#my children are odd ducks okay you just gotta roll with it

[meilanibrudenell]

Open Starter. Open Location.

The evening felt like the first time in months that the weather had been decent, temperatures just above twenty degrees even after the sun had fallen, no snow or clouds to put a damper on the day or her mental state. What Meilani had deemed decent weather was perhaps still not enough to excuse her current position, lying on the cold ground and staring up at the night sky. It was late enough that she didn’t think anyone would spot her, let alone consider what their thoughts would be if they did — it’s only with the sound of approaching footsteps and a note of concern in their voice that she allows her head to roll in their direction, allowing them to properly see that she was at least alive, if not well. “I promise you don’t need to call anyone.” It was a questionable reassurance at best, the girl still not making much effort to move, gaze lifting back to the space above her. “The sky just hasn’t been this clear in a while.” 

[is-emily-real]

Five Minutes

Eddie anticipated his last day of summer break to pass peacefully and quietly. The plan was to stay home, meditate on the awful realities of Hawkins to hopefully give a shit about the upcoming school year (at least enough of a shit to graduate), and prepare himself to save the new sheepies he’d add to the current roster of the Hellfire Club.

There he was, deep into his meditation, accompanied by the wonderful melodies of Black Sabbath, when a frenzied knocking sounded upon his front door.

He paused his music begrudgingly and opened the door. Steve Harrington stood on his porch in all his sweaty, shirtless, unadulterated glory.

Well. 

He pushed past Eddie and slammed the door. “You gotta hide me.”

“What the hell? No.”

“Please.” The panic was written all over his face. “Just long enough so she leaves and I can get to my car.”

Eddie opened his poor, abused front door with a frown. “Get out of my house.” 

Steve flinched at the sound of a girl’s hollering and ducked behind the couch. “Five minutes. Five minutes and I’m out of your hair. Deal?” he panted.

He considered his options. He could kick him to the wolves and have an odd anecdote to share the next day, or he could let him stay and have an odd anecdote to share the next day. Only one of those options let him ogle his middle school crush for longer than a few seconds.

He was a simple man. 

“Fine,” he sighed and closed the door with the respect it deserved. “You owe me.”

Steve stood up. “Thanks, man, I mean it. She was about to kick my ass.”

“Who?”

“Max. We were helping her move in and I pissed her off.”

“Max Mayfield? Billy’s sister?”

He gave Eddie a stern glare. “Don’t bring him up. Yes, that Max.”

Two screams told him things were going to shit outside. Steve scrambled into the hallway with Eddie hot on his tail. “What did you even do?”

He winced. “I may have told her she didn’t get any more help if she was going to be a bitch.”

Eddie stopped in his tracks. “You didn’t.”

“Listen, she was being a bitch!”

“Keep your voice down. I know King Steve’s never been in a trailer before, but the walls are thin, okay?”

“Sorry, sorry,” he whispered, “but she was giving Lucas shit for wanting to try out for the basketball team and it wasn’t helping anything.”

He shrugged. “I don’t see what’s wrong with making fun of that.”

“Hey, I happen to like basketball.”

“I remember.” Any tint of pink in his cheeks was purely due to the heat. Eddie opened the door to his bedroom and waved the boy inside. 

This was not how he’d planned to get Steve in here. He cringed at the thought.

“Anyways, he’s good at it, and if it makes him happy, he should go for it, you know?”

“I’m not getting invested in the social lives of children.”

“But you’d like them! They play that castle game you’re into.”

“The castle game?!” Eddie couldn’t help himself. It came out louder than he expected. “Dungeons and Dragons—”

Steve clapped a hand over his mouth. 

Something twisted in his stomach. This was… too close for anyone’s safety. He swallowed, trying to control the racing of his heart when they heard a pounding on the front door.

“I know he’s in there!” a girl called.

Steve’s eyes went wide. He left a chill when he drew away. 

Eddie tried to wipe the longing off his face as he shot him a glare. “My blood’s on your hands.” Slowly he left the room, throwing on the aloof air he’d spent so long practicing before he opened the door.

Max Mayfield stood on his porch, fire red hair matching the color of her face as she stared at him. “Give him here.”

He rolled his eyes. “Nice to meet you too, neighbor. I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“You have Steve.”

“Hmm.” He tapped his chin as if he were trying to think. “About my height, pretty face, huge jerk? Haven’t seen him.” She huffed. “Listen, check the woods, if he’s not back there, come back and I’ll upend my whole day to help you look, okay?”

“You suck,” she spat before she turned on her heel and stomped away.

“Love you too!” he called with a grin.

He peered out the blinds, waiting until she was several lots down before he turned away. “You owe me big time, Stevie,” he called. “I think I’m on her shit list for life.”

He entered the bedroom to the sight of a muscled back, its owner leaned close to his sweetheart. Steve brushed his fingers down its neck.

The whole situation was doing unfortunate things to him. He cleared his throat.

Steve whirled to face him. “I was just— You play guitar?”

He gave a wary look. “Yes.”

“That’s— uh, that’s… hot.” He shut his eyes tight. “I should— Is she gone? I should go.”

“Um, yeah, she’s gone.”

“Oh, good. Well, I guess I’ll see you around?” Steve hit him with a sheepish grin. It was the most dazzling thing he’d ever seen.

“Sure,” he stammered. “See you around.” 

Eddie stayed rooted to the spot as he left. The picture of Steve’s fingers running down the neck of his guitar played on repeat in his head. That’s… hot. He listened to the crunch of gravel under tires.

He was such a dweeb.

He’d tell Jeff tomorrow. Jeff would know what to do.

(No one would believe him. Not even a little bit.)

“Steve, that’s the lamest thing you’ve ever said.” Robin continued to walk around the empty store, straightening tapes as she went with no particular fervor. 

He rolled his eyes. “If it was cool, I wouldn’t be here commiserating about it, would I?”

“Still. I know I have no game, but that was bad . Criminally bad. He should press charges.”

“Listen, some of us found out we maybe liked boys a month ago.” He started to rewind another tape. “ That’s hot . Who even says that? Also, when did I start thinking Eddie Munson was hot?”

She shot him a look over the counter. “He’s your type.”

He sputtered with indignation. “I don’t have a type!”

“Curly hair, brunette, snarky? Is none of this ringing a bell?”

“Twice doesn’t make a type. If that were the case, you’d have a thing for redheads.”

“At least I know when to admit my flaws.”

“I have flaws. I hear about them all the time from my mom.”

Robin laughed. “She’d be so upset if she knew how totally not smooth you are.”

He glanced at the clock. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? It’s a school night. You have a bedtime.”

Headlights flashed in the parking lot. ��One, it’s a curfew, and two, there’s my ride.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and sauntered to the door. “Seven a.m. sharp, dingus!” she called as she left.

“Loser!” he yelled after her. Steve shook his head. He’d be there, obviously.

The rest of his shift dragged. He was certain the store was losing money staying open this late on a Wednesday, but he got paid to be there, so it was whatever. 

Thirty minutes left on the clock. Then twenty-nine.

After what seemed like days, a quarter to ten rolled around, and he started to close up the store. He was sweeping when the door chimed. “Welcome to Family Video,” he said without looking up, “let me know if you need anything.”

“A place to hide would be wonderful.” He looked up to find Eddie Munson approaching the counter, curls mussed and breathing hard. 

Damn it, Robin was right.

“Okay, but we close in five minutes.”

“Something’s better than nothing,” he replied, hopping over the counter.

Steve abandoned his broom. Keith could whine at him tomorrow if he really cared about three whole crumbs on the floor. He walked back to find Eddie curled into a ball, tucked tightly in the corner between the overstock candy and the safe. “Who are you running from, anyway?”

“The cops.”

He blinked. “The cops?”

“Fine, one cop. But this new deputy’s a huge dick. He’s been trying to bust me over nothing all summer, and I really, really don’t want to get arrested tonight.”

“I highly doubt it’s nothing.”

“He saw me talking to Rick one time!”

“The drug dealer?”

Eddie shushed him, one long finger over his lips. “Grandma says it’s not polite to call him that.” That got a laugh out of Steve. “I met your children yesterday. They’re assholes.”

He sighed. “They’re my assholes, though. Are they adjusting alright?”

“About as well as any freshmen.”

“So, terribly.”

“Pretty much.” He attempted a dramatic flourish, only managing to knock over a box of Twix. “I’ll be a gracious super-senior and radicalize them before I hand over custody for the weekend.”

“Oh, good. I’d hate for them to learn nothing at school.” 

He was basking in Eddie’s chuckle, a warm, pretty sound, when a car came to a stop outside. His face fell. “Stay here,” he ordered and spared a glance at the clock.

9:58. Close enough.

He stepped out from behind the counter and met the officer at the door. “I’m sorry, sir, but we’re closed.”

“I’m looking for someone, actually. Eddie Munson. Do you know him?”

“Only in passing. He’s not here. We actually haven't had a customer in the last hour.”

The officer fixed him with a harsh look. “You’re sure?”

“I’d pull the report, but I’ve already shut down the terminals, and they take forever to boot back up.”

He huffed. “How much longer are you here for?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes? I’ve just got to finish rewinding this tape.”

“If you see him, give us a call.” 

“Absolutely. Have a good night.” The officer nodded sharply and turned on his heel. Steve locked the door behind him.

The air hung tense as he returned to the counter. Eddie sat as still as stone until the car finally pulled out and started down the road. “You’re okay now.”

He unfolded himself and stood. “You’re beautiful.” 

Steve stopped dead in his tracks. “What?”

He flushed bright red. “You do that well!” he said quickly. “You know, lie.”

“Oh! Thanks. Lots of practice, I suppose.” He could feel his heart fluttering. Eddie called him beautiful? What the hell was happening?

“Well, I guess I should get going.”

“We can leave through the back.” He gave the store a last glance before leading Eddie out. 

Eddie paused once they were in the cool night air. “Seriously, thank you. My knight in shining armor.”

“No problem. Just paying you back.” The silence hung for a beat too long. “I can walk you to your car?”

“I’ve just gotta cut through the fence row and I’ll be good. Thanks, though.”

Steve could barely make it out in the shadows, but he could see Eddie debating something with himself. He locked the door behind them, giving him time to come to a decision.

When he turned back, Eddie pressed a soft, chaste kiss to his lips.

Every semblance of a thought left his brain. Steve decided, there and then, that he liked kissing boys. He especially liked kissing Eddie. He’d never had the whole fireworks experience before, but he got it now. It felt like his head was swimming, mesmerized by chapped lips and tobacco.

Too soon, Eddie pulled back. “Was… was that okay?” 

All he could do was nod.

“Good.” He started for the trees.

“See you later?” Steve called feebly. God, he wanted to.

Bathed in the orange of the streetlight, Eddie gave him a salute. “You know where to find me.” Before he could think again, he was alone. 

Robin was going to be pissed.

[after-out-of-place]

Epilogue - They Don’t Know (Pt.3)

Rubber ducks were an odd phenomenon in this world. Sure, children loved to pretend to see them all the time and people kept them as lawn ornaments: sitting near ponds; wearing hats; guarding vegetable patches and the like, but they were largely considered mythological and at best 'plausible'. The most commonly believed folklore placed the "Duck" as a mythological creature responsible for clean sanitation, the growth of crops and their laughter was said capable of creating earthquakes - but nobody had ever actually seen one alive, and considering illustrations of them closely resemble geese, the "Duck" had largely been considered pure fiction.

But here Bubble-Glub and Horace stood, both of them leaning forward against a hip-high wooden fence, overlooking an artificial pond while in conversation with a placid; purple; rubber duck by the name of Marcie. Marcie had climbed up on the side of the pond, her little webbed feet making careful 'plap, plap, plap' noises as she paraded herself around for Horace. "I have feet!", Marcie quacked, squeaking happily, "Two! They help me walk and swim." "I know how to swim," said Horace, "but I use my arms too." "But you have feet as well? Why only use your arms?" "Uh, I mean I don't just use my arms, you use your whole body." Horace tried to explain in further detail, but quickly found himself explaining the concept of swimming as humanoid.. to a duck. Despite his surprisingly impressive knowledge on the sport, Marcie could only look at him quizzically through the whole ordeal. She then shifted the topic back to herself for a while, explaining her vast knowledge on ducks - or rather one duck in particular: Marcie. "And I have wings!", Marcie concluded. She then demonstrated her use of them briefly before exiting the little pond area, quacking a tiny goodbye and leaving Horace with a rather good feeling of what a real duck looks like.

"So, uh, has purple become like, your whole thing? Because I might have to change the posters..", Horace asked not long after Marcie left. He'd noticed DD dressed in royal purple today and Bubble-Glub would usually wear similar colors to complement their green appearance - and Marcie happened to be purple as well. Bubble-Glub reassured him that, no, purple wasn't 'their whole thing' and it happened to be rather circumstantial. Horace turned around, leaning back against the fence instead. "So, like, how hard is it to run your own business?" "I'm a ex-bartender and currently musician, bub. You've more experience being your own boss." "As a swimming instructor? Or? I mean, I guess coffee is a liquid too, just like water?" "Only if you brew it wrong." replied Bubble-Glub, nodding. Horace took a moment to determine it was meant humorously, but then laughed wholeheartedly. "Okay, but if purple isn't your thing, what's with the style? Like, you both look good in whatever you're wearing right now, but I don't think ducks would like suits?" "Oh." Bubble-Glub fell silent for a moment, thinking. "DD wanted to be extra presentable today." "Yeah, but how about you?" "Gotta match Dee, don't I?" "But you're always dressed like that, though, so isn't she matching you instead?"

Horace, for as simple as he seemed sometimes, hit right on target. Bubble-Glub generally liked to dress snappy, even when just being at home. Today was a day for dress pants and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled most of the way up, the top few buttons left undone so their skin could breathe better. They preferred wearing suits - not out of wanting to be formal, but because they made them look capable; respectable. Therein lied the rub, or at least in Bubble-Glub's perception. It took a while before they answered, mulling over what words to use before ultimately deciding that Horace wouldn't care about the how - only the what of was being said. "Horace, be real with me. How do I look to you?" "Uh, nice?" Horace looked over Bubble-Glub, caught off-guard by the sudden question. "… Can you see it?" Bubble-Glub followed up, stepping away from the fence and trying to pose casually. They failed to do so, looking awkward with a bothered expression. Horace looked closely, noticing their translucent green skin catching the sunlight rather well - and the faint outlines of a humanoid skeleton beneath the skin of their face, torso and arms. "Yeah, I guess? The skeleton? I mean, if I look real hard. It's kind of cool, like one of those, uh, hidden picture pictures." "Thanks Horace." Bubble-Glub let out a sigh, dropping the tension from their posture. "Wish everyone thought like you."

The two stood in relative silence for a while, before Horace leaned away from the fence and focused on Bubble-Glub again. Horace figured that essentially every slime-person would be at least a little see-through, though it'd be rude to stare. To him, everyone had their differences worth celebrating - but Bubble-Glub seemed self-conscious about theirs. "Wait, Bro-Glub, are you bothered by it?" "Nah. You can say Bro-Glub." "No, I mean, the skeleton thing." "Oh, I ain't bothered by that. Some folks are, and they ain't nice about it. That bothers me." "Man, Bro-Glub," Horace shook his head, "People can be seriously uncool about things you can't control, dude. But that makes them uncool. Not you." "You really think it's cool? D'ya think D-" "Yeah dude. It's cool, Like … like iced coffee." "You're really into the whole coffee thing now, huh?" "Always have been, man. And like, Wallace LOVES it, so."

There was some more talk about coffee, some more talk about ducks and how appreciated Horace felt now that he found his place in After Out Of Place: he'd doubted himself very hard, but all the band's members made him feel celebrated - and celebrating differences is rad as hell, Horace insisted. Having had such good conversation while soaking up some later-afternoon sun (as well as having a good idea of what ducks now look like), Horace asked to go collect his papers to show both owners of the Duck Sanctuary his designs for promotional material - because now that ducks exist, they need all the help they can get. "And hey … Bubble-Glub?" "Yeah?" "Hey, so, do you think it's true? That ducks cause earthquakes when they laugh?" "Hmmmm, nah. Marcie laughs and we're still safe. She says her quacks don't echo, though." "Dude. That's wack." "Yeah."

[allronix]

Carth and Force Sensitivity (crossposted from Reddit r/kotor)

This is for @k-she-rambles:

Okay, so while we're shooting the bantha crap over on KOTOR fan theories, u/134340Goat mentioned my all time favorite "Have you been chewing spice?!" fan theory when it comes to KOTOR: Is Carth Force Sensitive?

So this one starts with a story. I mentioned my brother in law, who is pretty much Keeper of the Jedi Archives. Seriously, he's an English teacher and my sister is a librarian. They met at a sci fi convention and their first date was Phantom Menace. We're taking not just geeks, but geeks who can throw the damn bookshelf at you. Brother in law bought KOTOR on the day it launched and turned it into a week long binge watch at his house. And because brother in law is that kind of geek, he's translating the characters into the West End D6 system. I'm watching him do a playthrough, and he's got Canderous and Zaalbar at Ajunta Pal's tomb.

Allronix: Huh. That's odd. Why aren't commenting on anything when Ajunta is speaking?

Bro in law: Oh. They can't even see Ajunta. You have to be Force Sensitive to see a Force Ghost The stronger your Sensitivity, the better you can see it.

Allronix: Really? Then how come Carth can see it?

Bro in law (gets the "holy shit, I gotta confirm this" look): Really?! He just sees something out the corner of his eye or something?

Allronix: No, he sees Ajunta just fine. Understands what the dude's saying too.

Bro in law instantly rolls back to his last save, swaps Zaalbar for Carth, and sees the bit in question.

Bro in law: Oh. Dear. (Goes over to make some quick scribbles on Carth's character sheet)

Okay, so maybe that was a lore fail. I didn't really think about it too much until I hit that False Level Up glitch and ran around with Carth and Mission as Sentinels. Now, while I couldn't really see Mission as a Sensitive, that little bit with my bro in law nagged at me. And became a "once you see it you can't unsee it." Apologies to TV Tropes, where some of these were my additions to the Wild Mass Guess entry on this topic.

Any one of these on its own is pretty easy to blow off. After all, man is career military, and knows All this Shit is Weird. I also like to think of Sensitivity as a spectrum and not a switch. If all life is connected by the Force, then all life would be Sensitive to some degree or another. It’s just a matter of to what degree. It’s only as the list gets longer and longer does the case start looking damning...

What are the odds of surviving that attack on the Endar Spire, getting to the escape pods, sharing the last escape pod with the mindwiped Sith Lord, piloting through the chaos, landing in what passes for the "good" part of town, remaining uninjured, pulling the badly injured mindwiped Sith Lord from the wreck, evading Sith detection while all this is going on, and just happening to find a dump of an apartment where the landlord's not asking questions? That is one amazing string of coincidences and good luck. Get that many in Star Wars, and it's definitely The Force sticking its nose in things.

Piloting the escape pod to land in the Upper City, piloting the Hawk through the Sith Blockade of Taris, the random Sith patrols, the escape from the Leviathan, and the fleet around Lehon along with the crash landing that left the ship easily repairable. Now, compare to Atton who we know to be an excellent pilot and drawing on The Force who still manages to crash the ship at least three times.

He's a scary good judge of character if you're interacting with other NPCs. If you watch him with other NPC characters, he's got a pretty good compass as to which characters are being helpful and which ones are full of shit. The only one he calls incorrectly is Rukil, who is probably also an untrained Sensitive (the age, the "marked" comments) and half senile, which is probably throwing him.

Related to that, his distrust and wariness about something not adding up with the PC, the Jedi Council feeding the party a line of bull, that things just aren't adding up. And on all of it? Dead on. He's 100% right about the Player Character, he just expected something a little less crazy than "that's Darth freaking Revan."

If you play Female Revan, then Carth's the one who gets fried in the torture cages on the Leviathan. Saul comments how strange it is that Carth takes so much punishment and still remains conscious. Now, this is a low level thing, but in lore, Force Sensitives have drawn on it to keep them alive or conscious under duress. Explicitly, the first sign we got that Leia was a Sensitive when she withstood the Imperial torture droid.

Another of his scary ass judge of character feats? In the comics, Zayne (who is on the run from the Jedi, who framed him for the murder of his classmates) has a vision that Mandalorians are coming for Serroco. Saul? Laughs it off, throws Zayne in the brig. Zayne's own friends don't even believe him. Carth gets one of those creepy hunches and starts calling in "duck and cover" sirens as far as he can broadcast, which sends seventeen cities and millions of people heading for shelter. It saves their lives and Carth is called a hero for it. Armed with another hunch, he disobeys Saul (remember this is before Saul nukes Telos) and lets Zayne "escape" from custody. Mind you, not even the Jedi or his party members believed Zayne. Carth did.

Carth makes a lot of creepy weird offhand predictions about the future. He says he knows on some level he'll be there when Saul dies. That certainly pans out. He makes an offhand prediction that the Jedi have set the party up to take a fall. Right again. He tells a female PC that she'll have to make a choice soon, one she can't walk away from. And then we get the temple top. He even blurts out that "I sensed you would have to make a choice soon, and that was it*, I can feel it!"* If you specify a LS Female Revan, his recording for T3-M4 says he's had a hunch Revan would leave without warning. Again, spot on.

Specify a LS male Revan, and Carth will remark to Bastila that seeing the Exile reminds him "there are worse things to lose." The only other people who can see just how screwed up the Exile is are the Jedi Masters, Chodo Habat, and the Force Sensitive party members.

Specify a LS female Revan, and Carth will insist that he would know if Revan were dead (again, scary ass intuition) and that there's an "emptiness" where she used to be. Now, remember one of the things about a broken Force Bond? It would simply be "empty, a wound."

You know how your party members in KOTOR 2 feel upset or even horrified as they realize they feel compelled to protect Exile and can't being themselves to leave, even when said actions are kicking puppies? And how they swing wildly from being crazy, almost stalker level possessive of them to being scared out of their wits and clamming up when you try to pry anything out of them? And the more potent (and untapped) their Force Sensitivity, the more they get hammered with the effect? (Mira and Atton in particular) Yeah. Now, Carth's "I don't wanna talk" looks a bit different, doesn't it? It could also account for that romance arc, especially if you roll a DSF Revan and go for that "everyone dies" ending.

Again, Ajunta Pal. Seeing a Force Ghost? Yeah. Some degree of Sensitivity needed. Understanding what he's saying? Yeah. Takes a bit more than that. And Carth makes a weirdly insightful comment about the Dark Side on top of it.

Notice that this a wall o text argument already, and I'm now just getting to the "Yeah, his kid is able to throw around mid-level Dark Side powers and packing a red lightsaber." Given the jawline and the muleheaded attitude, no way Morgana was fooling around with the pizza delivery boy. That's definitely Carth's kid, and that's definitely Force Sensitivity. Now, while it can skip a generation (see Theron Shan), it tends to run pretty heavy in families.

Lastly? Gee. He comes from a planet settled by and heavily populated by descendants of Force Sensitives who failed their training. I'm also willing to bet some bastard children of Jedi get passed off as "foundlings" and "orphans" and dumped there, too. Jedi are forbidden attachments, but not sworn to celibacy, so...yeah, bastard kids are gonna happen. There's probably a Jedi or two in that family tree. It's circumstantial evidence at best, but it still supports the case.

Now, any arguments I missed? Counterarguments?

And the million credit question: If there's a character who gets to break this news to poor Flyboy, who do you think would actually take that on? How do you think Carth would take that kind of news? And what, if anything, would come of it?

I kinda figure Jolee might be the only one nuts enough to poke that with a stick...I also kinda figure "Sentinel" would fit best. Consular? Hell no. He hired Mical for that. Guardian works with the feats, but the whole "ferreting out deceit and injustice?" Yeah. That's Carth.

[rainbowserenity]

1. “Do you want me to leave?” - Hopurai

royal!AU tag

my intention with this AU was for it to be a bunch of oneshots that could be read separately….but this is the installment that makes me wish I’d had the foresight to just make it into a multichapter fic 8D;if you don’t want to go in blindly, I would HIGHLY recommend (re?)reading at least the previous installment before the this one. all the fics are in the above linked tag, or they’re in a collection on AO3 here

sorry for being so ridiculous lmao

*****

Therewas such a strange disconnect from staring outside the windows of thepalace as opposed to when she’d had to stare out of a hole in theceiling back when she’d been living in the slums. Back then, she’d belooking up into the smog-covered sky, trying against all odds to seethe stars that the fal'cie would bring at night.

Now,sitting in her office, she could literally look down on so much ofEden since the palace towered over pretty much everything except thefal'cie Phoenix itself. It was weird, to say the least.

Well,she supposed it was no stranger than Lightning Farron, former soldierand resident of the slums, being discovered as Eden’s long-lostprincess.

Lightningfrowned slightly as she watched people go about their daily business.From up here, they looked like ants. It was hard to believe that somecould be struggling or confused or going through heartbreak…

Notthat she’d know anything about heartbreak. At all. Nope.

“Hey,you finished yet?”

Witha sigh, Lightning pulled her gaze away from the window and stared atSazh, who was officially her adviser, but really played the role of ababysitter. It was insulting if she thought about it too much. “Doesit look like I’ve finished?”

“True.”Sazh waltzed up to her desk and pointedly stared at the pile ofpapers. “'Cause if you had finishedthis incredibly easy task, I bet you would’ve found me already andclaimed that poor ol’ Sazh was overworked and needed a vacation - ”

“Itried to give you a vacation after the ball,” Lightning pointedout, raising an eyebrow. “You told me I’d probably set the palaceon fire if you left for a day.”

“AndI’m probably right!”

“Doubtful.”Lightning rolled her eyes and tapped her pen against the papers infront of her a few times. “I’m fairly sure that I, a grown adultwho’s been taking care of herself since she was a teenager, couldeasily manage without you for a few days.”

“Keeptellin’ yourself that.” Sazh picked up one of the papers. “Whichone are you working on?”

“Theletter to Vanille.” DiaVanille had been an important guest at Lightning’s introduction balla few days ago. It was a gathering that had officially presented heras Eden’s princess, which, in turn, would hopefully open up newrelations. Now she was supposed to be writing letters of intent toget people on her side with whatever she planned to do as regent.

Despitefinding the whole practice completely ridiculous, Lightning actuallyhad gotten along fairly well with the Duchess of Luxerion, Vanille.She had to wonder if this was partially because her bodyguard wasfriends with the Duchess and that made it easier to like her.

Or…formerbodyguard, she supposed.

“Keepit short and sweet,” Sazh advised. “Vanille’s not much for longletters.”

“Andyou think I am?”

“Justlet me dream a little, geez. Kids these days.”

Lightningrolled her eyes again, her mind wandering to the ball. Chatting withVanille and her girlfriend Fang, the Princess of Oerba…dancing in adress that glittered with an obnoxious amount of diamonds…steppingonto the balcony with -

Ugh,okay, definitely not goingthere.

Aftera pause where she wrote a few words, Lightning glanced up. Sazh wasscribbling something in a book – probably grading her on heretiquette, hmph. “Was there something else you needed?”

“Yes,as a matter of fact.” Sazh stopped writing and plopped into a chairwithout any grace. If she’d done the same, he would’ve recoiled inhorror. “We didn’t really get a chance to talk after the ball.Gotta say, I’m impressed with how you handled things.”

“Itwas a glorified dance. Not too difficult.”

Thatwas a lie and they both knew it. Lightning had grown up in a suburbof Eden and then spent her teenage years in the slums – she’d neverbeen to any sort of dance, never mind a ball of the caliber that’dbeen held in her honor. Beingparaded around like a doll had been one of the most difficult thingsshe’d ever done. Luckily, she’d met Vanille and Fang very early onduring the night and their new-foundfriendship had made goingthrough the motions much easier.

Therewas someone else who’d helped out, but she preferred not to think toohard about that.

“Yeah,yeah.” Sazh waved a hand. “Keep tellin’ yourself that. And tellme your thoughts –anybody there you think we could strengthen an alliance with? Or formone? Technically, Eden’s always been on good terms with the otherkingdoms since Phoenix is the most important fal'cie, but there’salways room for improvement. See any of that? Or…” He raised aneyebrow. “Any potential suitors?”

Lightningducked her head, hoping against everything that the heat she feltsimmering under her skin was from a…hot flash or something. Yeah,that totally made sense. She wasn’t about to blush atthe thought of a certain personal bodyguard taking her to see astar-filled sky and light-studded city. There was definitely nothought of his hands on her, his lips caressing hers…

“Nosuitors,” she finally said, clearing her throat and daring to lookup. At least her face felt normal. “Serah seemed to like the Patronof Yusnaan, though.” She frowned.

“What,you got a problem with him?” Sazh looked faintly amused. “I knowhe’s just a kid, but then again, so are you.”

“Hejust seemed…” Lightning shook her head. There were only a fewwords she could think of to describe Snow Villiers, and none of themwere all that flattering. “But we’ve been on particularly goodterms with Yusnaan, so it doesn’t really matter. Fang seemed to likeme, so maybe we can strengthen ties with Oerba.”

“Thatgirl’s an odd one.” Sazh leaned back in his chair, looking lost inthought. “I’m pretty sure all she really gives a damn about isVanille. For awhile, it was lookin’ like Oerba and Luxerion wouldofficially join forces, possibly to try and topple Eden and take overPhoenix.”

Lightningraised her eyebrows. “Could they do that?”

“Probably.Ain’t like the fal'cie care that much.”

Shehad no idea if that was true. Lightning had yet to see Phoenix inperson since being found as the princess of Eden. “Do you thinkFang was trying to get on my good side, then? And then betray me whenleast expected?”

“Nahhh.If Vanille liked you, then Fang’s sure as hell not gonna mess withyou or anybody in Eden. And trust me, Vanille is as genuine as theycome. Kinda hard to believe she’s royalty sometimes.” Sazh sighedin exasperation. “I’ve worked with so many of you kids over theyears that I wonder if you all share the same stick up your ass.”

Insteadof biting back with a retort, Sazh’s comment made Lightning asksomething she’d been wondering for awhile. “That’s right – bothFang and Vanille said that they knew you. You were an adviser forsome members of the old family, too.”

“Gladto see you pay attention when I talk.”

“Thatdoesn’t make much sense, though,” Lightning continued, ignoringSazh’s comment. “You’re not even twice my age. You said you’ve beenserving the old family for years, but if you served Fang and Vanilletoo…”

“Inever told you?” Now Sazh looked confused, but also a littleconcerned. It was very strange to see him with an expression towardsher that wasn’t exasperation. “Huh, guess I wouldn’t have at thebeginning. And things have been so crazy with the ball andeverything…”

“Toldme what?”

Sazhundid the top two buttons of his shirt and tugged it down a bit. Itwas still hidden under some fabric, but there were a bunch oftelltale lines and intersecting arrows that made Lightning sit ramrodstraight in her chair, eyes widening a bit. She knew what it meantbefore Sazh even said the words.

“I’ma l'cie.”

Thestories had spread among the slums – scary children’s tales thatwould send Serah crying into her arms in fear. L'cie were warriorschosen by fal'cie and sent to fight their battles, using magic farmore powerful and horrifying than the average person was capable of.They would live forever until the fal'cie grew tired of them andended their misery with agony, only to gather new warriors and repeatthe cycle anew.

Sincethere hadn’t been a real war in centuries, l'cie were just terriblestories. Even though Lightning knew they were likely just that –stories – nobody she knew had ever met or been one, so itwas hard to say what was the truth or not.

Itwas true, however – recorded in history books and all –that l'cie were branded when they were made. The lines intersectingon Sazh’s skin perfectly matched what Lightning knew.

“You’re– how - ”

“Ohc'mon, you know damn well I’m not some war machine. I hear thosestories. Most of ‘em are totally untrue. Probably made up by somefanatic or anti-war group back in the day.” Sazh shrugged andbuttoned his shirt, hiding the brand from sight.

“Thenwhat is true?”

“One,we don’t live forever. But it does stretch things out a bit.” Hechuckled. “You pretty much stop physically aging once you’rebranded. Good thing, or I’d have half a century’s worth of gray hairfrom all you kids stressin’ me out.”

Lightningdid not laugh. She still felt something akin to horror, though Sazh’snonchalant attitude and her own logic were calming her down a bit.“But why were you branded? I’ve always heard that l'cie werejust tools for war.”

“LikeI said, stories.” Sazh waved a hand. “Yeah, sure, some were madefor war, but most l'cie are branded to carry out a certain purpose,whether for war or whatever else.”

“Andlet me guess,” Lightning said, her head starting to clear, “yourpurpose is to annoy me?”

“Close.”He chuckled again. “Nah, the old queen’s mother put in a good wordfor me with Phoenix. I kinda fell into the adviser role and the royalfamily was damn impressed. They asked if I wanted to do it forlonger, and well…” He shrugged. “Here I am. ‘Course, I’d go outto ally kingdoms or whatnot. In Duchess Vanille’s case, her parentsdied when she was barely a kid, so I kept an eye on her. I only knowPrincess Fang through her, though.”

“Isee.” And she did, actually. The initial shock had finally wornoff. Honestly, she couldn’t see why someone would want to live foryears and years doing the sort of thing Sazh did, but now she knewhow he was so good at his job…literal years of practice. “And I’mguessing this is common knowledge among the other royals?”

“Well,yeah. I’m everywhere, you know.” He tapped the side of his head.“Can’t do much to hide that.”

“Isuppose not.” Of course she was the last to know…but then again,she always seemed to be the last to know things lately, sowhat did one more thing matter?

“Onthat note, I’ve got some other things I need to do.” The tone inSazh’s voice had gone so serious that it made Lightning glance upfrom her letter and frown in confusion.

“Whatthings?”

“Geez,so nosy.” He shook his head. “Don’t you worry about it. Finishyour letters and I’ll have one of the assistants come in andproofread them.”

Sherolled her eyes. “Sure.”

Hewas already halfway out the door, but still called out as thought heactually had eyes in the back of his head. “I saw that!”

Lightningshook her head and stared back down at her letter to Vanille, tappingher pen against the paper a few times. Even though it’d been quitesome time since she’d been found as Eden’s princess, the formalityand unspoken rules still baffled her. Ever since meeting a bunch ofthem at her introduction ball, however, she’d seen that many of themfound some of the rules and etiquette archaic as well.

Sowhy did they have to do it?

Shesighed heavily and slumped in her chair – a posture that Sazh wouldfrown upon, but for once, she was blessedly alone. Not even a maidwas to be seen, although she could hear people puttering in thehallways outside her office. It was so rare these days she couldactually be by herself. Usually she at least had her personalbodyguard with her…

“No,”she muttered, chiding herself. She would not think about him.She would not wonder where he’d gone after running from her atthe ball, and she would certainly not replay the images oftheir kiss in her mind.

Nope.Not her.

Lightningheaved another sigh and shoved the papers aside, going back tostaring out the window. Concentration was clearly useless, at leastfor now. She may as well take advantage of Sazh not being around todemand her to do stuff.

–

Itwas only a few days later when she got the news.

Shewas in the sitting area of her suite, talking to Serah on the phone –an encrypted, ridiculously secure line, of course. Actually beingable to see her sister would’ve been better, but Serah wascompletely swamped with work at the university and couldn’t get away.

Therewas always, however, time for a phone call.

“Ijust don’t get what you see in him,” Lightning muttered, scribblingin the margins of her scrap paper. She was still working on thoseletters and had been trying to think of good things to say SnowVilliers, Patron of Yusnaan. It was exceedingly difficult.

Forher, anyway.

“He’sso sweet!” Serah basically swooned over the phone. “And don’t youthink he’s handsome? I wonder if he’ll wear the same outfit at myintroduction ball.”

Lightningfrowned. “He’s a big lug that kept stepping on my feet.”

“Notto mention that you can tell he really cares about his people.”Serah kept going on like her sister had said nothing. “Maybe it’sbecause he was elected? I mean, I know you care about everyone in thekingdom, but some of the other royals who have lived it since theywere born….it’s different for them. Don’t you think so?”

Unconsciously,Lightning’s grip on her phone tightened. He’d said that to her morethan once.

Youknow what it’s like on the other side. You’ll be able to bring realchange.

Herstomach fluttered and she willed the door to knock – something,anything to let her know that her personal bodyguard wascoming back.

Knock-knock.

Shestared at the door. Could it be…?

“YourHighness?”

Hershoulders drooped so quickly that she nearly dropped the phone. Sherecognized the quiet voice of Yeul, one of her maids. With a heavysigh, she called out, “Just a moment!”

“Sis?Do you want me to leave?”

“Sorry,Serah.” Lightning heaved another sigh. “I have to go. I’ll callyou back tonight, okay?”

“Okay!I should probably get back to all this homework.” Her tone grewteasing. “You think they’d let a princess catch a break.”

“Ifyou’d wanted to catch any breaks, you wouldn’t have applied to themost prestigious university in the world,” Lightning teased back.“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay.Love you!”

“Youtoo.”

Anotherquiet knock sounded at the door. This time, Lightning stood, herposture automatically straight as she smoothed down her clothes. Asthere hadn’t been anything urgent on her schedule for the day, she’dopted for comfortable slacks and a thin cashmere sweater – clothingshe’d take over diamond-studded ball gowns any day.

“Comein.”

Yeulentered the room, dropping into a curtsy. All of the servantscontinued to be ridiculously formal around her, despite herinsistence otherwise. It was sort of why she appreciated Sazh naggingher all the time, though hell would freeze over before she’d admitit.

Andspeak of the devil…

“Mr.Katzroy requests that you join him in the conference room, YourHighness.”

Lightningfrowned, the request immediately striking her as odd. Usually Sazhsought her out himself when he needed something, or at least wouldbring her to whatever room he needed. Especially since this palacewas ridiculously huge and she still didn’t always know her wayaround.

“Conferenceroom?”

“Yes.”Yeul bowed her head. “Allow me to escort you.”

“Sure.”Lightning was all too happy to leave her papers and thoughts ofwriting to Snow behind…although surely whatever Sazh had plannedfor her would be just as annoying.

Itturned out she wasn’t too far off.

Yeulmurmured something into a speaker that was attached to the earpieceshe was wearing, presumably telling her coworkers where she was. Therest of the walk was fairly quiet, which was fine with her. Lightningwas more than okay with staring at the paintings and pricelessartifacts that adorned the walls. A lot of them were portraits of herextremely distant ancestors. Apparently she and Serah would have tosit for portraits at some point and then they’d be on the wallsforever. It was a very weird thought.

Whenthe finally reached the conference room, Yeul curtsied again beforeopening one of the wide doors. “Her Highness, Princess Lightning,has arrived,” she called, her soft voice echoing into the emptyroom.

“Thanks,”Lightning said, nodding at Yeul before she stepped inside. There wasa weird flash of gold that struck Yeul’s eyes, but it was probablyjust glare from all the artifacts around them. Weird.

Theconference room was huge, with tons of folded seats and what lookedlike a stage and podium. It reminded her a bit of a theater withoutthe screen. “Sazh?”

“Overhere.” He was off to the side, where there was a table and somechairs covered with papers. She hurried over to him. “Always makin’an old man wait, huh?”

“Yeah,yeah.” It felt weird to comment on that since now she had a roughidea of just how old Sazh really was. “How come you calledme here?”

“Nobodyever uses this room and I wanted to inform you of something inprivate.”

Instantly,Lightning’s heart began to pound. For whatever reason, her firstthought was of the night of the ball. Had someone seen them out onthe balcony? Was there some protocol about a princess and herbodyguard sharing a kiss?

“It’sabout your coronation.”

Shelet out a huge breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding,slumping in her seat a bit. She ignored the evil eye Sazh gave her.“What about it?”

“Asyou know, the old family kept their power tightly reigned.” Themore he spoke, the more serious Sazh became. It was weirdlyoff-putting. “All of the descendants have been, more or less,direct from the first king. Kinda a cut and dry family tree, evenwith all the marriages and what have you.”

“Right.”Lightning vaguely recalled this when she’d been forced to study theold family. The crown almost always went to the firstborn son ordaughter, which wasn’t so unusual for royalty, she supposed, but thefamily tree was streamlined to the point where many of thefirstborn’s siblings rarely got married or had children of their own.It was why she and Serah being a part of all of this was basicallyunprecedented.

Veryweird.

“LikeI told you, I’ve had some dealings with the old family. And I’m notthat old to remember the first king, but there’s a reason theykept the family as it was.”

“Sazh,please.” Lightning was rapidly running out of patience. She wasn’treally sure why, but something in her just wanted to hear thenews already. “Get to the point.”

“Soimpatient,” he muttered. “Okay, fine – long story short – thecoronation and ruling status are only valid with approval fromPhoenix.”

Itfelt like a block of ice had suddenly dropped in her stomach,although it took her a moment to rationalize why. “Approval?”“Yes.”The serious tone in Sazh’s voice grew. “You meet with the fal'ciein a special one-on-one ceremony. Phoenix will brand you as the nextruler of Eden. Not like a l'cie,” he added hastily, whenLightning’s gaze focused on the spot where his brand was hidden.“There’s no permanent mark, although it lasts 'til you’reofficially crowned. Then you’re free to rule as you please.”

Theice turned to lead in her gut. “Okay, so I meet with Phoenix andit…approves of me.” She frowned. “Why tell me this in secrecy?This is probably common knowledge among the royals, right?”

“Yeah.Some of the others brand their rulers like this too, but Phoenix isthe most important because, well…obvious reasons and all.”

“Isee.” The perfect placeholder reply, because this whole thing madeher feel…uneasy. Phoenix was arguably the most importantfal'cie in the world. Without the sun and life it provided, therewould be no world. The fal'cie from other kingdoms couldeasily be replaced with hard work and effort from humanity.

Butthe sun? There was no replacement for that.

Theenormity of her role in the world suddenly hit her like a train. Itdidn’t matter if her sister or the other royals or certain personalbodyguards believed in her. She’d never been very good at followingrules and had always thought of herself as very independent. The factthat she was to be in charge of everything under somethingelse’s power made her want to take a sword to Phoenix just to rid theworld of it, so humanity could try to thrive on its own.

Notthat she would �� or could – ever admit this out loud.

“There’sone other thing,” Sazh added when she said nothing more.

Lightningrolled her eyes a little, mostly out of habit. “What?”

Hedidn’t comment on her rudeness. “I know for a fact thatyou’re part of the royal bloodline. Ol’ Sazh did his research. Youdon’t even want to know what dusty old books and old familyrecords I had to look up to find you and your sister.”

“You’vementioned this.” She raised an eyebrow. “Many times, in fact.”

“'Causeit’s true.” There was a pause before his voice went grave.“However, if Phoenix doesn’t approve of you for whatever reason ordecides you’re not worthy of the power to rule…”

Lightningwaited a moment for him to finish, but she knew what he meant when hetrailed off. This, maybe, was the source of her instant uneasinesswhen he’d started talking. It was everything she hadn’t known she wasdreading since coming into the conference room.

“…Phoenixwill kill me.” She met his eyes. “Won’t it?”

“There’snot much of a chance it’ll disapprove of you,” Sazh repliedquickly. She wondered who he was trying to convince. “Like I said,I did my research and you’re a part of the bloodline. I’ve heardthat’s all it really cares about. It’s not like the fal'cie reallygive a damn about human affairs, y'know?”

“Right.”She ignored the unsaid words – there was still that chance Phoenixwould cast her aside and everything would be for nothing.

Betterme than Serah.

Thatwas what it always came down to, the first thought her instinct wentto. Serah was the one who deserved a comfortable life withresponsibilities chosen by her and not some rule or bloodline. It wasbecause of her sister that Lightning had worked her ass off when theywere still in the slums, doing everything she could to give Serahever opportunity possible.

Shenever thought there was the possibility it could lead to her death.

Butwhat about her role now? Though she hadn’t asked for any of this, shewas slowly finding herself eager to make changes around the kingdomof Eden and make things better for people who weren’t long-lostmembers of the royal family.

“You’veseen both sides. I think that’ll eventually come to be your biggeststrength.”

Eventhough she kept trying not to think about a certain personalbodyguard, his words from the ball popped into her head. She’d alwaystaken his reassurance to heart, but now it had a thousand times moremeaning.

Thoughshe would never deny that Serah had also suffered in the past,Lightning had always watched out for her and sacrificed somuch to ensure that her needs were met. Their experiences weredifferent because of that.

Nobodyhad ever looked out for Lightning until now.

Andbecause of that, she was the only one who could truly changethings.

Shewas quiet for another moment as though contemplating, but short ofrunning away, there was really only one answer. There had only everbeen one answer.

Lightningsucked in a breath and met Sazh’s eyes, trying to steel herself withdetermination.

“Whatdo I need to do before meeting with Phoenix?”

–

Aswith practically everything related to this princess business, thepre-ceremony rituals were completely over the top and ridiculous.Someday she’d realize that nobody around here ever did things simply.

Overthe next couple of days, she rehearsed the ancient words that wouldsummon Phoenix to an audience with her. A handful of older maids –ones that had been tasked with all of the ritual business with theold family – helped her with cleansing baths and created theceremonial outfit. They were all sworn to secrecy.

Shefigured that made sense. If she was killed by Phoenix, it’d beeasier in the long run to play it off as some kind of accident ratherthan the most important fal'cie in the world rejecting her.

Butshe tried not to think about that. Besides the maids – and Sazh, ofcourse – the only other person who knew about the upcoming ceremonywas Serah, and that was simply because there was no way shewas keeping this a secret from her sister.

Lightningdidn’t mention the risks, though. Some things were better kept quiet.

“Snowtalks to Pandaemonium sometimes,” Serah mused over the phone. Itwas the night before Lightning’s meeting with Phoenix and she decidedshe’d needed the distraction. “Maybe he could give you advice!”

“Idon’t want any advice from that big lug.” She rolled her eyes, notwanting to admit she was curious, but… “…Talks to it how?”

Serah’svoice was a little knowing, but she didn’t tease. “He told me it’snot so much words. It’s not like conversing with a person – thefal'cie send images and they get clearer the more you have a mutualunderstanding.” She hummed a little. “Maybe it’s easy for himbecause he was elected the Patron.”

“Ormaybe his head’s so empty that the images come easier because there’snothing in the way.”

“Sis.”Serah huffed in exasperation. “Be nice.”

“I’dbe nicer if you were less interested in him.”

“Buthe’s so sweet!”

“Hmph.”This was what she wanted to worry about – who was goodenough for her sister and ridiculous things like that…not if thefal'cie who basically sustained the world was going to kill her.

Shecouldn’t let herself think about it.

Luckily,Serah was eager to keep chatting – mostly about Snow, toLightning’s disgust – and her nerves settled somewhat. Her sisterwas the one person who could distract her from this whole princessthing.

Well,her and another person, but she didn’t want to think about him,either.

Thenight passed quickly and soon Lightning was too tired to even hold upthe phone. She fell asleep quickly without having time to dwell onthe ceremony the next day. Just as planned.

Ironically,the sun woke her gently the following morning, which was a nicechange from her alarm going off or someone knocking on her door. Infact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d woken up so calmly.

Ifonly it was enough to make up for what was about to happen.

Thecalm was unfortunately short-lived, because about thirty secondsafter she’d stood up and stretched, someone knocked at her door.

“YourHighness?”

Lightningsighed heavily, immediately recognizing the voice of the oldest ofthese in-the-know maids. “Come in.”

Therewere three of them and they filed in slowly, their hands clasped infront as they walked. She realized this was an incredibly serious andformal situation, but the realness of it smacked her in the face atthe sight of the maids looking so grave. That lead block that’dformed in her gut when Sazh initially told her about all of hisreturned in full force.

“Thisway.” One of the maids gestured to her ensuite bathroom, whereanother maid was already running the water. Lightning could see heradding special oils and herbs to the tub, apparently part of thewhole cleansing ritual.

Shewas already long used to shedding her modesty in front of otherpeople since this whole princess thing had become a part of her life,but she’d never hated it more than she had at this second. Undressingand slipping into the tub in front of the others just made this wholething feel weird and awkward and way more serious than she wanted itto be. It didn’t help that she knew arguing was useless; the oldestmaid had a glare that could probably take down Sazh – a trait she’dlove to learn, to be honest. Maybe she’d ask for lessons later.

Providedshe survived Phoenix’s judgment, of course.

Withthat thrilling thought in mind, Lightning allowed herself to be driedafter the bath and wrapped in a robe. She had to admit that whateverhad been added to the bath made her skin feel like new. There’d neverbeen any time or money to bother with girly lotions and potionsbefore Sazh had found them, but maybe there was some merit in it.

Onceshe was sufficiently dry, she was led into her enormous walk-inwardrobe, where the ceremonial gown was waiting for her. It wasactually quite a beautiful dress – a flowing garment in shades ofgold, white, and blue. There was a cape with a long train attached tothe back, maybe just to add to the ridiculousness. Phoenix’s brandwas embroidered along the edges in gold.

Themaids helped her into the gown and simple gold shoes. One of themclasped a gold bracelet with multicolored stones around her wrist.

“What’sthis?” Lightning asked, lifting her arm to inspect the bracelet. Anumber of jewels were kept in her wardrobe and a lot were in storage,but she was fairly sure she’d never seen this one before. It wasweirdly flashy and simple at once.

“Agift from Phoenix, Your Highness,” the youngest of the maidsanswered (although 'young’ in this case was about eighty years old).“It’s said that that fal'cie itself put it on the wrist of thefirst king. Ever since then, it’s been a tradition to wear it to theMeeting.”

Lightningsuddenly lost all interest in the bracelet and dropped her arm. “Oh.”

Thefinal part of her outfit was a headpiece that fit snugly in her hair.Long lines of gold extended from the band in varying lengths, thelongest about a foot. It formed a semicircle around her head – madeto resemble rays of the sun, she realized as she looked in a mirror.

“Whenyou’re ready, we’ll escort you,” the oldest maid said after apause.

“…Right.”Lightning let out a breath. “Let’s get this over with.”

Ifany of them found her comment weird, they made no mention. Instead,they simply ushered her out of her suite. The hallway – whichusually had people milling about cleaning and whatnot – was emptyexcept for them. Two of the maids stood on either side and one was infront to lead the way.

Theywalked like that the whole time in silence, the only sound being thewhoosh of her cape flowing over the floor. Usually Lightning reveledin quiet, but this silence felt way too heavy. It carried foreboding.

Doom.

Still,all she did was recite her summoning words in her mind, hoping shewouldn’t forget them. She’d never been one to crack under pressure,but this was a whole different level.

Itseemed like they’d walked for miles before they finally stopped infront of an enormous door. Lightning realized she’d actually passedthis area a handful of times, but the door was nondescript and tuckedaway, so she’d never given thought to what could be behind it.

Themaid in front slowly pulled the door open. Sunlight poured in and shetried not to squint at the glare.

“Wecan go no further,” the maid said. “Please head forward for yourceremony.”

“Thanks.”

Theyall curtsied in unison as she stepped into the light, not risinguntil the door slowly creaked shut behind her. Forget the lead in hergut; her stomach was doing cartwheels by now.

“Thatyou?”

Lightningnever thought she’d be so damn grateful to hear Sazh’s voice. She letout a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding and hurried over –as much as she could in this outfit, anyway – and even though hestill looked grave and serious, it was still a relief to be aroundsomeone normal.

Well,normal to her, anyway.

“Ididn’t think you’d be here,” she said, trying to sound composed. “Ithought it might be against the rules or whatever.”

Despitethe serious expression on his face, Sazh smirked a little. “Whathave I been tellin’ you? There’s no getting rid of me. Besides, youhave any idea what you’re doing right now?”

Lightninglooked around the room for the first time. It was weirdly bright andwhite, though she could vaguely make out ornate designs on the wallsin gold. Ahead of her was more brightness and – was that fog?

Yeah,she was totally lost.

“Thoughtso,” was all Sazh replied at the look on her face. “All right,lemme lead you through it. Ask your questions or forever hold yourpeace.”

“Justtell me how to get to Phoenix,” she replied. “I want to get thisover with.”

“Fairenough.” He shook his head in exasperation and then gestured to theweirdly bright, foggy area in front of them. “Head forward untilyou see a crystal. It’ll be floating in midair, so try not to freak.”

“I’veseen freakier things.”

“Yeah,yeah.” He rolled his eyes, which was oddly comforting. “Once youget to the crystal, hold cup your hands around it.” Sazh held uphis own hands to demonstrate. “Then recite the summons you’veundoubtedly memorized. That should take you right to Phoenix.”

Lightningheld up her hands in the same way Sazh had. “Crystal, hands,recite. I think I’ve got it.”

“Youdo.” He stared at her a moment and then sighed, bowing his head abit before nodding. “You really do. You’ve got this.”

Ifthat was his way of saying he was sure she’d survive…the confidenceactually worked somewhat. Much to her annoyance, Sazh really did knowa lot and she trusted him. It was not guarantee, but at leastit was something.

“Right,”she murmured, squaring her shoulders. “I’ll be back.”

“We’llbe waiting.”

Asshe headed into the fog, Lightning could’ve sworn she heard somefootsteps echoing behind her, but she did not dare to look over hershoulder. Eyes front. If she lost her nerve now, she’d never be ableto do this again.

Timelost all meaning as she walked through the light and fog. There wasno comfort in it, but oddly enough, she had no fear, either. MaybeSazh’s confidence in her had actually worked. Maybe it was becauseshe had to survive for Serah.

Maybeit was because, according to a certain personal bodyguard, she couldbring about real change.

Shehad no idea how long she’d walked before the crystal appeared infront of her. It was shaped a bit like a diamond and reflectedrainbows into the whiteness around her. Just as she was supposed to,she hovered her hands around it and closed her eyes, bowing her headas she spoke.

“OMighty fal'cie Phoenix, I seek you so that I may govern in yourblessed name. Guide me to your knowing light so that I may humblygaze upon you.”

Shefelt stupid chanting the words, especially since she wasn’t quitesure how much she believed in them. Apparently belief didn’t matter,though, because the crystal suddenly blinded her – even though hereyes were still closed – and she had the sensation of movement. Itfelt like falling, but she was still upright. Lightning didn’t dareopen her eyes in case it broke some kind of spell. Sazh hadn’tmentioned any of this! She was definitely going to rant at himwhen she got back.

Ifshe got back.

Whenthings finally stilled, Lightning took a moment to breathe, her eyesstill closed. It was extremely unusual for her to just stand aroundand put herself in any sort of vulnerable position, but what wasn’tunusual about all of this?Surely a breather wasn’t out of line.

Therewas about ten second of silence before an unfamiliar rumbling noiseand a flash of head made her finally open her eyes. She could notcontain the gasp that ripped through her at what was before her.

“Phoenix.”

Thefal'cie was long and skinny on both ends, with smaller pieces of itsbody – was that a body? - extending from it. Whether theseparts were something otherworldly, nature, machine – she had noidea. In the middle it was round, filled with a light so bright thatshe couldn’t stare for long.

Itwas nothing like she had ever seen or imagined.

Ofcourse she had seen fal'cie before. Most everyone had. There weresmaller ones that worked in separate jurisdictions in Eden, doingvarious tasks like providing electricity or things for export. Notall of them in other kingdoms made themselves hidden, either. Theywere just a part of the landscape and a part of life thatnobody really took notice of them.

Nowshe understood why Phoenix was hidden away.

Itwas impossible not to take notice.

Lightningstepped forward unconsciously, not sure if she wanted to run towardsit or away. She felt dazed, which was not a sensation she wasa fan of, but what else could she do?

Therewas noise coming from the fal'cie, but she wasn’t sure if it wastrying to speak or if that was just how it sounded naturally. Surelysomething so massive and powerful couldn’t be completely silent.

Thesounds were like screams and whispers all at once, having thestrength to ruffle her gown and cape, but somehow not loud enough tohear. Something about it made her want to take a sword to the massivebeing in front of her, but who was she to deny the world of this?

Andthen it happened.

Phoenixcried out and a beam of light shot right towards her, too quickly toavoid. It scorched her chest, painful yet not. She could feel theswirls and intricacies of Phoenix’s brand, letting it become a partof her and she now was of it.

Blurry,hurried images flooded into her mind. Lightning vaguely recalledSerah mentioning Snow’s experience with his fal'cie, that the imagesbecame clearer with mutual understanding.

Butshe and Phoenix had no understanding. She still couldn’t tellwhether she hated it or wanted to give thanks. There was anunderlying buzz of Phoenix not knowing what to make of her, either –just that she was of the bloodline and she could ruleunscathed.

Theimages she saw were most of people she only vaguely recognized fromthe portraits in the palace – memories of her extremely distantancestors. Some were of the stars and moon, extensions of the fal'ciefrom even farther away than this. One image would come, only to beimmediately replaced by another, and she could make no real sense ofthem.

Untilthat moment.

“Hope?!”

Everythingwas still so fast, but now Lightning willed her mind to slow,anything so that she could sort out why Phoenix was showingher images of her personal bodyguard.

Shesaw Hope, handsome as ever, talking to a group of people in a glassbuilding that gleamed with perfection.

Anotherof him in a white and yellow outfit that seemed strangely familiar –but it wasn’t the garb he wore as her bodyguard.

Himtalking to a shorter woman who, again, seemed oddly familiar.

Hiseyes sliding to look at Phoenix.

Hishands working on something that could have been otherworldly, nature,or machine.

Hisgaze on her for a thousand different reasons, most worthy of asecret.

Hisshame as he ran off from her at ball.

Inthat instant, something clicked in Lightning’s mind, though her heartwas pounding and her breath was coming too fast to really sort itout. The images abruptly stopped and the brand on her chest cooled.

“Howdo you expect me to - ”

Shedidn’t get to finish her sentence before there was that sensation offalling again. Phoenix had dismissed her?! She’d survived itsjudgment, but for what?

Therewas no making sense of it. Time had no meaning.

Whenshe stopped falling, Lightning opened her eyes in a daze and emergedfrom the light, a bit surprised to see Sazh, but also -

“Hope,”she whispered, her heart pounding again. It was too much for her bodyand mind. Her knees shook and she pitched forward.

Butlike any good personal bodyguard, Hope raced to her, his eyes widewith panic as he caught her. She settled into his arms so easily –too easily.

“Light,”he said, her name hardly a gasp. His eyes darted to Phoenix’s brand,which was on the left side of her chest, impossible to miss againsther pale skin. “Light, why? Whydid you do it?”

She stared up at him, a thousandimages replaying in her mind in an instant. How could she possiblyput them together in a way that made sense?

But maybe shealready had.

Her hand reached up to shakily brushsome of his bangs from his worried face. Worried for who, shewondered?

“You’re not a bodyguard,” shemurmured.

Theneverything went black.

[kunoichi-ume]

For the WIP sampler: while I'm curious about Noara's death, I'd much rather hear about her adventures!

Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

Sure you don’t wanna hear about Noara dying? About Torian getting there just in time to be too late to save her, but early enough to get to say goodbye? To say an edited version of the Mandalorian wedding vows because even if she doesnt know it he won’t make her lie to him (about raising children together I mean)? About Noara asking if now she can sleep, just for a moment, and Torian knows it will be longer? 

No? Okay. 

Actually writing her dying at all was a writing exersize that @cinlat sort of dared me to do, sort of a “you never know your character until you put them through ALLLLLL the hell” thing cause I don’t really plan to kill Noara. (Sith Noara however... her days are numbered.)

Noara’s adventure log started when I felt I didn’t really know Noara well enough to keep writing I’ve Got You and was kicking myself for starting the fic so far into the canon story so she wouldn’t be able to grow through her experiences as I worked on her (instead she had to be a finished product and that was bugging me so much!) so I started on Tython and getting into her head from the start.

Have a couple snippets, cause the start of this post was rude I know. They are a bit on the long side, but other than @cinlat who I am pretty sure I shared this doc with, odds are no one else will see this fic if and when I pick it up again because it was more character study than anything but damn if I didnt have fun with it.

Noara’s thoughts as she arrives on Tython to start her trials:

This was the farthest from home she had ever been, not counting wherever she had been before the Jedi brought her to the enclave she’d been raised in. Now she’d left the only home she’d ever known to prove her worth and, hopefully, pass her trials. If she didn’t her dreams of traveling the galaxy and helping people would be gone. She’d be stuck in a research position or raising crops or something else equally unfulfilling even if she understood the necessity of it.

Failure wasn’t an option, not for Noara.

If all the times she had snuck out of her academic classes were any indication, she wouldn’t enjoy life as a scholar.

And the first time she takes a life, even if it’s a Flesh Raider determined to kill her is a big moment for her too:

Noara followed the rock formations, giving her on side where an ambush was less likely, and rounded a corner to see exactly what she had worried she might when she heard their name. Three of the reddish-pink rough skinned creatures crouched on the ground feasting on dead bodies. To make it worse two of the bodies were Jedi and one was their own kind. Flesh eaters and cannibals. That image was going to stick with.her. 

Adjusting her grip on her sabers, wishing she had weapons as real as this fight was going to be, she stepped around the rocks and crouched slightly. Pulling the Force around her, she leapt, propelling herself the considerable distance between her and the Flesh Raiders. They reared up as she landed, one coming at her with a training saber it probably stole off one of the dead Padawans, while the other two drew blasters. 

Reacting quickly, she blocked the first Flesh Raiders first strike before Force pushing it away to buy her time to deal with the other two. As it stumbled away, she slashed her blades at the two firing at her. They knew how to use the blasters, but their aim was horrendous. They hadn’t had these weapons long and she was easily able to sidestep their shots and cut each across the chest with the electrified edges of her blades. 

The creatures cried out, horribly gargled sounds by their misshapen mouths, as they fell. An angry cry behind her reminded Noara of the third Flesh Raider and she turned just in time to block a strike aimed at her skull. Before the beast could react to her quick movement, she stabbed it through the gut with her other weapon. 

It fell, dead, at her feet and Noara had to yank her training saber out of it’s ribcage where it had gotten lodged. She turned her sabers off and frowned at the blood, a sickly brown color, that clung to them. She wanted to clean them but had a feeling this wouldn't be her last fight and that it would be a wasted effort. 

It wasn’t until the smell hit her that what she had just done really sank in. She’d killed them, hadn’t even hesitated. Noara waited for the regret, the sickening guilt her masters had told her would accompany every life she took, but it didn’t come. Just relief that it was them lying on the ground and not her and the familiar thrill she always felt when sparring. She’d assumed that it would be different in a real fight, that it would be less exciting to win when it meant something else died but it wasn’t.

That thought scared her, because she knew how it sounded. It went against everything Jedi stood for and were taught. Taking a deep breath, she pushed all of that away to meditate on later. She was in a dangerous situation and there were other Padawans depending on her. 

And younger Noara might just have an attitude problem, but ya gotta admit the Flesh Raider problem on Tython was seriously mismanaged...

When Noara answered her com a small image of Knight Weller, bending down to brace a wound on his leg, appeared. He looked her image over in relief. “You’re unharmed, good. A Flesh Raider shot me in the leg while I was rescuing some Padawans. No idea where they got blasters, but they know how to use them. I’ve been evacuated to a medcenter but the fighting isn’t over.”

Noara sighed but bit back the comment she wanted to make. For a planet that should be full of some of the galaxy's best warriors they were pretty bad at crisis management. “Will there be reinforcements coming? I’m up to my neck in monsters here.”

Weller nodded. “Some are already there, but they keep pouring in. We need to stop them at the source. Padawan Unaw Aharo found a cave the Flesh Raiders tunneled through to get into the valley. I need you to go and make sure they don’t get more reinforcements through it.”

Noara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her patience was wearing thin, the handling of this situation left much to be desired and her understanding was that all Jedi on Tython were meant to be taking their trials. How any could be at that point and defenseless was beyond her. As far as she had seen, she was the only competent warrior on the whole planet but she wasn’t near arrogant enough to think she could take on every Flesh Raider out there on her own. “I don’t know how much I can do on my own, but I’ll do whatever I can to push them back and see if there is a way to seal the tunnel.”

“You won’t be alone for long,” Weller reassured her. “Master Orgus Din is on his way as well. We need to end this conflict before anyone else gets hurt. Find the cave along the east mountain ridge. May the Force be with you.”

His image winked out of sight and she huffed in annoyance. It had been a few hours since she had been sent into the field to fight the invaders and they were finally sending a member of the council to come help? What were the Jedi Masters doing while Padawans were being captured and killed? So far all she had learned on Tython was that she was lucky to have finished her combat training on Naboo before making the journey, being sent here without it could have been akin to a death sentence.

Master Doran had warned her the trials would be difficult when he tried to talk her into putting them off until she was a little older, but somehow Noara didn’t think this was what he meant.

And then her day just gets worse and worse when she gets to the cave and has to face the rogue Jedi commanding the Flesh Raiders:

The rogue Jedi lunged at her, swinging his lightsaber toward her neck. 

Noara just managed to dodge the blow, stepping quickly back. The second swing she caught with one of her training sabers, the blue energy blade crackling against the metal. 

“You think to defeat me with those toys?” He laughed, pushing her back with his superior strength and leaving marks in the ground where Noara tried to keep her footing. When most of his weight was committed to pushing her, she dropped to the ground, ducking under his arm and slipping behind him as he stumbled past her.

Using a move Master Doran always called reckless, she leapt into the air. Using the Force she propelled herself across the cavern to where his Flesh Raider backup was. Noara knew that if she wanted a glimmer of a chance to get out of here alive, she couldn’t face all three of them at once. Landing between them, Noara pushed the Force in a ring out from her body and knocked both away from her and to the ground. Stunned, neither stirred. She turned just in time to block the rogue Jedi’s attack with her training sabers crossed in front of her. He pressed forward, forcing Noara to step back again.

Obviously he had an advantage in both size and strength over her. She was going to need to be faster and cleverer. Before he could make her step back again, Noara kicked him in the gut. Not letting up when he stepped back, she followed him, pushing his lightsaber away from her with one of her blades and hitting his sword arm as hard as she could with the other. He dropped the saber with a sharp cry. 

Noara turned, releasing one of her training sabers to call his weapon to her. Before she caught it he tackled her, his shoulder digging into her gut. As they tumbled to the ground she lost her grip on her other weapon. She was never much of a grappler, her creche mates had often wiped the floor with her in unarmed spars but she had learned enough to know she couldn’t let him pin her. They landed hard on the ground, rolling a few times before he had straddled her waist and punched her in the face.

Lifting her hips off the ground, Noara tried to throw him off  but he was too high on her torso for that to work. Leaning forward he pinned her with his weight and wrapped his hands around her throat. Clawing at his fingers, she turned her head back and forth, trying to find a way out of this before remembering she was still armed. Pulling her leg up as close as she could, Noara blindly reached for her boot. Each of her boots had a dagger hidden in a discrete sheath inside the boot. 

Noara’s chest was on fire as she gasped for air and her vision was starting to dim. Reaching out to the Force for strength, she managed to grab the dagger’s hilt and pull it out of her boot. Without hesitation she stabbed him, driving the dagger into his side. He cried out in pain, releasing her neck and she was able to breath again. She ripped the dagger out of his flesh as he fell off of her. Running on pure adrenaline she followed him, burying the bloodied dagger hilt deep into his chest. 

Blood gushed around her hand and when he coughed it left bloody spots all over his face. “Killing me changes nothing,” he gasped wetly, “long live the new order.” The rogue Jedi took another gurgling breath before going limp under her and she felt his life force fading. 

Pushing herself away from his corpse, Noara tried to breathe through the pain in her chest and throat. 

“Look out!” Aharo cried, making Noara turn her head just in time to see the two forgotten Flesh Raiders approaching her. 

The dagger was still in the dead man’s chest but she spotted the lightsaber lying on the ground. She pulled it to her hand, activated it and threw it at them. With the Force she controlled it’s trajectory to strike them both. The Flesh Raiders fell to the floor, making similar death rattles to the ones she had heard all day. 

For a moment Noara didn’t move, leaning on her hand to keep herself upright while she waited for the next attack. When it didn’t come she slumped on the ground let out a shaky breath. Aharo, holding his gut, limped over to her. 

“That was amazing, I thought we were dead for sure,” he said, dropping to his knees next to her. “Are you alright?”

Noara nodded where she lay. “Yeah, I think so.”

[transformers-extrication]

Seaspray’s anniversary

Words: 3,129 It’s a special day for Seaspray! Many cheerful memories to be had!... Many... memories...

The Ark’s internal chronometer, adapted to the Earth's cycle, alerted it’s crew to the dawn steadily encroaching their world. A sound beyond human hearing thrummed away in the rooms of those who had not been on any sort of night-guard, rousing their sleeping systems up from a well-earned rest. If you listened carefully you could probably hear the creaks and groans of stiff metal and fibre stretching as various bots got up from their rest and eased their systems into motion. A loud thud echoed from one room as a body hit the floor with unnecessary force. Seaspray was too excited to care that he’d flopped out of bed so unceremoniously, forgetting to put his arms out to cushion the fall. It was a brilliant day for him, as it was every other time this date rolled around. In a quick dive-like motion forward Seaspray flattened his body and pushed with his arms, sending him into a controlled slide across the smooth metal, the automatic door opening for him and letting him out to the Ark’s hallways. Using his arms and short legs Seaspray avoided a head-on collision with any walls and slipped between his fellow Autobots as carefully as possible, disgruntled growls from Ironhide were easily shrugged off. Jazz had organised a schedule for various mechs and Seaspray had already had a lengthy chat with the relaxed senior officer who had been more than fine with allowing the aquatic mech some time off, at least enough to cover the day, something Seaspray always tried to do for this day with varied success (usually depending on who he spoke to, of course). Regardless, he still put aside some time for it no matter his schedule. Getting to the Arks entrance was easy, getting outside wasn’t so. Earth’s surface was so varied and changed on a dime or was a mishmash of textures and bumps. It wasn’t as if Seaspray couldn’t get about on Earth it was just that it felt odd and was often a bit jarring if he was just zooming out the Ark without a care in the universe. Regardless, pushing up with his flat, spread legs along with his arms he moved quicker across Earth's surface in an ungainly looking waddle.

---------------- “Hey! You lookin’ a bit nervous there!” Seaspray jumped with the sudden sound and jerked his head around to the beach. The time was far, far in the distant past, Cybertron was still… alive and bustling. The sun was high in it’s peak of the current solar cycle, and on the beach a very young charcoal-coloured mech lay, optics staring at Seaspray. Equally as young as the tiny figure gazing at him with the type of curiosity only younglings had Seaspray sunk into the water a little bit before mumbling. “N… nothing...” “M’ names Coldseep! I live near here!” The other child seemed somewhat oblivious to Seaspray’s shyness, “Haven’t seen you around before is all!” they chirped. ‘Oh’ Seaspray thought, this was one of those moments his parental units told him about, one where he should really speak up. “I’m Seaspray… I, uh, we just moved here… recently…” He barely emerged from the water anymore, just a pair of optics above its surface. Coldseep immediately burst into excited squeals and thrashed his way into the water, coming to a halt s short distance away from Seaspray, arms in the air. “YAY! New friend! We can see each other every day!” Coldseep practically bobbed up and down in his excitement. Seaspray, however, wasn’t quite at his level of excitement. “I… I dunno” He muttered back, rising out the water a little more, “I live on the water-side… I’m more of a sea-mech” “Oh! Tha’s okay! I’m a submaran! Marin! Dangit!” Coldseep fumbled over his words with a frown deepening on his face plates. “A… A submarine? You’re a Submarine?” Seaspray rose up a bit more, daring to get closer to examine him with a curious optic. “YEAH! Tha’s it! I always mess up the end bit!” Coldseep’s grin could’ve split his face apart. -------------- In the present Seaspray had slowed down to a very slow amble only pausing slightly to watch his own hand press into some sand and sink down. Feeling the loose grains softly envelop his digits before slowly pulling it away and looking fondly at the imprint he left behind. --------------- A much smaller imprint was left in the sands of a newly local shore. Since meeting him Coldseep had come to see Seaspray every day, he was indeed a submarine and joyfully accompanied Seaspray on several swimming excursions. Coldseep would always claim he could make a bubble-ring simply by swimming in a circle fast enough. He never did and would just throw off his balance, even underwater, it was fun though Seaspray often giggled at this antic and promised he’d swim rings inside the bubble when he made it!. Seaspray would point out various local sea life and promised to one day help Coldseep find and see a Warwhale! The two spent so much of their time swimming that it was like a cold slap to the face when Coldseep bounded onto the beach after a dive and ran around, somehow still having the energy to after all their underwater antics. Seaspray came out of the water, but only halfway. “Hey!” Coldseep snapped him out of his moment of silence, “You should come to my place! I can show you some cool shells I found!” “Uh” Seaspray retreated back an inch becoming worried. “Eh? Wha’s wrong? D… don’t you wanna come over?” Coldseep caught his nervous tone and promptly deflated. “No! No! I do!” Seaspray panicked, he didn’t want to upset his first friend of his ‘new life’, or at least that’s what his parental units called it, “I just… I just can’t get out the water…” “Whaaaaaaaaat! Of course you can silly!” Coldseep’s manner flipped like a switch and he returned to grinning. “It’s true! Well, I can barely move when out the water… I hate it… and… and I have to go to the education centre here when it’s b-back open” Seaspray started to sniffle, “An I, I gotta go an… and it’s on land… I don’t” Seaspray flopped to the ground and covered his face, “I’m gonna be a freak! Everyone will laugh!” A long silence ensued between the two children. Seaspray couldn’t bring himself to uncover his face, it only became harder when a weight suddenly pressed upon him. “You’re forgettin’ I go there too! I’ll fight anyone who says meanie-aft things about you! They know I will! It’s how I got sent to the nurse with a bent rotor once!” Coldseep announced with a loud pride that made Seaspray uncurl a little, mostly out of shock at his volume. “Th… thank you” Was all Seaspray could whisper through the tail end of his sniffles. There was a brief silence again. Only this time it got broken by a scream as Coldseep gripped Seaspray’s sides and yanked him out of the water and onto land. Coldseep bellowed with laughter as Seaspray flopped about in a panic trying to get a footing but only wiggling his rear fruitlessly. It took a few more astroseconds of laughter before Coldseep got up and grabbed onto Seaspray. “Hold on buddy, hold on!” Seaspray responded to his words by wrapping his arms around Coldseep’s, “There, not so bad now!”. Seaspray whimpered only just opening his optics to peer around him. “I bet I can help you walk on land just fine! I also totally bet an awesome tub of Energon ice cream that I could even get you running on land too!” Coldseep announced. ---------------- Just like him, brash and loud. Never stood down when he knew he could push on. Seaspray sighed as he clambered over some rocks, nearing the Ocean. He could distinctly remember Coldseep holding his middle and helping him work on his locomotion above water. It still wasn’t graceful but he was able to move on-land with little issue, Seaspray chuckled to himself remembering when the weather turned colder. The ground had gone icy and more compact in various areas, Coldseep had hidden away behind a rock, only to rush him and push him, causing him to slide along the ground. Seaspray allowed himself to let out an actual chuckle, remembering how they had spent entire days sliding around on ice, reaching high speeds, Coldseep often riding on Seasprays back as they whizzed up and down. Tactics he still used to this day, they never failed him. ---------------- The learning room hushed as the one designated to oversee their communal learning held an arm out, presenting another youngster that was to be added to their sector. “This” they announced, “Is Depth Charge. I want you all to welcome them here and make them comfortable”. Depth Charge had blues and purples across his frame and gold accents, yet his red optics scoured the class with cold anger, many of the others in the class avoided their gaze. Coldseep looked over at Seaspray with a cocked optical ridge. “What a nerd” He whispered. “Wha! What do you mean?” Seaspray kept his head ducked down glancing at Coldseep and back to the rest of the room, “He’s scary!” “Nope!” Coldseep grinned, “Watch” The teaching section of the day went quietly, no one really wanted to interact with the angry-looking new kid, but it came to the ‘free’ section of the day. Building bonds with your fellow mech was always a promoted activity, so a good amount of free time to talk and strengthen your social connections even at such a young age was encouraged. Cybertronians are quite social afterall. Coldseep nearly had to drag Seaspray with him to the corner of the yard where Depth Charge sat glaring at everything, but mostly his own pedes. With one last drag Coldseep dropped Seaspray, letting him scuttle behind him to put some distance between himself and the new guy. “Whas’sup nerd?” Coldseep had his hands on his hips and another one of his big grins on his face. “What do you want?” Depth Charge snapped back his optics darting away from the pair so quick they probably should’ve fallen out. “Seaspray here says he’s gonna show me a Warwhale one day!” Coldseep made a slight move to show off the nervously shuffling mech behind him. Depth Charge slowly turned his head around to look at the pair giving a look up and down between the two. “That’s dumb” he grunted, “They don’t live remotely near our waters” “HAH! KNEW IT!” Coldseep suddenly jumped, pointing a triumphant finger at Depth Charge. In response Depth Charge shuffled back and tensed up. “You don’t know anything!” He snapped back. “You’re a neeeeerd” Coldseep lilted, “One of us!” He changed to a chant, “One of us! One of us!” Depth Charge continued to shrink back optics snapping in different directions as if searching for a way out. Seaspray finally managed to pull himself from behind his friend, realising the motion of distress. Closer to him Seaspray had a better view of the panels that spread from Depth Charge’s back. “You’re an aquatic mech too” He uttered. “SO!?” Depth Charge finally snapped his optics down, “Just what my family unit are!” He hissed. “Uh, duh!” Coldseep stopped cheering to roll his optics “So are we! Dum-dum!” A silence fell over their corner and Depth Charge finally seemed to look up and truly take in the pair that stood before him. “Our lot know a lot about sea-stuff! You just have a grumpy face! Plus this is a coastal place!” Coldseep beamed, “Seaspray moved here too! Better suited for us!” Depth Charge seemed to soften up a little bit, which was good because if he got any tenser he looked like he might’ve snapped a few muscle fibres. “Y-yeah” He stammered, “Better than Vos...” “WHOA! You came here all the way from Vos!?” Coldseep immediately glued himself to Depth Charge’s side sitting obnoxiously close to him, “Fliers live there! What was it like? Why’d you move? Isn’t that place super cool!?” Seaspray also moved in, but slower, hoping to appear more normal and less in-your-face than Coldseep who had clearly startled Depth Charge. ------------------------ Seaspray remained perched on a rock looking out at the section of the beach, taking in the salty wind that washed over him. So different from Cybertron, yet, it made him feel more at home. The memories that washed over him with an equally constant flow, his circuits tingled with surges of nostalgia. Depth Charge had moved from Vos due to an altercation at his other learning facility. Apparently he got into frequent trouble with a trio of Seekerlings that also attended that place, he didn’t know their names merely referred to them by colour. The blue one was the oldest, and thought it was funny that he couldn’t fly, only ‘fly’ in water, the red one was the worst, often making snide comments yet able to twist situations to cover his own back, probably, Depth Charge had claimed, to ‘cover’ for how short he was. The purple one was an idiot but tagged along anyway. He’d spotted them teasing another student and tried to defend them, but it didn’t work out and Depth Charge was kicked out for his behaviour. He always lamented not being able to help or protect the other student. “Hmph” Seaspray mused, that was just like Depth Charge. Depth Charge who stood up for them when someone mocked Coldseep’s lively attitude, or Seasprays own awkward gait. The trio almost never left each others side, they were as the humans say ‘thick as thieves’ despite no thievery taking place. It was even Coldseeps idea… he was the one who named them the ‘Sea Seekers’ a trine of the best sea-fairing mechs Cybertron will ever see, or so he’d claim. They were all into it, Depth Charge in his awkward manner had decided to take this as a cue to announce how he’d protect them with his life. Guess that was his way of showing how thankful he was to have them. Protecting others… Seaspray allowed himself a sad flop onto the sand below. Depth Charge always took it personally when he couldn’t defend others… Probably why he was given charge of a peaceful sector that’d refused to take part in the war. Then Rampage came along… The Decepticons unleashed that… thing upon all of Cybertron. It had slaughtered anything in his path… Seaspray curled in slightly, remembering the look on Depth Charge’s face… how hollow he’d become, a hollowness that became filled with hate. He was like a different mech, he scared Seaspray now. Yet, Seaspray refused to leave him they were a trine! Despite Coldseep�� they weren’t going to lose each other. They already lost Coldseep, he followed the Decepticons lead. It was odd, Coldseep almost seemed to change into a different mech more and more each time he snuck out to meet them. He’d begged Seaspray and Depth Charge to join him. That Megatron promised to make Cybertron equal for everyone!. It was like Coldseep couldn’t see how Megatron was just taking everything for himself, and merely lived in a fantasy world where all of Megatron's lies were true. It almost broke him when he finally agreed that Megatron wasn’t acting right, he said he was going to leave… he said… It didn’t matter now… Seaspray dragged himself upright and slowly to the Ocean’s edge, the light glittering off it’s surface turning bitter in his mind, churning up bad memories. He tried, oh how he tried, he tried keeping up with Depth Charge after the ‘incident’ but he couldn’t. Depth Charge went to ridiculous lengths to fulfil his desire to fight Rampage. He punched Seaspray when the latter suggested he stop hunting him. Seaspray sucked it up, Depth Charge wouldn’t abandon him if he was in his place! He’d wait until the time was right, until they were ready to accept the help then stand by them all the way! He was all Seaspray had left… his last friend. Then they found Rampage, his trail of destruction easier to follow than initially believed. The fight lasted for barely a few astroseconds, Rampage was too strong for a battalion let alone these two mechs. Depth Charge said he had a plan. Depth Charge told Seaspray to get a head start and he’d join him. Depth Charge lied. Seaspray looked into his reflection in the Ocean, his optics were getting as watery as it’s surface. It was too late. Seaspray didn’t know. Depth Charge had stolen the Energon Destroyer, made by the late scientist Rhinox. He’d taken it and charged Rampage with it. Seaspray didn’t have a chance to react as a Autobot team grabbed him and rushed him away, having discovered the weapon was missing they took Seaspray and fled from the blast. It was like an explosion, but in reverse. The ground broke off in chunks, rising into the air as it crumbled. It was as beautiful as it was vile, the aim of that weapon… horrid. It did its job. Rampage was gone. So was Depth Charge. All that remained was a crater. Tainted by the blast, no life would EVER return to it after such an action. And like that… Seaspray was alone… The water made a quiet sound and Seaspray broke from his minor trance, tears streaking down his face and dropping into the sea. “I miss you guys” he sniffled, lying down and letting the water lap over him and around him. If he pretended hard enough it was as if the two were there, beside him. On the anniversary of them becoming a Trine. --------- Several miles down the beach, a dark and stealthy shape prowled along, looking to the water with a deep longing, yet painful apprehension. Ravage was a Decepticon and never allowed himself to be taken by emotion. Megatron wouldn’t allow that, be it by words, fist or the end of his cannon he would not allow it. Ravage had to be far away from his leader for this… curious emotion to thrum through his damaged Spark with no repercussion. Looking across the landscape he spotted a yellow figure, also at the water's edge. The enemy. THE ENEMY!. Ravage cringed hard, his face plates bunching up as he forced down the raging senseless anger that arose everytime an Autobot neared him. That one. That one was okay. Ravage didn’t know why, but that yellow one was okay. Ravage also had no idea why he felt the compulsion to be here today. Just that for him it held some sort of significance. Settling down to rest Ravage nosed the water, and ignoring the tear that rolled down his face.

[loove-persevering]

Change My Mind (Steve Harrington Series) PROLOGuE

Description: You being a Byers automatically draws you to the chaos that is Hawkins Indiana. From your brother’s ‘’death’’ to him coming back to life, and then to his possession. You were practically sitting ducks waiting for the next mishap, cut to the summer of 1985 it was mid summer but it would definitely be one you’d never forget. Then throw in your hatred toward Steve Harrington and being trapped in a secret Russian Base with him, emotions are bound to come out. 

____ 

  ‘’Wait!’’ You call out as he walked in pace along side the rest of the party, ‘’Will!’’ You yell and he still continues to talk the rest of the guys. 

 They eventually all turn into Scoops Ahoy and you follow in pursuit cursing your brother for not hearing you. Mike walks up to the counter ringing the bell and the light haired girl calls out, ‘’Hey, dingus, your children are here!’’ She yells. 

 Seconds later the Steve Harrington slides open the back window, ‘’Again? Seriously?’’ He groans in annoyance as Mike rings the bell once again. 

‘‘Will Byers!’‘ You yell as he’s about to walk into the back room. He turns around looking at you wide eyed walking back to you. ‘‘9:30 okay?’‘ You tell him. He sighs nodding his head, ‘‘And if anything happens use the pay phone to call me, here let me give you some change!’‘ You say reaching in your pockets pulling out two quarters handing it to him. 

 You watch as he glances over his shoulder back at his friends and you notice Steve still holding the door open an amused look on his face. ‘’Okay, can I go now?’’ He asks and you sigh and you take your hand pushing his shoulder slightly. 

‘‘Go on,’‘ You say and he breaks out into a wide grin practically running to the back with his friends. You decide to order and ice cream cone while you were there and after a few moments Steve makes his way back up to the front. You glare at him and when he spots you he lets out a laugh. ‘’Problem Harrington?’’ You ask him. 

 ‘’You gotta give that boy room to breath,’’ Steve says leaning against the counter giving you a odd look making your roll your eyes. ‘’Between you and Jonathan I don’t know how he manages to breath as it is!’’ He says. 

 You look tor Robin who just looks at Steve and you wide eyes before letting out a whistle and heading to the back of the shop, you couldn’t blame her. ‘’Go to Hell Harrington,’’ You tell him. 

‘‘You might beat me there,’‘ He says crossing his arms over his chest. 

‘‘Bite me,’‘ You tell him. 

You and Steve Harrington seemed to have a specific kind of relationship, a very hateful one in fact. Ever since he and Jonathan got into a fight two years ago you specifically remember finding a special place in your heart for the hatred of Steve Harrington and that had stayed near and dear to your heart. 

 You hear the window slide open and both you and Steve look up noticing the Robin girl staring at you both, ‘’You two reek of Sexual tension you know that?’’ She asks leaning her elbows against the counter. 

 ‘’In his dreams,’’ You say rolling your eyes. 

 ‘’In YOUR dreams Byers,’’ He says. 

‘‘Whatever,’‘ You say turning around to walk out of the shop, ‘‘Have fun with your pillow tonight Harrington!’‘ You yell out earning some laughter from those sitting around the shop. You walk outside into the mall deciding that maybe shopping would help cure the pissed off mood that came with being around Steve Harrington. 

 You went around the mall shopping for a bit just waiting for Will’s movie to end so you could take everyone home. It was only about an hour after you had left Scoops Ahoy and so you were now seated in the middle of the mall a magazine in your hand as you flipped through the pages. It immediately got dark and you look around hearing the groans from everyone else around you as they questioned the sudden darkness, as soon as you sit your magazine down on the table the lights seem to flicker back on and the sound of laughter ensues around you from the kids on all the rides. 

 You still felt skeptical of what just happened so you glance around for a few moments before picking up your magazine again shaking it off, the mall is new and using a lot of power must’ve just been a shortage right? 

The thing was it was never something as simple as that, not in Hawkins. 

NEW SERIES!

 I need some advice how do you guys want to see this go with the byers! Steve reader? How should I incorporate her into the story line, I really like it so far but I need to help logically that goes with the show lmao! 

Permanent Tag list: 

@l-ivingformendes , @queenbbarnes , @gwenebear , @depressed-comics (Let me know if you want to be added or removed!)

Tag List for this story: Let me know if you want to be added!

[e350tb]

Steven Universe: Marooned Together - Chapter Fifty-Five

(thanks as always to @real-fakedoors for proofreading!)

Ruby sighed, gazing out the bridge windows as the rain began to fall. Her foot tapped as she waited for the rest of the group to come back. She scratched her arms, eyes darting around as she counted patterns in the walls and ceiling, occasionally chewing her lip.

There was a sudden dull thud, and she jumped.

“What was that?” she asked aloud.

Quickly she jumped to her feet, sprinting from the deck and towards the med bay. She hadn’t even made it there when she saw the cause of the commotion.

Kevin was limping down the corridor, some of the rope they’d used to tie him down still hanging from his ankles. His gaze, wild and unfocused, shot towards the red gem, and for a few seconds they stared each other down.

“Uh… you wanna go back to sleep, Kevin?” asked Ruby.

Kevin screeched and bolted, ducking through another door.

“Kevin, that… that’s the kitchen!” Ruby called out. “The exit isn’t…”

She frowned as she heard the sounds of tins being opened and uncooked baked beans being wolfed down.

“Ah, forget it, I don’t care.” Ruby crossed her arms. “But if I know humans, you’re gonna regret that in about two hours and-”

“Sapphire to Ruby, come in Ruby.”

Ruby jolted at the faint sound from the bridge, and rushed back, skidding to a halt in front of the captain’s chair.

“Ruby to Sapphire, I hear you!”

“We’re coming back with the humans…”

“...and quartzes!”

“...yes, and quartzes. Fire up the ship, we’re gonna need to take off before the storm arrives.”

“Gotcha, Sapphy! I’m on it!”

Ruby ran towards the pilot’s seat and jumped in. She looked down at the holographic console, smiling - her grin slowly faltered.

“Uh… Sapphy, can you ask Amethyst where the ‘on’ button is?”

...

Holly Blue Agate’s discarded gem still lay on the rock in the lake, forgotten in the excitement as the humans and gems had begun to make their way to the Crystal Avenger. There was no-one around to see it glow and rise into the damp air, light projecting from it as it formed a very familiar, very angry form.

Holly Blue snarled as she dropped back onto the ground, finding her camp deserted.

Those miserable pebbles! They had abandoned their duty to the empire, and walked off with their own prisoners, like… like Earthling savages! Not only that, but they’d left her to the storm, while they wandered off to freedom!

She could not— would not abide it.

Drawing her whip, she took to the storm. 

 It seemed Amethyst and Peridot had just about been able to talk Ruby through the start-up process, as the Crystal Avenger was ready to fly when the group arrived. The ramp was lowered, and the first lot of humans were able to simply walk onto the ship to freedom - not that any seemed to understand the concept right now.

Stevonnie and Lapis took up the rear with Jenny and Kiki. The twins made an odd sight - the weathered, weary, greying scavenger and the youthful, blissful thrall were such a contrast that you’d never suspect they were the same age. Kiki still smiled serenely, no hint of recognition in her eyes as they approached safety.

“Ooh, spaceship!” she said. “Holly promised us space ship! Promised we’d go to the Zoo!”

“Yeah, well, you’re not going to the Zoo,” said Jenny. “You’re going to New Earth. You remember Earth?”

Kiki shook her head.

“It sounds nice!” she said cheerfully.

Jenny closed her eyes and nodded.

“It was nice,” she muttered.

Stevonnie put a hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll get her back, Jen,” they said. “I promise.”

Jenny swallowed.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I know we will.”

“Get me back?” Kiki tilted her head. “But I’m here!”

Jenny shook her head.

“Let’s just get outta here, okay?” she asked. “I mean, storm’s rolling in, and we need to get these people to a hospital, so…”

“You. Miserable. INGRATES!”

Stevonnie glanced back. Holly Blue was advancing through the jungle, rain dropping onto her shoulders as she trudged forward, whip in hand. In her eyes was the fury of an oncoming firestorm, almost shiny in incandescent rage. She seemed almost to shake.

“Okay, time to go,” said Lapis quickly.

She turned around, calling to the last captive humans still boarding the ship.

“Alright, everybody one, we’re, uh… we’re gonna get ice cream!” she called.

“Honey, they’re brainwashed, not children,” said Stevonnie.

“Ice cream sounds cold,” said Kiki, frowning. “The rain’s cold too. Will the Zoo be warm?”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” exclaimed Jenny. “Just get on the ship! Go! Move, move, move!”

The humans shambled forward with no sense of urgency, and Jenny pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Ship. Warm! Outside, bad! Just go!” she said, gesturing wildly towards the ship.

That seemed to have done the trick. The humans began to scurry a little faster, but behind them, Holly Blue was breaking into a run.

“Lapis! We gotta buy them some more time!”

Stevonnie drew their sword - nodding, Lapis waved her hand in the air, forming the swirling rain into a watery harpoon.

“Harpoon?” quizzed Stevonnie.

“I thought I’d experiment a bit.” Lapis smirked and shrugged.

Holly Blue attacked first, swinging her whip violently towards the water gem. Lapis braced with the harpoon, the whip wrapping around the watery surface. She had a moment to think she’d stopped her attack - then the electricity was sparking down the whip, forcing her to drop the harpoon and double back to avoid electrocution. The harpoon splashed into a harmless puddle in the mud.

Holly Blue smirked, but had little time to savour her brief victory before Stevonnie’s shield was flying into her face, hitting her right in the eyes. She stumbled back, crashing into a tree trunk, and was momentarily stunned. The shield flew back - Stevonnie grinned, raising their sword and deflecting it right back into the agate, this time hitting her in the stomach and knocking her down into the mud.

“Guys!”

They turned back. Jenny was standing on the ramp.

“Everyone’s on, let’s go!”

Stevonnie and Lapis nodded, and began their sprint back towards the ship. Lapis got there first, jumping up as the ship began to hover, and Stevonnie was almost there, leaping for the ramp, when-

“Not so fast, fusion scum.”

Their momentum stopped abruptly, and for a moment they tumbled, their arm reaching out - then Lapis had them, holding on for dear might. They looked back - Holly Blue stood in the clearing, her eyes wild as she tugged on her whip, now wrapped around Stevonnie’s lower body.

“I may not be able to stop you from taking my humans, or even my pathetic traitor crew,” she spat. “But I can maroon you forever on this wretched rock.”

She grinned, her teeth bared.

“Who knows?” she replied. “Maybe I can break you into the first of a whole new company of guards?”

“Hey, they’re mine, get your own fusion!” snapped Lapis.

“What’s going on back there?” Amethyst’s voice came through on the PA. “What’s holding us down?”

Stevonnie glanced down to Holly Blue, and then back up to Lapis.

“Lapis, you’re gonna have to-”

“No,” replied Lapis. “I’m not letting you go, not again.”

“Lapis, I…”

“We leave this planet together, or we stay here together,” said Lapis. “But I won’t lose you.”

Stevonnie swallowed and nodded.

“I…”

There was a loud yell and the sound of footsteps racing down the ramp. Before Stevonnie could process anything, Kevin was leaping off the ramp, a stolen destabiliser in his hands. As if in slow motion he fell down towards the agate, the weapon aimed downwards towards her head - Holly Blue’s mouth opened in momentary surprise…

Poof.

The whip vanished, and Stevonnie flopped inelegantly onto the ramp.

For a moment, they glanced back. Kevin was standing triumphantly over a blue agate gem, roaring and beating his chest. He threw the destabilizer to the side and looked up at the fusion and their girlfriend - he shot them a grin.

“Kevin!” Stevonnie called.

Kevin winked.

“Stevonnie!” he called. “Stevonnie!”

For a moment, he seemed to struggle for words. Was he going to say something poignant? An apology for his adolescent actions? A wish of good luck.

He shot Stevonnie a thumbs up.

“Good catch. Very hot.”

He disappeared as the ramp was raised.

...

The ship rocked and shuddered as it soared upwards, away from the planet’s surface and up towards the stars. Through the bridge windows, Ruby could see lightning beginning to streak across the dark, cloudy sky; there were only minutes left to get away. She was in the pilot’s seat - Zircon and the other gems hadn’t reached the bridge until shortly after take off.

“Okay, Roob, swap over to Zircon,” ordered Amethyst.

“No time,” replied Ruby. “I’m in the pilot’s seat - I have to do this.”

“Ruby, no offense, but you ain’t a-”

Sapphire raised her hand.

“Trust her,” she said. “She will do it.”

“You saying that because of your future vision or because she’s your main squeeze?” said Amethyst flatly.

Sapphire hesitated.

“She will do it.”

Ruby wasn’t listening. Underneath her, the ship bucketed like an angry bull, and she had to fight every second to keep a straight course. They had to make orbit - then they could warp. Everything depended on keeping the ship straight - on paper, easy, but in these conditions, less so.

But she knew she could do it. She knew she had to do it. Her whole world was on this ship; Stevonnie and Lapis, Bismuth, Amethyst and Peridot (and Zircon, she supposed.) Most importantly of all, her Sapphy was on this ship. She hadn’t been able to help her all day, but now?

She refused to let her down.

The clouds cleared, and suddenly she could see the curvature of the planet below. The instruments were fluctuating wildly, alarms were screaming, the orbital storm was upon them, but there was a window to act if she was fast enough - if she could hold her nerve to hit the right button at exactly the right moment…

There was a thud, and suddenly all she could see outside were stars streaming past at impossible speeds.

Warp. She had done it.

She didn’t really register the cheers behind her, slumping down in the pilot’s chair like she’d just run a hundred marathons. She was closed off from almost the entire world, her eyes closed and her body limp.

But she recognised the hug from Sapphire, and she certainly felt the many, many kisses.

Mission accomplished.

[hopeisour4letteredword]

Puppy Love Ch1

Summary: Yuri has somewhere between two and four children, depending on your definition of "child," a dog, two jobs, and a too-small apartment. Reconnecting with his estranged best friend wasn't supposed to be on this week's to-do list.

Link to AO3 in the notes.

It starts like any other trip to the vet. Repede whines pathetically as they pull into the parking lot, but obediently—if sulkily—trots along at Yuri’s heels. Yuri shepherds him into the lobby and checks them in at the desk, then slumps into a chair in an examination room to wait for a vet tech. Repede wedges himself under the chair between Yuri’s calves.

What a big baby.

Yuri has his phone out, absentmindedly tapping at a game. It’s mostly to keep his hands busy while he mentally outlines his week. He has to get groceries at some point, but fucked if he knows when he’ll have time for it. He’s pulling double shifts through Thursday. In between the café and bartending, he has to pick Karol up from lacrosse practice and make dinner. Friday he doesn’t have bartending, but Rita’s got her latest robotics tournament on Friday, so that’s no good. And anyway, they won’t make it to Friday with their current stocks. They’ve barely got the food to make it through Wednesday.

Maybe Judy—? No, Judy has her own bartending and waitressing jobs to worry about. There’s always Estelle, but frankly Estelle sucks at grocery shopping. They’ll end up with basic staples and nothing else. Rita and Karol are already threatening mutiny if Yuri packs them any more egg sandwiches in their lunches. He can’t trust Estelle to shop for real ingredients.

Shit. Maybe he’ll squeeze it in after Repede’s check-up. He was hoping to catch a nap before his bartending shift, but it looks like he’ll just have to suck it up.

“Hi, is this R—oh my God, Yuri?”

Yuri almost drops his fucking phone onto Repede, his head shooting up at the familiar voice. “Flynn?”

They stare at each other like deer in the headlights for a long, terrible moment, before Flynn coughs awkwardly and steps fully into the room. “Hi, so we’ve got Repede here for a check-up today, right?”

“Theoretically,” Yuri says. “If we can get him out from under the ch—“

Repede has fully emerged from under the chair and stands in the middle of the room, watching Flynn suspiciously.

“Aww, hey there,” Flynn says. His eyes crinkle up with an irrepressible smile as he crouches to offer Repede his hand. Yuri’s heart hiccups in his chest. He’s still stupidly beautiful when he makes that dumb face. “You know, I wondered when I saw the name ‘Repede’ on the schedule, but I convinced myself it wasn’t...”

“Well, surprise,” Yuri says, letting the words come out sharper than he means to. Flynn raises an eyebrow while Repede licks his knuckles warily. The little bastard usually hates the vet, what is he doing? Does he remember Flynn? It’s been like three years. He’s a dog. He’s not even supposed to be able to remember he chewed up Estelle’s shoes last night. Or is that just about associating actions with human displeasure? “It was us.”

“I can see that.” Flynn tickles Repede under the chin. “Alright, buddy, let’s get you on the scale, huh?”

Repede whuffles sadly but allows Flynn to weigh him. Afterwards, as Flynn does a respectable job of concealing the medical feel-up as affectionate patting, he cocks his head in Yuri’s direction.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yeah.” Yuri shrugs, jamming his hands into his pockets. “Congrats on, you know. Vet school. Presumably.”

Flynn beams. “Thank you. It was incredibly generous of Dr. Oltorain to offer me a position here while I’m still pursuing my studies.”

“Something something valuable career experience.”

“You never change, do you?” Flynn snorts. He gives Repede’s ribs a final squeeze, then makes a few notes on a clipboard.

“Nope. Same old me.”

“What about you? What are you up to these days?”

“Eh, this and that. Helping out Hanks sometimes. Odd jobs. Accidentally acquiring roommates. The usual.”

“Accidentally—?” Flynn frowns at him, then sighs and shakes his head. “You’ve been picking up strays again, haven’t you?”

“Not the kind you’re thinking of,” Yuri says, wistfully imagining how much goddamn simpler his life would be if he had four mangy dogs or cats instead of four unruly teenagers in his house.

“Real roommates, then? Tell me they’re at least paying rent.”

“I got like a fifty-fifty success rate on that one.”

“Yuri!”

“What? Anything else would be child labor.”

“Child—“ Flynn pinches the bridge of his nose. “Okay. Let’s keep going with the check-up. What are you feeding him? How often?”

They go through the rest of the checklist, Flynn scribbling away at his clipboard. Finally, he clicks the pen and tucks the clipboard under his arm.

“Okay, you two sit tight for a few minutes and Dr. Oltorain will be right with you.”

“Sure.”

Flynn leaves the room. Yuri waits thirty seconds to make sure Flynn isn’t going to duck back in because he’s forgotten something, then drops his head into his hands with a loud groan.

“What the fuck?”

Of course Flynn works at his vet now. Of fucking course. He was just starting to feel like his life might be on the right track. It was time for something to go wrong. Repede noses against his hands until he drops them, then hauls himself into Yuri’s lap.

“You’re way too big to be doing this in this tiny ass chair,” Yuri says, doing absolutely nothing to get him down. Repede licks his cheek, narrowly missing the corner of his mouth. “Augh, gross, I know where you put that tongue.”

Despite his bitching, having a lap full of dog is making him feel a little better. Repede’s fur is silky under his hands, and every bony joint jamming into tender parts of his body is something to worry about that isn’t Flynn.

After a few minutes of cuddling, Raven sticks his head into the room. “Heeey, who do we have here?”

Repede’s ears flatten against his skull. Yuri rolls his eyes. “Hello to you too, old man.”

“The disrespect,” Raven sighs, slipping into the room and closing the door behind him. “So, our buddy Flynn didn’t find any issues, so it looks like we just gotta do the quick run-down and get your boy here his shots. You know the drill.”

“Yeah.”

Yuri manhandles Repede back onto the floor and nudges him towards Raven. He growls. Raven barks out a laugh.

“Come on, pupper. Don’t be like that.”

“I hope you know that a little part of my soul dies every time you say that word,” Yuri says. Raven smirks at him.

“That’s why I keep using it.”

“Screw you.”

“Who, me? When you’ve got my perfectly good vet tech to ogle?”

Motherfucker, he knows. “I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Don’t be such a sourpuss,” Raven says. He strides over to Repede while Yuri holds his dog in place. “Alright, doggo, it’s only gonna take a minute.”

The second he gets his hands on Repede, Repede gives them a full speech on how much he hates it. Yuri tries to shush him with gentle murmurs and stroking along his back, but the growling and whimpering don’t stop as Raven pats him down.

“Poor boy,” Raven says. “If I hadn’t been seein’ him since he was a pup, I’d think he had some kinda vet trauma.”

“He does, he has to see you every time,” Yuri snaps. “That’s enough to traumatize anyone.”

“God, you’re grouchy today,” Raven says. He croons softly as he tries to pry Repede’s jaws open to look at his teeth. Repede makes angry muffled sounds. “I thought maybe seeing our favorite golden boy would soften you up, but it did the opposite, didn’t it?”

“Who told you, anyway?”

“What, about you and Flynn?” Raven snorts. He still can’t get Repede’s mouth open. At least there’s no warning nips happening. Yuri almost had to go out and get a muzzle for Repede, solely for the vet, after their last visit. He wouldn’t really bite Raven, not on purpose, but it’s enough to make everyone involved nervous. “I knew Niren, kid. He used to talk you two up all the time.”

Yuri shifts uncomfortably.

“Anyway, so does Flynn, for that matter. Can’t get him to shut up about you.”

“Yeah right,” Yuri says, under his breath.

“If you start calling me a liar I’m gonna get Judy and Estelle involved in this conversation,” Raven says. He gives up on Repede’s jaws. “And then you’ll have to talk about your feelings.”

“Just fucking try me,” Yuri says. “I’ll tell Judy to talk to you about Alcoholics Anonymous again.”

“I’m glad we can have these objective, professional conversations during your check-ups,” Raven says, wincing as he rises from his crouch. “Ugh, my knees. Hold on, I’m gonna see if Flynn can get this guy to open up for us.”

“Try not to collapse on your way there, old timer.”

“Respect your elders, you brat.” Raven goes to the door and sticks his head into the back again. “Scifo! I could use a hand over here. And bring the vaccinations for Repede Lowell on your way, please.”

“I’ve never heard you use the word please before in my life,” Yuri says. Raven partially closes the door and mouths shut up at him. A moment later, he steps aside and lets Flynn into the room.

“I need your strong young hands,” Raven says. He plucks the vaccines from Flynn’s hands and jerks a thumb towards Repede. “Our friend here isn’t too fond of having his teeth checked.”

Repede whines and sticks his head between Yuri’s knees.

“Nobody’s doing anything to your mouth,” Yuri says, exasperatedly. He ruffles Repede’s ears. “You know nobody’s doing anything to your mouth. Just let them look and it’ll be over with.”

Repede whuffles sadly. Flynn comes over and crouches next to Yuri, scratching Repede’s back.

“Hi, buddy. You gonna let me see your handsome face?”

Repede lifts his head and rests it on Yuri’s thigh, giving Flynn a baleful look. Flynn reaches out to stroke his muzzle. Yuri tries very hard not to have a heart attack with Flynn’s hand so close to his groin.

“C’mon,” Flynn murmurs. “S’okay, bud. You’re okay. C’mere.”

Repede shoves his nose against Yuri’s abs, whimpering some more.

“No, you have to be a big boy,” Yuri says, pushing him back. Repede transfers the baleful look to him, then turns and tries to shove his nose into Flynn’s abs instead. Unfortunately for him, Flynn catches him by the face instead, holding him in place so Raven can come back across the room to join the party.

“Here we go,” Raven says. Flynn gently pries his mouth open. Repede—what the hell, Repede lets him. He growls again when Raven tries to reach for him, but only makes sad noises at Flynn. “Alright. It happens like this sometimes. I’m going to need you to expose his gums for me.”

“Okay, Dr. Oltorain.”

One side, then the other, then Raven waves a hand so Flynn releases Repede’s jaw. Repede immediately jerks away and hides against Yuri again.

“No problems lately, correct?” Raven asks Yuri. “No odd behavior, changes in eating habits?”

“Same as alw—“ Yuri pauses and actually thinks about it. “...The kids might have been sneaking him more people food.”

Flynn gives him a scandalized look. Raven just chuckles.

“Karol, huh?”

“Estelle keeps trying to buy his love,” Yuri says. To Flynn, defensively, he adds, “I’ve tried telling her not to.”

Flynn is busy mouthing Estelle at him questioningly.

“Well, his weight is steady, so I wouldn’t worry about it excessively if you haven’t noticed any behavioral or digestive issues,” Raven says. He makes a few notes on his clipboard. “Try to limit it, of course, but no cause for alarm. Make sure the kids know which foods are toxic to dogs. Teeth looked good, so I don’t think it’s time to start planning dental cleaning yet. We’ll get him his shots and you’ll be all set. Sound good?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright,” Raven says, and hands a syringe to Flynn, taking a large step back. Flynn startles comically.

“Dr. Oltorain—?”

“He’s more comfortable with you—it’s safer for everyone involved. As I said earlier, it happens this way sometimes. I’ll be right here on standby, but I don’t think you need coaching.”

Flynn dutifully preps the shots the same way Yuri’s been watching Raven do it for the last three years. Yuri knows the drill, too, and carefully gets Repede into the most comfortable headlock he can. Repede, desperately convincing himself it’s a regular hug, wags his tail nervously. He yelps when Flynn lays a hand on his hindquarters and presses the needle against his flank. He devolves into fretful whimpers against Yuri’s chest.

“I know, I know,” Yuri mumbles. “Hey, shh. Come on, you’re fine. Shh. This is better than getting rabies, huh? Shh. I know. It’s okay.”

“Fortuitous timing to have found a vet tech he’ll put up with,” Raven says, handing Flynn the next vaccine. “Since we’ve got all his core boosters this time.”

Repede licks frantically at Yuri’s neck. Yuri presses his forehead to Repede’s apologetically, petting his shoulder blades.

“This is karma for eating Estelle’s shoes,” Yuri tells him. Maybe if he makes jokes he’ll stop feeling so guilty. He doesn’t want Repede to get sick, dammit. He needs these shots. They’re good for him.

“Ah, yes, the terrible punishment of not getting parvo,” Raven says, wryly. Flynn shakes his head as he readies the next vaccine, circling around to Repede’s other flank.

“If he’s being destructive, he might need an energy outlet. Try to get him more exercise.”

Yuri physically bites back the urge to tell Flynn not to tell him what to do. Who’s he to show up back in Yuri’s life out of the blue and tell him he doesn’t know how to take care of his own damn dog? Raven frowns.

“Let’s avoid the accusatory advice, Flynn.”

“Sorry,” Flynn mutters, ducking his head. Three down, one to go.

“And speaking of Repede’s exercise, I’ve added a vaccine for Lyme disease to his annual set.”

Make that two to go. Yuri grimaces, mentally adding another $15 to the bill. “Okay.”

“You hike a lot?” Flynn asks.

“When we’ve got the time,” Yuri says. It isn’t as often as he’d like. Mostly they have to stick to jogs and on-leash community parks. They can get away with frisbee on the lawn by Karol’s school if nobody has sports practice, and Karol has started throwing balls around for Repede with his lacrosse stick every once in a while. Maybe Yuri will start detouring to local parks on the way home from Karol’s games and Rita’s tournaments.

Flynn gives Repede the last shot and pulls back with a sympathetic pat. Repede crawls forward, forcing his way into Yuri’s lap and tipping them both over so Yuri lands painfully on his ass on the hard tile floor. Yuri scoffs at him, but lets him curl up on top of his thighs.

“German shepherd mix who thinks he’s a lapdog,” Raven says, watching them with an expression that Yuri is going to pretend isn’t fond, thank you very much. They’ve both got reputations to uphold. “You spoil that mongrel.”

“If you think this is bad, wait until Judy figures out how to fit him into a bag so she can take him on train trips,” Yuri says. Repede huffs pitifully, dropping his muzzle onto Yuri’s shoulder. “Yeah, yeah. Tell me all about it. You suffer so much. Really awful of us to make sure you don’t die of preventable diseases.”

“Take your overgrown puppy and go get some rest, Lowell,” Raven says. He collects the empty syringes from Flynn and carefully disposes of them in the sharps bin. “You look like you’re running on fumes.”

“I gotta settle the bill first,” Yuri grumbles. He pushes Repede out of his lap and heaves himself to his feet. Maybe they’ll be waiting until Friday for groceries after all. He might need to wait for his next paycheck after this. He tries to do the math in his head, bank account minus vet bill versus typical grocery restock.

“No, you don’t. Don’t even think about it.”

Yuri narrows his eyes. “What’s that, old man?”

“Yuri!” Flynn hisses. “You can’t talk to Dr. Oltor—“

“There’s no bill,” Raven says. He makes a shoo motion with his hands. “Judy won’t let me tip her at the Myorzo anymore.”

“You tip her like 300 percent. It’s kind of creepy.”

“Well, she’s a good bartender. Anyway, I have to contribute to your rent somehow.”

“I don’t need your charity.”

“Yuri!”

“Kid,” Raven says, looking Yuri straight in the eyes. “You have five people and a dog in a two-room apartment, and you’re still bringing Repede to the vet. The least I can do is offer positive reinforcement. Besides, if I bill you for making sure one of Lambert’s pups doesn’t get rabies, Niren is going to—pardon my language, Flynn—he’ll fucking haunt me.”

“Dr. Oltorain!”

“I said pardon my language! Anyway, I don’t need those nightmares.” Raven waves a dismissive hand at Yuri again. Yuri grits his teeth. The old bastard really isn’t going to budge. “Get out of my clinic.”

“I’ll pay you back,” Yuri mutters, clipping Repede’s leash back on. “Once we stabilize.”

“Take your time,” Raven says, mildly. “Seriously, though, get out. I have other clients to deal with.”

He disappears through the back door. Yuri turns on his heel, not meeting Flynn’s eyes, and has a hand on the doorknob when the back door swings open again.

“And I better not hear from the receptionist that you tried to harass them into letting you pay!”

“For fuck’s sake—I wasn’t gonna! I won’t! Jesus Christ.”

The back door slams closed again. Flynn makes a breathy sound that might be laughter.

“I didn’t realize you and Dr. Oltorain were so... familiar.”

“He passes through the bars Judy and I work at a lot,” Yuri says, grudgingly. It’s not the whole story, but it’s what Flynn’s getting out of him. “And he’s been Repede’s vet since he was a puppy.”

“Judy’s your... girlfriend?”

“What? No. No.” Yuri drops his hand from the doorknob to run it through his hair, laughing a bit in disbelief. “Judy? No way. We’re roommates. Used to be coworkers.”

There’s a weird beat of silence. When he glances back, Flynn is chewing on his lip indecisively. “Can we... can I give you my new cell number? I’d like to catch up sometime. I missed you.”

Sounds fake, but okay. “Sure, I guess.”

“And I’d love to meet your roommates,” Flynn adds, terribly earnest.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Yuri says. He can already imagine Flynn and Rita’s tempers clashing. “But we can, I dunno, text or go out for drinks or something.”

“Coffee?” Flynn suggests. Yuri gives him a weird look. He hastily adds, “I just... don’t know if we should risk getting drunk together again quite yet.”

“Whatever,” Yuri says. If Flynn doesn’t even remember he’s an affectionate drunk, not an angry drunk, that’s... It hurts, a little. It hasn’t been that long since they were joined at the hip. Flynn is a little bit of an angry drunk, but as far as Yuri can remember, he’s never held up a temper too long when Yuri’s that friendly and relaxed. Yuri fishes his phone out of his pocket and tosses it to Flynn. “Put your number in, then.”

Flynn gives him a hopeful smile as he complies. When he hands Yuri’s phone back, he lingers with a feather-light touch to Yuri’s wrist. “I’ll talk to you soon, then?”

“Uh-huh.”

Yuri beats a hasty retreat to his car, where he immediately slumps into the driver’s seat to let out a loud, plaintive groan. Repede stretches forward from the back seat to lick at his shoulder reassuringly. Yuri gives himself another thirty seconds to wallow, immobile, in self-pity, before he snaps his seatbelt into place and turns the key in the ignition.

Life goes on, Flynn or no Flynn.

[birger-wuvs-elsa]

Better Fluffy Than Never

For Elsa Week, the last day...her birthday. ^w^ Not doing a prompt this time, because I actually have a cute idea for a little modern AU. ;3

@elsadailly

“Elsa! Elsa! ELSA!!!”

Elsa groaned as she rolled over in bed, a small smile on her face despite her annoyance at being woken. She’d just come into consciousness, and already the blonde knew exactly what was going on. She’d gone to bed last night with the very thought in mind of the many possible ways Elsa would find herself ambushed in the morning.

It was Christmas Day, after all...and Anna did stay the night in her sister’s apartment Christmas Eve...

Elsa pretty much set herself up for this.

Suddenly, a heavy weight plummeted onto Elsa’s side, a loud, only semi-pained groan let out by the blonde in response. She was now having flashbacks to their childhood, when a much younger, much lighter Anna would land on her sister almost every night. But oh, man...Anna was getting WAY too big for that.

“A-Anna, geez louise fetticheese, get off!” Elsa yelled, half-laughing, as she turned to push the giggling redhead off. “You’re getting way too old, and definitely way too heavy for this!”

Anna pouted and crossed her arms, the act compromised by the quiver in her lips that betrayed the laughter she was suppressing. “Are you calling me fat on Christmas morning?”

Elsa massaged her assaulted side, and raised an eyebrow at her sister. “Are you trying to collapse my ribcage on Christmas morning?”

A brief staring contest ensued, but Elsa’s patience combined with her sharp, still raised eyebrow, quickly defeated her younger sister. Anna averted her gaze and deflated, sound effects included. Elsa melted before the silly act and laughed, before she sat up and swung her legs off the side of her bed.

“You win this round, Elsa, but just watch...I’m going to win the next one!”

Elsa looked back over her shoulder at Anna, raised yet another eyebrow, and chuckled. “You’re making it sound like you’re challenging me to a WWE rematch.”

As Anna rolled her eyes and smiled, Elsa stood and made her way to the closet. The redhead made to leave the room and give her sister time to dress herself, but stopped in the doorway. A mischievous grin arose on her face, as it just occurred to Anna what her sister had yelled when the redhead had landed on her side. That wasn’t something Elsa normally said, but Anna knew exactly where she got it from...

And thus, received a glorious, ornery opening...

“Oh Elsa, I’ll be sure to let Nikolai know she’s influenced you enough you use her phrases! She’ll definitely get a kick out of it, hehehe.”

Anna ducked just in time, as a sock hit the doorframe where her head had previously been.

“DON’T YOU DARE.”

Before any further retaliation could commence, Anna scurried away, giggling like a maniac as she went to her guest room to prepare herself. She’d woken up and immediately made for her sister’s room, didn’t even waste a second upon waking. Now, the pair got themselves around before they made their way out of the apartment complex. The previous sibling warfare put behind them (for now), the sisters drove their way to breakfast.

It was at their favorite spot for a morning meal, and they enjoyed every second of it. Even if the time was somewhat bittersweet, as the restaurant had been cherished by their late parents as well. But a 13-year long estranged hiatus had kept them from the place for far too long, and when the sisters had first returned to it, were beyond thrilled to acquaint themselves with the new management.

The restaurant’s new owner was a lovely young black woman named Tiana, who’d taken the place back from the less-than-stellar former owners who’d taken it from her father. Tiana’s father had been the owner when Elsa and Anna came as children with their parents, so their return so many years later was made all the better when the brilliant chef told her tale.

That very talent greeted them herself when the pair arrived Christmas morning, and had even reserved them a table. Elsa was hesitant at first, since the place was fairly busy, but Tiana would have none of it. Anna merely expressed her utmost gratitude, and quickly ordered her favorite, Elsa not far behind.

The blonde couldn’t help but notice Anna seemed distracted as they had their meal. She kept glancing intermittently at her phone, and sometimes picked it up to make a reply, before she sat it back down and the cycle continued. Even during conversations between the two, either while she was being the listener or speaker, Anna would still switch focus between her sister and her phone.

Elsa remained patient until, finally, Anna trailed off mid-sentence to frown at her phone and quickly make a reply.

“Anna, is something going on? You keep looking at your phone, even during conversations...nothing’s wrong, right?”

Anna looked up so quickly, eyes wide, Elsa was worried she’d hurt her neck.

“Oh! No, oh no, nothing’s wrong! Everything’s fine, totally fine, it’s just, uh...umm...”

The redhead trailed off as she pursed her lips, cleary trying to think of what to say. The longer the silence, the more confused and worried Elsa became. Only a moment later, Anna looked back up at her, cheery smile back in place.

“It’s Kristoff being silly and teasing me again, everything’s A-okay, I promise.”

Elsa held Anna’s gaze for a while longer, waiting to see if the redhead was going to break and reveal some secret. But the redhead remained resolute and cheery, and Elsa decided to let it go as she sighed.

“Okay, if you say so...now, what was that you were going to say? About the pizza man?”

Anna chuckled as she remembered the earlier conversation. “Oh yeah, right, so the guy tripped, falling into my doorway, the pizzas go flying—”

After breakfast, and a quick impromptu gift exchange prompted by Tiana—which left all three girls giddy and hugging before they parted away—the pair returned to Elsa’s apartment to get ready for the rest of their day. Anna continued to watch her phone and send the occasional reply, but informed her sister of no issue or dilemma, so Elsa continued to let the subject lie. While still slightly worried, mostly confused, and just a teensy bit annoyed, Elsa chose to trust her sister and leave it be.

Once the quick stop at Elsa’s place was accomplished, the sisters drove their way to a Christmas party their friends were having. With the backseat of Elsa’s car packed with gifts for their companions, and a few foods secure in Anna’s lap (as insecure as that may seem), they made their way to the rendezvous. It was a fairly lengthy drive, but before long Elsa pulled them into the vast parking area in front of a grand house. Not quite a mansion, but definitely a more upscale residence, Elsa and Anna all but vibrated with excitement.

Luckily for the girls, a strapping, muscular specimen of gallantry appeared to help them carry stuff in. That of course being Goliath Thirion, who despite the odd name and large form, was a giant cinnamon roll who they met through Elsa’s partner, Nikolai. Nicknamed “Boron” by Nikolai—for reasons still a mystery, even after three years of friendship—the dark-skinned man had quickly become a good friend of the sisters as well.

The party went splendidly, a well past the afternoon and into the evening. Several hours were spent playing games, exchanging gifts, feasting on the food and drink that was brought, and of course, some dancing here and there. Even Nikolai had managed to show up, much to Elsa’s delight, and the couple had a lovely time together as well. But of course, not without Anna daring to actually tell Nikolai how her food-related curses had successfully spread to her sister. Said blonde of course chased down the redhead, who’d immediately fled the scene when Elsa shouted and Nikolai laughed.

After the party had begun to wind down, and guests slowly dispersed and returned to their own homes, Anna looked at her phone one more time. This time, a smile brighter than any she’d had before arose, and the redhead all but tackled her sister. Elsa had initially been having a nice conversation with Nikolai, when she heard her name called and once again, felt a familiar heavy weight strike her. Once the blonde managed to keep them from falling over, dutifully ignoring her partner’s giggles, Elsa turned to face Anna.

“All right, you have my attention, Anna! What is it?”

Anna jumped in place as she squealed. “We need to get to your place! Now! I’ve got something I really need to show you!”

Nikolai laid her head on Elsa’s shoulder and smiled at Anna. “Is it that thing you told me about last week?”

Elsa whipped her head around to stare incredulously at her partner, even as Anna giggled. “Yep! It’s finally here, I just gotta give it to her!”

“Hold on just a minute!” Elsa ordered as she lightly glared at Nikolai, whose head remained on her shoulder and who simply batted her eyelids at the blonde. “You were in on her shenanigans this whole time?”

Nikolai shrugged and removed her head. “No, not the whole time. She’s been planning this for months, I only knew about it when she brought it up to me last week.”

Elsa sighed and rolled her eyes, while the other girls merely giggled and high-fived.

After a quick slap on the shoulder and kiss goodbye, Elsa bid Nikolai farewell, and the two sisters left the building. Goliath helped them once more, this time with received presents and bequeathed leftovers. Both sisters gave him a grateful peck on opposite cheeks at the same time, causing the noble young man to blush and scurry back into the house. Giggling to themselves, the girls got in the car and made their way back to Elsa’s apartment; the blonde still confused and curious about her sister’s plans, and the redhead brimming with excitement over the upcoming reveal.

After what seemed an eternity to both girls—though for different reasons each—they finally returned to Elsa’s apartment complex.

As the blonde pulled her car into the lot, she frowned as she noticed a familiar vehicle nearby. It was Kristoff’s charcoal grey pickup truck, easily recognizable because only he would deck out his truck as reindeer-esque as possible this time of year, and still adhere to road rules. Elsa stopped her car into a space, put it into park, and glanced curiously at her sister.

“Would I be correct in assuming that Kristoff is in on this as well?”

Anna merely beamed at her before she all but leaped out of the car. Elsa sighed, figuring they’d get everything out of the car later as she followed. Albeit at a calmer pace, the blonde reached her apartment door to find Anna hopping in place beside it. It was quite the show of impatient patience, given that the redhead had her own copy of Elsa’s key...but still could not keep still.

At Anna’s unrestrained and continued beaming at her sister, Elsa merely rolled her eyes and unlocked the door.

As the pair entered the apartment, Anna scurried past her sister and yelled into its confines: “Kristoff! We’re here!”

Rustling and banging answered them, including a few muttered curses that were just barely legible. Elsa frowned, more worried than confused now, but found no answers in Anna’s expression, as the redhead remained beaming. How her sister’s face never froze that way, Elsa could never fathom. While she greatly cherished Anna’s cheerful demeanor, such constant smiling simply could not be good for you cheek muscles.

A noise brought Elsa’s attention to her bedroom door, where she just caught Kristoff say something through the closed door.

“In here, Anna! I’ve got everything ready, bring her in!”

Anna immediately squealed, and before she could react, grabbed Elsa’s hand and pulled her to the door. The blonde hardly had time to yelp in response to getting dragged, as by the time the action registered, she was standing before her bedroom door. Elsa shook her head to try and clear it after the abrupt motion, and lightly glared at her sister.

“Is this whole craziness finally reaching its climax, Anna? Because this is surely reaching ridiculous territory.”

Anna merely looked back at her and smiled, but this one was different. Elsa’s face went slack with surprise at the expression. This smile was so much softer, so much kinder, and she hadn’t seen that smile in a long time. This was Anna’s special smile, reserved for the moments that came to mean the most to the sisters. Elsa’s confusion and worry were swiftly quelled by that smile, and even more so as Anna gently took her sister’s hands in her own.

“Elsa, you know I love you, right? Even with all that’s happened, I love you oh so very much, and I’m eternally grateful we’re sisters again...”

Not only did the redhead’s words get Elsa teary-eyed, but seeing that Anna was having the same effect on herself only made it worse. With a soft chuckle, Elsa pulled her sister into a hug that was quickly returned. The pair embraced each other tightly for a while, simply revelling in being able to do this again, before they pulled apart.

“I do, Anna, I do know that. I love you too, and I still can’t believe this is our life again.” Elsa sighed, and shook her head vigorously to dispel the tears that still threatened. “But enough of the mushiness, you had something to show me?”

Anna’s smile grew brighter as she released one of Elsa’s hands, and used the now free one to open the bedroom door. She slowly pushed it open, and pulled Elsa inside behind her. The blonde looked to her bed and immediately noticed Kristoff sitting on it, something large wrapped in a blanket on her lap. Elsa tilted her head curiously at it, and narrowed her eyes at Kristoff’s smirk.

“Hey there, Ice Block, are you ready?”

Elsa glared at him. “I told you to stop calling me that, now what i–”

She was cut off by a squeaky whine, and was startled to see the blanketed mass wriggle in Kristoff’s grip. The burly man kept a secure hold on it, however, and Elsa didn’t fail to notice he handled it very gently. Anna walked up and stood beside him, laying a hand on the mass and...petting it? The mass stilled beneath Anna’s hand, and Elsa could’ve sworn she heard more whining.

“Anna...Kristoff...what is this?”

The pair met each other’s eyes, smiled, and watched Elsa closely as they simultaneously unfolded the blanket.

Elsa immediately gasped, hands flying to cover her face as she teared up once more. On Kristoff’s lap, shaking itself heartily after being freed...was a puppy! Or, a small dog? No, it was a puppy, its features were too chubby and youthful, its paws too big for its body and ears and eyes too big for its face. The little beasty was a terribly fluffy one, and the shake from being freed only made it poof out more. The pup was almost pure white, the only marking on it a silver stripe starting between its eyes, going up its head, and all the way down its back to where the tail met the rear.

It looked almost exactly like the dog she’d grown up with, living with her father all those years ago...

The little puppy huffed, as if to sigh in relief from being freed, before it looked up and noticed Elsa. The beasty tilted its head as it regarded her, before it gave a happy yip and launched off of Kristoff’s lap. Elsa immediately fell to her knees; partially in shock from realizing this was actually happening, mostly so she could hold out her arms for the puppy to jump into. She hugged the pup as tight as she dared, and the little white fluffball happily snuggled back.

Elsa felt more than heard Kristoff’s exit, half-hearing something about dealing with the contents in Elsa’s car. She then felt Anna kneel down next to her, and barely managed to get herself to pull her head away from the pup’s soft white fur. Anna smiled gently at her once her tear-streaked face came into view, and carefully hugged the blonde without disturbing the puppy. Elsa kept her hold on the pup, but leaned into the hug, nuzzling her head to her sister to make up for the lack of arms.

“H-how–how did, did you, d-d-did you find hi-him?” Elsa stammered out, trying and failing to keep her joyous crying from affect her voice.

Anna merely squeezed her a little tighter before she responded. “Ever since you showed me those pictures of Fenris, and after Nikolai told me you’d been thinking about the old dog a lot lately, well... I started hunting down places breeding or sheltering dogs for months. Nikolai wasn’t kidding earlier, this took a while, I had to do a lot of hunting. But I finally found a puppy that resembled papa’s dog, and...uhmmm...”

Anna pulled back, and Elsa tilted her head once she noticed the sheepish lip-bite, and how the redhead was avoiding her gaze.

“What is it?” Elsa inquired softly.

Anna cleared her throat and shrugged, “I had hoped to get this little guy to you for your birthday...that’s why Nikolai knew about it last week, I um... I might’ve gone crying to her when I heard something about this puppy here getting sold to someone else. I was so heartbroken, I thought I’d come so close only fail you, but...”

As Anna trailed off again, Elsa carefully adjusted the puppy in her grip—who growled cutely in annoyance before snuggling harder—to hold one of her sister’s hands.

“It’s okay, Anna. Cleary you got him in the end, and I trust Nikole did her best to console you. How did you end up getting him anyway?”

Anna chuckled and shrugged again, finally looking back up at Elsa. “Funny you should ask, turns out the man who tried to get the pup first trained dogs for illegal dogfights. The cops found out just in the nick of time, keeping this poor guy from ending up there and freeing the dogs the many already had. Once little puppo here returned to the shelter that had them, bless their hearts, they immediately calmed me with the good news.”

Anna giggled again, taking a moment to ruffle the pup’s fur before she continued. “Bless Kristoff too, he was willing to spend all of today driving out there to rescue our new friend and bring him back. Thank goodness his family celebrates Yule and not Christmas, since that happens over twelve whole days, it gave him the free time to do this for us.”

Elsa snuggled the pup again, rubbing her face in his fur and just enjoying every second. The pup seemed to be just as pleased, only complaining if he thought Elsa was going to stop hugging him. The blonde stood, puppy still in hold, and walked out of her room to the kitchen. Anna followed in tow, and giggled as she watched her sister carefully place the pup on the counter.

“Now you sit still, you hear me?” Elsa asked of the little beasty, who almost seemed to nod as he sat his fluffy butt on the counter and yipped at her.

As the blonde rummaged through her fridge, Anna spoke, “This little guy is actually kind of a mutt, the shelter who had him said when they got the blood test, it was shocking. I guess this little guy is...”

Anna trailed off as she listed the breeds off on her fingers. “Siberian Husky...Chow Chow...Rhodesian Ridgeback is in there somewhere...I guess he’s got some Jack Russell Terrier, don’t ask me how...oh, yeah, and some German Shepherd.”

Elsa walked back up to the puppy and rubbed the side of his face as she baby-talked him. “You’re a little mixed up, aren’t you? That’s all right, that just makes you special, like a wittle fewocious snowflake.”

The puppy seemed very excited to hear that, his little tail wagging a mile a minute and a big smile on his face. Elsa kissed the top of the pup’s head, and held up a piece of a meat stick Kristoff had given them after he came back from hunting last month. The puppy wasted no time in accepting the treat, gobbling up the piece from Elsa’s open palm and going to town on it. Elsa giggled at the “vicious beast”, and wasted no time in walking over to Anna and hugging her again, Anna quickly returning the favor.

“Thank you, Anna...thank you so much for him...”

Anna smiled and rubbed her sister’s back. “It’s fine, I’m just sorry he couldn’t have been here for your birthday.”

Elsa gave her a squeeze and shook her head. “It’s fine, it wasn’t your fault...better fluffy than never.”

Anna giggled, “Yeah, better fluffy...happy birthday, Elsa.”

Elsa smiled, and hugged Anna just a little tighter, the redhead returning the vigor. A squeaky, high-pitched howl from the kitchen counter sent both girls into giggle fits, however, as they pulled apart. The blonde went up to the little singer and picked him up, holding him close again as he snuggled her back.

“So...” Anna drawled as she meandered up to the pair. “What’cha gonna name him?”

Elsa held out the little beasty, the pup staring at her blue eyes with his own bright blues.

“He’ll be...”

The puppy barked, and growled as he ferociously pawed the air.

Elsa giggled as she hugged him again and closed her eyes.

“Birger...”

[thelastspeecher]

46. Borrower Au Please and thank you

46. “I thought you were dead!”

Send me a number and characters and I’ll write a drabble!

               “So, this is how I got here,”Stan said, showing Fiddleford an entrance to a small tunnel in the wall nearthe microwave.  “Follow me, and I’ll takeya to your family.”

               “I want Stanford to come with,”Fiddleford said abruptly.  Stansighed.  

               “He can’t come, he’s too big.”

               “Yeah!” Daisy chimed in.  

               “Are you sure, Fiddleford?”Stanford asked.  Fiddleford nodded.  “I’m honored.”

               “Yeah, well, you can’t come,Sixer.  Unless you’ve got a shrink rayor- you have a shrink ray, don’t you?” Stan said.  Ford grinned. “Fantastic,” Stan muttered.  

               A few minutes later, Fiddlefordhelped Ford get to his feet on the counter. Ford looked around in interest. Daisy frowned at him.

               “Who are you?” she askedboldly.  Ford smiled nervously.

               “I’m your uncle.”

               “No.”

               “I- what?”

               “You’re big, not aBorrower.  Can’t be uncle,” Daisysaid. ��

               “Not big now,” Danny saidquietly.  

               “That is correct, I am your sizeat the moment,” Ford said.  “And anyways,your father isn’t a Borrower either.  Atleast, he wasn’t born one.”

               “Like I said, stuff happenssometimes,” Stan said.  Ford scowled.

               “I want a proper explanation,Stanley.”

               “It can wait, Stanford,”Fiddleford said.  “I- I really want tosee my fam’ly again.”

               “Yeah, come on, I’ll show ya theway,” Stan said.  He grabbed Danny andDaisy’s hands.  “Remember, girls, stickclose.”

               “Yes, daddy,” Danny and Daisysaid together.  Stan stepped into thetunnel and set off.  Fiddleford and Fordfollowed.  Ford cleared his throat.

               “So, Stanley, you have twodaughters?”

               “Yep,” Stan replied.  “Danny and Daisy.  Twins.”

               “How old are they?”

               “Three!” Daisy cheered.  Stan nodded.

               “That’s right, Daisy.  You’re three years old.”

               “When- when did this happen?”

               “When did I become afather?  Three years ago, Ford.  Pay attention.”

               “I think he was referrin’ to ya gettin’in a relationship what led to the girls comin’ into the world,” Fiddlefordsuggested.  “I’m curious ‘bout thatmyself.  I want to know what my fam’ly’sbeen up to.”

               “About seven years ago, Angieand I met.  Started datin’ a year later,got married two years after that.”  Fordfrowned, mentally laying out the timeline.

               “Wait, did you even get marriedbefore the girls…came about?” Ford asked.

               “Barely,” Stan muttered.  Fiddleford’s jaw dropped.  

               “Was Banjey pregnant when ya gotmarried?”

               “No.  That happened a couple weeks into the marriage.  Look, Fiddleford, Stanford, can we not talkabout this in front of my kids?”

               “Yeah!” Danny saidaggressively.  She wrinkled hernose.  “It’s weird.”

               “All right, we’ll stop talkin’ ‘boutit,” Fiddleford said.  Ford looked at hisfriend.  Fiddleford’s hands were shaking.

               “Are you all right?” Ford askedquietly.  Fiddleford nodded.

               “Yes, just a bit nervous, isall.  It’s been so long since I’ve seen ‘em.  I- I must’ve missed so much.  I mean, my baby sister’s got her own babies.”

               “It will be fine, Fiddleford,”Ford said.  Fiddleford smiledweakly.  They came to a fork in thetunnel.

               “Which way do we go next, girls?”Stan asked his daughters.  Danny andDaisy frowned thoughtfully.  

               “Do you not remember the way?”Ford asked, crossing his arms.  Stanrolled his eyes.

               “Duh.  I’m just teachin’ ‘em how to find their way ‘roundthis place.  Gotta start ‘em young.”

               “That way!” Danny said, pointingto the part of the tunnel that split off to the left.

               “Good work, princess.  We’re almost home,” Stan said, ruffling Danny’shair.  Danny giggled.  Fiddleford’s nervous smile became more genuine.

               “Goodness, they both have Banjey’ssweet lil laugh, don’t they?”

               “Yeah,” Stan said.  “They’ve got her laugh, her smile, her goodlooks-”

               “Mama says we’re cute ‘causeyou,” Danny interrupted.  Stanchuckled.  

               “Okay, truce.  You two are cute ‘cause of both of us.”

               “Remarkable,” Ford muttered,shaking his head.  Stan looked back atFord.

               “What?  How cute my kids are?”

               “How good a parent you are,”Ford said.  Stan’s relaxed expression waswiped away by a sour glare.

               “Gee, thanks, Sixer,” Stangrumbled, looking away.  After about fiveminutes of uneasy silence, the small group arrived at a door.  “Go on in, girls,” Stan said, nudgingthem.  Daisy darted forward and openedthe door, then ducked inside, closely followed by her twin.

               “Speak of the devil!  There ya are, sweetlings!” a voice said.  Fiddleford’s eyes widened.

               “Lute,” Fiddlefordwhispered.  

               “I told ya.  Everyone’s here,” Stan said.  He walked inside.  Fiddleford and Ford hovered awkwardly at thedoorway.  

               “It’s ‘bout time ya got here!”Lute scolded.  “We were about to sendsomeone out to find y’all!”  

               “Nope, we’re back,” Stansaid.  “But speakin’ of findin’ people…”  He looked back at the door and gestured forFiddleford and Ford to come in. Fiddleford hesitantly walked in. Lute gasped.

               “Fidds?”

               “Howdy, lil brother,” Fiddlefordsaid weakly.  

               “Holy- you- how-” Lutestammered.

               “It’s a long story,” Fiddlefordsaid.  Lute ran his hands through hishair.  

               “I’ll bet it is.  Danny, Daisy, go get yer relatives, okay?  Tell ‘em Fidds is home.”  The girls nodded and ran off, almostcolliding with someone entering the room.

               “There’s my babies,” the femaleBorrower cooed, scooping Danny up before she could escape.  “Did yer daddy take ya on an adventure?”

               “Mama, we have job to do,” Dannyprotested, squirming in her mother’s arms.

               “Oh?  And what job would that be?”

               “Lute wanted to send ‘em off tospread news that I’m back, Banjey,” Fiddleford said.  “Or, I guess yer goin’ by ‘Angie’ now.”  Angie’s head jerked up.  She stared at Fiddleford.

               “Fidds?” she whispered.   Fiddleford nodded.  Danny managed to successfully wriggle free ofAngie’s grasp; she darted out of the room. “Fidds!”  Angie rushed forward,tackling her older brother in an intense hug. “I- I thought you were dead!”

               “We all did,” Lute said, joiningin on the hug.  Fiddleford let out asmall sob.

               “My baby siblin’s.  I’m so sorry I was gone fer so long.”

               “Well, we ain’t lettin’ ya getloose again,” Lute said firmly.

               “Yup.  You just got to stay here, in this hug,forever,” Angie said.  Fiddlefordchuckled weakly.

               “The more things change, themore they stay the same,” Fiddleford said. Angie and Lute broke off the hug. “Oh, look at the two of ya.  Allgrown up,” Fiddleford whispered.  “Lasttime I saw ya, neither of ya were even seventeen.  Now yer real adults, with- with significantothers and kidlets.”

               “Not me,” Lute saidproudly.  Angie rolled her eyes.

               “Yeah, Lute’s perfectlycomfortable bein’ the fun uncle.  All theenjoyable parts of children bein’ ‘round, none of the responsibility.”

               “Yup.”

               “Even for a Borrower, your wifeis small, Stanley,” Ford said idly. Angie and Lute whipped their heads around to stare at Ford.  “Oh. Hello.”

               “Who are you?” Lute asked.

               “I’m Fiddleford’s associate,Stanford Pines.”

               “He helped me get here,”Fiddleford added.  

               “Ya found another Borrower,wherever it was ya ended up at?” Angie asked.

               “I’m not a Borrower,” Fordsaid.  Angie and Lute groaned.

               “Not this again.”

               “Hey, I wasn’t lyin’!” Stanprotested.  Ford frowned at Stan.  “When I first showed up at the McGuckets’place, they thought I was lyin’ or crazy, since I said I was human, not aBorrower,” Stan explained.  “I thoughtthey believed me by now.”

               “We do,” Angie said.  Lute made a “so-so” gesture with hishand.  “It’s just pretty stretched odds,fer there to be two humans what are Borrower-sized.”

               “I used a shrink ray,” Fordsaid.  

               “So you weren’t enchanted likeStan was?” Lute asked.  Ford blinked.

               “I wasn’t enchanted, no.  Stan, you were enchanted?”

               “Yeah.”

               “Oh.”

               “By the way, before one of thegirls brings it up, turns out that the human that helped Fiddleford out is mytwin brother,” Stan said.  Angie rubbedher face, exasperated.  Lute frowned.

               “How does somethin’ like thateven happen?” Lute asked.  Stan shrugged.

               “Beats me.”

               “If you want, we can explain howwe found you,” Ford said.

               “I meant, like, in the grandscheme of things,” Lute said.  “It’s…mightyodd.”

               “All of this is odd,” Stan said. Ford nodded.

               “For once, I have to agree.”

[jackblankhsh]

WHY I QUIT:  The Corn Maze part 1

“‘Oh my god, it’s eating my brain!’

 “‘This is not the job that was advertised,’ I said.

 “‘Help me!’ the professor cried.

 “‘Okay, but...’

 “‘Now!’

 “‘Keep up that attitude you can save yourself.’

 “The professor’s head exploded.  His body fell.  He looked like a kowtowing ragdoll.  The remains of his head slumped to one side, a spectral serpent coiled inside the burst skull.  

 “One of the graduate students whispered, ‘What do we do?’

 “The ghost snake hissed at me.

 “I threw up my hands, ‘I’m out.  I’m done. I quit.’

 “As I walked out of the haunted mansion I could hear the students screaming.  Glancing back I saw blood thump-splat across a window. A grad student jumped through the glass, but the ghost snake, now grown to anaconda proportions darted out, snagging her in midair, and pulled her back inside.

 “Shaking my head I said, ‘Well, not everybody’s cut out for academia.’”

 From the back of the crowd a teenager shouted, “Bullshit.  This guy’s full of shit.”

 I sighed.  There’s one every evening.  My glare parted the audience leaving me with a straight line of sight to the teen.  

 I said, “It’s good to be skeptical.  How about you come see this picture then?”

 I waved my phone at him.  Smugly he approached where I sat.  I patted the bale of hay as I scooted aside allowing room for the boy.  He snatched the phone out of my hand.  

 “What am I looking at?”

  “Can’t you tell?”  

 He frowned, “It looks like a blurry room like in a basement.”

 “Look closer.” I licked my lips.  He held the screen closer.  When it got about an inch away I swiftly smacked the phone into his face.

 Dropping the phone he jumped up shouting, “Ow!  What the hell?”

 The audience laughed.  As the kid stormed off I saw his friends already swarming to mock him.  Picking up my phone I noted the time.

 “Hey everybody, the hayride starts up in a minute.  So if you’re inclined I recommend heading that way.”

 The crowd dispersed, some to the hayride, others to elsewhere.  Those who went elsewhere soon found themselves getting scared by costumed haunters.  Spook crew members leapt from behind piles of pumpkins, bales of hay, or from around buildings.  Delighted shrieks of terror echoed all over the pumpkin patch, and on occasion those who fled from the hired ghouls found themselves chased for a bit.  

 A group of young kids ran screaming from a fiendish scarecrow, who angled away from them to trouble me for a cigarette.  

 Handing Jessica a smoke I said, “Almost quitting time.”

 She sighed a cloud, “Not soon enough.  How’s my makeup?”

 “A little runny, but it’s creepier that way.”

 She shrugged, “I guess.”  The sound of the tractor starting caught her attention.  Perking up she said, “Hayride.  I gotta go.”

 Tossing her cigarette away she bolted.  I couldn't help smiling.  Like many of the employees here, especially the couple of teenagers, she treated this job like the only time she got to openly be herself.  

 Jessica liked to lurk in the cornfield as the hayride passed by.  She placed herself towards the end, an ear pricked to catch anyone complaining about being bored.  Target acquired she leapt onto the side of the cart, letting loose a banshee wail.  So far she got one kid to piss his pants, thereby earning management’s approval.  

 Watching her sprint away infected me with her enthusiasm.  I decided to finish the night in the corn maze.  Stomping out her cigarette – fire hazard – I headed to the entrance of Daphne’s Diabolic Corn Maze, part of Wilson’s Pandemonium Pumpkin Patch.  

 As usual I stumbled into the job unintentionally.  Over drinks and darts a fellow informed me his aunt ran a spooky corn maze about an hour outside Chicago.  Planning to pump in unsettling sounds, she needed help installing audio equipment.  I possessed the skills she needed given my previous, albeit brief stint working the recording gear for a professor and his ghost hunting crew of misfit grad students.  (Never mind that that gig ended badly because I didn’t fail to do my job.  I recorded everything, right on down to the professor’s head exploding -- pop.)  

 But I took the job in the pumpkin patch because it sounded fun.  Not many employment opportunities grant that perk.  Plus, it seemed like a short gig.  However, setting up the sound equipment led to me lending a hand building sets which turned into other offers.  

 By the time we opened for Halloween season I founded myself working the concessions stand, spooking folks in the corn maze, and by direct request of the pumpkin queen, Aunt Daphne Wilson, occasionally telling scary stories to small crowds.  Not everyone gets to terrorize people without having to deal with real life consequences.  Chase a couple kids down the street with a chainsaw; well, the police are liable to shoot such a person.  But here in the Pandemonium Pumpkin Patch I could do just that, and get paid to do so.  Sometimes folks even thanked me for terrifying them.  

 As such I occasionally thought, “This must be what it’s like to be a priest.”

 Carried by a crisp cool breeze, the aroma of deep fried dough wafted through the air. Clusters of teenagers moped everywhere like globs of apathy.  Young children giggled, picking out pumpkins with their parents.  Machines out in the corn quietly, steadily fumed columns of faux fog that made the field seem to be on a smoldering hell-mouth.  The fog rolled across the grounds, shrouding the floodlights in a cinematic manner.  Nearing midnight, it felt like any horror could be possible.

 A banshee wail cut through the quiet.  Customers flinched.  Employees all acquired knowing smirks:  Jessica the scarecrow struck again.  

 Three fiendish haunters presided over the entrance to the maze.  Glenn, a psycho hobo covered in smeared blood, Frank, a classic killer clown, and Allison, a teddy bear with a skinned face.  Frank irregularly burst into hyena-like cachinnations, while Allison softly growled, holding up her face-skin with a cutesy, blood stained paw. They flanked customers, herding them into a loose line by the maze’s entrance.

 Flashing a wide grin full of scummy teeth Glenn stood at the opening in the corn.  In a gravelly voice he announced the rules, “Listen closely.  None of our performers will touch you, so please return the favor – do not touch them. Stay on the path at all times.  No running.  No flashlights.  No photography.  No hope, all ye who enter here; you four come on now into the hell that awaits.”

 And so another bunch entered the maze.  The giggling pack of pre-teens could soon be heard shouting in happy horror.

 Nearing Glenn I overheard him mutter, “Why’s that always get my dick hard?”

 It’s a certain kind of person who goes in for hired spooking.  The pay is not great.  The hours often feel longer than they are.  It requires enduring heaps of boredom and scorn.  There’s always someone unimpressed enough to feel the need to tell a ghoul it isn’t frightening; and it takes fortitude not to turn the moment then and there into a real horror show.  If I had a dollar for every smartass I didn’t stab – I may have choked a few while shouting, “It’s all make-believe,” but they got out alive.  Like any kind of performance art it’s a job devoted to those brief shining moments when the screams are real, or a customer’s eyes are smiling.

 Glenn, Allison, and Frank belonged to rare breed of performers.  They toured the country in an RV, cruising from seasonal gig to seasonal gig.  In the summer they did Renaissance Faires, haunted houses in the Fall, and Christmas towns in Winter.  In-between they auditioned for any local plays, and even staged what they called “guerilla theatre” by simply tossing down a cap, and performing scenes for whatever coins came their way.

 Allison told me three times, “We’re on the subway in New York, started doing Hamlet, and next thing I know – no joke – we’ve done the whole play.  And what with it being just like the three of us, it got kind of schizo, but fucking fun.”

 That last bit sums up the average hired haunter:  kind of schizo, but fucking fun.  After all, it’s madness to stand silently in the darkness, waiting patiently to step out of the shadows for all of a second hoping your audience will hurry from you screaming because in the end they aren’t meant to stand in silent appreciation of one’s portrayal of a zombie, slasher, swamp hag, ghost, demon, etc. The goal is to be an unwelcome presence safely encountered like the police.

Working here reminded me of the first time I went to a concert.  I felt surrounded by like minded folks.  For some belonging is a rare feeling, and in this place the scare-makers and horror hounds truly belonged.  Back in the everyday ordinary world wearing corpse paint to a the grocery store gets odd looks, maybe even the manager asks a fellow to leave the store even though he's just buying the fixings for risotto -- I will get revenge on that store, mark my words -- but in the Pandemonium Pumpkin Patch the freaks rule.  

 I asked Glenn, “How’s the night?”

 He shrugged, “We got a few left then we’re shutting down.  You comin’ by later?”

 Glenn and company stayed on the grounds, camping out of their RV.  On occasion we stayed up for hours afterward swapping stories, passing a bottle around a campfire, and enjoying the rural silence.  

 “I might.  I’m gonna duck in, cause a few scares.”

 Frank said, “Try not to be a dick.”

  “I’m only a dick to the dicks.”

 Frank nodded, “Yeah, but when you dragged that guy into the middle of the cornfield...”

 Cutting him off, “I got lost too.”

 “Not the point,” Frank said.

 I added, “He slapped a living doll.  Those ladies aren’t older than fifteen.”

 Glenn interjected, “You both got good points.  I think where Frank is going, though, is ’s been a quiet evenin’.  We wanna keep it that way.”

 Sighing I conceded, “Fair enough.”

 "Alright then."  Glenn stepped aside, "In ya go."

 So I went into the maze.