#nah just kidding but what I mean is I’m too attached to my OCs now to get into the canon jedi students

[luke-shywalker]

let me know if you need anything

“Hey, Solo!”

Ben looked up. The sudden motion triggered a dull ache in his right eye—he winced.

“Uh—sorry.” Amalia came to a halt in front of him in the grass. The tall, bulky Togruta girl always looked like she was going to barrel right into you, but always managed to stop a few inches short. Back when they’d hated each other, Ben had thought this was some kind of intimidation tactic. But now that they were something like friends, he realized that she was just…well…awkward as heck.

Amalia peered at him and at his covered eye, then tapped her own cheek. “You look like one of the deep space pirates.”

“Wow,” said Ben, deadpan. “I’ve only heard that about five hundred times since I came back to Jedi school.”

“What’d they do to you, huh?”

Ben juggled the air with his hands, trying to figure out how much detail to go into. “Uh…they cut my eyeball open, and sewed a synthetic band into it to hold it together and make it stop falling apart. Basically.”

“Whoa. Sounds gnarly, dude.” Amalia paused. “…Can I see?”

Ben laughed. “Bro. Do you want to see?”

“I mean? Kinda? Will you like, die if it’s exposed to air?”

“Listen, I’ll show you, if you want to freaking see so bad.” He lifted the patch. He had to manually pry his eyelids apart—they were still swollen. He closed his left eye, just to see how well he could see her—everything was sort of a bright, slanted blur.

Amalia made a face. “Ew. It’s all red. Is that blood? Nasty. I see a coagulated mass of—something. There is straight-up slime in your eye, dude.”

Ben put the patch back on. “Yeah—I’ve been trying to, like—cry it out, but I can’t think of anything sad enough to make me cry. I dunno. I’ve had a hard time feeling emotion lately, in general.”

He said it, and then realized he hadn’t wanted to say it. He backtracked as quickly as he could.

“But now that you’re here, Mal, all I gotta do is look at your ugly mug,” he quipped.

Amalia rolled her eyes so hard she pretty much just rolled her whole head. “Hardee har har. Have you looked in a mirror? Geez, Solo, you can’t say shit like that to girls.”

“Oh—you’re a girl? Oh my Force, I didn’t realize. Sorry, miss.”

She wound up and punched him in the arm. Hard.

“Ow! Bruh. I’m already injured.”

“Well, you weren’t injured enough,” Amalia huffed. “Fixed it for you.”

“I’m telling Uncle Luke.”

“Yeah, go run and tell your Uncle Luke. Pissbaby.”

Ben tried to think of something clever to retort, but then his eye started hurting again, and he felt kind of sick. He hissed and lowered himself down into the grass, which seemed to initiate a truce.

Amalia leaned down. “You okay, bro?”

“Yeah—fine.”

“Are you still allowed to train and stuff?”

“I’m not supposed to do any ‘strenuous activity’ for four weeks.”

“Well, you were never getting any, anyway,” Amalia snickered. “Now you just have an excuse.”

Ben wrinkled his nose. “Ew. No, I mean…”

“Does lifting rocks with the Force count as strenuous activity? You’re not technically lifting them physically.”

“Eh. I always give myself headaches when I do that normally, anyway, so…maybe just littler rocks.”

“When are you gonna be able to see again?”

“Out of this eye?”

“Yeah, well, which eye do you think I’m kriffin’ talking about, dumbass—“

“I don’t know.”

“…Damn.” Amalia sat down next to him. “Sucks.”

“Yeah, I mean…I know it’s gonna be months. Maybe a year. And I don’t even know if it’ll ever be the same. Probably not.”

Amalia twitched her lips to one side. “Does it bother you?”

“Like, what, the pain? Or…”

“No, like…losing your vision. Like, coping with the loss.”

Ben shrugged. “…I dunno. Sure ain’t the biggest thing I’ve lost. It’s hard, I guess, knowing you’ll never be the same, but…I was already never gonna be the same, so…” He trailed off.

Amalia nodded at the horizon, picking a blade of grass apart with her fingers. “Yeah…I get how that is.”

They sat there in silence for a few moments. A low breeze came and rustled the grass.

“…Maybe I’ll gain some kind of extra Force sensitivity,” Ben said hopefully. “To compensate. Or something.”

“Yeah,” said Amalia. “Or…maybe you won’t, and you’ll just be half-blind.”

Ben threw her a tired glance. “Thanks, Mal. You’re a real pal.”

“What can I say? I try to offer a realistic outlook on life.”

“Hm.”

“But, for real though…let me know if you need anything. Okay, Solo?”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Like what? Another punch in the arm?”

“Well, yeah, if you need that, I’m your girl. But, uh, seriously. Like if you need to talk, or…” She gestured vaguely at nothing.

“No offense, Mal? But you are not great at talking.”

“Hey. Never said I was. Just said that I would. Or if you wanna, like, just go throw rocks in the pond together, or something. Go look for weird bugs. Climb that cliffside Luke said not to climb. You know?”

Ben smirked. “Ha. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. And then I’ll bang my head real hard, and knock out my other eye.”

“Exactly. You get me.” Amalia stood up and dusted the grass off her tunic. “Well…I’m on kitchen prep with Fannie and Meliko tonight, so…guess I gotta go. Do an extra meditation for me, will ya? Fannie drives me nuts.”

“Really? She’s so nice.”

“Yeah,” Amalia scoffed. “That’s what drives me nuts.”

Ben snorted. “Well, okay, Mal. See ya at dinner, then, I guess.”

“Will you see me though?”

“Dude, shut up!”

[artsninspo]

Heartbreak 3/3

COMPLETE MASTERLIST

PART I | PART II

PAIRING: Erik x OC

Summary: Processing a break up can be hard, especially as the perfect woman to an ungrateful asshole. Healing from heartbreak Elle finds herself finding comfort in Erik’s company but he’s offering more than just kind words as a consolation. Oh, and Erik’s the ungrateful asshole ex’s cousin.

__________________

Erik had spend the night with Elle five times in the past three weeks. It wasn’t what he did. In fact he made it a point to keep things clear with women so there was no confusion about what he wanted out of the relationship. Which, was almost always great sex without strings or any other attachments. But here he was with an arm around her watching her as she sleeps under the moonlight. Lifting his arm a touch he scoots out of bed pulling on a pair of shorts and using the restroom again before heading onto the balcony for some fresh air. This morning had been a lot; the past few weeks had been a lot.

“Earrrrrr—iiick” Elle moans feeling the rush of an orgasm as her first memory of the morning. Her second to be fair. The first a was from making out fingering and head.

“A little longer baby” his voice is tight. As he plows deep into her fast pulling out painfully slow  again and again.

“I— mmmm” she sighs gripping the sheets and on all fours. Close he flips her over so there in missionary so they can enjoy each other’s love faces. They come together resting their heads in the crook of the others necks as Erik lets his weight fall on her while catching his breath.

“Good morning” he says after a few minutes.

“No” Elle whines wrapping her legs around him to keep him in beg.

“And what you think that’s gonna do?” He asks showing off his strength and getting up with her in his arms.

“E” she giggles holding on tight. “I thought we agreed you would let me sleep in since I have a long drive home?”

“If you’re complaining I didn’t put it on you right” he comments sitting her on the counter and heading into the sectioned off toilet in the bathroom.

“I’m not complaining”

“You just wanted to hold out on me so I’d have to come to the benefit?” He speaks knowingly and Elle smiles guiltily adjusting her night dress and getting down.

“Maybe” she comments as they switch places.

“You’d do that to me?” He laughs playfully washing his hands.

“Clearly I couldn’t” Elle admits finishing up and washing her hands too.

It had been a month since their first time and Erik found himself spending the night with her at last four nights a week. Still when he wasn’t, for work or whatever reason, he wanted to be.

“Gonna head to the gym, I’ll bring breakfast back okay. Get some sleep” Erik comments getting an eye roll in response. “I’d work you out some more but like you said you have a long drive” he comments slapping her ass as she heads back to the bedroom.

“How do you even have all this energy?” She yawns.

“I don’t need a lot of sleep, call me if you need anything alright?” He asks turning to ding her eyes are already closed as she sleeps snuggled into his king sized bed.

He’d always known what kind of girl Elle was and did his best to stay away knowing he wasn’t someone that was up to her standard. He’d told Aaron those very words when they went to pick some things up from Claire, the woman who had fostered him. That was before his first tour overseas, then just like that Elle was Aarons girlfriend. He’d heard all about it from his aunt and Aarons mother on the phone. She’d do anything for her shit of an offspring and apparently tracking his girlfriend after a breakup was within reason. Especially since, as his aunt put it Elle had walked away with Erik. He could see the scandal now, it was just another reason for everyone to turn on him.

“E?” Elles voice takes him out of his thoughts. This wasn’t how she’d come to know him - he was almost always present.

“You alright, you have to go?” She asks her eyes shining and sincere.

“Nah, I’ll be back in a minute kitten” he winks.

“Somethings on your mind that you have to handle, you’ve been in and out since you got that call” she speaks and he smiles at her intuitiveness. “Go handle it it’s fine” Elle swallows tip-toeing for a quick peck and Erik deepens it. It wasn’t a call, work never stressed him out it was the opposite.

“I’ll see you tomorrow” he promises meaning it and he leaves.

He’d tried shaking his feelings for her but it felt like trying to stop a train going a full steam ahead. He’d never been a relationship kind of guy, more the stop by to knock your socks off kind. Erik never had the time or the energy to put his trust in people other than hisself because, in his experience it almost never ended well. Knocking at the door it takes ten minuted and a text before its answered. Wade looks up at him with a surprised expression before wheeling back to let Erik in.

“You do a job without me, Kill?” He asks wheeling into the elevator taking him to his man-cave.

“Nah”

“How are you and the girls”

“They’re good man, Shayla was asking when you’re gonna come by the other day. You haven’t been here eating my wife’s cooking and teaching my daughters shit they don’t need to know in a few weeks” His best friend comments.

Erik smiles in reflection, “Those lil niggas bad as hell”

“Don’t call them that, they’re little girls” Wade reminds wheeling around to his couch and getting in comfortably.

“Hows therapy”

“Kill, you’re scaring me, this could be a call. You come here at three in the morning for this?”

“It’s fucked up man but ain’t shit I can do about it” Erik swallows looking into his hands and taking a deep sigh. “Remember Elle?”

“I still don’t know how Aaron pulled her” Wade comments before panic crosses his expression. “What happened?” He sits forward.

“They broke up and uhh, we started…” Erik thinks of words more respectful than fucking. “We got together, I had no plans — I mean I flirt with her because she’s fine but, man Wade.” Erik sighs. “I don’t want to be here right now with you, I’d rather be with her. I can’t sleep if I’m not with her, not properly and I’ve never cared about a woman like I care for her.” Erik explains.

Wade swallows feeling for Erik knowing much of his past. They’d been friends since MIT and went to war together. Yin and Yang, put them into any situation and they’d get it done. Wade was an intelligence wizard, Erik a tactical genius.

“When you care about people you hold them down. Lets not forget you crossed enemy lines during an ambush when I stepped on a mine and lost the first leg. You’re fearless E. For you to get involved at all — Aaron ain’t shit but you wouldn’t cross that line with her if you didn’t care. Stop thinking — you’re not good at that; just act.” Wade advises and Erik swallows until a controller is tossed at him.

“Come on” Wade says and they move forward playing.

….

Elle smiles standing as she mingles around the annual fundraiser. The cause were underprivileged kids. Let adults dress up all fancy to feel important and they dig into their pockets and are quite generous.

Each forced smile seemed to happen easier and easier until it wasn’t such a task to pretend that she was happy to be at the benefit. Erik hadn’t called in hours or showed up to see her off on her travel out of town.

Maybe it was too much, maybe it was too fast? Still Erik has no problem expressing himself another time.

“Elle, you look gorgeous - I’ll get Larry to dig deep for the kids” Agnes one of her clients says kissing her cheek and whispering the last part.

“Thanks Ag” Elle smiles. “You chose the right venue” Elle adds looking around at the space - making the older woman beam with pride.

“No worries where’s your arm candy? You know a nice accessory can go far” she adds being terrible. Larry nor her three previous three husbands stood a chance against her charm.

“I’m here by myself” Elle admits.

“Hmm” Agnes ponders not even feigning sadness.  “A breakup?”

“You can say that”

“Don’t tell me he cheated” she whispers in a sarcastic tone pretending to be surprised. She’d watched Aaron flirt at their first benefit and told Elle to dumb him from then.

“My neighbour is a young eligible bachelor and you’re just his type!” She sings with excitement.

“Agnes let’s focus on the kids” you mutter and her brows bunch you turn to see Aaron in a suit and tie. In all the years you were together it was a battle to get him to these fundraisers, to show his face and support the cause. Now he’s here. Just like that.

“I thought you said…” Agnes trails putting on a fake smile as he gets closer.

“We aren’t together I don’t know why he’s here!” Elle specifies turning to Agnes and backing Aaron.

“Babe, Agnes” Aaron greets with enough gall to walk up to both women. Worst of all acting like they weren’t broken up. Elle steps back pushing him away to create distance.

“What are you doing here?” She whispers offended.

“Are you gonna turn away money?” He asks still playing games and Elle shakes her head in disgust.

“Stop it, I’m here like you want me to be. Alright?” He whispers sternly before smiling.

“I’m not your babe” Elle tells him loud enough that everyone within two feet can hear. His eyes widen in alarm before it becomes a warning to stop and be more discrete. Aaron isn’t one for glass houses shattering and anything aside from the mirage of a perfect relationship.

“Hey” a familiar voice says and the minute Agnes’ eyes widen Elle smiles knowing just who it belongs to as his hand holds her hip planting a quick kiss on her cheek. She feels all fuzzy inside just like that, getting goosebumps. Erik had maintained schmoozing and throwing money around with corporate fucks was not his thing and that he had no intention of participating.

“You came” Elles beams as she admires Erik and his ensemble for the night looking delectable. Black suit, white pinstripes, tailored to perfection, white fitted shirt. Agnes smiles at the unmistakable chemistry between the two as they eye each other like they’re the only two people in the room.

“For the kids right, and it’s important to you” Erik says aloud eyes look at Elles to examine if she’s okay in Aaron’s presence. His hand gives her hip a quick squeeze as his bow raises ever so slightly.

Whats he doing here?

His expression asks.

“I’m Agnes, I’ve been working with Elle for some time now, are you new?” Agnes introduces eyeing Erik in approval without any consideration for Aaron.

“No he’s my cousin Agnes” Aaron interjects making the older woman light up like a Christmas tree in excitement at the messiness of it all.

“My pretty baby’s a genius” she smiles hugging Elle. “Why don’t you leave before you embarrass yourself young man” Agnes says making Elle turn bright red as she addresses Aaron.

This won’t end well.

“Elle are you out of your fucking mind?” Aaron grits taking her hand and walking out of the venue way too fast. She barely stays on her feet being pulled along behind him silently to avoid from a further scene. “You better not be fucking him!” Aaron barks with a finger in her face once they’re outside. “We’re leaving now!” He grabs her more violently this time.

His grip is iron and sure to bruise but it only lasts a second before he is shoved back. Aaron stumbles before catching his balance before getting in fighting stance only to hit the floor moments later.

———

“Erik” Elle moans trying to be obedient and hold still during her punishment.

“You didn’t call me when you should have the second he showed up” Erik says onto her neck making goosebumps rise.

Erik had swooped in like her night in shining armour. It was a two hit situation. Erik hit Aaron, Aaron hit the floor.

“Since you like to be uncomfortable, here you go” he swallows.

“Erik” she wines some more feeling his full length inside her. Stretching her out while they sit stationary and he plays his stupid sniper games while inside her.

“What you should have been saying into your phone, look at my hand” he stated showing Elle his bruised knuckles.

“Baby please, I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do” Elle whispers and he seems to only get harder. He swallows trying to keep from thrusting himself. “Baby, Erik .... Daddy... Sir” she sputters with her eyes closed. His fingers massaging her clit adding to the torment of having him inside her.  His free hand wraps around her neck.

“Did I say you could talk?” He asks sliding out to give the both of them some relief. When he makes no effort to start Elle turns to face him. His eyes are clouded with too much to read through and she leans in stopping halfway to be granted permission. His lips find her, controlling the pace of the kiss, rough, passionate and dominating. When he pulls away she’s left breathless feeling a wave of emotions stronger than she’d felt.

He’d been there, with few words, more consistent than anyone ever had been. Not for any recognition either. Not to tell people about all the things he did for her, not to throw it in her face, just to be there. Incredible sex too. Just the way she’d always wanted. Punishments or not it always felt good.

Her arms wrap around his neck as she leans forward hugging him. Eriks taken back by the gesture. It takes a few moments for it to register before he holds her in place rubbing her back over the material of her nightdress. Everything changes. He kisses her cheek.

“I got you” he promises. “Always, Elle” he pulls away needing eye contact. She nods tears in her eyes.

“Thank you Erik” she whispers and he can feel the emotion between them as he wipes her tears away pulling his shorts back up and heading with her to his bedroom. “You were distant and I didn’t know what was happening between us” she admits and he looks devastated.

Elle knows it’s going to be different when she looks in his eyes. He leaves a trail from her shoulder, up her neck and to her lips before taking her dress off. It’s not long before the kissing ends up on the bed. Sensual, slow, seductive. His hands caress all the right spots as he gets his pleasure from her letting go and blossoming for him. He was going to show her how she felt again and again, like he had today, like he had continuously shown up for her.

Her bedroom eyes are the sexiest thing to him. Her hands hold him rubbing his sides as he enters lowering to close the distance between them. It’s far from fucking. Every stroke feels better than the previous and pressure builds in no time at all overcoming the both of them.

“Fuck” Erik grits with every stroke at the perfect pace. He stops hoping to last longer and they switch positions he sits against the headboard. Elle straddles him grinding at the perfect tempo. He reaches for the clip holding her hair up and lets it down falling just a little past her shoulders. His woman is beautiful, he’d never give her cause or reason to look for anything he could give outside of their relationship.

There’s no need for words.

“It’s perfect” she shudders continuing until her body seizes up. Erik switches positions to missionary. He was making love to her, slowly, passionately, attentively. It was something he never did. He couldn’t fake it.

“You’re perfect” he grits closing his eyes as she tightens around his manhood.

“Erik... Baby” her voice rises a few octaves. His lips find hers for a moment before she feels him filling her up. The rush is everything as his fingers interlock with hers. Their breaths sync as he lay on top of her before rolling onto their sides still connected.

“I love you Elle” Erik says his insecurity vanished the second she smiles after closing her eyes in what is relief and gratitude.

“I love you too Erik” she affirms.

“Must be some after sex talk” Erik jokes finally pulling out and getting something to clean her off with.

“You called me Elle” she notes finished with the bathroom and cleaned up as he changes the sheets.

“You liked that?” He asks and she shrugs with a smile catching her breath again as he laughs.

“That was...” Elle sighs out of relief. “I needed that thanks” she admits.

“I know” he nods. “That I’m here princess, whenever you need me, however you need me to be. Don’t forget it alright kitten?”

“I won’t” she smiles.

Fin.

_____

Thanks for reading 😊😊😊 Let me know if you all are enjoyed this short, dont forget to comment, like and reblog. 😘😘😘

______

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[lyrishadow]

For the kiss prompts: A confession of feelings in the rain for Tamarillo

Thanks for the request :D 

Confession

“Mind if I walk with you?” Tamarillo looked up at the voice to see Theron Shan there, he looked about as tired as she felt. “Sure, I was just going to get away from….”  Behind them, a loud angry voice was yelling Darth Marr was a sith and apparently expected to be obeyed, at least by his own people. “That.”

“As long as it isn’t trying to get away from me?” Theron looked worried and Tamarillo was surprised, she liked him, more than she cared to admit it, after all of this rubbish she could only hope they might have some time to work out what the attraction is; and maybe figure out if Theron was the same person she had met years ago. Unless now was the time, maybe?

“Not trying to get away from you. I promise,” she replied quietly.

“We have met before haven’t we?” His smile was disarmingly charming. He ducked into a patch of jungle on the edge of the camp with Tam following him closely. “I mean, before all this…”

“I think so.” Tamarillo played with a woven band on her wrist, it was old, extended as she grew up but she still wore the friendship bracelet she had made of leather strips when she was a kid.

“I um…” Theron lifted his arm and showed her the same bracelet, Tamarillo gasped and without thinking of any kind of decorum, she grabbed Theron’s arm and pulled it up to her face.

“I take it you recognize it?”

“Stars! How could you have grown up to be…” she stopped, not sure where she should be careful or not be careful about who he was, what he was.

“A spy? A good shot? Good looking?” Theron chuckled as he went through some of the options.

“All of that is true,” Tam replied, letting go of his wrist and pushing her hand through her red hair. “I was ten when I met you.”

“Certainly a long way from tinkering on the ship, you saved the galaxy, and you are about to do it again right?”

“I guess.” Tamarillo kicked her foot against a tree. “I’m not a Jedi you know, I’m a smuggler... A thief, someone who is good at cards, but this… this is more than a game of sabbacc.”

“Sorry. I think I was the reason you got involved.” His apology was sincere. 

“No, I was invested when things went wrong with Tython. I might be on the outskirts but I like the Republic, it keeps me in business.” she sighed “Not that I need much lately.”

“Oh?”Theron sat down on a fallen log and watched her as she let her frustration out against a tree. “You seem … angry?”

“Nah.” Tamarillo shrugged “I was, don’t get me wrong, I was so mad, at the idiot Revenites, and then I was mad they took you…”

“Yeah, I got that, I saw you came to rescue me.” Theron paused, patting the tree trunk next to him “Can you sit with me for a bit?”

“Okay.” Tamarillo nodded. “I was going to sit down, I just had to…kick something first.”

“I don’t do relationships.” Theron started to say, he sounded nervous, confused even “and stars I don’t even know where I stand with you.”

“I… yeah.” Her reply wasn’t helpful.

“When you walked into the ops room before I even knew that I had met you before, I um liked what I saw.” his eyes never left her face, which developed a red tinge.

“You did?” Tamarillo was about to kick her own shin if this kept up, she had been better at flirting on Voss of all places.

“Yeah, I did, you are a beautiful, talented woman and…” Theron closed his eyes and looked down, that was when the first drops started.

“Rain?” Tamarillo said in disgust “Now?”

“Figures. This conversation…”

“I am not done.” Tamarillo replied, “If you don’t mind getting a little wet?”

“It’s a strange offer.” Theron said, then sighed covering his face with his palm “I did not just say that. I swear I am better at flirting than this.”

Tamarillo began to chuckle “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“You are tongue-tied?”Theron asked, “I really am surprised.”

“Don’t be.” Tamarillo said as she shifted a fraction closer to him “Look this is hard for me to say, I don’t know what you want to hear anyhow.”

“It’s… complicated then?”

“Not really.” Tamarillo shrugged “I really like you, and I thought on Rishi that it was just because you hadn’t seen anyone else for a while.”

“That’s not true…” Theron hastened to correct her. His hand reaching for hers “I kept the bracelet because, at the time, you were the first person to tell me I could do something, other than fail. You also made me smile. Over the years, I think I developed an attachment to you.” He chuckled then “ You made Master Zhou really mad at me for a little while.”

“Oh.,... I got away with so much on that ship.” she shook her head “I think I was a brat.”

“Your dad was good with you..”

“He wasn’t my dad but yeah he was a good guy.” She sighed, life had definitely not been uneventful even this far.

“So when we met then, and you showed me how to shoot, and ah be myself, I think my ten-year-old self developed a very quick crush on you.” Theron sighed the rain causing his hair to press down on his forehead. “I don’t want to screw this up.”

“Ironic, nor do I. If we both don’t then…” she smiled at him “Look, I don’t know what’s coming, where we end up from here, but I do know that I like you. I liked you then too.”

“I think,” Theron said quieter than before closer to Tamarillo’s ear, “I think I am falling in love with you.” 

Tamarillo didn’t hesitate to kiss him then, resting her head against his as he grinned at her. They had kissed before, but this was sweeter, softer, and the rain kept falling and they didn’t care. “Perfect.” she whispered, “Because I am falling for you.” (OC: Tamarillo)(SWTOR)

[lenademonn]

All This Time - 3

*Summary: Elena used to be closed off and composed, always in  control of her feelings and actions. She knew how to survive long before  world ended and didn’t need anyone to keep her alive. Because  attachments are liability, make you weak especially in this new world  where dead are walking and living are more dangerous than before.

A slow burn Daryl Dixon x OC; from season 1 forward, ongoing. Angst, Violence, strong language, sarcastic humour and more.

Warnings: Swearing, some anger managment issues.

Chapter 3

Day 45 The next day was quiet; the silence between Daryl and me uncomfortable. He woke me up a few hours before dusk, which meant that he took the long shift, nothing new in this aspect. He laid down without saying anything after waking me up, and I spend the next few hours watching the area and thinking about our conversation from before. Daryl woke up before I even had a chance to shake him awake. So lack of sleep, that's another thing I can add to my list of what I know about Daryl Dixon. We quickly packed what little we had and started trekking through woods, following the tracks we noticed yesterday. Finding them wasn't that hard, especially not for a brown-haired man. What turned out to be a challenge was picking up a fresh trail. We walked around for good three hours before Daryl crouched down to touch a set of hoof prints when I followed his action I could tell that those tracks were fresher than the one we found previously. Next to me, the man looked around the forest ground and pointed the way he thought we had to go. It took us another hour to finally find the animal, we spotted it standing in the middle of a small clearing, nibbling on grass. Daryl stopped and rose his clenched fist, signaling for me to stay still. I stopped dead in my tracks and slowly took an arrow out of my quiver, and lined it up on my bow and stretched the string. Steading my breathing and not taking my eyes out of our game, I was waiting for Dixon's directions. He also prepped his weapon and was watching the animal intensely. "Three, two, one," His whisper was barely hearable, and once he said 'one', we both released our arrows. His bolt hit the deer in its side while mine pierced its belly. Animal yelped in pain and took off instantly, its steps uneasy. "C'mon!" After hearing Daryl's voice, I moved quickly jogging after the animal, to not lose it in the woods again. I was pretty sure that I nicked some significant organs, and even though it didn't go down, it should bleed out soon enough; in that case, we didn't want to lose sight of it and allow geeks a free lunch. We followed the trace of blood left on the ground and leaves for some time when we heard a piercing scream, and I realized how close to the quarry we actually were. It sounded like one of the women or even one of the kids. Oh God, I hope it's not Carl or Sophia and that it's nothing. I quickly looked at Daryl. "That's coming from the camp, hurry up Dixon," Before he could react, I jogged in the direction we heard screaming. It didn't take us long to approach the edge of the camp. Daryl moved in front of me at some point, shoving me behind him when we heard concoction just in front of us. Advancing slowly, we finally emerged into a clearing, and I could see familiar faces of Shane, T-dog, Dale, and others. They all were pointing some sort of weapon in our direction.

"We surrender?" I joked while Shane put his gun down, mumbling under his nose. Dixon, on the other hand... well, he was pissed. And I wasn't surprised when I realized that on the ground just in front of us was a headless geek and half-eaten deer. Our fucking deer, the same we were tracking since yesterday. "Son of a bitch" Brown-haired man moved from in front me, around the bushes towards the deer. "That's mah deer!" His accent deepening signaling how angry he actually was. "Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard." With each word, he gave a sharp kick to the geeks' side, letting his aggression go somewhere else than people in front of us. "Calm down, son. That's not helping," Oh Dale. Why would you say it to Dixon? Do you have a death wish? "What do you know, old man. Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'. I've been trackin' this deer for miles." He pointed a finger in Dale's general direction and moved on to retrieve his bolt. I coughed as a reminder that I'm still here. "We. We tracked that deer for miles, Dixon!" Saying that I finally made my way to the dead animal and crouched down to get my arrow. "And by the looks of it out of our shots, mine was more deadly, so technically this deer is mine, you asshole!" I quickly stood up and wiped the blood off my arrow with my rug, then I put it back into the quiver and made my way back to the camp. On my way out, I made sure to push Daryl out of my way with my shoulder. Who the hell does he think he is? We've been hunting together for months now, and yes, of course, I may not be as skilled as he is, but for fuck sake, I am not terrible. Ignoring the men, I patted Amy and Andrea on the shoulder while walking past them. "Good that you back safe" I gave them a small smile and made my way towards the camp to find Lori. She stood next to the RV with Carol and a few other women. When she saw me she smiled, but I could tell it was strained, and I started to have a bad feeling. I approached them and took the zip bags with meat out of my backpack, watching people in front of me carefully. "That's all the meat we got, it should be enough for a few days. We got a deer as well, but fucking geek gnawed on it before we could get to it." I passed the bags to Lori and Carol, as they were the best cooks out of us, trust me you don't want me to cook you dinner unless you're willing to be ill after eating it. "Thanks, Elena, it means a lot. Listen--" Lori started playing with her fingers, after putting the meat bags on a small foldable table next to the RV's door. So there was something wrong. "There isn't a good way of saying it. Merle was left behind on that run, and we know that Daryl will be so angry, and he is really unpredictable in that state. Can you try to calm him down when the guys gonna tell him?" She sputtered, and for a second there a thought I misunderstood what she said. Merle left behind. What does it even mean? Before I could ask any more questions, I could hear Daryl shouting for his brother, and I felt so bad for him. And angry with everyone who went for that run, how could you leave someone behind?! I mean yeah, sure Merle Dixon is a colossal dick and dumbass, but that's not the reason to just-- "Merle, get yur ass out here. We got us some squirrel." He smirked in my direction when he noticed me looking at him "Yes, I said 'we', women. Merle!" I really hoped that my face didn't show any emotions because that was just heartbreaking. And I was also slightly concerned for whoever will deliver the news to him. "Daryl, slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane was the one to speak, and behind him, I could see the rest of men with a new face in between them.

"Hey, Amy, who's that guy behind Shane?" I asked the blonde woman who was now standing next to me on my right.

"You won't believe it. That's Lori's husband." The fuck? I looked at browned haired women and then at the new guy and tried to hide my surprised face. This is going to be interesting. Making a mental note to ask Lori all about that, I focused on the conversation in front of me.

"There was a problem in Atlanta" Shane touched his face for a second, showing how uncomfortable he was saying it and then moved his hands to rest on his hips. Daryl looked around and hold my gaze for a second before he took a few steps.

"He dead?"

"We're not sure." After that, Daryl moved towards Shane, his voice getting louder.

"He either is or he ain't."

"No easy way to say this so I'll just say it." I could see this new guy move forward, and towards Daryl, he wasn't looking directly at him at all.

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes"

"Rick Grimes, ya got something ya want to tell me?" Oh, I could tell that Daryl is starting to lose his patience. Yeah, I know, he doesn't have a lot of it in the first place.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there" When this Rick guy answered, I found myself moving forward too, annoyed at what he was saying. What stopped me was Daryl and his face full of tears when he turned around away from the new guy. He glanced at me for a second before wiping his eyes and then clenched his jaw, turning back to Rick.

"Let me process this. So, ya handcuffed mah brother to a roof, and ya left 'im there?"

"Yeah," Answer was short, and I could hear the shame in the new guy's voice, then with anger on his face, Daryl threw a string of squirrels we caught this morning at Rick Grimes and was ready to beat the shit out of the guy. That was until Shane literally tackled younger Dixon to the ground. Shane quickly stood up while brown-haired men was still lying on the ground, but I could see him reaching for his hunting knife, which was secured on his belt.

"Daryl -" I was cut off by T-Dog, who dropped the logs he was collecting.

"Hey, watch out for the knife!" At this same moment, Daryl got up and swang his arm at Rick, who dodged it. That didn't stop younger Dixon, he moved again, aiming at the men in front of him, but Rick managed to avoid it again and get a hold of Daryl's wrist pushing it away from both of them. Shane sneaked behind Daryl and put him in a headlock. With that, Dixon was shoved to the ground, with Shane's arm still around his neck. In the meantime, Rick pried the knife and dropped on the ground away from the fight.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl was still struggling and trying to get away.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't" I rolled my eyes and finally made my way towards the three of them.

"Shane, let him go!" Using my stern 'work' voice, it usually worked well with criminals and kids, mainly with kids.

"Daryl stop struggling, please. Just calm down for a second so we can get a full story out of them." I crouched in front of him and looked into his blue eyes, now full of tears and rage, his chest rising quickly and his fists clenched, one by his side and the other around Shane's arm, trying to ease the hold. He looked at me for a while and nodded, making me smile just a little.

"Shane, let him go! You know I can handle him if necessary." Both of them looked at me now, one unsure of what to do and the other with a look of pain in his eyes, even though it disappeared very quickly. Shane finally let him go, so I took the opportunity to turn toward this Rick guy and T-Dog.

"Great, now can someone tell us what the fuck happened in Atlanta, and how could you leave a man behind?" I put my hands on my hips, face blank, but my eyebrows rose slightly.

"What I did was not on a whim, Ma'am. His brother does not work and play well with others. He beat T-Dog and was shooting from the rooftop, attracting more and more walkers to our location." Daryl and I exchanged a look, he was biting his lower lip, a clear sign of anxiety. Yeah, unfortunately, what this man was saying was sounding precisely like Merle Dixon.

"It's not Rick's fault." That came from T-dog, "I had a key. I dropped it." Now my face was for sure, showing surprise and confusion, but it was Daryl who voiced what I was thinking.

"You couldn't pick it up?"

"I dropped it down the drain" I run my hand over my face trying to compose myself, while Daryl just scoffed in disbelief.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." He finally stood up and tried to walk away from the group—T-Dog's voice stopping him in his tracks.

"Maybe this will. I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him with a padlock." I looked up at them, confused.

"Are you saying that Merle is alive?" I asked in a low voice.

"Yeah"

"You fucking idiots. Don't you think that's the kind of information you should start with?!" I nearly shouted in Shane's face, seeing as he was the one to start all this show.

"Hell with all y'all. Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

"He'll show you." Lori's voice was calm, but when I turned around to face her, she was anything but. Oh, I see how it is. The first day back and the Grimes family already got problems.

"Yeah, I'm going back."

*

As I was getting ready in my tent, I tried to not listen to what else people got to say about all that. I re-checked if my knives were secure and put my short sleeve blue flannel shirt over the reins. I checked if my Glock is fully loaded and put it in the holster on my right side. I put some water and granola bars in small backpack Glenn found in Atlanta some time ago.

I took my machete and made my way to the track I knew we gonna be taking. I could see Glenn already sitting in the driver's seat while Daryl was pacing the truck's back. I walked past Rick and T-Dog and put my machete down on the floor of the vehicle. I pushed myself up on my arms and got into the back of the truck, making Daryl stop his pacing.

He looked at me, his blue eyes narrowing "What the hell ya doing here, women?"

I just looked at him calmly and picked up my weapon "What does it look like I'm doing, Dixon? Did you really think that I would let you go without me?" He just scoffed and mumbled under his nose, something about a stupid woman.

"Hey! Don't go breaking my records now! We went all 15 days without you calling me stupid." At that comment, I could see his lips twitch just a little, and then he made his way to the seats at the front of the car and used his foot to pressed a horn.

"Hurry up, y'all!" Rick and T-Dog made their way towards us, the new guy was wearing a sheriffs uniform, I guess he was a cop just like Shane, before all this.

"Ma'am, I don't think it's safe for you to go with us. The city is completely overrun, and it might be dangerous." I let a small laugh escape my lips, the others following my steps, except Daryl, of course. That guy doesn't laugh.

"Rick, this is Elena, we were telling you about her last night." Glenn introduced me, and it got me really interested in what they were telling him about me.

"SSA Elena James, not that it matters anymore. Trust me, I had my experience with the dead already, and yet I'm still here alive." I spun my machete in a circle, careful to not nick Daryl with a blade. After that, we finally were ready to go, Rick taking the passenger side at the front, T-Dog climbing up to sit with younger Dixon and me.

*

The journey to Atlanta was uneventful, except few snarky comments from Daryl. Glenn finally parked the car, and we all jumped out, making our way to a chained fence, to go through it. The first time I saw the city after that day on a highway and boy let me tell you it was horrible.

The streets were abandoned except for a few geeks - or walkers, as Rick calls them. I could see abandoned cars and here and there we passed burned down buildings, seeing what napalm actually did to Atlanta and how deserted it looked.

It's kind of image you'd only see in a movie, laughing and asking your friends what would you do if apocalypse, of any kind, would hit. And now we fucking living it and it's scary to think about because it seems like humanity lost and what was left of us was in the minority.

"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation." Daryl's gravelly voice pulled me out of my thoughts. It seems as he and Officer Friendly were having a go at each other. Again.

"We are. You know the geography, it's your call" That last part was intended for Glenn, who, in fact, like I mentioned before, is a walking map of Atlanta.

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." I was so happy when Glenn said it. I didn't know if I could stop Daryl if he'd decide to punch Rick, or I should say I wasn't sure if I was willing to do so. I was pissed too, you don't leave people behind like that, it doesn't matter how fucking annoying they are.

We jogged through the streets for about five minutes before making it to the convenience store they left Merle in. I heard a low growl behind me and T, so I quickly spun on my heel and rose my blade into dead men's eye. He was wearing a suit, now shredded in many places, his stomach ripped open and once-white shirt now deep red and brown from all the blood.

As quickly as I sunk my machete in, I pulled it out, pushing caracas to the ground, making the rest of my group look at me. I gave a quick smile in their direction before advancing to the front, following Daryl through a ransacked shop. He gestured for me to take a right, while he went to the left and we both slowly and quietly moved forward, I heard the swish of Daryl's crossbow and then sound of a body going down. When I rounded the corner, I was met with an arrow pointed straight between my eyes. I used my left hand to gently push it down cocking my eyebrow a little.

"Come on, Dixon, you would be super sad if you'd kill me. Who would make you laugh and complement that sexy body of yours if I'd be gone?" He just rolled his eyes and scowled at me before going in the direction we should be going. I looked at Rick, and he had a weird expression on his face. Like a combination of disbelieve, amusement, and resentment all at this same time.

"Don't worry, Rick," T-Dog said, chuckling. "That's just the relationship they have, she pushes his buttons, and he tries not to kill her."

I sent a sweet smile in their direction and moved after Daryl. We finally made our way up the stairs to where the roof door was. When on the top, Daryl made space for T-Dog to use bolt cutters on a padlock and then kicked the door rushing first to get his brother. We all followed him through a platform to a pipe where Merle supposed to be. Yeah, supposed to be...

"No! No!" Daryl's cries broke me a little, he was pacing, and tears rolled down his face. The handcuffs were still attached to the pipe blood all over them, on the floor bloodied handsaw and... a hand.

Impatient prick cut off his own hand. Fuck.

Next Chapter

[haledamage]

OC Interview: Liv Ramsey

a slightly more different interview with Liv XD @captainofthefallen​ open tagged and I didn’t need any much encouragement, so here you go. Gonna put most of it under a cut because it got really long. 

I want to do this with Kira, too, but I couldn’t decide which romance route, and since some of the answers would obviously be different depending, I decided not to. (if someone wants to reply to this and tell me which Bravo Boy you want to see Kira awkwardly pretend she isn’t attracted to, I’ll do this for her as well :))

Rules:

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same  I was gonna say I’m not tagging anyone, but I’m gonna actually tag @queen-scribbles​ for one of her Wayhaven Detectives because I love them :3

1. What is your name?

“Raphael.” She grins playfully, as sharp and bright as a blade. She’s fidgeting restlessly with what looks to be a 9mm bullet. You’re unsure if it’s meant to be a threat or if she just needs something to do with her hands. “Okay, not really. I’m Liv. Olivia Ramsey. Charmed, I’m sure.”

2. Do you know why are you named that?

“I don’t know for a fact that I am named that. It’s just what they called me, and I decided to keep it.” She slips the bullet into some hidden pocket in the simple, well-tailored black suit she’s wearing and leans back, picking absently at her chipped blood-red nail polish. “As for Raphael, that’s my rank. Like a callsign, you could say. Or a nickname. I’ve got pretty attached to it in the last month or so.”

3. Are you single or taken?

She scowls. “I never liked to phrase it that way. ‘Taken,’ like I’ve been kidnapped or somethin’.” She pauses, studying your face like she’s trying to figure out how much to tell you. “But I assume you’re askin’ if I’m in a relationship, and I guess I am. Sorta. I’m pretty sure.” 

She takes a deep breath and lets it out in a long sigh. “I am in love with a man who is also in love with me and that I sometimes share a bed with. That I share a lot of things with. He’s also technically my boss, and if anyone knew about it, they’d try to use me to get to him. I’d be tortured and killed and that’s if I’m lucky. So it’s, y’know, a bit complicated.”

She leans forward in her chair suddenly, all the kindness draining from her face. “This stays between us, right, sweetheart? I’m not gonna let you put Gabriel in any danger over this.” She sits back and just like that her smile is back. “And before you ask, no. I haven’t seen his face. Everyone always asks me that. It’s not safe yet. No tellin’ who else might be watching.” Her smile softens into something fond, almost sweet. “I can wait. He’s worth it.”

4. Have any abilities or powers?

“I’m a good sweet-talker. Good at gettin’ people to tell me things or makin’ ‘em listen. I prefer to do it with a smile, but,” she pauses, a shadow of something very dangerous in her pale eyes, “well, sometimes people are stubborn. I got other ways to make ‘em talk, too.”

“Besides that, I move fast, I can be real quiet when I need to… or real loud, if that’s what’s called for instead. Pretty good at patching up wounds. Less good at causing them, but hey, no one’s perfect.” She shrugs one shoulder.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

She laughs, loud and joyful and maybe a little unhinged. “Oh, I fuckin’ wish. You know what’d I’d do if I had super powers and shit?” Her laughter quiets, but she keeps chuckling. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t.”

6. What’s your eye color?

“Blue. Not much to say about it, really. Lotsa people have blue eyes.”

7. How about your hair color?

She tugs on a strand of her long hair, currently falling loosely around her shoulders and down her back. “It’s red, right now. I change it sometimes, when the mood strikes, but I like red. I think only Mouse and Gabriel know my natural hair color, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.” She taps her index finger on her thigh, thinking. "Maybe Michael knows. I dunno how much Gabriel tells him. I don't think he'd really care about somethin’ like that. Bigger fish to fry and all."

8. Have any family members?

“I mean, I’ve got the Archangels. Beyond them, no. Don’t need anyone else.”

9. Oh? How about pets? 

She brightens suddenly. “I have a kitten! Her name’s Ruby. Here, I think I have a picture.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and scrolls through it for a moment before holding it out to you. On the screen is a picture of a kitten, about three or four months old, with fluffy gray fur and curious blue eyes. It seems to be laying on what looks like a black hockey mask. “Raquel’s probably still a little pissed at me for keeping her, but… well, it did kinda save her life.”

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now, tell me something you don’t like?

“I don’t like being shot at,” she says dryly, then she smirks. “I don’t like when people threaten my friends. If I had a dime for every time someone threatened to hurt Mouse in order to get me to talk, I could retire somewhere tropical.” She laughs to herself, one quick, amused ‘ha!’. “I’d like to see them try. He may be little, and quiet, but I don’t recommend underestimating him. It’ll be the last thing you ever do.” 

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

“I’m an artist. You’ve probably seen some of my work, if you’ve ever been to Manhattan. A couple of them were even done legally.” Her smile is warm, and there’s still laughter in her eyes. “I’m a painter. I mean, when I have time. I got lots of sketchbooks I fill up when I don’t have the time to put things on canvas or concrete. I’m also a pretty good chess player.” Her smile turns a little wicked. “Ask Rook how good I am at it. I wonder if he’s still sore about losin’ to me. I don’t think Bishop’s ever gonna let him live it down.”

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

“Are you kidding me?” She laughs. “I have hurt people in any way you can imagine and several ways you probably can’t. I don’t like to do it… well, just between you and me, sometimes I do like it.” She straightens the light blue tie she wears. “But either way, it’s part of the job. And I'm very good at my job.”

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

“Oh yeah. Plenty of them.” She shrugs, like she’s not bothered at all by it, but she won’t quite meet your eyes. “If it makes you feel any better, they were bad people. Probably. Most of them were, at least.” She smiles warmly at you, the tension in her expression gone like it was never there. “Don’t worry, we don’t kill innocents or civilians. Even nosy ones.”

14. What kind of animal are you?

“I dunno. Probably like a coyote or somethin’. One of those animals that can survive in almost any environment. The ones that stubbornly refuse to die.”

15. Name your worst habits?

“I run off at the mouth, especially if I’m scared or hurt or nervous. Not, like--” she pauses, as if looking for the right words “I don’t give away information or anything like that. I’m not a snitch. I just… I’m a bit of a smartass, and a bit of a flirt, and in situations where I should probably not be talking, I’m doin’ one of those instead. Michael says it’ll get me killed one day. Sometimes he says he’ll be the one to do it.” She grins. “He doesn’t mean it. He adores me. Don’t let him tell you different.”

She slouches back in her chair, crossing her legs at the knee. “Besides that, I can’t sit still worth shit and I always forget to do the dishes. Also, don’t hand me any important paperwork because I will draw on it.”

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

“Nope. Never really had anyone to look up to. Well, maybe…” she pauses, her eyes distant. “Maybe Kaidan. Never had anyone take a chance on me before he did. He’s the reason I’m here now. The reason I’m an Archangel. He’s kinda my… mentor, in a way.” She smiles to herself. “Him and Gabriel. But I can’t exactly say I look up to Gabriel, y’know? That gets into weird territories, when you consider my relationship with him.” 

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

“Are those my only choices? ‘Cause those are not the only sexual orientations out there, sweetheart. I’m pansexual.” She spreads her arms out in an inviting way. “I’m an equal opportunity gal.” 

18. Did you attend school?

“Sure. New York public schools. I even graduated. For Mouse, more than for myself. If I dropped out, he woulda done so too, and I didn’t want to drag him down with me.” She looks down, sadness in her eyes for a moment. “Guess I did anyway. Some best friend I turned out to be.” 

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

“I don’t really care one way or the other about marriage, but if I ever have kids they’ll be adopted. I wanna give some kid the kind of home, the kind of family, that I never got to have. Unconditional and all that shit.”

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

“Obviously.” She tosses her hair over her shoulder dramatically, then laughs. “Nah. If people know who I am, I’m not doin’ my job right, and if people are out there bein’ fans of the Archangels, then it’s Michael and Gabriel they’re swooning over, not Raphael.”

21. What are you most afraid of? 

Her face goes abruptly blank and cold. “Being abandoned. Being alone. I’ve been there before… before Mouse, before the Archangels. I’ll burn this whole fuckin’ city to the ground if that’s what it takes to keep them safe. I’m not ever going back to that. Not ever.”

22. What do you usually wear?

“Usually?” She looks down at herself. “Oh, you’re askin’ about the suit! It’s standard Archangel uniform. Black suit, blue tie, mask.” She pulls a hockey mask out of the inside pocket of her suit jacket. It’s black and has what appears to be a cascade of red roses down the right side of it. “You like it? I designed it myself.”

She puts the mask back away. “When I’m not working, I like layers. Tank tops and flannel shirts and leather jackets. Skinny jeans or leggings or skirts and tights. Dresses short enough to stop traffic. Red and pink and yellow and black. A bit of Archangel blue sometimes, too, these days.” She tugs on her light blue tie again. “Rook told me I looked like a ‘punk rock supermodel’ once. Nicest thing he’s ever said to me.”

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

“Gabriel bakes the best fuckin’ cookies you will ever eat. There is a small chance I fell for those cookies before I fell for him.”

24. Am I annoying you?

She waves a dismissive hand. “Nah. I’ll take any excuse to talk about myself.”

25. Well, it’s still not over!

She smiles that knife-sharp grin again and runs her tongue over her bottom lip. “So when do I get to ask you questions, sweetheart? I’ll make it worth your time.” 

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

She tilts her head to one side thoughtfully. “Y’know, I have no fuckin’ idea. I live in a pretty swanky apartment right now, but I don’t own it. I have a decent amount of money squirreled away, but most of it’s stolen. All of the above, I guess. I’m a homeless kid who lives in the penthouse suite.”

27. How many friends do you have?

She stops to think for a second. “Fourteen.” She looks surprised and clearly is counting them again in her head. “Wow. Fourteen. Huh. You know, two months ago the answer to that question was ‘one.’ Even if we’re just talking close friends, the answer’s still eight. I’m not… I got no idea what to say to that.”

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

“I prefer cake, but I don’t mind pie either. Just don’t ask me to bake one. And if I do, I don’t recommend you eat it.”

29. Favorite drink?

“Tea with milk and sugar. Pretty sure it’s Mouse’s fault. That’s how it works, right? Blame your tea-drinking habits on your British friends.” She laughs lightly. “I’ve got too many fuckin’ British friends.”

30. What’s your favorite place?

“I like Father Murdock’s. I like the juxtaposition of it all. Church upstairs, black market downstairs. Nuns carrying AKs. It’s just ridiculous enough that it almost doesn’t seem real.” She sighs and her smile slips a little. “Favorite place used to be the Mill, but I guess we can’t go back there now. Gotta find a new base of operations.”

31. Are you interested in anyone?

“Why, you hopin' you got a shot?” She looks you over slowly, a playful smirk spreading across her face. “I mean, you've already asked me if I was 'taken'. Since I am, it obviously means I'm interested in someone. Or are you asking if I'm interested in someone else?” 

She stops to really think about it. “These days, I'm surrounded by a lot of gorgeous, interesting people. People that, in a different situation, I’d probably be real interested in. But if Gabriel's in the room, the rest of the world may as well not exist. He’s magnetic. It doesn’t make sense for a man to be so goddamn attractive when the only part of him not covered is his eyes and even that’s only sometimes, but I know I’m not the only one drawn to him. I’m just the lucky one.” She chuckles, and that fond smile is back, the same one she wore last time she spoke about Gabriel. “I always thought that 'I only have eyes for you' thing was a bit sappy, but damn if it isn't true.”

32. That was a stupid question…

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” She waves it off like she’s already forgotten about it, then smirks at you again. “If you’re actually interested, though, I got a few friends I could introduce you to. We can talk about it later.”

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

“Ugh. I hate swimming. I’m not really a, uh, outdoorsy type.” She taps a fingernail against her bottom lip, thinking. “I guess a lake, if I had to choose. Less sharks and shit.”

34. What’s your type?

“You sure are askin’ a lot of questions about my love life, sweetheart. I guess it’s lucky for you that you caught me at a time I actually have one.” She chuckles and sits back in her chair, staring at the ceiling while she thinks. 

She’s quiet for a long moment, then leans forward suddenly, her pale blue eyes intense. “You know what’s the most attractive thing a person can have, regardless of gender? Competence. There is nothing sexier than someone who knows their shit and does it well. That confidence someone has when they’re really good at something and they know it.”

She sits back again, some of that intensity draining away. “I’ve never had anything specific physically that draws my attention. Lucky for Gabriel, I guess, since I was already long in love with him before I really saw any of him. He’s got real good shoulders, though, y’know? Broad. Strong. Stubborn.” She laughs at the last one.

35. Any fetishes?

“Dunno. Most of my sexual experience has been pretty vanilla so far. Might be fun to find out.”

36. Camping or outdoors?

“No thanks. I did enough sleepin’ outside when I was homeless for a few months. No way in hell I'm sleeping outside on purpose. I’d prefer a roof over my head, if it’s all the same to you.”

She waits for you to ask another question, but when you don’t she just nods. “All right, good talk. This was fun.” She stands from her chair and straightens out her suit, then offers you a hand to shake. Her handshake is strong and confident, her skin warm. “You need to find me again, go see Father Murdock. Tell Greg you’re lookin’ for Raphael. He knows how to get in touch.” She walks away, steps fast and purposeful and almost silent, and you follow her outside.

She pulls a black ski mask out of her pocket and puts it on, covering her face except for her eyes and mouth and tucking her hair underneath it, then pulls that hockey mask out again and puts it on over it. She takes out a pair of black leather gloves and pulls them on too. When she looks back at you, there’s no sign of the woman underneath except for the pale blue eyes; if you hadn’t just been talking with her, you’re not sure you’d even know she was a woman, the suit and masks erasing any signs of personality or identity.

She waves jovially. “If I were you, I’d find someplace to lay low for a little while,” she says, and even her voice is different: colder, harder, her slight New York accent gone like it had never been there. “It’s not safe around here at this time of day. All kinds of dangerous people around.”

As if on cue, a black SUV pulls up nearby. The passenger-side front window rolls down and the back door opens. Inside, there are four other people wearing the same black suit and blue tie, their faces all covered by hockey masks. There seems to be no theme or color scheme among the masks. You wonder if any of them are the Gabriel that she spoke so highly of.

“Heya, boss,” a friendly, Welsh-accented voice calls from the front passenger seat. “You get what ya needed?”

Liv doesn’t reply, instead just pulling herself smoothly into the open seat in the back next to one very large man in body armor with a shotgun in his lap and one very small man with an open laptop in his. They both nod at her as she sits down, and she puts a friendly hand on the smaller man’s shoulder. He must be Mouse, you assume.

The driver calls out to you, and he also has a Welsh accent. “Might be best to forget you ever saw us.”

“And ya best hope you never see us again,” says the front passenger. Her accent and cadence of speaking are so similar to the driver’s you’re pretty sure they’re related.

Liv nods to you once more, then closes her door. You see the large man hand her what you’re pretty sure is some type of submachine gun. The driver gives you a jaunty salute and then they drive away. 

You stare into the space where the SUV had been for a long moment. You should probably ask your boss for a raise; there’s no way you’re getting paid enough to interview Archangels.

[staytheb]

Polaroids

Pairing: TBZ’s Sunwoo x OC [Seul] Genre: slice of life, slight fluff Word Count: 2,658 Summary: Seul feels bad about yelling at Sunwoo after learning he wasn’t being lazy and disobedient during the preparations for the school festival.

Warning: the mentions of a curse word, twice. lol

i’m really bad with summary, so sorry if it doesn’t appeal to you. lol also i again didn’t know how to title this and just went with what’s been mentioned a lot of the polaroids. lol other than that i’m just happy to have written another story with a TBZ member. so happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

"What's wrong with you?" Yeon asked her younger sister upon noticing Seul going through a bunch of polaroids while mumbling to herself as Yeon had walked passed her sister's bedroom.

"Huh?" Seul asked while glancing up.

Yeon entered Seul's room and took a seat at the desk chair while watching her sister sift through more photographs on her bed. Yeon waited for Seul to talk.

"You remember that one guy in my class I usually rant about?"

"The Sunwoo kid, right?"

"Yeah."

"What about him?"

"Well, he took a bunch of photos of us while we were prepping for our school's festival that's happening tomorrow and and I ended up yelling at him out of frustration and annoyance because I thought he wasn't doing anything."

"So you thought he wasn't doing anything, but he actually was?" Yeon asked with a curious look.

"Yeah. Like he was supposed to help build and decorate the stand, but he kept wandering around and bothering the others. I mean, everyone was doing their part and actually participating, but from my point of view he wasn't doing anything and just kept looking over people's shoulders."

"So you basically told him off for not doing anything."

"Yes."

"But?"

"He was the one that took all of these and wanted to do a collage of sort for the other classes to see how we were mingling and what not, but I didn't know that and now I feel bad for yelling at him for not doing anything when he was doing something that I didn't assign him for."

Seul groaned as she fell back against her bed with eyes close. Yeon lightly chuckled as she sat on her knees by her sister's bed to skim through the photos.

"And because you have pride issues, you don't know how to apologize even though in a way it doesn't seem like your fault or his, but still some fault elsewhere."

"Yeah, something like that."

"Did he tell you about the polaroids after you yelled at him?"

"No. Eunbin showed them to me after school once I made sure everything was all set for tomorrow."

"Oh. How come he didn't?"

"He had soccer practice."

"So, what you gonna do then?"

"Dunno."

Seul continued lying on her back with closed eyelids as Yeon finished going through the polaroids.

"Hey, how come there's none of you?"

"Hmm?" Seul asked while rising to an upright position. "What do you mean?"

"I don't see any of you in any of these." Yeon stated while picking up several images. "There's like fifty of these yet I see none of you in them."

"Maybe he hates me because I yelled at him."

"That's kinda dumb if he did."

"Who knows."

At that moment Seul's phone dinged indicating she got a Kakao message. Her eyebrows furrowed upon seeing it was from Sunwoo.

"He messaged me." Seul told Yeon as her older sister smiled. "Okay. And?"

"He never messages me."

"Maybe he wants an apology."

"Or maybe he wants me to return the polaroids to him."

"Then opened it and you'll find out. Let me know what happens." Yeon said to her sister while standing back up.

"Where are you going?"

"I gotta get ready for my date with Sangyeon. He's gonna teach me how to make fried rice balls."

Seul cast her older sister a look.

"Don't you know how to make those?"

"I do, but that doesn't mean I can't let my boyfriend try to teach me things he likes to do."

"Isn't it just like how you always let him win in Jenga?"

"Yeah, but he found out how good I'm actually am after witnessing me beat Changmin and Chanhee the other day."

"Then why don't you actually have him teach you how to play the guitar since you suck."

"Hahaha, you're so funny, but nah. Musical instruments aren't my thing. Anyways, reply back to that Sunwoo kid or you guys are gonna graduate on bad terms."

"We won't graduate on bad terms. Go away and enjoy your date."

Yeon bid her sister a goodbye as she left Seul's room. Seul returned her attention onto the Kakao notification that she still hadn't opened yet.

Seul was back in her class of 3-B of Creker High School as Sunwoo wanted to talk to her after soccer practice. She was going to wait outside the school's gates, but his practice was running longer than expected and so Seul told him that she'll be in their classroom re-checking the things for the festival tomorrow. Seul passed the time by actually using Sunwoo's photos and putting them to use as she was going to return them back to him.

Some time later Seul didn't notice Sunwoo entering the classroom as she was too focused on the project before her. Sunwoo quietly watched Seul tying loops within the string she was using and hooking paper clips within them before attaching a polaroid in-between the paper clips. After completing the set she was working on she held it up and admired her work. She had to admit that Sunwoo knew how to take pictures and that the memories could be seen within them.

"I wondered where these should go." Seul mumbled to herself as she looked about the classroom before setting her sight on Sunwoo. "Oh. Hi."

"Hi." Sunwoo greeted and smiled at her. "I see Eunbin told you about the polaroids."

"Oh, yeah, she did."

Seul picked up the other finished sets she had done and offered them towards Sunwoo.

"I dunno if this was what you were planning to do, but I couldn't help myself and started to do them already."

"Oh, no, no. They're fine. I didn't know what to do with them either. I actually was going to ask you about them."

"Ah, okay, well here you go." Seul said as she set them the items onto the desk. "I'm sure you'll find a good spot for them to hang tomorrow."

"Hmm, I'm sure I would."

Silence fell between and Seul waited for Sunwoo to tell her what he wanted to talk about, but he didn't say anything. He just played with the ends of his bag.

"Um, you do remember that it was you who asked me to talk to you after your practice, right?" Seul reminded.

"Ahh, yeah, yeah, I did." Sunwoo said as he recalled. "Right, right. I did."

"I mean, I understand if it was to get back at me and all, but this is such a waste of time to do so. Don't you think, Sunwoo?"

"Nah, Seul, nah. It's not what you think. It's not like that." Sunwoo dismissed with a laugh. "I'm sorry, but I was just surprised by you doing that whole string thing that I totallly forgot what I wanted to say."

"Really? Okay, sure, whatever, Sunwoo." Seul responded sarcastically while picking up her bag with a roll of her eyes. "I was gonna give you these juice extracts as an apology, but I change my mind."

"Juice extracts? What flavor?" Sunwoo moved closer to see the flavors that Seul had, but she backed away from him.

"No, no, no. I don't think so."

"Aww, c'mon. Be nice to me at least this one time."

"What are you talking about?"

"To other people you're nice, but not to me."

Seul shot Sunwoo a judging look while the male slightly pouted and casually sat on the edge of a desk with his back towards her.

"I'm whatever to people, Sunwoo. Don't get all salty or whatever."

"I'm not."

"Sure. Anyways, good job on the photos. You did well. I'm sure the others will love it when they see it during the festival." Seul told him while coming up to him and then placing two juice extract pouches on the desk in front of him. "See you tomorrow morning, Sunwoo."

Seul cast him a small smile before making her way towards the door and leaving the classroom. She hadn't gone far until she heard the door opened from behind her and Sunwoo calling out her name.

"Hey, Seul, wait."

Seul turned around to face him with a curious expression.

"Hmm?"

"How come you didn't ask?"

"Ask what?"

"About there not being any photos of you."

"Does it really matter?"

Sunwoo didn't answer her right away not thinking Seul would respond that way. Seul spoke again not wanting the silence to fall upon them again.

"It's fine, Sunwoo. I know I can be a bit of a bitch a majority of the time and nag a lot so it's fine if there's no polaroids of me." Seul sincerely told him. "As long as you guys had fun is what really matters in the end."

"Although that's highly true, Seul, you're really not a bad class representative." Sunwoo admitted. "If it wasn't for you who knows if we would've gotten anything done this whole school year."

"Yeah, I guess and thanks. Anyways, hope you like the flavors because I don't know what you like. I just took whatever my sister had in the fridge." She admitted with a laugh before speaking again. "Anyways, Sunwoo, have a good evening. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Let me walk you home." Sunwoo offered as he exited the classroom with his bag slung over his shoulder and making his way towards Seul.

"Um, I can walk home by myself, thank you very much." Seul stated as she turned away from him and began walking on ahead.

"Don't be so hard-headed." Sunwoo said as he matched her strides. "Besides, it's gonna get late soon and girls shouldn't be walking late at night by themselves."

"I mean I wouldn't have if someone didn't asked me to talk to them after soccer practice."

"Well, you could have declined."

"Yeah, but that would've made me a bigger bitch if I didn't come visit you after yelling at you earlier today."

"I would have let you slide since you worked so hard as class representative."

Seul glanced over at Sunwoo while walking and talking at the same time.

"Is this just an excuse for you to walk me home and see where I live and probably ask for more juice extracts?"

Sunwoo also glanced at her while walking and talking at the same time.

"Do you really think of me like that?"

"I have no idea what to think of you since we're not that close."

"We've been in the same class for the past three years."

"Doesn't mean we're actually friends."

"Wow. I was gonna give you this, but I guess I won't."

Sunwoo held up a small book for Seul to see, but he held it back at his side from her view a second later.

"What is it?" Seul asked as she tried to peek at it, but Sunwoo hid it well.

"I'm not telling you. You're being mean to me."

Seul rolled her eyes as she pushed open the door to exit the building.

"Okay then. Bye."

Seul shot Sunwoo a half-wave before walking ahead faster. Sunwoo hurried to match her pace.

"Are you mad?" He asked curiously.

"No."

"I'm sure you're mad."

"I'm not mad."

"Are you sure?"

"No. I'm not sure that I'm mad." Seul answered sarcastically as Sunwoo eyed her a bit annoyed. "I was just asking."

"Mmhmm. Why are you still here?"

"I'm walking you home, remember?"

"Not that I recall, so no."

Sunwoo let out a sigh.

"Do you really hate me?"

"Mmhmm." Seul answered in a nonchalant manner causing Sunwoo to stared at her in shock.

"You do?"

"Sure."

Sunwoo cast her a suspicious look.

"Are you just answering without really responding to my questions?"

"Uh huh."

Sunwoo frown upon her response as Seul just continued on nonchalantly. Somehow this made Sunwoo want to test something out and so he decided to admit his feelings wondering what her response will be.

"I like you."

"Yeah." Came Seul's response with the same neutral tone and nonchalant manner.

"Did you hear what I actually said?"

"Nope."

"That hurts."

"Don't care."

"You're lying. You heard me then."

"So what?"

Seul said casting him a neutral look as the duo exited the school's gates with her making the opposite turn from home.

"Don't you live this way?"

"I do."

"So where are you going?"

"Away from you."

She answered him while casting him a wave as she continued to walk on even if in the opposite direction of home. Sunwoo debated if he should follow or not as he was unsure of her actual personality since they've only been in school together. Still he had a feeling that there was more to her, but she just chose to separate her school and home life. And Sunwoo wanted to get to know them both. He ran after Seul and matched her strides.

"You don't give up, do you?" Seul asked once she heard Sunwoo's footsteps alongside hers and glanced in his direction.

Sunwoo flashed her his signature smile in response.

"You must really like me, huh?" Seul said in a nonchalant manner yet there was a teasing smile gracing her lips.

Sunwoo's face turned to one of shock.

"I thought you didn't hear me?"

"Oh, I heard you, but I just didn't really care to respond to you."

"Wow. Here then."

Sunwoo handed her the book she had briefly saw earlier.

"What's this?"

"Open it and you'll find out."

"Obviously."

Seul casually opened the cover and turned to the first page to see a polaroid photo of herself. It was when she was handing out their assignments for the festival. She flipped a few more pages and saw that they were all images with the focus being on her. Seul glanced up and over at Sunwoo, but he kept his attention ahead of him while drinking the pear juice extract she had given him.

"Don't tell me you're a stalker now?" Seul teased as Sunwoo whipped his head towards her with an annoyed look.

"Is that all you can say?"

Seul laughed at his response and reaction.

"I mean, thanks, but you didn't have to make a little album."

"Then give it back."

Sunwoo tried to reach for the photo album, but Seul moved it out from his grasp.

"No. It's mine. You gave it to me. Besides, I thought you liked me."

"Clearly it's one-sided."

"How do you know?"

"You haven't said anything about if you like me or not. Plus, you've been mean to me."

"You're kinda easy to teased that's why. Also, Eric was right."

"Right about what?"

"You liking me because I didn't think you'll actually like me since you never listened to me."

"Because you always ordered me around."

"It's only because you either kept sleeping in class or showing up late. It's not my fault that I had to be the class representative and do my job."

"Fine, fine, Seul. I'll do better."

"You better or I'll make you clean the classroom all by yourself."

"Can you at least help me out?"

"I like you, Sunwoo, but I dunno if I like you that much."

"But you still like me, right?"

Seul didn't answer as Sunwoo looked over at her.

"Right, right?"

Seul cast him a teasing smile before turning around and running away in the other direction not giving him a confirmation.

"Yah! Lee Seul!" Sunwoo yelled after her giving chase. "LEE SEUL! ANSWER ME!"

Seul shook her head as she let out laughs causing Sunwoo to call out to her again.

"C'MON! DON'T BE MEAN TO ME!"

Seul giggled to herself as she picked up pace upon hearing him draw nearer although she knew full well that he would catch up to her eventually, but she wanted to tease him a bit longer before then. Also Seul needed another reason for her racing heartbeats that kept thumping loudly against her chest due to the polaroids that Sunwoo had captured of her unexpectedly the last few days.

[ofheroesandheralds]

OC Interview Meme - Saarnos

Tagged by: No one. Saw it by coincidence on @seboostianillustrations‘ blog, and wanted to do it.

Tagging: @taerellavellan and/or @oceans-bleed-black, and perhaps @thereluctantinquisitor and @angrykittybarbarian if any of you are in the mood to do it! I’d also love to tag @chaitea09 but tumblr won’t let me. Also, anyone who’s not tagged but in the mood to do it shall feel free to do so, and tag me too so I can take a look at all your cool OCs!

1. What is your name?

“Saarnos Adaar. That translates to ‘raging flame’.”

2. What is your real name?

“That is my real name. Or are you asking for the name my parents gave me? That would be Junior. Well... Ramin, officially, but they’d never use that.”

3. Do you know why you were called that?

”Yes, because my parents wanted me to choose my own name once I was... uh... mature enough. My father was Tal-Vashoth, and he valued freedom very highly. Especially the freedom to choose your own identity, which you couldn’t ever do under the Qun, so they called me by a neutral nickname so I wouldn’t grow too attached to the official one."

4. Are you single or taken?

He laughs.

”I wouldn’t call myself taken, but I’d lie if I said I was single, too. There is that one man I have... an affair with, whenever we both happen to be in the same place, but neither of us calls it a relationship, and we both see other people too when we’re in the mood.”

5. Have any abilities or powers?

”Plenty of them! First of all I’m a mage. A fire mage, specifically, which was the main reason for the name I chose. I’m also a damn fine dancer, an acrobat, and I could kick an apple from the top of your head while balancing on one hand and having the other one tied to my back!”

6. Stop being a Mary Sue.

He gives a huge grin.

“How am I supposed to stop being perfect at everything when I’m just... perfect at everything?”

7. What’s your eye color?

“Some would say yellow, but I prefer to call it golden.”

8. How about your hair color?

“Black. Simple as that. No touch of blue or anything, not ‘just a very dark brown’ - just black. Silky and shiny, though!”

9. Have you any family members?

“Not anymore. At least none that I know of. My parents both already passed away, and I don’t have any siblings. There were also no more relatives on my mother’s side, but since my father used to live under the Qun, we never got to know if he had any other relatives.”

10. Oh? What about pets?

“Nah. I like animals, but I’m not really the type to keep any. Taking care of another creature would interfere with my lifestyle, so I’m sparing myself of that... as well as the animals.”

11. That’s cool I guess, now tell me about something you don’t like.

He groans.

“Cold weather. I hate it. I mean, I don’t have a big problem staying warm or anything, I’ll just make my own fire, but... I can’t quite explain it, there’s just something to it that I really, really don’t like. I try to stay away from cold or rainy places. Might just be my Antivan heart!”

12. Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

”I live for my artistry! I’ve made it into my profession, actually, it’s how I make my money most of the time. My favorite discipline is a... a mixture of dancing and fighting, I don’t know if there is a name for that specific style. But it looks quite spectacular, if I’m allowed the vanity! Especially when paired with fire.”

13. Ever hurt anyone before?

“Sure. When you live a life out travelling most of the time, at some point someone will try to rob you, and you gotta make sure they fail, right?”

14. Ever… killed anyone before?

“Not before I ran into the Inquisition. And I’m also not sure if those darkspawns count as ‘someone’.“

15. What kind of animal are you?

Again, a wide grin spreads across his face.

“If I was an animal, I’d be a tiger! Look at my vitaar, I’m on the best way there!”

16. Name your worst habits.

“Why does it have to be multiple? I can’t even think of a single bad habit I have. I guess that question is better answered by people who know me, and not myself."

17. Do you look up to anyone at all?

“I don’t think so, nah.”

18. Gay, straight, or bisexual?

“A little bit of everything? Nah, honestly, as long as you’re an adult, and qunari like me, I couldn’t give less of a shit about what’s going on in your pants.”

19. Do you go to school?

“My father used to teach me some things when I was younger, but I’ve never been to an actual school.”

20. Do you ever want to marry and have kids one day?

“Ahh, oh no, probably not. I mean, I cannot speak for what’ll be in the future, but at this point in my life, with children, it’s the same as with animals. I have nothing against them, they usually love me, but I couldn’t see myself having any. That sort of responsibility doesn’t fit into my life."

21. Do you have any fanboys/fangirls?

“Oh I bet I have, but so far there’s only one person of whom I know with certainty that he likes me.”

22. What are you most afraid of?

“Being made into a saarebas, probably. The entire idea of it is just horrible, I’d rather die than living like that.”

23. What do you usually wear?

He smirks.

“As little as possible. But when I travel, I wear some light plate, mostly around the arms and legs, as well as a shoulder piece. And a waist cloth, for some decency. Not that I gave a damn, but a lot of people seem to do.”

24. Do you love someone?

“Not romantically, if that’s what you’re asking.”

25. When was the last time you wet yourself?

“As a child. Why would you even ask that?”

26. Well, it’s not over yet!

“I am just fine, keep the questions coming!”

27. What class are you? (High class, middle class, low class)

“I don’t know if I fit into any class. Back at home with my parents, I’d have said middle class, but now? I’ve got everything I need, so I don’t really care.”

28. How many friends do you have?

“Huh. That depends on how you define that. I've been to a lot of places, and I’ve gotten to know a lot of people, most of whom I’ve gotten along with, but if you’re talking about that ‘willing-to-die-for-each-other’ kind of friends, I... don’t think I’ve got any.”

29. What are your thoughts on pie?

“I like it. I prefer savory over sweet, though. Filled with meat and some good spices! I like it spicy.”

30. Favourite drink?

“I don’t even think I have one. Anything that has some taste to it, I like my food and drinks with some intensity.”

31. What’s your favourite place?

“Probably Antiva. And it’s not even some ‘back to the roots’ thing, it’s just nice there. I like the people, the mentality. And also it’s nice and warm.”

32. Are you interested in someone?

“I am very easily interested in people, so most of the time, I could answer that question with ‘Yes’.”

33. What’s your bra cup size and/or how big is your willy?

A smirk plays around his lips, while he narrows his eyes a little.

“You want me to show you? No, really! All I need to do is lift that cloth a little...! ... What? No? Hah, I thought so.”

34. Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

“I’m not that much of a swimmer. I can do it, but not all too well, so I guess I’d prefer a lake? At least those end somewhere.”

35. What’s your type?

“Other qunari. Apart from that, I don’t have a type. Attraction comes spontaneously, I can’t tell you what traits I find more attractive than others, it really is a matter of my mood.”

36. Any fetishes?

“I like to have sex on a big pile of gold? ... What did you expect, a serious answer? Well. I’m not sure if I’d call it a fetish, but I really am into gold, meaning I like jewelry on my partners. It makes looking at an attractive body even more interesting!”

37. Seme or uke? Top or Bottom? Dominant or Submissive?

“I can do whatever feels best in the current situation. I would, however, not call myself submissive, it’s more like... letting a dominant person be dominant if that’s the only way they feel comfortable. I prefer being on one level.”

38. Camping or indoors?

“I’m very used to both, so it’s really not one over the other.”

39. Are you wanting the interview to end?

“Nah, I’m fine, I do like to talk about myself.”

40. Now it’s over!

“Aww, that was mean! Alright, it was fun to talk to you. Have a nice day!”

[neversatisfiedswitch]

So this would’ve been done sooner, but a power surge went through my neighborhood and all of my work on this was lost. Whoops.

Anyway. The lovely @eleniel221b asked me to write a story featuring my OCs Myarel and Colton with the prompt “Do your worst!” from this post! I love these 2 so much, they’re literally like my favorite OCs to write about/with, sdkljflk.

Warning for language, but prrrrobably not as bad as last time. My boys curse like sailors. :P Also just a tiny bit of Colton-related angst bc I love that shit.

Summary: No matter how many times Myarel has seen Colton’s metal limbs, he’s never been able to figure out if the places where they were attached are sensitive or not. Colton really should’ve known not to take a challenge from him, because he never plays fair...

Words: 1590 (bc everything I write becomes a novel)

There’s never been a good time to ask Colton about his limbs-- because in doing so, you’d be asking about his dad, too. It had taken him years to open up to anyone besides his adoptive mother, Rowan, about any of it-- and it wasn’t because she could read his mind. It had just come spilling out while she was cleaning his wounds, the years of fear and the pure terror that washed over him when he woke up to see that his own father was the one who’d hurt him like this becoming too much for him to keep inside--

And she’d listened. She’d held him like he was a child, despite him being fifteen and far too large to fit in her lap, and she’d calmed him. Every night until he’d left to live with Lyn, she’d done this, and eventually he’d been able to get over the sight of the shining metal attached to his body without wanting to saw the limbs off. Now he was... he wouldn’t say “comfortable”, but at least he could stand the sight of them.

Usually he didn’t have an audience when he polished his limbs-- he did it twice a day, to keep them from rusting-- but Myarel sat down next to him this time, and honestly, he didn’t really mind. They bickered and messed with each other, but he enjoyed the demon’s presence, choosing to lean against the older man’s shoulder as he rubbed the rag across his arm.

“Hey...” Myarel rested his chin on the younger man’s shoulder, watching him as he carefully cleaned the crease in his elbow, the place where flesh and metal melded together. He noticed the small shiver in Colton’s shoulders as he did so, and at first he decided against asking his question-- but considering Colton let him get this close, it had to mean something, right?

“Can I see your arm?” Colton looked over to the white-haired man, blinking confusedly as he held out his left arm to him. Myarel snorted, moving his head from the blond’s shoulder. “Not that one, your other one.”

Raising a brow in slight confusion, Colton shifted, turning to face Myarel. He’d already rolled up his pant legs and removed his shoes and socks, revealing the same shining metal that made up his legs from the knee down-- though his feet were facing the floor, Myarel had seen them enough times to know they weren’t like his legs, they were still skin, meshed with metal like the crook of Colton’s elbow and his knees.

Placing the rag on the coffee table, Colton held out his metal arm to Myarel, and the older man gently took it, holding the arm by the back of the forearm. The cool metal was intriguing, but it wasn’t what he was looking for. He looked at Colton’s face, a grin on his lips. “Close your eyes. I’m not gonna do anything to you, you know me.”

The reassurance was unnecessary-- the two had been close for a long time, and they trusted each other immensely, so it took no time for Colton’s eyes to slip shut. Myarel took his fingers and laid them on the metal wrist, gently trailing them up Colton’s arm. At first, there was no reaction, but as his fingers brushed over the tiny crease on the inside of Colton’s elbow-- scar tissue-- the blond’s reaction was immediate. He jumped slightly, fingers twitching as he pulled lightly at his arm. Myarel traced the scar with his fingers, unable to stop himself from chuckling when Colton began to giggle, his nose scrunching up as he pulled Myarel’s wrist away.

“What was that fohor?” Colton was still giggling as he rubbed the tingling sensations from his elbow, and Myarel snickered. “Just testing something... are your knees ticklish, too?”

He didn’t wait for a reply, fingers gentle as he reached behind one of Colton’s knees and ran his fingers across the skin-- again, he got the reaction he was hoping for, but this time his laughter was louder, and the reaction was quicker. He almost got a foot to the chest, but thankfully he was able to teleport to the other side of the living room before the bone-breaking kick reached him.

“Holy fuck, Colton-- you’re ticklish all over, aren’t you?” He wasn’t as concerned as his friend about what could’ve happened, Colton’s laughter having stopped as he stood to be sure the other was okay. “Hey-- shut up! I could’ve hurt you!” But Myarel wasn’t listening. He wasn’t keen on getting kicked again, but he did want to mess with Colton a bit.

“I’ve got a challenge for you.” Colton’s brows raised, and he made room for Myarel to sit down as the demon continued. “If I tickle your knees and you don’t tap out before I stop, then you win.” There was no winning condition-- with any competition between them, there never was. It was friendly competition at its finest, even if it was something as silly as this.

At first, it didn’t seem as though Colton wanted to take the challenge-- and if he didn’t, Myarel wouldn’t force him. But the cyborg spread his legs out so his knees were across the other man’s lap, and he crossed his arms over his chest, gunmetal blues piercing sapphires with their gaze.

“Do your worst.” Myarel placed his hands on the backs of Colton’s knees, and the smallest movement of his fingers was enough to make the younger man tense up like before-- this time his whole body was tense, laughter already pouring from his lips with the barest touch. And yet, he only gripped his shirt with both hands, ducking his head as a blush rose across his cheeks. Myarel kept his knees from bending by sliding one leg over both of Colton’s, making it so the backs of his thighs were against his legs and his knees were over open air. Really, he felt almost like an annoying older brother, tormenting Colton like this-- but he knew the kid well enough to know he enjoyed this kind of attention.

However... like most brothers, he didn’t think Colton was laughing hard enough, or that he actually wanted him to win. So while he kept one hand behind Colton’s knees, he pushed the blond’s shirt up, tickling first around his waist and one of his hips. A loud gasp left Colton’s lips before his laughter kicked up a notch-- surprisingly, he was able to get a few words out before it got worse.

“N-nohoho! Thahat’s cheheheatihihing!” He shrieked as Myarel’s finger trailed across his tummy, jumping as the digit swirled around his belly button-- but he still kept his grip on his shirt, determined to outlast the torment, no matter how much of a cheating bastard his friend was.

“I never said I wouldn’t tickle you anywhere else... you did tell me to do my worst, and this is it.” He wiggled his finger inside Colton’s belly button as he spoke, causing the poor boy to shriek again before falling into silent laughter. Having tickled Colton before, he knew his limits-- and while he was near them, he wasn’t quite close enough. On a hunch, he looked toward Colton’s feet, which were attempting to flail despite his legs being trapped. All it took was a single finger gently running up the sole of his foot, and Colton let out a wheezy screech of laughter, his fist pounding against the couch-- finally tapping out despite how badly he didn’t want to.

Myarel released Colton’s legs, chuckling when the other curled up into a ball, rubbing a hand against his belly to rid himself of the tingly feelings on his skin, giggles still escaping him. “Better luck next time.” The words were said in a gentle, amused tone, and it was clear there was fondness behind them as Myarel ran his fingers through Colton’s hair, lightly scratching at the back of his scalp as his eyes fluttered shut. He pulled his hand away after a few moments, however, not wanting to make Colton fall asleep on the couch.

“You want me to leave you alone? I could get your arm, if you want.” As Myarel picked up the polishing rag, Colton lifted his head to glare at him. “No tickling, or I’ll really kick you.”

Snorting, Myarel moved to sit on Colton’s right side, resting it across his crossed legs and beginning to lightly wipe it down, avoiding the crease of Colton’s elbow as to not make him jump. “You know me better than that.”

As Colton started to polish one of his legs, Myarel finally noticed what the bottoms of his feet looked like-- the very centers of his soles matched the rest of his skin, but nearer to the sides of his feet, they were grayish, though still the texture of his skin. “I didn’t... hurt you when I touched your foot, did I?”

Colton looked up at his friend, shaking his head with a bright smile on his face. “Nah, you’d know if you did. My feet are sensitive, but they don’t hurt unless you dig in. But,” he elbowed Myarel’s ribcage, getting a soft snort in return, “don’t get any ideas.”

Shaking his head, Myarel gently turned Colton’s arm over to polish the other side. “No ideas here.”

They continued their work in a comfortable silence.

[crimsonadri-fanfiction]

We’re Believers, I Believe Tonight (Chapter 8)

Fandom: The Hobbit

Genre: Romance, Humor, Adventure, Family,

Pairing: Fili x OC x Kili (Polygamy relationship, NO incest)

Rated: T (might change)

(First) (Previous) 

When Lucy woke the next morning the sun hadn’t even begun to rise. She grabbed her sword and bag before heading out of the room to meet up with the others. The elves had washed her clothes for her but she had put them in her bag and was wearing an outfit provided to her by the elves.

It was a white long sleeved top with a brown leather corset with a belt around it that had few pouches and a loop for her sword. Attached was a skirt that faded into a tan-ish colour stopping mid-calf; she had dark pants underneath and high boots. It would be easier to move around in than her jeans but of course she kept her coat over the top for now. Lucy met up with the dwarves, who were packed up and ready to go. She noticed Tony wearing new clothes as well. He had a long brown shirt with black pants underneath like Lucy had. He had a belt with a loop for his sword as well as a pouch on the opposite side.

“I look like a native don’t I?” he asked with a grin as she walked up to him.

“You look cute,” she said as she ruffled his hair.

“Lucy,” he whined quietly. A few of the dwarves snickered.

“Looking lovely as usual, Lucy,” Kili complimented with a grin as he and Fili walked up to the siblings.

“And you said we’d never see you in a dress again,” Fili pointed out.

“This is a skirt,” Lucy said.

“Same thing,” Tony said.

“There’s a difference. I’m wearing pants underneath.”

“Take off your coat,” Tony said before he pulled at it.

“What, why?” she asked as she let him pull it off her while giving him a weird look.

“You look a lot better now,” Tony said and the two brothers nodded in agreement.

“What does it matter what I look like?” Lucy asked as she folded her coat over her arm. Tony nodded to the brothers who looked semi-awestruck but snapped out of it a moment after Lucy looked at them. Kili cleared his throat.

“I think you look nice either way,” he said as Fili nodded.

“Well, I’d rather be warm than fashionable,” she said as she put her coat back on. Thorin and the others started to walk by.

“Come on, the sun is on the rise,” he stated, giving the four a stern look as he passed them. The brothers quickly grabbed their things and started to follow the others, Tony and Lucy doing the same. Everyone quietly made their way out of Rivendell as the light of the sun came up behind them.  

“Be on your guard; we’re about to step over the edge of the Wild,” Thorin said as they walked up the narrow path. “Balin, you know these paths; lead on,” Thorin said.

“Aye.” Bilbo turned around and looked back at Rivendell, longingly.

“Master Baggins, I suggest you keep up,” Thorin said. “You two as well,” he added looking to the siblings.

“Come on.” Tony nudged Bilbo’s arm gently and the two walked next to each other. Kili stopped walking, letting the others walk past him while ignoring his uncle’s look, until he was walking next to Lucy. He smiled at her.

“Lovely sunrise, don’t ya think?” he asked as he nodded over to the slow rising sun.

“Yeah, it’s pretty,” she said returning his smile. Kili leaned in slightly and lowered his voice.

“Though, it pales in comparison to your beauty,” he said with a wink. Lucy’s face flushed and she tried to hide her smile as she looked away but he’d seen it. He chuckled as she nudged his shoulder with hers and she giggled quietly as he did it back.

____________________

The sun was at its highest point in the sky; the siblings took off their jackets as it became too warm to wear them. Lucy felt her bag move and turned her head to see Tony with a hand in it.

“And, what exactly are you looking for?” she asked. He shrugged.

“Dunno.”

“Then could you not?”

“Nah.” He shook his head and kept looking around. “You wouldn’t happen to have a long forgotten granola bar or something?”

“Sorry.” She shook her head. “We’ll probably stop to eat soon.” She turned to look at the nearest dwarf, Nori, to confirm or not. He shrugged and looked to Bombur who then realized how hungry he was. Thorin sighed and called for everyone to stop for a quick lunch and to rest; they had been walking all morning.

Lucy helped Bombur with the food; they no longer had the soup set up but had stocked up in Rivendell. Everyone else sat down to relax, as much as they could under the blazing sun.

“May I take a look at one of your books, Miss Lucy?” Ori asked.

“Hm? Yeah, go ahead.” Ori went over to Lucy’s back and pulled out one of the three books she had. He was planning on comparing their alphabet; he’d been meaning to ever since Tony mentioned their ‘a’s looking different. As he pulled the book out something else came with it. Ori picked it up, the object crinkling. Lucy frowned, hearing the familiar sound, and turned to see what he was holding. Tony burst out laughing as he too saw what the young dwarf was holding.

“What?” he asked. “What is this?” Lucy let out a sigh and went to explain but Tony spoke before she could.

“They’re for nose bleeds,” he said, jokingly, from where he was sitting a few feet away.

“They are?” Ori frowned. “Miss Lucy, you often get nose bleeds? There are a lot of these,” he stated as he glanced into her bag.

“They’re not for nose bleeds,” Lucy corrected giving Tony a slight glare. “They’re for when I…” she let out a breath. “menstruate.”

“When you what?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. Lucy glanced at the surrounding dwarfs and saw only a handful seemed to know what she was talking about.

“When I bleed for a week,” she said bluntly.

“What? How? Are you injured?” Kili asked, coming over to her, concern clear on his face. Lucy looked to Thorin with an expression the read: You’re kidding me right? Balin cleared his throat.

“It’s a natural occurrence for women of all races,” he explained.

“What do women here do?” Lucy asked.

“Ah, well it is to my understanding…”

“Rags,” Thorin answered.

“That sounds awful,” Lucy said with a grimace.

“I’m still confused,” Kili pointed out.

“She bleeds from her vagina so she can have babies,” Tony said. Lucy slowly turned to look at him. “I’m 12, I’m not stupid.” Lucy opened her mouth to speak but closed it but nodded.

“So…” Ori held up the small item he was still holding. “What is this for?”

“Tony, you keep your mouth shut or I shut it for you,” Lucy snapped as she looked to him. He grinned. “It’s so I don’t bleed everywhere and ruin my clothes,” she said quickly before taking it from him and putting it back into her bag. “End of topic please,” she practically begged. A few of the dwarfs looked to be thinking then one by one their eyes widened.

“Yeah, she does, get over it,” Tony said as he noted their expressions.

“Tony.”

“I didn’t say it.” Lucy sighed and noticed the two brothers were avoiding her gaze. “You probably should have hid them better,” Tony pointed out. Lucy closed her eyes and took a calming breath.

“I didn’t think you’d just blurt it out.”

“You weren’t gonna say it.”

“Of course I wasn’t!”

“It’s a natural female thing.”

“Tony, I suggest you stop talking,” Fili muttered quietly.

“I’ve never seen her angry before,” Kili commented.

“Oh she’s not that angry yet. This is about a three outta ten,” Tony informed them.

“Tony. You got five seconds,” Lucy warned.

“Make that a five,” Tony said as he quickly got up and moved behind the two brothers.

“Don’t use us as a shield,” Kili said.

“You brought this on yourself,” Fili agreed. “We don’t want her angry with us.” Tony grabbed a handful of the small plastic packages from the bag as Lucy turned to him.

“I’m gonna need these!” he shouted as. As he expected, and to the amusement of the Company, Lucy began to chase him around.

“Tony!”

____________________

The sun started to go down as the group neared the misty mountains. The company decided to stop early for camp so they could be full of energy to climb and have as much daylight as they could. They stopped for camp while they were still in the woods so they wouldn’t be out in the open. Bombur started on dinner while everyone else set out their bed rolls.

“Bifur, Bofur gather firewood,” Thorin said.

“I’ll help!” Tony offered as he dropped his bag by his sister’s and jogged over to the two.

“We’d enjoy the company,” Bofur said with a smile as he pat the boy on the back. Tony smiled back and glanced at Thorin but he wasn’t looking at them. The three walked off to the surrounding area to find branches for firewood.

“Hey Kee?” Lucy asked walking up to where he sat on his bedroll smoking his pipe.

“Hm?” he smiled up at her as he tilted his head to the side slightly.

“Would you braid my hair again?” she asked as she sat down.

“Sure,” Kili smiled and put his pipe down. Lucy smiled.

“Could you do some smaller braids this time?” she asked. Kili hesitated.

“I uh- I don’t have anything to keep them in,” he pointed out.

“That’s okay; to be honest I just like it when people play with my hair,” Lucy admitted. Kili chuckled.

“Alright then, turn around,” Lucy turned around and scooted back a bit. Kili put his legs on either side of her before he ran his fingers through her hair and took three small strands. Fili, who’d just sat down on his own bedroll a little ways away, saw the two and frowned. He got up and walked over.

“What are you doing?” he asked.   

"Braiding her hair," Kili answered while smirking up at his brother smugly.

"You could have one of my braid bands if you’d like," Fili offered holding up one of his braids. Kili's eyes widened. Lucy, oblivious to the meaning, shook her head with a smile.  

“That’s okay Fee, I don’t mind if they don’t stay in. I just like the feel of someone playing with my hair," she admitted with a shy, sheepish smile.

"Then I think it's time Kili took a break," Fili said. Kili frowned up at his brother. "Shouldn't you be helping Tony practice with his sword?” Fili asked him. Kili’s eyebrows came down together in confusion.

"I thought you were going t-"

"Ah-ah-ah, listen to your older brother. Go help Tony." Kili rolled his eyes but got up to go find the boy. Fili sat behind Lucy and ran his fingers through her hair. She felt a pleasant shiver go down her spine and had to bite the inside of her bottom lip to hold back a rising smile.

"Shouldn't you be helping me practice then, since Kili's helping Tony?" Lucy asked turning her head slightly.

"Shhh, luv." He slowly ran his fingers through her hair then gently brushed his fingers against her neck. She looked back at him and he smiled at her.

"Fili?”

“Yes?” he asked softly. Lucy felt her face heat up and didn’t trust herself to speak at a normal volume.

“As much as I’d love to just stay here like this... with you,” Fili’s smile widened slightly and he leaned in closer to her. “Your uncle is glaring at us. Well at me,” she clarified as she looked down at her lap. Fili gently held her chin and turned her head to face him again.

“Just ignore him,” he said. The closeness caused Lucy’s face to flush. Their eyes met and she felt a flutter in her chest as he smiled at her.

“I still think maybe you should give me that fighting lesson now," she said as she moved her head away to look forward. Fili chuckled slightly.

"I can do better than that." He stood then held out a hand to help her up. "How would you like to be able to use my throwing knives, daggers and axes?" Lucy's eyes lit up as she took his hand and let him pull her up.

"Really?"

"If you want," he said.

"Yeah. Oh, but I don’t where I’d put them even if I knew how to use them," Lucy said as she looked down at herself.

"I've got that covered," Fili said with a smirk.

…

Tony was practicing his swings as Kili gave him tips and pointers. He looked over and saw Fili teaching Lucy how to throw a throwing knife at a tree. Fili held her arm, with his other hand on the small of her back, and slowly showed her how to throw it before he’d let her try. Tony could see his sister’s face was bright pink.

"Your brother likes my sister, doesn’t he?" Tony asked. Kili frowned in confusion.  

"Of course he likes her, why wouldn’t he?"

"No, I mean he really likes her."

"Oh, you mean he fancies her?" Kili watched the two a moment. "I guess you're right." He sighed overdramatically. "I never stood a chance." Tony snickered. "Hush," Kili said as he rolled his eyes.

“No one said you had to let your brother win,” Tony said.

“Who said it was a contest?” Kili asked. Tony gave him a look. “What are you suggesting?” he asked.

“I say it’s time the younger sibling got something they wanted,” Tony said. Kili shook his head.

“If he truly has feelings for her I won’t stand in the way,” he said with a frown.

“What about your feelings?” Tony asked. Kili cleared his throat as he looked away. “Look, I’m not saying you have to steal her away from him. Just don’t give up so easily; it’s not like they’re dating yet.”

“I’m not giving up easily,” Kili said crossing his arms with a frown before he looked confused. “…What is dating?”

“Uh… I guess you guys have a different word for it. Hmm… you know how when you like someone and you what to be with them? You have a relationship but not married.”

“Courting?” Kili asked.

“I guess, yeah let’s go with that. They’re not courting yet.”

“They aren’t…” Kili mused.

“So you still have a shot,” Tony said. Kili shook his head. “Go pick her a flower or something.” Kili turned to look at Tony.

“You’re just trying to get out of training, aren’t you?” he asked. Tony raised his eyebrows as if the idea was unheard-of.

“No I’m not. Look, I’ll keep practicing while you go talk to her.”

“Alright,” Kili nodded and smiled.                                                                                                                                            

“Good luck,” Tony said. Kili frowned, suddenly looking nervous.

“Do you think I’ll need it?”

“It’s an expression, you’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” Kili said before walking away. Tony smiled and sheathed his sword. He heard someone clear their throat and saw Thorin standing there with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face. Tony’s smile grew sheepish and he unsheathed his sword before continuing his practice swings.

…

“I think you’re getting the hang of it,” Fili said with a smile as he looked from the knives stuck in a tree to Lucy. Lucy smiled back. “Now we just have to find where to put these.” He twirled a knife in his hand. “We could fit a few here.” He reached out and put three small knifes in the belt like strap on Lucy’s corset. “We could also put two in your boots. I’ll help you make holsters for them later.” Lucy nodded. Fili took a few more knives off his person before handing them to Lucy.

“How many of those do you have?” she asked as she put a few in her pouch attached to her hip. He smirked and put a finger to his lips.

“That, my dear Lucy, is a secret,” he said making her chuckle. “I think we should work on your swordsmanship next, unless you’re too tired.”

“Not at all,” Lucy said with a smile. She was a bit tired from walking the whole day but the practice could save her life, plus it was Fili teaching her so it wouldn’t be all that bad.

Kili walked up to his brother and Lucy and saw Lucy had just started to swing her sword.

“No no no,” Kili said. The two turned to look at him. He walked up behind Lucy and fixed her grip and her stance. His arm around her made her face flush. His other hand swiftly tucked a flower behind her ear. She blinked in surprise, reaching up to touch it as she looked to see him smiling.

“Kili, shouldn’t you be helping Tony?” Fili asked with a frown, a bit ticked at his younger brother.

“He’s doing alright by himself.” The three turned to see Tony trying to pull his sword out of a tree. Kili turned back to the two with a sheepish smile. “Ehh… He’ll be fine,” he told Lucy who looked a bit worried.

“Don’t you have… something else to do?” Fili asked.

“Nope,” Kili said with a grin. “I was hoping I could steal the lovely lady away.” He held out his hand for Lucy to take.

“Lucy still has to practice,” Fili said glaring at his brother slightly.

“It’s almost dark.”

“Almost. So she should keep practicing until then,” Fili almost growled.

“I’ll still be here when the sun goes down, Kee,” Lucy said. Kili nodded.

“Until then, m’lady,” Kili said with a wink before he walked away.

“What was that about?” Lucy asked as she looked Fili. Fili looked at her with a small confused frown.

“What?” he asked.

“I didn’t know you cared so much about my training,” she said with a chuckle.

“Well,” Fili said with a nod before clearing his throat. “Of course. Your training is very important, speaking of…” He gestured to her. She nodded and started up again.

…

Soon the sun was down and Lucy put her sword by her bag, Tony was a few feet away playing his game. She could see the red light on the device showing it would be useless soon.

“Lucy.” She looked up to see Kili smiling at her. Tony looked over and hid a smirk behind his game. Kili held out his hand. Lucy chuckled and took it.

“So what are we doing?” she asked.

“Just getting a bit of privacy so no one can eavesdrop,” he said as he led her away. Lucy nodded. Once the two were far enough away from everyone else, but still within the campsite and view. Kili laid down and patted the spot beside him. Lucy laid down and turned her head to him.

“So what are we doing?” she asked again with a chuckle. Kili pointed up. Lucy turned her head to look at the sky and a small gasp escaped her lips. Kili chuckled.

“Tony told me about… uh light pollution. I found it awfully sad you can’t see the stars that well in your world. I figured since it was such a clear night, it’d be the perfect time for stargazing.”

“I can’t believe as long as I’ve been here I’ve never really looked up,” Lucy said in a whisper. “I mean I have but… it’s never been this…” she motioned to the sky with a chuckle.

“Well to be fair we’ve mostly been in the woods, the trees have been blocking most of the view,” Kili whispered back as he turned his head to look at her. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Kili turned onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow. He looked over at Tony, who gave him a thumbs up, and shook his head with a silent laugh. He watched Lucy look up at the sky in amazement before he bit his bottom lip.

“Lucy?” He looked down at the ground as he played with a blade of grass between his fingers.

“Yeah?” She didn’t look at him; her gaze was fixed on the twinkling dots above them. “Do you… do you fancy my brother?” Lucy’s head snapped to look at him and he smirked at the rising blush coming to her cheeks.

“Wh-what?”

“Do you like my brother?” he asked.

“Of course I like him,” she said pretending she didn’t know what he meant. Kili chuckled.

“Do you really like him?” he asked. “Do you fancy him?” Lucy swallowed. Kili looked back over to the others and noticed his brother glaring at a tree while he smoked his pipe, sighing every so often. “Do you know the significance of our braid bands?” Lucy shook her head. “Some have our family crest on them.” Lucy nodded. “Do you know the significance of braids?” Lucy shook her head again. “To braid a female’s hair… it’s something a male normally does when the two are… together.” He saw Lucy’s blush darken and her eyebrows rose.

“I didn’t know,” she said, flustered.

“It’s alright, Lucy,” he said with a chuckle. “I know you didn’t.” Lucy glanced at the other dwarves. “They also probably figured you didn’t know,” he added. “When a couple starts courting they braid each other’s hair and the female wears the male’s band. The male could also wear hers but most don’t unless they’re… well sought after. They wear their One’s band that has their family crest.”

“Their One?” Lucy asked.

“Uh yeah… that’s what we call the one we’re courting,” he added.

“Like someone’s boyfriend or girlfriend,” Lucy suggested. Kili blinked. “That’s what we call the person we … court in our world. If someone’s engaged to be married they’re someone’s fiancé.”

“So… do you have a… boyfriend back in your world?” Kili asked. “Or a fiancé?” Lucy shook her head with a chuckle.

“No,” she said. “You?”

“Nah, no one waiting back home for me…. Well our mother but…” he chuckled then shook his head as Lucy smiled. Just then a thought occurred to her.

“Wait a minute… didn’t Fili offer me his…?” Lucy trailed off as she reached up to touch one of the braids still in her hair and Kili nodded. “So he… if I had said yes and you had put his band in my hair… what would that mean?”

“Well we do have the same bands since we’re brothers but since it came from him it would mean… the two of you were courting.”

“But he never asked to… court me.”

“Oh, I’m sure he was going to ask afterwards, he probably acted without thinking because he was jealous of me spending time with you.” Kili smirked. Lucy chuckled and rolled her eyes.

“So…” She bit her lip. “He likes me?” Kili smiled at her.

“Mhm.” Lucy started to smile but then a thought crossed her mind and her smile fell. Kili frowned when he saw. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice laced with worry.

“What if Tony and I end up finding a way home?” she whispered. Kili’s frown deepened and he looked down.

“… and what if you don’t?” Kili asked. She turned her head to look at him. “Would you stay with us in Erebor? With Fili?” Lucy nodded her head. “Then you should talk to him; you should spend as long as you can together.” Lucy shook her head.

“It would just be too painful if we ever did end up finding a way home.”

“What if it was so painful that you decided to stay?”

“What?”

“Why don’t you just stay?” Kili asked as he sat up. Lucy sat up as well. “Just stay here with us, no matter what happens.”

“Kili, we can’t just-“ Lucy shook her head.

“Don’t go…” he begged in a quiet voice. “I’ve gotten so used to having you around, the others feel the same way I’m sure. We’d all miss you two.”

“I’m pretty positive Thorin still doesn’t want me or Tony here.”

“Who cares what my uncle thinks?”

“Considering he’s a king…” Lucy said with a slight scoff. Kili rolled his eyes and took one of her hands in his.

“How about this: if you find a way home, just stay a little while longer; don’t go right away.”

“You just want it to be so painful we won’t go,” she said.

“That’s the plan,” Kili said in a serious tone and a nod.

“Look… Kili, I understand you want us to stay and it means a lot to me…” she put a hand over her heart. “I’m sure it would mean a lot to Tony too… but we don’t belong here.” Kili lowered his head. Lucy frowned and rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. Suddenly his head shot up.

“What if you do?” he asked with a growing smile.

“What?” Lucy blinked.

“What if you do belong here?”

“Kili…”

“No just listen. It’s like Gandalf said. Something brought the two of you to this world and to this company; it’s brought you on this journey and it’s led you to me-my brother.” Lucy didn’t catch his slip up.

“Kili, what about my parents back home?” Lucy asked. Kili frowned.

“Maybe they could come here too?” he suggested with a sheepish shrug.

“I appreciate what you’re saying I really do,” Lucy said. She let out a sigh. “How about this: if Tony and I don’t find a way back home within... a few weeks of reclaiming Erebor… we’ll stay.”

“You won’t look for a way back? You’ll stay forever?” Kili asked his eyebrows raised and a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Promise?” Kili asked. Lucy bit her lip as she hesitated.

“I… I promise,” she said. Suddenly Kili tackled her into a hug with a joyful laugh. She let out a squeak but laughed as well. Some of the company looked over and rolled their eyes with a few chuckles. Fili looked over and frowned deeply before getting up and walking deeper into the forest. Kili let go of Lucy and smiled sheepishly.

“Guess you should go after him then,” he said. Lucy nodded.

"Thank you, Kili," Lucy said. She put a hand on one of his cheeks and kissed the other before she got up to go after Fili.

"Of course..." Kili said with a sad smile as he watched her walk away.

…

“Fili!” Lucy called after him. It didn’t take long to catch up to him. “Hey, wait up!” He stopped walking but didn’t turn to look at her and let out a sigh. Lucy touched his arm. “Fili?”

“Congratulations,” he said turning to her with a forced smile.

“Huh?”

“You and Kili, huh?” Lucy’s mouth fell open.

“What?”

“You two will make a great couple,” he said without looking at her. Lucy started laughing which made Fili frown. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“You!” Fili frowned deeper. “There’s nothing going on between me and Kili,” she said. Fili looked confused.

“But I saw the two of you-“

“He got over excited cause I told him we might stay here after the journey.” Fili's eyes lit up.

“You’re going to stay? That’s great!” Fili exclaimed with a smile then blinked. “So there’s nothing between you and Kili?” he asked before Lucy could say anything.

“No, I mean he’s adorable and flirts sometimes but...no,” she said shaking her head. After all Kili wanted her and Fili to be together, didn’t he?

Fili nodded and was tempted to ask, ‘and me?’ but bit his tongue. Lucy swallowed and took a breath before taking a step closer to him.

“Hey Fili?” He looked at her. “You think I could borrow that braid band now?” Fili blinked. His cheeks went pink slightly.

“Uh- I uh well…”

“Kili told me about them, the braids and the bands.” Fili’s eyes widened and he blinked.

“So… so you?” He pointed to her then to himself and back.

“I believe the phrase Kili used was… I fancy you,” she said as she looked down at her hands. Fili grinned and suddenly wrapped his arms around her then picked her up before he spun her around. She put her hands on his shoulders and laughed. He stopped and put her down so they were face to face with his arms still around her.

“That’s fantastic,” he whispered with the biggest smile.

“So you fancy me too?” Lucy asked with a smile.

“Oh yes,” he said. Lucy kissed his cheek quickly and he gave her a quick chaste kiss on the lips. Lucy looked away shyly as she felt her face burning. “I’ve been waiting forever to do that.” His smile grew even more, if possible, as Lucy smiled shyly at him.

“Really?”

“Really,” Fili said with a chuckle as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face letting his fingers linger. She gave him a quick kiss and when she went to pull away his hand slipped into her hair to hold the back of her head as he deepened the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer. After a moment they had to pull away the catch their breath.

"Well, at least kissing is the same here as it is back home," Lucy said with a chuckle. He stroked the side of her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek gently. “I guess I should’ve told you how I felt sooner.” Fili chuckled.

“I guess we’ll have to make up for lost time,” he suggested as he smiled before capturing her lips once more.

____________________

When Fili and Lucy returned to the camp, their fingers intertwined between them, the first to notice her new braid and the band was Thorin. His eyes widened as he stared at it silently. After a moment he sighed with a small smile when he saw the look on Fili’s face. Dwalin, who was sitting next to him, noticed it next; he raised his eyebrows but also didn’t say a word. He looked at Thorin and saw the smile.

“Perhaps she’ll be good for him,” Dwalin mused. Thorin nodded. The next to notice was Bofur who made such a scene that everyone knew about it within the next five seconds. Tony looked from his sister and Fili, who were crowded by dwarves, to Kili who was sitting next to him.

“You just ruined your chances completely, you do realize that right?” Tony asked. Kili nodded and sighed.

“I’d rather see them both happy than be happy and have my brother be the one who’s hurting,” he said as he looked up at the sky.

“But what about you?” Tony asked with a frown. Kili just shook his head silently as he looked at the stars.

“Alright,” Thorin said loudly. Everyone quieted down. “Everyone get some rest.” The dwarves all returned to their bedrolls. Fili looked over as his uncle gave him a small nod. Lucy deliberately avoided looking at Thorin as she and Fili went to his bedroll. He kissed her hand before they laid down.

“Sweet dreams,” Lucy whispered back as Fili let her use his arm as a pillow.

“If you’re in them, they will be,” he said with a smile before kissing her forehead. “Goodnight, luv.”

“Goodnight.”

Next Chapter

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[lordsicheng]

Autumn Breeze: Pt. 3

MXM Donghyun x OC

Genre: Fluff, Breakup 

Part 1| 2 | 3 | 4 [coming soon]

“We could have been like that, but our strings never got attached.”

Looking at your watch over and over again for the tenth time, you became worried Donghyun might not show up later. It was only past 4pm, but you decided to leave the apartment and take a stroll at the nearby park. You felt lightheaded and were eager to just get things over with because hey, Jina did tell you Donghyun isn’t the only guy in the world.

But what made you become so dejected about him? You were the one who broke up with him in the first place.

Donghyun tried going to his office, but he forgot it was Christmas. He then called his friend Sihoon to hang out a bit and go to the coffee shop you and him first met. After going on quite a number of dates for the past two months, Donghyun thought it was the time to actually be more serious with you.

“I’m ready to make her mine.” Donghyun smiled as he told his friend, Sihoon, his plans on finally telling you his feelings.

“Don’t even try messing up. You are now a man, my friend.” Sihoon said as he patted Donghyun’s back

“I surely won’t. I just hope she shows up tonight.” Donghyun said, fidgeting on his phone by checking the time every now and then

“What makes you think she won’t show up? Does she have plans tonight?” Sihoon asked

“Uhh, yeah. She said she might go to a friend’s birthday party. I think the friend’s name was Youngmin.” Donghyun looked at Sihoon

“Ohhh. A guy friend.” Sihoon crossed his arms

“But she said they were just classmates back in university and weren’t really close.” Donghyun shrugged

“Nah, she probably won’t be there for long. She’s been spending a lot of time with you, so she probably won’t ditch you. Meet up with her at a later time, maybe?” Sihoon said as he sipped on his hot cup of coffee

“I’ll move it to the next hour. 9pm? That’s probably still early.” Donghyun said as he, as well, sipped on his coffee

You arrived at Youngmin’s place, and he greeted you by the door and asked you to come in. It was also Christmas, meaning Youngmin had another reason to celebrate. You did keep in mind that you needed to meet up with Donghyun in two hours, so you just decided to stay over until Donghyun calls you up first. When you got to the living room, you were shocked to see almost every one of your close classmates and some schoolmates come over, knowing that you are all from a different city.

“How did you even manage to invite everyone? This is like a reunion!” you exclaimed as you looked at Youngmin

“Well, it’s Christmas. Most of us live in Seoul now and couldn’t go back to our city, and it’s my birthday. So why not have a huge celebration with close friends?” he smiled

Damn, you remembered how much you used to like Youngmin and your heart suddenly skipped a beat

“Come ooooon y/n! Let’s all celebrate!” Jaehwan, one of your old classmates and one of the louder ones of the bunch, called out and raised his glass, and soon after everyone did as well

All of you had a great time celebrating; Youngmin prepared the gathering pretty well in his apartment, which was quite an average size for most in the city. You were even surprised how many people were able to fit in his place.

“Your apartment seems nice, but I’m more amazed by how all of us were able to fit even in the living room.” you chuckled

“Well, I’m planning on moving out in several months. I only paid 6 months worth of rent, and I kind of want to move to a bigger place.” Youngmin shrugged

“Oh, you can move in our building! The place is bigger, and you can pay your rent monthly without installments.” you smiled

“Hmm. I’ll think about it. Anyways, what’s up with you these days? You seem to have changed quite a bit, and we haven’t seen each other since April.” Youngmin said as he drank his glass of champagne

You didn’t notice the time pass as all of you were talking about what has been going on with each other’s lives, what all of your future plans were, and basically did a lot of catching up to do. You had a lot of fun, especially since you were with people you basically had your university years with. You checked on your phone to check if you had any messages

“7 missed calls….. 10:43pm?!” you shrieked, and Youngmin got surprised and asked you what’s wrong

“I was supposed to meet up with someone over an hour ago! Damn it, Youngmin I gotta go. I’m so sorry. Everyone see you again soon! It was so much fun, Youngmin please gather everyone like this again next time! Bye!” you said as you hurriedly grabbed your coat and ran out the door, then down to the stairs to the entrance of the apartment building to catch a cab quickly to where you and Donghyun were supposed to meet

“Stupid stupid stupid stupid stuuuuupiiiiiid” you thought in your head, feeling repentant about letting time pass by too much and forgetting you had other plans. You and Donghyun were supposed to catch a movie together, but what you didn’t know was the theater closed at 9pm that time. As you arrived, you ran out to the entrance to see the janitor clean up

“Excuse me, sir? Hi. Have you seen a guy… kind of tall, brown hair, uhhh… eyebags?” you said as you tried to catch your breath

“Eyebags?” someone said while standing behind you, you faced the person and you were relieved to see him

“God, Donghyun! I am so so so so sorry.” you absentmindedly hugged him because of how apologetic you were. Donghyun was kind of annoyed and a bit angry, but his anger suddenly dropped when you hugged him. He couldn’t hide his huge smile, and even the janitor was chuckling

“So, your girlfriend finally arrived?” the janitor asked in a sarcastic tone, with Donghyun widening his eyes in shock

“Girlfriend?” you pulled away from the hug and looked at the janitor, then looked at Donghyun, who was blushing a ton

“She’s not my girlfriend…” Donghyun looked down and scratched the back of his head

“That’s not what I heard.” the janitor winked, and left to get back inside the theater to get his things and leave. You and Donghyun stood there and became quiet for a few minutes, until you decided to break the ice

“What’s his problem?” you asked Donghyun, who couldn’t even look at you in the eyes

“Uh, he was just joking.” Donghyun snickered

“No, I wasn’t.” the janitor again emerged out of the theater, now wearing a coat and brought a bag with him

“He didn’t know the theater was supposed to close at 9pm, so he just waited for you for a while. I saw him walking around outside, and I was close to telling him to go away since he looked suspicious. But, he just explained everything, said his girlfriend, which I am very sure is you, was at a party. He even said you probably wouldn’t show up, but here you are.” he laughed as he explained, and you opened your mouth in awe as you looked at Donghyun, who was looking the other way out of embarrassment

“I see.” you said as you faced the janitor again

“You lovebirds have a pleasant Christmas. I have a wife and a kid to go home to. See ya!” he smiled waved as he left you and Donghyun right outside the theater

You tapped your foot a few times before actually walking to Donghyun’s side, seeing him still blush from what just happened

“So, girlfriend, eh?” you said as you smirked

“I can explain… I guess..” Donghyun scratched his chin, trying to look at you

“Go.” you crossed your arms, still smirking

“I… just… gave that as a reason to actually wait for you… and for the janitor to not kick me out…” he said

“So out of all the things you could call me, you called me your girlfriend?” you tilted your head, emphasizing the ‘girl’ in girlfriend

“I just made that reason! Girlfriend sounded essential.” Donghyun made a straight face, clearly embarrassed

“….but am I not your girlfriend though?” you smiled, trying to tease Donghyun

“Erm… what?” Donghyun’s eyes widened in shock as he finally looked at you

“I mean, if you don’t want me to be, that’s cool. I was just as apologetic because I came really late.” you shrugged

“You are at fault too. You came over an hour late and you wouldn’t even answer my calls.” Donghyun turned away from you and started to walk away slowly

“You don’t want me as your girlfriend, do you?” you teased again, following behind him

“I do! I mean, maybe? I-“ Donghyun said as he faced you again, already looking into your eyes

“Are you saying…?” you smirked

“I’m saying what?” Donghyun tried to fight back

You just smiled and tiptoed a bit, and gave him a peck on the cheek. Donghyun was literally as red as a tomato and he felt the heat on his cheeks flare up

“You’re saying, I’m your girlfriend.” you grinned. Donghyun couldn’t help but chuckle at your cuteness

“I’m saying, you’re my girlfriend.” he finally smiled. You felt your heart beat faster the more you looked at Donghyun. You didn’t want to waste a chance, so you hugged him tightly a while after. Donghyun then hugged you back, caressing the back of your head

“Why don’t we go and get some food. I’m starving. What do you say, girlfriend?” Donghyun started teasing as he pulled away from the hug

“Whatever you say, boyfriend.” you giggled and looped your arm to his, and you both started walking away to have late dinner

At present time, you couldn’t help but smile as you stood outside the theater you first called Donghyun your boyfriend. All the memories you had with him suddenly kept popping in your head, but this was the most memorable one. This was the memory you assured that Donghyun felt the same way as you, and that this was the exact place of your first serious relationship. You let another tear drop from your eye as you slowly walked away from the theater, already heading down to your meetup place.

A/N: Chapter 4 will be the last one. Wonder what’s gonna happen in the end? :p

[carlshameless]

The same yard.

Carl Gallagher x Female OC

Chap. IV | Slow burn fic | Unedited

First | Prev. | Next

Follows the storyline, though some things will be altered (Canon Divergence). No real storyline. Friendship to lovers.

Warnings: typical Shameless warnings

Kirin rubbed her hands together as she stood out on the porch of her house looking over at the big black truck that blocked her view of the Gallagher's house. She looked over at the house to the left, the one Steve had bought, and could distinctly make out Fiona's face as she peeked through the curtain to try and spy on the going's on in her old home.

It had been a few days since Kirin had last seen Carl, or Debbie, or anyone from the Gallagher family after the return of their mother, Monica Gallagher, and her girlfriend Roberta. The night that the family found out she had returned, they all rushed over to the Jackson's house leaving Kirin with Kev and Veronica, along with their foster child, Ethel and her son, to stay back at the house and watch over their dinner that was in the process of roasting in the oven.

With Ethel being the only one around Kirin's age, she became close with the girl as they waited hours for the Gallagher children to return home. Kirin never really talked to her before, mostly because of the weird things she spoke about of her past life, but Kirin found she was actually pretty normal when she wasn't talking about her husband Clyde, or the other wives. They played some board games for a while, the older girl even taught Kirin how to bake a few things, given that they had enough time. 

Midnight was the time the Gallagher siblings finally arrived home, and when Monica walked in behind the children with Frank and her girlfriend in tow, V wasted no time in going out to look for her good friend, Kev and Ethel following her as they tried to calm the worried woman.

"Goodnight Kirin." Ethel farewelled to her new friend who nodded back in response, watching as the young girl and her baby followed Kevin out the front door.

"Oh, my! Is that little Kirin?" Monica cooed as she grabbed the girl's cheeks. "Look how big you've gotten. Isn't she so big now Frank?" She grabbed Kirin's face, bringing it to her chest as she spun around to Frank. Roberta didn't like all the attention that her girlfriend was now showing to her husband.

"Let go of it Monica, or else it might think you're it's mother and attach itself like the rest of these leeches," Frank grumbled. The man jumped away from the small girl as she started to growl at him when he tried to pass through to get to the kitchen.

"Shut the fuck up, Frank," Lip said as he detached Monica from Kirin. "C'mon, bed. All of you." Lip ordered, handing Liam over to Kirin and directing her and Debbie towards their room, then putting a hand on Carl's head to spin the boy toward the stairs. The two teenaged boys followed the children upstairs as their mother bid them all goodnight and then waited for the response that never came.

"Where's Fiona?" Kirin asked as she looked down at the two older boys as they climbed the stairs. Carl and Debbie looked down at the steps, their eyes avoiding her, while Lip and Ian looked at each other.

"She's just taking a break, too much to handle right now, but she'll be back," Lip said reassuringly to all three children. As they reached the top of the stairs, Ian put his hands on Carl's shoulder and steered him into the boy's room, the younger boy looking back out as he watched the two girls head towards Debbie's room.

"Is she really going to take Liam?" Debbie asked as she looked at the sleeping baby resting his head on Kirin's shoulder.

"They're gonna have to pry him from my cold, dead fingers. But it's nothing you have to concern yourself about, okay Deb?" The girl nodded as she helped her friend to place Liam in his cot. As the girls made themselves comfortable in their shared bed, Lip turned off their light and left them to go and sort out Carl. 

The two girls spent half an hour talking about the night's events over at Sheila's before Debbie finally dozed off. Kirin was close to doing the same when she heard a small hissing sound coming from the bedroom floor.

"Pssst"

"What the-" Kirin looked over the edge to find Carl lying on the floor. "What are you doing?" She whispered as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Being the deep sleeper that Debbie was, it was no wonder she didn't wake up from the noise was making as he spoke up.

"I couldn't sleep." He said, reaching up to the bed to pull down the girl's blanket to cover himself a little.

"Hey." Kirin hissed as she looked over to see some of the blankets had moved off of Debbie.

"What? It's cold."

"Why didn't you bring your own blanket then?"

The room was silent for a second as Carl came up onto his elbows. "You know how hard it is to get across these floorboards without someone in this house waking up. I had to crawl down the hallway like I was in boot camp." He complained as he laid down on his stomach.

Eventually, Carl would speak up about what was on his mind, but until then Kirin turned to her side so she could see the boy better as they stared at each other through the darkness in comfortable silence.

That was the last time Kirin or Carl had seen each other, for early that morning Serena was at the bedside shaking Kirin awake, practically dragging her home while she was mentioning something about how Fiona had filled her in on the situation at the Gallagher's. Kirin currently wasn't allowed over while Monica and Frank had taken charge of the house, and with Carl flunking a grade, she rarely saw him during, before or after school as Monica was right there to drop the Gallagher's younger kids off and pick them up.

"Good morning neighbor." A gentle voice broke Kirin from her thoughts. The young girl looked out towards the sidewalk where a smiling Ethel stood holding up a shovel.

"I was shoveling out the snow on our footpath and wondered if you would like yours done as well." She asked kindly. Kirin walked down her porch steps to meet Ethel at the fence that surrounded their front yard.

"Nah, it's cool. I like the snow to build up, then make holes and cover them so people fall in them." Kirin shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Ethel was a little concerned but decided not to question her.

"Veronica is making you do chores on the weekend as well?" Kirin asked, gesturing to the shovel.

"Oh no. It was such a beautiful Sunday that I just felt like doing some goodwill in the Lord's name." Ethel explained, sending a small prayer up towards the sky.

"You wanna come into my house and take a break? I can even help you with it later if you want ?" Kirin said, opening the gate. Ethel walked into the front yard and left her shovel at the foot of the steps leading up to the porch.

"You don't have to. I'm almost done with the footpath, I'm going to start in the backyard soon, hopefully get it cleared to get it ready for harvest next season."

Kirin opened her front door and gestured for Ethel to go in, following the girl as she took her gloves and coat off. Kirin closed the front door to keep the cold air out and then took the girls coat off her to drape over the stair railing.

"I'll help. Nothing better to do anyway." Kirin shrugged, leading the older girl towards the kitchen. Ethel took this chance to take a look at the house. Bare walls, some with torn wallpaper and others with fist-sized holes, a small lounge with no tv, couches covered in clothes and dirty throw overs and an old dilapidated kitchen that had a sink filled with last night's dirty dishes.

"Thank you for inviting me in. Your house is…nice" Ethel said slowly as she watched a cockroach scurry across the floor.

"It's a shit hole, you don't have to lie," Kirin said as she pulled out a can of soda from a box. "Here. Serena took a couple of boxes of Soda from stock at the bar she works on her weekend shift. Sorry, it's not cold, our fridge has been on the fritz the past couple of days. It's all we have to drink unless you want a corona?"

"This is fine, thank you." Ethel accepted the can and took a seat at the round table.

"Woah, watch out," Kirin warned as she came over to the table where one of her shoelaces and her mother's used needle sat under a messy pile of bills. "Kev will kill me if you contract a disease while you're here." Kirin carefully picked up the needle like Serena taught her and discarded it into a sharps container she had V steal from the nursing home, if only for the safety of the child of a drug addict.

"So is it just you and your sister that live here?" Ethel struck up a conversation as she sipped on her drink. Kirin brought over some crackers for them to eat.

"Most of the time, yeah. Mom’s in and out every couple weeks. Dad used to live here, but he's in prison serving time.”

"What is he in for? If you don't mind me asking…"

Kirin gestured to the holes in the walls, "Anger issues. Anything and anyone is his targets."

"I think the saying is '- his punching bag'." Ethel corrected.

"No, I'm pretty sure I had it. Dad still has a heap of weapons hiding around the house. Sis said that the neighborhood used to be scared to walk past the front of the house 'cause he used to sit on the porch with his shotty." Kirin said in-between mouthfuls of crackers. "He had a baseball bat that he's cracked a few bones with, as well. Saving it for baseball season." Kirin winked.

"You're into baseball?"

"I'll play anything if it means not sitting at home, bored out of my mind. Gonna join in football season as well, while I'm still at the age that they accept girls." Kirin finished off her drink, scrunched up the can and landed it straight into the bin. "Might join Kev's basketball team, if I'm lucky. You should join up, it'll be fun."

"Oh, I'm not so sure." Ethel laughed nervously. "Mr. Ball tried to teach me but I'm not very good at those types of things."

"Come with me." Kirin abruptly stood up and went back down the hallway to the staircase. Ethel followed, discarding her rubbish as she passed through the house. "Up here," Kirin called out as she opened the door to her room, Ethel making her way in not long after.

The older girl looked around the small room and found it to be in a lot better condition than the rest of the house. Posters on the wall, a single bed, a desk which was covered in engravings and graffiti sat off to the left and a sizable window that looked to the front yard. Kirin opened up her closet, where a whole bunch of different sports equipment tumbled out.

"Here it is." Kirin pulled out the baseball bat she was talking about earlier. She gave it a few swings before handing it over to Ethel. "It's a little stained, but still in prime condition."

Ethel was a little concerned about the dark red patch at the top of the bat. "What does this stand for?" She asked as her finger traced over an initial carved into the wood, which looked similar to the ones that were etched into a lot of the furniture in the room. Kirin glanced over it before going back into her closet.

"C.G. It's Carl's initials. Never realized that was on there before. He always marks something when he comes over."

"Does he come over often?" The older girl asked as she noticed one of Carl's beanies and jacket slung over the back of her desk chair.

"Sometimes. Only when he needs to hide when he gets in trouble, or when I'm not over at the Gallagher's, which is rare. In case you haven't noticed, there isn't much to do here."

"What about this? The sister's and I were taught how to make these when we were kids." Ethel said as she found a paper cup phone lying on the floor near the window sill. Kirin gave her a look when the older girl started to reminisce about her childhood. As Ethel went to pick up the paper cup, she realized that the line was cut.

"That's old. Carl has the other end. We used to plan stuff on that thing before a truck came through and snapped the line. We used so much string…" Kirin shook her head. Who would have thought that finding string would be such a struggle?

"Do you do everything with Carl? Don't you ever play with Debbie?"

Kirin shrugged her shoulders, "I guess. I play with Debbie sometimes but most of the time she pretends she's an adult and bosses us around."

Ethel was very curious about these children and their lives because they were so different to how she was brought up. Just as she was about to press the younger girl for some more information, Kirin cut her off as she emerged from the wardrobe, grin on her face as she held a puck and two hockey sticks. 

"Ever hit one of these before?"

"Yes." Ethel said confused as the grin widened. 

"How about at a moving target?"

[biobliterator]

@synthzander​ made a super cool post answering questions abt her OCs and I got inspired to do it myself too!! I’m doing it for my five current faves. this is taken from @the-moon-dust-writings​‘s post here!

-OC’s full name?  Nix: Phoenix Eleanor Nova Rex: Bartholomew Alexander Achernar Orion: Orion Vela Io: Io Justine Pleione Ceres: Ceres Altair (Orion and Ceres don’t have middle names bc Orion picked his own name and didn’t want one and Ceres just straightup doesn’t care)

- Where were they born? Nix: Greece Rex: Scotland Orion: uhh I’m not 100% exactly sure yet but somewhere in South Asia  Io: idk man Ceres: Rwanda i think!

- What accent and language do they speak in? Nix: kinda a mix between English and Greek accents, speaks English, Greek, and a bit of French Rex: Scottish accent, only speaks English Orion: his accent and first language depend on where exactly he was born so i need to figure that out, but other than that he speaks English, Spanish, and French fluently, and many many other languages less so. Io: Io doesn’t “”speak”” but they can only use English Ceres: his first language is Kinyarwanda, altho he hasn’t had the opportunity to speak it for years. And he’s close to fluent in English!

this got super long so i’m putting it under a readmore from here! (also i accidentally switched ceres’ and io’s positions w/o realising fdkg)

- What flaws do they have? Nix: g od where do i even begin w this question. she’s manipulative and can be cruel. she wants her own way and she wants it now and she’s not afraid to go to great lengths to get it Rex: mm Rex isn’t developed enough to have significant flaws yet, but he has major attachment issues and tends to be lazy Orion: my boy is perfect wym he avoids all his problems and will always take the easy route rather than helping anybody out, also keeps a lot of knowledge of other people that would be better shared w certain others Ceres: Ceres is a difficult one tbh, but he doesn’t have any interest whatsoever in helping anybody who isn’t himself or very close friends, and doesn’t care if he hurts other people  Io: Io,, also is difficult? they make things harder for other people but that’s not their fault. yea idk Io is developed enough either

- What are things that they are good at? Nix: she’s very good at social situations and cheering people up! she’s also good at painting, photography, cooking, and is a talented engineer (she smart) Rex: video games his one true love.....he’s also a talented socialiser and good to have around in stressful situations bc he’s calm and level headed, AND he knows how to survive in the wilderness. Orion: music!! he’s a v talented musucian and singer. other than that he’s rly intelligent and can memorise almost anything - which includes the entire high school musical script. also he somehow makes friends super easily without realising how Ceres: his academic strong point is most definitely history. other than that he has a quiet way of being comforting? he notices the people he’s close to and is good at figuring them out without asking. he’s also REALLY good w animals Io: Io is pretty damn brilliant at building robots!! and they’re curious and are good at researching things they find interesting

- What are their pet peeves? Nix: ppl not taking things seriously when they should, rly loud music, ppl who don’t research before talking (basically her pet peeves are everything abt her younger self lmao) Rex: not listening when he’s trying to talk, disrespecting others’ interests, sore losers Orion: talking over him, being the punchline, being unwilling to change little things for him, chewing w ur mouth open Ceres: he only has one!: every single person on the entire earth  Io: not even bothering to try and understand their way of communicating, putting salt on things

- What is something they do not respect? Nix: ppl who talk down on her friends Rex: biting straight into the kitkat Orion: ppl who needlessly state their negative opinion Ceres: ppl who are mean to spiders Io: spiders

- Could they survive on their own in a forest? Nix: maybe?? as long as it wasn’t for too long Rex: yea Orion: quite possibly? he might have the knowledge but idk if he could put it into practise Ceres: fairly sure he could Io: no

- Are they social with others? Nix: very!! Rex: yes Orion: a lot of the time! Ceres: no Io: yea

- Do they have good social skills? Nix: yes Rex: yes Orion: ..sorta? Ceres: hell no Io: mm not really

- What is their deepest darkest secret?  Nix: she’s not as caring as she tries to make herself out to be Rex: idk he’s a pretty open book Orion: i think he keeps a lot of things secret, but knowing where his sister is and not finding her is prob a big one Ceres: his entire past p much? he doesn’t tell anybody shit Io: i think that they feel guilt over their existence sometimes. they try not to show it bc they don’t want people to worry but they need near constant care and can be difficult to live with. 

- Do they have a guilty pleasure? Nix: probably alcohol. she tries not to drink bc she has to be responsible at all times but damn does she wanna get drunk Rex: h onestly i feel like he would be into dolls and things but too embarrassed to share it Orion: eating all the ice cream. all of it Ceres: he rly likes anime... Io: they have secret social media accounts where they shitpost near constantly

- How do they express their feelings? Nix: in violent emotional outbursts or silent crying at midnight Rex: he does his best to hold it in at all times but sometimes he’ll just cry Orion: he wears his heart on his sleeve and has frequent meltdowns Ceres: he Doesn’t Io: very much phsyically. if they’re feeling something, you’ll know

- How do they react when they are proven wrong? Nix: depends. if she likes the person she’ll apologise and move on, if not she’ll just get Angery Rex: he doesn’t argue or shout unless he’s CERTAIN he’s right, so usually he’s in a situation where he can just say “oh yeah thats a good point” Orion: with confusion, mostly. knowing things grounds him, so its disorienting when he’s wrong Ceres: he’ll clench his jaw and walk away Io: [text] wot

- How do they mourn? Nix: she’s the Responsible One™ so she does her best to stay strong, but she’s very likely to lose control and resort to reckless activities Rex: loudly and angrily Orion: he withdraws and sabotages himself Ceres: he withdraws too, even more than usual. he’ll just...sit and stare at the wall Io: they don’t? understand? like when are they coming back? where did they go bring them back??

- When would they back talk someone? Nix: whenever she’s given the opportunity lmao Rex: only if they’re REALLY pissing him off Orion: not very often. probably only when somebody is talking abt his friends bc he can process that quicker Ceres: he wouldn’t. he just wouldn’t respond Io: when ppl aren’t listening to them (or whatever listening is through text)

- Do they gossip? Nix: YES and then feels bad about it later Rex: only if he knows it’s not harmful Orion: nah Ceres: no Io: lmao yes

- Would they ever be able to forgive themselves if they did something horrible? Example - Murder Nix: i think maybe? depends on the circumstances Rex: he cant even forgive himself for WITNESSING a murder when he was a kid :/ Orion: if he can rationalise it, yea Ceres: good question. the answer is i have no clue Io: i think so. it’d have to have been extreme circumstances for it to happen so they’d handle it

- Do they care about themselves or others more? Nix: herself unless it’s her friends (she has many friends) Rex: others Orion: others but he knows he needs to care abt himself more :/ Ceres: himself UNLESS it’s somebody he’s super close to Io: others BUT they’ll put their own needs first

- How would other OCs describe them? Nix: abt Rex - a solid friend. he’s safe and lovable and the one person who doesn’t depend on her abt Orion - so talented? she’s so proud of him and knows he’s gonna go far abt Ceres - after living with him for a while, he’s actually really sweet. you don’t notice him, but he notices you abt Io - the most precious lil bean!! she adores io even if they can be frustrating sometimes Rex: abt Nix - pushes herself way too hard. she needs to learn to relax so she doesn’t snap abt Orion - a good friend who he can have a real deep intelligent conversation with. lots of people underestimate him but rex knows he has a LOT to offer abt Ceres - hoo boy.....hoooooooo boy.......... abt Io - he struggles to understand io but he’s trying. the more he understands the more shocked he is at the kinda shit they text him

Orion: abt Nix - has no idea where he’d be without her, but couldn’t rely on her entirely. he’s thankful she introduced him to, and is part of, a solid support system abt Rex - he honestly loves hanging out w rex. he has so many interesting stories. while orion is more of a thinker, rex is more of a doer, so together they get up to a lot abt Ceres - ceres was the first one of them he met. he rly likes ceres. he’s a good listener. orion would like to learn more about him but he doesn’t want to push abt Io - what he loves abt io is how much they understand each other and can laugh about it. while the others definitely try, they don’t fully understand what it’s like to live as an autistic, but io does.

Ceres: abt Nix - he wants to trust her. he really really want to trust her, but deep down he doesn’t. she needs to fully and truly open up for him to trust her, but for her to do that he has to open up himself, but for him to open up he has to trust her..... abt Rex - complicated emotions. rex needs to learn how to not be taken advantage of abt Orion - persistent, but he’s grateful. without orion he doesn’t know where he’d be, and he really loves to hang out w him, especially as he’s one of the few people that doesn’t ask questions or make things awkward abt Io - he likes doing Quiet Things with io. like playing chess, baking, reading. io isn’t generally a quiet person, so he’s grateful they spend their quiet times with him Io: abt Nix - possibly one of the best people ever? while they adore their parents, without nix there’s a lot of things they wouldn’t have gotten to experience abt Rex - confusing. not the first person they’d go to in a crisis, but not the last either abt Orion - trouble buddy!! they get into trouble together a lot its great abt Ceres - needs to brush up on his chess skills bc they trash him every time but needs to ease up on his monopoly and poker skills bc they want to win ://

- How would your OC describe themselves? Nix: damn bitch you live here?? Rex: constantly just trying to fix his own mistakes Orion: existential crisis with a violin Ceres: reeeallly doesn’t know what he’s doing here Io: um?? the best Obviously ;)

- How would you as the writer describe them? Nix: nix is my eldest, and i probably have the closest relationship with her. she pushes herself too much and it only sends her backwards. she’s in a difficult position bc she has people that rely on her and they need her, but she needs to look after herself too bc she’s only gonna end up hurting the people she cares about, not to mention herself. but honestly? i love her so much. i admire her desire to go out of her way to help people, and to understand people, and i’m so happy she’s found herself a family that love her and she loves back. Rex: my boy has come so far. he’s the youngest of the group, but he’s still over a year old by now and he’s changed so much. he has such a genuine desire to make everybody happy, but like w nix needs to look after himself too bc he’s going to make himself sick. i hope to god someday he finds reason and purpose in his life and that he’s happy. Orion: such a shining light. i remember almost killing him off as soon as i made him and i’m so glad i didn’t. he has a power that draws people to him, and just seeing him smile could brighten any day. he deserves the world. i know things can be difficult for him, and people can be mean and say mean things, but he handles it so well and i am so proud that he’s found his family and he’s going to stick by them no matter what. they’re going to help him rise to the top and allow him to achieve his dreams, and he’s going to keep them with him when he does. Ceres: boyo...sweet boyo........this whole mess wasn’t his fault, no matter how much he believes it was. there’s no way he could have known what would have happened when he ran off w the promise of excitement and adventure. but yknow what it his fault? taking a chance and making a friend and it turning out w him having a family who’ll defend him to their graves. Io: my baby’s been through so much dramatic development recently, and is finally getting the attention they deserve. they’ve had a lot of luck in their life, and they’re starting to realise just how many things could have gone wrong so far, and the next step is realising that they absolutely deserve those things, and that they shouldn’t try and give things back out of obligation, but out of love.

- How well do they know their own limits? Nix: nix..knows her limits, but being a caregiver means she has to push them a lot even when she doesn’t want to. Rex: he doesn’t know his limits at all. he’s constantly finding himself at limit’s end and being unable to get out of it. Orion: he mostly knows his limits? sometimes he chooses to push them, but he’ll fight for his right to stay within them Ceres: oh nah he has no idea, and he doesn’t want to find out either Io: io knows their limits and refuses to have them pushed

that’s it and i just wanna say that if you read this far i admire your tolerance and i adore you

[tmntreasures]

Honor Among Thieves Ch.1

  Thought it might be fun to upload the roleplay we’ve been having. And it could also maybe hold over anyone who’s waiting on more prompts. XD; Michelangelo’s Reunion is coming soon, we swear! But yeah... Here’s something a little different with our OCs. Hope you enjoy!

     "Fuuucck! Fuck!"  Bonnie hissed under her breath as she was running down the alleyways of New York City. Various alarms and sirens could be heard going off in the distance. The heist she had pulled didn't go as successfully as planned, and soon the cops would be on their way. She still managed to get something out of it though. A backpack full of cash. She had also managed to stuff her pockets, and bra with dollar bills. As she was running, she glanced around hectically, trying to find a way up and off of the ground. If she was above ground, it would be harder for the police to catch her, but this was a new neighborhood to her, and for some reason all the fire escapes attached to the apartments were busted. It would be impossible for her to scale the buildings without any gear.

     "What kind of fucking ghetto ass neighbor am I in? Damn!" She mumbled to herself before darting around a corner. On the turn, something snagged her backpack and jerked her back. The motion caught her off guard, and she smacked on the ground, dollar bills flying off her person. She hissed and laid on the ground for a good minute. "You gotta be fucking shitting me..." She groaned.

     Aida was on one of her nightly strolls, looking for some lost tourists or up-town folk to bribe or swindle. Her father was two hundred dollars short on rent for the house and she did not have the heart to tell him. So she was out, looking for some poor soul who might have dropped a phone or kept their wallet in their back pocket.

     She heard a loud metallic noise before a slur of curse words echoed in the night. The eighteen year-old girl smirked and jogged silently over to the source of the noise. When she saw what was going on she shook her head in disbelief and happiness. On the one hand, this was too good to be true; on the other, this was too good to pass up. Without another thought, the girl swooped in and snatched up a handful of cash, tapping it in her hand. "Gracias! You really are too kind," She curtsied to the struggling girl on the ground, flashing her a quick grin.

     Groaning, Bonnie stood up and dusted herself before noticing the Latina. "Uh-un!" She snapped at the girl, and held out her hand. She curled her fingers back towards her, gesturing for her to ‘gimme.' "That ain't yours, little girl." She stated.

     Aida stared down at the wad of cash in her hand, the sound of sirens barely audible in the distance. "Hmm, sounds like it's not yours either," She smirked and started waving the money around. "Tell you what, I'll keep my mouth shut about seeing you. In fact, I'll even tell you the best spots to dip from the cops." She then pointed to the cash and glared. "If you let me keep this."

     Bonnie stayed quiet, but gritted her teeth. There was only one person she shared her fortune with, and that was only if they were performing the job with her. She sighed annoyed and rolled her neck. "I've never had to beat down a kid before, but if have to," she said as she rummaged through her backpack, eventually pulling out a switch blade. She popped out the knife and pointed it at the girl. "Now gimme, and don't try to run, because I'm definitely faster than you, and I will catch you."

     There was a rush of panic when the moonlight glistened off the blade, but she quickly pushed the fear aside. The girl squared up her shoulders and started to bluff. "Puta please, where do you think you are? You think that butter knife is going to scare me?" She shifted her weight, ready to flee if she needed to. "Come back when you bring a real weapon," She huffed and began to walk off, hoping the girl would just back down.

     Bonnie scoffed and was about to make a move on the girl, but stopped when she felt the ground shake below her. There was a loud thud and the collision made her lose balance, and she had to regain her footing before being able to turn around. At first only the shadows were visible from the alley way, but slowly a large figure began to appear. Bonnies’ body tensed when it began to approach her. It was much larger than a human being, and there was an ungodly aroma that followed it.  She held up her knife in defense, but her whole body was shaking.

     "You mean, something like this?" A voice said, and out from the shadows it appeared. A giant beast! Bonnie's eyes grew wide, and she froze in place at the sight of being. The beast had green, scaly skin that was slightly different shades on certain areas of its body. It had a humanoid appearance besides only having three fingers and no, protruding nose, but it was wearing human clothing. It wore a mask similar to Bonnies’, except it was colored orange, and had eye holes wide enough for those baby blues to be seen. The beast had a toothy grin on his face as he swung around the wooden sticks in both of his hands.  

     "I know these are not as common around these parts but... They'll do right?" He shrugged.

     "Whaaat the fuuuck?” She breathed.

     Aida stared wide-eyed at the creature. Her body trembled and she did not notice the money falling from her hand. This had to be a nightmare of some kind, it had to be! Creatures like that did not exist!

     Very slowly the girl started to back away. Just as she turned around, another force landed in front of her; she was not quick enough and slammed into the hard mass that had appeared all of a sudden. She fell on her rump and began to scramble away when she saw a second, even bigger, monster in front of her.

     This one worse red instead of orange and had a foul snarl etched on its face. Scars littered its body and lip as fearsome green eyes glared down at her.

     "Nah man. I think she means something more like these!" Giant three-fingered hands grabbed two fork-like weapons. It twirled them around expertly, the moonlight shining off the polish surface.

     Aida felt her heart pound in her chest as she stared before letting out an ear-piercing scream. The bigger monster cringed and covered the sides of his head, giving the girl enough time to crawl between his legs and run off down the streets.

     The orange wearing turtle had flinched at her scream and dropped one of his weapons to cover his head. When he flinched, Bonnie knew it was her time to go too, but greed held her back. Her eyes snapped to the weapon when it hit the ground. She couldn't help but wonder how much she could make off it. She would need the money since her heist didn't go over as well as wanted it to. She quickly scooped it up into her hand and bolted off in the opposite direction of the other girl.

     "Wait, what?! N-No! Stop!" The orange one called out to her, as if his command would do something.

     "Don't just stand there you knucklehead!" The red-clad creature scolded as he pushed past him. "We gotta get her!" He charged after the fleeing woman, his feet pounding into the concrete below. "Better give that back if you know what's good for ya!" He hollered after her.

     Bonnie whined as she ran. "That was a stupid idea!" She thought, but kept moving as fast a she could, though she could hear the best following behind, and they were not far from her. They would catch up to her soon if she didn't do something about it. If only there was something to climb, she thought. When she looked behind her she could see the beast, still on her tail.  "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me!" She cursed.

     "Hey lady!" The orange one called out again. "That nunchuck is special!! I've had it since I was a kid! If you give it back, I'll go easy on ya!"

     She clenched onto the weapon even tighter. Knowing it had sentimental value to this... thing, only made her want to keep it for herself. She cut another corner and found herself in an alleyway that narrowed off at the end. Her eyes lit up and she laughed victoriously. There was no way those things could fit through, but she definitely could. She put on the breaks and stopped for a moment, waiting for them to catch up so she could taunt them.

     The red one stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her stop. This was some sort of trap, he could feel it. His fingers gripped his Sais tightly as he eyed the woman suspiciously. "Listen, I'm not afraid to hit a woman," he warned, pointing one of his Sais at her. "Just gimme my brother's nun-chuck and I'll be as gentle as possible," he smirked a little, slowly stepping toward her.

     When the other one finally caught up, he placed a hand on the red ones shoulder and took a moment to breathe. "Dude, like... Is everyday leg day for you at the gym? Like... what the fuck?" He panted.

     "Hmph!" Bonnie smirked and flipped her pony tail back behind her shoulders. "Well, it was fun, but this is where I bid you adieu!" She curtsied before turning on her heels and bolting down the narrow alleyway.

     "Hey--! Damn it Mikey!" He shoved the smaller turtle off of him and barreled after the girl. He did not realize the alley would narrow down until his body jerked forward, the edges of his shell getting stuck between the walls. He grunted and tried to move forward but nothing would work. "Fuck!" He slammed a fist on the side of the wall and he started to push himself back. "Can I get some help here!?"

     Michelangelo's brows perked when he heard the distant sound of sirens going off. "Oooh fuck.." He said and then scurried over to his brother. He grabbed ahold of his shell and with one hard yank, he popped him out of the alley. "Raph, we gotta go!"

     "What?" His head snapped in the direction of the sirens. He rolled his eyes and stomped his foot. "Of cooourrrssse..." He whined. Luckily for them, there was a manhole cover in the alley. He walked over to it and bent down, lifting the circular piece of steel easily. He paused for a second and glared at his little brother. "I'm not covering your ass when you have to explain what happened to your nun-chuck."

     "Hrrrmmm…This, suuucccks!" He groaned before jumping down into the sewer hole.

     Raphael followed after him, making sure the manhole cover was back in place before delving deeper into the familiar tunnels. "As far as Leo knows, we never saw them. Got it? I don't need another lecture about how to do my job."

     "What am I supposed to say about my nunchuck then? I just lost it? That'll go over great with Splinter.." He mumbled.

     He shrugged and pushed past his brother. "Not my problem, remember?" He shook his head. "Christ that chick has a set of lungs."

     “For real though! I'm pretty sure that if I take off my mask, there'll be a spot of blood." He thought on the idea for a moment and then actually did it out of curiosity, but found nothing. He shrugged. "Just kidding," and tied the bandanna back around his head.

     There was a small smirk on his face. "See, that's why I wear red," He pointed at his own bandanna. "Makes you scarier if they can't see you bleed."

     Mikey rolled his eyes, and grinned. "Alright Deadpool..." He grew quiet in thought. After a few minutes he spoke again, "So, outta those two girrrrlllsss--" He smirked.

     "Oh my god..." Raphael rubbed his face. "Mikey you gotta stop doin' this to yerself."

     Mikey tapped on his chin with a finger, and stared up at the ceiling. "It's kind of hard to decide... They both had delicious chocolate skin, with dark sexy hair.” 

Raphael shook his head and furrowed his brow. "Why you always gotta compare women to food? Like, calling April melted cheese. How is that sexy at all? Hell, how is food sexy at all?”

     "Dude, just imagine whipped cream and sprinkles all over--"

     "Mikey... Where's you other nunchuck?" A familiar voice called from the distance.

     Mikey immediately shot up and froze when the voice spoke to him.

     Out of the shadows appeared Leonardo, the eldest of the brothers. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the orange turtle when he hadn't responded. "Mikey.." He said in a stern tone.

     "Uuuh..." He clenched his teeth and cringed. "Welllll.. What had happened wasss-"

     "Mikey saw a couple of cute girls and dropped one," Raphael butted in, punching his little brother in the arm.

     Donatello came up from behind Leo, his brow furrowed in thought. "What girls were out this time of night? And I thought you guys were checking out that robbery?"

     The red ninja shrugged and stumbled for an excuse. "What, girls aren't allowed out past midnight or somethin'? They were out, Mikey saw them, and did what he does best."

     Ye-yeah!!" He rubbed at his neck and chuckled nervously. "I mean, if you'd see the knockers on--"

     "Mikey, stop. The truth." Leo demanded.  

     "Whaaa--whatdd'ya mean the truth? Th-that is the truth! " He said and fiddled with his sunglasses, eventually taking them off his neck, and putting them over his eyes to hide with.

     "No.. it's not." Leo let down his arms and lifted his chin. "You're a terrible liar, so spill."

     Mikey winced again and looked to Raph, then to Leo, then back to Raph. "Eeeehhhh..." He whined.

     Raph groaned and rubbed his face. He should have known better than to expect Mikey to keep a secret no matter how small it was. There was no way this would end well for either of them. "I hate you so much right now Mikey..." he grumbled halfheartedly before speaking up. “You know that robbery? It was two chicks."

     Donatello pushed his glasses up, "You guys get a good look at them?" He huffed and pointed at Mikey. "He'll give you a better picture of 'em. But one 'em screamed real loud when she saw us and Mikey dropped his nun-chuck. So the other chick took it and ran off."

     Leonardo glared over at his smaller brother. "Really, Mikey?"

     "It was an accident!" He threw up his hands! "I was in the middle of doing a sick move, and it caught me off guard!"

     "So the thief that you were supposed to stop, robbed the bank, and stole your nunchuck?" Leo raised a brow. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to make the two feel stew in their failure.

     "...Yeah." Mikey frowned and looked to the floor.

     "How did she even escape you?" Leo asked.

     "Well, she was really fast."

     Leo scoffed and crossed his arms again.

     "She really was! Like, I'm pretty sure she's even faster than you Leo!" Leo slightly shook his head. "Unlikely... You two were obviously unfocused!" He pointed.

     "We were not unfocused!" Raph sneered. "They were both just tiny!" Donatello scoffed, "'Tiny'?" He repeated with a grin. "Why does that matter?" He turned to him and huffed. "Because! They squeezed into places we couldn't!"

     The purple-clad ninja nodded off in thought "Mmm...Alright."

     Leonardo sighed and shook his head again. ".. So what did they look like?"

     "Alright, so like I was telling Raph. Chocolate beauties--"

     "Mikey!.." Leonardo gave him a knowing look.

     "Alright! Alright!" He threw up his hands defensively. "So... They were both women of color. The one who stole my nunchaku was black, and the other, some sort of Hispanic? Latina maybe? They both had dark hair, dark eyes, both wearing black…” He trailed off and grimaced when he realized what he was describing was pretty vague. He shrugged. "Sorry.. that's all I've got."

     Leo sighed again and rubbed his head. "Great… Alright, Michelangelo. You're gonna go explain to Splinter what happened, and why your nunchaku is missing." He pointed at him.

     Mikeys’ eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "What?! C'mooon Leooo!!" He whined.

     Leo completely ignored Mikeys' whining and turned his focus back to Raphael. "And you." He smirked a little. "Since you were unable to chase the girl down due to not being tiny enough, it's time to hit the gym! Fifty-five Burpees!" Leo then turned on his heel and begin to walk back towards the lair. "Maybe we need to put you on a diet too, and cut out pizza."

     "Wha-? That's counter-productive!" Raphael chased after him. "If anything, Mikey's the one who should go on the diet!"

     Donatello poked Mikey's sides and chuckled. "You are getting a little soft Mikey~" He teased.

     "Okay." Mikey held up a finger and looked stern.  "You take away my pizza and I will literally murder you all, no joke. I don't even care if you’re my brothers."

     Leo snorted, "If anything, that just tells me that pizza is a comfort food, and that we probably should take it away from you."

     "Plus if you are comparing girls to food, you might really have a problem," Donnie added fuel to the fire.

     "Look on the upside Mikey," Raph snickered, "Maybe those two 'chocolate beauties' will find you less repulsive!"

     Michelangelo clicked his tongue. "The girl only screamed when she saw your ugly mug Raph! I'm gawgous!!" He flexed his arms and puckered his lips. Raphael grinned at him and pointed, "Yeah but she was trying to get away from you!"

     "Guys.." Leo paused dramatically. "After a few seconds he turned and said, "You’re both ugly, so, there." He shrugged and grinned.

     Michelangelo clasped his hands together and held them up to his lips. He inhaled sharply and then lowered his hands with an exhale. "Boi!"

-----

     Aida had run all the way home, not daring to look back. Never before had she been so happy to see her beaten-down house before. She jumped over the rusty tricycles and stained plastic toys littered about the yard before diving inside her home. She slammed the door shut and pressed her back against it, panting heavily.

     "Papa?" A little voice squeaked followed by the pitter-patter of feet on the hard wood floor. A little boy and girl, no older than four, peered out around the corner. At the sight of her the boy frowned but the girl kept smiling.

     "It's Aida!" The girl cried and ran to her older sister.

     Aida sighed in relief and hugged her the toddler tightly. "Rosa, why aren't you and your brother in bed?"

     The little boy waddled slowly over. "We thought you were Papa," he grumbled, squeezing himself in to get a hug.

     "Oh, Riqui it's Wednesday. Remember? Papa's working third shift tonight," she patted his head comfortingly and rested her chin on Rosa's head. The two little ones didn't say a word for a while. Aida eventually pulled away and looked down at both of them.

     "Did Orlan and Montae come home?"

     They both nodded.

     "Are they both still home?"

     They nodded again.

     "Good," Aida nodded with a smile and stood up. "C'mon. If you two are in bed before I'm done brushing my teeth I'll read you a story."

     The twin toddlers giggled happily and ran off down the hall. Aida smiled at them before yawning loudly. At least she was safe here.

-----

     By the time Bonnie arrived at her home, the sun was rising. She had climb the fire escape and was opening her back window to get in. Once inside she practically collapsed. She had exhausted herself from running so long. The inside of her apartment was a cluttered mess. There was a lot of luxurious objects strewed about, along with random junk, and small amounts of change was scattered on almost every surface. 

     "God that was choppy." She groaned as she laid on the floor.  "And what the hell were those things?" She asked herself. She groaned again when she got no response, and pushed off the floor. She easily maneuvered her way through the clutter and made her way to her bathroom, dropping her bag and nunchaku on the floor, then removing her clothing to take a shower.

     After about fifteen minutes, she came out of the shower with only a towel on, and the nunchuk in hand.  She walked back into the main room and sat down on her couch, picking up a phone from the coffee table in front of it. She snapped a picture of the nunchuk with her phone and sent it off to a random number.

     "How much?" She waited for a response. It wasn't long after that she received a message back.

     "150."

     Her face scrunched in disappointment. "150?" She sent back.

     "It’s not a pair." The number replied. "250 for both."

     "What if I told you I got it from a 7ft tall reptilian?"

     "I’d tell you to go fuck yourself."

     Bonnie smirked. "Can I get 175 for one?"

     "Fine. See me at 8."

     "I'll be there."

[rpchive]

122nd Encounter-- Slow Ride

nice and smooth

The next morning, a squadron of golems earnestly move about between the kitchen and dining room. The table has been stretched out and set up to accommodate a much larger crowd than usual, and specialized containers designed to keep the food inside fresh and hot sit at various spots of the table. Barbell sits in his normal spot at the head of the table, idly working his way through a sausage link as he studies a couple of papers in front of him, occasionally scribbling here and there. Jay absentmindedly toys around with the scrambled eggs on his plate as he debates grabbing hash browns. Demo, on the other hand, has been eating next to nothing but pancakes and fruit. After a few more moments of writing, Barbell finally finishes his bite and then looks back up. "Alright, I think that's as far as I'll get on my own! Sorry about bringing work to the table, but I find it easier to make notes if I write out an outline first. Oh, how's breakfast, by the way? Feel free to ask one of the golems for anything you need." Demo: It's workin' out. Barbell: Good! Now, I don't suppose you'd mind humoring me about some questions I had regarding kleivenn, would you? You're the first I've ever even heard of, and given what I saw yesterday, you're also capable of some truly incredible feats. alienrabitt: Uhh, sure! If I can't answer, Karumet probably knows. Barbell: Works for me! So, someone mentioned yesterday that a "saa" was created by a wish, and bound to the maker of the wish. Does the nature of a saa depend on the specific wish or its maker, or are saas mostly just variations of the same concept? alienrabitt: What a saa becomes is kinda based on what the wish was, and who made it. If the wish was made with bad intentions, I guess the saa would be bad no matter what; but if a questionable wish was made by a good person, the saa would probably try to act in their best interest, if that makes sense? Barbell: I think so, yes...

He makes quick notes as Jay answers, glancing between him and his paper. "And what about their abilities? Is that also dependent on the wish?" alienrabitt: Well, yes and no? A saa has a couple of different "sets" of abilities; one from the wish that made them, and one from the wish that drives them. Barbell tilts his head to the side, somewhat confused. "So hold on, there are two wishes? What do you mean by the wish that 'drives' them?" alienrabitt: It's whatever they're holding in their oracle; something they can be told to do by anyone, and something that can change in an instant Barbell: Hmm... and what is an oracle, exactly? alienrabitt: That's something any saa-based kleivenn can have; it's what their soul's bound to. Most kleivenn that are only saas have hearts for oracles, but it could be an object too. Usually it has to stay on their person, but Demo seems to be an exception. Barbell: Interesting, and I assume you'd have to actually handle the oracle somehow to change it. So I take it Demo's not a saa, then. Are you one of those "maryen" or however you pronounce it? Demo: Maryein; but no, I'm...one of a kind. There's nothing like me anywhere else; period. Barbell: Heh, your group's just full of "one-of-a-kind" folks, isn't it? I assume that has something to do with that Xentrilis fellow you mentioned yesterday. Does that have any effect other than not needing your oracle on your person? Demo: It lets me summon as many anubis as I need. I can manipulate their sands, too, assuming they're not in their weird bird forms... Barbell: ... Anubis? Demo: ...Do you want an example? Barbell: Assuming it doesn't make a mess of the dining room, I'm not opposed. With an indifferent shrug, Demo summons one of her anubis a fair distance away from the table, so that none of the sand from the process gets blown into anyone's food.

"See? Just a big, fancy bird..."

Barbell looks over eagerly at the creature and then shortly afterward drops his pen, and the mood in the air changes as he goes silent for a moment. "... That. Is not a bird." Demo: Well, it's also a dragon, but I think it looks more like a bird... Barbell: It's not anything like an animal. Will you please get rid of it? Demo gives Echo a frustrated look of confusion, only for Echo to be gratuitously nodding back. Even more confused, Demo dismisses the anubis. "Umm...sorry?"

Demo doesn’t know what anubis actually look like all the time, but Echo does

Barbell gives a heavy sigh of relief as the anubis vanishes, putting his elbows on the table and then burying his face in his hands, causing the goggles to slide up his face for a moment. He takes a few more seconds to collect himself before he finally pulls the goggles back down and unhides his face with a very practiced movement that prevents the others from seeing his eyes. He leans over and picks up his pen from the floor and gently places it next to his notes, then clears his throat before he turns to Demo and finally speaks again.

Barbell: I don't mean to be rude, but that was horrific. Demo: I mean, I know most kleivenn look pretty scary in their true forms, but I didn't think it was that bad... Barbell: You really don't know what that is you're summoning, do you? Echo: Considering the god it came from, she ought to know better, but I don't think she bothered looking past what we do to them to keep everyone else from seeing...

Demo: I...didn't realize I was the one doing that, honestly. I just thought they all decided to quit looking creepy when I freaked out the first time...

Echo: No; they just got better at hiding it. Barbell: So wait, you have seen it? How it has all of those... faces... Echo: Well, yeah; but that's not really something you talk about... Barbell: I suppose not. Forgive me, I... wasn't expecting to see some of those again.

He stacks his notes and clips them together with the back of his pen. "I think that answers everything I had for now. I'll need to write all of this down in a proper form later. I'll leave you to breakfast for now, then. Send a golem for me if you need me. They always know where to find me."

He pushes himself up out of his chair and steps out of the dining room, unable to completely hide the discomfort in his expression. Echo: Way to ruin breakfast, Can Tab.

Demo: Don't...call me that. Collin: I don't think she was trying to. Still, I've never seen him so... shaken. That really must've been a nasty sight to see. Demo: ...It's...not something that's easy to look at. Collin: I'll take your word for it on that one.

I mean I could show you but something tells me you don’t wanna know

Karumet: Uhh, well...what did you want to do today? Collin: I'm not entirely sure. It's nice not to have any pressing issues for a change, but after doing that for so long, it feels... weird to have a break like this. Demo: What, do you want something to do? Collin: I mean, I sure as hell don't want to fight another devil if that's what you're implying. Maya: Well, what do you want? Collin: I... I just feel like we could do something with the time. Like... I don't know, maybe finally get around to teaching me something about Chariot? Maybe we could get Barbell in on that too, assuming you don't need freaky magic creatures to do that too. Karumet: Definitely not, unless I count... Daedalus: He said freaky, not fishy. Karumet: ...Regardless, I can teach you. Collin: I'm not opposed. Though we should probably wait until Barbell's had some time to calm down... Karumet: Can't blame you there. What should we do while we wait, then? Demo: Why don't you check on the kid? She strikes me as the type that's always up to something interesting. Collin: That might work, assuming she doesn't want to work on whatever in peace. Demo: Worst case you go back on the IT and play a game or something. Collin: True. Anyway, I guess I'll go see if she wants company. Anyone else coming? alienrabitt: I'll come.

Paprika: Oh, I'll go too! I'm interested to see what's going on here. Collin: Works for me. Let's see what she's up to, then.

The trio leave the dining hall and head up the stairs in the foyer to Relana's room, which has been helpfully marked as such by a handmade sign with letters that pulse with a faint light. Collin knocks on the door a couple of times, to which a distant voice replies "Just a minute!".  Soon enough, Relana answers her door, although she seems slightly surprised at the people on the other side.

Relana: Oh! Uh, hi! Sorry, I'm not used to anyone that isn't Barbell or one of the golems knocking. Collin, Jay, and... Paprika, right?

Paprika: That's right! Relana: Nice! I was torn on either that or Pepper. Anyway, did you need something?

nah, Pepper’s actually one of my mutual’s OCs

alienrabitt: Well, we just wanted to see what you were up to is all. Relana: Oh, uh, sure?

Somewhere between confused, surprised, and pleased, she steps to the side allowing the others into the room. Inside is a rather strange blend of a girl's bedroom and the back area of a workshop. Drawings of animals and places are pinned up on the wall alongside schematics for various unidentifiable gadgets. A stuffed mouse with magnetic hands holds a screwdriver next to a dismantled electrical appliance. The strange snowglobe from yesterday sits on a counter with a to-do list on a pink sticky note stuck to its base. A larger workbench sits opposite of the bed with what looks like a broom with a strange engine attached to the brush end resting on top of it.

"Sorry if it's a little, uh, cluttered. In my defense, Barbell's room isn't any better." Paprika: You certainly seem to be a busy person...but that just means you have a lot of ideas, huh? Relana scratches the back of her head, unsure of how to react to the remark. "Ahaha, I guess? I mean, it's not like it's rare to think up cool stuff, right? I'm just lucky enough to have the right tools to do it. And, uh, the right people to go to when stuff doesn't work right or starts turning into a tornado." Paprika: It's interesting; I haven't actually seen any sort of weather besides snow before. Relana: ... Wait, really? Did you live in some kind of arctic area before now? Paprika: Well, no; there was a...monster, I guess, that was so cold, she made the climate in her room change. Relana: Woah, you had to babysit a monster like that? Paprika: Babysit? No, we just...observed it. Sometimes we had to fight it, but only when, well...I'm getting sidetracked; um, I haven't really been...outdoors.

oh, that one’s...The Snow Queen! she’s got some nice EGO stuff

Relana: Oh, geez, that's... sad. You should come with Iris and I sometime! We've found all sorts of cool places to go around here! Paprika: I'd love to! I've never been able to really explore anywhere, and we usually only go to dangerous places, so I haven't been able to see much... Relana: Yesss! I'll have to let her know later! I've actually been working on a broom for her, but I haven't been able to get the engine to play nice with it yet. I guess making two different magic things work together isn't as easy as just strapping them together, go figure. Paprika: I haven't dealt with a lot of magical things before. I've seen plenty... Relana: It's not as hard as you might think, but it does take some getting used to. Stuff doesn't always act the way you think it will, for better or for worse. In this case I just can't get the broom to fly again once I put the engine on. Maybe it's just too heavy..? alienrabitt: The broom, or the engine? Relana: The engine. The broom can fly just fine on its own, but trying to make it go faster's just made it grumpy so far. alienrabitt: Well, if the broom can carry a person, it could probably carry a little more weight; but not by much... Relana: Hmm... I think you're right, actually! It could carry both of us with a little struggle, so it can't just be the weight! Something about the vis in the engine must be throwing the broom off! Maybe it's the fuel source? I think it's using Potentia right now, but maybe if I swapped that out for Volatus- Oh, sorry, I probably shouldn't start working when I have company. Hang on a sec.

She hurriedly scribbles something down on another sticky note and slaps it onto the engine. "I'll get back to that later, sorry." Paprika: It's alright! You're pretty quick with this stuff, huh? Relana turns slightly red. "W-Well, I... try my best? I just want to... um..."

She seems to catch herself before she says something, unsure of whether to actually finish the thought out loud or not. Paprika: Y'know, I think you're gonna do something pretty incredible. People like you could help a lot of people. Relana sputters for a few seconds, looking at everything in the room aside from Paprika to find some kind of response. She finally looks back at her, trying desperately not too look too proud of the compliment but not quite succeeding. "Th-Thank you..." Paprika: Of course! Um, well; now that we've had a look around, should we check on Barbell? He didn't look too good...

all this flattery is probably just Paprika doing her job as an ex-sephirah and less her genuinely caring, but I don’t think she’d admit that

Relana: Wait, really? Did he get sick or something? Paprika: Oh, no! He was just a little upset, I think... Relana: I don't think I've ever seen him upset... Should I come with you, or is this one of those "adult" things? Paprika: I think he just saw something...sad, or maybe scary...? I didn't really understand. Collin: I don't think he was scared. Sad is probably the better bet, honestly. Relana: Well, if that's the case, do you mind if I come with you? Paprika: I don't see why not! If you're old enough to be building things like that, I think you're old enough for just about anything else. Relana nods seriously, and the group head out of Relana's room as Relana takes point and leads the others to Barbell's door. She reaches up and knocks on the upper section of the door, then waits patiently. A few moments later, the door clicks and Barbell opens the door from the inside.

Barbell: Oh, I see we have a whole group here. Is everything alright?

Relana: They told me something happened that made you upset. Are you okay?

Barbell chuckles slightly and pats Relana on the head, rustling her hair slightly. "Ah, I think I'll live, don't you worry about me. I just had to take a little time for myself. I just had an unexpected trip down memory lane, that's all." Paprika: Those are always the worst. Barbell: Sometimes. Other times they're just... bittersweet. Ah, but don't worry about me. What're you kids up to now? Paprika: Karumet wanted to teach Collin how to understand Chariot! We figured you'd be interested. Barbell: Oh? Is that a sort of language or something to that effect? alienrabitt: It's the kleivenn language! Written and spoken. Barbell: Ah, let me get some paper and I'll be right there! A little while later, a small group has assembled in the same room where Barbell was giving his presentation on the gods of magic so long ago. The same chalkboard has been wiped clean, and a set of chairs has been set up for the audience as well as a podium or two for the presenters. Karumet: This is...a chalkboard...

alienrabitt: Well, yeah...

Karumet: I haven't used one... Barbell: You haven't? What are you used to, then? Karumet: Paper.

alienrabitt: Well, think of it as big paper, but with a different type of stick to write with, and you can erase the words with just about anything.

Karumet: I...think I understand. Is there anything either of you wanted to know immediately? Barbell: Is there an alphabet of some form? That should be a decent starting point, in my opinion. Karumet: Words are drawn with a structure; each word is drawn out with branches and points, like drawing leaves on a tree branch. A safe start is to draw a line, then draw diamonds branching off of it, or interrupting it on the way down. There can also be "clusters" of diamonds in places, three diamonds shaped to look like one larger diamond. The location of these along each individual line determines the phonetic of the word itself. Each phrase is written like a string; each word connected by the line that runs throughout all of them. A sentence would be ended with a circle at the end of the line; however, there are no breaks between words or paragraphs, and there is no other punctuation, often making things look like one large line... Barbell: So the line is a sentence, ended by the circle, and the diamonds and clusters are the actual letters and words within the sentence? Karumet: Yes, exactly! And it's read horizontally, from left to right, then curving if it reaches an edge to be read from right to left, effectively zig-zagging all the way down whatever it's written on. It's very important that the line is never broken by anything other than a circle; all words are connected. Collin: So, how do you know what the diamonds actually say? Karumet: Based on their location, whether they're clusters, or whether they're inside the line or branching off of it. A noun will almost never begin with a cluster; and a verb will always end with a branching diamond or cluster. Barbell: So is it more like memorizing words, not letters? Karumet: A bit. Let's take a look phonetically at the words you know for sure. Saa; maryein; shalvenn; kleivenn; Kujaar...a lot of our words have repeating letters. Clusters signify that a letter will repeat in the word; the location of the cluster indicates where the letter repeats. The start of the branch indicates that the first letter is repeated; the middle means that the letter after it is repeated; and the end means the letter before it was repeated. In a way, clusters are punctuations; however how many diamonds are in the cluster, with a maximum of three, as well as the location of it, indicates the sound the cluster itself makes. Standalone words can be read a number of ways, but the location of specific lines will always narrow the word down to just one. Collin: That... kinda makes sense? This is gonna be weirder to learn than I thought, though. Karumet: Ultimately, Chariot is written with one thing in mind: context. Words written in a broken way can be hard to understand; breaking down the possible meanings of those words helps make sense of it. "Pigs make moon sand bouncy square plates" doesn't make much sense; "humans crossed the desert rapidly at night," however, does!

Collin: Where do pigs and plates fit into that second one? Karumet: Pigs describe the living thing; plates just sounds similar to the word for traveling. Ka-sha-re; ka-ma-re.

alienrabitt: Seems a little harsh to call them pigs, don't you think?

Karumet: W-well, it was a different time when we were writing that...! But it's written with the phonetics; "life, animal, adverse" and human is written "adverse, animal--" well...! Hm. I guess it's written differently now. Let's see; "adverse, animal..." what did they call Lou...modakorra? Mallokama? Horrashaba? What was it...?

alienrabitt: Maddossaba; "adverse, human, kindness." Barbell: What did those other words mean? Karumet: Helpful; unique; ambitious. Collin: Uh-huh... So I guess you just have to learn to recognize certain shapes and patterns, and then where they are on the line is what actually chooses what they mean?

chariot’s a mess

Karumet: Pretty much.

Collin: Yeesh, so there's not even an alphabet or anything... Are there a lot of these diamond-cluster things? Karumet: There's a few different ones. Anywhere from two to four diamonds can be in a cluster. Collin: So I guess you just have to memorize those and then where you can place them. This definitely isn't a "one class" kind of lesson, is it? Karumet: Absolutely not. It's a language, after all. It'll take some time to learn it...this is why most kleivenn came with the capability of understanding any languages the person they belonged to could; so there would be no language barriers. Collin: I get that, I'd just like to be able to know Chariot too so that I could understand it if I needed to. I wonder if they have an English to Chariot dictionary back in Kujaar.

Barbell: Chin up now, this isn't even all of it. They haven't even touched on how to speak it!

Collin: That's... not really encouraging. Karumet: Speaking it is easier than writing it, honestly. Once you learn a word, all you have to do is combine it into a bigger word; say enough words and people will understand you. Barbell: That seems a little too easy. Can you give an example? Karumet: Well, let's take a look at 'kleivenn' and 'shalvenn.' Kleivenn means star forged; so we know -venn means one of those two words. Barbell: "Forged", most likely. Am I right? Karumet: Exactly! See, you can learn it! Barbell: Ha, well it was an educated fifty-fifty guess, to be fair. Not to mention I'm a certified bookworm at this point. Karumet: It's easy enough to speak Chariot; it's a much easier language to speak than to read. A few humans could speak it, but I don't think a single one ever learned to read it all. Collin: Man, the odds are never in my favor, huh? Karumet: Well, you have a handful of people that /do/ know it, and you have a lot of people that know how to build incredible technology. Wouldn't it be easier to just build some sort of...visual translator? Collin: ... Maaaybe? It's worth asking about, at least. Maybe Fawkes or XL could pull something off. Fawkes knows a bunch of languages already, so maybe he could figure it out. Karumet: It'd probably be both easier and faster than trying to teach the language to anyone. I'm sure there's books in Kujaar he could use. Barbell: Ooh, if they do rentals, get a couple for me. It'd be fascinating to look into, I'm sure. Karumet: Ehh, well, is there anything else anyone wanted to know...? Barbell: I think that'll do, for now. If you do find any resources on the language in that Kujaar place, I truly would appreciate if you could bring a copy to me. I understand if it's not possible though. Who knows, maybe I can find something of it here? Kleivenn seem to be able to show up anywhere, by the sound of it. Karumet: We'll keep some eyes out I guess. I'm sure there's something somewhere... Barbell: One can hope. Anyway, you can run along and do something else now. I won't make you play professor anymore, even if it is a refreshing change of pace! [The next day...]

The IT crew shares another breakfast with Barbell and Relana the next morning, but afterwards decide that it's time to move on before they overstay their welcome, despite Barbell's assurances otherwise. The group spend some time gathering their things and meet up back in the foyer closer to the afternoon. Barbell and Relana are waiting to see them off, along with the four thaumium golems.

Barbell: Well, guess it's that time then. It really was good to see all of you, including you newcomers. You'd better visit or at least write to me more often, or else next time I might just have to find a way to you! XL: We have the technological equivalent of phones that can connect across time and space; isn't that a bit better than a letter? Barbell: I... Erm... I guess I'm just old fashioned, what can I say? I don't even really have anything like a phone here, come to think of it...

Relana: Can you put one here? That sounds so cool! XL: Well, it's not really big, so you can just carry it around! It opens up like, uhh...a clam, or something; so don't try to twist it, but...

She sifts through the contents of her jacket before producing one of their communicators.

"Knowing you, I probably don't even need to tell you how to turn it off or on. Dialing the IT, or any of our communicators, is as easy as typing 33. Just...don't try to take it apart; even I have a hard time getting it back together." Relana eagerly snags the communicator and immediately starts inspecting it and toying around with the buttons onscreen. Barbell arches an eyebrow as he looks at XL with a sly grin.

Barbell: You do know who you're talking to, right? But I'll try my best to make sure she doesn't void your warranty. XL: Even if she manages to break it, there's dozens more on the IT itself that we still need to hand out to...several groups of people. Each of us already has one, so you could reach us individually too. There's a whole screen dedicated to private lines, after all. Barbell: Sounds useful! You're gonna have to show me how to fly that thing once you're done tinkering there, y'know.

Relana: I'll try my best, but I don't think this comes with a quill or an inkwell.

LMAO ROAST HIM

Barbell: Oho, you better watch yourself, kid!

He tousles Relana's hair playfully for a second before she spins away with a devious giggle, turning her attention back to the communicator. "Alright, well, anything we can do for you before you head out?" Demo: I think we're alright for now... Barbell: Okay, just let us know if you ever need anything. You've got a new handy way to get a hold of us, after all! Safe travels, kids! The group returns to the IT, where Nydins, Rio, and Paprika softly debate their next destination in the console room. Fawkes: Already have some plans, you three? Nydins: Well, not yet; but I'm sure we can figure something out. Unless you wanted to go somewhere? Fawkes: Oh no, I'm fine for now. I actually had some time to draft up a project design during our time with Barbell, so I'm probably going to work on that soon. I'll leave the course charting to the rest of you this time. Rio: Oh, you're working on something too now? Fawkes: Indeed! Weapon designing left a bad taste in my metaphorical mouth, so I wanted to work on something a little more... gentle? I can't seem to find the word for it at the moment. Paprika: Oh! Well, let us know if we can help. Fawkes: Will do, although truthfully I want to keep this a surprise. You'll see in a day or two, hopefully.

please don’t give Daedalus another flower crown

Collin: Sounds neat! So uh, where should we go now? It's not like any of us have urgent stuff to deal with, I don't think. Nydins: Didn't Azreldeh want to do something with you? Alternatively, we could go to Kujaar and look for books. Collin: Oh right, I'd almost forgotten about that with, well, everything else recently. Uhh, did you ever come up with something? He gives an uncertain look in Azreldeh's direction. Azreldeh: I didn't need to "come up" with anything, things just got a little...hectic. Collin: Oh, fair enough. Do you... want to do that then? Azreldeh: Are you...okay with that right now? You and your boyfriend just went through...a lot. Collin: I mean, we've had some time to just be together for once, and we talked some things out before that too. Assuming you don't have anything crazy in mind, I think I'll be alright. Are you still okay with all this, Jay? alienrabitt: As long as you don't get into trouble, yeah. Collin: I'll do my best. I think it's the other side of the coin you'll have to worry about. Azreldeh: I'm not gonna do anything weird, jeez! Not after everything else that just happened... Collin: Oh I know, I'm just messing with you. But yeah, we can do that whenever you want to, then. Azreldeh: Well, whenever you're ready, I am, I guess. Collin: Will a little bit later today work, then? Azreldeh: Sure. Collin: Alrighty, I'll knock on your door in an hour or two.

Everyone goes their separate ways for a little while to kill time. A couple of hours later, Collin approaches Azreldeh's door and takes one deep breath before knocking on it.

I can’t remember why we decided not to make this its own log

Azreldeh answers the door, her room still in its previous state. "Oh, you're ready already?" Collin: I... guess? I've never really been on an actual date before, so I wasn't really sure what to do, sorry. Do you need a little more time? Azreldeh: No, no, I'm always ready. Already got 'em to move the IT and everything. Collin: Oh, cool! So uh, where are we going anyway? Azreldeh: One of my favorite old hangout spots. I usually took people there when I wanted them to be honest with me; figured they'd open up more in private. Collin: I guess that's fair? I guess I'm just curious about what a demon princess would use as a hangout spot. Do demons build tree houses? Azreldeh: I mean, I guess we could? I haven't seen any, though. Built by us, anyway... Collin: I'm just joking, don't worry. Shall we, then? Shrugging, Azreldeh leads Collin out of the IT, which seems to be parked a little ways away from a hill with a perfect nighttime view of a distant city of some sort. "Not much out here aside from us."

Collin: Wow, no kidding. Where is this? Azreldeh: Some little town Chitola and I used to do our thing in back in the day. Looks like it's expanded a lot since. We'd bring kids that were being bullied and stuff up here; ask em what was going on at home, or school, or whatever; then we'd just...pick who to punish from there. Doing good with bad gifts just felt right, even if it was still dirty work at the end of the day... Collin: Wait, you know Chitola? Azreldeh: Uhh, yeah? I thought I mentioned that...well, whatever. Do you? Collin: Yeah, actually! Back when Nydins... died, Firefly told us about her and what she could do. We wound up taking a trip to the mirror world to find her at this bar that she ran, and she brought Nydins back for us. Azreldeh: I'm sure that came with its fair share of blessings and curses. Collin: Yeeaaah, Nydins came back with some pretty big changes after that, and she messed with Jay a bit as payment, but honestly who hasn't messed with Jay at some point?

He shakes his head slightly, changing his tone to a joke at the end. Azreldeh: That's...fair, I guess. Honestly, I'm kinda impressed you've never done anything weird to him. Collin: Huh? What do you mean? Azreldeh: Oh, c'mon; you're human; you've got a shapeshifting companion with wish-based powers that'll do anything you ask 'em to; how have you not wanted to take advantage of that? Collin: I... I guess I just... never really thought to? It's a really long story, but... I guess in the early days of us being together, a lot of our goal was to just help each other be free of our past and live our own lives. Now that we're at that point, making him do things just feels... odd? I mean, I've thought about trying some things with his oracle occasionally, but I don't want to make him think I want to take advantage of him, y'know? Azreldeh: You're just such a genuine and good guy; I really don't get it. I've seen thousands of humans, but I've never really met one quite like you. Collin: W-What? Come on, I can't be that different from most humans, right? I mean yeah I shoot lightning and stuff, but aside from that... Azreldeh: Don't be ridiculous; every single human in the world has one thing in the deepest, darkest part of their heart that could tempt them into doing something really immoral. Some people would hurt others; or kill things; or do some other questionable stuff; and it doesn't matter who you are, everybody has that turning point. I just...haven't seen yours. I can't figure out what it is yet, and it's...embarrassing. There's no way you're flawless; nobody is. Collin: Well, I'd hope something like that is hard to find! I don't really like hurting people at all, honestly, but sometimes it's just necessary, especially when you deal with the types of people that we do. But... why is that embarrassing to you? Azreldeh: You really don't realize how close the 7th district was to Bandit's son, do you? Besides, I wasn't any demon, I was a princess; I had some serious expectations put on me... Collin: I guess you would have, yeah. But what does any of that have to do with my... tipping point, or whatever you want to call it? Azreldeh: Well, not yours specifically; I just...I don't know, this stuff should be as obvious to me as the color of your hair... Collin: Oh, I think I get it now. Is that sort of stuff easier for other demons to figure out or something? Azreldeh: Well, y'know, demons only interact with humans either out of necessity or out of antagonism usually, so when we meet a human, we need to know how to instantly turn the tables. A weaker demon wouldn't be able to find something like that out easily; that's why most people have middle names that are kept "secret," but someone like me doesn't need to know your name or anything; I should be able to see right into the depths of you as a whole... Collin: Huh... So, is it just me that's giving you trouble, or is it other people too? Azreldeh: It's probably just something leftover from you being tied to all those gods. I can't get a read on Demo or Firefly either... Collin: I guess that'd make sense. Demo and Firefly also had some connections with divinity in one way or another, so maybe that's why you can't figure them out... Although if you can figure out Jay, that might not be the only reason. Azreldeh: I can get a read on...half of him, I guess? The kid that's stuck in his body.

guess I took this as an opportunity to get more of my demon lore out there

Collin: Ohh, that makes sense. So maybe it is just with people who have direct connections with gods in some way, which would make sense given that you're, y'know, a demon. Plus that can't be a super common thing outside of our little group, so it can't be that big of a hassle for you, right? Azreldeh: I guess... Collin: Sorry, guess I got us on a tangent. Is that not really the issue? Azreldeh: You're just so different; I don't understand you at all. Collin: In what way? Aside from the magic stuff, that is. Azreldeh: Well, for a human, you just don't have a lot of the similar qualities...and on top of that, I mean, the crowd you hang around is so overwhelming, and you can blend in so easy... Collin: I guess Aperture's to blame there, at least a little bit. I didn't really have any social contact until a few years ago, and I had to learn to roll with the punches both in and out of that place. Azreldeh: ...At least that place is behind you now. ...For the most part. Collin: Yeah, aside from this thing in my chest. I really need to figure out what to do about that in the long run, but at least it works for now. But uh, I don't know, I guess I just never realized I was any different from other humans. Then again, I don't really hang out with too many of those, do I? Azreldeh: Maybe not... Collin: So... was this the only spot you hung out at around here? Azreldeh: Pretty much. Didn't have a reason to try and make friends or anything... Collin: So you didn't have any friends in the court? Or the mirror world in general? Azreldeh: Nobody in the 7th district saw me as anything other than a princess. Chitola was the only one to ever just...honestly enjoy my company. Collin: I'm... sorry to hear that. Everyone else doesn't really know what they're missing in that case. Sucks to be them, huh? Azreldeh: Seriously... Collin: ... Is everything alright? I'm not sure I've ever seen you so... tense. Azreldeh: ...Coming back here; talking about all this...it's just a lot to think about. I don't usually think before I speak, but I guess that's not a surprise. Collin: Heh, I guess not, but it's really not that bad. It's kinda funny how quick you are on the draw when it comes to hitting on people, even if it usually catches me off guard. Azreldeh: That's the point. Collin: Heh, I guess that's true. But really, you don't have to worry so much about what you say. It's nice getting to hear more about what you were up to before we met. Azreldeh: I guess I just don't really know what a real date's like, y'know? I only got with people to kill them for doing terrible things to innocent kids; so it's kinda weird addressing anything...casually. Collin: I don't really know either. Jay and I didn't really date; we just had enough time and near death experiences to pull us closer together. I guess the point is just to... go to neat places and learn more about each other? Azreldeh: Well, you won't find a better view of the moon around here when the sun sets all the way, so I guess all that's left is to talk until it does? Collin: I think we can manage that. Is there some place to sit down, or is it just sorta... open seating?

He gestures out vaguely to the field around them. Azreldeh: People usually drove up here, but we don't exactly have the hood of a car to sit on... Collin: Yeah, the IT does a lot of things, but a car it ain't.

look I don’t wanna magic school bus my way through space/time

Shrugging, Collin takes a few steps away and then sits down on the grass, looking toward the city. He thinks for a second and then pats the ground next to him, looking over at Azreldeh. Taking a seat beside Collin, Azreldeh looks out at the town. "...What do you wanna know first?" Collin: Uh, I'm not sure... Hm, did you ever really get to do much of anything when you were in the court? I mean, you are a princess there, but it sounds like you don't have a lot of fond memories of the place. Azreldeh: ...Well, I mean...we were so close to the 9th district, that's where Bandit's son was, so naturally everything we did had to be really serious. The heads of the districts were the people personally responsible for taking up the mantle to...deal with Six personally, after all; any demon worth their weight in brimstone'd want a chance at turning that bastard bad. Making him truly evil would've allowed one of us to become a devil too, after all, so a lot of demons were aiming to do terrible things as a result. Same with the shadows... Collin: That all sounds... kinda miserable, honestly, although I guess we are talking about the business of devils and demons, huh? Azreldeh: The closest you can get to hell, honestly. I haven't even been. I mean, I know my mom's there, but I don't see her much. Collin: Your mom's in actual hell? Azreldeh: Well, yeah; she's too...much to be around anything short of greater demons and things that humans would define as eldritch. Collin: I'm... not sure how to feel about that. She's really that bad? Azreldeh: She's...just a lot to take in. I'm not sure any human could look at her without going a little crazy. Collin: If she's really that, uh, intense, then why do you look so normal? I mean yeah you've got horns and whatnot, but you're not like an actual monster. Azreldeh: Well, I have a few different forms; I guess you could say I have paternal; maternal; and bestial forms. My paternal's a lot easier on the eyes, so I like to keep myself lookin' like a pizza, y'know? Collin: ... A pizza? Azreldeh: Yeah, a hot 'n ready pizza ass!

Collin: Oh my God. He buries his face in his hands, incapable of looking in her direction. "Why did you set me up for that?" Azreldeh: Because I knew you'd fall for it!

you married this

Collin uncovers his face, shaking his head and smiling slightly. "How dare you take advantage of my trust and naivety. Did you just come up with that, or did you spend like an hour cooking up lines like that just for this purpose?" Azreldeh: Nah, I'm just naturally good. Collin: Naturally good at being inappropriate, maybe. I'm just relieved you didn't crack a line like that out at Barbell's place. I was afraid we were gonna have to tape your mouth closed or something whenever Relana was around. Azreldeh: Wow, I can't believe you'd do that in front of a kid. Collin: What do you- Ugh, you're terrible. I'd make a joke about locking you up, but that'd just make this even worse. Azreldeh: I can't believe you're being so forward on our first date; wow...!

👀👀

Collin sighs and leans forward, holding his head up with one hand. "I don't know what I expected. Okay, let's try getting out of this innuendo whirlpool. Did you want to ask me anything?" Azreldeh: Um...well, I don't think there's a whole lot I haven't heard about already. Do you, uhh...? Well, I guess that's probably a big no...alright, um...well, nobody we know really had good parents or anything, huh? Did any of y'all ever, like...make peace with that or something, I guess? Collin: Well, I can't really speak for the others, but personally it actually hasn't bothered me too much? I guess that's partially because when I first woke up, I was immediately dumped into a long series of death traps which didn't really lend itself toward introspection too often. Plus since my memory got screwed up, it doesn't really feel like I'm missing all that much. From my perspective, I just kinda... popped into being and went from there. That probably sounds really weird, but I'm not sure how else to explain it. Azreldeh: But don't you hate that? Not knowing where you came from, having nothing to go back to...it's weird, right? I mean, humans have that whole pack bond thing where their families mean more to them than anything in the world; don't you want to be a part of something like that? Collin: Aren't I already? There's nothing for me back at Aperture aside from bad memories. Almost everyone I care about is right there in that vending machine. Azreldeh: ...So you consider them family? Collin: Or at the very least friends, depending on the person. I've known some of them for a long time now. Almost as long, maybe even longer than the time I spent in Aperture, which was like... my entire life for a while. I don't know, maybe it's weird or unusual, but I can't help it. Azreldeh: Well, it's...different, but I don't think anything in that box counts as any definition of "normal," honestly. Collin: A bunch of people living in a flying soda machine turn out to be kinda weird, huh? Who'd of thought? Azreldeh: Well, there's more layers to it than that...hmm...are you worried about what Jay's powers could be like now? Collin: I wouldn't say worried, but I am kinda curious about how different they might be. We can still sync, apparently, so that's a good sign that things aren't super different, but I guess we'll have to find out. More than anything, I just hope he's actually happy now. God knows we've gone through enough getting him to this point. Azreldeh: Well, I don't think he wound up the way he did because he was unhappy; I think he just made a lot of bad choices and got really scared a bunch. Collin: Yeah, but he was unhappy because of all that. It feels like a big chunk of our relationship has just been trying to get him to a more stable point. But hey, he's light years ahead of where he was when we first met, so I'd call that a success. Azreldeh: Hey, I'm just glad things are working out between you two. I know how much you matter to each other. Collin: I'm glad too. Uh, sorry, probably shouldn't be talking too much about my boyfriend on a date, should I? Azreldeh: Well, at this point we're talking about everybody a little bit... Collin: S-Sorry. Guess it's kinda obvious I'm new to this stuff. I'm guessing you've had a lot more experience with this than I have. Azreldeh: Yeah, but usually it ended with me slipping my hands up someone's shirt or down some pants, followed up by a "how 'bout we head back to your place?" and then I had to kill people; so uhh...this one's a first for me too. Collin: Uh... Y-Yeah, I'd prefer this date didn't end with you killing me. That'd suck for a lot of reasons. Azreldeh: Trust me, that's not the type of suck I'm looking for in a relationship.

Collin: God. I am not gonna do anything crazy on a first date, no matter how many jokes you make. Azreldeh: Hey, at least I can still crack jokes. Collin: I mean, I can't stop you. Besides, it's... kinda funny once you get used to it. No one else on the IT says anything half as wild as you do. Azreldeh: That's a good thing! I've never met anyone half as fun as me, anyway. Collin: Well I can't make any promises, but I'll try my best to keep up at least. Azreldeh: Looks like the sun'll set soon. You're not afraid of the dark, right? Collin: Pff, the dark is the least of my problems. Plus I can make my own light if I need to. Azreldeh: Worried about somethin' else, then? Collin: Right now I'm just focusing on not messing this up, honestly. Azreldeh: Look, unless you fling yourself off the edge of that cliff, you're fine. Collin: No freediving, got it. I hope the sky's still as pretty as you said it was. I've always really liked looking at the stars. Azreldeh: We're just far enough from the city that you can see the stars, but since you can see the city from here, it's kinda like there's a blanket of stars on the ground too. The moon looks bigger here too, I think. Not absurdly big, but it's noticeable. Collin: Sounds nice. Do we need to be somewhere else, or...? Azreldeh: No; here's fine.

Glancing back down at the town for a minute, Azreldeh waits patiently as the sun hides behind the other hills, eventually falling out of sight, leaving the pair in a darkness interrupted only by the natural light of the moon and stars; the harsh lights of the city only glitter in the distance in comparison. The moon, like Azreldeh said, is large enough to seem slightly unusual in comparison to Earth's normal moon; a deep, yellow-orange color against the black sky. Collin: You weren't kidding... It's almost like the city's a reflection of the sky, except nothing down there really compares to that moon. I haven't seen it that color in a long time. Azreldeh: It's nice. Like a harvest moon, but all the time. Collin: It's like that every night here? Azreldeh: It is! Or, well, it is every time I've been here. I don't know if it's different when I'm gone.

Collin: Who knows, maybe things are just nicer when you're around? Azreldeh: Honestly, between the doll thing and Bandit, I have to disagree. My...sister or whatever almost speared your brother through the chest; people just go crazy around me. Damn shame, they're not even participating in the main attraction. Collin: Bandit wasn't really your fault. We all decided to try and stop him when we saw how bad things were getting in the mirror world, that wasn't you twisting our arm or anything like that. Same goes for your sister, really. It's not like you were cheering her on and eating popcorn at the time. The doll thing was kind of a mess, but I think all of us have caused trouble at some point or another, so you're just part of the club on that one. Azreldeh: I guess I get that, but...I don't know. I just don't wanna feel like I'm hurting you guys somehow... Collin: Well, not getting us turned into stuff or stabbed by family members is a good starting point, I think. If the worst you do on a regular basis is make sex jokes, I think we'll survive. Azreldeh: Looks like I'm in the green, then. Collin: Oh, kinda off-topic, but I do have another question for you. I've seen you do a lot of different things with your magic since you've been here; is your only limit how much magic you have on hand, or are there certain things that you can't do? Azreldeh: Well, I'm only a demon, so my magic's only as strong or as much as what I've got in my horns; but I can do just about anything with the right amount of magic. Hypothetically, I can do things without the proper amount of magic too, but that can have...consequences. Collin: Like having to go back to your shadow form? Azreldeh: Well, yeah, but it can also do things to people around me too. Collin: Like what, dare I ask? Azreldeh: There's plenty of chaotic consequences to choose from! Nothing deadly; well, usually; but for the most part it's just weird stuff. Collin: Like turning people into dolls weird? Azreldeh: Well, it could be that, it could be anything. 'Cause sometimes it wants to draw power from the nearest source; and, well, most things don't have a source of magic, and if they do, it's not something they can tap into on their own; so a demon lacking magic will try to draw in magic from any source that's surrounding them. This'll kill plants, maybe animals, maybe people; sometimes it makes people sick; sometimes they go comatose; sometimes they turn into other things...disrupting a person's natural flow of magic and spiritual energy can do seriously weird things. Collin: Not too surprising to hear. So is this coming from personal experience, or...? Azreldeh: I may or may not have accidentally trapped a guy's soul in a streetlamp for grabbing my ass once.

I can’t believe it’s not jojo

Collin: Ouch... I guess that was an illuminating experience? Azreldeh: He definitely ass-trally projected. Collin: Good grief, and I thought my pun was bad. So did you just leave him like that? Azreldeh: Well, no; he wasn't my target, he was just a jerk, so Chitola put him back and dumped him off near a bar somewhere. He woke up, figured he got really drunk or something, and went home. Collin: Hopefully he learned something at least, assuming he even remembered anything. Still, I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Azreldeh: Eh, I've had worse. ...Aaaanyway, did you have anything else you wanted to know? Collin: Mm, nothing's coming to mind really. It's just nice being out here. Azreldeh: Yeah. Nothing but the sound of crickets and birds. Collin: Mmhmm. I'm not sure what made you want to ask me out, but I'm glad you did. It's nice just being able to talk. Azreldeh: I dunno: you just seemed...right. You're something I haven't tried before, so I figured I'd get to know you better. Collin: And how's that working out for you? Azreldeh: I think it is. Maybe a little, anyway. I'm sure there's more for me to learn. Collin: Likewise. I just wanted to make a good first impression, ahaha... Azreldeh: You made your first impression with me ages ago. Collin: Well... first date impressions, then? Azreldeh: Heheh, okay, I'll give you a pass there. Collin: So, did you have anything else you wanted to know? Azreldeh: Mmm, not yet. I think I kinda just wanna enjoy the view. Collin: Don't blame you there. I can work with that. The two spend some time admiring the night sky from their spot out on the grass. As the moon starts to rise higher into the sky, Collin eventually suggests they should head back before one of them falls asleep. He helps Azreldeh up onto her feet and opens the IT door for her, then follows her back inside.

I guess things are gonna keep this kinda slow pace for now? idk if I introduced someone kinda new before or after this

[shadowyin-yang]

pre-school/kindergarten AU? idk

Send Me Prompts! 

Every time I thought I finished this I end up adding something new to it. = ~= Also, it took me so long to realize Fenders wasn’t even attached to this prompt. 

Verse: Modern-AU with magic (tho surprisingly I don’t think any magic was used in this)

Misc info: Pre-Fenders / implied some depression / OC Kid / long-term pining / (past) unhealthy expression of said-pining / I know with how our culture is it sounds like I’m trying to shoehorn a moral in. No, there is no moral. / I had this whole idea for “the other side” of the story from Fen’s POV. but that’ll only double the length of this. 

It was ruined. Mother said to not bring it to school in case it got dirty. And now it laid there on the ground, covered in mud, and missing an arm. Poor Mr. Meow. The plush was kicked around and stepped on and Anders couldn’t do anything to stop it. The boy did the only thing he knew how to do and started crying. 

He knew he had to be in trouble. This was all his fault. What if he couldn’t hold Mr. Meow anymore when he goes to sleep? He never should’ve brought his best friend to school. It was too late now. 

Surprisingly, his mother wasn’t as angry as he thought she’d be. She promised “we’ll get you a new one” but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t going be Mr. Meow. 

Anders couldn’t help but think about Mr. Meow for the rest of the week. Going to bed at night was scary, but his parents wouldn’t let him sleep in their bed anymore. He got apologies from the boys who hurt Mr. Meow but Anders knew they didn’t mean it. Everyone knew that adults just make you do it. It was difficult going through the school without Mr. Meow. He didn’t seem to have an appetite. Eating lunch wasn’t supposed to be difficult was it? Anders at least tried. He was told that trying was all that mattered. 

Anders slammed his hand around until it eventually hit his target and the annoying blaring sound stopped. He groaned to himself before forcing himself to sit up. After rubbing his eyes he immediately smiled upon seeing Pounce curled up beside him. He gave his cat a light pat he started shifting to get himself out of bed. Anders immediately stepped onto a pizza box. Oh Maker, this apartment needed to be cleaned. It took one glance at the clock before Anders decided he’d have to pick up clothes and put away books another time. 

Anders made sure to keep himself on a schedule. Well, as close as he could get to one after being woken up at 2:30 in the afternoon. Maybe he should take up on Hawke’s advice on sleeping like a ‘normal’ person……nah. 

By 3:28 pm, Anders expertly parked his bike beside the medal fence, not bothering to lock it up (as no one would steal this squeaky piece of junk). He rushed into the building and pulled an apron off the hook by the entrance. By 3:30, his bag was shoved into a cubby hole, his apron on, and he stepped into the colorful playroom.

“Anders!” Merrill exclaimed from her seat with a book in her hands. The children all circled around her on the storytime mat. The children mimicked her hand waving and enthusiasm upon seeing him. 

Anders waved back. “Hi everyone! Don’t mind me. Go back to the nice story!” After the initial hellos passed, everyone’s attention went back to Merrill. And so Anders started picking up some of the toys. Trucks, dolls, fake food and utensils, books, and he shoved anything smaller into his apron’s pockets. He took his time, but had become rather efficient at collecting items and moving them all back to the correct containers on a timely manner. Unfortunately, the work didn't stop him from yawning occasionally. Maker, maybe he should’ve stopped for some coffee on the way over. 

3:45 and the day was over (for the kids anyway). 

Parents and caretakers started coming in to pick up their children. Anders stayed by the large window as he put away the big building blocks into their (bigger) toy chest. The view let him see the people coming in and out of the building. He wished he didn’t have to do this, but he must, or risk a confrontation that he rather not have. 

The Maker decided to be funny at that moment and that’s when it when it happened: He saw him. Hair was white as snow, markings that traveled all over the body, a handsome face, and perfect voice…oh how Anders hated how attractive he was to look at while simultaneously hating this man! The number of times this jerk of an elf made his days in school a living hell was a reason added to his regret for coming back to Kirkwal! Maybe he should return to school and get a Masters or something…

Still, if Anders was good at anything, it was avoiding this specific elf. Hawke still tried to get the pair to be in the same room as each other ever since Anders returned, but Anders has expertly avoided such a situation for months. He refused to cave no matter how much Hawke tried to paint the elf in a better light: “Just let him apologize to you, Anders,” “He really wants to get off on the right foot with you,” “Can you be willing to have an online conversation instead then?”, “Please give him a chance, Anders,” “Oh Makers breath Anders, you can’t avoid him forever!”

Maybe Hawke was right, mostly in the department of his ability to not avoid another person forever (especially if they’re in the same circle of friends). It already almost happened a few times ever since he got this job. 

“Uh, Merrill, can you be here for another 10 more minutes?!” he swiftly rushed up to the elven woman as she was starting to leave the room. 

“Oh, well, I don’t know if I can really-”

“Merrill, please! I’ll owe you! I swear!” he put his hands together and pleaded. 

Merrill, unexpectedly, looked down in thought. Anders mentally cursed. He sensed an answer he didn’t want to hear coming…

“Oh, I suppose another 10 minutes shouldn’t-”

“N-No! It’s fine,” Anders cut her off and waved his hands in front of him. “I can handle this. I’m a grown up! You go do your thing.” She always covered for him whenever he asked in the past. Letting her go on time for once in her life was the least he should be doing to make up for all those past 10 minutes she helped him with. 

With that response, Merrill beamed up at him. “Thank you, Anders!” she turned to skip away. At the door, she let out an audible. “Hello, Fenris!” 

Anders froze and turned to look around the room. Was there anything new to clean up? Wait, there was no need to panic! He’s in a room with children! Surely even Fenris won’t make an ass of himself in front of children and passing adults would he? Okay, sure, Hawke has mentioned a lot how Fenris is not as tensed up or as snappy as he used to be about mages. But still! Hawke wasn’t the one that was picked on! 

“Anders?” Fenris questioned upon walking in through the door. 

Anders turned around, trying to pretend he definitely did not know the other was coming. “…Fenris.” he tried replying as casually as possible and leaned on the craft counter. Said-counter being the only thing between himself and Fenris. Luckily, Fenris didn’t make an attempt to go around it. 

Fenris still raised a brow though. He looked away briefly towards the remaining children. “Hati!” he called out. A young elven boy with strawberry blond hair perked up from his puzzle. He got up to start collecting his belongings. Fenris returned his attention to Anders. “It must be my lucky day. I have always missed you whenever I come here.”

“Yeah, that’s some bad luck,” Anders replied as he folded his arms. “You know. Sometimes I’m late. Lucky me that Merrill doesn’t fire me but I try?” 

With a backpack on, Hati only stared at Anders in confusion as he approached. “What? But I see you go into the toy closet sometimes when I leave.” Hati reminded as took Fenris’s hand. 

“Oh? Mr. Anders likes to hide in closets?” Fenris questioned. Anders caught a light smirk when the question was asked. 

“N-Not at all! I was just looking for things! Toys are everywhere you know?” Anders tried to wave off, hoping Fenris doesn’t bring up the inconsistency. 

Fenris only blinked and continued staring with a straight face. Okay, so maybe he totally knows that Anders was avoiding him. “I suppose that is possible.” Fenris stated. Yeah. He, he totally knows. “Well Anders, I shall not keep you from your duties any longer. But now that I finally caught you during a shift…” Fenris dug around in his satchel briefly before pulling out a red apple and holding it out for Anders. “For Hati’s caretaker.” 

Anders took the apple and looked at it curiously. “…Merrill?”

Fenris’s face scrunched up. “You!”

Oh. Anders wanted to ask why. He wasn’t even a teacher. He doesn’t handle the children for long periods of time (he was pretty sure he wasn’t even legally allowed to be by himself). Sure, maybe not everyone knew he wasn’t a teacher, but still. Why does he get an apple and not Merrill? While questioning it, Anders continued to inspect the item, wondering if Fenris somehow got a worm in there. 

“…you do not remember.” Fenris stated quietly. Anders looked back at the other. He could’ve sworn Fenris sounded genuinely hurt by that.  

“What am I supposed to remember?” 

Fenris shook his head and offered a soft smile. “It is nothing. It…does not matter now.”

“What? Come on, you can’t just imply it means something and then not tell me.” Anders started to toss the apple up and down. It felt real at least. And it did look fresh. 

“I could…or…” 

Anders stopped his tossing and looked back at Fenris in worry. Oh no, can the apple explode or something? 

“I could tell you next time I see you.” 

Anders pouted. “Oh now you’re just up to something.” Well that’s disappointing. Though Fenris surprisingly didn’t sound very malicious about it for once. 

“Yes. I am up to something,” Fenris replied dryly, “That something being I wish to see you next time. I, however, will have see whether or not you cease hiding in the toy closet.” 

Anders wasn’t sure how to wiggle himself out of that. He could not tell if Fenris was giving a smile or a smirk though. But he didn’t stare long enough to tell. 

“Come, Hati. I have taken up enough of Mr. Anders’s time.”

“Bye Mr. Anders,” Hati waved as Fenris gently led him out. Anders waved back with a smile. He immediately dropped his hand when Fenris looked back towards him. 

When Hawke first informed Anders about Fenris wanting to see him again, Anders thought the whole thing would’ve been romantic (after all, who wouldn’t want to hear the hottest person in all of Kirkwall wanted to see you?) if their history throughout school wasn’t so damn awful. He didn’t expect Hawke to be persistent about it though. Usually, Hawke just let things be as they are. 

Avoiding Fenris did have its downside though. It often left Anders to be a bit lonely as he would end up staying home alone with his video games and books. Well that’s not too bad. Though Anders reasoned it was better than facing Fenris.  

Anders almost wanted to ask Hawke what was up with the apple he was given, but decided against it. He, begrudgingly, tried to dig up any memories in school that involved an apple. Did Fenris throw one at him once or something? A ball, mud, another ball, a stick…nope! No apples came to mind. Oh well. 

After finishing up at the Day Care, Anders took a bite of the apple before getting on his bike. Tasted normal enough. Tasted really good actually. With a shrug, Anders went on to his next job, apple forgotten. 

“Here Mr. Anders,” the young elf, Hati, went up to him the moment Anders walked in the next day. The boy held up a red apple. “It’s from Daddy.” 

Anders froze in midst tying of his apron and stared. It wasn’t his business but he didn’t recall being told from anyone that Fenris was with child. Were they related or was Fenris just a father figure? He shook his head of those thoughts and knelt down to accept the gift. 

“Well, that’s, um…very nice of him. Did he tell you why?” 

“Oh, Daddy says-” Hati’s hands went up to his mouth in surprise, “I can’t! It’s a secret!” with that, Hati giggled to himself. 

“Oh, is it a good secret?” 

Hati nodded excitedly. “Daddy likes you! He says you are smart and you will find out all by yourself!” Anders wasn’t so sure about that. Were they both talking about Fenris here? 

Anders let Hati return to storytime and he pocketed the apple in the apron. 

Fenris arrived by 3:50. Anders didn’t even have time to go over to the window to watch for him. Ugh, maybe he should just get this whole thing over with; just hear what the elf had to say and just go back to your life. Simple as that.

Anders still rushed over to the craft counter though, still much preferred having something big and long between himself and the elf. For safety reasons. They still had social media, so Anders wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t know Fenris doesn’t go working out with Hawke every week (while Anders sits at home with boxes of pizza). 

“Hello Anders.” Fenris greeted with a small nod his way. 

“…Hi,” Anders replied, once again, leaning against the counter and awkwardly trying to find something on it to occupy his hands. He settled on trying to make something out of construction paper. 

“Hati!” Fenris called out for the boy before turning his attention back to Anders. “You look more tired today.” Fenris noted out loud. 

“Oh, you know. It was just…a rough night.” Yeah, anxious thoughts of why he was given an apple. Now he was going to go to bed wondering why he got another one from Hati, who apparently refers to Fenris as ‘Daddy’ and Anders was not sure what that entailed. “It’s fine! I can just…pick up coffee after work.” 

“That is unfortunate.”

“Oh yeah, very…” Anders ended up with a paper airplane in his hands. Oh Maker, just end this moment before they get an awkward silence. 

“Did you by chance remembered anything…about the apple…?”

Anders looked over to Fenris, who surprisingly was looking away from him, almost like he was…embarrassed? Shy? Anders wasn’t sure if he could pinpoint it. He doesn’t often see Fenris in either embarrassed or shy to know for sure. He saw Hati come up to them and took Fenris’s hand again. 

“Um…no. I…haven’t. I’m sorry.” 

Fenris sighed. “It is alright…” Before Anders could say any more, perhaps suggest that he should just be told, but Fenris finally lifted his head again. It was a strange moment for him…Anders wondered if he ever really looked back into the other’s eyes. “Anders. I know we…have not had the greatest relationship…in the past.” 

Anders had to resist scoffing. 

“I have no excuse, and I know it might be…years too late. Regardless…” Anders blinked back a look of surprise when he watched Fenris’s hand tighten around Hati’s. “So…I apologize for everything. You do not need to forgive me. But…it would mean a lot to me if we could…talk again.” 

Anders found he could only stare dumbfounded. There was so much he could dismiss, so many questions he could ask only for nothing to come out. As if understanding exactly what he needed right now, Fenris and Hati said a swift goodbye and promptly left. 

Anders went about the rest of the day in thought. Unsure if it mattered that Fenris apologized, or if it mattered if they could be on talking terms…well, of course it mattered. If it didn’t, the apology wouldn’t have thrown his entire world upside-down. 

Maker, when was the last time they even spoke (minus yesterday)? Anders hated that actually remembered: It was the summer after graduation, on Facebook of all places. They had a fight: Mage this, mage that; Tranquil this and that. Anders never went back online after that. At least, not until he was safely away from Kirkwall. 

He went to Ferelden for furthering his education, and in less than a week away from home, he suddenly had reasons to go back online. There were parties to plan with Sigrun, homework to discuss with Nate, and relationship talks with Hawke’s own cousin. Anders still stayed in touch with his Kirkwall friends - most of them any way. He and Fenris never spoke. Though Anders also never removed the other from his friends list. No, he just hid the other from the feed. He wondered if Fenris did the same. But the way Fenris looked at him the last couple of days only made Anders wondered if Fenris saw something different in him. Did he see everything Anders posted about on his social media? The relationship status changes, the rallies he had gone to, the photos he took, photos taken of him, him getting Ser Pounce, the rants, and all the times he’d post something and then delete it later. How much of all that has Fenris seen? 

No, this was ridiculous. This was all just anxious thinking. Anders knew he didn’t have the most exciting life. Unless you found the fight for mage rights or relationship statuses changing being a form of entertainment. Maybe it was simply that Fenris changed. 

But none of this explained the apples. 

This led to Anders sitting at home, on his laptop, at 3 am in the morning. He stared at Facebook and wondered if he should start stalking Fenris’s page. 

No. That’s wrong. This is none of his business. 

Despite telling himself that for the past 10 minutes, Anders still hasn’t budged from the site. 

“Just the last few days” he reasoned. Okay, just a little bit then. 

Fenris’s profile photo was really cute. Dammit. Hati’s smiling face took up most of the photo, but Anders could see Fenris’s arm around the boy. His cover photo was of a nice graphical image of a wolf. He wondered if Fenris designed it himself…

Anders sighed and started scrolling through the page. Fenris didn’t seem to post very much as all the activity seemed to mostly be from the past couple of days. 

Fenris: Hati says he wants a cat and name him Skoll. I would assume this was the mage’s influence if it was any other name but Skoll. 

Hawke: GET HIM A DOG! :DD

Fenris: No. 

Anders chuckled. He admitted he has spoken about cats a lot to the kids. Out of all the kids, Hati seemed one of the most interested in hearing about his amazing Ser Pounce-a-lot! 

Isabela: I heard you finally saw Anders ;)

Fenris: I have. 

Isabela: And??? >:[

Fenris: And what?

Isabela: You know what! >:U What happened?! 

Fenris: I gave him a gift. He was working. I was was not planning to take up his time. Unlike some, I am not that rude. 

Hawke: Why don’t you ever give me a gift when I return from trips?

Fenris: You don’t need them. 

Hawke: :( meanieface

Anders only stared in confusion. What was that supposed to mean? Did he need an apple? Or was that just a simple jab at Hawke? 

The next post down made Anders’s heart stop. There was a photo…of an old looking, worn, cat plush…with one of its arms sloppily sewn back on. Hati was in the photo too. He laid on the floor, having a staring contest with the old toy. 

Fenris didn’t include a comment with the photo. 

Anders wanted to go hide back in the toy closet again. He didn’t want to confront Fenris about it, nor Hati. Though it must be a bit immature to act like this over it. These past couple of days have been ridiculous! Sure, life wasn’t perfect. Living with a cat in a crappy apartment with inconsistent sleep and lack of social life kind of sucked. But at least he got used to it! Fenris just had to come in and throw a wrench in that routine! 

So when Fenris walked in, Anders found himself behind the craft counter again. For protections sake. “Why do you have my old toy?” Anders blurted out before he could stop himself. Oh Maker, why?!

Fenris, however, didn’t seem fazed at the question. “I…held onto it. Well, I held onto it, then forgot I did until I found it again.”

“…Okay but why hold onto it to begin with?” It was old. Dirty. Broken. If he wanted to give it to Hati, surely Fenris could probably have found a toy for cheap and still be better looking and in better condition than that old thing. 

Fenris rubbed his neck in discomfort. “I…originally meant to fix it and return it. Then I considered getting a replacement. But…you do not just simply find an old toy anywhere. When I found it again you also were not…here. So I could not ask what you wanted.” 

“I…see…” Maker, was that really the only thing he could get out from his throat!? Anders could not believe it. He had practically forgotten most of his youth and just like that, it all came flooding back to him. 

The apple. Anders blinked a few times. Was his memory deceiving him? 

In mid-thought, Anders watched as Fenris presented a new apple for him. “I…apologize for keeping this information from you. I did not wish to ruin our conversation with…painful reminders. I did not think it would make for a good impression.”

Anders stared at the fruit. For some reason he felt he didn’t deserve it, while feeling a want to have it. It was a gift. It was his. Fenris remembered and thought of him. Fenris may even know him better than Anders knew himself. It only made Anders feel a bit awful about the whole ordeal. After all, he knew nothing about Fenris. Nothing. Despite that, Fenris still wanted to reach out to him and mend wounds that he caused years ago. Mending that Anders wasn’t even sure he really deserved. 

Maybe…maybe he could try. Maybe they could get to know each other again. Maybe they’ve simply misunderstood each other all this time…

He wanted to keep thinking about it. There were a lot of factors to consider after all. But he found his body moving despite that. Anders put his hands over the apple with a whispered. “It’s okay…I forgive you.” 

Anders found he still could not finish some of his lunch. A couple of days he even ‘forgets’ to bring it. Nothing was appetizing when you didn’t have something to make you feel protected. He didn’t speak to the kids at his lunch table, as they seemingly grew bored of him from being sad too long.

Anders blinked in surprise when a juicy red apple was placed before him. He looked up to see the gifter running off to the hallway. At least, Anders guessed it was the gifter. Not many other kids were running off like that, especially during lunchtime. Anders picked up the apple and followed. He didn’t need to go far as just from standing by the door he easily spotted one kid sitting down on the floor against the wall. Anders slowly went down the corridor to him. 

It hasn’t been long since school started, and he wasn’t familiar with everyone’s names yet. He still recognized this kid, an elf, as one of the boys who picked on Mr. Meow. So why was he given an apple by him? Maybe it was a mistake. “I think you dropped this.” Anders held the apple before him until the other boy looked up. He didn’t look long as his gaze went back back down to the ground, as if ashamed.

“…its for you…” he muttered quietly, still not looking at Anders.

Anders only stared back in confusion. Why was he given food? Out of all the kids in his class, even he can see the elf boy before him didn’t have a lot of it. He’s seen other kids sometimes even share their own lunch.

“…I’m not hungry,” Anders eventually answered. He had a feeling maybe the elf boy was though.

“I can’t take it.” the other boy replied matter of factly.

“Why not?”

“It’s a gift. So it’s yours now.”

Anders looked at the apple, again, confused. But what if he didn’t want it? Can you give gifts back? “It’s a gift…?” he asked. It wasn’t his birthday after all.

The other boy went quiet again and returned to staring at the floor. Anders didn’t say anything but he sat before the other. The elf didn’t seem to like it when you looked down at him. Anders tried to present the apple again but the attention wasn’t given to it.

Finally, the other boy started speaking again. “I’m sorry about your toy…”

Anders froze up. This was about Mr. Meow?

“I didn’t mean to make you sad. I wanted you to stop being sad…”

For some reason, Anders felt something good inside him. He didn’t know what it meant but it was a good feeling and that was all that mattered.

Anders offered the apple again. “Can we share it?” 

The look Anders got was of surprise, but even he could see the eager yes in those green eyes before the words were even said. 

He never got a new Mr. Meow, but things seemed okay now even without him.