#the layout is still kinda up in the air but its coming together slowly as i go

[lunarflare64]

Can someone track my behaviour via post over the past, idk, three days or so and make sure that if I'm ever acting like that again someone gets on my ass to make sure I'm not drawing a comic

[eunsthings]

Museums

Part 2 l Again?

Genre: fluff🥰, slow burn i guess

(Reader is a veterinary student on more or less her final year of vet school who has a part time job in editing and is kinda smol and socially awkward)

Pairing: Tsukishima x fem!reader (post timeskip)

Word count: 2.2k

Here’s Part 1  II Series masterlist II Part 3

You have been offered a big project and now the odds are really testing you... 

[friend] = a friend’s name

The content of the sent email—along with other details—stated that if you were willing, to email them back and go to the Sendai City Museum whenever you were free this week. Sitting on your bottom bunk-bed, checking your schedule, you see that you were available on the 7th of September; a Friday afternoon. You email them and confirm that you were going.

A few days had passed and it was now Friday. You were having lunch with [friend]—a close friend of yours—in a café outside your campus. After your lunch, you were going to head to the museum.

“You know, you should have just texted me.”

“What?” [friend] stops and looks up at you, pausing from eating, an innocent expression plastered on her face.

“You where the reason my phone almost got destroyed,” you deadpanned.

Your friend stares with a blank face… then bursts out laughing. “I’m so sorry—” she says, almost choking on food from laughing, “I—hahaha!” still snickering trying to speak in between gulps of air, “Oh, man. I really am sorry; it’s just that… what kind of luck do you have? A nosebleed because of a phone call?” It went on like this for some time.

“Oh by the way, are you going on the school trip?” your friend asks.

“When was that again?” you face her.

“Uhhhhh, the last week of September I think…”

“Oh, yeah, right. I don’t really know… going on a trip with people I barely know for a whole week is kind of draining,”you softly replied; pondering.

“But like—oh no! It’s almost time for your meet-up,” [friend] tells you; cutting her sentence short, both of you got lost in the euphoria of chatting with one another.

“Oh yeah, no, I have to go, I’m so sorry. Byeee~” you reply in a jumble standing up and bringing your bag with you.

“Wait,” your friend stands up with you, “I’m going with you,” She left no space for refusal as she picks up the scarf you almost left and hands it to you.

“Wow, ok,” you thought to yourself as you see the museum building in front of you. It was a very nice modern-looking building.

 With your friend beside you, you enter its doors.

Inside, it had many things on display–mostly about the history of Sendai and samurais as well as a certain “Date” family. Both of you try looking for the office and almost ended up lost before you were able to look for a person to ask; it was weirdly devoid of people.

Reaching the office, an assistant, you had guessed, told you to make yourself comfortable while waiting. You did as you were told. Both you and [friend] were seated in a big open space with displays all around. This area was frequently passed by tourists, you can tell by the layout of the space.

Your friend was looking at displays around the huge space and you were scrolling through your phone when a man appeared around a corner.

You barely glance up when you look back down to your phone. “Wait a second,” you look back up again, bewilderment rising. He was holding a pen and notebook in his hands, “Oh no,” by now, memories of your “faceplant incident” had surfaced. You were silently staring as he passed–the blond man who handed you a handkerchief. “What in the world!? Was he here to take notes for research or something?” he turned to the side almost disappearing around another corner when you made eye contact.

He momentarily paused, fixing his glasses ; probably confused—“He had glasses on… did he have glasses last time?”—when another voice sounded from the end of the hall he was in. Someone probably called him. He then broke eye contact and vanished behind a wall.

You were still dumbfounded, staring at the wall in front of you trying to process what just happened. “What are the odds of that huh?” you had chuckled at yourself. “Who was that?” your friend had come down to sit beside you.

“Ugh. Remember when I told you about how my phone almost broke?”

“Yeah, you faceplanted on the sidewalk.”

“That guy was there to witness it and kinda helped me,” [friend] burst out laughing again after your statement.

“What are the odds of that happening!” she now had tears in her eyes from laughing, “Is it embarrassing? HAHAHA. It’s ok… it’s ok,” by now she was smacking her leg and doubling over.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, stop laughing at me~” you were shaking her trying to make her stop. You can’t handle any more shame.

“Ok, ok. But he was just probably here for his studies you know, so that’s over now, at least you didn’t have to talk to him.”

“Yeah, ‘at least.’”

The assistant had come back for you, telling you to follow them to the office. Your friend had only offered a thumbs-up as you left her in the hall.

You enter what you guess to be an office. A middle-aged man sat behind a desk in the room and gestured for you to take a seat; a chair in front of his table. He introduced himself as a Mister Yasuhiro, the director for the museum. He discussed the reason for calling you; they’d have a big charity event to be held in the museum on the first week of October; so that leaves about a month of preparation time. They needed animators to make the motion picture to be played in a loop all around the exhibits---for overall effect. He smiles warmly at you.

“Y/N, I know you’re a very talented artist,” he stated, “We’d really like to have you on-board for this project although I know you have school. You have top marks so I don’t think that it will be a problem considering you’ve been doing this for a long time now,” he was right, you never really had a problem in school, just times when you have off weeks or think you failed but still keep pulling though up top, “Although of course you’ll have one other animator with you to help share the load,” Yasuhiro continues.

You were thinking and something seems off to you, “Um—Sir, I’m really thankful for the opportunity you’ve given me but… why me? There are better professional animators out there… which, compared to me—” he cuts you off, “You see, we are also tasked to showcase the talents of young individuals and why not apply that to everything else?” You couldn’t reply anything else but a soft “oh”.

“We’d love to have you but I’d really have to ask if you’d be okay taking on this project on short notice,” Yasuhiro makes you consider the offer. “If you’re really fine having me help, then I’d be very much more than willing to,” a soft sort of calm determination escapes you—this was a very big chance after all. The middle-aged man lit up in joy and thanked you.

 He seemed friendlier in contrast to others with the same position as he; much more now when he was clapping softly. You had noticed he was a cheerful man.

After you accepted their job, he discusses to you about the amount they’ll be paying you; and man were you happy you took the offer. Yasuhiro then proceeded to talk about what you’ll be doing in a general sense, “Oh and don’t worry about the content, you’ll have someone as a partner from the museum to help you with it.”

“That would really be great! Thank you!” You replied.

The director then proceeded to call his assistant, “Could you bring him in now?” Your brain glitches a bit, “him”? "A boy!? Nah, it’s just probably someone he’s got business with,” a short internal monologue played in your head.

You hear the door squeak open behind you and then come to a close. You were still facing the director, “This fellow will be helping you with the content of your animation, he’s currently an intern here,” you slowly turn around trying to face the alleged intern hoping to see a new face. Instead, you were met with a tall, blond and uninterested-faced person; glasses in front of his golden-brown irises. “Your partner for the project, Tsukishima Kei,” Yasuhiro announces from his desk.

Looking down for the first time since he entered, the guy named “Tsukishima” only blinked in response to what seems to be his own  shock and confusion.

Unable to meet his gaze, you turn back around to face the director just gawking at him with slightly squinted eyes and a stupid expression displayed; unable to form words. “What are the odds?”

Mister Yasuhiro—having been facing you—asked, “Is something the matter?” he trailed off awkwardly.

“No,” you replied in unison.

 “Oh?” the director was now joined in both your confusion.

 “It’s fine, we just happened to bump into each other a while back. We’re just surprised,” Kei explained in his drawly voice as if nothing happened.

 “Oh! Well that’s good then. You’re already acquainted so that’s step one done,” the director clapped his hands together in joy. “So that’s that. Kei will be showing you around the museum later. He’ll coordinate your schedules and disclose to you everything else that I missed,” the director smirked and sat up from his chair, “You can meet with the other duo the next time you come here. Good luck to you both.”

 You found yourself in a hall outside of the office. A tall man beside you. Silence heavy in the air.

“So…” the beanpole spoke, “What’s your name?” both of you facing the same end of the hallway.

“I—uh. L/N F/N. Nice to meet you,” a straightforward reply, still refusing to look at each other.

“Yeah, nice to meet you too… for the third time.” The awkwardness was killing you.

“Yeahhh—about the first time… I never got to thank you for helping me…” you soften to a whisper, “and your handkerchief is ruined—I’ll just replace it.”

“Tch. There’s no need for that,” he looks at the bunch of paper in his hands, “Anyway~” he starts walking, “I have to show you around the museum.”

 You follow behind him and later he stops abruptly. You are now in the big hall you were waiting in earlier. He hands you a sheet of paper, “Here’s the initial schedule. We’ll alter that to accommodate your own next time. Hold on to it for now,” He then looks around the room, “Weren’t you accompanied by someone else?” Realization dawns on you, yes, you were accompanied by F/N. Where is she now? You check your phone.

“Ah. She had forgotten to submit a term paper,” Tsukishima’s only response was a shrug and a slight pout, “Well then, let’s proceed.”

Touring around the city museum took a long while, your amazingly weak ankles decided to act up but in the end, you finished going around the displays in the building. He showed you where they were planning to put the main event as well as where all the side gimmicks would be. Accounting it all, it would kind of be an immersive event wherein wherever you go in the museum, you’d be greeted by animations and displays. 

Both of you finished your tour at the main entrance balcony outside; it was already late in the afternoon. He paused beside you and turned to face you. You look to your side and see him fumbling around his pockets.

“Uh— w-what are you doing?” you asked meekly.

He raised his head to the ceiling and let out an exasperated sigh, “I was supposed to give you your museum pass. But I forgot that the ones meant for you and the other guy haven’t been modified yet—don’t ask.”

“Well that’s fine I guess, I can always just ask permission.”

“No, that makes a lot of hassle for everyone,” he interjects too quickly for your liking, but then he follows softly, “plus not everyone is always present here to let you in… that and the varying schedules clash.”

You felt thankful for his kinder follow-up, “Oh. So what now?”

“About the schedule, I think we need to exchange contacts.” And so you both did.

You gave him your phone number as well as your messenger account (in case). He then entered his phone number in your phone.

“Huh, I guess your phone’s okay now,” he handed it back.

“Really!? He had to bring it up,” you half-scream internally.

“And about the pass…” he placed everything he was holding in one hand and removed the ID dangling from his neck, “here,” he was holding it out to you.

You held your hands up, “But that- that’s yours—”he didn’t let you finish your sentence, “I can’t have you coming and going without a pass, so here, I won’t always be here to babysit you” he slipped it on your head, “Your pass later on will look somewhat like that. Don’t worry, I have an extra one at home, just don’t lose that. We’ll trade later.” Your face began to heat up, “What the heck!!”

"Until next time then Y/N."

He walked back to the doors but before he entered, he held the handle and looked back at you, “Expect me to contact you sometime between tomorrow and the next day, try not to ignore it,” with that, he goes inside leaving you in front of the stairs in the late afternoon glow. 

Part 1 II Series masterlist II Part 3

Notes:

We use messenger because why not... (It’s actually because in my country we use messenger a lot and so yeah...)

I wish you enjoyed (0.0)

[mason-knight-retired]

Before Asteria

(timelines? don’t know her) --

The halls of the defunct Cerberus base are uncomfortably familiar.

There are ghosts lurking in the shadows. The warren-like layout of this place was almost identical to Phoenix 1, and with every door they kick open, every room they check, Mason almost expects to find Tatsu or any other familiar face huddled in a corner.

Even with the flickering lights overhead from the failing power grid, Mason could easily imagine he was back on P1. It’s disturbing on too many levels but it’s not until they shift into the long hallway of the residential deck that it really seems to hit home. 

There are rows of self contained suites for the operatives. His room, along with Ethan’s, had always been larger and nestled at the end of the hallway on P1. Virtue of seniority, he supposes.

By the end, Ethan’s room on P1 had been mostly for storage.

Mason knows he’s not the only one uncomfortable walking these halls. Ben and Nico feel it too, but it’s something they all pointedly ignore. Until they can’t any longer.

The dragoon comes at him with a lash Mason meets with his own and with the movement, the same terrifying dream replays behind his eyes - the nightmare of each one of them, twisted and remade into one of these and he hesitates. Despite the fact Ethan’s ring on his ringer and Ben and Nico are at first at his back and then in front of him, he hesitates to take the death blow.

There’s a blue crackle in the air and Nico booms past him, hot on Ben’s tail, so fast Mason hadn’t even felt the biotic brush against him until he was on the opposite side of the hall and squarely colliding with the dragoon’s chest. Then it’s on the ground, convulsing grotesquely as something bloody and black oozes from between the plates of its armor.

Marie’s voice sounds in Mason’s ear through the tinny speakers in his helmet. “What was that?”

“Hostiles,” Mason replies curtly. Ben moves on ahead, kicking the doors open and hunting for more quarry. “Dragoons as we expected. Stay alert, there might be more.”

When Mason turns around, it's straight into Zeus shiny blue breast plate looming over him, uncomfortably close. “What?”

Nico’s eyes glitter through his face plate, just a golden glow on the other side. “You hesitated, Huntsman.”

“Of course I fucking did.”

“One day that’s going to get you killed.”

Mason grits his teeth and bites back his retort. He glances sideways at the dragoon on the floor, the armour so familiar and foreign at the same time. Maybe it was the nightmares that kept replaying behind his eyes, but he still couldn’t separate phoenix and dragoons any easier this many months into the fleet’s campaign than it had been at the start.

Nico doesn’t move.

“Come on, Zeus. Get moving. We still have three more levels to clear.”

“You’ve lost your edge,” Nico tells him.

Mason snorts and kicks the body on the floor in irritation. The black ooze leaks over his armored toe and squelches as he hauls up the dragoon’s limp wrist and tries to pry away the gauntlet. It’s an ugly job, the gauntlet fused into the dragoon’s wrist and bone. He tries not to let himself think about who this man was, if there was a family out there that missed him, or someone he loved waiting for him to come home.

Maybe Zeus was right. “Maybe I should hand over command to you then, huh, Zeus?” Mason says it with a bitter edge, a challenge wrapped up in annoyance, although who he’s really pissed at, he can’t tell.

Nico moves out of his way slowly but Mason can feel the way his eyes burn into him. “Maybe you should.”

--

Nico’s answer plants a seed in the back of Mason's mind and its tendrils grow with every quiet step back on the Berlin. He passes the observation lounge and overhears Luca crooning over his guitar, singing some slow song about love and loneliness and missing the one you love and he backtracks to stand in the doorway and listen.

Luca catches his eye but he doesn’t stop until he’s finished his song.

“Got anything happier?” Masons asks, venturing into the room. Maybe a distraction will help push away the aching loneliness. When he’d first come on board the Berlin, he had missed Ethan desperately too, but this now was a different kind of ache. Bittersweet in a way, because he knows Ethan is missing him too.

“Not really in the mood,” Luca huffs, glancing down at his feet. There’s a bruise around his eye that’s faded and Mason knows the reason for it is still languishing in the brig. He wishes there was more they could do about it, but this wasn’t Cerberus, and the kid wasn’t really one of theirs. The Alliance had to follow their own protocols.

Mason hesitates to leave anyway.

He tilts his head. “You okay, Luca?”

The engineer looks up, as though surprised Mason would address him. He sort of is. “You know, I think you’re the only one who doesn’t call me ‘kid.’”

“Is…” Mason frowns. “I can, if you want me to?”

“No,” Luca flashes him a small smile from under his curls. Sometimes he reminds him a little of Ben from before, although with a lot less batarian thrashcore and not entirely chaotic pranks. “I kind of hate it when they call me kid.”

Mason finds himself drifting closer. “I heard about what happened. I’m sorry.”

Luca grimaces and the twang of the strings goes from pleasant to something harsh before stopping all together with a slap on the guitar’s body. “Uh. Thanks. But it’s cool. I can handle it.”

Luca starts to play again, another song Mason doesn’t recognize and Mason sags back against the couch as he listens.

The gold band around his finger feels heavy.

--

“Let me get this straight-“

Marie pinches the brow of her nose and sighs. She looks tired, more strung out than he’s ever seen her and the guilt rides him hard against his breastbone. “You want to go back to the citadel?”

“You don't need me here, Commander,” Mason shrugs and tries to soften the news by playing to her ego. It almost works but then her lips purse as he continues. “I thought you did. But you've got Nico. You've got Ben and Maddox, even if he’s not fighting fit yet. You don’t need me just now. And I... I just want to be with Ethan. We just… it feels like we only just found each other and then I had to say goodbye to him. And it turns out I’m not as okay with that as I thought I would be.”

“I can understand that, Mase.” She glances at the band on his finger, then looks away. “Priorities change, I get it. But.... It's temporary, right?”

“I hope so. I know things haven’t been exactly great between us lately, but-“

“Shut up. I still love you. I love all of you phoenix boys. But we’re not done here.” She waves a hand, encompassing the ship. “Not by a long shot. I still need all of you.”

“I know. And you’ll have us when it counts, I promise you that, Ree.”

--

In the docking bay, Mason hoists the duffle bag over his shoulder and peers into a familiar set of bright green eyes. “I'll stay if you need me too, Benji. I feel bad being the one to ask you here in the first place and then leaving myself.”

“No,” the little vanguard grins. “I’m good, Boss. But say hi for me. Both.”

“I will. And with any luck, I might even be able to bring them back with me. It might make things more pleasant around here.”

Ben scrunches his nose. “Yeah,” Mason laughs. “Okay, no. It won’t. It was fun having Ethan on board for a while though.”

“More fun for you.”

“Guilty. But… Look, Benji, real talk now. Promise me you’re going to keep on top of your meds and regular check in’s with Kate, okay?”

Ben nods solemnly and Mason squeezes his shoulder. “I told Luca to keep an eye out for you, but I’m pretty sure he’d do that anyway. In the meantime, you stay out trou.... No, actually. Forget that.” Mason shakes his head and grins. “Get out there and raise hell, little cat.”

--

It takes far too long to get back to the Citadel, a handful of hops and jumps in passing cruisers and a near miss on account of the reapers, but he’s never been more happy to step foot back into the artificial air and stand under the artificial clouds.

He’s walking down the ramp when he sees him – Sabre, husband, the love of his life - the face and body he traced over and over in his mind on the Berlin during the long nights alone. His face splits into a grin in spite of himself and he shakes his head in a disbelieving laugh.

“How did you know?” he asks without preamble as he gets close.

Ethan holds himself still and watches him, eyes hungry. “I knew as soon as your ship came through the relay. Do you really think I wasn’t keeping tabs on my heart while you were out there?”

Mason comes to a stop in front of him, still grinning and flooded with so much love he’s almost dizzy with it. The latent hum of Ethan’s biotics brushing against his own settles him in a way nothing else could. “I should have known. Kinda ruined my epic surprise though.”

“No. It didn’t. Not by a long shot.” Ethan’s hands cups his face, brushing over his lips. Those hazel eyes Mason has been dreaming about go soft as he holds Mason reverently and presses their foreheads together. “Hi, baby,” he whispers.

Mason drops his duffle bag and grips Ethan close. “Hi. I missed you so much.”

[maggyoutthere]

I can't believe I actually fINISHED THIS HOLY SHIT-

The chapters are more than 4000 words long combined. I literally never wrote something this big damn. As much as this is supposed to be satire of bad creepypastas, this little shit found its way into my heart. I'll treasure it as probably the best thing I've written, like, ever XD

‼Tws for blood and body horror

First part here

Second part here

Sonic: Battle of Metal and Blood (Part 3 - Finale)

Synopsis: Local teen faces off against whatever is haunting this game and dies(?)

The game took a while to load again.

I was already making backup plans in my head in the case this didn't work. I could always ask people online if anyone had ever known about this game, even get my brother to help me record some clips of it to post on forums and sites. If that didn't work, maybe try and dump the file on my PC? That could be dangerous; if it was making the console crash and restart, I didn't want to know what it could do to my computer.

I was thrown in the same level. Well that was weird. It was the exact same jungle, or at least it looked like it at first. I could tell it was now supposed to be night time since everything had almost a dark blue filter over it, even Tails, who I was playing as this time. The night filter made the level a bit harder since I couldn't see some things properly, but it was still playable. It looked just like any Sonic game from that time, but I knew something was definitely up with it. I just flew over some badniks and made my way across the level (I missed smashing stuff with Amy's hammer so I just tried to escape that level as quickly as possible)

I entered the same clearing, fearing what would happen to Tails this time. Guy was 8, and I doubted SEGA would let their employees just kill off a kid on screen; but again, as far as I knew this game wasn't even supposed to be here. It could've been some unhappy worker or employee gone rogue making a statement. It wasn't helping to be honest. As I followed the exact same route as Amy, I found Metal Sonic again, still stepping on... something. It was too dark to see what it was. It just made squishy and disgusting noises as he pressed his foot on top of it. For an old game, the audio design was pretty unsettling and well done.

I didn't want to get closer to the guy, so I tried flying over him and getting to a checkpoint or something, anything besides confronting that thing. As soon as I made Tails take off from the ground, Metal came flying at him. I almost shrieked as I tried getting the little guy away from that thing, immediately making him land and sprint out of there as fast as possible. In all that panic, I didn't even notice when he tripped over whatever Metal was stepping on and fell on his face. No matter how many buttons I pressed or how hard I pressed them, Tails wouldn't get up. Metal catched up with him and the screen went black as soon as the two collided.

Those same red eyes were back on screen, staring straight back at me. I was with my face glued to the television from all the anxiety that little chase scene gave me, so I jumped back when the thing looked back at me. It felt like it was looking directly at me.

"I want ears like yours"

There it was again

"I want arms like yours"

"I want a mind to think and a heart to feel like yours"

I wanted to punch the screen; I had no idea what was going on. This was starting to get unsettling. Then, I was back in the main menu, the game's menu. It didn't crash this time, at least that. Tails was gone, like Amy. Now, Sonic was there, facing his metal faker. The two looked like they were about to punch each other in an epic pose. Visually it looked great, but then it hit me. "Battle of Metal and Blood"; did it mean faker versus organic? So the two were going to fight again? Maybe we could still get a happy ending of some sorts.

I didn't even flinch. I pressed continue.

The jungle was gone. I was in some facility  now, playing as the blue hedgehog himself this time. The level layout was much different this time; there were more loops, enemies, spikes and so on. Maybe it was only because I was playing as Sonic this time, so I could just speed my way through the level without having to worry about smashing enemies or flying away from them. I got through the level and ended up reaching an empty room; Metal Sonic was there.

I had never been much of a player myself; I'd rather stand by the sidelines and watch as more experienced people got through all the hard levels. Sure I played a lot when I was a kid but I hadn't carried that with me to adolescence. Now I had to do it myself. Hours of playing Sonic CD as a 12 year old, don't fail me now.

The boss fight music kicked in and a large door slammed shut, covering the way out. It was actually kinda hard landing a hit on the guy; I was supposed to dodge his attacks until he got tired and stopped, then parry on certain parts of the walls and spin dash at Metal Sonic as many times as I could while he was down. The thing was: I was awful at parrying. I sucked at anything that involved aiming, but I was somehow able to pull it off well enough to send the guy to his knees after around 20 minutes of dodging and parrying things.

When I hit him for the last time, it looked like I'd split his face in half or something. There were some pieces of Metal Sonic's shiny blue cover scattered around the arena. He just stood still for a while covering his face. Did I do it? Was he deactivating or something? My fingers were getting sore from holding the control and mashing buttons so hard. He wouldn't move on his own, so I just made Sonic approach him to maybe give the final blown.

As I got closer to him, Metal immediately lashed at Sonic again, trying to hold him down. You could see his face a bit better and… it was kinda red. What was that? Was he changing to another phase or something? The screen went black again.

Staring back at me were no longer those two red beacons; there was only one this time, as Metal Sonic did have half of his face completely torn apart. The uncovered half of his face was a bloodied, pulsating mess of flesh and wires. Coils, staples and stitches kept the mass of muscle and whatever else he had inside of him crudely stuck together. Two different colored eyes were shoved in one eye socket as the whole thing now oozed with blood and oil.

"I need quills like yours"

"I need a body like yours"

Was that… what Amy and Tails…

"I need an organic body like yours

to become the Real Sonic"

What… the fuck… I was too shocked to even move as it cut back to the game. Metal Sonic had successfully tackled Sonic to the ground and had started clawing at his face as if trying to rip it out of his "loathsome copy". As I saw a pool of blood appearing under them, I told myself that was enough and got up to pull the cartridge right out of the console. This was just sickening. As I got closer to the console to pull the memory card out, I realised something that made me start worrying about this in a different way. As I got a good look at my Playstation 2, I realized it wasn't plugged in. It wasn't receiving any power at all. It was only connected to the TV.

How had it been working then?...

I slowly backed away from the console, and when I looked back at the screen, that darned thing was looking back at me. It was looking at me as I was trying to stop it, peeking at the side of the screen as I went to turn off my Playstation. That thing knew I was there. No no no, this couldn't be happening. I started shaking as I realized there was something looking back at me though the screen. Its red eyes pierced into my soul, and I didn't know how to stop it.

"I WANT A SOUL… LIKE YOURS"

I shrieked as I finally pulled the cartridge out of the console, throwing it against the wall to my side in pure fear. The screen immediately went to static and the Playstation opened by itself, the Sonic Gems Collection DVD taunting me. That was NOT just a game. Whatever it was, whoever it was, I was terrified to even pick up the memory card. I put the DVD back in its box and turned off the console. I tried taking deep breaths and getting some sleep; it was late, I'd drank a lot of coffee. Maybe all the coffee I was having had created this fever dream. I begged for that to be the situation. Still, I got no sleep that night. My eyes were focused on the TV right in front of my bed, its bright red ON/OFF button giving me panic attacks each time I thought I saw it moving. If I didn't know better, I'd have believed the thing had been watching me all night.

Would it come for me next?

I ended up passing out around 5AM; I was constantly checking my phone to see the time and messaging my friends. I tried explaining the situation to them but they thought I was either messing with them or that I had somehow dreamed the whole situation. I was dead-sure I hadn’t though. I woke up around 2PM and, according to my brother, I looked like shit. Not even he would believe me when I told him what had happened last night; I couldn’t have dreamed the whole thing up even if I wanted to. There had to be something to prove it was all real… the memory card. If I played the game in front of him, he’d have to believe me. After getting breakfast, I pulled my bro back to my room to show him the game. I hesitantly went to pick up the memory card I had thrown against the wall yesterday, but it was no longer there.

“What are you looking for?”

“The memory card; it was right here! Help me look for it!”

“You mean this one?” he pointed at the Playstation.

The fucking cartridge had plugged itself back on the console. What was that thing, and how was it doing that?! The TV screen lit up with static as me and my bro jumped back; we looked at each other in panic and confusion as no one had even touched the TV. We could feel the electricity flowing through the air, giving us chills and making our hair stand up. My brother grabbed my hand as we saw the darned thing appear in front of the static, its shiny metallic cover still split in half. I froze in fear with my little brother to protect right there; I should’ve done more, I should’ve gotten rid of that cursed thing as soon as I unplugged it from the console last night. That thing placed its hands against his side of the screen, its fingers twitching as the blood made the metal hinges rust and creak. The edges of the screen leaked with blood as if he was trying to break this barrier that separated him from us. It looked at us the same way it looked at me; ready to take what he believed was his.

“I… WANT… SOULS LIKE YOURS… AND I WILL HAVE THEM…"

[duskowithapen]

Five Times Eve Baird Said Jump

Fandom: The Librarians

Relationship: Platonic Eve Baird and Cassandra Cillian

Read on AO3

Read on Fanfiction

Read Part One

Part Two

CILLIAN

Cass thought that the whole ‘jumping from a great height’ was just a one-time thing. It wasn’t. At least she had something softer to land on than Ezekiel did. Originally for Writer’s Month Day 13: Music

“Why can’t I ever go to a museum for normal reasons!” Eve lamented, and Cassandra hid a wince.

“Uh…”

“Don’t answer that!” Eve snapped, banging on the locked door once more before turning around to survey the cramped storage room. “Alright, please tell me that you worked out exactly how that grave robber was controlling the rock dudes?”

“Dr Nair’s not a grave robber, he’s an archaeologist,” Cass explained, “And as far as I can tell, the lute is like a remote. Playing the right notes in the right order wakes the shabti up, and then another set of notes makes them obey the player.”

“Archaeologists are just legal grave robbers,” Eve muttered as she started pulling at a half-open cabinet. Cassandra took her place at the door, leaning down to look at the lock. It’s times like this that she wished Ezekiel was here.

The Clipping’s Book had sent her and Eve to the Grand Egyptian Museum. It wasn’t finished yet – the building was mostly completed bar the outside cosmetic stuff, but the interior and exhibits still had a lot of work to be done on them before the grand opening. The article had been about the newest archaeological find that was to be the crowning piece of the opening – the largest collection of intact shabti, life sized and incredibly detailed, along with intact musical instruments and scrolls containing Pashedu’s dissertations on magic. It was those dissertations that put them into this mess. Eve and Cass had only been in the museum for maybe ten minutes, dodging escaping construction workers and archivists before being caught by the shabti and their master.

Dr Rashida Nair, the main archaeologist in charge of the dig, had been quite upset with how his finds were being treated and accredited. None of his colleagues believed in the myths of Heka’s Lute – a 19th Dynasty instrument given to artesian Pashedu. The deity of magic, before Isis gained that domain, was so impressed with the mans’ skill that he granted Pashedu the ability to bring them to life with the lute. Dr Nair decided to prove his colleagues wrong and regain Pashedu’s dissertations at the same time. Cass had been able to decipher that much from Dr Nair’s research notes before the man himself found them.

A loud crash shocked Cass out of her reverie. Eve stood before the cabinet, now on its side, with hands on her hips. In the wall, almost level with the ceiling and almost two metres over Eve’s head, was an air duct. “What do you say to getting out of here, Cass?”

She walked to Eve’s side and frowned. “Uh, I don’t know if I can get up there.” While she’d become a lot fitter in her time as a Librarian – thanks to her drill sergeant of a Guardian – she wasn’t exactly a gymnast.

“You can if you climb on my shoulders,” Eve said, already crouching.

That was easier said than done.

Cass wobbled on Eve’s shoulders, feet wrapped around her back and fingers probably holding onto the blonde hair a lot harder than necessary. “I really don’t feel very comfortable up here!” Her mind immediately flickered to all the ways this could go wrong – how injured they would both get if she fell – what would happen if they landed on the corner of the cabinet –

“I’m not going to drop you, Red. Trust me.” Eve still sounded way too nonchalant as she stepped onto the cabinet, hands wrapped around Cass’ calves. “If you stand, do you think you could unscrew the vent?”

She squinted. “Yeah, I’d just need something like…” One of Eve’s hands moved away from her leg, making her yelp, and reappeared with a Swiss army knife.

“This?”

“Yes, that’s perfect!” Cass squealed and waved her arms as Eve’s hands grabbed her feet and pushed upwards. After a moment, she recovered enough to press her hands against the wall and look down. Eve glanced up with a smirk.

“You gotta stand on my shoulders, Red.”

“But you could give me a little more warning first,” Cass grumbled. Eve’s hands stayed around her calves as she balanced on strong shoulders. She started on the screws, dropping each one into her pocket.

“I really need to get you your own pocketknife, same with Stone, if he doesn’t already. Everyone should have one. Although I’m pretty sure Jones has it covered with his lock picks…”

Cass pulled out the final screw and tugged at the vent grille, almost dropping it in surprise. It was lighter than she thought it would be. Carefully, almost overbalancing, she balanced it on top of the cabinet further in the corner. “Alright, now what?”

“Now, we crawl.” Eve grabbed Cass’ feet again and pushed.

She yelped. The air vent seemed a lot smaller now that she was trying to climb into it. It took a lot of wiggling to get herself in there, since the duct was only about five centimetres wider than her shoulders on either side. Once her legs were in, Cass twisted onto her side as best as she could and looked back. “Again with the no warning!”

There was a huff of laughter. “Sorry, Red!”

“How are you going to get up?”

Eve didn’t answer. Cass heard a handful of footsteps, a bang of shoe against metal, a grunt and suddenly there were hands on the edge of the vent. A couple of soft thuds reverberated through the wall as Eve used her feet to help propel herself upwards, before her face appeared in the opening. As Eve pulled herself the rest of the way in, Cass took a moment to admire the play of light and shadows against the muscles of her arms. Even though she sees Eve as an older-sister/mother figure, she could still appreciate a strong woman – she’d always been a little weak for them.

After a moment of struggle, Eve was fully in the vent, blocking the light with her broader shoulders. “Okay. Cass? Think you could work out how to get to the roof from here? I’m pretty sure Nair’s got a helicopter up there – the rock dudes were taking the scrolls upstairs, not down.”

“Well, the room they put us in was on the ground floor, south side based on how the light was coming in through the windows as we passed…” Cass mused to herself. In the close confines of the vent, she couldn’t indulge in the full extent of her synaesthesia, but she could still see the building floor plans Ezekiel had found for her. He’d been bitter about being kept back by the cold he’d gained from his and Eve’s dip into the Indian Ocean, but he could still hack into the museums systems. “Considering the building layout, the size of the lower exhibition halls, the current level of construction and the position of the loading dock compared to where we are… if we head straight along this duct, then take the second – no, third left, that will lead us to the larger main vent that runs straight from the main lobby of the museum to the loading dock. They haven’t finished the north wall, so the vent will open up there. We can get out and use the outer scaffolding to reach the roof. That should stop Dr Nair or the shabti from noticing us.”

A hand clasped her ankle for a moment. “Well, lead on Red. Let’s go stop a grave robber.”

As the two started army crawling through the vents, Cass heard Eve mutter – “I honestly thought I’d be dealing with mummies when I said that…”

****************

Cass had a much better appreciation for Ezekiel if this is what he went through on some of his heists. She was regretting wearing a short-sleeved top now, with her elbows red and raw from the crawl through the vents, and her knees aching under her tights. Eve seemed to be faring better, but the back of her shirt was damp with sweat, and there were bleeding grazes up the back of her upper arms. She’d saved Cass from falling a dozen metres into a ventilation shaft leading to the basement when she hadn’t noticed the gap in the vent. The grazes came from her lunge to catch Cass’ waist, and then the desperate pull upwards. They’d both been a lot more careful after that.

Eve nudged her. “Ready to start climbing?”

Looking up, Cass swallowed. The scaffolding resembled a fire escape – metal platforms connected by ladders – but a lot skinnier and creakier. “No,” she sighed, “But we’re going to be doing it anyway.”

The climb wasn’t as nerve wracking as Cass thought it would be. Eve climbed up after her, in case she slipped, and as long as she didn’t look down, it was almost fun. Partway up, as they inched across a beam to get to the next ladder, Eve tapped her. “Hey Red, what’s that?”

Cass squeezed past the pillar of large orange buckets and smiled. “It’s a waste thing, I think. Jake was telling me about them. It’s so that the builders can send waste down without having to carry it – kinda like a garbage disposal.” The long tube was made out of buckets as wide as the chutes had been inside, all stacked together with the bottoms removed.

“Huh.”

Then they cleared the last ladder.

The building was shaped vaguely like an angled rectangle. The back of the museum was wider than the front, and the connected front courtyard extended far enough to make the entire thing look like a triangle without the point. The roof itself was made up of six upward-angled roof sheets, running perpendicular to the front of the museum, resembling a fan. In the middle was a row of concrete sheets, splitting the museum into front and back and angled opposite to the rest of the roof. This was where Dr Nair had set up his helicopter. A line of shabti holding scrolls were slowly climbing out of a maintenance hatch under the musical instructions of the doctor.

Eve tapped her. “Okay, if I make a distraction, do you think you could get the lute off the doctor and, I don’t know, turn the shabti off?”

Cass frowned. “Maybe… Magic tends to follow the concept of duality, so if I play the activation notes backwards, it should stop the shabti.”

“Should? I don’t like should.” Despite her joking tone, Eve looked concerned.

“I am relatively sure. Worst case, it does nothing.”

“If it doesn’t work, you might need to break the lute,” Eve said after a moment. She spoke over Cassandra’s protests. “I know, preserving history and all that, but we need to stop these shabti, so let’s hope that your music theory works.”

“Alright…” The reverse notes would work – just like the natural world, magic follows a set of rules, and according to those rules all Cass would have to do was reverse the notes. She liked rules. They were like quadratic equations or linear functions – they had one right answer. No grey areas.

“Anyway, I’m going to head to the other side of the roof – once I get to that roof section there,” here, Eve pointed at the section one space from the furthest edge, “I want you to head along this side and duck behind the raised section the helicopter’s on. Once I see you there, I’ll distract the shabti long enough for you to get the lute.” There was a pause, and Eve glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “Are you going to be okay getting the lute?”

Cass knew Eve was thinking about the last time Cass played distraction, and the injury she’d gotten. Frustration made her tone sharper. “I’ll be fine Eve. I can handle one archaeologist.”

A calming hand rested on her shoulder. “I know you can Cass. I just – I’m always going to worry about you. Same with Jones and Stone. Same with Jenkins, same with Flynn. You guys are my charges. I’ll always be concerned.”

“I know that,” Cass responded, “But you’re also going to have to trust us to do our job. I can handle this.”

Eve gave her a sharp nod and breathed in deep. “Alright. Remember, wait until I get to that fifth section, and then go.”

The two women split, and Cass watched with envy as Eve steadily, gracefully, crept along the edge of the roof. The second her feet hit the fifth section, Cass was off. Her steps may not have been quite as sure, but she still made a steady pace towards the helicopter. Dr Nair wasn’t paying attention to anything but the scrolls and his lute, fingers picking at the strings almost absentmindedly as he barked orders at the shambling shabti. The sound of heavy stone feet hitting the concrete roof masked any noise Cass could make. Hidden behind the last section, she wondered about what kind of distraction Eve would make. Eve always had a gun on her, so maybe she’d shoot something? Or maybe she’d use something else – in her time as Guardian, Eve had learned the importance of not damaging artefacts, so she might try something that wouldn’t harm the shabti. There was some construction stuff on the far edge, perhaps she’d throw something?

As it was, all of Cass’s guesses were way off. Eve sprinted towards the helicopter, not trying to hide her approach in any way. At the last minute, she veered around a shabti, snatched the scroll it held, and sprinted across the roof. As she ran past Cass’s hiding place, Eve shot her a wink.

“Hey, Doctor!” She yelled, “I’m pretty sure this scroll is valuable – be a shame if I tore it!”

“Shabti!” Dr Nair screamed, strumming a rapid tune on the lute, “Stop that woman! Collect the scroll without damage!”

Instantly, the shabti dropped whatever they were holding and ran towards Eve with all the speed they could muster – which, admittedly, wasn’t much.

“I read somewhere that papyrus dissolves in vinegar – maybe I should test it!” Eve yelled in response, darting to the edge of the roof. With a wave, she jumped off the edge. Cass stifled her shock with her hand. Eve is fine, she reassured herself, there’s probably scaffolding on the other side, she’s just jumped down a level or something. She’s fine.

Most of the shabti were gone now, with the last of them only a few metres away. Cass took her chance.

Dr Nair only noticed her arrival as the lute slipped from his hands. It was a surprisingly heavy instrument, Cass noticed as she stumbled away. The doctor lunged at her, but suddenly Eve was there, catching his arms and locking them behind his back.

Not for the first time, Cass wondered what the hell Eve learned in the military.

“Play the notes!” Eve shouted, one eye on the shabti who had reversed their path and were now headed in their direction.

It should be noted that Cass has never really played an instrument before. Once her parents realised how mathematically and scientifically inclined she was, things like the creative arts – music, painting, dancing, drama – all slipped to the wayside. Thankfully, the activation notes for the shabti weren’t the most difficult piece of music to play… and the ancient Egyptian lute only had two strings. Her fingers slid along the long neck of the lute, tassels tickling her arm. Cass winced as the strings tore at her fingers, but that first note still rang out.

The shabti stopped.

Another note, with fingers just a little bit higher. A longer note with fingers closer to the oval-shaped body of the lute. A couple of quick notes – not as quick as the doctor was able to play them, but a close enough facsimile – higher than others played. The whole tune was a discordant mess, given that it was being played backwards, but Cass was pleased to see that it seemed to be working.

As the final note was strummed, the doctor was shocked out of whatever stupor he had fallen into. “You idiots! You’ve destroyed everything!”

Eve hauled him around and let him go, putting herself in between Cass and the archaeologist who was practically frothing at the mouth. “I’m pretty sure the museum will see it just a little differently considering we’ve stopped you from running off with their artefacts.”

Dr Nair laughed hysterically, backing further down the roof. “You have no idea what you’ve done, do you? What you just played wasn’t to turn them off or whatever you thought it was – it was to destroy them.”

Cass’s breath caught in her throat. Magic lies on duality. The activation notes didn’t turn the shabti on, it brought them to life. By reversing the notes… Cass essentially ordered them to die. Spinning around, she saw the shabti, still clustered around them and the helicopter, started to glow. Orange lines etched themselves into the hieroglyphics and filled their eyes. Even as she watched, the orange seemed to grow darker.

Eve grabbed her arm. “Cass, we need to go!”

Further down the roof, the doctor had already gotten to the maintenance hatch – it slammed shut inches in front of Eve’s fingers. She could barely hear Dr Nair’s laughter. A frown pulled at her face. “Well, that was rude.”

Then Cass was being pulled away again, back to where they got to the roof in the first place. Glancing down at the lute still in her hand, she went pale. She had brushed up on a little ancient Egyptian before coming here – and those looked a lot like a countdown etched in glowing orange on the bowl of the instrument. “Uh, Eve?”

“Cass, we need to hurry up!” Eve started to climb down the scaffolding, but Cass pulled her back.

“We’re not going to have time!” She waved the lute closer to her Guardian’s face, and when there was no comprehension, she huffed. “This is a countdown!” And they didn’t have very much time.

Eve glanced down for a second, then to her left. A strange look came over her face. “Cass, we’re going to need to jump.”

My Guardian has gone mad. “Eve, are you crazy?! That’s like a twenty-metre drop!”

“Not if we take the slide.” And then Eve had an arm around her waist and was pulling her over the edge. The thump of their feet hitting the scaffolding made Cass’s teeth rattle. To their left was a bright orange bucket-tube.

“Oh no. No, no, no!” Cass looked on helplessly as Eve guided herself into the tube.

“It’ll be okay Cass. I’ll catch you at the bottom if I need to.” And then Eve was gone. The tube shuddered. There was the echo of Eve crying out in… excitement?

Cass sighed. Of course her Guardian was an adrenaline junkie. A flash of orange caught her eye. There was a curved squiggled shape on the lute. Nine. It changed. Eight. Again. Seven. Cass shuffled into the tube. Held the lute to her chest. Took in a deep breath.

Eve’s voice came from the depths of the tube.

“Just jump Cass!”

She jumped.

At the bottom, she spluttered as she sunk into a sand dune. After a moment, Eve’s smiling face appeared above her with a helping hand. “That was fun, right?”

No one would blame her for immediately tugging her Guardian into the sand and trying to bury her, right?

[goblincas]

Entry Level Angel | Ch 3

On AO3

Saturday, October 10th:

Charlie tapped Cas's shoulder, urging him forward as another breeze stroked past his skin— his still very desensitized skin. He swallowed, unmoving, eyes drilling into the scene ahead. After waiting another moment, Charlie flicked Cas in the bicep. He flinched out of sheer habit.

“Y’know, this is super important,” Charlie reminded him, using her fingertips to soothe the site of assault. “Like, for your own well-being. Hell, for your life, even. Not to be melodramatic or anything, but it’s not like we have any clue of the severity we’re facing, here.”

She was right, of course— Cas needed help, and he needed it more and more desperately, each passing day. He had almost certainly been cursed. Although, that was right about where the reasonable conclusions slipped off into the abyss, never to be heard from again.

However, if Charlie’s plan was to succeed, Cas was going to have to take some initiative, first. There was nothing productive about standing in place, waiting for the asphalt to swallow both his body and his oh-so stubborn will to live.

Christ, how did Charlie convince herself that she was the “melodramatic” one?

The brick wall ahead was tinged by an earthy green plaster, offsetting the tubular neon lights spelling out “Magical Books ‘n’ Goods” across an otherwise cramped windowpane. Damp autumn leaves clung to the chipping windowsill and the base of an oval-capped doorway. Cas could hardly see inside the low-lit shop, aside from the unassuming profile of a retail bookshelf.

Sure, it wasn’t an especially threatening setup, but he wasn’t exactly coming at the situation from the calmest headspace. Thus, there was an almost menacing ambiance filtering through the shop’s walls, clamoring in Cas’s direction. It wasn’t his fault that he’d been rendered motionless by fear, much like a toddler off to their first day of preschool. Nope, no need for personal responsibility or self-initiative, here. Not today.

Again, Charlie nudged him, although with more pressure than earlier. “Dude, I’m serious. I just know that if anyone’s gonna be able to give us a clue, here, it’s gonna be her. Listen; I get the nerves, okay? And, like, I don’t even expect them to go away when you guys meet. She’s great, but she’s still an acquired taste… if it’s not totally insensitive to say that about another person. But this is important, Cas. I care about you too much to be lax, right now. Got it?”

Cas huffed, blinking slowly. Processing. “What a beautiful speech,” he quipped, continuing to gather his thoughts. Charlie flicked him again, this time on his shoulder. “Fine, okay, I understand. I do. I’m going in.”

Eyes lighting up against the muted autumn backdrop, Charlie thrust a celebratory fist into the air. “Great! Let’s get going, then.”

⁂

The inside of the witches’ specialty shop wasn’t too much unlike a run-of-the-mill small town bookstore, down to the effortless quirks of its layout. Mismatched shelves lined much of the back wall, creating a rich smattering of varying hues and grain around the secondhand spines. The air smelt faintly of chemical cinnamon, hardly able to overcome the musk of the place. Still, the witchy touches were anything but hidden; a line of tables ran down the center of the shop, covered in plastic-wrapped bundles of herbs, jars of unidentifiable glowing substances, and trendy rose gold altars. Wait, was that… an eyeball?

For his own sanity, Cas decided not to overthink it.

Before Cas had the opportunity to turn to Charlie for guidance, a voice jetted through the air, originating from god-knows-where. “Ah, hello there, dearie! Charlie, welcome back! And who is this you’ve brought along with you?” The thick, unmistakably Scottish sing-song seemed to reverberate out of the air, itself. Although hazy at the start, the sound was quick to crispen up.

Shifty eyed, Cas began to peer around the shop, only slightly disturbed by the disembodied words. Truly, it wasn’t as if he’d been expecting a day-to-day, streamlined retail experience. This was about in line with his expectations, so, whatever.

Charlie, bless her, managed to respond with near perfect nonchalance; this calmed Cas, yet somehow, also put him just a bit more on-edge. Well, then. “Hey, Ro! Where are you at? The back? I kinda, really need your help with something. Or, at least, my friend here sure does. Oh, Cas, introduce yourself!”

Cas side-eyed his friend, chewing his lip before replying slowly, seemingly to no one in particular, “Hi, I’m Cas. Um. Nice to meet… you? Yeah, sorry, who am I speaking to?” He was a human, for heaven’s sake; he wasn’t used to this, as expected as it might have been. Witches were certainly avant-garde, Cas could give them that.

Seconds later, a door was pushed open toward the back of the shop; it was encased on both sides by thinner, darker shelves, lined with stones and miscellaneous shiny and slimy tchotchkes. Cas swallowed, taking in the emerging figure.

The woman was surprisingly petite, yet carried herself as if she could crush Cas beneath her pinkie finger, alone. Red hair styled in fat curls poured over the shoulders of her simple black gown. Her eyes seemed to be faintly glowing, and Cas wasn’t certain he was comfortable with that fact, all things considered.

Nonetheless, Charlie was beaming in an instant, giving a short yet enthused wave of her hand. “Hey again, Ro. I know you’re probably busy, and I seriously don’t wanna waste any more of your time than I have to, so I’ll get right down to it. Oh, first— Cas, this is Rowena MacLeod, the spell-casting and lore dictionary, herself.”

Rowena let out a low giggle, the gleam in her emerald eyes only intensifying. Honestly, Cas was convinced that that “gleam” was more than simply a trick of the light.

“Yes, of course! Well, it’s very good to meet you, Cas, dearie,” Rowena said, her voice flowing over Cas like compound butter.

Cas gave a curt nod, unsure if he was meant to lead the conversation from there, but praying that he wasn’t.

To his luck, Charlie continued, “Like I said, I’ll get right down to… it. ‘Cause it’s kinda a lot. Unfortunately,” she said, planting her hands on her hips and entering an inadvertent power pose. “Cas here, just like the unlucky bastard that he is, managed to go and get himself mega cursed. And we have, like, no clue what’s goin’ on. So, first off, we’re gonna need a diagnosis, if you can give us one.”

Pursing her red-painted lips, Rowena hummed, squinting in Cas's direction. Cas fidgeted as the witch glided across the room, the floor creaking and whining beneath her leather heels. Moving in Cas's direction, she continued to scope the young man out.

“Hm? Ach, so… Cas, darling. Mind to expand in place of your friend? This is your tragic curse, after all. I’m sure your first-hand assessment will be more useful to me, here.”

Strangely enough, Cas wanted to contend. While Charlie hadn’t been the one experiencing the bizarro symptoms that past week, she was the witch. This was her specialty, her very domain as their backdrop.

Still, with trepidation, he replied. “It’s not anything bad, necessarily. At least, not painful. Just… very strange.” He sighed. Rowena leaned forward, tipping the weight of her body in Cas's direction. “I spilled hot coffee on myself and wasn’t burnt. No pain, either. I can’t sleep. I haven’t tasted food in a week. Oh, I haven’t slept in a week, either, so I definitely should mention that. Also, once, not too long after this all started, my entire abdomen glowed blue, before I was knocked unconscious for… a few hours, I believe?”

Cas held his breath, anticipating the sharp-eyed witch’s professional assessment. She continued to squint upward, claw-like hands finding their way to her hips.

“Well,” she hummed, after a moment of thought. “That’s certainly… concerning, to put things all too simply. Ah, and— you’re a human, correct?”

“Yeah, I am.” Although, frankly, Cas wasn’t so sure anymore. He certainly didn’t feel like a human, at that point. Surely, a “human” would have dropped dead of exhaustion by then, right?

(Although, it was more likely that Dean was going to be the one to kill him for neglecting his health and safety, if he ever found out. Assuming the curse didn’t get creative and take care of that first, of course.)

Rowena gave a delicate nod, loose curls bobbing with the movement. She straightened herself, leaning just slightly away, and Cas felt the concrete seeping from his own limbs. Wait, when had he gotten so tense?

“I see, I see. Hm…” She clucked her tongue, momentarily turning her gaze toward the tiled ceiling. “You are certainly correct, Charlie, dear. This isn’t a common ailment… how fascinating. That is certainly an unusual combination of, what sounds like, quite powerful and life-altering symptoms. Ach, well…” She trailed off, before reaching out a slender hand and attaching it to Cas's forearm. He lurched, but made sure not to pull away. As much as he loathed people touching him without a lick of permission, he reasoned that it was a sacrifice he’d apparently have to make.

God, he felt like a fucking lab rat, though. A genetic freak of a rodent, caged off from the rest of its whiskered brethren.

“I… have a bit of an inkling, certainly,” Rowena said, nails digging deeper into the flesh of Cas’s arm. She gazed directly into his eyes. “Infernal magic of some sort or another seems likely. Demonic in nature, maybe? Of course, draconic spellwork is still very much a consideration.”

Charlie drew in a breath between her teeth, reaching out from beside Cas and laying a hand on his shoulder. “Woah… not good. Why do you think that?”

To Cas's hardly containable irritation, Rowena let out another giggle, sleek as ever. “Well, you see, dearie, it’s really just a simple process of elimination. The more uncommon the spell or the curse, the more likely it’s outsourced from fringe magic. It’s as simple as that, really.” She drew back her hand, joining her palms together atop her heart. “Of course, we’ll have to do some further investigation to understand what, exactly, is the matter. Now, think of it like a fun little puzzle— in that light, your predicament will feel far less harrowing. Hm?”

As Rowena spoke and Charlie shifted her hand to clutch at the meat of Cas’s bicep, the front door to the shop was nudged open. Cas peaked over his shoulder, watching a golden-haired stranger hop on in— and promptly drift toward the corner shelves. There was no hesitation to his movements, his gait full of pep and bordering on enthusiastic. Still, he didn’t reach out to fiddle with any of the items; he simply stood in place, arms crossed over his chest, facing away from Rowena and company.

“Follow me to the back, now,” Rowena sung, re-seizing Cas's attention. “I’ll dash back out if I’m needed, but for now, privacy would be best.”

Charlie nodded. “Totally, I agree. Cas, you okay with heading back? Do you want me to come with? I can, if you want. Or not. Whatever you need, man.”

Throwing a final glance toward the apparent non-customer, Cas turned to Charlie, eyes pleading. Please. Please don’t leave me alone with her.

Thankfully, his friend got the message. Blessed be

[attemptsatwriting-exe-blog]

Escape (Shiro x Reader)

This is an x reader posted from my previous writing account, @whysleepwhenyoucanwrite . It can also be found on my AO3.

Prompt: Hey fam, can you do a Shiro x reader where both were taken by the Galra and they have to fight together to escape?? Idk I just think that would be really good

A/N: My first request, thank you anon! I hope you like it - I haven’t written much action before so I hope it’s a good one. This is sorta a bit of canon divergence, I guess - I kinda went ‘lol bye Ulaz’ in this one so apologies for the inaccuracy. Thank you so much for requesting!

*prays to every deity that the formatting works*

Warnings: Some slight references to torture I guess? + unnecessary Fall Out Boy references I do apologise

Escape - Shiro x Reader

“y/n.”  

Your eyes drifted to the man beside you, who was tensed and ready to spring from his crouch at any moment, focusing intently on the passing Galra drone patrols. The two of you remained hidden, concealed by the shadows for now.

“Are we really doing this?”

Anxiety laced the tone of his voice, and you completely understood why. If you were caught right now - so close to the end of this Hell - you would both be killed, or worse. For all you knew, any sessions with the druids were certainly worse than death.  

Moving slowly, you took one of his palms in your own - the flesh and blood one, warm and calloused and human , rather than the Galra attachment he’d been given - and gave it a light squeeze. Smiling, though you doubted it was anything close to a convincing smile, you nodded once before turning to face the corridor. You inhaled deeply, before releasing a shaky breath. There were slight tremors in your hands, though you’d never admit to them.  

Everything had built up and come down to these precious few minutes.  

You had been assigned onto the Kerberos mission alongside Shiro, Matt and Sam as an engineer; in case anything broke on the ship, you were supposedly the one to fix it. Not that your skills had really been used, once the four of you were all abducted by aliens. While Sam and Matt had ended up being sent to a labour camp, you and Shiro were regularly fighting in the arena - Shiro more regularly than you, obviously. You were no Champion, but you managed to scrape through each fight you were tossed about - barely. Each one still came inches away from taking your life.  

Which was getting to be a problem. Shiro was the Champion, an undisputed fighter that still hadn’t lost a match, and his bouts in the arena were eagerly anticipated by the audiences they were displayed to. Your fighting technique was scrappy, barely winning the fights using whatever underhand tactics you could manage to sneak in - and the Galra who took pleasure in seeing violence were beginning to be less than entertained. You knew that soon enough, you’d be shoved into that arena with a robeast a hundred times more powerful than you, and by that point your only purpose would be to die in an “entertaining” way.  

So, you’d put that brain of yours into gear. On any occasion you’d been escorted from your cell to the arena, you paid extra attention to your surroundings. Over time, you’d formed a reliable mental map of the corridors, knowing the layout off by heart.  

After raising the idea to Shiro - who expressed concern for the risks, but agreed on the grounds that you were most likely going to die if you were stuck here much longer - the two of you formed a solid plan - one that would hopefully get the both of you out. You’d also made the agreement that if one of you was unable to get out safely, the other would still try their hardest to escape.  

Not that you were really planning on holding up your end of the deal, and you doubted Shiro was either, but… it was something. The two of you were… well. You didn’t really know what you were, if you were entirely honest. Shiro meant the universe to you, and you were definitely past the point of “just friends”, but it wasn’t as if there were many opportunities to go out on dates whilst being imprisoned by aliens. There weren’t any definite, clear boundaries - it was less of a line between ‘friends’ and ‘lovers’, and more like the blurry, messy grey scribble that appeared on your orbiter development plans after you’d rejected them.  

Only one thing was certain; you were trying your damn hardest to get that man out of there alive, even if you died in the process.

Which led you back here; crouched in the shadows, retracing your steps in your mental map whilst Shiro tapped the wall of the corridor, timing the sentries’ steps carefully. At what he deemed to be the right moment, he grabbed your hand and the two of you made your way down the corridor quickly, pausing again at a safe spot.  

Well. “Safe” wasn’t exactly an adjective that applied anywhere here, but close enough.  

This pattern - waiting, moving, waiting, moving, waiting, moving - continued for a while. Occasionally, Shiro’s hand would move to grip yours and would squeeze tightly, as if making sure you were still standing next to him. The action was reassuring for both parties, calming your rapid heart rate if only a slight amount.  

Of course, neither of you expected it to be this simple the whole way. When you were close to the hangar, where the escape pods resided, the concentration of sentries patrolling increased dramatically, and there was no easy way of getting through them. Feeling a slight tug on your tattered shirt, you crouched next to Shiro as you both observed the room ahead.  

“We need to plan this one out carefully,” Shiro whispered. “If we split up and stick to the sides of the room then we should be fine until -”

A sharp buzz cut him off as a beam of magic sliced the air directly over your heads. Turning to face the source, your heart sank at the view of multiple druids gathering in the space behind you. Not only that, but the magic attack had attracted the attention of the sentries ahead too, leaving you surrounded.

“Did you really think it would be so easy as to just stroll out of this ship?”  

The blood in your veins ran cold.  

Haggar.  

Shiro gripped your wrist tightly, his breath audibly quickening in your ears. “Stay with me,” you muttered under your breath, drawing yourself closer to him. “What’s our plan?”  

To your dismay, the man stood beside you was frozen and pale, struggling to form words. “I - I don’t - I -”  

You didn’t fault him for it. How could you? Shiro hadn’t spoken about what had happened to him while at the mercy of the druids, led by Haggar, but you gathered enough to know that whatever had occurred had been traumatic.  

Squeezing his hand once, you drew to the side, readying yourself for the onslaught of attacks. As the first shots began to fire, Shiro snapped to attention, as the two of you stood prepared for a battle you were almost certainly going to lose.  

“You get into the escape pod. I’ll hold them off!”  And God, you almost rolled your eyes. Because as intelligent and quick-witted as this man was, sometimes he just didn’t get it .

“You really think I’m going to leave you here alone?” you yelled across the hall, as Shiro decked a sentry in the face (well… did sentries have faces? Helmet) and took its gun. Turning to face you, he yelled as he began shooting.  

“Only one of us can get out of here safely. And that one is going to be you.”

Oh, for -  

“Shiro, do you remember that old song I got you to listen to back on Earth?”  You lunged for a sentry as he responded, kicking its leg out from under it and yanking as hard as you could to pull the head from its shoulders. You succeeded, sparks flying from the disconnected wires.  

“You mean the Fall Out Boy one?”  

“Yup! We’re goin’ down swingin’.”  

Although you could sense his exasperation from across the room, Shiro didn’t argue, simply continued firing at the druids from within the horde of enemies you stood in. Returning to the task at hand, you began working with the wiring of another fallen sentry, pulling its arm off to whack another drone that got too close for comfort.

“The sentries all operate off one order, like a hivemind, so if I disconnect one…” you shouted over the din, “… then I should be able to disable the whole lot!”  

After some trial and error - which was stressful with a bunch of robots trying to grab and shoot at you, though Shiro was doing a good job of covering - you found the right set of wires to pull, and the sentries all dropped at once.  

For one moment, everything was still. You and Shiro stared at each other in the stillness, before -  

You ran. The druids followed.  

Meeting in the middle of the room, Shiro threw you a gun, and the two of you began firing at the advancing druids while retreating closer and closer to the pod.  

“You are outnumbered!” Haggar, again, screaming at the two of you. Tightening your hold on the gun, you continued firing back at the druids. While their magic attacks were more damaging, they took longer to fire - leaving you gaps to shoot while their defenses were down. You couldn’t help but yell as one of the beams of light singed the very top of your hair, though.  

“She’s preparing something big,” Shiro told you, eyes not leaving the enemy. “She’s confident, she’s got something up her sleeve.”  

Glancing upwards, you could see he was right. Haggar was building a magic attack that appeared no different from the others you were currently dodging, but the smirk on her face told you that something was unique. Who knew what that attack would do; it could be more advanced, designed to be impossible to miss - it could cause irreparable damage to both of you.  

Her attack was building, gathering strength - in a last, desperate move, you grabbed Shiro and dived the rest of the short distance to the pod, the two of you landing on the floor inside with a hard smack. The pod closed just before the beam of magic could hit you both, and the two of you were released into space.  

It was as if every muscle in your body had relaxed at once. Leaning backwards, you reached for Shiro’s hand once more. He gripped it as if it were a lifering, and you pretended not to notice his shaking as he brought his head to rest against his knees.  

Eventually his head rose as he smiled tiredly, dark grey eyes meeting yours.

“y/n… we made it.”    

Rising from the floor, you led him to the window of the pod, where the view of the stars awaited.  

“That’s right,” you murmured, a smile pulling at the edges of your mouth as you wrapped an arm around his torso. “We made it.”  

It was far from over. Haggar was still alive, you had no idea where you were going, and both of you were left with an abundance of mental and physical scars.  But, as you felt the cool sensation of Shiro’s lips against your temple whilst the two of you watched the stars, you were fairly content with how things turned out.

[italicwatches]

GAMERS! Episode 11

Okay, up and down, up and down. Let’s get to it. It’s GAMERS!, episode 11! Here we GO!

-It all begins at the end of the last episode. With Aguri bantering with Keita, and everyone just staring and seeing what’s grown between these two…

-Over to Tasuku, walking so very slowly as he tries to figure it out aaaaaand that’s Karen in a much worse funk than him. Just ignore it. Just get pa—

-…Karen’s got it bad, guys.

-And that’s how they end up walking together, and Tasuku can’t help but feel like he’s being watched by everyone. And they’re…Yeah they’re in a funk. On the one hand, Keita’s loosened up and Aguri’s gotten more mature and focused, from their interactions with each other. On the other hand…Well how would you feel if your significant other was getting all their growth and change from another X?

-And if you look at it with both of them maturing, becoming more wholly rounded and aware people…Well, that sounds like a perfect couple, doesn’t it. …My sympathies, both of you.

-Opening! We’ve got one last game, and it’s the Continue screen from Street Fighter II! The Street Fighter series basically defined the entire fighting game genre, and in one stroke completely built the standards of the genre. Major game mechanics, from many of the special move inputs that we know today, to the entire combo mechanic, to the six-button layout that was standard for a lot of games for a long time, all got born here. It revolutionized gaming, it revitalized arcades and gave those in the West another couple years of relevance, and it built an entire genre. That this happened on a game where half of its innovations were mistakes or outright glitches(the entire combo system was because of an overlooked glitch that let you cancel the recovery between moves and do a move faster than the opponent could recover!) just shows how much history is defined by the whims of fate.

-DAY 11: Gamers and Youth Continue

-So back where we left off. Karen’s insisting that she doesn’t genuinely believe Keita is two-timing her. And yeah, okay, they both know Keita and Aguri. Those two are good eggs, they’d never intentionally betray the people they love. The problem isn’t intentional cheating…The problem is that self-doubt fueled question, about whether or not sticking with them is the right thing, instead of letting them both go to find each other…

-But, no! They can still turn this around! Tasuku has a plan and Karen wants to know everything. …Wait isn’t this your place? Aren’t they in front of your house now? House later, plan now! So, just for the record, Karen is legitimately a little bit scary when it comes to matter of Keita. Like, she’s not full on Nice Boat, but she’s got a little bit of yandere in her. Be careful, Keita.

-So, the plan? How do you completely lock down your relationship status when you yourself doubt it? You create an indisputable, raw, locked down fact. Which is to say, you hit a milestone of action. Which means bumping their relationships up a level. Which…Woo boy, Karen’s lost in her own fantasies. And that’s when Tasuku realizes that this is all screwing his attempts to try and find Chiaki a happy ending of her own…

-And, oh, the whole thing got seen by Konoha. …So before we go forward, Konoha was watching from across the street. Given the way all of that was animated, I’ll bet you a Bison buck that she thinks Tasuku just confessed to Karen.

-To Keita’s place, where Karen’s just called him and suggested a double date! Him, her, and then Tasuku and Aguri…Isn’t that a little…cheesy? It is not now obey. But he’d be so embarrassed! …Well so will she, but…

-…Keita.

-Keita Keita Keita.

-I’m just gonna quote the subs here. “A double date could be higher-level than even marriage or child-birth!”

-What do you…How does that…

-At least Karen talks some sense into him. And his final answer? As a man, he wants to obey Karen in all things, but his pride…But, Karen…HE’LL DO IT! DOUBLE DATES ALL THE WAY! So if these two manage to stick together through the end of the show and their time in high school, they’re gonna find out they’re into some weird bedroom shit when that time comes. We all realize that, right? Like, I’m not reading too much into it?

-So, okay, plans made, Karen has a whole detailed plan put together already, and Keita is deeply uncertain…

-Cut to the trip, at the amusement park! Spiel Kingdom, the fantasiest place on Earth! And they’re both going nuts because it’s based on an RPG franchise, as Aguri just stares, and Tasuku is a bit embarrassed for his dorky, dorky friends. They’re normal, right? These two aren’t acting like normal people?

-Of course, it’s not long before things calm down…And Karen and Tasuku end up mulling around together a lot to scheme and plan, leaving a doubtful Aguri and Keita in their wake…

-Speaking of, let’s flashback. This morning, Aguri and Keita went to the cafe again, where Aguri had gotten nowhere near enough sleep panicking over what this double-date could mean. Contrast Keita’s bouncy, bubbly hysteria over the entire waveform collapsing. in front of his eyes.

-So back to where we left off, where Keita and Aguri are both increasingly convinced that Tasuku and Karen have a secret relationship going, because why else would those two be spending so much time around each other?

-By the time they’re all in line for a ride, Karen gives the signal that it’s time to go for a push, and they both go to reach for their dates’ hands…

-When Konoha and Chiaki find them! Well, mostly Konoha. Chiaki is very confused.

-Commercial break!

-And we’re back! Last night, Konoha forced Chiaki to go to the amusement park with her, having acquired two free tickets that needed to be used together…And she just barreled all over Chiaki’s fears and doubts because she’d just lose this stupid idiot if she kept worrying about game development instead of love development…She even pretended she’d invite Keita herself, if Chiaki didn’t want to go, and THAT did it. Great committed don’t forget to dress up goodnight!

-Oh, I guess I owe you a Bison buck. (OF COURSE!) Because Konoha actually heard Karen’s shouting and got enough of the gist to know it was time to fight to ensure a Hoshinomori stayed in this race…!

-So into the present again, where Konoha acts all innocent in wanting to know why her dear big sister didn’t get invited to a meet up event! Oh, that hurts Karen right in the feels. But the open reveal of this being a date hits Konoha, as it’s a back-and-forth of verbal sparring, until Keita finally ends up awkwardly inviting the sisters to join in just to make the battle stop…Which leads to a reaction that stings him the worst of all.

-But this feeds us into a montage of the whole group! Rollercoasters, wandering, log flumes, tons of awkward doubt in Aguri and Karen…All while Konoha’s twisted schemes are working. But perhaps too well, I’m noticing in this montage she’s a lot more forward than Chiaki…

-Eventually, they’re off there spinning teacups, where Chiaki is nauseous enough for Keita to get concerned…But then it’s right to the main attraction, the Kizuna Dungeon! And Karen’s starting to get really really discouraged…But she’s still got a shot at this.

-Unlike the rest of the park, the dungeon is actually pretty well done, complete with air-burst “traps”(one of which manages to scare Aguri enough to cling to Tasuku), and buzzing(god I hope it’s just buzzing) shock traps like the one that Keita trips when he touches a sword! Seriously I hope that wasn’t actual electricity you could’ve killed him. Oh and the springy monster popouts that scare even Karen and get Keita to be all concerned. Konoha’s plan isn’t working…

-And then they hit a spot where people go in two at a time, locked to their partner…They can use this! Tasuku and Aguri somewhat awkwardly go together, and then it’s time for Karen to…

-Karen to…

-To…

-Where is everyone?

-It appears that Konoha has convinced Keita to take the still nauseous Chiaki out through the surrender door. Much to Keita’s frustration since he got shoved through it, but he is genuinely worried about Chiaki…

-Who then collapses against Keita like a sack of…Well she’s too scrawny and malnourished to be a sack of bricks or potatoes…A sack of old anime merch? Sure why the hell not.

-Either way she doesn’t wake up for a while, and finds herself on a bench, her head in Konoha’s lap, and Keita still there all worried. He even carried her the whole way here! So all of this has Chiaki freaking out, as Konoha sees her time to slip off and stick them together. And this, gets, awkward fast…

-Which is when Keita gets a phonecall from Karen, ruining the whole moment…Only for Chiaki to realize she’s clinging to Keita’s shirt. And Keita, being a good guy but also a complete idiot, thus ends up staying with her instead of going off to answer the call. But this gives Keita and Chiaki a chance to talk, and him to actually ask what brought her here today, and it comes out that it was scouting for a date, and wait she has a date? Sh-shut up!

-But…Is she gonna do it? You gonna, Chiaki? Well she kinda gets there when she asks about his thoughts on Mono-san and Nobe-san. And of course they’re important to him. …More important than Karen? Oh god that just slipped out. Of course, for Keita, he doesn’t rank things like that. His girlfriend, his friends, even someone like Chiaki who he has lots of disagreements with…They are all so very, very important to him. And it all came from just Karen saying hi to him one day…

-Aaaand Konoha is watching this whole thing.

-Eventually it’s time to go back…Though Chiaki thinks she’s going to call it a night. She wants him to go enjoy the night with Karen…

-…Nope. Come on. They’re all enjoying this together! And that’s when he finally gets back to the others, explaining what happened, and everyone’s glad to see Chiaki still on her feet, and they’ve gotta all hurry if they want to catch the big night parade! Because every amusement park is Disneyland.

-The credits music starts, as the electric night parade starts…And Tasuku finally takes up Aguri’s hand, and takes her up front with him…And then Keita offers Karen his hand, in turn. Oh, Karen, just admit you got it bad for him. Which leaves Konoha to apologize to Chiaki, and did she get rejected by him? No? Good! And she insists that she will, and I quote, “someday make that man a slave to my overwhelming charm.” You’re not an overwhelming charm type and you know it.

-But the whole group ends up in the front, as Aguri clings to her beloved Tasuku, their relationship at least stable again…And Keita I think just twisted his ankle in that open grate.

-Fin~

Well, that…Wasn’t quite the actual end. Oh no, we’ve got one more episode. But in terms of actual core story, I think that was our big climax. And for the most part, it all worked out! Chiaki and possibly Konoha have some stuff to figure out regarding Keita, Karen’s got to loosen up with her emotional state, and Keita will hopefully finally realize what’s been going on around him…But this is the most stable things have been since, oh, the end of episode 2. So I’ll take it. We’ll have one last match with these plucky kids next time, in episode TWELVE of GAMERS! Wait for it!

[fanficsofmine]

Bad Things - Kai Smut One Shot

A/N: This is based off of the song “Bad Things” by Camilla Cabello and Machine Gun Kelly. Super smutty smut ahead. (Not my gif below!)

“Am I out of my head? Am I out of my mind? If you only knew the bad things I like Don’t think that I can explain it What can I say, it’s complicated Don’t matter what you say Don’t matter what you do I only wanna do bad things to you So good that you can’t explain it What can I say, it’s complicated”

I was lost, meandering the pages of my favorite book. Swept up in a fantasy land of angels and chimera. My fingers teased the edges of the pages as I clung to every single word as I read words that, quite frankly, I knew by heart, but could never lose interest in. 

 My phone buzzed and drew my attention away from the pages. The alert flashed across my screen that I had received a text message from Jongin. I huffed a breath out. I knew that this interaction was more than likely about to annoy me more than it would benefit me at all. At least I could consider it entertainment, although I would have considered my book sufficient enough for the night. 

 Receive: Hey you. Send: Hey Jongin. Receive: What are you up to? Send: Just reading. You? Receive: What a fuckin’ nerd. Reading on a Saturday night.  Send: A nerd you’re texting on a Saturday night. What’s the matter? All your FWB busy tonight or something? Receive: I like when you talk feisty to me, baby. Send: Ew. Did you actually need something? Receive: Yeah. Receive: You 😜  Receive: Got any nudes to make my night more fun? 

 I rolled my eyes. There it was; the annoyance I anticipated. 

 Jongin and I had grown up across the street from one another. We had shared one kiss in high school at a party, and had never spoken of it again. He had turned into quite the, I believe the newest term was, “fuckboi” since we graduated, and, as hard as I tried in the past, I was unable to cut him out of my life. Eventually, I quit fighting the part of me that wanted to remain his friend. 

We had become very different people with no more similar interests or friends. Occasionally, however, we would sneak around and actually hang out, for old time’s sake. We would never let our other friends in on the secret. The judgement that we would face if they knew that we interacted with one another would be harsh. As it remained, I did enjoy his company from time to time. 

Send: Are you that drunk? You’re asking me of all people for nudes? Receive: Nah. I can bring some booze over if you want though. My night has actually been kinda lame. I’d like to see you.  Send: Sure. Come over whenever. 

 I laid my phone to rest on the nightstand and stood up. I walked over to my closet and checked the full length mirror that hung from my door. The black tank top that I had been wearing wasn’t too terrible. It flattered my figure well. I did shed my pajama bottoms and slid into a pair of floral shorts. 

I was midway through brushing my hair out from being in a ponytail when I came to an abrupt halt. 

 "Am I out of my mind?! Why am I getting dolled up for Jongin, of all people,“ I asked myself, out loud, and shuttered when I realized what I was doing. I tossed the brush back on the bathroom counter, but managed one more glance over of myself right as the doorbell rang. I shook the nerves that had somehow snuck their way into my veins out, and brought myself back down to reality as I headed to open the front door. 

 As I reached to turn the knob, Jongin was letting himself in. 

 "Excuse you,” I exclaimed and crossed my arms as my, very forceful, house guest allowed himself entry to my home. He smiled his lethal smile and held up my spare key. “Under the front door mat. Really?" 

I yanked the key out of his fingers and scoffed. "Where else do you put a spare key, jackass?” I maneuvered past him and began to put the key back in its rightful home, but hesitated and stuck it back in his hands instead. 

 "Ah, there ya go. You give it to a person that you trust. Not hide it in a place so obvious anybody could break into your house.“ He slid the ring on his key chain and I caught myself lost in my head again. 

 "Wait, what the fuck am I doing? Why am I so out of whack tonight?” I thought to myself as I realized I had just given Jongin unlimited access to my life. It was too late to regress and take the key back now, though, so I grabbed one of the bottles of liquor from him and made my way back to the kitchen. 

 I poured us both tall glasses of strong drinks and hopped up to sit on the kitchen counter as Jongin took a sip. 

 He sucked air through his teeth and, after his face has un-puckered, said, “heavy hand tonight." 

 I laughed and said, "I’ve gotta be drunk to endure your company. Suck it up, princess." 

 He chuckled and raised his glass in the air as though he was cheers-ing me from across the kitchen. He took another large swig. 

 We sat and talked for a little bit. As he was telling me about the happenings at his new job, I couldn’t help but allow my mind, and eyes, to wander. 

 I had never realized how long and toned his legs were. The torn skinny jeans that he was wearing hugged his thighs perfectly. Every now and then, as he made a grand gesture speaking with his hands, his shirt would slightly come up, revealing his abs and V-line. I caught myself licking my lips as my brain played with the thought of licking down that v-line. 

 "Hello?! Are you even listening to me?” I snapped back to the moment as I saw him waving his hands in front of my eyes. 

 "Aish, sorry,“ I blushed when I realized that I was thinking dirty thoughts about Jongin, "uh, zoned out for a moment. Must’ve made this drink too strong." 

 He rolled his eyes and smirked at me. He gently placed his glass down at the opposite end of the counter and sauntered slowly toward me. "What’s got you so distracted tonight?" 

He placed himself directly between my legs and, rather than recoil from his advances like my mind was screaming at me to, I shuddered and slightly leaned into his touch. His large hands traced a light pattern up my arms, raising goosebumps. 

 He flashed me his grin again and leaned forward, placing his lips directly against my ear as he whispered, "if you only knew the bad things I liked."

 I took my bottom lip between my teeth to prevent myself from letting out a moans and hinting at how turned on his words had made me. His fingers ran up my arm again and around my shoulder blade. He took my hair and gently brushed it aside, revealing the crook of my neck and collarbone. 

 "I’ve always wondered how pretty it would look to place hickeys right… here…” he separated the last two words as he, and I, allowed his lips to brush my skin. When I did not stop him, he accepted that as my invitation and began to kiss and suck at my skin. 

 It slightly stung, but in a way that was so good. I couldn’t explain it. 

 This time, however, my body betrayed me. A gasp sprung past my lips and my hands flew up around his neck. A guttural growl left his throats as he pulled me tighter against him. 

I threw my head back and was completely lost in the moment. His hands wrapped around and grabbed at my back, crumpling my shirt in his fists. His mouth was venturing back and forth from my collar bone to my neck. Eventually, he made his way up to my jaw line before crashing our lips together. 

The kiss began passionate. It felt rushed, as though he was afraid that I would realize what was happening and bring it to an abrupt halt. 

 I wouldn’t, though. 

 As he became aware that I was going to continue to allow it, he slowed down. His tongue still invading the space that mine normally occupied, but with a much more methodical pace. His hands moved from my back and cupped my face softly. Our breathing was in sync as we shared this moment that was out of place, yet oddly comfortable. For two people who had managed to drift apart but still maintain a friendship, we kissed as though we had been lovers our entire lives. Our bodies, pressed against each other, felt perfectly aligned. 

 He brought his hands to my hips and nudged me forward, hinting that he wanted me to slide off of the counter. I landed on my feet, breaking our kiss, and he laced his fingers through mine. 

 Jongin turned and began to lead me to my bedroom. Naturally, having hung out through the years, he knew the layout of my home. He had stayed the night once when he showed up at 4 am in a drunken stupor. After a thorough scolding, I had let him pass out in my bed that night as I took the couch. 

 He sat on my bed and pulled me onto his lap. He connected our lips again and raked his fingers through my hair. I let out a sound of approval as he began to tease the fabric of my tank top with his free hand. He lightly tugged at the straps of the shirt and bra, guiding them down my arms. He continued to kiss me deeply as he allowed himself access under my shirt and bra. He cupped my breasts, a moan escaping his lips. 

 "I’ve wanted to get my hands on these for so long now,“ he whispered against my lips. 

With the kiss broken, I leaned back slightly and tugged my shirt from the bottom hem. I pulled it up over my head, and then released the clasp from my bra, freeing my torso completely. I shivered as the cool air hit my skin, and tugged at his shirt, hinting that I wanted his off as well. He whipped his shirt off quickly and then closed the gap that was between us. I felt heat exchanging between our bodies and the sensation was enthralling. 

 He shifted us so that I was laying flat on my back on my bed. My hair sprawled out around me and he straddled his legs on either side of my hips. Jongin hovered over me, staring down at my body, expressions darkened by lust.

 He ran his fingers across my lips, and then ghosted them down until he reached the buttons of my shorts. He made eye contact with me and I nodded my head once to signal him to continue. 

He undid the button and I raised my hips slightly as he pulled the shorts down my legs. He stood up and removed his own jeans, leaving us both in nothing except our underwear. Before he returned to me, however, he stopped and stared at me. 

 I propped myself up on my elbows and asked, "what’s the matter?” I was afraid that he was beginning to regret where we had found ourselves. 

 "You’re just… wow. You’re so beautiful.“ His words echoed through my ears and swam through me. Although I had never felt extremely un-confident, I had never considered myself "beautiful” either. The sensation was unfamiliar. I believed his words. I felt genuinely beautiful for the first time in my life. It may have been the way he said it, or the way that he was looking at me. Whatever it was, I wanted it to continue. 

 I sat up fully and wrapped my hand around the back of his neck. I tugged him lightly toward me again, hinting that I wanted us to keep going. His body on top of mine again, his mouth found its way back to my skin. He was planting wet kisses and nips along my neck and chest. 

Groping at my breasts and grinding his hips into mine. I felt him growing bigger with the more friction between us, so I matched his movements. 

 He alternated each of my nipples into his mouth as he moved slightly down my body. His fingers teased my panty line before he darted his hand underneath the fabric. He chuckled when a wanton noise left my mouth as his fingers grazed my pussy. I assumed that he would figure that I needed more help getting ready for him, but I saw pride fill his features as he felt me, already wet for his cock. 

 "Is this the effect that I have on you, gorgeous? If I had know that, I would have made my move years ago,“ he mused. He was enjoying himself, and, any other time, I would have been embarrassed to admit that it was Jongin making me feel anything but irritation. Tonight, however, I was at his mercy. 

 "Shut the fuck up,” I moaned at him. He laughed and wasted no more time. He stripped us both of our final pieces of clothing. Removing a condom from his jeans pocket on the floor, he pumped his erection a few times before sliding it on and slowly guiding himself into me. 

 I clutched the bed sheets as I let him fill me up. Adjusting to his length, I began to move my hips slightly against him, the desire to feel friction between us consuming me. Jongin matched my movements with his thrusts. Initially, they were slow and sensual. He was embracing every single one as he slid in and out of me. His hands were placed on either side of my head. I shifted my legs to wrap around him, allowing him deeper access into me. 

 "Fuck,“ he groaned out as he hit me deeper. I began to lose control as I felt the orgasm begin to well up in my stomach. My nails clawed down his back. 

The noises leaving our mouths were mingling with the sounds of his hips meeting mine. The fervor between us was filling the room and was nearly palpable. 

 I felt his tempo faltering. He reached between us with one hand and placed his thumb to my clit. The initial touch was enough to send shock waves through my body, and the added stimulus threw me quickly over the edge. 

 I screamed his name out as I clenched around his dick. 

He continued to thrust, and through gritted teeth managed, "shit. You just got so fucking tight.” He quickly followed behind my lead of releasing an orgasm. 

He rested his forehead against mine and we both rode out the few aftershocks together. He smiled down at me and kissed me gently. His fingers brushed a mess of hair out of my eyes, and his deep, brown eyes stared back at me. He studied my face carefully before planting one more kiss on my lips and standing up. 

 The absence of his body was immediately noticed by mine. It was strange, almost as though I was craving his touch again, even though it had been only a few moments without him. 

 After he had cleaned himself up in the bathroom, I followed suit. 

As I washed my hands, I caught my disheveled expression in the mirror, and, for the first time that evening, felt a hint of remorse. 

I smoothed my hair and questioned myself, silently.

 "Had I just allowed myself to become one of Jongin’s friends with benefits?“ 

"How could I have been so stupid? He probably feels nothing more towards me than just wanting a new fuck buddy." 

"What if he’s already gone when I open the door?" 

 Preparing myself for the worst, I turned the knob on the bathroom door to let myself back into my room. I was relieved to see him under my sheets, propping a pillow up behind him, attempting to make himself comfortable. 

"Making yourself at home, I see,” I leaned against the door frame and rolled my eyes. 

 "What? Did you think I was the ‘fuck and leave,’ kind of guy? Should I be offended?“ He put his hand to his chest and acted appalled. 

 I laughed and, suddenly aware of my nakedness, began to rummage through my drawers for something to cover up with. 

 "No, no, no!” Jongin sat up and made grabbing hands toward me. I looked at him as he shook his head. 

 "Let me enjoy your body a little bit more, please!“ He folded his hands together and I laughed. I made my way back to the bed and crawled in next to him. He cuddled himself around me. His hands lightly ran down different parts of my body. I drank up his gentle touches as we enjoyed each other’s presences in silence. 

 Eventually, however, I knew we needed to address the nature of our situation. Although I wanted this moment to last, I did not want to leave things unsettled. 

"Jongin…” I stared. He quickly shushed me with his own words. 

 "I don’t know,“ he looked at me as I turned my head toward him, making eye contact, "I don’t know what this means for us. It’s… I dunno. What can I say? It’s complicated, I guess?" 

 "You have such a comforting way with words,” I scoffed. 

 He kissed my temple and let out a sigh. 

 "Do you really want to throw a label on this right this very second?“ I shook my head. He was right. There was no need to attempt to rush whatever this was between us. I allowed myself to just enjoy it for what it was; a random, crazy, odd event. 

I wrapped my arm around him and snuggled closer. His breath became steadier as he drifted off to sleep. I allowed my eyes to drift across his handsome face one more time before they fluttered shut.

[eienias20]

Butterfly and Firebird

An RP featuring DeltaMachina’s Butterfly of the Battlefield: Esmeralda and my own Fiery Corporal: Jaynix. These two hang out a lot in RPs and this another of their adventures wherein they partake in the much loved activity of Ganglion killing!

RP ran from 6/23/17 to 7/2/17

Butterfly and Firebird 

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Dodonga Caravan, an ever bustling source of commerce for the Nopon in Noctilum. Despite being in a less than ideal location, they somehow still continued to operate their center of business from here for throughout the region.

Right outside is a small base camp and tonight's shift just so happens to belong to a certain Interceptor among others, sitting at the table and sipping from a milkshake as she speaks to a yellow Nopon wearing a blue beanie.

"Aaah, it's all so adorable!"

She grins, looking at the Nopon's collective of freshly made hand-knit hats laid out in front of her. There's a twinkle in her eyes as she speaks.

"Sad to say the headgear is kinda my thing, but you just make them all so adorable!"

"Then tall green friend should spend! Give to other friends like always!"

The Nopon beams with pride, her wings clapping together as she speaks happily.

"Nosusu is glad that friend is willing to gather materials so often, or may not be able to keep up with orders!"

"Oh, how could I abandon one of my girls when she's so adorable and talented?! Let me just-wait, shouldn't I be getting a discount?"

"Meh, meh! Friend gets paid for services! ... Usually!"

The Nopon pouts, adjusting her hat as she averts her gaze. To be honest, usually Esmeralda just dropped off the items free of charge after a nice little clear out of the local nuisances.

"Haaah... Nosusu, you are a dangerous businesswoman. No wonder Koko always recommends me to you."

"Nosusu is a pure and honest businesspon! Dangerous is Prone hideout around corner. So full of nasties. Even after all this time, surprised friends have not blown it to pieces!"

Esmeralda's eyes shift over in the direction the Nopon speaks of. Understaffed, no Skells, not much of anything compared to the larger base at the center of Noctilum's northern area...

"You and me both, Nosu."

The girl sighs as she pokes at one of the hats, thumbing her finger against one colored red with a pink stripe.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Not far from Es' base camp, a rover cut across the normally serene Noctilum forest, hard rock blasting from the speakers as Jaynix, at the wheel, whistled along with the song.

She enjoyed the music but it being loud also allowed her to block out any and all unpleasant thoughts...at least for the moment. Spotting the base camp, Jaynix turned down the volume and slowed the rover to a stop. Jumping out she turned to the two BLADEs she brought along for the shift change.

"Anton. Archer. Hope the ride was smooth but here we are!"

The two thanked her, Archer speaking.

"We owe you. I'm not sure what went wrong with my chopper but it was a grand help."

Jaynix waved him off.

"The Outfitters will have it up and running before you know it. Anyway, off to work with the two of you. Go on! Get!"

Thanking Jaynix again the pair took off to relieve the current on duty BLADEs. Jaynix turned to watch them go, taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling…calm. She was calm and whispering to herself.

"All I long to see...is your smile..."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

While Nosusu spoke, Esmeralda continued to think quietly to herself as she thought about the base more.

“If I remember right, the Prone in that base were supposedly under command of some asshole called the 'Blood King' or something dumb like that. But after he kicked the bucket they supposedly just kind of started petering around and... yeah, I think there's a new head honcho there. Question is what was their name again? Whatever, I'll just call him dead meat if I-“

The sound of the other BLADEs walking over threw off her train of thought.

"Hey there, we-"

"Yeah. Whatever."

Esmeralda huffed as she got up, rolling her eyes and flicking her launchers to her back.

"Later Nosu, I'll drop some materials off next time I'm in the area."

The two blades just stare at her as she walks forward, eyes looking at her Skell cleverly stuck behind the trees. Then again, hard to miss a large white Skell with an E-scythe on its shoulder.

"C'mon sweetheart, I think it's time for us to-wait a minute I know that rover...!"

Without a second though, she completely blows off the two BLADEs and dashes forward without a moment's thought.

"Jaaaay~!"

The girl smiles as she runs at the red Interceptor, all six feet of her rushing forward before grabbing the girl in a very embracing hug.

"Hey there gal pal what are you doing here?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix's soft whispers were abruptly cut off upon feeling a powerful oncoming force, before she could react in any way she was being hugged incredibly tightly by a very familiar green Interceptor.

"Es?"

Looking to the other woman holding her, Jaynix smiled. This was exactly what she needed.

"Hey there Butterfly! What brings...well, I guess you asked me first."

Hands stuck to her side as a result of Es' powerful hug, Jaynix gestured by tilting her head towards the two BLADEs that just arrived.

"Archer had some technical problems back in NLA so I offered him and Anton a ride out. Wasn't doing much back in town and a drive sounded like a good distraction…what about you Butterfly? What brings you to Noctilum?"

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Oh you know just... point defense."

Esmeralda stated as she tilted her head towards the base camp.

"You know, make sure no nasty Indigens get near-make sure no Prone get too rowdy down the road..."

Esmeralda let go of Jaynix, coughing into her hand and flicking some of her hair out of her field of vision with the other.

"... Man, gotta tell you though honestly? Not really too exciting over here. For a Ganglion base down the road, it sure is quiet. They just all decide to hole up there; you know... things like that..."

There's an irritated look on her face as she places a hand on her hip.

"I'd kill for a chance for me and the big steel sweetheart around the corner over there to go ham on the place, but they'd say I'm just causing a scene or something.”

There's a moment of silence from her before she grins and looks at Jaynix.

"You know, it's a shame. They'd probably be ecstatic at the Caravan to hear that the Prone got cleared out if someone gave them a thrashing, right?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix tilted her head, listening to Es. Boredom sucked, she'd rather be in the middle of the loudest, wildest mess than just standing around doing nothing. Es definitely wasn't a fan of the nothing thing. Relatable. Hearing Es' last statement, Jaynix chuckled.

"Subtle."

She then looked down the road in the direction of the Ganglion base. She knew about it. No surprise that the Ganglion remnants were holed up there and still putting up small but annoying resistance. Looking back to Es, Jaynix smiled and put an arm around her.

"They're worried about you causing a scene? With the two of us together we will do much much more than that. You get some excitement and we do some good. I'm 100% on board with this thrashing. "

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

There was a moment of laughter, before Esmeralda stared at Jaynix and her smile turned into a slightly confused look. Then the realization hit.

"... holy jitt, you're serious."

The girl looks at the caravan, her eyes drifting back to the Corporal after a few seconds of thought.

"Okay, so let's say we do tackle this place. Much as I want to approach it and blast the place in my Skell, it's not that simple."

She flicks out her comm device, bringing up a layout of the fort and leaning against Jaynix's rover.

"The entire place has to get unmanned in one shot if we want to pull this off. And if we do... honestly, I like to think a lot of people would be sleeping better once tonight hits."

The girl nods her head at the corporal, flicking her comm device out of view of any other nearby prying eyes as she checks to see if the other BLADEs that were dropped off are watching.

"You're all in on this, then?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Once Es' eyes met Jaynix's, the Corporal gave her a determined, fiery gaze. She's serious. She then observes the fortress layout on Es' comm device and listens to her words.

"I am completely down with this, Butterfly. If we get this done, take out all the Ganglion hiding out over there and not letting any of them get away...BLADEs, Nopon, anyone who comes by this area will have a lot less to worry about."

Walking over to her rover, Jaynix retrieved her weapons from the trunk and gave each of them a quick check before looking to the other Interceptor and smiling.

"It's you and me, Es. We've taken on Ganglion before. We've got this."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda,

"Yeah? Well much as I hate to admit it, unlike the other ones these idiots are... well, smart idiots."

With that conflicting statement out of the way, she begins to bring up a small written analysis of the base itself.

"Lakeview Stronghold, despite its unoriginal name, has an oddly high amount of anti-Skell measures, primarily cannons that take down anything that tries to approach from the air. They've reinforced the place with a few troops, but they're a lot more organized."

Her screen flicks to the image of the base again, red dots lighting up at key points where the troops were stationed.

"Even with a little over a dozen Prone, they have it set up so that once anything steps into the base, the entire place goes on alert-and then they always manage to repel anyone who approached from that point. Positioning, tactics, everything that I wasn't expecting... otherwise I would have taken it out earlier, honestly. Also, I really doesn't help that the entire upper half of the fort is covered in snipers either. Whoever it was who set that place up knew what they were doing."

She flicks the device back into its holding place, and she places a finger to her lip as she tilts her head.

"And besides that, trying to approach from the ground is... way too risky."

She shakes her head, not wanting to say why it is for her.

"I did find one alternate route, but there's a Sylooth in the way and I couldn't fit my Skell through there. Our only option is to try and approach from the upper levels, on foot."

With a shake of her head, she looks at Jaynix with a slight pause.

"Plus, if we take too long then they might send word to their neighbors at Bedrock Hold over the mountain. And...you can guess how that would go."

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix crossed her arms and focused, listening to everything that Es had to say. Once the other Interceptor brought up the map of the base, Jaynix leaned in close, eyes taking in everything. Seeing this heavily fortified location gave her a sense of nostalgia. Familiarity. She was all set to comment on it but remembered that the last time she brought up something relating to Earth, it looked like it made Es the slightest bit uncomfortable. She wouldn't be the first either.

"Alright then Butterfly let's see if I'm on the right page here. We have to go into that Stronghold and take everyone out as quickly as possible knowing that the moment we engage, everyone in the facility will know what we're up to. Between that and the positions they're occupying it definitely seems like they're using their heads...that or, they have one person using their head and they know a thing or two."

Jaynix then looked off in the direction of the Stronghold.

"I've got experience with raiding bases...I do it all the time...part of that included disabling fortifications. If we could take out the base wide alert system it would be easier. If. That said, if you're sure we can't get by the Sylooth then we can go with the upper level approach. Where would that route take us?"

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"If you have good footwork? A small groups of ledges that we can jump to the start of the upper levels from."

She nods.

"We start from there, we can take out the snipers on the upper levels, move onto the rest. Ground combat is easy pickings from there without the eyes on high after all"

Her eyes move to a large group of tree roots not too far off, and she nods her head.

"We climb up Redsnake Pass, take a bit of a hike to the top of the mountain there and we can... probably hit the mark! Definitely probably!"

Scaling most of a mountain just to approach a base right around the corner. Well, it's certainly an approach.

 Eienias || Jaynix

"Definitely probably?"

Jaynix followed Es' gaze to the route that the pair would have to take. It certainly was a long way around but if it made the oncoming fight easier, then she had no real complaints. With a confident smirk she looked back at Es.

"I've got great footwork and enough energy for a hike or two. We can make our way there and take these guys out no problem! Those snipers won't even know what hit em."

Jaynix slammed her fists together.

"If you're all set to take it to em, so am I!"

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

God, Esmeralda knew she liked this girl the minute they hit it off-and sure enough she continued to impress. Usually most people met her ideas with skepticism or just outright avoided them, but Jaynix? Took them to heart and was ready to roll in the blink of an eye.

“I wonder why Irina never introduced us-“

The realization this might be why crossed her mind...but was then promptly shoved to the side as she nodded happily.

"Then let's get moving. Might take an hour to get up there, but once we get there I can probably get us down nice and easy! Come on Jaynie, time to take down some threats!"

The girl quickly clasped her hands together, and her wing-like launchers zipped to her back from their resting place in the base camp.

"Man this is the best though. I can't wait to see the look on Irina's face when we get back and tell her we totally trashed this place!"

Her voice softens for a moment, and she gives a slight sigh as she closes her eyes.

"I guess it has been a while since I got to work with her, though... maybe the three of us should all sit down after this, get something nice to eat and shop a little. Then we can all go on missions together, kick a bunch of Ganglion butt, just you, me, Irina and..."

She pauses for a moment, crossing her arms in thought and a quizzical hum.

"Oh and Gwin, I guess. I mean it's not a four girl squad but hey, he pulls his weight! Well... usually.

Sheepishly smiling, there's a faint blush on her face as she scratches at her cheek.

"Eheh, sorry... I'm running my mouth too much again, aren't I?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynie. The Fiery Interceptor couldn't help but smile at hearing that nickname; it was so cute and innocent sounding. Not at all like her but she loved it. An hour hardly sounded like any sort of huge commitment, Jaynix was more than ready for it.

"You, me and Irina? That sounds like a guaranteed good time! Come to think of it, it’s been far too long since I last saw her...well, here's hoping that changes soon."

Jaynix began moving away from the base camp when she heard Es mention Gwin. Of course! Can't forget the loyal farm boy. Noting Es' face, Jaynix couldn't help but chuckle.

"No worries Butterfly, I tend to talk a lot too, sometimes more than I should, other times not enough but a lot of words do come out of my mouth, heh. Anyway, once we wrap up with the Ganglion and have some free time, if you wanna bend my ear about Gwin for no reason in particular, I’m always available!”

Jaynix gave Es a wide smile and a wink. She felt so much lighter just after a few moments with Es. Hopefully this mission took a while, she desperately needed something to occupy her mind and focus with.

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Bend her ear? Esmeralda didn't quite catch onto what Jaynix meant, but she just gave a light chuckle and motioned for Jaynix to follow. "Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's get climbing.”

//////////

The top of the mountain hadn't been too hard to trek to, thankfully due to the whole ‘Mims having really great leg parts' thing she supposed. Though she had been quiet most of the way, since it did require a fair bit of focus.

Regardless, the two Interceptors had made great time climbing to the top-only a good thirty minutes. Looking over to Jaynix, the girl gave a nod as she motioned to the cliff's edge, looking down at the Ganglion base below. It was simple compared to most of the others... but perhaps that was why it proved a more difficult place to topple. Security in simplicity, or something. Whatever, it was going down today and that's all that mattered to her.

"Alright, so we're going to start from the left. There's a small series of ledges below we'll drop to-Oh, fog."

Es was now looking down on the fort as a thick layer of the frustrating stuff drifted in and covered the surrounding area. Mira's weather was working against them apparently, and Esmeralda gave a disappointed huff as she tried to find the location below. The fact that she could see the top of the Fortress' bridges and platforms was the only thing she had to go on right now... and very, very little else.

"Damnit, this is going to make things tougher, isn't it?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

The climb was relatively effortless, Jaynix welcomed the physical activity and before she knew it, they reached the top. Jaynix joined Es in looking down at the Ganglion base, their target.

She looked at it right up until the fog began covering most of it up. Jaynix chuckled at Esmeralda's disappointed huff. But she felt her slight irritation, the weather certainly wasn't agreeing with them.

"Tougher yes, but look at the bright side Es. They'll be having a hard time keeping their eyes on us. The big difference is we are two highly skilled BLADEs. I think the fog might be a boon. An annoying one...but a boon nonetheless."

Jaynix gave a thumbs up to Es, the fog was unexpected but it was not going to sideline her. Either of them. No way.

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"... Eh, at worst if we get separated you'll be able to find me from the light show."

With a smirk, she stared at the ground below and tried to pinpoint the location they could land... but with the fog, all she could do was estimate. If she messed it up, then she would land right... No, she couldn't mess this up. The one thing that could screw up this mission was not going to happen.

"Well, this might be easier if we try to do that... okay. Hope this works for two."

The girl made a motion with her hands, her launchers spreading to the side of her and Jaynix, taking a breath as she grabbed onto the corporal's shoulder.

"So hey, you know how when you free fall in a Skell it's super cool? At least I think it is-but then you realize you're off on the landing and you only have a few seconds to... Actually, don't think about that. Just uh, think about butterflies and birds. Landing. Delicately."

Yeah. Delicate. That thing she is. Completely. Extending her hand out to her companion, she tried to keep her smile on while inside silently trying to... well, hope that this little experiment would pay off.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Light show eh? Jaynix laughed, she enjoyed how confident Es was in her abilities and after their shared mission in Oblivia, Jaynix knew she had every right to be. Es then began setting up some kind of...plan on how the pair would jump down and land safely on the barely visible Ganglion base.

Feeling Es' hand on her shoulder, she gave her a smile which then faltered a bit once Es mentioned Skells. That was the last thing she wanted to think about in any capacity after what happened in the AD.

Jaynix shook her head, focusing instead on butterflies and birds...which matched the pair of them very well. Thinking of it that way, she felt herself calm down before looking to Es' outstretched hand.

"...a Butterfly of the Battlefield and a Firebird. I'm not quite sure I'm so delicate with how I rough house assholes but...I can try."

Reaching out, Jaynix took hold of Es' hand and gave her a confident smile, she had faith in Es' plan...whatever it may be.

"We've got this."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Gravity Lunge."

On cue, the launchers flicked to their combat state and created a sphere of energy as Esmeralda wrapped her arms around the other Interceptor. Grabbing onto Jaynix and gritting her teeth, the two were caught up in the antigravity field of the psycho launchers as they began to drag them along their course, the sphere surrounding them pushing them forward off the ledge, and sending them rolling down it-tossing up debris from the mountainside as they continued to careen down the side. Four seconds left, three seconds...

“Okay, ledge! Can't land on the center of the bridge or we'll get seen, so a bit to the left and”

Careening the sphere's trajectory to the left, Esmeralda tried to focus as a tree branch came into view to her left, sticking out from the side of the mountain. The girl's eyes widened as she realized her miscalculation, and that they were falling faster than she had anticipated-did she put too much thrust into it or-? One second left.

“I really wish the Colonel's words didn't always apply when these things happen...!”

As the two fell into the thickest of the fog, Esmeralda spun herself around, the launchers disengaged the field- THUNK ... the feeling of her back hitting the solid rock and using herself as a cushion so Jaynix didn't was not one of her proudest moments.

"O-okay, destination... arrived..."

She muttered with a wince of pain, quietly as to make sure nobody else would hear. Chock this up to the list of things she would feel tomorrow...

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix was not expecting Es to wrap her arms around her, next thing she knew they were inside an antigravity field and rolling down the mountainside. This was definitely not at all on her list of ways to get down a cliffside and onto an enemy base...but there is something to be said for being taken off guard.

All the raids and assaults she's done in the past never involved something like this. Then the pair hit solid rock, it was an abrupt stop though Jaynix didn't feel it as much since Es took the hit. Looking to Es below her, Jaynix let out a small, quiet laugh.

"This is not at all where I expected to be today. Thanks for taking me on a ride, Butterfly."

Jaynix smiled at Es before standing and helping the other Interceptor up, now taking the time to examine their surroundings. Their foggy surroundings. She could make out some figures here and there but this was definitely going to be a test for the pair.

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Yeah no, I'm... I'm glad you enjoyed it. Oooof..."

Pushing herself up to her feet, Esmeralda pressed her hand against the mountainside to try and orient herself with where they just landed. Taking a look to her left, she could faintly make out the waters below, and knew full well that meant-

The sound of a Dilus' growling caused her to lock up, and she shakily grabbed at her saber.

“It's down there... you won't have to deal with them if you stay inside the place... just stay calm...”

"Just keep moving along the wall here, mind your footing. Once you see the upper level of the base... it's all a straight shot from there."

With a nod of her head, she looked to Jaynix once more and gripped on her saber's handle tightly.

"Give me a second; I'm still... a little disoriented from that fall. I'll get moving in a moment."

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix stood aside, keeping an eye on Es as the other Interceptor tried to center herself. The fall was incredibly disorienting after all and the impact did not help things either.

Then she saw something very familiar in Es' face and her body language. It was faint but something about it connected with Jaynix. She remained silent as Es told her the directions they should be heading, Jaynix let her eyes wander for a bit and observe their foggy surroundings.

Once Es had fallen silent, Jaynix stepped closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Es. Are you okay? Aside from the fall."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Jaynix's hand meeting her shoulder made Esmeralda jolt back a bit, but a sigh of relief and a reassuring smile went across her face as she nodded.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. As long as we clear this place out, we don't have anything to worry about afterwards."

Her launchers centered behind her back again, and with a quick few steps forward, jumped up to the next ridge over. The base's upper bridge was right below her, and that meant it was finally time to start the offensive.

"I'll take point. You clear out the upper levels once their focus is on me. I'll take the low road once we get our first down up top."

With a nod of confidence, she knelt down and tried to focus ahead of her.

"You all set?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Reassured by Es, Jaynix stepped back. Es was capable and if anything went awry as it often did, Jaynix had Es' back. They'd be fine. Nodding to her partner, she watched Es leap down below before sharing her strategy with Jaynix.

"You're going to draw their fire? Alright. You stay ahead of their shots and I'll cut them down, they'll never see me coming."

Jaynix took a deep breath before drawing her blade. Speed was key here. The longer the enemy snipers remained active, the greater chance they had of hitting Es. Jaynix knew Es could take many hits, but she'd rather keep any possible damage to a minimum.

"I'm all set! Let's get this started."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Launchers orbiting her body and making her usual protective field, she began her walk forward with her saber still inactive. The sounds of her footsteps against the metal stood out among the silence, though the wildlife of Noctilum could still be heard. She only hoped that it would muffle the sound of her approach-because the light created by her aura would stand out far more than even her headgear would.

“Clear for the first part so far... but if I remember right the first station is right at the end of this.”

As the Interceptor thought to herself, the sound of a single sniper shot smashing into her protective field-and quickly dispersing into bits of beam energy-caused her to tilt her head up at the first offender.

"Now you see-this is so much easier than sneaking about."

She grinned, whirling her saber and igniting the cutlass-like blade as she began her rush forward-jumping through the open gap of the watchtower and running up the stairs inside. When she reached the top, another shot smashed into her protective aura, and she just rolled her eyes as she looked at the offender-a large male cavern Prone-

“I mean they’re all large but still…”

The Prone seemed relatively distraught at the fact the sniper was doing nothing to her.

"Knock, knock, asscave."

Es said as she whirled the saber, lunging forward and slashing at the Prone, causing him to block the attack with his rifle. Needless to say that didn't work well, as the thing cut straight through and left him with two halves of a whole sniper that surely- THUNK

Apparently quick thinking prevailed however, as the feeling of said half of that sniper went colliding into the Interceptor's head. Ouch.

"GAH! RUDE!"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix watched Es take off, shots ringing out from the Ganglion snipers positioned along the base. Smirking, Jaynix swung her blade, flames covering her body before she launched up onto the base and made for the sounds of gunfire. As she drew closer she could see the Cavern Clan Prone throw part of its broken weapon at Es, striking her head.

"Not cool."

Leaping and letting out a war cry, Jaynix carved deep into the Prone's back, ripping through its flesh. The Prone roared in pain before turning and attempting to strike Jaynix with its fist.

Dodging the first strike was easy but the Prone reacted far quicker than she thought it would given its injury and nailed her with a second blow, pushing her back.

Spitting, Jaynix watched the Prone charge her and smiled, this one definitely had some fight in it. Using her speed she began dashing around the Prone as its fists swung wide, every missed blow led to a quick bite from her blade. As she carved up the Prone it only grew angrier, slamming the ground and causing Jaynix to lose balance from the immense force.

Seizing the moment the Prone tackled her to the ground and raised its fist, the Prone then gagged as Jaynix pierced its body with her blade. Shoving the body off of her and off her blade, she stood and stabbed it one last time. Pulling her blade out of the corpse she looked back at Es.

"You'll take care of the rest down below and I'll handle what's up here. Easy."

Jaynix then brought up her fist.

"Best of luck, Butterfly."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The sound of multiple guns clicking to life and Prone battle cries gave plenty of notice that they were now the center of attention.

"Right then, time to-"

Another sniper shot collided with her as she stood in front of Jaynix, grumbling as she turned in the direction of the sniper with a look of irritation. God, no wonder people had issues with this place.

"Ugh, seriously! Guys always interrupting everything...!"

With that, she turned her head back to Jaynix.

"I'm leaving the upper levels to you, there's a structure in the back-we'll meet up there!"

And with that, she vaulted herself off the side of the tower and to the ground below. Saber in hand as she gripped tightly, clenched her teeth and leapt into the storm of oncoming beam fire with fury in her eyes as, well

"GALACTIC CATACLYSM!"

-Yeah, goodbye to the ground below her as a giant massive energy blade crashed into it, sending dirt and debris into the air and disorienting the ground troops.

"Alright losers, listen the hell up! As the Interceptor's own Butterfly of the Battlefield I-"

And then another sniper shot crashed into her protective aura.

"Can I finish a sentence here, dammit?!"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Orders received, Jaynix turned her gaze on the upper levels as Es vaulted off to the ground below. Spinning her blades she began ascending the staircase. A prone saw her coming up and charged down towards her. Ducking his opening strike, she kicked him over the railing and continued uninterrupted.

As the Prone hit the ground below, stunned by the impact, Jaynix emerged at the top where more enemies were lining up their shots, aiming at Es below.

"Hey assholes! Keep your sights off my friend!"

Clenching her teeth she threw herself at the Prone before her. Two rushed to engage her while the last one chose to avoid the battle and provide fire to the combat below. Jaynix cursed, she'd need to get through the two in front to get that last one's aim off of Es.

Blade flashing she began striking at the Prone, this time she made sure to watch them closely not planning to fall for any more sucker punches. Sure enough, much like the first Prone, they were fast, smart with their movements, at least relative to most Prone she's fought.

They evaded several of her strikes, swinging the ends of their rifles at her. All three combatants were dodging and weaving, Jaynix's blade occasionally cutting through skin. She heard another sniper shot go off from the third opponent and knew she had to change strategies.

Swinging out, she struck the Prone's weapons and jumped away, bringing her Gatling gun to bear the sides popped open, a barrage of missiles shooting forth. The Prone before her took the brunt of the blast and were thrown back. Path clear, Jaynix aimed and fired on the third one, bullets riddling him and taking his attention away from Es.

"That's right. Focus on me assholes!"

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Esmeralda meanwhile was trying to slash her way through to reach her targets. The constant barrage of beam shots were starting to wear away at her patience and her protective field, but she sure as hell wasn't going to relent.

As one of the Prone finally came into her sight, she went in for the slash and cut a large gash in his chest, her eyes sharpening as she prepared to bring the saber down for a finishing strike.

Before she knew it her attack had interrupted by another Prone body slamming her into the massive rock in the dead center of the base, causing her to stumble with a muffled swear as she got back to her feet and kicked the jerk back.

“These guys... sure there's only the two of us, but seriously? I should be doing better than this... no; they should be way easier than this.”

Darting out of the way of the next volley of shots, the Interceptor renewed her aura, a quick flash of green light sweeping over her before she tried to make out the figures among the fog. If she could just lure them somewhere less open she would have an advantage, but...

“They're playing too defensively, most Prone just go for the attack and nothing else... and why the hell haven't I heard a single alarm this whole time?”

 Eienias || Jaynix

Even with the bulky Gatling gun in her hands, Jaynix continued to dodge as many blows as she could from the three very skilled and hostile Xenoforms. Every so often she'd feel a graze or her weapon would take a hit, but she remained focus, she had to do her part.

Spinning around she opened fire, a whirling torrent of bullets shooting out in all directions, pushing her opponents back. Grinding to a halt she leapt at a Prone and slammed her weapon into its face, the size of the weapon and the strength she put into the swing dazed the Prone, giving her time to turn around and fire on the other two attempting to close the distance.

"Hmm. These assholes seem to know a thing or two...but don't worry. Es will be fine, focus on them. Kill them."

Swinging her Gatling gun back again she slammed it into the dazed Prone behind her, throwing it to the ground. Drawing her blade she shot forth, flames once again covering her body.

The first Prone she ran past was quick, evading the end of her blade, but the second wasn't so lucky as she ripped its torso open. Skidding to a halt, she spun around and slashed through its back as well. As the Prone fell dead, the other two joined up. Jaynix then heard something and looked behind her; the Prone she had thrown down the stairs was back.

"Hmph. Still three on one...fine..."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The sound of combat from up above meant that Jaynix was now engaged with whoever was there. The fact the sniper fire had ceased meant she was busy up top.

"... Alright then, my turn to get serious now!"

The girl's eyes flickered with light as the feeling of Overdrive activating swept over her, and her senses seemed to sharpen with it. Making out the distinct shapes in the fog, she quickly dashed forward and through the oncoming storm of attacks. And as she ran up to the first prone, fury reflected as she ripped her saber straight through the Prone's arm.

As he howled in anger, the girl then proceeded to let forth a flurry of slashes, each one drawing blood and burning through the Xeno's body until he falls, lifeless and mutilated as the Interceptor's eyes dart between each remaining hostile.

The other Prone seemed to cease their attacks, staring at the Interceptor as if they were trying to evaluate her. One of the Prone nodded to the others, and the rest of them move back silently into the fog.

"...I really hope you aren't planning to run off, because no way in hell am I-"

"Glennar has returned."

The large Xeno says, arms crossed as he looks at the Interceptor.

"Demands combat. We are to watch, not interfere."

Esmeralda just stands there, glaring at him with annoyance.

"Ex-gacking-scuse me?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

On the upper levels of the fort, the sounds of battle rang out; Jaynix's blade collided with two of the Prone clubs. They had engaged her while the third, rifle drawn, prepared his shot.

In the midst of a swing, the two in front of her jumped away and a shot rang out, the round striking Jaynix's shoulder and pushing her back. Even as the other two charged in and their clubs made contact, Jaynix couldn't stop herself from smiling.

With a war cry, her blade shot out, slashing back and forth with burning fury. One Prone managed to jump away covered in cuts while the other was pinned against the railing.

Leaping into the air, Jaynix delivered a savage kick to its head, throwing it over to the ground below. She then turned to the other two who made no move to engage. She prepared to press her attack when they jumped over the railings themselves.

"What the...hey assholes! You don't just stop the fight half way through!"

Following suit, Jaynix landed on the ground next to the lifeless Prone she kicked over, neck snapped on impact. She then made out the forms of two Prone disappearing into the fog. Narrowing her eyes, she gave chase.

"Get back here!"

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda,

The girl glares at the Prone, a raised eyebrow as she points her saber at him and smirks.

"Seriously? You're trying to make demands with me, really! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

With a quick slash downwards, she begins to step forward. Then a large Prone... well, I mean they're all large but-oh you get the idea. The guy is big, has most of his face covered in some makeshift mask that looks like it's made out of bones, markings carved on it. A large string of what look to be incense containers of some sort hangs off his belt, but otherwise he... seems about like most other Prone. Outside of y'know, being more menacing.

"Aaand the tryhard of the day award goes to…”

Esmeralda snarks, whirling her saber in her hand.

"Right then! I guess we'll just go through you first and then I’ll take care of the rest."

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix continued through the fog until it cleared up...relatively speaking, to a wider opening where she found-

"Es!"

Upon looking over the surrounding area, she also noted several other Prone standing far back, a corpse on the floor, no doubt Es' brutal handiwork and another Prone standing taller than the others around stepping forward.

Jaynix narrowed her eyes as she looked this individual up and done, he seemed a bit different from the others aside from his size...something told her he was the one in charge around here and it also looked like he was personally taking the offensive instead of sitting back in his chambers and waiting.

"Mr. Big Shot himself came out to greet us? Charmed."

Jaynix noted Es was all set to fight, bringing her own blade up Jaynix called out.

"Es, are you alright?"

Keeping her eyes on the big Prone and her hands holding onto her blade tightly, Jaynix was set for whatever came next.

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The Glennar proceeded to pull one of the containers off his waist, raising it into the air and waving it about, the smell permeating the area heavily. Smelled like... ew, rotten corpse. Delightful. Esmeralda gave a disgusted look at the Xeno as she shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Seems like one of those beast trainers the Prone have. Pffft, what's he going to do? Call out a Suid?"

She rolls her eyes, a smile on her face as she tries to ignore the odor... and in the process, neglects to hear the sound of large footsteps coming from the water outside the stronghold.

"Come on Jaynie, I'll cut this idiot into pieces before-“

As she prepared to lunge forward however, the sound of an all too familiar Indigen's growl caused the girl to lock up.

"Uh... ah...?"

A Dilus. The reptilian masses began lumbering forward towards the Prone, obviously drawn by the smell of the incense he wove throughout the air. But not just one, the outline of another began to step forward through the fog, and another, and another...

And Esmeralda's face paled.  Her hand began shaking as her hold on her saber started to slip. Backing up into Jaynix, panic began to sweep over her as she moved her saber towards the approaching Indigens, her eyes wide and body almost shaking as she stared at the reptilian creatures.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix shook her head briefly at the stench, it didn't matter what aid the Prone called on, a herd of Suid, a Simius or whatever else. Jaynix was ready for it and set to tell Es as much when the other woman fell silent, looking ahead, Jaynix could see a group of Dilus approaching the Glennar. She could make out about four when Es bumped into her.

"Es?"

Jaynix stepped next to her and gave her a brief look, but it was enough to see that Es was not doing well. At all. The fear in her eyes was immediately recognizable to Jaynix. Taking the lead, she stepped in front of Es, keeping her sword up.

"Es! Remember what you told me back in Oblivia. You said that I had to move. To stand and fight...or to run. But I had to do something and I did. Now I'm here to help you. You're strong Es and we're together..."

Jaynix put a hand on Es' shoulder. She wasn't sure what was about to go down and she was the last person who should be offering anyone support after what happened in the AD...but she was also the only other person here and she had to do something.

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The feelings of fear coursed through her-instincts failing her, thoughts failing her, an absolute feeling of helplessness washing over her as she struggled to grip onto her saber-tried to remember how to recalibrate her launchers-anything that would keep her alive. Anything that would let her-

Fight. Run. Move.

The words registered, but it wasn't until Jaynix's hand touched her shoulder that they became the focus of her mind. Her head snapped up, her entire body felt a massive surge as Overdrive's innate abilities heightened at an almost alarming rate.

Everything around her stopped registering-just the targets in front of her-and the terror they stirred inside her. The girl's entire body shifted into full gear, the feeling of Overdrive amplifying her adrenaline and mixing with her fear caused her to dash forward at a speed she couldn't normally muster.

Wordlessly, her saber burst to life and entered the high-powered state attributed to Galactic Cataclysm, and she began to swing at the Dilus ahead of her, bringing the massive blade straight into the center of the group-and straight through the center of one of the unfortunate things.

Just one problem. None of these swings had a single ounce of accuracy. She was wildly swinging, like she was trying to keep something away.

“I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't...!”

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix saw Es' photon saber flare to life and knew nothing good would come of it, quickly she threw herself out of range as Es began wildly swinging her massive blade of energy.

Jaynix rolled across the ground to see one of the Dilus was bisected by the wrathful blade and the rest were opening their maws to engage. Jaynix had to do something but every thought that came to mind was more difficult than the last.

Knowing that she couldn't sit aside as Es continued her savage assault, Jaynix spat and stood up, engaging Overdrive as well. Jaynix watched Es' attacks and the Dilus preparing to strike, one of her swings went wide leaving her completely exposed.

Seizing that opportunity, Jaynix shot across the clearing just as a Dilus launched itself at Es, massive maw ready to bite down. Jaynix collided with it in midair, her blade cutting through it and throwing the pair across the ground. Jaynix remained low as Es' blade seared through the air over her head.

The Dilus continued to fight her as she clenched her teeth and held it down, the additional strength granted by Overdrive helping her greatly.

"Es! Es! You have to breathe! You have to focus! Es!”

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

There was a voice calling to her, but it barely registered past anything more than a sound as the thoughts reverberated in her head.

Turning towards the sound her eyes flared with light. Dragging her saber along the ground she rushed towards the Dilus with fear and fury in her eyes.

Swinging the blade up over her head she brought it crashing straight down onto the Dilus that Jaynix was holding.

 Eienias || Jaynix

"Es! Es! You-"

Jaynix was cut off as Es charged her, and brought her blade up. She could barely register it but knew she had to move. Acting quickly, she released the injured Dilus and jumped aside as Es' blade cleaved it in two.

Skidding to a halt, Jaynix called out to Es again and again before feeling something off. Looking down she saw a large gash running across her body. She didn't move fast enough.

"...Es?"

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

“Have to survive! Have to survive! Have to-!”

“Esmeralda?”

"Irina...?" Esmeralda's eyes met the source of the voice. Jaynix. When did she get here? When did... she get hurt? Was it the Prone? Or the Dil-

"...no. No, what did I...? No, oh no, no, no...!"

The sound of the remaining Dilus behind her left her with the last of her nerves shot, and she panicked. If she didn't attend to Jaynix's wounds, she would-but the Dilus and the Prone-

“I-I have to-I...!”

Esmeralda grit her teeth and ran away from the Dilus before its jaws tried to clamp down on her, barely grazing her as she ran over to Jaynix and gripped her arm tightly.

There wasn't a single word spoken as she dragged her through the waters away from the Stronghold, barely on the verge of tears as the two vanished into the fog away from the base.

 Eienias || Jaynix

The glow of Overdrive kept Jaynix relatively free of pain, but in light of the drastic and unexpected hit she took, it gave and faded away, leaving her body.

Jaynix had enough in her to see some semblance of self return to Es. From there she mostly felt numb as Es took hold of her and proceeded to wave through the waters. She tried to focus on Es' hand holding onto her.

"Stay. Conscious. Es needs you."

"It's alright Es...I'll be fine...it's okay..."

Jaynix took as deep a breath as she could manage, she's pushed her pain down plenty of times before. This was no different. Needing to reassure Es, she focused on her arm that Es was holding; Jaynix moved her hand and held onto Es' arm, giving her a squeeze to let her know that she was still there.

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"No, you're not going to be okay!" She whimpered. "Don't lie to me! Don't even speak to me right now...!"

The girl's eyes filled with panic as she pressed Jaynix against the nearest wall when they were finally in a safe zone. She pulled out her saber.

“Have... have to use the healing mode! Crap, I don't have the energy-have to...!”

She gripped her saber, closing her eyes as she gripped at her saber's hilt, activating an art as she grit her teeth. The energy in her body was drained through the use of Essence Exchange, becoming a new source of energy as she quickly shifted her saber to use its healing mode.

“Astral Heal! Astral Heal! Astral Heal...!”

She muttered the words inside her head as she tried to remedy her companion's wounds, green lights sweeping over the wounds-trying to minimize the damage as best as they could. However, it would only be a placebo effect until proper maintenance was performed.

“Have...have to get her to Maintenance...just have to get her to the Skell but...no, have to fix this first, have to-!”

The saber's healing effects continued on and on, as Esmeralda's desperate expression continued to get worse. This was her fault. This always is her problem. She wasn't protecting anyone-she was trying to cut down everything without hitting the brakes. She...

"Astral heal... astral heal...!"

Her voice began to grow hoarse as she kept crying, trying to continue to heal the Corporal desperately.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix felt a wall to her back, the support was comforting. Closing her eyes she continued to take in deep breaths before facing Es again who was crying and pushing herself to heal her with everything she had.

"Es..."

Jaynix couldn't let her continue, she couldn't let Es work herself to exhaustion and she couldn't let her take all the blame for this…she saw the panic in Es’ eyes, the desperation in her voice and the tears staining her face.

Jaynix knew all too well what this path led to and she didn't want to see anyone else walk it. Mustering her strength, Jaynix moved forward and pushed Es' hand away, the photon saber hitting the ground.

Jaynix then placed her arms around the other Interceptor, embracing her.

"Es. Everything will be alright. Just breathe. Please."

Holding onto her tightly, Jaynix continued to speak softly.

"We're still in this together Butterfly...we're both still here."

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"It's not alright! Astral-!"

The moment Esmeralda's saber fell from her hand, everything felt like it stopped. And as Jaynix's arms wrapped around her, and it felt like everything shattered. The feeling of uselessness, the regret, every last emotion and thought was pushed aside as she screamed into Jaynix's shoulder, one of her hands gripping at the gash as if it was trying to cover it up.

About half a minute later, she clenched at the Corporal's side and muttered under her breath, trying to push herself off Jaynix. It was then the blood on her hand became apparent, and her eyes closed as she struggled to speak.

"Need to... need to get you to the city. Find someone to repair this before you..."

She clenched her hand into a fist.

"Get the first aid kit out of my Skell, air lift you back after I seal the wound properly..."

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix ran her hands along Es' back as she screamed. This was what she needed. To let it all out. Jaynix knew that she shouldn't be standing let alone stopping Es from healing her...but she couldn't sit idly by as the other woman suffered, she refused to.

Jaynix heard Es speak; state her plans and how she wanted to help her. She nodded, continuing to hold Es until she felt parts of her body going numb. As strong as she was, blood loss was blood loss. Protoplasmic fluid or not.

"Es. I trust you. Fully. I...I have to go now...but I'm still right here, with you. You can do this...you can get us back to NLA. I believe in you."

Jaynix took her arms from Es, slowly as she leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. She kept her eyes on Es, she wanted to stay awake. No one hated sleeping more than her...but she couldn't.

She gave Es the best smile she could manage before everything went black.

 DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Jay? What does that-"

The feeling of silence falling over the area as Jaynix passed out was all that remained as she weakly reached for her, eyes staring at the redheaded Interceptor as she fell to the ground.

"Jayn-"

She stopped herself, and all the emotions she had just poured out were replaced with a wave of bitterness, anger, all towards herself as she stood up.

She checked Jaynix for a pulse, but even that didn't ease the renewed bitterness as she turned around and gripped at her headgear, eyes fixed on the ground as she left out a frustrated scream.

"No... why, what the hell is wrong with me?!"

The Interceptor grabbed at the headgear at her head, flinging it as hard as she could against the wall Jaynix rested on. One of the light wings flickered, but the gear fell to the ground no worse for wear as she dug her fingers into her forehead, covering her face with her palms and swearing to herself over and over.

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. They were going to keep people safe. Go home and maybe spend some time with Irina and Gwin, laugh about stunts they pulled, get chewed out for not letting Irina know so she could join in...

And then she remembered all those people Jaynix said she felt so close to, and her hands fell from her face. Her expression was pained, lonely, and empty.

"...Of course not…why did I even start to think I was starting to belong here?"