#silver but hes a robot now oh whoops

[lampp0start]

I'm here to show off my Boom au Silver mainly but I have a couple other things

I think actual Sonic is more Superman coded but I love toxic yaoi.

my squidow tadpole au continues

[septnautical]

High pitched laughter echoed down the hall and was accompanied by the loud clang of running feet on the steel tiles.

“Hurry Skye! Before they see!” A mischievous voice whispered in restrained glee. Another giggle followed as two small bodies rounded the corner then hid behind the coffee machine in the lounge area. The first voice shushed the other figure who stifled laughter and hid against their shoulder. Once it was quiet there was a beat of silence before another presence rushed in, gasping for breath. “K-Kids! C’mon this isn’t funny!” An older male with ebony hair that fell over his eye exclaimed anxiously, “Your mom doesn’t want you over here!” The hidden figures didn’t dare move or make a sound. The older boy sighed and pushed his hair out of his face, before fidgeting with his arm that seemed to glint in the light. “God, Stacy is gonna kill me…” He then hurries down the rest of the hall- trying to see if he can still catch sight of them. Once the coast is clear, two small heads pop out of their hiding space. The older one, a boy with brunette hair, grins from ear to ear then whoops victoriously.. “Yes! See I told you we could lose him!” He giggled as he pulled his little sister out of their hiding spot. She pushed her bright blonde hair out of her eyes then smiled excitedly at her brother. She clapped and then spun around in glee. The boy laughed then looked around the lounge with curiosity. “I dunno why mom and Sharper were so worried about us being over here! It looks the same as the other side… same boring lounges and machines-” Then, he pauses as another sound echoes down the hall in front of them. He cocks his head then turns to his sister. “Do you hear that?” She repeats his gesture and listens, then nods enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling. The boy grins then grabs her hand and leads her down the hall, “Let’s go see what it is! It sounds like singing!” They sneak down the hall carefully- trying not to give themselves away to their purser. But, to them it felt like an epic spy mission, and they loved every second of it. As they neared the mysterious sound, they realized they had ventured towards another large clearing- a hallway made completely out of glass so they could see the ocean outside. They marveled at the sight of the ocean going out as far as the eye could see. The creatures swimming in the distance and the plant life swaying in the currents. But, what truly caught their eye was the source of the sound. A man with a long blue tail speckled with bright blue spots was circling  the open ocean by the base, his long wing like fins trailing behind him gracefully. He was twirling and singing- his voice mesmerizing and melodic. And, singing alongside him were two rabbit rays, seemingly dancing around him. The kids come to the glass to watch, entranced by the performance. They had only seen the hybrids once- and they seemed so scary! But this one… he’s just singing and swimming. He looks like he could even be nice! After a while, the merman seems to sense something and turns around only to meet the eyes of the two curious little humans. His face flushes, embarrassed now that he knows he was being watched. The rabbit rays stop their dance and bump into the mer’s side, as if trying to get him to start up again. He shushes them and pets their heads before swimming up to the glass.

  He smiles awkwardly and tries to wave, “Uh- Hi there! I… didn’t know I had an audience…” “You sing really pretty!” The boy pipes up and the merman laughs, messing with his hair. “Oh! Thank you! I guess it’s… in my dna you know? These guys are the natural singers-” He pets the rabbit rays again who have come up to his side to observe the children as well. “Oh cool! I didn’t know rabbit rays could sing!” The boy exclaims, excitedly, “Or that you could pet them! Are they nice? What’s their names? And your name!” The rabbit ray mer blinks at the rapid fire questions then laughs, “Well- their cries sound kinda like singing so i just try to sing along! Rabbit rays tend to keep to themselves… but they’re very gentle. Other fish don’t bother them because their skin is poisonous-” He then blinks again and chuckles to himself. 

“Oh and- I’m Chase!” He then points to the rabbit ray on his side, who seems to favor one side as it swims, one of its fins seeming smaller. “And this is Bunny- and this is Grayson,” He points to the other rabbit ray who spins then lets out a cry like a sung greeting. Bunny seems to shy her way behind Chase’s back but peeks back out to look at the kids.

The girl laughs and jumps up at the rabbit rays, her eyes sparkling in amazement. The boy presses more up against the glass and then exclaims, “No way! My middle name is Grayson!” Chase cocks his head in confusion, “Middle… Name? Why do you have more than one name?” The boy makes a face as he thinks of this, “.... i don’t know why- but that’s what my mom calls me! Conner Grayson Brody- that’s me!” He then puts a hand on his sister’s head and messes with her hair. “And this is my little sister, Skye London Brody!” The girl grins through her messed up bangs and waves at Chase. Chase waves back and smiles, “Well then- Nice to meet you Conner Grayson Brody and Skye London Br-” “You don’t have to say our whole names!” Conner laughs, “Just Conner and Skye is good!” “Oh- okay! Nice to meet you- Conner and Skye.” The merman smiles then swims down to be more at their level, looking at them curiously. “...you two are quite small for whitesuits… are you still growing?” The two look at each other then giggle, “I guess so!” Conner replies, “We’re just kids- so it’s gonna be a while until we’re as big as the adults!” “I see…” Chase comments and then smiles at them fondly, “...You two remind me of my brothers when they were very small… when I first met them they were all so tiny… I was always the biggest- now they’re all as big as me!” He laughs, “Maybe one day you two will be big like us too!” Conner’s eyes grow big as he gasps and presses up against the glass, “Could we get cool tails like you too??” Chase balks at this then thinks, “I dunno- Maybe! I dunno if humans can grow tails like us… seems like it could be possible though!” The kids gasp and dance at this, excited. “We never get to swim! I wanna swim all day long and see all of the ocean!” Conner exclaims, zipping around the room with his arms outstretched. Skye jumps up and claps. Then, a female robotic sounding voice pipes up from where she is saying, “Me too! Me too!” Chase chuckles as he watches them, “Why can’t you go swimming now? Isn’t that what white suits are born to do?” The two kids stop and then look at each other. Conner messes with his suit under a big poofy sweater and looks down. “Mom says we can’t stay in the water long if we ever have to go- she says it's too dangerous. Even though- she goes out all the time…” He grumbles and kicks his foot- which seems to clang metalically against the steel tile below. 

“Why does she get to and you can’t?” Chase asks. “I know it’s cuz of my stupid leg-” Conner grunts- then lifts up his suit leg a bit more so Chase can see. He didn’t know why he didn’t notice it earlier. Conner’s lower leg is all silver and made of metal. There’s a small ball joint at the end of his calf that attaches to a foot shaped metal piece. “Mom says I can’t swim well with this… and i can’t swim with only one leg either.” He sighs then points to his sister. “And Skye is too little… and Mama says her brain doesn’t work very well so that’d make it hard to swim. Or call for help if we need it- since Skye has to use her PDA.” The merman tilts his head like a confused animal, “Use her PDA? To talk?” Skye jumps up then pulls her PDA out of her jacket. She quickly pokes around on the surface then looks up at Chase with a bright smile as her PDA speaks with a robotic female voice. “Hi- I am Skye!” She giggles then types out, “I like your blue. You sing good!” Chase seems amazed and he swims to be closer to Skye, smiling from ear to ear. “T-That’s- that’s amazing! Oh Skye, you need to meet my brother Jamie! He can’t talk well either- maybe you can teach him how to do that!” The kids look at each other in wonder then back at Chase with excitement. “Really? Your brother is like my sister??” Conner breathes. “Well- he had an accident when he was little- I dunno if his… brain doesn’t work like you said- which seems weird to me! Skye seems just fine- just like my brother!” Conner scratches his head, “Mmmm mama calls it something else too- she uses lots of fancy words cuz she’s a doctor. I think… it’s called.. A...au-tis-m? But yeah Skye seems just fine to me too! She just likes things a certain way and doesn’t like loud noises and needs help to speak!” Skye nods and then spins around as if to say, ‘See I’m all good!’ Chase smiles warmly and nods along, “Yeah.. I know all my brothers need help here and there… so it doesn’t seem bad to me~.” He looks at the horizon line then back to the kids, ‘It’s still light out, if you two wanted I could take you to go see Jameson!” “Really?” Conner gasps excitedly. “Yeah! I could also teach you some cool tricks to swim better- I taught Bunny to swim even with her wing.” The rabbit ray in question seems to recognize her name and she swims in front of the kids and lifts up her damaged wing to show her swimming just fine. The kids exchange a look then grin and nod, taking off their outer clothes to get to their wet suits underneath. “Mom shouldn’t mind if we have a grown up with us who can swim!” Conner exclaims, looking super giddy. Skye straps her pda to her hip then jumps up and down. Chase giggles at their excitement then swims to where a hatch to the outside is. “Here! We can be super quick-” “HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!” A shrill female voice suddenly rings from the hall. And before the kids can blink they’re being scooped up and/or dragged away from the door by a panting frazzled looking blonde woman. The black haired boy from earlier is hiding behind the doorway, watching with worried eyes. “W-what the hell were you two thinking?!” The lady screeches, adjusting her hold on them and looking at them sternly. “You cannot go out into the ocean alone!” “But Mama! We weren’t going alone! Mr. Chase was gonna take us!” Conner whined as he pointed outside towards the merman. The mother turned to the window and glared burning hot daggers at Chase. There’s a moment of confusion lingering in her gaze, like she might be trying to place him… like she’s seen him before. But, the anger comes back tenfold soon enough. “You-!” She spat, charging towards the window and pointing at the merman threateningly, “Just what were you trying to do?! Were you trying to drown my children?!”

“What? N-No I would never-!” Chase tried to argue. “Well then are you stupid? Are you blind?! My son has a metal leg! He can’t swim! And my daughter is only six! They were just in a ship crash!” The mother seethes, holding Skye’s head against her neck. The girl is shaking slightly and cupping her hands over her ears. “I- I…!” The rabbit ray mer tries to explain himself but the mother hears nothing of it. “You- you hybrids need to stay away from us! If i see you talking to my children again, I’ll be forced to do something drastic! Understood?” Chase backs away from the glass and shrinks in on himself. He nods timidly. The mother glares at him one last time before snorting and starting to walk away, one hand stroking and trying to comfort Skye, the other dragging a distressed Conner behind her. The boy turns to look at Chase with tearful eyes. It breaks Chase’s heart. He presses back up against the window and tries to smile at him, waving goodbye. Conner chokes on a sob but tries to smile and wave back. Skye peeks her head up and waves tiny little fingers at Chase. Then, the hall falls silent again. Chase sighs and lets himself sink into the sand below. Grayson and Bunny come up and nuzzle up against him, breathing bubbles into his hair and singing soft sad melodies. Chase looks up towards the base and tries not to cry. He has a good feeling though… those humans were nothing like the white suits he’s known before. And he has the feeling they’ll definitely meet again.

[rocksandrobots]

Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 34 - Wrestlers, Boxers, and Ninjas, Oh My (Part 1)

The large indoor arena was crowded. People stood or were seated elbow to elbow. Many held homemade signs, fair food, and gaudy memorabilia that signified their support of the athletes who were to participate in today's sporting event.

Varian scooted past the spectators apologetically as he made his way to his own seat carrying a bucket of popcorn, trying his best not to spill any. Honey Lemon waved to him and rescued the popcorn bucket from his arms as he slumped into the chair next to her, relieved to not have to try and force his way through the crowd again anytime soon.

"You made it back just in time!" She chirped as she took a bite of the salty snack. "The match is about to start!"

"Yeah, first up is the Murderous Marauder vs the Venomous Vanguard!" Fred chimed in reaching over and snagging a handful of popcorn for himself.

"Wait, I never heard of them. Are they new?" Honey Lemon asked.

"Uh...no... I couldn't get tickets to a mecha-wrestling event and this is just a regular wrestling event, but it's still cool." Fred blurted out.

Honey Lemon only pouted.

"Look, it's the same thing. Just instead of mecha suits they use their own bodies to beat each other up. Who needs super awesome robot suits anyways?"

Honey Lemon raised an eyebrow. "Mole blocked you from the Mecha league didn't he."

"Yes!!!" Fred half sobbed and half yelled.

Varian rolled his eyes and then tried to move the conversation back on topic. "So what you're saying is that this is a hand to hand combat tournament."

"Yeah exactly," Fred confirmed ", along with the occasional chair."

"The what?"

Varian didn't get an answer to his question though as just then the lights dimmed and the crowd went quiet. He looked down to the center of the arena. Spotlights flooded the middle of a boxing ring and music began to blare. More lights began to swoop across the stage at the far end, all various colors, shapes, and patterns that changed in time with the music. The crowd began to stomp and clap in time to the music and Varian looked to his friends who were joining in. Honey Lemon flashed him a grin and encouraged him to do so as well.

Varain did but he couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it while he did so. He had never seen a tournament nor brawl with this much fan fair before. Oh watching a good fight was a popular pastime in Corona to be sure, but most were held outdoors; with most of the crowds gathered around standing and jeering, unless you were of nobility.

Varian himself would usually just climb to the top of a nearby tree to look on, and the only music to be had was maybe a trumpeter to single the start of the event. But then again Corona never had loudspeakers nor a state of the art LED lights display to show off.

A man smartly dressed in a business suit stepped out from behind a curtain and onto the stage. The crowd started to cheer and clap as he walked down the ramp to the ring in the center. He waved to everyone and the music died down as he spoke into a microphone.

"Welcome everyone. Are you ready tonight?." He paused as the crowd cheered back in answer. " Good. Cause, let's get ready to rumble!!!"

Everyone screamed at once. Varian just about jumped out of his skin as Honey Lemon let out a high pitched whoop right next to his ear along with the rest of spectators. The music blared back up again and the crowd went wild.

"First up tonight we have the guardian of the keep, the venger of wrongs, the noble knight of the ring, it's the Venomous Vanguard!"

Out from behind the curtain stepped a tall slender man dressed in a silver tunic and tights. He wore a knight's helmet, long boots, and a red robe trimmed with white fur on which the image of a green cobra was printed on the back. He was flanked by two pretty girls wearing matching silver bathing suits and they carried banners that held the same emblem as his robe.

The crowd cheered once more as he entered the ring and the vanguard victoriously held the sword he was carrying aloft in the air. More women rushed out to relieve him of said sword and robe and the Venomous Vanguard removed his helmet to reveal a handsome young man with blonde curls, big brown eyes, and a crooked smile that he flashed at some of the ladies in the stands. More cheers and even some whistling could be heard from the audience.

The Vanguard then took the mic from the announcer and made some grand speech about justice, and vengeance, and boastful claims about how he'd win tonight's match because of his righteous agenda and blah, blah, blah…

Varian rolled his eyes at the display of vibrato. He leaned close to Honey Lemon and whispered, "Can you believe this guy?"

"Hmm-mm" She absently hummed but seemed to barely notice Varian's presence. She sat at the edge of her seat, eyes fixed on the stage, utterly enraptured by the proceedings. Then when the Vanguard concluded his speech and raised his sword in the air once more she loudly cheered with the rest of the crowd.

Varian slumped back disheartened and a little more than jealous of the looks his crush gave the phoney knight.

"It's not even a real sword." He muttered under his breath.

He was distracted from his despondence when the music flared up once more and someone else stepped out on stage.

"Uh-oh! Here comes the Murderous Marauder!" The announcer proclaimed. "And it looks like he's out for blood tonight!"

There were some more cheers but mostly boos as the challenger made his way to the ring. Varian however studied this newcomer with interest.

He was dressed entirely in black leather, save for his massive arms which were bare. His long black hair was wild and matched his long unkempt beard. He marched up to the vanguard ignoring the jeers thrown his way and then paused for effect as the room quietened.

He was shorter than the knight but buffer and looked capable of breaking the other man in two. However, once the noise had died down, he didn't attack but instead gave a scathing taunt.

"Are you compensating for something with that big sword Sir. Hams-a-lot?"

The crowd oohed and a few booed, but Varian just laughed. He liked this newcomer and decided then and there to cheer on the challenger who promised to put the pompous paladin in his place.

Honey Lemon however was less appreciative of the Marauder's gumption. As the fight began proper she joined in with the majority of the audience in jeering the challenger.

"Boooooh! Take him down Vanguard!"

"O-oh yeah! Well…Tie him in knots Marauder!" Varian shot back.

Honey Lemon paused and looked at him in surprise and he returned the stare blankly wondering momentarily if he had done something wrong. Yet his fears were abated when she tilted her head  and tried her best to unsuccessfully suppress a smile as she narrowed her eyes at him challengingly. He arched an eyebrow and his own lips slid into a smirk. Then suddenly a new competition was underway running adjacent to the one going on the ring as Varian and Honey Lemon tried to one up each other in taunts and good natured jabs as each cheered on their favored competitor.

Each flip, kick, punch, and headlock was met with jubilation and derision in equal measure as the teens watched on. Fred even joined in their game, switching sides whenever he felt like it, just happy to be there.

Varain had to admit though that he didn't fully grasp the rules of the sport. The fight was very different from any wrestling match he'd ever seen. There was far more acrobatics and punches involved then in like a grudge match in say a tavern where the combatants held on to each other tightly as they tried to push the other down and pin them to ground. Yet he didn't question this American style of combat until the Vanguard was pushed out of the ring.

Varian thought that would be the end of it but neither the referee nor the announcer called the match. Instead there was another flurry of insults and the Vanguard marched back over towards his stuff lying across a folding chair.

"Show him what that sword is really for, Vanguard!"

"Yeah! As decoration for his tombstone!"

But once again Varian was confused when the 'knight' didn't grab the plastic weapon but the chair itself. He then threw it at the Marauder while his back was turned.

The crowd cheered but Varian could barely form words as his anger overtook him. "That son- He-- Did you see that?! He cheated ! Where's the referee? Is he blind? I hope you now realize that jerk isn't a good guy.'

"Dude chill," Fred said, "it's just a prop. It's all part of the show."

"Show?"

"All of wrestling is fake." Honey Lemon gently explained. "No one really gets hurt. That's why it's fun."  Then as soon as she was done with this explanation she snapped her attention right back to the fight and leaned over the railing to shout "Dig his grave!" as the Vanguard pulled the Marauder around comedically by his long hair.

It took a moment or two to process this new information and to say Varian was more than a little embarrassed for being so easily taken in by the theatrics would be an understatement. Yet his shame was forgotten as quickly as it had arrived as he watched the pretty redhead bounce up and down, face flushed with excitement, crowing with joy as her favored opponent was deemed the winner. She flashed him the biggest and smuggest grin ever and he melted. What he wouldn't do to see that smile on her face always. 

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

Three more matches came and went. There was a tag team event with four lovely and scantily clad ladies, a 'spontaneous' fight backstage that spilled out into the actual ring between a team of two brothers who now wanted to go separate ways, and finally a premiere event debuting the newest wrestler to join the league.

"I want all of you to extend a big hand to El Agua!" The announcer proclaimed as a large muscular man wearing a blue and white luchador's mask walked down the ramp. He thanked the announcer and took the mic from him.

"Thank you Senor Stouffuer, and thank you WWF, for having me here tonight and giving me a second chance." His thick Spanish accent dripped with heavy remorse. "You know, I had a hard time there, a while back I got real low. I couldn't fight. I lost my sense of purpose. But now I'm back and I am ready to kick some las nalgas!"

At this triumphant proclamation the crowd cheered. Varian had to admit he was intrigued. He didn't know this guy's story but he sounded more sincere than many of the other performers. However neither Honey Lemon nor Fred seemed too impressed. In fact they looked like they were in shock.

Honey Lemon leaned over towards Varian and Fred. "Freddie... you don't think that's…" She didn't finish her sentence but instead pointed down at the ring where at, El Agua stood.

"No idea," Fred softly answered back, his eyes never leaving the wrestler as he also leaned his head towards Honey Lemon. "It certainly seems like it…"

Varain ducked his head down to where the two met to try and get in on the conversation. "Hey, why are we whispering?"

"Oh, nothing" Honey Lemon hastily dismissed, "the new guy just seemed familiar that's all."

"Yeah, he could have come over from the Mecha league or something." Fred agreed and that was the end of the discussion.

They finished watching the last match, El Agua defeated his opponent, The Sandman, and they all filed out of the arena with the rest of the crowd.

"You know, that was inspiring." Fred said as they walked out into the night air. "I know it's not real but I bet we could, like, maybe alter some of those wrestler moves into our crime fighting routine."

Fred air motioned some fake karate chops to demonstrate.

Honey Lemon stifled a giggle as she tried to be supportive. "Well, it does take a lot of athleticism and skill to pull off those moves so perhaps."

Varian snorted, "Yeah and they actually train for it."

Fred looked offended."Whatta mean!? We train all the time."

Varian rolled his eyes, "You run around and jump. You haven't the muscle to pull off those stunts where you lift and ground pound people."

Fred pouted and intensely examined his biceps. Meanwhile Varian caught Honey Lemon glaring disapprovingly at him so he hastily tried to save himself. "And I can say that cause I'm as scrawny as a twig."

Honey Lemon opened her mouth to retort but Fred stopped her.

"No, he's right HL, we could stand to work on our strength exercises."

"Well, I just meant you actually." Varian corrected but Fred didn't seem to hear him.

"Tomorrow morning we start a new training regime!" He declared, "We'll meet at the gym at five o'clock sharp!"

He marched off leaving Honey Lemon and Varian to exchange confused looks with each other.

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

"Why are we here again?" Gogo asked annoyed.

"And why are we here so early?" Hiro yawned.

The gang stood right outside of the gym as the sun began to rise, still groggy from sleep and wholly unamused by Fred's latest grand scheme.

"It has come to my attention that we are slacking in our anaerobic exercises."

"But I already weight lift.." Wasabi pointed out.

Fred ignored him. "In order to be the best crime fighters we can be, we need to explore all avenues of self improvement. Leave no stone unturned... "

"But I'm not a crime fighter." Varian interject. This too was ignored.

"...No river unforged, no ocean unnavigated.."

"Alright we get it Fred." Hiro exasperated.

"Look if you wanna "self improve" yourself go right ahead, but we're going back to bed." Gogo said.

Fred gave her the most pitiful of pleading  looks, but she remained stoned faced.

"A little exercise never hurt anybody." Honey Lemon timidly encouraged trying to smooth over any arguments before they could start. "I mean, after all, we're already here."

Gogo rolled her eyes but relented anyways. She dragged herself towards the front doors with the rest of the gang reluctantly following after her save for Fred who bounded ahead like an excitable puppy dog.

"It'll be great, you'll see." He enthused.

Inside of the gym were rows upon rows of various exercising equipment, a second balcony floor with even more exercising machines, a weight lifting corner full of iron weights of different sizes and shapes, numerous side rooms with large windows that housed other activities separate from the rest of the gym, such as basketball or a yoga class, and at the very front entrance stood a counter where two people were engaged in conversion.

Hiro at least seemed to know one of these people.

"Hey Carl!" He called out and the large man with a goatee and a red bandana wrapped around his head waved back.

In fact everyone seemed to know him but Varian.

"Hi Felony Carl!" Honey Lemon reiterated Hiro's earlier greeting as they came closer to the desk.

"Why hello, if it isn't my two lovely neighbors and their esteemed colleges. What do I owe for today's good fortune." The man calmly greeted them with a smile and a gentle, measured tone that belied his gruff exterior.

"We're here to get whipped into shape!" Fred cheered.

Gogo rolled her eyes at that but addressed Carl instead of venting her frustrations for a second time. "So how about you, did you get dragged here by Globby to "improve your crime fighting technique."

Carl chuckled "Oh no, Globs leaves me out of the superheroing gig. Says he doesn't want me getting hurt. Which is fine by me, I'm not one for the limelight. However you might say I'm here for self improvement. Since my beloved partner and I have decided to reform ourselves and enter domesticated life together, I've thought it time to enter into more respectable employment. You're looking at the newest personal trainer for this fine establishment." With this he pointed to the name tag pinned to his vest.

"That's great man, good for you." Wasabi congratulated.

"Yay, I'm so happy for you. I know you've been looking for work for awhile now." Honey Lemon added.

"Way to go, Carl." Gogo gave the man a fist bump.

"Thank you. Yup, no more shady side jobs from Yama for me. I'm here early to set up for my first boxing class. There's plenty of spots left on the sign up sheet." He held up a clipboard with a list of names.  

"Sorry, Carl but I don't know if that's on Fred's agenda." Hiro apologized.

"Hmm maybe not today," Fred agreed, "but I'll put boxing down on the list of self defense techniques we'll want to learn. Today however is all about building up muscle." He then struck a pose as he flexed his biceps.

Wasabi sighed, "Fine, I'll teach you some weight lifting basics. Follow me. Bye, Carl."

"Yeah see a later Felony Carl!" Fred shouted back as he followed Wasabi.

"Ok. You kids have fun." Carl said as the gang walked away, "I'm going to go finish setting up."

As they neared the weight lifting section Honey Lemon exclaimed, "Ooh a racket ball court just opened up. Lets play a game!" She grabbed Gogo by the wrist and pulled the other girl along, who made no effort to resist as she was too tired to care.

Varian paused as he watched the group split in two and wondered who he should go with. He had felt out of the loop all morning long. He wasn't a superhero like the rest of his friends, quite the opposite in fact, and so had been confused when Fred insisted he'd come along to the training session. In truth Varian wasn't thrilled by the idea of lifting heavy objects for hours on end with no end goal in sight. At least when his dad asked him to do that with the hay bails back on the farm there was an actual purpose to it.

The racket ball game sounded far more fun but he didn't know if he'd be allowed to join since Honey Lemon had asked Gogo specifically and he didn't even know how it was played nor how many people could play at once.

Not to mention, back when meeting with the gentleman named Carl, he had been utterly lost as to what everybody was talking about, and no one had bothered to explain nor even introduce him, which made Varian feel even more left out.

So he just stood there feeling every bit the fool as his friends continued to not even notice his absence as they launched straight into their activities.

Well maybe he could just find something on his own to do until time to leave. Yet as his eyes scanned the rows of unfamiliar equipment and exercising machines he couldn't even figure that part out.

Then he saw Carl through the window of one of the classrooms. The man was trying to set what looked like a tall sandbag onto a hook on the ceiling. It also looked heavy and Varian watched as he dropped the thing on the floor and had to pick up again, clearly straining with the weight of it.

"Need help?" Varian asked as he entered the room.

"Thanks.. but.. this is real.. heavy kid." He huffed as he went to place the bag on the hook again.

Varian ignored his dismissal and went to hold the lower half of the bag so that the other man could focus better on hooking the thing.

He looked surprised at Varian's instance but said nothing, only giving a grateful nod as he finished the task at hand. Once done he said, "You know you're stronger than you look, kid. Name's Felony Carl, but my friends just call me Carl."

They shook hands and Varian introduced himself.

"Varian hun, you came in with the rest of those college kids didn't ya?"

"Yeah, we all go to school together, and I've been staying with Hiro and his aunt during the meantime."  

"Ah, I see." Carl walked over to grab another boxing bag and Varian rushed over to help him lift that one as well. "I'm Gogo and Honey Lemon's next door neighbor. That's how we know each other. Well that and my boyfriend, Globby, sometimes works with them. You know, protecting the city and all that jazz."

"Oh I don't do any of that superhero stuff. That's probably why I've not met him yet." Varian explained.  

They hooked the second bag and Varian hurried over to pick up two more. He slung one over his shoulder and tucked another up under his arm.

"Where would you like these?" He asked, ever helpful.

Carl didn't respond at first. He just stood there and stared at the time-displaced teen in shock, and Varian was afraid for a second that he had done something wrong. However the man quickly recovered his quits and answered, "Uh, just...just place them over there, please."

"Okay." Varian obliged and dumped the two punching bags onto the floor in the opposite corner. He then quickly got to work hanging one of them before Carl could even join him.

"You...you lift weights or something?" He casually asked as they hung up the second bag.

"Oh no." Varian replied. "I don't see the appeal honestly."

"So what are ya into? Track? Football? Pilates?"

"I...I don't even know what half of those things are." Varian admitted. "There wasn't a whole lot of time for sports back in Corona, not after all the chores were done. Once you plowed a field all day you don't feel much like running around."

"Ah, so you're a farm boy. I understand. My grandmother used to have a small farm when I was kid; real peaceful up there."

They finished hanging the last of the punching bags.

"Well thank you for the help. Now all there is to do is wait to see if anybody shows up for the class." Carl said.

"You don't have anybody signed up yet?"

"Eh, one or two, if they decide to come. Its a new class. It takes time to get these things going."

"Ah" Varian acknowledged, followed by an awkward pause where he didn't know what to say or do next. He thought for a moment he might just excuse himself and just get out of the way of the man and leave him to his class but Carl interrupted this thought.

"Have ya, ever tried boxing before?"

"Well..no…. I mean I've been in a fight or two, or twelve, but I'm not very good at actually, you know, punching people." Varian half heartedly mimed of throwing a punch as he stumbled over this explanation.

"Trouble with bullies hun?" Carl knowingly replied.

"Uuuh… you might, could say that."

"Here show me your best punch. I'll tell ya how to improve it." Carl walked over to one of the punching bags and held it steady.

Varian hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should partake in an impromptu boxing lesson when he was sure the man had more important things to do, like teaching actual paying customers perhaps, but Carl was insistent.

"Ok head hit the bag as hard as you can."

So Varían did. It was just as unimpressive as he feared.

"Awe, I know you got more strength in ya than that. Go ahead really slug it. Like if you was cornered by one of those bullies."

Varian tried to recall the one time he threw an unsuspecting punch at a guard who was chasing him. He had been trying to hide in the crowd but was soon spotted. He felt the man grab him by the shirt collar and yank him back as he tried to get away. So Varian had, on instinct, blindly bopped the man right on the nose.

It hadn't really hurt the other guy, Varian was sure it surprised him more than anything, since at the time he wasn't deemed the most wanted criminal in the land yet, but nevertheless it had held off his attackers long enough to get away.

It had been terrifying, and Varian threw the memory of that feeling into his second throw. This time he had managed to push Carl, who held tightly to the other side of the punching bag, a step backwards.

"Hey, now that's more like it. Now for your technique. Your stance is pretty good, just don't plant your feet so firmly to the ground. You gotta be able to move. So on your toes. Yeah like that, and hold your fist more like this."

Varian did as he was told and threw some more practice hits. Every once in a while Carl would throw out a new instruction or bit of advice that Varian would follow up on. Soon he found a rhythm and the action came more naturally to him as he began to loosen up.

"Now ya gettin' it kid. Try side stepping to the right."

Varian did so and threw another punch.

"Good, now the left. Ok, right. Left. Right. Left. Repeat. Don't focus too much on where you're putting your foot. Keep your eyes up. In a real fight you gotta be aware of your opponent at all times."

Varian didn't answer back. He was too busy trying to both process all of this new information while also trying to implement it and keep up the steady pace he had going. But he felt himself slowing down anyways as he began to tire.

"You're doing great," Carl encouraged, "but don't forget to make your punches count. Your hits are weakening some; don't be afraid to put some muscle into it. Don't worry you won't hurt me. I'm standing behind this heavy bag, remember?"

Finally Varian paused in his exercise and half collapsed against the punching bag. He wasn't sure what Carl meant by "put some muscle into it". He was already hitting the thing as hard as he could.

"Tired?" Carl asked.

All Varian could do was nod his head as he was out of breath.

"Alright take a break and get you a drink. I brought bottled water for the class."

Varian tried to catch his breath and relax the tension in his shoulders as he procured one of the waters. However it appeared Carl wasn't done with the lesson cause no sooner had Varian took a sip the other man was already launching into another lesson on certain techniques and the basic history of his chosen sport.  

Varian did his best to listen as he nursed his bottle of water. However, he was vaguely starting to question to himself what he was even doing here. He was not a fighter. Sure he'd been in a few scrapes before.. Ok more like several life or death conflicts…but he was always hopelessly outmatched physically and usually relied on his other strengths, his quick wits and inventions, to carry him through. So far they had been more than enough...so far... or maybe he'd just been lucky. It couldn't hurt to learn a little self defense.

After a while Carl ramped down his lecture and asked Varian if he was ready to try again. Varian nodded yes.

"Okay, now imagine this punching bag here is the biggest meanest bully you've ever faced. Now what do you do?"

"Run?"

"Well usually yes, but what if you can't safely get away?"

"Fight or distract until you can get away."

"Correct, and the first thing you do when preparing to fight is to defend yourself. So here are some blocking stances in case the guy comes at you."

Carl walked him through some basic poses; arms up, on your toes, keep your face shielded etc. Confident that Varian was getting the hang of these, he motioned Varian to come closer to the punching bag.

"Now remember, the biggest meanest ugliest bully you can think of."

Varian looked up at the hanging sandbag and immediately his mind's eye flashed back to his arrest, with King Frederic looming over him as the guards men slapped cuffs onto his wrists. The imposing figure towered over him, all noble and proud, full of smug self righteousness and nothing but contempt for Varian's continued existence.

"The boy needs help. Take him away and see that he is fed and kept somewhere safe." The monarch lied.  

"Food" was nothing but stale bread and water, sometimes gruel if you were lucky, for months on end. "Safe" was a dark dank dungeon cell where you were ignored no matter how freezing cold the nights got. And "help"? Well "help" was merely not killing you but letting you know at every opportunity that they could take your life away if you didn't express enough gratitude for their so-called "mercy."

Oh what Varian wouldn't give to punch the dictator right in the mouth and put a crack in the man's charitable façade.

And so he did. At least in his imagination. The punching bag swung wide with the force of Varian's connecting hit and Carl quickly stepped back in surprise. Not that Varian noticed.

He was no longer in the gym or even San Fansokyo but back in his lab next to his fathers corpse facing down the royals he thought responsible for all his misery and woe. It was like a floodgate had been open and all his pent up rage, all his sadness and hopelessness from the past two years, came pouring out of him in gushing torrents and into his fists as he feverishly pounded away at the boxing bag.

It was only when the punching bag flew off its hook from shear force that Varian snapped back to reality.

He stood there shocked at the broken equipment for a moment until he became keenly aware of Carl's eyes studying him closely. Embarrassed, Varian turned to leave, probably to run home or back to the school, but Carl stopped him.

"Hey…hey …it's ok." The man soothed. "It's just an accident. All we gotta do is hang it up again."

Varian didn't answer as his eyes darted about looking desperately for something to focus on other than the instructor's pitying face.

"Wanna talk about what happened there?"

"No."

"Alright, you wanna tell me about this bully that's been bothering you? Do you need help?"

"No."

"Do you wanna learn some more self defense, or maybe even just come by and vent your frustrations on this here sack of cloth filled with sand? No judging; no prying questions; I'm just here to do my job."

Again Varian didn't answer but he did finally manage to relax enough to look the other man in the eye.

"How old are, kid?"

"Sixteen."

Carl nodded knowingly as if this explained everything. He then turned around and walked over to where he kept his supplies and pulled out a sheet of paper from his clipboard.

"This is a permission slip. You get your guardian or whoever is looking out for you to sign this and then you can come to my class regularly. I hold three boxing lessons throughout the week, you can come to as many or as little as you want, whatever works for you and you can stop whenever. Though I usually recommend coming to at least six courses if you really want to learn something."

Varian mulled over the paper Carl handed to him.

"Can... can I come again later this week?"

"Sure thing, so long as you get that form signed."

"Alright I'll get my aunt to sign it."

Just then a couple of people walked in. "Hey is this the boxing class?" One asked and Varian took this as an opportunity to excuse himself and reunite with his friends.

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

"Who's ready for my patented mumbo jumbo gumbo!?" Aunt Cass called out carrying three steaming hot bowls of soup to the table.

"I don't know what that is but it smells delicious." Varian complimented as she placed the stew before him.

She sat a second bowl in front of Hiro who let out a pitiful groan as he reached for his spoon.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"We went to the gym today." Hiro moaned after taking a bite of the gumbo.

"Oh so you got a workout today, hun?" Aunt Cass asked in her chipper manner.

Hiro closed his eyes and slowly leaned his head back in an exaggerated fashion. "Everything hurts and I want to die."

"It is normal to experience soreness when exercising muscles that you rarely use." Baymax piped in helpfully. "It is recommended to stretch before every exercise routine and participate in a cool down session afterwards. To alleviate aches and pains several remedies such as ice, heat, rest, anti-inflammatory medication, and massages can be beneficial. If pain persists past 72 hours seek a physician."

"Oh I'm sure it's not that bad." Aunt Cass encouraged.

"Yeah, he's just a ninny." Varian teased.

Hiro however was only confused by the old fashioned insult. "What's a 'ninny'? Also I didn't see you out there lifting weights. Where did you run off to?"

"I was helping Carl set up for his class." Varian explained. "Oh which reminds me, Aunt Cass, can you sign a permission slip for me? I wanna take boxing lessons."

"Hold up, wait. Who's Carl and you wanna what now?" Aunt Cass responded.

"Carl is Honey Lemon and Gogo's neighbor. He works at the gym." Hiro helpfully explained.

"He also teaches a boxing class there and I wanted to join." Varian added.

"I don't know if I want you fighting." Aunt Cass said reluctantly.

"Well, you're not really fighting anybody." Varian persuaded. "He just teaches basic fighting techniques. You know, for self defense. Plus it's exercise, it gets me out of the house, and Dr. Brown did say I needed a 'healthy way' to deal with my anger issues."

"By learning to hit people?" Aunt Cass was not convinced.

"I think they use punching bags." Hiro interjected.

His input was not appreciated as evidenced by Aunt Cass's pout. Varian however had one more trick up his sleeve. He silently pleaded with Aunt Cass with his big puppy dog eyes and she caved.

"Fine, I suppose knowing some self defense can be useful. But you're not going into a ring to duke it out with anybody, understood?"

Varian eagerly complied to this agreement, took another bite of the gumbo, and then made sure to flatter Aunt Cass cooking once more as a way of thank you.

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

Friday rolled around again and Varian arrived at the gym bright and early. Thus far he had attended all of Carl's morning classes, swinging by for the lesson before heading on to school. This would be his third class and Varian had to admit he was really getting into it.

Boxing turned out to be a great way to process his feelings and frustrations without having to talk about them. He could just get lost in the motion while allowing his mind to focus on the things he usually kept bottled up or buried under mounds of work. He could vent about everything from past trauma, to an annoying equation he was having trouble figuring out, to typical teenage anxieties about fitting in and the like all without having to say a word.

Though it wasn't as if he didn't ever talk. Carl turned out to be a very good listener whenever Varian did feel like opening up about something. He still remained guarded about his past, but it was nice to have a confidant when concerning more immediate matters. Things he couldn't necessarily talk to Aunt Cass or Granville about comfortably; things like dating, or shaving, or just what it was like being an awkward teenage guy going through life.

Carl always had an answer or an anecdote about his own experiences growing up that never failed to put Varian at ease. Even when he didn't have a straight answer for something he still gave sage advice that at least sounded wise and sensible; pointing to the heart of matters that other adults would skirt around.

Most importantly Carl never pried or pressed a matter. If Varian clammed up suddenly in the middle of a conversation or blurted out a long kept secret while rambling about something, like say his crush on Honey Lemon, Carl would only give his customary nod as if he understood and then just deftly change the subject.

In short Varian always felt like he was the one in control when boxing. In control of the conversation, in control of his mind and body, and in control of his life for once. After spending two years spiraling out of control it felt nice to be back in the driver's seat, even if it was only for an hour.

As Varian neared the classroom he could see Carl speaking with two gentlemen behind the glass. Well more like arguing. The two large men dressed in business suits and wearing sunglasses circled around Carl like vultures, clearly invading his personal space while looming over him. Varian couldn't make out what they were saying but it was clear from their body language that whatever it was meant to be taken as a threat.

Carl however wasn't rising to the bait. He stood his ground and didn't respond to their advances. There was a scowl on his face marking his displeasure but other than that he remained as cool and composed as ever.

Then one of the men grabbed him by his shirt collar. Carl calmly but firmly grabbed the man's wrist and forced him to let go. He retorted something back in an even measure and then the two men stepped away.

Soon they emerged from the classroom and made their way to the exit. One spared Varian a glance as he passed by and even though he couldn't see the man's eyes from behind the sunglasses Varian still felt his blood run cold. Whoever these men were they were dangerous. That much was clear.

"What was that about?" Varian asked after the men had left.

"Oh nothing." Carl lightly dismissed. "Just some old colleagues of mine. They came by asking me about a job but I turned them down. Told them I just started this one and wasn't looking for work."

It wasn't a lie per say, but Varian could tell it wasn't the full truth either. Which only caused more concern as Carl was usually so up front about everything. But the man respected Varian's own privacy and he could do no less for him in return. It wasn't his business who Carl conversed with or why. Still the event troubled Varian.

Carl must have sensed Varian's discomfort so he broke into a smile and changed the subject. "Why don't ya help me set up? Today we're going to practice blocking and how to fall safely when knocked down. I got a lot of yoga mats that I snagged from the back room that needs to be spread out on the floor."

And with that the matter was dropped.

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

"Hey, boss." The man in the suit stood right outside the gym as he spoke into his cell phone. "We found him."

He paused as he listened to the other person on the line.

"Yeah we know what to do." He said and then ended the call.

We have a discord now 

https://discord.gg/uwq9RBxN 

And a ko-fi 

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

[crowsent]

AUgust 2020: College AU

Prompt given by @augustwritingchallenge

Summary: Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the III gets peer-pressured into going to a party and meets someone.

Pairing: Minor Perc’ahlia

Characters: Scanlan, Percy, Vex’ahlia

Word Count: 3180

CW: N/A

Notes: the tumblr version is unformatted, no italics, no bold, nothing. for that reason, i highly recommend you to read the ao3 version instead so yall get that sweet sweet tone difference.

AO3 Link: HERE

=

Let it be known that Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the III was three more unnecessarily complicated essays away from trudging downstairs into the campus basement where a supposed “demon” dwells to bargain his soul away for but a day of having a clear head for once. The migraine seemed to be permanent. A persistent, obdurate nuisance that’s making his head spin and his eyes see two laptops with furiously typed half-finished assignments on the screen. Well, it was either the cause of the migraine, or it meant that Percy needed to get new glasses.

Or, according to his roommate, one Scanlan Shorthalt, all Percy needed was, “A day off.”

Rooming with Scanlan meant that Percy had experienced more than his fair share of having to skulk to the library, cafeteria, or, God forbid, being forced to wait outside their dorm room whenever Scanlan deigned to bring back a “friend.” More often than not, he had to spend more time turning down Scanlan’s many offers to “unwind” than on actually working on his assignments. Whether it be countless invitations to various parties Percy had no intention of attending, or simply skipping class and laying about with nary a care in the world, roll a couple blunts and allow the feeling to sweep him away. Let the thoughts drift. Stop existing for just a moment.

And though Percy had always turned Scanlan down without so much as a beat of hesitation, perhaps this once time was a rare moment of Scanlan being right for once. Perhaps Percy was working himself to death and maybe it was time for him to stop burning the midnight oil on an essay he was sure his professors merely gave a cursory glance at.

Scanlan swung an arm around the bedpost of his bed, sheets unmade with some of it pooling on the floor. He held a nonchalant pose even as he gave Percy a rather convincing look. “Come on. You’ve been working like a madman for hours! All work and no play makes Percy very grumpy and I, for one, don’t want to see bitchy Percy ever again.”

With another mournful look at his laptop screen, at the paragraphs dancing in his vision, Percy sighed and removed his glasses to rub the headache from his temples. “I have been rather tetchy, haven’t I?” Scanlan made various noises with meanings that might have ranged from “Yes,” to “Fucking duh,” but Percy chose to give him the benefit of doubt. With a sigh of defeat, Percy saved what little work he managed to finish and shut his laptop.

As soon as the screen made a soft ‘click,’ Scanlan let out a loud yell and pumped his fist up in the air in victory. “Finally! I was kind of thinking that you were some kind of robot.” It was the loudest thing Percy had ever had the misfortune of hearing, and he was quite sure that his migraine worsened even more at the sound of Scanlan’s voice. “Okay. I have the perfect idea for you to roll y0our shoulders a bit. Relieve all the tension penetrating your body.”

“Wording, Scanlan.”

Scanlan ignored him. “Just relax and allow yourself to experience everything that college has to offer. A couple of smokes, women, men, bad song choices and spiked drinks.”

“You’re inviting me to a party aren’t yo-”

“I’m inviting you to the best damn party you will ever be invited to,” Scanlan assured. There was fire in his eyes. Granted, Scanlan grew spirited whenever trying to cajole Percy into a party but there was sincerity behind his enthusiasm. “I know you rich kids get invited to all sorts of shit with three-piece suits and butlers with silver trays following after like lost puppies but Percy. Percival. Perc. There aren’t any fountains that shit gold or anything, but come on. If there’s ever a single party that you go to in your college career, let it be this one.”

“I really don’t think-”

“There probably won’t even be that much alcohol and drugs in it. It’ll be rated PG-mostly-13 as far as college parties go.” Scanlan had moved on from his bedside perch and had instead elected to encroach upon Percy’s space, giving his best attempt at puppy dog eyes. “There won’t even be horny assholes humping each other on the couch this time! Hopefully. Probably.”

“Scanlan.”

“Cassandra might be there, I don’t know, but Pike will definitely be there, and I’m the one planning all this for my friends and I’d really like for you to meet them so pretty please Percival Frankenstein Van Helsing Cleopatra de Rolo the Fourth will you please attend just one party to break from your perfect honour roll student life? It’s a birthday party if that helps so it won’t be as wild and crazy as the others. There will even be masks and shit because my other friends are dramatic little shits and I love them to bits and I really want you to meet them all and you don’t even have to suffer the mortal ordeal of being known so please? Please?”

“Oh for goodness’ sake, you win, Scanlan.” Another whoop and a cheer, somehow louder this time, if it was even possible, coupled with a hug that Percy only very slightly recoiled from. “I will attend, with a mask, but do not expect me to stay long.”

“Trust me my friend,” said Scanlan, pulling away with the brightest and widest grin Percy had ever seen from him, “after meeting them, you’ll want to stay.”

Percy doubted it. It had been years now since meeting the Briarwoods, but strangers still made him wary. He couldn’t bear to crush the hope in Scanlan’s eyes though, and resigned himself to an unpleasant night with people he had no intention of talking to ever again once the party was over. Well, once he left. It was going to be one of those attendances where Percy stayed just long enough to be polite. As soon as he could, he planned on booking it right back to his and Scanlan’s dorm room.

If he was already in the room, then maybe, Scanlan would have the decency to bring a potential ‘friend’ somewhere else. (The couches in the common space in the dorm were terribly uncomfortable.) Percy glanced at the clock in the room. Then to his closet, the racks and racks of somewhat formal clothing from a habit he never managed to kick. To the box he knew he kept hidden on the floor, further camouflaged by articles of clothing that don’t fit anymore. Perhaps it would be odd to bring a leather crow-like mask with goggles for eyes to a party, but then again, there was no way in heaven, hell, or any other planes that could possibly exist, that Percy would ever purchase a mask for an event he didn’t even want to attend.

Besides, store-bought masks might fall and slip. His mask won’t.

“I’m going to make some last minute prep for the party. Hang on.” Scanlan hurriedly scribbled an address down in his notebook, tore the scrap of paper off, and handed it to Percy. “Right here. A walk from campus. Starts at seven, don’t be late, see you!”

Before Percy could say anything, Scanlan was out the door, mission seemingly accomplished. He probably only returned to the dorm just so he can invite/cajole/bully Percy into attending his friend’s birthday party. Scanlan even neglected to mention the names of the friends he so wanted Percy to meet.

With a few more hours ‘til Percy has to pretend to socialise at this party, he got up out of his chair, dug out the box from the depths of his closet, and rooted out his mask. For a moment, he did nothing but stare at it.

Foreign and familiar at the same time. A distant echo of the past with a voice that only grew louder and louder the longer he held his mask. It had been years since he had last looked at it, let alone felt the tough material with his own fingers. The glass of the goggles had cracked in places, and the straps would surely no longer fit his head. But he had time, and upon closer inspection at the box itself, it seemed that Percy had subconsciously packed his leatherworking tools, along with more than enough stray pieces of metal, glass, and leather to fashion this mask into something more appropriate for a party.

The migraine still has not gone away, and with every second that passes, Percy gets closer to formulating that plan to sell his soul just to get the pulsing to stop, and he really should get some rest, but leatherworking isn’t work to him. It was relaxing. Freeing. Certainly more than any party would ever do for him. And with Scanlan gone, Percy had the chance to do some work in peace. He cleared his desk, gathered his tools and set to work.

.

“Percy?” The mask Scanlan chose covered only the lower half of his face. A smooth porcelain-like cover. With night cresting around the corner, and the cheap street lamps offering little to no illumination, (because public funding was… not particularly the best in this area) Percy couldn’t quite tell what Scanlan’s mask was made of. It fit him though. Even in the dim light, there were purple swirls that curled near the edges.

Scanlan nudged him. “Hello? Earth to Percy. Please be Percy. It would be so awkward if I was talking to not Percy.”

“Yes, Scanlan. Hello.” Percy adjusted his mask once more. It was strapped securely on his face, with buckles that would prevent any college party-goer that had one too many drinks from tugging the mask down his face.

Scanlan reached up to tap the shiny metal bits Percy managed to attach to the mask and make it look less plain. The nail of Scanlan’s finger made a soft sound as it met metal. “Huh.” Scanlan nodded and crossed his arms. “Look at you Mr. Overachiever. I thought you were just going to bring a plastic mask and be done with it.”

Percy reached up to push his glasses up his nose, only to hit the metal-plated beak of his mask. Right. The goggles were fixed, mostly, but his prescription had been altered slightly now. Scanlan looked a little blurry. “Did you honestly expect me to half-ass dramatics?” Still, with the mask on, no one could tell that Percy would be squinting for the entire night.

“Should have expected as much from the guy with fifty-thousand names.” Scanlan beckoned him over, towards a building flashing with lights and brimming with people. Pink and purple streamers hung down from the front doors, with some gold accents for flavour. “I’ll introduce you to my friends. Oh, and congratulate Vex and Vax happy birthday yeah?”

He had no idea who those were, but Percy assented. He had to shout the closer they got to the building. The music was tasteful, for a party, but it was unbearably loud. The migraine, which had subsided somewhat in the hours of silence Percy spent working on the mask, had begun to surface again. Still, he gave his word, and a de Rolo never breaks his word.

Scanlan, bless him, tried his best ot be heard over the music. Percy even tried to lean down to hear him better. All he caught was, “... nice mask… saw Cassandra…” and then, much clearer than anything else, “PIKE’S HERE!”

Now, Scanlan was a friend, possibly Percy’s only friend in the odd two years he’s been a student in Emon. None but Scanlan had the moxy and resolve to continuously track Percy down and whittle his walls little by little to form a fierce friendship with him. Percy would fight dragons for Scanlan if need be. But, he thinks with great respect mixed with even greater resignation and a little bit of frustration and regret; Scanlan packs up all logic and inhibitions and manners into a suitcase  whenever he saw Pike, and then defenestrated that suitcase as he bolted for her.

Indeed, with the occasional flash of bright light in the building, Percy saw Scanlan’s form rushing over to the side of a pretty woman with pale hair and a plain light blue mask. He could see the laughter in Scanlan’s shoulders from so far away as he and the woman, Pike, talked about things too far from Percy’s earshot.

Now he was simply alone, in a crowded room full of masked strangers with pulsing lights and too-loud music and Percy quickly took off into a corner, doing mental arithmetic with every step to count down the minutes he’d have to spend in this party he never really wanted to go to.

Mercifully, he found a punch table, several bowls lined up with various liquids. He can’t really drink anything in this mask, but he might as well look like he’s mingling with the crowd and whatnot. Percy grabbed a red plastic cup, chucked most of its contents into a potted plant, and leaned his back against a wall, looking out into the sea of people undulating their bodies with the rhythm of the music, and did his best to look like he wanted to be here.

Save the migraine and the lingering whispers in the back of his head about assignments due, the change of pace was refreshing. Annoying, but refreshing. And lacked the social obligations Percy feared he’d have to fulfill when he first came here. People saw him leaning against the wall and assumed that he was merely taking a break from the festivities or awaiting someone. It was peaceful, in a way.

That is, until a woman with an elegant blue mask marched to the punch table, grabbed two cups, downed both, and grabbed a third and joined Percy, leaning on the wall herself, body slightly angled to face him. Percy angled himself as well to face her, to be polite. The mask covered the upper half of her face, with feathers sticking out and up from one side. It matched her silvery blue dress quite well.

“Do you have a sibling?” she asked without preamble, staring into her cup.

Percy instinctively glanced about the room, trying to look for the matching shock of white hair of his sister, whom Scanlan stated might be here. “Yes, a sister,” he answered idly, if a bit sullenly as he found that she was not in attendance. “Though I’m afraid she didn’t join us this evening. A shame too, she would have made for better conversation.”

“Well, at least you don’t have to watch your sister abandon a conversation with you to trip over words with her crush,” said she. She downed her drink in one go. “Honestly, it’s not even the ‘being ignored mid-conversation’ bit that’s bothering me. It’s the pining! It’s the tripping over his own two feet! My brother is a rogue of a man who stole dad’s credit card so he can throw a couple parties and buy some new shit so I don’t have to spend a cent but have him stand in front of Keyleth and he suddenly forgets every language he’s ever known!”

Percy had no idea who this woman was talking about, but a childhood of etiquette lessons compelled him to nod. He wondered what it would feel like, to have Cassandra be so taken with someone in the romantic sense. Just thinking about it felt odd. “Well, I’ve never had the fortune -or misfortune, apparently- to know that feeling, but I can somewhat relate.” The woman gave him a look that clearly meant that she’d lap up any distraction at the moment. Percy would take a distraction just about this time, too. It would certainly make time pass quicker until he could say that he’s attended and make a beeline back to the dorms. “I was peer-pressured into attending this party by a friend, and then I had to watch that friend leave me to fend for myself so he could unsuccessfully flirt with a woman he likes. And then I’d have to listen to him pine all day when he stumbles back into our dorm room with the scent of so much alcohol on his shirt he could be safely classified as a fire hazard.”

The woman snorted and raised her empty cup in the air. “If I had anything in this cup right now, I’d toast to our shit luck.”

Percy raised his cup as well. “I also have nothing in my cup, as drinking with this mask on is terribly inconvenient, but I can toast to that.”

They tapped their cups together, the woman squinting at Percy, finally, finally getting a good look at him. “Did- did you make your mask?”

“I did.” Again, he tried to adjust his glasses, and again, he hit nothing but the beak of his mask. “Well, I made it quite a few years back, but it seems that attempting to get through Professor Groon’s dreadful history essay requirements had… sparked some of my lost creativity. Fixed a couple of things here and there, re-adjusted the straps-”

“Oh God!” she exclaimed. “I haven’t finished the essay yet.”

Neither had Percy. Seeing as he was in the middle of a party, he’d resigned himself to having to rush it in the morning. Again. “I have to admit, I’m more concerned about Professor Groon’s reaction to me not submitting the assignment than I am with taking the hit to my grades.”

She laughed again. Clearly, whatever that punch is had a kick to it that was only just now starting to take effect. “He is an intimidating man, isn’t he?”

Percy hummed in agreement. Professor Groon made a mountain seem small in comparison. “Dear God, yes. And he never seems to blink.”

“Never!” the woman laughed in agreement. “It is such a relief to hear someone else notice that too. I thought I was going mad, uh…?”

Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the III. “Please call me Percy.”

“Wonderful to meet you dear. My name is Vex’ahlia.” She smiled at him from under her mask, face just a little bit red from the punch. The pulsing  lights made the braid draped over her shoulder seem to shine. Her hand stretched delicately out towards him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Percy.”

Percy took her hand in his and returned her smile.

He had no idea what possessed him to do so. Perhaps it was her disarming smile that seemed to knock his legs out from under him, or perhaps it was the way her eyes seemed to glow as they locked onto his, maybe it was even the migraine, throwing all common sense onto the ground. But rather than shake her hand, as he would have done in any other circumstance, Percy bent down just a tad and kissed the back of her hand.

“The pleasure is all mine.”

Perhaps he can stand to linger here a few hours more.

[captainmeowvelwrites]

You Times Two (Ch.9)

Pairing: Marinette/Ladybug | Adrien/Chat Noir Words: 4345 Summary: Ladybug knew this was necessary. She was the Guardian. He had the Cat Miraculous. But when his suit evaporated in a glow of pale green, she sure hadn’t expected him to have something far more precious: her heart. Cross-posted: AO3 and FFN

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ...

Recap: Previously, on You Times Two… Maribug was a bit of a depresso espresso, what with the impending Adrigami date and fifth wheeling her friends. That is, until our favourite dude cheered her up with pizza, turtle talk and some good ol’ Mario Kart. Of course, her kitty-cat’s banana puns might’ve helped a smidge. But will dustings of Adrigami continue to throw her off? And when Chilluka rocks up, will Jealadrien be far behind?

---

Chapter Nine

An hour after Adrien's slippery ascent to victory, they turned to Ultimate Mecha Strike III for some more hearty butt-whooping.

With one final zap of an energy beam, the words "KAGAMI WINS" flashed across the screen, and her crimson mecha-tank launched a clawed fist in the air.

"Aw maaan!" Nino dumped his controller on the coffee table. "How could I lose to a total noob?" He froze. "Uh – No offence! You did good, dudette – I mean Kagami!"

Alya clutched her stomach, her cheeks red from laughing. "Nice one, Kagami! You – You really got him good with that – ah – that triple kick hyperstorm combo!"

"Yeah, Kagami!" Adrien nudged her shoulder with his own. "Only your third game and already you're winning!"

Marinette gave a thumbs up. "You're a natural."

Kagami threaded a strand of hair behind her ear, the slightest of blushes grazing her cheeks. "Thank you, everyone. I couldn't have won without Marinette's expert teaching." She bowed her head, her mouth curving into a smile that simply looked like it belonged there.

That small fact made Marinette's own smile double in size.

"But, dudes, I'm sick of UMS."

Alya tapped down the brim of Nino's precious cap. "You're just sick of losing, babe."

Pouting, he straightened his hat. "That's not the point, Al." He bounced to his feet, eyes on Adrien. "Why don't we fire up Just Dance instead? Let's show 'em our swagger!"

Adrien's face practically glowed as he leapt from the sofa, Kagami's hands falling from his arm to her lap. "You're on, Nino!"

"Ha!" Nino flashed his signature finger guns. "On like Donkey Kong!"

With an overly dramatic scoff, Adrien placed a hand to his chest in a decidedly Chat Noir fashion. "Excuse me? Only I have the rights to that line… especially after my ape overthrew our princess." He sent Marinette an over the shoulder wink and naturally, a flush flamed across her face.

While Nino set up Just Dance, Adrien shrugged out of his blazer in one fluid movement and flicked it over the sofa with a ridiculous amount of flair. He rolled his neck, laced his fingers and stretched his arms out before him. Pair that with the fact his polished shoes, snug jeans, and long-sleeved dress shirt were all black and wow, he was but a tail away from his alter ego. The only thing missing was a poorly timed pun. The flush across her face deepened.

Adrien strutted up to the TV. Umber drapes framed the wide balcony doors to his left, swaying with the wind that weaved through the living room to fan his golden hair. With his eyes on the screen, he raised a thoughtful hand to his chin. His fingers were soaked in sunlight, its rays catching his ring at just the right angle to inspire a shine of silver. Buzzfeed had once dubbed this particular pose The Pondering Prince. It was easy to see why on a rainy day. And even easier when sunbeams spilled across his hair like a literal crown of sunshine.

Marinette wasn't staring.

Nope, not at all.

The choruses of classic pop songs cut through the air as Nino cycled through choreographies. She knew the moment a song stood out to Adrien, by the way The Pondering Prince transformed into The Keen Cutie.

An annoyingly catchy melody sprung through the speakers:

'Take me by the tongue and I'll know you. Uh! Kiss me 'til you're drunk and I'll show you—'

The boys exchanged an eager high five, while Marinette bit back a snort. Chat Noir choosing Moves Like Jagger?

"Only you would, Adrien. Silly ca—" Her mouth snapped shut, but his merry eyes were already on her. She went ramrod straight in her seat. "Ca – Can't be used to describe you row—I mean now – no, right now." She shook her head madly. "Or – uh – any time, really. Because you're so great. At moving. With your feet!"

Adrien stared at her. She could almost see the cogwheels turning in his eyes. Hopefully those cogwheels had nothing to do with her slip up and everything to do with interpreting her word vomit. Finally, he graced her with one of his classic, heart-warming smiles. "Thank you, Marinette!"

She threw two thumbs up. "Well done! I mean, welcome!"

To her right, she could just feel concerned eyes on her.

And to her left, Alya facepalmed.

Adrien's soft smile lingered on Marinette for a moment longer, before a "Ready, bro?" brought his attention back to the TV. She sucked in a breath.

That smile. That classic Adrien smile. It was a gentle, shy sort of smile. One that made you feel special. Chat Noir's smile, on the other hand, was silly, cheeky, at times flirty—and had prompted her to groan on several occasions. Totally different, right?

But they were the same person! As classmates, she could probably count the amount of coherent conversations she'd had with him on her hands. But as partners, they were closer than ever. She'd thought of him as one of her dearest friends long before learning his civilian identity. Now, an unpleasant question reared its awful head. Were his smiles wildly different? Or just her reactions to them?

Alya's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "Daaang!" she called, flaunting a smirk. "You boys are pulling out all the stops today. Where've you been hiding those dance moves, Adrien?"

Marinette looked up at the boy in question and saw her friend, Adrien, dancing with the unbridled joy of her partner, Chat Noir.

And Alya's words must've emboldened him, for he broke away from the choreography with a suave spin on the spot. "Come on, Al. You don't actually think I spent home-school doing schoolwork, do you?" As Maroon 5 whistled on, he executed each move with a flawless flourish. To think, this was the same guy who high-fived street signs with his face.

Alya snickered. "Not bad, Blondie. Not bad at all!"

With an achingly familiar bow, he enacted the tipping of a fake top hat. A silent thank you. One with the pizzazz befitting of her partner.

His theatrics brought out a giggle. She'd seen her silly kitty cut a rug, as he liked to call it, more times than she cared to count. On quiet patrols. In the heat of battle. A few months ago, an amateur video of his dancing had even trended online (he'd reminded her for over a week). His timing was never impeccable, but as they'd grown closer, stifling a smile at his zest for interpretive movement had become increasingly tricky.

"Yes!" Nino wheezed, flinging his arm in time with the dancing avatar on the screen. "I'm catching up!" He was so out of breath. "Keep distracting him!"

"Oh Adrien," her bestie proclaimed, as he moonwalked like a professional zombie from Thriller. "Our dazzling King of Swag!" He held a hand to his ear, spurring her on. "Your flow knows no bounds. I must bow before such unrivalled finesse." True to her word, she bowed in her seat.

And boy, did he lap up the praise! He performed a ridiculously smooth body roll, and concluded it with a click of his fingers. His smile was nearly blinding.

That was all the motivation Marinette needed to pop in her own compliment. "In the not so distant future, bards shall sing of our swagtabulous leader's epic freestyling, and their song shall aptly be named Moves Like Swagdrien!"

Just when she'd thought he couldn't shine any brighter, a laugh burst from his lips. It was one she seldom heard without his mask and the fact she'd brought it out only swelled her sprinting heartbeat.

His next move involved a little hip swaying and a lot of arm swinging. Marinette had only played Fortnite a handful of times, but she had a sneaking suspicion she'd once witnessed it there.

"Keep going, ladies!" Nino implored. "I'm finally winning!"

"Yaaas!" Alya called. "Swagdrien The Suave!"

"Woo!" Marinette launched her fists in the air. "Swagdrien The Debonair!"

"Adrien," Kagami cut in, her puzzled tone stark against the laughter of her friends. "You aren't following the choreography?"

"Rules," he panted, "are made to be broken." As if to emphasise his point, he pulled a double arm wave.

Her brows scrunched. "But you're losing?"

Adrien, now mid-robot, incorporated a shrug into his dance. "This way's more fun"—he threw her a smile—"don't you think?"

His dancing didn't die down in the slightest, nor did the laughter that ensued in its wake.

---

Marinette, like most people, enjoyed bobbing along to Despacito at the best of times.

But this wasn't the best of times.

No, it was the worst. The absolute worst.

More good-natured trash-talking had led to Nino challenging Adrien to a dance-off. But not just any dance-off. No, a double couple dance off (read: everyone but her).

Furthermore, the universe was really testing her limits today—because Despacito's choreography was jam-packed with touching between partners. Sure, Kagami was rather stiff. She'd never played Just Dance before, but Adrien's skills more than made up for that. His hands nestled on her hips, their smiles broad and their bodies close as they moved to the beat.

She tried to smile. She tried to be happy for them. This was what they both wanted. Inserting herself between them – like matter between two magnets – would only be selfish. Even so, she couldn't deny the way her gut writhed at the sight of the happy almost-couple. And she couldn't help but notice Kagami's growing blush.

A distraction.

She needed a distraction.

As if some higher being had honed in on her thoughts, three knocks echoed throughout the apartment. Knuckles on wood had never sounded so wonderful!

Marinette jumped from the sofa. "I'll get it!"

Finally, she'd no longer be the fifth wheel to a quad bike. No, with Luka here, she'd instead be a part of some strange, six-wheeled hybrid. Much more appealing. She raced to the front door and swung it open.

Teal eyes smiled down at her, and their owner gave a little wave, black nail polish shining in the light of the stairwell.

"Luka!" She sprung a hug upon him and without hesitation, he returned it. The exchange only lasted two seconds – three tops – but by gosh, the rich scent of sandalwood delighted her senses long after. "So, how was your shift?"

"Oh, it couldn't end fast enough."

Truer words had never been spoken.

Marinette took his free hand in hers and guided him to the living room. The two couples were still dancing up a storm, guitar chords and Spanish lyrics echoing through the room. "Hey, I see you brought your guitar." She beamed up at him. "You'll have to play us something later. I'd really love to hear my song again!"

From the corner of her eye, Adrien stumbled mid-step.

"I saw that, Blondie!" cackled Alya, her hand in Nino's as they grooved from side to side. "You burning out?"

"Never!" He broke away from the choreography and Kagami quirked a brow as he puffed his chest out into a body roll, even more fluid than his first.

Luka slipped a guitar case off of his shoulders and against the sofa. "Hey, everyone!" He was answered by an array of breathless greetings. "Oh, right." He chuckled. "They're just dancing."

Marinetted laughed—

Until she realised the wordplay wasn't intentional.

"Wow!" Luka chimed, settling on the sofa. "Nice moves, Adrien."

Green eyes remained on the screen. "Thanks."

Marinette swiped the pizza box from the table, four pieces saved within it. "As promised, Luka!" Handing over the box, she sat beside him. "If you're not a cold pizza kinda guy, I can always heat it up for you?"

With a slice of pizza in hand, his free arm reached behind her, resting across the back of the sofa. "It's okay, Marinette. I'm perfectly fine with cold pizza." His eyes were as gentle as his smile. "The thought's appreciated though. Thank you."

A flush crept up her face as he looked at her, but she didn't mind. Not at all.

---

'We are one tonight, and we're breathing in the same air—'

With an easy smile, Marinette tapped her toes in time to the lively tempo of Turn Up The Love. To no one's surprise, Alya and Nino were nailing every move thrown their way—and fast approaching new high scores.

"Wow," Luka spoke up beside her, and her eyes flitted toward him. "They're so in tune, don't you think?"

Marinette gave a merry nod, recalling a time she'd said similar words to a certain blond.

She leant against the coffee table, smiling at the sight of her dancing friends. "They're so in sync with each other."

"You're right," Adrien said, from the other end of a FaceTime call. "Someday I hope I'll find someone I can share everything with… like they do."

In the present, she pursed her lips. Had Adrien been thinking of Ladybug then? Her eyes drifted toward the boy in question, only to catch his eyes zipping away that very second.

"Too right, Luka!" Adrien leaped into their conversation—and winced when his voice shot up an octave. Clearing his throat, he directed a smile at the dancing duo. "When's the wedding, guys?"

Alya skipped around Nino, her arms swinging to the beat. "We don't know the date just yet."

"But don't worry," Nino puffed. "You'll definitely be my best dude!"

"They're only fourteen, Adrien." Kagami tilted her head, her dark hair shifting. "How young do you plan to get married?"

Beside her, Marinette felt him tense. "Oh – I – Ye-ah." His voice cracked. "Fourteen's way too young! The legal age is – uh – eighteen, right?"

"You plan to be married at eighteen?"

"Err – Well, I don't – I don't know?" He squeezed out a laugh. "I mean, maybe. For the right girl?"

"Does that mean you'd marry the wrong girl if you were older?"

"No, I just—"

"Your indecision is troubling, Adrien."

Those words seemed to resonate with him. He shrunk into the sofa like a silent apology.

Marinette's nails dug dents into her palms—but Kagami didn't deserve her ire. She wasn't exactly well-acquainted with social cues. Heck, she probably didn't even realise what she was doing.

Flexing her paling fingers, Marinette turned to Luka, a wordless plea to fix this. She didn't trust herself to.

And he didn't disappoint.

"Hey, Marinette?" Both fencers looked his way. "Has anyone else tried your macarons yet?"

Adrien clung to those words. "I saw the carton on the bench, but I didn't want to be the first one to crack into them!" With a sheepish chuckle, he dipped a hand behind his neck. "I figured we were saving them for later in the day?"

If he didn't get his passionfruit macaron today, Marinette would scream to high heaven. "No no, Adrien!" She waved her hands for emphasis. "Feel free to help yourself. No, actually—"

She launched to her feet.

He did the same.

"—I'll bring them over," they said in unison. Blinking at each other, they laughed at once. "Sorry," they said. "I – Uh. You go first! No, you—"

Marinette held up a hand. "I'll bring the napkins. You bring the macarons. Deal?"

"Deal!"

---

A minute later, Alya and Nino collapsed onto the sofa, their chests heaving after their dance. To his delight, Nino had come out on top, destroying his former high score along with Alya's. (Not at all suspiciously, Alya had matched him point-for-point until the last thirty seconds, when her dancing had deteriorated just enough to let him win.)

A cardboard carton, with a golden emblem adorning its lid, rattled in Marinette's palms. While Adrien shared napkins around, she plonked down beside Luka. "I hope all this dancing's worked up everyone's appetite!"

Alya accepted a napkin. "By the grin on Adrien's face, I'd say his answer is a resounding yes."

"Can't blame him, babe. Those moves were unreal."

"It must be the fencing."

"From what I saw, he was a one-man sonata."

"Or a unicorn."

"Girl, did you just call Adrien a unicorn?"

Marinette nodded, unabashed. She was trying to get over him, yes. That didn't mean he wasn't still one of a kind.

With all leftover napkins now on the coffee table, Adrien resumed his seat between Marinette and Kagami. "Full disclosure: I'd make a magnificent unicorn."

Laughter erupted.

And only as it died down did Marinette speak again. "In that case, I sure hope unicorns like macarons!" She flipped back the carton in her lap, revealing an assortment of brown and yellow treats. "We've got two flavours: Belgian chocolate and passionfruit. I would've made more, but I was a little short on time."

"I'll believe it," Alya teased.

She stuck out her tongue. "Just a heads up, everyone—"

From the corner of her eye, Kagami reached for Adrien's hand and threaded it with her own. His smile wavered. He went to pull back, but Kagami tightened her grip—without realising? Adrien's struggling stopped.

"Yike—"

Marinette glimpsed a stern look from Alya.

"I mean LIKE! Yeah. I was, like, extra clumsy this morning and – err – dropped the macarons on this side." She jabbed a finger toward the left of the carton. "So – Um. Sorry about that."

Hands reached from all sides, lightening the carton in her hands, and delighted hums soon floated through the living room.

"Girl, you've really outdone yourself this time!"

"Ditto, babe!"

"I agree." Kagami admired the yellow, half-eaten macaron between her fingers. Her other hand still gripped Adrien's. "This is really delicious."

Adrien's face inched near as he marvelled at the macarons. "You made these, Marinette?" She thought she felt herself nod. "They look delicious!" He took one from the tainted side. Passionfruit, of course. His first bite— "Wow." He gazed at the treat like it was the answer to world peace. "Marinette, this macaron. It's… It's perfect!"

She felt herself beam as he savoured a second bite. This beautiful moment was most definitely worth the many Sundays she'd spent baking a single macaron.

In or out of the suit. Chat Noir or Adrien. He was her friend. Maybe she'd never see those three kids or that hamster. Maybe she'd never have that dog or that beautiful house. At least, not with Adrien.

Because they were superheroes.

Because of apocalyptic cataclysms.

Because he said he loved Ladybug, but in the end, he chose Kagami.

But she could still make him happy.

Luka reached for a treat last. His side pressed into hers as he leaned closer and picked a chocolate macaron. Like this morning, he went for the street-sullied side. With his free arm splayed behind her, he settled back into the couch cushions and savoured the snack with his eyes shut. "This flavour's even better! You're so extraordinary, Marinette."

Cheeks aflame, Marinette brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Extraordinary.

Luka said she was extraordinary.

And it wasn't the first time. No, the first time he'd been under Hawk Moth's cruel influence. And she tried not to take a supervillain's words to heart.

But then he'd said it again, his hand warm on her arm and his eyes warmer still.

"You're the most extraordinary girl, Marinette. As clear as a musical note and as sincere as a melody. You're the music that's been playing inside my head since the first day we met."

Was it time to tune along to his song?

Marinette swallowed, searching for a reply to the wonderful words of her friends. Instead, she caught the green gaze of another boy watching her fondly.

A lump lodged in her throat.

From the day she'd met him, her heart had been his.

But he didn't want his classmate.

From the day she'd met Luka, she'd been the song inside his head.

He made sure she knew where they stood.

He supported her every decision.

He made things simple.

The logical choice was clear.

Yet her heart throbbed at the thought.

No matter what, someone was bound to get hurt. Her friend. Her partner. Herself.

For over a year, she'd saved Paris with quick-thinking and convoluted strategies. She was the girl with a plan, the one people came to when times were tough. Yet here she was, unable to think up a single way to save her and her loved ones from heartbreak.

Why was she so useless?

Why couldn't she just keep everyone happy?

How could she possibly choose between them?

"Earth to Marinette?" Alya interrupted her thoughts. "Guys! I think we broke her with compliments!"

"No! Sorry, I just—" Marinette placed a hand to her chest and drew in a breath. "Thank you, everyone." She meant that wholeheartedly, and turned to Alya with a smile. "Wanna get back to dancing?"

"You know it!"

---

'Starships were meant to fly! Hands up and touch the sky!'

Of course, Alya had picked an old favourite of theirs: Starships by Nicki Minaj. A bop that never failed to bump up her mood. She knew the choreography well, but was still surprised by her soaring score. Her every move displayed a grace she'd never thought possible without a little latex magic, and over and over, the word "PERFECT" flashed gold on the screen. It was like the game was a one-word dictionary, but she sure wasn't complaining.

"Oh my gosh, M!" Alya puffed. "You are killing it!"

"Call me Swagrinette!"

Adrien laughed from his place on the sofa. "I don't think Swagrinette has quite the same ring to it." She threw a smile over her shoulder—just as Kagami eased her head onto his.

Marinette misstepped, but caught herself before the floor could. "Oops!" She wheezed out a laugh. "Spoke too soon, Al." Her arms circled through the air in sync with the dancing avatar.

Alya snorted. "You're still owning it!"

"She's right," Kagami added. "Your dancing's impressive, Marinette."

She glanced back at Kagami, another smile at the ready. It died on her lips at the sight she beheld. Adrien's eyes were on his hand, laced with Kagami's, and the look he wore was a resigned one. Knitted brows. A slight weight to his lips. He was unhappy—

Pain sliced through her ankle.

In a tangle of limbs, she tumbled to the floor.

Voices cried out her name.

Steps pounded.

She didn't know when, but her hand had clung to her ankle, and her face twisted as it throbbed beneath her fingertips.

"Are you okay?!"

Her eyes flew up—and what they beheld was excruciatingly familiar.

Two hands were extended before her: black nail polish painted the one on her right and an unmistakable ring adorned the one on her left. Her right hand remained around her ankle. Her other lifted off the floor. It drifted left, right, then paused dead centre.

With a composing breath, Marinette chose neither. Instead, she reached for a nearby ottoman, small and round and pastel pink, and chose to help herself off the floor. "I'm fine, guys," she said, reaching her feet.

Everyone stared, eyes rife with worry, while Starships thumped on in the background. Such upbeat music now seemed woefully out of place.

Alya propped a hand on her hip. "You sure, Marinette?"

Nino stepped to Adrien's side. "Yeah, that was one heck of a fall."

"I agree." Kagami's eyes were on Marinette's ankle. "It looked pretty serious."

Marinette fixed up a smile. "Really, I'm A-OK. See?" She shifted her weight to her right—

Another zap of pain.

Two sets of hands sprang to her shoulders, steadying her.

Marinette waved both boys away. "No no. I've got this." She hobbled over to the sofa, stifling a wince, while steps tapped behind her. "It's not as bad as it looks"—she wasn't sure if that was a lie—"but just in case, I think I'd better be a spectator for the rest of the day."

Luka seated himself to her immediate right. "First, we should really take care of your ankle." He looked to a concerned Alya, who'd seated herself on the arm of the sofa. "Do you have any ice packs?"

Adrien claimed the free spot to Marinette's left. "Plus something to act as a barrier between the ice pack and her skin." An instruction, not a suggestion. "Painkillers too. And some anti-inflammatory cream."

"On it!" Nino rushed to the freezer.

"We gotcha!" Alya's red hair whipped behind her as she dashed to the bathroom.

Marinette clung to the cushion beneath her. This was a disaster. A complete and utter disaster. But she could at least avoid dragging her friends down with her. "No need to fuss, guys." She kept her tone light. "It's really not that bad. And I don't wanna ruin the afternoon by—"

A comforting weight on her hand gave her pause. "Never." Adrien's eyes creased as he smiled, giving her hand a light squeeze. "We're just looking out for you. You'd do the same for any of us."

Luka's hand found her shoulder. "You can tell us if you're not okay, Marinette."

"Yeah, I can call you a doctor," Adrien chipped in. "Or get my driver to take you. Just say the word, Marinette."

Kagami knelt on the floor ahead of her, a cushion in hand. "I believe elevating the injury above the heart reduces swelling. Here." She placed the cushion on the coffee table and with a substantial amount of care, eased Marinette's foot upon it.

A smile flooded her face. Her friends were truly the best.

---

With a metallic whir, daylight broke upon the silhouette of a lean man, and flocks of butterflies stirred, their pale wings catching the sun.

"Ahh… An aspiring artist with a penchant for Picasso. One whose dreams have been crushed by a hard-hearted critic." Each word floated from his tongue with a delighted lilt. "What perfect prey for my akuma."

He beckoned a nearby butterfly to his awaiting palm, carefully caging it between two gloved hands. Darkness materialized, clinging to the insect and soiling its snowy wings.

"Fly away, my pretty akuma, and evilize this wounded soul!"

[crewhonk]

Of The Line (6)

Summary: The team meet Vision, Giovanna and YN talk boys, Pietro introduces himself

Words: 3.8K

AN: PLEASE, PLEASE COMMENT AND LIKE AND REBLOG OUR WORK! We’re getting a little discouraged due to the recent lack of notes on this series!

Till The End Masterlist / Of The Line Masterlist

_____________________________________

The next morning, YN woke to the sound of Natasha in the shower and Giovanna rustling restlessly in the bed next to her. She was groaning at the prospect of getting up and just as YN threw back the sheets to rise, Giovanna grunted and threw her arm over YN’s waist, not letting her leave to get ready for the day.

“Dude, we gotta get up.” YN laughed and Giovanna huffed, not saying anything. “We have to get ready to go back home— we have shit to do.”

“You are really not great to wake up to, you know that?” Giovanna grumbled and fell onto her back, throwing her arms dramatically over her face to block out the light.

“Oh yeah? And who would you want to wake up next to? Carter Baizen?” YN teased and sat up, hunching her back before straightening it and letting her spine crack.

“Someone who looks similar,” Giovanna mumbled. They hadn’t spoken about their Visions as fo yet, but there was something that told YN that it was about this similar looking guy. YN walked over to her duffel and pulled out a long sleeve, throwing it on and running her hands through her hair.

“Lance Tucker?”

“Very funny.”

“Dayton White?”

“Oh, I forgot about him.”

“How could you? You walked about fucking him in his racer for at least a month.” YN grinned, wiping the leftover mascara off of her face in the vanity mirror.

“True, but no.”

“Gio?” YN said, pulling a sound from Giovanna. “Was your vision about Bucky?”

The stretch of silence answered her question and YN could feel her heartbreak for her friend. This case had pulled Giovanna away from everything, and she could see the stress of finding Steve’s best friend in her behaviours.

“Yeah.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” YN asked.

“No.”

“Do you wanna hear about what I did last night?”

“What did you do last night?”

“Steve almost kissed me.”

“WHAT.” __________________

“This is a big mission. We need everyone exactly where they’re needed, and for you and Giovanna that is at the compound preparing for the package.” Steve reprimanded the impatient YN who had actually stomped her foot when he said she and Giovanna were to return to the tower with Bruce.

“Come on, Steve. You and I both know you need all hands on deck.” She whined, and he had half a mind to smile at her adoringly. Instead, he furrowed his brows even more and crossed his arms.

“We need all the best hands. You two haven’t gotten the proper training for something like this, and we would all be able to focus on the task at hand if I know— we all know that you’re home safe.” YN caught the slip-up, and she turned her head to avoid showing him the natural flush of her cheeks. They had yet to talk about the night before, but something between the two people had changed. There was no change in behaviours, but even Bruce had picked up on how they seemed to be dancing around each other almost playfully.

“Don’t use your captain voice on me.” She surpassed a grin, trying her damn best to keep her pout going for as long as possible— anything to make him keep looking at her the way he was now.

“Guess what?”

“What.”

“I’m using my captain voice on you. Go home. Stay safe. Get ready for us to get there.” YN broke the act, laughing lightly and looking up at him through her lashes.

“What’s in it for me?” She asked, rocking back on her heels and then her toes. He looked at her fondly, eyes dropping to her lips and blushing when he met hers again— the satisfaction of her affect on him completely apparent.

“Satisfaction of a job well done?”

“Do better.”

“I’ll stop waking you up for morning runs?”

“Stop waking me /and/ Giovanna up for morning runs and you got a deal.”

“Less grumpy kids for me to deal with the better. Fine. Go home.”

“See you there.”

He really liked the idea of going home to her.

_____________________

Nat had gone missing— taken by Ultron in his haste to have something to hold over the teams' heads— a sense of immunity, as Tony had called it.

Giovanna and YN had called it bullshit as they stomped anxiously and angrily around the lab, slamming tools into place and glaring at anything that had chosen to breathe the wrong way. They had stayed close to each other, and YN tried not to show just how horrified of the situation she was. This— this had been a part of the Witches Vision. Everyone whether willingly or unwillingly was going to leave her and it was wholly out of her power.

Just as her heart rate and breaths began to pick up, Giovanna placed a hand on her back. The weight of it calming YN.

“She’s going to be okay. We would know if something happened.” Giovanna whispered, reaching around to grab a wrench from he desk YN was leaning on. “We’re going to be okay.”

YN turned, then and saw her dad and uncle talking low in the doorway. Clint on top of the package they had just received (containing a red and silver humanoid robot in it) trying his very best to jam his fingers in any crevice to open it. Saw her best friend there, too, smiling at her despite her eyes filled to the bring with anxiety. Even JARVIS had made a surprise return— protocols, personality, even the command Giovanna and YN created which made JARVIS play “Cheerleader” by OMNI whenever they had done something right and cheered for their project success.

Things were going to be okay.

____________________

Things were most certainly not going to be okay.

“Our dads are crazy. They’re actually psychotic.” YN whispered from the other side of the glass wall in the lab. She was pouring over her notes she had made when she was nineteen, trying to find a flaw in their plan— anything that would stop Tony and Bruce from making the same mistake.

“Where do you think we get it from?” Giovanna sighed, pulling on a new suit arm prototype— a stealth weapon, apparently, despite the many wires currently exposed. Giovanna pointed a finger at a dartboard they had set up and shot a small, single blast at it, hitting the bullseye. At Giovanna’s ‘whoop’, “Cheerleader”  began to play.

YN and Giovanna laughed and thanked JARVIS.

“Anytime, ladies.” He replied.

Their celebrations as caught short, however, when three shadows entered the lab in the low lighting. The middle man was Steve, YN knew that easily, but the two people following him made a cry erupt from YN’s mouth.

“YN what— are you okay? Oh, holy Christ on a cracker.”

The twins flanked Steve, both looking nervous, both looking cautious, both looking exponentially scared at the sight of Tony standing over the coffin-shaped package. YN and Giovanna rushed out of their half of the lab, shoving the doors open and meeting Steve’s hard glare head-on.

“Did you two have any hand in this?” He growled, pointing a finger at both of them. The Dads made sounds of protests and moved to stand in front of their daughters before they could respond.

“Hell no! You know we’ve never fucked with AI, Steve.” Giovanna protested. “We stepped away the second they even started mentioning it.”

Steve looked to YN and she nodded, confirming Giovanna’s story and leather notebook in hand. The boy twin had yet to take his eyes off of her, and she shifted her weight at the intensity of his stare. She had showered and simply put on leggings and a hoodie, hair swept into a tight bun at the base of her neck, and she didn’t like anyone but Giovanna, her father and Natasha see her like this, let alone the man of her dreams and a stranger particularly keen on gaining her attention.

“I would never, but—“ She stared, tearing her eyes away from the silver-haired man. She looked at her dad and held up her notebook. “I was trying to find an issue with this plan of yours, and the only one I could find was that his personality would be pre-developed. There’s no way of manipulating or controlling his behaviour after you do this— he won’t be taught like a puppy or a kid— he’ll already have his own beliefs and his own opinions separate from that of us or JARVIS. There are too many unknowns in his psychology that it’s too much of a risk.” She explained.

“So, physically he’ll be perfect, but mentally he’ll be a wild card.” Tony hummed, crossing his arms and looking down at the humanoid. “He’ll fit right in.”

“Dad, no. This is out of your control. How can you but a shield around the world when you keep introducing new elements we don’t know how to control.” Giovanna stepped forward and placed a fist on her hip.

“This is the shield.” He replied, mimicking her posture and standing closer. YN averted her gaze, having been in the middle of far too many Stark Battles to know to get involved.

“Shut it down.” Steve snarled once more and YN pressed her thighs together in an attempt to stop any form of her body betraying her. Damn, she loved it when he was angry.

“You don't know what you're doing.”

“And you do? She's not in your head?” Bruce said, pushing YN behind him protectively. No way was he going to let this witch hurt his girl again. YN made to make a sound of protest when he took another step.

“I know you're angry.” The girls' voice was high-pitched and heavily accented, and YN’s heart broke. Jesus, they were just kids— this wasn’t their fault.

“Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade.” YN had never seen her dad this angry and not even show a remote sign of the green tinge in his skin. He was perfectly sober and perfectly angry and YN was perfectly afraid. Her grip was strong on his arm and his head twitched in her direction, acknowledging that he knew she was there.

“Dad, she’s young. She’s a product of circumstance.” Bruce grunted and YN squeezed her eyes before pulling the card she never showed. “I’m a product of circumstance. I’m only this good because I had a great teacher. She didn’t.”

“Banner, after everything that's happened—“ Steve tried to reason and YN could have facepalmed right then and there— he had to do his hero resining right now. Just as she had managed to get her dad to loosen up just the slightest.

“That's nothing compared to what's coming!” Tony shouted.

"You don't know what's in there!” The girl screamed back, fear making her hands shake. God, this was shattering YN, and by the looks of it, Giovanna felt similarly to her.

“This isn’t a game!”

“The creature—“

And then, in a sudden flash of speed and silver, the whole of the lab was destroyed. The silver-haired twin looked anxious but satisfied as he glared at the Bruce and Tony.

“No, no. Go on. You were saying?” He asked, accent thicker than his sisters. His eyes shot to YN and he winked, making YN drop her eyes nervously and Steve bristle. Damn it, it was hard to be on this kids side.

Then, much to Steve’s satisfaction and the redhead's horror, the glass shattered under his feet, sending him plummeting eight feet to the floor below. Clint stood there, staring down at him as the girl ran tot he edge of the hole Clint had just shot through.

“Pietro!” She cried, and YN looked towards the boy who was groaning on his back. Yeah, he seemed like a Pietro. Tony whipped to the control panel, moving to reroute the upload just as Steve threw his shield at the wall beside him. Tony as quick, however, and he pressed the button on his wrist, making his watch transform into a blaster and shooting Steve nine feet away from him.

“Steve!” YN cried, running from her fathers' protection and kneeling beside Steve who had a burn over his right shoulder. YN moved to touch it but hesitated and instead grasped Steve’s arm with one hand and guiding his face to look at her with the other.

“Hi, by the way.” He muttered teeth clenched at the pain he was feeling through the burn.

“You’re an idiot,” YN said, shaking her head and helping him up. He stumbled a little into her at the force of her pull and she looked up to him, his eyes already on her face. She was flashed back then, to the night previous— his hands on her waist, his lips brushing hers, promises of never leaving.

YN took a step away, then, needing to stay focused on the situation unfolding in front of them.

It wasn’t a huge deal, anyway, as Thor had appeared suddenly, jumped up on the casket and pulled his hammer to slam on the window just above the Humanoid’s forehead. Lighting surged through the room, and Steve turned, shielding YN from the blast with his own, and she pressed her forehead into his neck, bracing herself and most definitely not noticing how Steve smelled like subtle cologne and summer warmth.

The lights stopped flickering, and it took a second for the backup generators to kick in, plunging the team into silence and tension as they waited for something to happen. And happen it did.

The casket burst open and the man flew out of it, ending on the floor in front of them.

He was taller than YN had expected as she peeked from her place in Steve’s neck. Broad and lined with something resembling muscle. He had fingers, but no toes, and a bright yellow stone glimmering in the centre of his forehead. He looked around at them all, eyes frightened like a scared deer in headlights. He jumped at Thor, but Thor was quick to act, throwing him further across the room where he slid to a stop in front of the window, looking at himself.

YN could almost hear Giovanna say ‘me too, honestly.’

The rest of the team ran after him, and but he time they got there, the humanoid had morphed an outfit of grey and a cape very similar to Thor’s own. YN ran up the stairs and stopped to watch carefully as the creature moved towards them, less frightened but still cautious.

Few things had been explained in rapid succession following this birth.

The Vision, as Thor had named him, had a gem in his head apparently called an Infinity Stone. The yellow stone was of six— mind (the one in Visions head), time, soul, power, reality (which apparently wasn’t really much of stone at all) and space. Each of these stones could level a galaxy alone, but combined, they could destroy the universe.

“So why does this guy have a stone? Why don’t we destroy it?” YN asked, gesturing to The Vision vaguely. Thor shook his head.

“They cannot be destroyed— it was them who allowed for the Universe to be created and if one of them were destroyed, it would subsequently end.” He explained, and YN could hear Giovanna mutter quietly to herself (‘cool, cool, cool, cool, no doubt’) nervously.

“Okay, why is the stone in this guys forehead and not in a vault somewhere?” She asked.

“Having me here with you all is 98% safer than even the safest, highest guarded structure in the galaxy.” YN shot him a look— he was just born, what the hell did he know.

“Also, why does your "vision" sound like JARVIS?” Steve asked and it hadn’t been until then that she realized he was very much right. Steve walked up beside her, arms crossed (again) and staring both Vision and Thor down.

“We reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new.” Tony piped up, and Steve huffed a sigh.

“I think I’ve almost had my fair share of new.” He muttered to YN who smiled up at him.

“Almost?” She asked quietly as the rest of the team continued to talk. Giovanna caught YN’s eye from over Steve’s shoulder and made a circle with two-fingered and slid one in and out of the hole. YN glared her quickly and missed the way Steve looked her up and down.

“Almost.”

“I looked in your head and saw annihilation,” Wanda growled and Vision looked to her, seemingly shocked for some reason at the sight of her standing up to him.

"Look again.” He murmured gently.

“Yeah. Her seal of approval means jack to me.” Clint glared.

“Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side—“ Thor cut himself off with a shrug and YN hated how smart and logical he could be in the scariest of situations. Admired it— but damn, it annoyed her. Any under pressure, both her and Giovanna threw plans out of the window and wung it (much tot he distress of almost everyone in the tower).

“Is it? Are you? On our side?”

“I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all.” Vision replied.

“What's he waiting for?”

Vision looked at Tony and there was a pause. “You.”

“Where?” Her father sounded weak, and tired and aged. YN would have moved to hug him, but she stood beside Steve, rooted in place— not only because she liked the way his arm brushed hers, or their fingers almost touched three times already, but because if she tried to walk, her knees would actually give out.

“Sokovia. He's got Nat there too.” Clint announced, and the team whipped their heads to him.

“Natasha’s alive?” Giovanna whimpered, and YN’s breath seemed to leave her whole body in one ‘whoosh’. Steve’s hand hovered over the small of her back, ready to catch her if she fell.

“If we're wrong about you if you're the monster that Ultron made you be—“ Bruce’s voice wavered.

“What will you do— oh,” Vision seemed to realize that the teams ere still fearful— still raring to defend each other against this new intruder. Even the twins seemed to be a little more guarded by Steve. “I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go.”

And in one sweeping motion, Vision swept to pick up Thor's hammer and walked out.

____________________

“I never did catch your name.” A voice piped up from behind YN, and she looked up from her guns and batons and harnesses to see the familiar sight of silver hair and cocksure smile. He walked over with a pair of new sneakers hanging from one hand, the other shoved into his pocket.

“YN. YN Banner.” She replied, smiling despite herself. “Sorry for punching you earlier this week.” She said, squinting at him.

He only shrugged. “I liked it.” And then he smiled and winked and YN felt her fingertips warm. He truly was a gorgeous man.

“You did?” She giggled and he leaned against the table, watching her pack her things in their places and strapping her uniform together.

“Not really, but someone as pretty as you paying any attention to a street cat like me? I’ll take it.” He murmured and she looked up, rosy cheeks and hot ears.

“Ain’t you just a smooth mother fucker.” She hummed, and zipped her jacket up to her neck and swept her hair into a tight ponytail. She shouldered her duffel back and he followed her out of the armoury, strutting beside her lightly.

“Only when I have a girl to impress.” He joked and she rolled her eyes, smiling.

“Oh, who would that be?” She played along as she entered the hangar walking to the quinjet that was fired up for them. He sped up, turning around and walking backwards so he could smile at her. She surveyed the room, seeing Giovanna and Tony talking about their suits and the new AI he had activated, Clint with Wanda seemingly talking sternly. She saw Thor and her dad talking and watching the agents load up the jet for them. Then, Steve, who saw the way that Pietro was looking at her and the way YN flirted back easily with a bright smile. Steve, who frowned and stormed into the jet. Steve, who much to the thrill of Giovanna, was amazingly, epically jealous.

“Here’s your comm,” Giovanna walked up to the pair of them, tight under-suit showing off her beautiful, tiny, strong body. She handed them the small tech pieces.

“I should go and see my sister,” Pietro said when he realized Giovanna was staring hard at YN. He had a sister, he knew that look. He turned, and YN tilted her head watching him go.

“You have a Steve, you know.” She said and YN rolled her eyes. “He’s super jealous.”

“He is not!” YN shot back, stuffing the comm in her ear and turning it on to make sure it was functioning.

“Is too. He’s pouting in the jet if you want to see it for yourself.” She replied, walking beside her and up the ramp. YN tried her best not to look up at the driver's seat— she didn’t want to give Giovanna the satisfaction.

“He won’t do anything about it though,” YN whispered, and Giovanna groaned in annoyance.

“Are you kidding me? He literally tried to kiss you last night.” She pulled on her Iron Suit censors over her ankles, waist, and wrists looking up at YN as she tied the laces on her boots.

“Yeah,” YN said, mimicking her and tightening up her own combat boots. “But he won’t try anything like that again. We were tired and emotional and it showed. It’s nice to have someone openly calling you pretty and making me feel more than a pining teenager.” YN whispered back, eyes darting over to Steve to make sure he wasn’t listening. He gave no indication of hearing anything if he was.

“I know, Bun.” Giovanna hummed and kissed her temple.

“I just want to get dicked.”

“I know, Bun.”

__________________________

Taglist (must reblog at least three chapters, send an ask to be added): buckybarneshairpullingkink / staringmoony / through-the-crevices / highladyofasgard / @i-am-always-famished / @filia-sapientiae / @somekryptonitewriting / @fashionlive15 / @godlymissbalor / @fanfictionjunkie1112 / @nerdy-bookworm-1998 / @songforhema / @army-crawl-andersen / @buckybarneshairpullingkink / @shynara51 / @deathofmissjackson / @a–1–1–3 / @liffydaze / @shymarvelfannanni / @freakpotterfan / @callie-bear15 / @sunflower-borhap-boys / @criedwolfwritings / @vxidnik / @captainomad / @lazinessisalliknow / jjlevin / @gwlaxygirl / liaswhorable

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 7

• More YEEHAW with a dash of bachelorette action, a sprinkle of rollin'-in-the-hay (literally) and one big dollop of "oh we're poor" to set up for next week's chapter.

• Screenshot credits:

Hana: @pixieferry

Drake: @thefirstcourtesan and BizzysChoices YouTube channel (@thefirstcourtesan also sent screenshots for Penelope's dancing scene from her Liam MC playthrough).

Maxwell: @thethots-plicken

• These are the tags you can block if you don’t want to see these posts: #long post, #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs.

• This is the only chapter that could potentially have no men in it, and you deliberately force the focus away from Hana? Now if that doesn't sound like the TRR writing team then I don't know what does.

• Why is Madeleine here? Go climb a pine tree in Fydelia or something.

• If you're going to give Drake a whole extended family, PB, at least get the family straight? Who is Leona, is she Bianca's sister? Jackson's sister? WHOSE SISTER IS SHE.

• Title: A Night Out In the Town

Alternative Title: The Mandatory Annual Courtly Maidens Meetup

Alternative to the Alternative Title: Hana Lee and the Audacity of this Bitch

(you know which one)

• This chapter works mostly for the nostalgia factor. There's plenty of it in these scenes.

• Bachelor parties and bachelorettes have pretty much been a long-standing tradition in TRR - there's always going to be that one chapter where someone gets a sendoff via a wild party (exactly how wild really depends on whoever is throwing it). The MC meets most of the original gang (except Hana) at Liam's bachelor party, and there have been at least 5 bachelor/bachelorette parties in the series so far (counting this one). I won't be surprised if they gave Penelope a dude in TRR Book 3 just for the express purpose of having another excuse to have another bachelorette party next book.

• The one really good thing about this chapter? It's that Hana will not stand for any nonsense from Madeleine:

She's not going to pretend Madeleine deserves to hold any space among her circle of friends, or even of acquaintances. She's not going to allow Madeleine to get away with not following the rules of an event she's planned, not when Madeleine failed to show the same courtesy to women in her court. If Madeleine insists on badgering the MC about her 'pregnancy', Hana is here to defend you. The message is loud and clear. This is Hana Lee's show, she is running it, and if you can't listen to what she says you can fall on a cactus.

• I only wish we were able to give her the kind of loyalty and protection from Madeleine, that Hana deserved. She did not deserve for us to allow the bullying done to her, to be brushed aside as a hazing ritual. Hell, even while knowing what Madeleine did to her, we didn't even get to check up on her.

Hana did not deserve for us to pretend that never happened to her, and she definitely did not deserve to have her own pain be treated over and over in the narrative like it didn't matter. Even now, her no-nonsense behaviour is rooted firmly in her concern for other people, like the MC and Savannah. Why can't the team ever allow Hana to do this for herself? Why can't the other characters ever step in to defend her the same way? Why am I allowed to (optionally) coddle Penelope twice in today's chapter in a way I never can for Hana?? Why should Hana always be the one protecting but hardly ever the one protected??

• So the ladies of the court have arrived, leaving a puzzled Bianca and a perpetually pissed-off Leona in their wake. Hana explains the situation: she invited Kiara, Olivia and Penelope along. Madeleine invited herself for the sole purpose of being nosy.

• ...in what universe is Madeleine a "public relations angel". Have you SEEN how badly you did your own job the last book??

• Olivia and Madeleine can't last two minutes without sniping at each other and this makes Savannah sad (not that they care, they're enjoying the back-and-forth banter) The MC elicits a promise from the two that Olivia will not stab Madeleine, and Madeleine will not "mentally and emotionally break Olivia". What's with Madeleine and constantly wanting to break people?

• Also you really think you can emotionally break Olivia??? She's from Lythikos, you pineapple!

• Hana mentions shopping to Bianca and Leona, and we have yet another hint that all is not well at the ranch.

• The ladies change at a store nearby, to outfits that suit the rustic theme for the event. Which means Savannah gets the opportunity to dress a little more glam on this day, and the ladies of the court get to dress down a bit. Well...except for Olivia, who prefers to change into her red Coronation gown. Here are the girls in order of preference:

Okay first off - I have to say this - FULL BODY SPRITES FOR THE LADIES FINALLY OMG!!! It's the first time I'm actually seeing them all like this: the last time we managed to see a change of outfits was when we had to choose their outfits for the wedding, and even then only the half-body sprites were used. The fact that we never get to see Olivia in a different outfit kind of makes me feel like they might be saving her sprite for a bigger diamond scene? Idk.

• Also how did no one either notice nor point out that Olivia was still wearing a gown?

• Hana stays in the outfit she wore the previous day, and you get to choose whether she keeps the hat or not. The denim short skirt and brown shrug is a lovely outfit on Kiara, and I like the necklace Penelope has on. I think my favourite is Savannah's? I love the rhinestones, the embellished belt, the flower design, and it's a beautiful silver colour that compliments Savannah's skin tone.

• Savannah may annoy the hell out of me but one thing you can't deny about her is she's HELLA fashionable (remember the Drake engagement scene where he says the lavender coloured dress was her choice? That dress was super pretty).

• The MC wearing gold for bachelorettes is kind of a theme with her now lol. Started with the gold theme for Madeleine's bachelorette, then a theme where she wore gold and everyone else was supposed to wear black for her own, and now every going country - but she and Savannah get to bring on the bling.

(Fun Fact: Both Madeleine's and Savannah's bachelorettes take place in Chapter 7 of their respective books, with very different outcomes)

• Our first stop after the country makeover is the bar! Which is Hana's choice, because she is the kind of lovely, wholesome human being who will fully commit to research for her friend's sister's bachelorette party.

Why are you lying Hana.

• So the MC helps Hana out first my selecting drinks. You have 5 options to choose from: beer, cocktails, champagne, one of those fire drinks, and sparkling water. Savannah is doubtful and then excited to try the fire drinks, loves fruity cocktails and enjoys the bubbly. Olivia is impressed when Savannah chugs her fire drink. Kiara is amazed at the sight of beer coming in bottles. Penelope is disappointed if we decide to order a very tame sparkling water. Madeleine raises her eyebrows if you try to take anything even remotely alcoholic because she has already decreed you pregnant.

• Next stop: dancing! You get to choose which lady you'd like to dance with, and if you're romancing Hana this opens up to a romantic scene!

Hana: is happy and enthusiastic if you're friends, whoops and giggles as you spin her. More slow dancing happening if you're married to her...definitely more romantic.

Kiara: is nervous at first because she doesn't know "the social mores of this establishment", but when the MC reassures her that no one cares, she lets go of her inhibitions and shakes her hips, enjoying herself.

Olivia: very competitive, is confident she can dance circles around the MC, starts doing martial arts instead. Savannah reminds her it's not a duel and Olivia's like "EVERYTHING'S A DUEL". I should take her to Kerala and have her learn kalaripayattu 😁 (also I'd be interested in seeing a three-way dance battle between Hana, Maxwell and Olivia plsthnx).

Savannah: Also enthusiastic and excited, v much the 'happy bride'. Both Savannah and the MC are comfortable in this setting.

Penelope: This comes with a reference to her social anxiety, because her initial nervousness has to do with the crowds. The MC makes space for her through dancing, and she winds up having fun while still feeling comfortable. Madeleine tries to make a smart-alec comment but pretty much no one gives a shit about her so it's okay.

Madeleine: does not exist.

• After this, Savannah shows the girls how to do a Texas Two-Step, which is baffling to them. Hana gets it down in like two minutes, and the MC depending on options can either do it perfectly, go off-beat then claim she created her own trend lol, or trip over herself and hurt her feet, following which Hana assumes she is doing the robot, and does it alongside her. Apparently she learned it during a summer class she took while her embroidery instructor was sick.

• I don't get it, what's with all these random embroidery references they keep throwing at Hana these days.

• Olivia and Kiki are still baffled by the two-step dance, so Savannah recommends more drinking! Madeleine and Olivia are competitive with each other and loving it, and Penelope and Kiara are confused about how they're supposed to drink tequila. The MC gets to show them how it's done. She can either do it right (pour the salt, drink the shot, suck the lime), or get it wrong (pour the shot, suck the salt, drink the lime). The highlight of this is definitely the last one (pour the salt, drink the salt, suck the salt!). Like, the MC actually tips the contents of an entire salt shaker into her mouth! Failplay MC is the very definition of chaotic energy.

• Kiki, like the awesome friend she is, asks Savannah if she'd like to flirt or do anything hot-guy-related, which Savannah laughs and refuses. The topic then comes around to her relationship with Bertrand and his insecurities regarding Chuck. She says she barely had a thing with him but she's afraid Bertrand might do something stupid (he might, actually). The MC can choose to reassure her.

• I don't get it like...okay? Why am I the one you're telling this to rather than your own fiancé? If he's the one having the insecurities, and you know they're there, what are you doing to alleviate that? I mean as far as I can see your aunt is pretty much dragging him the whole time for not magically acquiring ranch skills and I hardly see you even talking about that. I don't see you actually trying to talk to him. So why tell me all these things - go tell him and sort it out yourself.

• Because Savannah speaks about wanting a happy family in the wake of this conversation, the topic then returns to that of the MC's ongoing attempts to get pregnant.

• Madeleine is a nosy, entitled piece of shit. She just is. Raises her eyebrows at me when I'm drinking, makes terrible apple puns for a fetus that probably isn't even there yet, comes for a trip she's not even been fucking invited to so she can poke her entitled nose into my business. Even her show of 'sympathy' revolves around her and her problems. All this while she acts like a martyr for following a dress code (remember how she dragged Penelope for not getting a metallic dress on time and 'ruining' her dress code, but came to our bachelorette making excuses for not following our dress code?). I'm glad Hana was having none of it at least now.

The only differences between this scene in a Hana playthrough vs in the others is that Hana tries to get Madeleine to stop before the MC gets to give her answer ("Madeleine, please..."), and that she reacts sadly to the MC if she chooses to be openly sad about it.

• ...so the scene in the hotel in Chapter 5 (where the MC and Hana could talk about what Dr Ramirez said, if Hana was your LI) always had a "there, we spoke about it, now shut up" feel to me. Because now they've given the MC a voice regarding how she feels about this pregnancy (we can either deem it invasive, speak normally about it or be very, very sad and spill out how disappointed we are. The last option's dialogues is the one I put up).

It's surreal...to see an MC who can say this openly while Hana's condition and how it's affecting her is barely even addressed. It's even more surreal that even now we're still coddling Penelope to the high heavens, and how a lot of aggressive importance is still given to Olivia, while still ignoring what could be happening to Hana if she's married...or making even a chapter that has potentially no men in it about literally anyone but her.

• The nice thing is Savannah is quite supportive in all three options. Olivia diffuses the tension/seriousness by suggesting we have more drinks.

• Aha! Queen Amalas.

• So she claims she came down not to pressurize us into anything but to see the MC in an environment outside of the palace/estate and court, including how she behaves with other people. She has no friends but treats her servants well (and apparently tipped her waiter a thousand). But the little bits she adds in about our origins can be a little unnerving. While offering a Sarzac she mentions our home state New York and asks if we'd prefer a Manhattan, and suggests we would know about how important a good tip is since we worked as a waitress. The MC's reactions can range between friendly, curious or accusatory. Overall the general impression is that she's mysterious and alluring, but there's something about her that spells danger.

This is me rn:

• Anyway...so we leave with our drinks, and join the girls. Penelope is drunk and talking to a mechanical bull, Kiara is drunk and trying really hard to talk country to the same bull. Savannah deeply (I'm kidding) regrets not returning Kiara's kindness in teaching her French by teaching her American English, coz it would have saved her this moment of cringing in a bar rn.

• They raise a toast to either Savannah, or friendship, or "putting the past behind us". I don't want to raise a toast to any of these options.

• Savannah is emotional and speaks of how hard it was to fit in and how much she missed Cordonia and the people she knew in court when she was away bringing up Bartie, and how the MC "changed all that" (how??? Again, a lot of what she does is optional, not default! Plus a bulk of the work of finding her went to her own brother, and later a fumbling Bertrand - not the MC unless she really chose to help. My MC Esther gets these dialogues despite not bothering to help Savannah in any way) and how she is now friends with all of them.

• Diamond scene! The ladies of the court have never had sleepovers (for various reasons), so MC-who-had-a-way-more-normal-life to the rescue!

• We start off with a drink. Three are on offer and we get to choose one: Hana's special Hot Chocolate recipe ("like drinking a minty chocolaty hug"), Olivia's Lythikos Nog ("like drinking a buttery, spiced cloud") or the traditional Walker Hot Toddies from Savannah (basically hot water and whiskey made with lemon, honey and spices).

• Once that's out of the way, we start off with, as the MC calls it, "gossiping about our love lives". Penelope is asked first, and she gets to tell us about her ongoing relationship with Kiara's brother Ezekiel. Olivia is next, and depending on your choices she can openly speak about the fact that Liam didn't choose her, twice, and how she needs to move on. She can also choose not to talk about it if the MC tells the other ladies of the court to back off (which is funny, because the whole thing was her idea to begin with). There's not a lot of change to this dialogue in all the playthroughs, except for mentions of whether Liam was engaged to the MC or not.

• After this, the MC can choose to ask either Madeleine or Kiara the same question:

- Madeleine is defensive and reminds the MC that she "interfered" with her relationship status (wasn't even much of a relationship to begin with), but eventually makes it known that she doesn't believe in "sappy romance" and would rather marry to benefit her house or country instead (nice save there, PB).

- Kiara is surprised and fumbles with her answers, speaking at first about how busy her life currently is. But eventually she does tell you she has a type. The dialogue differs depending on whether the MC is married to Drake or not:

(Screenshots on the left are from my playthrough, and the ones on the right are from @thefirstcourtesan's Drake playthrough).

...I look at Madeleine's dialogue in this scene and need to remind myself that even broken clocks can be right twice a day.

• Repeat after me, Kiki: I deserve way better than a dude who might throw me under the bus just so he can kiss a Duchess' ass.

• Also most guys in Cordonia must have rippling abs, right. Considering that 90% of the male LIs in PB have six-pack abs.

• Interestingly, Olivia is allowed her feelings - and the confusion and mess that comes along with loving someone and not having that love returned - across playthroughs, but Kiara's has to be adjusted and shrouded in vagueness according to which MC she is speaking to. There are two factors at play there:

1. More often than not the narrative has taken Olivia's feelings more seriously than it has ever taken Kiara's. Of course part of it could be the childhood memories and the amount of time she spent with Liam, but we need to remember that the general attitude in the narrative towards Kiara's feelings constantly bordered on dismissiveness - and that wasn't even the worst of the treatment meted out to her.

2. Have you seen the amount of hate Kiara got from some Drake stans for as little as looking in the man's direction?? They'd tear her apart if she dared to even mention her crush in a Drake MC's playthrough!

• The ladies of the court now want to play literally anything else, so the MC pulls out the tried-and-tested Truth and Dare game out of her fancy cowboy hat. Here's the way it goes:

- The MC nominates Savannah, since she's the bride-to-be. Savannah goes for dare, and has to go by a nickname for the rest of the night (default: Bridechilla. I was really craving something so I went for Fried Chicken 🤣), or pose for a sexy photo which she can text to Bertrand. No response, but you can hear him faint upstairs. When asked to nominate someone, she nominates Penelope to ask a question.

- Penelope chooses Kiara, who picks 'truth'. She makes the MC choose for her instead. The MC does what the Choices universe calls a Wed, Bed or Dead which is really a way of saying FMK without having to write the F. You can give her an option between three women (Olivia, Penelope and Madeleine) or three men. Based on your playthrough, Kiara's list of men will vary (Liam, Maxwell and Bastien in a Drake playthrough, and Bradshaw, Bastien and Drake in other playthroughs). Her 'bed's are Olivia, Maxwell and Bastien, her 'wed's are Penelope (obviously), Liam (to be Queen) and Drake (also obviously), and her 'dead's are Madeleine (but obviously), Bastien and Bradshaw (coz CORDONIA RULEZ!). It's interesting to note that Kiara seems surprised/shocked by the idea when you ask her to choose between the girls, and Hana eases her into it by stating that they're all friends here. Which I found really sweet. Kiara then nominates Madeleine to choose someone.

(note: why is Savannah acting so shocked about Kiara choosing her brother for 'marry' when she spoke about liking him barely ten minutes ago???)

- Madeleine chooses Olivia, hoping to wriggle out any information about the mysterious mission Olivia seems to be on. Olivia cleverly tricks her, by reminding Madeleine that she didn't say truth or dare, and picking dare. With no option she asks Olivia to prank call someone. Olivia has three options:

1. Give Maxwell a phone call pretending to have tickets for a Celine Dion concert. He has to choose the best noble house. Sweet Maxwell cannot choose between his own house and ours, but loses out because the correct answer (obviously) is House Nevrakis lol. Savannah's best line comes from here: "Don't worry, his heart will go on" 🤣

2. Give Bertrand a call claiming to be a representative from the Cordonia Philharmonic Orchestra, and Olivia asks the same question to him. His answer is House Beaumont, without question, and Olivia gives him the same answer. The nice thing about this option is that it's coded such that if you chose Savannah's 'sexy photo' option, the narrative mentions that his voice is 'woozy' and he sounds like he recently came back to consciousness. Whereas if you chose the nickname option, these lines would not be included.

3. Give Drake a call claiming to be from a "secret whiskey enthusiast society". Drake somehow figures out that the caller is Olivia, thus leaving her very, very annoyed.

Once this is done, Madeleine nominates the MC, who chooses truth or dare instead of a person like the others did. Hana makes the suggestions this time.

If you choose dare to a single Hana, she asks you to pretend to lasso Savannah.

If you choose dare to a married Hana, she will ask you to kiss her.

If you choose truth, she asks you what law you'd pass if you had a chance, and you have to choose between a serious one like "restrictions on paparazzi", or jokey ones like naming a day after the MC or getting fancy hats from her subjects. The last one yields this adorable exchange:

- Before we can go any further, the girls notice Savannah feeling drowsy and decide to call it a night. The only people who have basically not been asked anything are Penelope (but she already did get to speak about her beau) and Hana (because no one bothers to ask her anything, she isn't even nominated).

• We return to the kitchen, where our LI is waiting for us. The MC tells them about the visit from Amalas, which the LI also views as suspicious, and the MC has a choice again in how she wants to react to this (the visit was invasive, she is impressed with Amalas' guts, she doesn't know what to make of her). They assure the MC that they'll alert the Walkers.

• LI Diamond scene! A cute scene at the hayloft where the MC and LI can have some private time away from the ranch. Those walls must be paper-thin. The first half deals with the couple talking about loving this glimpse of simplicity, and the second half has the MC choosing how she would have them seduce her. The closing bit mostly has the couple talking about how they feel at home with each other no matter where they are.

Liam: Gets a bit of a hero moment at the start of the scene, where a stray beam almost falls on the MC and he catches it. They joke about a couple of things, such as how 'adventurous' the barn is, and whether or not a rendezvous in a barn would qualify as being in the 'outdoors' 😂 In the second half of the scene, the MC can choose between a 'rough-and-tumble', or have Liam sleep with her in his usual tender way. He clearly has a preference for the second, but is more than game if the MC wants to try the first.

The music for Liam's scene, for some reason, is different (his background score for the first half is the romantic one from High School Story, and Drake's and Hana's is the romantic one from Big Sky Country. I'm not sure what Maxwell's is like because I have only seen screenshots of the scene) and he is the only LI who gets the option to keep his hat.

Ending Caption: Hay-pilly Ever After

Hana: The MC notices that Hana seems happy and at home at the ranch, and Hana points out how different the environment of the countryside ("cows outside, open air, no display cupboards") is so different from her home, where "there's gilt on the walls and silver in the display cupboards", and how she loves this space. The couple imagine together how it might have been if they met in a more humble setting (with the MC as a cowgirl and Hana as a salon owner), and how they would fall in love. In the second half, Hana expresses her desire to go a little wild, and the MC can choose between having her hands bound, or being blindfolded.

This scene tells us that Hana does an amazing impression of a Southern accent and I personally would love it if she could coach Kiara on doing one xD

Ending Caption: Country Courting

Maxwell: As he leads her to the loft, the MC has the option to point out that they have a bed, to which he quips that she's obviously not had as much camping experience as he does. They do a little dance in the barn, and they admit that they missed each other while she was gone. In the second half of the scene, the MC has the opportunity to tease Maxwell, beckoning him to chase her around the barn and catch her. I think he also tells her to "use your words" at one point.

I think this scene has the cutest ending, because they both have an impromptu yodelling duet after that.

Ending Caption: Oh, Darlin'

Drake: This scene is more nostalgic in nature because Drake is reliving his childhood, and admits that he didn't know how this trip back would turn out, or feel. He had no idea how different everything would be, nor what his emotions returning to the ranch would be like - and which Valtoria will always be home to him in some ways, the ranch's simple charm means something special to him. The couple can imagine this place to be either perfect for romance, or for bringing back their future children. In the second half of the scene, he confesses to fantasizing about the MC in the palace stables, and the couple indulge in a bit of role play. This also includes an option to take her against a wall.

The end of the scene has Drake tell the MC that being with her itself feels like a fantasy, one that sometimes still feels too good to be true....and therefore he never wants to take it for granted.

Ending Caption: Making Hay.

• We then see the couple going downstairs the next morning, where the MC manages to overhear a conversation between Leona and Bianca that indicates the ranch has no helpers before an auction that is supposed to bring in money for the wedding, and is in deep, deep trouble.

• So our next chapter will probably involve the people of the court working together to help save the ranch, perhaps some flashbacks? Idk. And perhaps because of their contributions, Leona may thaw a little. Who knows.

General Thoughts:

• Plenty of callbacks this chapter!!

- The bachelorette party itself has plenty parallels and could almost be seen as an inverse of Madeleine's bachelorette. Back then, the ladies of the court each began to express frustration and hurt at her controlling, bullying behaviour, Hana's confidence was left in tatters, Olivia was an outsider to the court not bound by their rules.

Here, Madeleine is a largely unwanted presence and pretty much everyone makes it clear that what she thinks no longer matters. Hana is at the peak of her confidence here. She makes it clear that if Madeleine wants to stay she has to follow their rules. Olivia still manifests as a mysterious outside figure, but more out of choice than out of necessity.

- The other indicator of this parallel is what Amalas tells the MC about wanting to know who she is dealing with. She mentions that she wants to see how the MC interacts with her "friends and servants", and it kind of gets me wondering just how much trouble Madeleine would have been in if a figure like Amalas managed to see her behaviour in Italy with courtiers like Penelope and Hana.

- The fire drink which the MC can optionally suggest for both Drake and Savannah to drink. Drake drinks it in a competitive spirit in his birthday party scene in Book 1, Savannah looks doubtful at first but sees it through, to which the MC will remark that "your brother would be proud".

- Savannah mentioning Bertrand giving someone at Cordonia Philharmonic Orchestra a "severe tongue lashing" 🤣 Which kinda was a term Bertrand used for himself in Book 2.

- Lady 'I didn't know I could dance until I actually did it' Kiara. In Book 2 Hana can compliment Kiara on her dancing skills, to which Kiara laughs and mentions that she had no idea she could dance either. She was super drunk back then, now she knows it while she's sober too! 😅

- Some bits in this chapter remind me of our time with the Beaumonts in Book 1? Like the scene where Penelope speaks to the mechanical bull while drunk, while kiiiinda resembles her drunken behaviour at the Beaumont Bash. Also the whole situation of helpers/staff dropping off at the last minute seems a little parallel to what happened twice to the Beaumonts? Once with the MC's boat and then with the Beaumont Bash to host the court. I kinda find that interesting because Bertrand has been in a similar situation and hopefully could feel...somewhat...useful? If he can manage to string more words together, that is.

- Hana daring her wife to kiss her during Truth and Dare, which is (if you bought that scene and actually picked that option) exactly how their first kiss happened 😁😁😁

• I kinda like it when we have chapters like these where the women of the court have a chapter to themselves, because the dynamics are fun and the women are all different in ways that tend to complement each other.

• Honestly, Savannah asking my MC to become her maid of honour was pretty jarring considering my MC doesn't care a single bit about her and has honestly done very very little (if at all) to help her. I mean I can kiiiiinda understand if the MC is her sister-in-law/future SIL via Drake or Maxwell maybe...but otherwise why couldn't Kiara be an option? How is it that Savannah mentions her struggles to fit in, yet Kiara genuinely helping her never even features? Not even once?

I honestly think that Kiara could have been as good a choice to be MoH - we could have either coded it based on our diamond choices with Savannah, or split it between MC for Drake and Maxwell stans, and Kiki for Hana and Liam stans. Or at least more of an acknowledgement of how they were friends before she left? Beyond an offhand "oh yeah you taught me French, not like that helped me in that completely foreign place where I was bringing up my baby, maybe I should have taught you to speak country". Because having Savannah give me a grand speech about how amazing I've been to her was nothing short of weird and it would have felt a lot more natural to see her at least remembering the friendship(s) she did make in court.

• In at least two points in the chapter, Penelope requires someone to handhold her into certain things. You have to create the space for her while dancing. You have to decide on what questions to ask Kiara coz Penelope doesn't want to decide those herself. I'd actually be glad about their commitment to writing her that way, if I didn't understand how much they've let Penelope get away with, and how much other characters in similar positions have to suffer because the same amount of thought is never given to them.

The failplay I did of all three books brought up a couple interesting (but also disheartening) points about how they dealt with Penelope's condition, and how they dealt with difficult situations other characters had to go through (esp Kiara and Hana). At this point Penelope just sounds extremely entitled to good treatment, without wanting to really give back much in return.

• Kiara...well...I love her in this. She was fun, tried new things out, got out of her comfort zone, and she had some marvellous lines in this chapter. I just think it's funny how huge the differences between the way Olivia's feelings are acknowledged regardless vs the way Kiara's can only be acknowledged if it doesn't affect the MC...and it kind of says something about how those feelings are viewed by those writers. Because as a reader who has been following this story thread closesly, I know the writers have either conveniently forgotten - or take very lightly - how shitty Drake has been to her.

• I mean...had it been just about him not being interested, I probably wouldn't have cared much. I would have either turned to fanfic to change that around a bit, that's something you can always do for a pair you want to see but know you can't in canon. But realizing that the man could openly suspect a woman he knew was stabbed at the same event he was shot, optionally pander to the MC's whims and dismiss what she was going through in the process, and to not feel any fucking remorse for it...I mean, Kiara doesn't deserve better just because Drake doesn't isn't interested in her - because no one should have to be obligated to show interest for another person...Kiara deserves better because this man has done very little for her in their few exchanges (esp Book 3) besides ridicule, mock, act rudely and unfairly to her, and finally getting away with the worst possible behaviour without any consequence (some of it is optional, but the suspicion was definitely default). And I know the writing will never admit that because Drake is their golden boy.

• Madeleine causes minimal damage this time and Hana totally owned her a couple times today...so I'm kinda happy with that. At least they made sure never to bring back any hints of that story they were planning with her for Hana...if there is one thing I'm only too happy they are retconning, it's that!

• Speaking of Hana - there are maybe a couple of things I'm happy about and a lot that I'm not. I like that that she can throw shade (though I wish to God they would have let her do it much earlier) at Madeleine, and my favourite bits involve Hana not allowing that woman to get away with shit that she never allowed other people to get away with when she was in power.

But there's also the fact that she's pretty much treated like the least important person in that room? Like I would have personally loved to see her be asked a cute fun question. I mean, by now both Liam and Drake have gotten individual character scenes, and I only get to see Hana in the context of a group scene with the ladies where she is mostly helping the others? I loved that we got the barn scene afterwards...but let's be honest the barn scene was mostly about the sex.

I honestly just found it weird that the one chapter with (optionally) no men in it still couldn't have some focus on her, or much effort put into her. Is asking for more than scraps for her, too much to ask for? (I feel like the answer to that would be yes).

• Olivia is upto something, and the livestream apparently hinted at her being important to the story. I mean what's new about that? Olivia is a favourite of the writers and they will continue to favour her while Hana is still relegated to the sidelines (and so will a huge chunk of this fandom). No lie, I really like Olivia, but why the heck aren't you giving the lone female LI that much attention?

• I also wonder how much of her mysterious work has to do with the reading up she was telling us about in the last book's epilogue.

• Queen Amalas...I still don't know what to make of her - she's a pretty interesting mix of intrigue and invasiveness I think. She's flirty and teasing, but the way she slipped in those tidbits about our past definitely raised my hackles a little bit. Could be a red herring...could be more. Who knows.

• The Olivia and Madeleine dynamics were great...Kiara is still an awesome, encouraging friend to Penelope, but for me the highlight was Hana and Kiara's bonding (that exchange about hats definitely was a winner).

(Is part of my joy because I ship them? Yes. Yes it is. You can pry that ship outta my cold dead hands PB!)

• The barn scene was lovely: it was nice that the couples got to explore their more adventurous/homely sides in the first half of the scene, and were able to go completely wild for the second half of it. I think it's nice we got to see what they'd mostly like to experiment with in bed from time to time.

• I guess that's all for this chapter. Texas might possibly take a week or two more? Idk. Let's see. Rescuing the ranch may take a chapter, and so will the wedding...there may be one in between probably to figure out BertVannah's relationship but I'm not going to spend diamonds to make them talk to each other, no.

• I kinda like the subtle shift to childhood experiences to certain scenes in this book, because it gives the MC who doesn't know what the place is like for a child an idea of what the others had to grow up with...and therefore how she may need to approach her parenting. A number of the group scenes in this half of the book have had to do with childhood experiences the royals and nobles may have missed out on (pets, sleepovers) and the return-to-childhood narrative is a smart way to deal with that, I think.

• That's it for this chapter, guys! See you on Friday (hopefully) with a Book 1 QT, and next week with the next chapter!

[talinexa]

Little One - One Shot

So... there are quite a few memes about KH3 Riku looking like Noctis... and I don’t entirely disagree so I really couldn’t help myself.

Riku left Insomnia for Destiny Islands when he was still young. He didn’t remember Insomnia well. Some days he couldn’t remember it at all. Regis and the queen knew, after finding out that their eldest, Noctis, was the Crystal’s Chosen King, that they had to protect their youngest from the dangers that would surround Eos. Noctis being the Chosen meant the Starscourge was coming to its peak.

It was the only secret Riku never told his friends when he was little. The one secret his biological parents made him promise to keep. Sora and Kairi knew Riku wasn’t born on the islands, but unlike Kairi, Riku had been there long enough that Sora couldn’t remember when Riku first arrived.

Riku hated Destiny Islands. He knew he’d been sent away from Eos to keep him safe, but he felt trapped. He desperately wanted to escape.

Not necessarily return to Insomnia---just get off the islands. Be free. Travel and explore. See more than the same ocean and the same group of people.

He loved his adoptive parents, but the isolation of the island was getting on his nerves.

It took Riku many adventures to want to go back to the islands. To seek something familiar.

He was eighteen, with a Keyblade in his hand, the first time he thought about both Destiny Islands and Insomnia as home. He hadn’t been to Insomnia since he was almost too small to remember, and knew he likely would never consider it a real home, but he wanted to see it again.

More as a... learning opportunity. Just to see it again. To get familiar. To see where he came from and understand why it was so important for him to leave.

He sighed and sat on the ground. His Keyblade dissolved into light.

“What’s wrong, Riku?” Mickey asked.

“I haven’t seen my birthplace in... fifteen years? Fourteen? A long time,” he said. “I barely remember it. I have an older brother I barely remember. Noct... he and I were... total opposites.” Riku chuckled. “My adoptive parents on the islands told me he was more like Sora---a bit of a slacker. I’m... more... driven. I guess.” He folded his legs and leaned his elbows on his knees. “I want to go back. To see the place. To meet my brother again.” He closed his eyes. “I used to write, you know. I would send letters to my brother and my biological parents. I used to get letters back. Then... one day when I was still pretty young... they stopped.”

“Riku... I don’t see why you couldn’t go back. For a little while. We all need to follow our hearts,” Mickey remarked.

“You’re right, Your Majesty. As usual.” Riku smiled sadly and shoved his fingers through his silver-white hair. “We just... never seem to slow down long enough for me to have time.”

“You could try now. We have some time.”

Riku looked to the horizon, where the moon was setting. It distorted slightly, appearing larger, as it neared the edge of the world. “Yeah. Yeah I think I will. Thanks Mickey.”

The king nodded.

Riku hit the ground hard with an, “Oof!” as the robot struck him down.

He heard a cry and then saw a streak of blue light. There was a loud Clang! and the shrieking of metal-on-metal and the robot crumpled. Riku coughed to get his breath back and sat up gingerly.

“Y’alright, kid?” a voice asked.

A young man, not much older than Riku himself, was holding a hand out to offer Riku help in standing. Riku took the young man’s offer and let him help him to his feet. The newcomer wasn’t particularly tall---but then again neither was Riku---and had spiky black hair. There was a genuine grin on his face. Riku’s mouth fell open.

“N... Noct?” he asked.

The young man took a step back, his own jaw dropping. “R... Riku?”

In moments, smiles broke out on both of their faces and they were pulling each other in for a hug. Riku felt tears brimming in his eyes, and felt something fall to the shoulder of his shirt. “I can’t believe it’s you,” he whispered, clinging to Noctis tightly. He remembered Noct better than the rest.

As far as he could recall, they’d been close.

“It’s me, Little One. It’s me,” Noctis replied. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

“Me too.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to... to see Insomnia again. Eos. I don’t... remember it nearly as well as I should,” Riku said.

Noctis sighed and let Riku go. “Come with me,” he said.

They started to hike across the field. Riku watched his older brother carefully. “You inherited Dad’s bad knee,” he observed.

Noctis started laughing. He slowed his pace and turned. “Oh, Little One, you probably will too. A bad knee is hereditary on the Lucis Caelum side.”

Lucis Caelum. It had been a long time since Riku heard that name.

“I hope not,” he said. “And stop calling me Little One! I’m taller than you!”

“By like four centimeters,” Noctis retorted with a smile.

Riku smirked. “Still taller.”

Noctis snorted---then went quiet. “Mom and Dad used to call you Little One,” he said. His voice was soft and sad.

“Noct... what happened?”

“C’mon. Let’s get back to the others and we’ll explain. Ignis... he’ll tell it better than I can.”

Riku blinked. “I vaguely remember Ignis,” he said.

“You’ll remember more when he starts talking,” Noctis joked somberly. Riku couldn’t help but smile to himself.

“Who are the others? The ones other than Ignis.”

“Prompto and Gladiolus. You never met Prompto. And Gladio... no you never met him either.” Noctis shook his head. “C’mon. Just over this hill.” They started a shallow climb. “And, for the record, my limp isn’t that bad yet.”

“No,” Riku agreed. “It’s barely noticeable. But I knew to look.”

At the crest of the hill, Riku caught sight of a tent up ahead. Three young men were bustling around it. Two taller ones and one shorter.

Noctis jogged down the hill. Riku followed.

“Guys! Look who’s back!” Noctis shouted.

Ignis dropped the pot he was holding. Thankfully it was empty. “Your... Your Highness?”

Riku couldn’t remember ever being addressed that way and it took him aback. “Huh?” he asked eloquently.

Ignis gave him a bow. “Welcome back, Prince Riku.”

“Please don’t.” Riku shook his head, uncomfortable with the formality.

“WAIT! This is your brother, Noct?!” the shortest of the four demanded---he had slightly-spiky yellow-blond hair and lots of freckles.

Noctis chuckled. “Yup. Prompto, this is Riku. Riku, this is my best school friend, Prompto Argentum.”

Riku found his hand being shook aggressively by Prompto. “Such a pleasure to finally meet you. Noct talks about you a lot! You two didn’t have enough time together.” Prompto kept rambling, shaking Riku’s hand for a lot longer than necessary. Riku glanced at Noctis, silently pleading to be saved.

Noctis smirked. “That’s enough, Prompto. You’re overwhelming him.”

Prompto immediately let go. “Whoops. Sorry.”

Riku shrugged. “It’s fine. It’s just... this is a lot to take in.”

“I know---Noct having friends? What gives?” the tallest of the four---who was absolutely towering with bulky muscles---joked.

“Shut up, Gladio,” Noctis retorted.

Riku laughed. Then sombered up. “So... what’s with the camping?”

Ignis sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. When they were younger, four years older seemed like a huge gap. Ignis had always seemed so grown-up and mature. But now that they were older, the gap between 18 and 22 seemed a lot smaller---and Ignis looked too young to be as worn-down with heavy burdens as he was. “That... is a long story. Have a seat, Your Highness. We’ll explain to the best of our abilities over some dinner,” he said.

Riku squirmed. “Don’t... call me that. Please.” He brushed some loose bangs back into place. “Riku is fine.”

Ignis shrugged and put the pot he’d picked up again onto the camping stove. “Very well,” he said.

Noctis guided Riku to a set of camp chairs and pulled him to sit down. “Before we get to the sob story and the doom-and-gloom, tell me about what’s been happening to you.”

Riku snorted. “A sob story with some doom-and-gloom,” he said. “My best friend is the Chosen One destined to open the door to light to dispel the darkness and put an end to the Heartless and I’m...” He shook his head. “I have too much darkness in my heart. The ‘bad guys’ target me and try to make me one of them but I can’t just... abandon Sora like that. I tried and it... went very badly. For me. I got possessed by an extremely powerful Heartless and nearly killed my best friend and that was just the beginning.”

“I do believe the darkness in your heart is a function of who you are,” Ignis remarked from the stove.

“Huh?”

“You’re a Lucis Caelum,” Noctis put in.

“Right...”

“The power of the Lucis Caelum family has long been considered ‘black magic,’” Ignis said. “Apart from their ongoing attempts to rid the lands of the Starscourge and protect the Crystal, many of your ancestors could be considered... as you said... ‘bad guys.’” He paused in thought. “Though, I’d rather not consider Niflheim ‘good guys.’ Conquering the countries around them and attempting to take control of the world is hardly a move made out of kindness. But rather, greed.”

“So you’re saying I have so much darkness in my heart because I’m a Caelum?” Riku asked.

“It’s very possible,” Ignis said. “Difficult to know for certain when we’re not sure how darkness functions in the lands you grew up in, but possible.”

Riku sighed and set a hand over his heart. “I see,” he muttered. “So I’ll never conquer it?”

“That’s unclear,” Ignis said. “I’m unfamiliar with how darkness works for you. I could very well be incorrect on multiple accounts. And given my unfamiliarity, I assume I am incorrect. Perhaps the darkness I know and the darkness you know are different forces, Prince Riku. I see the ‘black magic’ of the Lucis Caelum line as being considered ‘darkness.’ However that brand of magic doesn’t exclude the notion that its wielder is incredibly kind and caring. Merely a label attached to a certain set of powers. The Nox Fleuret family magic is considered ‘white magic’ due to its incredible restorative properties. Healing. Whereas the Lucis Caelum power is more... destructive. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. The darkness you know could likely be quite simple for you to conquer, however neither you nor I are aware of how.”

Riku fiddled with one of the buckles on one of the belts around his leg. “Thanks Ignis,” he mumbled.

Ignis pushed his glasses up his nose. “Of course.”

“Wow. Insomnia fell... just like that?” Riku asked.

“Make no mistake, we weren’t there,” Ignis said. “I’m certain there was more to it than what we’ve told you.”

“It definitely had to have been more complicated than that,” Prompto agreed.

“So... there’s no chance of me seeing Dad again,” Riku said. “Or Mom.”

“Mom died when we were still really young. Not long after you left,” Noctis said. “I was about... seven or eight. Meaning you would have been five or six.”

“Explains why the letters stopped,” Riku remarked.

Noctis rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry, Riku. I never meant to stop writing. It was just... when Mom died... Dad got more distant and I...”

“Hey man, I get it. I’m just glad to know the reason why the letters stopped,” Riku said. “Hey Ignis, can I help you clean up dinner?”

“I would appreciate the assistance, yes,” Ignis said.

Riku helped Ignis gather up everyone’s plates and silverware and took it over to the cooking station. While they started washing dishes, Riku sighed. “Ignis?” he asked quietly. Prompto and Noctis were shouting about a game Riku didn’t know anything about, drowning out him and Ignis to the other three.

“Yes, Your High---Riku?”

“How’s everything really been while I’ve been gone?” He rubbed the back of his head. “How’s... how’s Noct been?”

“He’s been handling it as best he can,” Ignis said. “It’s not his fault his father and his home were taken from him. Your arrival could not have been more opportune. Nor could it have been any more ill-timed.”

“Meaning?”

“You’ve lifted his spirits but it’s dangerous here.”

“Ignis, I’ve been fighting darkness and monsters since I was fifteen now. I can handle myself.”

“I never said you couldn’t,” Ignis said in his peculiar accent. “I just mean your parents sent you away to keep you safe from the dangers of Eos until your brother completed his destiny. That hasn’t happened yet and the dangers are coming to a head. If your parents knew you’d returned now, they would be extremely cross. I suggest you return later in order to ensure your safety. After Noct has completed the Crystal’s mission and fulfilled his destiny.”

“Fulfilled his destiny...” Riku muttered. He shook his head. “My big brother. Then my best friend. Looks like I’m always the one that destiny skips over in favor of someone else.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, don’t you agree? You are free to make whatever life you want.”

“I don’t think I should be trusted to make decisions like that. When I made the life I thought I wanted I ended up giving in to the darkness in my heart and getting possessed by an evil Heartless.”

Ignis sighed. “No one makes good decisions in their teen years.”

“Even you?” Riku teased. “You seem... really responsible and mature.”

Ignis laughed. “Even me,” he said. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. Even Noct doesn’t know about my rebellious activities.”

Riku laughed. “You’ll have to tell me about those sometime.”

“I will.”

“Hey Riku! You gotta take a ride with us in the Regalia in the morning! You’ll love it!” Noctis shouted.

“Sure thing!” Riku smiled over his shoulder. He vaguely remembered the Regalia—just like everything else about his earliest memories in Eos, all he really had for certain was a glimmer of an idea. A sleek black vehicle that was graceful and should never ever be driven by Riku. 

He’d been so busy learning how to use a keyblade and fighting darkness and Organization XIII that he’d never learned how to drive. Even Sora knew how to fly a Gummiship but Riku never really had the chance. 

And for a while he hadn’t had the need. When he’d given in to the darkness for the second time in order to defeat and subdue Roxas, taking on Ansem’s appearance again, he could open dark Corridors and use them to travel. But since then... he still hadn’t found the chance.

But he was looking forward to riding in the Regalia as a passenger.

He glanced at Ignis. “I’ll head home after taking a ride,” he said quietly.

Ignis nodded. “Of course, Your Hi---Riku.”

“You’ll get it eventually,” Riku remarked. “I’m glad I got to meet you guys again.”

“As am I,” Ignis agreed. “Perhaps at some point the four of us could come meet this best friend of yours.”

Riku thought of how strange his life might seem to any on the outside. He couldn’t remember talking, magic ducks in Eos. He knew Eos was beyond the reach of the Heartless. They had their own problems.

But he also knew they would all love Sora. How could they not? Sora was just one of those lovable people.

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah maybe.”

[purkinje-effect]

The Anatomy of Melancholy, 40

Table of Contents. Second Instar, Chapter 7. Go to previous. Go to next. These tears are shaken from the wrath-bearing tree. That’s... not an old fashioned, is it, Liv?

____________________________________

The dark walls, pale carpeting, and little furnishings of the general’s office belied the actual dimensions of the somewhat small space. At her ebony dry bar, General Francis poured the two of them each an old fashioned, with dried rind curls 'Choly imagined were mutfruit. The ghoul placed one in ‘Choly’s gracious hands where he sat, and took hers to her leather office chair opposite the desk. She took a sip and slicked at her side-shaven asymmetrical blonde french twist with a tense sigh.

“Call me Olivia. Please. I hate the rank and pomp of being the last breathing wretch on base. Ghoul or not, I’m still a person, you know?”

‘Choly nearly murmured a whooped and then some. His tongue sneaked against the back of his teeth behind a faint smile. He lingered in the numbness of an iced drink in his palms, and stared into the handcrafted cocktail a little too long before remembering it was for drinking.

“Olivia, it’s... really been just you here for all... or most of this time?” He held the short glass to his cheek, eyes glazing out of focus. “--Gosh, ice. You’ve got a working ice machine.”

“Imagine if you’ve been milling around for a few months now, you’ve come to appreciate most prewar commodities as current day luxuries.” Olivia downed about a third of her drink before setting it down to lace her leathery hands on the desk. “It’s been just me and the robotics fleets for a very long time, yes. I’ve whiled the decades doing maintenance on them all. I consider them a sense of found family. They keep plugging alongside me, and they keep me plugging.”

She drew a cigarette from the silver case on the desktop, and lit it with a gold flip lighter. After taking a deliberate puff, she offered up both with a genial gaze. Not to shy from her hospitality, he nodded and followed suit. A long exhale melted him into a comforted disillusionment.

“It really has been a jarring adjustment. Especially not having soap every day. Menthols and muddled cognac on the rocks. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to coax me into a tough patch.”

“You’ll find a great deal of the amenities on base have been repaired and maintained.” A grin pulled her thin lips across her teeth and she sat back, sustaining eye contact. “Deenwood in every way has kept me busy.”

“And the Rust Devils?” he asked over his sipping. His attentive oily eyes skimmed her wasting features, to skirt the acknowledgement she hadn’t dismissed his supposition. “They’re keeping you even busier?”

“Don’t tell me they’ve expanded operations outside Lowell,” she growled, suddenly furious. “I’ve lost twelve robots to them just this year. Bastards took to the RobCo Towers. It’s a wonder I’ve managed to stay as ahead of them as I have been, further encrypting the Sentry Bots and Assaultrons especially. And the front doors, of course.” When he watched her expectantly, she snorted through another slug of her cocktail. “RobCo Towers was the company’s home base for Pip-Boy development and manufacture.”

“Encrypted the... front doors?” He frowned thoughtfully, somewhat distant. “Aside from confrontation with a Mister Gutsy, I didn’t have any trouble getting on premises.”

“Your bars have RFID encryption technology in them.” With a sneer, she pointed her smoke hand at his Pharm Corps coat. “The system’s biometric scanners have a two-factor screening process. You were smart enough, to turn up in enough of your uniform, to look the part of an officer--and lucky enough, to still be human enough, for the system to be able to match your genetic scan. Honestly, when I heard an officer had made it on base, I thought the Rust Devils might have figured out a way to sheepskin their way in here.”

“I guess it is a bit of luck, that my service uniform survived all this time. It’s one of the few belongings I still have. I don’t recognize the flavor of these bitters, but damn if this isn’t smooth cognac.”

Olivia topped off his glass with more cognac from the decanter on her desk, which he accepted greedily.

“The licorice, or the mint? It’s some East Central Commonwealth label. I like it well enough. These days, you tend to take what you can get your hands on. The cognac, though. That’s my favorite.” She shrugged in the direction of her liquor cabinetry, uninvested in getting up to scrutinize the exact identity of the liqueur. “Don’t discount, either, that you still have your Handy. A lot of my maintenance on Deenwood’s robots hasn’t just been to keep them running. It’s so they can continue defending themselves, and stay out of raider hands. To this day I haven’t determined a more effective approach than to be proactive. They just keep trying.”

Angel had stayed out in the hall to chat with robots it hadn’t seen in two hundred years.

“I wouldn’t be alive right now, if Angel weren’t with me. I know that much.” ‘Choly picked the desiccated rind curl out of his drink and chewed at it. “I’ve had my run-in already with raiders myself. I’ve half a mind to think Lexington’s still on fire because of me. Ha!”

Her dark eyes wilded, more punch-drunk from delivery than she was from the spirits.

“You can’t just drop that on me and leave it.”

His sheepishness poorly contained how oddly tickled he felt then by such a traumatic experience. Unmistakably, the physical condition of his company had everything to do with his craving to impress.

“After I came out of the vault outside Concord, I holed up in the Walden Drugs in Lexington. I got along with the raiders in the Corvega factory for a few months. They... pushed me around, and I... I.” A self-conscious grin tugged at him, unable to tell if the modus operandi were appropriate to divulge. He noticed he’d let the cherry fall off his unattended cigarette onto the leg of his Vault Suit. He brushed away the ashes and deposited the half-smoked thing in the crescent shaped ashtray. “...In so many words, I overdosed their leader on opiates. So they Molotov cocktailed the pharmacy while I was asleep, and chased me out of town.”

Olivia’s head kicked back in a sharp, barking cackle, and she only calmed herself enough to start on a fresh cigarette.

“Sounds like you’re more uniquely suited to the Wastelander life than you give yourself credit for. And believe me when I tell you, you don’t have to skirt talking about CM anymore. It hasn’t been restricted to your pay grade for a hundred eighty years, and the DIA’s bit the dust just like the rest of the government proper.”

‘Choly’s face slacked in culpability. He avoided eye contact a tic, and set down his half-finished half-cocktail to fold his hands under his legs.

“I’m proud of the way I’ve adapted Syringer rifle darts. CM’s... surprisingly versatile weaponized.”

She gave him a sleazy, approving grin when he admitted what she’d intuited.

“I don’t remember that we got along all that well back in the day, but damn if I’m not glad to see you. Not speaking ill of my chrome family, but I don’t get to see a flesh and body face all too often these days. It’s not going to be easy for you to get back out, now that you’re in, I’m afraid. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Maybe after you get some rest and think on it, we can form some kind of a game plan to deal with these assholes down the street once and for all?”

Struck dumb that she’d not torn into him for what he’d done with his military intelligence, he sat frozen at length. He found himself staring at the chrome Pip-Boy on her left wrist, vaguely nagged by his inability to identify the model. Her proposition soaked into him slowly, and he picked his drink back up to work on finishing it. He sucked on an ice cube and feigned anything but total adoration.

“You said that the residential block got hit hard by the fallout. Is... any of it still standing?”

“Most of it, yeah. But it wasn’t prepped to shield that heavy a rad barrage, is what I meant. The rads have since aired out of the majority of the lot. You’ve got your pick of any townhouse on the lot, except mine.” She straightened, drawn back to reality a ways. “There’s just the one thing. Only drink or wash in the water from the compound. Residential plumbing still runs for the most part, but you’re a smoothskin. Don’t risk the rads.”

He choked on the acknowledgement of the fundamental difference between the two of them with a nervous chuckle. The supposition she might be immune to radiation titillated him.

“...About that. I’ve... come across a good number of ghouls since I woke up. But you’re the first fully rational one I’ve met. I think I’m only now finally understanding what people meant when they called a ghoul feral.”

Olivia gave him an uncomfortable grimace.

“Fortunately, you won’t have to deal with ferals on base. Deenwood is monstrously secure, so nothing can get in. They make me a might bit skittish myself. Don’t like the thought of encounters with them being only a bubble off looking in a mirror. Anyway...” She cleared her throat to punctuate that she’d noticed just how much he’d been caught staring, and he flinched. “Enough nightmare talk. We have an early morning of it. I still keep military hours, even though I’m the only non-robot here. Makes the robots happy, so it makes me happy. Habits die hard.”

“--Don’t they ever. I’m just glad that, now that I’m back, we’re not right back glued to cooking up CM and testing formulations on soldiers. Chase’s R&D’s the nightmare talk for me.”

She topped off her glass one more time, and ate her dried cherry.

“No, we’re far past that now, aren’t we?” Olivia rose and ushered him out of her office, meeting objection. “Imagine you don’t need me to show you around, even two hundred years later. The Gutsies and Handies can help you, if you’ve forgotten your way. I typically stay close to the Robotics wing, if you need me. We’ll meet back here at, say, oh-six? That’s plenty of time for breakfast first, mm?”

His head slurried with him standing. He glanced at his Pip-Boy. Already seven o’clock. He gave her an uncertain but obeisant nod with a little too much rattle in it, too cowardly to press her continued company.

“Goodnight, Carey.”

He stopped her from pushing the heavy paneled wooden door shut, and he continued holding out his arm a good ways after doing so, tottering on his feet.

“I, you. You said you prefer to be called Olivia. I’ve made a bit of a name for myself in the past few months.” She looked to him with attentive fatigue. “Melancholy. ...‘Choly.”

After thinking on it a moment, she patted him on the cheek.

“Really rings what’s survived of your accent. Goodnight, Melancholy.”

The door clicked shut, and he heard it lock.

When Angel didn’t come up on its own, he belted out an insistent, deep whistle that cut down the corridor both ways. And he waited to be escorted... home. He shuddered, and couldn’t quite say why.

Go to Next »»»

[memoriashell]

webs

Characters / Pairing: Muffet, some vague Mettaton / Muffet, some vague Undyne / Muffet, some Napstablook, and if you really squint you might see some Alphyne in the bg.

crossposted on ao3 ft. the full extent of my notes

Notes: Hi @roxrezi, I'm your secret santa! Since I quite love myself some Muffet, I thought I’d write something with her for you. I also really wanted to try writing some Undyne / Muffet and Mettaton / Muffet, and somewhere along the way I went from planing out something with everyone’s first holiday on the surface to... an exploration of various route endings and not at all holiday related. Whoops. This was also supposed to be a lot shorter, but here we are at 4k words instead. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it! This was done as a part of @undertalesecretsanta . Thank you mods for all your efforts in hosting the event! 

Summary:  Webs are a sticky, tricky thing, really. Fortunately, spiders know how to untangle themselves from even the trickiest of webs.

( an apt way to view the branches of fate, really )

A human, they whisper, a human is coming. Get the soul and you will be rewarded.

And so, once again, Muffet finds herself with a renewed purpose. She has grown tired of fussy monsters who will not help her, of having to swindle for even a little bit to be thrown her way. She won’t need to bake for profit ever again if she succeeds. She can finally relax.

Soon. Soon she will have enough, and everything will be alright. The spider clan will be rich and able to be reunited, and they can all be happy together, and she will be happy too—

( — and this is the thought she hold onto when the frying pan slams down on her body ).

i.

The Ruins are ( mostly ) empty. Same goes for Snowdin, and Waterfall—

She wonders if they were bored by the time they got to Hotland. Despicable, really, but seeing as they hadn’t harmed her or her spiders, she can’t completely hate them either.

No, that is a lie, Muffet absolutely detests that human. Her spiders may come first, but that does not make her heartless when it came to other monsters. But she is a woman of her word, there was no reason to kill a human that had supported her cause.

( Was it wrong of her to have done so? Perhaps. Maybe then, there would be a little more liveliness left in the Underground, flashy and loud— )

Napstablook is generous enough to assist her with arranging help with getting the spiders out of the Ruins; the fact that, despite everything, her spiders can be reunited is barely a silver lining, but she’ll take what she can get. The fact that she can afford to bring them home hardly matters, when the Underground is so sparse and the Ruins are opened up once again. It’s not even nearly as much of a hassle, as cold as Snowdin is to travel through. Traps and puzzles are deactivated, there is no need for those things anymore, so there is little but the cold to slow her down.

The spiders are back home, where they should be. Hotland is more or less the same, minus two voices— one loud and glamorous, one not so. Everything should be fine, by those standards.

But it’s not.

It is not.

The world just does not feel quite right.

ii.

Every king needs their queen— no, that is a lie. Mettaton needs no one, if she is to be honest, but she is good at her job.

Muffet dangles from her web, flaunting— a menacing flash of her flash of her fangs. Intimidate their ‘foes’ into confessing their ‘crimes’— work that she could leave to that skeleton, sure, but Sans has always been lazy. She, however, never slacks off.

( Perhaps no real wrongdoings have been done, but it’s fine discarding a few extra ingredients from the batch. Better than letting them sit and go bad— rotten ingredients were never any good. It would spoil the whole batch!

Besides, her pet, her darling Cupcake needed a treat to be rewarded with. What better than something she needed to get rid of anyways? )

It wasn’t like she did not benefit from it either. Why would she serve a fussy customer— no, let her rephrase that: Muffet found no point, no joy in serving someone who did not service her needs too. Even when that someone was the ruler of the Underground, known for whispers of sudden disappearances; she had enough pride left that she would not let herself be squished under Mettaton’s heel like some pest. Her spiders had been brought home with his generosity, and it is oh so fun to watch monsters squirm when she watches them with two, four, five eyes, and claps in joy with her hands— that is a thrill unlike anything else, one that even the capturing of a soul surely wouldn’t have brought. It is not all bad, the monsters had never done anything to serve her, why should she spare them now?

( There is a reason why monsters do not come to her parlor anymore ).

No, while the spider monster might hold a grudge for none of them to be willing to help her cause, that was then and this is now. This is a matter of business, dearie, did you not understand that? Muffet coos and is amused in her tittering, as she watches confusion spread across features.

Spiders may live with her now, but that did not mean that some did not linger in other parts of the Underground. Allow for the whispers to reach corners and make its way back to her. It was always a fun choice to make, what to do with that information. Let one of the ‘agents’ handle this? Handle it herself? Do nothing with it?

( Those who enter the parlor do not usually leave ).

Of course, she can always hand the task over to Mettaton, but she usually left that for the worst offenses only. It was much more delightful to watch and wait to see how he’d react on such occasions, if it was worth making a mess of himself for. More often than not, the answer was yes, and she would make sure the webs were keeping the prey in place, maybe paralyze them if they seemed particularly rowdy, but otherwise sat back to admire his work.

Despite it all, she does not think he’s a bad person— would that not make her a bad person too? Muffet knows that once, he was not half a bad person, despite what one might believe; she was once not an entirely bad person either, despite her arguments that she has remained unchanged all these times.

It wasn’t their fault that they were like this, was it?

“Darling,” He beckons for her, so she lowers herself from her web, dropping herself from the sticky silk with ease and onto his lap. She hardly weighs a thing to a monster made of metal, two hands settling themselves on his shoulders, two others coming up to cup his face. “Have you heard the news?”

“Dearie.” She returns, a brief kiss; her eyes blink at him. “You are the news~” Which is, technically speaking, true. MTT News was the Underground’s news source. Perhaps not like what it once was, but still news.

The robot gives her a look that seems unimpressed, but she knows he’ll let her get away with it ( almost anyone else would’ve been too scared to even consider talking back, she enjoys such privilege with glee ). “You’ve been holding out on me. There was an incident on the edges of Hotland?”

Ah, that. Well, what can she say? She knows Mettaton likes keeping away from the lab. She shrugs, fangs peeking out as she grins. “Someone simply needed a dunk in the river, ahuhu~~” A forceful dip, perhaps, but what did the details matter. If he can read between the lines and figure out what exactly that all means, it does not show; of course, he is an actor, she would not be surprised if he knows exactly and simply opts to not speak of it.

“Well—” He starts, a pause, she’s caught him off guard. Hadn’t predicted her answer. A mechanical clearing of his throat, before he speaks again. “Well, that still calls for a punishment... or perhaps a reward?”

There’s a gleam in her eyes, a grin and a giggle before she’s pulling back. “Already a step ahead of you~ I brought them back for you speak to, fufufu~”

“Ah, now you’re speaking my language, gorgeous.”

( A butterfly and a spider trapped in a web—

—who is really the victim here? )

iii.

Humans aren’t so bad, she decides. She still lacks enough to bring the spiders back home, and they were still stuck in the Underground, but they weren’t dead. It’s not all bad. They made an effort to help her, which is more than she can say for some monsters.

The shy, nerdy one passes through, sometimes, to check up on her; and she will flash her fangs at the scientist and giggle as she scampers off. Other days Muffet will leave her web, willingly, to see the spiders now that the Ruins aren’t closed off.

One time, she leaves to go through to Snowdin, try and figure out if there is a good way to bring the spiders home. Even if she’s cold, at least the Royal Guard is there to help her.

( Which roughly translates to, at least the Canine Unit was there to try and play with her. And then went to fetch Papyrus when they realized she wasn’t interested in them, who in turn fetched Undyne, because Undyne was likely to be more helpful at assisting ).

Muffet likes Undyne ( only kind of like that ) because she’s to the point. She doesn’t bother with trying to skirt around things— time is money, as the saying goes, and while Muffet is not really that greedy with her money, she’d much rather not freeze to death out in Snowdin. Unfortunately, the former captain has very little advice to offer, since the main issue is the fact that the forest is big and the spiders would probably die before they even reached town. The cold is not a foe that can be fought, unfortunately; she laughs a little when the warrior offers to beat up the cold nonetheless. On a more serious note, Undyne also offers to check in with Alphys for her opinion, which is favor she wouldn’t have been willing to ask for on her own, so she’s somewhat thankful for that.

She hasn’t visited with Napstablook in a while, so she does that— she nabbed some ghost pastries in advance for this particular occasion. Just because she only sold spider goods didn’t mean she was incapable of baking other things! For a very select audience, perhaps, but she liked to think of it less as business and more like the kind of favor one did for their friend. They were supportive of her cause and if she baked a few goods for them every now and then in return, what of it? They needed something good, they were always so blue— not that she can blame them for that, but that’s besides the point.

She realizes a little too late that her sudden visit has intruded on something— well, probably something, she’s not entirely sure if they are lying on the floor in accordance to ‘tradition’, or for some other reason. Muffet spares a brief glance to their other visitor, a figure she can recognize quite well, but opts to ignore for the time being.

“oh... i wasn’t... expecting to see you... muffet...” They greet her; the sort of dejected manner they hold themselves with has always made her frown ( she’s glad to see she’s not the only one, if the motion in her peripherals is to be any indication ).

“Why not? You’re my best customer~” Teasing, she’s only teasing as the basket is offered to them. “I had some... business to attend to in Snowdin~ I thought I would come by to keep you company afterwards.”

“oh, right... the spiders are still in the ruins... aren’t they? i’m sorry... i’d help if i could... but the snail business is... still pretty bad.”

Muffet tuts at him, as if she’d blame him. They were both suffering from not being to make money off their fellow monsters, Napstablook was just better natured about it. She was not, though. “Ah, speaking of that, dearie~ I’ve got quite the story about that!” She ignores the metallic sound of their third party getting up, ignores what she assumes to be a glare. “You remember the human who came through, yes? Quite a darling~~ Even helped donate to our bake sale a little~ Not that I knew that when I was fighting them. And—”

“Darling.” Mettaton drawls, and she knows she’s annoyed him. Good! She almost killed an innocent human on his behalf! He’s cunning, Muffet will give him that, but she does not enjoy being deceived like that. He should be at least half as annoyed as she is. “Your gossip is going to put me to sleep. Please change the topic before you bore me any more than you already have.”

“i... don’t really mind...” Napstablook chimes in, though they seem to go ignored.

“You’re no fun. Fine~” She pouts, four arms crossed; she’ll drop the topic for now. Besides, she doesn’t really need to give Napstablook something else to be sad about. “Would you like to hear about the gossip in Snowdin instead then?”

Later, when she leaves Blook Acres, she knows she is not alone, because she can hear the plodding of heeled boots, so she stops and waits for him to catch up— it doesn’t really make much of a difference since they both need to take Hotland’s elevator to get back to their respective homes, but there was no need for her to make him chase after her ( well, maybe it’d be fun to have someone chase after her, but she digresses. It’s a time waster right now ).

“I feel as though I might... owe you an apology.” He starts, and Muffet wants to snort a little— an apology would be far from compensation, but it might be a step in the right direction. If she’s feeling generous. “I was not aware that things were so dire for you. Allow me to make up for it.”

She’s still upset that Mettaton so easily played her for a fool— holding a grudge, however, feels foolish for now ( or maybe she’s being fooled again, only the angel knows ). “And what do you get out of it?”

“Well, I’d never! But, you know, if you’re offering— the spiders being saved from the Ruins would be quite a broadcast worthy moment.”

She groans because, of course, she should have expected there’d be a catch, and of course, it’s a ridiculous catch ( really, she was expecting something entirely different )— only fitting for someone with as much grandeur as him. It’s such a small price for her, though, so she will begrudgingly agree.

It’s better. Things are not the best— this is far from their best ending.

But it’s better, she can’t ask for much else.

iv.

People come. People leave. That is the way this world works, she knows. People come and go, and she has no intentions of trying to make them stay. Such is futile.

Muffet laughs and giggles at monsters who pass through her domain, at the ones that try and convince her to leave her home. What an opportune moment, is what she thinks, and so she stays, like always.

Silly scientists.

( While she regrets not tying Alphys up and playing with her a bit, she’s never seen the lizard so determined— frantic and anxious, yes, that is a given as far as she can tell, but determined is not. So she lets her go on her way, knows that something is coming her way and prepares ).

She is no hero— Muffet would laugh in your face at even the mere suggestion of such— she is no hero, she is not trying to defeat that thing for the sake of others.

No, such a greedy human deserves no pity, no break. One who may have supported her cause all the same, but that is besides the point. A being who has killed so many must have quiet some money— sure, it’s a shame she must go about funding her cause this way, but she thinks the monsters would have preferred it go to her than their killer. Surely, this time, she can succeed in bringing the spiders home. She can be happy knowing that, for a fact.

So she cackles when the thing finally decides to show up, pass through her nest— a foolish move, she thinks. Why would you go through her home? No one is more familiar with the webbed area like she is, it is so easy to catch the tiny little thing like the pest it is. It hardly even seems human when it stares her down like that, face devoid of any emotion. Unfeeling, unlike any monster. Muffet grins and bares her fangs at it and—

She is cocky, has hardly had the time to utter even a sentence; doesn’t notice the weapon until it has collided with her painfully.

v.

This isn’t right.

Her spiders scuttle around her feet, whispers of go home, go home, go home.

Muffet does not bake, she does not tease to munch on people— in this small town, too idle for anyone’s wellbeing, she does not do anything. A monster like her has no place here.

She might as well be a ghost.

( Go home, go home, go back underground.

If only things were that easy ).

Something happens out there, she knows— an echo of laughter falls from her lips.

She does not go out.

( Go back, go back.

She waits until they can go back ).

vi.

It is probably a good thing that their leader is a lively one, or else she thinks that monster’s spirits would’ve been much lower than they currently were. It was not as simple as turning on the television to watch Mettaton’s shows to make them smile anymore. A shame, truly, because while Muffet did not care for those kind of flashy things, had no care for stars of that caliber, she can recognize something has been lost from the Underground.

( A shame, but it really makes no difference to her in the end. Her spiders have been spared, so that’s all that matters to her. The safety of her spiders.

It’s easier to act like that’s all that matters, that things are better for her that way, at least ).

Their new ruler is much more brutal. Blunt. Blood-thirsty— and sure, Undyne’s always been kind of like that, probably. It was an admirable trait, for the head of the Royal Guard; it is a good trait for a ruler too, when supported by the people that she rules over.

Muffet tuts at her and wonders if she will grow to regret that, however, when her grief finally fades. She can mourn those who were lost, but she cannot do so forever. People will move past their grief, eventually... or die when their hope finally gives out.

( She leaves Hotland, passes the lab with its broken doors, forced open when it’d been quiet for too long. It is a sorry echo of what it had once been there. Of who had once been there.

It doesn’t matter, she reaffirms ).

One of her spiders accompanies her, riding on her shoulder; the others stay safe at home with her dear pet. She grabs onto her dress with two of her arms, lifts it up as she wades through the waters of Waterfall. She does not really care for the wet, rocky terrain of Waterfall, but she can afford to make sacrifices. It’s not like any of them have better things to be doing.

( Despite what one may think, she is not entirely all selfish. That said, she is not selfless either, she has her reasons for doing what she does. Her own trivial sort of gain ).

She leaves ghost pastries with Napstablook and checks up on the snails ( she does not care for that wet, slimy thing, but they are friends of the spiders, kind of, and they are tasty, so it’s only with brief prodding before she goes on her way ). Napstablook tells her what she needs to know in exchange for the treats, though she knows they would have told her regardless, just as she would’ve given them to them regardless.

She’s not at her former home, but the piano echoes in the corridors long before she is even close to reaching her. An echoing reminder of how much more empty Waterfall ( the Underground in general, really ) is these days, there is no Shyren to sing along with the occasional plink of an off key note. Once, Muffet would have come to Waterfall to see Napstablook and would have expected to hear the warrior training. Loud clanging of pots and voices yelling while they cooked. The piano playing might have been loud and passionate, fierce and angry at a situation like this, but it is much more dull and sullen now, an almost fragile sound. She finds the Empress draped over the piano, quietly— in a world of her own, probably. She wonders if she has cried today too.

( Once, Muffet thinks she might have not minded the Underground being so empty. She is not sure how to feel anymore ).

Two arms reach up to smooth her hair back into being ‘presentable’— she is pretty sure Undyne has never cared for her appearance, but a leader should look the part— two others gently pull her back in a gesture that could be considered a hug. “Your people await you, dearie~” There is a hum of acknowledgment and little more, but that is fine. She’s not here to fix what cannot be mended.

( Once, Muffet feels like this could have been love ).

vii.

Surface spiders are so very interesting, Muffet decides. When the human— Frisk— mentions to her that the surface has quite a variety of spiders, she did not think they meant it as sincerely as they did. They are so similar to the ones at her home, yet vastly different all the same. She wonders at what point spider monsters and human spider-animal-things changed, but that sounds like a biology thing that Alphys could probably answer in a way that would make no sense to her. So she will just wonder and appreciate the similarities between them— they can communicate with each other, so there’s that. Do the differences even matter, knowing that?

The surface world in general, is very interesting. Muffet does not technically need to bake anymore since the spiders are free, but she does need to make a ‘living’ of sorts, and baking is the easiest way of doing that. Humans may be skeptical of food with spiders in it, but her fellow monsters are finally coming around to her pastries, so all is well.

Well, sort of.

As good for business as all the attention is, it brings about some... unwanted guests. That is probably a generous way of describing the current pest.

“Cameras aren’t allowed back here, dearie~ No exceptions. Leave~~” She’s very to the point about it, easily weaving around Mettaton’s boxy build to get to the oven so she can check on what she’s baking— she needs no pests hanging about, nor does she need any additional distractions. There’s a pause where she thinks he’s actually going to put up a fight, but seems to think better of it and dismisses the camera crew with a wave of his hand. Not the outcome she’d expected, but better. Workable.

“I’m not stopping to talk to you, so speak up~” Muffet might have spiders to help her, but there is only so much they can do, which means she doesn’t have the time for a break. It’s probably good that she has the extra arms to pitch in.

“A brand deal would only benefit the both of us, you know. I’ll provide you with some proper advertising. If we combined our efforts, we’d be actual competition against Grillby’s.”

“Grillby’s doesn’t sell sweets~~ Humans, on the other hand... Still, I’m doing fine here. I don’t need your silly brand~” She bares her teeth in a way that she wants to be menacing ( unfortunately, Mettaton is not a tiny and naïve human, so he doesn’t even flinch— he laughs, the audacity! ); he looks put out, though, so she supposes that’s a victory.

Also unfortunately, Mettaton is stubborn, so even though she gets rid of him for the day, he returns no less than three times that week. Never alone, either, so as much as she would like to rid of him, it’s not so easy to do so. Business propositions are put aside for casual conversations, but she doesn’t trust him so easily ( she’s been deceived by him once before, no need to go doing that again ).

She feels uneasy, like— like she’s missing something. Like something should have happened. But nothing happens, and she’s not sure if that’s a good thing or not. They monsters more than deserve some peace after everything, so she’ll take the peace as a sign of good things to come.

( Even if it cannot last ).

[starryseo]

another world. | kim seungmin

pairing ↠ seungmin x gender neutral!reader

genre ↠ this was meant to be fluff but if you read the warnings below, you will see that that failed

wc ↠ 8863

summary ↠ video games are fun, but being trapped in one isn’t as nice, even if you’re stuck in it with your best friends

warnings ↠ swearing, fighting (mentions of blood) and major character death (i’m sad but not sorry)

a/n ↠ one of my faves, hope you all enjoy!!

16:43: Hyunjin -  17 more minutes!!!!!

16:43: Felix – tHIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME

16:44: Jisung – 16 more minuTES!!!!!!!!

16:44: You – i leave for half an hour and yoURE STILL COUNTING DOWN

16:44: Felix – stop killing our vibes bro

16:44: Hyunjin – #HaterzAreMyMotivatorz

16:44: Jisung – it makes it more exciting okay joIN US

16:45: Felix – it’s a new minute……….

16:45: Hyunjin – say it y/n

16:45: Jisung – say it say it say itsayitsayit

16:45: You – it’s time

16:45: Felix – :)

16:45: You – for me to get new friends

16:45: Felix – :(

16:46: Jisung – :((

16:46: Hyunjin – :(((

16:46: You – :D

16:46: Hyunjin – we’re not friends anymore

16:46: Jisung – agreed

16:46: Felix – agreed x2

16:47: You – agreed x3

16:47: Jisung – wHy Do YoU hAtE uS

16:47: You – because none of you are giving me chan’s number :(

16:47: Felix – he’s out of your league

16:47: Hyunjin – he’s out of MY league

16:47: You – hyunjin shut up

16:47: Jisung – hyunjin shut up

16:47: Felix – hyunjin shut up

16:48: Hyunjin – what’s with this slander?? weren’t we all against y/n?

16:48: You – they finally realised i’m better than you

16:48: Jisung – omg shut up and get online PLEASE

You turned your phone off, running down from your bedroom to your living room. Grabbing your controller, you hit a button, waking up your console from its rest mode. The screen still showed the loading image of the game you had downloaded. So far, only a beta version of the game had been released to the public, and the four of you were more than excited to try your hand at it, seeing as it was one of the latest, most talked about, virtual reality games. Since it was still an unfinished game, only a certain number of people could join, so you all had loaded the game beforehand, the developers updating you that the game would officially be ready to play at 5PM exactly.

Clearing the room so you had space to move, you grabbed the SenseSet, the headset built just for this franchise, propping it on your head and fixing the mic. It was a headset that stimulated all of your senses via your brain, so you could fully experience and control your in-game character. You watched eagerly as the minutes ticked away, getting closer to 5PM. When you had mere seconds left, you grabbed your controller, ready to hit the ‘X’ button and start the game as soon as possible. When the clock struck five, you pushed the button, waiting with bated breath. As soon as the loading screen faded into a welcoming screen, you cheered, immediately grabbing your phone.

17:00: You – IM IN BITCHESSSSS

17:00: Jisung – jhsfkjashf SAME HERE

17:00: Felix – ayyyyy #squad

17:00: Hyunjin – i didn’t get in

17:00: You – sucks to be you

17:00: Jisung – better luck next time bro

17:00: Felix – oh well

17:01: Hyunjin – why are you bitches so heARTLESS

Hyunjin – I WAS LYING. I GOT IN, BUT SCREW YOU ALL

17:01: You – we knew you were lying

17:01: Hyunjin – h o w

17:01: You – intuition? :’’’)

17:01: Felix – spidey senses???

17:02: Jisung – your profile says you’re in the game dumbass

17:02: Hyunjin – oh yeah whoops

Grinning as the page finished loading, you went through a quick set-up of adjusting the screen size and resolution before the game actually began. A robotic voice, you couldn’t tell whether it was male or female, started speaking as your screen changed to a dark blue colour, the words they spoke appearing as though someone was typing them on screen.

“Welcome to Another World,” it began, the screen fading to show vibrant images of the virtual reality game. It showed hills and rivers where people were training and fighting, and also the bustling towns where people had gathered for festivities. The typing continued over the images in the background. “A place where you can be who you want, however you want. Make new friends, explore new places and forever have fun, in this brand-new world where you are your own master. Please enter your real name – this will only be visible to people you have chosen to share it with.”

On screen, a keyboard appeared, and you used your controller to spell out your name before hitting enter.

“Please enter your screen name – this will be visible to everyone.”

Typing in your username, WhoAmI, you were glad it was available and you didn’t have to spend time thinking of another one. The screen then zoomed into the world until one street was displayed. A plain figure was also displayed on screen with your username above their head. A banner with ‘Recreate yourself’ written on it was at the top of the screen, different settings emerging on the side with buttons to personalise your character. After much deliberating, you had created your whole character finally adding a black cloak with a silver dragon embellished on it to complete the look. You hit enter and the screen transitioned to a first-person perspective, still in the street.

“On your wrist, there is a Viewer – it is impossible to remove the Viewer and tampering with it will result in a ban. Please click on the Viewer’s screen.” The voice instructed.

You clicked on the watch, a hologram-like screen appearing in front of you now. As a default, it opened your profile, displaying your name, username, level and health bar. There was an empty friends list to the side and multiple other tabs at the top too.

“To add another person, you must open your friends list,” the voice told, just as a square highlighted your friends list. “Please click on your friends list.”

You were taken through a thorough tutorial of how to use the Viewer, familiarising yourself with the other tabs (the main ones being the inventory and map tabs).

“Please head to the Town Hall. Use your map to navigate to it.”

Opening the map, you looked for where Town Hall was written, clicking on it so a path was highlighted. You closed the screen, the map shrinking down to be displayed on the Viewer.

Upon arriving, the voice spoke up, “Enter the Town Hall building for a briefing.” Just as you were making your way to the building, you heard several voices call out your name.

“Y/n, where are you?”

“Oh man, what if they already died?”

“Shut up, Felix; if you haven’t died, I doubt they have.”

You turned to the boys standing just off to the right of the building. You made your way to them, swinging your arm around one of them as you grinned. “Did you guys miss me?”

“Ew, of course not,” Hyunjin grumbled, shrugging your arm off of him.

“C’mon, we were waiting for you to come so we could go in together,” Jisung spoke up.

“Aw, cute, you’re all lost without me,” you laughed, making your way to the building.

“I told you we should’ve left without them,” Hyunjin mumbled and you nudged him.

You all entered the building one after the other, but as soon as you entered, you could no longer see them. The place was filled only with computer generated characters to fill the scene.

“Guys, can you hear me?” you questioned aloud, looking around. “Felix, you there? Jisung? Hyunjin?”

After radio silence, you walked forwards a couple of steps before a voice spoke out. “Welcome to Another World. I am the developer of this world, Park Jinyoung, and now, I am in control. You may have noticed that the tutorial failed to show you a log out button – that is not a defect or glitch. You cannot log out of Another World, and an outsider will not be able to shut down or remove the SenseSet from your head; doing so would force the transmitter in the headset to discharge a microwave signal into your brain, destroying it and killing you. Media outlets are already aware of what removing the SenseSet would do, so the likelihood of removal is, hopefully, minimal. Cutting the power will also be futile as I installed an internal battery in the SenseSet.

“Now that we have all 1,500 people in the game, the world and all its mysteries will be acting in full force. The only way to get out of the game is to clear the three boss levels I have personally created. If, at any point, your health falls to zero or you are killed, not only will your avatar be killed, but the SenseSet will trigger the microwave signal, ending your life, so reviving someone is impossible. Only once you have cleared a level can you move onto the next. Once all three levels have been cleared, the game will end. Players, I wish you all good luck and remember to have fun. Thank you for playing Another World. This concludes your tutorial.”

When the booming voice silenced, the noise from the computer characters took over your senses once again. You quickly turned around, rushing out of the door you had come again. You were met with Hyunjin’s character looking around worriedly, and you jogged over to him, asking, “Where are the others?”

“They haven’t come out yet; did you get the same message?” He looked relatively scared, like a deer caught in headlights, eyes wide and unfocused.

“About this being real? Yeah, what the hell kind of messed up shit is this?”

“What the hell was that?” you heard someone yell, and you and Hyunjin turned to see Felix running out of the building towards you.

He was followed by Jisung who was repeatedly saying, “No, no, no, this can’t be real, right?”

Hyunjin was the first to speak up, “It makes sense,” he started, and you all turned to him, fear evident in your eyes, “he wasn’t lying about the internal battery and there really is no log out button – I went through all the settings. Plus, we have no control of our bodies now, so we wouldn’t be able to pull off the SenseSet even if we wanted to.”

He was definitely correct about that last part, even you were sure about that. The SenseSet had been advertised as the most revolutionary headset since it gave the user the full experience their character would undergo, the only way to regain your senses was to quit whatever game you were playing.

“So, we’re actually stuck here?” Felix murmured, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “And we have to fight to get out?”

“Wait…” Jisung started, hesitantly, “Would we have to kill people, like, actual people and not just the computer-generated ones?” You all looked at each in silence, no one answering him since the answer was obvious and grim.

“We should get a move on,” you suggested, Hyunjin nodding along with you. “We should try to level up or something, learn more about the game so we can get the hell out of here.”

“We need to do that quickly, there are probably other players that wouldn’t hesitate to attack us.” Hyunjin said, opening his Viewer up, “Let’s add each other first, though.”

You all opened up your Viewers, adding each other. You snorted at Hyunjin’s username, “‘JinyoungILY’, dude you’re such a loser.”

“Says you, ‘WhoAmI’; you’re a lameass, that’s who you are.”

“Oh, burn!” Felix laughed, high-fiving Hyunjin.

“Shut up, ‘Here2FixIt’, how stupid,” Jisung rolled his eyes, “I don’t even want that name to be in my friends list.”

“Oh shush, you love me, ‘ProteccTheSquirrels’,” he grinned, slinging his arm around Jisung’s shoulders.

“Let’s just all agree that I have the best username,” Hyunjin said, smirking. And so, one-by-one you all unfriended Hyunjin, walking away together.

The four of you had explored the map as much as you could before evening came. After talking to some other players, you found out that people could go on missions which would help train yourselves, boost your levels and give you experience points and qreele – the currency in this world.

Earlier, the four of you had taken a few small missions, helping some computer-generated characters decorate their houses, assisting in a charity shop and other mundane tasks. This gave you enough money to head to a nearby café where you all snacked on cake and hot drinks. The drink warmed you up perfectly after spending the whole day out, working and learning more about Another World, and the setting sun made you even more tired. You ate the final part of your cake, the cream tasting so real, so delicious, yet you still couldn’t come to terms with being stuck in a game.

“Guys,” Felix started, leaning his head on the table sideways, “where are we even going to sleep? I’m tired as heck.”

“Sleep is for the weak!” Jisung exclaimed, chugging the second coffee he had ordered.

“Idiot…” Hyunjin mumbled, rolling his eyes at Jisung, “We should probably look around for a place to stay, it’s getting even darker outside.”

You all got up after that, throwing away your rubbish and leaving the café. After wandering around for a few minutes, you walked past an alleyway. You all chose not to walk down there but hearing grunts of pain from there enticed you all to check out what was happening. You hid along the sides of the entrance, trying to look at the commotion. You heard the clatter of metal against the ground before someone growled out, “I won’t ask again, give it to me.”

A feeble voice coughed out, “No, get away from me.”

“Shit,” Felix whispered, eyes widened in panic, “We have to help him out.”

“How?” Jisung squeaked out, “We can barely even see what’s happening!”

The streetlights barely glowed in the alleyway, only showing their shadows on the ground and illuminating the dumpsters and rubbish lining the floor. Hyunjin took lead, instructing Jisung to grab a nearby pot, Felix to duck behind the dumpster and for you to grab the nearest bin lid as a shield. He then moved away from the wall, cupping his mouth with his hands. “Hey, dumbass, why don’t you pick on someone your own size!”

The man, realising the guy on the floor wasn’t going anywhere, dashed in Hyunjin’s direction. Just as he was running past, Felix stuck his leg out, tripping the man over so he thudded to the ground. Jisung threw the pot at the man, managing to hit his head. The man seemed stunned and Felix used this time to help the injured man up just as Hyunjin tackled the guy out of the way. He gained strength, however, easily pushing Hyunjin off who slammed against the wall. He turned to Hyunjin swinging his arm back when you threw the lid at him, hitting his back and grabbing his attention away from Hyunjin. In that moment, Hyunjin kicked the man in the back of his knees, him falling to the ground once more, as Jisung picked up another object, throwing it at the man.

Just as you and Felix had managed to grab the injured man and Hyunjin, the attacker grabbed the bin lid throwing it at Jisung. It flew into his shoulder, the edge cutting him and tearing his shirt. He grabbed his shoulder, grunting in pain, as it started to bleed.

As soon as you heard the man get up, cursing, you heard a small rock-like object hit the ground and then smoke emerged, clouding your vision. You heard a voice usher you guys to follow them and, having no other choice, you did. After a while of running, you somehow managed to lose the burly man you had just fought off somewhat successfully.

“Okay, I think we’re in the clear now,” he spoke, leading you guys to a side street which was lit up well. You tried looking at his face but the mask and cloak he was adorned in concealed him well.

“Uh, guys…” Felix called, “What the hell’s happening to this guy?”

“It’s like he’s disappearing,” Hyunjin said, shaking the man’s shoulders to try and wake him up.

“Look!” Jisung pointed, “His Viewer’s flashing!”

“Let me see,” your saviour said, rushing to the man and holding his wrist. “Oh God, he has no health left.”

“He’s at zero?” you asked, moving closer to the group, just as the man opened his bruised eyes.

“Th-Thanks for saving me,” he barely managed to croak out.

“He is now.” The man who had saved you replied, showing you the Viewer which displayed the number zero in a large, black font. Simultaneously, your heads turned back to the injured man just as his eyes shut, body becoming pixelated as bright colours appeared as small dots until they all faded into a grey shadow of the body.

And then he vanished. In his place was a blue screen with the words XxILoveDarkxX has left printed on it.

Hyunjin and Felix’s arms fell limp to their sides, no longer holding up a body.

“Did… Did he seriously just go?” Felix asked, facing the hooded man.

“Shit, please tell me that was a computer not an actual person,” Jisung said, also facing the man.

He shook his head slowly, “Computers don’t get Viewers, he is- he was human.”

In the sombre silence, the four of you followed the man back to his hideout. He led you to the entrance of another alleyway, but he didn’t walk further. Instead, he looked back, checking for any lurking players, before he crouched to the floor, lifting the metal plate leading to the sewers.

“Your secret place is the sewers?” Hyunjin asked, raising a brow and facing you as though asking you ‘should we make a run for it?’

“Just trust me,” he replied, ushering for you all to go down first.

Felix went first, followed by Jisung who struggled as his shoulder was still injured. You and Hyunjin then went, followed by the man, who made sure to close the lid again. There were light green lights illuminating the place and, strangely, there was no dirty water contaminating the whole floor, but there were two streams on either side of the walkway. Once you had climbed down, the man told you to follow him further in.

You eventually arrived at an open area – a place you definitely didn’t think would exist under the ground. The middle part of the room was slightly lower than the rest and there was a large sofa on one side, a table in the middle and a TV on the other side. There were arcade games lining part of a wall and a fridge next to it and a counter beside it. There was even a door with ‘TOILET’ spray painted onto it. The whole place seemed like the most perfect underground headquarters you had ever come across. You looked further on and there was higher ground with a tree planted in the middle; there were training dummies scattered around that room with weapons hanging off of them and other training facilities on the side.

“Dude, this is wicked!” Felix exclaimed, running ahead and jumping on the sofa.

“There’s no way you could’ve built this place,” Hyunjin inquired, turning to the man – he still hadn’t revealed his name, but his username which, you only brought your attention to now, was ‘SquirtleMin’. “The game was only released today, how’d you know about this?”

The man shrugged his shoulders, pulling his hood off and his mask down, “I was running away from some people, and, what better place to hide than underground?”

“I don’t mean to be a nuisance, guys,” Jisung called out, “like, please, carry on, I’ll just carry on bleeding out, it’s fine.”

“Oh shit, Jisung, you idiot,” you said, pulling him to the sofa.

“Yeah, I’m the idiot, it’s not like you were the ones that forgot I got hurt.”

“In our defence, a man did just die,” Hyunjin said, “I think we’ve got more important things on our mind.”

“I was hurt saving your dumb ass!”

‘SquirtleMin’ had just come back from the bathroom, looking through a first aid kit. He pulled out some gauze, bandages and a saline solution. “I don’t actually know what I’m doing,” he started, “don’t you know what to do?” He asked Felix.

“The username’s just a joke, dude,” he laughed, holding up both hands innocently.

“Don’t trust Felix with that,” Hyunjin interfered, grabbing the solution, “he’d probably kill Jisung.”

Somehow, Hyunjin had cleaned the cut and wrapped it in the bandages successfully and Jisung’s health had stopped slowly decreasing – he was only at 93 which wasn’t too drastic.

“Here, drink this.” The man told Jisung, handing him water. “It should help regain your health.”

“So, who are you, ‘SquirtleMin’?” you asked, crossing your arms and relaxing into the sofa.

“Who am I, ‘WhoAmI’, that’s a great question.” The man laughed, sitting on the table opposite you.

“If you guys are going to make bad username puns, just kill me now,” Jisung groaned, leaning his head back onto the sofa.

“C’mon, let’s just add each other,” Hyunjin suggested, opening his Viewer to add the man. You all followed after Hyunjin and he accepted, revealing his name to be Kim Seungmin.

“Wait…” Hyunjin started hesitantly, “You go to school with us, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I didn’t realise it was you guys until now.” He grinned, “I thought I just met another group of losers.”

“You’re hilarious, aren’t you, Squirtle?” Hyunjin rolled his eyes, joining Seungmin on the table.

“Yes, I am, ‘Jinyoung I love you’,” Seungmin smirked, nudging Hyunjin’s arm, “Mind asking your lover to get us out of his game?”

Hyunjin scoffed just as Felix snorted out a laugh, “Disgusting, I don’t love that creep, I have standards. I love GOT7’s Jinyoung.”

“Their names are both Park Jinyoung,” Jisung pointed out, posing as though he was thinking of something.

“The creepy ass game developer is part of GOT7!” Felix exclaimed, jumping up, “Conspiracy theories!”

“He should’ve just stuck to the music industry,” you grumbled.

The five of you had created makeshift beds and hammocks to rest in overnight; they weren’t the most comfortable things to sleep in, but for now it was good enough.

That morning you ate breakfast with the food already in the fridge before deciding on what tasks to do for that day. Jisung had healed up fine overnight, so he, Felix and Hyunjin decided to go on a mission whilst you and Seungmin headed to the library to get books on this place before exploring more.

“Dude, this is tiring,” you groaned, faceplanting into the book in front of you. It had been a good few hours since you arrived at the library, reading book after book on anything and everything about this world – from its vast history and how it came to be, to the creatures and legendary monsters hidden within. “If I read another word about how freaking amazing the scenery in this hellhole is, I’m going to cry.”

Seungmin held back a laugh, rolling his eyes at your antics. “Why are you so dramatic? It’s your own fault for picking the boring books,” he pushed a book, ‘Magnificent Myths’, your way. “Read this one.”

“But you just read that,” you moaned, pushing it back and resting your chin on the table, “and the title sounds cheesy as heck, man.”

“You’re so difficult,” he murmured, and you grinned when he shut the book in his hand, pushing it aside. He mimicked your position, leaning over the table, face mere inches away from yours. “What do you want to do, then, y/n?”

Your eyes lit up enthusiastically as you exclaimed, “Let’s eat!”

“Silence!” The librarian – an old woman with dagger-like eyes – bellowed, glaring at you and Seungmin from behind the counter.

“Do you have to be so loud?” Seungmin whispered, peering over at the librarian in case she was still looking.

“Oh, relax,” you shrugged, giggling at his worried expression, before getting up and stretching your joints out. “Let’s go!”

He huffed, grabbing the books he had yet to read in his hand as you carried the others to put away. He quickly scanned the books before catching up with you as you waited by the exit.

You took him to a fast food place you had spotted on your way to the library. After buying your food, you managed to grab a table in the corner, settling down in the booth. You started sipping on your smoothie, the drink refreshing you perfectly.

“This may just be pixels,” Seungmin started, “but, damn, this tastes wicked.” You laughed at his blissful expression as he breathed in the food, barely taking time to enjoy it properly.

You stole some chips from his plate, grinning when he huffed and complained, “you have your own food, why are you taking mine, you thief?”

“Food tastes better when it’s stolen,” you winked, taking another chip, but before you could bite it, Seungmin had grabbed your wrist, using all his strength to force your hand his way so he could eat the chip from your hand.

You pouted when he successfully managed to eat it, glumly picking up your own chips instead now.

“You’re right, it does taste better when stolen.”

“Holy shit, this looks badass,” Hyunjin gasped, holding yet another sword. His hand smoothed over the blade, index finger tracing over the letters engraved onto it.

“That’s what you said about the last sword,” Seungmin groaned, rolling his eyes at Hyunjin’s fascination, “Can you actually help us out now?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hyunjin mumbled, messing around with the sword in a few random poses before he hung it on another display rack, finishing off the sword collection. The five of you had been tidying up the hideout this week, alternating between missions to get enough money for resources to revamp the place.

“Another win!” Felix cheered just as Jisung hit his head against the game machine, “Pay up, sucker.” Felix held his hand out just as Jisung opened up his inventory, giving Felix one of his prized weapons.

“I’m pretty sure you cheated,” he grumbled, sniffing as he reluctantly sent the dagger to Felix whose Viewer lit up with a notification.

“I told you not to play against him,” you said to Jisung, having finished repainting the last wall with Seungmin. “He’s obsessed with the game and you thought you could beat him?”

“Stop judging me,” Jisung glared at you as you laughed, joining Felix who was admiring his newly-received prize.

The three of you joined Seungmin and Hyunjin on the sofas, relaxing after having spent the whole morning re-painting the walls and unboxing weapons you had gathered on your adventures. Hyunjin and Felix had found a secret basement filled with different decorations and paints, so you all decided to re-paint the walls and spray paint over it, personalising the hideout to suit you all.

The training area had been the worst to reconstruct, and you even took the weapons already there to a blacksmith. Hyunjin had read up on the weapons and there were a couple of rare, enhanced swords and shields hidden here. You had taken a particular liking to the magical books that were in the basement, practising the different techniques and spells written in there. There was a handwritten book thrown on the floor of the training area, with more powerful spells and enchantments that you had been practising, although they were incredibly hard to control and energy-consuming.

Over the months, you all had been training in different areas, like your lives depended on it – and they did. Where you were training in the magical arts and had gotten to level 103, Felix had become more agile and stealthy, choosing to become an assassin-like character, learning hand-to-hand combat and how to wield a dagger and gun, rising to level 95. You had watched him practice for so long, pouring blood, sweat and tears into perfecting his martial arts; you couldn’t help but admire how much he excelled at this, even helping yourself and the other boys when he could, so you could all spar together.

Hyunjin had chosen to be more long range, polishing his archery and sniping skills to become a level 97. You always made sure he ate properly – he had a tendency to spend hours training his precision and looking through small scopes, so whenever you spoke to him, his eyes would look exhausted from squinting so much.

Their training was always intense and much harder to level up when they were constantly fighting and draining energy. You practised your healing skills on them: when they would fight, you would see how long it took you to heal them both a considerable amount; you also taught them small healing spells in case you weren’t ever around and they needed to fix themselves up. You had also read about lots of different potions, experimentally brewing one for Hyunjin to lessen the strain on his eyes. Despite several failed attempts at the start, you learned a lot more about different ingredients and how to use them to their full potential.

Jisung and Seungmin had become typical fighters, but Jisung was more of a paladin, strengthening his defence, so, when the time came, he could take on heavy attacks without losing health drastically; Jisung was a level 110 and Seungmin a level 113. Jisung and Seungmin would always push you three to fight against them, so they could become quick to defend themselves against attacks from all distances and angles. Despite the severity of your situation, you all enjoyed the fights that ensued, training together had not only made your characters stronger, but brought your group together, like a tight-knit family of teens.

“Race you to the river!” Felix exclaimed, taking off as soon as you all arrived at the park. Jisung and Hyunjin dashed after him, dropping the baskets and footballs they were holding. The sun was starting to set, casting an ethereal orange glow on the water and fields below.

“Why did we get stuck with these idiots?” Seungmin grumbled, laying out a mat where they had dropped everything, before flopping down on the ground. “Seriously, I feel like their dad looking after them.”

You were just about to taunt him further when you heard Hyunjin yell out, “It’s every man for himself!”

You and Seungmin both turned to see the three of them sprinting away from police guards and you simultaneously sighed. You slumped to the ground besides Seungmin, turning to him. “I feel like their parent too.”

You were staring up at the sky, unaware of Seungmin’s eyes widening – the sun wasn’t the only thing painting his cheeks pink.

He sat up, and your gaze followed, before he tugged you up by your wrist. “Let’s go.”

“Go where, exactly?” you questioned, standing up after him regardless.

“Away.”

He stored everything in his inventory before whisking you away to the river. You had no clue where Hyunjin, Jisung and Felix were, but your mind paid them no heed anyways.

The two of you followed the river downtown, talking about everything and nothing. You couldn’t help but notice how Seungmin was still holding your hand. He had let go when he opened his inventory up, taking out some food for you both to snack on, but he held on again as soon as you had taken the food. This single connection had you riled up, your body fluttering at the warmth his hand exuded. You listened to him as he hummed a song to fill the lull in your conversation. You loved hearing him sing – he would do it in the underground home whenever he thought he was alone, and you could never stop yourself from listening in, hanging on to each word he sang.

“Do you ever think about home?”

His sudden question broke you out of your trance, and you let out a small, “huh?”

He repeated his question and you pursed your lips, so many thoughts taking over your mind. You thought back to your family, your real home, and how life would have been much different had you not logged in. You couldn’t imagine what your family must be going through – you often wondered how they were coping with this ordeal. Were they still worrying about you, or had they lost hope? Would they welcome you with open arms if you ever came back?

“Yeah,” you murmured, “it’s a scary thought, though. Everything’s going to feel so weird if we ever manage to get back.”

“When,” he emphasised, and you furrowed your brows, confused. “Not ‘if we get back’, but ‘when’.” He grinned after that, smiling cheekily as he added on, “Have a little faith in me, y/n.”

“You’re my hero, Squirtle,” you quipped, rolling your eyes as his smile grew.

“C’mon, let’s get ice cream!”

As soon as you entered the hideout, you heard Felix exclaim, “They’re finally back!”

When you walked to where they were, Hyunjin grumbled, “So you’ve finally decided to join us?”

“Ignore him,” Jisung said, nudging Hyunjin, “He’s still salty because the policeman managed to tackle him.”

“I tripped first!”

“Anyways,” Jisung exaggerated, clasping his hands, “how was your date?”

“What date?” Seungmin asked.

“Don’t think we haven’t noticed your hands, Minnie,” Felix commented, and Seungmin broke the hand-hold, quickly holding onto his other hand.

“Oh, shut up,” Seungmin grumbled, leaving the room. “I’m going to sleep, good night.”

Once he had left, all 3 boys turned to you, smirks galore and eyebrows dancing in mischief.

“Screw you all,” you mumbled, going to your room, and they burst out laughing at your annoyed face.

Your group had become very well known in Another World, noticeably due to you being able to defeat the first two bosses within 6 months of the game. It had been a gruelling 6 months, training every day and doing harder missions to get enough money to stay alive. You had even named yourselves ‘I am NOT’, people spray painting your title as a semblance of hope and faith that you could break the game and escape. People still had no idea of your hideout and you were glad; although you were a beacon of hope, there were twisted groups that fed off of the control the game gave them, and a group of youngsters that were close to defeating the final boss was the exact opposite of what they wanted. You had gotten into many fights, never intentionally taking another life – it was a rule you had all agreed upon: do enough damage to end a fight not a life.

The whereabouts of the bosses were all given through riddles; the first riddle being revealed to all the players a week into being trapped in the game. After that, Jinyoung had announced that the next riddle would only appear to whoever defeated the boss, at the end of the fight. The riddle that appeared to you was:

I never thought you’d get this far

But the final clue for you is STAR.

Your progress has disrupted my game

Let’s see if you can fulfil my aim.

The five of you had been wracking your brains for the answer to this, nothing worthwhile coming out of it. You had checked out observatories, staking out overnight in case the boss would only appear at night. You had travelled far and wide, but all your leads led to dead ends.

The five of you had just returned from sneaking into a place called STAR labs. Although you had already checked this place out, this was your first time going at night, altogether, although nothing fruitful happened aside from Felix falling asleep and knocking a glass down, tripping the silent alarm. You all made a hasty getaway from security, barely managing to lose them since the streets were so empty. You abandoned the car you had driven in, running back to your house in the shadows, not leaving a trace of you guys behind.

“Another failure,” Jisung mumbled, faceplanting onto the sofa.

“You’re a failure,” Felix grumbled after him, falling right on top of him.

“Another day, another beautiful car gone,” Hyunjin joked, lighting up the mood.

Seungmin made his way over to the fridge just as Hyunjin pulled Jisung and Felix into upright positions. You sat on the second sofa, easily catching the water bottle Seungmin threw to you.

Seungmin sat beside you, leaning his head on your shoulder, huffing out as he shut his eyes. The other boys broke out of their misery to turn to you, eyes winking non-stop and hands fanning their faces to mock you.

“Y/n, are you perhaps…” Felix started, a teasing smirk on his face, “blushing?”

“Of course not,” you whispered harshly, flicking the bottle’s cap at him. He dodged it easily, raising his eyebrows suggestively at you. You rolled your eyes at him, vision landing on Jisung who had cupped his hands into a heart with you and Seungmin in the middle.

“Stop it!” you said, quickly looking at Seungmin, as you kept your voice down to not wake him up.

“Why?” Now it was Hyunjin’s turn to fool around, “We all know you,” and then he made a heart with his hand, “him.”

Even though they weren’t wrong, you couldn’t help but tell them to stop, fearing Seungmin might wake up. During the long time you had spent stuck in this game, you had gotten considerably closer to the boy. You couldn’t help but appreciate everything he had done for you four, always thinking back to the first day you arrived – he could have easily left you there to fend for yourselves, but he helped you out and even let you stay with him in your current home. You had all gotten much closer now, literally trusting one another with your lives, and you couldn’t be any happier with the four boys you call your best friends.

What surprised you the most was how Hyunjin, Jisung and Felix had managed to figure out your (small) crush on Seungmin; you knew they liked teasing you about liking him, but you never thought much of it until one day when Hyunjin and Felix pushed Jisung towards you – he dragged you off to another room and tried getting you to speak about Seungmin, but, of course, you tried brushing everything off, feigning ignorance. He hadn’t believed in your, “oh, it’s nothing, we’re just friends,” comments, but he had decided not to pester any longer. You wondered if Seungmin knew too, then, if you were this obvious – just thinking about him possibly returning your feelings made your mind go crazy.

“Where else do we have to explore?” you asked, changing the subject before taking a large gulp of your water.

Hyunjin looked over the large paper spread over the table, crossing out ‘Star Labs, night’. “Nowhere else, the labs were the last place.”

“Ugh, guys, there are more rats,” Felix groaned, leaning his head on Hyunjin’s shoulder.

“Where?” Seungmin asked, suddenly awake. All of you turned to him, wide-eyed; had he been awake this whole time? Had he heard your conversation?

Felix pointed to the arcade games and Seungmin went there, sword in hand, looking for the creatures.

“Hyunjin and I went around sealing all the holes just yesterday,” Jisung whined, “How the hell do they get through so quickly?”

The rats had only been adding to your stress over the final boss fight. You took a closer look at where Seungmin had scribbled down the riddle.

“We disrupted his game…” you mumbled, biting your lip as you thought of what that meant.

“These stupid rats are disrupting my sleep!” Felix complained, hearing the clatter of Seungmin’s sword against the ground.

“Felix, that’s it!” you exclaimed, finally understanding the riddle. “The rats only came after we got the riddle, right?”

“Yeah, but they only come out… at night; shit, you’re a genius!” Hyunjin gasped.

You continued, “Exactly, they only come out when the stars are out, we were right about something happening at night. But that’s not all: star is an anagram for rats. There’s got to be a connection with the rats and the final boss.”

“Do we need to follow them or something?” Jisung asked, now interested, “Maybe where they come from is where the final fight is.”

“Uh, guys…” Seungmin called, and you all turned to look over at him. The rat he was going after was stationary in front of a game machine, his sword falling straight through it, yet it wasn’t disappearing in a cloud of pixels like it previously had. Instead, it looked like it was staring straight at you.

“I don’t think we have to go to the fight…” Hyunjin started.

“It’s already come to us.”

The five of you quickly escaped, just as more rats started pouring out of hidden crevices in the room. Jisung was the last to climb out, pulling the lid to the sewer over the hole.

“Wait, those rats have been there for so long,” Felix spoke, “how come they’re only coming out now?”

You and Hyunjin shrugged your shoulders, looking to Jisung who was just as clueless.

“Maybe he was waiting for us to figure it out,” Seungmin suggested. Just as he had said that, the small holes in the lid let through a sharp, bright white light with a blue glow. It travelled as far up as your eyes could see, alerting anyone who was still awake.

“What the hell is that?” Felix said, voice dripping in awe, as your heads all looked upwards at the never-ending light.

A massive crash sounding from your headquarters snapped you all out of your reveries. You all equipped yourselves with weapons, preparing for an attack.

You were right.

The fight had come to you but this was unlike the last two boss levels you had finished; it was like Armageddon and an apocalypse horrifically rolled into one. The cacophony had awakened hundreds of other players, so you weren’t fighting alone. Even then, the monsters that had crawled and broke through the ground were annihilating you all. You had deviated from the entrance to your hideout, the largest and strongest creature hot on your tail.

You couldn’t even make out its feature properly, not due to it being dark outside, but because it barely had features. All you could make out was a massive figure with black, ice-like shards covering its entire body and burning red eyes. That was all. Even its hands that you had seen shoot purple fireballs were made of shards.

Your bullets barely made a mark on it, scratching the surface before flying off. Yet Felix continued to waste his ammo, firing shot after shot as he ran forward; Hyunjin was also shooting arrows that you had enchanted to slow it down, but they were all crushed beneath its claws, disappearing in a cloud of pixels.

A dead-end.

You had done all that running, fighting, saving, to come face to face with a dead-end. You were so sure that this wall wasn’t here, you’d been through this place countless times and yet the bricks lain in front of you begged to differ. Your mind was clogged with so many different things, spells, maps, people, and yet it couldn’t focus on anything, thoughts jumbling into a giant mess screaming at you to do something, to do more. But what more could you do?

You didn’t know how long you had been fighting for. The whole game had changed ever since the chaos ensued: the sky was devoid of all stars and the moon, the streetlights only flickered a ghastly pale blue light and the roads had all changed, houses appearing where there should have been empty spaces, walls built where there once was a street.

“Shit, what do we do now?” Felix panted, bruised hands barely clinging onto his gun as he leaned back against the wall.

“Hell, if I know,” Hyunjin gasped, yelling in pain as you helped him sit down. There was a shard sticking out of his calf, and you used your dagger to cut his trousers so you could help him.

“Felix, shine a light, quickly,” you instructed, crouching in front of Hyunjin who threw his head back, jaw tensing as he bit back cries. Felix opened his Viewer, the screen shining a blue light onto Hyunjin’s leg. There were purple lines slithering out of the shard, beneath his skin, slowly spreading in every direction and you just knew that wasn’t good. You looked at his face, smeared with blood and bruises, tears brimming his eyes in defeat.

You steeled yourself, pulling out water from your inventory for him to drink and ease his nerves before you started. You used every spell you could, numbing his leg before you pulled the shard out, swiftly cleaning the wound before you healed it. The purple lines continued crawling upwards but his health started decreasing at a slower rate, possibly buying you time to do more. You and Felix quickly ate something too, before you heard more crashes, and then footsteps running near you.

Jisung and Seungmin had bought you guys time, diverting the monster’s attention from you three when Hyunjin got hit. When they got to you, Seungmin banged his fists on the wall, “This was never here, what the hell?”

“Are you okay?” Jisung asked Hyunjin, keeping an eye out for the beast.

Hyunjin managed a feint nod in reply, blinking away his tears.

You made sure Seungmin and Jisung ate something, their health bars dropping to 30. With the energy the food gave you, you healed their injuries, hands shaking as they glowed a pure white, clearing their skins of the battle scars.

“We’re fine now, y/n, thanks,” Seungmin murmured, holding your hand in his to stop you from healing him, “boost your own energy up, yeah?”

He handed you an energy sweet he had which you took graciously; you looked up at him, face littered with cuts and dried blood, eyes still shining hopefully, and you wondered how he didn’t feel defeated yet. His hand glowing caught your attention and you broke eye contact, staring at his hand that moved to your face and, as he swiped his thumb over your cheek, you felt a strange sensation on your face where a stinging cut once was. You lifted a finger to your cheek, feeling around for the cut, but were met with just your skin, nothing torn or bleeding.

“When did you learn that?” you asked, a small smile on your face when he kept his thumb there, running circles over your cheek.

“I pay more attention to you than you think,” he joked, pinching your cheek ever so slightly before dropping his hand once again.

Before you could continue you heard heavy thuds getting closer. You felt him grab your hand, squeezing your hand tightly to say ‘Be careful’, before he moved in front of you, now standing besides Jisung who had equipped himself with half of a massive shield, larger in height than the two boys combined. Seungmin equipped himself with the other half, and you stood next to Felix and Hyunjin, knowing what the boys were doing. They had timed it perfectly: the creature had sprinted at them, swinging his fist back before landing a solid punch, clashing with the two shields Jisung and Seungmin had fused together. It was a shield made of the strongest metal, by the finest blacksmith in the game, and you had added further enchantments to strengthen it.

You could see both boys skid back slightly, them leaning their whole bodies into the shield to hold it together more strongly to protect you three. Their eyes were scrunched together as they pushed back with all their might, taking on the second punch that was landed without a second to breathe. A third punch had them moving back even further and the fourth had the shield splitting into two once more. They both flew back, crumpling against the wall, shields clanging miserably against the ground.

You stood in front, lifting your hands to form a magical shield just as the creature delivered another blow; you could hear your shield wilt under the power, see more and more cracks dig their way into the surface, but you pushed back with all your might, hopefully buying the boys some time. The shield fell to pieces once the claws retracted and you used this as an opportunity to send some more magical attacks to it. You sent out purple laser beams that were supposed to be able to cut through anything, yet they only managed to break some shards that were headed your way. You saw bullets flying too, Felix standing beside you, guns at the ready. You followed by sending out explosive black orbs to its legs, but only the ground blew up, dust flying everywhere.

You couldn’t see it.

Not until it had soared past you, too late for another shield, too late to even scream out his name.

It was like you could hear the slicing sound it made as it tore him. Your vision only focussing on how he screamed in pain, hands rushing to where he was hit as though he could do something.

The beast disappeared after that. Gone, like the wind, a message appearing in front of you instead.

Better luck next time!

You could barely make out the letters, rushing to him and dropping to the ground. Your mouth couldn’t form any words, hands doing all the talking as they lit up, a futile attempt to save him.

“You’ll be fine,” you repeated like a mantra, but no matter how many times you said it, you all knew it was nothing but empty words.

“C’mon, bro, hang in there,” Hyunjin mumbled, crawling over and cradling his head in his palms.

Jisung crouched besides you, holding his hand tightly, whispering more words of encouragement so he stayed awake.

Felix sat next to Hyunjin, holding his other hand, eyes wide and screaming for help, mouth quivering in silent pleas.

Nothing was working; no spells were making the blood stop dripping down, no charms were stopping his health bar from diminishing.

15.

You watched as his eyes slowly shut, chest rising and falling with each painful breath.

Hyunjin was rushing through his words, saying he would never forget him – couldn’t ever forget him. Tears streaming down his face, Felix cried about how he was forever thankful, ever since that first day you all met him. Jisung was barely holding on, whimpering about how he looked up to him, admired him for being so courageous and helping you all out, never asking for anything in return.

7.

What did you have left to say?

The tears trickling down your face blurred your vision and you swiped at them furiously. “Fuck, Seungmin, that should’ve been me,” you sniffed.

Just saying his name hurt – this all seemed like a dream, a nightmare, a game. Yet nothing had felt more real. His nose scrunching was his way of disagreeing with you, yet that thought was all that plagued your mind. You should have been quicker, more alert, more careful.

5.

He used his last burst of energy to hold your hand, rubbing his thumb over your knuckles before he pressed a soft kiss to it, the feel of his lips against your hand soothing you ever so slightly. He dropped your hand on his chest, barely lifting his other arm to click on his Viewer. You all looked at his screen, wondering what he was doing as he scrolled.

DRAFTED MESSAGES (1)

3.

He hit send.

2.

He was…

1.

Gone.

Hey, y/n, if you’re reading this then I’ve somehow gotten the courage to be the man I’m pretending to be in this game. So, either I’ve sent this just before we get to leave the game, or just before I, alone, leave the game. Hopefully the former. :)

I like you.

It’s a lot easier typing this message out, especially since I know you probably won’t ever see it (let’s face it, we both know I’m not the strong man inside that this character makes me out to be). With any luck, I’ll get the courage to say this to your face, but until then, I hope this will do. I like you a lot. It sounds really nice saying that, especially to you of all people, because you’re amazing.

We may have met in a game, but I hope we can continue to be great friends in school (if not more) because I’d hate to lose someone like you, and we make a great tag-team against those other losers. I had a great time getting to know you and, although we’re stuck in a game, I’m glad I got the chance to meet someone as great as you because you’ve changed me, a lot. I hope I live up to your expectations outside of the game too.

I feel like I rambled a lot, and this is probably very cheesy (please don’t show the other guys this, I would DIE), but I hope this doesn’t change anything between us.

Third time’s the charm, so here I go:

I really like you, y/n.

[in-the-gardens-of-inspiration]

Yo, so let me preface this: I used to watch the 2003 4kids TMNT when I was a kiddo, and I've also been watching TMNT2012, and I'm also pretty hype about Rise tbh, but it got me thinking about the weird rabbit-holey SI/reader being in a relationship with one or more or all of the bros- and like, made me think back to the one I wrote a few years back when I was sick. It also made me think of Raphael having the Hebrew version of his name instead of the Latin/Italian version, Raffaello, and of course because Angelology is its own dark rabbit hole of research, yeah, I was thinking about the archangels, the Hamato brothers and a SI/OFC. Also a bible-thumping, born-again bus seat neighbour.

Then I decided, I have to write this glorious mess.

(It's for 2012, 'cause I'm most familiar with that incarnation atm)

__

There's something crappily unlucky about getting stuck in New York City after 10:30 in what many, if not most people consider the bad part of town.

It was a reprieve at first, honestly, but after the first 10 minutes, it just was such a drag.

Want to know what happened? Well, the Greyhound broke down, and the driver couldn't fix it, so he called another bus to pick his passengers up, which would be coming. Eventually. Some time after 11:30. Wonderful.

Great. Well, I wasn't beside a born-again Christian Evangelist Bible-thumper trying to shove her brand of religion down my throat, so plus.

On the flipside, minus: I don't know NYC, like at all, I was daytripping. So I wandered off because I was rather sick of my benchmate, the Bible-thumper, and, haha, of course, got lost.

Now I've heard some shit about the Big Apple recently, and like, it's wacky. Ninjas? Aliens? Oh get real. That's a movie publicity stunt.

But ho boy, was I wrong.

So while I was wandering, trying to find my way back to the bus shelter, I hear footsteps approaching me, and like these suited Pod-people clones with these gnarly laser rifles are following me. My eyes go wide, 'cause holy shit, this is either a ballsy as fuck publicity stunt or I'm about to get murdered or worse by these plug fugly clone rejects, and to be honest, either choice sounds kinda shitty.

So I'm there, speed walking the FUCK outta there, when I hear whooping, jeering and clanking metal, I turn, lo and behold: ... Uh turtles...?

I blinked a couple times, nope. Not a stress-induced hallucination, okay, that's good? Yeah, a quick pinch to the arm also verified it wasn't a dream, because oww... And uh, my stare was being returned, and I barely withheld a squeak of startlement, with a no-doubt awkward look I gave my rescuers a smile-and-wave combo. And immediately regretted it.

Between one blink and the next the turtly-shaped anomalies, there were four of them, all around 5-ish feet tall. All sorta staring- like what happens when you stare too long at the abyss, it stares back.

"Um, hi..?" Mouth engaged before brain rebooted, great start. "Thanks for saving me from those creeps..." I think I nervous blabber, that's gotta be the only reason I'm still talkin'. "My name's Daphne, you, uh, fine fellas see a bus shelter 'round here? Think I got a little turned around.." Finally, my mouth ran out of words to spew out, and I was left to get a closer look at my rescuers. I mean, outside of 5-ish foot tall turtles.

Decked out in domino mask-like bandanas, the quartet made for a fairly imposing image, weapons adorning them and blank eyes. Fairly imposing at least until the shortest one, in the orange, spoke, baby blue eyes glittering at me. My mental image of my knights in tortoiseshell armour tarnished a bit,. "Whoa, bros, she's kinda pretty."

She's also right here, I snorted, taken aback, god he sounded like a teen- oh shit, could he actually be a teen? Huh, that's not something ya see everyday, teenage ninja mutant turtles.

The one with the red bandana smacked the one that had spoken upside the head. "Why don't you think before you speak?!" ... Okaay, that's, uh, new.

He spoke again, absolutely unfazed by the whimpering, teary-eyed stare he was receiving, "Bus shelters about five blocks that way." And he pointed in the direction I'd come from, ah nuts, I'm probably getting more lost in the seedy part of an already dangerous city, great. I smile at them a bit wanly, "NYC's got my internal compass a little on the buggered side, but eh, thanks for the directions." I move to push past them, when a blast of pink energy from a nearby alley slams into the pavement in front of me, and I leap back with a choked off curse.

The one in blue grimaces, and barks out, "Let's take care of these pests first, Mikey, Don, can you cover for..?" I'm assuming he's the leader, but it still startles me a bit when he looks at me amidst the blaster fire. Holy shit, my day's just become an episode of a comedy sci-fi anime.

So Blue told Orange, 'Mikey', and Purple, 'Don', to cover me, the civilian liability, yeah, fair, but I was planning on booking it back in the ensuing chaos, nuts. Right, he asked my name again, "Daphne."

"Sure thing Leo!" Next thing I know after Orange chirps that is the sound of a facepalm, ah, that sweet sound of exasperation. I see Blue grit his teeth, and Red poorly hold back a bark of laughter. Ah, I assume they were going for subtle and mysterious. They failed. Oh well.

I fished my phone from my hoodie pocket, 11 pm, oh good. I had time. I put my phone back and sat crosslegged on the ground, and propped my head up. Makes both less and more of a target, I'd wager, plus with all this cloak and dagger, haha, ninja b/s maybe I'll make my bus before they drive off and I have to find a hostel or something.

Again I find my mouth running off before my brain can process, "So... Come here often?" Of course I had to imbue as much sarcasm as I could, raising my voice so all four could hear me- probably not my best call, but I was tired and getting quite cranky. All but Blue were at least amused, Blue, eh, ya can't win 'em all. "So, eh, what are these pod people supposed to be anyway? Rejected robot clone Men In Black?"

I flinch as a silver robot with a smirking brain goes to reach for me, but man am I glad I took a a few years of various martial arts. With a spot of grace, and it beint close enough to use it's brain as a spring board, I do a back roll, and end up knocking into Purple on the get up. "Sorry man, didn't mean to, ugly over there caught me by surprise." He turns to see where I rolled from, and spots a KO'd 'droidy bastard. "That'd be ugly then?" Giving him a cheeky smirk, I humm, "Mmhm, that's him, warts and all!" I stretch, mutterjng to myself as I do, "Ah man, it's been a bit since I've done that..." The four of them by this point have have taken care of the robo-menaces, and Blue still looks extraordinarily unimpressed. Almost like what happened was my fault.

"What are you even doing out here so late? Most people aren't." My eye twitched, yeah, that was equal parts tiredness and irritation, "Like I said, New York buggers with my internal compass and I got turned around. I don't want to be a target for less-than-savoury people, so I learned a helpful tip, called look like you know what you're doing. I'm pretty fucking lost right know, so some help would be much appreciated. If you want incentive, I've got some artisan dark chocolate, and some low-sweetness white chocolate, that ok?"

Eventually, after 10 minutes of bickering, a bar of white chocolate lighter, I was able to get an 'escort'. Red who I found out was properly called Raphael, who was equal parts volunteered and voluntold to make sure I was able to see the bus shelter before buggering off. As I walked the last couple of blocks, an errant thought popped into my head. Raphael was classically an Archangel. There were classically, at least in bare-bones Christianity, four of them. Micheal, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. That- oh boy, did that give me an idea if that lady was gonna try and make me change my beliefs and spirituality.

Plot twist, or maybe not, my favourite person in the world decided to sit rihht beside me. Again. For the long ride homewards. I think she took my silence as license to gab. Oh joy.

Putting on my most awed, touched by God face, from the shadows of my hood, and the most dreamy voice I can manage I put my plan into being.

I flip my hood down, and turn to face her a little bit more, "You know," I cut her off mid-I'll-be-damned-if-I-don't-convert speech, "I think I was visited by the Archangels, you see, I got a little turned around, and I think they guided me back safely." She was gaping like a fish, "One of them even spoke to me," I continued blithely, "He introduced himself as Raphael. That's after they scared off a group of muggers." She looked like I slapped her with a particularly slimy fish, "I-I, bwuh?" Eloquent, lady, very eloquent. "They were so kind and helpful, I can't believe they appeared to this sinful daughter..." After a beat or two, "Miss are you okay?" The fanatical lady was still a bit BSoD, which was a-ok by me, so I flipped my hood back up, and went back to trying to sleep.

I didn't think much of the whole incident for a while, until my friend flipped me a vid of a radical upstate New York lady losing her shit upon being interviewed by a televangelist. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry. She was talking about me.

Not quite in so many words, of course, since she wasn't there for what actually happened, but she flipped out when the 'pastor' questioned the validity of her, by extension, my story, through my phone speakers I could hear the question being asked, 'how do you know she was sober?' and the lady just loosing it. I wheezed. What?

[themanicgalaxy]

SPN 6X9 Clap Your Hands if you Believe

what

ok lovely sex scene time

just fucking leaves in the middle of a makeout session lol

yep patrick is dead

PATRICK GOT ABDUCTED BY ALIENS

OOO X FILES OPENING

I LOVE THE THEMED EPISODES

ope missing persons cases

I like the juxtaposition of "holy shit it's aliens" "people are still missing" "it's thE FAIRIES"

SaM

DEAN HAS TO EXPLAIN WHY SAM IS LOSING HIS SHIT

AHAHA THE EMPATHY

THEY'rE STILL CONFUSED BY THE SOUL THING

FAkE iT tiLl YoU MaKE it

Dean's the conscience this is gonna be fun

this town reminds me of stars hollow it's hilarious

Sam, instantly: YOU DID IT

Dean: Sam please

huh the watches are everywhere

"I did fine" Sam you killed so many people

ooo nice shot with the colors

FUCKING ROCK MUSIC RING TONE

BUT T THiNg "EMPATHY SAM"

this is fantastic

DEAN DID YOU JUST "COME AND GET ME" TO THE ALIENS

oh my god it's area 51 raid's precursor

now he has to find the UFO AHAHAHA

"did it happen when you were kids" "no like half an hour ago" AHAHAAH

HE STILL SHOT HIS GUN

DEAN'S FACE

HE WALKS IN ON HIS BROTHER HAVING SEX WHILE HE WAS ABDUCTED

AHAHAHAAHAHA

"they were grabby, incandescent douchebags, goodnight" "too soon, ok"

AHAHAAH

Yep Dean's alone again whee

UFO timeslip AH YES NERD SAM IS BACK

THE FUCKING ROBOTIC PAT ON HIS THIGH

"you're safe now" SDFASAIFP

he went nuts and they just kinda returned him ahaha

AHAHAH DEAN

"our reality is collapsing around us and you're FLIRTING"

you're just mad ur brother is effortlessly what you wanted to be

oh wait I take it back this is interesting

"NO SAM NO HAVING SEX" AHAHAH

"having a soul means suffering" "yes" BRO ARE YOU KIDDING OR DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE IT

"and suffering is good" NOO DON'TL ISTEN TO DEAN

"they WILL NOT STOP WRITING BOOKS ABOUT IT" AHAHAHA

GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TOM

N O GUN

"?nipples?" THEN IT PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE

"bitch"

THE FUCKING MUSIC

HE MICROWAVED THE ALIEN

ah yes Dean is now hallucinating

the bleh

"it was a glowing hot naked lady with nipples and she hit me"

"I'm not supposed to laugh right" AHAHAHA

it's fairies

THE LADY WAS RIGHT AHAHAH

ah yes the fairy that attacked dean

SAM'S FACE

FIRST BORN SONS

"did you service oberon king of the fairies" I SWEAR TO GOD SAM

Forcefully Interact

it's always silver

iron is true from what I remember

DO YOU HAVE BIGGER CUPS

DeAN HAS NO SOCIAL SKILLS AND NOW HE HAS TO FIX WHATEVER THE FUCK SAM'S DOING

"the crazy's on me" FGHPSDFIA

"AND NO HAVING SEX WITH HIPPIE CHICKS SAM"

boy that was a lot of cream

yep the fairies

but why with watches

the fixation on pool even when not playing

"I'm assuming you have a soul, so what's your excuse" OOO THAT'S A GOOD LINE THOUGH

parkinson's, can't make the watches anymore

always the first born

~he's behind you~!

Whoops

DEAN IT's A FAIRY THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS

fIgHT thE faiRIEs

DEAN YOU LOOK INSANe

FDHAISPDIP HE'S ACCUSED OF A HATE CRIME

FITTING BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THIS SHOW IS

"you are all kinds of messed up" HAAH

"cream hits them like tequila" ahahah

OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK

The UFO enthusiast is the leprechaun who knew

UFOs just handle all the theories

"he's ours now" oof

Sam's not like other girls

soul not completely out of reach huh

ah a deal

"your devil, not mine" OOO

oo the pinocchio references

uh oh

YEET

they're both getting beat up

"why didn't I do that earlier"

HE HAS TO FUCKING COUNT IT

COLORS

Deal BAd

"I have all my brain cells" AHAHA

oh no don't tell me he doesn't want his soul back

aight

1. Lore!! actual lore again!! the iron! they have to count the salt/sugar! the cream! the pagan part of it(they're explicitly older than christianity)! The covering up because of christianity! the fucking first borns! it felt like an urban fantasy show and that was GREAT!

2. Ok now that it's not grey all the time, well composed shots include beautiful color that's been adjusted well. goddamn this episode was pretty.

3. THE FUCKING COMEDY OF MAN WITH NO SOUL HAVING TO LEARN EMPATHY WAS SO GOOD! LIKE YEAH YOU CAN PLAY IT TRAGIC BUT THIS WAS SO MUCH BETTER AND DIDN'T MAKE SAM OR DEAN ANNOYING

4. And also, the fact that Sam's getting second thoughts about having a soul, the "what's your excuse" like. interesting things done with soulless sam

oh fuck me of course it's a ben edlund episode

[the-chosen-half-of-one]

Really Long The Empty Grave Ramblings Lockwood and Co.:

Lockwood and Co. The empty grave spoilers, long incoherent commentary and rambling/babbling ahead, you have been warned... - - - "I'll treasure the memory on my deathbed" Oh Kipps, I laugh before I realize... What if his deathbed's in this book? "Holly got out some chocolate, began offering it around" She's like the Remus Lupin of the crew right there, 'Eat! you'll feel better.' I expected wax, but The wax figure actually coming to life actually freaked me out I imagine the skull saying "how's it going?" Like Isabella says "whatcha doing?" In Phineas and Ferb except more sarcastic. And when he says "eep, he's a big one!" ... There's Steve Irwin Lockwood's art skills have a Supernatural gif "I know your feminine wiles!" Oh my god, skull Oh my god just imagine George wearing a sequinned tasseled dress in a theatre show... Try getting that image out of your mind... When Lockwood turns to George and says how they can take anything La Belle Dame throws at them, it sounds like they're secretly gay for each other I knew Lockwood was showing Lucy his family's graves, but when he got there, there was just something in my eye, not tears, nope, nope, nope, just some dirt making my eyes misty Oh my god no, a space for Lockwood's grave, nope, nope, nope The empty grave isn't just referring to Fittes'... Let's hope it stays empty... The Lockwood's weren't even killed by ghosts, that's almost sadder I wonder if it was staged... This whole scene in the graveyard has an eerie but nice calm The skull is so just Lucy's sassy friend who likes discussing boys with her and embarrassing her: "ooh, I smell something burning... Oh wait, it's your pants! Your pants are on fire, you massive liar! You so weren't on a case!" Oh my God, the slow atrocious wink😘😜 Well, it was very overgrown. I bet it was. The figure rising from the mounds of garbage in the alleyway. "Hello, Flo" *Me chanting* George and Flo! George and Flo! No, Mr. Gale, really, I should have kicked YOU. Holly with her comeback. She's not the mom friend, she's the teacher friend. "Could you show [the papers] to me?" "I could. It would certainly be possible" The way they seem to think Barnes is trustworthy makes me worry he's not... Kipps! Kipps! Humble Kipps. My Kipps! Drinking game: take a sip every time someone says Charley Budd "[The scream] was higher and shriller than Holly's, so we knew that it was Kipps." Let's split up gang! No let's not, that's how problems start! Oh god no fortunes! Nuh uh! No you don't! Don't do this! "He will go into the dark" "He will sacrifice his life for you" I don't think so witchy! Nope! Lies! Shh! *worry* *sobbing* That moment with George telling her to really look at the ghost is grea- wait what if he's the one who dies... George is the strongest of them all! Lockwood no!!! Trapeze artist Lucy Carlyle at your service!!! "Hey, Luce..." Slap! Bearded lady has got a thing for Kipps😝 Anthony Death Wish Lockwood *sobbing* I hope Barnes is a good guy... Aw, he cares! Like a concerned grumpy ol grandpa. Lucy/Skull are totally a thing, they're an item I wonder if the silver Fittes uniform is like the feather cape or something Rupert can see the ghost... So ectoplasm can maybe do more than just keep you young and Penelope's not the only one with the secret... George???!!! Oh my god don't be dead don't be dead don't be dead Ok I know it's a bad time and my gosh poor George but internally chanting George and Flo! George and Flo! "Who's up for a spot of burglary?" Whoa an actual age for Kipps! His "advanced" age of 22 They have cloaks like the capes! I knew it! Fittes totally stole the Lockwood's research! This just makes me more sure their death wasn't an accident! Deranged seniors on stilts, I thought it was an automaton for a moment, but nope just old man Wolverine I can't take them seriously I just see elderly cosplaying as tinfoil robots with bulbous goggles and handmade weaponry I knew it! I knew it! It wasn't no accident! Oh my God, poor Lockwood! I want to punch the Orpheus Society in the face and get them in an "accident" gaah I'm so mad! Skully doesn't want to leave! Portal in Jessica's room... Means free the skull! Free the skull! *about the ectoplasm* "does she bathe in it? Does she eat it, what?" Just imagine Fittes having a nice peanut butter and ectoplasm sandwich... Hot potato pass it on pass it on pass it on hot potato pass it on, you've been ghost-touched There's so many hidden dirty jokes in this book No! Bad plot forwarding! Stop ruining my locklyle moment!!! He was giving her a necklace symbolizing undying devotion!! Come on goons, you couldn't wait 3 more seconds???!!! This is some Home Alone type stuff going on People keep liking my "who was going to die theory" I posted months ago and Kipps was just stabbed and I'm worried... Kipps says he's fine which is exactly what people say when they're not fine... Oh God, now they're trapped in the spirit world, how did I not see that coming??? And now they've got the ghost of Winkman to worry about... And they're totally dead and I almost always forget the skull's not very old. And no Gale don't take our skully!! ... She's actually physically stopping them from moving on... That's so awful... My god I think Kipps is dead or near death which is why he has so much energy in the spirit world. Flo's better than Lockwood with a rapier, she was an agent, now she's a survivor... So much character development in this book! More of the skull's spirit! Yay!... More affirmation of Kipps' not aliveness... Not yay... I wonder if ectoplasm has healing properties too... Am I getting desperate??? Tell me your name skull tell me!!! *me desperately yelling at him* I'm not crying. Who's crying? Just some dust in my eye. *begins sobbing over Kipps* They called him the body. I'm dying now. "It was only at the very end that I realized he was dying" "What do you mean dying? I bloody well hope not!" Oh my god if you heard my gasp of relief you'd think I won the lottery, that was beautiful. That was a roller coaster, that was my heart being ripped out and shoved back in. "You've got to take her by surprise, right? Well nothing would be more surprising than you stripping naked now, daubing charcoal on your cheeks-I'm not specifying which ones- and rushing out of the elevator, whooping and leaping like a mad thing..." Does this quote even need a comment? It's 'you and I' Marissa, geez, this is all I have now, correcting the grammar of fictional villains... Is Ezekiel controlling her... No that makes no sense. Does it? Oh God is his source in the cabinet?... Wait what... What's actually going on??? The body in the cabinet is Marissa?? I'm freaked... Is she a ghost? What is this? ... I'm with skull on this one "I didn't expect that." Is this possession?? Oh my god it was actually her granddaughter, that's sick... She killed her own granddaughter... Well I bet this is worse than we all thought.., and her daughter... *me chanting* free the skull! Free the skull! Dang it Lucy! Put some elbow grease into it!!! Hmm... I guess not. Lockwood no... Nope nope nope... Like Lockwood yes, perfect timing, but Lockwood no! Skull!!!!!!!!! Aw, he does care No, I knew safety was too good to be true! Really, a cluster bomb?? Really??? We were so close... The skull... The skull is the one who died... The one who sacrificed himself for her... The dead guy is the one who sacrificed his life... I don't know if I'm sad, impressed, surprised or all 3... I'm seeing the destruction in slow motion "Some of us have standards you know" oh Flo... That made me smile. Biker jacket Barnes! Phew Skully's okay for now. Unless... He finally decided to move on. Give the people the truth!!!! Lockwood in a macho leather jacket like Barnes, haha no. Lucy don't you see the Locklyle happening before your eyes??? Hope for skully! Lil green glint... Wait I just realized we never did learn his name did we? Locklyle! Locklyle! Locklyle! This book was too good! ... Now what do I do?????

[galactic-aesir]

Road Trip!: Chapter Three

After getting hit with an anti-magic Shen Gong Wu that leaves Dojo unable to fly them back to China, the Dragons in training, plus Jack Spicer in tow, road trip across America towards the Bailey’s family ranch.

Surprising no one, it doesn’t go as planned.

Rating: Gen Tags: Multi-Chapter Fics, Road Trips, Temporary Truce, Dialogue Heavy, Dubious Placement in Canon

Read it on AO3 Read Chapter One

Keatt guffawed as they attempted to push the car towards the garage. The wreck was flat on its rims with a broken back axle. Even with the five of them at it, all they managed to do was make a two foot car-shaped groove in the muddy ground. One final heave sent them tripping over each other and crashing into the mud as Keatt bent over double, smacking his knee as he laughed.

“Ooh, fellas,” he tried saying between hiccups of laughter. “I haven’t suckered idiots like you in a while.”

He wiped a tear from his eye and tried to compose himself but the mocking smile on his face betrayed his amusement as they shook the mud off themselves.

“Anyways, I’ll be in the office. You have ‘til sundown to fix the car. Get off my property any later and I’ll call the cops on ya for loitering. Got it?”

With that, he sauntered off back to the office building leaving the monks plus Jack alone in the scrapyard. They grumbled as he left before turning their attention to the car.

“Great going, Pedrosa,” Jack snipped.

“Hey! I got us a car, didn’t I?!”

Omi looked at it curiously. “Does it qualify as a car?”

“No, it doesn’t, Omi.”

“Aw, come on, Kimiko.”

“Raimundo,” Kimiko said, cutting the brazilian off. “It’s a deathtrap past its prime. It’s an ex-car.”

Clay scratched at his head as he looked it over. “Woowie. I’ll admit, Rai. It looks like it won last place at the local derby seven years running.”

“So?” Raimundo said. “Jack can fix it.”

Split between agreeing with the praise and tearing into him, Jack settled with both. “Of course I can fix it! I’m a genius. But I can’t do it out here! How the hell are we supposed to get this into the garage?”

Clay peeked over his shoulder to see if Keatt was out of sight. Seeing no one around, he turned to the rest of him with a smile and motioned them all to get out of the way. “Don’t worry, y’all. I’ll have her out of there in a jiffy.”

Before anyone could ask him how, the texan smashed his foot to the ground.

“Earth!”

A column of earth erupted from under the car and pushed it into the air. Clay jumped onto the hood and with a wave of his hand began directing the wave beneath him. Riding it like a surfboard, Clay propelled the car towards the garage, whooping all the way. The monks watched him go.

“Huh, that works.”

***

After moving the car over into the garage, Jack toured them around the scrapyard with a rusty shopping cart. It took them the major part of an hour to fill it with the remnants of disused cars and partially wrecked trucks. They’d managed to find half of two engines and a replacement for the back axle along with a few other parts that Jack figured they would need and hauled them to the waiting car.

In the garage, surrounded by car parts and tools, Jack looked in his element. He spun a wrench in his hand and puffed up his chest as the monks looked over the piles of scrap. “I told you you’d need my help!”

“No, you didn't,” Kimiko said, utterly unimpressed.

He wagged the wrench at her. “It was implied!”

At the continued unimpressed looks from the monks Jack rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, now that I’ve got pretty much everything I need, I should be done with this in, like, four hours tops.”

“Four hours?” Raimundo said. “Can’t you go any faster?”

“Hey! If you want to frankenstein an engine out of scrap faster then be my guest, Pedrosa.” When Raimundo scowled at him Jack continued. “I’m just saying, losers; you need me. In fact,” he added tapping his chin in thought, “I don’t even know why I’m helping you out! I could just fix this car and leave by myself.”

At this, the monks took out their Wu nonchalantly if not menacingly. Jack shrank, laughing nervously, and relaxed only when the monks stashed their weapons.

“Haha, no worries, wouldn’t dream about it. I’ll have this thing working better than it ever did in its sorry life, you’ll see!”

“You’d better, Spicer,” said Kimiko.

“Wait, so what are we supposed to do while you work?”

Jack shrugged. “Don’t know, don't care, just as long as you stay out of my way.”

Dojo popped up from underneath Clay’s hat where he had decided to stay until they got on the road. It’d be easiest to hide himself under there if that swindler ever came back to check on them.

“I don’t know about you kids but I’m feeling a bit peckish.”

“Alright, I’ll go for snacks,” Kimiko said. “Clay, you wanna come?”

“Sure.”

“Ooh, get me a ginger ale!”

“And why should I?” she asked.

“Because I’m fixing the car and, wait, hold on, let me think, oh yeah: it’s my money!”

Kimiko frowned, he was right of course, not that she was going to admit it. Jack was a jerk and they may be stuck together for now but that didn’t mean she needed to like it. Or make it easy for him after all the grief he had put them through. Instead of a response, she turned to the rest of the monks, ignoring him completely.

“Omi, you coming?”

“Oh, I would like to help Jack! I am most interested in this motorhead stuff!”

“Gearhead.”

“That too!”

“Absolutely not,” would have been the words that Jack would have used. Instead, they died in his throat after the first syllable as Omi’s face fell, eyes welling with tears. Jack, for all the evilness in his pitch black heart, could not ignore the puppy dog eyes and so he swallowed down the words and huffed. “Alright, fine, you can hand me my tools or something.”

“Yes!”

Kimiko turned to their remaining member.

“Rai?”

“I’ll stay behind. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on you-know-who from stealing our you-know-what.”

“I’m right here!”

“Alright, then. We’ll be in that convenience store just outside of town. See you in a bit.”

Clay lazily waved a hand as they left. “Don’t trash the place, y’all.”

***

“Cheesehead, pass me a 3/8th wrench.”

Omi hummed as he looked at the open toolbox in front of him. It had many drawers and many more tools inside of it in a wide variety of shapes. The little monk was perplexed to find that he had absolutely no idea what any of them did. Nonetheless, Omi was not to be discouraged. Relying on his Tiger instincts, he quickly grabbed a tool he was sure Jack needed and placed it into Jack’s outstretched hand.

The hand quickly retracted as Jack went back to work. Omi congratulated himself. Even with no prior knowledge, he was no match for this task! Surely this was proof of his incredible skill and intelligence!

His pride was quickly dashed however when Jack straightened himself out of the hood and frowned at him. He pointed at the tool.

“This is a screwdriver.”

“Oh!” said Omi. “What does it do?”

Jack tipped his head back and groaned. “Ugh, I can’t work like this! Where’s a loyal minion when you need one?”

Raimundo zipped by them, using a floor creeper as a skateboard.

“Probably in that scraphead over there,” he grinned, pointing his thumb at what remained of the Jackbots.

“Hey! They’re not scrap!” Jack said, moving over to the pile of ex-Jackbots, as if to protect them. “They’re the meticulously engineered product of my incredible genius! They’re the pinnacle of modern robotics! Years ahead of their time!”

“Dude, they’re just robots.”

“Yes, and not particularly robust ones at that.”

Jack gasped and hugged the ex-robots, draping himself over the pile. “Don’t listen to them, they’re just jealous. Daddy loves you.”

“Weird.”

“Whatever,” Jack said, making his way back to the car.

He paused as a thought struck him and flipped the screwdriver in his hand before sitting himself down at the workbench to work on his robots.

“Hey, you’re supposed to fix the car, Spicer!”

“Yeah yeah, it can wait, this is more important,” he said prying the panel of a bot open and removing a small black component. Compared to the rest of the Jackbots, this part was obviously made solid with hard steel and heavy rivets. Wuya’s insignia on it glistened silver on the center of each one.

“What’s that?” Raimundo asked, leaning over Jack’s shoulder.

“Why’re you on my case, Pedrosa?”

Raimundo squinted at Jack. “‘Cause you’re evil.”

“Thank you!” Jack cupped his hands under his chin and batted his eyelashes at him.

“That wasn’t a compliment,” the Dragon of Wind frowned. “You could be building a bomb or something. I don’t trust you to just tinker around.”

Jack’s mouth was pressed into a line as he regarded the Xiaolin monk. “As tempting as it is, Raimundo, that wouldn’t help us out. Or me. Besides,” he said, mouth twirling into a smirk. “How would you even know if I was building one anyways?”

Raimundo's eyes went wide as it dawned on him. Jack looked on with a knowing smirk amongst the car parts and scrap metal and old wiring. He would have no idea if Jack was setting up a trap or a bomb. He would have to go on the Heylin’s word. Sensing this, Jack's lips curled further into a wicked grin.

“Huh. Guess we’ll just have to trust each other then.”

***

An electric jingle played as they walked passed the automatic doors. The cashier at the front offered them a welcoming hello before turning back to watch a baseball game on the old dusty TV set in the corner of the shop. It was a general store that had been repurposed many times over the course of its long life. It was old but clearly cared for by the current owner.

Clay and Kimiko set out between the scant aisles to get snacks for their friends and Jack. Kimiko was considering buying an off-brand ginger ale for Jack out of spite when Clay came around the corner with a mountain of chips and snack cakes. She snorted at the sight of him teetering under the mountain of snacks that were threatening to fall on top of him.

“Hold on there cowboy,” she said, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards, taking a few off his hands. “We can't blow our budget on snacks.”

Clay sighed and looked longingly at the snacks Kimiko was replacing onto the shelves. “I figure you’re right, there, Kimiko. I’d hazard saying that we still need to pay for at least one night at a motel.”

“‘At least’? How far are we from Texas?”

“It’s not exactly a hop, skip and a jump but it ain’t that far. I’d reckon a 30-sum hour drive?”

Kimiko’s face scrunched at the thought of being stuck in America for that long, let alone that long in a car with Jack Spicer.

“Is there anyway we could go faster, Clay?”

“No can do, Kimiko. ‘Less you want cops riding our tails.”

Kimiko grumbled. She grabbed a cheap ginger ale from the coolers and slammed the door shut.

“Figures.”

***

In the end, Jack hadn't actually been making a bomb. All he did was take out the small components out his bots and put them into his Wu-stealing bag, which Rai had asked about and yes, apparently not only did Jack have a bag just for stealing their Wu, he also kept it on his person at all times so he could haul his broken Jackbots back home at the end of a showdown.

“I don't get it, dude. Why don't you just build them better?”

“With, what?” he said, tossing the bag in the backseat next to his folded up trenchcoat and busted helipod. “Military grade steel and explosives? Do you know how hard it is to get a hold of that stuff?”

“Aren't you, you know,” Raimundo made air quotes, “‘an evil genius’?”

“An evil boy genius,” he specified, turning up his nose at the monk. He then paused and frowned. Looking embarrassed, he mumbled, “My parents won't buy me the good stuff anymore.”

Raimundo and Omi laughed at him.

Jack grabbed a wrench and made his way to the engine block. “Keep laughing, Xiaolin losers! Once I hit 18, you're screwed!”

“Jack Spicer, it would be unwise for you to wait until you are older!” Omi warned, running after him. “We train everyday to develop our abilities and we will only grow stronger! You will be left behind unless you begin training now!”

“Omi, please stop helping the bad guy,” grumbled Raimundo.

“Pssh, I don’t need help. Or training. I have robots for that. So have fun ‘waxing on, waxing off’ for the rest of your lives,” Jack said miming the movement. “Speaking of which, get going Raimundo. That car won’t clean itself.”

“Who said anything about cleaning?”

“I did,” Jack said with a smirk. “Get going, oh-so-noble Xiaolin Dragon of the Wind. The fight against cleanliness is an eternal struggle.”

“Indeed it is,” said Omi solemnly, thinking of Raimundo’s room back at the temple. “One that Raimundo is sorely losing.”

“Aw, what?”

“It would be wise for you to train on this Raimundo,” Omi said wisely. “As Master Fung says, ‘a tidy temple is a tidy mind,’ and it is important to keep one’s mind tidy in order to meditate. Perhaps your messiness is why you are lagging behind the rest of us!”

Raimundo was stunned out of words for a moment before squinting at the smaller Dragon as a realisation hit him.

“Is this about the chores I skipped out on yesterday?”

Omi did not hesitate. “Yes.”

“Come on, I said I was sorry!”

Jack laughed.

“Clean your mind, Raimundo,” the older teen said, waving his fingers at him. He then turned to Omi and said, “I’m teaching you how a combustion engine works. Hold this torch.”

Raimundo’s shoulders slumped as Omi bounced up to the top of the engine to get a better look at what Jack was doing. He couldn’t believe this. Was this what it felt like when he betrayed his teammates for Wuya? It sucked.

Oh wow. And just thinking about that just made him feel even worse.

Frowning, he looked to the trashed interior of the car and the quasi-unidentifiable junk littering the torn seats. With a sigh, he picked up a rag and got to work.

***

Clay and Kimiko quickly paid for the snacks and started their long walk back to the scrapyard. Once they were out of the town, Dojo popped out of his hiding place and opened a small bag of chips to munch on. There was no noise along the lonely, rarely traveled road other than the dragon’s munching and the crunch of their feet on the gravel shoulder.

Kimiko was staring intently at the styrofoam cup in her hand, fuming silently. Clay could feel the air charge around her as she boiled internally. It was strange of her. Clay wasn’t born in the metaphorical barn. He knew when something was up. In the quiet of the gentle bristle of leaves and crunching rock, his voice nearly startled her when he finally spoke.

“You mind me asking why you were so peeved off about no gettin’ back to the temple?” he asked casually enough. “This isn’t the longest we’ve been away or nothing.”

“Ugh, it’s just...” Kimiko frowned and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“Don’t sound like nothin’.”

“Why don’t you mind your own business, Clay?” she snapped.

Clay put his hands up in surrender. The plastic bags in his hands bounced against his arms. “Didn’t mean to pry, Kimiko.”

The Dragon of Fire felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. She hadn’t meant to snap, especially not at Clay who was, often times, the kindest of them.

“Sorry.”

“Mmm hmm.”

Kimiko bit at her lip, as if considering whether or not to speak. Clay kept his eyes on the road ahead of them but waited patiently for her to continue. Finally, she sighed.

“I was supposed to fly out to go see my Dad in Tokyo. We were planning a surprise party for my sister. It’s her birthday tomorrow.”

Clay cocked his head. He did remember her mentioning plans to go back home but Kimiko hadn’t told them about a sister.

“Well, happy birthday, Kimiko’s sister. She older or younger?”

“Older. A lot older. She works a lot too so I don’t see her much.”

“Oh, well,” Clay said, “I’m sure she’ll understand if you can’t make it. You can always reschedule for some other time, right?”

Kimiko's shoulders sagged, all anger snuffed out of her like a candle. She looked sadly at the styrofoam cup in her hands and flicked at the plastic lid absentmindedly.

“No. Not with the kind of work she does.”

Clay didn’t say anything, leaving room for Kimiko to continue if she wanted to. He understood that family could be… complicated.

“It’s just, I––” Kimiko started and stopped, trying to find the right words. “I know what she does is super important and I get that that’s what she wants to do but I– we haven’t been the three of us together in a room in years and... and I just...”

She sighed. “I just miss them.”

They continued to walk, both lost in their own thoughts for a while.

“I miss my sister too.”

Kimiko blinked out of her reverie. “What?”

“I have an older sister too,” Clay admitted. “My dad and her don’t...” He paused. “Well, they just don’t see eye to eye, is all. She lives with my mom.”

“Oh,” was all Kimiko could say. “I didn’t know.”

Clay shrugged. “‘Cause I didn’t tell,” he said. “An’ well, listen. I ain’t much with words, Kimiko, but I’ve got a decent ear. You’re free to talk to me if ya want. Y’ain’t gotta keep it locked up, ya know? It’s bad for your health.”

Kimiko laughed softly at that. “Who told you that?”

Clay smiled. “My sister. She’s smart like you wouldn’t believe. She’s going to one of those big city universities.”

Kimiko smiled back, bright like the sun. “She sounds smart. What is she studying?”

They continued to talk as they made their way back to the scrapyard, Dojo smiling fondly down at them as they went.

[ourreferences02]

seventy-three questions

I guess this is like if some random person wanted to interview my kids, idk. Ignore how some things capitalized on their own, ik it’s very annoying. not to mention, I didn’t bold or italicize anything. there’s too many words in this post it would take too much time, sorry. have fun reading all of this

q: what’s your favorite movie you’ve seen in the past month?

Richard: Richard peter Johnson. it’s about me. for sure.

bella: to the bone. I forget if they have a trigger warning. I don’t know, I liked it.

calum: john wick. there’s a lot of cool stuff

leia: frozen and moana!!!

q: favorite animal?

Richard: I honestly don’t know. for shits and giggles, maybe cougars

bella: um... when I was little I really liked birds, bunnies, lions, and lambs

calum: dragons are super strong and op

leia: puppiessssssss

q: best friend’s name?

Richard: sam

bella: i’m not very close with anyone. ally, I guess

calum: kirk junior

leia: luke

q: book you plan on reading?

Richard: the catcher in the rye

bella: pride and prejudice

calum: I want to get the guiness book of world records for 2017

leia: the blue fairy book. it’s about fairy tales

q: something that positively shaped you?

Richard: sick as it sounds, my girlfriend set herself on fire and had to go to the hospital. it was because of me, and when she made it out of that experience with no burns it somehow got me to be more appreciative and inspired me to stop being such a dick sometimes

bella: theo.

calum: I heard about LeBron james

leia: life

q: biggest secret?

Richard: don’t have one, really

bella: it wouldn’t be a secret if I told someone, would it?

leia: I found out that my best friend is sleeping beauty! but a boy!

calum: not telling. i’m not retarded.

q: on a scale of one to ten, how excited are you about life right now?

Richard: ten? idk

bella: 6... hehe

calum: five is average. so five.

leia: a bagillion gazillion and one

q: iPhone or android?

Richard: androids have potato cameras

bella: iPhone. I guess if they’re too expensive an android would be okay

calum: aren’t andriods robots

leia: aye aye captain hahahhahhahhahhaha

q: twitter or Instagram?

Richard: twitter

bella: definitely Instagram

calum: I like jetpack joyride

leia: graham crackers?

q: who should everyone be following right now?

Richard: me. just kidding, um... my friends tyrone and Tanisha. they’re living on their own for the most part, with two twin babies, at fifteen. kudos

bella: not kim Kardashian.

calum: stalkers. show them how they make other people feel.... oh sorry, wrong kind of following

q: favorite food?

Richard: I can’t come up with something so i’m just going to say pizza

Bella: i like chicken alfredo pasta. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite though

Calum: hot dogs

Leia: crackers

q: least favorite food?

Richard: cornbread. I’ve seen timmy wolf down a whole loaf. It was huge. There was a lot of blowing chunks after. Scarring, tbh

Bella: never liked green beans

Calum: eggplants, carrots, and bananas

Leia: steak is hard for me to chew sometimes

q: what do you love on your pizza?

Richard: cheese

Bella: cheese. Oh, richard said that too? Ffs

calum: pepperonis

Leia: anchovies! Just kidding, i’m joking!

q: favorite drink?

Richard: i’ve got no clue. water is very underrated

Bella: i used to love lemonade. Haven’t had that in years. Oh, right. I like tea, coffee, root beer, yeah

Calum: i’ve never had vodka, but vodka

Leia: do slushies count?

q: favorite dessert?

Richard: i’m a fabulous dessert -wink- um, no, in all seriousness, chocolate ice cream

Bella: huh. I haven’t had dessert in a while either. Shit.

Calum: chocolate chip cookies

Leia: everything sweet

q: dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

Richard: well I know how tyrone would answer this. I guess milk chocolate

Bella: milk?

Calum: both

Leia: ooooooh, one second, i’ll be back! NO IT’S NOT TO GET CHOCOLATE

q: coffee or tea?

Richard: coffee

Bella: they’re both good for photos, coffee tastes better, but tea is better for you

Calum: alcohol

q: hardest decision?

Richard: what to answer for this question. That counts?!

Bella: life or death. I chose life, obviously

Calum: i’m bored

Leia: my mom asked me if i wanted a dog or a cat! I said dog, but she never got either one

q: favorite fruit?

Richard: peach. -eyebrow wiggle- I actually don’t know

Bella: pineapple, mango, peach, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, watermelon...

Calum: pear

Leia: applllllllles!!!

q: favorite singer or songwriter?

Richard: shawn mendes. I’M JOKING

Bella: isabella vail. Sorry, no self-promo? Okay, theo herondale -grin-

Calum: eminem

Leia: idina menzel

q: favorite song?

Richard: can’t say

Bella: that’s a lot of pressure

Calum: i’m hungry

Leia: I’VE BEEN STARING AT THE EDGE OF THE WAT-

q: if you could sing a duet with anyone, who would it be?

Richard: shawn mendes. I’M STILL JOKING I SWEAR

Bella: theo.

Calum: that’s gay

Leia: MOANA

q: if you had a tattoo, where would it be?

Richard: could i get a tramp stamp

Bella: i can’t choose, whoops

Calum: my arm

Leia: but they’re permanent!!

q: to be or not to be?

Richard: to be

Bella: to be or not to be.. ahh.. Love it

Calum: not to be

Leia: tooooo beeeeeeee... Two bees?

q: bird-watching or whale-watching?

Richard: whale-watching but only if i could ride the whale

Bella: bird-watching, they make such pretty sounds

Calum: a bird shit on my head

Leia: whale-watching because then i could see mermaids too!!!

q: best gift ever received?

Richard: sofia and will, thank you so much for your second creation. Not that the other ones aren’t good i just mean i love wed oh god just shut up richard. Praise you guys, hallelujah. Rest in peace, will. Would’ve been nice to get a “NOW YOU BE CAREFUL WITH MY DAUGHTER!” chat.

Bella: meeting theo was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.. wait is anyone going to see this? Oh god please no UM OKAY best gift other than that, i got a purple flower pin from.. someone.. Although i technically didn’t get it from them..i don’t want to think about this, never mind

Calum: my mom got a basketball hoop for me

Leia: everything!!

q: best gift you’ve ever given?

Richard: i once decorated bella in glitter and shit and then tried to give her to my mom. Yeah, i still don’t know why i did that. Awww, my little sissie, i’m gonna give her a hug after this

Bella: i wouldn’t know

Calum: i gave kirk junior a whole pack of gum once

Leia: i gave luke’s grandma a pretty flower. She’s really nice.

q: last gift you gave a friend?

Richard: the cornbread timmy threw up

Bella: i’ve never had a real friend, um, i gave annabelle a horse necklace and dora a set of nail polish. But they’re just people i talk to sometimes. Plus annabelle.. ugh

Calum: i gave savannah a pencil. Hope she liked it

Leia: i gave my mom a hug today!!

q: favorite video game?

Richard: OH MINECRAFT FOR SUUUUUUUURE!!! sorry i’m not in a serious mood

Bella: i don’t really play video games, the sims, i guess

Calum: call of duty games

Leia: roblox!! I like the pizza delivery game

q: favorite meme?

Richard: oh boy

Bella: are you serious? Right in front of my salad?

Calum: the spongebob music one

Leia: what’s a meem

q: last country visited?

Richard: greece

Bella: greece

Calum: how much longer

Leia: greece

q: favorite body part on a human?

Richard: well this could get some perverted answers

Bella: eyes. But “eyeballs” sounds atrocious.

Calum: pussy

Leia: their hearts!!!!!!

q: favorite color?

Richard: i like reds, blues, greens, idk

Bella: i loved yellow when i was younger. Blues are good too. As for the stuff that’s not on the rainbow, i guess i like black, gray, silver, gold, and white. Oh red is good sometimes

Calum: red, green, orange

Leia: light blue

q: least favorite color?

Richard: that murky brown and green mixture -shudder-

Bella: the colors that we can’t see or imagine. So frustrating.

Calum: yellow

Leia: i like all of the colors, i wouldn’t want any to feel bad about themselves

q: diamonds or pearls?

Richard: i mean there are no pearls in minecraft... OKAY I’LL STOP

Bella: diamonds

Calum: you could sell the diamonds and be rich

Leia: great grandma grace had pearls

q: heels or flats?

Richard: i lost a bet to a guy in a chiffon skirt, but i make these high heels work

Bella: it depends

Calum: heels are sexy.

Leia: no girl can walk in heels, can they? OMG BELLA YOU’RE WALKING IN HEELS

q: pilates or yoga?

Richard: how about just working out

Bella: yoga

Calum: there’s yoga instructor porn

Leia: you mean pirates or yoda? Yoda is in star wars with princess leia, so yoda

q: jogging or swimming?

Richard: swimming for sure

Bella: i mean, i love swimming. But it’s hard to go near a pool when you’ve drowned yourself. I’m sorry i keep being gloomy

Calum: sorry, i fell asleep

Leia: swimming!

q: best way to de-stress?

Richard: hahahhahhahah

Bella: talking to someone, hugging someone, etc.

Calum: sleeping helps

Leia: just breathe! ahhhh...

q: if you had one superpower, what would it be?

Richard:i heard about a superpower that is all the superpowers

Bella: richard told me abo- he said that too?!

q: weirdest person you ever met?

Richard: the howler or the tricycle guy

Bella: theo. -devilish grin- nO I’M KIDDING DON’T TELL HIM I SAID THAT! Awe, i feel bad

Calum: my whole family

Leia: i don’t know, everyone’s weird in their own way

q: favorite flower?

Richard: i don’t know about many besides roses

Bella: i could list my top 50 if you want

Calum: ew

Leia: dandelions grant wishes!

q: last time you cried?

Richard: when my girlfriend was in the hospital

Bella: ...

Calum: crying is for chumps

Leia: i’m too happy to cry

q: do you like your handwriting?

Richard: no?

Bella: im not sure

Calum: oh bitch i fell asleep again

Leia: i forget to dot my i’s sometimes

q: do you bake?

Richard: i live in a house with girls, of course. OH SHOOT WAS THAT SEXIST, I’M SO SORRY I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE TH- oh right. Forgot about calum. LOVE YA CAL

Bella: baking and cooking are both fun

Calum: no. i eat the baked goods though

Leia: i eat the cookie dough heheh

q: least favorite thing about yourself?

Richard: my anger issues

Bella: my luck

Calum: i’m amazing

Leia: i-i love myself!!! haha..

q: favorite thing about yourself?

Richard: idk

Bella: haha

Calum: everything

Leia: i think i’m nice

q: who do you miss most?

Richard: ggg. Great grandma grace

Bella: not ben. I liked you when you were alive, but you are unbearable as a ghost

Calum: i just want to play basketball

Leia: everyone who is in heaven!!!

q: what are you listening to right now?

Richard: the wind, i guess

Bella: arctic monkeys

Calum: leia trying to sing. She sucks

Leia: my favorite tarzan song

q: favorite smell?

Richard: um

Bella: rain, books, fire, theo, dryer sheets, flowers, oh no did i say theo? -blush- please don’t put that in

Calum: no idea

Leia: freshly baked sugar cookies, bella’s are better than my mom’s!

q: last person you talked to on the phone?

Richard: sam. He’s giving me updates on gilly and her baby. I hope she’s doing okay..

Bella: i got some type of hate call from someone. Idk who.

Calum: kirk junior and i were talking about basketball

Leia: luke. He said i’m giving him mixed signals. I have no clue what that means

q: last person you sent a text to?

Richard: tyrone

Bella: charlie

Calum: i don’t have a phone.. one day

Leia: look! The lollipop made my tongue blue!!!

q: sport you wish you could play?

Richard: is archery a sport? Because that’s cool

Bella: i don’t play any sports -sigh-

Calum: i do play basketball, but i really like basketball, so basketball.

Leia: i wish i could ice skate more

q: hair color?

Richard: a medium/dark brown

Bella: i’m a brunetteeeee

Calum: light brown

Leia: blonde!

q: eye color?

Richard: green. Idk about greater detail

Bella: crystal blue? It’s like a blue but if you turned the saturation down a bit and put some shine in there

Calum: i don’t check

Leia: blue, like blue whale

q: scary films or happy endings?

Richard: both

Bella: happy endings

Calum: no real man likes happy endings

Leia: scary movies scare me

q: favorite season?

Richard: tough

Bella: it really depends. Spring is very rainy but i like the rain. Summer is super hot but school’s out and it’s beautiful out. Fall comes with the colorful tree leaves and the clothing, and winter is cold but you have hot chocolate and oversized sweaters

Calum: i bet bella gave a long answer. Loser.

Leia: summer!

q: sexual fantasy?

Richard: where did that come from

Bella: -beet red- w-what?

Calum: huh

Leia: what’s that?

q: hugs or kisses?

Richard: both

Bella: bot- HE SAID THAT TOO? WTH

Calum: neither

Leia: hug time!

q: rolling stones or the beatles?

Richard: the beatles

Bella: the beatles, for sure

Calum: how many left?

Leia: why are we talking about things in the garden

q: favorite sex position?

Richard: i swear this came out of nowhere

Bella: -blink-

Calum: missions. Missionary? Yeah, that’s what i meant

Leia: i’m so confused

q: farthest you’ve been from home?

Richard: i died twice. Dk where i ended up

Bella: see i killed myself, and then i was in some sort of darkness for a week until i decided to come back

Calum: are we close to finished

Leia: look at this nail polish! Isn’t it so pretty?!

q: left or right?

Richard: the price is right

Bella: right

Calum: left

Leia: right

q: lipstick or lip gloss?

Richard: um

Bella: lipstick

Calum: almost?

Leia: lip gloss

q: scariest dream?

Richard: you’d know if i pissed myself

Bella: ..don’t want to talk about it, sorry

Calum: im not scared of anything

Leia: cookeh im mah mout, un segont

q: favorite type of hair?

Richard: i guess i like head hair over pubic hair

Bella: depends

Calum: hairless cats

Leia: those naked rodents

q: title of your autobiography?

Richard: one second, let me think of something

Bella: i wouldn’t write an autobiography

Calum: Perfection

Leia: my life

q: favorite sound?

Richard: did i really just fall asleep

Bella: sorry, what? I was doodling.

Calum: basketballs bouncing

Leia: water

q: favorite animal?

Richard: wasn’t this already a question

Bella: On the other side of a street I knew, stood a girl that looked like you, i guess thats deja vu

Calum: there has to be only a couple left

Leia: what

q: girl crush?

Richard: there’s this girl named wednesday herondale, she’s honestly my dream girl -grin-

Bella: how’d you know i’m bi? nO NOT BIPOLAR

Calum: i-i don’t h-have one..

Leia: i love my sister!

q: last photograph you took?

Richard: you’d expect it to be a nude because i’m a teenage boy, yeah, yeah, i see you.. well, i’ll have you know, it’s a picture of... my girlfriend. isn’t she beautiful, look at her!

Bella: okay so this one is o- fine. Don’t let me go into detail.

Calum: i took this selfie on my ipad by accident. I have a double chin in it haha WAIT WE’RE DONE?! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Leia: oh this one’s of my finger! whoops!