#open to suggestions if there's any other notable wounds hes gotten to his face | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tundrainafrica · 3 years ago

Text

Title: Lovebug (10/14)

Summary:

“It might be a bug.”

“A bug?”

“Sometimes the developers of this application make mistakes. This is our first time meeting I’m sure so…Isn’t it a bit weird that we just met for the first time and it rings like this? And for two strangers to coincidentally ring each other’s alarms?“

Levi is the developer of the Love Alarm App and Hange is married to Zeke.

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Other Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Notes: Feedback is very much appreciated :D

The floors of the motel room were wooden. And wood on most days was a good insulator.

Strangely though, signs of the beginning of autumn and maybe even the staunch hints of a coming winter seeped into the floorboards. Levi bent down, pressing one hand over the wood. The surface was cold enough to almost sting. It looked like sleeping on the floor could turn out to be more of a challenge than a moment of respite.

Still, it was something to consider. Levi sat cross legged on the floor for a few seconds longer to rehearse the gentle suggestion to Hange that he be the one to take the floor. They had been hesitantly discussing that topic for a while already, without reaching much of a conclusion.

When he was still vacillating internally between deciding and letting Hange decide, he started to realize he wasn’t productive at all. He didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t know what to do. Naturally, he didn’t know what to say either.

The door slammed open just a few feet away, close enough to rattle him.

“That felt good,” Hange sighed and she fell back on the bed. “Finally, I can lie on a bed.”

“See, isn’t it better to lie on a clean bed?” Levi asked pointedly. He had spent a good few seconds convincing her not to lie on the bed until she showered. Surprisingly, Hange was compliant.

But even after showering, Hange didn’t seem at all glad at his fastidiousness. Without a second look, she digressed to a subject Levi would have preferred she didn’t pursue. “I’ll go borrow a first aid kit and get some extra blankets.” She padded towards the door efficiently.

The room was small, and Hange’s strides were long and quick. That left no time for Levi to play clean freak or lecturer again and he chose that moment to lay on the cold floor.

Just for a little more practice.

It was a cheap motel room. There were only two pillows on the bed, one blanket and when he opened the closet door there was nothing much but two bathrobes and towels.

They had discussed the size already. They had considered a mattress but the floor between the wall and the bed was not big enough to squeeze one in. He stood up, walked one corner of the room, then the other, then he made a plan. They could request an extra blanket, a pillow and if he made his own little fort in that small gap between bed and wall, he could probably create some illusion that he was lying comfortably on a bed.

The door opened again and Hange sauntered into the room, one folded blanket on one hand, a first aid kit on the other. “Okay, let’s check out the wound.”

“It’s just a scrape,” Levi said.

“It wouldn’t hurt to get it cleaned up. ” Hange said with a no nonsense tone. She settled on the bed and tapped the empty space next to him. "Or actually, it might hurt."

Levi slowly and hesitantly made his way to the bed. There was something seemingly inappropriate about sitting on someone’s bed. The few times he had ever entered someone’s room, Levi had always been particular about avoiding other people’s beds for hygiene purposes, for personal purposes. It was their personal space after all.

But Hange was staring at him expectantly and with the bed behind her, Levi was thinking of the only one other person who had the privileges of sleeping with Hange. That blond billionaire monke----.

“What are you waiting for?” Hange interrupted, her voice a mix of impatience and possibly genuine curiosity. She tapped the bed again more quickly that time.

“I don’t need it,” Levi said. Really, he didn’t mind but when he was particularly aware that he had been standing awkwardly the past few minutes, he knew he needed to preserve some dignity.

“You’re scared of a little alcohol?” Hange teased.

“No, I’m not,” Levi narrowed his eyes in indignance. Then he started to think, he could look obedient or he could look like a coward. He decided obedience was better so he sat next to her, keeping a few inches between them.

As soon as he was settled on the bed, Hange pulled his injured elbow towards her in a very gentle manner. It brought with it a sensation Levi was sure he wasn't completely familiar with. A part of him wanted to pull away. Was that her first time touching him slowly and deliberately? Their first point of contact that wasn't borne of urgency or impulse?

Either way, Levi had to admit, it was an unfamiliar feeling altogether. He watched, just to make sense of it himself, the way Hange's hands ran lightly over the broken skin, the way she gripped a little more firmly along the area close to the wound.

She bent her head down and tutted a few times. “Looks like splinters might have gotten caught in the wound.” She went for the first aid kit, pulling out tweezers and some thick gauze. “This might hurt a bit,” she warned.

Sitting still turned out to be a difficult task. He was sure he had dealt with worse pains and he had never been one to be completely intolerant of discomforts. He liked to assume it was the current situation, the awkwardness and the heavy air that made it difficult to do something so simple as to stomach pain.

Pain before he even felt it. His body was not cooperating.

“Hey, I know it might hurt but stop pulling away or we won’t get it out.” Her voice was notably stern. She put her hands on his shoulders and twisted his body to her side. “Face me.”

It was an easy order to follow but it came with its own set of unpleasantries. Levi could only stare. Her gaze was as stern as her words of a while ago. Her grip on his shoulders had been hard and firm. For all he knew, she could have been his commander, his superior. And he couldn’t help but think, maybe she would have fit that type of position in another life.

When her face would soften into something more intimate, it didn’t in any way dwindle whatever respect he felt for her.

Hange didn’t go for the splinter quickly the second time. She bent over, pulled his elbow towards her more slowly. “If you need to, squeeze my arm.” To get her point across, Hange raised the arm that was holding his elbow up, pressing it against Levi’s palms.

He couldn’t help but note, her arms were a stark contrast to the cold floor beneath him, a welcome improvement to the blankets and bed sheets to his side. Her arms, her skin was very warm and he craved warmth. In a natural turn of events, he wrapped his fingers around her arm slowly at first, then all at once. “I won’t squeeze too hard,” Levi said. Had that comment been for him or for her?

Hange ignored him. “Let’s do this quickly. In one--”

Levi saw white then red in an unexpected turn of events. She didn’t count two or three. He didn’t even know he let out a taut swear until Hange let out her own response, a mix between a laugh and a murmur. “You really are strong,” she commented. “Humanity’s strongest.”

"Shut up." He let it out as a whisper, channeling his energy instead into the process evening out his breathing.

"Does it still hurt?" Hange asked.

"What? No it doesn't." It didn’t hurt. What made her think it did? Even after a brief moment of introspection, the answer wasn’t completely clear to Levi.

To Hange though, it might have been clear. She was looking at him expectantly and Levi surveyed his surroundings, focusing his senses on whatever signs she might have noticed.

A second later, she spoke up, answering that silent question between them. "You're still holding on.”

At that mortifying revelation, Levi pulled away.

But Hange only gripped harder. “I don’t mind. If it still hurts, you can keep holding on.” She paused for a second longer, her gaze still fixed on his. “And you can keep holding on until it stops hurting.”

Levi was a simple man and he knew nobody was supposed to enjoy pain. In a bout of what could have been uncharacteristic, he found himself searching for it. The stinging pain of the scrape eventually faded but that only made Levi settle for any remnants. An excuse to grip for a while longer maybe?

He found another type of pain, something similar to what a donkey would feel with a carrot dangling in front of it. The pain of having something within proximity yet completely unreachable. The pain of vacillating between trying to find a way to reach it and trying to find a way to get over it.

If he was in any more pain, he could have continued to hold on, for seconds even minutes longer. Soon, he let whatever primal instincts that were convincing him of that, take over.

He gripped hard.

Hange wasn’t helping abate his instincts. She gripped harder in return. Her nails were short but they were digging hard into him, her thumbs pressing all the way until he felt it down to the bone. “You know, holding on to someone can make you feel better, especially when you’re in a lot of pain,” she said.

“What makes you think anything hurts?” Levi challenged. As if to answer his question, his shaking hands, his firm grip gave way to a new set of discomforts.

Hange gave him a knowing look enough for Levi to acknowledge that maybe, he lost a little bit of control. “You seem tense,” she said. “Does anything else hurt? That was a bad fall a while ago… I think you cushioned it for me.”

“The grass was soft,” Levi reassured.

Hange nodded. “Okay…” She trailed off as if there was more to say.

But really, was there anything else to say? The room was just composed of dead air, a few pieces of lifeless furniture and an elephant, a large elephant. Fine. Levi had to admit, there was an elephant in the room. It was demanding to be comprehended, eventually resolved.

The way Hange’s eyes narrowed on him was a sign in itself, she might have been aware of it too. “Still...Does anything else hurt?”

In a burst of painful awareness, Levi twisted his arms from her grasp, another futile attempt to pull away. “You can let go now,” he said. It was a weak plea. In reality, he wished she wouldn’t let go.

A part of him was suggesting that maybe, just maybe, they were both a little crazy and someone had to play the part of the sane person.

Eventually, Hange seemed to have come to her senses. Or he could have been coming to his senses too. When everything was coming in blurs, he couldn’t be too sure who was actually in need of a smack on the head.

“Let me bandage up your elbow.” Hange rifled through the first aid kit.

There was a brief silence and Levi was clamoring for something to fill the empty air. “You seem to know a lot about first aid,” he commented. That was a ridiculous comment, anyone with half a brain could have pulled out a splinter and bandaged it.

“I took psychology in college... We took biology classes and there were first aid seminars,” Hange answered as if it wasn’t a stupid question.

The conversation had shifted to college classes and Levi was wondering how to comment about something so obvious and expected. Maybe talk about himself? “I took coding classes,” Levi said. Really, what else was there to say.

“I figured,” Hange said. That last comment didn’t look like it had disturbed the rhythm at all of taping the gauze to his elbow. It was a seamless sequence of movements and Hange’s hands didn’t stop moving, they flew over to the palms of his hands. “It looks like you have some scrapes here.”

There was a subtle stinging pain and Levi noticed, his body shook at the tingling sensation of her hands on his. He definitely wasn’t used to that much touch. And from her of all people? “You don’t need to bandage them.” They weren’t bad scrapes at all, just raw red.

Hange continued to run her hands over them, gripping a little firmer in areas where the skin seemed more intact. Instinct had Levi gripping back. And the few times when he pressed hard enough, he felt a twinge of guilt, as if he was the one invading personal space.

Hange let out a light chuckle. “Are you okay?”

“Why?”

“Your grip, it’s on and off,” Hange pointed out.

“Yeah, it feels weird.”

Hange didn’t respond immediately. Her fingers travelled all the way towards his wrist. “Don’t software engineers get carpal tunnel?”

“Yeah, maybe it's carpal tunnel,” Levi said. He had coded for long enough to at least be familiar with the bane of every software engineer’s existence. He had been an engineer long enough though to know that the tingling was most likely not carpal tunnel.

“You should take care of yourself more. It would be sad if someone like you had to retire early over a wrist injury.”

“Senior engineers don’t code as much anymore. We handle pull requests.” Was that the right thing to say to fill the air between them?

Hange wasn’t looking at him though. Her brows were furrowed, her jaws were stiff. She seemed too focused on his hands though to trifle herself with the responsibilities of senior engineers. “I heard there’s a way to check it out… if we flex your wrist here.” She gripped hard, her hands digging once again into his lower palms. The tingle, the thunder at his lower hand shook him all the way until his shoulders. In a bout of panic, Levi attempted to pull away again.

Hange’s grip could have been weak or Levi’s own pull could have been strong. That moment ended with a surprised Hange, looking right at him. She soon turned red. “You’re right, it wasn’t even bleeding. What was I thinking?” She looked away, seeming flustered.

“You should give back the first aid kit now,” Levi said.

“They said I can give it back tomorrow morning.” Hange looked away and shut the first aid kit with a click.

There was silence once again. A complete waste of time when there were too many issues, too many questions that needed to be resolved. When they were racing through his mind at breakneck speed, Levi had to admit, when overwhelmed, sometimes silence was the most natural response.

One at a time. “I can sleep on the floor,” Levi suggested.

Hange’s soft expression of a while ago immediately changed to something incredulous. “No you--”

“Or the car,” Levi added.

Hange opened her mouth, ready to say something else.

But Levi was quicker. “The back of the car isn’t as mud--”

Hange interrupted with a loud exhale which somehow had managed to convey a no nonsense massage. “Is there anything wrong with the bed?”

“Don’t you wanna sleep on the bed?”

Hange shook her head. “You’re the injured one.”

“It’s barely even a flesh wound. Besides you were the one driving,” Levi argued.

“You were the one who took the brunt of rolling down the hill.”

Could looks be effective in persuading? He stared for a while longer, fixing his eyes on hers. Hange returned his gaze with her own indignant one.

How long could they sit there just staring?

And as time passed, he started to wonder, how long did they sit there just staring. The weight of sleepiness eventually served as a reminder, they weren’t getting anything done. With the rain still pouring outside, the option of sleeping in the car was also out of the question.

Maybe giving in didn’t have to be such a climactic decision. “I’m going to bed,” Levi got off the bed and wedged himself between the wall and the bedside, pulling one pillow from bed and slipping it underneath. As long as he was careful not to hit his head on anything, he could make it work. “Good night.”

“Okay,” Hange said. “If you don’t mind, I’ll turn off the lights now.”

“Well, it’s better to fall asleep with the lights off right?”

Hange didn’t reply. Footsteps echoed across the room, there was a click and the room got darker, enough of a cue for Levi to close his eyes and relax as best as he could. He squeezed further into the gap, the wooden bed frame pressed to one side, the cold cement of the wall pressed on his other and just a pillow underneath, a blanket over him.

The sound of footsteps didn’t end there. There was a squeak, then a thump. The whoosh of blankets and the soft plop of a pillow. On the wooden floor.

Levi couldn’t relax just yet. “Hange, is there something wrong with the bed?”

“You tell me. Is there something wrong with the bed?” Hange asked from across the room.

“The floor is more comfortable for me,” Levi answered.

“For me too.”

“Okay,” Levi said. He had answered that way enough times to know, it carried some magic with it, enough magic to piss most people off.

Silence though was surprisingly a more annoying response. A very very long silence. No snores, no even breaths. Ironically, that silence was keeping him awake. Levi stood up, folded the blanket and slipped a pillow to his side.

“Where are you going?” Hange’s response was almost immediate.

“I’m sleeping in the car. I can’t sleep here.”

“The bed is comfier.” Hange stood up, waving a hand on the bedside.

“Who are you to tell me what’s comfy for me?” Levi turned towards the door and gripped the doorknob. He didn’t even have the time to turn it.

“If that's the logic you go by, then you can't tell me what's comfy either,” Hange said. “I think the rain is comfy. If you sleep in the car then I’ll sleep in the rain,”

“If you don’t take the bed, I’ll sleep in the rain,” Levi argued.

Hange was merely a shadow in the dark. He couldn’t do much to make out her face then but by god, she was annoying. “Take the bed,” she said.

“No.”

“It’s just a bed,” Hange pressed.

“I should be telling you that.”

“I’ve had more than enough comfortable beds to last a lifetime.”

“I’ve slept in enough shitty beds to be completely okay with sleeping on the floor.”

“Are you saying I’m not okay with sleeping on the floor?” Hange’s voice was more indignant than a second ago.

“Well, you’re the one who implied that maybe I’ve never slept on a comfortable bed.” That last sentence had been a chore to say. Levi’s eyes were dropping already then. He was in no mood to argue When he was just a little irritable, everything was sounding like an insult. “Take the bed,” he whispered. He still tasted venom.

“You look tired.” Hange’s voice softened, maybe mirroring his own. “You need it more than I do. Why don’t you wanna take it?”

“It’s your bed, you paid for the room.”

“I got us into this accident.”

There was silence again and Levi used that time to lean back against the wall then slowly onto the floor.

Hange took a deep breath. “I’ll ask again. Is there something wrong with the bed?”

“I want you to have it," Levi answered.

“I want you to have it too.”

From Levi’s vantage point, he couldn't completely see Hange. He heard her sigh though. Then he saw the way the shadow had made its way closer to the bed then the creak of springs sounded in the room then a light bounce. “You know, we can make this work. The bed is big enough for two people.”

“Two people who are married,” Levi clarified.

There was a soft rustle of pillows, then blankets. She moved to his side of the room, then Levi felt the pull of the blanket from on top of him, then the pillow from his hands.

No response from Hange had him particularly paranoid. His exhausted brain had him barely thinking. “People who are married to each other,” Levi clarified a second later.

“Levi, take the side nearer to the wall,” Hange ordered. Her voice was firm, intimidating, almost threatening.

Maybe it was a little scary. He was almost certain, if he didn’t force himself up, Hange could have probably come in and carried him herself. Better to spare himself the embarrassment and the unnecessary drama. He pulled himself up slowly, one hand then the other, made the painstaking trek to the edge of the bed and fell back onto the bed.

“Better?” Hange asked.

It was definitely an improvement from the floor, but he wasn’t going to tell Hange that. She had created a fort of pillows between them. He lay his head on part of it and took one deep breath and closed his eyes in hope that that could have been enough to have him fall asleep.

Before he could have even contemplated sleep, the bed bounced lightly. Then the scent of cheap shampoo and a hint of sweat wafted just in front of him. Levi opened his eyes, taking stock of the view in front of him. Hange had taken the space on the other side. Her hair wasn’t in a ponytail anymore and it spilled out, only a few inches away from his face.

She was staring right at him and they were close enough that Levi could make out her features even in the dark.

Her wide eyes. Her bright eyes. How could eyes be bright in the dark? Curiosity maybe? Amazement. Inquisitiveness.

In the dark, she could have been studying him and Levi could have probed for more hints by letting his own eyes travel over to her lips, then back to her nose, her forehead, for any other sign of emotion. He searched for a wrinkle on the nose or a crinkle on her forehead.

Hange seemed deep in thought. Her eyes were endless in the dark room and Levi eventually found comfort in just studying them, letting himself indulge in speculations that weren't reaching any particular conclusion.

And Hange wasn’t in any hurry to look away. Maybe she could have fixated at him for longer.

It wasn’t completely clear to Levi what exactly led to that point where their eyes and their noses were only a hair's breadth from each other.

That one tense moment was what pulled him back to his senses.

With no pillows left after creating the fort, they were both forced to rely on it to be some sort of headrest. Of all things, they ended up sharing it.

But Levi was perfectly comfortable without it. He turned onto his other side, pressing his back on the pillow fort, keeping his eyes fixed on the wall. He closed his eyes again.

With time and with some discipline, he must have dozed off. He had always been a light sleeper though. With just one bounce of the bed, then with the loud ring of the familiar emotion alarm that quickly faded into nothing, Levi was forced awake.

Hange was murmuring something to herself. It didn’t seem at all like she was asleep. The faint light that illuminated the room was a sign. Hange was most likely on her phone but Levi didn’t think it right to take a peek.

He fell on his back and stared at the ceiling, trying to make some sense of the flash of a second ago. In the dark, the light had come up as some sort of white. When Levi focused, when he squinted, he made sense of some color that tended to stand out among the others.

Red.

Curiosity was a powerful thing. Levi was sure if he didn’t ask then, he probably wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. “Hange, you okay?”

“Sorry, I forgot to put my alarm on silent,” Hange’s voice was toneless. The bright flashes betrayed whatever Hange could have been attempting though. The more Levi echoed it to himself, the weaker her own ‘nonchalance’ had started to seem.

“You okay?” He asked again.

“Levi, go back to sleep.”

It took him an hour or so to doze off again and maybe it had been Hange’s disturbed breaths that made it so.

Then he pondered for a while longer. If he had never asked in the first place, would he have fallen asleep much more easily?

***

"I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me."

There was a certain point when Levi completely gave up on sleeping. A point when Levi had looked out the window and decided there was enough natural light to constitute as early morning more than night.

He walked out of the backdoor, reader in hand, flicking the lights of the veranda on.

The smell after the rain, the early morning chill only accentuated the already peaceful atmosphere. It was the perfect time and place to let his mind wander, so Levi didn't hesitate to turn on his reader and will himself once again to fall back into the world of Regent England, Rosing Parks and Pemberley.

It was slow going but eventually, time started to pass strangely.

Days passed then months then years. Of course it would, Elizabeth was counting months as the story continued. Levi, the reader on the other hand was counting time in events, in plot twists, in beats.

With the final chapter finished, time stopped. The book ended with a satisfying epilogue but even after turning off the reader, Levi was silent, unmoving, his eyes still fixed on the screen in front of him.

But his mind was moving in all directions at once. He had spent a huge chunk of the last hour before sunrise leaning back on the sun chair and reflecting. How long had the sky been a comfortable blue? How long had the veranda lamp been spouting useless light before he turned it off?

Levi only thought it necessary to move when the backdoor of the motel room opened. By then, he had already completed the book and early morning sleepiness sat heavy on him.

“How long have you been out here?” Hange settled on the chair in front of him, placing her laptop on the table.

“Good morning to you too.” Levi followed her with his eyes.

Hange met his eyes and gave him a sleepy half smile. “Good morning.”

“I finished the book,” Levi said.

“How was it?”

“The ending was nice. There were some memorable quotes. It made me think…” About you? He couldn't be too sure what it made him think of. So he opted not to say his first thought aloud.

“I think a lot about the book too.” Hange booted up her laptop and started to aimlessly click at her mouse. “And I was thinking about it again last night.”

“What about?”

“Pemberley… Rosings, I was wondering how to explain everything to you but every time I try to figure out the right way, I end up just clamming up.” Hange looked like she was deliberately hiding herself behind her laptop screen. “I’m sorry for just avoiding the topic. I don’t think I’ve been in the best state to even discuss this in a while.”

“You think you’ll be able to talk about it soon?”

Hange shrugged. “Maybe.”

“What if I told you I wanted to talk about it?

“Then I’ll listen,” Hange said.

“What if we go back to your Pemberley? WIll you talk to me about it again?”

Hange paused for a second, her eyes wistful, then almost blank. She looked pointedly at his elbow. “It might still be wet.”

“It stopped raining. We’ll be careful,” Levi answered, keeping his tone as no nonsense as possible.

Hange didn’t respond immediately. She was looking at something on her laptop.

Levi used that few moments of silence to study Hange. Sleepiness seemed to be weighing on her as well. Her eyes were half closed, her shoulders dropped more than usual and he had half the mind to tell her to go back to bed. That is, if he didn’t see the strong intent in her eyes.

He tried to make a guess by the glare of the screen on her glasses and came up with nothing productive. “What are you doing?”

“You have app testing tomorrow right? We’re gonna have to be on our way home by mid afternoon at the latest. Unless you wanna do another overnight train…” Hange suggested, that last part seemed more like a warning than a suggestion.

Showing up for the app testing the next morning, more exhausted than he already was, seemed like a harrowing experience.

“What do you suggest?”

“There’s an airport near here, they have a few flights back to the city. I’ll book us two last minute tickets for later this afternoon,” Hange said.

“And the car?”

“We’ll drop it off there, I’ll pay extra for the cleaning.”

“How much do I pay?” Levi asked. Instinctively, his hands flew to his pocket. Of course there would be nothing there, his phone and his wallet were still in the overnight bag.

Hange shook her head. “Nothing, I dragged you out here. I messed up the car. I’ll pay.”

“I still owe you seven hundred dollars from last time,” Levi said.

“No you don’t. You won it fair and square,” Hange said with some finality.

It should have been annoying, frustrating, maybe insulting but Levi couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised. Funnily, it had been months since the country club fiasco but Hange knew exactly what he was talking about. He stared at her for a second longer, as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand, muttering something about prices, schedules.

She looked up at him a minute or so later. “I booked tickets for a three o clock flight. If we leave the hotel at noon, we should make it in time.”

Levi checked the clock on his reader. “That will give us four hours to hike.

Hange nodded. “Believe me, that’s more than enough time.”

“She had never seen a place where nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in her admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!"

The view was definitely better with clear skies above him.

Hiking unfamiliar grounds, especially as a total beginner, usually consisted of looking up and down in unpredictable intervals. Sometimes he was watching the view in front of him, making sure Hange was a comfortable distance away. Sometimes, he was looking below, making sure he wasn’t en route to tripping on anything dangerous or embarrassing. One thing was for sure. When Levi looked up, he always made sure to get a good view of the horizon, to have that good balance between sky and landscape with every step up the hill.

Hange was muttering to herself and Levi realized that even when he had attempted to walk right beside her, he couldn’t make out what she was saying.

They eventually reached the peak and Levi saw an opportunity to survey his surroundings. Looking left, right then behind him, he was certain, they were on the highest point for miles around.

The question loomed heavily again. The scrapes, bruises and aches from yesterday were soft reminders. The visceral aftereffects of an all too unpleasant night were prodding more incessantly. Levi decided for himself, he deserved answers. He looked back at Hange.

Hange didn’t hesitate to meet his gaze. It was a little alarming that of all things he noticed in her expression, an abject surrender.

Would that give him the answers he needed? Most likely it would.

Still, it left a lump in his throat, a force that twisted his gut. He could get answers but would they be answers he liked?

Hange took a deep breath and fell back onto the grass. “There’s that line… when Elizabeth first steps into Pemberley after rejecting Darcy’s proposal in Rosings for the first time.”

She whispered it once and Levi considered sitting down next to her for a better listen. She repeated the line a little louder that time.

“It’s a small line, it’s not necessarily quotable but at least to me, it’s a really important one… Ever since I married Zeke… Ever since I read the book. When I had time to myself while climbing some mountain alone, wandering through hills and grassy lands along highways like some idiot, I’d repeat it again and again.”

Levi had to note, Hange’s Pemberley was in the middle of nowhere, situated along a highway, only accessible by climbing over a fence that probably wasn’t supposed to be climbed over or fitting through gaps between wires. Not a beauty for most people when actual reserves and hiking trails existed.

...a place where nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste…

Hange put one finger up to her chin. "That scene in Pemberley, I think that was the exact moment Elizabeth falls in love with Darcy and was that what falling in love was supposed to feel like?” Hange looked at Levi, her eyes were wide and it looked like she wanted something out of him.

Levi couldn't come up with anything on the fly so he didn’t respond and Hange only continued. “That wonder Elizabeth felt when she first arrived at Pemberley…” She paused there. Her expression from a while ago unchanged but Levi couldn’t help but notice a glimmer that hadn’t been there before, a depth. “Maybe that's that same wonder Elizabeth felt for Mr. Darcy.�� She looked at him expectantly.

“And you see the wonder here… of all places?”

“Untouched nature, free nature is a very beautiful thing. I imagine that's what Elizabeth saw in Pemberley.”

“What does that have to do with love?”

“Love feels like freedom… And when people fall in love, maybe they start to appreciate it. Does the world suddenly get more colorful? Does it just suddenly become prettier? Or do we just get perceptive to it?” Hange asked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “So I thought to myself after reading the first time, was my perspective of the world supposed to change when I married Zeke? It didn’t at first. But I couldn't help but think, if I keep choosing to love, if I keep getting to know him and if I keep trying to be a good partner, maybe when I climb up the peak, study the horizon, I’ll eventually feel it. That freedom. That's why I climbed every single time.”

“Did you eventually feel it?” Levi had to tame his tone.

Hange shook her head. “I’m in a very comfortable marriage.”

“Comfortable is good,” Levi said, a hesitant attempt at validation.

“It is good. That is until I started to feel it, stronger emotions than I was used to. Colors were coming up a little brighter. I was noticing minute details in everything, then the minute details in certain people." Hange pulled her legs closer to herself. "I think that’s love. You meet someone and you think, ‘wow colors are so pretty, wow emotions can actually be very fickle yet powerful things,’ then ‘wow this world is such a beautiful place,’ ”

“Where does ‘love is a choice’ fall into this then?” Levi challenged. “You’ve been saying that for months.”

“It still is a choice, because choice is a part of freedom. And for me, ultimately ‘love is freedom.’ And slowly, I'm more and more convinced that I might just be right. When we’re suddenly feeling everything at once, when colors and emotions just suddenly get brighter and clearer, Isn’t that what freedom is supposed to be? Clarity and understanding?” Hange spoke fast and she spoke in messy ideas that Levi had to put in extra effort to comprehend.

He didn’t respond immediately and the pause she had allowed him had been too short.

She continued. “And I have a theory about your app…”

“You always have theories.”

“But I think this one makes a lot more sense,” Hange looked at him expectantly

Do you want me to ask what it is? Levi returned her stare with a silent question. Eventually, he caved in. “What’s your theory Hange?”

Hange took a deep breath, let out an exhale through her nose and spoke up. “You’re a great developer Levi. There’s no bug. Whatever algorithm you wrote up, it’s doing its job and it’s doing it extremely well. We broke down the application to emotions and just like the emotions alarm proved, when we’re with certain people, the emotions get clearer, they have more free rein to do what they need to …. To put it more simply… Do you notice, we see a lot more and we feel a lot more when we’re with specific people. And maybe that love alarm is only telling us who those people are?”

“Do you feel it with Zeke?” Levi asked. That had been a burning question for a while. In that staunch silence, he saw opportunity. So he grasped it, he said it once. Seeing the fire in Hange’s eyes, feeling the tension of a while ago loosen for just a brief second, he saw opportunity. So he said it again. “Have you felt it with Zeke?”

Hange looked up at the sky, squinting. “Sometimes, I guess. I can’t be too sure.”

“Why did you even marry Zeke then?”

“He was my first experience with love and relationships.” Hange shrugged. “I didn’t have a point of comparison. Back when I was younger, I didn’t think too far into love or whether it was supposed to feel magical or like freedom. Love and relationships were supposed to be comfortable, happy. " Hange looked like she could have said more. She turned to him, looking at him as if expecting some sort of feedback.

Levi didn’t respond and Hange eventually continued. “I thought about it, when we were working on the app. Then I read Pride and Prejudice again just a few months ago after I saw you reading it. Then I asked myself...When I didn't know what love was actually supposed to feel like, could I say I really had a choice?” She shrugged. "I guess since i know now, I have more of a choice."

Levi continued to reflect and he found himself stuck on two words: ‘clarity’ and ‘understanding.’ Maybe clarity, comprehension, understanding, the whole sea of experiences did happen at once.

The logical part of him liked to blame the placebo effect though for that annoying habit that plagued him. He was tracing the smaller hills over the green landscape, he was counting how many feet above the horizon the sun was at that point in the morning. He was picking out the different shades the greens, the yellows, the blues showed up in. He started counting colors and when looking at the sky became too uncomfortable of a sensation, he looked at Hange. Then he noticed, colors do reflect on people in small minute details.

Yet for some reason, the prospect of vindicating Hange was an unsettling one.

“What now?” Levi asked, in no mood to agree. Just yet. Maybe with time he could.

“Since there’s nothing to fix… we don’t fix the app,” Hange responded in the most anticlimactic of answers.

Levi wasn’t satisfied. “What about after that?”

“We focus on developing the emotions alarm, I do a dissertation on it then I work towards a PhD,” Hange continued.

“And then after that?” Levi pressed.

“The contract ends there. Is there anything else you want to do?” Hange asked.

There must have been something else. No, Levi was sure there should have been more to it. It was in Hange’s eyes, the intent underneath, the burning intent from a while ago. There was a characteristic way her eyes narrowed, a way they drooped as she spoke.

That morning, he had chalked it up as exhaustion. Looking more closely at that moment, it started to seem like resignation, abject surrender.

Talking about one’s own hopes and dreams wasn’t supposed to look like that.

There was one quote that hovered completely over that incomplete conversation between them. Somehow, in that moment of silence, Levi remembered it clearly. He spoke up. “I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.” The moment it left his mouth, he questioned the appropriateness. Who was he to assume that that was what Hange needed.

Hange answered with a question. “What else are we supposed to do after completing the app?” Her eyes were darting from left to right yet they were still very much focused on him. It was as if she was searching for an answer.

An answer Levi couldn’t didn’t even know himself. He brought up his developer persona, the mini dictionary in his head that came with it. “Customer support, QA testing, bugs will constantly show up.”

“Then I guess we’ll be working together for a while huh?” Hange grinned, yet there was something off putting about it.

Or maybe Levi was searching for something that wasn’t there.

Hange probably noticed it too. “We’re gonna have to leave for the airport soon. Let’s go back down,” Her voice was unbearably professional. Professionalism was the go-to, it worked for most situations but for once, Levi was wondering whether that had been the best thing to do.

Who was he to judge her though? Hange had always been the more eloquent one.

Then he wondered how long he had been staring at nothing. The landscape in front of him continued to gleam with different colors but Levi was focusing on the sky just above. There was a temptation to let whatever stone cold expression he was wearing then, falter.

“Hange.” In desperation, he spoke up as if that could do anything to stop his mouth from falling.

Hange spun around, her mouth half open, her eyes wide. There were things which still needed to be read into. “Are you okay?” she asked, her face shifted to something of worry as she gave him a once over, down to his bandaged elbow.

Suddenly self conscious, Levi clutched at his elbow, pressing the gauze deeper into him. The pressure gave way to a stinging pain. The pain served as some excuse to let out a wince, let his own expression fall into the mercy of whatever pain had edged deeper inside him. “After we finish the app, do you think you’ll be happy?”

Hange’s expression softened. “It’s my dream. I’ll be happy.”

“Not about the application,” Levi said. There were topics he wanted to bring up. When both their expressions had naturally shifted to something monotone, their voices into something reminiscent of a client and a business, Levi realized he was treading precarious grounds. He soon found a more appropriate word. “After the application… When everything after that is over… You think you’ll be happy?”

Hange stopped, a flash of comprehension in her eyes. Then sadness?

She spoke up. “We don’t ever know if we’ll be happy right? We just keep choosing and choosing and when the choices are already made, all we can do is find whatever inkling of happiness we can in them.”

***

The passenger seat was a mess and Levi saw that as enough of an excuse to sit on the backseat of the car.

Hange didn’t seem to care too much about her ass being caked with dirt. She had no choice but to not care anyway. After all, someone had to drive.

Levi liked it that way anyway. The whole trek down, they had been silent. He had found it difficult to look at her and maybe she had felt the same. The dirty passenger’s seat made it easier for Levi to suggest sitting in the back and when he was sitting on the backseat, he could pretend Hange wasn’t there. That the car was moving on its own or maybe somebody else was driving.

The ride seemed long, Levi didn’t bother to check his phone. Instead, he leaned forward on the driver’s seat and he let the car whirr. Sometimes it would rattle when the tires would hit some road bump.

Hange eventually broke the silence. “You were talking about adding more colors and about other plans. You feel like walking me through it?”

“Can we talk about it when we’re back in the office?” It wasn’t the best way to address his client. At that moment, Levi was in no mood to play a PR role. And he had never been good at it. There was a reason he stuck to back office work.

“There’s nothing much else to talk about right?”

There was a lot. The fact that Hange was even suggesting that there was nothing to talk about was almost infuriating. He was tempted to pick a fight. “Elizabeth said she would act only in a way that makes her happy. That’s an important theme in the novel.”

Begrudgingly. Hange acknowledged it. “It is. You wanna talk about it?”

“I just wanna know, what’s your take on love?” It was a miracle he even got that question out calmly.

“Love is freedom,” Hange answered with a tone of painful certainty. “Love is a choice and it will always be a choice.”

“What if you don’t feel it?”

“I’ll still choose to love.”

“What if you feel the love somewhere else? Shouldn’t you follow your emotions?”

“If I did that, I’d only be at the mercy of my emotions.”

“Then why do you like Pride and Prejudice so much. They end up together. You know they love each other?”

Hange sighed. “It’s a social commentary. It focuses on circumstances. In the novel, people married for money, for status, out of obligation. Elizabeth and Darcy were just lucky circumstances were on their side. Besides, fiction is merely wish fulfillment. Living reality isn’t as easy as writing. Too much of the circumstances can be out of control and people can’t really disconnect themselves from circumstances can they?” She paused and looked at Levi questioningly.

“And what? You don’t think reality can ever be wish fulfillment?” Levi asked.

“If circumstances were in our favor, maybe?”

“Our?” Levi asked. He was suddenly self aware, he was grasping at straws at that point.

“Hypothetical ‘our’, ‘our’ as in referring to anyone faced with that situation.”

“You didn’t have to specify it. I got it,” Levi said.

“Then why did you ask?”

“Sorry, it just took me a little longer to understand.” Levi only noticed it after the words had left his lips. His voice had deadened to a whisper.

***

I would rather we just lived here together, right Levi?

“This is gonna be our last scenery of green in a long time,” Hange said as she leaned back on the metal chair at the departure gate. How she still found value in small talk, Levi could never really understand.

“Cool,” Levi said, not looking up from scrolling through his timeline. There was temporal happiness at least in watching mindless videos.

“I would have wanted this to last longer. Maybe we could have hiked for an hour more if you didn’t have testing tomorrow.”

“That’s nice.”

“Imagine getting to live here,” Hange said.

“People live here. That’s why there’s an airport,” Levi said coldly. He looked back up at Hange. At that point, he was a little more confident with his deadpan expression. With time, the incomprehensible emotions of a while ago had whittled into something manageable.

“Sometimes I imagine being part of those people, just setting aside everything I’ve worked for, I’ve committed to… Just throwing it all away and living in a peaceful place like this..”

“You’re not the type to stay out of the action.” At that point, maybe Levi was just looking for a fight. “We’d get bored.”

“We?”

“We, as in, hypothetical ‘we.’” ‘We’ as in referring to anyone who probably considered living in a place like this.”

Hange pouted then looked away. “Let me imagine stuff.”

“Imagine something more realistic.” Why did that last word send a twinge of pain through him?

“Why do you care about what I imagine?”

Levi turned off his phone and dropped it beside him. “I’m just giving some friendly advice.”

“Doesn’t seem friendly.” Hange opened her mouth wider, ready to say something else.

Levi never found out what she had intended to say. The speaker sounded from just above them.

“This is an announcement for passengers of flight 232 bound for... ..I’m afraid the flight is overbooked. We’re looking for passengers who are willing to take a later flight in exchange….Any passenger who is interested should see an agent at the counter.”

Out of instinct, Levi looked up then searched his surroundings for any sign of volunteers. It wouldn’t matter to him. With an early morning awaiting him, he was one of the last people to volunteer. As he continued to observe the other passengers more closely, he realized a lot of them could have just been like him.

They were all eight-to-five employees or very busy people out on a weekend long vacation.

After a few more announcements, two people who sat up and made their way to the counter. Levi looked to Hange to see she was also very much invested in the current turn of events.

“Any more passengers willing to take a later flight?”

There was a moment of silence and somehow, Levi was starting to make eye contact as he scanned all the faces again. Any eye contact he made, ended with a pointed look, a silent push for him volunteer maybe?

And soon, Levi realized, the seat next to him was empty. Hange had stood up and made her way to the counter.

A minute or so later, Hange returned to the seat and gave him a light shrug. “I’ll be going on a later flight then.”

“You didn’t have to give up your seat,” Levi said irritably. Suddenly, he was self conscious. Why was he angry about her taking a later flight?

The speaker sounded. “Flight… is now ready for boarding… Passengers with small children...”

“I’m not as pressed for time as the other passengers,” Hange explained. “You have to be at work first thing tomorrow morning while I can take as much time as I need.”

She made sense, a lot of sense. To the point that just looking at her had been all too difficult, especially with a grimace trying to escape his lips. He looked away.

“Are you mad?”

“No, I’m not.” It wasn’t anger, that much he was sure of. Any other feelings weren’t welcome either. He wasn’t supposed to be feeling anything when the issue was so trivial. He bent over and started scrolling through his phone again, searching for anything that could make smiling much easier.

“We will now be accepting all passengers…”

“I’ll take you to the boarding gate,” Hange suggested.

Levi saw no reason to protest.

Besides, Hange could only take him so far. Their strides were small, their pace slower. He could have been mirroring her or she could have been mirroring him. And they were slow enough for some conversation to start between them.

As usual, Hange initiated. “What’s the plan tomorrow?”

“Zeke apparently secured a school for testing, got some students to volunteer.”

“He has those connections. That’s his brother’s school actually,” Hange said.

“Really?” Levi said. He was fine not receiving any more information though. He was completely disinterested since he had the whole day tomorrow to figure it out anyway.

Hange opened her mouth to speak.

Even before she could speak though, Levi had already interrupted her. “Petra will explain it to me during our meeting tomorrow. She handled the logistics of the testing.” He was in no mood for any more information dumps.

Hange grinned. Whether or not she had been bothered by the rude interruption, it wasn’t obvious. “You have an early morning meeting huh?”

“Yes, we do,” Levi said professionally.

Hange put both hands behind her back, letting her overnight bag dangle precariously on her free shoulder. She gave him a knowing expectant look, eyebrows raised, a tight lipped smile. “Make sure to treat her well,” she said.

Levi raised one eyebrow. “Are you shipping me with Petra?”

Hange looked back out the wide window then at the departure gate. “Maybe I am.”

Hange’s words were only goading something out of him. They served as a glaring reminder. Once again, Levi was hyper aware that there was something heavy between them and it had been there for a while.

The elephant? Some emotion, he couldn’t point out, was desperate to break free. It had him calculating quickly. The counter was only a few feet away and Levi could get there in two or three quick strides.

Then just like that, it pushed one sentence out of his mouth, a line he might just regret saying. "Hange, if I were to choose to fall in love with someone, I’d want someone like you."

He could regret it later. At the least, he appreciated the quick release that came with that one line.

A much awaited release that had him questioning: How long had he felt that stiff, that tense?

With a new found rush of energy, he went ahead. The stewardess ripped his boarding pass with one swift movement and Levi hurried through the entrance and made his way to the passenger boarding bridge, only sparing one last look.

Maybe he was terrified to see her reaction. A part of him stiffened up just imagining Hange’s face, indignance, fury? Then when he looked back and focused on her, he wondered why he had been nervous at all.

Hange’s eyes were wide, her jaw had dropped and at that point when their eyes met, she closed her mouth, and it grew into a smile. Then her eyes crinkled. Then she nodded.

You’re married. You’re supposed to be creeped out. He wondered if his eyes were sending that message.

A few strides later, he was sorry to have to board so quickly. He didn’t want to stop though, or risk only hinting that there might have been more meaning to those words.

But there was meaning in those words, enough for him to be terribly curious of Hange’s reaction.

He didn’t immediately board the plane and he stayed on the passenger bridge. The bridge had glass windows, and just outside was an airfield, and a good view of the passenger terminal through the wide window.

Hange was still standing there and she was easy for Levi to spot. Maybe because Levi had eventually gotten used to the fact that her hair, under sunlight seemed to glow with a hint of red. Maybe because under the right light, her brown hair seemed bright.

The more he looked, the more he realized though, to hell with all the excuses, she was Hange. That was all there was to it. He would probably be able to recognize her even from miles away.

Maybe she had been looking for him too. From a good many feet away, with glass windows, and an airfield between them, she still approached the wide window. She waved her hand, slowly the first few times. Then quickly.

He felt his lip tremble and he touched one finger to it. Was he sad? In an attempt to pacify whatever nagging feeling had settled inside him, he turned back to the entrance of the plane. Then he reminded himself, he was gonna see her again in the morning.

It didn’t seem to work. His legs were heavy and Levi fell back onto the window seat with a thump, a ragged breath followed. He let the pre emergency procedures lull himself to some state of half sleepiness. He opened the in flight menu for some distraction, nothing seemed appetizing.

They eventually took off and when they mentioned something about turning on phones again, Levi opened his, and stared for a little longer at the emotions alarm.

He was in no position to feel heavy. There were no circumstances that should have left him feeling desolate.

But the application would know. So Levi turned it on, making sure to keep his phone on silent. He clicked the ‘activate’ button. A blue dot flashed on the screen.

Sadness. Levi looked back out the window. The blue sky was clear, endless, dotted with only a few clouds here and there. The more he stared, the more he managed to immerse himself. Deep endless blue was a depressing yet immersive view. Out of curiosity, Levi put his phone side by side with the view, noticing he had picked a very similar blue.

A small victory. One thing, he entertained for just a split second. When he leaned back on the chair, his suspicions only confirmed, he ended up asking that question again.

Why was he sad? A part of him was consoling. Another part of him was reflecting. Eventually he figured out at least some inkling of it.

Why did he feel like he lost someone? But he didn’t lose anyone. Levi only had to open his inbox to see the words, ‘Safe flight’ and a few airplane emojis to know Hange was still very much there.

The blue feeling settled inside him and it made itself at home for just a little longer. Levi surmised, it may have been the fact that he had spent another good few minutes, searching for pictures of them on his phone only to notice, they never did take pictures together.

Of course, they shouldn’t. Why would they need to take pictures together?

I’ll find someone like you. The one that got away.

When Levi came to his senses again, he noticed he was going through songs of lost love, a road to recovery. Then after some further introspection, he had to admit, he was sad, a raw kind of sad.

And it fucking hurt.

The raw pain of the loss of a first love? A first love that didn’t exist.

He clarified further. A first love that never existed in the first place.

Can you feel heartbreak without having ever experienced a first love?

Halfway through the flight, after some long quiet reflection, Levi concluded, he had been completely and utterly duped by this shitty thing called life.

***

An alarm rang. Any other day Levi would have called it routine.

That morning though, it was annoying, terribly annoying.

The aftereffects of a long trip were still going strong. He could barely keep his eyes open, he could barely stand up. He was exhausted, at the same time plagued with unfamiliar aches and Levi was suspecting not all were physical.

He reached for the side table to turn off the alarm. Like all days, he had an hour and a half to get ready for work and brave the commute.

Staring at the screen of his phone for a while longer, at the application that was conveniently wedged on the dock, he contemplated sparing just a few minutes for a quick reading. Most days, he wouldn’t have. That particular day, he was exhausted, confused and something inside him was grasping for some sense of the world.

With one hard poke, he activated the emotions alarm. It flashed with a bright purple.

Sadness and Anger? He was almost appreciating how ‘the emotion alarm could revolutionize psychology and psychiatry.’ Somehow, having his emotions on display had helped him wake up a little faster, making sense of the fatigue. At the same time, it was just a little unsettling to see something so personal on his screen.

Blue. Sadness. Raw sadness that sapped at his energy reserves. Loss?

Red. Anger. At the unfairness of life maybe?

He entertained the possibility of creating some other piece of technology to explain it for him. He eventually brushed off that idea, silently laughing at the stupidity of it.

Stupidity had been a good distraction and that had been enough for him to pretend he wasn't completely exhausted and his emotions weren’t a total buzzkill.

Like always, he went through his routine of making the bed, showering, cleaning up whatever he could in the room before he left. He was bound for the same train station, on a different route.

Testing. A very stern reminder to himself. He had almost gotten on the wrong train.

It turned out to be a non-problem. Levi arrived at the school way earlier than he had expected. And he barely even had time to have breakfast. He made his way to the convenience store just outside the station, pulled a quick sandwich from the shelves and brought it up to the counter.

It was routine. Levi had done it too many times before yet something seemed odd.

It's a new environment. He thought to himself. He had been to that part of town before but not enough times to consider it routine.

His muddled mind thought up another excuse. I’m just tired.

Exhaustion, small changes shouldn’t have manifested as hyperawareness on his end.

But there was something unsettling about the cashier having stared at him for longer than he was comfortable. Strangers would never do that.

Do I have something in my face? It never came out as anything more than a passing thought. He wondered if his surprised expression had managed to ask the question.

Eventually, the cashier looked away. Coming to his senses, Levi realized it was a brief exchange and he could clock it off as nothing.

He never could completely shake off the feeling that he was being watched. Or maybe I’m just tired. And maybe fatigue just really happened to manifest as hyperawareness.

Conveniently, Petra was waiting at the school gates, laptop bag slung over her shoulder.

“You’re early,” Levi commented. Then he realized he had been a total idiot. They had a paper trail to prove it, he had agreed to meet Petra there first thing Monday morning.

“Have to make sure everything is ready,” Petra said.

Levi was grateful for that arrangement He didn’t know his way through the campus and it was a surprisingly wide one. Of course it would be large, they would be testing the application among hundreds of volunteers.

It was a mammoth event and he was too fucking exhausted to happily deal with it. For a while, he even forgot that maybe he was the mind behind the application. Logistics just wasn’t something he liked to trifle himself with.

As soon as they arrived in the empty gym, he settled on one of the chairs towards the corner of the room and booted up his laptop. His first instinct had been to check the workflow tracker. There was nothing there. Why the hell did he even think anything would be there? A desperation to keep busy with something familiar maybe?

“Do you have the file for testing?” Levi asked.

Petra nodded. “All loaded into the cloud. We have a download link prepared.”

Levi stared at the tracker for a while longer before deciding maybe doing nothing but watching people enter the gym was the most productive task he could come up with.

Watching people enter just brought back the feeling of hyperawareness. Some people were familiar, Eld, Oluo then Gunther eventually joined in. Then Erwin. There were others though, people who Levi barely recognized he tended to give him a look much longer than what people would usually give a stranger.

Since when did anger and sadness turn into paranoia?

“It looks like the file isn’t downloading to this phone…." Petra was rattling off details on support issues.

For Levi in his current state, conversations on the application were flying into one ear and out the other quickly.

"Are you okay?”

Levi turned to Petra. “Were you talking to me?”

She furrowed her brows at him, a worried expression on her face.

“I’m fine.” His response was automatic. “You need me to check what?”

Petra spoke up again. “Well...This phone…”

Levi reached his hand out to grab the phone from Petra. In a trick of fate, or maybe coincidence— no, Levi liked to believe it was coincidence— he noticed the flash of blonde at his peripherals, a brunette beside him.

Even before he could contemplate their identity— Hell, he probably didn’t need to—one of them spoke up. “Good morning Erwin! I hope I managed to get enough people for the app testing.”

“Mr. Jaeger, Believe me, this is more than enough people. We usually run calibration with fifty people at a time. It's honestly a pleasant surprise to see you here...You said you wouldn’t be coming... We're sorry we couldn't prepare anything better."

"No worries Erwin, What can I say? When my schedule frees up, I like to pay surprise visits to partners.”

Levi looked back at them fast enough to catch Zeke and Erwin shaking hands.

Only one hand though. Levi followed Zeke’s other hand. It was only natural he would, after all Zeke was holding her hand, clutching it tightly.

It’s completely normal for them to hold hands. But still he continued to stare.

It was a little harder to follow her arms, all the way up to her face. Was he scared to make eye contact? But eventually they did make eye contact. Comprehension dawned on Levi slowly as he met her gaze while starting to make sense of the conversation between Zeke and Erwin.

Zeke is here to test the Love Alarm?

Did you know?

As if to answer his question, Hange’s eyes widened, and she nodded her head subtly, very subtly. If Levi hadn't spent the last few months working with Hange on the application, he probably wouldn't have noticed the very slight nod, he probably wouldn't have sensed the deep panic in her demeanor.

With too many thoughts running through his head at once, Levi briefly lost touch with reality for a long few seconds.

It was Petra of all people who pulled him out of his trance. “Um… Levi… Sir… I don't mind you holding my hand but...could you loosen your grip a bit? It kinda hurts."

#levihan #levihan fanfiction

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drabbleoclock · 3 years ago

Text

Subtlety (Toya Todoroki AU P1)

Ok so this is an AU where Endeavor convinces Toya to give up his dream of becoming a hero so Dabi is never created. Also this is gonna be a two parter because I was inspired by this tik tok but I have not gotten to the part that actually inspired it yet, but this is getting kinda long so i'm just gonna make it a second part.

Anyway, I don't think there are any TWs in here, there are implied spicy times but nothing explicit. It's honestly just cute fluffy Toya.

Ok so I just went back and edited this and Idk why it keeps changing he to I in certain spots?? When I go to edit it and fix it, it is correct so I guess we just gotta live with it.

There were a few times Nozomi thought Toya might really like her. Of course she would never admit that she knew. She recalled his teasing when they had first started seeing each other, his taunts of "Don't fall in love with me now doll." ringing in her head as she caught the way he would look at her when she left after their first few nights together, a look of hidden disappointment.

The first time Nozomi questioned how he felt was when she first met his sister.

She had fallen against his chest, panting lightly, her fingers absentmindedly tracing the light burn marks on his arms. He chuckled, letting his head fall back against the pillows.

"You're way to good at that." He said, notably not taking his hands off of her hips.

"Well practice makes perfect right." She smirked back at him, lifting herself off of the bed and grabbing her clothes off of the floor.

"Hmm, I suppose so. When should we... practice again?" He asked, bending over her to grab his shirt from the floor, brushing his fingers over her hips. She smiled brightly making his heartbeat quicken. He willed it to slow, brushing it off as a result of their previous activity.

"Hmm, my roommate is going out of town next week, maybe you could pay me a visit?" Nozomi suggested pulling her shirt over her head and fixing her hair in the small mirror he had by his door.

"Can't wait, I'll walk you out." Toya smiled, holding the door open for the girl he thought was such a bad ass to walk through.

He had met Nozomi at a concert he had gone to see with some friends that ended up ditching him for some chicks that were smoking outside.

He had seen her across the room, her piercings glinting in the stage lights. She had tattoos up and down her arms that seemed to dance on their own as the girl moved. This confused and intrigued Toya greatly, he had never seen anything like it. He later found out this was an effect of her quirk, letting her tattoos move around her body freely. He gravitated toward the girl all night, not being able to stop himself from looking at her, imagining what she would be like with him. Eventually, after some crafty flirting, he found out.

Then found out a few more times.

"What a gentleman tonight." Nozomi teased placing a hand gently above her heart, pulling Toya out of his memory and walking through the door into the dark hallway.

"I do my best." Toya quipped back, resting his hand on her lower back as they walked to his front door. It was supposed to be a clear shot there, but Fuyumi had other plans.

She had seen the girl with her older brother a few times, more than he had brought any other girl around, and wanted to see what made this girl special to her brother, so she hid in the kitchen until she heard Toya try to sneak her out of the house.

Pretending she had just finished making her almost empty cup of tea, she walked out, feigning surprise as she "accidentally" bumped into the couple.

"Oh hello, you must be Nozomi, Toya has told me about you." Fuyumi said brightly, bowing slightly at the woman in front of her.

Toya groaned in annoyance as he tried to push his fling toward the door.

"Really?" She questioned, holding her ground intrigued by the statement. "All good things I hope."

"Oh yes, he talks about how 'surprisingly cool' you are." Fuyumi told her, quoting the words Toya had shared the other night when asked about the girl.

"You make it sound like I talk about her all the time. I don't." He cut in, pushing the girl harder now, trying to hide his pink cheeks in the dark of the hallway. "And I don't appreciate this ambush Yumi."

"Come on T, I wanna find out just how surprisingly cool I am." Nozomi teased, giving in and let herself be pushed to the door, waving at Fuyumi and laughing at his annoyed face as she went, the door closing quickly behind her with just a quick "see ya" from Toya who refused to let her see his flushed face.

That was the first time she suspected Toya might be catching feelings. Though admittedly a little pissed at the word surprisingly before the word cool in his description of her, she overlooked it not really caring too much what he thought of her. Not yet anyway.

The next time she suspected was a surprise to both of them. Nozomi's roommate had kicked her out of their shared apartment with only her backpack of personal belongings. She would have been fine with this had it not been for the group of thugs hanging around the building. They had taken her bag, wallet, phone, everything she had on her. Everything she had. Plus, to pour salt on the wound, had roughed her up a little when she tried to fight for her belongings.

She had put up a good fight but she was simply outnumbered and the heroes had long forgotten about her little corner of the city, deeming it beyond saving.

Not knowing where else to go, with no family or friends nearby, she went to the Todoroki household. She knocked on the front door, trying her best to get rid of any evidence of tears from her face. Shivering from the cold autumn night, she stood there waiting for anybody to answer the door.

Not much to her surprise, the girl she had met a few weeks ago stood before her. The woman, Fuyumi she remembered, was in a dressing gown, her white hair falling around her shoulders, the streaks of red popping in the moonlight.

Fuyumi was surprised to see the girl, especially in the state she was in. Her hair was a tangled mess, despite her attempts to comb out the knots as she walked, scraps and bruises littering her arms, and a few scraps on her face, a small trail of blood coming from where the small bit of metal went through her eyebrow. Nozomi loved every one of her piercings, but she did have to admit they were a bit of a disadvantage in a fight.

"Oh dear, are you alright? Come in, I'll go get Toya." She said, leading the girl to the living room, guiding her to sit on one of the pillows on the floor. "I'll get the first aid kit as well." Fuyumi muttered already headed down the hall to Toya's bedroom.

Toya had thought Fuyumi was messing with him, telling him his girlfriend was hurt in the living room. He laughed when she had said it, telling her he did not have a girlfriend, that he wasn't the type, but his sister just sighed and put on her best mom voice, demanding that he go into the living room.

So he did, strolling into the living room with his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants, not quite sure what to expect.

It certainly wasn't what he found. While she was definitely not his girlfriend, she was the closest thing he has ever had to one.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked nonchalantly, taking his hand out of his pocket to motion to her face, an anger forming in his chest that contradicted the calmness of his voice.

"A lot." Nozomi answered, trying to swallow the sobs that threatened the back of her throat. "Let's run through my night. First, Kita kicked me out and I don't she her letting me back in. Then, some assholes tried to take my bag. When I fought back for it they took my phone and smashed it up, leaving me with absolutely nothing to my name, and nowhere to go. And now I'm here, unexpectedly dropping all of this shit on you, someone who has no reason to deal with all of my shit," Nozomi hickuped, letting the tears and the sobs she had been holding in all night out. "I'm so sorry, I just didn't know where else to go." She finished putting her head in her hands, trying not to let him see her in such a fragile state.

Toya didn't know what to do. He wanted to tell her it was fine, that she could stay as long as she needed to, but he knew that if his father found out she was here it... Wouldn't be good. He wanted to hug her, tell her that he would help her figure it out, but his body just stood there unmoving.

Thankfully Fuyumi was back, carrying the first aid kit that was usually stashed in the bathroom. She stopped by Toya, pushing the first aid kit into his hands and giving him a small push toward the crying woman.

"She's your friend so you can clean her up. I'm going back to bed." She said, already walking down the hallway to her room before there could be any protests.

"Right, lets get you cleaned up then." He said, kneeling beside the woman he had seen just a few nights ago. He remembered her smile then, how it made the corners of his own mouth twitch up. It was completely contagious, he wanted to see it now, he imagined how beautiful it would look in the moonlight.

He mentally cursed himself for the thought. Maybe Fuyumi was right, maybe he did like this girl, but now was far from the time to dwell on that.

"I hope you at least got a few good licks in." He joked ,desperate to make her stop crying. He moved her hands from her face and wiped the tears that were falling before bringing a soft, wet cloth to her brow, washing away the blood that had dried there.

"I think I at least broke one nose." Nozomi replied, a playful smile dancing on the corner of her lips. Her face was still sad but there it was, as beautiful as he knew it would be. Toya's cheeks warmed as he tried to focus on cleaning Nozomi's wounds.

"You can stay here, at least for a few days. Endeavor is out of town so it shouldn't be too much of a problem." Was his reply, returning to reality and turning his face into an uncaring mask, the one he always hid behind when faced with new feelings.

"Thank you." Was the only reply he got, Nozomi trying to read why he had suddenly dropped his own beautiful smile as she wrapped herself in a hug, trying to warm herself up.

Nozomi thought she might know why. She knew she was breaking down his walls, knew that he was trying to put them back up around himself, she just didn't know why, not for sure anyway. She figured, in the way he called his father Endeavor, in the way his voice grew darker and more stern when talking about him. It was the way she referenced her own family.

She didn't really want to think about it, and knew he certainly didn't want to talk about it so she just left it alone. It wasn't really her place to poke into his personal life anyway. She was just a booty call after all, well that's what her mind told her anyway. Deep down she knew, knew that something was growing, a bond that would soon be stronger than anything the two of them had ever had.

"Here." Toya said stripping his sweatshirt off (an Endeavor hoodie with crude sharpie marks) and pushing it into her arms. "You're shivering."

"Thank you. For everything." She whispered, bringing the sweatshirt over her head.

"Don't mention it. Now, I'm going to bed. You're welcome to join me of course." He said, getting up and walking back towards his room, Nozomi hot on his heels.

That night they shared a bed together, for the first time just sleeping. Her arms wrapped tightly around him as her head rested on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, his other hand resting under his head.

He hardly slept that night. He kept getting distracted by her, the way her mouth fell open slightly, the way she moved when she breathed, everything about her was intoxicating to him, and honestly it terrified him.

#toya todoroki #soft toya #original character #fuyumi todoroki #mha au #bnha au #mha fic #Toya deserves better #get my mans some help #toya fluff #fluff #soft

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blightmantra · 4 years ago

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@dlishmagi said: Anchor in meltdown and Taeros in constant pain, he watches the Qunari rush through the eluvian, and he only gives pause to his chase to look back at Symphony. Eyes focus on hers and he bites his lip. Will he be back? No, he will come back; he must. But still, he doesn’t leave without an “I love you”, accompanied with a quick signing before leaving through the eluvian. And when he returns... It’s after what feels like ages, legs giving out almost immediately. His left arm, gone.

he promised her a life together, away from all this after years of putting her fragile heart through so much suffering. symphony never thought it possible, if she were being completely honest. she never thought there would ever be a future with him. why would there be? his life was not his own to promise to another, it had always belonged to the inquisition and even mythal herself. he was unafraid and forever prepared to lay down his life on his whim for his cause, of course he would die young. she need not be shocked on the day of his death, because it was forever looming around every corner like a shadow. what a terrible thing it was mourn her love when he still yet lived.

it wasn’t until he asked to marry her that she realized he had intentions of living past tomorrow. he wanted to devote his life to her happiness and share a lifetime with each other. he wanted to live for her.

maybe it was finally time to put her guard down. she was to be his wife one day, and she had a life together to look forward to. they need only brave this storm together and only then will nothing ever tear them apart again. they would marry under the stars with their families at their sides, they would share a home and have children, and if the creators were kind they would grow old together.

he PROMISED her this.

blood trickled down her temple as they all regained their footing and caught their breath. after defeating on onslaught of demons, qunari, a monstrous beast such as saarath, as well as the shockwaves that taeros’ mark that sent her back hitting the pavement over and over again... her body finally said no more. her bones ached with every movement she made and she was only able to stand with the help of bull. their road ended here. in their weakened state, viddasala would surely kill them all one by one before killing solas. they needed to look for some other way to help him before his arm killed him and everyone around him.

as her mind raised to think of something, anything in that moment, eyes drifted towards taeros who stood in front of the final eluvian. his own eyes cast an apologetic look at the three, but mainly at symphony. not once had she ever seen that look. it was a new one, and everything in her PRAYED it wasn’t what she think it was.

she slowly shook her head. ‘ no... ’ she continued to shake her head. ‘ you’ll die. she’ll kill you... ’ she assumed her fear had vanished when he had promised a life together. the nightmare was finally over and she need not fear anything in this world ever again. this is what he had promised to her.

i love you, he signed. and just like that he turned away from her, possibly turning away from the life they could have shared and the memories they could have formed. he turned it all away because it was something that world demanded he do. the world was being plunged into chaos yet again and he was the only choice they had, even if he had no chance to stop any of it all. even if it would could kill him.

she gaped at his figure as he disappeared into the mirror, frozen in place as if she could not believe what she was witnessing. in a matter of seconds the once glowing mirror shattered and instead grew murky and unusable. taeros was gone. all three of them were left baffled.

‘ no... ’ she was the first to break the silence, moving to make her way closer to the eluvian only to be held back by bull. ‘ let go of me! ’ she shoved his arms away, causing her to stumble to the floor momentarily. she struggled to get on her feet again, but the moment she did she climbed the stone rubble that doubled as steps to the broken eluvian. heart pounded in her ears until it was all she could hear as she climbed, scraping her knees and hands in the process.

once she had finally reached to the top, all she was met with was her own teary reflection. her reflection shifted and swayed almost like bloody water, and she watched her own face fall, the gravity of the situation dawning on her. taeros was actually gone.

‘ no... no, no, no, no, this can’t be, ’ her breath grew rapid as she pressed her hands against the mirror, unable to enter it. after several attempts she began to pound on the mirror. ‘ no, this can’t be, this isn’t right! he... ’ the lump in her throat grew larger and larger until she could no longer speak. she dug her nails into the edges in an attempt to tear out the frames, searched the back of the mirrors as if it would hold to key to reopening it once again. it was an upsetting sight watching her scramble to do the impossible.

‘ please... ’ she squeaked out, pounding on the mirror one final time. ‘ he promised we would be together forever. ’

she fell to her knees, wracked with grief. defeated. that could have been possibly the very last time she would ever see him again, and she just stood there and watched him do it. allowed him to walk into his own death without berating him and telling him how stupid of an idea that was. did she also have a share in the blame of all of this? she would never forgive herself if that was the case. the world had finally gotten what it wanted.

‘ come back... ’ she watched her reflection let out a mournful weep.

cole sat cross legged beside her, mourning with her as she buried her face in her hands. the sun was quick to set as they waited until it grew cold and uncomfortable. she would wait an eternity for him if she could. she would plant herself like an unmovable tree, watching and waiting for him to come back to her just like he always did. flowers would sooner bloom from her bones before she would ever leave this mirror.

and an eternity they waited, or something similar in feeling, before there grew a stir within the mirror’s murky reflection. ‘ symphony, look! ’ cole let out an excited gasp, gently shaking her shoulder after momentarily forgetting that she could not hear him. for a second she considered ignoring him, afraid that he would suggest finally leaving the mirror, accepting his fatal fate. but she spared a glance upward, almost blinding herself as they all watched the eluvian flicker and shimmer until it lit up the darken environment, breathing back to life.

the first thing that they noticed was his arm extending outwards, before a foot came to lead him out. ‘ taeros... ’ she let out a gasp, but unfortunately it was a short lived excitement as he came stumbling to the floor, landing right on her lap as she was ready to catch his fall. ‘ love, i’m here, ’ she cupped his cheeks, investigating his face to see if she could notice any recognition in his eyes. it seems he was falling in and out of consciousness.

‘ he’s badly hurt... ’ cole’s voice shook as he pointed at his arm. symphony tore her eyes away from his face to look at... his arm. it was gone, even his mark. his warm blood trickled and stained her legs. it was than that her instincts as a healer kicked in.

‘ bull, we need to leave now, ’ she commanded, calling on her magic to at least help slow the bleeding for now. making quick work to remove of her armor and top, she tore at her clothes until only her undershirt protected her from the cold. she used the torn cloth to stop the bleeding further as bull made his way closer to him. her heart raced but she refused to let panic set in. ‘ we need to get him back to the winter palace this instant. ’ thankfully the qunari didn’t need to be told twice, watching him as he effortlessly lifted him into his arms, careful not to disturb the bandaged stump that was once his arm.

it was an intensive procedure but they were quite lucky that taeros wasn’t awake for most of it. he had lost of a lot of blood and needed several stitches to help seal off the severe wound. he would be weak for several weeks, but knowing her love, sym had a feeling that he would be walking by tomorrow.

his return caused such a dramatic uproar between the notabilities in attendance but at the very least they had the common decency to allow him time to recover in peace without having nations hounding him with questions and demanding answers from his still recovering mind.

her heart was weak by the end of it all, and refused to leave his side until he opened his eyes again whenever that may be. she watched his pale face as he struggled to breathe in his slumber and she couldn’t help but feel guilt slowly creep into the back of her mind. she was afraid of what his reaction would be, knowing he would not take the news of his missing limb well.

‘ i’m so sorry, my love, ’ she whispered to him, hoping he could somehow hear her from the fade. she leaned down to press a hard kiss to his forehead before resting her head on his chest, drifting off into her own slumber.

it had been a handful of hours since she had last slept, but really, it had been YEARS since she had last rested.

#dlishmagi #CHAR || * Symphony #long post cw #|| AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #|| READ UP BITCH

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davidmann95 · 6 years ago

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A different theory on the Master of Masters’ Identity

The consensus at this point has definitely settled on that the Master of Masters is someone we know - when Back Cover dropped I would’ve guessed he was a whole new figure, but in the wake of what III pulls at the end I’d say it’s reached a point where he’s probably gotta be a familiar face for it to feel like he’s been appropriately set up (though I’d also kind of dig if he was simply a resident of the ‘realistic’ world of Verum Rex who was screwing with the Disney fairytaleland). At this point, the two big theories are that it’s a time-travelling eeeeeeevil future Sora or that Demyx has been pulling a very, very long con, and while I’m not sure if either or both of them started as a joke (I swear I recall ‘evil future Sora’ being an idea tossed around for multiple mysterious figures in the past), they’ve got serious traction now.

I’m sort of ignoring the possibility of Demyx here; consider that a parallel track to what I’m thinking, as opposed to Sora which I’ll discuss a bit directly as a compare-and-contrast with my theory. I actually think it’s not totally unreasonable, but after Luxu, it’d be real, REAL hard to pull that particular trick and not have it feel like it was coming up with diminishing returns. Not impossible, but hard. And for that matter I think it being Sora could also work; if nothing else it’d be interesting to see how that guy of all people gets from THAT point A to THAT point B, which I suppose is the core of the appeal.

But assuming a couple of givens - that it’s someone we know, that the Master of Masters is indeed a very, very bad guy even if he’s doing what he’s doing for what he might consider good reasons, and that he’s either the endgame opponent of the entire franchise or that he’ll play a critical role in said finale - while I’d agree he’s a time-traveler who’s broken bad (in a series so much about growing up, what’s a better final opponent than the threat that you ‘grow up’ in all the worst, most cynical ways?), I don’t think he’s Sora.

I think the Master of Masters is more likely to be Riku.

I’ll list off what I’ve got below in two categories, the first being evidence. I don’t think I’ve got any real indisputable smoking guns here, but to be fair, unless you consider MoM and Demyx both pointing at people to be a clincher neither does anyone else, and I’d at least say there’s enough that if I’m right people won’t really be able to say that it wasn’t appropriately seeded, with one or two points I think really do solidly support Riku in a way that doesn’t quite fit with anyone else that we know of. After that, I’ll go into why I think it’s the more interesting option character-wise/thematically.

Evidence

* Right at the top, regarding the one bit of physical evidence we have: if we’re treating Sora and Riku as the only two serious candidates given only they’d pack the necessary punch, the Master definitely sounds more like an adult version of the latter than the former, at least going by the English voices. For that matter Ray Chase also voices Noctis, clearly the main aesthetic model for Yozora who’s himself repeatedly and explicitly compared in-universe physically to Riku. A stretch, but between Xehanort and Eraqus being Star Wars vs. Star Trek in BBS and then Spider-Man vs. Venom in III, it’s perfectly fair game to declare that Nomura enjoys playing those kinds of meta games with the castings.

* Obviously the Master’s personality doesn’t quite line up with anyone we know, but while his degree of over-the-topness is unique, as is that he speaks like a ‘real’ person instead of a Disney or Final Fantasy character (and given Xigbar, Genie, and Hades all act a lot wittier and more casual than the other characters and the Master’s probably in that 1000+ year old club too, we might be able to assume that’s just a trait it takes awhile to pick up in the universe of Kingdom Hearts), most of his other traits can be traced back to Sora or Riku. He’s playful and encouraging like the former, sarcastic and biting and full of himself like the latter used to be. It’s been acknowledged more than once that the two have been picking up each others’ personality traits, with Riku picking up some of Sora’s exuberance and free-spiritedness (though he noticeably tended towards the expressive, dramatic side all on his own when lost in his own darkness) while it’s hard not to imagine Sora’s gotten some of his snark in his attempts at being more like Riku. But the big Master of Masters personality thing when he’s actually apparently being sincere and serious? That “you ultimately need to do what your heart feels is right”? Sora may be the one to say May Your Heart Be Your Guiding Key after he learned about the phrase, but Riku’s the one who in both II and III argues for the right of allies to seemingly lay down their lives in service of where their hearts guide them.

* Biggie: the Master of Masters has a connection to Dream Eaters, being able to create the Chirithy. Riku’s been one.

* Another biggie: the Master of Masters presumably carries a great deal of light in him, since he’s able to pass among the other inhabitants of Daybreak Town and seems to value it when waxing mournfully about events to come, but given what he goes on to do he surely harbors a great deal of darkness as well. So much so that it would be difficult to not notice, especially in a world where it was an anomaly, unless he was able to hide it where it couldn’t be felt by others. Contained within himself alongside his light, in a way that very pointedly only one character we’ve seen has been able to do.

* Not as big, but still notable: if there are physical differences between the Master and Riku, or if the Master as some have speculated has lived through the generations by possessing others like Luxu, it’s worth noting Riku’s worn another body before himself.

* A stretch post-III where it turns out acquiring new Keyblades isn’t the biggest deal, but it’s worth pointing out that Riku giving Kairi Destiny’s Embrace is still the only time we’ve seen someone directly give someone a Keyblade the way the Master apparently gave them to the Foretellers, rather than potentially bequeathing one in an Inheritance.

* While the Master is manipulative in general, it’s his treatment of Aced that most clearly stands out as him setting the stage for these friends to tear each other apart, and it’s him playing on his students’ desire for power and significance just as Maleficent once played Riku. If it’s Riku under that hood pulling the strings of impressionable youth, he hardly could have had a better example to follow.

* Speaking of the Foretellers, each of their names corresponds with the Latin title of one of the seven deadly sins. The one that doesn’t belong with one of the six and therefore presumably lies with the Master himself would be Superbia - as eagle-eyed players have noticed partially scrawled on the mysterious Black Box - meaning Pride. And if there’s one sin that most clearly defined Riku at his absolute lowest moment, it’s pride.

* The Master of Masters acts in a way that suggests he has some manner of not entirely malevolent intentions, even if he’s perfectly willing to use the worst of means to get there. And again, when at his worst, Riku’s the one who tends towards Going Too Far for Good Reasons.

* It can be reasonably assumed the Master has some sort of massive, cosmic role of significance given all these other mighty Keyblade wielders hold him in unquestioning reverence, and while we don’t know what his power might be, it’s presumably tied in some way to Kingdom Hearts. Riku meanwhile was originally going to be the one to receive the Kingdom Key, a blade that, while it hasn’t been directly acknowledged yet, clearly has a connection to the X-Blade, marking him from jump as a figure of tremendous import above perhaps every other major character until he botched it and Sora wound up with that gig.

* Assuming the Master of Masters wants to get at Kingdom Hearts - and of course he does, what else do the villains ever want in these - and’ll get closer than anyone else because he’s the final villain, it means Riku wasn’t wrong in the first game when he said “It’s up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world.”

* The Dark Riku alongside Xigbar in the Keyblade Graveyard is the only apparent instance of pair-the-spares when it comes to the villains in the final battle rather than having any thematic connection...unless it’s actually the (offshoot of a past version of the) Master of Masters and Luxu. In fact, including Ansem since he starts off as part of that fight, that brawl would then be a reprise of you battling the first forms encountered by Sora of the three biggest villains in the entire series.

* Speaking of the Dark Riku, his crack about the Mark of Mastery is notable in this context, especially since it comes out of nowhere and Riku doesn’t seem to know entirely what he means. Was that something deliberate?

* And speaking of Xigbar, I’ve already seen fanfics and whatnot centering around Sora-is-the-Master retconning in that Luxu was actually ‘babysitting’ his master’s past self. Worth noting in that light that he spends almost as much time around Riku as Sora: he meets Sora personally face-to-face at the beginning of II and III, but every other time they run into each other it’s when Riku’s right nearby, whether in an upper level of the Castle chamber in their fight in II or fighting both in III or Riku being in Sora’s dream during their DDD confrontation (mostly stuff that’s clearly just meant in the sense of ‘Riku and Xigbar often show up during important plot stuff, of course they’d end up nearby a few times’, but it’d be easy for the creators to retcon as Luxu keeping an eye on him while misdirecting to make it seem like Sora was his real target). But as opposed to his loud, scenery-chewing confrontations with Sora, he was trailing Riku in the Land of Dragons once upon a time - the first time we ever see him face-to-face - quietly in a way that isn’t usually his style even given his noted skill at recon. And if Riku’s the Master, Riku being the last one to say something to him prior to his ‘death’, declaring him unworthy of the Keyblade when a version of him will go on to entrust him with the Keyblade most important to his plans, gets a major charge.

* As someone’s pointed out since, this, which Nomura joked is the sort of thing only the Master of Masters would do (though A Fragmentary Passage really has so far been the odd man out in the secret movies in how little has played out of it; I guess Sora vanishing must have been knowing foreshadowing in retrospect, but a lot of the rest hasn’t come to fruition. Abandoned plans for the series, or ones yet to materialize?).

* Not actually evidence, but if he was the Master then the end of DDD where he mutters to himself “I’m...a Keyblade master?” is another bit that would take on a delightfully ominous air with the benefit of hindsight.

Thematic reasoning

In terms of character, I feel like this opens up considerably more in a much more organic fashion than the possibility of Sora being the big bad. Not that that wouldn’t obviously offer a great deal, but to do so would involve reshaping or inverting a great deal of the character and thematic arcs we’ve seen thus far, while having it all come down to the final fight for Riku’s soul and by extension the world of light as a whole would by contrast do a lot to bring things full circle.

For starters, in the ‘full circle’ sense, along with Riku being the first major adversary of the series (while Maleficent was pulling the strings, Riku was the one dogging your heels, the rival with a personal stake in the conflict at hand) the most prominent imagery now associated with Xehanort, Luxu, and the Master of Masters began for the players with Riku. The Gazing Eye, the outfit and fighting posture later taken up by Vanitas (a connection that remains tantalizingly unexplored to this day), the dark but unmarked Heart symbol of the X-blade, the very concept that there could be multiple Keyblades; he’s even one of the two we see wearing black cloaks in their first appearance. In the world of the game those are all forces that battered Riku about amidst his fall that had been set in motion before he was even born, but as a story experienced by the players those symbols all trace their origins back to him as the first, most personal antagonist. While he’s redeemed himself about as much as one person possibly could - and I’ll say right here that I think when it comes down to it he’ll grit his teeth and stick to his guns on that rather than becoming whatever the Master is - he is and always will be inextricably linked with the series’ imagery for the forces of darkness in a way no other character can be. Dig down past all the layers of continuity and Norts to the most basic idea of what a Bad Guy is in the world of Kingdom Hearts is, and a possessed Riku in front of Hollow Bastion’s keyhole is what’s waiting at the bottom. Any feasible last boss is already on some level an offshoot of that.

But that’s just why it would be a nice clean fit in terms of visual symbolism. More substantially, the Master of Masters being a potential future version of him immediately answers the question of what to do with the dude character-wise. Yozora makes it very clear he’s still going to be important going forward, but as III also made clear, his existing character arc has been closed. He’s fought his way back into the light, been willing to sacrifice that light in himself and any hope of returning home to help the friend he once betrayed, still found salvation, came to terms with the person he was and wanted to be, and was recognized as having mastered his power and his heart. His story could in every way that matters be done, but obviously it isn’t, which means there must still be something for him to deal with; something more than saving Sora, which while as serious as it gets is still for him old hat.

(Going into Sora for a bit: him being the Master of Masters could no doubt be fascinating, in the self-reflection it would induce in Sora, in the conceptual scale of the threat, in the horror it would induce in those close to him, and in Riku in being put on the other side of the equation of having to save his friend from himself. But even aside from how radical a departure that would be personality-wise, it’s a prospect that doesn’t really address Sora’s existing fears or flaws. He’s filled with doubt, yes, but regarding his perceived lack of strength rather than a simmering moral rot; his darkness when glimpsed in a few of his forms seems to be something feral rather than actively malevolent, and he already has a plot-significant counterpart to explore the darkness in himself in Vanitas. Perhaps a desire for greater strength to protect his friends could be written as leading to him losing his way to the extent necessary to pull such a 180, but that’s already Riku and Terra’s misstep to pull themselves up from. It’s shocking in a way that’s enticing, absolutely, but I think part of why it would be shocking is that without either majorly reframing some basic stuff or retreading well-worn ground, it simply doesn’t fit as well as you want it to.)

But if Riku sees a familiar face under the hood, and looks at the blue eyes that once sat in his sword and in the mirror and realizes that there’s no outside force making him do terrible things to people he loves this time? He’s faced with a threat new to the series: that in the end, redemption might fail. Whether there’s timeline shenanigans that mean this guy lived a different life, if he backslid, if he’s clear-headedly making decisions he believes are for the best, or if he just had a really bad day that knocked him off the wagon; the counterpoint to the idea that there’s a light in the dark - the way III demonstrated in such an effective way in the Keyblade Graveyard with the endings of so many enemies - is that there’s a darkness buried down no matter what that still has a chance of breaking through no matter how mightily you’ve steeled yourself against it. It’s a completely different, far more visceral and meaningful fear than the idea of Sora being the one to break bad: in that case, the idea is captivating because it’s so alien and foreign and bizarre. Here, it’s frightening because Riku knows exactly how it could happen, and he’s grown enough to feel the shame and horror of that possibility when he’s already had to live with the consequences of it once. The Organization spent III trying to poke holes in the basic tenants our heroes live by, and this is the ultimate manifestation of that spiritual challenge - that the growth our heroes have seen might come undone by their own hands. And Riku fighting desperately to prove he can remain the person he’s fought so hard to become, and Sora and Kairi fighting to save him along with themselves and each other, is the final conflict.

It’s not just a prospect that would bring urgency back into Riku’s character, it’s a possibility that would reverberate through the whole cast with a severity that it simply couldn’t with Sora. Obviously Kairi and Mickey would stand with Riku and believe he would manage to turn out alright no matter what (though that loyalty is still complicated given an evil/morally-dubious Riku would likely go after Sora - he may have already if he had something to do with bringing him to the world of Verum Rex), but what about the rest of them? They all believe in Sora and his inherent goodness and owe him their lives, but for most Riku’s simply some guy they know, a friend of a friend. Roxas was a victim of his darkness even when he was trying to do the right thing. Terra’s already likely consumed with guilt and could likely see the prospect of his hand-picked successor once again falling to darkness like he did to simply be another on the list of his own sins. Ven might look at him when in his dark outfit and be reminded of his brother. And while Axel knows friends can come back to you, he’s a pragmatic dude who’s seen just how much they can change in the first place. When the battle lines are being drawn in a war even greater than Xehanort’s, would every last one of them really stand with him when they’ve been told he’ll betray them, as he’s betrayed those closest to him before? A prophecy of Sora going wrong would just be a catalyst to bind our heroes closer together to prevent that. That Riku might turn on them could strike at the fissure that would threaten to blow them apart, or if it doesn’t that’s an even greater display of good faith on their part than it would be with Sora. Hell, even on the antagonistic end, Maleficent as an opponent seeking to usurp the Masters’ ambitions is an immeasurably different conflict if she’s up against a Riku who’s gone down the path she first steered him towards.

At the end of the day, the question is why this would be worth making the story of Kingdom Hearts about when Sora is still supposed to be the main character. I laid out earlier some of why I don’t think Sora as the Master would work, but the real deal is this: not only is the Master of Masters a counterpoint to Sora, the Least Disney character in this universe whereas even when next to Mickey Mouse the spiky kid is distinctly the Most Disney, but more importantly to be the Master of Masters would undo the last of Sora’s original premise. For all that he’s become, he was still born, as Xehanort put it, a dull, ordinary boy, surrounded by Chosen Ones and unique entities of every stripe who joined their ranks and ultimately led them purely on the strength of his decency and determination. Riku was literally a Chosen One courtesy of Terra, blessed with one of the ultimate Keyblades and tearing the sky down by sheer force of his will to be more than what one world could contain, the vessel meant to open the Door To Darkness and the one who conquered his own darkness in a way no one else could, who in the end was selected as Master. He is Maximum Protagonist, in every way a Figure Of Destiny, whereas Sora is so much not that, so profoundly the spammer in the seemingly inevitable works of fate, that the first time he meets the first trilogies’ main villain the guy comments on how unremarkable he seems to be, and the last time they meet Sora’s ultimate rebuttal is against the idea of destiny as a straightforward thing any one person can control. For Sora to actually be the guy writing destiny, to have always really been the most important of them all, is to undo that. For him to fight the ultimate figure of destiny, for that to be the guy who was his counterpoint from the very first scene before your Xehanort’s and Roxas’s and Ven’s and Vanitas’s and Luxu’s - the cool guy and fighter and dreamer and Serious Leader-Type Important One to Sora’s cheery, insecure dork in shoes the wrong size who seemed born to be the sidekick - is to bring that story full circle. And it’s to give him the chance to do the one thing he fought for in I and II that he was never able to do himself: save Riku. Because saving his friends is what Sora’s story, and all of Kingdom Hearts, always has to come down to in the end.

#Kingdom Hearts #Master of Masters #Riku #Sora #Analysis #Opinion

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mama-m1na · 6 years ago

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Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 4

~~~IV~~~

Over the next three days, Rhamina’s wounds slowly began to close as she dwelled in the mirror with Aaravos.

“I should probably get to Xadia,” Rhamina said once she entered the dining area of where ever she was, wearing a white blouse with a long blue skirt and black, heeled combat boots provided to her by Aaravos, “They should be reaching the border soon.”

“I wouldn’t suggest leaving just yet,” Aaravos said as he looked up from his book at the table to she the ravenette braiding her hair over her left shoulder, “Your injuries aren’t completely healed yet.”

“And technically they never will,” Rhamina retorted as she sat across from the elf, “Plus I’m able to walk without any pain anymore, that’s enough for me.”

“Fine,” the male sighed as he closed his book, “You’re packing first.”

“That’ll literally take ten minutes,” the ravenette chuckled, “I didn’t have much with me to begin with.”

The male gave her his usual mischievous smirk before walking down the hall.

“What did you do?” she asked following to the room she had been using.

In her stay, she was not allowed to re-enter the study where the mirror led and Rhamina did not question it nor was she concerned with this fact.

Upon entering she saw three new outfits laid out on her bed along with a book, a her war fan, a bluish-purple cloak with a hood, and two new pairs of hair sticks.

“What is this?” she asked snapping feeling the fabric of one of the tops.

“I told you that you would need to pack,” reasoned the male as he handed her a bag.

“You didn’t need to do this, I would’ve been fine,” the ravenette sighed as she began to fold the clothes and place them in the bag.

“If you’re always as reckless as I’ve seen you then this is a necessity,” the male chuckled as the female shot him a glare.

“So how do you plan on getting to Xadia?” the male asked as Rhamina strapped the bag across her body before putting the cloak over herself.

“Through the water,” she said with a smile, “I’m going to the closest water source to the border on the Eastern side.”

“I’m sure you know that probably isn’t the safest option, especially if they aren’t there yet.”

“That’s what makes it fun!” the ravenette chirped as she went to the bathroom and proceeded to fill the tub with water.

Once it was filled almost to the brim she stuck both her hands into the water and closed her eyes.

She felt her aura fill the water and search for another exit point in Xadia.

“Stirips fo retaw, wolla em efas egassap otni eht txen drlow,” she chanted as her pendant began to glow and her hair began to float.

As she removed her hands from the water, it too glowed before displaying steam and what seemed to be a cave.

“A hot spring?” Aaravos questioned as he saw the surroundings.

“Yes, it’s on the border between Xadia and the human territories so it would make sense,” the ravenette chirped, “the border is littered with volcanic activity.”

“Thank you so much for what you’ve done for me, Aaravos,” she said turning back to the male and bringing him closer in an embrace, “I’ll be sure to find a way to get you out of here.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will,” he chuckled with a knowing glint in his eyes as he pulled away, “Now go.”

The ravenette smiled at him before stepping through the portal she had opened.

On the other side she had stepped onto some hard rock and was in a cave.

Looking back at the pool of steaming water the portal was indeed closed and she made her way towards the light of the tunnel only to find a large dragon.

“Hello, there,” she chirped with a smile as the large reptile looked down at her.

The next morning cheers came from the group of seven as they successfully made it across the border.

“Oh, no,” Rayla stated as the silhouette of a dragon loomed over the group, “It’s him. Sol Regem.”

The group immediately readied their weapons until a smaller silhouette appeared right in front of the dragon.

“There you guys are!” a familiar voice chirped as she threw back her hood, “Took you long enough!”

“Mina!” Chloe exclaimed as she immediately tried to dash up the rocks to reach the ravenette.

“Guess who’s not dead?!” the ravenette sung as she watched all the excited expressions of the group.

“Mina, what the fuck happened to you?” Sam asked looking at all the bandages that littered the teen’s form, visible due to her outfit.

It consisted of a halter crop top that was purple and faded into a royal blue with gold trip at the neckline, straps, and bottom. She also wore dark blue shorts that ended mid thigh and black, heeled, combat boots. To protect herself from the sun she wore the cloak she had over everything.

She chose the outfit to accommodate for the heat but it did expose all the injuries that she had gotten four days prior.

“Well, I got Runaan back to Xadia,” the female shrugged as she tried to walk back into the cave with Chloe wrapped around her, “But in the process I may or may not have caused absolute chaos in the castle.”

“When did this happen?” Kerstin asked as the group followed the ravenette, “Those look bad.”

“Four days ago?” she replied as the dragon followed in as well, “Trust me, it was much worse back then.”

“You got Runaan out?” Rayla asked walking towards the girl with relief in her eyes.

When Rhamina nodded the white-haired female flung her arms around the older girl.

“Thank you so much!” she exclaimed as the ravenette let out a hiss.

“Sorry,” Rhamina said with a slight chuckle as she pulled away, “I might be able to walk but I’m still in pain everywhere.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the fifteen-year-old said.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know.”

“Hey so it’s great that you’re okay, Rhamina, but what is happening?” Callum asked as he gestured up to the dragon.

“Oh, yeah, well since I got here yesterday Sol Regem was the first thing I encountered and I explained our situation to him,” Rhamina said glancing up at the older dragon, “It took awhile to convince him but he says we’re welcome as long as we leave as soon as we’re done.”

“Oh, thank you so much,” the male bowed to the dragon who nodded.

“On the topic of explaining things,” Rhamina said turning to her sisters, “I think it’s best if you undo the spell for now.”

“What are you-” “Mina, are you sure?” Sam asked as she looked between Callum and Rayla.

“The other creatures in Xadia will find out either way and we trust them don’t we?” Rhamina asked, “So it’s better to just do it.”

“Okay,” Tijarah shrugged as she stepped away from the group.

“Finally!” Kerstin exclaimed as she began to shed off her metal armor, “Fuck this human body! It looks great but it’s so fragile!”

“I guess,” Sam said doing the same thing and spacing herself out.

Chloe hooted as she followed the lead of the other females.

The others watched as a different colored light enveloped each of the girls and they could feel a large change in auras.

When Kerstin’s red light died down, she now had large red and gold dragon wings sprouting from her back as well as matching horns and a long, scaly tail.

When Sam’s light green glow died down, she now lad a pair of large white horns on her head as well as various green markings across her body, including her face. Another notable change was her loss of pinkies.

When Tijarah’s dark green light died down, she had a pair of black cat ears on her head and a black cat tail was now swishing behind her.

When Chloe’s maroon light died down, she had a pair of brown, feathered wings on her back and she was happily flapping them.

“What in the heck?” Callum asked with wide eyes as he looked to Rayla who bore the same expressions as him.

“Yes!” Kerstin roared as flames lightly streamed from her mouth, “I’m back bitches!”

“Kerstin, can you calm the fuck down?” Tijarah asked.

“That isn’t my name in this form, bitch!” Kerstin cackled earning a face palm from Rhamina, “I am the great dragon Sora Byvrirth!”

“Wait, if you’re Sora Byvirth” Rayla said looking at Sam whose appearance barely changed, “then you must be…”

“Yeah,” Sam nodded looking at her hands, “Well, at least no one can make fun of my tiny pinkies now.”

“Then you’re Rozen Byvrirth!” the Moonshadow elf, “A high elf!”

“Yeah, I am,” Sam replied, “Respect your elders, bitch.”

“Wait… so the both of those names sound familiar,” Callum said trying to remember where he had heard the names over his shock that the girls he had known for over four years were not what he thought they were.

“You have,” Rhamina smirked with a small chuckle, “They are both part of the Chaos Trio, two of the last three remaining ancients.”

“Wait, if they’re magical creatures then what are you?” the prince asked turning to the ravenette who only shrugged.

“Not as exciting as them,” she said as she pat Chloe’s head, “I’m actually just a human. Unfortunately.”

“Yeah,” laughed Sam and Kerstin which earned suspicious looks from the Callum and Rayla.

“No, really I’m just plain old human who somehow ended up befriending those idiots,” Rhamina said raising both of her hands up.

“Wait, Mina, where did you get your clothes then if you were caught by the guards?” Chloe asked with narrowed eyes, “You didn’t own them before.”

“I got them from a friend,” she explained, “That’s also how I was able to even escape the dungeons.”

“Who was this friend, Mina?” Tijarah asked earning a cough from the ravenette who kept her upper arms hidden under the cloak.

“Well- oof!” she was interrupted by a blue mass of scales flying straight into her back causing her to fall forward, “Fudge nuggets that hurt!”

She then looked up to meet the force that knocked her over only to squeal in happiness.

“Hi, Little One!” she chirped upon seeing the puppy-like expression of Zym who chirped back in happiness.

“I fucking told you,” Tijarah scoffed upon seeing the dragon and human play around.

“Everyone could have guessed,” Kerstin replied, “So what’s the plan now?”

“W-well we should continued to return the dragon prince to his mother,” Rayla uttered still in shock at the so called criminals in front of her.

“How are you guys on supplies, exactly?” Rhamina asked as she cradled the baby dragon in her right arm.

“What do you mean?” Tijarah asked.

“So, you don’t have food or water?” Rhamina asked with an irritated look on her face, “Or any of the basic necessities for survival?”

“Mina, I’m sorry!” hooted Chloe as she clung onto the ravenette’s left arm.

“We’ve been getting by just fine,” Tijarah shrugged as her ears flicked.

“Mhm?” Rhamina asked with a raised brow before turning to Callum and Rayla, “How have you all been getting by?”

“We’ve come across a few villages and we stayed at the Moon Nexus for a few days,” the male replied.

“Y’all were lucky,” the ravenette scoffed in a scolding manner, “We’re in Xadia now, it’s going to be hard for Callum and I to blend in.”

“How hard could it be if we were able to fool everyone in the castle for four years?” Tijarah asked.

“That’s different,” Rhamina retorted, “Humans are easy to imitate because they’re stupid.”

“Hey!” Callum exclaimed in offense only to be met with agreement from everyone but him.

“Yeah.” “Honestly, though.” “She’s not wrong.” “Hoot!”

“I agree with that statement,” Rayla added, “I do a great human impression!”

“My point exactly,” Rhamina sighed, “If we ever have the need to stop at a village then I’ll guard Callum just outside of it while you guys get shit done.”

“I don’t really need guarding anymore,” Callum explained as he drew a rune before calling, “Aspiro.”

As a column of wind blew past the ravenette her face lit up in joy and she hobbled as quickly as she could over to the young male with her injuries and an owl clinging to her.

“You understand the Sky Arcanum!” she exclaimed nuzzling his hair since both of her arms her occupied, “I’m so proud of you!”

“Well, I was hoping we could visit my village,” Rayla suggested quietly, “It’s on the safer way to the Dragon Queen’s Domain and we can stock up on supplies there.”

“That sounds good to me,” Sam said as the other girls agreed.

While the group began to exit the cave Rhamina held Rayla back and when it was just them and Sol Regem, asker, “You wanted to stop by your village to see Runaan, right?”

“Well, yes, and I’m a bit homesick,” the elf chuckled.

“I’m jealous,” Rhamina sighed with a smile, “You have such a good relationship with your family.”

“Well he isn’t-” “He might as well be,” Rhamina said, “The way you two are I can see it. He’s really proud of you, you know.”

“What about you?” Rayla asked as they exited the cave to see the group just messing around with Chloe and Kerstin seeing who can fly higher, “What about your family?”

“I don’t really like my family much and they don’t like me either,” she started just watching as Kerstin gracefully ascended and Chloe made desperate flaps, “I was born as a twin, my older sister was the one they wanted since birth. Ever since I remember she would get all the praise and I would get slandered even if I did things the same way she did or even better.”

“So I took interests in different things than her inwardly hoping that it would stop them from comparing me to her but it didn’t stop them,” Rhamina continued as Chloe eventually fell from her flying height of about ten feet in the air, “So eventually I decided to just run away with these retards and ended up on the streets for a while. Then King Harrow found me at the edge of the forests while the others were in town probably stealing food or getting chased by the guards for fun. He offered us a place to stay and offered us work. He treated us with respect and affection that I personally couldn’t get at home. He became my father and a good one at that. He was fair and only wanted the best for everyone even if he made the wrong decisions sometimes. He recognized and lamented his mistakes though. That’s why he stayed that night instead of running.”

Rayla bit her lip in guilt before asking, “What about your sister?”

“Oh, well she cared for me very much,” Rhamina chuckled, “She saw how unjust my parents were and tried to help but it didn’t work. She didn’t approve of me hanging out with the sisters I have now, before I ran away and when I did she fully loathed them. Thought they corrupted me or something but I haven’t heard from them in a while and I’d like to keep it that way. My parents can have the perfect child they wanted without the mistake and I get to live adventurously and free with my actual family.”

“That’s what you get for challenging me!” Kerstin cackled as her wings beat at the air.

“Yes, yes, we get it. You’re the Chaos Queen, now we better get going!” Rhamina chuckled as she brought the hood back up to protect herself from the sun.

After about an hour Rhamina looked towards the human male.

“We should get you a cloak as well,” she commented, “It would be easier to hide the fact you’re human that way.”

“Mina, I’m tired!” whined Kerstin as she dragged behind the group with Sam.

“What happened to the almighty Dragon of Rage?” Rhamina chuckled as she paused to let the two catch up.

“Shut the fuck up we were traveling all night!” Sam added as the two leaned onto each other, “We have a right to be tired!”

“Well, we could stop for a while,” the ravenette sighed looking to see that they were already out of the volcanic terrain and in a forest, “I don’t want you guys passing out.”

The group then began to set up spots in a small clearing and soon enough all of the group except for Rhamina was passed out.

About four hours later they were woken by Rhamina’s loud laughter and multiple foxes either yelling or running over them.

“You sang that fucking song again didn’t you?!” Tijarah exclaimed after seeing her sister happily swamped by tens of foxes.

She was still playing with the multiple canines as the group watched her, now wide awake.

“You can’t blame me!” Rhamina gushed as she picked one up, “Look how floof!”

“It’s been so long since I’ve played with foxes,” she continued as she nuzzled the fox who barked happily, “I couldn’t do this at the castle since they’d either be killed for being pests or chased off.”

“How do you get along so well with them?” Rayla asked as a few retreated back into the trees upon being approached by her.

“Don’t ask,” Callum replied as the ravenette crouched down and continued to play, “She’s always been good with canines.”

Even the tiny blue dragon took part in playing with with multiple canines before they began their travels once again.

About ten days into their journey they were nearing the Moonshadow Village and had gotten Callum a cloak in one of the towns along the way.

Everything was going fine until Sam accidentally bumped into Chloe, causing her to fall and toss a bag of supplies they had gotten.

Rhamina immediately lept to catch them but landed wrong and rolled ending up face down, supported by her right arm.

The supplies were safe however the same could not be said about the ravenette.

“Rhamina, are you okay?” Callum asked as the ravenette turned to sit as she applied pressure to her right ankle.

“My ankle says no,” she hissed as she handed the bag to the male before reaching into her own only to pull it back out.

The group began to gather and Rayla asked, “Can you walk?”

“Yeah,” Rhamina replied standing only to pick up her right foot as she stood mostly supported on her left side, “I’m fine.”

“Hoot!” Chloe exclaimed as she went over to the ravenette’s left side to hold her hand, “Mina, no you’re not!”

“Do you think you can make it to the river?” Rayla asked looking around, “We can’t stop here, it’s too open. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” the ravenette chirped as she began to limp forward, “I should be fine after resting for a bit. I’m sure it’s just from the impact, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

As everyone could see her blatant lie Rayla led the group to the river.

Surprisingly, Rhamina was still one of the fastest in the group and seemed to not be hindered by her limp. Instead she seemed to go faster in order to make up for her injury.

“Mina, you’re crippled slow the fuck down!” Kerstin called as she emerged from the trees to see her sitting by the river as well as Callum with Chloe standing next to her.

The ravenette removed her right boot carefully to see her ankle was swollen and she could move it with some difficulty but it was mostly painful.

“Fuck,” she hissed as she pulled a wrap from her bag and wrapped it tight before leaning her head back on the tree she was sitting against.

“That doesn’t look good,” Rayla whispered before thinking for a few minutes.

She then bit her lip as the girls were talking to Rhamina before saying, “There’s a healer in my village. She doesn’t really care much for this war and might be willing to help if we explain.”

“Hun, that’s a good idea to try but I don’t think Mina should be walking,” Kerstin said earning a middle finger from the ravenette.

“I’m fine!”

“You’re crippled so shut the fuck up,” Sam said as the ravenette pouted before pulling her hood back over her face.

“Then we can bring her to Rhamina,” Rayla said, “She just needs to stay here and some of us can go to my village.”

“Who’s going to stay then?”

“I will,” Callum said, “Don’t think it would be smart for me to walk into a village where everyone probably wants me, you know dead.”

Rayla glared but kept her mouth shut, knowing it was probably true.

“Owl, stay too, hoot!” Chloe said as she sat down and leaned onto the ravenette.

“Okay, we should be back in less than an hour,” Rayla said as the other girls began to walk back into the trees, “Chloe, Callum, be sure to keep her off her feet and keep Zym with you guys as well.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” both fourteen-year-olds answered as the ravenette huffed.

“I do not need a babysitter!” she exclaimed as she pulled out a book from her bag.

“What are you reading, Mina?” Chloe asked.

“Howl’s Moving Castle,” she replied, “It’s an old book but I love it. The main male character is an asshole though?”

“Where did you get it?”

“Friend?”

“Is this friend the same one who got you out of the dungeon?” Callum asked earning a suspicious hoot and a glare from the ravenette.

“You don’t need to interrogate me about my escape,” Rhamina said, “All you need to know is that I got out and I found you so yeah.”

“Mina, I’m bored?”

“Do you want to hear a story?” Rhamina asked as she closed her book.

“Yah!” the tiny female excitedly exclaimed.

“In the end, I’m destined to become sea foam. In the pain and agony forever doomed to roam, but the love inside of me always stays true, so I sing on of how I love you,” Rhamina started singing earning the attention of both younger teens, “On one fateful day, he had come my way, granting me a wish as long as I would pay. Oh, but don’t you see? Somebody like me doesn’t deserve to have this opportunity. That girl moved with beauty and grace. Still a fate like hers is something I can’t bear to face. Could it be, though, I could make things right?. If I can protect those I love then I guess I will fight.”

“Though I struggle I know my wish wasn’t wrong. I’ll fight on as long as I know you can play your song. ‘Cause that smiling face of yours I can’t forget. So I do really have no regrets,” the ravenette continued as the water in the river next to them began to float and create visuals of a female wielding two swords, “This isn’t the way things were supposed to be, oh no please why is this happening to me?! Why you’d think he’d love you? God, you’re such a fool! The life of a magical girl is really cruel. So I was deceived, guess I wear a chain, I’ve no soul but I won’t let my wish be in vain. Carry on and simply block out all of the pain.”

“I don’t feel anything anymore!”

“Play for me, play for me, the sun will never rise. Play for me, play for me, I’m meeting my demise,” the figure then began to slowly become more erratic as it fought more and more monster like figures, “Everyday I’m alive is too much to bear. How I can I go on fighting knowing he doesn’t care? At the mirror, I look straight into my eyes. That girl’s someone I don’t recognize. In the end, I’m destined to become sea foam. In the pain and agony forever doomed to roam. Somebody reach out to me when all is through. All I want is to see heaven’s blue.”

“Mina!” Chloe called with a frown.

“I didn’t say the story was happy, did I?” Rhamin asked as she opened her book again.

“That was really sad,” Callum commented.

“The story was about a girl wanting power to be noticed by the boy she fell in love with,” she explained not looking up from her book, “When she did get power, she had given up her humanity and lost her courage to pursue the boy, choosing to suffer heartbreak before giving up her feelings completely. It is sad.”

About forty minutes later Rhamina’s eyes snapped up from her book to the trees across from her and nudged Chloe.

“Hoot?”

“Someone’s there,” Rhamina whispered, “It isn’t someone we know either.”

“Hoot-” Zip! Thud!

In the trunk of the tree the two had just been an arrow struck.

Callum immediately stood up at the sight of the arrow and backed up to where the two females were.

“Hoot!” Chloe exclaimed in alarm from the ground where Rhamina pushed her.

The ravenette stood up to hop slightly on her left leg from the spot where she rolled onto.

“We mean no harm!” the ravenette exclaimed as she held out her hands in front of her palms up, struggling to stay standing.

“Rhamina, sit down,” Callum hissed quietly as she stood in front of the two females.

“Who are you?” a deep male voice asked as a male Moonshadow elf stepped out from the trees holding a bow.

“We’re just travellers,” Callum replied as Chloe tried to block the elf’s view of the baby storm dragon.

“Two humans and a shifter?” the male asked glaring at them before turning to the winged female, “What were you thinking, bringing them here without killing them immediately?”

“I-uh, um- Mina!”

“Listen we mean no harm! We are here to-!” Rhamina tried to repeat only to get the bow aimed at her.

“You do not belong here!” the male exclaimed, “And now for your justice.”

As the ravenette closed her eyes and prepared for the pain of the arrow it never came.

“Zaos, lower your weapon!” a familiar male voice called as multiple pairs of footsteps followed.

The ravenette opened her eyes to see Runaan followed by Rayla, Tijarah, Sam and Kerstin at the edge of the trees.

“Runaan, but-” “They are here to deliver the Dragon Prince home,” Runaan explained as Chloe stepped to the side to reveal the scared, puppy-like creature, “And one of them is already injured.”

The male reluctantly put away his bow causing the ravenette to lower her arms and hide them back in her cloak.

“It’s good to see you found your way back to your village, Runaan,” Rhamina chuckled as she limped forward to greet the male.

“Thanks to you but what happened after the portal closed?” the male asked his eyes shifting to worry.

“Don’t worry I was fine!” she chirped eyeing her companions, “I got out before the guards could catch me.”

Before Kerstin could call out her lie the was whacked on the head by a tree branch as Runaan sighed.

“That’s good, so what happened?” he asked gesturing at her legs.

“I did a thing and rolled my ankle,” she explained with a smile, “It’s not that bad though.”

“Mina, that’s a lie!” Chloe said with hoot.

“Stop fucking exposing me,” she whispered harshly earning a chuckle from the male.

“Can you walk?”

“I can limp,” the female stated, “I can limp faster than most of these nuts can walk.”

“That will not help your ankle heal any faster,” he sighed going to her right side, “Do not put any pressure on it.”

“But I’m fine though- Hello?!” the female asked in slight alarm as Runaan picked her up with arms around her shoulders and around her knees.

“I can tell that you aren’t going to cooperate,” he stated as the ravenette huffed and looked to her sisters with widened eyes.

Most only laughed while Chloe followed with slight anger at a stranger touching the ravenette.

“Hoot!” she called as she flew over and landed right in front of him to glare.

He raised a brow before asking, “Would you rather have your stubborn friend make her ankle worse?”

The brunette shrunk back slightly before muttering, “Fine! But owl be watching.”

And she did. She walked next to the pair as the group was led back to the Moonshadow Village.

“I can walk just fine!”

~~~Fin. Chapter 4~~~

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Songs used: “The Little Mermaid” - Oktavia

Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/364510163589310352/

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#Journey of the Chaos Trio #Chapter 4 #Rhamina Miyu #Kerstin Vera #Samantha Fatimah #Tijarah Charlize #Chloe Rayer #Kitsami Verum Princeps Ibadora #Sora Byvrirth #Rozen Nylraevni #Dragon Prince #Fanfic #Runaan #Aaravos #Callum

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messedupessy · 7 years ago

Note

Okay soulmate, this is for your 500 thingy! Congrats, by the way because you're amazing. ♡ How DID the UF/SF bros get their scars? I'm most interested in Rus because in the assless chaps pic, he had quite a few scars, and I'd like to know the story behind that!

Ahhhhfwenfkw thank you soulmate!! (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Also HERE is some minor background info on my take on these 4 boys childhoods etc, as some of the scars they have they got back then so to understand I suggest going and read what I have written there before continue reading down below

Also sorry for taking so long on this but I am just really slow at times xD

Red:

The most notable scar he has is the scar like crack on his head, the one that goes from the right side of his face and then down over his left eye socket.

It’s a scar he do not want to talk about at all, and if asked about it he will immediately get kinda pissed but calmly go “i aien’t tellin’ that story bucko, so fuck off unless ya want tha make me angry…” leaning towards you with a threatening grin “an’ ya don’t want tha see me angry” which after making sure they have gotten the hint will continue on like nothing happened.

But the story behind that scar is he got it by Gaster just as the former royal scientist fell into the core after been blasted off the railing by Red, the scientist shooting out a last blast of magic in a last attack towards his rebelling experiment and lab assistant, which found it’s mark as it hit Red square in the head, cracked it open like an egg and hitting one of Red’s so called “magic veins”, damaging his right eye light forever, he can see completely fine out of that eye socket he just can’t turn on the eye light itself, surprisingly his left eye is completely fine and undamaged even though the crack goes down over it.

The scar above his gold tooth, he got it when he lost the original tooth, which he lost sometime after pushing Gaster into the core and him escaping from the labs with Edge, who was just slightly over 4 at the time.

Red accidently let Edge out of his sight for a minute which was enough time for Edge to walk off to somewhere where two monsters found him, planning to dust him for some easy exp.

Red luckily found them before they even succeeded in laying a hand on Edge, Red immediately stepping between the monsters and in front of Edge, telling them with barely concealed fear for them to leave, causing the two monsters to laugh because look at this weakling, he’s shaking in his boots, what a joke!

The two monsters then attacked, and as they did Red kinda blacked out, not remembering what he did or what happened at all, when he came to he found himself suddenly laying on the ground, extremely bruised and battered with his tooth gone and his mouth bleeding bone marrow and magic down his face, and that he was also covered in dust.

He immediately tries to get up as he realizes he can’t see Edge anywhere, where is he, is he ok, they didn’t dust him did they, no no nonononono, but stops as he finds something against his back, which he with a relief finds out is Edge, who is sleeping soundly next to him, also covered in dust and a tiny wound on the top of his head, but otherwise he is completely fine.

Red picks his brother up and as quickly as he can gets out of there to somewhere safer, not caring what actually happened, at least not for now, as what matters is that his baby brother is kinda ok, he actually never truly found out what happened though he have a theory which he does not like so he decided to ignore it instead, this incident is what prompted Red to do his damndest to toughen the fuck up, because he can’t allow himself to keep on been scared and weak, not if he wants to protect Edge, and that’s how he lost his tooth and got the scar, he much later when he began to be pretty damn feared in the underground replaced it with the gold tooth.

Other notable scars Red have, on both his wrists and ankles he got scars from been restrained, his fingers got lots of nicks and nacks of tiny scars and his hands got some cracks and scars too from punching/fighting people with his fists etc, one of the bigger cracks on his left hand he got by almost having his hand crushed by a very unhappy Gerson and his war hammer.

He is also missing most of his right ring finger, right above the knuckle, how he lost it is anybody’s guess, as he changes the story everytime for shits and giggles ((got a comic planned about this actually though if you’re really curious send me an ask and I might tell you)), he also got bunch of cracks and scars all over his rib cage, where his ribs has ended up breaking due for fights and so on, a couple on his arms and legs too, both bite and claw marks, but mostly scars from various weapons, he also got a couple of burn marks on his tibia and fibula on his right leg after a fight with Vio aka UF Grillby, he also got a bit of a crack at the back of his skull after someone tried to bash his skull in with a big metal pipe.

Edge:

He got a pretty big scar over his left eye, going from the back of his head and then over his skull and ending at his chin, he didn’t get the whole scar at once though, the start of it on the top of his head, he got during the incident where Red lost his tooth.

The rest of it he got when he challenged Cackles aka Undyne, for the title of Captain of the Royal guard.

He won just barely and only by an inch of his life too, but during the battle she sliced and cut his face open with one of her spears damaging his eye very badly, his vision in that eye is pretty blurred thanks to it, which is why his left eye light is not red but more pinkish in colour, and unlike his brother so did the attack not hit any of his “magic veins” so he can still turn on his eye light.

Edge got most of his scars during his battle to the death against Cackles.

One of the worse which wasn’t the one on his face was that she pretty much crushed and also almost ripped off his upper right femur almost completely, right where it connects with his pelvis and down, crushed it and almost ripped it off so bad that the medics/healers almost had to remove it.

But they somehow succeeded in healing it enough so that he could keep the leg and use it, but the wound left a extreme amount of scars and cracks.

And because of it so is he often in a state of pain because of it, usually not allot mostly it’s just aching a bit but he have bad days when it hurts so much he can barely walk, and he usually ends up limping because of the pain which he tries his hardest not to do and show, as he needs to show off a strong and unbeatable front at all times, the pain gets the worst usually when he has been forced to sit down for hours on end doing paper work, which he do allot as he is after all the Captain of the guard, where he with a hiss will grab his hip and lean against his desk in pain, also bad weather usually causes the pain to get worse too, standing up for hours on end usually causes him to end up in immense pain also.

He got some deep scars like cracks over his ribs, right at his upper chest bellow his collarbones and then down a bit, where they got fractured and cracked by a attack by Gyftrot, which he got when he ended up battling the beast by himself at the last Gyftmas hunt the same year he became captain, the last as he succeeded in dusting Gyftrot and won the battle.

Other scars he got is a bunch of nicks and nacks on his fingers, from fighting and training allot, his hands overall are very scarred, due for training and fighting just like his fingers, even worse than his brothers. He also got some minor scars on his wrists and ankles where he has been restrained, which he has no memory of how he got them as he has no memory of ever been restrained at least not so to cause scars.

He got a couple of deeper scars on his arms given to him by Cackles, his left upper arm got a deep puncture scar which he also do not remember how he got them, got a deep crack on one of his lower vertebra’s of his spine, where Cackles barely missed from cutting his spine in two, his ribcage is also littered in various scars and cracks, most of them thanks to Cackles too, alongside his cracked upper femur he got a couple of more scars on both his legs.

Ok this is getting a bit hella long so gonna put the SF bros underneath a cut also warning that Rus’s will contain lot’s of hinted at naughty stuff and lot’s of abuse, hinted sexual assault, self harm and other things of that kind etc so read on your own risk, Scratch also contains some self harm just warning ya

Scratch:

Scratch got 5 not super shallow but still kind of shallow claw like looking scars over both of his eye sockets, two on the right, three on the left.

Only 2 of the 3 scars on the left eye socket, the two on the furthest right, are actual scars, which he got when he was 9 in human years.

He got them when he ended up in a fight with some other monster kids, or well more like teenagers, who was pissed off at him for been such a little tyrant and spoiled brat, strutting about as if he owned the damn place on their “turf”, so they cornered him in an alley to teach him a lesson, first by threatening and taunting him which immediately pissed Scratch the fuck off so he attacked them and a fight broke out.

During the battle one of the monsters succeeded in scratching him over the eye, causing him to bleed and get a bit blinded because of it, but it did nothing to stop his assault even though he was up against more than one foe.

Then suddenly Tuffet, aka SF Muffet and also the adoptive mother of Scratch and Rus, appears as this fight was occurring right next to her bar and she heard the ruckus and went to check it out, absolutely furious at seeing her kid been ganged up on by so many others she quickly chased them away after hurting one of them pretty badly in warning to stay away from what is hers, not dusting any of them even though she easily could.

She then turned to Scratch who was still bleeding and just very upset about it all, she brought him in back to the living quartes of the bar where she and the boys lived, trying to patch him up but he kept on been difficult about it, trashing and shouting at her that he didn’t need any help until he ran off and locked himself up in the bathroom, monsters might not need to go to the bathroom and stuff but they still have bathrooms for showers etc, Tuffet been pissed off and frustrated at his behaviour and worried at the same time, tried to get him out but eventually gave up for the time being, the wound was after all not life threatening so she leaves but plans on coming back when he has calmed down.

Scratch on the other hand is very upset, not upset or angry at Tuffet but at himself and at the monsters who attacked him, how dared they wound him like that and how could he have let them succeed in striking him, and how could he let Tuffet chase them away when he could had handled them himself, his pride is a bit hurt because he is one prideful guy, he knows she can handle herself but he wants to be able to protect her as she is after all his mom so he should be protecting her.

He ends up looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, seeing his now scarred face in the mirror causes something to snap, as the thought of someone marking him in any way even in battle just makes him go no, this is my body only he is allowed to mark it and no one else it’s his body, and also a tiny thought in the back of his mind saying he would look kinda cool with more scars over his eyes ((I know this doesn’t really make sense but he’s a special kid and he was just a kid while doing this so he doesn’t need to make sense I guess or something )), so he starts to scratch over his eye sockets digging and clawing marks into his own face with his sharp finger tips causing 3 more scratch marks to appear and bleed bone marrow and magic down his face.

During this “episode” I guess I could call it, Tuffet finally have had enough waiting and gets the door open just to find Scratch even more injured than before within, she immediately ask what the fuck are you doing and picks him up and out of the bathroom to patch him up properly all the while lecturing him and asking what the fuck was he thinking while feeling guilty herself for leaving him alone, Scratch can barely answer as he is very exhausted from the whole thing so he ends up blacking out.

Tuffet was unable to heal the scars completely as she is no healer, so when the scars/scratches eventually healed they ended up leaving the scars he now has over his sockets, which he has ended up feeling kind of mixed about, like they look cool but he got them in a pretty dumb way except for the real one’s he didn’t make himself.

Scratch also got a bunch of old scars and cracks from old fractures on his ankles, like on the lower parts of his tibia and fibula, and down lower on his feet, which he got by constantly twisting and breaking/fracturing his ankles and then refusing to let anyone heal them as he coul handle himself when he was pretty young, until his mama forced him to let her heal him that is along with one hell of a lecture.

Anyway, he got them when he started out wearing his high as fuck heels, as he is really short and just wants to be tall, like he began to wear 10 inch heels from the start when he began with wearing heels which wasn’t the smartest idea as he had no prior experience in wearing heels, though he did get the hang on wearing them pretty quickly thanks for been “forced” to take ballet dancing lessons by Tuffet when he was little.

Other scars he have are a bunch of them on his hands and fingers and his lower arms, caused by training and him ending up picking fights constantly with various monsters, also a couple on his ribs, otherwise he doesn’t have as many scars as the other fell skeletons.

Rus:

Where doesn’t this guy got scars? his whole body is covered with various kinds of them from top to toe, but let’s start with the one’s on his head.

The scar or rather crack that goes from between his eyebrows and up over his forehead and then ends at the back of his head he got during an experiment made on him when he was about 4, the experiment was led by River who created him and his younger brother though later on in an attempt at making some sort of weapons so to eventually break the barrier, the experiment where Rus got the crack was an attempt at breaking down his “mental barriers” as River believed if they could break them down Rus would be able to unlock more power and become powerful enough to break the barrier.

But the experiment went kinda wrong as what the experiment they were doing, which can pretty much only be describe as torture because pain thresholds and all that jazz, was too much for Rus’s body to handle so his head cracked alongside a part of his actual soul, ending the experiment immediately as he was the only subject they currently had, it did result in Rus becoming more powerful but at the cost of his soul cracking and him becoming a tad bit unstable mentally.

The scars he got at his gold teeth he got at the same time, or well not the longer one on the right side of his face as it started out short until an incident which will be told later, now to how he lost his teeth.

He lost them when he was 9, while he was still just a urchin barely staying alive on the street with his baby brother before he and Scratch was taken in by Tuffet, as when he was 7 and Scratch was just born the both of them was kicked out from the lab by a suddenly guilt stricken River who realised what they had done to basically their own children, but when he was 9 he got caught by a couple of sadistic monsters who decided to have some fun with this street rat.

Rus would had fought against his attackers more if it hadn’t been for the fact that a barely 2 year old Scratch was hidden away nearby which was closer to his attackers than himself, and so not to risk Scratch been found he let the attackers have their way with him, though he still struggled and fought just not as much as he would had if Scratch hadn’t been close by and in danger.

Without going too deep into details so did they end up torturing him by pulling out his fangs, beat him up and might have done something much worse of the sexual variety though Rus barely remembers this so full details are unclear, but it resulted in him beaten and tortured to an inch of his life but he survived but he got more fucked up in the head than before because trauma.

The longer crack on the right of his face that I mentioned earlier, he got when he was messing and bullying Scratch, because Rus is a fucking asshole at this point and one of his favourite past times is to fuck around with Scratch making his baby brothers life miserable.

So Rus is pretty much picking a fight with Scratch telling him to attack him for shits and giggles as Scratch won’t be able to hit him anyway while demeaning him in every way he can, Scratch fucking snaps and actually succeeds in hitting Rus right in the face which cracks open as Scratch is in fact really strong and Rus totally underestimated him.

This causes a fight to break out between the two because Rus thinks this is hilarious and fun af that Scratch actually succeeded in laying a hand on him and decides to egg his brother on to attack him again and Scratch is just really pissed off and angry at Rus, the fight is eventually stopped by Tuffet who is extremely pissed at the both of them, especially since the fight occurred in the damn living room and allot of things got completely destroyed.

On the vertebrae right below his sternum the word “SLUT” has been carved with a sharp object, probably a knife and to who carved that into his damn spine is unknown, as usual Rus himself does not really remember how he have gotten all of his scars and neither does he really care, but he either got it by someone he was sleeping with or he carved it himself, with the later been the more plausible answer as he have a habit of carving random words into his bones, like on his left arm on the ulna bone where he have carved in “FUCK”.

His whole spine is covered in various scars, a couple of deep bite marks, some burn marks from cigarettes and other objects which can cause a burn alongside claw marks which he have gotten mostly from his clients, partners or unwilling victims.

He is missing one huge chunk of his fifth right rib, which happened when Rus ended up in a big fight with some monsters he pissed off, he is also missing most of the 10th rib on his right side the lowest rib which is just a stub, someone literally ripped it off, also missing most of both of his lowest floating ribs the left one more than the right, which he probably also lost in a fight or in one of his sexual escapades, the rest of his ribs are cluttered in claw marks, bite marks, scratches, burn marks that he has gotten due for fighting and fucking, also a couple of cracks here and there from having his ribs broken allot.

Both his arms are littered by scars, most are self inflected as he has a habit of hurting himself when he is bored and got nothing better to do, most of them are cuts from knives, but he also got a bunch of burn marks from cigarettes which he has burned himself with for funnsies, some of these scars has been caused by others, both from willing participants and the unwilling ones, as well as he is one kinky and fucked up bastard i'mma just saying.

He got a deep bite mark on the right side of his neck, where one of his partners/clients bit down a little bit too hard doing the bone zone time, also a couple of burn marks from… you guessed it cigarettes! but he also got deep scars around his neck and claw marks from getting strangled, because like I said he is a kinky fucker.

Deep claw marks on the top of his pelvis on the iliac crest, where a monster with really strong claws dug into him a bit too hard during smexy timez, his whole pelvis is very scarred he got two bite marks on the back of his pubis which would be his butt bone, gotten yet again while getting fucked, his tailbone aka coccyx on the top of it is covered in burn marks from cigarettes where yet again things got really fucked up during boning, also got a couple of burn marks on the inside of his pubis at obturator foramen which is the inside of those holes of the pelvis, yet again from sexy times but also from him just feeling like burning himself because he is one fucked up guy who really likes to hurt himself and others way too fucking much.

His fingers are littered in tiny cuts and cracks, mostly from fighting with his bare hands and from having them clawed at by his victims, he also got scars from been restrained on both his wrists and ankles,which he both got from been experimented on as a kid and during crazy sex hijinks, his hands are also covered in scars though mostly cracks from having his hands stomped and stepped on, mostly by some people wearing high and sharp heels.

This guy got way too many scars to name them all and how he got them so gonna cut this short, his legs are also covered in a bunch of scars, cracks, claw marks, bite marks and burns, got a couple of really deep ones on the inside of his thighs where he have both cut and burnt himself, and also where people have ended up scraping and cutting up the bone while fucking him really roughly, his left little toe is missing as it accidently got cut off during some sex thing, his feet are also covered in scars and cracks.

#undertale #underfell #swapfell #MessedUpEssy #underfell papyrus #underfell sans #swapfell sans #swapfell papyrus #papyrus #Essy Answers #Essy's Undertale Headcanons #undertale headcanons #suggestive #abuse #allot of abusing thingies under the cut so don't read unless you are ok with reading those kind of things #holy diggity sheit this took forever to fucking write #it is finally done #FINALLY #TOOK ME LIKE MONTHS #LITERAL MONTHS #but at least it is now finished #and I can finally move on to the other ones #took so long mostly because I ended up getting stuck at my sf boys #mostly Scratch as I wasn't sure if I liked the way he got his facial scars or not #but I had decided on that since I decided to give him them that he gave them to himself #not sure if I like how I wrote it #actually wrote most of Rus's one's today #dang I am so happy this is done now #hope you like this soulmate I know it's allot but these boys just got way too many fucking scars man #rus is so fucking fucked up man why is he like this fucking trash man

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lettalady · 6 years ago

Text

Prompt from @ourladybinxthings: Fight Me, Loki & agent.

Leave a “FIGHT ME” in my ask, and I will write a drabble out one character fighting with/or against another.

Characters/ story: Loki & agent, WISH [oh yea, I created a WISH series compilation page! When did I do that?...]

I know it’s been awhile since we’ve seen Loki & his agent. I definitely used the excuse of wanting to see where the next Thor went before getting anything written beyond where we left them in A Dream & A Wish. Of course that turned into not really knowing what to do with them cause I wrote us in one direction and Ragnarok took us in another. [And we’ll not even get into what happened in IW.] Writers block or simple refusal to rewrite what I’d plotted out, take your pick. Why am I saying all this? Cause I have 10,000+ words already written for the next installment and still haven’t gotten all the good bits in there, yet.

Anyway, here’s a bit from the upcoming installment in the series, A Wish Too Far, with Loki and our agent doing one of the things they do best. Fight.

“Sit. Rest.”

The first he’s spoken in however-the-fuck-long-it’s-been and it’s the same damn thing he said when he rushed you aboard. A curt command he clearly expects to be obeyed.

Yea. Uh-huh. Right. Shame you’re not in the mood to do any such thing.

“No. Tell me where we’re going.”

Maybe if you inch forward to position yourself better in his eyeline, maybe then he’ll be tempted to glance aside and engage with you again. Two words does not a conversation make.

He frowns even as he attempts the request again, still notably not looking in your direction. “It would help. If you would sit. And. Rest.”

That’s so not an answer. It may be a slight improvement from before, but still not going to fly with you. You do your best to keep from accidentally getting too close to the console, which proves a challenge for the turbulence you’re currently enduring. Is this turbulence, or evasive maneuvers to keep from being detected, or just him being an asshole?

Make it look easier on you than it is. Fake it, because it doesn’t seem to be bothering him in the slightest. It’s just like riding a skateboard, or a very very very tiny version of the helicarrier you used to call home. You flinch at the thought, of the home – and people – you haven’t seen in so long. Not that that was by choice. Mostly. Overlooking the fact that it was you that did the uncovering of the disc and you that touched it, sending you off to hell.

But only this man, this asshole, only Loki cared to come looking. Only he cared enough to get you the hell out of hell.

What had SHIELD done?

It doesn’t appear that he’s relying too heavily on his left hand for navigation so you reach out and touch his forearm. Maybe the contact will get his attention. Just a moment, one moment where he will look somewhere other than straight ahead. And maybe that cold mask will slip and allow a familiar face to show beneath? Where had the man gone that had kissed you before promising to take you away, to take you elsewhere? “Loki…”

His eyes dart from the landscape down to your hand resting on his arm. Something about its sharpness makes you jump to sever the point of contact again. Maybe that was too much to hope for. Suddenly you’re missing the warmth of the golden light of the medical chamber within the palace, or – even more than that – the warmth of something you had taken for granted until the day you were removed from its influence: the Earth’s sun.

You wrap your arms around your torso again, applying pressure to your side to amplify the dulled tenderness where the asshole currently too occupied with flying the ship to talk to you very recently stabbed you. If he wants only sharp edges then, fine. He’ll get what he gives. “It hurts more to sit than it does to stand.”

“You’re feeling pain.” A ripple of concern passes over his features, finally something that pulls his attention away from navigation for a few seconds.

You rush to reply while you have his focus, “Starting to. But don’t magic it away. I need it.”

He gives you a quick visual appraisal, even if he doesn’t fully turn to complete it. His deep scowl returns as he shifts his attention fully forward again. “We moved you too soon. I’d suggest laying down, or will you argue against that, too?”

Now he’s angry that you don’t want him to use his particular skillset to help you? Where does he get off acting so damned superior? And damn it, is he purposefully jostling the pair of you in an attempt to get his way? You narrow your eyes at him, “Suggest? Or demand?”

But the comment comes too late. His focus is gone, back to the terrain ahead, the mask returned to his features. A pause passes, long enough for you to wonder if he’s going to bother replying at all.

When his response comes it is spoken through his teeth, his jaw clenched, his eyes presumably locked on the landmarks he needs to find to get the pair of you where you’re going. Wherever that it. “How are we supposed to get safely away if you don’t obey? If you don’t rest?”

Obey? “Obey?”

Maybe his prolonged silence this whole time is rooted to his regret over bringing you along. Because you don’t listen, ever. He might have cared enough at the time to rescue you from that hellhole but now that he’s had time to weigh his options it seems he’s starting to rethink his actions.

Fuck you too, then, asshole. Maybe he should just stop and let you off, then. Thor will find you quickly enough with the aid of Heimdall, or the palace guards. Someone will pick you up and then you’ll be taken back to Earth, just like Thor said, back to face those that left you to die in hell. It’ll be a blast. You’ll answer any and every question they have regarding the research you squirreled away, and if you’re lucky enough to keep out of a deep dark hole of their making maybe you’ll get to figure out what’s next for an ex-agent of SHIELD.

You almost do it. You almost open your mouth again and suggest the very thing burning through your brain at the moment, but concern that he might actually do it keeps you quiet. Would he? Toss you out? Drop you off somewhere and then be gone? After everything?

He is, at least, still saying we. And in a way he’s still expressing concern over the wounds that he, in point of fact, inflicted.

You’ll argue a bit longer before giving in just to save face. Reroute that fire and try to subdue the throbbing in your side that you were yearning to feel just a little while ago. Why were you so intent on feeling pain, again? Hopefully the act of being contrary isn’t going to make you pass out. You just want to know what the plan is, see where it is that he’s taking you. “Maybe if you tried asking instead of telling.”

To your surprise Loki slowly exhales and begins again, his voice steadier. “Will you go and----” you cut him off, interjecting the word NO before he can finish his sentence. He utters the final word in a stumbling half to his request, “rest.”

His shoulders jerk and he swivels his head to argue further, but you’re quicker with your reply. “I said you could try asking. I didn’t say I’d listen.” It could all be in your head, but it seems like it’s getting harder to maintain your balance. The pain in your side is getting worse very quickly. Have you torn something and the strength of that is finally breaking through whatever the Asgardian medics did to numb you? Damn the turbulence. Damn him apparently being right, that you started moving too soon after being tended to. Damn him! “Ask again. And this time say please.”

He does have manners. He’s royalty for fuck’s sake. They’re in there, somewhere.

He rolls his eyes, once again gritting his teeth as he deliberately maintains his hold on his temper. “We’ve discussed the way you speak to me.”

Yep. So he really shouldn’t be surprised by your tone. You keep your head held high, determined not to back down.

“I’ll ask once more.” Loki risks more time from his task of steering the ship to pointedly fix his blazing eyes on yours. “Keep in mind you won’t enjoy being forced.”

Forced.

Right.

Just because you think he might have removed his influence already doesn’t mean he actually has. Or – a worse thought follows – he could be tempted to make it worse.

You swallow, which was apparently the effect he was hoping his words would have, or else he notices the strain you’re trying to hide in order to remain standing close by. His frown eases, and he emphasizes the very next word uttered. “Please. Rest.”

Nodding, you turn your back on him, the stranger’s cloak draped over your shoulders turning the small motion into something with more flourish than it deserves. For the record you’re keeping internally it isn’t because you’re beginning to obey him. No, you just need to let the what-you-assume-to-be-a-siting-area do the work of supporting you rather than your feet.

He speaks again, his voice softer. He isn’t quite gloating, but only just. “I’ll have us settled by the time you wake.”

Is that a promise?

“Where?” You question, not bothering you glance back over your shoulder.

He doesn’t answer.

It’s in your head. It’s all in your head, and you know it, but the moment you come into contact with the seat the lightheadedness returns. It’s the vibrations of the ship that pulse through you, stronger than merely standing. Yes, you’re sure that’s what is doing it. Leaning forward helps a little with your head, though it has the opposite effect on your side. You grit your teeth, not quite willing to lay all the way down, not quite sure what the result will be when you close your eyes and attempt to rest.

Pride keeps you from asking Loki for help in forcing you to sleep. Developing a dependency on magic is something that gives you chills. Or maybe that’s the pain in your side. But no. The point is no. You refuse rely on him, or his magic, to help you through this. This is something you must face on your own.

Begrudgingly, you recline. Slowly doesn’t mean you experience less pain, but you’re not entirely sure you could manage to quickly swivel to lay on your back. You mutter at his back, because that’s all he’s affording you at the moment. “You’ll owe me answers, when we’re there.”

That one at least nets you a grunt. Maybe. Unless that was a low-pitched noise emanating from the hull of the ship.

#reply: writing addiction #reply: ask games prompts and characters #reply: Loki WISH series #WISH things #fanfiction addiction #writing addiction #ask me anything #wherein the writer is 20 pages in and isn't even halfway through the plotted story and starting to wonder if multiple chapters are in order #or if she should even both with the first few pages and just jump right back in to things like she hasn't waited years to update #and also reroute the WISH series... but i wont cause we are already so far down the current path

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shanedakotamuir · 5 years ago

Text

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

After playing footsie with the original Watchmen comic for four weeks, the new TV show’s fifth episode — “Little Fear of Lightning” — dumps us straight into one of the comic’s most famous moments: the “interdimensional” squid attack on New York that kills 3 million people and does grave psychic damage to even more.

The event, as those who’ve read the comic know, is a plot cooked up by Ozymandias to avoid nuclear war and maybe bring about world peace. Known to the public as an “attack” by beings from another dimension, it manages to bring the US and USSR closer together, leading to the version of America we see in the series, where the Robert Redford administration is nearing its 30-year anniversary but where the tensions of the Cold War no longer seem relevant to the world at large.

As we learn in “Little Fear of Lightning,” it’s a deep, dark secret, held closely by a very small few, that the squid didn’t come from another dimension but was instead manifested right here on Earth. And among the people who were affected by its arrival are Steven Spielberg (who made a very Schindler’s List-esque movie about the squid) and our own Looking Glass, who narrowly escaped death at the squid’s nasty tentacles as a teen, then saw his life scarred by having been so close to such a devastating occurrence.

Just like Watchmen’s third episode, “Little Fear of Lightning” is a character showcase, following Looking Glass for nearly its entire running time. (We check in on Adrian Veidt briefly, and he does seem to be in space, spelling out a message using all of the corpses he’s been generating. This show!) But “Lightning” tells a darker and sadder story about what it means to live in a world where you survived an experience that’s roughly as rare — and even more likely to kill you — as being struck by lightning. It’s about survivor’s guilt. But it’s also about realizing that the world is built atop a lie.

To dig further into that theme, I (Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff) am joined by Vox associate culture editor Allegra Frank and culture writer Constance Grady to break down “Little Fear of Lightning,” from the Seventh Kavalry to James Wolk’s inherent shiftiness to squids galore.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

Emily: In the build-up to director Zack Snyder’s 2009 adaptation of Watchmen for the big screen, all involved agreed to change the ending of the original comic. Despite a slavish faithfulness to the comic’s images (if not exactly its themes) in the rest of the film, it was thought that a giant squid landing in Times Square would be too much for people to process. Instead, the movie suggested that Doctor Manhattan had created some sort of energy pulse that leveled much of Manhattan, thus necessitating his move to Mars.

It honestly wasn’t a bad story shift — it gave Doctor Manhattan a more easily understandable motivation to bail on Earth, at least (if you, for some reason, believe a godlike blue man would have understandable motivations, which I might quibble with). But I’m so, so happy the squid (Squidley? Squidward? Squidbert?) exists in the world of HBO’s Watchmen to destroy this fictional version of New York. True to the spirit of this project, “Little Fear of Lightning” writers Damon Lindelof and Carly Wray (another The Leftovers alum) and director Steph Green pull out resonances with the 9/11 attacks but also the ways we use pop culture to process these sorts of horrors.

What’s most notable, however, is how the opening flashback makes viewers feel the sheer gutting horror of that moment and how it would have reverberated in the decades to come. Allegra: I don’t know how spoiled you are on the comic, but how did you feel about the squid? Was it a bridge too far for you, as the movie’s creative team feared it would be for their 2009 audience? Or are you going to share a recipe for delicious calamari with me, so excited are you by the prospects of a giant cephalopod?

Allegra: I’ve become increasingly “spoiled” on the original Watchmen comic in my weeks-long quest to grasp what’s happening on the TV show. So I was aware of the squid attack — but only in the abstract. This week’s episode visualized what I interpreted as a very bizarre method of mass destruction and proved how terrifying that kind of experience could be.

The cold open rendered a young Looking Glass the equivalent of that classic horror movie trope, the Final Girl: He’s a teenage boy thrust into a situation where he could possibly lose his virginity, but the moment never comes to bear. His sexual anxiety, and the virginal purity that, in horror movies at least, establishes him as a rare moralist, ends up saving his life in the end. Looking Glass finds himself alone after a devastating, sudden, inexplicable mass casualty.

This scene helped to ease me, the sensitive viewer, into the idea of the squid attack because we saw only the aftermath and not the act of the killing itself. It’s still a shocking moment and a horrifying image to see hundreds of dead bodies lying on the ground, but I don’t think the scene veered too far into the ostentatious, as HBO has made no effort to hide how disturbed the show’s version of 2019 Tulsa is.

And on a plausibility level, that all those deaths were the effect of a squid that apparently came from another dimension doesn’t quite phase me — five episodes in, a squid attack feels normal enough for Watchmen, despite its inherent absurdity. It’s the impact of the attack that is meaningful, sculpting Looking Glass into the lonely, sexually repressed man we’ve come to know in the episode’s contemporary storyline.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Constance: I’m coming into this show pretty unspoiled. All of my knowledge of the comic comes from the time a friend who read it 10 years ago summarized it for me, and I came away with a vague understanding of something something giant squid, something something blue penis. But even with minimal knowledge of the comic, the squid attack still lands; it’s a moment of pure Lovecraftian horror, and I absolutely buy that it would traumatize Looking Glass forever. Which only makes it all the more heartbreaking when he realizes that this horrific event that has shaped his life forever was a lie.

The other big reveal this episode comes when we find out that James Wolk’s affable gentleman senator Joe Keane is the leader of the Seventh Kavalry, and that he apparently saw his leadership as half of a partnership with the now-dead Judd as the chief of the police. For me, that twist wasn’t exactly surprising, but it was immensely satisfying, because it’s such a good use of Wolk’s inherent shiftiness.

Maybe it’s because I’m most familiar with Wolk from his role as Mad Men’s Bob “NOT GREAT” Benson, but anytime I see him onscreen, I feel incapable of trusting him. (Well, I trust him to inspire some truly iconic gifs, but that’s it.) Or maybe it’s because he’s so handsome: it only stands to reason that anyone with a face that symmetrical has to be hiding something. (Incidentally, this is why I think Armie Hammer is going to be great as Maxim De Winter in the forthcoming Rebecca. Obviously he has something to hide, because why else would he be so tall?) Regardless, I’ve been slowly going insane watching him slither around the sidelines of every Watchmen scene with his good ol’ boy accent and his Kennedy-lite posture, so the reveal that he is the man behind the curtains of the Seventh Kavalry is fantastically gratifying.

But the reveal is also thematically compelling, because it gets at an idea that seems fundamental to the Watchmen universe: The state and the terrorists are in on everything together. They are run by the same self-interested billionaires who think of the rest of us as their pawns and turn us against each other for their own purposes. All of the systems are corrupt, and escaping them is nearly impossible. All we’re left with is individuals trying to do their best to survive in a broken world.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

Allegra: Before I answer your question, I have to say your read on James Wolk (and Armie Hammer!) has deeply wounded me. But maybe that’s because you’re right about him — I can’t help but trust a beautiful man like Wolk’s Senator Keene when he wants me to believe he’s on the side of justice. That smile! That perfectly combed hair! Those bright, twinkling eyes! I’m a superficial goon, is what I’m saying, easily manipulated by pretty boys.

As such, Keene’s connection to the Seventh Kavalry gutted me. I yelled at my screen as he and other men and women we’d thought were good guys pulled off their Rorschach masks. How is it that so many of the people we’ve gotten to know in Tulsa deceived Angela, Laurie, and Looking Glass so easily and so totally? Their involvement is evidence that Adrian Veidt’s giant squid attack was not an end-all, be-all, but instead the impetus for decades of selfish behavior on the part of uncaring rich men looking to gain control over an unsuspecting public with dwindling resources.

But I don’t think that necessarily dictates a hopeless situation going forward. For starters, tying the Seventh Kavalry reveal to Looking Glass’s storyline — he being a survivor of this sort of selfish behavior in the truest sense — offers the kind of motivation that should undoubtedly empower those who do remain on the side of good.

This mass destruction via cephalopod, whether or not it was justified in the service of preventing a nuclear war, has all kinds of ramifications — from Looking Glass walking out of that carnival hall of mirrors to find hundreds of dead bodies, to Angela learning that her closest friend and mentor was never supporting her cause in the first place. These are devastating truths, but they’re also ones that I very much expect to embolden our heroes in this otherwise nihilistic world.

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

Emily: Before this episode, I wasn’t sure if Looking Glass was one of my favorite characters because he was so inherently compelling, or because Tim Blake Nelson is such a terrific actor. After this episode, I feel comfortable saying: It’s both.

The shattered quality that young Looking Glass carries out of that hall of mirrors moves forward with him into the current Tulsa timeline, and it’s the same shattered quality that is a major part of why he betrays Angela at episode’s end. To be sure, the Seventh Kavalry has revealed to him that much of his life has been based on a lie. But instead of telling his friend about this lie, he betrays her.

Before this episode aired, one of our colleagues was talking about how they didn’t want to see Looking Glass revealed as a secret racist. But what “Little Fear of Lightning” does with the character is almost sadder. Looking Glass isn’t an overt racist. He knows enough to say “woke” things like “He was a white man in Oklahoma” when Angela finds that KKK hood in Judd’s closet. But he’s also bound to something terrible by dint of who he is. In the complicated logistics of Watchmen’s plot, that terrible something is a conspiracy to keep the wool pulled over the world’s eyes.

But on a metaphorical level, the story plays as a muted horror movie about trying to do the right thing and still being roped in with the worst kinds of people because of how structural power works. Which is to say: Watchmen remains a show about whiteness, and Looking Glass is perhaps the most potent example of how you can be a truly kind and compassionate human being and still have a lot to answer for, including stuff that you maybe weren’t even aware of.

That’s what’s so provocative about the Seventh Kavalry being rooted in a truth. One of the details of the original Watchmen that makes me so uncomfortable is that Rorschach — the violent sadist and borderline fascist — is ultimately right about a lot of what he’s saying. It’s just that his methods (secrecy and paranoia) distort the narrative so much that he ceases to be someone worth emulating. He even ceases to be a reliable narrator, despite the fact that he’s often telling the truth.

But this season has revolved around twin secrets buried and kept away from those who most need to know them. The Seventh Kavalry revelation has the most immediate bearing on the plot — in that yes, other characters should probably know who was responsible for that squid attack — but the Tulsa massacre has the most immediate bearing on us in the audience, where words like “massacre” have only recently been applied to what history has often dubbed as a “race riot.” Buried secrets fester and become infected. But we can’t help but bury secrets.

At any rate, maybe Looking Glass won’t have to worry about any of the above much longer. As “Little Fear of Lightning” ends, a whole host of Seventh Kavalry gunmen are entering his house, seemingly to kill him. I hope he makes it through. After all: He’s played by Tim Blake Nelson, and it’s a delight to see him on our screens every week.

Constance: Looking Glass really is a fantastic character because he’s such a good example of how you can be both complicit in oppressive systems, and also the pawn of people with a lot more power than you have.

Looking Glass is obviously being used, and he knows it. He’s been used his whole life, arguably first by the church that sent him out into the world as a teen missionary, then by Adrian Veidt and his squid, then by Judd and the Tulsa police force, and now by Keane and the Seventh Kavalry. He’s a man whose superpower is being able to tell when someone is lying to him, but he has still spent his life being lied to and manipulated by all the people and all the systems that he trusted in.

And by extension, so have most of the other people in the Watchmen universe, including Angela and Laurie. And by further extension, so have we. So the question then becomes: What do we do when we learn that we are being used?

Looking Glass responds by deciding to let Keane and the Seventh Kavalry use him. He doubles down on his complicity. What we have yet to see is how the rest of the characters in this world will react to the idea that the people they trust are using them as pawns — and whether this world allows for the possibility of breaking free of your complicity all together.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

#Vox - All

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corneliusreignallen · 5 years ago

Text

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

#Vox - All

0 notes

timalexanderdollery · 5 years ago

Text

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

#Vox - All

0 notes

gracieyvonnehunter · 5 years ago

Text

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

#Vox - All

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monkee98 · 7 years ago

Text

What It Takes Chapter 4

I’ve hit a bit of a writer’s block, so that is why it’s taking so long between updates. Hopefully I can churn out some more chapters soon though!

Jian Yi found He Tian in his room, it’s simple and mostly empty. His bed had a simple low bed frame and the sheets are navy blue and unmade and there is a dark desk pushed against the wall with a laptop on it. The rest of his things hidden away in the dresser and his books stacked neatly in a bookshelf.

Every room in the building came with a decently sized kitchen decked out with top of the line appliances, but neither He Tian nor Jian Yi ever really made use of their kitchen.

Jian Yi always thought this room was the most depressing one in the whole building, but it somehow suited the private body guard. Jian Yi’s room is conveniently situated right next door and is set up pretty much the same except his room tends to be messy and keeps miscellaneous items around his room to make it look more lived in such as a basketball he used to play with when he was younger and an old video game console he occasionally starts up when he has nothing better to do. He also keeps more furniture in there since both he and He Tian spend more time in there than they do in the body guard’s room.

His empty take out container sat next to his laptop where he was going through the information on the apparent enemy activity that they were supposed to be investigating. The other mafia group is not as big and established as Mr. Jian’s, but they have been picking up in number of members lately. But the thing is, so far in his research it appears the only other notable thing going on within the group is the fact that various members have been disappearing and then turning up either dead or tortured and beaten until they are barely sane.

The latest located victim he recognized as the last guy Jian Yi had dealt with, a large tough looking man who you would not expect to piss his pants over a simple questioning, but people are full of surprises. Turns out he was not as high up as his looks suggested; he had turned up dead near their base where Mr. Jian must have ordered his body to be dumped so the other group could easily find him.

It was all so superfluous; why would Mr. Jian want to make such bold moves when, so far, nothing has turned up to warrant their investigations. It made He Tian’s skin crawl, Mr. Jian must be hiding something from them. He knew that Jian Yi had no idea what was really going on either, if he knew then He Tian would know too.

He had only gotten that far in his investigations when Jian Yi suddenly barged in, carrying his suit jacket on his arm.

“So how did it go?” He Tian leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest casually.

Jian Yi threw his jacket at He Tian’s eternally smug face and collapsed face first on the bed.

“Mrmphmrphm”

“I can’t hear you y’know” he chuckled as he pulled the jacket off his face and threw it on his bed besides the fallen blond.

Jian Yi rolled over on his back languidly and glared at the plain ceiling as if it had all the hidden answers to his questions.

“I think it was worse than the last one” he complained, “I tried to leave him alive just in case, but I was very tempted to end him right there”

“Hmm” He Tian hummed in acknowledgment.

He swiveled his chair back around to face his desk and picked up his take out container to dispose of it in his empty kitchen.

He plopped down next to the body on his bed after pulling a water bottle out of the fridge.

“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be looking for” Jian Yi groaned, running his hands down his face in frustration.

The black haired body guard opened the water bottle and took a sip before offering it to his friend.

Jian Yi sat up and grabbed the bottle and took three large gulps until their was only a quarter of the bottle left before handing it back.

“I tried doing some research but I came up empty as well” He Tian commented with a sigh, finishing the bottle of water and placing it on the bedside table.

“I even lost a nice clean shirt for this bullshit” he groaned, “What do we do now?”

“Tell your father I suppose….” he mumbled, his voice trailing with uncertainty. There was something off about this situation, but for now they were better off just going with it.

He Tian looked over at Jian Yi, he had his head bowed, resting his forehead on the back of his clasped hands, his elbows resting on his knees.

Those that first meet him often have the impression that he is nothing but a happy go lucky young man, too sheltered for this life. They murmur in confusion and pass snide comments when they hear that he is the great Jian’s son and will one day inherit and lead the mafia group. Most of them don’t know what he is capable of, not only his ability to lead and demand respect of his followers but his cruelty and coldness to those he considers to be on the other side of the playing field.

He Tian got up to grab his laptop and opened the article he was looking at that had to do with the last victim.

“Hey, look at this” he pushed the laptop in front of the blond who lifted his head, letting the black haired man place the laptop with the open article on his lap.

He scrolled through the page, frowning at the details of the man’s death and the fact that he was carelessly left in the alley behind their base where he could easily be spotted.

“They found leaning against a wall, covered in bruises and knife wounds….and suffered from head trauma?” Jian Yi wondered out loud. He had left this guy alive to bleed out once he was done with him, but he has never used head trauma on his subjects.

“Yes, I was curious about that too, it’s as though they meant for him look like he was attacked”

“Why would they want to do that?” Jian Yi muttered, why would his father want to cover up that he was captured and tortured.

Jian Yi closed the computer and handed it back to He Tian.

“I don’t even know how they managed to pull that off, it looks like they believed the set-up”, He Tian said as he placed the computer back on his desk.

Jian Yi laid himself back on the bed, throwing an arm over his eyes, a noticeable frown on his face. He had been suspecting his father has been up to something lately, the amount of people he has been bringing in for “questioning” in such a short period of time made him think the other group was up to something big. If that was true there would be no way neither Jian Yi or He Tian would not have heard. His suspicions further confirmed when He Tian showed him all of this.

Before he starts drawing any solid theories on this he decided to confront his father first...first thing tomorrow.

“Anyways isn't it lunch time now?”

“It's well past, actually”

Jian Yi paused for a moment, once again his entire day felt wasted away. He often loses track of time while doing his job and his mood tends to dip afterwards. He was sure, though, that a visit to quant little restaurant would turn his mood around.

Jian Yi stood up, “I want to go eat” he picked up his jacket and started walking to the door.

He Tian grinned, “same place”, it wasn't a question.

“Change out of that stuffy suit” Jian Yi called out as he closed the bedroom door behind him.

#19 days #jian yi #he tian #myfanfic #mypost

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haikyuulovercompany · 8 years ago

Note

I'm the Bokuto fangirl again, sorry HAHAHA. May I ask for a scenario for Bokuto and his crush slash s/o in a date at an owl café? Please and thank you ^^

Hello again, love!! I’m glad to have you on my asks again! I hope you like it!!

——

The whole situation was odd. They had gone to the same school for threeyears, and all of a sudden he had invited her out. Not in the normal fashion,though. He had said he knew this amazing place he wanted to check out, but heneeded someone to go with. He said it and stood on his place with his winninggrin, and hands on his hips watching her. She immediately understood. He wantedher to go with him.

She said she would gladly go with him.

Bokuto and her had been friends for a while. Her best friend was thevolleyball club manager, so it was only logical that she spent a lot of timewith the team. Bokuto and her had always got along perfectly fine. They talkedregularly, and she had even given him her notes before an exam a couple oftimes. It was just the bizarreness of being alone with someone for the firsttime.

She still didn’t understand why he had decided to invite her from allpeople. Bokuto was friends with practically everyone. Then again, maybe histeammates who were his usual clique were all busy. Her own friends had insistedit was a legit date. She was skeptical nonetheless. He hadn’t legitimatelyasked her out. He had indirectly suggested it would be nice if someone wentwith him to this magnificent place. She would decide at the end of the day ifshe had a date with Bokuto Koutaro or not.

But from all surprises, the place where he had taken her was the biggestof them all.

They had met at the bus stop, and Bokuto was already shaking withexcitement. She had known since she met him that he had a thing for owls, sowhy hasn’t she seen something like that coming?

“I had no idea a place like this even existed,” she said. She was ingenuine awe. She wasn’t an owl fanatic; nevertheless, the idea of seeing a trueowl up close was exciting.

He did his best to keep his cool. He had been trying to keep his coolsince he invited her out. And according to him he was doing an excellent job.

He had been crushing over that girl for the past months. They had beenfriends for the last three years, but for some reason it wasn’t until then thathe started to feel different towards her. Maybe he had grown too fond of her.Maybe he fell for her after he completely knew her. He wasn’t sure. He onlyknew he really liked her.

So not only he was alone with the girl he liked, but the anticipation ofcarrying an owl was killing him.

He didn’t answer her. He felt that if he talked, his voice would comeout wrong. He walked to the door, and opened it. He stood there waiting for herto enter first. Both of them gasped. There were owls here and there.

She felt an increasing aura besides her stopping her from sayinganything. Bokuto walked straight to the counter, and she followed.

“A table for two. Please,” he asked. His voice was strange, and loud, asif it was difficult for him to talk. She noticed his shoulders were slightlyshaking.

“Bokuto-san, are you okay?” He only nodded in response.

She took a couple of steps forward so she could look at his face. Shehad to cover her mouth with one of her hands to stop the laughter thatthreatened to leave. Bokuto’s mouth was tight, and his cheeks were pink. He wasliterally flustered.

A waitress came with two menus on her hands ready to take them to theirtable. “You want to choose an owl now or…”

“YES!” Bokuto finally exploded interrupting the lady. He was no longerholding back his smile. “Take us to the owls!” He blurted lifting both hisfists. The waitress nodded fast.

“F-follow me,” the waitress said nervously.

Bokuto took _____ by the wrist, and softly pulled her. She swore hercheeks grew a little bit warmer than usual. She let him drag her. The waitresstook them to a room that simulated an aviary. All kinds of owls were standingon fake branches that were installed everywhere in the room.

She pulled her hand from Bokuto’s grip, and walked up to one of thebranches as if the animals had hypnotized her with their immense eyes. Her facewas as happy as his. She was now realizing how feverish she was as well. Shelooked at the owls with shimmering eyes. They all looked at her, and movedtheir faces studying her. She took a couple of photos with her phone.

She gasped when she saw a little black owl, which eyes watched herboringly. She giggled. “This one looks like Akaashi, Bokuto!” she said enthusiasticallypointing at the animal.

She turned around, and her jaw dropped.

Bokuto had owls in both his shoulders, and forearms. He was trying tomake another owl climb up on his arm. The waitress was staring at him interror, clearly not knowing how to stop him. When the owl finally acceded, helet out his typical shrieking scream. Surprisingly, the owls were unfazed byhow loud, and sharp the noise was.

“Look at me!” Bokuto said to her showing the biggest of all smiles. “Theowls love me! Take a picture! Quick! Quick!” She did as he said. She almostlaugh at how hyped he looked even in the photo. She stared at the photo alittle bit longer. “I want to take them all to the table.”

“Uhm, ahm,” tried to say the waitress. “You can only… two is themaximum. You can’t take that many.”

“Huh!? Why!?” he asked. The waitress jolted on her place.

“Hey,” she said attracting his attention. She needed to intervene;otherwise the poor waitress was going to pass out. “Let’s not give her a badtime. Let’s choose two.” In response he only pouted in petulant annoyance.

She quickly scanned all the owls. Her eyes stopped at a grey one thatwas gazing right back at her with its yellow eyes entirely open. The owl wasone of the most funny looking owls there. The face it had was priceless. Shecouldn’t help to see Bokuto from the corner of her eye. He was gazing at her inthe exact same way the bird in front of her was, which made the whole situationfunnier. She smiled, and faced him. “I want to take this because it looks likeyou.”

“Like me?” He moved his arm so he could see the owl more clearly. Hemoves his had to a side, and the owl followed. He tilted his head, and the owlfollowed again. Bokuto grinned. “Oh! I see what you’re talking about!”

“We’ll take that one to our table,” she said to the waitress.

“Wait, I want another one.” Bokuto said taking a couple of steps backwhen the waitress walked to him ready to take all of the owls off of him. Shewas simply impressed by how calm the owls on Bokuto’s arms were.

He started to look at them one, by one. A frown appeared on his face. Hewas notable frustrated by having to choose only one. They spent twenty moreminutes there. By then the waitress had grown impatience.

____ cleared her throat. “I think we need to leave the aviary,Bokuto-san.”

“AH! I choose the smallest one,” he said defeated. She was surprised byhis choice. She had sworn he would choose the biggest owl. Then again, if youlooked at the small, puffy brown owl with the same big yellow eyes as the otherthey had chosen, you would understand why it was impossible to leave it behind.

If relief looked like something, it was the face of the waitress whenBokuto decided which owl he wanted, and finally let her take the rest of thebirds off of him.

He sighted with grief when they were almost obligated to leave theimprovise aviary. She rubbed one of his forearms trying to console him. Shefelt a couple of bumps on it. She gasped.

“Bokuto-san, your arms are full of scratches,” she said alarmed. He checkedthem out.

“You’re right.”

“Must have been from the owls’ claws,” she said as she delicately held his armstudying the wounds totally unaware of the sudden pinkish color on Bokuto’sface. He swallowed hard, and shook his head trying to recover his cool.

“Go to your table, please,”said the waitress behind them giving them a little push from behind breakingtheir little moment. She had enough of them.

After they sited, she brought two wooden stands, and then brought thetwo owls with their leashes, and secured them.

“Be gentle with them,” said the waitress leaving two pair of thick,leather gloves on the table.

If they hadn’t tormented the waitress enough, now they were too busywith the owls to even look at their menus.

Unlike Bokuto, she had been afraid of holding the bird. It’s persistenteyes on her made her even more nervous. He moved his chair beside her, andhelped her get the own on her hand. She didn’t know if she wanted to laugh, orcry. The animal couldn’t keep its eyes off of her.

“It’s going to bite me.”

“No, don’t worry,” he said reassuring her. The owl moved on her armcloser to her face. She moved her head away from the bird, and closer to him.

“It’s coming for me,” she whispered terrified. He inevitable laughed,and the bird flapped its wings. She shrieked. “Time to put you back on thestand.” She laughed nervously as she shook her hand so the bird would get off.Once she succeeded, she sighted relief. “I don’t know how you do it.”

Bokuto shrugged. He was abnormally calm looking straight at her. Hiseyes were piercing through her. She had never been victim of such a look. Ifthe owl had gotten on her nerves, those eyes were about to send her intocardiac arrest. “It’s all about trusting nothing will happen to you, I guess.”

She swallowed hard. “Well, maybe next time I’ll try that.”

“Are you ready to order?” the voice of the waitress asked out ofnowhere. She turned to face her. Bokuto frowned. That lady was definitely ontohis case. It was the second time that day she had interrupted them. She wassurely taking her sweet revenge.

The rest of the evening went smoothly. Bokuto was sure the waitress keptroaming them making sure he treated the owls well, and making sure she wasthere to interrupt any kind of advance he dared to make.

Needless to say, _____ had to make a great effort to take Bokuto out ofthat place. It was getting late, and she had to get home. After she literallydragged him out of the café with all the strength she possessed, they took thebus back home.

On their way, Bokuto couldn’t stop complaining about the waitress, andhow they should let people stay in the aviary. She shook her head. She waslooking at the photos they had taken. She stumbled with the photo of Bokutocovered in owls. She couldn’t help to smile.

“This is a really good photo of you,” she admitted out loud. Bokutoraised his eyebrows and looked at it.

“Send it to me! I’ll show it to Akaashi on Monday.”

She nodded. She stared at the photo a couple of seconds, and then staredat Bokuto. She would be lying if she said she didn’t have a great time withhim. Her friends had texted all day, but she had purposely ignored them.

She had said she didn’t want to jump into conclusions, but by then theday had felt like a date, more than just a casual gathering. She suspiredmaking him to look at her.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yes, I… I had a good time. Thank you for today,” she said. Bokuto’seyes opened wide reminding her of the owl she was incapable to carry. He wasastonished, and she felt confused there for a second.

“Really? You really had a good time?” he asked as if he couldn’t believewhat he heard.

“Yes?” she chuckled. “Why? Why is it so hard to believe? Today was fun.”

“You want to do it again?”

Now she was totally puzzled.

“Do what? Go to the owl café again?” He shook his head.

“Go out with me,” he bluntly said.

A remarkable bright pink blush, that Bokuto would never forget, appearedon her face. She smiled nervously.

“Yes. I would gladly go out with you again… on a date.”

“Yes, another date,” he confirmed.

And there was her answer.

The oddest thing about the whole situation probably wasn’t how he hadasked her out, or the place he had taken her to. It was that she was looking forwardto the next time. She was already inpatient for their next date.

How odd was to think she might have fallen for Bokuto in an aviary.

——

Thanks for the request!! I hope you liked it!

#bokuto #bokuto kotaro #koutaro bokuto #bokuto koutaro #fukorodani #haikyuu #haikyuu!!#haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu!! scenarios

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drades-lair · 7 years ago

Text

Collard

Author: Drade666

Rating: G

pairings: Samifer

Fandom: Supernatural

Other:

Part 1

Part 3

“Wow Sam…what exactly am I supposed to do with that?” Dean wondered, taking a swig of his beer

Sam truly didn’t know what Dean was supposed to think after all he didn’t know either except that what he’d done was right. The juke box played in the background while stale beer mingled with the haze of smoke in the air yet Sam for the first time didn’t complain about the smell it just felt good to be there again even the taste of beer was good.

“I don’t know Dean…you wanted to know so I told you,” Sam shrugged

“Let me guess this also justifies keeping Lucifer around now,” Dean was clearly being sarcastic

“Yeah…” Sam confirmed despite knowing that Dean was joking

“No way Sammy, we are not letting the devil stay on earth again,” Dean firmly disagreed

“Yes we are Dean, I owe Lucifer a lot and don’t get me wrong I don’t excuse everything he did but I can’t ignore what he told me,” Sam explained just as strongly

“Did it ever occur to you that he told you exactly what you wanted to hear?” Dean suggested

“Yeah Dean it did but trust me…you weren’t there when he said it, didn’t see his face not to mention Michael beating the crap out of him, confirming every word with his own,” Sam argued back

“Well I say we use the key to shove his ass right back into the hole,” Dean shot back

“No! Look Dean, you don’t need to be involved…let me help Lucifer and you go back to Lisa,” Sam suggested

“Like hell! I’m not going to leave you with Lucifer alone!” Dean barked back

“I’m not giving you a choice Dean, either do that or sit in the impala because…you’re not allowed back in that room,” Sam stated holding up the keycard he’d swiped from Dean’s jacket right before getting up from the table to head out the front of the bar.

After a few moments of shock Dean chased after Sam only to find him gone by the time he exited the bar. Dean cursed under his breath before stomping back into the bar although he could have easily chased Sam down knowing where he was going and all, he really didn’t feel like talking to his little brother right now instead Dean simply went back to the bar for some more beer. Sam knew Dean all too well knowing full well that he’d just go back to the bar for a few more drinks instead of chasing him leaving Sam in peace to head back to the motel room in hopes of finding Lucifer awake. Once inside the motel room Sam made certain that the door was locked behind him then tossed the keycards onto the table that was close to the door unfortunately Lucifer was still out cold however his wounds were beginning to look better making Sam smile a little with success but Lucifer’s cheeks seemed bright pink and a tap of the backs of his knuckles against Lucifer’s forehead confirmed that he was running a fever. Calmly Sam went to the bathroom to wet a cloth under some cool water then returned to Lucifer’s side where he gently patted the cloth along Lucifer’s forehead to his temples and down both cheeks to cool the archangel down a little bit. Sam had seen the hatred in Dean’s eyes for Lucifer and Sam deep down hated him too for all the suffering he’d caused which made moments like these even harder because despite the hate Sam actually felt his bond with Lucifer growing stronger built purely on the similarities between them plus Sam truly couldn’t deny some of the things Lucifer had said about humanity, didn’t mean he wanted all humanity dead but Sam couldn’t argue some of the points Lucifer brought up.

Pounding back three more beers Dean groused over Sam’s departure from the bar for the next 2 hours until finally deciding he needed to do something about this situation. Placing a few bills on the bar top Dean nodded his thanks to the bartender before leaving the bar altogether, heading out back where no one was in the ally where with a heavy sigh he prayed to Castiel for help. Instantly there was that notable sound of wings fluttering as Castiel appeared beside Dean with a smile on his face to see the green eyed hunter however it faded when Dean’s expression was sour towards him. The long story began as Dean tried to relay the fairy tale Sam had told him about Lucifer also letting Cas know the current situation regarding the archangel leaving Castiel a little perplexed by the end of it.

“I need your help Cas, it’s clear Sam isn’t going to let this go but I can’t trust Lucifer…I need suggestions of what to do,” Dean pleaded with the dark haired angel

“Well…if Sam is determined to do this then there might be something we could do…” Cas trailed off

Meanwhile…

Sam remained with Lucifer for the next few weeks without any interference from Dean which was surprising yet a relief as it allowed him to provide Lucifer with better care. Eventually Lucifer did wake up with most of his wounds already healed but his wings were taking a lot longer to heal then the other injuries he’d suffered leaving the archangel grounded until they could heal fully. Constantly Lucifer thanked Sam for helping him heal even seeming a little sheepish that Sam had to help at all, in addition Sam resisted the bond between him and Lucifer for the longest time however recently Sam had just started to except it…whatever it really was. Lucifer for the most part was calm, quiet to unlike during the apocalypse when he seemed agitated, it was like Sam was seeing an all new side of Lucifer perhaps the real Lucifer again something Sam found rather appealing about the archangel. Soon 3 months had passed with Lucifer’s wings finally on the mend Sam decided he needed to speak to the archangel about what was to come however true to form Lucifer simply told Sam that they’d just deal with things as they came no matter what. Then one night everything changed to a whole new level, Sam was reading on his laptop while Lucifer had borrowed one of Sam’s books to read on the bed and surprisingly enough they had very similar tastes in books. Sam leaned back to stretch out for a moment when he glanced over at Lucifer to see a very confused look on the archangel’s face as he continued to read the novel in his hands, Sam furrowed his own brow lightly in questioning at what part of the book Lucifer was at that would make that expression on his face.

“Everything alright?” Sam asked casually

“Yes…I’m just a little perplexed,” Lucifer casually answered back remaining buried in the book

“About?” Sam prompted

“Well…I understand most of the things people describe in books but admittedly when it comes to romance novels I’ve got very little to compare to,” Lucifer explained

“Such as?” Sam prompted again

“Such as kissing or even sex, I’ve got nothing to compare to those things so when they’re described I don’t quite understand them,” Lucifer continued finally lowering the book to his lap

“Seriously? You’ve never been kissed?” Sam asked trying to ignore the second part of that conversation

“Wasn’t exactly a priority in heaven and…well you recall the cage,” Lucifer retorted with a small smirk

“True…maybe we could find you a girl to kiss,” Sam joked with a deep laugh

Not paying attention Sam didn’t see the way Lucifer suddenly looked at him as if an idea had just popped into the archangel’s head. Silently Lucifer stood from the bed with quick strides straight over to Sam who only realized Lucifer had even moved when the archangel gently cupped his cheek to pull Sam towards him then without warning kissed the younger Winchester. Sam was so stunned he didn’t react at all simply stared at Lucifer until he pulled away with a satisfied look on his face but not like he enjoyed it so much as he’d asked a question and gotten the answer he was looking for. A few minutes later Sam had managed to get his brain cells back in order however something deep down was shoving him towards his next move, Lucifer had turned to return to the bed but Sam suddenly reached out to catch the archangel’s wrist causing him to stop long enough for Sam to stand up. Yanking Lucifer back Sam managed to get just the right angle to plant another kiss to the archangel’s lips, which apparently he couldn’t resist because Lucifer swiftly responded by pressing back although it was a little awkward as Lucifer didn’t know what he was doing but he was a quick learner. It had only been a moment and afterwards they didn’t speak only went back to what they’d been doing previous leaving Sam to contemplate what he’d just done yet all he could come up with was that Dean was going to be so pissed when he found out.

3 months later…

Another 3 months passed only these were a little different, Lucifer healed completely yet the kiss three months prior wasn’t their last. Sam finally realized their bond wasn’t purely friendship nor understanding there was something deeper going on here that neither of them could fully understand but somehow it was right. Sam allowed himself to open up to Lucifer in a very intimate way, not sexual! Just intimate perhaps maybe one day it would end up going there or maybe not…who knows after all Sam hadn’t even seen this coming so he was just happy to let things work themselves out as Lucifer appeared to feel the same. It was around this time that Dean finally reappeared at the motel room’s door looking very serious to the point Sam almost didn’t want to let him inside but of course he did. Dean calmly entered the room despite seeing Lucifer fully recovered sitting on the bed smirking right at him.

“Dean…I…” Sam stammered with uncertainty

“Sam please…just let me talk…first off I don’t like this idea, alright? I’m sure you already knew that though and I also know that you are stubborn enough to not give up on this insane notion…I risked too much to get you back Sammy just to lose you again,” Dean began

“Okay…meaning?” Sam prompted with a suspicious furrow of his brow

“Meaning I’m willing to try to make this work but if I try you have to as well, agreed?” Dean asked, completely surprising Sam.

“Alright…what are you suggesting?” Sam wondered

“This…” Dean stated simply as he revealed an iron collar that he’d been keeping in a bag

Instantly Lucifer took notice, standing from the bed with serious nervous looks between Sam and the collar as clearly he knew what it was. Sam stared at the collar realizing it had Enochian sigils engraved in its surface.

“Dean…what the hell is that?” Sam asked with concern lacing his tone

“Cas helped make it, basically it will dull down his power and this is the only way I’m will to go along with this,” Dean explained

“Dean! No! I’m not going to collar him like an animal!” Sam barked

“Sam…it’s fine,” Lucifer chimed in

“Lucifer…this is not fine, it’s the opposite of fine!” Sam argued

“Sam! It’s either this or I shove his ass back in the pit!” Dean threatened

Sam didn’t know what to do, caught between Lucifer and his brother not wanting to do this while not wanting to lose either of them. Slowly Lucifer held out a hand to Dean as an offering to take the collar which Dean obliged by hanging it on Lucifer’s fingers that curled around it then he turned to Sam with a gentle smile as Sam looked at him with sorrow in his eyes.

“It’s alright Sam…put it on me,” Lucifer encouraged, holding the collar out to him

“I…I can’t…” Sam shook his head solemnly

“Sure you can…don’t worry I promise it won’t hurt me,” Lucifer assured the younger Winchester

Sam let out a heavy breath as he grabbed the collar from Lucifer, tussling it between his hands for a few moments before finally opening it up. Lucifer calmly exposed his neck to Sam with his eyes shut lightly, putting full trust in the younger Winchester whom he’d come to care about so much. Gently as possible Sam wrapped the collar around Lucifer’s neck the whole time worrying about how tight it was as he closed its clasp that’s when Dean uttered a couple Enochian words that sealed the clasp into a solid iron collar and the sigils glowed making Lucifer wince with a small grunt as they took effect. For a moment Lucifer wavered, grabbing hold of a nearby chair for balance but ultimately he regained his footing however he could feel instantly the difference in his power making him glare at Dean who simply returned the favor. Satisfied with the arrangement Dean left Sam with Lucifer to go get some supplies in the impala then rented his own room at the motel because he still refused to share a room with the archangel but at least Sam didn’t need to worry about Dean creating some scheme to throw Lucifer back in the cage behind his back for the moment so perhaps that was a bit of a win.

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