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riddle-me-ri · 2 years ago

Note

Anon who asked for BTAS Penguin angst

I lied

I'm a dirty liar

I don't like angst, not anymore, you are too good at writing it

Please provide a happy ending I'm rolling on a puddle of my own tears that was too good I'm genuenly hurt I will never be the same I'm begging for a happily ever after I'm a huge baby I'm so sorry 😭

A/N: See? We should be careful what we wish for, huh? Lol but honestly I’m so glad I hit the mark, it was my first time writing unforgiving angst and I’m glad it caused enough damage to request a happy ending rip. Also, I’m combining this request with the two others above, because one wanted a happy ending as well, and also I honestly don’t see Oswald coming around to redeem himself unless someone rustles his feathers. (Also not gonna lie, the split-second idea for BTAS Riddler to turn into “mr. steal yo girl” for a minute was so strong, but I will restrain myself lol)

Trigger Warnings: none

Word Count: 1.9 k

BTAS Penguin x F!Reader - Don’t Leave Me Alone (Leave Me Alone Pt.2)

It had been a few weeks since you walked out of Oswald’s life for good. A part of him wanted to believe you wouldn’t heed his words, and would eventually come back around, like you always had before.

Unfortunately, that never happened.

He kept a low profile since you left, not feeling up for his usual heists and schemes. His gang would come by and he would instantly turn them away. The Penguin had huddled himself up in his desolate studio apartment.

Until someone came knocking on the door. Oz sighed but made his way to the door. After taking a glance into the peephole he was surprised to see a tall figure with brown dress pants and a long sleeved black shirt. Even without his signature mask and green suit, Oswald reconized the man.

“Edward? What’re you doing here?”

“Good evening, Oswald, mind if I pop in for a moment?”

Oswald never had any grievances with Ed. He respected him as a fellow rogue. Cunning, methodical, and intelligent. However, he wouldn’t claim the two to be the best of chums.

“U-Um…I suppose not, but I wasn’t expecting…well company..” Oswald wasn’t sure what compelled him to let the enigmatic man enter. Whether it was the self-isolation finally getting to him or just a desire for something different to happen but not require much effort.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, my friend. I’m simply here to check in on you. You know, we all missed you at the latest poker game.”

Ah, that’s what he usually did today.

“Oh, right…must’ve slipped my mind. Did you show that Joker what for?”

Ed scoffed. “Of course, and just as a suspected he hid a card up his sleeve, that absolute cheat!”

Oz chuckled at that, some things don’t change. Although he wished he could change some things.

Oz walked back over to the sofa and took a seat. Ed decided to sit in the arm chair across from the sofa on the other side of the coffee table.

“Oswald, you must know we’ve noticed your absence in…other events…has something happened? Have you actually reformed?”

“Bah!” Oswald remarked. “Nothing of the sort…it’s just…nothing’s piqued my interest is all.”

Ed nodded, but could sense there was something more than that. “And..what about that little chickadee of yours that’d come around, Y/N, was it? Has she come by in awhile?”

Edward jumped out of his skin when Oswald slammed his fists down on the table. Ah, so that was the issue.

“...guess it’s safe to presume she hasn’t…”

“No…I…I sent her away, for the last time.” Oz lamented.

“What?” Ed’s eyes widened in shock. To have someone love you unconditionally, that’s something everyone wants. Rogue, hero, or civilian…and The Penguin threw that away?

“Oz…w-why? Why would you send her away?”

“Because I won’t be taken a fool! Not again, not like Veronica did!” Oz argued.

“Oswald, in the city we live in…in this world we live in with superheroes, super villains, metahumans, and aliens…you truly think everyone you interact with is just another Veronica Vreeland?”

“No Edward…” Oswald sneered. “Not just everyone, anyone that even conceives and acts upon the notion of…loving me.”

“My argument still remains. You really think anyone that loves you is another Veronica?”

“Yes I do!” Oz growled. “Don’t you understand, Edward? I’m not handsome! I’m an atrocity that only his mother could love.” Oz put his head in his hands.

“And someone else could love, but how can they show you if you don’t give them the chance?”

“Why? Why should I? If it just ends the same?”

“Ozzie, are you telling me you’ve broken all space and time continuum to see into the future? You’ve been holding out on me.” Edward jested.

“Grr, no you riddled fool! I know so, history has shown me nothing but failure and heartache!”

“Hmm…yes history, tell me Oswald. How long did these failed relationships last?” Edward inquired.

“Bah…no more than a week or two. I’m surprised Veronica kept me under her thumb for so long…”

“Weeks, so never say…months, years?”

Oz quirked an eyebrow to the rogue. “What are you getting at Edward?”

“Oh, nothing. Just how history does tend to repeat itself, but there’s usually a pattern. And it doesn’t seem to me that dear, Y/N is falling into that pattern.” Ed shrugged.

“Oswald, from one intelligent man to another. Don’t tell me what you think you know…tell me what you want?”

After a moment Oswald sighed. “I want Y/N back…”

A moment of silence hung in the air. You were always there for Oswald, for much longer than weeks. Most people would be bored of him, disgusted even. They couldn’t keep the act up anymore for more than say a few weeks. Not without them giving up or him finding out.

He never found that out about you. You never hid anything, you were open and free to him like a dove. A sweet, gentle, loving dove that saw something in a cold blooded penguin. You were there for him when most weren’t. You were there for his birthdays, Christmas’s, when he was released, and you even made sure to put fresh flowers on his mother’s grave when he was gone.

Months…years…when most couldn’t stand him for a second let alone a week or two.

Ed smirked slightly as he noticed Oz’s face go from contempt to clarity. “Poor Y/N, how awful it must be to love someone who refuses to be loved…”

Oswald found himself panicking now, oh God, what had he done. “Edward…oh Edward…what have I done.”

“Its not too late, my friend.” Edward stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Oh, please it’s been weeks! She’s long forgotten about me!”

Ed shook his head. “Frankly, my friend, I beg to differ. See a little bird has told me that Y/N has been frequenting the Gotham Zoo. She seems awfully compelled by the penguins there.”

~~~

You were mentally and emotionally kicking yourself.

This is so stupid. I need to forget about him, he clearly thinks so little of me.

It was just so sudden, so abrupt. He pushed you away, yes, but he was never particularly so harsh with you. Which made your mind think of possible scenarios that happened before that fateful encounter.

Reaching, grasping for anything to try and go back to talk to him.

Anything to get rid of this stupid knot in your chest that tightened every time you thought about him. Probably explains why you kept coming to the zoo, maybe hoping to bump into him.

I know I can be a lot…If he wanted space or something…he could’ve just said so. I just, I feel like there was something more. Unless, maybe I was just too much.

You sighed as you sat on the bench across from the penguin exhibit. You couldn’t help but smile as they waddled and swam around without so much as a care. For a minute you didn’t mind the concept of just being an animal living out their lives on display at a zoo. It’d be a lot less complicated than out here.

“Umm, i-is this seat taken?”

You nearly break your neck at how fast you snapped it to your right side. Before your very eyes, there was Oswald Cobblepot. You may have thought of the idea of bumping into Oswald at the zoo, but the actual possibilities of that happening and what your plans to do after the fact…that never crossed your mind.

You stared at the man for a minute before realizing he asked a question. “Uh..uh no..you can have my seat, I was just leaving.”

“Please, Y/N, stay.” He insisted.

“And why should I?” You snapped, immediately covering your mouth with your hand. Not expecting to snap at him like that. Although you couldn’t be blamed, not after how he treated you.

“Y-You have every right to be cross with me. I’ve been absolutely terrible to you, dreadful. You can walk away at any time, but please…can we talk? Hear me out and if you still wish to leave you can.” Oz took a seat next to you.

“What is there to possibly talk about?” You chuckled half-heartedly, trying your best to keep your tears at bay.

“Well, I for one have lots too, but I will be frank. I…I. I know this won’t heal everything, but I do want to truthfully and fully from the bottom of my heart want to apologize to you. I…I should’ve never said those things and treated you so harshly. Not after everything you’ve done for me. All the times you were there for me, even when I acted like I didn’t want you to be. I was just…so scared of what I was feeling. I was trying to push those emotions down and push you away in the process. To prevent heartache, despair, things I’ve experienced more than not.”

“I was selfish, Y/N. Just thinking of myself and protecting myself, I didn’t even stop to consider your feelings. I thought them for you, put these false pretenses and ulterior motives on you. And I know it’ll do very little to remedy that, but I-I truly am sorry…” Oswald started sniffling in the middle of his apology.

You handed him a small tissue from inside your purse. “Here, I needed one myself.” You giggled softly as you began wiping the tears from your own eyes.

Oswald immediately forgot his next words and grabbed the sides of your face in a panic.

“I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to make you even more upset!”

You couldn’t help but laugh softly, the crease of your cheeks causing some more tears to fall. You put your hands over his to keep them on your face. This is by far one of the sweetest gestures, Oswald has made towards you. Truly showing that he wants to show his true emotions instead of combat them.

“Oswald, I-I’m not upset, far from it. I’m over the moon!” You smiled up at him. “This is all I could’ve wanted. I only ever wanted you to see that you deserve love!”

Oswald smiled back at you. “I was so petrified at the notion, I didn’t think I could believe it…but deep down I’ve always wanted to.”

“Will you? This time?” You squeezed his hands in yours as you move them from your face to your lap.

He took one of your hands into his wedged hand and brought your knuckles to his lips. “Y/N, my darling Y/N…I would want nothing more.”

You tackled him at that point into a strong warm embrace. Oswald laughed as his hat was knocked off his head and he had to catch himself to straighten you two back up on the bench. Your arms were wrapped tightly around him, fingers coursing through his black hair.

“I love you, Oswald.” You whispered in his ear, before kissing his cheek.

He embraced you, squeezing you tight when you whispered those words.

“And I love you, Y/N…and from this day forward I will never ever take you or your love for granted.”

~~~

Meanwhile a little ways down from the penguin exhibit. A trio were witnessing the couple patching things up.

“Aww! Eddie, you did it! You got them back together!” Harley squealed.

“Hush, child. They’ll find us out. I must admit Edward, this was quite impressive.” Jonathan commented.

“Oh it was nothing, Professor. He just needed a little push in the right direction.” Ed shrugged. He smiled at the two as they began laughing and conversing the day ahead.

#batman the animated series penguin x reader #batman the animated series oswald cobblepot x reader #btas penguin x reader #btas oswald cobblepot x reader #ri writes

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cliffordbradshawcharleykringas · 3 years ago

Text

beetlejuice moments that make me laugh every single time (mostly dialogue)

“how YOU doin’? woah, not good! adadoodoodeedadoo da da!”

“if you die during today’s performance the show will not stop :-)”

“apart from frustration pain and financial drain it’s fun !!!”

“look at these jugs!” (beetlejuice turns around and then looks disappointed)

the little dance they do during “what’s the point of having children if we’re drowning in debt”

“maybe 80%” “i’d say 78”

“sometimes puppet shows are sad”

“i mean say we are…dead…that’s…that’s bad, obviously-“

“ghost zombie jesuuuuuus”

“you don’t recognize me. i’m your father.” “…dad?”

the face barbara makes when beetlejuice gives her the femur

“we. are. invisible.” (spank)

“mmmmmmmYYYyyess, there’s Very Good Energy In Here”

“he’s my white whale” “i don’t see race <3”

“oh god delia. you erotic astronaut”

“you said ‘stop being so we-eird, i need this job’”

“knock knock! who’s there? happiness-!” “NO”

“it’s just a figure of speech jesus christ adam why you gotta be so sexy”

“whose head is that???” “..i don’t know..”

beetlejuice air-drumming during the first chorus of fright of their lives

“dolly levi, matchmaker!”

the backup singers in fright of their lives’s entrance AND exit

barbara and adam’s little dance after they say “let’s hide their phones!”

“fuck brigadoon”

“see you in hell! bah! i’m gone!”

“hey guys..? fuck you guys”

“let’s…haunt this biiiiitch”

whatever barbara is doing during adam’s “if we wanna win back our home” part

delia dab

“it says i’m warm, i’m friendly, and i think about death only a normal amount.”

“LYDIA NO GIMME THAT! smash.”

“what’re they saying?” “buy more crystals”

“and you have to buy a cat cause that’s your last chance to have a family”

“we used to make these haunted houses in the garage, but in the summer, so no one was expecting it”

“adam that’s not why she doesn’t like it here” “i know but it’s not helping”

third leg

“she’s always like get a job, why is your hair purple, i should have left like your father”

adam and barbara possession song and dance

“fool your friends! fun at parties! i did iiiiit”

“i was kicked in the head by a dressage horse!”

“as my guru otho always says, DAYYYYYYY-O.”

“on behalf of delia and myself, i’d just like to say WORK ALL NIGHT ON A DRINK OF RUM”

“barbara, the pig!” “who wants bacon?!” “no! stop! i’m a vegan!”

“hello! i’m from the u.s. census bureau, time for a few Oh My God!”

“if i were alive i could get out of this house, meet my kind of people. yknow socially liberal but fiscally conservative.”

“what, where’d i lose ya? oh, it’s not a real marriage. it’s like a green card thing! yeah, strictly business.”

“who are we decapitating?” “beetlejuice.” “you should! he’d love that”

“hate is a strong word, but i…do not like him!”

“woah…! this is such an interesting font!”

“a spin your own yarn kit?!?” “okay, that was not as much fun as i thought it would be”

“break it.” “*gasp*”

“you have a big brain.” “you make it big.”

“and the age gap is upsetting :D”

“👏did 👏you 👏e👏ven 👏read 👏the 👏hand👏book. 👏what 👏else 👏do 👏you 👏have 👏to 👏DO mami? you’re dead!”

“Nietzsche was right you know, to live is to suffer, bro!”

juno “running” with the walker

“your mother knew this was going to happen.. i mean not this, i don’t think anyone could have predicted this-“

“i hid it in case that dancing football player found me. he was so fast! so much poise!”

“what’s wrong sugar lumps? did you think i wasn’t coming back?” “i mean you literally jumped into hell to get away from me”

“mr. juice.”

(i’m listing this as three separate jokes)

“NOW HOLD ON ONE DAMN MINUTE.”

“MISTER beetlejuice. since we met, you have PINCHED ME, GROPED ME, and HARASSED ME, sir.”

“and i wanna tell you in front of all these people, that it! has! worked.” (skeletons gasp) “i want you, beetlejuice.” (unbuttons collar)

“saggy old asses”

“i found me a wife. l’chaim. to life.”

“i was ignored, but now i’m adored! ‘cause i extorted, tortured, and lied! give it up for my underage briiiiiide!”

“i can’t believe some cultures think this kind of thing’s alright :/“

“YOU.” (BWAMMMMMM)

every “this guy knows what i’m talking about” but especially the last one

“yeah i’m a part of this too i don’t get it but i’m a part of it!!!”

“well look at you! all ganging up against the mean lady from hell!”

“check it out lydia! now we both got dead moms!”

“delilah.” “delia.” “we didn’t hang out much. charles-“

“TELLLLL MYYYY STOOOORYYYY”

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice the musical #bjtm #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice broadway #if i left out something iconic. apologies.#this is one nerd's humble opinions #posts i wrote

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mintytrifecta · 4 years ago

Text

Blood and Whiskey

Summary: washed up actor and a time-warping talk show host who likes disco walk into a bar

Aka: I was getting tired of writing one setting and the same people for forever and wrote this drabble as a break

------------

If you were to ask the actor standing in front of you why he did what he did, there’s seldom doubt he’d be able to clearly tell you.

A grand finale.

A final show.

A shake of his fist at the cruel fate life handed him.

Just like him, all it became was an extravagant joke.

Actor growls, shoving away the echoing feeling of shadows with eyes burning into his back, grabbing and ripping him apart, pulling him back together vertebrae by vertebrae until he danced to a vengeful tune once more.

The entity, to put it lightly, has not made it easy to escape it’s grasp. A fool, he was, to think he could use its power to his own whim and not face the consequences.

Even so, with a new body and purpose he can see it lurking in the shadows.

Even now, as he trudged through a dimly lit street in the dead of winter he can hear it ringing in his ears.

After all, it takes time to escape from memories.

God he needs a drink…

Actor stops in his tracks and looks to his side. Blaring music vibrates in his ribs, shaking and stirring his insides.

It’s a bar.

A very neon, very bright bar.

A perfect place to sulk, He thinks to himself.

Tightening his grip around the pockets of his red velvet jacket, Actor takes a breath.

And walks in.

The music is even louder on the inside than from the outside. For some unknown reason, that fact surprises him.

All around the hall people can be seen dancing in a frenzied craze. Lights flashing in a showcase of every conceivable color available to the blind eye. Under the lights, a live band was playing some indistinguishable disco with a fervor and passion Actor wishes he still possessed. He scoffs and sharply inhales through his nose.

The air reeks with the familiar stench of alcohol and mania.

Actor squints his eyes and burrows his face deeper into the black scarf tied around his neck and shuffles his way to the leather bar stool. Slamming his hand on the wooden surface of the table to get the bartender's attention.

With a sigh, they dreadfully approach.

“What can I get for you, sir?”

Actor mumbled deeply, head miserably laying on polished oak. "Red wine. Any year, I don't care."

The bartender curtly nods and leaves to get the drink. Actor's in no hurry tonight, why should he care if it's taking forever?

"Here you go, sir. Red wine, 1926."

Ah, prohibition wine. Nothing quite like tasting secret rebellion acid slipping down your throat, whispering sweet illegality and chaos in the wake of conformity.

Actor downs the wine in one gulp and haphazardly slams the cup onto the table. Beside him, a man chuckles.

"You sure needed that one, huh friend?"

Turning to face the voice, Actor attempted to hide his widening eyes in reaction to the speaker’s appearance.

A man in a silky pink long-sleeve shirt tucked into… the ugliest shade of yellow Actor had ever seen paired with white shoes, stained and worn from long nights out dancing, no doubt.

The top of his head layed home to the biggest and most extravagant pink afro Actor had ever seen in his life.

And on his face… an eerily familiar, upturned, almost pink-like at the edges mustache.

What a strange-looking person, Actor thought.

“Yeah… hey, aren’t you one of the stage performers?” He questions offhandedly. Actor was sure he’d seen him perform when coming in.

“Oh, not for tonight. Maybe tomorrow’s yesterday though…”

Actor stares at the man, trying to piece together his offputting comment.

“You… what?”

The man grins at him, swishing in his hand a martini that definitely wasn’t there before.

“What did you say, friend?”

“Your-your comment on when you’re going to perform. What did you say?”

He gazes at Actor, brows furrowed in concentration before his eyes glaze over. He sits still on his creaking barstool, focusing on nothing and everything before jumping in his seat and grinning at Actor.

“Bah, who can remember things like that? I know I can’t. Anyways, I don’t think I caught your name, fellow. Or maybe I forgot that too, it’s entirely possible.”

Actor blinks with incredulity. His words caught in his throat, unable to pass.

“My name is… irrelevant.” He finally decides on saying.

“Irrelevant, hm? Sounds french! Have you ever been there? I’ve heard it’s lovely this time of year.”

Actor raises his hand to get the bartender’s attention and signals another round. It’s going to be a long night.

“Firstly, it’s winter. Second of all I didn’t even get your name, how am I supposed to talk to you without it.”

The man sits gasps for air, dramatically arching his back in shock before responding with a curt bow in his chair.

“Oh my apologies, Irrelevant, it must have slipped my mind! Name’s Wilford Warfstache!”

“Wilford Warfstache?” Actor echoes.

“That’s what I said!”

Actor snorts, picking up his second glass of wine, inspecting it as if passing final judgement.

“Well, Mr. Warfstache, what exactly do you want with me? Out of all the seats in the bar why’d you sit next to this one, huh?”

Wilford smiles and pats him heartily on the back. “My friend, you looked so lonely sitting at the bar with nobody else around you! I-I figured you could use some good company!”

Actor rolls his eyes. “How thoughtful…”

Wilford nods brightly, looking the Actor up and down with a slight hitch in his breath.

“Say… do I know you from somewhere?”

Actor winces, tirelessly holding on to a shred of hope that tells him he hasn’t faded into obscurity.

“I’m an actor. There’s a good chance you’ve seen me on the silver screen.”

With this revelation, Wilford’s face lights up in wonder.

“An actor! That’s fantastic! What movies have you done, my friend? Was there love? Was there murder? Was there treacherous betrayal at the hands of an ally?” He questions, voice getting louder and louder with each passing query.

“You could say that… It’s been a while since I landed a good role, however.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to stay like that! I’m sure you can find something big to be in soon!” Wilford cheers passionately.

“Yeah right… the last time I did some big movie was… god I don’t even know how long it’s been since then.”

Wilford pats Actor pitifully on the back, softening his voice to the best of his ability.

“Well, whatever role you played I’m sure it was wonderful!”

Actor took a sip of his wine. “I played a detective.”

“A detective! That’s a wonderful role to act! Why, I happen to have a friend who’s a detective and he’s one of the best people you’ll ever meet, trust you me.”

Actor nods solemnly, eyes and throat caught in a crossfire of guilt and rage. “So did I. Met him on set as a professional consultant and stayed friends afterwards. At least until...” he trails off.

“Until what?” Wilford asks.

“I… did something. Something bad that I can’t take back. I got stuck with a shitty hand, tried to use it and it backfired and no matter what I try to do I can’t get new cards. It’s not fair!” Actor growls.

Wilford hums, circling the edges of the martini glass with the paper umbrella. “Such is life, my friend. You can’t always make sense of it’s chaos, hell knows I don’t.”

Rolling his eyes, Actor spits with venom. “Oh, please. What bad thing could you have possibly done?”

“Everyone has some blood on their hands, my friend. There’s no need to dig for specifics.”

“And yet, here we are. Hell, the only good outcome from anything I did slipped out of my fingers and forever from my grasp.”

Wilford held out a finger, motioning for Actor to shut it.

“Never say never, my good man! If I know anything, it’s that things always come back to you. If they don’t you keep looking for them!”

“How inspirational.” Actor deadpans.

“It’s true! I say you should keep looking for the positive, even if it’s hard!”

"I don't know…"

Wilford tuts sotfly. "Come on now, don't you trust ol' Warfy?"

"Not really, no."

He shockingly gasps, bringing a shaking hand to his chest and spilling his martini on the floor. "W-well whyever not? I give pretty good advice, why not trust me?"

"I met you tonight."

"But it feels so much longer than that, doesn't it?" Wilford sighs, leaning his head on Actor's sunken shoulders.

He shakes the afro-d man off and takes a swing of his wine.

"Whatever you say, Will."

The two sit in silence, taking in the music echoing in the hall with comfort.

"You know, I did get an offer for this television series a while ago."

"Did you, now?"

"It was for some kind of choose-your-own-adventure thing. It seemed silly at the time and I didn't say anything yet but maybe I'll give it a shot." He mumbles.

"Wonderful idea, my friend! That seems marvelous to work on."

Actor sluggishly smiles. "You think?"

Nodding brightly, Wilford responds. "I do! And if it's any consolation, my friend," he pauses and shuffles through his afro, pulling out a small, pink flower. "I think you'd make a wonderful hero."

Actor lightly picks the flower from his hand, petting the rosy petal. It's soft and delicate, smooth under his touch.

"Whatever you choose to do, you'll be great at. I'm sure of it."

He gazes at his newfound friend, eyes shining with reinvigorated light for the first time in years.

"Thank you, Will."

"Anytime, good man! Anytime."

Actor stands up and brushes his jacket, smiling at Will. "I think it's time I left. I've got a friend to pay a visit to."

"Good luck! And remember you always have a friend here!" Wilford raises his full martini glass high into the air.

"You got it, Will."

And with that, Actor left. Perhaps it's time to resume his search for a certain Mayor.

Back at the bar, Wilford chuckles into his glass.

"What a strangely familiar person…"

#Markiplier #Who Killed Markiplier #Fanfiction #My Writing #WKM #Actor Mark #Actor Mark WKM #Wilford Warfstache #William J. Barnum #Wilford Motherlovin Warfstache #dude why is wil so fun to write

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rpmemesbyarat · 4 years ago

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RP Meme from "Chapter Two: The Hurricane’s Eye" in the Shadow Lords Tribebook from "Werewolf: The Apocalypse" Part Two of Two

Some of it is true, but most is not.

The details vary from place to place, but any you hear which are “true” most likely are not.

Be aware that the invitation itself is a great honor, and conduct yourself accordingly.

Renown is not important, and neither is rank.

Only ideas count, along with the will to act on them when need be.

While most of us are aware of that purpose to a greater or lesser extent, the hard truth of the matter is that we are more interested in our personal agendas than we are in any

higher goal.

All of us lust for power, but most have forgotten the reasons why we pursue such ends, and why the ends we seek most certainly justify any means we might employ to achieve them.

All pursue the path to power in different fashions.

Competition makes us stronger, and divergent philosophies yield opportunities missed by other, simpler credos.

They are not interested in personal power for its own sake, nor in leadership of any sort.

They are more than willing to debase themselves for the sake of others, and their actions free many of us to bring other, more potent schemes to fruition.

Though they will not (usually) use this information for personal gain, they have no compunctions against destroying an unfit leader so that others might take his place.

They are pitiless and remorseless, and cloaked in an aura of mystery that only adds to their fearsome reputations.

They have eyes everywhere, and they are watching.

The lure of power intoxicates them, and they will do anything in their power to bring it within their grasp.

Power is the end for them, not merely a means to an end, and as such dominance and control are their meat and drink.

Few of its members come to healthy ends.

Pity so few of them make good on their rhetoric.

Circles within circles. It’s how we work.

They are, for the most part, fairly deluded individuals, pretending they are responsible for the sins of their forefathers and letting their sense of guilt guide their actions in the here and now.

It should be obvious that the time has come to put the past behind us and move forward, even as we learn from our mistakes to tread more carefully in the future.

But these fools wallow in the pain they feel they’ve caused, and hope to undo it and make things right again.

What they fail to understand is that, even if they’re successful, it won’t help us in the here and now – at best it will appease the souls of the dead, and we don’t have time for that now.

Their hearts might be noble, but their intentions are misplaced, and that might cost us dearly when all is said and done.

From time to time we hear that someone or other has started practicing those dark rituals once again, but none of these reports ever proves to be substantial.

None are immune to this, no matter their station.

They’re a by-product, the proof that we’ve fouled things up, nothing more.

Any fighting force needs strategists as well as warriors to be effective, and you must always remember fall into the former camp.

If you are foolish, however, you will only be consumed by your own ambition. Tread carefully.

You should always remember that it is only overt displays of aggression which are typically frowned upon.

It is mostly a matter of courtesy and ceremony, which means observing it is no great bother.

Accepting an honorable surrender leaves your opponent beholden to you, which gives you a tremendous advantage over that individual and all that are allied with him.

An opponent who surrenders in this instance is either attempting to trick you, or not very honorable to begin with.

Always bow to your betters, but do not let them cow you into submission unless they truly are your betters.

Humans have always feared us, and with the advent of an industrialized civilization they now have the tools to turn that fear into hatred and persecution.

If a warrior, to say nothing of a leader, is not fit to pull his own weight within a sept, then he is not fit to live.

Even an old and frail leader can prove to be surprisingly fit in mind and spirit, and if he is capable of performing his duties you damn well better mind your business and leave him be.

Our leaders must be continually tested to keep them in fighting trim, and that means making power plays when you can get away with it.

Don’t be a fucking asshole.

This isn’t about you, you little shit.

We’re fighting for a cause, and that comes first.

Stay on target, get your tasks done, and deal with any problems in leadership only after your immediate task is completed.

Violate this law, and you will not merely be punished. You will die. Painfully.

In many ways, it seems as though we have passed a turning point.

He’s going to change the world, if he has to kill every man, woman and child on Earth to do it.

You can make these people do just about anything, provided you can make it a point of honor for them to go along with your plans.

Do your homework before coming here, though, because you’ll be skinned alive if you don’t.

We have no business being there, and it has little to offer us in any event.

The ruthless politicking would be worth the trouble if the opponents were worth our time.

I wouldn’t say they’re making nice with us, but their kind and ours are becoming more and more interdependent, and that means the opportunities here are staggering.

We all have the same goal, and that means there are many opportunities for personal glory and consolidation of power if one plays his cards right.

This place is a gold mine, so don’t ignore it.

They are, of course, social outcasts, but that only enhances their utility in many respects. They see all that happens around them, and no one notices them as they scurry about their business. They are so eager to please, and so willing to talk to people who take the time to notice them and treat them like human beings — or even simple dogs. Call them mongrels if you will, but do not discount the wisdom they have to offer.

You should not ignore them, but do not expect much from them, either.

Some of them fancy themselves canny politicians, but this is a delusion. Be sure to indulge them, however, as they do not take insults lightly.

That makes them available, gullible, and effective, three fine traits in any tool.

Just be sure to cover your tracks whenever you make them suffer — they do not take kindly to being manipulated, and they have a longer reach than you might think.

You can manipulate them, if you approach them with care.

You must continue to humor them, of course, but they are no longer your masters.

Valuable allies, if you ask me.

They are stupid and hateful, and do not act on their convictions. I do not even think they have convictions.

We’re better off without them.

Bah! I don’t care how useful the little beasts are!

And do I need to reinforce the importance of dealing through intermediaries? I thought not.

We need no more enemies, particularly those that can rise from the dead.

They are wondrous sources of information, and ultimately disposable. They are ideal tools.

I say they’re vermin, and deserve to be stepped on accordingly.

They are of no concern to you.

While this may not seem like a critical project, it nonetheless deserves our attention.

Most of the others are both dangerous and more numerous than we are, so you must exercise extreme caution when dealing with them.

Do not assume they think like you do, or that they are motivated by the same sorts of goals.

These are alien beings, and you must treat them accordingly.

This disgusts me.

You don’t want to make them angry, but if you can get one in your pocket they can prove to be a terrific ace up your sleeve.

Your humanity is showing.

These beings hold secrets, and secrets hold power.

It is typically not our way to truck with the dead, but they are a resource, which is easily exploited if you know what they seek, and how to get it.

I’ve encountered ghosts in a number of places, typically sites of horrific acts or great battles.

Their time is gone, it seems.

It is a sad thing, I suppose, but they are ultimately of no consequence to us.

I’ve never understood why it is they’re here to begin with.

Unfortunately for them, they are clumsy, disorganized, and more often than not incompetent.

They have no real community to speak of, no formal training to fall back on, and no coherent agenda.

This makes them fantastic tools, since they never know what to expect from us and are just looking for targets which often coincide with our own.

So, a little push here, a little nudge there, and they do our work for us, all without us dirtying our hands or wasting other, more valuable resources on the job.

Great opportunities, there, so long as we can keep their attention far away from us.

They are uninformed, disorganized, misguided, and utterly ineffectual without aid from other sources.

This makes them fine pawns, I suppose, but don’t count on them for too much.

#rp meme #rp memes #rp starters #roleplay memes #roleplay meme #roleplay starters #shadow lords #world of darkness #werewolf the apocalypse #owod

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c0mmander-rex · 4 years ago

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=======The Reg Barracks========

The troopers had shoved bunks out of the way to the edges of the space, making an open area. Somebody was streaming a pretty decent mix of current tunes from the holo net. Most surprising was the amount of bottles and flasks that were being passed around. That was a lot of contraband, wow.

I didn't really press the guys about things like alcohol unless it was proving problematic. I myself kept a stash of my favorite whiskey, because sometimes the only thing that can shut your brain down other than a good wank is a stiff drink. Conversation hushed for a moment when I entered, but resumed after I nodded companionably to the lads. Realizing they had my blessing, the fooling around ramped up. There were a few tables of sabaac or other cards (Kix and Jesse were here), the betting taking place with a few scant credits, candies, trinkets, and miscellaneous kit. Another group was playing a variation of darts (Hardcase, Dogma, Tup were there), utilizing a makeshift target and throwing daggers. Many others were just milling about chatting.

"Commander!!"

I turn, Fives motions to me and I cross to the group of chairs where he sits. Echo is there, the batch mates perpetually joined by the hip. I dropped into a seat, setting a duffle bag at my feet, and Echo offered me his cup. I accepted and took a hit - some kind of harsh silver liquor that burned like hell.

"Karking hell Vod, that's rough."

"Beggars can't be choosers, Sir", he chuckled. "Sometimes a buzz means sipping swill."

"Bah, you can't possibly think this is a proper way to toast Lady Tano…." I smiled mischievously.

The brothers looked at me, their brows creased. I downed the rest of the wretched liquid, and stooped to my bag, producing a gallon of Corsican spiced liquor, the same golden color as our eyes.

"WOOOOAAAAHHHHH!" my brothers hollered, dozens of heads turned our way.

"Kriff yeah, Commander!" Fives wrapped an arm around my neck, ruffling a hand over my buzzed hair and kissing the top of my head loudly. "I knew I loved you for a good reason, Sir!"

Grinning, I cracked open the jug and poured a few measures for Echo and Fives, who were motioning the other lads over. We poured more measures as cups were thrust at us, and the throng had grown quite thick. When all were served, Fives stepped up on his chair.

"Lads, raise em high!" He lofted his drink " To our beloved Lady Tano! May her light sabers be true, may her force powers be mighty, and may her tits be forever perky!!!" The boys roared an appreciative cheer.

My face reddened, although I knew his disrespect came from the absolute love he had for Ahsoka. All the lads held the Togruta as dearly as their own brothers. She was a vod to them in every way but her genes.

The others chimed in:

"May her ass be always firm and looking smashing in those pants!"

"May her own beautiful brand of violence and destruction inspire arousal!"

"May she think me one day worthy to take a seat on my…"

*Ahem* Ahsoka had entered and was observing the festivity with amusement.

….BARC speeder" the trooper finished, saving himself from embarrassment.

At least half the men were Shinies; many coming on board after she left. The fact that the Jedi...ex-jedi… a being of the lauded temple… had heard those scandalous toasts about HER person… they looked horrified, if not guilty as hell. He knew that they all could appreciate her feminine virtues. Not her vode, though. They knew better. Jesse scrambled forward and, with a roar, he snatched her up and perched her on his broad shoulder, carrying her to the center of the group. Echo good naturedly handed her a cup of liquor for each hand.

"Now!" Fives continued, "Now, the kriffing scumbags of the galaxy better run and hide. Now that Torrent has their Horned Lady back, the fuckers are on NOTICE!! Here's to the toughest bitch this side of Couresant!!!" The familiar brothers roared in response and the rest joined, encouraged by Ahsoka's knowing smile. She tipped her head back and downed both shots to the cheers of her men. Jesse gulped his and dropped her to her feet, catching her in a tight hug, planting an affectionate kiss on her cheek. The others passed her around for a while after, hugs & squeezes, kisses, tickles, and pats were abundant. The new lads saw quickly that Ahsoka Tano was family. All that they had was offered willingly and honestly to their Vod'ika and she was privy to their most private customs and thoughts. They approached in small groups, made introduction, and offered polite handshakes and solutes. Some were a bit in awe having heard tales of the young female who had so often bested General Skywalker in wit and brains, who would give him a tongue lashing without the least concern of repercussion, whose fearless battlefield presence was only matched by her dedication to her soldiers.

She was their queen and she was home.

My heart warmed watching the Vode lavish attention on her. I was itching to pull her back in to my arms, but this really wasn't the place or time. I had to chastise myself for a moment, reminding myself that I had to share her in this arena at least. My brothers each deserved their bit of 'Soka.There was always later in the sleep cycle, I would steal away to her suite and be free to brush my lips over her skin and mold my hands on to her curves and satisfy my greedy heart.

@snipsmeansahsokatano

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sonicfanj · 5 years ago

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Sonic Ring Bond - THE EYES OF THE WORLD - Chapter 3

Boy oh boy, I managed to get chapter 3 done in less than a month! Why am I so slow I wonder? Well, all the same chapter 3 is finally here and I hope everyone enjoys. I'm a little worried about this chapter to be honest as there is a certain flaw it has just due to the narrative so I wasn't as motivated to write this one as the first two. I hope that isn't reflected in my writing and that it will be a good time! Thank you everyone and without ado...

Current Status: Done – Open Draft Draft No.: 3 Story Idea: SonicFanJ – Inspired by @cutegirlmayra Main Author: SonicFanJ Secondary Author(s): None Currently Story Expanding Author(s): None Currently Editor(s): None Currently

Chapter Number: 3 Chapter Title: No Control Primary Chapter Author: SonicFanJ Secondary Chapter Author(s): None Currently Chapter Idea: SonicFanJ

Chapter Synopsis: The Guardian Units of Nations, G.U.N, or more collectively known simply as the military has made a play on the life of Rosy to keep her out of Eggman’s hands with no chance of him being able to exploit her for his schemes for world conquest. Eggman, naturally appalled by such savagery, finds himself having to be the hero Rosy most assuredly does not want. But fortunately for Eggman he has a certain ally who believes itself to be her hero. Rosy meanwhile finds herself trying to enjoy her current adventure before she discovers how little control she has.

Typically, the rising sun banishes the night and beauty lost to the eye is returned to the world. Sometimes however the abstract beauty of neon lights is lost, and a brilliant city is reduced to a heap of scrap metal. To some the loss of visibility of Eggman’s impromptu city, more a temporary refinery and factory could never be seen as terrible. Regardless, the mountain of scrap persisted even under the morning sun and within Eggman began his morning.

“Hmngh…,” Eggman grumbled and rubbed his bald head as he sleepily made his way into a large room. Machinery hummed and clanked all around the pajama clad scientist and several robots buzzed about him busily. Retrieving a coffee mug from one and coffee from another Eggman yawned before adjusting his glasses. “Oh ho! What a busy night G.U.N has had!”

The sight of a massive ream of paper spilling out of a machine all night woke Eggman immediately and he spryly danced his egg-like form across the room to collect the mess several of his robots had already been lost in. Dropping it on a table and taking a seat as he drank deeply of his coffee Eggman began perusing the paper. There was a lot of useless information on there as the machine he had designed took all the radio signals it picked up on and converted conversations to print. As Eggman dug deeper growing more annoyed by the amount of frivolity within the military lingo his next gulp of coffee became a spray from his nose. “Wha~t! Those absolute imbeciles! Did they really!”

Several of Eggman’s robots stopped and eyed the doctor wearily while exchanging worried looks. Eggman took no head of them as he put his coffee mug down, taking the ream of paper in both hands with a firm grip dispelling the illusion it was little more than his morning paper. Mumbling away as he read it Eggman finally spoke clearer as he found what he was looking for.

“Permission to engage Checkpoint dreadnaught granted by Checkpoint. Subject Amy Rose deemed too important to allow capture by Eggman. Termination orders issued… TERMINATION ORDERS!”

All around Eggman his machines jumped as he rose to his feet in rage. “I gave those fools everything they needed to capture Sonic’s little girlfriend and put a bow on her for me and they decide to go with termination!” Eggman’s rage was impressive, but it had not completely boiled over yet, and he showed enough restraint to continue reading. “Hmm... let’s see… …target was spotted in company of Miles Prower… …attempted to shoot down before engaging Checkpoint… …forced to board in pursuit… …left remnants of Eggman tech to disguise termination mission… Why those!”

Eggman’s temper was starting to reach its boiling point now and he grew redder in the face, the paper barely resisting his enraged grip. Still, he read on and grew amused, surprisingly.

“…target lost when Ring Gate opened under anomalous circumstances… … and what does that mean I wonder?” Eggman sat back and pondered before continuing to peruse the report. He continued to grumble a bit but there was little more shocking bits of information and G.U.N trying to manipulate Checkpoint did not interest him. Instead he sighed heavily before rising to his feet and taking his coffee mug in hand again.

“Can G.U.N never do anything? Bah! Now I’m left having no idea where the sow is.”

A clinking sound distracted Eggman from his rather verbal complaints and he stopped midstride. The clinking continued and he turned his head to follow the noise and landed his gaze on a massive monitor that showed several maps of several worlds all layered on top of each other. Three lights blinked within and a robotic finger tapped the monitor at one of them. With a sigh he addressed the presented situation.

“Of course I haven’t forgotten about the Gaia Eyes! But G.U.N could very well ruin my backup plan–”

The clinking resumed and Eggman yanked down on his mustache. “Are you actually taking an attitude with me! I created you, and just because you came back on your own again does not give you the right to mock me! You’ve been nothing but trouble since you came back. I out to disassemble you and see what’s gone wrong!” With the threat the clinking stopped and Eggman felt in control again. “Oh of course, you do need to be reminded of your place once in a while.”

Straitening up and stroking his mustache Eggman was about to congratulate himself but the motion the troublesome machine had taken stopped him cold. Glaring at him with red glowing eyes the machine resembled the hedgehog it was modeled after more than ever as it rubbed its nose with a finger. “And when did you pick up that habit from the annoying rodent?”

Naturally, as Metal Sonic was not equipped for speech it did not answer Eggman. Instead with its free hand it pointed a thumb back at the screen and the blinking light it had before. His shoulders slumping in rage and defeat it took Eggman a great deal of self-control not to blow up at his machine.

“I believe I already told you I know but–”

Again, Metal Sonic interrupted Eggman and tapped on the monitor. Eggman had truly lost his temper now and took hold of his mustache again and attempted to beat Metal Sonic to the point by just blurting out his counterpoint. “Amy Rose!”

With chill indifference, Metal Sonic nodded and lowered its finger from its nose. Looking back at the screen, it again tapped at the glowing light and Eggman all at once suddenly understood. He did not believe but he did understand.

“You mean to tell me that she’s there?”

Metal Sonic nodded.

“And how is that possible? I never designed you with such a feature. Just who exactly repaired you so you could come walking back to me for a change?” Eggman’s question received no answer from the silent Metal Sonic, but he did rub his nose again as Eggman’s body language threatened to tear the machine apart to find out. Having no desire to be pulled apart however Metal Sonic tried again to put Eggman’s attention where it needed to be and tapped the monitor.

“You’re being quite insistent for something other than dealing with that troublesome Sonic.”

Again, Metal Sonic nodded but Eggman had calmed down a fair bit, though he still seemed poised to throw a tantrum at the drop of a hat. But there was something he was contemplating already, and an evil grin reveled his teeth ominously. “Of course, if you are right and have gained a useful new ability it could be because of Sonic’s troublesome little Ring Bond. But if we can use it to my advantage…”

Laughter rose up and filled the room as Eggman spun about enthralled by the idea. “Come then Metal Sonic, let’s go test out your potential new ability and see how it works. And while we’re at it I’ll get my hands on the next Gaia Eye and you get to save Sonic’s girlfriend from G.U.N. Won’t she just be delighted? Oh~ hohohohoho!”

-|-

Rosy’s idea of delighted was without question different from Eggman’s but despite the direness of her situation she could not stop herself from smiling as she watched the scenery go by. Sitting in a train car was a far cry from where her night had gone with her, Tails, and Mighty ending up in the middle of the wilderness and finding a place to hide in case the military had managed to follow them. When they had woken with the sun and through Tails’ caution, they had let Rosy’s cards lead them along and soon found a train station. Exchanging all the Rings they had gathered since leaving the Coral Cloud they were granted passage and food on the train. It was as a plate of strawberry pancakes with whipped cream was placed before her that Rosy started to become aware of her situation again.

Lifting her fork up high and looking at the stack of pancakes with twinkling eyes, Rosy could not help but notice that her stomach made more noise than her companions. Lowering her fork pensively she carefully studied Tails who had managed to bring his unusual briefcase with him and was fiddling around in it. He also had Rosy’s tarot cards and he blocked them from view with a tail as his sensed Rosy’s gaze on him.

Rosy could not help but feel disappointed, even if she understood. Still she began to puff up her cheeks as she looked away, but her mouth fell open in concern as she saw Mighty resting his chin in a hand as he gazed out the train window at the passing scenery. Shaking her head, she stabbed her pancakes with her fork and proceeded to sample the confection. Her eyes lit up in amazement and she knew exactly what she could do to try and cheer Mighty up.

“Mighty! You have to try these, they’re delicious!” Smiling brightly Rosy pushed her plate of pancakes towards the armadillo. Seemingly shaken from his thoughts he looked back at the Rosy and then the pancakes and simply said, “Oh.”

“Oh?” Rosy huffed in disappointment. “What does oh mean?”

“Sorry little Rosy,” Mighty apologized and offered Rosy a smile of his own before turning his eyes back beyond the train.

The sight of trees and forested mountain sides seemed to hold Mighty’s attention and a bit of understanding dawned on Rosy. She did not apologize however, not directly at least, as she spoke up again hoping to cheer him up. “Thank you Mighty.”

“Hm? What for?” Mighty could not hide his confusion and looked back at Rosy who smiled now that she had his attention.

“Well for helping me of course! Everyone knows about your love of nature, and yet my troublesome little adventures have had you stuck in airships and now a train. But you know what? The Gaia Eye I was trying to help showed us that amazing mushroom forest so I bet the next one will show us something amazing too. And once we’ve got at least one we should be able to keep them out of Eggman’s hands.”

“I think it’ll be better if we get it to Sonic instead,” Mighty countered as gently as he could, but Rosy still pouted.

“But I’m the one who The Gaia Eye asked for help,” Rosy complained, but she did not really argue. She knew Sonic was better equipped to protect it from Eggman than she was and admitted as much. “But I guess getting it to Sonic would be saving it in a way.”

“It would,” Tails butted in, though he did not take his eyes off his work. “If they’re like the Chaos Emeralds like you said Eggman claimed then Sonic should be able to make a Ring Bind with them and gather them all up. Eggman could never hold onto them then. Hehe, I just wish Sonic would let me study them for a little bit.”

“Tails~!” Rosy whined playfully and received an awkward smile from Tails.

“Hehe. Don’t worry Rosy, I want to, and I don’t want to.”

“Don’t want to?”

Rosy’s curiosity was piqued and she tilted her head inviting Tails to continue. He swished his tails about nervously before glancing up at Mighty. Following Tails’ gaze, Rosy tried to understand the silent conversation between them but Mighty remained still for the most part and Rosy puffed up her cheeks again.

“You two talked about something while I was asleep last night, didn’t you?” Rosy accused them of leaving her out with her question.

“Well there was a lot to talk about, “Tails admitted and felt like the look Rosy gave him was one of hurt. Scrambling he tried to explain himself better. “I mean we just jumped through a Ring Gate, so I had to try and figure out where we were, and it was really amazing! If I was reading the stars right and calculated how far we travelled properly the Ring Gate actually put us right below the Coral Cloud!”

“Eh~! What!” Rosy propped herself up on her arms in surprise at Tail’s exclamation and struggled to understand. “But we were over the middle of the ocean. There wasn’t any land anywhere! I saw that when you took me outside.”

“I did too,” Tails nodded in agreement, “but I think it might explain our world a little bit better and how so many places seemed untouched after Sonic restored the world. If I’m right our world may actually be like a book.”

“A book?”

“That’s right, or maybe like your pancakes,” Tails groped for a better example to explain what he was hypothesizing. Rosy just looked at him confused but offered him her fork when he motioned for it.

Using it as pointer Tails continued. “Well, we’ve always kind of wondered where lands go when they just vanished and assumed all of them turned back into Rings and rejoined the world. And since it’s pretty much impossible to make any really long-term maps and Beacons keep different places connected, I don’t think anyone ever thought about it properly. But after Eggman nearly destroyed the world there shouldn’t have been anywhere old left after Sonic restored it, but once we got the Checkpoint beacons up and running again it turned out there were. So, I bet what most scientist are thinking right now is probably what I am, which is that Ring Gates don’t just take us across the surface,” Tails demonstrated his point sliding the fork across the top of Rosy’s pancakes before thrusting it through them, “ but through it to other dimensions. It’s likely that our world is actually layered like a bunch of dimensions sitting on top of each other, which makes sense if you consider Little Planet appearing only so often and the dimensions that Sonic uses to reach the Chaos Emeralds.”

“So, our world is a lot bigger than any of us can even imagine?” Mighty finally joined in studying the bite of pancakes Tails lifted from the stack.

“Don’t you think that’s amazing Mighty!” Rosy asked before chomping down on the fork and ruining Tails’ demonstration. It seemed fair payback though as the pancakes were hers and she knew Tails had done his best to distract her. It worked too as she had no way of knowing what Tails and Mighty had talked about the night before. But maybe knowing now that the world was even larger Rosy could cheer up Mighty more. With a mouth full of food however she should have held off on trying to follow up her question as there was no way Mighty could understand what she said. He did finally laugh however and that brought a smile to Rosy’s face.

“Yes Rosy, it is amazing,” Mighty managed to talk first as Rosy continued chewing. “To think there is so much more world to see and countless more wonders in nature to discover. It’s an adventure to look forward too!”

“And more peaceful than mine and Rosy’s I bet,” Tails joked joining in on the good mood.

“Our adventures are fun too Tails,” Rosy countered having finally swallowed her food and Tails laughed again.

“They are, but when they put you in danger I start to worry. Eggman is after you and the military has tried to kill you, and even whatever it is that you’re trying to help has hurt you.” The change in tone and atmosphere was unpleasant, but Tails looked at the fork he carried and then Rosy as he presented her a question. “How are your fingertips anyway?”

“They’re–,” Rosy started and had to change from saying ‘fine’ as Tails gave her a stern look, “…kind of sore.”

Rosy did not like giving Tails a reason to worry about her, but he barely let her even touch her cards with her fingertips so they could get an idea of where they needed to go. Still, the cold from her cards hurt and lingered long after she last touched them which was to determine if getting on the train was a good idea. It made Rosy feel that much more awkward as Tails relaxed and looked relieved with her honesty. “I kind of figured as much since you didn’t try to take your fork back yet and weren’t holding it properly to begin with.”

There was no counter to Tails’ statement and Rosy flopped back into her seat defeated.

“This adventure could do to be more fun,” she pouted and Tails laughed at her.

“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of fun on this adventure Rosy.”

“I for one have been enjoying the peace,” Mighty chimed in with a laugh of his own before turning his attention back to the scenery. “I’ve been so stressed out that being able to relax for a bit is quite nice. It’d be even better if I could go walk among the trees.”

“Don’t jinx us Mighty,” Tails teased the armadillo. “The way the world is the tracks could disappear out from under us making us have to. I can’t believe someone actually made a train considering.”

“I bet they just wanted realize their dream and wouldn’t let anything stop them,” Rosy spoke up in defense of the train. “And I think that’s wonderful. Pursuing your dream and not letting anyone or anything stop you.”

“It is amazing,” Tails agreed, leaning back and allowing himself to marvel at the engineering and craftsmanship of the train. “I wonder how long our world will let it last?”

The three friends fell silent as they all took in the unlikely experience in their world. Rosy would have indulged herself in her pancakes more but did not feel it would be right to break the silence and ask Tails for her fork back. ‘They’re so good too.’ Rosy would have to go without as they were soon collected by the staff who had no problem requesting the fork from Tails. The shared and peaceful silence would be more uncomfortably interrupted though in due time as a tapping sound drifted over from across the train car.

‘Hm? I wonder what that is?’

Keeping her thoughts to herself so as not to wake Tails who seemed to have fallen asleep, Rosy slid out of the dining car booth as quietly as she could. Mighty had heard the tapping as well, his ears having swiveled back to listen more closely to it, and he saw Rosy get up by her reflection in the window. Turning around he looked at her curiously and she held a finger to her lips to keep him from waking Tails. Motioning with her hand for him to follow, she proceeded to skip away from the booth and froze when she saw the source of the tapping.

“Oh no…!” she breathed in terror as her peaceful train ride came to a very unpleasant end. She would have retreated back to the booth in terror at that moment but Mighty was already behind her and putting a defensive arm around her as he laid eyes on Metal Sonic flying beside the train.

“No Mighty don’t!” Pushing away from Mighty and spinning about to face him Rosy surprised him as she turned pleading eyes onto him. “You know he’s probably here looking for me, and it’s Metal Sonic, he’ll destroy the train to get to me…”

“But–!” Mighty attempted to interrupt Rosy but she shook her head fiercely, her terror obvious. Yet she did not back down and summoned up all her courage as the train came alive with fear as the passengers grew aware of Metal Sonic’s presence.

“There’s no time! Go wake Tails and come get me! I’ll try not to get captured but we can’t let the train and everyone on it be put in danger!”

“Rosy–!” Mighty wanted to talk her out of it but it was already too late. He could have grabbed her as she spun around and yanked down on her eye lid while sticking out her tongue at Metal Sonic, but he understood her concern. The train car was already in a panic and if not for her speed she would have been trapped.

If Rosy could have made use of the speed Sonic had gifted her like he could she surely would be far less terrified of Metal Sonic than she was as she watched him zip ahead while she ran for the door joining the car to the next one ahead. If not for her fear for the wellbeing of the passengers and the train itself, she would have exploited it to double back for the other end, but she knew she had to face it now. Bracing herself to face the worst-case scenario she threw open the door and saw Metal Sonic waiting for her with a finger wag.

“You jerk!” Rosy yelled and attempted her best Spin Dash to get it to move, but Metal Sonic held its ground and the whine of its turbine filled the air as it announced it was ready to take her challenge head on. Rosy challenged it anyway and was fortunate that Metal Sonic overestimated her skill at a Spin Dash and completely missed her as she ended up shooting right past him.

As bad as Rosy was with it she popped out of it and sprang up onto the roof of the next car. She proceeded to turn around long enough to make a face at Metal Sonic again before opening into a full sprint the other way. The train was much too short for her speed to make running its full length anything longer than a matter of seconds, but as she was being as delicate as she could to not damage the train by digging in with each step she compromised her traction and slid about allowing Meal Sonic to set its sights back on her, At least until she slipped right off the side of the train.

“Wah~!” Rosy cried out before curling into a ball and bouncing off the ground beside the train. She uncurled immediately as she heard Tails cry out for her.

“Rosy!”

He had his brief case strapped to his back and offered her a hand as she flew by to try and fly her to safety. To his surprise Rosy shook her head. And started running back the way the train had come.

“That won’t work Tails!” Rosy explained herself as Tails fell into flight beside her. “There’s no way you can fly better then Metal Sonic while holding onto me!”

“But you can’t outrun it either,” Tails pointed out earning a pout from Rosy in return.

“I know, but if the three of us work together maybe we can at least stop him while he’s focusing on me!” Even as she said the words, she noticed that she and Tails had not yet been joined by Mighty and she looked around with a great deal of concern. “Where is Mighty anyway? He doesn’t like to fight unless he has too… he isn’t trying to stop Metal Sonic is he?”

Slamming her feet into the ground together to bring herself to a stop, Rosy looked back at where the train had since disappeared behind her. Tails had to fly back to where she was but didn’t like the absence of Mighty either. “I don’t know.”

“We have to go back for him!” Rosy insisted and had to be stopped by Tails grabbing her wrist. “Tails?”

“We can’t Rosy!” Tails shook his head energetically. “Metal Sonic hasn’t caught up so we need to get away now while we can!”

“But Tails, Mighty doesn’t like to fight,” Rosy pleaded even as Tails started to pull her alongside the tracks. It was too late when she realized that Tails had actually lifted her off of the ground and she could not resist his pull. Slumping she gave up fighting Tails physically but did not give up on Mighty. “I know he has a strong shell and he’s a lot better at this than we are, but wouldn’t it still be better if we helped him?”

“If beating Metal Sonic was our goal, sure,” Tails agreed and allowed Rosy’s eyes to light up for a moment before he dashed her desire to help Mighty, “but you already know keeping you out of Eggman’s hands is our primary goal. Even the Gaia Eyes come after that.”

“So, we have to abandon Mighty?”

“I didn’t say that Rosy. We just need to use the time he buys us to get away.”

Keeping Rosy focused on herself was harder than Tails hoped it would be, but unless Sonic was there for her to fixate on he knew she wouldn’t think of anything other than helping others when they were in trouble from something as obvious as Metal Sonic. ‘Even if Sonic was here it’d still be better if we ran though.’

Tails could not allow himself to stay focused on his worries or how things would be easier with Sonic around. He had to focus on making things easier with Rosy around instead. “There were some other rails a little further back. It looks like some of them might have even gone into the mountains so if we can get to them we can lose Metal Sonic in the mountains and meet back up with Mighty later.”

“How?”

“Because I stayed up last night working on our Personal Beacons so we could can communicate without being tracked,” Tails proudly answered Rosy and held up his arm to revel the wrist mounted communicator every member of Checkpoint had. “We’ll just have to be abstract enough to not give our location away.”

“Okay,” Rosy nodded tentatively buying into Tails plan. “Then put me down so–”

A streak of blue blasting past her and Tails left Rosy stopping mid-sentence. Metal Sonic had caught up to them already and it put the question of Mighty’s wellbeing in question. She and Tails did not have long to linger on Mighty’s fate however as they needed to be prepared to evade Metal Sonic, but a series of explosions distracted them from even that.

“What?” Rosy and Tails asked in unison as they came to a stop to dodge scrap metal falling from the sky before them. A moment later Metal Sonic landed and glared in their direction. Tails immediately stepped defensively in front of Rosy and spread his arms out wide.

“D-d-don’t think I’m afraid you! We’ve bested you before you know!”

Placing a hand on its hip, Metal Sonic stuck the pinky finger of its free hand into its ear and scratched around. The motion was unsettling as it was as though Sonic himself was mocking them and Rosy could not stand that and leaned past Tails and shouted at him. “You can’t do that! Sonic would never mock us! We’re his friends and if you’re supposed to be based on Sonic then you shouldn’t either!”

“Rosy, I don’t think he cares,” Tails laughed nervously as he glanced back at Rosy with just his eyes. Yet Tails seemed to be wrong as Metal Sonic pulled its finger free from its ear.

“Look Tails, he listened…,” Rosy began to try and counter Tails, but trailed off as Metal Sonic made a fist with its hand and pointed back at the sky above and behind it with a thumb.

Following the gesture Rosy spotted the brass airships of the military and swallowed loudly. Tails could not ignore Rosy’s gulp and Rosy tried her best to keep the situation light as she felt the change in atmosphere come over him. “Ooh~! Why can’t this just be a fun adventure?”

“That would be nice, huh,” Tails agreed appreciating her effort, but he was not sure what to do. With Metal Sonic before them the military seemed insignificant. Unfortunately, the military was prone to extreme overreaction and a volley of cannon fire burst forth from the air ships forcing Tails to gulp too.

Metal Sonic seemed unimpressed and only delayed from acting for a moment as it lowered its fist long enough to rub its nose with a finger before springing into action. It was a sight to behold as Eggman’s greatest creation ascended the falling volley of artillery fire and headed straight for the military airships that launched it. The view was lost though as the volley crashed destructively into the ground around Tails and Rosy. Yet even in the destruction that she failed to realize missed her, Tails had to hold Rosy back as she moved to chase after Metal Sonic.

“What are you doing Rosy? We need to run!”

“But Tails, the soldiers!” Rosy argued as Tails did his best to keep her from moving.

“They’re people! We can’t leave them to face Metal Sonic alone!”

“Rosy they just tried to kill us!” Tails attempted to get through to Rosy

“But Tails!”

“Might I suggest that we move and give both parties no reason to stay here?”

“Mighty!” Tails and Rosy both exclaimed as the armadillo’s voice came out of the dust cloud in front them. Stepping forward and out of the dust to reveal that he had been shielding them with his shell he offered the two junior adventurers a smile. But only for a moment as his expression grew grim.

“I’m afraid it looks like you were right Tails.” There was a very uncomfortable air about Mighty as he spoke, and his next sentence sent a chill down Rosy’s spine. “The military never intended to take Rosy into protective custody.

“What?” Rosy barely managed to squeak out the question.

“What the armadillo means Ms. Rose, is that from the start G.U.N had every intention of killing you.”

The answer came from above joined by an unpleasantly familiar and obnoxious laugh. Descended from above seated in his Egg Mobile was none other than Doctor Eggman himself. His feet propped up on the control console with his fingers laced together he appeared the embodiment of in control as his wide toothy grin greeted the trio.

“Eggman! How did you find us!” Tails demanded to know as he prepared for a fight.

“Come now fox boy,” I doubt you were just out here running from the military,” mocked Eggman with a chuckle. “Surely you’ve heard of the Gaia Eyes by now from Ms. Rose.”

“No!” Rosy let out a cry as she saw Eggman hold up a new Gaia Eye, this one orange in hue.

“But of course Ms. Rose, Oh~ hohohohoho!” Eggman laughed gleeful, punctuated by a chorus of explosions in the distance marking Metal Sonic’s destruction of the armaments of the military airships. With his massive grin growing even more massive Eggman continued. “Did you really think to stop me without getting that annoying blue pincushion in the way? Speaking of which… Metal Sonic!”

In a flash of blue, Metal Sonic returned from its battle, but not to Eggman’s side.

“AAH~!” Rosy yelped in pain as Metal Sonic snatched her arm and twisted behind her and into the small of her back. “Let me go! That hurts!”

“You heard her!” Tails didn’t waste a second moving to confront Metal Sonic and was met immediately with a wall of darkness as a black globe of energy spread out from Metal Sonic. “This is…?!”

Tails and Rosy lost the ability to resist and fight back as the black sphere sapped them of their strength knocking the handful of Rings they had collected since fleeing the train free of their persons. They were not casually lost as Rings tended to be as Metal Sonic collected them as it withdrew the sphere back into itself.

“Oh ho!” exclaimed Eggman as he sat up and leaned over to watch the new ability in action. “That one seems quite useful. Though you seemed to have missed our good friend Mighty.”

Having jumped back, Mighty had stayed clear of the attack, and thus still had his strength and wits about him. The look Metal Sonic gave him as Rosy slumped from the loss of strength made him both uneasy and angry. “If we were friends Eggman you wouldn’t be hurting them.”

“OH~ HOHOHOHOHO! Hurting them? Really?” Eggman guffawed at Mighty’s claim. “Could you be more wrong I wonder. Why if not for me, your glorious savior and will be ruler, G.U.N would have blasted you to smithereens without a second thought.”

“If not for you, we wouldn’t be on the run at all!” Tails barked as he seemed to recover from Metal Sonic’s attack.

“Come now fox boy, you can’t tell me my little experiment hasn’t caught your eye. I’m sure you’ve already run tests of your own to determine the effects of my genius on Ms. Rose, and I would love to see your notes.” Though he coaxed Tails to speak with him as a fellow scientist, Eggman’s tone was purely condescending.

“Leave him alone,” Rosy defended Tails, growing angry as her strength returned. Her position was not as fortunate though and to keep her shoulder from hurting she attempted to stand up and lean back into Metal Sonic. She did not want to, but the pain in her shoulder demanded she do something. Metal Sonic did not make it easy on her either as it attempted to keep its distance making her that much more uncomfortable. “Stop moving you jerk! Just let me go already.

“Ahem,” Eggman cleared his throat to make sure Rosy remembered whose presence it was she was in. Hearing Eggman’s voice directed at her she glowered at him as she puffed up her cheeks. It was a hollow threat with her helpless in Metal Sonic’s grip and Eggman chuckled in response. “I don’t understand why you keep struggling so much Ms. Rose–”

“It’s Rosy!”

“–when I have so many good things waiting for you,” Eggman continued, ignoring Rosy’s interruption.

“I don’t want anything you want to give me!” Rosy feistily refused.

“But you haven’t even heard me out yet,” Eggman practically whimpered. It was obvious that he really wanted to boast, but Tails was not having any of it either.

“Well she doesn’t want to hear it, so get lost Eggman!” With the intention of serving as a distraction so Rosy could escape, Tails curled into a ball and hurled himself at Eggman. Eggman was far from unprepared however and several mosquito robots dove down from the sky putting an immediate stop to Tails’ attempt.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Eggman smiled mockingly as Tails crashed back to the ground.

“Tails!” Though she wanted to get to him she could not break Metal Sonic’s grip and merely struggled helplessly reaching for Tails with her friend hand. Turning teary eyes of anger back on Metal Sonic she noticed that Mighty still had not advanced. Eggman picking back up behind her, obviously boosted by knocking Tails down only reinforced the danger she had exposed the other’s too.

“You see, Ms. Rose, this is why you should turn to me in times like this,” Eggman sneered boastfully. “G.U.N wants you dead because you have quite the bit of value to me, and your friends are helpless. But I can promise you a perfect robotic shell that you’ll be perfectly safe within. You won’t have to worry about G.U.N as you know they’re helpless against my genius and if you want to spend eternity with that annoying rodent, I have a far superior version right here who has already saved you once today.”

Listening to Eggman was not what Rosy wanted to do, and she mostly ignored him as she increased her struggles to break out of Metal Sonic’s grip. The robot perhaps was irritated by the whole affair and took to scratching around inside its ear with the pinky finger of its free hand for a moment. As Eggman’s little monologue neared its end and it seemed likely that the order to head back to base was coming, Rosy’s struggles grew that much more intense. Not wanting to deal with her antics Metal Sonic pulled its finger from its ear and placed its hand on Rosy’s head.

“Eep!” Rosy squeaked terrified for a moment, but immediately grew confused as the machine ruffled her quills in a way she had not felt for some time. Yet time would never make her forget that sensation. If anything, the robotic hand that performed the motion should have dispelled the illusion, but that did not matter either. It was identical.

Her eyes softening under that sensation, and her struggles ceasing completely, Rosy looked back as best she could from under Metal Sonic’s cold robotic hand. The machine’s glowing red eyes looked back at her and were unprepared entirely for the question she uttered.

“Sonic?”

That single word, uttered with the utmost desire to know if it was indeed her hero who attempted to sooth her seemed to break Metal Sonic. Releasing Rosy’s, arm it took an unsteady step backward and Rosy looked at it with as much curiosity as the confusion it was experiencing its programing struggled to overcome. Eggman took note of the problem and leaned forward in the Egg Mobile, causing the whole vehicle to tilt forward. “Hrm?” Eggman’s curious grunt was far too mild a reaction and Mighty demonstrated that he too had been gifted with Sonic’s speed. “Rosy!”

Mighty’s shout shook Rosy from her daze and she remembered Tails instantly. Before she could even turn though Mighty snagged her and had her under his arm like a sack of flower.

“Not this time you blasted armadillo!” Eggman growled as he flicked a switch and missile ports opened along the sides of the Egg Mobile. Micro missiles swarmed out of the vehicle and Rosy could not stop herself from screaming and covering her eyes as Mighty ran right through them.

“Sorry about this, Rosy, but it’s about to get a little rough,” Mighty apologized as Eggman’s missiles tore up the ground in a series of rapidly increasing explosions. Shielding himself and Rosy as best he could with his shell as he ran through, Mighty risked his biggest gamble and revealed he had gathered enough Rings since he was separated from Tails and Rosy to make a Ring Gate. Pulling the condensed Ring out in the middle of Eggman’s barrage surely risked him losing it, but he had not spent the time gathering the Rings for nothing and threw it out in front of him just past where Tails still lay.

“No! No! No! NO NO! NO~~~!!!” Eggman screamed as Metal Sonic had yet to recover from its confusion and his barrage of missiles failed to stop Mighty from grabbing Tails and escaping through the Ring Gate just as it vanished.

There was a long moment of silence after the last missile detonated and Eggman’s mustache drooped heavily as he kept his hands on the controls. Eventually he sighed and conceded the mistake was his. “I should have known better considering I didn’t repair you personally.”

Piloting the Egg Mobile over to where Metal Sonic seemed to be still trying to sort out the conflict within its programming, taking to tapping the side of its head with the base of a hand, Eggman scowled as he looked at his creation. “I don’t know who repaired you, but I can assure you they’ll know my full wrath when I get my hands on them. No one has the right to tamper with my beautiful creations! Oh~ hohohohoho!” Eggman’s chilling laughter seemed to finally fix Metal Sonic and the robot rubbed its nose with a finger as Eggman’s tone became much more sinister. “But don’t you worry Metal Sonic, I’ll be sure to thank them for granting you the ability to track Ms. Rose. Sending you out in pursuit of her once I know what’s gone wrong will let me figure out where the last two Gaia eyes are, and then I can join you with a full batch of my little formula to make sure she doesn’t escape us again!

“OH~ HOHOHOHOHO~!”

RAILROAD RETREAT CLEARED Chapter 3 – No Control, End

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And there's chapter 3! I hope everyone enjoyed, and please forgive me for the parallels with chapter 1. This should be the only time it happens, and I needed to do it for certain plot points to be put into motion. I'll definitely be more original going forward, so please look forward to chapter 4. Thank you everyone! And in the meantime, feel free to stop by the Sonic Ring Bond Discord server - https://discord.gg/aVjNUyG - to talk about the AU!

#sonic the hedgehog #doctor eggman #miles tails prower #mighty the armadillo #classic amy #amy rose #rosy the rascal #my redesign #Metal Sonic #sonic ring bond #sonic au #my au #my writing #ring bond literature

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ahmedmootaz · 5 years ago

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Drakken and Shego: The Shippening: Finale.

You can probably see that I’m running out of ideas for titles. In any case, folks, y’all probably thought I was gone, eh? You thought I stopped my shipping of these two? You thought the Tazmanian Intelligence Forces finally got me after such a long time? Well you thought wrong! Here I am, still writing about these two dorks, and here’s a small compilations of the moments I found to be cute between the two of them, for what will unfortunately be the last time, I’m afraid, but hey, at least Graduation was wholly amazing. Really, it’s one of my favorite finales to a series so far. But enough monologuing, I watched this show enough to learn how much it can ruin a man, let’s just get into it.

Starting with “Odds Man In”, in which Drakken and Shego open up a...cupcake business. Man, even the summary of this episode can be enough to half-fuel the Titanic. Honestly though, the re-introduction of Hank was a nice call-back, and now he has a better job. Truly a self-made man right there. In any case, I like how Drakken and Shego seem to just have this...thing of casual Friday. I mean, honestly, the way Shego reacted wasn`t surprised or even mocking; she`s already had this conversation before, as in, Drakken has a usual casual Friday. That`s honestly pretty cute. Even though I`m entirely certain Shego would never participate, but at least he`s confident enough around her to wear as he wishes. And, to an extent, she’s nice enough to go with it, which is unheard of for Shego.Then the whole promotion part with Shego, which is what I expected of her to be honest. In fact, her entire dynamic with Drakken this episode appeals to me mostly because of how well they seem to have adapted to each other`s weaknesses and how they`re kinda-maybe-not really getting along well. Also, the ending segment is fairly nice with how Drakken simply invites Shego to help him with the cupcakes. Knowing him, I’d have thought he’d have acted less “Can we please just finish these things?” and more “I made these so they are mine and mine only!”. Though I do wonder how he got rid of the extra calories he gained. Talk about high-metabolism.

Leaving Drakken to burn those calories like he burns people with his raps, we now move onto “Stop Team Go.”, an epsiode I’m certain many put on their ‘Favorite Episodes’ list, and not without good reason. Of course, the main point of the episode was to explore the strange, unimaginable and yet intriguing idea of what would happen if Shego was basically Kim but with superpowers. I enjoyed the return of Team Go, the expansion of their proper storyline and such, and I definitely did not mind seeing Ron go back to becoming Lord Zorpox, even if for a brief moment. But I suppose the real reason we’re all here is Drakken and Shego, eh? Can’t blame ya’. So the side-plot with Drakken and the pickle jar was more than entertaining, but you know what I noticed? Drakken’s immediate assumption that Shego was there during the morning. At breakfast. I mean, come on, people, does anyone here regularly have breakfast with their boss? Well, in any case, even after her abandoning him time and time again throughout this series, Drakken is either gullible enough or so trusting to the point where he considers this all to be a little...prank. He spends all the day trying to open the pickle jar and imitate Darth Vader, but he doesn’t doubt her. At all. I find that rather nice on his part after everything they’re been through together. I quite liked seeing Shego and Kim interact without trying to cut each other’s throats for once (Mr.Barking crushing on Shego was...It...I-I...Listen, he can dream big, alright? I ain’t stopping him, but...I don’t really think it...uh...worked, for a lack of a better term...He didn’t quite deserve angry guard dogs on him but...I think it was best for him to let go...) but after the dust had settled and Electronique was back in jail, one thing got me hooked: “SHEEEEEEGO! I NEEEEED YOU!”. C’mon, Doc, you’re her boss. Couldn’t you have said something more...strict and bossy? “Oh, there you are, Shego!”, for example? Bah, whether or not he was speaking solely about the gherkin jar is entirely up for debate...heh. I also liked the fact that in what I can only presume to be their spare time, they actually sit together in a single room. Not much talking, but at least they’re getting along. Maybe they can even start a chat or two.

Heading onto “Cap’n Drakken”, where I didn’t really find much in the term of shipping. Perhaps their little chat in their underwater lab, but it was standard at this point in time. I suppose it does give more room for personal writing and headcanons now that we know that Drakken has underwater labs in addition land ones, so there’s that. I cannot really consider anything Drakken does when he’s possessed as...him, to put it simply, although I did appreciate Mr.Barkin`s shenanigans during the episode. Also Kim saving our lovable blue man after he nearly drowns was nice on her part. Thanks for not letting Drakken die a horrible and painful death, Princess. I would`ve liked a joke or two about Mr.Barkin recognizing Shego as Ms.Go and Shego actually trying to help Drakken instead of blasting him off the boat because he ticked her off...But I suppose what she did was very...Shego of her. Couldn`t have expected anymore on her behalf.

And now, we explore “The Mentor Of Our Discontent.” where....Frugal Lucre is back?...Goodness, Frugal Lucre IS back! I almost forgot about him! Good on ya’, man. Though I don’t suppose Drakken was too happy about it...And Shego telling Frugal about what irks Drakken the most while disguising it as his most beloved things? Typical. Nice bit of teasing, though. Her saving them from their near-doom was also a nice on her parts. I also liked the small bit of continuity where Shego reminds (read: practically yells at) Drakken that his past robot-related idea was a bust...Which...I mean...she’s not wrong, but it’s not the robots themselves that failed, it was him...well, tying Kim effing Possible with a regular rope to what seemed like a piece of cardboard. Also...”Oh no: They’re bonding!”...Shego, is that...jealousy, I sense? Most likely not, in fact it’s probably my shipping senses tingling once more, but SHHHHHH. In any case, she probably didn’t want Drakken knowing anyone else since...well, they’d render her obsolete; how many people does Drakken know and interact with on a daily basis? Not many, I would presume. The plan was...well, it could’ve worked, certainly, but...trying to seduce Jeff Bezos? Yeah, not...too likely...Honestly, the way Shego and Drakken argued this episode, it seemed as if she wanted more...recognition? Appreciation? Never thought she’d be after that, but I suppose she does deserve some, no? Also...Shego with yellow hair? Yeah, not really working out for ya’ with the whole...green skin thing...Yeah, I’ll stop. Also, unlike some people, I actually think Jeff dodged a big, flaming plasma bullet when Shego left him for good. Who knows, he might’ve woken up with a large burn wound and empty pockets. Also no real-estate value. At least she was nice enough to save Drakken and Frugal after this bust of a plot, no? Otherwise we wouldn’t see them in the following episodes? Oh, shut up, I’ll think what I want!

Alsoalsoalso, and this is extremely important: Shego loves hydrangeas! Hey, everyone has a soft-spot, and apparently, Shego is no different. Extremely important you guys. Think of the fanfiction potential!

And now, sliding onto “Clean Slate”, we have Drakken discovering what it’s like to start forgetting about the most essential of things while remembering everything else for a plan. You know, I could’ve sworn I saw a character like that before, though he was nowhere near as likable as Drakken...Oh. Wait. Sorry, my fault. That’s just me. Also, good on you for calling out the exposition, Shego, just as a true friend should for their boss!...Okay also for a sidekick but shut up. Anyways, Drakken tries to amplify his thinking by stealing a thinking machine and...Honestly? His dialogue and banter with Shego throughout the way there is simply amazing. The first scene with the pair of them in the lab after the day-off was just brilliant; I could not tell you just how unsurprising it was that Drakken watches “Ballroom With B Actors”. No surprise at all. Their banter was surprisingly...un-bitter? I mean, yeah, Shego was being her usual self, go figure, but Drakken wasn’t reacting nearly as vengefully as he would...Hmm...Also, why does Shego care if Drakken becomes a list-guy or not? Why does she care if he becomes lame? She is only the sidekick, no? She shouldn’t be concerned about how lame or not he is, eh? Also, personal experience has taught me that these papers are actually life-savers so...lameness for the win? And the hospital scene was quite nice too. The bowling with the henchmen part got a giggle out of me, but I liked how Shego was (slightly) invested in the mission itself. I mean, she actually took the lead, helped Drakken fit the pieces...these things. Also, what I wouldn’t do for a card that just says “Oh snap.”. Their second scene at the lair was also very nice, mostly because of how natural(?) everything felt...I mean...Once more, they’ve started interacting less like boss-and-sidekick and more like equals...In fact, Shego doesn’t immediately quip back when Drakken boasts about his plan in front of her. Which is honestly something unheard of for Shego. And again with the serum creation part, where the lippy-ness and everything else just becomes...naturalized. I mean, heck, “geek!”? That’s the best insult Shego can come up with? Though I have to agree with her about the fool-proof part; the more you say it, the more it is jinxed, my man. And then, the plan itself. which...well...I mean...Just one part. So close. So close. I liked the small quip with “Settle down,”, implying that he needs Shego to...well...calm down. I don’t like stating the obvious but here I am. Unfortunately, Shego’s friendliness doesn’t last all too long (When has it ever?) and she abandons Drakken when the train is about to explode. Same old Shego. At least she came back for him, though. I respect that at least.

Alsoalsoalso, can we give it to Dr.D that he took a major level in awesomeness?! I mean, Shego just deserted him, he was about to be overrun by (an admittedly weakened) Kim Possible, but instead of yelling or running away, he fights back! You go, Dr.D...even though it didn’t turn out all that great...But did you folks see just how glorious his coat looked while it fluttered in the wind? The stuff of dreams. Also the fact that he managed to survive a head-on collision with a hard surface at about 150 Km/h without having Newton’s Third Law obliterate him deserves an award in and out of itself.

Alright, so the next episode that features them only has them in the end credit, but I’m going to use that ocne scene for my argument anyways! Why does Drakken, I don’t know, talk to Shego about lair decoration? I mean, come on, is that a normal thing? And Shego peacefully reading without any snark...just informing Drakken of what’s happening. It was a nice display of companionship and trust after everything they’ve been through. I believe it was also one of they very few scenes with the two of them without any actual snark. Which sets the mood perfectly for:

“Graduation.”. Alright, this one is self-explanatory. We’ve heard it all; an amazing wrap-up, fantastic conclusion to the characters we loved to much (even if I did hate having to bid this show farewell...) and most of all ship-fuel. Oh, goodness, so much ship-fuel. Let’s start with the first scene, with Drakken and Shego in their lab again as he...turns into a Flower?...Just imagining how they’d deal with that is fluffy enough...Oh, also, why was Shego just...taking a bath right there and then? I get that it’s cold up there, but come on, isn’t that just a great display of trust? Could you possibly imagine this would just be done in a regular employee-employer relationship? We’ll skip momentarily over the admittedly nice and thought-provoking Kim-part to go straight to the jungle lair, where our favorite duo is...teasing each-other. The small, genuine smile on Shego’s face sells their friendship to me, and once more, imagining a day where Shego needs to deal with Drakken’s flower is fluffy beyond all belief. And then the alien tower-robot drops in. And then he gets abducted. I’ll gloss over his adorable monologue about his mother and cut to Shego’s horrified expression. That absolute terror on her face when Dr.D’s being dragged away from her. Pretty caring of her, dont’cha think? And her only worry when seeing the alien beacon near them is their lair being found out...seems like Drakken transmitted his interests to her pretty well.

Alright, so the second, more amazing part. Firstly, Shego being so bloody adamant on finding Drakken warms my heart like she warmed those machines’ metal legs, I mean goodness! That’s someone on a mission right there! Amd her absolute resolve to just go out to space to save Drakken...Yep, definitely more to her than the gloating, teasing, snarky Shego we all know and love. Putting aside the amusing interactions between Drakken and Kimmy, we’ll move onto one of the most iconic scenes so far, and one that has been unfortunately spoiled to me, the near-hug between Drakken and Shego. I...I knew from the day I first saw that this would be great to watch. Just...So close! The hesitation signaled to me that they didn’t quite know how the other one felt, so they called it off as to not get ‘awkweird’. Even their bickering afterwards feels less like bickeing and more like...talk. Old married couple snark, if you will. So after a small jog they run into...Warhawk and Warmonga. Who then proceed to perceive them as a couple. Listen, I’m not an expert on romantics, but when an alien race who has only seen you for a single day and thinks you’re a couple...well...inter-galactic shipping cannot be wrong, eh? And Shego’s rebuttal of these caims, while fierce is...well...as Warhawk elegantly put it “A river of Denial.”. Also, notice how Drakken made no effort to argue with Warmonga’s claims. And then their little co-operation at the lab...if I remember correctly, someone had posted a now-deleted script for this scene that was far more amical. Also far more shippy. And now, we head onto how they save the world together. Firstly, Shego’s introduction of Drakken really feels like how she’d act if she was a typical sidekick, finding glory in every bit of Drakken’s plans. Of course, this is Shego we’re talking about, so this must be something...Good on ya’ Dr.D. Also, and I noticed this through the insight of @bcbdrums ‘ post, but have you noticed that the flowers that bloom are blue and green? Hmm? Is this signaling something, Drakken? Perhaps he signaled it a little too close in the final moments, if that also-iconic scene is anything to go by! I just stopped in my tracks for a moment when it came to him and Shego...Plant-hugging. This is almost everything I wanted. And the smile...it just sells a lot to me. Also how happy Shego looks for Drakken. And on that note, I adore that this is the last we see them together, leaving the rest for our questionably sane minds to fill.

So that was it, folks. Kim Possible. What an amazing journey, huh? It was all-around amazing, and Drakken and Shego (and their shippiness!) only added to it. Such a magnificent adventure this has been, and I wish you all enjoyed it with me, even when I went MIA to hide from Tazmanian Intelligence also because I was lazy , once again, thank you. Every single one of you. Your opinions are welcome.

Alsoalsoalso, I wrote a Fanfic! Check it out here and write your opinions about that because...well, it means a lot to me. The Fic:https://archiveofourown.org/works/20329315/chapters/48201205

#Kim Possible #dr. drakken #shego #drakgo #shippy stuff

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spiderman-homecomeme · 5 years ago

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🎄Twelve Days of Promptmas🎄

It’s that time of year again, my friends! The holiday season is here and I’m so excited to get this started! BUT it’s gonna be a little bit different this year!

Last year I did a “25 Days of Promptmas” and that was so fun!! This year though, I thought it would be just as fun and a bit more time friendly if it was a 12 day event instead of 25! And instead of a single, specific prompt every day, you’ll have a bit more freedom!

Under the cut there will be a list of concepts (caroling, baking, mistletoe), a list of various pieces of dialogue, and a list of Christmas songs! From these, you can make your very own prompts for each day! You could choose a concept, some dialogue, and a song, or maybe two concepts and a dialogue option, or just a song, etc. Mix and match ‘em! You can write a small, three sentence fic, or something 10k and beyond! Whatever you want! We’ll start posting on December 14th, all the way up until Christmas Day!

Happy Writing!! 🎄

Concept:

Caroling

Shopping

Picking out a Christmas tree

Mistletoe kisses

Hot Chocolate and Peppermint

Ugly Christmas sweaters

Meeting at a holiday party

There’s only one bed at this BnB

Cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies

Cold, sleepy cuddles by the fireplace.

Snowball fight

Stuck in a blizzard

Wrapping presents

Looking at Christmas lights

Stuck at the airport on Christmas Eve

Baking cookies/Holiday baking

Naughty

...or Nice

Candy canes

Fake dating for Christmas!

Winter proposal

Mittens

The first snow

Ice skating shenanigans

Favorite traditions

Secret Santa

Sledding

Gingerbread houses

Marshmallows

First holiday season together

Eggnog

Fuzzy socks

Matching PJs!

Baby’s first Christmas

Building snowmen

Christmas markets

Decorating the tree

Getting into the festive spirit

Sleigh bells

All bundled up

Wish list

Advent calendar

Cold winter nights

Family Christmas

Finding the perfect gift

Greeting cards

Nighttime walks in the snow

Opening presents

’Twas the night before Christmas

Christmas morning!

Dialogue:

“Do you mind?” “What? I’m cold.”

“Do not throw that snowball.”

“No peeking!”

“Hey! Those cookies were for Santa!”

“It’s called ‘roasting’ marshmallows, not setting them on fire.”

“Your hands are freezing!”

“That ornament doesn’t go there.”

“Oh come on, don’t get your tinsel in a tangle.”

“Stop eating all the popcorn! It’s supposed to go on the tree!” “Okay, but who puts popcorn on a Christmas tree?”

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”

“You didn’t think I’d let you spend the holidays alone, did you?”

“It’s snowing!”

“Listen, Santa doesn’t have to know about this.”

“I like this tree.”

“It’s Christmas Eve, so that means I get to open a gift!”

“Do you think we could maybe turn the Christmas music off? Just for like, two seconds?” “Nope.”

“Do you like it?” “I love it.”

“Oh, I know exactly what you’re trying to do. But you will not ruin my Christmas. Not again. Not this year.”

“Is that a candy cane in your pocket or are you just--” “Yeah, do you want one?”

“I love you, but your taste in Christmas music is horrible.”

“Why did that present just bark/meow at me?”

“Wow, looks like Santa threw up in here.”

“This is the fourth time we’ve listened to the entirety of the Nutcracker.”

“Let’s make snow angels!” “How old are you?”

“No, no, no. You’re the reindeer this year. I get to be Santa.”

“Why are you staring at me?” “Nothing... You just look really cute right now.”

“The cookies! They’re burning!”

“Who wrapped this?”

“Keep doing that if you wanna end up on the naughty list.”

“But it’s Christmas!” “...It’s November 19th.”

“You do know that Santa’s not real, right?”

“Is that... mistletoe?”

“Bah humbug!”

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Man, I need to slow down on the eggnog.” “It’s not even spiked?” “...Oh”

“You did all this for me?”

“You have frosting on your face.”

“I’m bringing the holiday cheer to you!”

“Where’s all your holiday spirit, Scrooge?”

“Why are you under the tree?” “Because I’m a gift.”

“Don’t let the fact that I’m freezing my ass off out here fool you; I’m having a great time.”

“You know... the older I get, the more and more I can relate to the Grinch.”

“I’m sorry, but you make a terrible Santa.”

“Where did you get that sweater?”

“Wake up! It’s Christmas!” “It’s 6 am, go away!”

“You sure you have enough hot chocolate with your marshmallows?” “Shut up!”

“Do you wanna build a snowman?”

“Ha, this gingerbread man looks like you.”

“But baby, it’s cold outside--” “Absolutely not.”

“Merry Christmas.”

Song:

(Literally any song you can think of! Here are just a few ideas!)

Last Christmas

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Winter Wonderland

Santa Baby

Sleigh Ride

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

All I Want For Christmas is You

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Silent Night

etc.

Feel free to tag me in your creations! I’d love to see what y’all come up with! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

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letterfromtrenwith · 5 years ago

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Merry Kissmas

Poldark Advent Calendar - 4th December

Modern AU George/Elizabeth + Mistletoe

Requested by anon

George isn’t really a big fan of Christmas parties...

"George! You're very late!" Caroline cried when she opened the door, her disapproving expression losing just a touch of seriousness by virtue of being above a Christmas jumper featuring a pug wearing a santa hat and the sequin-ed legend "Bah Humpug". It was the most Caroline thing he'd ever seen.

"I've been at - " He paused to let Caroline bestow two slightly boozy kisses on his cheeks, " - work!"

"George! It's Christmas!"

"It's Dec 10th." He protested as she dragged him into the living room. The entrance hall had been well decorated, but this was a bit like being smacked in the face with a Christmas card. A tree positively heaving with baubles loomed in the corner of the room, tinsel crawled along the top of every picture frame and just about every flat surface held at least one glittery stag or sweet-faced knitted snowman.

"It's no good arguing, George, it's been Christmas since Halloween so far as Caroline's concerned." Dwight appeared at George's elbow, offering a glass of something sparkling. "Non-alcoholic champagne, since you're driving."

"Thank you."

"At least you've made some sort of effort, I suppose." Caroline sniffed and flicked his tie - a garish green creation covered in tiny candy canes and snowflakes, which Margaret had gleefully presented him with at the office, insisting he couldn't possibly go to Caroline's party without something appropriate to wear. He did look very low-key compared with the everyone else - a dazzling array of Santas, reindeer, gingerbread men, baubles, robins and who knew what else adorned the guests in the form of jumpers, dresses, earrings and hairbands. Across the room he spotted Demelza wearing a bright green dress patterned with tinsel and baubles like a Christmas tree, while Verity was dressed in a red skirt emblazoned with Santa and Rudolf. Even Dwight was sporting a knit designed to look like a Christmas pudding.

He spent a short while mingling - and making the most of the excellent buffet, he'd eaten lunch at twelve and was now absolutely starving - until he headed to the kitchen to get some water, and instead was stopped in his tracks at the door. Elizabeth was standing at the bench - a clear, sparkling drink in her hand - laughing at something Emma was telling her. George had been introduced to Elizabeth at another one of Caroline's many parties in summer, and he hadn't relished the experience. Not because he didn't like Elizabeth - completely the opposite, in fact - but because he turned into a gibbering idiot every time he got within ten feet of her. Caroline's Halloween Party had been particularly embarrassing, not that being dressed as a Roman centurion had helped very much.

"Talk to her!" A little voice hissed in his ear, and he turned around to see a elf who looked suspiciously like Elizabeth's cousin, Morwenna, sneaking off back to the party. Easier said than done, Santa's Little Helper. George debated sneaking off himself but unfortunately Emma - in a white jumper declaring 'Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal' - turned around and saw him, which also attracted Elizabeth's attention. She gave him a wide smile, and George immediately felt himself get tongue-tied. He really should not have trouble talking to beautiful women at his age, but then again Elizabeth wasn't just any beautiful woman, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, as well as intelligent, witty and fascinating.

"George! How are you?" She put her head on the side, like she was actually interested, and he had to admire her politeness. He managed to stutter out some sort of response and struggle his way through small talk for a couple of minutes, feeling a complete fool the entire time, until Caroline called for Elizabeth from the living room, and she disappeared with another dazzling smile.

Ha managed another hour - and a few more pigs-in-blankets - before he had to escape to the conservatory for a bit of a breather. The party may not have spilled over into that room (yet), but it was no less decorated than everywhere else. It was a clear night, stars visible in the sky overhead; an advantage of living on the coast. Frost sparkled on the lawn, and at the end of the garden he caught the quick flash of the eyes of some nocturnal creature. The muffled strains of 'Step Into Christmas' echoed from the living room and out of the corner of his eye he saw someone in a Star Wars Christmas jumper - Drake - dance past the lounge window.

"Ah, there you are." George whipped around far too quickly at the sound of Elizabeth's voice. She stepped out of the house, giving a little involuntary shiver at the cooler air in the conservatory. He hadn't paid too much attention to her outfit before bar a flash of the colour - she wore a purple top covered in sequins, which matched her bauble shaped earrings. "Was wondering where you'd disappeared too."

"I've been to two clients' Christmas parties already, and I've got at least four more scheduled, not including the Bank do. I'm a bit partied out already." Evidently even the non-alcoholic champers had loosened his tongue, since he thought that was the most coherent sentence he'd ever managed in Elizabeth's presence.

"Oh, God, I'm with you there. Everyone I know seems to have decided they want to throw a party this year. There's only so many mince pies you can eat, whatever Demelza might say!"

They stood in blessedly comfortable silence for a short while, 'Step Into Christmas' fading into 'Santa Baby'. Somewhere in the distance, somebody was setting off fireworks.

"George, look up." Elizabeth murmured and he did as was told, despite the oddness of the request. Hanging above him, in the centre of the glass roof, was a sprig of mistletoe.

"Oh, er - "

"I've been trying to catch you under that all evening."

"I - what?"

"Well, all of the other blatant hints I've been dropping since about September don't seem to have been working, so I thought I'd best just cut to the chase." She grinned as he stared at her open-mouthed, but her smile gradually started to falter. "That is, unless you've been nicely giving me the brush off and I've just - mmmmm."

George had closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to hers. After a tiny, surprised pause she wrapped her hand around his silly Christmas tie and pulled him closer. She tasted like Prosecco and gingerbread, and George was going to have to seriously revise his opinion of Christmas parties.

#poldark #george warleggan #elizabeth warleggan #elizabeth chynoweth #george x elizabeth #poldark advent calendar #pac19 #f: ge #f: au #fic #m: fic #the first bit of fic I've published in flipping ages #and yes it's set on dec 10th but I'm posting it on dec 4th what of it

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afterthelastreset · 6 years ago

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Rules of one’s soul

(this was partially inspired by @lykillofasgard ‘s Nosuit fic Opposites Attract. Please go check out their writing and support this writer! I apologize if anything comes off too ooc or drawn out. It’s my first time trying to write something for Deltarune. All mentioned characters belongs to Toby Fox and co.)

***************************************************************************

He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't be doing ANY of this. What would one think if they knew that the King's appointed Duke of Puzzles, caretaker of the prince, and master of law and order would be feeling absolutely weak in the presence of an insolent clown?! NO! He wasn't weak! Rouxls Kaard was anything but weak. He was just....uh..a little unprepared for the absolute madness of the knave when they first encountered. Yes. That's it! Not even the great Duke of Puzzles could get all first impressions right. He wasn't sure of the strange feeling in his gut whenever his mind revolved around back to THAT night. The strength of those ghastly hands latching onto him and slamming him into the cold steel, near those sickly glowing eyes. The very thought of those things made him shudder and get a sick feeling in his stomach. In a way, he was more terrorfying than thy king. At least with him you could tell when the Spade was displeased in anyway, but there's no feeling behind a mad man's smile. So. The answer to recovery was to just avoid the place and do his best to push those thoughts deep down and try to distract himself. And for a while. It actually worked. He managed to busy himself by making an actual working piece of his work the king seemed pleased with. He called it, A Control Crown. Though it still could use some work as it only worked on more...um. Less smart beings of the realm. And the King's annoying worm(but much better company keeper) of a son had gotten himself into plenty of shenanigans the Duke had to fix or pull him out of. It had been maybe a few months since the incident and he rarely thought of any of that encounter. So all was well with the Duke of Puzzle. Thou the duke did experience a strange tugging or nagging feeling like he was missing something. Oh well. None of it mattered. At least. Not until that night. A storm had decided to make itself present that night much to the annoyance and fear of the guards. For it was tonight that the prisoner better who some had called Jevil -odd name if you asked him- once again decided now would be the right time to act up and strike fear into the poor guards in charge of the food supply to him. Which also meant none wanted to go down there. Which ultimately meant the duty would fall on the next upper person in charge. .....Which meant it was up to him. To settle things. And go down there. With that THING! He honestly almost threw up the mac and cheese Lancer and himself ate for lunch when he found out. But he was the Duke of Puzzles, appointed by the King himself. Law keeping was one of his best assets, which was why he was put in charge of these guards. So, with a heavy stomach and light head, he assured any listening he'd once again take care of the 'little worm' and put a stop to this all. Oh,if only he could have seen the familiar frozen grin plastered on his face at the moment. It only got worse when he stepped into the elevator and pushed the button to the unknown level. Once the doors closed, the Duke let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and immediately reached to clutch at the tufts of shiny snow white hair on his head. "What the f*cketh have I done?!" He breathed between gasping breaths. He wasn't even sure how stupid he was at this point! Why didn't he just tell them to let the stupid prisoner go hungry just for tonight and not bother!? This was absolute madness. Like kicking a live bee nest to anger the pathetic insects- Bing! "HA!" The Duke let out a short high pitched squeak of fright from the doors reopening to reveal the beginnings of a staircase and darkness below. He hoped no one heard him. A high pitched series of laughter ruined that hope. "Oh, how fun,fun! A Duke of no suit has come once again, again to seek what he thinks he rules over!" He flinched when he faintly saw two glowing pinpricks from down below. "How interesting, interesting.~ Have you come to finally play, play?~" He stood there frozen at the sight of yellow eyes waiting for his answer. The feeling of that insolent's slimey tongue grazing his cheek and the feeling of complete helplessness came rushing back to him in a heart beat. Gathering what pride and dignity he had left, the Duke casually stood straight up and gave an annoyed look. He tried to invision himself talking to a rookie guard or Lancer whenever he had to explain something. He just had to remember. HE was the one in charge. Not some bumbling knave that couldn't even harm him from his prison all the way down below. "I-It has cometh to mine attention that thou art scaring the very guards that feed you!" He shouted down and waited for a response. But none came. The eyes didn't even blink. So he nervously licked his lips and continued. "If thou wishes to keep getting proper treatment from them in the future then thou needs to follow the rules set in place." Felling a little more confident. He decided to yell louder. He was in charge. Not him. He had no control over the situation. He made the rules. "Thou art getting on mine nerves and I do not wish to heareth about thine useless chatters or antics! I haveth no time to deal with thee any longer! I have more important matters to deal with than the rambles of an absolute mad man!! So keepest thine voice down and cease your useless shenanigans at once!!" His voice echoed throughout the silent prison as the yellow eyes continued their silent watching. Rouxls stared down at the lowlife a little longer before smiling. That was until the pinpricks disappeared as the crazy fool threw his head back in laughter at the stupid show he just witnessed. Rouxls felt his ears press to his sides and his stomach drop hard. This wasn't the reaction he had hoped. All too soon the eyes were back along with a mocking voice. "What a shame! What a shame! Thinking he could order the only one free, free in the whole kingdom!~ How amusing!~ How fun!! FUN!!~" Rouxls didn't like the change in tone of the deranged jester's voice. It almost sounded intrigued. And that's what scared him most. "I never had so much fun,fun with another pawn before! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! Tell me Rouxls Kaard. If you are in charge, charge then why are you too afraid to play this little game, game of yours?~ Hmm." The Duke didn't say anything at first. The heavy scent of fear consuming him and making his head spin. "I.....I shan't need to e-explain myself to the likes of you! I prefer not to waste mine valuable time on dealing with your insolent empty words. Thou can pretend with thine mind games all thee wishes but Rouxls Kaard is nay fool!" He pointed a hand at him. " For you see, I have thought of the possibility of thou using these games to trickest me into coming in range of your dastardly grip! But I shan't be fooled again so easily! For by me staying far from thine's hold then thou shall not have a open point to strike! Who's winning who's game now if thou never even got a chance to make his first move?!" "Yet, yet I'm not the one who's playing dirty.~ What fun is a game if one wins just because, because he cheats out of fear?~" "Hark thee little knave!!" He bellowed in absolute anger like he just threw dirt on his new suit. "What rules are laid down is followed and I shan't listen to you any longer!" He turned back towards the entrance to the elevator with a huff. The voice cooed in amusement. "BWAHAHA! A shame that the rules card is running like a defeated child,child at a game of checkers.~ My next visitor will be pleased, pleased to hear about the cowardly leader of a Duke that masters, masters over them!~" He froze. Did he just-...? No. He couldn't have just....But he did! Taking a breath, the duke world around to face the yellow eyes with anger. "Thou insolent, foolish WORM!!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. Making the jester laugh again as the duke began to march towards the stairs in complete anger that his authority would be tested by a common criminal. As he stomped his way down, he remembered to keep his distance with time when he reached the bottom. Now face to face with the clown behind the bars. Even with his limited vision, he could make out the jester's pleased smile on his face. "You DARE to threaten me with useless rumors of mine reputation?!" "Hehehe. Not a threat and not, not a rumor.~ Just facts straight and simple.~ But now that you're her, here-" The bells on him errily chimed as he tilted his head. "I find you're more fun, fun to play with.~ Tell me, tell me. Did you figure out the game, game we started last visit?" Rouxls huffed. "You mean that useless asult on mine person? BAH! I refused to even think about such things to do with the likes of thou, Jevil!" A sudden spark seemed to light up in the jester as his attention became a bit more...focused. "Ooh!~ So you learnt my name, name?~ BWAHAHA! Tell me, oh Duke of rules and puzzles. Have you any idea of what YOU have started with this game, game of ours you triggered? Are not the feelings and tugs at your very, very core not clues to this puzzle you can't seem to solve?~" The duke gave the madman a confused look at the nonsense he was spouting out of his mouth. Was this a battle of wits or riddles? If so he won either way. He didn't intend on ever coming back or giving this creature any more of his precious time after this. What was the point if he never made sense anyhow? "Was does thou even mean? This is nay puzzle! Tis a riddle of a mad fool that shan't ever be solved!" "Hmm. Perhaps. Perhaps. But tell me this Duke, and tell me true. True." A hand stuck itself out of the bars to point at him, making him flinch. "Did you not have a feeling of need,need or incompletion when you first left this place, place!? Is it now gone?! Replaced with the need to prove yourself! To, to the very person you can never win or lose against in this corrupted. CORRUPTED EMPIRE YOU CALL HOME, HOME!!" It felt like the walls and darkness themselves were vibrating with the booming voice of the smaller floating man. Rouxls couldn't even bring himself to speak and Jevil's smile suddenly became knowing instead of amused. "THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN REALLY PLAY A GAME!! GAME!! THAT MATCHES YOUR VERY OWN!! ROUXLS KAARD!! OUR FIRST MEETING, MEETING WAS NEVER OUR LAST!! THE VERY MOMENT WE MADE CONTACT, CONTACT IT SEALED US AND FATE INTERTWINED WITHIN MY FREEDOM, FREEDOM AND YOUR IMPRISONMENT!! THE BEING OF PERFECT ORDER AGAINST THE TRUE EMBODYMENT OF RAW CHAOS!! CHAOS!!" The last word felt like a wave of sound hit him and sent the duke stumbling forward a few steps almost falling to his face before he looked up at the absolute monster clutching the bars in absolute raw horror. "You....You're absolutely mad!!" Jevil chuckled again. "Maybe that's true. Maybe I am insane. Insane. But I am truly the only free, free person....But you know. It's gotten rather boring,boring and dare I saw lonely in my little freedom. Duke of puzzles. I haven't really, really felt like anyone but my old friend Seam could begin to make me this amused, amused." Maybe his insanity was rubbing off onto Rouxls but he could've sworn he saw Jevil's smile slipping a little. "I will always regret happened between us, us. But, it seems fate has directed you towards me, hmm?" "What?....I-I...I still haven't the faintest idea thou is sputtering out!" "Heh. You still don't get, get it do you, Rouxls?" He gave a hum and might have sounded like a disapproved parent if he wasn't still smiling though me. "Interesting, interesting. Tell me. Do you know the concept of soulmates?~" Silence. The frozen duke stared at the floating creature inside the cage as his brain tried to process this. Yes. He knew what a soulmate was. What an absolutely stupid question. Everyone knows a soulmate is the one person in life you feel compelled towards. Like finally putting the final missing piece of a puzzle together-.....Wait. Wait a minute. The realization must've reflected in his eyes because Jevil's smile became more soft if that was even possible for a mad man. ".....No...NO! Nononononononono! NO!!" He hands flew up to clutch his head. The floor felt like it was consuming him with how much his body fell forward to it's knees. "NO! NO! THOU TIS LYING!! MORE MIND GAMES!!" He shouted desperately at the jester who just smiled warmly back, like he was a dear old friend stopping by to grab a chat. His eyes searched for any indicators of mind games or a sick joke. "I...I can't anything to you but a toy for your amusement! Let alone thou's s-soul....IT"S NOT TRUE! I SHAN'T HEAR OF IT!! LIES!! ALL OF IT LIES-AH!!" The same strength pressed him against the same bars. And the once proud duke whimpered like a dog when facing the same eyes from his nightmares. "Naïve, naïve little duke." His voice was like he was trying to comfort a child and Rouxls let out a whimper when a clawed hand cupped his chin. His face was closer now. Why wasn't his body reacting!? He could feel the hot breath of the jester before he spoke next. "One cannot deny the rules, rules set down by fate now. Can you?~ We balance and do our dance, dance like chest pieces on a bourd. One never belonging to a suit, suit or getting the upper hand. But...we never lose, lose either.~" The contact was warm, heated and made the duke feel a sudden rush of strange belonging filled with another stronger feeling of throwing up. Both feelings intensified when the crazy jester slightly loosened his grip on the frozen man's shoulder when something that felt strangely similar to a rope wrapped around his torso. Jevil didn't notice the white shiny liquid beginning to sting the duke's eyes or the sudden swing until something came impacting into his face. The force sending the smaller man a few feet away to the ground with a loud "OH!". Instantly when the contact was broken the duke threw himself back onto his rear and shuffled back towards the stairs. Gagging and clutching at his chest. Trying his dammed hardest not to give in to the urge to puke. A slight pain throbbed in his hand from where it struck the jester. He coughed and sputtered while taking gulps of air through his mouth to help control himself. A small silence went by before the duke shakily looked at the direction of the man who had once again violated his personal being. At first he thought he was imagining it through the tears or the rushed feelings spiked through him, but no. Jevil was standing there instead of floating. One hand clutching the bars while the other cupped the cheek he guess he must've hit. A look of pure shock on the jester's face. Of the ounce proud man now reduced to a shaking crying mess. Neither said anything for a moment before jevil spoke. "You're....crying. Crying?" He blinked and removed the hand from his cheek to inspect it. Like the answers were written on his palm. "You...hit me, me?" "WELL WHAT DID THOU EXPECT YOU GOD DAMMED FOOL!?!?" Both flinched at the sudden raged tone that seemed to rush out of him. Jevil more than him. But the angry feelings overtook any other rational thoughts. "DID THOU SERIOUSLY THINK UP THIS WHOLE CRAZY DELUSIONAL F-FANTASY OF ROMANCE TO GO ALONG WITH YOUR PATHETIC TRAGETY STORY LIKEST SOME SICK NOVEL WRITTEN BY A COMMONER!?!?" Jevil stared long and hard before an annoyed expression came over him. "Fantasy, fantasy?.....DELUSIONAL TO MY OWN FEELINGS!?" He growled and gripped the bars of his caged prison. "YOU DARE SIT THERE, THERE AND CALL ME, ME A FOOL FOR RECONGNIZING THE PLAIN TRUTH WHEN NO ONE ELSE DOES, DOES?!" This time it was the duke's turn to give a dry laugh. "HA! YOU CALL WHAT JUST HAPPENED A TRUEST EVENT!? AND YOU ACTUALLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THOU'S GESTURE LIKE A NORMAL DARKNER'S?!" Jevil's face immediately dropped. Rouxls sat there as both heavily breathed from the events. Before the duke slowly stood up onto wobbly legs. "E-Even...if I did think thou's affections were true, what reason would I have t-to accept or believe when the person who gives it is a prisoner? Seam was in his righteth mind to exit this madness when he did-" A low growl directed him back to the now angry jester. Anger was a new expression for him but right now he didn't care. Rouxls felt sick, covered in sweaty slime and tears, and equally angry. ''Don't bring Seam, Seam into this." "Or what!? Thou'll attack me with more unwanted affection! This isn't exactly a splendid walk in the dungeon foreth me!" The imp let out another growl before pointing another clawed hand at him. "You cannot, cannot tell me you can't feel-" "I DON'T!!" The loud voice of the duke echoed throughout the entirety of the prison cell. Silencing anymore rambling from either end. "I tire of these useless antics a-and....AND I HAVETH ENOUGTH ON MINE PLATE AS TIS IS!!" He pointed a hand at him. "I SHAN'T EVER RETURN TO DEAL WITH THOU'S ANTICS AND I WILL NEVER SEE YOU AS MORE THAN THE ONE WHO TOILS WITH MINE EMOTIONS!! GOOD MORROW, WORM!!" He turned and began stomping his way back up the stairs towards the open doors of the elevator. Ignoring the sudden expression on the imp's face. "W-What?....ROUXLS!! You can't leave a game unfinished once you start to play, play!! It hasn't even finished!...R-Rouxls? Y-You can't forfit this game, game.....Not when I-...COME BACK, BACK!!" He paid the creature no mind while he continued climbing up the stairs-...Which was a mistake. An animalistic shriek pierced the air louder than anything he ever heard from the king. A shudder ran up his spine and only one thought shot through his head. RUN! He sprinted towards the exit up ahead. Almost tripping over his own two feet a couple times in his panicked haste to get out. Something whizzed by his head and embeaded itself into the wall above his form as more began whizzing past him. The animalistic screaming still present. One of the thing grazed his shoulder causing him to yelp in pain as a cut instantly formed. He ran into the elevator and practically spammed the up button as more of those sharp objects continued to fly around him. The doors slowly closed. Muffling the shrieking and little metallic thuds. Slowly, the elevator began to steadily rise leaving the noise behind him. Unable to withstand the wild roller coaster of emotions moving through him, Rouxls collapsed against the side of the elevator as it continued to rise. His body shook uncontrollably as he was finally able to take a look at the things that were flung at him.....Hearts. These things were all hearts. He choked. The once proud Duke of Puzzles reduced himself to a sobbing crying mess as the elevator continued to rise.

#Nosit #writing #deltarune #Jevil #rouxls kaard

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inveesible · 6 years ago

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sorry it took so long @derelict-blade , and sorry if it's not what you expected >///<

✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮

- the date on this thing says "October, 13, 2287", and all the clues lead me to believe that... the prototype 0078-yh...

- one of the functions of this thing is a journal on which I can write and save in a flash drive similar to a mini-disk (who uses mini-disks anymore?).I've decided to take note of everything that may help me understand what happened and to sort things out; if it's true that it's been 270 years since the day of my test on myself... no, I don't want to think about "that" question, now it's of no use to me.

- I managed to get out of this "vault", finally, only to come back with my tail between my legs. The scenery presented to me outside makes me believe that, at some point, during my hibernation, that atomic war finally happened.The state of the surrounding vegetation suggests that at least 50 years have passed.

- I think I killed all the giant cockroaches that infested the vault and I was able to make some terminals work, at least those are still intact... The hacking was so outdated that it was literally the last card I played. I found the diary of one of the scientists who worked here, and with it the confirmation of a nuclear strike occurred in date October 23, 2077; so they brought me here with the prototype between 2017 and 2077 and they used us to develop other cryopods, in which they locked twelve people against their will... those people survived the bombs just to be imprisoned here, maybe forever… or at least until the reactor stops working.

- I've had enough for today, I'll try to sleep and continue tomorrow. It's so cold here, but it could be me...

- 10/16: I decided to try to explore the surroundings once more, at the first giant spider that I meet I'll shoot myself straight in the head. I brought with me the gun I found, 22 bullets, no, 21... I’ll keep one for myself.

- before I left I checked the vital signs of the twelve hibernates, they are fine, as long as you can feel fine in a cryogenic induced coma... I promised (to who?) that every once in a while I'll be back to check on their conditions. now let's see how I handle this shit…

- I stopped almost immediately, at a gas station (?) a few steps from the vault. From the hillside you could see a hamlet, very small, maybe ten houses, but for now I prefer to avoid - I was going to write "population centres". I… I'm too scared of who or what I could find there, but here I was lucky, I met a dog, an healthy and friendly-looking German Shepherd... REGULAR SIZE. Good boy.

- from here you can see what looks like a water supply, and if it’s telling the truth, we are (meaning the dog and I) near Concord, meaning, we are not too far from Cambridge... I wonder if it wouldn't be better to… all I had was there... I need to see with my own eyes that... now...

- a few hours after leaving the gas station (??) it started raining, the dog and I (yes, he’s following me, and I must admit that I feel safer now), we found a shelter in an abandoned tool shed. I set up a bed and I locked myself in, now I want to take advantage of this time available to learn how to use this... wrist-computer (?); "pip-boy 3000" is says here, yeah there's no way I'm saying that...

- 10/17: I fell asleep while "playing" with this minicomputer, I were fooled by the puppy's body heat, or maybe it was his smell… but if it keeps away the beasts then it's worth it. I had breakfast with some canned water, I found old boxes of processed food that I don't trust to eat, I keep them aside for when I have no other choice... that could be a matter of hours, since I have not eaten in four days... oh right, 269 years, 10 months and 6 days, thanks a lot brain.

- the dog (I wonder if I should give him a name) hunted down a couple of birds to feed himself, I got a good look at them, he's so lucky he’s not a fussy.

- The dog is much smarter than many people I've met, he helped me find some medicines and A RIFLE! 38 caliber, telescopic sight, silencer, and 34 cartridges in a hip bag. Now I'm less afraid of meeting a giant spider... or nearly... He also brought me a can of Cram, regardless of the expiration date, I never liked it, but if I want to keep going with this experiment I'll have to come to terms with it, sooner or later.

- 10/18: I had to stop my entries because, like an idiot, I attracted a dogs pack with that goddamned Cram and... I had to... I've never shot anything alive before yesterday... I had never killed voluntarily... but those dogs were... I've never seen them so aggressive, they looked like those birds with which the dog (the friendly one) feeds occasionally, spot baldness, purulent sores, I managed not to get bit by the skin of your teeth. Who knows from what kind of bacterial mutant disease they were infected... they were five and... I shot three of them in the head after the dog (the friendly one) broke the first two's necks... then we had to run, I feared that the shots could have attracted something, or someone, even worse. Now we are safely locked in a wrecked bus, I cried for an hour and slept for another.

- it's an oddly beautiful full moon night, I can see the silhouettes of the buildings in Cambridge, if I leave at the first lights I could get to my old apartment by nightfall, if it works for everyone…

- in order to get my shit together I made an inventory of my "equipment": the clothes I'm currently wearing - a scarf (now in the bag) - my glasses - other sunglasses (now in the bag) - my pager (broken) - wallet - money ($ 518 in cash, $ 11 and 57 cents in change) - my I.D. did not survive the freezing, the data is illegible - 10mm gun - 17 ammo of the abovementioned gun - caliber 38 sniper rifle - 34 cartridges of the abovementioned rifle - 6 units of canned water - 1 unit of half eaten Cram (it sucks, but edible) - 2 units of Pork n’ Beans – 2 units of Fancy Lads Snack Cakes – a blue jumpsuit, new, too big for me (now in the bag).

- the food preservation industry has made tremendous strides while I was sleeping ... bah, America.

- inside the vault it didn't work properly, but I noticed that the radio of this minicomputer has intercepted some frequencies; as soon as I find a shelter I'll try to tune in. It's surely an indication of post-apocalyptic civilization, I don't know yet whether to rejoice or not.

-oh, this minicomputer also has a built-in thermometer, according to it I've a bit of fever and I'm almost dehydrated.

- I would give my left arm for a hot bath...

- … and the right one for some not 300-year-old cigarettes.

- I can't get those dogs out of my head... among all that happened to me, those dogs...

- it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid thinking of "that question"...

- 10/19 part 2: while I was having breakfast with the leftover of that Cram (ugh) I saw a person pass by, a woman, along the way nearby: she was alone, if we don't count the naked cow loaded with stuff (it had two heads?? Perhaps my dehydration is more severe than I expected), and she was armed, if we can consider weapon a gun made out of twigs and scrap metal (???), the dog was not alarmed, I was about to go and talk to her, but I'm a coward and I missed my chance...

- I waited to see her disappear behind a distant corner, then I waited another twenty minutes to not hear gunshots, at that point I followed her steps, we are pretty close to Cambridge, and more houses can mean more people, people who could be hostile, that's why I took the safe off.

- I wonder if it's not the case to go to the police station... I'm not stupid enough to hope to find Edward there, but maybe there’s some stock that could turn useful, weapons, ammunition, ESPECIALLY ammunition, better yet body armour, anti-aggression equipment... yes, it's DEFINITELY the case to go to the police station.

- Edward… when the war broke out he should have been 95... who knows if no fuck no, I can't think of this now, I don't want to do the same calculation for those assholes, they are dead, they are dead they are dead they are all dead I’m sorry Edward

- 10/19 part 3: I have two hours of light, I'm wasting time on this fire escape, it wasn't easy to get the dog up, he didn't want to hear of it, but I thought it was safer to try to get in from the roof, I didn't even see the main entrance... if there were people inside... if those people were armed and hostile... if that woman, that of the two-headed cow, went around armed there must be a reason... if those people were trying to kill me, how much further could I claim self-defense? Would I be able to defend myself? Would I be able to ... kill them before they kill me? This is going to be the most difficult experiment that I must ever conduct.

-OK that’s new: there are signs of recent activity, someone tried to set up a shelter in here, there’s ammo but no weapon, makeshift mattresses, FOOD, but I didn't touch anything; whoever did this could come back and I need to be ready, perhaps to fight, perhaps for a peaceful dialogue... I hope for the latter.

-10/21 I'm absolutely the most idiotic and lucky person in the world: after my last entry two days ago, due to the dog's body heat and to my belly full of 200 year old treats, I fell asleep AGAIN... I'm such a dumb shit…! The first unregistered voice that I heard in eight days woke me up, under threat and pointing to me what I later realized was a weapon, who highly invited me to identify myself and to declare my intentions. I've never been so close to wet my pants, but luckily that man was open to dialogue, maybe I'll write something about him and his group later, they are four, they know what they’re doing, and they don't want to hurt me... apparently.

- and now the bad news: when I was woken up the dog was gone. Danse, I mean Paladin Danse of the Brotherhood of Steel (?), said there was no dog with me when he found me, I looked for him a bit nearby the others warned me not to go too far because Cambridge is Ghoul infested (???)... that dog can take care of himself, he'll be fine... please let him be fine...

-Haylen wait, Scribe Haylen (oh my fucking god), is teaching me how to use the latest technology, hardware and stuff, she was nothing short of enthusiastic about my minicomputer, and advised me not to keep it inside my duffle bag, but always on my wrist (shit, it's as comfortable as a wooden underwear). She also told me to wear the jumpsuit I found in the vault, the one that was too big for me, because the fabric is made of a radiation-resistant material, has the ability to regulate body heat according as necessary and, lo and behold, it's not too big, the suit fits your size, you wear it, you wiggle in it a little bit, and it fits perfectly. I'm wearing it under my clothes, it's definitely TOO tight for my liking.

- speaking of radiations, Haylen says that the medicines I found are safe, in small doses even that pre-war food, although fresh food would be better (fresh food here???).

- I like Haylen, we share very much and I can talk to her pretty quietly, she asks a lot of questions, but can't say I wouldn't have done the same myself. Paladin Danse is doing his best to make me feel comfortable, he doesn’t always succeed, however I appreciate the effort, and his "power armor" is the coolest thing I've ever seen! Sometimes I find Knight Keane looking away from me, he hasn’t spoke to me in two days, almost makes me think he hates me, he would not be the first. Knight Rhys is dickhe

- Paladin Danse called a meeting in ten minutes, this time my presence is requested, and now that I'm writing it, I'm afraid it's because they've finally decided what to do with me...

#may #brotherhood of steel oc #dogmeat?#paladin danse #scribe haylen #knight keane #knight rhys #expect some reblogs #I put a lot of work into this shit #sorry for my shitty english

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grailacademy · 6 years ago

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Welcome To Grail Academy - Chapter Twenty-two: Trouble

Finally, the exams were over. No more stress, no more classes, no more teachers, no more lectures. A wave of relief swept over the entirety of Grail Academy, the hallways of the school had never been so calm before. Where there was once petty squabbles and panicked studying, now was students exchanging contact information and hugs before the winter break set in. Everyone, except for Esmerelda and her teammates. They all stood huddled around Nico’s locker while he maneuvered the lock on it. He had forgotten the combination years ago, but the paper clip he wiggled in the slot between the combination wheel and the locking mechanism was working just fine. A small click, and the lock popped off. “So, what’s the plan again?”

Esmerelda crossed her arms, a look of thinly veiled disgust crossing over her face as she watched her teammate hook the lock onto a belt loop on his pants. Tacky. She explained, “Wicker Street has Boost deals every day, that’s where we’ll start. The police tend to patrol that neighborhood anyway, so we’ll follow behind one of the cars and use them to lead us to potential suspects or witnesses, anyone that might know something.” Bernard held his arms out like a bellhop while Nico dove into his locker, chucking garbage over his shoulder and stacking items of importance in his partner’s hands. A rack of cassette tapes, a hoodie, a wrench most likely stolen from the Weapons Ec class, a pair of gaudy platform boots, a spare cartridge of dust, a second, bigger wrench, fistfuls of cheap plastic bead necklaces, a poorly handmade mug, a half-eaten banana, and a pink knitted scarf. He wrapped the scarf around his neck and tied it, seeing flakes of snow flutter down to the courtyard through a window by one of the classrooms. “That’s all fine and dandy, but….” Nico paused and gestured to Esmerelda’s high-end fashionable fur coat and matching earmuffs, snickering with an apologetic smirk. “You don’t exactly blend in with the street life down there.”

The other boy nodded while he dropped all of Nico’s stuff into an open backpack slung across his partner’s shoulder. Except for the banana, he first checked to see if it was moldy or brown, and then ate the rest of it. “They don’t take kindly to rich folk”, Bernard said monotonously. Esmerelda stared at the two boys in shock while they engaged in the most unsanitary activity she had ever seen: sharing the old banana they found in the locker. Okay, thin veil of disgust was now gone. Her disgust was now out in the open, for all the world to see. Bernard munched on his portion, and offered the end of it to Nico, who simply took a bite out of it while the other was still holding the fruit. How did she end up on a team with these animals? Nico continued talking while he was still chewing his food, adding to the nastiness that no one but their leader found appalling. “Half the community’s been gentrified to hell, and it’s only getting worse, so yuppies are a no-go.”

“I’m a yuppy now?” Esmerelda raised a brow, cocking her hip to the side. That look was never good, the end of her brow twitching and arched with her arms folded, her lips pursed. That was the look that mothers gave their children as a silent way to say, watch your mouth. The boys knew that look well. Bernard actually took a step backwards, ready to run, knowing that whatever Nico said next would determine their fate. Nico laughed nervously, putting his hands out in front to defend himself just in case. “No, no no no! I-I didn’t mean you SPECIFICALLY, I just meant….well. You’re fancier than most people. And that’s not a bad thing! No! But you….stand out. And we’re trying to be stealthy, you know?” The smile on his face did nothing to hide the fear in his eyes. To their amazement, the hook in Esmerelda’s brow slowly lowered, and her mouth slowly creased into a small frown, and she grumbled. “….I guess I could tone it down, a bit.” Those words ushered sighs of relief out of Bernard and Nico, who silently praised whatever deities resided in the heavens for sparing their lives from certain death.

Bernard added, “We’ll still need covers if we want to get into any of the joints.”

“Already on it”, Nico disappeared into the depths of his locker once more before returning with three plastic computer chips clutched in his fist and shutting the cabinet with a metallic slam. He handed each of them to his friends and they plugged the chips into their scrolls, bragging, “Made them myself. What can I say, Nico Rosé comes prepared!” Bernard and Esmerelda wondered how someone like Nico was capable of getting such high-end IDs, but their questions were answered when they read over the uploaded text on their scrolls. Bernard squinted and held the ID up close to his eyes. “….You made me forty two years old.”

“And what are these names?” Esmerelda questioned, “I mean, Viridescence Eau De Nil? That seems overdramatic, even for my tastes.”

Nico waved off their complaints, chirping “I know, aren’t they great? It’s our cover! We’re a rock band, and we’re looking at new venues for gigs. It’s perfect!”

“I don’t know about perfect….” Bernard grumbled, noting that the name on his card was Brick The Dick. Nonetheless, they all slipped their IDs into their pockets, bundling up before heading out into the snow.

Aurum sat reclined in a dusty loveseat, flipping through channels on the tiny tv box he had set up on top of a crate. Lolanthe was meticulously whittling a small bar of wax soap with a pocket knife on the other end of the loveseat, shaping it into the figure of a duck. They both waited on the couch, in the refurbished office space that hung above the factory floor with its glass walls covered in papers. The tv monitor paused on a baking show, where a contestant carried an elaborate cake with rose decorations up to the judges. It made Aurum burst out in a huff, “Bah! I could do better than that. These people never put their heart and soul into their work!” His thick accent broke through when he raised his voice. Lolanthe rolled her eyes.

“I was a baker once, you know”, he turned to the woman next to him.

“I know, Aurum. You tell me every day.”

“You know what this show’s problem is? The contestants are too-”

“-Too afraid to use heavy butter. I know. I don’t understand why you watch this channel when all you do is yell at the screen.” She had clearly heard him make the butter argument many times before.

“Because, butter is what holds the entire pastry together! They’re fools! This show should be called Teaching Clowns To Use Butter.” Their one-sided bickering was interrupted when Sable’s imposing silhouette slithered across the back wall’s window, and Aurum snapped the tv off when her shadow reached the door. In she walked, with Queenie by her side. They both stood up quickly, the loveseat even scooting backwards on its stubby legs from the force of them pushing against it.

Queenie passed the envelope under her arm to the two of them, and Lolanthe inspected its contents. Blueprints of a clocktower, Grail Academy class schedules, the layout of the school’s basements, red marks over exits and entrances. “It’s time.” Sable folded her hands behind her back as she spoke, “Call in the Butcher.”

Outside the office, Yorick leaned against the wall and anxiously spun the canisters in his revolvers. They locked in place, then unlocked, then locked again. Scarlet eyed him, annoyed by the repetitive clicking. He tightened the white scarf on his neck before turning around and wandering down a hallway to get out of the inevitable awkward silence that came with being a third wheel. Leaving Rettah alone with him. Yorick didn’t notice until he looked up, the lack of a third presence automatically made him nervous. Rettah twirled the curls in her ponytails, whistling a tune. Why was it so quiet? Even with her whistling, and the clicking of his revolvers, it felt eerily silent. Was he sweating? He checked his palms. Was there something on his face? He smoothed back his bangs and picked at his teeth with his pinky nail. Where was everyone? Say something, anything. Tell her she looks nice today. Tell her you love her. No, no, too fast. Tell her that her eyes shine like sapphires. Ugh, cheesy. Say you like her dress. Talk to her, you idiot.

“Uhm….you’re pretty.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, uh. You look pretty today!” The fidgeting with his gun’s canisters sped up.

“Oh, thanks!” Rettah smiled brightly. It made his heart leap out of his chest. She knows, she knows, she knows, she knows, she knows, she knows, reel it back, play it cool.

“Because, some days you don’t look nice….”

“Oh….?”

Crap, too cool, too cool. “N-not that you’re ugly! You’re definitely not ugly. I think you’re beautiful!”

Rettah made a strange face. It wasn’t anger, more like confusion. Yorick’s heart plummeted. Too much, you’re coming on too strong, you have to save it. Suddenly, he started laughing weirdly and looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah, yesterday you were a total hot mess! But you really cleaned up today!” His thumb slipped on the edge of the barrel, and the nervous spinning on his weapons caused the bullets inside to abruptly spiral out of their case in a shower of shells, all of them clattering to the floor. Rettah flinched, dodging the loose bullets, whereas Yorick was hit in the face by a handful of them when they sprayed upwards, making him jump. The jangling of the metal snapped him out of his rambling, and brought him far enough into reality to see Rettah walking away. He was trapped in awe of his own words, his body knelt down and his hands started to pick up each of the bullets without him telling it to. He felt like throwing up. “….You were a hot mess? Who SAYS that!?” He scolded himself, sweeping up the remnants of his bullet casings into his pockets.

The snowflakes passing across the orange glow of the streetlamps reminded Nico of the fireflies he used to catch during summer as a child. The light beaming off the insect made the flesh of his hands cupped around it turn a soft shade of pink. He preferred the warm weather to seasons like this, but there was still something charming about turning around and seeing his footprints alongside his friends tracks in the snow as they walked. The group made their way down street after street, shawarma and halal stands, hair salons, foreclosed apartments, rented office spaces, junkyards, sports bars, diners, autoshops, trailing behind a patrol car. “We’ve been following this dude for hours”, Nico muttered. Esmerelda responded by putting her index finger to her lips, hushing him so she could focus on her surroundings.

She had never been to this part of the city. Of course, they all visited the abandoned sector when they fought at the hotel, but that was only for a few hours. Esmerelda looked at each building, each stranger passing them, each rusted bench, each flake of paint peeling off the storefront windows, taking mental notes. The further they progressed down Wicker Street, the faster the quality of their environment deteriorated. She turned to her teammates, posing a question. “What happened here?”

Bernard stayed silent, idly flipping the fake ID in his coat pocket.

“Gentrification. Segregation. Whatever you wanna call it,” Nico piped up, “The governor thinks he’s doing the city a favor. Enriching the culture or something. The major parts of Calicem grow from new businesses and fancy houses, and the people who can’t afford to live in those houses and buy from those businesses are forced farther and farther out of the city, until they end up in shitholes like this where the resources are garbage.” This was the first time Esmerelda and Bernard had heard Nico speak like he knew what he was talking about. The first time he actually sounded serious. He pointed to the patrol car they were following, that was slowing down near a stop sign “It’s literally herding them like cattle. He uses the fuzz as his sheepdogs. Forcing them all into a corner, like some kind of slaughterhouse. He’s killing the city.”

The noiseless air that swept between the three of them rested on their shoulders like heavy fog, which strangely helped their attempt at being inconspicuous. “You ever wonder why every person who walked past us for the last three blocks was Faunus?” He tilted his head up to Esmerelda, who remained silent as she took a moment to look, really look, and see what he meant. Nico hunched down and slouched as he walked. “Exactly.” Esmerelda knew that her people faced hardships and struggles, but it wasn’t until this moment that she realized just how sheltered a life she lived before Grail Academy. It only made her hate her father even more, and it left a feeling of guilt to fester in her stomach.

“Hey.” Bernard nodded his head towards the patrol car. It came to a full stop by the side of the road, and the driver stepped out. The officer was adorn in military-grade armor, from chestplate to kneepads. Her hair was pulled up into a tight high ponytail, and she approached a burly looking man in a leather vest, who sat on a stool next to the entrance of a pub. They talked for a minute or so, the man scratching his bushy ginger beard. The officer pulled out a notepad and tore off a page, handing it to the man and getting back in her car. As she sped off, the man crumbled up the paper and tossed it over his shoulder. This had to be a good spot to start.

Nico’s back straightened, and he slung his arms around his teammates. “I got this one. Watch and learn.” Bernard just grunted and rolled his eyes. Esmerelda huffed, crossing her arms. “Time to work my magic~” Nico vocalized, strutting ahead and flagging down the bouncer.

“Should we be worried about what kind of ‘magic’ he’s going to work?” Esmerelda asked Bernard. He shrugged. “Probably.”

“Yo, big hoss!” Nico flashed his ID to the intimidating presence of the doorman, smiling confidently. He quirked a brow at the little pink punk in front of him, reaching out and taking the card. From out of his pocket, he pulled a blacklight torch, and shined the bluish lavender light on the plastic square. Somehow, the frown that was already on his face sank down more, as if he was deflating. The scraggly voice vibrated in Nico’s chest as the man spoke, “….Your groups name is Jaundice?” He said it as a statement, but his tone suggested that the bouncer was questioning Nico’s logic. Nico’s smile never faded, he stood unfaltered. “Yup! Rest of the band is back there,” He hiked his thumb over his shoulder towards Esmerelda and Bernard, waiting awkwardly under a street lamp. “We got a meeting scheduled with the manager. Tickets, merch, stage set-up, that sort of thing. Very important, you understand.”

The man shifted on the stool, unimpressed. “I’m the manager.”

“Uh-oh….” Well, their cover was officially blown, and they hadn’t even gotten into the pub yet. Nico’s grin dissipated. “Listen, I’m gonna need a more legit form of identification, or else I can’t let you in”, The doorman explained. Nico took the ID back and begrudgingly stuffed his scroll into his pocket, looking over at his friends under the lamp post. They were a few yards away, just enough that they wouldn’t hear anything he said or see any fine details where he was.

“….Alright.” Discreetly, Nico pulled his scarf down and tugged at the collar of his shirt, exposing his neck. The bouncer shined the blacklight on that section of skin, revealing the intricate patterns and symbols of a bird skull on his throat, the ink glowing an artificial pink under the light. The man’s eyes widened, and he flicked the flashlight off, making the tattoo disappear. The man whistled, “Phew. Chicken flew the coop, huh?” He held the door open, and Nico waved his friends over to follow him as they entered the bar. Neither of them could see what he did, but they were both thoroughly confused. “What did you do?” Bernard whispered. Nico just smiled again and linked arms with him. “Don’t worry about it. We’re in, aren’t we?”

“What did we get ourselves into….” Esmerelda breathed. Looking over the sea of bar patrons, the three of them gazed at an all-out bar fight taking place in the middle of the dance floor. The shiny jukebox propped up on the wall threaded a disc into the slot, an uncharacteristically upbeat surf rock song vibrating across to all corners of the pub. A bottle flew past Bernard’s head and shattered against the wall behind them. The women who were trying to dance screamed and scattered as a group of leather-clad men drunkenly wrestled and threw their fists. Near the back, everyone else ignored the commotion and continued to nurse their drinks and play pool. “This’ll be fun!” Nico joked.

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