#oh and he got pushed in a lake. but i’ll let that slide bc it was a little funny

[dreamertrilogys]

these guys r all so mean to jess it’s crazy…literally what did he ever do except try to drink a beer + commit some mild petty theft + wear a metallica t-shirt ☹️

[bbyannabeth]

Hii I love ur writing !!! Can u plss write a fic where percy and annabeth are skinny dipping in the camp lake and calypso or someone walks in on them and gets jealous?? Thanku so much !!

hii, thank you so much<3 i couldn’t really find a way to have someone actually get jealous, like it didn’t make a lot of sense to me BUT i still hope you like this bc i actually think it turned out rly cute🥺

-

“percy,” annabeth hissed as he stripped off his shirt. she looked around even though it was the middle of the night and the cleaning harpies were nowhere to be seen. “you can’t be serious.”

“come on, beth,” he smiled, kicking his shoes off. “live a little.”

“live a little?” she scoffed. “i have enough excitement in my life, i don’t need to skinny dip at camp, thank you. what if we get caught?”

“by who?” he asked, slipping his sweatpants off and leaving him in boxers. annabeth hated to admit it, but she could already feel her resolve waning. he was right, there was no one around. percy stepped closer to her, hands finding the hem of her shirt. she let him slide it over her head.

“this is a bad idea,” she tried again. but still she took off her shoes, and then percy’s fingers were in the waistband of her shorts. the warm july air wrapped around them, but annabeth still had goosebumps all over her skin. she was pretty sure that had more to do with percy taking off her clothes than the barely there chill of the wind.

it was their last summer there as campers, seeing as they would be turning 18 that year and then heading off to new rome for the fall. that was the reason percy had suggested skinny dipping. let’s go out with a bang, he’d said. annabeth hated that it wasn’t the worst idea he could’ve had.

his palms pressed against her bare waist and she shivered. percy leaned down to kiss her, which was a poor distraction for the way his fingers reached for the clasp of her bralette two seconds later. despite the several times he’s done this, he still struggled a little when it came to unhooking it, making annabeth giggle.

“don’t laugh at me,” he huffed. “it’s hard.”

“mhm,” she hummed. “very hard.”

the straps of her bra were then being slid down her arms and she glanced around again, still worried that someone would see them. “we’ll be fine, beth,” he promised.

“if we get caught, i’m blaming you,” she said. and then their underwear joined the pile of clothing on the dock. and maybe they should’ve climbed down the ladder or tried to slip in quietly, so they didn’t draw any attention to themselves, but percy had other plans. he grabbed her hand and didn’t think twice before jumping into the water, pulling her in with him.

their hands never broke, even when they surfaced. “percy!” she scolded, but she couldn’t help her laughter. “we’re so loud.”

“who cares?” he said, bringing her closer. “we’ve saved the world twice, and we’ve been to hell and back. we deserve some fun. who’s gonna stop us?”

“chiron? the harpies?” she shot back, only half serious. he was right again. they deserved some fun and even if they did get caught, it wasn’t likely that they’d get in trouble.

“yeah, whatever,” he shrugged. and then his hand slipped from hers, and he smiled that stupid, troublemaker grin she was so in love with. his fingertips touched her shoulder. “tag!” he said before swimming off, which was completely unfair given that he could control every drop of water around them.

“hey!” she protested, chasing him. they went back and forth for a while, and thankfully, percy seemed to not use his advantage of being the son of poseidon.

except once, when he was chasing her and then suddenly, despite her arms and legs propelling her forward, she stopped moving completely. within seconds, percy’s arm was around her waist. “tag,” he whispered, holding her close and turning her to face him.

“you cheated!” she replied.

“oh well,” was all he said before leaning in and kissing her. annabeth hummed indignantly but wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back. percy must’ve used the water to keep them afloat and still because both of them had stopped treading water, only focused on each other.

it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before they heard, “well, well, well.”

annabeth snapped away, anxiety settling in immediately, only to dissipate a few seconds later. on the dock stood piper, her hands on her hips and a knowing smile on her face. “what do we have here?” she asked playfully. she bent down, and held up annabeth’s bra by the strap. “pretty incriminating, if you ask me.”

“what are you doing up so late, mclean?” percy asked, a light smile on his face.

“i could ask you the same,” piper said, dropping the garment back to the ground. “i was awake earlier, though, when i saw you guys sneaking away. at first, i left it alone. but then i got curious so i started looking for you.

“and you guys are very loud,” piper continued, a laugh bubbling out of her throat. “so it didn’t take long to find you.”

annabeth glared at percy. “told you we were too loud!”

“oh hush, it’s just piper,” he said back.

“it could’ve been someone else, though,” annabeth grumbled.

“i’m a little jealous i’ve never thought about this,” piper said, eyes flitting all around the lake. “i’ll have to bring jason out here one night.”

“no way, mclean,” percy said. “this is my turf, find your own.”

piper wrinkled her nose. “you suck,” she said. “and yes i will be bringing him out here unless you want chiron to know that you were out here tonight.”

“i hate you,” percy said.

“yeah, yeah,” piper shrugged. “i’ll see you both in the morning. please don’t have too much fun in there, we all like to swim in that lake, you know.”

annabeth’s cheeks flushed as she tucked her face into percy’s neck. “goodnight, piper,” she called, the finality in her voice making it clear this conversation was over.

“night night,” piper said sweetly before leaving them alone.

for a moment, percy just held annabeth close, his hands running over her back. “told you we’d get caught,” she mumbled finally, making him laugh.

“could’ve been worse,” he said, which was definitely true. “do you wanna get out?”

annabeth lifted her head up from his neck and looked at him. his wet hair was pushed back and his skin glowed silver under the moonlight. like always, he was beautiful and she didn’t want this moment to end just yet.

“in a little bit,” she answered before leaning in and kissing him again. percy didn’t seem to have any issues with that, only pulling her closer.

-

if u saw any typos no u didnt<3

[cyclogenesis]

i have to tell you that the second i saw cal and ash on that mountain getaway a couple weeks ago, i thought about how desperately i would love a sequel to your turks & caicos fic set during that trip. (this is not a request, i promise, i just wanted to tell you bc that is one of my fav fics of all time)

Aw anon!! 🥺 Gosh I hadn't even thought about that when I was in my feelings about the mountain getaway pictures, which is wild because I am just remembering now that I started a fic after the honeymoon comment initially happened (like, very soon after, because @elliebirdthings was at that show and told me about it and we were freaking out haha), before we knew that they went to Turks & Caicos, and I had them taking that trip to a cabin in Maine.

Just for kicks, because this message made me smile and I love you for that, here's the beginning of that fic. It's unfinished obviously (not even any kissing!), but there's some nice stuff in there I think. This fic was going to be titled A whole fucking lifetime of this after the American Pleasure Club album which was a title I should have kept, goddammit. Also randomly in here I have them driving to the cabin while listening to My Bloody Valentine, who Ashton later called out as one of his main influences for Superbloom.

1600 words of unfinished Cashton under the cut! 😘

The day after the last meeting about the promo schedule the dressing room conversation turns, as it does, to plans for the break. It’s a month out, but they’ve to a man developed a fetish for planning their free time carefully as soon as the schedule’s set. Planning things makes Ashton feel like a grown-up. He likes renting cars. Sometimes he scrolls through AirBnB for hours just to see what’s out there.

“I’m going straight back, we got Dodgers tickets,” Michael says.

“I remember when you used to say ‘we’ and it meant you and me,” Calum says. He wiggles a little from where he’s snuggled against Michael on the couch like he wants to get away, but of course Michael doesn’t let him. Ashton thinks he probably wasn’t really trying.

“Aw, you’ll always be my first love,” Michael tells him, squeezing Calum to him more tightly. “You wanna make out just for old times sake?”

“I do not,” says Calum, but he lets Michael give him a big kiss on the forehead, his face squinching up happily.

“I just wanna get away for a bit, no work or social media or anything,” says Ashton, ignoring their tomfoolery. “A little cabin by a lake somewhere.”

“Oh yeah?” Luke says. “Where are you and Cal going this time?”

“Maine,” Calum says, at the same time as Ashton says, “Why would you assume we’re going somewhere together?”

A small silence falls over the room.

With dignity, Ashton says, “Calum and I are going to Maine.”

“Just get out in front of it this time,” Michael advises. “Let everyone know it’s another honeymoon. Take control of the narrative.”

“How many times can you go on a honeymoon before you have to acknowledge that you’re married?” Luke asks nobody in particular.

“It’s a bro trip,” Ashton says firmly. “For bros.”

“It’s very bromantic,” Luke says. “It’s okay, I’m not hurt I wasn’t invited. I love going back to LA and jerking off alone.”

“It’s nice that we’ve all got plans,” Calum says. He’s settled peacefully back against Michael, Michael absently petting his hair.

“It’s not a honeymoon,” Ashton insists.

*

Whatever, Ashton called it what he called it, okay? Might as well control the narrative.

Over drinks at the bar after their last show Calum asks, “Where would you want to go on your honeymoon, anyway? Somewhere new?”

Ashton pokes at the ice in his cocktail with his straw. Aren’t they supposed to not be using straws anymore because of the ocean or whatever? Ashton loves the ocean, it’s very important to him. Also this cocktail sucks. “Can I try your drink?” he asks. “I don’t love mine.” Calum has something with ginger in it, and bubbles. Calum slides his obligingly over, and Ashton passes his own over to be fair.

“I like yours better,” Calum says after a sip. “You wanna trade?”

Sometimes Ashton does believe in soulmates. “Yes, thank you.” He takes a long drink. “It would be nice to spend more time in Italy. Not one of the tourist-y parts though, somewhere quiet. Up north, maybe, one of the smaller towns.” He tries to picture what it would be like: olive groves, blue skies, stone churches. An old villa with lemon trees and a view of the hills. He’s so used to traveling with the band or just with Calum that it’s hard to picture anyone else there with him. They’re all as prone as anyone to get swept up with girls to the exclusion of most everything else, but Ashton can’t really imagine a future without seeing Calum all the time, without talking to him every day. Maybe he and Calum could just get married around the same time and they could all go on a honeymoon together.

“Yeah, that’d be pretty nice,” Calum says, looking wistful. Ashton wants to take a picture of him, capture the way a curl rests against his temple, how the blue neon lights behind the bar hit the glitter he let Ashton smear on his cheekbones before the show. They made a no social media pledge for this trip but Ashton’s bringing his camera anyway. He has to keep in practice, doesn’t he? Anyway, it’s important to capture these memories.

“Maybe we should just go,” Ashton tells him. “Why not? Who knows how long it could take for me to fool someone into living with this forever?” He sucks down the last of his drink, feeling sorry for himself now. What if he falls in love and she moves in and Calum stops coming over in the morning to walk to their favorite coffee shop together, and stops picking Ashton up so they can go hike Runyon, and stops bringing Duke over like he owns the damn place and doesn’t care about the dog hair that Ashton has to hoover off his couch pillows? That would be terrible. Worst of all, what if it was Ashton that suddenly wanted those things to stop?

“I’ll live with you forever,” Calum says, too busy flagging down the bartender to intuit Ashton’s emotional crisis. He gestures to Ashton’s empty drink. “Another one of those, right?” His own is still half full. Maybe he didn’t really like Ashton’s better after all.

“Yeah, thanks man,” Ashton sighs.

Calum bumps his knee against Ashton’s, the barstool squeaking beneath him. “Ash, you’re gonna find somebody if that’s what you want. Anyone would be the luckiest person alive to be with you. Maybe we could do Italy after the tour wraps, we’ll finish in Spain so it won’t be far.”

The thought cheers Ashton a bit; that’s a decent amount of time to get on AirBnB and see what he can find that’s available. It’ll be nice to have something to look forward to, Italian sunshine and limoncello and the quiet.

“Mike and Luke will definitely give us shit though about planning another honeymoon while we’re still on this one,” Calum says.

“Let ‘em,” says Ashton.

*

It’s not a long flight but it’s a bit of a drive from there to get to the cabin. But Calum said he wanted something remote and quiet, so it’s worth the wait, the drive in the dark. There’s moonlight, anyway, and Calum took the wheel, getting them the rest of the way there in their little silver Prius rental. He puts on My Bloody Valentine and sings along, low and comforting to listen to after so many days straight of playing, of promo. Halfway through the trip Ashton thinks he sees a shooting star, maybe thought he dreamed it until he felt Calum’s soft nudge of knuckles against his arm, heard his quiet, “You see that, bro?”

The way gets bumpy, thick with trees, dark and hard to navigate once they turn off the main road. At the end of it all there’s the cabin, looming in the dark, lights left on for them and the key exactly where it’s supposed to be. It’s past one a.m. but they still give the place a wander, stopping at the largest bedroom facing the lake. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows Ashton sees trees, darkness, the black glitter of water under starlight. Calum asks, “You want this one?”

Ashton looks further and just sees more darkness. “It’s kind of unnerving at night,” he says. “Anyone could be out there.” The other bedroom has smaller windows, but the point stands. “Do you wanna just watch TV or something in here and then decide?”

“If we get axe murdered here I hope our ghosts come back and leave a one star review,” Calum says, but he’s already shrugging his duffel off his shoulders and kicking off his shoes.

The host left them a bottle of pinot grigio so Ashton pours up a few glasses while Calum strips down to his boxers and gets in bed. The boxers have cartoon pugs all over them. “I can’t believe that’s the lingerie you’re wearing for our honeymoon,” Ashton says, handing him a glass. “I also can’t believe those boxers even exist.”

Calum raises it to him in a salute and takes a sip. “These boxers are fantastic, but I guess if you want me to take them off…” he trails off, eyebrow raised, thumb hooked in the waistband pushing them down past his hipbone, then further until Ashton can see the crease of his thigh.

“No, no,” Ashton says hurriedly, “I’m just saying, what’s wrong with a nice pair of footie pajamas? Keeps you warm. Keeps you modest.” Nevertheless he shucks his own clothes except for his own (very grown-up, perfectly normal, in a flattering shade of dark green) boxers and joins Calum in bed. Calum’s already stopped paying attention to him, too busy trying to figure out how to work the remote. He finally gets the screen to flash on, and Ashton stays quiet, sipping his wine while Calum flips channels, finally landing on something in black and white. Cary Grant comes on screen but Ashton still isn’t sure what movie it is; Calum seems interested enough, setting the remote down between them, so he doesn’t complain. The wine goes down easy and Ashton does too after not too long.

He rolls onto his side and sees that Calum’s eyes are already closed. It doesn’t look like he’s asleep yet; it always takes him a bit, leaving him in a dozy stage for about ten minutes during which he might respond crankily to any communication or with adorable mumbling affection. Ashton turns the sound down and says, as quietly as he can, “TV off?” Calum’s eyes don’t open, but he nods a little. “Okay. You want me to go sleep in the other room?”

Calum moves then, a sleepy shift of his body, fumbling a hand up and blindly patting the sheet until he makes contact with Ashton’s hand on the remote and squeezes it, links their fingers together like he can’t quite figure out how to make it work. It feels nice. “’S’okay,” he murmurs. “Stay here.”

Ashton didn’t feel like getting up anyway.

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [8]

viii. day trip

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: Language, character death, violence, fighting, blood, injuries. Allusion to past assault.

Summary: You and Bellamy go on a little day trip, even though you’d rather be with anyone other than him. 

a/n: oh hey, I like this chapter! also, pls no one worry bc I WILL NEVER KILL BELLAMY BLAKE FOR THIS SERIES! happy endsings only (but don’t let that fool you, bc we got angst angst ansgt on the way!) also join the taglist here!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

You stand back and admire your handiwork of the repairs to the wall, satisfied with its hold. Wiping the sweat from your brow, you move over to the water containers and grab something to drink. Clarke finds you leaned up against a tree, drinking water, and she walks over with a small smile. “I’m heading to the tent to talk to the council, if you want to join.”

You shake your head, “I’m not sure I can look at Jaha’s face without screaming. I’ll probably just check on Octavia, if that's okay.”

She nods, “Of course. I think she’s still in the dropship, waiting to visit the Grounder.”

You stand and nod towards the tent, “Let me know how it all goes.”

“I will.” She offers you one last smile before ducking into the tent to face the council. 

You glance around the busy camp, watching the teenagers as they move around, repairing the wall and preparing for winter. Sure that they can handle it, you turn and head to the dropship, unsurprised to find Octavia plopped down near the ladder, waiting to see the Grounder. You smile as you approach, “Visiting hours over?”

She lets out a huff of frustration as you settle down beside her. “Yes. Bellamy won’t let anyone up except for Miller.”

“I wonder if I could-”

Bellamy’s voice cuts you off, “You’re still here?”

He descends the ladder, feet hitting the floor, and you notice his eyes shift over to you before landing on Octavia again. Her eyes slide away from him and land on the wall, annoyed. “I’m not moving until you let me up there to see him.”

“Get comfortable,” he quips back. 

Noting the tension, you stand and silently move away from the siblings and over to the dropship door, eyes scanning the camp. You spot your twin immediately, headed your way, looking troubled. She comes to a stop at the door, and you tune out the bickering siblings behind you as you ask, “How was the meeting with the council?”

Clarke rolls her eyes, “Jaha tried to lecture me about forgiveness.”

“Good thing I missed it then.”

“No kidding. But,” she holds up a map and a set of coordinates. “There is potential good news.”

She hands you the paper and you look over it as she continues, “It’s supposed to be an old emergency aid depot, built to withstand nuclear war. It could shelter us from the cold.”

You start to hand her back the map, “You going to check it out?”

“No,” she pushes the map back your way. “You’re going to check it out.”

Your brows lift in surprise, “Me?”

“You’ve been out there more, and you know the terrain better. Plus, I have to keep an eye on Finn, he’s not out of danger yet.”

“Okay, I’ll pack a bag then.” 

You start to walk away, but she grabs your arm, stopping you. “Wait. There is one more thing.”

She looks over your shoulder, eyes locking with someone, before she nods them over. As you hear footsteps approach, she sighs, “I want you to take Bellamy with you.”

You pull a face and step back, as he stops beside you. You glance up at him and back at your twin. “No way. No.”

“What’s going on?”

You ignore him and glare at Clarke as she insists, “You’re the only two I trust with this, and I know that you’ll keep each other safe.” She squeezes your arm lightly and adds, “You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

You glare at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Fine.” You redirect your glare to Bellamy, “Be ready in ten, I’ll meet you by the gate.”

“Ready for what?”

“Clarke will explain.” And with that, you walk off, grabbing a pack and your knife on the way. You stop at the food station and grab a few rations before making a beeline for the gate. As soon as you arrive, you spot Bellamy already waiting, stuffing a bunch of rations deeper into his pack. You give him a sidelong glance and brush past, “Let’s go.”

-

Unlike your previous outings with Bellamy, this one is largely spent in angry silence as you navigate through the woods and pointedly ignore Bellamy. As you climb down a grassy hill, you pull out a pack of nuts and eat them quickly, noticing that Bellamy is trailing behind you, doing the same. As you reach the bottom of the hill, it starts to slope upwards again and you check the map before continuing. When you reach the top, you pause, and Bellamy stops beside you. 

In the distance, there’s a large house, destroyed by the nuclear apocalypse. You start to feel uneasy as you take in the burned out house, situated behind a dark lake. You glance at Bellamy, “The depot is supposed to be around here somewhere.”

You watch him scan the area again, “Let's just split up, cover more ground. Stay within shouting distance.”

You walk off down the hill, towards the lake, while Bellamy moves parallel to the house, both of you in search of a door. Only a few minutes pass before your foot lands on something with a metallic thunk. Confused, you step back and brush the leaves and debris away, revealing a door. You smile to yourself and call out, “Bellamy! Over here, I found a door!”

A second later he approaches you, stopping beside you at the door. You lean down and pull on the handles with all of your strength, but it doesn’t budge. You look up at him, “I think it's rusted shut.”

“Here. Watch your foot.” He pulls out his axe and uses it to break the lock, before muttering, “Give me a hand.”

You both pull on the door, and this time it swings open with a creak. You peer into the ominous darkness and pull out two lights, turning to hand one to Bellamy. With a deep breath of courage, you descend the stairs, Bellamy close behind. You follow the stairs deeper into the depot, deeper into the darkness, pausing when you see a skeleton sitting on the stairs. Bellamy stops behind you, so close that you can feel his breath shift the hairs on your neck. You shiver and squeeze past the body as he mutters, “Hell of a place to die.”

As you reach the bottom of the stairs, and shine the light around, disappointment flows through your body. Cobwebs hang over everything, accompanied by a thick layer of dust. A damp chill hangs in the air, and you both have to step around fallen and scavenged supplies. “This place is disgusting.”

Bellamy hums in agreement. “Anything left down here is ruined.”

Water rains down from the ceiling in front of you, and you cringe and skirt around it, looking at the picked over shelves. You lift the lid of a box in front of you and smile at the contents inside, “Hey, I found blankets.”

“Excited about a couple of blankets?”

You toss a glare at him over your shoulder, “It’s something.”

He storms past you, dropping glow sticks that he found as his voice rises in anger, “How about a canteen or a med kit or a decent fricking tent?” 

He lets out a yell of frustration and kicks an oil drum over, the black liquid spilling towards you. You turn in surprise, your shock only growing as you hear something clatter to the ground. Your eyes lock on the pile of guns now spilled out over the floor, and you and Bellamy lock eyes, mouths spreading into a grin. 

He grabs a couple and pushes past you, back to the blankets, pulling one from the container. He shifts everything over to one arm and grabs you as he walks by, dragging you with him. You yank your arm free and freeze in place, watching as he uses some dirt to spread a target on the blanket before hanging it up. “This changes everything. No more running from spears.”

You lift a gun from beside you, eyeing it carefully. He grins as he stops beside you, watching as you load the gun. “Ready to be a badass?” You roll your eyes and he steps towards you, “We're lucky the rifles were packed in grease. The fact that they survived means we're not sitting ducks anymore. You need to learn how to do this.”

You let out a sigh, “Fine.” He moves out of the way, allowing you to step up to the target, lifting the gun with hesitation. You glance down at the gun, and then over your shoulder to look at him. “So I just hold it on my shoulder?”

“Yeah.” He steps closer to you, folding his left hand over yours where it sits on the grip, and placing his right hand on your right shoulder. He guides the gun up, “Just a little higher now.” 

You lean down and peer through the scope, trying to ignore the way his breath shifts your hair and his hand slowly slides from your shoulder and down your back. Another chill runs down your spine and Bellamy doesn’t miss it. And then he’s stepping back and shaking his head as if he’s clearing his thoughts, “Yeah. Uh, that's good. Watch and learn.”

He steps away and grabs a gun of his own, before moving up beside you and pulling the trigger. You hear a click echo in the small space, but stand there confused as nothing else happens. Bellamy reloads the gun and pulls the trigger a second time, but the gun offers nothing more than another click. You let out a snort and he turns to glare at you as you openly smile at his expense. “Still watching.”

He glares at you harder, “My bullets are duds. Try yours.”

You lift the gun and settle it to the place on your shoulder, where Bellamy instructed, before looking through the scope and pulling the trigger. The sound of the gunshot rings through the room, and you stand tall and admire the new hole in the blanket. You let out a laugh in amazement and turn to him, finding that his face is already split in a smile. 

You let the smile drop when you remember your anger, but you don’t turn away from him. “I guess we’re going to have to talk to Clarke and decide where we’re going to keep these and who has access.”

He ignores you and raises his gun, pulling the trigger, and stepping back as the sound echoes in the room. You spot the hole he leaves in the target, near the middle. As you’re about to comment on it, he turns to you suddenly. “You should keep Miller close. The others listen to him.”

Your brows draw together in confusion. “I should keep him close? Bellamy, what's going on?” 

You stare him down and he shifts beneath your gaze, uncomfortable. A lightbulb goes off in your head when you remember the rations from earlier, “All the rations you took. You're gonna run! You were gonna load up on supplies and just disappear.”

“I don't have a choice. The Ark will be here soon.”

You step closer to him, “So you're just gonna leave Octavia?”

Bellamy shakes his head, “Octavia hates me.” He pauses and his voice drops to a whisper, “You hate me.”

He shakes his head again and takes in a breath, “She’s gonna be fine.”

“You don't know-”

He cuts you off, “I shot the chancellor. They're gonna kill me. Best-case scenario, they lock me up with the Grounder for the rest of my life, and there's no way in hell I'm giving Jaha the satisfaction.” He slams the gun down and throws his hands up in frustration, “Keep practicing. I need some air.”

He brushes past you, leaving you alone in the depot. You stand there for a minute, looking around, before lifting the gun back up and aiming at the target. As you do, you watch as the target melts away, taking the bullet holes with it, leaving the blanket untouched. You lower the gun in confusion and back away, jumping in surprise as you feel the gun bend in your touch. You throw it to the ground and step back from it, turning to look around in confusion as the space around you transforms into your cell in the Skybox.

You feel panic rise in your chest as the prison stares back at you, mocking you. You back away in horror, jumping in surprise when your back collides with someone. You spin around, and come face to face with your father.

You feel your lip quiver with emotion as you whisper, “Dad?”

He smiles and you jump towards him, sighing in relief as his arms wrap around you tightly. You bury your head into the crook of his neck, breathing in his familiar scent of Ark soap and grease. As you pull him tighter, the memory of his death flashes across your mind, and you feel your stomach drop. You pull back slowly and watch him closely, “You're not real, are you?”

“Sorry, kiddo. I wish I were.”

You shake your head, trying to clear your thoughts, before looking around at your cell. “Wait. How is this possible?”

“I'm thinking why is more important than how. Why me?”

Tears well up in your eyes, “Because I miss you. And I never got to say goodbye.”

He shakes his head and reaches up to brush your necklace, “Think there's more to it than that.”

You hear his voice in your head, disconnected from a memory. My girls. My sun, my moon, my stars.

You feel your face harden at the thought of her. The thought of what she did. “You want me to forgive her.”

“Your mom loves you both. Everything she does, she does for you two.”

You turn away from him, and plop down onto your bed. “She betrayed you. How can I forgive her for that?” He pulls a face, and it’s one you recognize well. “The disappointed look isn't fair. I'm trying.”

He reaches out and pulls you to him, into a hug. “Come here. I know, honey. It's been tough, hasn't it?”

You feel emotion tighten your throat, “I watched as someone got tortured. Said awful things to Clarke. Caused the Culling on the Ark…”

Tears spill down your cheeks as you recount your sins, and your father leans down to kiss your head. “You're doing the best you can.”

“You want me to say mom did the best she could.”

His face softens, “This is about what you want.”

“You're dead because of her. She doesn't deserve my forgiveness. Our forgiveness.”

He shakes his head softly, and comes to stand in front of you, “Listen to me. Forgiveness isn't about what people deserve.”

Before you can respond, his eyes lift sharply, and you swear you hear muffled yelling nearby. He looks back at you, and lifts a hand to your face. “My little la lune. He needs you.”

Seconds later, something collides with the back of your head, sending you tumbling down a tunnel of black.

-

You pull your eyes open, groaning against the sharp pain radiating from the base of your skull. You rub your eyes and struggle to recall what happened, letting out a quiet gasp when you remember your dad’s final words. He needs you.

Bellamy. 

You stand, fighting against the pain in your body, and stumble towards the gun you tossed down earlier, grabbing it quickly. You run towards the stairs and out into the night, following the sounds of yelling nearby. As you get closer, you see Bellamy on the ground, looking up at Dax, who is pointing a gun down at him. You stumble up behind them and aim the gun at the middle of his back, before yelling, “Put it down, Dax.”

He spins, “Should've stayed down there. I tried not to kill you, but here you are, and Shumway said no witnesses.”

Your blood freezes at the name, and you lock eyes with Bellamy. You take a deep breath, willing the fear to leave your body as you look back at Dax. “I won’t tell you again, put it down.”

“Walk away now, and I won't kill you.” When you stay locked in place, he shrugs. “Your choice.”

You pull the trigger, but the gun clicks, and your blood goes cold at the sound. You dive to the left, behind a tree, seconds before you hear Dax’s gun go off. He misses, but you hear Bellamy yell in anger before colliding with Dax, the sound of them fighting reaching you behind the tree. You tug on the gun, trying to reload, before giving up and jumping up from behind the tree, and running at Dax with the gun raised to use as a bat. “Get the hell off him!”

Just as you reach him, Dax spins and hits you with the butt end of the rifle, right in the stomach, sending a flood of pain through you as it collides with your wound. You groan and hit the ground, but the distraction gives Bellamy enough time to find a discarded bullet and plunge it into Dax’s neck. You both watch as he bleeds out, struggling and gasping for air, before he hits the ground, dead. 

Bellamy stumbles towards you as you drag yourself to the tree, clutching your stomach. You plop down at its base as he lowers himself beside you, his hand on your thigh as you both pant from exertion. You grit your teeth against the pain and lean towards him, putting your hand on his arm. “You're okay.”

“No, I'm not.” He shakes his head, and you watch tears well up in his eyes. “My mother...If she knew what I've done, who I am...She raised me to be better, to be good.”

You try to cut him off, “Bellamy-”

“And all I do is hurt people.” He lets out a sniffle as the tears spill over his cheeks. “I'm a monster.”

“Hey.” You squeeze his arm and he turns to look at you, “You saved my life today. And ten other times. You may be a total ass half the time, but I need you.” His eyes widen slightly and you continue, “We all need you. You want forgiveness, fine, I'll give it to you. You're forgiven, okay? But you have to come back with me.” 

“Jaha will kill me when he comes down.”

You shake your head, “We'll figure something out.”

He lets out a deep breath, “Can we figure it out later?”

You nod and let your head drop to his shoulder, whispering, “Whenever you're ready.”

You both sit in silence for a few minutes before you whisper, “I saw my dad.” He shifts beneath you and you lift your head to look at him. “I mean, I know it wasn’t him, but this time I got to say goodbye.”

Unsure what to say, he chooses instead to say nothing, and you lean back against the tree, looking at the stars. Your eyes find Orion quickly, and you whisper, “See those three stars in a row up there?”

You see Bellamy nod out of the corner of your eye. “That’s Orion’s Belt.” You lift your hand and trace the rest of the constellation. “And that’s Orion the Hunter.”

You turn towards him slightly, a small smile on your face. “They say Artemis, the goddess of the moon and the hunt, fell in love with Orion. And Apollo, her twin, was worried she was going to give up her vow of chastity for him. So one day, when Orion was swimming far out into the ocean, Apollo called to his twin. He pointed to a rock near the horizon, and dared her that she couldn’t hit it. Of course, Artemis hit it easily. But imagine her horror when Orion’s body washes up on the beach, and she realized what she had done. She put him up in the stars after that.” You turn and look at him. “I wonder if she takes comfort in knowing that he’s always up there.”

You look away and back up at the stars, both of you sitting in silence. After checking your bandage and watching the moon rise higher, you mutter, “We should probably get back.”

“Yeah, we probably should.”

He stands and helps to pull you to your feet, before leading you back down into the depot, and gathering the guns and blankets. You both tie up a sack a piece of weapons, and head back to camp, walking through the woods in a comfortable silence, interrupted only to discuss what’s next.

As you near the camp, you hear the sounds of fighting from within. You and Bellamy walk faster, pushing through the gates just as someone asks, “What if he brings other Grounders back?”

Just then, Bellamy pushes through the crowd, before stopping in the middle. “Let the Grounders come. We've been afraid of them for far too long, and why? Because of their knives and spears. I don't know about you. I'm tired of being afraid.”

You both drop the sacks, revealing the guns to a camp of excited teenagers. You catch Clarke’s eye across camp, and sense her hesitation, but she offers you a smile anyways. Bellamy continues, “There are plenty more where these came from. Tomorrow we start training, and if the Grounders come, we're gonna be ready to fight.”

Excitement ripples through the camp, and you give Bellamy a nod before walking over to your twin. “I need you to set up a meeting with Jaha for me and Bellamy.”

Her brows lift in surprise, “Uh, yeah. Of course. Just give me a few minutes.”

You nod and look around in search of Bellamy, spotting him near the edge of camp, draping a blanket around Octavia. You watch with a smile, and when they seem finished, you call out to him. “Bellamy.”

He turns and looks at you, and you give a nod in confirmation. He heads over to you, following you to the tent. Clarke steps out and gives you a smile, squeezing your hand quickly as she passes.

You both step inside and settle down side by side, pulling on the headsets to chat with the waiting Jaha. When you’re both ready, his eyes go straight to Bellamy. “Mr. Blake, I've wanted to talk to you for some time now.”

You cut in, “Before you do, I'd like to say something. When you sent us down here, you sent us to die, but miraculously, most of us are still alive. In large part, that is because of him, because of Bellamy.” You both lock eyes, before you turn back to Jaha. “He's one of us, and he deserves to be pardoned of his crimes just like the rest of us.”

“I appreciate your point of view, but it's not that simple.”

“It is.” Bellamy offers, matter of fact. “If you want to know who on The Ark wants you dead.”

Jaha considers this for a moment, and each passing second feels like a minute. He leans forward, looking at you. “You're pardoned for your crimes.” He turns to Bellamy. “Bellamy Blake, you’re pardoned for your crimes.”

You both smile in relief, before Jaha continues. “Now, tell me who gave you the gun.”

-

When the video feed ends, and Jaha disappears from the screen, you and Bellamy exit the tent in silence, before pausing at the door, unsure what to do. Just as you are about to step away, he turns towards you. “Your cut.” You glance up at him. “We need to change the bandage.”

You nod and follow him to his tent, sitting in the same spot as before as he gathers supplies. When he makes his way back to you, you lift your shirt, exposing the bandage. You watch him quietly as he works, removing the bandage, cleaning off the fresh blood. Only breaking the silence to ask, “What if they don’t float him?”

He looks up at you, confused, and you add, “Shumway, I mean.”

“They will.” He goes back to your wound, nearly done cleaning it up.

You press, “Yeah, but what if they don’t?”

He looks up, sensing something in your tone, and meets your eyes. You take in a sharp breath, and look away. “There’s something about Shumway that I haven’t told you before. Something I haven’t told anyone.”

He picks up the bandage, wrapping it around your middle, afraid to interrupt you. You pick at your nail as you whisper, “I was arrested a few days before my dad was. But I didn’t know that until Shumway came in my cell one day to gloat. He told me that my dad had been arrested for treason and was going to get floated for it. He said he was getting floated in half an hour.”

You hear Bellamy’s sharp intake of breath and he leans away from you to meet your eyes. “Shumway wanted to know what I would do in order to see my dad one last time. What would I give him in order to say goodbye to my father. I didn’t hesitate, I told him ‘anything’. As soon as I said it, I knew I had made a deal with the devil.”

You pause, lip quivering. “I knew that I just gave him what he wanted all along. He cuffed me and led me through the Ark, taking me to see my dad.” Your voice breaks on the last word, and tears spill down your cheeks. “I didn’t make it in time. Right as I came around the corner, we locked eyes, and they pushed-”

You cut yourself off, crying harder, and Bellamy puts his hand over yours, offering comfort. You gather yourself and push on, “I was pissed. I knew that Shumway got me there late on purpose, because that’s the kind of man that he is. I raised hell, got shocked and dragged all the way back to my cell, before they decided to throw me in solitary, permanently, because I was just too much to manage.”

You shake your head, “Solitary made it that much easier for Shumway to get what he wanted. No one listens to the cries of a problem child. No one listened when I said he came into my cell, and abused me.” You look up and lock eyes with Bellamy, finding a fire of anger burning there. “That day you found us, I thought he was gonna-” You shake your head, “Right then and there in the hallway.”

Bellamy is quiet for a second, and you see a muscle in his jaw clench and his eyes grow hard. “If he’s alive when they make it to the ground...I’ll kill him myself.”

-

next chapter

[kyleknight]

Shapeshifters

October Writing Challenge Day 4 part 2 project: bts shapeshifting light weapons au content: eventual ot7, fantasy, shapeshifting weapons sorta like soul eater, parallel worlds I guess?  warnings: mild fighting against monsters  an: ok so this is stuff that Ive already written for this au but Im planning on writing more so I wanted to have this stuff posted already bc it explains the world pretty well.

The stars overhead are a little too bright. A little too big, too close. If Hoseok looks up at the sky long enough, he can actually pick out sharp pointed edges to them. He tries not to look at them and pretends the natural light illuminating his path is moonlight instead of starlight.

Namjoon is leading him along the path at a brisk pace— not quite a run, but it’s fast enough that Hoseok feels a little less panicked about… well… everything. There’s not enough cover out here and Hoseok is terrified of seeing another one of those giant creatures. 

He spots the building, standing in a small clearing. It’s a nice change from the seemingly endless twisted trees on one side of the path and the barren field on the other. 

“What’s that?” he asks Namjoon. It’s a question he’s been asking a lot in the past hour or so. 

“The house? It’s safe,” Namjoon answers. “My friends are in there.”

“They’re like you?” Hoseok says.

Namjoon doesn’t respond until they reach the building. He ignores the door and goes to a boarded up window instead, knocking rapidly on it. “It’s me! Open up!”

A brief moment later, a board covering one of the windows slides and moves out of the window. It’s barely enough space for a person to squeeze through.

“Come on,” Namjoon says. “It’s safe in here.” He glances backwards, and Hoseok does as well. He can’t see anything, but those things from earlier came out of nowhere. Hoseok turns back and climbs through the opening. 

He finds himself in a large room that’s got building materials piled up against the walls but is otherwise empty. Well, empty except for another guy holding the board that must have been blocking the entrance. Hoseok eyes him carefully and moves aside as Namjoon gets inside. The guy then wedges the board back into place.

Hoseok glances around the dark room. There are no light fixtures on the ceiling and no other sources of light save for the starlight sneaking in through cracks in the boards. He feels marginally safer, though. As long as nothing scary is going to jump out at him like earlier.

“Hoseok-ssi,” Namjoon says, “This is Jungkook. One of my friends. And… where’s Jimin and Taehyung?”

“They went out,” Jungkook says. “There was a pack of Shadows that was getting close, so they went to drive them back.”

Namjoon looks worried. “How long ago was that?”

“Not long,” Jungkook says. “But they’re careful. I’ve been watching through the windows just in case Taehyung-ah puts up a firework.” He looks curiously at Hoseok. “So who’s this?”

Namjoon gestures towards the far wall. “Let’s talk in the inside room. It’s complicated.”

Hoseok’s eyes start to adjust as Namjoon guides him through the dark building. It’s a bit like an old farmhouse, he thinks. The first two rooms are sparse, mostly full of wooden supplies and tools, separated by heavy doors. The third room feels much more lived in: resembling a kitchen and more familial storage area. From there, a narrow stairwell leads up to a room with beds, couches, clothes and sheets hung from the wooden rafters above. The thing Hoseok likes more about this room is the larger spaces in between the boards, allowing more starlight to pass through to illuminate the room. 

Namjoon leads Hoseok to a couch with two blankets thrown across it. Hoseok takes one and wraps it around himself. He’s not too cold with his jacket and layers, but the lack of any kind of external warmth here is unnerving enough to send more chills than usual through him. 

Hoseok has so many questions, things he’s still rattled by, but for now, he’s just relieved to be inside. 

“I have more things to explain to you, Hoseok-ssi,” Namjoon says. “But first, I need to tell— Jungkook. Hoseok-ssi is a handler. He’s not from here. He’s from another world, I think.”

Jungkook’s eyes are wide. “Really? Where did you find him?”

“When I was in town,” Namjoon says. “There was a light from the river. I went to go check on it and he was there. There were a few Shadows already on him, so I went to help him out. He brought the light out of me without me even realizing it. We destroyed the Shadows.”

Hoseok watches Jungkook’s reactions. Namjoon’s explanations from earlier didn’t really explain much, but he’s had a little bit of time to try and process them. People here can turn into weapons. Light is dangerous. Hoseok is special, because of what he did when he was holding Namjoon-turned-into-a-bow. Namjoon can turn into a bow and shoot arrows made of soft white light. 

“You’re both magic weapons then?” Hoseok says.

Namjoon nods. “Jungkook is a pistol. And you saw what I am. And what I can do, when the conditions are right. Doing that can destroy the Shadows, but it’s also dangerous because it can attract more attention if you’re careless about it.”

Hoseok pulls the blanket closer around himself. “And that goes for all types of light? Fire too?”

Namjoon’s face turns more serious. “Yeah. It’s… that’s sort of how all the handlers disappeared here. After the sun disappeared and the moon went dark, they couldn’t stand it. They tried to survive with fire and other types of light, but the Shadows got too strong. I’ve never even met one before, not until you.”

Hoseok looks from Namjoon to Jungkook, who is standing near the window, looking outside. He feels so out of his depth. He’s so scared and he just wants to go home. Namjoon is kind and definitely pretty resourceful, but he already told Hoseok he doesn’t understand how he made it to this world. He’s not going to have any suggestions for how to send Hoseok back. And, considering all of their problems with the terrifying Shadows, it feels like it would be selfish to ask. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yoongi should have just stayed inside today. 

He tries to rationalize how it’s not his fault that someone was dumb enough to set off some kind of bright ass firecracker at the shore of the creepiest, darkest lake around. Probably some idiots testing out their light instead of keeping their heads down and not causing trouble. You know, like a rational person. 

Unfortunately, Yoongi can hear the person screaming even from his little fishing hut. If he squints, he can almost make out the small gang of Shadows chasing the guy. He frowns and tries to look for the person’s friend and finds nobody. What the hell? Who just leaves their friend to get hunted down by the Shadows just to save their own skin? They’ve got to be close, to set off light of that magnitude. What a fucking shitty ass betrayal.

Yoongi sighs heavily, shuts the door behind him, and throws himself into a full sprint. The guy is running around aimlessly, the Shadows following him out of curiosity more than anything. That’s good for now but eventually he’ll get tired and the Shadows will get him. Yoongi has to slow down as he gets closer, but he quickly sees an opportunity.

“Change!” he yells, running for the guy. “I’ll help you push them back!”

“Ahhh!” the guy screams. “Help me!” Instead of turning into whatever form he has, he just runs for Yoongi with open arms. 

Good grief. Yoongi isn’t exactly comfortable in his sword form, but what the hell ever. He’d rather not be swung around by a panicking fool, but he’s more concerned about the four Shadows than he is about being dropped. 

He changes and even has the decency to land himself in the guy’s right hand. 

“Ahhh!” the guy screams again, dropping Yoongi just as he expected. “What’s this! What’s this!”

“Don’t drop me!” Yoongi yells. He’s a nice guy, okay, and he doesn’t normally yell at strangers, but this is kind of a dire situation. “Pick me up! Scare them off!”

“Ahhh!” The guy won’t stop screaming, but he picks Yoongi up again and holds him in a position so unbalanced that Yoongi is sure he’s going to be dropped again. The Shadows slow down to a stop, uncomfortably close but not close enough to be in range of Yoongi’s blade. They’re bigger than the usual Shadow that Yoongi encounters. Very bad.

“Quit panicking!” Yoongi says. “They’ve stopped, now swing me around a bit. Act threatening!”

Unfortunately, this guy is incapable of getting himself together. It’s like he’s never dealt with a Shadow before. He goes, “Ahhh!” again and swings Yoongi in the most wobbly manner ever. Yoongi actually feels a bit sick from the motion. One of the Shadows moves back a bit, though.

“Do that again,” Yoongi grits out. “But please, just try to get yourself together. It’s fine, I’m not gonna let you die. It’s going to be okay.” 

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” the guy says. He’s shaking, but he adjusts his hold on Yoongi and yells again as he slashes the air in front of him wildly. This time, two of the Shadows back off and the smaller of the two runs in the opposite direction. The two that are closest to Yoongi and his unfortunate partner aren’t convinced by the show. One lumbers closer.

“Fuck,” Yoongi mutters. That light display earlier was pretty impressive. It makes sense that these Shadows wouldn’t be easily scared off. 

“One more time,” Yoongi says. “You can do this. Come on!”

“Ahh!” the guy screams, but this time it’s in a wild desperation. He brings Yoongi back with more force to prepare for another swing, and something resonates within Yoongi. His heart beats harder, louder. His mind feels at peace. The guy swings him and the brightest light Yoongi has ever seen in his life pours out of his blade. He feels the light slice through the Shadows, including the one that had turned and run. The light pierces through the dark lakeshore all around them and eliminates every shred of darkness. 

Then, as quickly as it came, the light is gone. The Shadows are gone. Yoongi is in his human form on his hands and knees, shaking. What just happened?

“What the fuck did you do?” he gasps. He looks back at the guy, who looks just as panicked as when Yoongi showed up. 

“C-can you tell me where I am?” the guy says, sounding like he’s about to start crying. “I’m so scared, and confused. I was just at the train station, it was morning, and then all of a sudden I’m here and it’s night— oh god, what if I’m on drugs. Someone roofied me. Oh god, I want to snap out of this. Can you find me a hospital? My phone is dead.”

Okay, this guy is nuts. Yoongi groans and rubs at his forehead as he makes his way to his feet. “Come on, we need to get to some shelter before more Shadows show up. You can stay with me until your friend shows up again.”

“My friend?” the guy says. “I’m not— who are you talking about?”

“Whoever was with you to make that light earlier,” Yoongi says. “You’re traveling with someone, right?”

“I’m not here with anyone,” the guy says. “I don’t think so anyway… there were a lot of people at the station, but there was nobody when I ended up here. I wasn’t traveling with anyone. I just ended up here alone. Until you showed up.”

Yoongi shoots the guy with a skeptical look. “So what, you made that light by yourself?” He didn’t realize that was possible. But that’s not the important thing here. “Are you insane? Were you trying to draw the attention of the Shadows? You know you could have gotten yourself killed!”

“I don’t know what’s going on!” the guy says desperately. “This place is so scary, and those monsters started chasing after me, and you turned into a sword! I don’t understand how any of this is happening! I feel like I’m in a movie, and I want to go home!”

Okay, this guy is more nuts than Yoongi initially thought. But between dealing with crazy and dealing with more Shadows, Yoongi would take crazy any day. He sighs, rubs at his eyes, and motions for the guy to follow him.

“You can find your way home after we wait out the Shadows that are bound to come after that light,” he says. “I’m not staying out here any longer. Come on. My place is just over there.”

“Thank you,” the guy says, sounding more subdued. “I’m sorry, I’m just so confused. Thank you for helping me. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show up.” 

Yoongi is pretty sure they’re both aware of what would have happened if he didn’t show up to help.

“My name is Kim Seokjin.”

“Min Yoongi,” Yoongi says. 

“Thank you, Min Yoongi-ssi.”

“Mm-hm.”

Seokjin doesn’t say anything else during the short walk to Yoongi’s place. Yoongi makes sure to shut the door firmly behind him— normally it’s not a problem, the Shadows don’t bother with this place because it’s so dark already. But he can’t be too sure now, after that impossible light Seokjin somehow pulled out of Yoongi.

That’s… that’s something that confuses Yoongi more than anything. He doesn’t know Seokjin. There’s no way there could be enough of a bond between two strangers to draw out that much light. Killing Shadows is next to impossible, and somehow Seokjin did it without Yoongi even realizing it was happening. Yoongi doesn’t even know what kind of light he can produce; he’s never managed anything more than a soft glow in the past. 

Yoongi takes out a spare mat so he and Seokjin can sit on the floor, as far from the door as possible without being on Yoongi’s bed. He’s not that hospitable. Seokjin is looking around a bit uncomfortably.

“Do you have a lamp or a candle?” he says. “I’m sorry, if you prefer the dark, we can stay like this, but I’d rather be able to see your face. I’m still a little— I’m very spooked from those things.”

Yoongi blinks slowly at him. “A candle,” he says slowly. “Like… those things that people used to light on fire.”

“Yes?” Seokjin says. “Um. But, like I said, it’s okay—”

“You’re really not from around here, aren’t you?” Yoongi says. “That, or you have an actual death wish, which I can’t believe, because of how you reacted to the Shadows.” This is so confusing. This guy is acting like he has no idea how the world works. Children know that light is dangerous and how to avoid making it, even before they learn how to speak full sentences. What’s with this guy? How did he end up at the lake in this state?

“Um,” Seokjin says. He pulls his coat closer to his body. That’s another strange thing. He’s dressed in the strangest style Yoongi’s ever seen. He said something about a train. Yoongi knows trains haven’t run since shortly after the sun went dark. They were magnets for Shadow attacks. Even running without lights, the fires in the furnaces would attract dozens of Shadows, who would swarm the engines and tear through the people inside. 

“I’m sorry,” Seokjin says. “If you don’t have anything like that… I didn’t mean to… I’ll just wait until morning and I’ll go and try to find my way home.”

“Morning,” Yoongi repeats. “Seokjin… I don’t know where you’re from, but in this world, there’s no morning.”

Seokjin goes still. “In this world? What are you talking about?”

Yoongi has a suspicion. It’s crazy and impossible, but so is a stranger pulling light like that out of Yoongi with no warning. “Seokjin, can you describe the place where you’re from?”

“It’s… it’s Seoul. I mean, originally I’m from Gwacheon. But I moved to Seoul to train to be an idol. Seoul is a big city. The biggest in Korea. There’s so many people, so much to do. It’s nice, but I miss home sometimes. Gwacheon has some of the most beautiful parks—”

“And you have the sun,” Yoongi interrupts. 

Seokjin nods. “Of course we have the sun. I think the world would freeze into a ball of ice without it.”

Yoongi lets out a shaky breath. “Seokjin, we don’t have the sun here. Wherever you’re from, I can say for sure it’s not here. I don’t know how you got here, but you probably need to learn some things about this place if you don’t want to run into more Shadows and get yourself killed.”

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

session 9 notes

Tea time as in the oneshot period session u do

Adam is rolling at disadvantage medicine check

Sylvia is playing as Sarah (16)

Marguerite is Snapette (14)

Has not had it before

Lillian is Samantha (15?? 14???)

Has had it before

Can provide inspiration

Sarah picks room c painted purple and dripping stuff from the ceiling

Takes snapette and samantha with her, do it

Adam casts message

"are you guys ok?"

Snapette is a little freaked out bc hasn't had it yet

"I don't knowww"

Samantha says don't worry it's just a routine procedure "she'll be ok don't worry about it"

6

Adam casts shatter at the wall

3d4 damage from middle school girls roll to hit above an 6

Adam has to roll wisdom saving throw at 15

At disadvantage (on next attack)

ROLL INITIATIVE

Adam: 12

Sarah: 5

Snapette: 19

Samantha: 19

Samantha

Snapette

Adam

Sarah

Samantha's turn

2 for persuasion

Snapette

5

Adam casts sleep

Snapette is asleep

Sarah

4 for persuasion

Samantha

6 for persuasion

Adam

Hideous laughters samantha but on the ground laughing

Sarah

        Ok next one as in real one ig

     "lillian has a gaming setup confirmed"

"lillian is a hardcore gamer"

Ok actually

 Last session we were following a lead, we took a rest but now we wanna go to the cemetery

We're gonna go get that rock

"Does the rat have a bed ??"

It's a cemetery but also a park

It's still foggy

We're gonna walk until we come across a taxi ig

Aerana is leading in front, adam towards middle, cel towards back

Asyna and theo don't care

Not fog it's rain

Don't see too many ppl out but as we leave the dock ward we see ppl trying to find cover

Pass through the dock ward unhindered

Eventually we flag down a carriage

V old tiefling man w an eyepatch and a beard coming down in two forks but w one shorter than the other

3c each

"take these coppers . Old version of me"

"eh . What r u doing up this time of night"

"oh we're just gonna go pay our respects to the graveyard"

"we have many graveyards which one r u going to"

"just u know the general - the city of the dead"

"ah headed back there again, eh?"

"again?"

"what do you mean by again?"

"my eye must've been deceiving me I could've sworn I spoke to u the other day"

Adam is not allowed to roll perception???????

"oh no no sir I haven't met u before in my life"

His depth perception is gone

He was doing typical rounds and ran into young man who needed ferry into city of the dead

"there's a lot of tieflings in the city . We all look the same"

No one else is on the carriage

It's late afternoon-ish here

Just dark bc cloud cover it's v rainy

Fast travel ?

He tries some conversation but normal guy

Arrive at a thing with a cage castle thing that's locked up

Metal grate thing in front of the door??? PORTCULLIS

It's so rainy

Looking beyond it there's a lot of carefully manicured lawns

It's locked

A wench looks pulled

If adam were stronger he could push it open

Cel rolls perception for guards

10

Can see light or smth passing through ?? Smth in the place

Kinda bobs a little that "might suggest a lantern"

We can't see it

Adam casts mage hand to try and open the wedge from the other side

There's an actual lock

Lillian rolls a 6

Everyone is confused I am also confused

Everyone is low rolling; cel rolls 8

"how climbable does the wall look"

23 aerana unlocks the door

You're trying to figure it out in the rain

Adam is mage handing the inside part

20

Could not put the lock back on but close the gate

Adam is putting it in george the bush

"I'll be so happy to take this lock off your hands"

It's an awakened bush

"we'll come back to you george bush"

Passing through, it's p creepy

We follow her instructions

Small lake w a small bridge

Asyna has 14 passive perception

This is a p sizable area

she hears out of sync footsteps

Someone stepping when we aren't

Someone walking with us behind us

Asyna rolls perception check disadvantage

a 2

Asyna pretends she looks back to talk to someone behind her

Looks over shoulder, still walking w everyone

Doesn't see anything

The rain and the dark r making it hard for us

Adam is leading

"hey adam . There's someone maybe following us"

Adam's already terrified and now he's peeing

He has actually peed

Was already kinda freaked out by the bus driver

Adam stops leading

Turns to asyna "y ou wot"

"what ? Keep walking let's keep walking"

"but you said"

"nononono"

Asyna perception at disadvantage

11

Adam stops

We've all stopped

As adam is talking to asyna asyna hears the footsteps where we've stopped walking and then they stopped

Cel roll 6

Aerana rolls 20

U whip ur head back to see

U hear ??? "what languages do you guys speak"

U hear what sounds like someone cursing u can't tell what it is

U tell the group

Asyna just says "hey"

Oh we can hold an attack

Let's hold an attack

Adam is holding his urine

"adam's a heavy drinker . You guys don't know that about him" - jacob, 2020

The hey is not answered

Hear a little more squelching

Sounds from the right, 7 perception check

Hard to tell, maybe

Adam does not have detect magic

Bruh dom's gonna kill us right now

On our right we hear stomping in the mud

4 short hooded figures randomly appear

Some kind of weapons they're holding w longer grayish beards and the start rushing to us to attack

I literally rolled a nat1

17 for adam

7 for theo

6 for asyna

Nat1 for cel

Nat1 for aerana

Adam is first

They look like dwarves but they're hooded w v white beards

Four of them in melee w us

All will make charisma saving throw

They don't look like zents or guards

Look like kind of thugs

Fail, nat20, nat20, fail

Whenever the failed ones make an attack roll, -1d4

Uses cutting words on one of the passed one, on next roll needs to -1d6

Two of them rush over after adam does and suddenly it looks like they start to straighten up in posture but they just grow in size

For better or worse they've become larger like the dweargar

They're dweargar

One of each of the attacked ones ig

A third grows in size

Theo's turn

Tries to shoot small one

"kill the baby dwarf"

Rolls an 8 to hit, misses

Asyna's turn

"It would just be a soggy ape"

We're trying to figure out which animal asyna should turn into

She's gonna turn into a crocodile bc one time jones put a crocodile out

We're going to the zoo after this session

There are dippin dots at the zoo

There are not dippin dots at the zoo?

The ice elemental could make a version of dippin dots

Dom gets frozen lemonade at zoos

There are not dippin dots at the zoo but in the summer they have the equivalent of shaved ice

Now asyna's gonna attack

18 to hit

7 damage

Bite attack ? Grappled ? Dc12 saving throw ? No dc12 to escape

He's stuck in the jaws

Who's stuck in the jaws ? The big one one of the big ones the bained one

Oh wait how big is the crocodile

Large

It works

Small one becomes large now all four are large

Cel's turn

Takes the one that just turned big

Casts hunters mark and then hits with sword

1d6 of damage, 2 from hunters mark added

15 to hit with bow, 14 damage

Aerana's turn

11 damage

Big one that adam didn't hit

U poke a lil hole

He's wearing chain armor and u shear through it a little

Adam

Casts vicious mockery on the one you just hit

He will take 3 damage "the only reason you got big physically is because you're compensating"

And disadvantage on next physical attack

He's next

Ah he's gonna attack u

He misses

Other one goes

The big bained one

Marguerite took the small bained one

Nat1 lmao

Tries to swing at adam and doesn't hit

Grappled man gonna try to escape, is large so does he escape ? Yes he escapes

Theo's turn

Theo will hit the one that just tried to escape w bow

14 to hit, does it

Deals 5 damage

The one u n adam hit is a little worse for wear along w the last one to turn big boi

Theo can add sneak attack bc asyna is within melee range

Adds 8 damage for total 13 damage

Now he's also not looking great

Theo abandons bow to sneak attack w sword

Asyna's turn

18 to hit

6 damage

Same guy theo got

"how do you want to do this?"

Chomps him in half

He tastes salty

Ok so in total like 26 damage to take out ?

Upon seeing the crocodile the other one is gonna fight asyna

Despite -1d6 to hit, has advantage bc larger size and never mind ?

12 armor class, he hits

6 damage

He smashes snout in "it hurts . But ur fine"

Cel's turn

It is the one with hunters mark

Uses bow

23 to hit, 11 damage

Looks like he's on his last legs

Aerana deals 14 damage

"how do you want to do this"

Cut off the legs then he slides off his own legs and collapses

Bleeding out as he kicks the bucket

Adam

"how do you want to do this"

1 health lmao

"what I roll will tell me the level of roast that kills him"

"your mother was a badger mole and your father was a worm"

He hyperventilates, asphyxiates, then dies

Bruh next time u should pull a criminal minds death smh

He rolls a 3 and doesn't hit anyone

Theo's turn

Makes an athletics check to climb onto him?

I want a burrito

I'm gonna make a burrito after we play so I can start s14

Gonna try to intimidate

" we just killed all of your friends but we'd be willing to keep you alive if you answered some questions for us "

"that is the most polite intimidation I've ever heard" dom, 2020

Rolls with advantage

8 lmao

He looks scared but it didn't work

"is theo like a mormon or something???" jacob, 2020

"dnd but it's mormons"

Asyna's turn

Rolls a 2, snaps and it doesn't work

Cel's turn

Pulls out sword to intimidate

"last chance fucker or we kill you"

17

Bc we're in melee he drops his weapon which did not grow in size with him

Adam is gonna change his shorts

It looks like he's wearing a skort

You take his war hammer

Time to interrogate

Cel is pulling him down???? He's medium size and cel is filled with rage

Eye contact ???? Or ok athletics check

14 athletics check it works gets him down to eye level

"who sent you?"

Doesn't answer

Asks in undercommon

"I was sent by noska"

"noska's with me at the guild"

It is the xanathar guild

"why?"

"we figured you five would have the stone"

Adam comes back

"we do have the stone in fact"

Deception check

19

Intimidation and deception are specific ways of persuading

19 deceives

"we already had it"

He looks at adam and says "that so? Well uh then you have it on you now?"

"uh no . Check the bottom of the ocean ."

His eyes widen

"so why don't you go tell your xants"

"you . You didn't ."

"oh . We did."

He's not used to communicating through an interpreter

Says smth along the lines of "you idiot there's half a million dragons in there"

Now he's just yelling at us

Cel whips out sword and offers to behead him against the

We could cut out his tongue and opposable thumbs

And then let him go as a sign to the xants

Carve a message into his chest

"who else are you hunting for"

"nobody right now . I guess ,, well, no .. No, not really - mostly just the rock"

"well it's gone . See rock see stone at the see shell at the see shore"

"here's the thing buddy boy we know you're looking for it and we don't like you"

"so you can skedaddle"

"when did adam get so cocky?"

"right after he learned vicious mockery"

Adam spanks him

He shrunk to a medium size

Or maybe adam didn't spank him

Tl;dr he's not gonna snitch and doesn't give us a name

"I still wanna know your name, fucker"

It's gorrick

Sylvia would've called him ocean

"if you know a crow person named bingbong-" "that's not his real name" "-if you know a kenku whose name is a gong sound, can you tell us where he is?" "well there's lots of different kenku but I don’t' know they all look kind of scruffy and they all wear cloaks so I can't tell" he doesn't know

"he reluctantly gives you his pants" dom, 2020

"but is he packing tho" marianne, 2020

"roll for perception at disadvantage" "16"

"from what you can tell… this guy can taste enlarge/reduce on himself, so yeah" dom says, begrudgingly, 2020

For the record . I was joking . But he made me roll

"is that dead one packing shmeat" "NO, HE IS N O T" jacob and dom, 2020

"you idiots are dead xants r gonna come and make your lives hell"

We see lantern lights just bobbing around in the darkness

Arrive at one of the wealthier areas w big pillared, raised pedestals w coffins n statues

Eventually make it to a small covered stone building not too much larger than a shed

One of the things has been pushed open

Smashed lock on the ground

Adam thaumaturgies and walks in

Adam makes the light blue

10 feet in there's a 10ft open chamber; off to left and right are two different stone coffins that have been covered up; don't depict any particular person but some writing on it

Further in two raised sections with set of stairs leading into darkness between them

Cel rolls investigation check to see if someone was there

Rolls 21, somewhat dusty inside and can see some footprints

2 pairs that look human-sized

Writing on coffins just have names of garloth family with age and short passage

The footprints look like they go both in and out

Honestly ? Proud of my question asking if the footprints are going in the same direction . Me one year ago would not have thought

Adam goes deeper into the darkness

Going down it's warmer, pathway abt 10 feet wide

More coffins; one to right one to left

Contents have been ransacked

Tops have been broken (wood)

Some bones have been removed

Cel rolls 21 to see if they were buried w anything

Passage extends 50 feet down

All coffins here have been ransacked

Two more coffins have also been ransacked

60 feet down adam can see a side passage

Bc of the light adam can see smth sparkling in the dust

Door set into the wall

Adam picks it up

Looks like a key

Adam tries it for the locked door

Adam runs 19 investigation but it doesn't appear to be trapped

Looks like this door has scratches like long gouges

Key adam found does not fit

Cel picks it

More ornate coffin inside, untouched

Cel rolls for investigation, 10

Unsure abt traps

More dusty in here, some dirt falling from ceiling

Adam looking for rat-sized entrances

Investigation check

11, can't see

Other coffin made to look like a person, last name garloth

Cel opens the coffin

Strength check w advantage

Nat20

Wedges crowbar under stone, it slides off and hits the ground, kicking up some dust

Inside is a dead person

Cel investigates for stone

13, it's just a dead man

Rings just look fancy

Based on our info

The stone is p sizable

Adam puts all the rings on at once and as he tugs the rings off the skeleton the head rolls and falls to look at adam

"I'm gonna cover the face and keep tugging - does it come off?"

"the finger comes off"

Naya's gonna scry w the key

"are you still a crocodile?"

"oh ok I guess I'll revert then"

Naya hops away

Will do investigation checks for rest of tomb

Adam is licking the floor, rolls 13

Adam gathers the door was not opened before we came in

Hard to tell w the footprints now that we've come in

Someone did come in tho before us

Cel is investigating and adam is giving inspiration

"are you doing bardic inspiration then?"

"yeah"

"do I get a song?"

"there once was a halfling named cel she was searching for bodies in a cell but there was one trap everyone did a laugh(?) and down the hole she fell"

"you've been inspired to avoid all danger"

Four were unopened Ig

11 it doesn't open ?

Nat20 for second coffin

Dead person inside

Investigates for stone, 8

Doesn't see anything

There's an entrance the door at the front of the mausoleum that a rat could fit through

No rat-sized holes in the coffins

Only lead is the key

Naya looks like she's leaving so we're gonna follow

Eventually led to another entrance/exit of the cemetery in a different direction

Still raining but not quite as heavily as before

Getting closer to midnight

Naya starts leading us towards trades ward

Pause point?