#pop rox new years ask game

[monty-glasses-roxy]

NEW YEARS GAME!

You’re a new animatronic. A new years animatronic, to be precise. Or at the very least, that’s what they’ve decided to call you for the time being. They like to change your title frequently enough that it seems a little pointless to keep doing so, but it’s not as though it matters. You have much more important things to do than worry about that.

What do you do? Well, you are Fazbear’s impossible delivery animatronic, delivering presents in every Fazbear location all year round! You’ve been to so many places, theme parks, water parks, cafes and burnt pizzerias alike, all to deliver the endless supply of gifts stored safely within your trusty, bottomless backpack. You can’t imagine a better job than this, handing out presents to anyone and everyone with a name on a prettily wrapped box. There really is nothing like it!

And no matter how many presents you hand out, the backpack never grows lighter, and never grows heavy on your back. A good thing too, given that you always seem to have more deliveries to make come the end of the year and into the next. The gifts seem to change almost every time you open your pack too, and you’re never really sure what it is you’re giving to someone until they open it for themselves. It’s always such a treat to see their face light up as the mystery object beneath the paper is revealed!

You can’t help but feel that familiar sense of anticipation as you find yourself standing within the largest location you’ve been to thus far. Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, you believe it’s called. Even just the lobby you’ve entered is impressive, all neon lights and golden statues! You can’t wait to see more of it, and you especially can’t wait to meet its inhabitants, animatronics, staff, and guests alike!

The only question is, who are you going to meet first?

(Send me an ask with the name of who you want to give a gift to and what gift you're giving them, and I will write the response. I'll put a list of characters under the cut. This game will last until either I get sick of it or sometime in January cause it's a new years thing)

Quick disclaimer: Not all of these interactions will end well

CHARACTERS: Freddy Bonnie Chica Monty Roxy Sunny Moon DJ Music Man Mini Music Men (if you give to them you'll get a different Mini every time) Vanessa Cassie's dad (I call him Eddie) Cassie Vanny Mimic Tangle Staffbots

I'll also do this for any AU animatronics such as:

Pizzaplex History: The Original Roxy Mangle Pirate Foxy (and his bird Skipper) Spring Chica Winter Bonnie Autumn Music Man Summer Monty The Original Freddy Magician/Pirates Sunny & Moon Bonbon & Bono Helpy Engineer Chica (the third one) Magic Maze Chica Jurassic Monty (and his dinosaurs) Winter Sports Lolbit Jack-O-Moon Raceway Chica Cowboy Chica Cowboy Foxy (and his bird Barney, and his horses) Danny Tiger Rock Happs The Shifters (there's three different ones) The Breaker The Recruiter

I dunno I may add more for other AUs later my brain is honestly so fucking fried right now (For reference, the date I wrote this was very late December 1st, technically December 2nd in my timezone. My brain will likely not be fried if you read this on a different day)

[myloveforhergoeson]

for the ask game, i think question 12 (a song they hate/dislike) might be an interesting one to answer!

YES OH MY GOD my friend this is such a good one thank you for sending it in

send me a number 1-15!!

Roxy

hey there delilah by the plain white t's if anyone remembers all the way back to chapter 2, when kendall raids her box of tapes he pops one into her tape player called 'for my songwriter' and that was the first song on there. it's one of mag's favorite songs, and one he placed on a tape he made for his other band members (rox/dani). while it was a song she used to like quite a good deal, and one she would often break out on the ol' guitar, she hasn't been able to listen to it since she left brand new day

2. Carlos

c'est la vie by b*witched his sisters played this non-stop after it first came out... he could not escape this song EVER it just drives him up the wall because he's heard it soooo much

3. Kendall

teenage dirtbag by wheatus DO NOT TELL ROXY IT'S BECAUSE SHE PLAYED IT ON HER RADIO SHOW TOO MUCH!! it makes him think of standing at the checkout line at the grocery store and dealing with bitchy customers with a million coupons while the most generic (again, don't tell her) 90s music played over the store loudspeaker

4. Logan

hot n cold by katy perry NOT becuase he thinks it's a bad song... it just got suck in his head during finals week of his freshman year and it got in the way of his ability to retain the proper information for his tests! talk about being wrong while it's right... he was too busy trying to get that earworm out of his head while he was doing his exams and now hearing it reminds him of the first b he ever earned in school

5. James

piano man by billy joel one of his dad's favorite songs... he used to make james play it on the piano a lot when his parents still lived together and he'd sing along to make his mom laugh. before his parents got divorced he caught them fighting once and ran to the piano to play what he considered 'their' song and they just yelled at him to go to his room : ( the piano did NOT sound like a carnival

[jknerd]

Disney Studio AU: Rox

Full Name: Roxwan Hatchback

Other Names: Rox (by most of people knowing him), The Pretty Boy (by the Gammas)

Schools: Mouseton Elementary School (graduated), Mike Jay Middle School (graduated), Spooner Public High School (graduated), Oswald College of Arts/Music/Sports

Occuaption(s): Stardust Cafe Cashier (part-time job), Illustrator

Residence: Spoonerville, Ohio

Family: Mr. Hatchback (father), Cooper “Coop” Hatchback (older brother)

Relationships: Stanley Ampledexter (best friend), Maxine Goof (love interest), PJ (friend), Barby (friend), Bradley Uppercrust III (rival)

Likes: Pop/rock/R&B/K-pop music, movies, dancing, singing, Maxine Goof, basketball, reading webtoons, writing

Dislikes: His older brother’s impulsive actions, dishonesty, cheating, others who make fun of or offending Maxine, his own awkward and slightly clumsy tendencies around Maxine, Bradley’s arrogance

Abilities/Talents: His above average academic grades, fair sportsmanship, creative writing and illustrations as communication

Roxwan “Rox” Hatchback has been Maxine’s high school classmate and currently attending same college she attends. He has older brother named Coop, who is a nice jock in both High School and at College, a stark contrast with Rox who is more of literature and arts-type of guy. Rox is best friends with Stanley, the student body president. According to Coop and few who knows him well, Rox has been in love with Max but was self-conscious as he wasn’t an athlete type of guy he believes she would like. He is often seen excited or perked up with hope when there is a chance she may likes him back the same way.

Being a second child of Hatchback household, he and his brother Coop are close but they have been so different when it comes to their interests. Coop love sports and other extreme games, while Rox preferred arts, music and literatures. At some point when he was little, their parents divorced due to their mother’s infidelity. Their father work more than one jobs to provide for the family, in which, Rox is appreciated of. Before attending middle school, Rox had been ridiculed for being a “pretty boy” but his brother defended him from bullies. He then become friends with Stanley who came from a rather wealthy family as their friendship was closely similar to Tiana and Charlotte’s from “The Princess and A Frog”. In his early teen years, he had gained popularity due to his good looks, his good grades and his nice personality. Many wants to befriend him, but he is more close to Stanley. He developed interest in listening to pop/rock/R&B/K-pop music as his favorite artist was Powerline, in which Stanley also shows interest of. Rox are not in good terms with Chad Lawrence as the lad may be good looking but a conceited bully he and Coop dislikes. At the end of Middle School years, he encountered a girl named Maxine at the music store. Unlike other girls who would swoon at the sight of him, Maxine gave him a friendly smile and greeted him, introducing herself as new student to Spooner Public High School he was to be attending.

Since the Freshman Year, Rox had developed romantic feelings for Maxine who has gained a reputation as “handsome girl” in school, but he was too shy to even ask her out. He had the tendency to record his days in his own journal and somehow these developed into a story of Romance/Fantasy with himself portrayed as young lord who was too weak to speak his mind and falling in love with lady knight based on Maxine. Unknowingly, these writings become popular as web-novel. Rox believed that Maxine deserves someone with strong appearance and persona, so he asked his brother Coop with training into fit feature. And at the end of the school in Junior Year, he gathered a courage to say hi to Maxine but stuck with anxiety on what to talk about as he could only laugh nervously until he heard “Ah-Hyuck!” Laugh from Maxine. As Maxine quickly rush off, Rox was confused and disappointed that she ran away from him. During the assembly where Maxine performed Powerline’s “Stand Out”, Rox was both flattered and ecstatic of special attention she gave to him during the performance. When her identity was revealed to entire school, he was seen smiling as he sees the performer who sang to him was the same girl he had romantic crush on. When finally talk to her again after school, Rox brought up the topic of Stanley’s “end of school” party and asked if she would like to go with him. He become hopeful when she said she would love to but have to ask her father for the permission. Although he was dejected to hear she couldn’t come to party, week later he saw Maxine sang and perform with her father Goofy and their favorite singer Powerline, he and his friends were impressed and finally understood the relation between her and her father Goofy as he remembered her unique laughter. He was seen dismayed of many rude comments and medias regarding Maxine as famous celebrity’s hidden daughter, gathering more courage in defending her from the public. 

After High School, years, Rox had to delay his admission to college as he work part-time jobs to help his father when he was fired from work. He was left heartbroken when he couldn’t get in time to say goodbye and bid her good luck for her departure to college, but with encouragement from Stanley, Coop and his father, he decided to go to same college she attends; Oswald College for Arts, Music, and Sports. As he gained enough earning for college, he went to Oswald College as Maxine was pleasantly surprised to see him. However, he felt a bit intimidated to found himself having several love rivals such as Bradley Uppercrust III, the leader of Maxine’s rivaling team “the Gammas”, and Monro Martin who is a fine artist and approaches her with more confidence than Rox had. He then watched interview of Maxine after the Qualifying Match before X-Game and was nervous when Maxine said she wants to win the competition to prove herself a worthy one for someone she loves. He then become emotionally conflicted when he caught on the scene where Monro confessed his feelings to Maxine who was surprised of the revelation. When finding Maxine going through inner conflict, he listens to her issues and encouraged her that he understands how she cares for her father, but advised that he needs someone special in his life and needs her support to keep going forward. In X-Game, he was seen cheering with others as Maxine and her team “Team 99” reached to the final match. When the accident become serious due to the booster attached on Maxine’s skateboard, he instinctively intervene with Maxine’s family to save her, Bradley and Tank. Soon, he congratulates Maxine as she won the championship of College X-Game and is seen in front of her protectively as Goofy called out on Mr. Uppercrust’s ill-deeds that almost led Bradley and others into near death. Much later, he was confused as Maxine said she wanted to prove herself worthy to someone she feels close to, he was ecstatic when she gave him a light kiss on his lips, happy with the fact she returned the feelings he held for her.

At the wedding of Goofy and Sylvia, he was seen with Maxine as her partner in the ceremony. Rox was both surprised and enjoying the theme of wedding turned out to be a Disco wedding, singing with Maxine “Right Back Where We Started From” for the groom and the bride. According to Stanley, Rox continues to write and drawing while taking part-time job at the same time at Stardust Coffee Cafe as cashier. Barby and PJ often tease Maxine when she always seen at the cafeteria with lunch made by Rox, referring him as her “House-Husband”.

[drake-the-incubus]

This is a gift for @striderhell from the Homestuck Secret Santa 2020 (@homestuckss). I was aiming for 3000 words but uh, Dirk as a muse didn’t want to continue exploring the concept of gender given his rigid but philosophical nature.

I hope this was good, and if not just gimme a shout and I’ll try and come up with something better. 

Word Count: 1521 Fandom: Homestuck Characters: Dirk Strider, Roxy Lalonde Relationships: Dirk Strider & Roxy Lalonde (Platonic/Friends)

Additional Notes: Roxy uses He/Him and They/Them, I’ve never finished the epilogues but I love NB Rox. Dirk uses no pronouns in this, as I wanted to try that out. 

Please enjoy Dirk exploring his gender. 

Sometimes in an effort to define ourselves, we feel trapped to conform to some rigid aspect or label in hopes to reach an understanding of who we are. At times this process can be frustrating and dissatisfying. Other people take weeks or days, and some of them take years or never figure it out. 

Perhaps gender, as a construct, can’t be fully understood, but we can understand ourselves as people without it. The tale before you, is only a short of someone who wishes to take a journey many end up doing, and most have never encountered.

Dirk was sitting in a cafe on Earth-C, sipping on a coffee in between tinkering with another pair of shades. The goal was updating and adding a better set of graphics, hoping to add some additional features to make things easier.

It had been a while since the Prince of Heart had seen the rest of the gods. Jake would visit once in a while, and they would have a friendly spar or talk. Roxy would message once in a while, letting Dirk know any spicy news about the rest.

Dave would randomly show up, they would stare each other down before both Striders would give a thumbs up and go their separate ways.

Rose would often come by, trading witty banter and wisdom. Both of them struggled with the massive impact of their god tiers and would often talk about it to one another.

Today though, Dirk decided a change of area would suit this project best, specifically needing to leave the workshop and enjoy some caffeine. Recently a problem developed that would continue to nag at the Prince even through the night. Lack of sleep was the reason why Dirk had picked a coffee shop. It made the most sense.

Gender did not.

Dirk had been going through a lot lately, and when Roxy had come out as trans, it had been taken pretty well by most of them. Not that it would be different if Dirk came out either, but rather that would take knowing what was going on.

This was a laughable moment, since they all had beaten the game, made it out and enjoyed their own little home in the midst of nothing. Creating entire worlds and civilizations with the help of their space and time players, but Dirk was sitting there, in a cafe, trying to figure out what gender even was and how it related to the god’s own identity.

Pronouns were hard, but so was even figuring this shit out. Making a copy of your brain at thirteen was much easier than figuring out if you’re cis or not, and Dirk didn’t know.

The more it was thought about, the more the thought cropped up, what if it turned out the being Cis wasn’t the result. Dirk was absolutely sure about not being a chick, nothing really appealed about that, but then again there was a very similar feeling over the current gender.

Man, agender or woman. Those were the categories that presented themselves currently. Working harder to connect the shades to the newly built chip, Dirk jolted when suddenly Roxy sat down across the table.

“I called out to you, but you didn’t answer.” He said leaning over and looking over the project. “I was wondering what made you change location, you’re pretty adamant to work in your workshop Dirkie.”

“I needed to think, which I was doing when you were calling out to me. Thinking so hard about creating a new line of orange pop with more caffeine than this cup of coffee that the world died out and I was left to only the one set of thoughts for once.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, and crossed his arms. “Really now? You think that I can’t tell something bigger is going on in that Strider head of yours? You’ve come up with projects while having a philosophical discussion with Rose and texting Dave a rap battle. You’re the king of multi-tasking, which also means your attention is usually divided more, and you’re attempting to put a wire on the wrong side of that.”

Dirk frowned and sighed, putting the project down. “Well, I can’t get nothing past you I suppose. I guess one thing that’s on my mind is how much I miss AR, since he was a good source of introspection, then again I have no idea if that would have helped in the first place.” Tapping fingers filled the space between them as the Prince looked outside at the billions of humans and trolls walking over the streets.

“I’ve been contemplating what gender is and how I relate to it since you came out as nonbinary. It’s been making me think about what is my gender, and I’ve come to the conclusion none of them really fit, but that’s also something to worry about since that means I don’t relate to any of the options-“

“Before you go on a long tangent, I want to ask, what are the options?” He interrupted Dirk while cocking his head.

“Agender, man and woman.” Dirk said bluntly, staring at Roxy. The laughter that resulted made the god tip the iconic shades down to stare at Roxy with deadpan orange eyes.

“I get greeted by your eye colour, score! But no, you got it all wrong, gender isn’t rigid categories, it’s a spectrum. You can’t define it by strict labels and there’s too many to count. So you don’t fit in three, there’s millions of genders. Some might not have a word for it right now. I’m nonbinary, but that’s because I’m not a man or a woman completely, I’m somewhere in the middle, closer to a man if I were to describe it as like, a sliding scale. So don’t be in a hurry, and don’t worry if you don’t figure it out.”

“I need to. Not knowing makes things difficult. I know it might be unhealthy to obsess over, but ever since I made Auto Responder, I had the need to understand myself fully and everything about myself.” With an elbow on the table, Dirk took a hand and raked it through the mess of hair. Having done so more than a hundred times earlier, the Prince was sure it was a complete and utter mess at this point, and would need to be taken care of at home.

“Well, I have a list of some of the other more known ones, maybe one of them check out for you?” He offered a tablet.

Dirk took it, and looked over the list of options and each description of it, mumbling under breath before placing the tablet back down with a definite, “I’m going to use Genderless for now and see what happens.” It looked interesting, the excerpt specifically outlined not having a gender at all due to neurodivergence, rather than lacking a gender or having no gender, different from agender. It didn’t feel much different from everything else, but nothing did. Having several of the entries be defined by one’s neurodivergence was weird, but the more thought placed into the concept, the more it felt real to Dirk. Rather it meant that the Prince would have to take Rose up on her offer to get a fully evaluation soon, even if both of them came to the conclusion Dirk was probably neurodivergent and that it wasn’t impactful with how the god had lived life before the game. 

“Are there any pronouns I should use for you?”

Pursing lips, Dirk gave a shake of the head. “None preferably. I think I need more time to actually think everything over. I have no positive or negative feelings for anything on there, and so I’m debating on if I’m everything or not. I can figure out how to make an exact replica of my own brain as a teenager, create robots, plot out the exact way I can kiss Jake and even save everyone's lives getting into the game. I’ve designed complex interactions to lead to the outcome I desire, and I can’t even pick a gender. This is quite frankly, ridiculous.”

“You don’t gotta. Dirk, it’s not about just picking a gender, it’s about figuring out a big part of yourself, and something most people don’t do for yours. You figured out you’re gay, now you’re figuring out what else you could be.” He placed a hand on Dirk’s and gave him a smile. “Whatever your result, I’m here for you. Even if you later think you’re a Cis man I’ll still be here for you. We might be siblings but we were friends first and that matters the most to me.”

Dirk gave a snort. “This is so fucking corny, but thanks Rox. I appreciate the love and support. Maybe I can treat you to another coffee since I feel like if I don’t buy one soon I’m going to be kicked out for making a mess of a window table.” Motioning towards the table, and standing up, the god stretched out. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Caramel Macchiato please.”

“Gotcha.”

[imagine-riverdale]

Common Knowledge- Reggie Mantle Imagine

Everyone at Riverdale High, and anyone on the Northside of Riverdale, knew that Reginald Mantle had a girlfriend. Roxanna Harris did not attend Riverdale High nor Southside High, rather a privet school an hour away, only coming back to Riverdale on Saturday afternoons until Monday evening. Reggie and Roxanna had been dating since they were in middle school. Sure, they both had their ups and downs, but they loved each other. Roxanna was the cousin of Cheryl Blossom; her mother and Cheryl’s were sisters. Roxanna had the signature red hair that came from her mother’s family. A petite frame even from years of competitive cheerleading. Roxanna was very headstrong and didn’t put up with peoples bullshit, especially Reggie Mantle’s.

When Veronica Lodge came to Riverdale, her sights were immediately set on the football captain, little did she know of his girlfriend. She tried numerous times over the course of the week but none of her advances worked. Reggie kept brushing her off. Little did she know that Midge Klump was feeding all the attention Veronica was paying Reggie to his girlfriend.

It wasn’t until Saturday afternoon when Veronica was at Pops with Betty that she had a chance to see Reggie with his girlfriend. The two were sitting in a booth with Moose and Midge.

“Betty, who’s that with Reggie?” Veronica noticed the arm that was thrown over Roxanna’s shoulder.

“Roxanna Harris, Reggie’s girlfriend.” Betty stated.

“Why haven’t I seen her?”

“She goes to a Privet School in Mount. Elliott.” Betty stated. “She’s only home Saturday to Monday.” She told her friend glancing back to Roxanna when she laughed. “She’s super nice.”

“How serious are they?”

“Been together since we were in middle school.” Jughead stated sitting down in the booth. “Longest running couple in Riverdale High, well besides the fact she doesn’t go there.”

“I wouldn’t even try V.” Betty told her while Roxanna noticed the girl staring at her.

-

“I take it that that is Veronica Lodge?” Roxanna asked as Reggie glanced over and nodded.

“That would be her.”

“Midge says she has been trying to flirt with you since she got here.” Reggie sent a glare to Midge.

“Hey, when some skank starts trying to flirt with my best friend’s boyfriend, I’m going to tell her about it.” Midge stated shrugging.

“It’s nothing to worry about Rox.” Reggie kissed her head as Roxanna smiled slightly.

“Especially since I’m coming back to Riverdale High. My parents decided that with the recent events that have happened to the family it’s better if I move home. Plus, Cheryl needs support right now.”

-

Monday morning came and Roxanna walked into Riverdale High, everyone staring at her as she walked down the hall and immediately went towards Cheryl. As she passed Veronica and Kevin, Veronica turned to Kevin.

“Doesn’t she remind you of Cheryl? The red hair? The way everyone parts when she walks?”

“Well yeah, but then again, they’re cousins.” Kevin shrugged before Roxanna made it to her cousin.

“Cheryl.” She said before Cheryl turned and hugged her cousin tightly. Cheryl and Roxanna talked for a few minutes before Reggie came and picked Roxanna up and spun her around, causing her to giggle.

Veronica didn’t see Roxanna until later that day, she was sitting in the Student Lounge with, Jughead, Betty, Archie, and Kevin when in came Roxanna. She smiled at everyone before noticing the five sat on the couches.

“Hi guys.” She waved at them before dropping her bag next to the chair and taking a seat in the chair. “You must be Veronica Lodge, I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Roxanna Harris.” Roxanna held her hand out to Veronica who shook it.

“I wish I could say the same for you, but I only heard of you two days ago.”

“I thought you were still going to school in Mount. Elliott, Rox.” Archie stated as Roxanna turned her gaze to him.

“After Jason’s death, my parents decided it was best if I returned to Riverdale, not that I’m complaining.”

“I’m not either.” Reggie stated walking into the lounge and hearing Roxanna, he sat on the arm of her chair and Roxanna looked up locking her lips with his. “Hi.”

“Hi.” She smiled glancing back at Reggie. “Means I get to keep Reggie in line.” She stated causing Reggie to roll his eyes.

“Like you need to,”

“Don’t finish that sentence Reg.” Roxanna looked at him, a brow raised. “You forget I get play by plays from Midge.” She smirked as Reggie rolled his eyes.

“We’re all going out tonight, if you want to come Reggie.” Veronica batted her eyes at the boy while Roxanna clenched her jaw.

“My parents want you to come over for dinner tonight.” Roxanna told Reggie who nodded, she completely ignored Veronica.

“I have practice, but I’ll head over after to your house.” He stated before the bell rang for their final class. “I’ll see you tonight.” He kissed Roxanna quickly before leaving. Roxanna grabbed her bag and headed to her last class which she happened to have with Veronica, so she took a seat next to her.

“How long have you been with Reggie?”

“About four years. We were in seventh grade.” She stated pulling a notebook out of her bag. “What about you, you got anyone in your life who doesn’t have a girlfriend?” Roxanna’s snide comment made Veronica’s eyes widen.

“I didn’t know,” Veronica tried.

“You didn’t know? You mean when you blatantly tried to ask Reggie out right in front of me? Come off it, Veronica, I’m not an idiot. So, I’ll tell you once, you back off Reggie, or we’ll have a problem.” Roxanna gave her sweet smile.

“Okay.” Veronica wasn’t used to people being a bitch back to her, she also wasn’t used to not getting what she wanted, and she wanted Reggie.

-

Later that day Veronica was at River Vixen practice when Roxanna came walking in side by side with Cheryl, her own red hair bouncing behind her. What Veronica noticed first was the River Vixen uniform she was wearing.

“So, Cheryl just lets anyone on the squad?” Veronica asked while stretching.

“Roxanna is her cousin V. Plus she did competitive cheer for six years.” Betty stated as Veronica glared over at where Roxanna began doing her stretches whilst talking to Midge.

-

“You know Veronica is glaring at you right?” Midge asked whilst the two were stretching.

“Of course, I know that.” Roxanna stated. “But we both know I’m on the squad for like a week before Cheryl kicks me off, we both know Cheryl doesn’t like sharing the spotlight, and I always steal it from her.” The two laughed. Roxanna never intentionally tried to steal the spotlight from Cheryl, but she was simply better at Cheerleading than Cheryl was.

-

A week later right before the football game Cheryl kicked Roxanna off the squad, much to Roxanna’s joy. Come the football game she sat at the front of the bleachers wearing Reggie’s letterman jacket over her sweater. Veronica noticed Roxanna right away and glared noticing she was wearing Reggie’s jacket.

Riverdale’s football team won their game, as everyone expected them to, Reggie Mantle making the final touch-down. Roxanna ran onto the field and into Reggie’s arms, him spinning her around before she kissed him.

“I could get used to this.” Reggie grinned as he put Roxanna back on the ground.

“Well you better Mantle.” Roxanna grinned before he wrapped an arm around her shoulder leading her off the field.

-

Veronica watched the way Reggie interacted with Roxanna and realized how the two looked at each other, like they were the only thing that mattered to the other person. When Reggie went to change, and Roxanna was left standing outside the changing room with Midge she decided she needed to apologize. Walking over Midge nodded behind Roxanna and at Veronica.

“What do you want Veronica?”

“I came to apologize.” Veronica stated shifting on her feet as Roxanna turned completely towards her. “I’m not used to not getting what I want, and I wanted Reggie, even though I knew you two were together. I’m sorry for continuously going after him, I’m backing off. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, it’s like you’re his world and there’s no way he’d ever see me that way. You’re a good match for him.” Veronica turned to walk away.

“Veronica. Thank you.” Roxanna said once Veronica glanced back at her. “Maybe we could be friends.” Veronica nodded before leaving.

-

New girls may come and go at Riverdale High, but they never could win the heart of Reggie Mantle, seeing as his heart belonged to Roxanna Harris. The girls were always warned he was taken, some respected that, others, not so much. But Roxanna always had Reggie’s attention no matter how much the other girls tried. Reggie Mantle and Roxanna Harris were together, and that was common knowledge.

Holy cow, I have so many imagines in the process right now, including one with Toni, one with Fangs and a Sweet Pea one, but I whipped this one up within a few hours. Tell me what you think!

As always, thanks for reading!

-M. T

REQUESTS ARE OPEN FOR ALL RIVERDALE CHARACTERS!

[hotshithaxxorbitch]

Dirk&Roxy==> Get Engaged

Dirk

Just because you're the new Champion doesn't mean you stop camping with your Pokemon, so it was no surprise Roxy was in the room with the Switch, and that's exactly what Dirk was planning. So it was right on queue when he kicked down the wall from the other side, revealing the secret passage he had been constructing and finished with this dramatic entrance. Clapping dust out of his hands and shaking debris out of his hair, he nodded to them. "Rox, come check this out. I made a passage to the top of the mountain."

Roxy

Roxy was stooped over the switch, eagerly shaking a little feather wand in the face of her sylveon, Peppa. Her trance was interrupted when suddenly a nearby wall literally burst open in front of her. Startled, she let out a shriek, the switch falling into the couch cushions as she moved. Standing in the hole the wall left was Dirk, dusting himself off and asking her to follow him through a mysterious tunnel. Just a day in the life, tbh. "Is this what you've been doin' for the past month? But sure, let's go, give me a minute to throw on clothes, I'm sure it's cold in there." Roxy waved an arm around before ducking into her room. She knew Dirk, and he'd been particularly weird lately, and he was definitely up to something. She was also pretty sure it was about to pay off, whatever the fuck it was, so she wanted to pull herself together. Once she was dressed and presentable and like, wearing shoes, she returned to the common room. "Aye aye, cap'n, let's go."

Dirk

He held out his hand, letting them take hold before he led her up the large tunnel. It was very roughly hewn, an obvious rush job, but very clearly structurally sound and safe. He wasn't nervous, not really. He had planned it out very carefully and had already processed his emotions about the whole thing some time ago. He was confident. "You ever go to the top of the mountain? It'd be even easier for you than me, since you could just phase through and I have to go outside or use one of the other tunnels I made. I go up there sometimes." Well, a lot more real recently, but it was true, sometimes he climbed to the top just to breathe for a bit. It was why he knew around now would be a good time. The lighting was perfect.

Roxy

She followed along beside him, letting him slip his hand into hers as she started up the tunnel. "A few times, yeah, but not in awhile. I don't think I've been up since we really got settled in here."

Dirk

"I like it. It's weird, even though my planet of Sburb was just tall ass buildings, I liked it. Something about being up high calms me down." It was eerie, how easy this stuff rolled out of him. He normally had trouble pushing aside his metaphorical shades. Maybe Roxy has been more of an influence on him than he realized. "You know, this whole mountain thing started out as a massive joke, and also a way to ensure a large and secure base of operations, I keep finding myself decorating it like a home too. You seen the carpet I added to the southern hallways? Shit makes you forget there's nothing but pure hard stones it's so soft."

Roxy

"Well, you did spend your formative years in a big ol' skyscraper above the floods, so I 'spose that makes sense." Roxy smiles up at Dirk, leaning over and popping her hip into his. "Of course it's a home, dummy, we live here. We may be freaky clone babies, and you may like to pretend to be a lifeform that's evolved beyond the need for basic emotions, but we're still regular old pack bond happy humans." She laughed quietly, nodding. "Yeah, that shit is plush."

Dirk

His lips tilted upwards slightly, in what some scientists could possibly argue was technically a smile as he yanked them up a little faster, picking up the pace. "You remember that question you asked a while ago, and I told you we would talk about it later? You know, about marriage and whatever?"

Roxy

Roxy sped up slightly as Dirk tugged on her arm. He was smiling, or at least what passed for smiling for Dirk. "Ah yes, my very eloquently composed response followed by you sayin' "We'll talk later bye" and digitally running out of the room?" She smirked at him playfully, quirking an eyebrow. "Yes, I remember."

Dirk

They finally reached the top, coming out through an admittedly small door. The sun was setting at just the right angle, and the clouds were the right shape to reflect the golds and reds and pinks of the slightly darkening sky. There was a large statue of two people, very obviously Dirk and Roxy but a good nine feet tall. The Dirk figure was looking out at the sky, his face set in Dirk's default (and arguably only) facial expression: stone faced stoicism, which worked quite well in stone. The Roxy figure had a hand on his shoulder and was looking back and down at them, their other hand reaching down as if to invite whoever was looking to join them. Some real sappy and legendary shit, honestly. There was a small box in the palm of the stone Roxy's hand. "My answer's in that." said Dirk, gesturing to said box.

Roxy

Dirk pulled them both up out of the tunnel and up to the mountain's peak, any questions Roxy had about what he'd been up to lately. He'd been carving the top of the mountain  into a statue. Of them. Well, that was certainly very Dirk, wasn't it? Sitting in the statue's palm was a small box, which Dirk was gesturing to as he spoke. Logic very clearly dictated what was in that box based on context. Roxy came to a halt, her hands drifting up to hover over her mouth. She was frozen in place, her eyes struck wide. "Dirk..." she stammered quietly "Is this...? Are you...?"

Dirk

Dirk shrugged, gesturing to the box again, his hand on the small of her back. "What, like it would change anything between us? I fully plan on spending the rest of my eternal life with you in it. And if that means doing things like making a big fucking fuss about how we'll always be on our own side, then this party's going to be weird as shit." He pushed her forward, gently. "Just take the box."

Roxy

Roxy stepped forward, glancing back at Dirk, equal parts nervous and curious as she tried to glean literally anything off of his face. Carefully, she picked the box out of the giant stone version of her hand and pulled the lid open.

Dirk

The ring glinted in the burning sunset, the intricate patterns all across the outside resembling electrical circuitry. The gem glowed softly, a deep pink with some sort of light in its center that flickered like a living thing. Handmade every step of the way by the man himself. Dirk had taken off his shades. He took a deep breath, his arms held out to the side lightly as he stood behind her. "Let's get human married, you weirdo."

Roxy

A sound escaped from Roxy, somewhere between a manic giggle and a sob, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She nodded, not quite trusting herself to formulate english, or any other languages, in that exact moment. Her eyes flicked from the ring, pink and glowing softly from within, up to Dirk, who had pushed his shades up into his hair to let her see his eyes. Roxy nodded again, her head bobbling rapidly as she did. She held the open ring box towards Dirk. "Put it on for me?" she asked quietly, smiling with watery eyes.

Dirk

He rolled his eyes, but they were smiling more than his lips as he took the ring out of the box, batted said box aside and gently took her hand. He slid it on, like how he'd slipped it on hundreds of times to the exact replica he had made. He'd made sure it would fit perfectly.

Roxy

Roxy grasped Dirk's hands as he made to pull back after slipping the ring on her finger, pulling him back closer to her. She took a moment to look down at their clasped hands, and the pink stone glittering on her ring finger. With her other free hand, she reached up and cupped the side of Dirk's face and grinned at him. "Yeah, let's get human married."

Dirk

There was a rumble in his throat that was in the philosophical range of a laugh or chuckle. He bent forward ever so slightly and pressed his lips to hers.

Roxy

Roxy leaned up, returning Dirk's kiss and burrowing him into him before looking up at him, beaming. "Hey. I love you. Weirdo."

NEW MESSAGES

Dirk

"I know. Me too." He didn't even break the hug, he just lifted her up and started the descent down the mountain again. "It's getting cold, and I have rubble to clean out of the game room."

[katreal-fic]

Day 7 — for #fictober 10/10/19

Prompt: “No, and that’s final.”

Fandom: Homestuck

Warnings: Cursing, 2nd Person POV

Part of a series. Please start from the beginning!

Characters: Dirk Strider & ARquiusprite; ARquiusprite & Davepeta

First | Previous | Next

ARquiusprite is ignoring you.

That’s fine. That’s cool. Two can play at this game. You came despite having to deal with him. Not because of him. This works out for the both of you. If he wants to completely ignore your presence all throughout breakfast, not even so much as a sarcastic, “Long time no see” except in many more words and probably more than a little insultingly, that suits you just fine. You get enough of that shit seeping into your thoughts you don’t need it from an external source too.

Dirk > Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

You trail a little behind Roxy, her housemate–? You’re not exactly sure what relationship is going on here, but it feels a bit more than housemate–and an exuberant squared sprite as they wind their way through what amounts for a Carapace-targeted market. There’s a lot of…things… you would never have considered food items, being haggled over by chessmen (or women) of both the prospitian and dersite variety. You wonder if New Derse and New Prospit are as segregated as the names implied, or if they are merely historical relics at this point. It’s been several thousand years since y'all seeded civilizations and then completed your big time skip. You don’t see any obvious tension in the mingling of the two types here; and there’s even a few other races either meandering around window shopping or actually manning the shops.

It’s definitely an…interesting set of wares, as the three actual shoppers on this venture stop at a clothing shop. You keep half an ear on the others, Roxy and Davepeta’s chatter loud enough to track even over the odd clicking sounding dialect of the other patrons. A lot of different styles and colors of drapery, from things as simple as something you recognize as bed-sheets, exquisitely tailored little petticoats fitted for the unique cylindrical proportions of the caraparians. 

“Dirkleton! Stop being a stinker and get over here! It’s time for ice-cream!” Roxy quite literally drags you out of your head, latching onto your arm. You aren’t sure how long you’ve been gone, stoically looking out over the crowd with a tension that reminds you of the early days of the game, when you still were still hopped up on adrenaline from your dramatic entry into the session and the bone deep knowledge that your charge was in danger and there’s nothing you could do about it. Nothing you should do about it. Because baby bird need to stretch his wings and fly and it would doom them to coddle them. 

Ice-cream is an…event. True to Roxy’s word ARquiusprite is the one to pay for everyone’s sweet treats. Except yours. But you don’t want one. You hang back while Roxy and Davepeta put their heads together to decide on a good flavor for the cherub, who is wringing her (their? You didn't ask.) claws, a lime green blush staining Calliope's skull-like face.

You don’t notice the drift until you find yourself next to the red sprite that still towards a head above you, despite you finishing off your growthspurt in the intervening years. Not that the contest is really all that fair, what with the floating and the ghostly tail. At this point you’re fuckin’ committed, you guess. He’s still wearing that off-white tank with the weird arrow-shades on it that he had when he was prototyped, which lends credence to your wondering about the staticity of their appearance. The advantage of a tank-top, you note, is that you can see all his those freakishly big muscles. Bulging as he unconsciously shifts and flexes. You can almost see the tension running off his skin. So can the poor bastard pawn behind the register, who is sweating bullets glancing between you two.

Like Davepeta, ARquius’s shades are completely opaque. You can’t read anything, except for the perpetual frown hiding broken teeth. Black cracks running through the constructed shades stirring up the guilt in your gut. (Cracks. A pressure. Your life in his hands. You can do nothing but talk. Stall. Try to buy your right to live with logic and cajoling and guilt)

“How do you even plan to pay for this shit? I don’t see anywhere to keep a wallet.”

“Small-talk still isn’t your STRONG suit is it, Dirk?” ARquiusprite’s voice is a strange rumble, straight red hair shifting as he turns to regard you (you assume) out of the corner of his eye. It’s not like you can see it. 

“Can’t say it’s yours either, bro.” You shot back, before gritting your teeth, “You’ve barely said a word.”

“To you, maybe. To those DESERVING of my brilliance I am one loquacious motherf*****. I have a f****** degree in small talk, dude. Graduated from the sh**** auto responder school of horsesh*** and improvisation. I’m afraid being your entertainment is rather low on my priorities right now.” 

That’s more like it.

“They made you promise to behave, didn’t they?”

He twitches. Your lips curl into a smirk. “Dude, don’t hold yourself back on my account. I’m the interloper here”

“I’m not doing it for you.” He bites back, broken teeth peeking out behind a stifled growl, “I’m doing it because my moirail asked me a f****** favor. If it were up to me you wouldn’t even be crashing this party.”

“Roxy invited me.”

“It was an invitation for the future not right this f****** second. You knew full well she had guests and you decided to crash anyway. There’s no other word for that but inconsiderate as hell.”

He’s right. The fuckin’ arrow straight to the heart causes you to clam up, shut down. The protection of your shades and stoicism is nothing before a being that was once closer to you than anyone in the fuckin’ world every could be.

(you’d thought about it once; trying to create life. Looking at the result, you’re glad you kept to dumb as rocks chat-bots instead)

“You wouldn’t understand, Dirk.” It’s quiet. Nothing more than a rumble in his chest, “At least everyone else cared when they came back. I know you better than anyone–no one f****** matters when you get your head stuck up your own a**.”

Everyone came. Except you.

Before you can respond–how the fuck do you respond?–Davepeta bounds up with what looks like, and probably is, strawberry flavored ice-cream, Calliope with some hot pink flavor, and Roxy with cone full of mint chocolate chip. She turns that smile on you as ARquiusprite goes back to ignoring you (much to the relief of the poor chess dude behind the counter.) You watch as he reaches into Davepeta’s coat to withdraw a wallet from the currently mostly-green garment. Smart. Maybe ARquius didn’t have any pockets in his skin-tight sweat-soaked tank, but Davepeta lucked out into a much more versatile clothing selection.

“You sure you don’t want anythin’ Dirk? I saw they had orange sherbert in there. I kno you’d love that.”

You shake your head, not looking away from the way Davepeta flings themselves into ARq’s arms in excited gratitude. At the way ARquiusprite’s glow seems to intensify, curling his tail around them. You swear there’s a red blush staining his off-white semi-corporeal face.

“Yo, earth-c to Dirk, do you copy?”

You don’t understand?

Maybe you don’t.

ARquiusprite was one of the few voices you don’t have popping up in your head.

You wouldn’t understand, Dirk.

You have a feeling that’s gonna change.

“No, Rox,” You purposefully shake yourself out of your own head again, “No, I’m good.”

First | Previous | Next

[lyssala]

You’re Idiots, The Both of You

Pairings: Terra/Aqua and mentioned/Implied Cloud/Tifa & Zack/Aerith, Kingdom Hearts

Setting: Halloween before New Years from the first chapter; Terra & Aqua are 20 & 19, Ven is 16

Rating: K

Notes: A lot of these came from ideas I already had but this one absolutely came from the quote. I read it and was like oh no this has to get worked in somehow cause I need it. I had already written Cid in so I figured Cloud was around here somewhere too lmao It ended up a lot cuter than I thought it would be too. Also picking out the kids’ Halloween outfits was the highlight of my day lmao

AO3

14. Drive

"If you're gonna throw your life away, he'd better have a motorcycle."

-Lorelai

It wasn’t a huge secret that Aqua loved Halloween. There was just something so very magical about the leaves starting to change colors, the small of fall in the air. The sun setting over the town center and all the haystacks, pumpkins, lanterns, the creepy decorations mixed with the cute ones that lined every store front and all over the green. All the stores stayed open late so the kids could have a safe place to go trick-or-treating, an assortment of all sorts of costumes parading the sidewalks for hours as the kids played and gathered all the candy they could.

She remembered it well. Aqua loved getting dressed up in whatever she chose to be that year and taking the short drive into town with her mom and Terra and his mom to go around to all the stores and play the games the town always had set up for the kids. When Ven was old enough he’d join them too, holding their hands as he tried to keep up between them. She used to be able to get them to get their costumes to match when Terra and Ven were young enough not to care but she found about the time Ven wanted to go out with his friends instead was about the time Terra didn’t want to go at all anymore; which did kind of suck cause he didn’t eat most of his candy and would give it to her. Some people apparently thought Halloween had an age limit, she absolutely did not.

“Trick or treat!” a group of voice exclaimed causing Aqua to look down at the sidewalk and not over the town center like she had been. It was a group of three kids, old enough to be on their own for the night and all looking mighty pleased about it.

She didn’t recognize them even though none of them had their faces covered but that wasn’t too unexpected; most people from surrounding towns came out for the night. “Look at you all,” she said with a smile, pushing herself up from the stool she was sitting on so she could grab a handful of candy from the bowl set up next to her. “Happy Halloween,” she said dropping some candy in each bag with only excited “thank you!”s in response before the kids took off again.

Aqua sat back down with a small sigh. It was starting to slow down; a lot of the kids already in the center of town after their initial go around was done. While sure, at nineteen it was a little old to go treat or treating she still liked dressing up and participating. Once Terra stopped caring about it and working at Cid’s, Aqua always volunteered to sit outside the front of the diner and hand out candy since Cid was the last person who’d want to do it. She didn’t mind one bit and because she knew she was doing him a big favor that Cid wouldn’t care how much candy she bought for the store and how much she ate for herself.

It was a huge win in her opinion she thought as she popped another peanut butter cup in her mouth.

Aqua glanced behind her, looking in the bright windows of the diner. It wasn’t too busy since the dinner rush was already over a little early do to the events outside but there were a few families getting some food. The only other person in sight was Ven, who looked a little comical wiping down the counter dressed in a long red cape, the rest of his costume an assortment of clothes and silver armor he made himself (minus the hammer in one hand since Cid said absolutely not). Of course, it would’ve been nice if Terra had told her he wasn’t working tonight.

She sighed again, though this time a little less from holiday cheer and more for the uneasy knot in her stomach. She pulled her phone out of the short jean jacket she was wearing over her dress and clicked into messages but the last one sent to Terra was the one she sent three hours ago and still hadn’t heard anything from him.

It wasn’t unusual so to speak; sure they talked a lot but not every hour of every day. He had every right to have time to himself but she was only here for the weekend before she had to go back to school. She knew Halloween wasn’t his favorite thing but it would be nice even if he just came to hang out with her.

Aqua reached over to the bowl to grab another piece of chocolate. Whatever, if he didn’t want to enjoy the festivities fine, she was sure going to. She got to eat all the candy she wanted and got to dress up, how could that be a bad night?

She had done it before but she decided to go with a 50’s theme this year. It was overdone maybe, but she found the style to be cute so it was a nice excuse to use it. She dug through thrift stores all over her university town and found a beautiful blue dress with a fitted bodice and a wide skirt that twirled out when she spun around (which, yes, she absolutely did do). It was off the shoulder on both sides so she had to get a jean jacket to wear over it since October wasn’t usually warm enough for that, but with the black headband with a matching bow on top, super fluffy white petticoat, and Mary Janes her mom had from some of Aqua’s performances she was pleased with her costume.

Though, it would be nice if her supposed best friend would actually answer his phone so she could give him all the dark chocolate she was hoarding in her pocket for him. Stupid boy.

“Trick or treat!” That voice made Aqua look up from her phone, considering it wasn’t nearly as young as most the voices she heard that night. “Or well, kinda, we don’t have bags.”

Aqua had to laugh when she saw all of Ven’s friends standing in front of her. They didn’t have bags true, but they all did have costumes, and matching ones at that. It was adorable to say the least, even if it did serve as an ever reminder that her friend didn’t want to have anything to do with tonight. “I assume you’re here for Ven?”

“Yep,” Sora nodded, though one of his hands was already reaching into the candy bowl. Someone, presumably Kairi, had drawn an eyeliner goatee and mustache onto his baby face, making him look a little ridiculous.

Roxas was nearby, shoving his very patriotic shield at his brother until Sora passed the blond some of the candy.

“Personality wise, I’m pretty sure you two have the wrong costumes on,” Aqua snorted.

“Yeah, but Rox has the hair, so…” Lea dropped his hand onto Roxas’s head, ruffling his hair for effect. It kind of looked like they just wrapped Lea’s arm in duct tape but someone did convince him to wear his hair down, as opposed to pulled back like usual.

“And cause no one can put up with you like Roxas can,” Xion said from Lea’s other side. She still had her short hair down but otherwise dressed in dark blacks and greens, probably to match Ven’s godly attire.

“That’s true,” Sora said, though his mouth was still full of chocolate as Kairi was trying to get him away from the bowl. She was also dressed in almost all black just a little silver and red to bring out her red hair that was pretty telling to who she was supposed to be; and there weren’t that many female characters on the team to begin with.

“No one asked you, idiot,” Lea rolled his eyes, Roxas taking to hit Lea with the shield instead to get him to get his elbow off Roxas’ head.

Both Riku and Namine were hanging at the back the group, as per usual. Riku looked a mix of amused and annoyed as Sora had taken to trying to shove some of the candy in Kairi’s mouth while she laughed and tried to get away. Riku was dressed probably the most plainly in just a purple button up and black slacks though, the annoyance probably came from when the others clearly implied who they thought Riku was most fitting for.

Namine was always quiet as she was the newest member to the gang, only having lived here for a few weeks now but Aqua was happy to see her fitting in wearing a black dress and long red jacket to match the rest of the group. It couldn’t be easy to move somewhere that everyone your age has known each other since they were babies and still feely okay to fit in, especially someone as shy as Namine seemed to be. Aqua was happy it was her kids that were making Namine feel at home in her new town.

“Alright,” Ven said as the door next to Aqua swung open, cape swishing as he struck some dramatic pose. “I am here.”

Kairi and Sora were still fighting over candy, Lea was blocking Roxas’ hands with his shield Lea somehow got a hold of while Xion laughed in response.

“It’s gonna be a night,” Riku said.

Sora didn’t seem to take too kindly to that, swinging his other arm around Riku’s neck. “I think you mean a very good night.”

“I meant what I said.” The silver haired boy at least was kind of smiling now.

“Alright go on, you’re hogging the store front,” Aqua said with a laugh, noting Sora’s hand reaching back for the bowl. “And the candy, get on now.”

“You’ll be okay?” Ven asked, walking backwards down the sidewalk as his team had already started walking, a few turning to wave back to Aqua.

“I’m fine here,” she said waving. “Have a good time at the party.”

Ven gave her a smile and wave before turning to jog after his friends, hammer coming down to tap at Xion’s head. It seemed all too fast their laughter was gone.

Aqua sighed as she looked back down at her phone in her lap. Still nothing. The street was pretty empty now, just the people in the center of town having a good time, the teenagers off at whoever was hosting a Halloween party, and Aqua here, reaching for another peanut butter cup.

Maybe she should just call him, tell him to come keep her company but he could also be sleeping and she didn’t want to bother him at all. She reached for the bowl of candy yet again.

It wasn’t exactly quiet out, music was playing people were laughing and shouting, some kids flat out screaming but even then Aqua could still feel the sudden sound of a heavy engine pulling into town. Most of the roads were covered with people and kids wandering around but if you went slow enough you could get through; Sherriff Auburn and a few other officers were on duty to help with traffic should they need it so Aqua didn’t pay too much mind.

Well, until she could see it wasn’t a car but a sleek black and very familiar motorcycle. The driver was going relatively slow, the engine noise pretty calm but honestly it was never that bad considering she knew that bike like everyone in town knew it. It was a little weird though; Cloud hated social events even more than Terra did so she had no idea why the blond would be showing himself around now. He could’ve just been going home but he didn’t need to go through town for that, nor did he have a passenger which meant Tifa wasn’t dragging him somewhere.

Aqua supposed it wasn’t any of her business anyways. She liked Cloud but he was a little older than even Terra was so it’s not like she spent massive amount of time with Cloud or his friends, outside of the occasional party. Terra would actually go to those, surprisingly enough; he always liked Zack and since he had been taking to hanging out with Aerith and in turn Cloud and Tifa, Aqua did find herself around them every now and then.

But not enough for Aqua to try and not choke on her candy when the bike stopped in the street in front of her. He turned off the engine as she tried to stop choking, propping the bike up before swinging his leg over to step up onto the sidewalk. She supposed he could just be here to pick up something from Cid’s but there was something a little off.

Despite knowing Cloud’s bike, she was pretty sure that wasn’t him. Okay, she didn’t make a habit of staring at him, but he was a fairly slender guy even with working at his dad’s auto shop since he was a kid. Those shoulders weren’t Cloud, nor were the arms, or the beat leather jacket, or the brown hair when he pulled off the helmet.

Aqua promptly inhaled the rest of her candy causing her to cough when she saw Terra looking back at her.

“How many times have I told you not to eat those so fast,” he said as he walked over, helmet under his arm as he reached his other hand out to her.

She promptly swatted him away, still coughing but now she was more mad than surprised. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Aqua managed to get out.

Terra, on the other hand, looked more amused than anything. “I’m coming to get you, what else would I be doing?”

She took a breath, finally being able to but it absolutely didn’t make the situation better; even if he was still leaning over her slightly making it hard not to glance down at the tight white shirt under his jacket. “I meant on the bike, you idiot. You don’t know how to drive that.”

“Obviously I do, I just brought it here didn’t I?”

Aqua could only blink at him. “Is that why you were ignoring me?”

“I was not ignoring you,” he said, straightening himself up but still watching her. “I was trying to find something to wear.”

It was a little unusual attire. Maybe not so much the shirt and pants but the leather jacket was misplaced, even if it was for the bike. “Why?” she asked.

“Zack invited us to go to a Halloween party and I know you love that kinda stuff,” Terra shrugged like it was the most obvious answer in the world but her heart was in her throat.

“You never told me.”

“Yeah,” he snorted, reaching his hand out to push at her chin lightly. “That was the point. He asked me last week or so and by then you had already been sending me pictures of what you were planning to wear tonight so I figured why not.” Terra gestured vaguely to himself. “Matches right?”

Aqua was still in such a state of surprise she nearly tripped over her feet as she stood up from the stool. His attire did make a little more sense in that context; usually he’d still be in a t-shirt and shorts even this late in the year. She did try to ignore the fact he actually wore something on Halloween with the specific intention of matching hers but her stomach felt light at the thought.

“You did this for me?”

“Yeah,” he said like it was no big deal at all. “Course.”

She reached her hands out to adjust the front of his jacket, the leather old and worn in her hands. “Where did you even get this thing?”

“It’s my dad’s,” Terra said.

Aqua blinked up at him. “Like your actual dad?”

“Yeah,” Terra said, rolling his eyes. “Can you imagine Paul wearing this? I’m pretty sure the only colors in his closet are tan and plaid. No, it was in the garage in a bunch of bags Mom’s been meaning to toss for ages. I figured the least the man could do after walking out on us ages ago.”

She ran her hands down the material a little bit before letting go. She knew she had known Terra’s biological dad but she was a baby at the time and only knew what he looked like from the few pictures that were still around. They did look alike as Terra had gotten older, similar facial structure and build, something she knew used to bother him. He used to be jealous of Ven who looked so much like their mom, making Aqua remind Terra that all three of them not only shared the same eyes and smile, but also the same big heart which set Terra apart from his father. That always seemed to make him feel better; at least back then, he was better with it now.

“It looks good on you,” she said. It was true, it fit him well, not too big or too small though she highly doubted he’d start wearing jackets any time soon.

“Well, thanks, but are we going or not?” He walked backwards a little bit, back towards the bike.

Aqua blinked at him. She had completely forgotten the party and his chosen ride for the night. “Wait, you mean like you want me to come with you on that?”

“That’s why it’s here,” he said, smile looking way too amused for his own good.

“I’m not getting on that with you.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Don’t trust me?”

Aqua crossed her arms against her chest. “I trust you plenty, Terra, but I didn’t even know you knew how to ride a motorcycle until five minutes ago.”

“It’s pretty boring around here with you gone,” he said, leaning over to a side bag. “I had nothing better to do so I asked Cloud if he’d show me, easy as that.”

There was no one in the world she trusted more than Terra and she knew he’d never put her in a situation that was dangerous. Still she didn’t even know if she’d go with Cloud who had been driving that thing since before he could legally drive.

“C’mon,” Terra said, pulling out a second helmet, presumably Tifa’s. “Do you honestly think Cloud would let me use his bike if he didn’t think it was okay?”

That was actually a very fair point. She bit down on her lower lip. “Fine.”

“Is that a ‘I’m only doing this because I never say no to Terra’? or a ‘I’m actually okay with this and it’ll be fun’?” He had dropped his helmet onto the bike, holding the smaller one in his hands towards her.

It was admittedly different and she wasn’t sure if the knots him her stomach were nerves or anticipation but even when she was unsure of herself, she knew she could always trust him. “It’ll be fun.”

Terra took a few steps forward carefully placing the helmet down on her head. It was a little tight and felt odd to breathe but otherwise it was okay. She watched him as he glanced over her shoulder, giving a wave to probably Cid who must’ve known Terra was going to take her from her candy post. He moved back to the bike, kicking a leg over so he could sit down and balance the bike with both his feet on the ground. He gestured for her to come over.

Aqua was pretty glad she decided to wear shorts under her dress for warmth. She walked across the sidewalk and carefully moved to sit down behind him. Her skirt was a little too fluffy and she couldn’t reach the ground at all but the bike was steady under Terra’s control.

“Kick your feet up there,” he said, turning slightly to gesture where she should keep her legs. “We don’t have to go very far, alright?”

She nodded as she did what she was told. It did seem a little better now that she was sitting so close to him, his familiar warmth bringing her the usual comfort, enough to ease her nerves. Aqua reached her arms around him, leaning in so her head was over his shoulder as he put his helmet back on. He smelt a little like leather and oil but it was still unique to him, and not unwelcome.

The bike roared to life underneath her, the vibrations making her legs feel a little like jelly. Terra leaned his head against hers lightly, asking if she was ready. She tightened her grip on him a little but nodded back.

It was slow at first, different, but not too bad. When they got past the crowds of people and the town, the speed picked up, the familiar location blurring by as the wind whipped around her. Her breath was in her throat at the sudden surge of adrenaline but it still wasn’t bad. It was smoother than she expected, not nearly as frightening as she thought it could be. Of course, part of that was she was pressed up against Terra’s back, her hands clenched together around his stomach as he drove, an endless comfort even in a new situation. She risked looking around a little bit, the air kinda chilly but everything else was warm.  

She couldn’t hear him because of the wind but she could feel him laugh a little, like she was gonna get a big “I told you so” when they were done. Whatever. She could take it. Aqua propped her chin up on his shoulder, closing her eyes for just a moment. This was a lot better than sitting eating candy alone all night.

[shiverpeakstraveler]

Just Like Fire Chp 3

Once again returning to Ascalon, Liana is informed of a Blood Legion training facility and hatchery falling under attack by the Flame Legion, and is sent by Rytlock to aid a charr ranger Rox in reclaiming it. Upon arriving, though, she finds the hatchery under attack by a group composing of Flame Legion and Dredge-just like the one that had attacked Cragstead.

Once Liana was able to get her bearings together, she hastily made her way back to the Black Citadel, not even bothering to slow down as she jumped between asuran waygates to reach the charr capital. Her mind was racing as she struggled to remain calm, trying not to think of what possible danger her father might be in the hands of his captors.

He's going to be fine, Liana, relax! she thought as she began the climb up to the Imperator's Core once more, Dad's been through rougher scraps! He's probably fighting his way to freedom right now!

But what if he's not? What if something terrible has happened to him?

"-talk about that later. I've got a mission for you. You're aware of the refugee situation."

Liana glanced up immediately when she heard Rytlock's voice. The Blood Tribune was speaking to a young female charr with sandy brown fur and a dark red mane. Going by her armor and choice of weaponry, the charr was a ranger like Liana, although the human couldn't find a pet by her side. Nearby was a large group of charr officials seeming to be discussing the threat of the dredge and Flame Legion alliance. She recognized a few of the members present, such as Imperator Smodur the Unflinching, Tribunes Torga Desertgrave of Ash and Bhuer Goreblade of Iron, as well as Mia Kindleshot, whom Liana vaguely remembered from a party a year ago at Minister Caudecus' estate that resulted in said Minister being relocated to the palace 'for his safety'.

"Yes, Tribune," the charr replied, her grip on the short bow in her hands tightening,  "I heard the Flame Legion have been mobilizing in northern Diessa Plateau."

"You heard right," Rytlock growled, "They're mucking with our assets up there, and it's singeing my fur. I need you to secure that hatchery we discussed. You think you can handle that?"

"Yes, Tribune. I'll leave right away."

"Good. Take any support you can find. You're likely to need it."

"Yes, Tribune!" the charr exclaimed before leaving to go gather supplies for the mission.

Maybe now I can see what Sourpuss wants, Liana thought before clearing her throat loudly.

Rytlock immediately turned to face her, the anger present across his face seeming to have fade away slightly.

"Commander, welcome. Unfortunately, this is a private defense quorum. Of course, if you have time, I would ask a favor of you."

"Well, I did say I'd come back after I took care of something for Whitebear like you asked," she replied, "I've got a report from the Wayfarer Foothills."

"Where? Oh, yeah. That norn kid," he grumbled, snarling slightly as he recalled the guardian, "You went with him? How'd that turn out?"

"Better than expected. We managed to take back his homestead, but things are rough over there."

"Things are rough everywhere. You want a taste of it? I've got a soldier who could use some back-up. Name's Rox. I just gave her a mission to protect some Blood Legion assets. What do you say?"

"Sure, I'm game. Just tell me where I need to go."

"The North Nolan hatchery is in Diessa Plateau. Just outside the citadel's northern gate. The hatchery is northwest of the town. Go quickly. Rox'll be heading there soon."

"You got it. Catch you later, Rytlock," Liana acknowledged before hurrying off to look for Rox.

She soon found her gathering a few extra weapons, among them what looked to be a greatsword as well as a few daggers.

"You Rox?"

The charr immediately turned around, her muzzle twisting slightly in a frown as she gave the human a critical eye. "Depends on who's asking."

"I'm Liana Rohland," she replied, extending a hand out to her, "Tribune Brimstone asked me to give you a hand with your mission. Something about a hatchery?"

Rox's frown immediately became a grimace as took ahold of her hand and gave it a shake. "You'd be correct. It's under attack by the Flame Legion and the terrible things they're doing sicken me. Those poor defenseless baby devourers won't be able to stand a chance."

Devourers were scorpion-like arachnids with two tails, capable of thriving in arid and humid climates. Some were even able to grow to gargantuan sizes and for awhile were used by the charr as siege mounts. Nowadays, they were commonly the preferred pet of many a charr ranger. As intimidating and dangerous as they were, Liana couldn't help but admit to having a certain fondness for them.

"If it's one thing I'm good at, it's bashing Flame Legion skulls in," Liana proclaimed, cracking her knuckles, "How does one get to the hatchery, then?"

"Head out the northern gate of the Black Citadel into Diessa Plateau. That's Nolan. Just go northwest of the town, you'll find the hatchery. You can't miss it."

"Thanks! Erm....if it's alright to ask, why is this hatchery such an important asset?"

"It's one of the largest Blood Legion hatcheries and training facilities," Rox explained as she hauled herself off the ground, "We've got a lot of resources invested in it. If it were compromised, it would be a terrible loss."

"If it's so important, why isn't Rytlock sending other soldiers with you?"

"Blood Legion personnel are stretched thin protecting the citadel and preparing for war. Besides, I know a test when I see one!"

The statement caused Liana to raise a brow in surprise. "A test?"

Rox nodded with enthusiasm. "Tribune Brimstone wants to see if I'm resourceful. I'm trying out for his warband, you know?"

"His warband?"

"Yeah. I lost my warband in a mining explosion. I'm gladium. Does that bother you?"

Gladium were charr who lost their warband, and considered the lowest of the low in charr society. Usually the last one left standing or the one to turn coward, gladium would either try to find a new warband to call home, or find their place outside of charr society.

"Doesn't bother me a bit," Liana responded, "As long as you'll have my back out there, I'll have yours."

"Good to know," Rox rumbled slightly before glancing down at Nyla, who was looking at the charr from behind the human ranger, "Interesting pet you've got there. You don't really see alot of tigers these days."

Liana puffed up her chest slightly and rested a hand on Nyla's head. "I've had Nyla ever since she was a cub. Bit of a long story, really."

"I'd be happy to listen to it sometime," the charr chuckled, "Right now, though, we've got a hatchery that needs our help. Bring a friend if you can."

"I'll see if I can. Meet you there."

The North Nolan Hatchery was in as much disarray as Cragstead had been in. Dredge and Flame Legion were popping out of the woodwork in what seemed like never-ending waves, and Liana's ears were ringing with the cacophony of sonic weaponry echoing throughout the hatchery.

"Rah! We've got to do something! Those sonic devices are hurting the devourers!" Rox snarled as she glanced over from behind their hiding spot at the large cluster of hatchlings rendered immobile by sonic emitters.

Liana gritted her teeth as she stashed her bow away, quickly reaching for the greatsword strapped to her back. "Do what you can to cover me. I'll go try and smash the emitters and see if we can get the little guys to help us fight."

The charr proceeded to nod as she reached for an arrow in her quiver. "Watch yourself. Those emitters pack quite the punch."

Liana made a sound of acknowledgement before leaping out from their hiding place, darting about as fire and sonic vibrations began to rain down upon her while Rox began to pick off the attackers. Each shattered emitter brought at least three or four angry devourer hatchlings lashing out at the invading forces, barbs and venom flying through the air. Before she had a chance to shatter the last sonic emitter, Liana found herself being knocked off her feet by a well-aimed blast of flame.

Shit! Shit! Shit! she swore silently as she proceeded to roll around, attempting to smother the flames. Once the fire had died down, she glanced around wildly for the source, her gaze locking down on a Flame shaman flanked by a few dredge oscillators.

"Show no mercy!" the shaman barked with a laugh, another fireball beginning to form in his hands.

Liana gritted her teeth as she grappled for her sword-swearing in several languages under her breath-when a sound like thunder shattered through the air. The shaman let out a howl of pain as he clawed desperately at a sticky substance that clung to his fur, a pungent smell wafting through the air.

Buckshot and lye? Only person I know who uses that is-!

"For the Legions!"

Liana immediately snapped her head behind her just in time to see a female charr leap over her, driving the butt of her rifle into the shaman's face. Three more charr came bounding in after her, the air immediately filled with pistol fire and the clanking sound of turrets activating. The leader of the charge-a charr sporting the fur and markings akin to that of a snow leopard and golden eyes-pulled back for a moment to haul the human ranger back to her feet.

"You're not sleeping on the job, are you, Commander?" the charr said with a smirk, "This party is just getting started!"

Liana couldn't help but grin as she leapt back into the fray. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Liviana! I didn't know you were in the neighborhood!"

"I wasn't. I was paying the warband a visit when we caught wind of these soft claws attacking the hatchery.  Jumped to the closest waypoint we could get to and hightailed it here."

"Either way, the help is definitely appreciated! Let's send these louts crawling back to wherever they came from!"

The arrival of Liviana and her warband turned the odds around in favor of the two rangers, and it wasn't long before the hatchery was cleared. As soon as the fighting died down, Rox quickly made her way over to a wounded charr sporting the colors of the Blood Legion.

"You there. I'm here on Tribune Brimstone's orders," she exclaimed as she started to tend to his injuries, "Report!"

"Sithio Quicklash of the Lash Warband," the charr responded with a grunt, wincing slightly as Rox examined his wounds, "We had no warning. They came out of the ground before we could sound the alarm. Dredge and Flame Legion."

"Your warband?"

"Was stationed here, yeah. Some are dead, but the others barricaded themselves behind the south gate. Here's the key. The invaders were in pursuit. We have to-!"

"You're wounded," Rox interrupts him, "You stay here and warn away anyone else who comes. We'll go."

"Yeah, we've got this, Sithio," Liana adds, giving the charr a reassuring look, "Besides, the hatchlings are going to need someone to protect them while we press forward."

Liviana soon approached the three, slinging her rifle over her shoulder. "Hatchery is secure for now. I'll have Cimmara and Luccia stay behind to give our friend here some back up while we head for the training grounds."

"Good idea, Vivi. We could definitely use a hand," Liana replied before turning to face the ranger beside her, "Rox, this is Liviana Gearseeker, Centurion of the Seeker warband and Warmaster in the Vigil. Liviana, this is Rox. I'm helping her complete a task for Tribune Brimstone."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, soldier," Liviana greeted respectively, offering the gladium a salute, "I'll be honest, I'm surprised you didn't have backup. This isn't really a mission that can be pulled off by two people."

Rox pulled herself to full height as she returned the salute. "I'm trying out for Tribune Brimstone's warband. This is without a doubt a test he wants me to complete."

Liviana proceeded to let out a low whistle, clearly impressed. "The Stone warband, eh? That's not an easy one to get into. You and your pet will need all the luck you can get."

Confusion spread across the younger charr's face. "Pet? I'm sorry, but I don't have a pet."

"Well, it looks like you do now," the engineer replied, pointing to something behind Rox.

Both Liana and Rox spun around to find a pale white devourer hatchling standing near the charr ranger, chittering slightly as it stared up at Rox, as if awaiting a command.

"Burn my hide," Rox growled before waving the hatchling off, "Shoo! Go back to your nest!"

More chittering, although the devourer seems content with ignoring that specific order as it began to circle around the charr.

"Listen. I can't take care of you right now."

Even more chittering.

"Oh, for rust's sake. Shoo! Git! I don't want another pet!"

Liana had to clap her hand over her mouth in attempt to hold back the burst of laughter bubbling up inside of her.  "Hate to tell you, Rox, but I think you've been adopted."

Rox let loose a grumbling noise before turning her attention towards the training area. "We better get going. The longer these bastards are lurking around here, the more damage they'll be able to cause."

"All too true. Lead the way, Rox," Liviana rumbled, "Time to send these softclaws running. Reeva! You're with me and the Commander!"

"You got it, Boss!"

The quartet immediately began their charge towards the training grounds, Rox having to stop every once in awhile in attempt to shoo the devourer hatchling away to no avail. As soon as they reached the gate, the charr ranger began to unlock it with the key Sithio had given them, only to freeze as if she had been dunked in ice water, a snarl tugging at her muzzle.

"Something's not right. Do you smell that?"

Liana began to sniff at the air, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "It reeks of sulfur around here."

"That means Flame Legion," Rox growled as she undid the lock and threw the gate open, "They're near. Be sure to stay close."

No sooner had Rox said those words did a wave of Flame Legion come crashing towards them, the sound of roaring flame being met with bullets and clashing steel shattering through the air. When the last Flame Legion fell to a ground, a portal similar to the one that had been in Cragstead appeared, revealing a dredge armored and geared similar to the shaman Liana and Braham had fought.

"Surrender, female!" the dredge barked, "You're outnumbered and outgunned!"

A smirk began to form on Rox's face. "I don't think so. I've seen things scarier then you come out of my pet."

Liana couldn't help but laugh. "Think I fought skritt more intimidating than him as well!"

The dredge let out an agitated shout before he began lobbing fireballs-A spellcasting dredge? That's new-at the group. While he lacked the precision and skill that the shamen of Flame possessed, he was still a threat as the four split up to avoid being struck. Liana could hear Reeva shouting curses as she ducked behind an overturned cart. From where she was hunkered down, she could see Liviana and Rox picking off countless numbers of reinforcements, Nyla and the devourer darting about as they attacked their targets. For every one that the two seemed to strike down, it seemed three or four more seem would take their place.

If we can get to the wise-guy calling the shots, we may have a chance to send them on the run. How are we going to get to him though with him lobbing fire around like confetti?

"Commander!"

Liana snapped her attention towards Liviana, the engineer waving her over frantically.

"I think I know how we can turn the tide in our favor," Liviana hissed, holding up a grenade in her hand.

Liana glanced down at the explosive, frowning as she recognized what type it was. "Flash grenades don't work on dredge, though. They're immune to blinding attacks."

"I thought so as well," the engineer growled, "But I accidentally tossed one of these at him and it looked like it might have an affect on him."

"Looks like whatever magic they've been dabbling in robbed them of that immunity," Rox added, "Throw a handful or two at him, and we might be able to get a clear shot at him without worrying about him scorching our hides off."

Liana pondered for a moment before giving the two a nod. "Worth a shot. Let's do this!"

With a howl, Liviana sprung up, lobbing the flash grenades at the dredge spellcaster. A popping sound could be heard, accompanied by several bright flashes that left the dredge stumbling about, disoriented.

Probably regretting the choices leading up to this moment right now, pal Liana thought as she darted out from behind cover, greatsword at the ready as she sprinted towards her target.

The dredge was able to gain focus long enough to see the pommel of the sword strike him between the eyes, the force knocking him flat on his back. Sparks began to fly from his hands as he began to summon another fireball, only for them to die as quickly as they appeared as Liana drove the sword into his chest.

She hardly noticed the remaining forces fleeing as Liviana's warband gave chase, her attention instead focused on the damage that had been left behind. Fallen soldiers of the Blood Legion were scattered around the grounds of the hatchery along with several devourer warbeasts, no doubt all of them had gone down fighting tooth and nail against the invasion that claimed them.

This is just like what happened to Cragstead, if not worse. Spirits, who could have even imagine something like this happening?

"We're too late," Rox growled in frustration, her words tearing Liana from her thoughts as the charr moved to stand beside the human ranger.

Liana grimaced. "Blast it. At least we were able to save Sithio and the hatchlings."

"Look, treadmarks. Footprints. They took some of the workers away, alive."

The human's eyes immediately snapped towards the marks in question on the ground. Whoever had been taken alive definitely put up quite a fight before being dragged off.

More prisoners. Just like Dad. Raven's beak, I hope they're okay...

"I have to secure the hatchery, but then I'm going to track them down. When I find out where they took the prisoners, I'll contact you-Hey, are you alright?"

Liana was torn from her thoughts by Rox's question, turning to see the charr kneeling right next to her, a look of slight concern on her face.

"Wha-? Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. I'm alright, Rox."

"Are you sure? You look like someone walked across your grave."

Liana bit her lip nervously as she stared up at the charr, her mind racing as struggled to put her thoughts into words.

"I....right before I spoke with you at the Black Citadel, I was returning from helping out with a similar problem in the Shiverpeaks. A homestead had fallen under attack by a group exactly like the one that attacked this hatchery. Prisoners were taken, too.....one of them being my father."

The concern soon turned to sympathy as Rox proceeded to clasp Liana on the shoulder. "I'm sorry....I hope you're able to find him."

"So do I," she replied, biting back the tears that were threatening to escape her, "I mean, he's a tough old cuss, but still."

"Hey, if he's as tough as you, I'm willing to bet he'll be causing some trouble for these skritt heads," Rox said with a grin, "Might be even fighting his way to freedom right now."

Liana couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Wouldn't put it past him. He's not one to back down from a fight."

The two were soon joined by Liviana, rifle shouldered while she carried one of the weapons several of the charr and dredge had been wielding.

"Hatchery seems secure for now. My warband's scouring for stragglers at the moment," the engineer replied before handing the bizarre weapon-a rifle of some sort-to Liana, "Thought you might want to bring this to your colleagues at the Priory. I'm grabbing a few to study myself, but it looks like the Flame Legion and dredge combined their tech together."

Liana took ahold of the rifle and glanced over it with a critical eye. "You're right. My fellow scholars will definitely want to look at this. I'm not sure if I even heard of something like this happening before. An alliance between the two is something new altogether."

"I'll be informing my superiors within the Vigil about this as well. A combined force like this does not bode well, especially with the dragons breathing down our necks."

"Let them know they're taking prisoners as well. If we find out where they're taking them, we'll definitely need Vigil steel in order to spring a rescue."

Liviana nodded grimly before saluting both Liana and Rox as she turned to leave. "I'll be sure to do that. Fight well, Commander. And best of luck joining the Stone Warband, Rox."

Both rangers bid her farewell before they began to head back to check on Sithio, who Liana could tell had managed to get on his feet and was able to walk around from where he stood.

"By the way," Rox exclaimed, stopping in her track and staring at Liana with a raised brow, "Why was she calling you 'Commander'? I don't recall the Durmond Priory having such a rank in their order."

Liana bit her lip slightly, avoiding eye contact with the charr. "It's.....It's a bit of a long story. One I promise to share once we find out where those prisoners are."

Rox let out a hm sound as she glanced her over, a frown tugging at her muzzle. After what seemed like an hour she proceeded to shrug before continuing on her way.

"Alright, then. I'll be holding you to that. Till then, I'll contact you once I find out where they're taking everyone," she stated before glancing down at the devourer hatchling still tailing after her, " Right now, I need to find this guy something to eat."

"Sounds like a good idea. Catch you later, Rox."

Liana watched both the charr and devourer dart off towards the direction of the hatchery before continuing on her way towards Sithio, mind racing with numerous questions.

First Cragstead, now this hatchery. What are they after? What are they hoping to achieve?

She paused for a moment to glance down at the hybrid tech she clutched in her hands.

What-or Who, even-convinced the dredge and the Flame Legion to join forces in the first place?

[financevisionary]

9 Ways to Spend Less on Your Significant Other (And Not Get Killed!)

Being in a partnership is pricey - whether you've been together a day or a decade. That means that at some time you'll have to reign in the spending (unless your surname is Gates or Rockefeller). Below are nine means to do it without ending up on your companion's hit list.

1. Purchase Dollar Store Greeting Cards

Tangible cards are rapidly shedding their allure in this electronic globe (I quit sending out vacation cards five years ago to preserve time, cash, and also paper), though they're not bygone antiques merely yet. It's still good to get one every from time to time. However at an average rate of $3 to $7 a pop - yes, some cards set you back as much as a tiny dish now - they could place a considerable damage in your gift-buying spending plan during a year. To scale back, ditch the premium greetings and also hit up the buck store.

'I've been buying welcoming cards from the buck store since I found them a couple of years back,' states Kedal Perez, Discount coupon Sherpa's resident money-saving professional. 'I often discover the ideal card - often 2 - for simply 50 cents, contrasted to Trademark cards costing $4 as well as up. Along with vacations, I want to get 'just due to the fact that' cards for my other half when I bear in mind to be a great spouse. This behavior conserves me a load as well as communicates the view I'm searching for.'

While you exist, don't fail to remember to grab various other gift-giving essentials like gift bags, balloons, cells paper, bows, as well as more.

2. Enhance a Gift Rather than Wrapping It

On one celebration, I really did not have birthday-specific present cover for an existing for one of my nephews, as well as in a bind I made a decision to enhance the plain cardboard box with crayons. My lack of resources resulted in a present with a thoughtful presentation that didn't cost any sort of added money. I've maintained this behavior with various other gifts throughout the year, keeping a considerable amount of cash in my pocket. You also could embrace this practice. Obtain innovative, too. You could make use of all sort of products - markers, adhesive and shine, as well as other crafty-type items like bows as well as bows that you might have existing around.

3. Celebrate a Vacation Post-Holiday

Ready to be a prime-time savings manager? Commemorate huge vacations like Valentine's Day as well as Xmas after February 14 as well as December 25. It'll most likely take a little bit of convincing on your part - having nothing to open on Xmas early morning will seem strange - yet if it works out for the both of you, you're considering significant markdowns on all the desired gifts.

'My other half and I recently consented to commemorate specific holidays [like Valentine's Day] after the truth to avoid mark-ups,' Perez claims. 'He purchased me a lovely arrangement of orange roses as well as white lilies on February 15, and also I enjoyed them just as much as I would certainly have a day earlier.'

4. Get Flowers From the Grocery Store

Speaking of flowers, you're spending as well considerably if you're visiting a regional floral designer. It's an unfortunate reality, because I prefer to assist small company - however they simply do not have the savings purchasing power that big chain grocery stores do. You will need to emulate a more restricted selection, probably, yet that's a very easy compromise to make when a lovely bouquet doesn't make you weep for all the incorrect reasons.

5. Shop the Clearance Area for Gifts

I'm always maintaining my eye out for the perfect present for my husband, as well as I hit the mark when it's from the clearance part. Whenever I'm shopping - for anything - that's the top place I go. I bypass the brand-new arrivals, to the eye rolls of the associates, and also obtain my discount rate on. This is a terrific technique to cut costs on birthday party, holiday, as well as wedding anniversary presents (or merely regular outfit updates), as well as you can win some incredible offers if you're going shopping well out of season.

6. Make a Present If You Have the Skills

I like getting glossy gizmos as presents from my other half, yet I would equally appreciate anything he gave me that was entirely handmade. The type of commitment it takes to make a handmade present sends the message that he prefer to hang around on something thoughtful compared to buy a product that will certainly never have an ounce of belief. Those handmade Xmas ornaments would certainly be cherished forever, however I would change the apple iphone he purchased me as quickly as a new one was released.

Brett Hamilton, whose business SIMPLE.BE was developed on the idea of hand-crafted gifts, agrees.

'My favored method to offer great presents to my partner without spending way too much is to custom-make functional presents for her,' he says. 'One year I made her a new water-proof duffle bag from vinyl trucker tarpaulins for football games. Last year it was a black as well as white shoulder bag made from aged recycled sails. She enjoyed it so a lot.'

There is one small issue with this technique, however: Your SO could get utilized to the concept of getting handmade presents, so you could have to maintain it up when you begin it. Yet is that type of recognition truly so bad?

7. Obtain Familiar with Discount Dating

My partner and also I have one regulation for our dates (or at the very least I do): Never pay full price.

Seriously, if you're planning days at complete retail worth, you're doing it all wrong - and you're paying a lot for it.

There's absolutely no factor you should not be conserving money on every day you have actually with each other, provided the abundance and availability of daily-deal websites, voucher codes, free tasks, BOGO offers, as well as other price cut dating possibilities. Also when you can't find a discount, there's possibly a means to slash off a couple of dollars if you want to change your strategies. Take the movies, for example. In my neck of the timbers, a regular testing is no less compared to $12 (around $22 when you begin including 3D and IMAX). If you intend the date prior to twelve noon, you can score $7 tickets at specific theaters like AMC. All you require is a little creativity to decrease of the expense of basically any activity or dish date.

Also, always remember to use your military or students savings where readily available. My husband forgets to ask about military savings regularly, which is why it's an advantage he has me. I never fail to remember, and also with the cash I saved him on this-and-that admission, he has actually enough left over to get me lunch.

I love when it functions out like that.

8. Get Refurbished Electronics When Appropriate

Some people are particular regarding the freshness of their electronic devices, so you should understand your companion well enough to be specific they won't imitate an ungrateful brat when they figure out their present is previously very own or refurbished. Directly, I choose that my phone is new - I don't like the suggestion of another person utilizing something that touches my face (I understand it's tidy, but still) - though I have no agitations with getting, claim, a refurbished iPad. Purchasing refurbished can save you hundreds of dollars - and also these offers are available for a wide range of electronic devices, including computer game - so whether to apply this strategy is a pertinent conversation to have with your individual or girl.

9. Spend A lot more Effort and time Compared to Money

Now that we're past the materialistic as well as shallow points, let's get real: No amount of money you spend will certainly ever before equate to the value of your time as well as effort. I touched on this a little bit when I discussed handcrafted presents, yet it really puts on all aspects of your connection. Gifts behave, obviously, however a practical person (read: a caretaker) will select a cost-free date, gift, meal, or encounter with you over something with a price any day. Discover how you can take note of each other's demands prior to it endangers the connection, and also you're on the ideal track to a delighted life together. Great luck!

Do you have any sort of concepts on ways to invest much less on your better half without acquiring gotten rid of? Allow me understand in the comments below.

This write-up is from Mikey Rox of Wise Bread, a prize-winning personal financing as well as bank card comparison internet site. Learn more wonderful posts from Wise Bread:

The stuff I attempt never ever to buy new

Being Frugal with Froogle

How to cover gifts with leftovers.

Big List of Senior Discounts

90 % off is not a deal if you do not need it.