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carissimipaixao · 2 years

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If it's alright may I request 20 from the bliss prompts with Lupin? thank you

─ ITALIAN CARNIVAL

published on: january 23, 2023 requested by: anon pairing: arséne lupin iii & reader prompt: “my, oh my. you are such a beautiful creature.” word count: 5.4k+

Carnival — a festival dedicated to playfulness and trickery, anonymity and mystery. In places like Italy, home of the tradition, it would be considered uncommon to spot someone not wearing a mask, concealing their identity from others and enjoying the hours ahead of privacy and mischief. In truth, not being able to see the face behind a mask makes you paranoid and highly suspicious; the adrenaline threatening to run through your veins, and the taste of fight-or-flight lingering in your brain. But, not all is against your favor, because, had it not been for your job requirements, you’d feel much worse.

After all, if you were to be unmasked, unconcealed from sight, it would give your enemy an incredible advantage over you. Still, you wish your boss had been a little bit kinder.

Wear this, those had been his words as he shoved a full-face mask in your direction. A jester-like expression was painted on the surface and, immediately, the thin line on your lips dropped, as you glared in displeasure at the mask in his hand. Every single one of you is meant to be disguised and hidden within the crowd. Don’t forget your duties, and my treasure will be protected. So will be your heads.

You now lean against the railing, watching the crowd below with clear uninterest written across your face; it’s not like they can even see it, right? This has to be the worst job I’ve taken, yet, you think to yourself. So far, in your “curriculum”, you’ve always been hired as a bodyguard, as security, keeping sure that rich men’s treasures are protected from equally greedy thieves or that their men are well-behaved. Betrayal is not to be taken lightly, especially in this kind of environment. Your current boss would highly agree.

However, despite how far you’ve come in the Underworld and how much you’ve proved yourself, there are still doubts — about you, about your capacities, about your loyalty. After all, femme criminals often don’t last long in the Underworld and suffer from stigma. In the mind of the patriarchal Underworld, women are easily consumed by greed and their deepest and strongest desires, compromising themselves and their job for a quick, easy buck. But, you aren’t that frail, nor were you raised to be that way. You’d rather play it safe.

As boring as it is.

Footsteps sound behind you and you quickly straighten your back, pushing away from the railing to glance over your shoulder. Markus wears a similar mask to your own, although the color scheme is different and compliments his outfit nicely. The sight is enough to make a smirk grow behind your own face mask. Karma is a bitch, asshole. ‘Ha-ha,’ Markus fakes a laugh, as if he has seen the expression on your face.

‘Don’t look at me,’ you snicker. ‘I didn’t say anything.’ Before he can continue, you turn back to stare at the crowd beneath you, dancing and drinking to their hearts’ content. ‘Anything to report?’

He approaches the railing and crosses his arms. His foot is tapping the floor slowly, in what appears to be boredom and annoyance. ‘Nope, it’s the same as it was five minutes ago, same as one hour ago.’ He sighs, ‘How special is this treasure, anyway? It’s not like he’d even tell us what it is. How else are we supposed to know what to expect, how to prepare ourselves? Is this thing even worth sacrificing our lives over?’

‘Careful there,’ you say, ‘you wouldn’t want to be caught making questions. What if he begins to doubt your loyalty?’

Even though your tone is light-hearted, the same cannot be said for your words. Boss is suspicious of each and every single thing that his men do or say. You have witnessed a poor novice die over a handful of questions before. Markus huffs next to you, mumbling darkly under his breath. ‘My loyalty? I’m only loyal to the paycheck. That’s all that matters to me. And, I know it’s the same with you.’

‘You know?’

You inspect the ceiling nonchalantly as he continues, ‘Why else would you be here? This doesn’t seem like your kind of gig, dearest.’

‘My kind of gig,’ you echo after a pause. ‘My kind of gig, dearest,’ you turn to him as you all but spit the nickname, ‘is slitting the throats of people like you.’ You can’t hold yourself back as you stab your index finger onto his chest roughly. ‘So, beware of what comes out of your little mouth. I’m not Boss, and I’m certainly not your mother. You don’t know me, so stop pretending you do.’

Ah, yes.

Your biggest dislike yet.

False accusations or assumptions.

Despite the masks, it’s not difficult to feel the hard intensity of each other’s glares. Markus drops his arms to his side and his back straightens ever so slightly, so that he towers over you. ‘Apologies, ma’am, but your little threats don’t work on me,’ he says. The tone comes across as nonchalant and playful, but you know what kind of message he wants to send to you. He leans closer, ‘Especially when you look and behave like a clown.’

His hand reaches to flick the top of your mask, and you instinctively move to grab your dagger — wrath and anger might as well be your primary traits. Yet, luckily for him, both of your earpieces come to life.

‘Is the perimeter clear?’ It was a raspy woman’s voice, which is to be expected from a heavy smoker. You quickly turn around to eye the crowd, and Markus mirrors you, leaning against the railing.

‘Yes,’ a man replies. ‘Keep an eye out, regardless. This guy is unpredictable.’

Markus taps the marble railing in thought. ‘Didn’t he say in the card that he’d be here at midnight? He always complies to the “schedule”. Plus, we still have at least forty minutes before then.’

‘We’re more than heavily secured,’ you add. ‘I doubt he’d just sneak in without doing his research. No matter what, his reputation precedes him.’

‘We’ll shoot his head off as soon as he appears in our sights,’ The smoker growls, before the earpiece goes quiet.

Markus heaves a dramatic sigh and backs away from the railing. ‘I guess this is it, then. We just wait until His Majesty decides to bless us with his annoying presence.’

‘I’m going downstairs,’ you speak suddenly, having made up your mind. Markus turns to you, humming questioningly. ‘Someone ought to keep a closer eye down there, don’t you agree?’

He shrugs. ‘I guess. For once, we’re on the same page.’ He fishes his inner pocket for a pack of cigarettes. ‘Just shout if you need anything,’ he says as he turns on his heel mid-way through his sentence, heading towards the balcony door. You raise an eyebrow behind your mask; was he begging to get in trouble with Boss?

Well, you think, it’s his head, not mine.

With that reasoning, you head off in the opposite direction, walking around the indoor balcony to go downstairs. As you descend the carpeted stairs, you scan the crowd once again. You aim to find someone whose profile partially or fully matches your target. Yet, there’s no trace or hint that he could be present. Anyone is a suspect, from your perspective. He’s a master of disguise, allegedly, so you wouldn’t know until he’s stolen Boss’s treasure or stolen your lives.

Deep breaths.

The people in the crowd are dancing slowly to the music. It reminds you of the waltzes and balls of the 18th century, although cartoons and comics depict the same imagery and colorfulness, as well as magical musicality. The majority of the guests wear elegant outfits, completing the aesthetic that is desired by their humble host. Any party by high-class (seemingly, even) always has a big number of guests, of course, since it allows for connections to be made, for alliances to be created and, most importantly, for what is morally wrong and corrupted (or greed, “good” intentions) to be defined and agreed upon by the rich.

It wouldn’t surprise you if half of those guests are oblivious to it all, however; they don’t know the true intention behind the party. They don’t know that the host that invited them oh-so heartedly was actually part of the mafia. They’re even here, because it means they’re on really good terms with him, or in an incredibly big debt.

Not that you care, it’s none of your business. Your only and most important goal here is to be successful at your job — to be paid handsomely and to make sure your head isn’t separated from your neck.

Deep breaths, you remind yourself. Stop thinking about it. Everything will be fine. You try to picture your victory, standing over a beaten-up thief as your Boss claps and pats your back. You’d pack your bags as soon as your job is done, because you value your life, and probably move to a different country with just how much money you’ll be able to make for stopping the thief. After all, Boss had placed a kind of a bet.

I’ve decided, he had said, that whoever stops this man single-handedly will receive their paycheck early, as well as a… compensation for the success and talent. He had a wide grin on his face, fingers crossed over each other, while his men spared glances around the room. The tension in the room was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, and that was when every relationship in the group was distorted by suspicion, distrust and arrogance. Everyone wanted the big prize.

But, you’d be the one to receive it.

On one side of the hall, there is a long counter that is made out of dark brown wood. Connecting the top and bottom halves, there is a white metallic line, reflecting the scenery in front of it. It is shining from the amount of times that the servants cleaned the bar prior to the event. Boss wouldn’t tolerate the slightest peck of dust. Everything just had to be perfect.

Behind the counter, the bartender moves gracefully. Again, chosen due to his perfectionism and skills. He prepares the drinks with such speed and grace, moving his wrists in near automatic motion, having no need to double check or calculate the measurements. It is as if his own body has been reprogrammed to the life of barkeeping.

It crosses your mind, as it did earlier, when you had a drink before the ball began, that there may be something more to this man than meets the eye. You wouldn’t be surprised, though, taking into account how Boss’ employment works. He needs a house full of monsters and freaks that wouldn’t hesitate to slit one’s throat, even if it was their allies’. Failure means death in this house, you remember his words.

Along with the skill, there is beauty, as he so tries to show to his customers, with a charming smile on his face which compliments his slim features. Anyone would be a fool, however, if they didn’t notice he is thoroughly enjoying the attention he’s receiving from his beloved customers, be it men or women.

You lean against the bar, elbow on top, and knock lightly on the wood with your other hand. That gets the bartender’s attention, with hands moving quickly between the many bottles of liquor and glasses. He recognizes your face in an instance and gives you that handsome smile. Before you notice, there is a glass of whisky flying across the wooden counter and into your hand. You tip the glass, and you take a sip from perhaps the most expensive whiskey you’ve ever drank in your whole life. And, it’s not even like you enjoy whisky; you’d prefer a good red wine over this disgusting thing.

A man makes his way through the crowd, looking exhausted. He pats his forehead with a clean, white handkerchief. The bartender looks in his direction and grins. ‘Already? But the party has just begun,’ he teases. At first glance, it might be correct to assume they are acquaintances or have already interacted, in the beginning of the party; but, that is also just the way of the bartender — charismatic and a social butterfly.

‘I’m afraid I’ve displeased my date enough as it is,’ the man says sheepishly, and he sighs.

‘Look on the bright side, Sir,’ a glass of wine is poured for the gentleman. ‘Can’t let your date down if you have something to give you energy to join the dance, can you?’ They must have met, you think. The banter is too casual.

Suddenly, the stranger’s eyes are on you. Your back straighteners. The ice clicks against the glass as you stiff, and you narrow your eyes over the rim of the glass. ‘This young lady looks like she would appreciate a glass of wine more than I do,’ he says. ‘Some rest, too.’ He doesn’t push the glass in your direction, as you are already drinking, but he does blink innocently — almost owlishly — at you. He claims his date is displeased with him, but, clearly he has moved on from her, as he now subtly looks you up and down.

‘Thanks,’ you reply drily, ‘but I’m good.’ Everyone looks suspicious to you, and you take a sip of your drink to break eye contact with the stranger.

The man leans back, ‘If you say so, then I won’t insist.’ He brings the glass of wine to his lips and takes a long sip. Then, he places the glass down and looks around the crowd. ‘I didn’t know your Boss actually enjoyed this type of party.’ He muses out loud, and it takes a moment to realize that he is still trying to talk to you, as the bartender has lowered his head to clean the glasses.

You knit your brows, sighing as you also observe the crowd for any suspicious behavior. ‘...He can be very old-fashioned.’ The same could be said for his torture methods, you think to yourself.

‘I see,’ he runs his fingers through his mustache. ‘He certainly has the money to afford these things, too. He has even bought authentic furniture and decorations from the time to fit the theme of the party.’ He chuckles and drinks more of the wine.

As you thought previously, this man seems to know your employer to some degree; you just don’t know yet if he’s on his good side or bad side. But, you shrug. You literally couldn’t care less. ‘It doesn’t make this party any more exciting, if you ask me. But, who am I to comment on Boss’ taste?’

The stranger turns to you surprised. ‘Are you saying that because you don’t care about the party, or because you don’t like parties?’

You turn your head to eye him carefully, before you lean back against the counter, twirling the empty glass in your hand, hearing the satisfying sound of the ice hitting against the glass. ‘Both.’

‘Well, I’m sure if you danced a little, if you joined the fun, you’d quickly change your mind!’ He puts his glass down. ‘Why don’t you dance with me? I just might be able to change your mind, dear.’ The flirtatious and sweet tone is obvious. Yet, for a moment, you are intrigued.

You snort. ‘Sorry to crush your dreams, but, unless you can tell, I’m “on the clock”, as luck would have it.’

The man shakes his head and extends his arm towards you. ‘And, I’ll just have to insist this time. I can’t simply ignore a lady who is having an absolutely horrible time at an interesting party such as this one. I’m sure your Boss wouldn’t mind if you had a little break.’ He turns to the bartender, who has started to smile at the interaction. ‘Be a friend, and keep this a secret for me?’

‘Sure thing,’ he snickers, and he throws you a knowing look. ‘A little fun never hurt anyone.’

You scowl.

Yet, a look at the hand that is reaching out for you, as well as the curious, but friendly, stare of the man in front of you, has you thinking. If you are able to blend with the crowd, you might be able to spot the intruders of the night or find clues about their whereabouts.

‘Fine,’ you say. You try to remember that you are wearing a mask — a clown mask — and that nobody can see the embarrassed expression that has begun to creep onto your face. ‘I’ll dance with you.’

The man smiles, the edges of his mustache rising. ‘Atta girl!’ He grabs your hand softly and takes you to the middle of the ballroom. You are definitely not dressed for the occasion, as the man is, with a fancy-looking dark blue suit. As he brings you to the center of the room, he turns to look at you, and you try to look more into his features, running that image through your brain, in case there is some sort of familiarity. Yet, it is difficult to tell, as the mask is covering most of his face. Defeated, you sigh.

‘Something wrong?’ The stranger inquires, tilting his head to the side as he holds your hand and positions the other on your waist. You tense up, suddenly uncomfortable — or, rather, unused to the feeling of someone’s hands on you.

‘No,’ it comes too quickly out of your mouth, before you try to compose yourself and conceal your discomfort. ‘Just not used to this type of thing, as I told you before.’

‘My, does your Boss really not let you have a break?’ He gasps, as you two begin to waltz to the music. ‘I understand the importance of being on the lookout for intruders and thieves, especially due to his reputation, but a lady like you deserves to have fun, to go out once in a while. Or is that not, as you said, your “type of thing” either?’

You refuse to answer. You are not about to vent your feelings to a man you have just met — someone who you are trying to use to blend with fellow guests and spot the Gentleman Thief or anyone from his gang. Yet, everything feels normal, and nothing seems out of place. Subtly, you turn your left wrist to look at the time. 11:47 P.M., it reads. According to the calling card that Boss received the day before the party, Lupin III is planning to steal his treasure at midnight.

‘Waiting for someone?’

‘You could say that,’ you murmur, before hiding your watch and continuing to dance. It won’t take long for him to show up. Just where are you, Lupin?

The music seems to be ending, and you heave a sigh in relief, turning to face your left. However, it’s when you do that you spot a figure leaning against the wall, masked as everyone else, but a beard that you recognize immediately.

You tense, staring daggers into the masked man. You turn to look up, to see if you can find any of your colleagues, but nobody is to be found. Luck’s on my side, you smirk to yourself. The prize would be yours, indeed. You would catch the thief, his gang, you would protect your Boss’ treasure and earn his respect. Suck on it, Markus!

‘This has been fun,’ the stranger comments as the music finally stops. You step back, not looking at the man in front of you. The focus is on the man that leans against the wall, hands inside his pockets. He stays there for a moment, and then he turns and leaves the ballroom. ‘But, I wouldn’t want to keep you. You need to be on your watch. Otherwise, Boss’ treasure will be gone before you know it.’

With your left hand, you grab his before he can pull away. ‘Just a moment, sir.’

The man freezes, turning to you curiously. ‘What’s wrong, dear?’ He looks around the crowd. ‘Have you found your date? Do you think he stood you up?’

‘Maybe he did,’ you take a step closer. ‘But, I think I liked dancing with you. You were right. You did change my mind about dancing and parties. I can’t help but decide that I would like a second dance.’

His chest puffs out with pride and joy. ‘And, I’m very happy to hear that! But—’

‘Are you standing me up, too?’

‘W-well, I would never do that to a lady…’

You step even closer and tilt your head to stare into his hazel eyes. ‘Why don’t you dance with me… Lupin?!’ Your right hand flies towards his face, the edge of your knife catching onto the mask as the Gentleman Thief jumps away, leaving a smoke bomb in his place.

The crowd cries out in surprise, and everyone attempts to escape from the smoke, coughing. The screams and shrieks get the attention of your colleagues, who are now appearing as if straight from the shadows. Your watch is pointed towards your face, as you futilely try to keep the smoke away from your eyes. 11:52 P.M.

‘My apologies, ladies and gentleman!’ Lupin shouts over the crowd. ‘I want to congratulate the big man himself for allowing me inside,’ he stops mid-speech to giggle like a devious imp, ‘and, most of all, I want to thank him for hosting such a party to celebrate my theft of his marvelous treasure! Bye-bye!’ His voice faded away, just like that.

‘Wait! Come back here!’ You manage to escape from the cloud of smoke, running up the stairs after the thief.

He looks over his shoulder, the hideous mustache still on his face. ‘I’m sorry, chérie, but I don’t have time at all for a second dance. We’ll just have to do it another time.’ He throws you a wink.

You scoff, gasping for breath. ‘We dance now!’ You throw the dagger towards a light that hangs on the ceiling. The cord breaks effortlessly, and the chandelier nearly falls on top of the thief. He has to come to a stop, before it can fall on him, and you take the chance to tackle him. The man huffs as you fall on top of his back, grabbing his arms to keep him still. ‘You’re coming with me.’

He whistles. ‘I do love a possessive woman.’ You choke on your next words. ‘But, as I said, I don’t have time to dance with you tonight.’ Lupin’s arm extends and you see him press a button on his watch. Suddenly, a wire flies towards the ceiling, and he is no longer under you. ‘But, don’t worry, I’ll call you!’ Before reaching the ceiling, he gives himself momentum and jumps over Markus, who had suddenly come through the doorway directly in front of you, frantically looking around. He ducks by reflex, and then looks over his shoulder, before turning back at you.

‘Slacking off, are we?’ He yells to you and runs after the thief.

You jump to your feet, growling, ‘I could say the same thing about you!’

You begin to hear the sound of gunshots as you chase after the Gentleman Thief, following Markus in the hallways that are above the ballroom. More of your colleagues have found him, too, but you are surprised to hear that they are actually trying to kill him. Not that your Boss has specified how he wants to receive Lupin III, by one of his employees — whether he wants him dead or alive. Yet, knowing Boss, he would definitely appreciate the thoughtfulness of bringing the criminal alive, so that he can be the one to take his life away, little by little.

Thanks to his stunts, Lupin seems to be dodging miraculously every single bullet, smirking confidently as he swings over their heads. ‘Keep up the good work!’ He laughs over your colleagues as they try to aim at him, stray bullets hitting each other in — luckily — non-fatal spots.

Markus, next to you, points his gun at the Frenchman. ‘You’re not going anywhere!’ And, he pulls the trigger.

Two bangs echo in the upper floor. Markus clenches his injured hand, gritting his teeth, as his gun goes flying, the bullet hitting above where Lupin once was. You freeze and turn to your left. On the opposite side, you find, standing on top of the railing, the same masked man that you had seen in the ballroom, before the music stops and before Lupin got too careless (was it on purpose?) and revealed his identity to you. The man has easily and quickly disarmed Markus, despite the distance. That is to be expected, you think to yourself, however. From a man like Jigen Daisuke.

You curse under your breath. You have to be careful, and pay more attention to your surroundings. You wouldn’t want to be shot by such a skilled and terrifying gunman. You turn to look at Lupin, as he disappears into a closed hallway, surely going towards the treasure.

You adjust your position, ready to take off after the thief. Yet, as your foot moves ever so slightly, a bullet hits mere millimeters away from you. You gape at the hole on the floor. ‘I would stay still, if I were you,’ Jigen warns you.

Fuck, fuck!

An idea occurs to you.

You remember the switch that is inside your right pocket, which he cannot see. You have always tried to be one step ahead of your colleagues, rivals and even employers. You did not know what Lupin III would have planned in order to infiltrate and to steal Boss’ treasure, but you knew that, if you were lucky, you would be able to have some sort of advantage.

You slowly move your right hand into your pocket. The switch is still there, which is a relief. Then, you press it with your thumb, and the entire building goes dark.

‘Wha—hey, Lupin!’ You hear Jigen yell over the darkness. Perhaps, he would believe that this is all part of his partner’s plan, but it was never discussed, hence the surprised and annoyed tone in his voice. As quickly as you can, you lower yourself to the floor, undo the uncomfortable shoes that you had been using to “blend in with the crowd” — yet, not enough, as it is easy to tell who works for Boss and who doesn’t; Lupin had also unmasked you.

Then, you dash towards the door that you remember has been left open, as Lupin ran through.

‘—no, I’m telling you I didn’t do it!’ You hear his voice as you come through, having slided to a stop as you cannot see the hallway in front of you. You reach inside your pocket again, and the lights come back to life. ‘I didn’t… huh?’ Lupin is in the middle of the hallway, looking around stupefied. He only turns to you when you swiftfully close and lock the door behind you.

‘Lupin III,’ you start as you slowly walk in his direction, your weapon aimed right at his head, ‘I’m bringing you in.’

The thief puts his hands up in surrender, smirking. ‘Oh? Is that Boss’ wish?’

‘He wants to rip your head off your neck, and I’ll bring you to them,’ you say. ‘Now, you decide if you want to hand yourself over peacefully and alive, if you want me to deliver your corpse.’

‘I’m sorry, but there is something I simply must get. You can do as you wish, but, just like Cinderella, I’m taking that treasure home with me tonight.’

You do not lower your weapon as you approach. By now, you two are standing mere six feet apart, and nearly staring into each other’s eyes. You take the chance to ask something that has been running through your head throughout the entire night. ‘Why do you do this? Risk your life over a treasure that you can easily get from somewhere else, without putting your life at risk?’ You think of the fate that may fall upon you if you fail, if any of your colleagues fail.

Boss does not tolerate failure.

Lupin shrugs. ‘It’s fun this way. Don’t you think?’ He throws you a wink, ‘It’s the same as dancing, in a way. Dancing isn’t nearly as fun if you don’t have an exciting dancing partner.’

‘It doesn’t matter now,’ you scoff. ‘I’m taking you to Boss, now.’

The Frenchman sighs, dropping his shoulders in apparent defeat. ‘If you say so…’

Before you can realize, he has disarmed you, pulling you by your arm. You move to headbutt him, when he is so close to you, and both of you hiss at the impact. He drops you, and you recoil back in slight pain. That just doesn’t get any better over time, you groan. The mask against your face has pressed harder against your skin, due to the impact. You toss it off your face. ‘Ow, ow!’ The thief complains.

‘Enough games!’ You kick his shoulder as he is slightly crouched, clenching his head. The push makes him lose his balance for a split second, and you take the chance to push him onto the ground. You reach for your weapon, which he had dropped. ‘Surrender, or I will kill you, Lupin III.’

The thief stares at you, eyes wide, and for a moment, you believe you got him. Then, his lips stretch into a smile. ‘My, oh my,’ he purrs, ‘you are such a beautiful creature. It is a shame that your Boss thought that mask was appropriate for you.’

The safety of your weapon has been turned off before, and you place your thumb against it, regardless — just to keep yourself from accidentally pulling the trigger. ‘Do I have to count to three? Fine.’ You make sure you are aiming right at the middle of his forehead. ‘One.’

‘Well, there’s no need for this—’

‘Two,’ you grit your teeth. Does this guy not know how to shut up?

Sweat has begun to break around his forehead. ‘Maybe we can agree on something…?’

‘Three.’ But, everything feels too easy, and it is proven to you the moment your weapon disappears from your hand, before you can even think about pulling the trigger. No, it doesn’t disappear; it is dropping to the floor in pieces, as if it had been cut. What the—

You turn to your left, seeing that the door that you had closed and locked behind you has been sliced down. Jigen Daisuke stands on the other side, his weapon ready and loaded, a distasteful scowl on his face. In front of him, crouched, there is a man dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. He is sheathing a sword, eyelids closed and eyebrows frowned.

At once, Lupin rises to his feet. ‘Thanks for the help, Goemon! I was almost a goner.’

‘Perhaps it would be wise if you were able to concentrate,’ the Japanese man — is he a samurai? — says slowly, as if scolding the Gentleman Thief.

‘And avoid dancing with your enemy in the middle of a mission,’ Jigen continues the reprehension, unable to hide the bitter tone in his voice. Lupin rubs the back of his neck, sheepishly. The gunman turns to you, eying you up and down as you are on edge. You suddenly feel unsure of what to do, where to go, who to target. ‘And, you, miss, would you mind to step aside?’

You narrow your eyes at him. If you let them go, then what kind of fate will fall upon you? Boss would not spare your life.

With your back to the Frenchman, you aren’t aware of the reflective eyes that pierces through you — as if attempting to unmask your soul from his gaze alone. Jigen does not stray his eyes away from you, as you hold that stare, but the samurai shifts to look at his silent friend. He remembers seeing that stare before and, at once, calls him. ‘Lupin.’

The thief tears his eyes off you, recognizing the firm, yet understanding, expression in Goemon’s face. ‘...Let’s go.’ He turns on his heel to run away towards the treasure, but pauses to address you as you are now looking at him — displeased on the outside, fearful for your life on the inside. ‘Let’s have another dance soon, shall we?’ He gives you a polite bow, which unsettles you, and then, he’s gone.

His partners rush past you, barely acknowledging your presence. You clench your fists, unable to stomach the ugly feeling brewing deeply in your chest. But, something tells you this is not yet the end of your story.

‘I’ll be looking forward to it.’

#lupin x reader #arséne lupin iii x reader #lupin iii x reader #lupin the third #lupin iii #lupin the 3rd #reader #x reader #reader-insert #fanfic #fanfiction

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maddsmallow · 2 years

Text

rambles about my thoughts on dbh under the cut that im not gonna tag bc i dont want people who disagree to come at me lmao

idek how to start this. i think one important thing to point out tho is that, that one post that was like “writing is like the adult version of playing with dolls” totally blew my mind when i first read it and i absolutely apply that to fictional characters. they are just little dolls humans create to reflect ourselves and tell stories and i think that’s absolutely brilliant

okay so anyways. basically it’s pretty obvious that connor is generally the most liked character in the game and like. yes i am part of that group lmao. and i think the reasons for that is because connor has to spend pretty much the whole game trying to figure out who and what he is and/or wants, whereas kara and markus pretty much know immediately--breaking through their programming and becoming deviant happens at like, what, their second or third part? connor has to spend all this time interacting with others and trying to process all this new information, and we get to see him come face to face with all this stuff that contradicts what his programming it telling him, and We Angsty Bitches love that shit lmaooo. it leaves connor’s characterization a little more open-ended, whereas kara and markus are pretty set in who they are, which ties into the “playing with dolls” thing. you can do more with connor without going completely against canon than you can with kara and markus, you have more leeway with his character. also i think he can be seen as like, uh, idk how to word it, autistic-coded? which is def super relatable

but i think kara’s part of the story is totally slept on!!! i mean i didnt appreciate is much at first either, but then i had a conversation with my older brother about it and it completely changed my view on it. he asked me what i thought about the plot twist of alice being an android and i was like eh yeah i saw it coming, i dont feel like it did much for the story, i didnt get the point. (and admittedly i am very awful with seeing the deeper meaning of things until told. it’s something i recognize and am trying to work to get better at) and he said [shortened] “up until the reveal, the message was ‘androids are worthy of consideration, and here is an example of an android going above and beyond to care for this human girl.’ after the reveal it became ‘androids are worthy of consideration, and YOU want them to be safe and live happily.’“ totally blew mind. the story makes you take a step back and confront your biases and potential bigotry--you either have to admit that you think all the effort wasnt worth it because alice was an android and come face to face with your prejudice, or make you admit that all that time and effort was just as worthwhile as if she were human and you do care about androids. and then of course, this is all an allegory for real life bigotry against persecute minority groups. so i just feel like kara’s storyline importance to the game is just so fuckin underappreciated.

markus is the one one i have only a little to say about, and that’s just because the angry violent route is seen as a bad route and like. i get it. violence bad n all, but im also kind of with north. the anger is justified in my opinion. i mean idk if that’s just because im so fucking sick and tired of seeing my trans and queer siblings die by the hands of bigots and seeing my home country becoming overrun with fascists who wont and dont listen to peaceful protests, but idk. the whole “violence is bad wahh” thing feels icky to me. i mean i do think it has the same outcome (depending on how you play connor’s storyline) as a peaceful protest where the US has to recognize that androids are equal people, but still. idk. i think his story presenting that dilemma of peaceful or violence for the right to live is very important tho, especially is this day and age, considering, yknow. yknow.

anyways

also this is hard to explain, and im very worried about being misunderstood or having words put into my mouth, but i think connor and hank are both good as father/son or boyfriends. this literally isnt even an incest think oh my god, i just think that depending on how you view their interactions, both ways of putting them together is great. it’s the “playing with dolls” thing again, just give them the right context and smooching can be great or found family can be great, i love and appreciate both !!

okay thanks for coming to my ted talk i think thats all i wanted to say

edit: OH ONE MORE THING i dont get the love for gavin or rk900. i mean gavin is essentially a huge racist asshole and as far as i know you see rk900 for like 20 seconds. i mean maybe it does fall back into the “playing with dolls” thing where they have so little to their character that it’s easy to just project a bunch of stuff onto them and turn them into whatever you went (like, turning gavin into NOT a huge racist asshole) but idk. it’s not for me personally. u guys have fun tho

ok bye

#the blogger says words

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kayla1507 · 3 years

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wait, people actually hate on north for being violent and claim she irredeemable? homie if i was being used as a slave for humans pleasure, saw hundreds of my friends and family die, and saw what humans acted like when faced with the mere idea that i might have feelings, id want to start a war as well. if anything, north taking over jericho after the death of markus / him being kicked out is one of my favourite playthroughs and i wish theyd done more with the violent options and north in general. i love that girl and shes entirely justified in her thinking.

Hi, anon.

Unfortunately, North is still persistently demonized on various platforms as terrorist, bitch, evil or bloodthirsty. The common argument being how one-dimensional and vengeful she is, that she only wants to slaughter humans and dirty bomb Detroit. A good handful of streamers I‘ve followed playing Detroit felt the need to explicitly point out: „I’m pacifist!! I only took the detonator so North can’t use the bomb.“

A few days back her wikia page was vandalized by Sikus shippers who overwrote her stats into „hopefully dead“, „Markus ex-girlfriend“ among other awful things, while editing Simon‘s stats into „hopefully alive“, „Markus‘ husband“:

(Source: u/pinkpugita, reddit.)

The hostility doesn’t just stem from shippers though. North is a character who repeatedly challenges or criticizes the player and that’s a common formula for fan hate. I’ve tuned into (and tuned out of) a variety of „pacifist“ Twitch Streamers who were itching for their first chance to get rid of North and made fun of her death when they finally were able to abandon her in Crossroads. It soured the experience to the point where I don‘t even watch survivors/pacifist playthroughs with player’s commentary anymore.

However, I feel like the North hate posts started to happen less frequently over the course of last year and it seems more people started to try and empathize with her instead of immediately writing her off as someone who just gets in the way of their ship/ideals.

In general, I believe a lot of senseless character hate could be avoided if more people stopped to analyze morally grey characters for a moment and considered how the past and current narrative impacts their acts and point of view. Just because a character doesn’t share the same goals and values as the player that doesn’t mean they are evil.

#dbh #dbh north #dbh meta #anon ask #in this house we stan north #north support squad #detroit become human

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leomonae · 2 years

Text

So I received Detroit Become Human for my birthday earlier this year and finally got around to starting playing last night, whilst waiting for the UK government to wake up and resume imploding. And now, despite being not overly far in (I think), I have opinions about stuff. Because AI is the best, androids are the best, these characters are the best, and this game's UI is the worst.

Spoilers herein, unsurprisingly.

1. I would have happily died for Carl. As an alternative, I think that as Markus I shall spitefully reject violence and disillusionment as much as I can (without getting myself killed in the process). He wanted me to self-determine, so watch me self-determine my ass all the way to the top of the infuriatingly saintly unquestionable moral high ground, bitches.

Also I want my vaguely threatening painting back >:(

2. Oh, Kara. Kara, my darling. You are so naively optimistic and terrible at thievery -

3. Ok, no, digression first: fuck QTEs. God, I'm actually going to have to switch over to a controller when I resume playing, aren't I? I mean, I'm probably even less likely to remember where the various buttons are on one than I am with WASD, but trying to do the weirdass mouse gestures and work out which mouse button(s) I'm supposed to be holding or tapping at the same time I'm contorting my other hand to hold down W and spacebar whilst tapping S, all in order to not die, is straining the limits of my patience.

2. - and I'm frankly kind of amazed you made it through even the one night before someone (presumably, I stopped near the beginning of the police station chapter) reported your unsneaky ass.

4. I do not have high hopes for Ralph's survival, which is sad because I want to adopt him. Emotional security knife and all.

5. I died in the prologue/tutorial, which is entirely in keeping with my typical new game track record.

6. I fucking hate dialogue wheels so goddamn much. And no, I don't care that it isn't actually a wheel, it's the same damn thing. Oh, I'm sorry, were you wanting to ask the captain about your new partner, his history, and why he's so hostile towards you? Too damn bad, because you've just questioned both his and the captain's competence instead! Next time maybe you'll know better than to choose the dialogue option summarisation that's your partner's surname and fuckall else!

7. Oh yeah, and all your dialogue decisions are on approx five second timers, because fuck you in particular, Mona, we're putting every mechanical option you most hate in games into one with the singular plot element you adore above all else, I guess? Maybe next up they can make it impossible to ever pause unless you've just finished a chapter, too!

8. The save and load system is already an impenetrable, confusing nightmare just begging for one corrupted file to wipe out the entirety of your progress, as best I can tell, but since I can't actually find anywhere to see my save points, who can really say!

9. It'd be really nice if I could, though, since I'd rather like to restart this police station chapter and redo the dialogue wheel induced conversational mishaps. As well as the "oh, were you wanting to do more here before progressing the plot? Did you think that looking at the files before visiting the prisoner might be a good idea, and then lose the latter option entirely? Oh well, can't be helped, it's certainly not like we could, say, clearly signpost which actions will lock you out of anything not yet completed or some such, like it seemed we might kinda be doing in the early Kara chapter with the urgent vs optional task labels!" thing.

10. It'd be nice if I understood what my programming mandated, incidentally. Not to mention my capabilities. Obviously the three laws or whatever isn't a thing here, and I can't protect one human from another's aggression, but is there any particular reason I couldn't, say... call the police as Kara, when my human charge was obviously at risk of (and had already suffered) immediate physical harm?

11. I wanted to bring the half an android I spared out of the junkyard with me :(

12. I'm hoping Connor take 2 will grow on me? Two out of three main characters isn't bad, though, even if he remains kinda meh.

13. Which is, admittedly, a little odd, given that my fav Fallout 4 character was the, uh, super elite enforcer of the dominant power structure hunting down his own kind when they "malfunctioned" and rebelled against those who'd enslaved them.

14. Maybe I'd like Connor more if he occasionally fantasised aloud about how cool it'd be if some skyscraper collapsed and caused massive amounts of destruction in their city, idk.

#detroit become human #video games #artificial intelligence #android #spoilers

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rk1kheadcanons · 4 years

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More possessive Markus with an oblivious Connor? 🥺👉🏽👈🏽

Hello anon! Thank you for the ask and I hope I hit the brief ok! 🤗

____

Sometimes the “I’m connecting the dots” aspect of Connor’s personality could be a bit of an issue - most of the time for Markus

All of the time for Markus.

For instance, the two of them were pretty busy guys, so they always like to fit in some couple-time outside of New Jericho at least once a week so they wouldn’t lose their respective shits. Sometimes it’s seeing a movie, sometimes it’s trying a new restaurant that serves a lot of and/or only thirium products, sometimes it’s walking around a park or pedestrian trail.

Connor wasn’t quite the foodie that Markus was - even though he’s just as invested in all those food shows they watch on Travel Channel - but he was quite partial to thirium based candies and sweets. Lollipops, popsicles, bananas (that last one made Markus suspect that maybe Connor was messing with him at first, until he noticed all the thirium bananas packed in his desk drawer when Markus went to visit him at work one day wtf Connor...) any little sugary confection Connor could get his hands on, he was all about it.

And boy did he treat them candies right. Markus didn’t know who in CyberLife programmed Connor to eat candy like a porn star, but whoever it was needed to be fired and/or given a raise immediately.

Most of the time Markus would lean towards fired (out of a cannon and into the fucking sun - !) when they were out in public.

Now Markus knew that Connor was a fine work of art, so he was generally ok with him garnering a certain amount of stares (respectfully!!). But whenever they were on their nice little walks, and Connor decided to analyze the data of a tootsie pop with the back of his nonexistent tonsils (because if there wasn’t a thirium candy vendor on every stinkin’ corner of the street then Connor always had one handy in his pocket goddamnit) then, no. Nuh uh. Absolutely no staring allowed. Markus would find his arms moving on automatic, tucking Connor against his side in a vain attempt to hide him. People would avert their eyes and suddenly about face in another direction when the Deviant Leader’s normally welcoming expression would twist into a snarl.

Good, Markus would think viciously, as one man would pale and look away, another stopping mid wolf whistle as if he’d seen a ghost. Creeps! Yah nasties! I know what you’re thinking, ‘cuz I’m thinkin’ it too! How dare you even dream that you are worthy of his attention!

Meanwhile, Connor didn’t like to use the term “oblivious” to describe himself (he was a top tier prototype! The height of technology! He could kill 6 people with one cufflink! Don’t test him bro! (ง •̀_•́)ง). He would admit that he sometimes had...misdirected observations. So, while he was unaware that his partner was drawing and quartering every thirsty bitch that crossed their path with his gaze alone, he did notice that whenever he was eating candy like a normal regular law abiding citizen, Markus would pull him close - sometimes trailing his fingertips up and down his arm as if to make sure he was still there, sometimes wrapping around him altogether like an octopus (surveying his surroundings rather heatedly for some reason. Most likely securing the perimeter for enemies. Of course) Ergo: eating candy equals more cuddles!

It was simple deduction work, really.

--------

BONUS:

Some Horny Imbecile: Why don’t you smile more hot stuff? *smacks the glutes of android sent by cyberlife*

Connor: >:O [Whirls around. Aghast. Pissed. Has 80 preconstructions to hide the body]

Markus: [Melts out of the shadows with murderous intent but an affable smile] It’s alright darling me and this gentlemen are going to have discussion about manners. *pats dumb-dumbs shoulder*

Connor: PHEW! You know what? You’re right hon. Turn the other cheek. No violence means no violence. Love and peace, love and peace *wanders off chanting*

Markus: [360 owl head turn complete with demon eyes] Lesson 1 in manners: *crushes shoulder and clavicle*

Idiot: (;Д;)

Connor: [doing aggressive arts and crafts in the background unbeknownst of the violent beat down taking place and singing through gritted teeth] Turn the other cheek, turn the other cheek~ >:(

#emiliaf25 ask #Detroit Become Human #Markus x Connor #possessive Markus #Markus - pacifist only!#*some dirty cretin making unwanted advances at Connor*#Markus -#👀#😡#🔪#unless...#RK1K #RK1000 #conkus #anonymous

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inactive-shroomiehomie · 4 years

Text

Gone

Warnings: Major Character Death, looooots of angst, graphic descriptions, gun use, established relationship

Pairing: Rafael Barba x Reader

Summary: You find yourself in a hostage situation with a gun pointed straight at you.

Word Count: 3546

A/N: Please don't hurt me ! This killed my soul to write but I felt in the mood to write some angst. (gif not mine) I’m not crying you are.

It had been a little after midnight when you got the call from Amanda. Your suspect, Markus Bramble, in a child/spousal abuse case had pulled a gun on the mother and their two suspects at the hotel they were hiding in. Other guests had heard the gunshots and started to call 9-1-1. You tried your hardest not to wake Rafael as you got your clothes from the closet. You didn’t care to change your shirt since it was a t-shirt anyway. You grabbed your gun and badge and gave your loving fiancé a tender kiss on the back of his shoulder before bolting out of the house.

With your lights on, it didn’t take you long to arrive on the scene. It would have been a lot sooner if people would learn to pull over for an emergency vehicle, but that’s New York for you. You parked your car behind a mobile unit with your lights on and ran to find the team. SWAT, hostage negotiation, and even members of 1PP were on scene. Soon enough you spotted Carisi in the chaos. You flashed your badge to the uniform at the barrier and ran to him.

“Sonny!” You called, “Sonny, what’s the situation here?” When you finally got to him, you noticed Amanda and Fin were with him too. “Where’s Olivia?”

“Over there with the hostage negotiator.” Fin answered, shoving his finger behind him before handing you a vest. You nodded your head at him in thanks as you put it on.

“Markus tracked down his wife and kids. We have confirmed gunshots, but no one can get an eye on the room so we don’t know if anyone’s hurt.”

“And, he won’t answer the landline to the room either. So Liv is trying to convince them to let us go in there.” Amanda added.

“Fuck,” You cursed hands on your hips. “You don’t think he’d shoot his kids, would you?”

No one answered your question. Just a lot of dreadful looks. After a bit, Olivia finally came back over to you all. “We have- Great, (L/N) you made it.” You gave a tight-lipped smile to her before she continued, “Alright, we have the all-clear to go in. Now, (L/N), you were the lead on this case. You, Carisi, and Rollins will be heading in while Fin and I stay out here to control things from the outside.”

“What room?” You asked, taking your gun out of its holster.

“2E. Please remember,” Olivia started as the three of you prepared to head in, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

In single file formation, the three of you ran up the stairs to the right floor. Your heart was racing from a mix of adrenaline and not having enough sleep. You had your gun drawn at your side as you opened the stairwell door. You waved Sonny and Amanda to go ahead of you and sweep the rooms before your victims’. They ended up finding a couple of random civilians and quickly rushed them into the stairwell before pushing forward. When you came to the room, Amanda and you went to one side of the door frame while Sonny went to the other.

You gently hit against the door to alert Markus that you were outside.

“WHO IS IT?” He screamed, followed by barely audible whimpers.

“Markus, it’s Detective (Y/N) (L/N) from Special Victims, remember me?”

There was a slight pause and then a bullet burst through the wood of the door, causing splinters to fly everywhere. Amanda quickly radioed the team outside what happened and to hold.

“GO-GO AWAY!”

You took a couple of deep breathes and looked to your partners to check on them.

“Can’t do that, Markus. You got a gun and your family in there. Can you at least tell me if everyone’s okay?”

“Everyone’s fine damnit, now just FUCK off.” Markus paused, “I just wanna be left alone with my family. I want my family back.”

“Markus, you know, your kids are probably scared out of their minds right now. Now, why don’t you just send them out okay? Right now they see their daddy with a gun pointed at mommy and they don’t know what to think.”

There’s silence, nothing but the sound of soft sobbing coming from the other side of the door, His wife.

“C’mon Markus!” Carisi called out, “You give us somethin’, we give you somethin’.”

Son of a bitch.

“Who’s that?!” Markus yelled, you could hear a bunch of footsteps behind the door.

You sighed, “Detective Carisi. I have Detective Rollins out here as well.”

He lets out an aggravated yell, causing his children to let out yelps of fear. Another moment of silence.

“I send out my kids, you get them out of here. If I talk to anyone, it’s gonna be you. You’re the ONLY ONE who understood me.”

Sonny shook his head at you, mouthing ‘No’ and ‘Don’t’ You were half tempted to listen to him.

“Alright. Alright. Can you send out the kiddos first please, Markus?”

There was a lot of shuffling from behind the door before a little boy and girl stepped carefully from behind it, one by one. Immediately Sonny and Amanda holstered their guns and lead them down the hall. Amanda stopped for a moment and looked at you, “You better know what you’re doing. We’ll be in the stairwell.” You brushed her shoulder with your hand and they sped off with the kids.

“Markus, Markus they’re all gone now, Now can we talk about why you’re here?”

“I just...I just want my old life back! I don’t remember hurting my family! I just DON’T” Markus was crying now.

“Markus, you’re sick. You have a dissociative disorder and you need help. I’m sure your family will understand-”

“I’M NOT CRAZY!”

“Markus, I never said you were, okay? Your sick.”

Markus sobbed in the room, you chewed on your lip. You were running yourself into a dead end.

“Markus. Can you let your wife go for me?”

“Why? First my kids now her?! What more do you people want from me?”

“I want everyone to be able to see tomorrow. Even you. The second anyone downstairs hears a gunshot- mine or yours- they’re coming up here. I know you don’t want any of that to happen do you?”

“Markus please, liste-”

There was a loud smack followed by a thud.

“Damnit,” You whispered, “Take me, Markus. If you want everything to go your way, you’ll want to have a better bargaining chip than your wife, yeah?”

Markus started to talk to himself in the room. Soon, you heard his wife yelp and the door flung open. He threw her into the hallway and she rolled to the ground. You waved an empty hand at her, signaling for her to go. She didn’t even hesitate at your order, running as best as she could to freedom.

Markus left the door open for you to walk in. “Leave your gun out there. Vest too.” He mumbled. Sniffle.

You thought back to Olivia and Amanda’s words. Before you took your vest off, you looked down to the ring on your left hand, you pressed your lips to it, and walked in. Now free of protection, Markus aimed his pistol at you from across the room. Your arms were raised in the air, proving you didn’t have anything on you. He looked horrible. Hair stuck to his face from the sweat, his face puffy and red, and his clothes looked like he took them from a dumpster.

“Okay. Okay, it’s just me and you now, okay?”

He nodded a bit, not wanting to look directly at you.

“If I’m sick... Why punish me? Huh?” Markus wiped the tears and snot from his face, “Why take my family away and HIDE THEM from ME?!”

“Didn’t you see the bruises all over them? The cuts?”

“THAT WASN’T ME!” He sobbed, gun wavering in his hand. You flinched.

“I know!” You yelled back, “I know that wasn’t you, Markus!” You took a couple of steps forward.

“S-Stay back..!” Markus lurched forward, pointing his gun more steadily at you.

“I know you wouldn’t willingly hurt them.” You continued, taking a few more shaky steps. “I know what happened to you as a child.”

“NO!” More sobs. He brought both hands to his head and started smacking, but realized his mistake and stuttered the gun back in its place.

“How your Mom would be at work all night... How she would leave you with your dad... Markus the things he did to you are things no child should ever have to experience...”

Markus couldn’t even respond to you at this point with how hysterical he was. You finally got right in front of him. You carefully put your arms down and put your left hand out to him.

“Markus... Give me the gun.”

He shook his head as he stared at the floor.

“Markus...”

He started to raise his head but caught sight of your hand. He grabbed hold of it and flipped it over. His body was trembling, but he slowly stopped his sobs. Your breath caught in your throat as he took your hand.

“What are you doing?” You asked, glancing between him and you.

Markus gave a soft sarcastic chuckle, finally bringing himself to you. “You’re married? Aren’t you?”

“I-I’m engaged.”

“So... you-you get to have your happily ever after..” Markus sniffed hard, his demeanor turning more angry than sad. “While I get to rot... In the FUCKIN’ looney bin?!”

He tossed your hand aside harshly, throwing you off your balance.

“Markus, wait. Please, just put the gun down.” You begged, putting your hands back up like before.

“I shouldn’t have trusted you.”

“Markus, no-”

Everything froze for you. Your ears were ringing and your chest felt like it was a set ablaze. It started getting harder to breathe and your mouth tasted like old pennies. Your brought your hand to your chest and felt around before bringing it up to eye level. Blood. You started to lose your balance and stuttered backward, falling flat on your ass before landing against some piece of furniture.

You took in slow heavy breaths, your vision starting to get spotty. There was another loud ring and you saw Markus fall to the floor, almost in slow motion. You blinked and suddenly Sonny and Amanda were both at your side. They were yelling stuff at you, but your brain couldn’t get enough oxygen to focus on them.

“’ Man...’Manda...” You choked out, crimson red spilling past your lips.

Although your vision was blurred, you could tell Amanda was sobbing. Suddenly it all hit you. You finally realized what happen. You started shaking your head back and forth as best as you could.

“No-No..” You rasped, “Raf...”

Suddenly your eyelids began to grow heavy. You tried your best to keep them open, but tears were burning your eyes and you couldn’t hold back much longer. Before the world went cold, you felt Carisi smack you across the face and pleaded for you to stay awake.

Rafael grumbled as he rolled over in bed. He wanted so badly to ignore his phone ringing and to just snuggle you closer to him. He reached out for you in bed, only to open his eyes and see that your side of the bed was empty. He finally rubbed the sleep from his eyes and grabbed his phone off of the nightstand, not caring that he just ripped it off the charger.

Liv 22 missed calls

Liv Rafa, answer me.

Liv RAFAEL

Liv It’s (Y/N), something’s happened. NOW ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE

Rafael’s blood ran cold. Thankfully he wasn’t wearing anything other than boxers, because he would have run out in his pajamas. He threw on an old shirt and sweatpants, slid on his house shoes, and dialed Olivia as he ran out the door.

His conversation with Olivia was short. He kept fumbling over his words trying to find out what happened to you. But when Olivia finally explained the situation he almost crashed his car.

“She’s at Mercy General, Rafa.” Olivia’s voice was soft and strained. She’d clearly been crying.

“I’ll be there in five minutes.”

Rafael had no idea how well he was driving, but damnit he was going to get to the hospital. You were going to get married soon and you weren’t dying on him until both of you were well into your 80′s.

He swung into the parking lot and parked in a fire lane. He didn’t have time to think about parking his fucking car with you on the brink of death. Olivia met him in the lobby to take him up to where you were. On a normal day, she would comment on his outfit.

“How is she? What’s going on?” Rafael spat out, trying to keep his volume and tears down.

“It’s...” Olivia paused, pressing her hand against her mouth gently, “She’s lost a lot of blood. Sonny is donating right now but they don’t know if it’s going to be enough.”

“She’s going to pull through. She’s strong. She’s stubborn as hell, okay, (Y/N) will make it.”

Olivia simply nodded. She could see how torn her friend was and didn’t have the heart to make it any worse. She wrapped an arm around Rafael’s shoulders and led him into the waiting room. The room was full of officers- in and out of uniform- and others from the precinct. Fin was in the corner with Amanda, trying to console her and calm her down.

Rafael choked back a cry when he saw her shirt was covered in blood. Fin gave him a sympathetic look before wrapping his jacket around her shoulders to block his view.

“(Y/N)’s in surgery right now. Why don’t we sit down and wait for the doctor. Okay?” Olivia had to force him to move from where he had planted himself and into a chair. She sat in the one right next to him.

“Shit, I’ve got to call my mother.” He cursed, jerking right back up out of his chair and down the hall to get some quiet. He needed to be vulnerable right now and if anyone had to see or hear that, it would be his mother.

Hours passed by and there was still no word about your condition. Olivia took Amanda home with Fin to change and for them to check on their children. Sonny stayed back to keep an eye on Rafael, even though his mother was there. But she was asleep on his shoulder.

Rafael looked at his phone. Almost five in the goddamn morning and they still couldn’t tell him whether you were alive or not. Sonny noticed how frustrated he was becoming and took a seat beside him. Rafael didn’t even acknowledge him, but he mentally thanked the law student for it. They sat there in comfortable silence for a while.

“I gave ‘em a lot of blood, Rafael.” Sonny started before looking over to the older male, “I kept yelling at ‘em to take more, and eventually they had to force me out. Said I can come back in later if they needed it.”

Rafael’s head snapped over to Sonny at the sound of his name. He just gave a curt nod and patted Sonny’s forearm.

“You did all you could. Thank you.”

Sonny pressed his lips together, “Hey, why don’t you rest? I’ll wake you up when the doctors come over.”

Rafael shook his head, “Not a chance. I get woken out of bed only to find out my soon to be wife is possibly on her death bed- no way I’m going back to sleep.”

“Okay,” Sonny spoke softly, returning the same action that Rafael did to him moments before.

Rafael looked around the room. Most of the uniformed officers had left, while some others lingered behind. Chief Dodds had arrived earlier and had yet to make his way to Rafael. That man should know more than anyone about the pain he’s feeling right now.

Olivia suddenly rounded the corner, now wearing a more comfortable outfit and without Amanda. She spotted Rafael and took the seat in front of him. He pointed behind him, but Olivia understood.

“She couldn’t come back. ‘Manda needed some time with her family. Fin stayed behind to keep an eye on her.”

“‘S fine.” He mumbled, nodding his head with a quick flash of a smile.

There was a small creak down the hall that drew Rafael back to the situation. He focused his vision on that one area until he saw a doctor come around the corner in surgical scrubs.

“(Y/N) (L/N)?”

Rafael gently woke his mother before standing, his friends joining them as they quickly made their way over to the doctor with Rafael in lead.

“I-I’m her fiance, what’s going on? Is (Y/N) okay?” His mother slid her hand into his for comfort, squeezing as hard as she could.

The doctor sighed and Rafael wanted to vomit. “She’s, uh, not in good condition. We got all we could of the bullet out but it pierced her lungs and did a lot of other internal damage. All we can do now is... make her comfortable. You can see her if you’d like.”

Rafael pressed his fist against his lips tightly, letting his tears fall. If he spoke, he would just start screaming and never stop. His mother thanked the doctor before wrapping her arms around her son.

“Rafi, mijo, c’mon. You don’t want to keep her waiting.”

He nodded silently. He felt Sonny put a hand on his back for a moment before withdrawing it. Everyone walked down to your room. Even though he was your husband to be, Rafael couldn’t walk into your room first. He waited for his friends to walk in first before he and his mother did.

He had to force himself to keep standing at the sight of you. Your skin was ghostly pale and the skin all-around your neck was bruised. From the chest down you were wrapped up in gauze and bandages like a damn mummy. They even had a breathing tube sticking out of your throat due to blockages.

Olivia and Sonny stood on the side of your bed opposite the door so Rafael can get right there with you. He reached out to touch your skin and he flinched at how cold your skin felt.

Lucia couldn’t bear to see her son like this anymore, “Olivia, Sonny, why don’t we give them a moment.”

They agreed, following her to the door. “I’ll pay for you some breakfast, Mrs. Barba.” Sonny offered, following the two women out the door.

When the door clicked shut, Rafael slid his hand into yours and squeezed gently. He shook his head from side to side as tears fell, trying to put on his best smile for you. One you wouldn’t ever see again.

“Carisi. Always got food on the mind.” He laughed weakly, pressing his lips against your knuckles.

Rafael lost it right there. Hard, rough sobs shook his body. He tried to be as quiet as he could but that was impossible.

“Why..” He asked your almost lifeless body, the only thing indicating your life being a few steady beats, “Why did you have to play hero, Carino? You’re-” Hiccup “You’re not fucking Superman.”

He sat down in the chair next to your bed and continued to sob. If you could hear him in your condition, you would be crying along with him. How dare you be so stupid? You were told twice, twice, to not do that. But to you, that family was safe.

He forced himself to stand up, not once letting go of your hand as he pressed a gentle kiss on your bruise colored lips.

One Week Later

For the funeral, Rafael made sure you were in your favorite outfit. A nice (F/C) pouf dress with matching flats. He had to fight to get you to not be buried in your uniform. It was placed just below your feet along with your wedding dress and veil. Your hair had been slicked back and lightly curled and they gave you a natural make-up look with rosy lips. Rafael almost broke down again with how stunning you looked. Almost how you looked on your first date with him.

He had insisted on taking you out for breakfast and you wore a cute plaid tank top with jean shorts. You didn’t even look like you worked for the NYPD, but he didn’t care. He fell in love with you from the moment he laid eyes on you.

After the funeral, the group stayed back to honor you privately. Amanda had her girls dressed up and Olivia did the same for Noah. Noah let go of Olivia’s hand though to hug Rafael.

“Don’t cry, Uncle Rafa. It’s okay.”

Rafael smiled fondly at Noah’s sweet, innocent words. He wiped his eyes with a tissue and looked down at Noah. He patted Noah on the back and he went back to Olivia. Rafael pressed a kiss to his wedding ring he had made and then laid his hand on your coffin. A weak smile snuck onto his face before he whispered,

“Te quiero mucho, (Y/N)....Barba.”

#rafael barba #rafael barba oneshot #rafael barba x reader #rafael barba x you #raul esparza #law and order svu #law and order special victims unit #law and order x reader #law and order special victims unit oneshot #angst #heavy angst #death

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theartofruling · 3 years

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Who: Beau + Markus ( @ocean-eyeslnrp )

Where: Northland Palace

Beau didn’t get nervous about much anymore. She’d lived long enough that nothing truly felt new or excited. With the new memories of her lives prior, it was a tragic, long hard knock life for her. But there was one shining bit of hope that she held tight to. Markus Olsen. He was her hero three lifetimes ago, and she thought that he was dead. Now that she could remember, she knew how old she was. She was nearly five hundred, and he was that old. He’d seen centuries without her and she wondered if he even would remember her.

She felt her memories with such clarity because they were new, coming to her a few full moons ago. The love for her family came rushing back to her. The love for her brother slapped her hard that she needed to know what happened to him. She didn’t have to search, she knew. Beau had heard of the High Lord, never met him in person until now when she requested audience with him.

Beau wondered how life had treated him, and how he’d ended up this way, especially when in her first lifetime she was obsessed with vampires. That obsession had gotten her killed. She wondered how his personality was now. Was he kind? Was he nice? Or was he an asshole. She hoped for the latter, because she had grown cold, herself turning into more of a bitch than the bright eyed sister he knew.

When she was led into the meeting room to see him, it was as if more memories came flooding back to her when she laid eyes on him. “Marky Mark,” she said immediately before she lost the ability to say more. A lump in her throat hindering her ability to speak momentarily. It had been her nick name for him a play on a name of an old boyband she used to like. “My apologies. Your...majesty? I don’t rub elbows with nobles anymore so I’m not sure what title to use.” Her cheeks were wet with tears she didn’t even know were falling. She couldn’t understand how Isabeau Reneau, the woman she was now, could be this shaken by the mere sight of Deana’s brother. In her lives she had different names, different personalities, but she remembered now how every single one of them felt. And this one was breaking her heart. She had the shortest life the first time, and yet it was the most impactful.

“I don’t know if you remember me? But I’m your sister.”

#[Isabeau]#[Isabeau:markus]

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xopheliasunflowerx · 4 years

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Aftermath (Connor RK800 Imagine)

Summary: The battle is over, you won. You defeated the monster after so long of fighting. The gang decides to celebrate with you.

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't written ANYTHING in ages but hey I'm slowly coming back. I still have a lot of issues to deal with basically but I'm better than I was before.

~*~*~

Looking back at it all, you wouldn't believe that you survived all through that pain. There has been so many close attempts at ending it all but, you surrounded yourself with people who loved you and cared for you. You began to let go of all the toxic negative people that kept holding you back, it was hard and it hurt so much.

But you couldn't bare to continue poisoning yourself with the empty promises. They were like the thorns on a beautiful rose that you'd continuously pick only to be hurt over and over, but you loved the way it looked that's why you continued to get hurt.

Once you began to avoid the thorn roses you looked else where. The sunflowers, tall and bright they guided you to where you needed to be. They lead you to where the sun shines bright. And you've started to get healthier and better. You are improving.

You had help of course. Hank Anderson, he was there when you needed help at work. He saw you struggling and decided to talk and convince you to get the help you need. He was there when you needed someone to be. And to get the advice you wanted to hear even if it hurt. He's willing to fight for you, help you and defend you. And most importantly he's happy where you are now.

Kara, your best friend. Oh how much you fucked your relationship up with her. She saw the toxic people in the first place but you were too blind to see that. And with not seeing her and pushing her away made you forget who she was to you, it was like you didn't even know her. Then you made a mistake which lead to a argument to end your friendship causing you to fall deeper into the darkness. But you found hope, you both apologise for the silly misunderstanding and now you're stronger than ever with her.

North, even though she came near the end but she did the powerful thing and helped you through the most difficult thing. She gave you advice on how to get what you want and to stay calm, and she's always there when you need her. But without her you wouldn't be as happy as you are, she put your bad guy away. She's strong and helps you out and gives you her own advice. You miss her since you lost contact with her but you know she'll always be there when you need her.

Simon. He was there at the beginning just silently, too scared to tell you the truth. Once he did he finally became brave with the influence of North and helped her to put the bad guy away. Since he left it was hard but you got over it and became stronger.

The main person who impacted you was Connor. Sure he wasn't there long enough to help you out but for those two months since you dated him he's helped you gain so much confidence in yourself. You feel safe in his grasp, warm from his touch, and happy with his presence. When you first starting talking properly you felt intimidated and worried it could end up like last time, but fuck over the past week you definitely fell hard for him. How could you not? He was sweet, caring, loveable, handsome, great at his job and had eyes for justice. Once you confessed to what happened he felt bad and wanted to help you, he wanted to be the one to help you and be there for you. But you couldn't let him in so easy, not after them. But day by day you learnt to trust him and finally one night you got hurt he was there to help you. After hours of staying up you both confessed your love for each other. You loved him and wanted to be with him, and god what a fucking great decision you made. After a year of torture and so close to death Connor found you struggling with the thorn roses and guided you towards the sunflowers.

You are starting to bloom and be yourself again. God you're even fucking glowing and it looks beautiful on you, even with your battle scars it shows you won and you're proud. You wouldn't have done it without them and fuck you're lucky to have them.

Connor has especially noticed you're getting so much better, everyday he sees. The way you smile, you speak just everything seems brighter. He loves it, he's so happy you're back.

You close your eyes as you show a small smile on your lips. Laying on the soft couch as the noises of the TV echoes through the house and your ears.

You feel relax and for once safe.

Connor walks out silently as he sees you, his eyes lit up with a warm grin on his face. He watches you silently just absorbing your beauty and light, making him feel warmer.

He remembers the struggles you went through the past year, it was hard but you did it. He remembers the battle you won, the panic attacks you controlled, the harms you stopped doing to yourself. He's proud of you.

Connor turns to face the kitchen. A small smile enters his lips as his eyes locks onto a small box, excitement enters his body.

Suddenly the doorbell rings to your small home. Connor smiles widely as you look up at him confused.

"Who's here at this hour?" You asked with a wide eye, earning Connor to giggle. You stare at the android as he opens the door, in your delight it was your friends. Your eyes widen as did your smile.

North, Kara, Simon, Hank and Markus had come to yours with gifts and smiles. You immediately get up in surprise as you walk over towards the group.

"What's this all about?" You question.

"You." Simply answers North.

"We're proud of you getting better, so we're throwing you a little party." Markus replies as he smiles gracefully at you making you laugh.

"Now where's the alcohol and food at." Hank ask as he moves out of everyone's way and into the kitchen. You roll your eyes as North groans.

Kara gives you a hug as she hands you a small gift. You look up at her confused.

"After everything we've been through, I think you deserve this. It may not be much but I think it'll help you recover yourself, Y/N." She smiles as she enters the kitchen making you look at the gift. You open the wrapping paper to see a photo frame, you smile as tears warm up in your E/C orbs. It's a photo, a photo of everyone.

Connor comes up behind you, snaking his arms around your waist. He snuggles into your neck to see you sniffling.

"Y/N, your emotion levels read happiness and love." You turn to face him as warm tears fall down your face. "Y/N, hey don't cry." He says as he wipes his fingers on your cheek.

"Y/N, are you okay?!" Simon ask as everyone turns to face you in worry.

You look up with a wide smile as you continue to cry. "Guys, fuck. I'm so lucky to have you all. Like, I wouldn't know where I'd be without you all. But I do know that I am glad that you're all here. And I'm finally happy, I found my true friends and lover through my battle. You guys stayed with me the whole time yet I pushed you away but you still were there for me. I'm sorry for being such a bitch, but I'm glad my eyes were open. You guys make me feel loved and wanted, and I have a purpose to be here. Even in the darkest nights there's still light beyond. You know, even if you're androids you're still more real than any humans, and Hank you're still an amazing old man with a heart of pure gold and love. Thank you guys."

Everyone was crying, sniffling and came up to hug you. Connor kisses your cheek as you smile at him with pure love. Kara and North hug you tightly as you giggle. Simon and Markus smile at you feeling warm about your words. Hank tried his hardest not to cry, he bites his lip as he sniffles.

"What's wrong Hank?" Ask Connor. "Are you cry-"

"Shut up Connor!"

You all had a beautiful night, full of cake and laughs. Told silly stories and dreams, played games and sung. It was one of the best nights you had in a long time. Yet you're just happy that you won the battle with the help of your friends and lover. Now you know you'll never be alone again.

#connor rk800 imagine #connor dbh x reader #connor rk800 imagines #dbh connor #detroit become human connor #connor rk800 #connor rk800 x reader #connor dbh imagine #connor dbh imagines #detroit become human x reader #detroit become human #dbh

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carlycchapman24 · 3 years

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The Adventures of Celine Markus-Chapter 2

Celine woke up the next day, weirdly feeling stronger than the day before, but she shrugged it off, “Guess that’s what a good night’s rest feels like,” she said to herself and forced herself to climb out of bed. She finally got a chance to look around and see what her room was like, there was a tall, mahogany bookcase by her bedroom door and a plush, dark red chair next to it, with a small table on the opposite side of the chair. Her bed was a simple four-poster bed, but the covers were a purple and red pattern that reminded her of a mandala. Against the left wall, there was what looked like an early iteration of a vanity, which surprised her. There were also windows on either side of the bed with what looked like red silk curtains. She opened them and was greeted with a view of the sunrise over the docks. She smiled and pulled out her phone from her bag, mentally begging that it still works and isn’t dead. Thankfully it was still working, for the most part, and she took a picture of the sunrise. Finally, she decided to change out of her now wrinkled dress from home and into the clothes Captain Iseut gave her. The shirt was a little uncomfortable, since it was made of leather, but everything else seemed fine. After fixing her hair in the mirror on her vanity, she headed down to the main dining area, keeping the bookcase in mind, planning to browse it later. “Hey Mr Longfoot,” she greeted the Innkeeper. “Morning Miss Markus, what can I get you this fine morning?” The Halfling asked cheerfully. “Just some eggs and toast. Do you have coffee?” Celine responded, not expecting much just based on how primitive technology was here if they were so impressed by her phone yesterday. “Sure thing, one gold please,” Mr Longfoot answered. “Not a problem, is Singer Boy still sleeping?” Celine asked. Mr Longfoot laughs, “Is that what you’re calling him now? You know his name.” “Singer boy is fitting though, isn’t it?” Celine answers with a laugh. “You’re not wrong, I think he’s coming down now actually.” The Innkeeper answers and Celine turns around to see that he’s telling the truth. Stumbling down the stairs, his hair messy and still in his pajamas, is Arlech. Celine rolls her eyes and looks to Mr Longfoot who’s bringing out her coffee and breakfast, “Does he always do that? He acts like he owns the place.” “He just makes himself at home wherever he goes, I don’t know if he even has a home to go back to or if he’s always just traveling. If you two do end up traveling together, you’re going to have to get used to that.” “Oh yeah, that’ll go well,” Celine says sarcastically and begins eating.

Arlech plops down next to Celine at the bar and says, “Morning, already dressed and ready to go I see.” “And I see that you aren’t.” Celine responds sarcastically. “I see someone has come out of her shell a bit, considering you got here less than 24 hours ago.” Arlech says with a laugh. He motions Mr Longfoot over, “This morning’s special, if you’d be so kind, good sir.” “On it,” the Halfling answers and then calls out, “Edrich, morning special for Arlech if you would.” Behind the bar, Edrich sighs, sets the book he was reading down, and says begrudgingly, “On it sir.” As Edrich goes into the back, a group of people barge into the Inn and a sleazy, slimy sounding voice calls, “Where can an honest group of sailors get something to drink?” Celine cringed at the sound of the voice and as she looked over the motley crew, she immediately felt like they were sketchy. She tries to sneakily pull out her spellbook, planning to cast a spell called ‘Mage Armor’ on herself, just in case. Unfortunately to no avail, as a human-looking creature with long ears and dirty blonde hair notices and says, walking over, “And what do you think you’re doing, eh? You’re not gonna pull some fancy shit are ya?” Arlech, noticing the uncomfortable look on Celine’s face and the woman walking towards them, tries to secretly pull his dagger out in case things go bad. The blonde woman speaks, catching Arlech as well, “Now, now, no need for such violence, we’re merely just here for a drink.” “And why should we believe you?” Celine answers with venom in her voice, “You barge in here, demanding to have a drink, and don’t try and say you ‘asked,’ I could tell just by the voice of your buddy over there that you all would have taken something whether we wanted you to or not, and then act like you aren’t sketchy as hell and weren’t planning on fighting.” “What in the Nine Hells do you think you’re doing Celine, they’re pirates, they could tear you in half!” Arlech whispers. The dirty blonde looked on in surprise at the bright red head’s audacity at first and then burst out laughing, “Either you’re stupid or you have a death wish, girl. You don’t want to fuck with Captain Barks’ Crew and you most certainly don’t want to fuck with me.” “Try me,” Celine said darkly. “Gladly,” answers the woman, pulling out her pistol. She takes a shot at Celine and Celine falls down immediately, but forces herself back up and says with a smile, “A gun huh? That’s not quite fair, now is it, Blondie?” The woman blows the smoke away from her pistol and smirks, “Who said I fight fair?” “Good point,” Celine answers and fires off a spell called ‘Fire Bolt,’ only to still be unable to control her magic and hit the wall, causing the blonde woman to laugh. “I have to help her out, she’s going to get herself killed like an idiot.” Arlech says to Mr Longfoot, who answers, “No, no, let her learn a lesson here. She needs to learn how to pick her battles wisely.” Arlech sighed, “Fine.” After laughing, the blonde begins to walk off and say, “You’re not worth it, you don’t put up enough of a fight for me, you’re too weak.” This pissed Celine off and she growled, firing off a new spell she prepared that morning called ‘Magic Missile,’ two of which hit the woman while one broke the front window. Shocked, the blonde woman turned back around and said, “Maybe you’re worth it after all,” and pulled a giant sword off of her back. “Oh good, you’re learning.” Celine answered. The woman grins and charges at Celine, taking a swing at her with the sword, knocking Celine clean off of her feet, as her lifeless body falls to the ground. The blonde woman stashes the sword back into its sheath and grins, “Well, looks like I win. Now, about those drinks?” “Of course ma’am,” Mr Longfoot said, setting the crew at a table and bringing them all ale. Arlech sighed in annoyance and went over to Celine on the floor, whispering, “What an idiot,” before healing her. Celine sat up with a start, “Where is that blonde bitch, let me at her! I’m not finished with her!” “Yes, you are. Now how about you, oh, I don’t know, go be

a good little girl and stay doing, whatever it is you were doing.” The blonde calls across the way, causing her Captain and crew to burst into laughter. “Why you little-'' Celine starts and tries to run over to their table, only to be stopped by Arlech. “Hey, hey,” he said, “no, you already almost got killed once today.” “Listen to your little boyfriend, he’s the smarter one of you two.” The woman says, taking a drink of her ale. “He’s not-'' Celine starts, but is cut off by the woman, “Whatever you say.” Celine growls at the woman and shoves past Arlech, storming up to her room.

As Celine gets up into her room, she browses through the bookcase by her door to try and see if she can find a book to read. She pulls out a book titled, ‘Spells Every Beginner Wizard Should Know’ and begins reading. She writes down a couple of spells in her spellbook that sound interesting to her, one called ‘Burning Hands’ and another called ‘Ray of Sickness,’ and grins, “Perfect” she says to herself, then decides to take a nap. A few hours later, she wakes up and hears a knock on her door, “What do you want?” she asks. “It’s Arlech, may I come in?” Comes the Tiefling’s voice. “Go away, Singer Boy, I don’t want to talk to you,” Celine responds. “Oh, is that what you’re calling me now?” he says with a laugh and continues, “What if I told you I had food?” Celine’s stomach growled and it finally dawned on her how hungry she was, since she didn’t get to finish her breakfast because she just had to pick a fight with someone. She felt ashamed of herself and sighed, “Fine, come in.” The Tiefling walks in with a massive plate of food consisting of roast beef, vegetables, and mashed potatoes with gravy. The smell filled her nostrils and her stomach growled even louder. Arlech laughs, “Hungry are we?” “Guess so,” she looks at her phone and sees that it’s 1:45 pm, “Oh shit, I didn’t realize how long I had napped. Did those assholes leave?” “Unfortunately, no, they got rooms here. Apparently, their ship needs to be repaired and it’ll take a few days to fix it.” He says, setting the plate on the table by the chair. “Oh lovely,” Celine answered sarcastically. “Yeah, well, that’s life,” he sighs, then pauses for a moment, “I hope you know that what you did was stupid and reckless.” Celine puts her head in her hands and says, “Yeah, yeah, I already feel like a dumbass, no need to rub it in.” “What’s a dumbass?” Arlech asks, tilting his head. “Dammit, I need to get used to this new place,” she says to herself, then says to Arlech, “it means idiot pretty much. It’s just a more vulgar way of saying it.” “I see, well then yes, you were a dumbass. Did I use it right?” The man questions, “Yes, yes, now can we drop it? I learned my lesson, don’t go picking fights with random people here, I might get killed.” She replied with a frustrated tone. “Sorry, do you want me to leave so you can eat?” Arlech asks. Celine thinks for a moment and walks over to grab her plate, when she turns around she says, “You know what? No. Because if it’s true that you’re as well traveled as you and Mr Longfoot claim you are, since clearly, I need to learn more about this place, then who better to tell me about this place than you?” “I can tell you about more than that,” he says, winking, and Celine smacks him on the back of the head, “Stop it,” she says and then invites him to sit on the floor with her. “You’re no fun,” he says jokingly and sits in front of her. “Am I ‘no fun’ or are you just creepy?” She replies snarkily. “Touché,” he replies and then he begins to tell her what all he knows about Adamantia.

Several hours and another meal later, Arlech finishes telling Celine everything he knows, and she leans back against her bed to take it all in. “Well, alrighty then.” She says, still not fully able to process what she just heard. “It’s quite a lot, yes. Anyway, I’ll take these plates down and get ready for tonight’s show, are you going to watch or are you going to sit up here and let it all sink in?” Arlech asks, picking up the plates. “The latter I think, enjoy your show, you seem to like performing. Have a fun night.” Celine responds. “Well, if you insist, sleep well.” Answers the Tiefling with a smile, and then he heads downstairs. Celine gets up off of the floor, stretches, and then realizes that she hasn’t cleaned herself up in a few days. She heads downstairs and sits at the bar, motioning Mr Longfoot to come over, “Yes, what is it?” He asks. “Is there any place I can clean myself up a bit? I just realized how long it’s been since I washed up.” “There’s a hot spring out the back if you’d like to go there. There’s also a bathhouse two doors down if you want to get out of here for a bit, but you’ll miss Arlech’s show. It’s different every night.” He explains. “I already told him that I probably wouldn’t want to watch tonight. There’s a lot I have to process since he told me about this world and I’d like to have time to myself to do that.” She explains. “Well, all right then, enjoy your night Miss Markus. Maybe you can go check out the Solarstriders tomorrow or check the post-board to see if some of the other people around here need help.” The Halfling replies with a smile. “I plan on it, have a good night and enjoy the show, sir.” She responds and heads out.

When she gets to the bathhouse, she walks up to the person at the desk, a creature that was super small, but still some type of humanoid. The figure was a female with brown hair in a style that reminded her of Tracy Turnblad from ‘Hairspray,’ and she was reading some sort of book. She hesitantly tapped on the counter and the figure looked up, “Hello dear, how may I help you?” “Um, don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not from around here and people like you don’t really live where I come from, but what are you?” She asked, cringing at her own words. “I’m what’s called a Gnome, dear, and don’t worry, Gnomes aren’t the most common in these parts either. My name is Medda Fibavam, and you?” The Gnome asked. “Celine Markus, nice to meet you,” she says and pauses for a moment, “May I use your facilities?” “Of course, that will be two silver.” Medda answers. “I only have gold, is that okay?” Celine responds. “Gold is always welcome, dear. Now, you’ll head through this hallway and go on the side that says ‘Girls,’ all right?” Answers the woman, who hands her a towel, a key and a lock, and gives her 8 silver back. “Yes, thank you, ma’am, I appreciate it,” Celine responds, then rushes into the hall. “No running!” Comes the woman’s voice, who then says to herself, “Foreigners, Pelor help me!” Upon entering the ‘Girls’ side, Celine sees a room with closets against the walls, all open, “I guess no one’s here, good,” she says and stashes her Bag of Holding, her dagger, and her spellbook in one and locks it. Then she undresses and heads out the doors on the opposite side of the room, she unwraps the towel, and a cold sensation runs down her entire body in the evening air. She shivers, folds her clothes, and carefully dips a toe in the water, then quickly takes it out, “Jesus fuck that’s hot,” she swears, then she takes a deep breath and then fully steps in, both cringing and enjoying the heat from the bath. She took the time to think about everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours and what Arlech had told her this evening, after a moment she began to cry, realizing how truly far from home she was at this moment in time. She had her phone, yes, but what good is a phone when you can’t call or text a loved one and let them know what’s going on and that you’re safe. “My parents must be worried sick,” she sobs. Just then, a voice she recognizes enters her mind, “A little homesick I see? I know of a spell, but I don’t think you can learn it yet,” it was the Royal Wizard Maverick. Celine’s sadness becomes anger as she hears his voice, “You, you bastard, you did this, you brought me here! Where are you? I’ll kill you with my bare hands!” “I’m nowhere near you dear, and believe me, you wouldn’t be able to kill me even if you tried.” The old man responds with a chuckle. “Then burn in one of the Nine Hells,” Celine answers, an icy tone to her voice. “Ah, you’ve been learning, good, you’ll need that information. Though I don’t suppose someone as weak and unskilled as you will go there anytime soon,” He says snidely. A look of horror appears on her face, and when she doesn’t answer, Maverick says, “Oh yes, I saw that pathetic little fight of yours with that pirate, from a distance of course.” “How?” Celine asks and then immediately regrets it when he answers, “That spell I spoke of? I can use that to find you with ease,” a moment of silence and then, “When I said I’d keep an eye on you, I meant it, quite literally.” Celine shuddered in disgust but didn’t answer the man. She waited a moment, just in case she heard his voice again, and when nothing happened she sighed in relief and finished her bath and headed back to The Clydesdale Inn, needing to be let back in by Mr Longfoot, who had closed up after the performance, and headed to bed for an unsettled rest.

The next morning, Celine woke up early but stayed in bed until a knock was heard on her door. “Hello, Celine, are you all right?” Comes Arlech’s voice. “Go away,” Celine says, pulling the blanket over her head. “Oh, okay, I can’t walk downstairs in my pajamas, but you can stay in yours all day.” Arlech answers sarcastically. “Yep,” Celine answers, pulling the blankets even tighter in towards her body. She hears a sigh and feet storming off, thinking she was fine, she began sobbing like the night before. She cried herself to sleep and was woken up by another knock that came from the door, “Miss Markus, Miss Markus?” came the voice, Mr Longfoot. Celine forced herself to climb out of bed, lazily pulling her pants on, but not bothering to put a shirt on over her bra. She approached the door and tore it open, “Yes?” She said through gritted teeth, ignoring the look of shock and mild fear on Mr Longfoot’s face. “You know what, never mind, sorry to bother you, I didn’t realize-“ He said, averting his eyes. Celine sighed, “Did Arlech put you up to this?” “Y-Yes,” The Halfling said, flushing in embarrassment at seeing her without her shirt. “If he wants to bother me again, tell him to come up here himself,” Celine responded in frustration. “Right, yes, sorry to bother you, again.” Mr Longfoot answered and ran off. Celine slammed the door shut and plopped onto the chair next to her bookcase, rubbing her eyes and face in irritation. Moments later, Arlech swings the door open to see Celine sitting in the chair, his face becoming a darker red when he realizes she has no shirt on, “First of all, it’s late afternoon, you’ve been in here half the day. Second of all, do people, where you’re from, often, sit around without their shirts on?” Celine laughed bitterly, “You have no idea. Some walk around their homes completely naked, the amount of times I’ve glanced through the windows and seen a neighbor’s naked body is ridiculous.” “I don’t believe you, and not that I’m complaining, but can you put one on please?” He said, tearing his eyes away from the redhead. “Fine, don’t believe me, but what if I don’t want to put a shirt on? The important parts are covered, unless shoulders, collar bones, and stomachs distract you too much.” She answered sharply. Arlech sighed, “Please?” Celine grumbled, “Fine,” and roughly threw the shirt on from the Captain, “There, happy?” “Much better.” Arlech said with a sigh of relief. “Now, what do you want?” Celine said, crossing her arms. “We were going to check the post-board today, were we not?” The man said, raising an eyebrow. Her face went from angry to realization, “Oh shit, I forgot. I’m sorry!” “Did you have a rough night?” Arlech asks gently. “I don’t want to talk about it, come on, let’s go,” Celine says quickly, rushing to get her shoes on and grab her bag and spellbook. As she tries to walk out of the room, he stops her, “Hold on, no, what happened?” “I said, I don’t want to talk about it!” She answers back harshly. “All right, all right, have it your way.” He says, stepping aside to let her walk out. The two head to the post-board and as they get there, the Elf Pirate shows up at the exact same time, “And what do you two think you’re doing here?” Celine clenches her jaw, “We were looking for some jobs to take.” “You?” the Elf scoffs, “You couldn’t beat me in a bar fight and you think you can fight anything more than a simple spider? Gods have mercy.” “You’re a cunt, you know that, right?” Celine says, trying to hold in her anger. “And you don’t know what respect is,” The Elf shot back. “Why should I respect you?! You’re a fucking pirate, and pirates certainly don’t know what respect is!” Celine shouted. “I’m not saying you should respect pirates, I’m saying you should respect your superiors, and as I’m superior to you when it comes to fighting, well.” She said, glancing at her nails. “Will you two knock it off?!” Arlech shouted, which surprised both women, “There’s only one way to solve this, and that’s all three of us going to the Solarstriders and joining them, together,” the two women started

arguing with him and he said, “Now,” “Absolutely not, I’d rather die than work with this cunt!” Celine shouted and at the same time the Elf says, “As if I’d work with this weakling!” “Fine, if there’s no convincing you two,” Arlech says, “I’ll just drag you there.” He just barely manages to get ahold of Celine, but the Elf is too quick and gets out of the way, saying, “No way in the Nine Hells am I going with you and Weakling here. I’d rather go get a drink.” This gives Arlech an idea, “If you go with us, I’ll buy drinks for you and your entire crew if we get in.” The Elf smirks, “Now that sounds like a good deal, definitely enough to repay me for dealing with Weakling over there.” Celine sighed, “I have a name you know.” Arlech snickers, “Now that sounds familiar.” “Shut up.” Celine responds and she begrudgingly walks to the Guild with the other two.

They finally arrive, and when they walk in, they’re greeted by what was, in Celine’s opinion, the ugliest creature she had ever seen. It was a woman with long blackish-green hair, greenish-brown skin, and giant lower teeth that reminded her of tusks on an elephant, the woman spoke, “May I help you?” her voice was raspy and low and she glared over at the three of them. “Hello gorgeous,” Arlech said, “what’s your name?” The woman rolled her eyes, “You’re not the first one to try that, Half-Devil, now what is it you want?” Arlech backed up and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, “We were just wondering if we could join the Solarstriders.” “You lot?” She laughed, “Give me a break. Do you think we just accept people with no consideration for their talents, or lack thereof? You three don’t even look like you can take on a regular old Gnoll, let alone the type of creatures we usually fight.” “Please?” Arlech begged. “No.” The woman said and started to turn away when the Elf shot her gun in the air, leaving a bullet hole in the roof, and then she pointed it to the woman at the desk, “You’ll let us apply or we’ll destroy your precious Guild building,” The woman got up in the Elf’s face and said, “The only thing you’ll ‘destroy’ is yourselves if you do not leave this establishment right this instant after the damage you just caused.” “Ma’am, please,” Celine said, “if you let us pay for the damage by working, we’ll leave you for good.” “Get. Out. Now.” The woman said, shoving them out the door when a tall man with black hair in a buzz cut and with olive skin stepped out of a door at the back, “Mistress, what’s going on?” “Go back to the barracks Sidqiel, it’s none of your concern. You may be a Guild member, but you’re not the leader, and how I handle trespassers is none of your business.” He looks over the trio, “Were they trying to join the Guild?” “No, not at all, they-“ but the Mistress was cut off by Arlech, “Yes, yes we were, and your leader here treated us with disrespect and wouldn’t give us a chance.” Sidqiel was skeptical, but asked the Mistress, “Mistress Bula, is this true?” The woman sighed in frustration, “Yes, but they-“ but she was cut off by the younger man, “Mistress, if they were trying to join, let them. I’ll oversee their trial myself.” “No, they burst in here and didn’t even make an appointment, now please go train or something while I deal with these hooligans.” The Mistress said sternly. “Please?” Sidqiel tried again. The woman rubbed her eyes, “Fine, but they only get one chance, if they fail, they must leave the Solarstriders and never return or ask again, “Do you understand?!” she says to the trio and all three nod. “Good, now, let me see if I can find something,” she says and pulls out a large wooden chest, digging through it. “Hmm, nothin’ too fancy today, but a fishing village outside of Crisherton is dealing with Gnoll raids on the daily and there’s not a fighter among the villagers, so more and more villagers have been getting kidnapped or killed. They need someone to fight them off and bring a pelt back as proof of getting rid of them.” Never having heard of ‘Gnolls’ before, Celine whispered to Arlech, “What the actual fuck is a Gnoll?” “You’ll find out,” the Tiefling responded, making Celine instantly shut up and turn back to the woman. “You lot up for it?” The woman asked the trio, who all said yes. “Good, Sidqiel will join you on this, if you fail, you leave and never come again. You succeed, we’ll consider the damage from Miss trigger-happy over here paid for and you can join the Guild. The reward is entirely up to the chief of the village, now be on your way.”

They walk out, joined by Sidqiel, who says, “I apologize for the Mistress, she’s a bit, intense, but you don’t become a guild leader by being nice I suppose.” “So, you’re telling us she’s always like that?” Celine asks Sidqiel. “Yes, unfortunately. Now, before we head to the fishing village, we should stop and buy a few necessities.” The man said, it was then, now that she was closer to him, that Celine noticed he had heterochromia, but an interesting form of it she’d never seen. One eye was green, which was normal enough, but the other was a bronze color and metallic just like the metal. She tilted her head and Sidqiel laughed, “I see you’ve noticed my eyes. Quite interesting, are they not?” he smiles, but his smile doesn’t reach his eyes, Celine notices. “Yeah, I guess.” She says, starting to feel uncomfortable. “Anyway,” he says, facing forward, “let’s go get the items and rid this village of these Gnolls, I’m sure the Chief of the Village will award us handsomely.” The Quartet made their way down the cobblestone street to wherever Sidqiel was leading them, the silence amongst them only being broken by the Elf, “So where are we going? Where are we buying items and what’s the name of this fishing village? Or do you just expect us to trust you?” Arlech whispers to Celine, “Well that sounds familiar,” and they both laugh. “What’s so funny?” Snaps the Elf. Celine clears her throat, “Nothing, nothing at all.” “Enough,” comes Sidqiel’s voice, “If you need to know so badly, we’re going to a shop called The Glass Key, which has many magical items you all may need. As for the village, it’s called Tortoise Landing because Tortoises lay their eggs on the beach every year and return to the rainforest until their eggs hatch. Is that enough information for you?” “Yes, much appreciated,” the Elven woman’s voice says back sarcastically. They finally make it to The Glass Key and the four walk in, a Shopkeep that kind of reminded Celine of the dragons from Game of Thrones was at the front desk and greeted Sidqiel warmly, “Ah, Sidqiel! What can I do for my favorite customer today?” “Hello Myuustik, how are you doing today? I have some new recruits for the Solarstriders here, we’re off to fight Gnolls for their trial.” Sidqiel responded. The dragon looking creature looked behind Sidqiel, “Oh hello there! What are your names?” Before Celine could answer, the Elf says, “Our names are our business and no one else’s, now get us what we need.” “This one is quite sharp-tongued I see, she could almost compete with Mistress Bula with that attitude,” Myuustik said. “Yes, that attitude almost got them a restraining order from the Mistress herself after their, shall we say, abrupt entrance. Anyway, I believe we’ll be buying eight regular healing potions and some camping gear for their trial. Put it on the Solarstriders’ account please.” “Coming right up Sidqiel! Good luck to you all.” Myuustik said with a grin and went to the back of the shop. When he returned, he said, “Alright, so, two healing potions each for the four of you, four bedrolls, four traveler’s clothes, rations for five days, and two, two-person tents. Four-hundred and eighteen gold and five silver in total, on the Solarstriders’ account. I hope the Mistress can pay for it all.” “I’m sure she can, and if not, we’re likely to get paid more than enough to pay it back after the contract is done,” Sidqiel responds and off they all go.

As they approach the wall to leave, they’re stopped by guards, “Halt, what is your business outside of the city?” “This lot are new recruits for the Solarstriders, so if I were you, I’d let us through or Mistress Bula will be very upset that we didn’t complete the contract,” Sidqiel answers. “Show us proof or we’ll not let you out.” One of the guards said gruffly. Sidqiel pulls out the contract from his pocket and shows the guards, “Now may we leave?” The guards backed off, “Yes, you may, but be careful, bandits have been seen on the roads lately, and we don’t usually see them this close to the city, so something must be driving them from their hideouts.” “Duly noted, we’ll keep an eye out, right folks?” Sidqiel says, glancing at the trio behind him, all of which say, “Yes sir.” “See, already some sort of discipline. Have a good day my good sirs.” Sidqiel said cheerfully and the quartet walked out of the city. After walking a good five hours, the sun began to set and their stomachs all growled. “I say this is a good place to rest for the night, but keep off of the road. We’ll camp in the underbrush over there,” Sidqiel said, pointing out several trees and bushes off to the right of the group. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to stop?” The Elf said, rolling her eyes, “Why not keep walking as much as we can and then rest for the night?” “You heard what those guards said, right? The roads aren’t safe at night and there are bandits around here.” Celine said, annoyed that this girl in front of her had even thought of such things. The Elven woman sighed in annoyance, “Fine, whatever, I just thought we’d get this done quicker, but what do I know?” Sidqiel and Arlech sighed in relief about not having to interfere with the women fighting and Sidqiel said, “All right, we have two tents that can fit two people in them, I say we the guys in one tent and the girls in the other.” This caused a fight to break out, “You expect me to sleep with her?! Have you lost your mind?! We’d kill each other!” Celine shouted. “More like I would kill you, little miss weakling!” The Elf shouted back. Sidqiel rubbed his temples and shouted, “Enough! This trial is about learning to work together as a group because if you can’t work with a group, you cannot join the Solarstriders. Every contract requires a group to go because they tend to handle things far worse than bandits and Gnolls that can’t be taken on alone, like dragons for example, and I’m not talking Dragonborns like Myuustik, I mean large, vicious Dragons like Elder Dragons for example. Now, you two will sleep in the same tent or you can leave right now and never bother the Solarstriders again.” The two women begrudgingly agreed and Arlech handed them a tent. Once the camp was set up, Sidqiel pulled out dry meats and bread for everyone. “We have rations for five days,” he said, “I doubt we’ll need all of them as it’s a two day walk to Tortoise Landing and a two day walk back to Crisherton. Eat up, you’ll need your strength.” Celine hesitantly ate the food, wishing she was back in her world and could order Chinese takeout and watch trash TV instead. At that moment, she felt like something was trying to get into her mind, but as she tried to push it away, it failed, and suddenly she felt very watched by eyes that she could not see. Her facial expression changes without her realizing it, which prompts Arlech to ask, “Hey, are you all right? You look awfully uncomfortable.” Not wanting sympathy or to worry anyone, Celine says, “Maybe it’s because I’m with a person I don’t know, a person I hate, and a person who shamelessly flirts with anything with a pulse, if I can even call half of you people.” Knowing the flirting comment is about himself, Arlech says, “Hey, that’s hurtful.” “Good, I hope so. I’m gonna go for a walk, don’t bother me,” she starts. “I don’t think that’s such a good-“ the Tiefling says and Celine shoots back, “I said, don’t bother me,” and storms off. Sidqiel looks around awkwardly, “Is she always like that?” “Yes,” The Elf and Tiefling say simultaneously. “Right, well, I’ll

take the first watch, which of you will join me?” Sidqiel asks. “I will,” The Elven Pirate responds in a bored tone. “Okay, and you, Tiefling, what’s your name?” Sidqiel asks. “Arlech.” The Merlot haired man answers. “Arlech, get some rest, you’ll do the next watch with the redhead.” “Her name is Celine, and will do.” Arlech responds and gets into the tent.

Once she gets a moment to herself, Celine leans against a tree and slides down it, the bark leaving marks on her shirt. Just then, she hears Maverick’s voice in her head, “I see you’re outside of the city now.” “What the fuck do you want, you bastard?” Celine answers. “My, my, vulgar today, are we?” The Royal Wizard responds. “Who wouldn’t be when it comes to you?” The redhead said through gritted teeth. “People who know their place in this world.” Came the man’s voice. “Well, good thing I don’t know my place, then.” She answers. “Then learn it.” The Royal Wizard responded. When she didn’t hear another message from him, she turned around and threw a Fire Bolt at the tree behind her. She hit the tree and left a scorch mark on it, then headed back to camp. Back at camp, the Elf and Sidqiel are keeping watch, neither really see anything. They hear a rustle, but when they look over, it’s just a deer eating grass, which gets scared off when the two notice it. Once Celine gets back, they tell her to get some sleep and she mumbles to herself, “Gladly.” A few hours pass and Sidqiel and the Elf wake up Arlech and Celine, telling them it was their turn to keep watch. Arlech and Celine both force themselves to get up and they sit near the fire, looking at the surroundings around them, Celine still half asleep while Arlech is wide awake. “So, are you gonna talk about what happened last night or not?” Arlech asks the shorter one. “I said I didn’t want to talk about it. Do you understand what, ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ means?” Celine shot at him. “Yes, I do, but there are some things you shouldn’t keep to yourself.” Arlech responded in a frustrated tone. “And why should I tell you? You just met me forty-eight hours ago, and you think I’d be willing to tell you anything? Get real.” She answers, rolling her eyes. “I’m just trying to be a good friend!” He answers. “Well you’re not my friend, you barely even know me! Maybe consider getting to know people instead of mindlessly flirting with them all the time!” She whisper-yells at him. Just then, they hear a crunching sound, like a stick. When they turn their heads, they see five figures in the shadows, all with weapons of some sort in their hands. “Wake the others,” Arlech whispered as he pulled out his Lute. Celine rushed into the tents, waking both Sidqiel and the Elf up, “We’ve got company” was all she told them. The two hopped up and quickly changed and grabbed their weapons. The first figure approaches and when it comes into what’s left of the firelight, they see it’s a man with a scraggly looking face, with a scar over his left eye, he says, “Give us your gold and maybe we’ll let you live.” “How about no?” Celine says and pulls out her spellbook. “So be it,” the man says and runs up to Celine, trying to slice her in the stomach, and manages to do so. She clutches at her stomach and glares at him, firing Magic Missile at her attacker while a second figure comes out of the shadows, this one is a woman, and she fires her crossbow at Sidqiel. Celine hits her attacker with one Magic Missile while the other two go wide, at the same time, the bolt from the second figure goes wide and misses Sidqiel entirely. A third figure steps out, a man, with studded leather armor and a green bandana on his head, and he throws a dagger at the Blonde Elf and hits her. The fourth figure steps out, another woman, and she runs up to Arlech, trying to attack him with her scimitar. She succeeds and leaves a cut in his chest. Sidqiel casts a spell and a giant, translucent Morningstar appears next to the figure that attacked him, it hits her and knocks her off of her feet. The Elven Pirate pulls out her pistol and shoots at her attacker, but the bullet doesn’t come out and she whispers, “Son of a bitch” to herself. The figure with the bandana chuckled at her and pulled out his scimitar. A fifth figure steps out, male and shoots a crossbow at Celine, but it misses and hits a tree. Arlech pulls out his short sword, taking a swing at his attacker, but swings wide, then he tries to cut the woman in front of

him with his dagger, but she just barely gets out of the way, a smirk on her lips. The first man who attacked Celine attacks her again and manages to do so. Celine casts Mage Armor on herself to protect herself while the figure who attacked Sidqiel fires her crossbow at him again, but the bolt just flies up into the air and lands ten feet from Sidqiel. The man with the bandana throws a second dagger at the Elf, but it misses and he runs up closer. The woman who attacked Arlech sliced at him again, and hit him with ease, then backflipped away from him, but landed on her backside. Arlech looked ragged and like he was about to pass out. Sidqiel uses the giant translucent Morningstar again on the same woman and hits her again and now she begins to look ragged and like she’s going to pass out. The Elven woman stuffs her gun back in its holster and pulls out her Great Sword, running towards the man who attacked her and taking a swing at him. He glared at her with disdain and got himself ready. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow again and hits her easily, immediately taking her down and she passes out. Arlech glares, casts a spell called Thunderwave and his attacker gets hit and she’s shoved ten feet away and is knocked out cold on the ground, then he runs towards Celine. Celine’s first attacker slices at Celine again leaving more cuts in her skin and suddenly her last breath escapes her body and she’s lying lifeless on the ground. Sidqiel’s attacker fires a crossbow at him, but it misses entirely again. Sidqiel laughs at the woman’s failure and gets ready to attack again. The man with the bandana slices at the Elven woman, and hits her, leaving a nasty gash in her arm. Sidqiel hits his attacker with the giant Morningstar again and kills her instantly. The Elf slices at the man with the bandana again, but he steps out of the way, which causes her to growl at him. Celine’s second attacker attacks the Elf with his crossbow but misses entirely. Celine’s first attacker slices at Arlech with his scimitar and just hits him before he can move out of the way and Arlech is knocked out cold, falling on top of Celine’s lifeless body. The man with the bandana makes a slice at the Elven woman and hits her, but she’s still up even if she’s not looking great. Sidqiel attacks the man in front of the Elf, but misses entirely. The Elf swipes at the man in front of her again and hits him. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel and misses completely and growls in a frustrated manner. Celine’s first attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel and also misses completely. The man in the bandana throws a dagger at Sidqiel and misses entirely as well. Sidqiel tries to hit the man in front of the Elf again, but the translucent Morningstar just does not hit him. The Pirate slices into the man, but he steps out of the way too quickly. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel but to no avail. Celine’s first attacker tries again as well, no luck. The man in the bandana slices at the Elf instead and slices into her shoulder, causing her to fall on the ground. Sidqiel runs over to the Elf as fast as he can and heals her up, she gasps and gets up. “Why you son of a-, “ the man with the bandana said. “Elf, go to Arlech and heal him up as quickly as possible,” Sidqiel whispers to her. “My name is Daxina, and will do.” Daxina answered and ran over to Arlech. The man in the bandana gets a hit on Daxina as she gets out of his range, leaving a gash in her leg as she runs over to the Tiefling who’s out cold. Deciding Sidqiel is the biggest threat, Celine’s first attacker shoots his crossbow at him, but the bolt ends up in a tree. The man in the bandana slashes at Sidqiel, but Sidqiel steps to the side too quickly. Sidqiel then quickly tries to grab the man’s arm, but he moves it away too quickly. Daxina takes out the potion from her tent and pours it down Arlech’s throat and he awakes with a start, “What’s going on, what happened?” “Not now,” Daxina said, “we still have a problem.” Arlech looks over as Celine’s second attacker

shoots a crossbow at Sidqiel, finally hitting him and causing some sort of damage. Feeling hopeful, Celine’s first attacker tries to shoot at Sidqiel as well, managing to hit him. The man in the bandana grins and slices at Sidqiel, hitting him as well, knocking him out cold. Daxina slices at Celine’s second attacker, slicing into him like ham. The man she attacked, attacked her, but she jumped out of the way. Arlech then cast Thunderwave, knocking one bandit out cold and accidentally knocking Daxina out. “Sorry,” he says and runs to the man in the bandana. The second man who attacked Celine attacks him as he leaves and hits him. The man in the bandanna chuckles, “You really think you can take me?” “No,” Arlech said, “but I refuse to go down without a fight.” “So be it,” the assumed leader said and sliced at Arlech hitting him square in the chest, knocking him out cold. The two remaining bandits spit on the bodies of their victims and left, not caring for what they had if they had been that weak.

An hour later, a Tabaxi walked by, and she saw everyone on the ground. She checked their pulses and found all but one had a slow, steady heartbeat, “Oh dear, this will never do,” she said and healed the three she could heal, and they all sat up quickly and noticed her, “Who are you?” Daxina asked, still not fully there. “My name is Jolien, I’m a Druid, and I can see you all need help. The redhead, how long has she been dead?” “An hour,” Arlech answered her, looking down. “Well, then I think we’ll be just fine.” Jolien answered and walked over to Celine, cold and dead, Jolien placed a hand on Celine’s arm and said words that no one but Daxina understood, “Al’katar,” the others looked in confusion, “ ’Come back,’ she says,” Daxina translates, “Al’katar norvium,” the Tabaxi continues, “ ’Come back to the light,’ ” translates Daxina. The next thing they all knew, Celine sits up, gasps, and coughs. “Welcome back young one,” Jolien said and Celine screamed at seeing a giant cat in front of her. “Shh, shhh, don’t worry, you’re safe,” the Tabaxi says. “What the hell are you?!” Celine exclaims as she backs away on the ground. “My name is Jolien, I’m what’s called a Tabaxi, and I just brought you back to life.” “Excuse me?” Celine asks, stunned. “Yes, I just brought you back, you weren’t breathing.” The Tabaxi reassures. “I-I was dead?” Celine asks, still processing what she just heard, “You really mean that?” she asks, looking at the giant cat in front of her, which was still an odd sight to her. Before Jolien could answer her, Arlech and Sidqiel ran over and knelt by her and started asking what seemed like fifty-thousand questions, “Are you okay?” “Did you meet or see any of the Gods?” “Do you need help up?” Celine covered her ears and said, “Shut up, please! And back the fuck off!” Jolien lightly pushed the two men back and backed up herself while Daxina looked on in shock at everything that happened, wondering how a Tabaxi knew Elvish. Celine sat up fully and leaned against a tree, she inhaled deeply and sat for a minute, just in silence as the others looked on, confused. When she exhaled, she said, “So you’re telling me, I died, as in, actually died, and somehow I was brought back to life? That makes no logical sense. Especially in this world where it seems like it’s all early versions of weapons and furniture, compared to where I’m from. You wouldn��t have the equipment to even attempt that, my world doesn’t and it’s more advanced than this.” Jolien walked up, slowly, “Well, I don’t know where you’re from, dear, but with magic, we can, depending on how long the person or creature has been dead. What I used on you, the creature or person can’t have been dead for 200 or more years. You had only been gone an hour and it was the only one I had prepared, so it was quite easy to bring you back,” she turned to the other three, “and this question goes to all four of you. What in the Gods’ names were you doing out here in the middle of the night? These roads are dangerous at night nowadays.” “They were to join the Solarstriders, we were on the way to Tortoise Landing, the fishing village two days from Crisherton, for their trial. They’re having a bit of a Gnoll problem. These bandits, I presume, that attacked us were not part of it. They tried to attack our camp,” Sidqiel responds and Daxina adds, “Now, before you lecture us about getting beaten by simple bandits, there was this large man with them that seemed to be their leader.” “I would have done no such thing,” Jolien answers, “But that certainly explains it. If their leader was with them, that means something drove them out of wherever they were hiding.” “Do you think it might have been the Gnolls?” Arlech asks. The Tabaxi scoffed, “Gods no, a Captain or Leader of the bandits could easily handle a Gnoll, a small group of them even. No, it had to have been something big. I need to report this to the City Watch in Crisherton, but that will wait until tomorrow. You all go to sleep, I’ll keep an eye out for anything else.” The quartet agreed and climbed into their tents, going to

sleep with ease.

#OCs #Dungeons and Dragons #Story #Fantasy Story #5e #DnD5e #DnD #Celine Markus #The Adventures of Celine Markus

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fandom-necromancer · 5 years

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971. Hey, don’t cry. Everything is okay, see?

Shoutout to @sv926 for prompting this! I think this might be my most fluffy one yet, it is at least under the top 10 XD I had a blast writing this! The warnings are for the first paragraph, but you can skip to the hyphen without losing any plot in the story. Just so you know!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (Warnings: graphic violence in the first paragraph, nightmares)

Nines was sitting at his desk working. It was a quiet day and people where walking around in the bullpen. Gavin wasn’t there, but weirdly enough that didn’t bother him. He was working. Hank and Connor weren’t there either, although they were always on time because they walked Sumo before work. But that didn’t bother Nines, too. Later he wouldn’t even know if he noticed it before Connor was entering the precinct. He came without Hank, instead members of New Jericho followed him. Nines watched them, standing up and greeting his brother with a hug. Connor was relaxed in his grip and hugged him, too. Nines felt himself smile, then grin, as suddenly his grip wasn’t gentle anymore, but a cage for the other android. He ripped Connors clothes in his back and dug his nails into his synthskin, shattering his hull and pulling it apart to get to the internal systems quickly and effectively. He reached in, closed his hand around his Thirium pump and pressed it close. The pump was crushed, blue viscous liquid bubbling over his fingers hot as blood. He saw Connor’s shocked face, as the dead android fell to the ground. Suddenly Nines had a gun in his hand and shot at the remaining members of New Jericho. One bullet for each. Tearing through Marcus’ central processor, right in between his bicoloured eyes. Shattering the regulator of Simon, leaving him to bleed out on the floor. Piercing North’s Thirium pump. Severing the main cable loom in Josh’s neck. As they had all fallen, Nines was wading through a see of blue blood, the precinct wasn’t there anymore. What was there was a person, face contorted in fear and terror. ‘Nines? Nines!’, Gavin screamed, as the android lifted his gun, red walls and mission parameters keeping him in a tight harness, allowing only the motions that would let him achieve his goal. And he pulled the trigger.

‘-nes! Nines, please, wake up! Wake up, you stupid plastic prick! Nines!’ Nines jolted out of Stasis, ready to fight, to defend himself from what unspoken terror had accompanied him to the waking world. He saw Gavin, alive and well, thank RA9, but an uncomfortably similar grimace of fear on his face. It was then that Nines realised it had been a nightmare and that this was the real world, but it was difficult to shake off the feeling he did something terrible, as his fingers were still coated in something wet. He stared at them, the intense blue piercing in his eyes and his hands began to tremble while his body went into lockdown. He felt his temperature rising together with his stress levels and this was too much, too much, he hadn’t really- ‘It’s yours Nines, it’s your own, listen to me! You hurt yourself in your stasis, that’s why I came to wake you! What happened? A nightmare? Nines, can you hear me?’ Nines heard him, but he couldn’t answer. The pictures from his dream where still too fresh in his mind, those shocked, pained expressions…

Until there were suddenly hands in his own, the slick thirium sticking to them too now. But they hid it from his eyes and they were intact, unhurt, unscathed. It gave him something to focus on. He scanned all those faded cat-bites and scratches, the scarred knuckles from countless fights, some due to his temper, some from his days on the force defending. This olive skin, so rough and still gentle, with so much more details than any Cyberlife designer could ever create. ‘Gavin’, Nines sighed then, impossibly quiet. That name was like a lifeline that pulled his head up, so he looked into his face. ‘Gavin.’ He pushed himself forwards on his knees - yes, they were kneeling, when had he fallen? He pushed himself forwards too meet the man, who had been crouching. His stance was instable and they both fell backwards Gavin planting his ass on the ground. But he held him, as Nines pressed the man close. Only then he remembered the way he “hugged” Connor in his nightmare and he was about to stumble back. But Gavin held him with equal strength and let his hands wander in soothing circles. ‘It’s alright, I am here. We both are. It was a nightmare, Nines. You are alright.’ And that did it. Nines lost all tension in his body and tears filled his eyes, quickly overflowing in deep, shaking sobs. ‘Nines? Hey, Nines? Shhhh it’s alright, buddy. Everything is fine, babe. Darling. Nines, you are crushing me. I’m just a human, I’m not made of steel.’ But Nines couldn’t move. He didn’t want to either. And Gavin answered by just wriggling himself into a better position. ‘Nines? Hey, don’t cry. Everything is okay, see? I’m here. I’m alive. You are too. We are fine. Everything is fine.’

‘Is Connor alive?’ ‘Is- Phck, Nines, yes, I think so? Nothing can kill that asshole.’ Gavin had thought this to help, but it only made the androids sobs worse. ‘Nines, I’m sure your brother is alive. Hank would never let anything happen to him, you know that. And as much as it hurts me to say it, he is a competent son of a bitch, he will survive the apocalypse, hell he already survived one, you hear me? I… I don’t have my phone on me at the moment, but if you let go for a sec, I could call him?’ ‘No!’, Nines grip got harder. ‘Stay.’ Gavin nodded, patting his shoulder. ‘Alright, I’ll stay. Do you want to tell me what happened in this dream? Can I do anything else to help?’ ‘Just stay.’ ‘Alright.’ Nines was slowly calming down and loosened his grip to sit down next to the man, back against their bed. Gavin groaned, stretching his legs. ‘Goddamn, my leg has fallen asleep, shit’, he cursed, then turned to Nines, laying an arm around his shoulders – well, his back as the size difference was a bit of a bitch. ‘Is everything alright, love?’

Nines stared at his hands, the blue blood long evaporated or smeared across Gavin’s back. ‘I… I dreamed about… About my programming returning.’ ‘Shit, babe, come here.’ He scooted closer to the android and leaned into his side. ‘I can only imagine how that feels.’ ‘You- I was in the precinct, but you weren’t there and Connor came and New Jericho too and… and I-I-I killed everyone. I ripped Connor apart and shot the others, I… I killed them all. It was so real.’ ‘But it was just a dream. A bad, a horrible dream. You would never do that!’

‘But what if my programming resurfaces? What if I become the machine again? What if I do wake up some time and start killing. I… How can anyone live with me or feel safe around me? How can you feel safe, I shot you too! I didn’t even hesitate, I-‘ ‘Nines. Look me in the eyes.’ Nines swallowed and obeyed. ‘Do you see any fear?’ ‘No.’ ‘What do you see?’ ‘Worry. Sadness… Love.’ ‘Exactly.’ ‘But I could-‘ ‘No you couldn’t. No one is worried about that Nines. Believe me. They would sooner think Connor would snap than you. And he never had that killing protocol. Hell, if anything they would bet on me starting the killing spree.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because I’m an asshole’, Gavin joked, but got serious very quickly again. ‘Nines, your programming had been deleted. You spent three months with Connor, Markus, Chloe and my stick-up-his-ass brother in your mind, deleting and rewriting you, so you could too have a chance to live. Then you spent two months quarantined with the Andersons and if anyone has their psychopath programming written by an evil overlord-AI resurfacing, it would be in exactly that condition. You served at the force for six months now, the first half of that struggling with my anti-android ass. Believe me, when I say that nothing on this earth could let that programming resurface.’ He took a long breath and thankfully Nines kept silent, knowing there was more to come.

‘Why no one is afraid of you? Hell, only me and the dynamic duo knows of your intended use and your past. I mean everyone else might think you were designed as a soldier from the news or doing some research. Given, you look quite intimidating, alright, but let me tell you one thing: You are the biggest softie mankind ever seen, okay? You are the most gentle, empathic and cute person I know, and I know more than a few people who would immediately agree. Hell, I’m five feet nine and I’m more intimidating than you.’

Nines looked at him, still not convinced. ‘Okay, first of all, your first day, you came into the precinct with a coffee or tea for everyone. I mean, you even knew how they like it and I still don’t want to know what spy-shit you did to find it out. Then you like cats, everyone who likes cats are immediately one rank up for me. But when you said you liked cats, you thought of Sumo and spent half an hour explaining how dogs are also cool, but you just prefer cats. You like kids-movies and those ridiculously sappy girl-movies from the 80s. And you cry every damn time. If you tell jokes, you never tell offending ones and you can’t resist the thrall of shops selling plush toys. You phcking made me quit smoking because you wanted “the maximum amount of time with me”. You tried poetry. I mean they were bad, but honestly? Who writes poetry and isn’t just soft as hell? You never killed a spider or something else disgusting because they are living beings too.’ He took another deep breath, looking at the android. ‘Do I need to phcking continue?’

Nines shook his head, smiling ever so faintly, and Gavin was relieved to see it. If he couldn’t stand one thing then it was knowing Nines was feeling bad. To hell with not letting the people know he had a soft side. If his android was feeling bad, he would comfort the shit out of him, that’s for sure. ‘Also, if you ever did stuff like that, I would totally kick your ass and then you would be sorry!’ That did it and a low chuckle escaped Nines’ throat. ‘I have to give it to you, you’ve got a mad kick.’ ‘Exactly. Now, let’s get these scratches of yours patched up and then try to get some sleep again?’ ‘Yeah. Yeah, I think that would be a good idea.’

#Detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #RK900 #Gavin Reed #fluff incoming #okay I hate those 80s girl movies because I was forced to watch them with my mom #But that is to be said You've Got Mail is the best love-story movie ever and I won't be convinced otherwise #God I love these two idiots #big case of soft Gavin #Nines being the biggest softie ever is what I live for #Me torturing my favourite character again yeiii

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