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starrysupercell · 3 years ago

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UwU the rest of the outline at per request. @lumpy-veev (still unfinished but it's okay! This should be thought of as a rough draft.) 💙

🦝 "RaR 3" or "Breaking Point" 🐍

It would be an unofficial Brawl, which is not allowed, but it happens, and what can you even do?

I see the two as basically ignoring each other's presence upon finding out that the other is there. Of course, as much as they won't admit it, it's making them think of. Everything.

This leads to even more on edge tense atmosphere whenever they would cross each other's path, because even if it’s a big park, you can only avoid someone for so long, especially when you happen to have common associates. (the Coworkers, Tara, etc.)

It doesn’t help they have growing animosity and take every little thing personally for every interaction.. and it’s only been a month or two.

Rumors begin to pick up around the park-- Just a little chatter at the bar. Just a little observation that those two sure have something between them huh? The gossiper is shushed, because did you forget who runs the place? his connection to Byron?

Luckily, the bartender didn’t seem to hear. He was busy cleaning glasses. The topic’s changed. customers continue to come and go.

One who arrives is Piper, who sits down at the bar. It’s busy, so she waits patiently for Barley to get her usual. (he’s good at that.) He sets down a coaster and the glass in front of her, but instead of a greeting and bustling away this time, he sticks around.

“Byron is well on his way to becoming a topic of interest around here...” he tells her.

She leans forward with a smile. “What have they said? And who, for that case?”

He explains what he heard, and omits the names.

Piper thoughtfully considers this. She had noticed this, but hadn’t chalked it up to a personal history, just conflict of interest. (byron was well off, belle was a thief. he would be cautious) Now that she knew, she wanted every drop of intel.

“I can talk to him. we wouldn’t want our dear coworker being talked about, do we?”

“I do not.” Barley replied, tipping his hat to bid her goodbye as he steps away to another client. He lets Piper take care of this, because he likes letting people come to him if they want to talk, and he feels that Byron would have already approached him if that were the case.

So, it’s another one of their patented teatime tête-à-têtes.

Piper skirts around the issue before dropping the news of whispers about the two.

But Byron doesn’t humor the topic, and refuses to talk about it.

Piper cheerfully pokes at him. “Crossed paths? Did you know her before the Park? maybe previous business associates? She robbed you, but you had good insurance, and one day she tricked you? Ooh~ Former flames-?"

And then Byron stands up and is about to leave wordlessly until that last suggestion processes bc if he doesn’t clarify now, ugh that’s gonna be what Piper thinks is plausible (kind of, bc he gay af) and he does NOT want that to be a thing.

“She’s a relative,” he says with so much distaste before he leaves that Piper is even more intrigued. but at the same time, there’s something that tells her she shouldn’t fan the fire any further.

they’ve had their share of back and forths, and it’s been a blue moon since something had gotten him so upset that he just up and leaves.

she drops it, and as the #1 gossipmonger of the park, the hushed whispers of “mystery between byron and belle?” is completely stamped out with a dismissive attitude and several “Really? I didn’t notice anything.”

If Byron really and truly didn't want this around the park, she'd honor that.

Of course, with QD Edgar on occasional trips with the Gang, that’s the biggest connection the sibs have at the moment.

The first time Edgar name dropped Byron, Belle froze and listened to 2.47 more seconds of the teen's rambles before telling him to get a move on around camp and quit yapping.

Edgar didn't notice this first time around and grumpily went about his way.

But I'm sure there's one thing or another that makes Edgar talk about his dad manager again, and one thing that will really piss Belle off, is comparison.

Tara, who notices the shift in mood, puts herself in between Edgar and Belle and swiftly soothes things over. She suggests getting on with the plan they have (already knowing what Belle will respond with).

"heist cancelled," Belle states, rearing up Elodie and galloping away from camp. (She usually winds down on her own after celebrating a big heist, but never before-- and never had called it quits at that.)

Edgar is put off. Tara muses that it's nothing he could help...

On her own, Belle just contemplates everything. Hours. It brings up familiar memories of being up on the rooftop with her head buried into her arms and knees feeling terrible.

Except now she's more than grown, with her share of things to be proud of and great memories she forged on her own. She's not curled up on herself anymore. She's staring to the long distance of the desert-- her home-- traveling with ease.

That stupid rooftop section of her life is nothing more than a fraction of her well-lived life.

It doesn't make her feel better.

Yet another thing Byron ruins for her without even trying.

She needed a drink.

Not wanting to head back to her camp for the night, and not in the mood to try nabbing some good drink, Belle simply walks into the bar and orders something.

Barley treats her the same as any Brawler, despite what he now knows about her.

As far as he was concerned, she came in there as a customer. And as long as she paid, he saw no problem in serving her...

She drinks quietly, and he keeps an eye on her intake.

And eventually, just like with any other customer with something heavy on their mind and enough drinks, words flow easier.

She doesnt use names, and keeps terms vague. Speaks angrily of her parents. Calls the brother a "dumbass of a pushover."

Now, it isnt like he associates Byron as a (pardon his french) 'dumbass' in any way, but it's the way she uses it that makes Barley connect the dots. The tone wasn't as bitter. Almost fond. Almost.

He lightly prods for a little bit more insight, and she gives up a little more as she drinks.

Unlike the other two members of his Trio, it wasn't in his nature to gossip, so this would stay between them.

Barley listens, because that's what she needs right now. Not advice, not interjections or lectures or deflecting the subject. Just someone to listen.

Eventually he cuts her off before she gets too inebriated (and probably causes trouble.)

{I AM going to write this scene out in depth. And cry while doing so.}

On the other side, after the season and back at the Gift Shop, Edgar is 🤔🤔 over that incident. He considers talking with Colette but 1) she's as mad as a Colette could be at the fact that he hung out with the NEW BRAWLER and TARA and didnt bother getting her ANYTHING. and 2) tbh she's a blabbermouth.

Byron does his regular check of the shop that day. Making sure Colette hasn't run off and Edgar isnt sneaking a nap.

He welcomes Edgar back from his little trivial loot and shoot games.

While Edgar hadn't even thought twice about it before, he recalls that when he had told Byron he'd be working at a different section of the park (namely with the new Brawler, Belle) he had acted just as dismissive.

Like yeah, there was your usual "old man doesn't get the teens" shenanigans, but Byron had never belittled his interest in anything before. Calling his involvement in the season a 'trivial game' sounded... personal.

He outright asks Colette if Byron was acting weird.

Any snippiness that Colette may have had for 2 minutes diminishes when there's a chance to talk with her favorite person in the world that she's seen little to none of for two months, AND about her favorite topic: Brawlers!

She spills everything she knows, because despite Piper's efforts, theres no secret a Brawler can try to keep when shes around.

She didn't find out everything of course. But she knows that there were questions involving Byron and Belle. Piper hushed it up, so for sure there was something.

Edgar nods. "Totally. I think she was close to rippin' my head off once. I brought up Byron once and she was ready to chew me out." (in case i didn't make it clear, Edgar picked up a slight drawl because of belle)

"Cool!" Colette exclaimed. "..I mean, not the rip your head off part. But that is cool too. I meant do we have lore on our hands?? That nobody ELSE knows!!?"

Edgar shushed her. Byron is in his office but the shop wasn't really sound proof.

......cue shenanigans from the Coworkers trying to figure things out in their very amateurish ways compared to Piper by "sneaking" around and "nonchalantly" trying to get him to admit something.

Byron knows they're up to something, and humors them until realizing the topic when Edgar tries bringing up the Goldarm Season.

He shuts them down even faster than Piper.

Of course, instead of deterring them like her, he just confirms their suspicions. Colette and Edgar are "o yeah we are def going to get to the bottom of this."

So, it's plan B! If they even try asking Piper she throws them for such a loop and leaves them so bewildered that Colette even forgets to ask for anything she could keep, and Edgar didnt realize she gave them nothing to work with until they're already out the door and down the street with cake pops in their hands.

So, Plan C! ...Barley.

It's hard to find a time to go there, since it's busy when they get off work. And Barley always seems to be at one place or another....

So the kids choose the perfect time (roughly midday), and just wait for the perfect day... when Byron comes in and checks the shop, then decides on his own that they could handle it for the rest of the shift and leaves them to it.

When the stars align, the teens wait until Byron is out of sight, and close up the gift shop. Their plan is to head to the bar... and maybe try and get something out of Barley..... not much of a plan, but they don't realize it there.

They make haste, running to the bar, because time crunch (when/if complaints start rolling in.)

Bursting through the doors of the Bar, Barley gives them a look. "Don't.. do that, please."

Colette apologizes enthusiastically, and urges Edgar forward. "Ask him! I'll keep watch!"

She hops over to the door and peers through it periodically.

Meanwhile, Edgar is stammering because he didnt plan anything to say, he expected Colette to talk to the robot.

"If you two think I allow underage drinking, I most certainly do not, no matter what Penny says." Barley warns.

"Uhh, no it isn't that. ...Umm. do ya know... well, you would know about Byron, and not Belle, I guess. But they've been acting weird lately, and we want to know why."

. . .

Barley pauses in consideration.

Options and questions flood around his mind, and he still had no answer.

Wonders if he should even mention Belle's visit some time ago, or the fact that he knows more in depth about it than Byron would care for, or that if Piper found out he knew more than her, and then told these two over would she be offended? ....Actually, in that case, why was he considering telling them anyway? Well, if they were interested in the topic for genuine reasons...

Edgar doesn't even know what to do either. Barley's not saying anything.

Colette squeaks, and scrambles from the door. "Edgar!! Any luck here? Because we're out of it over there!"

"What?"

"I think I see Byron heading here!!"

Who would have thought.

this is where i kind of dropped off the outline, but to continue/wrap it up, Barley points them to the curtain that covers the back room. There's an exit there which he tells them about, but the teens stay to EAVESDROP bc they care.

Barley and Byron chat. the conversation dips into the area having to do with Belle.

Byron frowns. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you're trying to get me to admit something, Barley. I can understand Piper, but you?"

"Me?" Barley asks. "Sir, you know I never mean harm."

"..." Byron stares at him unconvinced. "If Piper did put you up to this, you can tell me."

"U.. Believe it or not, I am among others in this park who care about you, Byron."

"...." wouldn't that be nice. But Byron believes him. My bad. He humors his coworker for now. "Fine." And asks for a drink.

Barley gets him his preferred one. [Lol I'll come up with it eventually.]

They talk. Barley finds out a little more. But just a little bit. Byron... it isnt like he has practice talking about ☆~feelings~☆

The teens listening in leave before too long. Colette is like O.O;; and Edgar decides that all they wanted to know was the relation between Byron and Belle, and they got that.

She agrees, and they both leave through the back door.

Byron didn't get as drunk ofc, it's still his working hours. Just enough to loosen up a bit and get through mild robot therapy.

After his leave, Barley sees him off, and then goes to check in the back. They're gone and he has a brief "oh, thought they would have gotten the hint to, listen in. Oh, well."

[There's one more event, involving the Coworkers interacting with Belle one last time, but still unplanned <3 it leads to the meet up and the fight... somehow though. I'll release that when I think of it.]

I can also see Piper being ":0 you knew before I did? And didn't tell me? You're mischievous, Barley!" In a very light hearted way at the very end.

Barley frets ;;; "I am not!"

#Brawl Stars #Townsfolk Trio #Belle #SCT #Coworkers #My Outlines

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the-al-chemist · 3 years ago

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Happy FFWF 💛

Wanted to get your opinion on which Artemis is the hardest to write or has been the hardest to write?

With moving through different AUs and stories how did you manage to keep everything in check?

One of these days I promise to be able to ask only one question lol

Happy FFWF! Ooh, there’s been harder parts and easier parts to all of the reincarnations of Artemis.

Most of the time these days, I know Artemis well enough that her actions and reactions to things come instinctively to me. Often, I’ll find that I’ve typed out a line or two of her dialogue without meaning to, and after I’m like “huh, where did that come from?” Basically, there are times when Artemis writes herself. That’s when I know I’m doing it right.

Getting to know her in Rockstar was actually easier than I thought, because she’s basically an adult version of her in the first year of canon. All the softer parts of her are buried beneath this thick outer shell. These days, we don’t see that in canon very much, though that might change when Rakepick arrives on the scene (spoiler alert: it will). I think it was in the second or third scene I wrote (which is her third chapter in the story, but I haven’t actually been writing in chronological order) that she first “spoke” for me. I was shocked by what she said. I had to send a text to @lifeofkaze to ask if that was too rude to put in the fic. Luckily, she said it was fine. It’s the funniest and sassiest clapback I’ve ever written. Definitely came from her and not me.

The most challenging way of writing Artemis that I’ve experienced recently is writing the Charlie story, Learning to Fly. This fic is designed to be read alongside When Stars Ignite, although it occurs in Artemis’ canon timeline. Artemis isn’t in it much herself, other than through a handful of written notes and two short scenes near the start of the fic. There are two reasons why this was tricky:

Artemis has just turned 19. She’s been through a lot over the course of her teenage years, and has come out the other side of it. She’s not the same little girl she was in the opening chapters of Mystery at Hogwarts, or even the angsty teenager she is where I’m writing now. She’s matured and she’s… not mellowed. Mellowed isn’t the right word. She’s as fiery as ever, but there’s an underlying sense of loss of childhood innocence there, and she’s perhaps not as blasé about everything as she used to be. It’s hard to explain, and it’s hard to write, especially as I haven’t yet written all of the journey it has taken her to get to this point.

I’ve never written Artemis through the eyes of another person before, other than in the prologue of The Hexley Saga. Like I said, she’s not that kid anymore. Although I write my fics in 3rd person, it’s always Artemis’ perspective dictating the narration. Having Charlie take the lead was very strange indeed, but it’s shown me a few things that I never realised, because Charlie notices different things about Artemis compared to what she or even I notice about her. For example, I always knew that Artemis was a bad liar, but until writing from Charlie’s side of things, I didn’t realise that she has a specific and obvious “tell”: her nose twitches when she lies. She has no idea, of course, and therefore, neither did I. Now I know about it, this fact has even made it into the Rockstar draft.

As for switching between WIPs, yeah, that’s raised some issues. What I’ve written for Year 5 needs editing. I went from redrafting Year 4 to proof-reading Year 3 to writing for Rockstar and then back to start writing Year 5. I’ve realised that in jumping backwards again, I’ve down-aged her. Her dialogue has felt off at times, and I’ve realised why: my most recent work in her timeline was set when she was 13. She’s now 15. I’ve skipped a whole year of her growing up, and it shows.

So, to remedy this, I’ve gone back and made some final edits on Year 4. Now, I feel more comfortable with her characterisation again. And, it means that Year 4 will be published sooner than I anticipated. Sorry, what was that?

#artemis hexley #al speaks #writer friends #happy ffwf!

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deafwestnewsies · 4 years ago

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il me dit des mots d'amour

Against all odds, Davey and Jack grew up.

david jacobs x jack kelly

read it on my ao3!

Give your heart and soul to me

And life will always be…

Their faucet dripped, the paint in the bathroom was peeling. Withering flowers sat in a dusty vase. The curve of Jack’s profile fit perfectly in the crook of Davey’s neck. Some things were simply meant to be.

“Dance with me,” Jack offers his hand. Davey almost bats the hand away in playful annoyance, “This article isn’t going to write itself!”, but he closes his eyes instead. Feels the warmth of Jack’s palm seep into his skin. Suddenly, he’s flying.

There’s a slight melody playing in the distance, blown in through their open window with the clean, bright muslin curtains dancing in the breeze. There is always some sort of music playing- it’s Paris and the world has stopped fighting long enough to listen to its song. Davey and Jack were young boys long ago, and now they are blessed to be alive. Visions of army fatigues and a physician’s coat blooming with scarlet still tiptoed through their dreams, haunted their quiet moments and tore through their loud ones. A bullet was still lost somewhere in Jack’s left leg. Davey still secretly poured over medical journals that promised to fix him.

Right now, however, they felt young again. An old spirit possessed them, one that sounded of a brazened young woman looking her father straight in the eye, a hundred wizened children buzzing for attention, the leather footsteps of boots on cobblestone. They didn’t talk about their youth anymore- too painful, too much of it stolen by men who would never know that death has a lingering, burning stench. The acrid taste woke Jack up in the middle of the night, and Davey would spoon-feed him honey like a child. Jack had cried the first time, Jack never had a mother to gently kiss his forehead in search of fever, Jack had Davey and a handful of memories that couldn’t be explained in simpler terms.

Davey had grown up with a mother and a father, a sister and a brother, but he only said their names in prayer. Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam. Protect my sister, bless my brother, love my parents. He wished, sometimes, that he had followed Les into the battlefield with his scalpel and sutures. His brother had died on a rainy April day from a disease Davey knew how to prevent. They told him after a particularly difficult amputation, one that required a steady hand and sound mind, and Davey’s first thought was back to when Les was a mere three years old. He had been so small that Davey and Sarah watched, enraptured by everything he did, toddling down the street, gripping at toys with his pudgy fists, putting just about anything he could in his mouth. They swore to protect him.

Jack was drafted seven days after Les had enlisted, Sarah ran far from her problems, and Esther collapsed with grief. Davey and Mayer buried the letter that had arrived at the Jacobs’ doorstep in their mother’s flower garden, and with the spring came a bought of daisies that bloomed right over the words We’re sorry to inform you…

Jack came home. Others did not.

Jack buried seven of the long-gone newsboys, he buried them alone with what little money he had, and Davey didn’t even bother offering his help. He had lasted fourteen months before he aged out of selling newspapers and their enticing headlines; Jack was raised in the dark alleys and echoing hallways of a lodging house. Each boy’s grave was marked with a stone spattered in paint and a nickname. Jack didn’t even know Racetrack’s real name, he would admit years later, wrapped in the dark quilt of night. All those years spent together. It hadn’t felt important at the time.

They sold what little they had and bought a bungalow in Paris, where the sun rose golden and the streets were paved in a different shade of gray. Davey wrote letter after letter in search of his twin sister, older than him by four-seven seconds, and prayed that she would appear on their doorstep. Jack had once asked if maybe, possibly, she was… Before he could finish the wheedling question, Davey stopped him. I would know, he had said. I knew her in birth, and I’ll know her in death. She’s out there.

Still, they were happy. Jack painted the eiffel tower at night, decorated with the electric lights that illuminated the roses people threw at its iron feet. He sold his works to wealthier couples, ones that oohed and ahhed over the homegrown talent only a natural genius could bear. Davey learned to bake bread and drink tea instead of coffee, he scoured the shops for antique teacups and old, frail copies of books no one had ever read. They spent the days in a compatible routine, and at night they drank French wines and let themselves dream of a different life- maybe not a happier one, but different all the same.

“Les would still live with my parents,” Davey would laugh. “That boy would take a wife and still crave Mamma’s latkes. And I’d be some perfectly fine surgeon who lost patients all the same, with a simple little wife to make me a brandy when I arrived home.” He would hold Jack’s hand a little tighter, possibly with relief, never with regret.

“Kathy woulda said yes when we were eighteen,” they would both grimace at the memory. “We’d have some fancy mansion and I’d be her adoring, deadbeat husban’ who met with ‘is best friend more n’ he should. Probably kids.” Jack’s eyes would cloud over for a moment, lost in a future he couldn’t have. “Def’nitely kids.”

Davey’s hand travels across the great expanse of Jack’s broad, flat back. The two men sway gently to the trumpet, roaring on in the distance. They were older now, older than they ever meant to be, and the days felt like sand slipping through a timepiece. Davey would always murmur, “There’s so much I haven’t done.”

Jack would always placate him. “But look at what we have.”

Give your heart and soul to me,

And life will always be,

La vie en rose.

#been on a HUGE javid kick recently #newsies #newsies on broadway #newsies on tour #newsies live #newsies 1992 #jack kelly #davey jacobs #javid #javid au #javid fanfiction #newsies au #newsies fanfiction #my writing

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magicofthepen · 3 years ago

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💡☀️⭐ for knock the ice from my bones? (haven't read anything else you've written unfortunately)

send me questions about my fic!

thank you for sending these!!

💡- What was the motivation behind the story?

ooh Backstory Time: so this is my first Gallifrey fic! (okay, All These Restless Ghosts is also my first Gallifrey fic, because that was the first one I finished and posted, but the first Gallifrey writing I ever did was for the fic that ended up becoming knock the ice from my bones.)

I wanted to write a character study about Romana and relationships post-Etra Prime, continuing through the Gallifrey audios, but I hadn’t written fic in years and didn’t have a good understanding of the scope of such a project. so I ended up with about 3k of a post-TAE, pre-Gallifrey audios Romana character study before stopping. plus maybe an additional 15k of headcanons and notes and ramblings about Romana and her personal relationships. (fun fact: the og Romana Headcanon Doc ended up being the basis of a lot of my other fics, although many of the headcanons evolved over time.)

this was in summer 2019, for reference. so I set that fic idea aside to work on All These Restless Ghosts/Eye of the Storm/So Cold It Burns/the original Echoes Between Us. but I liked the idea of reworking the Apocalypse Element/Neverland/Zagreus stuff that I’d written into a character study just focusing on that time period. so that idea ended up on my long list of Stuff To Write Eventually.

skip ahead to summer 2020, when it landed on my list of Active Projects. but while the original idea was to focus on Romana’s struggles with forming relationships, I realized that identity should really be the main theme of this fic. (aka Romana struggling to figure out who she is after Etra Prime, as she’s constantly having who she’s not thrown in her face.) I re-outlined it and drafted the new version - which meant lots of new scenes, but also lots of fleshing out scenes that I’d already written, which were pretty sketch-like in the 3k version. (actually, if anyone’s interested, it might be fun to post a “before and after” comparison of a scene?)

that draft is pretty close to the final version - although the “italics” bits were the big thing I added later. I felt like it needed something to better tie the individual scenes into one cohesive character analysis…hence the “there was once” refrain, which shifts as Romana’s sense of identity is destabilized more and more, and shifts again to “there is” when she manages to claim a sense of identity at last. (one of the tricky bits of this fic for me was wanting to tell a story that had some sort of conclusion, while also knowing that the effect of Etra Prime on Romana’s sense of self lasts far longer than the scope of this fic. so I basically asked myself ‘how does she get from where’s she at post-TAE to where she’s at in Weapon of Choice?’ and went from there.)

☀️ - Was there symbolism/motifs you worked in?

the “there was once” sections (the storytelling motif)! these snippets of stories Romana tells herself about who she is, the story changing each time, until all of these contradictory, not right ideas are racing together in her head and is she any of these people? who even is she anymore?

the “there was once” language is meant to evoke parables with simple characters and themes because Romana’s trying so hard to tell herself this nice, neat story…..but the effects of trauma are so much more complicated than that, and so the simple story never sticks.

leaning on the language of storytelling was also important to me because telling herself a story about herself is something we actually hear Romana doing in the aftermath of Etra Prime. and I know the fanfic is a Fun Joke thing, but I also wanted to explore it (indirectly, the fic never explicitly references it, but the implications are there) as a kind of coping mechanism.

If the Daleks never existed, who would she be? A young student who took to the stars and decided the whole universe was worth knowing? An experienced traveler who said that staying behind was worthwhile, too? A bold politician who believed that where you're from might be just as important as where you’re going? What would people mean, when they said Madam President, daughter of Heartshaven, Romana?

If she is destined to be the villain of this story, would she be the hero in a different one?

The walls of the presidential suite trap sound. If she screams, no one can hear. If she paces into the hours of the morning, feet wearing the same tired tracks on her rugs, no one will know.

If she tells herself a story, one where she made the right choices, where she didn’t fail, wasn’t trapped, never disappointed anyone who believed in her — if she tells herself a pretty lie because sometimes it’s the only thing keeping her breathing, who will ever care?

⭐ - What’s a scene/paragraph you’re proud of?

whoops I already posted an excerpt…and this is already so long so I’m going to go with a short-ish moment - the one time I let Romana have the catharsis of an emotional breakdown (and also the tragedy of the only person she can let herself cry around is her robot dog).

A metallic whirring cuts through her thoughts, and she flinches, eyes darting to exits and potential weapons before a part of her remembers that sound.

“Mistress?”

“K9?”

Twenty years. He’s still here.

K9 rolls out onto the carpets of her sitting room and cheerfully explains how the interim president had his circuits maintained and found his databanks of knowledge useful at times for dealing with a minor crisis. She doesn’t speak for a full microspan.

Then she lets herself stumble, fall to her knees to reach out one hand to the robot dog who was her only companion for so many years. There is something bubbling in her throat that she can’t name, something she hasn’t let herself feel in so long. She presses a hand to his cool metal exterior and blinks and blinks.

“Mistress? Is something wrong?”

She shakes her head, but her eyes are burning and her chest is tight and she buries her face in her arms.

“I missed you,” she whispers, her voice breaking at last, “I missed you.” And here in her old rooms, next to the only old friend she has left, she cries for the first time since Etra Prime.

#also a partial motivation behind the new version was ‘can I make the Bellescon thing work for me?’#given it goes against her reaction to the oubliette in Neverland...#her hostile and uncompromising relationship with the CIA at this time....#her scathing insistence in series 1 that she would never sanction genocide (and her horror at those who *would*)....#alas i didn’t succeed #i like the writing in that scene i wrote #with her and narvin #but no matter how hard i tried i couldn’t convince myself that it was *in character*#for her to concede like that #(also my explanation relies on the oubliette’s existence not becoming public knowledge....#and there’s actually a line in lies that implies it *did*#but i realized that while editing and didn’t want to have to re-think the whole thing again)#gallifrey audios #asks #emokyoshi #ramblings #romana #fic talk

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dreaming-of-assclass · 4 years ago

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UwU would like to hear your thoughts on Irina civil war

Nao! (I’m so sorry, this is so late. It got buried in my drafts ihhhhh)

Ah yes: one of my favorite Civil War concepts 😤

So basically the class would be split in:

A) Allow Irina to stay in the class. She’s young, has lived a very traumatized life...she deserves a second chance.

B) Hell no. She tried to kill us, she betrayed us. I don’t feel comfortable being around her.

I mean, those are the basics. All of this is way more nuanced than that.

Side A would bring up the argument that Irina was stuck in a tough position herself. She was heartbroken, vulnerable, and you can’t exactly say no to the Reaper. He would have killed her immediately. She was trying to protect herself too.

Side B would say to keep in mind that things had gone well for few months...like Irina was getting adjusted to the class and truly seemed like she cared for them. And then she betrayed them...they almost died. That 180 switch in how she treated them...how can they trust her again?? How do they know this won’t happen again no matter what she says??

Both sides have understandable views on the matter. Unfortunately they both feel that the other is either invalidating their feelings...or being plain cruel.

THE SNIPERS ARE SPLIT UP FOR ONCE OOOOOOOOHHHHH. Yeah I bet y’all weren’t expecting that hehehe.

Side A: Irina, stay with us!

Her trusted students: Yada and Kurahashi. They both are fiercely protective of her return to the class and are the most vocal in their opinions.

Terasaka...he was the first one to forgive her in canon and I think that’s very true to his character. After his redemption, he wants to give others a chance...just like how everyone gave him one.

In a similar vein to him, Kayano also knows that she’s far from being a perfect person...in fact the guilt from the tentacles is always in the back of her mind, even if her desire for revenge far outweighs it. She believes it’s only fair to give Irina another chance.

Also similar to both of them is Itona, who also feels weighed down at times by his past actions. He knows he had a rocky start to the class...and so he feels it’s not really his place to just write Irina off. He feels a bit of solidarity between their experiences as well: they’re pretty similar ngl.

Okano, Kataoka, and Nakamura also were some of Irina’s fave students. And although they don’t feel as strongly as Yada and Kurahashi, they are attached to her...and want her to stay as their teacher in the family they’ve built in 3-E.

With Kanzaki...she’s naturally an open-minded person. And in regards to this, I think she could easily find it in herself to forgive Irina and understand why it all happened. She’s good at including every detail, analyzing situations and seeing things from Irina’s point of view. (Haha our literature nerd cutie)

Takebayashi has a similar case to many above: he’s betrayed the class himself (although on a way lesser scale). But he gets it: and he thinks Irina deserves the same kindness that was shown to him.

Maehara and Okajima are both pretty lighthearted and forgiving guys. This situation hits them both hard and they have a difficult time deciding...but ultimately they believe Irina really does care for the class. And that the last months they spent with her meant something.

Kimura...has a somewhat skewed sense of justice, due to personal things (cough his dad cough). And he does A LOT of reflection after everything. And as scary as it was...he decides that Irina can redeem herself. Even though he hates her boob lessons...she’s still his teacher who’s taught their class so much and was apart of their family.

Chiba is a naturally kind and empathetic person. I think once he really sits down and processes what Irina went through, the logistics of the situation, just so many nuances...he can find it in himself to give her a second chance.

Side B: Irina, get out of here!

Ooh, this is gonna catch you off guard. But yes, Nagisa, Sugino, and Hara are anti-Irina. The latter two are kind and empathetic people yes...but they’re also both fiercely protective of their classmates/friends. And in this situation, the safety of their friends would definitely be more important than Irina’s feelings. They’d see her as a threat.

For Nagisa...I think the experience of dealing with 2.0 hit him harder in a different way. He saw how Reaper tried to break Kayano’s ribs. That’s his best friend...he felt so angry and hurt in this situation, WE SAW. That’s why I truly believe Nagisa would be less than forgiving towards Irina, who aided in hurting him and his friends.

Hayami gets hurt in a different way in this situation...she’s gotten taken advantage of and never allowed to express her dissent in anything for SO LONG. And now after finally building confidence in 3-E...she’s supposed to just let their traitor teacher come back?? And act like she’s totally fine?? Hell no, she’s not.

Karma is pretty self-explanatory lmao. He really has a near-impossible time trying to forgive her and feel comfortable in the class again. He’s on high-alert all the time and feels protective over his friends... Like this kid has bad trust issues in general, there’s no way he can ever feel totally fine with Irina again let’s be real.

Okuda was legitimately terrified for her life that night with Reaper. And she never ever wants to feel that paralyzing sense of fear again. She also has a hard time being around Irina again.

Isogai! Surprise haha. There’s lots of angst with this one. The class could’ve died that night partly because of Irina’s actions. And he can’t forgive that easily. Like he has an impoverished family to think about. His sick mom and siblings need him. He’s the main provider at home. If he died that night because of Irina...his family would just break apart. And thinking about such awful possibilities cements Isogai’s opinion that she needs to leave. They’ll be fine without her.

Sugaya, Muramatsu, and Mimura all have pretty much the same view. They were terrified for their lives, are pissed that she did that, etc. They’re slightly torn since they’d like the class to go back to normal but...it needs to be addressed.

Fuwa kinda was brought back down to reality after all that. Like yes it was kind of a cool experience to talk about, like action-packed. But once the adrenaline left, it hit her how much danger she was truly in. Fuwa wants adventure, but not at the cost of her safety or others.

Hazama and Yoshida are on the same wavelength...they’re partly there to support Muramatsu and Hara, and also because Irina leaving is the safe way out. Like logically speaking...the woman is an assassin. She’ll just move on with her life, they’ll be safer, etc. So much more good to come out of it.

Ritsu remains neutral, just like she does in canon.

Korosensei and Karasuma both step back and decide to let the students figure it out, having trust in their decisions...and because it’s ultimately an experience that only the students have shared. It’s not their place to dictate how the kids feel. They both push aside their personal feelings about Irina to focus on the kids, who are top priority.

Irina is...trying her best to keep a cool face. A small deep part of her is on the defensive, wanting to continue to prove herself as a teacher and assassin. But the majority of her understands how they feel and respects that completely. She mentally prepares herself to leave the class and forget the kids forever...even though it’ll be so hard.

#assclass #assassination classsroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #irina jelavic #3-e #ask #feel free to ask me more about this au!#its kinda interesting #to think about all the opposing sides #clownao #irina civil war au

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brelione · 4 years ago

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Ooh congrats on 200 girl!! Can I request something with Rafe please where he slowly falls in love with the reader every time she comes round to tutor Wheezie but she's not interested because of what she's seen and heard about him (non cannon Rafe pls, him just being a rich stuck up dick) so he puts in the effort to win her over and is determined to show her a different side to him!?

Sorry,this sucks lol.

Rafe Cameron,the bitchy,rich,straight white male.He was privileged as all hell and could get away with anything because of his daddy’s money.He did get away with anything,including beating the living hell out of multiple pogues.He was probably the person you hated most in the world and yet you were in his house,being payed with his daddy’s money to tutor his younger sister.You tried not to judge people based on their families but part of you wanted to decline the offer to tutor Wheezie and spit in Ward Cameron’s face.

But of course thats not what happened,you needed money to live and Ward had offered a ridiculous amount.It was your third study session,common core math books and Type Two Writing for Students opened on the table,piles of flashcards and worksheets flooding the marble.

Wheezie needed to go to the bathroom,meaning you were all alone when Rafe came along.Your fingers tightened around your pencil as you went through Wheezie’s first draft,wanting nothing more than to pierce the boys eyeball with the charcoal tip.He stared at you from across the kitchen,looking around with a confused expression. “What the fuck?’He asked.You rolled your eyes,ignoring him. “Who are you and why are you in my house?”He asked,his voice dripping with venom.Wheezie came out of the bathroom,glancing between the two of you. “Shes my tutor,chill.”She sighed,sitting across from you again.The boy glared at you,trying to hide his wonder.

He didnt really know who you were but he was sure he had seen you somewhere.His eyes were focused on your face,trying to figure out if he had seen you at a party or something. “What?”You asked,he shrugged,leaning against the counter and still staring at you.Then it clicked.

He had shown up to a boneyard party,just to be a fucking asshole.He had seen a girl hanging upside down from a tree,talking to JJ Maybank.He could see why he was interested in her,she looked pretty cute,arms crossed over her chest as she swung back and forth.He had always wondered who she was and why he had never seen her before.He thought about her every once in a while,trying to think of why he never saw her again.And here she was,sitting in his kitchen. “You’re a pogue?”He asked,squeezing his cup.You ignored him,tapping your pencil on a word and asking Wheezie what it said.

“Hey,i asked you a question.”He was closer this time,leaning against the table. “And I ignored you.”You answered,sending a glare his way.He chuckled,shaking his head. “Are you a pogue or not?”He asked.You sighed,looking his way. “Does it matter?Im trying to do my job and you’re being a pest,do you want Wheezie to fail all of her classes?”You asked.He rolled his eyes. “Oh,so you are a Pogue.What does a pogue know that I dont?”He asked Wheezie.You laughed,shaking your head. “We all know you only graduated because of your daddy’s money.You had like...what?A 2.0 gpa?”You teased,gripping your pencil tight.He bit on his lip staring down at you. “Oh,so what’s yours then?”He asked,watching as a smirk came across your face. “4.2,now fuck off.”You growled at him.

Something about the way you told him off completely freaked him out.Most people knew better,especially when they were in his house.He had a habit of sitting on the couch and watching you as you corrected Wheezie’s essays,telling her which words would be better for getting her message across.You would shoot him glares that made his heart beat quicken,making him nervous.Other times he’d see you smile at Wheezie’s progress,his heart beat quickening but for a different reason.As Wheezie put it,he was completely in love with you.He couldnt agree more but didnt want to admit it.He hadnt even talked to you since the first time he saw you.It wasnt until you were packing up your bag and dropped papers that he talked to you again.He had rushed to help you pick them up,handing them to you.

You thanked him quietly,rushing past him.He followed you to the door,working up his courage to talk. “So um...do you have a criminal record?”He asked.You turned,rasing your eyebrows. “Oh,so because im a pogue I have a criminal record?”You asked.He shook his head,mumbling. “No,no not what im saying at all im just trying to make conversation and like….i dont know i just thought it would be a cool question.”He played with his hands,following you outside. “I mean,yeah,I do.I wouldve fuckin gotten away with it too if I was a kook.”You sighed.He laughed nervously,hands shaking a little. “So...what did you do?”He asked.You grinned at the memory. “Vandalism,I used to go around and steal confederate flags and then paint rainbows on their houses.”You answered.He chuckled,nodding.

“So what did you do with them?The flags,I mean.”he tried to continue the conversation,following you down the driveway. “Burned them.”You answered,turning to look at him again. “Are you gonna follow me home,stalker?”You asked.He blushed,shaking his head. “Um...no,unless you want me too.”He offered.You shook your head,continuing your walk as he just stared at you,jumping up and down,joy washing over him now that he had talked to you without you looking disgusted.He had asked Wheezie to talk to you for him,making her confused. “Talk to her yourself.”She scrolled through her phone.He shook his head. “No,no she hates me I just need you to ask her about like...if shes single,what zodiac sign she likes,what she looks for in a guy.You know what i'm saying?”He asked.She smirked. “You like her!”She exclaimed.He shook his head. “No,im asking for a friend.Please just do this for me,okay?”He asked.She grinned. “So what do I get out of it?I could really go for McDonalds.”She grinned.

“So...what do you think about Zodiac signs?”She asked,writing down some dialogue ideas.You raised your eyebrows. “what?”You asked.She laughed,repeating herself. “Why are you asking?”You asked.She glanced over to Rafe in the living room,the boy twirling his fingers and encouraging her to keep asking questions. “I just think its important that I know.”She mentally face palmed herself. “Ok,Scorpios are superior and Virgos suck ass.”You answered.Rafe’s eyes widened.You had to have known that she was asking for him.You wouldnt have said that if you didnt know he was a virgo. “Ok….what about your ideal first date?”She asked.You laughed,shaking your head. “Keep working on your dialogue.”You told her.

Rafe tried.He really tried so hard.He knew that it was the fact that he was a kook that made you hate him so much.He tried to act more humble,less cocky and tried working on his manners.He went through Wheezie’s instagram followers to find you,cursing when he saw that your account was private. “Wheezie,let me see your phone.”He sighed nervously. “Why?”She asked. “I need to see (Y/N)’s instagram.”He explained,scrolling through your page.You posted pictures of sunsets,your dog and a couple of photos of you holding up peace signs and middle fingers.Your bio made him chuckle. “Fuck the patriarchy and fuck you too.”He went through who you followed,seeing a lot of fanpages and the official Harry Potter account.

That lead him to binge watch the Harry Potter movies,take the sorting hat quiz and order a Slytherin shirt.He purposely wore it when he knew you were coming over,walking into the kitchen.Your eyes fell onto his shirt,laughing. “Oh,of course you’re a slytherin.”You sighed.He grinned. “Wow,thanks.What house are you in?”He asked.He held a long conversation with you as you talked about how much you hate J.K Rowling and how Dobby didnt deserve what happened.He agreed with everything you said,loving the way your eyes lit up.The study session somehow turned into you and Rafe speaking about Draco while Wheezie grinned to herself.

He looked through every single post of yours,every single caption until he learned that you loved horror films.He learned your favorite one,putting it on when you came over.Wheezie didnt even need tutoring anymore,she just liked having you over and you still got payed.You had then become her babysitter because Rafe was deemed to irresponsible and Sarah had a social life. “Dude,are you watching (Y/F/H/M)?”You asked,hearing the dialogue.He nodded,letting you sit next to him to watch it. “I didnt know you liked horror movies.”You sighed,leaning back on the couch.He blushed. “Only this one.”He answered.

It took him three months of talking to you about Harry Potter and horror films for you to stop telling him off,cussing him out and giving him glares.He could feel himself falling for you more,seeing who you were when you werent angry or annoyed.He avoided The Cut,learning that maybe if he let go of his Pogue Beater reputation you’d eventually like him.He tried to be more open,to tell you about himself and have deep conversations with you.He answered your questions honestly,laying his trauma and issues bare and letting you ask questions about the worst sides of his life.He had cried in your arms a couple of times,becoming your friend.He had gotten buried deep in the Friend Zone but he was fine with that,knowing you didnt hate him anymore.You two would hang out all the time outside of babysitting Wheezie,he’d come down to the beach with you to have splash fights.

One night while you were at the beach,the area completely empty besides the two of you as you splashed cold water at eachother.He had pushed you into the water,your clothes,hair and skin becoming soaked.You jumped up,hugging him tight and getting him soaked too.He pulled away,grinning down at you.He didnt know why he thought it was a good idea,leaning down and kissing you.All the three months of feelings spilled out just then,his hands holding your waist tight.You didnt knew what to do,what to think,pulling away. “Um….so you just-what?”You huffed,trying to understand.His bottom lip trembled,his hands shaking. “I just….I dont know.”He mumbled,still holding you.You nodded,finger tracing his jaw. “So you dont know why you did that?”You asked.He looked out at the ocean,biting his lip. “Cause I like you...love you and I just thought….”He mumbled,trying to form words.You rolled your eyes,pulling him into another kiss. “Asshole.”You grinned,running a hand through his hair.

@sexytholland @28cnn @popcrone818 @fttayla @cherryobx @n1ghtsh4d3-67 @drewstarkeyobx @poguestyleskye @judayyyw @jjtheangel

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nyctolovian · 4 years ago

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Oh wowww 3 fics in a week! What's happening??? Okay, so, apparently my coping mechanism under stress is escapism and fiction. I keep thinking about my OCs and my favourite fictional characters (currently Jon).

Summary: Martin commits Cookie Crimes for Jon because he loves him.

Winters were terribly cruel to Jon. To begin with, his stick-thin figure stood little chance against the freezing drafts and freezing cold. Clearly, he was built for tropical climates, where the sun was out all year round and there was none of this dreadful London grey winter nonsense.

Then, there was Christmas. Raised in an Indian household, Jon had never grown up celebrating the holiday and after becoming an adult, Christmas season only got evermore annoying. There were all the eardrum-grating Christmas songs at every corner, co-workers who exchanged gifts, expecting something in return, and overly cheery Christian people who talked nonstop about their holiday plans and "Oh! What about you? What plans do you have, Jon?"

If there was anything worse than the horror upon realising Jon didn't celebrate Christmas, it was the end-of-year office parties. Every single office seemed to enjoy torturing their employees by making them spend more time at work under the guise of celebration and bonding. Kinder bosses would let Jon off the hook.

Others, like Elias Bouchard, seemed to look right through Jon and pry apart his excuses. That was how Jon found himself standing crossly in the corner of a function room, surrounded by tinny Christmas music and idle chatter. There were several business partners milling about. Jon had no idea what on earth they were doing at an office Christmas party, but Elias seemed pleased with their presence because, like a hawk, he picked Peter Lukas out from a corner of the room for a chat.

Jon's eyes slid across the room and he let out his nth groan of the night. Tim and Sasha weren't here. Lucky bastards. They must have successfully pulled the wool over Elias' eyes. Why couldn't they have taken him along?

"Come on, Jon," Martin said. "You're already here. You might as well enjoy it, you know? Don't be all grouchy."

That only made Jon's frown deepen. He was grateful for his boyfriend for keeping the socialising element to the minimum by simply being there. However, he really wasn't in the mood for optimism tonight. "I can be as grouchy as I want to," he grumbled.

Martin chuckled. "I have a little something that could turn that frown upside down."

Quirking an eyebrow, Jon hummed inquisitively.

With a small smile, Martin pulled his hand from behind his back and revealed a plate.

Jon's eyes widened.

Upon it sat a couple of cookies, all in different shapes and colours, two of each to be shared. Some were detailed like the deer ones and others were just yellow-icing slathered on top of star-shaped cookies. Nonetheless, the sight of them delighted Jon.

The one saving grace to this abhorrent season would definitely be the Christmas cookies. The treats always lit up the inner child in Jon with their wonderful decorations and sweet flavours.

Grinning like a child at Christmas (hah!), Jon pinched a snowflake-shaped cookie and popped it into his mouth. The sugary icing melted splendidly on his tongue as he chewed the cookie. "You know me too well."

"Of course I do," Martin replied, pressing a light kiss to the top of Jon's head. Then, he lifted the plate closer to Jon, who grabbed another cookie and savoured it slowly. Soon, the plate was empty as Jon cleaned off the last cookie.

"How was it?" Martin asked, though the pride in his voice let slip that he already knew the answer.

"The only decent things tonight." He sighed. "I'm getting more of those pine trees. They're mint chocolate."

"Ooh! Your favourite, huh!" Martin teased.

"Yes, yes. I've bad taste in sweets," Jon said, jabbing a finger at Martin's side and hopping out of reach before his boyfriend could retaliate.

"Terrible!" Martin stage-whispered.

Jon rolled his eyes and made a beeline for the tables of food.

Only to be intercepted by a woman. "Jonathan Sims, yes?" she said.

"Uh…" Jon's eyes darted around nervously. "Yes, I am."

She held out a hand. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Annabelle Cane."

Elias' instruction of "I expect you to be courteous to my guests, Jon" echoed in his head. He suppressed a sigh at the thought and lied with a sterile smile, "Pleasure to meet you as well." He took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake.

Miss Cane's smile widened further to show a row of perfect pearly whites. "I hope you don't mind talking for a bit."

+++

Two full hours.

That was how long "talking for a bit" lasted because apparently talking to Annabelle Cane had sent some sort signal to the rest of the party that Jon was available for conversation. After speaking to Miss Cane, several more people approached him to talk. By the time whatever Torture God of Socialisation deemed it enough small talk and business talk for the night, it was already close to the end of the party.

A migraine was hammering through Jon's skull and he needed some sugar to beat out the lethargy in his bones. Just as he thought the night couldn't go any worse, when he finally stumbled to the table, he found that it had already been cleared by the caterers.

Naturally, the party's only saving grace was gone as well, leaving Jon with an indescribable emptiness in his chest (and in his belly). He was sulking at the empty table when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"I thought that those donors were never going to let you go," Martin said, looking around furtively. The function room was mostly empty now with people slowly taking their leave over the course of the night.

Jon groaned. "So did I."

"Want to leave?"

"Yes, please. I'm close to death at this point."

Chuckling, Martin intertwined his fingers with Jon and, together, they left the party. It was already fairly late but there were still a steady stream of people on the trains. It was the weekend right before Christmas after all. It was only towards the end of the ride that the train began to clear.

As Jon sat down on the train seat, he let out an exhausted huff. Christmases were the worst. Far too many niceties were expected from him when he really couldn't be bothered.

Jon tucked his hands under his armpits and buried his nose behind his scarf. It's really too bloody cold.

Softly, Martin chuckled and pressed his body closer to Jon. Gently, he took Jon's hands and placed them between his to warm them, eliciting a satisfied sigh from his boyfriend.

"Oh!" Martin exclaimed. "I almost forgot."

Jon was immensely disappointed when Martin's warmth retreated as he rummaged through his bag. As Martin pulled out a large bundle of napkins, Jon cocked his head in befuddlement.

After a furtive look around, making sure they were alone in the carriage, Martin placed the napkin bundle on his lap and gingerly unwrapped it with the tips of his fingers. "Um… Here."

Jon's eyes widened comically and then he burst into peals of laughter.

Cookies. Dozens of cookies. The pine tree ones specifically.

"Martin, did you steal those?"

His boyfriend's face turned a brilliant shade of red. "I– I just… It's not stealing if we're allowed to eat them!"

"So you thought it alright to just snatch up the entire plate?"

"In my defense, you were still stuck with the donors and they were already clearing the table. I was simply taking the leftovers."

A cat-like grin spread across Jon's face as he hummed teasingly.

Martin's cheeks puffed with indignation. "Fine! Don't eat them then!" he huffed, folding the napkins.

"Hey," Jon said between laughter, "I'm kidding. I'm kidding." He took a cookie from the pile. "Of course I'll eat the cookies you stole for me."

"I didn't steal," Martin muttered.

Jon popped the treat into his mouth and bit down. He leaned appreciatively against Martin's shoulder as the cookie melted in his mouth.

It had gone a little stale but it was just as tenderly sweet as before.

#tma #the magnus archives #jonmartin #magpod #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #fluff #tma fanfic #fanfic #my writing

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nossbean · 4 years ago

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Ooh Hot Chocolate for the WIP meme, if you please :)

hee! I’m going to cheat possibly and combine this and Hot Chocolate II XD This sprung from asking a friend for a prompt for a writing warm-up last winter, hence the season appropriate: hot chocolate! Neither of these have any plot: my first go at the prompt is the start of a deleted scene from the Pacific Rim AU fic I did, with Jaime waking up before Brienne on his first morning in Tarth. Buuut it didn’t really have anywhere to go; I like it, but it petered out at just under 500 words. The second one is book canon, set in the future where Brienne and Jaime are visiting Sansa in the North with their kidlets. It has... genuinely no plot! This fic says: How did any of them survive? How did they get to where they are, post-war? Who knows! Who cares! They’re happy and healthy and mostly whole and that’s what matters! I do like it, for some slice of life fluff and I did come close to posting it -- I think it lived as a draft on AO3 before reaching that month limit to when AO3 deletes drafts, and indeed, reading it back now, I’m pretty sure I’d made some edits to the ao3 version to how Brienne in particular acts at the end. I’m not sure I’ll return to it, but in case it might bring some warm feelings as is, here’s the version I have:

Winterfell is under several feet of snow when they arrive. It is, at least, something to distract the children. Jo and Gall immediately fall all over themselves, tangled with Sansa’s Robb. Arya appears from only the Gods know where, and throws a loosely-packed snowball with infuriating accuracy at Jaime’s face. It collapses on impact, filling his nose and his beard, and somehow managing to sneak under the neck of his clothes to chill his chest, and with a growl, he launches himself into the mix.

He isn’t sure how much time passes, but he’s kneeled now in front of Gall, helping Jo and Robb pack snow around his legs to make him into a snowman. He has no idea where Arya’s gone, which is worrying, but he suspects Arya won’t disturb him when he’s playing with his children. Jo is in charge, one hand on her hip, the other pointing imperiously as she orders Jaime and Robb to work faster, bury her brother more efficiently, and Jaime delays long enough to cause her to frown severely at him, a downward pout to her mouth that he knows mirrors his own when he’s doing his best to goad Brienne, and he doesn’t know if he’s ever loved their daughter more. Of course, the thought is one which crosses his mind by the minute; with a glance to Gall, who is shimmying with excitement, sending the packed snow tumbling in small clumps, and his heart is full. He is so lucky. He remembers, every day.

“Fa-ther,” Jo says, and Jaime says quickly, “My apologies, Lady Joanna,” pretending at being demure when she nods regally, and redoubles his efforts.

His gold hand is surprisingly useful for the task, comparatively. That is, until Gall looks over Jaime’s shoulder and starts giggling, covering his mouth in a motion reminiscent of his mother. It’s enough warning, and Jaime collapses sideways onto his arse, just as Brienne drops an armful of snow where he’d been kneeled. It lands, now, on his calves and feet, and Jaime scowls, looking up at his wife. Her eyes are bright over her cold-kissed-red cheeks, broken teeth peeking from the wonderful curve of her smile, and Jaime curses his age as he struggles to scramble to his feet to tackle her into a nearby snowdrift.

Brienne gives him the time, though, kind, foolish woman that she is. She laughs up at him as they fall, the children hollering behind them, and Jaime wonders that he ever lived without the warm song in his chest brought on by the sound of her laughter. Once they’re collapsed, surrounded by snow, he squirms to prop himself up beside her, and promptly sets about stealing her scarf.

“You’ve made me cold, wife.”

“I haven’t,” she says, setting her jaw and tugging back on her scarf. “You should have dressed more warmly.”

“I didn’t expect such a chilly welcome,” he says, and Brienne groans and rolls her eyes. Jaime grins, then persists dramatically, “I also did not anticipate being attacked by our hosts upon arrival.”

“Last time we were here, Arya pushed you into the watering trough within minutes.”

“What’s your point?”

“That you bloody well should have anticipated it.”

“I have learned that in life, it is possible to mature,” he tells her with exaggerated sobriety. “And I had hoped that Arya might —”

“That Arya might what?” Arya says behind him. Brienne looks past his shoulder and starts snickering.

“Oh,” he murmurs. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“No,” Brienne says, tone what passes for sing-song with Brienne, and he almost doesn’t hate when the cold water soaks his head and slips under his various layers to spread wet patches across his undershirt. He definitely doesn’t hate when Brienne splutters furiously as he shakes his head, spraying her and Arya, who he hear skips back with an outraged yelp.

Mostly he soaks Brienne though. She deserves it for her betrayal.

After they escape to their quarters to change — and have a quick tumble, for the sake of warming his blood, he had declared, and Brienne had murmured shut up against his mouth, her fingers already on the ties of his breeches— one of Sansa’s handmaidens leads them to Sansa’s solar.

Sansa smiles as she embraces Brienne and nods to Jaime. She is still a little shadowed, but each time they visit, she seems a little brighter, a little less guarded and distant. She gestures for them to sit, and says, “Ser Jaime, I think this may please you.”

“I will be honest with you, Lady Sansa,” he says, settling beside Brienne and leaning back in his chair to stretch his legs out in front of him. “Little has pleased me of Stark hospitality thus far.”

Brienne shoots him a look, but he sees as the turn to Sansa’s smile becomes more true, the way her eyes flicker mischief. She says, with the barest sardonic emphasis, “I’m terribly sorry for the nature of your welcome. I will speak with my sister.”

“Thank you, my lady,” he replies, matching her tone.

“Perhaps this will make it up to you,” she says, and stands. She moves to the sideboard where mugs of something steaming wait. “We had an envoy from Dorne recently,” she says, lifting the tray and carrying it over. “They gifted us with this drink concoction. It is surprisingly suitable for snowy winters, given it came from warm climes.”

Jaime reaches out for a mug, passes it to Brienne, before taking one for himself. He sniffs dubiously at the steam rising from the brown mixture: it smells sweet, and rich, and dark, somehow. His mouth waters from the scent alone and he spares a passing thought that of course something so obviously luxuriant is a Dornish beverage before he raises the mug to sip.

The thick liquid spreads warm through his mouth, coating his tongue, and he hears Brienne offer a startled moan beside him. Rarely has he ever tasted something which matches its scent, but this drink — the sweetness fills his mouth, offset by a slight bitterness. It’s delicious. And yes, warming. It spreads heat down his chest, settling comfortingly in his belly. He drinks again, settling into the coziness it brings.

“So?” Sansa asks. Jaime opens his eyes and tips his head up to meet her gaze, looking down on him archly through the steam of another mug still on the platter. “Are we forgiven?”

For the sake of his wife, he ought to make this easy. But there’s a glint in Sansa’s eyes that he’s keen to tease out. So he shrugs insouciantly and says, “That depends.”

“On?” Sansa says evenly.

“How generous you are with your remaining stores.”

“Ah. That may depend on how keen you are to maintain truce with my sister. Really, this was a gift to her.”

“Mmm,” Jaime says thoughtfully. He looks to Brienne. “Are we prepared for war with the North?”

Under normal circumstance, Jaime would laugh at the serious look on his lady wife’s face despite how transparently absurd he is being, but Jaime has a facade to maintain. So when Brienne says firmly, “No,” Jaime sighs dramatically and turns back to Sansa.

“It seems we have reached an impasse, and it falls to me to be the bigger person.” He ignores Brienne’s disbelieving snort — will extract recompense later that this is what breaks her stern exterior — and nods graciously to Sansa. “All is forgiven.”

#thank you!#it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined #askbox #writing meme #humble fic offerings

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palevelvetpurplenoon · 5 years ago

Text

Here we buried our illusion

Summary: Anniversary dinner gone wrong. The unpleasant aftermath.

Warnings: noncon, dubcon, smut, sexual content, slight manipulation, mentions of Hydra, breeding kink if you look hard enough, female masturbation, mentions of drugs.

Word count: 2.3k

Pairing: Dark!Reader x Steve Rogers

A/N: So here’s my entry for @mariessecretfantasies challenge (congrats on 500 followers, yay!). I got the second prompt, “In illusion comfort lies. The safest way, the straight and narrow, No confusion no surprise.” I struggled a bit with the lyrical prompt and the whole writing process in general but I managed to push through with this idea. In the end, I think it ended up quite well (lol). This is my second fic ever written and I just kept this in my draft for a while before mustering up enough courage to hit send. I hope y’all enjoy this unedited mess! Any feedback is welcomed 🥺

Steve should have known better. That her smile was way too sweet. That her laughter was so intoxicating that he got drunk on it for the first time in his life. That everything she did was calculative. That her touch was leading him on. That her sweet, innocent face was all but a mask. That perhaps there was something hidden behind her eyes. That perchance she had approached him just for this day.

These thoughts wrestled themselves restlessly in his head, creating an inebriating mixture of wistful thinking and harsh reality. As much as he had despised what she stood for, at the end of the day, Steve would hate to admit that a part of this was actually his fault. Letting her in so easy after years of putting up walls around him, afraid that he would endanger other people, only to end up in this particularly compromising situation.

The cold, metal door sounded a click, drawing his attention to the lithe figure that was coming in. She looked perfect as always, though her hair was a bit disheveled, shapely face, full, kissable lips and stealthy y/e/c eyes. He wanted to destroy the pretentious smile she was spotting right now, as much as he wanted to bruise her lips with his. The thought did not surprise him. After all, that was what drew Steve to this woman in the first place.

She drew a chair closer to seat herself in front of him. The American golden boy was now bound tightly to an intricate recliner that was equipped with electric lines running along the sides. His hands were placed on the armrest, two strong, metallic, rounded tongs biting painfully into his wrists while his ankles and torso faced the same fate. Steve had tried his best to break through the clamps but he only earned back cutting electric shocks. Besides, Steve was sure they had put some drugs into his system in order to weaken his sense of judgment and mobility.

She pursed her cherry lips, a frown slight grazed her face as she stood up to get closer to him. “Poor baby,” she teased cruelly, “all pretty and bound up like this.” She fisted his hair, pulling his face forward as she continued her taunting. She was so close to him right now, the slight scent of her favorite perfume was now filling his space, triggering a chain reaction deep within his battered mind. He could hear the spokes and gears turning, pushing up a memory of the first time they had met each other.

Now that he had seen everything clearly, perhaps that was all a ploy to place her in his life. He had been deployed for a rescue mission of a hijacked ambassador in a small country near the border of Slovakia. The threats were identified and eliminated quickly and without any collateral damages. When he made his way to the rescued victims, it was somehow as if fate had decided to turn his head to the right side to meet the gaze of the young girl, who despite her age, carried such a fervent fire in her eyes. She was so sweet, Steve had remembered. She personally sought after him after things had settled down to thank him. He recalled vividly jacking himself off and cumming violently to the memory of her biting her lips shyly, secretly touching his body.

And when months later they met at a national security convention, Steve decided to turn coincidences into a blooming relationship, which ended with the 3-month anniversary he had set up, where she had tempered the wine and food.

“Don’t tell me you were thinking about how we first met,” she let out a mocking laugh and landed a peck on his right cheek, “It was almost too easy.” She straddled herself onto his lap now, hands snaking around his neck, tilting his head slightly up to meet her hot mouth. “I really thought you were not fooled,” she slipped her tongue inside, “but I saw you, you know.” Light feathery kisses landed on the corner of Steve’s mouth as he turned to the side, refusing to let Y/N toy with his heart. “You were magnificent. All hunched up, cock in hand,” she continued her assault with kisses all over his face, “oh and when you cum.” She faked a shudder, mimicking his action while started to grind her hips on his length, which was growing without Steve being aware of it.

“You were so innocent, I must say. It’s like you get a hard-on for saving any innocent souls being harmed.” Y/N withdrew the hands around Steve’s neck as she moved to unbutton her white blouse, revealing the same colored bra underneath. He swallowed tightly as her intention became clearer, as was his raging hard-on. “Y/N, please, let me go,” he yanked on his restraint, “Or I swear to God, when I get out of here, I will hurt you more than you ever know.” To his surprise, she only let out a laugh and continued on removing any articles of clothing left. And when she finished, Y/N went to her knees, hands trailing absentmindedly on his thighs, which she had pushed wide apart. “Would it hurt more than what I’m about to do, Captain?” she fluttered her eyelashes, “cause I sure as hell would enjoy it while I could.”

With that, she undid his trousers and pulled the zipper down, the sound of clashing metal prompted him to struggle against the bindings one more time. Yet, when she reached in to palm his length through the fabrics of his boxers, Steve could feel himself pushing his hips into her hand. He let out a subdued groan as she continued her assault, teasing him with the softness and warmness of her hands. “Beg me, Captain,” she pulled the band of fabric down, letting his hot flesh slap against his stomach as he grew accustomed to the cold air, “I will suck it if you beg me to.” To prove her words, she stuck out her tongue and gave his cock a lavish sweep on the tip while pumping it, forcing precum to gather on the slit atop.

Steve gripped his armrest firmly, refusing to give in to the temptation she was presenting. Her tits were spilling from the small white bra she had picked out and if he squinted his eyes hard enough, he could see her nipples growing through the thin materials. Two hard peaks waiting to be suckled on. Sensing his gaze, Y/N smirked and slipped his cock in between her breasts, pushing them together and sliding in a dangerously low pace up and down his length. “Ooh, you like this, Captain,” she continued on, even sucked on the tip every time his cock neared her tantalizing mouth, “Just say the word and I’ll be yours.”

He could not take it anymore. The dual combination and visual and physical assault on his senses were too much and Steve knew he had to compromise. “Please, baby, please,” his breathing was so rapid, “Put it in all the way. Suck on it. Let me fuck your mouth.” He rolled his hips forward, struggling against the constraint to chase the pleasure he did not know the name to. “Y/N, I want to come all over your tits,” Steve breathed out harshly as she obeyed his words, nestled his cock tightly in between and picked up the pace. Her mouth hovered seductively over his flesh, providing it with occasional suckles, which Steve found torturous as all he wanted to was to rammed his cock deep down her throat and felt the vibrating of the deep tunnel around his raging hard-on. And it was like she read his mind. Y/N moved to release his length from between her tits and take him into her mouth. She bobbed her head up and down his cock while looking up into his eyes with sweetness. Steve erupted without any warning, his thick white seed spilled down her throat and overflowed her swollen lips down to her chest. “Delicious,” she remarked and swallowed it all, “don’t wanna waste any of this.”

Shame filled Steve after he had come down from the high. He was supposed to be the beacon of goodness in dark times, the definition of good and righteous, yet here he was, chained to a high-tech restraining system, his cock twitching with excitement with the thought of fucking his ex-girlfriend’s cunt after he had taken her mouth. Steve knew full well he must start looking for a way out of this, but his head ran empty as Y/N push her panties to the side, revealing her wet and glistening cunt as she plunged to fingers deep into it. She had turned around to give him the glorious view of her rounded ass and pussy being stretched by two slender fingers. Her wanton moans filled his ears and before he knew it, Steve was hard again. “Did you fantasize about this as well, Steve?” she purred, “fucking this cunt with your hard cock?”. She seemed to hit a spot within her walls as her knees lost balance and she had to lean on her right leg. She increased her speed now, breathing harder and profanity was spilling from her lips like poisonous enchantment. “I dreamed about you taking me as well,” her idle right hand was now rubbing on the sweet bundle of nerves, “from behind.” Another moan. “You pulled my hair real hard.” And another. “And your cock hit that spot every time your entered.”

Y/N was on the floor now, her knees bent wide open to let Steve see the mess between her legs. “And when you cum, you made me call you Captain. Fuck me, please Captain, please. Fuck.” She came violently while shouting his name. From this angle, Steve could see everything. How her juices spilled over her pussy lips onto the floor, how her ass was begging to spanked, how her knees scraped against the hard concrete as she relished the friction. Y/N settled herself on his laps, her core dangerously close to the head of his cock and Steve thought for a moment if he could sway his hips just a bit, she would slide right in.

“So, Captain, are you ready to beg?”

But Y/N was well aware of his desire. She wanted to tease out the weak man that was hidden behind the muscles that were enhance decades ago. “Say “Fuck me, Y/N, princess” and I will let you have it,” she licked her dry lips, leaned in closer and pushed her juice-coated fingers into his mouth, “Come on, Captain. I know it’s right there. Captain, I will make you feel good.” Steve tried to remain in control of his lust-filled mind, yet he was well aware he was tethering on an alarming edge as he felt his command slipping away faster and faster with every kisses she was placing on his neck and her teasing hands on his sensitive nipples. In the end, lust won over.

“Fuck. Fuck. Princess, Fuck me, please. Baby, fuck.”

“With pleasure, Captain.”

Y/N kissed Steve squarely on the mouth, their tongues engaging in a final dance for dominance as she lifted herself up slightly to slide him inside. They both let out a loud groan when he felt his entire length was encased by velvety warmth. She started slowly at first, letting herself getting used to his girth, then, Steve could feel the change in her. Y/N picked up her speed as she bounced at a violent rate in his lap. His name was on her lips like a pray that she kept on repeating. She reached in between the tangling bodies to rubbed the hard swollen nub. The tension was brewing in his balls and Steve pushed his hips up to meet hers with every thrust. He groaned out loud, “Fucking hell, Princess. You are so tight. Your cunt is latching onto my cock.” His words were only met with the hard sound of flesh slapping on each other.

“Steve...I think I’m close,” she slacked off against his broad chest, “do you want to cum, Captain?” She tried to straighten her back, gripping her tits and bringing them close to his mouth. “Suck on ‘em and beg me like the good Captain you are,” she grunted out breathlessly. And Steve obeyed her every word. His tongue dashed out to suckle on her sensitive buds, making them swollen as he gripped them with his teeth. In the meantime, Y/N reached down to palm Steve’s ball, while she was bouncing harder now, each determined thrust was met with the same intense movements of the man beneath. Heavy moans were followed by a harmony of shouting and grunting as the two came without care, their white fluids mixing together and dripping on the chair.

“You didn’t beg, Captain,” Y/N murmured under her breath in his ear, “I think I might have to punish you.”

--------------------------

“You know that was not supposed to happen Y/N. Your mission was to get information out of him and nothing else,” the older man sitting across sternly admonished her, but his words just went into one ear and out the other. She stared quietly at the black and red skull and tentacles emblem behind him, feeling its fire burning within her. In the back of her mind, Steve Rogers took her father away, it was only fair after all, that he provided her with a child.

#maries500challenge #dark reader #steve rogers #steve x reader #oneshot #dark fic #dark!reader x steve

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hunnybadgerv · 5 years ago

Note

OOH I like those prompts! How about: "I’m in disguise. How do you even recognize me?” Bonus points if it's just a pair of sunglasses and a hat. (But their lover knows every curve, every mannerism, their laugh, et cetera BECAUSE I AM A SAP)

Okay, so once again let me instill the first draft advisory. I got an idea for this last night and finally managed to get something down this morning. It went weird on me last night and it did not at all go the way I was intending. But this is a first draft ... so technically just the skeleton. I’ll tag you again after the revision but hope you enjoy the preview.

***

A blonde yeoman skimmed past the mass of personnel handling the Normandy’s resupply. A purposeful gait combined with a feigned ease is what captured his attention. Even with her honey gold hair tucked away under a cap and with sunglasses meant to obscure her liquid blue eyes, Kaidan knew that woman anywhere. He’d spent too long following her into hell, and wishing for more chances at the same. The disguise raised questions though.

Why hadn’t she mentioned leaving the ship during the resupply? Was the disguise to get off the ship or to get somewhere else? Where was she going?

“Looks good,” he said rather absently. Handing the data pad off to Cortez, he added, “If you have any issues, reach me on the comms. I’ll be back in a bit.” He, too, slipped out of the cargo bay onto the docks, but he kept his distance.

He trusted Shepard, implicitly, but this type of behavior was something completely unknown to him, and he’d have been lying if he said there wasn’t some sliver of worry in the back of his mind. Of all people, he knew and understood that she was dealing with a lot and fraying under inhuman strain; and he couldn’t help but be concerned about and for her. So, he followed at a distance, contenting himself with the idea that he was only insuring her safety.

The path she took through the Citadel traversed only the open to the public spaces and some of the service tunnels. There his surveillance might have been picked up, but Shepard never showed signs that she knew he was there. When she stepped through a door, he waited a good twenty seconds before following—too much longer and she could have disappeared on him. The door whooshed open to reveal a figure not more than twenty feet from the door, leaning against the half wall there.

Her shoulders drooped and the exhaustion that few people saw in her weighed on her petite frame.

“Surprised you let the door even close,” she said without even looking over her shoulder.

“You snuck out.”

“In disguise,” she replied, glancing at him over her shoulder. The sunglasses came off and were tucked into a pocket on her thigh. “How did you even recognize me?”

He just smiled and laid a hand on his chest as he walked toward her. “Me? You’re asking me? How I knew it was you? Even in a pilfered uniform?” He stopped right behind her, his fingers grazing her jawline. “How could I not have known it was you?”

Her blue eyes blinked up at him like she was waiting for more. “I know you’re walk, spent most of our first tour studying it, to be frank.”

Nyx laughed. “Well, I guess that’s fair. I mean I’ve always had an entirely natural appreciation for the figure you cut in a uniform.”

“Thanks, Commander. Good to know it was the curve of my ass that impressed most.”

Nyx turned away and bumped him in the chest with her shoulder. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” Kaidan agreed against her ear as he wrapped his arms around her. “But, seriously, there’s not an inch of you I don’t have memorized.” The admission hurt as much as comforted. “From your walk to the way you set a cap on the rare instances that you wear one.” He pressed a kiss against the corner of her jaw.

Her hands moved over his forearms; fingers threading between his and encouraging him to squeeze her tighter. “I do the same thing,” she admitted. “Try to commit the sound of your heartbeat to memory when I can’t sleep.”

His arms flexed around her again. “I won’t lose you again,” he admitted on the barest whisper.

Her face turned enough to press her cheek against his. “And I refuse to let you walk away without an argument.”

It wasn’t the assurance he needed, but that one wasn’t a promise she could make. He knew it as well as anyone else. The chance they had now wasn’t one either of them could have dreamt of. Even with all the insanity surrounding them, she wasn’t dead. That kind of thing didn’t just happen. He knew the kind of miracle it was for him to have even the chance to see her again, let alone to hold her in his arms.

“What are you doing up here?” he asked, needing a change of subject. He couldn’t think about the end that they both seemed to be racing toward—the one that would rip them apart permanently.

“Just … watching,” she finally breathed out after a long pause. He assumed she’d been looking for a better word. “It’s one of the few areas that Cerberus didn’t manage to tear up too badly. The park was relatively untouched.”

Kaidan let his gaze move to the sight below them. The swaths of lush green grass dotted with flowers in a rainbow of colors grew around and beneath the shady boughs of different trees, almost none of them were native to Earth. But it was a beautiful place. He could read the tension and worry in the stances of some of the parents; some sat on benches leaned forward and pensive, others showed signs of nerves and anxiety playing out in their limbs. The oblivious ones now were the children; they just seemed to revel in the fact that they still had a place to play.

Laughter drifted up toward the two Alliance soldiers.

“Do you ever think about it?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. The words even surprised him.

“What?” she asked. “Not leaving that apartment in Vancouver?” Her words brushed against his cheek.

Kaidan looked down at her, surprised at the revelation.

“All the time. At least until Mars,” she told him. Her fingers slid from between his and he loosened his hold enough to let her turn toward him. “Now I just think about this.” Her fingers grazed his cheek, pulling toward his chin.

He bowed his head, moving with her touch until her lips brushed against his in the lightest way.

“You in my arms,” she said between gentle lingering kisses. “I need you, Kaidan. I can’t do this on my own.”

“You don’t have to,” he swore against her mouth. Their kisses turned desperate, their embrace striving to anchor them to one another. “And I wouldn’t let you.”

Nyx stretched her arms across his shoulders all but pulling herself onto her tip toes. He tried to help her, hugging her waist tight as her face buried against his neck. The tiny tremors in her body gave her away, since she managed to bite back the soft sobs. “I never stopped,” she swore against his skin.

That he knew. Guilt weighed heavy in his gut over it.

“But I tried.” There was shame in her tone when she admitted it. “It would have been easier.”

“You never were one for the easy route, Nyx,” he teased.

Her laugh was equal parts rough and tired. “If I could go back,” she started.

Leaning away from her, Kaidan shook his head. “No. It’s done. Focus on today. Now.”

Her eyes were glassy and clear, the smile that strained her lips soft but it made the blue shimmer all the more.

Brushing his thumb over her cheek, he considered and reconsidered the admission teasing at the tip of his tongue. “I might have thought about it. Us. A family.”

Nyx laid her forehead against the center of his chest. “I still do.”

He let his eyes close as a gentle smile curved his lips, then he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “Me, too.”

The rough laugh made her head jump, bashing his bottom lip against his teeth. He groaned, but didn’t pull away too far.

“You okay?”

“Mmm,” he nodded as she smiled up at him.

“Kiss it better?” she teased.

“Yes, please.” His fingers left his mouth and pulled at the edge of her chin. She teased at his bottom lip with gentle kisses, before he couldn’t wait to have more.

#Badger Scribbles #Nyx Shepard #Kaidan Alenko #Shenko #Mass Effect #Mass Effect Fanfiction #alyssalenko

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sonicfanj · 5 years ago

Text

Sonic Ring Bond - THE EYES OF THE WORLD - Chapter 2

Well, so much for getting chapter 2 done quickly lol. I can't believe it's been a month already since I published chapter 1. I didn't mean to take that long and had honestly thought I was far faster than that. Well regardless, with my apologies for taking so long, here is chapter 2 at last!

Current Status: Done – Open Draft Draft No.: 2 Story Idea: SonicFanJ – Inspired by @cutegirlmayra Main Author: SonicFanJ Secondary Author(s): None Currently Story Expanding Author(s): None Currently Editor(s): None Currently – Open for feedback

Chapter Number: 2 Chapter Title: Under Glass Primary Chapter Author: SonicFanJ Secondary Chapter Author(s): None Currently Chapter Idea: SonicFanJ

Chapter Synopsis: Having escaped from Eggman thanks to a timely rescue by Mighty the Armadillo, Rosy recovers from Eggman’s concoction used to keep his living batteries docile and in top form. But she knows that he is hard at work on his latest scheme and it has little to do with her, but how can she convince everyone to care when they are all fretting over her?

-----

High above the world drifting through the clouds, steam powered airships built around steel bodied balloons and covered in wings, sails, and propellers connected civilization across the skies. It was a far safer form of travel than by land when the unusual shifting nature of the world could have taken your path away from you in an instant, but even then Ring Gates were a necessity of life that even the flying vessels which came in all shapes and sizes took advantage of. There was one distinct exception though, one naturally affiliated with Checkpoint.

The vessel was known as the Coral Cloud, which was no small wonder due to its coral color giving the myriad of great balloons housing no lesser number of research labs above the world like its drifting namesake. This vessel rarely made use of Ring Gates to travel as the number of Rings necessary for so large a vessel was impractical when those rings instead could be used to fuel the personal Ring Gate beacons of the Ring Gates used by Checkpoint sponsored adventurers.

One such personal sized Ring Gate opened within a room full of countless blocks with glowing geometric lines adorning them like circuitry that floated freely above the wire mesh floor that barely separated Mighty as he flew through it from the pipes and conduit that filled most of the vessel. His shell assured the flooring would have to be replaced though as he crashed into it with his shell absorbing the impact as he shielded Rosy in his arms. It worried him when she did not respond but he had to protect her from Eggman before he could worry about her current state and shouted out. “You have to close the gate! Hurry, absorb the Rings!”

The operator was used to adventurers coming in hot and threw a lever on the console they were manning. With a loud crackling of electricity, the room blacked out save for the light of the weird blocks shifting about and serving as the room’s ceiling. Soon, the golden motes of light left behind by an absorbed Ring drifted up like fireflies departing for the leaves of the forest. As the motes twinkled out the lights came back on and the lever groaned back into place with a loud thud signaling the success of if its efforts.

“So, what’s today’s story?” the operated sought out the tale that made him work the emergency function of the console before him. He did not know how it worked but it was rarely a show that did not accompany a dire story. Today’s story would have to wait though when he realized that Mighty was supporting Rosy’s head and had her cradled in his arms as he sat up and tried to get her under him. Wasting no time, he worked the radio that had been set up on the console.

“Sick bay! Get a stretcher to the to the Beacon Bay! Now!”

The urgency in the operator’s voice left Rosy feeling guilty but there was nothing she could do about it. She had no control of her body despite being wide awake and could do nothing to comfort Mighty who was apologizing as he held her tight. “I shouldn’t have gathered Rings for the Ring Gate. I had finally caught up with you after seeing you jump into that gorge but thought I could gather them fast enough. I’m so sorry Rosy!”

Mighty would have been glad to know that his voice was not lost on her, but he would have felt horrible knowing how bad she felt. Especially as her sleeping body seemed to find Mighty quite comfortable and worked to snuggle up against him. ‘I’m so glad my body is moving. It means I should be able to still move when it finally wakes up. But how long is that going to be. I can barely think… clearly.’

It was difficult to put her thoughts into words and she wanted to pout, but her body continued to keep sleeping peacefully. It astounded her too considering how warm she felt, and even the medics agreed as they placed a bag of ice on her forehead as they laid her out on the stretcher they arrived with. Her body disagreed with the sudden chill though and she snapped into a tight ball with her quills going rigid to protect her from it. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she desperately wanted to cry out in apology. ‘I can’t do anything though.’

Like Rosy, no one could really do anything about her while she was completely curled up, but they tried regardless poking and prodding her with brooms in an effort to at least get her out of the Beacon Bay. It was fortunate for the medics that she had curled into such a tight ball as it did make her easier to roll about. It was humiliating for Rosy though and she just wanted to cry. As she could not even see what was happening around her anymore from within her curled form, she turned her thoughts inward as well. Especially in light of Mighty still apologizing to her. “I really messed up Rosy. But I swear. I’ll figure something out. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

‘You don’t need to apologize Mighty. I messed up too. I got so excited I wasn’t even paying attention.’ Rosy’s thoughts were less words and more a vague picture in her conscious mind of what she wanted to convey. But there was also a lot there she did not want to focus on, but there was little else she could do.

Messing up was something she knew she did the moment when Mighty said he had. She had seen more than enough seismic shifts that reshaped the face of the world on a regular basis to know what she had seen was wrong. The forest of giant mushrooms that was growing up out of the gulch was not normal. Sure, there were Rings appearing to mark the birth of a new land, but there was no sign of the tell-tale shimmer that it was a new land. It was like an existing land that had shoved itself through where there already was land. The cave where Rosy encountered Eggman was more proof of that as she recalled the pale green color compared to the rich soil hue of the earth the disrupted mine tunnels cut through. And then there was the Gaia Eye.

‘What was that anyway, and was it really asking me for help. Ooh~! I wish I could really think clearly right now…’

“Really, what are were you guys thinking?” a familiar voice suddenly pulled Rosy from her thoughts. ‘Tails!’

Though her mind was excited to hear the voice of her best friend and usual adventuring companion, her body continued sleeping away in a tight defensive ball. Her current position was also the focus of the far more aggravated fox boy with the two tails for which he was nicknamed. “Hedgehogs curl up when they feel threatened or endangered and you’ve been pushing her around with brooms. It’s no wonder she hasn’t uncurled. You’re going to have to make her feel safe and comfortable to coax her out of her defensive posture.”

Exasperation laced Tails’ voice and Rosy felt bad for him having to deal with the trouble she was causing. Being Rosy’s friend though Tails was used to dealing with her and the trouble she got into on a regular enough basis and he already had a solution for dealing with her balled up form. ‘Pillows?’ Rosy could not help but ponder when she felt soft objects being piled down around her until she was buried by them. And they were so soft and comfortable that being buried by them seemed to get her body to final relax and uncurl.

Finally uncurled Rosy was shortly after subjected to all manner of fretting over her but she would have to rely on her senses other than sight to figure out what was going on as her eyes had not opened again since she curled into a ball. It was frustrating and disorienting, but all the fussing over her prevented her from trying to sleep it off. Eggman’s chemical concoction coursing through her veins was not making it any easier as all of the stimulus drew her conscious mind’s attention to every little detail. She felt like it was all going to drive her mad and that she would be wide awake the entire time her body kept on sleeping, but she realized as she opened her eyes buried in a new nest of pillows that she must have fallen asleep at some point.

“…hmmm, I don’t remember being put to bed…,” Rosy mumbled as her brain tried to line up with being awake again. Her memories in general since inhaling Eggman’s concoction had grown fairly fuzzy and seemed little more than fanciful daydreaming. “If I’m going to day daydream it should be about Sonic…”

“Go back to sleep Rosy…,” Tails voice rose out of the pillows she was rather pleasantly buried in and Rosy pouted as she turned her head to look in the direction they came from. Sure enough, flopped on his belly on the edge of the nest was Tails, his white snout poking out from his orange furred face and pointed right at her. He seemed more than half asleep himself and Rosy pouted playfully at him before reaching out and scratching the top of the fox’s nose. “I slept all day already– oh!”

“Wah~!”

Thrown from the explosion of pillows into the air Tails rolled onto his back and bumped his head against the bed frame in the center of the small sleeping chamber. “Ow~,” he winced and clutched the back of his head with both hands. Wide awake now, Tails wanted an answer to his unpleasant waking “What was that for?”

Looking up, Tails saw Rosy looking around pensively as she tried to figure out where she was, and he forgot his concerns in an instant.

“Rosy!”

“Ah! Tails!” It was awkward for Rosy being the one tackled in a huge embrace and she lost her balance and fell back into the disrupted nest of pillows. Clung to tightly by Tails she could not do anything about being knocked down and simply giggled. “Yep, it’s me, teehee. Sorry about scaring you.”

Looking up from where he had buried his face into her Tails was greeted by Rosy sticking her tongue out playfully at him as she struggled to bring her head up to look at him. He frowned at her playfulness and soon turned his grip on her to his advantage and started tickling her with his tails. “Kya~! No! Don’t, please!”

“It’s what you get for being so playful after everything you put me through, I heard everything from Mighty and can still hardly believe it.”

“Ha ha ha… we can talk about it… ha ha ha… but please stop~!” Rosy struggled to talk and breath as she squirmed helplessly pinned by Tails. He did not seem willing to relent but a yellow fox girl propping herself up on her arms out of the disrupted nest of pillows and rubbing her sleepy eyes distracted him. “Oh, Zooey! Rosy’s awake!”

“She is!” snapped to full consciousness instantly by Tails’ words Zooey turned her attention to Tails and Rosy and a confused look crossed her face. His face flushing, Tails let go of Rosy and snapped to his feet. She did not follow him as she gasped for air attempting to recover from his tickling. She still managed to greet Zooey breathlessly, however, “Hi Zooey, I’m back…”

“Thank goodness,” Zooey sighed as she held a hand to her chest. Getting up she took a hold of Rosy’s hand and helped the hedgehog to her feet. “Everyone was so worried and it’s only getting worse.”

“Worse?” Rosy tilted her head confused but a voice behind her made her turn her ears back before turning fully to see Mighty stretching off sleep himself in a chair against the wall. “It’s probably best we go talk to the Elder. I hope he’s awake. To be honest I don’t really know what time it is.”

-|-

“Ah, I’m so glad to see you awake,” the elder offered Rosy a smile as she walked into his office flanked by Tails, Mighty, and Zooey.

“We all are Elder, but, there’s obviously bad news to share as well,” Mighty hung his head looking downcast as he chased away the opportunity for pleasantries.

Rosy did not like it one bit and turned to Mighty, excitedly bouncing up and down as she spoke.

“That’s because Eggman is up to no good again! If I hadn’t broke my communicator during that big shift, I could have called everyone and we could have stopped him then and there.”

“Please hold my dear,” The elder interrupted, holding a hand up from his cane and forcing the other to support all of his weight and hunched back unsteadily. Rosy dropped her arms to her side and looked at him curiously allowing him to return his other hand to his cane. “Eggman is a nefarious individual and while we adventurers of Checkpoint have foiled him before thanks mostly in part to Sonic, we are adventurers and not really trained to combat a threat like Eggman. Foiling Eggman is a task best left to the military, or at least that is what headquarters has decided on this matter.”

“Huh?” Rosy rose her voice in question failing to realize that the others grew deathly silent and visibly uncomfortable at the mention of the military. “That doesn’t make sense. No one except for me even knows what Eggman was doing down there unless you actually heard Mighty.” Turning her gaze back to Mighty, Rosy finally picked up on the air in the room. “Mighty… Tails, Zooey? Um, what’s going on?”

Reaching up with a finger Rosy scratched at her cheek with a nervous laugh but no one seemed willing to answer. No one even seemed willing to make eye contact with her and her tail and ears drooped at the heavy atmosphere.

She did not like it one bit and wanted to cheer everyone up, but she had to know what was wrong and no one was talking. Pouting in defiance at the dreadful air she perked her ears and tail up and turned back to elder with her hands held up in tight balls.

“What did Eggman do? I’ll never forgive him if he hurt the people of that town or was responsible for that shift. I didn’t think about it then but that wasn’t a normal shift. It was like one zone trying to rise up through another after it moved. I hope everyone is alright as that isn’t like any shift cities are built to handle.”

“Please calm down my dear. There is little reason for you to fret over the town. As unprecedented as such a shift was the rescue teams were able to assure that no one was left in a bad spot. And though no member of this vessel is partaking, Checkpoint has deployed researchers to join those from other companies and governments to investigate this new type of shift.”

“It won’t do any good without the Gaia Eye,” Rosy leaned forward emphatically while pressing her elbows against her body. The confusion on the elder’s face deepened Rosy’s pout and she leaned forward even further as she explained.

“That’s what Eggman was after there! He says it’s an artifact comparable to the Chaos Emeralds and that it’ll let him control the world. I’m sure that’s what caused the shift and we need to get our hands on one to understand!”

“Um, Rosy, what’s a Gaia Eye?” The meekness in Tails’ voice calmed Rosy down and she straitened back out and lowered her arms back to her side before facing Tails and his following statement. “I’ve never heard of one.”

“Neither have I, “Mighty chimed in, though he continued to not look at Rosy directly. He was too busy realizing that he might have heard about it if he had not run off to gather Rings for a Ring Gate. “I really shouldn’t have left you there even for a moment Rosy. That was irresponsible, especially since I was only there in response to hearing that Checkpoint had lost your communicator’s signal. I was barely able to catch up at all with the way you were moving when I saw you jump into that gorge. And leaving you with Eggman…”

“I’m fine Mighty,” Rosy spread her arms out wide before spinning around to show the whole room the truth of her words. “It’s my fault anyway for getting his attention. If I could have just stayed quiet, I could have snatched the Gaia Eye out from under his nose without a problem. Ooh~, Fang would be so disappointed in me messing up like that.”

The mention of the rather infamous Fang the Sniper drew disappointed looks from Zooey and the Elder who were familiar of Rosy’s time in his company, but Tails interrupted before they could say anything as he was feeling ignored. “Rosy, I think you’re forgetting something.”

“Ack!” Rosy exclaimed and stuck her tongue out as she scratched the back of her head. “I’m so sorry Tails.

“Um,” Rosy paused to think while waving her hands at Tails in an attempt to get him to stop looking so displeased with her. “Well, I don’t really know what the Gaia Eye is either.”

“Really?” Tails exclaimed looking at Rosy incredulously.

“Well I had a dream about seven of them and Metal Sonic and then when everything was going on I kind of went looking for it. I found it too!” Rosy’s excitement was rising again with the wagging of her tail serving as a barometer of how excited she was. “Unfortunately, that meanie Eggman was looking for it too and he had so many robots with him. If I was as good as Sonic with his abilities, I wouldn’t have messed up so badly, I’m sure of it. I could have rescued all of the animals that he had trapped in those awful robots of his too.”

“Eggman’s using animals in his machines again! You didn’t mention that Mighty” Tails could not believe his ears and turned his attention sharply to Mighty who looked just as surprised as Tails. Tails’ prior meekness seemed to have found its way to the armadillo though as he again grew more somber.

“I didn’t hear that much,” Mighty admitted as he hung his head” When I saw Rosy pinned in by Eggman I knew I had to get enough Rings to make a Ring Gate to get us both out safely. When I got back Eggman was talking about the effect of his work on her. I was terrified I had let Rosy come under some serious harm and now with what the military has said…”

“The military again,” Rosy harrumphed displeased. She had yet to learn why they were being brought up when Eggman was obviously causing lots of trouble and needed to be stopped which had proven to regularly be a task beyond the military. ‘Sonic wouldn’t wait for the military if he knew what was going on.’

“Rosy, maybe you should sit down, and I’ll explain for the elder,” Rosy was pulled from her thoughts as Zooey placed her hands comfortingly and with guiding intent on her shoulders.

“Oh my. Thank you so much Zooey. In fact, I think I’ll take a seat myself,” the elder seemed to disassociate himself from the ongoing commotion as he gladly left it to Zooey and took a seat much to the relief of his arms. He did not fully disengage though and watched almost apologetically stroking his long thin beard as Zooey sat Rosy in an available chair and stood in a way to not let Rosy back up.

“Now, no one talked to me about this either so I’m not happy at all, but headquarters and the military are not being very cooperative,” Zooey began while bracing herself against the arms of the chair Rosy was seated in. She was allowing Rosy no room to act and leaned over her causing Rosy to sink back into the chair as she looked up. She flinched as she felt her quills pierce the fabric of the chair revealing how tense she was at Zooey’s intensity, but asides from taking one hair to brush back the lock of hair beside her face the fox gave her no relief as she continued.

“Everything you just told us Rosy we had no idea about.”

“Huh?” Rosy nearly squeaked as she instinctually pulled her legs in as the fox above her triggered her instinctual need to curl into a ball with the harsh look she gave her. “But Mighty said he missed that so why is that such a surprise. And why are you being so scary Zooey.”

“Because Eggman declared to the world that you’re the key to his next plan for world domination and headquarters has agreed to hand you over to the military at their request to keep you out of Eggman’s hands!”

“What!” Rosy wanted to spring up but Zooey’s position made sure she stayed pinned in the chair and she could only look around for an answer. Tails looked helpless and Mighty was obviously blaming himself silently, but the elder seemed to have maintained his calm and proved the source of information that Rosy needed.

“It is as Zooey says my dear, but it is not a situation we of Checkpoint’s research division agree with. But,” the use of the qualifier shook the elder’s nerve as he used it and he had to force himself to speak as he continued,” we are in no position to refute headquarters. At this time the Coral Cloud is as physically far away from any land masses as is possible and is constantly adjusting its course to account for any ongoing shifts. You are effectively trapped here until the military’s airships arrive to retrieve you. And headquarters has also already sent numerous Ring hunters like yourself to the Coral Cloud to gather up any Rings that may appear and prevent you from making a Ring Gate to escape.”

“No way! I don’t understand at all!”

“Rosy…,” Tails weakly spoke up getting her attention. Rubbing his upper arm Tails forced himself to look at Rosy and her questioning eyes. “When Eggman made his announcement he was pretty adamant about declaring that he had made a breakthrough in his research and that you would be the key to completing it and how he would enjoy picking apart anyone who would try to stop him. Normally I’d agree that Eggman making such a claim sounds pretty wild, but the military knows about the compound you were under the effects of and hearing Mighty explain it…”

“So what, I’m going to be locked up and let Eggman run around hunting for the Gaia Eyes as he pleases?” The question spilt quickly out of Rosy’s lips but the looks everyone gave her told her there was not anything they could do about it. Naturally she puffed her cheeks up defiantly as she wasn’t going to stand for that. “Don’t you see Eggman’s just using me as a distraction? The Gaia Eyes–”

“Rosy,” the matter-of-fact tone from Zooey quieted Rosy and she looked up at Zooey wearily. The fox’s features had softened to one of concern though which only made Rosy grow more timid under the fox. “Even if you are just a distraction to Eggman’s bigger plan, the Gaia thing you’re talking about hasn’t been mentioned by anyone but you. But the effects of Eggman’s terrible concotion on you was seen by everyone here.”

“She’s right Rosy,” Tails supported Zooey from afar as he rubbed his foot into the ground and pressed his index fingers together. “Sonic and I knew about that formula since we first traveled together on West Side Island. In fact, Eggman had a whole chemical plant just for producing the stuff, but we didn’t think about it because we could swim through the stuff and weren’t affected. But Rosy, you’re the first sapient anything to be affected by it. With Eggman’s genius if he got his hands on you he could figure out how to make it work on everyone.”

“But Tails, I’m not Eggman’s only goal,” Rosy attempted to make him understand. But the words she chose next doomed her attempts. “He wants to use the Gaia Eyes, and I just know they were asking me for help!”

It did not even take a moment. The atmosphere of disbelief that filled the room was crushing and Rosy found herself just waiting to hear someone call her fortunetelling silly. Not wanting to hear that she finally just curled up into a ball and stiffened her quills as much as possible, regardless of the damage she would cause to the chair. Curling up did not keep her head out of her memories however and she couldn’t help but think about how Fang took her fortunetelling seriously. To him it was a gift and not just a silly hobby and that had at last opened up the world to her. She knew there was more to the world than just the Rings and the Time Stones, Chaos Emeralds, and Chaos Rings all proved it, yet still no one believed her.

Too frustrated to stay where she was waiting, Rosy attempted to rev up a Spin Dash and managed to scare Zooey just enough to back off and give her room to escape. Not wasting it she shot off in her sloppy and clumsy attempt like a rocket back out of the Elder’s room knocking the chair over in the process. The elder could not help himself but sigh as he looked at the chair.” I suppose it was only natural she would not take too well to the situation.”

“Do you think…,” Mighty started as he was conflicted between chasing after Rosy and picking up the chair.

“If you chase after her thinking she needs comforted you’re not going to do her any good Mighty,” Tails resolved both of Mighty’s dilemmas with his words and as he personally picked up the chair and helped Zooey back to her feet. “I know she’s upset, but she doesn’t dwell on stuff like that. Next time you see her I can guarantee you she’ll be wearing an honest smile.”

“Then what is she doing?” genuinely wanting to know, Mighty attempted to coax an answer out of Tails who simply smiled. “Just whatever she can. I already can guess where she’s going, but since this is her first time on the Coral Cloud, I’ll have to occupy myself while I wait for her.”

While the others were off balance from Rosy’s display, Tails wore a strangely relieved smile. Noticing everyone else he laughed slightly and offered an explanation. “Trust me, she’s fine. Actually, she’s doing better than I thought she would be after her experience. So, don’t worry about her, okay. Besides, I’m sure I can calm her down a little.”

“Wait up Tails!” Zooey called after Tails as he left and had to chase after him leaving Mighty alone with the elder.

“Would it be too much if I asked?” the elder inquired trying to be respectful of the armadillo’s position. Having a guess at how things were starting to go Mighty smiled, even if there was a sardonic air about him.

“I did promise I’d look after them, and considering our world… well it helps to have an experienced adventurer watching their backs who is a bit more responsible than his own best friend.” Mighty’s playful jab at Sonic was as much a sore spot he had with Sonic sharing his abilities with Tails and Rosy without watching over them as much as it was him pondering what Sonic was up to after Eggman’s announcement. He could not linger on Sonic though as Rosy was the current matter of importance.

Zooey felt the same way as Mighty and when she caught up with Tails, who had fortunately heard her in time for it not to be too long of a trip, took his hand in hers and leaned her forehead against his for support.

“Z-Zooey!” he squeaked in surprise as she took a moment to catch her breath. There was a growing bond between them and most everyone in Checkpoint knew about it. Their bond was not the joke though, but rather the bad luck the two of them had as almost every time they might have had a quiet moment together an emergency was sure to interrupt it. Tails did not want to think about that right now all things considered but it was where Zooey’s mind was.

“Promise me you’ll get the both of you back safely,” Zooey demanded of Tails as she finally straightened up and looked him in the eyes. Before Tails could offer a logical argument, she held up a finger and pressed it to his lips to hush him. “And I know she shouldn’t be able to go anywhere. She should be trapped here. But you know she got onto Little Planet before she met Sonic and that should have been far more impossible than getting off the Coral Cloud safely. And maybe her love of fortunetelling is starting to rub off on me because I can’t help but feel like you two are about to go off on a big adventure and that I won’t be able to help you this time. I’m supposed to be your agent and mediating for you and parties with interest in your activities, but this time I feel so useless and like I can’t do anything. I won’t even be able to work on the X-Tornado or any other aircraft until Rosy is in the military’s hands. But I know you don’t want that either, and if she feels like someone needs her help…”

Zooey didn’t seem to have the strength left to express her concerns and closed her eyes with a sigh, resting her forehead against Tails’ own again. His mouth hanging open a moment as he was unsure what to do, Tails took a note from Rosy’s book and tried to cheer her up.

“It’s fine Zooey,” he began as he gently took her hand from his lips with his free hand, “we have our Ring Bond with Sonic so it’s like he’s always there for us. No matter what happens, I’m sure we’ll all be together again just fine.”

“Do you mean it?” Zooey asked, coyly opening her eyes to gaze at him.

“I-it’s a promise!” Tails answered too excitedly, breaking the tenderness of the moment and having to escape for his own sense of control.

Zooey was not upset by Tails’ panic though as it was better if they at least controlled when they parted, and he did promise her. ‘Make sure you keep it please, Tails.’

-|-

“Ooh~! I should be able to find things faster with Sonic’s speed, but all I’m doing is getting lost fast!” With a heavy sigh Rosy blew her bangs up as she skidded to a stop surprising several researchers and adventurers patrolling for Rings. She was not worried about them and seeing her they went about their business no longer surprised. “Maybe here, it looks like it was big enough from outside and not just another balloon. Why don’t they label these rooms with more than numbers?”

Puffing up her cheeks Rosy pushed open the double doors and was promptly surprised by a familiar voice. “About time you got here Rosy. I was starting to think I’d have to find you before the military’s ships get here.”

“Tails!” Rosy shouted in surprise and looked across the library she had walked into. He was surrounded by books and had a sheaf of papers beside him which he had been systematically scrawling out notes on. Zipping across the library Rosy glanced at the notes for only a moment before turning to Tails. “Have you found anything?”

“Not really anything substantial,” Tails confided in her while trying to hide a knowing and grateful smile that he really did know her so well and that she knew it. “Though, if what I’m reading here is right, the term ‘Gaia’ is affiliated with a long-gone ancient civilization. They may even be older then when echidnas were still around.”

“Wow~!” Rosy’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape as she took in that information. “So even Knuckles wouldn’t know, would he?”

“Not likely,” Tails agreed as he continued his research. “But ever since Sonic saved the world from the Black Ring we haven’t seen him and Angel Island isn’t believed to be stationary anymore. I don’t know what really happened, but the world has definitely not been the same.”

“Well not all of it,” Rosy countered tracing a finger along Tails’ notes and trying to glean anything from them. “A lot of the world didn’t change. I was so surprised because I thought Sonic had to use the Rings and Chaos Emeralds to restore everything, but then it turned out there were whole cities and known landmasses that just weren’t part of the world when Eggman nearly wiped everything out. It’s so confusing I don’t know what to think. How can there be no landmasses left in the world yet there were plenty that weren’t affected and were perfectly fine?”

“Well, if my quick skimming is correct, Gaia theorist would attribute that to the Gaia Theory. The existence of sub dimensions like how Sonic forms his Ring Bond with the Chaos Emeralds or how South Island drifted on the sea independently from the normal seismic shifts supports it too. A lot of Ring researchers normally discard it out of hand, but since the Black Ring incident it’s been quickly gaining ground again in the scientific community.”

“And you learned all that while I was running around just trying to find the library? That’s amazing Tails!” Rosy couldn’t help but gush at Tails but he laughed and scratched the back of head finally looking away from the books he had surrounded himself with.

“Actually, it’s something I’ve been getting involved with since learning that our world is more complicated than I thought. I actually didn’t make the connection at first but while I was on my way over thinking about what you called the object Eggman is after it reminded me of a professor I know and his field of research.”

“Really~?” the question playfully fell from Rosy’s lips as she started studying the spines of the books. Tracing her finger along them she carefully made note of the most prolific name as she teased Tails. “If you know a professor you should have just contacted them and asked. It would have saved you a lot of time. I know you prefer machines anyway to ancient cultures. Well, unless they have ancient machines!”

“I would have missed you if I had,” Tails frowned at Rosy’s playfulness and simply received a giggle for his trouble. Not wanting to fight he returned his attention to the books he was working through. “Besides that, I’d need the captain’s permission to make any outgoing radio calls. Considering you’re currently supposed to have a top-secret location it’d be risky to make a call asking about something Eggman is looking into. It could give you away and get everyone here attacked by Eggman.”

A nervous laugh escaped Rosy as she was faced with the obvious truth. “That would be bad huh. Ooh~! Why does Eggman have to be after me too?”

“You haven’t already forgotten have you?” Tails joked as he tried to lighten the mood. Rosy simply puffed up her cheeks at him unappreciative of his efforts and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on Rosy, it was just a joke.”

“A mean one too.

“Anyway, forget about all of that, what about this professor you know?” Deftly shifting the conversation, Rosy kept her finger on the name of one particular professor she had seen on more books than any other.

“He’s a really great guy,” Tails smiled as he answered. “A little weird at times but he knows an awful lot about anything and everything related to the Gaia Theory. I was hoping I might find mention of the Gaia Eyes in the books we have here from him, but most everything here is related to major archeological finds and nothing theoretical.”

“But you’ve taken so many notes already,” Rosy mused as she dropped her finger from the name Prof. Dillon Pickle and looked at Tails’ notes.

“Oh, that’s just stuff for future research to see if I can find any relation between time periods and multi-dimensional awareness.”

“Well I’m here now so why don’t we risk talking to Professor Pickle and get a move on stopping Eggman’s plans.”

“Eh, wait! What! How did you–?” Tails fumbled for a response when Rosy so casually called out the name of the professor he knew. His reaction was a dead giveaway that she was right, and she cutely smiled triumphantly.

“Don’t worry about that Tails, Eggman being stopped is more important. Let’s go,” Rosy insisted as she took hold of Tails’ arm and tried to pull him from his seat and notes.

It was a vain effort as even successfully pulling Tails from his seat did not underscore her ignorance of the Coral Cloud’s layout. Tails was not fond of the idea of using the ship’s radio either for a personal conversation and they soon found themselves in Tails’ private quarters, which turned out to be the small cell of a room where Rosy woke up.

“Aw, how sweet, keeping me safe with you,” Rosy swayed back and forth happily as the realization dawned on her. “You really are the best Tails!”

“Only the best for the best,” Tails countered as he fished around under his bed.

Nothing brought a smile to Rosy’s face like Tails’ friendship and she was eternally grateful to have met him. Watching him fuss about under his bed though with his tails swishing about from the effort piqued her curiosity. Poking a finger into her cheek she leaned over sideways to try and get a better look and ended up flipping sideways out of the way as Tails suddenly popped out from under his bed and rolled backwards into the wall. “Ah! Tails, are you okay!”

“I’m fine… I think,” Tails groaned and rubbed the back of his head. Rosy was already on top of him though and ready to help him to his feet even as she picked up the odd briefcase like object that joined him. “I really need to cushion everything in here if I keep hitting my head.”

“Well you have plenty of pillows in here right now,” Rosy laughed as she looked away from Tails to the other side of the bed where the nest of pillows still lay heavily disturbed.

“I do for now at least,” Tails agreed as he accepted Rosy’s help to his feet. As she was holding the odd case, he had to do most of the work getting up, but Amy’s distraction resulted in her not being a good anchor and he accidently pulled her down on top of him. “Wah– KYA~!”

“Rosy!”

The tumbled heap they fell in was enough to surprise anyone, but Rosy’s sudden scream was one of obvious pain and Tails scrambled out from under her in a hurry. Left on her knees Rosy tightly grasped her shoulder and worried Tails all the more as there was no way the case should have hit her shoulder. Kneeling next to her he reached out for her and she twisted away from him.

“Rosy? What’s the matter?” Tails attempt to inquire but Rosy couldn’t answer as she was biting her lip while trying her best to hold back tears of pain. His brow furrowing in concern Tails dove across Rosy’s lap and snagged her injured arm by the wrist making her yelp in response. “I’m sorry, but if you’re going to act like this.

“What in the…?” Through a complicated mixture of tackling and grappling Rosy, Tails stared astonished at how red the skin of her shoulder was as he managed to push up her shoulder puff into a squished mess. “What is this from,” Tails pressed for further answers gingerly touching Rosy’s shoulder and making her wince and being surprised himself, “and why is it so cold?”

“Ghh~ Tails, that hurts, please let me go,” Rosy pleaded as Tails turned out to have quite the advantage not only due to his two tails but also his work as a tinkering engineer in odd places. Unfortunately for her he had no intention of letting her go yet.

“I did apologize in advance for having to be rough with you, it’s the only way to deal with you when you get like this. You’re great at taking care of others, but when it comes to yourself you couldn’t be more neglectful.”

Tails’ callout cut deep and Rosy simply did her best to look away unable to escape Tails hold. As she was not being helpful Tails could not keep himself from sighing. Studying the shoulder puff of her leotard it did not appear to be damaged or even cold like her inflamed shoulder. Which meant the source of the injury… “No, wait Tails.”

Rosy’s pleading fell on deaf ears as Tails reached up into her shoulder puff and found her deck of tarot cards. Extracting the case that held the deck he looked it over for a moment, but it was warm as far as he could tell except for where it would have been pressed against Rosy’s shoulder. Curious, and ignoring Rosy’s pleading and attempts to break his impressive hold on her he popped off the lid with his thumb and revealed the cards within. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Rosy’s squirming jerked Tails enough to knock the cards free and several fell onto Rosy’s bare arm and legs.

“KYA~! AH~ OW~! ACK! I’m sorry!” Rosy was practically crying and in tears as the cards touched her and streams of vapor rose up from the temperature difference that as far as Tails could tell didn’t exist. Rosy scrambled backward and very nearly curled up into a ball as Tails let her go to study her cards and gave her a quizzical look.

“Rosy, what exactly is going on?” He held up one of her cards just fine and unaffected by the cold Rosy experienced, but the redness on her showed an obvious affect of touching them on her. Rosy wasn’t answering however and Tails sighed as he pressed her again. “Rosy.”

“But you always call it unscientific,” Rosy lead with a counterpoint to answering as she puffed up her cheeks in a desperate bid to fight back the pain and cold.

“Rosy,” Tails began with another sigh, “I just saw your cards freeze burn you and you’re worried about me calling it unscientific. If anything, let’s get you to sick bay and those burns treated before we worry about it being scientific or not.”

-|-

A short while later found Rosy and Tails in a room full of hospital beds with only a white curtain keeping them separate from each other. Rosy sat on the bed obviously upset under the heap of blankets she was wrapped in. It was weird to Tails to see her good cheer gone and not replaced with a moment of bratiness. It was also unsettling but considering he had been experimenting on her but a few minutes before hand as the medics had her soaking in a warm bath to treat her burns it was little surprise.

“I know saying sorry again won’t help, but I’m getting even more worried about you,” Tails began as he drew the curtain around the bed shut to provide them total privacy. Taking a seat on the bed beside Rosy he lifted a card from the case and felt Rosy’s eyes on him as her cheeks puffed up. “Besides, I’ve had enough time to go over the data already and it’s unquestionably a local reaction exclusive to you and your cards. I can’t say exactly what’s happening, but it’s a lot like the phenomenon with Rings where not everyone can see and interact with them. Except in this case it’s only affecting you.”

“So? Rosy huffed, her temper obviously sizzling under the surface despite her best efforts to not be mad at Tails. She knew he was just trying to help but her cards had not even been so cold when she first experienced their temperature change.

‘I’m sure the Gaia Eyes are angry at me for wasting my time here.’ Rosy kept her thoughts to herself but it was obvious Tails wasn’t going to let her have her way as he returned the card to the case and placed it down on the bed between them.

“What I’m trying to say Rosy is that while I can’t prove anything, there is definitely a phenomenon occurring,” Tails continued to try and get Rosy to open up. It wasn’t going to be easy either as the idea that was forming in his head since comparing the phenomenon to Ring phenomena meant he was going to have to ask her to let him experiment on her again and was afraid she wasn’t going to see him as better than Eggman. ‘Actually, she may see me as worse since Eggman’s compound didn’t hurt her any.’ Mentally shaking his head Tails attempted to continue again. “That there is a phenomenon and that I could get readings on it means that maybe something is trying to communicate with you.”

“Not maybe Tails; is,” Rosy balked at Tails’ use of the word maybe. “Something is and it’s asking me for help. I can’t sit here and ignore it. The fact that it’s using my cards to get my attention again is proof that it knows it’s in danger. But I don’t know what to do stuck here before being handed over to the military to be locked up. What if they never let me out again Tails? I don’t want that!”

“I don’t want that either,” Tails found himself uncomfortably trying to play the comforter for a change. Rosy looked at him pleadingly for an answer but nothing was coming to mind immediately until his eyes widened with realization. “Wait! Go back, go back!”

“Go back? Rosy tilted her head, a hint of hope appearing in her eyes at Tail’ excitement.

“What you just said about it getting your attention using your cards,” Tails continued insisted with almost no restraint. “What exactly did you say?”

“I said that it’s using my cards again–”

“That’s it!” Tails jumped up and turned to look at Rosy head on. She was excited that Tails was excited and if he was not so focused on his train of thought he might have heard her tail thumping on the bed as she started to believe he had the answer she needed, but alas. “When was the first time? Tell me exactly what happened and what you did.”

“Well…” Rosy began her account of the events that led her to the Gaia Eye and her confrontation with Eggman. When she finished Tails was holding his chin in thought and he seemed to be contemplating any number of possibilities. Rosy was feeling anxious though and pressed him to say something. “What do you think?”

- ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ADVENTURER AMY ROSE, PLEASE REPORT TO THE MAIN DECK! REPEAT, ADVENTURER AMY ROSE PLEASE REPORT TO THE MAIN DECK! G.U.N. AIRSHIPS ARE WITHIN FIVE MINUTES RANGE AND ARE PREPARED TO RECEIVE YOU! ADVENTURER AMY ROSE, PLEASE REPORT TO THE MAIN DECK! –

“Not now!” Tails shouted as the announcement echoed throughout the Coral Cloud. The dread in Rosy’s eyes sank his heart and he made up his mind to act. Pulling her leotard from where it hung on the wall above the head of the bed, he thrust it at her, “Here, get dressed!” before zipping out of the surrounded space shouting behind him,” I’ll be right back!”

To a chorus of surprised shouts and other noises Rosy dressed herself as fast as she could and was barely ready for when Tails suddenly burst back in, his speed causing the currents to rush up to the ceiling. The dramatic wind that accompanied the fox revealed the chaos and confusion he caused in the sick bay and as Tails extended a hand towards Rosy she saw Mighty in the doorway. “Tails…”

“Just follow my lead,” Tails insisted as his twin tails started spinning together like his own personal propeller. Keeping his feet rooted on the ground as he waited for Rosy to tentatively take his hand caused a windstorm in the sick bay which proved advantageous as Mighty could not approach through it. When Rosy finally did take his hand though she could barely get her own feet under her to use the speed that her Ring Bond with Sonic granted her. She did not have to though as Tails was out the open port hole opposite the main entrance of the sick bay with her in tow in an instant.

“What are they thinking?” Mighty asked as he raced across the chaos engulfed sick bay to watch Tails soaring through the air with Rosy hanging on for dear life. Watching their course around the ship Mighty’s eyes widened in realization. “Don’t tell me he plans to use the Beacon Bay!”

Not waiting a second to find out, Mighty raced off hoping to beat Tails to the Beacon Bay to talk him out of this madness. Thrown off balance by Tails’ sudden fierceness of action Rosy shouted above the rushing winds to get an answer herself to what he was thinking.

“Tails, what are you doing? Oh no!” Rosy’s question gave way to concern as she saw the grim airships approaching the Coral Cloud were almost like a small fleet in number, her blue eyes seeing the late afternoon light reflecting off of the lenses of binoculars and spyglasses. “Tails, I think they see us!”

“What a day for great flying weather,” Tails complained as he risked a look and spotted silver orbs equipped with machine guns fly out from the ships on gossamer bee like wings.

“I didn’t know the military had robots! Rosy shouted before screaming as machine gun fire opened on them from the military airships. “Why are the shooting at us!”

“I guess they figure it’d be better if you were dead than risk you getting into Eggman’s hands,” Tails grunted out his words through gritted teeth.

Much as he could use his tails to keep up with Sonic he was an open target out in the clear sky and had to take cover against the Coral Cloud. The sparks of ricocheting bullets soon lit up the massive research dreadnaught and klaxons blared to life as the ship came under fire.

“Tails!” Rosy cried out but Tails wasn’t going to let her care for others endanger her and practically yelled at her. “Don’t you dare let yourself give up Rosy! I have an idea, but you need to trust me!”

Tails determination was a rare thing for Rosy to see and it inspired her to give her all which she signaled with a fierce nod of her head and puffing up her cheeks determinedly. Knowing he had her dedication to him getting her out of there he took the lead with her falling in beside him.

“First we need to get to the other side of the Coral Cloud!” Tails attempted to explain as a number of the military machines flew out in front of him and Rosy and opened fire. Deftly dodging the warning shots Tails leapt up and with a quick swipe of his tails split one in half before stiffing his fur like hedgehog quills, curling into ball, and blasting through the other others. He had to as well since Rosy was too clumsy with her speed to transition into attacking so smoothly and nearly had run straight into the gun fire.

“Thank you Tails,” Rosy shouted out her gratitude as he caught back up with her. “I keep practicing and I’m getting better, but...”

“Don’t worry about it Rosy,” Tails brushed aside her coming complaint about her own ability. “It’s not your fault. Combat practice isn’t something you really get the chance to do normally. Now come on, we have to get out of the line of sight of their spotters. The military’s machines are radio controlled so they need a line of sight on us to use them.”

“So, they are robots?”

“Nothing near as advanced as Eggman’s though. They’re more like toys in comparison,” Tails finished his explanation as he and Rosy slid down the backside of one of the Coral Clouds main balloons.

“At least Eggman’s look like toys,” Rosy pouted as Tails caught her so she wouldn’t fall off of the airship. “So where are we going anyway?”

“The Ring Gate Beacon Bay.”

“Huh? But Tails, we don’t have any Rings, and even if we did–”

“Didn’t I ask you to trust me?” Tails interrupted as he placed Rosy down on an exterior catwalk.

“Yeah,” Rosy nodded keeping her question to herself and putting her faith in Tails.

“Right then come on, we need to hurry because the military is going to be crawling all over the place before long and those drones of theirs will be a danger to everyone!”

Dashing off again propelled by his tails, Tails led Rosy as quickly as he could through the confusing structure of the airship. With Sonic’s speed at their disposal though it did not take them long to reach the Beacon Bay. They weren’t the first to arrive though and under the ceiling of shifting cubes Mighty stood waiting for them with a disappointed look on his face.

“Tails, Rosy. I understand you’re afraid of what the military may do, but endangering everyone like this,” Mighty clenched a fist as he tried to get through to the young adventurers the consequences of their actions.

“Mighty…” Rosy held a hand to her heart as she looked at Sonic’s best friend and felt the guilt building up inside her again. Tails was not going to stand for it though and positioned himself between Rosy and Mighty.

“It’s not that simple Mighty,” Tails challenge quivered as he had to face the armadillo. He was peaceful by nature, but his strength was terrifying. Tails did not want to have to fight him. If he could just talk him down, which would be easier if he could get Rosy to worry about herself while other people were in danger. “I know it sounded crazy when Rosy said the Gaia Eyes asked her for help, but there really is a phenomenon that I’ve observed taking place around her. I don’t know the specifics, but if someone is in trouble because of Eggman…”

“But Tails–”

“No Mighty!” Rosy suddenly interrupted and clutched at her tarot cards hidden away in her shoulder puff and feeling the chill against her hand. “It’s not just me and everyone here. If Eggman gets his hands on the Gaia Eyes I just know it won’t be good!”

“But if he gets his hands on you Rosy!”

“Then help us Mighty so he can’t!” Rosy pleaded, a vulnerability in her voice she did not like having. She hated thinking that even with Sonic’s speed that she was little more than a damsel, but the current circumstances were beyond her control. But even then. Even then she knew she was the only one who could find the Gaia Eyes besides Eggman and that meant she had to risk herself and step up. She had to be a hero, even if she had to admit that she could not do it alone. “I know I’m being selfish, and I know everyone is going to be angry with me, but I know I’m the only one who can help the Gaia Eyes right now and they’re asking me for help! I can’t and won’t ignore them Mighty, not even by force. So if you’re really worried about me, and you believe that Eggman capturing me is a possibility that can endanger the world, then help me save the Gaia Eyes so you know I’ll be safe from Eggman!”

Like Tails, Mighty was awed as Rosy’s determination came out and brushed away all her doubts and fears. Her eyes shone with it and she stood fast and unyielding. She was bristling with energy and it was easy to believe that she would let nothing stop her. But Mighty had seen her so helpless under the influence of Eggman’s concoction and knew her energy and determination alone would not be enough. But he was also sure that nothing else would stop her. Save the piloted machine gun armed piece of armor that came up behind her and Tails and leveled an arm mounted machine gun at them.

In a flash Mighty took Tails and Rosy’s backs, his shell protecting them from the gunfire from the military contraption. “Guh! I can’t believe they would open fire without even a warning. What was wrong with a peaceful resolution?”

Mighty’s answer came in the form of a series of the spherical drones flying into the Beacon Bay and opening fire on the three of them. Like before Tails was quick to act to take them down, but another wave could be heard fast approaching and attacking them exposed him to the steam powered armor.

“I really would like a peaceful solution Tails!” Mighty yelled out as more gunfire bounced off his shell and the armor slowly entered the Beacon Bay with lumbering steps.

“Right! It’s kind of a long shot though.” Tails shouted out his understanding and turned his attention to Rosy. “But Rosy, I don’t know anything about how you use your tarot cards, but if something is trying to communicate with you and can affect the world like you think, then you have to ask it to help you now! You can’t help it pinned down like this, and I think the Beacon Bay is the best place for it to exert its power! Just leave these guys to me and Mighty and ask it!”

“You’re really going to ask me to get violent aren’t you Tails? You know how I feel about violence,” Mighty complained but he had already given in to the possibility. Right now, protecting Rosy like he had promised himself when he first met the Sonic influenced adventures in an Eggman trap before he forced them to join Checkpoint was his priority. Smiling, he nodded to her. “You’ll have to better explain everything to me when we get out of this Rosy.”

“It’s a promise!” Rosy smiled before turning her back on Mighty and flopping to the ground making a ‘w’ with her legs.

Trusting in Tails and Mighty, Rosy pulled out her tarot cards even as it felt like the cold from them was burning her fingertips through her gloves. “Ooh~ stop that! I’m trying to help but I’m stuck so you have to help me a little too. Please, if you can.” As she pleaded with the power that was being channeled through her cards, she carefully lay them out in a pattern on the ground before her doing her best to ignore the battle taking place around her. Tails and Mighty were doing their best and she had to do hers as well. “And so do you,” Rosy demanded of the power she was attempting to communicate with. And perhaps it heard.

Darkness fell faster than a blink in the Beacon Bay as Rosy lay the last card of the spread down with power completely disappeared from the airship. The sounds of the drones lifelessly crashing to the ground and the groaning of the vessel as it started to lose altitude filled the air. Then a crackling sound buzzed and echoed through the air, the geometric lines of the cubes above coming alive with a black and purple light. It was unsettling as the dark light filled the room with a similar lit smoke and Rosy was sure she could see the shadows of strange creatures with glowing lines on their bodies dancing about in it. The sight left everyone speechless and chilled as it was nothing like they had ever seen before and seemed not of their world, but they were corrected by the golden shimmer of the tell-tale appearance of Rings and the golden motes of light signaling their arrival filled the room before coalescing before Rosy. With a flash of light a Ring Gate spun into being before her and power started to return to the Coral Cloud.

“It worked!” Tails voice cut the unsettling silence along with the slowly returning hm of the airship in triumph! “I can’t believe it! I can’t wait until I can talk to the professor about this! This is like a whole new realm of knowledge about Rings and the world–”

“Tails!” Rosy interrupted him with an urgent shout, already on her feet and her cards gathered and put away.

“Right,” Tails laughed at himself flying down to join her and Mighty who strolled over wearily.

“We don’t know where this gate is going to take us do we?” Mighty asked knowing it was a silly question.

“Just like most Ring Gates then,” Rosy answered with a bright smile and the anticipation for adventure in her eyes. “But, this one we know will take us to a Gaia Eye! Let’s go save it from Eggman!”

With a shout, Rosy threw a fist into the air and ran into the Ring Gate followed by Tails and Mighty.

CORAL CLOUD CLEARED

Chapter 2 – Under Glass, End

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And yay! It was a bit of a long one and Rosy was awfully moody at points, but I hope everyone enjoyed. I'm looking forward to your feedback in the comments. And remember, your comments fuel me to keep writing. The more comments the faster I'm sure I'll be XD And don't forget you can join the Sonic Ring Bond Discord as well to talk about all things Sonic Ring Bond here - https://discord.gg/aVjNUyG. Well, it's on to chapter 3 for me and I hope to see everyone then!

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