#that's like buying a really good meal and a really good desert thinking Oh those are two good things

[gender-euphowrya]

you know how people warn not to mix cleaning products because the chemicals combined might create stuff like mustard gas

i feel like there should be the same common sense when it comes to skincare products

[mixes-archive]

Can we get König with a loud assertive reader? They have a past in bullying, and as we know König was bullied heavily as a child. So kind of a yin and yang situation.

What if at base (y/n if only visiting, they don’t work there, they aren’t a soldier and have a normal job) and someone starts picking on König, y/n rounds the corner and punches the fully trained soldier to the ground in one hit- and then shaking their fist and looking to their bf saying something like “well I haven’t done that in a long time” *insert cute giggle* then kicks the guy as hard as they can in the gut while he’s on the floor. König is just 👀🧍‍♂️😳

Bonus if the soldier gets up and König is just like I think tf not and stands in front of y/n/blocks them with his body protectively. <33333

Get decked, noob

OOC BUT OMG I LOVE THIS REQUEST THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ANON, SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG BUT EXAMS HAVE BEEN KICKING MY ASS, ANYWAY I LOVE THIS SO MCUH YOU ARE MYBFACOURITE ANON NOE BUT DONT TELL THE ITHERS!!

You couldn't wait to see the look on Königs face!

For once, your boss had actually let you go home earlier. You had no idea why they did, but what did it matter? An occurrence like that should be celebrated! With food!!

You had visited Königs 'Oma' in Austria a few weeks back and managed to mooch a bunch of recipes from her that brought comfort to your lover back in his childhood. He had been really down for the last two weeks and now you finally had time to surprise him with one of those dishes!

It was a little after noon, he had told you his lunch break was at two, so you had a good hour and a half to cook this thing and deliver it to him so he didn't have to buy a stale meal from the cafeteria he was always complaining about. No pressure at all!

There was no time for debating what to make, you closed your eyes and picked one at random. Kaiserschmarrn! That looked easy enough.

Thank god it was easy enough to cook as you thought, you even added raisins. You couldn't quite comprehend how this man loved to add them to every sweet you let him, but if he likes it, you're doing it. You even found some apple sauce in the fridge, choosing to put it into a smaller, different container (while praying it was airtight because you just couldn't deal with spillage right now).

You put it all in a baggie, added a cute little note with a drawing of him and left your house. You just managed to catch the bus in the direction of his work, stopping only a little before.

The ride was a little stressful, traffic was slow and you had to wrap his meal in your coat so it stayed warm.

Once you finally got off, you pretty much sprinted towards the massive base. Pretty much everyone knew you there already, returning your cheery, loud greeting and pointing you in Königs direction before you could even ask. They've done this enough times to know exactly what you were there for.

You ran of with a quick thanks and entered one of the many buildings on base. Were it not for the numbers written on them, you would've definitely gotten lost in all these similar-looking buildings.

Navigating through the corridors, you relied on the signs on the walls to not get lost. The place seemed almost deserted, most soldiers would be in the mensa around this time.

Hope was almost lost until you heard talking! Finally, you could ask someone for directions instead of relying on signs in a language you stopped trying to understandin a long time ago. It even sounded like... König! Talking to someone! Oh you couldn't wait to surprise him! Sneaking up on the corner, you waited for the perfect time to strike.

You really hadn't meant to eavesdrop. Hell, you felt kind of bad for a second, but hearing their conversation made you glad you were there.

"God König, is it that fucking hard to land a shot? Honestly, it's bordering on pathetic... How did someone like you make it this far?"

"Look I- ich hab mich ja schon entschuldigt... Es tut mir wirklich leid, Mann."¹

"And will you stop acting like a baby? It's embarrassing. Hah, no wonder everyone picked on you back i-"

SLAP.

You hadn't given him the chance to finish his insult, putting all your anger into the punch. He fell to the floor, but you were far from done with him, giving him a few strong kicks to the stomach for good measure.

"Haha, haven't done that in a looonnggg time. Hey babe!"

"Ich- öhhh, hallo Schatz? What are you doing here?" König visibly relaxed, but was still playing with his hands, slowly swaying in a side to side motion with his hips. You ran up to hug him, burying your face in his massive, albeit covered, tibbies.

"Missed you. Got out of work early." You stuck your hand carrying the back into the direction of his face. "Lunch."

A smile made it's way in your face when you heard him giggle. He gently pulled the bag from your hand and opened it. Even with his mask, his eyes had that obvious smile in them.

"Wow! Did you make this?" He wrapped his arms around you, slightly leaning into your body.

"Yeah, tried one of the recipes from good ol' Oma!"

"Don't call her old! But... Thank you. Both for lunch and punching this fucker in the face. He made me very uncomfortable." His arms got tighter, pulling you further into him.

"Is he why you've been so sad recently? I've got a few more punches left in me!"

"Yes, but I don't think he'll be bothering me any more." He turned his head away, looking at the space behind you, his voice suddenly growing deeper. "Will he?"

A quiet 'no' was audible before panicked footsteps moved away from your location.

"Anyway, why don't you stay until my break is over? I know a beautiful place a few minutes away from here. Es wären nur wir beide?"²

"How could I ever say no to that, mein König?"

Translation:

¹ "Look, I already apologized. I'm sorry, man."

² "It would only be us two?"

Bonus:

"God, I can't wait to eat this Kaiserschmarrn... It smells so gooddd" You could practically hear the drool running down his chin, giggling at the thought.

"Do you only use me for food?"

He didn't respond, choosing instead to pick you up, bridal style, and start running.

"HEY! Don't distract from the question!! You would me König, you wound me..."

You dramatically feigned fainting as he started laughing loudly, the laugh you loved so much.

[blzzrdstryr]

The price of kindness

Slight yandere! Thoma x gn!reader

CW: Yandere

If there’s one thing you learned during your time on Ritou island is that everything has a price: the favors from the locals, advice and guidance from the other merchants - all of it needs some sort of payment, be it mora, goods or… services.

At first the notion of doing anything of that sort summoned the taste of pungent bile in your mouth and you quickly swatted the thought away, yet the time and desperation brought you to the very bottom and made you rethink your convictions.

In the past you travelled across the seven nations, selling foreign specialties and oddities to the curious locals - powder made of dried qingxin flowers, known for its medicinal use, windwheel asters and dandelion seeds that Mondtstadtians seem to cherish so much, strange alcohol made of cacti juice and other desert plants. Your wares were never particularly useful or meant to last long, but the number of people earning to try and taste something exotic and different has always been big, so you decided that your stock is good enough as it is.

And it was good enough: Inazumans, despite worshipping the unchangeable and immovable archon of eternity, has always been open to something new. All, from little kids, to the gray haired elders have visited your stall, their eyes shifting from one curiosity to another. A lot of people left without buying anything, but even more did purchase, be it a small flower or collection of Liyuen poetry. Mora flowed your way and it would continue to do so, if it wasn't for the Sakoku decree.

Isolation cut the Inazuma off from the rest of the world and locked you on Ritou island. As it was already said your goods were never meant to last long, so it wasn’t a big surprise when they started to crumble and rot once you couldn’t find buyers in the other Ritou settlers - all of them are also travelling merchants, who have seen the wonders of the seven nations and took little to no interest in your own collection of exotica.

International Trade Associations tried to help your quickly deteriorating situation, yet there’s only so much one can do in your conditions - with no goods to trade you quickly run out of mora and had to take on odd jobs to make ends meet - one day you were sweeping and mopping floor, the second you helped to organize ledger and count finances.

You did everything to keep your head above the water, yet it still wasn't enough and one day you found yourself rethinking the proposition one slimy samurai has made you weeks ago. He has lusted after you, you knew it from the way his eyes lingered and devoured your body, how he would turn his head every time you passed by, the sensation of his gaze lingering on your skin remaining for hours afterwards.

“You will crawl back to me”, he said then, a dirty smirk plastered over his face: “once you get desperate enough”.

And now you found yourself slowly approaching him, hesitation and doubt screaming from every step. His lips curled upwards, as he saw you, and that’s when your savior appeared.

Thoma, as he introduced himself later, entered your life as a red-golden hurricane - he acts and talks like a local, yet his features and hair betray his foreign roots. He interrupted you, putting himself before you and the samurai, the latter got angry at this, his fists clenching and eyes narrowing at this slight, yet he yielded and went away - he must be someone of importance then.

Thoma then turned to you, giving you a charming smile and asking whether something was wrong and you found yourself speechless. You couldn’t stand near that person, couldn’t even look at him - for a single moment you felt so dirty and disgusting for even considering selling your body. Your cheeks blazed and you lowered your eyes.

“Everything’s fine”, you softly murmured examining your shoes, instead of looking into those green eyes.

“Oh, really?”, he leaned closer, bending a little to examine your burning face: “You look like you need a good meal”.

This remark, said so casually and nonchalantly, sent another wave of shame, and you wished to leave, until he proposed to the dinner together. You wanted to decline this - Thoma, despite his charm, is nothing more than a stranger to you, yet the aching pit of your stomach grumbled again and you agreed.

You ate a full meal that day, a welcome change to the weeks of fasting, and learned that Thoma was a good soul, looking out for poor foreigners stuck on Ritou island. You believed none of that of course - no one can be this good without expecting any kind of reward, but you still swallowed the words of objection down - the food you were eating was delicious and plenty, something that you dreamed of for the last few days.

He seemed to take a liking to you, judging by the times he invited you to eat or provided you with basic necessities - this wasn’t without a payment of course. As a compensation he demanded you to tell the stories of your travels, of the sights of the snow swept forests of Snezhnaya or vast seas of grass in Mondstadt, and different meals you tried in Liyue and Sumeru.

“I want to learn about different nations”, he exclaimed once you asked why: “and you’re the best person to ask”. You didn’t buy that explanation either - his eyes lingered on your body in the same way that samurai’s did, yet he was nice enough to try to hide them behind a nice facade of curiosity.

“Oh, that’s good to hear” you replied, taking a bite and thinking what to do: “I have a lot of stories to tell”.

Thus your trade began - he provided you with money and food, and you returned these favours with the tales of your travels - Thoma, despite the lust he holds for you is a good listener, genuinely attentive and involved, and you doubt he will act on any of his carnal desires, he’s just too.. nice for that.

If a time on this island taught you anything is that everything has a price and if the price for Thoma’s kindness is just a shared meal and a couple of stories, then you’re fine with it - only a madman would decline the offer this generous.

Weeks slowly merged into months after your initial agreement when he returned to you again - today he’s holding a paper and a treasure in your eyes - the permit to travel across the Inazuma with your full name already written in the blank.

“Is it..?”, you come closer to him, eyes wide and unbelieving of what you saw.

“Yes, dear [First], it is”, Thoma laughs and comes closer to you - just now you realize how tall he is, how much he towers over you: “With this you can travel all across the Inazuma”.

He waves a sheet before you, just a bit out of reach - the gesture that you understand right away.

“And what’s your price?”, you decide to stop beating around the bush, asking straight to the point. His smile turns wider, a “so straightforward, aren’t you?”, thrown your way.

“A good kiss would be a good start”, he finally tells you, leaning in even closer.

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - We’re Coming Back Home

A Drifting Stars AU one-shot, the last one I plan to do, in collaboration with @clownwry.

1st, 2nd, 3rd.

~~~~~~~~~~

Somehow, miraculously, through all of Ford’s traveling, through countless dimensions, his Quantum Destabilizer remained on his back and fully intact.

Okay, well, mostly intact. Partially intact. 

When he was finally ready to attack Bill and put an end to his reign of terror, his plans had been put on hold when a crack in space-time opened. He didn’t dare hope that it was a way home, but maybe if he aimed correctly, the shot would not only kill Bill, but fly him home. But no, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a young girl fly out of the hole, and with reflexes he developed over thirty years of staying alive in the worst circumstances, he hooked his Quantum Destabilizer onto his back, caught the girl, and swam through the gravity-less air for safety, hiding behind an asteroid, putting a hand over the girl’s mouth and hissing for her silence, swearing she would be okay, and they barely made it out as Bill’s words echoed through the Nightmare Realm.

“Sixer’s caught a Shooting Star, boys!”

Ford had no idea what that was supposed to mean at the time, but now a month later, he thinks he finally understood. His niece, Shermie’s granddaughter, Mabel, loved stars, and was very much like one herself. Always shining. Always so bright and full of hope. Many times in history, and even today in other dimensions, runaway slaves used the stars as maps to guide them to a better place. Ford often wondered if Mabel was his star, maybe not guiding him physically to a safe haven, but guiding him to a happier mindset. Guiding him to a life that isn’t completely isolated. Guiding him to a life that included love.

The last few weeks have been challenging, sure, but not that much more challenging than traveling alone; Mabel was a fast learner, and while she refused to use a knife or gun (“Cuz those hurt, Grunkle Ford!”), she was perfectly comfortable with pop-rocks and making foes lose their footing and fall down so they couldn’t attack. And she was very good at hunting for food and water and other reliable resources. 

In fact, Ford would easily say the last few weeks have been the happiest of his life. Maybe only tying with when Fiddleford joined him in Gravity Falls, before work on the portal became dangerous, but after he realized that maybe the woods had been too quiet the last six years.

After just a day and a half, Ford was fully-aware of his attachment to his niece and how much it would ruin him if he lost her. Mabel was everything a good person strives to be: kind, sweet, a pleasure to be around, but not a pushover, either; Mabel Pines knew how to stand her ground.

And so the last month was littered with so many happy memories. Ford was a little hurt when she “borrowed” two broken fishing poles and fixed them up so they could fish, but he very quickly enjoyed sitting on a log by a river and fishing with Mabel. Ford found it brought her much comfort to brush her hair, and he also discovered he enjoyed a calm brush himself. Ford found he didn’t mind the extra weight of his niece on his shoulders; quite the contrary, he found it comforting, and he was always swallowed with peace when she was so relaxed with him that she fell asleep, using his fluffy gray hair as a pillow.

No longer was Ford met with suspicious looks when he walked down the street of a market alone, face hidden. Quite the opposite. He was always met with smiles and warm greetings, and sometimes a little extra food was thrown into a purchase for free. Be it because people saw him as a parent with an adorable child, or because of Mabel’s charm. Or both.

The dimensions they came across were random and different, just like it was when Ford traveled alone. Some dimensions were like an alien sci-fi movie, completely different with no humans. Some dimensions were scaringly like home, with a small difference here and there. Ironically, the alien-like dimensions were typically safer, because they were used to travelers and weird-looking creatures. 

But Ford guessed it would be okay if he and Mabel stepped into a normal grocery store to buy some food.

They had come across a “normal” dimension, and while Ford’s first thought was to retreat for the woods, he heard Mabel’s stomach growl, and he decided her health was more important. So they stepped in and kept to themselves.

Ford and Mabel were picking up crackers when the little girl grinned at rows of cereals behind them. “Grunkle Ford, can I please pick a cereal?” She asked politely.

The old scientist thought about it for a moment. Cereal would definitely cover a few meals and be light and easy to carry, and it wouldn’t get hold too quickly, and he had wanted to get her at least one nice thing while in the store, so he nodded and said, “Yes, dear, you may pick one box. Any flavor you want.”

“Thank you!” And Mabel took the time to hug him before skipping over to the cereals to look.

Ford chuckled and picked some crackers, then decided to browse the fruit snacks, debating if it would be wise. Probably not, because if they get stuck in another desert climate the gummies could melt and make a mess, but they could make a good snack for Mabel. He held his chin, debating the idea, while a couple was also looking over the cereals.

“Which do you think Dad would want?” The yellow-haired woman asked.

“Honey, who cares what Rick wants? Just get a cereal you’ll like.” The husband said with an eye roll.

Ford froze at that name. No no, that was most definitely a different Rick. It was a common enough name, and there were billions of dimensions. There was no way Ford and Mabel somehow managed to stumble into C-137. He ultimately decided against gummies and he then looked at the trail mixes and granola bars. Both were always a good option.

“I know, but I want him to feel welcome, you know?” The wife said as she picked a box. “He’s been travelling in space alone for years…”

Oh no. No, no, no. Ford quickly chose some packets of trail mix and several granola bars and hurried back to his niece. He was not going to do this today. Nope.

Mabel grinned at him, a box of cereal in hand, and she held it out to him. “Look, Grunkle Ford, do you like this flavor? I can pick a different one if you want.”

“Oh, thank you, my dear, but I like the one you picked.” Ford did a decent job masking his uneasiness and he took her hand and smiled. “Why don’t we pick up some fruit for today, and then we’ll go fishing for dinner?”

“Yay! Sounds great!”

Ford didn’t miss the yellow-haired woman smiling at them as they left the aisle. If that was who he thought it was… She really didn’t look anything like him. She might have just favored her mother. Who else would have spent years traveling space? Bastard.

Ford may have hated him for many reasons, but choosing to abandon his girls was at the top of the list.

At the checkout line, Ford nervously watched the total of their purchase go up with each beep. He recounted their cash and made a small list of items in his mind for them to go down if they couldn’t afford everything. A few granola bars can go. And, maybe they could find band-aids elsewhere and “borrow” them.

The worker rang up the last item and Ford smiled when he saw the total was 29.89. He had thirty. But then the worker pressed the total button and taxes were added. Shit, right. That made their total 35.45. Ford winced. Mabel looked up at him worriedly, but she smiled and stood on her tippy-toes to see the worker better.

“Hi, I’m Mabel! Can you please put the cereal back? We don’t really need it.”

Ford looked down at her, surprised and also a little disheartened. He had really wanted to get her at least one nice thing, but truth be told the cereal was the most expensive item, so it made sense to get rid of it first. Still, it sucked.

“Total’s now 32.14.”

Ford bit his lip. “Very well, may we please put the band-aids back, too?”

The worker nodded, seeming tired and annoyed, but they didn’t say a word. Blissfully, the total went down to 29.99.

With hands full of bags, Mabel and Ford paused at the beginning of the parking lot to move their groceries into their backpacks. While they worked, the old scientist said, “I’m sorry I could afford your cereal, Mabel.”

“Oh, it’s okay!” The girl said instantly. “I’ve got something even sweeter.” And she grinned at her grunkle and gave him a warm smile.

Ford smiled back at her tiredly. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes you do.” Mabel insisted and hugged him around the neck, nuzzling her face into his shoulder and determined to sink as much comfort as she could into his skin. “I love you Grunkle Ford. Please don’t beat yourself up, m’k?”

Ford hugged her back and petted her short brown hair. It was certainly easier to feel better with a ball of sunshine in his arms.

They both heard rustling behind them as a buggy rolled from the door to the parking lot. They both looked behind Mabel and saw a bag with the cereal and the band-aids in it. They looked around and saw no one, except for the yellow-haired woman and her husband going to their car.

Mabel grinned and hollered to them, “Thank you!”

They didn’t respond, but the woman did smile and wave before putting groceries into her car. As appreciated as Ford was for her kindness, he wanted to get as far away from her as possible. No offense to her. She seemed like a very lovely lady.

But then it hit Ford like a pile of rocks. What was it he had said before he had pulled out his gun and left Ford to travel alone? “And hey, if you ever wanna travel without customs or waiting for wormholes to open, don’t come looking for me.” And then he winked and fell backwards into a pool of green, leaving Ford to curse his name.

If this was like before, when Ford was alone, he wouldn’t dare. But if he could help get Mabel home…

Ford took Mabel’s hand and muttered, “Come with me.” And she followed without question.

Beth felt good helping the old man and the little girl, and she didn’t expect anything more. Really, it was only five dollars worth of stuff. But she was happy when they started to walk towards her, so she trusted Jerry to finish loading up the car and she smiled at them.

“Excuse me, miss, I just want to thank you for what you did.” The old man said.

“Oh, you’re welcome, it was no trouble at all.”

“I… I hope I’m not being too invasive, but… but I believe you know someone I know.”

Beth smiled. Small world! “Really? That’s great! Oh, are you a relative of Dave’s? Or, you know, I do know a lot of people indirectly from the horse-track.”

“Er, no.” The old man gave her a more serious look, and then asked quietly, “Do you know Rick Sanchez?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Beth was so excited to give Stanford Pines and his niece, Mabel, a ride, and to invite them to dinner, not only because she thought seeing an old friend might make her dad smile, but maybe she’ll learn more about what he’s been up to all these years. The man was very polite and the girl was as sweet as can be, both of whom looked rough and in need of a cozy bed and maybe a soothing bath. Jerry was a little unsure, not wanting “more Ricks” into his house, but after a huf from the girl and a cheerful greeting, Jerry couldn’t help but tell the girl she was more than welcome, so now he was roped in.

Mabel noticed that her uncle looked distracted. He was looking out his window, but his eyes were elsewhere. He was thinking. So she decided to try to help him with his thoughts. “Grunkle Ford, who’s Rick Sanchez?” She asked quietly.

Ford looked at her, sighed quietly, and muttered, “He’s an intergalactic scientist. He’s ridiculously intelligent and clever, and… a bit…” Ford pursed his lips. All the words that came to mind he didn’t want Mabel hearing, so he settled on. “... mad.”

“Oh. Is he like a real mad-scientist?” Mabel asked, eyes sparkling with interest.

“Yes, but with less laughter, more slurs and sluggish demeanor, and even less consideration of other living things.”

Mabel noticed his cold tone and grew concerned. “You don’t like him, do you?”

Ford bit his lip. No, he didn’t. But there was a more important reason why he didn’t want to see Rick today. 

Mabel leaned in closer and whispered, “Is he mean?”

Trust Mabel to sum it up perfectly for her uncle. “Yes.” Ford said just as quietly. “And I don’t want him meeting you.”

“Why?”

Ford hesitated. But being blunt and honest seemed to be working, and it was best for Mabel to prepare herself for the lion’s den they were walking into. “I don’t want him to hurt your feelings.” a bit elementary, but it was the best way to explain it to a child without scaring her too much.

Mabel, however, grinned. “Grunkle Ford, no one can resist the Power of Mabel.”

Ford smiled and ruffled her hair softly. “We’ll see…”

“So, if you don’t like Mr. Sanchez, then why are we going to go see him?”

“He’s an expert on interdimensional-travel.” Ford informed her. “He might know how to get us home.”

Mabel’s eyes widened and she “oh”ed as she realized what was going on. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The garage door was open to let in good lighting and fresh air. But that wasn’t an invitation to come in whenever people feel like it; Rick will have to work on a security system to keep nosy neighbors away. He was opening a box and getting organized when he heard his daughter’s car roll into the driveway. He didn’t bother to look up, instead waited for the sounds of car doors opening to say something.

“Hey sweetie, welcome back.”

“Dad,” Beth said, sounding giddy. Rick hated giddy. But he had only been here for a week and he didn’t feel like making his daughter hate him just yet, so he settled for rolling his eyes and continuing what he was doing. “I have a surprise for you!”

“Wow! You have a nice house! Cool garage, too!” A young voice said.

Rick was halted. He turned in his chair and raised an eyebrow to find a young girl with short brown hair and braces holding hands with an old nerd with fluffy charcoal hair, glasses, and six fingers.

“Oh my God!” Rick laughed. “Holy-...” A dark look from the old traveler made Rick stop; he can piss him off later. First he needs to figure out why the hell he is here and what the hell he wants. “Jeez, you look terrible, Fordsie.” The mad scientist snorted as he leaned against his desk with his hands in his pockets.

Ford rolled his eyes and said, “And you still look like a soft breeze will blow you away, Sanchez.”

Mabel bit her lip and quietly, “Oooooh”ed, like she was listening to a rap battle.

“So,” Beth stretched, clearly hoping for more information or a more satisfying reunion, but she wasn’t getting it naturally, so she decided to push a little. “How do you two know each other?”

“The Multiverse is a pretty big place, sweetie.” Rick answered. “Don’t worry, I’ll have this nerd gone before you finish unloading the car. Don’t want to risk another mass genocide.” He sneered.

Ford’s face turned red and he yelled, “I didn’t know it was a planet! It looked too similar to a sandwich for it to be a planet!”

Rick laughed and looked at the little girl. She looked maybe a little younger than Morty. “Who’s that you got with you?”

Ford closed his eyes, debating if he should tell Rick it wasn’t any of his business, or get the introduction over with. But before he could make a decision, Mabel beat him to the punch.

She let go of Rick’s hand, hopped to him, and looked up at his bean-pole stature and smiled and waved. “Hi! I’m Mabel! You’re a scientist, too? Cool! I like your hair! How old are you? Have you ever met a dinosaur? What’s your favorite food?” 

Rick blinked like a startled lizard at the girl, glanced up at Ford, and then looked back down at Mabel. Rick smiled and sat in his chair to be closer to her level, and held out a hand to shake, which she happily accepted and shook a little rough. “Hey there, I’m Rick. Yes, I’m a scientist. Thank you, I like your hair, too. Yes, I’ve met a dinosaur, several in different dimensions. And, pancakes.”

Mabel’s eyes sparkled. “I love pancakes, too! Maybe we can make some together!”

“Maybe, but I’ve got the feeling that’s not why you’re here.” Rick suggested kindly. And no, Ford wasn’t at all suspicious that he was being kind to Mabel.

“Oh! Yeah! Grunkle Ford thinks you can help us get home.”

“Huh. You’re great-uncle, huh? Sure, okay, let’s get started.” Rick rolled over to a cabinet and took out an odd machine. It came with a tiny needle and was attached to the machine by a small black wire, and the boxed machine had a screen of some sort on the side. “Mind if I prick your finger?”

“Sure!” Mabel held out her finger to him and Rick carefully held her wrist and pricked her finger, so small she hardly noticed it. “What for?”

“I need a blood sample to find your home dimension. Gotta send you to the right dimension.” Rick explained. “Fordsie, lemme get yours, too. How’d you two find each other, anyways?”

“I was in the Nightmare Realm when some idiot opened a portal and this little starshine fell into my arms.” Ford explained, stepping forward and giving Rick his finger.

“Okay, got it.” Rick said. “Well, there’s a possibility that you two come from different dimensions. Nothing too different about your homes, but there’s millions of dimensions. The probability that you two came from the same timeline and reality… there we go. It’s a match. That makes things easier.”

The small heart attack Ford was having went away. The idea of his starshine not being his was a nightmare. His life was complicated enough; he didn’t need his girl to not actually be his.

“Dimension 41’\. Huh, okay, gimme two seconds…” Rick pulled out his trusty portal gun and plugged it into the machine. A long list of dimensions popped up, and Ford prayed 41’\ would be on the list. “You two are lucky. I can go as far as 42’\, but the other 40s are out of range. Huh, i’ll have to work on that.”

“So,” Mabel grinned. “You can get us home?”

Rick smiled smugly and shrugged as he stood. “Yeah, sure.”

“Grunkle Ford!” Mabel cheered and hurled herself into his arms. “I can’t believe it! I’m gonna see Dipper again! I can’t wait for you to meet him!”

Ford smiled softly. He couldn’t believe it. It was all happening so fast and effortlessly. He was going to get Mabel home. They were both going home. Suddenly the idea of seeing Stanley again, meeting his grandnephew and all of Mabel’s friends and her pet pig sounded… a lot. He didn’t realize it, but he was becoming anxious and spacing out. But Mabel noticed, and she kissed his stubbly cheek and brought him back to reality.

Rick shot at the wall with his gun and an oozing green portal appeared. “There we go, 41’\. Wait, sh-oot, gimme a location.”

“618 Gopher Road.” Ford stated as he let go of Mabel. “Gravity Falls, Oregon. USA.”

“Got it.” Rick made the last portal disappear and shot a new one. “There. Now get-... Go on home.”

Mabel stepped up to Rick and said sincerely, “Mr. Sanchez, thank you for helping us.” And she hugged him around his tall skinny legs.

Rick pursed his lips awkwardly, unsure of how to respond to such positive energy and kindness. The old scientists looked at each other, Ford giving Rick a warning look, but something hidden in his face or eyes told the drunk that the nomad was actually grateful for his illegal device.

“Uh…” Rick settled on patting Mabel’s head and said, “Y-Y-You’re welcome.”

Mabel let go of Rick and held out a hand to Ford. “Ready?”

“Nope.” Ford took her hand and squeezed it. “Let’s do this.”

And without another word, the Pines walked through the green portal.

[minty-mumbles]

To Honor, In Ink

Summary: While the chain is staying in the Karakara Bazaar, Wild heads off to Gerudo town for the day. He comes back sporting a new tattoo.

Author's Note: This was inspired by some people talking about the boys getting tattoos, specifically @gaylactic-fire. Really, only the second half of this is about tattoos... oh well

Read on AO3 Here

EDIT: You can see Wild’s Tattoo Here

EDIT 2: @bunnyambushed drew Wild's tattoo as well! Check it out here

~~~

The group had stumbled in the KaraKara Bazaar late last night. So late that it had nearly been morning. The entire group was exhausted. They had come across a particularly vicious pack of infected Keese a few hours before they arrived, and it hadn’t turned out well for them.

Keese, even the infected ones, weren't that difficult to take down. Unfortunately, there had been a lot of them. The swarm had been at least a hundred strong, and the old verbiage that there was strength in numbers had some truth to it. Especially when there were a couple bokoblins hidden in the swarm you didn't know about.

Sky had ended up with an arrow in his arm, courtesy of those same bokoblins. The rest of the group had been quick to take them down, and at that point, Time had given Warriors permission to use the fire rod that Legend had lent him. That had taken care of the keese nicely. Legend had to wonder why they hadn’t just done that in the first place.

He groaned, pushing himself up from his comfortable bed. Wild had taken one glance back at the exhausted group yesterday, and silently slid the extra rupees across the counter to pay for the extra soft beds. Usually, there would have been an argument about one of their own spending extra rupees on the others unnecessarily, but they were all too exhausted to care. Wind had already fallen asleep on Warriors back. Hyrule had been swaying side to side, and Sky was only staying upright because Twilight was supporting him.

No one had protested the thought of even more comfortable beds.

Legend had to admit, the extra soft beds did wonders. That had been perhaps one of the most satisfying nights of sleep he’s had since they had been at his own house in his own Hyrule. He had been sharing the bed with Four last night, which he had internally rejoiced at. Many of the others had a tendency to take up more than their share of the bed space. Four was the opposite, liking to curl into a little ball to sleep.

The small hero was already gone from the bed when Legend woke. In fact, most of the group was already gone from their beds. The only ones still in bed were Twilight, and Sky, who was awake and propped up in bed, reading a book. He’d likely been confined to bed rest by Hyrule, at least for the mourning.

They had managed to heal the worst of Sky’s injury, but it wasn’t perfect, and he would need extra rest to be up to traveling again.

Legend suspected that they would be staying in the Bazaar for a few days. Not that he was complaining. These beds were damn comfortable.

He stood, nodding at Sky as he put his outer tunic and boots back on. Clasping his belt around his waist, he stepped out into the morning sun.

The sun couldn’t have been up for an hour yet, but Legend could tell it was already shaping up to be a scorching hot day. As they were in the desert, that was to be expected. Legend predicted that most of them would be shedding their outer layers before noon.

He could see Four and Time over by some merchant stands that were set up in the shade of the tree. Four looked like he was haggling over some fruit, while Time was chatting with some other customers.

Wind was already in the water, swimming around like a dolphin in the shallow pool in the middle of the Bazaar. Warriors were nearby, keeping an eye on him, dipping his feet in the pool as well.

Legend looked around curiously, not spotting either the cook or the traveler anywhere. He swallowed the reflexive panic that rose in his throat. The champion could be reckless sometimes, but even he was not blasé enough to say someplace was safe when it wasn’t, and he had assured them last night that no one needed to stay awake to keep watch.

Anyways, none of the others were panicking at all, so it was probably fine.

And now that he was paying attention, Legend could hear Hyrule’s voice coming from around the corner of the building. As he rounded the corner to investigate, he found not only Hyrule, but also Wild, and a man wearing a frankly astoundingly large pack.

Hyrule was bartering with the man over what sounded to be the price of some bugs. Legend recalled that Wild had pointed this kind of bugs out to the group, and called them Cold Darners. Apparently, they were very useful in the making of heat-resistance potions.

Legend knew he was usually one of the only ones of the group that paid attention when Wild spouted off random bug facts. Not that the others were trying to be offensive, and Wild never seemed disappointed when no one but Legend was listening to his lecture about different types of fish or flowers

Legend figured that the information just went in one ear and out the other for the rest of the group. He, on the other hand, paid strict attention when Wild spoke about the natural flora and fauna of his Hyrule.

These portals were unreliable, and if Legend ever got stranded in Wild’s Hyrule without the champion, he wanted to be prepared. This was the kind of information that you wanted to absorb when you could. He knew from experience that he might end up thanking himself for it later.

Apparently, Hyrule had also been listening to what Wild had been saying yesterday, because he was now forking over enough rupees to buy enough of the bugs to make heat-resistance potions for all of them. Legend was impressed by his forethought. Legend himself probably wouldn’t have thought of potions until he himself was already halfway to sunburned.

As the merchant wandered away, Hyrule offered the bugs for Wild to store in his slate until they were ready to make the potions.

Wild waved him off, and the three started moving back to where the rest of the group, including a groggy-eyed Twilight, was gathered around the pool. “I actually have some things to do in town today. I have a few things I need to get, and I have an appointment I need to make. I had thought I would need to reschedule due to all the, well...” Here he gestured vaguely to the group, and the rest of them hummed in understanding. ”But, ehh, we're here, so might as well go…”

He trailed off, pulling out his slate, considering its contents. After a moment, he shrugged off his thoughts. “Anyways, you’ll want to keep a hold of those things yourself, Hyrule.”

Time spoke up from where he and Twilight had joined Warriors in dipping their feet in the pool. Twilight and Warriors had already shed their outer layers to try and combat the heat, and Time apparently hadn’t even bothered to put on his armor at all. “Do they have a leader you could ask about any sighting of black blooded monsters? You might as well ask while you’re there.”

Wild nodded, a smile overcoming his face. “Yeah! I’m on pretty good terms with the Chieftess, Riju. We go sand seal racing sometimes.”

“Well,” Time began, “take one of the others, and ask her, and then do what you need to after.”

“Ahh,” Wild winced. “I’m probably going to take a while, and you guys won’t be able to get in, remember? Women only.”

“So how do you get in?” Warriors asked, brow quirked.

Wild snorted at that. “You’ve already gotten a hint, though. It shouldn’t be that hard for eight heroes of courage to figure it out, should it?”

“Hold on,” Warriors protested, ”since when have we gotten a hint?”

That actually got a laugh out of Wild. “You’ve held what I’ve used in your hands before, Wars. Figure it out.”

With that, he tapped on his slate, dissipating in strands of blue light before Warriors could protest.

~~~

Wild was gone for most of the rest of the day. Hyrule sat down shortly after he departed, and made the heat-resistance potions, which everyone had been thankful for.

Legend had been right in thinking it would be a hot day. The Gerudo scattered around the plaza seemed unaffected, but all the Hylians were sweating buckets. By mid-day, everyone had shed their outer tunics. Those of them who were able to tan, and didn’t burn after an hour in the sun even took off their under-tunics to try and cool off that little bit more. Legend himself would rather not look like a cooked lobster, so he had kept his tunic on.

Many of the younger heroes joined Wind in the pool, as well as Twilight. (Legend sighed internally when he saw that, and braced himself for the inn to smell like wet dog that night.)

Wild was gone for both lunch and supper, and the only one who had been willing to cook was Hyrule, they had bought some fruit and pre-cooked meat from the stands, and made a meal out of that.

It had been decent, but not as good as what they had seen the champion cook before. Legend had particularly enjoyed the bananas, but when he went back to buy a few more, the seller had glared at him suspiciously. Eyeing the way she was fingering her blade, Legend decided to go with another slice of hydromelon instead. The seller calmed down after that.

Warriors sat around for a good hour or two, trying to figure out how exactly the champion was getting into town. Legend didn’t really care one way or the other, but the puzzle of what he was using to get into town was good, and Legend couldn’t resist a good puzzle. He had run through all the weapons he had seen Wild use, and the items he had in that slate of his but he couldn’t come up with anything. The paraglider, maybe, but Legend didn’t think Warriors had ever held that. Warriors wasn’t able to think of anything either, by his dejected expression.

After the worst heat of the day was over, Warriors convinced Wind and Hyrule to come try sneaking into town with him. Legend tagged along, eager to see what shenanigans the three would get into. The look Time sent him told Legend that he would also be bailing them out of jail if they got in any trouble.

They didn’t have any luck, and were back at the bazaar in time for dinner, Legend’s wallet thankfully as full as it had been when they left.

~~~

Wild only showed up after dinner was over. The sun had already set when he finally made it back. Legend wondered what had taken him so long. He had mentioned an appointment, but hadn’t specified, so the group was left in the dark.

Wild strolled leisurely into camp, and plopped himself down at their fire. Legend could see, even in the dark, that he had switched out of his normal clothing into something that looked much more appropriate for the heat, if a little revealing. He barely wore anything except a pair of pants and a pauldron on his shoulder.

“You took a long time,” Twilight noted, “run into any trouble?”

“Nah,” Wild shook his head, then changed the subject. “I didn’t see any of you in town. Couldn’t figure it out?” He shot a smirk at Warriors, who had to shake his head in defeat.

“He tried sneaking over the walls plenty of times,” Legend supplied, smirking. “They eventually placed a guard on him, so he had to give up.”

Wild gave a grin at the mental image of Warriors sulking while under the strict gaze of one of the gate guards. “I could have told you that. I can’t tell you the number of times I got thrown back over the wall before I figured it out.” Legend could have told Warriors that too. He had, in fact, but the captain had seemingly taken that as a challenge. Legend hadn’t minded, as it was amusing to watch.

Eventually, he had gotten bored, though, and had struck up a conversation with the guards, hoping to wrangle some information out of them. Unfortunately, the guards did not; have anything to tell him. They had just insisted that there were no exceptions to the rule, not even the Hero of Hyrule. They insisted that they hadn’t even seen the man in a few weeks.

When he told Wild this, he unexpectedly chuckled, waving him off. “Yeah, they would say that, wouldn't they? They definitely saw me, they just wouldn’t have told you. Besides, where else could I have gotten this done? The artist there is the best one I know.” He stood, turning to display his bare back, and the fresh tattoo that was inked there.

Wind was the first up, nearly bouncing in excitement. “Wow! Did it hurt?”

Wild laughed “Yeah, getting a tattoo hurts. Thankfully I don't have any scars where it’s placed, so it was easier for the artist, and less painful for me.”

The rest of the group slowly gathered around to admire the design. It was placed along the upper half of his spine, between his shoulder blades. It was relatively simple, as it would have to be to get it done in one day. Four colored spheres in a neat row, with an animal within each one. The top one was blue, with an elephant. Then there was a red one with a lizard, a green one with a bird, and the last yellow with a camel. Vines with blue flowers that Legend had heard Wild call Silent Princesses wrapped around the outside of the design. It was simple but elegant.

“I got it in memory of the champions,” Wild explained unnecessarily. They all knew the tale of the other champions and their divine beasts. The symbolism was obvious. “The flowers are Zelda’s favorite, but they're also, uh, common symbols of mourning....” Here, he trailed off, looking like he was lost in memories. Legend cringed.

Ugh, feelings.

Now Wild was upset. Legend never knew how to fix these types of situations, but as the silence dragged on with none of the others saying anything, Legend drew himself up to interject. None of the Links were particularly good with words, or subtle, and even those who were the best with words, like Warriors or Twilight, could stick their foot in their mouth easily.

This meant that they, more often than not, choose to leave the talking to someone else. Unfortunately, there was no one else this time, and one of them would need to break the awkward silence that was no doubt only making the champion feel worse.

“Wow!” Wind, bless his good timing, chimed in before anyone could say anything. “It looks so cool! I want a tattoo too. Granny said I could get on when I turned sixteen, but she wouldn’t know. Will you take me? Please!”

Wild, thankfully looking less uncomfortable, smiled at the sailor. “I don’t think that you’d have the time. I talked to the chieftess while I was there, and got some information about increased Yiga attacks. As long as Sky is feeling better, we’ll probably leave tomorrow.” When Wind sighed in disappointment, Wild pointed out “And besides, you weren't able to make it into the town anyway, and the tattoo artist doesn't do out-of-town appointments.”

“Oh, right…” Wind trailed off, obviously thinking of other places he could possibly fulfill his goal of getting ink injected into his skin.

Personally, Legend could see the appeal in getting inked. Wild’s designs were beautiful, and had significant meaning to him. Legend thought he might not mind having a small hibiscus flower tattooed somewhere.

However, he couldn’t imagine why anyone would willingly put themselves through the pain of getting a small needle jammed into them hundreds of times. It seemed like an unnecessary pain to go through, and Legend wasn’t one to intentionally put himself in pain.

When he said such out loud, Warriors laughed. “What, are you too tender-skinned for that?”

Legend scoffed. “Well, I don’t see you with any tattoos either, pretty boy.”

“I do have some,” Warriors smirked. “Just not where you can see. Army regulations.” He stood, stripping off his tunic. Across his chest, detailed in a bright gold that glimmered in the firelight, was the crest of Hyrule. On his back was a depiction of the master sword in black and white along his spine.

“That\’s impressive work,” Sky hummed. “Not many people get tattoos in Skyloft. The rocks we need to make the ink with are rare, so people don’t usually bother. Only a couple of people actually know how to tattoo.”

“That makes sense,” Warriors said, shrugging his shirt back on. “I guess rocks are hard to come by on a floating island. They're a finite resource.”

Wild nodded. “The tattoo artist I went to requires you to bring the materials that she needs with you. She‘s good enough that people come from all over to get tattooed there, and she can demand you bring your own materials. Mostly a lot of charcoal, but also some plants and other kinds of rocks to make the ink colored.”

Hyrule piped up from where he was sitting. “Do you have any, Sky? Being a chosen hero of Hylia seems like it would be special enough to warrant a tattoo.”

Sky nodded, but didn’t elaborate, and the rest of them left it be. When someone in the group didn’t choose to elaborate on something, the rest of them knew better than to push them. They had learned that lesson the hard way. Even something as innocent as a tattoo could have bad memories attached to it for the heroes.

“What about you two?” Wind questioned, gesturing towards Twilight and Time. “You guys both have tattoos, obviously.”

Time replied with a completely straight face, staring at Wind. “These aren't tattoos. They’re scars, a gift from a demon I… encountered.” He said it with such a blank face that Legend could see even Twilight couldn't tell if he was being serious.

“Ah.” Wind said, squinting at the old man suspiciously, before he seemingly decided that it wasn't worth asking more questions. He turned to Twilight. “What about you? Your tattoos actually kind of look like the markings on Wolfie. He’s your pet, right? Did you get them in honor of him?”

Legend couldn’t help but snicker as he watched Twilight trying to sputter out an answer to that.

Four took pity on Twilight, and started to show off his own tattoos to change the topic of conversation- a cluster of four swords surrounding his right forearm. Each had a different color gemstone in its hilt, Green, Blue, Purple, and Red.

As the conversation moved on, visions of small hibiscus tattoos floated in the back of his mind. Maybe getting one wouldn’t be so bad, in an inconspicuous place.

Putting yourself in pain on purpose did sound stupid. But Legend had done a lot of stupid things in the past. Getting a tattoo in memory of someone, to honor them, didn’t sound like it would even begin to stack up against the other idiotic things he’s done.

And besides, he’d been in plenty of pain before. He was sure he could handle a needle, right?

[mysticgoblinwriter]

Driving In A Cold Sweat; There Is No One On This Highway

Warnings- Murder, infidelity, swearing, food imagery, shitty parents, i made Steve the villain who’s in the HOA and a politician, adult content, dark!reader, cheating, a bit of flirting, mental health joke (mental health is NOT a joke, y’all), religion symbolism, dark!steve, peggy x bucky,

Word Count- 1.9k

kudos to @blackberrybucky for being my soundboard, and @fandomsandxfiles for being my beta reader. Love y'all

a/n- This is inspired by Hypothermic by Goodnight Texas.  Its really dark, and I surprised myself writing this but I like it. I also changed the landscape to desert. Leave comments if you want! As many as you like, I fangirl over my work too. All writers should, its selfcare.

IF YOU WANT SOMETHING FLUFFY AND SOFT TURN AWAY NOW; MINORS DNI

DO NOT COPY OR REPOST ANYWHERE. A REBLOG IS APPRECIATED. A REPOST IS NOT.

Bucky looks you up and down, taking you in like you are the gods own ambrosia.  “So, doll.  What brings you to this shit hole?”

You laugh to yourself.  “I murdered somebody.”- was the sentence that also inspired this but its not in the actual story.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The radio gave out miles ago.  It was emitting nothing except for crackling and static.  Every now and then it would cut back to a sermon, funnily enough it’d been the same one that was on when you started your trip.  Sunset was a little ways off.  If you looked hard enough you could see coyotes just off the asphalt.  Alive, yes.  But just how long had their souls been gone?  Someone was screaming.

A man.  You’d heard that scream before.  Seared into you memory like that steak you had for your 15th birthday. It was right next to you.  Oozing blood and raw-red.  You could hear the clink of the knife as it scraped against the plate.  Shaking your head to clear it, you notice an exit with a gas station.  “Now’s a time as good as any to stop.”  Gravel crunches as you slide up next to the pump. The neon beer lights from the bar across the road are calling.  But you can’t answer. The gas handle is slick and grimy, you’ve felt something like that before, but you can’t remember what.  A fuzzy noise in the back of your ears gets your attention.  Another truck has pulled in.  Right in the spot next to yours, never mind the dozen others that are free.  A bulky man steps down, his face hidden by a rangers hat.

You could tell he worked out though.  And had hair in need of a washing.  Clunk.  The tank was full.  You thought it best to leave before anyone could place you, but your stomach needed something other than greasy two-bit fast food.  You glance around, looking for any sign that promised a hot meal.

“Looking for something, doll?” You let out a small gasp.  He was staring straight at you now.

“Does this shithole have a place to eat?  I might have to start eating the cactus.”

He lets out a soft laugh, “Yeah, there’s a diner about half mile down the road.”

His face brightens like he just thought of something.  “You wanna meet me there?  I’ll buy dinner?”  You weigh the options.  You can’t have anybody recognize you; but your cash is getting low and however you can stretch it, you must.  You nod once.  “Sure.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The diner is every trope you’d seen in the movies your pops watched when he got off work.  Flies buzzing, neon sign flickering, checkered tile.  It even had the shiny red leather booths.  What a dream.  “Getcha a seat anywhere, honey.  I’ll be right over,” came a perky voice from the back.  Presumably a waitress. You choose the booth near the back exit.  Its always good to have a backup plan.

The man said he needed to get something at the mini-mart, that you could go ahead and he’d catch up.  Somebody screamed right next to you, causing you to jump out of your seat.  You whip your head around.  No one was even in the dining area.  It sounded so real.  Like you could reach out and grasp the shattering inky blackness.  You take a couple of deep breaths.  Try to remember your happy place.  Tahiti, its a magical place.  Or so you’ve been told  You just picked it from a magazine that was open on the coffee table the night your mother set fire to the curtains in the living room.  The flames had licked up the page, burning the island resort into ash.  Boots thudded as they made way to where you were.  He slides in across from you.

“Um, the waitress’ll be right out,” you said softly.  He barely heard it over the rickety air conditioning.  He nods to show he heard.  He’s sitting close.  Closer than you’d thought another human would ever sit next to you again.  His hands are rough and calloused.  The sleeve cuffs of his hoodie are frayed; as if someone clawed at them.  Eyes traveling up his body, you take in more details.  The hoodie isn’t faded, its brand new.  He wears a bracelet of leather on his right hand, with a charm you can’t quite see.  His necklace is corded hemp, plain and understated.

A light stubble that’s maybe three days old covers his jaw.  His eyes... are piercing right through you. You take in a quick breath, not being able to look away.  You’d never seen that shade of blue before.   He’d been watching you watching him.  Quirking an eyebrow, ”See anything ya like, doll?” You start to sputter an answer but the waitress comes over.  “Sorry about the wait.  Here’s your-”  Blue eyes interrupts her, “We don’t need those.  I’ll have the special and she’ll have the ‘Its Impossible To Go Away Hungry’ plate”  “Okay, then.  I’ll get that right out to ya folks.”

You glare at him, he mirrors it with dicky nonchalance. “Why did you order for me?”  He leans forward, tilts his head the right the tiniest fraction.  “You’re starved.  I really don’t give a damn what kept you from eating but I ain’t gonna let you go without giving you a meal.  The steak plate is the biggest meal they have.  You can take a to go box, that is if you don’t eat the whole thing.”

“Oh.”  You cast out a huff, “Well, thank you.”  He flashes a killer smile. Pearly white teeth in a straight line.  Not an imperfection to be found anywhere.  A silence falls between the two of you.  You can’t decide whether its comfortable of not.

“My name is Bucky.  I thought you wouldn’t like eating with a stranger.  I like to doodle in the margins of my books sometimes.”  “Please tell me not library books.”  He scoffs as if you suggested the impossible, “Never.  Do you think I’m crazy?”

“Jury’s out on that, Bucky.”  He looks at you more intently now.  “Really?  Same could be said about you.  When I first spoke to you it was like a deer in headlights.  Ya running from something, sugar?”  He’d said it jokingly but you didn’t laugh.

“No.  Nothing like that.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shirley came back with your plates, and two root beers.  She left the check at the end of the table and Bucky swooped it up.  The meal passed by in the comfortable sounds of silverware clinking and ice clacking in the cups.  You both ate in record time.

You were careful to save enough for a second meal. That went into the to go container.  Now both cups were drained and plates scraped clean.  You start to slide out of your seat, mumbling a thanks but Bucky stops you.  “Wait, won’t you sit here a while longer?  I’d be kinda sad sitting here alone.”  After a moments hesitation, you resume your position.  “What do you wanna talk about?  It can’t be the weather.  Its been dry as bones for weeks.”   He ponders for a moment, “You.”  He shifts a little, resting one ankle on the opposite knee.

“I want to know what you’re running from, and see if I can offer...a distraction.”  That shocks you.  “Life?  Aren’t we all running away in some form or another?  I just happened to take the mobile route.”  You shrug, “What do you want me to say?  It was all shitty so I left it behind.  And as for the distraction part, I got a whore last night, so don’t bother.”  He is silent.  Just sits there and gazes at you.  You cock your head, getting impatient.  “Am I allowed to leave now?  Or do you want to talk about our feelings?”

“I slept with my best friends wife.”

“I-I’m sorry you what??”

“I slept with my best friends wife.  He owns half the town, what with him being mayor and all.  I couldn’t take it anymore, he’s always been the golden boy.  Always been the beacon of light.  I just wanted a slice of what he had.”  He looks up, his eyes are dead.  “She was willing, and I just... took her.  There on his desk.  He’d been out for lunch with some bigwig, and I made her cum twice on my cock.”  He chuckles darkly.  “That’d been the first time.  All the other times don’t matter, he doesn’t know about those.  But he does know about the time in the craft shed.  Peggy did pottery.

Had a nice little workshop, it was connected to the mansion they had.  I wanted to bring her pleasure in the place where she gets frustrated often, so she’d have something else to think about.  Steve caught us on the floor.  A big bunch of daffodils in hand.  Stupid, those weren’t even her favorites.”  He was gone now, lost in memories, not even knowing he was talking.  “Said he had come by to take her to lunch.  That was always like Steve.  Expected her to clear her schedule at the drop of a hat but never doing the same for anybody. He didn’t even get mad.  He just walked away, muttering something about his office.

Peggy said she could talk some sense into him.  The next day I found her in the garbage when I took out my trash.”  Your sharp inhale and big eyes do nothing to catch his attention.  “Steve comes strolling out of nowhere, said that she was a threat to his image.  Said that I need to leave or face the same.  I asked why he left me alive and he said ‘So you can remember the pain until you lay down in the ground and the mice and carrion drag your body up from its silk cocoon to feast.”

But that’s not all.”  He said the last bit so quietly, it was as if he said nothing.

“What?”  He’s crying now, tears are forming rivers in his eyes.  “She knew.  She knew  he was going to be there and that’s how she wanted to go out.”  Your puzzled expression makes him laugh.  “Don’t know many politicians, do you?  Good.  Keep it that way.  That day when the mail came I got a letter.  From her.  It said how she wanted to divorce Steve ever since he became the HOA president.  But she couldn’t.  He had threatened her once, just once and what he said was so blisteringly awful.  And he did it.  He is a man of his word, after all.  He kept his damn word.”

“So...she used you as an out?”  He winces.  You hadn’t meant to sound like that.

“Yes.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Out in the diners parking lot you say goodbye to James.  Wait.  No, no.  His name is Bucky.  He’s got a green  Chevy and blue eyes.  Or was it red?  It doesn’t matter anyway.  You back out and head for the next state, ignoring the blood leaking from the tarp in your trunk.  The screams have stopped.  And the moon is bright.

[jupitertherevolution]

its 230 but ive done tha writin check it out

“food as a love language”, johndave, 1k, slow burn but just barely the sparks

It’s 7pm on a Tuesday, and you and your boy are exhausted. Your boy being one Dave Strider, and you being one John Egbert. Though you’re not really thinking much about identity right now. In fact, the vague, nebulous concept of identity is the furthest thing from your mind right now. At the forefront of your mind right is a different vague, nebulous concept, one that has plagued humanity since the dawn of time: being fucking hungry.

Yes, you and Dave are incredibly hungry. It’s been a long day at work, you at the gas station and him at the Marshall’s, it’s storming like one sunuvabitch outside, and neither of you want to cook.

… But you will. Why? Because for one you’re the better cook out of you two, and you know that Dave wants you to cook even if he’s not saying it yet. The other reason is that if you don’t you’ll both just eat a few slices of cheese. And that’s not gonna cut it.

So while Dave sits his ass down on a barstool and leans on the counter, you consult the fridge. There’s not much in terms of raw ingredients.

“Man, we didn’t get to grab any groceries…” you complain aloud.

“We could reheat those wings?” Dave suggests from his slump on the counter. But you’re struck with an idea. You grab the wings, some shredded cheese, and a packet of tortillas. You snag some vegetable oil from the cabinet and set a frying pan onto the stove. You don’t turn on the burner just yet.

“Dude, what are you even cooking over there? The fridge is a barren-ass desert right now. A cold desert. A tundra. Gonna find a minecraft igloo with some jankass basement in there,” Dave says.

You smile as you start deboning the wings. You put the meat in a bowl and pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds. “I’m making leftovers quesadillas,” you tell him.

You turn on the burner and pour a little oil onto the pan. Just about the size of a quarter. You used to make these all the time when your dad couldn’t make it home by dinner time. You’ve got it down to a science. “They’re just quesadillas with whatever meat you have around the house.”

He snorts a bit at ‘meat you have around the house’. “Dude, you are a blessing,” he says.

You bat your hand as you swirl the oil around in the pan. “Nah, it’s easy. Besides, we gotta eat something, right?”

“No but like… you didn’t have to cook a wholeass meal.” The microwave beeps and you take the chicken out of the microwave. You lay a tortilla on the pan and it sizzles. “Cooking isn’t that hard, Dave. You just,” you start. You grab the cheese and sprinkle a generous amount. “…Add the cheese…” Next you lay a bit of chicken. “…and the chicken…” You grab a spatula and scoop under one side of the tortilla, folding it in half on itself. “…and then you just flatten it like this!”

He giggles. “Like my own personal cooking youtuber.”

“Oh, uh, whoops.” You say, a bit flushed.

“Nah, nah, it’s cool. I like it. It’s like I’m right there with you cooking, except not actually because that would be a disaster, I can’t cook for shit.”

You make a little pout as you flip the tortilla off of the pan and start making another one. “I’m sure you could cook fine if you learned to,” you say.

You can hear him smiling as he says, “Yeah but why would I need to? I’ve got you here as my personal chef!”

You laugh a bit at that. “Yeah, yeah. Anyways, can you grab some plates or some drinks? I’m almost done.”

“O-kay,” he says and makes the most demonic noise while stretching before sliding off of his seat and heading to the minifridge at the other side of the apartment. “You want a mountain dew or a pepsi?”

“Pepsi!” you answer and flip the second quesadilla off. One would think that’d be the end of it, but no! You always make two folded ones per person. Basic leftovers quesadillas rule. You put another tortilla on. “Man, I can’t believe you always buy pepsi… I want coke sometimes, man!” Dave gripes.

“Sorry Dave, but I just don’t like the hostile red. I need my soothing blues.” You’re on the verge of bursting into laughter just from saying it.

“What are you, a bull?” he says.

“Yes,” you say and hold a straight face for about a second before cracking up. It’s not that funny, but it’s become a running joke that you like pepsi better purely because of its ‘soothing blue packaging’.

You flip the third quesadilla off and get started on the last one. Tortilla, cheese, and chicken, in a nice rhythm. “Plates?” you say.

“Right, right,” Dave says and opens up the cabinet. “I’m still surprised you did all this. You didn’t have to.”

“Dave, I told you, it’s easy! Plus it tastes really good, and I didn’t really feel like eating shitty food tonight,” you say.

He sets the plates down on the counter across from you. “No but like dude, anything you cook is like, insanely good. I wake up every day and thank god I get to have a roomie who cooks like a goddamn michelin-approved restaurant chef.”

Your face warms a bit, but you flip the last quesadilla off and turn off the burner. “…Thanks Dave,” you finally manage to stammer out.

Finished with the cooking, you grab the pizza cutter and slice the quesadillas into quarters. You two grab your plates and drinks and sit next to each other. It’s as good as you thought it would be.

“Man, maybe you should teach me to cook. This is godly,” Dave says in between bites. “I’d be happy to teach you whenever you want, Dave,” you say.

The quesadillas are quickly demolished, and after putting the dishes in the dishwasher, you two are satisfied. “You down to just chill on the couch? Watch a movie?” he says.

You stand up and head to the living room corner. “Yeah, but I get to pick.” He complains as he gets up, “Nooo, you’re gonna pick something unironically shitty…”

“Hey, chef’s priveleges.”

[reinerispretty]

beneath the moon. (sokka x f!reader) pt14

hiii i hope u are having a wonderful day! this is our lovely reader’s tale of ba sing se episode :) + more!

pt1

pt13

pt15

(Y/N) swallowed uncomfortably. He gave her a smirk as she approached. “I see you’re not wearing the necklace,” He said.

“I gave it away,” She said quickly. He blinked at her, obviously surprised. “I found someone who needed it more than I did. Really, thank you for buying me the necklace. I can pay you back but I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t need it.”

As much as she didn’t act like it, (Y/N) had grown up as a princess. Respect had always been given to her, automatically. And while things changed slightly when she had joined Team Avatar, the reputation of traveling with Aang had surpassed her. Most of the time, when they arrived at new places, they were greeted with welcoming smiles and treated with kindness. But things were different in Ba Sing Se. 

She had been treated like a child before, yes, but she had never felt so undermined and disrespected than when she was within the city’s walls. Their guide, Joo Dee, ignored all of her questions and requests about the city and acted like (Y/N) hadn’t said anything at all. (Y/N) didn’t like a lot of things, and not being taken seriously was one of them. She had left home to be in charge of her own life, after all, and being treated like a little kid when she had probably done more daring things than any of the Dai Lee combined infuriated her. 

And she could not spend one more second cooped up in the house with her friends. Of course, she loved them with all of her heart, but being around Sokka so often irked her incessantly. Every little thing he did, every comment he made, infuriated her. It wasn’t even because she was mad at him! She was mad at herself, for liking him so much, and her anger directed itself toward him. She knew she wasn’t being kind to Sokka, but (Y/N) had realized over the years that she would always be the complete opposite of her sister. If Yue was a gentle snow, (Y/N) was a thunderstorm. 

So she resolved to take the day to herself. As (Y/N) thought about it, she hadn’t really had a moment alone since leaving the Northern Water Tribe, and she was someone who strongly valued her alone time. She called over her shoulder to her friends that she was going out and then she went to the streets of Ba Sing Se. 

Their place was in the Inner Ring, where royalty and aristocrats of the city lived. The only way (Y/N) could describe her scenery was beautiful. Buildings towered over her, intricately and ornately decorate in wooden and gold embellishments. There were still peddlers in the streets, but all of their goods seemed expertly made and wonderfully handcrafted. She slowed her pace as she walked by them, marveling medals and dazzling jewels. 

“Would the beautiful Water Tribe lady like a necklace?” Asked one woman, offering (Y/N) a silver necklace with dangling teardrop sapphires. (Y/N) stared at her, surprised. 

“Oh, no thank you,” (Y/N) said, smiling at the woman. “It’s too nice for me.” As beautiful as it was, (Y/N) knew that it wouldn’t last long during her travels. She had already lost most of her painting supplies and sketches when they were in the desert. She didn’t want to risk losing anything else. 

“Are you sure? I can give you a discount!” The woman was very insistent, but (Y/N) shook her head. 

“I’ll buy it for her.” (Y/N) turned to the source of the voice. At her side stood a boy, probably about her age, with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. He was lanky and tall, her head just barely coming to his chest. Despite herself, (Y/N’s) face heated up. 

“No, it’s really okay,” She insisted, but the boy was already handing the woman his money. He dropped the necklace into (Y/N’s) hands. 

“Sometimes, pretty girls deserve pretty things,” The boy told her. (Y/N’s) lips tightened into a thin line. 

“I don’t need it,” She said, taking him by the hand and dropping the necklace into it. It looked valuable. (Y/N) bet he could get more than what he paid for it. 

“Come on, you’re Water Tribe! It matches your whole outfit perfectly.” 

“I don’t really care if it matches my outfit,” (Y/N) said, scrunching her nose at him. “Thank you for the offer, but I really don’t need this necklace. I’d just lose it.” 

“Alright, how about you hold on to it for today, and I’ll meet you here later to see if you’ve lost it? If you haven’t, you get a necklace, and if you have, you buy me dinner. Deal?” He shoved the necklace back into her hands and disappeared into the crowd before (Y/N) could protest. She rushed after him, trying to keep up with his quick movements, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t meant to, but somehow she had gotten swept up in the crowds of Ba Sing Se and ended up in the Middle Ring, far from where she had begun her walk. 

Slightly annoyed at herself for not paying attention, she leaned up against a stone building and sat on the ground. She stared at the necklace in her hands. It was beautiful. It looked like something Yue would try to get (Y/N) to wear at one of her birthday banquets. She could almost hear her now: “Come on, (Y/N)! It’ll look so pretty with your eyes.” (Y/N) pocketed it, squeezing at the fabric of her dress until she could feel the outline of the stone. 

(Y/N) had almost decided to head back to her friends when a little boy ran up to her, his eyes wide in panic. His head was shaved and dirt was matted onto his face and clothes. “Are you a waterbender?” He demanded, gesturing to the blue of her dress. (Y/N) furrowed her brows, but nodded in response. “I need your help!” He grabbed her by the hand and tugged her to her feet. (Y/N) stumbled to keep up with his fast little legs. 

“Wait, who are you!” She asked as he brought her through alleyways and underneath make-shift bridges. The kid was leading her to the outskirts of the Middle Ring, where makeshift huts and houses were made from straw and mud. She frowned as they came to a stop. 

“My name’s Li,” The little boy said to her. “When the soldiers came back, they marched through our part of town and got mud and dirt all in our water. We can’t even drink it anymore!” To punctuate his statement, he opened a barrel to show her murky brown water. “You’ve got to help us.” 

(Y/N) didn’t hesitate to act. “I need another container to put the water in once it’s cleaned,” She said. He picked up a large tin pail and dropped it at her feet. 

“Will that work?” He asked. (Y/N) shrugged, rolling her sleeves up to her elbows. 

“I guess we’ll find out.” (Y/N) stretched out her fingers, lifting one arm over the other as she drew the water from the mud. She tried to imagine the dirt particles separating as she placed the water in the metal pail. When she had finished, she looked at the job she had done. The water was so clear that it showed the bottom of the pail clearly. (Y/N) smiled to herself. 

“Thank you Miss Water Tribe!” Li exclaimed. “Can you help my friends with their water too?” (Y/N) nodded. 

“Of course!” 

That was how (Y/N) had spent her day. She had cleaned the water of everyone who brought it to her and then she asked Li to take her to the nearby houses to see if anyone needed more help. Some of the people she saw were parents of young children or the elderly, people who couldn’t manage to carry their water to her. She cleaned their water as quickly as she could and then moved onto the next house. 

By the time she finished her work, (Y/N) was exhausted. She hadn’t realized just how much energy waterbending would take out of her, but she was happy to have helped. Li walked with her back to the wall of the Inner Ring. He knew a spot to get her back in without needing to involve any guards. 

“Thank you for today, Miss Water Tribe,” Li said as they walked. His hands were in the pockets of his tattered pants. (Y/N) shrugged. 

“Thank you for letting me help,” She said. “It’s rude that those Earth Kingdom soldiers ruined your water and didn’t do anything about it.” Li bit the inside of his cheek.

“Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but they’re kind of jerks to the people down here. They think they’re better than us because they live close to the Earth King.” He looked at her, his green eyes curious. “What are you doing in the Inner Ring?” 

“I’m staying with a friend,” She said. She wanted to be honest with him, to tell him about Aang, but a part of her liked that someone didn’t know who she was. That they treated her like a human being and an equal. 

“Oh,” Was all Li said. He stopped at the wall, pulling at the rusty metal grate. It gave way with barely a screech, giving (Y/N) access to go back inside. She crawled through, crouching so that she could see Li’s small frame. 

“I want to give you something,” She reached inside of her pocket and pulled out the necklace. It glimmered in the moonlight and Li’s eyes widened at the sight of it. She placed it in his small hands. “That should take care of you for a little while. I wouldn’t sell the whole thing at once, someone might get suspicious. Take the stones out whenever you need to buy something.” 

Li looked at the necklace and then back to her. He seemed stunned and a little suspicious that she had just pulled a probably very valuable necklace out of her pocket. (Y/N) smiled at him once more. 

“I won’t be here for long,” She said. “Hopefully that helps you for a lot longer than I have.” With that, she left, walking back onto the pristine streets of the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. She was exhausted, but the thought of a warm meal, a hot bath, and sleep kept her going. 

The boy she had met earlier that day was waiting for her where she had lost him. (Y/N) swallowed uncomfortably. He gave her a smirk as she approached. “I see you’re not wearing the necklace,” He said. 

“I gave it away,” She said quickly. He blinked at her, obviously surprised. “I found someone who needed it more than I did. Really, thank you for buying me the necklace. I can pay you back but I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t need it.” 

The boy smiled. “I suppose you owe me dinner then.” (Y/N) shrugged, crossing her arms over her body. 

“You can walk me home. I’m sure my friends have made dinner already. And don’t try to kidnap me or anything because I’m a waterbender and I can slice you in half.” The boy laughed in surprise as they started walking. 

“A waterbender, huh? I met a waterbender a long time ago. Maybe you know her!” 

“There are two tribes of us, I honestly doubt it.” The boy hummed in acknowledgement. 

“Okay, so which tribe are you from?” (Y/N) glanced at the moon that was rising in the horizon. 

“The Northern Water Tribe.” The boy whistled. 

“You’re a long way from home,” He said. “I heard rumors that the Fire Nation attacked them a few months ago. Were you there when that happened?” (Y/N) nodded, not trusting her voice enough to answer. That night hurt to talk about, still. “I’m sorry,” He said, his voice soft. “The Fire Nation attacked my village when I was little. They killed both my parents.” 

(Y/N) glanced at him. “I’m sorry for your loss.” 

“I’m sorry for yours, too.” She looked at him, surprised. “I’ve seen grief enough in the mirror to know what it looks like.” 

“The Fire Nation didn’t kill her directly, I suppose. They killed the Moon Spirit, which had saved my sister’s life when she was a baby. She gave her own life so the Moon Spirit could live on.” 

“I’ve heard about you,” He said as they reached the steps of her house. “You’re the Runaway Princess.” (Y/N) raised an eyebrow at him. 

“I hardly ran away. My parents knew where I was going.” 

“From what I’ve heard, there’s been some challengers to your father’s position as chief. Since he has no more heirs-” Before the boy could finish what he was saying, the front door flew open. Sokka rushed down the steps. 

“(Y/N)! Where have you been all day? I looked around the entire Inner Ring but I couldn’t find you anywhere.” 

“I told everyone I was going out earlier today,” She muttered, holding herself back from snapping. Sokka looked to the boy at her side, his gaze immediately turning harsh. 

“What are you doing with Jet?” Sokka’s voice was laced with venom, his tone harsher than (Y/N) had ever heard before. 

“He walked me home,” was the only explanation (Y/N) offered before she stared at Jet, her lips set in a frown and her expression serious. “Tell me what’s going on in the North.” 

“I’ve heard from a lot of refugees that a civil war is inevitable,” Jet said. “If the Fire Nation figures out that the North is weak, they’ll attack again.” 

(Y/N) had never imagined that she would feel such a twist of pain in her heart at his words. The place she had grown up despising and wanting nothing more to escape was on the brink of disaster. Because of her. 

“Sokka?” Katara asked, stepping out of the doorway of the house, with Toph and Aang trailing closely behind. Katara’s demeanor changed just as quickly as Sokka’s, but the only difference between the two siblings was that Katara was ready to fight. She took the water from the pouch at her hip to form a water whip. 

“Woah!” (Y/N) exclaimed, walking up the steps to stop Katara. Aang grabbed onto her arm. Katara’s waterbending didn’t waver for a second. 

“What do you want, Jet?” She demanded, her voice having the same edge of roughness that Sokka’s had. The two were more similar than (Y/N) had ever noticed. 

“I was walking your friend home,” He said. “I didn’t know she lived with you guys, honestly. She didn’t tell me.” The group of four looked at (Y/N), Sokka and Katara’s expressions riddled with anger. 

“I don’t even know who he is!” She gestured down at Jet. “We met earlier today, in the market.” 

“Is that who you spent your whole day with?” Sokka snapped. (Y/N) whirled on him, her eyes blazing with fury. 

“Not at all,” She said, her voice low and threatening. She didn’t know why his anger had been directed at her, but she wasn’t going to have it. “If you really must know, I spent my day in the Middle Ring, cleaning their water.” 

“I saw her walking home by herself, I just wanted to make sure she got back safe.” Jet looked at Katara earnestly, but the girl scoffed at him.

“How very gentlemanly of you,” She sneered. “I don’t remember you being this kind when you tried to drown a village full of people.” 

“What?” (Y/N) nearly shrieked. “What is going on here that you guys aren’t telling me?” 

“It was before we met you,” Aang said. “Jet tried to drown a village of innocent people just to kill the members of the Fire Nation that were there.” 

“Listen,” Jet said, lifting his hands up defensively. “I know I did some bad things in the past. But I’m a different guy now! I came to Ba Sing Se to start a new life. And now that I’ve found you guys, I have to tell you. I overhead some guys talking about moving an air bison. I’m assuming it’s yours?” 

“You know where Appa is?” Aang’s voice was so full of hope, of promise. Jet nodded. 

“I followed them around and they led me to a barn. I saw Appa inside.” 

“We have to go!” Aang leapt into the air, landing beside Jet. 

“What if it’s a trap?” Katara asked, narrowing her eyes at the tall, lanky boy. 

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take to get Appa back.” Aang stared at his friends. “I’m going, and you can either come with me or stay behind.” And although (Y/N) was exhausted, could feel it weighing down her limbs, she walked down the steps to stand beside Aang. He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze in thanks. (Y/N) squeezed back. 

Toph walked down to stand beside them and soon a disgruntled Sokka and Katara were following along as Jet led them back into the Middle Ring. (Y/N) slowed her steps so that she could fall in stride with Katara. Her face was turned down into a frown. 

“What happened?” (Y/N) asked. Katara sighed. 

“On our way to the North, we ran into Jet and his group. We thought they were a steal from the rich, give to the poor type of people, until Jet was going to use blasting jelly to destroy the dam and flood a town entirely full of people. If Sokka hadn’t warned everyone, they would’ve all died.” 

“Sokka saved them?” (Y/N’s) eyes went to the boy who walked in front of her, exchanging casual conversation with Toph. His ponytail bounced with each step. 

Katara nodded. “I thought that Jet was a great guy when I first met him. But now, I just don’t trust him.” 

“He told me something, about my tribe.” (Y/N) inhaled a deep breath. “He said that he heard my father is being challenged for his position as chief since he doesn’t have anymore heirs. He said that there might be a civil war in the North soon, and if the Fire Nation finds out about it, they’ll attack again.” 

Katara placed her hand on (Y/N’s) shoulder, squeezing it tightly to provide some sort of comfort. (Y/N) wasn’t one for physical affection. “As soon as we get the Earth King on our side, we can fly back to the North Pole to make sure everything is okay. It’s all rumors; it might not even be true!” (Y/N) nodded and thanked Katara for her advice, but she had a feeling deep in her stomach that what Jet had told her was, in fact, true. 

---

This had been one of the longest days of (Y/N’s) life. They hadn’t found Appa, but had been told that he had been shipped off to Whaletail Island. Just as they were devising their plan to fly there, their group ran into two of Jet’s friends, who claimed that they hadn’t seen him in days. Jet denied this, but the inconsistencies in his story were suspicious enough that they locked themselves in the house Jet was squatting in until they could figure out what was happening. 

As much as (Y/N) wanted to participate in what was happening, she sat in a chair at the edge of the room, her eyes heavy and her stomach rumbling uncontrollably. She hadn’t eaten since she left that morning and after an entire day of waterbending, she felt ravenous. She leaned against the table, her chin in her palm, thinking of all the foods she would eat if they ever went back home. 

Sokka wandered over to her, taking a seat at the chair next to her. The rest of their group intensely discussed their options of what to do with Jet. “Checked out for the night?” (Y/N) tried to nod but her head felt so heavy that she wasn’t sure if it moved or not. 

“I didn’t eat lunch or dinner and I was waterbending all day today.” Sokka looked over his shoulder at the others and then stood, looping (Y/N’s) arm through his. “What are you doing?” She asked, her nose scrunching in distaste but she made no move to stop him. 

“I’m going to take you home and we’re gonna get some food in you and put you to bed. We can’t fight bad guys if you’re falling asleep.” He told the rest of the group their plans and then led (Y/N) out into the night. 

She wasn’t meaning to be leaning on Sokka so much, but she was too tired and too focused on how good he smelled and how nice it was to be this close to him. They walked in silence for the first few minutes before Sokka spoke. “I heard what Jet told you.” The sinking feeling returned to (Y/N’s) stomach. She had forgotten about what was going on back in her tribe for a few hours while she focused on not falling asleep, and she felt ashamed because of it. 

“It’s all my fault,” (Y/N) said with a sigh, but there was no emotion to her voice. It was like she had accepted her statement as such a plain truth. 

“It’s not,” Sokka insisted. “You couldn’t have known that this would happen. And you said your parents were supportive of your decision.” (Y/N) had hummed. She had said that, yes, and in a way she was right. Her father had given her a sack of so many coins that she was still far from having spent it all. She figured that had been his way of expressing that he approved of her leaving the tribe. 

“I know that I wanted to leave, but I still feel guilty. I feel like I owe it to them to be there.” 

“You deserve to be happy. You don’t owe anyone anything.” 

“I feel like I owe it to her, sometimes.” She looked up at the moon but Sokka remained silent at her side. “She was good, to everyone. She wasn’t moody and uncontrollable and the servants didn’t say bad things about her behind her back. Do you know what it’s like to live constantly comparing yourself to someone else?” Although it was a rhetorical question, Sokka answered. 

“Of course I do. I compare myself to people everyday. My dad, Katara, Aang, you.” 

“Me? Why me?” 

“Yeah, you’re moody and uncontrollable and kind of scary sometimes, but you’re passionate. You put all of yourself into the people around them and inspire them constantly with your strength.” He cleared his throat, looking away from her. “At least, that’s how I see it.” 

A smile taunted the edge of (Y/N’s) lips. “I don’t think you should compare yourself to me. You’re much braver and kindhearted than I’ll ever be.” 

“You’re both of those things, you just don’t let people see it all the time. I like to think that I was starting to, but...” He shrugged, giving her a bright smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. 

“I know I haven’t been very nice to you,” She said quietly. “And I’m sorry. Sometimes it feels like it’s smarter to keep you at a distance.” 

“Why?” They stopped. They had reached the steps of their house. Lanterns were lit by the door and moths fluttered in their light. 

(Y/N) opened her mouth to speak, but realized that the explanation that could possibly come out of it was a declaration of affection. She smiled up at Sokka. “I’m sorry for not being a good friend. I’ll do better, I promise.” She ran up the steps of the house, trying to put some distance between them. “Are you hungry? I might make some soup before bed.” She rushed inside, her heart pounding against her chest.

---

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[laheyyisaac]

Overdue

chapter 3 — starting over

SUMMARY: Guinevere Bailey just moved to McKinney, TX in order to figure out her life. She meets Captain Hank Syverson at the local library, and she finds out she might have bitten off more than she can chew. PAIRING: Syverson x OFC WORD COUNT: 1394 A/N: holy shit! it’s been like 5 months! first of all, i’m so terribly sorry. i’ve been wretchedly depressed, and covid and grad school have simultaneously been beating the shit out of me with a wrench. or a lead pipe. not sure yet. either way. let me know what you think. i’m a bit rusty on this story, but i still want to at least finish it. not much of an idea where it’s gonna go. any thoughts? anything you’d like to see? lmk! TAGS:  @promptandpros​ @alyxkbrl​ @completelybonkersentirelymad​ @mylifefallingupthestairs​ @kissthatlifeaway​ @dangerouslovefanfic​ @michellemybelles-world​ @poledancingdinos​ @speakerforthedead0​ @omgkatinka​ @marswritings​ @misslalaland-blog-blog​ @oddsnendsfanfics​ @mzchievous-blog​ @auds24 @maizyistrash @mary-ann84 @justaboringadult @mis-lil-red @xxxkatxo PART 1 / PART 2

Captain Henry Syverson Jr. had never felt more like shit than he did now. He stared at his phone with a scowl on his face, still covered head to toe in soot. 

hope you’re okay. i’m headed home.

He’d screwed up the date he was having with a girl he thought was… well, incredibly pretty and incredibly funny. Sy closed his phone and sat it on his bed, going to his bathroom to wash off the remains of the barn that had caught fire last night. The barn had belonged to his mama and pop, and when he’d seen the smoke, he knew the animals hadn’t been moved out yet. Most of last night had been moving the animals out as fast as they could. So far, they’d only lost a hog and a calf in the fire, and a few were burned. It was...not bad, all things considered.

He still hadn’t had the nerve to text Guinevere back. He hadn’t had the nerve to go and see her either at the library. She most likely thought he’d stood her up, but the exact opposite was true. Sy stepped under the hot water, and he sighed as the drain tried to handle the near black liquid pooling down. He scrubbed his head as best he could. His hair was starting to grow back, already longer than he was used to. However, he wanted to grow it out. He missed his shaggy curls. The desert didn’t allow for that much.

He washed up as best as he could, and he realized his need for new shampoo and body wash since he smelled like a damn Bath & Body Works store. God love his mother, but she didn’t know what he liked anymore. And as lovely as lavender smelled, Sy didn’t want to smell like that. No, he much preferred his lovers smell like that. 

With a sigh, he stepped from the shower and dried off, looking over himself in the mirror. A few scars littered his chest, a few bullet wounds and the like. They added to his look. Or so he hoped.

He grabbed his phone and finally made the plunge, texting Gwen with all the humility he could muster.

I can explain. She typed back for a few moments, but then the typing bubbles went away. They started up again a moment later, and that continued for a few more minutes. Sy was practically having heart palpitations.

let’s hear it.

Our barn caught on fire last night, and I was out pulling the animals out. I completely forgot to text you. I’m sorry.

She started typing again. He didn’t have to wait long for this one. oh my god oh my god i’m so sorry! i must seem like such a jerk right now! ugh. i’m so sorry a thousand times over. do you want to reschedule?

Sy smiles. She’s sweet. Sounds good. I’ll be there this time. Hell or high water. Same place, same time tonight?

perfect. see you then, sy.

She sent a little heart emoji after that, and Sy was over the moon. Hopefully, nothing would ruin tonight. Then again, knowing Sy’s luck...

He made it there on time, meaning 5 minutes before. He got their table, set everything just right, and he waited. One minute before, Gwen stepped inside looking like the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. The mustard colored dress she wore perfectly complemented those eyes of hers. Took his breath away.

She looked nervous, and she was. However, he stood and waved a hand over to her. She beamed at him, trying to look like she wasn’t running towards him. It looked more like a brisk half-jog, which Sy appreciated. They were both excited. In their own ways.

He stood as she got closer, going around to pull out her chair for her. She flashed him a quick smile, and she sat. The tips of her ears were bright red. Sy had done his duty in making her blush, so he returned to his chair and sat across from her.

“I am so sor—”

“I am so sor—”

They both spoke at the same time, and they both laughed in tandem. “You go first,” Gwen said, brushing her hair from her face and putting her chin in her hands.

“I am so sorry, Guinevere. I should have texted or called you sooner to let you know what had happened. I wasn’t thinkin’.”

Gwen was silent for a while, and that made Sy fidget. He wasn’t fond of silences he deemed awkward, and this was one such silence. The Captain in him wanted to continue speaking, to talk and talk and talk until she had finally gotten it into her head what he meant when he hadn’t messaged her. But she spoke before he could actually say anything else.

“Nothing to be sorry about, Sy. Not like you set fire to your own barn. Unless you did, and if you did, I’m required to report you to the authorities.” They both laugh, and Gwen reaches out to take his hand across the table.

“Sorry for the miscommunication,” she breathed, finally. “Do over?”

“Do over. Howdy.” He raises their hands to shake. “My name is Hank Syverson Jr. But you can call me Sy. I’m a Captain in the U.S. Army. Who in the world are you, young lady?”

She laughs and shakes his hand right back, thumb brushing along the rough texture of his hands. “I am Guinevere Bailey, local librarian and nuisance. But you can just call me Gwen. Or nuisance. Again, I answer to both.”

It only goes up from there. Turned out that the army captain and the librarian shared a deep love of Tolkien and fantasy series of all sorts. He had a deep affection for video games, and though their tastes differed — he preferred combat heavy games and Gwen preferred story driven games — they both agreed that video games were quite fun no matter the genre. They laughed. They shared dessert. They lost track of time. They were gently reminded of the restaurant’s hours, and Gwen started to pull out her wallet to help pay for her dinner.

“Now now, little lady, let me get this one.”

“Only if you promise I can get the next one.”

Now, Hank was a chivalrous man, an old fashioned man. But he also never said no to a free meal, and in a refreshing turn for Guinevere, he said — “Deal.”

She smiled. “I really like you Hank Syverson Jr. I really, really like you.”

“I like you too Guinevere Bailey. Now c’mon. We’re wearin’ out our welcome.”

They left the restaurant, and the stars twinkled above them, cradling a bright full moon. Sy took a chance and linked their arms together, much to Gwen’s delight. She took his arm and leaned into him. They walked around historic downtown for a bit, continuing to chat and observing the old, beautiful buildings. By the time they’d made it back to their cars, the time was nearly midnight. They stood outside Gwen’s car, and he looked down at her, tall and towering.

“I had a nice night tonight, Gwen.”

“Me too, Sy. We should do it again sometime soon.”

“We should, and I should start goin’ to the library more often. I think I still got some books that are overdue from the fifth grade.”

“You’re going to get in trouble, Sy.”

“As long as I’m just in trouble with you. Night, Gwen.” Then, “can I kiss you?”

The question surprises her. Not many ask her. So she simply nods before letting out a resounding “yes. I’d like that.”

He leans down slowly, and Gwen’s lips part at the sight. He descends and places the softest kiss right there on her cheek, his beard tickling her jaw. She laughs at his tease, and he pulls back with a wink.

“Didn’t think you meant it like that, Syverson.”

“Hey, I never specified where. Buy me dinner first, and we’ll see where it goes.”

They both laugh again, and they linger. Neither wants to go home. Neither wants to stay. It’s kind of chilly, but neither will say anything if they can help it. It’s Gwen who breaks the silence, though.

“One more for the road? The other cheek’s getting jealous.”

“Yes ma’am. Whatever you say.”

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

🌎 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 🌍

Prompt: Y/N and Baron decide to take a big step in their relationship and moving in together. Everything seems to go pretty smoothly for them, until they bump into some little (and sometimes fun) cultural differences.

Word count: Long-ish

Pairing: Baron Corbin x Reader

Warnings: Apart from some cultural beliefs and cursing, nothing really.

Notes: I wanted to go smooth with my first fic with this giant teddy bear as a character. This little story is all based on my own country cultural beliefs. I’ve heard all of this ever since I was a little girl ok? None of this was made up! It’s written in both Y/N’s and Baron’s POV. Each scene is isolated, they do not complete each other. Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊) and if you’re comfortable with it,please let me know what you think? Some feedback is always welcomed and appreciated ❤️You can check out my other stories typing ‘masochist writes’ on the search bar on my page and my newest story as a fixed post.Okay,now let’s get to the fun part,shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

“Y/N, can you please explain to me why in the hell do you need all of this?” He lifts up my perfectly organized (and not so small) jewelry box

“Babe, please put that down. You’ll take all of my stuff out of order” I say as I’m finishing doing my hair

He places the box down and start to dig through the drawers.

“Jesus, babe! Did you robbed a bank to buy all of these?” He’s incredibly amused by the amount of different shapes and sizes pieces.

“Don’t let your eyes fool ya, Corbin” I laugh “Only the ones on the first drawer to the left are real”

He takes a silver thick chain with small discreet rhinestones on it and stares at the piece of jewelry.

“Oh, those are nice” I say “You can borrow ‘em if you’d like”

He looks at me “I would prefer to borrow these instead” He lifted up a golden bracelet with colorful rhinestones shaped as butterflies “What do you think? Should I wear these to work? Do you think they’ll match my outfit?” He playfully places the bracelet on top of his t-shirt, obviously mocking me, since I do the same thing when I ask his opinion.

“Shut up Corbin!” I laughed

“Why do you need so much bracelets, earrings, hoops, necklaces and rings?” He says

I look at him defiantly “Why do you need so many watches, cigars, vintage lighters and expensive cars?” I crook one eyebrow at him

“Touché, princess. My excuse is because I can, yours?” He playfully smirks

“Because that’s who I am! I grew up surrounded by women full of jewelry, lipstick and these” I show him my long nails as I stick my tongue out just like a child would

“I like those” He pointed at my nails “They feel real good when you pair them up with sweet moans begging me to go harder” He gives me one of his cocky smirks

“You’re so full of yourself” I defeatedly say

.....................…..............................................

“Hey baby girl, what you’re up to? WOW something smells really good in here”

“Oh hi” I look at Baron as he entered the kitchen “Thanks! I’m making dinner” I smile

“Oh yeah?!” He lifts a lid from one of the saucepans “What you’re cooking?”

“Nothing crazy, just a simple regular dinner. White rice, beans, some meat with potato and carrots, broccoli and cauliflower for salad. Plus milk pudding for desert, the same one my grandma always made”

“And that’s your idea of ‘simple dinner’?” He asks amused

“It is simple”

“When you said simple I thought you‘ve meant, meat and some bread or something like that” He vaguely said

“That’s like a snack, not proper dinner Baron”.

“It’s pretty common to have that for dinner you know”

I look at him in disbelief “If I ever suggested that as a dinner option back in my family’s house I would’ve been told to shut up and eat my goddamn vegetables! A proper meal isn’t a proper meal if it doesn’t have rice and beans.”

He laughs “Do you need me to get the beans for you?”

“Do you have it?” I gasp in shock

“Of course” He goes and opens one of the upper kitchen cabinets taking out a can of beans “Here” He hand it to me

My eyes widened “Please don’t tell me you eat this crap!” As I shake the can in front of his face

“What’s wrong with it?” He asks offended

“Everything Baron! If it comes in a can is not good for you! I’m talking about cooking dried beans, real beans. Not this pathetic excuse for a bean”.

“They taste the same Y/N”

“Have you ever eaten freshly cooked beans?” I ask defiantly

“No, but-“

“Then you have no right of opinion on this debate!” I huffed and he rolled his eyes

......................................................................

“What in the actual fuck?” I say as I got up from the bed.

I followed the very loud music coming from downstairs in the living room to find Y/N in some skimpy clothes, barefoot with her hair up in a bun singing and dancing to whatever rhythm that was. I go to the radio and turn the music down. Making her look behind.

“Oh you’re awake” She smiles fondly

“How could I not be with this deafening loud music? What are you doing?”

“It’s Saturday babe” She says as if that was supposed to mean something

“Yeah I know! It’s also fucking 8 a.m. and my day off! I would like to still be asleep!” I say angrily

“But it’s Saturday” She says again

“And what’s that suppose to mean Y/N?”

“Saturday is the official house cleaning day, love” She speaks slowly as if she was talking to a child “Would you like to take the bedrooms and bathrooms or the living and dining room plus the kitchen?” She smiled

“Are you fucking kidding me Y/N? I would like to sleep! Sleep until fucking noon damn it! Official house cleaning day my ass” I scream as I make my way back to the bedroom slamming the door.

......................................................................

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING BARON?” She yelled

“Jesus fuck, you scared me! I’m cleaning as you can see” I say as I grab another piece of paper towel to clean the oven

“With paper towels?! Do you plan to bankrupt us and kill the environment too?”

“And what am I supposed to use to clean it?” I ask impatiently

She reaches one of the lower drawers and take a piece of one of her old shirts from it and hand it to me.

I just stare at her confused. She sighs before saying

“You use this to clean it, after you’re done you’ll wash it, put down to dry and once is dried you’ll store it back in the drawer again for future cleaning uses! That’ll save money and prevent more trees to get killed so you can clean your oven! Do I have to teach you everything babe?” She throws her hands in the air “Unbelievable” As she lefts me with a puzzled look on my face.

......................................................................

“Baron love, have you seen my purse?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve put it in there” He points to his side of the bed as he continues with his eyes glued to his video game.

“Ok, than- Baron!” I run towards my purse, snatching it quickly from the floor “Why did you put my purse on the floor?”

“Baby, where was I suppose to put it?”

“Not on the floor! I would like to keep my money you know?!” I huffed

“And what does your purse being on the floor has to do with you keeping your money?”

“EVERYTHING! You should know that placing your purse or wallet on the floor makes your money vanish”

“WHAT? Y/N, I’m sorry but that makes zero sense princess!”

“Shut up Corbin, you know nothing!”

......................................................................

“Baron, can you get the broom for me please?” I ask as he passed by me

“Yeah, sure”

He comes back with the broom on his hand “Here, I’ll help you” As he swiped the floor

“Thank you, my love”

A few minutes after I felt the biggest fear of my life becoming true

“Oh, sorry kitten...Are you ok?”

“Baron” I whisper “Please tell me that I’m getting delusional and you didn’t swipe my feet just now”

“Yeah I did, but-“ I raised my hand for him to stop talking

“Did I do something wrong?” He asks

“Yes you did. In fact, I’m never gonna get married now thanks to you!”

“What?” He chuckled “Please don’t tell me that this is one more of your crazy superstitions?” He’s full on laughing now

“Stop laughing dumb ass! It’s not funny and you should respect those things you know?!” I say annoyed

“Whatever you say babe” He dries his tears of laughter

......................................................................

“For God’s sake what is this awful smell?” I ask to myself as I entered the living room door “Y/N?”

She didn’t answer me. I decided to go on a hunt for my own woman inside my house, when I heard some mumbling

“Y/N, what are you doing?”

“Shhhh Baron, don’t interrupt me!”

“What on earth is this cursed smell?” I ask ignoring her

“It’s sage and some herbs” She whispers

“I’ve had a bad dream, so this will keep all of the bad juju out of here!” She says

“You know that will-“ As soon as I was about to remind her of the smoke alarm the little prick showed himself

“Oh fuck! I forgot about that, damn it! Shut up you evil little thing!” She says as she steps on the couch and wave her hands at it “Baron! Don’t just stand there, do something boy! Go get me a piece of cloth of something like that!” As she frantically waves her hands to prevent the smoke from going to the alarm

......................................................................

“Good morning kitten” I lean down to peck her lips

“Good morning handsome” She smiles “Coffee?”

“Yes, please”

She fills one mug with black coffee and give it to me

“Thanks baby” I take a gulp “You know, I’ve had this crazy dream last night”

“Oh yeah? About what, love?”

“There was this monkey and a deer. I was chasing them or something, I don’t know it was just so weird” I look at Y/N to find her typing ferociously on her phone

“Is everything ok, kitten?”

“Sure babe! I’m just texting my sister to mark me some numbers at the loteria”

“Why?”

“Because of your dream Baron! The monkey and the deer. They have a number at the loteria so who knows? Maybe we’ll gain some money at it to save it up?”

“But we don’t need money” I look at her almost laughing

“Still” She raises her eyebrows

......................................................................

“Yeah?” I scream

*Is she really gonna make me go down there?* I sighed

“Yeah baby girl?” I ask as I open the door

“What?” She asks confused

“What do you want babe? You were calling me” I say

“No I wasn’t!”

“Yes you were Y/N, I was in the bedroom unpacking and I heard you clearly call for me two times”

“Baron, I swear on my mother’s life I did not called for you” She whispers, all the blood drained out from her face

“Oh, then I guess I misheard it”

“When you heard someone call for you, did you answered out loud?” She asks with fear in her eyes

“Well yeah! I thought you were the one who was calling me in the first place!”

She stood up from her office chair grabbing a small glass bottle with some water in it. She toss some of the water on her then on me

“What the fuck babe? What’s that?” I ask slightly angry

“Holy water! You heard something call for you with my voice, and you answered! Babe that is a bad omen, that means something evil is walking around here...Oh my God” She gasps in shock “Xander! We gotta bless him with some holy water too, we gotta protect him Baron! Oh no my poor baby Xander” She runs through the the hallway screaming for Xander.

Soon after she returns with Xander by her side. “He’s good now, thank God!” She reaches for her desk’s drawer again and grabbed a spray bottle “C’mon Baron, we’ve got to spray holy water in all of the doors and windows so it will scare away whatever that thing that called for you was” She lives her office again with the spray bottle in hand and a faithful Xander by her side.

God, why on earth did I decided to move in with that woman? She drives me crazy! But I would be lying if I said she wasn’t fun...

[twstarchives]

Ruggie Bucchi・Voice Lines

Additional Voice Lines: Gala Couture Event Card

School Uniform - R

Unlock Card “The secret to feeling good is eating! As long as you eat, everything’ll be OK!”

Groovy “My studies, huh...? This is what’s gonna put food on my table, so I’m taking them seriously.”

Home Setting “They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, you know?”

Home Transitions “I’m busy cleaning up Leona’s room right now. What? You wanna help? Man, thanks a bunch!”

“Mages who grew up in the slums like me are pretty rare.”

“Are you sure you should be spacing out like that? Time is money, you know.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Do you need somethin’ from me? I’ll listen if you say you’ll treat me to something.”

Home Taps “My uniform? It’s a hand-me-down from Leona. It’s a little big, but I can still wear it so it’s fine.”

“I wouldn’t mind looking after Grim if you ever need me to. How does 1000 madols an hour sound?”

“You’re hungry? If you get some ingredients together, I can whip something up for you.”

“I gotta think about what I’m going to do after I graduate and start working towards that. ‘Cause life is really long.”

“Hm, what’s up? Does Leona want something——Oh, he doesn’t? You scared me for a sec...”

PE Uniform - R

Unlock Card “I’m really good at sports. At least, better than you.”

Groovy “Alright! I think I should show my cool side to the lower grades every once in a while~”

Home Setting “Getting to run around so nimbly really is the best.”

Home Transitions “Move it, move it! We’re in the middle of cleaning out the whole dorm! ‘Cause Leona never cleans this place up himself...”

“I’m considered pretty small in my dorm. But that just means I’ve got a lot of advantages in magift.”

“I’m really confident in my endurance. If I got my eyes on my prey, it’s not gonna escape me!”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Magift has a completely different feel when you see it live. Wanna come watch our practice sometime?”

Home Taps “Ahh, I’m hungry. I’m feeling like a whole pile of sugary donuts to dip in some milk.”

“I really respect Jack for how much physical strength he’s got. But he still has a selfish playing style.”

“Building up your strength is really important to survive a brutal environment.”

“Coach Vargas got angry today? Just compliment him on his muscles and that’ll put him right back in a good mood.”

“Now’s your last chance to enjoy yourself. Let’s hope you don’t lose all hope in everything when Coach Vargas goes and pushes you to your limit though. Shishishi!”

Lab Coat - SR

Unlock Card “I don’t care that much about looking professional, but I kinda like these snazzy lab coats.”

Groovy “You’re really clumsy. Here, hand that to me.”

Home Setting “Dirt would really stand out on this kind of white.”

Home Transitions “You should probably stay away from the Botanical Garden. If you irritate Leona during his naptime... Oo, it gives me chills.”

“Ahh, you’re using up so much good lab materials! Man, what a waste...”

“I love alchemy. But I tend to make lots of mistakes if I get too greedy. Hehe.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Aah? I wouldn’t be able to help you with that work even if you asked me.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “You can still eat weeds if you cook them right. Huh, you actually wanna try ‘em? ...You’ve got weird taste.”

Home Taps “Jack grows a lot of cacti in his room. Maybe they could be emergency rations.”

“I can only throw together a meal with what I’ve got to work with, but I guess it’s fine as long as Leona eats it.”

“A lot of the plants they grow in the Botanical Garden could sell for really high prices. ...I don’t mean anything by that; I’m just sayin’. Shishishi!”

“I don’t really get how Riddle just dumps in spoonfuls thinking it’s ‘the right amount’ he needs.”

“Don’t touch me when your hands reek of chemicals! You’re gonna get the smell on me!”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Want me to tell you what was covered on my tests last year? I’d even give you a special friend discount.”

Ceremony Robes - SR

Unlock Card “These robes are so fancy. They really do have the feel of this school.”

Groovy “Even I look the part when I’m wearing these, don’t I?”

Home Setting “So? These actually look pretty nice on me, huh?”

Home Transitions “You’re a student at this academy but you don’t even know the history behind it? Gathering intel should always be a priority.”

“Want a keepsake photo of you in your ceremony robes? Just 1000 madols a pic! It’s a great deal!”

“Hah, I’m tired... I can’t help feeling stiff in clothes I’m not used to. How are you doin’ in them?”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “This high-quality fabric with gold embroidering, plus these decorations... How much would they all sell for?”

Home Transition (Groovy) “The ceremony today is gonna be in the Mirror Chamber. Shishishi! You look nervous. It’s cute; it’s fitting for a first-year.”

Home Taps “I’m not rich, but I’ll always like this better than being a spoiled brat who doesn’t have a problem in the world.”

“The chance of Leona coming to a ceremony is... about 50/50. But he’ll still come to the entrance and graduation ones.”

“The Headmaster takes really good care of the apple trees that grow on campus. Those apples all look so good.”

“Mages were pretty rare where I grew up. I bet they’d all wanna see what I look like now.”

“You don’t need to rush; we’ve got plenty of time before the ceremony. You’re so impatient.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Your makeup’s all smudged. Alright, guess I’ll fix it for you. ...It’s fine, I’ve done this as a job before.”

Dorm Uniform - SSR

Unlock Card “Who stepped into my territory?”

“Oh, wow, what a cute little kitten. Did you come here to be our prey? Shishishi!”

Groovy “I could tell you how to survive at this school if you want.”

Home Setting “I feel like somethin’ fun’s gonna happen today.”

Home Transitions “The deserted feel of the Ramshackle Dorm is kinda nice, but... Savanaclaw is still my favorite.”

“The dorm uniforms really are so easy to move in. They’re not too fancy either; it’s perfect for me.”

“We’re about to have a dorm meeting right now. What, you wanna come check it out? I mean, Leona’s kind of... It depends on how you ask him.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “I’m heading to the cafeteria with Leona. Wanna come too? Having more people to run errands saves me some.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Sure, I came to this school without a madol in my pocket... but you can always find a way to handle anything as long as you’re alive!”

Home Taps “The strong and the smart are the ones who rise to power in Savanaclaw. I like how it’s an obvious system.”

“This necklace is supposed to represent different parts of nature. Red for the sun, blue for the sky, green for the land... It reminds me of my hometown.”

“It’s important to not let your guard down in the savannah. If you’re not careful... bam! You get killed.”

“Leona works me hard, but I’m always paid the appropriate amount. It’s a give-and-take.”

“You’re really just like a puppy with how playful you are.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “There’s still so much you could do even if you can’t use magic. Want me to give you a lecture on them?”

Duo Magic Ruggie: “Use your head, Jack!” Jack: “Right! Ruggie!”

Birthday Celebration Outfit - SSR

This card was only obtainable during Ruggie’s birthday event (Apr 16 - Apr 22, 2021).

Login on Birthday “Today’s my long-awaited birthday! Course that means you’ve got a present ready for me, right? ...Wait, huh? You actually do? ...Hmm, you were so straightforward, it kinda threw me off... Well, thanks! Hehe.”

Unlock Card “I’m the king today! Is the celebration all ready to go?”

“There’s really no one worth giving presents to as much as me. I’ll be happy with anything I get!”

Groovy “Thanks for celebrating! Can I expect another fancy party next year?”

Home Setting “I’m going to make it loud and clear I’m the star today.”

Home Transitions “Jack was so annoying telling me ‘The birthday boy needs to just kick back and relax!’ It was hard shaking him off.”

“Cake tastes so good and sweet~ But as long as it keeps me filled, I don’t really have anything else to say about it.”

“I can’t believe Silver was so quick to buy me that premium pudding when I asked him for it... I’ll go crying to him next time I’m short on food money.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “The birthday parties at this school are the best! I mean, there’s so much fancy food! I’m going to stuff myself like mad.”

Home Taps “The neighborhood kids always come to visit on my birthday. ...No, not to celebrate; they’re after the food.”

“Jade gave me a high-quality towel that’s so soft to touch... I might change my mind about being okay using it.”

“Lucius showed me somewhere where lots of dandelions grow. He’s a thoughtful cat!”

“This donut pin looks so yummy. But I wish they would’ve gotten some actual ones ready.”

“Hey, I know you just pulled my tail! You’re wrong if you think I’m going to allow that just ‘cause it’s my birthday.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Some people don’t like getting older, but I’m happy about it. Don’t take your birthdays for granted.”

Duo Magic Ruggie: “Sebek, let's hear ya shout it out!” Sebek: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RUGGIE!!!”

Tutorial “Delays never bring you anything good. Let’s go.”

Lv Up “Shishishi! This is good.”

“You’re kinda weird, trying to take care of me.”

“I think I’ve gotten stronger!”

Max Lv Up “I feel like I could do anything now. Trying hard every once in a while actually might not be that bad. Hehe.”

Episode Lv Up “You really are such a softie. You might get scammed someday, you know? Well, come talk to me if that happens and I might help you out.”

Magic Lv Up “I always thought my magic would stay sucky my whole life, but... it’s kinda turned out.”

Limit Break “I think my progress is still far from over. Guess I gotta stay around you a little while longer.”

Groovy “See? The skilled ones always survive in this world. You’ve got nothing to lose being around me.”

Select Lesson “There aren’t classes on haggling or anything? This place really is a prestigious mage-training school.”

“You don’t have to get so stressed about it. You take things so seriously.”

“Which one are you gonna do? If it were me I’d pick one that’d be useful for survival.”

Lesson Start “Alright, studytime, studytime!”

Lesson End “Hah... I gotta stay caught up.”

Battle Start “This is my territory!”

Battle End “Looks like I got myself some mouth-watering prey.”

Other

Profile Quote “This world is a survival of the fittest. If you don’t eat when you can, you’re not gonna survive.”

January 2020 Trailer “Even a hyena can become king at this school.”

Countdown Poster “You’ve got some nerve stepping into our territory. Shishishi!”

Login Bonus Greeting “Oh, you made some money! Shishishi! Getting this just by coming to school everyday really is the best, huh? Make sure you don’t forget to come tomorrow either.”

Player Birthday Wish “You’re eating good food, getting all these presents, and everyone’s being so nice to you today. So you don’t really need me to send you birthday wishes on top of that, right? Kidding. Shishishi! I swear! Happy birthday!”

[nakahara-umi]

Christmas 1 - Chuuya x female reader: “Cuddling with you is warmer than this cocoa”

Genre: Fluff, love.

Note: All the fanfics of this special will have home vibes. No extreme scenarios, just peaceful couple stuff (they´re a little bit self-indulgent).

Summary: You´re at home, with your love, covered with a soft blanket drinking a delicious hot cocoa. What else could you ask for?

It was a cold snowy day at Yokohama and fortunately you and your boyfriend had the day off, you knew his job as a mafia boss required a lot of his time so you were grateful when you could spend time with him and you appreciated every little moment. When you woke up you decided you would stay all the day at home, it was almost freezing out there and what better to spend the day in the warmth of your shared apartment and cook for him.

Chuuya hasn’t woken up, so you decided to surprise him with a complete homemade breakfast. You barely had the time to use the kitchen due to also been busy at your work, so always you brought food from restaurants. You thought it would be a nice surprise for him and luckily you had in the fridge enough food to make a decent meal.

You decided to prepare some French toast with fruit and two dalgona coffee. It was the first time you prepared that type of drink so at the end all the coffee part ended up falling to the bottom of the cups.

While you were lamenting your little failure Chuuya had arrived to the kitchen.

-Hey babe, what you doing there?

-Honey. – You forget about everything and reached out to kiss him, wrapping your arms around his neck. When you softly separated from the kiss you answered him.

-I was making us breakfast.

-Really? – He said while a smile appeared on his face.

-Yeah, but the coffee didn´t turned out like I wanted. The creamy part was supposed to go on top of the milk but it sank.

-What kind of coffee were you making?

-Dalgona.

-Oh, the Korean one. If it is for the appearance I don´t care, if you made it, then it is perfect for me.

You smiled relieved, deep down you knew it was absurd to worry about something so vague, but you wanted the breakfast to taste and look good. But his words reassured you.

-And what else did you prepare?

-French toast with some fruit.

-Everything sound delicious. What a better way to start my day.

You then proceeded to eat your breakfast. You both kept talking about how your week was and you loved every story Chuuya had to tell you. You wouldn´t admit it out loud, but despite his work being dangerous you still thought it was really interesting, and even though he would never let you get into his dark world you at least you like to hear how the port mafia works.

The rest of the day was really calm, Chuuya agreed to stay at home all day with you and you both even kept on your pajamas. You decided you would watch movies and watch some anime and you loved every second of it, it was just so cute to see him when he like an scene or complain about something he didn´t like, and you even introduced him to your favorite anime and it was really fun to explain him everything, the hard part was to avoid him to tell him some spoilers because you knew it would make him lost interest.

To eat you prepared a the most simple risotto in the world, all the fancy ingredients were missing but at least you had the white wine at home, in Chuuya´s wine collection. At the end it ended up tasting well but you both knew it could get a lot better. You´ll make sure to fill your pantry the next day.

When night arrived the weather was a lot colder and you thought it would be a nice idea to make some hot cocoa.

-How is it possible we were missing almost half of the ingredients for the risotto but we have plenty of chocolate here? – Chuuya said

-Maybe we should stop eating from restaurants. That´s the reason why I don´t buy food.

-I couldn´t agree more. This kitchen looks like a desert.

-It´s not that bad. Let´s admit that recipe is pretty fancy. Even the rice needs to be of a special type.

Once you stopped talking about the risotto you started preparing the chocolate. You wanted to try those cute chocolate bombs you´ve seen on social media, but Chuuya wanted to drink it already, so you just prepared it the traditional way. Once it was ready you poured it on two Christmas themed cups you brought and sat on your couch.

You wanted to cuddle with him so you went to your bedroom and brought with you a blanket. You then hugged while covering yourselves with it and drinking your cocoa. There was a peaceful silence until Chuuya spoke.

-This day was nice, we should try to make more time to spend like this.

-I think the same, my love. I really enjoy this.

You smiled as you rest your head on his shoulder. In fact, you both were letting your jobs consume all your time and maybe trying to make this more often wouldn´t hurt. You wanted to stay like this forever and the warm feeling on your heart was growing bigger, you were safe, in peace at home and your smile couldn´t grow bigger when you looked at Chuuya and only by seeing him with his eyes closed, also smiled, you could felt he feels the same and that made you incredibly happy.

[therectoress]

yennaia + gamer au

This was supposed to be three sentences and definitely not crack but I just had to... sksjsjssksjjs.

Yennaia prompt: Gamer AU.

LINK TO ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN IN THE REPLIES.

Word count: 1.8k+ Pairing: Yennaia. Rating: T.

Tissaia really had no idea why she was doing this. Perhaps to appease Rita. Perhaps because her addiction to nicotine had worsened over the course of one year of a bloody Continent-wide pandemic and she was loath to use her credit card every time she needed a new pack of cigarettes. Perhaps she was going through a midlife crisis to cope with the fact that being the Chancellor of Aretuza College was already stressful enough without half the generations there trying to fool her subordinates into thinking cardboard replicas or even mannequins counted as attendance or simply because the rest of the Board of Governors (Stregobor) couldn't differentiate between what could be said through an email and what required her to clean her entire house so the background of her call was pristine.

Her controller vibrated in her hands, (Why, for the love of the Gods, couldn't that setting be turned off?) her knuckles turning white from gripping it so strongly. "Oh, for fu- heaven's sake." There, she had been ambushed. Again. A funny and wholly unexpected thing happened, though, one of the users turned on her companions, offing the lot of them with clean headshots the brunette definitely couldn't pull off in the span of twenty seconds.

"Uhh..." What does one say when your virtual saviour just betrayed her entire party on a whim and was being cursed at obnoxiously loudly and vulgarly for it?

Yennefer ignored Sabrina calling her names that absolutely applied to her and her hormonal reaction to a lovely blue-eyed MILF the likes of which she had only seen in her dreams. "No thanks needed, love. I was getting tired of seeing you frown like someone had keyed your car every time you got killed. A pretty thing like you should only have cause to smile." Oh, Gods, now she sounded like a creepy old man that lived in his mum's basement. Great. Good job. Her Social Studies major was an absolute hit. Fuck her life. Fuck Oxenfurt College. And fuck Sabrina's witch-like cackling while she was at it. "Name’s Yennefer." She choked out miserably.

Tissaia scowled at her laptop. Hackers. Amazing. This was the best day of her new normal life. "Mind telling me how you broke through the most expensive antivirus in the Continent, dear? Because now I really need a refund." Now she also needed to contact Aretuza’s IT team on a Saturday night, because she was not about to mess any further with these blasphemous machines, thank you very much.

Wait, what? "That wasn't me... You left your camera on." The woman legitimately squealed at that, her oversized jumper sliding down her left shoulder and exposing just a glimpse of her collarbone as she pinned up her hair into a bun with... were those pens fashioned as swords? Oh, bugger, this was so not the time to get turned on! "Are you alright?" Mercifully Sabrina, Renfri and Phillipa were already accosting someone else, else she was sure the brunette would've completely lost it, more than she already was doing, anyways. "Hello?" No answer.

Tissaia was fishing for her boots when she started ranting, “Oh, don’t you worry! I’m fine! Just dandy! This is exactly how I wanted my life to go.” She motioned with her hand to the space around her. “I wished for nothing more than dealing with complete morons from nine to six, five days a week, whilst trying to make sure my sanity doesn't desert me.” Biting her lower lip for a moment she began checking that the ends of the laces were the same length when she pulled them up. “Running right after to my local grocery store to buy more instant meals that are probably going to give me cancer in five years if the bullshit articles my mother keeps sending me-”

Yennefer had told herself she wasn’t going to allow this wasn’t going to get any creepier than her misguided comment but she still had a gift code for that nice liquor store which conveniently had retailers popping up every six blocks everywhere for the last few months, especially in Thanned isle, only Gods knew why. “This bloody succubus of a twat that is my best friend has been forcing me to constantly use this cursed game by changing the password for my email and then Aretuza’s server and then-” Bingo. One text to Philippa and they had her IP address, with a mortified Triss already calling Jaskier since she was the only one that had managed to get a decent scholarship at that posh college.

This was her future wife who was about to jump from a bridge from the looks of her and they just had to do humanity a great service by saving her from herself and from sobriety.

“Can you believe that tosser? I am a lesbian! I spent my teenage years clad in flannel until my girlfriends staged an intervention kind of lesbian! Yes, Vilgefortz, I will sue you for harassment in the workplace and I will blacklist you. No, Vilgefortz, I don’t want to break quarantine to go on a date with you and I definitely do not want your disgusting cologne anywhere near my-” Tissaia’s head shot up, her doorbell was ringing and she pinched the bridge of her nose, reaching for a new, disposable, mask.

“You stay right there.” She threatened the girl, who had the most beautiful violet… Perhaps she really ought to let Coral get her a therapist. It rang again. “Gods-damn-it.” She thought.

Her plan was going marvellously. She would only have to sleep with a knife under her pillow for a few weeks for blackmailing Sabrina (Who honestly hadn’t the slightest talent to pass off plagiarism as a sudden stroke of genius in her final project without her aid.) into going along with this. The blonde was lighting the candles around the monitor without trying to burn her hair off and had given away her best bottle of cheap but still good wine for the cause. Thanks to Renfri and her frankly psychotic, owl obsessed, girlfriend she already knew what she would be replacing her trauma-ridden last name with! Splendid!

The brunette shut the door on Jaskier’s face after taking the brown paper bag from his hands, spraying the bottle of vodka inside it with so much disinfectant that it dripped down onto her carpet. Taking off her gloves and disposing of them, she grabbed a knife from the counter and ignoring the annoying blue light that came from the kitchen table, “Oh, shit. You’re soulmates. I’ll tell the rest of the girls we’re all fucked.” Tissaia cut off the upper part of the glass in one smooth hit, like Calanthe had taught her when the then teacher could still be considered fun by her groups of friends.

“Shut up, tiddybug!” She heard Yennefer sing-song.

Feeling like being crass the blue-eyed woman took a rather large swing directly from the bottle. Sitting back down, she sighed. Yennefer took a dignified sip from her wine; she could do balanced when her significant other to-be needed to let loose. “Did you like the bottle? It has good reviews from… wait a minute… apparently several alcoholics who don’t know what a budget is.”

Tissaia’s face paled. “I thought you weren’t a hacker.” The woman muttered. She didn’t fancy getting kidnapped and… No, no, no. Fucking Rita. What was the cost of moving, again? If she slept four hours less a day and split her cleaning time in two she could probably trade this house for Stregobor's in-

“I am not!” Yennefer cried. Bloody hell. “You just mentioned that you worked at Aretuza and-” Sabrina had probably started a group call and Phillipa was indeed hacking into her computer to save her arse. The Redanian was currently writing a script for her to follow. “Your username in the game is your surname. My friends and I tried to get into that school a few years back and I do remember that the Chancellor is a woman and that her last name is de Vries.” Her username wasn’t her last name, it was actually something that suggested she was an Ice Queen of the highest order. Queen Elsa from the movie Frozen would be intimidated kind of Ice Queen.

“Everyone is aware the highest-ranking members of the faculty live in chalets near the castle, pardon, the building.” True. According to Triss, that was a part of their contract that if unfulfilled prohibited them from working there ever again. To Yennefer that seemed borderline cruel, forcing them to be available at all hours like circus animals for juniors that didn’t deserve their spots.

“My best friend is a student there and she knows which one is your home because she wants to eventually be a teacher.” Partially true. Until that day came, Triss, like any rational individual, avoided the Chapter’s Village like the plague lingered inside, and wouldn’t be caught dead there unless she had to stop Sabrina from doing something stupid because of the anarchist phase she was going through. Jaskier was an acquaintance of hers of sorts because Triss had tutored his boyfriend Geralt in Biology and being daddy’s boy, he knew which one was Tissaia’s house because he had almost gotten expelled like fifteen times.

“I honestly just wanted to do something nice for you, you sounded like you needed it and… I know quarantine hasn’t been lifted once in Temeria since it all started.” Philippa wrote then that she would probably make for a decent actor without flashing her breasts to the audience every five minutes. She pursed her lips and replied in the mock post-it note to fuck off.

“I… I… Thank you. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed- I’m sorry, darling.” Her pale cheeks flushed at the term of endearment that slipped her tongue and Tissaia bowed down her head, red-painted nails caressing the glass bottle almost reverently. “Say, why don’t you tell me what your email address is and I send you my mobile via chat? The explosions in the background aren’t that, uhm, comforting to listen to when I’d much rather be hearing your voice.” Should she have looked up she would have seen the smile that threatened to split Yennefer’s face. “Only if you want to, of course! I- what am I even saying? Never mi-”

“No! Wait!” She placated. Sabrina squeezed her shoulder as she went to retrieve her phone charger, offering her a genuine smile. “I’d love to.”

“Okay.” Said Tissaia, an awed sound leaving her throat when blue finally meet with lilac. Gods, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Rita could have whichever bottle, all the liquor she wanted from the school’s cellar for indirectly enabling this.

Was one week a proper enough courting period to then buy the engagement ring? Or should she just have Philippa get her the best, costliest one from that jewellery eshop they all liked through some minor fraud that would take her like half an hour at most, today? “Good.” Yennefer de Vries had such a nice ring to it.

[redqueen-hypothesis]

tied together pt.2 ➳ mlqc

➳ WORD COUNT: 3359

➳ GENRE: fluff

➳ SYNOPSIS: how would the mlqc boys (lucien, victor and shaw) propose?

➳ REMARKS: i seem to be obsessed with sleeping at last songs recently. they’re soothing to ears... these headcanons were inspired by heart. 

VICTOR

has been thinking about proposing for a long, long time

and by long, long time i mean, he’s been thinking about this ever since the two of you started dating

victor has a one track mind: dating, proposal, marriage. when he gets into a relationship with you, it’s all or nothing

the man might seem like he’s emotionally constipated - but he’s determined to make this relationship work, to officially join the two of you together for the rest of your lives

victor is a traditionalist romantic, he inherited that side from his mother. he’s big on romantic shows of affection and has the money to do it too, so he gets down to preparing something that will definitely blow you away

he’s brought up the idea of proposing before, wanting to wait until you’re as ready as he is about the idea of being together

when you give him positive answers, jokingly telling him that he’ll have to do all the cooking or you’d turn him down on the spot, he knows that it’s time to pop the question

gradually puts together a proposal plan after work each day, making arrangements and phone calls

goldman gets roped into helping overtime (give the poor man a raise)

aside from goldman, though, victor is determined to get this proposal down on his own: it’s his proposal, and he’ll do it with his own hands

personally goes to the florist to inspect each and every rose he’s buying (he’s buying them by the hundreds), trimming them of the thorns and bundling them into bouquets

he’s not fantastic with his hands, fumbles with the silk ribbons that seem to keep slipping through his fingers and some of the bouquets look just a little lopsided, but it’s the effort that counts for him

victor knows money can buy almost anything in the world, but he also knows more than anyone else what money can’t buy - your love, your devotion, your patience with him

finds himself reminiscing a lot about his memories with you, from the way you jammed your foot in his office door and shouted how you were going to get that funding no matter what to the way you shiver when he kisses you

gods, time works in some strange ways

you realise he’s been looking a little exhausted when you come to deliver the reports to his office, but victor waves it off, looking as put together as ever

goldman complains to you that he’s been staying up late doing extra work and that he should at least get a bonus, but victor drags him away before he can say another word

(he does get a bonus, but it’s more of hush money than anything. from then on goldman keeps his mouth faithfully shut)

one day after a work week, victor invites you to souvenir for dinner. it’s rare that he brings you there nowadays, because you’d rather just eat together in his house, but you’ve missed the place and mr mills

he sends you a dress to wear, a beautiful wine red affair that fits you like a second skin, and also a limousine to pick you up. no one but him is seeing you in that dress

you’re kind of stressed, because victor just dropped this on you out of nowhere and oh god is something big happening? the dress looks more like something you’d wear on the red carpet than a simple meal

you redo your make up five times before giving up

when you enter the limo, the chauffeur passes you a delicate jewelry box “with regards from mr li”. you open it to find a string of sparkling stones - no, those cannot be real... right?

when you think about your boyfriend though, no they’re quite definitely real

you put it on with shaking hands. victor has a penchant for giving you the strangest gifts, from a golden camel he’d found in a souvenir shop while visiting dubai to a glass jar of pink sand from the beaches of eleuthera just because you had mentioned wanting to visit in passing

but diamonds? you’re pretty sure you’ve seen this as a collector’s item somewhere... how much did they cost?

stepping into souvenir is like stepping into another world altogether - you’ve never seen it like this before

there are velvet roses decorating the small restaurant, in all manner of colour, wine red, champagne, white and pink, scented candles lighting up the room with their flickering glow

and standing in the middle of it all is victor dressed in a dark suit, holding a huge bouquet of red roses in his hands. when he sees you, his face softens ever so slightly, and he puts the flowers in your hands “here”

doesn’t so much as explain what they’re for, pulling out your chair for you. the two of you are the only ones here, and victor serves you himself

is it just you, or does the food somehow taste better than usual?

during the course of the entire dinner, however, victor looks like he wants to say something, but can’t quite open his mouth

he puts a pudding in front of you for desert, your favourite, but this time when you cut it in half with your spoon, there’s sound of metal on metal

you frown. surely victor wouldn’t have dropped one of his cuff-links inside? scooping it out, you find a single, silver band inside, a sparkling diamond resting on the top

you stare at it for a good few seconds without moving, unable to believe your eyes. you’re not hallucinating, right? that’s really a diamond ring there in the middle of your pudding?

you know it’s a proposal. you just can’t seem to shed the thickness in your throat that steals your voice, the way your hands are trembling too much to pick the ring up, the way you’re on the verge of bursting into tears

victor is a little flustered. he can’t see the ring from where he is since it’s still firmly lodged in the pudding. did you swallow it on accident?

he rises to his feet, picks up the ring (where it is, thankfully, still in the pudding and not halfway down your throat), and kneels next to where you’re seated

your eyes are wide with unshed tears, and suddenly he finds it difficult to speak

fuck, he had a speech written... he can’t remember a damn bit of it now

when he whispers your name, you look up at him with those beautiful eyes in stunned shock, and the words just tumble out.

“i know that i am not a perfect man, that sometimes we fight, and that there are times we disagree. i know all of that, but i also know that more than anything in the world, you’re the one i want to spend the rest of my life with.” words have never felt heavier on his tongue. “i love you, i really do. will you marry me?”

you’re still frozen, unable to wrap your head around this, victor is proposing to you. on the other hand, the poor man is starting to wonder if he’s given you a heart attack. “you don’t have to give me an answer right now, you can take some time to think over it more clearly. i know it’s an important decision to make, so-”

you practically knock him over with the force of your hug, squeezing him so tight to you victor almost feels like he can’t breathe

“yes.” you whisper into his ear, and he can feel your tears - warm tears of pure joy falling onto the bare skin of his neck. “yes, i’ll marry you, victor.”

ahh fuck. victor doesn’t know why he feels like crying too. he holds you tighter so you can’t see his face. “you’ll rip your dress like that, dummy.”

when the two of you finally get off the floor, he puts the ring on your finger, and you pull him in for such a fierce kiss that you almost knock him to the ground again

“dummy” he whispers again, and kisses you back just as hard

LUCIEN

surprisingly, just recently starting thinking about proposing

for him, the fact that you were already dating him was all the happiness he thought he deserved for everything he had done as ares

he knew that he had hurt you before, his betrayal, his involvement with black swan, and although he seemed perfectly fine on the outside, he would lie in bed, late at night and unable to sleep, thinking

“does a person like me really deserve such an ordinary happiness?”

everything had been about the evolution of mankind to him, survival of the fittest, leaving the weak behind

and yet nowadays when he sat on a park bench and partook in his usual hobby of people-watching, non-evolvers and evolvers alike, mingling without distinction and enjoying their time together, as friends, as family, as lovers, he couldn’t help but ache for that intangible something as well

love. a concept that had been so utterly foreign to him that he’d merely dismissed it as a survival mechanism humans had developed so that different people would take care of each other, increasing their chances of procreating and passing on their genes

until he had met you

he remembered something you had told him once

“if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” it was love that made humans humane

he had dreamed so much about a future where only the best of humanity had survived, leading to a elite society of humans, but if they had to give up this love to get there, did that really make them human?

he pulled together the tiny fragments of memories he had of his parents. the way they had loved each other, the way they had loved him. the way you love him, even though there’s no logical explanation to why you would, even after all he’s done

tears slip silently down lucien’s cheeks on the park bench, alone, for the first time since that car accident when he was five

a young girl offers him a tissue, he smiles and thanks her, watching her scurry back to her family

so you were right all along, weren’t you?

when he confesses this to you one night, with your arms wrapped around his in bed, you look down at him with the most tender smile - so full of this love that he feels like he needs to look away, yet he can’t tear his eyes away from your face

“everyone deserves to be happy, lucien. and i want to be one of the reasons for your happiness, if you’ll let me.”

silly girl. you’re the reason he’s understood happiness in the first place

dating isn’t enough for him. he wants more, to be bound to you, heart, body and soul. he wants to become family, he wants to see you in a white dress. he wants to see his ring on your finger, your love belonging to him for the rest of your lives

he wants to give you the same love you’ve given him

“when two people come together in love, it grows.” you had told him gently, one day out on a date with him. “i want to make you happy because it makes me happy too.”

he’s watched plenty of romance novels in an attempt to replicate the human emotion of love, so he’s all too aware of how the sweetest of words slip out far too easily from his mouth

all those seem so trivial, so lackluster when it comes to expressing just how much he feels for you - it even scares him sometimes

proposals needs rings. that’s the easy part

but he wants to ask you in a way that means something deeper for the two of you

sometimes the old ghosts come back to haunt him and taunt, ‘look at how weak you’ve become, ares, what a fool.’ your arms and lips are there to chase the darkness away

it’s an emotional journey for the two of you

waits till it’s spring to do it

lucien invites you out on a date to a garden exhibition in the rural countryside

it’s a small, beautifully kept greenhouse (typically, it wouldn’t be open to the public, but lucien pulled a few strings with the owner)

when you step in, you’re stunned to see vibrant colours all around in this small, cozy greenhouse. beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe it

you’re already stunned enough until one of the petals flutter just a little before taking off into the air, it’s a butterfly!

your smile makes lucien smile

you run from bush to bush, from flower to flower, gushing to lucien about how beautiful they are - lucien thinks you’re far more beautiful, but just smiles and nods

“did you know that some butterflies only live for a few days after hatching?” he wonders aloud, and you turn back to see him watching two butterflies dancing together in the air. “and yet they’re still one of the most beautiful sights that nature can offer the world.”

you slip your hand into his. when he looks down at you, bemused, and you smile. “kind of like human lives, don’t you think?”

the two of you spend some time at the greenhouse before you leave, wandering along the some of the grassy fields outside. to your surprise, there’s a small stall selling handmade kites

lucien catches you looking at it, and asks if you want to fly kites. you remember your promise together, to fly kites in spring. he hasn’t forgotten it, not even once

you shout encouragement to lucien as he runs, pulling the kite along, and cheer as the purple butterfly kite soars up into the air on the stiff breeze

the two of you take turns keeping the kite in the air

doing this together makes you feel like everything is okay, as if lucien is telling you that he’s ready to put down his past as ares and move on to who he wants to be

you’re feeling just a tiny bit sad when you reel in the kite together, until you see the something shiny tied to the kite

curiously, you pull it free - and realise that it’s a ring

the gem on it is unlike anything you’ve ever seen, it looks white at first glance, but under the light it splits into a rainbow of colours

lucien speaks quietly as he slides it onto your finger. “at first, all i could see this world in was black and white. but the day when you came in my life... i saw colours for the first time. you taught me that this world was so much more than what i thought was right, helped me see the way others saw the world. you brought colour into my life.”

of course you cry. the way lucien speaks is in a way you’ve rarely heard him, his voice isn’t that smooth, composed tone you’re so used to hearing

it’s raw, emotional, and so real with you that you find yourself hanging onto every last word

“i know i don’t deserve you, or the love you give me, but can i be selfish enough to keep asking for it regardless?”

this silly man. why is he asking for it when he already has it all?

holding the kite between you, he kisses you so gently that you feel yourself unraveling under the near painful affection that you can feel from it - the end of one promise, and the forging of a new one together, one that you’ll keep for the rest of your life

SHAW

what’s marriage? is that something you eat?

shaw hasn’t thought about marriage since like... ever

he’s lived his entire life on the edge, playing with danger, coming and going like the thunder clouds before and after a storm

settling down has never been a concept he’s familiar with, but it’s one he finds himself thinking about after he started dating you

he’s kind of young for this, so he’s not sure if he’s ready to give up this flighty lifestyle - it’s all he’s known all his life

and yet, when you call for him, he’s there. when you need him for help, he appears. when you ask him to remain with you, he stays

isn’t that something similar to being chained down already? shaw wonders, but doesn’t quite understand why he doesn’t seem to mind

sometimes, he worries thinks about the fact that you’re getting older... don’t you think about settling down? didn’t one of your co-workers ask you out on a date a few days ago?

when he brings up this question with you one day, you think about it for a bit before nodding. for a second, a tiny bit of worry edges into his heart, but then you’re kissing him on the cheek gently. “whenever you’re ready.”

fuck. he’s never really cared about being a reliable person, he’s the only person who he’s had to take care of his entire life, but now he has you

he wants to be your rock. your anchor in the storm. your man.

when the fuck did he get so cheesy???

finds himself making tiny changes in his lifestyle that he wasn’t even aware of, waving away a cigarette when one of his bandmates offer him a stick, choosing to bring you out on late night dates instead of going drinking with some more uh... shady friends

starts taking on a part time job to earn extra cash (and counting his umbrellas so he stops losing them)

mayhaps he has something in mind that he wants to buy (something for you, but he’s not quite sure yet)

the necklace was an impulse purchase

he’d been skating down the streets, heading home from university one day when a pair of necklaces in the window of a shop catch his eye - they have matching charms, a small storm cloud and a sun

his first thought is: wow that’s so stupid

his second thought: you would look cute with it

he knows he’s whipped, but he’s never going to admit it

shaw finds himself buying it anyway, only to regret it immediately after

what the fuck is he doing

he chucks it somewhere into the mess of his apartment, only for it to resurface a few weeks later when you come over to bring back some clothes you’ve left over in his house

you find the jewelry box, and open it to find the necklaces

they don’t really look like shaw’s type. maybe there’s another girl wooing him?

when shaw sees you holding it he’s scrambling to explain, no it’s not a gift from a girl, it’s...

you look at him, confused. “it’s...?”

he doesn’t have much of a choice but to give it to you now. plucking out the silver chain of the sun necklace, he holds it out to you a little awkwardly

“it’s for you.”

you look into the box curiously. “but there’s another necklace...?”

he blurts out what’s been on his mind for a while

“they’re matching necklaces... for you and me.” he mumbles. you don’t think you’ve ever seen him this embarrassed before. “to chase away any bastards who think they have a chance with my girl. damn, this is stupid, i’m going to throw this-”

you grab his hands before he can move, and suddenly you’re wearing the prettiest smile as you ask him, “well, aren’t you going to put it on me?”

chewing on his lower lip, he puts it around your neck. it takes him a few tries to get the clasp right

in return, you put the other necklace around him, kissing his neck and he swallows at the warmth of your mouth

maybe it’s a little too early to start thinking about marriage, but he knows you’ll wait for him, and that he’ll get there one day

“you belong to me now, alright? no one can take you away from me.”

[auncyen]

Ok ok so I'd been idly thinking about updating "Chats with Joker in Mementos" for Royal for a while, except as far as I know there aren't any transcriptions for the Royal Mementos chats like there is for Vanilla...

So...after some questionable use of my time, I now have a list of a good chunk of the starters in Royal. Only starters, not responses, since the point of the fic is having Joker be the one to respond, and I didn't transcribe ones I didn't think would be interesting for him to respond to, but still, if anyone does ever look to do a complete transcription, this might be helpful as a start? Or just interesting if you want to see what some characters talk about. Spoilers for third semester below cut.

Ryuji: Man, we really bust our asses to get stronger in here. I wish it meant we got stronger in the real world too.

Ryuji: Man, I had this horrible dream last night… Can’t remember a thing about it, though.

Ryuji: Ya know what? I guess Mona does have a mask, technically.

Ryuji: Yo, the way he jumps behind Shadows is so sick!

Ryuji: Yo, is it just me, or is fallin’ asleep getting tougher every night? At this point, I’m outta ideas of what to do.

Ryuji: Kinda fiendin’ for some ramen right about now… Maybe I’ll hit up Ogikubo when we get back.

RyujI: So lately, I’ve been tryin’ to work some training into my nightly routine before bed.

Ryuji: Hey, is it just me, or is Morgana’s sword basically the same size as Joker’s knife?

Ryuji: My mom made gyudon last night! My fave! Now I’ve got, like, fifty times more energy than usual!

Ryuji: This phantom thief stuff feels real as hell whenever he’s flyin’ around with that grappling hook.

Ryuji: Dude, that grappling hook is awesome! He looks like a freakin’ superhero with that thing!

Ryuji: Aww man, I just can’t get enough of those Akihabara maids…

Ryuji: Aren’t knives kinda hard to use ‘cause of their shortness? I definitely prefer my own shit.

Ryuji: I always thought darts looked easy—just aim for the board, y’know? But, it’s waaay harder than that.

Ryuji: Every try the monja in Tsukishima? That stuff is LEGIT.

Ryuji: Yo, does this outfit really make me look like I’m part of some biker gang?

-

Morgana: Listen, it’s not that I look like a cat. Cats just happen to look like me.

Morgana: I repeat: I am not a cat. To prove it, I took an actual bath yesterday.

Morgana: So, cats love to chase mice, right? I don’t get it—where’s the fun in that?

Morgana: I’m always so entranced by Panther’s whip technique!

Morgana: Panther, we have matching tails!

Morgana: You know, I’ve never actually been in a car before. Is it anything like I am now?

Morgana: I definitely made the right decision giving him the code name “Joker.”

Morgana: I’m willing to bet Joker’s skilled enough to use throwing knives.

Morgana: Anime, books, movies… Phantom thieves sure are popular.

Morgana: Last night I dreamt that Phantom Thieves were kicking some serious butt—let’s bring that dream to life!

Morgana: I can teach you everything you need to know about being a phantom thief. Relax—you’re in good hands!

Morgana: *yawn* I didn’t get enough sleep…

Morgana: I couldn’t fall asleep at all last night. I just laid there with my eyes open…

Morgana: I like Yongen-Jaya; it’s a great place for a stroll.

Morgana: Is Shujin Academy the only thing in Aoyama?

Morgana: I was vegetating in front of the TV last night, and I have to say, there are some pretty decent shows on now.

-

Ann: The bakery had a sale yesterday and I ended up buying everything they had!

Ann: The Ferris wheel is a must for me at theme parks, every time. I love being able to just relax.

Ann: I have an upcoming shoot at a theme park, but what sucks is how I can’t go on any of the rides.

Ann: Last night I dreamt I was eating a chocolate bar, then all of a sudden, it got mad and started chasing me!

Ann: Every once in a while I have a dream where I get chased by a Shadow…

Ann: I’ve been sleeping really well since I started getting all this exercise.

Ann: I was up late watching TV last night, so I might be a little sleep deprived…

Ann: I tend to do my clothes shopping in Kichijoji—it’s fun looking through all the resale shops.

Ann: I hate when people ask me to say stuff in English just ‘cause I lived overseas.

Ann: It always bothers me when foreign movie subtitles leave stuff out or take too many liberties.

Ann: I was talking to my overseas friend the other day—her straightforward attitude was really refreshing!

Ann: I was talking to Shiho on the phone and before I knew it, three whole hours had passed!

Ann: Joker seems like he’d make a good cook, doesn’t he? I mean, he’s great with his knife and all…

Ann: It’s actually quite exhilarating to attack with a whip. I wonder why that is…

Ann: Whenever my foreign relatives come to Japan, they always rave about how much they love Japanese food!

Ann: Do you think there’s anything I can do about my outfit? I feel like I stand out too much in this…

Ann: Is there a difference between a whip and a grappling hook?

Ann: Ya know, Skull’s always been into skull designs and stuff.

Ann: Wouldn’t a grappling hook be awfully handy in the real world?

-

Yusuke: I wish to paint the world as only I see it. The best way to succeed at this is through practice.

Yusuke: It’s fun to walk around and inspect different temples and shrines. The architecture is always impressive.

Yusuke: If Shadows are sentient, do you think their being moved by a painting would invoke a change of heart?

Yusuke: There have been times where I was compelled to create three-dimensional art.

Yusuke: I’m quite curious about Mona’s Western-style sword…

Yusuke: I hear whips are quite difficult to use. Where did you learn how to wield one?

Yusuke: Joker using a grappling hook…. That would make for a picture-perfect composition.

Yusuke: Mona, what exactly do you have in those pouches?

Yusuke: Creating a piece of art is pointless unless I can convey the full essence of the subject.

Yusuke: Art museums stimulate my creativity like no other place—I wish I could live inside one.

Yusuke: Skull and I both use long melee weapons, but they’re total opposites of one another.

Yusuke: Why does my outfit have a tail? I don’t understand…

Yusuke: I considered growing my own bean sprouts, but it seems to be more expensive than buying them grown.

Yusuke: I once had a dream that I washed up on a deserted island. I painted as much as I pleased… So wonderful.

Yusuke: I may specialize in Japanese-style painting, but I’d like to learn some Western techniques as well.

Yusuke: That grappling hook is very useful. I should find a way to utilize one in my daily life.

Yusuke: The other day, I went into the mountains to gather vegetables so I could cut back on food expenses.

Yusuke: I tried to paint a landscape of the starry sky once, but it’s quite difficult to do so from within the city.

Yusuke: India ink isn’t my specialty, but I’ve been experimenting with it in some recent work, just for fun.

-

Makoto: I may have stopped being a doormat for adults, but people are still calling me a “teacher’s pet.”

Makoto: A phantom thief’s body is their most vital asset. We need to make sure we eat balanced, nutritious meals.

Makoto: Do you enjoy visiting theme parks? I’ve rarely been to one myself.

Makoto: Fox looks cooler using his katana than I had originally imagined.

Makoto: I had the weirdest dream… I was at school, but I was wearing my phantom thief outfit.

Makoto: Would anyone care to learn how to drive, while we’re here? This place seems as good as any for practice.

Makoto: I know it’s not very healthy, but I do enjoy eating ramen from time to time.

Makoto: Once I’ve graduated, I’m going to buy a motorcycle and go on a road trip.

Makoto: I’ve been working on my grades because I still want to attend college, despite being a phantom thief.

Makoto: I want to read a certain book, but it’s out of print. Where do you suppose I could find a copy?

Makoto: Maybe I’m just burned out, but waking up has grown awfully difficult lately.

Makoto: The grappling hook’s cable seems pretty strong, but it’s scary to think what could happen if it snapped.

Makoto: Once my sister brought home some sushi for me. It was indescribably good…

-

Futaba: I heard rhythm’s an important part of fighting, sooo… I started playing a rhythm game!

Futaba: There’s going to be an event tonight in the MMO I play. I can’t wait!

Futaba: This MMO I’m hooked on is really cool. Do you wanna play with me? Oh—it’s in English, though.

Futaba: I’m about to beat the game I’ve been playing. Wonder what I should play next?

Futaba: I’ve been going outside a lot more, so now I’m sleeping way better than I did when I was a shut-in.

Futaba: Guess what? I’m making a game called “Hungry Hungry Mona”!

Futaba: You know who’s a really good driver, is Sojiro. He can parallel park with his eyes closed!

Futaba: If you could shoot grappling hooks from your hands, you’d probably be able to get around just using those!

Futaba: Ya know, I’ve thought about workin’ out and fighting alongside you guys.

Futaba: You guys should try playing shooters! It could help you improve your gun skills.

Futaba: Last night I had a dream my hard drive failed… That was scary.

Futaba: Wouldn’t it be cool if you could mod the grappling hook so it was electrified?

Futaba: Sure, the internet’s convenient, but it’s not like it can do everything. Don’t overestimate its capabilities.

Futaba: I wonder if I’d be okay going to some place by myself if it wasn’t crowded. Inokashira Park seems nice.

Futaba: Yesterday Sojiro bought me my favorite instant yakisoba!

Futaba: Maybe I should get a gun too, just for self-defense… Nah, my hands need to be empty.

-

Haru: I found this cafe in Kichioji with phenomenal tea—would you care to try it sometime?

Haru: I ordered kusaya but they refused to make it—they said they couldn’t get the smell out of the kitchen.

Haru: I feel like I need to learn more about the world, but I’m not sure how to best go about it.

Haru: Recently, I’ve been finding rare delicacies rather enticing…

Haru: Even lately, I sometimes dream about doing phantom thief things with Mona.

Haru: If you’re having trouble getting yourself to relax, I recommend herbal tea.

Haru: Asakusa is a wonderful area—I love how it’s this blend of the old and the new.

Haru: Ever since I started high school I’ve been taking the train in the morning, but I’m still not used to it…

Haru: Queen, your mask looks like it’s made of iron. Doesn’t it get heavy?

Haru: Joker’s so acrobatic! He’s really got the hang of that grappling hook.

Haru: I don’t think I’ve gotten this much exercise since I was in ballet.

Haru: Let me know if you ever get a tear in your clothing—I’m good at sewing, so I could most likely fix it.

Haru: I dreamt that the vegetables I’d been growing all died… I was so sad.

Haru: Your weapon seems fun, Skull. Do you want to swap sometime?

Haru: Sometimes it’s impossible for me to fall asleep on days that we’ve been to Palaces, no matter how tired I am.

Haru: You know, before this, I’d never considered using an axe for anything other than chopping firewood…

Haru: My hands have gotten all calloused… I supposed it comes with the territory in gardening.

-

Akechi: I have no intention of changing my stance on matters, no matter what anyone may say.

Akechi: Pancakes... I don’t want to hear that word again for a long, long time.

Akechi: We don’t have much time left. Please do what you can to avoid getting sick.

Akechi: The enemies are stronger than ever. Don’t let your guard down.

Akechi: A world that panders to your every whim is so mundane. Where’s the thrill if there’s no competition?

Akechi: Do you prefer my previous outfit or this one? Moving around’s become much easier for me.

Akechi: This place is immense. If there weren’t train tracks everywhere, I’d bring my bike here.

Akechi: We’re working under the constraints of a time limit, so I’d appreciate it if you could be more efficient.

Akechi: If you’re looking for a way to train both your mind and your body, I highly recommend bouldering.

Akechi: You think I’m frightening when I fight? Well, I’m afraid you’re just going to have to accept it.

Akechi: I meant to tell you, regarding Shido… Thank you for keeping your promise.

Akechi: You may not like working with me, but I’m counting on your assistance until our goal is achieved.

Akechi: When we’re riding in the car like this, it’s easy to forget that we’re actually inside Mona.

Akechi: The Shadows here behave differently from the ones in the Palaces, don’t they?

Akechi: I’m getting a bit hungry. I should’ve eaten beforehand.

Akechi: I enjoy spending time in Kichijoji. It’s not very big, but there are plenty of trendy shops.

Akechi: Riding in the car may beat walking, but it doesn’t stop my legs from growing stiff and sore…

-

Sumire: I have a few different superstitions for good luck in my routines… They get sort of hard to drop.

Sumire: It was already hard for me to believe Palaces existed, but to think there’s such a massive one under Shibuya…

Sumire: It’s a bit cramped in here with this many people…

Sumire: I get stiff all over from just sitting in the car.

Sumire: Why is the one desert you get to eat during the week so delicious?

Sumire: A phantom thief outfit represents a person’s image of their rebellion, right?

Sumire: I wonder if I should try incorporating another sport into my gymnastics training.

Sumire: I wonder what I could use as inspiration for my performances…

Sumire: Swords are actually pretty hard to wield.

Sumire: Whenever I travel, I always end up buying some sort of good luck charm.

Sumire: Your outfits are all so unique. I can see coordinating them wasn’t a priority.

Sumire: This time of year, a heating pad’s an absolute must for keeping warm.

Sumire: Sometimes people will just walk up to me and ask me to show them a standing split.

Sumire: I’m in top shape today! Let’s keep going.

Sumire: Do you all stretch beforehand? You could pull a muscle if you don’t.

Sumire: It’s too bad gymnastics competitions aren’t on TV more often.

Sumire: Fighting makes for a pretty good workout, doesn’t it?

-

while I didn't transcribe responses, I did notice something a bit disappointing: neither Sumire nor Akechi seemed to have responses for anyone else. It's possible I missed one?? But not being able to remember any, they must not have many if they do have some. A bit odd.

[tessiete]

(2) In a world where Anakin doesn’t exist and Qui-Gon is alive and is being an amazing grandpa to Korkie and super supportive dad to both Obi-Wan and Satine… I am 100% sold!! This is such an incredible AU!! I can’t get enough of it! With that being said, do you mind writing more stories set in this world/universe? If you don’t mind, then for the Spotify ask I‘d choose #7 with Qui-Gon, Korkie, Obi-Wan and Satine. However, the ficlet can be based on whatever song you like the most on your playlist

Hello! To my dear @anakin-skywalker-is-my-hero - alright, so I know we talked privately because I wanted to make sure this would be something you liked, and you very graciously let me include Anakin...

But then...

The song you picked was um...”Mommy, What If?” Which is a children’s lullaby, because I like to relive my childhood as often as possible, okay? Yes. Essentially the Canadian version of Sesame Street (Sharon, Lois & Bram), was my #7 Spotify wrapped.

Anyway, that meant that I actually ended up writing a lot more about Korkie & Anakin than anyone else.

Mind blown, they’re only like 3 years apart. Anakin is only 5 years older than Ahsoka. WHAT IS GOING ON OVER THERE!?

So, while in this AU is does very much end up still being Obi-Wan & Anakin, platonic soulmates, right now they’re just too far apart in terms of maturity to make that a thing.

All this to excuse myself, but I do really hope you like this fic! <3333

NO SINGLE EFFORT

Kiorkicek Kryze has learned a secret. 

And it’s one he doesn’t think that anyone else around him knows. Not Master Windu, who always looks at him with a frown, but slips sweets into his hands when others aren’t looking. Not Knight Vos, who once let Korkie try out his lightsaber in exchange for his word that he’d not tell Master Kenobi how the glass panel of his datapadd got shattered. And definitely not Padawan Briss, who claimed to have sneaked into the Forbidden Archives one night, and met a ghost that granted wishes to those brave enough to look for him.

There are no Forbidden Archives, and there are no ghosts - he’d asked Master Kenobi - so he’s convinced that Padawan Briss must not know much of anything, let alone his secret.

Masters Jinn and Kenobi don't know it either, he's certain, for they're much too old, and much too serious to even imagine the wonderful thing Korkie has found.

There is a boy who lives in the wall.

Korkie hadn’t known it at first. He’d thought himself quite alone in his room, as he lay awake in his little bed. The light of Coruscant’s city streets were too far below the Temple to be seen, the cacophony of life too distant to be heard, and Korkie’s thoughts far too quick to be quieted by sleep, so to pass the time, he’d tapped out a pattern upon the wall.

After that, he’d knocked again, enjoying the sound. The soft percussive beats fell like rain from his fingertips. He knocked louder, like thunder, striking the wall with the flat of his hand. Then with his littlest finger he knocked as gently as he could, just to see how small a noise could be. 

And then, the wall knocked back.

Startled, Korkie cautiously tried again - three sharp raps. And three sharp raps came back. He traded knocks with the wall for hours, until he fell asleep, and then the next night, he knocked again. And so did the wall. Soon, a sort of language developed between Korkie and the echo in the wall. Two small knocks were made in greeting, and two small knocks replied. Sometimes he knocked out the fractured rhythms of Mandalorian marches he recalled, sometimes the taps were secret codes for the echo to decipher. Sometimes they meant nothing at all but comfort. And sometimes, the wall would send its own patterns back.

Then, one day, after a month of such late night encounters, Anakin Skywalker looks at him from over morning meal with his head tilted to the side, his short braid brushing over his shoulder, and says, “Oh, you’re the boy in the wall.”

Korkie feels silly then, for he’d begun to think of the little knocking ghost as his own, something part of himself, held safe between the walls and revealed only to him, at night, in the dark, and alone. But everyone knows about Padawan Skywalker. He is Master Jinn’s padawan. He is bright, and loud, and strange. He is the Chosen One. There is nothing secret about Anakin.

Even Master Obi-Wan seems unsettled by Anakin, and watches him out of the corner of his eye. 

But Anakin is afraid of nothing. He gives Korkie an appraising look, staring in a way that Korkie’s mother had taught him was rude, and reaches to take a second helping of yuka seed pudding without asking first. Korkie doesn’t know what to say.

“I’d kind of thought it was only my imagination,” says Anakin, instead.

“I thought you were in mine,” says Korkie.

Anakin talks with his mouth full when he replies, “Well, anyway, I guess it’s better that you’re real. I’d rather a friend who can go places with me.”

So Korkie does. Anakin Skywalker is a whole head taller than him, and comes from a planet with a desert you can live in. He speaks six different languages, and knows about a million ways to slice a droid, but he also is new to the Temple, and doesn’t mind when Korkie needs extra help in finding his way. And in return, Korkie helps him with the other things - the things that Anakin can’t do so well. He helps with his Basic, and remembering when to bow, and in what order. He helps with ID chits, and chain codes, and how to navigate the holonet. He lets Anakin have his commlink when he breaks his own, and doesn’t protest when it’s returned with cinder smudges and scorch marks.

And at night, when everyone is asleep, when Korkie knows that Anakin thinks most of home, he knocks on the wall between them to remind him he is not alone.

And Anakin knocks back.

“What is it that you’re saying to me?” he asks, when next they meet. Master Jinn is always over for tea, and Master Obi-Wan makes frequent calls for counsel, so they are in company more often than not, and more often than not, they choose to be these days.

“Oh, nothing,” says Korkie, prodding at his holocam until a staticky, and uncertain solar system is thrown into the sky. It flickers out of existence just as quickly as it came, and Korkie sighs. “Just old songs my belli used to sing to me.”

“Let me have that,” says Anakin. He grabs the holocam from Korkie’s fingers, and turns it over and over in his hands. “Who’s your belli?” he asks.

“From Mandalore,” Korkie explains. “My buir. Who I came from.”

“Oh!” exclaims Anakin. “Your mom!”

Then he goes very silent for a moment, his brow furrows, biting at his lip and concentrating very hard on the cam in his hand. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to talk about your mom.”

“Oh,” says Korkie. “Why not?”

Anakin shrugs. “Master Jinn says we’re supposed to let go of the past. And my - my mom said we don’t look back.”

Korkie thinks about this, while Anakin pries open the belly of his unit, prodding at the silicon innards. 

“Master Obi-Wan has never said that.”

“Well, does he talk about your belli?”

“No,” concedes Korkie. “She only makes him sad.”

“Like I said,” he says, restoring the metal plate, locking it in place, and handing the device back. “Try it now.”

Korkie thumbs the switch, and the two boys are caught in the orbit of a million worlds, and a billion tiny stars. They rotate through the air, casting glittering light over their faces, and the burnished glow of their hair.

“Perhaps they don’t say anything only because they have no mothers of their own, and they don’t know what it is to miss them.”

“The Jedi don’t have moms or dads,” insists Anakin, scowling at the stars.

“Well, we do,” says Korkie.

Anakin has nothing to say to that, and so emboldened, Korkie presses his suit.

“Maybe, perhaps, we can do both?” he suggests. “Maybe we can talk about them to each other, and not to our masters, and that can be our secret, and that way no one has to be sad.”

For a moment, Anakin says nothing. He sits as still upon his knees as Korkie has ever seen him, his eyes tracking one bright object then the next. Finally, after an eternity, he nods slowly, as if unconvinced, but unable to resist.

“Okay,” he says. “Our secret.”

And Korkie grins in delight.

That night, their mouths pressed to the wall, and then their ears in turn, they speak to each other about their homes.

“Shall I go first, or you?” asks Korkie, his voice low and eager.

“Me,” replies Anakin. “I’m the oldest.”

“Alright. What is your mother’s favourite colour?” He turns his ear to the wall as soon as he has finished, not wanting to miss a word of Anakin’s response. He presses close until the cartilage pinches, and his temple beats out his pulse against the flat.

“Blue,” he says. “Like the skies. Like my eyes. What about your mom?”

“Blue, too!” he says, and in his excitement, he nearly forgets himself. “And my eyes are blue like yours.”

“Of course,” comes the voice. “We are brothers, after all.”

They sit in silence for a moment after that, because it is difficult to speak through the wall. It is hard to be precise, and harder still to think of good questions. None of them really show anything about what it is they miss most.

“Did your mom ever sing to you at night?”

“Yes,” says Korkie. “Did yours?”

“Yeah. And during the day. Everyone sings on Tatooine. To tell the time.”

“Sing me one,” says Korkie, “For late at night.” And he falls asleep to Anakin’s voice humming softly from behind the wall. 

In the Archives, Korkie asks him about the song.

“It’s about the market at the Pika Oasis,” Anakin says. “Old women go to sell their fruits, but sometimes, everyone is too poor to buy anything.”

“Could you buy anything?” Korkie asks.

“No. We were always too poor to buy,” says Anakin. He almost says something else, but changes his mind, and says instead, “I know another one you’d like.”

“Okay!” Korkie agrees.

Anakin checks his shoulder to make sure they’re completely alone, and leans low over his holotext. Korkie leans closer to hear. In a sweet, lilting voice, Anakin sings words that Korkie has known since birth.

“Buir, buir!” he goes. “Te ik'aad pir'ekulor, te ik'aad pir'ekulor par gar, a te kar cuyir dar teh te kebii'tra, bal Ni dar'taylir tion'jor. O meg, o meg, kelir Ni vaabir?”

“That’s Mando’a!” Korkie shouts. His eyes are wide, and his surprise so great that it awakens some holobooks on a distant shelf. They flicker blue, before steadying again, and going back to sleep as Korkie wrestles his emotions back into a respectable form. “How do you know Mando’a?”

“My mom,” says Anakin, smiling like a felinx. “She learned from the traders, and then she taught me.”

“Sing it again,” Korkie demands.

So he does, and when he’s finished, Korkie frowns and tugs on his own short braid.

“It’s almost right,” he says. “But you sound funny.”

Anakin bristles. “That’s exactly how I learned it.”

“No, no,” says Korkie. “It’s just the tune. It should be more like this.”

And that night, Korkie sings Anakin to sleep as he recalls the strange reciting tones of his belli’s gentle voice.

This goes on until one day, Master Jinn tells Anakin - who informs Korkie in turn, who then tells his master who, of course, already knows - that they have been assigned a mission. They are being sent to a nearby Core world in order to mark the first anniversary of a long-awaited conurbation of planets.

Anakin is thrilled. 

Master Qui-Gon is calm as ever as he lays his hand along Obi-Wan’s forearm, and presses a palm to his cheek.

“We’ll return soon,” he says. “And under far less duress than the last time we ventured forth.”

Obi-Wan smiles, but it is a grim little thing, and Master Jinn’s words do nothing to chase the tremulous shadows from his eyes. 

“It’s only a few days,” agrees Anakin. “And we’re going to attend a banquet!”

He grins at Korkie, who feels similarly uneasy. He sidles closer to the thick folds of his master’s cloak, and reaches up to find buried between them his father’s hand. His palm slides easily into Obi-Wan’s and they take comfort in how they cleave to each other.

“Be careful,” says Master Obi-Wan.

“Always, my padawan,” replies Master Jinn.

They leave without a backward glance, and Korkie eats alone with his master that night.

It is only later, after the sun has set, and he’s tucked tightly beneath the soft blankets of his bed, that Korkie reaches out to knock against his wall, and is surprised when no one knocks back.

He knocks again, but still, he is alone, and in the silence of his lonely room, he begins to cry.

He knocks, and weeps into the down of his pillow, and weeps, and knocks again.

And then, someone knocks back.

But the sound comes from his door, and is followed by the hiss of pneumatics, and the warm spill of light from the hallway beyond.

“Kiorkicek?” calls his master, with the light at his back. “What’s wrong?”

He cannot say, and only cries louder, calling out for his master, and relief from the dark. The Jedi doesn’t hesitate. He sweeps into the room, the edges of his robes gilded with bronze, and leans over to pull Korkie into the cradle of his arms. He clings to his father, his legs kicking free of the blanket to wrap about his waist, and his arms thrown about Obi-Wan’s neck. 

But though he reaches for Obi-Wan like he reached for his mother, it doesn’t feel the same. His father holds him, but doesn’t rock him in his arms. He rubs circles on his back, but does not press a kiss to his brow, or stroke his hair. He whispers in his ear, but he does not speak his tongue. He is nothing like his mother.

Until he starts to sing.

It is not a song of Mandalore, or of desert markets in the Outer Rim. It is neither happy, nor sad, but something balanced in between, like dawn. He sings of night. He sings of light. And he sings of them, together, promising himself to Korkie until time beyond knowing. 

Gradually, his breathing calms, and his cheeks dry, and he goes willing, and boneless back beneath the covers as Obi-Wan tucks them both into the narrow confines of Korkie’s bed.

“Is that a song from your belli?” murmurs Korkie, held close to Obi-Wan’s chest.

“No,” Obi-Wan whispers, so quietly that only the stirring of golden hair may mark it. “It is a song from the Jedi,” he says. “It is a song from Master Jinn.”

And together, they fall asleep.