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digital-dhampirs · 3 years ago

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thank you very much for the ask, @kachowwwww !

I did do a covernalysis for Vol 3, which you can read here: [https://digital-dhampirs.tumblr.com/post/168641851375/here-it-is-the-beautiful-twosome-vanitas-no ], but after staring at the cover of the volume for a little while I’ve started to notice some stuff I didn’t see way back in my original post from 2017. So! I will be doing an all new (hopefully improved) covernalysis four years later! oh by the holy glow of the blue moon it’s been four years

this is technically a part 2, but it’s completely separate from the first part! feel free to just read one or the other..!

VnC Volume 3 covernalysis: part 2

Volume 3 is our first cover featuring multiple characters together, and boy is it a fantastic way to start the trend! Vanitas and Noé lie peacefully in a pool of water, a golden frame between them. There is a Lot going on here, so let’s get started with breaking down the frame!

Volume 3’s golden frame is absolutely dripping in Chasseur imagery— the frame is decorated with stacks of skulls similar to those in the catacombs, the design in the frame’s corners is just like the Chasseurs’ six- winged sword symbol, and at the top of the frame we see the high- ranking vampire skull Roland shows our protagonists in chapter 14. Vol 3 contains chapters 11 through 15 of the manga— the time leading up to and the beginning of Vanitas and Noé’s adventures in the catacombs— so these Chasseur designs seem very relevant. We see one of those ever- present butterflies perched on the dead vampire’s skull, a symbol of transformation and rebirth.

We also see daisies growing in one section of the frame, possibly symbolizing innocence, purity, rebirth, fidelity, and/ or new beginnings. Maybe these daisies symbolize the new developments for Vanitas and Noé’s relationship during and after the events in the catacombs? Or maybe they’re a callback to an old Celtic myth in which daisies grew to console parents after the loss of a child? Or maybe something else!

The other plant featured on this frame is ivy— a symbol of attachment, immortality, fidelity, and eternity. Both daisies and ivy have something to do with eternal life and eternal faithfulness, which is very interesting considering Vanitas’s eventual demise. Ivy is a plant that holds on to things and doesn’t let go, which is pretty neat considering the events of chapter 53..!

There’s one last part of the volume 3 frame I want to mention before moving on to the rest of the cover— the skeletal hands adorning it. Two of the hands are holding the inside edges of the frame, reminiscent of the hands on Vanitas’s frame in volume 1, and two more are holding the vampire skull in a manner eerily similar to the way the Teacher’s hands frame Noé’s face on the cover of Volume 2.

The volume 3 frame has a lot of lil details combining aspects of Vanitas and Noé’s frames from the two previous volumes— the rectangular shape of Vani’s frame with the skull at the top, the row of beads and stick bone decoration thingys (if anyone knows what those things are please tell me I’ve been wondering what they are for literal years at this point) from Noé’s frame, the skeleton hands from volume 1 in the Teacher’s position from volume 2… the Volume 3 frame might have a lot of chasseur elements, but it’s also a combination of Vanitas and Noé’s symbolic details, once again indicating the pair’s developing relationship.

And with that I think we’re finally done with the frame! Now it’s time to tackle the main subject of this ask, the boys themselves.

Vanitas, smirking, shows his mark from Luna to the viewer. The Book of Vanitas rests on his stomach, and he has two more marks of possession on display— Jeanne’s mark, which is bright red, and a duller purple mark on the other side of his neck. We don’t know who this third mark is from yet, but just based on the mark’s color palette it seems pretty likely it’s from Noé. Unlike the marks from Luna and Jeanne, though, the purple mark isn’t leaking out onto Vanitas’s clothes— it’s just there, like a bruise, and the only place its color is really echoed is on the Book. I don’t really know what this means and I suspect we won’t find out until Noé drinks Vanitas’s blood in uhm… chapter… 105… but it’s a notable difference nonetheless!

Moving from Vanitas to his partner in crime! Noé is lying above Vanitas, with the chain from the Book of Vanitas wrapped around his arm. He’s wearing the comfortable sleep clothes he wore in chapter 11 and seems to be calmly watching Vani as the latter shows off his mark from Luna. Noé’s right hand is resting on the Book of Vanitas’s chain, but he isn’t trying to remove it or snap it, he’s just touching it.

The chain around Noé’s arm reminds me quite a bit of another piece of official art,

But on the Volume 3 cover, the chain around Noé’s arm is Noé’s classic purple-magenta color, rather than Vanitas’s cobalt blue like it is in the official art. This difference in color (along with the drastically different poses between the cover and the official art) makes the official art look far more aggressive and confrontational, while the cover image looks much more peaceful and relaxed despite the chain.

The chain’s color on the Vol 3 cover makes me think that, unlike in the official art, Noé is in control of what’s going on and is choosing to keep things this way. He could get rid of the chain at any time, but keeps it wrapped around his arm. In a way, it’s tying him and Vanitas together rather than dragging them apart.

So we’ve covered the frame, we’ve talked about our protagonists… all that’s left to talk about from this cover is the background/ whatever’s going on with the water Noé and Vani are lying in! And honestly? This is another one of those things I have no ideas about. Water symbolizes a lot of things— life, purity, the moon, transformation, and a whole lot more. But I don’t quite know why Vanitas and Noé are lying in it beyond ‘it looks very pretty’.

One thing I do know for sure, though, is that there are shards of glass lying in the water with the boys. Where might those shards have come from…? My best guess is that the frame between Vani and Noé was originally a complete mirror or picture frame made out of glass, but at some point it was shattered, and now the boys are able to lie down side by side between it.

The internal walls separating Noé and Vanitas start to crumble with their argument during the ball and conversation on the roof, and fall apart a bit more during their time in the catacombs. It’ll still be a very very long time before they can even approach the idea of fully understanding each other, but at this point in the manga they’re slowly getting closer and learning to walk side by side.

Annnnnd with that, I think this covernalysis is complete! For now. Thank you so much for reading this ridiculously wordy covernalysis, and thanks again for this ask! Thinking over a cover again four years after my initial analysis was a truly unique experience— maybe in 2025 I’ll come back to this cover one more time and cringe at this analysis the same way I’m currently cringing over my 2017 cover breakdown. Hope you enjoyed this meta/ analysis/ confused rambling thing!

Fun Fact

This volume’s inside cover features the lovely Dominique! Domi doesn’t feature too heavily in this volume, but she plays a major role in Chapter 12, and we learn a lot about her true feelings for Noé during the chapters she’s in. The color scheme of this inside cover is particularly notable when compared with the vibrant yellow and magenta of Domi’s volume 8 cover— Domi isn’t exactly colorless here, but she’s definitely quite desaturated compared to her volume 8 appearance. The magenta color reflecting on her hair and bow actually seems quite close to.. that… faded………. purple….

#vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #vnc #covernalysis #meta-ish #i m so inordinately proud of myself for getting slightly better at cover analysis in the past four years #the fun fact is just a joke I swear #unless…….#nah it’s 1000% a joke #unless……….

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so-writing · 4 years ago

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Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea - Matthew Tkachuk (16)

Notes: minimal editing you know. also, did you guys think they were going to have a good date?!

all parts

What could go wrong?

It was an excellent question with an even better answer:

Everything. Everything could go wrong and it absolutely fucking did.

You had been sitting, in a dress a little too tight and high as the sky heels that were insanely uncomfortable, for about twenty minutes when Matthew rolled into the restaurant. He was dressed in a tee shirt and joggers, clothing entirely too casual for the venue, and you could tell he’d been drinking.

“Sorry I’m late, had some stuff to do.”

You ignored the slight slur in his voice as you tried your best to smile at him, “you’re here now,” it was clipped but he didn’t notice.

“Yeah, yeah, definitely,” he pulled his chair out and plopped into it, completely ignoring you as he dove into the bread sitting in the middle of the table.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Matthew.”

He had downed two pieces of bread by the time you spoke up and after you did, his eyes stayed on the food in his hands.

“You ask me out on a date, show up drunk and underdressed, and pay more attention to the appetizer than to me, this is such fucking bullshit.”

You were seeing red, and it wasn’t just the color of the carpet beneath your heels. He laughed to himself and continued to smash on the bread as you fished your phone out of your purse and ordered an Uber.

This was a mistake and you should have known better.

You were pretty sure Matthew didn’t even realize you excused yourself from the table and left the restaurant but you made sure to stop your server on the way out and order three bottles of the most expensive wine in house before you left, ensuring he was left with an extravagant bill. It was petty, but you couldn’t care less.

The cookies and the nighttime city views were nice but they were just another one of those fleeting moments where Matthew acted like a human with real emotions. Showing up for the date drunk and dressed in casual clothes had you seething and you spent the entirety of your ride back to your apartment with you fists clenched so tight your fingernails left little crescent shaped indents in your palms.

“He’s a fucking asshole, Onyx, he’s such a fucking asshole and that was his last chance. It’s like, he’ll do one nice thing only to follow it up with something so shitty it’s like he didn’t even do the nice thing in the first place.”

Unamused, Onyx continued to lick his paws and ignore your rant. You huffed at this, “You’re a shit listener, bud.”

Your cat might have been a shit listener but you knew someone that wasn’t.

I know it’s late, you started a message to Brady, but your brother is such a fucking dick and I had to remind you of it.

Your phone was ringing less than five minutes later.

“I know you had a date tonight, what the fuck happened?”

“Hello to you too, Brady.”

“Hi. What happened?”

As you recounted the evening’s events to the younger Tkachuk brother, the irritation you felt earlier in the night began to make its way back into your head and based on Brady’s responses, you weren’t the only one in a bad mood because of the way things went down.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me? He’s really self-sabotaging the fuck out of this and I almost want you to tell him to kick fucking rocks permanently.”

“I’m ready to do that, honestly. It was so fucking embarrassing. The wait staff were all giving me those sympathetic looks and whispering to each other while I sat at a table by my fucking self until he got there and made me look even more stupid. I got dressed up, I made a fucking effort and he made a mockery of the entire ‘date.’”

“I know, I don’t blame you for being pissed. He’s not usually this bad at dealing with women, he doesn’t have a shit ton of game but he’s handled this whole situation with you absolutely fucking wrong.”

The two of you talked for a little longer before saying your goodbyes and ending the call. You weren’t sure what was going on between yourself and Matthew anymore but it was obvious that it wasn’t working out and after tonight, you were tired of it.

It was time to put whatever this was to bed for good.

Grabbing your phone from the coffee table, you leaned back against the couch and sent Matthew a text message: Hey Matthew, so tonight didn’t go as planned and it’s fine. I think it’s best for us to just have a professional relationship anyway. If you need to contact me, you can email me whenever. See you at work.

It wasn’t the most eloquent message you’d ever typed but hopefully it would get the point across. You read it one final time before pressing send, and as soon as ‘delivered’ appeared under the bubble, you blocked his number.

He woke up to the sound of a blaring alarm and a splitting headache. He also realized, after a few moments of finding his bearings, he wasn’t in his own bed.

“Good morning, sunshine.”

It wasn’t a voice he wanted to hear, “morning Eden.”

“I’m curious, Matty,” she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, “why were you at a such fancy place in such shitty clothes?”

“What are you talking about?”

“When you called me, you were at that fancy French place downtown by yourself. When I got there, you were deep into a bottle of expensive wine at a table that was clearly set for two. What’s going on?”

Her voice was sickly sweet but despite his pounding headache, Matthew knew there was something accusatory hidden behind it.

“I was celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?”

She was digging a bit too deep for someone that was just a casual hookup and it was starting to piss him off.

“The end of our arrangement.”

He ignored the pain in his temples and pulled himself out of bed, grabbing his phone from the bedside table. Making his way through her apartment to put on his shoes and get the fuck out of there, he ignored her whining behind him.

“Bye Eden,” he said before slamming the door on her and heading out into the cold Calgary air.

It wasn’t until he went to order an Uber that he realized he had a bunch of unread text messages, most of them from Brady, but only one from her.

Opening the text from her first, his heart sank when he read it. What the fuck had he done?

As his Uber headed toward his apartment, Matthew read over the texts from Brady and, thought he couldn’t really remember the night before, it was pretty fucking obvious that he had ruined everything.

He had ruined everything and there wasn’t really even anything to ruin yet.

Matthew took the elevator to her floor and slowly made his way down the hall toward her door, they were off today, she was most likely home. He stopped in front of her door but he couldn’t bring himself to knock.

He was the one that left her sitting alone in a restaurant looking like a million fucking dollars while he showed up late, drunk and underdressed. Peanut butter cookies and his best version of puppy eyes weren’t going to fix this. She wanted a strictly professional relationship and Matthew had to respect that, especially after all the shit he’d put her through.

The sound of the elevator hitting his floor pulled him out of his thoughts and he noticed a bag sitting in front of his door. As he approached, Matthew noticed the logo on the bag and a piece of paper taped to it.

“You left without these, figured you’d want them because you paid. Got your address from the reservation application. I hope you can figure things out, that girl you were supposed to meet was an absolute catch. Dave, wait staff.”

As if he needed reminding. Two bottles of the expensive wine she had spite ordered sat in the bag. Matthew unlocked his apartment and took them inside, pulling them out of the bag and throwing the note away, only to tape a new one on one of the bottles.

You hadn’t planned to check your email at all but work was work and you loved your job. It was the usual shit and you promised yourself this was the last time you would refresh until you closed your laptop.

A message from Matthew Tkachuk popped up, sent seven minutes ago. No message content but the subject read: I’m sorry, check your door.

You were off your couch faster than you cared to admit.

“What the fuck,” you said to yourself, grabbing the bottles of wine and bringing them inside.

They were easily recognizable. It was the wine you ordered on your date with Matthew and you were shocked to see them sitting outside your door. What was most surprising though, was the note attached to one of the bottles.

‘Please take these as a gift, from a Flames player, to a very appreciated, supported and loved Flames staffer.’

If all she wanted was a professional relationship, Matthew would be the best damn coworker she’d ever had.

He placed the bottles gently on the floor and decided against knocking, choosing instead to go back up to his place and send her a ‘professional' email.

#Matthew Tkachuk #Matthew Tkachuk imagine #matt tkachuk #nhl imagine #hockey imagine

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themadlostgirl · 4 years ago

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When It’s Cold (7)

*I have a vague inclination of where this story is heading. I went into this without an ending in mind so we’re letting go of the wheel and seeing where it takes us.*

~~~

After I showered and got changed I went downstairs. Felix had made an easy lunch of sandwiches and popcorn and set up the living room to play whatever movie I wanted to watch. I chose a nice comedy and sat down next to Felix.

Images of what we had done this morning still danced shamelessly in my head. How could Felix sit there so calmly? All we were doing was watching a movie, something we did quite frequently, and yet I couldn’t keep my thoughts straight. Even the slight touch of his thumb mindlessly stroking my arm was sending me into a tizzy.

I was hoping that after our escapades this morning that I would be cooler and more collected around Felix but it was ten times worse. I had gotten a taste and now it was all that I wanted. All I could think about. So again, how was it that Felix was sitting there so calmly? How was he not as infuriatingly turned on and jittery as me?

I kept my focus on the movie and my mind moved away from anything dirty as I started laughing at the group of dinner party guests running about a huge mansion in a paranoid craze on the TV. I made a joke to Felix about how if we ever hosted a dinner party it would most likely end up just like this. Hopefully with better food since that entree looked like a creamy, lumpy mess.

“Naturally,” Felix said, “I mean what kind of dinner was that supposed to be? Barely an hors d'oeuvre, a bland soup, skipped salad and appetizer completely and then served a gross main course, then no one partook in dessert. It’s a complete disaster!”

“You seem very passionate about this.” I chuckled. “Is there a guide to big fancy dinners in those cookbooks of yours?”

“Yes actually,” He shrugged, a tint of pink in his cheeks, “I get bored easily so reading about dinner etiquette is a step up from nothing.”

“Oh, so you know a lot about big fancy dinners?”

“Am I to suspect that you want me to make you a big fancy dinner now?”

“Well why not? I’ll even take a bit off your plate and make dessert so you don’t have to.”

“So all I have to do is make the other five courses, is it?”

“Yes.”

“Does this mean you’ll dress up for me too? Since it is supposed to be such a fancy feast?”

“Want to see me in a dress?”

“That one Yvette was wearing would look very nice on you.”

“You mean the maid uniform with the short skirt and stiletto heels?”

“Or something,” He laughed as I hit him upside the head.

“Would you get dressed up too? I think you’d look rather nice in a suit.”

“I don’t know, those ties look awfully constricting.”

“Yet the bust that pushes my boobs up to my ears is less constricting?”

“Okay, how about this,” Felix pulled me into his lap, “You buy a nice dress that you like, I get to wear something comfortable, and one of these nights I’ll make you that big six course dinner.”

“Candlelight and rose petals too?” I teased.

“Don’t push it,”

“Fine, fine,” I kissed him.

I wouldn’t go on about how excited I was at the thought of having a grand dinner. Sometimes Felix flourished on meals but this was going to be a whole event. It even gave me an excuse to buy a pretty dress. Something I didn’t really need but secretly kinda longed for. I know that per our arrangement that Felix was going to be dressed more comfortably which no doubt meant casually but I still would have liked to see him in a suit. I’ve seen him in his Neverland clothes, I’ve seen him in modern era clothes, and I’ve even seen him naked at this point. Dress clothes were the only thing that was missing. Maybe I can cram him into a suit a different day.

We cleaned up from lunch and I decided that the day was still young, I was going to go into town and look at dresses. I wasn’t gonna buy anything but I was gonna peruse. Try some things on. Figure out what I like. Cause I’ve never had a need to buy a dress before, I certainly didn’t have the funds for it before. But now I had to find out what I liked and what looked good on me.

I rode into town on my bike and entered the clothes store Felix and I had gone to the day after we found the mansion. I headed over to the dresses and started looking at the different styles and colors they had. There were a lot of options and I wasn’t sure where to start. I decided to just grab whatever was my size and headed to the dressing room.

I have no idea how long I spent trying on dress after dress and contemplating how I looked in all of them. I didn’t like anything too tight or short and with any low cuts anywhere. Big bold patterns also weren’t really my style. I like the skirts that swished around me when I spun and hit near my knee. I know I said I didn’t like anything low cut but I was finding that I liked anything that showed off my shoulders and collarbones and if it happened to dip in the front a bit that was fine too.

If I got something off the shoulder though then I’d need a bra that could be worn strapless which were none of the comfy ones I had at home.

I put all the dresses back on the rack and made my way over to the underwear section. As I was looking for a good strapless bra, just in case I decided to get a strapless dress, I accidentally wandered into the lingerie section of the underwear. I had never understood the obsession with these flimsy things of satin and lace. I guess they were more for looks than practicality.

Would Felix like if I wore something like this?

I shook the thought from my head and dropped the panties back with the others. I need to get out of here before I fall into the horny mess I had just crawled out of. I left the store without buying anything and got back home. Felix was sitting in the dining room with three different cookbooks and a notepad spread before him as he scribbled down dinner ideas.

It was cute to see how seriously he was taking this dinner. I came up behind him and looped my arms around his neck. “How is the meal planning going?” I asked.

“Well enough. There are a lot of recipes in here and I’m having a bit of trouble organizing it all. I’ve already bookmarked five recipes just for soup that I have to choose from.”

“Want my help?”

“Thanks darling, here, look at these recipes and tell me which sounds best to you.” He slid the notepad over to me.

“Hungarian Mushroom Soup,” I circled it, “Sounds different and like I might like it. I know you also really like mushrooms so how about that?”

“Mushroom soup it is.” Felix flipped the page over, “And now I have about a dozen ideas for appetizers.”

“Oh dear,” I laughed. I sat down next to him as we filed through recipe after recipe. We had to call a quits as it got late and we needed to get dinner for tonight. We decided to order out and Felix left to pick up some pizza. We didn’t trust anyone to deliver to us since we were still worried that someone would force us out of the mansion if they found out we had commandeered it.

The house felt entirely too big without Felix around. That was expected since it was a huge mansion but still. Without Felix then it was just me in a big house with nothing to do and no one to talk to. I went to the window and looked at the sky. It was quickly growing dark and I could see stars start to peep out as the sun set. I found the star that lead back to Neverland. My time as a Lost Girl seemed so far away now.

I wonder how much Felix misses Neverland. I know we talked and he said that he would stay with me whether I chose to go back to Neverland or not if the choice was given. But that didn’t mean that he still didn’t miss it. Neverland had been his home for years. Then he gave it all up because I asked him to follow me.

I will forever be thankful that Felix came with me. I don’t know if I could have survived this world with my sanity if he hadn’t been along. It was in these moments when I was alone in this house and it was so painfully quiet that I came upon a realization. I like quiet but I do not like silence. I enjoy being left alone but I do not enjoy solitude. This house, this mansion, as grand a blessing it may be, would be just as cold and harsh as the forest if I didn’t know that Felix also resided within.

It is such a strange thing to be so attached to someone. I never feared loss. My whole life had been plagued by it. Lost my family. Lost Pan. Lost Neverland. And yet, not a one of those bothered me as badly as the thought of losing Felix did.

Felix came home and with his return my troubled thoughts ran away. We sat down to eat our pizza and watch another movie. I was starting to nod off but Felix made sure to get me up to my room before I fell asleep this time. Felix bid me goodnight with a quick kiss before returning to his own room. It pained my heart to watch him leave. I guess I thought that after this morning we could have spent tonight together again. Seeing as how embarrassing the wake up call had been though it was probably for the best that we were separated. We were just starting our intimate relationship after all. I didn’t want to push too far by demanding we sleep in the same bed together.

One day though. One day.

~~~

Today had been amazing as far as Felix was concerned. It had started rough but the rest of it had turned out far better than he could have ever imagined. He thought that things between you and him had taken a bad turn that morning when he explained that he desired you. It was one thing to know that you desired him in private but it was another to admit it directly.

Then you showed up in his doorway. You opened your heart up and told him that you wanted him too. You didn’t want to run away from this growing intimacy between the two of you. Then you said you wanted to give him a handjob and he nearly popped a blood vessel. You and your wide eyes full of trust, lust, and curiosity.

It took every ounce of his remaining brainpower to help guide you along his body. The feel of your small soft hand wrapped around him, your lips on his chest, your voice softly pleading for him to cum. He was lost to you.

As nervous as he was having you touch him in such a way it was nothing to the pure excited terror that occurred when it was his turn to please you. You trusted him so easily to make you feel good and he wanted nothing more than to meet, maybe even exceed your expectations. Inch by inch your body had been exposed to him. Something he had envisioned a hundred times before finally laid out before him and he was allowed--nay--encouraged to touch all of it.

Listening to the noises you made as sparks of pleasure lit your body was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. His hands shook slightly as he held you and he prayed that you didn’t notice how nervous he truly was as his hand slid beneath the band of your panties. The feel of your slick arousal as he rubbed your clit was nothing compared to how it felt to have your hot, wet, cunt clench around his fingers.

He was making you feel good. You were moaning his name and begging him to do more. It was far better than any fantasy he had created in his head. He watched your face closely as you came and made sure to burn it into his mind. You were just so beautiful when in the throws of pleasure. He would have kept you there in his bed all day but after your reaction to his comment about devouring your pussy he figured he should slow things down.

It was hard not to show how much he wanted to drag you back to the bedroom while you were watching the movie but he knew that you probably needed the breather. He said he was gonna go at your pace so he wasn’t going to try anything until you told him it was okay.

The dinner planning helped take his mind off of it. He had been thinking about making a fancy dinner like he had seen in his books for you one day. Seemed that day was coming sooner than expected. If he was gonna make you a fancy meal then he was gonna do it right. You had been gone for so long in town that you had missed his initial frenzy as he tore through the cookbooks and combed over every recipe at least three times trying to figure out what you would most like, what would impress you.

It felt like there was a lot riding on this. He was able to whittle down his ideas a tad and that’s when you showed up again with your innocent smile and warm laugh. His anxiety eased and he breathed easier having you next to him again.

When night fell and he said goodnight to you he meandered back to his room. His big, dark, cold, and lonely room. He thought of how it felt to fall asleep next to you and wake up beside you. He didn’t realize how big his bed was until you weren’t next to him and in his arms.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if he asked you to sleep next to him, would it? It wasn’t like he was inviting you to his bed for anything explicit. He just wanted to fall asleep next to you again.

After about an hour of tossing and turning unable to fall asleep Felix had enough. “I am risking looking like a desperate idiot,” Felix muttered to himself as he swung out of bed and went to his door. He pulled it open and was shocked to see you waiting on the other side.

“Oh hi,” You said, the hand you had raised to knock quickly dropped back to your side, “I was um...I was wondering if you were still awake.”

“I am,” Felix said. No shit! She can obviously see you are awake, genius. Felix’s mind chastised him. “Did you need something?”

“I was--well I had been thinking--I was wondering if you--” You were stammering, your gaze lost to the ground as you tried to find the right words to say.

“Do you want to know why I am up?” Felix asked, deciding to take pity on his poor girl.

“Uh...yes?” You said, finally peeking up at him through your long lashes.

“I was coming to see you.” He told you, “I couldn’t fall asleep and I was wondering if I could tempt you to spend the night with me.”

“Really?” Your eyes widened in disbelief and glee.

Felix smiled. “Yes, really,” He laced his hand with yours, “Was that something you’d be open to?”

“Yes!” Came your immediate reply. “I mean um, yes, that sounds very nice.”

“Come here little girl,” Felix pulled you inside and gave you a kiss. He tugged you along over to the bed and let you nestle yourself in. He got under the covers as well and reached out to grab you and pull you next to him. Your head tucked under his chin and your body melted against him.

“Goodnight, darling,” He whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“Goodnight, Felix,” You sighed happily. It wasn’t long after your soft snores filled his ears that Felix fell asleep as well. The warmth of your body curled against him banishing the loneliness of his big empty bed once and for all.

---

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#felix imagine #felix x reader #ouat felix #ouat #neverland #peter pan ouat #roommate au

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fatal-error-blog · 4 years ago

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A Peaceful_Fundraiser has Occurred - An Effort to Fight Against Racial Injustice!

Hey everyone, this is going to be a long (but important) post. Given the title of this post, I’m sure you know what I’m about to mention. So before I get started I just want to say that it’s totally okay to not want to see this on your dash, coming from this blog specifically. While this is a really important issue that shouldn’t be shied away from, I do 1000% recognize that this blog has always been (very purposefully) kept as a fun and safe place for us all to enjoy a good story together. Heck, this blog is a safe place for me, too. I like knowing that I can come here and focus on content that makes me happy, and that makes you all happy, and just escape from how gross the world can be for a little while. But I also realize that I have the power to do some good, and I want to try to do some good, with your help, hopefully. I want you to know that it’s okay if you don’t want to see mention of what’s going on out there, here.

Any post I make on this blog that specifically references the racial injustice movement going on right now will be tagged with ‘FE BLM Fundraiser’. You are more than welcome to block that tag so you don’t have to see it here. It’s truly okay, I promise.

With that being said, let’s get into this!

I’ve never done anything like this before, so please bear with me! But like I said, I want to do some good with your help, hopefully. So I’ve made a charity fundraiser page where the proceeds will be going to the Black Lives Matter Global Network. If you’re not aware, there has been a lot of turbulence regarding racial injustice and police brutality going on all over the world, centered mostly in the United States. There are so many resources out there with information on what’s going on and different ways you can help (even without donating any money!) and I encourage you to do your research if it’s something you feel you need to be more enlightened on. I took a couple of days to think about how I wanted to help, and I thought that a fundraiser with awesome goals could be a really great thing! To be honest I’m not sure if we’ll reach many goals, but I think it’s worth a try, and no matter what, every little bit helps :) So here’s the deal:

A link to the donation page is here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fatal-error-blog

This fundraiser will run through the month of June, all the way up until midnight, June 30th EST!

Anyone who donates at least $15 will be able to receive a free commission from me!

Commissions will be a colored character bust (so like, from the top of their head to just below their shoulders) of a character of your choosing (not necessarily just Undertale themed, and can also include original characters or characters in different fandoms). This is a bit cheaper than my normal commission rate, so it’s a great opportunity to get some cool art if you’ve always wanted some!

If you want to claim your free commission, you need to: 1) Contact me via tumblr (@xedramon or @fatal-error-blog) or via email ([email protected]) saying you’d like your commission

2) Send me a screenshot of your (at least) $15 donation

3) Tell me the name of the character you want, and a reference picture I can use

*** You MUST contact me to get your commission. Pretty sure I’m not able to see how much people donate so I will have no way to reach out to you, so you have to reach out to me first! Commissions will get done as quickly as possible, and will be sent via however you contacted me (so either tumblr or email)

FUNDRAISER GOALS!

So along with the commissions, there are community goals we can all reach together! I feel like some of the higher goals are a bit daunting to reach, but if we reach them, good for us! Each goal has a fun reward attached to it that I think is worth the goal we’re trying to reach. $50 - Everyone here gets to vote on an Undertale AU to be featured in an upcoming chapter of A Fatal_Error has Occurred! It can be anything, from an AU that hasn’t appeared yet, to one that already has, to one that you think would be hilarious or cool to see, whatever! Only stipulation is that the creator of that AU has to give me permission to include it. If this goal is reached, I’ll make a list of the AUs people want to see in order of what was voted for, just in case the 1st place winner doesn’t give me permission, I’ll check with 2nd place, and so on.

$100 - I’ll host a Game Night Livestream! We’ll pick a date, and play some stream-friendly games (like Jackbox Party Pack!) for several hours! Perhaps we’ll even do two nights so that people can choose which night works better for them :)

$175 - I’ll host a 12 Hour Art Livestream! What’ll happen is that the stream session will be broken down into different segments (so maybe for a couple hours we do a request stream, and then we switch to working on something else, etc). People will have the opportunity to vote on the date we do the stream.

$250 - Everyone here gets to vote on which side comic I work on next! This means I’ll give everyone a couple of choices to pick from with a brief idea of what each side comic would be about. Everyone votes, and I’ll start on the winning side comic immediately. This is a great opportunity to basically demand that you get to see what you’re most excited about sooner rather than later!

$500 - This goal guarantees that Chapter Five of A Fatal_Error has Occurred will be completed by the end of THIS YEAR. Which is some seriously insane pacing, but hey if we reach this goal, a promise is a promise!

$750 - I will create a (hopefully awesome) Fatal_Error animation! I have a couple of ideas in mind, and perhaps I’ll let you all vote on what idea you’d like to see come to life the most. I am the most nervous about this goal, haha!

$1000 - I’ll host a 24 Hour Art Livestream!!! That means exactly what it sounds like! We’ll pick a date, I’ll take the most intense nap the world has ever known before we start, and then we’re gonna stream for 24 hours straight. I’ll set up a schedule so we do different things every few hours to keep it interesting. It’ll be so rad!

$2000 - Everyone here gets to vote on an Undertale themed tattoo (an honest to goodness permanent one) that I will, 100%, absolutely get! How this will work is that everyone will be able to suggest what I should get, I’ll pick a handful of the most popular ideas (that I’m cool with having on my body for the rest of forever) and you all will get to vote on what I get! This would, of course, occur once tattoo shops are allowed to open back up and it’s safe for me to go get one. But I promise you, I’ll do it and it’s gonna be AWESOME.

$3000 - Last but certainly not least, if this goal is reached then I will resume working on Sondertale again, alongside working on A Fatal_Error has Occurred. What’s Sondertale? Well, it’s another UT AU comic I started on before I ever began Fatal_Error’s comic. I ended up setting it aside so that I could focus on Fatal’s comic instead, and over time there has been some...surprisingly popular demand/request that I return to working on it. Originally I was going to consider what to do with it after Fatal’s comic is done, but if this rather large goal is reached then I will pick right back up where we left off and commit to finishing the comic, in it’s originally intended comic format. It’ll be a LOT of work (which is why getting a legitimate permanent tattoo is an easier goal to reach than this) but if we work together to donate this much, then it’ll be absolutely worth it.

And that’s it for the goals! I think that the higher goals will be plenty hard to reach, but if somehow we surpass the highest goal then uhh...I guess we’ll talk about what kind of goals you all might like to see after that, haha.

This fundraiser will run through the rest of June - so if you would like to donate and help contribute to seeing some of these goals realized, please do!

I will reblog this post on the following days: June 7th, June 14th, June 21st, and June 28th as a reminder, and also to update everyone on how the fundraiser is going. As goals are hit, I’ll also mention them on the blog so we can all share in the excitement of what’s to come!

Thank you so, so, so much for your consideration, your help, and your support. Please stay safe, stay hopeful, and stay determined.

Link to fundraiser page: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fatal-error-blog

#FE BLM fundraiser #xed has something to say #blm #black lives matter #tw police brutality #fatal error #I'm very nervous but also excited #here we go!#thank you for your consideration!

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dodgefred · 3 years ago

Note

spring awakening for the direction thing please

this is another long one please hit read more

i sort of have two answers for this one because for a while i’ve been thinking about how i’d direct the spring awakening play so i have a bunch of ideas for that but you probably meant the spring awakening musical so i’m gonna do my thoughts for the play in bullet points and then i’ll go more in depth for the musical.

the play:

the time i wanted to seriously do this irl was mid-pandemic and i was losing my mind so a lot of my blocking ideas were fully socially distanced and every character would wear face masks matching their costumes.

on the note of costumes i really wanted to have the actors able to choose their own costumes. the style would be the nonspecific time period most productions go with w the girls in dresses and the boys in like suspenders or whatever. i think it would give the actors more of a sense of connection to the characters, especially considering how strange the text can be to modern americans.

it would be performed either outdoors in a field or in a blackbox theater. the set would be fairly minimalistic. i would love to find a set motif like the falsettos revival’s foam cube but i haven’t put too much thought into what exactly that motif would be.

i’m not sure how legal this is but i think it would be a fun reference to get soft instrumentals of the musical songs to play behind their corresponding scenes.

any scene where actors would need to be closer than six feet (touching, kissing, etc) would be prefilmed in a silhouette style and projected onto a white sheet. this way actors would only have to be physically close once and not every night. during the show, actors would go behind the sheet for the scene. metaphorically this would also be an indication of the concept that while the children generally aren’t afraid of sex or kissing, they still have the knowledge that it’s an intimate act and still have some sort of inherent shame attached to it.

unrelated to my ideas specifically for this because i just thought of this but on that note i also think it would be really interesting for a production where the actors act behind a white sheet and all the audience sees is silhouettes. i think it would be a really cool way to play with shapes like that, and a bit of an extra challenge for the actors to try and be emotive and expressive when no one can see their expressions. it would also add to the idea of the children in the show not being understood despite their best efforts.

now in terms of the musical, i’m jumping around a lot for this one because with spring awakening i’ve seen it so many times and everyone’s done it a million different ways and so i don’t have exact ideas for the show scene-by-scene like i did with alice by heart. i do have an overall concept i’d like to follow, as well as a few specific scenes that i’d like to address. this is also going to focus more on my mindset while directing rather than the blocking and concepts itself, because spring awakening is much more clear with its stage directions than alice by heart is.

i know this is cheesy af but hear me out: a les mis dallas-style modernized production would hit so different. i’ve seen a lot of spring awakening productions and a lot of them try modernizing it but the directors don’t understand that putting a modern outfit on a period piece isn’t going to change much in the grand scheme of things. however i do think a lot of the problems in spring awakening can and should be addressed under a modern lens- these are real issues that still plague today’s youth, albeit maybe less dramatic than death by botched abortion.

this is also why for the song of purple summer, i’d make this connection between past and present much more clear by making the final costumes historically accurate (or at least historically accurate to the extent that most productions go for) in a similar color palette to their everyday wear. this is kind of an inversion of what spring awakening tried to do when it was off-broadway / in previews on broadway, but hopefully less……bad?

i think in order to be effective, some spring awakening scenes need to be done a certain way and most productions don’t do them correctly.

the first of which is the beating scene. in most productions, wendla and melchior enjoy it too much. i think this needs to be the exact opposite. wendla is a young girl with no concept of bodily harm and this leads her into some much less than ideal situations throughout the show. in this scene, we need to see wendla’s regret as soon as the beating starts, and yet her stubbornness and naïveté prevails. for melchior, we have a young boy who doesn’t know what he’s doing, either. in the play, we find out one of melchior’s worst nightmares was a dream where he started punching his dog and couldn’t stop. while the musical doesn’t include this but it context, i still need to see that bit of backstory in a melchior. contrary to wendla, melchior’s regret begins to kick in more at the end. in this scene, their emotions directly foil each other. we need to actually be able to see that.

also while i adore otto and georg and their woyb reprise, i really don’t understand why it belongs to them and i think just the instrumentals itself should be a taunting reprise, or wendla can quietly sing it to herself as the scene fades to black.

the next vital scene is the hayloft scene. quick trigger warning here for discussions of rape here so feel free to skip to the next chunk of text if you don’t want to read that sort of thing! i also want to apologize if i misstep in my description of this scene in any way, and if i actually directed this, i’d like to talk to some survivors to see what would actually be an appropriate way to perform this scene in a nonromantic way. these are just my immediate thoughts with the scene presented.

in the text of the musical, the hayloft scene is heavily romanticized, but i still think with the right direction, it can be played as how it is in the play. in the play, it’s more clearly rape, and even though in the musical wendla says yes, i would like to emphasize the fact that wendla doesn’t know what she’s saying yes to. a very important point of emphasis of this should be the climax of i believe. as the rest of the ensemble comes to their final harmony, we should cut to a blackout and hear wendla scream in pain overtop of the music.

the vineyard scene needs to be performed much more tenderly and sensitively than written. i would ideally like to work with queer actors for this scene and ideally have hanschen and ernst’s connection be much more genuine.

i think it would also be neat if there was a big set piece that looked like a tree branch and this scene can take place sitting on top of it.

overall my ideas for spring awakening are a lot less cohesive than for alice by heart because i’ve been thinking about this for a longer time and therefore everything is all over the place and i have concepts in my head for literally three different productions of it i guess, but i think it would be so much fun to work on no matter which way i do it!

#spring awakening #answered #anon #sorry this is a lot less cohesive than the other one #and sorry this took a long time to respond to it took a lot of time to get my thoughts out #i just think it would b neat to direct spring awakening

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fruitsvillage · 4 years ago

Note

Could we please get a tutorial on how you did your latest lookbook? Ily 💌💌

ok this is gonna be a long post so under the cut is a general tutorial, i cant go step by step exactly as i did it since i didn’t save the editing file, but here’s at least my basic process i always start out with, plus how to do the silhouette effect i used in the last example!! also i’m not sure about your experience level re: image editing or digital art so i’m going to try and explain it in a way that hopefully anyone can understand but please feel free to come to me with more questions!! Also my screen res is very wide but I wanted to be able to show off where all the menus are, so clicking on the images for full view may be necessary for you.

OK so step 0 is gathering materials- you will need a photo that you want to edit plus an image editing program. You can easily get photo’s from your switch with the switch’s built in image sharing mode, either by posting them to facebook or twittter, and then saving them to your computer from there. Or if you have a computer that can read a microsd card or you have a microsd card reader you can plug into your machine, you can transfer images that way. The only other thing we need is an image editing software. I will be showing you my process by using Clip Studio Paint but you don’t need to use this specific program. I personally recommend using a program that allows for transparency even if the end result isnt transparent because it’s easier to move layers and elements around but that being said you COULD edit images with a program as simple as microsoft paint. There are free more advanced softwares out there like krita, gimp, fire alpaca, etc.

Step 1) While this step isnt necessary, I personally run my images through a filter to reduce the JPEG noise, to smooth out edges and to make the image clearer. You can also use websites or apps that do this for you like waifu2x or yome2x if you want.

Step 2) Isolate your subject from the image’s background. You can either choose to just erase away directly on the image layer or you can use selection tools to choose the parts of the image you are going to separate first. I prefer the selection method because then I can use a masking layer which I’ll get into in the next step. You’ll want to erase or select out everything except for your character (or other photo elements you want included in there too like if you decorate a bit). There are many different ways you can use the selection tools depending on if you want to opt for speed or for the cleanest possible edges. I usually use the magic wand tool to get a good chunk of my selection and then go in with the selection brush for precision.

Step 2.5) If you have opted to select out your desired subject then the next step is to create a masking layer. The easiest way to do this is to finish your selection and then to hit the Quick Mask button circled in yellow, it is represented in my version of CSP as a rectangle with a dark circle inside. This will automatically create a mask including everything except your selection, making those unselected elements completely transparent. The mask if shown to the immediate right of the affected layer. The black bits are what is hidden and the white is what is shown. You can edit the mask using the brush and eraser tools- the brush will expose hidden bits of the layer and the eraser will hide. You can also create a layer mask by opening the Layer menu at the top of the window > Layer Mask> Create from Selection. This is how it works in CSP, other softwares may not make use of the eraser tool but instead only the brush tool will be needed to edit a mask. I encourage you to search the web (google, duckduckgo, etc) “masking layer + (your drawing program)” for specifics on your particular program.

Step 4) Now comes the silhouette effect specifically from my lookbook post. Duplicate the character layer. This will create an identical layer for us to edit.

Step 5) Create a new empty layer and make sure it is on Top of yhe layer we just duplicated in the above step. Then create a Clipping Layer using the empty layer. Clipping layers will chain to the layer immediately below, and allow you to create effects that only affect the layer it is attached to. You may chain multiple clipping layers to a single layer in order to layer almost infinite effects.

Step 6) Using the fill/Paint Bucket tool, fill the empty clipping layer with your preferred color. Notice how the layer is technically completely filled with yellow, but it only shows up in the actual image as the shape of the layer the clipping layer is attached to!

Step 7) Reorder your layers so the original layer we started with is displayed on top.

Step 8) Use the move tool to drag either the copied layer or the original layer around to a position of your liking. You can then repeat this process as many times as you want, using whatever colors or gradients or brushes or textures you like.

Step 9) Draw or import textures or clip art* or literally whatever to decorate your image how you like. Elements from this piece include a heart shaped brush that came with CSP for free, a polka dot screen tone brush I downloaded for free from the CSP shared asset website, and hand drawn elements and lettering done by me! *When using materials you find on the internet for your edit work please, please make sure you have permission to use it. Don’t take art from people’s art blogs and turn them into stickers or whatever unless u have permission. If you dont want to draw it out yourself i recommend searching the web for royalty free clip art or textures. Hopefully this tutorial was what you were looking for! If not you can always ask me more questions and if it’s helpful or interesting for anyone out there the next time I make a lookbook edit I can record that as a video so you can see my step by step process as I actually create the image,

#long post #chatter #anon #acnh lookbook #tutorial #Anonymous

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loving-jack-kelly · 5 years ago

Text

Fic Author Tag Game!

Tagged by: @monogramsalarm hey Matt!

Tagging: uhhh @little-byrdie-told-me @penzyroamin and @romeomahbromeo

Ao3 name: SpraceJunkie

Fandoms: Mostly (almost entirely) Newsies but there’s also a few Bandstand, Renegades and other miscellaneous fandoms present there. But 58 of those 75 are Newsies

Number of fics: On ao3 I have 75 fics and who knows how many tiny fics I have on here that aren’t on ao3 probably a lot

1. Fic you spent the most time on: I feel like I’m obligated to say How to Steal Some Art and Hearts bc that’s still a WIP that I haven’t abandoned but like in one shot I think it’s By My Sword which I wrote all at once and it took like three months of focusing all on it.

2. Fic you spent the least time on: Oh probably Jitters? Any of the ones I post on here and then move to ao3 I write in one sitting and are usually pretty quick, but Jitters was one of those things that just kind of appeared fully written in my head and it took like five minutes to get it down.

3. Longest fic: By My Sword is currently! Art and Hearts should take that spot back with the next update, but By My Sword is at 24,408. Arts and Hearts should hit 25k at the next update bc I’ve been keeping each chapter at 5k.

4. Shortest fic: It’s Okay to Cry which is 421 words of Jack Kelly being a dad friend

5. Most hits: 2175 on About Time

6. Most kudos: 377 on Soft Lines which is the first non-Newsies appearance in this post sjhgsjhfghjsf (it’s Good Omens)

7. Most comment threads: 55 on Art and Hearts!

8. Fave fic you wrote: Ohh that’s like asking me to choose a favorite child I Love Art and Hearts (which is why it takes so long to update fellas I refuse to rush it bc I don’t want to hate it) and By My Sword. Also Percy Jackson Died which the pjo fandom on here seemed to like too. And Three Steps Forward which is Bandstand fic about my boy Jimmy Campbell

9. Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: oh so many of my old ones. Pretty much anything from before the summer of 2018 I don’t like now, and even things from last year I can see my growth from. At some point I’m planning on rewriting some of my old stuff at the very least to reformat it into something readable. Tbh though after going through my entire list of works on ao3 I wanna take a shot at The One That Got Away again because I never ended up finishing it and it was a very good concept.

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning:

Jack was rough and tumble, could convince a mountain to move with the way he spoke and yet stumbled over his words when he was just having a conversation. He was an artist, constantly covered in streaks of bright colors leftover from whatever project he was working on, even when he was working at his day job, where he was always covered in flour from doing the baking for the tiny coffee shop he “practically owned ‘cause like, Kloppman just lets me do whatever shit I want which is why everything is so good.” He was loud and….and bright, that was the only way Davey could think to describe him.

He’d tried. More times than he’d really like to admit, he’d tried to capture Jack in words like he’d managed to capture so many characters he’d written. It should have been easier than the characters he made up entirely. He didn’t have to come up with a name (Jack, meaning “god is gracious,” Kelly, meaning “bright-headed,” no middle name) or an appearance (5’8 but claims 5’9, curly dark brown hair that could be described as shaggy, dark, dark brown eyes that almost looked black in some light. Very square jaw, like ridiculously square. A smile that took over his entire face. Not that Davey was paying that much attention), and yet he just couldn’t find the right words to get Jack Kelly to translate into words.

He was too energetic to be trapped in written language, he changed too often and moved too much and was so much that the stillness of ink could never hope to communicate who he was. The way his hands jumped when he talked, the way he swung an arm around the shoulders of anybody he liked who was close enough to touch, the way he paused when he was searching for a word, the way he bounced on the balls of his feet as he spoke, the way laughter seemed trapped behind his eyes in flashes of light until it escaped out of his mouth, everything about Jack Kelly was kinetic and Davey couldn’t seem to get a freeze-frame on him clear enough to write it down.

Not that he needed to. He had no reason to try and capture Jack Kelly in writing. Why would he? He wasn’t falling for Jack, he wasn’t overly attached to Jack, and he definitely wasn’t frustrated at his inability to describe Jack Kelly.

There’s one that should hopefully be done fairly soon. Also somebody needs to stop me before I write a Javid au for The Thing About Harry because I’m very close to it and if I start that now this one will never get done and I like this one. Also there’s another secret one in progress that Byrd knows about but I latched onto the one I just posted from before I could finish it but it’s also very good.

#Asper Yells #txt #this is an Excellent tag game thanks so much Matt!!!

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girls-scenarios · 5 years ago

Text

Back and Forth

Idol: Siyeon (Dreamcatcher)

Prompt: Hello, hello<3 I would like to request a Hogwart AU where the slytherin!fem!reader has this relationship-not-really-a-relationship-some-flirt with.... choose your fighter: Hani (EXID) or Siyeon (Dreamcatcher)

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: I decided to make Siyeon a Slytherin as well in this case since we’ve written her as a Slytherin before, hopefully you didn’t want her as a different house? Also I’m sorry I haven’t been writing much for, well, a lot of reasons, but I hope you al enjoy this story and hopefully I'll be back to my normal posting schedule soon.

♡ Tip Jar♡

“Did you do something new with your hair, (Y/N)? You look even more stunning than usual.” At the sound of your housemate’s familiar voice, you looked up with a smile, watching as she sat down in the seat at the table beside you.

“Awe, Siyeon, you noticed? I got a little trim, do you like it?”

“I love it, but I love everything about you, babe,” Siyeon said dramatically, tossing her hair over her shoulder and sending you a wink. Collectively, your friends around her groaned, making the two of you laugh.

“It’s too early in the morning for this. Can’t your cheesy remarks wait until at least lunch?” Gahyeon remarked, wrinkling her nose in mock disgust.

“Nope, I have to be cheesy and greasy at all times or I will combust on the spot, Gahyeon my dear.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Sua said as she throw a piece of her food at the other girl. Siyueon ducked, avoiding it easily, but still pulled an offended face.

“Don’t throw things just because I’m better at flirting than you!”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“I don’t have to. (Y/N), aren’t I the best flirt, babe?” Siyeon turned to you with a spark in her eyes and a grin on her lips, and you rolled your eyes, knowing that she just wanted to hear you praise her.

“Yes, yes, Siyeon, you’re the best flirt in the Slytherin house, just like always,” you said to appease her, clapping sarcastically and making Gahyeon laugh, but Siyeon seemed pleased, turning to Sua with a smug smile.

“See? Told you!”

“Your girlfriend’s vote doesn’t count.”

“We aren’t dating,” both of you said at the same time, used to this by now. One of the younger Slytherin guys, new to the group, looked up with his eyebrows raised.

“Wait, really? I thought you guys were a thing!”

“Nope.” Siyeon threw her arms around your shoulders, and you swallowed as she pulled you closer, your face heating up slightly. The two of you always did this, so you should be used to it be now. But you weren’t, and you hoped no one noticed the slight flush as you made a face at her affection. “We’re just flirty friends.”

“That’s not a thing,” Gahyeon pointed out, “please just date and stop confusing people.”

At the thought of dating Siyeon, your stomach twisted in your stomach and your heartbeat picket up, and you slowly pulled away from her, suddenly not feeling hungry. You knew you shouldn’t feel this way, not with Siyeon. But for some reason, you couldn’t help it.

“Please, (Y/N) is out of my league. Don’t insult her.”

You laughed along with everyone else, but it felt hollow. “Oh, so that’s the excuse now? I thought you said last time that you were out of my league.”

“I changed my mind after you beat my potions grade for the third year in a row. I just can’t keep up with you, but that’s why I love you.” She blew a kiss your way, obviously joking, and you wondered if she knew how much it made your heart hurt to catch it.

“Obviously, Siyeon here is delusional,” you said, only half-joking as you stood up. “I needed to stop back by our rooms to grab a book before class so I’m going to get going. I’ll see you all in class.”

“You didn’t eat hardly anything, are you sick?” There was genuine concern in Siyeon’s voice (which was a little weird, she was usually snarky) but Sua snorted, ruining the soft moment.

“Sick of you.”

“Hey! There’s no way she’d be sick of me! I’m her favorite person in the world!” As Siyeon’s voice raised, ready to fight Sua, you rolled your eyes and turned away, sighing as you went to throw out your leftover food. If only Siyeon knew just how true that statement was....

“You might as well just tell her, at this point.”

“Jiu, I seriously cant do that. What if she thinks it’s weird? This is all just a game to her, you know? She likes the back and forth, the playful flirting with no strings attached. She wouldn’t want me to fall in love with her for real.” Orange and red were terrible, awful colors, you decided as you laid on Jiu’s bed and stared up at the ceiling. The brightness of it all hurt your eyes, and you were reminded of just how glad you were that the sorting hat decided to put you in Slytherin.

“So you’re just going to mope on my bed forever instead?” Jiu turned around from where she was doing homework, a small smile on her lips and her arms crossed. “Why do you always come here instead of asking me to come to your dorms for once?”

“Because you have more privacy. The moment I admitted my feelings for Siyeon out-loud, someone would be listening and in minutes the entire school would know.”

“I think you’re exaggerating.”

You closed your eyes, to get away from the offending brightness of the room. Why couldn’t your best friend have been sorted into Ravenclaw instead? At least blue and silver were bearable. “I’m not. I never exaggerate.”

“Whatever you say, honey. But I seriously think you should just confess. I think Siyeon likes you more than you think.”

“She’s just like that,” you retorted, “she’s one of the school flirts. It’s not like I’m any different from any other students she flirts with.”

“That’s not true, at all. I’ve known Siyeon just as long as I’ve known you, and I’ve seen the way she treats you. She flirts with you way more than anyone else and she’s always paying attention to you or staring at you. Remember that time you came down with a cold and she stayed in your dorm room for three days nursing you back to health? She wouldn’t do that for you if she didn’t care about you.”

“She cares about me like a friend.”

“No offense, but I’d never stay right beside someone’s bed for three straight days, skipping all my classes and risking getting in trouble just to make sure a friend was okay during a little cold. I’d also never call any of my friends ‘babe’ and I’ve certainly never told my friends that I wanted to kiss them.”

Your face heated up and you opened your eyes, turning to glare weakly at Jiu. “That was after she drank that weird potion Gahyeon made her to make her fever go away! She was basically drunk, drunk people say things they don’t mean all the time.”

“Sometimes being drunk makes you more honest,” Jiu pointed out. “I’m just saying that Siyeon liking you is more likely than you’re acting like it is.”

With a sigh, you shook your head and stood up. “Thanks for trying to encourage me, but I still doubt it.” You gave your best friend a little smile. “I’m going to head back to my dorm now. Have a good night.”

She looked like she wanted to say something, but she just shook her head and smiled instead. “Alright. Goodnight, (Y/N).”

As you walked back to your room, you tried not to let the things she’d said get to you. But you couldn’t help but think: what if? What if Siyeon liked you? What if everything Jiu was saying was true? What if you actually had a chance with her? Shaking your head, you tried to chase the thoughts away, You shouldn’t be fantasizing when Siyeon was, well, Siyeon. It was playful flirting, that was all. You needed to find a way to get over her before things got out of hand.

Before you realized it, you were back at the Slytherin dorms, and you let out a sigh as you stepped inside and headed for your own room. You needed to take a nap and clear your head. So you ingored everyone else in the commons room, focused on just getting into bed when....

“Do you think (Y/N) hates me?” It was Siyeon’s voice, and your hand stalled on the door to your room, body frozen in place. Her voice was coming from Gahyeon’s room beside yours, and you couldn’t help but be curious. Especially because of what you’d just heard.

Swallowing, you made sure no one else was around before standing close to the door, listening carefully as Gahyeon hummed in thought.

“Well, no. You guys are always hanging all over each other so it’s obvious that she doesn’t hate you. Why do you ask that?”

“It’s just that she doesn’t seem to have noticed how I feel. Like, I cling to her and flirt with her and tell her that I love her all the time and she just laughs it off and is so quick to dismiss it. She’s so fast to tell people that we aren’t dating too. It hurts a bit, you know? And it makes me think that maybe she doesn’t like me at all.”

“I feel like that’s jumping to conclusions,” Gahyeon said with a sigh. “You’re being dramatic.”

Siyeon whined. “I’m allowed to be dramatic! I’m in love with (Y/N) and she hasn’t realized a thing!” Wait, what? Were you dreaming? Had Jiu cast some sort of spell before you left? What was going on? “I really thought that she’d get it after I told her that I wanted to kiss her that one time, but nope! How? How doesn’t she know?”

Your heart was pounding in your chest and you wanted to both run and burst into the room at the same time, but you stood by the door, rooted to the floor and unable to move from the shock of it all. Inside, Gahyeon laughed.

“Maybe because you’re the biggest flirt in the Slytherin house. I’m sure that has something to do with it.”

“I’ve cut down on the flirting I do, though! I really only flirt with (Y/N) these days.” Siyeon groaned, and you heard robes rustling. You were sure she’d just put her face on Gahyeon’s shoulder. “I regret being such a flirt in my youth.”

“Again, you’re being dramatic. Just tell her straight up, she’ll get it.”

“I doubt it. Because we joke flirt like that all the time, you know? She’d probably just think it was another joke! I’ve set myself up for failure.” She was right. Had you heard her say half these things in any other context, you would have thought she was still just joking with you. But she was talking to Gahyeon about you, without knowing you were there to see. This wasn’t fake. This wasn’t a joke. This was real, and your breath caught in your throat, butterflies going crazy in your stomach as you took everything in. Jiu had been right.

“So you’re just going to let things continue the way they are?”

“I might just give up, honestly. If she doesn’t like me that way, I’m not going to keep pushing her. I get it, she doesn’t like me. I’ll leave her alone.” Those words were what made you finally move from the spot you’d been rooted to, throwing open Gahyeon’s door with a blush on your cheeks and your eyes wide.

“No, you’re wrong!” At the sound of your voice, both of the girls jumped, and Siyeon spun around, her mouth dropping open.

“(Y/N)? W-wait, how long have you been listening?” You had never seen Siyeon’s face so red before, but you also knew that yours was no better as you stood there, mind racing as you tried to think of what to say.

“From the beginning, I think. But please don’t give up on me. I like you too, I was just too dumb to realize that you were actually flirting with me. I thought it was all a joke, and that you didn’t do romance.”

“I didn’t do romance before I met you,” Siyeon said, voice soft and shy, and your heart melted. “You really like me too?”

“I do. I’ve liked you since the moment I met you.” A grin spread across your face, silly and cute and very un-slytherin, and you shuffled awkwardly, not knowing what to say as Siyeon smiled back at you. “Um, so are we dating now? Like, for real?”

“I mean, if you want to.”

“Oh my god you two. Just date and get out of my room!” Gahyeon groaned, shoving you both out by your shoulders, but even as the door slammed behind you, Siyeon laughed and reached out to hold your hand.

“So should we? Date, I mean.”

With a smile, you reached over to kiss her cheek, relishing in the blush that appeared on her face. For once, you were glad about the lack of privacy in the Slytherin dorms. All it had taken was an overheard conversation for you to finally spit out your feelings. And yeah, it was embarrassing, and both of you were definitely going to hear about it later, but right now, you were on top of the world. And nothing was going to bring you down.

“Yeah, I think we should.”

#dreamcatcher #siyeon #dreamcatcher scenarios #siyeon scenarios #femifics #girl group scenarios #kpop scenarios #girl groups #kpop girl groups #t:hogwartsau

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ladylillianrose · 5 years ago

Text

You’ve Got SPRQS a Max Richman/Zoey Clarke fanfiction

A/N: Thank you all so much for your overwhelming support for this fic! I really do appreciate every single one of your comments and kudos!

Special thanks to aubreyrichman for putting up with me writing this at 1AM, making edits and then deciding to change a bunch of things later! *kisses*

Caroline belongs to @jade4813 (she's just too good a character not to use!), while Evelyn and Ollie were collectively decided by the discord group!

All the other characters are Austin Winsberg's, he can have them back eventually....

Song is "She's Got a Way," by Billy Joel (Listen to it here https://youtu.be/p0iOEOtSyB0)

Summary: Max reflects on his day, and Zoey gets a special message from PianoMan

Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Max headed home with a spring in his step. He still couldn't believe he'd allowed Tobin to pester him into signing up for SPRQS. He’d signed up with the younger man peering over his shoulder and offering advice for what to put in his profile to “help get the ladies”, all of which Max ignored.

Thankfully, Tobin hadn't said anything about him signing up in front of Zoey. Max had implied that he had no intention of signing up for the app, and Tobin willingly played along. Though, he did get the third degree from him later about it.

“Why didn’t you just tell her that you had already signed up?” Tobin asked.

“I don’t know, I panicked. I didn’t want Zoey to know, it seems a little desperate,” Max admitted.

“Bro, you’re already kind of desperate,” Tobin grinned. “Don’t think I haven’t seen you smiling every time your watch buzzes.”

“What...no...I don’t….” Max was interrupted by his watch alerting him to a new message from Red, he felt his lips quirk.

Tobin just looked at him knowingly.

“Shut up,” Max grumbled good naturedly.

Tobin clapped him on the shoulder, grinning, “Nope, not desperate at all.”

He hadn't intended to ever use the app, but he'd glanced through a few profiles just out of curiosity. But then he found Red's profile and he just had to ask why she preferred Star Wars.

He hadn't been joking when he said that most of the women, he knew preferred Star Wars. Zoey, his sister Evelyn, even his sister-in-law Caroline all claimed that it was the superior franchise. Who knew such a ridiculous question would be the start of…. whatever this was.

He grinned thinking of the messages they'd exchanged already. She was smart, funny, and she wanted to keep talking to him, all wins in his book. Even if nothing romantic came of this, at least he had found someone else to talk to.

Max tossed his backpack on the counter, said a quick hello to his cat Ollie, and headed straight for the piano.

He spent nearly an hour getting the recording ready to send. He was so nervous, though he wasn't sure why. He had played the piano for people before, but there was something just more intimate about recording it for only one person to hear.

Before he could change his mind, he hit send on the message. She had mentioned something about learning more about music, but just in case he had attached a lyric sheet with the recording.

He glanced at Ollie, who was sitting next to him on the piano bench. "What do you think, Ollie?"

Ollie tilted his head and looked up at him.

*Mrowr?*

"Hopefully, she likes it."

*Prowr?*

"Just someone I started talking to online, today," Max responded, reaching over to pet Ollie.

*purr*

"Now, we just have to wait for her to respond. How's Chinese for dinner sound? I'll even let you have a shrimp."

*MROWR!*

Max chuckled as he ordered dinner, hoping food would provide a distraction for him. Anything to keep from worrying about what she might think of his playing.

An hour later he was picking at his food, with still no response from Red.

He sighed, setting the container down, she must have hated it and was too afraid to tell him.

His watch buzzed, almost as though it had sensed his despair.

He took a deep steadying breath before opening the message.

"Wow…. that was…. wow…" She sent him.

"Is that a good wow or a bad wow?"

"Are you kidding me? That was an, ‘I'm so impressed that I can't even form coherent sentences,’ wow."

Max felt himself blushing, embarrassed by her praise.

"You really liked it?"

"It was amazing."

He grinned, feeling pleased.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm happy to play more for you anytime you want."

"Careful, a girl could get used to that."

Was she flirting? It seemed like she might be, but he never really could tell. Max was flustered, how was he supposed to respond, did he flirt back? Luckily, he didn't have to wait to figure it out.

"Oh God, that came across way flirtier than I intended. I promise, I don't go around just throwing myself at strangers online."

He chuckled, she seemed as nervous as he was about all of this.

"I believe you, though for the record if you were flirting with me, I wouldn't object."

"I'll keep that in mind. ;) It's getting late though, I should probably turn in. Goodnight, Billy. Thank you for the song."

"Goodnight, Red."

He glanced up with a grin at Ollie, who had his head in the abandoned carton, deciding to help himself to the leftovers.

Max scooped him up, and spun around the room, grinning like a fool. "She liked it, Ollie! She liked my song!"

*Prowrr?*

"Well, no I'm not sure exactly where this is going. But it definitely feels like it's the start of something."

*Mrowr*

Ollie leapt out of his arms, and gave a big yawn.

"You're right, we should turn in." Max put away the leftovers and tossed the empty containers. He headed to his bedroom, all the while grinning and humming ‘She's Got a Way’.

________________________________________________________________

Zoey knocked on Mo's door as soon as she got home, eager to tell him all about her foray into the world of online dating.

Mo opened the door and Zoey walked in, "So, my boss decided to sign me up for a dating app….and I may have spent a good portion of today talking to this one guy on it. Long story short, he is sending me a recording of him playing the piano."

Mo raised his eyebrows and headed to the kitchen to pour them both a glass of wine. "So, you met someone on a dating app and talked to only him all day and now he's going to play piano for you? Color me impressed; you've had a busy day."

Zoey smiled and took a sip of her wine.

"So, what does he look like? Is he cute? I mean if he plays piano, he probably has those lovely pianist's fingers…."

Zoey coughed as she inhaled her wine. "Pianist's fingers?"

Mo looked at her, "Oh yes, child. Have you never noticed a man's hands before? Mmm, they can be a thing of beauty. And as a pianist, he definitely knows how to use them."

She turned bright red, "Can't say I had before, but now that's literally all I can think of."

Mo grinned, “Come on now, tell me about this new man."

"Well, the app is all based on getting to know one another through messages. So, I don't know what he looks like, where he works or even his real name." Zoey explained.

"So, let me get this straight. You don't know who this person is, what they do or what they look like?"

"Pretty much," Zoey nodded.

"Well, if that doesn't sound like an easy way to get murdered."

"That's not what will happen!" Zoey insisted. "It's all about building a meaningful connection without having to worry about how you look or how they look. Besides, you don’t ever have to meet them if you choose not to."

"Well, if you do decide to arrange a meeting, let me know."

"Aww, so you can be there to support me?"

"No, so I can practice what to say to the news channels when they ask about your disappearance." Zoey rolled her eyes as Mo laughed. "Of course, to go with you."

"Joan has called dibs on going, too." Zoey drained her glass.

"Oh good, she can bring the popcorn."

Zoey felt her watch buzz and saw that she had a download available from PianoMan.

"I, uh, need to go listen to this...alone…" she said, standing up.

"You go listen to his song, just remember what I said about his hands," Mo winked at her as she headed back to her apartment.

She snuggled up on the sofa with her favorite blanket, before finally pressing play.

The sounds of delicate piano chords swept over her as she listened. She had never heard the song before, but it sounded so beautiful, it took her breath away. The song finished and she sat there in silence, absorbing what she had just heard.

She glanced down and saw a second attachment. He had sent her a copy of the lyrics, and included a note, “Just in case you don’t know this song.” She smiled; he had remembered that she mentioned not knowing much about music. She pressed play again, following along with the lyrics as she got lost in the feeling of the song.

She's got a way about her

I don't know what it is

But I know that I can't live without her

She's got a way of pleasin'

I don't know what it is

But there doesn't have to be a reason

Anyway

She's got a smile that heals me

I don't know why it is

But I have to laugh when she reveals me

She's got a way of talkin'

I don't know what it is

But it lifts me up when we are walkin'

Anywhere

She comes to me when I'm feelin' down

Inspires me without a sound

She touches me and I get turned around

She's got a way of showin'

How I make her feel

And I find the strength to keep on goin'

She's got a light around her

And everywhere she goes

A million dreams of love surround her

Everywhere

She comes to me when I'm feelin' down

Inspires me without a sound

She touches me and I get turned around

She's got a smile that heals me

I don't know why it is

But I have to laugh when she reveals me

She's got a way about her

I don't know what it is

But I know that I can't live without her

Anyway

She was even more moved as she read the lyrics, it was a beautiful song, and he played it wonderfully.

She listened to the recording several more times, until she had it memorized.

Glancing at the time she realized he had sent it to her over an hour ago and she still hadn't responded. Hopefully, she hadn't made him panic.

"Wow…. that was…. wow…" She sent him.

"Is that a good wow or a bad wow?"

Zoey laughed; did he really not know how talented he was?

"Are you kidding me? That was an, ‘I'm so impressed that I can't even form coherent sentences,’ wow."

She smiled, thinking about how many times she had listened to it already.

"You really liked it?"

She could tell he wasn’t fishing for compliments, he genuinely wanted to know what she thought.

"It was amazing."

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm happy to play more for you anytime you want."

She felt her pulse quicken. He wanted to play more for her, and she wanted to hear him play.

"Careful, a girl could get used to that."

She panicked as she realized what she had just said. She blamed the wine for bringing out her flirtier nature.

"Oh God, that came across way flirtier than I intended. I promise, I don't go around just throwing myself at strangers online."

'Even if said strangers are sweet, kind of dorky and can play piano,' she mumbled to herself.

"I believe you, though for the record if you were flirting with me, I wouldn't object."

She gasped slightly. So, flirting was something he was open to….

"I'll keep that in mind. ;) It's getting late though, I should probably turn in. Goodnight, Billy. Thank you for the song."

"Goodnight, Red."

She headed off to bed, humming the song he had played her as she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of her mystery man with pianist's fingers.

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needscaffeine · 5 years ago

Note

47 for whichever ship of your choosing :)

47: Dogs Don't Wear Clothes

Tw: Mentions of blood. Like a very small mention of blood.

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

Standing in the alleyway behind Hatchetfield High, Alice was waiting on Deb to get out of detention. She sighed as she checked her watch. "12 minutes left", the girl mumbled to herself.

Hopefully Deb was sober since they were supposed to be hanging out at her Dad's house. She loved her girlfriend and really wished that she wouldn't smoke. Though, Alice has noticed a significant decrease in the habit since they've been together. She would just like it if the "Smoke Club" would leave her alone.

A noise from the end of the alley caused Alice to lose her train of thought. Throwing caution to the wind, she went to investigate. Fortunately it was a dog. Unfortunately it was an injured dog. She looked at the small.... She wasn't sure what the breed was. (It was probably just a mutt). What she did know is that she had to help it.

The short girl approached it slowly trying not to spook it. Once she reached it she tried to make out what had happened. Cringing at the sight of blood on the dog's brown coat. It took her moment to locate the source of the bleeding, but once she found it she wanted to throw up. The dog had a fairly large cut on its stomach.

Just as Alice was about to touch it to see how deep it was she heard her name called.

"Deb. I'm over here. Don't be too loud and come over here", She called (quietly) over her shoulder.

"Why are you over he- Woah! What happened to him?", The brunette asked crouching down next to the dog.

"He has a cut on his stomach. I was about to see how deep it was"

"You were just going to touch it? Without, you know, making sure it couldn't bite you?"

"Yeah", Alice admitted lamely, "You know what? Can you hold on to him so I can make sure he's Okay?"

"Sure", Deb said putting a hand on the dog's head. She made sure not to put too much pressure down so it didn't hurt him, he just couldn't bite them.

"Thanks", As soon as Deb had done that Alice went to inspect the cut. It wasn't too deep. Just barely broke skin. "It's not deep. Should we take him to the vet?"

"If it's not that bad why don't we just take him to your house?"

"Can we do that?"

"I don't know. Text your dad"

"Okay, but I'm going to text Paul, because he'll say yes", Alice said pulling out his phone. Not only had Paul said yes, he offered them a ride.

Sure, Paul didn't care about a lot, but he couldn't just let the girls carry an injured dog through the streets and into their apartment (He shares one with Bill. They say it's because it's cheaper. Everyone else thinks they're secret lovers).

Once they were at the apartment, Alice and Deb began to clean the cut. Paul brought them liquid bandaid.

"Here. Google says it safe, but to restrain him because it will sting"

"Thanks Paul", Alice said taking it. Once again Deb held the dog's head so the other could apply it.

They waited about thirty minutes and then decided that he needed a bath.

Two bottles of dog shampoo(Paul went to the store) and two soaked teenagers later the dog was clean. Turns out that his fur is actually white not brown, he was just that dirty. Also, He turned out to be a she.

"What should we name her?"

"Dog?"

"We can't just name the dog Dog. That's lame, Paul"

"Sheila?"

"Why Sheila?"

"Seems right"

"Sheila it is"

"Okay, We should probably get her a collar and a dog tag", Paul said looking at the time on his phone, "Your Dad will be back in an hour or so, so we need to hurry"

"What about Sheila? We can't just leave her here", Alice said.

"We could take her with us", Deb said in her nonchalant tone.

"Okay. Let's go", Paul said grabbing his keys.

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

At the store, Paul left the girls to find the accessories for Sheila while he sat in the car with her. He'd grown quite attached to her, though he'd never admit that.

Alice and Deb were in the dog aisle of their local PetSmart. They were debating on what color leash to get. They settled on purple for both the leash and collar.

Deb left to get the tag made while Alice continued to shop for what they needed. They agreed to meet at the register.

Once there Deb began to look at what Alice got. She passed over the normal stuff, puppy pads, food bowls, the leash and collar, food, and a sweater? She held it up, "What is this?"

"A sweater. Isn't it cute?"

"Who's it for?"

"Sheila"

"Dogs don't wear clothes", Deb said confused.

"Why not?"

"Because they're dogs"

"Well, they make these so I'm getting them for Sheila", Alice said handing the cashier the sweater.

"Whatever"

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

Once they got back to the apartment they began to dress Sheila up.

Deb had to admit that the sweaters were cuter than she thought, but still as ridiculous.

"Okay", Paul said putting the pack of puppy pads in a cabinet, "If your dad gets mad this was not might fault, but if he starts to blame Deb, as he likes too, it is my fault"

Deb smiled at him. She didn't know why, but Paul liked her. And it was nice to have someone on her side.

"Thanks Paul", Alice said giving him a hug.

"Yeah, thanks Paul."

"Are you staying the night Deb?"

"Um.... Yeah I guess. It's not like my Mom will notice if I'm gone", That brought the atmosphere down a bit, but nobody mentioned it.

"Okay. I'm going to order pizza then. Vegan for Deb, and supreme for you, Alice, right?"

"Yep. We'll be in my room", Alice said grabbing Deb's hand and leading her away.

Paul watched them walk off and then turned to look at Sheila. "Welcome to this, very, messed up family Sheila. 'Cause you're in it for the long haul now"

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

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stillebesat · 6 years ago

Note

May i request “Tell me who did this to you.” and “It’s over. They’re not going to hurt you again.” with moxiety?

CatScratch

Sanders Sides: Roman, Virgil, Patton Fic Type: Mystery/Crime!AU Blurb: Virgil’s learned to expect a lot of things helping the police solve murders, but he never thought that they’d actually find something that could crack his own unsolved case. Warnings: Death (Mentioned), Murders (mentioned), Blood, Injuries, Needles/Shots

The screeching of rusty hinges grated on Virgil’s ears sending a pulse of agony through his head. Growling under his breath, he tugged his hood further down over his eyes. This is why he hated old office buildings they made way too much noise.

“Sorry.” Prince apologized, holding the door open for him. “I honestly didn’t know it would do that.”

“S’fine” He muttered, hunching his shoulders. It’s not like Roman Prince had to remember on a daily basis that he wasn’t…normal.

“It’s not. Your ears okay?”

Virgil shot him a look, fighting to keep said ears from laying back flat against his head. “What do you think?”

Mr. Investigative Detective at least at the decency to look apologetic as he stepped to the side, holding the metal door open wide. “I promise this will be quick and afterwards I’ll get you a nice glass of milk–”

“Gatorade, geez man I’m not six.” Seriously. What was it with people and thinking he liked milk? Just because he had some characteristics of a cat didn’t mean–

“….Gatorade, Sunshine?”

Virgil briefly closed his eyes, fighting to keep his tail from twitching out into the open as he slipped inside the back of the dilapidated building. “Dude, I’m twenty. I can’t drink.”

“I’m aware, but Gatorade? Not Coffee? Tea? Even some Pepsi–”

“I’m also not” Virgil whirled, going on tiptoe to flash his fangs in the detective’s face. “Completely human. Remember?” He couldn’t just go drinking whatever liquid he felt like anymore.

Roman didn’t even flinch, raising his hands in a pacifying gesture. “How could I forget, Surly Temple? I’ll get you the Gatorade.”

“Great.” He’d see if Princey remembered at the end of the night. From his past track record, Virgil wasn’t hopeful. “Now–” He turned, following the stank odor of officer sweat up the stairs.

At least it wasn’t the basement. He hunched his shoulders, ears tilting forward to guide him towards the voices he could hear above. Basements always smelt so rank when he had to deal with both damp, mold and rotting flesh.

He wrinkled his nose. “What is so special about this victim, Princey, that you felt the need to pull me out of my nice quiet–”

“It’s not to play sniffer dog if that’s what you’re thinking.” Roman interrupted, joining him on the stairs. “It’s just that he won’t let us get close to him.”

Perfect. He hated playing sniffer dog–Wait. “The victim is alive?” He asked incredulously. That was a first.

Princey nodded, giving him a proud smirk, leading him through the door on the third floor and down the hallway to glass doors that labeled the place as a Health Clinic. “Right? It’s different from our usual cases. I thought you’d like the variety.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, tail twitching against his leg. “Thought I’d like–you do remember I don’t like people right?”

Roman huffed. “You do too if you choose to, Stormy Raincloud. I mean you talk to me.”

“Because I have to.”

“And from what I could see of our vic. I thought you’d be able to you know, bond. Get closer to him.”

Virgil crossed his arms, his hair on his back bristling as he narrowed his eyes. “Me? Get closer–you mean he won’t talk to you guys?” He asked, jerking his head to the window where he could see a handful of uniforms milling in the receptionist area, many of them coming and going through the swinging door next to the desk with evidence bags in hand.

Roman shook his head. “He’s quite agitated–” He said pulling open the door, gesturing for Virgil to go first.

“And you think I’m your best option to calm him down?”

“Yes.”

Virgil threw up his hands. “You’re crazy.”

“No, I’m just–”

A loud panicked yowl sounded from the back of the clinic. “GET AWAY!”

Virgil’s heart jumped in his throat as he turned to the noise. He knew that sound. Only he’d…he’d never heard anyone else but himself make it.

I thought you’d be able to bond.

No way. There was no way. Virgil broke into a run, nimbly dodging past the frozen officers and into the back, only vaguely hearing Princey order everyone to clear the floor and wait in the lobby below.

It was like deja vu all over again. It was a different building, but he knew the awful rusty red color scheme, knew the awful carpet, the awful cologne that that monster had worn that stunk up the place.

Virgil stopped in front of the only patient door in the back that remained firmly shut, his ears perking as he caught the sound of panicked breathing within. He laid a hand on the door, biting his lip as he struggled to catch his own breath.

Two years. Two years and there might actually be a crack in his case. A chance to find the monster who’d done this to him. A chance to–

“He won’t let us get close.” Roman said from behind. “I tried to enter and he threw a metal pan at my face.”

Virgil jumped, biting back a curse. Not surprising, he’d wanted to throw something at the detective a time or two himself. “You saw something.” He whispered, glancing to him.

“Besides this being a similar setup to the other clinics we’ve found?”

Other clinics where there’d been mangled bodies that barely looked human. Virgil raised an eyebrow, hand tightening on the door knob.

Roman nodded, fidgeting in place. “A…a tail I think. So I thought…Not that you have one–” Roman glanced not so subtly at his legs.

If he could continue to keep the detective from seeing his tail it would be a miracle. It was bad enough he knew about the ears…and the claws.

“But he sounded like you with all the growling so I—”

“You do realize if he’s like…a werewolf, this won’t end well right?” Virgil muttered, turning his attention to back to the noises he could hear within. Could this guy hear them too? “We don’t know if it’s just…cats.” If the dude was part canine then they’d be in trouble. Cats and Dogs didn’t mix well.

“That didn’t sound like a howl, Virgil.”

“I know.” He snapped. “It just…” He gestured to the door. “You think–”

He hated how Roman’s eyes softened. “If he’s like you, Virge, then we may have a new lead for your case.”

That would be something wouldn’t it? Virgil took a breath. If…if he was like him…then he wouldn’t be the only one. He wouldn’t feel like such a freak. They could be one step closer to catching the so-called Doctor that had done this to him.

“Stay here.” He said, pushing open the door and slipping inside, leaving it open a crack just in case things went sour and Princey needed to save the day.

The whistling of an object flying through the air was his only warning. Virgil ducked, crouching down on all fours as a clipboard smashed into the door and fell to the tile at his feet with a loud clatter.

“NO. STAY AWAY!” The terrified voice yowled from behind the exam table. “GO!”

“Virge!” Roman called, hand on the door.

Virgil made a negating gesture, shushing Princey. “I’m fine.” He said in a low tone. “Stay.” The last thing he needed was the detective coming in and scaring the guy further.

Roman made a face through the crack as he took a step backwards. “Be careful.”

Wasn’t he always? Virgil glanced down at the clipboard, noting the papers still attached and the name Patton Hart scrawled across the top in a very familiar script.

An irritated growl rumbled in his chest. So close to catching the Doctor and they’d once again missed him. “Maybe try saying please…Patton?” Virgil asked, edging on all fours away from the door so he could see the victim. He lifted his head to briefly meet the glowing golden eyes of the shadowy figure huddled in the corner that were so similar to his own. “It is Patton right?”

The figure–Patton–hissed. “Please. Get. Away.”

Virgil tilted his head, staying crouched as his eyes adjusted to dim room. “No.” Not when he could see the pale cat shaped ears twitching on the man’s head, the marks on the walls from the bloody claws coming from the man’s fingers, the fluffy tail curled protectively around himself.

Hope rose like a burning sun in his chest. Not alone.

“PLEASE.”

Virgil lifted a hand, hesitating on his hood. “You’re not going to hurt me, Pat” He said keeping his voice low. “And I won’t hurt you, okay? My name is Virgil and we’re…we’re a lot alike.”

Near hysterical laughter came from the corner. “A-alike? We-we-we’re not alik–”

The man cut off as Virgil lowered his hood, revealing his own dark cat ears. The golden eyes widened, watching as his ears swiveled about, listening to ensure there was no one else nearby.

He could only hear Princey breathing far too loudly on the other side of the door. At least the detective was listening to him and staying put.

“You’re–” Patton whispered, his pale tail lifting in a question mark.

Virgil gave a shaky smile, glancing one more time to the door to make sure Roman wasn’t visible before cautiously allowing his own black tail to slip out into view, curling it around himself. “Allergy shots right?” He said, cautiously moving closer as the man sat up, cracked glasses glinting in the faint light as they fell to the floor. Hopefully Pat wouldn’t still need those. The cat ears wouldn’t be able to keep them in place with how much they moved. “Needed to be given twice weekly for six months?” He’d only made it to the fourth month before….before the change.

He’d barely slept the three weeks after the change, wondering what would have happened to him had he made it through the entire six month dosage. Would he have changed fully into a cat after that final dose had been given? It was something he still had nightmares about.

A small whimper escaped from Patton as he nodded. “Yes. I thought–you’re-you’re telling me–I’m not the only–” He suddenly surged forward, grabbing Virgil in a surprise hug, sobbing, flinching with each movement of his tail as it curled around them as he pressed his face into Virgil’s chest. “I’m not alone?” He mumbled.

“N-no.” Virgil managed, his ears twitching violently as he fought to keep his heart in his chest. He hadn’t expected the man to be so quick to trust him…or touch him. “I’m…here.” Awkwardly he hugged him back. “You’re going to be alright. It’s…the worst of it’s over.”

Patton’s ears moved, tickling Virgil’s chin as he clung all the tighter to him, breath hitching. “I–I thought I was–I was going to die.”

Virgil flinched, the memory of his own painful change coming back full force. Death probably would have been more gentle than feeling like he was being turned inside out and boiled alive in lava. “Me too.” He managed to whisper.

Patton lifted his head, brilliant gold eyes far too close to Virgil’s own as he gripped his jacket, ears laying back. “Do you kno–Can you tell me who did this to you–to me–us?” He demanded with quiet desperation, his tail thrashing behind him. “Tell me you caught her. That she didn’t get away.”

Her? Virgil froze, his breath catching in his throat making it difficult to breathe. That couldn’t be right. “I—my d-d-doctor…” He stammered out, unable to look away. “Introduced himself as Dr. Friedrich Sticker. Had a heavy German accent?”

“Him?” The tail went limp as Patton slumped back, running a hand through his hair. He made a face as his fingers found one of his ears, quickly dropping his hand. “I—I thought she was male at first, but she said–” Patton hunched his shoulders, pale ears flicking back and forth. “She was here to help …she was…” He shuddered. “Her hands were always so cold.”

Cold hands? Virgil perked up at that. Could they actually be the same person? If Sticker had switched not only his identity, but gender as well— no wonder all their leads had dried up! The police had been only searching for males that matched his description of the doctor. “The hands.” He said, shifting closer, his tail curling around to brush Pat’s. “Was she missing a finger on one?”

“….Yes.” He whispered, breath hitching as his tail entwined around Virgil’s. “The pinky on her right hand.”

His heart jumped into his throat. What were the odds? The odds of a man and a woman both being doctors, giving allergy shots, and missing a finger?

Very. Very slim.

We got you Sticker. “Mine too.”

Patton’s ears twitched as he met cautiously met Virgil’s eyes. “Did you catch her–them then?” He asked.

Virgil hated that he had to say no. “No.” Roman would have mentioned that first thing if they had. But while Sticker had always left evidence behind that he–they were involved in cases like this…the police could never find them, not until the next victim appeared.

The hope in Pat’s face vanished. “Oh.” He said, pulling his knees up to his chin, raising one hand to feel his ear. “So what now? Are they–” He shuddered, leaning against Virgil. “Is the Doctor going to come back? To finish…..this?”

No, once the-” Virgil grimaced. “Once the change starts, Sticker abandons their patients.” To die. He remembered. Had watched the doctor walk out without looking back as Virgil had fallen screaming and writhing to the floor after that last ‘allergy’ shot had been given. It had to be the same for the others they’d found though he didn’t know for sure. Virgil had been the only one to survive. Until now.

“They do? Why–shouldn’t a doctor want to see the end result of their–” Patton shuddered, dropping his hand from his ears. “Why would they try to turn me–us into a cat instead of curing us of our allergies to them? Why—leave?”

If only he he knew. Virgil exhaled, his tail twisting with Patton’s. “Well…the good news is, if you’re like me. You’re no longer going to be allergic to cats.” So in a sense, Sticker had accomplished their goal of curing them.

Which was a major plus. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with being part cat and allergic to himself.

Patton’s lifted his head to meet Virgil’s eyes, his hand dropping to their entwined tails. “That’s…that will be nice.” He said, glancing down, a soft, genuine smile playing on his lips as he ran his hand through their fur. “I love cats.”

Virgil shivered, his tail tensing under Patton’s hand. Well maybe Pat would have an easier time adjusting to his new life then. The enhanced senses, the fur that got everywhere, the constantly twitching tail and ears…

“You’re sure the Doctor isn’t going to come back?” Patton suddenly asked, interrupting Virgil’s thoughts. “To finish our shots?”

Virgil nodded, reaching out to squeeze Pat’s hand, offering him a confident smile. “I’m sure. Sticker never came back to find me. They won’t come back for you either.” He’d make sure of that. Patton would be safe. “For us- for you, Pat, it’s over. They’re not going to hurt you again. I promise.”

Taglist: @loverofpizzaandallthingssweet @not-so-innocent-bi-sander @redundant-statements-for-400 @aikogumi @depressed-alone @lizziepopanime @midnightcandy @sidewritings @nekoabi @ironwoman359 @ilovereadingandilovebreathing @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @theblackhoundsdaughter @littlemiracle05 @virgil-has-a-houseplant @caristars @seas-space-and-stardust @thedannyparable @faacethefacts @but-jesuschrist-im-never-good @fancydelusionluminary @generalfandomfabulousness @the-incedible-sulk @i-am-avacado @entitydark @unikornavenger @iris-sanders-athena @narniasfinestavengingsociopath @queen-of-all-things-snuggly @uniquesoulshatter @made-of-bitterness-and-sarcasm @moltengoldenstardust @sanders-is-awesome @myownhappilyeverafter @dragonsight9 @loving-neko @lucifer-in-my-head @punsterterry @riley-castillo @sleepyssnail @fandomcrazy899 @fuck-perfection-be-a-mess @yay-cats9 @randomslasher .Thank you so much for this prompt Anon! I had fun writing it!

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yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy · 5 years ago

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The Eagle of Unasta and The Dragon of Zarcade Part 2

Look, I’m in a funk ok? I will get back to my Viking’s stuff as soon as I get this story out of my system. @waiting4inspiration you still might like this even though it doesn’t pertain to any particular fandom that you like. In case you missed it, here’s part 1. Enjoy part 2.

Part 2

In the morning, you woke up, feeling well rested, and rejuvenated, dreaming of flying with Zaq some more among other things and when you fully woke up, you realized you had slept in the cloak but you hadn’t sweated in it, if anything you had been perfectly comfortable in it. It smelled of the night air and Zaq and you couldn’t help but bring it to your face and breathed in as deeply as you could as you marveled at its softness against your face.

He had carried you to bed like you had weighed nothing. Truth be told you were a rather voluptuous woman, shorter than you supposed was average and very curvy but compact and much heavier than you looked because you had more strength and muscle than most realized, so that was a feat in itself because he carried you like you had been barely a feather and he was clearly quite strong himself which you appreciated.

You got dressed and came down to breakfast at about the same time the rest of your family did as Ester eagerly waived you over to sit next to her again at her table.

“I thought you’d be in bed for at least another hour.” She murmured under her breath as she gave you a scheming smile.

“So did I, I have no idea when we got back.” You muttered back, keeping your voice barely above a whisper. “Now I’m just waiting for the floor to drop and my family to throw a fit over what I did when they find out, every Zarcadian here practically saw me riding last night- if my family doesn’t know already- I give it an hour before they do then shit will hit the fan.” You predicted.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so quick to worry. If anything you just gave every Zarcadian here hope that they have half a chance.” She mused which made you snort a laugh into your coffee.

“Yeah right, like one dance, one ride and two gifts is the magic combination to the Unasta’s lock.” You gave her a disbelieving look.

“Wait, gifts? What gifts?” She asked.

“That cloak I was wearing last night on that ride, it was given to me as a gift by Zaq.” You explained.

“Well a cloak can be just a cloak, it’s an item of clothing that can be bought and sold like any other.” She waived off dismissively. “I’ve been given dozens of cloaks in every color conceivable not to mention a whole new wardrobe of nothing but the finest dragon silk and dragon wool clothes which I'm finding I'm becoming incredibly partial to because they are rather comfortable- no offense to your aunt, but I would happily never wear another corset ever again after I marry Xander. But what makes my clothes special is Zarcadian’s use their dragon’s magic to divine your adult size even when you’re little or even when you’re a newborn, they somehow use it to figure out what your sizes will be when the engagement will be implemented, so that all of your clothes fit you like a glove when they’re given to you, it’s supposed to signify how you were always fated to fit in with the rest of the family and how your place has been carved out for you, although it is uncanny how well it all suits my tastes, the dragon silk and wool takes ages to dye and it has to be carefully crafted for years, which is why Zarcadian fashion tends to be so timeless.” She added. “So what was the second? Please tell me it was a kiss good night though, because I saw the way you eyed him all last night and I know once your eagle eyes lock on, there’s no losing your target and I must say I wholeheartedly approve because you two looked so great together when you were dancing last night.” She gushed.

“No, it was a dragon tooth blade.” You answered as you pulled it out of your pocket and showed it to her before she took it and took it out of its sheath to inspect it.

“Huh, interesting.” she frowned in concentration as she looked it over carefully, using the point to casually clean out her fingernail. “It’s nice, I mean not as nice as mine because I have mine spectacularly bejeweled, to the point I’m afraid the stones will come out if I use it. But you prefer functionality over looks so this suits you incredibly well. Does Zaq have one that is like a masculine version of it? Like a matched set?” She asked hopefully.

“No, not that I’ve seen, why?”You returned curiously.

“Well, see here’s the thing, if he had one just like it or a masculine version of it- like it’s a matched set- that means something.” She revealed.

“What does it mean?” You pressed as you felt vindicated in your gut feeling about it last night.

“So what the Zarcadians will do for couples is they enchant one big rough stone once the match is set, and it will be the link to join the couple and the stone- usually the nonzarcadian’s favorite stone- and it can be made into anything- jewelry, like a bracelet or a pendant, but the most common is handles for dragon tooth blades. And it’s supposed to signify that even in battle, you will defend each other and that your connection to each other is as strong as the dragon toothed blade it’s attached to. But if he doesn’t have one that matches it- then it’s just a normal dragon toothed blade- and again- those get bought and sold and traded all the time. So either those gifts mean he’s just being nice and generous and trying to befriend you, or they could mean something a bit more serious depending on your point of view.” She explained and you found yourself secretly wishing it was more serious but knew it was too much to hope for.

“How is the stone enchanted?” You asked because you just had a gut feeling that it wasn’t just some normal dragon toothed blade, you just felt in your bones that this was special, why else would it fit your hand like it was made for it because honestly you had small, dainty, delicate- but supremely strong hands and buying gloves was always a nightmare because none of them seemed to fit right so to have something that suited your hands, was a welcome and refreshing change of pace.

“Ok, so think of it- like a worry stone but it’s connected to the other half. Whatever you’re feeling- the other can feel it when they touch it and whatever feelings or emotions the other is feeling, you can get a sense of it from them through your half of the stone. It’s not necessarily thoughts per-say- like you can’t ask them a math question and they’ll feed you the answer, cause I tried it and it didn’t work, but it feels like…” She paused as she tried to find the right words to explain it. “You know how you feel sympathy and empathy for another person and you take how they are feeling and you make it your own?” She questioned as you nodded in understanding.

“It’s like that, like with mine, if I’m missing him or I’m sad or frustrated, and I can hold my dagger and if he’s holding his- he can feel that and vice versa, you can tell that it’s very much how they are feeling and you choose to make it your own or not, it’s a way for the couple to always be connected so that by the time of the wedding, you’re more or less friends and get a chance to get to know their emotional makeup and moods at least.” She explained.

“So who is Zaq betrothed to anyway?” You felt the need to ask.

“I have no idea. No one does. His great grandmother announced at his birth that his betrothed will be ‘one of great surprise’, and ‘it is she that will make herself known to him and to his family’ according to Xander who overheard his grandmother and mother talking about it right before they came here. Which is completely against custom because usually Zarcadian men are betrothed from a year up until they are like 10 or however long it takes for a “suitable” wife to come along and be born and once the match is made- it’s practically preached in the town square and everyone knows and word spreads like wildfire and they usually become pen pals and spend a lot of time together as kids and teenagers so that they’re not strangers to each other at their wedding. So either his betrothed is older than him which would be a first for Zarcadians because usually Zarcadian men are a couple of years older than their wives. But a woman of high enough stature or valuable enough that they were simply waiting for the next son to be born and whoever was born the quickest gets the girl because Zaq and several others from the other families were all born within the span of just a couple days of each other, some even hours apart. But I don’t think that’s what happened, or at least the whole story. His whole situation makes me think that they put in a bid for a princess and that great grandma made that announcement before she got an answer back because in this day and age who in their right mind would say no to a Zarcadian? Especially one from the house of Ceda, the second most distinguished house besides the royal family? Well besides your family of course, but the fact that she has maintained that all his life- makes me think that he secretly got rejected but she’s saving face and she doesn’t want anyone to know. So I believe he’s actually single and not betrothed to anyone and that the moment any woman no matter how humble or high her station who expresses any interest in him can have him and great grandma will go ‘Tada see? Somehow it was Miss Random all along.’ And cover her ass for dropping the ball and no one would be any wiser for it. But I mean look at him and his handsome self, if my theory is right- it’s not going to be long before he’s snatched up like this last lemon custard tart.” She hastily snatched up her prize from the tray and stuffed it in her mouth which made you snort another laugh and roll your eyes as you turned the dagger over in your hand, still marveling at how perfectly fit your hand as you wondered what was really going on before you put it away.

After breakfast you were walking through the solarium, enjoying the exotic flowers from around the world as you held that dagger in your hand in your pocket and mentally called out to Zaq to come and find you and where you were before Zaq seemed to come out of nowhere to answer your unspoken call.

“Those don’t really have a scent Eagle.” He gently teased which made you smile excitedly before you turned from sniffing them and feeling disappointed that they did indeed, not have a scent, despite their beauty but hoping that your little “test” just proved true.

“I suppose you already know which ones do Dragon?” You returned with a grin which made his own smirk grow into a smile.

“I do actually.” He confirmed.

“Then do lead me to said blooms.” You invited as you gestured for him to lead the way before he offered you his arm which you gratefully took and walked together, your strides naturally syncing with one another, not even wanting to look to see if he was wearing another dagger because you were afraid you would get disappointed that it wouldn't match just in case this was a fluke and you wanted to enjoy this little fantasy of yours a little longer before reality shattered it.

“So where are the other wolves today? Out hunting again?” You guessed.

“Yes, trying to anyway,” he confirmed which you hummed in response to.

“Was there a meaning behind your gifts to me last night? Or are you just a generous person by nature?” You asked wondering if he would speak freely with you, the most you could hope for is he would be honest but he was Zarcadian after all, and you knew they did love their secrets, and wondered how many ulterior motives he had and what they were.

“Well you are right, I am a generous person by nature, or at least I try to be and there is meaning behind them, an amicable one I assure you.” He answered.

Well that confirmed that he wanted to be your friend but it didn’t negate the more serious intentions either.

“Well I am appreciative of the gifts, the cloak fits me well and is perfectly balanced in that it kept me warm but wasn’t suffocating in any way, and this blade is especially exquisite and the handle is extraordinary, I have never had a blade fit my hands as well as this does and it has a beautiful balance of functionality and beauty. The blade your brother Xander gave to Ester is in my opinion, overly decorated to the point that it negates it’s functionality but Ester does love that kind of thing, I’m sure a gem would fall off the moment she would try to use it to spread butter on her toast not that it’ll probably never leave it’s sheathe. However I understand there is some cultural significance considering Xander has one that matches it since it came in a set. She informed me that it’s to signify that they’re a couple, which is a sweet tradition in my opinion, it can make a betrothal easier to accept especially when the parties have little to no choice in the matter.” You ventured as you took it out and continued to appraise it.

“It does, but I know that you are not chained to such traditions.” He answered carefully, knowing he would have to choose his words carefully and not spill the beans too soon and scare you off.

“You are also correct. My grandfather is very clear to his children and even his grandchildren that we should freely choose for ourselves what we should do and who we should marry and to hold fate in one hand and destiny in another and yet not give into either unless we want to but to otherwise carve out what you want with your own two hands.” You revealed.

“What I would give to be in such a family.” Zaq sighed, a week before he would have been feeling extremely jealous himself but right now he was tickled that you once again said word for word what his grandmother had predicted and he couldn’t wait to actually be your family one day.

“So absolute freedom then? No strings or restrictions?” He asked.

“Well, there is one stipulation. We are forbidden from marrying any Zarcadians, my grandfather may be old and getting perhaps a little senile in his old age but he's still the patriarch of the family and he still decides who inherits what and he does get the final say in all the important matters and so far he has never been wrong about anything, so at least while he lives, his word is law to a degree in our family. Now I'm told he has his reasons for feeling the way he does about Zarcadians but my parents as well as all my aunts and uncles refuse to tell me or my sisters or my cousins what those reasons could possibly be and shut us down every time we try to ask. There is a theory among us though that he loved a Zarcadian woman in his youth. But my grandfather was of very little means with no political ties so he had nothing but himself to offer her, and she had been betrothed to another since infancy or childhood or whatever the Zarcadian custom may be and could not break it for him. So his rejection made him bitter and there was no way for him to know at the time that he or any of his relation would ever amount to anything more than a commoner. I have seen Zarcade from a distance, even the houses of slaves are great and even they can trace their lineage back generations whereas in my family- all we have is living memory that my grandmother can remember about her own large family since my grandfather can only remember himself as a tumbleweed before he was in the army. But he found a place for himself as a soldier of Suter and his friends that he made there were closer than brothers and he made his own found family and he did get to marry my grandmother which he has vowed always was, always is and always will be the love of his life and even now, their love for each other burns brighter than the sun, as does the love between my parents and all my aunts and uncles." You confessed, shocking yourself with how easy it was to be so forthcoming, and worrying that Zaq now had ammunition against you as your stroked the handle to the blade anxiously before you felt a sense of calm, like you were safe- like you were with a dear friend who would keep your confidence- there was no other way to explain it.

“Well I am, technically only a small, tiny fraction Zarcadian, surely that’s far enough away from it for it not to be held against me.” He tried to reason, his own tone still light and a little teasing which helped you relax as you smiled fondly at him.

“Well while I can only speak for myself, I promise to do my best not to hold that against you, however I think others in my family probably- and by probably I mean most likely- would. I think they would take issue with the fact that your family is one of the most noble families of Zarcade, second only to the royal family and you live in one of the towers in the old kingdom do you not?” You questioned as he grimaced.

“Details, details,” He tried to waive off dismissively which made you giggle as you either consciously or subconsciously hugged his well muscled arm and laid your head on his shoulder for a moment before he covered your hand that was in the crook of his elbow and you found yourself appreciating for a second time how warm his hands were, still that same balance between softness and calloused-ness, yet profoundly tender, thinking to yourself that you could so fall in love with him with almost alarming ease and wondered if you could live with yourself if you defied your family to chase this dream you were perceiving now when you looked at him, of course, with him being possibly betrothed to another didn't sit well with you, as you were brought up that a husband and wife should be absolutely loyal and faithful to the other and that mistresses were never an option, that if there was no more love in a marriage- that one should divorce the other so that you were both free to love another and find happiness and love again, you never wanted to be the other woman and would in turn never tolerate infidelity but if he was secretly free and single and looking to get out of Zarcade you could definitely be interested and you would happily break him out of the traditions he was chained to if he wanted to be free that is. You supposed only time could tell at this point though.

When you got to the promised blooms, you reluctantly let him go to take a few steps off the path to smell the blooms as Zaq’s dragon flew all around the salarium to try to get a closer look at the two you as Zaq was shooing her away.

“Is your dragon missing you?” You asked, having seen her reflection in the glass around you.

“Kind of?” Zaq grimaced, you really did see everything and he didn’t want his dragon ruining or spoiling anything just yet.

“So if I may be so bold- is there any way to be a dragoner without being a Zarcadian?” You asked.

“Well, in theory, yes, if you could get your hands on some dragon eggs and manage to incubate them and successfully hatch them, you could grow them up and start breeding them once they’re of size but most dragons have a way of finding their brethren and returning to the same place their ancestors hatched from since they use the same sites for generations as long as the sites are not compromised or contaminated because most dragons are actually really picky about how and where they lay their eggs, of course, with that being said- you’d have to brave a whole cavern full of nursery and guardian dragons to get to the eggs.” He answered and you got the sense that he was being truthful.

“So how are dragon eggs incubated?” You asked curiously, thrilled that he was sharing even this much with you.

“Well they get set on fire by the parent’s dragon fire and have to stay at really high temperatures for several months, the longer the better. I have to get dressed in many thick layers of dragon leather and dragon scale armor and use special lenses made out of translucent dragon scales to even see the eggs so I can count them while they’re in incubation and drop off all the carcasses for the nursery and guard dragons to eat because they never really leave the caves, that’s why most dragons who hunt are actually males- but once they reach those final few weeks, the dragons instinctively and very carefully lower the temperature so that by the time they are ready to come out of the egg, we can be present to welcome them into the world and you would be surprised to find out how shockingly similar they are to kittens or puppies when they’re little, especially when they’re roughly the same size, and they usually imprint on us and their parents and the other nursery and guardian dragons so it’s much easier to teach them how to take a rider when they want to be ridden by you.” He explained, happy to talk so freely about something that Zarcadians usually were sworn to secrecy about but to you- he knew he could trust you with this information in turn as he was relieved that the reason your grandfather had forbidden the marriages before was probably due to a grudge but if your grandfather was already old and frail, surely he wouldn’t have to wait too long before that obstacle would remove itself, hopefully sooner than later. He could sense that you were a revolutionary in the making, an independant trail blazer and he couldn’t wait to show you everything he was talking about as soon as he figured out how in the world he was going to manage to get you to come to Zarcade.

“So basically the only way to really get into dragons is to first have a pair of them to lay eggs in a cave that isn’t their ancestral nesting site on Zarcadian soil and get them to incubate and care for the eggs themselves because doing it any other way doesn't seem feasible, so the venture does seem like an impossibility since owning dragons is an exclusive right held only by Zarcadians and the only way into that is by marrying into a Zacadian family who breeds them on their own and already knows the tips and tricks as you appear to.” You surmised and Zaq could only nod in agreement to that reasoning.

“Well, there is one other kind of roundabout way, you could marry into a Zarcadian family, get given those dragons as wedding presents since dragons are the last present given to a bride coming into the family then find a way to divorce them and take the dragons with you- if you managed to be the first to get your legal divorce since divorce is banned, I mean you could, in theory do it.” He offered. “Just because every other person has failed trying to be a dragoner without becoming a Zarcadian- in the history since my ancestors, however distant they may be in my family, shouldn’t deter you.” He tried to encourage you but his tone was still playful which made you laugh.

“Oh is that all? Easy peasy then. All I would need now is a Zarcadian groom who isn’t betrothed already, which I will need all the luck in the world to find unless he practically fell out of the sky into my lap, to agree to teach me all there was to know about dragons, marry me, hand the dragons over to me and then immediately divorce me if he was not willing to turn his back on his people, culture and traditions unless he wanted to do all of those things and leave with me, in which case we’d both be outcasts from our families and we would be completely on our own from that moment on and be the enemies of not just Suter and the Unastas but the Zarcadians as well and find a mountain range suitable to building a new nesting site in addition to him having dragons who would in turn be willing to follow me home and go against their own instincts which are stronger than any animal.” You realized as Zaq simply smiled, knowing it would never get quite that bad but if he had to be dropped into your heavenly divine lap, so be it.

“You could hold auditions, have the declaration of war right next to the sign up sheet.” He mused which got you both to laugh as you walked back to him before you just casually took a walk through the solarium together, talking about everything, upbringings and cultures and food and of course going back to dragons as often as possible before it was lunchtime and you snagged a servant to bring you lunch in the solarium so that you could enjoy it in privacy with Zaq without the whole world watching.

“So could I use this on like everyday things or just use it for special occasions or what?” You asked as you both enjoyed nice little sandwiches as you sat on the swing together and gently swung, enjoying the fresh spring blooms and their scents around you as you appreciated the dagger some more, getting used to its weight and balance.

“You can use it however you see fit. But just be careful- it is sharp and will cut through just about anything but if it ever gets dull, just let me know and I’ll resharpen it for you.” Zaq offered.

“Thank you.” You beamed happily at him as you were just amazed that the more time you spent with him, the more you felt like you had always known him, like you had been friends for forever already and something about him just clicked with you.

“Ok, do you mind if I asked you a rather personal question?” You asked as you split the last mango custard tart which was your personal favorite.

“Go for it.” He invited as he gratefully took the other half and ate it gleefully.

“I know Zarcadians have the custom of being betrothed very young, would I be correct to assume that you are too?”

"You would be wrong if you did." He answered with a smile that was practically scheming that excited every nerve in your body.

"What? How? How are you not betrothed?!" You pressed, forcing your voice to be a hushed whisper as you turned towards him and leaned even closer to him.

"Because an offer of marriage hasn't been made on my behalf yet and no one will either. No offer, no proposal, no betrothal. In fact, most of my younger siblings aren't even betrothed and they are well passed the age." He informed you, his own voice an equally hushed whisper as his body language mirrored yours.

"Who handles all the betrothals in your family?" You asked.

"My great grandmother, you're not the only one with a senile grandparent." He hinted. "Of course if you ask anyone else, they'll tell you that I am but "it's a secret surprise" but there has never been a name mentioned. When I was younger it used to give a lot of anxiety because not knowing was unnerving. But the older I get- the more I appreciate it.” He admitted as you both laid your heads against the back cushions of the swing as once again your sleepiness seemed to take over, because it was now siesta time but you didn’t want your time together to end.

“Are you ok?” Zaq asked as you yawned.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I had a great lunch so now it’s siesta time to Unastas.” You murmured sleepily as you struggled to keep your eyes open but you couldn’t wipe the dreamy smile from your lips if you tried.

“Do you wish to return to your room?” He asked.

“No, I don’t want to leave and I love hearing you talk about...everything.” You answered.

“Here,” Zaq said as he pulled a cushion from another chair and scooted back so that you could lay down which you gladly obliged, laying on your back on the bench, your knees laing over the armrest of the swing looking up past the frame into the canopy as Zaq pulled a magicked dragon wool handkerchief out of his pocket and started to stretch and pull and fluff it so that it grew into a throw blanket big enough to cover you before he laid it over you so you could sleep comfortably and actually sang you a lullaby, his tone becoming soft before you quickly fell asleep with the added gentle swaying and rocking of the swing.

“God is my fate beautiful.” Zaq whispered in awe as he gently reached out and gently traced the lines of your face, memorizing every curve before he pulled out a journal from his breast pocket and made notes of the other details of his great grandmother’s prophecy you had gotten right before he sketched you in his journal, marveling at you and so happy with himself that he had waited for you. Because you were obviously worth the wait and his great grandmother was right in that if she had told anyone who The Eagle was, no one would believe her. But now he did, with his whole heart and soul.

He put the journal away and pulled out a second book and happily read in silence to let you sleep for as long as you needed, happy and content that you trusted him enough to be so open and vulnerable with him so soon, he thought it would take at least a week to get half as far but when you stirred and rolled over and moved up, moving the pillow to his lap so that all of you could fit on the bench, he happily continued to sit there and have you sleep peacefully in his lap as he read out of his favorite book before he heard someone else come into the solarium and worried about who it might be before he heard his brother and his future sister in law’s voices as they came in and eagerly went to their own hidden spot nearby, thankfully out of sight to have a randevu as Zaq rolled his eyes and tried to push the noise they were making out of his head as he tried to focus on his book and not let what they were doing affect him, not wanting his boner to disturb your slumber and when they had finally finished many heated moments later he blew out a breath of relief and couldn’t help but grin when they were all giggles and cooing to each other as they then got straightened up and continued to walk around the solarium.

“Oh!” They exclaimed as they noticed Zaq sitting on the bench reading with someone sleeping in his lap.

“Please tell me that’s Anya,” Ester whispered excitedly as she came over to see who it was and silently cheered when it was you.

“Yes!” She practically bounced as she then went to her fiance to shake him in excitement as he stood there in shocked surprise.

“No way, that can’t be The Eagle.” Xander shook his head in disbelief.

“Wait what? Eagle?” She pressed.

“Zaq’s mystery woman, who everyone has always refered to her as The Eagle.” Zaq explained.

“Unasta’s have golden griffens in their coat of arms. Sudi has Eagles.” Xander argued.

“Red Eagles, so you take the color of one and the creature of the second because her mother is of Sudi, it’s her father who’s an Unasta. Grandma said that mine was supposed to be golden, look at her hair and tell me that isn’t the same colors as a golden eagle, when we were dancing last night we were bantering and she called me a wolf, I called her an Eagle and she didn’t argue and when I said Golden Eagle, she beamed before she corrected herself and called me a dragon.” Zaq defended.

“Look, you don’t know Anya, she’s literally the embodiment of an eagle, she is the most eagle eyed woman I have ever known, she sees her target and she goes for it and won’t stop until it’s hers. She’s incredibly perceptive and sharp and she practically flies on her horses, the faster the better and did you see how natural of a rider she was last night? Come on, she is it, I totally see why your grandma said no one would believe it. Oh my god, my best friend is gonna be my sister,” Ester practically squealed in excited whispers before she started doing a small victory dance.

“How in the world are we going to get her to Zarcade though?” Xander wondered aloud.

“Oh leave that to me, I can ask her parents on our wedding day for her to visit me after we get back from our honeymoon and no one in their right mind says no to a bride on her wedding day, at least to me.” Ester schemed as Zaq and Xander looked at each other in pleasant surprise.

“Thank you,” Zaq thanked her appreciatively.

“Now, word of advice, when you really want to prove to her that this is fate and destiny, give her the gloves, she has the hardest time getting gloves that fit her hands. Also, we should stop on our way to Zarcade to pick her up and you need to come with us, because their entire district is gorgeous and stay at least one night because their family feasts that they have every night are always super laid back and casual instead of so formal like it is here, that and Unasta’s always take siestas which I’m kind of jealous that I wish we did too but every Unasta works very hard all day and all of Anya’s siblings and cousins kind of flock to whoever they want to work with that day and they all have their own projects that they work on with everyone so that everyone has a well rounded education and nothing is gendered, like her cousin Parker, he can design clothes just as beautiful as his aunt can and her sister Megan, she can butcher hogs better than anyone and they all have their own plots of gardens so they grow what they want to grow, be it flowers or vegetables or fruits or whatever. They are given freedom, opportunities and choices most could only dream of while they all love and support each other so much and they just generally have so much fun.” She urged them as they all sat down in the sitting area, Ester choosing to sit on Xander’s lap because the other chair didn’t have it’s cushion which Xander didn’t mind one bit.

You woke up to the sound of soft conversation before you slowly let your eyes flutter open. “Hey sleepy head.” Ester greeted cheerfully as Xander himself smiled happily at you from his place behind her.

“Hey,” you greeted as you stretched and yawned before you sat up.

“Thank you,” you thanked him appreciatively as you begrudgingly tried to give it back. “How did you make it so big?” You asked him curiously as you looked at the royal blue fabric in your hands appreciatively.

“Like this.” Zaq said as he demonstrated how to make it smaller and then bigger again as Ester and Xander watched on with amusement before he handed the folded handkerchief to you. “For you.” He offered.

“Really? Thank you so much! It’s even my favorite color!” You gushed excitedly which had Ester and Xander smiling knowingly at each other. Oh this was going to be fun.

#The Eagle of Unasta and The Dragon of Zarcade #Part 2

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vibranch · 5 years ago

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The Keybearer’s Keychains (4/6) - Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction

Rating: T Word Count: 3,667 AO3 link here (contains Author’s notes for those interested) Part 4/6: The Three Wishes, Pumpkin Head, Divine Rose, Metal Chocobo

Part 1 Previous Part Next Part

Summary: So many Worlds, and so many people. Each one was unique and an adventure to Sora. But one thing that was constant on his journey, was the keychains he received. An exploration of Sora’s thoughts, experiences, and feelings for each keychain he received during his first journey in no particular order.

The Three Wishes

Sora found that Agrabah had been a World that wouldn’t stop giving. He’d made a new friend through Aladdin, a new traveling companion with Genie, and a new keychain to use on his Keyblade too.

The keychain was unique to this world too. Sora doubted he’d ever find another one like it on any other World. The keychain was the same lamp that had once imprisoned the Genie. Shortly after joining trio onboard the Gummi Ship, Genie magically summoned a rolling pin from nowhere to squashed and flattened it down to keychain size.

New friends bearing gifts…

Sora didn’t feel like he deserved it. Agrabah had marked his second outright failure since joining up with Donald and Goofy. The first was losing Alice back in Wonderland.

At least he managed to seal the Keyhole, he tried to tell himself. But he’d already accomplished that before Jasmine was taken. He kept telling himself that he could have done more. Should have done more. Whatever it took to make sure she was safe.

At least with Alice, she’d been taken away from the Queen of Hearts. Wonderland wasn’t even her actual home. So, Sora could pretend that she was somehow taken somewhere better than there.

Her disappearance was unsettling, and Sora would often wonder what happened to her. But the possibility that she might’ve found some way to escape when no one was looking or had been taken somewhere better was still there.

No such luck with Jasmine’s disappearance. Sora had to look at his two new friends, both devastated by the sudden loss, and the new token to remember the World by.

Sora could only promise Aladdin that he’d find Jasmine and that she’d be back before he knew it.

It had been a long time since Sora had last visited Agrabah. And in that time, he’d accomplished the first part of his promise to Aladdin. He’d found Jasmine, but he couldn’t bring her back yet.

It frustrated him. She wanted to go back, she wanted to be home. But she and all the other Princesses of Heart had to stay behind to hold back the Darkness from escaping Hallow Bastion.

And despite their best efforts, two powerful Heartlesses did escaped from Hallow Bastion. The Phantom and Kurt Zisa.

Fortunately, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were able to track down the two Heartless to Agrabah and the Big Ben clock near Neverland.

Sora dreaded returning to Agrabah without Jasmine. But there was no way to avoid it. Someone could get hurt if Sora didn’t defeat Kurt Zisa soon.

Still, Sora hated the thought of disappointing Aladdin again, and the look that would no doubt be on his face when he showed up without Jasmine made every step through the hot sands that much harder.

To Sora’s surprise, Aladdin didn’t look disappointed to see him without Jasmine. Even before Sora told him Jasmine was safe, Aladdin was genuinely glad to see Sora again. Aladdin was even excited to listen to Sora recount all the adventures he’d had since they’d last seen each other.

“By the way, your Keyblade’s looking different from last time.” Aladdin pointed to the brass colored weapon in Sora’s hand after the boy acted out an exaggerated recreation of a long-ago fight.

“Oh yeah, I guess I never told you,” Sora realized. “The Keyblade can change its shape depending on what kind of keychain I’ve hooked up to it.” Sora raised the Keyblade higher to show off the keychain attached to it. It dangled between the two of them. “Do you recognize it? It’s the lamp Genie used to be trapped in.”

“No way!” Aladdin said as he examined the shrunken lamp. “That’s amazing!”

If only to escape the sun, the two of them continued their conversation as they made their way towards Aladdin’s house. But even in the new location the two seemed ready to talk all day.

Goofy looked around as the two talked. He taking in the sights, not that there was much to look at inside Aladdin’s house besides the large open window perfectly showing the Sultan’s Palace. Occasionally Donald would jump in to correct Sora on some story he’d misrepresented.

Goofy was the only one who noticed Carpet hopping around in the corner of the room. It was awfully hard to tell what it was thinking since it didn’t have a face, but Goofy worried that something might be wrong. “Hey, umm, does anybody else think that Carpet is lookin’ a little antsy?” Goofy asked, not realizing that he’d just permanently ended the conversation.

Sora fell onto the hot sand. He was exhausted after the long battle with Kurt Zisa and didn’t have the energy to care that he was probably getting sand everywhere. He never imagined Kurt Zisa would be as difficult as he turned out to be. “Who would have thought Carpet knew where Kurt Zisa was?” Sora asked in a weary voice.

“I was just hopin’ it was excited to see us or something.” Goofy answered, handing a potion to Aladdin as he did so.

Aladdin groaned a thank you to Goofy as he stretched his back. “I don’t remember any of the Heartless being as strong as that guy the last time you guys were here. Is this what you guys normally have to face?”

Rather than force himself to sit up, Sora rubbed the back of his head against the sand. “No, that guy was way tougher than most things we’ve faced.”

“Okay, good,” Aladdin said with some relief. “I was getting really worried for you guys. Hopefully that Phantom Heartless thing you were talking about goes down easier than him.”

Somehow Sora doubted it. But it was a nice to pretend that it might, at least for right now. Sora raised the Keyblade above his head and looked at the tiny lamp that he used as a keychain.

He rubbed the lamp between his fingers. Sora held his breath for a few moments, before letting out a dejected sigh. He knew nothing would happen. But he still felt compelled to try. And foolishly, he almost dared to hope.

During moments like these, Sora wished he could have a set of wishes for himself. It would make things so much easier.

“Hey Aladdin?” Sora asked, finally sitting up so that he could look at his friend. “Do you ever regret not using your last wish to bring Jasmine back?”

Aladdin considered the question. He quietly hummed to himself as he thought about his answer. “Well, I’ll admit I could’ve used my first two wishes better. I’ve thought about those a lot. But if you’re asking if I regret choosing to free Genie, then the answer is no.”

“Really?” Sora was surprised. More that Aladdin wasn’t offended by the question, Sora himself only realized the rudeness it held the minute it left his lips. But Aladdin seemed open to answering the question, so Sora elaborated. “But you could’ve wished for anything, don’t you wish you could’ve saved them?”

“Maybe, but then I might not have ever used them,” Aladdin replied. “Ultimately, I used all of them, but I try not to worry about it.” Aladdin thought back to all the times something would come up in his life and he’d wish that he still had just one more wish left. “We’re always going to have trouble in our lives, and if I’m always wishing I had one more wish left… Well, I’d be a very bitter person.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have another wish or two-”

“Or three!” Sora interrupted.

“Yeah, or three,” Aladdin laughed. “But, the point is they were always going to, either, run out or I never be used. So, I might as well use ‘em on something.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Sora looked at the Keyblade’s Arabian form. “Wishes would be nice right now. But I guess you’re right, there’s always going to be one more problem…”

Still, Sora thought, it would be really nice to have just one wish right about now.

The Pumpkin Head

The Keyblade’s newest form, a black blade adorned with a large Halloween bat at the end. It was an apt reflection of the World its keychain came from.

Sora loved it. Just holding it made Sora feel like an ambassador for Halloween Town, bringing a little bit of the friendly frights over to other Worlds. He thought it perfectly encapsulated the kind of kitschy creeps the world reveled in.

Kitsch?

Sora wasn’t sure where that word had come from. It sounded like something Kairi would say. But when Goofy asked him how he’d describe the World to others once their journey was done, that was the first word that came to him.

Sora supposed the word “spooky” could describe Halloween Town, but the word seemed to demand quotation marks when associated with the World. Otherwise it just felt misspelled.

Ultimately, Sora really liked Halloween Town. He was nervous at first, but as he spent more time in the World, the more comfortable he became. It reminded him more of Halloween parties back home rather than anything actually horrifying.

Even the Heartless were less frightening in Halloween Town. The people of this World weren’t afraid of them. In fact, they wanted to make them dance!

As if the Heartless were just the warmup act to some sideshow performance.

Sora figured it was fitting that beings who celebrated the macabre and delighted at the morbid would somehow leave the Heartless passive. The residents of this World seemed to have somehow struck a balance between the Light and the Dark. Ghoulish frights seemed to jump out at every corner, but each one was done with an air of whimsy.

The blood red sky was contrasted by comically oversized pumpkins. Hundreds of graves that littered the area outside the main town lost their punch when Jack Skellington spoke with such friendly and outgoing attitudes. And his pet dog, who despite being a ghost, was one of the friendliest dogs Sora had ever met.

Then there was the scientist who would scratch his own brain, and, well…

Okay, Sora couldn’t really think of a way to rationalize that as fun. In fact, the first time Dr. Finkelstein did it, Sora nearly lost his lunch.

But aside from that, the only part that left Sora with a feeling of dread, was when he finally took on Oogie Boogie. He never liked bugs to begin with, and a living bag filled with them was almost more than he could take. Still, even that was offset by Oogie Boogie’s fun personality. Sora figured he would’ve really liked him if he hadn’t been trying to kill them all.

It was a shame, Sora sometimes thought, the way Darkness spread throughout one’s Heart. Someone, as jovial as Oogie Boogie didn’t seem like the type to side with the Darkness. Sora couldn’t really judge anybody from Halloween Town by their looks or surface level personality.

But if Oogie Boogie had been the first person he met, Sora worried he might have been swept up in his fun and eccentric personality. Even during their battle to the death, Oogie Boogie sounded like he was having the time of his life.

Well, right up until he lost, Sora reminded himself.

The experience of visiting Halloween Town stayed with Sora. How many people had he judge at the surface level? Leon seemed dark and withdrawn, but Sora could tell, deeper inside him there was a Heart blinding with Light. Cloud was working with Hades originally, but clearly there were some extenuating circumstances surrounding that.

Cloud wasn’t evil. He was just lost. Lost and looking desperately for his light.

Maybe just as lost as Sora felt sometimes.

The moment Sora felt the most lost was when Donald and Goofy had to make the choice between him and following the Keyblade. Sora was, of course, abandoned. He didn’t really blame them. They were doing what their King had told them to do. But the feelings of betrayal still welled up inside him and he couldn’t command them to go away.

He was all alone, minus some injured Beast Riku had beaten. Perhaps, if Sora had met the Beast at an earlier point in time, he would have kept his distance. But Sora was done looking at surface level details. Instead he ran to it, rather than from it.

This thing lying in front of him was more than just a hurt animal that might lash out at him. He’d crossed the void all for one person he cared for. Even with the power of the Keyblade, Sora still needed a Gummi Ship to travel across Worlds. Despite how much Sora cared for Kairi, he wouldn’t have made it off Traverse Town without Donald and Goofy.

This Beast was different. Sora could see deeper than this its surface. It was in pain, and not just physically either. Sora could sympathize with it. Afterall, now that he was alone, without Donald, Goofy, or even the Keyblade to support him, Sora was hurting too.

The Divine Rose

“This is for you. Use it to face the darkness, as the Beast has.”

With those words Belle gave Sora a single rose.

Maybe it was a little judgmental of Sora, but he never expected Beast to have someone who cared so much for him. Certainly not someone as beautiful as Belle. In fact, Sora felt a little jealous as he watched Beast and Belle wordlessly hold each other, just happy to have the other once again.

Face the darkness.

Sora couldn’t shake those words from his head. He’d been facing the Darkness for about as long as this journey had gone on for. But he doubted he could have faced half as much as the Beast had without the help of his friends.

Sora wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t accidentally arrived at Traverse Town. Would he have turned into a Summon Gem? Could he have done what Beast did? Find a way to travel the worlds without Donald or Goofy or even a ship?

Maybe Belle acted as a guiding light through the darkness? If Sora ever found himself in a position where he couldn’t reach the Gummi Ship, would his feelings for Kairi be able to pull him across Worlds like Beast’s had?

Sora didn’t have an answer for that, in fact Sora’s quick words with Belle had somehow filled him with more questions. None of which he felt like sharing to anyone.

Sora held onto the rose as he left the library with Donald and Goofy. One more question was forming in his mind. One that he did feel comfortable sharing. “What should I do with the rose?”

His two friends turned around at the question. “Well what do you want to do with it?” Goofy asked.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting to have to care for a plant.”

“You should give the rose to Kairi,” Donald snickered.

Sora rolled his eyes. “Would you be serious?” he said, trying to brush off the idea.

“Well, it’s not a bad suggestion!” Donald fired back. “Daisy loves it when I bring her roses. And plus, you wouldn’t have to take care of the rose anymore.”

Goofy scratched his head. “Gwarsh, I always figured Daisy preferred a different kind of flower, maybe irises… Or dahlias? Somethin’ beginning with a ‘D’.”

Sora was grateful for Goofy’s interruption, though he mostly ignored it. He had no idea how to respond to Donald’s suggestion. Somehow, the thought of giving Kairi a rose was much harder to imagine than his original idea of stabbing himself in the chest to release her heart. And yet, Sora didn’t want to just say no to the idea. He had to think of something meaningful to do with it.

In fact, all this talk about Kairi made Sora much more aware of her lucky charm poking at him through his pocket. Slowly, he reached for it as he tried to come up with an answer to Donald’s suggestion. pulling it out, he held it in one hand, opposite to the other holding the rose.

Sora had hoped that only Kairi’s Heart would be released from him when he thrust that dark Keyblade into his chest. But if he lost his own Heart in the process, at least in that moment, that would have been acceptable to him.

As a Heartless, Sora wasn’t very aware of what he was doing. He was mostly working off instinct. The only thing Sora could really remember after stabbing himself with the Keyblade of People’s Hearts was waking up again as a person, his arms wrapped around Kairi. All he could think to do was thank her.

Sora pictured Beast and Belle embracing each other after being apart for so long. Now that he thought about it, he and Kairi had done the exact same thing when they’d reunited. When Sora faced the Darkness he’d been swallowed up by it. But Kairi brought him back.

“Beast really loves Belle, didn’t he?” Sora said absentmindedly.

Goofy hyucked good naturedly, “Yeah, he sure does. In fact, they kinda remind me of Donald and Daisy!”

“What!” Donald yelped, turning around to look at Goofy suspiciously. “In what way!?”

“Gwarsh, just in the way Beast is so devoted to her.”

“Okay good.”

“But he gets angry just as quickly as you do too!”

“Whaddya mean gets angry quickly?! I’ll have you know, I’m the patient one of this group!”

Goofy turned back to Sora, ignoring Donald as he fumed in the background. “Gwarsh Sora, your face is getting’ red. Are you thinking about giving Kairi the rose?”

“I- uh, well…” Sora stuttered. Why was this such a hard decision? Was he embarrassed to admit he could like someone like that? Maybe it was fear that she didn’t see him the same way that held him back. Sora wondered if it would be unfair to tell her about these feelings while everything was still so weird.

“I can’t really think of anything else you could do with the rose,” Goofy said. “Well, I suppose you could turn it into a Keychain if you wanted to,” he added offhandedly.

Sora’s ears perked up at that. “That’s not a bad idea, Goofy.” Sora put Kairi’s charm away as he studied the flower. Yes, he could see it now. He could pierce a metal part through one of the petals and run a chain of that to connect it with the Keyblade.

“Oh no!” Donald shouted. “C’mon don’t be a scaredy cat! It’s just one flower, it barely means anything!”

Sora grinned at him. “What? You don’t want to see what form the Keyblade’ll take when hooked up to this?” Sora had found his way out and he was taking it. He could think about these feelings later. He emptied his pockets of the materials needed to make a keychain.

“It’ll probably just look like a giant flower or something! Goofy help me out here!” Donald looked over to his friend for support.

“Gwarsh, now that Sora brings it up, I’m kinda curious what the Keyblade’ll look like too.”

Donald threw his hands in the air. “Fine! I give up! Why don’t you just hook up everything that isn’t attached to the floor while you’re both at it.”

Sora gave a mischievous grin. “Don’t tempt me,” he said as he lifted the finished product and began hooking it to his Keyblade.

As Sora walked the halls of Hallow Bastion, he promised himself that one day he’d tell her how he felt. Just as soon as all this craziness is dealt with.

The Metal Chocobo

“Ugh!” Sora groaned as he dragged the tip of the Keyblade’s new form on the ground. A charm of a little yellow creature, that Cloud had called a Chocobo, dangled near Sora’s hand. “This thing weigh’s a ton! How the heck does Cloud fight with a weapon like this!?”

“I guess he must work out a lot!” Goofy offered. “Maybe if you keep using it, you’ll get stronger too!”

“You think so?” Sora asked.

“Yeah, no doubt about it!”

Sora hefted the solid metal form his Keyblade took up to his eyelevel. His arm shook with strain, but he did his hardest to keep himself from dropping it. “Okay, let’s train with it for awhile. How bad could it be?”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy decided to stay and train at Olympus Coliseum. The Metal Chocobo, as they had decided to call it, was a fitting name. The blade felt like it was made of solid metal. A useful aspect to have when striking one’s foes, but Sora found the immense weight exhausting to lug around.

Raising the Keyblade over his head to cast magic was far harder with it than any other Keyblade form. And swinging it around for regular melee combat was even worse. By the end of each day, Sora’s arms felt like they were about to tear off from his shoulders.

At the end of his week of training, Sora managed to complete the Phil Cup under a time limit. Sora was shocked to see how much faster his movements had become in just a week. Sora found the Keyblade’s other forms felt weightless to him now.

However, despite all the strength the Metal Chocobo contained, Sora rarely used it outside of Olympus Coliseum. Its weight was too heavy to risk slowing himself down or tiring himself out from it in actual combat. So, he designated it as his official training Keyblade.

But Sora was okay with it only getting minimal uses. The little yellow bird thing was one of the more unique keychains he’d received from someone. And it was always nice to see it hanging on the wall of his room in the Gummi Ship, waiting for him to return.

A fitting reminder of Cloud, and all the strength Sora had gained from having met him.

#Kingdom Hearts #kingdom hearts fanfiction #Sora #Donald Duck #Goofy #Talking about Kairi #fanfiction #kh fanfiction #My Writing

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higuchimon · 6 years ago

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[fanfic] It Started With A Break-In: Chapter 6

“And might we know your name?” King Aodh asked, his attention centered on the armored woman who stood before him, arms wrapped around the child. There was a resemblance between them; the king did not doubt at all that they were kindred of some sort. Exactly what he wasn’t prepared to say.

Released from the spell of silence, she kept her head high, staring at him with a cold remoteness.

“You may address me as Yuu.” Her voice was forged of frost shards and metal slices. “You will also release us.”

Aodh heard a faint shiver in her tone. She would demand, but there wasn’t the force of magic behind it, nor the command of royalty. He regarded her in careful thought.

“We will determine that. You stand accused of unlawfully entering the royal gardens, first and foremost. As you were found there, there is no question of your guilt. We wish to know why you entered and stole the crops there.” In point of fact, he had no intentions to accuse them of anything to do with Juudai’s injury. He’d been caught by his own curiosity, and the child Yubel saved him from worse than a broken arm. True that it wouldn’t have happened at all without their intrusion, but they hadn’t caused it purposely.

Yuu’s lips became a thin line before she spoke. “What else would one do to eat? We have nowhere to grow food of our own and not nearly enough money to buy it. You have more than enough in this place of yours. If you’ll not share it with those less fortunate, then those less fortunate will take what we need.”

Aodh held back a sigh. Ensuring that those of his kingdom had enough to eat and drink and a warm, dry place to sleep were some of the most important duties of a king, or so he’d always been taught.

“There are places one can go in this kingdom to assist in locating a job that you are capable of doing, that will provide for your needs and those of your child.” Aodh observed Yuu for a few more moments. He’d made certain that both of them would be cleaned up before appearing here and he’d been more than a little surprised to see that underneath the mud and filth, blue-steel armor wrapped around pale violet skin, with silver-white hair underneath the helmet. A warrior’s body tensed beneath the armor as well, though no weapons were seen save for the sharp-feathered wings: or the remains of wings.

He’d heard stories of this one, now that he thought of it: Dark Valkyria. At least that was what she was called by most. No one knew what her true name might be. They called her that for her warrior’s skills. She’d been attached to the royal court of a kingdom quite a distance away and had vanished when it fell to an invading army several years earlier.

Five years ago, in fact. His gaze lingered on the child that she defended with little more than a fierce look and unyielding arms. I heard tell of...

Aodh pushed that away for now. Instead, he regarded Yuu. “Though there is another way. I see that you once had wings, did you not?”

Again her lips pressed together and her grip tightened ever so slightly around the child. “What business is it of yours?”

“This: that if you agree to remain here and defend us, we will provide both of you with food, water, shelter, and whatever else that you might need, as well as the restoration of your wings.” Aodh knew that he took a chance with this, but they could use all of the help they could get keeping their kingdom safe.

The child Yubel jerked their gaze up towards Yuu. “We could stay here?” Was that hope in their words? Aodh could not help but wonder what sort of life they’d lived until now.

Yuu held them closer, distrust and hope warring across her features before she stared once again at Aodh. “There are other goals we have than just survival,” she said, voice harsh and tense.

“As does everyone. And you will need that survival in order to gain those other goals.”

Yubel’s fingers closed more on Yuu’s arms. “Mother. Let’s stay. It’s a chance.”

Yuu said nothing for several long moments. “You call this a punishment for what we’ve done?” Absolute distrust and fear colored her words and Aodh couldn’t blame her. Nor did he want to speak of what he thought might be. A glance to Kaien told him that she quite likely suspected the same points herself. Their scryers and mages kept them informed on most of the events in the world.

“No. I call this an opportunity for both of you to improve your lives. Your punishment will be that for the next seven years, you’ll spend three shifts per week guarding the royal gardens, in addition to your other duties. The child Yubel is not old enough to be punished for what happened.” Aodh ruled. “You will both remain in the palace and live in the guards’ dormitory and eat at the guards’ table.” Yuu wouldn’t at all be the first person to have a family with them in the dormitory.

No sooner had he spoken, however, then Juudai jumped up. “I want Yubel to be my friend! To stay with me, no matter what!” He tried to wave both arms, but stopped one of them, wincing in pain, before he kept talking. “Yubel, do you want to stay with me? Please? You can see your mother whenever you want. But… stay with me? Please?”

Yuu stared at him, and Aodh knew if her wings had been intact, they would have spread defensively over Yubel. He leaned forward.

“It is for the two of you to choose that. But I tell you, our son is as well protected as we can manage. You are aware of who he is?”

The birth of the Herald of the Gentle Darkness had been celebrated over most of the known world. Aodh didn’t know if the kingdom they hailed from had been one of those, but there were few who lived in Kuragari who didn’t know about Juudai and who he really was.

Yuu still didn’t relax her defensiveness. Yubel twisted up to stare at her hopefully. “Mother. I trust him. I really do.”

The tiny scabbed over parts on Yuu’s shoulders that had once been her wings slumped downward and she dropped her head, voice quiet and regretful. “I know you do, Yubel. If – if you want to stay with him, I won’t stop you.” But now her eyes grew fierce and she stared at Juudai, “But if you cause Yubel the first moment of harm, then there will be vengeance.”

Neither child seemed to hear that last part. They were far too immersed in staring at once another. Aodh shook his head. He’d seen a few interactions like that before, when those involved cared little or nothing for the opinions of others. It seemed that these would be no different.

“Show Yubel around, but watch your arm,” he granted, and in mere moments the two of them hurried out of the royal courtroom. He wasn’t surprised to see Yuu watching them with a soft gaze of regret. He touched Kaien’s arm.

“Please have Heather brought here. I think it’s best if we tend to our new warrior’s wings as soon as possible.” It would be better if Yuu could focus on her new duties quickly. Kaien would agree.

“What did you mean by talking flying magical rabbits?” Yubel asked as Juudai led them down the corridor. He flushed a deep shade of red.

“You took the food from my plate, didn’t you?” Juudai wasn’t surprised to see them nod. “We thought that rabbits were stealing from the garden since all we could find were rabbit tracks. So I thought – only a flying rabbit could’ve gotten up to where I was, and if it could fly it would be magical and it would be able to talk, too.”

Yubel ducked their head. “Mother knows a few spells. She changed our tracks to look like rabbit tracks so we wouldn’t be found. I think that’s how they caught us: it was a spell to prevent other spells from working. So we couldn’t hide and we couldn’t get away.”

Juudai nodded, ducking his head down for a few seconds. “You don’t want to get away now, do you?”

“No.” Yubel admitted. “I want to stay here for as long as I can.” They hesitated for a few seconds. “Mother says we’ll have to go back somewhere someday. She calls it ‘home’ but I don’t remember it. We left when I was just a baby.”

Juudai’s fingers tightened on their hand. “Where you go, I go. Doesn’t matter where.”

Yubel’s smile brightened the entire corridor. “And where you go, I go.”

They kept on walking together, Juudai showing the sights, Yubel observing, hand in hand, for now and forever.

The End

Notes: Some day there will be a sequel. But tomorrow, I will begin to work on The King’s General.

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygo gx #yubel #juudai x yubel #yubel x juudai #soulshipping #chapters: it started with a break-in

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