Hiiiii~ Welcome to Petal Blush Cafe, dear guest. We’re so happy-happy to see you~”

“H-hi… (Y/n).”

At this point, there is no need to provide her with a menu anymore. She always orders a peanut butter milkshake and a plate of chocolate cake. Somehow, aside from the extreme sweet tooth she possesses, you always feel weird about giving her the chocolate cake. She’s definitely human but… she really does remind you of a very shy golden retriever… with perhaps a German shepherd side to her.

“Okay~ Here is your milkshake and your cake. Will there be anything else you’d like today, Lyn-Lyn~?”

You expect her to say no as per usual, but this time it seems she has something on her mind. Based on the way her face has turned red and her eyes look like they’re panicking.

“O-oh! U-um… (Y/n)?”

“Yes, Lyn-Lyn?”

“Do you… what time do you get off work? D-do you have time after work?”

That catches you off guard. “Why~?”

“UH… UM… I… I-I have something… to tell you! Come meet me behind the cafe.”

“Oh… kay. Okay~” you answer.

-----🔔-----

“Alright. Good job, everyone! Have a safe trip going home!”

“Yeah!” “Thank you! “Yes!” “Uh-huh.” “See ya!”

The day has ended and all of the customers have left. Your boss leaves first, but you and your coworkers stick around and begin making conversation.

“Oooh, you gonna go meet lover girl in the back, (Y/n)?”

You roll your eyes at a coworker’s words. “Ha ha. Real funny.”

“What does she wanna talk about anyway?”

You shrug, closing your locker. “Beats me.”

“Ooh, do you think she’s going to confess?”

You scoff. “No. Where’d you get that idea from?”

Your coworkers exchange looks before bursting into laughter.

Ever since that day when the don of the West Sharpies or something assumed you were Lyn’s lover, your coworkers have never let you live it down, especially with Lyn’s daily visits. She is… kind, considerate, polite, and she was pretty hot when she defended you back then. However! You do not have such a relationship with her, nor any kind of feelings like that.

You’re the last one to leave, the only one to leave through the back door to meet with Lyn. You see her leaning against the wall, dressed in her suit as always. The moment she spots you, she blushes again. She has never seen you in civilian clothes before, but you look so… beautiful. More so without the pink outfit.

“Sorry, did I keep you waiting?” you ask in your regular voice, out of character. Your face is still stiff though.

“O-oh, not at all, not at all. Um, here.”

She manifests a flower bouquet from behind for you. You take the bouquet, entranced by the largeness of it and how beautiful the colorful flowers look in the alleyway’s streetlight. When your eyes finally break away from the flowers, you find Lyn kneeling down on one knee and looking up at you with a very serious expression.

“Lyn?”

”(Y/n). Over these past several months,” she starts off, “I have been trying to figure out my feelings. I’ve thought about it over and over, tries to rationalize it as… as just infatuation, but… I know what’s in my heart. And I’ve finally come to a conclusion. Ever since I first met you, you have… captured my heart. I am in love with you, (Y/n).”

…..

You stare at her with wide eyes. “Huh?”

She clears her throat and starts glancing between you and the surroundings, embarrassed. “I-I know you may not feel the same. My brothers… and everyone else have told me already. And it’s not like I’ve really done anything to win your affection…” She mumbles something in between before continuing. “But if you give me the chance, I can show you what I’m capable of. As your potential girlfriend.”

She holds out a hand to you. “Will you… go out with me?”

“I…”

Do you want to try going out on a date with one of the May Devils, the youngest one too? You didn’t have any prior romantic feelings for the girl, which makes you feel bad. What if you never develop any feelings for her? What if she stops showing up to the cafe? What if you accidentally do something that triggers the entire famiglia after you?

In the midst of your thoughts, something dark emerges from you. A devil. It sits on your shoulder and whispers into your ear, “What if this is your chance to get out of here? She has money. You need money. It’s a match made in… well, ya know?”

…..

You smile, an expression Lyn hasn’t seen before but is entranced by, as you place your hand onto hers.

“I would love to.”

-----🔔-----

You hadn't expected to enjoy going out on dates with her, but you were sure glad that you said yes.

“(Y/n)! Look what I got for you!” Lyn excitedly says, holding a neatly wrapped box for you over your shoulder.

“Another one?” you chuckle, accepting the gift as she hugs you from behind and nuzzles the back of your neck. “Designer clothes. Designer bags. Luxuries cars. Lyn-Lyn, you're spoiling me too much. You're going to go bankrupt!”

She shakes her head, her hair tickles the back of your neck. “Mm mm mm mm. You're not being spoiled! You're being pampered! By me. Your loving, romantic girlfriend. Who regards you dearly very, very much! Forget about the money. Just let me enjoy spending it on you.”

You giggle and place a hand on her cheek, turning your head so you can share a kiss with her. Of course, Lyn starts planting lots of kisses on your face afterwards, like the lovely puppy she is.

You both fall into bed, full of laughter and joy until you both settle down to cuddle with each other. With your fingers interlocked with hers, Lyn gazes into yours with so much adoration, it makes you shy. You turn away and hide your face against the pillow.

“(Y/n), look at me,” she whispers.

You refuse, for a moment, but you make eye contact. You both gaze into each other's eyes, lovingly, until Lyn breaks the silence.

“I love you, (Y/n).

It makes you freeze, hearing those three words fall from her mouth for the first time in your relationship.

What shocks you more is that…

Well…

The thing is… normally… 

You're… supposed to say it back, right?

You open your mouth but not a single noise leaves it. You avert your eyes in shame, biting your lip.

Why can't you say it? After all she's done for you so far?

…..

“I-It's okay, (Y/n),” Lyn suddenly says, making you look at her. Her eyes and voice are filled with sadness. “I know… that it takes time for a person to develop feelings for someone. I mean, it took time for me to realize my feelings too, and… I did ask you out knowing that you might not… reciprocate my feelings. At least not yet. That's why people date, right? To get to know each other and hopefully fall in love. So… I'll wait for you. Besides, we’ve only dated for a month, right? I’ll do my best to make you fall in love with me. Okay? Prepare yourself~”

You nod, happy that Lyn still wants to be with you even if you can't say those three words back to her yet.

-----🔔-----

“Who are you talking to?”

You look up from your phone. “Oh! One of my old coworkers. He was just asking how I'm doing now since I've left the cafe. Thanks to you,” you answer, with a playful smile.

Lyn’s face doesn't share your expression. “Oh. Okay.”

You pout, wondering what's going on with Lyn lately. She'd catch you on the phone, ask you who you're talking to, and then ignore you until she finds something else to ask.

You crawl towards her on the bed and ask, “Lyn, I know you're upset. Do you want to talk about it?”

Lyn looks at you, looks away, and then looks back at you again before she leans forward and catches your lips with a kiss. She pushes you down onto the bed before releasing you from her lips and just looks at you.

Her eyes move from your eyes to your lips to your exposed collarbone before going back up to your eyes. She sighs before laying her entire weight on you, her head nestled in the crook of your neck.

“Lyn?”

“I love you, (Y/n)... Do you love me?”

“I…” Your voice catches in your throat for nth time.

You feel her breath as she sighs. “I know.”

Tears start to fill up your eyes out of frustration. “I'm sorry…”

She pops back on her elbows, worried. “Oh no, it's okay. Shh shh. It's okay. (Y/n). My (Y/n). I'm sorry,” she coos, caressing your cheek and wiping your tears.

For some reason, no matter what she did, nothing could spark you to say those three damned words back to her. It isn't your fault but…

It is starting to drive her insane.

[kanmom51]

“The big unknown here is how much jk will comply.”

We know he doesn’t comply to anything. He does what he wants. Like with Tae mentioning & engaging with Jk all the time - Jungkook doesn’t. I don’t think he’s holding back in any regard either. If he misses a member, he will say. If he wants to see a member, he will say and invites them over. If he wants to do a live drinking, he will. If he doesn’t want to cut his hair, he won’t. If he wants to talk about the military service like in his recent, he won’t shy from talking about it. If he didn’t want to work on any music at all for 5-6 months, he didn’t.

Jungkook only doesn’t mention hanging out with or meeting up with any of the members cause I guess he feels he doesn’t need to/it’s not a need to know thing what he’s doing (if it’s not work). With the exception of his own rule being asking jimin over about 3 times.

(Compared to jimin, where Jimin mentions who’s he’s seen & hung out with when asked. He will openly say if he hasn’t seen certain members in a while or who he went to eat with or who he saw recently at the building. He said he’d be back after work when invited over - I don’t think he’s overly shying away from answering questions either and just all together doesn’t answer a question if he knows he won’t answer it )

All Jungkook does in the current Taekook dynamic is accept Taehyung’s invitations to hang out as both were the only members from Nov 2022-March 2023 who weren’t doing anything at all, as the others were busy with albums & collabs AND allow Taehyung to come over when he asks (just like jimin asking to come over to eat ramen & jk saying I’ll do it for you). Which is what a good natured friend does. We know it’s Taehyung inviting Jk out all the time instead off the other way round cause it’s always with Taehyung’s friendship group or associated with the Wooga squad in general.

Jungkook doesn’t broadcast who he’s seen. We just know if he’s got schedules if he mentions it & what he’s been doing that day if he cares to say so.

What we DO know:

- It’s Taehyung that asks Jungkook to hang out (purely based on how it’s always with Taehyung’s friends)

- it’s Jungkook that asks jimin to hang out several times (asked him over for chicken, asked to go see his music performance, asked him to go boxing with him, asked him to stay on his live/come over)

- Jungkook has ONLY asked jimin to hang out & no one else

- Jungkook has only engaged & commented on jimin’s live but not for others unless it was their birthday (Suga’s)

- Jungkook engaged heavily with jm promotions & projects + congratulated him on his wins & visited his practice

- jimin has mentioned being over in response to jk asking him over saying he will be back after work

- jimin leaves comments on everyone’s lives but never missed jk’s when he was working and only stopped recently when his promotions ended

- Jungkook has been quiet since jimin’s promotions ended when he used to go live every week from late jan - late March the most busy periods for jimin + goes live only when jimin is about to catch a flight in a few hours or already gone. The exception being the live Taehyung started when Hobi was there.

- Jungkook has only acknowledged jimin’s album out of them ALL (a little bit for Hobi Aka a post on his IG stories) he was promoting Jimin’s enthusiastically but went quiet for Suga’s & RM’s (I don’t think he’s mentioned them at all, I could be wrong)

- Jungkook watches jimin’s lives and jimin watches JK’s

- Jungkook knows the lyrics / watches jimin’s projects as soon as they release. He knew the choreo/lyrics already. The only member who has mentioned & sung/watched each of his projects.

- Jungkook mentions primarily only jimin in lives.

- Jungkook took time to learn to play letter & help with Jimin’s album.

- Jimin was constantly updating Jungkook on what he was doing every time Aka what he was working on/busy with/changing location or filming + so was Jungkook immediately telling jimin he changed his shirt & updating jimin on what he was doing

- Jimin hugged Jungkook very intensely the day after he got back from his US trip despite seeing him at the group dinner the week before.

THE ONLY, thing they haven’t done is be spotted in public together but if you put two home-bodies together in the same room, you very much aren’t going to. Last time we did it was cause Hobi posted them all hanging out last year in the arcade in LA & someone caught them hanging out with a group for dinner last year.

Hello @malecsma1a so we are back at it for round two, lol.

And we are in disagreement, well not total, but partial, straight off the bat.

“The big unknown here is how much JK will comply.” That was me in my last post.

And your starter here is:

"We know he doesn’t comply to anything. He does what he wants."

This base line of yours is, in my opinion, not completely accurate.

JK is a non conformist, meaning he does not play by societal rules. An example to that is his tattoos. He will live his life according to the way he feels is right and not what is expected of him by society.

JK is also a rebel. And he will lash out at figures of authority and do what he wants or thinks even if told to do otherwise.

But make no mistake. JK is a good boy and he will usually do what he is told. And he is still bound by his contract.

Some of these things you mentioned him doing because he does what he wants, you are looking at it all wrong. He's doing them to fight back, putting his foot down in the way that he can. It's a rebellion. Deleting an over 50 million IG account is a rebellion. And what does he have to rebel against, eh? If everything was nice and dandy. If he was doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, why did he have to go so openly against the company? And make no mistake. This was a huge Fuck you of his to the company. This wasn't "oh, I don't use IG so I'll just delete it". Because JM wasn't using his until his promotions started either, he didn't post for weeks on end. This was a statement. And after this statement things changed. JK changed. He took more control over the message and his connection with the fandom.

So no. From November 22 until end of February 23 JK wasn't in control and wasn't doing whatever he wanted to. He just wasn't.

Other than that, most of what you write is right.

I don't agree with this one:

Well, he did hug him intensely, but what you are insinuating, or at least, that's what is understood from what you are writing, is that the hug was intense even though he saw JK just a week earlier. Nope. Nah. JM hugged JK very intensely even though he saw him just hours before (they spent the night together drinking - told us so in so many words). That's what it should be saying.

About this.

Yes and no?

Cause us not knowing they have been spotted doesn't mean they haven't, if you get my drift.

Or let me put it this way: The fact that I-army are not trusted by K-army to share sightings does not mean there haven't been any.

I will leave it at that.

And I will leave you with this, just for funsies.

[madarasgirl]

Madara NSFW Alphabet

A NSFW alphabet has been done for Madara by others, so I also tried to switch up most of the letters. This is for Madara with his beloved S/O. Hope you enjoy! @immazebrah

Warnings: very NSFW. Too many acts/kinks to list. Read at your own risk.

A- Anal

Sex is one of Madara’s main methods of expressing how deeply he feels about you. Madara wants all of you, so the butt stuff is an absolute “Yes!” for him if you’re down, even if it isn’t his first choice of hole. He properly prepares you so even if there will be stretching, there isn’t pain with Madara once he’s in. You’ll beg him to do this more often in the future.

B- Body Part (Favourite)

Madara isn’t particularly vain, but even he has to agree his cock looks visually appealing. Doesn’t hurt (pun intended) that he’s well-endowed and stretches you nicely. In conjunction with his hands, he plays your body like an instrument, each sound he draws from you is music to him.

On you, he likes everything –he actually does have every feature on your body memorized. But if he must choose, his favourite parts of you are your eyes and smile. Generally, if you’re happy, then he is as well. When your attention is on him and even your eyes light up to smile at him, it’s almost enough to thaw out his own grouchy face.

C- Cum

Don’t let his composed, courteous demeanor in public fool you. He gets overcome with emotion and feral in the sheets. We all know about his breeding kink. His preference is to finish inside to leave a piece of himself in you, whether that’s your pussy (top choice), ass, or mouth. If he really can’t have that, then he’ll pull out reluctantly, but unload all over your face, chest, or nether bits to mark you as his.

D- Dirty Talk

The main thing you need to know is that Madara is dominant and enjoys teasing you, but ultimately he loves you, so he wouldn’t be too cruel. His dirty talk is heavily psychological. He knows you well and is such a master of words he doesn’t need (nor want) to use the most degrading terms to taunt you (unless you’re into that, but that isn’t his default state). Typically, the deep timbre of his voice, along with his observations on how you look eagerly taking his cock, making you repeat what you want him to do to you, and his praise for your performance are already pretty effectively at making you ache and plead.

E- Edging

Overstimulation is the name of his game. Orgasm denial is a favourite way he teases and exerts his control over your body without hurting you. He is patient. He can amuse himself with your body for hours and bring you to the brink of an orgasm and back off many times, leaving you begging pitifully for release before he finally allows you to finish. On other occasions, he is overly generous and provides too many orgasms, which also leaves you a writhing puddle of tears.

F- Facesitting/Facial

He enjoys getting covered in your juices. When you lose control and hump his face with enthusiasm, block his air with your crotch so that’s all he can see and smell, then leave his head drenched, he knows he did a great job. On the flip side, when he receives fellatio, he is open both to taking charge or allowing you to do your thing, depending on the mood of the day. If he doesn’t lose patience and decide he wants to fuck instead, he prefers you swallow his load. During oral sessions when he’s feeling especially possessive, he will mark you as his by finishing on your face as you open wide to show him just how willing you are.

G- Group Sex

Madara won’t share you. The intimacy you share took a long time to build and is very special to him. There is no way he will allow an outsider to intrude on it. The only gangbang you’ll ever experience will be with his clones.

H- Hickey

Despite his propensity towards marking you, he’s surprisingly tasteful about it. It must be due to his need for privacy. He doesn’t tend to leave suck marks on your neck where others can see them. He believes what you and him do in private is no one else’s business, so he only places his love marks where your clothes will hide them (unless one was left elsewhere by accident). They’re really only for his viewing pleasure.

I- Intimacy (how is he during the act?)

You’re the love of his life. He can be extremely tender and bare his heart to you during the act, from affectionate words and stares to gentle touches. He can be rough at other times, depending on his mood, but sex with Madara is always intense. His feelings for you can make him do some strange things though. Aside from his base Sharingan, which he frequently employs for its increased perception and to memorize every detail, he occasionally also uses his (not technically canon) Mangekyou ability to record and rewind the most intimate moments during sex, such as orgasms.

This doesn’t happen often either, but when he’s feeling especially soft for you, but passionate and dramatic, he may activate part of his Susanoo to protectively envelop you in his chakra while he rails you.

J- Jousting (can be a slang term for double penetration)

...Yeah he would. Why wouldn’t he? He likes pussy. And he likes ass. Why not plug both at the same time? Or two cocks in one hole if you’re into that? Clones are useful for more than just dancing. Toys may be employed to achieve double penetration as well. He’s open to experimentation if you’re willing and it doesn’t injure you.

Actually, this term is also used to refer to men charging at each other with their erections out. If his S/O was male, he’d be a lot more competitive than with a woman and would swordfight you, if only to demonstrate his mastery of kenjutsu. Don’t indulge him. Madara is insane and this kind of jousting will end with your dick broken.

K- Kinks

Bondage and BDSM, including temperature play (wax and ice), light spanking, restraints with gags and blindfolds, and possibly breath play (very carefully). He’s sensitive to your limits and how you’re feeling, respectful of the safe word, and appreciative of your trust to relinquish control to someone like him. He won’t betray your trust, but enjoys leaving you a babbling mess and will put you in your place if you’re being a brat.

Despite wanting to spank you a bit so he can watch your butt and boobs jiggle, he doesn’t strike you elsewhere (like the face). It’s just not what he’s into. His intention also isn’t to leave you feeling used or dirty, so despite teasing you constantly with his sinful words and the tools and toys of his kinks to get you worked up and embarrassed, he doesn’t humiliate you either.

L- Lube

He prefers not using lube for vaginal sex, but will if you really need it. Something about going natural and hearing that slick sound gets him going. He’s huge, so to ease his entry and prevent micro-tears to your insides, he’s willing to spend a lot of time on foreplay and getting you to a point where you’re so hot and bothered you’re just dripping with slick.

He will use lube for anal. No sense trying to shove a can dry up delicate hole like that. It’s painful for him too if there’s too much friction.

M- Maiesiophilia

Don’t know this word? I didn’t either before this post. Madara didn’t have a pregnancy fetish until you got heavy with his child and after he got over his old-fashioned beliefs about the risks of pregnancy sex. After that hurdle, the sexless months and sight of your body swelling with the product of your love got to him. It doesn’t matter if there is already a bun in the oven, he is somehow even more aroused when left with your naked, pregnant figure and he will continue to breed you, albeit much more gently.

He doesn’t have a preference for breast size, but seeing your tits plumped up makes his hands itch to fondle them, to your dismay. You have to remind him multiple times whenever you’re intimate of how tender they are. Once you give birth and start lactating, believe me, he’ll try out your dairy too, lactose intolerance be damned.

N- NO

He isn’t into scat. Madara also refuses to draw blood from you, so there will be no blood play unless it is natural via period sex. Otherwise, he’s open to trying almost anything, but he will never hurt you or force you into anything you don’t want to do.

O- Oral

He’s an excellent giver and knows your spots. He can be sweet and giving where he treats oral sex as an opportunity to drink his fill of you, but he has days when he’s an unhinged animal (and gross), where he relieves his craze through your body. Whether you were wet, dry (unlikely), or on your period, he will want to devour you completely and eat whatever comes out of your hole, juice, blood, clots, and all.

P- Position (Favourite)

Madara is very visual. He likes both when your back is completely exposed and vulnerable and positions where he can see your face (so he can watch the expressions he’s evoking and make you stare him in the eyes as he fucks you). Both your back exposure and prolonged eye contact, especially when he frequently activates his Sharingan during sex, are signs of trust to him. Madara would never admit how much he needs you to trust him.

Q- Quantity (how many partners did he have)

Not an excessive number, though he learned well from each of them. Madara is an emotional and intensely private person. It was rare for him to seek random sexual encounters despite not being against such a concept. Once he has sex with someone, he prefers seeking that same partner, even if he is only casually involved with them. But once he’s with you, his S/O, he’ll never let go. Sex is a way for him to connect with you not just physically, but on an emotional and spiritual level. He cares more about the quality of his partners and love making, not so much the quantity.

R- Racy Clothes

It’s hot when you wear lingerie for him, especially sexy lace body suits, even if he thinks your body is perfect as is and donning such skimpy clothing is a waste since he’s going to rip it off anyways. You learned quickly to only wear your best lingerie on days you believe he’s more civilized (he had you fooled).

He wasn’t thrilled when you expressed your desire to see him in male lingerie. At first he thought it was beneath his dignity, but for you, he wore the silly thing. The set you got him outlined his pecs, butt, and package deliciously. When he saw how excited you were, he obliged you several more times.

S- Spooning

In Madara’s opinion, an excellent position for anything. Sleeping, sex, aftercare, you name it, having you flush against his body is gratifying, particularly when you unknowingly wiggle your arse against his crotch . He prefers being the big spoon, but will enjoy being cradled when he’s tired and/or relaxed, as long as you don’t verbally acknowledge the position. Otherwise, he will just as quickly flip the script and have you back in his arms with a crotchety expression on his face.

T- Testicles

When it comes to receiving oral sex, Madara likes having you worship his scrotum as well. He loves when you want to lick him everywhere like he does to you and seeing how much of himself he can get inside your mouth. He can be a bit of a masochist and loves when you’re a bit rough in general, even with his sack.

He also likes when you’re on your back with your head hanging off the bed so he can throat fuck you properly. He knows you love the view from between his legs and having his massive balls smear all over your face, your legs spreading lewdly because you’re enjoying yourself so much, you wish you had another cock pounding your other holes.

U- Underwear

…He probably wears a fundoshi, or a loincloth. Think of a long piece of cloth twisted and tied up to look like a thong with/without a front panel. It’s probably uncomfortable, but he looks extremely hot.

V- Virginity (when/how did he lose it)

Like most people from his generation, he started things young. I want to say he first had sex at around 15 years old or so, but since it’s Madara, who was more preoccupied with training, fighting, protecting Izuna, and preparing to be the next clan leader, he might have been in his late teens when he lost his virginity.

Madara had been curious for a while even if he never acted on it. He didn’t want to sleep with a random member of the clan who was willing because he was the heir. And at his tender age, he wasn’t going to visit a brothel either. The opportunity to bed a civilian woman he found attractive came up naturally during a mission, when his teenage hormones were acting up after the adrenaline rush from the day wore off. It was a peaceful night when she showed him how to perform the dance of the flesh and the wonders of carnal pleasure on her bedroom futon.

W- Wildcard

He loves loves LOVES when you lick him clean after sex, especially if it involved vaginal penetration. He may be normally gruff, but he enjoys your aftercare too. Clearing your combined fluids from his cock with your tongue is such an intimate and submissive act, it makes him melt when he’s at his most vulnerable, which is after sexual intercourse. He also wouldn’t complain about seeing his cum on yet another part of you.

X- X-Ray (Dick HC)

Madara’s cock can look like anything you want (he is whatever size and shape you prefer) since there is nothing from canon to tell us about it. Except ONE thing:

Madara is basically a Japanese samurai with major superpowers. A Japanese man. According to my Google (re)search, male circumcision is extremely rare in Japan, with only around 1% to 9% of Japanese men being circumcised. Even if we use the higher end of this estimate, the vast majority of Japanese men today are uncut, and when we take into consideration how Madara came from an older generation, circumcision was even more uncommon. Thus, Madara is almost certainly uncut. QED.

So I can’t stop won’t stop writing about his foreskin in my smut. It’s weird to me that most writers don’t mention it at all, when there’s so much you can do to it. *salivates*

I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL (People from countries where circumcision isn’t the norm must think I’m nuts too✌🏻 ).

Y- Yielding (does he let you take control)

Madara is a control freak, but being his S/O means he trusts you too. He occasionally allows you to take the reins despite this being way less frequent than him being the dominant partner.

This is a different dynamic than when he is in charge (and you really are at his mercy) since he is physically much stronger and knows he can put an end to whatever you were trying on him if he wanted. He almost never does that though because it is entertaining and interesting for him to see what you come up with. Whenever he is in charge, Madara is aware of his strength and very careful with you. But if he decides to give you control, he generally lets you do whatever you want with him, encouraging you to be rougher with him because he can take it.

Z- Zzz (sleeping afterwards)

Madara doesn’t make love (or do anything) in a half-assed manner. Expect him to keep going until he’s satisfied after multiple rounds and you’re completely fucked out. This could take hours. This loving beast will only rest after he’s cleaned you up, ensured the surroundings are still safe, and that you’re okay and sound asleep. 

[new-eyes-extra-colors]

Sunlight

Fandom: Pokémon Omega Ruby

Rating: General Audiences

Characters: May, Maxie, Groudon, Steven Stone

Summary: "Frenemies" is a weird relationship to have with someone, but if May hopes to partner with Groudon, she's going to have to make it work.

A/N: The only excuse I have for this is that I dearly love both of these characters and think they should be friends. Two things to note: May is 24 here, and there is an on-screen panic attack about two-thirds of the way through.

A Groudon-sized heap of thanks to my friend @slam-dunkrai for beta reading for me!

[read on AO3]

Something was beeping.

May opened her eyes blearily, then squeezed them shut again at the brightness around her and frowned. Where was she? She peeked again and her head throbbed. The ceiling was white and tiled; not the popcorn ceiling of her room in Littleroot, and definitely not the supports of her tent. Her back was on something soft, her head supported by pillows. Her left arm itched fiercely, and something was tight across her chest, making it difficult to breathe. There was a sharp pain in her left side, like she had a stitch from exerting herself too much.

She rolled her head to the side, looking down the length of her arm to see what was making her skin protest so much. A long clear tube ran from her wrist to… she followed it up to a bag dangling off to the side of the bed, far above her head.

Oh. Right. That made sense. Hospital, got it. They’d tucked her in a little tightly. The last thing she remembered was… running? She’d been headed down into the Cave of Origin to deal with Groudon, Maxie’s voice in her ear and half her team left behind on the surface to help with the evacuation. How had she…

…No, that wasn’t right. The last thing she remembered was leaving the Cave of Origin, after Groudon. With Groudon.

Using her right hand so she didn’t disturb the IV, she reached up to rub the sleep out of her eyes. The beeping increased in tempo. It must be a heart rate monitor. Okay. Hopefully everybody assumed the ultra ball she had with her was one of her pokémon and not, you know, the horrifyingly eldritch walking natural disaster that had been well on their way to starting the literal apocalypse. Who would suspect that?

Her increased heart rate summoned a nurse seemingly out of thin air.

“Ah, you’re awake,” the woman said, sweeping into the room, a smile on her face. “How are we feeling this morning?”

“Fine, thanks,” May said. She tried to sit up and dizziness washed over her; she laid back down, head thumping against the pillows heavily. The pain in her side was back in force. “Where’s my team?”

“At the center next door,” the nurse replied, fiddling with one of the machines. “You’ll be able to see them once you’re discharged.”

“I’m good to go now,” May said. “I feel great.”

The nurse eyed her critically. “You are dehydrated and have three cracked ribs.”

Oh. Maybe the blankets weren’t tight after all.

“Just cracked?” May asked. “Not broken?”

The nurse leveled a forceful stare at her.

Okay, but she’d just fought a world-ending monster to a standstill, what, a day ago? How long had she been out? Whatever, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t intimidated. May leveraged herself up with her right arm, ignoring her protesting ribs. “Seriously, I’m good to go. I need to check on my pokémon.”

The nurse sighed. “I’ll send the doctor in to assess you, and you can discuss your situation with her. But I don’t recommend leaving unless she gives you the all clear.”

“Sure, gotcha,” May said. “I’ll be sure to drink lots of water and avoid any strenuous activities. I don’t need to be in a hospital to do that.”

*

The doctor protested as well, and no doubt May’s friends would once they found out, but she signed a release and wrote a letter stating why she was leaving before the doctor’s recommendation, and was discharged a few hours later. She brushed her teeth, got changed—somewhat gingerly due to the cracked ribs—secured the one pokéball she had on her person, gathered her bag and her cell phone—someone had kindly plugged it in to charge while she’d been unconscious—and checked her messages. Six missed calls, five from the professor and one from her mother, and two texts from Flannery and one from Brendan. Guiltily, she tucked the phone away. She could get back to them later.

She was going to get an earful from Steven for sure, provided he knew about her condition—if anyone did, he would—but given the circumstances, her health could wait a little while. She had more pressing concerns.

She couldn’t get over the fact that she caught Groudon.

Was that even allowed? Maxie had been going to do it, before everything got shot to hell, and he was probably a better trainer than she was. On the other hand, there must’ve been something wrong with his method, because instead of partnering with him, Groudon rampaged. There was no guarantee they wouldn’t do the same thing the moment she let them out of their ball, but at least now she could return them. Right? Pokéballs weren’t foolproof, even the expensive one she’d used, but it didn’t seem like Groudon had broken out yet, so they still had to be in it.

Wherever it was...

“May I see your trainer’s card, please?” the receptionist asked. May already had it in hand and passed it over the desk to her. “Okay, let’s see… May Maple. It looks like we only have one of your pokémon under our care currently. An aggron. He’s in the large pokémon wing, down this hallway to my left at the very end. You’re welcome to visit him at any time.”

Wait, what? “Aggron?”

“Yes, that’s what his intake paperwork says.” The receptionist looked up at her, faintly confused. “Is that incorrect?”

When had Brutus evolved? “No, no that’s right.” Surely she’d be able to recognize him regardless. Right? She was that good a trainer at least. He’d recognize her, definitely. “You don’t have any others?”

The receptionist shook her head. “No, I’m sorry.”

Crap. Okay. She’d have to check with Steven, then; he would know what happened. “Okay, no worries,” May said, making sure to sound lighthearted. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“Just one thing. What’s my aggron in for?”

The receptionist looked over her computer screen. “He’s being tested for stress fractures after being… caught in a cave collapse, and also for exertion after a suspected spontaneous evolution.” She looked up at May, a question in her eyes, but didn’t say anything else.

“Okay, thank you. I think that’s all I need. You said the left hallway, right?”

“That’s right. Have a good day.”

“You too.”

May took off past the receptionist’s desk, power walking to keep from breaking into a sprint. A cave collapse and a spontaneous evolution. That’s why she had been running, right? She’d caught Groudon, but the earthquakes hadn’t stopped; she’d had to run to get out. She dropped Brutus’ pokéball sometime during the fight, so he was beside her during their escape. If the ceiling started to come down, he must’ve evolved to protect her. Vaguely, she remembered being pinned to the ground facedown with something impossibly heavy bearing down on her back, only saved by the sturdy construction of the suit, and then that weight being lifted marginally. The earth had been rumbling and air had been hissing in her ears. She must’ve passed out not long after.

May was pretty sure that was one mystery solved. Spontaneous evolution happened for a lot of reasons, but defensive evolution was more common than other types. To know that he’d somehow mustered the energy to save her after being so exhausted from combating Groudon, to know she was loved that much by her pokémon was…

She wiped at her welling tears with the back of her hand. Now wasn’t the time.

She pushed open the double doors at the end of the hallway and spotted Brutus immediately. A hulking mass of white steel and rocky flesh stretched out across the floor, taking up a surprising amount of space. The attending nurse glanced at her as she entered, and the aggron lifted his head and looked at her with clear blueish green eyes.

May burst into tears at the sight, and ran the distance to drop to her knees and throw her arms around his neck, not minding at all the hard skin or cold metal armor or pain in her ribs. The nurse stepped aside and let her have her moment.

“Wow, you got big, huh?” May asked, pulling back to peer into crystal eyes and scrubbing the tears from her own. Brutus looked back at her, silent and stoic. “How am I gonna feed you now?”

“Biggest aggron I’ve ever seen,” the nurse said. “Course we don’t get many of them out here on our little island. But he’s an impressive specimen for sure.”

She turned to look up at him. “Is he okay? The receptionist said he was being looked at for stress fractures.”

“Yeah, he’s checked out so far,” the nurse replied, glancing at his clipboard. “The only trouble he’s in is due to exhaustion and overexertion.”

“Spontaneous evolution,” May said.

“Yeah, you know. Pokémon are tough customers, especially this one, but even they can get the wind knocked out of them.” He smiled kindly. “I wouldn’t worry about him though. He’s recovering well, and I have no doubt he’ll be ready to leave in a few days. Really, it’s just a precaution that we’re still monitoring him.”

May sighed with relief. Alright. So she just had to arrange to stay a few nights at the Center—she had things to do, and people to talk to, and a giant eldritch lava monster to find, and hopefully everyone else would be sticking around in Sootopolis for a while too.

She spent the next hour cooing over Brutus, running her hands down his armored face and holding his massive paw in her lap. He seemed to be himself, just tired. Eventually, reluctantly, she patted his nose and stood. She needed to get a room here and then go figure out what had happened to Groudon.

When she did so, the receptionist said, “Oh—it looks like you’re already in our system for the rest of the week.”

May frowned. “Um, okay. Can I ask whose card is on file?”

The receptionist clicked her mouse. “It says here the credit card authorization was signed by a Steven Stone. Wait. The Steven Stone?”

Oh, but that made sense. Of course Steven would be footing her bill. Again. It had to have been him who brought Brutus to the Pokémon Center in the first place, and probably the one who recommended treatment for spontaneous evolution. He was the steel-type expert after all.

“Yeah, that’s him,” May said. “Can I pick up my keys now?”

*

She ran it over in her head during the walk back to the Cave of Origin. She went in with Brutus and Comet—one was in the infirmary and one still in a ball, clipped to her hip. Ivy was with Steven and Alluria was with Archie, and that’s where they both still were, according to what Steven had said on the phone when she’d called him after picking up her keycards at the Pokémon Center. But where was Groudon?

The worst-case scenario was that their ball had been lost in the cave-in, but Steven and Wallace were working on getting that sorted right now. When she’d spoken with Steven he’d mentioned that, as both a landmark and a place of importance to not just the Sootopolitans but Hoenn as a whole—and since there had been no major injuries during the short-lived state of emergency—one of their first priorities in the wake of this disaster was clearing the cave out. That was good, right? All she had to do was wait, in that case, and she had to do that anyway while Brutus recovered.

The cave entrance was so much less intimidating in the daylight—well, the natural daylight, not the light of Groudon’s summoned sun that had blared overhead in the dead of the night. Now, past the massive carved doors, it looked like any other cave she’d dove into during the last two years, except for the construction crew coming and going out of it.

Nobody seemed to notice her as she slipped inside and followed the wide passageway deeper into the earth. She had no idea how close she’d been to the entrance when the ceiling collapsed, but she was going to find out.

It turned out to be pretty far. She found Steven after the fourth turn, who knew how many feet underground, his metagross and a constellation of beldum floating ominously beside him.

He turned when she called out to him. “There you are,” he said, smiling. “You really should be wearing a hard hat in here, you know.”

“Eh, this cave already tried to crack my skull open once and didn’t manage it,” she said, knocking on her head with her right fist, and Steven chuckled.

“Be that as it may, May, safety is not a joke. Why don’t we go outside?”

“This’ll just take a second,” she said. “I know you’re busy.”

He nodded. “Alright.”

“First of all—Ivy.”

“Yes,” he replied, unclipping a blue and red ball from his belt. “She performed admirably, you should know. She’s exceptionally well trained.”

Hopefully he couldn’t see the blush that crept up her cheeks at that. “Thank you,” she said, returning the sceptile’s ball to her own belt. “You don’t know what that means to me. Um, second of all is a little more complicated.” Steven’s brow creased in concern as she continued. “So, um, I think I lost one of my team members when the cave collapsed.”

“I’m sorry, May, that’s very serious,” Steven said gravely.

“Yeah, I—I know.” She took a deep breath; hopefully if he thought she was overwhelmed with worry he wouldn’t ask too many questions. Like what pokémon is it and where did you catch it and hold on, I thought you only had four partners.

“They’re in an ultra ball,” she said. “So, um, if you find one, will you please let me know?”

He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “May, of course I will,” he said. “I’ll let the rest of our crew know as well. As soon as we find them, I’ll give you a call.”

“Thank you,” she said, with genuine gratitude. He held his arms out and she started in for a quick hug, but then backed off. “Uh, my ribs are cracked.” Dang it.

“Oh! I’m sorry, it had completely slipped my mind.” He held out a hand for her to shake. “Apologies for the formality, then.”

She shook it, smiling. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ve made it up to me already. Thank you for booking my stay at the Pokémon Center, and for looking after Ivy and Brutus. At this point I think I owe you one.”

Steven looked at her. “May, we all owe you.”

Right. Saving the world and all that. “Eh,” she said, trying not to sound flippant. “All in a day’s work. Actually,” she said, “I do have one more question.”

Steven nodded.

“So, I know the cave collapsed, I know Brutus evolved to protect me,” she started. “But who dug me out? I’m assuming it was you and Diligence.”

“It was a group effort,” he replied. “I believe Mister Asher reached you first.”

That made sense; Maxie had been the one operating the other end of the radio, so he had been right there at the mouth of the cave. Not that it had been much help; they’d lost the signal almost immediately. Wasn’t his fault.

“After that, I arrived with Wallace, and then Mister Caspian, Mister Jeong, and Ms Khouri-LeRoux.”

Archie, Tabitha, and Shelly. She was planning on talking to all of them at some point. “Right, okay,” she said. “Just making a list of who all I need to thank.” Among other things. Definitely not who all she had to ask about her—her missing pokémon.

Stars above, Groudon was hers, weren’t they? Her responsibility. Reality settled like a weighted blanket around her shoulders, making her stomach churn with anxiety. She had to pick up the pace.

*

After thanking Steven again she showed herself out, and stepping back into the clear sunlight was a relief. She still had no idea how long she’d been trapped in the cave, but she considered it fortunate that she didn’t remember it. Being buried alive was… well, it didn’t merit thinking about. Not now.

Next on her list: Maximilian Asher. Wherever he was. It was a little funny—after all this time knowing each other, they’d never traded phone numbers. She just happened to run into him. A lot. Which, of course, had been according to his plans all but the first two times, and that time in Lilycove when she caught him out shopping. But he hadn’t left her any hints about where to find him now.

He’d been such a frequent presence in her life the last two years and now it felt like an eternity since they’d spoken, even though it had been the day before yesterday. The last time was over the radio, right before Groudon erupted from the magma deep in the cave…

Right, she wasn’t thinking about that right now. She had at least one person from Team Magma she could contact. It was fortunate he’d opted to give her his number after the incident at the Weather Institute all those months ago. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, all the way down to the Ts, and then dialed.

It only rang twice. “Hello?” said a voice on the other end of the line.

“Hey, Tabitha,” May said. “It’s me. Is your boss around?”

“Maple?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “Yeah, he’s right here. Why?”

“I need to talk to him. Well—I need to talk to both of you, technically. It’s nothing bad. Where are you guys at?”

“North side, down by the lake.” Not far, then. “There’s a little café on the east side of the gym. We’re on the patio.”

“Gotcha, thank you. I’ll be there in a sec.”

*

It was a short walk to the waterfront. The winding path led downwards, past a myriad of shops and clusters of apartments, and under hanging ivy and colorful banners before opening up in front of the lake. It reminded her of Olivine, on the far side of this same ocean, so close and so far. She passed in front of the Sootopolis Gym and its official League signage, following Tabitha’s directions, and soon spotted the people she was looking for.

They were sitting at an outdoor table under a bright yellow umbrella, and were both out of uniform. Tabitha looked sharp and professional in slacks and a button down, and Maxie looked surprisingly casual in slacks and a turtleneck. The bright red coat really did a lot for his silhouette, May realized. He looked smaller out of it.

Both men looked up at her as she approached, though Maxie’s gaze quickly fell away to the tabletop. May waved, a little awkwardly, and moved to stand a few feet away from them.

“Uh, hi,” she said. Her anxiety flared again. Might as well accept it—this was going to be a weird one, but she could still be polite. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

Maxie and Tabitha shared a look—she definitely was interrupting something, and given the events of the last few days, it was probably better not to speculate.

“We were just finishing up, actually,” Tabitha said. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

Right, sitting down was probably less weird than standing here.

“How are you feeling?” Tabitha asked as May pulled out a chair and sat down between them. “Last time I saw you, you were being carted off to the hospital.”

“I feel fine,” May said. “The cavern got it worse than I did.”

Tabitha cocked an eyebrow at her, but if he knew anything to the contrary, he didn’t call her out on it. “Okay, well, that’s good. Glad to have you up and around. So how we can help you?”

“Well, I think you already have,” May said. “And um, that’s really the only thing I needed to talk about.” She took a deep breath and looked at them both in turn. Tabitha was leaned back in his chair, casual as could be, and Maxie was sitting with impeccable posture as always and still refusing to meet her eyeline.

“Steven told me what happened after the cave-in,” she said. “He said you both helped dig me out, and I wanted to say thank you for that. So, thank you.”

“It was the least I could do,” Maxie said quietly.

“You saved all our sorry hides,” Tabitha pointed out.

“People keep saying that,” May said.

“Probably because it’s true,” Tabitha said. “But regardless, you’re welcome, Maple.”

She nodded at him, and then Maxie cleared his throat.

“Ms Maple,” he said, finally meeting her eyes, “would you be comfortable speaking with me in private?”

That… could be about a few different things. “Uh, yeah, that’s fine.” She glanced between them again. “Uh…”

Tabitha scooted his chair back and stood. “Courtney called earlier and I need to get back to her,” he said, “so I’ll leave you two to it.” He nodded at May. “If I don’t see you again, Maple, take care.”

“You too,” she replied warmly.

He pushed the chair in and then turned and walked away, pulling out his cell phone as he went. May fiddled with her bracelets.

“Are—” she started, just as Maxie said, “I—”

They both stopped, and Maxie ducked his head. “Go on.”

May hesitated. “Are… how are you?”

“I’m fine, Ms Maple.”

Yeah, right. Who would be fine after all of that? He had the air of a kicked dog, and it was a feeling she was familiar with. However he was doing, whatever was going through his head, it sure as hell wasn’t fine.

“Okay,” she said, because what else could she say to that? Not to be rude, but I don’t believe you, sorry. It wasn’t the sort of thing you called someone on, so she let it go.

Maxie took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I owe you an apology. More than one, I expect, but I will try to be concise. I can only imagine how much you must hate me, but—”

May flinched. “What?” How could he think that? She must’ve screwed up somehow, just like she always did, if he could think it was even possible for her to—when had she even been angry with him? Sure, she’d once cornered him on the fourth floor of a department store in Lilycove, feeling like an idiot with a stuffed animal tucked under her arm, and grilled him for hints about where his base was, but that was a far cry from angry. Annoyed that he was winning their little game of cat and mouse, maybe. And she enjoyed their battles; he was a good trainer.

Hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she felt her face flush and throat tighten. “I don’t—I don’t hate you.” Stars above, if she screwed up this badly, did she misinterpret their entire relationship? She twisted her hands in her lap. “Um—do you hate me?”

“No, no, of course not,” he said quickly. “No, I didn’t mean—ugh.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I apologize, Ms Maple, I’m finding this more difficult than I imagined. I misspoke. Permit me to start again?”

She wiped at her nascent tears with the back of one hand. “Uh, yeah. Go ahead.”

He nodded. “Thank you. Now: please understand I’m not asking your forgiveness. But my error in judgement never should have fallen on you to fix. The monumental task of dealing with Groudon never should have been your responsibility, and for the fact that I was unable to rectify my own mistake, I am truly sorry. You should not have been involved.”

She waited a heartbeat, and then two, and then said, “Okay, but I involved myself.” He opened his mouth to reply but she held up a hand. “I’m a trainer, Maxie, so it was my responsibility, actually. And I mean, you were there. Nobody else had the team for it.”

“Regardless—”

“No, there’s nothing else. I’m sorry, but like, it wasn’t something that you alone could have fixed. And everything turned out fine—the earthquake damage was minimal. Hell, I caused more trouble for everybody by collapsing the cave. Nobody was hurt. I really don’t think this is my place to say, but you seem to, so… apology accepted.” She shrugged and immediately regretted the motion as the pain in her ribs flared again. “You’re forgiven.”

He closed his eyes. “Just like that,” he said flatly.

“Yeah. I mean… yeah.”

He shook his head. “Just when I begin to think I understand you, you do or say something like that.”

May resisted the urge to shrug again. “Sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

She nodded. “You know, I wouldn’t’ve chased you across the entire country if I hated you. I would have just like, told Steven where to catch you.”

“I see,” he said unconvincingly.

She waited a beat, but he didn’t continue. “So, um, are we okay now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean our… relationship, or whatever. Back to normal, right?”

He studied her for a moment. “I’m very interested to hear what you think normal is for the two of us.”

She huffed a laugh. “Well I didn’t think you were going to ask me to define it.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Okay, okay. Um. Rivals? Friendly ones? Who don’t hate each other?”

“You tell me, Ms Maple. You’re the one with a laundry list of things you have every right to be aggrieved about.”

“I already said you were forgiven.”

He sighed. “You did.” He leaned back in his chair. “Very well. I suppose rivals is… fitting.”

“Great. …Um, not to change the subject, but there is one more thing,” she said slowly. “I had an ultra ball with me when the cavern collapsed. Did anyone find it, or…?”

His demeanor changed subtly—back straightening, eyes narrowing—and in that instant she knew that he knew.

Oh, stars above.

Of all people… of course it was him.

“Yes,” he said coolly. “I was wondering when you were going to broach that topic.” He reached down and unclipped something from his belt, and then placed the slightly melty black and yellow pokéball in the center of the table. “I did, as it happens.”

“Oh. Uh. Thank you.” She didn’t reach for it.

“I have been trying to decide what to say to you regarding your chosen solution,” he said, tapping one finger on the tabletop, “but I find that words simply escape me.” He took a deep breath. “Ms Maple, I’m well aware I have no right to tell you how to handle this—”

“So don’t.”

“—but I cannot overstate the danger of attempting to—”

“You were going to do this.”

“I was wrong.” He leaned forward in the ensuing silence. “You’re so quick to forgive me, but I was wrong. Do you understand that?”

“You weren’t down there,” she snapped, and he leaned away at the heat in her voice. Guilt bit into her instantly. “I’m sorry. But the one time that you weren’t there—” Stars above, stop. She wasn’t admitting that to him, at least not yet. She shook her head. “Look. I’m not going to try to justify myself to you, but I don’t think I had a choice. The cavern was coming down and I couldn’t just—leave them.”

He laughed and she frowned. This wasn’t the giddy schoolboy laughter of their encounter on Pyre or the triumphant, borderline maniacal laughter of Groudon’s cavern. He sounded…  tired.

“Ms Maple, I am not trying to lecture you. And I’m certainly not implying that you’re incapable of handling her. Obviously, you’ve done that once already.” He sighed. “But I think you should seriously consider not following in my footsteps.”

“I really think we’re past that point. They’re already awake, now.”

“And you think that’ll make a difference.”

“I mean, yeah? They haven’t broken out of their ball, yet. I’m sure they could.”

Maxie tapped one finger on the tabletop. “I suppose that’s fair. What exactly is it you plan to do?”

“Take them somewhere they can’t hurt anybody if they decide to have a temper tantrum, let them out, and just… talk to them.” She held up her hands, forestalling any argument. “I mean, they’re a pokémon, right? And they have partnered with people in the past, right? You weren’t wrong about that.”

“Perhaps,” he said slowly, like he was conceding a point he didn’t really believe in. “But to be frank, Ms Maple, is your team in any shape to handle her a second time if she proves to be less than tractable?”

“Yes,” she shot back. “Ivy and Alluria are good to go. That’s two type advantages. More than what I had last time, and they weren’t tractable at all then, believe me.”

“I do,” he replied. “Regardless, I don’t think you should be undertaking such an endeavor on your own.”

May stared at him. “Who am I gonna ask to help with this?”

“I don’t have an answer for that.”

She had one, but he wasn’t going to like it very much. She’d probably have to work her way around to it. She picked an angle and dove in. “I mean, the obvious answer is the League.”

He hesitated, then shrugged and folded his hands primly on the tabletop.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She sat forward. “Turning Groudon over to the League is basically like handing them to the Devon Corporation. Look, I want you to know that I know that. Just because I’m friends with Steven…” She shook her head. “I’m not blind to his flaws, is what I’m saying.

“But if not him, then who? Because I can’t let them rot in a ball forever and I can’t let them rampage, so at some point I’m going to have to deal with them and like you said, it’s better not to do it alone.”

“I’m sorry, Ms Maple, but I don’t have a solution to offer you.” At least he had the good grace not to suggest her father, gym leader or not. “I wish that I did.”

With a sigh, she sat back in her seat. Groudon’s pokéball sat between them on the table, an odd, faintly ugly centerpiece. She had to play this smartly if she was going to get what she wanted.

“Maxie, listen,” she started, and he nodded. “I appreciate the suggestion, I really do. But I already thought about it and I already have someone in mind.”

“Well, good, then,” he said.

“He’s an expert on Hoennic mythology.”

He opened his mouth to reply, and then squinted at her. “No.”

“Why not?”

He set his jaw. “Ms Maple. Far be it from me to understand your… earnestness in attempting to ignore how singularly I have already failed in that endeavor. But recent events have made it abundantly clear that some quality of mine rendered me incapable of succeeding in this particular effort and it would behoove you to acknowledge that.”

“You’re literally the best man for the job.”

“I’m literally the worst man for the job.”

“You know you want to.”

“Yes, I do, and that’s precisely the problem,” he snapped.

May sighed. Plucked the ball from the center of the table and turned it over in her hands. Made a show of it. “Fine,” she said, trying her best to sound defeated. “If you’re not comfortable, I won’t try to force you. I’ll just do it alone again, which is not, you know, dangerous at all. Or,” she said as he opened his mouth to reply, “maybe I’ll just ask Archie for help.”

Maxie narrowed his eyes at her. May held his gaze.

“He’s a sweet guy,” she continued, maintaining eye contact. “Seems pretty knowledgeable about this kind of thing, too. I bet he’d be happy to give me a hand. And I do have to talk to him today anyway, since I have to get my milotic back from him.”

Maxie folded his hands in his lap. Inhaled and then exhaled. “You,” he said, voice low and measured, “are trying to get a rise out of me, and it isn’t going to work.”

Oh, now all of a sudden he was unbothered by that. “I’m trying to ask for your help,” May shot back. “Except you’re more bull-headed than your own camerupt, apparently. I had to sit through your big speech about your incomparable partner—”

“Yes, and we saw how well that went.”

“Well we wouldn’t be doing that again,” she said. “No expectations, no grand intentions, no inscrutable magical artifacts. Just two people, and one pokémon. That could work.”

He hesitated, and she could practically see the gears turning in his mind. “I should be talking you down from this.”

“I can’t just let them sit in a ball forever, Maxie.”

“I know, I know. Gods.” He pulled off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes shut. He sat like that for a long moment, and May leaned forward, trying not to grin. She had him.

“If I don’t help you, you’re going to do this anyway, aren’t you.”

“Yep.”

He sighed heavily, and then leaned back, put his glasses back on, and looked at her squarely. “You’ll need space,” he said. “A lot of it.”

“Somewhere secluded, ideally,” she added.

He nodded once. “Do you have someplace in mind?”

“Yeah, I think so. It’s about an hour’s flight from here, if I’m remembering right.”

Maxie hesitated. “Flight?”

“Yeah, unless you want to swim. That’d probably take longer.” She squinted at him. “Can you swim?”

“Very well, thank you,” he said haughtily.

“Well, pick your poison. How does your swampert do in saltwater?”

“It’s a euryhaline species.”

“So, fine. So between her and my milotic…”

“I think I would prefer to fly,” he said. “If it’s all the same to you.”

May smiled. “I think that’ll work fine. Are you available tomorrow?”

“You want to wait?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s almost dark and I just realized I haven’t eaten anything at all today.”

He gave her a withering look. “Ms Maple.”

“I had things to do, okay?”

“Stars preserve me,” he muttered. “Well, conveniently we’re at a café, so why don’t you go in and order something now?” He waved one hand. “On me.”

She balked. “Are you offering to buy me dinner?”

“Yes, if only to ensure you eat a proper meal. I’m unfortunately aware of your proclivity towards instant noodles and energy drinks.”

She made a face halfway between a smile and a cringe. “Yeah, forgot you knew about that.”

*

The roof of a Pokémon Center—at least most of the others she’d been to—was usually as busy as its interior, with trainers relaxing, sparring, or simply taking in the sights. But this early, May was the only one out here, and she was grateful as always for the solitude. She had to admit, the East Lakeside Pokémon Center had a wonderful view. She could see all the way across the lake from here, to the local gym and to the Center on the opposite shore. The sky was rapidly lightening, but the city, in the depths of its crater, was still awash with darkness. Pinpricks of lights—streetlamps and windows and trolleys—stood out on the far side of the lake.

She was just cinching the final strap on Comet’s saddle when she heard the door to the roof open. She glanced over, only half expecting Maxie even though she knew he was punctual, and tossed him a little smile and wave when she saw it was him before getting back to her preparations. She wasn’t used to flying with passengers; typically it was just her and Comet and she forewent the saddle a not-insignificant portion of the time. But today, safety was the name of the game.

“That’s a latios,” Maxie said from somewhere off to her left. She looked up and over Comet’s back at him. He was back in his red coat, looking like his normal, faintly imposing self. That was probably a good thing.

“Good morning to you too. His name’s Comet,” May replied, finishing up with the buckle and scratching behind her dragon’s feathery ears.

Maxie mouthed the name with a frown. “Your fourth pokémon is a latios?”

She wasn’t surprised that he remembered their names, though she couldn’t recall mentioning Comet in front of him. Comet apparently took exception to Maxie’s tone, and snapped his jaws, arched his neck, fluffed up his feathers, and tipped his head to side-eye Maxie, who took a step backwards.

“He’s not trying to be critical,” May said to the dragon, smoothing the feathers on his neck back down with one hand. “I think he’s just surprised.”

“Yes, though at this point I’m not sure why.” Maxie shook his head. “Every time I start to think you couldn’t possibly impress me more…”

May ducked her head and bit back a smile. “The, uh, attitude is just because he doesn’t know you. He gets a little flighty around strangers.” To Comet, she said, “Please be nice. I told you we’d have a passenger today.”

She kept smoothing feathers, doing her best to reassure him. That seemed to settle him somewhat, and the sharp angle he held his neck at relaxed. He stretched out toward Maxie curiously, sniffing the air.

“You can pet him now if you want,” May said. “I promise he’s friendly.”

Maxie hesitated, but then held out a hand for Comet to inspect. The dragon arched his neck again, but not as severely this time; then, slowly, pressed his nose into Maxie’s palm.

“Scratch behind his ears; he loves that.”

Maxie did so, a faint smile tugging at his lips, and Comet trilled. “A latios,” Maxie repeated. “You’ve had him since before Pyre, yes? Why didn’t you ever use him in battle?”

“He doesn’t like fighting,” May replied.

“Can he understand what we’re saying?”

“I think so? He seems to pick up tone pretty well, and intent if he knows you. I just talk to him like he’s a person and that seems to work fine.”

“Fascinating,” Maxie murmured.

“We’re still working on the sight-sharing thing,” May said, “but it’s pretty taxing having someone’s entire sensory experience dumped into your head, especially when they see in the UV spectrum and have psychic powers and an extra set of limbs compared to you. The first time we tried it I got a horrible migraine-and-nosebleed combo. Spent the rest of the day curled up in my tent with a pillow over my head, trying to ignore the phantom limb sensation from briefly thinking I had wings.”

Maxie leaned to the side to give her a critical look past Comet’s neck. “And this is something you regularly subject yourself to.” It wasn’t a question.

“It’s not that bad now,” May said defensively. “We’ve been practicing. Uh, are you ready to go, then?”

He sighed. “Yes, we’d best get going.”

May patted Comet’s shoulder twice, and he lowered himself into a laying position on the ground, tucking his forelegs underneath himself and spreading his wings. She showed Maxie how to buckle the belts that would keep the two of them secure on Comet’s back while flying, waited for him to get settled into the second seat of the saddle, and then double-checked his work.

“Sorry for that, but I don’t want to lose you to a mistake,” she said. “Uh, not that you have anything to worry about; Comet and I have practiced mid-air catches before. He’s pretty good at it.”

“Dare I ask how?”

May winced. “Uh, probably in exactly the way you’re thinking.”

He sighed and leveled that forceful stare of his at her. “Ms Maple, at some point you and I are going to have a serious talk about that reckless streak of yours.”

She broke eye contact quickly; she could unpack any implications there at a different time. “Sure.” She hopped into the front seat and did up her own buckles. “We’re not doing any fancy flying today, though, are we bud?” she asked, leaning forward to pat Comet’s neck. He warbled.

May looked over her shoulder. She would have twisted, but her ribs were already protesting from lifting the saddle earlier and she didn’t want to injure herself further. “Okay, have you ever flown before?”

“In a plane,” Maxie said dryly.

“Well, then, dragon riding 101—basically just do what I do. Lean when I lean in the direction I lean. If you’re not sure what to do, just lean forward. There’s a strap right behind my seat—” she reached back to pat it, “—you can hold onto that. Please don’t grab me.” That was less a rule and more the preference of someone with three cracked ribs, but he didn’t need to know that. He’d just blame himself for getting her hurt, even though it wasn’t really his fault.

“Also—you probably want to put your glasses somewhere safe. Which reminds me, I have a pair of goggles for you.”

Maxie removed his glasses and tucked them into an interior pocket of his coat as May dug around in her pack for a moment before producing a second set of flygon-brille goggles, the twin of the ones perched on her own forehead.

“Interesting choice,” he said. “Very… traditionally Hoennic.”

“I like that they don’t scuff in the sand,” she replied. “I got them in Lavaridge.”

Maxie made an approving noise, but didn’t say anything else. She half expected him to brag; he was from Lavaridge—it wasn’t a coincidence that his sister was the gym leader there.

May pulled on her own goggles, and once Maxie was situated, she patted Comet again to signal they were ready to go. The dragon stood slowly so as not to jostle his passengers. May hunched forward as much as her aching side allowed. Behind her, Maxie hissed a breath.

“Don’t forget to lean forward,” she said, and felt Comet’s stance shift as Maxie did so. “And don’t forget to hold on.”

“Believe me, I have that covered,” he said, sounding grave.

May tried not to smile at that as Comet took two bounding steps forward before leaping off the roof. He flared his wings almost immediately to catch the wind, arcing upwards in a neat parabola before flapping hard to gain more altitude. Cool air rushed past and May almost laughed aloud as they soared in a skyward spiral over the lake, now sparkling and golden in the light of the early morning sun. When she could see the ocean past the white crater walls of the city, she let go of the saddle.

“Okay, hold on!” she called over her shoulder, over the wind, and then lifted her right arm and key stone bracelet high in the air, and—

—blinding white light burst from the mega stone on Comet’s collar as he transformed, massive wings stretching wider as his feathers rippled, changing from blue to lavender. If they’d been flying solo, this was the part where he’d flip them over into a triumphant loop, but he remembered what she’d asked him about gentle flying today and instead only trilled and beat his wings harder to increase his speed.

May whooped as they shot upwards into the wide blue sky, despite the throbbing ache in her ribs, despite the monumental task waiting before her, despite what she was going to have to deal with back in Littleroot, eventually. There was no feeling on the planet like this. With one hand on a dragon’s neck and the wind in her hair, for a little while, at least, she was free.

They leveled out at cruising altitude about a half mile above the city, and May tugged at the thread of psychic energy connecting her mind and Comet’s to ask him to turn southwards, roughly in the direction of that old tower that loomed on the horizon. He bobbed his head, dipped a wing, and banked.

Finally, she turned to look at their passenger. Maxie was still clinging to the saddle, but his posture seemed somewhat relaxed, and he was taking the opportunity to peer over Comet’s side down at the city and the long line of black basalt Groudon had left in their wake as they had traveled to the Cave of Origin from their cavern beneath the sea.

“You doing okay back there?” May asked.

“Fine,” he said, somewhat stiffly, pulling his gaze away from the scenery to meet her eyes. “If this is your usual means of travel, I think it’s very telling.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I meant it as one.”

May nodded, grinning to herself. “Okay,” she said over her shoulder, “we’ve got about an hour, maybe a little less since it seems like the wind’s in our favor. Should be a pretty smooth ride.”

“Thank the gods,” Maxie muttered.

They settled into what May felt was companionable silence. The only noises were the rush of the wind, the occasional beat of Comet’s wings, and the cries of seabirds. Far below, the ocean sparkled in the sunlight, a vast blue diamond-studded quilt covering the world.

The sun shone brightly high in the sky, warm and heavy on May’s bare arms. They were really doing this, she realized. Less than an hour and, for the second time in two days, she’d be facing down a monster so powerful as to bring the whole world to its knees. She’d barely beaten them the first time.

Anxiety coiled in her gut, and she took a deep breath. Stars above, but she hoped this wouldn’t get them both killed.

*

May’s estimation on their flight time turned out to be slightly off; Comet touched down about an hour and a half later. It wasn’t a large island they landed on—only a few hundred yards across, mostly covered in sand and scrub grass, with the ocean lapping sedately at the shores.

May was already unbuckled and sliding off Comet’s back as he folded his wings, and she helped Maxie down a moment later, holding his arm as he steadied himself. He really wasn’t used to flying.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked, smiling.

Maxie sighed as he put his glasses back on. “I imagine it must be an acquired taste.”

May chuckled as he began combing his hair back into place with his fingers, looking as disheveled as she’d ever seen him. She bit back a smile and turned her back to him to pet Comet. She didn’t want him to think she was making fun—it was just that he was kind of cute when he was out of sorts.

“How is it that you’re familiar with this place?” Maxie asked. “We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, we’re not exactly nowhere,” she said. “Pacifidlog is another three hours or so in…” She turned to orient herself, and pointed. “…that direction. Far side of the archipelago.”

“I suspect our respective definitions of nowhere may be significantly different, and you didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh—how am I familiar. We do a lot of flying around. I like exploring, and there are a lot of little uncharted islands out here. Never know what you’re going to find. Plus, it’s kind of peaceful, you know?”

“I see. You don’t worry about getting lost?”

“Not with Comet around. I don’t know for sure but I think he can sense the planet’s electromagnetic field. He’s an excellent navigator, anyway. Besides, in this area, you can orient yourself off that tower.”

Maxie frowned. “What tower?”

“That one, on the horizon.” May dug in her bag to retrieve her field binoculars and passed them to him, pointing. “See?”

“N—ah, yes, I do.”

“Not sure what’s going on over there, but there’s a nasty downdraft around the exterior—we tried flying to the top and Comet almost got knocked out of the air. And the front door’s locked.” She squinted at him. “I don’t suppose you’d know anything about that?”

He lowered the binoculars and arched an eyebrow at her. “Why are you asking me?”

“You’re the mythology expert.”

“Hmph. I suppose I am.” He hummed. “If I had to venture a guess, I would say it sounds like the Sky Pillar. It’s a place of great importance to the Draconids.”

“The dragon tamers who live in the Falls,” she said. Not unlike her mother’s side of the family, across the ocean in Blackthorn. She’d met a few on her journey, and had simultaneously felt awe and jealousy that they were so connected to their culture, in exactly the way she wasn’t. “Like the old ruins on Pyre and in Granite Cave on Dewford, right?”

He looked faintly pleased as he passed the binoculars back. “Yes, exactly. They’re one of the oldest cultures in Hoenn. The Sky Pillar is supposedly a point of contact with their god, Rayquaza.”

“A dragon, I’m assuming.”

“A great one, allegedly. One that’s supposed to… keep the planet in balance.” He frowned again. “A serpent eating its own tail.”

“What?”

“Ah—nothing. I’m just suddenly doubtful of its existence, recent events being what they are. Were.”

“What do you mean?”

“Groudon isn’t the only one of her ilk,” he said, and everything crashed into May at once: Groudon. They were out here for a reason; she wasn’t just sightseeing with her new best friend. They had to deal with Groudon.

“Not the only giant scary world-ending monster,” she said shakily. “Okay.”

Maxie frowned and held a hand out halfway to her arm, like he was about to touch her but thought better of it. “Ms Maple, are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” She waved a hand dismissively. “What were you saying?”

He narrowed his eyes like he didn’t believe her, but continued anyway. “I was saying Groudon has a counterpart. Her equal and opposite, the incarnation of the sea itself, Kyogre. Rayquaza is supposed to keep the two of them in balance. I didn’t think of it at the time since we had other more pressing concerns, but I wonder why Groudon’s rampage didn’t attract Rayquaza’s attention. By all accounts it should have.”

May fiddled with her bracelets, running her thumb over the cool polished surface of her key stone. “Lugia’s the incarnation of the sea,” she said.

“Wh—oh. Yes, I suppose you would think that.”

“It’s true.”

“I have no rebuttal,” he said. “My expertise is in Hoennic mythology, not Johtoni. Though I will say, given recent experiences, your gods seem more… benevolent than ours.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” It had been all over the news, about a year before her family had moved to Hoenn: Lugia had appeared in the Whirl Islands, just off the coast near Olivine, to partner with that boy from New Bark who bested Team Rocket for what was hopefully the final time. May had compared herself to that boy a lot over the course of the last two years, but never did she expect she’d also be dealing with a partnered legendary. All things considered, she would trade Groudon for Lugia in a heartbeat.

That was a mean thought. Groudon was her responsibility now, no matter how scared she was, and whether she liked it or not—and if she wanted this to work, she needed to like it.

“What’s Kyogre like?”

“Much like Groudon, I suspect.”

“Hm.”

A beat of silence passed, and then Maxie asked, “Is this why you were so upset on Pyre?”

“Huh?”

“You’re Johtoni. I’m sorry to say it just occurred to me. You cremate your dead, yes? Mount Pyre must have been… shocking.”

“Oh. Yeah. I mean. Among other things, like how it’s super haunted and all.” And like him ignoring her about the data she and Tabitha had retrieved from the Weather Institute, but he didn’t need to hear that.

He hesitated, and she realized he must be thinking of that too, and probably regretting it. “Right.”

Another moment of silence passed between them. The waves crashed down on the shore, seabirds called, and Comet yawned and curled in on himself, settling down in the grass for a nap.

“Are, um. Are we stalling?” May asked in a small voice.

Maxie smiled ruefully. “Perhaps we are. Shall we, er, get to it, then?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you propose we prepare for this?”

Gods, what could they even do? Maxie had planned this for at least two years and things still went awry for him—and they were essentially winging it, now. At least they weren’t in the middle of a city this time, but other than trying to minimize potential casualties—

“Pokémon out, or no?” Maxie clarified, cutting into the downward spiral of her thoughts with a direct tone.

“Oh.” Good question. “I don’t want to come across as intimidating.”

“I don’t believe you need to worry about that.”

She shot him a glare and he shook his head at her.

“You’re only proving my point,” he said.

“Since when do you have a sense of humor? I don’t want to come across as threatening then. Like, I want to telegraph ‘I would like to be your friend,’ not ‘I am going to have my milotic hydro pump you into submission.’” Not that she was convinced she could actually do that, two type advantages or not, but—

“I think backup would be reasonable, all things considered,” Maxie said diplomatically.

Right. Right. May fished around for a compromise. “Maybe we could leave them a ways away? I don’t want to crowd them.”

He nodded. “That works for me.”

May unclipped Alluria’s ball from her belt and released her near the shore. White light spilled upward into the elegant shape of the milotic’s long neck, barbels, and fanned tail before coalescing into cream, pink, and teal scales. She settled heavily into the sand, draping her coils over each other, and looked at her trainer with large dark eyes.

May stepped forward and ran her hands down the smooth scales of Alluria’s neck. A few yards away, Maxie was gently patting his swampert’s wide snout, and she was waggling her external gills happily.

“Just stay here for a little while, okay?” May said to Alluria. “I’m going to shout if I need you.”

Alluria crooned a low note in acknowledgement. She was slow out of the water and only getting slower as she grew, but she had range, which would hopefully be an advantage if Groudon proved to be less than tractable, as Maxie had put it. Worst case scenario, they could retreat into the ocean.

“Are you ready?” Maxie called.

Her heart thudded in her chest and she drew in a sharp breath. No, no she wasn’t. How was she supposed to be ready for this? The first time she’d been coasting on a sense of unreality; her life had spiraled out of the real world into a monster movie, to the point that nearly being blasted out of the sky by Groudon’s solarbeam on the flight back to Sootopolis had barely registered. Now? Now she’d be facing them down on foot, injured and with no suit, without her strongest pokémon—

“Ms Maple?” Maxie materialized at her side, peering at her with something like concern written on his face. “Did you hear me?”

“Uh—yeah. Yeah, I’m ready.” She flashed him a smile and rubbed her hands together so he couldn’t see how they were shaking. “Are you?”

He gave her another look like he didn’t believe her. “Yes, I am. Shall we?” he asked, then turned and marched off toward the center of the island without waiting for her response, his shoes crunching in the sand.

May took a deep breath that did nothing to steady her fraying nerves. Okay. He believed in her, didn’t he? He wouldn’t be out here if he didn’t believe in her—hell, he had the opportunity to do what he wanted with Groudon and he didn’t take it. That meant something.

And she had beaten them once already, while they were presumably much more powerful. She had Alluria and Ivy and Maxie’s swampert waiting in the wings in case something went wrong, and Comet too if they needed to make a quick getaway. They were far enough away from Sootopolis that they could call for backup and have it arrive long before Groudon reached the city again—or any populated area, for that matter. But what if all of that wasn’t enough?

And what if they took that as a threat? How would she feel, being quite literally out of her element and surrounded by potential enemies? There was no way to judge how Groudon was going to react, if they were going to be open to a partnership or if they’d try to fight. May would be scared, just like she was now, and scared pokémon reacted poorly—she still had the bite mark scars on her arm from that poochyena she’d scraped up off the road in Rustboro to prove that. But what else could she do?

She couldn’t just run away—but gods above, was she good at running away. What else had the last two years been if not a grand disappearing act? She’d dipped out of Littleroot, she’d been shirking her responsibilities with Birch Labs, she didn’t remember the last time she talked to her father, and worse, she liked it that way. But she’d ran straight into this, a problem she couldn’t run from, or hide from, or fight, or ignore, or—

Suddenly Comet pushed his face up to hers, warbling in alarm, and sun-warm feathers brushed the back of her arms as he wrapped a wing around her and clutched at her right hand with both of his. She squeezed back instinctively. Her throat felt tight and her head pounded.

“Ms Maple?” Maxie appeared a moment later, frowning in concern and half-reaching out to her again. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine,” May gasped. “I think—I think I’m having a panic attack.”

“That is definitionally not fine,” he said sternly. He stepped forward and placed a hand firmly on her back between her shoulder blades. “Sit down.”

She did so shakily, knees hitting the sandy grass hard. She took a ragged breath in and her ribs twinged. Maxie knelt beside her, hand still on her back.

“Just breathe,” he said gently.

She tried. Every breath scraped its way down her throat and her head throbbed and blood rushed in her ears, but she tried. Her chest was tight and the pain in her left side was so sharp it made her want to cry and she just couldn’t get enough air in to soothe her aching lungs, but she tried.            

Inhale.

Minutes passed. She could hear herself breathing tremulously but the world felt zoomed out, like she was a bystander watching herself from outside her own body. Somewhere far away, Comet’s warm hands clung to hers and Maxie rubbed soothing circles on her back. None of this could possibly be real. Any moment now, she’d wake to see the canvas of her tent above her head—just another night on the road.

Exhale.

The world came back into focus slowly, beginning with the pain in her knees where her weight pressed them into the sand. Her bare shins itched, her arms felt leaden, her head pulsed with a nascent headache. The sensation of swimming through a dream passed as she settled back into her body. She was here, and she was with friends.

And she was probably about to get them all killed.

Maybe don’t think like that.

Inhale.

“Can you speak?” Maxie asked quietly.

May sniffled. “Yeah.”

“Alright. What’s the matter?”

“Um. Like, aside from everything?”

He hesitated. “I would appreciate something specific to address.”

That made her laugh for some reason. “Sure. Uh, just for you.” She wiped a fingertip under each of her eyes to clear her tears, being careful not to smear her makeup, and took as deep a breath as she could.

“This is a mistake,” she said. “Like—I barely stopped them the first time. And if you couldn’t get them to work with you, I don’t have a chance. So we’re probably just going to piss them off or scare them, which is going to lead to them rampaging again, and if they do that I don’t know if recalling them will work, and we’ll be back in the same situation we were in.”

Maxie shifted his weight. His hand was warm on her back.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s objectively untrue,” he said slowly.

May looked up at him sharply. “What?”

“To begin with,” he said, “you stopped her when she was more powerful than she is even capable of becoming right now, and while at a disadvantage too, might I add. Additionally, the Red Orb is still in Sootopolis and we’re far from the Cave of Origin, so there’s no risk of her undergoing primal reversion a second time. Finally, comparing yourself to me is ridiculous. You’ve already accomplished more than I did by catching her.”

“But there’s no guarantee they’ll decide to partner with one of us,” she shot back. “What are we supposed to do then?”

Maxie leaned away slightly and gave her a long look.

“What?” May asked.

“What is actually the matter?”

“What do you mean?”

He shook his head. “You were so confident about this yesterday. You aren’t given to being unreasonable so it’s clear something else is bothering you. What is it?”

May looked away. How did she even begin to explain this, especially to someone like him? He didn’t lack for confidence in himself in the slightest, to the point that it was almost a flaw. How could she describe the bone-deep dread of knowing that her best was never good enough, that every endeavor was doomed to fall just short of success, that she could always, always be better, but never enough as she was?

She wasn’t that boy from New Bark. She never would be. She couldn’t be.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered. “But you still could.”

“Absolutely not,” he said vehemently.

“Why not?”

“She has no reason to listen to me. You’re the one challenged and caught her. And you didn’t answer my question.”

May took a deep breath. Closed her eyes. “I’m not—I’m not a good enough trainer to do this. They don’t have any reason to listen to me either. I can’t do this.”

Maxie paused. “I’m unsure how you came to feel this way,” he said carefully, “but you should be aware that you are again, objectively, incorrect.”

“I—”

“Stop,” he said. “Just listen. You’re an outstanding trainer, and your pokémon agree. Look at Comet—can you not tell how much he cares for you? To say nothing of Brutus. Do you truly believe he doesn’t love you, after pushing himself so hard to help you? What is it that matters more than that? If anyone can handle this, Ms Maple, it’s you.”

Comet nosed at her cheek gently, as if agreeing with him.

“What’s going on with you?” she asked. “Yesterday it seemed like you thought this was a bad idea.”

“I did. You convinced me otherwise. Consider something for me, if you don’t mind.”

“What?”

“What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

She pulled her eyes away from Comet to stare at Maxie instead. “I already told you.”

“And we established that you’re quite capable of handling her in a battle, and that primal reversion isn’t a concern. Try again.”

Stars above, it would be so easy to push him over into the sand. She was half tempted to do it. “We could die. That’s pretty bad, Maxie.”

“That’s fair, I suppose. Was Groudon aggressive towards you at all during your initial battle with her?”

May frowned. “Uh, no. They seemed not to notice me.”

“Then she hasn’t displayed behavior like that before,” he said curtly. “There’s no reason to think that will change. Groudon’s not a mindless monster; she’s a pokémon, and one that had a good reputation among humans in the past. You were right, yesterday—this could work, and it’s something worth doing. Your worst-case scenario may possibly happen if we do nothing, as well. It’s better to be sure.”

“I—” May grit her teeth. “You’re really frustrating sometimes.”

“So I’m told.” His voice softened. “Will you be alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m—I’m fine. I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong. If you weren’t… anxious about this at the least, I’d be concerned.”

She laughed shakily. “Not really how I wanted to be validated today.”

“Your worry can be valid,” he shot back. “But you were catastrophizing. That isn’t the same thing. Keep your worry within the realm of reason.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re never worried about anything.”

“I’m worried about you right now.”

She didn’t have anything to say to that. Her arms felt limp and her head pounded. Of course he was worried about her. This must seem out of character to him. For two years she managed to keep it together around him only to fumble at the last second, when it mattered most.

“I’m sorry,” May said. “That was disingenuous of me to say.”

“Apology accepted.” He paused. “On that note, I believe we may also need to have a conversation about your self-esteem, or apparent lack thereof. As I said before, I’m unsure why you feel this way, but it would be unconscionable for me to let this state of mind persist unaddressed. Now,” he said, standing and brushing the sand off his slacks, “shall we?”

He held out a hand to her.

May stared at it. Comet had ahold of her right hand, and she could barely lift her left due to her ribs, and she didn’t want to ignore him because he was being kind and they were doing so well…

What the hell, how bad could it be? She lifted her left hand, ignoring the twinge in her ribs, and—

“Are you trying to injure yourself further?” he asked archly. “Other hand, please.”

May cringed as she pulled her right hand away from Comet. “No, I just, um, didn’t think you’d know about that.”

He looked offended as she placed her hand in his. “You really thought I wouldn’t check in on you?”

“No, I—why would you?”

He pulled her to her feet, then dropped her hand and placed both of his on her shoulders.

May froze. He was looking at her intently, like a hawk might eye a rabbit. Her heart pounded in her chest.

“Ms Maple,” he said firmly, “I’m unsure what sort of company you’ve been keeping that has led you to believe the contrary, but you deserve people in your life who care about you.” His grip tightened incrementally. “Do I make myself clear?”

Her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth. She nodded.

“Good.” His hands fell away from her shoulders, and he folded them behind his back, standing up straight. “Now,” he said. “Let’s get to it.”

He turned and marched away for the second time, leaving May standing there feeling like she’d just run a marathon. Stars above, she’d forgotten how intense he could be.

She exhaled. Well—this was it, wasn’t it? She didn’t get to stall anymore, and if she wasn’t brave enough to do this now, she probably wouldn’t ever be. She just had to… leap in.

Comet shuffled up beside her and rested his head on her shoulder, chirruping softly. May reached over to run her hand down his face as she leaned in to press her cheek against his.

“I’ll be alright,” she said. “I think. Just hang out with Alluria for a few minutes, okay? I’ll shout if I need you.”

He made a sound halfway between a growl and a warble, but did as she asked, settling in the sand beside the milotic. He folded his wings, but stayed upright and alert.

Okay. May took a deep breath and started forward, heart still racing as she power walked to catch up with Maxie, who was standing several yards away, waiting for her. They could do this—she could do this. She stepped up beside Maxie and looked over at him.

“Do you suppose this is far enough inland?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

“Uh, sure. It’s as good a spot as any,” she replied.

He nodded. “In that case,” he said, stepping backwards and making a sweeping gesture, “I believe the rest of this is up to you, Ms Maple. I’m right here if you require support.”

Dread settled like a weighted blanket around her shoulders. It would be easier, in some ways, to decide this wasn’t worth it, actually, and to turn tail and run back to Sootopolis, drop the ball in the PC, and never think about it again. But she couldn’t stomach that.

Okay. This was easy. She’d let pokémon out of balls before, obviously, and that’s all this was. Right? The first step was letting them out to see what they’d do. She could manage that.

She unclipped the ball from her belt. It felt strange in her hand—rough and malformed from the overwhelming heat of the Cave of Origin warping it. For some reason she expected it to feel heavy, too, but it didn’t—it was the same almost-nothing weight of any pokéball. She could’ve mistaken it for any of her other team members.  

Deep breath in. The gentle breeze tossed her hair around her ears, carrying the soft sound and salty smell of the water with it. Maxie was probably waiting on her again.

May exhaled. Just go through the motions.

She raised her arm slowly, as if she was moving through deep water. Her head swam. With her thumb, she pressed the release button, and the clasp disengaged with a soft click.

Immediately, white light poured from the ball to pool at her feet in a shape that grew larger at an alarming pace. It was close—far too close. May’s heart thudded against her aching ribs and she took a step backwards—directly into Maxie.

He caught her by the upper arms. “Steady,” he said. “You can do this.”

His hands fell away and her throat was tight as she rasped a breath. The light towered above her as it rapidly faded into red and black scales. Groudon was hunched over on all fours, heavy head nearly touching the ground—if May reached out, her fingertips would almost brush their nose. Far, far too close—

Their jaws parted, revealing long fangs and black gums, and they hissed like a fumarole as grey smoke spilled from the corners of their mouth. Their hot breath stank of sulfur. May’s eyes watered and her limbs trembled—she had to run, she had to run right now—

And then they stood, pushing off the ground with their forelimbs and stretching up to their full height. The ground quaked as they shifted their weight. Creatures that large shouldn’t move that fast—but that didn’t stop them. They swung their head back and forth as they looked around urgently, and hissed again.   

The sunlight flared, brighter and hotter in an instant, feeling like a weight on May’s bare skin. She squinted, holding a hand up to block the worst of it, palms tingling, but it was still so intense. Oh, hell—

“Get her attention,” Maxie said from right behind her. “I’d wager this is an instinctive response. Let her know she’s not in danger.”

Right—right. She could feel her hands shaking as she raised her voice:

“Groudon!”

Their head jerked at the sound, then deliberately tipped toward her. They fixed her with one bright yellow eye, and May sucked in a breath. Did they know their name, or were they just reacting to the noise?

She didn’t have time to think about it. The thought dissipated as fast as it had come under the overwhelming intensity of Groudon’s full attention. They were looking at her.

Oh, gods, this wasn’t going to work. They were a deity, and she was just—herself. Not that boy from New Bark, and not Maxie Asher. Just—

They growled, and the whole island quivered beneath May’s feet as the very earth responded to their call. You couldn’t tame a power like that—couldn’t bind it to your will. My incomparable partner, Maxie had said. But what had she done to earn their respect?

They snarled and May quailed, her tense muscles screaming at her to run, but she was pinned to the spot by Groudon’s white-hot gaze. And then—

Maxie put a bracing hand on her shoulder. “No rival of mine is going to be intimidated by an oversized reptile,” he said right beside her ear. “Talk to her.”

This time he left his hand where it was, and something about the connection was grounding. My incomparable partner…

May stood up straight and balled her fists at her sides. “I don’t want to fight you again,” she called up to them. “I’d rather be your friend!”

They opened their mouth again, showing teeth, but didn’t make a sound. If they were a lairon, she’d interpret that as a threat display—back off, or get bitten. But it could also be a challenge.  

“If it’s really a battle you want, you should know I won’t back down,” she said.

Groudon snapped their jaws, and their eye flicked briefly past her, but they didn’t otherwise move.  

“But if you’d rather not,” May continued, “will you please hear me out?”

A heartbeat passed, and then two, as Groudon blinked slowly. She was being judged, May realized. She swallowed thickly. She was a fraud. Everything about her—the bravado, the compassion, the competence—it was all a façade that dissolved under scrutiny and somehow, they’d know it.

And then Groudon snorted. Smoke roiled from their nostrils. They looked at her, and she at them.

They were listening.

“Incredible,” Maxie breathed.

May exhaled. That had worked? She fished around for her next words. She had a hard enough time talking to other humans; what was she supposed to say to a god?

“You must be so overwhelmed,” she said, realizing it even as it left her mouth. No wonder they hadn’t responded to Maxie. The Red Orb, the Cave of Origin, and being woken up suddenly after who knew how many years…

Groudon eyed her, expression inscrutable, the same way Brutus had done when she first met him. May shifted her weight, leaning back on her heel. She shouldn’t think of them like that—they weren’t her beloved aggron. But they were still a pokémon.

“I want to help you, if I can,” she continued. “My name’s May. I’m a pokémon trainer. I travel all over Hoenn with my partners. You met one of them before—do you remember?”

They hissed.

“I’m really sorry, but I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself or someone else. But I hope that we’re past that. I don’t want to fight you again.” She took a deep breath. “I’d—I’d like you to be my partner, too.”

They didn’t react.

“If not, that’s okay. I’ll take you wherever you want to go and release you. But if you want to see the land you created… then I want to help you do that. We humans aren’t perfect, but we’re trying to make things better—for everyone. There’s so much to see.” She hesitated. “You probably haven’t had a partner in a long time, huh?”

They tilted their head, and exhaled. Slowly, they lowered themself back down onto all fours, and this time May managed to clamp down on the thrumming energy in her legs that told her to run. Groudon kept their head cocked to one side to watch her with a single eye, and it occurred to her that they probably couldn’t see very well in front of their nose—like Brutus.

They were close enough to touch, now. May reached out a hand; watched as their vast yellow iris contracted as they inspected it. Then their gaze moved upwards, to her face.

The sunlight suddenly dimmed, easing the heat on her skin. They weren’t going to fight her.

“Is this a yes?” she whispered.

They closed their eyes and huffed, sounding almost exactly like Brutus. Maybe—maybe the two of them weren’t that different, after all. Carefully, amazed at her own bravery, May laid her hand against their snout.

Their bright scales felt like smooth, sun-warm stone against her skin. They leaned into the touch, and so May brought up her other hand to sweep under their jaw. They rumbled contentedly.

She’d—done it?

May laughed tremulously, and Groudon cracked an eyelid to look at her briefly before closing it again. She’d done it. They weren’t going to rampage, they weren’t going to hurt anyone, they weren’t going to plunge Hoenn into an endless drought.

She felt herself tear up. Was this how that boy from New Bark felt, when Lugia dipped their graceful neck to be touched like an equal? That flood of relief—that you weren’t being judged, that you weren’t found wanting, that you were worthy… Wasn’t that the whole point of partnership—to be loved?

May leaned forward and squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her forehead against Groudon’s snout. For a moment, she could hear nothing but the sound of her own breathing as the tension in her chest unspooled.

She took a deep breath and straightened. “Hey, do you—” she started, and then realized Maxie’s hand wasn’t on her shoulder anymore.

She turned. He was standing a few yards behind her—when had he moved? His hands were behind his back, his chin lifted slightly, and he looked unbearably smug: the perfect picture of himself. And then he smiled at her. Tight and quick, but still.

May smiled back. “Do you wanna come over here?” she asked.

His smile faded. “What?”

“I don’t think they’ll mind.”

He blinked at her. “I…” He suddenly looked lost. She’d never seen him speechless before—she hadn’t even been sure it was possible. But here they were.

She felt a sudden crash of empathy. Of course he probably thought that, after what he’d done, he didn’t deserve the opportunity—and maybe he didn’t. But she didn’t care about what he deserved. Whatever his plans had been, she believed his apology was sincere, and she had meant it when she said she forgave him. And he was still a trainer—a good one at that. He wasn’t the heartless monster running Team Rocket back in Johto, who treated pokémon like tools to be used and discarded. He would’ve treated Groudon well.

May moved to stand beside Maxie and looped her arm through his. He hesitated when she stepped toward Groudon, but followed when she tugged at his arm.

This was going to be another weird one. But—hell. The last two days had contained the strangest experiences of her life. This was easy.

“Go ahead,” she said.

“Hello,” Maxie said, sounding almost—sheepish? That couldn’t be right. “I believe I owe you an apology for disturbing you.”

With their head still low to the ground, Groudon snorted a gout of smoke and blinked slowly.

May reached out and patted them between the nostrils. “I think that means you’re all good.”

“Huh,” he said, uncharacteristically subdued. “I will defer to your judgement on that.”

May smiled again, letting go of his arm so she could pet Groudon with both hands. They closed their eyes fully and settled down into the sand, rumbling softly, just like a lairon would.

Maxie started to raise a hand, and then turned to look at her intently. “Do you think she would mind if I…?”

“Go ahead,” May said again.

He began to reach for them, hesitated, and then tried again, as if he had to convince himself of the action. But his fingertips brushed their nose, and then he was laying a hand fully against the ridge above Groudon’s eye.

“I was expecting…” He leaned to the side, leaving his hand where it was as he inspected the rest of them, all scales and spines. “Absolutely fascinating,” he murmured.

He turned back to her suddenly. “Ms Maple,” he said, and then paused, and she realized that whatever he was about to say next wasn’t rehearsed. “I want to thank you for… quite a lot, actually, but also for this specific moment.” He ducked his head. “I don’t believe I deserve it.”

“Well, to be honest, I think you do,” she replied. “I couldn’t have done this without you. You’re pretty great.”

He flinched like she’d struck him. “Hm,” he said, suddenly refusing once again to meet her eyes. “I will… bear that in mind.”

May smiled ruefully to herself. That would have to do for now.

Maxie cleared his throat. “I would also like to add,” he said, “that I cannot possibly overstate how proud of you I am.”

It was May’s turn to look away in embarrassment and squeak out a “Thanks.” Maxie didn’t say anything else; just nodded.

The waves crashed; the seabirds called. After a long moment, May asked, “Now what?”

“Hm. I suppose we return to Sootopolis,” Maxie said. “I’m sure there is still more to be done there.” He looked at her over Groudon’s snout. “Eventually, more people than the two of us will know about this.”

That would have to be alright. Whatever else was going to happen, May suddenly felt that things were going to be okay. This was an end, but it was a beginning, too—a new and surprising chapter she never could’ve anticipated. But it looked like she wouldn’t be alone for it. Not this time. Littleroot still loomed somewhere on the horizon, but for now, it was a distant shadow, and she was standing in the sunlight.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Minimal Loss: Part Three

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2k

Summary: You and Spencer go undercover to a ranch that is run by a man who thinks he’s God. When you and Spencer are trapped there, you will do anything to protect him, even if it means putting yourself in danger.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

x

"The former sect leader is here. Rossi, this is Daniel Vale," JJ says once she arrives on scene.

Daniel used to be part of the ranch, and he knows all about Ben and the ranch.

"Anything you can tell us about this situation?"

"Charles Mulgrew is his real name, not Benjamin Cyrus. His mother was five months pregnant when she showed up at our doorstep. He turned out to be one of the smart ones. Amazing memory that kid had. Anything he read, he could repeat back to you. He was a mouthy little son of a bitch."

"Why did he leave the ranch?" Derek asks.

"When he was seventeen, a couple of our young girls came to me and said that he'd been messing with them sexually. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a libertarian but those little girls were too young for a seventeen-year-old to be messing with."

"So, you kicked him out for that?"

"Yes, sir. I did. His mother took him to Kentucky. I hadn't heard anything from him for years, and when he finally showed up again, he said his mother had died. He found God, and he wanted to come home."

"How does a kid like that get rid of you?"

"One day, he came to me and said God told him that I should leave the ranch. I said if God felt that way, God can tell me himself. He put a gun to my head and said, 'he just did.' It took me twenty years to build that ranch. I'll do anything I can to help you send that ungrateful son of a bitch straight to hell."

"I need a map," Derek says. Daniel is quick to get a detailed map of the ranch, and Derek calls Penelope up for help. "What can you tell me about Charles Mulgrew?"

"Charles Mulgrew was convicted in Kentucky at the age of eighteen with three counts of statutory rape."

"Do we need to talk to the warden?"

"I'm way ahead of you, honey. Mr. Kentucky Warden said that once inside, Mulgrew found religion and became a model citizen."

"Well, it's not that hard to behave when you're in protective custody the whole time," Derek sighs.

"General population's a rough place for a child molester."

"No. I don't think you guys understand. He was a model citizen. This guy volunteered in the AIDS ward at the prison hospital. He was reading to prisoners dying of HIV."

"Thank you."

"Well, this makes things worse," Rossi sighs when Derek hangs up.

"What? That he was a model citizen?"

"That he's been to prison. He knows what happens to child molesters there. If the current sexual allegations are true and he thinks we know it, he's not coming out of there."

"Then we have to make him think he's not going back," Hotch says. "JJ, I need you to release a press statement saying that we have absolutely no evidence of sexual allegations."

"You need to see this," she sighs.

She sets down a laptop on the desk and turns the screen towards everyone else. On it is a news reporter, and she presses play.

"Now well into its second day, the standoff at the Sepatarian Sect Ranch has now been taken over by the FBI. There was much speculation in regard to hostages, but anonymous sources inside the state attorney general's office have told us there is an undercover FBI agent currently being held inside the ranch. Hostage negotiators say they are making headway with the sect's leadership, and are hopeful for a positive outcome. There's still no word as to why an undercover FBI agent was sent in alone."

As soon as Ben sees the news, he is furious. You can feel his anger even before he reaches you. You and Spencer are taken down to the basement where there are no witnesses other than Chris and Ben. You're shoved down onto some boxes while Spencer is sitting across from you on other boxes.

His anger is really scaring you.

"Which one of you is it? Which one of you is the FBI agent?"

You and Spencer look at each other, and thankfully, he handles it.

"Why do you think one of us is an FBI agent?"

"God will forgive me for what I must do."

Ben points his gun at Spencer's face, and your eyes widen. His life is threatened, and you will do anything to keep him safe no matter what.

"Who is it?"

There is no question about it. You don't hesitate, even for a second.

"Me. It's me," you blurt.

Spencer's eyes dart to yours, but you're standing by this decision. Spencer will be safe, and that is the only thing that matters. Your dad wasn't a nice guy sometimes, and he'd often use the belt or other means to punish you. You can take whatever he is about to give you. Spencer will hate you for this, but you don't care.

Ben lowers his gun and grabs you by the hair, yanking you to your feet. Spencer goes to get up, but Chris pushes him back down onto the boxes.

"I'm okay," you whisper. "I'll be fine."

Ben drags you by your hair into the back room where it's just you and him. He throws you to the ground in frustration, and you groan in pain. You rub the back of your head and stand to face him. If he is going to kick, punch, or slap you, then you're not going to show him any weakness.

"I told you not to put me in this position!"

He backhands you so hard you go flying to the ground. He kicks your stomach twice before taking the butt of his gun and slamming it into the side of your face. There are bugs everywhere since Rossi brought them in, so you know they can hear him beating you. You cough up blood but don't let it affect you.

"Get up!" he yells and yanks you to your feet. "Proverbs 20:30 tells us blows and wounds cleanse away evil."

"I can take it," you say, knowing your team can hear you.

"Oh, you can take it?"

"I can take it," you say more firmly.

"Pride comes before the fall."

Ben slaps you again and punches you to the ground, and you moan in pain. Your face is throbbing, your stomach hurts, but your mind is at ease. Spencer is safe. Spencer is okay. He's safe. You're okay. You repeat those four sentences over and over again. Ben knocks on the door, and Chris walks in without Spencer. He doesn't give Spencer time to look inside and see you.

"Tie her up and put her upstairs," Ben orders.

Chris hauls you to your feet and brings you upstairs to one of the bedrooms. You're tied to the bed and left alone, but not long after you're put there, the door creeps open. Kathy, Jessica's mother, comes in with the first aid kit, a bucket of water, and a dry washcloth.

"You should have told Cyrus who you were when you got here. He's a prophet. He predicted Satan's armies would come and lay siege to us."

She dips the washcloth into the water and starts to wipe the blood from your face.

"There's a name for that kind of prophecy--self fulfilling," you groan.

"You don't know how dangerous it is to lie to him."

"I know it would take a brave woman to defy him, knowing the consequences. That woman would have to have a damn good reason to do it."

You know she made the 911 call, but you don't outright say it. She finishes up and leaves you alone in the room. You close your eyes and continue to whisper those four sentences to yourself. You have to believe he is safe because you will reign hell down on whoever hurts him.

Spencer wants nothing more than to go to you and make sure you're okay, but he can't risk himself. He still has Ben's trust, however little that may be. He has to play this smart.

"Did you know she was FBI?" Ben asks Spencer with a glare.

"Nancy told me the woman was a child abuse interview expert from Denver. In the four years I worked with her, Nancy never lied to me before."

"As far as you know. Their law says that a fifteen-year-old girl is a child. Fifty years ago, that same law said a fourteen-year-old was an adult. Have children changed so much in fifty years?"

"I can't tell you the number of times I've investigated abuse charges against small religious groups. Almost all of them turn out to be false."

"What do you think of that?"

"Doesn't really matter what I think."

"It does to me."

"Why?"

"Because God wants to save you. That's why he sent you here."

"On the next call, you should test them. Test the negotiator. Make him prove that he isn't a liar," Spencer suggests.

"How would you suggest I do that?"

"Ask for the identity of the FBI agent."

"No," Chris interjects. "We already know her identity."

"They don't know that."

"Yeah, but the FBI would never tell us."

"They keep on asking you to release people. Tell him you'll release a kid, and you won't harm the agent. If they really care about the children, they'll have to tell you," Spencer says.

"You're trying to get us to release a child," Chris glares.

"It's one kid. If they don't hold up on their end of the deal, you know they can't be trusted."

"He has a point," Ben sides with Spencer. Chris looks down in uncertainty, and this doesn't go unnoticed by Ben. "What is it, Christopher?"

"Some have been talking about leaving."

"Wake the baby. Let them meet the orphan that they've made."

Ben takes out his phone and calls Rossi as Chris leaves to do what he's told.

"How are you doing today, Ben?" Rossi answers.

"I will release a child if you tell me the identity of the FBI agent. I promise no harm will come to her from this point forward."

"I can't give you that information."

"I will send the child now."

With the okay from Ben, Chris releases the child that Jessica was holding yesterday. She walks outside in confusion, and when Rossi sees this isn't a trap, he sends Derek to get her. Derek runs over to the kid and picks her up, holding her close to him.

"We're taking a big risk here, Ben," Rossi sighs once he knows the child is safe.

"Trust is earned."

"Her name is Y/N. She came in with two child service workers to talk to the girls."

"There's a good chance we can work this out, Dave. I'm gonna provide another sign of good faith."

"You're doing a good thing here."

Ben hangs up and turns to Chris.

"Assemble everyone in the chapel. Get Agent Y/N down here."

Chris leaves to get you while the other followers gather everyone inside the church. Spencer is anxious to see you, and when he finally does, his heart breaks into two. You have bruises and cuts on your face, and he wasn't there to protect you. You lock eyes with Spencer, and you immediately feel the guilt come off him in waves.

"It has come to my attention that some of our brothers and sisters have lost their faith in God," Ben tells everyone. "They no longer love us. They want to abandon us. So, when I call out your name, please stand. Todd Sutters. Melanie Sutters. Evan Radley..."

As Ben calls out people's names, Spencer walks over to you since Ben is distracted. He has such a heartbreaking look on his face, but you have to push that down right now.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers emotionally.

"Don't do that," you say in a stern voice. "This was my decision. It's not as bad as it looks. I am fine, I promise you. I love you so much. Now, what's going on here? Who is he calling out?"

"They're the ones who failed the loyalty test. We'll get word to the team. Wait for a sign from outside to indicate what time the raid will come."

Spencer notices Ben watching you two, so he quickly moves away from your side to stay on his good side. He walks over to Ben to rectify the situation.

"I told her she shouldn't have lied to you like that. To either of us."

"Take her back," Ben says to Chris.

Chris is not a gentle man, but you ignore the pain in your wrists.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[bookishfeylin]

I’m curious on what your opinion is on tams red flag behavior in book one and just “fantasy male character behavior” in general. Like I see people talk about how gross and terrible he was in book one and yeah I’d run away fast if I met him but it also wasn’t anywhere near being worse that a lot other popular book men. Like where’s the line for you? Whats going to far? Should these characters be in ya?

Hi anon! I’ve talked about this topic quite a bit all over my blog but it’s complicated for me. IMO I DO think YA romantic relationships (fantasy romance in particular) as a whole are more toxic than not and really ought to be examined, critiqued, and called out more often, but ACOTAR is a unique case as it started as NA (or book 1 specifically was first published in NA I should say). If it’d stayed in NA it wouldn’t be an issue but alas. ACOTAR was moved to YA to sell more (this all occurred prior to ACOMAF being published iirc), and then after YEARS of the series being sold as YA they were moved back to NA with the release of ACOSF. I feel like they simply never should’ve been in YA to begin with, especially if she ultimately moved them back to NA, so… Additionally, the books, unlike your average YA fantasy, are trying specifically to teach the audience about healthy and unhealthy relationships. That complicates the convo more so than if these books DIDN'T discuss and attempt to teach about abuse like most other YA fantasy books. I do think, if you’re going to attempt to teach about a topic as important as abuse, you should hold your relationships to a higher standard, and ESPECIALLY if you’re writing for a younger and more impressionable audience. BUTTTTTTTT ACOTAR 1 is for all intents and purposes a BATB retelling. The BATB fairytale is nearly inherently unhealthy by real world standards, but we all… know that? Including teens (or I’d like to believe that, at least)? And Tamlin's character is the beast, so how much do we truly gain from calling out his red flags when we all knew he was going to act beastly going in? Like sure, I don’t like to see these types of behaviors promoted in YA as a general rule and I’m certainly glad to see them critiqued by the author, but I and I’m sure most others do expect them and arguably make exceptions for them in a BATB retelling *specifically* because. That’s the fairytale??? And I don’t think BATB retellings should be banned from YA or anything in spite of the fact that they’re again nearly inherently unhealthy? So yeah. It’s complicated. And because I want some nuance here I’ll just copy and paste some of my more concise opinions from other posts I’ve made:

As I've said in all of my posts where I discuss Tamlin's red flags, he certainly HAS them, but I've yet to see anyone name a red flag he has that Rhysand doesn't also exhibit. While I don't necessarily agree that other characters are more of a bad guy than he is, ACOTAR!Tamlin does not stand out much from any other male in the rest of this series. Is he a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is he violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree (though it's not nearly on ACOMAF! Tamlin's level)? Yes.

But so is everyone else. It doesn't work as a red flag because everyone acts that way. If we indict ACOTAR!Tamlin, then either EVERYONE has red flags, or it's "just how faeries are" and we leave it at that. Is Rhysand a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is Rhysand violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree? Yes.

ACOTAR!Tamlin is no worse than the bat boys. ACOTAR!Tamlin truly doesn't stand out in this series. It makes calling ACOTAR!Tamlin a walking red flag very very HARD when he's objectively not worse than the main heroes of the story--unless they too are walking red flags.

~~~

I love BATB retellings and Feylin, in book 1 where I ship it, is just that. It is no better or worse than a BATB retelling in a world with fae can be, and this works because Sarah isn’t trying to sell book 1 Feylin's relationship as healthy or frankly as anything other than a retelling of a popular fairytale a fairytale that has been scrutinized for Stockholm syndrome and the like. The rest of the books, aside from being very different in characterization, worldbuilding, tone, theme, and overall being very disjointed, retconned-filled continuations of the first book, also are hypocritical in the discussion of domestic violence, attacking said fairytale retelling for failing to meet real world standards of what a healthy relationship is (something it could never do as it was, again, a retelling of a fairytale that’s KNOWN to not be 100% healthy) while simultaneously propping up ANOTHER retelling-based-relationship as the ~healthier option~ despite it likewise being incapable of truly meeting our standards of healthiness and morality. The fandom often insists on critiquing Tamlin’s “red flags”, proclaiming Feylin was unhealthy and doomed from the beginning, but if the same treatment is done back to Rhysand and Feysand then the fandom’s tune becomes “how dare you use real world morality to critique their relationship???” Feysand literally begins with Rhysand mind-raping Feyre and then molesting her for months UTM??? Which is much worse than ANYTHING Tamlin ever did in the first book? If this series, and this fandom, truly cared about abuse as a theme then both Feylin and Feysand would be correctly critiqued as abusive, as neither of the fairytales they’re based on and are retelling are healthy. So that’s where I come in, and I correctly call them both toxic. But the fandom at large and the books don't do this, and the real world standards injected in the second book are deemed only applicable to Feylin, the BATB retelling, and not Feysand, the Hades and Persephone retelling. So I won’t judge my ship in the ***first book*** based on standards that were included ***later*** in the series and that are applied hypocritically to them alone and no other relationship. As I’ve said before, it’s very clear from the way no other major relationship in this series is critiqued by the same standards that abuse, domestic violence, and red flags were only discussed as themes solely to discredit their relationship, not least of all because it’s incredibly hard to apply real world standards to every character in a fantasy series without everyone being labeled unhealthy or problematic to some degree, to say nothing about that difficulty increasing in a fairytale retelling specifically. Feylin in book 1 is a fantasy fairytale retelling and nothing more; it’s not trying to comment on abuse. The rest of the books do, but hypocritically by only holding one retelling-based-relationship accountable for failing to meet real world standards of healthiness and morality instead of critiquing them both. The hypocrisy ruins the rest of the series for me (and has me side-eye a lot of the fandom for not caring about one relationship being analyzed by real world standards and the other one getting a pass and being labelled healthy anyway), so I simply prefer to enjoy book 1 and the relationship therein as an (imperfect) standalone fantasy.

[hees-mine]

Nooo 😭😭 I’m so sad you decided to de activate!! I loved what you did do while you were in business and I really wish that you hadn’t deactivated but if it makes you happy and less pressurized you do it for you !! While I’m disappointed that I won’t be hearing from you anymore, I’m proud of you for taking such a step. It must’ve been stressful not wanting to punish people for things others did, or closing your acc in general must’ve been depressing. Those people don’t have shit to do with their day, that’s why they stuff their hairy ass noses in other peoples business! If you’re doing it because of what others say, kindly, FUCK THEM!! They have no right to judge you, but if their words really hurt you enough for you to do this then I’ll respect your wishes.

Goodbye!! Hopefully we can become friends in the future! I’ll forever remember you @hees-mine ! 🩷🩷

Thank you for staying with me and loving what I do🩵

It’s literally nothing other than the fact I’m sick of being hounded and asked for a “part 2”

I hope everyone who left those comments will see this and understand that they are the reason I’m leaving

I’m just tired of meeting the demand and getting zero appreciation

Playtime was supposed to be a one shot last time was supposed to be a one shot but people kept asking for more and I delivered

Which I wish I hadn’t cause even then I was being spoken to rudely

But as soon as I say I’m not gonna be series anymore the ask just keep coming

And I don’t get it I’m glad people want to read more from me but the constant demands for more is just very discouraging and it’s what ultimately led me to this decision

In the future to all the readers out there here’s some tips

1 stop being a silent reader / unless youre nervous to send an ask

2 hit reblog/like on all the fics that you genuinely like you don’t have to spam like or like a fic just cause but if you do like it hit the like button it’s that simple I know your fingers might be tired from scrolling but push on and give us a reblog it goes a long way cause remember one of the only things that makes writing enjoyable is feedback

3 stop asking for updates period don’t ask for part two’s if someone said there’s gonna be a part two just wait for them to release it don’t keep asking when it’s gonna come out

We take hours to write please just take a few seconds to let us know you appreciate our hard work

Thank you sweetheart and I’ll remember you too🩵

[thoselethalarts]

ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕓𝕠𝕤 𝔹𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 - ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪

(SR) Lab Coats (Part 1): "It’d Make This Exchange a Lot Less Fun."

(NRC: Library)

Phobos: Different types of poisons affect the body in different ways. Phobos: Some of them work through the nervous system... attacking the body’s nerves, causing muscles to seize, the brain to fry, and the heart to stop beating. Phobos: Others work through the circulatory system, causing the blood to coagulate within the veins and cause internal congestion. The victim is likely to die of a stroke or heart attack through this methodology. Phobos: Still, others are more corrosive. They eat away at the internals of the victim, dissolving muscle and flesh, causing internal hemorrhaging and decay. The victim is more likely to bleed out when they can’t stop the corrosion. Phobos: With that in mind, the real question is… what of these methods are capable of being replicated without the actual presence of poison? Phobos: Coagulation and nervous attack, possibly, though I doubt corrosion would be… Unless somehow the body could be forced to produce more powerful stomach acid, maybe. Hm…

Rook: What plans are circling your mind, Monsieur Malicieux?

Phobos: -! I don’t like that you could sneak up on me like that.

Rook: Even a novice hunter always knows how to silence his footsteps when stalking his prey~ Rook: Oya… are you studying poisons?

Phobos: None of your business, leave me alone.

Rook: Ooh la la, but if this is part of your studies, I could be more than a worthy partner in your quest for knowledge! Rook: As a member of the science club, and vice dorm head of Pomefiore, poisons are something I have a great deal of confidence in knowing.

Phobos: …I’m not studying poisons. I’m studying biology.

Rook: Even better! As a hunter of hearts and beasts I do have keen knowledge in biology as well-

Phobos: I didn’t ask for your input! I told you, I’m fine! Phobos: Tch... If you’re so adamant to butt into my business and leap into the jaws of death, then fine. How about you be my "lab partner" then?

Rook: Gladly! I'd be more than happy to assist you with whatever you need. I've always wanted to spend more time with you~

(Phobos rips a piece of paper from his notebook and begins scribbling something down upon the page.)

Rook: Hmm? Is that poetry you’re composing? Rook: “Cursed eyes gazing upon this page-”

Phobos: Rule number one: Don’t read this out loud.

Rook: Oh?

Phobos: Rule number two: Don’t read this until I’m finished writing this. Phobos: Rule number three: When you’re finished reading this, give it back to me immediately. Phobos: Rule number four: Report to me everything you felt after reading this note. Phobos: If you’re gonna keep annoying me, these are the rules you’ll be following for our experiment. You will ask no questions, and you’ll tell no souls about what we did today. Got it?

Rook: Oui. I’m now very much intrigued to see where your plans lie~

Phobos: Hmph… Here. Now you can read it. Silently.

Rook: Very well. Let me see~ Rook: ………?! A-Ah… what is…?

Phobos: Finished?

Rook: Oui, my… my heart is…? Rook: Haah… what a fascinating sensation.

Phobos: Rule number four, Rook. Status report.

Rook: Hmmh… I could… feel my heart palpitate with strain, every muscle in my chest tightening like a vice, before very gently and suddenly releasing. Rook: Like the claws of a beast had torn its way through my ribs and clenched my very heart within my chest… before quietly granting mercy and releasing its grip… Rook: W-What a powerful reaction. Your prose shook me to my core, stronger than any poison I’d ever experienced before. That was… exhilarating~

Phobos: Keep that part to yourself. I don't need to hear it. Phobos: But, that all but confirmed my suspicions in one regard... Phobos: Poison doesn’t need to even attack the human nervous system, it just needs to command the nerves to do what it wants… to turn the body against itself and go in for the kill. Phobos: Generally speaking, poisons use chemical compounds to command the body to do its bidding. The chemicals don’t need to be present for the reaction to occur, as long as the body can generate the end result needed on their own. Phobos: Chemicals are words; words command the body to self-immolate… Perfect. Phobos: Alright, guinea pig, you’re dismissed.

Rook: Oui~ I look forward to helping you with your studies again, Monsieur Malicieux~

(Rook walks away, footsteps heavy and unsteady.)

Phobos: Hmph… Not exactly happy with someone having an insight to my power and walking away scott-free, but it’s hard to say no to a willing guinea pig. Phobos: A stupid, willing victim… The easiest toy to play with the inner mechanisms of. Phobos: Heh… Heheheh… Keep jumping into the jaws of death, little mouse. I can’t wait to tear you apart, piece by piece.

/ To be continued…

[always-andromeda]

I’ve been having thoughts about the backlash to those videos Chappell Roan posted on tiktok yesterday sO here’s my massive think piece under the cut lol.

I love Chappell Roan. I’ve been listening to her since last summer. Her music has meant so much to me in so many different ways. And I would miss her if she dipped out of the limelight for a while. But this post isn’t about how I feel. In general, this conversation isn’t about how everyone else is feeling. It’s about how Chappell feels.

I think the thing that a lot of people aren’t comprehending is that she straight up cannot handle the level of fame she is at right now. I don’t think any human being is equipped to handle having their entire lives change practically overnight the way hers has.

I wish I could shake the shoulders of folks telling her she could’ve been “nicer” when setting her boundaries. First of all, while she does seem incredibly sweet a lot of times, her whole Chappell Roan persona has never really revolved around being polite and well behaved. It’s quite the opposite really so I don’t know why y’all expect her to respond like a perfect little princess (unless the parasocial relationship has gotten the better of you). Second, regardless of whatever image she has cultivated, she doesn’t owe us anything. Not when fans have waltzed up to her just to trauma dump, when fans have stalked her family, and when fans have continually disrespected her boundaries even when she was kind about them.

The implication in that “she owes us” mentality is that she is a product. She is an idea that we have paid for in time, attention, and money. Therefore, she must serve every single desire we may have of her. Because that’s only fair, right? It’s a cold, transactional way of operating that capitalism has made us all too comfortable with.

The point that she was getting at is that at the end of the day she is not a product. She is a normal human woman. And you most likely wouldn’t get upset at a normal human woman saying, “Hey, please leave me the fuck alone” when people are being weird towards her. But because the culture has decided that she is the object of the hour, people expect her to expect and accept that behavior. Or to jump perfectly through every hoop of politeness to say she doesn’t like if, lest we think she is being ungrateful or too full of herself.

And I don’t say that to go to bat for a celebrity. I’m batting for another human being. Who is very clearly uncomfortable with the atmosphere surrounding her. And who very clearly cannot handle it. I don’t think any human being is equipped to handle their life changing so dramatically, so quickly.

We are in an era of pop culture where everything is moving so goddamn fast. Jokes are only funny for a few days before they become overblown and run dry by corporate marketing. Musicians make and release songs with silly, catchy lines specifically so they can be used in Tiktok videos. Every single day, ordinary people online are catapulted into the cultural zeitgeist and then relentlessly picked apart until someone else becomes the next new shiny thing.

This is a beast that is made to destroy people. It destroys “celebrities” and it destroys us “normal” folk by turning us into a wake of vultures who pick apart strangers and are so okay with dehumanizing them that we argue that they should simply accept the abuse they receive and get over it.

All I can hope is that Chappell coming forward and bluntly stating her boundaries is a step in a better direction. It’s hard not to be pessimistic when some of the most popular takes are people criticizing her for being “mean.” But on the flip side, I’ve also seen plenty of people expressing that they’re listening to her and urging other fans to do the same. And as a fan of her as well, I encourage folks to decenter their emotions for the moment and process a few different ideas. One, this woman is just a human being. Two, she is being treated terribly. And three, she is allowed to be upset, to express it, and to set the boundaries she needs for her own wellbeing.

[yukidragon]

What powers do you think Jack has in the demo, and what other powers do you think he may have or want him to have in the full game?

I think that a lot of Jack’s powers are based off of empathy and thoughts, particularly when it comes to MC. I also think we haven’t seen the limit of what he can do yet.

There’s an unquestionable connection between Jack and MC. He cares about them, he needs them to need him, and if they start to draw away from him, his grasp on reality weakens.

In a way, Jack shares a lot in common with a tulpa, also known as a thoughtform, which is an independent entity brought into existence by the power of belief. Typically these start off as imaginary friends that gain their own sentience over time through the power of their creator’s belief. The person who imagined them into being desired their existence, and unless they can manage to detach themselves from relying on their creator, they can be snuffed out just as easily.

This fits a lot with the theme of comfort characters and why we need them, which is one of the inspirations for the plot of Sunny Day Jack. However, we do have evidence that Jack is more than a tulpa. He has memories of a past life beyond the character he’s playing as, and he knows lore about the character that MC is unfamiliar with. Heck, they didn’t even know about Sunny Day Jack or the show until they played the video tape.

We’ve seen hints that Jack can read MC’s thoughts and emotions, and some teaser art and comments from Sauce hinted that he can share their physical state as well, such as being drunk when MC is or experiencing period pain. While we can’t say for sure if this will be canon in the full game release, he did make a comment that suggested he literally felt their arousal towards him.

It also seems to work in the reverse. MC feels warm and happy when cuddling Jack, beyond the physical sensation of his body heat. Being with him makes them feel really good in general. When he starts feeling insecure though, he starts growing cold and distant from them, those golden feelings turning gray. They feel awful about leaving him to work, like they’re abandoning him when he needs them.

I think this empathy ratcheted up to a supernatural level. Jack feels MC’s emotions and vice-versa. This can make them both instinctively very drawn to make the other happy, as the other’s sadness causes them pain and distress similar to what they’re experiencing.

Then of course there are times when Jack literally comments on something MC was thinking about. In the “yes” route he even talks directly to them through the narration in red text, which implies that he’s speaking through thoughts, though it seems subtle enough that MC doesn’t realize it given they don’t acknowledge it at all.

In teaser art where Jack encourages a rival to kill themselves, it seems as though that it’s not a direct conversation. Rather, it’s not a situation where they try to say anything, but are looking at themselves in the mirror in distress. I think that Jack can use “intrusive thoughts” on other people, talking them in a way that seems more subconscious and indirect. These also can take the form of giving someone nightmares, as we saw in the ending with Nick.

It makes sense that if Jack can influence someone’s subconscious thoughts that he can give someone horrific nightmares, as our subconscious controls our dreams.

A lot of Jack and his powers seem to be based off subconsciousness and desire. He also seems to be growing stronger, as suggested by this speech of his.

Another power seems to be changing his appearance, and possibly manifesting entire items, such as the mysteriously appearing blueberries or new outfits. The current limitation is that only MC can see/interact with these things, such as his jacket, but if he eventually manages to give a villainous monologue to someone, I suspect that when he gets stronger he’ll be able to affect others in a similar way.

I think Jack will gain more power over time during the course of the game’s story, and I think it hinges mostly on how much MC loves/needs him. It might also be influenced by how many people are aware of his existence in general.

After all... Jack was forgotten, buried by a company that erased the memory of him and the whole show, silencing people under NDAs. It’s possible that the more people learn about the show, say from a reboot, the stronger he’ll become regardless of MC’s feelings.

Heck, it could even be that Jack was trapped in limbo of the tape due to so few people remembering him, and even then mostly just remembering him as Jack, even his co-workers. I doubt Joseph told them about his past considering he abandoned his former identity, so they would be more familiar with him as Jack’s actor.

As for other powers... MC observed that people seemed to conveniently exist around him. Maybe they were instinctively avoiding where he stood without realizing it. It would suggest that even at the start, he has a very slight affect on other people just by being present.

Although Jack can’t be seen by mirrors or other people, he seems very real to MC. He can converse with them, pick them up, have sex with them... He can also pick up objects considering he could cook food and clean dishes. He has a heartbeat and body fluids such as spit and sweat.

I think Jack’s trajectory as far as his powers are concerned is that he’s going to become more real to the world. At some point, I think he’ll be able to be perceived by other people on more than just a subconscious level, able to actually talk to them and be seen by them... and maybe touch them to, say, guide their hand to slit their own throat if they’re a threat?

Like a tulpa that’s gained independence from its creator, I think Jack might eventually become a person every bit as real as anyone else.

I think Jack’s ability to get in peoples’ heads makes him very, very dangerous and disturbing. He has a way with words, and if he can make people think these intrusive thoughts are their own? Well, that’s just weaponizing depression... and has the potential to drive people insane and to commit self-harm.

It also makes it harder for MC to escape the clutches of a yandere like Jack when things go down the more bad end routes. He makes them feel good to the point that they’re addicted to those good feelings. He gets inside their head, literally, and he can influence their thoughts. You can’t run away from someone if you want to stay with them after all, which can lead things down a very insidious path.

In the “no” route MC wants to be rewritten by Jack. He takes some part of them and fills that empty space with desire and need. It’s possible that he could go as far as brainwashing MC and others with his power, though fortunately that seems to be only something he uses on them as a desperate self-preservation tactic.

Other people though? If Jack gets strong enough, perhaps he could do the same to them.

In Jack’s speech, he mentioned a piece of him growing bigger. Combining this with him taking some part of MC, I think that there is some soul manipulation going on. I think he has a piece of his soul in MC and vice-versa, and he seems to be able to make that piece grow bigger with his power. This is pretty heavy conjecture of course, since this is very vague at the moment and it could be a part of their mind instead of their soul.

When talking with MC about Ian, they had a thought of just letting Jack take control. A second later everything goes black and they wake up the next morning in bed wrapped in his jacket. Some have speculated this is him possessing MC to literally take control of them, and I think that he might have that ability if they give him permission, consciously or subconsciously.

The fandom has been theorizing that Jack will be capable of possessing the other love interests at some point, especially when we saw teaser art of Ian dressed as Jack covered in blood. With the hints we have that it’s just Ian dressed as the part of a rebooted version of the character though, it calls into question if he actually has that ability.

I think it’s possible Jack might be able to possess people later on in certain routes. He’s reinvented himself before... so why not do it again if MC is trying to romance one of the other love interests?

I think that’s just about everything. I may have meandered around with this ramble, but that’s because we’ve only gotten hints of Jack’s powers at the moment. It’s possible he has more, or even that some of these suspicions are wrong. We’ll just have to wait for the full release of the game and see, but I have a feeling that Jack has more power than we realize, and it all hinges on MC's love for him and how badly they want him in their life.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

[raayllum]

I have a question, in good faith. I just answered a question about my opinion of Season 4, and a big reason I give it a 7.5 out of 10 is that they broke the main couple up off screening a graphic novel.

Now I didn’t go into detail, but this probably takes off a whole point for me, because I don’t feel like we should have to read extra material to understand what’s happening in the main plot line. Is this the first time we’ve ever had to read extra material not for bonus information but an understanding of the main story?

Hello, yes, I love answering questions in good faith. Can't promise that I'll have a satisfactory answer, but hopefully I can provide a not overly long one, for once!

Through the Moon (the graphic novel of which you speak) is the only supplementary material (thus far) that's been released that isn't a prequel, so in that vein, I'd say yes. The graphic novel does explain that Rayla left (and shows her leaving) before the 'reveal' drop at the end of 4x01. She left approximately a month and a half after S3, so right around / on Callum's birthday (which, we didn't know it was his birthday in the graphic novel itself, so that's almost undoubtedly something that got added to S4 for Callum&Viren foils and general heartbreak reasons).

However, to me, and this also due to having friends who watch the show casually, or have not read the graphic novel Through The Moon (TTM)... I genuinely do not think you need to read it unless you don't want Rayla leaving to have been a 'surprise' (which some people like to know spoilers ahead of time, which is fair). Given that there's a timeskip and an arc wrap up (and that we actually got to see them be a cute couple in S3, not just at the last minute) some sort of shift was probably to be expected. All the plot context TTM is given pretty early on in S4, but there are also fun little connections to make as you go on rewatches, for example:

4x01 reveals that Rayla is not only not at the castle, but MIA, and that the boys don't know if she's alive/okay. The context from TTM is that her risk taking decisions were already a concern for him, which can probably be deduced from the show's canon anyway, given that he jumped off a mountain for her.

4x01 and 4x02 also show that rather than being mostly curious about unknown things like before, they actively make him agitated/anxious (Soren's secret keeping, the blank book, trying to decipher the mirror). TTM adds context to this in that Rayla told him she would let him come with her, and then went back on that promise, but canon already makes this clear in 4x01 with "I don't even know if she's alive"; he has no answers about Rayla. That is also undoubtedly one of the reasons he's agitated. However, while her lie is insult to injury, the show never brings it up as a reason he's mad at her; it was always her extended absence: "So you disappeared for two years for no reason at all?" / "Well, maybe you might know that if you'd been here the last two years." Again: the lie isn't an actual thorn in his side (seemingly) so it's a thing from TTM that is omitted, because it isn't emotionally relevant.

Then she shows up and we learn, specifically, that she went to hunt down Viren. Rayla has always been a paranoid ("Sooner or later, we're going to run into someone from 1x06, "There's danger coming, I know it" from 2x01) person with an independent streak. Rayla leaving to kill Viren because she doubts her own abilities, when she spends most of the first few seasons doubting them (particularly in S1 and S3) and fearing failure ("You let him live but killed us all") is also very in character. One of my favourite little details is that Callum struggles to say Viren's name at all ("It's something Lord -- the previous high mage left behind") until Rayla shows up ("So you must have found Viren, huh? Was he dead after all?") because that trauma - Rayla was so sure that she failed that she couldn't trust they were safe - is so intertwined.

A lot of S2, as well, spent hammering in the fact she didn't want to lose Callum (to Soren and Claudia, to his pursuit of magic, to dark magic, to death). Her leaving him behind to protect him is not something that's a big logic leap to make, I think. After all: "It's okay, Callum. I'm not asking you to come with me. Protecting that dragon doesn't just feel like the right thing to do, it feels like the right thing for me to do" (2x07) and "But... I'm not going with you. You and Ezran should take Zym. But I can't leave" (3x08) and her almost confession last but not least: "Callum please, come back! You've got to stay with me [...] I can't lose you like this, you mean too much to me" (2x09).

TTM adds context - the nightmares about Viren ruining the life she still had, and her and Callum's increasing mutual fear of losing each other. They quite honestly don't even break up. Now, I don't think things would've gone well if Callum had gone with her (relationship wise) given their differing priorities in TTM and also how they show love (for Rayla it's protection, for Callum it's togetherness), but the last conversation they actually have in TTM is

Now, I'm not exactly expecting a casual reviewer to remember and notice all the tiny things, but I am expecting them to remember major plot points, specifically that Rayla really struggles with letting people help her (1x06 and 3x04 both leading to disasters with Zym being in danger because of it) because she doesn't feel like she deserves it, and that she has a tendency to be overly self sacrificial (too many episodes to count).

Her trying to save the dragon in S2 was heroic, yes, but also stood out to me specifically as "This tendency of risking herself is going to be something that she and Callum have to confront and work through, because it is diametrically opposed to them functioning as a long term couple/team". When she wants to stay behind and die for her parents mistakes in S3, the only reason she doesn't stick with that is because she learns that they didn't run, not that she didn't have to die even if they had. So something like this, even if not in so dramatic a way was something that I'd been expecting for a few years now. S4 and Callum's anger at her abandonment is the first time we've seen this tendency be solely in a negative light, in a lot of ways, which is really exciting, and I don't know how much they'll get back together until Rayla has had the epiphanies she needs to.

The biggest thing to me that TTM adds to S4 is that Callum isn't just upset at Rayla for leaving him, but that he's mad at her for leaving without him, specifically. He wanted to go with her, he didn't totally believe in the mission but he wanted to keep her safe, citing "I let you go into the Moon Nexus alone" (earlier in the graphic novel, and not without protest) "and I knew right away I made the biggest mistake of my life. I could have lost you." But again, I expect this sentiment to be something that is far more readily explored in S5, and is also something you can kinda piece together given how often he runs after her in the first three seasons, and him reading what's implied in show and confirmed through TTM to be her goodbye letter because she didn't think she was coming back (4x01 credits):

TDP official also in the lead up to S4 released the goodbye letter, which we'd never read before, and it broke all of our hearts.

TLDR; to me, TTM isn't necessary unless you want a deeper read on the characters. I expect S5 to give them more of a chance to talk and perhaps explain their own actions in S4 more (again, reaffirming that fear of losing each other, which was the root of his anger and of her leaving) but I don't think TTM is necessary unless you want the specifics. All you need to know is that Rayla left to hunt down Viren and Callum has been very sad about it since. You get all of that within the first couple of episodes. The biggest question that TTM raises that S4 doesn't answer is, if she was so dead set on her mission, how and why did she convince herself it was okay to come back at all, but again: I think S5/S6 will have the answers on that.

[plutoscosmoss]

Fire Inside ➸ c.13

Warnings: This series includes themes of violence, death, smut, childbirth and childbirth complications (if I forgot to mention any please let me know)

Pairing: Jacaerys Velaryon x OC

{Series Masterlist}

Previous Chapter

Chapter 13: Decisions

Back in her chambers, Renva was wrapping her shoulder with some herbal oils given to her by the maester to make sure her shoulder wouldn’t bruise. Once the wrap was secured on her shoulder Renva slid her sleeve back up and tied her dress in place. Looking at the spear that was leaning in the corner of her room along with her training clothes, she released a heavy breath she didn’t know she was holding. Having her eldest brother here made her feel as if she was home again. A knock sounded at her chamber door, the guard outside alerting her of a visitor. 

“You may enter.” Renva spoke as she crossed the room and ran her fingers along the small detailing that was on the spear. 

“His Royal Highness Prince Jacaerys.” The guard spoke as he took post in the doorway of Renva’s room. Most likely by order of Queen Alicent or even her brother, both having different motives for the guard being stationed there. 

“Hello Jace, it has been some time.” Renva spoke, glancing up to see him twisting his family ring along his pointer finger. 

“And for the Renva I take full responsibility. I know the news of the betrothal offered by Rhaenys was sudden and my mothers lack of decline was also a surprise but I promise you I had no knowledge of the event-” Renva cut him off, “I believe you. There is no need to stress yourself.” Renva placed the spear back down and fully turned towards Jace. “I do, however have one question.” Jace was quick with his response, “Anything Renva.” 

Smiling at the Princes’ nervous nature Renva walked over and placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, “What is it that you want? It seems that no one has asked your opinion on any of your sudden betrothals. Mine and Baela’s offers were thrusted upon you by others. What is it that you want?” Renva spoke with such softness Jacaerys felt like he was finally seen as more than the First born son of Rhaenyra and heir to the iron throne, and finally as a person like he should have been this whole time. 

“I love my cousin, but that’s just it. I love her like I should love my family.” Jace took her hand off his shoulder and held it softly as if he could break her any second, “With you however, I feel like I can see a future. Growing old together, having children with heads full of brown hair, and no matter the gender being trained to protect themselves just as their mother has before them. I’m scared of losing you to my uncle because if you end up with him, I don’t know if I could go on.” Jace spoke while looking at their intertwined hands, refusing to meet the eyes of the person he just confessed his love to. Feeling her hands slip from his, he was sure he lost her. 

The soft hand placed upon his cheek swiped a stray tear away and made him look up at her. “If you will have me, Jacaerys Velaryon, I would love to be your wife.” Renva spoke with her own tears falling. The tears were not because of the sadness of loss of freedom if she accepted, but because she would be able to spend the rest of her life with the one person who made her feel like she was more than a piece on a chess board. 

Renva loves her brothers and father, but even she knew that a woman would only ever be under the control of man unless seen as an equal. Her family tries to break their prejudices, but sometimes they slip through the cracks. She knows they’re trying to change, but it would take longer for one generation to be the change she wanted to see. 

“I will talk to my brother about conversing with your mother, and if your mother agrees then he shall break the news to the Queen Alicent.” Renva spoke composing herself to leave her chambers, as she turned to leave she was stopped by Jace. “Before we speak to them, can we have one more day knowing that we have no responsibilities?” Renva smiled at his words and nodded her head as they moved across the room to the pile of books. 

Sitting on the two seater bench they read until it was time for lunch to which they both went their separate ways to inform their family of their decisions. Cregan was in his own chambers a few doors down from her own. Her brother however had no guard posted outside his room, even if one was sent there she knew her brother would just send them away. Knocking on the door before opening it slightly Renva announced to her brother it was her.

“You do know you do not need to knock.” Cregan spoke to Renva as he wrote a letter presumably to their father. “And if you were indecent I would have to pluck out my own eyes as a result so I shall continue to knock thank you very much.” Renva spoke as she sat in the chair closest to the desk her brother sat at. “Is that a letter to father?” Renva questioned as she toyed with her mothers necklace that hung around her neck. “It is, how is your shoulder?” Cregan asked, he knew his sister was tough so he didn’t feel too bad, she endured harsher training back at Winterfell. 

“It hardly throbs after the oils given by the maester. I do have something I would wish to tell father if you could include it.” Renva said changing the topic of conversation. “And what would that be little sister?” Cregan spoke as he glanced up at Renva, “I have accepted Prince Jacaerys betrothal proposal.” Renva sucked in a deep breath, momentarily forgetting to breathe and release the breath. 

“You have?” Cregan spoke, turning his full body towards his sister, “I would like for you to speak to Princess Rhaenyra about the terms if she wishes to continue it, since father is not here.” Renva bit the inside of her lip, a habit she had yet to break since she was little. “Well alright then, if that's what you desire.” Cregan sent a small smile towards his sister as he stood. “Wait where are you going?” Renva urgently stood, “I am going to secure your proposal of course, I heard about the other offer and would like to settle this as fast as possible. Also between you and I, I do not like the Hightowers, I more so do not like that dog the Queen has running around. The quicker we settle it, the quicker we leave.” Renva was all too happy to hear her brother's words. 

But even she knew happiness didn’t last long, not while she was trapped in the house of the dragons. 

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

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