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2jaeh · 4 years ago

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INSUFFERABLE l KIM DOYOUNG

GENRE: mature theme, slight smut

WARNINGS: choking, dom themes, cursing

asshole! Doyoung , enemies to ???

Words : 4k

You’re put in a group project with the most annoying pretentious jerk your law class had to offer. Immediately Doyoung tries to boss you around but you being you, you weren’t taking his shit...soon enough he finds out he can dominate you after all...in a very different way.

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“Theres no fucking way...no fucking way” you groaned looking at your group project list, eyes narrowing on possibly the worst people within your course year. Slumping in your seat you half smiled at the girl who approached you, one of your fellow members from project hell.

“Heyyy y/n I think we're in a group together” she grinned and took a seat next to you, flipping her red hair over her shoulder and checked herself out in her mirror covered cellphone.

Dami was probably the most narcissistic person you'd ever met and being in law, it was definitely a common trait around here. Dami sat up and began tapping you on your shoulder frantically “He’s in our group! Kim Doyoung is in our group” the two of you watched as the dark haired man conversed with the lecturer, casually turning back to look at the table where you guys sat, in annoyance.

“That guy is such a prick” a guy who slid in the desk behind you, Seungmin said and Dami nodded in agreeance as you all continued to watch him.

“Ive never really spoken to him before” you cocked your head, “What’s so annoying about him?”

This time another group member joined in, a quieter girl who normally sat in the back Jisoo, cleared her throat, “He is really bossy and only likes to do things his own way.”

‘Well he is about to meet his worst nightmare’ you thought knowing nothing pissed you off more than someone telling you what to do.

The muffled conversations around you began to soften as you felt someone stand over you and drop a file on your desk. Looking up, you locked eyes with the one and only Kim Doyoung, dressed in his usual black slacks, black turtleneck and clear rimmed spectacles. He raised his eyebrow at you as if you were supposed to guess what he wanted.

“What ?” you challenged him, folding your arms across your chest and returned an eyebrow raise.

Doyoung sighed in annoyance, his long slender fingers moved across the file and opened it swiftly, “I want you to do roll call” he said coldly.

A lump formed in your throat. You felt like you were being talked down to, it was something that infuriated the hell out of you. He wasn't older than you, nor was he getting better grades than you but somehow he had a superiority complex. Dami quickly nudged you and you rolled your eyes, “Seungmin ?”

“Here!”

“Jisoo ?” you placed a tick as you called out each name.

“Dami, Jangjun…?” you looked around and noticed that the usually loud comedic relief in your classroom was nowhere to be seen.

“I think Jangjun is late, i’ll text him” Seungmin sighed and pulled out his phone. You turned back to the roll call sheet and pursed your lips, “Kim Doyoung ?”

Doyoung just looked down at you, sucking in his bottom lip and raised that damn eyebrow at you again.

“You need to say ‘here’ do you not know how roll call works ?” you tested him and he rolled his eyes and sighed, “here.”

You smiled to yourself, completely satisfied with pissing him off when your internal celebration was interrupted by an out of breath Jangjun, who threw his bag on the floor and took a seat on Dami’s desk. Doyoung looked at him disgustingly, and even though you too were obviously annoyed by Jangjun’s tardiness, was that reaction really necessary ?

“Be on time” Doyoung sneered and grabbed the roll call file making his way back to the lecturer.

“Fuck Kim Doyoung is in this group ?” Jangjun groaned, sharing the sentiments of the entire meeting. You couldnt believe these were the people you had to work with for the week. It's like you could almost feel an outburst waiting to happen, whether it be from you or Kim Doyoung.

Doyoung returned and took out his phone, not really looking at any of you as he spoke, “we should make a group chat to update each other on work”

The group hastily shared each other's details and Doyoung created the chat and pinned a set of three rules.

The first was the group was strictly to be used for the project, no small talk or any other messages that weren't related to the project. The second rule was that no one talks about the group content in private chats as it will cause confusion among members. Lastly you weren't allowed to message after 9pm unless it was an emergency, a very serious emergency.

“Dang is this the military ?” Jangjun snickered as Seungmin and Dami tried their best to hide their laughs. It was typical of people like Dami and Jangjun to not take anything seriously. Their families were well off and they were just studying just for a piece of paper you call a degree. Doyoung couldn't even hide his annoyance, not like he ever did but he seemed particularly pissed off today.

“Look, just follow the rules and all of you get a free pass and then we never have to speak to each other again” Doyoung spat and made his way to the exit leaving the rest of you in utter shock.

———

The first two days were utter hell as Doyoung tried to take control of almost every aspect of the project and frankly you didn't even mind because his business proposal was flawless, it was just the way he spoke to all of you that drove you insane.

“Dami its not fucking rocket science all you need to do is make a clientele spreadsheet with the mock list the professor gave us” Doyoung didnt even lift his head from his laptop, unaware of the impact his words had on her.

Dami pushed away from the desk and her eyes began to well up and before you knew it she was running out of the library, with Jisoo and Seungmin following quickly out of concern.

“Nice move asshole” you rolled your eyes, continuing to work on your laptop.

Doyoung peered up and pushed his spectacles up, “what was that?”

“I said nice move asshole, do you intend to talk to your future clients like that?” He initiated a different kind of anger from you but you managed to keep your cool. Doyoung shrugged as if what he had said to Dami had not carried any weight and continued typing away.

A few minutes of the members disappearance quickly turned to an hour and Doyoung’s nonchalance about the whole ordeal really ticked you off to the point of slamming your laptop closed and pushed back from the desk.

Doyoung quirked his eyebrow at you, “Is something wrong ?”

“Is something wrong” you mimicked him, “Jangjun hasn't come in today because you sent him on multiple errands, and you just made Dami cry over something so ridiculous”

Doyoung sat back in his seat and rubbed his temples, “They're all freeloaders, you and I are the only ones doing work, why do you care so much about them?”

“Basic human fucking decency maybe?” you groaned and ran your fingers through your hair, “listen im not like them, i'm not gonna take shit from you”

“Sure”

“Youre a fucking asshole Kim Doyoung.”

—-

You lay in bed and replayed that scene with Doyoung in your head multiple times. He was so unbothered by your antics nor did he care about anyone's feelings within the group. He was cold, heartless all he thought about was himself. His cold expression was practically engraved in your head, spending all these hours with him was really not your favourite pastime.

Group 7 gc 7:00pm

KDY: I posted a schedule for tomorrow we will be working in pairs on the highlighted sections.

You took a look at his document and groaned when you saw your name placed next to his. There was no way, no way in hell you want to work with him one on one. Not caring about breaking his rule, you pulled up a private chat with him and began expressing your concerns.

y/n x KDY : 7:10pm

Y/N: Hi, there's no fucking way in hell am I working with you. Change It.

KDY: I said no private chats and no, I'm not changing it.

Y/N: Wouldn't it be better for us to split and have the others actually DO work for once ?

KDY: I barely gave them room for error, we're going to be the most anyway and besides, I'd prefer someone who can handle...my personality.

Y/N: …..so you agree..you are an asshole ?

KDY: I give people a reality check that's all..

Y/N: whatever makes you sleep at night...can I atleast choose our work venue because If I were stuck in a library again with you I might kill you.

KDY: haha..

KDY: sure.

Y/N: mango drop cafe, 10am.

KDY: cool, see you then.

‘Haha’. You had no idea why that text in particular riled you up. Did he find all of this amusing ? Was he making everyone's life a living hell because he enjoyed it ? You stared at his messages and somehow ended up on his profile picture. He was leaning against a railing dressed in all black with his hooded eyes concentrated on the camera lense, Your realization of how attractive he was came from the fact that you stared at the picture for a good 20 minutes. You wondered who took the picture, a girlfriend maybe ? You shook your head. He seemed too uptight to be getting laid. You sighed, closing your phone and awaited yet another day with the insufferable gorgeous man that was Kim Doyoung.

You arrived quite early at the cafe but of course Doyoung was here before you, already typing away at his laptop, in his usual attire. You greeted the barista and placed an order for a chilled cafe latte before making your way over to him.

“Hey” you said simply and took a seat opposite him in the booth. Doyoung’s ears perked up at the sound of your voice and made room for your books on the table.

“You're here early”

“You're already picking a fight with me?” you said casually setting up your workspace.

Doyoung chuckled under his breath and shook his head, “I just didn't expect you this early y/n it's not that serious.”

You ignored his words and got straight to work, not in the mood to play his little game. You felt Doyoung look at you a few times. You weren't sure if it were to check if youre doing the right thing or he was just looking at you.

“Well i'm done with my part” you stretched your arms above your head and yawned.

“Yeah I'm pretty much done too, Do you want another cup of coffee ?” Doyoung offered pointing to your empty cup. You were taken back by his softer demeanor but quickly nodded, “uh yeah sure.”

Doyoung returned carrying a tray of two fresh cups of coffee and a slice of cheesecake. Setting everything down he handed you the extra fork and placed the cheesecake in the middle of the table to make it easier to share.

“H-how much do I owe you ?” You fumbled in your bag for your wallet.

“It's okay, it's my treat” Doyoung replied, placing a piece of cheesecake in his mouth and slowly licking the fork clean. You gulped as his tongue darted out carefully licking the cream from the metal, not leaving any residue behind. You had no idea what the hell was going on but you felt hot, almost claustrophobic.

“You're okay?” Doyoung asked innocently, unaware of what he was doing to you.

“Why are you being...nice?” You questioned, knitting your eyebrows together as the man continued to act as if this was his usual behavior.

Doyoung pursed his lips and placed the fork on the plate, “You want me to be mean to you?”

“No I just don't get-”

“I apologized to Dami and she told me she only overreacted because the guy she likes, Seungmin was there” Doyoung explained and removed his spectacles, “she was embarrassed to ask anyone for help, I paired them up for today.”

“Wait wha-”

“Also Jangjun works at the campus radio” Doyoung continued, “I had only found out the day we all met, I gave him tasks that will allow him more flexibility, that way he doesn't have to join group sessions often.”

You blinked, unable to form any words in order to reply to Doyoung. Especially after he chuckled at your speechlessness, knowing you didn't bother getting his side of the story at first.

“You were right y/n I dont have to be an asshole all the time, I just like to get my work done” He shrugged. You kept eye contact with him but somehow it felt as if he were still toying with you, waiting on your next reaction. He seemed like he played this game often, making sure he always had the upper hand. Doyoung seemed relaxed as he stared at you, taking another scoop of the cheesecake and slowly ran his tongue over his lips after his bite. What the fuck was he doing ?

“Y/N ?” you heard a familiar voice come from the entrance of the cafe. Your attention diverted from Doyoung to the blonde haired boy who began approaching your table.

“Jungwoo ? oh my God what are you doing here ?” You stood up and pulled him into a tight hug and pecked his cheek. Doyoung shifted awkwardly in his seat as he watched your exchange with the stranger.

“I got off early from class about to go to Subway, are you still doing that group project thing?” Jungwoo looked over at your table and half smiled at Doyoung who tried to distract himself with his phone.

“Uh yeah but i'm all done here I think, wanna hang out ?” you hooked arms with Jungwoo as he nodded enthusiastically. You turned around and scratched the back of your head,

“So...uh”

“Were all done you can go, I have somewhere to be anyway” Doyoung smiled as you slowly began packing up your things.

“Alright, see you tomorrow I guess” you bid your goodbye and headed out for lunch with Jungwoo.

—-

You had just finished up your skincare routine and caught up with a few instagram posts when you noticed Doyoung had followed you. Sitting up in bed you scrolled through his feed curiously. Every post was aesthetically pleasing and he looked absolutely hot in every single one of them. He had to have a girlfriend right ? No guy posts pictures this good without women flooding his DMs.

There was no harm in doing the same since he was in your class, you decided to return the follow and close the app. Suddenly your phone vibrated with a new message in your chats.

Y/N X KDY 10:30pm

KDY: hey

Y/N: aren't you breaking two of your rules right now ?

KDY: haha

KDY: I didn't realize what time it was…

Y/N: ….anyways..is this about work at least ?

KDY: kinda… you left one of your books at the cafe. I have it with me.

Y/N: oh… thank you.

KDY: no prob...oh I hope its not a problem I added you on ig

Y/N: no its okay we are friends I guess

KDY: haha I thought I was the insufferable asshole..

Y/N: you are...but not all the time. Look im sorry for saying shitty things about you.

KDY: its all good.

KDY: …….

Y/N: ..whats up?

You twirled your fingers as you watched the three dots from Doyoung pop up and disappear over and over again. What was taking him so long ?

KDY: that guy….that you met at the cafe..is he your boyfriend ?

Y/N: Jungwoo ? no way we've been friends since high school.

KDY: oh..

Y/N:....why would you even ask that ?

KDY: curious.

Y/N: curious about who I'm dating ??

KDY: A little.

You frowned at your phone and noticed Doyoung had changed his profile picture to a selfie. The picture was..something alright. You bit down on your lip as you enlarged the picture, which showed a wet haired Doyoung with his head resting in his palm and his long index finger was placed between his plump lips.

“Fuck y/n get yourself together” you gave yourself a pep talk before opening his chat back up again.

Y/N X KDY 10.54PM

Y/N: fine if you can ask a question can I ask one..

KDY: go ahead

Y/N: who do you keep thirst trapping for ?

KDY: ….haha thirst trapping ?

Y/N: Yeah who do keep posting these hot pics for huh

KDY: …..

KDY: You think i'm hot ?

Fuck. Why did you word it that way. You groaned immediately regretting sending that message but something in you was so curious about him you decided to just risk it, what was the worst that could happen ?

Y/N: well yeah, I mean I'm sure everyone thinks you're attractive, you seem to know it too.

KDY: wow.

KDY: I think you're hot too.

What the hell was going on. You felt your face heat up and you placed your pillow in between your legs as you turned on your side.

KDY: I was almost disappointed when I thought Jungwoo was your boyfriend, he's way too passive.

Y/N: ...and what makes you think you know what kind of man I need ?

KDY: hmmm

KDY: first of, with that fucking attitude of yours..A dominate one.

You swallowed hard as you felt a tingle in your stomach, squeezing your thighs together on the pillow to create more friction.

Y/N: I could say the same for you.

KDY: You may think youre dominate in many aspects...but when it comes to fucking..im the one in charge.

God you hated how hot that sounded. He had you in the palm of his hand through text. You were a mess and he wasn't even the room to fuel it. You wanted him so fucking bad it was insane.

Y/N: running your mouth doesn't equate to doing it you know...

KDY:.....

KDY: then would you like me to show you ?

Everything happened so damn fast. One minute you two were texting the next minute you were sharing your apartment location and Doyoung was on his way over. You scrambled to put on sexier underwear and do your hair, still in shock by the fact that Doyoung was on his way over to bang you.

You jumped when you heard the doorbell and realized it was him. Opening the door you were greeted to a very different look of Doyoung. His hair was messy and reached his eyes. Instead of his usual black academic attire he wore a loose white vest that showed off his toned chest and arms, along with a pair of grey sweatpants.

“Hi” Doyoung smirked, his eyes were dark as he scanned your figure.

“Hi” you responded, leaning against the wall in the hallway and looked up at him. Doyoung slowly approached you, like a lion circling its prey. His slender fingers danced lightly along your body, drawing a line from your waist until he found your throat and wrapped his cold fingers around it. He bit down on his lip as he studied how perfectly his hand looked around it and squeezed gently, smirking after hearing a soft moan emit from you.

“I want you to do as I say, any back chat from you will get you punished you got that ?” he brought his lips down to your neck and exhaled.

You nodded in response but that wasn't good enough for Doyoung. You felt his squeeze on your throat once more and he used his hips to pin you against the wall, “use your words” he gritted his teeth.

“Yes sir” you replied obediently, and felt him smile against your neck.

“Good girl, and if i'm too rough let me know so I can stop okay ?” he replied, his voice changed and it was much sweeter and genuine than before. He placed a soft kiss on your cheek when you nodded and led you to the bed.

Doyoung lay you on the bed, already stripping off his shirt and ordered you to undress yourself and rid him off his sweatpants. You bit down on your lip taking notice of how aroused he was when you palmed his member.

Doyoung watched you through hooded eyes as you discarded his sweatpants and boxers. He softly patted your head and grabbed a tuft of your hair in order to make you look up at him.

“Spit” he ordered, and held out his hand and you did as you were told. You watched as he lathered himself with it, moaning as he stroked himself. He was so damn sexy, biting down on lip and slowly pleased himself as you watched.

“Do you want this inside you sweetheart ?” he cooed and placed a finger under chin.

You nodded quickly, “Yes please”

“What do you want me to do baby ?” He purred and hovered over you as you lay on the bed, breathing heavily as his fingers moved against your warm skin, tracing your curves, ghosting over your heat and returning back to your lips to insert a digit inside.

Doyoung watched diligently as you sucked on his finger like the good girl he knew you were. He finally pulled his finger out and with one swift movement entered with his member before you could even respond to his question. You moaned as he quickly slammed his hips into yours, wasting no time in gaining a rhythm as you marked his back with scratch marks feeling as though you were on a high.

Doyoung fucked you like a pro, wasting no time to switch positions and had you on all fours, slapping your ass before slamming into you again, that pretentious smirk forming on his face as he heard your whimpers asking him for more.

“Are you ready to cum sweetheart ?” he asked, pulling you up as his strokes became slower and tugged on your ear with his teeth.

“Y-yes yes i'm ready” you panted.

“What's the magic word ?” he growled as he grabbed your throat and slowed down his pace as you were nearing your climax.

“Fuck youre so annoying PLEASE, please let me cum Doyoung fuck”

Doyoung chuckled and picked up his pace until you finally climaxed and he followed shortly after, collapsing in the bed next to you.

“You have such an attitude God” he rolled his eyes playfully, bringing the blanket over your bodies and grinned when you moved in to cuddle him.

“I guess you will have to fix that some time” you yawned and wrapped your arm around his waist, “but I have to admit, maybe I do enjoy the insufferable Kim Doyoung bossing me around once in a while.”

#doyoung smut #nct doyoung smut #nct smut #nct127 smut #kim dongyoung #nct scenarios #NCT127 scenario #doyoung fic #doyoung au #kpop smut #nct drabble #nct angst #nct au #doyoung scenarios

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quartzwriting · 4 years ago

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Christmas Kisses and Cookies

Pairing: Doctor Strange X Fem!Reader

Description: Stephen is a sucker for your Christmas cookies that you make for the party with the Avengers, and so is everyone else. You both also go for a snowy walk together. Fluff with the doctor ensues!

Warnings: food

Word Count: 1.1k

A/N: Originally posted to Qutoev for Christmas 2018 / Grammar updated

Part of my Dec 2020 Holiday One Shot Schedule/Master List

Masterlist | Fic Reading Recs | Ao3 | Quotev | Coffee

You had no idea how you ended up with this many cookies, but you didn’t complain. Is there actually such a thing as too many cookies? You could bring some to Kamar Taj and Avengers tower as some presents, and if there are still extras you knew Wong would definitely help finish them. Your baking doesn’t tend to last around the guys.

You also didn’t know how you made such a mess, maybe you got distracted by the Christmas spirit and blasting music that was constantly playing on your playlist this month. There was flour everywhere and plenty of dirty dishes to keep you busy for the next thirty or so minutes, not to mention the food colouring disaster that resulted in you trying to make blue icing for the snowflake-shaped cookies… You thought about quickly cleaning everything up with a simple spell, then shot down the idea and scolding yourself for being too lazy.

While waiting for the sugar cookies to cool to decorate them, you started to clean up the kitchen. And if you were that desperate you could maybe use a little magic, it wouldn’t hurt, would it? (Don't tell Stephen shhh!)

While you were starting to clean, you swear you heard the sound of a portal opening and closing, and you think you saw the glow of those familiar sparks. Shrugging it off, you went back to cleaning.

But you kept the thought in the back of your mind, and soon it resurfaced. You had to turn around to check. Then you realized that a few of the cookies were missing from the countertop. You sighed, now putting the pieces together of what happened. Then shouting at the top of your lungs, you yelled loud enough that you knew he would hear you from upstairs.

“DOCTOR STEPHEN VINCENT STRANGE! STOP STEALING MY COOKIES!”

You could almost hear his deep chuckling, you have heard it so many times from him either making fun of you or getting on your nerves or anything in between.

Groaning, you continued your baking session, now being a guard for any other dangers to your cookies. You knew Stephen wouldn’t try to take anymore a second time, because you would be ready to attack and protect!

~~~~

“Do we have to be here?”

“Shhh! Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it's a Christmas party!”

“But we didn’t have to come.”

“Yes, we did!”

“Why?”

“Because Tony invited us!”

You felt a presence behind you and paused your mini argument with Stephen to see who it was.

“Hi (Y/N)!”

It was Peter, smiling greatly and sporting a Santa hat and bright Christmas sweater. He had crumbs on his face, telling you that he had been at your cookies from the snack table (it was him eating most of them, along with Thor and Clint).

“Hey, Pete!” You laughed.

The teenager beamed bigger and held out a red envelope to you, some glitter was pouring out of it. “This is for you two, I made cards for everyone...even though I’m not the best artist…”

“Thanks, kid.” You expressed your gratitude and gave him a big hug. He was basically a big teddy bear he's just too adorable.

“You look grumpy Mister Strange.” Peter blurted out and received a glare from the sorcerer. The reason he was kinda grumpy wasn’t only because you dragged him to the Christmas party at Avengers tower, but because you forced him to wear a pair of reindeer antlers.

“Heyyy wizard, or should I say ‘Reindeer Games’.” Tony cackled, holding a drink that you assumed wasn’t his first tonight. He came and stood with Peter, who also noticed that Tony looked drunk.

“Stark,” Stephen answered simply. You lightly shoved him, prompting him to be nice.

"Don't be such a Grinch, Strange." Tony laughed.

"I'm not." He replied blankly.

"You okay, Mister Stark?" Peter asked, and you echoed him.

"Oh, I'm fine. Don't assume I'm drunk. The only thing I'm drunk on is (Y/N)'s cookies."

You rolled your eyes. The next thing you know you hear is a bit of chaos coming from the other side of the room, and look over to see Natasha running around with a cluster of mistletoe hanging from a stick. Steve and Bucky were prompting her to put it away, but Tony shouted for her to keep chasing people with it. You and Peter laughed, but Stephen rolled his eyes for the millionth time that night.

Before you knew it, Natasha was now dashing towards your little group and the mistletoe was dangling over you and Stephen. You felt your face grow hot as you realized all eyes were on you two. The doctor sighed audibly but quickly stole a peck on your lips that lingered a bit longer than necessary, leaving you a bigger blushing mess. You wanted to hide now, being embarrassed easily since you weren't expecting it, and the raised whistles and cheers didn't help at all.

~~~~

Christmas Eve had rolled around, and the city was now covered in a light blanket of snow. Once the sun had gone down, outside looked like a winter wonderland straight from the movies. You wanted to be out there, not caring about the striking cold or any wandering eyes watching. After an exhausting unexpected emergency at Kamar Taj, you needed some time to calm down. Stephen insisted on coming with you, one because he didn't want to leave you alone after the attack from another dimension earlier (protective boyfriend mode) and two because he needed to relax, and what better way than to take a romantic walk.

Hand in hand, the pair of sorcerers walked in the snow without a care in the world, except for each other. You took a deep breath of the fresh cool air, warmth coming from Stephen's slightly shaking hand wrapping itself around yours. You looked up at him and quietly burst into a fit of giggles.

"What are you laughing at?" He eyed you suspiciously.

"You're hair is covered in snow." You said, trying to hold in your laughter.

He unconsciously ran a hand through his hair and shook it out. "What about it? Your hair is covered in snow too."

"It looked cute but now you wreaked it." You pouted.

He smirked, "Well it makes you look cute too."

You both continued to walk in mutual peaceful silence. The piercing wind howled while bigger snowflakes fell from the sky. You broke the beautiful silence with a faint whisper.

"My face is cold."

"I might be able to change that."

Stephen stopped walking, which prompted you to do so as well. He raised his hands to your face, warmth coming from his gloves, and touching your cheeks. Then he brought his lips to yours, one of his hands dropping to lightly snake around your waist. You instantly forgot about the cold, now focusing on the wonderful man that you don't understand how became yours.

"You taste like my cookies." You giggled once you both parted.

"You shouldn't have made so many of them." He smiled, before leaning back in for another taste of you.

#doctor strange x reader #doctor strange x you #doctor strange fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel reader insert #stephen strange x reader #reader insert #marvel fanfic #doctor strange #doctor strange fic #mcu #holidays #happy holidays

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thesaltyoceanwaves · 5 years ago

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Good Intentions

Ao3

Based off this post. You guys really seemed to like it, so here you go.

The plan to ruin Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s reputation and credibility was well under way. And while there had been a bump in the road with Bustier undoing her seat switch plan at the end of the day, Lila still considered the day a victory. After all, she managed to sow the seeds of distrust, and the class managed to believe her over Marinette. She gave the baker girl maybe a month, tops, before everything came crashing down on her, and with no way to prove that Lila had anything to do with it.

Of course, there was still the issue of Adrien, but he was a pushover. All he wanted was to make friends! He had no spine, and it would only be a matter of time before she had him twisted around her little finger.

That night, maybe an hour or so before retiring to bed, she hatches her next plan and hits up Alya with a text:

L: Hey, Alya? Could I have Marinette’s number? I’d like to work things out with her and maybe even get her opinion on some clothes??

Usually, for texts like these, she gets a pretty immediate response. She even gets the animation indicating that Alya is typing a message, only for it to stop and no message to be sent. Frowning, she places the phone down on her desk as she goes about browsing social media profiles of her classmates and the stars she’s supposedly schmoozed with, checking to see if there are any new updates. About thirty minutes pass when Alya finally responds, and Lila can’t help but roll her eyes at what might have possibly kept Alya for so long.

A: heyyy, i think it’s great u want to get along w Mari, but i think it’s better 2 give her some space after 2day. but if it’s an emergency, i can ask her 4 u!

Squinting her eyes, she gives the text a long, hard glance before realizing that it’s real. It has to be some sort of joke. There’s no real reason Alya should be hesitant in giving her something like this.

L: I was worried about this. Marinette must really hate me if she doesn’t even want to give me her number!

A satisfied smirk spreads across her face as she waits for the inevitable anxious reply. Surely, Alya wouldn’t want her new friend to feel so left out and targeted, right? Once again, the texting animation is quickly evident, and she can practically hear Alya apologizing for making her feel so bad about it.

A: i swear it’s not like that!!! just give her some time & she’ll warm up, i swear!! so how about those outfits!?

Scowling, she quickly responds with a half-hearted “never mind, I’ll ask Clara’s designer instead,” and tosses the phone across the room onto her bed with a sigh. Perhaps it’s just a fluke, and maybe tomorrow, when Lila comes face to face with Alya, she can corner her into giving up Marinette’s number. It’s not something she should be this worried about anyway, but if she’s going to forge fake messages, she needs to make it look like they had contact with each other.

For now, that idea is on hold. Still, there’s plenty of ways to shake things up the next morning.

---

While having a position of power made you respected, it also made you stress out over every other little thing, and put you in a position of criticism. Thankfully, Lila doesn’t have to contend with the responsibilities of Class Rep, and can instead content herself to push Marinette’s buttons instead.

“...And the class vs class picnic will be happening next Friday,” she says, finishing the morning announcements, “Please make sure to bring athletic attire to change into, because we will be getting messy. Does anyone have any questions?”

Oh boy, does Lila ever. She meekly raises her hand, making sure at least one or two other classmates note the wary expression on her face. Biting back a sigh, Marinette points to her and asks, “Yes?”

“Um, well, I’m not sure I can handle anything outdoorsy,” she pouts, holding out her hand, “My wrist is busted and I can’t really throw anything.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Mylene interrupts, smiling cheerfully, “We made sure to include some non-athletic activities, like making friendship bracelets and writing nature haikus! If you don’t want to use pen and paper, you should be able to bring your tablet!”

With her lips curling inward, Lila has to bite back a dark glare. Something was definitely up. She’s not sure what, but Marinette must have told them something about the previous day. It’s difficult to tell because Marinette doesn’t have a very distinctive expression, but Lila would be a fool to believe otherwise.

And she would certainly not be that.

“That’s very nice of you to think of me,” she says, trying to bite back tears, “But, um, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to go that day, anyway. I’m supposed to be volunteering at a charity event to help reduce carbon emissions. Is it possible that we could have the picnic a day earlier? Or the next week?”

Some glances are exchanged in the rows before conversation breaks out. As she expects, Marinette’s face contorts with annoyance, and she opens her mouth to say something, but she’s cut off by Alya, who places a hand on her shoulder, and shakes her head. Turning to Lila, she says, “Actually, me and Mari spent a lot of time organizing this event with the other student reps, and it wouldn’t be fair to suddenly reschedule like that. But I assure you that we have some other events in the future that we’ll be more easily able to take your schedule into account, just as long as you tell us ahead of time, Lila.”

“Oh,” she pouts, blinking as rapidly as she can. “That’s too bad. I was really looking forward to going too…” she says with a sigh.

“Well,” Mylene offers, “We can always throw you a picnic another day. That way, Marinette and the other student reps don’t have to worry about all that rescheduling, and you can still have fun hanging out with us. Right, guys?”

The chattering, the annoying, annoying chattering grows more excited, as if they already have it planned in stone. As though they no longer have to give Lila anymore thought or concern. Of course, she’d have to be gracious and just accept it, right?

There’s still no sign from Marinette that she’s in on it, or that she’s satisfied with the turn out. For someone who hates lying so much, she must be pretty good at it. There’s no way she’s innocent.

Still, Lila has no choice but to playfully bat her eyes and practically coo at the suggestion. “You’re all just so wonderful! I would love that, of course!”

A pen snaps in her hands, and the ink covers the knee of her leggings. But her forced smile doesn’t falter for a second, lest she want to draw unwanted attention.

---

Marinette is naive to leave her backpack by itself, without a single eye to watch it. It seems that Chloe failed at her job at instilling fear in the school, if Marinette was going around carefree without any sort of protection. But that leaves Lila free to sneak into her bag and plant the answers for the test that they finished taking-

A sudden, squeakish voice interrupts, causing her to drop the paper.

“There you are, Lila!” Rose says cheerfully, “What are you doing?”

Jumping, it takes her a moment to realize she’s dropped the paper. She unfortunately can’t see where it landed, and she finds herself sputtering, sputtering, her response, “O-Oh, Rose! I-I was just… I found Marinette’s backpack!”

“Oh, she was looking for that!” Rose says, picking it up and hugging it to her chest, “That’s awfully nice of you, Lila! Marinette was looking for that.”

“It’s not a big deal! I just wanted to help out a friend, you know?”

“You really are a sweetheart, you know?” Rose says, patting her shoulder, “Still, I think we’re better off just telling Marinette it was in the lost or found.”

She blinks. “What? Why?”

“Well, we don’t want to give Marinette the wrong idea,” Rose points out, “You might be trying to help her, but knowing her, she’ll probably think you tampered with her stuff.”

“I can’t believe she thinks so little of me,” Lila sniffs, “I’m only trying to help.”

“Oh, we know,” Rose says, patting her shoulder, “And someday she’ll be able to see that. But I think she’s really coming around. Just a little more time and she’ll see just how cool you really are!”

As they leave the area, Lila waits for a moment to sneak back into the backpack, but the opportunity never presents itself. Soon enough, Marinette is reunited with her backpack, and Lila knows from her narrowed leer, she’s bound to search through the bag to make sure it wasn’t tampered with.

There is no doubt in her mind that this is deliberate sabotage. Marinette said something to get these goons to follow her around and interrupt at the most opportune and least convenient moments. Plan after plan, ruined because they “don’t want Marinette getting the wrong impression of her!”

Well, with any luck, that was going to stop today.

She is quick to follow Marinette into the bathroom and pin her against the walls.

“So, you think you’re so smart, huh? Getting your friends to keep an eye on me and keep you out of trouble?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Stop lying!” Lila shouts, “Playing stupid isn’t your forte! I know you said something about me to them to ruin my plans! Well, guess what? I have plenty of methods that’ll get you expelled.”

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing, Lila?” Alya’s booming voice calls out, holding a phone in front of her. Behind her are Alix, Mylene, Rose and Juleka, who all share darkened expressions and are ready to voice their distaste. She has to think of something quick if she’s going to recover and get control of the situation again.

“A-Alya,” she stammers, trying to force a smile, “M-Marinette was just, um, she was bullying me! Can you believe it?”

“No, I can’t,” Alya retorts, “Because I just captured footage for the past few minutes of you attacking Marinette in the bathroom and threatening to get her expelled! And after everything we did for you, trying to help you get along with her, especially at Adrien’s suggestion!” She clicks her tongue.

Blinking, she looks from Marinette back to Alya. Adrien? Adrien was the one to calculate this plan? She supposed it would make some degree of sense - Adrien was hardly the type to get his hands dirty when he had assistants and money to do that for him. Still, there was no way the boy with the least amount of backbone in the entire school would go out of his way to sabotage her, especially not for Marinette.

“You’re a liar,” Lila hisses, before trying to smile again, “Adrien would never suggest something so diabolical.”

“Since when was trying to help people get along diabolical?” Alix points out, “If anyone is headed toward the realm of villainy and bullying, it’s you. Anything else you want to confess to?”

And for once, Lila’s out of stories to spin.

#ml salt #ml salt fic #lila salt #lila exposed #salty writes #good intentions au

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dannydouni · 4 years ago

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I got tagged by @faceless-dude for smth. And like. All I want to say is that you so much. Cuz I’ve had this sitting in my drafts for months and I didn’t know when would be a good time to post it. Or like update it or like just when I should do anything with it. So yeah. Thank you so much for helping me get the chance to post this :)))

“I’ve had this in my drafts for some time now probably since the Canadian thanksgiving and like only touched on it a few times, and well I never got to post it cuz I got well uuuhhh... shy I guess and at that time a lot of things were going down and stuff. And because of that I just felt like it had no meaning whatsoever anymore. So I thought I’d edit it a bit so it fits better and so I can finally post it and stuff.... sometimes it’s nice to get something out there after having it written down for so long. And well what better time to post it than now XD on New Years!. Anyways here it goes”

Hey guys, friends especially, ITS A NEW YEAR!!!!!! I just wanted to pop in and say that...well...thank you. And while I don’t really mean this directly to anyone so far (details for ppl that I know on this app will be written later on in this post). I know it’s usually super cheesy and just cringe and stuff but I honestly couldn’t care less about that stuff when it comes to the people close to me and to the people I love and care about. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank y’all. First and foremost. What the actual fuck guys. Why lmao. Out of everyone in this world you bunch picked the weirdest, ugliest and just straight up stupidest dude out there to be friends with XD, y’all do know there was much better than this out there right XD. I legit have no competition since I’m just so bad LOL. But still, for some reason, with all the shit I just listed y’all still decided it was a good idea to be friends with me. Y’all still decided it would be a great idea to stick with me up until now. Y’all still decided that I could belong with other people that I could fit it with you guys. That I could.... have genuine, real and just straight up amazing friends. I have absolutely no fucking clue how this turn of events happened. But I can say this with full certainty. You guys have changed my life. You guys are probably the main reason I’m still kicking around to this day lol. You guys are the reason I keep going and keep living and just keep enjoying the tiny gifts that life has to offer sometimes instead of pain XD. I still don’t and probably will never understand why or how god or life decided to be nice to me the few times I met one of you but I’m honestly so eternally grateful that I just... I have no words almost.... I just don’t know what to say sometimes. It’s honestly so out of this world how amazing and nice some of you are even tho I’m like the complete trash of this world XD. In all honesty.... without you guys I’d probably not even be here lmao... I’d probably would’ve just went on with my life with nothing to wish or hope for other than for the next day to pass even quicker than the last.... or just for days to just over as soon as they start... I won’t say more cuz that’s shit is personal and I’m not about to write that in public 😎. But like I know for sure that without you guys. I would not be here right now. So thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for all the memories you’ve given me, the countless nights you’ve made me die of laughter, The countless times you’ve made me choke and almost die from how funny something would be, the countless times you’ve made me think “damn I don’t ever want to wake up from this dream if this is not real”. Just thank you, for talking to me, for letting me vent, for letting me be there for you when you were there for me, for being my rock to lean on, for helping me go through the toughest of times like if it was a normal day. Thank you guys so much for treating me like an equal, for being friends with me, for playing with me, for inspiring me, for teaching me new things and helping me with anything I could ever ask for. Thank you guys so much, and while words will never be able to fully explain what I fully mean or what I fully feel. But I hope that this at least will give you an idea of how greatfull I am for you guys... i hope this will show you how thankful I am for you guys. I love you guys so much that the word love just can’t even express how much you guys truly mean to me. You guys have changed my life for the better and even tho I will probably never be able to repay that I’m hoping that I can do something to at least return how much y’all have done for me. And even tho a lot of the people I mean by this message are not on Tumblr I have a few that are and it is for that reason that I will thank you and write something for you guys here too. So here is the part for the specific people.

@frogb, Genny :)

Genny :D

GENNYYYYY >:D

Good God..... how are you even real XD well to start off, a quick intro :).... probably my only irl friend that is actually active on this app and of course MY BEST FRIEND FOREVER IN THE WORLD AND THE #1 PERSON IN MY LIFE >:), I want to take this opportunity to just thank you again (I know I’ve said a a bunch of times and you probably hate me for saying it a lot XD, that along with sorry :(((( I can’t really control that Lmao but I’m getting better at it right :D). You....you’re my best friend :)... you have changed my life for the better way too many times cuz. I’ve honestly lost count dude. I’ve lost count. I just want you to know that even tho I said that the first thing I wrote on this post was meant for a bunch of people. I was really mainly thinking about you when I wrote it. Ever since you’ve been part of my life. You have made sure to change it completely. And only for the good and for the better. I don’t think you have a genuine idea of how much you’ve changed my life and how much you’ve made me happy :)... thank you Genny thank you so much for being the best thing to ever happen to me. Genny you truly are the best most amazing, kindest, nicest, loveliest, most wonderful, most talented person I’ve ever met. Look I won’t write my full thing here since...well I’ll say the rest to you directly. But well .. Genny... I love you... I love you so fucking much alright :D thank you for being the highlight of my life. Thank you for being you Genny and thank you for being here for me and just being my best friend in the world :)

@ritsu-in-a-maid-dress , heyyy duuuudee buddy chum buddy pal XD (don’t ask lmao), I know we like met only a few weeks ago actually idk maybe at the point when I actually decide to post this it’ll be months or like a year 😳 (and if it is HOLY SHIT WTF I HOPE I ACTUALLY TOLD YOU SOMETHING IN THAT TIME CUZ DAMN) and well so far, you have been nothing but an amazing, way too nice, handsome friend that has somehow probably one of the sweetest hearts out there. You’re actually so fucking funny and have made my day much better sometimes just from the very few talked we’ve had lmao (correction now it’s actually been quite a few 😳and honestly they’re getting to much better and funnier so thank you so much for making me laugh :D (oh and I will never forget that one call we had for 3 FUCKING HOURS DUDE!!!! THAT WAS AWSOME!!!) ) and while at first I was very shy to even talk to you. I’m happy that I can comfortably say hi without any regrets or anything lmao. I will tell you something I’m very thankful for in dm too cuz it’s kinda private :) so yeah.... thank you so much for being you and being my friend :D

@quellfy yoooooo duuuudde I don’t think we’ve ever really interacted on here but I’ve talked to you on the server and well I can know from there that. You’re just such an amazing and kind person. And that every time we talk I have a great time :)) I don’t know a lot about you but I do know that you’re an amazing artist who has amazing art (yes even when it’s not sad “pointing at alluka in snow drawing” amazing) and that you’re such a kind and I nice human being who’s been just super nice and good to me :)) so thank you. For being my friend and for being such an amazing human being :D

@faceless-dude yooooo I don’t think we’ve properly talked before but like :))) I really think you’re an amazing person and just super talented. Your art is something I’ve never seen before and I really really think it’s unique and just amazing. Thank you for your wonderful wishes. And yeah dw. I plan on keeping that promise >:) Gen will get her booties kicked just like you asked XD

@kur-upira we probably only interacted a few times. But in those few times. I could tell what kind of person you are and how much of an amazing person you are :D. I can tell you that just from those few times. I was able to see how much of a beautiful, talented (yes holy shit. I cannot stress this enough. I love your artstyle and good god it’s so good everything from the actual drawings to the shading to the colouring. It’s amazing dude. I really mean that. It’s one of the most unique and most beautiful artstyles I’ve ever seen), friendly and just amazing human being you are :))) thank you for those few interaction (which probably took me whole days to respond to because of anxiety and bs XD sorry about that lmao) and yeah. I would absolutely love to get to know you better and to interact more with each other :D

@starrynarwhale, I know we like pretty much only interacted like twice with each other but from those few times. I knew that you were a wonderful person :) not just an amazing person. But a very talented one too :D (your art is amazing dude. It’s really great. Not only that but like. Can I just say that. Your frog gon fridays are godly dude. They’re always so fucking cool and wholesome 🥺🥺I love them so much. Amazing) you seem like a very kind and amazing person so yeah :)) I’d love to get to know you better :D

@catboyyouko yooooo. I know we probably have only interacted once but let me tell you dude. You’re a wonderful, amazing, nice, kind and extremely talented human being. (Dude you don’t understand. Your art is fucking amazing. Not only that but your comics are so goddamn great too. Not just in an art way but in a story way too. It’s just always so amazing) oh and also like... I see that you vent a lot and stuff and just wanted to let you know that if you ever needed someone to talk to or vent to. I’m here for you. I feel like you’re such an amazing person and I would love to get to know you better :) so yeah. If you ever need anyone to talk to. I’m here alright :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. I LOVE YOU ALL SO FUCKING MUCH

And if I didn’t @ you I promise It’s just cuz I’m too scared to bother you and @ Ing this many ppl has already made my anxiety skyrocket.

#sorry for @ing so many of you #I love you all so much #and I hope to get to know all of you better if I don’t already :)#thank you all for being part of my life #and for making my life so great

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zerotosiki · 5 years ago

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Give Me A Second Chance - Maribat Ideas

Inspired by many reincarnation (isekai) stories. Since I love them, lol.

I am sorry, I was supposed to post a bonus story of A Little Too Much, right? But here I am posting another new one. But heyyy don't worry because the bonus is still in progress ;D. And I don't know if this one is interesting or not haha.

Maribat inspired by @ozmav

[Please check here for the update Ideas on this AU]

Before reincarnation, there's a lot of angst in this timeline :)

Marinette and her friends' age are around 20 - 21. They were adults. Hawkmoth still hasn't beaten. And Lila is never stopping making a problem to Marinette. The class already brainwashed by Lila's lies, and since no one ever pointing out the lies, Lila's kingdom is getting bigger, bigger, and bigger.

Adrien has tried to defend Marinette as best as he can but being too softy, his words don't have any impact on the class. Poor Adrien. Adrien as chat is tried to help Marinette too, in any way he can, every night he visits Marinette to comfort her as often as he can.

Gabriel got more strict as time passed, he gives Adrien more schedule, and always forced Adrien to befriend with Lila. He decided to include her as his partner's model, much to Adrien's distress. This put a lot of stress for Adrien, and because of this, he rarely got free time, which made him rarely can change into Chat Noir to help Ladybug when they're patrolling or whenever there's Akuma. This make him change, from the sunshine boy to a cold boy. No, he's not evil or anything like that, he'll still kind to Marinette but because he's already tired with his father and Lila's problem, he rarely smiles, and his eyes look so tired. At this point, they already know their identity because at that time, Chat Noir is so tired and he just blubbering out his problem about his father and Lila without he realized it.

Marinette always tried to help Adrien too. But she can't do anything. Since she doesn't have any friends (except Luka, Kagami, Adrien, and maybe Chloe) to be asked for help. Alya? She's already become Lila's right hand. Nino? Well, she doesn't know what Nino's thinking really. It's clearly he's worried for his best friend too, but when Marinette asks his help to ask Gabriel together about Adrien's schedules, he refused to help because it's Marinette. And Marinette is hated by his girlfriend, which was her best friend in the past, and now is her enemy, apparently. He doesn't want to break up with Alya because he's helping Marinette. This made Marinette very disappointed to Nino.

While other classmates aren't that close to Adrien so of course they don't want to included with this problem. And they don't even realize, the fact that Adrien is having a problem with his father and Lila. Moreover they hate Marinette, there's no way they will help her.

So Marinette tried to confront Gabriel with Luka. Kagami wants to help but she can't because her strict parent said to not interfere with Agreste's problem. While Chloe had transferred to another school in New York with her mother because of that incident. That incident involving the pesky girl ---Lila---.

But of course, her attempt to confront Gabriel was failed miserably. Gabriel continued to insist on his point. And before Marinette can counter his words, he kicked out Marinette and Luka, saying that if Marinette kept pushing him like this, he threatened he would break off her chance to work on Agreste's fashion industries.

Let's just skip to a final battle, shall we?

Since Adrien is very busy, he arrived on time, at that time. On the last battle, Ladybug with help from Viperion and Ryuko were battling Hawkmoth, Mayura, and Akumatized Lila. Somehow in this battle, Lila manages to turn all of the class into an Akumatized one, with their hatred to one girl, Marinette. This makes Ladybug, Viperion, and Ryuko having difficult on defeating them. Until Master Fu decided to get help from Chloe with horse kwami's ability to transport. With Queen Bee and Jade Turtle decided to drop in, their chances of winning increase.

The battle is really intense, it takes many lives. Including her family. Her friends. Her peoples. Many innocent people died. Marinette hope, after the battle, she can return all of this mess to before this battle begins. But the real question is... Will they win this battle? Chat Noir finally comes, although his appearance really makes you think twice. His eyes aren't holding any light anymore, his movement is rather sluggish. He really tired, but he forced himself to comes help Ladybug, his best friend, his partner. There's no way he leaves her dealing Hawkmoth all alone.

But Hawkmoth of course notice this. He grins, thinking that his chance to get the miraculous is finally come. When ladybug and her friends are battling with the remaining akumatized people, Mayura with Hawkmoth's command sends Monster to strike Ladybug. Ladybug almost got hurt before she was pushed to the side in the last minute of the attack. The one who pushed her is the one who got attacked. Which is... Chat Noir.

Chat Noir was grabbed by the monster after he got attacked. Ladybug tried to help him as quick as she can but the monster was quicker than her, and take off his ring then toss him aside like a rag doll. Ladybug of course catches him before he touches the ground. She tried to stop his blood, but it was useless, Chat Noir, no, Adrien, already knows this was his limit. He said "...Thank you for being my friend, thank you for considering me as a partner, thank you for helping me... I am sorry I can't help much... Goodbye, Marinette..." before he leaves, for good.

Ladybug then resumes her battle, this time with her tears on her face, and devastated feeling ---for losing a best friend, best partner--- on her heart. In the end, it's just Ladybug, Hawkmoth and Mayura. Lila disappeared somewhere, nobody knows. Viperion, Ryuko, Queen Bee, Jade Turtle, and all akumatized people have been defeated.

Ladybug feeling so tired, her body already reached her limit. Hawkmoth is approaching her, and she should stand up right now, but with her broken legs, and not only that, her transformation is already worn off not a long time ago, she can't do anything besides laying useless on the rubble. She tried to stay away as best as she can though.

Hawkmoth then takes off her earring, much to her horror. He laughing because finally! Finally, after many years of battling, he got the miraculous and now he can---

Hawkmoth suddenly collapsed and transform back to Gabriel, Marinette surprised but she quickly shook it off. She tried to get the earring back but someone else beat her. And that is.. Lila. Lila got the earring. And on her left hand, there is the cat miraculous. On the background, you can see Mayura as Nathalie is collapsed too.

Marinette felt shiver at the smile on Lila's face. This is the first time, she shows her fear of Lila. Which brought satisfaction for Lila. Marinette tried to persuade Lila but does she ever listen? Nope. Lila is telling her that she really despises Marinette from the very beginning. She really wants to ruin her life. And whenever she success to manipulate the class to bully Marinette, Marinette always shows her brave face, Marinette always ignored her class, Marinette isn't even glancing at her whenever she starts to tell her lies.

That's why she wishes that Marinette is gone. forever. Never born in this world. Before Marinette can stop her, Lila already used the miraculous power to realize her wishes. And white light envelops everything.

After reincarnation, this is the part where everything really starts ;)

Marinette is born in Gotham's city. At the very beginning, when she was born, she still has her memories of the past (Her life as Ladybug and all of the battle until her last moment with Lila). She thought she was born in a different place, different world. So she tried to forget the past or not thinking it too much. And she tried to live her life in this Gotham. But of course, the past still haunting her.

At 5 maybe? She begins to learn martial arts from her mother. She trains her speed, her strength, and her brain. Because this is Gotham. Criminal's city. Although she's not a Superhero anymore, she still has to defend herself, right?

When she's teen, she begins to study in Gotham's academy. There, she meets Damian Wayne. And they got close because of the project school.

She of course already knows Gotham's vigilantes, which is Batman and his robins. But she tried to avoid them because she doesn't want any trouble..? Not really, it's just because she, Marinette this world, is just a normal girl, so there's no way the batfam would take any interest of her, right?

She was wrong. Because she got close to Damian, to the point she is his best friend. Of course one of the vigilantes, which is Robin, would take an interest of her. She wonders why though. Yeah, go figure it out.

At 15 or 16, Marinette was walking with Damian to Wayne Enterprises. Damian was appointed by his father to helping his brother in translating between the foreign class for their trip to Gotham's city, while Marinette just accompanying him (at his request of course ;)).

At first, Marinette isn't really care with this foreign class. But after they got there. After they were introduced by Damian's brother to this foreign class. Marinette surprised. Really surprised, to see familiar people. Her classmate, Her best friend, and... Lila. She just froze while Damian introduced his name to the class with a perfect french's language.

Apparently, there's no one who recognizes her. Which is she realized until she saw someone who's not supposed to be in that class. The one who replaces Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She realized she lives in the same world as the past but she just moved. When she supposed to born in Paris, she was born on Gotham. When she's supposed to attend Collège Françoise Dupont, she attends Gotham's academy. When she's supposed to befriend with Adrien, Luka, Kagami, and other people, here, she befriends with Damian and other people.

And she realized too, that in this world, there's still Hawkmoth terrorizing Paris, from the way the class talk.

At this point, I'm planning to make Marinette helping their old friends in defeating Hawkmoth, now that she knows his real identity. But of course, she has to befriend them first before she can help. Because I don't think they'll accept stranger helps? She is avoiding Lila as best as she can, though. And she's not alone of course! There's no way Damian would let it! She's too precious for him, anyway :D. She'll get help from the Batfam and probably from Justice too? Dunno.

That's all. I don't know if there's already the same idea with this though... And I still haven't figured out if :

I should put Tom and Sabine as Marinette's parent or they still live in Paris with different daughter/son (just for more angst) in After reincarnation.

I should put another original character or already existing character as Marinette and Ladybug's replacement in After reincarnation.

Any feedback is welcome ^^!

[Please check here for the update Ideas on this AU]

#daminette #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #damimari #maridami #ff: give me a second chance #my attempt writing #ideas

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itsjusta · 4 years ago

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WEEKLY UPDATE # 9

Dec. 6

I slept good gabii and dali rako ka sleep kos gikan ko cry hahah but my heart is so heavy doe idkkk a lot of thoughts bother me. getting news about your lovelife makes my heart heavy because aishhh but i’m really happy for you doeee

i will try not to cry na cos i’m always crying na doe i look like an idiot naaa i just hope the heaviness goes away cos it’s so lain sa feeling (i cried after dis doe hahaahahah 🥺)

it’s 10:30 am pa but i’m crying na aishhh why i cry in the morning and at night aishhhh why does everything have to hurt this much doe :( i really am happy for you but it hurts so, so much to see you opening your heart and giving your love to another. i’m happy na you’re going to new places and going on adventures that we didn’t have the opportunity na to go to. it hurts na we didn’t have the chance to go to these places together but i hope you fill this new chapter of your life with adventures and i hope you have the best time of your life ❤️ i’ll support u gyd bsag unsa pana 🤗 someday soon, i will get over with all this pain. somedaaaay.

today was just chill but my heart was heavy the whole day. i dont like days these doe but its okay, i will see better days. i just wish btaw na by one year na break nata, i’m gonna be better and you’ll also be genuinely happy na. i hope things will be better for us by then.

also at dinner doe i was pusa-ing the sili in my sauce and i remember when we have sauce kay ako gyd tig lata sa sili cos ma scared ka and imo i cover imo eyes or magpalayo hahahahah aishhh what a scaredy cat 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

i also looked at mom’s pics in her gallery doe she has pics of us sa house atong mga april and i miss those days aiissshhh i was happy back then, we were happy. i wasn’t dealing with a heartbreak, i was just enjoying quarantine pa and now its been months na so sad and kapoy hayst ux2 ko nalang bumalik :(((((

Dec. 7

separate post hehe

Dec. 8

Woke up with a heavy heart doe. This morning, I asked for strength from the Lord. I have a feeling you and I are gonna undergo a lot of changes doe. idk i’m so weird but i have a feeling you will start to distance yourself from me and it’s gonna be super hard for me gyd so i’m asking na my heart can take the pain 😔

but u know what, i went to the backyard today and i saw na it’s such a beautiful day today doe. the sun is up and it sounds so calm and i realized na i should not waste a beautiful day like this being sad hehe and i wanna say this to u but im shy cos u didnt reply to me na hahaha but i want u to also enjoy this beautiful day!!! ♥️♥️ i hope you will be happy today doe and good luck with everything! (HEY IDIOT U VISITED TUMBLR JUST BEFORE I WROTE THIS PLS COME BACK AND READ THIS PART COS I REALLY WANT U TO READ THIS PARAGRAPH 🥺)

after the sun went down, na sad napd dayon ko doe aishhh i get so annoyed with my thoughts doe cos i always think like where u are, what u doin stuff like dat and it annoys meee cos ako ramay gaka bother nge :((( so i sometimes turn my active status sa messenger off so i dont see nga offline ka or online naka doe aishhhh i hate this brain doe dapat not na sya sge think about saimoha everyday!!!!

also, u played poker tonight and i just wanna tell u to amping pauli doe cos its very gabii na u drive safely okay and i hope u have fun playing but dont gasto too much 🤦🏻‍♀️ i’ll just say this here cos i dont want u to think na im samok samoking u too much hehe pls amping always!

Dec. 9

I went to the backyard again this morning and I talked to the Lord doe and naka cry ko hahah I just told Him everything has been so hard doe and I wish for the bad days to end soon. Right now, I think I’m just borrowing strength nalang gyd from others doe cos my heart is so tired na doeee hehe but i know all of this will end i can fully accept na gyd everything and even then, i will always have love for you. Thank you also doe for giving me strength. 🤗

Today was a better day doeee not so many things running through my mind heheh

Dec. 10

Heyyy thank u so much for today doe and for the gifts heheh i had fun today!!! and i was really happy cos its like our tambays sauna here in the house na we just being idiots lang 🥺 i’m also happy that we’re not awkward doe cos aish dats so lain hahahah

u know i imagined na i would cry a lot this day cos i was planning to tell u gyd like face to face of my feelings, like how i’m so proud of u and how i will always be there but idk i get shy na dayon in person HAHAHAH but i think u got my msg na with the letters doe cry pa gani ka a lot heehhe not my fault 🤪🤪🤪

also i hope not ko ipa maoy2 na dayon the next days cos ang motto raba sako life karon kay happy for 1 day, sad for 1 month! ahhahah grrr 😡 but thank u very much!!!!! dat was a much needed hang out doe thank u ♥️

if u want a break from everything, i’m always just here in the house with the idiot dogs hahahah i’m always here for u doe!

Dec. 11

it’s back to my old life nga wala i look forward again!!! hahahaha 😢😢 I went to the dentist today to pa pasta doe and i tot everything was okay na with dad like balo na sya pila cos mom man nag say saiya doe and mom said okay na but when i said now nga 4,700 tanan including my pills he pamalikas doe i was so bv

i said to mom cancel nalang cos dad was yawyaw na big na daw au gasto saako teeth and i wasn’t the one raba gyd nga nag say magpapasta many it was mom but i thought nag agree najd sila doe aishhh i dont like gyd nga mangayo kwarta kay daddy doe cos it makes me feel utangan and i dont like feeling like dat cos i dont wanna be indebted to him i dont like having connections with him hahahah

i think i cannot have gyd a good relationship with him doe cos i got traumatized by the things he did in the past maybe if i have money na in the future magpa therapy ko doe to resolve issues in my past maybe ma forgive nako sya and ma okay2 nami doe and i think i’ll also become a better person if i can resolve my issues with him doeee

mom also chika that she didnt ila u yesterday abi niya tig deliver ka sa lazada kay ikaw daw nag tunol and nag mask and kalo pa gyd daw ka hhahaha aishhh she just asked a few things also doe hehe u visit dis idiot again soon! i uban2 also to her sa laguindingan naa lang gihatag kay ate sweet

i was also pissed with khalid doe cos he got a task na tig 2000 words each two kabuok and i said 1,500 he said overpriced daw?!?!? he said 1k ra daw kayahay buh!!!!!! aish idk doe if im really overpricing i wanna ask u now but i think u dont wanna talk to me now doe heheh next time nalng if mag talk nata

its gabii na doe and naa ko friend nag chika saiya 2020 tas nag ask sya how my 2020 went issa naka hilak na nuon ko doe cos it makes me cry to remember everything jd HAHAHAH aisshhh imbis wala pako ka cry today 🥺

Dec. 12

good morning!! u amping going to binuangan doe!! 😊

i went to the mall this afternoon i like to lakaw2 cos it takes my mind off things but usahay ra au ko makalakaw aishh

Dec. 13

today was a very boriiing and long day doe nag tan awa rajd ko teen wolf tibuok adlaw as in!!! i also cried for like 5 mins kay mag sleep unta ko pero aish u know what, bisag dugay2 na inani ako life like wala jd koy ka storya whole day, mag tan awa rako, lain gyd ghapon sa feeling doe. it’s like anad naman ko nga inani pero dili gihapon ko anad nga i feel so empty doe like idkkk hollow lang jd ang feeling :((

i just miss really being happy gyd doeee now i mostly feel like okay lang or sad. usahay lang ko ma happy but not gyd genuinely happy and it still makes me cry doe loollzzttt days like these i really want someone to say na all will be okay, but ako nalang gyd mag tell sa ako self ana doe cos days like these all i got is myself gyd

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artnerd1123 · 5 years ago

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A Familiar World

Play Nice, Boys! (Aiden Version) ——————————————

New places, new faces, and a new place to call home! That’s what Aiden and Roo were expecting when they walked into a new town. However, they may have gotten more than they bargained for with this new apartment…

The masterpost for AFW can be found here. The chapter post for AFW can be found here.

——————————————

(note: this is a repost bc I updated and changed some stuff!)

a much awaited chapter, at least on my end, where aiden and journal first meet!!! this one’s from Aiden’s perspective. Journal’s persepective of this is back in the chapter post, right above this one!

————

“Are we theah yet…?” “Almost, Roodle. Just a little farther! And I promise we’ll be settling in for awhile.” Mewling tiredly, the little cat familiar bonked his head against his originator’s. The latter let out a soft ‘oof’ of protest. Roo and Aiden had been travelling nonstop for a week. Today, Aiden had allowed his familiar to ride on his shoulders. It was the least he could do for the little guy. His horribly achy paws weren’t exactly made to walk for miles on end. Aiden hadn’t felt any calls to small expeditions lately. He had a feeling it was related to his growing desire to find the root of all the recent dark magic outbreaks. It was nearing the time of his final quest, and he wanted somewhere for he and Roo to come home to after it was over. The nearest place he’d been able to snag was a two bedroom apartment. He’d been told there was nobody else moved in yet to help with the cost, but he didn’t mind. It’d be more than enough space for he and his familiar to live comfortably until a roommate showed up. But before one tackles the glamour, there’s a whole lotta tracking through dust. “How much longer?” Roo whined sulkily. “Just a little farther,” Aiden repeated wearily. He sighed, hefting his bag and Roo higher. “The town should be around here somewhere- ah!” A few buildings had begun peeking through the trees. He perked up at the sight. “There, see? What’d I tell you?” He picked up his pace. The sooner they got onto those streets, the better. “Mnnh…” “IIII know… hang in there, bud…”

Striding into the new town was... an experience, to say the least. For one thing, it looked much bigger than it had on the map. And not just because everything was to scale. Aiden couldn’t recall being in someplace that called itself a ‘town,’ but stretched on and turned in on itself so many times it could’ve been a city. The questor glanced around as they passed marketplace stalls, stores, and various restaurants. Plenty of people were out and about on the streets. A few of them even gave him a friendly wave. The place certainly seemed alive, he’d give it that. Alive in a… non town-ish way, he thought, raising a brow at the stream of enough people to fill a village billowing out of a nearby bar. Then again, he was definitely a countryside kind of guy. What did he know about big towns? In any case, he’d make it work. The apartments here were said to be some of the nicest around. He hoped his sources were right. Continuing on down the street, someone else was busy sightseeing. Roo glanced about from his perch on Aiden’s back, taking in the unfamiliar expanse of people, paths, and ramshackle buildings. It was all so much… so new… and so… different from everything else he’d been around. The wide eyed paint feline shivered a little. Curling up behind Aiden’s head, he mewled softly. Aiden winced as the little guy’s claws poked against his scalp. “Heyyy- hey- you’re ok, bud-” he whispered, reaching back to pat him. “The apartment building is ahead of us on the right. We’re nearly there.” Roo just meowed shakily. Aiden walked a little faster. Pushing open the apartment building’s door, he nearly stumbled into a small group of travelers. “Oh-! Revaew, I’m sorry,” he sputtered. They just gave him a look before turning back to their conversation. It seemed the whole place was teeming with people. Obviously, he and roo weren’t the only individuals in need of a place to stay. Glad I paid ahead of time. Carefully edging into the room, Aiden took Roo down from his shoulders. He knew the little cat wouldn’t take kindly to large number of pushing and shoving people in here. He let him wiggle inside of his cloak. A relieved sigh followed soon after. Aiden gave the lump under his cloak a pat. Scanning the room for someone in charge, the questor’s eyes caught on the apartments’ clerk. The poor man up at the front desk looked swamped, overworked, and badly in need of a nap. Aiden felt sorry for him. Better make this quick, for his sake. Making sure he wasn’t cutting anyone off, he made his way over to the desk. “One moment, please,” the frazzled clerk called. He quickly snagged a small sack of coins and a set of keys from the couple in front of them. As they moved off, he shouted “NEXT PLEASE!” hoarsely. Aiden sidled up into place. “Busy weekend?” Aiden asked, smiling sympathetically. “Oh, you’ve got no idea. It seems every adventurer in the region decided to stop by,” the clerk groaned. He took the pause in business to slump and rub his face. “I’ve barely been able to keep all my rentals straight.” “Sorry to hear it.” Aiden glanced back at the room behind him; plenty of the inhabitants looked like fellow questors. They weren’t exactly known for settling in one place for long. It must’ve been a migration season… or maybe another dungeon cropped up nearby… “I’ll try and make your job a little easier— I rented a room for my familiar and I a couple days ago? An empty two bedroom apartment? It should be under the name Pingere.” “Right- yes, thank you, let me check-“ A minute of shuffling papers later, the clerk nodded. “Yep- I’ve got you down right here.” He snapped, a key appearing in a flash of orange sparks. He thrust it hastily into Aiden’s hand. “Here’s your room key. It’s the only way you’ll be getting into your room if nobody’s at the desk. Please let me know if something’s still messy in there— I haven’t been able to clean all the rooms lately- NEXT PLEASE!” And with that, Aiden was shoved away from the desk. It was a wonder he didn’t get lifted up over everyone else. He squeezed his way through the room and over to the staircase. Taking a moment to breathe, he felt something shift under his cloak. An indigo head poked itself out. “P-please tell me we a-ain’t goin anywheah that s-smushy again,” Roo whimpered, clinging to Aiden. The questor heaved a long sigh. Looks like they’d both be getting used to the closeness of town life. He gave his familiar a couple soothing strokes. “I’ll try and avoid crowded buildings, bud,” he said, “but I can’t promise no crowds. We’re in a town full of em.” Roo seemed to shrink down at the information. “Mnnn…” Aiden sighed. “Hey, how about we go check out our room? We can hang out there for the rest of the day. I’d say we’ve earned it.” Roo hesitated, considering the option. It would afford him a break from crowds, strangers, and also score some more quality time with Aiden. He nodded decisively. “I wanna test out the beds,” he joked timidly. Aiden smiled. “That’s the spirit,” he chuckled, ruffling Roo’s fur. “Let’s go take a look at our new home.” Roo beamed, wiggling out of Aiden’s arms. “Race yeh there!!!” Aiden grinned. “Oh, you’re on.”

One race up the staircase later, the two stood panting in front of their door. “It’s- hghh- r-room 213, right?” Roo panted. He was leaned against his originator’s leg. Aiden glanced down at their key, taking a few deep breaths. The room number, 213, shone in a soft orange light from it. Nodding, he reached to unlock the door. “Yup… this should be the-“ He paused. The key had gone in, but he didn’t feel the distinctive click of the lock unlocking. He frowned. “... w… what’s wrong?” “... the door was already unlocked.” Roo stood up straighter. Fidgeting warily, he glanced around. “M… maybe the last person heah forgot to lock it…?” He offered hesitantly. Aiden raised a brow. “Maybe. The clerk looked like he hadn’t had any time to get away from the counter, so it’s possible he hadn’t checked.” Well, locked or unlocked, this was their room. He let out a sigh. “We’ll just go in. If it’s a mess, he said to tell him.” Aiden gave the handle a twist. The door swung open with a soft creak. Light spilled out into the hallway. The place looked uninhabited at first, but the black cloak tossed over the couch and muffled sounds of furniture being dragged around didn’t enforce the view. The pair shared a glance. Apparently they had a roommate after all. And nobody had decided to inform them before they paid in full. Hmm. Alright. I better get to the bottom of this. The two walked slowly into the living room. Walking inside made the scraping and scuffing sounds louder. When Roo held up his paws, Aiden lifted him up without a word. His eyes slid over the doorways to the kitchen and hall. The noises were from down the hallway. He guessed it was from one of the bedrooms. A glance showed one of the doors was open. There. Hopefully a quick talk would get all this straightened out. He started down the hall. Roo shivered a bit, and Aiden gently stroked his fur. “‘S alright, bud,” he whispered. “This shouldn’t take too long.” At the sound of approaching footsteps, the furniture scraping stopped. Whoever was in the room muttered confusedly to themself. “... uh… hello?” Aiden called. There was a flurry of scrambling in the room— as if the occupant was startled— and their voice sounded off louder. “What in Revaew’s web-?!” A head poked out from behind the door. Aiden was surprised to see an older teen. He couldn’t have been more than 18 or 19. Moving out age, yes, but renting an apartment like this alone? Not a common move. And the dull purplish bruise adorning his cheek was… a little concerning. The stranger’s wary turquoise eyes shifted over the pair in front of him. He reached up to brush a lock of brown hair out of his face. “... um… can I… help you?” He asked slowly. Roo squirmed nervously under the stranger’s gaze. The little cat never did well around strangers. Aiden cleared his throat, letting Roo wiggle back under his cloak. “Er… yes, I believe so. You’re living in room two thirteen?” Aiden asked hesitantly. “Yyyyyes…? I bought it a week ago,” the stranger answered hesitantly, gaze flicking over the questor again. Wariness and confusion laced across his features. Aiden didn’t blame him. “Alright. Well, I’m… sorry if you weren’t informed, but Roo and I are your new roommates,” he explained. “I wasn’t… uh… told you’d moved in. Or I would’ve knocked.” That information seemed to shake the stranger up a bit. Straightening up, his brows furrowed. “What-? I- really? So soon?” he sputtered. “Sorry if you weren’t expecting it,” Aiden said gently, “I’m sure we can wait a day if you need time to-” “No- no, you- that’s not the problem!” The stranger broke in. He huffed in annoyance, running a hand through his curly hair. “You two shouldn’t- this can’t be right. I was told I would have this place to myself for at least a month or two!” “Hey- hey, it’ll be alright,” Aiden tried, holding up a hand. “We can get all this sorted out. Maybe there was some miscommunication issue.” As soon as he said it though, he realized that wasn’t believable. No landlord would promise that sort of thing and not tell their tenant about new roommates. At least, not an honest one. “But I paid for this room in full! On my own!” the stranger cried. “I never would’ve done that if I’d known you’d be here so soon!” “That’s… that’s what we paid for, too,” Aiden said slowly. “And nobody told me this place already had someone moving in.” “I… I… ghhhh...” the stranger seemed to deflate. He put a hand to his forehead. “What the hell. I do not need this right now.” “That’s how I’m feeling about this,” Aiden replied. He rubbed his face, fingers scratching against his short beard, and let out a long sigh. This was more than a mix up. Someone had duped the two of them into spending more money than they had to, for a room without a roommate that had clearly already shown up. And, from the looks of how much desperate and frustrated muttering his new roommate was doing, it wasn’t money that could just be thrown away. And that made him more than a little annoyed at the whole situation. “Hey, tell you what,” Aiden spoke up suddenly, “how about we go down and talk to the clerk? I’m sure I can get him to give us back half what we both paid.” The stranger glanced over at him in surprise. Uncertainty and aggravation warred with nervous hope for a place on his face. “... are you sure...?” he asked a little bluntly. It was clear he didn’t quite trust his new roommate yet, but the out of the blue offer… well. It had given him something to stand on. “I’m sure,” Aiden said firmly, gesturing to the door. “Someone needs to sort out this mess anyways, hm?” “... yeah… yeah. ok,” the stranger sighed. “Let’s… do this. Or whatever.” “Alright. Hopefully this won’t take too long.”

————

It was half an hour before they could get ahold of the clerk. Roo was up in the room, the two humans deciding to leave him out of the- frankly quite stressful- situation. Standing in front of the desk, they watched as the clerk frantically flicked through his paperwork. “Roommates- I swear I didn’t- ohhh, where did I put those records-?!” The clerk stammered worriedly. Aiden sighed softly. Even if he was annoyed, he knew that the clerk at the desk probably wasn’t in charge of selling the rooms. “It’s alright, just take your time. We’re fine,” the questor said gently. The stranger at his side shot him a look. It was obvious he didn’t share the same opinion on that last remark. “What were your names again?” The clerk asked miserably. “I’m so sorry. They’ve slipped my mind.” “Aiden Pingere. It may be in as just Pingere, I forget which.” “Theo- I mean- Journal. Journal Drapht.” “Thank you. One moment...” The clerk waved his hands, a soft orange mist appearing over his papers. He muttered under his breath as Aiden and the stranger, Journal, watched on. … huh. Journal. Now that’s an interesting name if I ever heard one. Like an alias. But what would a youngster be doing with an alias? Or his own apartment? Or a bruise that looked more and more like a handprint on his cheek? Was he in some sort of trouble? Aiden snuck a curious glance at his companion. Journal had his arms crossed now. He really looked on edge. On edge and lost in anxious thought. Like a scared kid. … Exactly like a scared kid. That look was what really got Aiden to settle how he felt about Journal. Trouble or no trouble, he hated to see that sort of look. He felt worried for him. However, just as he went to ask if he was alright, the clerk straightened up. Both of them looked to him expectantly. “Aha, right here! I’ve got your records.” The clerk paused. “... and it… it does say you were both sold room 213. Oh dear.” Aiden let out a loud sigh. Journal swore under his breath. “You’re serious? Isn’t there anything you can do to fix that?!” Journal asked helplessly. Aiden tried to give him a steadying glance. Freaking out right now wouldn’t help. His fellow just gave him a desperate gesture in return. “Both of us paid for a room without a roommate already moved in!” “Is there another room one of us could take?” Aiden inquired. “Some place else one of us could stay?” “I’m afraid not,” the clerk replied awkwardly. “All other rooms are sold out all for at least the next few months. You’ll just have to keep the room you bought together.” “Oh Revaew…” Aiden muttered. “Months…?” Journal echoed weakly. Aiden could tell from the way Journal’s hand strayed to his pockets that his earlier money suspicion was right. And, in his own world of troubles, he doubted he’d be able to hunt down another open apartment with all the questor rush. Well. That left just one thing to do. Fixing the clerk with a stern but understanding look, he spoke again. “Listen, I don’t know if your superior planned this or not, but neither of us should’ve paid that much. Do you think you can help us out a bit?” “I- uh- maybe- dep- depends on what you want?” the clerk stammered uncertainly. Evidently, he wasn’t used to such upfront questions with a ‘no refunds’ sign on the desk. Or, probably, from a man like himself. “I’d like you to halve the amount we both paid, and give us back what we’re owed,” he said simply. The clerk blinked. Journal gave him a surprised look. Aiden looked back at the clerk calmly and firmly. “It’s only right, wouldn’t you think?” he asked gently. “I… uh… I suppose…” the clerk mumbled. Glancing around nervously, he tapped his pencil on his records paper. “Are you sure there’s nothing else I can-?” “Sir, please. I promise we won’t bother you again.” As the clerk gave a defeated sigh, Aiden couldn’t help but overhear a grumbled ‘no promises’ from Journal. He raised a brow, but the sorcerer didn’t notice. Thankfully, it didn’t take the clerk nearly as long to rewrite their records and hand over the gold they were owed. When it was all over, the two gave each other an uncertain look. “... welp. Guess we better go get settled in,” Aiden said hesitantly. “... right,” Journal huffed sulkily. “You don’t touch my stuff, I won’t touch yours.” “Ooookay then… fair enough.” And with that, Journal turned on his heel and left for the stairs. Aiden watched after him for a moment. His new roommate was… quite touchy. What had he just gotten himself into?

#afw chapter #afw #a familiar world #my story #arty writes #aiden pingere #roo pingere #journal sherman drapht #i had this finished like;;; two weeks ago;;; i'm only posting it now bc i'm horrible at waiting and wanna get more proper content out sldkjf #and hey!!! this is a plot point!!! an important one!!! we actually have these two meeting n interacting in a drabble!!!#truly an amazing feat :V #lskdjfssl joking aside; i'm still working on the journal one #he's just gotten to town as of this posting but i'm workin on it lskjdfs #hope u enjoy confused paint dad instantly deciding to adopt the first kid who looks like he needs to be taken under someone's wing XD #pfft #h ok tags copied and we're fine nwo sldkfjsldf--

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idecidedtowriteagain · 5 years ago

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Co-Stars (1) ~ h.o, t.h

A/N: this is one of the first things that I have finished in a long time and I wanted to get this out before I release the prologue of a new series that I’m working on. The second part will probably be up before Saturday, no promises tho. Also I’m willing to take requests but may take a while since I’m more than likely going to focus on the series.

summary: you’re an up and coming actress and you’ve just been cast in a new movie based off one of your favorite books. little did you know that your childhood friend, Tom Holland, was best friends with your co-star.

warnings: none?

words: 1,718

It was nearing eight when you make your way inside the studio, excited for your first day, and officially meeting your co-star. Of course you had met him at the screen test but that day was so hectic you highly doubted you even introduced yourself to him.

You make your way over to the tall blonde that was talking to someone you couldn’t quite make out since he was mostly covered by the former. As you got closer, you heard some muffled conversation before you clear your throat and tap on the blonde’s shoulder.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt, just wanted to quickly introduce myself before I head over to makeup since we didn’t quite get the chance to do that at the screen test. So, it’s nice to officially meet you Harrison.” You say looking up to the blonde, taking in his icy blue eyes.

“It’s no worries, nice to meet you, Y/N, I saw your most recent movie and I still can’t believe I get to work with you!” Harrison says while smiling down at you.

“Thank you, always fun to meet a fan,” You tease and go to shake his hand.

“Of course it is, don’t let that her to your head.” Harrison says as he ignores your hand and goes in for a hug.

“Alright fanboy, we both have to go to make up, I’ll see you in a bit.” You say, laughing and pulling away.

You make your way to your trailer and are instantly pulled into a whirlwind, trying to get makeup and dressed as fast possible to be able to try to get in all the scenes that were scheduled for the day.

As you at shush about done, you get a text message.

Tommy Boi

heyyyy you still down for drinks later, I have a friend who I want you to meet. x

You

You have a friend? Should I be jealous? Jk, maybe, can’t wait. xo

You were now wondering who this friend could be, you hadn’t hung out with Tom in a good while, only occasionally when the stars aligned and happened to be in the same city.

You received a text back, only the eye roll emoji and you decided to leave him on read as you had to go and shoot the scenes for today.

“Wow, you look amazing.” Harrison says admiring your new appearance.

“Don’t get starstruck, Osterfield, we haven’t even started yet.” You teased.

“It’s hard not to when I’m with THE Y/N Y/L/N.” He said while mock bowing.

You just laughed at his mannerisms. He was definitely charming, you thought. But just like that, the playing was over as both of you were instructed on how they wanted the scene to be played out and you both got into character.

Everything went great, even improvising some scenes and surprising the director with how their chemistry just made the scene flow so well and ended up choosing some of the improvised scenes since they felt natural.

“Guys, y’all did great, it’s a great first day, I think we got more than enough material for today, so go ahead and head home a bit early, tomorrow is probably going to be more packed since we’re going to get into the action scene, so go rest up, and good job.” The director says, genuinely happy at how well they did, they had been one of the least problematic actors and it just made the job all that much easier.

You and Harrison thanked the director then proceeded to walk to the trailers.

“So, Y/N, I was wondering if you would like to join me and my best friend for some drinks? Or maybe dinner? I don’t really know what he has in mind, he said he invited someone but I don’t see why I can’t invite you as well, maybe get to know each other better? Or talk about the movie or go over lines or something, if you’d like, of course.” Harrison rambled, not knowing how to talk to his co-star, and favorite actress although she didn’t need to know that at the moment.

“Harrison, as much as I would love to, I already have plans for tonight with an old friend, could we rain check in that? We could do that tomorrow? It would be nice to have someone to run lines with and get to know.” You say, sad that you couldn’t go with Harrison but you hadn’t seen Tom in months and were dying to catch up with him to discuss his new projects.

Harrison looked defeated before his expression bounced back to hopeful as she offered meeting up tomorrow. “Okay, I’ll hold you to that, Y/L/N, have fun with your friend, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He says as he goes inside his trailer to change.

You also go ahead and go inside your own trailer to change, thankful that the makeup wasn’t too overwhelming and went well with her outfit, a simple red dress and flats. As you finish getting ready you get a text message.

Tommy Boi

heyyy you need a ride or something? I’m about to head out, remember it’s at the bar by my hotel, lmk if you need the address again. x

I already got an Uber and address, we managed to finish early so I’m good, thank u tho. xo

Tommy Boi

ok cool, also Haz said he’s on his way so hurry up before we start drinking w/out you :P x

I swear if you’re already drinking without me, I’ll post an ugly selfie of you also Haz?

Tommy Boi

ye, Haz is my friend, I promise you’ll like him, can’t believe you’re already threatening me x

Bye Tommy, my Uber just got here, I’m ten minutes away, chill. xo

You smile at your phone at the messages between you and Tom as you head out to your Uber. The ride being surprisingly fast and quiet, thankfully the driver either didn’t recognize you or didn’t care enough to make conversation. Either way you were grateful you didn’t have to make awkward conversation.

When you get to the bar, you thank the Uber before making your way inside, quickly scanning the room and finding Tom immediately, already getting up to meet you. You quickly make your way to him and pull him into a hug. He picks you up and twirls you around, just happy at seeing his childhood friend for the first time in months.

“I missed you, Tommy, FaceTiming and texting was not enough.” You say into his chest before you pull away and ruffle his hair.

He glares at you playfully at the action. “I was about to say I missed you too but I can’t believe that you messed up my hair. Anyway, Haz went to go get the first round, come sit, you need to update me on what’s been going on, haven’t seen you since the premier of your last movie and I know you’ve taken up some more projects.” Tom says as he pulls you to sit next to him in the booth.

“You’re one to talk! I mean you just finished wrapping up End Game and Far From Home, that must have been crazy!” You exclaim, excited for your best friend.

“I mean, yeah, which by the way, you are coming to the premiere of Far From Home, you have no choice. But I want to know about what you’re working on, you have kept so much from me, while I have told you everything I could about my movies.” He said giving you puppy eyes.

“Tom, first of all, that’s why Marvel keeps things from you, you need to learn to hold back, you have ruined so many movies for me because of your spoilers and -“

“But you love spoilers!” Tom exclaims, cutting you off.

“That’s beside the point! But okay, I guess, you win, what do you want to know?” You say, giving up since Tom wasn’t going to rest until you said something.

“Everything! How was your first day? Have you met anyone you like? Who is your co-star? Is he hotter than me?” Tom goes off asking all the questions he could think of, off the the top of his head.

“Tom! Chill. One at a time. It was great. I haven’t met anyone, don’t really have the time. Yes he is hotter than you but I guess you’ll have to come to set to see who it is.” You say, trying not to say much, since he would definitely tease you as he has with previous costars.

“Hey! He wishes he was as hot as I am, whoever he is, but I guess I will have to go to set, I’m here for the next week, so you’re stuck with me. What is taking Haz so long? I guess I’ll go see if he needs some help or something.” Tom says as he gets up, in search of his mysterious friend.

“Alright. Well while you do that, I’m going to head to the restroom, get me my usual!” You say as you make your way to the restroom to go freshen up your makeup, trying to make a good impression since it wasn’t often Tom introduced you to new people.

As you head back to the table you see Tom and someone sitting across from him. You walk further and move to take a seat next to Tom, so you were now staring at Tom’s new friend.

“Harrison?”

“Y/N?”

Part 2

#harrison osterfield x reader #tom holland x reader #harrison osterfield #haz osterfield

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aharris00britney · 6 years ago

Photo

ASKS 13

CC .zip file, resource page, uploading sims, and some other stuff idk

Anonymous said: Hi! I was just wondering if you knew that none of the images on your resources page are showing. Not on my end, at least. I've gone back to check a few times, to see if it was just my internet acting up or something, but every time it just loads blank white squares

Heya lmao it should be fixed somewhat now. A few months ago my download page/resource page/sim download page all broke and I had to reupload images. It killed me to fix my download page and I am just now getting around to doing my resource page. I am still working on it but I fixed links for Macie and Taylor

Anonymous said: Could you make any male hairstyles?

I am not the best at male hair, but maybe in the future I will do some stuff. For now the only male hairs I will make are conversions and stuff. I’m sorry!

Anonymous said: Any chance you’ll make some straight middle parted hair? Like 2002 Avril Lavigne?

TBH I wish I would’ve made my Madison hair as just the Cats&Dogs hair retextured/UV mapped because that is something I want now, but I don’t have a way to get it to be the same as my Madison hair. We shall see!

Anonymous said: are your sims for download? They are so gorgeous!

They are! The images on the download page I made for them are broken but you can find their tag here

Anonymous said: I feel lile u should post more about urself + I miss ur monthly playlists

okay I thought this was so sweet for some reason ;n; I don’t post much about myself because I don’t know if y’all would wanna hear about my life/problems lmao. Also my playlists is a whole problem UGH I made my Nov one and forgot to post it, and didn’t have wifi til like Jan and I don’t know what to do with them. I will put a little bit of what my life is rn lmao:

I am about to go back to Radford for my 2nd semester, and I am happy with how my classes are. I am going through some really messy boy problems like.... ugh. I am trying to work things out and people like @ayoshi @bowl-of-plumbobs @dogsill and a groupchat im in on discord have kept me from being miserable. I just can’t get it resolved til I go back and I have been gone for a month with it just... building.

@simspigccfinds said: How long did it take you to learn how to make cc?

Well I ‘knew’ how when I first started, but I wouldn’t say I got to the point where I knew how to make stuff 99% right until late 2017, early 2018. Practicing and learning from trial and error is the best way I learned.

Anonymous said: I'm new here but do you like Red Velvet?

yes! they are tied with BP for my #2 group. I love RV songs/videos, but I love the BP girlies so much bc they were my first kpop group ;n;

Anonymous said: idk if you've been asked this before (i went through ur asks and ur faq and i couldnt find anything about this but i couldve missed it) Would you ever consider making a big download for all of ur cc? I really wanna download it all but theres so much!

Okay with this idk how I would do it. I post three new hairs every month. Some of my old hairs I know have glitches and I would not want to include them. I am going to try to finish some revamps/updates of hairs and then see about a giant .zip file and maybe a merged package of all my hairs.

Anonymous said: I LOVE ALL UR HAIRS!!! I use them on all of my white sims ❤️❤️

idk if this was shade ewdgfvbn thank you?? I know I don’t make many POC hairs and I want to start doing more, they just take more time to perfect imo and I try to have X amount of hairs for voting everything, and 3 release every month so it is hard to get popping different hairs in and out in that limited time.

Anonymous said: Omg your sims are gorgeous, I love your creations! I am saving up right now but as soon as I have enough money to spare, I am definitely becoming a patron :)

thank you so much!!! I appreciate you even thinking of being a patron <3

@set-fire-to-the-stars said: HEYYY! First, I'd like to say your work is AMAZING and I really enjoy having your hairs in my game. I have a suggestion, because we're both LOONA stans... You know that one hairstyle YeoJin is always wearing? That would look so cute in sims 4...

thank you!! lmao the hair with the like 5 or 6 buns? Maybe!! It would be a bit tricky to do but I would like to try it one day.

Anonymous said: Just wanted to let you know that I have a friend called Lydia and her Hair is just as your "Lydia" Hair, it's so accurate that I had to giggle

lmao I am happy you got a giggle from it. I made it forever ago but I know it was based off of someone. . . .

Anonymous said: Hi! Do you have any hairs/cc for children? Thank you!

i don’t ;n; but @naevys-sims has converted a HUGE amount of my hairs to children if you want to check them out <3

Anonymous said: is it okay to edit your meshes for personal use only?

yeah haha for personal use is fine

Anonymous said: Hello!, i really like your cc. but, most of them doesn't seem to work with me, when i try to put it on my sim, it looks bald. do you know what's wrong with it?. thanks ~

You may just be downloading the recolors. Make sure to download the one that doesn’t say ‘recolors’ too.

@debsim said: hey i just want to say that you are my favorite cc creator and my sister is also born on the same as you lol :)

thank you!!! lmao it is cool that me and ur sis have the same birthday :P

Anonymous said: I appreciate you so so much. I feel like i've already told you this but my god, you improve everything about my game. You've literally made my life happier and just, i'm so happy 😩❤

awe thank you!!! I just make simple hairs <3 I am happy that you think it improves your game. Thank you again

Anonymous said: I'd really love to see something fresh from you. All i see on my dash is the same hair with small variations :/

all my releases are picked by Patreon Pledges through voting, so it isn’t up to me entirely. I just make/finish the hairs being voted on. All I can recommend doing to change that is pledge and vote sdgfvbb

@ssmorqqii said: Okay so this isn't much of an ask really but I just wanted to give you a heads up as an excessive cc downloader/user that your cc is HEAVEN. It makes the whole game so much better and I just wanted to thank you.

thank you omg stuff like this makes me feel good about making content for the game <3 knowing that people think my hair changes the game enough to make it better. Thank you again

Anonymous said: do you use a cleavage overlay or special skin on your female sims?

I use two skin overlays and a default. That is it though besides makeup. No cleavage overlay

Anonymous said: How are your sims so pretty? Would you ever upload them? Like the one you’re using with get famous for example?

My sims are uploaded already to my origin and my blog lmao, I am planning to update them in the next few weeks though. DL page here

Anonymous said: not gonna lie that I followed you mainly cause you're a LOONA stan! <3

oh absolutely

Anonymous said: Another patron saint bitch. Sorry ugh

efvbn this made me giggle lmao ty

Anonymous said: sulsul! so I don't know how patreon works but when you pledge? do you have to pledge month to month or can i just be for one month?

you can pledge for just one month by pledging and then cancelling before you get charged the next month. I think you get charged a small fee if you re-pledge in the future though. So doing it month-to-month is a bit cheaper

@ssmorqqii said: hi this isnt a question but i just wanted you to know that i think youre pretty frikin great okay thank u

thank you ddgfvbn i appreciate it

okay after this idk when I answered last so im gonna end it here. Does anybody read all of these things lmao efdhgb

#asks

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sarahjane0886 · 7 years ago

Text

A Friend

"A friend is someone who can see the truth and pain in your eyes even if you're fooling everyone else."

"Hey girlie, what are you up to?" Sharna's voice came over the line when Peta finally answered her phone.

"Not much, just vegging." Peta's voice said softly as she tucked into the couch cushion. She had decided to take a down day that day once she had woken up. She was feeling the aftershocks of everything that had gone on recently in her life. So she was currently rocking the hot mess express look as she remained on her sofa.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Sharna said hearing the off tone to Peta's voice immediately.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Peta said however Sharna knew her friends voice by this point, She knew she was blatantly lying through her teeth.

"Uhh, okay. I was calling to ask if you wanted to do a girl's day. And I can clearly hear this is a definite need for a girl day. I'll be over in 15, no arguments." Sharna said hanging up almost immediately.

"Ugh." Peta said dropping back down onto the couch. She was spent, physically, emotionally, mentally spent. She wasn't sure she had the energy to have a girl's day that day. But she'd push through. It was what she does all the time. She groaned but then headed back to her room to make herself presentable. She threw on some light makeup, brushed out her hair, and threw on some clothes that were at least clean looking.

"Heyyy." Sharna said as she appeared in the house. One of the best friend benefits was having a house key so Sharna was able to come in without having to have Peta let her in.

"Hey you." Peta said as she stood up and hugged her bestie.

"So, movies? Popcorn? Drinks? Or talking?" Sharna said getting right down to business. They had a routine in them whenever they did girls days. They had things they always did but never in the same order. It was the benefits of girls days. The day flowed however they needed it too depending on the mood of the day.

"Movies. Definitely Movies." Peta said wanting to escape the talking portion of the day. Sharna had figured that was going to be the answer but she was willing to let that be the outcome.

"Rom-Com, Disney, Sappy Love."

"Rom-Com." Peta answered as she flopped onto the sofa. Sharna threw The Proposal in as Peta pulled a few blankets out of the end table. Another benefit of girl's days were snuggles that were permitted. Sometimes, you just needed to curl up together and be held. No judging. Just loves. Sharna settled into the corner of the couch while Peta laid with her head on Sharna's hip. They started the movie and girls day was in full swing.

"I love this movie." Sharna said as the end credits started to roll. However when she looked down at Peta she realized there were tears in her eyes as well as some tear streaks down her cheeks.

"Me too. Oh my god, Betty White." Peta said sitting up quickly as she wiped her tears away. She tried to hide the fact that she had started crying at the end.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Sharna said as she moved over to Peta.

"Nothing, i'm fine. I was laughing."

"Babe, I know you better than that. You don't laugh at the end of this movie, ever. Talk to me. I can see you're not okay. I won't push babe, but you know I'm always here." That was the sentence that did it. Somehow no matter how hard Peta had tried to throw up her walls day in and day out, Sharna had seen straight through them.

"Maks." She whispered as tears started to fall down her cheeks. Sharna was confused at first considering Maks and Peta had been out of the picture as a couple for nearly a year now. She realized though that her friend was crying and it was more important to fix that first.

"What happened?" Sharna said as she wrapped her arms around Peta, as she rubbed her back.

"He texted. Or I texted. I told him Happy Birthday. He answered. Then it kinda exploded." Peta said once her tears had settled some. Sharna leaned back and let her friend curl into her as she needed.

"Okay, then what?"

"Well two weeks later, he texted and it says "Hey P, I just really thought you should know that I miss you." Like what in the fuck do you do with that Shar? I was like well clearly I miss you too but what even? I mean at the end, you said you never wanted to speak to me again."

"Babe, what even? What else did he say?" Sharna said as she kind of wanted to throttle the man herself. He had been the one who had been able to do the most damage to her best friend. Even when they were apart, it had seemed like they'd end up together. But then it exploded.

"That if it was up to him, he'd marry me."

"Excuse me?" Sharna said pulling back quickly and looking at Peta.

"Yeah. And I said I'd say yes. But then he just returned to what we ended on last time which makes no sense. And I feel like I'm back at square one. I'm starting all over again with getting over him. And I just feel burnt out Shar. I can't do this anymore. He's in my dreams, he comes up everywhere. His name, things we talked about, just everything. I want it to stop. I feel like I'm a step up from rock bottom and I just want to give it all up. I don't want to do anything anymore. I don't want to work out, I don't want to dance, I don't want to do any of it. I just want it all to be done."

"Peta. You don't mean....." Sharna said shocked for a second.

"No, no no, god no. I just mean, I don't even know what I mean but this, this isn't all working."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sharna said letting Peta sink back into her body.

"Cause it's stupid, why should I let him affect me like this? I'm just completely giving him that right."

"But love, no. Nothing is stupid. I get it. I mean we all thought, even after. It makes sense. I just hate that he felt the need to let you in on that. I mean I get needing you to know but what even."

"I just want me back." Peta said frustratedly.

"Well, we'll get you back. We'll figure it out."

"I feel like I need a reset. A complete lifestyle reset."

"It would probably help. We just need to find your reset button. But why don't you go dark for a bit. Delete everything just focus on you."

"You mean like socially?"

"Yeah, I feel like we do it sometimes unknowingly but this time you could do it intentionally. Delete all the apps, remove the temptation and just focus on you."

"I suppose that could work. I mean at this point, what would it hurt to try."

"Right, and I'll be here for you the whole way, even if it just means listening to you when you need to vent. I can be here physically or mentally or emotionally." Sharna said.

"Thanks babe." Peta said already feeling a bit better just knowing that Sharna knew and that she didnt think she was crazy. Just getting it off her chest.

"Anytime. I love you. Now, here you delete everything, I'm going to go order us pizza and we're going to continue this girl day for you." Sharna said squeezing Peta tightly. Peta held tighter to her friend for a moment longer but then let her go. She had some major deleting to do on her phone.

*That's a wrap on this one. And unfortunately, I'm taking a temporary hiatus. This update came with alot of truth for what I'm feeling right now. Between work, life, and some matters of the heart, I really just feel beaten down. So I'm going to be taking a break. I've already went through deleted all my social media apps and this is the last one. And quite honestly, this is one of the hardest ones. But I know I need this because right now, I don't even want to write. I have so many ideas and things that I want to do but I can't find the energy to do it. I promise you all I'll be back. I'm hoping to start getting me back and maybe write during my break. I just won't post. I love you all. You've all kept me going this long. I wouldn't be me if I didn't have all of your support and love and I can't even begin to express my thankfulness to that. So I promise I'll be back and when I'm back it'll be better than ever. This is not the end by any means. It's just an intermission. I love you all. Thank you. Again. XOXOXO

#burgatroyd #peta and sharna #sharna burgess #peta murgatroyd #sarahs stories #Shorty #one-shot #quote prompt

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therewillalwaysbeapril · 5 years ago

Text

Chapter 4: Sixteen Hours

6:30 AM The alarm rang abruptly in the stillness of the morning, a rude shrill noise, splintering our warm, nocturnal embrace and throwing us both into the coldness of the day.

“April, we gotta get up”, I said, mumbling as I shook off the last remnants of sleep. She groaned softly, rolling over and pulling the covers away. “Hey, get up. Geee-tta UGH-PUUUU! Get TU DA CHOPPAH!” I did my terrible Arnold Schwarzenegger impression loudly and poorly, adding in a loud grunt for full effect.

“Argh, I need muh clothes, my boots, my motorcykalll”, she said, in the same bad Austrian accent without opening her eyes. “Come ONN, do it. Do it Nah-OW!”

Stumbling out of bed, vision still blurry, and nearly tripping over the corner of the blanket now fallen to the floor, I reached over and grabbed from the basket the first item of clothing on the pile of clean laundry that we neglected to fold from the previous night. I pulled open the top drawer of her dresser and felt around for a bra. I threw both toward the bed as I made my way to the bathroom. April put on her top as she stood up. Hair a mess and eyes barely open, April exuded a dreamy, other-worldly quality as she floated from the bed to the sink wearing the dark red floral patterned shirt dress I had bought for her the weekend before. I blow dried my hair into a more presentable state and shaved as she washed her face and finished combing her hair.

I packed April’s belongings into her backpack for her, the both of us hurrying downstairs to my car. After stopping by a McDonald’s drive-thru on the way, we ate Egg McMuffins sitting in the early traffic heading toward Downtown LA. I looked at her as she opened a ketchup packet.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful!” she said, laughing as she carefully squirted the ketchup onto her hashbrown.

Briskly walking up the parking lot escalators and half-skipping across Pershing Square, April got to the bus stop just in time as the vehicle screeched to a halt. “WESTWOOD/SANTA MONICA” said the display. A quick kiss goodbye and she was off to class.

8:00 AM The office was dark as I stepped out of the elevator. Walking toward my desk, I was greeted by lights flickering on as motion sensors began to stir. Fresh cup of coffee in hand, I left the kitchen for the far side of the floor toward my favorite viewing spot.

The Los Angeles morning was peaceful when viewed from high above. Cars moved slowly down Broadway; I could hear their distant honking noises in the early rush hour. Construction workers below near Third Street walked carrying their equipment, passing by the shops just beginning to open in Grand Central Market. From my hawk’s nest I saw a cyclist zipping down Grand Avenue past the Museum of Contemporary Art, in front of which a food truck was beginning to set up shop. My breath and the steam from my coffee fogged the glass as I stepped closer to look at the crowd of people gathering by the Broad. The early light bathed my city in a warm amber glow, thawing its sleepy commuters as a new workday began. Flecks of gold and saffron twinkled as the dawn bounced from the stirring skyscrapers and automobiles, blinding me. I, too, was beginning to wake as I finished my coffee.

With my headphones on, back at my desk, I continued sketching out the wireframe concepts from the day before. Wireframes are the foundation of plotting out designs for interactive products such as apps and websites. They are a high level way of designing ways in which someone can use a product and the organization for which types of information and interaction appears on which screen, before a designer has to focus on the finer details such as animations, visual appearances, and the style of smaller items such as buttons. Even though the other designers created wireframes in programs I was also familiar with such as Adobe XD or Sketch, I always took great care in sketching out early ideas neatly on paper. I felt there was a purity in shaping ideas away from a computer, a kind of humility in making things with my hands.

8:30 AM The office is still dim as I make myself a second cup of coffee. This was one of those sluggish days; I felt slow to start, and was glad to still be the only person in the office. There was less pressure this way. I returned to my desk and cleaned up my lines with an eraser, reinforcing others with a Sharpie. Boxes with crisscrosses represented images, various other shapes representing icons and call-to-actions. Simple line patterns signified text, clearly showing the underlying grid to the layout. Adding final touches, I drew an outline of an iPhone over all of the screens before using a green colored pen to create the markings that showed how a user interacted and navigated from screen to screen. I felt pride for the cleanliness of my draft, as I never knew whether the second draft in the computer would be made by myself or a different designer. Finished, and satisfied with my work, I walked over to the simple Kanban board on the far wall and moved the task’s corresponding post-it note from the column labeled “in work” to the column labeled “done”.

Aside from a few coworkers from accounting, the floor was still mostly deserted. Sitting back and listening to the rest of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on my headphones, I fidgeted at my desk for a while. Impatient, I walked back over to the job board and grabbed one of the tasks from the column labeled “backlog” and moved it to “in work”. This should keep me occupied, I thought.

10:00 AM Standup was always kind of fun. Normally I have always preferred to work alone, with headphones on, lost in thought as I built designs and mockups, in an almost-meditative state of flow. However, I liked my coworkers very much, and it was also nice to see everyone at the beginning of the day and update one another on our work progress in the morning as we created the pieces of our product together. I enjoyed this kind of organized interaction that afforded me boundaries and space to create.

<Walalala..>, texted April. It was her way of greeting. Warm and cheerful, albeit at times a little silly, it was a greeting that I had come to love. It would also be a salutation I would receive less and less over time until I would not see it at all. <What you doing?>, she added.

<Lol. You should pay attention! I’m pretty tired too. I don’t think I woke up yet>

<Haha, I miss you a little too.>

<Pfft, you still need me to remind you?>

<Ha, you should pay attention in class. Your mom will kill me if you fail because of me>

11:00 AM Sketches spread out on the table before me, I began to create the second round of digital wireframes. As much as I enjoyed sketching, this step was also one of my favorite things to do. The useful aspect having hand sketches was their looseness — from a high level perspective, during this stage there were still so many possibilities. Creating the first digital wireframe versions, despite their inherent roughness, narrowed down those possibilities. To do so felt like taking a camera lens and turning it slowly into focus. At this stage, it was not a crisp focus, but much more recognizable as a coherent direction. The process was therapeutic as it was methodical; moving through it step by step, there was room to make improvements on the fly, perfecting each idea. However, today, my process of refinement would be interrupted by a different task.

There needed to be a version of our project for a new client, said marketing. A simple mockup of our app must be made in the style of our new client, a baseball team. The refinement of the new screen designs would have to wait. Grumbling to myself a little, I closed the program and neatly piled the sketches into my drawer.

<Heyyy, why u ignoring me?>

<Sorry, some other stuff came up at work>

<I’m sorry. Would you feel better if you ate something? What are you gonna get for lunch?>

<Expensive grass, haha>. “Expensive grass” was April’s name for salad. They always cost more than they should, she would remark.

<btw…>

<what’s wrong?> Nothing good ever happened when April said “by the way”.

<We’re not breaking up. We can make this work>

12:00 PM It is lunchtime. Mood now sour, I didn’t feel like leaving the building. After informing my deskmates that I was taking my lunch break, I grabbed a stale bagel from the kitchen and microwaved it with a slice of cheese. Taking that and a diet soda from the fridge, I returned to my viewing corner.

We had only recently moved into the forty fourth floor of the building from six floors above. The company had now grown bigger and the fiftieth floor was not enough space. However, it was only the design, marketing, and accounting teams on this floor, leaving most of it empty. In fact, we only occupied one corner, leaving the other three quiet and deserted. I enjoyed taking walks around the empty areas, sometimes even bringing my cello to work and practicing in one of the empty rooms during breaks. Today though, I only wanted to look outside and think.

Now midday there was visible smog in the Los Angeles air. Protestors were forming on Grand Avenue. I looked closer, curious as to the reason for this group. I could not make out the writing on their signs. A car accident was visible further down on the 2nd Street intersection, blocking it off. The authorities closed off one of the lanes, backing up traffic. A bus awkwardly took up both lanes as it attempted to merge into the available space. An adjacent driver made a rude hand gesture out of his window. I sighed, feeling exhausted as I learned against the wall near the window. I sat on the floor as I drank my soda and looked out of the floor to ceiling window, thinking. The conversation I thought of was not with April, but one with someone else, from a different day, in a different language.

•••

<Yeah, I took her to the airplane museum the other day.>

<Well, she kept asking me to stay over, and then I had to stay with her after she crashed her car. Lately though, she tells me she just doesn’t like it when I’m away. It feels weird, but I’m really happy with her and I love her, so I guess I’m not complaining. She’s been coming to work with me and taking the bus to school too>

<Hey, you should pace yourself. All couples need their space from time to time.>

<Maybe? Sometimes I go to work and five minutes after I leave she texts me that she misses me. I think she’s very sweet.>

<Okay, I’m just looking out for you. What if she turns out to be one of those possessive types?>

<Hey! I knew it!! Is that why you didn’t answer any of my calls or texts last winter in China?>

<Sorry. I guess it’s just weird, what happened between us.>

<Well, nothing happened between us!>

<I know! Well, I don’t know. You are one of my best friends, and what happened affected me very deeply. It may have been nothing to you, but it was definitely something to me.

<I’m sorry about that. I really am. I was as confused as you too. I never meant to be cruel. I hurt you, and I ended up hurting myself too.>

<I’m glad we’ve moved past it and we’re still friends>

<Yes, I remember. And I will keep my word. I just need to figure this out. She’ll come around eventually. I really think the two of you would become great friends.>

<Well, you gotta figure it out eventually, because this is just awkward what you’re doing>

•••

1:00 PM I snapped back to reality as my phone alarm went off. It was time to go back to work.

The caffeine was beginning to wear off. Still debating whether or not I should have a third cup of coffee, I flipped through the Android Material Design Guidelines online, pondering what visual branding treatments were acceptable within Google’s design parameters. Writing down the correct color hex values on a notepad, I began to change colors on app elements in Photoshop, reskinning the interface. The phone beeped again, as another text message arrived from April.

<I’m sorry. I want to stay with you too. But I’m so worried>

<About what?>, I answered.

<Yeah, but what if we DO break up eventually? You’re not a doctor and I’m supposed to marry a doctor.>

I stopped working. Taking off my glasses, I sat back in my chair, rubbing my forehead. I was getting very tired.

, I texted back.

<There’s nothing wrong with what I do. I am a designer and I’m good at it. I make a decent salary and I like my life>

<It’s different>

<Well that’s just your viewpoint. We’re just different, I guess>. I saved my work and walked to an empty conference room.

<Why do you even love me?>, I texted. My thumbs began to sweat. Typing was becoming difficult.

<I’m getting back to work>

I stomped back to my desk, angrily chucking my empty soda can into a nearby wastepaper basket. A couple of coworkers stared.

3:00 PM For the next two hours, I tried my best to focus on creating more animations. More interactions. I compared the mockups I made against the Android and Apple guidelines. So far, so good. Sending the finished mockups back to marketing, I went back to the kitchen and made myself the third cup of coffee.

I chugged the hot beverage, nearly searing my throat. I went back to designing the wireframes. There were only three hours left in the workday, and I originally wanted to have had this perfected at the end of the day.

<Are you done with class yet?>. There was no answer from April.

Frustrated, I placed my phone face down on the table and returned to the designs. These have to get done, I thought. So little time. Fuming, I angrily threw the boxes together on the computer screen, connecting the button hotspots together as violently as someone could inside a digital space.

“Hey are you ok?”. It was Julie, who sat across from me behind my monitor. “I can hear you breathing from here”

“I’m fine”, I said. I sat back in my chair and looked at what I’ve made. It was sloppy and nowhere near the level of detail that I have been known for around the office.

“Take a break man. I just got an email that we have until the end of the week for these screens now”

“Oh…”

“Yeah. You can just chill”

“I think I’m gonna take a walk then.”

4:00 PM I looked at my watch as I waited in the elevator. Who does she think she is, I thought. So what if I’m not a doctor? Life can’t only be about status. I was so mad. That is such a shallow way of thinking! And it wasn’t me who started all this. I was just minding my own business working. She was the one who had to bring up Taiwan, and her parents’ crazy expectations for who she should be dating.

I walked outside briskly in the shade of the tall buildings. It was much louder now that I left the lobby. A street performer was beating a drum across the intersection. A crazy person was yelling about the end of times on the other corner. Good. Noisy enough that no one could see how angry I was.

And I hated the way she texted. How am I supposed to always be at her beck and call? I have a job to do; I can’t be there to simply answer every time she worries about crazy hypotheticals. I was doing fine today, I should’ve simply not answered. And now that she’s finished ruining my day, she’s stopped texting and has gone back to whatever she’s doing leaving me to pick up the pieces. Every single month, we have to have some fight about something completely stupid like this. Every single month —

Oh.

April had complained about being tired. April had experienced stomach pains during class. I counted the days since the last time I remembered similar complaints. There were many things I remembered for her. April could be so forgetful.

“Twenty-seven, twenty-eight….”, I counted in my head. I knew what she was going to need.

I stopped at the Rite Aid on 5th and Broadway. Quickly making my way through the aisles, I picked up a pack of Ibuprofen, a box of what appeared to be feminine pads, and a bottle of water. The cashier handed me the items in a paper bag after I made my purchase. Strolling further south, I began to think about what transpired.

Did she really mean all that she said? Perhaps a deeper question was, WHICH of what she said did she actually mean? You can’t tell someone you love them for who they are but also want to change them, I thought. Girls just say crazy things during their time of month right? I checked my phone.

Still no answer.

This is bad, I thought. Perhaps I was too harsh. Her car is in working condition. She chose to take the bus because she genuinely wanted to spend time with me. And now she’s probably on the bus home, in pain. All for me. I’m such a jerk, I thought.

Ducking into Bottega Louie on 7th, I bought a box of half dozen French macarons. They were rather pricey, but came in a beautiful box and were, I had heard, delicious. The small rigid box was not unlike jewelry packaging, with beautiful calligraphy and gold speckles dotted throughout its powder purple surface. It was a small gift that was sure to brighten up anyone who was having a less than perfect day.

6:30 PM The workday was now over as I closed my work laptop and packed away my things. The bus from UCLA arrived as I waited on a bench in Pershing Square.

“Hey what took you so long?”, I asked as I took April’s bag from her.

“I had the most horrible day!” she said.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize I sounded so mean—

“No, not you! My period started and I forgot to bring pads so I had to use tissues. And my phone died, and then the bus had to take a detour. So I needed to get off and wait for another bus, but I couldn’t use Google Maps and I’m so tired and I just want something to eat”

“Well, first things first I guess”

I handed her the box of macarons and discreetly showed her what was in the paper bag. “Let’s find a bathroom,” I said.

She looked into the paper bag. She looked at me. She started giggling, the happiest I’ve seen her all week.

“What? What is it?”

“Have you never bought pads before?”

“Well, no, but I figured you needed them. Was I right?”

“Those are panty liners, not pads!”

“Oh.”

“It’s okay, I’ll be alright. Cmon, let’s eat”

•••

8:30 PM After April had a chance to change, I took her to a nearby Hong Kong styled cafe. It would be nice to have some porridge, she said.

As we sat down and waited for our food, by reflex I folded April’s chopstick wrapper into an origami chopstick stand, as I have always done since our first date. I looked out the window into the dark.

The San Gabriel traffic outside was a lot calmer compared to the city. It was quiet and I could just make out the sounds of crickets. A high school couple walked out of the boba shop across the street, laughing to themselves, carefree. An elderly man picked out a newspaper from a box near the entrance. I felt a soft caress on my forearm.

April handed me a crudely folded flower made from a chopstick holder.

“I’m sorry about today. I keep forgetting how to fold that fancy origami, but I want to thank you for taking care of me.”

She smiled the familiar funny smile.

•••

9:30 PM As we walked in the darkness at a nearby park, digesting our meal, I stayed quiet. How can I make all nights like tonight?, I thought. Is there really an expiration date to our happiness?

Perhaps reading my mind, April said, “I don’t know what we’ll do if I really have to leave…”

I looked at her and kissed her forehead.

“Whatever”, she added. “If I have to go back to Taiwan, I guess I’ll just get another boyfriend, and it’ll be a doctor this time! HA HA!”

I did not laugh.

I let go of her hand and walked a few paces ahead, sullen.

“I’m kidding!” April grabbed my arm. “I really do love you, alright?”

0 notes

foodcourtdetective · 7 years ago

Text

The Connor Project: American Tour (Chapter One)

Warnings: Swearing Word Count: 1,461 Summary: Girl goes to the mall. Girl reconnects with high school friend during suicide awareness concert. High school friend offers girl a spot on the tour bus. Girl agrees because of cute boy. Cute boy has a girlfriend. Five young adults drive through the US. What could go wrong? Hopefully the author will come up with a better summary for the next chapter. Established Evan/Zoe. Leading up to Evan/OC.

Chapter 1: Let’s Go to the Mall

It was a simple mission: Get in. Get a black shirt. Get out. Claire sighed, frustrated with herself for spilling pasta sauce on yet another collared shirt at work. The Olive Garden had an easier uniform than most and while the stains certainly didn’t show, Claire was too exhausted to do laundry every night (especially since the laundry room in her apartment building was a bit spooky). Having a fourth shirt in the rotation would lengthen the time between washes and maybe give Claire that extra amount of sleep needed to keep herself from being as clumsy as she was.

But like many of Claire’s projects and day-to-day activities, she soon faced distractions. For example, her best friend from her old high school kept texting her.

Al the Pal: Heyyy Claire! You’re never gonna guess where I am! Al the Pal: Okay, since you’re not responding, I’m assuming it’s taking you some thought figure it out. Al the Pal: Okay, you better not have blocked me after the Jello incident of 2013. Al the Pal: Girl. Al the Pal: I’M IN YOUR TOWN! Text me ASAP.

God, she really hadn’t changed since the last time they were together. Claire loved Al, but life had gotten too hard and she didn’t want to hold back her Ivy League bound friend. They still stayed in touch, but it was usually the Instagram comment or DM message here or there. It was rare to get a text, never mind several, unless Al was really excited about something. But why would she be here in September? Doesn’t she have college orientation? Come to think of it, Claire hadn’t had the time to check Facebook or anything that would update her on her friend’s future. She made a mental note to log on later. Spotting the J. C. Penney, Claire picked up the pace to the store. Maybe if I make this trip quick enough, I can grab some food from the food court.

Thirteen minutes later, Claire was making her way to the food court. But strangely, the relatively half-full mall was packed around a decent-sized stage set up right next to the food court. It was hard to see through the crowd, but it sounded like a Christian teen group singing. Claire tried to push through to the food court on the right, but soon stopped when she heard a familiar voice.

“There’s a place where we don’t have to feel unknown. And every time that you call out, you’re a little less alone!” Almost immediately as she turned her head toward the stage. There was her childhood friend Alana Beck looking as passionate as usual on the electric keyboard. Claire then started taking in the other members on stage. Was that Jared Kleinman on the drums, the kid who once got kicked out of her freshman health class for refusing to refer to the male genitalia as its scientific term (“what do you mean I’m not allowed to refer to the penis as a sex sword?). She recognized Zoe Murphy playing the electric violin, a step up from their days together in the middle school band with plastic instruments. There were a few other instrument players who looked older; Claire didn’t think they went to her old school. They looked like actual band members. Inevitably, the blonde’s eyes drifted to the boy center stage, gripping the microphone tightly like he was trying not to lose his balance in a subway car. He looked familiar; the sweaty upper lip, the tight nervous smile, the blue striped shirt. She couldn’t put a name or voice to the face though. His voice was rather beautiful though as he sang the last line.

“You will be found.” His words gave Claire a genius idea. With a mischievous smile, she took her phone out of her back pocket and finally responded to Alana’s texts, the crowd roaring around her.

Claire Bear: Heyyy Alana! You’re never gonna guess where I am! Claire Bear: I’ll give you a hint: You have been found. As she tried to make her way towards the front of the stage, the cheering audience resisted, trying to nudge or elbow her back. Claire persevered, shoving her way to the side of the stage. Before she could call for Alana, her foot caught on something, possibly the wheel of the nearby Annie’s cart. The clumsy blonde began hurtling towards the ground when someone caught her, their hands rough on her. As they helped her back to her feet, Claire soon recognized the smirk and nearly laughed out loud.

“Woah there, M’lady. Looks like you were falling for me for a second there!” Almost immediately, Alana rushed over to Claire’s rescue, rolling her eyes.

“Jared! Don’t hit on her. She’s not gonna react like your little fan girls!” Jared took a step back to get a good look at the blonde, nodding in approval.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Dossett the Vet? Where did you run off to last year? I was gonna ask you to the Prom!” Claire laughed at the old nickname, shrugging off the strong emotions associated with the events of last year.

“You know I would have said no. Besides, Al here was a more organized date anyhow!” At the mention of her nickname, Alana reached over to hug her old friend.

“Where have you been? I’ve texted you several hundred times, Claire!” The blonde shrugged, ruffling Alana’s hair playfully.

“I work at the Olive Garden now. It’s a very demanding job. I work forty hours a week plus overtime to earn minimum wage plus tips!” Alana gasped, suddenly coming up with a better idea.

“Zo and Evan! Get your lovebird asses over here!” Sure enough, Zoe and the lead singer wandered over holding hands. When he saw you, his grip slipped.

“S-sorry, sweaty-“

“I know babe, your hands get sweaty,” Zoe quipped, her attention hyper-focused on the other three.

“So you know that while I’ve been the sole soul keeping the website for the Connor Project up to date and everything, we’ve been having some issues with our social media pages run by our very own Jared Kleinman,” Alana began as everyone looked pointedly at the aforementioned Jewish dork. He shrugged.

“Hey, you wanted a cool Instagram, right? The meme machine is still on it!” He finger-gunned, but only Evan half-hearted gestured back. Alana rolled her eyes, continuing her speech.

“Anyway, so Jared and I could really use some help on the online front. We could spend hours and days posting flyers, reading applications, interviewing strangers. Or… we could vote to accept Claire Dossett, high school friend of most of us, into the ranks effective immediately?” The applicant in question’s mouth dropped a little, shocked at the sudden impulse of her usually methodical best friend.

“Alana’s right as usual. I’m cool with Claire,” Zoe announced, flashing a grin to finally acknowledge the blonde band geek she remembered.

“Only if majority rules,” Jared decided with a smug smile, glancing over at his hopelessly awkward and anxious male companion. As Evan began sweating and stuttering, Claire instantly remembered Evan Hansen, the sweet but terribly anxious boy in her public speaking class junior year. Still cute.

“I v-vote with Zoe. She can s-stay, stay here with us! That is if-f-f she wants to? She never exactly s-s-said yes, so I guess it’s up t-t-to her? I mean, I want her to s-stay. Not in a weird way… just in a not mean way because I think you’d be a good f-fit for the job?” Evan covered his face with his hands, clearly embarrassed. Claire’s heart went out to him; he was clearly struggling. Everyone turned their attention to the blonde, anticipating her decision. She smiled at all of them gently, sighing in disbelief before she took out her cell phone.

“I guess I’ll call my manager right now and tell him I’m not doing my 10-7 shift tomorrow!” Alana clapped giddily, immediately drawing up plans for the new sleeping arrangements. Zoe and Jared scampered off to help the band put the equipment away, Zoe patting Jared on the back as he muttered: “but now the boy-girl ratio is uneven.” As Claire dialed the memorized phone number one last time and pressed the phone to her ear, she caught Evan’s eye. His lips parted for a moment until his brain caught up with him, forcing his eyes to her all-black sneakers. The blonde quietly smiled to herself; perhaps this spontaneous life decision would work out after all. But as her boss answered the phone, it suddenly hit her: am I gonna get paid for this?

(Author’s Note: Let me know if I should keep this going. I tagged the two people who liked the post I made about this fic. If you guys want off, just hit me a DM, I won’t take it too personally. I was thinking of also publishing on AO3 once my invitation is processed. The link will be put here x.)

Tag List:

@thequeenhaslanded, @liyahisdabomb

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burndownthehousetonight · 7 years ago

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((How long’s it been since I put up a compilation post for a @tinyredartist rp? Way too long, and this one was kind of a doozy ‘3′))

A few days had passed since they found a location on Leo's apartment. There were leads, sure, but they didn't seem to lead them anywhere, and the clues they found couldn't only lead to circumstantial theories at best. An despite a metric ton of wanted posters being hung everywhere from the castle outskirts to far off cities of the kingdom, there were no calls reporting the missing otter.

Basically, the investigation was screwed from the start, and Manic and his husband were dropped off the investigating team like a hot potato. They weren't even detectives, let alone anyone who dealt in investigating these kinds of disappearances. Everyone was feeling dejected, confused, concerned. Scared, to some degree. But at least they were scared together.

"We just gotta wait, I guess." Manic said in some vain attempt to calm down Aria. She didn't want to leave her bedroom that morning, so Manic came right on in to give some company.

"Talking about this is just gonna make it worse, ain't it?" There was that chuckle, that happy chuckle like nothing was wrong. "You can come out of here and have some fun, man, you're gonna be safe. Honest."

“Manic, I appreciate the help but… I’m getting really overwhelmed. There’s so much I’ve got to take in and I need to do it alone. I’m sorry.” She was upset, but rolled over, back towards him. Shutting out yet another green hedgehog and pulling the covers up over her head to block out noises.

She was mostly inconsolable by any party. The king tried. Castillo tried. Even Faolán and Fiona tried. But she turned them all away at the door. Terra had almost taken time off work, but Aria insisted she go in order to get out of the “depression bubble”.

Damian even tried to get in, but he was especially shut out. While most everyone got some kind of excuse as to why she didn’t want to see them, her brother only received a door to the face. He clearly was expecting that. But not the question she asked him from the other side.

“Don’t like being thrown out. Do ya?” It pretty much felt useless. What the hell was he supposed to do for someone who wasn't going to help themselves? "Bluuuuuuuh." He gave a long, exaggerated, and slightly silly groan while he sat down in a chair, far away from Aria's room. "I've gotta play somewhere tomorrow morning, too, but I don't wanna leave her hanging." "She ain't gonna open up to anyone," Castillo said bluntly. "When she needs help, she'll ask." "That doesn't mean I have to like it," Manic groaned. Even though they had to start driving back home for work, it almost felt like they didn't have a choice but to stay. And by the looks of it when he walked in, Damian didn't have any luck either. "She didn't give you a chance either?" Manic asked, knowing the answer. “She … Kind of threw something I did back in my face… And I deserved it so… No. No luck. She doesn’t even want to hold David or play with Faolán. I’ve got nothing.”

He flopped down in a chair and sighed, covering his face. “Mom would know what to do if she was here… Our older sister had moods like this sometimes and she always opened up to Mom.”

“I feel like that doesn’t apply here.” The king responded, giving Castillo and Manic a warp ring so they could get home faster if they wanted. They silently took the warp ring, knowing they didn't need to head back until that evening. "Maybe it's the kind of deal that'll only get figured out with time?" Manic said, spinning the ring around his finger as he thought. "Or maybe just like... she needs silent company, someone she can just sit with?" "Just time," Scourge added. "Give her space... and booze. Lots of booze." He didn't leave a pause for debate, immediately swerving the topic off course. "No one's seen nothing of him?" Scourge added. "Not under any of his names?" “Nothing. He’s switched names again. Aria gave me a written list of names to try, but none of them come up as having been used. The whole country is on edge looking for this asshole. If what we think actually happened, he could be really dangerous. There isn’t a cop in the city who could see him and not report back,” The king sat down and put his head in his hands, sighing. “ I just feel useless. She’s all alone and this is something that’s a major hit to the trauma. There’s nothing we can do but doing nothing feels awful.” They sat in silence for what felt like hours. Waiting for news or for Aria to come out of her room. The news came first via a younger detective, and that was a good thing. “Sire! One of the names on the list that you gave me is active. Someone using a credit card was flagged in the city. How likely is it that someone shares a name with anyone on this list?” “Highly unlikely,” Damian said, shifting on his chair, “Traditionally, names are based in our language. I’m the exception because I was a favor. I highly doubt there is anyone with the same name because Aria and I are the only two people who can speak it. Which name was it?” “Aquam Regis, sir.” The cadet said, and the hedgehog grew all sorts of emotions, none of them good “That sick bastard.” Scourge didn't know the first thing about languages, but Manic was at least a little aware of these words. On bottles and in random trivia, these terms had popped up from their original source. "Water god?" Manic said, not so much disgusted as disapproving. "I'd call him a lazy asshole for that name if he wasn't being such a smug asshole." The rush to get up and get information was broken momentarily from a crying sound. A young crying sound. Scourge paused, and for once, had more than one person he wanted to help out immediately. He owed Aria for everything he did to her, but Faolán wouldn't understand- He let out a grunt as Manic shoved him from behind. "Look after your kid, man, we'll tell you this stuff!" They rushed down the hall, Scourge still pausing before running with Manic's plan, like usual. "Alright, what's that name really mean?" Manic asked as they rushed to see this new information. "Cause it don't sound like you think he's just being smug." The cadet also explained that they had witnesses as the men rushed down the hall. The king looked to Aria's brother, waiting for an answer.

Damian was slowly growing more and more enraged. His jaw clenched, hands grew fidgety and the king pulled Manic back just in time to avoid the enraged hedgehogs punch to the nearest wall. The heave of his shoulders and flicks of his ears clearly showed that whatever the name meant, it wasn’t a good connotation

“Not… Not water god. King of the Water. And I swear on the land that this bastard tried to sell, if I ever see him I will rip his heart out.” When the hedgehog walked away, the king grabbed him by the arm, waiting for a proper explanation. With a sigh, the doctor relented.

“Aquam Regis is our Father. And I wanna go see those witnesses.” Was it a good idea to let someone this invested and enraged in a case talk to the witnesses? Manic sure didn't think so, but he knew he wouldn't take no for an answer. "Well, let's find him and punch his light out. Just... maybe let's wait a sec. You got any punching bags, Scourge?" He was going to need another qualifier for the king's name soon, because the other Scourge stumbled up to them after Damian had a chance to get out at least a little of his fury. "What's up, what was going on with Fao?" "Ari didn't want to play with him and wouldn't talk to him. And your kid tried teething on his arm." From behind Damian, Manic looked at Scourge and made a cutting motion across his neck to say, 'absolutely don't blame him for anything you stupid snot.' So he clammed up. Damian sighed and wiped his face with the hand that the king didn’t have an iron grip on. Seems like his son was, if anything, the only way to keep him calm.

“Sorry… For both of them. But we need to get this solved fast because I don’t want to see either of the kids upset. David was calling for her earlier today too… Maybe you should talk to her Scourge. You’ve been in that kind of mood, if I remember.” Damian suggested to the king, who shrugged and left, urging Manic to text him updates.

They all continued on their way and once the witnesses arrived they were all pleasantly surprised.

“Heyyy!” Dante said with a smile, all three members of the band recognizing their friend. “Long time no see!!” "You're the witnesses." Castillo said in almost a monotone. Manic wasn't half as monotone, happy for the distraction and high fiving the crocodile and cheetah. "What is UP!" "We got to be witness to a crime again." Detour said, half joking. "Again." His face was withering just a bit. He grimaced and held his face in his hand, remembering all the hijinks he'd had to pull them out of. "...Again. We... weren't involved for once." "We've gotta celebrate that!" Dante smarmed out in that smug tone, Drench pulling Detour closer in a friendly embrace. Instead of getting annoyed, he actually seemed to grin a bit. As much as he disliked babysitting them, their presence was too fun not to make him smile. “Hey, so I count most of the gang here, but where’s our favorite bartender and our Royal Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card?” Drench asked, looking around for the two he expected to see.

Damian, who had been brooding silently at this point, was not amused. If these were their witnesses, they were screwed. But judging by the way they talked about his sister and the king, he deciding texting them both saying that their friends were here might help.

Several minutes later, a showered but still depressed Aria shuffled into the warp room, blanket on her shoulders. The sight of the band made her crack the first smile in days. "Yooooo." Drench was the most vocal with his happiness. "How ya doing? Ain't seen you in a while, you look like hell! Nice blanket!" Despite the blunt few lines, Drench didn't seem mean spirited in the slightest. To him, it was more an excited blunt observation and a compliment on what was a very lovely blanket. "Hey, nice to see you." Detour joked as he patted Aria on the back. He could at least see that this was more serious than Drench was taking it. "You should have come with to that concert last month," Dante chuckled, "Drench got drunk before the second set and got arrested for trying to take off his clothes on stage!" Dante laughed the loudest at this, with Drench as a close second. Her smile was there, but it was small and weak and even the boys couldn’t get a laugh out of her. She nodded at Detour and just shook her head at Dante and Drench.

“You’re both idiots and you need much more alcohol than you consume,” she said, patting Detour on the shoulder. “I hate to be a party killer, but what are you guys even doing here? Judging by the fact that we are in the war room, I’m guessing you have something to tell us.”

She felt and looked like shit, but even then Damian stood behind her, ready to grab her in case she grew just as angry as he had earlier. And Aria didn’t have a soft spot like he did. Drench's eyes lit up. "Right, yeah! There were all those wanted posters, right? With the gold otter?" Certain details weren't disclosed to the public, and none of the three had any idea what the otter meant to her. "We were just at some pet store trying to get a fishbowl," Dante started, not bothering to explain why they would need a fishbowl. "We went to pay, and he was at the counter!" "He was just buying... a lot of plastic boxes. A LOT of them." It took a second for Detour to come up with a guess. "There must have been a dozen in his bags. I'm the fastest, I went to chase him, but-" He scratched the back of his head. "Even I couldn't catch him. He has some kind of super speed." “Hmmm… Well at least we know he’s in town.. And that he’s still got some magic left in him… Could this get any worse?”

When the cadet handed over the information they had gathered, Aria skimmed through it before they could stop her. She reacted to his name change much differently from her brother, and burst into tears. It wasn’t surprising, since she hadn’t cried over all of it while she had been moping, and so it was a sudden burst of emotion.

“That fucking asshole! After all he’s done he pulls this? Why can’t he just leave us alone?” She wailed, clinging to Damian as he hugged her to comfort her. "Trust me, when we're catching him, we're beating his face in." Manic promised, Scourge silently agreeing and standing like they were going to go out and punch him right there. The sudden burst of emotion left the band members uncertain of how they could respond. Dante was the one who finally stepped up to her, much more somber than usual. "Hey, uh... calm down, you'll be alright-" It was already too late. Castillo was on her other side, trying to move towards the door. "You can't handle this stuff yet," Scourge told her, "you should get outta here." “No, I wanna stay!” She whined, ducking out of everyone’s arms. The constant smothering was making her sick and she didn’t need to be enclosed in a small space at the moment. “Okay, you can stay. But if I notice you’re taking this too hard, I will carry you back to bed kicking and screaming, okay?” The king compromised, keeping his distance. Aria was acting like the nine year old she was when it all happened originally, and this time around her mood swings and sensitivities were lethal if pushed too far. Personal questions were going to have to be put aside for a while. They had to start digging into something less painful, something boring. "So like, what kinda boxes are we talking?" Manic asked the obvious question. "Alright, he was buying a ton of boxes, but what was in them? Like, was he just getting a bunch of pet food or something?" "No, they were empty." Dante added. "You know, the- the plastic boxes! They're square, with green tops. And a whole bunch of slits in them?" "Habitat!" Detour piped up. "They're bug habitats, he was buying bug habitats." “Bug habitats…. Unless he’s going the true evil route and training a giant lizard, why all the habitats?” Scourge asked, looking to Manic and Aria to see if wither had a clue.

Arias glance went to Castillo and she had a thought. “Wait! The bugs on our land, if he’s trying to get magic they would provide a decent amount, since they’re primary forces of decomposition… But that means he knows where they are. And he can get in, somehow.”

She knew it sounded far fetched but that had to be it! That’s why he was able to hold onto the magic for so long! "Maybe he's using his speed, or something?" Manic offered. "Maybe he's jetting off a tree or ramp or something and going over?" Manic didn't even need to ponder bringing in Sonic, knowing that it would be a bad idea... for some reason. And besides, he had another supersonic runner on his side, now cracking his knuckles. "Lemme at it," Castillo said with a grunt, "I'll break in somehow." "Maybe we should call in... I dunno, some of those endangered species people, whatever they're called? The guys who protect really rare animals and stuff?" Not exactly an elegant explanation, but at least some form of plan. "If that's where he's getting his powers, we just gotta stop him from getting them." “NO!” Both Damian and Aria were adamant against calling the services that helped endangered species. The king made the cutting motions across his throat, signalling a bad idea. No explanation was offered

“Besides, it's basic physics. If he’s going fast enough, he could easily clear it with a jump.” Aria considered. “We don’t need to test it. But maybe we should go for a visit just to check up on Mom and Dad.”

Aria rubbed at her arm and Damian rubbed at his shoulder blade. Both were clearly sensitive to the topic of the endangered species control unit. "Alright! Alright, we won't call anyone." Manic immediately backed off. "But we gotta have someone look at them! What if they're messed up, or a whole bunch are missing, or something? Is anyone gonna know a lot about these things?" Castillo could only grin smugly and ruffle Manic's fringe, getting an annoyed smile out of his husband. It was barely a minute later that Faolán rushed into the room, tail whapping against every surface he walked near. "Are we going back to the forest?!" Castillo silently motioned from behind him to Aria, showing off a holster. If his son was going to be their bug expert, he was going to make sure no one would get near him. She didn’t want to get him involved. But what choice did they have? The hedgie reluctantly warped the whole crew to the forest, bypassing security completely. By the time Damian stepped out, the place would be slightly hostile. The leaves would shake as they passed, the trees displeased.

They went the long way, avoiding her family. She let Fao play with the bugs and pointed out tracks to the rest of the men. Footprints. And a very agitated pine, who shook as well.

“The whole place is disturbed… But I don’t know if its because of all this, or because this is the first time someone has visited.” She almost sneered at her brother. Normally sunny skies were clouded over, and everything in the area felt worse. It almost felt as though the land had been traumatized. Trees shook in their presence, the chilled breeze blew against whichever way they walked. Everyone was on edge for some reason. The way Manic and Faolán rejoined them after going to visit the bugs wasn't about to help. "Daaaaad!" The little wolf rushed up to his father, sadness blatantly painted on his puffed eyes. "Th-the pointy bugs are gone! The ones who- the ones who liked chirping at me!" "He must've come already" Manic said quietly to the king while Fao was distracted. "Calm down kiddo, they're probably on an adventure or something." He squatted down to his son's level. "You ain't mentioned 'em before, what did they look like?" "They're..." A pay wiped away an escaped tear. "They're the gem bugs. The ones- the ones with the pointy crystals on their backs. They're almost all gone..." “Aria, what are you doing?” The king asked, watching Aria take photos of the tracks before walking in them.

Specifically, she lined up her shoeprints with the ones left behind, noting imprints near the river.

“He jumped across the river. He must have super speed or the jumping power from… I don’t know who.” She shrugged, kneeling at Faolán's level and offered her arms for a hug.

“I’m sorry I was mean earlier. That wasn’t fair of me.” He was still a bit of a stubborn kid, even if it was someone he trusted, and the snub from Aria still stung. But he definitely didn't reject the hug. It was always nice from Aria, and the sadness from all the missing bugs meant he needed a lot of comforting. "Hey, kid." Scourge said, ruffling his son's hair. "Let me check, maybe they're back now." Really just a thin excuse to get him away so the others would have space to talk. "So... How're we gonna catch this fool?" Manic said, stating the obvious. "We gonna put up sensors or cameras or summat above the fences? Or like, have someone fast camp out? Maybe one of you Scourges? I mean, my bro doesn't really like me, but he's always up for fighting evil." Aria wanted more hugs, but settled for holding herself. “Maybe not… But what if we attach something to some of the trees so they shake when he shows up?”

The system wasn’t a bad one. Many devices existed that would send off a signal with movement. But which trees would be marked?

“Capito.” both siblings said, once the king asked them.

“He’s the brother in between us. His power was super intelligence, so he would be a good place to start… Then the trees closest to the beetles, a few around the perimeter…” Damian suggested, until the smell of cherry blossoms filled the air, sickly sweet.

“Someone needs to go see mom.” Aria insisted. Manic turned his head. His husband wasn't there, but the other Scourge sure was, and that glare between them was riddled with dread. This was not good. Whatever it was that was about to happen, there was no way it was going to be good. They might not have been able to speak to the trees, but they knew they were angry at something with Damian's presence. "Uh... you guys gonna be alright?" Manic asked, knowing full well they absolutely weren't going to be alright on their own. "Like, maybe the king and me should just follow you guys? Or this something you gotta do alone?" “Well… You know how sometimes if you don’t call your mom she gets really mad? That’s what this is. Half of the forest is upset about the intruder and the other half are upset that this is the first time he’s been here since everything happened. He’s safe, mostly. *

The hedgehog sighed, rubbing his neck and walking back over to their family. Aria followed along, motioning for the boys, to follow once Castillo and Faolán returned. She had a feeling her nephew would be needed to soften the mood. Thankfully, the walk avoided the graveyard this time, but that didn't mean the trip wasn't unnerving. It felt like someone was going to jump out at them at any second, like they were always being watched. But the trees weren't deeply focused on any of them except for Damian. By the time they made it to the beach, the approached the same semicircle of trees. Sure enough, the prior damage Scourge did seemed like it never happened. Those intertwined trees even looked a little taller, a little brighter. A lot more fragrant, that was for sure. "Uh... hello." If Manic had tried, he still couldn't have sounded much more uncertain and awkward talking to a tree. The way the trees shook, it was like an earthquake. The eight already there were either excited or displeased with him. One of the saplings threw fruit.

“See? Just a good old fashioned family argument.” She showed them, and the angry rustling stopped as Manic was greeted by the eight before the “yelling” continued. Aria went to one tree in particular and started explaining what was going on. There was no "good old fashioned" kind of family fighting in Manic's mind. Not in Scourge's mind, either. Not even for the king. But Aria was taking the whole affair bizarrely blithely, and what were they supposed to do? Tell her to be more afraid? Family fights never ended well for most of the onlookers, and they could only hope this family wouldn't take the ugly turn it had for any of the others. Scourge could feel his heart stop for a second when he noticed that Faolán had snuck away and up to the trees while they were distracted. "Kid, get back here!" He yelled as he saw the child touch the shaking tree on the rightmost edge. The tree slowed down it's movements the moment it was touched, but that didn't stop Scourge from grabbing the child and rushing away like the tree golems were going to attack him next. "What are you doin', kid, they'd cream you!" Scourge had gotten annoyed at his son before, but this kind of yelling was new, and they could watch the little boy's heart get crushed. “Easy Castillo. They get that he’s still a kid. He’s the safest person here. But sweetie, please don’t touch the trees. They’re covered in moss and your mom wouldn’t want you to get dirty,” Aria insisted, while the trees behind them stopped shaking. Damian rejoined the group, rubbing the back of his neck.

“They’re done with the yelling-.” The doctor started, but his sentence died off when he saw the sniffling child. He shut his mouth.

“We’ve got all the information we can from here I think. Time to go home,” the king suggested. "Ah, kid- Kid, don't run up to shit that's flailing around!" Manic nudged Scourge to try and get him to watch his language near the child, but he didn't respond. They waited a few moments, but it was obvious the little wolf wasn't going to forget it that easily. "I'm not angry at you, squirt. Don't wanna see anything happen to you." He put aside all macho nonsense and just hugged the child to comfort him. The sniffles were dying down. things were looking better, and Manic was comfortable enough to ask. "So what's the plan? And what do y'all need from us?" “Well if Luci would STOP THROWING TWIGS AT ME THANK YOU VERY MUCH!” Damian turned to yell at a tree who merely rustled and threw at stick at his forehead, making Aria laugh.

“Lucett. Stop, he’s just being a baby again” Aria insisted and the tree would have crossed its arms if it could have. “Right now I need motion based signals we can attach to some trees… And a drink.”

She sighed at her siblings bickering. Even separated by plains of existence they still fought. The rustling of several other trees and Damian’s rusty switch into their native tongue would have been humorous if Aria couldn’t understand her brothers words and the tone that everyone else was communicating in. She covered her ears to block him out. The first time hearing the language spoken by someone else in years, in anger. It wasn’t helping. "Those'll be real easy to find, we can string up some signals easy." But what was he supposed to say to the fighting? She might have been playing it off as a simple family argument, but the way Aria's ears clutched to her head made it obvious this was anything but normal. "Uh... maybe we should go back without Damian, leave him a way to warp back?" He suggested sheepishly, hoping that wasn't the worst possible idea. The words were grim and uncomfortable. Their moods were grim and uncomfortable. Even Fao was scared and confused by everything. "You mind mixing us all drinks before we get back to work?"

Scourge tossed a warp ring to the doctor and he caught it. The king lead his friends into another clearing for aria to warp them back

“Yeah I can do that Manic” she insisted, scratching open a portal and scooping up Fao to snuggle with after they got to the castle.

“What do you guys want?” She asked, setting the kid down on a barstool and booping his nose gently as she rummaged around the bar.

The air felt more comfortable to the young child. Fiona had loosened his leash around Scourge - the king, not his father quite yet - and these were the situations he’d see them in most. Cozy, usually having something to eat or drink, pretty much always with his dads. He was calming down more, and Aria speaking the most was definitely helping. Scourge leaned forward to look at all the bottles. “You got Black Lashes back there…? Yeah, just some of that scotch, straight.” “Just a red russian.” Manic was caught up in patting the child’s back to try and comfort him, and barely even looked at Aria.. “You want a soda or something, buddy?” Those small eyes gazes at the brilliantly colored and labeled bottles he knew he couldn’t have, and thought on some things he might like to drink. “A r- a red russian?” “No,” Manic said firmly, “only I can order that. It’s law.” Another spot of thinking. “Can I get the lashes drink?” He just gave a sassy, if amused, look at him and ruffled his hair. “Ask when you’re a little older, buddy.”

Aria mixed the drinks they asked for, serving up the Red Russian, Black Lashes, and a Shirley temple for her “nephew”. She slid the king his usual wine and got herself a bottle of sugar vodka she drank from. It was quiet between them all. For once it was peaceful. Aria pet the child, scratching behind his ears idly with a soft smile.

“So munchkin. What’s new?” Fao was always a source of cuteness and purity, this time was no different. "The beetle people like all the photos," he said as he sipped away. "I put up more pictures and they all wanted to see more of the gold ones. A scientist told me she wanted to see if they were a new species! I told her to go away for you." At least he was thinking about Ari, regardless of how he was using that trust. His expression soon turned sour as he swirled the drink to mix in the bit of whipped cream on top. "But someone else had pictures of the jewel bugs, maybe they flew away and don't like me anymore..." Manic and Scourge took a moment to process those words. "Uh... what's he post about them?" Manic asked, trying to sound casual. "He asked for those gross organ pictures, I think he wants to hurt them. I told him I didn't have any, but he kept asking, so I told him to suck a lemon." “Gross organ pictures?” Aria looked a little confused up at her friends, and even more worried at her nephew. Kissing his forehead, she smiled.

“Well thank you sweetheart. That was very nice of you to tell all those people to go away. I’m sure the bugs are fine. Maybe they’re just visiting someone. I’m sure they’ll be back. But did you wanna show me the place you post these photos on? I wanna see something.”

When the phone was fetched, she looked through the conversations. Quite a lot of people were interested. One account stood out and Aria showed it to Manic.

“If this is his account, can you trace it?" She asked quietly while Fao finished the sweet drink. "Totally." Manic raised his glass like he was going for a toast, downed the last gulp left, and made his way over to his laptop bag. None of them could have been more concerned about that string of words, and Scourge was quick to snatch up that open page. A forum of some kind. "ILoveBeetleBugs" was clearly his son, just from the total lack of any kind of proper writing. As new as he was to literacy, he seemed to know plenty of terms in this specific area. At some point, his shoulders finally relaxed. "He wants to know the organs they've got. One of those anatomy diagrams with organs and crap." He turned back to the child and held down the phone to show a shot of the thread. "Don't tell these people anything. You don't know these assholes, might be someone bad." Faolán seemed confused by these words, staring up blankly at his dad. There was a good few seconds of silence. "O-okay." He said sheepishly. "Can I still look at-" "Look at whatever the hell you want, just don't tell anyone anything." Fao was surprised by a gentle punch to his stomach - judging by his giggle, some kind of ritual between them. "He ain't hurting any of 'em. Speaking of... he put up any pictures of them?" With a nod, he began going through the forums again, finding pictures of a few select beetles a few days old. The habitarium they were in was virtually empty, with some grass and leaves chucked in carelessly. Maybe there would be something in the background they could use? Aria hummed as she looked over the picture, displeased with their care obviously. Several people called him out on the poor treatment though, which made her feel better.

In the background was a window with the blinds half drawn over it. The only things they could see was part of a balcony, a part of another building and the sky turning orange, light spilling into the room he was in to illuminate the bugs glittering shells.

“Wait… Maybe we can use the view here… His balcony faces west… And maybe we can grab a shot of that building and see what we can find? Or am I delving too far into the unreasonable crime drama side of things?” "Sounds pretty alright to me," Castillo shrugged. "But hell, that'll be pretty convoluted, we ain't even got a city yet. Looks like some bland building, too, ain't too distinct..." "IIIII got a rough location!" Manic would eventually shout out, standing up and walking down the room. "Okay, like, you can't get TOO specific with an IP, but we're looking for some city called Greyling. But he ain't put up any emails or nothing, without something else, can't really hack into his stuff." When he would look up from the laptop, Scourge would be giving that overly smug toothy grin. "Y'all know something I don't?" “Greyling isn’t very big. I bet we could find the building with a quick web search and a map” the king suggested

Aria had left them to figuring it out, and happily scooped up the cub. “Whatcha doing there munchkin?” She asked, watching him play his video game. She enjoyed his joy at the device and the game. He was amazing for lightning the mood and she thought to take him out for ice cream when this was all over. It definitely wasn't a hard platformer, she could see that from a distance. Of course he didn't care, it was a fun, mindless distraction. Something all of them needed, frankly. The little orange bat flapping around was in some kind of an autumnal Halloween world, even if the date was months away. It was easy to see why the little boy would be attracted to a game detached from reality on such a simple level. "And you eat a bug and get- you change your power!" He was explaining things in detail Aria could ascertain from what was already happening, but no one particularly cared if it was redundant. Even though the work the three were doing was simple, it was hard to ignore the little boy as he spoke on and on. Eventually, Castillo would stand up, pat the king on the back as he left, and sit down near the child. "What'd you say about werewolves?" A fake question - he was fully aware of the enemies, he just wanted to make up with his son over his yelling. Go back to being the fun dad. And with as much as he dove back into his passionate explanations, it was clear he wasn't holding it too harshly against him. Aria and Castillo were just as interested in the he as the child was, but really they were just glad he was enjoying himself. She did wonder where Fiona had gotten off to, and asked Castillo quietly.

“She doing okay?” She asked, concerned about the fox. She WAS leaving her son alone with Castillo. That rarely happened. She wasn’t complaining though, but she knew it might be bothering the kid. "She ain't gonna trust me. Ever." Saying this while he watched his son innocently enjoying his game made him feel years older than he was. "She doesn't trust me. She trusts you and my clone usually. I know she saw that tabloid about me pummeling the king, she knows you'll fuck me up." Scourge had shown many trashier sides of himself. For a few moments, he was strangely somber, almost looking subtly terrified. "Used to be unstoppable, now I can't even fucking handle some kid getting sick..." When he straightened his back, he would be back to his normal posture and emotions. But in that moment, he seemed like a different person. Even like the king. “He’s not some kid. He’s your kid. Your own flesh and blood. Its not weak or unmanly to care and stress about someone’s well being, nor is it unreasonable considering the medical trouble he’s had to go through. Plus, in a no powers fight between us you would win, probably.”

She tried to joke, hoping that would help a bit. They fell into a soft silence, Aria looking back over at Fao.

“If it's any consolation, Faolán seems to like you and Manic much more than Scourge or me. And he should, you’re his father. I don’t know if Fi will ever trust you but… Maybe one day when he’s a little older he can convince his mom.” Scourge didn't respond. He seemed like he didn't even hear those words, even as they slapped him again and again. He didn't want to think about his weaknesses, his age, anything, just go back to sitting pretty and enjoying life. So when Aria was done, there was no rebuttal, only a longer, heavier silence. Even Faolán wasn't immune to the words, knowing just from their tones that they were talking about something depressing again. Was there going to be another fight stopping him from seeing his dad? "Hey, look, look!" That chipper voice could usually cheer them up no matter how stubborn Scourge was being. "It's one of the secret costumes!" Not a rare find at all, but if it got them to stop being so dour, it would work, right? Manic and the king were blissfully unaware of this conversation, instead rolling through pictures of the apartment buildings and hotels of Greyling. "Like, the Datura Suites has the right kinds of balconies too. I mean there are so many brown buildings, I dunno where to start, man. Aria gently nudged the hedgehog to go spend time with his son, while Aria joined manic and the king. With a paper map, setting it out, she placed pins in the places they thought he was in. Then with string, she connected each pin to another one off to the left, thinking. Tracking the sky.

The king shook his head. “I still think there’s something up with the blinds. It's too awkward, why not open them all the way? Maybe he’s hiding something.” "He's already a huge creep, ain't he?" Manic pondered. "He's gotta be looking out at something. Like yeah, maybe he's just giving the bugs light for the photos or whatever, but... I dunno, could he be spying on someone? Maybe it's not a random place and he's looking at someone? Or looking out for someone?" Where was there in town, and who might he have been worried about? "Doesn't seem like he's working with someone, I think he's probably solo. I dunno, is there- Like, you think he might be planning a theft or something to get weapons?" “No, not like that. Like maybe there’s something identifying behind the curtain. Like part of a sign or something. Do any of the buildings you see on the list have large signs on them?”

The king didn’t know the city well, but he remembered running through it once as seeing a lot of colors. A sign wouldn't be unusual, especially if he was living in an apartment rented by his employer. Manic turned back towards the map, noting the dozens of pins that had been put into the map after searching the town. "Uh... this is gonna take a minute." Address after address. Letter after letter. Manic kept a marker in one hand, marking each location one by one by the type of building. Not a casual comb through, either. "Alright, here are all the places," Manic said, looking at the map. "All these circled dudes have something really identifiable, or are painted some really bright color, y'know, identifiable stuff. Y'all can just forget about these Xes. And these dudes here," he said, motioning for the four circled buildings with blue pins instead of red, "these are all apartments and hotels." Aria pointed at one automatically, wits string tied and making the perfect angle with the building to make the shadows they saw.

“This one. And across the street it's got a major hotel chain. It's the only place that meets all the requirements.”

Scourge went to the computer and typed in the hotel, going to check the photos of the rooms they had up.

“Look. Balconies match. He’s in one of the king suites.” The king explained. Manic was just a little slower, just a little more cautious. "I've gotten really risky with other investigation stuff," he said, "and it ain't always ended well. We're kinda presuming a lot here, are you guys sure he's there? It makes sense, but... like, if we're wrong, we've pretty much lost him again, we've got to get this right." How could they prove it? The idea came to him in a second. "Maybe call up the front desk and ask if any of his pseudonyms are there?" They all looked to each other and Aria was surprisingly the first to put her finger on her nose and shout, “Not it!!”

The king chuckled, ruffling her hair and grabbing the phone to do it himself he thought she was just being cute or funny, but once he left to make the call, she excused herself and left the room. They wouldn’t notice that she wasn’t in the castle until the king would get off the phone to confirm that the otter was using her father's name as an alias.

She was tired and stressed, and so took refuge in the nook on the roof she always did. Only her wife knew of this safe spot. For now. Manic and both Scourges were going to be working on a plan to make sure he wouldn't escape, so Fao was brought up to the guest room he was using while the adult went back to work. As fun as his game was, he was still Scourge's son, and there was nothing he loved more than a little exploration. But what was next? He had already explored much of the castle, what was... left? He only had a small window to look out of, but he could see some kind of balcony walkway outside of the farmost guest room, turning around the castle to who knows where. Maybe there would be some kind of little secret or discovery out there? So like usual, he locked the room door to make it look like he was inside, crawled through the hidden door in the closet to the adjacent room, and rushed down the hall. There were always a few rooms he couldn't unlock, maybe this would be a way in? Whatever it was, he was quick to dash through the king's bedroom and onto what was hopefully the walkway to adventure. The walkway was well maintained, if not a little unused. Regular ivy had crawled along the walls, giving it charm.

It was a little known path that passed by windows that had no visible rooms beyond them. Several were completely blacked out, with no way in. A gentle sound played from the end of the walkway. A music box let out a sweet lullaby, and next to it, Aria relaxed in her little nook of solitude. Her mother’s things usually calmed her, but now they just made things worse. The ache for her family had never been greater. Sometimes, family was the only thing that could soothe her. Friends were fine. Company was great. But there was a pain there that only one thing could mend, and that one thing was long gone. Either she was going to need to conjure a family from nothing, or continue in her misery. The clinks and dings of the music box were soothing, gently, scratchy... scratchy? They had never sounded that way before. Because they weren't coming from the music box. The sound could be mistaken for a squirrel scratching at the glass, but down the walkway was Fao, scratching at some of the blacked out windows to try and peek in, but only realizing that he wouldn't be able to do anything. The music was going to have to sate his curiosity. When he stepped around, he knew he was intruding on a private moment with herself. But he didn't want to quite leave, either. Aria was never closed off about her emotions, but this was a more subtle kind of sadness. This was the sadness he would see when Scourge would hug him close and clench his teeth as hard as he could, or Fiona would when she was close to passing out on liquor and lounged across the couch, glaring at the skyline blankly. A pain that was nowhere as obvious, and yet many times more horrifying. He only sat at a distance, listening to a light melody and wondering what words were once there. She noticed him, but couldn’t find the energy to scold him. She was very tired. The private moment could be shared, and she motioned for him to come sit.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” she told him, more a statement than a scolding. She closed the delicate music box to stop the music, and beckoned for her nephew to come over and sit. Then when he had settled against her side, she opened the box again and the gentle melody resumed. He was just expecting an adventure, nothing like this. That didn't mean the moment wasn't welcomed, of course. Aria was always nice company, and she needed company herself. He sat quietly, Aria sat quietly. It was just the delicate strains of the music box looping and chiming for them. The air was chilly, and the moment awkward while they sat near each other. Faolán nipped both problems by standing up, and moving to sit on Aria's lap. This wasn't a normal hug for them, it was more of a comforting huddle than anything lighthearted. Something to cling to while they feared for whatever was going to happen next. The little wolf didn't know exactly what Aria was trying to fight through, or even if she was sad in the first place. Whatever his thoughts were, he certainly didn't realize the familial closeness they seemed to have in those few moments. She did though. Their curled up position reflected a photo taped inside the music box of her and her mother when Aria was just a baby. She let the irony ring out for her ears alone, he was too young to understand anyways. She shifted to wrap a blanket around his shoulders, keeping him warm and snuggling him close.

The box was meant to play a lullaby, so the child might have felt sleepy. Aria was too focused on her grief to feel much of anything else. She wondered if she should explain to him what was happening. She decided against it. That was Fiona’s talk, not hers. Fao didn't want an answer, he didn't want to make her worse, and Aria didn't want to give any answers. It was a good balance. "Mom wants to send me to a boarding school when summer's over," he said quietly. "I think she wants to get me away from dad." Heavy moods got both of them thinking heavy thoughts neither of them really wanted to keep thinking. "Are you hiding too?" “I don’t think she would do that. She would miss you too much… Besides, you’re too young for boarding school.”

She tried to remain calm. Fao was certainly not old enough to be in a place full of strangers! He was still developing his brain! Plus, he didn’t know how to take care of himself yet and Aria had very low faith in any teacher.

She nodded when he asked, curling up closer. “Something like that.” Knowing nothing of Aria's situation, he didn't really KNOW anything he could do. But at least he could try, right? "I know a lot of hiding places!" He said hopefully, still sounding a little mopey. "There are lots of rooms no one goes in anymore, you could always hide there, too." No, that didn't feel right. It didn't seem like she was hiding from people, maybe she was hiding from something more immaterial? That stare was always there when his mother was feeling like a terrible mother, or when his dad was feeling lonely. Whatever if was, he wanted her to be happy again. "Do you miss someone?" “Yes sweetie. I miss a lot of people. But right now, just one in particular.”

She was quite obviously trying not to cry. Her eyes had grown red and shiny, tears just in the corners of her eyes. He breath got shaky, but she held her ground as best he could. He was a child. He didn’t need to see her break down like the blubbering baby she was.

“I’m sorry… It's just very complicated and there’s a lot of drama and bad memories getting stirred up.” She apologized,wiping at her eyes. "It's alright, mom cries too." Maybe not the best words in that moment, but a fine sentiment. Very complicated... that meant there was a lot going on, right? He had seen this crying before, and if Scourge's sadness couldn't fully explain this, what else could? Maybe... his mother did cry, it could be bits of both wirling together. There were many times where he had walked in on his mother sobbing or thinking about horrible things that had happened in the past. Anger at herself for not being able to see what Scourge was going to do to her, anger at herself for not being able to stop harm from happening to her child... At this point, he was almost being crushed in Aria's arms, but she didn't seem to notice, and he didn't mind too much. "Are you mad at yourself?" She relaxed her grip once she noticed how tightly she was clinging to him. She brushed her hair out of her face, and looked at him quite surprised. “Not exactly sweetheart. But its odd that you would ask about that.”

She wouldn’t tell him not to worry, but she also wouldn’t admit to how empty she felt without her family around her. She had many people who cared for her, and a wife who loved her deeply, but nothing could replace her family. And how were you supposed to tell a child that you wished you had died? It was too mature a topic for him. At least for now.

She kissed him gently on the forehead. “It's not something you need to worry about pumpkin.” "But you're my friend!" He almost whined the words out, as nice as he meant them. "I want to make you happy!" How was he supposed to make her happy? He had no clue. Just being a friend, that's all he could try to do. "Don't cry, you're a nice person. You're happy, and you're friendly, and you have good jokes. You're a better mom than my mom is. Don't be sad, I don't want you to be sad." The sad thought he left buried in the mess didn't seem half as harsh to him as it should have. Because it wasn't a sad thought to him, it was a fact in his mind. "Do you wanna play my Batsy Bijou game?" Orange hands rummaged through his pockets until he found his well loved gaming device, offering it over. Once again the words from his gap toothed mouth surprised her, and she gently shifted him on her lap.

“Let’s talk about you for a second. It’ll make me feel better. What do you mean ‘you’re a better mom than my mom’?”

The thought appalled her. She was reaching much too far into Fao's life if she was becoming the preferred maternal figure. However, Fiona needed to step up her game as well. Aria knew if she didn’t give Fao the attention he needed that no one would. But still, the thought of preferring an “aunt” over a mother was, in her mind, concerning. He shrugged in much the same way his father would, but the words didn't come out immediately. Even he didn't quite know what to say. "Mom's not nice a lot," he started. "She's always sad and mad and stuff. She doesn't wanna see me go outside, or have fun, and- and she's always crying or yelling. She's always talkin' about how she doesn't know what to do. I don't think she likes me." These words weren't half as painful for him as they must have been for Aria to hear. "And she's never there, she's always at work." Ears were now drooping against his own head. "I wanna see mom more." Aria pet him gently, snuggling him close for comfort. “Poor pumpkin… I’m sorry that you feel that way… I can try talking to your mom and seeing what I can do. Have you tried telling her that you want to see her more?” She asked, reaching to close and put the music box away. She knew Fiona wasn’t the greatest mother but Fao sounded like he was being neglected.

She made up her mind to question the fox, and as a cold wind blew, she wrapped Faolán's blanket around him.

“Let’s got inside,” she insisted opening a portal and carrying him in. "It's not... something you need to worry about." Word for word, taken straight from Aria's mouth. Was this just something adults did? If he wasn't supposed to care about Aria, then she shouldn't have to care about his problems, right? Not thinking about them felt a lot better anyways. No, it felt worse to say that, and he could just tell Aria wasn't going to take that. "She's not fun anymore." He nuzzled into the blanket Aria was letting him use, accepting the pampering after how sad the conversation had turned. Thankfully the warp brought them straight to his room, and he wasn't going to have to give away his way of escaping. He wanted to offer to sit down and play his games with Aria, but she probably couldn't. Everyone was busy again. She kept snuggling him, knowing how much he loved it. He was probably a little touch starved, as was she most of the time. She pampered him with affection cause it made her feel good.

“Hey pumpkin. Don’t go out on that ledge again without me, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt. You’re very important to me and I want to keep you safe. So, anything new on the bug forum?”

Fiona was missing out on a great kid, if only she took the time to spend with him… Where was she anyways? None of them knew in that moment. And unfortunately, it seemed Fao was happy with things that way. He wanted the reprieve from everyone running around and being busy, no matter how brief it would end up being. It was going to be dashed soon enough, as everyone was getting done finishing preparations for a raid that was hopefully going to finally capture their prey. Maps were laid out, blueprints gathered... "I dunno, Ari should at least know that we're gonna be pulling this now, right?" Manic expressed his concerns out of nowhere as he tapped some drum pattern into the table with his fingers. "I know this is real hard for her, but... It's her battle, right? Shouldn't she know when it's starting?" “Yeah… She should. Castillo can you go get her? She’s probably with Fao.”

The father was sent up while the rest of the group plotted and planned the final details. Damian seemed very worried about something.

“Aria is not to be left alone with this guy. She will challenge him to a fight on our turf with old rules and our family fought to the death." It was a painful thought that lingered, and only got worse the more they thought. "This guy got sneaky, too, he don't fight for honor." Fighting a fair fight wasn't going to end well for Aria, not in the slightest. "We've gotta watch her and make sure she doesn't do anything." In that moment, there was someone watching Aria. Scourge was watching from outside the hall at first, but he could tell that Aria and Fao were both clinging to each other for some form of comfort. 'Fuck, I'm getting soft,' he thought to himself, sitting down in the hall out of eyeshot of the door. Aria had to know, sure. But she didn't have to know right then. And they didn't need to start right then, either. It wasn't too long before Fao yawned a little, his jaw stretching and making a light noise as he fumbled a little in his game. He was comfortable enough that he could fall asleep, which he was very tempted to do. She cooed at him gently, urging the child to save and get some rest. She pulled the music box out again, opening it so the gentle tune floated through the air.

“I’ll have to go back downstairs eventually… But why don’t you sleep for a little while pumpkin?” She insisted, allowing him to snuggle up and pulling the blanket over them. She could hear Castillo outside the door and was a little more affectionate, nuzzling him gently.

“Sweet dreams.” If the rest of their meetings didn't hit Scourge hard, those two words certainly did. Even Aria had more chances to make Fao happy than he did, and she wasn't even his parent! But he was happy and taking his nap, now wasn't the time to say anything and wake him up. When Aria would leave, the bittersweet glop of emotions would be blatant on his face. "Planning some stuff downstairs." The tone and style of his voice were normal, but he was much quieter. "Need you to come down." They would barely be out the door before the words were out. "Thanks." Not sarcastic, but still rather jealous of her. “Sorry… I’m not trying to elbow in on your parenting but he needed some affection and I needed some company… He’s a lot smarter than we give him credit for… I’ll be down in a second, I want to call Fiona.”

She pulled out her phone and dialed the fox’s number. Trying to keep the blood from boiling under her skin. She had heard the planning the boys had been doing through an open window while she was on the ledge. She figured she should tie up all her loose ends. The phone rang. Three times. Four. Five. "We're sorry, the caller you've requested is not available at this time. Please call again, or leave a message-" Her office number was called. Then her phone. Then her cell again. Every call failed to connect her to Fiona, wherever she was and whatever she was doing. Even from the guest room, Fao could hear her placing several phone calls in the hall, hear her stomping get slightly louder. Another angry adult. They just needed to calm down. He just nuzzled up to his oversized tail and tried to rest. Grown-up stuff was always boring and sad anyways. Finally, Aria walked away from Fao’s door and left a message, tucking herself into a side hallway away from everyone else.

“Fiona, it's Aria. They found the guy and we are going after him… I don’t… I don’t know if I’m going to come back from this. And I just want you to know exactly what you need to do. You need to stop trying to tear Fao from Scourge. He’s half his biology, he’s important to the kid. And don’t send Fao off either, he’s a child. Schools like that are horrible for kids, especially for Fao with his condition. You’re … You’re a really good friend Fiona, and you try really hard to give Fao the world, but all he really wants is to see you… Depending on how today goes, he’s gonna need you a lot more. I’ve got to go. But so help me, if I find you’ve sent him away, or emotionally hurt him any more than you already have, I will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

She hung up and went to quickly write a note to Terra, spilling her heart out onto the page. Promising the moon and the stars upon her return, or her eternal and undying love if she failed.

By the time she got downstairs, she was battle ready, at least mentally.

“Let’s do this.” Plans were being set into motion finally. He was cornered. At the very least, he was coming out of this in handcuffs, but no one knew what to expect from the fight itself. There was only one person who wasn't privy to the plans in that moment. Fiona was just getting away from some meetings regarding her casino when she finally had time to turn on her phone. Several messages as usual. Several messages from Aria was anything but usual, and she hit play. Not coming back from that? She wasn't saying she was going to die, was she? The longer the message went on, the more she wanted to block out the words Aria was saying, believe that she had been doing the right thing. But the brevity and strength of those few early words was enough to stop her from blocking it out. How had she missed this?! Every instinct told her to scream into the phone, tell Aria not to risk her life like that. And then she checked the time stamp. Three hours before. Whatever was being set in motion was almost certainly out of her control now. Aria was ready to go, looking up at the boys.

“So, how are we getting in? Warp inside or knock on the front door?” She asked them, pretending to joke. But the atmosphere was serious and Aria wasn’t smiling like she normally was when she was joking. She seemed to have made peace with herself, and all that was left was anger.

Her brother looked over, concerned but silent. Castillo and Manic were made to lead the way. The tall apartment building wasn't shabby, but wasn't breathtaking either. Simply a building. If it weren't for the circumstances, it would have felt totally nondescript. "The punk's real dangerous, some of kingy's men are checking it out. Should get a word when they've got him." This wasn't going to be long, the photo gave them a small range of rooms he could be in based on the view. Manic and Damien were staying close to Aria to try and make sure she wasn't going to be completely torn up. The Scourges, however, were a short distance away, trying to look like they were just talking plans for the raid. "And what if the kid runs, how're we gonna stop it?" Castillo asked, arms crossed. "There any rules to her family battles?" “Apparently. Damian gave me a brief overview. A challenge to a battle cannot be turned down for one. They have to get to their family land, and then he said there’s some ritual shit they gotta do. They seal off their magic and it… It becomes a fight to the death. Apparently there’s also a referee that can stop the fight, which would be Damian, but it only works in cases of cheating and natural disasters… The second she calls for one, we can’t interfere.”

A solider came in. “Sire! They’ve located the balconey! We are ready to go on your order!” "Then you make sure she doesn't say shit." The alternate told the king after the interruption. "She tries to say anything, stop her. Don't care what it takes." The otter seemed too cowardly to actually challenge himself, at least in Castillo's mind. If he was doing all this running, he probably wasn't going to want a fight to the death if he wasn't forced into it. "Yo, Ari!" He yelled, motioning for the hedgehog. "You let us clear it out first, don't know what traps he's got, we'll holler when it's ready." In essence, 'we absolutely are not calling for you.' She bristled with anger. “No. My family, my revenge, my mission. I’m coming in with you, and there’s no way you can stop me”

The king didn’t like it at all, but he knew that upsetting her wouldn’t help. “Easy Aria. He’s just trying to help. No one wants you to get hurt.”

She turned from the group, grabbing a few extra weapons from the table. Several knives and one handgun. Of course, Castillo took advantage of that moment to tug forward and give them a head start. He made a motion for Manic, trying to tell him to keep Aria back. They couldn't let her go through with that. No way. The balcony was zeroed in on, but the door hadn't been knocked. In fact, if someone hadn't seen the many cars parked out of eyeshot of that particular window, no one would even know that anything was happening. If he wasn't alerted, he couldn't be half as prepared to fight back. Slowly, an officer stepped forward to knock. "Duuuude, wait." Manic didn't need to act, stepping in front of her quite alarmed and blatantly stopping her. "Dude, we've gotta wait, we don't know what he's got in there! You don't wanna fall for a trap and lose a fight with someone that's not even there!" Aria followed after them, unamused by Manic trying to step in her way.

“I’m not going in first numbskull, I’m not an idiot. They can clear the place first, but I want my turn with this son of a bitch.”

She shoved past him and joined the boys, waiting patiently as the door was knocked. She was seething anger, and the king sandwiched her between himself and Castillo so they could control her somewhat.

The agent knocking was in plainclothes, trying to make it look like she were some random pedestrian through the peephole. Everyone stood further down the hall to stop them from being visible.

There was no reply. "Hello? Are you home? You left something downstairs."

From behind the door, the cover could be heard slipping off of the peephole. It would be a few more seconds before the sound happened again, and the door barely creaked open. "You can come in," a voice said, ringing through Aria's mind and deep into her memories. The agent swung the door open without giving her a chance to recover.

The explosion was deafening, and there was barely any time to curl and protect themselves from the shrapnel.

In a second, a good chunk of wall that used to be a doorway was now a crumbling hole, the explosion strong enough that holes in the floor and ceiling could show parts of the rooms and halls the floor was sandwiched between. The agent was curled in a ball against the wall, clutching her injuries but breathing and fighting the pain to reach for her gun. Through the hole was his lair - a strangely empty yet organized room with plenty of books on Chaos magic, dissection tools and a makeshift surgery table, charts and photos of bug anatomy. The walls were obsessively and neatly lined with the strange bugs that lived in Aria's forest, looking to have lost some of their luster. The dead bugs they didn't have the time to truly look at were totally luster-free, their magic somehow drained post mortem... or even antimortem. But they couldn't worry about his psychotics in the moment, an agent was down and the suspect was close by.

"Your majesty!" A voice bleated through the king's earpiece. "The suspect's leaped from the window, he's hopping between room balconies!"

“Roger that. I want the building surrounded and the upper floors evacuated!” He ordered everyone. In all the fuss, Aria was left unattended.

That was a mistake

She booked it for the hallway window, climbing out onto the fire escape and jumping to the next balcony. Judging by the weaponry aimed at the other side of the building, he was headed right for her. Perfect.

Damian was the first to notice she was gone, and alerted the trio of green hedgehogs. "Oh hell no...!" Scourge's growl couldn't have come fast enough. Him and Manic were already booking it down the hall, towards the window Aria had evacuated through. Manic was first out the balcony, trying to grab and restrain Aria. "Aria, get outta here, he's got other bombs planted out here!" It was a total lie, but that was what Manic knew best. The otter's running wasn't clumsy or calculated. The golden creature was running like a feral cat might, not landing anywhere but the hand holds to save time as he tried to improvise an escape path. When the flash of gold came into view, that's when they knew they had no choice, and Scourge reached for Aria's face, trying desperately to clamp her mouth shut as the otter searched for another window entrance. She was just barely out of reach, and tackled the otter, sending both tumbling to the ground. Damian forgot to breathe until Aria ripped open a portal and dragged the otter through it before they hit the ground.

They dropped behind the trio of green and her brother, Aria pinning him to the ground by his neck.

“Hello Leo. Its been a very long time and we have so much to catch up on. What do you say we go say hi to everybody? The forest is DYING to have you back,” she hinted, punching him across the face several times, since her weight was pinning him down.

“Get off me you crazy ass bitch!” He called out, only recognize her when she pressed her claws to his throat. He paled significantly, like he was seeing a ghost. In that moment, Damian realized that Aria was playing a game with him like a cat played with their food. Scourge simply wanted to stop her from making the call. Manic, however, was having flashbacks. This was the same cracked glare she'd given when she was being rescued. She was going to lose it, if she hadn't already. It was Manic who lunged forward, holding down the otter to make sure he wouldn't pull anything, but still not able to totally side with Aria. "Ari, zone jail'll give him hella worse punishment than this, that'd be quick and much less painful, you wanna-" "Don't talk like- like psychos, you moldy assflap-!" Was all Leo could say in response, getting a knee to the scalp from Manic himself. "Kingy, get this dude chained up. Now!" Castillo told the king as Manic tried to barter with the hedgehog. “That's not what I want! I want him to suffer! I want him to have every. Thing. He. Cares. About. Taken. Away!”

She pushed Manic back just enough to keep hitting the otter as hard as she physically could across the face. Bloodlust wasn’t a common feeling, but she felt it thrumming in her veins. She wouldn’t be sated until he was dead by her hands, and everyone in the room knew it. No one made any move to stop her.

Leo had other ideas, and once he realized that Aria and Manic combined didn’t weigh a while lot, he extended his claws and channeled his super strength to throw them off of him. “You wanna play like that then kid? Alright. Let’s play! I need to have you dead anyways. USQUE AD OS IN AGRIS!”

“NO!” Damian yelled, but the damage was done and Aria stood up, fire blazing in her eyes.

“As you wish. Those words will be the death of you. Scourge. Warp ring. Now.” She told the king, holding out her hand. Manic and Scourge were faltering. Scourge wasn't dumb to criminal shenanigans, he knew that stepping in could have cost Aria her life, but so could allowing this to happen! Manic knew that he was close enough to probably find something, ANYTHING to take him out with just then, but what would that truly entail in a culture as powerful as Aria's? This gave them just enough time. "Oh, allow me!" His voice, his posture, Leo was certain of everything he was doing. The ring was snatched from the king's belt in a blink of an eye, and judging by how fast his hand pressed the buttons, he knew the warp coordinates for Aria's homeland off the back of his hand. He wasn't just prepared. He was begging for this moment. "What does- what does this mean? What's gonna happen?" Manic poised the obvious question as the gold otter left through his warp. “That remains to be seen.” Was all Aria said, warping herself out as Damian shut the ring. After Aria left, his hands would start to shake, visibly tremor as he realized that if it all went down hill, he would have to bury the last of his family.

The king put a hand on his shoulder, to comfort.

“Through the warp. Now. And someone.. Someone call Terra. She’s.. She’s gonna wanna be here.” He lead Damian through the portal and jumped through himself.

They would end up in a field on her land, everyone knee deep in geraniums and poppies. Aria was trying not to show how upset she was. Damian was just a little confused. He didn’t remember the field.

“I know this isn’t the traditional venture, but an exception can be made.” Leo hummed, and Aria growled as Damian’s claws extended and he started craving circles into the ground around Aria and Leo. Aria explained to the others that since Damian was the only other adult, he was forced to be the referee and to set up the battle ground. "Why's there need to be a battle? Why you need a fucking referee?!" Out of everyone on the scene, Scourge had the least problems with any kind of ceremony. "What, you gonna give this asshole a fair chance? After everything, you wanna give him-?! Fuck him, Aria, just shoot him! I hold him down, you claw his eyes out, what the fuck are you doing?!" He wasn't seeing Aria die, not at all, and with no regard for the forest, the ceremony, anything at all, he rushed past the circles and Damian, heading straight for Leo. However, the completed circle created a forcefield around both of the fighters, and Castillo ran right into it.

“Oh! Castillo! Be careful!” She scolded, pressing on the forcefield from the inside, worried about how fast he had rammed into a solid surface.

“Please. You don’t understand why I have to do this but I do. Its important. Far more important than you realize.” She insisted, removing every gun and knife strapped to her.

“Leo, you remember the rules do you not? Any other weaponry on you is an automatic disqualification and certain death. As much as I would love to see you die, I would much rather do it myself,” she reminded, growling and setting herself in a fighting stance. "Hmph." The small huffing noise Leo made was just as smug and knowing as the rest of his actions. His pockets were empties, but the only things that came out were minor trinkets and mundane items. His wallet, a burner phone, nothing of note. "I don't need any extra help, Aria. I'm a lot more powerful than I used to be." The claws that came out of his paws were nothing like Arias or Damians. Theirs were slender, metallic, elegant. His were thick and blunt, more like daggers than the normal scythe shape. Moreover they didn't appear to be metal, instead a creamy white material that wasn't natural for the species. Almost like he made them for himself, another power just as unnatural as his others. Almost like they were made of... ...bone. Damian and Aria just looked… Confused. Not horrified at the state of his claws, but just curious.

“I thought his claws were gold?” Damian asked, leaning closer to his sister

“I remember them being gold? Fillings maybe?” She responded with a shrug, tossing her weaponry out of the bubble and sliding into a fighting stance. Under her breath, she whispered out a prayer to some unknown god before stepping up to the mark, and waiting for the male to do the same. “Castillo? If I don’t make it out of this, tell Fao and David I’m sorry that I won’t be there to watch them grow up.”

As the otter stepped up to the mark as well, the ground started to shake. Every tree in the forest had uprooted themselves to circle the group, everyone vying for a spot to watch. He wasn't going to be telling those kids anything, Scourge told himself. They didn't need to grow up without her, Fao didn't need to lose someone at such a young age. But from a distance, outside some strange bubble he couldn't enter, there was nothing he could do. Just watch with the rest of the peanut gallery and try not to break down in anger. "You like them?" Leo could see Arias curiosity in his claws, his hand now waving in front of him like he was admiring them as he explained. "I carved them myself... and fused them on. I don't like leaving whole bodies out in the open, so I just left most of them." The trees rustled, but whoever those bones were once a part of was lost to time. He was in position, his claws were bared, the ceremony was prepared. Most of all, Aria was terrified. "Tell Octavius his body's incredibly strong." A total bluff on his part, but he just needed Aria's face to go the right shade of pale before heading forward. "En garde." “Here’s an idea for you, bastard. TELL HIM YOURSELF!” she screamed, face flush with anger instead of pale with fear.

Aria slammed her foot down in position, and the fight began. Instantly she jumped at him claws out and scratching at his face as hard as she could, keeping a hand protectively over her stomach so he couldn’t get at her major organs. Most of her slashes were aimed at his brow bone and eyes, trying to blind him.

Terra ran in, having been warped in by the king. She almost screamed, but all that came out was a choked sob. The king wrapped an arm around her, to try and support her as they watched Aria fight. Metal clashed and scratched against sturdy marrow, and as strong as Aria's claws were, all she could do was scraped the claws. Leo wasn't concerned about going for a kill immediately, he just needed something, some little leaping point. All Aria had to do was falter for a second, but she was too consumed with rage in that moment to emotionally manipulate. His claws closed as Aria swung at a bad angle, clutching tight and leaving both their hands useless in the moment. Leo's claws couldn't swipe, but their blunt weight and stab damage more than made up. Hands unlatched, and those three claws held together in a bludgeon aimed straight for Aria's scalp. She dodged, his claws catching hair more than scalp. Using her chin to trap his hand, she bit at the arm as hard as possible, blood dripping from her jaws.

He wretched his arm away and Aria spat the blood at him. She tried again to go for the face, almost, but at the last second started aiming for his chest and neck. If she could time a strike just right, she could stab right between his ribs…

Damian was torn looking at the scene. The trees rustled at the sight of blood, and even Aria's mother shook with pride. Or concern. Hard to tell with trees. When clenched, his claws could form a pretty solid shield, and he did his best to back away as the swung at the guard. Oh, she was biting? as much as it hurt, this was only fueling his desire to sink his claws straight into those eye sockets. The blows were consistent, aiming for the same few ribs about, and her swings were alternating. If she didn't realize this, her own swings were creating a pattern, and he threw a plan together as she swung yet again in time. There was a rip. Trees stood still, too still, and everyone watching couldn't move for a split second. The flesh near the base of one of Aria's right claws was sliced straight open, one hand holding her arm and the other tugging and wrenching her thin metal claws between larger, sturdier bone marrow. He wasn't aiming to kill, he was going to tear apart Aria piece by piece, cutting and pressing harder into her flesh until the claw popped out in a bloody snap. The scream she let out could have been enough to deafen. Terra dropped to her knees, unable to handle the volume, or the thought of her mate being hurt. Even Leo winced a bit.

Aria clutched her hand to her side, switching her offensive and defensive positions and now leading with her left. Her claw hit the ground and on instinct she picked it up to prevent him from using it. Technically not a weapon. There was no contesting that.

She jumped at him again and managed to topple him, throwing punches as hard as she could, claws back in. She was beating his face as her heels dug into his biceps. Blood was everywhere. Leo's chuckling was only going to feed her bloodlust. "You stupid bitch," he grunted between slams to his face, finally grabbing her hand as it swung and simply holding it, looking at the unharmed hand. "You could've let those damn claws out right now and won." The tumble of the two struggling to try and pin down the other may have seemed desperate on both their parts, but every move of his was carefully planned to draw this fight out, just stop Aria from attacking for long enough to watch her go pale from bloodloss. At this point, Manic and Terra were clawing at the barrier, unable to breakthrough but desperate to find some way to help. Aria's size was both a help and a hindrance. She wasn’t able to pin him down for very long, but he was unable to pin her down because she kept slipping away. Playing dirty, she delivered a swift kick to his crotch, shin bone colliding with parts unmentionable. While he was distracted by the sudden pain, she flipped him off of her and retreated a bit to catch her breath. The blood loss was making her vision blurry.

The king looked over at Damian. “Can’t you intervene?!”

The doctor shook his head no. “Stopping the fight for no reason would kill whoever is ‘losing’ per say.”

And Aria was very much losing. Leo knew this, and brandished his claws, growling. “That’s enough playtime child.” The years he had spend building his powers off of these sacrifices, everything from the original people to the wildlife that thrived off of the power that ebbed through the homeland, this was all about to come to a conclusion. But what was perfect for this situation? He wanted Aria to suffer, a chance to... No... no, offing her with fire or strength would be too easy. Aria was scarcely breathing, he wanted to savor her consciousness, torture her for himself, and what was a better way to torture her than keep her from moving? Magic restraint was the way to go. It wasn't even a totally strong shove, but blood loss was leaving her weary. One hand rose, beginning to glow with an ethereal power.. Her limbs went stiff, body still, perfect for his gory plans. For just a moment. He drew closer as the king screamed for Damian to intervene. Damian responded by reminding him that his sister was losing, and that pausing the fight might kill her. Aria's breath was coming slower as invisible bonds constricted around her, gulping down air in deeper and deeper gasps as Leo came right up to her, planning to spend a few seconds savoring the look of fear in her eyes. But the look he craved wasn’t there. Instead, she gave a breathless laugh.

“You’re… An idiot… Forgot the biggest battle rule…” She mumbled, subtly sliding the broken off claw out of her pocket.

“Oh, and what was that?” The otter asked, barely an inch from her face.

In one swift motion Aria dropped her act, stabbing upward through his diaphragm with her solo claw, and then extending the other two. Blood gushed from the wound.

“No. Powers. Allowed!” Aria said in a taunting voice, pulling her claws out and stabbing him right through the heart. The gap created between her claws by removing one blade made it easy to slip through his ribs and cut the life sustaining organ. She braced her foot on his chest and kicked him off her claws, then knelt on his chest again and started punching and stabbing him.

“This is for my PEOPLE!” She screamed, beating him several times

“This is for my FAMILY,” this time she only threw eight punches , calling out her siblings and parents names

“And this? This is for me! VALE, ET FRAGMEN STERCORE!!

With no hesitation, she slit his throat and arterial spray coated the ‘walls’ of their shield. The circles and their shields disappeared. Aria was left kneeling over a corpse.

It was over

They won. This didn't stop the terror Manic or Terra were struggling with. The wall was the only thing stopping them, and the moment it was gone, the two rushed up to Aria, Terra to cling to her and just kno she was still there and Manic wanting to get her the hell out of there. Blood was everywhere, but they didn't care, sitting down and clutching to Aria just to know this was real, this was over. Manic's husband had dealt with plenty of blood on his part, and stepped forwards to start yelling commands. "Dami!" was all he yelled to get her brother's attention. "Just stop the blood. Kingy, get some OTHER doctors in here!" He couldn't be expected to do surgery on his own sister, after all. All that was left to deal with was the corpse. What was there...? They couldn't leave a corpse sitting in the middle of nowhere, so as the three sat and recovered, he hoised Leo's body over his shoulder and started the walk, aiming for deep within where those beetles could be found. “Castillo, wait. I’m not done.” Aria mentioned, getting out of the death grip her mate and friend had given her. The body was pulled off Castillo’s shoulders and Aria grimaced as she had to pull her snapped off claw out of the gaping hole in his rib cage. She handed it off to her brother, who also seemed disgusted.

“Don’t worry about the surgeons. I can fix her with magic.” Damian insisted, working on his sisters hand while she looked down at the body.

“I’m sorry about this you guys, I wasn’t up front about anything. I promise, I’ll try to be better about telling you how and why I’m doing things but.. It had to be done. Can someone warp back to the room and try to salvage some beetles? Maybe we can restore the population.” She asked, squeezing Terra’s hand with her other one, in a lot of pain as metal and flesh reformed.

The trees rumbled, moving back to their regular spots and leaving the land seemingly untouched. Aria slumped on her mates shoulder and the bat caught her, concerned. "Don't ever- It's over, right? There's no one else you wanna have a death battle with, right?" Manic was still trembling, voice sturdy but his body weak. Watching what was essentially a surgery wasn't helping his nerves. “It's over. We need at least three members of our people. Derek won’t be old enough for a long time and I won’t be fighting my brother. It's over. It's all over.” She insisted, patting the green hedgehogs cheek. She was physically exhausted, and some cuts still bled. She looked like crap but she was smiling through the tears threatening to fall. Enthusiastic. Overjoyed. "Kingy, c'mere." Castillo hoisted the corpse over his shoulders as he restarted his walk. Even at a glance, he wasn't totally normal. His fur was metallic - TOO metallic, just like those strange bugs his body was about to be fed to. He had spent years terrorizing Aria, killed countless people, and now he was just a thing dripping blood onto Scourge's jacket. Not an undeserved fate. "Aria's NEVER having a fight like that again without us kicking ass with her. I don' care if it's tradition or what, she looks like she's snapping. Feel like she's gonna go insane if we don't stop this crap from happening." They were commanded, not requested. Rattled off almost like a list. "What are we telling Fao? Let's get our lies straight." “It's over.” The king reminded. Looking back at his friend as Aria's sobs heaved, and she burst into tears. “Tell Fao that she got attacked? I certainly don’t know what to tell him. Ask Fiona what she thinks.” "Aria got attacked," Scourge said almost emotionless in tone. "The guy's in jail now. That's all he's hearing." The paths in the forest grew more and more laden with the insects, starting to pelt Scourge more the deeper he went into the trees and landing on the body. The trees almost seemed to encourage him, shifting slightly to make his path deeper into the woods easier to traverse, until he reached a small circle so shrouded in shadows and heavy foliage it would never see sunlight on any other day. And deep within the homelands he had destroyed, Leo's body was abandoned to be devoured by the creatures that he sought to kill, and now tightly encircled by trees making sure evidence of Aria's crime would never reach the light of day. "Come on- come on, we're getting you out of here." It was almost told to Aria like it wasn't an option. "Y'all, we're gonna get you- A huge dinner or like, a spa trip? A-a lot of therapy?" The last line was barely a joke at this point, what was he supposed to do for her? “I… I think I wanna go home… Get some sleep. I'm tired.” She whined, playfully almost. Even as the tears rolled down her cheeks, she still smiled, kissing Terra’s cheek. Her wife was cuddling her close, almost possessive. Terrified of someone trying to take her away.

The return to the castle was quiet. Fao was already tucked in for the night, and soon after Aria was sitting on the bar, while Damian and Terra patched her up and she poured everyone a strong glass of alcohol. Wondering where Fiona was, but assuming she was with Fao. It felt as though they had come back from a battle to the death, that was for sure. Aria might have been happy, but she had nearly died, that was impossible to avoid. Manic was laughing, trying to smile through it, but his fear was still hard to ignore. His husband simply said nothing and acted like he wasn't invested. Bored, even. As the sun just began it's descent past the horizon, they could hear the door open again, and everyone's breath was held in horror until those tiny, energized footsteps were heard checking room to room until he was at the door to the sitting room. The room felt brightened by his presence, and he couldn't quite tell yet how serious everyone was feeling. While he did sit happily next to his father, his concern seemed to be Aria's injuries. He just stared, eating some ice cream but not wanting to ask the question. The good news was, the remnants of some wiped-off face paint on him indicated a fun day out. The bad news was, he looked fitted for a little vest with a school emblem on it that he was now staining with his treat. "Is she- is she hurt?" He tried to be quiet and onyl ask his father, but the question was loud and clear in the quiet room. Aria caught sight of the uniform and her heart sank. Her own death was fine, she hadn’t expected to live through the fight. She had hoped that would convince Fiona to leave her son close to his father. She dry-heaved suddenly, covering her mouth more out of surprised than nausea. Damian and Terra didn’t seem too surprised and the bat helped her to the bathroom. The doctor put a hand on Manic's shoulder to calm him

“Its the stress. With magic healing, nausea is normal. Especially with the level I had to do. She’s okay,” he insisted, but could hear his sister’s curses in their native language between fits of vomiting. Both he and the king noticed the sweater, and only Scourge said something.

“Hey buddy, where’d the vest come from? A little to fancy for just a day out, isn’t it?” The king asked, moving closer to Castillo in order to check his alternates rage. He recognized the crest on the sweater. Fiona walked in with a shopping bag in hand, looking terrified at the sight. Or was she terrified that they saw Fao wearing his boarding school vest? Boarding school... Actually, the crest looked a tiny bit different. Wasn't that supposed to be a lantern, not a candle? And- Actually, none of it looked the same! As Fao happily ranted on about the day's events, a little introduction fair day for the new students, Fiona sat with Aria and showed her a brochure. "Green Ivy Academy. It's a private elementary school twenty minutes away." Her voice was quiet, pose suggesting silent fear of whatever she was going to say. "It's not a sleep away school, and it's in a very secure neighborhood, I didn't mean to startle-" Aria was forced to lay back on the couch as her brother checked her over, scolding his sister under his breath. Also cussing Fiona out for being dramatic. But she didn’t need to know there was any hidden meaning hidden in his tone. The hedgehog let him finish before answering Fiona.

“Good. Glad to know it took me almost dying to get you to listen.” She was slightly bitter, but clearly not mad. Arias silent and unchecked rage had been pulled out of her from her fight with Leo. For now, all the fox got was a hint of disappointment.

But when Aria looked up when Fao started talking, Castillo and Manic would catch the look of utter relief. Joy almost. With everything that was going on, she was glad her nephew of sorts was going to stay close to home. She looked back to his mother, hiding her utter glee. “What are we going to tell him about what happened today?” "You were attacked, but you will be fine. He doesn't need to know any more than that." Her idea may have gone the same direction as Scourge's thoughts, but the question wasn't even brought up by the child. Even when he was sitting down next to Aria, he seemed polite enough not to say a word directly to her. "And the yard there is really big!" He kept bringing up small details of what must have been an incredibly expensive school to attend. "There's this big fountain with fish in it! And there's a big field... ...!" Manic leaned close to speak quietly to Aria. "You sure you should drink that much? You lost a ton of blood, man." She looked at the clear liquid, then back at Manic, holding it up. “It’s Gatorade.”

She returned returned to listening to her nephew speak, asking him questions about the people and the campus. She loved his blatant excitement over everything. Everyone would agree that his cheerful personality and his ability to make Aria laugh lightened the mood.

The room settled slowly, couples drifting together to try and relax each other. Manic and Castillo were already sitting on a loveseat together. Aria and Terra had Fao squished between them, the little boy still raving about the school. Fiona had settled in a plush recliner, and subconsciously the king found himself moving to sit on the arm of the chair. Damian had bid his sibling adieu and left to go see his own family. All was peaceful. School would only start for the child in a few month as the summer reached its end, but for now, they didn't worry. Aria would have to find a lot of emotional support in the next few days even, and the healing wouldn't be completed for a long time. But at least for that one night, she had space to laugh, space to think. Space to recover. People would weave their ways out of the room at the time passed. Manic, Damian, Castillo, Scourge, Fiona and even Fao left, until it was only Aria and Terra alone in the room, nuzzling on the couch and enjoying the comfort of the moment. For a short while, the hedgehog would find a kind of peace she had scarcely felt before.

Terra leaned over to pull Arias music box out of her bag, opening it so they had some soothing sounds.

The night was quiet as all the castle lights got turned off one by one. First, the young child was tucked in by his fathers and mother, wished goodnight by all. The green couple left to spend their night in the van, as they usually did. They would sleep curled tightly together, dealing with their own stresses from the day.

The king and the mother were left, and in his private study they enjoyed a quiet nightcap of her favorite drink before turning their separate ways.

Even the lights in the main room would be turned off by a ghostly hand when the women fell asleep. All was dark. All was safe. All was perfect.

#TinyRedArtist #Show's Over #There's A Melody Playing #violence #gore #death

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