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whatwillyoudodifferently · 4 years ago

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Look, Louts! Lilies! - Yuri For A Hope-Flung Present and Hopeful Future

Look, I’ll be frank. I typically try to keep to a more formal tone when I write for this blog. I’m not in a formal mood. It is June October 2020, and I, like the rest of you, have been under quarantine for a little over three almost seven months now due to the Covid-19 virus. Throw in a eensy, teensy bit of massive political movements and change in response to police violence and racism, and an increase of police violence and racism in response to those movements, and I think it’s fair to say it’s been a tumultuous couple of months. Except, strangely, it also hasn’t been, because so much of this time has been characterized by ennui and isolation. Stressful, yet soul-numbing. In short, it’s been a very weird place to be in.

So, we’ve all found our different ways to cope. My sister’s way has been getting really into succulents(?), and my way has been buying digital manga and video games. I’ve finished stuff I’ve put off for literal years and bought stuff I had heard was good but wasn’t that hyped to get into. And somehow, the one thing I’ve really gotten into has been yuri?

Now, yuri has a very long and rich history, as well as its own sets of conventions and nuances, so it is with a great, great, GREAT deal of respect that I say that I’m going to simplify it for this essay as “Japanese media with a particular focus on romance between women” for brevity’s sake. If you want to know more, there’s actually quite a lot that’s been written about it in English, but I’m aiming this essay at English-speakers who have had at least a little experience with yuri and more than just passing knowledge.

Because you see, I’ve found that yuri fans have a lot of things to say about yuri! And a lot of those things really bug me!! “Yuri is only fetish quasi-porn written by men,” “yuri is only bland wholesome fluff,” “yuri is only high school drama,” so on, so on. It made me mad, but it also made me realize something: a lot of people simply must not know how big this field of lilies truly is! How else can we get people saying “yuri is oversexualized” and “yuri is sexless” as gospel truth? Something’s not adding up here, guys!

So, all that is to say I’m doing something different for this blog: I’m writing up a recommendation list of yuri. A large chunk of it will be stuff I’ve read and can officially give my seal of approval to, while some of them are just titles I’ve heard of that I think will interest others. All of them have been specifically chosen to counter common untrue things I’ve heard about yuri as a whole. I hope you can find at least a few things on this list that you will enjoy and help you keep your head as the encroaching darkness lurches yet a few inches closer!

1. “Yuri is all schoolgirl stuff! Where’s the sci-fi, the period pieces, the action, the fantasy?”

Otherside Picnic

What It Is: A light novel series written by Iori Miyazawa (illustrated by shirakaba). Ongoing, four volumes at time of writing. The story is being adapted into a manga by Eita Mizuno, and an anime adaptation directed by Takuya Satou will be airing in January 2021.

What It’s About: It was on her third trip to the Otherside that Sorawo Kamikoshi almost died, and it was on that same trip she was saved by an angel. Toriko Nishina is a beautiful and confident young woman who also happens to have intimate knowledge of the Otherside, a dangerous yet captivating world that Sorawo can’t help but being drawn to. Toriko convinces Sorawo to join her on her expeditions to the Otherside, fighting off bizarre creatures that have somehow been ripped out of Japanese urban legends and finding strange artifacts in order to make a little extra cash-- all the while keeping an eye out for someone dear to Toriko’s heart.

What I Think: Otherside Picnic is heavily inspired by the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and features several creatures and scenarios from ghost stories, net lore, and-- there’s no other way to put this-- creepypasta. On paper this sounds deeply unoriginal, so it’s pretty surprising that OP has an incredibly strong identity. The idea of fusing horror with a yuri love story excited me enough the moment I heard about it, so when I finally got to read it for myself, I was delighted to find that the horror elements and the romance elements are both quite strong.

I will say that thanks to the author’s commitment to following his sources of inspiration to the letter sometimes causes him to undercut his own writing (good example: in one arc there’s an ominous train that keeps being mentioned, causing the reader to dread its arrival with each passing page, but seeing what’s on the train will inevitably fall flat in comparison to the reader’s imagination), but those moments are made up by the more original moments-- the things that are left unseen and unexplained.

The place where the story truly shines is the relationship between the two leads. Sorawo and Toriko are great characters, both incredibly charming and deeply flawed, and they achieve a great chemistry with each other right off the bat. Sorawo is a very interesting protagonist, one who turns out to have a deeply tragic past that has made her into a reclusive, somewhat selfish young woman. What’s great is that Toriko, vivacious and confident, everything Sorawo isn’t, accepts this part of her, in a way. Toriko flat out admits she’s not looking for a particularly virtuous person to accompany her, but an “accomplice.” A big part of the appeal of OP is seeing these two “accomplices” bounce off each other, and eventually come to care about each other, all playing against a background of some genuinely spine-crawling horror. Otherside Picnic is a truly underrated series, and I deeply hope that the anime adaption next year will finally get it all the eyes it deserves (menacing phrasing very much intended).

Where To Get It: The light novels are published by J-Novel Club and can be found via various digital platforms and bookstores. The manga will be published by Square Enix Books starting May 2021. The anime will start airing on January 4th, 2021.

Goodbye My Rose Garden

What It Is: A manga by Dr. Pepperco. Three volumes, complete. It inspired a stage play that ran for a while in Japan, but not much information is available about it in English.

What It’s About: Hanako has two goals: to meet Victor Franks, the mysterious author who pens the books she adores, and to become a writer herself. Despite having the mettle to travel to England on her own to pursue her dreams, she soons finds that it’s difficult for a young, unwed Japanese woman to dream in 20th century London. However, her luck seems to turn around when she meets Alice Douglas, a noblewoman who offers her a job as her maid-- as well as a surprisingly warm friendship. Alice even offers Hanako a way to meet her idol… but at the price of a horrifying request.

What I Think: In the afterword of Volume 1, Dr. Pepperco openly admits that Goodbye, My Rose Garden was the result of them trying to marry all of their favorite tropes (“Victorian maids! Loads of frills! An English family manor!” are some standout items), and this is apparent in the best way possible. GMRG is a lush period piece that will likely appeal to fans of movies like The Handmaiden and Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, with loving attention paid to details like clothes and settings.

The relationship between Alice and Hanako is quite charming, with Alice supporting Hanako as much as she can while still taking every available opportunity to tease her, while Hanako constantly surprises Alice each time she shows her moxie and strength. It’s an adorable, sweet dynamic, yet a dark, melancholy weight lurks in the background in the form of Alice’s request-- in short, it’s a relationship that feels tailor made for me. Still, I believe this “darkness” never threatens to overwhelm the story, only enhance it in such a way that the reader will soldier on, hoping for a happy ending for our two leads. With an engaging plot and gorgeous art, this is a great manga for both longtime yuri fans and newcomers looking for an introduction to the world of yuri.

Where To Get It: Seven Seas Entertainment has translated the first two volumes, with the final one coming to English soon all three volumes into English.

Seabed

What It Is: A visual novel by paleontology, a Japanese doujin circle.

What It’s About: Mizuno Sachiko is a designer who is haunted by visions of Takako, her vivacious childhood friend and former lover. Narasaki Hibiki is a psychiatrist who wants to help Sachiko make sense of these hallucinations. Takako is… confused, trying to figure out why she keeps losing her memory and why she and Sachiko drifted apart despite being so close. Seabed is a story that spans the pasts and presents of these three women as they attempt to find and understand the truth.

What I Think: At first glance, Seabed seems simple, but it’s a bit of a hard story to explain. In a way, there isn’t much to explain-- it’s a very slow, down-to-earth story that gets almost tedious at times. I think it would be a hard sell to someone who isn’t used to visual novels, but I could imagine it being challenging even for fans. All I’ll say is this: if you give Seabed a chance, it will draw you into a surreal, gentle, melancholy tale akin to slowly sinking beneath the water of a strange, yet not unfriendly sea. For its simplicity, it’s got quite a few surprises in its long, long runtime, and any attempt to explain further will just ruin an experience that’s meant to wash over the reader over time. The only thing I’ll say is the one thing I think everyone knows: the climax will make you cry.

Where To Get It: Seabed is published in English through Fruitbat Factory and is available on Steam, Itch.io, and Nintendo Switch.

SHWD

What It Is: A manga by Sono. Ongoing.

What It’s About: Sawada is one of the few women working for the Special Hazardous Waste Disposal, and the only one in her office. But that changes when the stunningly-strong yet staggeringly-sweet Koga is hired, and the two become close in no time. Sawada trains Koga and soon the two go on their first mission to dispose of the “hazardous waste” left after a recent war… the dangerous, organic anti-human weapons known as the Dynamis.

What I Think: SHWD opens with several close-ups of Sawada’s arm muscles as she works out. I have found that page alone is sometimes enough to convince someone to read SHWD, and if not, pictures of Sawada and-- especially-- Koga are often enough to do the job. In all seriousness, what I love about SHWD can be summarized by something Sono said in an interview about the manga:

‘The first motivating force was "I want to write a yuri manga featuring strong women." I was very drawn to strong female characters by watching "PERSON of INTEREST" and "Assassin's Creed Odyssey." However, I felt that I should differentiate myself by doing something other than a "strong woman" and "weak woman" dynamic. So, I thought about coupling women with different types of strength. This is why all of the SHWD main characters are "strong women."’

It’s a mindset I love a lot. Koga is remarkably strong in a physical sense, but her mental fortitude is fragile due to her past experiences with the Dynamis, and as such, it’s Sawada who uses her immense mental strength to support her. Indeed, every character in SHWD so far bears intense trauma born of the Dynamis in some way, and it’s hard to see how their pasts still hurt them in the present. But that just makes it satisfying to see these women come together to support one another. SHWD drew me in with a unique and often dark action-oriented story with horror elements, but it’s this idea of “strong women” who make up for each other’s weaknesses that really makes it dear to me.

Also, it can’t be stated enough that Sono is so so so so so (etc) good at drawing muscular women.

On a completely unrelated note, there’s a side story about Koga and Sawada playing sports together. This includes judo. I am saying this for no reason.

Where To Get It: The English translation of the manga is released in chapters by Lilyka Manga.

Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress!

What It Is: A two volume light novel series by Ameko Kaeruda, illustrated by Kazutomo Miya. Possibly complete.

What It’s About: Tanya Artemiciov is an absurdly talented Mage. So why the hell was she kicked out of her adventuring party? Her leader and former friend sums it up in four words: “You’re a woman, Tanya.” In a fit of rage, Tanya channels her anger into a “venting” session that involves swearing her head of and casting a volley of Explosion spells into the wasteland… and accidentally releases a legendary sorceress! Luckily, Laplace is actually quite nice, and just as powerful as the legends say, so the two decide to team up so Tanya can have her revenge!

What I Think: So, this is a silly one, but after a couple of darker entries I think it’s a good palate cleanser. Sexiled is a loud, not-even-remotely subtle, unabashedly feminist take on the “power fantasy” light novel, especially the “revenge fantasy” subgenre-- and even if that sounds awesome on paper to you (ex. me), it will probably feel over-the-top at times to you (ex. me). But in a way, that’s actually kind of its charm.

I like that Kaeruda utterly refuses to let up on what she wants to tell you, especially because the story was inspired by a real case in Japan. One may be tempted to think “this story is ridiculous, no one would ever be this cartoonishly sexist!” and then you read a news article about how in a famous Japanese medical university was found rigging the test scores of women, and you realize, “oh, people are still this cartoonishly sexist.” So I’m fine with Kaeruda letting it all out in this story. At the same time, I think Sexiled is best when it’s focused not on Tanya’s revenge but on her kindness, and the way her compassion, her strength, and yes, her anger inspires the women and girls around her.

Sexiled is a fun and often very funny romp about assholes getting theirs, with some surprisingly deep and nuanced moments hiding in a very unsubtle story.

Where To Get It: The light novels are published by J-Novel Club and can be found via various digital platforms and bookstores.

BONUS: Other titles with sci-fi/fantasy/action elements that may interest you!

The Blank Of Describer: A one-shot manga by kkzt about a pair of two dream-builders. They’ve taken all kinds of commissions in the past, but one job they recieve throws them for a loop: a request for a shinigami that can predict and report death. And then comes the kicker: the customer asks the two of them to give it features that the both of them “adore the most…” (Published in English by Lilyka Manga)

A Lily Blooms In Another World: A light novel by Ameko Kaeruda (illustrated by Shio Sakura), author of Sexiled, about Miyako, a Japanese wage slave reincarnated into another world based on her favorite otome game. However, she’s not interested in her would-be love interest, but in Fuuka Hamilton-- the game’s villainess! After Miyako confesses her love, Fuuka decides to give her a challenge: if Miyako can make her say the words “I’m happy” in fourteen days, she’ll stay by her side! (Published in English through J-Novel Club, available on various platforms)

Superwomen In Love: An ongoing manga by sometime about the sentai villainess Honey Trap and her infatuation with the masked superheroine Rapid Rabbit. After being kicked out of her evil organization, Honey Trap decides to team up with her former nemesis to fight evil-- and hopefully, find romance! (To be published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment, coming in April 2021)

2. “Yuri is all stories about teenagers! Where’s the stuff about adults?”

Take a look at the previous section: there’s the stuff about adults! Otherside Picnic, Goodbye My Rose Garden, Seabed, SHWD, Sexiled, The Blank of Describer, A Lily Blooms In Another World, and Superwomen In Love are all stories with adult-aged protagonists! But if you’re searching for a more down-to-earth romance, I’m happy to report there’s quite a bit of options to look into!

Still Sick

What It Is: A manga by Akashi. Three volumes, complete.

What It’s About: Makoto Shimizu is an office lady with a secret: she’s a yuri fan who draws doujinshi. She’s able to keep her two lives separate, all until the day she comes face-to-face with her co-worker at a convention! To Makoto’s horror, Akane Maekawa is amused by her nerdy secret, but Akane may have some secrets of her own...

What I Think: This one was a roller coaster for me: I loved the premise of the manga, but wasn’t sure about the dynamic between the leads… that is, until near the end of the first volume, where something happened and everything changed. Without giving too much away, I implore people to give Still Sick a chance-- it has a much deeper story than one might initially guess, as well as an interesting character dynamic between the two leads with some surprising turns.

Where To Get It: The first two volumes of Still Sick are published in English by Tokyopop, with the final one coming soon All three volumes have been published in English by Tokyopop.

After Hours

What It Is: A manga by Yuhta Nishio. Three volumes, complete.

What It’s About: After being ditched by her friend at a club, Emi Ashiana is ready to write the whole night off. All that changes when she meets Kei, a DJ who seems to be everything Emi is not-- cool, confident… employed.... But Kei and Emi hit it off and Emi’s life changes as Kei draws her into the world of Japan’s club scene!

What I Think: It’s hard to explain exactly why I like this manga, but I reeeeally like this manga.

There’s just something about the sleek art, the amazing atmosphere of the scenes set in nightclubs, the chemistry between Emi and Kei, the focus on more mature topics.... it’s a manga that’s remarkably magnetic for how down-to-earth it is. It’s also just interesting to read stories about subcultures that don’t normally get a spotlight in comics. To sum it up, After Hours is just a lovely manga that’s severely underrated that’s perfect for someone who’s looking for a story that’s both fun and mature.

Where To Get It: All three volumes are published in English by Viz Media.

How Do We Relationship?

What It Is: A manga by Tamifull. Ongoing, five volumes at time of writing.

What It’s About: Miwa and Saeko’s first meeting is… interesting. But despite that, and despite their clashing personalities, the two of them become fast friends. Well… actually, perhaps more than friends. You see, pretty soon the two of them learn that the other is into women. With that in mind, Saeko suggests they try dating each other-- might as well, right? “Might as well” seems like a strange place to begin a relationship, but perhaps even something like that could end in true love?

What I Think: “Why do romances always end when they decide to start dating?!” That’s the question Tamifull poses in the afterword of Volume 1. And it’s a great question! What makes How Do We Relationship? an interesting manga is how oddly realistic it is, highlighting things like the compromises people make in relationships, people who get into relationships for pragmatic reasons rather than love, the whole “thing” about sex… as well as highlighting the additional issues queer people have to deal with. That may sound like a heavy story, but it’s actually quite light-hearted, as well as very, very funny at times. With a cute art style and surprisingly deep premise, HDWR is a great manga for older yuri fans who are craving a more mature story.

Where To Get It: The first volume has been published in English by Viz Media, with more on the way.

BONUS: Other titles with adult protagonists that may interest you!

Even Though We’re Adults: A manga by Takako Shimura about two women in their thirties. Ayano and Akari meet each other in a bar and almost immediately feel a sense of chemistry between them. There’s just one problem: Ayano is married to someone else. (To be published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment, coming in January 2021)

Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon: A manga by Shio Usui. Uno Hinako wants nothing more than to be seen as a normal young woman, but she just can’t seem to make a “normal” romance work. But maybe Sato Asahi, a woman who works at the same company as her, can show her a new kind of normal? (To be published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment, coming in February 2021)

Our Teachers Are Dating: A manga by Pikachi Ohi. Hayama Asuka is a gym teacher, Terano Saki is a biology teacher. One day, they come into work both looking suspiciously happy… because they’ve started dating! (Published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment)

I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up: A one-volume manga by Kodama Naoko. Morimoto is sick and tired about constantly being badgered about finding a man to marry, so her kouhai from her high school days offers a solution: marry each other to make her parents back off! (Published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment)

Now Loading…!: A one-volume manga by Mikan Uji. Takagi has just snagged her dream job at a games publisher, but being put in charge of a mobile game that’s barely pulling in any attention isn’t exactly what she was hoping for. What’s worse, she’s drawn the attention of her strict higher-up Sakurazuki Kaori… who also happened to design her most favorite game of all time?! (Published in English through Seven Seas Entertainment)

3. “Yuri is all schoolgirl stuff! Where’s- wait, didn’t we already do this one?”

Yes we did. And you know what? I’m making a stand! There’s a lot of really, really good yuri stories set in high schools, and I think more people need to give them a chance! Here are some high school titles that I think are worth a second look for one reason or another!

Bloom Into You

What It Is: A manga by Nakatani Nio. Eight volumes, complete. A twelve episode anime aired in 2018, covering about the first half of the series. A three volume spinoff light novel series written by Hitoma Iruma was also published.

What It’s About: Yuu Koito has long dreamed of the day she’d find That One, Storybook Romance that would make her feel like she was walking on air, but the day that a boy confesses to her, her feet remain firmly planted on the ground. When she meets Touko Nanami, a girl who seems to have the same strange, distant relationship to romance as she does, Yuu feels like she has found a comrade. But what will happen when the next person to confess to Yuu… is Touko?

What I Think: What can I say about Bloom Into You that hasn’t already been said? There’s a reason it’s basically considered a staple of yuri despite being only five years old. The art is beautiful and delicate, the story has a deft mastery of comedy, drama, and romance, and the characters are deeply loveable. Really, the only reason this one is here is to tell you to get to reading this manga (or watching the anime) if you haven’t already. So get to it!

Where To Get It: The entire series-- as well as the spinoff light novel series Regarding Saeki Sayaka-- has been published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment. The anime is currently streaming on HiDive.

Yuri Is My Job

What It Is: A manga by Miman. Ongoing, seven volumes at time of writing.

What It’s About: Hime wants nothing more than to be adored by everyone and to someday bag a rich husband. Of course, being loved by all takes a lot of work, and she prides herself in keeping her perfect, adorable facade so well-maintained. But of course, the one time she slips up, she ends up injuring the manager of a local cafe! Hime finds herself strong-armed into working for this cafe under their star employee, a kind, graceful girl named Mitsuki. But things aren’t quite so simple-- you see, this cafe has a gimmick in which all the employees are constantly acting out yuri-inspired scenes for the customers, so in a way, the employees also have their own facades. And under her facade, Mitsuki… hates Hime’s guts!

What I Think: Yuri Is My Job is an odd duck, but in a good way. It’s advertised and initially framed as a comedy, but it becomes a surprisingly thoughtful drama about the personas people adopt and why they do so (though, luckily, the comedy never truly goes away). There’s an interesting web of relationships between the girls, and having those interactions take place in a setting where they must act out a completely different sort of drama adds an extra level of drama and intrigue. The cute, polished artwork is just the icing on the cake. YIMJ is a good manga for those who are already familiar with yuri tropes and those who are interested in a drama that doesn’t get too heavy.

Where To Get It: Six volumes have been published in English by Kodansha comics, with the seventh on the way.

Riddle Story of Devil

What It Is: A manga written by Yun Kouga and illustrated by Sunao Minakata. Five volumes, complete. A 12 episode anime aired in 2014.

What It’s About: At Myojo Private School, an elite all-girl’s academy, Class Black has a secret. Twelve of the thirteen girls are actually assassins who have been offered a dark deal-- one wish will be granted to whoever manages to kill Haru Ichinose, the thirteenth student. But there’s still hope for Haru in the form of Tokaku Azuma, one of the assassins who has decided to defect to Haru’s side-- and defend her from the other girls at any cost.

What I Think: I’m not sure… if I can say Riddle Story of Devil is “good.” It’s definitely something. Although its premise is vaguely similar to Revolutionary Girl Utena, its tone and atmosphere remind me a lot more of the Dangan Ronpa series. It’s schlocky and ridiculous and often over-the-top and at times exploitative. It’s pure junk food, basically… and I believe that’s where the charm comes from. It’s my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. It may not exactly be good, but more often than not, it’s fun. It’s hard not to be immediately interested in a yuri battle series, you have to admit.

And if it does have one undeniably good element, it’s Tokaku and Haru’s relationship. They contrast each other nicely, and while one might expect Haru to be boring and helpless, she’s actually quite proactive at times, and some of the most interesting, engaging parts of the series come from seeing how the two work together to fend off the latest assassin. It’s a short read and if anything, it’s worth it to see how each girl ends up. I recommend it for older viewers who are okay with violence and ludicrous battle scenarios.

Where To Get It: All five volumes are available through Seven Seas Entertainment. The anime can be watched through Funimation.*

*Please don’t watch the anime.**

** At the very least, please don’t watch the anime unless you’ve read the entire manga. Riddle Story Of Devil was one of those unfortunate cases where the anime adaption was produced before the manga reached its conclusion, and as such it has a very strange, rushed ending that includes none of what I enjoyed about the actual ending. Several scenes were also changed, and if I recall correctly, fanservice was added in several places where there was none previously. All in all, I’d really only recommend it for big fans of the series.

Side By Side Dreamers

What It Is: A light novel by Iori Miyazawa, illustrated by Akane Malbeni. One volume, complete.

What It’s About: Saya Hokage has been suffering from insomnia, but one day finds relief in the form of Hitsuji Konparu, a strange girl who can put people to sleep. As it turns out, Hitsuji is a person who has the special ability to move freely in their dreams, known as a “Sleepwalker.” The Sleepwalkers have been battling beings that possess people through their dreams, and it turns out they want Saya to join them in the fight.

What I Think: Side By Side Dreamers is short and… well, dreamy. I really enjoyed the premise and I think it’s a good novel for people who think Otherside Picnic may be a little too much for them. I also enjoyed each dream sequence-- I tend to find that the writing in light novels is a little dry, so the use of figurative language to describe these scenes was really refreshing and interesting. SBSD is a fun oneshot that I think is especially ideal for newcomers to yuri.

Where To Get It: Side-by-Side Dreamers is published by J-Novel Club and can be found via various digital platforms and bookstores.

Cocoon Entwined

What It Is: A manga by Yuriko Hara. Three volumes, ongoing.

What It’s About: Hoshimiya Girls' Academy is a strange, almost otherworldly paradise with a peculiar tradition. For all three years, each girl grows out her hair to absurd, breathtaking lengths, in order for it to eventually be cut and weaved into uniforms for future students. Perhaps it is these strange uniforms that seem to whisper about the past that makes the school seem frozen in another time… picturesque, yet stagnant. But one day, a shocking incident shatters the quiet peace of the academy, and the tumultuous feelings that have long been hidden in the hearts of these girls come rushing into the light.

What I Think: Cocoon Entwined is, in a word, eerie. It’s not marketed as a horror story, and I don’t think it’s intended to be one, but I’ve seen some that say they get horror vibes from it. I definitely understand that-- there’s a deep sense of unease that permeates the entire story in a way that’s a bit hard to articulate. The running thread of uniforms made from human hair definitely doesn’t hurt (it does-- I’ve seen many people understandably turned off by this element), but it’s more than that. It’s the sense that everything at Hoshimiya feels frozen and fragile. It’s the sense that everyone is burying their true feelings under countless layers. It’s the fact that in one scene, Saeki reaches out in a dark room full of uniforms and feels her arm touched by countless hands made of hair.

Cocoon Entwined is a strange manga, and I feel it’s not for everyone-- besides the way many are put off by the central premise, the way that the story jumps around in time can be a bit confusing to follow. But in my opinion, I love it for these elements: the uniforms and their marriage between beauty and grotesque, the sense of frozen time, the delicate artwork that feels like it might be shattered by the weight of your gaze, the strange, airless atmosphere, the girls and their clear exhaustion of having to be ideal women. It’s a strange little series that I think should be given a shot, particularly if you want something a little more out there, or a darker take on Class S tropes.

Where To Get It: Yen Press has currently published two volumes in English.

BONUS: Other high school titles that may interest you!

A Tropical Fish Yearns For Snow: A manga by Makoto Hagino. Konatsu Amano has just moved to a new town by the sea, and must deal with her new school’s mandatory club policy. Luckily, she meets Koyuki Honami, an older girl who runs the Aquarium Club. Recognizing her loneliness, Konatsu decides to join her club. (Published in English by Viz Media)

Flowers: A four-part series of visual novels published by Innocent Grey. Flowers focuses on Saint Angraecum Academy, a private high school that prides itself on overseeing the growth of proper young ladies. One notable thing about the academy is the Amitié program, a system that pairs students together in order to foster friendships between the girls. But friendship isn’t the only thing blooming… (Available in English from Steam, J-List, and JAST USA)

Adachi And Shimamura: A series of light novels written by Hitoma Iruma and illustrated by Non that has recently received a manga adaptation and an anime adaption. Adachi and Shimamura are two girls who encounter each other one day while cutting class. Little by little, the two girls become a part of each other’s lives, and feelings begin to form. (The light novels are published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment, the anime is licensed by Funimation)

And there we go! 24 different yuri titles. I didn’t even go into the series that I tried but personally didn’t like that still might interest other people. I primarily made this list to gush about yuri that I liked, but I also tried to include a fairly wide range of things so that, hopefully, any random person who read this whole list could find at least one new title that interests them. And I hope that includes you!

The yuri scene is quite large and wonderful if you know where to look, and it too often gets a bad rap. I hope that this list could give you a new perspective on what kinds of titles are available, and I hope it gives you something new to try. And remember: if you want something specific, try looking for it! There’s a good chance the story you’re craving is already out there, waiting to be discovered!

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moonloredraws · 4 years ago

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House of Blood

A story about an overworked and stressed out individual who goes to a vampire brothel for some consensual hypnosis to start off her holiday off work.

M Vampire x F Human (NSFW, tw hypnosis , tw vampire biting ) 4277 words

--- Life had been a cycle of stress and problems, and things had been spiralling for you recently. Your job had become too much to handle, your co-workers had once again proven to be unreliable and your boss had been more unreasonable than usual. Things had been hectic.

Your holiday had come up, fortunately. A couple of weeks away from the incessant stream of issues was a welcome reprieve. You had planned on enjoying yourself, treating yourself to some new clothes and other goodies.

You had even decided to go to the local smut bookshop. The Moonlore Bookstore had always piqued your interest, but you'd never really had any reason to go in. The interior was surprising, the inside seemed much older than the modern facade of the building led you to believe, but the atmosphere was cozy and welcoming. The front was a cafe, with the back half of the space hiding the books behind some discreet dividers. It had an unusual vibe for a place to buy erotic books.

The thing that most had stood out was an extensive board of flyers, business cards and other advertisements of all kinds.

This was clearly a busy place that many supernatural beings frequented, but that made sense, given how the owner seemed of elven descent and her husband was a werewolf. Much of the ads were specific services for the variety of creatures that shared the human world, though much of the ads were for different places that you hadn't even heard of. Why would there be adverts for services in Amsterdam, Chicago, London and some other notable cities all in one place? It boggled your mind.

However, as you scanned the board with curiosity, you noticed a stack of discreet ash grey cards with a bright red embellished pair of lips. They stood out, and you looked a bit closer.

“Are you stressed? Want to have your worried sucked away?Come to the House of Blood for a fresh reset.”

It was in your area, too.

You had never heard of such a place before. You unpinned one of the cards, and took a closer look. It seemed like some kind of establishment run by vampires. Brothels run by the supernatural community was nothing new, but you had never frequented something like it before. Your gut twisted with excitement. You had never really cared for such things, but something about having your stress relieved fast and possibly having fun on the side tickled your fancy.

With your new treats and purchases, you went home, and did some more digging on the House of Blood. It had a discreet website, and it was definitely a brothel of some kind, as you had suspected. It seemed legit, had a small gallery of some incredibly well dressed vampires, some information on the workers and the owner, and you gave a sigh of relief at it being legit.

It did have a appointment form, but encouraged people to go there in person to have a chat about the different options they offered and what would be most appropriate for the client.

So you got yourself hyped up. This was all new and exciting, and you waited until an hour after night-fall. Following your phone's GPS, you made your way to the place. It was in an alley off a very busy street, which may have rung some alarms bells if it weren't for the beautiful state of the alley. It was clean, no dumpsters, bright neon signs lighting everything up and with a clear big sign next to the door. You let out a breath you didn't know you had been keeping, and slouched your shoulders as you walked to the door nervously. The beautiful ashen door had the same red lips on it as the card, and you nervously turned the handle, and entered into a small hallway that had some stairs leading upstairs.

Climbing the red carpet covered stairs, you looked around at the rich reds and ashen colours of the interior. Clearly the same person had designed this place and the vampire run nightclub in the area. Or maybe the owner was the same. Perhaps, though, they simply kept up the same “vampire aesthetic” for the other people around. You weren't sure. However, as you got to the top, you came to a brightly lit waiting room. There was a desk of bright cherry red plastic, and behind it was a woman, her blonde hair pulled into a messy bun, with lipstick to match the desk and a slouchy cream coloured sweater.

“Welcome to the House of Blood! I don't believe I've seen you here before?” said the woman, her cheeks lifting as she smiled. You nodded as you walked closer, still a bit nervous.

“It's my first time here, yes,” your voice wavered, as you came up to the desk. “ Well, welcome! I'm Amandine, but you can just call me Mandy. Since you're new, I need you to fill out a simple questionnaire, and a little form. I'll help you through everything, so don't worry about it if something is unfamiliar!”

Her cheerful and helpful disposition helped put you at ease, and you swiftly filled in some details, the medical history part took you by surprise, but it made sense. Vampires drink blood, after all.

The 'little form' ended up being a pretty big list, actually. Most of it was kinks and things that you would be alright with in a sexual situation. What intrigued you was the box marked “hypnosis”.

“What does that involve?” you looked curiously over to Amandine. “Is that something like becoming puppeted...?”

Amandine shook her head, giving a slight chuckle. “No, when we 'hypnotise' people, it's more like we induce a state of intense tunnel vision. You'll feel things more intensely, and I haven't found an easier way to say this, but it just makes you very horny. We haven't found a better term, so we just use 'hypnotise'.” “Huh,” you hummed at it.

“Since you're looking at some stress relief, I do suggest that. It's very difficult to have your mind wandering while under the effects.” Amandine added helpfully. That sealed the deal. All in all you weren't really looking for a very extreme interaction, you just wanted to have some fun, but the added benefit of not having to worry about much seemed too good to pass up.

Amandine settled the paperwork, clipped it all together, and then pointed at one of the doors.

“You'll want to go to room 4. There are no locks, for client and worker safety, but rest assured, nobody except the right person will walk into your room,” she gave a playful wink as she stood up and walked to a different door in the lobby, directly behind the desk.

“There's a box for your clothes, and there's a fluffy robe, if you'd like to get into something more comfortable, waiting for you in the room.”

You nodded, butterflies tickling your stomach as you walked through the door, into a well decorated hallway, to a door with the number 4 on it. Cautiously, you opened it, and entered.

The interior was plush. There was a soft looking bed, and a couch, and a door to bathroom. Everything was some sort of red or dark grey tone. You found a small night stand, and a fluffy maroon robe.

You did as Amandine suggested, and stripped completely, shoving your clothes unceremoniously into the empty nightstand's drawer. The rest were filled with a pile of sex toys and condoms. Your cheeks flushed as you quickly put the robe on and went to sit down.

Your current situation began to dawn on you, and you restlessly played with your hands. Before you could get overwhelmed with doubt and stand up to put your clothes back on, you heard a knock on the door.

“Come in!” You squeaked. It was happening. No turning back now.

The door opened and a tall, pale skinned man slid in, a tray in his hands with two cups and a teapot. Your heart skipped a little as he flashed a fanged smile at you, dimples appearing on his cheeks.

“I'm Xavier, please to meet you!” He quickly set the tray down, and went to shut the door behind him. You nervously introduced yourself, noting how much your voice was shaking.

Xavier had a fluffy mop of wavy brown hair, and a slight 5 o'clock shadow painting his jaw. His eyes were a friendly brown, and if it hadn't been for his fangs, you could have sworn he was just some guy who didn't get outside much.

He wore a lightly cream coloured shirt, an intricately patterned green and gold vest, and some brown dress pants. He seemed much too overdressed to be part of a brothel, he'd be a much more fitting sight in a themed host club.

“No need to be so nervous. You're here to have a good time, right?” Xavier said as he sat down on the couch, placing the tray between the two of you. “Mandy said you preferred chamomile, so that's what we have.”

“Can vampires even drink tea?” The question had left your lips involuntarily, and Xavier let out a chuckle.

“Eating and drinking depends on what kind of vampire you are. Most turned vampires have a hard time processing food and some drinks, but I'm a born vampire, I can deal with this all just fine.”

You let out a 'huh' at that, and then picked up one of the cups which Xavier had filled with tea.

“So, a little bird told me that you've been dealt a bad hand by life at the moment.” Xavier took a sip of his tea.

You nodded, and began to tentatively recount some of the more frustrating events. Soon, you let yourself get more relaxed, and your gestures become more intense as you vented your worries, and Xavier ended up being a very good listener.

The conversation eventually started to lose steam, so Xavier picked up. He started to talk about himself. He had an interest in very fine embroidering, and occasionally would make some clothes for himself. He showed off his vest at that point, beaming at his creation.

“So... how come you've ended up working here?” You asked. Someone so skilled at sewing ending up in a brothel instead of working as a designer seemed odd.

“I enjoy helping people like this, and I'm a bit of a social butterfly. I tried being a host once, but that didn't end up working so well. I have... a slightly voracious appetite.” He smiled apologetically. You inhaled sharply at that, and you felt your cheeks warming up, and you felt a jolt in the pit of your stomach.

“I'll follow your lead, whenever you want to move onto something else, we can do that.” Xavier chuckled.

You nodded, blushing, and your shoulders tensed up. Xavier regarded you with a warm gaze, and slowly moved the tray to the side and shuffled closer to you, gingerly putting a hand on your shoulder.

“You're a bit tense again. Would you want me to give your shoulders a little massage?” He purred.

The vibrations of his voice went straight to your loins, and you stiffly nodded, turning your back to him. He gently tugged at the collar of your robe.

“Loosen your robe a bit, I can reach a little better that way.” He pulled the robes a little looser around your neck, and then gently pressed his fingers into your shoulders. As it turned out, his skills also extended to massaging, and you slowly found yourself sinking towards him.

You sighed, and soon he removed his hands.

“Feeling any better?” Xavier smiled at you.

“That was amazing,” you said, and then sighed.

He leaned slightly closer, leaning his head on his hand and sitting in a more casual pose. “I can keep going... or we can move onto something different?”

You debated on it for a moment, before the ache in the pit of your stomach started to become a little more incessant.

“I think... something a little different might be nice...” you said, slowly, and something lit up in Xavier's eyes.

“Then... may I touch you, pet?” His voice had changed, something almost predatory came alive in him. You nodded, almost afraid, but something about being in the presence of this creature excited you.

He gently placed his hand on your knee, and then slowly slid up your thigh, giving it a little squeeze halfway up. His hand started to skirt along the edge of the fabric of the robe.

“I won't touch anywhere that is covered... so you lead.” He purred, keeping his hand on your thigh, rubbing languid circles with his thumb. You let out a little huff, and then bashfully began to untie the belt on the robe. As you slowly let the belt fall away, your robe opened slightly, and Xavier let out an approving sound, slowly trailing his finger higher up your thigh.Soon, his hand dragged up your partially exposed stomach, between the groove of your breasts, then lightly touching the line of your collarbone.

“Mmh... you already smell so good and we've barely even started. You must really want this, that, or you're just naturally a treat.” Xavier licked his lips. “If you want me to make you feel better just say the word.”

The slow drag of his fingertips across your skin and the mood of the room made you a little bit braver all of a sudden.

“What do you have in mind?”

Xavier let out a chuckle, and you let his hand travel around to tip your chin upwards. “I can make you feel a way you've never felt before.”

“Is that right?” you tested him, before shakily breathing out, “show me what you've got then.”

He grinned, and something changed.

In the split second that you had challenged him, your body suddenly got hot, your vision blurred and your brain suddenly felt trapped in a bubble.

“Look at me, pet,” Xavier whispered, holding the back of your head with one of his hands. “It's alright. Nothing bad will happen.”

Your head was spinning, the sensation was odd and uncomfortable, but soon enough you focused on the way that his other hand was petting your thigh. You focused on the way his eyes were staring at you, the way his lips moved, and before you had a chance to get used to this strange sensation of being partially stuck in your own head, your entire being became a ball of nerves.

You started to breathe heavily as the fabric of the robe began to feel constricting around you, and you started struggling out of the fabric. Your body didn't want to listen very well, and you couldn't managed to make the fabric slip off you.

Xavier hummed, looking at you.

“What's the matter, pet? Having some trouble taking your clothes off?” He was clearly enjoying this, but you found that you didn't mind his teasing. “Do you need me to help you?”

You tried to reply, but all that came out was a moan, so you weakly nodded your head.

In a swift motion, you found yourself pulled onto Xavier's lap, your front exposed to him, your legs spread obscenely. The new sensation of the fabric of his pants made you let out another soft moan, and he quickly pulled the robe from your shoulders. The way his hands felt on you was mind blowing, and you didn't hold back the pleased rumbling that came from your throat.

“You look comfortable.” His eyes scanned you up and down, and his hands began to move up your sides. Everything was so sensitive, his fingers were like fire licking at you. In the haze of this dark, dimly lit room, there was only Xavier. You couldn't think of anything else but his hands, his face, his beautiful full lips. Your stares didn't go unnoticed, and he smirked.

“It seems that someone wants something more, hmm?” his voice was a purr, quiet, meant only for your ears. Weakly, you managed another nod, and he pulled your hips a bit closer and pulled on your shoulders to make you lean over. His lips connected with yours, and you let out a lewd mewl, breathing out hard. His kisses started out softly, massaging your lips, clearly ignoring your needy attempts at making out with him. Kissing him, and feeling his hands running up and down your thighs, hips, ass, it made you feel on cloud nine. So much of his touch made you feel turned on, you'd honestly never felt anything like this.

You were momentarily pulled from your frustrations when Xavier ran his tongue over your lips. It sent a jolt down your spine, and you involuntarily shivered. You vaguely heard a chuckle through the murky horniness of your mind, and you let out a deep moan.

You weren't allowed to recover from this assault on your senses when Xavier put one of his hands behind your head and he deepened the kiss, darting his tongue through your lips and exploring your mouth. You had to close your eyes, and grabbed tightly on his shirt to avoid floating away, your brain being bombarded with too many sensations.

You lost track of time, you lost track of yourself, you couldn't tell where you ended, and where Xavier started. Everything that you felt in that moment was so unfocused, but the pleasure was beyond what you believed was possible.

Xavier pulled away, and you were ripped from your intense pleasure. You managed to make a frustrated noise, and Xavier gently stroked your jaw.

“Come on, surely kissing isn't the reason you came here?” He gave you a curious look and you had a moment of clarity through the haze. He noticed the momentary sobriety, before letting one of his fingers gently rub against one of your nipples.

The sensation shot through your body and another moan ripped through you. “Thought so.”

You were quickly bundled into strong arms, and were laid out onto a soft surface. Xavier joined you on the bed, and moved to trap you between himself and the bed.

“Time for the main event, pet.” he breathed out, his eyes having grown even more intense than before.

Something about this well dressed, hungry vampire looming over you made you feel so desired, you wanted him to drink from you, to have a taste of you, to fuck you senseless.

It wasn't long before he dipped down and took your nipple in his mouth, rolling his tongue over the sensitive bud. You writhed under him, and he had to grab your shoulders to keep you still. It was torturous, each flick of the tongue made you feel so good, but it wasn't enough.

That is, until he moved one of his hands to gently stroke at your folds.

You came instantly, and almost screamed, the feeling of that sudden action tipping you over the edge.

You felt Xavier chuckling against you, still licking at your nipple as he hovered his hand over your pussy.

“That was fast. Do it again,” he went right back to sucking on your breast, and you felt his hand come down on you again.

You didn't come instantly this time, but you weren't far off as the haziness of your mind and the overload of sensitivity had you hurtling towards your next orgasm. Xavier didn't let up though, and your body didn't put up any resistance as his fingers played around with your folds and clit, the little bundle of nerves almost on fire under the thorough touch of his fingers.

You were vaguely aware of him moving upwards, kissing a trail on your skin, before nuzzling your neck.

Xavier hummed in approval, and gave a quick lick over your neck. “You smell so good.... I want a taste.” His voice was quiet, skirting over your skin. “Can I?”

A noise came out from you, approving. You could barely concentrate on anything, and when Xavier's soft lips touched the base of your neck, his fingers still in you, your mind suddenly went blank.

For a while, your mind and consciousness was almost separated from your body, the only thing you were aware of was immense pleasure.

It lasted for so long. You couldn't tell how long you were in this state of pure bliss.

Slowly, you felt like you were coming back to yourself.

With a sigh, you blinked your eyes open, finding yourself cradled next to Xavier, wrapped in a blanket.

“Hey,” he said, sheepishly. “How are you feeling?”

You couldn't help the blush that crept on your face at the sight of his warm smile. Were his cheeks a bit red too? Something had changed in him. You couldn't pinpoint it, but he seemed more lively.

“I-I'm ok,” You mumbled into the blanket. “That was... amazing.”

“It's pretty cool, huh?” Xavier laughed, before smoothing back his hair and sitting up, his clothes still impeccable despite what had transpired. “Would you like me to get you some tea and cakes?”

You had requested for a caring service, but you hadn't quite expected to be tucked into bed and to get served tea and sweets after getting fucked thoroughly. You hadn't even fucked, really, but it certainly felt like you had been. Xavier left the room, giving you a warm smile as he exited the room. You were left in this cozy, luxurious room, alone. You tentatively sat up, feeling a bit wobbly, and you reached for the robe that had been set neatly on the bed.

You quickly robed yourself, and it wasn't long before Xavier returned with a new tray and sauntered over to the bed. “Here, we have tea, chamomile again, and some cakes. I wasn't sure which one you'd like, take your pick.” He set down the tray after sitting down, and gestured over to a selection of little slices. “You should definitely eat. I didn't drink much, but you need to make sure that you eat something to get your strength back.”

You reached for what looked like lemon drizzle cake, and took a bite from the slice. It was delicious.

You let out a throaty moan at the taste, and reached for the cup of tea. Xavier lifted up his own cup of tea, and took a sip.

“So, happy with the service?” He turned his head to look at you, smiling.

You smiled back at him, feeling your cheeks burn again, and nodded.

“That was... definitely unlike anything else I had ever experience.” You took a sip of your tea. “I'm more than happy.”

You shared that little moment together, silent save for the sound of tea being sipped and cake being eaten. You didn't mind, it was comfortable, and you had a chance to collect yourself.

“Would you like me to stay for a bit or are you ready to head home?” Xavier broke the silence, putting his cup down onto the tray with a clink. You sighed, and eventually put down your own cup.

“I think... that I'm ready to head home. Your company was lovely tonight and, well,” you avoided looking at him momentarily as an unprecedented wave of shyness overcame you. “I think... I would definitely like to visit again.”

Xavier smiled, and you felt your heart flutter for a moment as he leaned over and gave your hand a kiss.

“I do hope you come by again, you're delectable, pet.” He winked, before picking up the tray again and heading towards the door. “I'll be going now, I hope you have a safe trip back home and I hope to see you again, but remember, there's a mandatory 2 week wait between visits so you can recover.”

“Yes, I remember,” You nodded, and waved as he disappeared behind the door, shutting it with him.

You got up, cleaned yourself up, and dressed yourself. You left the room behind, and exited the hallway.

“Heyo, is that you done for tonight?” Amandine asked, smiling as you came out to the lobby.

“Yes... it was certainly an experience.” You said. You dug through your handbag for your wallet to pay up the fee, and soon you noticed how soft your body felt. “Relaxed? Xavier's a pro at what he does. If you want to make sure you get an appointment with him again, then please do phone up beforehand.” Amandine quickly shuffled some things behind the desk and brought up a small gift parcel, placing it on the counter.

“What's this?” you asked, quizically.

“All visitors get a little gift parcel. It's not much bit it's a few goodies and snacks to make sure you recover.” Amandine smiled, nudging the parcel over. “After all, there's a bit of a symbiotic relationship between us and our clients.”

You have an understanding nod and picked up the parcel, and bid your farewells.

On the way home, you felt calm, but there was a bit of a pep in your step, as you walked with confidence. That visit had definitely left a mark on you, and you made sure to write up a note on your calendar for exactly two weeks from then to set up a second visit to that handsome vampire.

#terato #exophilia #vampire #monster boyfriend #spicy #lemon

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years ago

Text

HASO, “What You Missed.”

Hope you all are having a good day, and hope you enjoy!

The rumbling continued deep within the planet’s lower crust. Projections on the seismic map estimated the eventual collapse of the bran mining operation on the other side of the planet. Though they didn’t plan to go long enough for the tunnels to completely collapse, they planned to used the abandoned mining ground as the stage for their own setup.

Mining precious metals in the GA territories were highly regulated, and the products made and sold from those precious metals were also highly monitored, however, the GA could hardly monitor what they didn’t know about.

The biotin sniffed at the dusty air hating the way the dirt clung to her skin like a glove of fuzzy filth. The air here tasted sour and fake like most terraformed planets, and all she wanted to do was go back to her home world and relax where it didn’t smell so bad, but she knew she had to get this job done.

She glanced down at the paper she held, and idly walked her way over to where the staging operation had been set up, made out of several interlocking grey tents that were designed to look like the rocky surface of the planet if anyone was looking, as well as bloc their transmission signals so they couldn’t be spotted if anyone where to have an eye keen enough to spot them.

She stopped just inside the Tent to where the…. Human was sitting staring at the screens and tapping his long bony fingers together.

She hated this human, he was annoying and self centered, and likely thought he was enigmatic with the strange clothing he wore, and the mirrored glasses that covered his eyes, but she just found him wildly pretentious.

“How goes it, sir.”

He nodded, “The mining companies have left with the help of the Omen..” he sneered as the word passed through his lips, “The property is benign abandoned, and we should have a couple of months until they send someone to take a look and see what happened, at least until they send a force large enough for us to have to worry.”

She nodded but didn’t bother to agree or contradict him. It wouldn’t matter either way.

Besides, she didn’t care what happened as long as she got what she wanted.

The GA was too large and too involved in everything in the galaxy, The leaders of her planet were too lax with their tariffs and trade deals, and because of their poor economic management, the Iotin planet had fallen into relative anonymity and been ignored by the rest of the galaxy. She believed they could be doing so much more, but it's not like they could really compete with humans and Tesraki.

She was sick and tired of the GA thinking they could control everything.

And so was this human.

As much as she despised humans on principle, at least this human and her had similar goals.

She could work with the enemy for a little while longer while they hashed out a true plan.

The human turned to look at her through his mirrored shades. The man was an older human who she was sure dyed his hair to cover the grey, and she did her best to conceal her disgust as she moved forward and handed him the drawn schematic.

He glanced down at it.

“Where is the rest?”

“He said he would deliver the rest upon payment. This was just a show of good will.”

“A show of goodwill.” he snarled, but then slowly sat back in his seat, “Can he guarantee that it works.”

She bristled at his tone, but didn’t rise to challenge him, “He assures me it has already been tested on a human and achieved the desirable results.

“That's hardly comforting if I haven’t seen it.”

“Then take it up with him yourself. You should have worried about all this BEFORE agreeing to hijack an entire mining operation to build the damn things!”

He bristled right back at her but she didn’t care. She was coming to learn that not all humans were so like the ones the GA had met first hand. IN fact most humans weren’t loyal and honorable. Most of them were greedy, cowardly predators, who wanted nothing more than to push for their own personal gain while leaving others to rot in the dust.

This human was no different.

But soon it would all be over.

Very very soon.

She glanced down at the half schematic and the Kree seal stamped on the back.

***

“The seismic activity has escalated since evacuation. So far my scientists have been unable to pinpoint the source, as far as we knew, the planet wasn’t supposed to have plates, but something seems to be disturbing its stability. We were wondering if perhaps the extensive cave systems could do it, but, as far as we could tell the systems weren’t nearly large enough to disturb the lower crust of the planet.”

“And the evacuation?”

“The larger mining companies shipped off most of their employees on their waiting station ships, and I took some of what remained. We will be bringing most of them back to the Bran homeworld for recovery.”

“And you admiral, how do your people fare?”

“The rescue teams managed to make it out alive. I was almost crushed, but some quick thinking by Lord Celex’s son saved my life, but other than that no one was injured too badly, but I would take some scientists to keep an eye on the strange underground activity. We have never seen anything like it, and are worried that the planet might be destabilizing. It isn’t o dire considering that the planet was originally uninhabited, but I am told this mining station carries the highest percentage of Terbium to minerals in the galaxy, so it would be a loss.”

A few feet away, Ket lay curled on a ball on a pillow with a warm up of glowmoss in one hand. A few other miners sat around the room idly listening to the Admiral who was talking over communication to the GA council, a council that had grown a lot bigger since Ket had known of it five years ago.

In fact a lot of things had changed since the humans had arrived, and not for the worse as he had once suspected.

He munched on some of the moss and turned to watch the human as he paced across the floor. How strange it was to see the creature from his nightmares in such a…. non -nightmarish circumstance. He could still remember the chase all those years ago and felt the horror and concern that had almost driven him to madness down in the mining tunnels, but, there the human was talking like a civilised creature, apparently head of the GA’s coalition fleet, and some sort of bigshot ambassador.

Not to mention all the strange alien creatures that he had come across since stepping on the towering four-armed warriors and the fuzzy fluff balls of anger. The one that had come to rescue him was still sitting on the human’s shoulder, interjecting the occasional point to the council when the human missed something.

It was all so surreal.

For years he had been hiding in that tunnel, what he originally only saw as maybe half a year turned out to be around five years, and the galaxy had grown in scope and involvement. What had once been a coalition of uneasy allies held together by economics, the GA was now a thriving galactic metropolis based on mutual backing and delicate diplomatic involvement.

Or at least that’s what he had seen so far.

“Thank you.” The human said before shutting off the hologram and walking back across the room full of evacuees

His single green eye fell on Ket skin still dusted with the grime of rocks and dirt, and stepped over to kneel next to him and where he sat on his cushion. It had been a very long time since he had been aboard a spaceship and even longer since he had talked to anyone. He was still getting used to that.

And the human still managed to unnerve him.

“How are you feeling.” “Overwhelmed.”

The human’s rubbery, mobile face deformed a bit so one corner of its mouth stretched upwards for a moment, “I can hardly blame you for that. You’ve been away a long time.” The human paused, and Ket watched him curiously as he reached up to rub the back of his head, “Look I, know i've already apologized for what happened five years ago, but it was sort of a half assed apology considering that we were being crushed at the time.” He shifted his weight so he was now resting on his other knee, “I want to explain myself. Before I saw you, my entire planet thought that we were the only living things in the galaxy. No one believes in extraterrestrial life, and upon seeing you, I was just excited, and wanted to make sure it was all real.”

Ket waited.

“I know that doesn’t excuse years of psychological trauma, but I promise, when I was…. Chasing you, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was excited, and I should have been more diplomatic about it. I can see that now, but back then we didn’t really know anything about politicking with aliens. I am not trying to excuse my behavior, but I just want you to understand that I made a mistake and I am willing to apologize for it.”

It seemed so strange, and unusual coming from the mouth of a predator, but he found that he…. Believed it?

How odd.

“I understand…… I admit I am a bit surprised as to how things turned out.”

The human showed its teeth, which he was coming to realize was supposed to be a good thing, “Yes, a lot of things have changed in the last five years, come and I'll show you.” ket let the empty cup of moss fall to the side by his cushion and stood to walk at the feet of the human who was at least four feet taller than him since ket stood on six legs and the human stood on two, they might have been around the same height if the human had decided to walk on al fours, but at this point ket had to crane his neck up to look at the human.

“We began peace talks with the GA shortly after you were relocated to your new post. We signed the treaty in a little over a year and I offered to help in the Drev war, which I believe you might have heard of since it started before we showed up.”

Ket nodded his head.

“We won the Drev war for the GA and the Drev began peace talks after the war ended. I Was promoted to captain shortly after and given command of the ship under loan from the UNSC to the GA in order to support diplomatic relationships between our people. Since then the Gnarlak nation has fallen, and those remaining have been confined to a plot of land on their planet where they can no longer hurt the FInnari, a subjugated species which was farmed by the Gnarlak. Other notable discovered species have been the Tvek, Lumin, Mikes, Iotins, Celzex, dort of, Starborn Tricar, and hopefully I am not forgetting anyone. We have fought in two burg wars and won them both releasing the burg population from total supremacy under an unfeeling tyrant. Interspecies relationships are legal now, though the discrimination they face is still something we are working on. Planetary GDP has risen for petty much everyone and our job market is only getting better. The tourist industry is becoming a gib thing. My Tesraki market analysts say that humans, the Tesraki and and Rundi are currently galactic superpowers in regards to power and economic influence, but as far as we can tell this hasn’t caused to man problems between the other less influential groups. The Bran for instance.” he glanced down at ket, “are selling precious metals used in electronics at ten thousand percent higher output rate than you were a few years ago and selling at a fifty percent markup. As far as I know, no one is hurting.”

He tapped his fingers against his arm, “I think that is most everything important you need to know, oh I forgot the Kree war and discovering that, somewhere out in the universe, there is another sentient, and likely multi species galactic coalition, though we haven't had the pleasure of meeting or interacting with them just yet.” he frowned, “Well, I have, but I hardly consider it interacting because they kept me in a cage most of the time.”

Ket stared at the human, and the human shrugged, “that should catch you up to speed.”

It most certainly did not, but he supposed it was as good of an opening as he was going to get.

Honestly he had no idea what he was supposed to do or think. It was all so new to him, and all so strange. How was he going to actually catch up?

How was he going to integrate back into society after all this?

After months of being nearly incoherent?

He could still feel that part of him lurking somewhere in the background and knew that it was not gone.

He was going to have to figure out something eventually….

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livewireprojects · 4 years ago

Photo

So I was working on a pic for day 16 but I was working on it after work so didn’t have much time before 5pm to get pics.(I need a scanner one of these days) At some point I just looked at how dark it was getting in the room I take pics in & gave up. I also don’t know what to do for day 17, I want to guess something like Future Foundation or characters being in the simulation from DR2 due to the name of the project but I dunno. I might do something but the theme future is coming up so I’ll likely save it for that.

I’m rambling & kind of feel bad for my posts for day 15 So day 16 was alternate universes & I really enjoy AUs though a large amount of the ones I like are crossover plots. Most of the pics aren’t crossover based & are largely just based on past RPs. I made a bunch of pics & didn’t want to spam with posts for each so I tried to put as many as I could together.

The first three pics are based on a thing I call Monster Community AU thing, pretty much characters are secretly some kind of creature(witch, alien, merpeople, harpies, etc) living among humans but sometimes do things in secret areas other monsters hanging out at like a community of monsters.

The two scenes here are from different mermaid RPs, both from my Monster Community AU stuff again. Both pics involve RP plots that were DR1 happened, DR2 characters were trying to survive the aftermath of the world going mad(pretty much surviving in the destroyed city until finding somewhere or something) & some other stuff I’m going to leave out due to rambling. Just know this is technically a simplified version of the series post-DR1(if that makes sense? probably not) that was used because I keep doing shit in RPs.

The one to the left is from a plot were the survivors find a cave they end up staying the night in only to decided to check further & find themselves in a place other monsters are living in. For some reason Makoto is a grey eyeless big mouth monster, I think I was obsessed with a design I saw on Tumblr but can't find anymore. Byakuya is an octopus merperson because for some reason I imagine he'd be on if he was a merman. The second one is vampire Byakuya is living in a mansion his family had by the sea on a cliff area that leads to the beach. He ends up learning Makoto is a merperson(whose parents tried to keep him from learning about other creatures for safety) & expecting their kids. Makoto is a species of merperson that make nests in the sand when they have kids so Makoto had to stay in the water until the babies could swim by themselves. Byakuya will probably have some special pools setup in the house for the twins since they'll be to young to go into human form after the being old enough to swim.(It'll only be a couple months) At the moment Makoto is in a cave inside the cliff that leads to the ocean, some how the inside of Byakuya's mansion has a secret stairway leading down here. Makoto can't leave the water because his nest is here & his merperson instincts don't want him to leave until the babies hatch & are old enough to swim. Due to Makoto's parents hiding his & Komaru's mermaid/creature side Makoto didn't think much on the fact he was a merperson until he got pregnant & his instincts demanded he make a nest... That's also how Byakuya learned his family had a secret area of the mansion & proceeded lug a futon mattress/blanket down there to be close to Makoto. I didn't think much about it at the time but I guess something lead to his parents getting protective & scared if someone knew they were merpeople, then again there's a Japanese myth about eating mermaids/some kind of fish people would cause immortality. I almost forgot this but Byakuya hung up a net & decorations so the babies when down in the cave don’t swim into the sea.

This one is based on an RP were Byakuya is a werewolf while Makoto is a harpy. DR1 happened, Byakuya & Makoto had a relationship but went their separate ways to find their families(see if there’s hope of them still being out there) while working on getting their lives together.(Since with the despair event they likely need to recover/figure out what to do now)

Byakuya at some point is house sitting for Hinata & Komaeda(originally it was his vacation cabin in the woods but something changed forget why) when he ends up having to help a harpy who lost their nest because a tree landed on it. He took the harpy in because they didn’t have anywhere to go & the crash broke one of their wings. He was to tired to think much about figuring out who the harpy was after patching them up because he was tired.

Byakuya ends up learning in the morning that the harpy is Makoto & pregnant. Byakuya reassured Makoto knew he was safe now & he(Byakuya) isn’t going anywhere. Byakuya later learned Makoto found his family but someone attacked & ditched him in the woods while injuring his eye. After that Byakuya helps Makoto recover & they eventually move to his vacation house when Hinata & Komaeda come home. Byakuya has a nursery for their eventual kids & Makoto ended up staying in the nursery sitting on the egg Ichigo was in when he had the twins. Len kept barking when he found her until she finally hatched.

Here’s Makoto perched on Hinata’s couch singing a bird tune as Byakuya listens, sometimes the blond will sometimes whistle which makes Makoto squeal in delight because it sounds like Byakuya trying to mimic a bird. Makoto is meant to be a House Martin harpy because the bird is cute & has fuzzy feet. Makoto’s hood/cape is just his hoodie tied to his neck, he can slightly still see out of the injured eye but without something to protect it things seem to bright during the day through that eye.

This was the pic that lead to not posting anything the other day, as you can tell I made more pics right after managing to finish it. This pic is once again based on an RP(well two of them), for some reason I really liked doing this plot. The AU is pretty much everyone lives in a world of animal centaurs(in Kazuichi's case he's a shark merperson) & for some reason this is before modern technology exists. Everyone lives in caves that have been carved into homes with some having multiple rooms, they have furniture made from leftover stone, wood, some other stuff & clothes made out of normal animal skin like they're in Brother Bear or something. Given the state the world is currently at they seal off the entrances to their caves in the winter after making sure to have enough food to last it.(There's some that have the ability to hibernate luckily) I have absolutely no idea why I enjoy this so much. So Byakuya is a wolf(lol blond wolf fur) & Makoto is a pygmy goat(I made him a little bigger because again awkward size) but for the first RP I kept switching the species(from pudu deer to pygmy goat) because I was obsessed with those animals at the time. It ended with S having Gundam call Makoto a goat/deer hybrid so he's a deer goat in the first RP.(I didn't switch it often but kept talking about confusion) In the second RP Makoto stayed a pygmy goat for the entire RP. Len is a wolf centaur & Ichigo is a goat centaur, Byakuya & Makoto had other kids but they're preexisting characters(Komaru & Chiaki for some reason) & I'm mostly focusing on these characters.(I don't actually know what I was getting at) The twins are a couple days old, since Ichigo is a pygmy goat she's already active. Byakuya is laying down so she won't get hurt, Ichigo & Makoto's goat side makes them enjoy climbing things so the little baby is climbing on daddy. Len's eyes & ears haven't opened just yet so he's kept safe in a portable cradle thing since he's to small to play with his little sister right now.(Makoto will retuck him in in a moment) Makoto has a poncho thing because he has trouble keeping warm which luckily his kids didn't inherit. Also Byakuya is pretty strong so he can take his daughter & his mate trying to climb on him especially when Makoto is pregnant. It's ok & doesn't bother him in fact it's kind of cute especially since sometimes after that Ichigo will do a little jitter dance that baby goats some times do.(He'd also whether they climb on him or a stool thing than try to climb the side of their home or something bigger due to worrying about the two hurting themselves.

Byakuya & Makoto have slightly long hair because it's hard for them to cut their hair with a dagger Byakuya worked on for hair cutting. Byakuya is hoping to eventually trade something for a mirror some traveling trader visits, maybe see if someone in the pack can help with cutting hair not that it matter much.

Go check out @naegamimonth

#naegamimonth2020 #naegami #my art #shared OC

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what-even-is-thiss · 5 years ago

Text

fic, off of land, out of water. 6. Final chapter.

It’s been six months. I have nothing to say for myself. I hope it’s an okay conclusion.

Warning for near death experience.

First Previous

6. Sincerity

Drowning is not something known to merfolk. Logan didn’t know that it existed before he came to dry land and it was one of the things Virgil made sure to explain to him on the first car ride away from the coast.

“Human lungs can’t hold water.” He said

“But why?” Logan asked, still wiping the tears from his eyes.

Virgil propped Logan’s new glasses on his head to keep the salty water from staining them.

“Because we just can’t. So don’t breathe any in.”

“Then why does Patton have a container of it in the front?” Logan asked.

“I’m drinking it, Logan. Not breathing it.” Patton said.

“Drinking?” Logan asked.

“It’s like eating but with liquid.” Roman said, carefully examining a pimple in the mirror. “Hey, do you think I could cover this up before tonight?”

“Why? I think it’s an improvement.” Virgil said.

“That was uncalled for.” Logan said.

“Don’t mind him. He’s an only child.” Virgil said.

“Oh, one of those. Well we’ll have fun with him then.” Roman said.

……….

Logan’s brain started working at a pace so fast that it seemed as if time slowed down to a snail's crawl. Seconds took years to pass as his brain remembered everything that it could

“The human instinct to hold breath underwater is so overwhelming that it is very difficult to overcome.” Logan’s brain said. “The average person can only hold their breath for 30 to 60 seconds. Experienced pearl divers can hold their breath for as long as ten minutes. Navy seals (no relation to the creature) can hold their breath for two minutes. However, the most you’ve ever been able to manage is 20 seconds.”

Logan looked around. It was dark. One second had passed. His eyes stung and his glasses began to separate from his face. The inertia of his initial jump was still pushing him downward.

“It is easier to float in saltwater which increases your odds slightly. However, you have never swam with legs before. Don’t move them. Push upward. You have approximately 80 seconds before your lungs involuntarily breathe in. At that point your chances of survival are slim. The land is an unforgiving bastard. He’s not letting you go yet. Find a way to breathe.”

……….

Before Roman got roped in with the lawyer he used to occasionally show Logan his day job. At this point he got enough acting jobs and shows that he could’ve lived modestly, but Roman was never one for modesty and freelance graphic design was a much more stable job than acting or being a drag queen. It wasn’t as stable as other jobs but where’s the adventure in a salary?

“We all lose it at some point, Logan.” Roman said the first time. “It’s good to have something to fall back on.”

Logan watched the movements on the computer screen.

“What is ‘it’ exactly?” He asked.

“You know. The… the thing. Whatever makes you tick. The special…”

He waved his hands around. “Ah, whatever.”

“Like my…” Logan couldn’t make himself say it. There were too many things he could say.

Roman focused on the graph overlaying the photoshop screen in front of him but kept talking.

“I know you think I’m an overly dramatic and very attractive idiot, and I am, but I do have a heart you know.”

“Well obviously you have a heart. How else would blood circulate through your body? I’m 100% certain that humans are mammals and…”

“No, no, Microsoft nerd.” Roman said. “It’s an expression. In old times before… I dunno, science, a lot of humans thought that emotions came from the heart. We don’t have voodoo or whatever it is you do”

“Practical magic.” Logan mumbled.

“Whatever. Anyways, uh, when I say I have a heart I’m assuming you think I don’t care about you or that you think I only think about myself but that’s not true. Metaphorically uh, speaking, um, if someone has a heart they have compassion.”

The logo for a burger cart seemed to have finalized while Roman was talking. Logan leaned against him to get a better look at it. Now would be a good time to shrug Logan off and give him a lesson in American ideas of personal space but Roman didn’t feel like it. So he listened to Logan talk about how it made no sense that a burger would have eyes and how much he hated that fusion restaurant Patton and Virgil took him to last week.

One thing he and Logan did have in common was that they never shut up.

……….

His hands weren’t moving. Why weren’t they moving?

“Fear paralysis.” His brain hissed.

……….

Logan always lost races. He was small. He was weak. He knew he was small and weak and he hated it. He spent most of his time looking at drawings or listening to storytellers.

“You should be one of them.” His father said.

“I could never be that exciting.” Logan said.

“You don’t have to be exciting.” His father said. “ do whales think about how exciting they are?”

Logan cocked his head to the side. “No!” He said with childish certainty.

“Be more like a whale.” His father said. “Or I’ll get ya like a whale!”

He grabbed the five year old mer-child by his tail and spun him around in the water like a gear. Logan let out a delighted high pitched whistle and pretended to try to swim away as his father grabbed him around the middle and tickled him.

……..

Logan had been underwater for ten seconds when he broke the surface. This was a lot harder than it looked. Before he went under again he heard some shouting that kind of sounded like Roman.

He had never noticed that water had a sound before. He had spent the first twenty three years of his life submerged in it and never realized that it made noise while it moved. Maybe because his ear canal had always been full of it. Now it sounded like rumbling.

Something grabbed around his waist and he flinched. He tried to get away. He lost precious air. What was happening?

Air.

……….

Logan held Virgil’s head gently and looked at the angry red marks on his face.

“You just had to get yourself in trouble again, didn’t you?” Virgil whispered.

“It’s not like me to make the same mistake twice.” Logan said.

“Well here I am. You’re shaking. How long was I out?”

“Two weeks.”

“Are we in your apartment? Where’s your mom?”

“The same place my dad is.”

“Wait, you don’t mean…”

“She went looking for him, yes. And… I suppose succeeded in a way.”

“Oh, Logan.”

“Logically, you are still alive. So thank the tides for that.”

Mer cities are just as advanced as human cities, but whereas human cities use electricity, mer cities use magic. To a human it would look like Virgil was just wrapped in seaweed. In reality, he was. But his best friend had also not stopped chanting magic spells over him day and night for almost a week. An act of great compassion that he would never, ever admit to doing.

……...

Somebody slapped him.

“You idiot!” Roman yelled.

Logan squinted through his blurry vision.

“You’re… soaking wet.” He said.

“No shit, Sherlock.”

Something dry in a polo shirt grabbed him and started crying and he registered what was going on.

“Oh, I see. I uh… messed up.” Logan said.

A strong hand helped him up.

“Yeah. That’s two mistakes now. You’re on a roll.” Virgil’s voice said.

“I… only almost killed you once,” Logan said. “Or twice. Okay. Twice.”

“H-hey look he’s catching on to the… he’s… almost funny.” Roman said

“Are you sobbing?” Logan asked.

“Yes, okay? I’m dramatic! Now let’s get out of here before someone calls the cops.”

They got out of there before someone called the cops.

………..

There is an end written to this story, but it’s not the end of this story. Because after this end, the boys will continue to live. These men will have stories. Roman will leave his boyfriend but foolishly keep a line open. Patton will go to college, finish it, be unsatisfied, go back, and then be satisfied this time. His relationship with his mother will never be fully repaired, if it was ever whole, but it will improve.

And Logan and Virgil, two men who have always known who they are and why but will never know where they will be tomorrow or what species they will be tomorrow, will keep telling stories. Eventually they will start a podcast, because Virgil is tall and Logan is short and they sound exactly the same way that they look. And two months worth of recordings can be binged.

Virgil still whistles and it’s just as charming and annoying as ever. He will never stop. And now that Logan can read, there’s really no end to the ways he can be a know-it-all.

But before all that happens, this story that you’re reading or listening to (depending on whether you’re on land or in the sea) ends. And it goes a little something like this:

……….

Two men stand together alone in a cave and one of them takes off his glasses. One is tall and one is short. One is named Virgil, the other Logan. They’re very young in the grand scheme of things but they are not children by anyone’s standards. They’ve seen and felt too much already but that’s okay. Everyone does. And the ocean is calling them back. Together this time.

Logan puts his glasses inside the cooler and weighed it down with a rock.

“Are you ready?” Virgil asked in his deep voice

“Well I wasn’t born ready. That’s impossible. One doesn’t emerge from an egg ready for anything. However, I was born to be ready for this. So yes. I am ready.”

“Robotic as always.” Virgil said.

They took hands and a running leap. And for the first time in weeks or over a year depending, they breathed in the warm saltwater of the mid Atlantic. And Logan, for the first time in Virgil’s memory, let out a human laugh.

“I’m breathing!” He clicked with ease. “I’m swimming!”

“And I’ll bet you remember the way home.” Said the merman with the black and silver tail and a scar on his stomach.

“I remember everything.” Logan said. “Everything.”

And this is the way he told it to me. And now, the way I tell it to you.

#sanders sides #roman wrote a thing #roman said a thing #mer au #analogical #platonic analogical #fafic #fan fic #fanfiction #fan fiction #sanders sides au

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kiatheinsomniac · 5 years ago

Text

Huntress I

[ I ] [ II ]

(Y/n) stood before the tall, barred gates of the Doge's extravagant Venitian home. The marvellous building stood tall above the series of murky canals and was decorated with beautifully intricate architecture such as detailed carvings into ledges, windowsills and balcony doorframes. The cold iron of the gates wound and swirled together into a twisting design and was painted a shimmering gold at the top. It was nothing short of wonderous with its polished white walls and glimmering tall windows, each corner decorated by a staggered brick design. Even the gardens were splashed with colour from vibrant flowers and tidy orange trees - though, these bore few petals or fruits at this time of year. The shining sun only made the white mansion stand out even more, making the marble building glow almost in the autumn sunlight.

(Y/n) wore a large rimmed black hat on her head that shadowed her face and rested on her neatly braided hair. Her (h/l)-length (h/c) locks were tied back into two incredibly voluminous faux braids that could not seem to decide if they wanted to tumble along her back or rest on her shoulders. She wore a white blouse with a black corset that covered her stomach and was tucked under her breasts - this laced up at the front and had straps going over her shoulders. She wore black trousers that hugged her legs and tucked into worn-out leather boots that reached mid-calf. A thick grey cloak was wrapped securely around her to chase away the cold. She clutched a bag in each of her (s/t) hands. Various weapons were strapped to her: a sword at her hip, a dagger in a sheath on her thigh and a crossbow slung over her back with a black strap.

The two guards posted at the gates eyed her (and her weapons) warily, never having seen a woman dressed like this before.

"I'm here to investigate a murder by request of the Doge." She stated simply, placing down one of her bags and reaching into her pocket for a somewhat crumpled piece of paper, holding it out for the guard to take. Both humour and suspicion danced in the armoured man's brown eyes.

"He sent for a woman to investigate the murder of his niece?" The middle-aged guard scoffed in disbelief, not even bothering to examine the letter that the woman offered him as proof of her being invited. He simply brushed her off as a common thief with a lot of guts and a ridiculous story.

"He sent for a witch hunter." She put simply, tilting her chin up so that her (e/c) eyes were illuminated by the light and all the seriousness and impatience that they contained, simmering like a cauldron ready to boil over. She had heard the disdainful remarks too many times before in her unorthodox line of work, "And I have travelled a long way so unless you intend on paying my fare back to where I have come from and explaining to your master why I did not meet with him, I would suggest you take a look at this wax seal and allow me entry, signore." She spoke with a voice that was both sweet and venomous. The guard snatched the paper from her hands, outraged by the woman's determination and calm demeanour, examining the letter before huffing as he recognised the official seal of his employer. Upset that he had been wrong and now had to allow this stranger to triumph, he pushed the gate open, holding it while the confident woman briskly walked over the gravel garden path and to the door of the flamboyant marble manor, the stones crunching under her feet and mixing with the patrol of guards and a crowd somewhere in the distance a few streets down.

She lifted the door-knocker and let it heavily fall twice in a row before waiting patiently outside, albeit eager to sit by the warmth of a crackling amber fire after such a long and tiresome journey. A brunette maid opened the heavy wooden door and ushered the (h/c)-haired woman inside, having been told by the master of the house that a witch hunter would be coming to investigate the murder that had sent chills through all of Venice as word had quickly spread of the unusual condition in which the body was discovered during the late hours of the morning.

"Right this way, signorina." The meek maid spoke quietly. The soles of their shoes tapped against the polished checkered floor as they were led through the centre of the lavish home.

The mansion seemed to be built in a circuit-like fashion. It was square, tall and had a garden in the centre of it. (Y/n) tilted her head up to catch a glimpse at the sky seeing as the grey-tiled roof also followed this circuit pattern. It was a nice day for Autumn; fairly cold but sunny nonetheless. She lowered her head, now shadowed by her hat once more, and kept on following the olive-skinned servant as she led (Y/n) along the route that ended with the door of a study.

(Y/n) could hear faint sobbing and slowed her pace to peek into what looked like a living room. There was a married couple, nearing their fifties, dressed all in white - the colour of mourning. The woman had a veil over her face and held a handkerchief to her mouth as she sobbed. Her husband had a distant look in his eyes as he consoled her by rubbing her back with his hand as she watched the flames of the fire dance in the fireplace. (Y/n) concluded that these were the parents of the murder victim.

"The Doge is in there, signorina." The servant spoke, eyes lowered, before scurrying off. She was a youthful girl, very young, but clearly good at following orders and fulfilling her job.

(Y/n) raised her fist to knock on the door; the knock fit her aura: firm and authoritative.

"Enter!" A voice called from inside, it sounded tired and weary. (Y/n) used one hand to push open the door as the other held both of her bags at once. The Doge was a man nearing his elderly years. His hair was dappled with streaks of grey and he had wrinkles adorning his forehead and under his eyes which were shadowed by dark rings, born from lack of sleep. He examined her odd state of dress and numerous weapons then inferred who she must be.

"You are the witch hunter?" He spoke, rising from his seat to greet her.

"Indeed." She bowed her head to him before placing her bags down. "But allow us to get straight to business - you believe that your niece was killed by a vampire, no? That is what you described in your letter to me."

"Yes, almost all of Venice believes there is a vampire prowling its streets with the odd killings that seem to be occurring by night." He answered.

"I would like if you could gather the witnesses you spoke of - I'll need to question them. Where is the body being kept? I understand that my journey has kept me for some time." She spoke as she lifted both of her bags once more, ready to be led to the crime scene.

"Poor Elizabetta is being kept in the wine cellar - a horrific smell began to plague the house." He explained as he began to lead her downstairs.

"When I am done, you should bury the body - a corpse is terrible for the health of the living and, if not for the manner of her death and situation at hand, it would be very disrespectful to not have buried her by now." The hunter explained as they made their way down the winding steps that led to the cellar. As they made their way across a corridor, (Y/n) scrunched up her nose at the familiar stench of death, reaching into her pocket for a handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth with. The scent coiled like a serpent through the air, looking for its next victim from the shadows of the dimly lit cellar.

Candlelight from wall-mounted torches flickered across the walls, licking along the uneven edges of age-old cobbles that built up the narrow, low-ceilinged, winding staircase which led down into the basement. (Y/n) could feel it grow colder, unlike the mansion above which was heated by various fireplaces which the servants attended to.

Eventually, the staircase turned into a very short corridor with an old wooden door at the very end of it. It was made of old planks and had worn iron keeping it all together.

"I can't bear to see my little Eliza in that state, please." The Doge held open the door for (Y/n) who nodded her head in solemn understanding for his grievances.

As soon as she stepped inside, the smell was enough to make her feel as though she could vomit. It made her hold her breath for periods of time just to avoid having to take in the horrendous stench. There were barrels and bottles of wine in neat shelves on either side of the room but in the middle, right opposite the door, there was a table covered by a cloth with the shape of a body under the sheet of fabric.

(Y/n) pushed the cloth back to reveal a young woman. She may have been beautiful once but now her skin was deathly pale and rotting in areas. Her hair was tangled and she was utterly devoid of life - a decomposing shell of the rich young woman she had once been. Her eyes were closed out of respect and the inner corners swam with tiny maggots. (Y/n) was not unfamiliar with such grotesque sights but that did not mean that they did not make her feel utterly disgusted.

Wanting to leave the corpse as quickly as possible, she inspected the two puncture marks on her neck. She had seen these many times before - the distinct bite marks of what had been a vampire's meal. She used one hand to reach into her bag for a small vial, popping off the cork with her thumb before pressing it against one of the punctures. Thick blood, no longer red but a sickly, thick brown, oozed out like mud and into the tiny glass bottle. The fact that there was even blood remaining gave the Witch Hunter a better insight as to what had happened: either the vampire had killed someone else that night and only needed a little more fill from this particular victim or the creature was in a hurry. What would cause them to rush? Being discovered? They were too sly to worry about such a thing and, after a meal, would be fast enough to not even be seen by the human eye anyway. So, if they were in a rush: why?

Once she gathered all that she needed physically, she noted what the victim wore - a white chemise and nothing else. With all of that done, she re-covered the body with the sheet, grabbed her bags, and made her way outside again.

"Thank you, Doge. My apologies that my work has postponed her burial." The witch hunter spoke to convey the fact that she no longer needed to examine the body.

"She will be buried in the morning." He spoke in a flat tone, the tone of someone in immense emotional pain.

"May I ask a few questions as we walk?" She prompted.

"Whatever you need to capture the unholy beast that did this to my poor niece." He replied, "It is why I sent for you, after all."

"She was wearing only a chemise - does this mean that she was killed in her sleep?" (Y/n) quizzed as they made their way all the way back up the narrow, winding, stairwell.

"She had just come back from a ball - she was invited by a friend of hers. They say that she had been dancing with an unfamiliar man that evening and he offered to escort her home. Both of her friends (who I have here for you to question as witnesses) claim that they did not see the man as dangerous; they claim he was incredibly polite and charming and he seemed to truly care about whether or not Elizabetta got home safely." He began, "He must have escorted her home then come inside to kill her when she was changing - we found her wearing nothing at all and dressed her for the sake of dignity for your inspection." (Y/n) hummed thoughtfully.

"You are sure that she did not elope with the vampire?" She quizzed, one of her braids falling from her shoulder.

"Do not insult my Eliza that way!" The Doge spun around to look down at (Y/n) who was standing two steps lower than he was, "She was a pure girl!"

"And, as your witnesses have described, vampires can be very tempting, Doge." She spoke with a tone that showed he had to understand what he was saying despite what he believed about his niece, "She may have thought she was allowing him willingly when really, he was controlling her, leading her mind away so she would want to agree when, truly, she knew better." The Doge turned back around and continued on up the stairs once more.

"Say what you will, I will not believe that Elizabetta was involved in such an atrocious act." He grumbled as they both re-emerged at ground level. "Follow me, I shall lead you to Eliza's room where she was found then you may question her friends who were there the night it happened."

"Thank you," (Y/n) replied to show she had heard him. He led her up one of the staircases of the inner garden to take her to the upper floor which was a corridor and balcony looking down onto the garden with all the doors to the rooms in plain sight.

"This one is hers - aside from moving her body, nothing else has been tampered with as far as I am aware." He explained. Again, he stood outside and allowed (Y/n) to investigate without getting in her way.

What was most prominent in the room were three pieces of furniture: the large forest green canopy bed on the slight platform in the far-left corner, the large silver-backed mirror that rested on the vanity opposite it and the white carpet.

The carpet was an exception, however. The mirror and bed stuck out because they were such expensive and lavish pieces of the room. This carpet stood out because it was stained the light brown of dried blood in the middle.

(Y/n) looked around the room some more. Behind the door was a big black banner bearing a crimson cross. It seemed familiar and she took a few seconds to think it over. The same banners had been present in the Doge's study on either side above his large desk. A family symbol perhaps? A political one? She did not know.

(Y/n) examined the bloodstain on the floor as her first piece of evidence. It was dried and it only made her wish that she had been able to travel to Venice much sooner, perhaps she would be able to be closer on this vampire's trail.

There was a terrible aura in the air, one of despair and hopelessness that seemed to linger. Was it simply the destruction that had been left by the vampire? Or perhaps it was the victim's ghost lingering? (Y/n) glanced around the room: she could neither see nor sense a ghost.

She got up to open the window, intending for the wind to cleanse the terrible energy that still lingered from the supernatural murder. She popped the latch and pushed the glass open only to spot bloody fingerprints on the window.

"Doge?" She called, turning back to face where he waited just outside the door.

"Yes?"

"Did you find the window open at the same time the body was discovered?" The Doge entered the room and stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"I cannot say — it was her friends who got here first, perhaps they can tell you?" (Y/n) cast another glance around the room.

"I believe it's time I began my interrogation."

#ac #assassins creed #assassins creed II #ezio auditore da firenze #ezio auditore #young ezio auditore #ezio auditore da firenze x reader #ezio auditore da firenze/reader #ezio auditore x reader #ezio auditore/reader #au #vampire au #vampire #huntress

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kprciffdw · 4 years ago

Text

Kim Possible: The Extremely Secret Files-Part 5

They have spent another long flight to their next destination: Planet Oozla. When they landed and got out, they spent a few short moments looking around. Kim: "OK, whose dumb idea was it to build an outlet on a swamp covered planet?"

The Kimmunicator went off again, she pulled it out. Kim: "What is it, Wade?" Wade: "Kim, I have taken the liberty of using the data I have analyzed from the alien technology and I have designed a few pieces of equipment that may be able to help you out." Kim: "Do you know how you'll be able to send them?" Wade: "They're on their way now."

Suddenly, a small mechanical device showed up right near them, they noticed it almost immediately. Kim: "What is that?" Wade: "It's a little something I have been working on for a while now. That is my Automated Distribution Vendor. It's able to transfer any and all of my devices to you guys via a transporter that I was able to develop, all thanks to an actual transporter that I have analyzed, of course." Ratchet: "So, what devices do you plan to send our way now?" Wade: "Well, this one device that I have just finished will help out with collecting the pieces of Dr. Possible's space shuttle."

Transported from the vendor was a sphere-shaped container the size of a volleyball. Kim pulled it out of the vendor and observed it a bit. Wade: "That container is able to hold objects much larger than it. You can use that to contain the shuttle pieces." Kim: "Terrific! I was wondering how we would be able to carry all of them around." Wade: "Speaking of which, I'm picking up a signal from one of those pieces near your location. It seems to be coming directly from that outlet over there." Kim: "Alright, we'll keep an eye out for it."

She tucked the Kimmunicator away. Ratchet: "Hm, that Wade of yours really can work to your advantage." Kim: "I know. He has always played a very important role in all of our missions." Ratchet: "OK, let's go find that first piece."

They begin their trek through the treacherous swamp filled-area. Along the way, there were a few Megacorp researchers that were in peril but they could not be saved. This made Kim very uneasy but Ratchet did all he could to alleviate her unease as they both knew they had to continue on. They eventually arrived at the outlet. Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator and checked on it. Kim: "That first piece should be somewhere in there." Ratchet: "OK, let's find it quickly. While we're at it, let's keep a lookout for any intel regarding the Thief."

They made their way into the outlet. As soon as they entered, they saw that the entire place has been wrecked. Kim: "Um…this place has seen better days."

A signal from the Kimmunicator went off, Kim checked on it immediately. Kim: "The signal from that piece is this way. Come on."

They rushed off further into the outlet. They ran into and fought off several mutant creatures along the way. The place was indeed very messy and there were many obstacles in the way, but they persevered. They kept going until they were stopped by exactly what they were looking for: the first piece of the shuttle. Kim: "There it is!" Ratchet: "Alright! We found it!"

Kim walked over towards it and grabbed it. She then pulled out the container and placed the shuttle piece into it, then tucked the container away. Ratchet: "That's one piece down and only several more to go." Kim: "That was way too easy."

Ratchet then noticed a monitor nearby. He walked up to it, Kim followed after. They watched as Mr. Fizzwidget appeared on the monitor. Mr. Fizzwidget: "Ratchet, Kim, come in. Do you read me?" Ratchet: "Copy, Mr. Fizzwidget. We read you loud and clear." Kim: "So, what's the sitch?" Mr. Fizzwidget: "Listen, both of you. I have some new inflammation on the Experiment's wherewithal. The Thief was indemnified at Megacorp's Maktar Resort. Also, the Thugs have towed a moon-sized jamming array into Maktar Resort orbit." Kim: "And you want to take it out of commission, right?" Mr. Fizzwidget: "Affirmulous! It's disconfrapulating our annual "Galactic Gladiators" broadcast."

As he went on and on, Ratchet and Kim exchanged looks in a manner in which they've taken notice in Mr. Fizzwidget sounding like a nutcase. Mr. Fizzwidget: "Here, see for yourselves."

Displayed on the monitor was the Galactic Gladiators' commercial. They watched the entire thing. Ratchet: "Hm…an arena match, huh? Sounds interesting. Kimberly, you wouldn't mind partaking in something like that, would you?" Kim: "Heh, no big. I can handle anything." Ratchet: "I've got the coordinates. Over and out."

They proceeded towards the nearest exit. Just as they were about to leave, the exit closed on them, they were completely sealed in. Ratchet: "What the…?"

They noticed something pass by them very swiftly. Kim: "Who's there?"

A figure maneuvered around the entire chamber. Within a few moments, Kim caught a glimpse of a familiar green glow. Kim: "It can't be."

The figure, revealing to be Shego, landed directly in front of them. She stood up straight with her hands on her hips. She looked at Kim and Ratchet in a displeasing manner. Ratchet: "Shego!" Shego: "You know something? I told Dr. D that there was a good chance that the 2 of you would arrive here in this galaxy, but he never considered that a possibility. But sure enough, here you guys are, proving once again just how annoyingly idiotic Drakken can be, not to mention how much of a headache it is to get through to him." Ratchet: "If he annoys you so much, then why do you still work with him?" Shego: "Believe me, I have asked myself that same question, so even I don't know." Kim: "I take it you were sent here to prevent us from finding the pieces of my dad's space shuttle." Shego: "You've got that right, Kimmie."

Her hands began to glow. Shego: "No way you're foiling Drakken's plans this time." Ratchet: "We'll see about that, Shego!" Kim: "I'll handle her, you try finding a way out of here." Ratchet: "Be careful, Kimberly."

Ratchet rushed off while Kim began her fight with Shego. Shego: "Aw, the space rat just called you by your real name." Kim: "Only because I asked him to."

As Kim fought with Shego, Ratchet searched the entire room for a way out. Ratchet: "Come on, come on! Where is it?"

Within an extensive amount of time searching, he was eventually able to find an exit. Ratchet: "Ah! Found it!"

He then smashed it open. Ratchet: "Kimberly! This way!"

Kim broke off her fight with Shego and rushed out with Ratchet. Shego went after them.

As they ran from her, Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator. Kim: "Wade, Shego has found us and she is hot on our trail. Do you have something that could help us out with losing her?" Wade: "I think I may have something you can use. I'll send it to you right now."

Wade's vendor appeared and transporting from it was a small flute. Kim grabbed it and looked at it closely. Kim: "A small flute? What am I suppose to do with this?" Wade: "It's a Dragon Boat whistle. It can summon a creature indigenous to the planet you on known as the Dragon Boat. You can ride one and use it to get away from Shego."

They eventually stopped in front of the swamp's edge. Ratchet: "Oh, no! A dead end!" Kim: "Well, here goes nothing."

She blew on the whistle; a strange lizard appeared from below the swamp waters. Ratchet: "I'm guessing that's the Dragon Boat."

Kim grabbed on to Ratchet. Kim: "Come on, Shego is right behind us."

They both got on the Dragon Boat, which reacted immediately to them jumping on it and it moved itself further into the swampy waters. Shego, arriving at the swamp's edge, stopped and stared out at them as they got away. They looked back at her as she stood by, infuriated with losing them. Ratchet: "Huh, that was very clever, Wade."

Kim looked at the Kimmunicator. Kim: "Thanks, Wade. This whistle really helped us out in a pinch." Wade: "Glad to hear it. Let me know when you need anything else from me."

Kim put away the Kimmunicator. The Dragon Boat brought them all the way back to the ship. They got off of it before it sank back into the water. Kim: "Now, let's head over to that space resort."

They got back on the ship and left the planet.

Meanwhile on Megapolis, Clank, Ron and Rufus were still hanging out at the penthouse. Ron was resting his head on one end of a sofa as he was looking through a menu. Clank was getting himself pampered. Ron: "Hm…I wonder if I could get the chimerito combo? Oh, perhaps the quesachanga special. Rufus, what do you think was should get?" Rufus: "Nacos!" Ron: "Hm…I don't think they have…wait! There's an item on this menu very similar to the Taco-Nacho combo! No way! They DO have Nacos on this menu! Rufus, you think we should grande size the order?" Rufus: "Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Si!" Ron: "OK, let's order them now!" Clank: "Oh, you 2 and your insatiable appetites for unhealthy, non-organic, food-like substance. What is this, your 5th order of that horrendous rubbish you call sustenance?" Ron: "Hey, being on another planet makes me homesick; at least the food we've been ordering is helping us deal with being faraway from Earth. I just can't believe that they have food here in the Bogon Galaxy that's almost completely similar to what we get from Bueno Nacho."

Ron got himself us. Ron: "I think I'll go make the order now."

He walked off towards the next room. At that time, Clank could hear a knock on the door. Clank: "Yes…? May I help you?"

He walked up to the door and opened it. He was then snatched away. Ron walked back in. Ron: "Hey, Clank, since we have racked up some orders, we get an additional meal free. Is there anything that you would…?"

He paused as he realized that Clank was missing. Ron: "Clank?"

He looked around. Ron: "Clank!?"

He then began to scurry around the penthouse. Ron: "Clank!? Where are you!? CLANK!"

#Kim Possible #Ratchet and Kim Possible Chronicles #Ratchet #Clank #Ron Stoppable #Rufus #Wade #Shego #Megapolis #Bogon Galaxy #Mr. Fizzwidget #Kimmunicator #Going Commando

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cardcaptormary · 5 years ago

Text

the dream, the outfall, the seal

Faded imagery.

A burgundy leathered book cover, strung in its binding by gold, forming into an unrecognizable crest, like a seal, that’s guarded by a lion-looking creature peering behind it. You could almost make out the words on the cover until...

Pulled out by a single inhale of her breath, Sakura woke up to find the morning sun shine on her face. Weird. She thought, only able to remember half of what she had actually dreamed, even though she was seconds away from its previous existence.

No time to think about it though. With one glance at the time, Sakura’s eyes widened as she practically leaped out of her bed, in fear of being late to keep up with Touya and Yukito.

Later in the day.

After the conclusion of another tiring, yet enjoyable cheerleading practice, Sakura made it home. It was Tuesday, and Tuesday in the Kinomoto home meant it was Sakura’s turn to cook for the family.

As she stepped through the door, Sakura was immediately startled by a ruffled noise coming from her dad’s office. She called out, “Dad? Touya?” Yet, it felt like minutes had passed by and still no response in return. Sakura could sense the sinking feeling in her stomach - growing alarm that something was possibly hiding in the study. Quietly, Sakura tip toed into the kitchen, only to find a note had been stuck onto the fridge. It read, “I’m sorry I’ll be home late. Love, Dad” Touya’s longest work days were Tuesday and Wednesdays, which confirmed that Sakura was truly home alone.

Sakura rarely ever went to her father’s study. She never wanted to intrude and rummage through his things, even if it was just her standing in the space. With both Touya and her father out, there was no way anyone could be down there, but she could’ve sworn she had heard something. Could it have been a ghost? Sakura winced at the thought - her heart pounding faster as an expression of fear swept over her soft face. She did not want to find out, but someone had to go down and check... After all, the cookbook with the exact recipe she needed to prep for dinner was down there. She didn’t even dare imagine what Touya would say if he were to find out she had made a mistake with his dish.

Before she knew it, Sakura was going down the stairs into her dad’s office. At first glance, after turning the lights on, there was no sign anyone had been there since the morning. Odd - but she thought, since she was here, she’d might as well leave it nice and organized for him.

Sakura dusted bookshelves, cleaned up his desk, and shelved books that lied in an old laundry basket waiting to be reorganized. While putting two of the basket books away, Sakura noticed a tiny beaming light in the corner of her eye. As she turned to step closer towards it, Sakura’s eyes began to squint in the glow coming from a book docked on a shelf across the way. For a couple moments, the glow grew brighter with each close step - and then suddenly, the light died out, just as she’d reach the bookshelf.

By this point, the fear she had harbored earlier had been all but forgotten about, as Sakura’s curiosity overcame her and reached the shelf to pick out the book. Holding the book in the palm of her hand, Sakura began to recognize the crest and creature on the book cover, until the crack of the unlock scared her into loosing focus. She allowed her instinct to lead her into opening the cover, revealing a deck of cards where there would normally be pages to a book.

To analyze the design of the cards, Sakura softly picked from top of the stack. These cards held similar design concept to the book cover’s burgundy and gold astrological detailing. The only difference she noticed they held was discovered as she flipped the card in her hand to gaze its other side, showing the drawing of a woman with wings, eyes closed and hands crossed. The design’s resemblance almost felt familiar to what the Europeans claimed as tarot cards. Were they possibly used for a game of sorts? Why would these by hanging out in her father’s study?

Sakura read the title sitting at the bottom of the card out loud, “...Windy?”

Suddenly, gusts of winds began to shoot out of thin air, blowing against her face at what felt a thousand miles per hour. She shut her eyes, as she tried to shield herself from what felt like a vicious indoor tornado, still holding tightly to the card she’d just read from. She couldn’t see, but Sakura could sense the rest of the cards start to fly out from the book, just as easily as she could feel her skirt blowing through the aggressive gales. It wasn’t until the wind had died down and disappeared that Sakura realized how off balance she was, leading her to fall back onto the study floor.

Her backwards trip caused the book to fall, laying closed onto the ground right beside her. The book’s familiar glow returned into half its strength, slowly revealing a creature, which oddly looked like a golden plush bear with wings and a wispy tail. As the creature fully formed outside of the book cover, their small, thin eyes softly opened up, wings fluttering a hundred miles per minute, as they energetically said, “Hello there!” A floating teddy bear that could talk made Sakura reactively squeal with confusion, making the bear respond with an off-put “Whoa!”

The golden plush floated a few inches away from where Sakura sat on the ground, proclaiming “I’m Cerberus, Guardian Beast of this Book.” Sakura, still trying to grasp what was going on, responded with a shaky “Y-You... were the seal to this book?” She thought her eyes could be deceiving her when she saw it scrunch its mouth to one side and shrug its little shoulders. “Yeah, kinda.”

They turned and flew around a bit, looking to get a better idea of where they were, until their eyes were back at Sakura trying to analyze her and who she might’ve been. For looking like a golden plush teddy bear with wings, and sounding cheerful just a minute ago, he could sport a pretty serious look. “And what’s your name?” She fixed her posture up a bit, tilting for a little bow. She wasn’t going to be rude now. “My name is Kinomoto. Sakura.”

Cerberus, as they were called, floated closer to where the book laid closed on the ground. “Well Sakura, it’s my job to protect the Clow cards from getting into trouble. Those are all the cards inside this book, and the one you have in your hand.” Once they’d landed, Cerberus easily jolted the book open with their little paw. They peered inside, even though they seemed unsurprised when the book was empty. “Well, the cards that were inside this book.”

“What are Clow cards?” Sakura replied with a tone of hesitation. This question prompted Cerberus to go on a long explanation, one that was frankly hard for Sakura to keep up with, as all of this still seemed like one big weird hallucination. The bits of information she did pick up, Sakura learned that the Clow Cards were created by an old wizard named Clow Reed. The cards are incredibly powerful, each holding their own character, yet they are just as dangerous and can take over the world on their own if desired. That’s why the cards would need a cardcaptor, or someone to catch and keep all the cards. Sakura also took a moment to explain her encounter with the Windy card and what happened to the rest of the cards, trying her best to paint a good picture for Cerberus with the information she had.

Eventually, as their long catch-up of exposition started to wind down, Cerberus stated with a balance of enthusiasm and urgency. “If you opened the book, Sakura, that means you possess the magical powers.” Sakura said the words out loud, “Magical powers?” Even then, she couldn’t imagine this conversation to get any more unbelievable, but Cerberus insisted, “Yes.” They then stood on top of the closed book. “Stand up!” Sakura listened to their command.

A ball of light formed from the book, beginning to become the outline of some sort of charm. Cerberus chanted a spell of a sacred promise, as the same picture of the book’s seal began to reveal itself on the ground below them. Then Cerberus suddenly called out to it “Release the power!” which made the charm instantaneously form into a large wand. “Sakura, take the wand!”

Sakura stared at the floating item in front of her. Her hand slowly reaching out to take it as ordered, yet stopping in midst of the fear she still inhibited. However, something warm inside her began to spread throughout her nerves, a familiar sensation that almost felt like whispers in her ear telling her this was something she had to do. And as her instinct guided her, Sakura reached to grab the wand and felt the electric feeling of the wand’s magic pulsate back through her bloodstream. The blinding glow burst back in full strength and force, completely encompassing her in its rays. Cerberus’s next words forever now ringing in her ear, “It’s up to you now to be The Cardcaptor.”

#sakura #drabble #the way they're not close enough yet so she couldn't ever call/think of them as kero-chan #LOL #ALSO JEEZ IM SRY THIS DO BE LOOONG

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naorisososo · 5 years ago

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Water

“5 shells,” the greasy fat man hissed, as he tossed a few coins my way, the curl of a smirk beginning to form on the corner of his mouth.

I grabbed his wrist, “This isn’t what we agreed on!” I wanted to shout, but we were tucked in an alley where two open windows sat just begging to eavesdrop on our illegal interaction.

He pulled his wrist away from me, using his calloused hands to shove me away from him, slamming my head into the wooden side of the house. A cat meowed in amusement, as it leaped across the roof overhead. “Tough shit, kid!” he slurred, tucking the bag of BeMerry into his waistband where his fat stomach rolled over to guard it. He stared at me, curious if I would cause him any more trouble before turning his back to me, hobbling down the alleyway.

I didn’t want to use it, but he left me no choice. I needed the money that we agreed on. I had to get it. For her.

I pulled the waterskin from behind me, hidden underneath the raggedy coat I wore. I popped the cork lid that sealed it, and the sound was enough for him to stop dead in his tracks. I could almost see his knees trembling, as he scoffed, acting like he wasn’t scared.

“Y-you think I’m scared of you, huh?” he asked, looking over his shoulder so that I could only see half of his dirt-crusted face.

“No. I know you are.” I corrected him, taking a step towards him, holding the open waterskin cautiously out in front of me.

The mud that we stood on top of began to bubble, as something slithered between my feet, a slimy appendage broke through the brown liquid, gripping my pant leg. Its claw had two talons that were large enough to wrap around my entire ankle, as it began to pull itself up out of the mud. I tried not to wince, as the tip of the talon pierced my skin.

“S-stop! Don’t do th-” he was facing me now, fumbling in his pockets to retrieve the money that we had agreed on, as he stumbled backward.

“Give me the money. Now!” I shouted, no longer caring who overheard our exchange. Liars don’t deserve mercy.

“F-f-fine! Here!” he tossed the bag of coins towards me, as it landed just a few feet in front of me. He fell onto his rear, as he continued to scramble away from the monstrosity that continued to climb its way up out of the mud. It was attracted to the water. They all were.

I reached down to grab the bag, opening it quickly to make sure the agreed amount was in there before tucking it inside my pocket.

“Don’t do this again, Elbert. I’ll let them eat every piece of fat, filthy meat off your bones next time.” He nodded weakly, his lips blubbering with fear, as I used my thumb to close the cork over the top of the waterskin, sealing the liquid inside.

The bubbling of the mud slowly began to die down, as the creature hissed, no longer sensing the liquid that it craved. We both flinched at the sound before it slipped back into the mud that it came from, completely returning the ground to the way it was before - lifeless and not full of a slimy monster that could devour you in seconds.

He tried to push himself up, slipping in the wet mud and landing on his face instead. I snickered, watching him stand, wiping off his front before running out into the main path where he hooked a right and fled.

“Serves you right,.” I muttered, quickly sucking in air, as my ankle flared with pain. I looked down to see the cut begin to bleed, soaking through the ripped fabric. “Shoot…” I whispered as an older woman leaned out a window above me, reaching out to pull it shut before she saw me down below. She gasped with recognition, as she opened her mouth to call for someone, but I pulled my hood over my head, and ran out the other end of the alley, ignoring the dirt path that people stuck to. I cut across the road, and between two merchant stalls, leaving the small village behind as I made my way into the woods.

I ran a few hundred yards before I gave myself a chance to slow, catching my breath, and making sure that I wasn’t being followed. I hid behind a tree trunk, as I scanned the treeline I had just come from, listening intently for the sound of footsteps and angry villagers, but it never came. I sighed with relief, as I sat down, leaning against the tree trunk, as I pulled my shirt up, revealing a small wooden box that was tied securely around my stomach. I untied it, setting it on the ground in front of me, as I pulled my boot off, ripping the rest of the pant leg off, so I could heal the cut properly. I flipped open the latch of the box, looking inside for the correct vial that I needed to close up the wound.

Fixall.

I pulled the slender vial out of the box, as I popped the cork off, pouring the glittery red liquid over the cut. I whispered the potion’s activation spell through gritted teeth, as the liquid bubbled over the bloody surface. “Heal all, fixall.”

The bubbling intensified, as I leaned back against the tree, squeezing my knee to brace myself. I forced myself to breathe in and out of my nose for the next few moments until the pain suddenly stopped. I looked back down at my ankle, but there was no longer a cut there. I used the ripped fabric to wipe the remaining red liquid off of my skin before tucking it into my pocket. I slid my boot back on, tapping my toes against the ground to make sure it was snug fit. I lifted my shirt again, pressing the wooden box against my stomach before looping the rope around my torso to secure it.

The ever-present clouds in the sky made it difficult for me to determine just exactly what time it was, but I knew that I couldn’t be out in the woods for too much longer. I continued along the familiar path, as the sound of rushing water led me in the correct direction.

I slowly snuck up to a large boulder that faced the stream that cut through the forest, cascading down underneath the mossy fallen trunks and rocks that have laid there for the past century.

It wasn’t safe to approach the water. It never is.

Today, thankfully, they were distracted by the body of a runaway villager. Some who had wanted a better life, away from the filth and squalor, but then they ran into the reason humans were forced to live in such disgusting designs. It wasn’t anyone I recognized, but I didn’t quite stick around to do a proper investigation.

The sounds of snapping bones, ripping flesh, and sated growls filled my ears, as I tried to ignore them, moving further upstream, away from the dozens of slimy, scaly creatures that fed on the unlucky soul.

Just another hundred yards up the stream, there lay a trunk, supported by boulders on either side that acted as a bridge, or at least that’s what I’ve been using it as these past few years. I squatted near the treeline, checking the shore of the stream once and twice before deciding it was safe enough to pass. The majority of them were distracted on the body, and I ran, pushing myself up onto the boulder. I stuck my arms out on either side of myself for balance, as I stared across the stream at my destination.

“Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.” I chanted to myself in my head, almost halfway across. The water below me began to bubble, as the unnerving sound of claw against rock pierced my ear, breaking my concentration. I slipped on the moss-covered wood, falling to my knees, as I straddled the trunk, looking below to dozens of flashing yellow eyes watching my every move. A few hungry ones slowly pulled themselves up out of the water, as I pushed myself up, taking quick, but cautious steps to continue across the stream.

One pulled it’s limb back, slicing at the trunk and me, but I leaped off, landing roughly onto the solid ground. I tried to stand but my wrist growled at me, as a branch angrily slashed along my forearm from my landing. I fought through it, pushing myself up, and running further into the woods, clutching my wrist.

My boots squelched through the leaves and wet mud, as I cursed underneath my breath. The sounds of bubbling followed me, as I ran, zig-zagging through the foliage. It grew intense and closer until I reached the end of the forest where the mud and dirt transitioned into solid stone. I scrambled up the slope of the rocky face, pulling myself up onto a ledge, as I fell onto my back, my chest rising and falling with exhaustion.

The talons scratched at the base of the stone hill in frustration, as I slowly sat up, watching the creature slither through the dirt, pacing along the border of rock, but it eventually retreated back to its wet habitat. I blew raspberries in its direction, as a voice called down to me from further up the rocky face.

“Careful, if they’re hungry enough, they are fully capable of crawling up after you.”

I startled a bit, as I looked up to see a familiar face, with warm brown skin and freckles just like mine, albeit more wrinkles, but I think they made her look wise.

“I know, Mother.” I continued climbing up the jagged slope until I stood face to face with her, turning to look over the forest and village that sat off in the distance. From here we could see the ominous waterfall to the north. The main cause of our troubles.

“Welcome back, E’mary,” she greeted, reaching out to inspect my forearm, as her stubby fingers brushed over the scratches. “Come inside, child, your sister has been wondering where you’ve been.” her eyebrows knit together as if she was about to reprimand me, but before she could do so she began to cough. She gripped my forearm, as she covered her mouth, bending over from the pain.

“Mother…” I whispered as the door of our home creaked open.

“E’mary...is that you?” a small voice asked, as a young girl with thick braids that flowed down either side of her face peeked her head out of the door.

I pulled my mother’s arm around my neck and began to walk her back towards the house. “Yes, Yve’ee, I’m back! Sorry to make you worry,” I called out, as thunder cracked over us, tens of thousands of feet above us. “It’s going to rain, Mother…”

“Yes, we’ve been making preparations, my dear,.” she reassured me, as Yve’ee held the door open for us.

The inside of our home had been carved into the face of the mountain hundreds of years ago by our ancestors. I walked my mother to a bench that was chiseled into the wall near the fire, as Yve’ee tugged on the wooden door, latching it closed.

“What else do we need to do?” I asked, before scooping Yve’ee up into my arms and planting kisses all along her cheeks and forehead.

“We just need to start the fire.” She smiled, watching her two children break into a fit of giggles and laughter, before bending over in a fit of coughs.

“I’ll take care of it.” I set Yve’ee down, kneeling in front of her, and pressing our foreheads together, as I cupped the back of her head. “We’ll be OK…” I whispered to her, looking into her fear-filled eyes, as she simply nodded.

“P-promise?” she whispered back, her threatening tears.

“Promise.” I pulled my coat off, hanging it on a point in the wall before lifting my shirt and untying my box from my stomach. “I used the last of my Fixall. Do we have more?” I asked, watching my mother point to the back of our home, as Yve’ee rubbed her back, hoping to settle her coughs.

I jogged to where there were shelves of potions, salves, and numerous concoctions that my mother and I have made over the years. It didn’t take me long to find the glittering red liquid that was stored in a rounded flask with a narrow neck. I pulled off the cork, pouring just enough over the bleeding scratches, as I winced from the searing pain. But seconds later the skin was healed. I pulled the excess fabric from before from my pocket, wiping the remaining red liquid, and setting the fabric on the stone table where we would later wring it to extract what had been absorbed.

Stacks of firewood sat on the opposite side of the storage room, as I grabbed two split logs, holding them under each of my arms and walked them over to the front of the house. I traveled back and forth until there was a good line of firewood from wall to wall.

A flash of lightning lit the room, illuminating Yve’ee’s scared face, as she cowered behind our mother. The thunder echoed through the air just seconds after, as I looked back at our mother. She nodded.

I grabbed a flask of orange liquid that was hot to the touch, pouring it over the dried firewood until they were sufficiently covered with it. I took a few steps back, sealing the flask before calling out the activation spell. “Ignite, FireLight.”

The liquid instantaneously sparked into flames, as it hungrily ate up the firewood that was laid out as a protective barrier against the rain.

“Great job, E’mary.” My mother held Yve’ee close to her, as the pitter-patter of rain could be heard falling upon the stone outside.

My feet began to vibrate, as bubbles from the mud began to come to life. I looked down to see a creature trying to escape from underneath my boot, but I pulled it off, tossing both of my shoes into the fire. The creature screamed in pain, as Yve’ee gasped, covering her eyes in mother’s bosom.

“S-sorry...I forgot about…”

“It’s OK. It’s over now,” she replied instantly. The smoke began to rise, flowing out through the wooden door and up into the sky, as the fire burned brighter and brighter.

I grabbed a piece of burning firewood, lifting it and holding it near the floor, drying up the pieces of mud I had tracked into the house until it was just dirt. I leaned against the cool stone wall, holding my head between my hands.

They were free to roam when it rained. Free to bring death and chaos wherever they went. It was no wonder that all the normal villagers craved BeMerry.

“He tried to short me, but I made him pay the full amount.” I set the bag of coins in front of my mother, as she grabbed my hand before I walked away.

“Thank you, E’mary. For everything that you do.” She looked so small and feeble now that her hair was graying and frayed. “You’re a good son.”

I smiled, leaning down to kiss the back of her hand. I rubbed the back of my head, feeling the short, spiky hair against my palm. I’d have to shave again in a couple of weeks, but we’d have to make it through the night first.

“Thanks, mother,” I whispered, as I pulled off my frayed shirt, revealing my bound chest. “I’ll start dinner, OK?”

Yve’ee hopped out of mother’s lap, grabbing onto my pant leg, as she followed me to our stone oven where this morning’s catch hung skinned.

“C-can I help?!” she asked, bouncing on her tiny feet, as I rustled her hair.

“Of course,” I was glad to see her take her mind off of the monsters just outside our door. Even if only for just a few hours.

#writing #writing prompt #short story #dark #fiction #writer #fantasy #writeblr #writeblr community #writblr

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lucastheunlucky · 5 years ago

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Ease of Learning - Orion&Luke

Summary: Orion accepts a part time job at Yum!Pizzeria and meets Luke! They make food together, learn how to prep for a restaurant, and find great enjoyment in each other’s company. @3starsquinn

Set up: [text] I’m in the kitchen, just come in and on through. Bring some knives if you have them, and wear rubber soled shoes.

Lucas finally had help and he was probably a little too giddy about it. This week has been the nicest week he’s had since he was shot in the head. Almost five fucking years for him to have this, and to think people had such nice lives all the time. Lucas already had everything laid out, cleaned, and prepared, and to hopefully seal the deal with the trainee. He had taken the time to get a new white, chef’s shirt for them so it felt a little more official. It was completely a bribe, but he couldn’t help it. He could find help for the front, cashier, and waitress staff, but not in the kitchen because he always kept himself isolated. This was a huge step for Lucas. He sat down at the main station, writing out a new recipe he had worked on, not pizzeria related, but Lucas’ future fine dining restaurant that resides only in his head now. Soon. He had a photo on the wall now, a sketch of the new concept. Eventually this place will be truly his dream.

Orion only owned hunting knives, and he only kept them begrudgingly just in case the situation were to ever arise that they were needed. Luckily, Ricky was into cooking and owned some pretty decent knives, which Rio was able to borrow for the evening. He had been inside the pizza places for more times than he could keep track of. It was a local favorite and the best pizza place in town. Rio didn’t have a ton of experience with actual cooking, which made this position a bit more ideal for Rio’s situation. Pretty much the only thing his family had employed him to help with when it came to cooking was prep work. It wasn’t exactly a surprise that Rio was the most detail oriented and meticulous of the Quinn family. Plus, he had good reflexes, like supernatural reflexes. He got to the door to the restaurant and knocked at it, spotting who he assumed would be his boss through the window and waving towards him. It wasn’t until the door opened that the tingling sensation shot through Rio’s body. There was a werewolf, somewhere around here. His tried to focus his hearing out for a moment, to see if he felt anybody around the place. But all he could sense was Lucas, opening the door to let Rio in. A giddy smile broke out across Rio’s face. He could only imagine the meltdown his parents would have had if they knew that he was working for a werewolf. A werewolf! Amazing. Rio happily held his hand out as an introduction. “Hey there! It’s Orion. Or Rio. Whichever you prefer. I’ve probably said this a million times already, but I really appreciate this, I can’t wait to get started.”

Lucas felt the enthusiasm immediately, and fed off of it to ease any concern. The other was a handsome younger man, with bright eyes, and Lucas felt a slight pang at how the youth held this special kind of energy. One, he probably wouldn’t have anymore now that he was in his thirties. Lucas shook his hand with a firm grip, palms rough. “Come on--” he chuckled, walking him into the pizzeria, and back in through the kitchen doors. Not a lot of people have seen this area, and Orion, well-- he will be the first person ever to work next to Lucas in the kitchen. It was a strange feeling, to let someone else into his space, but Lucas was trying with everything he had, to not let this hunter have so much control over his life. And in here, his pizzeria now that the deed was transferred-- he wanted to make a work family. “The kitchen is simple in design, we cook in a stone oven, but he have gas ovens as well for other things, that’s a smoker for the meats, and all the prep gets put in here,” he hulled open a large fridge where a bunch of empty containers usually filled with ingredients. “You know how the menu works, since I change it every day, you will have a different prep list. Which is nice, it shakes it up. So,” he pulled out the chef’s shirt and waved it between them. “Put this on, and let me see how you cut an onion.”

It was a bit surreal, following his boss behind the counter and following him to a portion of the pizza place that he had never seen before. After spending so long at the counter ordering, it seemed weird to walk behind the counter. Or maybe the weird part was that he had never had a job before and this was all new to him. Either way, it was a mixture of excitement and nerves. He nodded, familiar with the new choices every day. It was pretty easy to tell how passionate Lucas was about the place, which could only be a good thing. When Lucas pulled the chef shirt free, Orion was so excited for the chef shirt until he realized that the chef shirt was short sleeved, which meant… Oh boy. He couldn’t not wear it, right? That probably wasn’t an option. Rio stood there for a moment long before grabbing it and slipping it over his long sleeve shirt. He sighed, rolling his sleeves up to the sleeve of the chef shirt, exposing a string of scars and bruises along his arms. He immediately jumped into washing his hands and pulling one of the knives that he borrowed from Ricky out to cut the onion, hoping that they would not talk about the scars or bruises and just focus on the prepping. “So, uh my friend taught me that we cut off both ends and then cut the onion in half, take the skin off.” He spoke aloud and did the motions as he said them, trying to remember what Ricky had done while cutting them. “Once you have it in half you can just kinda… chop it” He said, cutting sections from the onion into what looked like sort of a half moon shape. “You probably need it like chopped into tiny pieces, right?”

Lucas gave Orion some space, not wanting to be all up in his area quite yet. He noticed the scars, but Lucas was also a creature riddled with them. He hated when people looked at them or asked questions he couldn’t explain about them, so he just acknowledged how hard that motion might have been for Orion, and stood calmly, with that understanding without bringing it up. “That shirt makes it feel official right?” he chuckled to keep the mood light. “Well, first-- you should sharpen your knife.” Lucas had set him up for failure, but it was a good way to remember. “Always do that step first, so you don’t cut your fingers or squish the vegetables.” He pulled out his japanese blades, with beautiful orange handles, and sharpened it quickly. “You are close, from here, lay it like this and you want to aim for about half inch pieces of onion. Unless-- I call for strips which happens sometimes, especially with the bbq pizza’s. Chop down, take your time until you get the motions, hold your fingers like this so they don’t get caught. Then you can go faster--” Lucas showed the motions at a good pace on his own board, which was actually harder cause he does it so fast all the time. “This is called a small dice-- which vegetables do you think get cut up like this?”

Orion glanced down at the shirt that Lucas had given him, “It really does. I feel pretty legit.” He smiled, thankful that his new boss hadn’t mentioned the scars. It was stupid of him to show them off anyways. “Right, right. Sorry. Of course that makes sense.” He sighed. Strike one he supposed. Though it didn’t seem to bother Lucas much. He had told Rio that he would train him how to do it properly. So this was training, and a nice, peaceful training at that. “Woah Those knives are really cool.” He stared at the design on the blades. He watched Lucas cutting the onions, clearly way more fluid than his parent had ever been with a blade. Though they had never really claimed to be great cooks. “Got it. I can do that. I mean, I can do that with practice.” Luckily for Rio, he was a pretty fast learner. “Uh..” Rio tapped his fingers against the cutting board to think of what a pizza place would use for small cuts. “Onions, obviously. Peppers, probably. Maybe like tomatoes, if you add any in your pizzas. Something like that?”

“You will get it quick, don’t worry,” Lucas smiled about the knives, they were very special to him. “They are neat right? I worked years to get a legitimate set. There are a lot of knockoffs on the market.” Lucas nodded to the few he said, and pulled out a plate that had all of them cut correctly in the varying ways he liked on a beautiful spread. “Most are sliced-- mushrooms, banana peppers, jalapeno’s, the ones cut down the side like those. Then you have the smallest, minced. That, you won’t do for a while cause it’s the hardest. But, if you practice these other cuts, I’ll show you and you can practice at home. So, using that plate as a guide-- lets prep for tomorrow.” He quickly pulled over the menu, laying it out between them. “We are doing three pizza’s, see what we need? I always label it well. Lets just get some practice in, don’t worry about making it perfect. I’ll do it with you, and if you don’t know just ask alright?.” Lucas tied an apron on, and cracked his knuckles, and got to work.

Orion liked this. It was almost relaxing, in a way that cooking had never been for him before. But Lucas was a calming presence. Patient and warm, it was a welcome change. Lucas showed off exactly what the cuts were supposed to look at and Orion tried studying each one, hoping that just staring at them long enough would make it stick in his brain. It worked for books. “Perfect. My roommate loves to cook, I’ll make sure to help prep. Get some good practice in.” Despite Lucas telling Rio not to worry about it being perfect, Rio knew that he was going to worry about it. He had always been a perfectionist. But this was the new Rio. The one that didn’t bother with the Quinn name. He could be more chill now. The new and improved Rio. He looked at the menu, “Well this sounds amazing.” Rio laughed. Maybe he’d need to stop by and pick some up for himself and his roommates. “Definitely. Please just yell at me if I’m doing anything wrong.” He joked, jumping into it as well to get started on the prepping.

For the first time in almost five years, the sound of two knives against cutting boards echoed in the kitchen. It warmed Lucas’ entire soul, in a comforting and familiar way that he used to cook in the kitchen with his family before he went into hiding. He knew, all along, he wanted this feeling back, almost desperately, but always fear hid in the back of his mind. Luring him to be hesitant. The man who captured him, tortured him-- didn’t have to infect this place. His pizzeria, and maybe in the future, something more fine in nature. He paused Rio a few times to correct how he was holding the knife, pulling his hand back on it, or fixing the rocking of the blade, but Lucas could see that the other had some kind of experience holding a blade, maybe just not cooking ones. Lucas cleaned his knives, and watched the other work for a few minutes, cherishing the moment-- hoping, he’d like it here. A soft smile twitched his lips. “Two hours have gone by ya know--” he said with a knowing sound. “Set an alarm when you are here, time-- flies when you prep, especially while alone. How are you feeling about it?” Lucas pulled out a slab of bacon, slicing down thin pieces. “You hungry? Cause for some reason, I want breakfast right now.”

Orion fell into an easy groove working next to Lucas. Every now and again Lucas would help readjust his grip on the knife or show him some trick to make the cutting easier, but it was always done with good spirits and with the best of intentions. It honestly didn’t really even feel like work. When Lucas mentioned that two hours had already gone by, Rio barely believed it. “Seriously? Woah. I didn’t even notice.” He shrugged. “I feel great. Like this is too good to be true.” Rio definitely didn’t consider himself lucky enough to deserve this. He had been so nervous about starting to work that he had practically spiraled once he accepted Lucas’ offer and Erin’s. But both places seemed really cool. “Holy crap, really? I’m always starving. Like, all the time. This is amazing.” He bounced excitedly, a grin plastered on his face. “What can I do to help?”

“Haha, same-- same,” Lucas suggested, both because he’s hungry, but also to see how Rio would do with orders shooting at him. That’s if he eventually wanted to tackle the kitchen while open then doing prep. He pointed towards the cast iron skillets. “Turn the gas on the stove to high flame, get that pan hot for me.” He sliced down the large piece of meat to create a stack of bacon for them, tossing it onto a plate, and brought it over to the stove. “If you look in the walk in fridge, there are eggs in there, and cheese of course,” Lucas couldn’t help it, he loved cheese sprinkled on his eggs since he was a little boy. The pan heated up quick, and Lucas put the bacon in it, the sizzle immediate. He flipped on the hood, the smoke traveling up and out of the small space, and smell-- it was already to die for. “Crack those eggs for us, put them all in a bowl. I can eat six eggs-- if you can believe it. Haha. I haven't had dinner yet, so it needs to stick. Cube some butter from there,” he pointed, “and dice up some scallions. Don’t salt anything yet--”

Hoping not too screw anything up, Orion made a mental list of what he needed to do. He started with the oven, flipping it on high and grabbing a pan to start heating it up. He then slid over to the ginormous fridge and slid inside of it, searching around for a long minute until he hunted down the eggs and cheese, grabbing a carton of eggs and a few separate bags of cheese, “I wasn’t sure which kind of cheese you preferred so I grabbed… all of it. I can eat literally anything.” He set the eggs and cheese down on one of the counters and took in the smell of the bacon. Amazing. He laughed at Lucas, popping the carton of eggs open and pulling eggs out one at a time, cracking them into the bowl and putting the empty shell back into the carton for the moment. He wondered if large appetites came with Werewolf territory? Hunters tended to have a bigger appetite than regular humans, because they had to give energy for the heightened senses and strength. It was only logical that werewolves would be similar. After cracking all the eggs, he hunted down the butter next, starting to cube it before asking, “How much should I cut? Like a whole stick? He probably should know something like that, if he was an actual adult that cooked ever. After he cut those, scallions would be next. “Do you cook here a lot on your own time too? Or do you have your own fancy set up where you live?”

“No, about four tablespoons or four decent slices,” Lucas peered over at Orion working hard, making sure everything was right, and taking the time to find the right ingredients. A blossom of pride filled the wolf, and a kind smile surfaced while he flipped the bacon in the cast iron. “Make sure you separate the tops and bottoms of the scallions.” He didn’t even peer over at the stuff being prepared, accepting however he did them in a show of trust. “I, heh,” Lucas never bragged or boasted about himself, he always got a little shy over stuff which is why in high school no one really knew he wasn’t just a football player, but also a huge science club nerd. “I actually have training in fine dining if you can believe it. I also have been studying authentic Chinese cuisine for about five years now. My home set up isn’t as nice as this, so I do tend to cook here if I can. I experiment a lot, I want to have a really nice place eventually.” He reached for the eggs, pushing the bacon to one side of the pan to let the fat heat and coat the pan before tossing the eggs in. With a pair of chopsticks he grabbed each cube of butter, folding it into the eggs as he broke the yolks and let it all cook in bacon fat with gentle motions to fold them into stacks. “Get a small pan, heat a little oil, and toss those white scallions into the pan, keep them moving so they don’t burn. Hey, those don’t look too bad.” He complimented on the scallions. “Then get plates, this will be one in two minutes.”

Orion followed the boss’ instructions for the butter and passed it off to him when he began working on the scallions. Unsure exactly what to do with them, he resorted to cheating a bit, if this were some sort of graded test at least. He pulled a video up on his phone, watching a few seconds of it before following them himself, cutting up some not perfect, but decent scallions. “Chinese cuisine?? That’s so cool! You know back in the Zhou dynasty rice was considered a luxury. It was insanely priced and only the richest classes could afford to eat it. It’s crazy to think about that, since rice is such a common staple in so many cultures nowadays.” He rattled off, immediately happy to have something to talk about. Even if it was nerdy. “I think it’s really cool that you have this space. It’s easy to tell how much you care about it.” Orion grabbed a small pan and took a minute to hunt down the oil, pouring it into the pan and setting it on the stovetop. “Thanks! Full disclosure, I totally googled it to find out how to cut them correctly.” He laughed, outing himself and finally tossing the scallions in the pan, pushing them around in the pan. This was how people kept them from burning, right? After a minute, Rio followed Lucas’ directions and went to grab plates, “This smells amazing”

Lucas actually didn’t know that bit of information, and he’d have to remember it. “My neighbor has all these old family recipes, none of her family is here in the states, and she filled my head with them so they’d not be lost. If you really want some good cooking though, she is the one to stand next too, she’s got that grandma energy-- and love in all her food.” When he disclosed he googled it Lucas couldn’t even fault him. “I get it, just watch your phone in here, I have lost many of mine in a bowl of tomato sauce by accident.” Lucas placed the bacon, and eggs on the plates, taking the warm scallons to sprinkle on the side. The slices of the green parts of the scallions he mined quickly with his knife, then sprinkled it on top with a crackle of salt and pepper, and a dash of cayenne powder. “There,” he wiped the edges, and picked both plates up and moved them over to a table in the corner. Setting them down, he grabbed forks, and a water for them, and pulled his chef shirt off, tucking it on the back of the chair. He waited for Rio to sit before he did, and settled. “I’m sure you will be busy with everything, but know this place doesn’t need to be stressful. Even if you can only work two hours that’s enough to get me by. So-- thank you, for wanting to try it out.”

It looks like they had wrapped up for the night. Or at least to eat.Orion followed Lucas’ example, taking the chef shirt off and rolling his sleeves back down. He instantly felt better with his arms covered again. “Your neighbor sounds great, that’s nice of her to share the knowledge.” Obviously, Rio was a fan of sharing knowledge. He wasn’t sure who would major in history that didn’t like sharing information with others. Plus the whole Scribe thing. He slid into the empty chair at the table and took a long drink from the water. He had been so preoccupied with the prepping that he hadn’t even realized how thirsty he was. With the oven on, the place got pretty hot. “Of course. Well, again I really appreciate the flexibility. I want to help out as much as I can, and hopefully make your life a little easier.” It honestly seemed too good to be true. A boss that wanted him to work at his own pace and understood that he had a life outside of work. But this wasn’t the time for sappy admissions, it was food time. Rio used his fork to stab a large portion of the eggs and stuff them into his mouth. “Holy” He started saying, but stopped himself so he could finish chewing the food he had in his mouth. “This is amazing, holy crap. You’re like a food wizard.” He laughed once he was done chewing and right before inhaling another bite.

“Food wizard--” he repeated with a breathless chuckle, diving into his own meal. Highly amused, but Lucas always, enjoyed watching people eat his food, the way it lit up their face. The shock, the joy, the savoring. All good emotions and a moment of calm for anyone. They always settled down, sat, leaned, or just stopped worrying about their lives when they ate something he made. It was peaceful, and joyous, and it was why Luke wanted to be a chef. He seemed like a good guy, he hoped his life was okay, not too stressful, filled with more fun than pain. Maybe here could be enough of an oasis, it’s always been for him. “Text me when you are working, and I’ll work around it. I’m very flexible, and if we need to close for a day of scheduling it’s okay. Also, don’t forget, every once in a while we have that gross pizza challenge night. You should bring some friends next time, or, if you wanted to make up some bad concoctions for people, you can help me.”

Orion kept stuffing the food in his mouth as he listen to Lucas. He tried slowing himself down a little. He had spent so much time eating alone in the Scribe headquarters that he had sorta forgotten about manners. Plus he wanted to savor the taste and enjoy the food that he was eating instead of scarfing it all down in a single sitting. “Sure, of course. I can- whatever you need. If you ever need me to come in some night or another time just let me know and I’ll work around it as best I can.” He laughed, remembering the gross pizza challenge but never coming for it. “I think of at least three people that would very willingly come to that challenge. I’ll make sure to bring them along next time.” It felt weird even to him, saying that he had three friends. “I’ll definitely start brainstorming some ideas for that, it sounds fun I can’t believe I’ve never been to one.”

“Awesome, please do, not that I run out of many, most people have requests now after their friends fail some combination,” Luke continued to fill Orion in on the business, where things are, and how long things should take. Showing the times and the organized boards where the information was just in case he needed it. The night didn’t always move so quickly, so easily. But having another person here was already making the space feel like a real kitchen. One, that maybe someday could have two, three chefs in it.

#x: orion #x: ease of learning #{its soft :) }

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dyde21 · 6 years ago

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Percabeth prompt- maybe a picnic/park date with Mrs O’Leary? I love dogs and so does Annabeth :)

Thank you for the prompt! :D I changed it slightly cause of inspiration, but boy did this turn out sickeningly sweet! I hope it’s okay and you enjoy it! :D Fair warning, by eyesight has been trash lately so it was hard to write it and harder to edit it so there are probably some mistakes.

XxXxXxXxX

Annabeth hummed happily as she walked through the park, one hand entwined with Percy’s, the other holding a grocery bag full of food. They were both visiting Sally on break from classes in New Rome. The weather was perfect, and Annabeth had suggested they go on a picnic. While at first Percy may have thought it a little cheesy, there was no world in which he’d say no to a chance for food and to hang out with her.

Percy was currently ranting about how utterly unfair one of his teachers was, and that since he saved the world he should have a break from essays, but judging by the bright smile that never left his face, Annabeth figured he wasn’t too upset.

Secretly, Annabeth was glad to be able to listen to her boyfriend complain about school. It was a very welcome change from complaining about the Titan staring them down, or how the prophecy was going to kill one, if not more of them. This was nice, and if she didn’t overthink it, she could even pretend she was a normal teenager for once, out on a date with her wonderful boyfriend.

“I’ll show you the tricks I use to power through an essay.” She offered, laughing at the way his eyes lit up like she was an angel. She bumped her hips into his gently, snickering when he bumped back.

Eventually she lead them to a bench that looked like it would serve them fine, and she set the bag down. Barely moments after her hand was out of the loops, Percy had already opened and was digging out their sandwiches, splitting up the bags of chips and opening his soda.

Taking a seat, Annabeth just sat across from him, resting her chin on her palm as she watched him excitedly dig into the food, relishing how good it was.

Annabeth was in heaven. This was the something permanent she had been needing. There was something about near death experiences that could really put life into perspective sometimes.

Before long, the pair of powerful demigods were just like all the other teens out on a date in the park. Sickeningly sweet and cute as they shared their food, playing footsies under the table, laughing a little too loud at jokes that others probably wouldn’t understand.

Checking her watch, Annabeth noted they still had plenty of time till their movie started. Which was good, this day could last forever for all she cared. She may or may not have planned their date today, determined to make it the best it could be. Not that she really expected any plans she made to stay on track when her boyfriend was involved. He was her favorite kind of chaos.

While she was explaining her new design to Percy, who was being surprisingly attentive today to her explanation, felt her instincts kick into overdrive as something was approaching her quickly. Looking over her shoulder, her hand moved towards the knife in her purse until she saw the approaching attacker.

An adorable border collie was running at her, tongue wagging as it apparently decided that she would be her new best friend. Or it had smelled the food, but Annabeth was hoping for the prior personally.

It ran up, and after a brief moment of hesitation to decide whether the dog was friendly or not, it seemed like a ball of friendliness and sunshine and immediately started petting which only seemed to excite the dog more. It barked happily, rubbing all against her and licking here when his snout passed near her. Percy was leaning over the table to get a better look, smiling as he didn’t stop eating his sandwich. Pausing, Annabeth looked between the smiling, panting dog and her boyfriend who was grinning at her, in the middle of taking another bite of food and Annabeth realized there really wasn’t much difference between the two creatures.

Only a few moments later a pair of dark haired teens came sprinting up, kind of out of breath.”Steam! Get back here!”

The girl called out, running and stopping a few feet away and looking at her. “I’m so sorry. He was fine, but I think he smelled the food and I swear he’s as bad as my boyfriend with food around and….”

Annabeth just laughed and cut her off, still petting the dog. “It’s fine, I love dogs. He’s adorable. His name is steam?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow.

THe girl nodded, smiling slightly. “Inside joke.”

The boy showed up a few moments later, looking at the dog. “I told you we should have kept him on the leash.” He said, casually throwing an arm around the shoulder of the girl. “We’re lucky he’s a teddy bear, Ashe.”

Annabeth noticed the girl nestle into the guy’s side slightly. “Please, it’s fine. It’s only like the second time today, Tyler.” She said, scoffing.

A smile played at Annabeth’s lips, kind of sad Piper wasn’t here to see them.

Remarkably, Percy had put down his sandwich and was now kneeling next to the dog, petting it as well. “Who’s a good dog.” The dog turned and was suddenly attacking Percy with kisses while Annabeth smile, standing up and brushing some dog hair off her.

The girl, Ashe, just laughed sheepishly. “Sorry… He sheds. A lot.”

Annabeth shook her head. “It’s fine. He’s cute, so I’ll forgive him.”

“That’s usually what I say. About both of them.” Ashe offered, before nudging Tyler in the side gently who proceeded to gently tickle her side and make her squirm.

“Steam! Come on. Stop interrupting their date. We’ll feed you at home.” Tyler said with a whistle, and the dog gave Percy one last lick, turned to nudge Annabeth’s hand one last time and lick her leg, before he trotted back over to his owners.

They waved goodbye, and Annabeth noticed the pair still didn’t put the dog on a leash. Shaking her head at them, she turned back to see Percy stealing one of her chips. She swatted his hand away, trying to hide her grin at his devilish smirk.

They chatted for a few more moments, until she noticed Percy had stopped talking. “Wise girl? You’re a little spacey right now. That’s my job…” He teased, a slight hint of worry under his tone.

“We should get a dog.”

Percy’s eyes widened. “What?”

Annabeth shrugged, rubbing her arm nervously. “Steam was adorable. And kids aren’t… anytime soon. So a pet would be perfect. I’m sure they won’t mind if we take care of it. They owe us after all. I can talk with Reyna…”

Percy shook his head. “They’re a lot of work I hear. Plus we’re both kinda busy… and we have a dog!”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “O’Leary doesn’t count. He’s a hell hound, and has been sticking to Nico more recently too. I can’t cuddle up with a massive hellhound when I’m watching a movie.”

“I thought that’s why you kept me around.” Percy said with a raised eyebrow.

Annabeth would never admit if any blush had crossed her cheeks. She just shoved his shoulder lightly. “You are still taking classes or training half the time, plus they’re good for your heart rate so when I’m stressed about Olympus I could…”

Percy just sighed. “You’re serious about this…”

Annabeth looked at him, nodding. If she pouted just a little to help make her point, no one could really blame her after dealing with Percy’s “Baby seal eyes” whenever he wanted something.

When Annabeth saw Percy reach up and scratch the back of his neck, she knew she had won.

“I guess we can look into it. But no small dogs, it has to be a big one. If it can’t knock me over we’re not getting it.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but nodded. “Deal.” As they cleaned up their mess and started to make their way towards the movies, their conversation may or may not have drifted to what breed they were going to get and idle daydreams of seeing Percy asleep on the couch with a dog across his chest may or may not have kept a smile on her face.

XxXxXxXxX

I really like how this one turned out, I hope you all did too! I liked writing for them so I will be continuing my college AU shortly hopefully!

#percy #Annabeth #pjo #percabeth #annabeth chase #percy jackson #percbeth

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imagine-marvelously · 6 years ago

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A Weapon of My Own Design: Flying (Ch 2)

Characters: Loki x OC (Ashira), some randos

Warnings: People being mean about women, rude language about women, drinking (sorta)

Locations: Her ship, Contraxia

WC: 3,253

Summary: Three days of awkward travel leads Loki to some conclusions.

A/N: So I also love Game of Thrones so there will also be some Game of Thrones references eventually tossed in. The outfit she wears is inspired by this Pin on Pinterest btw because I’m shit at describing.

Chapter 1

It’s three days into mindless flying in the voids of space when the pair officially talks again. Well, Loki gathers it’s been three days based on the sleep pattern of Ashira. He’s careful to try to be opposite of her: being awake most of the time she is asleep and vice versa. She always leaves food on the table for him, but he found out quickly she wasn’t wrong when she said it is likely expired. All of it tasted of mildew and mold and dust, the actual flavor an after thought. The water tasted decently at least.

Loki, for the most part, has been quiet on top of his careful avoidance. He isn’t quite sure what to make of the ship, the situation or the woman he is traveling with. Ashira on the other hand is chaotically loud: crashing into things constantly, playing bizarre music even while asleep and leaving parts of various sorts and tools all over the place. It is abundantly clear she is accustomed to traveling alone. It became especially apparent when Loki sat at the small table made barely for two the other morning, maybe evening?, and found himself sitting on an unfinished bomb that Ashira clearly knew about but he had no clue existed until that very moment.

He has thus far learned the following things about Ashira:

She is clearly an extremely skilled mechanic and engineer

Even with his Allspeak, he cannot read most of the hand written stuff she leaves lying everywhere, so her native language is not one he knows

She is very, very clearly running away from something that is life or death

With a huff he sits up carefully from the bottom bunk bed. He already found it odd that the bed she has is a bunk bed shoved against the wall, but when he found out she slept on the tiny window seat, facing the stars, he nearly questioned her sanity entirely.

Add that to the list: 4) Sleeps in uncomfortable places despite having mildly less uncomfortable arrangements available

The Asgardian wanders down from the top part of the ship after sleeping to see Ashira sitting down in the middle of the floor, tools and parts all around her, the table shoved even further into the wall than he thought possible, and a part of the wall he didn’t even know opened just beside the exit and across from the kitchen propped open with what appears to be a double-sided scythe of some form. At this point of the cycle she is typically up in the cockpit checking their route or showering, so actually seeing her working on something is an entirely new experience.

Her eyes flit up to his movement. She is also just now experiencing his routine, despite being keenly aware this is when he typically descends. Ashira knows she is the outside variable throwing a wrench in his day but also knows she needs to get this done before they land.

With a nod of her head she gestures towards the ground in front of her. The prince glances down at the somewhat empty spot that is still entirely crowded by random pieces of universe knows what. He sits carefully, long legs uncomfortably crossed to accommodate the lack of space.

“So, Loki, tell me more about yourself.” She goes back to tinkering with the silver sphere.

Loki adjusts his posture to be more comfortable before beginning. “As you know I was a king of a planet called Asgard. But previous to that I was one of two princes, became king because my brother became overly arrogant about a situation, was cast out…he returned however, we fought and I sort of fell into a void created from said fight. And you?”

Ashira softly inhales as the sphere cracks open. “Well, I was a princess but due to circumstances I ran away. And that’s why so many people are after me. Apparently running away when you are apart of some big deal is a big no no.”

Loki picks up a random tool, his need to fight to avoid his truth his growing. But her truth, now that’s of interest. “Princess of where?”

“Does it matter?” She places the tool aside and reaches inside, pulling up a neon, violently green light that swallows up the room. “I ran away for a reason, and all that matters is I don’t want to be a princess and I don’t want to be from there.”

Loki watches as she switches the light source to her right hand and with her left picks up another tool. “I told you where I am from, eye for an eye, no?”

“An Earthen saying that just makes everyone blind, so no.”

He can’t even see what she is doing at this point so he drops the tool and leans back. “But you know what Earth is?”

“Earth, Midgard, Terra, all the same…” she muses as she reattaches a few broken wires.

Loki sighs. It’s unlikely he will be getting anything out of her any time soon from the mumbling of an answer she’s given.

Add that to the list, 5) She is stubborn.

Ashira drops the green power source back into its containment, eyes flicking back up to Loki. The green in the room subdues back to nothing as before and Loki looks directly into Ashira’s eyes. If there is one thing he can do if she is going to be stubborn, it’s attempting to read her mind without physical contact.

“My family and people probably think me dead,” he says sadly.

Ashira re-seals the containment unit without even blinking, maintaining her stare down with Loki. While normally he can get some semblance of noise at least, he is getting nothing. No sentences, no words, no word fragments, not even static. Silence. He is not even getting an inkling of an idea of what she could even be thinking, forget trying to figure out where she is from originally.

“Fuck, I wish. Then I wouldn’t be on the run constantly. Maybe I could actually settle down, run a gambling ring or something.” A soft grin pulls at her lips. “I like you Loki.”

Loki smiles at the woman in front of him. Someone stubborn and possibly noticed his attempt at mental intrusion and stopped him? A wonderful match. “I suppose you aren’t that bad yourself.”

She scrunches her face in amusement. “We should be landing in a few hours. Gotta switch out the power source and maybe we can have some fun while we are at it… actually I will have some fun while we are at. You on the other hand, well I don’t know how you have fun my prince.”

—

Loki hadn’t expected an ex-princess to land them somewhere so dirty and surprisingly cold. But Ashira just hops off the ship with a coat she grabbed from under her window seat bed, her hair in an entirely different braid than literally ten minutes before, and starts walking towards the city like it’s nothing.

Like she hadn’t just landed them on a dark, dirty, cold, barren, waste dump of a planet.

Ashira stops about forty feet out when she realizes Loki hasn’t followed, turning quickly on her toes.

“You coming or not?” She shouts.

Loki looks down at the disgusting frost and snow. If there is one thing Jotunheim had going for it, it wasn’t dirty.

“A moment, please.”

The runaway huffs. They only have so long til someone will have a track on her ship, and even less time once they get in the city because it’s likely someone will recognize her through their drunken haze.

Loki braces himself. This woman was kind enough to take him on when she could have left him there as she knew nothing about it and even accused him of being after her. He can stay a few hours on an absolutely disgusting planet with her. He can do it.

He steps off the ship and onto the too crunchy icy snow. The sound of the door shutting tightly behind him lets him know there is no turning back now, unless of course he wants to just sit outside while she goes to town. So he walks forward towards Ashira with a grimace on his face.

“Don’t like the cold?” She teases.

Loki ignores her; he continues his walk, shoving past her to continue to the city. Of course he isn’t fond of the cold after what happened literally four days ago. But for it to also be this… this insulting? He doesn’t want to talk about it.

Ashira watches with a raised eyebrow.

“Someone is grumpy.”

She seamlessly catches up with him despite him being taller with longer legs, sliding beside him with ease. He’s surprised at the ease in which she walks beside him since he is by no means slowly doing for her. No labored breath, no increased exertion, nothing from what he can tell.

It’s a silent ten minute walk to the city. Ashira isn’t concerned with his possible questions and Loki hasn’t bothered to ask any yet. He is partially distracted by the snow: how harshly it falls, how heavily it hits the ground, how unnatural this particular type seems. In fact, the cold feels wrong as well to him. It could be entirely possible that it is due to the revelations of a few days ago, he admits, but something else about the air feels wrong.

As soon as their boots hit the actual city streets, Loki is instantly brought back to the reality in front of them.

“Where is this precisely?” Loki grimaces as a group of dirty, drunk creatures stumble passed them.

“Contraxia!” Ashira bumps into him playfully. “Place to get drunk, get laid and steal from people by hustling the hell out of every game.”

“Hustling?”

“Like pretending to be really bad at something then at the last minute beating the shit out of them at whatever game. I’m amazing at it. Come on, I’ll show you.”

The ex-princess grabs the prince’s right hand in her left, dragging him quickly towards one of the many, many establishments with a flashy, bizarre sign advertising something just slightly nefarious with more than enough drunk people moving in and out. She pulls him sharply towards a staircase between two of the buildings. More than a little nefarious.

The staircase is entirely dark, steep and slippery and she walks much faster than he. Without her grip he honestly would have fallen at this point (not that he will ever admit that). At a sharp right, he trips. Ashira tugs him upright as she continues to ascend quickly and he barely lands on his feet in order to keep with her pace.

His eyes notice a light not too far off once he is balanced. Why anyone would put the light so impossible high and leave the rest of the journey dark and dangerous is beyond him.

And about a minute later they reach that light. A well-lit, golden door stands before them, complete with a perfectly hand written sign, placed just below Loki’s eye-height reading: “Master Zwell’s Gamehouse”. It is guarded by a single guard, faceless due to the mask, who as far as Loki knows, doesn’t even spare them a glance.

The ex-princess slowly pushes open the door. The inside is all white marble and golden accents and very, very well polished. People and creatures sit at various tables playing games he has never seen in suit styles he has never seen. Given the circumstances of the planet Loki expected another shady place with a randomly nice door.

“Come on,” Ashira says, tugging on his hand lightly.

She now leads him towards a side room to the right of them both where she releases his hand to shed her jacket. Clearly he wasn’t paying attention early because the oil-muddied clothes she was wearing before they got off are gone and are replaced with some of the most beautiful gold and white and silver dress armor he has ever seen.

In its essence it is a fortified white bodysuit with gold threaded designs throughout, extra silver detailing along the abdomen and where a slight v is cut out by the neck paired with sleek white boots with silver straps. The belt around the hips makes it clear that a sword and several daggers (and maybe a gun or two) could be sat there, but instead Ashira has left them empty, save a few pouches she has strung into them. Loki also notices a few places along the legs, barely noticeable to anyone with a keen eye, where blades likely sit. The outfit feels incomplete to him, so it is likely there is a cape meant to be with it.

“When did you change?” He asks.

Ashira looks up at him, sliding her jacket onto one of the many hangers. “I was gone for nearly forty minutes before we landed. I had time to change and redo my hair. Take off your jacket, unless it’s part of your,” she pauses, gesturing to him, “ensemble.”

He looks down at himself only to realize he did indeed conjure himself up a fur coat earlier that he does not need to be wearing. Loki quickly sheds it and hangs it besides hers.

“Now c’mon, I have money to schmooze.”

Back out the way they came in and past four guards is the desk where Ashira stops. She digs into one of the pouches attached to her belt, leaving Loki free to look about again. He always need to take in as much information as possible.

The first thing he notices is the number of wandering eyes now directed towards them. No, not them, her, as she keeps her back turned to the entire room. While Loki isn’t entirely opposed to checking someone out, he knows very well that his mother would yell at him for hours if he were so rude as to do so in such a way.

Ashira flips open her credit pass at the woman in charge of exchanges. This particular one is new, young, and uncomfortable in her white dress.

“Deal in for 30,000. Is there a spot open for Poker?”

The bored, blue haired, green eyed, pink skinned woman taps her machine against the pass. “Table 6 has a spot open.” Her eyes flit over Ashira’s shoulder to Loki. “Is he playing?”

“No.”

“Alright.”

Ashira slides the chips off the desk after placing her pass back in the belt pocket. She knows where all the tables in this particular establishment are since none of the Ravagers ever frequent it and a lot of the gangs don’t either because they are always too dirty and underdressed. And the best part of it? Foreign leaders and diplomats come without their spouses knowledge to get laid with one of those weird love bots and gamble. They spill secrets everywhere.

Loki now notes the sheer number of men and who he presumes are men playing with women or robotic women sitting on their laps or hanging off their arms as they walk through the grand room. Guards litter the perimeter of the room, faceless and armed. And yet here Ashira is, a short and universally wanted woman in a skin tight suit, waltzing into the room like it’s nothing.

To her, practically everything seems like it’s nothing. At least from the outside.

Table 6 conveniently has one spot but two chairs available. Ashira sits down with ease, placing her chips towards the edge of the table and waits a moment for to be able to be dealt in. Loki follows her pattern, sitting in the chair that is to the left but also slightly behind her, still taking in all the norms and customs.

The ex-princess turns over her shoulder, looking Loki up and down a moment before stopping at his eyes. “As you’ve noticed, it’s mostly men with female escorts and whores around here. I’m not asking you act as my whore but at least pretend to be my friend in here, like we are legitimately traveling together so people don’t think I’ve stolen you and try to arrest me,” she whispers. “They don’t care what the other men do. They do care what women do who aren’t their whores.”

Loki glances past her at a few of the men at the table they are at. Clearly dignitaries of some form, hiding habits from people back home. Powerful.

“Alright,” he whispers back.

“Sweetheart, you playing?” A man sneers.

Loki catches the look of pure disgust and frustration on Ashira’s face before it melts into one of the most amazing smoldering smiles he has ever seen.

“Figure I’d try my luck tonight.”

The prince tries not to change his facial expression at the sound of her voice saying that. It’s smooth, elegant, seductive and 100% unlike anything she has said within the past three days. He knows it is unnatural but she makes it sound like that’s just how here voice is.

Add that to the list: 6) A master of deceit.

For the next half hour or so, Loki watches in silence. Card games are rarely ever played on Asgard and the ones that are do not function like the one laid out before him. So he watches carefully as people slide their bets to the center or remove them just as quickly; the way people watch other’s eyes and hands and even other’s escorts for tells of lying or tells of a good hand; he notes the way Ashira lets herself lose a few times, pouting gently at the men at the table before winning a round with large wagers sitting in the center, despite the game being luck and lying.

Loki leans over Ashira’s shoulder, lips resting gently near her ear. “At this game it is just lying basically, no?”

She tilts her head in towards him, facade still on her face. “Basically, wanna give it a try?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll tap out and get us some drinks, you play this round.” She tilts her head back to the group, her face still as gently seductive as before. “I’m going to let my friend give it a try, you think he’s as lucky as I am?”

—

Slightly tipsy, several different types of games, and many credits later, Ashira and Loki are back on the actual streets of Contraxia. They are quieter now - most people gone to bed or crawled into a shop now that morning nears. Not that anyone can really tell when morning is on this planet.

But it’s near silent. The snow always helps absorb sound but less people is a plus.

“I believe this is the most fun I’ve had in quite some time.”

“I’m glad. And you helped me win twice the amount I normally do so I am going to get not only more food and other stuff but a few extra stabilizing units for the power source so hopefully I don’t have to replace it every few days.” She turns the corner and away from the ship. “Will you be staying here or you wanna come back on the run with me?”

“Well…” Loki pulls his hands behind his back and inhales. “I don’t think this planet particularly suits me and you are good company.”

“Good company?” Loki laughs at her wriggling eyebrows. “I’m glad.”

“I’m sure you are.”

“Let us shop and then we shall go, my liege.”

Taglist:

@tarynkauai

#AWOMOD #loki x oc #loki x reader #loki imagine #marvel imagine #loki odinson #loki laufeyson #loki helason #loki fanfic

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i-write-fanfics-to-procrastinate · 6 years ago

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OTP Challenge Day 7: Costumes

And here’s day seven! I’ll be working on Day Eight ASAP!

OTP: Miraxus

Rating: E!

“This is the greatest idea I have ever had!” Lucy had her arms wrapped tightly around her fire-brained boyfriend. The two were dressed in matching masquerade costumes. “You're so cute! This masquerade is going to be amazing!!!”

“I'm not cute!” Natsu protested. “I'm a dragon!” He pulled his mask down over his eyes. It was a perfect paper-mache mask, painted red and gold, with dragon-like scales etched around the eyes, and fake rubies in the corners. Natsu was decked out in an outfit to match his mask, red with gold trim.

“I'm sorry. You're very handsome, and quite fierce.” Lucy, his girlfriend, wore a matching outfit, but her primary color was gold, and her mask was etched with gold feathers. Painted feathers had been glued to the edges of her mask. A phoenix and a dragon. For a moment Laxus was almost jealous. Whoever had made the mask Natsu was wearing was a talented artist, and a dragon mask would have been really cool. He turned away from the couple, deciding that he was happy with his decision. The Lion masquerade mask that he wore over his eyes fit perfectly. He had been struck by the power that had gone into the design, the way the Lion's mane was shaped like the rays of the sun, and made a halo around the top part of the proud creature's head. It had been a little trickier to find an outfit that he thought went as well with the majesty that the mask portrayed, but in the end he had settled on a gold and white suit. He had never really been sure about how well white suited him, now it was too late to turn back.

The guildhall had been decked out for the celebrations, lanterns and string lights were hanging across the ceiling. Tables had been pushed aside to make room for dancing. A huge feast had been set up by the bar. Everyone was laughing and talking. Despite the masks, it was hard not to recognize guildmates when you saw them. Laxus caught sight of Elfman in one corner, his mask was dark, shaped like a bear's head. He was talking to Evergreen, who's mask shimmered in the light like pastel colors of the rainbow. A Bear and a Fairy. What a pair. On the dance floor, Laxus noted Happy and Carla. Happy was wearing a fish mask of all things, blue with bright scales. His dance partner wore a white feathered mask. Maybe a dove. The exceed looked rather silly with masks on. Maybe we all look ridiculous, Laxus made his way over towards the feast, but stopped in his tracks when he saw her. Long white locks framed the pale white mask of a cat. He saw the touch of a smile on her lips, and blue eyes shining from behind her mask. Her simple white dress was sleek, tight against her curves, and to the floor, with two slits on either side. He could see she was wearing tall heels. Like a pale lioness, she stalked her way down the stairs, and then locked eyes with him. That innocent smile that he knew too well, for some reason nearly knocked him to his knees tonight.

“Laxus? Is that you?” Mirajane waved a little as she approached. “I thought I recognized you!”

“Mira,” he tried not to smile, but it was to no avail, “You're a lioness?”

“No!” She giggled, pointing to the pointed ears on her mask, “Close! But I'm a cat! I love your lion mask! It's beautiful.” She paused, gently brushing a hand across his shoulder. “You look very good in white and gold.” Then she laughed again, gesturing to her dress, “I guess we match!”

“Yeah, I guess we do,” Laxus nodded. On his other side, Gray, wearing a white fox's mask, had come to ask Juvia to dance. She smiled below the spotted mask of a seal, and they moved out onto the dance floor. “Hmm...” Laxus glanced back at Mirajane. “You wanna dance?” Mira's eyes lit up.

“I'd like that a lot!” Laxus took the lead, taking Mirajane's hand in his and leading her out to the floor. Laxus wasn't typically one for dancing, and everyone in the guild knew that. Everyone also knew that Mira loved dancing. And Laxus, well, he had never admitted to himself, but he realized now, staring down at her through their animal masks, that he was in love with Mirajane Strauss.

“Yo, Laxus!” Natsu called, as he was being dragged out onto the dance floor by his girlfriend, “You're dancing?!” Laxus ignored the fire-brained boy, and turned back to the beautiful woman in front of him. She gently entwined little fingers with his big ones, and rested a warm hand against the white and gold of his shoulder.

“Well, I'm glad you asked, anyways,” Mira smiled, “I know you don't dance very much, but I always feel so much happier when I'm with you.”

“What does that mean?” He said as he led Mira in the waltz. She beamed up at him,

“I really care about you, Laxus! I would have found someone else to dance with eventually but it wouldn't be the same.”

They finished one dance, and Laxus expected Mirajane to want another, but instead she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs. “Come on, lion! I have to show you something.” Laxus stumbled after her. Where in the world is this woman taking me? They emerged on the balcony overlooking the city. Mira, laughing, her mask askew. She let go of his hand to sit on the railing.

“What are we doing up here?” Laxus frowned. Mira smiled.

“Catching some alone time, for a few minutes,” Mira traced a line in the stone of the railing and then stood. “I missed you, while you were gone.”

“It was an easy job,” Laxus shrugged, “No problem. You could have gotten it done easy too...” He trailed off, seeing her expression. “I... missed you too.” It was so foreign to him. He had never been one for affection—really, but Mira... Mira was special. Mira was everything to him, and she craved affection. She reached out to grasp his hand, and they stood there, facing each other, hand-in-hand, for a long moment before he cupped her cheek and closed the distance between them to kiss her.

“I wish we could do that whenever we wanted,” Mira breathed. Laxus was glad they couldn't. He wasn't sure he could handle the onslaught of attention. “I'm just not sure... how everyone would react. To us being together.”

“Most of the relationships in my family have ended in tragedy,” Laxus laughed humorlessly. Then he sighed, his hand still warming Mira's cheek, “But, listen, I'd take a chance on you, over and over again, demon,” he whispered. Mira smiled, resting her hand on his. He was too scared to say those words, the words that he knew his heart beat out just for her, but he could see in her eyes. Somehow she knew.

“I love you,” she murmured, tracing her thumb across his jaw. “I love you, Laxus Dreyar, and I wish I could yell it at the top of my lungs to the whole world right now!” She threw her arms out and spun in a circle, staring up at the stars.

“Mira...” He shook his head.

“I know... no one knows... no one can know. It would just be awkw--”

“Everyone already does.” Laxus and Mira turned to face Erza. The warrior was in a beautiful gown, and her mask was decorated in flowers, of all things.

“Going for the innocent look, Titania?” Laxus grinned, almost amused by her mask. Erza's lips twisted in a menacing smile,

“Flowers are interesting. Haven't you ever been poisoned, Laxus?”

“Wait! But, Erza! What do you mean everyone already knows?” Mira gasped.

“Exactly what it sounds like I mean. None of us are stupid. We've seen you sneaking around, exchanging glances,” she laughed, “And Lisanna's been talking about some late night guest you've had recently.”

“Lisanna!” Mira gasped. Laxus burst out laughing.

“Guess they saw through our ruse.”

“Well, we haven't exactly... we didn't mean to hide it from anyone!” Mira choked, “We just thought it would be too awkward!”

“You don't have to explain anything to me,” Erza shrugged, “I understand better than you can know. But you two are missing the party!” Mira shook her head.

“I can't believe everyone knew!”

“Well, maybe everyone except Natsu,” Erza smiled, leaning on the railing of the balcony and looking out over the city. “You two should go back to the party.”

“What about you, Erza?” Mira frowned.

“I just needed some air,” Erza said, “I'll be back soon enough.” Mira took Laxus' hand and led him back down the stairs.

“Wait, wait, Mira...” Halfway down Laxus stopped, pausing in the middle of the stairs. Mira looked up at him in concern.

“Are you alright?”

“I'm fine. I... just had to tell you,” He leaned over to kiss her again, their masks gently bumping as he drowned in her scent. In the dim light of the stairway, he managed to whisper: “I love you too.”

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