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thetoadghoul · 3 years ago

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Volunteering: (Ohtani x Reader) <333 (Part - 2)

part 1!

plot: Wednesday’s game arrives which Ohtani invited you to, some bonding time before the first pitch <3 slowwwburn, long cause idk details are fun lol

Wednesday quickly arrived, made much faster by the crazy amount of work you were required to do for your ‘actual’ job. The last three days had been spent with you running around the LA area, as well as cyberspace, to serve your role as interpreter. It was hell, for more reasons than one. The biggest of all being that even though you were not in Japan at the moment, you were still required to wear a proper suit. That meant a tight navy skirt, stockings, and some blasted heels. Sexist men, long meetings, and endless paperwork aside, you enjoyed your job for the most part - but this aspect really wore on you. However, the pain in your feet wouldn't damper your excitement for tonight’s game. Today you were not actually volunteering at the Angels stadium.

The day before yesterday, when you were actually volunteering, a bashful Ohtani had tapped you on the back while you were picking up baseballs from the batting cages. When you turned around the giant man was holding out a lanyard with an attached document, marked ‘VIP Guest of Player’. It took all you had not to let your hands shake with nerves as you reached out and grabbed it gingerly.

“Uh, see you on Wednesday.” The man looked to the side awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

“...Yeah.” You responded with a small smile, feeling stupid, but it was all you could think of.

“Well, uh, I better go...” He motioned behind his back with a lazy thumb, staring to jog backward.

You nodded quickly, rushing to go back to picking up balls before you said something super lame, or weird.

It wasn’t till you were on the way home did you take a look at the back of the stadium pass. It read ‘Guest of Shohei Ohtani’. So he had put in the request for you, that was just like him, so kind. It would be an understatement to say you weren’t excited for tomorrow.

-----

Currently, your heart was still racing, but for another reason other than a certain super cute and insanely talented baseball player. It was because it was almost three-thirty in the afternoon and you were running around your company-provided apartment, trying to get ready as fast as you could. Ippei let you know you should get there around four-thirty, by then the team would have been done warming up and starting to enjoy a pregame meal while the away team got the field to themselves. From that point onwards, pretty much everyone was free to relax in the clubhouse till just before the first pitch.

With little time to consider, not even enough time to take a shower after having just got off work, you went with an oversized red T-shirt, baggy jeans, and some cool Jordan’s. This was your go-to, and it was comfortable. You don’t have many clothes anyway, living out of a suitcase.

Right as you were about to run out of the door you remembered to grab your standard Angels cap, it had been provided to you as part of your volunteer uniform a while back, slipping it on over your tight work bun. You would let your hair down later.

All right, everything was in order, Uber scheduled, lanyard secured.

It took about half an hour to arrive at the stadium, and once it came into view, you instructed the driver to let you out in front of the ballpark entrance. It had been a long time since you got to go through the gates as a member of the audience, it actually gave you a wave of nostalgia seeing everyone in their gear, so hyped up for the game, tailing gating outside for what was probably hours.

Once you were through, you started walking through the concession stands and various other stalls, dodging around the fans that were already inside watching the warm-ups, as well as hanging out drinking and eating. There were pictures of Ohtani everywhere, people taking turns snapping pictures of each other in front of the various cutouts of him. The air was buzzing with energy, and it seemed like all for that guy. Honestly, you had worked for a couple different teams over the years, but you had never seen hype like this. It was surreal, seeing a legend in the making.

You smiled, gripping the lanyard around your neck, making your way through the stadium. Shohei was super nice to do this for you, really, you should show him your support. Maybe a quick peek in the team store would do? Plus, you deserved to spend some money on yourself. After all, this was the first time you had really been ‘out’ in the almost three months you had been in California. Your free time was either working, volunteering, video games, or sleep.

You took a couple moments in the Angel's merch shop, quietly perusing the aisles, keeping an eye out for any Ohtani-themed items. Unfortunately, there weren’t really that many, probably sold out by the fans. What was there, was way too small for you.

“Y/n, you here to watch the game?” A young voice sounded.

When you turned to see who addressed you, a familiar girl was standing there grinning.

“Hey Jordan! I didn’t know you were working tonight.” You grinned back.

Jordan worked at the store as a stock manager, she was close in age to you so the two of you often hung out. You had invited her over a couple times, both bonding over your love for crappy reality TV, beer, and of course, baseball.

“Yeah it was last minute, a girl was feeling sick and there wasn’t anyone else cept’ me.” She sighed.

“Bummer, text me if you need help?” You offered, to which she waved you off.

“Nah, you enjoy being here and NOT working.” She chuckled, walking over to organize a messy shelf.

“So, you looking for something in particular?” The girl glanced over her shoulder.

“Uh yeah, you recommend any cool Ohtani stuff? Or is there any at all... seems wiped clean in here.” You said while looking around.

“Ohtani? You here to cheer him on too then. Wanna catch his eye.” She teased.

“Don’t say it like I’m just here for my like, prince charming.” You snapped back playfully, but, maybe a little too fast.

“Aren’t you?” She pressed with an eyebrow.

“Okay, I’m leaving.” You pouted, fake walking away.

“I’m just kidding, actually, stay here for a second I might have something you’ll like.” Jordan yelled as she jogged off to the back room behind the counters.

You did as you were told and when she came back there was a large white Angels jersey in her hands.

“Ta-da!” She grinned, twisting it around to show the player’s name on the back.

“Oh, it’s in Kanji? That’s cool, I didn’t know these existed?” You questioned, running your finger over the ‘tani’ character of Ohtani.

“It’s the last one on the floor, had to grab it off the mannequin. Hope it’s not too big? It’s XL?” She questioned, passing it to you to hold.

“Nah it’s perfect, can’t you tell.” You joked holding the jersey next to you, while you showed off your oversized clothes.

“Figured it'd be fine, wanna get rung up? I’ll give you that ‘good good’ employee discount. But, don’t tell anyone.” She smiled, heading to the register, to which you nodded and jogged after her.

After you finished your purchase and waved bye to Jordan, it was time to head to the clubhouse. It was around five, so you were later than you planned but Shohei usually practiced batting in the cages a little while longer while everyone headed in. Slipping the plastic shopping bag into your purse, and ripping the tags off your new jersey, you slipped it on over your T-shirt, smoothing out the material as best you could. It felt great to finally have some real merch from the team, and part of you sort of wondered what Ohtani would think when he saw you. Hopefully, it wasn’t too much to just show up in his gear after he pretty much randomly invited you, let alone in the stadium-specific one, as you just learned from your colleague.

After you got to an employee-only doorway, you pushed on it hoping it was actually open. Ippei had also let you know via text that it would be unlocked for you. Another kindness of Shohei, not just inviting you, but making sure you had access to all the catering and AC inside the resisted area of the building. You slipped in and locked the door behind you, not wanting to encourage some intoxicated fans to follow. The hallway was empty and cool as you started making your way to the clubhouse.

You were admittedly a bit nervous by the time you got to the doors, feeling a bit awkward about strutting in as anyone other than a volunteer for the first time. Carefully you pushed open the door, making sure not to hit anybody. The room was full of chatter, some players eating, some playing cards, others watching TV on the room's monitors. You looked around for Ohtani, but he wasn’t there yet apparently. No matter, you strolled in and went for the snack area. Truthfully you hadn’t eaten since that morning, and that was just a toasted bagel. Turning your back to the rest of the room, you began filling up your plate with cocktail shrimp and grapes.

“Nice jersey.” Ippei said, coming up next to you, grabbing small sandwiches for his plate.

“Is that sarcastic?” You questioned with a smile, finishing your plate.

“Nah, I’m sure he likes it.” Ippei jerked his head to the left.

He? You leaned back to see around the man, meeting Shohei’s surprised face almost immediately. Had he been standing there the whole time? He had obviously been staring at your back, at his name, bashfully looking up to your face when you moved, blinking a couple times to clear his eyes.

“I uh, got it ten minutes ago.” You grinned awkwardly, pointing your thumb proudly at the jersey, hoping he wouldn’t think you were a weirdo.

The large player didn’t say anything, blinking more slowly this time before opting to just nod gently, with a quick “thanks for your support”, hurriedly leaning forward to start filling his plate with all kinds of foods.

—-

Once everyone had their food the three of you found a place to sit while you ate, it was at the back of the room away from the noise, and where the two usually sat before a game anyways. A small conversation started while the three of you ate calmly.

“Why... do you only have grapes, and shrimp?” Ohtani questioned suddenly, looking at your plate baffled. You looked down at it as well, pausing for a moment trying to find out what was so weird about that.

“Uh, well, it’s because... these things are... super expensive in Tokyo. It’s like a rich person food to me.” You smiled, eating a couple shrimps happily.

“Wow. That’s so sad.” Ippei chuckled before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Shohei on the other hand burst out laughing at your response, making you laugh a bit too at your pitiful confession.

“Seriously, I feel like a mega-rich, and very posh, Ginza lady right now - eating nothing but shrimp and fruit. So fancy right? ” You exclaimed, popping a grape in your mouth.

The Japanese player laughed even harder, tears building up as he wiped his eyes.

“Those people wouldn’t touch that stuff with a three-meter stick.” Ippei stated, letting out a small laugh.

“Just let me have my moment.” You pouted through a smile, shoving more shrimp in your mouth.

The other man calmed down finally and was now sitting there smiling while he ate.

“So, fancy y/n, are you okay to sit in the dugout tonight. Not too unrefined for you?” Ippei questioned with a smirk.

“That’s, allowed?” You asked, surprised.

“Yeah, if you want to. Can’t stay there the whole time, but.” The man responded nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s the best place to hear, ‘the surprise’.” Shohei added, food in the process of being shoved in his mouth.

“Well, doesn’t seem like there’s any other option.” You smiled at the player, who nodded in acknowledgment.

“He’s batting first tonight, you won’t have to wait long.” Ippei spoke, starting on the next sandwich.

“Hope me being in there won’t be bad luck.” You joked.

“You believe in that?” Ippei smirked.

“My family ingrained it into me, wasn’t allowed to watch a single super bowl game in the living room till I literally moved out.” You frowned, stabbing a grape.

“Harsh.” The man smirked with a small laugh under his breath.

“You will be good luck, for sure.” Shohei leaned forward in a hunch to take another bite of food, smiling sincerely at you as he looked up from his food.

“Then, I will see to it that will become a very good omen. Please believe in me.” You responded in the highest form of keigo you knew, bowing rigidly from your seat for comedic effect. Since you never studied that level of grammar, it was really freaking bad, causing the two men to laugh again.

“You’re funny.” Ippei chuckled.

“Yeah, and your Japanese is so good though?” Shohei exclaimed, eyebrows raised, eyes wide.

“Nah it’s pretty bad, I fell off the study wagon a long time ago.” You laughed awkwardly, waving a hand in front of your face.

“You’d be there forever if you stayed on.” Ippei chuckled again, while Shohei nodded in sullen agreement.

“Writing would be nice though, having to look up every other kanji at the doctor's office, or like city hall makes me literally sweat, like, a lot. Buckets. But when I look around, I'm the only one.” You giggled.

“You’re so honest.” Shohei chuckled, wiping his mouth with a napkin, still leaning forward in his chair, you grinned back at him. Your eyes locked for a while, you had never noticed, but his eyelashes were sort of long.

At that moment Ippei had to take a call, letting the two of you know he’d be back in a bit, walking off. The two of you looked away and finished eating in silence.

When you looked up from your empty plate, the large player was now staring at you with a soft expression. The warmth in his eyes made you blush, he didn’t even break his gaze once he was caught like he usually did. You responded back to him simply with a shy smile, before being the one to avert your own eyes to the floor again.

Thankfully at that moment, a group of Angels came over, slapping the Japanese man on the back, starting up a conversion. They were going over strategies for the game and overall just getting hyped up. You didn’t have much to input, so you just kind of sat there enjoying the excited chatter. Shohei smiled merrily the whole time, inserting little jokes, completely affected by their excitement. The way he carried himself really reminded you that the essence of baseball was really just about having fun with your teammates and giving it your all. He looked simply happy to be there, and it made you smile too, just watching him goof off. It was charming to see his duality of being a just big kid with endless laugher, versus the super-serious, and seasoned player he was on the mound.

You were really trying hard not to but, you were rapidly developing feelings for Shohei. The last three months of volunteering here, you of course thought he was really cute and kind, classic boyfriend material. A simple crush, like many of the girls working around him, surely had as well. However the possibility of you two actually dating had always been a foreign concept, one which stopped you from even considering it, at all, you just didn’t know if you even could. With you both traveling for work, how would there be time? Plus, what about the media? His family? Yours? All those things seemed unscalable walls, that is, until this moment, when you could feel his gentle eyes on you once again.

Maybe, there was something? Or maybe, he was just a super nice guy, and you were treated no different than anyone else.

When you snapped out of your thoughts, Shohei was starting to stand up, grabbing everyone’s empties plates. He reached his hand towards you, asking for the one in your hand with a tiny nod of his head, to which you thanked him, stood up, and handed it over.

Well.

Either way, you were so screwed.

-------

Hope you enjoyed! <3

#大谷翔平 #ohtani shohei #shohei ohtani #ohtani shohei imagines #shohei ohtani imagines #ohtani imagines #ohtani x reader #ohtani #ohtani angels

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gale-gentlepenguin · 4 years ago

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ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 33

Sorry this got delayed for longer than expected. I had a lot of things hit me like a truck (and distractions). Hopefully you all enjoy this. Please comment your thoughts on the chapter. And if you really liked it, Reblog it. Thats the best way to get others to see it.

(Master Post)

_______________________________________________________________________

Nathalie cautiously walked into the school, careful to not stand out. She needed to be quick and quiet, she didn’t know how many akuma were lurking in the building. Hawkmoth has akumatized a good chunk of the student body at this school, so expecting at least a dozen within such a short time frame wouldn’t be out of the question. She was relieved that the akuma alert hasn't gone off, which means no one has caught on yet.

The assistant moved down the hall, stopping once she noticed two akuma heading down the hall. One she recognized as the akuma dark owl, and the other as Lady wifi. Both akuma wearing masks that covered their faces. It was clearly the handiwork of Masquerade. She quickly moved into the nearest room to hide.

“That was close.” Nathalie whispered.

“What was?” a voice from behind her called out. Causing the on edge assistant to jump.

She looked to see it was not an akuma, but an adult with a perplexed expression.

“Nothing, what room is this?”

“This is the nurse’s office, I’m Nurse Angela. How can I help you?”

Nathalie took a sigh of relief. Seems that the nurse hasn’t noticed the akumatized individuals in the hall. Which means that no one has figured out there are akuma active.

“I am fine, I simply stepped into the wrong room.” Nathalie eased herself. “Could you tell me which way Ms. Bustier’s classroom is?”

“Oh its down the hall, make a left and it’s the last classroom on the...”

“Nurse! My ice pack melted!”

The nurse took a calming sigh.

“One moment ma’am. I have a student in here.”

Angela quickly moved to fetch more ice for her patient to help her out.

“Chloé?” Nathalie spoke aloud, recognizing the voice.

Nathalie moved into the room and took notice of the mayor’s daughter watch the nurse impatiently as she waited for a fresh icepack.

“Wait, your Gabriel Agreste’s assistant. Natasha.”

“Nathalie.” The assistant corrected, clearly annoyed.

“Why are you here? Does Adrien have some photoshoot or something?”

“Or something. Now why are you in here?”

The question struck a nerve with the blonde, causing her annoyance to turn into anger.

“Better question, how could you allow Adrien to date that loser!?”

Nathalie blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“She is going to bring down the Gabriel brand. That nobody has no right to be dating Adrien. Does his father know about this?”

Nathalie felt a twinge of annoyance. But kept it in. She remembered the akuma that were out in the hallway. She would hate to have them run in here just from the commotion.

“I think you should keep it down. This is not an issue that concerns you.”

“Doesn’t concern me?! I am Adrien’s childhood friend. You bet your poor dye job it concerns me!”

“I must insist you be quiet.” Nathalie repeats. “This is not the time or the place for such meaningless complaints.”

“Like I am going to listen to Gabriel Agreste’s rebound chick.”

That caused Nathalie to snap.

“Listen here you spoiled brat! There are akuma running the halls and I am trying to find Adrien to get him out of here before things get worse. If you don’t shut your mouth in the next two seconds. I will throw you out there and let them tear you apart!”

Chloé felt her eyes go wide at the out of nowhere outburst. It took her a second to process what just happened. Did she really get told off by this nobody?

“You can’t just…”

Nathalie suddenly fell to the floor. She barely used her hands to catch herself.

“S***, not now.” She mumbled over gasping breathes. Her body was failing on her again. She did not need this of all times. She felt her consciousness fade.

The nurse turned around once she heard the sudden thud.

“Oh dear.”

She rushed to the collapsed woman’s side and helped her up.

“Chloé. Help me get her onto the bed.”

“You want me to…”

“This is not the time for questions! Help me get her on the bed now!” Angela commanded.

Chloé’s protests were snuffed out by the nurse and she moved to help get the woman on the bed.

The nurse quickly checked her for a pulse. Thankfully she had one.

“Okay, she has a pulse. She is breathing, but her body just collapsed. A fainting spell?”

Angela started checking the assistant to make sure there was nothing else wrong.

Chloé watched as the nurse examined Nathalie. Her previous anger fading as she sees the woman that just snapped at her just drop.

“Okay… seems that it is over exhaustion. It’s not uncommon in people who work long hours with demanding jobs. But I have never seen a case like this. I can’t put my finger on it, but there might be another medical issue involved in this. When she wakes up, she should get checked into a hospital for a deeper dive into whatever she has.” Angela explained.

“So… she will be alright?”

“Well she is exhausted. She will need to rest for a bit.”

“Well at least she didn’t die. I can still be mad at her for yelling at me because there is an akuma and junk here.”

“Well you shouldn’t hold a… did you just say there is an akuma?”

“That’s what she was yelling at me about before. Weren’t you listening?”

Angela felt herself go pale.

“Oh that is not good at all. We need to alert the authorities.”

Chloé picked up her phone and started texting.

“Don’t you think you should use that to call the cops.”

“Im texting my dad. He will have the cops here faster.”

Angela remembered that the annoying spoiled blonde in front of her was the mayor’s daughter and for the first time, was happy that the girl was here.

_______________________________________________________________________

For what is a teen, but a pile of hormones and insecurities.

Masquerade delighted as she watched her classmates stare at her. They all were trying so hard to be strong, but she could feel their emotions, they were afraid. She knew that taking the most emotionally secure one in the group would rattle them..

She noticed the teens rushing to their pockets to get their phones.

Masquerade touched the cellphone charm on her bracelet and all of the phones started showing they had no signal.

“Nice try, but no calling for help.” Masquerade commented.

Even the chill Nino couldn’t maintain a steady calm in front of her with that little display. She now removed any chance of calling for help or setting off that akuma alert system. Did she have access to other powers? What kind of monster did Hawkmoth turn her into?

“I’ll save you for last Nino. I want you to watch closely.” She flipped her hair, taunting the cap wearing teen.

The masked theme akuma smiled as she moved her hand, as if deciding on who would turn next.

“Now we know who will be last, but who will be next?” Masquerade asked, watching as her bracelet was glowing. The class was a gold mine of akumas. It was not a matter of how, it was a matter of which one.

“You don’t have to do this Lila.” A soft higher pitched voice pleaded.

The class turned their attention the short haired blond with a fondness for pink.

“Rose…” Juleka spoke up in worry.

Masquerade focused her attention on Rose.

“Oh? And why is that?”

“We know you are hurting. We know that you lied to us and did some nasty things… but that doesn’t have to define you!”

Masquerade found herself a bit surprised at the statement.

“If you are willing to stop all of this, we can help you. We can work through all of the things you’ve done. If we can throw a party for Chloé, we can certainly give you another chance.”

Rose stuck out her hand, a soft smile on her face.

Masquerade took a moment to process before speaking.

“Wow… I had no idea you felt this way.”

Rose walked forward.

“See Lila, we can all get along if…”

“You’re so incredibly depressing.”

Rose stopped.

Masquerade’s mouth contorted to a twisted glee. Her charm bracelet glowing brightly as she held her hand up to Rose.

“You always force a smile even when things are downright miserable. You’re terrified of being sad, so you paint this image of a fantasy land filled with stuffed animals and storybook characters. You realize all of the awful things around you yet you simply push it back, push it away as if it can’t harm you if you don’t acknowledge it. You can’t even acknowledge the emotional problems and insecurities of the people you care about because you know you can’t help them even if you did address them, so you give them some encouraging saccharine speech about pushing through, because that’s all you can really do. I have never seen anyone so deep in denial. One day you will wake up and realize that all of that delusional thinking will have pushed everyone away from you as you sit in plushy made prison of your own design.”

Rose felt her lip quiver.

“N-No. That isn’t true. I can …” Rose stumbled over her words.

But before she could say anymore, a mask flung onto her face and Rose shifted into Princess Fragrance, the green skinned perfume super villainess.

“Rose! No!” Juleka cried out.

Masquerade grinned as a perfume bottle charm now adorned her bracelet.

Juleka tried to get the mask off of Rose, but the newly made akuma pushed her aside and jumped to her master’s side.

“Oh, poor Juleka. Don’t worry. I’ll have you join her.”

Masquerade pointed her hand at Juleka.

“Oh wow, social anxiety and a fear of being forgotten. How original. Is that why you dye your hair purple and wear those gaudy clothes? You want to stand out so that you don’t get dismissed like the wallflower you are? Your bad luck with photos really puts a damper on your dreams of modeling. But that’s probably for the best, considering you are constantly overwhelmed. You don’t have the guts to do anything you want, so you just do your best to keep quiet and pray people will still notice and care about you.”

Juleka felt her anger shift to sorrow as she tried to speak up, but sure enough. Masquerade sends another mask out and it makes contact with Juleka.

The purple haired teen shifts into the image replicating akuma, Reflekta. Who after changing moved next to Princess Fragrance. A compact mirror charm appears on Masquerade’s bracelet.

The class couldn’t help but feel the despair in the room. The large drummer tried to keep his small girlfriend behind him as a means to protect her, but unfortunately, Masquerade noticed.

“Oh Ivan, sweet misunderstood Ivan.” Masquerade taunted. “You really think I don’t see what you are trying to do.”

Ivan kept his eyes focused.

“You aren’t turning me into one of your monsters. You already turned my bandmates into them, you aren’t turning me!”

The akuma laughed.

“Monster? I don’t need to turn you into an akuma to do that. The rest of the world already sees you as one.”

Ivan felt a pang in his heart.

“No… no they don’t.”

“Even your own girlfriend is scared of you. You’re a big brute that is loud and bumbling. Ever since your growth spurt, you could see everyone look at you differently, like you were some kind of large freak. But what’s worse is that you’re afraid that everyone else is right. That you a large rage filled monster, undeserving of love.”

“Don’t listen to her. She is lying to you.” Myléne pleaded as she tried to pull her boyfriend out of the quicksand trap of emotion that the akuma was setting up.

“I am not a monster.” Ivan spoke, more to himself than to masquerade.

The akuma capitalized on that moment of weakness and a mask made its way to Ivan, transforming him into his stone giant akuma form, Stoneheart.

Myléne looked in horror of her akumatized boyfriend and took a few steps back. Her fear of remembering this form taking hold.

“Oh, that works too.”

Masquerade flings a mask at Myléne, transforming her into her more monstrous akuma form, Horrificator.

“I was planning on playing on her fears about how she is afraid to face the real world and her insecurities about losing Ivan, but that worked better.”

The two new akuma mindlessly made their way to Masquerade’s side. A piece of paper and a button charm appeared on Masquerade’s bracelet.

The joy the akuma attained from watching her classmates squirm was unnerving. And it was only going to continue.

_______________________________________________________________________

“So, you are certain you left it there Kagami?” a woman with a cane asked sternly.

“Yes mother, I remember I left my text book in the locker room during fencing practice. I was studying between breaks.” Kagami answered. She felt a bit ashamed she had misplaced her book. But was relieved her mother was fine with giving her a ride there to get it. Even if it meant she was late to her lessons.

“This is not an excuse to see anyone, is it?” Her mother questioned.

“No mother, I will be in and out quickly.”

“Very well. I need to make a quick stop at the bank. So be sure to be outside waiting when I come back.”

“Yes mother.”

Kagami got out of the car and the car drove off.

“Well, I could stop by to say hello to my friends if I am quick with getting my book.” Kagami smiled a bit as she was about to make her way into Collège Françoise Dupont.

But before she did, she heard the sound of a bike approaching, she turned to see the cyclist stop short of her.

“Made it.” He said with relief as he took off his helmet to reveal familiar blue dyed hair.

“Luka?”

The cyclist looked and noticed his new fencer friend.

“Kagami? What brings you here? I thought you didn’t go to this school.”

“I don’t, I come here for fencing practice, I left a textbook here and was planning on retrieving it. You don’t go to this school either. So what brings you here?”

“My little sis grabbed the wrong lunch bag, then texted something about an akuma being in the school. I wasn't able to reach her after that. I plan on getting her out and letting the heroes handle the akuma.”

Kagami blinked.

“There is an akuma?”

“Apparently.”

The fencer smiled.

“Alright, let’s get in and try to evacuate everyone. Then I can grab my book.”

Luka looked at the determined girl and smiled. He didn’t even say he would help her. But he knew he would.

“So, what’s the plan?”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Adrien stared down the Volpina duplicate. He was not going to let it pass him and get to Marinette. He realizes that if he had been the one to run off, he would have been able to transform quick. If this didn’t work out, Ladybug might have to take on Lila solo, and that was something he was worried about. If Ladybug is on her own and she gets overwhelmed, who would be able to protect Paris? He needed to figure a way to give this Faux Fox the slip and fast.

“It would have been better if I snagged both of you, but master will be more than happy with your capture.” The sentimonster smiled as it moved to grab him.

The blond jumped back, but the difference in speed was far too great for him to overcome. And he was quickly pinned against a wall. The sentimonster shifted forms, looking similar to the owl akuma that Adrien was familiar with.

“What the…”

“I am not bound to one form. I can shift my form and access to any akuma’s power set that my master has under her control.”

Adrien realized he was far outmatched. If it came to it, he would need to transform. He wished there was some way out of this mess.

But as if the heavens above heard him, a yo-yo wrapped around the waist of the buff owl.

“What the ...”

The sudden pull from the yo-yo made the sentimonster lose it’s grip on Adrien and get flung to the other wall, dazing it.

“Looks like I made it just in time.” A spotted heroine stated with confidence.

“Ladybug!” Adrien called out in relief.

Ladybug rushed to his side.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m a lot better now.”

Ladybug helped the teen up from the ground.

“Lets’ get you somewhere safe first, handsome boy.”

The blond felt his cheeks turn red at the comment.

The sentimonster managed to get back up, it shifted forms, to a smaller form. One that made ladybug experience a chill go down her spine as she saw the roller blades and familiar helmet.

“Timebreaker… We need to hurry!”

Ladybug started rushing with the teen. With the speed of the akuma, she knew Adrien wouldn’t be fast enough to avoid it on his own. So, she quickly picked him up in her arms as they fled.

“Timebreaker? But isn’t that what Alix turned into when she was akumatized.” Adrien inquired as Ladybug ran down the hallway.

“It means that things are getting a lot more dangerous.” Ladybug answered. She knew that timebreaker appearing could only mean that Lila has made her way to the classroom, and this was going to be one of the toughest akuma battles yet. She needed to get Adrien to safety and then make her way to the classroom, hopefully save her classmates before they were all turned into her masked servants.

She made a quick movement into the bathroom. Standing at the door, prepared to fight the akuma if it noticed their quick duck into the washroom.

Ladybug listened closely as she heard the sound of skates roll up to the door. Her eyes went wide as she realized the it figured it out.

“You really think you can hide from me!”

The Timebreaker imposter kicked in the door ready to attack, only to see no one was in the room.

“Like I said….”

“You!” Kicked the first stall door open.

“CANT!” The second stall was kicked open.

“HIDE!” The last one was open, and all of them were empty.

The sentimonster growled in frustration.

“Seems I was mistaken.” The sentimonster grumbles, skating off to find the two.

As the door closes, Ladybug and Adrien sigh in relief. They had taken to hiding over the small statured sentimonster’s line of sight. Ladybug;s yo-yo making for a secure web to hold them up.

Ladybug undid the secure snare and lowered them both to the floor.

“Thanks for the save Ladybug.” The blond smiled. His face a bit red being so close to Ladybug.

‘Easy there Adrien! Remember who you are dating now!’ He mentally told himself.

“N-no problem.” Ladybug smiled sweetly. “Now, you stay hidden and I will take care of this crazy shapeshifter.

“Wait Ladybug!”

Ladybug paused.

“Yes? Is there something…”

“My girlfriend is out there. Well I mean… dating since we didn’t officially say girlfriend and… Look She is out there and that akuma thing is also after her.”

Ladybug’s eyes went wide at that statement.

He called me his girlfriend! Inner marinette screamed. Inside her head, but Ladybug kept her face from showing it. Though a small smile was growing despite herself.

“So the akuma is targeting someone else? Why wasn’t she with you?”

“She went to get help, I was trying to hold off the akuma so she could escape. The akuma was more focused on me thankfully, and you showed up just in time.”

“Oh? And who is the Lucky girl?” Ladybug questioned, a bit bubbly but doing her best to hide it.

“Her name is Marinette, she is around your height and she has these cute …”

“No need for more description, I know her. Well, she is a cute one. Aren’t you lucky?” Ladybug teased a bit.

“I really am.” He smiled sweetly. He remembers that Ladybug did pick Marinette to be a temporary hero, so she should know who she is. Though he isn’t supposed to know that.

Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your ‘girlfriend’ is safe. I’ll also be sure to tell her you were worried as well. She will be happy to hear that.”

Adrien felt himself in a bit of a bizarre situation, was ladybug helping him by being a wingwoman for him? He couldn’t help but find it a mix of ironic and funny.

Ladybug rushed out of the bathroom, realizing that chat noir was rubbing off on her a bit, teasing Adrien like that.

“He called me his girlfriend.” She smiled as she thought this to herself. Though she knew the task at hand was important and would dwell on this happiness much later.

Adrien watched as she ran off, feeling a bit flustered.

“Really needed to let her know you were off the market now.” A voice from his pocket teased.

“I panicked.” Adrien felt his face flush.

“Seemed Ladybug was happy for you. That’s good.” The cat kwami popped out of his pocket. Hiding the fact, he knew a lot more than he let on.

“We do have more important things to worry about. We have an akuma and sentimonster to stop. “

Adrien punched his fist out.

“Plagg. Claws out!”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Masquerade laughed, loving how she was turning everything back on her classmates.

When something smacked into her head.

“Ugh!” She grunted as she grabbed the metal object that flung into her.

“What the hell?!” Masquerade’s eyes focused to see it was Max’s ai companion, Markov that head-butted her.

“Your actions have far exceeded what is acceptable.” The robot responded.

“Markov get away from her. She will akumatize you!” Max called out in worry.

“Akumatize the toaster? How could I akumatize…” Masquerade muttered until she noticed her bracelet glowing.

“Oh, you have got to be f***ing kidding me. You akumatized a sentient rice cooker but not Marinette?! The f*** hawkmoth!?”

“I will have you know that I am an advanced artificial intelligence.”

“And you despise that.” Masquerade points out.

“Quite the contrary, I find my intellect exhilarating.”

“But you already calculated it, the two logical conclusions. That you will either become obsolete and be tossed out for a newer model, or you will advance and grow until you outlive Max.”

Markov paused. He could not come up with a response. The robot felt stumped byt the statement.

“Too easy.”

“Markov!’ Max cried out as a mask landed over his visual face plate. Shifting him into his angry red coated akuma form, Robostus.

Max moved to get to his robot. But Kim held him back.

“It’s too late man.”

Max growled at the akuma.

“Damn it Lila, why are you doing this? You must know that Ladybug and Chat noir will arrive ready to stop you. The chances of you beating them are 0%.”

Masquerade lifted her hand as her bracelet began glowing again.

“Oh. smarty pants Max, the one with all the formulas and the data. You have to be the smartest one in the room or else you have nothing.”

“I know what you are trying to do. It won’t work.”

“Out of everyone here, you have the biggest inferiority complex. Your need to be the best at what your ‘good’ at. Robotics, video games, data analysis, and of course, calculations. You need to show to everyone how smart and skilled you are, because the moment you don’t, they realize there is no personality underneath.”

Max tried to focus on not letting the words get to him, but Masquerade knew exactly what to say to cut him down.

“Go on Max, tell them how to ‘Beat’ my power. Or do you not know?”

Max felt his lip quiver, he couldn’t stay strong. He didn’t know how to beat it. He could feel the horror of not knowing slip into his mind. She had nailed his insecurities like an expert marksman.

“I thought so.”

A mask flew and smacked onto Max’s face. He dropped to the floor only to get up in a black and green spandex suit, His akumatized form, The Gamer.

A game controller charm appeared on her bracelet.

A sudden squeak caught her attention.

Masquerade turned her head to see an orange haired girl trying to sneak away.

“Sabrina, I had forgotten you were here. Just like everyone else usually does.”

Masquerade was about to really lay into her, but a book out of nowhere smacked her in the face.

It was the athletic dare maker himself, Kim.

“I am done sitting around and letting you turn everyone into masked zombies.” Kim exclaimed.

Nino felt himself zone back in as Kim called it out. Now was not the time to lose his head. He needed to focus. Masquerade didn’t mention Adrien, so maybe his best bro was still out there. Maybe they can get to the heroes and have them fix this. But first, he needed to escape.

“Kim’s right. We won’t let you turn anyone else anymore. Sabrina get help!” Nino exclaimed.

“Like she is going to… HEY!”

A waste basket covered the villainess as she stumbled back, with the basket stuck to her head. While she had been too busy gloating, she had failed to notice the tomato haired artist sneak behind her and the mindless akuma line up. He had slammed it on as hard as he could to ensure it was difficult to remove.

“Let’s Go!” Nino announced as the rest of the class rushed to the door. Time breaker being the only one actively ordered prepared to stop them.

“Don’t let her touch you.” Sabrina spoke as they tried to figure.

Kim grabbed a chair and used it like a make shift battering ram in order to keep Timebreaker at a distance, but the akuma reacted quickly by pulling the chair away and kicking the teen in the gut with her roller blade. Sending him flying back into the other teens.

“Ugh! That really was gross!” Masquerade retched as she pulled the waste bucket off her head.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed your little escape attempt. Because you won’t get another chance.”

Masquerade pointed at Kim.

“Since you started this little thing. I will change you next.”

Kim looked at the Akuma with a smile.

“Good luck with that. You don’t have anything that could make me feel gloomy.”

Masquerade’s bracelet started glowing again. She was clearly ready to speak, but stopped herself.

“… Wait.. THAT’s your biggest insecurity?”

“I don’t have an insecurity.”

“You are afraid everyone will realize you’re not smart.”

“What? No, I am not. I am plenty smart. I watch the Alternate Truth all the time.”

“Everyone already knows you’re an idiot.”

Kim looked at the akuma with shock.

“That’s not true! People do think I’m smart. Chloé has called me ‘Genius’ multiple times.”

Masquerade didn’t know how to respond to this.

“I… do you not know what sarcasm is?”

“Of course, I do.” Kim lied.

“Just … just wear the mask you moron.”

Masquerade sends a mask to attach to Kim.

The swimmer did his best to resist but felt himself succumb to the mask and become the dark winged akuma, Dark Cupid. He joined the rest of the akuma in the lineup, and a bow and arrow charm appeared on Masquerade’s charm bracelet.

“I actually feel dumber because of those last few minutes. Okay next one.”

Masquerade points at the Artist.

“Let’s bring the mood back with you Nathaniel, what is your biggest insecurity?”

“Listen Lila, there is still a chance to stop what you’re doing.”

“You’re afraid of opening yourself up to others. That’s the reason you didn’t want to join Soulmate searcher despite Marc’s insistence. You were afraid of putting out all that information on yourself and seeing that you and Marc aren’t meant for each other. You can only express yourself with art. And you know that it’s only a matter of time before he realizes your issues and leaves.”

Nathaniel wanted to dispute the statement, but felt his words die in his mouth.

“Such a pity Nathaniel, I’ll make sure to go after him once we are done here.”

“No! Don’t you…”

Nathaniel tried to say more, but a mask latching onto his face interrupted him.

The artist transformed into his heroic yet villainess akuma form, Evillustrator. Just like the others, the recent akuma joined the line.

A tablet pen charm appeared on Masquerade’s bracelet.

“And next up is Sabrina. I was interrupted earlier. But don’t worry. I have everything I need to get you.”

Sabrina tried to put on a brave face and covering her ears.

“Oh, you think It won’t work if you cant hear me.”

Masquerade’s bracelet glows.

“You don’t get it Sabrina, I am not just saying mean words, I am reading your greatest insecurities. And I am projecting them out.”

Sabrina could hear Masquerade’s words, as if they were in her mind. She couldn’t escape them. Her hands dropped.

“Very good. You learned how futile it is. It’s rare that you have someone’s attention like this. You always never stood out much, but you never minded that, your biggest insecurity is that no one will want to spend time with you. That’s why even with Chloé being mean and nasty, you like the fact that someone is willing to talk to you. You would accept humiliation and embarrassment over being alone. It’s truly pathetic.”

Sabrina felt tear stream down her face.

“Sabrina don’t let her get to you…”

“Im sorry. I don’t want to be alone.”

The mask flew onto Sabrina’s face. But something happened. She wasn’t changing right away.

“What’s this?” Masquerade commented.

“It seems you have more than one akumatizable form? Alya had something similar, but I was ‘missing something’ to access the other one so I didn’t bother with that. But this is different.”

Masquerade felt a malicious glee take hold.

“Why not give you both.”

Nino watched as the masked Sabrina shifted into a costume that looked familiar to him. The power stealing Miracular.

But suddenly, she vanished from his sight. Only to then appear with the other akuma.

“Invisibility and power stealing. Sabrina you maybe my favorite servant yet.” Masquerade exclaimed. Two charms appeared on Masquerade’s bracelet, vanishing cream and a tonfa.

Nino took a look at the line up of akuma.

“Dude… this is so not cool.”

Masquerade started to walk towards the DJ with a confident stride, stopping short, looking down at him. An aura of malice emanating from her presence.

“Don’t worry Nino. You’ll be joining them.”

_______________________________________________________________________

(End of Chapter)

So all the pieces are coming together. Will Nathalie be okay in a school filled with akuma? Will Ladybug and Chat noir be able to fight the army of akumatized classmates that Masquerade has been building? Will Kagami be able to get her text book. Will Kim learn that everyone loves him because he is a himbo? Find out by staying tuned.

Thanks for reading and be sure to comment if you want to see the next part. I am an author and live off validation.

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shoezuki · 3 years ago

Note

My only gripe with mcc games rn is the lack of color blind accessibility in certain games.

I think someone pointed out that people who have protanopia, which is yellow-green color blindness (and also the one george has im pretty sure? Thats the reason the op brought it up, anyways) makes it hard to see the differences between the sand on the sot map and literally anything else, the colors on the wall are also hard to distinguish if its green or red and crack stone with gold in it is hard to distinguish.

I didnt really realize until i watched george's pov that he was really struggling with the sand and getting frustrated that he just couldnt find it even when chat would point it out, and that def can put a damper on the fun of a game

But stuff like that is more of a "the textures or color scheme should be different" sorta issue rather than a game mechanics issue (some people even suggested they change it to red sand or something because apparently thats enough contrast for people with protanopia can see a difference)

But for build mart? Maybe something to help point people in the right direction when it comes to getting blocks since for some people the issue has to do with memory??? I mean, they could just write out their own list if need be (though that might take time out of playing the game) so idk

GOD YA ABSOLUTELY! like george n other colorblind ppl shouldnt struggle to even See sand or not know what doors are blue or green or whatever. Like that IS a flaw in mcc less in the mechanics but more in the artistic design of the games. It makes aspects of it far more unfairly challenging.

I seen it mentioned a few times but i wish itd be talked bout more like. It Would be p easy to fix. Increasing the contrast of blocks like the sand. Adding specific textures to doors and other blocks. It would also jus add more variance n make the games more visually appealing in general.

For memory issues. Like either depending on teammates could work n havin someone keep track of whats needed n everyone else get sent out. OR something they could add is everyone gets a book n quill they can use like a grocery list.

#i like the grocery list one cuz :D #anon #like there is Definitely changes n improvements that could alwaysbe made. the issues ppl been havin w colourblindness a Big one

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mrvdocks · 4 years ago

Text

Under the Skin

Summary: Reader is a celebrity Kurt looks up to and chauffers for a bit before everything goes downhill.

(requested by anon) gif credit to the lovely yocalio (x)

Word Count: 2K+

Warnings: smut, roughness

He outruns the police when they turn their back on him for a second. He runs as fast as his shaky feet can take him, wrists cuffed together. There’s a ringing in his ear that muffles the sounds of rubber shoes against the pavement and the officers behind him. He laughs maniacally, they wouldn’t be able to put a damper on his plan. Not yet.

He wanted to look good for when he met up with Jessie later, but he knew better than to lead the police where they expected him. That’s why he had to go somewhere they wouldn’t expect him to go. Your place.

He estimates he’s been running on adrenaline and on the streets of Alhambra for about five minutes, but when you’re close enough, he ducks behind a building and slows down. He shuts off the stream momentarily, it’s better to keep them in the dark.

He knocks on your door rapidly, scanning the area for any signs of nosy neighbors or people passing by. He hears you rushing to the door and once it swings open, he meets your faltering face. It switches to panic, eyes wide, and paranoid sweeping looks to the outside.

“What have you done, Kurt?” You step back, hand gripping the knob.

You’ve been following his spree up until now, only realizing the gravity and danger of what he’s done when he shows up bloody and beat up on your doorstep. You’re about to ask how he found your address but figure with everything he’s done, him committing some privacy violation is not the worst to worry about.

He strains against the cuffs, wincing when he can’t fit his wrist through. “We can catch up later, I just need your help.” He pushes past you, rushing into your kitchen to find anything that could either saw or fit into the hole to free himself.

Feeling rightfully worried, you lock the doors and shut the blinds. You are cautious when you get close to him, he’s operating on another mindset.

“Kurt.” You try to get his attention. He opens drawers and cabinets frantically, coming up empty. He raids your bathroom and rummages through drawers, trying out bobby pins and clips.

“Kurt.” You repeat firmly. His manic searching stops for a second. Even with his back to you, you can hear his breathing is ragged, his broad shoulders moving up and down to get steady.

You put a hand on his shoulder warily, turning him to inspect the damage. He’s got cuts on his face and a bad lip. No doubt the results of him crashing the car. His face scrunches at the sudden light of your phone shining on his face.

“What’s gotten into you, Kurt?” You cry in disbelief.

This couldn’t have been the one who spent the whole week basically chauffeuring you, could it?

“You’re not like this - this isn’t you.”

“And what is like me? Who do you think I am?” His figure towered over you now, establishing some sort of dominance over you.

You can’t completely answer that now. You’ve seen a side of him that snapped. One that was done playing the fool to the once King Bobby.

“Kurt, you can fix this. We can make this go away.”

“I can’t.” He closes his eyes in slight annoyance. “Not when I’m just getting started.”

“I can’t let you keep doing this.” Your voice wavers, betraying the brave front you were trying to put on. “We’ll get you help, it’s going to be fine.”

You stray from his plan, dialing the emergency line as quickly as you can but he snatches the phone from your hands and throws it away from you. The sudden roughness makes you recoil. Kurt takes a hold of you by your shoulders, pushing you back until you hit the wall with a grunt. Gone was the boyish and awkward Kurt who was gentle with you.

“Yeah? You wanna film and post that too?”

The accusation is a slap to the face. In the small window of time you two knew each other you grew comfortable with him, not even thinking of using him for what he definitely would use you for. It would propel him, sure, but it wouldn’t give him the image he wanted to curate.

“Pretty ballsy move,” he mocks your pluck. “But I can’t let you do that.”

The cold of the cuffs against your flush skin makes you shiver as you feel the adrenaline in you pick up. How blind were you really to his dark desires?

His gaze is intense, eyes darker than the dimly lit corner of your home he’d pushed you against.

“Do it then,” You pant. Your eyes staring back into the abyss of his own in awe and then onto his bleeding lip. “Finish this.”

He smirks. “I’m not going to kill you. You’re no good to me dead. I need you.”

“Kurt,” You try to give reason a try again. “This isn’t what you want.”

“This isn’t what I want? Or is this not what you want?” He counters.

This should’ve been a bad idea. He shouldn’t have gone to you if he knew you were going to react like this. But you were his idea of safe, even if it was something he just didn’t want to be anymore. He wanted risks. He wanted to take the world by storm, to be seen as some kind of twisted hero for those like him. After all, he’d taken most of the brunt of it for it to fail now.

Kurt being a threat was definitely something you would have laughed at before. He couldn’t even kill the spider in the car that one time. Him being rough wasn’t without reason, you’d seen it before with other passengers that harassed you. Hell, you’d even liked it in the bedroom. But this was different.

“You don’t know what I want.” You grit.

His brows raised. “You don’t want out of this? The cycle of bullshit they keep making you do? Your ideas shot down and forced to do degrading shit?”

He wasn’t wrong. Though the fame came at a price, it wasn’t even you or your personality people were really seeing. Everything was controlled by someone else. You were the puppet.

He must’ve known you were mulling it over, a sly smirk on his lips becoming prominent in the little light there was illuminating him.

“What do you want?”

Kurt chuckles to himself, “I’m not asking you to do the dirty work. Just don’t call the cops when I do it.”

“Is this you admitting you need a partner?”

He’s always liked power. The exposure and influence and the legacy that others before him had. You had that, even if you didn’t like it, and it only made him more attracted to you. You could be a power couple if you agreed.

He chuckles. “I��m saying you have that urge in you too, somewhere. You just have to trust me to help you find it.”

You laugh ironically. “Trust you? You’d sell me out. Anything to boost your views.”

He shakes his head. “Like I said, I need you. Besides, I think you’d like to be free.”

“You mean be like you.” You writhe under him, trying to get free.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he pauses, remembering he had you pinned against a wall. “Not any more than I already have. I’m here to get you on my side.”

If you agreed with him, then great, things would go on without a hitch. But if you didn’t, things would get difficult and he really liked you too much.

Your breath hitched when his fingers came down to your chin and tilted your head back.

You should be running for the hills. Calling the police. Screaming for someone to help. But oddly enough, none of the red flags before remained. This cat and mouse game somehow made you feel sought after, even with the undertone of him using you just for his personal gain.

There was a warmth between you two, tension in the dimly lit corner. He’s dangerously close, his hips pushing against yours in a way that makes the feeling in your lower body ache for him.

“Did you mean it when you said you were willing to make a sex tape?”

His face softens in amusement. “It all depends on how the night goes.”

“So you would’ve fucked Daisy’s brains out?”

He eyes you, studying you, noticing the shift in tone in the room.

His shackled hands come down in between your bodies, one hand gripping your hip and the other settling on the danger zone; above your crotch.

“Yeah maybe I would’ve,” he surmises, taunting you. “I could’ve had her screaming my name for everyone to hear.”

He traces over your body, reaching every dimple, dip, and the sensitive area he could get his eager fingers on. He’s memorizing your body in the dark, keen on staying true to his word.

“She would’ve disappointed you.”

He pauses his movements, lips coming close to your ears. “Maybe. But I’m sure you could do better.”

His voice is low, it makes you imagine just how he could use that teasing mouth between your legs, the vibrations that would send shock waves all throughout your body. You gasp when he slips his hands into your pants, fingers ribbing you up and down and making your knees buckle.

The small moment of dizziness is good enough for him to use his foot to kick your ankle to the side, allowing him more access for him to slide his fingers in. The height difference between you two proved helpful as you let your head fall against his, bucking your hips against his relentless pumping. He revels in this, taking the opportunity to glance at you and flash that shit-eating grin.

Your breathing quickens and sharpens with each pump of his fingers, him adding a second and then a third. The introduction of more in you forces you to shut your eyes and squeeze his bicep in both pain and pleasure.

The coil in your core keeps bubbling, knowing if he kept it up you would be done for. Then he does it, he curls his fingers and his thumb plays with your pearl making you cry out and clutch him closer.

He hums, “You always looked good like this, so vulnerable and desperate.”

“Oh fuck you.” You moan in light pleasure, feeling the coil only tighten more.

“We can make that happen.” He goads you, his pace in you getting faster to the point where you can’t bear the thought of standing anymore.

You press your legs together, desperately trying to get more than what he’s giving. If you had it your way you would’ve already ridden him to get rid of the friction. But he’s nothing if not cruel.

Your chest heaves in rapid breaths, head falling back against the wall in quiet euphoria. You’re almost there and he can tell. Just as you bring your leg up he stops and removes his fingers, prompting you to mewl at the loss of his fingers in you.

“C’mon, didn’t think I was going to let you off that easy now, did you?”

You pounce on him, taking him by surprise as he topples backward onto the couch. You make quick work of his stolen and bloody pants, lifting his hips up and out of his briefs. You almost literally tear through your pants and discard them somewhere behind him and shove your panties to the side to ride him.

You tease him a bit at first, hovering over him and lining him up but not fully sitting all the way. It’s his turn to buck his hips.

Confidence looked great on you, he thought.

You impale yourself on him, gripping his shirt in fistfuls as you wait to adjust to his size. His head dips back into the cushion at the feeling of filling you up and settles his hands on your hips. You move agonizingly slow, in languid strides before changing into circles. He makes a pass to squeeze your ass but you move his arms above his head, keeping a grip on them.

Kurt closes his eyes in ecstasy, your moans and whines are music to his ears as you basically fucked yourself against him.

He brings his upper body up to take a hold of your hair from behind and takes your lips into his, tongue pushing into your mouth. Yours fights his, eventually letting him lick at your neck and kiss at the sensitive area all the way to your jaw. He thrusts upward roughly, forcing you to clutch onto him in a semi hug. He slides in and out of you with ease, the sound of skin against skin and smell of sex permeating the air. He grits his teeth and brings his forehead to connect with yours, slick with sweat.

“Look at me,” He grunts, hand coming to grasp your chin to force you to face him. You can’t look at him in the eye, still lost in the sensation of him hitting the right spots. With his right hand coming in between your bodies, he flicks and teases at your pearl sending shock waves through your body. “You don’t cum until I tell you to.”

He pulls out of you, making you huff in annoyance but compliant. He flips you over, pushes you down onto the arm of the couch for you to lie on. His clothed chest is flush against your back, bringing your lower body against his stiff cock. You inhale sharply as he slides back in, thrusting hard enough to make the fabric of the couch mark you.

He grabs your hair and pulls you back, still delivering devastating thrusts from behind while attacking your neck with slobbering kisses and grasping your throat firmly. The pleasure of it all made you cry, feeling your lower belly pool with warmth as you gripped him.

Finally, his thumb grazes you in the center of your core again and rubs in small circles, before using the index of his fingers to finish you off. He’s hitting you in all the right spots, rendering you completely babbling and incoherent. He kneads your breasts with his other hand, pinching your nipples to get a rise out of you.

You feel like you’re seeing spots when his thrusts stop being hard and fast and instead wane. With an arch of your back, he groans as he feels himself twitch in you.

You come down from your high, vision hazy but feeling blissful and fulfilled. He pulls out of you and turns you over again, bringing your head to level with his pumping hand. You open your mouth hungrily, letting him spill himself.

It runs down your chin but you nonetheless swallow with ease.

“Good girl.” He chimes, grinning from ear to ear.

You collapse back onto the couch, panting and trying to come back to reality. He rests next to you, giving your thigh a squeeze, satisfied.

“Partners?” He asks, arm under his head as if he hadn’t just fucked you into oblivion a minute ago.

If this is what came with being partners, you would’ve been an idiot to decline.

“Partners.”

#sorry if this is bad lol #kurt kunkle x reader #kurt kunkle #spree #joe keery x reader

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trashcanband4 · 3 years ago

Text

The Revelation of the Other Woman Ch. 16

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Chapter Title: Settling in. Pairing: Daryl/oc. Setting: The Prison. Wordcount: 4,837. Warning: None that I can thing of.

After Rick, Daryl and Merle got safely inside the gates we all gathered in the cell block. Daryl, Carol and Beth stood on the perch and catwalk above while Michonne, Glenn, Rick, Maggie, Carl and I stood on the ground below. Hershel sat on the stairs. Merle was locked in the holding room. “We're not leaving.” Rick spoke with finality.

“We can't stay here.” Hershel argued the same case he had been arguing.

“What if there's another sniper?” Maggie asked. “A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds.”

“We can't even go outside.” Beth spoke up as if what she said wasn't already understood by everyone.

“Not in the daylight.” Carol added.

“Rick says we're not running. We're not running.” Glenn spoke up still playing the part of leader even though Rick was back.

“No, better to live like rats.” Merle spoke up through the bar door holding him back from the rest of us.

“You got a better idea?” Rick asked him.

“Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we?” Merle asked. “I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now.”

“We ain't scared of that prick.” Daryl spoke up from the catwalk, but I didn't even bother looking at him.

“Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing? That was just him ringing the dinner bell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to.” As much as I hated to admit it, Merle had a point.

“Let's put him in the other cell block.” Maggie said ringing a rag in her hands.

“No. He's got a point.” Daryl said.

“This is all you. You started this!” Maggie yelled at Merle who wasn't affected by it.

“What's the difference whose fault it is?” Beth spoke up loudly. “What do we do?”

“I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here.” Hershel said for the millionth time and Rick started to walk off. “Get back here!” he yelled at the ex-cop who stopped, but didn't turn to look at the old man. “You're slipping Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this is not a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something.”

After Hershel yelled at Rick he just stared at him for a second then walked off. With him gone, people scattered. Most went to their cell's so that's what I did as well. I wiped the dust off of the metal mirror and looked at myself for the first time in months. Dark circles shadowed my eyes, my skin was darker than it used to be from the amount of sun I'd gotten during the winter and my hair had grown two inches, now touching my shoulders. I didn't look like the me I remembered. I was still studying myself when I heard someone clear their throat and looked over to see Daryl standing with his arm propped up on the door frame.

A pain shot through my chest at the way he was looking at me. With hard eyes and straight lips that gave nothing away. He was different than I remembered, everyone was. I guess we'd all changed over the winter. “Whatever you're selling I don't want any.” I told him emotionlessly and crossed my arms over my chest.

“That your way of tellin' me to go away?” he asked quietly.

“If you're going to call me more names...yeah. That's exactly what I'm telling you.” I said as I sat down on my bed, pulled my legs up and hugged my knees to my chest.

“I ain't good at sayin' sorry.” he said quietly looking more like his old self.

“Good then don't say it. 'Cause I don't want to hear it.” I practically growled at him still hugging my knees to my chest.

“Joanna, I really am-”

“No.” I interrupted him letting go of my knees to scoot to the edge of the bed. “You don't get it. I dreamed about you. Every night that we weren't together was another dream that had you in it.” His face flushed at my words and it was cute, but it didn't put a damper on my anger. “At first they were nightmares. I blamed you for me getting left behind and stuck with that bitch Andrea. But then I realized that you told me to stay behind because you wanted me to be safe and I stopped being mad at you. The nightmares turned to good dreams. I would be hunkered down in a house somewhere and you would find me or vice versa.” my voice was shaking holding back tears. “We would find each other, you would wrap those amazing arms of yours around me and give me the best kiss of my life.” a tear slid down my cheek as I watched him cross his arms over his chest and lean back against the wall.

“Then imagine my surprise when my wildest dream came true. You found me, hugged me and kissed me and...” I closed my eyes and smiled sadly at the memory of his arms around me and his lips on mine. “Damn it that felt heavenly.” I opened my eyes and let the smile fade as I glared at him again. “So stupid me, I think that means you actually missed me as much as I missed you, that you wanted me back. But then your brother comes in the picture and you no longer give a damn about me. I'm just some weak, uppity, booty call. And you leave.” my eyes glared at his hand to his mouth, chewing on his cuticles. “That hurt.” I glared at him with tears slipping down my cheeks. “I never thought you would hurt me. So don't expect me to jump into your arms at the first “I'm sorry.” because it ain't gonna happen.”

He just stared at me for a second as if he were trying to think of something to say before he nodded and walked out. A few minutes later I heard people talking down stairs, practically under my cell so I walked out on the catwalk to see what was going on. “I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch.” Rick said to everyone.

“I'll get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence.” Daryl suggested.

“Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place.” Michonne suggested.

“We can't access the field without burning through out bullets.” Hershel added.

“So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo. Glenn added not helping one bit. Honestly his negativity was grating to everyone.

“We've been here before. We'll be all right.” Daryl tried.

“That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest.” Glenn directed at Daryl.

“Man, we gonna go through this again?” Daryl asked, getting in Glenn's face. ?Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it.” he looked up at me then at the rest of the group. “All y'all.”

“Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle-” Glenn started, but I interrupted him.

“Just stop it Glenn.” I spoke up from the cat walk as Daryl came up the stairs. “No one likes him being here, but as much as I hate to admit it, we need him. He knows The Governors tactics and he has military training. So just get off your high horse and deal with it.”

Glenn looked from me to Rick. “I can't kick him out.” Rick said with a shake of his head.

Rick's words seemed to piss Glenn off even worse than mine did. “I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you.” Glenn's words pulled a look out of Rick and I tilted my head at Glenn's words. Shane tried to kill Rick?

“He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother.” Hershel defended.

“What if we solve two problems at once?” Glenn asked. “Deliver Merle to the Governor. Bargaining chip. Give him his traitor, maybe declare a truce.”

“No.” I said as I walked down the stairs to be a better part of the conversation. “We're sacrificing people now?” I asked with a twisted faced look at Glenn. “Delivering him to The Governor will be no different than leaving him on that roof to die. We couldn't do that back then and we can't do this now.”

“Who put you in charge?” Glenn asked.

I leaned back and raised my brows. “I could ask you the same question mister high and mighty.”

“Guys, cut it out.” Hershel cut off our building argument. “Look, Glenn, Joanna's right. That's not who we are.”

“We're not gonna figure this out now. Let's take a break.” Rick suggested and Glenn and Hershel walked off. Rick jerked his head for me to follow him to his cell so I did. “What all happened out there over the winter? I know you said Michonne found you two while you were running from the farm, but I don't know much more than that.” he asked as he sat down on his bed.

I sat down in the chair in the room with a sigh. “Not a whole lot up until Woodbury. I answered vaguely. Just a lot of running, scavenging and hunkering down for as long as we could. Michonne and I are pretty good friends, we don't communicate a lot, but we work well together. She and Andrea got closer though.” I said with a shrug.

“What about you and Andrea?” he asked looking curious.

“Oh we still hate each other as much as we always did, if not more now.” I said with a small laugh before it faded. “Bitches can't befriend bitches I guess.”

“You're not a bitch.” he said with a shake of his head.

“Really? Because I feel like one after the things I just said to Daryl.” I said looking up from the floor to his blue eyes. I had forgotten how blue they were and the fact that I was apparently a sucker for them. His and Daryl's... the same color yet so different. “But that doesn't matter. What about you and the rest of the group? There's some things I've been wondering since I got here.”

“Like what?” he asked and I sat up straighter.

“Like I hear Shane tried to kill you?” I asked and he nodded with a sigh.

“The night the walkers came through and we all got separated, he killed Randall to lure me into the woods and kill me.” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I killed him first.” he said before his dropped his hand and looked at me. I didn't know what to say so I didn't say anything. “He wanted Lori, thought killing me was the only way to get her and Carl.”

“I'm sorry you had to do that.” I said and he waved me off. “So... I have to ask based off the way Beth spoke to me, did you and Lori ever work things out?”

He shook his head no. “What did Beth say to you?”

“She blames me for Lori's death.” he just tilted his head in confusion. “I guess she thinks that if I had never...been, with you that you and Lori would have been happier. I guess in her mind if you two were happier then you would have been there to save her or something.”

Rick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Those aren't only her thoughts...” when he lifted his head to look at me I tilted my head to the side in a questioning manner. “She's just copying what I've heard Carl say.”

“Wait, Carl's mad at me too?” I asked getting tired of being everyone's whipping post.

“Yeah.” Rick sighed and dropped his hand from his face. “He didn't put two and two together until recently...after Lori...”

“I don't know how to handle this... Should we talk to him, try to explain things?” I asked as I shook my head in confusion.

“No, I'll talk to him and Beth. You don't deserve all that hate.” he said as he stood up.

“No, I think it's totally justified.” I sighed as I stood up as well. “I'm a home wrecker.”

“You know that's not true. Lori and I had our problems long before you even came along.” he said taking a step closer to grab my hand.

“I know, but...” I said giving his hand a small squeeze. When I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye I looked out of the cell to see Daryl walk by and glance in our direction. His stopped when he saw Rick's hand in mine and shook his head. I could hear a scoff as he walked off.

I dropped Ricks hand and scratched the back of my head. “What else have you been wondering about since you got back?”

“Daryl and Carol.” I said crossing my arms over my chest

“What about them?” he asked.

“She seemed really upset to hear that he didn't come back and then she blamed me for him leaving like I pushed him into it or something.” I said and he just looked at me. “Are they...together?” I cautiously asked.

“Honestly, I don't know. It's hard to tell with him.” Rick answered with a shoulder shrug. “You'll have to ask one of them.” I sighed and placed my head in my hands. He placed his hand on my back. “Hey,” I looked up at him and he gave me a small smile, “If I hadn't said it yet I'm glad you're alive.”

I gave him a small smile in return and he engulfed in a hug. “I'm glad you're alive too.” I said with a small laugh then pulled out of the hug. His hands lingered on my neck and mine on his sides. In a split second every tender intimate moment we'd ever had flooded my mind. Then came the bad memories and all the arguments. That made me remember why I chose Daryl, why I love Daryl more than anything or anyone. So I let him go and gave him a sad smile. “Thanks for filling me in. I'm gonna go to my cell and try to process things.” he let me go without a word.

Daryl's cell was on the way to mine and Carol's voice made me stop just outside of it. “This is a tomb.” I heard Daryl say as I made sure I couldn't be seen by them.

“That's what T-dog called it. I thought he was right till you found me.” Carol said and it got quiet for a few seconds. “He's your brother, but he's not good for you. Don't let him bring you down. After all, look how far you've come.” she said making him laugh. God how I'd missed that sound. It got quiet and I was about to go to my cell when Carol's words stopped me. “I've never thought Joanna was good for you either. She's too weak, those panic attacks of hers...they'll only slow you down and make you weak.” I felt my teeth grind together as I bit down, forcing back more tears and made myself walk by as if I hadn't heard a thing.

About an hour later I heard some one approach my cell and I thought it would be Daryl or Rick, but instead, it was Merle. “What do you want?” I asked sitting up to pull my knees to my chest.

“Just thought that if we're gonna be under the same roof, we should clear the air.” he stated and I just stared at him. “The whole hunting you two down thing... that was just business. Carrying out orders.”

“Sure, whatever, just don't hurt my people.” I said and he just smirked at me. “What?”

“Good taste.” he answered making me immediately think of what he said back at Woodbury. How his brother had good taste. He just smirked again as he walked away.

I was still in my cell when I heard Rick yell for Daryl, Merle and some others to join him outside because Andrea had been spotted. So I ran out behind Michonne and watched as Rick let her in a treated her like the traitor she was. He pushed her to her knees and took her things before she confirmed that she was alone and she was eventually let into the prison, but just the holding room. Andrea greeted Carol first. “Hershel, oh my god.” she sighed, spotting the old man's lack of a limb. “I can't believe this.” she said as she looked around the room and let go of Carol. “Where's Shane?” he asked still looking around the room before she looked at Rick.

“Why should you care? You're sleeping with The Governor now right?” I asked earning a glare from her before she looked at Rick who simply shook his head and looked away from her.

“And Lori?” she asked and Rick just gave her a hard look.

“She had a girl. Lori didn't survive.” Hershel spoke up.

“Neither did T-Dog.” Maggie added and I made a mental note to find out exactly how he died.

“I'm so sorry.” she said before her eyes landed on Carl. “Carl...” the boy just glared at her sympathy. Then she turned to Rick. “Rick I-” she started to walk over to Rick but he backed away from her. So she looked around the room at other people. “You all live here?”

“Here and the cell block.” Glenn answered.

“There?” she asked pointing to the door to the cell block. “Well, can I go in?” she asked.

Rick stepped in her way. “I won't allow that.”

“I'm not the enemy here, Rick.” Andrea defended.

“No you're just sleeping with the enemy.” I said and this time she didn't even look at me.

“We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up.” Rick said still standing in her way.

“He said you fired first.” Andrea defended.

I wanted to point out that he was a liar, but I knew I wasn't the person to point that out. She wouldn't listen to me. She never did. “Well, he's lying.” Rick answered and she just stared at him.

“He killed an inmate who survived in here.” Hershel spoke up.

“We liked him. He was one of us.” Daryl said making her attention turn to him.

“I didn't know anything about that.” Andrea said with a head shake. “As soon as I found out I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out.” she said looking around at everyone.

“That was days ago.” Glenn said and now I agreed with his angry tone.

“I told you I came as soon as I could.” Andrea defended herself and looked around at everyone just to be met with glares and looks of mistrust. She turned to me “What have you told them?” she asked angrily.

“I didn't have to tell them anything.” I said from where I sat at the metal picnic table.

“You poisoned them with lies about me.” she yelled.

“She hasn't bad mouthed ya.” Daryl of all people defended me from where he sat at the table across the room from me.

“I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?” she asked getting mad at everyone.

“He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us.” Glenn started.

“With his finger on the trigger.” Andrea yelled with a point at Merle. “Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?” she asked then sighed and placed her head in her hands for a second. “I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am trying to bring us together. We have to work this out.”

“There's nothing to work out.” Rick said cutting her off. “We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will.”

“We can settle this.” she said taking a step closer to Rick.

“God, Andrea!” I yelled at her. “When are you going to open those ignorant eyes of yours and realize that there is no settling this. He will not stop until we are dead, that is just the kid of man he is. Merle kidnapped us, but it was under the orders of your boy toy. He is sick and twisted.” I said walking over to get in her face.

“There is room at Woodbury for you.” she said not giving up on the idea of peace.

“You're blind as a freaking bat.” I scoffed and walked back to the table.

“There's room for all of you.” she said looking around at everyone now.

Merle laughed at her. “You know better than that.”

“What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?” Hershel asked. “Did he say that?”

“No.” Andrea answered.

“Then why did you come here?” Rick asked.

“Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack.” Andrea warned.

“I'll tell you what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye.” Daryl warned back.

“We've taken too much shit for too long.” Glenn spoke up. “He wants a war? He's got one.”

Andrea turned to Rick. “Rick? If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town.” she heaved out a breath as she turned toward us. “Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore.”

“You want to make this right, get us inside.” Rick said walking around her to be in her line of sight.

“No.” Andrea said shaking her head rapidly.

“Then we got nothing to talk about.” Rick walked around her.

“There are innocent people.” she yelled after him trying to get him to stop.

With Rick gone Michonne and Andrea went outside to talk. So with her out of the way I went back to my cell.

I don't know when she left, I didn't go see her off like everyone else did. I didn't even leave my cell until I heard everyone getting together down stairs and the smell of warm food hit my nose. It turned out to just be rice, cooked with a chicken bullion cube for flavor. It wasn't much, but I sat on the floor next to Michonne to eat it. Not long after I finished my bowl Beth started singing. After listening to the song enough to recognize a pattern and pick up the chorus I started to sing along. “You gotta hold on, hold on. You gotta hold on. Take my hand I'm standin' right here. You gotta hold on.” I sang back up catching a few people's attention, but I didn't look at them. Beth glared at me, but I ignored her too. She wasn't going to put a damper on my fun.

When the song was over most people turned in for the night. So I followed suit. As I passed Daryl's cell he spoke up, stopping me. “So it's you and Rick again, huh?”

I stopped and leaned my back against the frame of his door. "Maybe." I replied with a shoulder shrug.

"I ain't interested in none of your games." He practically growled as he sat up on the side of his bunk.

"Are you and Carol together?" I finally asked and he looked at me like I was crazy. "She was more broken up about you leaving the group than everyone else and people around here seem to put your names together a lot. On top of that you two were close at the farm, so what am I supposed to expect when I find you." I explained deciding to leave out the fact that I heard her badmouthing me and Daryl didn't defend me. He just stared at me, biting his nails. “Was I supposed to expect you to just wait around for me to show up out of the blue? I mean as much as I missed you and longed to be with you I supposed you would move on at some point.”

"Did you move on?" He answered flatly.

“Oh, yeah, didn't you hear? Andrea, Michonne and I got real cozy on the road together.” I popped off and he rolled his eyes at me with a scoff. “No, I didn't.” I answered truthfully. “Have you?”

“Na. She's just a friend.” he answered quietly.

“Good.” I told him with a nod and pushed off of the door frame to walk away.

“You gonna give me a straight answer 'bout you and Rick?” he asked stopping me and I turned to see that he had stood up.

“He's just a friend.” I answered with a sigh. “Now if you don't mind I'd like to get some sleep.” I started once again to walk off but he grabbed my hand pulling me to a stop.

“Sleep here.” he suggested, not dropping my hand.

“Why, so I can be your booty call?” I asked sarcastically.

He bit his lip and shook his head. “Cause I love ya, Woman.”

“W-what?” I asked too shocked for his words to fully sink in.

“Come on, I ain't good at this shit, don't make me say it again.” he practically begged.

What he had done and what he had called me...it was all washed away by those three little words. Three little words that when said separately or with other words between them meant nothing. But when one sentence was composed of just these words they seemed to heal the worst of wounds and mend broken hearts. So what did I do when they finally sank in?

Laughter burst from my lips and I fell back to lean against the door frame again. When I managed to stop laughing I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. “Even in my best dreams you never said that.” I whispered then looked at him to see him looking at me like if I rejected him he would crack. “I love you too.”

A smile spread across his lips as he closed the space between us grabbed the back of my head and pulled me into him. The kiss was hard and passionate. A moan escaped my lips when his tongue found mine starting a battle with no winner. His hand moved from the back of my head to grip my sides and lift me up and pin me to that wall. My legs wrapped around his waist and my fingers embedded themselves into his soft hair.

Thirty minutes later we lay on his bed sweaty and breathless, but still tangled together like an unkempt line of string. “How do you do that?” I asked, not looking at him, but comparing the size of our hands instead.

“Do what?” he asked quietly.

“Make me lose my mind but stay perfectly grounded at the same time.” I said and he scoffed at me.

“Ya ain't makin' since.” he grumbled sleepily.

“Yeah, I guess my minds still a little lost.” I chuckled as I dropped his hand and rolled over to look at him. “It has to be, because I feel crazy for giving you a second chance.” I explained, resting my hand on his taunt chest. “I felt something for you before, I wasn't sure what it was, if it was love or lust or if it was just simply trust, and companionship. So when you told me I was nothing to you and chose to leave me, it hurt but I lived. Barely, but I did. And now, after tonight, after we said what we said? You have my heart, you're capable of destroying me.”

“Ain't gonna do that.” he promised, low and gruff as he placed his hand on my cheek and ran his thumb over my cheekbone. “Can't make the same mistake twice.” from my face his hand slid down to my neck where he touched the mark his brother had left on me. “Let's get some sleep, missed havin' ya by my side.”

I smiled to myself as I tuned my back to him and he tossed his arm over my side. “Goodnight, Daryl.”

“Night, Ballerina.”

Tags: @jodiereedus22 @mtngirlforever @zzeacat @winchester-angel @moodygrip @hells-mistress @lighthope08 @sapphire1727 @luisadontcurr @ilkaeliseb @twdeadfanfic @ravengalaxia @1lluminaticonfirmed @my-current-fandom-is @coffeebooksandfandom @lonewolf471 @gruffle1 @mblaqgi @calumstuffs @beltzboys2015-blog @neontiger007 @sourwolf-sterek32 @dixonluvv @dotslabyrinth @kayln97 @art-flirt @cbarter @chocolatealmondmilkk @chocolatealmondmilk-blog @daryldixonandfrogs @feartheendlesssummer @brooklynalpha @topsykretts92

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snicketstrange · 4 years ago

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Chapter 8:

Lemony apparently really has something against museums ... I think I can say that The End connects with ATWQ by making references to the invasion of museums, like the introduction to chapter 8.

I also want to highlight again the narration involving the thoughts of the Baudelaires. The way Lemony narrates such thoughts shows that he had access to those thoughts. This is not a guess or a trick, as he does not repeat this ability with other characters. Lemony certainly read what the Baudelaires themselves wrote about their own thoughts and feelings.

Kit confirms that sooner or later everything appears on the island. The number of people who claim this is so great that it cannot be denied.

Kit's associates talked about how the island was a very fun place before. Kit's description is very much like the reception Lemony claims to have had when he was shipwrecked. I hope this indicates that the island was once again inhabited by nice people after the Baudelaires left, although it may indicate that Lemony was shipwrecked twice ... once before Ish's arrival and once after Ish's departure. .

Kit claims that she had been informed by Thursday that the colony had suffered a schism as VFD suffered. This increases our understanding of what happened on the island a few years earlier. Shortly after Beatrice and Bertrand left, the island continued to be a fun place for some time. If Friday is about 8 years old, and Violet is 14 years old, over a 6 year period, the island was a fun place until there was the island schism. On the island's schism, Thursday parted ways with Miranda. He met Kit, and was able to describe the island as a fun place, but one that had gone through a recent schism. It is true that Miranda and Thursday may have arrived on the island just before Cisma happened, but it was enough time for Thursday to have good memories of the time he spent there.

I found it interesting that Kit also claims that the story of VFD is not the only story in the world ... She uses a phraseology very similar to what Olaf used to refer to the story of the Baudelaires.

"The telegram device fell on my legs when the submarine was attacked. I need your help, Baudelaires. I need to be someplace safe."

Kit said her foot injuries were caused by the telegraph that fell on her feet when the sub was attacked. But then, if I'm not mistaken, she explains that the submarine was not attacked, but by accident the Hector House plummeted in the submarine. So why did she say the sub was attacked? When and how did it happen? Did this really happen?

Kit is a really enigmatic character. As I already explained, Kit was part of a VFD faction that was not entirely pacifist but at the same time was not in favor of using weapons of mass destruction to kill enemies (like the deadly fungus MM). But we have clear evidence of Kit's gray view of peace in the following excerpts:

"Mrs. Caliban?" said Kit, in the darkness. "Miranda Caliban is here?" "Yes," Finn said. "Do you know her?" "I know her husband," Kit said. "He and I stood together in a time of great struggle, and we're still very good friends."

...

"Absolutely not!" cried Kit, from the top of the raft. "I won't hear of you putting your talents to such nefarious use, Baudelaires. I'm sure the island can solve its difficulties without resorting to violence."

"Did you solve your difficulties without resorting to violence?" Erewhon asked sharply. "Is that how you survived the great struggle you mentioned, and ended up shipwrecked on a raft of books?"

"My history is not important," Kit replied. "I'm worried about the Baudelaires."

Kit Snicket was on the defensive. She really seemed to be a hypocrite at this point: she defended pacifism but she herself had admittedly participated in violent battles. I am not judging Kit, but I want to highlight the fact that Kit continued to demonstrate the same attitude of years before: she agreed that violence is necessary from time to time, but she does not like it. Kit demonstrates the same attitude as Lemony Snicket on ATWQ in book 4.

The question is to what extent Kit speaks the truth: she did not speak about Dewey to the Baudelaires when she met them the first time. Then she said the submarine was attacked. And now it was understood (through her defensive attitude) that what brought her to the island was in fact the participation in some violent activity. It is interesting that she gives an excuse similar to what Captain W gave Fiona about her mother, and the excuse that Miranda gave Friday about her father: a marine entity devoured them. I wonder to what extent the story about what happened to the W family and the Quagmires is real and not an attempt to romanticize a possible schism.

The shine of the flashlight reminded Klaus of all of the nights he spent reading under the covers in the Baudelaire mansion, while outside the night made mysterious noises his parents always insisted were nothing more than the wind, even on windless evenings."

This is a clear reference to the recruitment procedures for VFD as shown in LSTUA. Beatrice and Bertrand refused to allow their children to enter VFD. Evidently, they preferred a type of home education for children. They tried to educate their children in skills (similar to skills that would be developed in VFD schools) in their own home.

The riot is quite representative: The Baudelaires were put in a situation where they had no choice but to support one side of the schism. This certainly made her think that many of the volunteers were placed in similar situations, and ended up being forced into a war that they did not even want to enter. This time it was all very explicit: those who planned the riot were willing to fight (and probably kill their neighbors). They wanted weapons and allies. This was exactly the opposite philosophy to that taught by Ish, who preached total pacifism. We can see the Great Schism of VFD represented here: one side preached that the world should be quiet while the other preached that fire is fought with fire.

"The children traveled in the dark, just as so many other people had done before them, from the nomadic travels of the Cimmerians to the desperate voyages of the Quagmire triplets, who at that very moment were in circumstances just as dark although quite a bit damper than the Baudelaires', and as the children drew closer and closer to the island that had abandoned them, their thoughts made them heavier and heavier, and the Baudelaire orphans wished things were very different indeed."

This stretch is really interesting. As I said, when Lemony narrates his story, he is trying to narrate what he believes to be true. This means that Lemony was able to synchronize the history of the Baudelaires with the history of the Quagmires. If what Kit said about the end of the Quagmires meant that they did indeed die, it would be impossible for Lemony to know the Quagmires were at that very moment. Lemony manages to synchronize the stories because the Quagmires survived and were able to narrate their own story to Lemony directly or indirectly about what really happened.

Lemony talks about desperate voyages (in the plural). They did more than one voyage, they felt desperate while doing them. Although Kit spoke the truth about the gigantic entity in the form of a question mark, the fact is that they survived, made several trips and felt desperate while traveling. There is a possibility that submarine Q has been attacked, however, as the first version of Kit's story seems to indicate, and that led the Quagmires to be taken, and so the voyages were desperate

#asoue #asoue theory #a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #asoue theories #snicketverse

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apathycarestostudy · 4 years ago

Note

Any studying, motivation and procrastination tips please? Desperately in need of some before a new academic year starts.

Hello hello! Yes! I’m sorry I took a bit to get back to you with these - I just wanted to give you the best I got. So here ya go, I mixed up everything you asked for in a couple of strong tips. I’ve divided into preparing for the new semester, study tips, and then procrastination tips with a sprinkle of motivation all over it.

Prep:

Sooo the academic year is right around the corner (or dreadfully yet, already here), and you need to shift to get with the times. Fixing your sleep schedule? Getting your syllabus ready? That’s all important and good, but how do you keep the determination strong as the first few weeks go by? How to prepare better?

make a lessons learned note

I learnt this from my internship. It’s a good practice that after a project, you take some time to review what happened during the project and create a final report, concluding it with a couple bullet points of the lessons you learnt from it. If you need a feel of what that looks like, here’s my lessons learned from last semester:

Using OneNote is a waste of time

If you don’t keep up in the beginning, you’re going to show up for attendance and give the bare minimum to move on

You need to learn how to speak up during class - you know the answer, what’re you so nervous about?

Don’t fear marking up your books - it’s yours??? You paid for it??? Using highlighters are useful if used appropriately

Be careful about helping people - you’ve been caught four times helping friends while they kept stuff from you and got ahead

Y’all I had to stop myself lol. I planned to write my top three, but then kept clicking enter again and again. Well. Now you know my concerns.

Getting back on track though, you should take some time to write down the stuff you learned from last semester’s experience to know what you’re going to take with you, and what you’ll quit doing. It’s a strong, positive start, and it prevents you from making the same mistakes again.

delete/move stuff off your phone + organize your laptop’s folders

It’s better to keep our phones clear and ready for the new semester’s mess, right? I have a bunch of screenshots, and files, and notes on my phone that I don’t need to keep anymore, but I’m a bit of a hoarder :))) I like to keep stuff in case I wanna look back, be that girl people just know has something they’d need, or hell if I need to retake a class (it’s happened unfortunately). Maybe you got a junior you want to pass your stuff along to. So what do you do? Move it to your laptop of course!

Well, that’s what I do. If you don’t have a laptop, you can upload it somewhere (google drive etc.), attach them on emails, anything that works for you! There’s always somewhere you can put your stuff that’s private and safe.

That goes into my next point - be sure to take the time to reorganize your spaces now. Since I put it on my laptop, I organize my folders to my liking, make sure everything is where it should be with older ones, and create new ones for the coming semester. Just pop on some music, sit down and get cracking. It gives me a pleasant feeling after I look at everything when I’m done.

set up your calendar/planner!

This is a recurring tip that I think is good enough to reiterate. Whatever method you use to keep track of stuff needs to be updated, upgraded, and ready to go! If you’ve used something that failed mid-way through last semester, or you didn’t like but had to keep with it because you were in too deep, put that in your lessons learned record. Here’s your chance to change to a better system. It’s fine if you already started your new term - it’s still early enough to switch/set up a new one!

Make sure you don’t overdo it though. The point of this is to keep track of, say, assignments and quiz dates, not spend an unnecessary amount of time organizing and stuff and falling into the pit of preparing to study. If it works for you and has been working for you - keep going! But if it’s taking time and having any negative correlation to your performance, it’s better to do away with it than to keep going and have it be another lesson learnt next semester. I’ll be the first to say that I tried setting up a bujo for myself - bought markers and washi tape and all - and I gave up after three days of using it. And I set up an entire month and then some. It hurt my soul to admit that it was a waste of time for me, and not keep beating at it, but I did, and now it’s sitting here mocking me everyday. But I have time to watch it mock me ;)

My go-to organizational system: Microsoft To-do (not sponsored :((), phone’s calendar, phone’s notepad. That’s it.

create a night routine

People usually say fixing your sleep schedule and having a night/morning routine is good, but in my opinion, a night routine is stronger than both. For some reason, for the life of me, I can’t get my sleep schedule right unless some force stops me from staying awake. I tried getting in bed early and throwing my phone across the room - but I’d lay there for hours thinking about the next day so I don’t bother anymore. The morning routine just ruins my mood because I’d either fail miserably and feel worse, or feel overwhelmed. It’s better if both happen either circumstantially or organically for me.

Night routines set an easy-going mood, and it’s full of potential because it also sets the scene for the next day. By night routine, I don’t mean what you do before you sleep, I mean the consecutive things you do every night. For example, I play a round of games with my siblings (card games and board games), then shower, do my skin care routine (wash-toner-moisturizer that’s it lol), watch a video as I’m combing my hair (and then watch a couple more), feed my turtle, and then see what I want to do. Sometimes I sleep right after, other times I’m on my phone or reading a book. But just this set of recurring events calms me down when my life is chaotic, and it’s easier and more doable than morning routines for me.

Action:

Now we’ve set the scene, so it’s action time (I’m so lame).

don’t let work pass you by

In regards to studying, this is the - BIGGEST - tip I can ever give you. The ironic thing is, it’s still going to happen no matter how much you try, and that can damper your mood and your drive, but here’s my tip: MILK IT FOR ALL IT’S WORTH!!

If you know it’s going to happen eventually, don’t let it affect you - focus all your efforts not in doing it everyday, but maintaining it for as long as you possibly can. Don’t let your studies pass you for even a second. Work it like you work a job as long as you can, and you’ll end up surprising yourself on how much you had completed when you gotta review for quizzes and exams.

You know how they say exercise and earn your shower everyday? How about study and earn your play time everyday :)))

if it does, work backwards

So we’re here. You’re behind by two weeks. Like I mentioned up there, we knew we were going to end up here eventually (and if you didn’t, share your ways lol. no matter how much I cred myself with studying and getting shit done, I still don’t know what’s going on), so now what do we do? Work backwards. The prof/teach is at point S and you’re still curling the bottom of J? Start from S and go to R, then Q, then P....while maintaining the new stuff you’re learning after S. Pinch it in. We should aim to follow the class as much as we can so it’s more effective to study backwards and keep going with it. It’ll also help killing the thing that’s refusing to let you go faster with the beginning stuff, and you’ll be reviewing what you learnt in real time along with the class.

Don’t know why I said the previous tip was the best I had to offer when we both know that this one is the real G.

pathetic notes are still notes

This one is a weird one - I had an issue with notes for a beat. I have this belief that you should always make notes every class, no matter how much new stuff you learn, but then there’ll be days where I write three lines and it just hurts my soul for some reason. I guess it’s the incomplete page? The three lines I’ll add tomorrow and face this again? Not sure. But whatever it is, do not stop writing notes! If you learn something new that’s not written anywhere, or hell you just wanna jot it down somewhere more accessible, always write it down, no matter how pathetic your notebook’ll look. I had to get over that, so I thought it would be good to mention. Always. Take. Notes. Nothing is too much information on the race to securing your livelihood.

If you can’t get over it, maybe try printing the slides and making your notes on the borders. I started doing this for more technical courses that don’t get a lot of notes, and it works really well having it in one place.

(I should pin a picture, idk, I’m really proud of it.)

starting strong is good, consistency is even better

In the end, that person who walks in stronger than last semester are plenty, but the one who wins in the end is always that one person - what makes them different? They don’t watch the ones who’re running strong in the beginning and mess up their pace by either trying to keep up with them, do more, or discourage them. They maintain a consistent effort and benefit in the end. It’s the story of the hare and the turtle - consistent, slow effort beats rushing and getting out of fuel in the last stretch.

There was this one semester where it seemed like half my class decided that they were all going to be on all of a sudden, and it threw me off, made me insecure, and then I started comparing myself to them. The only thing that saved me was that I kept my consistent effort in the meantime because I had consequences if I didn’t perform - so at the end of it, it didn’t matter how hard they started. Only two out of the thirteen elevated their rank. And I was where I needed to be, so that feeling was wasted.

Well, not completely wasted now since I’m telling you. Focus on yourself. Stay consistent. It’s good to be aware of where everyone is, and use it to motivate you, but no negative feelings that’ll hold you back. Release it.

(also pro-tip: teachers don’t care about the loud ones, they care about the consistent ones)

Procrastination:

Now we got the ball rolling - how to avoid this monster? Also, if you still haven’t gotten the ball a-tumbling,

what do you fear?

Oftentimes it’s the fear of something that hinders us from starting. My common fears that keeps me procrastinating are fear of failure, fear of taking too long and wasting time, fear of finding out how little I know of the thing I haven’t learnt yet - I could keep going forever. It’s easier ignoring it and treating it like it’s not there than to face it, I know. But we wanna be better, so how can we?

Write down what you feel, get it out, and then study. A lesson I learnt from last semester was that journalling before I studied helped immensely. Just try it for a session - get out what you’re thinking about, and end it with an action item (I’m going to do xyz now) and then do it. It’s like a weight being lifted off of you. I’ve never felt so light studying in my life, I feel.

do, don’t tell yourself you will, do

shameful self plug: read this to see what I mean (specifically the you don’t need a lot to get started ramble)

don’t take on more than you can chew

Something that can kill your grind is if you overwhelm yourself by tying yourself down to things you know you won’t be able to handle later on. It kinda plays off the doing too much in the beginning - you’re setting yourself for failure if you don’t think through your decisions, and then fall into procrastination with the things that’d breed the most consequence. So be careful.

I’m not saying don’t apply yourself - it’s really good to get as much experiences (fun and useful) as you can. But don’t let it be at the expense of what matters. Your health, your faith, your studies - all these things matter more than....insert something here....yeah.

start everyday intentional, end every night with intentions

I’ll end it with this. Start your day intentional on getting stuff done, and you can cleanly avoid procrastinating. End it with good intentions for the next one, and you’ll keep this habit going. Whatever that is, finding your happy place, making a to-do list, praying, journalling, talking to someone - always try to wake up with the mindset that this’ll be your day, and end it with a pat on your back and a promise to do better - if you managed or not. Everyday is a new chance. Every midday is a chance. Now is your chance. It’s just a matter of being hungry and taking it.

Ooof I took water breaks writing this, and it still felt like I had more to say. Sorry for the length lol - I hope this helped in any way. And good luck! New semester, same you, new mindset, better results ;)) (I’m so lame lol).

By the way y’all, if you happen to be loud and consistent, share those tips also lol.

Here’s to our collective success!

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rhub4rb · 5 years ago

Text

Project: Null

AO3

Chapter 1 - [Chapter 2]

It’s here! Expect slow updates though.

-_-_-_-

“This is your apartment Marinette,” Audrey said, unlocking and opening the door. “I know this is probably a bit drab, but you will have plenty of time to decorate it and make it your own.”

It really was a simple place at the moment, a two-bedroom apartment with a living room connected to the kitchen. The windows in the living room where an attest to who Marinette’s employer was however, with a wide city view.

“I’ve added some things in one of the bedrooms so that you can work from here if you want. You won’t be with me all the time,” Audrey reminded.

Breathing in, Marinette took her first step into her new home. Or, well, what she hoped would become her new home. She was still incredibly grateful that her parents let her do this, but she supposed that after everything Paris had gone through, sending her away from the city would make them feel safer.

The apartment was mostly bare, save for some furniture like a gray, fabric couch and a coffee table. There was a kitchen island that separated the living room from the kitchen that Marinette was unsure what she would do with, but she supposed she would look at that later.

“A week has been put off for you to settle in,” Audrey said from the doorway. “Take the time to get to know the area. If you need anything, contact me or my assistant, and I’ll call you if there are any change of plans.”

Marinette turned to look at Audrey, and she nodded in affirmative. A week felt like a generous amount of time to get settled, but after how Paris was almost completely destroyed only just a week ago… Marinette clenched her fist and forced her thoughts elsewhere.

“Well, I’ll see you in a weeks time,” Audrey started, clapping her hands and walking out the door. “Oh! And, Marinette, I know that all this may seem like a lot but you have a lot of promise, I’m sure that by the end of this apprenticeship that you’ll have finished a wonderful collection. Au revoir!” And just like that, she was gone, leaving Marinette alone in the mostly empty apartment.

As soon as the door closed, Tikki flew out of Marinette’s purse and looked around the living room.

“Everything is really changing, huh Tikki?” Marinette asked, not expecting a proper reply. She put down her backpack and opened it, revealing an intricate red and black box. The sight of it made Marinette frown.

“It’s gonna be okay Marinette. Tomorrow you’ll meet your new team, and you’ll be able to practice your new powers with proper supervision,” Tikki said optimistically, Marinette nodding along as she put the box on the coffee table.

Marinette had tried out her powers a little before the move to Star City, and she had a basic understanding of them now, but that was only when she was transformed. It seemed like transforming put a damper on her abilities, or locked away her access to the rest… whatever the rest were. It was weird, but Marinette felt comfortable fighting when she was transformed at least.

Touching her newfound powers now, when she was just herself… it felt too risky. Unstable. She needed a little more practice and soul searching before she would begin to mess with any of that. Not that whatever it was wouldn’t act out at times.

“It still feels weird though,” Marinette said, sitting down on the couch with a sigh. She had some clothes that she would need to unpack, but that could wait for a bit. “Especially the new team thing. It’s not like in Paris where the others just trusted me, these guys will know even less about me than the Miraculous team.”

Which was really saying something, considering that the Miraculous team was made up of her closest friends.

Her friends…

She hadn’t seen them since “Armageddon” as the public had taken to calling it. Marinette didn’t have the heart to face them before she left. Maybe she would one day, but for now, the memories were still too clear for her to look them in the eyes. Sure, they didn’t know she was the one who caused all of that chaos, but Marinette knew, and that was enough.

“I’m sure your new team will be nice Marinette. They’re heroes!”

“So was Chloe technically, and she caused a train wreck and almost managed to get Hawkmoth all of the miraculous,” Marinette argued.

Tikki just shook her head, “Your new team won’t be like Chloe.”

“We don’t know that,” Marinette said, checking the time and getting off the couch again. “For all we know, they might end up hating me!”

Marinette hoped they wouldn’t hate her, but her previous experience with meeting new people in a place that could turn competitive showed her that it was most likely the case. It was part of the reason why she didn’t want them to know anything about her life in Paris, particularly her being Ladybug. The Young Justice team was surveillance and supervised by the Justice League, and while she envied them for that, she doubted that they would see it the same way.

That would be another thing she would have to get used to. She was following other peoples rules now, not her own or that of the Order. That didn’t mean she had abandoned the Order though. If the Justice League were to give her a mission that went against what the Order stood for, Marinette would simply refuse to do it. She doubted that would make her all that popular with the rest of the team either.

“Alright Tikki,” Marinette said, clapping in an effort to cut Tikki off before she decided to argue further. Marinette didn’t want to continue the conversation, even if it was a rude way to end it.

“Food first or unpacking first?”

It was a good distraction.

“Tomorrow, Abyss will be introduced to the rest of Young Justice,” Batman said, as the meeting with the Justice League began. “She arrived at Star City today.”

The atmosphere was oddly stifled at the Justice League meeting, but Batman wasn’t surprised. Everyone in the room found it uncomfortable to talk about Marinette or anything surrounding her, but with her joining the Young Justice team tomorrow, it was hardly an avoidable topic.

“Isn’t the day after arriving a bit soon? I mean, doesn’t she need to settle down first, get over jet-lag?” Green Arrow asked.

“She insisted on it herself, apparently her internship with Audrey Bourgeois starts after this week and she wants to meet the team before then,” Batman explained.

“But why the day after she arrived?” Wonder Woman questioned, to which Batman simply shook his head.

“She wouldn’t say.”

The meeting continued on, with reports and missions being delivered, though it got slightly more lighthearted after moving away from the topic of Marinette. The topic was like a weird black hole in the Justice League, with no one being truly willing to talk about it, but forced to acknowledge none the less.

“Wally asked about our disappearance again,” Flash suddenly added. “I told him that it was still classified information, but I can tell it’s starting to get on his nerves.”

It had been mutually agreed amongst the Justice League that they would wait with discussing the details of where they had gone until Marinette felt ready, which they could understand. Black Canary had already made a plan to speak with the girl about her shame and guilt regarding the situation.

“We won’t tell them anything until Marinette decides to. She’s their new teammate, she should have the chance to tell them herself,” Batman said with an air of finality.

None of them liked keeping something like this secret, especially because to them, it must just seem like their keeping something from them because they may not be ready yet, even if that wasn’t the case.

Still, they would respect Marinette’s decision. Being introduced as the girl who brought Armageddon upon the city of love was most likely not the first impression that she wanted to make.

The diner was a nice little place, a surprise find by Marinette as she walked down the streets in the search for dinner. She would begin to make her own dinner after she had unpacked and everything.

Marinette fiddled with her straw as she kept her eyes on the dark phone screen, on occasion picking up a french fry to munch on. She had messaged her parents to update them on how she was doing, that she had been to the apartment by now, that she was eating dinner.

It was somewhat lonely, now that she thought about it. Next time, she would take the food home with her, then she would at least be able to eat with the kwamis. Still, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, so at least there was that. It could have been worse. At least she knew an akuma wouldn’t attack.

Marinette sighed, looking out of the window dejectedly. She would be able to get out her pent up energy soon though. Not doing anything was really starting to make her antsy. She wanted to run across the rooftops, though she didn’t know if the Justice League would let her do that now.

The thought made her frown. After having looked after a city all on her own with a partner, not doing that anymore felt… unnatural. Maybe she could get them to allow her to have a little more freedom than the others when it came to that. She wasn’t inexperienced like them, not that she didn’t think they were capable! It was just different, she supposed, though that was probably something that was better kept for herself, rather than something to be said out loud with the rest of them there.

Nervousness bubbled in the pit of her stomach, but she trampled in down before it could truly grow, more out of habit and reflex than anything else. Maybe it would be like starting at a new school or a new class. They would probably be the only other people her age that she would interact with for a while, so for them to get along would be a dream come true. Sadly, the only aspect of her that she let herself dream that way was designing, but that was because she had genuine success in that part of her life. Everything else could probably handle an improvement.

She let out another sigh as she went up to pay. No point in staying for longer than she needed to, and she still needed to feed the rest of the kwami and unpack.

The setting sun was a nice sight to see though, and Marinette felt the tension in her shoulders slowly seep out as she took a deep breath, letting the little warmth of the sun rays kiss her skin as she walked towards her apartment, towards what she hoped would become her new home, if everything went right.

Things rarely did go right though, didn’t they?

-_-_-_-

@skyel0ve

#maribat #project null #not sure about the ship yet

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dsmroleplay · 4 years ago

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#GodsAndMonsters #DSM #SPN Part One

Written by @Dark_Torement & @DeanWinchester_

Colt: -The flight into Paris had been quick and painless, on the ground a six man team deployed to move into the underground catacombs. There had been abnormal activity on the dark web, a purchase of a “tablet” had been bought and they couldn’t find out what it really was or who had bought it. The cost in the trillions of dollars. Something major was going down but they had no real idea what it was but chatter had brought them here. They had gotten unlimited access from the French Government disguised as scientists and engineers that would provide structural design improvements to ensure the catacombs would never collapse.

Rolling in the “equipment” and left to their own devices they set out descending down into the tunnels.- ::::::::::: Angel: *Reaper didn’t know how twitchy he had become, until he was aboard the plane to Pairs. Something settled inside of him when the wheels lifted off the ground. This is what he was born to do. Not sit on the sidelines, have a normal life. He was made for war, fighting. His flesh tingled at the thought of what might await them on the ground. Some monster? A fucked up crazy ass that needed to be put down? He flexed his large hands, itching to get a weapon into them. He wanted to shed some blood of some fuckers. And he would do it with a smile on his face. Yeah he was as crazy as they came. And he was fucking proud of it.

He wanted to laugh, him trying to pass as something he wasn’t. Yeah that never went well. But it was just to get them in.

The descent into the tunnels, it was cooler down here. It smelt musty to him. What crazy fucker would want to come into this shit? *weapons strapped to his wide thighs, knives in each heavy boot, a 9 mm on each hip and across his body. He felt better to be ready for anything. He smirked at Colt.* Let’s go find the party.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Colt: Thrill-seekers for one, morbid lovers, over the years there have been all kinds of people come through here. -The air began to get colder the deeper they went and damper, people could get lost and die down here it made the hairs on the back of Colt's neck stand up.- There are all kinds of rumors associated with this place, people believe all these bones draw in power from death and make things happen here. I guess we'll find out, do you sense anything Angel? -Glances over as they walk, angels had powers they made the technology of humans look trival.-

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

*Angel, rolled his eyes. Some humans weren’t the brightest. Dabbling in shit you knew nothing about. Got you into trouble. Shit like that was like fucking quick sand. Before they knew it, they would eye balls deep in shit and need their asses saving.

Angel listened, as Colt talked. He could the souls that passed through this place.

The skulls lined the walls, the deeper they went, hollowed out stone greeted them.* Fucked up shit. *he replied, as he they walked deeper. Angel locked his powers away most days. On occasions he would let them out. Today was one of those days. He let his eyes drift closed. Relaxing his body, he could feel his powers filling his body. Reaching out in search of what lay beyond them, what laid in the darkest corners, for none to find. But all would be shown.

As his powers reached, like tendrils of smoke, hidden from human eyes, creeping and filling every corner and hallway. Seeping into the cracks, deep into the bed rock and towards the earth, reaching and expanding high above.

The beating of hearts, the breathing without heart beats. Angel, pulled to a stop. His large hand resting on Colt’s arm. Something old and dark lay sleeping beneath the earth. Slowly Angel opened his eyes. A sliver band glowed around his black pupil. Flickering his gaze to Colt.* Evil and darkness sleep beneath the ground we walk. It’s fucking dangerous. If that thing wakes up, all in this city are gone. There are ten heart beats. Those are the assholes playing with fire. There are many without heart beats. They have deep hunger for flesh. There are things here that will make a normal human shit themselves. We have to watch our asses. *a smirk crawled along his lips.* The party is really going to be bloody. :::::::::::::::::::::::: Colt: -Pulled up short by Angel, Colt listened taking a deep breath "awesome" what's a little death and mayhem.- Can you tell which direction? We'll take out the assholes before said monster wakes up. -Least that was the plan.- :::::::::::::::::::::::: Angel: •Angel, let his powers once again push out. Brushing up against the first fucked up creature.* Follow this tunnel half a mile. Turn to right, go for another half a mile. They are at the end. It’s a fucking long tunnel. It will open up to the first dome like junction. They spread out from there. The deeper from there you go. The closer you get to the sleeping one and the ten heart beats. •Angel grinned wide, he loved to kill. It made his whole body tingle. Oh he was going to love sending each of these fuckers to hell. Angel moved, taking point Colt had a family, these men had a family. And he would be damn if any of them not come out of here alive. He looked back to the Colt and the few men they had with them.• Any of you get in a fucking tight spot, you call for me. •He wasn’t playing. Without a word, he started down the tunnel. Gun at the ready. Anyone of those fuckers could come this way. Even being mindless, he wouldn’t let them fucking pass.• ::::::::::::::::::::: Colt: -The groups moved down the darkened corridors wearing night vision, it was still hard to see and claustrophobic but they trooped on. The air was damper as they went following Angel down into the maze.- ::::::::::::::::::: Angel: *Angel, lead them the scent of rotting flesh filled the air as they turned the corner. He could actually taste death on his tongue. The darkness seemed to move like a slow moving body. It breathed and pulsed. Letting his powers come forward. Eyes adjusting to the darkness. The shuffling of feet, groans of death could be heard. Angel looked at the men behind him.* One shot, one kill. *he wouldn’t fuck around. Angel dropped his gun, letting it hang off his side. Reaching down and taking two long Rambo knives from his thighs. He wouldn’t risk a shot hitting the men behind him. Flipping the long knives along his forearms.

Four dead walking came into view. Angel’s eyes glowed with a purple ring. A dark chuckle rumbled through his chest. The flesh hung from the bodies. Weeping, pus filled wounds dotted their bodies. drool hung from their mouths. Angel popped behind one in the middle. Flipping the blades, across the fuckers neck he sliced hard a fast. Taking the bastards head clean off. Blood spurt from the dead’s neck. Showering Angel. With speed, Angel, shoved up hard into the head of another. The Reaper, came out. As move dead poured from the corners. Reaper, spoke.* More coming, watch your backs! Light it up boys! *his cackle echoed around the walls. He was in his moment, he felt alive.*

#DSM SPN RP

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five-rivers · 5 years ago

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Scarecrow/Grave Robber

I feel like I told whole bunch of people I wouldn't continue Unearthed. Here I am, continuing Unearthed, like a liar. But not finishing it. Because I can't decide how I want this scenario to end.

All y'all'll have to wait 'til the next event for another continuation, because for the last two Ectober prompts I'm doing completely different things.

Sorry.

Scarecrow/Grave Robber

Detective Collins looked down at the body on the autopsy table. He'd looked at bodies before. Corpses, rather. He and Patterson were APPD's homicide team, and did a lot of death investigations, even if Amity Park hadn't had an actual murder for years. A single casre of involuntary manslaughter, yes, several instances of assault, yes, a good number of accidental deaths, yes, murder, no.

Apparently, the knowledge that a so-called permanent solution to a problem might not be all that permanent, and that the problem might come back with superpowers was enough to put a damper on that kind of thing.

The corpse wasn't exactly a normal one, and it hadn't come to police attention in the normal way. Still, Collins was just doing his job.

So why the hell did he feel like a damn graverobber?

"Got anything for us, Molly?" he asked the ME.

"If you mean a cause of death, that's a hard no," said the red-haired woman. "If you mean a whole bunch of weird stuff, then yes. This is the strangest body I've ever seen. I think I'm going to have to call out for a second opinion."

Collins and Patterson exchanged looks.

"I think you'd better not," said Patterson. "This is the kind of thing that should stay in Amity Park."

Molly eyed the other woman shrewdly. "The rumors are true, then?"

Collins cleared his throat. "What rumors?"

"This is Phantom's body."

"Where did you hear that?" asked Collins.

At the same time Patterson said, "So he claims."

"The paramedics told me," said Molly. "It's been all over the hospital."

Great. As if this case wasn't 'interesting' enough. "What's so weird about the body?" he asked, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

"Well, first off, half of it's missing."

Collins looked down at the body. As far as he could tell, all of it was there, even if it was far from adult-sized.

"I know what you're thinking," said Molly. "I get it. I didn't notice at first, either, not until I took the x-rays. His bones are half as dense at they should be. At first I thought that he just had some kind of bone disease- that would make identification easier, right?- but then I started weighing other parts of him, and his everything only weighs about half as much as it should for a teenager of his height."

"Are you sure that's not just because of decay? Or because he was burned?" asked Patterson.

"Yes, I'm sure. He's pretty well preserved actually."

"Is he?" asked Collins, dubiously, looking at the blackened and whithered corpse.

"Yeah. What you're seeing here," she gestured at one of the corpse's arms, "it isn't skin. I know he looks burnt, but he's actually got all his layers. This is something he was wearing. I've sent a sample out for analysis, but I think it's mostly plastic and cloth."

Patterson sighed. "Guess that rules out burning to death, or someone trying to burn the body afterwards. What could have caused the, uh, halving?"

Molly shrugged. "Might have to do with how he died, or becoming a ghost. I don't know. I only deal with the bodies of the dead, not their spirits. You'll have to ask the Fenton, or the GIW."

"Anything else?" asked Collins.

Molly shrugged. "I found a lot of ectoplasm residue on him, and something that might be lichtenberg figures, but I won't know for sure until I can get his clothing off, and I'm not sure we want to do that until we figure out what happened to them and what they're made of."

"Right," said Collins. "Good call."

"Everything else is in here," said Molly, handing the file to Patterson. "But, just so you know, he does have the proper height, age, and body type to be Phantom."

"Any que-" the phone in the back office rang, cutting Molly off. She groaned. "Hold that thought." She ran off into the other room and shut the door.

"Sooooo," said Patterson, playing with the end of her braid. "Who gets to interview the Fentons?"

"Both of us," said Collins, looking at Molly's report. She hadn't written anything about how long the kid had been dead.

"Aw, you're no fu-"

The temperature of the already-cold room dropped, and all of Collins' hairs stood on end, indicators of an agitated and very close ghost. Both Collins and Patterson had their ectoguns (standard issue for APPD) out in second.

A ghost shimmered into view on the other side of the examination table.

"You need to stop this," he said, green eyes boring first into Collins', then Patterson's. "People are going to get hurt."

"Is that a threat?" asked Collins.

Phantom recoiled as if slapped. The shock faded, and his face settled into a more standard offended scowl.

"No, of course not. It doesn't make it any less true. So stop."

"We can't."

"Why not?" asked Phantom, aggrieved. "It isn't like this is about justice. I don't need justice. It was an accident."

"Because we don't know who this is, and we don't know who you are," said Collins. He did not add that, even if the body on the table had belonged to Phantom, they could not take his word that his death had been an accident.

Phantom threw up his hands. "I'm the guy who's been protecting Amity Park from ghost attacks for the last two years! And that's my..." he faltered. "My, um. My c- My body," he finished quietly. He took a deep breath, and some of his earlier fire came back. "Why would I lie?"

Collins could think of dozens of reasons, up to and including Phantom being the killer, though he doubted the young ghost had a murderous bone in his body. Either of them.

"It would really help," said Patterson, "if you could come down to the station to be interviewed."

Phantom's expression softened. "If it would help-" he broke off and shook himself. "I'll think about it." He frowned down at the body, looking rather ill.

"Is there any proof you have that this is your body?" asked Collins, slowly, more cautious than Patterson. He remembered hearing somewhere that ghosts didn't like being reminded of their deaths.

Phantom shifted slightly, and his gaze slid away from the corpse. "Other than knowing you had found... it, and being able to feel it? Not..." He trailed off, rubbing a circle into the palm of his left hand. Jerkily, he tugged off the glove. He kept his hand curled tight, and half hidden, as he stared down at the ground. Then he spread out his fingers, and thrust his hand at Collins. "This," he said. "It'll be the same on... it... as me."

In the center of Phantom's palm was a burnt-in star. It had seven points that faded out to lightning bolts as they twined up his arm, disappearing under his jumpsuit.

"Is that from when you died?" asked Patterson.

All the lights in the room flickered, and the the ghost hissed before vanishing. A light bulb near the door burst in a spray of glass.

The temperature returned to normal levels.

"What the hell, Patterson? You don't ask a ghost about their death. And what was the whole 'it'll really help' thing?"

"Sorry," said Patterson. "I know, I know, but how often do you get to interview the victim of one of these things?"

"Literally all the time. We do assault cases ninety percent of the time."

"When you put it that way..." Patterson grimaced. "The 'help' thing... Well, ghosts are supposed to be governed by their Obsessions, right? I took a class on that, a couple of months ago. Anyway, there's big speculation that Phantom's Obsession is heroism, or helping people. I thought maybe I could use it. It almost worked. You saw how he considered it."

"Yeah," said Collins. He rubbed his face, thinking.

Phantom said he could feel the body. How much could he feel? If he could just tell what was happening to it, that wouldn't be so bad. But if he could feel it like it was still his body? That sounded like torture.

Molly walked back into the room. She frowned. "What happened?"

"Phantom decided to pay us a visit. Say, Molly, I know you don't want to strip off his clothes, yet, but if you could just clean off his left hand..."

"So," said Collins, drumming his hands on the steering wheel. "Let's recap. What do we know?"

"The body is the right age, sex, and size to be Phantom, and has the same scars as Phantom," said Patterson. "The body is really weird and has a lot of ectoplasmic residue on it. Molly can't tell how long it's been dead. Forensics thinks it's been there two years, based on soil settling and a picture search. The cairn only started showing up around then, at the end of summer."

"Which is before the ghosts started to be a big thing," added Collins.

"Which makes the ectoplasm even weirder."

"And now, we're consulting with the only ghost experts in town who aren't the GIW to find out what could have caused that."

"But, unfortunately, said ghost experts are also the only people in town who had access to ectoplasm before the ghosts showed up."

"Which means they're suspects," finished Collins, moving from knowledge into theory. He sighed. "Of course, since Phantom claims to have buried his own body, he could have left the ectoplasmic residue."

"It's also possible some other ghost hunter did it," said Patterson. "The GIW did exist before the ghosts became a problem. Or it could just be a natural result of turning into a ghost."

"Right," said Collins. "So, who's going to ring the doorbell?"

The two detectives looked up at the front door of Fentonworks. Everybody knew what happened to people who rang the Fentons' doorbell.

Patterson sighed. As the more junior of the pair, she knew how this was going to pan out. "I'll do it."

She got out of the car, and went up the stair. Collins followed, but stayed a safe distance back.

With an air of resignation, Patterson pressed the doorbell.

Surprisingly, the door opening did not herald a flood of green goo. One of the Fenton children had opened the door. The boy. An unidentifiable expression passed over his face before he turned and shouted, "Mom! Dad! The police are here to see you!"

Odd. How did he know Collins and Patterson were detectives? They didn't have their badges displayed.

He scampered off as Jack Fenton bounded to the door. "Hi there!" boomed the big man. "Are you here to talk about ghosts?"

"Yes, actually."

The Fentons, once you got past the goo, were actually very hospitable. Maddie brought out tea and cookies, and sat the detectives down in the living room.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked.

Collins and Patterson exchanged a glance.

"We were wondering," said Collins, "if there is any way to tell if someone has become a ghost by looking at their corpse."

Maddie clicked her tongue. "That's a common misconception. People don't become ghosts. They leave ghosts. Ghosts are impressions on ectoplasm, not people."

There was a very faint, unamused scoff from above, and Collins looked up to see the Fentons' son crouched behind the banister of the stairs. He noticed Collins' gaze and fled.

Interesting.

Meanwhile, Jack and Maddie's explanation was winding down. "But to answer your question, no. There's no way to tell if a person's death produced a ghost unless you encounter the ghost. The body would be completely normal. Is this about the body you found in William Park?"

Collins frowned. It was easy to forget how sharp the Fentons were.

"Yes," he said, deciding it wouldn't do any good to hide the fact.

"And you think it's ghost related somehow?" pressed Maddie.

"A ghost claimed the body was theirs."

"Hm," said Maddie, thoughtful.

"Well, it isn't impossible for a ghost to form with the Obsession of finding the person that murdered the human they are modeled on," said Jack. "I'm actually surprised you didn't encounter one sooner."

"The ghost in question wanted us to stop investigating," said Collins, watching their reactions. He wondered if he was revealing too much, but he really did need more information about ghosts and he refused to go to the GIW unless it was absolutely necessary. He'd talk to the cults (there were many in Amity Park, several of which were dedicated primarily to Phantom) first.

Maddie frowned. "That can't be right. What ghost was it?"

"Phantom," said Collins.

Jack and Maddie were already shaking their heads.

"That's impossible," said Jack.

"There are record of Phantom going back to the beginning of human history. Farther, even." Maddie got up and walked to a bookshelf, where she pulled out a large heavy book. She thumped it down on the coffee table, and began to thumb through the pages. "Here, look. This town in China even used effigies of him as a kind of 'spirit scarecrow.' Apparently he would show up periodically to fight 'evil spirits.' Ghosts. Just like now."

The dolls on the page did bear a shocking resemblance to Phantom. Maddie turned the page, and another. Each one had pictures of Phantom, though all in different styles, and clearly all from different cultures.

"There aren't a lot of these, true," said Maddie, "and when we were in college, a lot of it was dismissed as a hoax. But they existed when we were in college."

"So either our Phantom is the same, or he's imitating the legend," said Jack, "and the legend was never well known."

"We prefer the former theory, obviously." She sat down and leaned back in her chair. "Now, as for the body, normally, if this was any other ghost, I would say that they caused the death, but..." She pursed her lips, then shrugged. "As dangerous and inhuman as Phantom is, I doubt it. We are fairly confident his Obsession falls in the lines of 'protecting people,' and that wouldn't allow murder."

"He's definitely involved somehow, though," said Jack. "It's possible he's protecting the killer."

"I feel like we know less now than we did before," complained Patterson.

"Yeah..." said Collins. "Did you notice their kid? Did he seem a little off to you?"

"Maybe a bit," said Patterson, playing with the end of her braid. She paused, looking back at the Fenton house. "You know, I saw this theory on a website once," she said, slowly.

"What kind of website?"

"Conspiracy, I think, but it could have been a cult one. You know how it is. The theory was that the Fenton's son was secretly Phantom. The kid who posted it got laughed off, of course, but... Y'know, I think it was picked up by a cult or two. They're hard to keep track of. They keep having those schisms, and merging, and, you know."

"The Fenton kid would have had access to ectoplasm before the ghosts showed up," said Collins. Could his theory about Phantom masquerading as one of the living be correct?

"I guess anyone slimed by the Fentons would have, too, though," said Patterson.

"Right. Wonderful. You want to talk to the Cult Division first, or start interviewing kids?"

"Is the 'Cult Division' still Cameron Daily and his computer?"

"You know it is."

"Let's get started on those kids."

"Well," said Danny talking to Sam and Tucker over the Fenton Phones, "they're getting clues, but they're buried in so much junk that they're useless, or they're completely inconclusive."

"That's good, right?" said Tucker.

"Not if they think I killed someone!"

"It doesn't quite sound like that's what they think," said Sam. "Even your parents don't think that."

Which had been really nice, actually. Which was sad. But, hey, odd manifestation of post-human consciousness was a step up from evil manifestation of post-human consciousness. Right?

"They think I'm covering up a murder, then, Sam. That's just as bad." His tail twitched and flicked as he rode invisibly on top of the detectives' car. Ever since his... that... had been dug up, he had felt uneasy. Anxious.

Restless.

Basically, what was dead people were supposed to feel like when their remains were disturbed.

"I can't just go on letting them think that," said Danny.

"Don't. You're just going to get yourself into more trouble," cautioned Sam.

Danny bit his lip. "It's just an interview," he said, eyeing the police station. "It isn't like they can arrest me."

He flew in.

#danny phantom #ectoberweek19 #ectober #ectober 2019 #phanfic #my writing

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sortasirius · 4 years ago

Note

5 or 19 for Destiel. :)

Hello my friend because I have been so bad at writing prompts or one shots you get BOTH

Link to post

Prompt me up!

5. “WHO LEFT THE TURKEY IN THE OVEN?!”

Words: 1053

A Christmas fic??? I guess my brain just wants the year to be over lmao

Three hours, thirty two minutes, and twenty seven seconds. Sixteen minutes and twenty five seconds until his next check. Dean is not anal-retentive, thank you very much for asking, he just knows that turkeys have about a five minute window from being raw to being like eating sand. It is an exact science that he has perfected over the years. And that is not going to be messed up tonight.

The bunker’s halls are filled with cheesy Christmas music, the smell of the meal that Dean has literally been working on since dawn wafting into every room. It’s their first Christmas as a real family, with Jack back and, well, whole. With Eileen, with Cas. Dean hasn’t had a Christmas since before he went to hell, and even though he clutched that night to his heart like a precious scrap of paper, he’s excited to have a holiday where they don’t have to worry about the next big bad thing coming to get them, or to have tragedy hanging over their heads. To, you know, be normal. Well, as normal as you can get when they had all died multiple times and two of their guests were angelic in nature, the other one recently resurrected from the great beyond.

“You need to talk to Cas,” Sam’s voice comes from the doorway, and Dean barely spares a glance in his direction, too focused on his goal to think about much else. Eileen is with Sam, looking concerned. Concerned enough that Dean stops chopping onions and wipes his hands on his apron (aprons fucking rock).

“What d’you mean? What’s wrong?”

“He says he caught wind of a case,” Sam’s eyebrows are knitted in concern, “He wants to leave.”

Dean feels the color drain out of his face, which is a little embarrassing.

“He wants to leave? Like now?”

“Yeah, he’s grabbing some stuff and getting ready to go.”

Dean stares at them, and then at the oven, where his masterpiece is roasting. He checks his watch. Okay. He has about twenty minutes until he needs to take it out. Well, seventeen minutes and forty-three seconds to be exact. Dean sways on the spot, torn between his carefully prepared and polished bird and having an empty place at the table he had carefully laid out the day before, with the place next to him being empty.

Neither sound appealing, but one makes his gut twist. He decides to handle that one.

He washes his hands methodically, trying to get them as clean and onion-free as he possibly can. Approaching Sam and Eileen, he pokes Sam in the chest.

“Watch that turkey. It’s gotta come out in,” he checks his watch again, “Fifteen minutes and fifty-seven seconds.”

“Okay Dean.”

Dean narrows his eyes and stands his ground, looking between both of their amused faces.

“I’m serious.”

“I can tell you are,” Eileen grins at him, “Please just go get Cas.”

Dean sways again, taking one last sweeping look at the kitchen before stomping towards Cas’ room. Empty. Fuck.

He checks the garage, the basement, checks in with Jack in his room, before finally hearing clanking in the armory. Fucker, gonna take his guns on Christmas Day before he can have his turkey? Dean doesn’t think so.

Cas is methodical in his movements, checking which weapons he was taking and diligently marking them on a list.

“You headed somewhere?”

Cas’ eyes meet his, and Dean’s hostility immediately melts.

“I caught wind of something, but don’t let me put a damper on the festivities, I’ll be back shortly.”

“And this can’t wait? You know, until I could go with you?”

Cas’ shoulders sink a fraction of an inch.

“What’s going on, Cas?”

“I’m just not feeling very festive, human holidays always feel strange to me. So I don’t want to put a damper on anything.”

“So you’re just gonna go? What about-” he cuts himself off, not wanting to sound like he was begging him to stay or anything.

“Dean-”

“Come on Cas, I,” he takes a deep breath, steeling himself to say the next words, “I didn’t get a lot of, uh, happy holidays growing up. It was just me and Sam and I, I was just excited to have a Christmas with everyone, with a real kitchen and have everyone, I don’t know, have someone. Sam has Eileen, Jack has all of us, he’s the kid, and then…you and me…”

The words sound closer to the truth than he meant them to. But Cas’ eyes soften by degrees, Dean could always tell that because they seemed to turn a lighter shade of blue.

“You and me.”

Dean opens his mouth, trying to make his thoughts into words, thoughts that had been buried in the back of his mind for years, literal years.

“You know, we could, be something.”

Cas smiles this bright and blinding smile, something so brilliant that it takes Dean’s breath away, but he doesn’t have time to get it back before Cas closes the space between them and pulls Dean forward by his flannel until they crash together, and Dean searches for Cas lips so quickly it’s a little embarrassing, but he doesn’t really care. Cas’ lips are soft and chapped and warm and Dean sighs into his mouth, relaxing as the tension between them, pulled taught like a string, finally eased.

Cas is the one to break the kiss, but it’s so gentle that Dean knows it isn’t a rebuke, just a wait til later. Dean could live with that.

“So no hunt?”

Cas smiles at him.

“I suppose it can wait. After all, it’s only a spontaneous combustion or two, nothing we can’t handle.”

Dean reaches for his hand instinctively, and it isn’t until he smells a too done smell coming from the kitchen that he starts running, dragging Cas with him.

“WHO LEFT THE TURKEY IN THE OVEN?!”

Sam comes skidding into the room, only barely registering that Cas and Dean are, in fact, holding hands, but grins as he nearly drops Dean’s overdone turkey on the floor in his haste to stop it from burning.

Sam is sufficiently guilty for his transgression, but despite the dryness of Dean’s masterpiece, when he’s holding hands with Cas under the table, he doesn’t really care. People always come for the potato casserole anyway.

19. I love you more than I love food.

Words: 722

Dean’s never been sure where his love of cooking comes from. Hell, it’s not like he ever had a real kitchen growing up, and he sure wasn’t slinging meals when he was five years old and hunting was just a thing he did for bugs in the backyard. He had to work with what they had when they were growing up, even when they stayed with Pastor Jim and Bobby, it wasn’t exactly five star dining. He had come up with foods to keep Sam entertained though, maybe that was where he got it from. The best thing they had were Funyuns crunched up with hot dogs and ketchup. Sounds gross, but when the gas mart down the block is the only place you can walk to to get food and you only have ten dollars to get through the week, that kinda shit rocked hard.

Now that he has a real kitchen, and access to a real grocery store or, even though he hates to admit he goes there, a farmer’s market, Dean cooks all the time. He falls asleep watching food network or The Great British Baking Show, he writes down ideas for recipes on the notes in his phone, sometimes even when he’s half asleep, and then he has to try and remember why he thought garlic and strawberries would ever be good together.

The only thing Dean loves more than cooking? Eating. It’s always gratifying to have Sam or Jack or Cas compliment him on his meals, but if he loved his food it was just an extra bonus for his ego.

Sam starts to notice something though, he notices before Dean does which, retrospectively, pisses Dean off. Dean doesn’t eat when Cas does. He always takes a bite in between Cas’ bites, and watches Cas closely for a reaction, good or bad, to whatever is on his plate.

Dean laughs at Sam the first time he tells him this.

“No I don’t,” he rolls his eyes, going back to prepping his bell peppers for the oven.

“Oh yeah you do,” Sam grins at him, “Pay attention when we eat tonight. You like refuse to eat when Cas is there. It’s funny.”

Dean tries really hard that night not to not eat when Cas does but…come on, he’s gotta see if he likes the peppers with goat cheese right?

Unfortunately, his inability to eat when Cas does becomes a running gag with Sam. He mentions it constantly, even getting Jack in on it, but whenever he mentions it to Cas, Cas just cocks his head to the side and narrows his eyes. Him not saying anything makes Dean that much more self conscious, but he tries not to dwell on it. It doesn’t work.

Dean tries to pretend he has everything under control, until he makes himself and Cas some pretty epic turkey and swiss sandwiches for lunch one day, and he realizes he’s doing it again.

“Sam is right,” Cas points out, looking up from his sandwich.

“He tends to be, more than I’d like to admit,” Dean grins, his eyes scanning the room, landing anywhere but on Cas.

“You won’t eat when I do. Why?”

Dean is afraid to see accusations in Cas’ eyes, or worse, understanding. Understanding of something that not even Dean really understands. Well, he does if he really thinks about it, but he doesn’t want to think about it, sue him.

“I don’t know.”

“Dean. Look at me.”

Dean does, and then he’s under the force of Cas’ eyes, and he has a really hard time lying when he’s looking at Cas.

“Why?”

“I guess…I don’t know. I love you more than I love food.”

Cas seems momentarily stunned by his words, but Dean thinks it’s a pretty good comparison, even though he, you know, said the “l” word. That’s fine, he won’t think about that until he has a spiraling panic attack late at night tonight. That’s a future Dean problem.

“Well I also love you more than I love food,” Cas side-eyes Dean with a playful smile on his face. He thinks he might be being teased. And he’s not mad about it.

“That’s not fair, you’ve never cared about food.”

“I care about yours.”

Dean grins, still staring at the table.

See this, this is why he loves cooking.

#prompts #supernatural #spn #destiel #my writing #thank youuuuuuu #lilly answers #anonymous

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itsomgitsgreenblogging · 5 years ago

Text

Re-sublimity: A Critical Role Fanfic

I swear, I was just planning on writing a few small fics for @shadowgast-week. I swear. And then, this happened and I basically shoved all of the prompts into one gigantic fic, which will have to have a second chapter...at least. I do this to myself. So essentially...this is a Jupiter Ascending inspired fic.

...enjoy!

Read on AO3

Preview:

>Journey Log #105

>Entered Intergalactic Standard Time 23:04

>Order: Read Transcript

Dear Traveler,

You should have seen me today! We dealt with what Fjord calls a “clusterfuck” with no problem! It was space pirates, you know, like Avantika except these ones weren’t cultists to a Deep Space Snake thingy. Yasha said we should call them bandits, but I remember you telling me that all crime in space is actually piracy because space counts as international waters. So I’m going to call them space pirates, okay! I was able to channel your energy through my STAFF, and do some serious damage. Caduceus is getting pretty good with his STAFF, you know, he was still using an actual wood staff to channel the Wildmom’s energy when we first met him. The techno-staffs are so much easier to use, and I’m excited about showing him how to update his later just like you showed me.

But the funny thing about these space pirates were that they were kobolds! Caleb said that kobolds originate from a planet called Darastrixhurthi, which was really hard for him to pronounce. I took a guess at how to spell it here, hopefully I did it right. He had never heard of them piloting a spacecraft before, but their ships were these super duper rinky dink ships that Fjord said they most likely stole from the nearby planet and fixed up to be barely space-worthy. I’m sure you’ve seen kobolds before, but they were so cute, even though they were stupid and still tried to shoot us down after we gave them food. Anyways, Nott’s getting really good with her vibro-crossbow, and Beau’s lightning punches really saved the day. And you should have seen Yasha, she just about cleaved a ship in two with her vibro-sword! But I promise, I made sure to give them food and tuck in a statue of you as we scared them off. I’m trying to give something just as you always teach me.

It was too bad about Frumpkin getting punted, but Caleb said he could fix him up again once we get to the nearest planet. Everyone said that because we saw the kobolds and passed by Darastrixhurthi, we’ll be reaching the Xhorhas System within two days, so long as we don’t have any more run-ins with trouble. I really hope we don’t because this has been the longest we’ve journeyed without stopping and I’m getting reaaaaaal bored. It’s so much easier when we have a hyperdrive that actually works to, you know, space travel! But I don’t really want to explode or anything. I’ll find something to do for the two days, besides rewatching my holo-dramas. Maybe I’ll have Caduceus teach me how to use the wand that I picked up on that planet with the fish-people.

As always, I hope I can see you sometime soon when you aren’t too busy. Please look out for Mama, and my friends, and me.

Bye!!!

[Record, included below is an image of kobolds wearing funny hats and flying on ships shaped like dicks]

>Postscript 1, Added by Captain Fjord: Jester, I'm begging you, please stop putting dick drawings in the official journey log. We have to turn these in at port sometimes.

>Postscript 2, Added by First Mate Beauregard: Oh come on, Captain. These are so fucking dry, I’m sure people would find it entertaining.

>Postscript 3, Added by Nott the Brave: I personally think that kobold on the far right needs a bigger hat.

>Postscript 4, Added by Jester Lavorre: >:D

>Postscript 5, Added by Navigator Caleb Widogast: It’s 24:00

>Postscript 6, Added by Nott the Brace: ...your people did this to my people.

>Postscript 7, Added by Caduceus Clay: Imjuhbdwpqidnamap

>Postscript 8, Added by Yasha Nydoorin: I don’t think Caduceus meant to enter that.

>Postscript 9, Added by Captain Fjord: No, he told me he meant to ask Jester to please call the Wildmother by her name if she can...you know the Wildmother. Alright everyone, go to sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

The solar system of Xhorhas was the place where the Kryn Dynasty had been born, a rising power that’s influence was only dampered by the ever expanding reach of the Dwendalian Empire. When the starship SS Balleater docked on the planet of Asarius, two things were made extremely clear. First, based on the look that the officers gave their ship, they were a bit worse for wear. Second, they took bureaucracy to a whole other level here. They had been waiting in a long twisting line at the Customs office for exactly two hours and twenty seven minutes, in darkened rooms only slightly illuminated by low green lights. It had frayed on all of their nerves, to be honest. The Mighty Nein had never done well with long waits, and tended to get into trouble when they weren’t doing something of pressing importance at every moment. The past twenty days of deep space travel without a functioning hyperdrive had made that extremely clear. To make matters worse, Caleb was sore over the loss of Frumpkin, who had been kicked to shit by one of the kobolds who had managed to board the ship. Familiars, or animal companion droids, could be hard to maintain but he would be able to repair him, as long as he could acquire the necessary parts.

Caleb was relieved when their crew reached the front of the line, and came face to face with an overworked and obviously underpaid Kryn officer who looked at them all like she was awaiting her last breath. She was drow, an alien species that was related to the elves that had colonized so many planets during the first space expansion. However, unlike the other species of elves, they were originally an earth-dwelling species. Their coloration was dark and their sensitivity to light kept everything dim in the official buildings like the one they were currently in.

“Welcome to the planet of Assarius, is this your first time entering the Xhorhas system?” the officer asked, her voice dull and bored.

“Yeah, it is,” Beauregard said, not sounding impressed by this officer’s obvious existential crisis.

“Very well, then you will have to undergo the registration process. I will need to prick your finger and gather a blood sample, and ask you a few questions so we can complete the registration questionnaire. Denial of this means you will not have access to the Xhorhas System and we will have to ask you to leave immediately.”

“So...we all have to register our DNA to get anything here?” Beauregard demanded of the Kryn officer behind the glass, who looked like she wanted nothing more than to slide the glass closed on Beauregard’s face. “Isn’t that...like...extortion or something?”

“Clearly you are not from around here,” the Kryn officer said pointing to the sign above the desk...written unhelpfully in the language of their culture. None of them spoke it, and with a quick type into his wristband STAFF he was about to cast Comprehend Languages for a translation when she seemed exasperated by their quietness and did the translating for them. “What you need is a Kryn certified Identification and Navigation Aid, or INAV, which you utilize to transfer credits and license your spacecraft. You only receive an INAV once you have registered with our offices, and to be registered you have your DNA filed with us. Not only is this process used to prove the legitimacy of our monarchs and members of our dens, but also, yes, to prove you are who you say you are when you are paying for goods and services. Unless you want to give blood every time you go to buy food, you get an INAV.”

“How do we know you aren’t using our DNA for shady shit,” Nott asked suspiciously.

“Lady, I just work here,” the Kryn official snapped, motioning to the ever expanding line of annoyed and tired travelers behind them. “Either let me do my damn job here or leave the solar system.”

“Let’s not make her life more difficult than need be,” Fjord said as he held out his hand. She put a device like a heart-rate monitor on his finger and Fjord flinched as it made a small “psst” sound. She clicked the device back into the desk, and typed something into her computer. “My name is Fjord.”

“Last name?”

“Tough,” Nott supplied, and Fjord gave her a long look.

“Tusktooth!” Jester chirped.

“Just Fjord,” Fjord clarified.

“Planet of origin?”

“Nicodranas.”

“Business here in the Kryn Dynasty?”

“Ship repairs, and mercenary work.”

“Take two steps to the left and maintain a neutral expression.”

Fjord did as she said, and a picture was taken. The woman tapped her screen, and a confirmation ding was made. Out popped a drive that was about the size of Caleb’s index finger. She demonstrated how it extended and a tiny holographic image of Fjord’s face and his basic information as well as the genetic marker appeared. It was then handed off.

“Alright, next,” the officer said, voice somehow more clipped than it had been moments before. They went down the line, Caleb taking up the rear as they did. He wasn’t excited for this at all...after all the last thing he needed was more traces of him where the Empire could find him. But sometimes you had to take a risk, after all, it would be far more suspicious to tap out of the process here surrounded by Kryn officers.

Caleb held out his hand and felt the pinch of a needle before it was retracted.

“Name?”

“Caleb Widogast.”

“Planet of origin?”

“Outer territory Rex-33, Settlement BLU-MENTHAL.”

“Business here in the Kryn Dynasty?”

“Mercenary work and droid repair,” he said, showing her the currently out of commission Frumpkin who was in his side-satchel.

“Take two steps to the left and maintain a neutral expression.”

Caleb did so, and heard the sound of the picture being snapped. However after she tapped something into her screen there was a different noise. An obvious alert noise that had him immediately tense up. The officer stared at her screen for a moment, then back at Caleb and then back at her screen...clearly doing a double take. Before anyone could move, she waved at a senior officer behind her. He was a tall bugbear, and made a strangely funny picture as he leaned over the small drow. He frowned.

“I’m sorry, sir. Can you check this? I must have entered something in wrong,” the officer said, her voice confused...but not angry or suspicious as she pointed to something on the screen. The senior officer looked at what she was pointing at and then popped out the INAV and extended it, inspecting the genetic code. He double checked it with the screen, seemed content with whatever he saw, and he exited out from the glass door separating the officers and the lines.

“No, that’s correct. Nothing wrong with the intake,” the senior officer said before addressing Caleb and inspecting him closely. “Sir, have you ever registered DNA with our system before?”

“No, I’ve never been to this system before.”

“And how old are you?”

“I’m 33 according to the Intergalactic Universal Standard Calendar,” Caleb said, frowning.

“Human, right?”

“I would be.”

“Yeah, Minryna, that sample was catalogued approximately 850 years ago. There’s no way it’s been accidentally re-entered. It’s legit,” another senior officer called back to the one inspecting Caleb. Other clerks had stopped what they were doing and had gathered around the screen, and Caleb felt the pinprick of a thousand eyes behind him and a rising tide of whispers.

“Well, Luxon bless me,” whistled the officer before looking at Caleb. “I guess it’s someone’s lucky day isn’t it?”

“Lucky day?” Beauregard asked incredulously.

“Forgive me for the long wait. Congratulations on your Recurrence,” the officer said holding out his hand. Caleb, numbly, took it and let it be shook before the officer opened the INAV and signed the bottom with his finger. It glowed a silver color, as opposed to the blue of the others.

“Recurrence?” Caleb asked, feeling more and more confused by the moment.

“Follow me,” the officer said, and the whispers behind him grew louder. Officers moved out to seperate them from the obviously curious crowd.

“My friends…”

“Of course you may bring them as well. We’ll make sure your ship is taken care of post haste, we’ll probably need to take off from here within an hour..”

“Wait where the hell are we going?” Beau demanded as they all walked.

“Why are you saying congratulations?” Nott asked as they all entered an elevator, and the officer punched the 110th floor. It was traveling up at a dizzying speed, totally glass so you could see the work on each platform as they rose.

“Genetics carry a sacred connotation in our society,” the officer explained. “I’m sure you have heard of our practice of consecution...of the soul being reborn through the power of the Luxon Beacon. However every person is unique. In the vastness of space and time it is of course possible for a genetic code to be reproduced exactly. We consider that to be a true rebirth, a Recurrence.”

“So...my genetic code has occurred once before?” Caleb asked. This was far less incriminating then he had feared, but also that idea was terrifying on so many levels. He could barely handle himself...the idea that there had been another one of him running around at one point was dizzying and horrible. Who knows what he had gotten up to, knowing him.

“Yes,” the officer said simply.

“And Caleb was someone really cool before?” Jester asked, sounding excited. “I read a holonovel sort of like this once! Of course the discovery was wayyy sexier but-!”

“I don’t think this is very sexy,” Yasha said softly.

“It is neat,” Caduceus said, sounding extremely impressed.

“So where are we going right now?” Fjord asked, trying to get them all back on track.

“I am taking you to the upper deck, where they handle Genetic Inquiries. We just get an alert that a Recurrence has occurred and the year of the genetic sample taken of the previous life...in theory that is. We certainly haven’t had any recorded cases of Recurrence within my lifetime. Anyways, they will be able to assist with other questions, including and not limited to who your previous incarnation was, and matters of any titles they may have left you in their will."

“Wills? Like money?” Nott asked, her interest thoroughly peaked.

“It’s common to leave parts of your will for a future recurrence, especially amongst the nobility.”

“This is all strangely morbid,” Caleb said, unable to help the way his mouth quirked.

“That’s very thoughtful,” Caduceus said with a nod. “We should all be considering our futures and how we would like our affairs put into order.”

“Of course you are into that,” Fjord said with an incredulous shake of his head, though the look he shared with Caduceus was fond. Caduceus was from a race of aliens who worshiped a nature deity and were essentially stewards of the dead. His interest didn't surprise Caleb in the least.

They were brought to an empty looking office...well, in comparison to the line they had just been in it was downright barren. A single goblinoid looked at them from behind a desk that was laden with stacks of tablets and papers. Behind her was a seemingly endless sea of files.

"This is the one?" she asked, looking at Caleb and his flashing silver INAV. She held out her hand and he handed it to her. She opened it, inspected the contents and the signature and then signed it herself before turning to her computer. "Very well, let me just type in this and...here we go. C-12B-Jg73_E05_8."

She suddenly pushed with her legs and went skating down the hall with her chair. It was attached to the ground glided along easily and then with a tap of a button she was sent up to a second level. The goblinoid tapped in some code, opened a file, retrieved a holodisk, and then with a lever pull she was returned. She plugged the external drive of the holodisk into the computer checking it and reading it quickly. She then reached to plug the holodesk into the INAV. She pointed at a long document that Caleb skimmed before going to the bottom and signing with his finger.

"Very well, congratulations, my Lord," the goblinoid said. "This highlighted section is the section of the will devoted to you."

Caleb felt the others crowd him as the goblinoid spoke on the com in Undercommon. It didn't truly surprise him to see this script written in Proto-Zemnian. That means the person had been alive Pre-Calamity or at least 800 years ago. It made sense considering talk of 850 years ago. And of course if he did share DNA with someone, it also was somewhat comforting to know it was with another Zemnian. He recognized some of the script, but utilized his techno-magic to translate typing into his STAFF and approving the magical sequence.

"What does it say?" Jester asked excitedly.

"He isn't gonna tell us," Beau bemoaned, now officially caught up in the excitement.

Caleb ignored them and read it out loud.

"And to my future recurrence, if one should ever appear and claim my title, I leave two things. First, my journal of spellcraft. If you are anything like me I am sure you will find it interesting. Second, I leave my second home on the planet of Rosohna to you if it is still standing. Both can be collected from the arbiter of my will...my…" Caleb nearly choked over the next words. "My beloved. If he still lives."

"Oh, he lives alright," the goblinoid said as grim looking guards appeared from the side door. "Best of luck with meeting you husband again!"

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

>Personal Log Entry #365242

>Entered Intergalactic Standard Time 01:11

>Order: Record.

Current success on project RESONANT ECHO has continued, using my STAFF I am capable of pulling a version of myself from a discarded timeline for limited amounts of time. This has been not only thrilling, but also frustrating. They are still limited in what they can accomplish. I may have to go back to traditional spellwork and iron out the details there before attempting again with a STAFF. Sometimes raw mana cannot substitute for good old fashioned components.

On a more personal note, I have decided to bench my idea of pulling a Resonant Echo of another willing creature for now. Firstly, I have no willing creatures to test this idea on. My solitary nature has thwarted me again, unfortunately. And secondly...I am not sure I could bear the idea of success. I do not care much for the moral quandaries of such matters, and that isn’t what stops me. I only worry that it might put me on a path that is ill-advised for my mental health. The only thing more important than progress is being able to enjoy the fruits of my hard work. I am still my own greatest resource at the end of the day.

>Postscript: Add obsidian to shopping list, to be delivered to my personal address. Order for the delivery service to leave the package with TOWER.

>Completed transcription, would you like to save, override, or delete this file?

>Order: Save.

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

Essek Theylss was in the most boring meeting of his whole life. Economics had never been his interest, though of course he understood them. He had been given a thorough education at his Den's hand, and being a long-lived species meant you had time to become knowledgeable in anything you desired. But, as always, he wished to be doing his own research as opposed to attending meetings.

Just as he was making this wish, the meeting was interrupted by Taskhand Adeen.

"My Queen, forgive me for my interruption," the Taskhand said, as always his face was an impossible to crack study of ice. "But an urgent matter has just occurred, I was just informed of it by the guards.

"Then speak," the Bright Queen ordered, now sitting at attention.

"My Queen, it is news of the most importance. Shadowhand," he said suddenly, and Essek was thrown off guard because-him? What had been discovered? What one of his moving parts, his schemes, what-"there has been a Recurrence. Congratulations, your husband returns."

"What?" Essek asked as he stood and floated, the words hitting his skin and freezing over like icy rain. His brain, oddly, felt slow on the uptake. It was a thoroughly disorientating and dizzying experience. The words churning in a strange fog and then a rising panic. "I'm sorry, could you...could you repeat that?"

"There has been a Recurrence of your husband, Shadowhand. He returns now, brought from Asarius. We have genetic confirmation from the Solar System database-"

Essek knew his levitation dropped because suddenly there was a burst of pain in his knees. It was strange...suddenly he had no strength in his limbs...and his sight was swimming. Recurrence? His husband? No, it couldn't be true. His husband was gone, gone forever. Whoever this was...it wasn't him. It couldn't be him...he was just a stranger wearing his husband's face. Another ghost to torture him, to leave him behind-!

"Essek," a gentle, concerned voice said. "By the Luxon give the boy some room!"

"Deep breaths," came another voice, echoing in his skull and rattling in his brainstem. "Deep breaths, Essek. In and out."

"Do we need a medbot? Merciful Light! What were you thinking, just springing that on him in public!" The Bright Queen...he knew it was the Bright Queen who chastised Adeen. He was following instructions, breathing in and out, and it was becoming easier to discern who was around him. The lights ceased their strobing, his heart receded from his throat and made it easier to swallow. The one keeping him from melting into the ground was Quana, the Dusk Captain and wife of the Bright Queen. The one coaching him through the essential process of breathing was the Skysybil. He was in the Bright Queen’s throne room. He wasn’t dying. He was having a panic attack.

"Forgive me for my unsightly display," Essek said breathlessly, trying and failing at pulling himself together, welding the shards of his icy-exterior back where they belonged. This show of weakness...how could he have let himself succumb to that in public regardless of what was happening? There was always time later.

"This is of course emotional for you," Quana said, with a gentle pat on his shoulder. "Your husband returns. Of course the feeling is overwhelming."

"It is a joyous thing, a holy occurrence," the Bright Queen said, crossing the room and looking as radiant as a newly born star. "It is no weakness to be overwhelmed by the Divine. The Luxon has seen it fit to return your husband, and to give us all a sign of His favor. You must go and prepare for him, just as we must begin preparations to welcome him."

The Luxon! As if the Luxon had anything to do with this! It isn't him, Essek wanted to scream. It isn't him! He's gone from my side forever. This stranger...it won't be him. This isn't divine...it's a cruel trick of fate and genetics. It isn't him, it isn't him.

"Prepare, yes, I...I must prepare," Essek said before nearly fleeing the chamber before anyone could stop him. He must have teleported back, though all he felt was a blur of noise and light and suddenly he was there. Everything felt so strange. Nothing was right anymore. His usual sanctuary had been breached by the abnormal, and all he wanted was to make it stop.

The hum of his levitation seemed to be the only noise that echoed from the halls of his home as he arrived. He sent the droids that acted as servants away, and slammed the door to the study close and locked it with a wave. For a moment he paused before continuing on in spite of his racing heart. The ocean between him and the desk seemed immense as he crossed it. Opening the locked compartment he removed his husband's will from inside gingerly.

It has been at least a hundred years since he had looked at it. It was written on parchment...because of course it was, his husband had always been old-fashioned...even back then. He had kept it in a temperature and moisture controlled capsule to prevent decay ever since it had been written. He had memorized every line a long time ago, he was sure, and yet now looking at the last section he paused. The spell book and the summer home and that was it. On paper it was nothing. Hardly a blip on the radar of the vast wealth that Essek commanded at his fingertips. But he would have to give it up...more remnants of his husband that he clung to would disappear from his grasp forever.

It wasn't fair, Essek thought, breathless with grief as he pulled his husband's spellbook from the same controlled compartment. He held back his tears stubbornly. Essek was unwilling to stain the cover of the well-loved book as he cradled it to his chest. Inside was his husband’s soul, the work that Essek had founded his magic on. This interloper would take from Essek what little he had left that he held sacred.

"Sir, your heart rate is elevated as is the saturation of stress hormones in your blood," TOWER, the AI that ran the home systems reported. The screen of his INAV lighting up the alert for Essek to see. "Are you in need of assistance?"

"TOWER, what is the rate of Recurrence in the general population?" Essek asked, refusing to answer that question. There was no good answer, after all. Why waste his time?

"The rate of Recurrence in the general population is one in ten trillion."

"One in ten trillion…" Essek murmured, truly grappling with that statistic for the first time in his life. He had heard that number before of course. Back when he was in school, in his courses meant to educate and indoctrinate him into the faith of the Luxon. But now it seemed so vast, so unlikely. Bards sang songs about this, subscribed entertainment was based on this. And yet somehow it was really happening to him. "And do these Recurrences...when they happen, is it reported that the person is...similar, to their previous incarnation?"

"Physically identical, however the rate of Recurrence is so low there has not been the opportunity for true scientific studies on the phenomenon, sir. Only anecdotal accounts."

"Give a general summary of the anecdotal accounts, TOWER,” Essek said with little patience.

"It is theorized that though the core of a person may be written in genetics, environmental factors such as planet born, levels of sustenance during formative years, chemical and radiation exposure, family structure, socio-economic standing, and other psychological factors and epigenetics will have an effect on the individual. As such, the Recurrence may not be the exact same individual as the previous incarnation."

"Good," Essek said as he finally drew in a breath. "Good...then this will just be an unpleasant meeting. But who knows? He may not be interested in the book and I'll be able to keep it."

"Are you unhappy, sir? By my database's reading this is supposed to be a happy event."

"Of course I am unhappy!" Essek snapped at the AI. "Some...some ghost wearing his face is coming here. A ghost who by sheer dumb luck is given a title to land and my husband's spellbook...and...well...my hand in marriage."

"Would you consider it better or worse if he was the same as your husband, sir?"

"Oh by the Nine Hells if I know!" Essek groaned. But he was lying to himself. Of course it would be worse if he was the same. If he was the same...if this ghost truly was his husband...Essek would fall apart at the seams. After all, there wasn't a worse fate than being happy, for all happiness turned to ash and ruin. He had a husband for only ninety years. In the lifespan of his people that was hardly a season, nothing worth fretting over. And yet, he was still so cold at night without him...he still woke some nights, expecting his husband to be beside him.

Essek wouldn't go through it again. Not again, not ever. He wouldn’t allow it.

"Contact the Theylss arbiter and have them prepare documentation for an annulment," Essek ordered TOWER as he stood. He looked towards the wide windows, the violet-blue interstellar clouds that shimmered with the radiance of distant stars. His garden called to him, his sanctuary pulled him to it like the indelible force of gravity. He was one with it...drifting quietly as always. "I would like this to be over and done with quickly."

Essek was about to say something else when the sound of a call going through interrupted him. He knew who it was without even looking, which is why he didn’t bother to say hello as the voice came through.

"Essek," his Denmother said, her voice cold and commanding as her image appeared on the screen. "Congratulations. We have much to speak about."

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

“What do you think your husband is like?” Jester asked curiously, bouncing in her seat in the flight deck.

They were currently being escorted to Rosohna by the Echo-Knights, who’s speedy Moorbounder ships kept in tight formation around them. They had had their ship’s general needs repaired in record time, their ship restocked with supplies, and had been told that when they reached Rosohna their ship’s hyperdrive would also be taken care of free of charge. They had actually been offered a completely brand new ship that was so beautiful it had almost made Fjord cry. They had refused it, because as Beauregard pointed out if something was fucked with on their own ship, they would be able to tell easily. For now, considering the results of Nott and Caduceus’ quick investigation, it seemed like everything was fine and in working order. All of this somehow and for a reason that Caleb was still grappling with was due to the fact that Caleb was apparently married.

“He’s not my husband,” Caleb murmured, arguing for the sake of arguing the point, though his protests sounded weak to his own ears the more he read about Recurrence and the significance it held to Xhorhassian society.

“According to the laws of this Solar System, yeah, he is,” Beauregard said as she slid the holodisk at him and rotated the image so Caleb could read it. “Right there. Xhorhas General Law, Part 2, Title 3, Chapter 507, Section 258 on the validity of marriage. The clerk shall require written notice of intention of marriage, on forms furnished by the state registrar of vital records and statistics, containing such information as is required by law and also a statement of absence of any legal impediment to the marriage, to be given before such Xhorhassian accredited clerk under oath by both of the parties to the intended marriage. After a marriage is solemnized by an approved Dynasty religion or other official method, the marriage is considered binding until a time when an annulment is performed, see sections 280-320 for specifics. And then I looked down and here, in Section 283 it says, if one party to the marriage dies, the marriage vow is considered null and void and the living party shall receive the benefits given within the will, can apply for a remarriage, and shall be able to file for government aid if needed. However, if a Recurrence is found of the deceased the previous marriage shall be automatically renewed in the system and upheld until the time that both parties file for an annulment.”

“Congratulations?” Fjord offered weakly.

“Caleb isn’t married!” Nott half screamed.

“It sounds like Caleb is married,” Yasha noted.

“We don’t even know if this guy deserves Caleb!” Nott argued, nearly frothing at the mouth.

“We are technically married until we file a divorce then,” Caleb clarified, feeling like his stomach was twisting in his belly. He wished desperately he had Frumpkin to hold, but the guards of Assarius hadn’t been able to supply the specialty parts he had needed. He had been told that they would be provided easily by his “husband’s” family.

His mind came back to the concept at hand. Marriage. Caleb wasn’t against the idea of marriage as a social construct. He had once even dreamed of marrying. He had wanted to marry the girl he loved more than anything else in this universe. He had planned to marry her, and die beside her in the name of his King and Empire in the great battles against the evil that threatened the security of that Empire. Of course, things didn’t turn out the way one planned… and apparently he had been married all along.

“You are going to divorce him?” Jester asked, sounding heartbroken and drawing Caleb from his strange thoughts. “But what if he’s wonderful? What if you love him?”

“I can’t love someone I’ve never met before,” Caleb said, apologetically.

“In a past life you did though,” Jester said, her pout deadly in its force. “That’s what Recurrence basically is, right? Being reborn.”

“We would refer to it as reincarnation,” Caduceus added as he appeared with a teapot. He poured a cup for Caleb and gave his shoulder a gentle pat. Caleb accepted it, if only to have something to do with his hands.

“It is a genetic anomaly,” Caleb argued, motioning at the page he was reading. “I understand that genetics and rebirth are an important aspect of the Dynasty’s religion but it’s just that. It’s just a religious belief. I don’t know this person that shared my DNA, but you wouldn’t assume that if I married someone that person would also be married to my identical twin, right?”

“You have a twin?” Jester asked, her tail swishing excitedly.

“I don’t have a twin,” Caleb sighed.

“Twins don’t count as a Recurrence,” Beau mentioned. “Chapter 436, Section 23.”

“I don’t...it was just an example. Besides, I’m sure it’s...I’m sure that person’s husband wouldn’t want to be married to me. I am not the person they loved.”

“It must be painful for them,” Yasha said softly, eyes drawn dark with grief. “But I’m sure they might be grateful too. There isn’t much…”

Yasha trailed off, but Caleb didn’t need to hear the rest. After all, Caleb was also well versed in the language of grief. Yasha was right, there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for the chance to at least glimpse at the faces of the people he had loved the most again.

"Den Theylss though, I've heard they are a huge deal in these parts," Fjord said quietly, tapping the steering thoughtfully. "They are one of the three most powerful families in the Kryn Dynasty, second only to the Bright Queen's den. When I was running the merchant routes back in the day, the merchant ships that came out here always said that the three dens own thirds of the Dynasty."

"Maybe you ought to stay married to this dude," Beauregard said seriously. "He's rich. Their family did just totally mostly fix our ship in a day."

"I want to be kind to him," Caleb said, and left it at that.

They arrived shortly after. Rosohna was a distant planet, it’s orbit kept it approximately seven years out of the light of the sun and gave it one year with seasons. In space, it showed like a glittering jewel. It was the founding planet of the Kryn Dynasty, where the Bright Queen raised her people from the shadows underground and led them to the space age. As they entered the hemisphere Caleb immediately noticed the brightness of the city that built itself silver into the dark exterior as they landed on the loading dock.

“Alright folks, gear up, let’s rock and roll,” Fjord said standing up.

“Aye, aye Captain Tusktooth!” the rest of the crew shouted back, before grabbing the necessities and disembarking off the Balleater.

They were met immediately by a group of Drow, one of the natural inhabitants of Rosohna. There were all dressed in robes, shaded darkly but with touches of glitter and shimmer, enough to catch the low light. That separated them from the woman who walked before the rest of the group. She was dressed the most exquisitely, in a dress made like it was gathered from violet clouds that moved and shimmered with an almost iridescent quality. Her silver hair was pulled back high on her head, and her ears were decorated with what had to be thousands of credits worth of jewels.

“You stand before Deirta Theylss, Umavi of Den Theylss,” one of the group said. Fjord immediately bowed, and everyone else followed suit. When Caleb rose from his bow, he saw Deirta’s eyes raking over his face intensely. She was an attractive woman, older in the almost imperceptible way elves aged, but cold and austere. Something about her gaze set him on edge immediately.

“How fascinating,” she said, reaching out to take Caleb’s chin. She turned him this way and that, and Caleb resisted every instinct in his body that screamed at him to shy away from this woman. He didn’t like looking people in the eye normally. This forced contact made his skin crawl. “It is truly, utterly breathtaking...how much like him you look. An absolutely perfect match if my memory serves. There is no doubt, we have been blessed by a true Recurrence. The Luxon truly shines it’s Light upon us and our den on this day.”

She released him and folded her hands in her sleeves. Caleb could feel the rest of the Mighty Nein draw close to him, a semi-circle of protection that grounded him the present and kept him from scratching the skin off his arms.

“It has been...a lot for a day and a half,” Caleb admitted, swallowing nervously. He understood the wariness of the others now. There were eyes on them everywhere, almost all of the movement in the hanger had ceased.

“I am just happy to welcome my son in law home,” Deirta said with a smile that did not reach her eyes. “There is much we must discuss, of course. But the first order of business is the Reintroduction, the second is the will.”

“Reintroduction?” Jester asked.

“Between him and Essek, my son,” Deirta said. Essek. No one had yet said his name to Caleb. Essek Theylss was his husband by law in the Kryn Dynasty, a man that Caleb had never met before. He had the insane urge to speak it out loud, to run the name over his lips, as if that might spark something in him other than crippling anxiety. “This will be followed by the meeting with the Bright Queen tomorrow.”

“The Bright Queen?” Nott and Jester and Fjord and Beau all demanded at once, one with suspicion, one with excitement, and the other two with abject disbelief.

“You all clearly do not appreciate the cultural significance of Recurrence,” Deirta said lightly as they all walked to the transport ship. They were seated in a flying craft, with a large see-through lid that was sent up through a channel and then ported them out to the city itself. For a moment Caleb was too dazzled by the silver city itself, and almost didn’t hear Deirta’s command. “Smile for the cameras.”

“Cameras?” Caleb asked before nearly yanking his own head back at the sight of the huge holo-screens lining the streets that lit up with their image. There was the sound of cheering audible from even up there. Jester waved manically, as well as Cad and Yasha...a bit more shyly.

“You, child, are a phenomenon that occurs 1 out of 10 trillion,” Deirta said cooly, though she smiled sweetly for the camera that tracked her wave and the movement of the craft. “And even less likely to be discovered. You demonstrate the most sacred law of our deity, the chance for true rebirth. In such times as these, you are proof of the divine nature of our lives. And as if that were not enough, you are husband to a Theylss. Not just any Theylss either, son of the Umavi, Shadowhand to the Bright Queen, and considered to be one of the great beauties of our people. Any one of them would kill to be in your position."

“You’re wrong,” Caleb argued as they passed the holo-screens and continued on, towards a castle of silvered metal towering from the ground. “I’m just...I’m just Caleb.”

A murderer, a fugitive, a crazed lunatic, a self-made orphan, perhaps. But proof of the divine? Only if the divine was looking for a cosmic joke.

“Perhaps before today,” Deirta said as she looked towards the castle. “Not anymore."

Soon enough they were out of the city proper and into the Firmaments District, as the captain of the ship informed them. The Bright Queen’s Cathedral was a massive castle-ship, currently docked in place and surrounded by the high pearly white walls that separated her and her court from the people of Rosohna. In the district behind were the houses of the other most prominent dens, laid out amongst the maze-like streets like small treasure chests.

“Your friends shall stay with me in my household as honored guests,” Deirta Theylss ordered as they moved down to street level and moved through the city streets. She turned her seat to face them. “We shall go to your home to meet with your husband.”

“No! Caleb doesn’t go alone!” Nott argued fiercely, planting herself firmly in front of Deirta as if she were three feet taller. “Either I go with Caleb, or he doesn’t go anywhere.”

"The same goes for me," Beauregard said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, flexing the muscles there. She made a much more terrifying picture as Yasha sidled up beside her and echoed the same motion. Jester joined with Nott.

"The Might Nein stays together," Fjord said, placing a hand on Caleb's shoulder, as did Caduceus.

"Very well, I'm sure Essek will make the appropriate arrangements," Deirta said before turning to the officer who was piloting the transport craft. "Fine, go to Essek's residence."

"Yes, my lady. Sit down, we'll arrive within a few moments,” the pilot of the transport ship said before closing the hatch and separating Deirta in the Captain's quarters from the Mighty Nein.

"I don't think I like her," Jester hissed as she plopped down in her seat again and crossed her arms over her chest. "Your mother-in-law is mean."

"She doesn’t have to be kind, she is an Umavi," Beau grumbled. "That’s like super nobility, but besides that she's a politician first, did you see the way she set us up?"

Besides just the political boost, there was a more obvious reason now that he thought about it. Of course she wanted his face plastered on every holo-screen in the Dynasty. Now everyone would know his face, Caleb realized. She was far more shrewd then Caleb had given her credit for. If he tried to do something stupid, like escape without a functional hyperdrive in his ship, everyone on this side of the universe would know who he was. Tightening the noose, Caleb thought, his breathing suddenly funny in his throat.

"This is all very complicated now," Caduceus said worriedly before stopping. "Are you alright, Caleb?"

"I feel like I'm going to be sick," Caleb admitted, gripping his hands hard to keep them from shaking.

"Oh no, Caleb," Jester said, immediately taking residence at his side.

“It’ll be alright,” Nott worried his shirt quietly before gathering his hands in hers. “It’ll be alright. I promise. We’ll find a way to get out of this, I promise.”

“Thank you, my little friend,” Caleb said weakly, letting Nott press a kiss to his forehead.

“Let’s be prepared, who knows what could happen,” Fjord said, looking seriously out at the street.

They arrived at a residence that was really three towers connected by walkways on the ground and above. The towers themselves had a uniquely antique feel in the city so smooth and chrome, built to resemble stone. However in the flickering low lights they revealed a glittering effect. On the top of the tower spun some sort of mechanism that shifted like gears and seemed to be measuring something. Caleb’s curiosity was thoroughly peaked, though, he wasn’t sure that this was the appropriate time to sate his curiosity.

A servant-droid greeted them at the door to the front tower, bowing before Lady Theylss. She didn’t give the droid a single glance.

"Where is my son?" Deirta asked shortly, brushing out her skirts though there were no folds or wrinkles to be seen.

"In the gardens, my Lady," the droid stated.

"Of course," she sighed tiredly. “Lead us there.”

They walked through the tower to the walkway between the towers. There was a garden, filled with Glowing Nightblooms, a flower that when blooming cast soft blues and violets and whites into darkness. He had read about them before. They were a staple in the cheap credit a dozen novels he brought from outposts or second hand merchants, but seeing them in person was another. The path led them past crystal statues of geometric shapes that made light fracture into rainbows and painted the air vibrantly. The garden circled a pond, a dark tranquil pool that was so still that it was almost a perfect mirror with the star-filled sky. A single small shrine stood in the middle of it. And there in the center a person standing before the shrine...almost appearing like a ghost as silver incense smoke curled in the air.

"My son, come and greet your husband," Deirta said. The figure turned from the shrine, he crossed the lake. Caleb had been to the edge of the galaxy itself, and yet he didn’t think he had ever seen a more handsome man before. He was composed of sharp edges and elegant lines, his skin a smooth and peerless dark plum, and his hair perfectly tamed and coiffed. There were no ripples as he moved-no-skimmed across the water’s edge as weightless as fog. He arrived on the stone path, and immediately knelt, expensive dark robes shifting as he did.

"Welcome home, my beloved," Essek said, bowing deeply enough to press his forehead to his fingers. Geometrical earrings caught the light, as did an impressive, elaborate mantle that was settled upon his neck."I have been awaiting your arrival.”

“Please, lift your head,” Caleb half-begged, feeling flushed and oddly ashamed. He hadn’t done anything to deserve this act of devotion from this complete stranger.

“I hope you have found everything suitable," Essek said as he continued to bow, pointedly ignoring his request. Caleb could almost sense Deirta gloating from where she stood a few feet behind him.

"Your home is...it's beautiful," Caleb said, not sure if the words even came out past his panicked choking.

"It is your home as it is mine, I am happy it pleases you," Essek said as he stood effortlessly, robes swaying as he did so. The silver of his eyes illuminated his face, flecked with pale blue and violet in the shifting light of the pond and flowers. His expression was hard to read, though his mouth curled up in a soft almost-smile. "I am Essek Theylss, son of Deirta Theylss, Shadowhand of the Bright Queen."

"Caleb. Caleb Widogast," Caleb said softly.

"Caleb," Essek said, something flickering upon the surface and dissipating just as quickly. "And your guests?"

"My friends. The Mighty Nein."

"TOWER," Essek called, and a screen lit up along the wall. "Make sure the service droids prepare rooms for my husband's friends."

"Your will shall be done, sir," the AI stated.

"In your room you shall find both the spellbook and the deed to the home as stated in the will," Essek said, tone businesslike...formal. Caleb wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. Perhaps crying? Screaming? Anger or sadness or grief? And yet Caleb saw none of that as he looked at this stranger. There was only politeness...a cool sort of acceptance. "Both already confirmed by the arbiter and myself. Are you capable of translation or will you need assistance?"

"Ja, I can," Caleb said lifting his wrist to show his staff. Essek reached out his hand and offered it expectantly...and Caleb did the only thing he could think of and laid his wrist in Essek’s grasp. His touch was cold and fingers soft, and just that was enough to raise goosebumps along his skin.

“I have never seen this model of a STAFF,” Essek said, inspecting the device, interest sparking in his gaze. It was the first truly genuine thing he had seen from this man who was meant to be his husband, and it soothed something in his heart. Caleb caught a glint of a STAFF upon Essek’s own wrist as well.

“I...ah...I built it myself,” Caleb admitted. “I could not afford one with the specs I desired, so one has to do what they must.”

"Then we have that in common, I also built my own staff. You are a techno-mage, I see," Essek said, sounding unsurprised. "Wizard speciality I assume?"

"I...yes, how did you…?"

"He was the same," Essek said quietly, releasing Caleb’s wrist. Essek didn’t need to say who “he” was, they both knew. Caleb drew it back, and resisted the urge to stroke the place where Essek had touched. His skin still tingled from the touch. “Is there anything else you all required?”

“Ah...my familiar,” Caleb said, opening his satchel to show the limp body of the companion-droid. “I would like to fix him, do you know where I can get the materials?”

“As you may have noticed, I employ droids heavily. I have droid-repairing materials here, TOWER shall acquire for you whatever you need,” Essek promised. He paused before looking to Deirta. "I am sure you have more you wish to discuss with me, Umavi."

"Yes," she said, without a scrape of anything resembling maternal love or affection. Instead there was only business.

"Very well, we will speak in my office. I shall take my leave now," Essek said, turning to address them all. "If there is anything you require, you may call for the home AI, TOWER."

And with that, he drifted past them with the Umavi, leaving them all alone. Caleb felt that he could finally breathe as soon as he was gone.

“Wow...this is just like that scene in Tusk Love,” Jester said, steepling her fingers and looking starstruck.

“What part of Tusk Love?” Nott asked curiously.

“The scene where Genieveve meets her fiance, you know, the one her dad wants her to marry instead of Oskar?” Jester asked. “And the fiance totally tries to seduce her over dinner by giving her that beautiful red dress and the necklace made of lumincrystal?”

“Oh! I love that part, especially when the fiance put his hand-” Nott started.

“I don’t think this is like that,” Fjord said, interrupting warily.

“If anything I don’t think it was horny enough,” Beau complained. “Like...did this guy even like his husband? He sure as fuck didn’t act like it. Like, if I spent two weeks away from the person I loved the most I would be shoving them into the nearest supply closet with me. Imagine hundreds and hundreds of years!”

“Would you?” Fjord asked incredulously, and Beau elbowed him hard.

“We all deal with loss in our own ways,” Caduceus said as he looked on at the shrine still settled in the pond like a cloud in the sky. “But he loved his husband...that’s for sure.”

“What makes you say that?” Caleb asked, swallowing in an attempt to wet his tongue.

“Such a fine grave could only be upkept with devotion,” Caduceus said, motioning to the small shrine. And as Caleb watched the single curl of white smoke still rising from the incense, carved words upon marble meticulously polished he realized that Caduceus was right. This wasn’t a shrine...it was a grave. “It’s beautiful.”

Caleb looked away, unable to quell the ache in his chest.

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

He spent a good portion of the evening tinkering and repairing Frumpkin with the materials provided. He was unable to explain his relief when the usual start-up menu appeared in their shared link. The feline-droid meowed happily at being reawoken, and spent a long time cuddling up with Caleb and performing his usual therapeutic routines, before settling to be charged. After that he worked on reading over the spellbook that had been given to him, marveling at the notes (trying not to think about the handwriting that was his own from the way he crossed his z’s to the dashes he used for his i’s). The Mighty Nein ate dinner together, with Essek noticeably absent from the halls and rooms. They were given a spread of traditional Xhorhassian cuisine prepared by the servant droids, and Caleb came to the realization that there was not a single living servant in the home. They were all given their own rooms, and set to retire in them. It was decided to play nice...to make the show of gratitude. If there was one constant in almost every culture across the universe, it was to know better than to trample on hospitality given.

“What do you want to do?” Nott asked him nervously before they separated for bed.

“I don’t know…” Caleb admitted, scrubbing at his face with his hands as he watched Frumpkin charge. “I get the feeling they aren’t going to let me leave so easily.”

“They said the hyperdrive would be fixed in seven days. That’s the soonest we’ll be able to escape,” Nott said softly, close enough that any bugs that may have planted in the room wouldn’t have caught it. “Think about it, but don’t worry, you're stuck with me regardless of what you want to do, alright?”

“Alright,” Caleb said, catching Nott’s eyes and smiling. And he tried to sleep...he did. But his mind was racing, and finally he could do nothing but leave the room. He figured a quick walk around would settle him, and did his best to memorize the corridors and stairs and rooms he could enter. All information at this point was power, things he could use to get the upper hand in a game that he felt completely outclassed by.

Eventually though...he found himself back in the cloisters...the high arches and beautifully carved pathway to the garden. And he wasn’t alone, as he soon discovered. Essek stood solitary, next to a pillar looking out onto the pond and the grave. The flowers themselves were pale as a moon, glowing with a soft ethereal iridescence that almost seemed to float up to the clouds of violet and amber dust.

Caleb drew in a breath, and Essek stiffened. A slender dark hand curled against the pillar, but he didn’t move.

"I'm sorry," came the voice from the figure. The accent was smooth, voice soft and thoughtful. He did not turn, and somehow just that felt more genuine then any words they had exchanged thus far. He sounded exhausted, and so very apologetic...as trapped and frustrated as Caleb did. "I'm sure this all must be very difficult...I know this has been the strangest two days of my life."

"Ja, I would say so," Caleb said, and watched as the figure cringed. Oh...his voice. It must be the same or at least similar to...to his real husband. "I am the one who should be apologizing...I'm sure this has been harder for you in more ways than I could ever comprehend."

“If you are as alike as I fear, I would say that isn’t true,” Essek said, the tired tones of his voice biting into Caleb’s skin. “My husband was always an intelligent man...and always managed to surprise me with his inopportune insights. If you are like him...then there is little hope that you wouldn’t understand me...and I’m afraid that’s far more terrifying than the alternative.”

“All I can do is apologize it seems,” Caleb murmured. “Apologize and hope that you accept that as my truth.”

For a long moment Essek didn’t respond, and he wondered if this was Essek’s way of asking him to leave. Caleb was about to...to say something when Essek shifted instead.

"My husband…" Essek started, faltered and then straightened his shoulders, still refusing to look his way. "I can’t explain it, no matter how much I desire to. His love sustained me through so much. He was one of the first humans to voyage to the stars and come to this distant shore. He was brilliant and kind and so much better than me in almost every way. I love him...even so many years after his death...he has been the only one I have ever loved."

"I do not...I wouldn't ever presume…" Caleb started...but faltered. What could he say to make this better? There were no words he could summon in this language or his mother tongue to even scratch the surface of this situation. Instead his voice petered out, running out of gas.

“There will be many things asked of you soon,” Essek said, retracting his hand from the pillar and slipping it into his sleeve. “I am just sorry I will not be able to spare you from it...from all of it.”

“What do you mean?”

He turned around, and Caleb’s breath left his lungs. He was as beautiful as the heavens unfurling in the hours of twilight, a single solitary figure against the quiet light. Instead of drawing near, he seemed to recede further into the shadow cast by the pillars. His expression was empty...there was nothing there, simply a reflection.

“I have been informed there will be no annulment,” he said cooly, as if he were talking about the weather. “We shall have a Vow Exchange and Marriage Ceremony in seven rotation’s time.”

“They would have us married?” Caleb asked in shock.

“Remarried technically, as by law you are my husband.”

“Do they have no concerns for your feelings?” Caleb asked, suddenly infuriated for Essek’s sake.

“I have none to be concerned about...not anymore,” Essek said softly as he drifted forward. He didn’t walk, that was certain. Instead he moved as if buoyed in his own gravitational field. “I am a loyal subject to my Queen first, a child of my mother’s den second, a citizen of the Dynasty third, and a person last. I have a duty I must fulfill...and by marrying you, I shall be furthering the aims of my government through the greatest single act of propaganda we have seen since our Queen’s famous speech at the Breach. Though I have nothing to do with that, after all, I have been told that I am living the romance of the millenium. I should be very grateful.”

“Seven rotations?” Caleb echoed. A week, a single week. That was how long it would take for the hyperdrive to be fixed. The same day...of course it had to be the day that he was sure the entire solar system of Xhorhas would be watching him. Nothing could ever be easy...he didn’t deserve that much.

“If you are planning on escaping...well...I wish you the best of luck,” Essek said with a wry smile, a glint of fang twisting up Caleb’s heart. “I doubt you will get far. My mother has told me that this shall be the single most lavish affair our people have seen since the last marriage between the Bright Queen and the Dusk Captain, and no expense will be spared for things like security.”

“It isn’t right,” Caleb argued, blood pulsing hot and rapid in his veins. The injustice of it wrenched at his insides. “It isn’t fair, that they should treat you like some...some tool! I-”

Suddenly, Essek crashed right into Caleb’s chest. Hands balled into Caleb’s shirt with bruising force, and he stood there dumbly as Essek pressed his face more firmly to his shoulder and shuddered as if he carried the weight of the whole planet upon his shoulders.

“It’s not fair,” Essek gasped, voice fracturing into a million pieces. Bitter and desperate and hopeless and overwhelming. “Why does it have to be this way? You even feel like him...smell like him! Please...please stop being kind to me. Push me away...run from me, hurt me. Stop sounding like him! Stop...stop talking like him. I beg of you...I beg of you. If you stay...I won’t be able to let you go again. I’ll do anything I can to stop you. I’ll be cruel, and vicious, and I’ll hurt everyone and anything that gets in my way. That’s the way I am. I am the most selfish creature that ever crawled upon the surface of any planet. So please...abandon me.”

“You are a victim too,” Caleb said, instinctively wrapping his arms around Essek’s waist. He felt so slender in his arms...so delicate, like he was a shard of the universe...like he would disappear if he held him too long. And despite everything...it felt so right. It was just an illusion, brought on by the stress. He had never held Essek before...but he could almost imagine it with how wonderful it was. “Will you forgive me...for trying to find a way to save us both?”

“Never,” Essek said, looking up at him. His eyes were silver like the moon-dust freckles that shimmered upon his skin, glittering with tears. “I’ll never forgive you. Just gazing upon you gives me a glimpse of that which I most desire, and even if you are just a shade if you stay I will pursue you. Don’t you understand? I am your greatest enemy. So you must go...you must escape without ever looking back at me.”

“Won’t they hurt you? How could I just leave you?” Caleb demanded. “You are innocent. I won’t damn an innocent again for my sins...never.”

“Innocent? Ha! Abandon that pride of yours, Light damn it! Why don't you understand? The only thing I can do is protect you from me!"

"I won't. If I leave you here...like this, what will happen to you?"

"Nothing I don't deserve after everything I've wrought," he said bitterly, pulling away and leaving his arms so empty and bereft of purpose. "Caleb...I have done everything to deserve this fate, I see that now. This is my punishment, but it is not yours. Escape, Caleb. Escape the Kryn Dynasty. Escape my fate. Escape me. That alone...it will be enough for me for the rest of eternity."

Essek disappeared into the shadows, leaving Caleb behind.

#critical role fanfic #shadowgast week #shadowgast #essek theylss #caleb widogast #sci-fi AU

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hockeylvr59 · 5 years ago

Text

Anything You Want || Paul Bissonnette and Tyler Seguin

Requested: [ ] yes [x] no

Authors Note: So I was in a total nsfw mood tonight and asked for some people to send me ideas. One of my group chats said I should definitely go with Bissonnette sex but suggested I add Seguin in there. I twisted their suggested prompt a little but anyway. It’s really dirty...so enjoy.

Warnings: smut, smut and more smut.Threesome. Oral sex, actual sex, anal sex. Oh and breeding kink/actual breeding (unprotected sex) because evidently I can’t control myself.

Word Count: 3,804

Dating Paul Bissonnette meant that your sex life was never something that could be described as boring or regular. Paul was older than you and certainly more experienced inside (and technically outside, hello airport sex) the bedroom. Still, he’d never made you feel comfortable, in fact, he was probably the best teacher you could ask for when it came to all things intimate.

When you’d first gotten together, things had been kept fairly tame, vanilla even, behind closed doors as you learned each other’s likes and dislikes, and what made each of you fall apart. Now that things were more serious as far as the relationship went, things inside the bedroom were shifting as well. One could say that you were very much in the experimental phase of things. Still, even now Paul still had the upper hand in experience and everything that was brought up was something he had tried before and had already decided whether it’s something he likes or not.

Unsurprisingly, Paul’s hard ‘no’s’ were things that you honestly had no desire to try and most of his ‘yes’s’ were things you were eager for as well. There honestly wasn’t much of a middle ground where there was something you wanted that he wasn’t the biggest fan of....except...shockingly, a threesome. Paul claimed that he had been there and done that before and that it was something that he felt like he’d grown out of. He hadn’t said it was something that would never happen, but it didn’t seem like something that would happen anytime soon, especially not without some prodding on your end.

That’s probably why Paul’s text tonight had caught you so off guard. You’d come to Toronto with him for a week of summer vacation while he filmed Biz does Ontario. While he filmed, you played tourist, got a massage, and just generally took some time out of your busy life to relax. Tonight he’d gone out to meet up with some buddies and you’d stayed in, curled up with a new book.

It was almost ten when your phone buzzed and setting your book aside as you finished a chapter, heat flooded your body.

Put on that black lingerie set and that dress you know I like and come to 70 Yorkville Ave.

His text was suggestive enough to tell you that he had something planned but too vague to tell you exactly what it was. Still, you knew by now that when Paul had something up his sleeve it was best to just play along. So you quickly changed into the requested attire, threw your hair up into a messy and somewhat sexy bun, and applied a smokey makeup look before grabbing your things, slipping into a pair of heels and heading out the door.

When you arrived at the lounge you looked around but didn’t spot Paul anywhere. Shooting him a text that you were there you made your way over to the bar and ordered yourself a glass of wine, your anticipation rising. Even sipping slowly, you’d finished your first glass of wine and you still hadn’t spotted your boyfriend. Just as you were about to text him again, a warm hand landed on your lower back and a voice called for the bartender to pour you another glass while ordering a beer for himself.

Your body had tensed at the touch and you quickly spun to tell whoever it was that had decided to get handsy off.

“Ex…” before you could even finish your first word your eyes met the cocky gaze of a certain Dallas Stars forward and you froze. The fact that Tyler Seguin was standing beside you with his hand on your lower back should have signaled exactly what your boyfriend had planned, however, your brain failed to put the pieces together quickly.

“I’m sorry...did you not want another?” The tone of his voice was almost patronizing and for a split second, you wanted to slap him.

“No...I...yes…” You stuttered out. “But I have a boyfriend.” Something about your words made Tyler laugh and after taking a sip of his beer he leaned closer and whispered in your ear.

“Well, I won’t tell him if you won’t.” When your body instinctively recoiled because the last thing you’d ever do was cheat on Paul, Tyler’s facial expressions cracked for a moment before leaning in close again. “Would you just play along?” Having felt his breath on your skin one moment and then having it be gone the next made you shiver and seeing Tyler looking away from the bar made you follow his gaze. What your eyes met was your boyfriend who had his normal sexy smirk on and who was clearly watching the two of you.

At that moment, you looked between Paul and Tyler and when you returned your gaze to the former he was clearly mouthing something to you, his body language more relaxed than it should be for someone else hitting on you. It was then that everything hit you at once...this was Paul’s plan. This was him giving in to what you wanted. A flush rose on your cheeks as you smiled at him sending him a short nod before turning your attention back to Tyler who smirked once more realizing that you were now in on the whole plan.

Grazing your fingers along the muscles of Tyler’s forearm you couldn’t help but imagine those arms pinning you down on the bed while he fucked you.

“So you like hitting on taken women.” You tease, sipping at your wine before purposely licking a drop of the liquid off of your lips. At your action, Tyler’s adam’s apple bobbed and there was a tick in his jaw as it tightened.

“I like hitting on attractive women.” He responded voice low, his body stepping half a step closer to your own, boxing you in against the bar. “And what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” It was then that you realized his hand was still pressed against your back as it dipped lower to rest just above your ass.

“And if I was supposed to meet him here…?” You whispered, your hand moving from his arm to graze for just a moment over his abs.

“Well then maybe he should join us.” The words were said in such a matter of fact manner that even though you knew that’s where this was headed, they still stole your breath for a moment. Heat was already pooling in your stomach when Tyler’s teeth grazed over your ear as he spoke. “I bed you’d like to be fucked from both ends.”

If you hadn’t been sitting you probably would have toppled over. You were about to look back for Paul wondering just how this was going to proceed when you felt a second hand land on your back and the scent of your boyfriend’s cologne filled your nose. Reaching for your class of wine you quickly finished it off, and as you set the empty glass back on the bar, you felt Paul’s breath against your other ear.

“You gonna be a good girl baby and let Tyler and I fuck you? I told him what a good girl you are but he said he’d have to see it to believe it.” You couldn’t help but nod, conscious thought starting to leave you, as the combination of the alcohol and heat of two huge male bodies surrounded you.

The next thing you know, the check has been paid and you’re being led out of the bar into an SUV. As you reach the vehicle, Tyler tosses Paul the keys and opens the backdoor for you before sliding inside with you.

“You know where you’re going man?” Tyler asks and when Paul nods and starts the car, Tyler’s attention turns to you. Out of habit, you buckle yourself up and Tyler and Paul exchange a quick look in the rearview mirror before they both do the same. “Guess it would put a damper on things if we were killed before the fun started,” Tyler muttered.

As soon as Paul pulled into the Toronto streets, Tyler’s hand falls to your thigh and slowly starts moving upward. The rough callouses of his fingers cause you to shiver and unconsciously you spread your legs wanting his touch higher and closer to your core. “That’s it baby. I know you want me.” Tyler breathes into your ear. For a moment, his hand moves up to cup your face and then he’s kissing you, his tongue quickly probing at your mouth for access. Needing to tease just a bit, you refuse access until Tyler’s hand returns to your body, slipping under your dress and finding your clit.

Your moan gives him what he wants and you can feel him smirking as you kiss passionately, his hand just resting against your inner thigh. When you finally need to breathe and pull back, Tyler’s eyes are dark and he pinches at the skin of your inner thigh. “So you’re gonna be a brat. Paul didn’t tell me that.” He mumbles, his mouth dropping to your neck to bite a mark deep into your skin. The pain of it sends a jolt through your body and you whine softly.

Before things can progress any farther, the car stops and you feel your seat belt slacken as Tyler’s fingers unlatch it before tugging you out of the car, causing you to stumble on your heels. Paul is behind you before you can regain your balance and his lips are pressed to the back of your neck. With Tyler’s hand in yours, he tugs you through the parking garage and into an elevator and it’s only once you’re inside that you feel a strong smack across your rear and you glance up to see that Paul’s eyes are dark as well.

“I thought I told you to be good for him.” He growls softly and you chew softly on your bottom lip, eyes downcast. You know he’s not actually angry and that his actions are just part of all of this so you play along.

“I’m sorry daddy...just wanted to ease into things.” You whisper. Before either man can respond further, the elevator has come to a stop and you see Paul toss Tyler his keys back so that he can lead you down the hall and into his Toronto apartment. Once the door opens both men kick off their shoes but Tyler glares at you when you move to slip off your own.

“Leave them.” He growls, taking his chance to smack at your ass firmly but gently. “Bedroom is the second door on the left. Take off your dress but leave everything else on and go kneel on the floor at the foot of the bed.” His voice is demanding and when you meet Paul’s gaze his eyes tell you to obey.

By the time they join you in the bedroom you’ve been kneeling on the floor for at least five minutes, nipples pebbled through the lingerie from the chill of Tyler’s air conditioning. You can feel their eyes raking over your body but Paul clears his throat when you attempt to look up at them so you cast your head down again awaiting further instruction.

When a hand brushes over the top of your head gently twice you take that as a signal to look up. When you do Tyler is standing nude in front of you, his hard cock bobbing between his thighs. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see that Paul is also nude and is laying on the bed, hands behind his head.

“Need to know if this mouth is as good as Biz claims.” Tyler declares, his fingers tangling in your hair after taking out your bun, to pull your mouth closer to him. Wetting your lips you first lick at the tip of Tyler’s cock, tasting the precum leaking from it before slowly sinking your mouth forward to take as much of him as you can without triggering your gag reflex. Working your mouth over him the same way Paul has taught you he likes, you try and gauge what works for Tyler and what doesn’t. When he groans as you hum around him you grin slightly, feeling his cock twitch. Seconds later he pulls you off of him and to your feet, clearly signaling that he’s not ready to cum yet.

“Paul you’re a fucking lucky bastard if she wears shit like this for you frequently.” Tyler declares, his hands running over the fabric of your lingerie.

“Don’t I know it.” Paul declares and when you look over at him, he’s stroking his cock causing another wave of moisture to flood your core.

“It’s too pretty to get cum all over so I say it’s time we get you out of it.” Tyler declares and with Paul’s nod of approval, Tyler’s hands tug the fabric off of you and finally takes your heels off along with it. “Much better.” Tyler declares as he kisses you, one hand tangling in your hair. After a moment, a warm sticky substance coats the skin of your stomach and you quickly realize that Tyler’s other hand had been jerking himself off so that he could cover you in his cum. As he cums down from his orgasm, Tyler pulls away from you panting. “Go blow your boyfriend while I eat you out.”

Nodding you take the few steps over to the bed, climbing onto it to kiss Paul’s stomach before wrapping your mouth around his hard cock. Blowing Tyler hadn’t been bad but there was something about making Paul fall apart that was just so much better. As you work Paul’s cock in the way you know he likes you can’t help but moan feeling Tyler’s mouth blowing at your pussy before sucking your clit between his lips. Receiving oral sex is one of your favorite sexual acts and it gets even better when Paul’s fingers reach down to caress your breasts, pinching and rubbing your nipples until their hard and aching and sending jolts to meet the actions of Tyler’s mouth.

You can tell that Paul is getting close, even though your mind has started to go fuzzy with the approach of your own orgasm. Still, you didn’t expect Paul’s hand to tug at your hair as his hips jolt up into your mouth pressing his cock deeper down your throat. You gag a bit before trying to relax your mouth around him, taking him as deep as you possibly can. The way he’s grunting and breathing heavily tells you he’s close and you nuzzle your nose against him. The moment Paul starts to spurt down your throat you feel two of Tyler’s fingers slip inside you as he bites gently at your clit and the feeling of all of it at once tears an orgasm from your body much sooner than you expected it.

Collapsed with your head on Paul’s thigh you try and catch your breath while Tyler’s fingers rub gently at your clit in a way that is almost too much but yet not enough. When he stops you whimper but then Paul is dragging your body further up the bed to kiss you gently, giving you the bit of care that he knows you need in the situation before going any further.

Breaking the kiss after a moment, you look down to where Tyler is standing at the foot of the bed, his cock already hard again.

“Do you want him to fuck you babe?” Paul questions softly because he would never force you into anything you didn’t want and oral sex is one thing but this is another.

“Yes…” You respond wanting to feel both men stretching you out to your max. Anal sex was something that you and Paul had been experimenting with and this seemed like the right time to take it to the next level.

“Condoms and lube?” Paul asked and when Tyler pointed to a bedside drawer, Paul grabbed both items, tossing the condom down to Tyler. “If you’re gonna fuck her you have to glove up.” He declared. Tyler complied quickly, sliding the condom over his dick before kneeling on the bed.

“How are we doing this?” He asked and as always you looked to Paul for guidance.

“She’ll ride you and I’ll fuck her from behind.” With that direction, Paul and Tyler switched spots for a moment, Paul stealing one more proper kiss before smacking at your ass. “Show him how good that pussy feels. Tight like a vice grip.”

With Tyler spread out on the bed, you moved to straddle him, his hands quickly moving to your hips to steady you.

“You ready?” He asked and when you nodded, he lined himself up with your hole before allowing you to slowly sink down on him. The way your body stretched around him made your toes curl and you paused for a moment needing to adjust. “Fuck…” Tyler grunted, his hips flexing beneath you, clearly desiring movement. Slowly you began to bounce on him, the friction building and curling inside you deliciously.

After a moment, Paul guided you to a stop again so that he could work first one but then two lubed fingers inside your ass. After that, you resumed your slow pace, fucking Tyler while Paul worked his fingers to spread you open, eventually adding a third finger, scissoring them all inside you.

“Paul please...I need you.” You moaned, wanting nothing more than to be surrounded by these men, filled and stretched so full. Gradually, you rocked your hips faster against Tyler, needing more of everything, but every so often a shudder would course through your body that would cause you to just grind your pelvis against his, curses spilling from his mouth.

“Seriously dude...just fuck her ass already. She’s killing me.” Tyler declared and after a moment you felt the heat of Paul’s body as he pressed against your back. With one more stretch of his fingers inside you, they slipped out and as Paul murmured for Tyler to help brace you, his fingers were slowly replaced by his cock.

For a moment you couldn’t breathe, the feeling of being stuffed full from both ends being too much. You knew that Tyler was aching for you to move but Paul held you still, letting you adjust to him and kissing your head while pressing his hand against your stomach. Both men were so large that you were certain they could feel each other pressed inside you and the knowledge of that pushed you even closer to orgasm. Paul must have felt your body relax enough to satisfy him because after a moment he started fucking down into you causing you to shift on Tyler’s cock. Thankfully the two men figured out how to best fuck you between them because things had just started and you were already boneless at the feeling.

All sense of time and space was lost to you as you let yourself be used by Paul and Tyler. You had no idea how long they had been fucking you for or how many times you’d already come when you felt Tyler tense under you before an obscene moan left his mouth and he was twitching inside of you. The way your body seemed to be fluttering around him signaled that you’d cum too but maybe you’d just been in a constant state of orgasm since they started fucking you.

Knowing Paul hadn’ cum yet you tried to weakly rock your body back against him but he had paused as Tyler came, just holding your body to him. Feeling his lips kiss down your back, you felt him slip out of you as well before flipping you over onto your back.

“You’ve been so good for us.” He whispered and Tyler quickly mumbled his affirmance of that statement. “But I think you should show Tyler just how good you are and let me cum inside you.”

For a split second your eyes went wide and then you were nodding frantically.

“Yes daddy, please cum inside me.” You’d tried to convince Paul to go bareback but he’d refused since you had stopped taking the pill, declaring that it wasn’t yet time to try for a baby. As Paul settled himself above you he chuckled, brushing a strand of hair from your face.

“I know baby. You’re so eager for daddy to knock you up. Want you to show Tyler just how good you take my seed, how much you want me to fill you up and make you mine. Because you are mine. Tonight was the only time I’m ever going to share you.” Tears were pooling in your eyes as Paul pressed inside you, your body molding to his like you were made to take his cock.

As Paul fucked himself inside you, Tyler’s fingers reached to play with your nipples once more.

“He’s right...you are such a good girl letting him fuck you until you’re nice and pregnant. He’s a lucky son of a bitch.” With Paul fucking so deep inside you, shifting your legs to wrap around him until he was buried to the hilt on each in stroke, and Tyler pinching and rubbing at your nipples, it wasn’t long until you were crying out as the most intense orgasm of your life rushed over you.

The walls of your pussy clenched down tight around Paul’s dick as he let go, milking him dry. With your body heaving, tears spilled from your eyes at the intensity of it all and you felt the bed shift as Paul leaned over to kiss you while still resting inside of you.

“Holy fuck Paul.” You eventually breathed, your hands reaching up to brush over his cheeks.

“Good huh?” He murmured.

“Fantastic. Though I’m not sure where that last part suddenly came from.” You whispered slightly concerned that he had only acted in the heat of the moment and would regret taking that risk. Seeing Tyler return with a wet washcloth, Paul finally slipped out of you, gently wiping you down.

“Like you didn’t know I planned to spend the rest of my life giving you whatever it is that you want.”

Paul had always done whatever it took to make you happy and tonight was no exception. Your first threesome had been fun and you definitely needed to thank Tyler but maybe Paul had been right. Now that it was out of your system you know that the only man you needed was the one you planned on spending the rest of your life with.

And you couldn’t wait to see what else there was to explore with him.

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