#first time i heard his rant on victory road. my first thought was

[heretodefyfate]

PERHAPS ONE FERN SEVILLA . . . ?

geez, not only he has parent issues, he also has sister issues as well

[no-reply95]

So I listened to the Something About the Beatles (SATB) latest podcast today, titled “Dear Friend” with the topic of conversation John and Paul’s relationship in the 1970s. So I was thinking that this would be great because I feel like the primary things talked about when the John/Paul 1970s dynamic is discussed is Lennon Remembers, How Do You Sleep and the PlayBoy interview, maybe they’ll throw in the Lost Weekend for balance if they’re feeling so inclined... I’m obviously exaggerating here but... Firstly, before I start my rant, SATB is a good podcast, they usually have great guests (Erin Torkelson Weber the MVP of course), cover interesting topics and Robert Rodriguez is a good host who’s good at challenging things in the story that don’t ring true.

However, I feel like throughout the Beatles active years and into the post break-up years there’s a narrative that has been established that so many people are wedded to, to the point that it’s part of the orthodoxy of the band. In my opinion the narrative is that from first meeting up until the moment that John died Paul was always doing everything to be John’s BFF, he was always trying to be closest to John, no matter what John said or did, Paul would always be the one to try and mend fences and throughout the 70s he was doing whatever he could to end up back working with John. I don’t think this narrative is completely wrong but I think it’s uneven mainly because, in all this, Paul’s importance to John is completely glossed over and John’s manoeuvring to ensure that he was the most important person in Paul’s life is completely missed. So, I just want to highlight some of the instances off the top of my head where I feel that John showed how much he needed to be prioritised in Paul’s life and how much he wanted to mend fences post break-up, that I feel don’t get talked about often enough:

1) John’s competition with Jim McCartney: There’s a lot of stock put into the John-Paul-Stu triangle but that obscures a weird triangle that, maybe Paul wasn’t even aware of, but I think definitely existed which is John-Paul-Jim. By all accounts Jim didn’t want John around and was against John and Paul’s friendship. Jim had a lot of influence over Paul and had a lot of sway as his sole parent once Mary died and I think John was resentful of that. We all know about the ultimatum John gave Paul when he took the job (that Jim implored him to get) which jeopardised his commitment to the band. In John’s eyes and own words, Paul choosing to quit his job to commit fully to the band was Paul choosing John over his dad. No one (in books I’ve only seen Joshua Wolf Shenk discuss this) discusses how Jim was effectively John’s Stu, someone that obstructed his closeness and ability to influence Paul to the point that over a decade later, post break up, John saw Paul focusing on the band as a victory over his dad. John had a jealously of Paul’s closeness and prioritisation of his family that would rear its head further down the road but, by and large, I rarely see this discussed.

2) John’s jealousy of Paul’s other close friendships: On this front, we hear ad nauseam, about Paul’s jealousy of Stu, which is fine because, even without Paul acknowledging it, it’s obvious from space that Paul was jealous of Stu’s closeness to John but we never hear about John’s jealousy of Paul’s other close friendships. All the Beatles were close to Mal Evans but I think Paul was especially close to him (he was the first Beatle to befriend Mal, Mal lived with him at Cavendish for some time, Mal helped Paul write some songs etc.) which got to John. In John’s own words when discussing Magical Mystery Tour he was “choked” when he found out that Paul had come up with the idea with Mal and Mal’s widow has said that Yoko told her that John had told her (whew Chinese whispers time) that he was jealous of Mal’s friendship with Paul... Then there’s Tara Browne, it’s interesting that despite Tara apparently being really friendly and outgoing John never took to him. Maybe it was because Tara was upper class. Maybe it was because after pestering him for months, Paul chose to do LSD with Tara instead of with John and the rest of the band. Maybe it was because Paul invited Tara up to Liverpool, right after Christmas, to hang out with his family resulting in the infamous moped crash. If I put my tin foil hat on, in “A Day in the Life” when John’s reaction to the death of a man in a car crash is “to laugh” is that meaningful? The song is thought to reference Tara but does that passage give us a glimpse into how John saw Tara? If he’s laughing about Tara dying then it sounds like he really didn’t like him, possibly due to his close friendship with Paul.

3) John’s resentment of Paul’s romantic partners: So this one is interesting... There are quite a few examples to walk through so here goes. We have the incident in Hamburg where Paul is in bed with a woman and John (in the aftermath of Stu’s death and probably high on prellies) comes charging in attacking the girl, cutting up her clothes and basically scares her out of the room, maybe that was just the prellies but there seems to be too much of a pattern to ignore. Then there’s Jane of course, we don’t know a ton about John’s interactions with Jane over the years but it’s interesting that he makes a terrible first impression with her (asking her to describe how girls masturbate) and it seems that their relationship is cordial at best going forward (note how Jane and Paul never go on holiday alone with John and Cynthia in the same way George and Ringo did with their respective partners). Peggy Lipton also tells the story about how when she came to hang out with Paul in 1965, John was really rude to her out of nowhere and asked “what she was doing there” and she seemed to think that John couldn’t understand why Paul wanted to take her to dinner if all he was going to do was fuck her. Then, there’s Linda... John consistently gives interviews in the early 70s when he talks about how in a few years Paul will wake up and leave Linda, according to Ray Connolly John couldn’t believe that Paul was staying faithful to Linda and then there’s other weird occurrences in that late 60s/early 70s period. There’s the fan who claims seeing John about to hit a pregnant Linda before Paul stepped in, there’s John rushing to get married as soon as Paul does (8 days later I think which is WILD to me), there’s John describing Paul’s wedding as a “funeral” in ‘71... What does all this tell us? That John was too busy replacing Paul with Yoko to care about Paul anymore? In my book, it’s John’s fears being realised that Paul would always prioritise his family over him when push came to shove, in John’s mind he had won when he was competing with Jim for Paul but once Linda came into the picture and gave Paul the family he always wanted, I think in John’s mind, it was game over. Maybe if Paul had divorced Linda in the 70s (like John predicted) they would have worked together more, we’ll never know, but in a similar way to Yoko, Linda was a wedge in John’s relationship to Paul.

4) John’s attempts post break-up to reach out to Paul: We hear a lot about Paul reaching out to John in the 70s and not engaging with the feuding anymore, it’s Paul that decides not to respond in kind to HDYS, it’s Paul that invites John to the Venus and Mars sessions, it’s Paul going to the Dakota to see/try to see John, it’s always Paul seemingly who misses John and wants to reestablish their relationship. However, according to May Pang, John was happy to do Bangladesh if Paul was doing it too. According to Ray Connolly, John gave him a letter to give to Paul, in the hopes that Paul would call him. According to Paul and other people involved in the One to One concert, John asked Paul to appear with him during his performance in ‘72. And in the face of the backlash from HDYS, John’s the one going around calling Paul his best friend ,other than Yoko, and sending him Beatles bootlegs for Christmas.

All this is to say that John and Paul did not have this one sided relationship where only Paul cared and wanted them to repair things or where only Paul was looking to manoeuvre a situation so he was closest to John, John also wanted to be the closest person in Paul’s life, he was jealously protective of their partnership (see his angry reaction to Paul not coming to him and only him to help with Eleanor Rigby) he also seemed to fear losing Paul to his family which may have happened in his mind, who knows. Because John’s most famous post Beatles interviews have him bashing Paul and Paul’s had 40 years to talk about how much he loved John, there’s this view that Paul loved John more than John loved Paul or that John loved Paul until Yoko came in the picture, at which point Paul was no longer relevant. If Paul meant nothing to John anymore, why did he even bother writing HDYS, if he was so tuned out he wouldn’t have been bothered by Ram, none of the critics were so why was John all over that album more than a Paul is Dead truther?! Why did Yoko block Paul’s calls to John, they were happy to hang out with Ringo, what was so threatening about Paul? Why, according to Robert Rosen, were John’s diaries full of his obsessions about Paul?? We’ll never know a lot of the answers to these questions but I would love it if more podcasts even acknowledged that these questions exist and acknowledged that Paul was such a huge part of John’s life till his dying day: “we have our ups and downs but I would do anything for Paul and I think he would do anything for me” John Lennon December 8 1980.

Apologies for the rant it seems listening to Beatles podcasts always seems to set me off! But SATB is a good podcast, just feel that there are so many interesting conversations that get missed in favour of the usual narrative time and time again, so close but no cigar!

Thanks to @onesweetdreampodcast and @anotherkindofmindpod for being the only podcast I’ve heard to date brave enough to discuss these questions, I think doing that will give us a much better understanding of the Beatles and how their story unfolded.

By the way most of what I referenced above can be found in @amoralto incredible blog, have fun!

[sidespart]

The Fall of King Romulus Part 3

Summary: Twin Princes Remus and Romulus are cursed at birth with Honesty and Obedience. When Romulus, who cannot disobey any order, is told to kill his brother the next time he lays eyes on him, he changes his name to Roman and runs away. Roman joins up with a misfit group of adventures and plans to never return to his homeland. But the fae have other plans for him…

Warnings (for whole fic not necessarily individual chapters): Violence, mind whammying/memory altering, curse of obedience related consent issues, references to sex, references to war related injuries/PTSD, references to child abuse/neglect (YMMV on that one but just in case), antagonstic-but-not-exactly villian!Janus, Extremly-moraly-dubious-but-not-exacty-unsympathetic-Remus

Pairings: Mostly Platonic LAMP and all the found family feels. Could be read as pre-slash.

Feedback appreciated. 

NOW ON AO3 :D

Prologue     Chapter 1   Chapter 2  

Remus. Remus, Remus, Remus.

The mad Prince of Notaleveale.

Remus was coming here. Remus was coming to Steveange and if Romulus saw him-

Roman had to leave.

Which was easier said than done; when the streets were crowded with hoards of shoppers and revellers all pressing against him, blocking his path, stealing the air out of his lungs-

“Roman!”

He needed to go. He need to find Virgil and Patton in whatever rooms they’d managed to find, collect his belongings and-

No. That would take too long – he could replace the clothes and books, he already had his sword-

“Roman, what’re you-”

- but he needed his lute. To make any kind of living he had to be able to perform. It was the only thing he was good at and once he’d got away he’d be -

He could do it. He’d run away before. He survived alone, without anyone, he could do it again and-

“Roman! Stop!”

He stopped.

Logan. Heading towards him. But he hadn’t given a time frame and if Roman grit his teeth and pushed past the spike of pain he could start to move again in just a second-

“Wait!”

Dammit.

Roman waited. Fists clenched by his side, until Logan was next to him.

“Roman.”

His chest was tight. His brain wasn’t -wasn’t working right and Logan looked so odd, with his glasses askew and his face flushed – had he been running?

“I thought I saw Patton.” Roman blurted.

It was the first excuse that popped into his head and it was clearly not – not good enough. Logan was frowning at him, a pinched expression, studying him like an experiment and-

Roman hated him, suddenly.

Logan was an upstart swot with ideas above his station and a chip on his shoulder. He poked and prodded and lost them jobs with his terse words and his better than you attitude. He reminded Roman of the tutors who snap at him for his lack of understanding and bark orders for him to recite, repeat, remember, to be better, smarter, stronger: someone worthy of his title.

He reminded him most of all of Julius. His fathers closest advisor, who had been charged with unravelling the Princes’ curses. He was the one who had helped Romulus learn how to push against his curse. He would give him orders that were almost impossible to follow and watch with cold eyes as Romulus struggled to disobey. Together they’d categorised how much pain he could withstand, what orders could be navigated and misinterpreted and which ones he was truly helpless against.

Once, he’d bid Romulus to stand on one leg. And left him there until his muscles started to cramp and shake, waiting to see if gravity or the curse was stronger. Romulus had been in tears by the end. Had even wondered, briefly, about complaining to his parents. But is was such a silly, innocuous order compared to other experiments. What had truly upset him was how Julian had just stood there, not speaking, his eyes distant and cold and calculating as he noted down every twitch and whimper from the boy. Even when he circled him, Romulus could feel those eyes boring into the back of his neck like a-

“Princey.”

Roman blinked. Julius’ practice room disappeared, replaced with the sights and sound of the Steveange street. Logan was in front of him and his eyes were far from cold. When he spoke it was with the same gentle tone that Roman had heard him use when Virgil’s worries overwhelmed him or when Patton woke from a nightmare and didn’t know where he was.

“Did the cro- the woman. Did she say something to you?” Logan was holding his hand. Gently but firmly, he tugged at Romans tightly clenched fingers, encouraging them to unfurl. Roman stared uncomprehendingly at the deep crescent marks he’d made in his palm.

Slowly, Logan released his right hand and reached for his left, repeating the process.

Roman felt shame ripple through him.

Logan wasn’t Julius. Logan would never push him so far he broke.

Logan was his friend and Roman has made him worry with his silly behaviour and his slapdash lie. But he could fix it.

He forced a smiled. Flexed his fingers and straightened up his full height. Made a show of looking around him.

“I swear I saw him. Big man, big sword, big smile – he’s hard to mistake!”

Hesitantly, Logan glanced around too before quickly refocusing on Roman.

“Are you sure you –“

“Ah well, the mind plays trick I suppose – must be hunger getting to me, speaking of which…”

Roman reached forward and deftly snatched the bag from Logan's grasp, reaching in blindly and shoving the first pastry he found into his mouth.

“Mmmm so good!” He beamed at Logan with berry stained teeth, flakes of pastry flying through the air. “Aren’t you going to have one?”

Logan stared at him. Roman kept his smile sweet and his eyes clear. He held up the bag and wiggled it enticingly.

Hesitantly, Logan took the bag and selected a tart. Keeping his eyes on the bard the entire time, he ate his treat with much more refinement then Roman had shown. “Holding back?” Roman asked, teasing, “I’ve seen you eat jam before, there’s no point pretending to have table manners now.”

Logan just hmphed but his shoulders relaxed slightly and Roman decided to take that as a victory. “We should get going” Roman said and started walking, Logan easily falling into step beside him.

The streets were crowded enough that none of the sellers seemed to feel the need to call to Roman specifically, and so this time he was free to investigate the stalls he was actually interested in.

But instead he stayed by Logan's side

Logan was a good friend. For all he claimed to lack an understating of emotional nuances he was letting Roman have his space. He’d even distracted him earlier, when his biggest concern had been the a spike of homesickness after meeting their northern customer.

He was nothing like Julius.

Roman was going to miss him so much.

***

Roman kept up his performance of normality all the way back to the main square, where they had agreed to meet the others once their mission was done. The sky was beginning to turn dark by the time they got there, though it was easy enough to navigate from the sheer number of stalls still in operation, each one boasting its own selection of colourful lanterns.

“This is fantastic!” Roman gasped theoretically, spinning on one foot to take in the whole spectacle.

“It’s a fire hazard.” Logan muttered with a frown.

They found Virgil waiting for them by the central fountain. He had manged to find a seat on the fountains edge but was wedged between two young couples who had clearly taken the romantic festival atmosphere to heart. The healer’s shoulders were up by his ears and his cloak was wrapped so tightly around himself it looked constricting. When he saw them he sprang to his feet so quickly he almost knocked one of the young ladies into the water.

“Took you two long enough.”

Roman and Logan glanced at each other.

“Logan got lost-”

“Roman kept wandering off.”

“-We brought you baked goods!”

Virgil took one of the two remaining pastries with minimal grumbling and led them out of the square. They took the north east road, a path that curved its wary upwards into the higher levels of the city. Here the buildings were all built of a blush-pink marble that sparkled in the evening twilight. The streets were wide, with neatly arranged flowerbeds and street lights which had the steady glow of Arkazeii glow lamps rather than the flicker of oil. There were certainly no traders spread out on blankets. Logan looked distinctly unimpressed.

“Was this inn you found an…economical choice?”

“It was a ‘the whole town’s rammed and this was the only place with a room left’ choice.” Virgil snarked “and don’t worry – its one room for all four of us with no breakfast included, if you were worried about getting too… bourgeoisie…or whatever."

Logan raised his hands for peace.

“I’m sure you did the best you could.”

“Well …we were lucky.” Virgil told him, and then glanced over at Roman, his lip twitching.

“Apparently they give discounts to performers.”

***

The inn was certainly a cut above their normal haunts. With brightly painted walls almost obscured by well pruned climbing plants, outdoor seating, and a wrought iron gate leading to spacious stables behind the building.  Even the doors were of better quality then your typical village tavern – made of wood heavy enough to make a satisfying crash when Roman stormed in.

The room was crowded, but Patton really was hard to miss. Roman shoved his way through to the back table where the big man sat waiting. Leaving other customers cursing in his wake.

‘Hey kiddo!’ Patton greeted him with a wide smile “Did you-“

“Key.” Roman snarled.

Patron blinked and him, shock writ large on his face. “Sorry?”

“The key. To my room.  Give it.” Roman snapped. “It is mine right? Since you seem happy to pimp me out in exchange for-“

“Hey!” That would be Virgil. Roman half thought he had left both men behind in his rage after Virgil’s little announcement, but the elf at least seemed to have kept up. He’d reached the table just in time to hear the start of Roman’s rant. “What the hell is your problem Princey?”

“My problem? Oh I’m sorry, I’M not the one signing other people up to sing for their supper without permission Virgil.”

“You like singing for your – we thought you’d want to!”

“Well it would have been nice to have a choice!”

“Virgil. Roman.” That was Logan, it had taken longer for the shorter man to force his way through the crowd but he wasted no time now in inserting himself into Romans business. “whatever this is… it’s not about putting on a show.”

He turned to the other two. Virgil scowling, Patton wide eyed.

“He had an…episode in the market.”

“Excuse me?” Roman shouted.

“Roman, whatever disturbed you, you practically ran away.”

“Well perhaps I had simple grown tired of looking at your face? Had you considered that?”

He turned his back to Logan, rounding on Patton again: “Now, give me the-“

Patton already had his hand out, wrought iron key resting loosely in his palm.

“We’re on the fourth floor.” he said calmly as Roman snatched it from him. “First door once you get up the stairs.” Roman spun on his heel only to find Virgil blocking his path.

“Move.” Roman hissed.

“What is wrong with you?” Roman narrowed his eyes. Virgil looked angry. Looked one second away from telling him to sit down, shut up, stop causing a fuss. He wondered if he could get past him without using his sword.

“I’ll bring you up some food in a bit,” Roman blinked glancing back at Patton, startled. The warrior still hadn’t moved from the table - admittedly no easy task in the cramped corner- and was looking at him calmly.

“I don’t want anything” Roman muttered, sullen.

“But you might later.” Patton smiled at him. Not knowing how to respond Roman turned back to Virgil. The elf glanced between the two, chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, before sighing and stepping to the side. Not fast enough to prevent Roman from knocking his shoulder with his own as he pushed past however.

It wasn’t as satisfying as he hoped.

**

At a guess, the room was normally meant for storage not guests. Two rickety looking beds had been shoved in, so close together they might as well have been one. There was one small table forced between the end of one bed and the wall, with a basin of water perched on top. Someone,  presumably Patton, had organised their bags neatly at the end of the beds. Roman’s was at the far end, closest to the window. Then Patton, then Virgil with Logan closest to the door, next to the only built in shelf where a candle had been left for the night. Roman would be able to wake with the dawn, as he liked to do, and Logan would have light for the longest to stay up and read.

Romans lute was not on the floor with his pack.  Instead he found in had been placed on the bed itself, propped up on his pillow, away from any potential harm.

Whatever righteous anger he had been able to hang on too as he stomped upstairs dropped out of him now like a stone from a cliff. Without it, the despair he had felt in the market came rushing back. He sank down right there by the door, bringing his knees up to his chest as he’d done in the forest. As he used to do in Julius’ room.

He almost wished Julius was here – at least he would tell him not to cry.

The through was so absurd he let out a weak snotty laugh and buried his head in his arms.

He needed to leave Steveange.

He didn’t want to leave them.

But they had planned to stay for a week at least, hopefully longer.

Convince them to leave early? Except he couldn’t explain why. Find them a job out of the city? How? When the coronation and accompanying celebrations were over it would be easy enough to find a traveling group in need of a little extra protection, but for now no one was leaving.

They’d been excited to come. Virgil want to try the city baths, famed for their heated pools and soothing water. Logan had been talking about the library for half the trip. Patton was just excited to explore the city itself, meet the people and try the food. He loved when they stopped in busier towns but it was a rarity.

There was no way Roman would be able to convince them to leave just because he wanted to.

Roman did what other people wanted. It was all he knew how to do.

And even if he had a convincing reason…well, they probably didn’t want him around anymore anyway.

He scrambled up, grabbed the first pillow he could reach and buried his face in it to muffle a scream of frustration which turned into more sobs.

He was so pathetic.

Since he’d left home, he’d kept his memories, kept Romulus, buried as deep as he could. But now it was like Romulus was just under his skin. Ready to jump out If he let himself slip. With all his anger and hurt and fear.

Romulus was a liability.

Romulus was a murder. Or would be. If Roman couldn’t think.

He stepped over to his pack, still hugging the pillow to him like a teddy bear, and started to review the contents. He didn’t need to take all of this with him, surely? Half of it wasn’t even his, their belongings having become more and more intertwined the longer they travelled.

The healing salve was rightfully Virgil’s, the soft shirt he wrapped himself in during cold nights was actually Patton’s, at least one of the notebooks belonged to Logan.

He opened the nearest book to check, but instead of Logan's neat lists his own sloppy scrawl stared back at him. Song lyrics and passing thoughts and, on the next page, an unfinished sketch. It was of Virgil, hand covering his mouth but eyes betraying his laughter. The other pages, he knew contained scribbles of all three of them. He flicked back and found his favourite, the page marked with a yellowed leaf he couldn’t remember picking up.

It showed all three in one sketch. Logan, sleeping and so looking years younger, head pillowed on Virgil’s thigh. Virgil was turned towards Patton, rolling his eyes as if to say ‘can you believe this?’ but making no move to actually shift scholar off him. Patton was laughing, he was the most well rendered of the three figures, you could almost see his shoulders shaking.

Roman looked at it for a moment. Then slowly replaced the book mark and closed it. This would have to come with him.

A knock at the door startled him so badly he dropped the book, which bounced under the bed.

“Kiddo? Can I come it?”

Fuck.

Patton. He had -he had been so, so unbelievably rude to Patton.

His first instinct, which was admittedly not a good one, was to jump out of the window.

Roman took a deep breath. Focusing on the mundane task of sorting items had cleared his head somewhat. He was still a little shaky but his eyes were dry. He knew what would be expected of him now - Romulus had spent most of his life apologising.

“Come in.” he croaked and stood, squaring his shoulders.

Patton entered alone, two bowls of something that smelled delicious cradled in his arms.

Roman ignored the sudden spike of hunger – the fruit tart seemed a long time ago now- and bowed from the waist. He kept his back ramrod straight and bent low enough that it quickly became uncomfortable. It was the kind of bow Romulus would only have given his father or elder brother.

“Patton, I owe you my most humble apology I-“

“Roman I am so sorry.”

“The way I spoke to you was the height of disrespect and unprin- ungentlemanly behaviour I – wait, what?”

He straightened up and looked at Patton, confused. “Why are you sorry?”

“Roman, I – wait hold on.” Patton handed him one of the bowls and turned to close the door. “Do you mind if we sit?” he asked and Roman nodded, smiling despite himself. Patton was the politest person he had ever met.

Once they were both seated, Patton’s bad leg stretched out in front of him, Patton looked at him seriously.

“Roman you were right downstairs. We should never have promised you’d perform without asking you first - no it's true!”

But Roman was already shaking his head. “Patton you were fine, you know I love singing! I was the one acting like, like some sort of beast I-“

“I know you love singing but that doesn’t mean we get to pick and choose when-“

“But I wanted to perform as much as possible whilst we were here- I’d told you that!”

“-especially after travelling all week. We were, er, presumptuous.”

Roman stared at him.

“Unlike this soup, which is pre – scrumptious.”

Patton beamed at him. Roman groaned.

“Anyway I’m sorry for letting you stew-“ he held up the bowl again waggling his eyebrows “- up here for so long, but we needed to make things right with the landlord.”

Roman, who had been starting to relax under the force of two puns in a row, tensed again. “What things?”

Patton smiled. “We paid the difference – you don’t have to perform! Uhh unless you want to of course, but it’s your choice.” He nodded decisively whilst Roman gaped.

“b-but isn’t it expensive?”

Patton just shrugged, “Well, the last job paid well didn’t it?”

“Not that well!”

“Aw c’mon kiddo, what’s the point of having money if we don’t spend it? Right?”

Not knowing what to say. Roman shoved a spoonful of stew into his mouth without tasting it. Guilt turning the meal to ash.

“Patton…how many days did you pay for?”

“The rest of the week! And there’s still enough to have some fun at the markets, don’t worry, we can all have a – hey!” Patton put his bowl down, shuffling closer to put one warm hand on Roman’s knee.” Roman, hey kiddo, buddy what’s wrong?”

Roman found, quite to his surprise, that he was trembling. He followed Patton's example and put the bowl carefully on the floor before digging the heels of his hands into his eyes. “I…can’t Pat. I can’t stay here. I have to go.”

“Go?” Patton looked at him with confusion clear in his big brown eyes, “But why kiddo? You don’t like the inn?”

Roman groaned shaking his head “not the inn. The city. I’m not – I can’t – if ‘m here it- “ he let out a whine of frustration, hating his curse heavy tongue.

Never tell anyone about our conversation.

“I just-“ My brother is coming and if I see him I-

“If – “ my brother is coming and he won’t be alone. There are people who know who I really am and I –

“Okay.”

Romans head snapped up.

Patton still had a frown on his face but when he looked at Roman his eyes were as serious as Roman had ever seen them. “If you can’t tell me the details it’s fine but-“ he lent forward, “Roman, are you safe here?”

Without breathing, Roman shook his head. No.

Patton nodded and squeezed his knee. “Well then of course we’re not staying.” Hesitantly, he lifted his arm and rested one large hand on the back of Romans neck. Forcing their eyes to meet. “Whatever it is – we will help you. You know that don’t you?”

Embarrassingly, Roman felt his eyes filling with tears.

“We’ll leave in the morning.” Patton told him. Patton stood up, taking Romans congealing stew and his own empty bowl and headed to the door. He paused, one hand on the door handle. “Everything’s going to be okay kiddo.” he smiled, “We love you.”

And he was gone.

For a long moment Roman sat frozen, staring at the closed door.

“Yeah.” He agreed, eventually. “Right.”

Except. They didn’t. Not really.

They loved Roman.

Roman had screamed and insulted them and instead of kicking him out of their group like they had every right to do, they had given up what little money they had just to make Roman feel better.

And Roman was a lie.

Roman was Romulus with a bad haircut. And Romulus was everything they weren’t’ – a stupid, pampered, prince with no power or pride.

Patton might be willing to upheaval their lives just on Roman's say so, But Logan and Virgil were more practically minded. They would want explanations. Might even demand them.

Never tell anyone about your curse. Remove yourself from anyone who might ask you about it and put as much distance between you as you can.

Romulus was a liability.

One they shouldn’t have to deal with.

He strapped his lute to his back and secured his dagger in a hidden pocket that Virgil had taught him how to sow.  Everything else he left, including, after a moments hesitation, his sword. He had been training Logan to use it, on and off, and whilst the scholar was no solider he was improving. At the very least, it would be some source of protection until they could hire another swordhand for their travels.

The climbing plants he had noticed on the way in made getting down from the window much easier than he had originally anticipated. Dusting off his hands he skirted the building, taking care to avoid the large windows of the main hall, until he found the entrance to the the stables.

He wasn’t proud of it, but he had stolen before when he first left home. He would have to again now in order to put some distance between the city and himself.

It wasn’t his worst plan.

And it might even have worked, had they not already been waiting for him.

When Romulus was eleven, and had taken to following the young Marquis de Orenlla around like a love sick puppy. Even now, under the weak light of a covered lantern and with almost fifteen years distance from the memories, he still recognised him instantly.

“Good evening, your highness.” The Marquis smile was as dazzling as he remembered, although his eyes were colder.

He had no army with him, and no weapon that Roman could see. But then, why would he need one?

“Come with me.”

Roman went.

part 4

[erinxneil]

22: “Sorry we are late, we were totally not having sex.”

Thank you so much for suggesting this @mortallythoughtfulgurl ! It made me super happy to see that you enjoyed my previous post enough to suggest a specific number! I plan to do all of the prompts on the list, however if there are any specific numbers that you’d like me to do sooner then simply send me a request and I will do so! These prompts are all from the list here.

masterlist

TW: Mentions of Reid’s prior drug problem, mentions of family death.

Pairing: Spencer Reid X Reader

Summary: Spencer doesn’t quite understand the concept of being subtle.

>>>These are all basically one-shots! This doesn’t follow the story line as the last post that I made, however I may do a series soon :)

Throwing my bag over my shoulder, I smiled as I packed away my things. Not only had the team just solved another successful case.

I, myself had managed to save the victim, as I was able to talk down the unsub simply by using my words. I did this as I understood what the unsub was going through. While, of course, resorting to murder and becoming a serial killer isn’t exactly the first thing that I did after discovering that my sister had been murdered, although I was able to empathize with the killer and thus convince him that murdering a girl who bared resemblance to his kin would not revive her.

I felt my smile droop the faintest bit. While the victory of a successful case made me feel like rejoicing, this case had brought up poor memories. I shrugged them off and headed for the door.

“Hey, Y/N!” JJ called out. I turned around slowly, eyebrow perked in question. “You coming out tonight? We thought we’d head out for some drinks.”

I offered her a tight smile. “Not tonight, guys, sorry.”

Spencer coughed. “Yeah, me neither, I’m not really feeling it.”

Emily frowned. “Reid,  didn’t you just say that you we-”

He coughed again. “Yeah. Changed my mind. I’m not feeling well. Is that a problem, Emily?” Spencer cocked an eyebrow in challenge, as if trying to be intimidating. I chuckled a little. While Spencer could be intimidating as hell during cases, such as during interrogations, we all know that he would never do anything that could remotely harm us. However, his sass was welcomed and quite amusing.

I turned. “Well, goodnight, friends. See you tomorrow.” Before I could take even more than three steps, my name was called again.

“Wait, Y/N! You took an Uber here, right?” I blinked. Oh, right, I had completely forgotten about that. I had known we would be leaving the state for a few days for the case, and didn’t want to leave my car here. How did Reid remember that, yet I didn’t? Spencer disrupted my thoughts again. “Well- uh, I could give you a ride. If you’d like.” I quirked an eyebrow at how fidgety he was being.

“Alright, lover-boy, lead the way.” His cheeks tinged at the nickname. It was admittedly quite cute, however he quickly ducked his head and lead me to the car, shielding his face with his hair so that I would be unable to see his blush.

-*-*-*-*-*-

We drove in relative silence for a majority of the car ride. Although surprisingly, it wasn’t awkward. As the case hit me harder than I expected, I welcomed the silence, and was thankful that Spencer didn’t force any conversation between us.

“It’s just the left up ahead.” I muttered quietly. Reid bit the inside of his cheek, eyes remaining focused on the road ahead of him. I blinked as he drove completely past the turn. “Uh, you missed it.” I chuckled nervously.

“I’m not taking you home.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “Reid, I hope you don’t plan on kidnapping me. For a profiler, you should know that considering you were the one to give me a ride home, everyone at the BAU saw me get into your car, which would make you a prime suspect.” He smiled softly. “I’m not kidnapping you, Y/N, I just wanted to show you something.”

I furrowed my eyebrows but didn’t question him further until we pulled up on the top of a cliff.

“Woah.” I murmured, admiring the beautiful landscape before me. In the distance, snowy mountaintops scattered the planes, with ashy planes and various kinds of trees. It was the type of image that you would find as a laptop screen background, one that you never imagined you would see in person.

“Where are we?” I questioned. When I wasn’t met with an answer, I turned to glance at Spencer, who jumped in surprise at me looking at him. He blinked abruptly, as if being taken out of a trance.

“This is called Possum Point- or, at least, a crook of it. I come here often when I feel particularly struck by cases that we have.” I smiled. “It’s beautiful. However, I don’t really understand why you’re showing me this.”

Spencer unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car, before moving to my door and opening it for me. He then sat on the hood of the car and patted the spot beside him with a grin. I sat, and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Come on, Y/N, I’m a profiler, you can’t really suppose that I didn’t notice that you took this case personally?”

I shifted uncomfortably. “So what?”

Reid shrugged. “I just figured you’d want someone to talk to. Or at least, I wanted you to know that there’s someone available to listen, if you’re willing.” The corner of my lip tugged upwards. In the moonlight, the features of the man next to me seemed ever the more beautiful. He held direct eye-contact, something that was rare for Spencer, and therefore I knew how genuinely he wanted to comfort me. His delicate features were something I had never really taken notice of before. Before, he was simply Reid. The brainiac agent- sorry, Doctor- whom you happened to work beside. Now, not only did you acknowledge the beauty of his facial structure, you also understood that there was more to him than useless facts and magic tricks. He held compassion that he was willing to offer you.

“Y/N?” His soft voice broke me from my thoughts. In the process of admiring him, you had completely forgotten that he was speaking to you. You sighed.

“I just understand the pain and anger that Homer was feeling. I mean, obviously murder isn’t a reasonable reaction. However, I can understand being angry at the world and wanting to make others feel the pain that you do.” I frowned. “When my sister died, I was in a dark place, and often took out my anger on the people who cared about me, because I didn’t understand how they were allowed to continue living their lives being happy, while my sister wasn’t able to even continue living.”

Spencer wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gently rubbed my arm. “I can’t even imagine how that must have felt. I’m sorry that you had to go through that. Having people all around you but still feeling entirely alone...” His voice trailed off softly. This reminded you that he said he himself comes often when cases cut him too deeply.

“Spencer, what kinds of cases cause you to come out here to reflect?”

“Usually when we have cases focused on unsubs with a drug addiction.” Reid muttered. My eyebrows raised in surprise. I had heard office chatter of rumors of a drug addiction that Reid had battled alone a year or two prior to your arrival at the BAU, although you always took them with a grain of salt, as you hadn’t heard it straight from his mouth. However, it appears that now, you could confirm your suspicions.

You offered him a faint smile. “Well, if you ever need someone to talk to it about, or you’d simply like some company on this cliff as well, I’d be more than happy to abide. I feel much better than I did when we left the office.”

Reid met my smile with a grin. “Glad to be of service.”

-*-*-*-*-*-

The next day at work, I could tell that the dynamic between Spencer and I had been altered. Usually, we simply worked beside each other, sparing words of encouragement every now an then. However, after that night, we stole glances, smiled at each other, and often conversed on the jet. We eventually began having lunch together. Spencer would buy me coffee on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I bought it for him on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. We knew each other's orders- I took mine black, while his required as much sugar was available.

Weeks went by, and we only drew closer.

“Alright everyone, remember, dinner tonight at Jose’s Diner! We’re celebrating the release of Rossi’s newest book!” JJ explained to the team as we prepared to leave for the day. “You are to arrive at 8 PM sharp, if you’re late you better have a really good excuse!”

I grinned at JJ’s scolding. While we all knew that she wouldn’t be able to do anything to us, she’s quite terrifying when she’s angry, so I doubted that anyone would dare to arrive a minute after 8:00. I began to head for the door when I was stopped by a nervous Spencer.

“Hey, Y/N, could I give you a ride home?” I grinned. “Of course, Spence.”

When we arrived, I glanced at him expectantly. “So, I suppose you had a reason for offering to drive me home, other than the obvious of course, of you simply enjoying my company.” I smiled coyly, and he scratched the back of his neck anxiously.

“Y/N,” he began slowly, “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that night on the cliff.” I blinked in surprise, but stayed silent, allowing him to continue. “You’re beautiful, inside and out. You’ve seen me for who I am and it’s like the more time I spend with you, the longer I want to. I’m not quite sure what this feeling is, or what to do about it, but-”

I cut off his rant by planting my lips on his, one hand on the side of his jaw. He froze at first, taken by surprise, however he quickly melted into the kiss and responded. Pulling away for a moment, he smirked, “So I suppose that you feel the same?”

I rolled my eyes in amusement. “Just shut up and kiss me.” I pulled him closer again by the collar of his shirt, and he returned with no protest.

-*-*-*-*-*-

I smoothed out my dress quickly and checked my makeup one last time in the car mirror before turning to Spencer with a smile. It was 8:24. “Alright, we lost track of time a little bit so we don’t have as much time to debrief as I’d like. Remember, just for now, we are keeping this to ourselves. We haven’t even necessarily discussed this between ourselves yet, therefore there is no reason to involve our coworkers right now. You happened to be giving me a ride when your car broke down. Understood?”

Spencer nodded. “Understood.”

“Are you sure?” “I’m sure. Completely understood.”

We walked into the building together and stood next to our coworkers table. All of their eyes lifted to us expectantly. I opened my mouth to give an explanation, however Spencer beat me to it.

“Sorry we are late. We were totally not having sex.”

I blinked. Reid blinked. Our coworkers blinked. The waitress blinked. The table beside us blinked. The clock on the wall blinked.

I sighed. “Well, so much for secrecy.”

-*-*-*-*-*-

[galaxy-kyun]

Backseat

Group: Stray Kids Pairing: Seo Changbin x Reader (female) Genre: smut, streetracer! Changbin au, one shot Word Count: 3.5K Summary: Woojin and Changbin have been enemies for as long as both of them can remember. Little does Woojin know his sister has a secret thing with his enemy and decides to celebrate Changbin’s victory in the backseat of Chagbin’s car.

Nervously, you bit your lip as you kept staring at your phone. Jeongin had hacked the streetcameras to stream the latest streetrace that was being organised.

"Come on, tell me noona, I'm a genius, no!?" Jeongin said excitedly as you kept your eyes trained on the screen.

"You are, young one" You joked as you kept biting your lip.

"Who do you think'll win? I'm guessing it's Woojin, he said he has been training a lot on his sharp corners" Jeongin spoke excitedly, "but then again: corners have always been Changbin's forte and he seems to be controlling his car pretty well today so maybe it'll be decided in the last line?"

Hearing both their names being compared to one another, made your stomach turn. It felt natural you should root for your brother, Woojin, to win against his arch nemesis but could you really betray your boyfriend, Changbin, like that? The answer was 'no'.

"I think it'll be for Changbin today, he seems to be riding very clean" you muttered. Jeongin shook his shoulders and went back to his laptop to be able to switch camera's pretty soon.

Jeongin adored Woojin, sadly Woojin's team thought he was too young to race but that didn't mean Jeongin wouldn't hang around with you or your brother's gang. He made himself useful by streaming the races and sending out the invites to select people so it would stay lowkey and mainly as an underground event.

"So, Changbin taking you for a ride after the race?" a voice asked, making you choke. Minho, one of Changbin's teammates, had raplaced Jeongin sitting next to you but opposite of Jeongin, Minho also kept his eyes on the screen of your phone.

"Fucking hell, Minho! You gave me a heart attack, you know Changbin and I keep it down low and I almost forgot you knew" you hissed, punching his shoulder. Minho laughed loudly, grabbing mainly the attention of Woojin's teammates.

"Great, now they all have their eyes on us…" you muttered, biting your lip again as you saw Changbin turning one of the last corners before the finish line.

"Changbin has had a great race today, you better spoil him once he crosses that line" Minho joked and stood up again to leave you with a beet red face. This grabbed Chan’s attention, making him come over to you.

Ever since you and Changbin began dating, Chan has become suspicious, like he knew something was going on but he couldn’t wrap his head around it. Changbin had noticed it too, even though you two were very careful with sneaking around and only let Minho know because he was one of Changbin’s oldest and closest friends. To be honest, Minho had saved your ass a lot of times from Woojin or even Chan finding you and Changbin fucking in the back of Changbin’s car but by the way Chan acted, it made you wonder if Minho had always been able to warn you and Changbin in time…

“So, who do you think’ll win?” Chan asked, taking the spot next to you.

“Woojin, of course” You said without taking your eyes off the screen. Chan laughed dryly.

“Funnily enough, Jeongin just said you thought Changbin would win”

“Changbin’s been riding very well today and he seemed to be in the lead but Woojin’s coming around those last few kilometres” You said, still afraid of looking Chan in the eyes. Chan squinted at you.

“I hope you know whose side you’re on, ___” Chan spoke eerily as he stood up and walked towards the finishline. It was only then you realised Changbin and Woojin had just rounded the last corner and now being in a straight line towards the finish. Quickly, you got up from your spot and ran towards the finishline to stand with your brother’s gang. Chan still squinted at you but Felix and Seungmin were jumping up and down in excitement, making it easier to ignore Chan’s ominous glare.

“Changbin has picked up his game today but Woojin still seems to have a better technique” Felix said excitedly, Seungmin nodded. “You know, Woojin’s a good finisher. Changbin often forgets that those last few meters are the most important. Douchebag thinks he can already show off before he finishes” Seungmin scoffed, “don’t you agree, __?” Seungmin asked. You hoped no-one had noticed you swallowing thickly, not being comfortable with the way they spoke about your boyfriend.

“He is kind of a show off” you agreed but definitely in another way than Seungmin had meant. Changbin was notorious for marking your body up with lovebites, making sure that if you did wear something revealing, everyone would know you were off limits.

Roaring engines could be heard and two cars were approaching rather quickly. You couldn’t deny that from where you were standing, Chanbin was in the lead but like Felix and Seungmin had said: Woojin has a better technique and Changbin rather often forgets that the last few metres might be the most important ones.

“I think he’s going to make it…” Seungmin muttered surprised seconds before Changbin crossed the line first. For a second, your heart stopped beating. He did it, after months of ranting to you how much he hated your brother for always winning, Changbin himself won.

Woojin had just gotten out of his car, loudly slamming his door shut and making his way towards the team.

“Fucking hell” he cursed loudly, Felix pat his back gently. “It’s ok man, he probably cheated somewhere along the road”. It was scaring, how convinced Felix sounded accusing Changbin of cheating.

“No,” Woojin said, “he was really good today. If I didn’t hate his guts so much, I would’ve congratulated him but he’s so smug, I hate him”

“If you want to know if he cheated, you should ask ___, she seemed quite a big fan of him today” Chan’s ominous glare was back. Exaggeratedly, you rolled your eyes.

“Can’t a girl analyse a race!? Yeah I said I thought he’d win based on what I had seen with my own two eyes but as Seungmin said: Woojin’s a strong finisher. What the hell is wrong with you, Chan?” You hissed, taking back the four men surrounding you.

“Uh, am I interrupting something?” A voice that brought butterflies to your stomach spoke from behind you, making the five of you spin towards Changbin who stood behind you.

“What the hell do you want?” Woojin gritted, Changbin held up his hands in defence.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on the great race, it was really tough beating you and you really made me put in a lot of effort” Changbin spoke.

“Well, congratulations on winning, Seo, but don’t think it’ll happen again soon. I’ll make sure you’ll be second, as always, next time” Woojin spat. Changbin laughed loudly.

“I wouldn’t expect you to make it easy for me. Anyway, I have a long overdue victory to celebrate. See you guys later” Changbin spoke as he turned around but not before quickly slapping your ass lightly. To be honest, it surprised you Chan hadn’t noticed what Changbin had just done but instead of dwelling on it for too long, you were rather happy he didn’t.

“I need a drink after this interaction, let’s go home” Woojin muttered, his team nodding in agreement. “Get Jeongin and let’s go” Felix said pretty excited while he and Seungmin ran off to get Jeongin.

“Wait, if Jeongin comes along then my car’s full” Woojin frowned, looking at you. You shrug your shoulders.

“I’ll walk home, I was already planning on getting a snack before heading home so now you don’t have to make the stop”

Woojin nodded, “call me if you do need me or Chan to pick you up somewhere ok?”

You laughed.

“Like I’m letting your drunk asses drive tonight, go home and get drunk. I’ll be home later ok?”

Felix and Seungmin had arrived back, Woojin nodded and took the guys to the car but Chan stayed behind.

“I know something’s going on __,” he said as Woojin was out of earshot, “I don’t know what but I can feel it. Just…. Be safe ok?” He sighed.

“When the hell am I not, Bang Chan?” You laughed. Chan gave you a serious look.

“I mean it, ___ , be safe in whatever the hell you’re doing” He said while ruffling your hair and jogging off to Woojin’s car. Quickly after Chan slammed the door shut, Woojin drove off.

You turned on your heels, glancing over to Changbin and his group. You bit your lip, seeing he was still talking and laughing with his friends. Of course, Minho knew what was going on between you and Changbin but Hyunjin and Jisung? Most likely not, which would most likely look suspicious to them if you walked over. It was only then you noticed Minho looking at you and motioning you over. You swallowed thickly and walked over towards the guys.

“Why are you still here, __?” Minho asked with a grin on his face. Oh how he loved being in on this secret. How only he was able to spot that Changbin was trying to not to stare at you for too long but still, his eyes held so much adoration towards you and how you kept fumbling with the sleeves of your jacket, only looking at Minho, Hyunjin and Jisung.

“My brother left with his friends and Jeongin which means full car so I’ll be walking home because they’ll be drinking and I’m not letting them drive drunk” you stated.

“Well that’s rude” Hyunjin scoffed, you just shook your shoulders. Jisung shook his head

“Hey hyung,” the youngest spoke, “can’t we drop her off?”

Minho bit his lip as both you and Changbin choked on your own spit.

“Uh yeah sure, I mean if you’d like” Changbin stuttered, “but we’re going to a party first since I won… Would you like to join?”

Oh you knew exactly what he meant by that: he wanted to fuck in the car.

“No thank you, would you mind dropping me off first?” You asked, looking at Changbin and biting your lip. Changbin cursed you and the effect you had on him.

“Actually, the party is quite close. Changbin can drop us off and then drive you home “Minho suggested, giving you two a knowing glance.

“Well, that’s settled” Hyunjin said and spun around to walk to Changbin’s car.

The guys made you sit in the passenger’s seat, the three other cramped in the backseat. As usual, Changbin was blasting some soft type of music.

“Is this what you listen to while you race?” You asked surprised, noticing he was playing the playlist he specifically put together for when the two of you fuck.

“Yeah, keeps me focussed” He said without putting much thought into it and started the car.

The drive wasn’t too bad, Jisung and Hyunjin were nice to you even though they still expressed their distate towards your brother and his friends. Minho kept quiet but you could see him giving knowing glances in the rearview mirror. After ten minutes, you arrived at the bar the party was supposed to be at.

“You sure you’re not coming with us, __? It’ll be fun” Hyunjin asked as Changbin pulled the car over. Politely, you declined once again.

“I don’t think my brother would appreciate it but thank you for the inivite, have fun guys” you said and waved them off. However, Minho lingered a bit longer in the car.

“At least tell me you have condoms in this goddamn car” he said, looking around. It made you giggle and Changbin roll his eyes.

“The only place we can really fuck is my car so yes, we have condoms. You’re not my dad, Minho” Changbin grumbled. Minho held his hands up in defence and got out.

As soon as Minho shut the door, you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in. Changbin started laughing.

“You’re so good at playing the good little sister” He spoke as he put his hand on your thigh.

“Hmm would you rather have me telling your friends the only reason I’m not joining your celebratory party is because I want to fuck you in the backseat of your car?” you giggled. Changbin shook his head.

The party was a few blocks away from your house, not leaving Changbin with many options on where to park his car however, there was a pretty secluded car park down your street. It felt risky, fucking in his car so close to your home but it also turned Changbin on: the thought that your brother could walk past the both of you in that car.

Once parked, Changbin turned off the engine while you made your way to the backseat, pulling off your jacket and sweater while crawling over the seat.

“Goddamn love, you know how much I love black lace on you” Changbin muttered as he stared at your chest. You giggled and motioned him over. Changbin was quick to hop over the middle section and join you in the backseat. No matter how many times you two had done it in there, it never got easier to adjust to the cramped space.

You let your legs fall open gently, making room for Changbin to move between them. Your hands tangled into his hair as he started kissing your neck, first the kisses were close mouthed but soon they became open mouthed, wet kisses. Your hips started to buckle against his own as you softly moaned.

“Binnie, please” you mewled hotly into his ear while also kissing his own neck, sucking lightly in the hopes of leaving a hickey. Changbin growled.

He stopped kissing you to take off his own shirt before moving lower and kissing your chest ever so gently. You sighed softly and Changbin started massaging your right boob gently while he left a hickey on the left one. You chest and stomach were covered in love bites from previous sessions, only driving Changbin wilder. Even though Changbin was making you feel amazing, this was not what you wanted. You wanted his soft lips upon yours in a teeth clashing make-out session so that’s what you did.

Gently, you pushed Changbin back from your chest, still leaving you with angry purplish spots on your boobs. Changbin was breathless and slightly dishevelled already.

“You’re so hot” you muttered, pulling him in for a kiss. Changbin gently wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into his lap, instinctively you grinded down on his dick. The kiss was gentle yet passionate with Changbin occasionally biting on your lip which made you moan. He was the first one to break the kiss.

“So… Am I getting a git for winning the race?” He asked, his eyes lighting up. You laughed while sliding your hands behind your back, unclasping your bra.

“I like where this is going” Changbin said whilst leaning back against the door.

“Oh, you’ll like this even more” You smile while biting your lip and sliding off his lap, your knees now on the floor of the car as you unbuckle his jeans and pull the down mid-thigh. He’s already hard.

After a few good tugs, you take Changbin’s tip in your mouth, sucking on him lightly. Changbin throws his head back, making a lot of noise as he bangs his head against the window.

“Goddamn” he mutters while holding his head whilst you laugh at him.

“Oh you think this is funny, babe?” He asks you in a dangerous yet playful voice. Innocently, you stick out your tongue and lick his dick from the bottom all the way to the tip while maintaining eye contact with him. He grunts.

“You little tease…” Is all he is able to mutter as you take him fully into your mouth.

Changbin isn’t little by any means, so it’s only normal that you struggle a tiny bit. Gently, you bop your head up and down, your dominant hand wrapped around the base of his cock while jerking him off. Keeping all of him in your mouth for too long is too much. Your other hand is on Changbin’s thigh.

“Oh fuck, that’s so good __, keep doing that” He moans, encouraging you to go faster, suck harder and most definitely encourages you to look up innocently into the face of your boyfriend. Changbin swallows thickly, tangling his hands into your hair.

“You’re so pretty, baby, so so pretty but I want to spoil you, too” he whispers. Slowly, you pull off.

“I thought you wanted a present for winning?” you asked, still licking the tip of his cock.

“Well, being buried between your thighs seems like a lovely present” He says while pulling you back up onto the backseat. You quickly kick off your jeans as Changbin manoeuvres himself around to get between your legs in a comfortable position.

“You are so gorgeous, babygirl” Changbin muttered as he kisses from your knee, up your thigh to the part where you wanted him the most, “and this black lace on you… You look so stunning, baby”. Changbin pulled your panties to the side and gently kissed your pussy. You heard him mutter another ‘so good’ before he dove in. Getting eaten out by Changbin was a whole experience in itself, the man knew how to use his tongue but today, he started by sucking onto your clit while he slipped one of his fingers inside of you. Loudly, you moaned.

“Fuck, Changbin”

Changbin quickly used his tongue where you wanted it the most, where he drew patterns around your vulva with his tongue making you wetter. He decided it was time to add another finger into you. His fingers had a slow but steady rhythm. In, curling up against your spot and out, in, curling up against your spot and out … You whined, your toes curling as he started to pick up the pace against your spot.

“Changbin no, I’ll cum if you continue doing that!” You moaned and sighed in relieve as Changbin pulled his fingers out but instead they were replaced with his tongue, his hands now keeping your thighs open as you screamed slightly. His tongue was fucking you deliciously and you felt yourself closing in on your orgasm but right as you were about to, Changbin removed his mouth from you. You whined.

“If you’re going to cum, it’s on my cock” Changbin smirked as he rolled on a condom. You huffed.

“Well then fuck me, Seo!” You gritted, Changbin taking this as an invite. Swiftly, he wrapped one of your legs around his waist and instinctively, you wrapped your arms around his neck. Changbin’s tip pressed against you, making you buck your hips so his tip was already inside you.

“Binnie,” you whined, not being able to get much more than the tip inside in this position by bucking your hips, “please?” you whispered, looking into his eyes. It was then you felt him slipping in fully.

“Keep your eyes open, baby, keep looking at me” he muttered as you bottomed out, soft whines leaving your mouth. “Such pretty noises”, he praised while pressing a soft kiss on your lips.

“You feel so good” you muttered, throwing your head back and closing your eyes. Changbin took this as a sign to start moving. His strokes were long, where he went almost completely out of you before slamming back in hard.

“Faster, baby” you whined, he complied. His strokes were much shorter but hit just as hard if not harder. You wrapped your second leg around him aswell, keeping him close to your body.

“Fuck, I love you so much baby” He muttered while pounding into you. Hid pace made you unable to really form words.

“Who knew my enemy has the most precious, supportive sister whom I’d fall in love with and fuck silly in the backseat of my car?” He gritted, sweat beading onto his forehead.

“Close” was the only word you were able to bring out, Changbin’s relentless pace being the cause of it.

“Just let go, baby” Changbin fucked you right into your orgasm, your walls clenching around him, triggering his own orgasm which spilled into the condom.

You wrapped your legs even tighter around Changbin, pulling him into a close hug and kissing his forehead.

“I love you” you muttered, kissing his cheeks, trying to catch your breath. Changbin laid his head down in the crook of your neck, enjoying the soft playing with his hair.

“I love you too, baby. One day, we’ll be able to tell everyone about us” he muttered, gently kissing you neck. You giggled

“I love you so much, baby, so much but for the love of everything in the universe, never talk about my brother again when we’re having sex!”

[notebooks-and-tea]

Parse & Folklore: A Ted Talk

Alright everyone, settle down and come have emotions with me about how many of the lyrics from Folklore could apply to Parse. This is a long one so buckle in kiddos. I’m not usually a omgcp blog and I haven’t actually used tumblr in ages but I needed to share my emotions. Someone please yell at me if they have any more thoughts - I’m always here for Parse &/ Taylor rants!  

1. The 1 - let’s be real you could read the entirety of this song as Kent, hopefully having now finally managed to move on from Jack, wistfully thinking back on how nice it would’ve have been if he had indeed been ‘the one’. 

Lyrics that kind of hurt:

We were something, don’t you think so? And if my wishes came true It would've been you In my defense, I have none For never leaving well enough alone      Rosé flowing with your chosen family And it would've been sweet If it could've been me In my defense, I have none For digging up the grave another time 2. Cardigan -  So the concept of this song doesn’t directly relate to Kent but a few of the lines stick out to me a lot and I guess just generally this idea of ‘when you are young they assume you know nothing’ in the context of what Jack and Kent would have been going through when they were in Juniors.

Lyrics that stand out to my angsty heart:

But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs The smell of smoke would hang around this long 'Cause I knew everything when I was young I knew I'd curse you for the longest time <--literally just Kent not being able to let go of Jack despite how long it’s been since the draft

3.  My Tears Ricochet - Definitely don’t think about the idea of Kent loving Jack and being cut out and ignored following his overdose while listening to this song. ‘I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace’ when thinking about Kent visiting Jack at Samwell and being rejected, then lashing out is particularly painful okay. You could totally interpret a lot of this song as Kent lashing out at Jack and reminding him that he can cut him out and claim he’s moved on but he’ll always be a part of him and it just makes me sad to think about how that might not actually be true...

Lyrics that make me sad:

Even on my worst day Did I deserve, babe All the hell you gave me? 'Cause I loved you I swear I loved you Till my dying day  I didn't have it in myself to go with grace And you're the hero flying around saving face <--Jack getting to look like Kent attacked him for no reason as if he doesn’t also owe apologies  'Cause when I'd fight, you used to tell me I was brave And you can aim for my heart, go for blood But you would still miss me in your bones    <-- also kind of reminds me of Kent, in his anger when he turns up at Samwell, lashing out and saying that it’s people like him who still care about Jack no matter what

4. Mirrorball - okay literally just one line really sticks out to me and makes me sad so definitely don’t think about Kent having to hide who he is around the Aces, especially when Jack and Bitty kiss on the ice and he’s in the bar and someone whose name I’ve forgotten is being a homophobic dick, while Taylor sings “I'm a mirrorball I can change everything about me to fit in”

5. AUGUST - like the entire song basically? But like specifically these two boys have a month in the summer between winning the memorial cup and the draft and maybe Kent thinks it’s perfect and he’s so hopeful and he knows it has to end because they’re going to be on separate teams but maybe for him, just wanting them to be together is enough, at least for now. But everything goes wrong and Jack slips away and then they lose contact because Jack cuts him out and all Kent knows is that he should have known because he was never really his no matter how much he hoped that would be true. So now he just has those memories of the two of them together that one summer and maybe that kind of makes me want to cry?

Lyrics and sadnessss:

I never needed anything more Whispers Of "Are you sure?" "Never have I ever before" <-- just really hammering in that reminder that they were just kids before the draft But I can see us Lost in the memory August slipped away into a moment in time 'Cause it was never mine And I can see us twisted in bedsheets August sipped away Like a bottle of wine 'Cause you were never mine  Will you call when you're back at school? I remember thinking I had you Wanting was enough For me, it was enough To live for the hope of it all Cancel plans just in case you'd call So much for summer love, and saying "Us" 'Cause you weren't mine to lose 6.  This is Me Trying - Yikes, isn’t the title just a hypothetical Parse anthem though? Once again, not really exactly in the spirit of the actual song but I feel like so many of the lyrics apply? I mean, Kent turning up at Samwell vibes and once again he lashes out because he feels hurt but he’s trying. He doesn’t even know if Jack wants to see him but he’s hopeful so he turns up and he’s trying to be helpful and to reconnect but he’s still hurting even if Jack doesn’t seem to care? Also definitely don’t think about Kent in his first year in the NHL when he’s supposed to be living his dream and enjoying life, celebrating victories with his new team but all he can think about is Jack and how he may have hurt him and that he’s living the life he’s missing out on. 

Lyrics I have emotions about:

I didn't know if you'd care if I came back I have a lot of regrets about that Pulled the car off the road to the lookout Could've followed my fears all the way down And maybe I don't quite know what to say But I'm here in your doorway <-- Kent turning up at Samwell not really knowing if Jack would want to see him but being so hopeful that he would just hurtssss I just wanted you to know That this is me trying  And at least I’m trying

And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad I have a lot of regrets about that

And it's hard to be at a party When I feel like an open wound It's hard to be anywhere these days When all I want is you

7. Illicit Affairs - Ooooh boy, we’re back to entire songs that remind me of Kent and Jack and pre-draft sadness. So cannon Jack might claim that they never really dated and doesn’t that hurt even more if you consider Kent thinking they’re basically dating in secret only for Jack to overdose, then cut him off completely and deny that what they had ever involved any real emotions on his part? So here’s where illicit affairs makes me want to sob. Definitely don’t think about them having a secret ‘relationship’ that starts off because they’re just such close friends, the best friend either one of them has ever had, but they’re also both closeted professional hockey players and horny teenagers let’s be honest, and what starts off as raw moments of honesty and closeness between them get’s slowly corrupted because they have to hide it all, and they have the draft to think about, and Jack has his anxiety etc. And maybe Jack doesn’t call him kid or baby but he does call him Kenny like nobody else does and Kent would ruin himself if it meant he could have Jack back, would give him anything, would get him a spot on the Aces so they can finally play together like they were supposed to...This song makes me sad.

Lyrics that hurt especially (might as well post the entire song here tbh):

And that's the thing about illicit affairs And clandestine meetings And longing stares It's born from just one single glance But it dies and it dies and it dies ...a million little times / They show their truth one single time But they lie and they lie and they lie ...a million little times

So you leave no trace behind Like you don't even exist Take the words for what they are A dwindling, mercurial high A drug that only worked The first few hundred times

And you wanna scream Don't call me kid Don't call me baby Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else Don't call me kid Don't call me baby Look at this idiotic fool that you made me You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else And you know damn well For you I would ruin myself ...a million little times

8. Invisible Strings - Is this song too happy for my feelings about Kent most of the time? Probably, but basically any ship that ends in Kent/Happiness could apply to this song and that’s the reason it stays on this list. So basically think about Kent being happy and moving on with someone who’s so so good for him and helps him heal and then reconsider this song with that in mine. 

Lyrics to think about:

Time, Mystical time Cutting me open, then healing me fine

A string that pulled me Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire Chains around my demons Wool to brave the seasons One single thread of gold tied me to you Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart Now I send their babies presents <- the idea of Kent moving on and no longer having confrontations with Jack whenever they meet but instead being happy for him too makes me so happy 

9. Betty - Okay once again the actual idea of this song, definitely doesn’t directly apply but hear me out. Kent turning up at Samwell wanting to be heard out by Jack. Maybe it doesn’t happen directly after the event so he’s not ‘only 17′ but he effectively is and he doesn’t know anything really. He didn’t at the time the overdose happened and he never got the chance to deal with it properly because Jack cut him out so he still doesn’t really know anything. All he knows is that he misses Jack and he wants to play with him again and wants them to get back to where they used to be, to where they’re suppose to be. And if he insulting Jack’s team isn’t James (Taylor’s POV) singing about Betty’s ‘stupid friends’ then idk what else to say. Why does this song scream Kent so much to me despite being about a random 17 year old boy who cheated on his girlfriend?

Lyrics I want to scream about:

Betty, I won't make assumptions about why you switched your homeroom But I think it's 'cause of me  <--so obvs not homeroom but please don’t think about Kent thinking that Jack overdosed and decided not to go to the NHL after her recovered because of him

But if I just showed up at your party Would you have me? Would you want me? Would you tell me to go fuck myself Or lead me to the garden? I'm only seventeen I don't know anything but I know I miss you <--maybe he’s not 17 but he’s basically still just a kid whenever Jack’s involved

Betty, I'm here on your doorstep And I planned it out for weeks now but, it's finally sinking in Betty, right now is the last time I can dream about what happens when you see my face again The only thing I wanna do Is make it up to you So, I showed up at your party Will you have me? Will you love me? Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends? If you kiss me Will it be just like I dreamed it? Will it patch your broken wings?

I definitely have more to say on this but this is already so long so that’s it for now, might continue on some other time?

[ot5ismyhome]

Bloodbound Chapter 18- Preparing for the dark

Read from beginning here.

Wanda and Howard walked the empty corridors of The Rogers Innovative. Their footsteps ricocheted against the marble floor. They enjoyed the silence and each other’s company.

“Sooooo?” Wanda dragged.

“So?” Howard asked raising his eyebrows.

“You’re a vampire” she stated with a small smile.

“Yeah” he nodded. “What gave it away?”

“The memories” Wanda said. Howard froze for a second but she didn’t notice as she continued, “The same happened with Steve and Bucky.”

Howard resumed walking, “It must have been awkward as hell.” He laughed.

“You bet” she joined him. They both walked in silence again.

After a long silence she spoke again, “So, the child in your memory-”

A lump formed in Howard’s throat thinking about his past. “Tony. We don’t see each other eye to eye anymore. Never had.” His eyes watered talking about his family.

Wanda noticed his despair as she put her hand around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. He leaned on her shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut, letting the tears stain her dress.

“Have you ever reach-”

“I did once long back. I really want to now, but I don’t think I deserve forgiveness for leaving him and Maria.”

“Hey. Don’t talk like that” Wanda said softly. “Reach out to him. Let him know you still want to build the relationship. If you don’t you might regret it.”

Howard nodded not able to get any words out.

…..

Steve and Tony drove to Fountain of Youth. The Fountain of Youth was one of the largest health foundations on the east coast of America. When they entered the building, they were interrupted by the receptionist in the lobby.

“Please state you purpose of visit”

“We are here to meet Jiaying”

“Do you have an appointment?” he asked.

Before Steve could speak Tony intervened, “You might not have recognised us. He is Steve Rogers and myself am Tony Stark” extending his hand for a hand shake. The man accepted his hand and smiled at him. He pointed them towards Jiaying’s office. As they walked away Tony commented, “Power of money, my friend.”

They knocked on her door and waited outside. They heard Jiaying’s voice asking them to enter. They went inside her office. Steve took in the room he was standing. It was neither big nor small. It was sufficiently spacious. All the things were arranged neatly and looked perfect. In the left corner of the room, the table was laid near the window. Jiaying was sitting behind it. She was surprised to see them. She greeted them and asked them to take the seat.

Steve filled her on the details of the upcoming hearing. Jiaying listened patiently to what Steve had to tell. Steve left out the Maximoff twins. He decided to handle one problem at a time. There was no way he could convince Jiaying if he told he just changed a human last night. After Steve finished his narration, Jiaying looked at Tony. She eyes bore into his skull as if reading his mind.

“You aren’t involved with them?” she asked after a long time.

“No. God no. I didn’t know about this.”

“You also don’t have proof for Rumlow’s involvement?”

“Yeah. But we have a hunch” replied Steve

Jiaying maintained her serene composure. Her face revealed nothing. Steve and Tony didn’t move a muscle. They waited for Jiaying to say something. They were afraid to ask. Afraid to know the answer. She finally spoke, “You have my vote Stark.”

Both of them let out the breath they didn’t know they were holding. Steve smiled and thanked Jiaying again and again. Tony promised to help her if she was ever in need of anything.

She smiled. “You both are most welcome. But now I have work, I have to leave.”

They left her office and walked down the corridor. They both had a giddy smile plastered to their face. To the onlookers they would look like two foolish men but they didn’t care. They were going to win. They exited the hospital and walked to the parking. Once near the car, Tony left a small shout of victory. An old man who was crossing their car gave tony a weird look. “This is hospital. Not a theatre young man.”

“Oh Sorry. My husband just woke up from coma after 70 years. Taking him home.” Tony cracked pointing at Steve.

The old man shook his head in disappointment, “You both are going to hell for that” he shouted angrily.

Tony just laughed to himself as he pulled his car out of the drive way and drove off into the road. “You being in coma for 70 years wasn’t a hard for him but the possibility of us being husbands is offensive” laughed Tony.

“Yeah, homophobic ass.”

“I half thought of showing him my fangs and say I just came from hell”

“He would have had a heart attack on the spot.”

“I would say good riddance.”

“Couldn’t agree more. Humans need to change a lot. I have been around for long to know that humans haven’t progressed much. On Science, they have reached a higher level but on humanity they have got long way to go.”

After dropping Tony, Steve deposited the folder in the security vault of his home. Later he drove to The Rogers Innovative to begin the new day.

When Steve entered his office, Pietro jumped from his place in front of Steve. “I have got good news to cheer up this gloomy atmosphere. Guess what?” Pietro spurted out. Without allowing Steve to answer he ranted on, “Coulson says that I am getting promoted to Level 2.” He punched the air. “Can you believe it? I will be Agent Maximoff, Level 2”

“Congrats in advance?” Steve laughed.

“The investigation me and Thompson conducted had some pretty good info. And Coulson was impressed by our work.”

“I know you will make it one day. I never doubted you” he smiled.

Pietro’s face dropped. “But I didn’t believe in you always. I thought it was Tony behind the smuggling and you and Natasha were behind feral attack. I thought you guys tried to kill me.”

“It’s okay, kid.”

Pietro gleamed like a small kid.

…..

The sun peeked out of the horizon, starting a new day. Work at Rogers Innovative went on as usual. Pietro didn’t report to work, he stayed there. Natasha still hadn’t shown up and Steve was becoming more worried. But she is the second most powerful vampire in America, she will be safe he thought. Everything else was just the same. But no one was able to fully concentrate on their work but they made it through the day. Even though they had three votes against Rumlow’s one they were scared.

Pietro was the one who didn’t seem much affected. He lounged in Steve’s office all morning. He was bothering Steve with all kind of questions related to vampire world while Steve answered him patiently.

“That weird drink you gave me, how did you guys come up with that?”

“Loki created it. The first vampire turned five humans into vampires. Only they had immunity against going feral. Others easily succumbed to the blood thirst and detached themselves from their human life. As the generation progresses, chance of becoming feral increases. For a long time, only the ancient vampires existed. Then Loki invented an antidote ‘Draught of Frost blood’ which helped newer ones.”

“Who’s Loki, man?”

“Founder of American civilization”

Their conversation was interrupted by sudden opening of the door. Steve frowned at the man who had entered. He was one of Rumlow’s clan. He gave the scroll to Steve. When Steve was reading the message, the man gave a calculating look at Pietro.

Steve noticed it and said to Pietro, “Pietro, excuse us.” Pietro gave a nod and walked out. Steve read the scroll. As expected, it was the calling for council meeting to try Tony’s case.

Pietro went to his sister’s officer. But got chased out when he kept accidently knocking things of her desk. He went to Howard’s lab to talk with him. When he entered, Howard was sleeping on the couch. He didn’t want to disturb him so he left. Then he went to Coulson’s office.

He talked with Coulson non-stop. Coulson shared with him the stories of his early field days. Coulson had a meeting in the afternoon but Pietro stayed in his office while Coulson attended. Coulson returned from his meeting to see Pietro sleeping in his chair with his leg on the table. Hearing Coulson entering, Pietro woke up startled.

“I think we’ve been spending too much time together.” Pietro lowered his legs. Coulson continued angrily, “I’m the Director of S.T.A.K.E. Remember that.”

Pietro stiffened. He stood up, “Sorry, sir.”

Coulson laughed, “Sorry. I have always wanted to do that. I saw the opportunity and couldn’t help. Strangely, it didn’t feel like myself.”

Pietro relaxed. He chatted with Coulson for some time and went to the VIP lounge. He watched TV for the rest of the day. After the office hours, Pietro took a blood pack form Steve’s freezer and returned to his position in front of the TV. His fangs descended and he bit through the blood packet. He was drinking blood when the door opened and Piper entered. Pietro panicked. He feared that he had been caught.

“Calm down. I’m also a vampire.” Piper said. “It was fun seeing you panic though.”

Pietro smiles sheepishly in response.

“Steve left and he asked me to baby-sit you. Everyone else is in Steve’s office. Let’s head there.”

Pietro and Piper went to Steve’s office and joined the others.

[katehuntington]

Title: Changes - part four Word count: ±5600 words Summary “Changes”: Huntress Zoë Sullivan (OFC) crosses paths and swords with the Winchesters, when the brothers stumble on a case she’s already working. When complications arise, they are forced to work as a team. Summary part four: With reluctance Zoë decides to patch up Dean, but when the older Winchester tries to find out why she became a hunter, tension rises. Episode warnings: Dark! NSFW, 18+ only! Angst, gore, violence, character death. Description of blood, injury and medical procedures. Demon possession, supernatural creatures/entities. Smut, swearing, alcohol use/addiction. Kidnapping, mentions of torture and murder, illegal/criminal practices. Mentions of nightmares and flashbacks.  Music: Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin Author’s note: I couldn’t be more excited to share Supernatural: The Sullivan Series with you. There are quite a few people I want to thank: @coffee-obsessed-writer​​, @soupornatural​​ & @mrswhozeewhatsis​​, who edited the early drafts, and my girls @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish​​ & @winchest09​​ who are deciphering the recent version. Everyone who encouraged me to go for it, you are awesome!

Supernatural: The Sullivan Series Masterlist 01x01 “Changes” Masterlist

     The thunderstorm has passed on, a low, grumpy rumble sounding from twenty miles away, as the midnight rider pulls over at Motel 6. Red and orange colors of dawn paint the horizon in the east; the sun will rise within an hour or so.      As Zoë puts her bike on the centerstand, Sam parks the black Chevrolet next to the Harley. Swiftly, he gets out of the car and walks around to help his brother, but Dean already managed to get out, muttering that he can do it himself. 

     The Winchesters approach to the entrance with Zoë on their tail, who keeps a sharp eye, more a habit than a necessity, trained to always be aware of her surroundings. But when she glances at Dean - who keeps a tight grip on his shoulder as he stumbles towards the door - she sighs, annoyed. It’s a guy thing, isn’t it? Feeling so sorry for themselves about ending up with a scratch or a bruise. And they truly believe they are the superior gender? She would like to see either one of those whiners live through childbirth.      Without warning, Zoë walks up to Dean and smacks him against the back of his head.      “Ah! You b--”       “Don’t you dare call me that, or it will be your face my hand hits next,” she warns.      “What’s your fucking problem?!” he snaps.      “You’re acting like you're already seeing the white light. Stand up straight, let go of your shoulder and stay behind your brother,” she barks at him, while passing the two men on their way to the foyer. “Just don’t make a scene, okay?”      “Do you have any idea how much this hurts? You put a bullet in my arm!” the older Winchester exclaims.      “Be glad I didn’t put it in your heart, darling.”

     Narrowed eyes flashing with sarcasm land on him, before Zoë grips the door handle. She’s about to push it open when Dean challenges her again.      “You can give me all the attitude you’ve got, sweetheart, but you do realize you’re a fucking amateur for shootin’ another hunter, right?” he chuckles mockingly.      With an eye roll, Zoë turns on her heels, fiercely glaring at the older Winchester brother, while biting the inside of her lip. This guy is seriously starting to piss her off. Does he really believe he can outsass her? That’s adorable, actually.      “Let me tell you something, Winchester. Firstly, it’s called a warning shot, since you’re not dead. Secondly, I believe I was the one you didn’t see coming inside that house, I was the one who shot you and not the other way around. So tell me; who’s the amateur here?”      She arches her eyebrows at him victoriously, then turns back to the door, whipping her hair round as she twists. The door falls shut behind the huntress before Dean can even think of a good counter. Sam huffs, shocked and yet impressed with her accomplishment. Who would’ve thought it was possible? She just shut up his brother. With his lips pressed together in a thin line, trying hard not to laugh, the younger Winchester follows Zoë, but Dean notices his suppressed smirk anyway and gives him a push in the back as they enter the lobby. 

     The door closes just as the thunder roars louder than it has all night. Dean,  although reluctantly, does as told and stays in Sam’s large shadow, so the man behind the counter doesn’t notice his injury.           The old man looks up from his magazine. He hasn’t done much, because the paper wrappers and the soda bottle still lay scattered across the desk. He did have coffee, though, probably to get through the quiet night.      “At least I’m not just sitting here to become part of the furniture, thanks to you, Mrs. Johnson,” he comments, as it’s the third time in a few short hours she’s entered the lobby.      “It won’t happen again tonight,” she promises, taking the room key after he hands it to her.      “That’s easy for you to say, considering it’s morning,” he responds, unimpressed. 

     The man is not wrong. The clock on the wall is about to strike seven AM and she hasn’t had a minute of sleep in the past thirty six hours. While yawning, she continues her way to her room, leaving behind the Winchester brothers. Sam clears his throat loudly and Zoë looks over her shoulder, only then realizing she’s forgetting something.      “Oh, right. These are colleagues of mine, they need a room,” she adds.      “Sorry, no can do.”       The manager flips the page, not even bothering to look up. Sam and Dean await an explanation with confused looks upon their faces.      “Why not?” Sam asks.      “Lots of folks coming for that Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament this weekend; I’m fully booked,” the old man explains.      “Great…” Dean sighs, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.      Sam pleadingly glances at Zoë, but she doesn’t blink.      “I guess we have to find ourselves another motel then,” he concludes and intends to turn around.      “Good luck with that, but you won’t find a bed at this hour. I think your best option is to take a few hours sleep in your car,” the manager advises, without looking up from his magazine.      “Well, you heard the man; good luck with that.”       Zoë walks on, not feeling even a bit responsible for the two men. Dean follows her to have a word, as Sam tries to talk to the manager.      “Sir, isn’t there some sort of arrangement we can make here? Me and my brother, we’ve been on the road for quite some time and we haven’t slept on a decent bed in days,” Sam explains politely.      Puppy dog eyes and a friendly smile; Sam’s secret weapon to get what he wants. His words are calm and friendly, but this time they are not enough to do the job. The hundred dollar bill the hunter slips the manager is, though. The man stands up and leans on the counter, biting on the plastic spoon from his empty coffee container, thinking through some kind of option.

     “I don’t have any rooms left, but I tell you what,” he says as he turns over to Zoë and Dean, who are arguing down the hallway. “Room 82 has a double bed and a couch. If Mrs. Johnson doesn’t mind, I will allow you two to spend the night,” he suggests, while looking between the boys and the owner of the room.      “What? Like... share?” she returns, her nose crinkling with disgust.      “That’s what social people do,” Dean whispers, so only she can hear him.      Ignoring his snarl, she looks over at Sam. There they are again, hazel eyes begging her. Her gaze trails back to Dean who hints at his shoulder. The blood is coming through his denim jacket and has started to drip down his arm; he needs treatment. No matter how much she detests sharing a room with the Winchesters, Zoë can’t let him sleep in the car. That would be a little too cruel, even for her. Although she doesn’t like Dean’s attitude, she was the one who did this to him. And so she sighs and nods, approving.

     “Alright then, that’s settled. Now, I don’t want any trouble, this is off the books, so if anything happens…” the manager warns.      “We understand. Thank you very much.” Sam gives him a grateful smile before he joins his brother and the huntress.      The three of them walk through the hallway together, but as soon as they turn the corner, Zoë smacks Sam against the shoulder. She would have rather aimed for his head like she did with Dean a minute ago, but she doesn't, simply because he's too tall for her to reach.      Sam puts his arm up in defense. “Hey!”      “Why do you think I let you walk in the middle?” Dean comments.      “What were you thinking!” she hisses with a lowered voice.      “Don’t worry about it, I’ll sleep on the couch,” Sam offers when they halt by room 82.      Zoë huffs, unlocking the door. “And let him sleep next to me? Not in a million years.” 

     She enters the room and switches on the lights, but before she can turn around, Dean claims the bed. With a sigh of relief, he settles against the backboard and props his feet up on the sheets, not bothering to take his boots off first.      “Get off,” Zoë barks, the moment she catches sight of his actions.             “I’m actually quite comfortable,” he nags, pressing the drenched, bundled scarf on the injury in an attempt to slow the bleeding.      “You are fucking up my research,” Zoë persists.      “I’m tired, hungry, and my shoulder hurts like hell, thanks to you. So if you have a problem with me crashing on the bed, you can bite me.”           As Dean rants, the huntress raises her brow and cocks her head back. What did he just say to me?      “Excuse me? Whose room do you think this is again, you ungrateful little shit!? Because I could’ve sworn that--”      “My God, woman! Can you tone it down and cut me some slack here?” he interrupts agitated, hinting at the shot wound. “You’re giving me a headache on top of all this.”       “Do I look like I care?” she snaps, turning back at Sam. “You two are either sleeping on the couch or on the ground. Figure out who sleeps where.”

     She drops her helmet down on the table and takes off her worn biker jacket, which she hangs to dry on the back of the chair. Dean’s eyes follow her as she crosses the room, but then land on the metal briefcase, swallowing apprehensively when he beholds what’s inside. Right, getting shot was the easy part.      Meanwhile, Sam takes a look at the Macbook Pro on the bed, kneeling down in front of it to observe the piece of technology.      “This is cool,” he comments, letting his finger glide over the touchpad, enlarging the icons at the bottom of the screen.      Zoë, who has started cleaning her surgical equipment, warns him. “Hands off. I just got it.”      Cautiously, Sam backs away from the laptop. He’s not surprised by her hostile response, though. He barely lets Dean touch his own computer, let alone allow a stranger to work it, so he understands where she’s coming from.      “You know, it just occurred to me -” Sam sits down on the side of the bed facing her, clears his throat and puts his hands together, leaning forward, “- I don’t think you ever answered my question.”      Zoë doesn’t even look up, apparently not intrigued. “What question is that?”      “How did you two meet?” Sam asks, curiously.      Before she even says a word, Zoë looks up at Dean. Clearly, she doesn’t feel like answering herself. Dean keeps a hold of her gaze, his brow slightly furrowed. She nods, approving; he can tell Sam what happened.      “Zoe was a case, about four years ago. Right after you left for Stanford,” Dean starts off.      “A case?” Sam repeats, stunned.      “She was possessed by a Diligo Vesco demon. Nasty son of a bitch, believe me,” Dean elaborates.      “I read some lore on those. Don’t they feed on the loved ones of their host?” Sam recalls.      “Sure do,” Zoë answers shortly, obviously not happy about the fact she’s the subject of this conversation.      “We hung out a bit while Dad was working the job. He took care of it,” Dean tells.

     Abruptly, Zoë gets up from where she was seated, gritting her teeth. Tension a little more evident in her walk, as she moves over to the kitchenette. After activating the electric kettle, she opens two cabinets.      “Fuck.”      Dean, who just wants this day to be over, sighs annoyed. “Now what?”      “I’m out of whiskey,” she declares, closing the cabinet doors.      “Well, I don’t know ‘bout you, but a beer will do just fine,” he comments.      “Not to drink, brainless,” she responds, placing her hands on her small waist as she shifts her weight on one leg. “To fix you up.”      “Right.” He clears his throat, but then suddenly realizes what she’s saying. “Wait, you’re gonna fix me up?”      She can read the doubt in his facial expression, even though he tries to hide it. Before she can answer his question, Sam intervenes.      “I can patch him up if you wanna get some sleep,” he offers.      “Can you stitch up an axillary vein? Because I blasted his into oblivion,” she responds with an attitude.      “No. Can you?” Sam counters.      “She can, annoyingly enough,” Dean answers before Zoë can. “She studied medicine.”

     Sam snaps his head to her now, surprised by the revelation. He expected Zoë to be smart, considering she managed to ambush them, but somehow he can’t picture the biker as a student. She is a hunter after all, and hunters don’t get to go to college, let alone university. He has first hand experience to prove that theory.      “You’re a med student?”       “Was a med student," she corrects, walking to the bathroom to get a towel and a bowl. “Sam, do your brother a favor. Go down the 52 into Rochester and take the first right. You’ll find a 24 hour shop with a liquor department on 55th Street.”      “Got it.” Sam needs no further explanation and heads for the door.      “Johnny Walker Black Label. If I take a sip it might as well be good,” she adds.      “And while you’re at it, bring me a cheeseburger,” Dean also requests. “Extra onions.”      “Make that two.” Zoë’s hollow voice sounds from the bathroom, but then she walks out. “There’s a Wendy’s around the corner.”      “Anything else?” Sam grumbles, feeling used.      “Yeah, I’d like fries with that. And if you deliver in ten minutes or less, there’s an extra tip in it for you,”  Zoë answers smartly.

     Dean smirks while his brother shakes his head. When the door slams shut, Sam leaves what should be an awkward silence, but Zoë doesn’t seem even a bit intimidated by the Winchester brothers. Without a word, she fills the bowl with hot water. With a clean towel in one hand and the bowl in the other, she walks to the bed and spots Dean’s grin.      “What?” She frowns at his expression.      “I have to say, you are way more of a smartass than you were back then,” Dean recalls, as he removes the bloody fabric from the entry wound.      She sits down on the bed next to him and dips the towel in the sterile water. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re still the same smart ass you were back then. Take off your shirt.”      Dean looks at her sideways, pleasantly surprised by the sudden authorial demand.      “Don’t get any ideas,” she responds with an icy stare.      “Alright, but I normally don’t do this until the second date.”      He opens the buttons with one hand, then takes off his flannel. A grunt leaves his throat when Zoë carefully rolls up the short sleeve of tee, the fabric comes loose from the wound. The huntress feels his pain, although she will not admit it, of course. It seems like a pretty clean shot, but there’s too much blood for it to be that simple. She presses the towel against the wound, letting it absorb the crimson red. Dean swallows thickly and looks away, grinding his teeth. He feels uncomfortable.

     “This is fuckin’ embarrassing,” the hunter mutters under his breath.      “Why is that?” Zoë takes away the towel, flips it over and presses it firmly against his shoulder again.      “I got my ass kicked by a chick and guess who’s patching me up,” Dean admits.      She grins now. “I can see how your pride got damaged.”      “You’re enjoying this, aren’t ya?” he notices.      “Totally,” Zoë chuckles. “But I would much rather be sleeping.”      “That makes two of us.” Dean flutters his lashes, fighting the fatigue which decided to team up with the pain; blood loss probably has something to do with it.      “You could have ended up far worse,” she remarks.      “Dead, perhaps? You won’t get rid of me that easily.” He smiles cocky.      “That’s not what I mean.” Zoë takes a closer look at the wound, careful not to touch it without gloves. “Sam might be the clever one, but my guess is that he couldn’t have fixed this vein.”

     He looks aside for a moment, examining her. He remembers her hair being a lighter shade of brown, when the Californian sun still dyed her locks with gold. Now the color is more intense, darker, much like her eyes. Her skin seems soft, but there’s something about her that gives her a tough appearance. It’s a vibe he didn't pick up last time he saw her. Back then she was this innocent rich kid from Orange County; naive, nice, cute, clueless. Quite the opposite of how she comes off tonight.      She grew up delicately, left the girl in the Sunny State and became a woman. If he’d spotted someone like her in a bar, he would make a move. Why didn't they end up between the sheets together? Now that he thinks of it, a previous boyfriend comes to mind, not that something like that ever stopped him from reeling women in. He came on to Zoë while working her case back in 2001 - despite her relationship status - but she declined, the good girl. Something tells him she’s anything but a good girl these days, which makes her even more interesting.

     “Thanks,” Dean says, barely audible, somewhat out of the blue.      Zoë glances at him with her brows curved, clearly not expecting any sign of gratitude. “Did Dean Winchester just thank me?”       “Don’t push it.”      A subtle smile pulls at the corner of her mouth. It’s the first time he sees a glimpse of the O.C. surfer girl he met back then.      “Here, hold this.” She lays his hand on the towel still pressed to his shoulder and gets up. “It’s way too quiet in here.”

     When she walks towards the radio on the small table next to the bed, Dean checks her out and nods approvingly without her seeing it. Definitely. He would definitely make a move on her. Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin comes on the moment she turns on the radio. With a swing in her walk, clearly liking the tunes, she moves to the small kitchen and opens the fridge.      “Beer?”      He nods and she hands him a bottle. Waiting for Sam to return with the good stuff, she doesn’t open one herself, needing a steady hand for the procedure. Instead, Zoë searches the small fridge for something to eat, bending forward to shove some cans and bottles aside in the back, fortunately for Dean. He can’t help himself. Whoa, you could bounce a quarter off that--      “Dean, do me a favor and stop staring at my ass.”      Zoë surprises him with a sudden and piercing glare as she closes the door. He quickly averts his gaze.      “I - I wasn’t staring at your--”      “Yes, you were.” With a grin she tears the wrapper from a chocolate bar. “Like I said: you haven't changed one bit.”      He looks up at the huntress and can’t help but chuckle. She used to be so shy. Past Zoë would’ve felt embarrassed if she caught him checking her out. She would’ve kept quiet and certainly wouldn’t have called him out on it. But not the new version of herself. Zoë 2.0 doesn’t take any shit. 

     His eyes roam over her features as she sits down next to him and takes a bite of the chocolate treat. A few scars add to her tough appearance without taking away any of her beauty. Typical combat injuries: small white lines run down her eyebrow, barely visible scar tissue on the corner of her full lips and her chin. She puts away her midnight snack and dusts off her hands, after which she cleans them in the bowl of warm water, washing up thoroughly with betadine before attending the wounded hunter. Long lashes frame her brown eyes as she focuses on her hands as she scrubs them; they obviously have seen their fair share of fights, knives, and rifles.      She has been hunting.      It’s not just her skin that gives her away, it’s the tainting darkness lingering over her. Zoë has seen the worst.      “You’ve changed.”      She looks back at Dean, then averts her gaze, not knowing how to act or behave. His gaze penetrates her thick armor, the hint of pity in it confronting. She only spent two weeks with him, but she knows these moments are rare for Dean Winchester. The guitar solo of the Led Zep song sets in and gives an awkward feel to the moment, which Dean decides to break up.      “So…” he starts off, nodding at the research on the bed behind him. “Hunting now, huh? Finished med school?”      “Nope. Dropped out.”      Again an unpleasant silence, the tones from the guitar strings echoing through the room as Dean searches for words.      “That’s a shame.” Dean takes a swig from the bottle and continues. “What I understood from your sister, you were the best student in your class. I never thought you would--”      “- end up like you?” she interrupts him.      He nods. She ponders.      “Too much happened to ignore and continue with my simple little life.” Zoë looks away, her gaze fading into a thousand yard stare for a few seconds. She doesn’t think about that period of her life very often.      “Bullshit,” Dean argues while shaking his head. “You were on your way to becoming a top surgeon; there is nothing simple or little about that. You could’ve helped people your way, y’know, without the motel-to-motel lifestyle, a life expectancy of thirty and no pay.”      “Where’s the fun in that when you know what’s really out there?” the huntress bounces back.      “Big ass salary, white picket fence, a perfect career,” he fantasizes. “Don’t get me wrong, I dig what I do. I just never thought this would be the life for you.”      Neither did I, Zoë thinks to herself, but she doesn’t admit it out loud. Instead, the woman who should have been a doctor bites on the inside of her cheek as she begins to clean the surgical equipment for a second time, trying to get rid of the frustration building inside her. Dean is poking the bear, but trying to provoke her to talk might not be his best move. Fact is, though, his question is spot on. The hunters’ world isn't her scene, yet she got stuck in this loop of endless cases.

     “How’s Abigail doing these days?” Dean picks up the conversation again, when the silence drags on too long.      Zoë shrugs, seemingly careless. “Wouldn’t know.”      “You girls aren’t talking?”      He raises his eyebrows at the information, remembering the bond between the Sullivan sisters well. Witnessing them was bittersweet, because the two reminded Dean so much of him and Sam, who had just bailed for Stanford at the time. Abi and Zoë couldn’t be close to one another while his dad was working the case, the risk of the demon manifesting and claiming even more lives too large. It hurt them both, like neither of them knew how to function without the other by their side. Much like how he felt while his brother was gone. 

     “You were thick as thieves,” he recalls when Zoë remains quiet. “Seriously, what happened after we hit the road?”      Again her reaction lacks both compassion and emotion. “I became a hunter.”      Dean narrows his eyes, reading her. “Yeah, but why?”      “Why? Like being possessed by a demon wasn’t enough?” she returns.      “No, most people would try to forget it ever happened and move on with their apple pie lives,” he claims.      “Well, I’m not like most people, am I?”      A deadly glare comes his way, and Dean is caught off guard by her sudden change of character. He’s making her feel uncomfortable, all the more reason to dig deeper.      “You used to be.”      “People change.”      Annoyed, she drops the surgical instruments on the sterile sheet, the metal clattering. Dean keeps an eye on her, carefully observing her reaction. There’s more to this and she’s not telling him.      “What happened?” he asks directly, but calmly.      “Jesus Christ, Dean! Could you just fucking drop it?” she snaps, as the door of room 82 opens.      Sam walks in and detects the tension between the two. Dean keeps looking Zoë in the eye with determination in his expression; he’s not planning to let this go. The huntress on the other hand, stares back at him and doesn’t need words to tell him to shut the hell up.      “Okay… awkward.” Sam closes the door behind him and breaks the silence by holding up the bags. “I have booze and burgers.”      “Ah, good, I’m starving.” The presence of food has Dean snap his eyes away from the hunters, reaching out for the paper bag, but Zoë snatches it away.      “You’re not eating anything ‘til I’m done with you,” she decides, obviously trying to get back at him.      Dean watches her walk away with the burgers, his jaw slack and mouth watering from the smell of grease drenched fast food alone. She’s got to be kidding him, right?      “Ah, come on! That ain’t fair!” he complains, frustrated.      The hunter frantically looks over at Sam who has trouble hiding his grin while watching the scene play out. He’s not going to back up his brother, though; he has learned quickly that Zoë doesn’t appreciate being countered.      Not giving Dean’s objections any attention, she leaves the Wendy’s bag on the table, sits down next to him on the bed and pulls the chair by the wall in position to set up her instruments. First, she takes away the soaked through towel. Sam frowns when he sees the pierced skin where the bullet entered, pulls the whiskey out of a bag and places it on the chair.      “Good luck with that,” he comments, glad he’s not the one going through it, nor being the one having to patch him up. That shot wound is no joke.      “Yeah thanks, bro,” Dean returns sarcastically.

     Zoë takes a serious look at his shoulder, making an unsatisfied sound with her mouth.      “Sam, get me an empty glass,” she orders without shifting her eyes.      Items are shoved in the sink cabinet as Sam tries to find what Zoë asked for. The noises from the kitchen disturb the music on the radio, but also the silence between Dean and Zoë. He hesitates; shall he continue his questioning? He decides to wait. After all, she still has to patch him up.      As Sam comes back with clean towels and a glass, she checks in with his brother. “Do you want a local anaesthetic or are you gonna bite the bullet?”       He sighs reluctantly. Although a sedation does sound tempting, he decides otherwise.       “I’ll bite the bullet,” he replies.            “I’ll be honest with you,” Zoë starts off, the tips of all five fingers gently pushing into his chest, beckoning him to lean against the headboard. “This will hurt like hell, but I need you to keep completely still. Without an X-ray I can’t tell for sure where the bullet is. It could be holding a damn finger in the dyke.”      As the hunter lays back, he gulps. By now, her patient is getting somewhat nervous.      “You do know what you’re doing, right?” Dean questions carefully as she puts on a pair of latex gloves.      “Of course I know what I’m doing. You just need to hold still and shut up,” she replies, agitated.      When he looks aside at his brother, Sam sees doubt and a slight trace of fear in his eyes. He decides to jump in to help.      “Have you done this before?” Sam asks calmly, just as she takes a set of forceps in her left hand.

     She stops, but doesn’t look up at him; this time her reaction isn’t as rapid as previously. Of course she could tell them she dug a bullet out of her own flesh only hours ago, but that would involve admitting she got hurt. Besides, a shallow shot wound isn’t comparable to this injury; the bullet tore his shoulder to pieces.      The Winchester brothers wait for her to respond, but she decides to ignore the question all together and intends to go to work. Dean pulls away, looking her straight in the eye.      “Before you stick that thing in my arm, answer the fucking question,” he demands.      “I did this before, chicken shit. Happy?” she answers, annoyed.      “On a human being?” Sam wonders, on to her.       Again silence.           After rolling her eyes, she sighs and shrugs. “On a dead pig, okay? What’s the difference?”      “Hey!” Dean says, insulted, until he realizes what she’s actually saying. “Whoa, wait… You’re actually gonna do some difficult procedure on me that you’ve never done on a human being before?”      “It’s not that difficult,” she claims, not even a bit worried. “I know what I’m doing, you just have to trust me.”      “Trust you?!” Dean exclaims. “You shot me!”      “Dean, calm down,” Sam tries, without result.      “I am calm!” he argues, raising his voice even more.      “Hey, asshat!” Zoë calls Dean back to reality, forcing him to face her by grabbing his chin and turning his head. “You listen up. I don’t see another option here, unless you wanna go to a hospital.”       “What do you care?” he returns.      She scoffs and cocks her head back, staring at him stunned as she lets go of him. “You know what? You’re absolutely right! I don’t give a fucking shit.”      Mad, she gets up and throws the instruments back in the briefcase and tears the gloves from her hands. She slams the lid and heads for the door, which she pulls open and holds for them.      “Zoë, come on. Wait a minute,” Sam says, desperately trying to repair the damage.      “Nope. Now get the fuck out,” she orders.      “You’re kicking us out? You’re fucking kidding me, right?” Dean says, dazed.      “Do I look like I’m kidding?!” she returns the question angrily. “Maybe if you would stop being such a fucking jerk, I--”      “Okay, fine.” Dean grabs his jacket and his shirt next to him and gets up, while Sam looks over from one to the other, startled and completely helpless.      “Can’t we talk about this, guys?” he tries.      “No!” both Dean and Zoë answer at the same time.

     Dean shuffles towards the door, pressing his shirt against the wound. It’s clear he isn’t feeling well, but neither he nor Zoë even flinch, too proud to ever admit they have crossed the line. Despite his injury, they are about to go separate ways, purely because they are both so arrogant, that they can’t tolerate each other.      “Okay, this is ridiculous!”      Now it’s Sam who gets frustrated. Dean turns around and Zoë frowns; finally the younger Winchester has their attention.      “Listen to her, Dean,” he claims.      “Seriously? You’re on her side now?” Dean reacts, betrayed.      “That’s not what this is about, damn it! There are no sides, we’re all hunters and we have a job to do. Fighting like cats and dogs isn’t helping!” Sam responds. “She has a point. We’re in Minnesota, remember?”

     Dean needs a moment to think, but then recalls the case they worked about five years ago, in Lafayette, a little over a hundred miles west from here. The local police caught him and his father with the victim of a poltergeist, they had a clear view of his face before he escaped. When they started digging, they found a list of scams, carjacking, robberies, suspect of several more crimes and now murder to top them all. If Dean walks into a hospital and is listed as a patient, it won’t be long before the cops take him in. Even if he uses an alias, the chance of getting busted is a reality.      “Fuck,” he curses, realizing Sam is right; he has ‘wanted’ written all over him.      His brother looks over at the woman in their company, who leans against the doorway, her arms crossed in front of her.      “Can you fix him up?” he asks, calmly.      “Of course I can. I don’t get myself into shit I can’t handle,” she replies snippy.      He nods approvingly and looks deep into her eyes.      “Please,” he pleads. “I know you won’t do this for him--”      “Obviously not,” she interferes pissed, shooting daggers at Dean.      “Then do this for me. Please, fix him up?” Sam begs.      The huntress watches Sam, still mad, but her mind settling down. Dean realizes that for his best interests, he better keep his mouth shut. Then she sighs and steps away from the door, which she closes.      “Cut it out with the puppy dog eyes. I’ll do it,” she mutters.

     Dean slowly sits down on the bed while Zoë opens her briefcase again, getting out the things she needs.      “Thanks, Zo,” Sam says, grateful, words that Dean can’t possibly get out of his mouth.      “Don’t mention it.”      She puts on a fresh pair of gloves and takes her patient’s arm, as he leans back against the headboard again. His eyes tell her he would’ve rather gone to the hospital and figure out a plan to bust out later, but at least he isn’t saying it out loud. Considering it’s Dean Winchester, that has to count for something.      “If you fuck up, I’ll kill you,” he warns.       She glares at him, but finds a coy smile on his face.      “Not if I kill you first,” she returns, a slight grin on her lips.      He swallows apprehensively and mentally prepares himself. She steadies her hand, the forceps an extension of her fingertips. Both take a deep breath; here goes nothing. And she goes in...

Thank you for reading. I appreciate every single one of you, but if you do want to give me some extra love, you are free to reblog my work or buy me coffee (Link in bio at the top of the page)

Read part five here!

[virgilsinferno]

meet me in the middle || logince

chapter 2 — leave the window open for me

summary: the twins try to set up patton & virgil by hosting a sleepover. remus makes questionable life decisions. 

pairings: high key moxiety, dukeceit (if you squint) 

tw: mentions of hospitals & injuries

word count: 2987

[logan is not in this chapter but he is mentioned like once]

taglist: @dragonwithproblems​ @b0mblebee​

ao3 || 1 

♡

At the back of the shop, there’s a tiny storage room filled with boxes and a wall of post-it notes. It’s a cramped space, but the twins figured out a way to make it bearable. There’s a bookshelf, some fake plants, a few pictures, and of course, the whiteboard. The whiteboard was previously used for reminders, but bit by bit, they started filling it up with random doodles. 

They constantly tried to one-up each other with every new addition to the whiteboard. Who could draw the most accurate anatomy? Who was better at dynamic poses? There was always an unspoken competition between the two siblings. It was practically in their nature to be competitive. 

So far, Remus was winning but only because Roman’s usually the one at the counter while Remus took care of packages and inventory. Or at least that’s what Roman liked to tell himself. 

Working at his dad’s flower shop wasn’t too bad, in fact, Roman loved working there. During his first few months at the shop, he was obsessed with flower meanings. And making bouquets. What he didn’t expect though, was cleaning. He had somehow forgotten that he was working with plants, and working with plants got messy. Petals and leaves kept falling off, dirt got all over the floor, and children loved messing with everything they could touch. 

It’s been a busy day. Roman sat behind the counter, thinking that he’ll finally be able to relax after he finished trimming flowers and sweeping the floor. He was thankful that he only worked on Saturdays, otherwise, he’d have to stress about strangers’ wedding preparations as well. 

Speaking of weddings, he had to attend one in about 3 weeks. They weren’t in charge of the flowers so he didn’t have to stress about that, but he strongly disliked a certain cousin of his. He was not looking forward to it. He’s probably ranted about how much he hated this particular cousin to all his internet friends. 

“Boys, you two go on ahead, I’ll close up the shop!” their dad yelled from the storage room. The twins shared a look.

“Race ya!” Remus said as he dashed out of the shop. Roman quickly ran out after him, chasing him down the street. 

It was part of their post-work ritual. The racing, that is. After work, they would run to Espresso Feelings and whoever arrived last was paying. Sometimes Patton would be there and they’d talk about the latest gossip they’ve heard at school. 

The sky was getting dark and droplets of rain began to fall. It was only a matter of seconds before it would start pouring. Neither of the two brought an umbrella, but the coffee shop wasn’t too far away. A group of kids passed by, running and giggling with their arms stretched to the side, enjoying the breeze that came with the drizzle. They reminded Roman of him and his brother when they were much younger. They still do that sort of shit as teenagers.

Remus was winning, but only because Roman was waiting for the rain to lash down. Or at least that was his excuse for not running faster. It was getting chilly though, which only gave him more reason to buy coffee at this hour. 

“You’re paying, slowpoke!” Remus said as he dramatically opened the door to the shop. He immediately went to the counter to order their usual. 

Roman sat down at their usual spot, the table near the corkboard. He spotted Patton speaking to some guy in a purple hoodie on the other side of the shop. The guy looked familiar, so Roman assumed he had seen him around at school before. He called out Patton’s name and waved, and he waved back as well.  The guy left with a brown paper bag in hand and Patton walked over to the twins’ table. The rain was already pouring, so it was a good thing that the guy had an umbrella with him. 

“Ro, you’ll never guess what just happened!” Patton said with a huge grin on his face. He was practically bouncing with excitement.

“You won the lottery?” Roman asked, eyes wide, with the same level of excitement Patton had.

“No, even better! I got Virgil’s number!” Patton squealed with delight as he sat down next to Roman, flaunting Virgil’s contact on his phone.

“Oh, great,” Roman said with fake enthusiasm. Who the fuck?

Remus sat down opposite to Roman and placed a tray down on their table. “I didn’t know Emo was your type.”

 “Wait, are we talking about the guy with the purple hoodie?” Roman asked as he pointed to the front door. 

“Yeah, him!” Patton said, stealing a forkful of Roman’s chocolate cake. “I assumed you would know him since, you know, he’s Logan’s best friend? And you hate-read his social m-”

“I do not!” Roman interjected, taking his fork back from Patton in a playful manner. 

“You do,” Remus said in a sing-songy voice. “Sometimes he barges into my room in the middle of the night just to tell me what atrocity Logan posted on Instagram.”

“It was one time!” Roman finally admitted. “Why are we talking about me, we’re supposed to be talking about Patton’s love life!”

“Oh, right! I do have to get back to work though, but I could come over later and we could talk about boys?” Patton suggested. They often had sleepovers especially during finals week, but as much as they’d try to focus on studying, they always ended up goofing off and doing typical sleepover activities. 

“Fuck yes, sleepover middle-school-style!” Remus said, high-fiving Patton.

Patton patted the top of their heads before returning to the counter. Since Roman had already finished his chocolate cake, he stole a piece of Remus’s blueberry muffin. It quickly escalated into a competition between the two of them to see who could finish their coffee first. That was the fun part of having siblings. Everything was a competition. 

Roman slammed down his cup, grinning from ear to ear. He basked in his moment of victory as Remus scowled. By that time, the rain had already stopped, which meant that it was probably time for them to go home. The twins waved goodbye to the baristas before walking out the door and heading home. The pavement was wet, and knowing Remus, he was going to run, slip, and end up with an injury. Roman kept a close eye on his brother just in case. Remus had already been in and out of the hospital 4 times in the past two months and frankly, Roman was getting tired of his constant injuries and poor decisions.

Their house wasn’t too far away, so they walked home most of the time. They learned not to trust Remus with a car after the whole driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road incident. No one liked to talk about it. Well, except for Remus, who mentioned it several times to everyone he had ever sat next to in class. 

Once they arrived in front of their house, Roman got momentarily distracted by the sound of soft meows. An adorable little kitten was playing in their garden, and as much as Roman wanted to pick it up, he was highly allergic. 

“Ree, look! It’s a-” Roman paused and looked around, noticing that his brother was no longer beside him. “Oh no.”

He frantically ran to the backyard and spotted Remus already on a tree branch, attempting to get to his room from the tree. He saw his brother and waved at him. 

“Ro, could you open the window from my room?” He yelled, gesturing to the closed window. He momentarily lost his balance, but caught the tree branch above him before he could plummet down to the ground. 

“Absolutely not, you incorrigible buffoon!” Roman yelled back. He sighed, tugging at his hair. On one hand, it would be funny. On the other, they would get in trouble and that won’t be funny at all. 

“Aren’t you even the slightest bit curious? I know you are!” 

So maybe he was a little bit curious. But that didn’t mean it was safe to do. Then again, he wasn’t the most reasonable person either. As long as Remus knows what he’s doing, he should be fine, right? Then again, Remus never knew what he was doing and he turned out okay. 

“Okay, I’m convinced,” Roman said after much thought. Remus cheered and did a victory dance, careful enough to not fall off of the tree. 

Roman ran inside the house, greeting his parents a quick “hello” as he passed by the kitchen. He dashed straight to Remus’s room, opened the window, then gestured for him to get in.

“Wait, get this on video,” Remus said as he tossed his phone through the window. Thankfully, Roman had good reflexes and caught it, otherwise, it might have shattered.

Roman gave him the signal. Remus pounced off of the tree and caught the windowsill. Using his upper body strength, he pushed himself upwards and rolled right into his room. 

“Holy shit,” Remus panted, clearly out of breath. “Give me my phone, I wanna see!”

“I am never letting you do that again,” Roman said as Remus replayed the video.

“Oh you will. I can tell.” Remus said, forwarding the video to multiple group chats. Several people were typing. He watched in amusement as people freaked out over his little stunt. The twins could tell that it would be the talk of the school on Monday. Not that they didn’t like the attention, in fact, they loved receiving attention.

After the excitement and adrenaline died down, Roman lied down on the bed, listening to Remus rant about his plans for the upcoming auditions for the Battle of the Bands. They held the auditions as early as 3 months before the event, which would give enough time for the contestants to practice. 

“So far, there’s me on the bass, Virge on the drums, and you as lead vocalist. You think Jay would wanna be lead guitar?” Remus said as he tuned his electric bass. 

“I don’t know, ask him.” Roman replied. “Hold on a sec, Virgil? As in Patton’s crush?”

“Of fucking course, how many damn Virgils are there at school?” Remus rolled his eyes, chucking a pencil at his brother. 

Roman sat up. He had a brilliant idea. “So, Patton’s coming over. Why don’t you invite Virgil and we do a little bit of matchmaking?”

Remus’s eyes widened. “Fuck, shit, you’re a motherfucking genius!” He scrambled to get his phone and sent a quick text to Virgil. It only took Remus mentioning that Patton would be there for Virgil to agree. Patton usually arrived around 10-ish, so Remus told him to come around 9. It would give them enough time to pull some strings.

Roman returned his attention to his phone, which apparently had dozens of notifications from Twitter. As always, he checked his dms first before the mentions. He was sure that several people had already posted Remus’s stunt and tagged both him and his brother. 

Vi, his internet friend, was at the very top of his dms. It could only mean one thing. Or two things, rather. Boy problems or life problems. Or both at the same time. Ironically, they started out as enemies on the internet. A misunderstanding, of sorts. 

personification of anxiety

@vergeofdeath

vi: yo princey

vi: fuck

vi: i’m spending the night with my crush

vi: holy shit

vi: i just gave him my number like a few hours ago??

princey: 👀

princey: don’t be too loud

vi: BITCH

vi: NOT LIKE THAT

vi: we’re staying over at my friend’s house

princey: that’s funny ‘cause my bro & i are hosting a mini sleepover too

princey: he invited over a friend bc our other friend has a crush on him

vi: dude 

vi: coincidence???

vi: i’ve never spoken to my friend’s bro before but he’s gonna be there ofc

vi: he’s like enemies with my best bud

princey: omg that’s so weird

princey: my twin’s bff is my enemy

princey: but like,, you know that,, i tell you that all the time

vi: woah hold on u have a twin??? u never mentioned a twin??? 

vi: i just assumed ur bro was near ur age??

vi: bitch my friend has a twin

vi: the fucking coincidences,, they’re everywhere

princey: don’t tell me ur a drummer too jhksdgfks

vi: BITCH

vi: I AM A DRUMMER

princey: holy fucking shit

vi: holy fucking shit indeed

“Boys, dinner!” Their mom called out from the kitchen. The twins immediately dashed out of the door, pushing each other as they tried to get to the dining table first. 

Since it was a Saturday, they were having seafood. Dinners were always eventful. Roman and Remus told their parents about the sleepover and Remus jumping off of the tree, which should’ve gotten them in trouble but their mom found it hilarious and let it slide. Their dad talked about his clients that were planning on a halloween-themed wedding, and their mom talked about the new tv show she was in. 

Overall, dinner went well. It was Remus’s turn to wash the dishes, so Roman returned to his room. His room was bigger so they would be using that one for the sleepover. He noticed that his nail polish was starting to chip off, so he brought out his pouch of nail polish from under the bed. There was a lot of clutter there, things such as old textbooks from freshman year, Remus’s broken drumsticks, some guitar picks, and expired makeup. He should get around to cleaning that, though he’s been meaning to do that for months now. 

By the time Remus finished washing dishes, there were several post-it notes stuck to the wall with various reminders such as to clean the space under the bed, buy new shoes, upgrade to a loft bed, buy oil paints, and water the plants. Roman already started on the pillow fort, so Remus lounged on the bed and looked up what good horror movies are on Netflix. 

Another reason why they often used Roman’s room for sleepovers was that he had a tv. It was originally supposed to be in Remus’s room, but he had a habit of breaking everything he could touch. It was a wonder they could trust him with dishes. On the other hand, Remus’s room was good for band practices or jamming out in general. He had instruments all over the place and they had it soundproofed so that the neighbors would stop complaining about the loud drumming at 2 a.m. 

Once Virgil arrived, their plan was set into motion. 

“So, I know we don’t talk at all, but just pretend that we’ve been good friends for a long time. I have a plan.” Roman said as he led the way to his room.

Virgil looked at him skeptically. “You know, Logan’s told me a lot about you.”

“All good things, I hope?” Roman asked. 

“Quite the opposite actually,” Virgil smirked. He notices a few posters put up of Fall Out Boy and Waterparks. “But since you do have a good taste in music, so I’ll let it slide.”

During the short period of time that he left his brother alone in his room, Remus managed to trash his vanity. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

Roman took this opportunity to strike a conversation. “Ree mentioned you play drums?” 

“Yeah, we’re planning on auditioning for the Battle of the Bands.” Virgil said, sending a quick message to one of his internet friends. “Has he asked you to join our band yet?”

Roman’s phone buzzed.

“Well, yeah. He sort of asked? I agreed, of course. Then he was like, ‘Oh good, I was going to poison you if you didn’t’. I’m used to it by now.”

Virgil chuckled. “He tried to poison me once ‘cause I stomped on his foot with my combat boots.”

“That was you? Oh my god, I owe you for that one!” Roman said, laughing at the memory of his brother crying in the school clinic. Turns out, they got along quite well. 

Their conversation was cut short when they heard knocks at the door. It was Patton and he arrived way earlier than expected. Remus pushed Virgil towards the door and mouthed “open it”. The twins high-fived each other and hid inside the pillow fort.  

“Hey Pat-”

As soon as Virgil opened the door, Patton’s face turned pink. He took a deep breath, puffed his cheeks, and closed the door. Virgil was too confused to move and the twins were slightly worried. 

Patton reopened the door and held out a container of cookies. “Hi Virge! I uh, didn’t expect to see you here… haha… what a coincidence?” He said awkwardly. 

Virgil took the cookies, but Remus bolted out of the fort and took it from Virgil’s hands. 

“You fucking gremlin!” Roman yelled, chasing Remus out of the room, who had started devouring cookies. Remus laughed maniacally, shoving past Virgil and Patton in order to get away from his brother. 

“Are they always like this?” Virgil asked, pointing at the twins who were now wrestling in the hallway. 

Patton hummed. “Yeah, most of the time.” 

The twins fought over the cookies for a while until realization hit them. 

Roman paused. He whispered something to Remus, and he stopped as well. The two began cursing and muttering something about “the plan” whilst pointing in Virgil and Patton’s direction. 

Right, the plan.

“Music!” Remus shouted, dragging Virgil and Patton to his room.

“What he meant to say was that we should play something together,” Roman informed the two. They nodded awkwardly. 

“Is Janus coming too?” Patton asked.

Shit. Roman forgot to invite him. 

“Oh um, I don’t know? I’ll have to ask.” Roman said. 

He took out his phone and sent a text that read “COME OVER ASAP”. Janus replied immediately, saying to leave the window open and that he’ll get in the room in a Remus fashion.

Great, he was going to be the fifth wheel tonight. 

[kitsunebaba]

Just a Little Change

Rei stared down at the body at his feet, the butt end of his dagger still raised from the strike. Ryu stared at him in shock, gaze slowly drifting down to focus on Teepo's unconscious form. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed it but his brothers had been so focused on one another and Rei had seen the opening and before he could really think it through, he was moving.

 And now Teepo was out cold on the grass.

"Oh good thinking Rei!" Nina exclaimed, the first one to move. She went straight for the pack on Ryu's back muttering "rope, rope," to herself.

 Everyone else seemed to jump out of their stupors, with Nina breaking the silence: Momo riffling through Teepo's pockets, Garr interjecting the best way to restrain one of the brood. Rei couldn't quite follow the conversation, his ears still ringing from this whole mess of a situation. For years he'd been consumed by nothing but revenge and now to find that not just one, but both of his brothers were...

 Teepo was alive... Teepo was alive!

 A grin was slowly stretching its way across his face and when he looked down at where Ryu was fixing Nina's knots, he saw a smaller but just as bright smile on his face, too.

 Rei wasn't quite stupid enough to think this was going to be easy. Whoever this God was, they'd really done a number on Teepo's outlook. All that nonsense about the brood, his self righteous attitude. Teepo had never been particularly kind, but this just wasn't who he was meant to be.

 Well, whatever he'd thought of this pilgrimage before, it was personal now. No one did something like this to his family and got away with it. No one.

 With Teepo wrapped head to toe in rope, Rei hefted his little brother over his shoulder and on they went. On to meet God.

 ---

 Teepo didn't wake up until after God was dead and they'd escaped to the desert.

 Garr had finally found his peace and they'd lost track of Peco in all the chaos of their escape. Their victory was bittersweet at best but that was just how vengeance tasted, he'd learned. Rei wouldn't kid himself into thinking his own participation was anything but. Ryu was the selfless one in the family.

 There was a gasp to Rei's side, a groan and instantly he was kneeling to turn Teepo over. His brother squinted against the harsh desert sunlight and Rei shifted to shadow his face.

 "That was a dirty trick," Teepo murmured, voice deeper than before but cadence much closer to what Rei remembered. Then Teepo tried to move his arms and froze. Eyes narrowed and flicked intensely to his with so much venom it made Rei's heart jolt.

 "You dare-?" Teepo hissed and his teeth were already extending, his skin turning purple, scaly, face elongating.

 Before Rei could so much as move, Ryu was there, sitting down hard on Teepo's chest. It knocked the wind out of him, the shock enough to stop the transformation. They glared at one another, two obscenely powerful beings vying for dominance.

 Teepo looked away first.

 Huffing, Teepo glared at the sand instead. "So you bested me and removed me from my sanctuary. Does the safety of the world mean nothing to you? Our God Myria has-"

 "We chose freedom," Ryu murmured, interrupting.

 Those words confused Teepo more than anything and he cast his gaze around to the others, as if they had the answers, as if he'd forgotten how to read Ryu and everything he didn't say.

 "He's saying we killed your God," Rei couldn't help but clarify. It was petty and not worth the devastated way Teepo's face fell. His brother's breath caught and, alarmingly, his eyes began to well with tears.

 "Myria is...?" his words were barely sound.

 "Yes, I'm sorry," Nina replied when no one else did.

 Rei couldn't watch the clear grief on Teepo's face but nor could he hide from the sounds, all the more heartbreaking for their restraint. Small sniffles and whispered denial. Each one struck home in Rei's chest until he felt ill. He couldn't regret what he'd done but there was always a price and once again it was Teepo who had to pay it. Yet another way Rei had failed.

 There was no giving up this time, though. Rei had people to fight for again and he wasn't letting them go without one.

 ---

 They almost lost him on their way to the oasis.

 Teepo had refused to eat or drink. Occasionally they could get some water down his throat, with Ryu coaxing or Momo forcing but that hadn't stopped his lips from cracking or his cheeks hollowing out. They couldn't afford to untie him, either. When Teepo wasn't catatonic with grief, he ranted.

 Rei was ashamed to say he left Teepo to Ryu when he got like that. There was something stalwart to Ryu that Rei could never even hope to emulate, so he didn't even try. To Teepo's threats, his fanatical recitation of God's rhetoric, Ryu kept a straight face, silently stoic as he held his brother down and waited it out.

 By the time they reached the oasis, Teepo hadn't woken in at least a day and his breathing had begun to get laboured. They couldn't just leave him with the head man's wife like they had with Nina, either. That first night, they'd all been exhausted. Ryu had taken first watch regardless, making sure no one was hurt in Teepo's lucid moments as he was tended to.

 Eventually, though, even Ryu couldn't keep his eyes open.

 A shout woke them all, then a scream and they all clambered to their feet in alarm. Rei could feel his rabid side start to stir, eager for a fight, but pushed it down. The head woman had scrambled backwards, Ryu trying to hold back a struggling Teepo, free from his bonds.

 Unable to think of anything else, Rei punched Teepo in the face and his brother slumped in Ryu's arms, his form shrinking, changing until he was a tiny, purple dragon. The look of disappointment that Ryu gave him for that made him want to shrivel to the size of a mouse and hide for the rest of eternity.

 They got Teepo back into bed, tied to the posts, and Ryu went to sit back down at his side.

 Rei didn't let him. He finally had to admit to himself that he'd been avoiding this new, heartbreakingly unfamiliar Teepo. Rei had promised himself there was no giving up, yet he'd almost done so to spare himself more hurt. So Rei swept Ryu into his arms and lay him down gently along Teepo's winged side, then took up the chair himself.

 It was one of the longest nights of his life, watching his brothers sleep on that bed, one struggling, again, to hold onto life. When morning came, his eyes itched with tiredness and his muscles screamed from sitting for too long, but Teepo was once again in human form and Ryu smiled at him and that made it all worth it.

 ---

 Teepo started eating again, a few days later. It had taken many, many hours of nagging and begging and pleading (and a few guilt wrenching tears from Ryu) but they'd managed to convince him to continue to live, at the very least. While his brother's ranting had stopped, along with his attempts to escape, he hadn't started speaking normally again, either, or at all.

 Instead, Ryu talked. It was more than Rei thought he'd ever heard him say in his entire life, let alone at one time. He spoke of their journey, their lives, why he'd come to the decision he had. Ryu talked himself hoarse and then some until Rei took up the slack. There was only so much he knew, so much he'd been there for, but he could reminisce on their time together, at least.

 Rei spoke of their lives before Ryu, reminders of the people they'd been, the ways they'd changed after they'd adopted their third family member. That one, near perfect winter and early spring where they'd been accepted, well fed, happy. That one season of bliss before everything had fallen apart.

 And then Rei confessed how he'd gone off the rails in his quest for revenge. How devastated he'd been to lose his brothers to one mistake.

 Teepo listened, at least, even if he never said anything in reply. He listened and Rei hoped he was taking it all in, considering their perspectives instead of clinging to a dead god's dogma.

 ---

 Once they were all well enough to walk, about a week later, they resupplied and made their way north. They didn't need the ropes by this point. Teepo was silent and submissive, following along when asked.

 It was Momo who tried to strike up a conversation this time, as they made their way through the debris of old technology. She asked a stream of questions about Eden and the space station, though the whole thing went over Rei's head. Teepo watched her, wary, but he must have understood because once she was done with her rambling hypothesis he either nodded or shook his head. One time Rei swore he heard a response but it could have been his imagination.

 A few trips by Portal Drive later and they were emerging from the hut hear Mount Levett. Why they'd gone here, he wasn't sure. This whole place left a bad taste in his mouth, memories blurred from spending such long periods transformed but certain moments horrifically vivid.

 "I... um, don't want to go home yet," Nina offered when he asked.

 It was understandable. The prospect of possibly being confined to one place for your whole life... Rei wasn't sure he could do it. Certainly after the trick they'd played on the king and queen, she wouldn't be allowed to leave for a good long while, even if they didn't just lock her in her room.

 There were other reasons she didn't want to go home. Nina still had to work out what she would fight for now. At least Rei didn't have that problem anymore.

 Down the path towards the Yraall Region, they reached the road in good time. Across the bridge and they quickly came to the edge of the farmland that marked the area. A sense of unease passed over Rei the closer they got to the place they used to call home. The girls sensed it, too and the whole party remained subdued as they trekked. It was by far the easiest terrain they'd navigated in months but the tension in the air ruined any relief.

 It was at the junction where the Yraall Road split towards McNeil Village that it happened.

 Nina screamed as Teepo shoved her back and in an explosion of power he transformed. Momo was already aiming her weapon as he spread his wings, taking to the air. Rei jumped forwards to push the bazooka towards the ground and they were both flung backwards as it went off.

 Rei picked himself up with a groan, grumbling a few choice swear words. It took a few moments to get all his senses back in alignment and by the time he had, Ryu had transformed too, staring at him, waiting.

 The dragon tilted his head, indicating his back and Rei didn't have to be told twice. Scrambling to his feet, he didn't even consider what he was about to do until he felt muscles lurch below him and the ground began to lift away. Rei's eyes widened and he wrapped his arms in a vice lock around his brother's neck.

 They shuddered and shook as they climbed altitude and Rei had to wonder how they weren't just dropping out of the sky. At last, though, they evened out. The turbulence stopped. Wind still whipped about his ears, pulling at his clothes and tail, but slowly he pried one eye open to look down at the ground below.

 It was like a patchwork quilt he'd seen some of the women in town making; all greens and browns with the occasional patch of colour. He couldn't see any people, though with the roars he could hear in the distance, it wouldn't be a surprise if they'd all sought shelter.

 With a jolt of surprise Rei found himself able to pick out landmarks. There was the farm near town, the village itself not too far off, McNeil manner. Already they'd travelled what would have taken hours on foot. He watched as it all passed below them, turning into the forests he'd once known like the back of his hand. A glimpse of Bunyan's hut, the mountain close by, then they were descending and Rei had to bury his face in Ryu's neck again or risk being sick.

 When they landed, Ryu shrank back into his human form, collapsing to his knees, breathing rapid. Rei rested a comforting hand on his shoulder for a moment, long enough to know he was okay, then he was moving again.

 Teepo stood at the base of the burned shell of their hut. The smell of ash and smoke had long since been washed away but Rei could still remember them, phantom scents in his nose. He came to a stop three steps behind his brother, staring up at what remained of their home.

 "Sometimes I was half convinced this was just a dream... but then that would mean you had simply abandoned me."

 "What?! I would never-!" Rei cut himself off, nails cutting into his palms with the effort.

 Teepo shook his head, "no. You're petty and self severing like everyone else, but you wouldn't do something like that."

 They were quite for a while, lost in their own memories.

 "You know, Ryu said he looked for you after," Rei gestured vaguely at the burned building. "Me? I just assumed you were dead and went off to get revenge but... He went all the way to Wyndia. Would have gone further, I think, if he hadn't been caught up in all that Brood shyte."

 Teepo frowned. "Wyndia...?" The frown deepened and he crossed his arms. "I... perhaps I reached it? I remember being hungry and stone walls. It wasn't long before Myria saved me, gave me a home, clothes, food, love."

 "If you'll remember, so did I. And I didn't lock you in a damn cage and feed you self hate for ten years," Rei growled.

 "Myria has good reason to think the way she does... did..." Teepo turned his face away, swallowing thickly before he continued. "How many people died for Ryu's cause? Just defeating her you lost two of your number. Can that be justified?"

 Rei snorted, "oh, so when she kills thousands of people, it's for the good of everyone, but when a few people sacrifice their lives willingly, it's not justified? Well don't that just beat all. And here I thought we had numbers on our side."

 "We are dangerous!" Teepo spun, one fist raised threateningly but Ryu was already situating himself between them, a hand on each of their chests to keep them apart. He still looked worn out from carrying someone on his back, using muscles he wasn't used to for so long, but the colour had returned to his cheeks and he wasn't winded any longer.

 "So am I," Rei countered, sounding much calmer than he felt. "Sure I don't hold a candle to you guys but I slaughtered an entire crime syndicate in cold blood. It was easy. Should I be put under lock and key?"

 Teepo scowled, "yes."

 "Okay, so what of God's Guardians then? I know for a fact that Garr alone killed, what was it, Ryu?"

 "Two hundred and ninety nine," Ryu replied softly.

 "Two hundred and ninety nine Brood members during the war. That's way more than a measly crime syndicate, I'd say. And he only did it because he was told to, not because they killed his family or something."

 "That was God's power-"

 "So should God be locked up then? Why is her power okay but yours isn't? What gave her the right to dictate what we can and cannot do? Who lives and who dies? Since when is genocide something the good guys do?!" Rei snarled, breaking away from Ryu's restraining hand to pace, prowling the path.

 Teepo rose to his full height, clearly trying to look regal. "She saved the world."

 "Does it look destroyed to you? Has Ryu gone on some monstrous rampage and killed everyone? Blown up any mountains lately? Because let me tell you, he's had the motives. Half of this crap isn't even what he wanted, he was just dragged along because he was being hunted or someone else wanted to know the truth! He lost us, he lost friends, he lost years of his life and he's never destroyed anything that wasn't asking for it!"

 "And what if I do?!" Teepo screamed. "What if I... I hate everyone. I hate what the world did to us! I hate how petty people are, how self serving, how no one will ever share just because they... No one ever deserved what Myria did for us, not even me!"

 The silence in the clearing could have been cut with a knife.

 "What if I'm the one who destroys the world?"

 "You won't," Ryu said, clear and confident, "because we won't let you." Slowly, like he was touching a wild animal, Ryu lowered his hands to clasp one of Teepo's gently between them. "Just like you won't let me."

 For a long moment it seemed like Teepo would pull away, whole body tense. Then he slumped, head bowed. "Is it that easy? I don't want to be around people. I don't want to go back to a society that would let children, orphans just- just starve. I don't want to-"

 Rei let his hand fall heavily on Teepo's shoulder. "So we live in the woods, away from everyone else. Heck, that's pretty much what we did here before Ryu came along, just without all the stealing. Maybe we try grow our own food or something? We got friends and resources that we didn't have as kids, yeah?"

 Teepo's gaze was unreadable as he looked from Ryu to Rei.  

 "Not here," he said at last, raising his free hand to rest on top of Rei's. "Not here."

 ---

 They met Nina and Momo back in McNeil Village but didn't do more than pass through after joining back up. The frightened rumours of dragons in the sky effected both his brothers negatively and Rei had to suppress the urge to take his rage out on the villagers, too. They'd never wanted help, but they'd been children. Someone should have given it regardless.

 Nina didn't try to pry like Rei had expected. One look from Ryu and she looked more relieved than anything. It was odd, seeing someone else able to read his brother so well but slowly Rei was coming to see Nina as family, too, and well maybe they needed a little sister to balance them out.

 Reluctantly he had to admit that Momo felt like family, too, but that was dysfunctional at best. Not all family could be sunshine and roses, he'd learned. Well, one out of four wasn't so bad.

 Conversation picked up when Rei voiced their intentions some time later. Nina was eager to offer locations and Momo building advice. She'd had to fix her own equipment often enough that she was handy with a hammer or a welding torch. After all, if they built with metal and brick, they couldn't be as easily burned out of the home again.

 The process wasn't as difficult as he thought it might be. The forests surrounding Wyndia were vast, so before they parted ways with Nina and Momo they all ventured into them to find a good spot to build. Officially this would be Nina's vacation cottage, since the forests were technically royal hunting grounds. Hopefully they were deep enough that no one ever noticed they were there in the first place.

 Momo threw herself into the building with as much enthusiasm as she did new machines. Confusingly enough, after the initial distrust, Teepo and Momo ended up getting along well. She was oblivious enough she didn't notice the way he talked down to her and he was knowledgeable enough in machinery that she was endlessly pumping him for details that he was now willing to give.

 Nina, for her part, could only come by extremely occasionally. The king and queen hadn't locked her in her room but she was under strict guard whenever she argued an outing was legitimate. Slowly she was amassing a following of soldiers more loyal to her than her parents, however, and sometimes she could slip away.

 When they were finally done, Momo and Nina had tentative permission to visit on occasion, though Rei could see Teepo only agreed with Nina doing so because Ryu always looked so sad when she left. It probably helped that she was their main source of supplies and Teepo could easily use that as an excuse if anyone ever confronted him on it. He'd always been unwilling to admit how soft he was where his brothers were concerned.

 Rei mused on Nina's situation and how he'd thought he didn't ever want to be confined. Funny, how he didn't feel like he was locked away staying here, even though technically they were. Perhaps it was the self imposed nature of it... though Rei would put more zenny on his brothers having something to do with it.

 They had to be careful with hunting in the area but they had a neat little vegetable garden going by now and a book on pickling to get them through the winter. Nina had even visited bearing some fruit tree saplings yesterday. Rei had left his brothers to plant them while he'd gone to find them some meat to celebrate.

 Coming home, Rei heard them before he could see them.

 "Ryu that's not how you dig a hole. No you have to- No use your- Oh, just give it here!"

 Holding back his mirth, Rei rounded the corner of their house to see Teepo instructing Ryu on the proper technique for digging a hole, complete with demonstration and short, sharp directions.

 Rei caught Ryu's eyes and his youngest brother flushed. Then Rei noticed there were quite a few holes already done, perfectly created, and couldn't quite hide his amused smirk as Ryu once again failed to dig a hole in the most dramatic way possible. Teepo promptly snatched the shovel back again and dug two more holes. They'd have too many at this rate.

 Dropping the rabbits he'd caught by the house, he strode forwards to clap a hand down on top of each of their heads, grinning ear to ear. "I may not be very good at math but even I can see we have eight fruit trees and seven holes." Grabbing the spade himself, he dug the last one quickly, before anything could escalate. It was a little sloppy but deep enough that Teepo only scowled a little at it. He didn't even try to fix it when Rei handed the spade back.

 Ryu moved off to start putting the saplings in the ground and Teepo only looked alarmed for a moment before he realised Ryu was doing this part right, at least.

 Turning back to Rei, he said, "I see you're getting bolder with your kills."

 "Their Royal Pains In The Butts aren't going to notice a few less rabbits in spring, Teepo."

 "Early Spring."

 Rei waved off the concern. "Whatever. I think we got enough tomatoes for a stew, at least. Momo better bring us more spices when she comes next. I got used to fancier food on the road than we ever had as kids. Who knew salt could do so much to a hunk of meat."

 "You're getting careless. If we're-"

 "Relax, Teepo."

 Teepo scowled but they lapsed into silence, watching Ryu move from plant to plant, carefully placing them in the ground. For someone with the power to literally destroy the world if he wanted to, Ryu was the gentlest soul he'd ever met. Even plants were treated tenderly.

 "Do you still think he's dangerous?" Rei asked softly.

 Teepo watched Ryu as he answered with a shake of his head. "I don't think I ever did... not really. The kid that cries at the drop of a hat? With too much empathy for his own good. That's not someone who wants power."

 "But...?"

 Teepo sighed, "but I still don't trust myself. All I've had time to do is think and I know who I am. I don't want to leave, but I don't want to keep him here, either. If he wants to go..."

 "And what if he wants to stay?" Rei murmured.

 Ryu looked up from his work and waved, Rei waved back with Teepo reluctantly doing so too a few seconds later. The grin on their youngest brother's face was heartbreakingly bright.

 "All he ever wanted, was be with his family, and that's us, Teepo. Ain't no way you can change that." He swung an arm around Teepo's shoulder, drawing him in close. "Maybe one day we let him go, yeah? But he's gonna come back. No matter where he goes without us, he'll always wind up back here sooner or later with a new story and some new friends. Probably a few new scars the way trouble finds him."

 "Then maybe we need to go with him to protect him..."

 "If we ever do, I'm sure we can go wherever you want..." Rei replied, giving him a squeeze.

 "...Except Wyndia. We're wanted criminals there."

 "You're what?!" Teepo squawked.

 From where he was planting, Ryu looked up to watch Teepo chase Rei across the clearing and smiled.

[pianoperson]

IkeRev Army Suitors Battling Against Cynthia in Pokemon DP

Let’s face it, Cynthia is the hardest champion ever. Also, I’m using Diamond and Pearl and not including Platinum because apparently she was downgraded a bit in the latter game.

Black Army

Ray Blackwell

• “Finally, after months of battling the Elite 4 I can slee–”

• *cue Spiritomb playing around with his team of 6 Glameows in less than 5 minutes*

• Because Ray decided to be a dumbass and go through the entire game with just 6 Glameows (he didn’t evolve them because he found Purugly PurUGLY), he’s struggling.

• The entire Black Army has taken extreme measures to convince Ray to change his team. Ray refuses to end the game without his 6 Glameows.

• After months of battling Cynthia, he finally gets to Garchomp (his whole team being at lvl 100 by this time).

• He actually won with 6 lvl 100 Glameows, much to everyone’s shock.

Sirius Oswald

• Sirius has definitely heard of the difficulty Cynthia poses thanks to Fenrir and Seth.

• That’s why he prepared at least 6 different strategies. 

• So Cynthia wasn’t a problem for him. 

Luka Clemence

• Poor boi didn’t expect Cynthia to be this hard (he should have, though, if Fenrir and Seth would complain about her).

• After his first loss, he grinded his team in Victory Road to lvl 100. 

• Garchomp was no match for him after that.

Seth Hyde

• WHY IS SHE SO HARD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

• Seriously though, Seth would be screaming as he battles her.

• “NOOOOOOOOOO NOT BEBE!!!”

• “Bebe??? What kind of nickname is that?”

• “DON’T YOU DARE INSULT MY STARAPTOR’S NICKNAME I PUT IN EFFORT FOR HER NICKNAME!”

• It takes about 11 or so tries until he finally beats her. Granted, his in-game wallet has now been emptied out, thanks to all those healing items, but it was worth it.

Fenrir Godspeed

• Would also be loud, but not to the point of screaming like Seth

• Would be the first one to start rants about how hard Cynthia is

• Funny thing is, he only lost to her twice

• The third time, he won against her... thanks to his level 54 Luxray that he kept spamming Max Potions for and ran out of PP and thus resorted to using Struggle against Garchomp, defeating it.

Red Army

Lancelot Kingsley

• Poor boy was overwhelmed when he battled Cynthia

• Like really overwhelmed, although he would hide it

• After numerous failed tries, he went to Sirius’ flower shop to ask Sirius for some strategies he used.

Jonah Clemence

• “My team is the best! Nobody can defeat them!”

• Cue his butt getting whooped for the next 10 minutes

• He was just sitting there, shock displayed on his face.

• He will never admit that, though, or the amount of times he had to defeat the Elite 4 again (about 5, which isn’t bad compared to some, but it is still a lot).

• The day he finally defeated her, though, he was skipping and humming around the Red Army HQ all day. Everyone knew immediately what was up when they saw him skipping around (Jonah was rather loud when he was getting beaten repeatedly)

Edgar Bright

• You kidding me? He’s probably anticipated this even at the start of the game and thought of multiple strategies.

• One try was all it took to beat the Elite 4 and Cynthia, no healing items needed.

Kyle Ash

• Lazy boi should have at least tried to grind in Victory Road

• Now look at him getting his butt whooped even worse than Jonah

• He’s definitely put the game down at one point after. Did he come back to it? Not sure.

Zero

• Worked hard to get his Pokemon to lvl 100

• Cynthia didn’t pose much trouble for him because of those grinding skills.

[crazyrandomfucker]

Adrien Augreste: Partners

As Chat Noir, Adrien had a lot of advantatges. He had enhanced senses, more strength, speed and agility, three great teammates, someone he loved and most importantly, a partner in crime. Of course, he didn't mean Plagg, he only enjoyed causing mischief. No, Lordbug was his partner in crime. Just like Chat was in love with Ladybug, Lordbug was in love with Kitty Noire, making the boys bond in the hard path of earning someone elses love. They were the partners in crime of love and they were commited to help the other. Thought it mostly was Lordbug giving Chat tips and useful advices to woo Ladybug, Lordbug himself didn't have quite the courage to even make a move on Kitty, always ranting that he didn't want to ruin the partnership and friendship they had.

As Adrien, thought, he had no chance to interact with Ladybug, much less flirt with her, as he was a public figure. He also didn't have someone to confide his love dilema, as noone was aware of his major crush on the bug heroine. No, that as a lie. Marin knew about his crush, but after their great sort of enemisty they had had in the past, it would be rather awkard to ask Marin about love. On the other hand, Marin was in love with Kitty Noire and had a minor crush on Adrienne, not knowing they were the same girl. He stood obviously no chance to interact with Kitty and he wouldn't confess his crush to Adrienne. No, thought Adrien, Marin did have a chance with Kitty, unlike him, since the cat-themed heroes sometimes went to Marin's roof or Marinette's balcony.

At the end, Adrien was conflicted. He had promised Lordbug to help him, but couldn't do it when the bug didn't made any effort. Marin maybe could make a move, and now that he knew how Marin truly was, he couldn't help but to think about how happy would Adrienne be if she started to date him. Well, Adrienne loved Marin for sure, maybe that would be the best option. He sighed and thought to apologize Lordbug the next time they had patrol together. A beep come out from his phone and he saw that, while he was lost in his thought, Mari had beaten him again in UMS. Welp, that was, what? The seventh time? The ninth? He had lost count. Marinette was the best videogame player he knew after all. But instead of sending another battle request, Mari texted him telling that the girls were now awake and that they would go to have breakfast. He replied that it was ok, that he'd probably go too in a couple of minutes.

As he sent the reply, Alen fell out of his improvised bed, letting out a very loud complain that woke Marin and Nino. Adrien laughed out loud and Alen throw him a pillow, thus beginning a pillow fight in the boys room. This time, Adrien teamed with Marin and they defeated the other two rapidly with an extraordinary cordination.

"What the hell happened last night? Since when you two get along so well?" complained Alen, defeated in the floor. "No, the real question is how can you two be soe well damn coordinated?" asked Nino incredulous. Marin and Adrien shrugged. "Well, I think it must be that now that we're not fighting against eachother, we can understand the other better" suggested Adrien. "it just felt natural" shrugged Marin. "Okay, who are you and what have you done to my buddies?" asked Alen jokingly.

The boys laughed and went to have breakfast, meeting with the girls in the kitchen. After having breakfast, they went to walk a bit around the city. The bodyguards were always following them, but from a certain distance to respect their privacy, which all the teens apreciated. In order to express their gratitude, the models made sure to stop by the shop with action figurines the bodyguards enjoyed so much.

They wandered around Paris before deciding to go te the shopping mall, not only to go shopping but also because it was almost lunch time. Adrienne suggested a japanese restaurant and everyone decided to go with that, so they ended up going to a japanese restaurant. As they were eating, Alya suggested to go to an arcade. The model twins commented excited how much they'd love it as they had never been to one and everyone suddenly agreed unanimously. When they finished their meal, they headed to Arca-World, the biggest arcade in Paris.

The models gawked as they stepped in what seemed to be the greates arcade in the world. The arcade had from Whack-a-mole machines and claw machines, to the latest arcade game. Everyone split up and went for their favourites, except for the models, who first just wandered around and thendecided to try some with the others. They first tried the air soccer with the Lahiffe siblings. the boys were close to the victory, but in the end, Nina managed to make a spectacular comeback and beat them. Then they switched to a shooter game against Alya and Alen, who were actually pretty great at it, but stood no chance against the models, who had spent their life playing spies. Finally, they saw the designers at the Road Fighters battling the other and decided to join. They battled six time to have everyone battle everyone. Mari simply beat all of them mercilessly, winning all her rounds with ease. Marin and Adrien tied, but both defeated Adrienne, who was down for loosing all the matches.

To make her feel better, Adrien and Marin took her to the claw machines and asked her to choose what did she wanted. Moved by that, she quickly searched for the cutest plushie she could see, choosing a little purple bunny. Adrien tried to catch it twice but failed and let Marin try for a round. Before the boy could even put a coin in the machine, a happy squeal sounded behind them, making everybody turn to see Mari hugging a giant black cat plushie from the giant claw machine and Alen and Alya with their jaw at ground level-

"This girl is insane, she got it at her first try" said Alya. "Is there even something here you're bad at it?" asked Alen astonished. "She what?" asked Adrien and Nino surprised. "Yeah, Mari and I are pretty good at games and arcade machines, including the claw. Mari's just better at some of them" said Marin, putting a coin on the machine and getting Adrienne's bunny, who also squealed and hugged tightly her new plushie. "Why the black cat thought? There are other more cute" asked Nina. "I just thought that it was so adorable that I couldn't help to get it" said Mari with a big smile on her face as she hugged the cat. "You look so adorable hugging that gigantic cat. It's almost bigger than you" teased Adrienne. "Well you look more cute hugging yours. I wonder why~" teased back Marinette. "It's decided, I'm kidnapping Marin to teach me his ways in this machines" says Alen.

And so the boys left to interrogate Marin while the girls went on full teasing mode, teasing Mari and Adrienne. Not much later they met again to go shopping, but Adrien separated Marin with the excuse that he wanted Marin to show him a certain shop. When they were alone Adrien put his hands on Marin shoulders and looked at his eyes very serious. The designer, taller than Adrien, looked confused to the model, wondering what could all possibly be about.

"Okay... What happens?" said Marin. "You have a crush on my sister right?" asked Adrien completely serious. Marin blushed a bit and rubbed his neck. "Well, I can't deny it". "And why don't you confess to her?" asked Adrien. "First and foremost, that wouldn't be fair to her since I also have feelings for Kitty Noire. Secondly, she's technically my boss and that would be rather unprofessional of me. Thirdly, I don't think I could ever gather the courage to do it". 'Damn' thought Adrien. 'He's just as insecure as Lordbug. If only he knew Kitty is Adrienne and that she likes him back...' And a plan come to his mind. "Okay, but why don't try it regardless? You're an awesome man, with a great passion and completely responsible. Noone would see you as unprofessional or anything. You just need a little push to see that you can actually do it. And as for Kitty... I think she'd be happy to know you're with Adrienne, I'm certain" "Aren't you being pushy today? I know we've make a truce and all that, but are you trying to be my wingman just now? Do you know how does she feels about me?" "Whaaaat? Ho-how coul I possibly kn-now?" said Adrien nervously. "Man, you suck lying. I already know she has a crush on me" said Marin. "You do?" asked the model confused. "Well, I'm not as dense or oblivious as someone I know, it was kind of obvious and Nina made no effort in hiding she was trying to hook us up" explained Marin. "Then why haven't you confesed yet?" asked Adrien not believing what he had just heard. "I told you I can't get myslef to do it" "Marin, just confess. I'm going to get you two separated and you better tell her your feelings or I'm going to kick your butt" said Adrien and left, leaving the designer mind blown and alone.

Adrien started to plan everything to make sure to ctreate a perfect chance for her sister and Marin to confess their feelings. Just for that day, he was determined to be cupid, to be Marin's partner in crime and to be the best brother of all times.

[soulerflaire]

So I beat the story of Pokemon Shield yesterday, and now I’ve had time to think about everything. Spoilers below the cut. Also super long post.

First I wanna focus on gameplay.

Overall, fantastic Pokemon game. I liked a lot of the new Pokemon, I felt there was a really good variety of Pokemon available throughout, graphics were good, the gym missions were (mostly) clever and (mostly) fun.

I heard people had complaints about the starters, but I like them. I picked Scorbunny and was terrified he’d end up Fire/Fighting, but Cinderace (and all the starters) remained single-type. I think their designs are cool! I love Rillaboom’s drum and Cinderace’s soccer fireball attack. I like Inteleon the least of the three, but I still think his design is neat. It is basically finger guns: the Pokemon, which is funny, but not particularly interesting to me. I’m glad I picked Scorbunny.

I liked the set up of the Gym Challenge, though the pacing was a bit weird. Not sure if that was me or the game, but I felt like there was very little story between each gym. That led to me doing several gyms in rapid succession, then spending 3 hours in the Wild Area doing nothing, then tackling another set of gyms. But the gym challenges were fun! Except the fire one. I hated that. And the battles themselves felt awesome! The crowd cheering (especially in the final part of the music, oh my god that was so good), the huge Pokemon, the dialogue, it all made for a match that felt like it mattered. Even if I one-shot all their Pokemon, the match still felt meaningful. It wasn’t just stomp and move on.

I think the Wild Area was a cool experiment, but either make the whole game like that, or don’t have it. It feels like the Safari Zone; an area disconnected from the rest of the game, with the express purpose of catching Pokemon and nothing else. Except it’s so huge and seems to have every single Pokemon in the game, so long as the weather is right, that I feel like there was no point in catching Pokemon anywhere else. Why bother even touching the tall grass when I’m travelling through the regular world, when I can just catch whatever would be in there in the Wild Area later? And frankly, I never really got punished for that mentality. I can just catch them all in the Wild Area later. The only hurdle is they all turn level 60 after you become champion, which I have very mixed feelings about. I would like to hear their explanation for doing that, tbh.

Max Raid battles feel really cool, but god damn, Nintendo, you have got to get a better connection system. Half the time, I can’t find any raids to join because there are no shout cards popping up and the button to get new cards isn’t there for some reason. Even when I can see the cards, most of the time I fail to join, either because the raid already started or the person cancelled the raid. There’s only a 3-minute window to join, and with the infrequent appearance of cards (with no timestamps) I have no idea if any of the cards I see are even from the past 10 minutes, let alone past 3. And the NPCs are randomly selected and use their moves randomly, so once you get to the 5+ star raids, you cannot use them at all. One of them is a friggin’ Magikarp that uses Hydro Pump for no damage and misses half the time anyway. Why!? That was funny exactly zero times!

The music, however, I have zero complaints about. Fantastic soundtrack! I love the gym battle music, and the Team Yell fight music, and the Wild Area bagpipes, and the legendaries fight music, and just pretty much all of it. If they release the soundtrack, I’m buying it immediately.

Graphics were good. I wasn’t blown away by them, but it’s a pretty game.

One thing I noticed is how rushed things started to feel towards the end. Initially, the world feels enormous. Routes are long and winding, and it really feels like exploring things. But the further into the game you go, the shorter the routes get. And there’s no Victory Road at all. Just an extremely short route called White Hill, with, like, 6 trainers and a couple grass patches. You take a train to the White Hill Station, and if you look at the map, you see you ended up skipping an entire mountain and a stretch of land twice the length of the actual route. Kinda feels like they planned to do something with all that space, but cut it later on. The forest that they did the 24-hour stream of, Glimwood Tangle? It’s tiny. Like a third the size of Viridan Forest. It’s gorgeous, sure, but I spent more time exploring the first town than I did in that place. The final town certainly looks enormous, but then it turns out you can’t access half of it, and a huge chunk in the middle of the part you can access is taken up by the rail station. Which has nothing important inside it. Just a generic mart and some NPCs to talk to. There was honestly a lot of stuff the seemed like it was gonna be something later, and ended up being nothing. If it’s all content that got cut to release the game sooner, that’s extremely disappointing. Frankly, I wonder if they bit off more than they could chew, turning Pokemon into a console game. They clearly were trying to make it worth being on console, but ended up running out of time.

Now for the story. This is probably the first Pokemon game I feel this way about, but honestly: I loved the characters, but found the story to be pretty lackluster.

Hop has a wonderful character arc, where he’s boastful and energetic, but slowly loses confidence as he keeps losing Pokemon battles, and falls into a depression after a particularly hard defeat. He seems to pull out of it after encouragement from friends, but then he spirals into it again when you beat him in the finals. He spends most of the endgame putting himself down and saying he can’t do anything to help, but as you travel together stopping the Dynamaxed Pokemon, he perks up again (thanks in part of Piers being a really good Dad despite having no kids), and all this culminates in him saying he’s realized being champion isn’t really for him; instead, he’s gonna become a Pokemon professor and travel around helping people and Pokemon wherever he can. It’s really sweet, and I like that we see a rival who actually does get upset that they keep losing to you all the time, without turning them into a villain. Hop is never not your friend during all this; he’s just sad and needs so many hugs.

Marnie was a lot more fun of a character than I was expecting. From the official art, I thought she was gonna be the super reserved, stoic character who gets angrier and angrier as she loses to you over and over. But she’s actually outgoing and fun, and loves battling the player even if she loses. And her brother Piers is just as good at subverting expectations. He’s all dressed up as a super punk rocker who’ll be a terrible influence on everyone, but he’s definitely the Tired Adult of the group when you’re travelling around trying to fix things, and he’s a good Dad friend. Team Yell is much less creepy now that I have context. Piers is a gym leader, and Team Yell is the gym staff that he asked to go help cheer Marnie on during her gym challenge. They’re overzealous, but they’re just trying to help her. Some of them even start cheering for you instead, once Piers acknowledges your skill.

Bede can go fuck himself. I know they tried to give him some kind of backstory or whatever, and some vague punishment/redemption with Opal making him the new Fairy Gym leader, but dude’s a dick, through and through.

I could go on and on about the characters, but this post is already getting too long, so I’ll talk about the story itself now. Through most of the game, you get hints that something bad is happening or going to happen, or something is going wrong, but every time one of those hints pops up, the adult say “Let us handle this, you focus on your gym challenge.” And that kind of bothered me at the time, because it’s like if you get the guard station outside Saffron City and start to argue with the guard, then Lance shows up and says “Hey, why not skip down to Vermillion City? I’ll take care of this.” And that’s the end of it. Next time you try to pass through, it’s open and there’s nothing wrong. You know something is going on, but no one will let you near it, so you just keep going on your gym challenge.

Later you find Leon (the champion) in an argument with Chairman Rose (owner of every corporation in the region) about an energy crisis. Rose says we need to start dealing with it now, Leon says it won’t happen for a thousand years, why do we need to bother right now. Then of course the Chairman triggers the Darkest Day right before your championship match with Leon, ranting about the energy crisis and whatnot, then you have to go stop the super powerful legendary Pokemon he released for Real Reasons That Definitely Make Logical Sense And Don’t Need Explained No Sir. At first, I thought this with a super shitty take on the energy crisis, that we’ll run out of fossil fuels and not have renewable energy ready. But if that’s the case, it’s extremely clumsy, because 1) no owner of a corporation gives two shits about anything a thousand years from now and 2) they had the guy warning everyone about the future crisis also be the guy who almost destroys the whole country. I chalked it up to being rushed and tried not to think about it too hard.

But now I’m thinking differently. There’s something Leon says, after the whole Darkest Day thing is averted: he’s gonna start thinking about the future now, and start working on ways to make the future better (or something to that effect). I think maybe the “moral” of the story is that we shouldn’t just let problems be until they come to a head, and we shouldn’t rely on others to take care of the problems. We relied on the adults to handle things in a reasonable manner, and it nearly led to the apocalypse. So maybe that’s the point? Don’t rely on others to take care of things; if you see a problem, try and fix it. And likely specifically talking about climate change and the destruction of the environment. Galarian Corsola is a bleached, dead coral for a reason.

If that’s the case, then A+ for message, D- for execution. But it’s Pokemon, I know they can’t get too serious about things. But it mostly led to a story I didn’t really enjoy, full of characters that I loved. While I would prefer to finally have the remake of Gen 4, I wouldn’t be sad to see a Sword and Shield 2.

[kcwcommentary]

VLD2x11 – “Stayin’ Alive”

2x11 – “Stayin’ Alive”

Allura’s playing a Hunk-suggested “Earth road-trip game” to pass time. This isn’t just Allura playing charades with the mice, it’s a small moment that reveals an exchange between Hunk and Allura, even if that exchange happened offscreen. Little moments like this help establish and affirm that these are people who are living with one another. Allura is taking the Castle Ship and travelling to the Balmera, and it’s taking her some time to get there. Given that the other parts of this mission included her creating a wormhole for the Paladins to go where they were going, I don’t understand why she hasn’t used a wormhole for herself.

We finally get information on where Coran went for his part of the greater mission: Olkari. There, he and the Olkari engineers have been working on the teludav necessary for the plan. He says they’ve been working on it “day and night,” which suggests a timeframe for what all has been going on. Allura has heard from Shiro, Lance, and Pidge, who’ve located Slav, so that puts this scene sometime before the last chronologically. She also says she hasn’t heard anything from Keith and Hunk. If Coran has been on Olkarion long enough for them to have been working “day and night,” then he has to have been there at least several days. Realistically, it would take a substantial amount of time for a major construction project. This all makes me feel like I don’t know what the timeframe of everything everyone’s doing though. This makes it seem like they are taking some time for everything to come together, but “The Belly of the Weblum,” and to a lesser extent “Escape from Beta Traz,” made me think they were working in a much faster timeframe than they apparently are. It’s not a huge issue, but it makes me feel a bit off.

Allura becomes pensive, saying she’s been thinking about her father and his sacrifice and how Team Voltron is closer than they’ve ever been to stopping Zarkon. She also expresses some apprehension about potential failure. She really does have to deal with a lot of stress and pressure from the responsibility she feels. Coran reassures her, citing their progress. Allura reaffirms his statement, saying that their success will come because they have allies (currently the Balmerans and the Olkari). This is the first instance in which I feel the show demonstrates the value of the coalition. It’s just Team Voltron, the Balmerans, and the Olkari, but they together feel more significant than later in the series when supposedly a lot more join the coalition.

I love the music during the Castle Ship’s decent and landing on the Balmera. This series has significant flaws, but the music is excellent. Allura informs the Balmerans – including Shay! it’s great to see her again – that she needs a crystal that’s even bigger than the one they needed for the Castle Ship last time. The music turns ominous as the camera shifts to the Robeast that the Balmera had trapped in crystal back in 1x10 “Rebirth.” There has been a substantial amount of screentime since the show last dealt with that Robeast, but it was unresolved. I’m of two minds about it. One, I like that the show hasn’t forgotten about it and is going to resolve that thread; however, I also kind of feel that dealing with this Robeast again is a bit of a retread of a past plot.

Two Druids report to Haggar that they found Thace’s chip that he’s been using to hack systems. She instructs them to put the chip back and wait to see who comes to get it. I’ve thought the show has been sort of spinning its wheels with this part of the plot, but this scene adds some movement to it finally. I’m kind of tiring of Haggar’s creepy space witch vibe though, or at least I’m feeling tired of it right now in this specific moment of my rewatch of the show.

The Balmerans take Allura to a huge crystal. She touches it and the hand-glowing thing happens, the Balmerans kneel and do the hand-glowing thing on the ground. The crystal begins to rise. The cavern rumbles, Shay wonders if it’s because of how big the crystal is, but the old Balmeran woman says it’s “something different” and says they should let Allura finish the ceremony. Then cut to back at the Castle Ship, where the crystal’s been loaded. Clearly some time has passed since the ceremony in the cavern. Everyone’s still calm. The way the old woman spoke though, it seemed she sensed something being a problem, and Shay seemed to register the old woman’s comment that way in the moment, but there’s no sense that they’ve followed up on that disturbance. This feels narratively dissonant. Did they forget to say anything after Allura was done? Wouldn’t the Balmerans, in sensing something off, have assigned someone to investigate further?

Everyone’s standing around for an unbothered goodbye when there’s a quake, everyone seems shocked (so no one followed up on what Shay and the old woman sensed before), and they watch as the Robeast breaks out of the crystal it’s been encased in. Allura sends the Balmerans to take shelter and plans to face the Robeast with the Castle Ship. The Robeast, once freed from the crystal, levitates and turns purple two big chunks of the crystal. It also has several large crystal shards embeded in its body. Allura directs the Castle’s weapons to shoot the Robeast, but its crystals shield it and it returns fire. Allura pilots the Castle to take off in hopes of luring the Robeast from the Balmera, and it follows her.

The music during this sequence is again excellent! The distance shot of the Castle Ship launching from the surface of the Balmera and the Robeast in pursuit is beautifully animated, having a wide sense of planetary-level scale.

Cut to Keith and Hunk leaving the Weblum, with a repeat of Keith’s frustrated yell from the end of 2x09 “The Belly of the Weblum” that he “didn’t just turn Galra.” Keith suspects that Hunk’s glaring at him is because he’s trying to tell if Keith’s skin is purple. Allura’s communication comes in with her telling them to return immediately. Shiro, Lance, and Pidge are on their return trip from their mission. Slav freaks over the idea that they’re going to travel via teludav, and Shiro’s frustration with Slav results in him giving a bit of a rant. Yet still, even though he’s fussing with Slav, he’s still not condemning Slav for having OCD, and instead tells him to just do whatever he needs to, whether it be counting hair follicles or fluffing a pillow. Slav, it turns out, wasn’t freaking out because of his OCD but because he likes the idea of travelling via teludav. Allura contacts them and calls them home.

Once returned, Lance sees that the Robeast is actually operating without a head. This makes the Robeast now relying upon the show’s not defining how much of anything works; without a head, the purple crystals have to be what’s directing it, but why are they purple/villainous? The Robeast sends a blast toward the Blue and Yellow Lions, which dodge out of the way. The blasts hits two moons above the Balmera. Since when does this Balmera have moons? I’m not saying that it couldn’t; in fact, it very much could. It’s large enough to generate enough gravity that it could very much pick up two moons in tow. I just don’t remember ever seeing them until now. The blast destroys both moons. The shot of the explosion and the next shot of the Castle and the two Lions silhouetted by the explosions are beautifully animated. Shiro says they have to have Voltron to deal with this, so Hunk has to cover them all while Blue drops Shiro and Pidge off on the Castle Ship to get their Lions. I feel for Hunk in his expression of being overwhelmed.

Back on Zarkon’s ship, Thace captured when he retrieves the chip.

A blast from the Robeast knocks out the Castle’s shields. Hunk maneuvers Yellow to ram into the Robeast. The distance shot of the two after he hits it, like the earlier distance shot, gives a great sense of scale. The Robeast starts chasing Yellow. The Paladins head to rejoin Hunk, and Shiro asks Slav to help Allura (though nothing really comes of Slav doing so). Lance provides cover in Blue for Hunk to take Keith to get Red. The shuffling that has to occur to get all the Paladins their respective Lions could have felt cumbersome, but the show actually pulls it off nicely without the sequence creating a pacing problem.

The Robeast blasts Yellow, which loses power and falls toward the Balmera. Lance and Pidge move to engage the Robeast while Shiro takes Black to get Yellow. Shiro has to abandon taking Yellow back to the Castle so that he can engage the Robeast. Keith leaves Yellow and jetpacks to the Castle. A stray blast from the Robeast nearly hits Keith and sends him careening away. The Red Lion senses Keith in trouble. Yellow regains power only to be grabbed by the Robeast. Everyone else blasts the Robeast, including Keith in Red.

I love that Red’s sensing Keith in trouble comes into play again here. The bond between him and Red is given a lot of significance through this. It also infuriates me that the show then eventually puts Keith in Black and Lance in Red without dealing with the fact that the show has spent so much time showing us the bond between Keith and Red.

The distance shot of the Lions circling around the Robeast, blasting it in unison is excellent. Keith says they don’t have the time needed to form Voltron. With the way the show usually handwaves that it would take time for the Lions to convert, usually pausing the plot to allow it to happen, it’s interesting that this time it’s an issue. Timing should be an issue, so this episode is doing it right. Pidge hits the purple crystal in the Robeast’s chest with Green’s plant cannon, buying them time to transform into Voltron. I think the plant cannon is inherently silly, but I do like the way it buys relief from the tension of the narrative and its use here has actual weight of a minor victory.

The Robeast finally shrugs off the plant, only for Voltron to stab it with Voltron’s sword, doing enough damage that the Robeast explodes.

The team is ready to meet up with Coran. Allura thanks Hunk for getting the scultrite, and Hunk responds that Keith was part of that mission too. Allura glares at him and walks away. The way she’s treating Keith is not okay!

They arrive at Olkarion, where the teludav is nearly complete. Coran privately talks to Allura about their plan, the risks, and how she might not survive how much energy is necessary for her to operate the teludav. He says her father “would be proud of the leader [she’s] become.” There’s a setting/rising sun shot, with the light over the five Paladins. Pidge asks what everyone’s thinking about. Zarkon is a popular answer, but Hunk is thinking of calzones. I actually don’t mind this food joke for him right now. They all reflect back on some of what’s happened over the past two seasons. It gives weight to the coming conflict. Shiro, however, is notably quiet during the whole conversation, only to point out that once Zarkon’s defeated, the universe won’t need Voltron. I can’t say I agree with that statement. They might won’t be facing an immediate threat, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be anything for Voltron to do in the universe. Defeat Zarkon/the Galra and Voltron’s finished is a very narrow perspective.

After Shiro speaks, heightening the tension, they all stand quiet, the music builds into a dramatic group shot. It would have made an excellent end to the episode. That energy however is ruined by having another scene afterward of Haggar threatening Thace.

This episode was very action heavy, and yet, unlike with episodes later in the series that are action heavy, it doesn’t feel unwieldly here. It’s easy to track what’s happening at each stage of the action. As I said several times throughout this, there are some beautifully animated shots in this episode. This episode concludes the sequence of the past several episodes in setting up for the end of the season. It’s like a period at the end of a sentence, with the next sentence getting ready to start.

[meliecho]

The 1K - an original sci-fi story

The 1K

by Meliecho

Story Summary:

1,000 children between the ages of 6-18 are abducted from Earth mere hours before the turn of the 21st century, and scattered across the galaxy in order to preserve their lives, their planet, and a precious hope the galaxy so severely needs. William Kade and Terra Kitridge are two of these children. This is their story, and the story of how they are used to further a last-ditch plan of desperation to end a 2,000 year war between the two major galactic powers.

Chapter 1

chapter summary: 

William Kade always dreamed of traveling to space. However, his and 999 other kids's lives are changed dramatically when an unknown alien race kidnaps them hours before the turn of the 21st century.

Chapter 1

December 18th, 1999. Ohio. Earth…

The chunky television in the living room played a news report through the old farmhouse.

“What’s out there? No one really knows. Man has speculated for centuries, mapped our star system, named the planets, and created gods in order to explain the vastness surrounding our blue world.”

Will watched from the round dinner table through the archway between the rooms. He shoveled a spoonful of Mac and Cheese into his mouth, barely registering the fact that it was food and not just a simple motion. The ten-year-old’s attention rested solely on the screen. His big brown eyes took in every frame.

“We look up at the stars, we listen to Carl Sagan’s speak of the cosmos, and study Stephen Hawking’s discoveries. We dream about what we might encounter among the billions of stars burning in the heavens, and we send satellites into orbit and beyond to be our eyes and ears into the unknown. The Hubble telescope has already shown us incredible images we would never have otherwise witnessed. Why? Because we are earthbound. But although we are young, we are curious and brave. In the words of Carl Sagan, ‘We wish to pursue the truth no matter where it leads. But to find the truth, we need imagination and skepticism both. We will not be afraid to speculate, but we will be careful to distinguish speculation from fact.’

“That is what drives the path-finding team of scientists and engineers at NASA. With the invention of the new Solar Nexus - a net of satellites in high orbit maintained by the International Space Station--, we can harness energy from our sun to power the world’s first inter-system ship. This ship will be capable of transporting not only goods and machinery to our closest neighbor, Mars, but transporting people, and someday, be the vessel that leads us into a new age of a lunar colony and life among the stars.

“The prototype --the Nova Star-- will be open to the public at Cape Canaveral for only one day. Scientists, astronomers, and space enthusiasts from all over the world will gather to get an up-close-and-personal look...at the future of mankind.

“Join us on New Years Eve for a live broadcast as we take you on a tour of Earth’s first inter-system vessel, and usher in the new millennium--”

The picture winked out.

“Dad,” Will whined, “I was watching that.”

“It’s daydreams and nonsense,” his father flicked the paper, folded it, and rested it by his own plate.

“It’s cool! We can have a space ship! We can explore the galaxy and be like Indiana Jones, but in space!”

“Indiana Jones fought Nazis. Not aliens,” his father countered.

“We don’t know that. Those face-melting angels were probably aliens. They went after the Nazis all like, ‘Rawr!’ And they were all like, ‘wuuaaah! Blaarrrgg!’” Will dragged his fingers down his face, making guttural sounds and pretending to melt into a puddle of goo.

“No face melting at the table,” his mother chided gently. “It’s hard to get out of the carpet.”

Will stopped the dramatics of a grim death-by-ancient-relic, and went back to eating. “Can we watch it on New Years Eve?”

“We always watch Dick Clark. It’s a tradition.”

“Yeah, but,” Will’s voice huffed with the blandness of repetition, “this is cooler than an old man! It’s space! Please, dad?”

“Charlie, let’s watch it,” his mother nudged her husband in the side. “Even if the space ship doesn’t work out, I have to admit it is pretty neat. Like when Kirk landed the Enterprise in the middle of San Francisco.”

Charlie rolled his eyes. He knew his wife was a sci-fi nerd, but he’d hoped she’d at least settle down some after Will was born. Thanks to her, he now knows most of the script to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Wars IV, V, and VI.

“See? Mom gets it,” the young boy gave a cocky smile in victory. “Oh! I forgot. Last night, I picked up that weird signal again over the radio.”

“I listened to it once already. It’s white noise.” Charlie said.

“No it’s not! There’s a weird blippy pattern to it.” Will spoke around a mouthful of macaroni and cheese. “Noise is all ‘kkkrrrrr!’ This was all ‘kkkrr beep boop bleep!’ and something that sounds like a million people talking at once. I read that stars emit radio waves. Maybe this was--”

“Noise.”

“It wasn’t noise!”

“I was a member of the US Signal Corp for 20 years. When I gave you my old CB radio, I wanted you to learn how to navigate the airwaves. Not keep your head in the clouds.” He picked up the paper. “Besides. If it’s that important, the boys at NASA probably already picked it up. If it’s something of serious importance, I’d have gotten a call.”

“You were their best decoder, dad. Can you listen to it again? Please?”

“Leave it alone, Will.”

Will reached over for the remote, but his dad smacked his hand away with the paper. He grumbled, pouted, and said, “Whatever. Not like you’d believe me anyway.”

“Will,” his mother scolded.

Charlie leaned forward. “Repeat yourself, son. I don’t think I heard that,” but by his tone, the muffled slight clearly reached him.

Will glanced up to his dad, but kept his mouth shut.

Charlie reclined back in the chair again. “That’s what I thought. Go to your room.”

Will’s jaw dropped. “But--”

“Now!”

Silenced, Will slammed the spoon against the plate. The chair scratched against the old cube-print linoleum floor as his feet thundered up the stairs. The sound of his bedroom door slamming against its frame echoed downstairs.

Molly sighed. “Every time. Why can’t you two get along?”

“We have to fix the problems here on the ground before we go looking for problems out there,” Charlie’s face softened. “He needs to understand that. If we can’t fix ourselves, we can’t go anywhere.”

“It’s because NASA built the ship, isn’t it,” she uttered softly, knowing full well she was treading on emotional hot coals. “It’s been three years. When are you going to let this go?”

“Hughs is an idiot if he thinks this will work. He doesn’t see the big picture. He never did.” Charlie dropped the paper onto the round kitchen table -- signaling that the conversation was over --, picked up the remote, and moved to the living room recliner to watch a football game.

Molly picked up her son’s half-finished dinner. “Maybe letting him dream is a way to fix ourselves.” She covered his plate in plastic wrap and stuck it in the refrigerator. Her son could down twice this much food in one sitting. He would be hungry later.

* * * *

Will turned on his small t.v., picked up his SNES controller, and dropped cross-legged on the floor surrounded by dirty clothes strewn across the rug. The sounds of Super Mario World covered the silence. Snow drifted lazily to the ground outside the window, so he couldn’t go lay out on a blanket in the backyard like he usually would and get lost staring up at the stars. Well, he could, but he didn’t want to get pneumonia before Christmas.

He abandoned Blue Yoshi at the Star Road bonus level and shut off the game. Curious and a little bored, he turned on the old military radio and worked the dials carefully. He listened through monitor headphones too big for his head for a half hour before finally tossing them onto his desk in frustration. Nothing. Maybe his dad was right. Maybe it was just noise.

----

December 31st, 1999. New Years Eve…

Y2K theories had circulated for years. No one knew where it started, but the concept that the Earth’s fledgling internet, and every digital system on the planet would shut down frightened some enough into preparing for Dooms Day. Most people shrugged it off and went about their lives. Others feared the global shut down would set off every nuclear weapon on the planet, wiping out humanity. But everyone knew that instant ramen manufacturers had never seen a greater profit rise in the entirety of their companies’ existence.

Will didn’t buy into any of that, no matter how much the old people in their small town ranted about the end of days. He was sure the clocks would just turn over, and that would be it. He and his mother had gone to the local market to pick up a few groceries, but found that the apocalypse preppers had bought all the milk, most of the meat, a ton of non perishable goods, and first aid.

Frustrated, she purchased what she could, and made the trip in their SUV to the next town. Fortunately, they fared a little better. They enjoyed lunch at a local Denny’s, and made it home to have an uneventful night

That is, until 11pm rolled around.

Will was over the back of the couch in seconds, and had the t.v. tuned into the news. The reporter had just started going on about the details of the Nova Star. Will was entranced. He was so excited, he’d put on his long sleeved black henley with a small NASA logo to feel like he was part of it. “This is awesome! Hey, dad, aren’t those the guys you worked with?”

“Some of them. There’s some new faces.” Charlie put on his jacket and went to the backyard to chop wood. He’d tried to let his son enjoy this, but he didn’t want to have anything to do with the Nova Star project anymore, not even watching them parade their work to the media.

Molly sat next to her son with a bowl of popcorn. Will didn’t hesitate to take a massive handful and shove it into his mouth as he watched the tour of the Nova Star begin.

With everything that her only child held an interest in --video games, computers, that old radio-- they had their shared love of space, and Indiana Jones.

The media crew had lead their viewers through the cockpit and down to the living quarters of the ship, showing off all of the exciting wonders of the newest space-faring technology when all the lights in the house went out. It plunged the remote homestead into darkness.

The shock of sudden darkness sent fear spearing up Will’s spine. He knocked over the popcorn bowl and curled up around a pillow.

“Molly? Everything all right?” Charlie called in through the back door.

“We’re fine!” Molly called back.

“I’m checking the fuse box. Bring a light!”

“I’ll be right there!” She brushed her hand over Will’s hair. “It’s ok, Will, it’s just a power outage. Probably a tree branch took out a power line. It happens in winter.” She knew that even though he could pick up almost any insect, amphibian, and fearlessly explore the areas around their house, the only thing that would terrify him was complete and absolute darkness.

She felt her way to the kitchen to get a spare flashlight out of the junk drawer and handed it to him. He turned it on.

“Guard the house, Indiana. I’ll be right back.” Molly ruffled his dark hair and got a second flashlight and her coat from the entryway closet. She went out back to help her husband check the fuse box.

Molly held the flashlight as her husband flicked all the switches.

“Well, the fuses check out. There’s just no power,” Charlie threw each switch again for good measure.

“I was right. It was probably a downed tree.” She turned off the light and walked out to the backyard. She folded her arms tightly around her middle for warmth. Without the convection layer of clouds, it made being outside that much colder.

Charlie put his arm around her. “So much for New Years Eve; Dick Clark, spaceships, or otherwise.”

Her eyes rested on the arm of the Milky Way galaxy draping through the center of the clear night sky. “You know, without all the lights, it’s really beautiful.”

Charlie exhaled. “Yeah.”

“What arm are we in again?”

“The Orion-Cygnus arm. We’re not facing the core of the galaxy right now, but we will in summer.”

“Will comes out here, you know. He’ll sit out here and just stare.”

“Mmhmm. You used to do that as a kid, too. He gets his love of space from you.”

“No,” she shook her head. “He gets his love of nerd stuff from me. He gets his sense of adventure from you.”

He chuckled at that. “A hell of a combination.”

“Well, look who he’s combined from,” she smirked.

He chuckled at that.

“Maybe the new century is a good time to start a new resolution. Start off small. Who knows what he can do if we let him.”

“Molly…”

“He’s smart, Charlie. Work with him. Take him to NASA. If you want him to see the world that you think needs fixing, then show him. He might be the one to fix it, but he needs you. As smart as he is, he can’t do it alone.” She brushed her hand down his face, feeling the stubble of facial hair beneath her palm. “None of us can.”

Charlie grumbled. NASA’s headquarters wasn’t a place for kids, but she was right. It was part of the real world, and Will needed to see it. “Fine. I’ll take him after the holidays. But if anybody asks, this was your idea.”

She smiled and leaned in closely. “I’ll take full responsibility.”

He couldn’t help but kiss her and run his fingers through her long black hair. That gentle smile always warmed his heart.

The two stared up at the sky for a moment before she shivered and nudged her husband to head back.

A pulse of red light struck them in the back, and Charlie and Molly fell to the snow.

* * * *

Will scooted off the couch, keeping a vice grip on the flashlight. This was his home -- he’d lived here since birth -- but in the darkness, it felt like he’d entered another realm.

The house creaked around him. He spun, looking for whatever made that sound, then shook his head. “Get a grip, you dumb dork.”

A light static and crackle split the deathly silence. He aimed his flashlight at the stairs and swallowed. That sounded like his radio. He should check it out. Indiana Jones wouldn’t run away.

Will’s feet didn’t move for a good ten seconds.

Stealing his resolve, he went upstairs to his room.

The green light of the radio exuded a dull, eerie glow throughout the room. What scared him more were the sounds coming from the radio itself. Without power, the light shouldn’t be on, let alone the radio receiving a signal. His heart pounding with fear, but his curiosity overpowering it, he turned the knob to clarify the signal. The electronic beeps were still present, but were more like morse code than before. He could pick out different letters, enough to hear ‘246. Kade,’ but any speech in the background remained unfamiliar syllables and plosives.

Kade... That was his last name, but what did 246 mean? Someone out there was using morse code and talking about them for some reason. He had to tell his dad. This was definitely not noise.

Abandoning his fear, Will hurried downstairs, put on his winter coat and boots, and rushed outside into the cold snow. His warm breath clouded in the air. “Dad! You gotta hear this! Dad!” He ran around to the back of the house to the fuse box. “Dad? Mom?” They were gone. No one was there. Will shone his flashlight on the ground. The melted snow beneath the overhang protecting that part of the house showed their footprints walking away.

He peaked around the corner. “Mom?”

His parents lay on their backs with their eyes open.

“Mom! Dad!” Will hurried as fast as his small legs could carry him to the middle of the large yard. He dropped at his father’s side. “Dad! Are you ok?! Mom!”

Neither moved, but light puffs of warm air escaped their mouths. They were alive, just paralyzed. Charlie’s mouth moved slightly. “Run,” he whispered.

“Dad, no!” Will pulled on his father’s hand to try to pull him to his feet.

Charlie’s hand trembled as he fought the bind. Molly twitched beside him, fighting her own battle.

A glaring light lit up the wintery yard, blinding him. Will covered his eyes and stumbled back. He blinked upward as enormous lights shown down on their position.

“Run!” Charlie screamed.

Will instantly took off across the yard. A red pulse hit the snow at his right, forcing him to dodge in an arch. He evaded one more hit to his left, but the third landed its mark. Will’s entire body froze. He struggled to move even a finger, but it had him completely paralyzed.

A rush of warm air blasted the snow into swirls of white clouds around them. Will faced the lights from a craft larger than his house as a long ramp lowered and a single individual descended it quickly. It looked like a man in a dark armored uniform, but his face was covered by a protective mask with orange tinted eyewear.

Will’s heart threatened to explode from his chest as he breathed rapidly in fear.

The man passed a scanner over Will’s wide brown eyes, then spoke. The language mirrored that of the transmission Will had received off and on for the past few weeks.

A sharp pain pricked in the soft space behind his right ear. Will let out a small squeak of surprise. He felt a tingle brush through his mind like someone had taken a feather and gently swiped it all over his brain. The sensation died seconds later.

The man said something to him.

Will couldn’t think straight.

Irritated, the man rolled his eyes, grumbled, and then said it again, more impatiently.

Will’s eyes shifted to stare at his mother and father fighting the paralysis.

The man said something else in frustration then gave up and picked him up.

Will wanted to fight, but his body refused to obey him. He watched his parents helplessly as he was carried up the ramp. The panic built, and he did the only thing his body would allow: he let out a terrified, wordless scream. The ramp closed, shutting his parents and home out of sight.

The ship’s atmospheric thrusters sent more snow clouds billowing through the air as it rose above the trees, pivoted, and disappeared across the sky.

All of this took no more than two minutes.

Molly and Charlie were left alone in the winter stillness of their yard. They could move enough to grip each other’s hands as the bind gradually wore off, but remained in the cold staring at the empty sky.

The power returned ten minutes later.

They continued to lay there even as the news switched over to the countdown.

“...5...4...3...2...1…”

A hot tear streaked down Molly’s face to drip into the snow. “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

* * * *

tbc

* * * *

((I really wish I could translate what the alien said as he carried Will into the ship, but it would break the mood. The alien said, “246 Acquired. Let’s go. It’s colder than tits out here.”))

[crowkingwrites]

War Creatures (Ch.13)

Pairing: Loki X Reader

Summary:  In a crossover of the Nine Realms and Westeros, you find yourself in the dawn of a rebellion. Odin, Lord of Pyke, has made alliances with your family, House Grover of Highgarden. Your father’s army will join Odin’s army to overthrow the King and take the Iron Throne. There is just one cost to this alliance.You must marry the dark, young prince Loki.In a world where Kings do as they wish, where war is an oncoming storm, and peace is nothing but a dream, you are lost but brave. Loki is more powerful than he seems, and love will grow from the flames of war.

Words: 2772

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11108748/chapters/27926397

I woke up being held. I looked down to see Loki’s arms around me again. My face flushed red. Although I couldn’t admit it out loud, he felt warm, comforting, and more like the husband I dreamed of.

I attempted to get out of Loki’s arms without waking him. He shifted and moved until his eyes opened. He sat up in the bed, and it took him a minute to realize what had happened. His eyes opened wider, and he his hands ran through his hair in stress. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“It’s okay,” I told him.

“No, it’s not,” he shook his head. “I didn’t mean to try anything. I’m sorry, Lia.”

“It’s alright, really,” I held my hands up. “I knew you weren’t trying anything.” Loki exhaled a sigh of relief. His face relaxed, and he gave me a half-smile. We both heard a quick knock at the door. We were due for breakfast.

Breakfast at Highgarden was usually taken individually. I never had breakfast with my parents or my sisters unless special guests were around. Breakfast was light, including fresh fruits and tea.

Hornvale was high in the mountains heading north. The people here ate heartier. Loki and I entered the dining hall to see Sif and Thor waiting for us. Food was just being served. There were various sausages and eggs, along with a thick oatmeal which had a cinnamon and apple aroma to it. Thor drank his morning stout, and offered me some when I sat down.

“No, thank you,” I kindly rejected. Loki took Thor’s pint and took a big gulp of the stout. Another pint of the same stout was put in front of Loki, and I watched him gulp it until he was halfway through. He set the pint down and grunted.

“Brother, are you alright?” Thor asked him, eyeing his brother carefully. I assumed Thor would be annoyed with him taking some of his beer, but Thor waited for an explanation instead.

“It’s fine,” Loki quickly muttered. “Any word from father?”

“He has reached the Frost Giants, and he is safe with them,” Thor discussed openly. I looked to Sif to see her observing two birds outside the window. “To be honest, I’m very surprised.”

“I am as well,” Loki shoved a piece of sausage in his mouth. “But I would think after having numerous kidnappings that they would welcome the idea of rebellion.”

“This is true which reminds me,” Thor pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to Loki. Loki studied the note and his eyebrows knitted together. “His boy army is growing. He’s taken more of them from their homes. Early this morning, Lord Brax was notified of the beheadings of the lords who lost.” Sif and Loki turned to Thor, giving him their full attention like I had.

“He beheaded them? The leaders of the families who lost the battles?” Loki said out loud. Thor nodded his head.

“The King wished to punish them for their incompetence,” Thor explained flatly. He started to shake his head slowly. “It’s all nonsense. It’s awful. We should strike King’s Landing as soon as we can. We’ll have the numbers soon if father succeeds.” Loki reached for Thor’s shoulder and squeezed it.

“Easy now,” Loki calmed him. “Nothing good came from you being bloodthirsty. We have to plan this out carefully, Thor.”

“No, we don’t,” Thor smiled. “I was ill-prepared at Casterly Rock. I almost had nothing, and I still won!” A few men heard Thor’s words and raised their pints towards the blonde warrior.

“Thor—

“It’s true! Who are we, brother?” Thor stood up and shouted. “We are of the Iron Islands! We are here to take the Iron Throne! This is why we have armies! This is why father put us in charge of our own fleets and men! We can take King’s Landing!” More of the men stood up raised their pints and shouted in agreement with Thor. Loki stood up and faced his brother.

“Careful,” Loki warned. “Last time you shouted about like this, you started two major battles. There could be another traitor here.” Loki left in anger and I followed him. I glanced back at Sif, who played with the ends of her hair, not paying attention to Thor or his excitable words.

Loki’s feet swiftly carried him back to our room. He had almost slammed the door in my face until I caught it. He turned to see me right behind him, and put his face in his hands again.

“I’m sorry, I’m not—

“I know,” I nodded. I thought quickly and reached out for his hands. He took them. “We have been friends for a while now, wouldn’t you say? You know you can tell me about anything.”

“We need to send a letter back to your parents,” Loki responded. “To tell them we arrived here safely.”

“That’s dismissing the issue here, Loki,” I confronted him. “You’re angry.” Loki sat in front of the fireplace. It crackled away, keeping the room warm. Loki leaned forward and looked into the fire, watching it slowly grow.

A silence fell between us. In Loki’s journal, he described his anger in great detail. How his older brother caused him to get into trouble, how favored his brother was, or no matter how much he proved to be a better leader, Odin would give more opportunities to Thor. I had never faced any sibling rivalry like this, but then again, my younger sisters were years apart from me. I had hoped they never saw me like Loki saw Thor. He continued to sit in silence in front of the fire.

“He’s arrogant,” Loki said out of the blue. “You saw it. You were there. He’s completely arrogant. He thinks of nothing but glory for himself. If he were to leave now for King’s Landing, he would make Sif a quick widow.” I raised my eyebrows out of concern.

“Those are harsh words.”

“I could be crueler. He thinks war is something you win and tell tall tales about. It’s more than that. It’s more than the glory and the victory. Just because he thinks he won one sloppy battle, he can win the entire thing. He’s stupid. He’s stupid if he’s not scared of what could happen to all of us. Most of the older lords blame it on our youth, but that’s an excuse.

“I’m younger than him, and I have kept a level head. I have studied battle strategy and history, and here I am arguing with stupid old men, my brother, and my father over what we should do. My father should have given me my brother’s army. Those men are wasted on him.” Loki stood up and started to pace around the room.

“I didn’t want to fight in this rebellion in the first place. I didn’t want to do any of this. I told my father, ‘We’re on an island. What do their laws have to do with us?’ But no. We had to do what was right. We have to fight for these damned nine kingdoms, and for what? So, my father can sit his old, fat ass on an Iron Throne? He will not be loved. He won’t have glory.

“We could all die because of our murderous King, and nobody seems to care or even think about it,” Loki finished. His hands were in fists. His nostrils flared. His back was tense. I walked over to him.

“Thank you,” I said, rubbing his shoulder.

“Thank you?” he asked, confused.

“For letting it out, for telling me all of this,” I explained. “For just ranting to me. Do you feel any better?” Loki looked around the room and nodded his head as if he was searching for any remaining anger he had.

“I do,” he nodded. He grabbed my hand and held it there. “You should try it. Rant to me.”

“I don’t know,” I looked away. “My mother always told me to keep my composure.” Loki rolled his eyes.

“That’s not true. I know you’re upset about something. Tell me,” Loki led me to the window. He opened it slightly to let in the cold wind. I could feel it on my cheeks and my neck first. It cooled me down, but I felt the words vomit out of my mouth.

“I hate seeing everyone else happy and in love except us. Elise has found love in your companion, Fandral. They spent the entire journey together, never part for too long. They’ve even slept together. Although I want to be happy that she has found love, it makes me angry. Then there’s Sif! She’s already talking about having your brother’s children!

“They haven’t been married for longer than 3 moons. And then they assume we are as happy and as in love as them. They shove us in this room together, and we’re struggling. It makes me so unhappy to see everyone else get their happy ending except for me. I didn’t want my marriage to be like this. I wanted to be in love.”

I looked to the ground half-expecting some sort of disgusting bile to be on the ground. I found nothing, but I still had shame. I didn’t want to admit to Loki that I was still unhappy in our marriage especially when we had been trying to be friends.

“I can see why you’re jealous,” his eyebrows knitted. “My brother and Lady Sif are incredible competition, but we shouldn’t compare ourselves to them. Not like this.”

“It’s angering. How did they get there? Do you think they’re pretending?” I asked. Loki shook his head.

“I know my brother. He got what he always wanted. He had his eye on Lady Sif of Casterly Rock for quite some time. He favored her beauty more than anything,” Loki sighed and closed the window. “I know it’s colder outside, but perhaps a walk would make us both feel better?”

“I like that idea,” Loki grabbed his dark green cloak and wrapped it around me. He snapped the clasp shut. After making sure his brother and wife were not in sight, Loki and I slipped just outside the castle on the grounds. A dirt road trail went around the castle and into the woods.

Loki’s cloak brushed the ground and I kept a hold on it. He wore a thicker tunic and pants, but no cloak or anything to keep him warm. I wondered how cold it could be at the Iron Islands. How was he so used to this weather? We walked next to each other, saying nothing, but enjoying the newfound silence. Loki touched my back gently and pointed up with his other arm.

“A cardinal,” I noted. It sat on a branch, looking at the world around him. I dropped my hand, and it brushed next to Loki’s. I slightly took my hand away. As we continued walking, it happened again. Loki noted this too. He reached for my fingers first, letting me know what he wanted. My fingers wrapped into his. His hand felt like any other hand, but this time there was a warm flush to my face.

I wanted to hide it from him. My inexperience with men was showing, and it was embarrassing. Loki started to chuckle.

“What?” I said, hoping he wasn’t laughing at me.

“Every time I go touch you for longer than a moment, you lock up,” he laughed. I knew it. He was mocking me. “I find it endearing.”

“Endearing?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes,” Loki assured me. He squeezed my hand. “This feels nice. What do you think?”

“It does feel nice,” I smiled. The brisk weather reached my exposed hand.

“You’re cold again,” Loki noted. “I can warm you if you need.” I felt my face go red again. Loki laughed at me again. “You really have no experience with men, do you? Was there anyone else before me?”

“No,” I kept my eyes away from his. “My father limited my time with suitors. He didn’t think any of them were good enough for me. Is it bad? Can you tell already?”

“Yes and no,” we continued walking, Loki led the way. “You’re nervous, and you think me warming you up means something more…intimate.”

“Isn’t that what you meant?” I asked. He muttered something under his breath and stopped us. Loki took both of his hands and held my hands between them. A green glow emitted and I felt a gentle warmth go through my hands and arms. It spread through my body gradually.

“Magic,” I reminded myself. The last time he performed magic on me was to attack me. I retracted my hands from his all too quickly.

“Is something wrong?” Loki looked at me. He saw my eyes, and he remembered too. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you like that. I was under an immense amount of stress, and I was angry with you. Sometimes it just builds up like that and it releases.” A small silence fell between us. At first, I didn’t know what to say, but I wouldn’t be angry with him.

“Where did you learn your magic?” I looked up to him. He took my hand and we continued on.

“I learned everything from my mother, the maesters, and books,” Loki started. “When I fell sick, I needed to learn something. Do something. Odin never let me fight my brother and his friends with weapons because he thought I was too weak. I needed to learn how fight some way or another.

“One maester let me borrow the darker books just for fun. I thought it would be interesting if I tried magic and sorcery work just to see if it held any merit. I did small things at first: enchanting objects and drawing cursing sigils. When I was bored with that, I used magic to prank anyone. Masters, servants, my brother.

“Many of them thought Pyke was haunted,” he chuckled. His mind already back in the islands. “I decided to try bigger things. I could control parts of the ocean. I cursed certain areas of the Islands to keep out anyone I didn’t like. One day, one of my father’s councilmen talked down to me about using daggers. I couldn’t take his insults anymore, so I used my magic against him.”

“What happened to him?” we turned back and headed back to the castle.

“I severely hurt him. He was bleeding on the ground. He spent a good fortnight healing. My father recognized this new, polished talent that I had and he wanted to use it. I fought in battles using nothing but my daggers and my magic. Most men didn’t believe it was real. They would charge at me, and I would hit them before they knew it was coming.”

“Is that why they call you the Dark Prince?”

“No,” Loki confessed. “They call me the Dark Prince because of something awful I did.”

“Which was?” I wanted him to continue. Loki made a face.

“I killed one of my own men. He told me he wouldn’t follow me because he thought I was too pathetic to lead. So, I killed him in front of everyone. I suffocated him, and when he couldn’t breathe anymore, I let his body float in the water. Since that day, no one ever crossed me again.” I looked at him. His green eyes were dull, and they blinked slowly.

“Do you hurt a lot of your men?” he nodded.

“I’ve hurt Thor and my father too,” he confessed more. “I don’t particularly like when anyone tests my patience. I don’t think it matters. Everyone wants to test my patience these days.” I squeezed his hand.

“I’m here. You know that,” I assured him. When we arrived back the castle, we watched a flurry of activity around us. I watched Lord Brax speak with Thor as they looked over soldiers training. “If I had to be honest, your brother is a good leader. Both of you just have different styles of leading. You are more aggressive than he is, but then again you are the smarter one.”

Loki observed his brother for a moment. “Perhaps you’re right. No war was won with one distinct leader. Which reminds me, I have set up meetings with Lord Brax.” My heart dropped into my stomach.

“Meetings?” I looked up to Loki. I thought we were past this. Loki squeezed my hand turned to face me.

“It’s not going to be before. I promise you,” Loki said. “I did vow my honesty to you. Trust me.”