#me @ everyone once again: stop playin' and get on the winning team

[sage-nebula]

The more I think about it, the more I realize how much sense it makes that Giovanni was the one to take charge in Team Rainbow Rocket, as well as how honestly easy it would be for him to get all the others to listen to and cooperate with him (at least for the time being).

I think the reason a lot of people don’t take Team Rocket as seriously as they should is---well, there are a few reasons. The first is the TRio’s comedic presence in the anime, the second is that they’re underutilized, and the third is that people very often equate “yakuza” to “gang” which is just . . . it’s like comparing a wolf to a chihuahua. Thinking that the yakuza are an underground gang and aren’t that threatening is laughably incorrect (and I’m talking incredulous laughter here). As far as the TRio are concerned, it should be noted that they’re the exception rather than the rule as it pertains to Team Rocket in the anime. Jessie, James, and Meowth are especially incompetent for their positions. Other Team Rocket operatives (whether we’re talking Butch and Cassidy, or Domino, or even unnamed grunts) are always shown to be far more competent and capable than Jessie and James. So judging game!Rocket on the TRio is a mistake on every level. Actual Rockets are far more dangerous.

And while it’s true that Team Rocket was severely underutilized in the games in which they starred, that’s largely due to the first generation being severely limited when it comes to how much data they could contain. Both generations (particularly Gen II) had their cartridges packed to the limit as it was; considering they were already struggling to contain everything, Game Freak decided to focus more on the gameplay, graphics, music, et cetera than they did the story. Gen I barely had a story at all as a result of this, and Gen II’s story was a direct sequel to Gen I’s, meaning that it didn’t have much to work with (and therefore did the best it could). Because of this, while all of the hallmarks of Team Rocket being based on the yakuza are there (e.g. they run a Game Corner, they murder the marowak in Lavender Tower, Giovanni is directly involved in politics by being a Gym Leader, et cetera), we don’t get to fully explore what exactly that entails. Had Gen I focused on, say, Sinnoh and Galactic instead, they would have met the same exact fate. Had Kanto and Team Rocket come in a later generation, I can promise you the story would be a lot deeper (and, uh, probably way too dark for a kid’s game).

It can be very easy to equate the yakuza to a gang, but in all honesty, yakuza are far more than that. While it’s true that yakuza are known for operating within the criminal world (in things like drug trade, human trafficking, assassinations, gambling, you name it), they also have a lot of dealings with politics (both Japanese and international), as well as dealings within the private sector. For instance, one of the most famous (infamous?) yakuza, Kodama Yoshio, was known for not only aiding the rise of organized crime in Japan (and being a prominent figure for moving opiates into Japan for distribution and sale), but also assisted both the Japanese government and the United States government at different times. Specifically, during World War 2 the Japanese government contracted Kodama to smuggle supplies (including weapons) from China into Japan in order to aid with the war effort (and this was also when he began his opiates trafficking in order to line his pockets). After the war he was arrested by the United States for being a war criminal, but the United States government later secured his release so that he could assist them in rooting out communist and socialist sympathizers in Japan so that the U.S. could fight communism. In this way, Kodama (and his very large yakuza network) played a huge part in international politics and really made a mark on history.

And this isn’t isolated. There are divisions of the yakuza all over the world, to the point where they’re recognized as a transnational crime syndicate despite how they originated in Japan (and have history there dating all the way back to the Edo period). And while the yakuza might have started in the criminal “underworld”, they’re really . . . not that underground anymore. Instead, yakuza divisions are seen as somewhat legitimate organizations within Japan, to the point where the Yamaguchi-gumi were able to openly and immediately assist with disaster relief following the Kobe earthquake in 1995, responding even faster than the actual Japanese government did. (And they did the same thing after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.) And as I said, they do work in the private sector as well, such as by operating protection rackets in which they’re hired by corporations to attend stakeholder meetings in order to pressure rival companies or employees into folding or giving in to what the person who hired the yakuza operatives want. If the yakuza were purely underground that . . . wouldn’t really happen.

All of this is to say: Yakuza are not “just yakuza,” and if Team Rocket---particularly a Team Rocket that succeeded and thrived in their universe---is truly meant to be yakuza, that is a huge deal. There are yakuza divisions not only in Japan, but also in the Philippines (they’re apparently a huge source of human trafficking there), Korea, the United States, and potentially others. Since they’re semi-open, they have heavy influence in politics and businesses. They still commit heinous crimes (obviously), but they also offer protection services and the like in order to gain public favor. They’re extremely influential and extremely dangerous, even if they’re not dipping into the realm of fantasy by trying to start the apocalypse.

So, with that said? In my opinion, they’re way more terrifying than most of the villainous organizations we’ve had so far.

Team Aqua and Team Magma both wanted to start the apocalypse, yes. But they needed the legendary pokémon in order to do that, and they only managed to succeed in that through honestly contrived circumstances that occurred because the plot necessitated it. However, particularly because they were so focused on this one goal, if anything prevented them from getting at the legendary pokémon, they’d be powerless to do jack about it. Not to mention that, since Team Rocket would have plenty of political influence and power, should they need to, they could probably have Archie and Maxie arrested, tried, and convicted on charges of domestic terrorism (or at least conspiracy to commit). Yeah, Team Rocket obviously commits their fair share of crimes as well, but so do the yakuza in the real world, and yet they still manage to influence the political and criminal justice systems. Not always to their favor, depending, but when money changes hands and pressure is applied, things happen. Neither Archie nor Maxie have even a shred of political clout to fight back against that. If Giovanni, as Gym Leader, has words with whoever the Kanto Champion is at the moment (Lance, I’m assuming), and gets him to talk to Steven (who wouldn’t reasonably be able to say “nah” if there is evidence, real or contrived, that Archie and Maxie want to commit the apocalypse), then the Hoenn government might actually have to get off its ass and do something about those two eco-terrorists. That threat would be neutralized. On the other hand, if Archie and Maxie want to cooperate, then Giovanni can help ensure that they and theirs are cut deals and receive reduced sentences, if any at all. In fact, depending on the deals that are made, it’s likely even possible to convince them that if they cooperate for now, they can get their way later, particularly once they get their hands on their respective legendaries (because they never actually caught Kyogre or Groudon even if they succeeded in their respective universes, so they’d need to reawaken this universe’s Kyogre and Groudon to get what they want). Of course, joke’s on them, because Giovanni would never allow them to do that---but the idea would be there nonetheless. So, there’s Archie and Maxie.

Cyrus is in an even worse position than Cyrus and Maxie. Aqua and Magma are potential terrorists, but Galactic are actual terrorists, as seen by how they bomb the lakes as part of the game’s natural storyline. If it would be possible to lay pressure on Hoenn to prosecute Aqua and Magma for conspiracy to commit, then it would be more than possible to do the same to Sinnoh. (And even though Kanto is a different region, Kanto could reasonably pressure both Hoenn and Sinnoh to act based on the threat to the world at large, rather than just those specific organizations.) Cyrus has a god complex and so we know that he doesn’t care very much when Cynthia tries to stop him, but nonetheless, Galactic manufacture and use actual explosives even before the climax of the story, among other things. And while Rocket is no stranger to this, again, they have political clout and influence, they’re semi-public with things like their Game Corner, they have power within the law that Galactic simply does not. While Cyrus is trying to remake the entire universe, he requires legendary pokémon in order to actually do that, and if he never gets the legendary pokémon, Team Rocket actually overpowers him due to the influence they have if they’re truly meant to be yakuza. I mean, ffs, they were able to take over Saffron City and Silph Co., and the police weren’t really called on them either because the employees of Silph Co. were too terrified to call the police, or because the police in Saffron City were on the payroll and thus weren’t about to do anything about it. Galactic doesn’t have that kind of influence, because Cyrus has never tried to go after it. They’re not that kind of organization.

And that said, you might be thinking, “But if Cyrus also succeeded, then he should have the legendary already, and thus he’s more powerful than Giovanni, since Team Rocket never cared about legendaries!” I see that point, but I raise you the same secondary point posed to Archie and Maxie, at least to a similar degree. Giovanni, as yakuza, is very, very open to making deals. Cyrus, as a purely logical man who detests emotion, is open to rationale and hearing others out. It’s entirely possible (probable, even) that when Giovanni approached him, he offered to cut him a deal in some way, shape, or form that Cyrus felt would benefit him until he can carry out his plans. Perhaps Giovanni offered to allow Cyrus and his Galactic grunts to make use of a portion of Team Rocket’s resources (money, weapons, pokémon) in order to further his plans in exchange for Cyrus’ cooperation. Cyrus would be getting free weapons and ammunition out of this (well, seemingly free), while Giovanni would have Cyrus’ ensured cooperation for the time being. Again, not permanent---but whereas Cyrus just has a world full of emotionless zombies, Giovanni is filthy rich and has all of the resources of his world at his disposal. Those are resources Cyrus could use if he wants to spread his ideals to another universe. Therefore, it’s entirely possible he would be willing to make a deal, thinking that it’s only temporary until he gets what he wants. He thinks he’s using Giovanni, but he doesn’t realize that Giovanni sees it as the other way around.

As for Plasma, I’m going to be blunt: Ghetsis is a punk-ass bitch who has no problems playing the long game and pretended to be the most devoted advisor to a young boy until he got to say “you thought you were king, but it was I, Ghetsis!” at the end of the game. Ghetsis would have absolutely no problem whatsoever “taking orders” from Giovanni if he thought it would get him what he wanted. Particularly since Plasma likes to pretend that they’re a bunch of pokémon rights’ activists (at least until the second game), it would be very natural for him to pretend to serve and assist Giovanni, acting as though he’s perfectly content to be the one whispering secrets into his boss’s ear, while at the same time scheming and manipulating behind the scenes to wrest power away later once he finds a way to (you guessed it) get a legendary pokémon on his side. Joke’s on him because Giovanni is part-politician and can scheme with the best of them, but again, it’d be even easier to make a deal with Ghetsis than it would with Cyrus.

Lysandre is literally coming from a world where the vast majority of humans and pokémon are dead. He did this in the name of “saving resources” and “preserving beauty,” but considering that humans and pokémon are needed to actually create things, his thought of “I know, genocide is clearly the best solution!” was one of the most poorly conceived plans in existence, the point being that he, in particular, has nothing aside from whatever wealth he accumulated while building Team Flare (which tbh is a lot, considering each grunt had to pony up five million bucks in cash to join). Even if he, for whatever reason, wants to unleash this Hell on another universe, he’s going to have to go through a lot to do that. The ultimate weapon is still all the way in Kalos, while he’s in Alola. He is rich, unless he wasted all that money, but aside from that he really doesn’t have very much. He especially doesn’t have very much in comparison to Team Rocket, all of whom are not dead, have transnational influence in the world where they succeeded, and have plenty of pokémon and actual, portable weaponry at their disposal. So considering that, yeah, once again, we’re seeing a power skew here. But Giovanni would be willing to make a deal, and Lysandre---a businessman himself---would see the value in that kind of deal. He forms a partnership between Fleur-De-Lis Laboratories and Team Rocket, and Team Rocket will provide him with the resources he needs to restart Team Flare in this new universe. Both Lysandre and Giovanni are (once again) no doubt thinking of double-crossing each other at some undetermined point in time, but nonetheless, provided Lysandre upholds whatever part of the bargain he agreed to, they have cooperation for the time being.

The Aether Foundation had terrifying potential, but they’re not actually villainous in canon. It’s tragic, but true. They were “evil” for all of about five minutes, and it’s implied (though truthfully not outright stated) that this was because of neurotoxins. Most of their efforts are pokémon conservation, and they seem to be largely non-profit. They’re nothing in the eyes of the yakuza. If anything, it’d be more likely that Giovanni and Lusamine would become involved in a business sense, in that Team Rocket would traffic pokémon from other parts of the world into the Aether Foundation in order to boost the Aether Foundation’s reputation as a charitable organization dedicated to pokémon conservation. In that way they would become corrupt, but they would be able to actually become a profitable organization and spread their influence to regions other than just Alola. All the while, no one knows that they’re actually cooperating with a crime syndicate. So there you have it: Lusamine is on board. (And if not Lusamine, then Faba, who would love to have Giovanni give him even more power and prestige than he already is, given what a pretentious little fuck he is.)

And as for Skull? Skull are chinpira. Chinpira are (usually underaged) street gangs in Japan that are sometimes called “baby yakuza” or “yakuza in training.” Particularly considering that all Guzma does is yell at and abuse his underage grunts, it would be too easy for them to be swept over to Rocket instead. Team Skull already has literally nothing, and Guzma already has no power (hence why he’s so easily used and discarded by Lusamine). He is of absolutely no threat or concern to someone like Giovanni. There’s no benefit in even trying to bother with him. He’s like a fly easily batted aside. He’s all bark, no teeth.

So all things considered, it makes perfect sense that Giovanni would be in charge. Yes, Game Freak wanted to make things more and more interesting by saying “OMG APOCALYPSE!!1!!” in future plots, but aside from Flare (who were not treated seriously by the narrative, which is disgusting considering Lysandre’s plan was genocide), none of the teams really had realistically frightening potential. Galactic’s smaller acts of terrorism were more frightening than Cyrus’ overall goal, because his overall goal is not something that really translates to the real world. But the yakuza does. The yakuza has transnational influence, and they’re semi-public in their dealings, affecting both public and private sectors and, at some times, gaining some measure of public favor (such as with their disaster relief efforts). Much like how Umbridge is more terrifying than Voldemort because of her realism, Giovanni is arguably the most realistic of the Pokémon villains (with the other realistic one being Guzma, but again, he has absolutely no teeth; he’s a thirty-year-old man who never grew out of his chinpira stage, he’s pathetic). Part of what the yakuza does is cut deals, and so it makes perfect sense to me that he would be able to have conversations with the other bosses that makes them think they’re going to get what they want (and that he’s going to assist them in getting what they want with the vast resources he has), when in all actuality he’s planning on playing them from the start, because yakuza don’t do things that don’t benefit them (and Team Rocket certainly doesn’t).

So yeah, it makes perfect sense to me that Giovanni is the one in charge. It makes perfect sense to me that he has decided to spread the political, financial, and criminal influence he already has to another universe, and that he has struck up contracts with the others in order to further expand his enterprise. I can easily see it playing out, particularly if the other bosses have a “we’re cooperating for now, but once we get what we want you’re screwed” attitude, while Giovanni has a, “it’s so cute you think you’re going to get what you want, so I’m going to just let you keep thinking that” attitude in turn. If Team Rocket is truly the PokéWorld’s yakuza (and they truly seem to be), then yeah, it makes perfect sense.

[nightingaelic]

Companions react to the Courier doing the Infinite Money Glitch in casinos.

I had to look this up, OP, and then I had to conceptualize how this would even work in a storytelling context and write it, anyway I hope you're pleased with yourself because my brain feels like a stack of used sandpaper sheets

The courier had been saving up caps for a while, stashing them in odd places around the Lucky 38. Everywhere you looked there were bottle caps: Dresser drawers in the Presidential Suite, empty ice buckets in the cocktail lounge, in jars on every shelf in the penthouse. Saving up caps for big purchases was pretty common behavior in the Mojave wasteland for anyone, so no one batted an eye when the courier assembled all of the stashes on the carpeted floor of the casino and started counting them out, checking six times before stringing them together in batches of 50 and writing down the final total: 32,768.

No, no one so much as blinked when they lugged all 656 strings of caps out the door of the Lucky 38. No one, that is, except the lucky soul who went with them, saw them exchange all the caps for chips at The Tops Casino, then drop the chips in the back of The Aces theater during Bruce Isaac's set and return to the cashier to collect triple the amount of money they walked in with.

Arcade Gannon: Arcade cringed as the courier struggled to drag the haul of caps out the door of The Tops. The jingle of the cap strings was attracting the attention of just about everyone on the Strip, and someone across the street yelled "High roller!"

"This can't be legal," Arcade said.

"Since when..." the courier huffed and puffed, throwing cap strings over their shoulder carelessly, "... do you give a mole rat's ass about legality?"

"What is this?!?" Arcade hissed incredulously, gesturing to the jingling pile. "Is that cashier paying you off? Are those chips the currency for some wasteland tribe I've never heard of, but somehow have a better exchange rate than the NCR does? Did I just witness a payout for a hit on someone?"

The courier sighed and paused to pat the scientist on the shoulder. "Just don't think about it too hard, okay? Now help me out with this, we're going to Doctor Usanagi's to get me tricked out with as many implants as she has on hand."

Craig Boone: While the courier jingled their way across the Strip asphalt, Boone couldn't help noticing the number of eyes turning their way to stare at the enormous payout they were openly carrying. New Vegas was already a town that kept on trucking if its very creator was killed, that was certain: It wouldn't even pause if its latest mastermind was gunned down over a fortune in steel and aluminum crowns. Boone clutched his rifle close and met as many of the curious and envious stares as he could, his own eyes burning protectively behind his sunglasses.

They managed to get all the way back to the Lucky 38 before the courier stopped and spoke to him. "Nothing? Not even a guess about what this is from?"

Boone shrugged. "None of my business. Just don't carry it all at once again. Ever."

Lily Bowen: "Did you win, dearie?" Lily asked, confused. As far as she had noticed, the courier hadn't approached any of the blackjack tables, roulette wheels or slot machines.

"Yeah, Lily." The courier grinned and started handing her strings of caps to carry. "What do you want to spend your winnings on?"

"My winnings?" Lily shook her head. "Now now, pumpkin. You won fair and square, so you get to choose what you buy."

"My treat," the courier insisted. "Anything at all. We could go to the Gourmand for dinner, we could donate to the Followers in Freeside, we could get singing and dancing lessons from the King... what do you want?"

Lily thought for a moment, wracking her brains. "Brahmin for Jacobstown."

The courier looked at her quizzically. "Brahmin? Not bighorners?"

"Brahmin," Lily confirmed, shouldering the strings upon strings of caps. "Bighorners at Jacobstown will make more bighorners, but they have no brahmin. Brahmin are sweet, easier to handle. But no one will sell brahmin to nightkin."

"Okay." The courier nodded. "Then we have to go to the Gourmand for dinner anyway. I know a guy at the Ultra-Luxe who might help."

Raul Alfonso Tejada: "Dios mío," Raul muttered under his breath. "Who did you kill for the Chairmen? They finally paying you back for getting rid of Benny?"

"Pfft." The courier waved him off, dropping a few strings of caps as they did. "Whoops. Help me out here, and I'll buy you a drink."

"A drink?" Raul laughed. "Not the whole bar? You could probably convince the Garret twins to retire if you gave them half of this haul."

"And why the hell would I want to take over the Atomic Wrangler?" The courier shook their head as they loaded the old ghoul up with caps. "I already have one casino I'm incapable of running. The only customers I get are you and the other Mojave misfits."

Raul grinned. "Hey, you invited us in, amigo. We're just the only ones loco enough to ignore the robots and take you up on it."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: "Oh, sweet squirrel stew." Cass' eyes were as big as the dinner plates in the casino's restaurant. "That's enough change to buy the Van Graffs out of business. That's enough change to tell Alice McLafferty to stick it where the sun don't shine, then back it up with enough muscle to scare her out of the Mojave."

The courier nodded and started handing her strings of caps. "It is also enough change to start funding her competitors and drive her out of New Vegas."

"Now you're talkin'." Cass smirked and accepted the extra weight. "So who're we gonna back? Far Go? The Water Merchants? Gun Runners?"

"Actually..." the courier smiled. "A little birdie told me that the Mojave Express is looking to expand its horizons. Start offering goods in addition to services. And you know me, I like to root for the home team when I can."

Cass laughed. "Well that's a surprise. You plannin' on playin' courier again? Get yourself shot in the head a second time?"

"Not if I can help it."

Veronica Santangelo: "Uhhhh, Six?" Veronica crossed her arms. "I thought we agreed we weren't going to stir up trouble for a bit after the adventure at the dam. This screams 'trouble' to me."

"Aw, lighten up Veronica." The courier winked at her and handed her a string of caps, like a consolation prize. "We're in a casino. The odds aren't in your favor, but at least you can have fun for a bit."

Veronica turned the offering down. "Math may not have been my strongest subject when I was in school, but I do know that 30,000 minus 30,000 does not equal 90,000, under any normal odds. What are you getting yourself- and more importantly, me- into?"

The courier sighed. "It's nothing. Just a little loophole I discovered when I was poking around after Benny's disappearance. I promise, we're not going to get knifed, unless we get waylaid in the street on the way home because I'm too weighed down to move."

Veronica narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I don't trust this," she said after a few beats, "But I'm also not keen to see you try to fight off a mugger while buried under all those caps. Give me some of that."

ED-E: The eyebot beeped, confused, when the courier stopped it from picking up the chips again. Its beeps increased in volume and frequency as they loaded the little bot up with caps at the cashier's counter, until it was hanging low in the air and having trouble turning around from the increased weight. The courier patted its metal dome reassuringly and loaded up the rest of the haul on themselves, until each step they took sounded like a cascade of sleigh bells.

"Back to the Lucky 38," the courier said, pointing toward the casino door. "I've got a bet I need to settle with Raul."

Rex: Rex whined as the courier hung strings of caps off his back. He sniffed each new addition but stood tall on his metal legs, taking the extra weight admirably until he was virtually buried by the wasteland currency.

"Can you still walk, boy?" the courier asked, when they had lightened their own load.

Rex barked. Satisfied, the courier led the way to the exit, opening the casino door with a jingle and ignoring the strange looks they were getting. The two waddled their way to the Strip's main gate and down the main street of Freeside until they staggered into the King's School of Impersonation.

The King, who had been lounging inside the stage room, jumped up when he saw the pair. "Well ain't that some money, honey," he said, clearly delighted. "You actually went and did it."

"Yep." The courier dropped some strings of caps on the nearest table and leaned over it to rest. "There it is. Now, where do we get started on fixing up Freeside?"

[spaceyantique]

five’s a crowd [beatles x reader] part six

chapter summary: It’s game night with your bug boys, and it goes about how you would expect. John is chaotic, Paul does very little to contain that energy. Ringo confirms that he IS, in fact, an old man, and you and George spend the evening sharing an armchair.

warnings: there is drinking and some (offscreen) drug use. we don’t condone drugs! please be safe!

these chapters certainly are getting longer, yeet. let @kalypsichor​ and i know what you think and if there’s anything you want to see!

masterlist

one | two | three | four | five 

What can you say? Between his sweet personality and those bluer-than-blue eyes, Ringo always gets his way. You’d tried as best you could to avoid any more pure, unadulterated John-related chaos, but Paul had teamed up with Ringo for an unbeatable duo of puppy-dog eyes. They’d cornered you in the kitchen one day until you finally relented, damn them.

So, that Saturday night, you’re all squished around the table in the living room as Ringo slams down a comically large board game box. From the way his eyes light up as he looks at it, you’d think it would be glowing gold and sparkling, Cave of Wonders-style. 

“Fuck’s this about?” John’s brow furrows at the name on the box. He’s already gone through half his first drink of the night: a vodka tonic with more vodka than most people would go for. Paul’s hanging over his shoulder with a beer, also a bit tipsy.

“Clue! It’s my favorite game of all time!” Ringo’s excitement is endearing and sunshine-yellow, as always.

“Thought we were playin’ Monopoly.”

“We’re trying to mend friendships, John.” Ringo fixes him with a false-stern look.

“Yeah, John, Monopoly is a game that only ends in violence. ‘Sides, I actually like Clue,” you say.

“A board game nerd too. Who knew?” George smirks. He’s got a beer in his hand as well. Though you’re overall not thrilled to be forced to participate in another night of John Lennon ruining the apartment, you can certainly say that a pro is that you’re next to George. You’re sharing the overstuffed armchair because John and Paul have claimed the couch (“for canoodling,” Ringo accused), and you can feel the warmth of George’s thigh even through your jeans. How is this boy so warm?

For a second, you catch yourself thinking of the last board game night, which ended with you and George next to each other not so unlike tonight. Unfortunately, it had been in a dark closet during a drunken game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, and you’d been too awkward even with the alcohol to try anything. 

Thankfully, you’re brought back to reality by Ringo unfurling the instructions across the table. They’re nearly too large for him to fully open with his arms extended and you have a sudden vision of him as Clark Griswold from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

“Right!” Ringo declares, now unfolding the game board. “Everyone pick a character. There’s six, so everyone gets their own, no teams.”

“Red!” John lunges across the table for the red, but misses slightly in doing so and scatters the other pieces across the board. He’s met with a chorus of indignant cries and Paul smacking his bicep. “Sorry! Got to have me color!” 

“Right then, John’s Miss Scarlett.” 

John dramatically reclines on the sofa with girlish flair.

“Paul! Paint me like one of your French girls!” Paul rolls his eyes, muttering something about the importance of nude modeling to the art world and how John would take advantage of it.

George quietly takes the green piece and places it on his starting square, then turns to you.

“It matches my socks,” he says with a smile. Your heart flutters as you see that he’s wearing said fuzzy green socks right now. Don’t blush, please don’t blush, for God’s sake.

Instead, you grab the nearest piece to you (blue) and place it on your spot.

“I’ll be Miss Peacock.”

Ringo picks Colonel Mustard and George and John goad Paul into being Professor Plum (“Professor Paul! It fits, you’ve bloody GOT to!”). As Ringo deals the cards, Paul whispers something to John and heads to the kitchen, claiming he’s getting a drink. He does come back with a six-pack of hard cider, but he also places a phone down in the center of the board, on top of the Top-Secret envelope with the winning cards. 

“Is that where my phone was? I’ve been looking all day for it,” George asks as you crack open your can of cider.

“It’s the prize,” John says, his mouth curling into that wicked, Grinch-like smirk once again. As stupidly smug as he is, you’re a bit drunk and it’s hard to keep a grin off your face. “Whoever wins gets to decide who gets the phone.”

“It’s my phone, though. I bought it, I paid for it.” 

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Does too!”

“Well, now it’s a part of the game! We play for it.”

George, rolling his eyes, goes to reach for the phone, but a hellish shriek from John and Paul’s protest stops him. 

“Thou shalt honor the game!” Paul cries.

“And what if I don’t?”

“Bad things!” Paul’s grinning widely now and you’re biting your lips to keep from smiling. “Like in Jumanji!” 

“Yes, we get sucked into a jungle world for years and years until someone finishes a board game that we left in the attic and releases us and we have to fight all the animals they unleash too.” Ringo’s smiling now too, and George reluctantly agrees to play for his phone. “Then we’d best start now! Usual rules, plus each time you move, you drink.”

“Don’t worry,” you whisper to George, feeling a bit bold from the warmth of the alcohol already. “I’m pretty good at this game. I’ll win it back for you.” 

The smile he gives you increases that warmth in your body tenfold.

***

It turns out you are not, in fact, pretty good at Clue. It has a lot to do with your cards, and thanks to Paul’s subpar shuffling skills, you have a shit hand. Several turns in, and you’re not at all close to solving the murder of Dr. Black. Your lack of strategy also may have something to do with the fact that you’re onto your second drink (rum and Coke but with diet Pepsi because it’s cheaper). However, you’re relatively confident in winning, as John both does not know the rules and doesn’t currently have the capacity to learn them.

“Then... then I’ll use that portal. The secret passage,” John slurs, and Ringo shakes his head adamantly.

“No, you can’t, John. The passage is in the greenhouse. You’re not in the greenhouse.”

“Well then, where am I?” Ringo points at John’s red piece in the ballroom.

“How the hell did I get over there?!”

“Honestly, John, are you high as well as drunk?” You ask with a smile. He takes a liberal slug of his vodka tonic before responding in a deadpan: “This is my personality.” Behind him, Paul mouths “a bit high,” and you giggle.  

“Oi, you’re one to talk!” John shoves Paul with his shoulder, still with that easy smile on his face.

“Look, y’know, the people have right to know, it’s-”

“The people! The people? What fucking people?”

“What’s all this?” Ringo looks up from his expertly technical dice roll. 

“They’re drunk,” George laughs. 

“Can we get on with it, lovebirds?” You shift in your seat and are suddenly reminded of being pressed against George’s whole side. You can practically feel him breathing.

“Yeah, some of us are trying to win here. The stakes are high,” George grins. “So if you two could pull your heads out of each other’s arses-”

There’s a chorus of laughter around the table, and John drops his cards with a hilariously restrained “oh shit.”

With a good deal of direction from Ringo (“‘S like herding cats, the lot of you!”), gameplay continues.

“Alright… John, do you have… the rope?” Ringo bites his lip, glancing over his cards and his scratch sheet of paper. John gasps.

“What? How’d you know that?” He cries, and you laugh, leaning towards George a bit more without thinking. You let your head fall onto his shoulder and suddenly you’re back in that darkened closet again. You’d sat just like this on the floor, but with your knees curled up against your chest. Your head was on his shoulder, and his hand was so close to yours-

George stiffens a bit, and as if you’d been shocked, you sit straight up. You make eye contact with Paul accidentally, and for a second, that infamous pout curls into a smirk. You hear an echo of his voice in your head. I’ll get the truth out of you one of these days, y’know. Your eyes fall to Geo’s phone lying on the board, and you suddenly realize that it was Paul who’d gotten it from the kitchen, not John.

“Conspiracy!” John shouts suddenly, both echoing your thoughts and shaking you out of them.

“It’s not a fucking conspiracy, John, you guess, it’s how you play-” George argues.

“Ringo must be cheating!”

“How do you not know how the game works?” Paul teases, and John scrunches up his nose at him.

“Well, I was doing just fine until you-”

“Don’t blame me for your incompetence-”

“Incompetence!?” John practically shrieks, and Ringo snorts, covering his mouth with his hand. 

“Off with his head!” George says, and pantomimes cutting his own head off. He lets his ‘severed’ head loll back onto the armchair’s cushioned back, exposing his neck. He’s got such a lovely neck, more slender than one might expect. It’s long and the tendons and muscles are defined, and his collarbones peek out just a bit over the neckline of his shirt. He’s been wearing his hair curly for the past several days, and it goes in waves past his ears, ending in a little flick just below his earlobe. The sun has set by now, and in the lamplight, his skin looks like gold. Your eyes travel back up his hair, and you suddenly notice-- oh, fuck, he’s looking at you. 

You snap your head back to the game so fast you nearly give yourself whiplash. John and Paul are still arguing, and you just barely catch Ringo sneaking a peek at John’s cards while his guard is down.

“Hey! Hey�� do you wanna fight?” Paul says, and leans close to John’s face.

“... no.” John’s tone is sheepish but he’s smiling widely.

“Good.” Paul leans a touch closer. You swear John almost stops breathing.

Your eyebrows nearly hit your hairline as George snickers.

“God, get a room,” Ringo sighs, and John leaps up from the couch, Paul not far behind.

“Gents, fair lady, I’ve forgotten something in my room, and I’ve got to… get it.” With that, John stumbles down the hall towards his and Paul’s bedroom.

“I’m… helping him.” Paul rushes out too. 

“Then there were three,” George says after a beat of silence.

“Two,” Ringo says, standing and stretching. “S’pose that’s the end of it, so I’m going to put my headphones on as quickly as possible.” He bids you and George goodnight and then heads to their shared room, taking the fleece blanket from the couch with him.

“Smart move,” you say. “Poor Freddie upstairs said his bedroom’s just above John and Paul’s. He’s about to get a free show.” 

“With surround sound,” George says, and you snort. Reluctantly, you force yourself to get up, detaching from George’s side and busying yourself with picking up the cups, cans, and bottles littering the various surfaces in the living room. As you release your armful into the kitchen sink, George’s sudden shout from the living room startles you. 

“You idiot bastard! That’s what this was about?” You turn to see George still standing in the living room, hunched over his phone and calling down the hall to John and Paul’s room.

“You put fucking TINDER on my phone?!”

[eleventhdoctorsangel]

The hunter and the dauntless leader

Summary: Y/N and jack find themselves alone in the divergent world. Now both having to by time till Sam, dean, and cas find them. But they had to choose a faction. That faction was dauntless. 

“Come with me.” Eric said as he grabbed my waist. “Eric I can’t I have to get back to the dorm.” I said taking his hands off of my waist and started to walked away. But he grabbed me and pulled me back into his chest.  “I don’t care about what those other initiates say. Why don’t you?” Eric said. “I have never cared about what other people have though of me a day in my life.” I said. Eric kissed me. I pulled away. “Come back to my apartment with me.” Eric said. I smiled and nodded. Eric grabbed my hand. We walked hand and hand to his apartment. “How’s jack?” Eric asked as he opened the door and we walked in. “He seems better but I just don’t know what’s going to happen to him.” I said. “Sound like you’re saying he might die.” Eric said as I sat down on the couch. “He might. I have never seen anything like what is happening to him.” I said watching Eric sit down besides me. “You sound scared.” Eric said as he out a hand on my knee. “I’m terrified. I know that dauntless should not be afraid. But I’m so terrified he’s going to die.” I said as tears fell from my eyes. Eric pulled om on to his lap as I cried. I buried my face in his neck. “He is not going to die.” Eric said as he moved a hand up and down my back. “How do you know that? You do not even know what is going on with him. I do.” I said removing my face his neck to look at him. “I will if you just tell me.” Eric said as he put a hand on the side of my face. “I trust you I completely. But now is not the right time.”  I said. “Ok you can tell me you are ready.” Eric said and kissed my nose. I smiled and put my head on his shoulder. Eric wrapped his arms around my waist and I wrapped mine around his neck. “I know I should get back to the dorm. But I don’t want to.” I said. “Then stay.” Eric said and kissed my neck. “Don’t you dare give me another hickey.” I said giggling. I could feel him starting to bite and suck on my neck. “Eric stop.” I said giggling. Eric grip on my waist tighten as he bite and sucked my neck. I let out a moan as he did so. “Do you want to move to the bed?” Eric asked as he stopped kissing my neck. “I need to go back to the dorm.” I said. “Stay the night.” Eric said. “Soon I promise.” I said as I kissed him. I got up from his lap and walk towards the door. Before I opened the door I felt Eric grabbed me by the waist pushing me up against the door kissing me once again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Eric said as he pulled away from the kiss. “See you tomorrow.” I said and left. 

I walked into the dorm only to be stopped by Peter. “So I finally get why you are ranked number 1.” Peter said blocking my way. “I don’t what you are talking about.” I said as I walked pass peter. “Oh you don’t.” Peter said as he grab my arm. “Get you hand off of me.” I said trying to get out of his grip. “Are you not sleeping with Eric?” Peter said pulling me by the arm closer to him. “No I’m not.” I said pulling my arm out of his grip. “Then how did you get the bruise on your neck then.” Peter said. “That is none of your business.” I said pushing him away from me and walked inside the dorm to everyone else. “So you came back.” Christina said smirking at me. “Shut up.” I said laughing. “We all though that you would stay with Eric.” Will said. “He wanted me to. But I though I should come back.” I said sitting on my bed. “You should have stayed.” Tris said. “Well I didn’t want people to think like that I’m only ranked first because I’m sleeping with him but it looks like someone already thinks that. How’s your ear tris?” I said. “Oh it’s fine y/n.” Tris said. “Let me guess that someone is peter.” Christina said. I nodded as I took my boots off. “He grabbed me and demanded I tell him.” I said. “He what!” Jack said. “Jack don’t worry I’m fine.” I said. “Are you sure? Peter has never really got physical that with you.” Christina said. “Don’t worry he just threatened by me. Besides we all know I can handle him if he touches me again.” I said as lights out was called. I got under my blankets and went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning I quickly got ready and headed to the dining hall before anyone else. I was sitting at a table eating by myself waiting on everyone else to show up. 

“Where’s all your friends?” A voice asked. I looked up and saw four. “I kinda woke up a bit early. I didn’t feel like waiting.” I said. “How is jack?” Four asked as he sat down besides me. “He ok.” I said. “Did they find out what is wrong?” Four asked. I shook my head. “But you know what is wrong with him don’t you.” Four. I let out a sigh. “It’s that obvious huh?” I asked. Four looked at me and nodded. I put both of my elbows on the table running my hands through my hair. “I am way over my head. I have never handle anything this big by myself. Jack is dying and there is not I can do to stop it.” I said. “What do you mean he is dying?” Four asked put a hand on my shoulder. “I can’t tell you.” I said. “Listen you are scared I get it but I promise I will do all that I can do to help the two of you.” Four said. “The only people who really can help him are far away.” I said. “I will help you until they come ok.” Four said. “You have to promise on your life that you will not tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. If people know what Jack is I’m afraid of what is going to happen to him.” I said. “I won’t. I just want to help.” Four said. I let out a deep breathe and started to tell four everything. By the time I was do other people started to come to the dining hall. Everyone else slowly started to join me. I didn’t mention that I told four everything. Soon we went to the training area. I was with Jack at a punching bag “Be honest how are you?” I asked. “I’m ok honest.” Jack said. I nodded. “First fight. Peter versus Tris.” Eric said. I gave a wide eye look to Jack and rush over to the ring. I stood beside Eric. “Is this because she opened her mouth?” I asked. “She needs to learn.” Eric said. I watch as tris and peter began to fight. Tris managed to dodge peter’s first two punches. She managed to hit him in the throat. she managed to get another hit in before Peter started to beat the living shit out of her. Peter threw her to the ground. “Come on. Stop playin with each other.” Eric said. Tris got up only to be knocked down again Then peter kicked her in the face. “Peter win.” Eric said as Peter came down from the ring cheering. Both Christina and I ran up to help Tris. We each grabbed an arm putting it around our shoulder and took her to the infirmary. “He did it to get back at her.” Christina said as we made our way back. “I know.” I said. Once we got back I had to fight Al. I took off my shirt and threw it to the side and got in the ring. “Are you sure you want me to fight her?” Al asked. “Just do it.” Eric said. “Afraid of hurting me?” I asked. Al gave me a heartbroken look. Does he still like me. “Just do it.” Al said. We fought and I won even though Al let me win out of fear of hurting me. After training was over eric said that Tris was out. For the rest of the day I ignored Eric and most of the next day until it was announced that we would be playing war games tonight. We got vest with one of two light colors. We were told to be at the train at 8. So I managed to ignore Eric until then. 

It was getting close to time to go catch the train. Jack, Al and I decided to go ahead and Christina and Will were going to check on Tris before we left. I was able to climb up on the train when I felt two hands grab me by my waist lifting me up. Once I was in the train I looked back and saw Eric climbing in behind me. I gave him a small smile. “Do you have time to talk?” Eric ask. I nodded. He gently grabbed my arm lead me up the train car. “You haven’t spoken to me since I had Tris and Peter fight.” Eric said. “I know. Did you have to kick Tris out?’ I asked. “I can’t go back on my word.” Eric said as he put a hand on my hip. I nodded and he placed a quick kiss on my forehand. I smiled. I went back over to Jack and Al. By that time Christina and Will was there. “Tris is awake.” Christina said. “How did she take the news.” I said. “About as well as you would think.” Will said. I nodded as the train began to move. I saw Four pull someone in and it was Tris. I nudge Christina. “Hi.” Christina and I said as we walked up to her and hugged her. “What are you doing here?” Will asked. I felt someone grab my waist moving me to the side. I knew that someone was Eric without even looking behind me. “I just figured that I had to make it.” Tris said. “Who let you out?” Eric asked. I could still feel one of his hands on my waist I quickly took if off. “I did.” Tris said as she looked at Eric. “You did?” Eric asked. “Eric?” I asked. “Okay.” Eric said as he looked at me. Eric glared at Al before taking a hold of my hand taking me away. Four threw to bags to the ground. “The game’s simple. It’s like Capture the flag.” Four said. Eric opened one of the bags to reveal gun like weapons. He picked one up to show it to us. “Weapon of choice.” Eric said. “You call that a gun?” Molly asked to Peter. Eric pump the gun and shot at molly making her fall back in pain. Eric pulled the dart out of leg. “Neuro stim dart. Simulates the pain of a real gunshot wound. Only last a couple of minutes. Two teams Four and I are captains.” Eric said. Gee I wonder what team I’m going to be on. “You pick first.” Four said. “Okay. Y/n.” Eric said. Wow big shock there. “I’ll take the stiff.” Four said. “Oh. Picking the weak ones so you’ve got someone to blame when you lose.” Eric said. “Something like that.” Four said. The rest of the teams were picked. I was the only one that was on Eric team. I was worried about Jack being without me incase something to happened to him. But Four managed to tell me he would come to find me if anything bad happens. 

Taglist: @importanttyrantruler @jaiboomer11 @darkqueennox @letsthedogpackandthecats 

A/n: I’m honesty didn’t know that I could got this out on time because of I ad to call an ambulance for my mom. She is fine. They are keeping her overnight and don’t know if they are going to keep her longer than that. She is dehydrated but my whole family already knew that. Because she hasn’t drank or eaten anything for the pass few days. Anyway thank you guys love you.

[tamarinfrog]

Unwanted House Guest Special - Playing Your Tiles Right

insightsfromagameplayer submitted:

Belladonna Saltbush sat looking bored out of her non-existent skull.  She had been here for 3 hours on a weekend and was absolutely restless.  As she sat, her leg twitched incessantly as if primed to bolt at a moment’s notice.  “Remind me again,” she said monotonously, “Why are we doing this again?”

Arnick Stilton was studying the board in front of him and rubbing his chin in contemplation. Without turning to face Belladonna, he answered, “You asked me to think of a team building exercise we could all do, and quite frankly, sir, I wish you would have said something earlier if you had something else in mind.”

Cyanthia Laguiole had rested her chin in the cradle of her intertwined fingers and had a small, barely noticeable smirk on her face.  “Oui, eet was yur suggestion aftair all,” she said with a palpable French accent, “And quite frankly, I’m rathair enjoying zis.”

Tetrox Gorgonzola stopped staring at the ceiling in mind-numbing boredom long enough to frown at Cyanthia.  “Well GOOD for you, sugar,” she said sarcastically, “Ain’t nuttin’ I like more than wasting my time sittin’ ‘round a dang old board game.”

Arnick looked up and glared at Tetrox who was sitting across the table from him.  “It is Not a ‘dang old board game’, Tetrox, this is Scrabble!” he chided, “It’s a several thousand years old game once played by humans to enhance their communication skills and vocabulary. Many of the most brilliant minds of ancient human civilization used to play this,” he said before going in for the stinger, “And it wouldn’t kill you to spend some time expanding your horizons a little.”

“Oh yeah?” Tetrox quipped, “Well if them humans was so smart, then how come they ain’t around no more?”

“Got that right!” Bella said with a smile before giving the Octoling to her left a high five.

The look on Arnick’s face made it quite clear that he didn’t appreciate his team building efforts being undermined by his own team captain  She had asked him to think of something that was simple, could be played by 4-players, and would increase their critical thinking skills which are essential when in the midst of a Turf War.  It didn’t take him long to think of something, but with the mess Tetrox had made by going through his things so many times, it took Arnick quite a bit of effort to locate all the pieces to his copy of the classic game.  A little appreciation for the effort he’d put in to make this game day happen was something Arnick desperately wanted, but knew he wouldn’t get.  

At least, not from Tetrox and Belladonna.

Cyanthia on the other hand, was a different story.  Behind her ice cold, stoic face was a brilliant mind that was as sharp as a tack. As satisfying as it would have been to make a clean sweep with each Scrabble game against the girls, Cyanthia was proving to be a more than worthy opponent.  She had won the last game with the word “Couture”, and she also tended to slip in smaller words like “Chic”, “Depot”, and “Genre” that made word placement much more difficult.  It wasn’t just that she had a broad lexicon of words memorized, but she was choosing where she placed her words carefully to ensure that she got the best bonuses such as triple word score and block off attempts for other players to get them.

In the back of Arnick’s mind, he thought it was nice to see Cyanthia enjoying herself.  She always was the most cultured of the three girls on the team and this game was right up her alley.  Tetrox and Belladonna on the other hand were the ones who would benefit the most from some critical thinking exercises.  Or at least they would if they bothered to put some effort into their word choices.

Tetrox had tried to get away with “DeezNuts” for using all of her letters for a 50-point bonus, but Arnick wasn’t having it.  So instead, Tetrox settled for “Nut”, which barely scored her any points, and the only reason Belladonna scored higher on her turn immediately after was because she changed it to “Nuts”.  Now it was Arnick’s turn again and he wanted to show off somehow.

Arnick had pulled the ‘X’ tile out of the tile bag and just needed to find a good word to use it with.  He wanted to score enough points that would impress even the disinterested Tetrox and Belladonna.  Looking over his tiles, Arnick tried his best to think of as many words as he could that would get him a high enough score to not only win, but to demolish everyone else so utterly that there would be no way they could come back from behind. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work, so given the pattern the girls had laid out already, he decided to take a stab and went with…

“Peanuts!” Arnick said as he added a ‘P’, an ‘E’, and an ‘A’ to the “Nuts” that were already on the board.

“Peanuts!?” Tetrox said somewhat bemused.

“Peanuts,” Arnick said back with a smug grin.  Sure it may not have been the cleverest of moves, but it still gave him more points than Tetrox or Belladonna had earned in their respective turns.  The only problem now was that it was Cyanthia’s turn and already she had gone back to her cold, calculating, featureless expression that she usually wore on her face as she began to think carefully.

“Oye,” Belladonna called out, “Can you actually do that?”

“Do what?” Arnick asked.

“Use the same letters more than twice?”

Arnick mentally rolled his eyes, “Yes, sir.  As stated in the rulebook, there is no limit to how many times a combination of letters on the board can be used so long as it creates a new word and does not inadvertently create something that is not a wooooooooooo…” he trailed off.

Belladonna and Tetrox looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Arnick. “Something that’s not a wot now?” Belladonna asked.

Arnick apparently didn’t hear her as his lips were still pursed in the middle of saying the word, “word”, and his eyes were wide open as he looked at his arrangement of tiles.

“Uhh… you okay there, Nicky?” Tetrox inquired.

Arnick is usually someone with a quick comeback and witty response, but he was far too detached from the conversation around him.  He was too busy staring at what he could only describe as the perfect word, staring him right in the face: “Dioxide”.  The letters just so happened to be arranged in just the right way on the tile rack to literally spell it out for Arnick.  “This is it!” he thought, “It’s PERFECT!”

“OYE!”

“Hmm?” Arnick raised his head innocently enough as though he hadn’t a care in the world.  His eyes were beaming and he had a smile stretching from cheek to cheek.  

Belladonna was looking rather annoyed.  “Don’t go off daydreaming now, you boofhead!” she said as a matter of fact, “Keep your head in the game.”

Arnick nodded in full agreement, “Oh!  Yes! Quite right!”

“Parfait,” Cyanthia said as she placed her tiles on the board.  Starting from the ‘P’ in “Peanuts”, she played downwards and racked up a double word score, triple letter score on the ‘F’, and was pretty pleased with herself.  She wrote down her score on her scorecard and motioned that it was now Tetrox’s turn.

Tetrox, however, was far more interested in Arnick than she was on the board.  Or to be more specific, she was interested in the look on Arnick’s face.  It was a look she had seen before, and knew exactly what it meant.  “So… got anything good over there, Nicky?” she said with a big, toothy grin.

Arnick practically batted his eyelashes in mock innocence.  “Me? Noooo… No…” he fibbed, “Just… wishful thinking, really.”

Tetrox wasn’t buying it for a second.  “Uh-huh… that why you look like the Judd that ate the canary?” she teased.

Belladonna chuckled, “Got that right.  If this were poker, I’d be folding right now.  Come to think of it,” she asked, “Can you fold in Scrabble?”

“I’m afraid not, sir,” Arnick said with a million G smile, “Oh, but don’t worry!  I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to throw a spanner in the works.  Just need to plan your moves, and words, carefully!”  Arnick’s enthusiasm was shining off of him like polished chrome as he was quite confident that nothing Tetrox or Belladonna could do with their limited vocabulary to block off his “Dioxide”.

“Oui, zat eez true,” Cyanthia agreed.

Tetrox was too amused by Arnick’s blatant smugness, and had the perfect come back.  “Well shucks, Nicky, I ain’t seen you that pleased with yourself since that time right before we done got hitched.”

THAT got Belladonna and Cyanthia’s attention as they slowly turned their heads to Tetrox.  Arnick was still smiling but could feel the color draining from his tentacles once again.  He wasn’t sure, but he had a bad feeling he knew what Tetrox was talking about.

“You wot, mate?” Belladonna asked with genuine surprise.

Cyanthia was also perplexed, “What do you mean by, ‘itched, exactly?”

“NOTHING!” Arnick blurted out in a panic, “Nothing at all!  Just some-some… silliness!  That’s all!”

“Ain’t nuttin’ silly ‘bout tyin’ the knot, sugar,” Tetrox said with a playful grin, “You went all out makin’ a girl feel all welcome what with that bottle of rum, candlelight on the beach, an’ everythin’.”  Arnick was sweating bullets as Tetrox knew full well she had him wrapped around her finger.  “Made me feel all relaxed that I never even noticed when you slipped that little something in my drink.”

“YOU! DID! WOT!!!???” Belladonna shouted as she stood up out of her seat, ready to grab Arnick by the collar of his shirt and punch him all the way to next week.

“IN A GAME!  IT WAS ALL IN A GAME!  I DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING!  I SWEAR!” Arnick practically shrieked in a panic.  Very rarely was Belladonna ever truly pissed off, but having been on the receiving end of one of her beat downs at least once before, Arnick knew that making Belladonna mad was never a good idea.

Tetrox began to laugh and Cyanthia sighed as she turned to Tetrox.  “Vairy funny, Tetrox,” she deadpanned, “Now what really ‘appened?”

“Ha Ha!  Okay.  So… So Nicky’s got this game of his that’s like all military role playin’ an’ stuff. He was this big shot Admiral of his own fancy navy ship and I was the mean pirate queen he was chasin’, okay?” Tetrox explained, “So this one game we get down to when we’re about one ship each an’ Nicky here’s tryin’ to be all diplomatic tryin’ to get me to surrender.  He tries slippin’ a mickey in my drink to knock me out an’ capture me, but… hee hee hee…” Tetrox giggles to herself, “But… But Nicky rolls a one and ends up marryin’ me instead!  HA!”

Belladonna finally sat back down as Arnick breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  She was looking fairly amused.  “Now how the bloody shell did that happen!?”

Tetrox shakes her head as she smiles, remembering that Wednesday night fondly.  “It’s a long story, sugar,” Tetrox says, “I’ll have to tell it to y’all some time.”

“Sounds like a real corker!” Belladonna said as Arnick began to relax a little now that he was no longer moments away from having his windpipe crushed.  From the look on his face, he was more than ready to move on to something else but Belladonna wasn’t about to let it go just yet.  “So how come I never heard about this before?” she asked while turning to Arnick.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Arnick said defiantly, “And Tetrox, if you’re not going to play, then say something already so we can move on with this game!”

“Easy there, sugar,” Tetrox said with a smile as she picked up some letters off of her tile rack, “I ain’t skipping my turn.  Get a load of this!”  Building off of the ‘T’ in “Peanuts”, Tetrox spells out “Knot” on the board, using up three tiles.  “May not be worth much, but given how this here conversation’s going…” she pauses while giving Arnick a coy wink, “…it’s all I could think of.”

Belladonna burst out laughing, “HA HA HA!  TOO RIGHT! Guess Arnick here’s not such a dipstick after all!  HA HA!” she says right before giving Arnick a friendly punch in the arm that knocks Arnick right out of his chair and onto the floor. Tetrox laughs too as she watches Arnick fumble his way back into his seat.

Arnick has his usual scowl on his face again as he retakes his seat.  “Go ahead… Laugh it up, you she-devils,” he thinks to himself, “But we’ll see who has the last laugh!”

After her laughter finally died down, Belladonna grabs a few tiles and places them on the board to spell out “Cake” using the ‘K’ in Tetrox’s “Knot”.  “Piece of cake,” Belladonna says with a smirk as she turns to Arnick, “Now let’s see this bonzer word you got up your sleeve!”

Arnick glances at the board and thinks carefully.  As much as he would have loved to get the 50-point bonus for using all 7 of his tiles, he could still score a pretty impressive score using 6.  The ‘I’ in Parfait could be used and it would also allow him to get a Triple Letter Score on the ‘X’ to make it worth 24 points. Looking at the girls seated around the table, Arnick smirks and is ready to show them all what he can do.

“Dioxide!” he proclaimed triumphantly as he laid his tiles on the table.  Tetrox “oohs” at the fancy word as Arnick began to tally up the score. “That’s 16 points plus the Triple Letter bonus on the ‘X’ to add an additional 16, bringing it to 32 points total!” Arnick put his hands on his hips in a show of victory and looked confidently at the three girls around him. “Try and beat that!”

If past experiences had taught Arnick anything, it was that he should never,EVER, under any circumstances, tempt fate.  Fate has bit him in the butt more than a few times and unfortunately for Arnick, he didn’t remember that until about 2 seconds after the words had left his mouth. It was now Cyanthia’s turn, and by the time Arnick turned to look at her, she already had a tile in her hand and placing it on the board.

“Dioxides,” she said coolly as the ‘S’ she placed on the board landed right on top of another Triple Letter bonus.  “Zo, Dioxide by itself was Thirtay-Two, plus ze ‘S’ wairth one point, with anothair Triple Lettair Bonus to add an additional two points to mak Thirtay-Five points total.”

Arnick’s pupils shrank as he realized that he had been bested once again by his teammates.  With the addition of a single letter, Cyanthia was able to take Arnick’s success and make it her own.  His eye began to involuntarily twitch and for a moment, it looked like he was going to go into one of his signature long-winded, angry rants.  But suddenly, his face droops and with a heavy sigh, Arnick stood up and began to walk away from the table.

“HEY!  Where yah goin’?” Tetrox called out.

“Out,” was all Arnick said as he grabbed his jacket from the closet then proceeded to head to the door that led out to the patio balcony.  The three girls watched as Arnick opened the door and stepped out into the breeze.  The cold air seeped into the room for a moment; just long enough for all three girls to feel a slight chill.  After closing the door behind him, Arnick slumped over onto the railing and looked out towards nothing in particular.  He reached into his jacket pocket and felt the small packet of cigarettes and lighter that were in it.  Arnick pulled them out, grabbed one of the cigarettes, placed it in his mouth, then gave it a light.

He inhaled and took a deep drag on the cigarette as he saw the sun just about ready to start setting in the late afternoon sky.  The days had already begun to grow shorter and the temperatures were dropping rapidly. As he looked out into the city, he began to think to himself.  “Well, Arnick,” he thought, “congratulations on embarrassing yourself in front of your team. Again.”  He took another puff of his cigarette before continuing his train of thought, “Why even bother trying to do something new and interesting with them if all it does is make you look like a complete idiot?”

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and lightly tapped it against the railing to knock off some ash. Even though three pairs of eyes were looking at him through the window, Arnick didn’t seem to care much about whether anyone saw him or not at this point.  “It never fails,” he thought to himself, “Whenever I try and introduce something that is of even the slightest interest to me or might prove valuable to the team, one or more of them is going to be uninterested or good at it enough to mop the floor with me.  Or both.”

He stuck the cigarette back in his mouth and gazed out over the railing, not noticing the sound of the door opening and closing behind him.  He chuckled to himself as he thought, “One could argue that those three have completely emasculated me, but that would assume that I had any masculinity capable of evisceration in me to begin with.”  He chuckled to himself again, even letting out a small audible laugh, “Of course, if machismo like that results in nitwits like Jonquil, then who needs it!  Good riddance if you ask me!” he said to himself before taking another puff of his cigarette.

“Penny for your thoughts, sugar?”

Arnick turned around and saw Tetrox standing right behind him.  She was wearing her usual Octo T-shirt and sporty bobble cap, not bothering to put on a jacket for the cold.  He took the cigarette out of his mouth and scowled his usual scowl before saying, “And what, pray tell, do you want?  Come to rub my imminent defeat in my face?”  

Tetrox shook her head, “Nah, I just thought I’d keep yah company out here.  Ain’t nuttin’ wrong with that now is there?”

Arnick exhaled a puff of smoke into the air and sighed, “No, I suppose there isn’t.”

Tetrox leaned over the railing while standing next to Arnick.  Inside the apartment, Belladonna and Cyanthia were watching the two roommates talk, but couldn’t make out what they were saying from behind the window glass.  “I told her to tell that whacker to take that cancer-stick out of his mouth before I get to spewin’!”

“I didn’t think she was goeng to tell ‘im to stop, anyway,” Cyanthia added in, “Tetrox nevair ‘as been good at leestening to ordairs.”

Belladonna huffed, “I reckon, but I’ve told that drongo a million times to quit with the ciggies before he makes himself sick!” she said as she began to make her way to the door.  “And I’m going to be mad as a cut snake if he up and carks it because of that bull dust!”

“For someone zat just punched ‘im out of ‘is seat a few minutes ago, I’m surprised you care zo much about ‘im,” Cyanthia said with her usual cold and monotone voice that could somehow be both blunt and sharp at the same time.

“I care about the team, Cyanthia!” Belladonna said somewhat offended, “Team Toxink is the Ant’s Pants and our ink is worth bottling, even if Arnick is constantly whinging all the time about this or that!”

Cyanthia looked at Belladonna for a moment or two as she took in both the words that she was saying along with her Amazonian physique.  Even when angry, Belladonna always seemed to have a statuesque posture that Cyanthia couldn’t help but admire.  This, unfortunately, could sometimes be a distraction for her as she responded to Belladonna with, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t catch zat.”  Belladonna looked somewhat dumbfounded that Cyanthia wasn’t able to keep up with her, but Cyanthia simply shrugged and said, “You ‘ave a bad ‘abit of using all zat slang een times like zese.”  Deep down, Belladonna begrudgingly agreed with Cyanthia.

Outside, Arnick and Tetrox were looking out over the skyline as Arnick’s cigarette was now half way finished.  The two had been standing in silence for a couple minutes as Tetrox tried to think of something to say to break the ice.  “So… Dioxide, huh?  Never would’a thought of that one, sugar,” Tetrox complimented.  “Y’all pretty good at this, huh?”

Arnick scoffed, “Hardly! If I was, I wouldn’t have let my own word be used against me.  I should have held out for an ‘S’ so I could have made it plural before anyone else.” Arnick sighed as he stared off into the distance, “Now Cyanthia is going to win another game just like she always does.”

“Now don’t go beatin’ yourself up too much, sugar.  If’n I recall, you won a few games yourself there, right?” Tetrox said while trying to steer the conversation to a more positive tone.

“Yes,” Arnick half-heartedly agreed, “But right now she’s winning at a rate of about two thirds of all of the games we’ve played and I’ve only won about a quarter.”  Arnick took another drag of his cigarette and held the smoke in his mouth for a moment before finally exhaling in a successful attempt to blow a smoke ring.  A nasty though then passed through his head.  Arnick pinched the bridge of his nose and winced which Tetrox noticed immediately.

“You all right there, sugar?” she asked innocently.

Arnick turned to her and gave her an, “Are you serious?” look on his face.  “Do I LOOK like I’m all right, Tetrox!?  I’m out here standing on a balcony by myself smoking a cigarette and questioning why I’m even still on this team.  It seems like anything and everything I try to do never runs according to plan, making me wonder why BellaDonna keeps a prat like me on board,” he complained, “Does that sound like all right to you?”

“No, but c’mon Nicky,” Tetrox said with a smile, “Y’all know this team just wouldn’t be the same without yah!”

“Oh yeah?” Arnick chided as he gave Tetrox’s words some minor thought.  He came back with, “I suppose you’re right!  Without me to kick around like some abused butt sea monkey, Bella will have to recruit some other poor sap to fill the void.”

Tetrox looked closely at Arnick’s face and blinked.  The far-away, despondent look in his eyes gave her a cold chill, cooler than the air and wind around them, that ran straight up her back. “Y’all really feel like that?”

“Why shouldn’t I!?” Arnick shot back, “All I seem to be good for is comic relief!”

“Now that just ain’t true, sugar,” Tetrox protested.

“Oh please,” Arnick groaned, “Spare me your pity, Tetrox.  With Belladonna’s strength, Cyanthia’s brains, and your…” Arnick hesitated, “…cunning and energy, then what exactly do I contribute to the team that one of you lot doesn’t already?”

Tetrox frowned and pouted. She then snatched the cigarette out from between Arnick’s fingers, ground it into the metal railing, and then flicked the cigarette butt onto the pavement of the apartment parking lot below. Arnick looked quite dismayed and annoyed, but Tetrox wasn’t going to have it.

“Arnick Samuel Stilton,” Tetrox said with authority, “Shame on you for not givin’ yourself enough credit for all the good you’ve done for everyone!”

“GOOD!?” Arnick said incredulously, “Are you mad!? Hardly anything I do these days could ever remotely be considered ‘good’ by any definition!”

Tetrox was starting to get annoyed at Arnick’s defeatist attitude.  She remembered the look in his eyes when he was sure that he was going to win, and found herself missing it greatly now that it was no longer there.  “Alright, sugar… if that’s the way you wanna play it, then fine!”

“Does this mean you’ll leave me alone?” Arnick asked with mock hope in his voice.

“Shell No!”

“I thought not,” Arnick sighed.

“Now look, Nicky, earlier y’all was talkin’ ‘bout how Cyanthia was winning like two outta three games and how you should have waited before you showed your hand, right?” Arnick nodded in response. “Okay,” Tetrox continued, “Now Me, Belladonna, an’ Cyanthia… ain’t none of us able to look back at what we did and think about it the way you think about it!  If it was just little ol’ me, I’d be doing the same dumb things over and over and over again until the sea cows come home!  But not only can yah see when you goof up, you can see when any one of us goof up too-“

“That’s not saying much,” Arnick interrupted.

“Hush, sugar,” Tetrox interrupted back before picking up where she left off, “You can see when any one of us goof up and then tell us what to do or what not to do so we don’t goof up a second time!  Now that ain’t something just anybody can do, either. Cyanthia may be smart an’ all, but she ain’t half as good at explaining things like you can.  Bella may be as strong as a runaway freight train, but how’s she gonna put her strength to good use without somebody at the switch to make sure she’s on the right line!?”

Arnick half-nodded, half shook his head, showing he was still not entirely convinced.

“And as for me… Honey…” Tetrox paused as she thought her next few words carefully, “I wouldn’t even be here today if it weren’t for you.”

Arnick looked at her and scoffed, “Seriously!?  ‘I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you’!?  HA!” Arnick looked away back to the horizon before saying, “And you call ME melodramatic.”

Tetrox pouted, “It’s true, Nicky!  If’n it weren’t for you; I’d probably be roaming around Octo Valley somewhere doing who knows what!”  

A memory flashed through Tetrox’s head for a split second.  She remembered her friend Ingrid and how she was sent on a mission to infiltrate Inkling society several months ago; possibly even a year by now.  Ingrid was successful in hiding her identity thanks to her unique skill, but, in a way, she was too successful.  She became enamored with Inkling society and didn’t want to return to her role as an Elite Octoling.  She wanted to stay in Inkopolis forever and enjoy the good things that Inklings had.

But when she revealed herself to the person she thought she could trust the most…

“For all I know…” Tetrox began to say aloud, “…I could have wound up like Ingrid.”

Arnick knew exactly who Tetrox was talking about.  Arnick motioned to take another puff of his cigarette before remembering that Tetrox had thrown it off the balcony and that he actually didn’t have anything in his hand. He sighed and leaned against the railing, “I highly doubt that,” he said quietly, almost under his breath.

“Well think about it, sugar,” Tetrox said as she began to walk to Arnick’s other side, “When I got here, I had no friends, no place to stay, no nothing!  Then you come along and offer me a place to stay-“

“Against my will!” Arnick interjected.

“-Took good care of me-“

“If that’s what you call eating me out of house and home,” Arnick butted in again.

“-and most importantly, you accepted me for who I was from the get go!”

“ACCEPTED!?” Arnick blurted out incredulously, “In case you’ve forgotten, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of you participating in Turf Wars period let alone joining my team!  Not to mention that it is one thing to live through having you as a house GUEST, but to have you as a flat mate is something else altogether.”

“Yeah, but I grew on yah, didn’t I?” Tetrox asked with a smile, “We got to know quite a bit about each other in that one week, y’know?”

Arnick raised an eyebrow in Tetrox’s direction and snarked, “Like how you tended to drink directly from the juice carton instead of using a glass and then put said carton right back in the fridge?  Or how you would leave your undergarments and unmentionables lying around your room instead of putting them in the hamper where they belong?  Oh and let’s not forget about how you got your jollies teasing me any chance you got!”  In the back of Arnick’s mind, he reminded himself that Tetrox still teases him.  “Oh yes,” he continued, “I’d say I got to know you quite well during that week, and what pray tell did you learn about me?”

Without missing a beat, Tetrox responded in rapid fire, “I know you’re grumpy, stingy, high-strung, uptight, cute, loud, mean, honest, grouchy, pessimistic, and…” Tetrox hesitated as she thought, “Am I leaving anything out, sugar?”

“You can add ‘depressed’ to that list,” Arnick deadpanned before what Tetrox had said finally registered in his head, “Wait… did you say I was honest?”

Tetrox beamed, “Sure did! If there’s one thing about you, you ain’t afraid to speak your mind.  If something’s bothering you, you sure as heck let people ‘round yah know.”

Arnick wasn’t convinced, “And how does that make me ‘honest’, Tetrox?  With the way you put it, it makes me sound like some sort of whiny kid!”

“Easy there, sugar, I was getting’ to that!” Tetrox said with a smile, “Point I’m trying to make is that you ain’t got nothing to hide from anyone.  Y’all are true to yourself and everyone around you, even if it means talking nasty and calling folks out for their bull.  Don’t know about you, but that takes a whole lot of guts and gumption.  Ye’re a whole lot braver than other people I know.”

Arnick was blushing a little at the compliment, “I don’t know if I’d call it ‘brave’-“ he said before Tetrox cut him off.

“It sure as heck is brave if the person ye’re talking to is BellaDonna!  Girl so strong she could hit you into next Tuesday if she wanted to, and you an’ I both know she can carry one shell of a grudge if’n you get on her bad side,”

Arnick huffed, “I do NOT speak ill of our team captain!”

“Aw c’mon now, honey,” Tetrox shrugged, “Ain’t you the one that convinced her to get us all together for this game night tonight?”  she asked before Arnick turned his head slightly to look away, “Convincing that girl to do something like this has got to take a lot of… whaddya call it… car asthma?”

Arnick rolled his eyes, “KA-RIZZ-MAH, Tetrox!  Charisma!” he corrected.

“Yeah that!” Tetrox said, “And that other thing you just did there too!”

Arnick looked puzzled as he turned towards Tetrox, “Other thing?  What other thing?”

“You telling me that I was wrong, sugar!” Tetrox said with almost pure glee.

Arnick shook his head, “I didn’t say you were Wrong, Tetrox.  I merely gave you the correct pronunciation.  That’s all.”

Tetrox looked into the distance with a slight sigh, “I dunno.  Maybe ye’re right that it ain’t no big deal or anything, but… to me at least…” Tetrox began to think about her childhood and reminisced.  “Look, y’all remember I was raised in an orphanage, right?”

“Yes,” Arnick replied.

“Well back then, there used to be this one caretaker at the orphanage who was as nasty as Fugu and dumb as a sponge!” recalled Tetrox, “She could say one thing and then 30 seconds later say the exact opposite and believe both at the same time.  Any kid, or heck even a co-worker, that tried to correct them on just about anything got a lesson in hard knocks, if’n you know what I’m saying.  Far as she knew, everything she said was right an’ everyone else was wrong.”

“Good Cod!  How could they even hire such a person!?” Arnick asked.

“Far as I know, she was the daughter of some big wig that owned the orphanage or something, so ain’t nobody wanted to say anything to them.  Even if they weren’t afraid of the beat down they’d get, they were afraid of what her dear ol’ daddy could do which would have been worse.  If you was a kid, you was scared to death ‘bout getting kicked out.  If you was one of the other workers there, then you was scared about losing your job,” Tetrox explained.

“YEEEUUGGHH!” Arnick gagged in a show of disgust, “Sounds absolutely dreadful!  I can’t imagine what growing up with such a brute for a caretaker must have been like.”

“Tweren’t fun, I tell you what,” Tetrox agreed.

Arnick nodded with her before stopping, blinking once, and then turning to Tetrox, “Pardon me, but wasn’t the whole point of this conversation to go over how I’m the reason you’re still here?  I do believe we’ve gotten a bit off track.”

Tetrox nodded back, “Yeah… ye’re right.  Guess what I’m tryin’ to say is that I’m here ‘cause I wanna be with you!”

“Ah!” Arnick said as a matter of fact before a rush of color ran up his face, “W-w-w-wait…”

“I mean I know I don’t really show much appreciation ‘round here, but I’ve learned a lot from you since I began living here.  Makes me wish you was my caretaker instead of that sea monster we had way back when,” Tetrox said.

“OH! You want to be with me because… I’m a tutor… of sorts… right…” Arnick trailed off.

Tetrox whipped around and smiled at him, “Nah, sugar.  I wanna be with you ‘cause I like you!  ‘Round you I don’t have to pretend to be something I ain’t, or be all scared that there could be some other side o’ you that’s all fire ‘n brimstone.  Not to mention ye’re all kinds of cute too! Did I say you were cute?” Tetrox asked as she thought to herself, “I’m pretty sure I said you were cute.”

Arnick felt his face grow warm and began to wish he could zip up his Hero Jacket replica even further to hide the glow on his cheeks, “If you did, I-I-I hadn’t noticed!” he stammered.

“Well you are,” Tetrox said softly as she wrapped her arms around Arnick from behind, “An’ it is a cryin’ shame you can’t see that yourself, sugar.”

Tetrox hugged Arnick closer to her as he began to feel the warmth of her body on his back.  He froze up and didn’t move an inch as Tetrox brought her hands slowly upwards from Arnick’s waist.

“SACRE BLEU!” Cyanthia loudly gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands.  

She and BellaDonna had been watching everything unfold through the window.  BellaDonna was pleased when Tetrox tossed Arnick’s cigarette away, but when she stayed out there and started talking with Arnick, Bella was curious as to what the two were talking about.  She would have cracked the door to the balcony open a bit and tried to listen in if it weren’t for Cyanthia commenting that it would be rude to do so.

A few minutes later, their faces were flush with color as Tetrox embraced Arnick out on the balcony.

“OH, ACE!” BellaDonna cheered, “And here I thought they were having a blue!  C’mon Tetrox, crack onto him!  Show ‘em what yah got!”

Cyanthia turned to BellaDonna with a slightly flustered look on her face, “Puh-Puh-Puh-Perhaps we should be going now!”

“Hang on! Hang on!” BellaDonna complained, “Gotta make sure dipstick here doesn’t knock back Tetrox’s advances!”

BellaDonna peered out the window just in time to see Tetrox spin Arnick around to face her before reaching her arms around his neck and bringing him in for a rather intense kiss. “HA!  TETROX YOU LITTLE RIPPER! NOW THAT’S A FAIR DINKUM PASH RIGHT THERE!” she cheered.

Cyanthia stood wide eyed as she watched her two teammates lock lips.  It wasn’t until BellaDonna turned and walked away from the window that Cyanthia snapped out of her stare.  “Where are you going!?”

BellaDonna turns to Cyanthia with a mischievious smile, “Don’t want to be a stickybeak hanging around here, right?”  Cyanthia had no idea what BellaDonna was talking about, but nodded in agreement anyway.  “Right! So let’s make ourselves scarce ‘case those two come in to have a woomy!”

Cyanthia blinked, “Have a… what?” she asked innocently.

BellaDonna smiled like a predator spotting their prey, “Heh!  I’ll tell you aaaallll about it on the way back!” BellaDonna said as she ushered Cyanthia out the apartment door.  BellaDonna locked the door behind her and made a mental note to stop by again tomorrow with a present.  She was thinking a cake might be appropriate.

The End.

Tammy’s comments: AAWH! This was just cute and the sweetest and ah! Good feels! Hehehe! I enjoyed this a lot! AND HAHAH! oh I remember the cake comic. Haha, good one.