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levelzeo · 1 year

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Level Zeo's Brilliant Diamond Nuzlocke - Part 3

Oh hi. I didn’t see you there. As long as you’re here, why don’t I tell you more about my Nuzlocke, as well as my head canons about the personalities of my Pokemon. In fact, if you would like you can go read PART 1 or PART 2 for more context, or to just read them again because it’s your new favorite thing to do. Whatever works for you. If you’re all caught up, prepare yourself. We’re going over not one, but TWO important fights in this update.

Current Team

Simmer the Chimchar

Boof the Bidoof

Doc the Zubat

Orion the Shinx

Snek the Onix

Agro the Machop

Boxed Pokemon: 1

Deaths: 1

Badges: 0

I promised last time that we would jump right into the Gym in this update, but a couple of things happened while grinding to level 13-14 that I want to briefly mention. The first, and less important, thing is that Snek learned Dragon Breath. I had no idea that Onix learned that move this early, and I find it to be a very funny mental image. This giant rock snake slithering around and chasing down wild Zubats, only for her to blast one out of the air with a beam attack and then look at me with a big happy smile on her face. I love it. And I imagine that Doc begins referring to her as a “death ray”.

The second, and more relevant, thing is that Simmer evolved! I’m so used to my starter evolving in the 16-17 range, I had no idea they evolved at 14 in gen 4. You learn something new every day I suppose.

On the topic of learning, I imagine that Simmer’s newfound evolution was spurned by some learning and reflection he has had to do. His training with Agro has borne fruit, and Orion has pushed him to stand up and fight instead of trying to fade into the background. He’s still scared of course, still cautious and careful of every little thing, but he’s willing willing to push down that fear (at least a little bit) to be the fighter the team needs

Okay, enough grinding. With the team at acceptable levels, we head for the Gym. I’ve already taken care of the Gym trainers during grinding, so there’s nothing left to stand between me and Roark. First Gym battle, start!

Round 1 is against a Geodude, and I lead with Boof. Agro is my best fighter for this gym, being pure fighting, but I want to save his health for the final round. The Geodude sets up Stealth Rock to start, but this doesn’t have much relevance to the rest of the battle. Boof uses Rock Smash into the Geodude over and over again. The Geodude uses Defense Curls and gets given all of Roark’s potions, but Boof’s onslaught of attacks is endless, and the Geodude is reduced to rubble.

Round 2. I switch to Simmer against the incoming Onix. The two Pokémon trade blows, a Power-Up Punch and a Rock Throw respectively. Despite its imposing size, the Onix’s attack is barely effective. Summer is able to calm his nerves and throw out a second Power-Up Punch, getting a Critical Hit and easily winning the round.

Final Round. Agro vs Cranidos. Cranidos hits hard with a Headbutt, probably hoping to get a flinch. But Agro has been training for this, to prove his strength against a worthy foe. He snaps back with a Revenge, and the Cranidos is utterly annihilated in a single blow! The fact that this is the same move that killed Chips makes the victory bittersweet. But even so, it is a victory nonetheless.

Coal Badge Obtained!

One badge down, seven to go. The team celebrates their victory, and the sheer joy of having overcome this first major obstacle causes another evolution! Boof evolves into a Bibarel! One of our toughest and bravest fighters has obtained a new form, ready to tackle the obstacles that our journey has yet to throw at us. Seeing this evolution, and also seeing how hard Simmer is trying, inspires yet a third evolution! Orion evolves into a Luxio!

Okay, so technically these two evolutions happened while fighting random wild Pokemon shortly after the gym, but where’s the fun in that? My Pokemon have evolved, and we’re moving on.

With the Coal Badge in our hands and new evolutions on our team, we are riding high. I like to think Chips would be proud of us. We can also now go back into Oreburgh Gate and use Rock Smash to access a new encounter! So I do just that, breaking through the rubble to descend into the basement of the cavern, where I fight off a seemingly endless swarm of Zubat (I already have one cackling maniac of a Zubat, I don’t need any more). After what feels like forever, I encounter a Psyduck.

Puddle the Psyduck has a Docile nature and is Strong Willed. I imagine that she has been meditating in this cave to hone her psychic abilities. She may not be a psychic type, but she wishes to prove that she doesn’t need to be one to access the true power of her mind. My team of misfits bumbling into her meditation is something she sees as a sign from the universe, and she happily joins the party.

Since I want to have Puddle’s water and psychic moves on the team, I make the executive decision to sadly put Agro in the box. With the first gym defeated, Simmer should be able to take over as the team’s fighting type for now. Agro gives a bow to his fighting student, and makes the others promise they will continue training hard in his absence. They all agree, though Orion’s is more of a “sure, whatever”.

I also decide to swap Snek out and put Petard back on the team. As much fun as we all have watching her blast things with Dragon Breath, we all know that in terms of both stats and personality, she is not made for the world of battling. The team will miss her joyful presence, and Doc will miss his death ray.

With our reorganized team, I head back to Jubilife, where I run into Professor Rowan, who forces me to battle some Galactic grunts. Puddle is easily able to break the psyche of their Zubat, and also able to throw water at their Wurmple until it faints.

Moving swiftly along, we travel up Route 204, using Rock Smash to make it through the Ravaged Path. Before I know it, we’re in Floaroma town. It’s a very pleasant place, and I’m sure it’s a place many of my Pokémon would enjoy relaxing in, but not all is well. Some girl’s father has been kidnapped! Oh no!

Heading over the Valley Windworks, we beat up the Galactic grunt outside, then run all the way back to Floaroma to go to their Meadow and beat up even more grunts. These guys really suck, and most of the team greatly enjoys beating them up. Though Puddle warns that we should not become complacent, something that probably doesn’t help Simmer’s nerves.

In the Meadow we pick up the key to the Windworks, and also slather some honey on a nearby tree. We run all the way back to the Valley Windworks, and while we are there I decide to find a new encounter outside. I encounter a Buizel who is both Calm and Likes to Fight. I name her Bonny, after a famous pirate. She’s a seafaring scallywag who enjoys both a good book and a good brawl. But for now, the only sea she will be menacing will be the one in the box.

Entering the Windworks, Petard begins throwing rocks around to take out Team Galactic’s flying and bug types. I’m sure he is using a lot of rock puns as he does so. (You’re gonna have to be boulder than that if you want to beat us! Looks like our victory is only a stone's throw away!)

It seems as though the grunts of this evil organization have no idea why they are here or what their group is doing. I’m serious, they all talk about how they have no idea what the plan is. Doc takes great offense at an evil organization being planned so poorly, and Poison Fangs all of the enemies that Petard couldn’t one-shot with rocks.

Eventually we find the one in charge of this particular operation, Mars. I’m not oblivious. I know that Mars is a dangerous opponent (at least in the originals, I don’t know if she has the same run-ending potential here in the remake). So I’m cautious going into this fight, but I’m confident in my team’s abilities.

As Mars leads with her Zubat, Orion steps up to protect his friends from this winged foe. The Luxio unleashes a Thunder Shock, and the Zubat is almost defeated. But it isn’t enough, and the enemy is able to get in a counter-attack; U-Turn. After hitting Orion for not-insignificant damage, the Purugly comes out to play.

I switch to Petard, who shrugs off a Fake Out before the two combatants begin trading blows. Petard is practically juggling loose stones with the number of Rock Throws he uses, while Purugly hits over and over again with Thief. Petard’s blows are able to wear down the cat enough that it is forced to use its berry, but Petard is too weak to continue.

Frightened by the possibility of anyone dying to this fearsome opponent, Simmer steps into the fray, taking an attack that would have probably killed Petard if it had been a crit. Purugly slashes hard into the Monferno, but Simmer hits back with a Power-Up Punch, knocking the cat out of the fight.

Mars sends her Zubat back out, but we all know who the victor is already. Puddle unleashes a single Confusion, and the Galactic Commander is finally defeated. Despite losing, she seems to have enjoyed the battle, and happily packs up her minions and leaves. The Windworks is saved, the little girl’s dad is freed, and the Grunts who were blocking the way forward are gone. Our journey can continue.

Well. That was a long update, huh? A Gym Leader fight, three evolutions, AND the first Galactic Commander battle? I think I deserve a break. Next time we will be checking in on the honey we slathered in Floaroma Meadow (and also some honey I did on the tree on Route 205), and making our way to the next gym. For now though, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed playing and writing. See you next time!

#yes i know i could have gotten a drifloon from valley windworks #its just that ive used it in a couple different nuzlockes before and i wanted to change things up #level zeo nuzlocke #nuzlocke #pokemon nuzlocke #nuzlocke story #pokemon #pokemon bdsp #brilliant diamond #pokemon brilliant diamond #brilliant diamond nuzlocke #nuzlocke art #monferno #luxio #bibarel #psyduck #buizel

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twistedgrowth · 4 years

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Shirt-Trap Tickle Jutsu (Part 1)

“Hahaha- stop!” Tenzo struggled within the folds of his shirt. It was dark and he couldn’t see. “Ngh- haha- wait!”

Fingers scrabbled delicately around each of his exposed bare underarms, which were so open to attack thanks to his raised arms being stuck above his head. He was very vulnerable.

Tenzo’s initial surprised laughter gave way to strong, gleeful bursts as his lungs activated in response to the sustained assault. He twisted right and left to avoid the relentless touches but the fingers followed his every move.

“Hahahaha! Wait – stop – haha! Please!” In (what had been) his relaxed state of being, the sudden action of his shirt being yanked over his head and the inexplicable tickling which had followed had sent him into a veritable frenzy. His mind was entirely on escape, and understandably had not reached the question of ‘who?’ yet.

But Tenzo soon mustered enough coherent thought to remember that only seconds ago he had been easily changing in the Anbu locker room – an empty locker room. And as his laughter started to raise its pitch (some may even call it giggling) his analytical mind was racing towards a natural conclusion. Who was the only one with the skill and audacity to approach him undetected and exact this kind of cruel game? Kakashi.

The thought both peeved and excited him. Through his sporadic bursts of laughter, Tenzo managed to force out a surprised question, “Ka- hahaha! Kakashi?” before dissolving into more giggling and pleading. By this point he was backed up against the cold locker and had slid to the floor, facing his hidden assailant, at an awkward angle thanks to all his futile attempts to struggle away. He felt almost entirely helpless and was becoming more breathless by the second.

Whoever had decided to have some fun with him clearly also wanted to torment him, as his question hung in the air. Being in the dark, both literally and metaphorically was driving him nuts, and it gave him a shame-infused thrill to know his ghostly tormentor likely knew and understood this about him, enough to use against him. This brought a flush of red to his face, which made him doubly grateful for the dark material around his head – his trap was also his protection. The blushing was made worse by his horror at the thought that this might not be Kakashi after all, fearing the total humiliation of being caught like this by anyone else. Suddenly, his saving grace – a voice broke the unbearable wait. Liltingly. “No senpai this time, Tenzo~?”

Tenzo’s giggles immediately became louder, as a strange mixture of relief and further desperation washed over him, realising that he could relax safe in the knowledge that he was not entirely humiliated, however that this was also the worst possible scenario – of all the people it could have been, Kakashi was the least likely to listen to his begging. He had no control or authority whatsoever over this tickling, teasing bastard. Why in hell did Kakashi love to torment him so?

“Ka-Ka- haha- Kakashi! Hahahaha- please! I- hahahaha! I can explain!” Kakashi’s fingers had taken on a light scratching touch and had deliberately worked their way down to his ribs, moving gracefully between the sides and the chest below his nipples, just barely grazing his upper tummy, and now and then jumping up to wiggle in his armpits again. The unpredictability of the new technique drove Tenzo wild and he dug deep into his dwindling reserves of energy to involuntarily buck around, energetically wiggling and flailing on the floor. Kakashi remedied this by sitting on him.

“Explain what, Tenzo? I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong…” Kakashi teased as if there was no reason for Tenzo to be laughing so desperately and helplessly. In Kakashi’s defence, he was winding things down a bit, giving Tenzo a chance to catch his breath and thoughts.

Tenzo stayed silent as he regained his breath and basked in relief. He wouldn’t admit that he found much comfort in Kakashi’s weight and presence with him as he lay there. He was very thankful that Kakashi had stayed quiet to let his thoughts catch up with him, and of course for as long as he could sustain a break from his previous torture. After a minute or two of this comfortable silence, Kakashi reached over and pulled up the shirt, freeing Tenzo’s head. Tenzo was glad to be free of the garment as it had been uncomfortable for a while, and the fresh air was relaxing on his warm face. He did register with a jolt of something – excitement or worry – that his arms were still in the shirt, leaving him just as exposed. Was it an accident?

Tenzo’s face was still flushed red and he sincerely hoped Kakashi believed this was only from all the tickling. Laying eyes on his senior for the first time, he realised that Kakashi was watching him intently, with that blank and unreadable stare unique to Kakashi which always succeeded to jar Tenzo, and only heightened his nerves.

Tenzo wiggled experimentally to test his ability to get free and broadcast to Kakashi that he was ready to be let up. Meanwhile, he had questions.

“I suppose you think that was funny. Why are you even here senpai? Shouldn’t you be busy?”

“Maa Tenzo, it’s all work with you. I’m not as lazy as you think, you know. Besides, I just realised it’s been a while since I saw you around town, I wanted to poke my head in and say ‘hi’. Does a senpai need a reason to come and delight his favourite kohai~?”

Tenzo, miffed, cast his gaze aside and muttered, “’Delight’ is not the word I would use…”

“Well you certainly sounded delighted. The wiggling was a bit unusual though.”

Flushing a little more at the tease and allowing his annoyance to surface, Tenzo chanced a retort. “You are so childish, senpai. The headquarters for Anbu is no place to be behaving like kids.” He turned his face away to huff a little and hoped his blush would fade before he lost his nerve.

“What a wonderful idea, Tenzo.” Kakashi spoke with a sudden and uncanny sincerity that worried Tenzo. His curiosity won over, he turned back to look at Kakashi, who smiled just as sincerely.

“Next time, we’ll do it at your place.” And then ‘boof!’. He was gone in a cloud of smoke.

(P.S. Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I hope those of you who read this fic have enjoyed it, and I’d love to hear if you’ve got any suggestions. Are they in character enough? Did it flow well? And most importantly, would you like to see more like this? Love these two so much and their dynamic is just so *mwah* Hoping to add more to this story and introduce some other shorts to start off this blog. Open to considering prompts and requests, don’t be shy about sharing your ideas! Honestly these boys are the best)

#kakayama #tickle #tickling #kakashi x yamato #yamato #yamato tenzo #kakashi #tickle fic

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thisentertaining · 4 years

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As the Blue Spirit Howls - Chapter 4

Zuko was not a good shifter.

Azula could switch between her wolf and human skins between steps. Not Zuko, he needed several minutes before he even started the shift, and that was on a good day. If it had been Azula who Animal Control found in that alley, they would have walked away convinced that their eyes had played a trick on them. There had never been a dog there.

But Zuko’s long transformation would have only revealed his kind to the world. Father may think he has no honor, but he wouldn’t stoop so low as that. Even if that meant being dumped in animal shelter, trapped as much by the 24/7 security cameras as by the cage bars.

He had the worst luck. -

“Come on guys!” Aang said as he lead his friends through the clamoring barks of the shelter. “I want to show you my favorite dog! He’s a sweetheart.”

Aang lead the pair to where a monstrous beast of a dog was growling with raspy barks loud enough to drown out the rest of the shelter. His bright white teeth contrasted against golden eyes and a bright red scar that stretched over the side of his face as he lunged against the cage door.

Sokka laughed nervously. “Did the word ‘sweetheart’ change meaning when I wasn’t looking?”

Chapter 1

Read on Ao3

“Wait,” Katara said as they neared the shelter doors. “We should make sure he get’s along with Appa first.”

Zuko sat as they paused, pointedly looking away. He’d been surviving off of disgustingly cheap donated dog food for weeks. Even his wolf side didn’t like it. That had been his first shot at real food in what felt like forever and they had ruined it. He was furious.

No, he wasn’t sulking. He was too dignified to sulk.

“Oh, good point!” Aang said brightly, pivoting from the doors to a fenced in yard to the side. It was a larger yard for the dogs that didn’t react poorly to being around other dogs, allowing them to run around and exercise without a volunteer walking them directly. A smattering of potential future-dog owners were in the yard, petting and playing with the pups.

“Who’s Appa?” Toph asked, her face scrunching softly as they moved off of the sidewalk and onto the gravel, her expression smoothing again when they made it to the grass.

“He’s my dog!” Aang said happily. “He’s the best! A big sweetheart. And he’s a service dog too*! Not a seeing eye dog, but still really well trained. He’s not in his vest right now though so you can pet him.”

Toph opened her mouth, as though to ask what Aang needed a service dog for, but the boy forged on, likely practiced at avoiding the question. “Anyway, Spirit hasn’t been super dog aggressive. He growled at Bosco earlier, and sometimes if other dogs bark too loud he’ll get an attitude, but he isn’t like some dogs who will lunge at or go after other dogs. Well, you know, more so than he is with everyone.”

By the time the boy finished his explanation, they were at the gate of the fence. He whistled, and a dog immediately broke off from a pack that was tussling together. It was a huge white and brown furred beast of a dog, toung out and leaking drool as he happily panted. An orange bandana on his neck proclaimed the words ‘Not Available for Adoption’, one of the many such dogs of the pen. Zuko narrowed his eyes at the stranger. The Saint Bernard’s scent was familiar, Aang was practically drenched with it.

And with drool.

Appa ambled over to the group, waiting patiently as Aang slid the gate open and coming directly to his owner’s side. Zuko was vaguely aware of Sokka advising the two girls to hold on to his leashed and step back for the introduction. He wasn’t paying much attention though, instead eyeing up his opponent. They were fairly close in height, well at Aang’s chest, but Zuko’s shaved fur made him look much smaller compared to the other dog’s floof. Something about the way that the other dog held himself belied strength, confidence. He seemed solid**.

Zuko was still pretty sure he could take him.

He didn’t want to hurt him of course. But he was not going to be bottom of the totem pole. Being dog and having to act like a mindless animal was going to be bad enough, but he refused to defer to an actual dog. If this ‘Appa’ didn’t yield, he was prepared to establish dominance (it hadn’t ever worked for him in the past, but this wasn’t his sister, or his father.)

…he really didn’t want to hurt a kid’s service dog.

Especially not a therapist prescribed service dog. That meant he had PTSD or something, and Zuko shuddered to think what a kid this young and happy had gone through to qualify. Maybe something related to what landed him in witness protection, a traitorous bit of his mind suggested, and Zuko violently shook his head to force the thought out. He couldn’t think like that.

Appa let out a soft noise as Zuko shook his head, not quite a bark. It sounded more like a low moan, and it brough Zuko back into the game. Right. He had something else to focus on. It didn’t matter why Appa was here, Zuko refused to submit to him. He would fight tooth and nail to-

The Saint Bernard bumped their noses together and let out a low ‘boof’ before sitting down beside Aang, evidently no longer seeing Zuko as a threat. Zuko relaxed as well, sitting to show his acceptance. Equals. Probably the best outcome that could have happened.

Aang grinned as the dogs sat and largely ignored each other. “They’re going to be best friends.”

Sokka let out a bark of laugher as Katara lead Toph closer so that she could pet Appa. Reminded suddenly of the presence of the blind girl, Zuko resumed the low rumble that he’d halted during the standoff. He kept careful eye on Appa as he did so, but the other dog seemed to recognize that the noise wasn’t meant to be aggressive.

“Well, let’s just hope he doesn’t like to eat small rodents.” Sokka snarked.

“Why?” Toph asked. “Is your home so gross that you’re attached to the pests? Well, animal pests.” She amended, elbowing Sokka as the other teen came up to make sure their new (temporary) dog didn’t get left out considering the girls were more concerned with Appa.

Aang laughed in reply, seeming to miss the dig completely. “No rats. I have a sugar glider back at home though. His name is Momo and he is the cutest thing ever. He likes to land on my shoulder and I just walk around the house with him attached to me!”

She let out a semi-interested noise, but otherwise seemed to largely dismiss the statement. “I don’t like pets that I can’t tell I’m about to squich.”

Sokka hummed. “That’s fair.”

Aang perked up however. “Don’t worry, he loves new people! If you give him some fruit, he’ll stay on your shoulder the whole time you’re there and you don’t have to worry about it!”

The girl was quiet for a moment, her usual brass and assertive personality falling away for a moment of awkward uncertainty. “You would want me to come over?”

“Sure!” Katara said brightly. “Do you have a… um… phone?”

The girl snorted, her earlier personality restored, but a bit happier. “No, sweetness, being blind prevents me from hearing voices through technology. It’s a real struggle.”

Katara groaned. “Just give me your phone.” She commanded and Toph cackled as she handed it over.

“I can text too, using text to speech. Just put your company as ‘Snarly’ for me, will ya?”

“Sure.”

Zuko rose, sniffing towards the phone in attempt to see the number she was entering. He didn’t trust any hackers enough yet for it to be of use, but it had to come in useful somehow someday. However, the more he tried to get close to the phone, the more Katara lifted it away from his head. Zuko wanted to growl. No one wanted dogs to get too close to something valuable and fragile like phones.

He had not foreseen this problem.

He huffed and sat back down. A flash of irritation hit him, but he forced it back before it manifested into a growl. Instead he focused a moment on relishing in the smell of the grass and the feel of the sun hitting his fur and overly-sensitive skin. He hadn’t gotten the chance to enjoy it much recently, either stuck in the loud, bare rooms of the shelter or working out his restlessness with the Boulder power-walking behind.

Finally, after several moments of fiddling around with phones, Katara started herding them back into the shelter to fill out the paperwork. Long Feng glowered at them when they entered, but since Kuei was still in the corner, arranging the new owner pamphlets for the millionth time, he said nothing as he slapped the paper’s onto the counter. “I’m afraid one of your… friends will have to complete the paperwork. According to your volunteer application, you are underage. I’m afraid we will need to conduct the full new foster interview and-”

“Oh no, its okay!” Aang protested. “I’m a legal adult, I was emancipated.” He pulled a folded certificate out of his wallet along with his license, handing both over to the sour-looking man.

Zuko’s ear’s perked. This was his second chance. He jumped up so his paws were on the counter, pretending to sniff at the ceramic jar holding treats while his eyes sought out the license and certificate. It made sense that they would emancipate a 16 year old who apparently went into Witness Protection without his family. Or at least emancipate his cover. Wait, did that mean he was emancipated or wasn’t?

Zuko eyed the license, trying to catch the address and license number. The name ‘Kuzon Gyatso’ was emblazoned on the front of the card, a smiling picture of Aang adorning it. The rest of the writing was in smaller font and he squinted to read it.

“Ah ah, no!” A voice said from behind as a pair of arms snaked around behind his armpits, pulling him back away from the desk.

Wat.

Zuko blinked owlishly, utterly thrown to have been lifted away like some kind of rag doll.

Does not compute.

“No, no jumping on the table.” Sokka's voice said WAY TOO close to his ear.

Zuko finally brought himself to awareness just as Aang tucked the documents away once more.

This… was going to be harder than he thought.

_____________

* So, to clarify, in the first chapter, Sokka calls Appa a 'therapy dog', he is actually a trained PTSD dog prescribed to Aang after the offscreen events that landed him in witness protection (which will be revealed later). I just didn't think that he would throw out the phrase PTSD in the middle of a casual conversation.

Unlike therapy dogs or emotional support animals, PTSD dogs are considered service animals and are highly trained to do a lot of cool things. They can sniff out if their owner is headed to a panic attack, 'distract' from flashbacks, lead them away from stressful situations, keep them from hurting themselves or others, and a lot of other essential tasks. I'm not a professional, just a person with google, but I have been super interested in PTSD dogs ever since Chef Jet Tila did a cooking competition to raise money for a service that trains shelter dogs to be PTSD service animals. They are real cool. For more information, check out this link: https://usserviceanimals.org/blog/ptsd-service-dog-tasks/

** One of the cool things PTSD dogs are trained to do is to always watch their owners backs and make them feel comfortable knowing someone on their side is keeping lookout. To represent that, Appa walks confidently and self-assuredly to give Aang more comfort. Some of the dogs can be trained to check a perimiter or check out new houses or rooms before the owner enters. Again, I just find them super cool.

#avatar: the last airbender #atla #Zuko #Aang #Katara #sokka #toph #Appa #Werewolf!AU #Werewolf!Zuko #fanfiction #MY FANFICS

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lacrow · 4 years

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Forger Spookfest Preview

Another week, another snippet. Fics from here on out will be based off reader suggestions, and this one is a mix of two different ones (although I kinda changed some things around a bit, specifically the costumes.) Fic will be posted Oct. 15th

“...Yor dressing up as an esper, Loid dressing up as a hitman and Anya as a spy would be cute...” - Amelia (Ao3)

“The Forgers are not an ordinary family, so what do you think they’ll react when they visited a haunted house? You know the kind of attraction in a festival, or something like that :)” - @tare-anime

Title: Love and Thorns in a Not-So-Haunted House

Genre: Horror, Comedy

Rating: T

"Mama, mama, mama!" Anya shouted as she scrambled through the door, not even bothering to close it behind her. "Look at this!"

Yor immediately spun around. Her daughter's sudden return from school had interrupted her dusting of the living room, though the chore was quickly abandoned when the little girl thrust an orange flyer high above her head and waved it for mama to see. Yor blinked before grabbing the paper. She eased into a smile and started to scan it; Anya could barely contain herself as she followed her mother, who at the same time went to close the door in order to keep Bond from getting out. Multi-tasking was one of the few things mama was good at, besides of course murdering people.

Haunted House! The title splayed in excited bold letters at the top of the flyer. A picture of a cartoony-looking two-story house was centered in the middle, and beneath that were the time and date of said event; exactly one week and a day away, Saturday at 7 o'clock. The location was a bit of a mystery though, as it didn't refer to where, only when. Pictures of ghosts and ghouls bordered the paper, but other than that it remained conspicuously bare. Yor tilted her head.

"It doesn't say where it's at, Anya," she pointed out. Yor flipped the paper over just to be sure, but again there was nothing.

Anya nodded. "Me and Becky found it on the floor outside school. A bunch of other kids found papers, too. They all wanna go, but we don't know where to find it!"

Yor frowned. She shook her head; someone must have forgotten to put an address. "Nobody has any idea? Not even the teachers?"

"We asked Mr. Henderson about it, but all he said was..." Anya straightened herself out and put on her best old-man face. She cleared her throat. "...Most inelegant."

Yor giggled. "Well, that certainly sounds like Mr. Henderson." She thought about it for a moment. "Maybe Loid will know? If anyone can figure it out, he can."

Anya agreed right away (she kinda figured they'd end up relying on papa anyway) and with a confirming nod made her way over to the dining room table. She swung her backpack around and pulled out her math homework. Anya knew it'd be way easier to ask papa for something if she did something for him first so, despite her distaste for fractions, she forced herself to knock out this week's questions before he got home. The gesture didn't go unnoticed, at least; Yor saw her daughter being responsible for a change and she beamed. Disappearing into the kitchen for a moment, she returned a moment later with a couple cookies and some juice. Anya got through about two problems before she fell victim to the siren call of sugar (which to be fair was still better than usual for her).

It wouldn't have mattered much, anyway. Not long after Anya sat down, the front door opened again. Papa entered, and the apartment came to life once more; Bond boofed, mama welcomed him, and Anya straightened in her chair to pretend like she'd just been contemplating the secrets of the math universe. Papa was a world-class spy, but when it came to school even a tiny bit of effort on her part was enough to make him impressed. Such was the case now when, after he'd shed his work attire and settled in, Loid walked over and noticed her (very exaggerated) thinking face.

"Oh?" he smirked, looking over her shoulder. He immediately noticed cookie crumbs on his daughter's mouth, but didn't dwell on it. "Working on homework?"

"Mhm!" Anya beamed up at him with the sweetest face she could muster. "I just realllyy wanted to get get these fractions done before playing today!"

Loid's smirk turned into a smile, and internally Anya patted herself on the back; all according to plan. She'd successfully buttered up papa, now all Anya needed was for mama to help her out. She glanced at Yor and found a knowing look waiting for her, as if mama was really the psychic one. Taking her cue, Yor walked up to her husband and handed him the flyer. He raised a brow.

"Speaking of playing, Anya found this at school," she informed him. "It looks like it could be a lot of fun!"

"A haunted house?" Loid stroked his chin. He flipped the paper over, same as his wife. "'Tis the season, I suppose."

Yor nodded. "The only problem is we don't know where it is, only the day and time. We were hoping maybe you could figure it out?"

Loid made an inquisitive sort of face. "Well, there's no address, that's for sure. Maybe I can ask around at work and see if anyone knows anything."

Both at the clinic and the safe house; two jobs with intelligent people working at them, someone must have known something. Loid focused on the paper and before shrugging. No address seemed strange, though it was more than likely an oversight on the editor's part. A glaring, albeit honest one. Loid looked over at Yor and found her smiling cheerfully at his to get to the bottom of things, and he spared her the same before glancing at Anya. She had already gone back to doing her homework, and Loid shook his head knowingly.

Anya had been on her best behavior since that whole business with the fork last week.

Absently, Loid rubbed the spot on his chest where his daughter had stabbed him with silver prongs. Of course it hadn't hurt that bad (he'd been stabbed by far worse doing spy work) but doing it to him while he slept was a whole other thing entirely. Her punishment had ended on Monday, and it was now Friday. Against his better judgement, he held nothing against her. She'd served her time, and past actions shouldn't impact the future. Especially when said future was another opportunity for family bonding and, likewise, a benefit to Operation Strix.

Ulterior motives aside, Loid gave his family a genuine promise to take them to the haunted house should he find its location. Yor pressed her hands together in joy and Anya's head shot up in silent victory. The latter said nothing before returning to her homework a moment later, and with that the Forgers separated to go about the rest of their day. Loid went to the kitchen to pull out a roast for dinner, while Yor resumed her previously interrupted dusting. Bond sat the dining room table at Anya's feet, and the four of them carried on as usual.

#spy x family #forger spookfest #fanfiction #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger

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trickstercheebs · 4 years

Note

"❥: barefoot, sleepy wanderings, ⌘: being picked up, #: shaky hands , ⌫: lullaby" Sick team!borrowers, and gordon trying to nervously wrangle them into sleeping it off and he has to bribe them with a lullaby

FUCK THIS TOOK AGES..i got pissed when i nuked the work I had so! Here we go round fucking two.

He wasn’t sure how the hell they all got the flu but once one went down they all quickly followed suit, he blamed the idea that they all kept so close to one another throughout the day and night. Living like that would make it damn near impossible to keep flu bugs from spreading like wildfire. And since he was the only one that hadn’t been sick he would have to be the one to treat them all.

“Guys...guys for fucks sake can you not run around while being so fucking sick? It’s only gonna make you all crash faster. Just stay in one place so I can maybe make you all feel better?”

“Don’t worry Gordon we’ll be all right as rain by nightfall I’m sure of it! This isn’t the first....the first time we’ve all been sick like this!”

“Thank you Coomer but I still would like to play it safe and get you guys some flu meds...I just, Bubby I swear to god don’t set the paper on fire please..!!”

“Fucking put me down first you giant Bitch! I did not live this long to be manhandled like a chicken being weighed for the slaughter!!”

“Bubby I’m just getting your weight and height that is all! OW, again with the biting..jesus fine fine I got your measurements goddamn....should of worn the work gloves for this I guess....”

It was supposed to take only five minutes to weigh and size them all, but of course doing anything with this tiny hellion group at all was a damn work of the devil to get done within a hours time alone. Benry and Tommy had behaved wonderfully for once....though he suspected Benry just wanted to be held for a few moments...Tommy was always a angel once he explained what he was doing, and now those two sat nearby the little notebook watching him scribble down Bubby’s measurements. They both looked so exhausted and flushed....it was almost cute if he didn’t know most if not all of them were burning with fever right now.

Coomer was cooperative thank god and after a manic run to the local CVS he came back with the right flu medicine....Though he did take a bit longer deciding on if he needed the childrens version or the actual adult version. No one told him how hard it would be trying to keep borrowers alive.

Or that fucking borrowers existed in the first place, that sort of thing would of helped him a long while back, but beggars couldn’t be choosers he thought to himself. The absolute hardest part of the whole ordeal came next, doing hard mathematical equations to see just how much each borrower should get that would not fucking kill them via overdose.

It took him...longer than he would admit but that was in part thanks to Tommy and Benry asking every so often from the small coffee table what some of the numbers correlated to now and then. He loved learning and honestly teaching and rambling came a close second to that, especially when others were actually fucking happy to hear him go on tangents about things like that.

Benry and Tommy both sat nearby, Coomer less so but he still stuck around to watch Gordon work, or sleep when not trying to find and calm Bubby down about “being manhandled by a huge fucking dumbass of a bean.” every now and again.

Once he was sure the equations were right, he had triple checked over his work frantically to make sure none of them would suffer for it, he had to actually pick them up to give the correct dosage.

His hands were shaking ungodly so as each damn near minuscule dosage was measured, it got so damned bad Tommy and Coomer came over to see if everything was alright and lend a hand, which he was so goddamned glad for honestly. One fuck up was all it could take was the mantra repeating in his head over and over as each borrower was given their dosage of meds, though he had to hold both Benry and Bubby in turn to take their damn shit. Coomer had to physically hold Bubbys mouth closed until he swallowed the ghastly shit to even get him to cooperate..

A hour or so had passed and no harmful signs had come up yet..he had periodically asked them how they felt before and after the medicine...nothing like doing clinical trials by fire to make him feel even more nervous about the whole ordeal.. But thankfully everything checked out...until he fucking realized he had given them the night medicine instead of the day one when they all started wandering about like drowsy kittens..

“Ah fuck...I guess that’s the sleep meds kicking in? C’mon guys lets get you all to bed...”

“But it’s....it’s daytime still and I feel fine Mr. Freeman..”

“I know that Tommy but taking naps is fine now, I’ll uh...I’ll uh even sing you guys asleep?”

“Bull.....shit I dont....I don’t want you to sing any-fuckin-thing...but..Maybe I can sit and make sure you don’t do anything...”

“Gordon I’m not tired! ......Okay maybe I might be a bit tired.”

“Bubby you can sit with Coomer alright? ..Wh-where’s Benry?”

“He was....maybe in the kitchen?”

Gordon paled...how the hell did he get in there so fast without him seeing? Maybe it was the damn teleporting...he still never saw Benry use it but they all insisted he could. Scooping the others up gently despite the exhausted words of protest he set them on the bed and got Sunny to watch them while he went to search for Benry.

“Benry? Benry where are you...I know you’re just as tired as the others....C’mon and take a nap with everyone else please?”

At first he didn’t hear anything....but listening quietly he finally heard the soft scuffle of little boots on some sort of surface.

“No, I wanted a snack...just go back and worry about them I’m a good cool I can....I can totally make it back bro. I got it...yeah.”

“Benry please..I don’t want you falling asleep somewhere dangerous..your powers might get affected by the cold you all have...Just don’t be stubborn this once please?”

“....mhng...you sound so cute like that bro...that’s totally fuckin not fair.”

“What? Benry come out I can barely hear you right now..”

There was a soft thunk behind him, making Gordon turn around to see Benry just...standing on the kitchen table like he had been just waiting for him to turn around...He clearly looked exhausted, barely being able to stand up on his own under the influence of the cold meds....Letting out a sigh of relief he moved to gently scoop the troublesome borrower up into his hands. Benry thankfully put up no fight, he even seemed to relax and sag into his hold the instant he made contact.

“Let’s get you all to bed okay? You can eat whatever you want when you get up how about? I’ll even cook if you all sleep the medicine off.”

“Bro...you for real about that? Heh, maybe being this sick isn’t a bad thing if you cook man...bet you cook better than mama.”

“Who? ....Oh my god, of course you’d somehow know about cooking mama...Sure, I’ll be better than mama just for you Benry.”

“Fuck yes. Best day like...fuckin ever.”

Gordon couldn’t see the starry look in the little borrowers eyes as he was carted off for sleep..Honestly he could of passed out right here in Gordons hands, they felt so soft and warm it was beginning to become a losing battle keeping his eyes open, he was thankful the trip to Gordons bedroom was alot shorter thanks to the lift.. The others were just as bad if not worse when he came back in, Sunny giving a soft boof of welcome.

“aw...they’re all almost conked out....Kinda cute really. Alright let’s get you all settled then.”

Working gently he grabbed a spare pillow and sat each of them on top with their own little blanket, making sure Bubby and Coomer were near one another so there wouldn’t be a damn fire scare.. Tommy and Benry watched him with exhaustion clear on their faces....waiting for something?

“Mr. Freeman don’t forget about the lullaby....you promised right? I want to see if you have sweet voice too.”

“Sweet....no I don’t think I can do that...but I can still sing sorta. Just don’t get your hopes up okay?”

Gordon felt silly honestly...singing a lullaby? He hadn’t done that in ages, not since he was asked to look after his new nephew Joshie a few years back... But if they wanted one.....well who was he to say no?

His voice was shakey at first...but the old lullaby was one his mother sang to him when he was little...As the words came back to him he became more emboldened and let his voice grow stronger. The two remaining borrowers that stayed awake were dragged willingly into sleep by his voice alone, both smiling happily as the lullaby reached its end.

Gordon, now feeling a bit groggy himself smiled at the little sleeping group and decided to try and nap himself in the living room for a bit.

“Goodnight guys...sleep well.”

#kibbits #cheebs writes #hlvrai #g/t #THERE now it has the right shit

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starcountesseevee · 4 years

Text

A Rocket Coincidence (Part 9)

Part 8 / Part 10

Kali spent the rest of that day and the next introducing Aslan, her newly named Arcanine, to the rest of her Eeveelutions. Out of them all, Ember and Aslan became almost inseparable when together. The first night on the road Kali thought she was going to have a forest fire on her hands when Ember went to light the campfire and Alsan, presumably trying to show off, let out a huge blast of fire that burnt all the firewood to a crisp. While their antics had amused her earlier she was not amused now that she had to go get another round of firewood.

The road she was taking swung her under Viridian City instead of through and as such it wasn't as well traveled. The last person Kali had seen was the night before and their car drove by too quick to even notice her. Aside from the occasional bird cry it was quiet so Kali was understandably startled when her Pokegear ringtone went off, echoing loudly through the forest around her. She was even more startled to see the name on the screen and hesitated before pushing 'talk'.

"Hello? Dad?"

"Kali, my girl!" His voice was unusually clear. "How are you? I'm sorry it's been so long since we've, um, had a chance to talk."

"Yeah…" Kali found herself pacing, hoping this wasn't about what she thought it was. What it always was.

"Hey, I saw you on tv! Well the replay at least. Bobby, you remember him? He saw it and showed me, asked if that was you. You didn't tell me you were competing!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't be sorry, sweetie." There it was, whenever he started calling her sweetie he was after something. "I'm just…your mother would be proud."

"Thanks." Kali said after a few moments. Maybe this time was different but she wasn't going to hold her breath.

"So," he continued. "That was a pretty big event, huh? Televised and everything! Probably had a lot of sponsors?"

"Dad!"

"What, can't I congratulate my girl? You must have gotten a nice prize for making it that far."

"It really wasn't that much." Just when she thought this wasn't about money. Kali tried to hide the annoyance in her voice but didn't do a very good job.

"Oh don't be so modest. I'm proud of you! And you know your dad could always use-."

"You know what, dad, I have to go." Kali cut him off.

"Kali, sweetie, come on now."

"Bye dad." Kali pressed disconnect before she could reconsider. She didn’t know why she expected different every time and every time she was let down. Angry tears blurred her vision and she furiously blinked them back, thankful that she was alone.

Kali lashed out and kicked angrily at a fallen log on the side of the road and bits of crumbled wood went flying into the underbrush behind it. She turned back the way she was heading, barely noticing the sound of buzzing from behind her but when it clicked she froze then slowly turned. Flying up from the fallen log was a Beedrill, followed by another and another until Kali was staring down a dozen of them. Kicking the log had clearly disturbed them and from what Kali could tell they were not happy. She swallowed hard as she slowly took another step back. There was no way she could make a run for it down the wide open road, it would take them seconds to catch up with her as they could fly and she very much so could not.

Kali had a split second to make a decision as several Beedrills in the front began jabbing their stingers at her. Without wasting another moment Kali turned and dashed off into the trees on the other side of the road. She ducked under branches and dodged through the underbrush as she scrambled to move her pack around and get one of her pokemon out. Grabbing the first one she laid a hand on she spun around to release it but before she could she found herself stumbling backwards and tripping. She landed in a stream, soaking her clothing and shoes as water and mud splashed around her. After the initial shock wore off Kali was relieved to find that there was no trace of the Beedrills following her.

Kali stood and trudged over to the bank as she wrung out the bottom of her shirt with a sigh. This would take forever to dry out. But now that everything around her had quieted back down she could faintly make out the sound of rushing water from somewhere upstream. Curious, she picked her way along the stream, boots squelching, until she found the source. The scene before her was like something out of a movie. A fairly tall waterfall, sparkling in the noontime sunlight, cascaded over a rocky bluff and spilled into a clear pool of water that was feeding the stream she followed. Kali dropped her pack onto the ground, rummaging around until she found Lyra’s pokeball and released her.

“Anything hiding in there girl?” Her Vaporeon chirped at her before diving happily into the depths. After a few minutes Lyra resurfaced and circled a few times in the water letting Kali know the coast was clear. Perfect. Kali reached into her pack again for Aslan’s pokeball.

“Keep an eye out, okay?” She ruffled the fur on his neck and he let out a soft ‘boof’ before settling into a more comfortable position facing the woods. Kali ducked behind his large form to change out of her wet clothes and put on her sleep shirt instead, tying the bottom of it up around her waist so it didn’t drag in the water. As she laid her wet clothes out on a rock to dry a jet of water shot into her back.

“Okay, okay!” Kali laughed as Lyra ducked cheekily under the surface. The water was pleasantly warm and relaxing with the sound of the waterfall behind her. Kali closed her eyes and drifted on her back as Lyra swam in circles around her. She did not notice the shadow of a hot air balloon pass over. Cliff, however, did spot the large orange Arcanine from the air and began prepping for a landing.

Aslan’s low growl alerted Kali and she turned towards the treeline with concern. “What is it boy?” Aslan growled again in response and took a few steps towards the trees, the hair along its back standing on edge. Before Kali could reach the water’s edge he growled louder and bounded off into the forest. “Wait! Shit…” She waded closer to the shore but before she made it Aslan came trotting back but he wasn’t alone.

“I thought I recognized this guy.” Cliff grinned as the Arcanine sat down next to him, happily wagging its tail.

“What? How? You following me through the woods or something?” There was no way anyone could have been following her without her noticing, right? She didn't even know how she had gotten to this spot.

“From up there, I was passing overhead.” Kali raised a brow, clearly skeptical.

“Do you have invisible wings I can’t see?”

“No, just a hot air balloon.” Cliff replied like it was the most normal thing in the world to be flying around in one.

“Uh, huh…”

“It’s not like Arcanine’s are common in this region, and besides I don’t think there are many that are this big anyway. He was the biggest Growlithe I had seen when I got him. Still is.”

“You’ve had him that long and evolved him?” Kali’s surprise eclipsed her concern. “Why give him up?”

“It’s just a pokemon.” Cliff shrugged, glancing briefly at the faint bruise on her mouth. “‘Sides, I feel better knowing he’s keeping an eye on you.”

“Keeping an eye-”

“Making sure you stay out of trouble.” He added quickly but Kali wasn’t sure she bought it. Silence fell between them as Cliff absentmindedly scratched behind Aslan’s ear.

“I guess I never got to say thank you.” Kali suddenly felt self conscience. “For Aslan that is.” She nodded to the large Arcanine.

“Aslan? This guy? You named him?” Cliff laughed.

“Of course, I name them all!” She shot back and as if on cue Lyra surfaced and shot a jet of water at Cliff.

“Good girl.” Kali chuckled and stroked Lyra’s back who looked pleased with herself. Meanwhile Cliff had begun undoing his belt and taking off his shoes and it wasn’t until he unzipped the collar of his suit and began shrugging out of it that Kali noticed. “Hey, what are you doing!?”

“What? It’s hot out and the water looks nice, I could use a swim.” For once Kali didn’t have a comeback. Stars, was that a six pack or an eight pack? Kali didn’t realize she was staring until he spoke again.

“See something you like?”

Mortified Kali ducked under the water to give her hormones a chance to cool off. She heard a splash and when she resurfaced he was floating on his back at the deeper end of the pool, keeping a respectful distance.

“I thought I might hear from you after you left Silver Town.”

“Oh is that what that number was for? And here I thought it was the Team Rocket recruitment hotline.”

“Well it is a direct line to one of Team Rocket's top leaders.” Kali rolled her eyes.

“Is that why you work out so much? To be able to hold up that big head of yours?” They both shared a laugh before silence fell again. Kali swam over to a larger rock nearer to the deeper end and rested her arms over it, unsure of what to say. After a few minutes of awkward silence Cliff’s curiosity got the better of him.

“So you and Candela seem to have some bad blood, not that it’s any of my business.”

Kali didn’t answer at first. She never really talked about what happened with anyone. Besides her dad, Mara was the only one that knew and she usually avoided the topic as it tended to just upset Kali.

“No, it’s fine. We do.” Kali took a deep breath, biting back the well of emotions that were threatening to surface. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to talk about it with someone else. She glanced over at Cliff. While he could be infuriating at times she also, oddly enough, felt at ease around him.

“I’m guessing it has something to do with that pin?” He questioned, not missing the scrutinizing look she was giving him.

“It was my mom’s.” Kali’s tone was softer than he was used to. “She…” Kali paused, taking another deep breath before continuing. “She worked in a lab that Candela ran, before Candela became a Team Leader. One day an inexperienced group of Trainers sent in a Moltres but it wasn’t a good catch. When they took it out in the lab it was angry. They weren’t able to calm it down and when it broke free of the lab it began burning a trail through the immediate surroundings. Can’t say I blame it. Candela got everyone she could to go after it before it caused more damage but being chased made it angrier and when it reached a town nearby it started torching that too. Candela and some others went after the bird and she had some stay back to help clear out the area. My mom was one of the ones that stayed behind. She was helping evacuate an apartment building with Ember, her Flareon, when...when it collapsed.”

“I’ve heard about that incident. Several people…I’m sorry.” Kali knew he was watching her but couldn’t bring herself to look up as tears sprang to her eyes.

“Candela felt responsible and personally delivered the news with my mom’s pin they recovered. Mom was always so proud to be on Team Valor. If Candela hadn’t been so arrogant to think that she could tame it…” Kali let the sentence trail off, there was no use getting angry about it right now. She pushed off the rock and turned back towards the water’s edge as she swiped at her eyes. Maybe she wasn't ready to talk about it. “Anyway, I should probably get back on the road.” Not waiting for a response she waded over to the shore and began gathering up her clothes, not caring that she was still wet as she pulled them on.

“Are you headed anywhere in particular? I could drop you off and save you some time?” Cliff questioned, following her up onto the shore.

“In your hot air balloon? No thanks.” As much as he wanted to Cliff didn’t push the issue.

“Maybe I’ll hear from you?”

“You might.” Kali smiled at him, her voice sounding much more confident than she felt. She slung her pack over her shoulder and called for Lyra and Aslan to follow her.

Part 8 / Part 10

#cliff pokemon go #leader cliff #Team rocket cliff #pokemon go cliff #team rocket cliff #pokemon go #team rocket #pokemon go fanfiction #team go rocket #team go rocket cliff #team rocket leaders

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haloud · 5 years

Text

many times, many ways

a malex christmas gift for christi @michaels-blackhat, who inspired me into holiday fluff and who spent this month writing wonderful gifts--I hope you enjoy this one in return! Happy holidays, everyone!

-- ao3 --

An unmarked package. An envelope, more accurately, hand-folded out of plain brown paper and left right in front of Alex’s front door. Buffy is sniffing at it before Alex can stop her; he snags her by the collar, heart in his throat, but she’s close enough to nudge it with her nose. Alex holds his breath, but she just lets out a soft boof, then loses interest and heads back inside. Alex, however, can’t be quite so cavalier. It may not have exploded when Buffy moved it, but there are ways other than explosives that a strange package can fuck you up. He fetches a pair of gloves and a particle mask before he even touches it. A small gesture toward security, maybe, but it makes him feel safe enough to work a pocketknife under the tape and slowly pull the paper apart.

Alex blinks twice at what’s inside. Pulls his mask off so it falls around his neck and blinks again. Reaches out to touch it.

It’s…a Christmas ornament. But not any, it’s—it’s light in his palm, a tiny thing, a miniature of a poster he had as a kid, the one Maria smuggled into his car after school and he hung up in the toolshed where no one would see it. Alex holds it up. Dangling from a scrap of black ribbon, the little orange rectangle catches the light, gleaming off the black enamel picking out the singer’s little face and the Danger! At the Picture Show lettering. It’s cold when he clenches it in his fist, heart pumping a hundred miles an hour.

For a second, he’s seventeen again, and he has to laugh at the memory of that kid he used to be, earbuds stuffed in his ears, knees jammed up against the desk waiting for the first period bell to ring. He grins despite himself, turning over the paper again, searching for any kind of note or indication who it’s from. Rosa, maybe? Secret presents are definitely her thing, and she was the one who gave him his first DatPS CD when he was fourteen. Maria is the other person who comes to mind, but Alex hopes she would just give it to him in person—he doesn’t like to think of her being too anxious to give him something like this face to face, what with all the mending fences going on.

He smooths his thumb over the ornament’s glossy surface one more time, then puts it on a shelf for safekeeping for lack of anywhere more festive to put it. He doesn’t really decorate for Christmas; the holidays were only ever more of the same when he was a kid, with a thin, grotesque veneer of family over the top of it.

Things get even more festive the next day, though, when he gets home from work and finds another package, in the same brown paper, sitting on the porch steps. It’s bigger this time, three dimensional, and after a moment of deliberation, Alex picks up the phone. Guerin might laugh at him, but that’s a price he has to be willing to pay.

He doesn’t laugh, though. He rolls up in his truck, that, despite the circumstances and the vaguely tipsy feeling of fear lurking in his blood, Alex has to laugh at—there’s a sprig of mistletoe wrapped in bright red ribbon hanging from the rearview mirror.

Michael bounds over to him and says, slightly breathless, “What did you need me to check out?”

Alex waves his hand in the direction of the stairs. “It’s probably nothing. I got something similar yesterday, and it was fine, I just—”

“Oh. Oh, yeah, I get it. Here, let me.” Michael squeezes Alex’s shoulder, a quick, warm, reassuring touch, then takes a step back. Focusing, he narrows his eyes at the little package, then wings it in an arc off into the empty desert.

A second passes. Nothing blows up. Michael pulls the package back in.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he says, “Sorry if whatever’s in there broke. But whoever sent it to you should have known better. Fucking idiot.”

Alex lets out a long breath, forcing his shoulders to drop and his brow to smooth. “No, it’s okay. ‘Tis the season, right? It could be from anyone.”

“Still.” Michael’s mouth curls downward, like he tastes something foul, like he tends to look whenever he tries to make nice with Kyle. It’s exasperating. It’s also a little sweet, in a twisted way.

The box has the same wrapping, same tape job as yesterday’s envelope. It comes apart easily, and inside is—Alex pulls it out, holds it up.

It’s. It’s an alien, full-on little green man alien, holding up its noodly little hands in two peace signs. Wearing a Santa hat. Covered in gaudy glitter. And still intact—only one piece has snapped off, a little piece of red molding clay that someone clearly fashioned so an ornament hook could go through it.

After a shocked second, Alex lets out a very uncharacteristic giggle; then, face burning, he drops the little alien back into the box and glances up at Michael, who’s watching him with his head tilted and a shy smile of his own on his pink mouth.

Their eyes meet for a long, breath-catching moment, a spark jumping through the cold, dry air from one body to the next. Then they both look away, clearing throats, shoving hands in pockets, and looking up at the sky instead of back at each other, each of them so large in the other’s sight to block out the sun.

“Secret Santa?” Michael says, voice cheerfully flippant. He’s still grinning somehow. Alex wants to wipe that look off his face. With his own face.

“Something like that.”

“Next time try to get someone who knows you better than to get that touristy shit.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Michael leaves after that, making it both easier and harder to breathe. Touristy shit aside, Alex puts the Santa alien on the shelf beside the first ornament, and later that night, after tossing and turning for a little while, he grabs his crutches, goes to the shelf, gropes in Jim’s old toolbox for a tube of superglue, and hunches over the coffee table to fix the clay part, making it an ornament once again.

One is an event. Two is a coincidence. Three ornaments in three days, and it’s a pattern.

No brown paper package shows up the third day; rather, he finds the ornament when he checks his mailbox in town. It’s a little laptop this time, nothing special, but it still brings a smile to his face when he holds it in his palm.

Who could the mystery sender be? It turns into something of an obsession over the next few days, which see him receiving a log cabin, a beagle, and a beautiful handmade silver and turquoise songbird. It’s clearly someone who knows him now, and someone who knows him well enough to know his home, his pet, what he does for a living…it’s a narrow field, to be sure—basically just Maria, Liz, Kyle, or Rosa. He rubs his thumb over the beagle’s little painted nose while Buffy shoots it a suspicious look from the couch as he considers his options.

Whoever it is, Guerin must know, because since the second day, the ornaments have arrived in his mailbox or on his porch unwrapped or in clear plastic wrap if it’s raining out.

Of course, all the evidence could point toward it being Guerin himself. But…somehow, Alex can’t bring himself to believe it, if only because the thought of Michael thinking of him like this, over time, with dedication, makes Alex’s chest ache with longing to see him, to hear him, to feel him. Better it be some scheme of Rosa’s. It’s just…better that way.

The gifts keep coming. Day seven, it’s the Air Force crest; on the eighth and ninth days, he finds a sunbathing alien and a bowl of ramen on his front step. They both go on the increasingly-crowded shelf, though he shoots the ramen a nasty look when he puts it in place. Another point in the Maria column, considering last time he went to one of her movie nights, he was asked to put pizza rolls in the oven and managed to burn them despite absolutely following the instructions on the package.

The tenth day’s ornament arrives in a blue Tupperware container, just translucent enough to see the ornament inside, but not so much he can tell what it is.

He opens it and finds a ball ornament wrapped in strips of paper cut from dictionaries in ten languages he can identify, including all six he speaks. It’s sturdy papier-mâché, but Alex still holds it like it might shatter if he breathes on it too hard. Every line defines things like family, like love, like forever. He returns it to its box and puts it on the shelf with the others, but his fingers linger over the lid, because there are lines he hasn’t traced with his fingertips yet, and he can hardly tear himself away.

He goes into town later that day on a grocery run with words still swimming in his mind and his mouth fixed shut because he’s not sure what might come out. But no level of distraction or concentration could keep him from being blindsided when he runs into Guerin outside the Crashdown, their bodies catching shoulder to shoulder, Guerin’s hand on his arm to steady him—their collision almost knocked a big box out of Guerin’s hands, but he steadies it with a little help from his powers until Alex has his balance back and he can take it in both hands again.

“Alex,” he breathes, then clears his throat. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“I could say the same to you,” Alex manages.

Guerin shakes the box lightly. “Liz wants to surprise Arturo with the decorations this year, so I figured I’d offer my services. I’m the only one who can get tinsel into all the hard-to-reach places, after all.”

“Oh, that’s—that’s really nice.”

“Nah, I’m getting paid. Mostly in milkshakes and fries, but who’s complaining?”

They stare across the box. It’s been like this, lately, a small talk stiffness to their interactions, and Alex doesn’t know how to make it stop. But at the same time, he isn’t sure he wants to. It’s almost…nice. A couple weeks ago Alex drove by the junkyard just because he could, and Michael smelled like snow and pine and commented on the weather, and that brief exchange left the both of them grinning like idiots by the time Alex drove away. They aren’t lovers again, not yet. But they’re something. They’re getting there.

“Want some help? I’m free tonight,” Alex says, and Michael smiles at him, and that’s that. Alex comes back late, once the Crashdown is closed and Arturo is in bed. Liz and Rosa come downstairs to work on the decorations too, and more hands makes for light work, though Michael does most of the work without using his hands at all. They’re finished in no time. Alex plugs the lights in, flips the switch, and Rosa laughs, real and unrestrained and tugging Liz into the middle of the floor, dotted with multicolored puddles of light, twirling her in a circle. Sometime during the decorating, Rosa managed to stick Michael with a present ribbon, and it bobbles on top of his curls as he slinks over to Michael’s side to knock their shoulders together. Alex lets him, in the spirit of the season, and because every time Michael touches him his body goes weightless.

Now is as good a time to ask as any.

“So, Guerin,” he says, “I’m still getting ornaments every day. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that you haven’t told me, would you?”

Michael shrugs and grins that cowboy grin. “Looks to me like you’ve got yourself a secret admirer.”

“Secret, huh?”

“Looks that way.”

And before Alex can say another word, Michael is walking away to join Liz and Rosa dancing, whistling Let It Snow. He gets away from Alex that time, but before their little impromptu party is over, Alex manages to steal the bow from his hair, just glancing his fingers off those curls, so lightly Guerin doesn’t even seem to notice.

Whether he’s the ornament giver or not, Alex puts the bow on the shelf with the others. Just in case.

The next day, there’s no ornament when he leaves in the morning, and nothing in his mailbox when he checks it that evening, either. He’s—frustrated, okay, rather than sad, because what was the point? Stopping ten days in, what was even the point? It leaves him feeling untethered, without that tiny little thing to look forward to each and every day. Somehow, without even really noticing, he’d kind of gotten into the Christmas spirit. He even, feeling ridiculous the entire time, went to the pet store and bought a couple gifts for his dog, because he’s in a gift-giving mood even if he’s not sure he’s exchanging gifts with anyone else this year.

He shoulders his way out of the office, avoiding eye contact with the clerk, who’s surely noticed him coming in every single day, when he used to only check his mail once a week at best. Whatever. Now he has no reason to come back so often, and they’ve got plenty of time to forget him, like the way things should be.

He’s so caught up in his thoughts that he almost smacks Maria right in the face with the door as he leaves. She yelps, and he catches it at just the last second, tripping over apologies while she flaps her hand at him dismissively.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, Alex, really,” she laughs. Alex steadies her with his hands on her shoulders, and she tugs him to the side, out of the way of the sidewalk traffic. “I was hoping to run into you anyway. I have something for you.”

Oh shit. Anxiety spikes, and Alex blabbers, “Oh, shit, Maria, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know we were doing gifts this year—”

Great. Their friendship is finally finding even footing again, and Alex immediately puts himself in the red again by hitting her with a door and tells her straight up that he didn’t get her anything for Christmas. Batting a fuckin’ thousand, isn’t he. No wonder his secret admirer or whatever got bored of him.

“Alex, seriously, chill.” She tweaks his chin. “No presents is one hundred percent fine. You think I’m all about worshipping at the capitalist altar that is Christmas? Hell no. Buuut someone asked me for a favor, and it just so happened that I had something for you anyway, so here you go.”

She grabs his hand and presses into it a beautifully beaded eight-pointed star, red and white and gold. Alex gasps, and says, “This is—”

“One of Mom’s, yeah.” That wry, sad smile Maria gets when she talks about her mother curls up on her face. “She makes a lot of them on her good days, and her nurse says it’s good that she’s working with her hands. And Mom specifically said this one was for you.”

“God.” Alex swallows and grips the star as tightly as he can without crushing it. “Let me know next time you’re going to visit her, okay? So I can thank her in person?”

“Sure thing.”

Maria blinks rapidly for a moment, and Alex, understanding, doesn’t mention it. She composes herself quickly, and then Alex just has to ask:

“So it hasn’t been you the whole time, has it?”

“What, leaving you the ornaments? I am not that sappy.”

“Come on, there’s nothing wrong with being a little sentimental,” he teases.

“Uh huh. Sure. I forgot I was talking to the master of fuzzy feelings himself.”

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

Maria laughs at that and, hooking her arm through his, starts off down the street. “Now, we may not be exchanging presents this year, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make you help me with the rest of my shopping.”

The next day’s ornament is a classic Han Solo one, and if Alex lets out an undignified gasp when he sees it, Buffy is the only creature around to witness it. If he spends the rest of the day finding and watching the Star Wars Christmas Special, well, the same goes for that too, and his dignity is firmly intact.

The day after that, Liz texts him to come to the Crashdown, and since it’s a weekend he makes it there to meet her on her lunch break. The decorations look just as good in the daylight, if an inch or two less magical, and Alex has to duck his head to hide his grin when he remembers Michael very seriously placing a Santa hat on each individual alien in the place.

Liz beckons him over to a booth, two shakes and a plate of fries already in front of her. “Figured since I called you out, I could at least treat you,” she says. “On top of what I called you here for, which is….” She does a little drumroll on the table, then plonks an ornament box down on the table.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alex bursts out.

“I know, right? I couldn’t believe it when I found it.”

Laughing and shaking his head, Alex picks it up. It’s a cat wearing an antenna headband so, so similar to the one perched on Liz’s head—the wrong shade of green, but still.

“I don’t suppose this is your way of telling me you’ve been leaving me ornaments all month, is it.”

“Pfft, no way.” Liz steals a fry from his tray and crunches it smugly. “Secret admirer, Manes. It’s supposed to be secret.”

Day fourteen is something delicate, so much so he’s a little scared to touch it. It’s thin glass, deep blue, and when it catches a light source it sends shimmering blue all around the room. It’s the day Alex stops trying to guess who his mystery gift-giver is, because now he’s been given light to hold in his hands, and it makes him feel—makes him—

Someone thought he was worthy of this. Someone wanted him to have it. Whether or not they ever tell him who they are, that means something.

His fifteenth ornament is the third one to come wrapped in a package, but this time it’s in an actual USPS shipping box, and it comes with a letter inside, in handwriting he recognizes.

Captain, it says, we got pressed into service again, and I was the unlucky bastard who drew the short straw, so I’m sending this to you, along with a warning that you fucking owe me…

The ornament is basic, a decently pretty white and silver snowflake. He puts the letter on the shelf with it. If the season is forcing everyone else into a sentimental mood, he might as well succumb to it too.

He wakes up on the sixteenth day with a bit of a sentiment hangover and lets himself lie in bed for a little while longer than usual, fondling Buffy’s soft ears and cradling this lovely, bittersweet feeling inside himself. If Christmas is the deadline for this whole ornament thing, he’s over halfway to the end. He takes the morning slowly, lingering over his coffee and over the view of the desert through his kitchen window, the high def white-gray limning of the world you get with a serious cold.

That day’s ornament doesn’t match Alex’s mood at all, but he still chuckles and shakes his head when he sees it. It’s another patch job like the Santa alien, but this time some sort of Valentines leftover—a traditional Roswell Gray holding a big red heart that says you’re out of this world!, with a handmade place for ornament hooks to go. It looks absurdly out of place next to everything else he’s accumulated, but he gives it its place of honor anyway.

He doesn’t expect his seventeenth ornament to arrive on the doorstep or in the mail, and sure enough, the pattern holds and it’s hand delivered at like ten o’clock that night. He almost doesn’t answer the door, but to be honest he’d left his leg on after work expecting just this.

“Ho ho ho,” an exhausted-looking Kyle says, shoving a box into Alex’s hands.

“Dude, did you drive all the way out here after your shift? It could have waited.”

“Nah, this is my one good deed for the year.”

“You’re literally a surgeon. Your job is good deeds.”

“Fine—my one act of charity.”

Alex bristles at that. “I don’t need—”

“Not for you.” Kyle punches him lightly on the shoulder.

Cryptic bastard.

“Go ahead and open it,” Kyle says, “My blood is eighty percent coffee right now, and I want to get home before I crash”

“You know you can stay if you need to.”

“Yeah, yeah. Open it.”

Alex’s eyebrows go straight up when he does and pulls out a shimmery white ball with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer logo on it. “You didn’t pick this out yourself. You asked me why I gave my dog a porn name the first time you met her.”

“Hey! I listened when you explained—” When Alex fixes him with a glare, Kyle gives in with a laugh. “Okay, okay, Rosa helped. Oh ye of little faith.”

Kyle leaves after that, with a quick hug and a Merry Christmas, and Alex goes to his shelf to put the ornament away. He hasn’t been keeping them in chronological order, more a sort of a…thematic grouping. The Buffy ball goes with Maria’s star, Liz’s alien cat, and the snowflake from his unit.

He looks up and turns away, casting his eyes all around the room to hide from no one the fact that he’s getting a little bit choked up.

Maybe he’ll buy some lights tomorrow. Or tinsel or something. No reason he can’t go in on the decorating, right? Why is he still holding himself back?

He doesn’t make it to the store the next day, or the two after that, three days that see him receiving a coffee mug, a UFO that’s supposed to light up when it’s plugged in, and a little truck hauling a Christmas tree.

He wonders if maybe that last one is a promise.

The pattern of hand deliveries every other day has been broken. But, in the spirit of the season—Alex doesn’t dwell on the fact that he never got one hand-delivered by Michael and instead chooses to think about the other thing that could mean.

On day twenty-one, he gets a glass teardrop that shimmers purple and golden, and on day twenty-two he gets a golden disc engraved with a tiny, perfect star chart.

The day before Christmas Eve, he opens the door to find an acoustic guitar.

As if he didn’t already know.

Christmas Eve dawns gray and dismal with the smell of snow in the air. Buffy trots around the yard in circles, lifting her nose every couple minutes to sniff the cold, and Alex cradles his coffee in both hands to keep them warm while he watches her, content. Part of him regrets that he never went and got more decorations, but it’s okay. This whole month—it’s been such an unexpected thing to be able to accept a simple joy into his life, to let himself expect a little, uncalled-for gift every day, that all he can feel at this point is just…peace. He couldn’t have asked for anything else. He didn’t.

Buffy barks, and Alex looks up just in time to see a familiar truck coming down the road, the bed covered with a tarp. Alex puts his mug down on the railing and regrets it instantly for want of something to do with his hands as Michael parks, opens the door, and jumps out of the car.

“Hey,” Alex says.

“Hey. Merry Christmas,” Michael says in return.

They just stare at each other for a moment, something that happens a lot when it’s just the two of them. Like they have to steel themselves to speak. Like they have to make sure that no, it’s not, it’s not the time to take that step forward and drown themselves in each other. It’s okay, yeah, it’s okay to just be here. Like this.

“Want some help with that?” Alex tilts his chin in the direction of the tarp.

“Y-yeah. Sure.” He stumbles over the word and ducks his head, rounding the truck to reveal what’s underneath.

It’s exactly what Alex expected, and everything he never did. His heart in his throat, he touches one of the branches on the tree, needles pricking his skin, sap sticky on his fingertips when he pulls them away.

“You get the other end,” Michael says, and they carry it inside together, a crate full of other decorations floating along behind them, Buffy pulling up the rear, eyeing it suspiciously. She settles in the corner to watch as Michael sets the tree up, hammers it into the stand, and positions it in the corner where it’ll be out of Alex’s way.

Alex hovers in the kitchen, making them both more coffee, hands shaking a little bit on the grounds, on the filter, on the carafe. The tree still takes up too much room. Michael takes up too much room. He always has. In this tiny house. In Alex’s heart and in his head and between his ribs. Michael pulls things out of the crate one by one and hangs them in the air around himself—bundles of lights, a skirt for the tree, multicolored balls and delicate paper snowflakes to fill all the spots left between the ornaments in Alex’s new collection.

Their fingers brush when Alex hands him a mug, and Alex lets the moment hang there. Skin on skin in the most casual, innocent way, but with Michael’s golden eyes so close it still manages to heat his blood, dry his mouth, cover him in yearning.

“Thanks,” Michael says hoarsely. He drags his index finger along Alex’s as he pulls his hand away, sending a shiver through the both of them.

Decorating for Christmas shouldn’t feel forbidden, but it does. It does, as they circle around each other, spiraling lights around the tree, eyes catching on every pass, Alex’s face so warm every time he sees Michael’s answering blush, on his cheeks, on his lips. Once the lights are on, they start in on the ornaments. Alex picks them off the shelf in chronological order, passing half of them to Michael, keeping half of them—like Mimi’s star, Han Solo, and the guitar—for himself.

“How did you manage it?” He asks eventually, fixing the teardrop to a high branch so Buffy doesn’t get any ideas.

“A friend who knows how to navigate Etsy, a sister with Amazon Prime, and a little bit of old-fashioned gumption.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Sure am.” Michael grins with satisfaction at the Valentines alien. Then he sobers a bit and says, “Hey, look, I’m sorry about the packaging the first couple days. I wanted to surprise you—I wasn’t thinking, and I should have.”

“It’s okay. You changed it up, and…yeah. It’s fine.”

“Thanks.”

A couple minutes pass in silence as Alex searches for what else to say. To ask. Why did he do it? When did he get the idea?

He asks, “What about the others? The ones you had Maria, Liz, Kyle, and the guys pick out? Red herrings, or did you just run out of ideas?”

“Oh, I had lots of ideas.” Michael presses his shoulder to Alex’s, coming in close to hang the star chart right beside the silver bird. Nudging him shyly, Michael says, “But my favorite one was the one where you got reminded how many people care about you.”

Alex almost drops the UFO at that, at Michael’s absurd honesty. He has nothing else to say, and they finish decorating the tree in peaceful silence. When they finish, Alex turns the lights off, and Michael plugs the tree in, and the gray day is dark enough that everything lights up bright like it would in the evening, all the colors of the rainbow.

“Fuck,” Alex breathes. It’s like a punch to the gut, happiness and disbelief and the unavoidable need to hoard this feeling, this moment, that comes on the heels of those feelings.

“So you like it?”

“Fuck,” Alex repeats, “Michael. I love it. It’s…I just…”

“Good.”

Michael, hesitating all the way, reaches out and takes Alex’s hand, sliding their fingers home together.

“I have one more ornament for you.” And he reaches into his pocket.

Alex makes a strangled noise when he sees it. Instinct tells him to rip his hand out of Michael’s and flee to the other side of the room to regroup, but he stays rooted in place, struggling, grasping for anything to say.

The console shard—because that’s what it has to be, just with gauzy ribbon looped and knotted carefully around one end so it dangles neatly from Michael’s fingers—shimmers in the soft rainbow light. Michael’s eyes shimmer along with it, equally as alien.

“I can’t,” Alex blurts. “I can’t take it. Michael. No. It’s—”

“No, no, listen, please.” Michael tugs on his hand like he wants to pull him closer, but Alex can’t—he just can’t—

He can’t be what ties Michael to Earth. He can’t be the sole tether that keeps him here, to the world that hurt him again and again, even if it’s the thing he wants most in the world, to protect, to hoard him like he hoards every sliver of a happy memory, where no one can take it away from him. That’s why he—months ago, when he most thought Michael was slipping through his hands, he gave him the console piece he found so he could go if he needed to. And now Michael tries to hand another piece back to him again?

“I can’t,” Alex says again, stuck on repeat.

“Hey, hey,” Michael fumbles for Alex’s other hand, and Alex lets him catch it, because with Michael holding him in place he doesn’t feel as cold. “It’s not what you think. I’m not asking you to keep me here, or anywhere, just.”

He swallows. He’s beautiful, in this light most of all. The most beautiful thing Alex has ever seen. Shining in every way, from the golden brushstrokes of his hair to the heart of him, who knew that Alex must never have had much of a holiday and decided to give him one.

Alex wants to kiss him. Wants to swallow whatever words Michael is going to say next and end the conversation there.

“Look.” Michael squeezes his hands. “When my mom—when she died. And after. Everything I worked for, everything I built the console for and devoted my life to, I thought it was over. Useless. But…you told me you were my family. And I know it took me too long to believe it, but I do now.

“I built the console because I was searching for my family. And now that it’s right in front of me, I want you to have a piece of it. Want us to have a piece of it.”

Alex searches Michael’s face, every earnest, open inch, until he can’t stand it anymore, until he drops Michael’s hands in favor of cradling his face, pulling him in, and taking his mouth in a slow, deep, careful kiss, tasting coffee on his tongue, drowning in the coming home of him, of his mouth on Alex’s, the rightness of having him in his arms. Michael responds with enthusiasm, stroking his back with his broad hands, making eager little noises into the kiss, going along with it until Alex pulls away to look at him again.

“You’re unbelievable,” Alex breathes.

“Thought it was the season for believing,” Michael replies, a little smile returning to his face.

“That’s what they tell me,” Alex says, and kisses him again.

Michael stays the night, wrapped up in Alex’s blankets, wrapped up in every inch of space Alex has ever thought was empty or cold. He doesn’t even need to set the heater that night, kept plenty warm by Michael’s body all along his back, holding him so close.

They wake up slow in the morning, but Alex earliest, because…

Well, even after everything Michael has done this month and everything he said the previous day, Alex is nervous about Michael’s Christmas present. He needs those extra minutes, watching him sleep peacefully, to steel himself.

But when he watches Michael wake up, sees how the first thing he does is look for Alex so he can smile at him, he isn’t so worried anymore.

They bring the blankets out into the sitting room, bundling up under the tree. Buffy leaves her bed to lie beside them instead, on top of the blankets, effectively pinning them in place, so Michael has to use his powers to get the wood and kindling set and strike a match and get a fire going in the fireplace.

The light flickers like something living off the console shard hanging from one of the uppermost branches. Heart in his throat, Alex pulls the envelope—the same one that held the ornament he got on December 1st—out of his pocket.

“I have something for you, too.”

Michael takes the envelope, eyes locked on Alex’s like he’s waiting for permission to open it. When Alex nods, he slips the tape open carefully, almost reverently. Like Alex, he’s never really gotten a gift before. Not one he thought meant anything. Not one he thought could stay.

He shakes the envelope, and a key falls into his hand.

“It’s to the front door,” Alex says to fill the silence.

Michael’s fist clamps around it with a familiar desperation, like someone might come out of nowhere to snatch it away. He blinks glossy eyes, wet lashes up at Alex, his mouth open, closed, throat bobbing as he swallows. Alex reaches out to stroke his closed fist.

“You’re my family. You’re my home. I don’t ever want to shut you out; I want you to be here. With me. Together. And I think you want that too.”

“Alex,” Michael chokes, and then he’s in Alex’s arms, wrapped around him in a hug.

He stays like that for most of the day, handsy and gentle, reaching out to touch him whenever they’re separated even for a moment. The next day passes much the same—then the next they both have to go back to work, live lives outside of their little holiday bubble.

Alex gets home first. He takes the dog out, gets dinner out of the freezer. Then about an hour later, he hears a car outside, footsteps on the stairs, then, after a minute’s pause, a key slots into the lock.

And Alex knows.

#malex #my fic #roswell new mexico #christmas fic #michael guerin #alex manes

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etherealwaifgoddess · 5 years

Text

The Worthy Art of Homemaking

Main Characters: Thor x Valkyrie

Summary: Valkyrie encourages Thor to figure out what he wants to do with his life now that he’s back in New Asgard.

Warnings/ Content: Fluff and lots of it. A slightly anxious Thor.

Word Count: 1283

Author’s Note: This is a birthday gift to the amazing @ryujin-zanba who regularly blesses us with amazing fics based on requests and prompts. It’s about time someone wrote something for this darling after all the good they spread into the world for others. If you’re familiar with “Worthy” and “Redemption” you’ll know I am a *huge* fat Thor fan and this fic will come as no surprise to you. If you’re not, please know in this house we love fat Thor and will defend him to the ends of the earth. Anyhoo, enough of my rambles. I hope @ryujin-zanba and the rest of you lovelies enjoy!

XOXO - Ash

The Worthy Art of Homemaking

“Thor,” Valkyrie repeats, giving him a pointed look across the board room table, “What do you think?”

Thor finally lifts his gaze, only to her, not daring to look around the table full of people. “Sounds like a fine idea.” he says, the low timbre of his voice rumbling across the room.

Valkyrie shoots him an encouraging smile, “Alright, that’s settled then. Moving on…” she carries on to the next order of business, her effortless command of the room a blessing to Thor who would really rather not be there.

All Thor wants is to be back at their cottage in bed. Preferably with his iPad and Fenrir, their massive Newfoundland. He tugs down the hem of his grey cable knit sweater for the hundredth time since joining the meeting two hours ago. It keeps bunching up under the gentle swell of his pecs, exposing a sliver of pale tummy where it rests on his thighs. It had fit better before he left to go traveling with Quil and the guardians; he hadn’t thought twice about throwing it on his way out the door. Thor sighs quietly. He had spent six months running around the galaxy and while his mental health had continued to steadily improve, he never got around to losing the weight he’d gained over the past six years. If anything he gained a bit more, especially with the muscle he had regained while lifting weights regularly with Quil and Drax. He is as strong as he ever was, just softer now. In the quiet moments, he reluctantly admits to himself, when he is alone in bed with nothing else to do than take himself in hand, he actually quite enjoys his new found softness.

“Thank you all for joining us today. We’ll reconvene in a week.” Valkyrie’s voice snaps Thor back to the present. He’s not sure how long he had zoned out for that time; it could have been five minutes or fifty for all he knows. As the room clears out Valkyrie remains in her seat, watching Thor with the soft smile she reserves just for him. “Are you alright, love?” she asks once everyone has gone.

Thor tries to give her a convincing smile and nods. His smile falters though and she sees right through the gentle giant.

“You’re not though.” she coos, “Oh, my love. I’m so sorry.” Valkyrie hops out of her seat to go over to Thor and wraps herself around his shoulders from behind. She holds onto him tightly for a moment before moving his long hair out of the way to press delicate kisses along his neck.

“I’ll be fine.” he assures her, and partly himself.

“You don’t want to be here for the meetings, do you?”

“It’s just that you do such a fine job. I meant what I said when I turned the rule of New Asgard over to you. Me being home doesn’t change that.”

“I only wanted for you to feel included. If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be. What would you like to do instead?”

Thor thinks for a minute, he still hasn’t figured that out yet. “I don’t know.” he tells her honestly. “Can I think on it?”

“Of course. Take all the time you need.”

It’s almost two weeks later on a lazy Sunday that Thor figures it out. They have fallen into an easy rhythm in that time, Valkyrie going out each morning to attend to her kingly duties and Thor taking care of their home. What had always felt like a hardship to Valkyrie (dishes, laundry, grocery shopping) seems like a vacation to Thor. After a lifetime of battles, something as small as vacuuming the carpet is a joy.

Thor needs a routine and caring for their home and preparing meals gives him the push he needs to get out of bed even on his low days. Well, that and a very persistent Fenrir who makes his needs known via throaty boofs for attention. Thor finds a deep sense of fulfillment in his tasks and prides himself on a day well spent when Valkyrie comes home to rave about how wonderful dinner smells. Thor’s been practicing his kitchen skills every day, creating Pinterest boards and ordering new appliances online. He’s on day three of his InstaPot experiments and is thrilled with how quickly he can get dinner on the table when he’s running short on time.

Thor’s realization is thanks to a joke Sam cracks while they’re FaceTiming, catching up on their lives. “You’re getting to be a regular Martha Stewart!” Sam teases affectionately. Thor scrunches his nose at that, unsure of what a Martha Stewart is. Sam explains his joke, that he had only meant Thor was becoming extremely skilled in the art of homemaking. They discuss the value of homemaking and how society has changed the view of it over the years while Thor’s mind whirls as he thinks of the past few weeks. Sensing Thor’s distraction, Sam bids his friend farewell and they promise to catch up again soon. Thor sets his iPad down and looks around his home, lost in thought.

Later that night, after Valkyrie is done fawning over the roast lamb Thor made for dinner, the pair curl up in bed, content to just read for a bit while cuddling. Thor sets aside his book, unable to focus, finally gathering his courage to broach the topic.

“Darling?” He says hesitantly.

“Hmm?” Valkyrie places her book on the nightstand, giving him her full attention.

“I think I know what I’d like to do now.”

“Now as in for your life now that you’re home, or now as in right now. Because I have a few suggestions for right now.”

Thor squirms a little as Valkyrie runs her fingers down his chest and belly, skirting against the waistband of his pajama bottoms. “As in now that I’m back.” He clarifies.

“Alright then, what is it?”

“I want…” he starts and stops. This is harder to say than he expected. “I want to…” his throat constricts. He knows Valkyrie loves him and will support him in anything he wants but a small scared part of him is afraid of judgment for his choice. “I want to be Martha Stewart.” He blurts out all in one breath.

Valkyrie’s eyebrows lift in amusement, “You what?”

Thor sighs heavily, knowing there is no backtracking now. “I want to be a homemaker. I love caring for you and Fenrir and our home. I don’t need anything else to make me feel fulfilled. I get as much, or as little, social interaction as I’m up to and am always busy with something. I’m planning a garden for the spring so we’ll have our own produce too. I know it’s not a normal thing for a man but Sam says people’s perceptions are changing and…”

Valkyrie stops his rambling with a kiss to his lips. “My love.” She says pulling away just far enough to look him in the eyes, “My sweet, wonderful man. If this is what you want, then there is nothing I want more.”

“Truly? You do not mind?” Thor’s voice wavers as his emotions rise yet again.

“Of course not! You do such a wonderful job around here. I’m so happy for you to have finally decided on something.”

“Thank you.” Thor sniffs, relieved the conversation went so well.

Valkyrie’s smile shifts from sweet to devilish as she slips a hand back under the duvet. “Now, I still have a few suggestions of what we could do right now if you’re interested…”

Thor groans as her hand finds its prize. “I do believe that’s a wonderful idea.”

~The End~

#birthday fic #fat thor #thor x valkyrie #thorkyrie #thicc thor #chubby thor #fluffy thor #thor fanfic #thor fanfiction #marvel fanfic #marvel fangirl #marve fanfiction

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aftgficrec · 4 years

Note

got any good fics with cryptids, the woods or just the super natural in general? like adventurecore stuff? thank you! ☺️

Wow, this fandom certainly likes its supernatural elements! Check out our list of previous recommendations (by no means comprehensive, but it’s a start), and enjoy the fics below. - S

Neil as a fantasy creature here (also see links at top of post)

new horror/supernatural fics here

October staff recs here

autumnal/spooky fics here

werewolf aus here

‘running with the wolves’ here

‘high up in the hills of california series’ series here

‘Fang and Claw and Tooth and Nail’ here

‘Sunday in a Six-Day-War’ here

‘(don’t fear) the reaper’ here

‘devil's got us all in his pockets’ here

‘F.O.X.E.S. Division’ here

‘I Want to Believe’ here

‘skeletons in the water’ here

‘I just wanted to protect you’ here

‘The War Behind Your Face; And I'll Express My Inner Rage’ here

‘Haunted: Not Clickbait’ here

‘the haunted walls of the wesninski house’ here

‘The Ghost in You’ here

‘some ghosts are real enough (to be felt)’ here (since updated)

‘Written in the scars of our hearts’ here

‘A Phantom and a Fly’ here

‘The Morning AUs - The Witch Hunt’ here

‘Since the beginning’ series here

‘Spookies & Cream’ here

Ursa Major by darkbluebox [Rated T, 4288 words, incomplete, last updated Dec 2020]

At first, it seems like an ordinary photography assignment. A few weeks trekking through the wintry wilderness, enough shots of the local fauna to keep his agent happy, and then onwards once more. However, the strange little tourist lodge in the foothills holds more than Neil bargained for - secrets, thievery, friendship, and an impossible blond bear.

tw: implied/referenced abuse

into the woods series by Ominous [Rated T, 38467 words, incomplete, last updated Jan 2021]

Part 1: through the thicket (T, 9928 words)

"No, you're not real," he says, and he thinks he repeats it a few times, trying to convince himself it's all one bad dream. Whatever is stalking him stops, but Neil can still feel its aura, its power. The presence it has is gargantuan, a wall Neil has no hope of getting past. Just like his father in front of him. At the thought, at the ghost of hands on him, Neil screams. "You're gone!"

And he opens his eyes just as the lightning strikes. It bathes the forest in a bluish glow for half a second, but it's enough for Neil to see.

It's not his father, it's—

The dog in front of him boofs softly, and Neil's eyes widen.

Part 2: out of the brush (T, 11971 words)

As he spends long hours playing with Atlas, Neil questions why Andrew never comes to visit. Neil knows he's not good at reading people, but with how much time he and Andrew also spend together now...

He'd think they were friends? Maybe?

Something in Neil's stomach flips uncomfortably at the thought of Andrew, and Atlas lifts his head, peering down at Neil.

It’s uncanny, how he always seems to do that, but Neil isn’t any closer to figuring out himself or Atlas’ bizarre behavior.

Part 3: across the clearing (T, 16568 words)

"Don't presume to know me," Andrew says, but it has no bite, no resentment. He sounds tired, and the strain makes Neil's smile falter, his arms falling to his sides. Andrew should never sound so defeated, so hopeless, not even for a moment. It's the tone of a man who's already lost, and Neil's not even aware of what game they're playing.

So he smiles again, shaky this time, and hopes with everything he has that Andrew can sense Neil's truth as well. That whatever it is, Neil will still be riding along with Andrew in his truck. He won’t leave.

"No," Neil says back, shaking his head. "I only know what you tell me."

And if Andrew decides to tell him everything, then Neil only hopes it's because he wants to.

tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: mild violence

Post Its and Missing Persons by nerdzeword [Rated T, 6303 words, Complete 2020]

In which they are grad students trying to stop the rise of the old ones.

College AU for the AFTG BINGO blackout with the crew

tw: violence

Grim by wittyrabbit [Rated G, 2798 words, incomplete, last updated Oct 2020]

Weird occurrences up and down, sometimes sideways. It was normal in the eastern Massachusetts town Neil resided in. Born from hauntings and witches alike, the town was built on a principle of scares and mythology. A childhood friend shows up from Neil's past and things begin to get weird.

or au where Andrew is the Grim Reaper's son and saves Neil from his fate.

tw: violence

Caught You (Now I'm Gonna Scratch Up All Your Toys) by hoob_gooblin [Rated M, 11658 words, complete, Aftg Reverse Big Bang 2020]

Reverse Big Bang 2020, written for the prompt:

"The Monsters are just that, monsters, but they aren't all as bad as they seem. Aaron and Andrew are the most feared of all of them, but no one actually knows what they are, until Neil stumbles upon them and can't quite believe his eyes."

Otherwise known as, an unwittingly accepted catboy twinyards au treated far too seriously.

tw: ableist language, tw: violence, tw: bullying, tw: non-consensual drug use

NB: Art prompt by @goopllmw-artdeactivated15-05-20

Cold Spots Part 1, Cold Spots Part 2 and Cold Spots Part 3 by @yourwritersblock [tumblr, 2018]

Neil should have seen it coming, really. He had become far too complacent hanging around the empty house, day after day, year after year. He had almost forgotten that houses were built for the living.

Art

ghost au by @fornavn [tumblr, aftg bingo 2020]

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randaccidents · 5 years

Text

Aggressive Friendship

I live! Again! Its the start of the holidays, and while I might have an exam literally the second holidays end I can write! Cause vibesss

Aight so fic! I decided we needed shadow animals and I went off.

Key note: said shadow animal is a boss shadow and can basically share its emotions with others, so watch its influence cause shenanigans! (thanks to @bellysurfer for helping me iron out the idea!)

... I explained that bad haha but whatever the animal feels other shadows around them have a similar emotion!

Shadow People AU by @mine-sara-sp

NO TW ONLY CUTE

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

Stretching his arms above his head, Solo sighed. The last few weeks had been a little rough, especially after he had shut down the shadow meetups. Talking to Ren had helped some, but he still felt that he could have done a little more for some shadows. Glancing towards the distant hill that Coda had disappeared over, the feeling doubled.

He shook his head doggedly. No, no more blaming himself for other people’s actions, Ren had made it clear that that was bad. His eyes lingered on the horizon as he walked away from the flower field.

He could still feel bad about the isolation of some shadows, however.

Twirling on his heel, he moved towards Biedronka’s farmstead. Bio had told him about the wild wolves that had moved in nearby recently, and right now that sounded like just what he needed. Some nice quiet time with some wolves. Yeah, that sounded great.

“Aggro! Bad! Down boy, stop that! What did I say about fighting?”

Never mind. Solo could hear someone shouting from where he stood. It sounded like they were having trouble. He picked up his pace, skidding around the corner to see what the problem was.

To his surprise, he saw two wolves snapping their jaws at each other, clearly unhappy, yet with heads held in deference to the shadow standing before them. No, the shadow who was clearly in charge of the pack was not what surprised him. After the vexdows and Biedronka and Bio and the Naptime Squad, nothing like that could shock him anymore. What did surprise him was that one of the wolves was grey, little yellow triangles floating about it.

One of the wolves was a shadow. He didn’t even know that was possible. Although, considering everything that had happened to them, he supposed this wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen. He brought his fingers to his lips, letting out a piercing whistle. All three mobs snapped their heads up to face him, the wolves growling at his presence. The shadow, meanwhile, began waving his arms above his head, grinning widely.

“Solo! Hello!” Cavalier called out to him, a wide grin on his face. Solo raised a hand in return, jogging up to stop beside him. He opened his mouth to speak when the loud growls of the wolves below began again. Looking down, he found the two circling each other, teeth bared. His fingers itched, wanting to reach for the guitar on his back, but he stamped it down. No need to get so antsy over wolves. Suddenly, they pounced in sync, mouths open, too fast for Solo to react to.

Teeth snapped shut on empty air, the wolf mob turning about in confusion of where its enemy had gone. Cavalier reached down to slap its head lightly, other arm holding the shadow wolf snug against his side. "What. Did. I. Say." He scolded, the wolf wilting under his gaze.

The wolf whined, burying its face in the red cloth around its neck. Idly, Solo realised that the shadow wolf had a similar looking bandana around its neck, coloured bright yellow. This must be the shadow of the same wolf being scolded.

Cavalier straightened, the wolf twined around his legs whining pitifully at him. He hefted the shadow wolf up, poking its nose. "And you! Don't think you're exempt!" The wolf similarly wilted, looking to the side in guilt. Solo found himself feeling sorry for the wolf, as guilty as it looked and felt.

He marvelled at how the knight had those wolves trained. He was certain that Cavalier still didn't have a power, so to command this much obedience? He must have spent a long time with them.

Solo put an arm on his hip, watching the once-shy knight scold the two wolves, smiling to himself. Those wolves really were a blessing. After that first meeting, he never thought he would see the day that soft-spoken Cavalier would assert his dominance over anyone, even if they were only wolves.

At length, Cavalier tucked the other shadow back under his arm, turning back to Solo. "Sorry about that, these two can't get along if I'm not looking." he muttered, free arm scratching the back of his helmet shyly. Solo gave him a gentle smile, waving a hand in the air. "It's no problem. Watching you being more confident in yourself is a treat."

Cavalier grinned bashfully, seeming to enjoy the praise. “Thanks, I’ve been working on asserting myself. Be my own person, you know? Having to look after these idiots helps. How about you? What are you doing here Solo?”

“I heard about the wild wolf pack that moved in near Bied’s and wanted to hang out with them. Didn’t know they were yours though.”

Cavalier’s grin turned sheepish. “I didn’t expect them to be here either. Did you know that there’s a shadow temple near here?”

That was new information. Solo shook his head. “How did you learn about this Cav?”

Without missing a beat, Cavalier poked a finger at the shadow wolf he was holding with one arm. “You see this wolf? Aggro went sniffing near the temple. Turns out mobs can summon shadows too, and the both of them have been at each other’s throats the whole time!”

The two wolves whined at Cavalier, seemingly apologetic. Solo raised a hand to rub the back of his head. “Geez man, I’m sorry I wasn’t around to help. Have you tried leaving one of them with Bied?”

Cavalier only raised an eyebrow at him, gesturing to the area around them. Solo flushed in embarrassment at the reminder of how bad his observation skills were. He opened his mouth to speak, but the pack leader was quick to cut him off.

"No, it's alright, I forget not everyone observes and remembers every tiny detail around them." He smiled sheepishly up at Solo. "It's my training."

Mentally skipping over the implications of the 'training' that Cavalier referenced, Solo brought the subject back to more slobbery matters. "So what are you going to do with them?" He kneeled down to look into the curious eyes of the shadow wolf, directing Cavalier's attention back to the literal problem on hand. "You can't keep an eye on them forever."

The shadow wolf (he should ask if it has a name, he can't call it 'shadow wolf' forever) tilted its head, releasing a curious "Boof!" at him. He barely held back the sudden urge to reach out and pet the shadow wolf, aware of Cavalier's mild touch aversion. The wolf lolled its tongue out at him, and the urge to touch only grew stronger at the cute sight.

"Hey! Solo! You still here?" Finger snapping brought his attention back up to Cavalier, flushing in embarrassment for the second time that day. The pack leader smiled down at him, no judgement in his gaze. Something suddenly lit up behind his eyes. “I just had the best idea.” He whispered to himself. Solo stood up in confusion, unsure of where the new conversation was going. “Cav? What idea are you thinking of?” Solo asked cautiously.

Cavalier bounced on the balls of his feet, his eyes practically sparkling in excitement over his idea. “What if you looked after him? You seem to like him, and he definitely seems to like you back! What do you say? Will you do it?”

Looking into the sparkling eyes of the two shadows before him, Solo couldn’t find it in his heart to say no. With a sigh, he fixed a small smile on his face. “Sure thing! It can’t be too hard right?”

Cavalier giggled, gently dropping the shadow wolf onto the ground. It immediately moved to sniff at Solo’s trousers, seeming to recognise that it was to follow him around. “Oh, you have no clue.”

Ignoring the ominous meaning behind the words (really, he’s starting to sound like Keloid and Avarice and Paladin, innocent but ominous), Solo knelt down and finally gave into his urge to pet the shadow wolf. The fur felt coarse but soft, and thick enough that his hand sunk in slightly. The shadow wolf wiggled happily, raising its chin in invitation. The little triangles surrounding it formed a small crown as Solo obliged the wolf’s request, scratching it beneath the chin. “What’s his name?” Solo asked, other hand rubbing the wolf on the back.

Cavalier’s mischievous smile went unnoticed by Solo. “I named him Mutton, because he likes eating Mutton.”

Solo smiled down at the dog. “Mutton,” he repeated, committing the name to memory. “I’m going to look after him so well, you wouldn’t even hear of any trouble from me!”

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

He is so stupid.

He is a stupid idiot derp of a shadow and he really should have remembered. He rushed through the trees, mentally bashing himself for his stupidity.

It hadn't been anything too special, he'd wanted to go meet up with his band, so he'd left Mutton in a small fenced off area next to one of his hovels. It was supposed to be safe. It was supposed to still be there when he came back. He knew how mobs worked.

Well, clearly he had forgotten how shadow mobs worked, because Mutton had clearly slipped out two-dimensional between the fence poles and run off after something.

Solo didn't know if he should scold the wolf or kiss it once he found it. At least Mutton had the decency to leave a clear path that he could follow, even if it was only because it had destroyed every bush in its path. He really hoped that Mutton hadn't gone into a river or, Abyss forbid, the ocean.

Shaking his head clear of such scary thoughts, Solo ran on between the trees. He could see the tree line thinning up ahead, a clear patch in the forest. He didn't stop to think about what that meant in a forest this dense.

Clearing the trees, he took only a few steps into the clearing before he had to stop in surprise, curiosity colouring the confusion in his gut.

There was a small hut in the clearing, sitting amidst a small smattering of flowers. In front of the house was Coda, crouched facing slightly away from him, scythe leaned against the doorframe. That in itself was weird enough, Coda never let his guard down to put down his weapon. But the shadow was staring deep into the eyes of Mutton, who was staring back, tail wagging. The particles around them swirled lazily, giving off no indication of caution or aggressiveness, interacting and mixing and separating. A few triangle bits floated lazily above their heads, forming the shape of crowns and dog ears.

Cautiously, Solo walked up behind Coda. His confusion and concern and curiosity only grew when Coda didn't register his approach, continuing to stare intently into Mutton's eyes.

Mutton's eyes flicked over to look at him, and it gave a loud "Boof!" of excitement. Coda turned his head slightly, jolting when he noticed Solo standing right behind him. His hand flashed out to grab ahold of his scythe, his posture visibly relaxing into a familiar annoyed posture. "What are you doing here dog?"

Solo rolled his eyes, secretly glad that Coda hadn't suddenly changed. "Again, can't call me dog when you're one too. What are you doing?" He asked inquisitively, genuinely curious as to what Coda was doing.

"Nothing that matters to you." Came the way too quick reply, Coda attempting to look casual and unbothered. "Just another animal come to mess with my territory, like you."

Mutton snuffled loudly, almost in response. The two shadows ignored it. “Having a staring competition with a wolf is not just ‘nothing’ you know,” Solo stated, raising an eyebrow at Coda. He didn't know what gave him so much confidence and sass in that moment, but he wasn't complaining. Coda pushed himself to his feet, turning to properly face Solo, free hand on his hip. “I was not having a staring competition with a mutt.”

“Then what were you doing.”

“Establishing dominance.”

The answer was so unexpected, said so seriously, that Solo couldn’t stop the howls of laughter that escaped him. Mutton bounded around their legs, tail wagging in excitement and amusement that mirrored Solo’s. Coda simply raised an eyebrow, unamused. "Are you quite done with this frivolous act?"

This set off another set of giggles. If only Coda knew that his whole ‘I have no emotions’ gig fell apart under the tiniest of conversations with him. At least he wasn't lying too much about the emotions thing, muted as his reactions tended to be. Catching Coda's vaguely annoyed look, he quickly smothered his laughter. Coda sighed, leaning back on the handle of his scythe. "I will repeat myself; what are you doing here."

Solo pointed to the shadow wolf currently attempting to climb Coda's scythe, which was set firmly into the ground. "Mutton ran away, and I chased him here."

Coda’s eyebrows flew up. “Mutton. You named a wolf after a food.”

“I didn’t name it!” Solo protested, backing up slightly. “Cavalier did!”

“The Scout? Interesting.” Coda looked down at Mutton, who had gotten bored and distracted by a nearby flower. “Didn’t think he had it in him to lead wild beasts.”

Solo sighed. Now he was feeling bored and distracted. He kneeled down to face Mutton, the wolf tilting its head curiously at his actions. "Well I need to get him back to the pen. Come here boy!"

The shadow wolf didn't budge, sitting its tiny butt down on the grass and panting lightly at him (panting? none of them had figured out breathing until at least a month after sentience!). Frowning slightly, he clicked his tongue. All Mutton did was to loll its tongue out of its mouth, happy to simply sit still. Behind him, Coda scoffed. "Just pick up the dumb mutt, it can't be that hard."

Solo shivered, remembering what had happened earlier when he tried to pick up Mutton without its permission. "Uh, yeah, no? Mutton will bite, and with it being a shadow? Ouch. I didn't know wolf bites hurt so much!"

He could practically hear the eyeroll that Coda gave him, before his brother Coda was smoothly stepping past him, arms reaching down to pick up Mutton. "Wait, don't!"

Coda turned back to him, an eyebrow raised, Mutton happily lounging in his arms. "And what, exactly, is the matter?"

Solo let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding. "Oh thank goodness. Can I have Mutton now?"

"No."

"What?!?" Solo screeched. Coda gave him a blank look, but his eyes held a small sparkle of mischief that he could not hide. "I said no. You lost it, I found it, so it's mine now."

Solo felt his jaw drop at the statement. "I- But you don’t even- And- It's Cav's!"

"And he can come get it himself after you've reported your failure to him. Now leave."

Mutton boofed, adding insult to injury, especially when it stuck its tongue out at him. Light mischievousness that he didn't know what to do with rolled in his gut. "Fine! I'll go, but I'll be back."

Coda didn't make any sound as Solo turned and stomped back into the treeline. But once he was safely hidden by the trees (which meant at least 10 trees) he turned around, slipping into the shadow of the nearest tree. No way he was going to leave poor Mutton with Coda. Besides, he promised Cav!

Pulling his head out of shadow at the edge of the clearing, Solo peaked around the leaves of the tree to yet another strange sight. Coda was talking to Mutton, who appeared to be listening intently, its sharp barks punctuating the air. Coda raised a hand up to hover dangerously before Mutton’s nose. Solo held his breath.

As expected, Mutton sniffed his hand, snarled, and bit down on Coda’s fingers, shaking its head slightly. To Solo’s surprise and delight, Coda laughed. Really, genuinely, laughed.

Coda was quick to slap a hand over his mouth, jerking out of Mutton's grip and silencing himself. Mutton whined up at him, snuffling under his jaw. Solo watched Coda shakily place a hand atop Mutton’s head, whispering something to the shadow wolf. A happy bark, a small smile from Coda, and then he turned and entered his small shack.

Sliding down to reform sitting against the tree, Solo parsed through what he had learned. Had Coda… shown emotion? For a second there, it looked like he was scared of that realisation. But then Mutton… and Coda had brought it into his shack. The shack that no one was allowed into. That shack. And he seemed to really like Mutton.

A wide grin grew on his face. Oh, Cav had to know about this.

… and Chamo.

… and Distress.

Wow, that’s a lot of people he had to tell.

#shadow people au #Mutton #Solo #Coda #Cavalier #my writing #hey guys Im back on my bullshit #and heres a fluffy!#look I really wanted the dogs more ok #and I wanted to mess with animals #technically Mutton existed long ago but I scrapped it #and then I brought it back as something new #look at it #influencing emotions and doing the therapy #tiny feral dog #no triggers this time!#cause its fluff!#whoop!

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olaf-likeswarmhugs · 5 years

Text

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Part 1 || Chapter One: September 29th

A/N: So...how did Olaf end up in Swynlake?! The journey began months ago! Things sure are changing in the Icelandic Hollow, and the more they do, the more Olaf has to question. Part One will be told in a series of text conversations between Sindri and Olaf.

@huldufolk-hjarn

September 29th

Sindri: when are you going to come rescue me

Olaf: oh no! WHAT IS WRONG Olaf: WHAT MUST I PROTECT YOU FROM THIS TIME

Sindri: boredom Sindri: capitalism Sindri: the sun

Olaf: i will fight the sun at once D< Olaf: i cant fight capitalism though because its a human concept and it confuses me!

Sindri: because its confusing and stupid Sindri: I didnt tell you yet because I wasnt totally sure but I made a friend Sindri: I think

Olaf: oh??? Olaf: hoppin hailstorms sindri thats amazing!! Olaf: WHO IS THIS FRIEND Olaf: ARE THEY NICE Olaf: where'd you meet? oooo is it the pizza delivery person Olaf: i have always wanted to meet and befriend a real life pizza delivery person

Sindri: I cant afford pizza so I havent met one of those yet lol Sindri: hes a pixie Sindri: fast-flying Sindri: hes pretty nice. I did find out hes a lot younger than me but I dont think that really matters hes cool and he made me laugh in the supermarket which is a big deal because I hate it there.

Olaf: a pixie? ooooo from the local hollow Olaf: have you gone there yet to find a part time job?? Olaf: i worry you'll run out of pixie dust tell me you asked D:

Sindri: sort of Sindri: im just sort of mad I will have to have two jobs and go to school Sindri: I'll be okay tho probably I dont use a whole lot altho I did go to the hollow recently and that kind of took a good chunk

Sindri: also einar misses you [image of sad pup]

Olaf: EINAR Olaf: i am kissing the bright screen of my mobile telephone device! ahhh its like i can hear his boofs Olaf: wait that distracted me Olaf: 1. what do you mean SORT OF Olaf: 2. I want to hear more about the pixie friend! is he like you? Another Mr. Degree Go-Getter?

Sindri: I didnt ask yet because I'm afraid to Sindri: hes not because hes still in secondary but I mean technically he goes to school so that counts right

Olaf: AHHHH SINDRI should i call their queen on my mobile telephone device?? i will ask for you! Olaf: and what is secondary

Sindri: hes 15 Sindri: and I dont think she has a phone but even if she did then no lol

Olaf: okay but what is secondary?

Sindri: its school like what I'm doing but all the kids have to go until they are like 17 Sindri: olaf did you know humans use tigers to sell breakfast cereal and that cereal is called frosted flakes and it's not even cold

Olaf: wait what are the tigers doing? Olaf: how do they train tigers to sell cereal?

Sindri: well its a cartoon tiger and he wears a scarf

Olaf: oh is he cold? Olaf: because the flakes are frosted? Olaf: oh you said it wasnt though...

Sindri: no its not!! Sindri: and it's not a winter scarf it's like a bandana? I think it's supposed to be stylish? Sindri: if they are gonna put clothes on him it should be pants to be honest

Olaf: sindri that makes no sense Olaf: why would a tiger wear pants

Sindri: WHY IS HE ON THE BOX IN THE FIRST PLACE OLAF

Olaf: maybe he likes cereal!

Sindri: his nose is blue maybe he is cold

Olaf: oh he's handsome!

Sindri: no

Olaf: i think he's handsome ;3 Olaf: hehehe Olaf: ok im teasing you

Sindri: hes terrifying why is he on my ceral

Olaf: is it good cereal Olaf: i bet its tasty

Sindri: it's really sweet it doesnt taste like corn at all

Olaf: why would it taste like corn Olaf: its...what is a flake actually

Sindri: because they are "corn flakes"

Olaf: if its not a snowflake... Olaf: how does corn come in a flake Olaf: OH Olaf: OH I GOT IT Olaf: the tiger is a corn-flake-talent-fairy! Olaf: there must be fairies who can make flakes of corn!

Sindri: that doesnt exist

Olaf: imagine a cornstorm Olaf: RAINING CORN

Sindri: also hes a tiger

Olaf: well maybe he's a tiger with corn-flake-talent abilities Olaf: there's a talent for everything! Olaf: even turning corn into flakes! Olaf: do you wanna hear about what i ate today!!

Sindri: was it corn flakes

Olaf: no Olaf: [takes a picture of his food because he Would and its like a seafood stew] mmmmmm Olaf: I helped pick out the bones from the trout :3

Sindri: wow I want some of that Sindri: do you wanna know what I ate today Sindri: dry ramen Sindri: OLAF Sindri: OLAFFFFF

Olaf: what!

Sindri: the tiger's name Sindri: guess what it is

Olaf: cornboy Olaf: he's a good cornboy

Sindri: first of all no dont ever say that Sindri: ITS TONY Sindri: TONY THE TIGER

Olaf: really????? Olaf: i would have never guessed that! Olaf: wow! Olaf: Tony the good cornboy!

Sindri: stop

Olaf: what do you have against tony Olaf: you bought his cereal!

Sindri: yeah I did and it was expensive Sindri: Tony is a greedy capitalist

Olaf: ah then i have to fight him :/ Olaf: my corn buddy no more :/

Sindri: I miss you

Olaf: i miss you too! Olaf: this mobile telephone device does not respond to my hugs as warmly Olaf: im hugging it as soon as i send this message though okay so you hug yours too ready go!

Sindri: ❤️

Olaf: ❤️

Olaf: when are you done again?

Sindri: this is my first year and there are four

Olaf: ohhhh right Olaf: you told me that Olaf: thats very long! wow

Sindri: yeah it's too long you need to come visit me

Olaf: thats 16 seasons Olaf: i want to, im just scared of the planes... Olaf: i dont know how you did it Olaf: oh and the car to get to the plane

Sindri: it's not that bad I think you could do it Sindri: oh I didnt tell you but my friend Sindri: hes korean and he taught me some of the language

Olaf: wait IM KOREAN

Sindri: I'm sindri hyung now. And he taught me how to say hi

Olaf: wow thats so cool

Sindri: I taught him some icelandic

Olaf: no naughty words i hope

Sindri: and he has two names Sindri: nemo and nam-min Sindri: I'm boring tho I'm just sindri Sindri: can I change your name to cornboy

Olaf: YES Olaf: nemo is cute! does it mean anything

Sindri: I dont know I should ask him Sindri: he probably wont answer for awhile hes grounded

Olaf: ooooo Olaf: is he a bad influence Olaf: did u befriend a bad boy

Sindri: I dont think so? He seems really sweet kinda innocent... Sindri: his dad is nice too you would like him he cooks

Olaf: oh is he a kitchen-talent?

Sindri: healing

Olaf: oh that is not a kitchen talent Olaf: but cooking is very impressive then

Sindri: what did you have to do today speaking of talents

Olaf: bone-picking-talent remember Olaf: i picked out bones for the fish stew

Sindri: you should just cuddle people because I miss your cuddles a lot I think they are magic

Olaf: ahaha well maybe someday someone will need cuddling and i will be there! Olaf: tomorrow Im going to help the messaging fairies i think Olaf: that'll be fun, i'm excited about it. Lots of exercise

Sindri: that'll be fun!

Olaf: yeah, i'll get to talk with a lot of fairies Olaf: ooo i can bring them a message from YOU Olaf: do you want ot say hi to anybody??

Sindri: just tell everyone you give a message to anyway that I said hi Sindri: except viktor

Olaf: yeah viktor can melt off! Olaf: why do we not like viktor again

Sindri: he pushed you into that puddle that one time! I know you were getting in anyway but that was really mean!

Olaf: oh he meant it as a joke! Olaf: or maybe i was too slow Olaf: i dont remember that was a long day Olaf: ahah so many puddles

Sindri: it was mean :/

Olaf: oh i thought it was funny Olaf: you worry too much sindri i was fine

Sindri: counterpoint: you dont worry enough

Olaf: whats there to worry about? Olaf: it was my slush-puddle-talent day! and you were there too, to pull me out if i needed it.

Sindri: yeah I guess

Olaf: as long as you're with me, there's nothin to fear! Olaf: i know technically you're not with me now Olaf: but theres still nothing to fear! Olaf: because its LIKE you're here with me Olaf: I just think, oh what would sindri do

Sindri: 😭

Olaf: 😊

Sindri: 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭

Olaf: hey sindri? Olaf: whenever you're scared Olaf: you should think what would olaf do! too

Sindri [unsent]: I do that already Sindri: I might die tho

Olaf: you wont die Olaf: you rode a plane so you can do anything now

Sindri: you're way braver than me that's how I know you could fly in a plane :) Sindri: his name means graceful boy which honestly is true. He dances

Olaf: thats a pretty name Olaf: did you know my name means king! Olaf: you did i just like reminding you i am royalty

Sindri: yeah well I sparkle and that's way cooler lol

#story #soft #olaf's frozen adventure

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mrneighbourlove · 6 years

Text

Red Typhoon: Ch 1. Dreaming of the Coming Storm

Revy took a silent breath as she crept through the snow with her pack. Although she wasn't a Direnor by blood, she developed their sense of being a successful hunter and warrior through her mother. The wilds of Uskar were wide, but full of danger that could creep up at any moment. Food was always a gamble to acquire, but Revy held faith in her skills, her spirit, and the support of her pack.

"Watch closely," Borghild whispered to Revy as the pair watched Boof from the other side of the frozen meadow. Deer were grazing on some twigs off the trees. The Avalanchel hound was waiting for the signal from his human. As soon as it was given, he would chase one deer in her direction. This would give Revy the chance to strike their prey with her weapon. "Breathe steadily. Only when you're ready."

Revy blinked only once in anticipation. The air was chilling, but she was prepared. The deer were massive, but it lead to a unique problem to solve. Unless one was incredible lucky, arrows would have difficulty taking down her prey at the first strike. For Direnor's, one could transform into a mighty beast to wrestle their prey down, but for Revy, she only had to tools in her hands, and the body and mind to support herself. She readied her axe. The blade would be able to get off a deep and long cut if she could strike properly. Feeling the shift in the air, she felt it was time. Throwing her hand down, she gave the signal to her companion.

"GRRR BARK BARK BOOF WOOF WOOF!!!" Boof charged out of his hiding place and toward the deer. The dog was smart, and chose the biggest prey. The larger the prey, the more meat for his family. He nipped at the heels of the buck, and led it right to Revy.

Revy wanted to impress her mom. She wanted to do her friends and family and clan proud. Give her little brother a symbol to look up too. Praying for her energy to not fail, sparks flew around her axe as she jumped from her cover, and with a mighty swing, she sliced off one of the back legs off the deer.

As soon as Revy sliced off the leg, the buck went down into the snow. It struggled to get back up, but Boof took this as his opportunity. He chomped his large jaws around the deer's throat, and pulled, hard. With a crack, the buck's neck snapped and then he released the prey. Sniffing it to make sure the buck was dead, Boof then sat on his haunches, and wagged his tail, awaiting his praise.

Revy waited for the electric magic to stop sizzling around her axe. She only recently discovered her new talent, and it was still difficult to find an instant off switch on it. Sheathing her weapon, she ran up to Boof, kneeled down, and hugged him around his neck. "You were amazing boy! Great work! You can have the whole leg I cut clean off!"

The Gerudo woman had recently turned twenty. Her growth was fast through her teenage years, now just coming over Borghild in height. With a smile, she gave her mom a grin. "How'd we do?"

"Boof boof bork!" Boof licked Revy's cheek several times as he stood on his back legs, putting his fore paws on her shoulders. Even though the dog was older in age, he still could hunt with the best of them. Panting, the dog then resumed his original sitting position.

"I think you and Boof did perfectly," Borghild smiled at Revy's accomplishment. "However, I think you need to be really careful with the electricity, sweetie. You don't want to accidentally electrocute yourself or Boof now."

"I know. I just feel I need to practice it now. Last thing we need is to be in a real fight, and for it to not be completely under control."

Revy gave a small grunt as she heaved the deer over her shoulder. "How long do you think we can keep this deer going on for?"

"Between your father and Trygve, we'll be lucky if it lasts us a week and a half." Borghild laughed, knowing how much her men loved meat. "I'm beginning to believe your brother eats more than your father."

"Bork!"

"Excuse me, your father, your brother, and your dog."

"Well, they are just hungry boys at heart." Revy grinned down at her companion. "That includes you too boy~"

"Bork!"

"Next time, I think you and your brother will do just fine hunting together without my supervision." Borghild tromped back through the snow with Revy and Boof. "What do you think?"

"That better not happen soon. He's only seven mom. You know how long I had to wait. It was exhausting just waiting for the years to count down."

"Ha! I meant he observes, and you hunt." Borghild laughed. "He still turns into a grizzly when he gets too excited or scared."

"Well, we know the real reason why we have to wait till we're of age to come out here." Even now, Revy kept her eyes open for the slightest sign of the scourge of the undead to rise. She took her lessons and stories on Frost Ones deadly seriously. The Gerudo hoped that it would be a safe trip back to the wall.

"Hopefully the reign of the Frost King will soon be over," Borghild sighed as she kept her hand on her blade at all times. "We both know that the King and Queen have been working with the rulers of Hyrule for a solution. Though, nothing can be done unless we first find where his lair is."

"When that happens, I'll lead the packs to strike him down myself." Revy gave herself a proud bump on the chest. With the growth of age, her dream of being a hero never faded.

"When that happens, we'll formulate a plan before you go charging in." Borghild booped Revy on the nose. "You're too reckless like your father sometimes. Remember what I told you all these years. A female bear only charges when protecting her cubs or feeling threatened." Then she added. "Otherwise, thinks carefully before striking her prey."

Revy's mouth was a gap as she gave a pout. "I-I'm not reckless! I just give it my all sometimes. I have YOUR brains you know."

"Oh? Then what did you call diving into the freezing cold river after that huge sturgeon after I told you not to?"

"I call that a moderate success. I caught it, didn't I?"

"You caught it, but you had a cold for two weeks." Borghild snorted in amusement. "Do you call that a success?"

"....It was completely worth it."

"See? Reckless and stubborn, just like your father."

"But I wouldn't have caught it without calculating its pattern. Like you do. So I think it evens out."

Reaching the wall, Scarlet kept watch. The Gerudo woman wore shining white and thick iron knuckle armour, her battle axe shimmering silver in the snowy sun. Seeing the two woman gave her relief. Her daughter and Borghild traveling out into those wild wilderness gave her heart pause every time they traveled out. She instructed the men on the wall to open the gates. Jogging down the steps, Scarlet was glad her helmet gave her plenty of heat in the icy temperature. "Congratulations on the hunt you two. There wasn't any complications, was there?"

"No mother. There wasn't. As you can see, I did just fine." Revy received a bark from Boof, the dog wagging his tail. "Correction. We did a good job."

"Bork!" Boof agreed with his human, both of them did a fine job.

"Revy here is getting to be a fine hunter." Borghild complimented her daughter. "I know she's eager to please and wants to fight Frost Ones, but I'd rather her be a scout or a hunter." She then added. "Though her and Boof make a great team, Scarlet. You should have seen them take down the deer."

"I bet it was amazing. You better run along kiddo."

"Moms. I'm not a kid anymore. I can handle myself as a fighter and I don't need the nicknames anymore."

"You'll always be our little girl."

"The only reason I'm letting you get away with that is because no one else is around to hear that." As Revy ran off with Boof, Scarlet gave a sigh. "She's grown up so fast. And she's set her sights for accomplishments so high."

"I know, I think it's good that she has dreams and wants to make something of herself, but..." Borghild sighed as she watched Revy head toward the house with Boof. "I just don't want her to get hurt or feel like she's failed."

"I don't think she'll ever believe herself to be a failure. It's getting killed that worries me. Don't really have anyone else besides her."

"Aw, come on now, that's bullshit, you got me and Rat." Borghild nudged Scarlet in the shoulder. "And little Trygve."

"I know... It's just..." Scarlet looked out to the wilderness. How many times had she thought about just walking out and never coming back? "I don't have a Voe or even a Vai in my life. I gambled everything on Revy. If I lose her... I can't lose her."

"If you want a Voe or a Vai, then there are plenty of eligible folks here, Scarlet." Borghild walked with the Gerudo back to her position. "Maybe you should settle down with a grizzly. I got a few friends I could introduce you to, unless you prefer your partner less... furry."

"I don't know if anyone would want to be with me, furry or not." Scarlet had been given the nickname the cold iron giant. The metal armour, obviously, but also how she seemed to brood and be introverted around Uskar. When people challenged her to feats of strengths, she usually beat them with indifference. She only tended to show excitement with people she found interest in, but they had yet to show interest in her back.

"You should go after her. I'll make my final rounds here than head back home."

"Don't give up, all right? Someone will come along." Borghild assured Scarlet and then chased after Revy. The girl was becoming a fantastic hunter, but still could not skin a deer that well. Besides, she wanted her girl to keep the fur to make into a blanket. As she neared the house, Rat was there with little Trygve, trying to teach his son how to polish a knife.

"Now, lad, you have to learn to take care of your weapons, because if you don't, they won't take care of you." Rat was carefully showing the boy how to sharpen the dagger, then wipe with clover oil for a finish. "Understand?"

"Yes, Daddy."

It seemed though, that Revy had not yet returned to the house. Borghild knew how her daughter liked to show off, and exactly where to find her.

Lex pampered her face with makeup after cleaning her lips. She took satisfaction looking back at the man she just drained. It was like he never felt the touch of woman before. Well, probably not of her caliber. Turning her body back to him, he was entranced by her tits. Lex gave them a bounce to keep his attention. “Ok big boy, a deals a deal.”

The man in question was a Hasai soldier, having been recently transferred to the Uskar defence force. Before that, he was bragging about fighting pirates. “Well, the details are simple. We fought a group of pirates on the black sea.”

“I want complicated details. Specific map points. The goddamn beards on your opponents if you have to. That’s what I worked for after all~”

“Hmmm, damn right you did. Alright, kid. I’ll tell you what you wanna know.”

Ever since she hit the ripe age of 18, Lex had being using her skills as the ‘most attractive woman of Uskar’ for the past two years to acquire information from sailors and travelers on any information that could lead to finding her mother and Seer. Every lead she marked on a makeshift map. She felt confident that she was narrowing in on a location. Giving the Hasai man a deep kiss, she moved him quickly along out of the brothel.

Daddy Bakura let her travel to Hyrule for five months to be with Revy and get a change of pace from Uskar. During that time, the white haired Gerudo learned as many tricks and trades in exotic businesses to get any man to talk. Sex was ok, sometimes great, but it was mostly just a tool for her. She was still waiting for one of the princes to take up her offer of some beautiful love making.

Today her sister was supposed to arrive in shore with Uncle Corsaire. Maybe they could exchange information if Liz was in a good mood. Almost never was these days though. How her sister made Prince Halvar her boyfriend with her constant travel was a complete mystery to Lex. Didn’t stop her from trying to convince the prince to settle down with a more stay at home girl.

Going outside, Lex noticed Revy carrying a massive deer into town. “Oh cool! That’s a big boy you got there!”

Revy gave a chuckle, not above flexing her muscles in front of the townsfolk. She liked to contribute and give hope where she could. “Yeah, it wasn’t that much of a challenge.”

“Ok Ms. Hero. Let’s all bow in your glowing righteousness.”

“Haha. Liz arrive yet?”

“No, not quite. I think she’ll be home soon though. Grandpa misses her. And I bet Halvar cries himself to sleep due to the worries he has over her.”

Revy gave a cheeky grin back. “You’re just jealous he doesn’t cry over you~”

“Well he totally should.”

It was never easy for Corsaire to be away from his wife for too long. After this journey, the captain was eager to stay at home for a few months. It would not be so bad to run some new sea tactics with the recruits for a while and let the others do a cargo trip. However, Orana asked him to take his niece, Liz, back home safely for Seer's sake. Having the little tyke follow him everywhere after Seer's kidnapping was annoying for a while, always having to watch her. Though, she did surprise him at her determination to get better, to be the best she could be. So it was vigorous training consisting of sword fighting on the top yards, swinging on a rope while aiming to shoot, and most of all, how to take a punch and get back up. The girl preserved all these years, and was now a fine sailor. The ex-pirate was still concerned about sailing to Uskar. The sea ice was getting harder to penetrate with each voyage. Soon, even the upgraded ships from Danjur would not be able to pierce it.

"Miss Frode," Captain Corsaire stood at the wheel and then called her forth. "Guide us to the port. I need to be ready to receive the royals."

"Yes sir." Liz called out, taking the wheel. The years had been hard on her without Seer being a light in her life. She made a pact with her sister and Revy to rescue Seer and defeat their mother. All these years of training was hard on Liz, but her fiery determination made her fiercely dedicated to improvement. A few years back, Prince Halvar asked her on a date. The young Gerudo accepted, and despite not being able to see each other often, they somehow made it work as a couple. Liz gave out orders to the crew, just like she was taught, as they pulled into the docks.

Halvar was there to see Liz. He was pacing back and forth, impatiently, trying to peer onto the ship to see her. He waited until she was of age to ask her to date. That was Rat's rule, and had been Seer's rule before... well, before he was kidnapped. His family never lost hope that Seer was out there somewhere, still alive. As soon as the ship was docked, and the planks were set to unload the cargo, Halvar bolted up onto the boat and looked for the beautiful Gerudo.

"Liz!!!" Halvar ran up to her, swung her around, and planted a deep kiss on her lips... and then turned blood red, and put her back on her feet. "I... um... I missed you."

A few of the crew whistled on the boat.

"Knock it off, that's my niece!" Captain Corsaire barked at them. "Do your damn jobs and unload the cargo before we all get frostbite."

Liz gave the crew a look of pure murder for the catty whistles. If they wanted that particular fantasy they could go bother her sister. Turning back to Halvar, she gave a warm smile back. Deep kisses was as far as they had taken their relationship so far, and perhaps a little cuddling from time to time. “I’m glad to see you too. You’ve been ok?”

"Been on more hunts and scouts, fought a couple of Frost Ones, but it's odd." Halvar shrugged his shoulders. "Lately, we haven't seen too many of them. We're not sure if the Frost King is having trouble finding more bodies or if they're not approaching because of our allies now. Either way, we're a little grateful for the break." He then asked. "But you, I'm sure you have some adventures to tell everyone?"

"I'm glad that the Undead King of the North is letting his grip loose. As for me, I helped lead my first engagement against Adda's pirate forces. We interrogated one of the prisoners we took in hopes of finding Dad. All we learned is that Adda's forces are placed strategically so that a long search would be disastrous to try and break her power up. I just wish we could find a proper location. That way we could save our resources and go in hard."

"It's been so long now." Halvar thought back to the day of when everyone learned Seer had been taken by Adda. Liz and Lex were beyond consolable for a while, until swearing to get their father back. Then, it was a race against time. "I'm sure your search will come to a close soon, but... have you given thought to what you're going to do if you catch Adda?" Halvar knew better than to refer to Adda as Liz's mom. She always gave him a glare for that.

"I want to kill her, but Lex is still salty about that whenever I bring it up. So I'll just settle with her facing the courts of Danjur, Hyrule, and Uskar." Liz squeezed her fist just thinking about it. She spent so many years preparing for the day, dreaming in detail about her revenge and bringing justice.

"Either way, the courts of our kingdom, Danjur, and Hyrule will all arrive to the same verdict; death." Halvar walked with Liz off the ship the docks. "For now, let's focus on a more happy note, your return home. Besides, I have something for you." The prince fidgeted slightly as he approached the guards waiting on him. No matter where he went, Halvar still had protection. Grasping a wrapped package, he undid the string and there was the traditional courtship gift; a cloak of fur. Turning back to Liz, Halvar held it up for her to see, blushing darkly. "I... I hunted this when you left for sea and have been working on sewing it into a presentable cloak and um..." He offered it to Liz, hoping, praying she'd accept, as he said the age old line. "I offer you this gift of courtship... if you'll accept?"

Liz froze up, her mouth hanging open. Such a public display of affection was so bold of Halvar. Was this the same man she left behind on her training? She thought from a pure intellectual viewpoint on this, as it helped her calm down. Don't panic. He loves you. You adore him. Most of all, he has your trust. That's right. You trust him. He won't leave or hurt you. Snapping back into reality, Liz realized she must have left him hanging on an answer for a while due to the worry that started to form on his brow. "I'm so sorry. You just sprung it up. Yes. I accept."

"Oh thank Rotar." Halvar released the breath he was holding. She just stared at him for a moment, and for a brief time, the prince thought Liz was going to run back onto the ship and sail away. He then smiled widely and wrapped the warm cloak around her shoulders. Liz was not like the other female Direnors who would only accept a white cloak, no, she preferred the darker colors. For that reason, he had hunted for weeks until he found the perfect shade of red-brown for his girlfriend. "I... I hope you like it."

"I do. You took the time to carefully choose the fur for me. I'm grateful for that." She gave him another kiss. Lex and Revy were running to the port, the latter still carrying the deer, when they saw Halvar offer his courtship. Lex gave a small pout. "Great, lost that love boat."

"Lex. You never HAD that love boat. And chin up, you can still score one of the older brothers. Maybe."

"Thanks for the confidence Rev."

With big smiles, both girls ran to Liz. Revy threw her deer to one of Halvar's guards and they each hugged Liz. "Good to see you!"

Liz hugged them back, trying to keep a professional air about her with so many people arriving at the dock. "Good to see you both as well."

Lex gave Halvar a wink. "See you finally did it. Congrats on netting my sister~"

The guard nearly fell over when Revy simply tossed him the deer without warning.

"It was her choice to accept or not." Halvar turned red again at Lex's comment. "Besides, I feel so lucky to have her at my side. She's a good woman, a strong woman."

"Bork!" Boof nudged Liz for pets, being demanding. He was the fluffy, adorable one, he should be the center of attention.

Revy held Boof back, rubbing his neck. "You can have pets later boy."

The white haired Gerudo gave a mischievous grin, eying the young couple together. "So when you two gonna bang one out?~"

Liz's expression grew with pure horror. "Don't say shit like that so loud!"

Lex received a hard punch to the shoulder from her sister for that. "OW! Settle down! Just a joke!"

"Whu-whu, we um, we uh..." Halvar blushed dark red all the way up to his ears. Intimacy was still foreign to Liz and him, and he was not about to make advances just yet. After all, it was the lady who said yes or no. The last thing he wanted was to get slapped.

"I can always teach you what a lady wants~"

"THAT'S IT!"

Liz tackled Lex to the ground, and started to slap at her face, with Lex giving giggles and grunts. Revy quickly intervened, pulling the sisters away from each other. "Hey, hey, hey! Enough! Lex, no trying to make Halvar hard and your sister mad!"

"Fine, geeze."

"You are insufferable sometimes Lex."

"But you love me anyways~ And if it wasn't for my knowledge of pleasing men, I wouldn't have come up with an accurate map on tracking mom down."

That caught Liz off by guard. "You've been doing what?"

While the prince was used to the sisters fighting a bit, he was not prepared to hear what Lex said about pleasure.

"I think... I'm going to um..." Halvar gestured to the land. "Yeah, I'm going to go and wait over there. That seems like a grand idea."

"Yeah! I've been getting information from sailors and travelers who seen mom and her forces. I've narrowed it down to a triangle of coordinates."

Liz wanted to argue about her sister whoring out to get information, but she was too tired to argue. "I'll take a look at it later. Just stay out of trouble. Have you seen Bakura?"

Lex took a sigh. "He's been doing 'deep mediation' out by the cave. Can't get him to come out some days. Kind of sad, but he says it he'll find Daddy through the 'spirits'."

Revy clapped her hands. “Well, we better get going. Who wants to help me skin this deer?”

In three days, it would be seven years. Seer felt of the calendar with his fingers and sighed. He was older now. Adda had never released him. Despite his pleas and trying to find means of escape, nothing ever worked. The one kindness she did allow him was that old mage. He could listen to Liz and Lex through her magic. At least he was able to keep tabs on their lives. Still, it was not the same as holding them close, giving them kisses on the forehead, and fixing them a decent meal. He wanted to feel their warmth on his hands again. Though, his little girls were not so little anymore.

Outside of the magic barrier that gave that hid her paradise, Captain Adda flicked the wind waker to open the imaginary gate that allowed her to sail safely to her paradise home. Her latest skirmish was bloody and brutal. Every once in a while she had to put her foot down on the island she controlled. Rebels were such a nuisance. Her trade agreements were fair, so who cared if she was a little hard on them. Everyone was finally at peace. Besides the major continents, she ruled the oceans. Flicking the wind waker again, her ship went past the barrier as it closed. It took another good hour to sail to the island's north port side.

Docking, she took another hour greeting her people, handing out and ordering who got what food and drinks, made orders for her lieutenants to carry out, and got herself a martini. Finally, she opened the door to her chambers, giving Seer a whistle. "Miss me handsome?"

"No."

The longer his time on the island, the more bitter Seer became towards Adda. He would begrudgingly amuse her with sex, the random conversation, and sometimes have to accompany her to see the rest of her people. That he hated the most, feeling like a pet on a chain once more. She wouldn't kill him, but rather keep him alive to torment him with the fact that he could not get away with her.

"Oh don't be like that." Adda sat down on the bed, yawning with exhaustion. "Tell me, girls treating you ok? Little Beck wanted to see you do whale tricks with a ball. Went on about seeing it in a book. I think the little gal likes you.”

"I'm not a pet." Seer snapped at her with a glare about the whale tricks. "And I'm not going to play with a ball for fish. You got me doing that already."

"She was just a six year old girl with a curiosity. What's up your ass?" Adda slugged back her drink and fell back on the bed. "It's not like you been shot recently or anything. Now that's something to be cranky about."

"I'd rather be shot than have to stay here. Then again, you know that, I've told you that, but it's like you have too much saltwater in your ears to properly listen." Seer got up off the bed, in a particularly bad mood since the anniversary of his kidnapping was coming up. "Tell your people to stay the hell away from me. I'm going for a swim." He then stopped and added as an afterthought. "Do not join me."

"They're just ordinary folks. You really want to be the one to crush the dreams of little girls who never seen a man transform into a whale? God, you are such a pussy. You want me to shoot you? I can do that, right now."

"Then do it!!!" Seer turned around, screaming at her. "I've been trapped here for seven damn years now, Adda! I haven't held my girls, told them I love them, I have no freedom! I'm a slave again! Shoot me, right here, through the heart! Put me out of my misery! Your crew missed the first time, but I doubt you will!" He demanded. "Do it! I can't take another day of hearing my girls from that blasted ball saying they're wondering if I'm dead or alive, hearing them cry because of me!"

"Oh fuck you, you blind piece of shit." Adda rose to her feet. "I had a plan. A really simple and easy plan that kept the girls safe for a while. I own the fucking oceans now. I am the Queen of the seas. I'm the greatest Gerudo chieftain that's ever lived. My people are happy. They're in a state of nirvana that has never been seen before. And all those that stand against me have no possible power to beat me or my forces. And I was going to give that to the girls. I knocked on your door to bring all of you with me. But you acted like a petty child. You ran from Hyrule, cheating me years to track you down, than you had the gull to tell me to leave. This 'suffering' you're feeling is nothing. I missed thirteen years, and now the additional seven years on top of that. Now that they're tough and smart woman, maybe they'll find there way here. Grow the fuck up, or shut the fuck up." Curious, she handed him an unloaded, cocked gun. "What you gonna do about it? You wanna rob them of one of their parents?"

"You're nothing but a murderer and a greedy soul who decides all your wrongs are righted by what you do for your people. Think what you want of me, but my girls will never be like you. Besides for all I know, you didn't want them." Seer sneered at her. "Dump them with me to get back at Bakura. Classy move, mother, using your daughters like they're dispensable. That's all they are to you, something to use." When Adda handed him the gun, Seer frowned at her. "You think I'm an idiot? This isn't loaded. I spent years with Corsaire on a ship, I know an unloaded gun to a loaded one." He threw the gun to the side with a huff. "The only reason you won't give me bullets is because you still want your toy at your side. Just like the girls, that's all I am to you; an object." The blind Direnor stomped outside, tossing his shirt and pants wherever before the water hit his feet. As soon as he was neck deep, he started to shift.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!!! I NEVER USED MY GIRLS!!! I SAVED THEM!!! HOPE YOU DROWN OUT THERE!!!!!"

The moonlight fell on the ocean as Seer swam around. All the life he ever found in the calm area of water he was free to swim in were the odd colourful fish that came and went. So, on this night, it was a shocking sight when he chanced an encounter with a whale under water. It was colourful as a rainbow, and had angel wings on its back.

Seer had never seen another whale here, despite his many years of swimming trying to find an exit.

"Can you understand me?"

"Hmmm? Of course I can understand you. Nice night for a swim, isn't it."

"Oh, I agree, the water is very nice this night." Seer felt relieved, but wondered if he was about to lose his break on sanity. Either way, it supposed this was not too bad. Talking to an angelic whale was the least of his worries, even if he was going insane. "I don't suppose you're a... messenger? The wings?"

"I'm the Wind Fish. Who are you?"

"Wind Fish? I think I've heard of you in Hyrule's tales..." Seer then realized he was being rather rude. "Oh, my apologies. My name is Erling Frode, but my friends call me Seer. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The Wind Fish looked deep into Seer, his tone unchanging. "You seem tired Seer."

"I think tired is an understatement, Wind Fish." Seer, in reality, felt exhausted. He wanted to give up. Holding onto hope was such a lost cause. Adda would never let him go. "I'm trapped here and I cannot leave to see my family. No matter what I do, I cannot find freedom. My only way out of this place is death, and I'm denied even that."

"What is your wish for life?"

"My wish for life?" Seer repeated. "What I would want if I could have it?"

"You have great pain in your heart. What wish is on your mind? What do you dream of?"

"I only wish to be with my girls again, my family, back in Uskar." Seer sighed heavily. "I dream of hearing my girls laugh again instead of crying for my sake. I dream of us fixing food together in the kitchen again. I dream of telling Alexandra and Elizabeth to stop arguing and go do their chores. Memories of the past mix with what I want for the future. Seems silly, doesn't it?"

"Not at all. Dreams are a beautiful thing. And it's funny how they can come true. I have to go now." The Wind Fish started to fly away, surging out of the water and above the defence ships on the surface, not seeming to mind getting spotted or not.

"H-Hey, wait!" Seer shot up toward the surface after the Wind Fish. Though by the time he breached, the Wind Fish was already long gone. He couldn't sense him anymore. Dejectedly, Seer just lounged on the surface of the waves. "Don't leave me here alone..."

Seer heard a voice echo in his head. "You are never alone Seer. And your heart won't feel alone for long. Now wake up. Wake up…. Wake up….."

~ Seer woke up in bed, rested like never before, but both a hopeful happiness and yet some sadness in him. Beside him, Adda was stirring in bed, drying her face.

Seer did wake with a jolt. Was the entire encounter a dream?

"... either I drowned and you came to fetch me, or I fell asleep in the waves again."

"You went for a swim and than you must have came back yourself. I went to bed before you came back." Adda was oddly monotone this morning.

"Oh. I don't recall." Seer sat up in bed, rubbing his head, feeling for a knot or a scrape. No, he definitely did not knock his skull. The entire encounter must have been a dream. "I don't remember much... I must have stayed in my other form too long again."

"Did you have any weird dreams last night?" Adda kept her attention away from him, still looking to her left at the wall.

"I'm certain I did, though I'm not able to recall them all. Why? Talking in my sleep and disturbing your beauty rest again?"

Adda didn't give him a smartass remark. "I dreamed I wanted to be with girls and I wasn't a monster to Bakura. It was so... peaceful. I wanted it to be so real..."

"Sounds like you wish to turn back time." Seer stretched his body, feeling stiff from being in his other form.

"Maybe. I saw this... giant colourful fish in the sky. No idea why. It asked what I wanted. I said to have the family I always wanted and-" Adda paused. For a moment of vulnerability she shook with emotion before reeling it in. "Forget it. The whole things stupid. I just got this feeling I'm going to see them again soon."

"You have the family you've always wanted out there, Adda." Seer pointed in the general direction of the door. "You even told me it was your dream to create this paradise for the Gerudo."

"That's different. I'm their Queen. A Queen who was chosen for this life. I'm talking about being a mother to my own kids."

"You had that chance too, before you pursued the war." Seer fixed his long hair back into a tail. "Just like Scarlet did."

"Don't say her name." Adda turned to him, her brow curling with anger. "I'm tired of having the same argument with you over and over regarding my choices."

"Then let me go and you'll never hear my voice again to remind you of said poor choices."

"So you can lead your forces right back to me? No thanks."

"Now you're the one being stupid. I don't even know where the hell I am."

"That's the whole idea. To keep your pod of savage whales away from the innocents of this island."

"Those savage whales don't attack innocents, only those who dare to hurt their own." Seer retaliated at her remark. "You took the girls, and in return, we attacked."

"I had the right to those girls. If you really thought I was a monster, you would have killed me in that ice cold water, or here in my sleep." Adda spat back bitterly.

"Just because you're their biological mother doesn't give you any right to them. The people who love them, take care of them, doesn't have to be blood to be their family." Seer argued with narrowed eyes. "And I never said you were a monster." He leaned a little closer and said bluntly. "I just hate your guts. If I killed you, Lex would hate me. That's the last thing I want. I think more of those girls than you ever will. I gave my life to them. You? You decided to make yourself Queen and to hell with everything else. Want me to shut up? Then turn me loose."

"I was going to make them both royalty of the seas. You have no idea about what I think of them." Adda snorted back. With a shrug of her shoulders, she tried to change the conversation. "You wanna stop talking and fuck for a while?"

"Well, you screamed at me to drown yesterday, so I think I might go back out for a long swim and see if that happens." Seer replied sarcastically. "Seeing you're a self proclaimed queen and all, I think you can handle waiting to fuck for a day or so." He then added, just to mess with Adda. "Besides, Bakura is a better fuck than you."

"Seer, don't be an ass." Adda pushed him to the side and went to her wardrobe. At Bakura though, she turned her head to him. "You did not."

"He slapped my ass, I buried my face in his abs, the rest is history."

“Tell me than. What did it feel like?” Adda stared coldly at him.

"Why do you want to know? Jealous I'm a better lay?"

“To see you bullshitting me. What was it like Seer?”

"A fight for dominance, that's for sure. You know Bakura has a fetish of grabbing the neck a bit?" Seer was going off of what he sensed from the man. While Seth was always in the back of Bakura's mind, the other soul residing in the assassin's body still influenced a few actions. For once, Seer was grateful for his powerful sense of smell and echolocation. He could read Bakura's body language and predict his thoughts without a single word. "Burying my face into a pillow, muffling my moans just until he senses I'm ready to cum. Sometimes, he even denies me that, wanting me to beg a little."

“You know what it was like for me? It was knowing that he the someone I could trust. He made me feel vulnerable like no other man. When he fucked me, I didn’t care about anything else. Because he was naive enough, stupid enough, or maybe kind enough to be so open and gentle too.” Adda punched Seer back onto the bed. “But you would have said that if you ever made love with a man like Bakura. You’d know he made you feel complete.”

"Now that's a steaming pile of shit right there, Adda," Seer actually snickered. "Because if you were so complete with him, then you really screwed up by leaving him, and better yet, dumping his daughters with me. You know he told me he wanted to kill you for what you did to him? Making him lose years of his daughters' lives too? Isn't it funny how these things turn out." He was now full out laughing, almost a hysterical tint to it. "And you! You kidnapped me out of petty revenge! Not on him, but on your own daughters!!!"

“Shut your fucking mouth Seer.” Adda was so close to beating the life out of the man. How many times did she have to say her case over and over? Bakura threatened her. Hurt her deeply due to that psychotic personality in him. How could she ever leave her kids with him?

"Oh, I thought I was fucked up, but compared to you? Nah." Seer managed to get his laughing under control and then got up off the bed. "I almost, almost feel sorry for you, Adda." He walked outside to the beach, feeling the sand underneath his toes. "A lonely paradise is all you have now."

“And a lonely prison is all you have. If I’m not happy, I’ll make sure you’ll never be either you prick.”

"Heh, you might keep me trapped here forever, but remember this, Adda," Seer was not going to let her get to him. Oddly enough, the tiny break of hysterics might have been what he needed to release some stress. Besides, the dream he had with the whale left him feeling optimistic of sorts. "Whether I die here or see my girls again, at least I know I have their love."

“You robbed me of that chance for twenty years. I’ll earn their love soon. And with you stuck here, you can’t stop me.”

"It's your own fault for dumping them off without a word." Seer countered. "Think that all you want, Adda. Though you're forgetting that I'm not the only one who loves Elizabeth and Alexandria."

Adda whirled on Seer, decking him hard against the face, knocking him out. She was so sick and tired of listening to his bullshit. No more. She was going to give her girls the world.

#new crossover #ridersoftheapocalypse #New Adda Arc!#Captain Adda #Seer #Bakura Saibot #Revy #Liz and Lex #Borghild #Scarlet #Halvar #Final Adda Arc!#The Adult Arc #Big Drama coming!

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