#i just hit up my last save before the game crashed and logged out of the game - that's how upset i am lol

[theadventurerslog]

Quest For Glory II: Trial by Fire | Part 8

The Adventurer's Log

The final chapter... If I could get out of this cave after things went terribly wrong last time. Ad Avis got the statue of Iblis and I was stuck in a cave.

I poked around a bit. There was nothing to be done about the rocks. But then there was a flash of light which turned out to be a ring around the tip of a stalagmite. A ring with the inscription, "He Who Waits Behind."

That line wasn't referring to me; take that, Ad Avis. Cinder put it on and twisted it and out popped a Djiinni. He could grant three wishes... as long as they were very specific wishes.

And he's kind of cute. He does try when you try wishing for other stuff but nothing happens. At least he gives it a go! He's doing his best.

I was in pretty good shape and I had lots of healing pills so I wasn't going to waste a wish on health. That leaves two wishes for prowess which adds a whopping 50 points to your skill of choice. And then one wish for getting to Iblis.

This was a lot of pressure to choose WHICH skills though. Like I wasn't sure whether to boost what I was already good at or boost the things that are harder for me to train. I ultimately decided to just throw all my eggs in one wizardly basket and boosted my intelligence to 194 and my magic to 200. Hopefully I'll have no regrets come QFG III.

Then it was time to teleport to Iblis, or as close as possible anyway, which ended up being near the palace.

Doing. His. Best!

Then Sharaf showed up. The Underground were prepared to attack and could provide some distraction for me but I needed to hurry so I wouldn't get caught up in the battle.

Guards around, but the veil Mayzun referenced was hanging in the spot to climb. But I got caught by the guards and Iblis was unleashed...

Heck of a game over.

So, trying that again... I had to get close to enough to the pillar to levitate which took a couple tries.

Then my Djinni buddy led me through the palace.

I was led to a room with a big door I needed to get to. But Khaveen and a guard were also there.

Khaveen wasn't having a good time and I was gonna aim to make him have a worse time. I got myself caught a couple times trying different things. Ultimately I needed to use Calm and that caused him to relax, kind of lose track of what he was doing and leave, so I could levitate down. So, maybe he wasn't really having a worse time but I had tried flinging a flame dart at him. It just...didn't do much but get me caught.

And more warnings of magic from my friend.

I was having some issues. I was being too slow? Or one mistake costs you? I took several tries to get through the door before Iblis was summoned. Then when I did I got pummeled by a statue. Then when I managed again, I still got things wrong and Ad Avis turned me into a Saurus again.

That was an excellent death message though. I can't complain about this particular failure.

I could complain about my struggles though. Sometimes I could make it through the door in time and sometimes I couldn't and I don't know what the difference between the successes and failures was beyond barely having enough time and so sometimes just being too slow? I guess?

I went to an earlier save and tried again going faster even though I seemed to get there quickly before. This time I managed to get in, cast Reversal to avoid being Saurused and Fetched one of the unlit candles to disrupt the ritual.

This resulted in Ad Avis casting a spell at me that was bounced off by my Reversal and hit Khaveen as he entered to help instead.

Turned him into a snake and he slithered off. But then Ad Advis cast another spell that put the floor on fire and destroyed me before I could figure out what to do. He had a reversal spell as well.

I tried AGAIN, with the idea of doing all that then casting force bolt on myself to reflect back to him and knock him over. The ol' Final Fantasy reflect method. Sounded good! ScummVM crashed... Consistently. It didn't like that. Thankfully that wasn't the answer here.

I figured it out in time... Also you can use Trigger on the statue to smash it. There's a brazier. Force Bolt that from the right angle and it gets knocked into Ad Avis and knocks him off the balcony.

And roasts him by the looks of it... Gruesome...

My Djinni popped out to take Iblis back to the tomb for another thousand and one years. And then he told me what the real prophecy was meant to be.

Then he left.

And it was ending time! With Mayzun's help Emir Ali was found hiding and convinced to restore the city. He ordered the fighting to cease and declared an end to Ad Avis and Khaveen's rule. While he was speech-making Cinder snuck off because we had one more task to do.

Releasing the water elemental caused them to restore the fountain and in doing so the plaza itself.

Raseir was recovering! Shema, Shameen and Abdulla arrived on their magic carpet to take me back to Shapeir and see the Sultan.

Then it was time for all manner of speeches as different people spoke up for my deeds and heroism.

Shema and Shameen first:

I became the hero of Spielburg and then came here and defeated the Elementals to save the city. A hero!

Then Aziza spoke of my deeds saving Julanar (in as much as she can be saved.) But I did show her the joy of life again.

Zayishah came next and described how I helped her escape Raseir even at my own expense.

Then it was time to help the old Emir at last and give him the Dispel Potion.

Farewell weirdo Saurus...

Not sure how I feel about you licking my face as a saurus! I don't know exactly how self-aware he was while enchanted, so there might be that at least... I'm just gonna try not to think too deeply on this one.

It was the Sultan's turn next and he proclaimed me a hero then called me his son. AND it turns out he was the poet, Omar, all along. Sneaky sneaky.

Hero and Prince of Shapeir now? Racking up those titles.

At last Rakeesh stepped in and due to my courage, kindness, generosity, honesty and mercy he declared me a man of great honor and gave me his sword, Soulforge, thus declaring me a Paladin.

I didn't exactly mean for that to happen, but sure I guess? Wizard Paladin? As long as I can still be thoroughly wizardly.

Heroic raising of the sword.

And my congratulations.

It even changed the "Hero" part in the top bar to "Paladin."

530/550 points. I missed 20 points! That's a lot to miss! I have no idea where; I would assume at at least a couple different points, probably more. Oh well, not bad for a first time anyway.

"Miserable puns"? No, no, glorious puns. Feed me all the puns.

And we couldn't end this without some advertising for the third game which will be coming. And finally, of course, my final stats and magic scores taken right before defeating Ad Avis:

I never did get all my money back... I wonder if I missed something there or if you just lose it and that's that. Look at that Flame Dart. What spell did I use constantly?

And so this desert venture ends... Where to next? That'll be answered in Quest for Glory III: Wages of War.

For now... Fin.

--

Final Thoughts

I think I like it more than the first one, though they're both good. This one has a slower feeling pace with a lot of down time at least if you deal with the elementals quickly. It's kind of relaxing in a way once you get into the rhythm of things. It also keeps the time limit from feeling so stressful; I wasn't ever feeling under much pressure. And of course once you get going to Raseir things really ramp up and that provides a nice contrast and sense of danger. Feel that new tension. The point from running into Ad Avis onward is great.

While the characters aren't exactly deep I enjoyed them for what they are, like Aziza and Keapon (yay goofy wordplaying gnomes!). The WIT stuff was fun and makes me continue to be glad I'm playing a magic user.

I also really appreciated being able to rest and pass time far more easily than the first game. That option to rest for an hour is great. I never used it myself, but there was also an option to sleep until evening if you need to do stuff at night and just want to get past the day. Probably most useful for the thief.

I also have a lingering question. What was the point of the third Dispel Potion? I only used two and found no one needing a third.

I don't like navigating the streets of Shapeir or Raseir. The map is great for Shapeir, but when you don't have the locations marked yet it's a menace to get around. For me anyway. I get lost easily.

And combat continues to be feel janky. Manageable but clunky.

Aside from those couple downsides I had another good time. I'm looking forward to continuing the journey, and I guess exploring the Paladin side of things too??

Quest for Glory III coming up next in which we leave the text parser and make the move to point and click.

[alteredphoenix]

What kind of sick monster codes Skyrim in a way that your companions have to take a moment to recover when they’re low on health on the lowest difficulty but if you shoot them in the back with an arrow that’s meant for the Forsworn Ravager that’s attacking them they eat the crit and die.

(Or, I accidentally murdered Kharjo as we were passing through a Forsworn camp and was so stunned I just decided that shit is non-canon and reloaded to my previous save because I did not get this far acquiring decent heavy armor for a cat warrior I had my eye on for days.

I’m sorry, Kharjo, let’s pretend that was part of a dragon break, okay? Okay.)

[honeyabyss]

How the newly Dateables would do in a “The Forest” AU

So this was inspired and allowed to post by @lucifers-favorite-pen

I read theirs about the brothers and had to write something for the others as well!

Definitely check out their post too: The Brothers in “The Forest”

Warning: some curse words, very slight gore

Solomon:

I have ANOTHER child?

ignore that, I didn't say anything, you have no proof I have a child, can I request a paternity test before I start searching for him?

will spend at least an hour at the planecrash harvesting everything that seems of use... So basically picking up everything until his bag is completely stuffed

no magic? That's a problem, tries to summon his pacts nonetheless, obviously fails, gets a bit disgruntled by the fact he now has to carry all the shit he picked up himself, will try to load it into the bag of someone else only to get called off

"but it's for us~ it's going to help the group immensely! Won't you help me carry it?"

Lucifer: "why would we need so many wristwatches and coins?"

"to make bombs!"

Lucifer:" that would only endanger us more, leave it here"

Solomon getting forced to leave things behind so he isn't overloaded anymore (Mammon will most definitely pick up all the wristwatches for later selling purposes)

will not help building a shelter, “you know I would help but I'm just not as strong as you... In our team I am the brain and you guys are the brawn”, will get hit by the demons... That's probably the first time he dies, through discovering friendly fire

will be using the brothers as a shield, because he doesn't want to respawn and lose all his stuff

actually will help Beel building traps around the base, well he tells where to put what, but that still helps to fend off many nightly visitors

will collect body parts of the cannibals out of the traps first thing in the morning

"Solomon are you making a cannibal leg stew? I think I just became a vegetarian"- everyone. periodt.

5/10 survivalist. He sure is intelligent and will make some things easy, but he is still a shady and selfish bitch, You're getting attacked? Watch Solomon hiding 2 meters away from you behind a rock while he plunders Mammons dead body

Diavolo:

“oh? This is way more fun that sitting in this noble meeting I just got teleported out from” (every noble will panic, but Dia doesn't care)

“this is my son? How exciting I'll show him his future Kingdom once we saved him! wait he's not real? He will disappear when we finish the game?” sad Dia 

is excited all the time, “oooh is this what a camping trip feels like? Except for the plane crash of course... But walking around the forest with friends, making a shelter, eating food at a campfire... That's exactly a camping trip!”

Diavolo please calm down, you're going to lead the cannibals to us

"Cannibals? How interesting, but would they even eat us? I mean it's a human game right? So if humans see them as cannibals then they would eat humans not demons or angels right?" sorry Mc, you’ll be sacrificed...

Will test out that theory. Surprise, he is wrong and almost gets eaten if it weren't for Lucifer and Barbatos protection, gets a good scolding afterwards, will be more cautious from then on

“Barbatos, I command you to protect Mc all the time! We can't have something happen to them even if it is just in a game”

building a shelter? Never done it before but it sounds fun, will instantly adjust to Beel, if you chop wood you have to get rid of your shirt first right? Will give his best and use his strength to carry as many logs as he can

just shirtless lumberjack Diavolo

hears someone complain about not being able to use magic. Oh right he could have used magic, had too much fun to even consider using magic. “This is a great challenge for us all!”

10 /10 even though he doesn't notice it, he is giving his best without having to think about it, has a whole lot of fun and isn't the tiniest bit scared. Will ask for a repetition of the game, ending in everyone running away to destroy the game disc

Barbatos:

smiles while he asks who of the brothers he has to murder thanks to this mess he's now in

will kill Levi, confused when he respawns without Barb having to rewind time, makes the job easier for him

will give out jobs to the group to organize everything so they can be sure they have everything covered

"Mc your job is not dying, sit down on this tree stump and watch out for any inconvenience that might occure... What did you just say? Could you repeat that?... There is a horde of naked men without genitals running down the hill? I- Did you hit your head in the plane crash?"

"Oh unholy devil king, you are right!"

Will move camp immediately somewhere more safe

build a camp? He has so many jobs, he is overseer, he will find food and make meals out of it, he will make a list of the materials they have and calculate how long they can last with it

will be on night watch every night, makes them move to a new location almost every day due to spotting patrols, not everyone is happy about it but they do as he says cause Dia trusts Barb, and Lucy follows everywhere Dia goes, and everyone else is scared of Lucy

will not die, the first fight he gets into a sweat will be in the endgame, will be packed with medical equipment, food, drinks and strong weapons, endgame is suddenly easy

10/10 pacifist run (besides the unavoidable fights in the end), is pretty chill most of the time, has everything and everyone under control

Simeon:

"did anyone get hurt? Here let me check up on everyone, oh my-" holds hands over Lukes and Mcs eyes and whispers to the others "Is that stewardess dead?"

Mammon:"sure is" instantly starts searching for valuables on the dead body

Simeon will guide Mc and Luke out of the plane to the side where they can't see any gore and make them wait there

holds hands of Luke and Mc on the way through the forest so a) they don't get scared and b) so they don't run off after any animals they see

shelter job? Take care of the children (Mc and Luke), plant a garden of herbs and berries with Luke, Mc and Barbatos, keep Solomon away from the campfire it's dangerous enough already, don't let Solomon cook a concoction that will kill them even faster

weird, naked, unsocialized man are attacking us? “Mc, Luke stay close behind me! I, archangel Simeon will protect you... With this sharp stick, cause I don't have any other weapons or magic to hand, but do fear not!”

will die the first time protecting Luke and Mc... Will be devasted when they both respawn with him as well “I failed at keeping you safe... forgive me”

will craft himself a bow and arrows and be even more determined to protect the precious young ones

will not kill animals, “we have enough berries, herbs and other edible things, look this tree bark tastes great, it's like spaghetti if you cook it in hot water and with this berry juice on top it's a perfectly fine meal” Will be the only one eating it, even Luke prefers not to

will not give up and stay positive (even when everyone ignores his suggestions), Mc and Luke try to cheer him up by doing some of his suggestions

5/10 he really tries but there is only so much he can do, he has no real weapon and even when he does he prefers to only knock out his enemys and run, making the cannibals only more aggressive with every fight

Luke:

doesn't see shit, because of Simeons hand, “what happend? What's going on? Why are we waking up in a plane?”

follows Simeons advise, gets extremely embarrassed about holding his hand "I'm not a child! I won't run away!.... Oh look there is a cute deer... did it get separated from his family? Maybe we can help him? Wait Simeon don't pull me away-"

"don't worry Mc I'll protect you!" gets scared of the cannibals and will hide behind Mc and Simeon

won't be able to do any physical labor to help build a shelter due to his childlike physic, will carry dry sticks and rocks to the camp with Mc and build a campfire for later

“I want to bake some dessert, do you think we can find flour here? And eggs? I can make a cake through melting these chocolate bars we found at the airplane, okay let me go look for baking materials”

 from there on nobody left him even one second of privacy, you need to go to the toilet? Okay let's go to this bush I wait behind you, you don't need protection while peeing? Maybe not but you might run away

Luke being stressed and embarrassed 24/7 and getting teased about it by the demons... You need to go to the toilet again? Let me take you on a walk chihuahua~

1/10 he is not a help most of the time, does prioritize the wrong things, it's just a game...and he is weak for sweets and cute animals

[sinjinlover1]

Long Lost Partners

Summary - When Kaminari gets caught from cheating on the recent English test, he receives an unusual punishment from Present Mic and joins another student from class 1-B. The two hit it off but Kaminari can’t shake the feeling that he knows this individual. But from where? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To say that Denki Kaminari was tired would be an understatement. He was absolutely wrecked, though partially was his own fault. This morning he swore off procrastination and walked into class proclaiming that he was a new and improved man. To be fair though, this was probably the three monster energy drinks he downed while running to school talking, not him.

"Nice man! You know it takes someone who is really manly to step up and take action so I'm proud of you." Kirishima slapped his back appraisingly.

Jirou only looked him down suspiciously. "You sure that's you talking?"

"Hey I'm serious! The second I get an assignment I'll do it. I won't leave it off to the last day like last night ever again." Denki shivered at the thought of what went down this previous night. He was up until four am this morning trying to crank out the two weeks worth of homework that he had been piled up, which conveniently all had the same due date, today. Couldn't help but wonder if teachers planned to have the same due dates for work to make students' lives hell as he tried to complete his English homework.

Iida butted in with a smile on his face while performing his routine robotic chops, "I praise you Kaminari for being an example to the class! It is unwise to leave assignments to the very last minute when you can give them the attention they require and get full marks." At this comment almost everyone in class 1-A turned to look at Kaminari who was wearing a smug smile.

"You hear that Sero?" Kaminari asked with a shit eating grin. He opened his arms wide open giving him a full view. "I think you need to look up to me now."

"You're so full of shit." Sero remarked at his gloating friend who was basking in the attention. This was all in good fun though. Sero and Kaminari had met this year and got along the best between anyone else in class. Sometimes even taking time to hang out after school or play some games online.

Sero didn't really plan on looking up to Kaminari as usually it was the opposite way around. When Sero logged on last night to play a game, he had expected Kaminari to be on as he usually was, but instead was met with a text message saying, "can't tonight. doing this bitch ass English hw."

Sero knew that his friend had been procrastinating but when he opened Snapchat this morning he saw a whole new level of this bad habit. While going through Denki's private story he couldn't count the times Denki had filmed himself downing a whole monster energy drink. At around midnight he even filmed himself making what he called, 'The Acid Drink' which was a 20 oz. bottle of a mixture of coffee, Monster drinks, Kool Aid mix, Red Bull, and just pure granulated sugar. He even attempted to do shots of the 'Acid Drink' while workin on quadratic equations. Again, Sero didn't think it would be wise to follow in Kaminari's steps.

"Man how the hell are you going to stay up all day when all that sugar and caffeine crash?" Sero asked. He was sure his friend had come prepared and to be honest, he wanted to see what his plan was. And Kaminari's smile confirmed his suspicions as he pointed towards his bag.

"I've already thought ahead my friend. I left a bit early to go to the store to get some Red Bulls, candy and other stuff, which was a good idea considering there was a villain attack right near the shop. That would've been rough getting to school this morning."

Sero nodded in agreement. He left a bit too late this morning and he was actually caught up a bit in all the traffic and mess from the attack as well. Two people with quirks that enhanced their sizes went at it at 7:30 in the morning creating huge amounts of destruction.

"Yeah it was a pain in the ass trying to get through. Thank god I made it though. I don't think I can afford to be yelled at by Mr. Aizawa for being late again."

"It would kind of suck if one of my friends got expelled for showing up late to his class for the third time." Denki was now popping a couple smarties in his mouth before chewing it up. Sero then gave him a pointed look before Denki handed a couple over to his friend.

Right on que Mr. Aizawa walked into class for homeroom and thus began another uneventful day of learning, that is, until the end of English class.

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Hearing Present Mic speak was never a problem as that man never ceased shouting about anything. And that proved to be quite annoying in Denki's attempt to learn the English language. Well, that's at least what he blamed to be the cause of his current failing English grade.

Now, Denki Kaminari isn't the sharpest tool in the shed but that doesn't mean he is a total flop. He passed the UA entrance exam so that has to mean something, right? But when it comes to languages that is where he has never succeeded and doesn't think he ever will.

So today when Present Mic started class by asking for Denki to stay after class because, 'I have a few concerns about your English test," this really didn't come as a surprise. Even if it was expected, because there was no denying it, he bullshitted and cheated his way through that last test, that still didn't stop the sinking feeling he got in the pit of his stomach when he knew something was wrong.

He looked around the room as everyone once more stared at him like this morning, but he felt 3 pairs of eyes who looked at him knowingly. And those people would be none other than Hanta Sero, Eiji Kirishima and Mina Ashido.

Kaminari gave a cold look at Sero who also seemed to look like he was sweating in his seat as well, but Present Mic never said anything about him and started his lesson by screaming a song in English.

'That asshole isn't being called out but I am.? We both cheated on the same test using the same sheet yet Sero is the one who gets the clear? Jesus, I'm probably going to be chewed out by Present Mic which is way worse than Mr. Aizawa. Scratch that Mr. Aizawa is scarier than Mic but Mic is just so loud I think that makes up the difference between how annoying they are to be yelled at by.'

And so, by the time English class was coming to an end and lunch was near, Denki did not learn anything in that class as he spent it in his own inner monologue.

"And that's really the main difference between using singular and plural nouns listeners! See you all on Wednesday have a good lunch!" Present Mic concluded his lesson and gave Denki a lingering stare saying, 'don't start leaving yet.' Denki looked to all his friends as each left.

Mina gave him a quick nod and a wave before walking out.

Sero passed by snickering as he confirmed that he was in the clear and was safe.

And finally, Kirishima gave him a quick pat on the back before joining the rest of the gang outside the room.

And Bakugou, Denki didn't even see him leave but he assumed he just packed up and left as usual.

So now all that's left in the classroom was himself and Mic.

Denki slowly made his way up to Mics desk mustering up as much as a pleasant attitude as he could, while also praying his eardrums won't split if he gets too close to him. When arriving at the front of the classroom all he could peep out was, "What's up?"

'Woah that came out higher than expected.'

Present Mic propped his legs on his desk and crossed them before taking a deep breath. "Listen here listener,"

'How can I not listen if you're shouting constantly.'

"Do you know what being a true hero means?"

'Well I didn't expect that.'

"Yeah, it means risking your life to save other people right?" Kaminari wasn't exactly sure where this conversation was going but Present Mic sure got serious all of a sudden.

"I know what a pro hero does, but I am asking about a true hero here. Someone who does or takes actions that are heroic for others without the benefit from doing actions. Being a true hero means being honest," Present Mic consequently pulled out his recent English test and handed it back to Denki concluding, "and cheating is not honest."

'Oh so that's where he was going with that.' So Denki Kaminari took the test marked with a big '0' and took that as his queue to zone out. After years of practice he could say that he mastered the art of looking like he was paying attention, but really was somewhere else in his mind entirely. He wasn't sure if this was something to brag about though. Sometimes words slip in but if he focuses enough, he can totally tune them out and do something else. Like think about what he wants to do after this.

As Present Mic continued on about cheating and whatnot, Denki got more tired by the minute, wishing he was drowning himself in caffeine rather than Present Mic drowning him in words.

"So heroes aren't always the ones front and center taking care of the villians. Often these heroes are working behind the scenes and keeping society flowing. They are honest and handworkers who help their community."

Denki was now swaying from one foot to another getting even more bored with each passing second. Another thing about Present Mic which in his opinion makes him worse than Mr. Aizawa is that he doesn't get to the point immediately. Instead he makes elaborate discussions rather than just telling him what his punishment is like Mr. Aizawa.

"So for your punishment. Of course I will have you retake the test and we can set a date for that, but instead I have a better solution instead of suspending you for cheating. Because what does that teach you? Nothing! You know students can't learn much if..."

And Kaminari began to doze off waiting for Present Mic once more, to get to the point so he can eat. It probably would've been smarter to take his last Monster Energy before this class.

"...instead I'll have you working on your honesty through community service. I have a little group called 'Present Mic's Helping Hands' and it is full of students, like yourself, who also can improve upon their honesty or choose to help out instead of detention. I suppose you may have heard this on my radio show as I send out a line for people to call if they need help doing small services around the city." Present Mic beamed at his plan to Denki and even began to pull out a small binder that was sitting in the top drawer of his desk. Smiling even more, Present Mic beckoned Denki over as he went on about each of his services he did and photos that were taken.

Apparently that binder was just composed of photographs of Mic smiling with previous students who were all wearing matching and tacky bright yellow shirts. Some students smiled, while some looked like they wanted to leave at that very moment. There seemed to be a picture for every time they had a group of 2 or more to do a service project. Kaminari can't even guess how far back some of these pictures go.

"So I just have to do some community service for the rest of the week?"

"Right on listener! I'm so excited for you to help out and join our group along with another, though they've already tagged along once or twice before! I'm just going to have you two meet me at the front of the school at the end of the day! That is where I'll give our service assignment! Sounds good?" Present Mic concluded looking to see if there were any questions on the young teens face. With a simple nod to Kaminari's head, he sent him out to eat his lunch.

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As Kaminari approached the lunch table he saw that everyone was there waiting for him to ask what happened, and Kaminari explained it all. How he won't be able to play games for a whole week because he'll be stuck doing community services with some other person in Present Mics 'Helping Hands' group. He also brought out his last Monster Energy Drink which he has been saving for his lunch.

Sero snickered while finishing chewing his food, "Sucks to suck I guess." And at that Kaminari playfully jabbed him in the ribs making Sero slightly choke on his food. "What the hell dude? I thought we were going to at least get caught together but you get a freebie?" With that Sero only shrugged.

"Well at least you aren't suspended right? That could've been a lot worse. Like imagine if you got caught by Mr. Aizawa." Mina consoled while shuddering at the thought of Mr. Aizawas red eyes glaring into hers as he expelled her.

Kirishima decided to join in saying, "I think you should take this as a learning experience man." But before he could continue Kaminari cut him off saying, "You don't get to talk. I don't think you have ever had to cheat once in your life. And English comes easy to you for some reason. What did you do to get all smart?"

With that Kirishima shrugged his shoulders and turned to his friend, "I don't know being manly means being honest so cheating has never really been an option." Kaminari only stared at him with an annoyed face(because he knew he was right and probably won't try to cheat again) and went back to his complaining.

"This sucks. I really wanted to just take a nap when I got home. I hadn't planned on staying later so I didn't stack up on any energy drinks because the ones I'm having right now will last until the end of classes." He pointed to his empty Monster Energy drink before putting it upside down for emphasis.

As lunch was coming to an end more and more people began to get up and take care of their dishes and trash. The group followed suit and got up starting to walk to 5th period.

"You said that there's going to be one other person right? I don't know, just talk to them and try to get through it." Sero offered, trying to help his friend make the best of the situation he was stuck in.

Walking through the class door together Kaminari responded, "Yeah you're right, we'll see I guess."

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At the end of the day Kaminari changed out his shoes and made his way towards the front of the school where he noticed one other person standing and waiting where he was told to meet Mic.

'Probably the other person.'

Making his way towards them he started to get a clearer view on who would be joining him for the next week. And his first impression was not who he has been picturing at all. He thought this student would look like a total delinquent and fool around all the time but this person in front actually looked pretty put together. And also kind of hot.

"Hey I'm Denki Kaminari but you know you can call me Denki if you'd like." He flashed his best award winning smile waiting for his new partner for the week to respond. Denki began thinking maybe this won't be so bad after all.

"Hi I'm Y/N L/N and same you can call me Y/N I don't really care either way. Oh and I'm in class 1-B." You responded with a cherry smile. Denki didn't know a simple smile or laugh could make him feel warm and mushy inside. This was a foreign feeling.

"Oh for real? I'm in class 1-A." He said, but the sudden drop of your face meant that he needed to clarify. "I promise we're not like the rumors. At least not all of us." You knew what rumors he was talking about. A lot of class 1-B along with others from the student body tend to think that 1-A was just full of stuck up brats who think they are better than everyone else. And though Kaminari can think of a few students who fit into that rumor, he didn't think at least he was better than anyone else. It was quite obvious that he wasn't and the proof was that he was standing here with someone else who had cheated. Which brings up his next question.

"So did you get caught cheating too?" You shook your head quickly and let out a bit of a chuckle. Scratching the back of your neck as though you were embarrassed, you responded sheepishly,

"Well it's a bit of a long story,"

"Alright guys for one box of Pocky I'll do a backflip right off of Mics desk to my own seat." You exclaimed to your quiet class who were all patiently waiting for Present Mic to come. Everyone turned to you with eyes wide open.

Kendo was quick to shut this down. "Yeah, no you won't. I don't need you causing a scene. Besides Present Mic is going to be here any moment so we can just wait patiently. Save that for hero training." She advised. While her words were convincing, Tetsutetsu's were more after saying two simple words, "You're on."

Immediately getting up you could hear both the mixed interest and protests of your classmates as you began to make your way towards the front of the desk. With a quick peek out the front door and seeing nothing you quickly mounted on top of the desk and got situated.

"Y/N I'm serious you need to get down. Present Mic is going to come in and punish us all for your actions." You looked at Kendo questioningly. "Are we talking about the same teacher? 'Cause the Mic I know would cheer me on." She gave you a small glare in return preparing to get up from her own seat to stop you.

"Hey c'mon! Wouldn't it be cool if when I jumped, I landed in my seat the moment Mic gets here?" You chuckled along with a few others in the class at the thought of pretending nothing ever happened and that a student totally did not do a backflip off of his desk full of all his personal work, files, records, etc.

You raised your eyebrow and tried to figure out how to jump so you would land right in your seat. Kendo let out a tired sigh before continuing her protests. Ignoring her you finally got into position and ready to jump. The rest of the class, though excluding a few, were all watching intently, a few even chanting.

And so, taking your leap backwards, it would've been a perfect landing, if your shoelace hadn't got snagged between two drawers from when you were fixing your position. As you jumped back you pulled not only you, but Mics entire desk causing it to fall and contents to spill everywhere.

Thankfully Kendo dropped her hands giving up completely and got up to help you out along with others who went to see if you were all right. It sounded like you hit your head pretty hard. And right on cue Mic walked into the disaster of a room with his desk completely turned over. Records, papers, pens, files, clips, all of it was everywhere.

And it didn't take long to find the culprit behind this as they were lying on the classroom floor. No other words had to be said between you and Mic other than, "Did you bring your shirt?"

After hearing the story Denki was now laughing it up as you gave him pointed glares. You continued on saying, "The worst part was that I didn't even get any Pocky!"

Kaminari raised his eyebrows at you. "Well yeah obviously. You didn't stick the landing. Can you even do a flip?"

In return you gave him a mock-offended look, "Can you even do a flip? Of course I can do a flip asshole." But at that Kaminari shook his head laughing, "From that story I think it was clear that you can not do a flip."

Now at this comment, you took his words as a personal offence. "How dare you, first of all fuck you, and secondly watch this." As you took a stance and did a back flip right in front of Kaminari. As you landed you stretched your arms wide waiting for an applause which was shortly given by Kaminari. After that's when the two of you began to laugh.

In that very moment Kaminari can feel as though they've met this person before, he could've sworn he knows that laugh. It's so distinct, something he would never forget yet he can't place where he knows it in his mind.

Now it was your turn to question his own skills, "Can you even do a flip?" But before he could respond the two of you heard shouting from across the school yard near the busses.

"Listeners! Come meet me over here!" Present Mic shouted waving over for the two to come.

And the two did a quick jog over to where Present Mic had been waiting along with a small bus that Kaminari guessed was to drive you both to the service activity for the day.

"Sorry that took me a while, I had to dig out a new shirt for our new member of 'Present Mics Helping Hands!'" He shoved the shirt quickly to Kaminari. Kaminari knew the shirts were tacky and embarrassing from the photos, but the photos never showed the back. He couldn't believe he was going to need to wear this all week. While the front of the bright yellow shirt said, 'Present Mic's Helping Hands,' the back of the shirt had Mics face plastered all over the back as he was showing his hands.

"So what do you think? I designed them myself! Pretty sweet right? Feel free to wear it whenever you're outside school!" He quipped. The first thing Kaminari wanted to do was burn this shirt to the ground.

Present Mic then turned to you, "You have your shirt from last time?" And you gave him a thumbs up before pulling it out from your bag and showing it to the two. The same face was plastered on the back of his as well.

"Awesome! Now put them on over your uniforms and come in front of the bus to take a picture! It's tradition that every time we go out for a community service activity we take a picture to remember these fond memories!"

The two of you both put on your shirts and made your way to the front of the bus. Lining up the two of you stood right next to each other, though it looked a bit awkward considering the space between you two. So Mic went up and pushed you and Kaminari both close together before turning around to fit him in the selfie. Both of you brushed hands slightly as you felt a faint shock of electricity when touching him.

"Okay Listeners on three say, 'Present Mics Helping Hands,' okay?"

On three you both exclaimed 'Present Mics Helping Hands,' though it didn't sound as enthusiastic as Mics booming voice through his speakers. With a look at the photo he turned off his phone and shook Kaminari's hand.

"Welcome to the group and congratulations on being the third member to join this school year!" Kaminari shook his hand back weakly and turned to you. "I didn't know there was another member." he commented.

As the two of you both climbed the bus preparing to leave you answered his comment saying, "Yeah, we were actually the first members to join this year. It was a guy from class 3-A and I remember being so surprised that this guy had been "recruited" into the helping hands. I mean he was just so quiet and shy too. Honestly the conversations were pretty one sided so it's nice having someone to talk to for this week."

Kaminari let out a small oh as their journey to the service activity continued. Mic was upfront driving the bus signing some English song and next to him was Y/N who was currently on her phone playing a game.

Taking a closer look the game turned out to be none other than Minecraft.

"No way you play Minecraft?" He asked as Y/N turned to look at him.

"Oh yeah! I haven't played in such a long time though, but only recently I've started to play again because my little brother got really into it. But I used to play a lot when I was younger."

Kaminari felt a twinge and that feeling like he knew who this person was before even meeting them happened again. But still he couldn't place the feeling to exactly where he knew them.

"Same! I was obsessed when I was younger and would always log on. Hold up I'm going to pull up right now and I'll add you on my phone now and then later sometime we can play." Kaminari whipped out his phone and opened the app he hadn't touched in such a long time.

"Sounds good, I usually play on my PC anyways." You replied going back to building your home on the game.

Once Kaminari had loaded the game he asked you, "Okay what's your username?"

You paused for a moment before going to scratch the back of your neck. "Promise not to make fun, I made it when I was super young and I've been a bit lazy to change it..." Kaminari stared at you, prompting you to go on.

"It's 'green_penguin.lover33.'" You turned away embarrassedly.

Kaminari stopped immediately when he heard that name. It finally clicked. From the time he first heard them speak to the time they had first laughed there was no mistaking it. He finally knows where he remembers you from!

"No way, you're 'green_penguin.lover33?' I'm 'sparkguy8!' Holy shit I thought I knew you from somewhere."

"Oh my god." You exclaimed. You knew that name the very second it was spoken. That is because 'sparkguy8' was none other than your very first and only, Minecraft boyfriend.

This was insane. It's not everyday you meet your first Minecraft boyfriend in person especially after such a long time. Kaminari was the first to start talking after the reveal.

"Where on earth did you go? When you stopped showing up I was so lonely. I thought we had broken up! I still remember your last words which were, 'see you soon.' What the hell happened?" Kaminari was literally bouncing in his seat like a puppy after seeing its owner come home from work that day.

"Oh that's actually easy to explain." You told him how when you moved your console got lost and by the time you had gotten a new one you were already done playing Minecraft and instead you played other games and just over time forgot about it all. It was just only until recently when your little brother had gotten a gaming console he got Minecraft and has been bugging you about playing together.

After taking in all this information, Kaminari feels as though his life is finally complete. Not only did his Minecraft partner go to his school, they were actually a really cool person and fun to be around, and not only that but they were really attractive as well. For once he could actually thank Present Mic for this.

"I hope you know that as soon as we get home we are playing right?" He said determinedly.

"Of course," you replied. Shaking your head in confirmation as the two of you rode the bus to the service activity. You felt closer to Kaminari then you have ever been with another person before.

Apparently cleanup from this morning's villain fight is taking longer than expected and Mic had received a call from his help line. Time couldn't have flown any faster as the two of you picked up rubble and trash from the part of the city that had been destroyed. Whether it was talking about older memories of playing, music, newer games, food, all of it.

In the moment when you two were parting ways, and you watched as Kaminari walked off towards the sunset, you were positive that attempting to do a backflip off of your teacher's Present Mics desk was the best decision you've made in your life.

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

well hopefully that wasn't too awful to read haha.

i finally got the motivation to write and i’m going to start pumping out a bunch of these denki x reader one shots so stay tuned!

i hope you all stay healthy and safe, love you <3

-sinjinlover1

[thiswasinevitableid]

Third Time’s The Charm (Indruck)

Prompt for the 10th was: stiches

“I ain’t sure what you thought was gonna happen. That canopy is fuckin dense.”

“In my, ouch, defense I, ow, only crash landed in one percent of futures, OW!” Indrid cuts off into chitters of pain as Duck continues stitching up his shoulder near his wing.”

You know, Duck had been hoping someone from home would visit him out here in Brazil. He just wasn't expecting the mothman to be the first one to show up. 

And he really wasn’t expecting him to crash to the ground near Ducks small cabin that he stays in when not in the field. In spite of his wing clearly bleeding, he’d told Duck to hurry into town to head off yet another fire. When Duck came back two hours later to find Indrid trying to stitch up his wing using the bathroom mirror and a very odd contortion, he ordered him to sit down on the closed toilet seat so he could do the damn thing right.

He’s halfway through now, Indrid’s feathers making things tricky. The Sylph staying in this form until it was over, since his pain tolerance is higher when he’s not human.

“Thank you for not insisting on taking me to a hospital.”

“The closest one is an hour away and I don’t know enough Portuguese to explain the mothman to a doctor.” Duck adjusts his stance slightly so he’s not blocking the light he needs to work, “gotta say, for all your chirpin, you’re doin pretty damn well.”

“As you pointed out, one cannot go as ‘mothman’ to a hospital. And after documentation became more common, it became harder to produce identifying documents that wouldn’t raise too many questions. One gets used to home surgery and unpleasant infections.”

Duck raises an eyebrow, concerned by the last part of that sentence.

“Do not worry, Duck Newton, I know enough healing spells that it has never become an issue.”

“I mean, that’s good to know but Indrid, that ain’t no way to live.”

“Perhaps not. But it was often the price of helping prevent disaster. Or trying to.”

“You helped us a hell of a lot in Kepler.”

The Sylph hums in acknowledgement, hisses as Duck pulls the last stitch through. He stays quiet as Duck bandages him. Awkward silence is broken only by insects and the occasional bird, and a question taps at the back of Duck’s skull.

“I, uh, I thought you were goin back to Sylvain. Handin the job off to Leo and all that.”

“I considered that, and Leo is welcome to use his foresight as he pleases. But as I told you on our first meeting, I fell in love with earth. I have been away from Sylvain for a long time. I searched for a solution to her decline for a century. You and the others solved it in one-hundredth of that time. So it is not as if the kingdom will welcome me back as a hero. And I do not want my old position back. No, Duck Newton, if I am going to be a failure, have my warnings ignored, I may as well do so on the planet I like better.”

“Now, hold on-” Duck wants to argue, but Indrid swivels his head, red eyes as disconcerting as they were when they met. He looks very sure of his conclusion. More than that, he looks tired.

“Your question had a dual purpose, so I will answer what was implicit; you want to know why I’m here and not somewhere else.”

“I, uh, I mean yeah, but I ain’t-”

“-trying to be rude, nono, I do not doubt that. I came to you because the fire I foresaw would be as bad, if not worse, as the one you are helping undo the damage from. And it is easier to stop disaster when I don’t have to waste time making someone believe I can really see the future.” He stands, taking up half the bathroom, “thank you for your help. I will put on my glasses and be on my way. Can I trouble you for a ride into town?”

“No, I mean yeah, but jesus christ Indrid, you crashed. I just finished stitching you up! You oughta rest up some.’

Indrid cocks his head, “Yes, hence the trip into town. I can rest there until my wing is healed.”

“You got no one to tend those stitches, and I got a couch that ain’t bein used.”

“But you do not want me here.” He barely sounds hurt, just resigned,  and somehow that makes Duck feel worse than if the Sylph was crying.

And a little annoyed.

“Did I say that?”

“No. But we were hardly close friends, and what is more you have spent a great deal of your life with aliens popping into your space unannounced. Where is she, by the by? I thought she was coming with you.”

Duck sticks his hands into his pockets, staring down as he shrugs, “forestry ain’t exactly her area of interest. And, uh, once the trauma-bondin’ wore off, think we both needed some time to sort some things out.”

Indrid stares blankly at him a moment, and then he chirrs, “You’re lonely.”

“Hey I, I’m uh, I- how the fuck did you know that?”

“You said so in some futures.”

“Are there futures where you accept my offer and get your fuzzy ass on the couch before you pass out?” Duck doesn’t mean to sound grumpy, but Indrid just bumped into two sore spots in Duck’s psyche.

Oddly, Indrid snickers, “I forgot how stubborn you can be. Very well, I accept your offer of the couch.”

By the time Duck gets back with a spare pillow, the Sylph is asleep, chirping peacefully. 

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

“What are you doing?”

“GAHfuck”

“Apologies.” Indrid only looks partially sorry, his human grin wide when Duck glares at him. 

“That some sort of Sylph silence spell?”

“No, just years of practice trying not to be heard in the halls when I was seer.” 

Last Duck saw him, he was still asleep on the couch, mumbling and chirring in pain when Duck changed the bandage. Duck would like to say that’s all he remembers, except there was a moment after he finished and Indrid’s eyes fluttered open as he sighed out a “thank you.” And that sight, the way Indrid looked in the morning light, safe and trusting, had tugged at his heart. 

“May I keep you company? I am not in much of a state to do much else, even watch futures. Hitting my head tends to do that.” 

“Uh, sure. I’m on my own for the mornin, not sure how excitin it will be.”

“I wish to know everything.”

Duck’s about to make a crack about being careful what you wish for when he gets a good look at Indrid’s face. The Sylph is grinning eagerly and is even flapping his hands a bit as he speaks.

“I want to see what you see in this jungle.”

So Duck shows him, everything from the saplings they’ve chosen to the creatures darting in and out of view. Indrid asks questions and makes excited noises, but mostly he listens, lets Duck talk or not as it pleases him. They’ve been in a stretch of silence when Duck turns and guffaws. 

Indrid, sitting on a log, is covered in butterflies, some as big as Duck’s hand and in all colors of the rainbow. 

“Guess they know a relative when they see one.”

The Sylph beams, “I was wondering how long it would be before you noticed.”

“Wait, did you summon them?”

“No, they just sort of...do this. It may be for moth reasons, or perhaps I have eaten so much sugar they smell it in my pores. I was, however, hoping they would join me, because I foresaw it making you happy.”

That same affection sparks in Duck’s chest.

“Alright, you heard enough from me today. Now I wanna know all about what you been doin since the world didn’t end.”

Indrid tells him about his attempts to stay in Kepler, his promise to Stern to not get photographed too much, his relentless teasing of Barclay for falling in love with the agent. His travels to other states to stop disasters, newly energized in his successes in Kepler.

“If you can call them that,”

“I’d say you can.”

Indrid holds out his hand, studying the speckled butterfly perched on it, “You renewed so much of my belief that things could change. At the cottonwood, when you promised me you’d find  a way to stop what was coming, stop the sinkhole I...it meant a great deal. Even if your method of freeing me was rather, ah, abrupt.”

He rubs the back of his neck, “Yep, not my best plan, but it worked.”

“The bruise only lasted nine days, it was worth it in the end.”

Duck shoots him a playfully hurt smile, “Hey, don’t make me feel bad, I apologized.”

Indrid raises an eyebrow.

“Oh fuck” Duck tugs his hat down over his eyes, “I didn’t, I never fuckin apologized for punchin you.”

“In your defense, there were more pressing matters.” There it is again, that resignation. Duck wants to yank it out of Indrid’s tone and stomp it to bits. Instead, he steps forward, rests a hand on each of Indrid’s biceps. 

“Indrid, I’m so fuckin sorry. Even if it helped save you, I’m sorry you got hurt again and it was me that did it.”

“I…” Indrid closes his mouth, opens it again, repeats that motion before managing, “I did not see that reply coming.” He smiles a new smile, small and secretive, as if he’s been given something precious, “thank you for saying that, Duck.”

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

“I see why they call it a rainforest.” Indrid stares out the window as drops batter it.

“Yep.” Duck zips up his raincoat, smirking at the bundled up silver haired man, “guessin you ain’t joinin me?”

“I do not enjoy wet weather. Though if you want company I can oh, no, never mind.”

Duck’s radio crackles, and a quick conversation informs him that the conditions at the current reforestation site are too swamped to get anything done.

“Guess I got the day off. Uh, what do you wanna do?”

“I planned to draw and track futures, but I foresee you offering to teach me a card game, and I prefer that future.”

They end up on the floor by the couch, since Indrid seldom sits in chairs in a normal way anyway, mug of coffee in front of Duck and tea with half the sugar jar in front of Indrid. Duck teaches him several games, and as they play Indrid gets going on a tangent about his stint as a cardshark in Las Vegas, and the years he relied on hitchhiking to get around. Duck tells him about growing up in Kepler, about all the years between turning eighteen and now, the ones that plenty of people in his life treated as irrelevant to his life story. 

They end up playing and talking until nightfall. Duck knows he should head to bed, that he has work tomorrow, but he doesn’t want to stop hearing Indrid’s laugh or seeing him scribble down futures. 

He misses him when he goes to sleep.

Around eleven, his body makes an executive decision and he nods off leaning against the couch. He wakes up a few hours later to fluff on his cheek and comforting weight across his chest. Opening his eyes, he finds his head is in Indrid’s lap and a large black wing blankets him. 

Even in his sleep, Indrid is terrifying in this form. At least, that's the argument his brain makes; Indrid is huge and alien, dangerous when he wants to be. 

His heart disagrees. There’s nothing to be scared of. Indrid is his friend, wants nothing from him other than to get to know him. He’s soft, that helps, and clearly thinks of Duck as someone worth protecting. The sleep chirping is pretty fucking cute, too. 

Red eyes open, two nightlights in the dark cabin. Indrid’s antenna are twitching and he’s clicking the claws of his upper hands together. 

“Apologies, you sort of nodded off while we were talking and I caught you when you tipped over. I felt odd carrying you to bed, and this form seemed better to lay on, and then you started shivering so I put my wing-oh.”

Duck rolls over so he’s on his side, facing Indrid’s fuzzy abdomen, “Not complainin’, ‘Drid. Just adjustin’.”

He shuts his eyes, and for a moment clawtips trace his hair.

“Goodnight, Duck.”

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

He’s been living with Duck for three months now. Far too long to count as “recovery” and thoroughly pushing the definition of “vacation.” Indrid doesn’t want to go. And Duck doesn’t want him to either, if his actions are any indication. He’s fixed up the one spare room to be a guest room, includes Indrid in planning out the week, including planning a few day trips on the days he isn’t working. It's as if he wants Indrid around.

(It’s as if he wants a future with him).

Indrid can no longer attribute it solely to loneliness. Yes, Duck misses his friends and family, but he clearly gets along with his fellow rangers and the other staff on the project, and in that very Duck way of his has become a regular at places in the nearby town, having enough Portuguese to ask the woman who runs the cafe about her grandkids or the mail carrier how his garden is doing. 

Which means he’s keeping Indrid around out of pity, charity, or genuine affection. That the last option even exists makes Indrid want to take to the sky in celebratory flight. 

He’s been alive a  long time. He knows what a crush feels like, and he knows that's what he feels for Duck. He also feels it deepening into something else, and if he could be sure the ranger felt the same he’d tell him in an instant. 

His crush is not helped by the fact that Duck asked if he wanted to go for a weekend in Porto Velho and how they’re here, on their second night, at a spot that's a little fancier than Indrid is used to, with Duck looking extra-handsome across from him. 

Come to think of it, Duck’s looked rather more put-together all weekend, even when they were in parks rather than museums (at the former he’d laughed when Indrid was alarmed by the far too big fish, and at the latter he seemed like he was actually listening when Indrid talked about art).

Duck keeps fidgeting during dinner, and Indrid suddenly understands; this is a farewell weekend. He’s going to ask Indrid to leave, is trying to soften the blow. 

When Indrid declines dessert, the ranger actually frowns with worry, covers it by jokingly asking if Indrid is sick. By the time they get back to the hotel, Indrid is so nervous he can't get the timelines to cooperate in his mind, and so he decides to be proactive. 

Duck doesn’t turn the lights on, inclining his head towards the balcony. Indrid follows him out into the night air, the city bathing them in light from below and the moonlight cascading down to meet it. Indrid leans on the railing looking out. Duck leans next to him, so close Indrid can count the laugh lines on his face.

“This has been a wonderful trip, thank you for bringing me.”

“Yeah?” Duck’s face brightens, borders on excitement as he turns his body slightly towards Indrid, “I’m glad to hear that. I, uh, worked real hard on plannin it for us.”

Indrid nods, glances back out towards the cit, “I will be out of your hair as soon as we get back ho-, to, ah, to the cabin.”

Duck’s entire frame crumples inwards, “Oh, uh...okay. Yeah. If that's what you need to do, uh, you, uh, you do it.”

Indrid cups his cheek, forcing his fingers to stay still, “Thank you for letting me stay. And for planning me such a lovely send off.”

“Indrid, how could I plan for somethin I didn’t think was happenin?” 

“Ah, um, I simply assumed-”

“‘Drid” Duck steps closer, “do you think I want you gone?”

No point in lying now, not when Duck is always so truthful. 

“Yes.”

“Did I do somethin? Is this too much? Fuck, it is, ain’t it, I knew the whole romantic dinner for two thing was gonna be too far.”

Indrid has been alive a long time. The fact he can still be this oblivious is remarkable to him. 

“‘Drid, I’m so fuckin sorry, I uh, I thought-” He gasps when Indrid guides his face up for a kiss, and he’s so warm and comforting and there and he’s kissing Indrid bck, kissing him like it’s all he remembers how to do

When they break the kiss Indrid grins, “You thought right, Duck.”

“Oh thank fuckin god.” 

With that Duck pounces, hooking his hands under Indrid’s thighs and lifting him up, kissing him over and over on their somewhat precarious trip to the bed. 

Indridi has had plenty of sleepless nights. This turns out to be the first time he enjoys one. 

And several months later, when Duck returns to Kepler for the screening of a very special episode of Saturday Night Dead, Indrid steps off the plane with him, grinning in the West Virginia Sun.

[midgethetree]

Hi I'm having an error with social townies moving into apartments. Whenever I send my sim to the computer to look for a potential roommate, the game gives me a "Missing Neighbor for Data Access" error message. I've read that the hacked computer can cause this issue but I've tested it in a new hood after deleting the global sim menu package as people recommended and the problem persists. Any help would be appreciated

Hello! I might be able to figure out this issue for me if you give me at least part of an error log, but I’ve also decided take this chance (and the fact I have an error of my own to resolve) to offer a little crash course in using information from error logs to skip the 50/50 method that’s been the staple for finding problematic mods, since I’ve wanted to do so for a while.

Here’s an error log for an error I recently got in my game. You can see the top gives the following useful information:

Object id/name: this is the object that is “me” in the BHAVs being run

Error: this tells you why there was an error. In my case, Nutmeg tried to perform a nonexistent anim; for you, the BHAV is trying to access the persondata of a non-sim.

Then there will be a bunch of frames, each is a BHAV that was run for “me”, in reverse order of when they were run (meaning the top is the one run when the error actually occured). Each frame will give you:

Stack Object id/name: the stack object. BHAVs often need to set an object as the stack object to perform different checks and actions with it.

Node: this is the last line run of the BHAV; in the topmost frame it’s the one the error occured in.

Tree: the name of the BHAV

from: the group of the BHAV

although for some CC objects, the BHAVs will have unhelpful labels here because the creator didn’t set the NREF to something relevant. You can get hints to what CC object it’s from by knowing what the sim was interacting with when the error occurred, or sometimes the object is also “me”/the stack object and you can figure it out from name/stack object name if the creator at least changed the OBJD name.

Params and Locals:

this provides you information on the value of the param and local variables of the BHAV when it errored (or called a different BHAV, for the non-topmost frames)

You can also Ctrl + F for terms like “temp” or “attribute” to find the values of the temp variables and the attributes and semi-attributes of “me” and the stack object when the error occurred, but that’s probably only useful for debugging mods you’re working on yourself.

Okay, now you have some things you can look for in your mods. My issue appears to be occurring in a Maxis BHAV, but I want to also check if I have any mods overriding it in my downloads folder.

In SimPE, open Extra > Preferences and select the FileTable tab. There’s a button to add your downloads folder, and then you can put a checkmark next to it in Advanced Settings and hit Reload. Wait a bit while SimPE reads all your downloads.

You’re going to want to uncheck that box and reload it again before closing SimPE, since otherwise SimPE will open up (and set as in use) every file in your downloads folder every time you open it which is a) time-consuming and b) means you can’t do things like save edits to files in your downloads folder, but for now loading everything will be useful.

This time I open Tools > PJSE > Simantics Resource Finder.

If the group name didn’t have globals in it but you’re pretty sure it’s a Maxis object you’re having problems with and not a CC object, you can first check NREF name and copy in the group’s name. Search and you should get the object it corresponds to and be able to copy the 8 hexadecimal digits right after “Group”.

I checked the BHAV name box, typed in the name of the BHAV from the error log, set the group filter to BookCaseGlobals since that’s what the from line said if the paragraph before this applied to you, instead paste hexadecimal digits you copied into the box next to the group filter dropdown menu), and clicked Search.

There’s only one result and it’s from the program files, so I actually don’t have any overrides, but if I did they’d show up here with their filenames. Then you can remove them and related packages and test the game to see if your situation is resolved without doing a full 50/50.

At that point you can usually just stop and remove the mod causing issues, pass the information along to the mod creator to hopefully get it fixed, whatever, but for those prepared to read the BHAVs and try solving the issue themselves you can find exactly where in the BHAV the error is occurring.

For me the error log said node 6, so I looked at the line labeled with a (6) (make sure you’re paying attention to the number in the parentheses, not the hexadecimal numbers before those!) and sure enough, it’s an “animate sim” line, and it says that missing animation is meant to be in line 0x0035. A quick glance at the other bookcase semiglobals and the secret door bookcase this interaction appears to be related to reveals bookcases have no anim lists for cats like Nutmeg, so it’s no mystery why line 0x0035 was found to be missing. Yet, the TTAB reveals the interaction is revealed for pets anyway. Well, now I know how to fix it at least.

So there you go! Hopefully this is useful to some people.

[the-mic-drop]

Straw Hat Pirates Rap Cypher by Rustage

Never really seen One Piece, but this alone kinda makes me want to dive in.

Lyrics under the cut

Monkey D. Luffy (Performed by Rustage)

Straight out the

East Blue, call me Luffy, I’m a beast too

Anybody you speak to will tell you what I’ve been through

I’m as fast as a pistol, blastin you suckers

I reckon that now I’m steppin up, gettin rough gear second

I’m the captain

Activating Haki, I’m cracking knuckles, attacking so buckle up if you’re lacking

Watch my bounty as it’s racking up

You ain’t ever stacking up

I will fucking end you if you ever hurt my Nakama

It doesn’t matter if you’re navy,

you’re crazy to face me

The aura of a conqueror, even Kaido is shaky

I’m breaking in

cause I’m made to win

I may be rubber, but you’ll need protection from this pirate king

Roronoa Zoro (Performed by None Like Joshua)

Yo it’s Roronoa Zoro, yeah my swords overkill

With a blade in my mouth, so my word flow spills

more blood from a pirate, marine, or fishman with gills

I’ll cut your verse in half

Mihawk givin me the skills

Scars all on my body?

But I’ll leave one on your brain

Just ask Kuma when I took in all of Luffy’s pain

I don’t need a Devil Fruit if you want to see my strength

Hard work, yeah I trained to take Pica to the grave

Slicing back and forth

you know I got a stick for playing Haki

with my Wado Ichimonji

While Sanji sponsored by Nike

Lost my left eye from the waterfalls I chased, but you forgot me?

I’m the greatest swordsman

even after my days I’ll be there on top

while I sleep

Nami (Performed by Savvy Hyuga)

Third memeber of the Straw Hats, but call me Nami

Luffy set me free now I’m navigating him to the One Piece

No need to judge me, it’s just a little pickpocketing

But let me give you a lesson here on some chemistry

Usin’ gusts to make you fall back

Do you want a taste of my staff before you see the lightning flash

n’ hear the thunder crash from my climatact

leave you shakin’ from my thunder lance, can you dodge a weather based attack?

Go ahead and come at me, I’ll watch you pass through

Tell me which tempo that you want me to use

So many combinations, I don’t know which one to choose

Let’s get this over with so I can collect all your revenue

Usopp (Performed by Nux Taku)

Now you’re messing with a veteran

I’m better than anybody

I got an army, crushing all your skeletons

I head up into battle, leave you rattled with my squad

Pray to me, a deity, a sniper

God (Ay)

I’m a sharpshooter so I can’t miss (Ay)

Over longer distance with advantage (Ay)

Got the craftsmanship that is demanded (Woo!)

Your small IQ won’t even understand it

They say I’m lying, but honestly it’s all trickery

Literally, I’m just carrying this crew with my abilities

Hitting me? It’s unlikely.

Come on try to fight me

May have had my issues but I’ve put all that behind me

Sanji (Performed by Eddie Rath)

It all started on a ship in the North Blue

A protégé to the Zeff, what a cool dude

Cut off his leg tryna save and preserve food

Suddenly now you got a friend to preserve you

We all tried to survive from the violence

as we march in an army of pirates

The ocean is a grave full of silence

Enemies wonder, where the time went

I remember I was nothing but a thin joke

My calves on fire, get your face broke

As you sleeping the chef will remain woke

They want beef but they don’t want the Vinsmoke

Tony Tony Chopper (Performed by GameboyJones)

Everybody get to the Chopper

If you got a bounty on your head, Imma pop ya

Girlies think I’m cute

‘Bout to make it reindeer

All about the money, so the enemies should stay clear

Now I joined in with this great little group of pirates

Don’t mess with the squad or we will get violent

Isn’t it ironic I bring pain as the doctor

I could save your life when I drop ya

Now, watch your tone with Tony

or I’ll fold you phonies

Every line’s ginuwine like I rode the pony

and you acting folly

when you saying we don’t run streets

Straw Hat crew and we coming for that One Piece

Nico Robin (Performed by DaisyBanaisy)

Last survivor of my home town

Persecuted for my knowledge

so I’m on my own now

We about to go down,

chilling with tea or we get wild

The name is Nico Robin and I am the Devil Child

Crew archaeologist, information I’m logging it

I got in with the Straw Hats, now I’m reading Poneglyphs

Haven’t you forgotten this girl is straight power

See my hands sprouting and blossom like a flower

Intelligence is unmatched

Show me where the fun’s at

Coming in clutch with these hands growing out ya back

Enies Lobby finding out I have more to give

My crew by my side, so you know that I want to live!

Franky (Performed by Dreaded Yasuke)

Here comes the tank worth 94 bills

Can adapt to any environment like Bear Grylls

Biased when it comes to the Straw Hats, they can chill

Applying a pressure on your endeavors whenever it gets real

That’s the best that you got, probably need to drop

Modifications from my cannon take off a mountain top

My Franky Radical Beam shooting just like a stream,

whizzing right by your head to mess with your self-esteem

Better start counting your bread when you see my team,

accumulating lot of cred gonna need the marines

If you ain’t got the berries get off the Thousand Sunny,

playing like it’s imaginary and get the real Cutty

Brook (Performed by Connor Rapper)

The musician of the Straw Hats

Munificent? Of course, that’s a given

My dynamic riffs are gift-wrapped in ribbon

Every hit exact and honed, like my slashes and my blows

Every note composed appropriately, rhythm’s in my bones

The devil in I is why I never did die

I was revived with twice the undeniable splendour

If stealing the show was seen as a crime then I’m a prime offender

My attacks are so precise although I lack sight receptors

Picked off one by one when I strum with a boney thumb

those opponents with loaded guns are too slow for my frozen lunge

On that boat got pretty lonely wrote odes to my blubbery chum

Though the ocean temp was low I felt so comfortably numb

Jinbei (Performed by DizzyEight)

It’s Jinbei the sensei with my fist I’m ruthless

One swing will leave you stretched out like you’re Luffy,

that’s one piece, but you can get two if you don’t want peace

I’m a fish man, but it’s my hook that make em sleep

You don’t wanna spar, you don’t want the fade

He claim he got heart so I double tap his face

If I gotta go to war I just do it for a change

I live the way I’m living for my brother in the grave

It’s the Straw Hats, I roll with a clique full of warriors

This is not a game, we are not the ones to toy with

All about peace, but if you push us we destroy ya

Big man, but the move smooth like the water

[newstanmarshblog]

The Average and Unusual Couple: Chapter One

   It was night time as Stan Marsh was talking to his best friend Kyle through Skype about able to see each other soon in person for the very first time since South Park went though a long lockdown during the events of a recent global pandemic. After on having a lot of people getting vaccinated to combat against the deadly disease, the pandemic was finally declared over by every government official around the world which means daily lives can get back to normal. Along with the news on announcing the town being one hundred percent safe from the virus, the Mayor of South Park has also announced that all schools will be back into its regular programming starting after labor day. And Stan couldn’t be more than happier to hear such news because he hated being separated from his friends and school for such a long period of time since he still has to deal with on being stuck living at Tegridy Farms.

   Stan: Ah man, dude, I’m so excited to able to see you guys again ever since before we all went through this harsh lockdown. How did your brother and parents react to the news?

   Kyle: Just as happy as you are, Stan. My parents are celebrating by having a glass of wine together, and Ike can’t wait to get his education in person again because he had a really hard time learning through online classes. How was your family’s reaction?

   Stan: My sister is pretty excited to able to date with her boyfriend again, my mom is relieved that things are back to normal and plans to meet up with my uncle Jimbo this weekend, and my dad is super pumped to get back to his plans on opening his first expansion Tegridy store at main street.

   Kyle: Your dad still isn’t over with his weed products yet, huh?

   Stan frustrated: He never shuts up about it! If it wasn’t for his successful online sales of his Tegridy products during this lockdown, we would’ve moved back to South Park by now. *sighs*

   Kyle: Sorry if my question got you upset, dude.

   Stan: It’s alright, you didn’t mean it. It has been about over two years now since my dad got obsessed with Tegridy weed, and I really don’t know when he’ll get tried of it. Usually he’ll be obsessed with something for about up to at least serval days and then moves onto the next one, but his fucking weed seems to be the one obsession that finally made him to become something like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings series.

   Kyle: Well, I’m sure that your dad will get over of the weed stuff eventually. Anyway, have you heard anything from our other friends on their reaction to the news?

   Stan: Only Kenny so far through text messaging on our phones. He wants to all of us to gather together at Stark’s Pond this Saturday and then probably eat out at Chill’s.

   Kyle: That’s sounds exciting! I’m completely free for this Saturday anyway.

   Stan: Me too. I’ll give Kenny the text that you’re in.

   Kyle: Great! *yawns* I gotta get ready for bed now.

   Stan: Same. Until then, see you on Saturday. Good night.

   Kyle: Night.

   After logging out from Skype and then giving Kenny a quick text about their plans on Saturday, Stan got onto his pajamas and heads to bed.

   Stan: So far, only half of my life is back to normal.

   As grateful as Stan was to able to see his friends and going to school in person for the first time since the lockdown began, he still doesn’t full completely happy just yet. While he’ll be continuing to struggle with living at Tegridy Farms and wishing too come back to South Park, the one other thing that he desperately wanted is to be with his old girlfriend again. For a long time now even before the pandemic started, Stan has made serval attempts to get back together with Wendy, but to no avail. Wendy has became more interested in becoming a woman activist, getting people into healthy shape, and is even dating with Bebe. Even though Stan and Wendy are still good friends with each other mainly because of their love for board games and animals, seeing his old girlfriend becoming more and more busy with her life along with learning the news that she’s now in love with Bebe was just enough for Stan to give up on winning her back. As much as Stan is really happy to see Wendy helping out a lot of people, he also seriously misses that fun side from his old girlfriend, and she seems to be no longer that type of person as often then back in their elementary school years. And still from the very moment when he learned that he can’t no longer have Wendy as his girlfriend, his heart remains to be very broken by it.

   Just thinking about on wanting to live back at South Park and being together with Wendy again was enough to break Stan into tears.

   Stan sobbing: I just want my entire life back. I want it all back.

   He continues to cry for a few moments, cheers himself up, and then gets himself some sleep.

   Meanwhile at a home in a town called Peaceful Pines, Lydia Deetz is finishing up packing up her stuff into package boxes as she and her parents are preparing to move out from their home. Her mother comes in to check up on her.

   Delia: Oh Lydia, how’s your packaging coming along?

   Lydia: It’s all set, mother. Did father heard about the news yet as he came home from his last day at work?

   Delia: He was told about it just before he left. He’s relieved that the pandemic is finally over just as much as anyone else on Earth. I’m just very happy that our long road trip to our new home will at least be safe.

   Lydia: Yeah, same. Anyway, I’m pretty exhausted from all the packing and would like to get one last peaceful night here before we move out tomorrow.

   Delia: Sure thing, sweetheart. Sleep well.

   Lydia: You too. See you in the morning.

   Just like with South Park, Peaceful Pines also went through a very long period during its lockdown. Lydia was one of the very few students that didn’t mind online teaching very often during the lockdown because despite of being bummed out on not able to learn in person and not seeing two of her friends at school, there was one thing that the pandemic couldn’t take away from her, and that was spending her quality time with a ghostly best friend name Beetlejuice. Very often everyday even before the pandemic took the world by storm, Lydia teleports herself to a very spooky place call the Netherworld where she and Beetlejuice would do a lot of fun stuff together such as playing a game of slam ball, going on crazy adventures, or even take a nice relaxing drive with their living car name Doomie. There’s also some days where she and Beetlejuice will have some simple fun things at her bedroom like watching horror movies or playing video games. 

   While Lydia was able to get through the pandemic just fine, her parents had a rougher time in comparison. During the the first few months of the pandemic, Charles was working from his home on his computer as he was real estate developer. But by the next spring, his workplace had to layoff some of its employees in order to save money, and Charles was one of those unfortunate employees. He shortly afterwards found a new job at a hardware store. Even though his new job doesn’t earn him as much money as with his old job, it was at least just barely enough to pay the house bills. Delia meanwhile once ran her own small business as a sculptor before the pandemic hit. But by shortly after Christmas, her business went into bankrupt and became unemployed. After filing for unemployment, she was receiving stimulus checks up to at least six hundred dollars every month by the federal government.

   Because of the financial struggles that the Deetz family were dealing with, a decision was made that they must find a new home where the payment bills weren’t as expansive as their current house, and nearby jobs where it’s best suited for them based off from their past experiences. Delia was browsing through the internet when she found a house up for sale in South Park Colorado where its house bills weren’t as nearly expansive as their current home. She also learned that there was a job opening at the town’s middle school for an art teacher that’ll be perfect for her, and a job opening at a nearby local real estate business that’ll be perfect for Charles. After going through the paperworks during the summer, the house was recently bought and the Deetzes have now just finished packing before their long trip ahead of them. They expect to reach their new home during Labor Day weekend just in time for Lydia to get ready for her first day at South Park middle school.

   Earlier today, the Deetzes held a goodbye party at their house for their neighbors and friends along with Beetlejuice crashing into the party in disguise as Betty Juice. For Lydia, saying goodbye to Bertha and Prudence was the hardest thing for her as they were the only friends that she ever had at her old school and she’ll definitely miss them most of all when she leaves Peaceful Pines tomorrow. Lydia’s last words to them was to keep on being themselves, be positive, and to stand tall and brave whenever Claire Brewster bullies them.

   It was now night time, and just as Lydia was getting ready for bed, Beetlejuice pops up onto the screen of her cellphone.

   Beetlejuice: Psst, Babes!

   Lydia picks up her phone.

   Lydia: Hi, Beetlejuice.

   Beetlejuice: Is the coast clear for me to pop up?

   Lydia: All clear, but promise me on not being here for too long as I need to have my last peaceful sleep here before I hit the road tomorrow morning.

   Beetlejuice: *raises his right hand* I swear across on my mother’s heart. Now, say those B words and let’s chit chat.

   Lydia: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

   Beetlejuice pops up from the cellphone screen and floats around in the bedroom.

   Beetlejuice: So, Lyds, are you at all nervous on living in a new town?

   Lydia: The only thing that I’m nervous about is if I’ll ever make new friends at my new school. 

   Beetlejuice: Don’t sweat it, Babes. I’m sure that you can at least make a friend or two. And even if you don’t at all, you still got me and my lovable armpits! 

   His stinky armpits hits Lydia’s nose.

   Lydia disgusted: Ugh! Thanks for the reminder.

   Beetlejuice: *chuckles a bit* People remembering my smelly armpits, you know I love it. *does a couple armpit noise*

   Lydia: Anyway, if I ever make a new friend, then I can’t wait to show off that friend my collection of my horror films, photo works, and my studies on bugs.

   Beetlejuice: Just don’t show off the bugs that I plan on eating.

   Lydia: Whatever. And maybe we can even take a trail walk around the natural wonders that South Park has to offer. I’ve always wanted to see a wild elk since I heard they have a large elk population in Colorado, and there’s never any wild sightings of them around here.

   Beetlejuice: *laughs* I wonder why? *smells at himself*

   Lydia: Is there anything that you’re excited to see at South Park, Beetlejuice?

   Beetlejuice: Nah, but I am excited to offer them by saying this quote to sum it up…*impersonate Jack Nicholson*… Wait until they get a load of me.

   Lydia: *laughs* Oh I bet they’ll never see you coming by a mile. *yawns* It’s getting late. I better head to bed. And Beetlejuice, remember what I told you while I’m on the road.

   Beetlejuice: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember. I promise not to check up on you until you’re finally settled into your new home. You have my words.

   Lydia: Thanks, BJ.

   Beetlejuice: Besides, I’m over due to play a new prank on the Monster across the street and his pet mutt. Maybe I’ll get them to reenact that bear scene from The Revenant.

   Lydia: Just as long as you keep yourself busy until I say your name three times, okay?

   Beetlejuice: Will do. See ya!

   Lydia: You too.

   As Beetlejuice disappears back to the Netherworld, Lydia lays into her bed.

   Lydia: *sighs* I hope I’ll make a friend with someone that loves to have fun with life just as much as me. Or even maybe find someone that’ll love me for the way that I am.

   She closes her eyes to get as much sleep as she can before a new chapter into her life can begin.

    In the next chapter, Stan hangs out with his friends, and Lydia moves into her new home.

[youarejesting]

BTS 365 Prompts

[Masterlist] Please tag me in your work if you use my prompts. I want to see your work. Ever your Jester.

Tell me your birthday and I will tag you on your special day!

═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════

        January 22nd - 28th

═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════

Kim Seokjin: Answer 

It was your last appointment of the day, you always scheduled the three gliders right before closing as there would be no animals to harass them and cause them any unnecessary stress. Yet part of you knew the real reason came from their handsome owner who always left you in something of a daze. Stepping into the waiting room, you saw him sitting with the carry cage and smiled calling his name and inviting him in. “Tell me how everything has been going?”

“Ah well Odengie doesn’t really like me, he always cries when I try to pick him up” Seokjin sighed as you reached into the cage and took one of the sugar gliders out and gave a quick examination. Before switching neither glider showing any negative reactions to being held. “Wae, why do you behave for her but not for me, ya! Answer me!”

You giggled at his cute pout as he scolded his sugar gliders crossing his arms. And turning his back to them.

Min Yoongi: Handwriting

Yoongi watched you leave the classroom. He had never really noticed your presence, though he hardly paid attention to others. You had dropped something, he casually moved to pick it up. It was an impressive poem. It wasn’t a love letter, at least it didn’t read like one. It wasn’t addressed to anyone, it was just a poem. There was something about it that he connected with the words were a raw emotion somewhere between sadness and anger. He was writing music and couldn’t get it out of his head so he made a beat put it together tweaked some of the words. 

You were on your way to an underground party, you had dressed up in a really pretty dress. Standing off to the side you heard a name you knew, it was the stage name of a guy from your class. Gloss. Walking over trying to show a little support as a very nice beat began. He was amazing barely breathing rapping with ease, it all flowed so well, he was looking through the crowd. His eyes glided over your form before snapping back and locking onto you he began a chorus and your mouth fell open. This was your poem, he made your depressive poem more aggressive mocking in a ‘the only person who can hurt me is me’ way. He gave it bite complete with a condescending laugh, before licking the corner of his mouth suggestively. As the song finished you staggered over to the side of the stage breathless as he stepped down catching your figure and looked down his ears turning pink.

Jung Hoseok: Compliment

Hoseok can’t tell if your flirting cause you compliment everyone in your friends group equally. But he can’t be crazy. Your hugs always seem tighter, your eyes linger longer, your smile brighter for him. You compliment him so much before turning to the others and telling them similar things but with a lot less feeling. Why were you doing this to him? You had all gone out for chimaek and you were on your third glass when you started leaning against him holding his arm and complimenting little features and mannerisms he didn’t think anyone else had ever noticed. He decided to speak up and he complimented your eyes telling you how much he enjoyed the sparkle they held. It seemed like he started a battle of compliments as the two of you began sending them back and forth. Until he got sick of your bedroom eyes scanning his face and shutting up your rant about his dance moves by kissing you fiercely.

Kim Namjoon: Opposite

You woke in a strange place utterly confused, a very manly scent of an ocean breeze laced into the sheets and pillow. You stood up and staggered something seemed off your centre of gravity was different you felt lighter around the chest and lower back. Regaining your balance you headed to the bathroom feeling something strange between your legs. Perhaps a bunch of fabric that wasn’t sitting right on your pajama pants. You jumped in front of the bathroom mirror shrieking in a lower tenor than you were used to, someone ripped the door open. “Hyung what’s wrong?” You didn’t answer confused you were a man. “Namjoon-hyung?”

Park Jimin: Spouse

Arriving at the hotel and looking out of the balcony, watching the waves crash onto the sand down below you didn’t notice your gorgeous husband wrapped his arms around you. He unpinned your hair from its elaborate do and sweeped the soft curls to the side and kissed your neck slowly. Asking you what was on your mind as he unbuttoned the back of your wedding dress meticulously. Your mind was completely blank due to his ministrations and you said the first thing on you could think of. “If there was a tsunami, we wouldn’t survive” His lips paused on your neck and he began giggling.

Kim Taehyung: Emails @yeolahh

You have been sending passive aggressive emails back and forth with the damn marketing team all week. They wanted to use more of the budget for publicity, but you just didn’t have the funds, your business was trying to turn a profit and every time you seemed to take a few steps forward the marketing team pulled you right back to the start. You had no liquid assets, no savings if things went wrong over two hundred people were out of a job.

From: YourName@email.com To: KimTaehyung@email.com Subject: Re: Market Project Finance Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:25:56 +1000

Dear Mr Taehyung, 

Upon reading your email I have come to the conclusion to Decline your request. We have financial provided the Marketing team on multiple occasions and until the project is approved by the board of directors. It is unlikely we will provide you with the funding you need. We have deliberated and discussed and our decision stands as a your campaign seem a little ‘lackluster’

Hope you are well, 

Miss y/n From Accounting

“Can you believe this. She called the campaign lackluster. She doesn’t know anything about marketing” Taehyung shouted at his computer turning to Hoseok who sighed this had been going on since a mishap at the Christmas party two years ago.

Jeon Jungkook: Fun

It wasn’t everyone’s idea of fun but gaming was Jungkook’s most enjoyable hobby. It had cost him multiple girlfriends in the past. He logged on to the server sitting comfortably in the internet cafe. He was the most famous player in the game unbeatable. At least that’s what he thought. The opening screen to the game showed the leader board and he would always press his thumb to the Number One beside his name like a good luck ritual. But he Froze “Who the hell is SnakeEyes and how they take my number one spot” he growled

Looking over your computer screen you saw a rather handsome young man biting his lip with his two front teeth. Is this really the previously number one gamer Seagull? Sending a formal request to fight at the arena he accepted and you glanced around the person two computers down gasped getting the battle notification. You knew a lot of people would come to see the match the arena was soon maxed out and the chat room was fierce with people announcing the live stream for those who couldn’t get in. You fought absolutely smashing him in combat and you stood up still fighting. 

“SnakeEyes you think you are so good but no one can win against my sword of eternal flame” His voice ran through your headphones, and you shivered at how cute he was thinking he could win.

“Your cute Seagull in your little green Hoodie, your name should be Bunny boy” you hit pause on the screen “CyberCafe is my favorite place to game too”

“Of course you are girl” He scoffed “who else would dare to challenge me, you running out of options prolonging it won’t lessen the pain when I win, baby girl”

You stood up leaning over the computer screens with a smirk, “If I win you buy dinner how does that sound” People had their phones out live streaming your conversation.

“If I win you owe me a kiss” 

Next Week

[mrneighbourlove]

A Study of Abuse and Forgiveness: The Skull Kid

Let’s talk about the Skull Kid.  I was eight when I first played Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. I was lucky enough to have open parents who exposed me to different aspects of life through film, theatre, video games and life events. Violence was something I quickly learned through ‘Alien’ and other forms of art. However, for me, this moment was different from other forms of violence when I experienced it. It made me uncomfortable. Not from the violence itself though, but what the violence represented, and what I took away from it. Friends shouldn’t hurt friends.

The Skull Kid is my favourite Legend of Zelda character, and one of my favourite characters in fiction when you pair him up with Majora. This is a character who is a child of mind and soul. And what makes him realistic to me, is that he’s a kid. And most kids are the paragon of mischief and misbehaviour. They have fun, whether or not they do so at the expense of others’ comfort at times, mostly adults. This does not necessarily make kids inherently bad too.

We learn more about the Skull Kid before he had the mask through the word of Tatl. According to Tatl, people didn’t associate or play with Skull Kid because he was always up to tricks. This may be why, when they find Skull Kid, he is all alone and hiding under a log, shivering from the rain, even though he’s not too far away from Clock Town. People don’t like to be tricked after all, but we don’t know how far Skull Kid went with his pranks. Did he hurt the feelings of people around him greatly, or did he simply annoy them to the point of indifference?

Kids are usually loud or are big and noticeable with their actions when they want attention. For someone as lonely and different as the Skull Kid, it was friendship he sought. So, when he befriends Tatl and Tael he seems pretty content. The most trickery we see is him sneaking up on Tael and giving him a spook, or drawing Grafitti on a tree. Other than that, the Skull Kid is simply playing in the fields of Termina, playing music for his new friends, and having a good time. He acts like an average kid.

Then Majora’s Mask enters the picture. This is the first chronological case of abusive behaviour from Skull Kid. One might be able to argue that the mask somehow reached out to Skull Kid’s weak mind and influenced the Imp’s actions subtlety but, at the end of the day, the Skull Kid used violence to knock the Happy Mask Salesman out cold, rummage through his sack, and take Majora’s Mask for himself.

Now, it’s an interesting case to judge the actions of Skull Kid from this point on. There seems to be acts of evil that are clearly the Entity of Mask’s influence, such as the destruction of the world, as it would not have benefited the Skull Kid of before; however, we also see that the Skull Kid appears to be able to control his actions, at least in the opening act. He slips off the mask to congratulate his fairy friends, so the mask has not fully possessed him at that point or, at the very least, it does not seem to worry about Skull Kid abandoning it.

These are the crimes that were carried out by the Skull Kid throughout the game, but there is no way to know who was in control. 

- Turning Kafei into a child, resulting in a near broken relationship.

- Transforming the Deku Butler’s Son in a rooted husk, permanently killing him.

- Sealing the Giants Guardian Gods away.

- Physically assaulting Koume the witch, leaving her in a paralyzed state.

- Cursing Woodfall, creating a monster that kidnapped the Deku Princess, leaving an innocent monkey to be unjustly punished.

- Cursing Snowhead, leaving the mountains in an never ending winter, freezing Gorons, sending the Goron Hero Darmani to his death, and leaving him a ghost full of regrets.

- Cursing Great Bay. Following this by telling a group of Gerudo Pirates to steal Lulu’s Zora Eggs, which short term gets Mikau killed, and long term tricks the pirates into traveling into a typhoon.

- Cursing Stone Tower, unleashing spirits of the dead and damned, which are unable to return to rest, and cursing Pamela’s father into becoming a Gibdo.

- Knocking Link out, mugging him, stealing his horse and Ocarina, ditching the horse right after because he can’t ride it, cursing Link into becoming a Deku Scrub, and laughing as he leaves his friend Tatl behind.

- Cursing the moon to fall and crash onto Termina, bringing the end to all life.

- Striking his friend Tael for pleading for help to the giants.

It may have been Skull Kid himself, the Skull Kid under the influence of the mask, or Majora with Skull Kid unaware at all of his actions and possibly being under control of Majora, with the demon speaking through Skull Kid, possessed ala Regan from the Exorcist. 

Some of these seem childish and in line with Skull Kid, such as the opening act with Link or cursing Kafei, but I choose, in my opinion, to believe Majora at least influences most of these evil actions. That said, a lot of pain has been inflicted on others leading up to the the end of the three day cycle. Does the Skull Kid deserve forgiveness for his actions?

The biggest contender for forgiveness is the giants. They are the guardians of Termina. It is their job to ensure the inhabitants are safe. Yet, after all the giants are freed from the imprisonment by the power of the mask, they say this to Link and Tatl.

“Forgive your friend.”

They see the grasp of evil the mask has enveloped around the Skull Kid. This is a kid who has become entangled with something absolutely insidious, and they recognize that. That said, I also wish to examine a more grounded viewpoint of the argument of the abuse Skull Kid was a part of and whether or not he deserves forgiveness by looking into the debate between Tatl and Tael.

Tatl, rightfully so, is concerned for her brother. Skull Kid’s hitting of his friend and her brother is NOT acceptable behaviour. It is not something that is ok. And, like any child, he should know better. Now, this can be interpreted as the Skull Kid having hit Tael more than once off screen, but is more likely evidence of Tatl’s immunity to the effect of time reset, and her losing her patience for seeing Skull Kid hit her brother over and over and over again in the time loop.

This is a line to convey pity and, perhaps, remorse for the Skull Kid. The little imp seems to have always been alone. In the Lost Woods he was separate from other Skull Children; he didn’t seem to be included with the people of Clock Town and his antics made him isolated. Should we forgive Skull Kid just because of his life? Because he is a child in mind and soul, can we hope that he will become a better person if shown compassion and friendship?

Even if we are hurt and lonely, we make the choices that define us. To Tatl, Skull Kid chose to cause destruction and pain by lashing out with the power of the mask. Regardless of whether or not Majora made that final choice, the message is strong. We can’t defend bad behaviour just because of circumstance.

Absolutely. With great power, comes great responsibility. Give power to a child and bad things will happen, but the Skull Kid was doomed to failure due to the evil that possessed him, not him possessing it.

Which leads to the ultimate reveal. In the end, Majora manipulated Skull Kid’s weak will to its own end. It worked through Skull Kid to bring about pain, suffering, and death to the world. Skull Kid’s body is cast aside as Majora reveals itself at the final hour.

A big part of Majora’s Mask, is that you save a lot of people from the pain the mask is inflicting on the world. All of the masks you collect are symbols of every person you have helped to live a happier life. And Skull Kid is the last person you save from Majora. He was manipulated by a darkness far beyond his comprehension. And despite hurting Tael, the fairy forgives his friend.

However, what matters to me the most about the Skull Kid is an act that comes after you slay Majora. The Skull Kid displays shame at his actions.

He lowers his head and shakes. To me, this can be taken two ways. He could be addressing the giants, shocked at how they forgave him. Or, alternatively, I think it could be subtly showing Skull Kid is ashamed of hurting Tatl and Tael, that he feels guilt at his actions. He feels guilt that he was shown compassion. And the fairies fly over to comfort him in an act of forgiveness. Despite any abuse the Skull Kid committed under Majora, they forgive him. To me, it’s huge that Skull Kid shows any regret at all. It’s a sign of self-reflection, which he can use to become a better person.

Vaati is an evil wizard who kidnaps women. Zant is a crazy creep who usurped his kingdom. Ganondorf is an evil king who tries to control the world. Skull Kid is a child. You want to save him, with everyone else in Termina, because he has an innocence the other antagonists of Zelda just don’t share. He is someone you can be friends with at the end, once all of the evil has been exorcised out of the land and its people. In my own conclusion, I believe we can forgive Skull Kid, just as the Giants, Tael, Tatl, and Link have done.

Skull Kid isn’t completely evil. But, he also isn’t completely pure. He’s a kid. Kids screw up - sometimes they hurt their friends with the choices they make. But they can also learn from their mistakes. And they learn better if given a chance to be forgiven.  I believe Skull Kid just needs a friend to help guide him, and he can grow through the ages to be a good person, and an even better friend back. 

[somethinglacking]

Shooting for Stars: Chapter 2

Summary:

Hyuna Lee just started college, and while procrastinating decided to give a popular MMO called LOLOL a try. Here she will meet new friends, battle monsters, part takes in epic quests, and potentially find love!

Most of this will take place in LOLOL at the beginning.

This takes place a year/ year and a half after Seven’s good end, and the secret endings. Yoosung x OC

**Update’s once a week** Chapter word count: 4408

Smut in later chapters, of course Shooting For Stars: Chapter 1 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The day seemed to keep dragging on and on. A certain University student sat in a lecture dozing off. Maybe he should have logged off when Sapfyre had. His purple irises where bloodshot from the two hours of sleep he did manage to get. His lids were heavy as he rested his chin in his palm attempting to focus on what the Professor was saying. Knowing he had a quiz at the end of the week, and the professor had promised all they had to do was show up and pay attention to pass. However, it was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open. One of his classmates had kicked his chair trying to keep him alert, the action made him blush as he dopily stared at the front of the room. You’d think he would have learned his lesson time after time again he ended up staying up all night playing LOLOL. 

The bottle-blond thought back to last night and the newbie he had managed to befriend. They were nice, extremely noobish, but they had fun. He smiled to himself remembering the promise to meet up again tonight. They had managed to raise at least 9 levels and they had chosen the cleric class as promised. Yoosung was overjoyed to know he might be able to get a half-decent healer for the guild as he helped the newcomer practice the craft of the game. The gamer couldn’t help but think of all the things he could do to help his newest party member advance in the game. 

His classmate kicked his chair again and he glared over to him, annoyed that he was constantly being pulled away from his thoughts. Truthfully he just couldn’t wait to get home and log onto LOLOL. Sapfyre said they were a student and they were in the same timezone, most likely had day class’s if the panic about their project that was due was any indicator. Meaning they would most likely log in at the same time as him, or a little after. Yoosung hasn’t felt this excited over a new person since Mi-Cha came crashing into the RFA messenger a little over a year ago. It made his chest kind of ticklish, which was weird. There was a very high chance Sapfyre was another dude on the other side, and possibly underage too. Yoosung groaned rubbing his dry eyes trying to calm his inner musing and push thoughts away. How desperate is he becoming?

Sighing softly to himself he decided maybe overthinking last night’s LOLOL encounter was a bad idea. He was just lonely, and watching two of his friends fall in love over messages and eventually get married in the same year had his chest twisting with a sense of jealousy. Sure he was happy for them, of course, he supported them. It was as an onlooker with no romantic history that made him envious of their partnership. Seeing his best friend so happy, and the way Saeyoung and Mi-Cha just seem to get each other. They fought for one another, faced every challenge as a team. It was a really beautiful relationship. 

He wanted what they had. 

He wanted it badly. 

Eventually, classes concluded for the day and Yoosung felt full of energy all of a sudden. He hadn’t taken in anything the professors had attempted to teach him. Mentally he questioned why he was even bothering with university then his mother’s face flashed behind his eyelids. Ya, she would have been pissed if he just up and quit school. Though after everything that has taken place he honestly debated changing his major. He only had two years left, it would be like starting all over. 

On his walk back to his dorm room with a meal from the convenient store, his mind wandered to Rika. Zen and himself had shipped her away to Alaska, trying to save her from both Jumin and Saeyoung’s rath. It was a foolish move as more and more truth about her illegal activity came to light. After Saeran opened up to the abuse he endured under her. Yet, someone boyish part of him still didn’t want Rika to suffer, he wanted her to get better. He wanted his cousin back. Only he seemed to be the only one in the RFA that gave a damn about Rika’s recovery. 

Yoosung let out a sigh as he unlocked the door leading into his dorm room. His violet eyes scanned his livingroom and frowned. “It’s pretty lonely.” He whispered to himself as he dropped his school bag on the couch and made his way to his bedroom. On instinct, he sat at his computer and booted it up. He opened his store-bought sushi and began to nibble it as his hindows ran an update check before booting up his desktop. He had LOLOL set to automatically load once the computer came to life. The icon showed a loading hourglass and then the main screen loaded up with the daily newsletter. Yoosung took a moment to read it over not noticing anything interesting and logged his tank up. 

The first thing he did was claim his daily bonus and check his friend’s list. Saeyoung and Mi-Cha where online in some dungeon. He smiled hoping they married couple was enjoying their time playing games with one another. Saeran didn’t appear to be online, and Yoosung wondered what the younger twin could be up too if his brother and sister in law were actively playing games. He scrolled noticing that Sapfyre hadn’t logged in since they said goodnight last night. He sighed putting more food in his mouth as he got a bunch of party requests from random players. He declined them all and idled himself. 

Yoosung chewed and check his phone noticing a miss call from Zen and rolling his eyes. He had a few emails about possible party guests for the next RFA party. He took a moment to look at them before forwarding them to Mi-Cha. She handled the rest from there. Jaehee, Zen and Jumin were all active in a chatroom. Yoosung cringed wondering if he should go be a cushion for Jaehee knowing the men in the room were most likely arguing and her trying to keep them on track. 

As his thumb hovered over the enter chatroom icon and notification popped up on his monitor. His eyes read over it and smiled. There was Sapfyre, they must have just gotten home from school. He closed the RFA app and silenced his phone. He shoved the rest of his food into his mouth as he opened his private messages with the newbie. 

SupermanYoosung★: Hiya! 

SupermanYoosung★: Ready for more dungeon crawling?

Nervously he chewed on the pad of his thumb waiting for the stranger to reply to him. After all, it was coming home and playing with this person that had gotten throughout his day. He didn’t want to come across clingy though. After a small intervention involving Saeyoung and Zen, he had realized that his problem was that he was a stage five clinger. Sighing with a blush dusting his checks he waited patiently for them to reply.

‘Plus this person was most likely a guy’ He reminded himself and thought of his guild member’s horror stories about being catfished on the site. 

Sapfyre: Oh Hey You~

Sapfyre: Haha I’m up for more! 

Sapfyre: The monsters will have no idea what hit them when SupermanYoosung is through with them!

Yoosung smiled, really wishing this person owned a headset. He was curious about what they sounded like. They wrote in a manner that was similar to Mi-Cha but that didn’t mean anything. Maybe they were just feminine, maybe they are playing to role play like a girl. It wasn’t uncommon for members to role play out relationships and the such on here. The game even offered and marriage system for such a thing. It was diverse in how a player would like to spend their time within it’s the massive world. 

SupermanYoosung★: Hell ya!

SupermanYoosung★: We should be able to pick your class today, you’re almost level 10! 

Sapfyre: Only thanks to you!

Sapfyre: Honestly if I had been left to my own devices last night I wouldn’t even be close to level 10!

Sapfyre: So thank you!

Yoosung chuckled liking the attention and praise.

SupermanYoosung★: no thanks is needed ^^

SupermanYoosung★: I’m having a lot of fun playing with you!

SupermanYoosung★: I’ll create a party, one sec.

 He swiftly invited his new friend to make a party with him. He waited for her to join as he organized his inventory. 

Sapfyre: One of these days I’ll figure out how to do this

And just like that their avatars where linked together. Yoosung couldn’t help the way his heart pittered. He really needed to get a hold on himself and remind himself that the other player was, in fact, a dude. Not that Yoosung was personally offended by same-sex relationships, he just wasn’t interested in starting anything with another dude. 

“Really wish they had a mic so my brain could stop thinking about this too much.” Yoosung wished to himself, readjusting his hairpins to push his bang out of his face more. 

SupermanYoosung★: Until that fateful day I got you covered. 

Sapfyre: My hero lol

Yoosung began preparing for their next quest, he knew of a couple they could pair off with and each get the exp. Simple missions that involved them slaying a certain number of minor enemies and such. He was also going to get them to up their cooking and fishing skills so she could brew their own potions. How useful support was in actuality and a money saver. 

SupermanYoosung★: First I’ll bring us to a place where we can fish. I’ll just hand you over what I catch. Then you can cook them all to build those skills.

Sapfyre: Aye Aye Captain!

Yoosung chuckled as his eyes lit up. 

SupermanYoosung★: Sorry if it seemed like I’m bossing you around ^^;;

SupermanYoosung★: It just helps the arch maester class brew potions and buffs.

Sapfyre: Oooh that sounds cool.

Sapfyre: Don’t worry about bossing me around~ 

‘How suggestive’ Yoosung pondered biting his lip before teleporting them to the fishing island. There he quested an item share and handed them a nice fishing rod that wouldn’t break every five seconds. Then they got to work. Since it was a pretty basic automatic action he wanted to take this chance to get to know them better.

SupermanYoosung★: This might take a while.

SupermanYoosung★: So you mentioned you’re a student. What are you studying?

Sapfyre: Wow this is really a grind, huh?

Sapfyre: I’m an art and digital design student. 

Sapfyre: Nothing too exciting, what are you studying? 

SupermanYoosung★: I’m in training to be a vet ^^;

SupermanYoosung★: sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice for myself 

Sapfyre: A vet? You must be pretty smart then. 

Sapfyre: I think we all doubt our educational choices.

Sapfyre: isn’t that what being a student is all about? Being unsure about our future and trying to make sure we make the right decisions?

Sapfyre: If you’re passionate about animal’s you could make all the difference one day ^^

Yoosung blushed nearly crimson reading their messages. No one had ever sided with him and his doubts. Maybe they were feeling it too. Art wasn’t something that guaranteed a job in the future and was hard to get noticed in. 

Sapfyre: If anything you could just transfer to human medicine. It’s all under the biology major, is it not?

He hadn’t even thought of that possibility. Indeed, he could just transfer and just suck up an extra year of school. SKY university did offer an internship program after the medical exams. Yoosung bit his thumb pondering the possibility. 

SupermanYoosung★: I hadn’t thought of that

SupermanYoosung★: ahaha

SupermanYoosung★: My friends usually just tell me to suck it up and get school over with. 

SupermanYoosung★: That I should just be anxious about finding employment. 

Sapfyre: What's the point of working in a career you have no passion for?

SupermanYoosung★: Are you passionate about art?

Sapfyre: Hahaha

Sapfyre: Yes! Art is the main thing that gives me a drive every day!

Sapfyre: Even if my father thinks it’s a waste of my time and future, I’m going to pursue it. 

Sapfyre: Maybe instead of listening to others, you should listen to the drive within you. Find something you’re passionate about. 

Sapfyre: A vet’s good if you really like animals. A doctor or surgeon is good if you like helping people. 

SupermanYoosung★: I might just do that!

SupermanYoosung★: wow- I didn’t mean to get so serious on you like that.

Sapfyre: It’s fine. 

Sapfyre: We are going to be fishing for a while. 

Sapfyre: And I’d never get mad at someone for voicing their insecurities. 

SupermanYoosung★: You’re a really cool person

SupermanYoosung★: But let's get off the heavy topics

Sapfyre: Hmmmm 

Sapfyre: How long have you been playing LOLOL

Yoosung frowned, at least they didn't ask how much he plays. 

SupermanYoosung★: a little over 2 years

SupermanYoosung★: A friend of mine downloaded it for me, and I’ve been hooked ever since. 

Sapfyre: I’ll confess this is more addictive than it has any business being.

SupermanYoosung★: Welcome to LOLOL hell I hope you enjoy your stay~

Sapfyre: Ahaha thank you

Sapfyre: I think it might just be the company >-< 

Yoosung felt his ear burning. He couldn’t help but agree with them, but at the same time, he wanted to approach this budding friendship with caution. He’d never hear the end of it if Saeyoung finds out he was catfished. Or potentially catfished. The student willed his mind to get it together, they weren’t even flirting with him, he was just lonely and desperate at the moment. That was logical. He’d just play it cool. 

Some Time passed and Sapfyre got a headway into fishing and cooking. An hour had passed since they logged on and talked about pointless things like the latest RPG and anime. Yoosung could very easily see himself being friends with this guy in real life. They had many similar interests. He found himself laughing at some of the corny jokes they made too. Like actually laughing out loud. 

Now they were gearing up to head into a dungeon. Saeyoung had sent him a private message, but the gamer ignored it in favor of getting Sapfyre set up for more monster hunting. Once again the crawling was slow due to him having to fall back to type commands for his companion. He really wishes they would get a headset to make this more swift, and also so they could actively chat more. 

Sapfyre had reached level 10 and they had a long debate on the best support healing class for them. Arche Master won healing spells and potion brewing. Just as Yoosung had hoped they’d choose. 

As he was about to wrap them a voice chat request from Saeran popped up. Yoosung groaned, he didn’t even see him log in. He pardoned himself for a moment and plugged in his headset. He accepted his friends' request, typing to Sapfyre he’ll be a moment. 

“Hey.” Yoosung said eyeing the little ‘take your time’ from his new friend.

“So you ignore my brother, but talk to me?” Saeran questioned, even Yoosung could hear the smirk in his voice. 

“You’re the lesser of the two evils,” Yoosung explained sighing, explaining to Sapfyre he was just setting up his headset to chat with another player before warping them to the first location for a low-level quest. “Anyways what's up?”

Saeran was silent for a moment. “What are you doing in such a beginner level area?” he questioned and Yoosung rolled his eyes. 

“I met someone new to the server yesterday, I’m raising myself an Arche Master.” He chuckled gloating. 

“How the hell did you seduce- Sap-fire? Into becoming a support class for you?” Saeran asked trying to figure out if he was pronouncing the username correctly. Yoosung honestly didn’t know if that's how you say it, but it was as good a guess as to his. 

“Haha~” Yoosung let out a boyish giggle and then lowered his voice. “I know how to get around Saeran. Why you jealous I’m gonna have myself an amazing support!” 

“Sure.” Saeran sighed the sound of his keyboard being typed on made its way into the mic. “It’ll benefit our guild over Mi-Cha’s and my idiot brothers.” 

“That’s true.” Yoosung hummed replying to Sapfyre quickly as he sent his avatar charging into an assault. 

“Don’t tell me they are a typer-” Saeran asked in mock horror at the implication. 

“Ya, but it’s not their fault.” Yoosung defended his new friend. “They are a student like me, and literally just started LOLOL yesterday.” 

Saeran groaned anyway. The faint sounds of Mi-Cha hissing something to her husband were heard in the background. Yoosung let out an amused poof of air wondering what Saeyoung did now to get her riled up like that. 

“Do they always have to be so loud?” Saeran whispered his complaint and Yoosung chuckled under his breath. “So I take it you’ll be busy for awhile helping that person with leveling?” 

“Ya.” The gamer replied typing to Sapfyre about their next mission swiftly. “It’s gonna take a bit more time given we have to type to one another until they can get a headset.” 

“Fine.” Saeran murmured. “I’ll just go sell goods and mine while you help the noob.” 

“Sounds good,” Yoosung replied. Saeran made a noise and their line disconnected. He wasn’t much of a talker, unless it was necessary as Yoosung found out over the year of knowing him. 

SupermanYoosung★: There is glow mushrooms in this cave

Sapfyre: Ooooooh sounds fancy~

SupermanYoosung★: Ahaha they look really pretty!

SupermanYoosung★: Only problem is-

SupermanYoosung★: This is the only place to farm them and it’s a level 45 dungeon.

At that moment he wished he would’ve asked Saeran for help. There was a certain random spawn for a level 98 dragon event happening in that dungeon. The dragon looked sick though, with the mushrooms growing off his body, but he was a bitch to face. 

Sapfyre: I’ll try my best to give you back up!

SupermanYoosung★: We got this >-<

SupermanYoosung★: Nothing can stand in this duo’s way! 

SupermanYoosung★: Let’s just pray the level 98 dragon doesn’t spawn

He pressed teleport and warped them inside the entrance of the cave.

Sapfyre: hahaha

Sapfyre: hahaha level 98 dragon in a level 45 dungeon.

Sapfyre: You’re trolling me, right?

Yoosung chuckled. He wishes he were, but they needed that glow mushroom for a revival potion with a 5% brew success rate. Meaning they’d be here for a while. If he got lucky maybe one of his friends would see where he was and come help. If not they would have to hope for the best. 

SupermanYoosung★: Don’t worry~

SupermanYoosung★: There is only a 28% chance he’ll spawn. 

An almost daring smirk crossed the gamer's lips as he sent both their avatar rushing into the depth of the dungeon. Sapfyre was being cute thinking every droplet sound effect was the dragon spawning. However, as of right now they’d be okay. It wasn’t until the last 5 levels of the dungeon did it ever spawn. 

Sapfyre: This is a suicide mission!

SupermanYoosung★: Naw, I’ve only faced him once and that was after multiple times looking for him. 

Sapfyre’s avatar was farming mushroom’s and Yoosung was fending off monsters. It moved quicker with them both focusing on a task. Surprisingly they were making headway pretty quickly within the dungeon. 

After some time he saw Saeran’s avatar spawn in with them, and Yoosung chuckled feeling like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar. In the world chat, Saeran sent numerous question marks and Yoosung sent some back. Soon after Saeran asked to join their party and Yoosung accepted. It automatically created a separate group chat for the team.

Sapfyre: Oh hey! Someone new!

SupermanYoosung★: This is a friend of mine. Seems he’s just as nervous about us running into the Shroom Dragon as you are. 

Sapfyre: I told you!

Sapfyre: This is a suicide mission!

UnknownUserName: What do you think you’re doing ^^

SupermanYoosung★: Making revival potions

Sapfyre: Trying to get us killed!

Sapfyre: Oh more mushrooms! 

Yoosung smiled watching her run towards the farm point and start gathering more of the precious material. Both Saeran and himself fended off the monsters spawning around them. Saeran was a ranged character opting for a longbow. He still hit hard though. They always made a good team. 

Sapfyre: Go boys go!

SupermanYoosung★: Whoooooo!

Sapfyre made her Avatar do a cheering motion as they fought off the critters that were mostly child's play to him and Saeran. Soon enough they all collected up again and moved further within the cave. 

SupermanYoosung★: The moment of truth boys

SupermanYoosung★: May we proceed to victory

Sapfyre: ????

UnknownUserName: It spawns in the last 5 levels 

Sapfyre: You mean I was jumping at every little sound for nothing this whole time!

UnknownUserName: Apparently 

Sapfyre: Yoosung you god damn troll! 

SupermanYoosung★: Thought I mentioned

UnknownUserName: Sure. 

Yoosung chuckled, a little disappointed they newcomer didn’t react to him referring to them all being boys. He sighed resolving himself into finally believing they were, in fact, a dude with a cute Avatar. There was no denying the disappointment he felt. At least the connection they had made could be swayed towards a friendship. Yoosung smiled sadly to himself, mentally scolding himself for being so desperate for a girlfriend again. 

The team proceeded with extreme caution. Yoosung had his headphones on with the volume at a punishing high listening for any telltale signs they were not alone. Even his breathing mellowed out as his heart hammered in his chest. It was exhilarating sneaking about trying to get to the loot at the end of the cove. 

Soon enough he saw two more Avatars run unto the screen. They requested to join the party and Yoosung let out a slow breath of relief. He accepted watching as Saeyoung and Mi-Cha’s user names joined his and Saerans along with Sapfyre. 

AhaChaCha: Wow, really pushing it guys

HackerGod: Will he spawn though

HackerGod: Dun Dun

HackerGod: Come on Saeran, give me a DUN!

UnknownUserName: No

Sapfyre: DUNNNN!!!!

HackerGod: HAHA 

AhaChaCha: Yoosung it’s not nice to get your new friends killed. 

SupermanYoosung★: Meh, we would’ve been fine. 

Sapfyre: Would we really have been though!?!

Sapfyre: Look at all these people concerned about our well being!

Sapfyre: Can’t believe you took me out on a suicide mission T^T

HackerGod: Lolol, Ya Yoosung. 

HackerGod: How

HackerGod: Could

HackerGod: YOU!

AhaChaCha: T^T this is so sad

AhaChaCha: Alexia play Despacito~

Sapfyre: Pbffft

UnknownUserName: How am I related to you fools?

SupermanYoosung★: Only three more Levels to go!

SupermanYoosung★: MEN - Mi-Cha- LET’S MARCH FORWARDS TO VICTORY! 

Sapfyre: Y'all hear that??

As Sapfyre’s message appeared a rumbling roar shook Yoosung’s eardrums. He hissed removing the headset and moved quickly. Honestly, the rest of them could’ve easily made a voice chat, but maybe they were being considerate to Sapfyre who would be the only man out. 

HackerGod: Let us KamiKaze this bitch!

UnknownUserName: Now that’s something I can get behind

AhaChaCha: Stay back and focus on your healing spells, Sapfyre

SupermanYoosung★: Should we cue a war cry?

Sapfyre: FREEDOM!!!

SupermanYoosung★: lmao!

HackGod: GRYFFINDOR!!!

With that, they all took their positions. Saeyoung was a mage and stood back with his brother seeing as their both ranged. Mi-Cha and Himself charged in. She was a duel wielding halfling and him a tank. Saran was careful to position himself before Sapfyre protecting the extremely under-leveled healer. Yoosung was honestly surprised how easily Sapfyre got into the team formation and tried desperately to keep all their hit points up. 

It was a long battle with just the five of them, even with Saeyoung and himself holding the number 1 and 2 place in the server ranking. Mi-Cha and saeran’s characters weren’t anything to scoff at. Sapfyre did good hanging out in the far back healing as fast as their mp gage and cool downtime would allow them. They even started tossing some of the potion’s Yoosung had bought for them the night prior. Event bosses were always a pain in the ass to take down, but the rewards were sooo worth it. 

No one dared type in the group chat, everyone was busy watching for openings for an all-out attack when the defence dropped. Nothing like a risky battle to get your blood pumping, or so they say. Yoosung found himself swearing to himself as his voice got more panic watching his health bar deplete, however, Sapfyre was trying to heal him back up. Maybe this was a mistake, but if they went down, all of them could say they went down with one hell of a fight. 

After a good hour, the beast died and Mi-Cha was like a hit point away from dying. Yoosung could almost hear everyone's sigh of relief as the exp divide between the five of them. Yoosung chuckled watching Sapfyre make their Avatar dance about in celebration. 

AhaChaCha: That was too close for comfort.

HackerGod: At least Sapfyre is feeling energetic enough to dance for us 

Sapfyre: What a rush! You’re all amazing! I went up like 7 levels! 

UnknownUserName: There was a lesson to be learned here

SupermanYoosung★: Ya ya

HackerGod: I believe in the heart of the cards

AhaChaCha: lol! Got some good loot!

SupermanYoosung★: I’m glad you all showed up

SupermanYoosung★: Our ass’s would’ve been grass

Sapfyre: D:

Sapfyre: I told you this was a suicide mission!

UnknownUserName: ^^ 

After a few finishing things, and getting to the field of glow mushrooms everyone left the part. Soon it was just him, Sapfyre, and the loading screen brings them back to safety. 

Sapfyre: It’s so late

Sapfyre: Don’t you ever sleep, Yoosung?

SupermanYoosung★: Sometimes lolol

SupermanYoosung★: I take it you’re headed to bed

Sapfyre: Yes! Are you insane? I have morning classes

Sapfyre: If anything you should be joining me

Yoosung choked on his spit.

Sapfyre: OMG!

Sapfyre: I meant you should be heading to bed!

Sapfyre: Gosh, now I’m blushing 

SupermanYoosung★: It’s okay haha

SupermanYoosung★: You’re probably right

SupermanYoosung★: I’m just not gonna listen :p

Sapfyre: I rolled my eyes

Sapfyre: I guess this is goodnight!

Sapfyre: Nighty Night~

SupermanYoosung★: Night!~

[lady-divine-writes]

Klaine one-shot - “The Dangers of Self-Medicating” (Rated PG13)

Summary: Kurt gets sick on a business trip, and everything he does just to get home makes it worse. (2024 words)

Notes: So, I have been feeling a little blue and entirely unmotivated, so I started editing some old work and came across this one. It's the first thing I've laughed at in a couple of days, so I re-wrote it for Klaine (just in case it looks familiar, now you know).

Read on AO3.

“Sir?”

“Mmmrrr … hmmm?”

“Sir? We’re here.”

“Here?” Kurt’s eyelids flutter slightly, opening a sliver. But when the mid-morning sun hits their dry, red surface, he immediately shuts them again. “Where’s here?”

“15-22 Mulberry Place? It’s the address you gave me.”

“The address I … wha---?” Kurt pries open his eyes. The address sounds familiar, but the voice speaking to him doesn’t. There’s a lot of mud and fog cluttering his brain. The last thing he remembers is being in his hotel room, packing his bag. No, it was losing his breakfast, and lunch and dinner from the day before, in an airport toilet. No, no, it was waiting by the curb, clutching on to the handle of his carry-on for support while he waited for his Uber to arrive.

Uber! He’s in an Uber! Which means he must be …

“Home?” he says in a raw, grumbly voice.

“I guess.” The man puts his car into park. “Do you need any help with your bag?”

“Nah.” Kurt grabs the handle of the bag he’s been cuddling awkwardly since he fell asleep in this poor man’s back seat. At least he didn’t vomit in his car. As far as Kurt can remember, he’s baptized nearly every toilet and trash can from the airport, to Manhattan, to home. “I’ve got it.” I’ll just pour myself onto the pavement and slither up to my front door, he thinks. “Here …” Kurt fumbles a hand into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. Squinting, he fishes out three tens and clumsily hands them to the driver. “Thanks for everything.”

“Good luck,” the driver says, mentally snickering at the intoxicated man doing his best to exit his Prius. Ten sheets to the wind at barely eleven in the morning?

Well, it’s five o’clock somewhere.

Kurt backs out of the car butt-first, searching for the ground with his feet to make absolutely certain that it’s there. Once they make contact, he extricates the rest of his body, his Samsonite bag landing on the curb with a thunk when his arms fail to support its weight. It takes him longer to stand up straight, the compact blue Toyota gone before Kurt gets his head balanced on his shoulders.

He blinks his eyes and looks around, wondering why his husband isn’t there to meet him at the curb. Blaine and Tracy drove him to the airport, but he took an Uber home. And thank God he did. There’s no parking anywhere on the street this morning. Of course, he lives here and, hence, has a driveway to pull in to, but still. Strange, but Kurt doesn’t have the brain capacity to speculate about that just now.

Kurt has been traveling for most of the morning, voluntarily switching flights twice when a technical malfunction bumped travelers off their plane. He went from first class to coach, then back to first class again. He misses his family, but he came out of the deal with two travel vouchers, a slew of frequent flier miles, and a thousand dollar refund back to his credit card.

Not too shabby for a Sunday afternoon.

He’s a stone’s throw from home, but the way he’s feeling, it might take him the rest of the afternoon to get there.

Kurt turns, taking baby steps, one tiny shuffle at a time with breaths in between to keep the sidewalk underneath his feet. He does the same for the journey up his driveway – shuffle-shuffle pause, shuffle-shuffle pause, bending at the knees on occasion to ground himself and keep from collapsing.

The walk up his driveway to his front door on this beautiful Sunday afternoon is the most excruciating thing Kurt has done in ages.

Correction – pulling out his keys, listening to the God awful things jangle loudly, the noise ricocheting like bocce balls inside his skull, is the most excruciating. Walking up the driveway, and then up the front steps, each movement sending a dull ache searing from the soles of his feet to his forehead, was simply a precursor to this pain.

Kurt doesn’t understand how he could have gotten sick. He’d been on top of his Echinacea and his Vitamin C game for a week before he left. He kept his mouth and nose covered with a scarf on the plane, and no one he spent any significant time with looked particularly ill. Then again, he’s learned from having a child that sick people are often contagious way before they show any symptoms.

Plague-ridden bastards and their ninja germs bombarding him with their unseen illnesses! He did everything in his power to keep from catching anything, and now he’s standing at death’s door.

In reality, it’s probably from traveling back and forth between coasts after all these years of calm, suburban living. Living in the boonies, away from the dirt and the grime and the smog of the city has lowered his immune system, made him weak on a microbial level.

Clean air and sunshine – it will do you in every time.

His key ring raised to an inch from his eyes, he isolates his door key and pinches it between his thumb and index finger. He tries to stab it into the lock, but he keeps missing, his triple vision causing the end to veer away from the hole at the last minute and hit the door instead.

“Get … in … there,” Kurt snaps. “Get … in … that … hole … you stupid … little …” Kurt hears the door unlock and lets go of his key, assuming it made its way into the lock somehow. But the ring falls to the ground with a phenomenal bang. “Shoot!” he mutters, realizing he’ll need to bend over to pick it up.

If he does, he may never stand straight again.

The door swings open, the momentum of it almost dragging Kurt forward with it.

“Well, well. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Blaine coos, his body blocking Kurt’s way, saving him from falling on his face.

“He-ey!” Kurt says, bright but slow, sounding as drunk as he looks.

“Hey, honey.” Blaine gives his husband an enthusiastic, lovesick once-over, but raises a brow at his wrinkled clothes, his unbuttoned collar, his flushed face, and his severely disheveled hair. “How was your trip?”

“Regrettable, to be honest. Ooo, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kurt throws a hand over his mouth, diverting Blaine’s kiss from his lips to his cheek. “I think I contracted bird flu somewhere between Broadway and 75th Street. Or maybe syphilis.”

“Is syphilis an airborne disease? Because, if it isn’t, I have some questions.” Blaine opens the door wider. Grabbing Kurt’s bag in one hand and his elbow with the other, he leads him inside.

“Hmm, so do I.”

Blaine walks his husband to the sofa and helps him onto a cushion. “So did you miss your plane and walk home?” he asks, retrieving Kurt’s keys and closing the front door.

“Very funny.”

“I don’t want to say you look awful but …” Blaine takes a few steps back to get a good long look at Kurt sinking into the sofa, his head finding the arm and leaning against it. He doesn’t look like himself at all – from the hair to the clothes, and beyond his flushed cheeks, his skin actually looks green “… you look awful.”

“It’s not my fault. I took an Ambien last night to help me sleep off this …” Kurt waves a hand in front of his nose “… whatever I caught, but it didn’t help. I was coughing and sneezing and tossing all night. By six a.m., I was afraid I’d crash before I made it to the airport, so I took some DayQuil to keep me alert. But I guess DayQuil and Ambien don’t play nice together.”

“I guess not.”

“To top it off, since my plane was delayed, I dropped into what I thought was a Dunkin’ Donuts. I mean, the banner over the door looked the same and everything. Turns out, it was some new boutique place called Drunkin’ Donuts. I ate two blackberry wine donuts before I realized I was feeling tipsy.”

“Uh, but wouldn’t the alcohol in the donuts cook away?” Blaine asks, digging his phone out of his pocket and logging on to WebMD to see how much trouble his husband might be in.

“Yeah, in the donut, but not the jam filling. I’m amazed I made it home. After that, everything was kind of a blur.”

“Like what?”

Kurt swallows. This was the part he was hoping he wouldn’t have to get into until he was better … or sober. “Okay, don’t get mad, but I may have tweeted David Beckham and told him he had, and I quote, a very bite-able bod?” Kurt admits, eyes begging his husband to please tell him that that was just a dream.

And even though Blaine is quietly panicking over the fact that his husband might need his stomach pumped, he can’t help laughing at his man’s expense.

“Alas, you did,” Blaine confirms. “But in case you didn’t see his reply tweet, he claims that you do, too. And his wife concurs, so there’s that. Of course, Isabelle jumped on the whole thread and posted it to every social media account Vogue owns. I think you may have raised your stock value with that snafu.”

“Thank God!” Kurt moans. He knew that tweet wouldn’t cost him his job or anything, and he was only mildly worried about what it might do for his home life. But more than that, he was afraid what might happen next time he and Victoria Beckham crossed paths.

She might be petite, but he’s heard she’s a hair puller.

“What else?” Blaine asks, keeping Kurt awake while he stalls for time.

“I may have ordered everything from pages 23, 24, and 25 of the SkyMall catalogue.”

“You do that even when you’re not under the influence. I mean, so do I, but ...”

“And I …” And this is the one that may have Kurt crawling beneath the sofa out of sheer embarrassment “… I may have emailed all of our friends and family … using your email account … and invited them here today for, and again I quote, a surprise party in honor of the wonder that is me?”

“Right again.” Blaine chuckles, laced with concern. “And by the time I checked my email, they had all RSVP’d. They’re in the kitchen waiting to yell surprise the second I open the door.”

Kurt’s eyes pop, his gaze shifting to the door beside him, terrified by this new knowledge that seventy or more people might be on the other side, ready to scream at him.

That alone makes his stomach flip.

That explains the lack of parking on the street.

“And you couldn’t just cancel?” Kurt groans, putting his hands over his ears in preparation for the cheer that’s about to run him over like a freight train.

“Of course not. I invited them. And I’m nothing if not a considerate host.” But Blaine doesn’t open the door. He hits send on a mass text and shoves his phone back in his pocket. From beyond the white-washed piece of wood, Kurt hears the muffled trickle of text alerts going off, accompanied by a rumble of voices muttering in confusion. Someone who could be Mercedes says, “Hey, Bun-Bun! How would you like to go play mini golf with me and your Uncle Sam?”

“Would I?” Tracy squeals, followed by the patter of her footsteps racing to her bedroom upstairs, presumably to get her coat and shoes.

“Wha---what are we doing?” Kurt mumbles as Blaine helps him off the couch, wondering if they’re going to go play mini golf with their daughter and her mom. He’d love to, but he’s not sure he’d be able to make it farther than the fourth hole. “Where are we going?”

“I thought it might be a good idea if we turned this welcome home celebration into a party of two. And we’re holding it at the emergency room.”

[lord-explosion-baku]

Siren!Shinsou x Pirate Captain!reader (soulmate twist)

Warnings: fluff? Angst, violence, alcohol

A/N: this is gonna get done in two parts because Meeps went a little overboard (pun intended.) for editing purposes and so I’m not a stressed muffin I’m not adding the keep reading insert thingy so I can link the two fics together because it doesn’t let me do that after I put that shit in there. Don’t come for me, I blew it, I already know. Anyways, here’s wonderwall.

Red Scarf Part 1

“Don’t listen to them!” You bellowed at your crew as you tried to steer your ship away from the rocks. Rain pelted on your face as you pushed as hard as you could on the wheel. It wasn’t enough. “Kaminari!” You called out to your first mate that seemed only half dazed. “We need to turn this blasted ship around! Grab the wheel, I’ll go for the sails!”

The man nodded and ran for you. You ran down to the deck and flipped yourself up, beginning to climb the ratlines to the yardarms, cutting away at ropes as your hands burned from gripping on to shrouds. You gazed down and saw that Kaminari’s attention was elsewhere. Soft and mystical humming grew louder and one of the monsters, the beautiful damned creature, climbed aboard your ship, swung her long slick tail over and reached a delicate hand to him. Kaminari had a stupid grin on his face as he walked over to her.

“Kaminari, no!” You screamed but your voice was drowned out by thunder and the symphony of a dozen other sirens. You watched as the monster caressed his face and he put his hands on her shoulders. “Kill her!” You yelled. He did not. Instead, he kissed her.

Pale arms wrapped around his body and pulled him down and into the sea. You stifled a pained yell. “Dumb bastard,” you gritted your teeth, now standing at the top of your ship. More than half of your crew was gone, taken from you by those unforgiving temptresses. You gazed upon your rocky doom and to other ships that have met the same demise. With a broken heart, you watched as your bowsprit smashed and crumbled. A gust of wind hit you, blowing your beloved hat off of your head and into the abyss You caressed the wood of your ship, your pride and joy, closed your eyes and accepted your fate.

As your body was beaten by the waves, all you could hear was a soft hum. A call just for you.

~

You awoke to the sounds of waves crashing against the shoreline. Cold water lapped at your bare feet and you shuddered. You held your hand over your face to stop the sun from frying your eyes, you were sure your skin was burned enough. The hellstorm had done its damage and passed, leaving you with clear skies but no ship. You stood up and held your arm to your chest. It stung badly but it wasn’t broken: probably fractured.

You kicked at the sand, causing cedarwood from your ship to surface. The beach was littered with rubble: cracked bottles, destroyed cargo boxes with linens and wet clothes hanging around them, ropes and wood had been washed up along with, apparently, you. To your right, up the sandy slope, were large wispy trees. Too dangerous to start a fire but convenient for a camp set up.

You cursed at the gods for keeping you alive. What were you without a ship? How could you be a captain without a crew? You wanted to cry out. You nearly did before you saw a small head bobbing in the waves, not twenty meters away from shore.

The head belonged to a young man, his dark wet hair was clinging to his face and his eyes were on you. You didn’t recognize him but you didn’t think much about that. Before leaving on your journey, you collected many able bodied men for your crew. You knew that your voyage was going to be tough so you didn’t spend too much time learning everyone’s faces. Besides that, crew members came and went, as they traveled searching for their own paths. You had the ones you knew would stick around, the ones whose destinies were similar to yours; to be bound to the sea. The grim irony of the fate of your crew caused a nasty knot in your stomach. Still, you thought, you had at least had one man. As a captain, you make one thing very clear: your men belong to you until the detonation has been met. Whether or not they stick around for the next voyage is up to them, so long as they know who is in command until then. So, you put on your stern captain face and called out to him.

“What are you doing, playing in the waves like a child? Come me to shore and help me set up camp before ye ‘come ill!”

The man continued to watch you for a moment before his head dipped under water and appeared closer to shore at lightning fast feed. You gasped at the same guy if him.

The Caribbean Sea was very clear so you saw his toned torso through the water. What made you gasp, wasn’t his swimming speed but the beautiful and horrible iridescent tail that was attached where his legs should’ve been. He was one of them.

“Vile creature,” you said under your breath. “Return to the miserable depths or you’re mine to kill!”

The monster grinned at your command. A wave pushed him onto the shore. With your good arm, you drew your cutlass. “Stay back!” You barked with wrathful vigor, still your legs were shaking as you took a step back.

He began climbing into the shore. If you were quick, you could plunge your weapon into his back but monsters like these were cunning. He wouldn’t make himself vulnerable to you for no reason.

His tail, purple now that the sun was shining directly on it, began to bubble up. You saw it split in two and soon he… he sprouted legs! He stood up and over the pile of skin, or scales, whatever it was it reminded you of of snake sheddings you had seen when you had gone a quest to slay a leviathan.

Taking another step back, your foot found a piece of wood and you slid down, closer to the bare naked man. Wobbling, you swung your sword at him, warning him that you were not to be messed with. You hated the amused look on his face. “Quit smiling at me, hellspawn!”

His grin widened. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to hold dangerous objects without knowing how to use them?” Your face reddened as you scowled at the man. You hadn’t known sirens could speak human tongue. All the more reason to threaten him.

“I’ll cut that tongue out and wear it around my neck!” You charged forward, too confident and not used to fighting on land. In one swift move, the creature had you disarmed and turned around so your back was against his bare chest.

Cool breath tickled your ears as he said, “this is the thanks I get for saving your life?”

Huh? It was unusual for you to have washed to shore hardly scathed besides the pain you felt in your arm. But why would a siren save the life of any human? They only caused destruction. Other pirates told tales of crew mates in the past who were victims of that same siren song you heard last night, never to be seen again. So why were you alive? Why hadn’t you been eaten or drowned? It hardly mattered now. You had lost everything.

“My life wouldn’t need saving if it hadn’t been for what you’ve done to my crew- my ship!” You writhed around in his too strong arms.

He chuckled darkly. “For what I’ve done? Love, I wasn’t the pirate who decided to steer their ship in siren territory during a storm. And during mating season? Especially foolish.”

“You’ve killed my men! You’ve taken everything from me!” His grip on you loosened and you took that opportunity to elbow him in the ribs. He let go and you sprinted foreword, up to the island trees. The sadistic prick probably only saved you so you could savor your death. Play a game of cat and mouse with you. You weren’t going to have that. You would either die a noble death or you get away. At the moment, you preferred the latter.

Still, running through the flora had proven difficult given your injuries and your wet clothes. You didn’t get far before your pants got caught on a log and you tumbled down a slope, leaving your body with scratches and bruises. You winced at the throbbing pain in your arm.

“For someone who walks around on two legs all the time, you sure are bad at using them.” He was standing on the log, smirking down on you. He slid smoothly down to where you sat, frowning on the forest floor. His smile faltered. “You’re hurt,” he said. He reached a hand out to your arm and you swatted it away. “Tsk! Let me help you!”

You gazed up at him. His eyes were narrowed but he seemed to be genuinely concerned for him. Giving up, your eyes fell. You averted your gaze from his lower regions. “If you insist on cleaning me up before inevitably eating me alive, could you please… you’re indecent.”

The look he gave you was that of mirth. “My nudity is making you uncomfortable? Have I not the same alamagation as you’ve surely seen on other men?” Your cheeks burned hot at his question. You hadn’t the patience to explain to monsters why it was appropriate to cover themselves. He chuckled at your reaction. “In that case, I’ll run back to the beach and search for something to cover up with, along with tools to aid you.” He gave you a once over and suddenly you were too conscious of how your wet blouse cling to your body. He leaned down so his parallel to yours, you still did not return his glare. “If you move,” he said, “this island is ravenous and will eat you up. What could happen here is far worse than anything I would do to you. Do you understand me?”

“Aye,” you nodded, clenching your teeth, unable to accept that you were allowing this fiend to help.

He gave you one last look before darting through the trees. You leaned back hitting your head to the tree. What have you gotten yourself into? You had been clumsy in your haste and you’ve rendered yourself defenseless against a creature most foul who already seemed strong enough to take you on even if your health was in peak condition, moreover, as a siren, he could simply sing to you and you would be his for the taking. You thought about moving, in fact, you did scoot your butt up to the tree and force your body up to stand but without a doubt, you were exhausted. You wouldn’t fare well on your own.

He was back, as swiftly as he had left, loose fitting trousers hung around his hips, crinkled up from being bathed in the ocean and dried by the sun, and a red scarf was draped around his shoulders, leaving his chest bare. In his arms were linens, a knife, and large dark bottle. You eyes glowed at the sight of the bottle; perhaps if you were going to die, you could do so with rosy cheeks and a pirate’s bliss.

“I found what I could,” he said placing, throwing the linens over his shoulder and racing down to you. “I’m not sure what’s in the bottle, perhaps it could be medicinal?”

“Medicinal indeed!” You reached a greedy hand out to the bottle and he pulled it away, warily. You scowled.

“Let’s find us a good place for you to be worked on,” he said scanning the woods. He placed the knife between his teeth and laced a hand around your waste. He gave you a coy smile and you glared back at him. Suddenly he had you picked up and was carrying you bridal style.

“Excuse me!” You hissed. He quirked an eyebrow at you. “I will not be handled like a common strumpet!”

“Uh-huh,” he said and the threw you over his shoulder, his hand holding you by the small of your back.

“This be worse!” You yelled, weakly hitting his back.

You walked for minutes while he was silent and you were silently grumbling to yourself, cursing him, cursing the gods, cursing your situation. Finally, he placed you down on the side of a large rock. He took the linens and fixed them around your shoulder. With the blade, he cut and ripped away at the material, creating a fairly decent sleeve to hold your arm in.

“There’s a spring on the other side of the island that has healing properties. I’d take you to it now but my sisters can be… possessive. They’d see you as a threat and I wouldn’t want to deal with that today but if you’re up to it, after we set up camp and get you a good night’s rest, we can head there come dawn.”

We? So he thinks the two of you are what? Companions? Far from it, siren. “I do not wish to be healed,” you spat.

“No? And what do you wish for?”

“To be delivered to the same fate as me crew!” You said throwing your head up and looking towards the sky.

Then, he laughed. Your eyes narrowed and you glowered at him. He looked at you and shook his head. “I don’t think you know what you’re saying!” He laughed again and you felt your body heat up. How dare he mock you! “I’m sorry,” he said disenguinely, “it’s just *aha* the men from your ship? They’re alive and well. Probably better off than they ever have been before. My sisters have them and, uh,” he shook his head and ran his hands through his drying purple hair, “my sisters have needs that need satisfying and those men have been all too willing! So when you tell me you wish to lay with my sisters?”

You pressed your lips together. The thought of your men still being alive sent goosebumps across your body. If you were to be retinitis with them, you would be overjoyed. You’d send each of them a slap on the neck, then pull them all in to a kindly embrace. You might’ve even cried. The dream was tempting, and temptation is what sirens excel in. “Liar,” You said looking to the ground.

He scoffed, “humans. You really know nothing about my kind. You think we desire to be the demise of all men. You think we are creatures of destruction while your kind run about the world slaughtering in masses, committing genocide. Greedy things, taking what’s not theirs and frowning at anything that does them no benefit.” He leaned closer to you with each word until his face was in front of yours. “You think sirens take as much pleasure in murder as you? I’ll have you know, I’ve never killed any man that didn’t deserve it,” his gaze went down to your body, “and I would never harm a lady. Certainly not one as enchanting as yourself.”

Enchanting? That was laughable. You pushed him away from you and grabbed the bottle from the floor, walking towards the beach. “I’m no lady,” you growled. “I am Captain Y/N L/N of the Whispering Winnie and I will not prey fool to your trickery.” You fit the cork into your mouth and pulled.

“Spirits?” he asked.

You spat the cork to the sand. “Rum,” You said taking a swig and continued to walk down the beach in search of materials you could use for a raft.

“Well I am Shinsou, not that you had the decency to ask.” Ignoring him, you pushed a hefty piece of wood up the beach. You collected other wooden shafts and some ratrope and threw them onto the board. You huffed, trying to ignore the exhaustion that was creeping up on you. Shinsou watched entertained as you took another swig from the bottle that was more than half empty before you even started drinking it.

You sat down next to your board and scowled off at the sea. “You know, Y/N, I’m hurt,” he said, taking some of the frayed rope you collected in his hands and examining it. “I think I’ve been fairly hospitable towards you and you’re thinking about leaving so soon? Without even saying goodbye to the men you seem to care so much for, your die for them?” He watched your face contort from sadness to confusion, and back to your scowl. “Or perhaps you don’t want to see your crew now that they have other women in their lives? Tell me, you must have been close with some of them, yes? Perhaps you’ve had a scandal or two with a particular mate of yours and you’d hate to know that he’s happy with someone else?”

Your blood boiled. He hadn’t been true but the fact that he was trying to get a rise out of you, well, got a rise out of you. You have never been with one of your mates regardless of some of their advances. That was a rule of yours. In fact, you’d only been with one man before you devoted your life to your ship and you lost him. You’ve heard your crew make comments about your sexuality when they thought you weren’t around. There was one time you had stayed in a port and your crew went to a tavern while you had business to attend to. You had traded a lost diadem to a man for a bountiful amount of doubloons and the transaction hadn’t taken long so you headed to the tavern. There you found your men merry making and drinking. They were talking about their captain, calling you a prude, joking that you were so tight-ended with them because you haven’t been… relieved in quite some time. You had cleared your throat to alert them of your presence. They stared at you, mortified for being caught. It took everything you had not to crack a grin at seeing the fear on their faces. You walked to to head of the table and took the man who called you a prude’s tankard, downed it, and glared at him until he was out of his seat. You sat down, slamming the cup to the table and said, “ye all look like I’m going to kick you in the dungbie. Good. Ye all be picaroons and deserve nothin’ but a switching from yer mums for speaking ill of a lady. But I ain’t yer mum, I’m yer captain and a mighty jolly one at that. Tonight we’ve made coin, boys! Ale fer ye all!” The table cheered and pushed your tankard into the chest of the Sorry sailor that had insulted you. “Be grateful I don’t send ye home to that miserable wife of yours, Peter, ye hornswaggler. Now, make use for those two feet before I have your toes.” He nodded and said, “aye, captain,” and scurried off to fetch you ale like a good mouse. You didn’t care if they poked fun. They can have their laughs as long as they feared you.

You did, however, have Kaminari. Before he was your first mate, he had been a stowaway. When he was found, you were livid. You had threatened to throw him off the ship unless he proved he deserved to be on it. And that he did. He was just a kid when you found him, albeit, a few years younger than yourself, though you made sure your age was the least of anybody’s worries and he did the same. First you had them keep your ship pristine, scrubbing your deck, emptying the buckets nobody else would touch. But Kaminari was agile and fast. Soon you had him climbing the helms, handling the crow’s nest, amongst other high intensity jobs. Through the years of having him aboard your ship, the two of you did end up forming a tight bond. And when he saved you from a particularly nasty situation involving the rising dead, you thanked him by making him your first mate. He was loyal to you and he never let you down until he was brought into the sea by the seductive siren’s song.

You kicked at the soft warm sand. “No,” you said not looking at Shinsou. “I’ve loved once before and I vowed to never let that happen again.” You went to take another sip from the bottle but it had been empty.

Shinsou sat next to you. “The sea calls for many broken hearts,” he spoke softly. You rolled your eyes at his attempt to be chummy with you. His hand found your knee and you tensed. “The sea alone can’t mend it, though.”

You knew his touching you was supposed to be friendly, maybe even calming, but it sent you into a blind rage. You took the bottle and smashed it against the wood. You pushed Shinsou down and climbed on top of him, pressing the broken glass against his neck. “Don’t you dare touch me!” You barked down at him. He looked bored with your threats and that made you even more furious. “Why are you here? Why do you insist on troubling me with your presence?”

Purple eyes blinked at you. His hand met your wrist and you pressed harder on him. Still you saw no fear in his eyes. “You’re so weak right now. I could fight you off easily,” he said, wrapping his hands tightly around wrist.

“By the time you start, I’d have cut your neck!”

“You’re right,” he said, relaxing his head back. “What ever shall I do?”

“Start by giving me some answers!”

“Hhmph,” his hand traveled up to your arm. He started humming softly to himself as his hands tickled your arm. You watched his lips part and he began to sing. The melody wasn’t something you’ve heard on land but it seemed oddly familiar. Your body began to tingle. You let go of the bottle and it rolled over to the side of the plank. He lifted himself up and you scooted away, now blushing. Your hands went to your ears but he caught them and brought them down with his, his singing growing louder. It seemed to echo across the sea, making your heartbeat quicken.

“Stop it,” You said weakly.

He shook his head, his hand now on your cheek. You leaned into his touch and he made it so you were looking into his hypnotic eyes. Your eyelids grew heavy and you blinked lazily. Your mind was telling you to move away, another part of you wanted to run your hands down his bare toned chest. His fingers wove through your hair. You sighed and closed your eyes, unable to look at him for much longer before you did something you knew you would regret. As he sang he pushed softly on your shoulder, laying you down on to the panel, and slowly your mind started to drift away from you as you surrendered to his siren’s song.

~

Under the water, you watched cannonballs sink down below you as wood swirled around. You watched the fire above the surface as Whinnie crumbled and screamed and broke, your pride and joy, your ship now destroyed. Creatures, beautiful and dangerous swam around you, baring their teeth as they got closer. One grabbed your leg and pulled you deeper into the depths. Something darted by you and you heard a high pitched squeal. And then singing. It was the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard. It reminded you of your childhood, your innocence, and at the time time, it brought you back in to your ship, your freedom, your passion.

The song grew louder and a man appeared before you. Purple hair whirled around him. The song was coming from his lips. He stared at you and you, him. A question was asked through his song. You answered. He brought his hands to your face and pulled you into him, locking his lips with yours. Air was pushed into your lungs. You wrapped your arms around him as he propelled the two of you forward. The last thing you remember was seeing a gleaming tail trailing behind you.

~

You woke from your daze to see that the sun had set and a fire had been built for you on the beach. You gasped for air as if you had been under the water again, though you were completely dry. Shinsou sat on the other side of the fire, his trousers were folded neatly next to him. You saw two skewed fish roasting. Your sling had been taken off of your arm that felt significantly better. In its place was the red scarf that Shinsou was wearing earlier.

“You’re awake,” he said, grabbing the pants. “I thought that maybe you’d be hungry so I caught us some food. I’ve also taken the liberty of bringing you some of that spring water I told you about. The liquor must’ve dehydrated you because you drank it up with haste.”

“I…” You didn’t know what to say. Shinsou had been the one to save you. The other sirens were going to kill you but he stopped them.

“You responded to my siren song,” he said before you could make any remark on what had been done in your daze. “Mine is different than the others. It calls to only one.”

You pulled your knees to your chest. Somehow, you knew what that meant. Whether or not you could accept that, was a different story.

He pulled the skewers out of the fire and stuck them in the sand so the fish would cool off. “Like I said before, I’ll take you to the spring, to your crew, at dawn. Then all of this,” he gestured to the island, “will start making sense.”

You ate your meals in silence. You couldn’t bring yourself to look at Shinsou, or at least, not while you knew he was looking at you. You watched the moon move across the sky and the stars began to twinkle. On your ship, you would use them to navigate your way across the sea, you would use them again, that night.

He seemed to read your mind because he said, “if you’re thinking about leaving still, you better not. That storm will be coming back. The island won’t be affected by it but out there...” he shook his head.

You scoffed then. There was no sign of any harsh weather. He was lying to you. He just wanted to… keep you. Under the water, when his lips… touched yours, you had made a promise to him. A promise you thought you understood in your time of distress, now it meant nothing. You were getting off that island. You laid your head down.

After awhile, the fire died down and you heard soft breaths coming from him. You watched his chest rise and fall in his slumber. He was kinda cute as he slept, no reason for him to have a smart mouth in his dreams. You unraveled the scarf and put it on his chest.

You walked down the beach and found your raft materials. You tried to build it as fast as you could, the moon was full, providing a fine amount of light for you to do your work. You used extra linens to fix a sail. Soon, you were drifting out to sea, in calm waters, watching the stars.

The storm came, just as Shinsou warned it would. It didn’t make more than a couple giant waves to break the spirit of your departure. Water pushed and pulled at your raft and the wind lifted you into the sky. In the air, you searched for the island but it was clouded by mist. You prepared yourself for impact as your body broke into the waters. As soon as you surfaced, another giant waves crashed into you, dragging you down without mercy. You swallowed bitter salty water as you searched for air.

Strong arms wrapped around your body and you were pulled along the depths. Your vision blurred and you were out.

Part 2

~

Tags for EVERYTHING (closed): @yandere-inamorata @miitaart @dessiedawnwritesfanfiction @wickedlewicked @chickennuggetsarequestionable @nevermorelanore @kpanime @ayeputita @captain-sin-allmight-queen @diisasterbii @iceformer @meganofmars @colagirl5 @colorbookshd @grimmjadeskye @sm0kingcrack @sarcastictextstuck @zellllyyyy @psionicsnow @mynahx3 @andie-in-tumblland @iamthe-leaf @midnightfeline666 @bungou-stray-alies-tales-of-aly @rubyred-28 @kattariapenn @heypartypeps @quirktaker @thecryingsombra @smbody-stole-mycar-radio @ghost-of-todoroki @geektastic84 @personoffangirlingandtears @glixeo @rubycubix @mekakushi-dan-01-kido

[hnrywinchester]

Fare Thee Well - - 17

Summary: She hasn’t seen Gabriel since he died nine years ago, then a phone call changed everything.

Pairing: Gabriel x OFC

Series Warnings: ANGST, smut, swearing, PTSD Gabriel, Character Deaths, Canon Compliant

Beta’d by: @aquietuniverse

Words: 5.7k

Gabriel never came. The barren trails wound on and on for miles, the cold air freezing her from the inside out as her lungs burned and ached. Lucifer had finally released her once he knew she couldn’t escape, when the rift home was far enough behind them that he knew she’d never find it before dropping dead. She trailed behind him, her feet dragging like anchors as the fatigue set in. She regretted her lack of sleep and food in the hours leading up to this.

“What’s the hold up? Don’t you wanna see little Gabey again before he’s…” Lucifer taunted, dragging his thumb across his throat as he twisted his face into a dying grimace.

“He’s not gonna die!” Liv spat back, wishing she was close enough to hurl her fist at his nose.

“If Michael comes around he is. A powered up Gabe can’t him take on, never mind the pathetic, lovesick state he’s in now. He’s a goner, honey.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Plus, I need you as collateral. My brother’s prized possession for my son. He’ll take that deal without thinking twice.”

“No one’s holding your spawn hostage.”

“We don’t know that! So until we find out, you’re with me. Come on sis, put a little pep in that step and let’s find our fam!”

This was making perfect sense now. She’d been curious as to why Lucifer was dragging her along with him instead of putting an end to her like she knew he wanted to. She was his brother’s human pet who’d been mouthing off to him just moments before the time to strike had hit. Unsure of whether or not to be thankful for his mercy, she urged her feet to keep going. If anyone was going to find Gabriel in this wasteland, it was him. She continued to call out but still no one came. Her eyes scanned the trees, both the feeling of hope and dread mingling as she prayed to see him alive and not splayed across the ground, his wings seared into the dirt.

Lucifer seemed to know where he was going, like he was following a path, which kept her following along complacently. She hated him. For everything he’d done and ripped away from her, for the things he’d done to Gabriel. Yet here she was depending on him to keep her alive. It was some sick, twisted joke. She wanted to burst into tears, but there was only one angel who saw that side of her and it certainly would never be him. He stopped dead in his tracks, holding his hand up signaling her to stop moving. She heard them. The quiet murmur of voices nearby, the cracking of twigs as their feet crunched along the ground.

“Oh thank Dad! I could use a pick me up,” Lucifer sighed in relief, her face twisting into confusion, “Don’t go runnin’ off now, you’ll die out there. I hear they don’t like humans very much in these parts.”

Her heart was hammering as she watched him walk off. Left to her own devices, standing in the middle of the woods, she felt a fear like she’d never felt before. Her breath shook as she exhaled, her body frozen in place, and when the screams erupted from just out of eyeshot, her eyes snapped shut in hopes that when they reopened she’d find herself waking from a whiskey nightmare.

“Gabriel… please… I need you to hear me,” she begged under her breath, “baby, please. Help me.”

Gabriel never came. Lucifer returned moments later, his eyes glowing red and she despised the relief that washed through her at the sight of him.

“What did you do?” she hissed.

“Got myself a little snack,” Lucifer disclosed, rubbing his stomach, “took out a few of Michael’s cronies, saved your ass. You’re welcome. Now let’s go, we’re close.”

“Close to what?”

“You’ll see. Hop to it, little bunny.”

“I need a break. I’m tired, and cold and hungry! We’ve been walking for hours.”

“Uh, excuse me, Gabe isn’t here right now, please leave your whining at the tone... beeeeeeep.”

His voice was absolutely grating. His facial expressions were enough to boil her blood and her physical misery was doing nothing to keep her emotions in check.

“I can't,” she groaned, “Seriously, I’m freezing. It’s like thirty five degrees and I’m in a t-shirt.”

“Okay,” he droned, “so doesn’t exercise, like, warm you humans up? Walk on missy.”

“Why can’t you just give me your over-shirt? Not like you need it.”

“Because one, that would set the implication that I care. And I don’t. Two, you’re confusing this whole setup with me wanting you alive, and needing you alive.”

“Well I’m gonna be dead here soon either way.”

“Are you always this dramatic? How does he put up with you?”

“All those years of practicing with you I’m guessing.”

Lifting her lip in a snarl, she plopped down onto the ground, not unlike a toddler tantrum, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. She pinched the skin of her tricep, giving one final push that she could wake up from this and be back in the library with a fair-skinned witch and the devil still in chains. Much to her dismay, she remained where she was, with Satan himself staring at her like he wanted to wring her neck until she was blue.

“I could end you right now,” he threatened, taking a step back towards her.

“Are you gonna make me ask nicely?” she bargained, her mental state rapidly deteriorating.

“I’m just gonna leave you here. Let someone else take care of it.”

“Hope Jack isn’t being held captive somewhere by the Rebel Alliance. Cause there goes your leverage then.”

Miming a plane crash landing on the ground with her hand had to be the last straw. As she dragged her fingers through the dirt, adding sound effects as she went, she was certain her life would be over in a snap.

“Oh you act like you want me to leave you here. As if finding Lover Boy isn’t top priority for you. You need me just as much as I need you,” Lucifer theorized, throwing his hands onto his hips.

“He’ll find me,” she guaranteed.

“If he even knows you’re here. Hasn’t shown up yet and I’m sure you’ve called out to him. ‘Oh Gabe, please come rescue me from your evil brother, he’s holding me hostage… wah wah wah’.”

His mimicking tone had her rolling her eyes but his words had her stomach in a knot. He was right. If she didn’t stick with him, no one would ever even know she was there. Clearly Gabriel was already dead or there was some missing wire in this alternate universe that made him unable to hear her. She hoped for the second, but couldn’t shake the feeling that the first was true.

“Gotcha,” he laughed, clapping his hands.

“Looks like we’re at a stalemate then,” she replied, rising to her feet.

“Oh? How so?”

“You need me in case poor Jack is locked up and I need you to get me to… anyone but you.”

“Difference is, one of us has super strength.”

“Super strength? What are you twelve? Should I go get your super suit?”

“Okay you know what… you need to relearn your place.”

With a snap of his fingers, her mouth was glued shut. Her eyes snapped up to him, wide in anger, as he walked over to her, grabbing her upper arm and pulling her along beside him just as he had before.

“I need to go make a little magic happen, and you’re gonna behave, understand?” he patronized, his voice chiming at her like she was a child, “When I come out, I’ll have a little gift for you, then we’ll be on our way to Gabe and gang. I’ll let you see him one last time before I rip that tongue straight out of your disgusting mouth. Can’t believe he lets you kiss him with that thing.”

Screaming as he tugged at her, the sound muffling in her throat, she fought against his hold. Her thoughts called out again for Gabriel, he had to hear her at some point. Lucifer seemed to think he was still alive, and he’d be able to tell if he wasn’t. He was out there, it was just finding him that was seemingly impossible.

Gabriel sat on the decaying log, his thoughts racing as he mindlessly picked apart leaf after leaf. He could hear his nephew, Jack, babbling in the background, searching for a way to bring Sam back, but Gabriel knew there was none. He thought back to the morning, Liv’s words dancing around in his head.

“Give Jack a chance,” she implored, “If the Winchesters are this hell bent on saving him, there’s some good in him.”

“I never said there wasn’t good in him,” Gabriel replied, lacing his fingers with hers against his thigh.

“No. But I know you’re thinking it. You’re gonna take one look at him and just see Lucifer.”

“No I won’t.”

However, he knew she was right. He’d never even met the kid and he already wanted nothing to do with him. It was no fault of Jack’s, but it was hard to believe any spawn of his brother hadn’t taken a turn for the worse.

“Give him a chance. For me?” she requested again, her voice sweet and soft.

“Yeah, yeah. Promise,” he muttered, averting his eyes as he dreaded what was to come.

As much as he tried, he couldn’t silence the sound of her screaming his name, the calls still muddled and faint as if she were underwater. Why was he imagining her calling for help? She was safe, holed up back at the bunker, why wouldn’t his thoughts just calm down for more than twenty minutes at a time? He raced back to the image of Sam being dragged down that barren passage, the snarls and growls echoing against the walls. It could have been her, it would have been her. She was off her game, they both knew it. She would have been the easiest target, gone before he could even say goodbye.

“Why didn’t you bring him back?” Jack’s accusatory tone snapped Gabriel from his thoughts.

“I’m not strong enough,” Gabriel admitted sadly, watching the young Nephilim’s face fall.

Maybe he never would be again. He was seemingly stuck in this half-powered haze, just enough to grace to keep him an angel but not enough to make him worth a damn. Ineffectual, degenerate little runaway. Loki’s words were ringing truer and truer as the days went on. People were dying, and there was nothing he could do.

Bells began to ring from the entrance to the camp, the same ones that had rung to announce their arrival. The rest of the group turned their attention to the source—clearly whoever this was was unexpected—and that little change perked Gabriel up slightly. He’d burnt down the warding not far from here and panic set in that perhaps he’d opened a door that wasn’t meant to be opened. Just more casualties on his conscience.

Shocked gasps traveled like a wave as Sam came into view. He was covered in blood, his own blood, but the gaping wound on his throat was completely healed. As much as he wanted to be thrilled to see Sam walking and breathing again, he knew this wasn’t coming without a cost, one they would not be happy to pay. Sam went to embrace his mother, and that’s when he saw him. Lucifer. His heart dropped into his stomach as he leapt to his feet. If Lucifer was here, something had gone very awry back home and suddenly the muffled calls to him made perfect sense. She’d been calling for help, and he’d ignored her. His vision began to tunnel, his eyes still locked on his smirking, smug brother as he watched with devious eyes the family reunion happening before them. He had to leave, he needed to get back, to find her. Was she alive? Did she escape somehow? Questions flooded his already overflowing mind and he couldn’t even think straight.

As he prepared to take off into a sprint back towards the rift, a familiar mess of brown caught his eye. Tousled and stumbling, she came into view and his breath of relief was audible. Still in his old t-shirt, now covered in dirt, she looked like she’d been through hell and he didn’t doubt she had, in fact. When she began to notice she was once again in human company, her gaze lifted from the ground, the familiar, now panicked face she’d been praying for the first thing she focused on. Their eyes went wide in relief as they locked, both taking off into a run towards the other.

“Gabe,” she sighed, the breath she’d been holding releasing as her feet began to carry her to him.

The ground crunched beneath their feet, rocks and sticks spraying as they skidded across the dirt. When they met, his arms immediately circled her waist, his knees bending slightly to easily accommodate her leap up into him. Her legs wrapped around his middle as her arms went around his neck and she crushed herself into him, pressing her face into the stubbled skin of his neck. She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped at the comfort of being back in his embrace, his warmth slowly easing her frozen limbs.

“Ssshhh,” he soothed as each of her ragged exhales against his neck were accompanied by a faint whine, nuzzling his nose into her hair.

She could feel his heart hammering in his chest against her own, the rhythmic thud easing the stress of her past few hours, his thumb running gently up and down coaxing her out of her panicked state. She focused on him; not on Lucifer standing just a few feet away or the blood covered Sam embracing his mother, or even the son of the devil that watched on with curious eyes.

“I missed you,” they breathed simultaneously as she pulled her head up to look at him, both of their mouths lifting into small smiles.

Uncaring of the prying eyes, she brushed his hair softly from his face, his head leaning into her touch as he closed his eyes, relishing in the small gesture. For a moment their fears evaporated; they forgot they were in another dimension, a very dangerous one, with two of the most powerful beings to exist standing mere feet away, with another hunting them down. He couldn’t wait any longer, his nose crushed into her cheek as he pressed his lips to hers, when her fingers tangled into his hair it took all of his self control to keep himself composed. As always, he wanted to simply lose himself in her, to quell his self-loathing and shortcomings with the feeling of her against him, surrounding him. Her kisses were soft, filled with purpose and longing, only making his desperation grow.

“You’re freezing,” he noted, pecking one last kiss to the corner of her mouth.

He lowered her gently down to her feet, shrugging his jacket from his shoulders and sliding it on to her. Immediately, she huddled up into it, his warmth still lingering in the sleeves. Her teeth began to chatter, the lingering cold from her long journey to get there was going to take some time to relieve. Cued in to every facet of her wellbeing, as he always was, he wrapped his arms around and pulled her tightly back into his body.

The world droned on around her, but she paid it no mind. She focused on the steady thud in his chest, his gentle arms around her and that familiar, warm, arid smell that would never be replicated by anything on Earth. Every time she thought she’d never see him again, they found their way back to each other. Just like he said. She could hear yelling, but Gabriel was staying silent. Whether that be because he was just as immersed in their reunion as she was or simply because he had nothing to say she wasn’t sure, but it made it easier to concentrate on the rise and fall of his breathing. She was beginning to warm up, her body losing that chilled ache she thought would never go away, her head lolling slightly as she gave in to him.

“Dean,” Gabriel’s voice rumbled against her ear, breaking her from her trance.

“You’ve got the blade,” Dean demanded, urging the angels against each other.

“Stop it,” Jack begged softly, his voice pained.

“He’s the devil, kill him.”

“Stop it!”

Just like that, Jack was gone. Liv could here the sighs coming from Gabriel and Dean, both of their patience wearing thin.

“We’ll go look for him,” Gabriel offered, needing away from the entire group to ease his annoyance.

They travelled in silence, their fingers linked as they walked through the woods, searching for Jack. She knew she shouldn’t be feeling this giddy happiness that was currently working its way through her, but she wasn’t about to stop it. Alternate universe or not, she was here with him— and that was all that had ever mattered.

“You’re quiet. I don’t like when you’re quiet, it’s suspect” he teased, pulling her against him, briefly unthreading his fingers from hers to throw his arm around her shoulders, wiggling them again to signal for her to bring her hand back up to his.

Responding with only a shrug, she laced her fingers with his on her shoulder, leaning her head down onto him. She envisioned them walking like this, twisted around each other, through markets and down the beach, the ocean waves the only audible sound as he shielded her from the breeze. Instead of the barren ground, it was warm sand and the gloomy, apocalyptic haze was replaced with the golden glow of the sun as it set. It almost felt real.

“Hey…” Gabriel whispered, again dragging her from her dream world.

When she looked up she could see the Nephilim pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. He looked distressed, panicked and a pang of nerves jolted her straight back to reality. Gabriel signaled for her to stay put as he continued to approach his nephew, and she gladly followed his direction. She feared for him, knowing that in his weakened state Jack could probably do some serious damage to him.

“Jack… uh, hey buddy. You okay?” Gabriel asked, stepping closer cautiously.

“What’s it like?” Jack barked, his voice harder than his face.

“What’s what like?”

“Love.”

The question surprised them both. Although they couldn’t see each other, their expressions mirrored one another’s, eyebrows furrowed and mouth slightly agape. Liv was ever curious, she so desperately wanted to believe that Jack was good. Deep down she knew it was there, but so was pure evil, and the line had to be difficult to toe.

“What do you mean?” Gabriel continued, stopping at arm’s length of the boy.

“How do you know you love someone?” Jack questioned, his voice now softer, almost childlike.

“That’s a loaded question, kid. I don’t think I’m the one to ask.”

“You love her.”

“Yes…”

“How did you know you loved her?”

For once, Gabriel didn’t have an answer. His eyes turned to Liv, her face seemingly just as curious as the kid’s was. She smiled at him, and although he didn’t have the words for Jack’s question, he could feel the answer burning in his heart right then and there.

“I can’t answer that, Jack,” Gabriel confessed, bringing his attention back to him, “I don’t know. It just… happened. One day, I looked at her and I didn’t want to live another day without seeing her. My life is better because she’s in it. She… knows me. All of me. The good, the bad and the ugly. And she still sticks around. I don’t have to hide around her. Bonus, she’s uber hot. Why? You already got someone in mind there, Romeo?”

“How do you know she loves you?” Jack continued, face twisted in deep thought.

Fuck if he knew. He despised himself, always had. Despite the conceited façade and over-inflated sense of worth, deep down he loathed himself. He was weak and afraid, he’d abandoned everyone when they needed him the most without so much as a second glance back. He’d killed people, sure they may have deserved some punishment, but not death. He saw that now. The thought that anyone like her would waste their time and efforts on someone like him had always been baffling. She could have anyone, and the world was filled with people far better than he was, but she wanted him. That was something he’d never take for granted.

“She forgives me when I don’t deserve to be forgiven,” Gabriel finally affirmed, his eyes again shooting over in her direction.

His reason caused her tears to catch in her throat and running to him was purely reflexive. Her arms wrapped around his neck from behind him as she jumped onto her tiptoes to reach and he immediately crouched slightly to ease her embrace. He could hear the quiet whimpers as she pushed back her emotions; he knew what she was feeling, he felt it too.

“He loves you,” Jack stayed matter-of-factly, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“He does,” she responded, confident and strong.

The conviction in her voice was enough to melt the man in her arms. Whenever he felt like a failure, she was always there to pick him up, intentionally or not. This woman was his entire life. He turned his head, pulling her lips into his, kissing her hard.

“I do,” he whispered against her, before pressing back in towards her.

There was no drug, drink or magic in the world that could replicate the feeling he felt here, her mouth moving in perfect synchronization with his, her fingers gently scratching against his chest. Knowing his nephew was still looking on, he pulled away, not wanting to let himself get too carried away.

“Her heart beats faster when she’s around you,” Jack stated, “Is that what love does?”

“Yeah kid,” Gabriel chuckled, “It is. Why are you asking me about this?”

“I just… want to understand. I know I’m supposed to love my father-“

“Woah, pause, that is a whole different thing. Two different kinds of love. Let me give you a helpful hint, you don’t have to love your family just because they’re your family. Ours sucks, big time. You go out and make your own with people you choose. Fill it with people who love you, who help you, who’d give a shit if you died tomorrow. The ones who fight for you everyday, who… open up doors to alternate dimensions to come and find you. You don’t have to love your father just because he squirted you out. In fact, I highly recommend not.”

“You’re my family.”

“Yeah, sure. If you want me to be.”

“I do. Both of you.”

Liv smiled, still draped around Gabriel’s neck, “Look, I don’t know you yet but if you want my advice, you need to make your own call.”

Gabriel’s face fell, what was she saying? Make his own call? Give the devil his due? No, that couldn’t possibly be it.

“If I didn’t make my own decision, I wouldn’t be here, with Gabriel,” she continued, “If I’d listened to everyone else, I’d still think he was a monster. And he isn’t. You need to decide, I know you’ll make the right choice.”

“You think my father can be good?” Jack inquired, his voice slightly hopeful.

“I don’t know, Jack. But if anyone can make him want to be better, it’s you.”

Cautiously, she pulled herself away from Gabriel and stood in before the very confused boy in front of them. She knew Gabriel wouldn’t be pleased with what she’d said, but it was the truth. She had faith in this kid, clearly the Winchesters influence had made a significant impact.

“Cas and Sam and Dean, they love you Jack, trust me,” she went on, “I’ve seen it. I don’t know if Lucifer does, or even if he can, but you need to just listen to him. For your own sake. You don’t want to be stuck wondering for the rest of your life. We’re all here to help you.”

With a nod and a smile, Jack vanished again. Gabriel sighed, he’d gone to find his father no doubt, which was the opposite of what he was intending to make happen.

“I don’t wanna hear it,” she snapped, already knowing what he was thinking, “You know I’m right.”

Just because she was right didn’t make it… right. If the kid’s father was anyone but Lucifer this would have been a good thing, but the consequences of those two joining forces would be catastrophic. He stayed silent, not willing to argue with her just yet, if Jack started to favor Lucifer, however, he’d be forced to show her the error in her ways. She didn’t move, not even to look at him. Clearly she was thinking about something and it couldn’t possibly be good.

“Am I… did I get old?” she finally blurted out, smoothing her hands over her windswept, messy hair, Lucifer’s insults still ringing in her ears

“Uh… is this a trick question? Gabriel replied cautiously, this really could go either way and the wrong way would probably end very badly.

“No. I look older, right?”

“Yeah… that’s kinda what happens.”

“Figured.”

“What is happening right now? Why are you asking me this? Of course you look older, it’s been nine freakin’ years.”

“I look horrible.”

As he reached out to grab her arm his face twisted, confounded by this sudden judgement of herself. He spun her around to face him, looking her up and down once before smirking at her.

“No you don’t,” he assured, running his thumb along her cheek.

“I’m nowhere near your standards anymore,” she condescended, rolling her eyes.

“My standards? Didn’t know I had any. Please, enlighten me.”

“Like, ten years my junior for one.”

“Where’d you get these idiotic assumptions from?”

“They’re not idiotic!”

“They are. Answer me.”

“Your brother…”

“Who is the last person you should be listening to about anything, so you’re losing credibility here. What did he say?”

“He just… made a few good points about me not quite… being up to par…”

He couldn’t listen to this. He didn’t even want to entertain it. A few hours with that vile poison and she was doubting every facet of herself. She looked different, it was the first thing he’d noticed, his heart aching that he wasn’t there to see the changes as they came. He’d tried to silently show her that he knew, and he didn’t care. He liked them, they were her. She wasn’t the same person anymore and neither was he, it was ridiculous to even have to assure her of this.

Slowly, he leaned in and kissed her, his hand cupping her cheek as his thumb brushed over the crow’s feet by her eyes when her eyes snapped shut. Heat began to pool in her belly as his tongue slid between her lips, she almost forgot they were in the middle of the woods. When his free hand went to the button of her jeans, snapping it open, she took too long on deciding whether to not to stop him. His fingers grazed over that familiar spot he knew so well and her resolve was lost. She needed something good, so did he.

“Gabe…” she whined, breaking their kiss.

“Is that protest or pleading?” he appealed, slowing to an agonizing, teasing pace.

All she could do was groan, grabbing his forearm and pressing down, urging him to continue. She felt his breathy laugh huff out against her mouth, and when she went to devour his mouth again, he pulled his face away.

“Tell me what he said,” Gabriel demanded, his eyes dark.

“All of your other… other women, were young and… beautiful… I’m not either of those things,” she panted, “My hair’s turning gray… and my face… is wrinkling… and scars… so many new ones…”

His anger grew by the second. Quickly, he spun her around by her hips, leaving her torturously abandoned. She whined at the loss of his ministrations, but quickly yelped as she pulled her tightly back towards him, pressing his arousal into her.

“Does it feel like I give a damn?” he growled, continuing to press further into her, “or do I need to convince you some more?”

“I don’t… I don’t know…” she mumbled, her brain short circuiting.

Shoving her jeans down just enough to give himself more range of motion, he set back to work. It didn’t take long to work her back into a frenzy, clearly their time apart had taken a toll. He’d never tire of how ardently she responded to him, as if he was the only being on Earth that could do these things to her. According to her he was, actually. She threw her head back over his shoulder, her quiet moans and whimpers falling directly into his ear now, sending little shockwaves down his body. When her mouth captured his in hard, sloppy kisses, his knees buckled. It was an awkward position, her neck craning at an uncomfortable angle, but the pleasure he brought her far outweighed the discomfort.

As her crescendo hit, he swallowed down her desperate sounds and held her around her waist as she contracted, her feet giving out as her bliss washed through her. Her chest was heaving against his arm, but it only took her seconds to compose herself, in fact she may have gained her head back faster than he did. No sooner than when he’d pulled his hand from her jeans did she spin and sink to her knees, working his own zipper open faster than he could process her motions. When her lips locked around him he groaned out in bliss.

“Fuck,” he whined, trying to find a power to stop her that wasn’t showing itself.

Typically, he would never let her do this, especially in this vulnerable a position. He never liked her on her knees for him, it didn’t feel right, although he certainly appreciated being on his for her. He’d always been a giver not a taker and nothing had changed, but this felt so damn good. Something in him was different, it was craving this attention from her, this showing of complete trust and adoration. Nobody else trusted him, but she did.

“Relax,” she cooed, “just let me make you feel good for once.”

He hadn’t noticed how tense he was, his thighs rock hard beneath her palms as he fought giving in to her.

“Isn’t that my line?” he laughed, finding their role reversal amusing.

“Hmmm.”

Her hum vibrated through him, only increasing the pleasure she was capable of giving him. She continued her steady pace, the fire building in his belly. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, hers locked on his face as she watched his expressions, adjusting as she needed to when a certain sound or twitch escaped. His fingers were laced in her hair, softly scratching at her scalp in gratitude, never forceful, as he surrendered to her completely. Faster than even she thought, his sounds became more pitiful as he felt his release impending..

“Shit…” he hissed, and she felt his fingers tighten, tugging on her head slightly.

Mouth hanging open and eyes snapped shut, he was a wonder to behold. The satisfaction she got from giving him this swelled in her. She didn’t care that anyone could walk by, just that for these few minutes he felt a modicum of relief. She didn’t understand why he always stopped her when clearly he enjoyed it, and she took advantage of the chance to make him feel this way. He didn’t hide the effect she had on him, keening and writhing under her touch, if she was going to be vulnerable than so was he.

Groaning, he pulled her mouth from him and finished himself with a tight fist. She stayed below him, peppering the exposed skin of his stomach with light, feathering kisses as he panted, one hand still wound into her brown waves. When he opened his eyes, she was smiling up at him, looking flawless and happy in his shirt and jacket and he was certain he’d never laid eyes on something more beautiful in his entire life.

Slowly, she rose to her feet, fixing the buttons on her own pants as she did, before gathering his bottom lip between hers, the perfect transition from cloud nine back to this miserable pit of despair. She welcomed him back with reverence and a gentleness that only he could pull from her. To think that she had even considered not being up to his standards was asinine, she was the standard.

“You blow every criterion out of the water,” he complimented, kissing her again.

“Gray hair and all?” she snarked, wrapping her arms around his middle in a tight, lazy hug.

“Hells yeah. You’ll be my little silver vixen here soon.”

“At this rate people will start asking if you’re my kid by the time I’m forty.”

“I think you’re forgetting I have the supreme power of changing my own appearance. Don’t you worry sweetheart, we’ll be old and gray together.”

Trying to imagine what he’d look like if he aged thirty years, she laughed. He’d still be the best looking guy around, for that she was certain. He nodded in the direction of the camp, signaling it was time to go back. As he slung his arm around her shoulders, she wrapped hers around his waist, their feet marching in cadence as they headed back down the dirt path. The mission was complete, they’d found Jack, found Mary, and it had all seemed just a little too easy, but they were never ones to complain.

“Think it’s time to go home,” he mused, pressing a kiss to her head, “can’t believe we pulled this off.”

She smiled, turning her head up to look at him. It was time to go home, time for a new life, time for him. One more walk through the woods and then they’d be free.

TAGS: @idabbleincrazy @analisespn @nodistressdamsel @morganas-pendragons

[chartreuse-gale]

Rondo of Blood first impressions

This game is delicious!! Like, I’ve heard for years that it was pretty much the golden chocobo of old school Castlevania titles, but wow. I just finished my first run through of the game and it really is fantastic. I went straight to the source as best as I could with this one (emulated PC Engine raw Japanese original). After finally playing Rondo of Blood, I have to say it’s definitely in my top 3 Castlevanias (Along with Castlevania III and Castlevania 64).

Graphics: The in-game sprite work is gorgeous, definitely the best out of the 16-bit Castlevanias. Also there’s some cool anime style cutscenes. Music: When it comes to Castlevania titles this one’s probably mid to high-tier. Outside of of the song that plays during the boss rush, I didn’t feel bored at any point by the music. It’s very smooth overall. Stand out tracks include the themes for stage 1, and the River stage 4 (not sure if there’s more than one stage 4 or not). I probably haven’t heard the music for all the songs yet (I’m assuming the alternate stages have some different tunes). If I were to compare it to other Castlevania soundtracks, I’d rank it above original Castlevania, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Symphony of the Night; I’d rank it below Castlevania 64, and Castlevania III. It might be around the same level as Castlevania II/Super Castlevania IV. Gameplay: This mostly plays like original Castlevania with some ideas from Castlevania III, some new moves, and a few changes to the core mechanics thrown in. From Castlevania III it brought in multiple playable characters (Rondo has 2), and branching paths. The major departures from Castlevania III are that characters are rescued from locked dungeon cells (which you need to pick up a key to open; these also take up your subweapon slot) instead joining up after defeating a boss, and the branching paths occur mid stage instead of between stages.

There are differences in movement speed (characters move faster), and movement options. Instead of being locked in place with every jump, both characters can move freely (albeit slightly) during a neutral jump. Staircases are easier to navigate, because you can jump onto them by holding up, or drop down from by pressing down+jump. This game also introduced item crashes (which were also used in many games after Rondo): If you have a lot of hearts, you can spend more than usual to activate a more powerful effect unique to each sub weapon. Richter doesn’t have to worry about collecting upgrades for his whip; he can also walk/jump backwards while facing forwards by holding the attack button down; finally he has his this neat backflip double jump he can do before the apex of a neutral jump or backwards jump. Maria can decrease her forward jumping distance by pushing backwards; she also gets a universal double jump, a penguin slide, and a roll; she has a completely different set of weapons/subweapons from Richter.

Classic death traps like bottomless pits are still around, but Rondo has a save function, with effectively unlimited continues. The alternate routes are fun to search for and discover (some are very challenging to find; others are quite easy to uncover). It also offers a stage select, which makes it easier to explore stages for alternate exits and other secrets. Stages and bosses are challenging, but not overwhelmingly so. I’d say it’s a little more difficult than Super Castlevania IV, but a little easier than Bloodlines (Easier than the III NES titles, far far more difficult than Symphony of the Night, Harmony of Dissonance, and both of the Arias). If you can find Maria, she’s got better DPS and much better maneuverability than Richter, but she can’t take as many hits. Story: Plot-wise I only got the gist of what I could grab from the few Japanese words I recognized and the visuals, but this game has a lot of cool moments.: Spoiler Warning:

Spoiler Warning!

Spoiler Warning!!!!!

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Okay here we go, Spoilers for some of the cooler/more interesting moments:

- Richter checking out a map of Castlevania before setting out (probably left behind by his ancestors)

- That stage 0 carriage-top battle vs death

- The areas that look like bottomless pits, but actually send you on alternate routes

- Maria being cute as a button, and having some crazy attack where she summons what looks like an alterego double of herself to rapidly punch whoever’s in front of her, and this move has a bizarre input that looks like something out of an SNK fighting game (283 Attack; AKA Down ->Up -> Down/Forward diagonal + Attack).

- The bell that drops either a random item or a fleaman when you strike it. It doesn’t seem to break

- The little moths that fly around lanterns . . . until you break the lantern, then they follow you until you come nearby another lantern . . . unless you break that lantern as well

- The Skeleton that’s just chilling by a table in the room before one of the bosses of stage 3 (or at least one of the stage 3s if there’s more than one of those)

- The hidden giant eye boss that brought me down to 1-hit away from death with a suicide attack after I thought the fight was over

- That section where you’re riding a log down some incline at an angle somewhere between a river and a waterfall, and there’s skeletons chasing after you and these birds fly in with bags, and you can hit the bags to get items, but if you hit the bird by mistake they will fly away, and the last one is carrying a road sign that you can’t really make out, but it still conveys that you should probably get ready to jump, cause it probably means a giant hole is coming up

- The part right after this where you run into Charon (possibly his first appearance in Castlevania game), and he chats with you for a sec before giving you a quick ride across an underground river, and after this if you jump back on he’ll say something different and give you an item, and if you keep doing it he keeps saying something else and giving you different items, and one of those items is a key, but . . .

- The woman who’s held captive in the cell the key belongs to is guarded by a boss, but at first it seems like she’s mesmerized by the boss; she’ll try to grab you, and if she connects she won’t do any damage, but she’ll drain out your hearts. So, I finished off the boss, it vanished, but the life bar was still there with some light, and the woman was still trying to grab me, she I attacked her, and she turned out to be a demon in disguise.

- The second fight scene with Death, on the mast of a pirate ship, wherein he swaps to white robes once he gets serious

- Dracula looking and sounding weirdly young (Sort of reminds me of how Demetri sounds jarringly young in the Dark Stalkers games)

- Maria escaping while the castle is crumbling with all her animal friends (who throughout the game she calls on for her normal and subweapon attacks)

[styomi]

Request: Fever all through the night | Sweet Pea/OC

AN: This… this… I have no defense. Enjoy. My thanks goes out to salty-serpent for the amazing request, though I did take it a bit too literally xD

If you’d like to read more about Ruby and Sweet Pea, check out my Masterlist :)

Info:

Fandom: Riverdale Pairing: Sweet Pea/OC Rating: T Word count: 3147 (I… overdid it… again…) Request: #19 - Kisses in the Dark - While watching a movie - At his place - Sweet Pea initiates it

Continues from the last request: Love me tender, love me sweet, true, long, love me dear

Fever all through the night (this is the song for this damn request!! Urgh epic fit)

“What about you, Ruby?” Toni’s voice pulled Ruby back into reality. Her head shot up from the phone screen, where she’d been eagerly awaiting Mattie’s next message.

“Huh?” Was really the only reply Ruby could give to the question. The purple haired Serpent rolled her eyes, but repeated.

“Fangs and I are going out, Sweet Pea is watching GoT, finally, and Gorgon is bartending,” Toni listed. “What are your plans for the weekend?” Ruby’s eyes weren’t on her friend’s anymore, though. Instead, she was typing away on her phone quickly.

“Sure, GoT sounds good.” The petite girl replied in an absent-minded, airy tone. Toni looked over to Sweet Pea, who seemed to be doing everything but whistling to the side as if he wasn’t the topic of the conversation. Fangs and Gorgon, on the other hand, were anything but subtle, laughing so loudly that a couple of people in the school cafeteria turned and stared.

“So, your plans are going on a date with Sweet Pea?” Toni pushed with a smug smile, getting a wild reaction from almost all the occupants of the table. Sweet Pea spit out his water and then tried to save his dignity with a cough. Though, his cheeks were too red for that. Gorgonhead and Fangs, on the other hand, had no qualms about laughing it up. They looked like they were ready to fall off the bench and roll around the floor, by the way they were holding onto one another. Ruby, apparently, was too focused on texting.

“Uh-huh.” She replied absent-mindedly, making Sweet Pea’s expression take on quite an interesting form. Toni, on the other hand, looked more than pleased with herself. Since Ruby and Sweet Pea had gone on their first ‘semi-date’, which had just been the tall biker filling in for FP’s kid, Toni hadn’t gotten any insider info. They’d told her that the movie was fine, that they got wet from the rain and that they both had fun. For anything else, she was very much in the dark. And, Toni hated being in the dark. To top it all off, their stories were a little too perfectly matched. They quoted each other word for word, even when she’d spoken to them separately. Not even Fangs had gotten anything more out of Sweet Pea. So, Toni knew that she needed to get those two on another date. This time, a real one. Not just him filling in or her not knowing that it was a date. And, Game of Thrones sounded like the perfect binge watch for their little rendezvous.

Things between her and Sweet Pea had been odd since their impromptu semi-date which had ended in a kiss. It wasn’t that Ruby was uncomfortable. She had never been uncomfortable around Sweet Pea. They had their own dynamic, a magnetic push and pull, which she very much enjoyed. However, ever since she twisted her fingers in the lapels of his flannel and pulled him down for a kiss, she had been feeling a bit odd. Weird. Like she was outside of their usual push and pull element. Because, it wasn’t just offhanded flirting anymore. At that point, it was definitely something more. Because, he was definitely into her as much as she was into him.

So, learning that she’d agreed to go on a proper date with him, all the while thinking that it would be a group hangout, got Ruby to panic more than a bit. She spent over half an hour with Mattie on the line, picking her outfit. She wanted to be both pretty and casual. Even if it was a date, she didn’t want to look over the top for an evening of binge-watching Game of Thrones at his trailer.

Luckily, Sweet Pea was quite the talker over IM. They’d exchanged over a dozen messages, debating on snacks, drinks and who should bring what. In the end, Ruby was in charge of snacks, which were her specialty. She managed to bake some easy chocolate chip cookies, and bought the rest on her way to Sweet Pea’s trailer. She found the place easily enough, as it was close to Toni’s home. Sweet Pea opened the door before she was done knocking, looking surprised at himself for doing it.

“Hi,” Ruby awkwardly greeted and watched the way he had to gather himself before replying. Good, he was just as nervous as she was.

“Hey,” Sweet Pea’s voice was a bit higher than usual as he welcomed her inside. The trailer was pretty much what Ruby expected. A perfect man cave. There were minimal clothes around, luckily, which didn’t trigger her cleaning impulses. She had a pet peeve about wearing shoes inside or throwing clothes all around that drove her father insane. But, Sweet Pea seemed like he was tidier than Jo. Or, he had at least made an effort for her. “We’re in here. Netflix’s all set up,” then, he smirked at her mischievously and she felt her knees buckle. “I logged into Fangs’ account.”

“Naughty boy,” Ruby teased right back and placed the bags with snacks and the box of cookies on the table in the living area. She saw that Sweet Pea’s laptop was there, as beat up and taped up as she remembered it. Sure enough, there was the Netflix logo on the open browser, Game of Thrones seasons listed. “Where are we starting?” Ruby asked.

“From the beginning, if you don’t mind?” Sweet Pea tossed a few extra pillows onto the couch and brought glasses, along with a few different bottles. He had cola, juice and club soda, as far as she could see. “Fangs and Toni have been raving about me not watching the show, so I finally decided to give in to their nagging.”

“Sure,” Ruby nodded. She shrugged off her jacket and tossed it on the sofa chair in the corner before getting comfortable on the couch. “I’ve seen the show once, fair warning. So, I’ll try not to spoil anything.” Sweet Pea shook his head with a laugh, also plopping down.

“Feel free to squeal or look away. You can’t be worse than Toni.” After a bit more easygoing conversation, mostly concerning who was eating what and who wanted to drink what, Sweet Pea started the first season from episode one. Ruby found herself comfortably pressed against his side, not minding the way his arm casually draped around her shoulders not even halfway through the first episode. Sweet Pea complained about the low volume of the laptop jokingly, telling her to stop chewing the chips so loudly when there was important dialogue. Ruby, on the other hand, enjoyed how expressive he was as he watched the show, sometimes even yelling at the screen for a few chosen stupid decisions. Altogether, it was turning out to be an easy, comfortable date.

Halfway through season one, the two teens started singing along to the theme song in the beginning. It began with Sweet Pea humming it under his breath, and Ruby picking it up. Over the next three episodes, though, they settled into quite a duet while the theme played, laughing at the end. Sweet Pea proclaimed that Khal Drogo was his absolute favorite character, and Ruby didn’t have the heart to deliver the bad news which he would have to face sooner or later. She, on the other hand, admitted that she liked Arya Stark the best, to which she received a biting comment about height. All in all, their night progressed with easy conversation and plenty of hours of straining to hear the show’s dialogue.

“Oh, Gosh!” Ruby pulled away from Sweet Pea’s embrace, hitting the spacebar and stopping the episode in the middle of Littlefinger’s monologue.

“Urgh,” Sweet Pea groaned, turning away from her in order to grab another bag of chips. “If you’re going to pee again, please make it quick. I’m actually curious if they’re gonna kill him.” Ruby’s hand slapped his biceps at the crude comment softly.

“I’m not hitting the bathroom again,” she made a face at him. “It’s just, I remembered that I have earphones in my jacket pocket!” At that, Sweet Pea pushed her towards the other end of the couch, so that she could reach the jacket without getting up.

“C’mon, get them. Seriously, why didn’t you say so earlier? I’ve been straining my ears for the last five hours!” Ruby managed to lean over the arm of the couch, digging out her earphones, and then slither back to the tall biker as she untangled them.

“I forgot, okay?” The girl defended, offering him one earphone and plugging the cord into the laptop. Then, she pressed the spacebar again and actually had to lower the volume a bit so that they wouldn’t go deaf. But, when Ruby settled back into Sweet Pea’s side, with the earphones stretched in between them, she felt a comfortable warmth. Even pulling away in order to get the earphones had been too long without his body heat. With a small smile, Ruby remembered their kiss at the Drive-In and smiled to herself. Just as Sweet Pea offered her the chips bag and she raised her head to ask him about their relationship and what it meant at that point, everything went dark.

“W-what happened?” Ruby whispered, a little shocked. It was pitch black everywhere around her. All that she could feel was Sweet Pea’s body pressed against hers and couch underneath her. The earphone fell out as Sweet Pea moved a bit, hands tapping around in the dark.

“Just a power outage,” the tall biker told her. “We get our fair share of them. Nothing to worry about,” then, his phone screen lit up and Ruby saw the outline of his features in the dark. “Sorry, but my laptop battery sucks.”

“Noticed,” Ruby laughed. The machine had crashed as soon as the power had gone out. “Anything I can do?” Just as Sweet Pea was about to answer they heard giggling and cackling under the window. Familiar giggling and cackling.

“I’m going to murder them.” Sweet Pea spoke in a low, icy tone that promised bodily harm. Ruby’s hands were on his forearms before he could get up and find Fangs and Toni with murderous intentions.

“It’s okay,” she shrugged with a small smile. “They’re just trying to prank us, right?” When Sweet Pea still looked ready to bolt and perhaps grab an ax on the way, she continued. “If we don’t react, they’ll turn it back on, no?”

“Hopefully.” The tall biker finally grumbled and slouched in his seat. Ruby shook her head with a laugh as she took her earphones and rolled them up. Toni and Fangs really could be beyond childish sometimes, she decided. The girl made herself busy by tidying up the little bits of the snacks on the table which she could see under the light coming from Sweet Pea’s phone. When the table was surface was clean, she realized that there was nothing else to do and leaned back into the couch. There was giggling and cackling from under the window again. Ruby smirked, moving closer to Sweet Pea and grabbing his shoulder for purchase in order to reach his ear. He flinched, head whipping around to face her in the dim light of his phone, eyes wide.

“Say,” Ruby whispered, noting how his shoulder muscles instantly relaxed under her hand. “Let’s give them something to talk about?” Sweet Pea stared at her for a few moments, like a deer in headlights, before asking in a low, uncertain tone.

“Give them something to talk about or give them something to talk about?” Ruby shrugged, her hair cascading to the front with the motion. Sweet Pea’s eyes followed the long chocolate waves on their path.

“Former, if you’re uncomfortable with the latter.” The girl told him. Sweet Pea grinned at her.

“Former, because I sure as hell am not doing the later for Fangs’ and Toni’s amusement.” He shot back. Ruby giggled, pushing away from him and grabbing one of the pillows on the couch.

“Fair enough,” she smirked devilishly at him, before the light completely went out, his phone screen going dark. Then, there was a thump, which sounded like a body falling over. But, Sweet Pea felt the pillow hit the back of the couch and quickly caught onto the game. He grabbed his own pillow as Ruby moaned. “Oh, Sweet Pea!” He could barely reign in his laughter as he smacked his own pillow into the back of the couch. “Right there! Oh!” She was loud, unlike the tender quiet Ruby during their kiss and the little bit of snuggling they’d done at the Drive-In. It made Sweet Pea wonder if she was usually vocal during intimate moments. “Oh, God!” Snickering could be heard from underneath the window.

“You like that?” Sweet Pea growled out in a husky tone, having to catch Ruby as she fell over onto him, soundlessly laughing. He could see the outline of her face and those pale eyes in the dark, having a ton of fun. Then again, he was no better. He was doing everything he could to stop himself from laughing. “What else do you want me to do?” There was a gasp from under the window, followed by a thump. Ruby managed to gather herself enough in order to reply.

“Touch me,” she spoke in a fairly loud tone, smacking the pillow against the back of the couch again. “Help me get my shirt off,” Sweet Pea would be lying if he said that the whole charade wasn’t hot. Because, as much fun as he was having giving Fangs and Toni a vocal show, he would’ve loved to experience all of those things for himself. “Pans, pants.” Ruby panted, her lips pulled in a wide smile. Sweet Pea did the only thing he could, he responded with a dirty comment and enjoyed the snickering from under the window.

Soon enough, Ruby and Sweet Pea found themselves standing on top of the couch in the dark, holding hands as she jumped up and down in a slow rhythm, obviously creating the sound of a couple getting busy on the furniture piece. They kept yelling out random dirty phrases, moaning and trying not to laugh when they heard Toni and Fangs start a commentary on their ‘technique’ from under the window. Ruby actually had to stop jumping a few times and physically hold onto Sweet Pea so that she wouldn’t burst into loud laughter. Those were undoubtedly his favorite moments.

Her small fingers would squeeze his forearms and her head would press into his torso, muffled snickering coming from her shaking form. But, Sweet Pea reveled in the way she was completely comfortable in his presence. In the way her body heat transferred to every part of him that she touched, setting his skin on fire, despite the layers of clothing between them. He simply couldn’t wait until they got to that part of their new relationship in reality, and not just in a teasing fantasy.

“Go, go, go!” Sweet Pea heard Toni whisper-yell, undoubtedly pushing Fangs away from their hiding spot. Ruby was still jumping and shaking with laughter and he was still grunting and telling her obscene things when they heard their purple-haired friend say. “Our job here is done.” Then, all the snickering and talking vanished completely. After a few more moments, Ruby stopped jumping and looked at him. Sweet Pea couldn’t help himself. He started laughing loudly and it was like a dam broke. The two dissolved into uncontrollable giggles and cackles, holding onto each other in order to stay upright. Despite all the efforts, the two teens somehow ended up sitting on the couch after a small stumble, Ruby halfway laying on Sweet Pea’s lap.

“That,” she gasped out through her laughter. “Was legen-fucking-dary!” And she was giggling again.

“Yeah,” Sweet Pea gasped out through a chuckle before he realized that he was positively on fire. Everything was so hot. He was too hot. Like he was running a fever or something. But, it wasn’t the kind of fever that hit his head. Instead, it was the kind of fire that lit up everywhere Ruby touched. He slowly stopped laughing and stayed looking at the giggling girl. And, in his moment of realization, Sweet Pea found that Ruby was positively beautiful like that, chuckling uncontrollably in his lap. “Ruby?” He called out, making the girl compose herself a bit and look up at him.

“Yeah?” She asked, mouth still in a smile from all of the giggling. Sweet Pea’s hand came up, dwarfing her face as he pushed some of the wavy hair behind her ear. The darkness suddenly seemed like it was charged with electricity. Ruby’s mouth was open, short gasps coming out from all of the jumping. But, she wasn’t laughing anymore. Instead, her eyes looked like they had laser focus kind of intensity in them. Sweet Pea left his hand on her face, his thumb caressing her cheek gently, watching the way she shuddered and leaned into his palm.

“You’re beautiful.” He wasn’t aware of the words leaving his mouth. And, he certainly wasn’t aware of how breathless he sounded. He was only aware of her, Ruby, in his lap, with those utterly inviting lips popped slightly open in shock. And then, he had his other hand on her face, as well, pulling her in. Before either of them knew it, Sweet Pea was kissing her. Unlike last time, when she’d been shivering and cold, her lips were warm and soft. And, inviting. Very inviting.

The kiss was slow, made even more intimate by the darkness around them and their position on the couch. But, neither teen seemed to be uncomfortable. In fact, Ruby took charge of her position as soon as Sweet Pea deepened the kiss, coming to straddle his lap and pull him in even more, her arms around his waist. She gripped his sides with legs and twisted her fingers into the material of his flannel shirt, holding on for dear life. Then, their kiss came to a slow end, the two separating to breathe.

“Can you do that again?” The breathless, whispered words set a kind of fire in Sweet Pea that made all of their previous teasing moaning and groaning pale in comparison. For a few seconds, he tried to gather himself. Calm down his heart. Get some air into his lungs. But, he realized that it was absolutely futile. Those wide, pale eyes staring at him, waiting, would definitely be his undoing. So, Sweet Pea gave a shaky nod and obliged soundlessly, for once in his life, surrendering to another’s wishes without a fight. His lips came up to meet Ruby’s in a gentle, exploring kiss in total darkness.

And he did the same again, again and again.

Hope that you all enjoyed :D

Here if the taglist (still open): @enticinghell@projectcampbell@sweetscamille@xoxodege@mlvgren@this-is-the-way-it-ends @yerawizardharry99  @dinglemember @pleaseminho @laylaroseeeeeeee@cassieluci @lynniev @heartbeats-wildly and a special tag for @salty-serpent