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therewithall · 4 years ago

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Roswell, New Mexico custom Magic: The Gathering cards

For RNM D&D Weekend Warriors, I branched out to another tabletop format and made a handful of custom Magic: The Gathering cards based on the core cast of Roswell, NM. Here’s the break-down of how I chose each character’s color(s) and abilities as well as highlight some of the neat ways they interact. None of the cards have been playtested so there is still room for them to be further developed and balanced. For anyone who isn’t very familiar with Magic: The Gathering, every card fits into various types that can be played for the cost printed in the top right-hand corner. There are 5 colors of Mana- White, Blue, Black, Red, Green- I’ll be using the letters W, U (blue), B (black), R, and G to represent the mana colors in my discussion. Each card can also have different traits and abilities, and a set of numbers that represents how strong its attack and defense are (represented as attack/defense). There’s a lot of amazingly nerdy discussion of Magic Lore that delves into how the Mana colors relate to personality traits and behaviors of the characters on the cards-- more on that here- but just know that I’ll be discussing some of those qualities as I go into why I chose the attributes for each card/character.So here we go!

Max Evans, Smalltown Hero 2WR Legendary Creature – Human Alien Vigilance, Haste (This creature doesn’t tap to attack and may attack or use tap abilities the turn it enters the battlefield.) T, Sacrifice a nonland permanent: Another target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Max is a deputy with the sheriff’s department and a natural leader who has kept his powers and identity a secret for years. 3/1

Max is kind hearted and wants to protect his community and friends. On the other hand, he’s impulsive and will make rash decisions without thinking about the consequences of his actions. These two beliefs place him firmly in red/white for Magic colors; a combination that often plays small aggressive creatures and engages in frequent combat. I gave Max vigilance to represent him being a defender as well as an aggressor in a lot of circumstances. His ability to sacrifice something to protect someone else exemplifies his ability to both heal and destroy. Lastly he has haste and a fragile body (1 toughness) making a game with Max play out with an early attack followed by him protecting someone else and only getting in when the coast is clear.

Michael Guerin, Tech Genius 1WU Legendary Creature – Human Alien Artificer When Michael Guerin, Tech Genius enters the battlefield, search your library and/or graveyard for a noncreature artifact or enchantment card and exile it with a research counter on it. If you searched your library this way, shuffle. X, T: Create a token that’s a copy of a card exiled with a research counter. X is that card’s mana value. 2/3

Michael cares about the team differently than Max does. He is often tinkering with things in order to heal or protect others if possible and is a genius when it comes to inventions involving alien technology. His intelligence and need for knowing more fits in blue (alongside a few other science oriented characters). Whereas Max is a straightforward attacker, I chose an ability that is much more complex to understand for Michael. He makes copies of trinkets after taking the time to examine them which lends itself to more combo and control oriented play patterns instead of just blindly turning stuff sideways. I didn’t capture Michael’s temper, but I didn’t want all aliens to be red. Maybe I’ll make another version some time that incorporates different facets of their personalities.

Isobel Evans, Influencer UBR Legendary Creature – Human Alien Your opponents play with the top card of their library revealed. 3R, T: Gain control of target creature an opponent controls until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn. 6BB, T: You control target player’s next turn. Activate only once. 1/4

Isobel has fewer words than Michael, but oh my is she complex as well. If Max leans toward aggro and Michael is combo, Isobel is the control card of the siblings. Isobel is often guided by her emotions, but channels that into careful thought in how to execute a plan and always looks out for herself and her people. Her abilities represent her powers spread across the three colors: Blue – Reading your opponent’s mind, Red – Controlling someone’s impulses for a short period, Black – Forcing your opponent’s actions, once.

Liz Ortecho, Savvy Scientist 1UB Legendary Creature – Human Rebel Liz Ortecho, Savvy Scientist can’t be blocked as long as defending player controls an artifact. Whenever Liz Ortecho deals combat damage to a player, gain control of target artifact that player controls with mana value less than or equal to the damage dealt. 2/1

Liz is smart, cunning, and will protect her own. Her science background lends itself to Blue, but this card plays up some of her devious nature of stealing hospital equipment, doing illegal research, and general sneaking around, so there’s Black in her mana cost as well. She often draws on the abilities of those around her, which means that her connections make her stronger. Amusingly, she’s unblockable against some of our other characters including her own dad!

Alex Manes, Tech Specialist 1WUB Whenever you draw a card, target creature you control gains deathtouch (Any amount of damage it deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.), lifelink (Damage dealt by that creature also causes you to gain that much life.), or vigilance (Attacking doesn’t cause it to tap.) until end of turn. Whenever Alex Manes, Tech Specialist deals combat damage to a player, create a clue token. (It’s an artifact with “2, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.”) Kyle: “What’s the worst thing we could find?“ Alex: “Literal skeletons.” 2/3

Alex also sneaks around, but I wanted to play up his investigation skills a little more. Instead of just drawing a card when he does damage, he makes a clue “token”. That clue token represents information (drawing a card) that can be held onto or acted on later. He’s a character who’s able to do plenty of damage in his own right, but his big advantage is being able to help other characters do their jobs and get combat abilities they wouldn’t otherwise have. He protects his friends.

Maria DeLuca, Entrepreneur 2RG Legendary Creature – Human Alien Haste (This creature may attack and use tap abilities the turn it enters the battlefield.) Each other creature you control enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. “Maria DeLuca is her own savior.” 3/2

Maria cares about her friends and her business. Her ability helps everyone and represents your other creatures being able to stop in for a drink at the bar. She gets haste to show how hard she works and has aggressive stats so she can get her hands dirty in a fight. Like Michael, I could see another version playing into her psychic powers.

Dr. Kyle Valenti 1WW Legendary Creature – Human Lifelink (Damage dealt by that creature also causes you to gain that much life.) When Dr. Kyle Valenti enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control. "In a hospital it doesn't matter what someone did before they came through the doors." 2/2

Kyle is a healer and instead of showing that with damage prevention, I chose a simpler buff to the whole team. Now you’re less worried about losing fights!

Rosa Ortecho, Troubled Artist 1BR Legendary Creature – Human Alien At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one — • Draw a card and lose 2 life. • Exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card. Red is armor. 3/2

Rosa was a fun one to design. She is black red which is a color combo notoriously bad at impulse control. She has aggressive stats and an ability that makes the controller make a hard choice every turn. Do I take the guaranteed draw at the cost of a couple life or do I risk not being able to cast whatever I exile? Among other things, this represents her struggle with addiction-- taking the most directly expedient option comes with some harm to her life totals- but it’s the damage you know. The second option requires you to risk the unknown, but be able to participate in the fight without automatically being harmed-- it requires you to trust your deck and your support network...but be prepared for potential setbacks.

Arturo Ortecho GG Legendary Creature – Human Defender (This creature can’t attack.) Whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, create a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”) G, T, Sacrifice a Food: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. “I already have my miracle.” 2/4

Arturo cares about his community as do many of our characters, but if there’s any color that cares about bringing everyone in for dinner, it’s green. He delivers food whenever a new creature enters and can use them as buffs instead of just life gain! His kindness and compassion sustain everyone.

Deputy Jenna Cameron 1RR Legendary Creature – Human First Strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.) Whenever Jenna blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, she deals 1 damage to that creature. “Who you callin’ a girl?” 2/3

In case you can’t tell, a lot of our characters act on impulse and emotion, which is a Red trait. Cam is tough (A 3/4 is needed to best her in combat!) and efficiently deals with enemies. The faster-than-first strike damage represents her sharp shooting skill. And because of her skills, anyone going up against her is going to feel it right away.

Sergeant Jesse Manes 2BB Legendary Creature – Human Soldier Menace (This creature must be blocked by two or more creatures.) When Sergeant Jesse Manes enters the battlefield or attacks, exile the top card of each opponent’s library face down. You may cast noncreature cards exiled this way and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any type to cast that spell. Jesse's inhumane methods leave only pain in his wake. 3/2

Jesse is a character who has his own twisted view of how his actions will better society. His card here plays up how he tends to believe the ends justify any means-- for him, at least. He steals information and uses it against those he took it from, to represent his involvement in Project Shepherd and the threat he represents not just to the safety and security of the aliens, but to anyone helping them. I chose to exclude creatures in order to make the ability a little more efficient and make it feel more like controlling the chess board and less like mind control (Which a Noah card would someday probably do).

Whew! I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed making them!

#rnmweekendwarriors2021 #magic the gathering #roswell new mexico

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yeojaa · 5 years ago

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called a thousand times.

prompt: “did you miss me enough to drink or did you drink enough to miss me?” (orig.)

this drabble is more an exercise in catharsis and serves as my first (!!!) jin piece. i dedicate this to my loves @jinsearthh and @seokjinssi lmao. enjoy!

pairing. ksj x reader. rating. general. tags. angst. but like, not really terrible angst. just semi-bad angst. wc. 1.8k.

The call comes in the dead of night while you’re curled up in linen sheets and comfortably drooling into an unbelievably worn white plush. It buzzes loudly in your ears, vibrating obnoxiously against your pillow. Sleeping with your phone in bed is a bad habit you’ve never really been able to break.

You’re barely awake - caught in that strange in-between land of lucidity - when you hazard a glance at the time and number. 2:47 AM. Far too late for you to be receiving calls - especially from contact you don’t have saved.

“Hello?”

“Hi.” It’s a voice you’d never expected to hear. A voice you haven’t heard in forever, clear as bells through the phone line. “It’s Jin.”

You’re wide awake now.

“Hello?” It’s terribly jarring. It jolts you straight up in the bed that hasn’t felt his warmth in close to three years, every notch of your spine electrified by the simple sound. It rings, bouncing around in your ears.

You should reply. You don’t know how.

“Are you there?” Uncertainty and something else - something heavy and medicinal - coats syllables and turns them into molasses. It drips off each vowel, rounding each consonant. Your entire world feels like it’s spinning, tilted on its axis by this strange happening.

“Jin?” It doesn’t sound how it should - wishful and more than a little surprised. It trips heavy off your tongue, splitting the darkness with the radiance of your hope.

He laughs on the other end. You realise now why he sounds different, the familiar squeak of his amusement dulled by liquor. He’s drunk or at least, on his way to it. The telltale signs are there: the faintest hiccough after every second inhale, the vaguely nasally first syllable, the dulling of his rain-streaked laughter.

“It’s me,” he confirms, far more comfortable than he should be. The relief practically radiates through the phone, further severing the strings that bid you back to bed. “I didn’t know if you’d pick up or if you even had the same number still.”

At least he’s honest, you think.

The conversation is carried on like there’s nothing at all strange, as if he - Kim Seokjin - hasn’t just called up his ex-girlfriend at quarter to three in the morning.

“How are you? Did I wake you up?”

You know your silence is rude. It’s stifling in a way that even he can’t combat, sitting stony between you two as you try to wrap your mind around the current situation.

“Hello?” He repeats, vaguely uncertain but not otherwise bothered. That bothers you.

“Why did you call?” You can’t help the question. It pierces the quiet before you can catch it, disappearing into the night like a thief. It takes with it all of your turmoil, tucking years of hurt in its pockets to wear on its sleeves.

That seems to catch him off guard. He inhales once - a sharp thing, right through his front teeth.

“Ah, yeah. I—“ You wonder whether he’s even given this any thought or if he’s just been driven to it by the beguiling hand of liquor. You wouldn’t put it past him, though he’s never been one to drink himself into bad ideas. He was smarter than that.

He pauses. It’s long, drawn out, punctuated by city sounds you assume come from 27 floors below his apartment. They’re muffled and unrecognisable, the din of Yongsan-gu too faraway.

“I… was thinking of you.”

There’s a strange confidence to his response, a self-assured calm that feels like moments before a storm. It eases uncertainty over your limbs, still wrought with sleep and sluggish. He shouldn’t sound this way after so long, as if he’d never left. A part of it feels nice, warm and welcomed into the cavity behind your ribs, tucked neatly alongside the organ that stutters because of him; the other feels like a knife to the heart, slotted right between the vulnerable spaces you’d shown him.

You echo him in uncertainty. “Thinking of me?”

“I wanted to apologise.”

Now that’s the last thing you’d expected.

“Apologise for what?” Not that there aren’t so many things Jin owes you - so many I’m sorrys that would never make up for the rivers you’d wept, the nights you hadn’t slept.

“How I left things. How we left things.” Something not quite a laugh comes, dresses his words up prettily like a sinner in his Sunday best, eager to learn and repent and do better. “I know I can’t undo the past but I’m sorry for the ways I hurt you.”

It’s so vague even you aren’t sure what he’s referring to. The brief but blinding relationship you’d had with him? The heartbreaking, determined way in which he’d broken up with you? The months thereafter when he’d still warmed your bed, where the strange in-between was no longer between awake and dreams, but love and not-love? The pieces he’d left you to pick up yourself when he’d disappeared, seemingly out of the blue?

“I still think about you a lot. I miss you. I wanted to make it right.” When he backtracks, you realise he’s far smarter than you give him credit for. “—Try to make it right, that is.”

“Why?” You should demand more. You know you should. Yet this is the only thing that comes, dripping like the tears that line your lashes, glittering jewels that you’d trade for even an ounce of understanding.

He hesitates. There’s a clinking glass, ice, and then a thick swallow you can hear quite clearly. “Why? Why what?”

“Why did you leave?” You’re really trying - holding onto composure with a white-knuckled grip that leaves your hands bleeding - but it’s futile. The grief is too much - a thousand pound weight that splits the frayed edge of your composure in a clean line. “Things were…” Weird, strange, undoubtedly a bad idea, as messing with your ex tended to be. “Things were okay, I thought. And then out of nowhere, you were gone. You stopped calling.”

For three long weeks, you’d jolted awake at 3 AM, waiting for the dedicated ringtone to alert you of his call. It never came. You’d waited even longer after that, though you’d learnt to turn your phone to silent.

Months turned to years and then one day, nearly four months later - there he was, displayed as a missed call at just after midnight.

You’d blocked him then, for your own sanity. And then another six months after that, you’d unblocked him. A moment of weakness you’d all but forgotten about until now. You’d figured it wouldn’t matter - that there was no way he’d contact you again. So much time had passed and he was Kim Seokjin; you were nothing but a small blip on his radar - a tiny ink splatter on the story of his life.

“You blocked me.” Or not.

You tuck this knowledge - his knowledge - away into the manila folder you keep stored away in a dusty cabinet, covered in yellow tape that reads Do Not Open.

“Before that. Three years ago.”

“I honestly… don’t remember.” The answer stings, candour a struck match to your already miserable nerves. “It was bad timing, I think. We were on the phone one night. I was heading back from filming and I just remember being so mad.” That doesn’t surprise you. Jin’s temper rages like a wildfire before burning out like a match. Intense but short-lived. “You were having a bad day, too. You’d started your new job and you were stressed out about something not working.”

You recall it clearly - can call to mind exactly what brief you’d been working and how that night had felt awful. You’d hardly slept, almost pushed to tears by the frustration you’d felt. For the life of you, though, you can’t recall an argument. You’d been happy to hear from him - found solace in the sound of his voice, even as you’d worked through pages that made you want to tear your hair out.

“I remember you were dismissive and it just…” You imagine he shrugs, those impossibly wide shoulders of his rolling beneath something soft and sleep-appropriate. His brow’s probably knit, little dent forming between them as always happens when he’s faced with discomfort. “I didn’t want to deal with it.”

It’s an honest answer, which you’re grateful for. It sheds light where there was one.

But it also hurts far more than you’d expected, stirring to life an ugly aching sob in your chest. One night. One night was all it’d taken. The realisation is sobering in its pain.

“And… now you want to apologise for that?” It doesn’t make sense. Not to you, at least, who holds three long years of unrequited love for a man who’d thrown you away over nothing.

“I want to apologise for a lot of stuff.” Things he doesn’t seem ready to articulate just yet, either due to his inebriation or contrition. “I didn’t think you’d pick up, so I’m kind of still working through it in my head.” You can hear his smile, turned playful by alcohol.

It’s like waging war when you speak - your heart against your head. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“But… I miss you.”

I miss you too, you almost say.

“Did you miss me enough to drink or did you drink enough to miss me?” Comes hushed instead.

Jin isn’t ready for the conversation. You know he isn’t - can tell by how he inhales shakily, knocks back another drink that rattles ice noisily. “That’s not fair.”

“You’re not fair,” you return in a voice that’s meant to be scathing but seems to have found itself at the bottom of his glass, wet and diluted. “You’re calling me because you feel bad and for whatever reason, you think I’m going to make that go away.”

He’s not wrong - you would, in a heartbeat. But there’s a very big difference between would and should and you’re doing your best to learn what that is, even if it hurts.

“What do you think’s going to happen after I forgive you? Are we just going to go back to our lives like nothing happened?”

“If you want.”

You laugh, a sound that’s brutalised by your own sadness and barely sounds like anything at all. “And what if I don’t want that? What if I want you in my life?”

Another pause, another drink. There’s a part of you that worries for him.

“You know that’s not an option. Not right now. We’ve got so much happening right with our comeback and then enlistment and…” It’s a cop out. You can see it from a mile away, a red flag raised to mock you as Jin speaks. “I can’t give you what you want.”

“Then neither can I.”

tag list. @neverthefirstchoice @youwannabelostandnotbefound

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lactosefreevanillayoghurt · 4 years ago

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In Which Chess Absolutely Definitely Does Not Look Like A Dog

I wrote a thing!! It was inspired by a tiny hc from @alltheworldsapaige and here??? it is??? (1424 words)

Katherine™ sent you a photo.

Katherine™: this dog looks like you

Chess looked down at her phone from where it buzzed beside her laptop. She raised an eyebrow and instinctively typed out a response.

uno: What the fuck.

And then she looked at the image. She blinked, got up off her bed, walked over to her mirror and stared at herself. In what she would later call a 'moment of weakness', she raised the dog picture to show next to her face. Her phone buzzed again.

Katherine™: you haven't denied it tho

uno: Kate, I do not look like that fucking dog what the hell

uno: There. That's my denial.

Katherine™ sent you a photo.

Katherine™: yea but you look more like the dog than i do

Chess looked in disbelief at the most recent picture. It was Kate, grinning at the camera, beanie pulled low over their face and looking very much like a little shit. She shook her head.

uno: Just because I look more like the dog than you do, does not mean that either of us actually look like the dog

Katherine™: ...

Katherine™: whatever

Chess had thought that the dog picture was a one-off. But no. Gradually, more and more pictures clogged up her phone storage, until a minimum of one dog picture was sent a day. After the first few weeks, she began to wonder where all these dogs came from.

"I just find them and then take a picture." Kate shrugged nonchalantly.

"....So essentially these are random dogs you see on the street?"

"Yep!"

"Do the owners know you're taking a picture of their dog?"

Kate stopped picking at her nail varnish to look mildly sheepish, "Well... No...."

"Kate!"

"What?! I've only gotten shouted at once!"

"Oh my god." Chess slung an arm around her friend's shoulders, leaning her weight on them. "I can't believe you."

"Yeah, cool, love you too."

Chess found out that Kate was in hospital not from her friend themselves, but from the Tigers group chat.

Cairo: hi @uno idk if you know but kate's been taken to hospital she fell at practice

Chess was out of the door in minutes. She longer cared about her own exhaustion from a day of Olympics press, instead running on fear-fuelled adrenaline. The ride to the hospital was so easy it felt almost surreal and she found herself sweet-talking a nurse into letting her into the ward before she'd properly registered the situation. Her mind ran on overdrive, pictures of Kate hooked up to multitudes of machines or pale and upset, stuck to a hospital bed creating a silent movie behind her eyelids. What she was greeted with wasn't quite so soap opera-esque as she'd imagined but still broke her heart nonetheless. Kate was curled in a ball, the wrist in plaster resting gingerly beside them, eyes shut tight. Chess approached quietly, smiling when Kate opened her eyes at the footsteps.

"Checkers!" Kate's voice was quiet and sleepy. The other girl laughed at the thought of big tough angry Kate now soft from the pain medication.

"Hello Katherine." Chess sat beside her on the bed, "What the hell did you do this time?"

Kate leaned into Chess' hip, still cradling the broken wrist. "See, I don't even know. I just fell and then fucking Annleigh was calling a fucking ambulance."

Chess rubbed their back, frowning, "Why haven't you been released yet? Surely they should just send you home after setting your wrist?"

"Mmmff." Kate wriggled around for a bit and then spoke up again, their voice muffled by the duvet. "Apparently I went into shock. They want to keep me here for "observation". Prob'ly so I don't, like, have a heart attack or something."

"Jesus."

She watched as Kate flopped onto her back, squeezing their eyes shut again. After only a few seconds, she sat up abruptly, eyes wide and panicked. "No!"

Chess went back to being on high alert - at this rate she'd be the one having the heart attack. "What? Are you okay? Kitkat, what happened?"

"I didn't get to send you your dog picture!!" Kate's voice was distraught, their eyes teary.

Chess looked at her. Kate looked back. Then she began to laugh. Kate looked mildly offended. "Kate. You-" Laughter cut her off and the teen in question dug an elbow into her side. "You broke your wrist and all you care about is my dog picture?! You don't even like dogs!"

"Yeah, but you do!!"

Chess snorted. "I'm allergic, Kate, I don't like them that much."

Kate looked baffled and blinked up at her. "Oh." They began to laugh too, the hysteria increased by the looks sent by other members of the ward. "Not gonna stop sending them though."

"Okay, Kitkat, you do you, boo."

Katherine™ sent you a photo.

Katherine™: if we got a dog it would look like this

uno: I thought you didn't like dogs

Katherine™: i don't

Katherine™: but look at its face

uno: That dog looks like Annleigh

Katherine™: annleigh can't look like a dog she's a horse girl

uno: You make no sense

Katherine™: agree with me tho our dog would look like this

Katherine™: it's a big dog

uno: .....Is that it.

Katherine™: ye

uno: Kate, that's a great dane, I don't think you'd be able to see over it

Katherine™: why am i still friends with you when all you do is insult my height

uno: Awww but it's such a fun way to spend my time!!!!!

Katherine™: you're never getting a dog photo again

That was a lie. In fact, it was such an intense lie, that Kate sent two dog photos the next day. Chess only laughed and patted them on the head, if only to accentuate the height difference.

uno sent you a photo.

uno: Woof.

Katherine™: hOW dAre you

Katherine™: this is MY thing and you come and steal it??????

Katherine™: blocked.

Katherine™: banished.

Katherine™: disowned.

uno sent you a photo.

uno: Meow?

Katherine™: now this i can support

Katherine™: unblocked

Katherine™: hugged

Katherine™: loved

uno: Lovely.

It had been going so well. Training was as hard as ever but her coaches seemed pleased, and she was doing okay all in all. The Olympics were set for almost a month away and her days were spent either looping that one damn stunt, organising travel or attending yet another press interview. It was tiring, really, and even though she'd been given time off school for the competition, the days were still long and the hours draining. She hadn't been home in a week, with her base now elsewhere in the state, somewhere that her coach said would 'optimise training abilities'. Chess told herself that it would be over soon and that she was seventeen now and that she should be able to spend a week away from her friends, away from Kate, without feeling so lonely. God, how would she deal with college if she couldn't stand even a week away from that one friend?

Maybe she'd just been exhausted, or maybe her body had wished too hard for a way out, but she'd fallen. She felt her knee twist beneath her, pain shooting through her leg, and then she'd hit the floor. Within seconds there were people crowding around her, shouting for an ambulance, holding her with such care that she wanted to scream.

Her mind filled with static as she obeyed each command given and answered all the questions shot at her. One clear thought stayed present through the pain - if Kate was here, my knee would be fine. It was ridiculous to think that one person could heal what would later be discovered to be a horrifically serious injury, but in that moment, Chess was convinced that Kate could have fixed her broken world.

Instead, she shut her mouth and stared up at the ceiling. Fuck.

Surgery passed in a blur. Later, she wondered if this was how Kate had felt that one time they'd broken their wrist. Alone, cold, and hazy with pain.

Her phone buzzed by her side at the same moment that the door to her room opened.

Katherine™ sent you a photo.

Chess looked at the photo. It was a dog, one leg in a tiny animal cast, the owner visible near the top of the image, a smile etched on their face.

Katherine™: this dog looks like you

She looked away from her phone and up at the figure who'd entered the room. She smiled, finally, and Kate smiled back.

#might put this on ao3 might not welp let me know if you??? want it there????#also paige im:love about that lil headcannon ugh obsessed #oooh i get to like properly tag this!!#and stress myself out whilst doing it!!!#okay #we are the tigers #chess watt #kate watt #checkate #hospitals tw #injury tw #my writing #kate dalton #chess belmont #chess x kate #i think that's it #amazing well done me im so proud of myself #ellie writes sometimes

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daddychims · 5 years ago

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Offside Pt 10

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

Series Masterlist!

Genre: Smut, Soccer AU, College AU

Pairings: Soccer Player! Jungkook X Sports Trainer! Reader

Word Count: 2k

Other BTS members all make a cameo as well because I’m an OT7 Trash!

You work as a sports trainer, providing basic first aid and injury management for the Hanguk University’s soccer team. Going with your mundane life of caring for the dozen of guys hurting themselves in the soccer game takes a turn when one of the guys catches your eyes. It’s not his breathtakingly good looks or his muscular athletic body usually seducing girls at the campus that catches your eyes. But the action plan in your kit, indicating he is diagnosed with Asthma is what draws your eyes time and time again to the Golden Boy of Hanguk University.

Warning: Slow burn, eventual smut, Taehyung being a freaking tease the whole time, Also Jimin not letting the female MC live for one day, Fuckboy!Jungkook, Asthmatic! Jungkook , mentions of episodes of Asthma, Take your Ventolin kids, Take your medications kids!

"So what made you leave your house Y/n?" Jiwoo asks as he crosses her arms across her chest

"I'm just taking some time off studying," you sigh, shifting your gaze awkwardly "I deserve some fun in life don’t I?"

"Sure you do." She nods suspiciously as she interlocks his arms around your elbow as you both walk inside

You sigh as you quickly take your phone out and send a combination of soccer ball and field emojis to Namjoon as a metaphor for the fact that you have Jiwoo with you . He quickly replies with a couple of thumbs up and smiling emojis.

If only the girl walking alongside knew the only reason you decided to leave the comfort of your blanket and the long list of unwatched series on your premium Netflix account is the fact that your best friend wants to get in her pants and you're helping him succeed in his plan.

You both enter the place, squishing through the masses of youth who are chatting and drinking in the huge bar.

"I don’t really get it," You look around, glancing over at least half of your campus scattered around the place "What's the hype about this place?"

"Of course you don’t get it," Jiwoo laughs, pinching your cheek "girls like you don’t belong here!"

"Thanks for pointing out that I suck at billiard." you roll your eyes

"That’s not what I mean," she chuckles at your remark "Do you know what is this place called?"

"Casa billiard?" you point at the massive billboard flashing the name

"Correct," she nods "and do you know what Casa stands for?"

"Isn't it a abbreviation of some sort?" You muse as you try to come up with one "Computer Automated System-"

"Wrong," she cuts your off "Its short for Casanova," she hesitates, watching your lost expression as she adds "This place is targeted at the fuckboys from the two campuses near here, Hanguk University and SNU!"

You sigh, secretly scolding your friend for bringing you and his crush to a fuckboy zone like this when you hear him calling for you.

"Joon, I'm here!" you quickly wave for him but the moment you see the person walking by his side, your hands tops moving in the air and you whisper an inaudible fuck under your breath.

"Hey, sorry I'm late!" Joon quickly offers as he leans closer to give you a quick hug

"That’s alright, We just got here!” you whisper, trying to avoid any sort of eye contact from the guy who's watching you silently behind Joon

"Hey I'm Namjoon," Joon extends his hand to Jiwoo and introduces himself " I don’t know if you remember me-"

"Of course I remember," Jiwoo flashes a big grin to the flustered guy "I should have known the only person who can make Y/N leave her room is you."

"Not an easy task but I have my ways," Joon shrugs with a wink when he suddenly remembers he hasn’t introduced the guy standing silently behind him "This is Jimin, we play soccer in SNU together."

You finally look at him and find him staring at you with a tiny smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I'm Jimin," he flashes an innocent smile to Jiwoo, contradictory to the vixen he hides inside "Nice to meet you Nuna!"

"Jiwoo," your friend quickly replies "Nice to see you too Jimin!"

"And you remember Y/N right?" Joon adds as he pushes you forward

"Of course," He nods with a knowing smile "She's the angel who fixed my neck with a just a touch.”

At his statement, both Joon and Jiwoo look back at you, searching for clarification from you. Your cheeks immediately rise in heat as you explain "I strapped his neck on the last game," you glare at the guy for the weird description he offered your friends "Are we just gonna stand here all night?" You quickly ask, trying to shift the subject from your first meeting with him

"Oh yeah," Joon quickly nods "Lets go get some drinks first and find an empty table!"

You offer to grab the drinks and before you can even object Jimin makes his way to help you, walking ahead of you to the bar.

"Hyung, give us four bottles of beer!" He waves at the bartender who gives him a quick wave and nods. He then rests his weight on the bar table as he turns to you "So do you wanna tell me why you've been ignoring me?"

"I-" you gulp nervously, not expecting him to be so direct "I don’t know what you're talking about!"

"You've been ignoring all my texts," He raises an eyebrow "And yesterday you blocked my number!"

"I've been just busy! and you keep texting me so I had no choice!" you quickly reach in your bag and fish for your credit card to pay for the drinks when he holds your wrist and instead offers his own card to the guy

"How about I'll take this one like a gentleman," he suggest as he leans closer to you "And you unblock my number?!"

Your eyes hesitate on his for a few seconds, parting your lips to respond to his proposition when you hear your nickname being called

"Eeeyyy, Sugar!"

You turn around, flinching at the sight of Taehyung along with his housemate walking towards you "H-Hey …" your voice trails off as you see Jungkook walking closely behind him

"I didn’t know you're a Casa girl," Taehyung beams, eyes curling into a mischievous smile "I've never seen you here bef-Oh"

His smile immediately replaces itself with a frown as he watch Jimin appearing over your shoulder, pressing his chin on your collarbone

"Hey guys," Jimin waves at the two guys "Nice to see you out of the field for once!"

You make a momentary eye contact with Jungkook who's standing beside Taehyung and his unimpressed eyes make you secretly wish you can just vanish from the face of the world right there and then.

"Park, I didn’t know you still come to Casa!" Taehyung asks with a dry tone

"Its been a while since I came here," Jimin smirks, as he wraps his arms around your waist "I heard Joonie Hyung is coming here with Y/N, so I joined them for the night."

"You guys seem very close now huh?" Taehyung points out with a dark tone, glancing over you in an interrogating way

"Oh well, this is Casa after all," Jimin shifts closer to your neck as he shows off his proximity to the two other guys "This place is the union of Hanguk and SNU right?"

This time Jungkook speaks up as he places a hand on Taehyung's shoulder, almost as if he's trying to stop the guy from charging towards Jimin as he murmurs "The girls are here, lets go!"

Taehyung glances at you with a betrayed expression all over his face, nodding his head at Jungkook's words as he murmurs "See you later, Sugar!"

You sigh as you watch Jungkook completely ignore you as he turns around and leaves followed by Taehyung who appears colder than most days all of a sudden.

"Lets go!" you murmur as you help grab a couple of the drinks off the bar

"Hey hey," Jimin holds your arm and stops you "What's wrong?"

"I'm just trying to process how this night is going so wrong so fast." you reply in a defeated tone

"Hmmm," Jimin furrows his eyebrows as he's trying to figure you out "So which one of them is it? Taehyung or Jeon?"

"What?" you ask in a lost tone looking at him "What are you talking about?"

"Which one of them is boning you?" He asks tilting his head to one side "Tae or Jeon?"

"None of them," you reply through gritted teeth "That’s all you can think about Isn't it!?"

You sigh, annoyed at the guy who is clueless that his existence might have ruined the deal you barely made happen with Jungkook.

You reach at the table where Jiwoo and Joon are already playing on, setting the drinks on the side as you watch them play together and chatting away in their own little world.

"Do you wanna play?" Jimin offers as he starts to chalk up his cue

“I’m not really good at this!" you shrug indifferent

"Not a problem," Jimin walks closer "I can teach you a thing or two if you want." he offers with a cocky tone

"How about I sit out instead and let you do your thing for the night?" You offer enthusiastically

"How about you sit on my face instead for the night?" he murmurs leaning closer so only the two of you can hear her lewd words

Your breath ceases on its way out of your lungs and you need to take a moment to digest his words. He then immediately smirks as he notices your tense reaction so he gently massages your arm

"Relax, It was just a joke" he laughs as he murmurs "except if you're down to take it seriously!" he winks

You sigh slapping his arm off your shoulder and walking away to grab a cue so you can at least look like you know the basics. You search for a chalk but realize that nothing's left so you turn around to grab some chalk from the counter when you find Jungkook playing with Taehyung and a couple of girl a few tables away.

He's leaning over the table, aiming his cue at a red ball but his eyes are locked at yours. You immediately pause in your footsteps, gulping nervously as he stares at you with his unimpressed eyes.

His tongue pokes at the corner of his cheek as he hits the ball before standing straight up. You gulp, the swinging of the ball around the table resembling your trembling heart.

He then leans his head down, eyes never leaving yours, as he puffs the cigar one the girls is holding for him, the girl watching in satisfaction as the smoke covers around them before pulling him closer for a kiss.

Jungkook captures the girl's lips, eyes still wide open and locked on yours as he moves his head around skilfully to kiss her back. You feel your blood boiling at the sight of him ruining his lungs, and for some reason you feel like he's trying to actively piss you off.

You immediately start to revise all the toxic substances and their damage on his lung in your head but soon remember that the last time you stuck you nose in his smoking business, you regretted it a lot.

You shift your gaze down, quickly walking past them to grab a cue and rush back to where Jimin is waiting for you.

"Took you quite long," Jimin smirks as he points at the table you paused over a few minutes ago "Anything exciting going on?"

"Nothing too exciting for you," you roll your eyes "The type of excitement you're into starts after 10 o'clock." you mock making a reference to the dance club downstairs that only starts after 10

"Your mouth I swear to God," he murmurs as he steps closer to you, eyes darkening in lust "I will put it to some good use one of these days."

"Well you’d have to wait until I text you back first Park!" you start chalking your cue watching him with a victorious smile

"Right," he nods, lips curving slightly on one corner as he turns around and leans over the table, hitting the ball he intended with a smooth movement of his cue, the ball dancing around the table a few moments before findings its way to a hole

"Nice," You acknowledge as he walks closer to you "Were you planning to play billiard if soccer doesn’t work out?!"

"I rather play you if you ask me," His lips curve into a smile as he cages your body against the pillar you're resting on "I’d have you spread all over the table and fill every single hole in your body with my balls!"

You gulp as a rush of arousal shoots between your thigh, eyes widening at the lewd description of the boy's fantasy involving you.

"Oh right!" he looks around as if he remembers something "You have to text me back first right?"

"Right!" you nod walking past him to lean over the table and play your turn

You flinch when you feel a warmth hovering over your figure, arms wrapping around yours while lips dancing fairly close to your ears "I think you're lying, you're actually good at playing," he whispers seductively as he positions your arm around the cue, aiming your cue at one of the balls "Just like how you've been playing with my heart!"

"Get off!" you hiss, glaring at the guy whose face is only a few inches away from you "you're distracting me!"

"Relax your wrist a bit," he murmurs softly as he presses your arms "Now stare at the tip of your cue and line it up with the hole, not the ball!"

You gulp, his hot breath hitting the side of your neck and the intimately close space between the two of you making it hard for you to follow his instructions.

You finally retract your cue and hit the ball, so you can quickly get it over and done with. You're surprised when the ball makes its way in the hole indicating you scored on your attempt.

"Woah!”

"See? Who would have thought you're a natural," Jimin claps for you "You just need a good Master." he says, emphasising the last word with a knowing smile

"Of course I do," you scoff walking past him to grab the chalk

"So are you gonna unblock my number or not?" He asks raising an eyebrow before pointing over at few tables away "Or are your Hanguk boys stopping you from hanging out with a SNU guy?"

Your eyes widen, like a rabbit caught in headlight, never expecting the guy to suspect that the reason behind the cold shoulders you've been giving him is your promise to Hanguk's Golden boy.

"So they're possessive over their little healing angel huh?" He smirks as he steps closer, locking you between his body and the billiard table as he rests his hand on the side of your hip "They want Miss placebo effect all for their own"

You part your lips, heart thumping against your chest "J-Jimin,"

"That’s not fair," He pouts, hands reaching up to stroke the side of your neck "I wanna make you cum so hard, until you spill your placebo effect all over my tongue."

You gasp as you feel his hardness poking at your core but before you can react he's quick enough to lock your hip against on the table with his hand as he grinds his hardness on your centre.

"Hey Park!"

You watch Jimin's lips breaking into a wide grin as he stares at you, his eyes almost disappearing because of his victorious smile hearing the familiar voice calling his name.

"Hey Jeon," He turn his head around, without changing his position against you but allowing you enough view of the guy standing behind him "Can I help you with anything?" he asks with a teasing tone

Jungkook stares at you instead, completely ignoring Jimin's question for a few moments. Your cheeks heat up as you recieve his interrogating gaze dancing silently on you.

"How about we play a round, Park?" he offers dryly, jaw clenching as he continues to watch you in Jimin's arms, tilting his head to the side as if he's trying to silently scold you just with his eyes "In the memory of the old days, you know!?"

#jeon jungkook smut #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x you #jeon jungkook x female reader #jeon jungkook #jungkook fuckboy #bts jungkook x reader #bts jungkook x you #jungkook scenario #BTS jungkook #jungkook soccer player #jungkook soccer au #jungkook #jungkook smut #bts soccer au #daddychims #offside

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eryiss · 4 years ago

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Chapter Two - The Handyman

Summary: Freed and Laxus live incredibly different lives. Freed is a corporate lawyer in the capital city, and Laxus works as a handyman in a countryside hotel. Despite their differences, their lives collide when Freed inherits a house in Laxus’ village, and hires him to make the derelict building liveable. But the closer they get, the more they seem to offer each other. [Fraxus Multi-Chapter]

This was written as my admission for Fraxus Day 2020, hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. This is the second chapter, and from now on it’ll be updated weekly. Hope you enjoy it.

You can read this under the cut, on Fanfiction, or on Archive of Our Own. You can find the chapter masterpost here.

Chapter Two – The Handyman

"Fucks sake. Fucking bitch."

"That's not the way to talk to a lady, Laxus. Damn."

"I ain't talkin' to a lady, I'm talking to this piece of shit."

With an angered huff, Laxus slammed down the screwdriver and allowed it to clatter against the small tray of tools. On the table was the industrial toaster that Laxus had been attempting to fix for the better half of the morning, with an only slightly warm piece of bread resting pitifully on the wire rack, practically mocking Laxus with its lack of any toast-like qualities. It was the sixth time that year that the machine had decided to work, and Laxus had grown to have a vendetta against the fucking thing.

But he wasn't going to let it win. He had singlehandedly fixed practically every electric device in Fairy Tail since becoming the handyman, and he would be damned if the fucking toaster was his downfall. He'd conquered faulty boilers, crappy wiring and, on one condition, a disgusting issue with sewage backup over the past year alone. A toaster was nothing.

"Just make your grandad buy a new one," Cana laughed as she walked further into the hotel's breakroom. "It's like twenty years old, probably only makes the bread darker because of an oil leak."

"I ain't getting it replaced," Laxus snapped, glaring at the open circuitry of the machine with probably too much hatred for what the situation deserved. "If it gets it replaced, then the fucking things knows that it's won."

"It's a toaster dude," Cana deadpanned.

"Don't give a shit," Laxus groaned, leaning back in the chair so the forelegs left the floor, resting his arms behind his head. "You meant to be working today?"

"Yeah. Apparently there's some big group coming for lunch and they need extra wait staff, so Gramps called me. And I'm working the bar later," Cana shrugged, taking out a chair and straddling it; because of course she did. "You?"

"Room seven had a flickering light, needed fixing," Laxus sighed. "Thought I might as well work on this thing while I'm here."

The blonde looked around the small room, eyes flittering towards the clock and sighing. He'd been drinking the night before and had it not been for his grandfather's seven AM phone call worrying about the supposed 'lawsuit waiting to happen' he would probably only just be getting out of bed after nursing a light hangover. He'd been able to wrangle a free breakfast from Mirajane, at least, but he would trade that in for his covers at that moment. At least when he was planning to feel sorry for himself about his hangover, he had something to do. Now he just had a day of nothing.

His work was fine, but inconsistent. He did any repairs that was needed at his grandfather's hotel, be that plumbing, electric work, or just helping out when it was understaffed. But Makarov kept a tight ship, and had good relationships with his staff so absences only happened when needed. So, Laxus was often left with little to do.

It was a nice problem to have, but Laxus didn't intend to be impartial.

This was the issue in living in a small town for all of your life, being forced to either thrive there or break free from it. He liked Magnolia, the area was beautiful and his childhood there had been good, but he was limited by living there. A degree in electrical engineering wasn't worth much when the only relevant job available was at a mechanics shop where he'd once bashed in the teeth of the owner's son. The miserable old bastard should have forgiven him by now; it'd been six years.

Which was why he was grateful for his grandfather giving him the job. He got to put his degree to use, even if on crappy toasters, and made a living. But it was a boring existence, and the reason why Laxus found himself on job searchers websites at least twice a week.

"You gonna eat that?" Cana asked, going towards the warmed but not toasted bread.

"No," Laxus furrowed his brows. "Are you?"

"I'm poor, man," Cana laughed, picking up the bread and eating it.

"I've seen the cupboard where you keep your booze, you ain't 'stealing warm. crappy bread poor' yet," Laxus deadpanned, and Cana laughed as she ate her bread; she didn't even put fucking butter on it. "And you get twice the number of tips than me when we work the bar together. Where's it going?"

"Booze cupboard," Cana grinned.

"You'll fuck up your kidneys, you know."

"I'll get an operation and replace 'em," Cana laughed, swallowing a bite of bread. "Speaking of being split open and things going inside, you fucked anyone lately?"

"Fuckin hell!" Laxus exclaimed, wide eyes darting towards the woman who was now openly laughing.

This was something that his friend brought up often, and as such she had lost all tact about it. The two of them were some of the only openly gay people in Magnolia – at least to their knowledge – and therefore had some annoying kinship when it came to their relationships. It had started as them both feeling sorry for themselves, as they had nobody to date. Somehow, it had devolved into a friendship where Cana felt perfectly comfortable talking about what Laxus was planning on doing, or had done, in his bed.

Worse still, Laxus didn't have the same opportunity to make fun of her. Cana was openly besotted with Mirajane, and had long since lost any shame about it. Cana could joke about Laxus falling in love with any man he saw, but Laxus couldn't do the same because they both knew Mirajane was the only woman for her.

Selfish asshole.

"You're gonna fuck all of hell? You must have more time on your hands," Cana laughed, and Laxus stood up with a groan. "Aw, come on man, don't leave."

"I'm gonna go see if one of the toilets needs to be unblocked," Laxus grunted, walking towards the door of the breakroom. "Seems more pleasant than talking t' you."

"Oh how you wound me, I think I might cry," Cana spoke in possibly the most sarcastic voice possible.

"Go suck on yer crushes clit," Laxus muttered.

"Had a good few dreams about that, my man," Cana grinned, before adding in a less teasing tone. "And Lisanna said she wants to talk to you later, so find her once you're done scrubbing the shitter," A smirk formed on her features again. "Maybe she wants to set you up with her brother. You'd be a hot ass couple."

"Fuck yourself."

"Imagine the carnage though. The two of ya could break beds faster than an over eager lumberjack."

Laxus didn't respond, and lifted his middle finger to the woman as he left the room.

~~~

There had been no toilets in need of being cleaned, thankfully, but Laxus had been able to keep himself busy for the morning. It had been mainly small and inconsequential jobs, such as removing leaves from the guttering before a build-up formed and checking that supply of complimentary soap wasn't running low, before he ended up back in the break room and working on the toaster.

It wasn't going well, and the patrons would have to deal with the break rooms single slice toaster for at least another day, but at least Cana was working the restaurant for the lunch shift rather than being there to annoy him. He hoped that the table was full of obnoxious people who didn't know what they wanted and refused to tip.

He gulped down half a can of Red Bull, and groaned as he fought the urge to check toaster prices online.

After cracking his back, he stood up and ran a hand through his hair. He quickly checked himself out in the mirror to make sure he looked presentable before leaving the break room; he may not be part of the service-staff, but he still needed to look good to represent the hotel. Normally he wouldn't have to worry about this – his contact with guests was limited – but if he was going to speak to Lisanna, as Cana had claimed he should, then it was almost definite that he'd be in the public eye for a few minutes at least. He didn't look too bad for someone who'd nearly vomited over a plate of cheese fries the night before.

Lisanna was working at the office attached to the front desk, doing some kind of admin that Laxus didn't care enough about to understand. He walked in and, once she looked up from the monitor, she grinned at him. Laxus didn't frown, but the urge was there. The two of them weren't particularly close.

"Hi," She greeted, annoyingly cheerfully. "I didn't know if Cana had passed on the message."

"Well, here I am," Laxus shrugged.

"There you are," She said with a smile, then waved towards one of the other desk chairs populating the cramped room. Laxus took a seat. "So, I've got something I thought you could help with. A proposition I guess."

Laxus paused for a moment. She wasn't actually going to try and set him up with Elfman, was she? That would be weird, Elfman wasn't Laxus' type.

"There's this guest, you see, who checked in yesterday," She began, before stopping herself. "No, that's not important. Well it is, but not right now," Laxus stayed quiet. Lisanna was a talkative person, and could probably have an entire conversation with herself. "You know Albion house, the old cottage on the outskirts of town that's' all run down."

"Yeah," Laxus nodded, confused. "Think I made up some crap about it being haunted when I was a kid."

"That's the place- that was you! Mirajane told me when I was eight and I had nightmare for weeks, you asshole," Lisanna chastised, and Laxus didn't hide the smirk at the admission. "Whatever, we can talk about that later. Anyway, it recently got a new owner, you see. And I was talking to him last night and a bit during breakfast. So he doesn't know what to do because he can't knock it down and sell the land, and the house is kind of crappy so nobody's actually gonna wanna pay any real money for it, right. So he's kinda stuck; I think he needs the money for something, I didn't wanna ask."

Did she talk to the guests this much?

This was why Laxus always booked into big corporate hotels whenever he stayed away.

"Getting off topic, sorry," She shook her head. "So, I was talking to the new owner, and he thought maybe he could get it sold for more money if it was more functional. Not a total refurbishment or anything, just making sure the lights work and the floorboards won't crumble underfoot. And he's not from the area, so he doesn't know any builders or plumbers or anyone he'll need."

She then stopped talking, and began grinning at Laxus expectantly. "And?"

"Really conforming to the stereotype of strong men being dumb," She muttered, and Laxus found himself happy that his ghost story had apparently given her nightmares. "And I said that we've got a kickass handyman working here part time who could probably help you out. I told him about all the stuff you do around here, and he said he'd be interested in meeting with you!"

"You got me a job interview?" Laxus said, taken aback slightly.

"Well, I don't think it's that formal, but kinda," She grinned. "I heard you're looking for a project to work on, and he said he's willing to pay you for your time if you're any good."

Laxus leant back in the chair, closing his eyes slightly. He didn't have a reputation for reacting particularly well to surprises, and this was rather a big one. Because a woman he barely actually knew had done something pretty damn big for him.

Working on property was something Laxus had been curious about, and it had seemed to be plausible for him. It was essentially what he was doing in the hotel, just on a larger scale and possibly with more of a challenge, which Laxus liked the sound of. There had been a few months where he'd watched house renovation shows when he could, to see if he could get a better understanding on how the field worked. He very quickly learned that, to do what he wanted, he needed the money to buy some run down property to renovate. Money which he didn't have, given he was a handyman working part time in a hotel.

So to have an opportunity given to him out of nowhere was a little overwhelming.

Because it could really help him out. He was more than qualified to modernise a house's inner workings, and was willing to put the work in. And if it went well, he would at worst end up with more experience, some extra money and perhaps a good reference he could give to some other housing developers. It could actually be really good.

Of course, that meant Laxus was immediately distrustful of the offer. Because things didn't just happen.

"So this guy is just gonna trust some random stranger?"

"I think he's kind of desperate, really," Lisanna laughed, a pitying expression on her face. "I think he wants to get out of here as quickly as he can, he's a city boy. But that doesn't matter. He seems like a nice man, and it's not like you can't do the work he wants. You might as well talk to him, see if it works out," She shrugged. "He's in the restaurant I think. I said I'd bring him over if you were interested."

"Erm," Laxus mumbled. "Fuck it, why not?"

The majority of the walk towards the restaurant was spent with Laxus trying to rationalise exactly what had just happened. He glanced at his reflection whenever he could, because if this was as much an opportunity as Lisanna seemed to think that it was, Laxus needed to make a good first impression.

When they walked into the restaurant, Lisanna seemed to scan the room before spotting the person she was looking for. She started to walk again and Laxus followed, eyes eventually settling on the man sitting at the window table.

He wasn't what Laxus expected.

Having expected a stuffy old man, in his fifties and balding, Laxus felt wrongfooted. The man was almost certainly a few years younger than Laxus. He had long and green hair, tied high in a ponytail. He was wearing a sharp looking suit that Laxus didn't recognise the brand of. His facial features were sharp and well structured, no doubt the rest of his body just as maintained under his clothing. As Laxus got closer he could smell a mix of some sharp and cool cologne, and the floral scent left by the clothes' steamers put in every room. When he looked up to Laxus he had sharp and inviting blue eyes, and a somewhat enigmatic expression.

Laxus might be inclined to call him a pretty boy, had his expression been a little less intense.

Just his type. Aesthetically, anyway.

"Mr Justine," Lisanna said in greeting. "How'd your lunch?"

"Very pleasant," The man said, glancing for a second to the chicken salad he was eating and then back to Laxus.

"This is the man I told you about, our handyman," Lisanna explained, nudging Laxus. The blonde stepped forward and offered his hand to shake. The man did so, with a firm grasp.

"Laxus," The blonde said. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"You too," The man replied, and Laxus couldn't help but notice how smooth his voice was. But it wasn't the time, so he retracted his hand as the other man spoke. "I'm Freed, as you've perhaps been told. I expect your colleague has explained why I wish to speak with you?"

"The Albion House, right?" Laxus asked. "You got lumbered with the place and need help with the electrics."

"Essentially, yes," Freed nodded. "The only thing that's actually remained intact is the building's structure. The wiring, the plumbing, the heating system, and I'm sure there's a lot more that I'm not aware of that has also been destroyed. I wish to get the building to a point where it's functioning so I can sell it. It doesn't need to be nice to look at, just work. Is that something you think you can do?"

"Well, I'm good with all that shit- stuff," Laxus winced, glancing at the table, and missing the amused expression on Freed's face. "I've done a lot of work here, and in some other houses when they need it. Unless there's some really unusual crap, I should be fine."

"Take a seat, Mr Dreyar."

At the sudden request, Laxus found himself doing what he was told. He sat opposite Freed, and waited a little awkwardly while Freed ordered another tea for himself. He thought about telling him that Lisanna wasn't actually part of the wait-staff, but she smiled and said it'll be right out before retreating to the kitchen. He frowned as she walked away, only to quickly turn back and give him two thumbs up and a large smile. He almost rolled his eyes at the stupid action, but looked back to the man who might soon employ him.

"I think it's best we be honest with one another," Freed continued, and Laxus nodded slightly. "I have no interest nor practical skill when it comes to homeownership and renovations. I can learn, and I'm not an impractical man in general, but a lot of the work will be done by you."

"I can do that," Laxus said with a nod. "How would that work with the, erm… payment, if that ain't too forward?"

"No, that's fair," Freed said, pulling out his phone from his breast pocket. "I haven't had long to look into it, but I plan to pay you by the hour; I don't know how long it will take, so I thought that made more sense than a single payment. I'll clarify how much you get each hour when I find out the average pay a skilled workman gets. Of course we can debate this if you don't think it's fair, but I expect it'll be a good wage"

Laxus probably looked a bit stupid for a moment. He was expecting either a vague answer or a simple 'I'll pay you a grand and expect it to be done by the end of the month.' Not a lot of… legal sounding crap.

"That sounds good," Laxus said after a moment, nodding. "How bad's the house, if y' know? The outside ain't great but I'd like to know what I'm getting into."

"The outside is the best part, I'm afraid," Freed chuckled a little bitterly, and Laxus glanced up at his face again. On his handsome features – and damn, up close they were pretty handsome – there were slight lines of worry beside his eyes. "I didn't take many pictures as I wasn't in the best of moods, but this is fairly reflective of the entire place."

Freed flicked on his phone a few times, and then showed his screen to Laxus. It took a few seconds for Laxus to actually understand what that was, and when he did he let out an almost impressed sigh and leant back in his chair.

"That's the circuit box?" He laughed, and Freed nodded. "It looks like…"

"It had a violent orgy with a jackhammer, baseball bat and a box of explosives?" Freed completed, and Laxus let out a short bark of laughter, shocking himself.

"Fuck, sorry. I shouldn't laugh," Laxus winced, though he was grinning. When he glanced towards Freed again, he openly saw him smirking at him. If nothing else, at least this proved his boss had a sense of humour. "I didn't expect it, sorry. It does look pretty bad though, if the rest of the house is like that then it's probably gonna take a while to get the place in a liveable state."

"I assumed as much," Freed said with a sigh. "I only intend to stay here for a week, I should clarify. My office may allow me to extend that for another week. I'm hoping that, by then, you'll have begun work and can do so without me. I'll keep in regular contact of course, but I won't be here in person often."

"That's okay. I can deal with that," Laxus nodded as he spoke. He liked working alone. "What do you do, if you don't mind me askin'?"

"I'm a lawyer," Freed waved his hand as he returned his phone to his jacket pocket.

"Fuck. That's pretty-" Hot. "Impressive."

"Thank you," Freed nodded a little. "I don't mean to be abrupt, but I've got to clear some details up with my office, so I'll have to leave you," He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket. "Here's my card, call me in the evening. We'll discuss things further then. Good day, Laxus."

"Yeah," Laxus nodded. "Speak later."

Freed nodded, and left the restaurant. Laxus allowed his eyes to trail over his retreating figure, roaming over his broad shoulders to his taut waist, then, for a split-second, to his ass. He glanced away, only to see Cana watching him with a judgmental, shit-eating grin.

"I'm gonna fix the fucking toaster," Laxus muttered with a slight blush, standing abruptly. Cana kept smirking. "Fuck off."

#Fraxus Day 2020 #Fraxus Day #Fraxus #Freed Justine #Laxus Dreyar #Fairy Tail #Fanfic #Writing #Event #Multichapter #Word Count 3.6k #Fuckyeahfraxus

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songfell-ut · 5 years ago

Text

Chapter 3, still a-comin’

Cirumstances, am I right, folks?

If you didn’t make it through Chapter 2 or this is all 100% new, welp, this is a continuation of this comic by @lostmypotatoes, after which Frisk has gotten him to be her witchly apprentice, but now he’s trying to flake on her. ACTION

Sans was getting soft in his old age, or maybe from proximity to someone as aggressively good-hearted as the High Priestess, because he found he didn't want to demolish the entire wall. For one thing, without his magic, it'd be too much effort. More importantly, though, Frisk's rooms were many, many stories above the ground, and falling masonry could kill or injure someone below who hadn't earned it. Most important of all: Frisk would probably end up trying to help dig them out and put herself in danger.

He also figured that he had time to do things neatly and cost her less in repairs. Everything had been loosened by that first colossal blow, but he had to give it a few more whacks before he could start pulling it apart, making a pile of glass shards, wood paneling, bricks and stones in front of her office. Luckily, whoever had constructed the outside wall hadn't done a great job, or else it would've taken him all night. A carefully judged body-slam was enough to weaken the remaining support structures; a few kicks and a yank created a space big enough for the giant skeleton to squeeze through, and then he could see the barrier itself.

Panting, Sans took a moment to survey his handiwork. It sucked to exert himself like that, but he figured that sometimes in life, you just had to punch things until they broke.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that option with the barrier. The old stories came back to him as he stared at the golden latticework hovering outside the ruined wall. How was he going to get through without touching it directly or throwing something big enough to hurt someone below?

His eyes fell on the worktable and the vials of stuff he'd made this afternoon. Four hadn't been infused yet. Sans grabbed one, pulled off the cork and, with a speck of magic, willed the liquid to boil, burn, dissolve anything it touched. It promptly began to fizzle and hiss in his hand, and he had to fling it away like an idiot before it started eating through his metacarpals.

He did one thing right in throwing it at the barrier, which instantly melted and let the chilly night air wash over him. Outside, moonlight shadowed the bricks of a nearby wall that stretched almost all the way to the ground, ending in the roof of a building only a couple stories high. He could hop out, grab onto the brick edifice, climb down safely and be gone before Frisk even got back up here, never mind moving the statue and getting the doors open. From there, it'd only be a matter of time before his magic regenerated and he could take a shortcut home.

Poor Frisk. She'd tried. Hell, she'd survived his murder attempts and taught him a few things, and he'd never forget her.

Anyway, she was better off losing track of him and finding a smaller, tamer monster to work with. What was she even getting from him being here, besides a hell of a lot of trouble?

The question was supposed to be rhetorical, but as if in reply, he thought of Frisk standing at the worktable with her arm up those ridiculously oversized trousers, grinning and saying, "The pleasure of your company," looking up at him like...well, like he was her friend, not an inferior or a dangerous monster or a giant pain in the ass, pun absolutely intended. Of course, it wasn't as if she had many other friends, but he couldn't tell himself that she was just using a captive freak to keep her company; he already knew her too well for that.

This, right here. This was why he needed to leave now. The skeleton took a few steps back, gauging the distance to—

Whhhsh went something in his mental ear. He jerked around to see Frisk standing half in his shadow, half in the moonlight, with her veil in her hand and absolute murder in her eye. "Sans." It was a whisper, lost in the wind.

Shit fuck shit shit shiiiiiiit fuckity fuck SHIT rang in his head as the satchel hit the floor. "Frisk?" he whispered.

Frisk beckoned him closer with one finger. Unbelieving, he knelt, and she punched him so hard that he almost felt it. "Here is what's going happen," she said as he touched his jaw. "I assume you've blocked the doors, so you will go and unblock them, and I'll tell the guard that you were—we'll say you were fighting off an assassin, and everyone will be impressed when they see how much damage you did trying to kill him before he escaped. Won't they?"

Sans nodded helplessly. "How...how'd you...?"

"How did I get here?" She tossed the veil aside, letting it drift to the floor. "Let me tell you a story, Sans. Once upon a time – yesterday morning – I had a long talk with Dr. Serif. He said you probably didn't intend to stay for a whole month, and I needed to be on my guard, just in case you decided to pull a stunt like this. I didn't want to believe him, but I followed his advice, and lo and behold, less than a week later, I caught my lying, backstabbing apprentice trying to break his word because he was apparently too bored with me to waste time learning crucial information for the survival of his entire race! The end!"

Frisk had to pause for breath. The boss monster took great exception to that last accusation, and he doubted that was actually the end of the story, but he was afraid to interrupt. "Do you see this?" she continued. Sans flinched as the tiny woman ripped off her brooch and brandished it at him. "Dr. Serif brought it yesterday afternoon. It seems he'd taken some of your magic while you were unconscious, and not only did he refuse to return it to you, he said I couldn't be here every hour of the day, and I needed to have this if you ever tried to break loose. He infused it with enough of your power to teleport myself one time." Another deep breath. "Do you have any idea how angry I am that he was right, and I was right to listen? And do you know how sick to my stomach I feel right now?!" Frisk threw the brooch to the floor, where it shattered. The last bit of magic quietly evaporated, and she pressed the back of her hand to her lips, eyes unfocusing. "And...how do you stand—"

There it was. He couldn't believe it had taken this long to catch up with her—the first time he'd tried using a shortcut, it left him feeling like his head had been screwed on backwards.

The skeleton glanced at the open, crumbling wall, then at Frisk, who was leaning heavily on the worktable, eyes closed. Then...

The priestess squeaked as Sans swept her up into the crook of his arm and headed to the bathroom. "Put me down!" she croaked, thumping his clavicle.

"Yes, m'lady," he said, opening the door, poking the light on and placing her at the very back of the room. "Go for it."

Once she was settled and could puke in relative peace, Sans went to the double doors leading into the hall, replaced the statue in its niche, and headed back to the workroom. Her office door was blocked by the many chunks of wall piled in front of it, and moving them again would take effort, so the skeleton ignored it for now. He picked up the satchel and set it on the worktable, wondering if the wind was too cold for her and how, exactly, he was going to pay for this, in every sense of the word. After one more look outside, Sans made himself tiptoe back to the bathroom and ask, "You done?"

There was a pause, the sound of water running, and a much longer pause before she opened the door and stared up at him. "What are you still doing here?" she demanded.

Sans blinked at her, mostly for effect. "'Zat a trick question? I'm makin' sure you're okay. That magic can knock you on your ass the first couple times ya try it."

Her face tightened, a hard, bitter expression that probably shouldn't have surprised him. "You don't say." She turned her head to cough, resting her forehead on the tile wall. "Congratulations to you, Sans. I'm here, but I'm in no condition to do anything. Your plan worked after all." She pushed herself upright. "Good night."

Shit. "Uh...Frisk—"

The priestess walked right by to open the double doors. He heard her exclaim something about the guard not being there, and mutter that she'd deal with it in the morning. She barred the doors shut, which he hadn't even noticed was an option, and wobbled past him into her dressing room, evading his halfhearted attempt to steady her.

Hangers rattled. There was an occasional sniffle. When Frisk came out in a long crushed-velvet robe, she actually looked offended to see him. "Don't you have somewhere to be? I said good night, Sans."

Wasn't she going to at least try to stop him? Sure, she was sick and exhausted, but where was her determination? ...Was she so upset that she was determined to cut her losses and let him go?

That really seemed to be it. Well, Sans should have been elated, but he mostly just felt insulted. Besides, he couldn't leave until they got a few things straight, or else he'd spend the rest of his life trying not to think about it. The boss monster wracked his brain for a witty yet conciliatory opener, but what came out was "You're not boring."

A blast of wind howled through the room, flipping the lighter books open and ruffling the weighed-down stacks of paper. Frisk remained stock-still as her short, wavy hair fluttered across her face. "I beg your pardon," she said, colder than the autumn air.

"Okay, yeah, I admit it. I was gonna ditch ya," he said desperately. "But it wasn't 'cause I don't like you or I don' care about helping the other monsters. I—you remember all you heard about Papyrus, right?" Her expression softened a little as she nodded. "I had a dream about him last night that I'm pretty sure was real. Me bein' gone and him not knowin' I'm okay is killing him, Frisk. I can't..."

She stayed silent as Sans pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. It had been so long since he'd told someone the entire truth that he felt completely exposed. It was scary as hell, but he owed it to her and to Pap. "Ya gotta understand," he mumbled. "My brother's all I got left, and I'm all he's got. You've been nothin' but fair to me, and it's not yer fault there's no real way t'contact 'im. I just...I can't go a whole month without lettin' him know I'll be home soon, and I can't dream at him with yer barrier up." He sat down with his legs crossed, staring at the floor. "I spend too much damn time away as it is. He never knows for sure if I'm comin' back."

Frisk swallowed. "Why didn't you tell me sooner how important this was to you? And what do you mean, 'dream at him'?"

"I didn't bother 'cause you might'a thought I was lying to make you feel sorry fer me. I know I wouldn't trust me." The skeleton jerked his head at the ruined wall. "What I mean is, I can talk to Pap while we're both dreamin', but you wouldn't be there to hear what we were saying. I could tell him all sorts of crap, like how strong the High Priestess is and how much safer it'd be for us monsters if she was dead."

The priestess was silent again. Sans risked a glance in time to see her reach up to sweep her hair behind her ear, only to yelp in pain. Sure enough, as she raised her hand to inspect it, the outside knuckle was red and swollen. "Augh! How did I not notice this?" Frisk tried to move it and had to stifle another exclamation. "Wonderful. If it hurts this much, I must have broken it." She made an incoherent noise and started toward the rack of finished potions on the worktable.

Sans dimly recalled that humans didn't feel as much pain when they were scared or excited, and that it could catch up to them pretty fast. It also occurred to him that it was a bad idea for a small human to hit a thick-headed skeleton with her bare hand. "What are you doin'?" he wanted to know. "You can heal that up in a jiffy."

"I can't heal myself," she said brusquely. "I'm not very adept at healing to begin with, and I can't make it work on me at all."

That couldn't be right. "Ya mean to tell me you're good enough to hold me off and keep me penned in for days with no magic, but—"

"Leave me alone."

Her voice was so quiet and furious that he stopped dead. But as she picked a vial and started to pull the cork out with her teeth, Sans got up and held his own hand out. "Lemme see."

With as much dignity as she could muster, Frisk closed her mouth and handed him the vial. He put it back impatiently and beckoned again. "Not that, dummy. Yer hand."

The priestess gave him a long, eloquent look. When he didn't move, she placed her broken hand in his huge one, wincing as his thumb closed lightly over her wrist. It was hard to remember how to turn his magic green, but she'd been right about intentions: it helped to think about how badly he wanted it to work, not only to help her, but to prove that he was capable of fixing things as well as destroying them.

Sure enough, within seconds, his palm began to glow as if he held a handful of emeralds. When Sans could bring himself to let her go, she flexed it easily. "You've gotten some magic back already," she observed. Frisk smiled at him for a moment, and he couldn't not smile back. "You know," she said, anger rapidly resurfacing, "you're not only a lying reprobate, you are a huge idiot." She rapped her knuckles on his palm. "I've always had a barrier guarding the bedroom from any external magic. If that was the only thing keeping you from reaching Papyrus, you should have asked me to remove it."

Sans sat down again. "But—"

"As for the possibility of giving him illicit information, I will ask you this only once." Frisk moved closer, looking him square in the sockets. "Do you intend to tell the other monsters, at any point, that your race would be better off with me dead?"

He didn't even have to think about it before he answered, "Not anymore. You're pretty damn useful as you are, speakin' up on our behalf to the other humans. I don't see anyone pressuring you into screwin' us over."

A brief smile. "I'm glad to hear it. For my part, I don't mind letting you talk to your brother as long as you take me with you. I'd love to say hello—I've heard so much about him that it'll be like meeting an old friend." She stifled a yawn. "If you start tattling on me in some fashion, I can always pull the barrier back up."

"...You want me to...bring you...in my dream?" Blink. Blink. "But how—what're you gonna—"

"One thing at a time, Sans. First, we're going to bed."

"We're what now?"

"If you're not leaving yet, then we're going to bed, now. This mess can wait till morning." With a nod at her blocked office door, Frisk motioned for him to follow her into the bedroom. "Come along. There's nowhere else for me to sleep, and I'm freezing."

And so it was that Sans found himself lying rigid on the huge feather mattress, the priestess curled up like a cat in the armchair. He had no idea why he was so nervous; he couldn't even muster a semi-joke about her joining him in bed. "I've heard of this spell before," said Frisk, who seemed unperturbed by their proximity. "It's not very complicated. You've just healed me, and I've recently used some of your magic, so we have enough of a connection that I should be able to find you once we're asleep. ...The key word being sleep, Sans. You have to relax. I'm not going to eat you, no matter how short-sighted and dishonorable you've been."

"You're not gonna let that go, are ya?" he mumbled.

"You have no idea. We haven't even talked about repairing the wall yet." Her voice warmed again. "For now, though, don't worry about it. We need to find Papyrus and set you both at ease."

Now Sans felt nervous and extremely weird again. He turned onto his side so she couldn't see him changing color. "'Kay. I...yeah. Thanks."

"Of course," she said, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do a favor for someone who had completely betrayed her trust, and turned off the witchlight. He felt her raise another barrier at the bedroom door, one solid enough to stop an army, and a thinner barrier disappeared from behind the headboard. "There," she said in the darkness. "We'll see how well this works. Go to sleep, Sans."

That seemed unlikely, but he'd forgotten who he was dealing with. When about ten minutes had passed and the orange light of his eyes was still going strong, something wonderful started creeping up on him, a soothing vibration that spread through every bone in his body before he even knew what he was hearing. It was Frisk humming, of course, and of course it worked; Sans was more than content to let the sound and her presence lull him to sleep.

He jerked upright as something hit his skull, reflexively swatting the air and yelling, "Piss off!"

The lights were back on. In fact, it was full daylight, or what passed for it. Sans rubbed his eye sockets, turning this way and that. He was still in bed, but the bed stood alone in the middle of an open, snowy field. Kid monsters were racing back and forth under gaily decorated trees, throwing snowballs at each other and catching him in the crossfire.

The skeleton brushed himself off, reasoning that the Underground could be a weird place, but it wasn't quite random-snow-bed weird. This must be a dream, then. Damn it...

Oh, well. At least it was a nice one, and it felt pretty real—his good dreams tended to be fuzzy, while every single one of his nightmares was incredibly vivid.

Footsteps crunched on the snow behind him. "Well, hello there. That was simple," said Frisk, looking around them as he got up. She was in her plush robe and bare feet, but seemed at ease. "So this is Snowdin. Which house is yours?"

"BROTHER?"

Sans froze as a familiar shape emerged from a nearby fog of ice crystals. "Papyrus?" he whispered.

"I KNEW IIIIIT—OOF!" Papyrus had run to give his brother a bear hug and fell straight through him, as if Sans was also made of fog. "WHAT IS THIS, SANS? HAVE YOU BECOME TOO LAZY TO STAY SOLID?" he accused him from the ground.

"It's a dream, bro. This happens every damn time," the boss monster said wearily. "Just keep it together and listen, okay? I'm here t'let you know—"

"WAIT. A HUMAN? IS THAT...KRIS?" Papyrus was staring up at Frisk, his face somehow creased in puzzlement. "IS IT REALLY YOU? I THOUGHT YOU'D BE...KRIS-ER, NYEH."

Sans snorted. "Not every human is Kris, Pap. Don't be racist."

"Hello," Frisk said, offering a bright smile and a hand up. "My name is Frisk. It's wonderful to meet you, Papyrus."

"YES, IT IS. NYEH-HEH-HEH! YOU ARE CLEARLY VERY WISE AND ATTRACTIVE, HUMAN!" Papyrus brushed the snow from his fake armor, throwing his red scarf back over his shoulder in so dramatic a fashion that he didn't notice Frisk grinning, though Sans sure did. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY GREAT AND ATTRACTIVE DREAM?" he added.

Still smiling, Frisk watched the pack of young monsters run by. The monsters didn't seem to notice them, though the bed was still there and her purple robe stood out like a dark beacon against the snow. "Your brother wanted to see you, and I decided to come along," she explained. "Sans was captured by humans about a week ago when he was out looking for food, but please don't worry about—"

"CAPTURED?!" Papyrus clapped both hands to his skull. "THIS IS TERRIBLE! PLEASE DE-CAPTURE HIM IMMEDIATELY, HUMAN, OR ELSE I...I...!"

"Pap! Take it easy. She's okay. 'Fact, she's the reason I ain't dead or enslaved right now." Sans plucked at his shirt. "See, she even got me some new duds. You can finally stop bitching about what I'm wearin'."

Papyrus stopped flailing long enough to examine Sans' shirt. "NYEH! I SEE NO HOLES OR QUESTIONABLE STAINS. WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?"

Sans smirked, letting his brother poke at him in vain. "I told ya, bro, I just got it. You don't hafta rip me apart like this."

Frisk rocked back and forth on her heels. "So," she said over Papyrus' exasperated groaning, "I gather you knew a boy named Kris from the last human delegation. Is that right?"

"YES, IT IS RIGHT! KRIS WAS OUR DEAR FRIEND," Papyrus said as Sans grimaced and turned away. "WE WENT FOR WALKS AND HAD SLEEPOVERS, AND MADE HAND PUPPETS THAT ALSO HAD SLEEPOVERS. IT WAS LIKE HAVING A CUTE LITTLE PET THAT CLEANED UP AFTER ITSELF. WE'VE ALL MISSED HIM VERY MUCH, NYEHHH."

"Yeah, he left with the other humans," Sans muttered. "Can we please move on now?"

"Yes, of course. I'm going to borrow your brother for a few more weeks," Frisk told Papyrus. The latter was glaring at his brother's new shirt again, as if daring it to make a false move. "I have a plan to start making peace between monsters and humans," she continued, "but I need a monster's help to do it. Can you get along without Sans until I send him back to the Underground?"

"HMMMM." Papyrus straightened, one hand on his chin. "YOU WON'T HURT HIM?" he asked, sounding almost timid.

"Absolutely not, Papyrus," she said firmly. "He'll be back safe and sound."

Papyrus nodded, evidently impressed by her sincerity. "I AM IMPRESSED BY YOUR SINCERITY, HUMAN. IF THIS DREAM IS NOT MY MAGNIFICENT IMAGINATION PLAYING TRICKS ON ME AGAIN, THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL SPARE MY GOOD-FOR-NOTHING BROTHER FOR A LITTLE WHILE LONGER. NYEH-HEH-HEH!" Without warning, the skeleton grabbed at Sans' wrist bones. "HUMAN! I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO MY BROTHER IN SECRET FOR A MOMENT, IF YOU WILL PLEASE EXCUSE US. IT WILL BE SECRET!"

"Of course," said Frisk. "I'll be right here. Just make sure it's not too secret, please."

Sans covered his face with his hand as Papyrus marched toward the fog bank, still holding his brother's imaginary wrist. "Ya can't touch me, remember?" Sans called after him.

"...I KNEW THAT. CONGRATULATIONS, BROTHER! YOU HAVE PASSED THIS TEST! NYEH. ...HEH." Papyrus waited for Sans to join him, and they walked towards the river. "ARE YOU SURE THAT'S NOT KRIS?" the younger skeleton asked doubtfully.

Sans laughed, jerking his thumb in Frisk's direction. "Does that human look like a sixteen-ish-year-old boy?"

"HMM. NO, IT LOOKS LIKE A HUMAN. BUT! IT SEEMS DELIGHTFUL! THE GREAT PAPYRUS THINKS YOU SHOULD BRING IT BACK HERE WITH YOU. IT'S BEEN TOO LONG SINCE WE HAD A HUMAN TO PILLOW-FIGHT WITH, NYEH-HEH-HEH."

"That's probably not a great idea," Sans remarked.

"NYEH-HEH! WHY NOT?"

"I could spend literally the rest of the night tellin' you all the reasons why not, but the biggest one is that she's the High Priestess, Pap. The other humans would definitely notice if she was gone."

"HIGH PRIESTESS?" Papyrus cocked his head in perplexity. "WHY WOULD A DELIGHTFUL HUMAN BE A HIGH PRIESTESS? DON'T THEY CREATE BARRIERS?"

"It's complicated, bro. Look, I've gotta go soon. Is there anything else you wanna say?"

His younger brother paused, and sighed, shoulders slumping. "SANS. WERE YOU REALLY JUST LOOKING FOR FOOD? WHEN YOU GOT CAUGHT, I MEAN."

The bigger skeleton tried to kick a chunk of ice into the water, his foot passing right through it. "I wasn't slaughtering humans, if that's what you're askin'. I was mostly tryin' to track down monsters who've been sold off recently. But I did want to see how the humans' harvest turned out, an' it looks like it was pretty good this year."

Papyrus nodded, still troubled. "ALL RIGHT, BROTHER. I UNDERSTAND. PLEASE, JUST...TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. NYEH."

"You too, Pap." Sans felt a familiar stab of trepidation and backed away. "Shit, I've got a nightmare coming. I'll see ya soon, okay? Don't tell anyone about Frisk!"

He had to turn and run before Papyrus could answer. Frisk was sitting on the bed in the snow field, ducking snowballs. She turned and started to say, "I hope you weren't telling on m—"

"No more dream! End it now!" he panted.

The priestess didn't waste time asking stupid questions. As the nightmare nipped at Sans' heel, Frisk made a quick swiping gesture, and just like that, he was back in bed, in the bedroom, staring at the sun-washed ceiling.

The skeleton sighed in relief. He rested his forearm across his eyes. Between the radius and ulna, he could see the flickering shadows of birds flying past the open windows. "Thanks, kiddo," he said, "an' thanks for lettin' me talk to him. I really appreciate it." Sans scratched the top of his skull, rolling over to face Frisk. "So, how'd you like Papyrus? He's a cool guy, huh?"

Frisk didn't answer, because she wasn't there. A strange human child sat in the armchair, perched on the edge of the seat, holding a kitchen knife. It stared at him with red-shining eyes, teeth bared in a horrible grin.

If Sans had had more than a shred of magic left, he would have pulled all his blasters at once and obliterated half the building. As it was, he jerked back, nearly choking in terror. The child wasn't moving, but menace radiated off it like heat from a furnace, eyes boring into him as its grin widened. Sans looked around wildly for an escape. The windows were too small, but maybe he could—

A sharp whistle split the air. The barrier snapped on, and the child vanished.

Sans was sitting upright in bed again, in the dark, awake, panting as though he'd run a mile in a few seconds. "Sans, I am so sorry!" The light snapped on. Frisk stood at his bedside, wide-eyed, clutching the neck of her robe. "I didn't think I was going to have that nightmare again before we woke up! I thought it'd be fine, I—" She took a step onto the bed, leaning over to grab his humerus. "Sans? Sans! Please say something!"

He shook her off, and she stumbled backwards, falling into the armchair. "What the fuck was that?" he rasped.

Frisk sat up and pulled her robe tighter around her shoulders. "I'm sorry," she said again. "I should have warned you. It's the reason I have that barrier up in the first place." She swallowed hard. "It shouldn't happen again."

"It better not," Sans snarled. "What the hell was that thing, anyway?"

"I don't know." She looked so miserable that Sans wanted to smack himself, but he was too unnerved to lie and tell her that it was okay; he was shaking so hard that he could almost hear his bones rattle.

For a solid minute, the only other sound in the room was the wind blowing outside the shuttered windows. "I hope you had a good talk with Papyrus," Frisk said presently with a decent attempt at calmness, placing her palm on the bedroom door to dissolve the thick barrier. "I can see why everyone likes him so much. It's good to know he hasn't changed."

The skeleton grunted, hoping she was smart enough not to ask him any questions about him changing. "Yeah. Thanks for fixin' that up for us. Sorry I pushed you just now."

"It's fine. It was an accident." Frisk fiddled with the key in its lock. "You know, Sans, I'd like you to help repair the damage you caused, but...if you still want to leave, I won't stop you. I wasn't thinking of how much it was to ask, staying an entire month."

Sans stared at her. She wouldn't turn around. Finally, he said, "What the crap, lady? You already let me talk to Pap. That was the whole reason I tried to bust out of here. Why wouldn't I stick around 'n make it up to you? Ya really think I'm that bad?"

There came a soft knock at the door, startling them both. "Your Eminence?" It was a male voice, deep and pleasant. "Are you awake, my lady? Please forgive my intrusion, but His Holiness urgently requests your presence."

Daylight was showing through the closed shutters. "Yes, of course. I'll be there in a moment," said Frisk, running her fingers through her hair, eye twitching as she found a tangle.

Sans watched her, and watched her move to unlock the door, feeling a different sort of unease. "Wait a sec," he rumbled. "Frisk, wait. Didn't you bar the big doors last night? How'd he get—"

The man knocked again. "Just a moment," Frisk repeated, turning the key. She glanced behind her. "What, Sans?"

The door banged open. Before she could blink, a stranger in tattered clothes rushed in, his arm raised to strike.

The boss monster was already moving. The man lunged, and there was a sound of steel hitting bone; the priestess found herself staring at the tip of a knife, inches from her face, jutting from between massive skeletal fingers. "Sans!" cried Frisk, twisting around to look at him.

Red clouded Sans' vision, but one clear spot remained: with his free hand, he reached out, corralled Frisk and gently maneuvered her behind him, fingers forming a protective cage. The other hand flexed briefly, then backhanded the intruder so hard that the man rolled clear out of the bedroom, hitting the worktable with a crack and a thump.

The skeleton clamped his teeth on the dagger's hilt and pried the blade out from between his knuckles, jerking his head to fling it to the other side of the bedroom. There was technically nothing to pierce where the knife had been lodged, but it still stung. He glanced down to be sure Frisk was unscathed, then edged forward into the workroom.

To his great irritation, the man wasn't dead; he was not only conscious, but pulling himself up on the table. "Who the fuck are you?" demanded Sans. Only the vague awareness that Frisk was watching kept him from grabbing the guy and pinching his head off.

The stranger wiped the corner of his mouth on his sleeve, squinting against Sans' literal glare. He was gaunt and generally gross-looking, but had moved fast enough and aimed the knife with enough skill to peg him as a professional killer. "What's a big-ass talkin' skeleton doing here? They said you got sold off already!" The assassin laughed shakily. "So it was you bashin' that wall down! What the hell'd you even do that for? It took me all goddamn night to get out!"

Sans glanced at the office door, which was ajar. Several pieces of broken masonry had been moved out of the way by shoving the door repeatedly from the inside. The guy must have snuck into the office after Frisk left, while Sans was in the bedroom but before he blocked the entrance, and gotten trapped in his hiding place by all the debris piled against it.

It would have been kind of funny, except that if Sans really had left, Frisk would be dead now.

The young woman was leaning on Sans' femur, peering around his outspread fingers. He could feel her trembling, which only intensified his urge to kill something. "I know you," she said. "You spoke to me after a service last week. You said I...I..."

"Had a positively angelic voice?" The man leered at her, showing several broken teeth. "S'truth. But I needed to be sure 'xactly who you were. The last High Priestess used body doubles sometimes." He looked her up and down. "Gotta say, I like yours a lot better."

She shuddered. Sans leaned down, not taking his now-flaming eyes from the assassin. "You need this piece of crap alive, Frisk, or can I take 'im apart now?"

"Frisk?" The man cackled, slapping the worktable with a dirty palm. "That's your real name, lady? That's gotta be the dumbest—"

And just like that, he launched himself at Frisk, closing the distance and ducking between Sans' legs like a snake. He whipped another knife out from his belt and would have sliced her neck open if Sans hadn't been ready to nudge her out of the way, grabbing the assassin on the backswing and slamming him against the open door.

Before Frisk could react, Sans turned his head to the opposite wall and said, "Holy crap, what's that?" As she whirled around, Sans plucked the knife out of the man's hand and gave him one squeeze, very quick and very hard. "Whoops, my bad. Nothin' there," he said to cover the sound of ribs breaking.

The priestess started to turn back. "Stay where you are," Sans ordered, pulling the assassin out of her line of sight, stepping into the workroom and closing the door behind him. "Oh, no you don't," he said loudly, as if chasing the man down. "Nooo, stop! We just want to talk to...oh, no!"

The assassin didn't seem to appreciate the theatrics, especially because Sans was carrying him straight to the broken wall. Ignoring the man's feeble protests, the skeleton drew his arm back and murmured, "Now think about what you've done, pal," before tossing him out into the open air.

His only concern was that the bastard would make a lot of noise on the way down, but it seemed he'd knocked the wind out of him, ha. By the time Frisk peeked out of the bedroom, the assassin was long gone.

Sans shook his head and turned from the opening. "Nope. Sorry, I couldn't catch him before he told us who sent him." He wished he had his jacket; his hands had nowhere to go. "You all right, Frisk?"

The priestess gulped and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "No, I'm not." She slid down, back to the wall, and wrapped her arms around her knees.

She didn't seem be physically hurt, so for the moment, he said, "'Kay," and stared at the slightly open office door. "Son of a bitch. I'm gonna tear that guard a new one. D'you think he knew you were sleepin' in there, or was it just a convenient...place to...crap."

Frisk's shoulders had hunched and her face gone pale. Sans ground his teeth, cursing his stupidity. "Well, it's over. He won't bother you again," he reassured her, coming to kneel beside her. "At least that cover story 'bout the assassin ain't a lie now. Right?"

She didn't look reassured at all. With the threat of bodily harm removed, Sans was out of his element again, with no clue how to help her. Should he frame this as an inconvenient but probably solvable problem that she'd always known might come up? No, that would be dumb. She already had enough problems. She didn't need to worry about more shitheads getting in here to hurt her. As long as she was an important and politically vocal person, it wasn't like she could do much to...

Wait. That was it: Sans had the idea. "Actually, ya know what?" He waited for her to shake her head. "You were sayin' this weird stuff about me leaving once I'd seen Pap. Before we talk about that, I gotta ask, what's the going rate for a bodyguard around here? A good one, not just some moron following you around tryin' to look scary."

She bit her lip, a habit Sans had noticed and been distracted by several times already. "Um...it depends. A skilled full-time personal guard? Anywhere from fifty to a hundred dinar—"

"Oh, nice. I can probably—"

"—an hour. I only sleep a few hours a night, so..." Frisk gave him the ghost of a smile. "If you're offering your services, Sans, I'd be glad to accept. Would a salary of one thousand per diem be acceptable?"

Now he really was at a loss for words. "A thousand a friggin' day?" he repeated blankly.

Frisk nodded. Her shock seemed to be fading as she thought aloud: "You could pay for your clothes in one day, and I can negotiate the repairs down to about ten days' worth. After that, well, wheat is about five dinar a bushel." Despite herself, she sniffled again. "You could buy a lot of wheat, or beans, or...or wedding cakes, or literally anything else you want to take Underground with you."

He was patting himself on the back when, without warning, Frisk's smile faded. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before I unlocked the door." Sniff. "Thank you for staying with me." Sniff. "And thank you for saving my life."

Shit shit was as far as Sans got before he lost even that bit of coherence. His senses were already heightened by the unexpected danger, his SOUL still feeling a little queasy at how close she'd come to dying right in front of him; to cap it off with Frisk looking up at him like this with big eyes, messy hair, and her robe falling off her shoulder was more than he could handle. She never looked bad, but right now, damn.

Sans didn't realize he was reaching for her until his fingertip brushed her cheek, toying with a wavy lock of hair. "Don't mention it," he said gruffly. "'s the least I can do."

Frisk pulled away, face flushing, but only in momentary surprise. He devoutly hoped that she'd get up and go get dressed, or maybe pack her things, buy a fast horse and leave the kingdom forever, but that damnable woman didn't know any better than to smile and take his hand, or at least rest her hand in the space between two of his fingers. "Just so long as you keep in mind that you're still my apprentice," she said with mock sternness. "Do you promise?"

Fffffffff

Neither of them understood what happened next. Sans felt something welling up that made him want to grab her and...he didn't know what would happen next, but he wanted it so badly that he backed away in sudden alarm. All he knew was that this feeling – this energy – had to go somewhere, and if he directed it at her, he could accidentally mash her into paste. The only thing he could think of was to whip around, look for something else to latch onto, and focus his attention on the pile of stones, etc. by the office.

His magic was barely available, or so he would have said a minute ago. Fueled by the whatever-it-was, though, and with the barrier gone from one of the walls, Sans didn't even have to think about it: Frisk jumped back as the heap of debris by her office began to glow red, rising into the air and flying into the broken wall. To their mutual astonishment, the outside bricks and internal structures zipped back into place first, followed by more bricks, mortar, stone, wood, and finally the glass and lead of the windows. When the dust settled, the entire facade had been imperfectly but almost entirely restored, the floor sagging under the windows.

Sans stared at his hand, still breathing heavily. "Huh," he said by way of explanation.

"Indeed." Frisk absently ran her fingers through her hair again, working out a tangle as she examined the wall. "Did I know you could do that?"

"I didn't know I could do that." Now that the unfamiliar energy was gone, Sans found he wanted to sit down. He sat down next to her, comfortably but not dangerously close. "Welp, I need a break from life," he said, which got a laugh out of her. He snorted. "Break. I actually didn't mean that one."

Frisk gave a long, long sigh. "We'll knock down your fee to three or four days of repairs," she said gravely.

Sans couldn't help grinning. "I always knew there was mortar life than money."

She kept a straight face until he added, "Makin' it pretty again is gonna be a pane in the glass," whereupon she broke out in hysterical, snorting laughter, which cracked him up in turn and guaranteed a minutes-long feedback loop.

As nice as this all was, Sans was a little concerned when he got under control and she kept going, and going, and ended up nearly gasping for breath. "You okay, kid?" he asked. "Ya need some water?"

"Oh, Lord," she wheezed. Frisk wiped her eyes on her already-damp sleeve. "Sans, you're killing me."

Silence. Frisk thought about it, and promptly buried her head as far between her knees as she could get it. "I didn't do that on purpose," she said, muffled and sheepish.

Sans shifted his weight. He wasn't ready to admit to himself how badly the whole attack had scared him, much less to her. Just to check, he considered escaping again – maybe once she was letting him walk around with her outside and his magic was naturally restored – and now, less than twelve hours after doing his damndest at it, he couldn't believe how much he hated the idea. No problem, really; he could chalk it up to her letting him connect with Papyrus and needing to make it up to her. Also, holy shit, one thousand dinar every day for the next twenty-five days? That was as solid a set of reasons as he'd ever come up with.

"Well," he finally said. "Guess you'd better get yer scary witch dress on and go tell everyone about this whole mess." He snapped his fingers, making an odd click, as something occurred to him. That's right—I got both those knives off him. Maybe someone can take a look at 'em and figure out who he was, where they were from."

Frisk raised her head, staring into space. "No," she said, as if to herself. The boss monster looked askance, and she smiled in a small, nasty way he hadn't seen before. "We won't say anything." The smile grew. "I'll go about my day as if nothing happened, except I'll be accompanied everywhere by a ten-foot skeleton. Whoever set him after me will have no idea what happened, and it'll drive them absolutely mad. We can see if anyone incriminates themselves, but...ohh, I'm going to enjoy this."

"It's a neat idea, but the garbage threw itself out already, remember?" Sans indicated the repaired wall. "Someone's bound to notice 'im."

The young woman did a remarkable impression of shock and distress, eyes wide and mouth hanging open before she murmured, "That poor man jumped from such a height? What a hideous tragedy. Peace be upon his soul and those of his loved ones."

"Daaaamn" was all Sans could say. He might have killed the guy and covered it up, but he couldn't look that cute telling a bare-ass lie! Also... "Ain't you a priestess? Isn't that a little...?"

Frisk scowled. Despite her bedhead and furry robe, she was the very image of sternness and, yes, determination. "I was taught that it is my duty to aid the weak and be an instrument of justice against people who, for example, want to stab me in my own bedroom when I've done nothing to harm them. It's no sin to protect yourself."

The skeleton shrugged, holding his hands out. "Okay, that's enough. I think I love ya. Where do I sign up to kill people for you?"

The priestess laughed. "I bet you say that to every girl you try to escape from. And, please, don't kill anyone." She glanced at the clock, and her amusement melted into panic. "Dirt! I have matins in twenty minutes!" She sprang to her feet and made a beeline for her dressing room. "Can you please find my veil for me?" she called before she shut the door.

Sans also got up, muttering, "'Dirt'? Seriously?" as he retrieved the veil from where it had blown onto the table. As an afterthought, he returned to the bedroom and picked up the assassin's daggers. He studied them, saying out loud, "I think I'm screwed, is what I am," then placed them on the nightstand.

He heard Frisk emerge from her dressing room and went to meet her as she asked, "Sans, do you have my—"

He handed the veil over. "Thank you, sir." She threw the veil over her head and adjusted the headdress over it. "May I assume that you haven't been to many religious services?"

"Er..."

"Well, we have an oral contract, effective immediately, and I am going to church, so you are going to church." She inclined her head, moving toward the double doors. "Follow me."

And, of course, he did.

#frans #onwards aoshima

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elgaberino-mcoc · 4 years ago

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MCOC WISHLIST INITIAL IMPRESSIONS SHANG-CHI

Shang-Chi ends his tenure on the MCOC Wishlist Poll as Summoners’ #19 most-wanted character for Marvel Contest of Champions.

His Champion Spotlight is published here.

Class: Skill

We thought he could be Skill, and we were right.

Your Skills. Shang-Chi is a champ build that requires Summoners to hone their skills in order to learn his play style. As such, he adds to the notion (further developed this year in discussions around Hercules and Jabari Panther) that Kabam intends the Skill class to be a reflection of the Summoner’s skills.

Fiction: Peak Human Potential. In Marvel fiction, Shang-Chi is meant to be an example of the superhero archetype borne of raw, fine-tuned, peak human potential as a power of its own. So he also fits the flavor of the Skill class as a category of fictional champs known more for their skill than for their supernatural attributes. Other champs on the wishlist who take peak human potential to clearly superhuman levels include Blazing Skull, Conan the Barbarian, possibly Moondragon, and maybe even Black Swan.

Ample Control

Cycle. Shang-Chi’s cycle appears to be much like that of classic Ghost Rider. Old-order MCOC Ghost Rider players know him as a champ who can allow a great deal of control of a fight. Each of Shang-Chi’s combos does a different ability, stylized as a “Wushu Strike,” and each can only be spent (stylized “Unreadied,”) once before the cycle is rebooted. Also like Ghost Rider, the duration or effectiveness of the ability triggered is directly proportional to where you use that particular combo in your sequence of combos. Unlike Ghost Rider, the combo you use earlier, not later, in the sequence is the combo that has the best effectiveness. Also unlike Ghost rider, Shang-Chi’s cycle can be rebooted, apparently, pretty easily.

Tools. His Wushu Strike abilities in the cycle are Slow, Unblockable, Stun, and Cleanse. While slow is relatively unusual in the Skill class, clearly Cleanse is going to be a Skill-class move, like the inverse of Stagger: while the latter removes the next Buff from the opponent, Cleanse removes the next Debuff placed on your champ. This goes in line with the meta direction in which the Skill class enjoys the best Debuff-shrugging abilities in the game.

Guaranteed Crits

One thing over which Shang-Chi has a little less control: certain parts of his attack pattern are Guaranteed Critical hits. As we have seen the developers finding ways to punish Critical hits, this could be a problem for Shang-Chi. This amplifies a reality of the increasing game-balance efforts: even really amazing new champs will have stuff they just can’t do.

The upside, though: great damage potential. You get to decide how to dispense it, if you know how to deploy his cycle.

Expectation vs. Reality

Expectation: We thought his agility and ability to channel chi might translate to Evade and Armor Break. There was also some speculation about deflecting bullets, or duplicating his health bar to reflect his ability to duplicate himself in some comics.

Reality: This kit instead emphasizes the importance of timing, rewarding it with chi charges that amplify damage, and doubling down on the big yellow numbers by providing ways to stack Precision.

Shadowland

Background. Shang-Chi’s synergy with this month’s other champ, Mister Negative, is a reference to the Daredevil: Shadowland story arc, in which Matt Murdock built a Hand-organization compound, essentially a prison and demonic temple called Shadowland, on the ruins of Hell’s Kitchen in New York. Matt did this because he was possessed by the Beast (demon associated with the Hand, not to be confused with Hank McCoy the blue, furry, X-Men Beast). Mister Negative clashes with Spider-Man and Shang-Chi during this arc when he attempts to capitalize on the chaos.

Champs Implicated. This is probably the first reference to Shadowland in MCOC. The MCOC Wishlist has an entry for the black-suited, Mystic-class Daredevil (Shadowland) #Villain champ. One of his allies in the arc was White Tiger. Introduced during this arc was the new Power Man (Alvarez). Furthermore, the storyline included heavy participation from both Bullseye and the only tangentially related Japanese femme fatale ally of the Kingpin, Lady Bullseye. Another Darkforce-wielding character in the arc, besides Mister Negative, is the Shroud. Other characters who play an important role in parts of the Shadowland arc include mercenaries Misty Knight, Silver Sable, and Paladin, martial artists Colleen Wing, Typhoid Mary, and Black Tarantula, and Thunderbolts members Songbird, Moonstone, and Fixer.

Iron Fist Buff? Also key in the resolution of the Shadowland plot crisis: Iron Fist, who uses the healer abilities inherent in the Iron Fist power-set to exorcise the demon from Daredevil. Iron Fist, as of today, is the #2 most-wanted champion buff. One of the abilities requested is an ability to heal other champs. The connection between the two champs wasn’t lost on designers, who gave Iron Fist some definite damage capacity boost in a Synergy with Shang-Chi. But it’s not the same thing as a buff, is it?

Non-MCU

Around the time WandaVision was weeks away from its debut, the Kabam team showed us Scarlet Witch (Sigil), but did not release her. It turned out her outfit was not that of the Scarlet Witch in the show.

Now, not long before the month when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was scheduled to open, we get a Shang-Chi who is playable but who is not, in appearance, the same as the Shang-Chi in the movie trailers.

It is heartening to see a classic comic-book version of Shang-Chi in the game.

But is it possible that Kabam does not have full permission, at this time, to release characters in the likeness of their MCU counterparts?

Conclusions

Overall, Shang-Chi will probably be an exciting champ to learn and use, particularly for players who like to take control without losing damage output. Expect possibly large damage pops for people who take the time to learn the play style. I predict this champ will not be as hard to use as Ghost, but might be a tad trickier than Corvus.

Skill is one of the less-populated classes. Asian males were nonexistent in the game before May 2021. So Shang-Chi’s arrival is good for balance in a few different respects.

In total, from the MCOC Wishlist perspective, this is another strong showing.

#Shang Chi #kung fu #theory no MCU permission in phase 4 #mcoc class skill #Shadowland #martial arts #pure skill #slow #cleanse #Chinese #Asian #Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings #MCU phase 4 #theory iron fist buff #control #welcome to the contest #May 2021 Corruption

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illgiveyouthesun19 · 4 years ago

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not a brag, as you will discover later.

hi,

alot has happened since the last post. kidding, i dont know when was my last post but i'm sure alot has happened since then anyway. the spotify stalking guy once again came and went away like it meant nothing because

i think it doesnt mean anything,

for him. but then after being blocked for a while, i am once again unblocked and he followed me on spotify, i dont lurk anymore, i am trying to move on.

its weird, someone just leaving you one day when you promised to be together for the longest time, not forever, forevers never happen.

another unrelated story i'd like to throw is in that of my dry spell, ive no romantic intrests, i dont like anyone, cant say the same for others because i think few people do like me that way but its just because they dont know the me me yet, the me who blogs on tumblr after dipping for months or the me who intentionally listens to sad songs or the me who gets the date for final econ exam wrong.

its just weird,

an acquaintance of mine mentioned last night that leaving school wont be a big deal for me, me as in illgiveyouthesun19 because i dont have any bestfriends here in my high school , all my "'friends''' have already graduated, she said itll be ok if i dont even cry on our farewell.

pretty sure i died a little inside when she asked me if i dont have friends in my (our) school, who do i even talk to everyday? (no one)

the thing is i am pretty popular, this is not a brag as you will discover further.

i am pretty popular as someone who has followers in Ks but all this time i was just chasing the good and the greatest and hottest that i left my safespaces for shiny, new things

that eventually turned to rust.

so now its just rust that i try to scrap of, my former safespaces that just hate me. not suprised, ive been hated on since 1st grade but then everyone died to hangout w me, i was the deal, i still am except now people have realised they just want bestfriends

not me.

im just talking shit, i dont understand either.

#forever #holdon #safe space #goodbye #ill give you the sun

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notyobabygirl · 4 years ago

Note

hey! update on the bf that unblocked the girl... so he messaged me back this morning and said “i unblocked her because she has a lot of followers and i wanted recognition from being tagged in her pics. but i didn’t follow her back or even go on her page.” but then he blocked her again and told me he would keep her blocked for good. we didn’t talk much after that and then we hung out later tonight but i was just so annoyed and still weirded out by it. so the vibe was definitely off between us. we went and got drinks and went for a little drive around downtown and then we got back to his house and i was still in a really bad mood. he kept begging me to come in but i wouldn’t and then we kinda started arguing because i was like “i cant believe you did that knowing how much it would upset me” and he was like “it’s not a big deal. she’s blocked and i know now to keep it that way.” and i just kept being mean so i was like “just let me leave. i’m done with you” and now i’m parked outside of his house typing this sad af because of what he did but also because he’s inside now and idk what this means for us.

its not so much like the fact that he unblocked her, its the fact that he went behind your back and disobeyed you. thats what's really fucked up and throws me off. you either have to forgive him and move on or be like look you went behind my back and im done. if you just keep hanging out in a bad mood and the vibe is off then you guys will just continue to fight and it will put a huge strain on your relationship. I know its a big decision but :/ love u keep me updated

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fourangers · 5 years ago

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Fate and Choices (ch. 02)

Summary: When Naruto discovered who was going to be his soulmate, he jumped straight at this opportunity, looking forward to spending the rest of his life with his better half. Sasuke well…he was less eager in this regard though. NaruSasu. Soulmates tattoos. M-rated.

Content: AU!Office, Romance, Comedy, Drama, it’ll get a little too philosophical in some parts talking about free will Vs fate, basically Sasuke is a cynic ass and Naruto is an idealistic moron (great amirite), Anal Sex, tattoos soulmates

Chapter 01 here

AO3 link

--.--

“Hey! Jackass!”

Sasuke stiffened, bracing himself from the incoming impact.

“Fucking bastard thought you were gonna get rid of me, ‘s not going to be that easy you know!”

Sasuke was rubbing his legs with a wince; good gracious, years have passed and this idiot continued to be the same loudmouth dumbass. He turned back to Neji. “Please fire him.”

Neji blinked. “It’s my company and I’m the one who hired him Sasuke.”

“I know, but I’m saying that you should fire for our sanity’s sake.”

“Wow, that’s so mean.” Naruto grumbled, widening a grin. “You haven’t changed one bit Sasuke. Plus, there’s no way Neji would fire me when I’m the best social media manager you ever met!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes then threw a significant glance towards Neji.

Neji shook his head. “Yes, sorry to say but Naruto is pretty good. He is one of the few I know that can build a good number of followers organically in a short time. I guess you’ll have to deal with it. Just use this opportunity for some catching up ok.” He patted Sasuke’s shoulder and stared at Naruto in deadpan. “Please don’t destroy the office.”

“C’mon Neji, you really think we’re gonna get back to fighting as if we’re twelve? Give me some credit will you.” Naruto’s grin became so wide that it reminded him of a cheshire’s cat.

“...right.” Neji looked around, and picked an antique vase on the way out.

Sasuke stared at Naruto and his winsome beam, then gazed at the door knob.

He turned around.

“Oh? Ignoring me and fleeing again? The coward's obvious choice.”

Turning back with a venomous glare, Sasuke approached Naruto. “Well, I suppose there’s no point delaying any longer. What do you want from me?”

The caustic tone dissolved Naruto’s grin into a frown, so he mumbled. “What the hell did I do wrong for you to act like an asshole around me?”

Sasuke inhaled, taking some seconds to recompose himself as he retorted. “You’re right, my attitude was wholly unneeded, but I can’t help it. I still need to know why on earth you decided to reappear in my life when I made pretty clear that I don’t want you around.”

“Good God, I can’t believe that you don’t want your soulmate after this many years⏤”

“Don’t go there.” Sasuke growled through gritted teeth.

“Ugh, fine.” Naruto rolled his eyes. “You know, after what we’ve been through, I thought that at least you would bother yourself to give me an explanation or at least keep some kind of contact.”

“I can’t believe you took seriously our summer fling.”

Naruto stared, and then quirked an eyebrow. “Three years is not a summer fling.”

“Whatever, but it happened while we were young and stupid, so it is a fling no matter how long it took.” Before Naruto could protest, Sasuke interjected in. “Everything was going fine in my life back when you left me alone in peace, so why did you decide out of nowhere to get back in bothering me again?”

Naruto curled down his mouth, examining Sasuke’s indecipherable face as graphite eyes focused glowering at the ground. He knew that Sasuke wasn’t going to be cheerfully welcoming his return though he expected at least some positive reaction.

Scratching his blond head, Naruto sighed. “Sasuke, back when your parents divorced” He could see Sasuke tensing on the corner of his eye but he continued nevertheless. “I really wished you could rely on me to share your feelings about it but you just decided to throw me out of your life. But I respected that this was your way of coping and later I also get why you did that⏤”

“If you got it, why are you here now?”

Naruto blinked and declared with strong assurance. “Because I’m your soulmate.”

“We only have matching tattoos dumbass, nothing else.”

“Only matchin⏤” Naruto groaned. “Oh c’mon, gimme your hand in case you forgot about it.”

“No.” Sasuke held his hand closer to his chest, dodging away from Naruto’s grasp.

“You stubborn bastard⏤”

“Dumbass, get the fuck away⏤” The young men wrestled in the conference room, stumbling through chairs and knocking down assorted papers and pens.

“Sasuke, goddammit, just for a few seconds, I swear!” Naruto yowled, arms stretched out in a vain attempt to reach Sasuke’s hand.

Sighing, Sasuke lowered his arm. “I’ll humor you for once, I guess.” He raised his palm, showing his moon tattoo.

Naruto broadened a victorious smile, interlacing his tanned fingers with pale ones. When their tattoos touched, a warm ball of light grew till it lit up the whole room, but Sasuke dropped his hand, cutting off its connection.

"You felt that right, once again. That wave of happiness, the comfort, contentment. We complete each other.” Breathing heavily, remnants of those emotions overwhelmed him, soulful blue eyes attempted to reach his soulmate.

Sasuke averted his gaze, crafting a blank expression and shrugged. “I disagree with this. Those feelings are probably some kind of animalistic instinct to preserve our species and I’m beyond all that. Why do people keep claiming that they need to find their other half? I’m already one whole person, I’m against the notion that you need someone else to feel complete.”

Raising his eyebrows impressed, Naruto hummed pensive, conceding. "Alright…that's a very fair point. But no matter how complete you are, you need relationships to sustain yourself. Family, coworkers, friends…we're humans that need other people all the time. And isn't it great that nature gave us this tool to find the best companion that will share his lifetime with you?"

"This system is flawed and imperfect Naruto. You know it as well as I do." Sasuke retorted. "And I'd rather not waste my life blindly relying over something that might fail in the long run."

“You're selling a technology that lets people find their own soulmate.” Naruto muttered incredulously.

“I sell the tool, not the satisfaction nor its promise for happiness." Sasuke offered with a prim sniff, chin raised. "And whatever might be my business, it has nothing to do with my personal opinion, in which is that I'm fine not needing a soulmate."

"Why? I thought we were in agreement back then!"

"Which goes back to the talk that we were just young and naive, that's all. I changed my mind."

“Honestly, why are you going so against it, it’s like one of those obvious laws of nature. It’s inevitable, like…" Naruto paused for a second, trying to come up with valid examples. "Like gravity, physics, and everything like…babies would always cry…um…dogs are angels and cats are evil…”

“How dare you, you take back that last sentence right fucking now.” Sasuke growled.

“Alright, maybe cats are also nice, I’ll let you adopt one when we live together!”

“No, thank you. And for every supposed law of nature, it’s never entirely universal. You can use aerodynamics to fly above gravity, cats can save kids and dogs can bite⏤”

“And babies crying?” Naruto chimed in.

“...tiny baby lizards don’t cry.” Sasuke regretted it the instant he uttered these words, he knew that his IQ would just drop if he’d spend one minute more with this dumbass, Naruto is just this infectious. "That doesn't matter. I thought I came here so I could talk about work, not engaging in those childish conversations that go nowhere."

"...so." Naruto smacked his lips and grinned. "I am your social media manager then."

Sasuke stared and narrowed his eyes. "My company's social media."

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. You have my phone number and Line? It's⏤"

“I know your number, I just have to unblock you.”

Sasuke half-expected Naruto bristling in indignation when he got the confirmation that he was indeed, blocking him out over those years. A crestfallen despair flashed through Naruto’s eyes, before blossoming to a warm smile.

“I’m just glad we’re talking again, that’s all that matters.”

Sasuke wanted to tell him that it’s only work related. That it won’t change his mind and once the contract would be over, they would part their respective ways. Caustic, sharp words had to be uttered so he could end this nonsense at last, but somehow it died on his throat when his whole soul ached to reach Naruto’s face and kiss the pained frown away.

Thankfully, a knock from the door broke their stupor, and Naruto opened to meet Neji and some of Sasuke’s coworkers.

“Well, it seems that their meeting is over. Anyways, Hoozuki-sama, Yamato-sama, Uzumaki Naruto-san here will be in charge of Shinrei’s whole social media account, as well as strategy and planning.”

Naruto and Sasuke’s coworkers shook hands and exchanged name cards, bowing politely as they began the meeting. Suigetsu quirked his eyebrow, noticing how Sasuke always averted his gaze whenever he talked with Uzumaki-san, even though the blond man stared as if Sasuke was the only man in the whole room.

Those were intense, covetous azure eyes that somehow weren't much tainted with lust. Curiosity piqued, Suigetsu dragged his friend to the side while Naruto was talking with the other coworker.

“So…from all the interactions I witnessed, it seems that you and that blondie have some history together right. What happened?”

Sasuke glared. “Nothing.”

“Oh c’mon, just tell me! It’s the first time I ever saw you being so nervous around a guy, whatever happened has to be something big.”

Sasuke sighed, shutting his eyes. He uttered in the most bored tone he could muster. “Naruto is my soulmate.”

Suigetsu blinked. “…huh?”

“My soulmate.” Sasuke repeated. “He’s my soulmate.”

“WHAT?!” Suigetsu shouted, switching his gaze back and forth towards Sasuke and Naruto. “You lucky dog, you found your soulmate this easily?! And he’s hot too!”

“He is?” Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, then turned around for a quick check. No, that’s the usual dumbass, stupid grin Naruto, there’s nothing new about that.

“God, the fact that you don’t want a soulmate makes even less sense now! I want a hottie like him riding me till tomorrow for the rest of my life.” Suigetsu noticed the black eyebrow twitching in annoyance and curled a saucy grin. “I better get first in line if he’s interested.”

“Whatever suits you best.” Sasuke grumbled, as they all moved back to the entrance, as the meeting was over.

Someone poked his shoulder. “Hey hey. Sasuke.” He turned his face, glare activated but halted at once when he felt moist lips touching his skin. “Have a nice day.” Naruto beamed.

He furiously rubbed his cheek with his hand, growling. “I’m going to kill you.”

“So testy, I just gave you one innocent peck on your cheek.” Laughing, Naruto patted his back while he returned to the office.

Neji observed the grin that stretched from ear to ear and muttered. “Oh dear me. It’s been a while since I saw you smiling this much.”

“Well, duh. Obviously.”

“Hm. You’re satisfied with the arrangement then?”

“Yeah! Thanks for everything Neji.”

“Likewise. I hope whatever conclusion you two will reach, it’ll be satisfactory to you both.” Pearly eyes peered in earnest intensity, so Naruto offered a half-grin back. “But I would like to remind you that Sasuke is our client, right.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Naruto appeased him.

“Don’t go too far.”

“I won’t!”

“Please don’t annoy Sasuke too much, okay.”

There was a long silence and then. “Uh. Sure!”

Is it too late to change his own mind; Neji wondered with a sigh.

⏤.⏤

Six hundred, forty three. That’s the number of times Sasuke had to suppress the urge to throw Suigetsu out of the car, whenever his friend nagged wanting to know more details about Naruto.

He hoped once he arrived in his office, all this nonsense would be over so he could concentrate on his work. Promising gruesome bloody murder if Suigetsu ever dared to gossip about his love life, he strode to Itachi’s room.

“Nii-san.”

“Oh, welcome back otouto-kun. How was the meeting? How is Neji-kun?” Itachi acknowledged him with a quick nod, eyes still focused on the laptop.

“Neji is fine, his marketing plan is really well planned and he is just going to make us cover the basic costs, nothing else.” Sasuke paced around, and said. “Nii-san, you won’t believe who is going to take care of our social media.”

“Oh, Neji told me. I’ve heard that he’s a really bright, young man…” Itachi raised his eyes to meet with Sasuke’s, a knowing beam broadening his lips. “Blond, blue eyes, who has an exquisite sun tattoo that fits with your moon tattoo pretty perfectly…”

“What the f⏤!” Sasuke tamped down the urge to scream, throwing his hands to the air. “I can’t believe you all! You, Neji and Naruto all planned this?! I can’t believe that you would betray me. You’re my brother!”

“And as your older brother, I agreed with Neji-kun that you avoiding Naruto-kun is damaging you in the long run, but considering your stubbornness I thought that it’d be better if I nudged a little in the right direction.”

“Unbelievable. I thought that you, of all people, understood me the best considering the experience we suffered with mother and father.”

Sighing, Itachi stilled in commiseration, picking his tea cup. He sipped the warm beverage, murmuring. “I considered these memories for a long time, but I concluded that I shouldn’t let them deter my life. It’s specifically because of them that I’m determined to find the perfect companionship with my soulmate.”

Sasuke scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, big words from someone who didn’t bother himself to find his own soulmate. You know really well that he or she lives in the Netherlands but you kept delaying buying the plane ticket.”

“…I have…other priorities for now.” Itachi argued with a clipped tone.

“No, you just share the same trauma as I do but since it’s not your problem, you thought you could manipulate however you liked about my own life. It is your loss though, because even if our parents’ divorce may had influenced my opinion about Soulmates, I have valid reasons to reject it.” Sasuke declared, tightening his hands into a fist. “I’ll do this damn job with Naruto just to prove you, and then we’ll go on our own goddamn different paths. Just you wait.”

“…” Itachi studied his younger brother’s agitated state, eyebrows knitted, resolute.

Honestly, Sasuke had already grown old enough to be in any need of his guidance, but above all, he wasn’t really accepting any of it even if Itachi tried to drill any word in his hard-headed mind. From now on he guessed he’d leave it up to Naruto, and he hoped the young man would have enough patience handling his younger brother.

⏤.⏤

Naruto was being…strange. At first, Sasuke expected that the dumbass would use the opportunity that he unblocked his contact to flirt with him, or engage inane conversation or send dick pics. The blond man was oddly very considerate nevertheless, using their chats for strict professional subjects, not one thing out of line.

On the other hand, they had a lot of physical meetings. At first it was only once per week, not arousing his suspicion as Sasuke considered that Naruto probably had a lot of questions that it’d be better clarified with these kinds of meetings. The following week they had twice per week and then thrice. Also, whatever professional courtesy Naruto had respected in chats, was thrown out of the window when he saw Sasuke, trying to start off-topic conversations, sitting really close to him and generally being a pain in the ass.

(Sasuke didn’t want to admit that he was enjoying those meetings)

When Naruto called, ready to schedule another meeting, Sasuke rebutted. “A meeting? Online meeting, you meant.”

“Oh no, like a meeting, meeting. As in, me going to your office or you going to mine and…”

“For someone who only uses online tools for your everyday work, you oddly prefer a face to face meeting for no particular reason.”

“What can I say, I’m a people’s person after all.” Naruto chuckled. “Well, if you’re too busy we can reschedule if you want.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. This really felt like some sort of measured chess game, when one man was carefully choosing which pieces to sacrifice or to keep it alive. He expected that since Naruto was so impatient he’d prefer a direct approach instead of slowly luring him in.

“Then again, I haven’t seen him for over seven years, who knows how much he had changed since then.”

⏤.⏤

UGH.

This is so fucking hard.

What Naruto really wanted was to drag Sasuke to some secluded room and have his way until they were both satisfied. But nope, that stupid ass bastard is just too stubborn and suspicious of everything that if he did any sudden move, Naruto was afraid that Sasuke would disappear to some far away country, like Canada or Argentina or something like that.

Was he asking for too much in wanting to have his soulmate back? Was he? He just wanted life to be easier for once. Stupid Sasuke. Why. Uuuuugh. Now Sasuke was already getting suspicious that they were having way too many meetings and Naruto wanted at least some compensation for using all his remaining patience to let Sasuke dictate this fucking slower than slug pace.

He heard the familiar ping, unlocking his phone.

Sorry, just finished a meeting now. I’m going to arrive 15 minutes late.

Oooooh?

Grinning, Naruto noticed Sasuke typing some response but he was quicker.

Uchiha-sama is going to be late? My eyes didn’t deceive me just now, did I really read that?

Moron.

Naruto laughed, thankful that his typing speed was faster than Sasuke’s. I mean, Uchiha Sasuke-sama is actually going to be late for the first time in his life. Wow, it’s going to rain knives today.

It’s not my fault dumbass, the sponsor I was talking with wanted more details about my software. And he’s an old man it was difficult to explain in layman terms.

Ah, yeah…sounds tough. Don’t worry about it, I can wait while I’m working. Thanks for the heads up.

Sasuke snorted, relaxing his shoulders on the taxi seat while he stared at the buildings passing by. Opening a new company was so hard, so many people to visit, so many potential sponsors and clients to sell your product. There were also many annoying obligations to register your company and documentation to smooth things through too. His father gave enough initial investments to help them open the business but aside that, they were really green, unsure what steps to proceed in a shrewd market.

Thanks to Naruto’s strategies their brand is getting recognition between specialists for now, some well-known influencers tested their technology, aiding him to show tangible successes in the effort to convince people. But although they were impressed, few signed the deed, not wanting to risk their precious capital over an infant company.

Exhaling a tired breath, he went to the conference room after he greeted Neji. The moment he opened the door, he immediately picked the nice fragrance of fresh cooked rice.

“Hey. I’m just gonna finish retouching some reports and we’ll start the meeting right away.” Naruto said.

In front of him laid a neat porcelain plate with three onigiris, then a tomato salad inside a plastic package and even Caramel dark chocolate from a fancy brand.

“Oh yeah, feel free to dig in, I bought this for you.”

At this admission his stomach growled and Sasuke licked his lips. “How did you know I was hungry?” Sharp graphite eyes narrowed.

“Well…if I’m not mistaken, you usually eat around 12:30 or something right? Unless you changed your habit, I mean. But it’s already 1 pm, and you didn’t mention stopping a little to eat lunch, so I thought it would be best if I bought something for you.”

…Naruto still remembered all his favorite foods. Warm beats expanded in his chest and Sasuke forcibly tamped it down. This is just residual instinct caused by this soulmating system, it had nothing to do with his feelings. He savored each bite in silence while Naruto gave the monthly report.

Hmph. Dumbass.

--.--

Chapter 03

#NaruSasu #snstext #sn fic #sns fic #drabble

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