#the mountains are indigo and every time i look at them i expect to see new snow. its botw playing weather

[omegasmileyface]

is it october outside for anybody else

[martybaker]

Over the rainbow

So I know we love torturing or at least inconveniencing retired Dream with new human ailments and realities, I love doing that as well, but the thesis of this was - what if Dream retired and he finally got to be at peace and all was well, actually 🥹

(started this for prompt First time for dreamling week but here we are over a week late)

————

“I’ve never been kissed,” Dream announces.

He’s settled on the far end of Hob’s sofa with his knees up, chin settled on top of them and arms loosely hugging his legs, somehow looking both comfortable and relaxed as well as like a model in the middle of a photoshoot.

Hob’s had a hard time not staring but when Dream says that line his eyes immediately snap to the vision on his couch, clothed in hues of beige, wrapped in Hob’s own softest cardigan, and he nearly spills the tea that he was bringing for a sip.

“Huh? What?” He asks dumbly, voice unnaturally high pitched.

Dream merely blinks at him and waits him out.

When the wheels in Hob’s brain start turning again he does try to parse that statement, but all he can come up with is: “But…you’ve had relationships? You had a wife and all, did you not kiss? Was it all like, metaphysical or-“

Dream rolls his eyes, unimpressed. “Of course I’ve kissed my partners. Let me rephrase the statement. Murphy has never been kissed.”

Oh.

Dream’s talking about his new human body. His new self, that he named Murphy, a name to be used for dull but necessary identity paperwork that Hob obtained for Dream through rather illegal means.

It’s only been a little over a month since Dream turned human, but he’s been very…calm while settling into his new reality. The retirement was his own choice and he seemed to be perfectly content with his decision, despite the fact that he was forced to live with Hob in his messy little apartment while they figure something of his own for him.

Well, if.

Dream also seemed perfectly content in Hob’s space and showed no interest whatsoever in looking at flat listings.

Not that Hob minded. He would happily spend every minute every day with his friend, if it wouldn’t make him feel guilty about slacking on his job and his students. After all, Hob’s chosen career wasn’t just to keep himself busy, he really enjoyed teaching young impressionable minds about days past, keeping the history alive. Remembering.

But his joy in teaching was currently found lacking compared to the newfound joy of Dream in his home. Not just visiting, robed in dark colors, taking time off of his duties to spend a moment with Hob, but human, dressed in earthly colors, there in the mornings for shared breakfasts and still there in the evenings when Hob returned. Reading a book, slowly going through Hob’s vast vinyl collection, playing the piano, painting, knitting, molding clay. Pale blue eyes focused and clever hands at work, creating, always creating. He’s always been an artist and that part of him stayed true, despite the big change.

All things considered, Hob’s really been having a hard time keeping his foolish heart in check. And with Dream saying things like this, things like-

“This mouth has never been kissed.”

Hob’s eyes drop to Dream’s lips as soon as Dream says that, just to see them twitch in a pleased smile.

Hob stares at him, at a loss for words, while Dream looks back at him expectantly. Expecting…an answer? A reassurance?

Hob clears his throat. “Well…I’m sure it will be? It’s a very lovely mouth,” he says, unable to stop the blush coloring his cheeks.

Dream sighs a long suffering sigh and pets the couch next to himself. “Come here,” he commands.

There’s no ancient power of a monarch of the Dreaming behind it anymore, but Dream still keeps his regality, his head held high, a quiet gravitas to him. Not quite the same as when he was an Endless, but still there.

Confident, elegant, graceful.

And calm, like the still water of an indigo lake high in the mountains.

Hob blinks. What was the question? Oh, right, he was being summoned. He moves to sit next to Dream.

Dream turns towards him, leans in and closes his eyes.

Is he…?

Hob is frozen in shock once again. “Ahh, you, you want me to…?”

Dream opens his sky blue eyes again, staring into Hob’s soul. “Yes,” he says decisively.

There’s a beat when they just stare into each other’s eyes and then Dream closes his again. Waiting, alluring lips just a few inches from Hob’s.

But Hob’s having a crisis. They’ve never done this before! Dream’s never said anything about being…attracted to Hob, he’s never suggested, he never seemed interested that way.

One time, Hob got drunk and Dream had to drag his ass upstairs to bed, and Hob was just enough at his senses to remember that he slurred: “D’ya know what I like best about being immortal?”

“What,” Dream asked as he pulled Hob upwards, making sure he wouldn’t stumble on the stairs.

And Hob smiled goofily and said: “You.”

Dream just blinked at him. He didn’t say anything, not then, not when Hob got propositioned by the shopkeep when they were out together, browsing for new (old) records, not when Death was visiting and she teased if they changed their dates to weekly instead of centennialy.

Not when they were walking in a park, and Dream seemed to be watching a couple on another path on a stroll as well, holding hands.

Hob’s good mood made him act foolish, he reached out a hand in offering, but Dream… he just stared at it. Hob quickly withdrew it, running it through his hair, chuckling nervously. “I was just teasing,” he said weakly, but by that point he was sure his feelings were transparent and Dream’s lack of reaction was a clear signal.

Then again, maybe this was just harmless experimentation? Wanting to know what it feels like, being kissed as a human?

But Hob still hesitates. He feels too strongly about Dream to casually mess around without being wary of the consequences.

“Uhh, wait. I, are you sure? I don’t-“

Dream sighs and his patience with Hob apparently runs out because he pulls Hob towards him by his shirt, kissing him square on the lips.

Hob makes a surprised sound, but then he closes his eyes and falls into the kiss.

It’s unhurried and rather chaste, yet Hob’s heart seems to be doing its best trying to jump out of his chest.

Dream pulls away, slowly opening his eyes.

“How….how did that feel?” Hob asks, reminding himself that this was just an experiment. A one time deal.

Dream contemplates his answer. “Different,” he says.

“Different than when you were..Endless?

“Yes.”

“Good different or bad different?”

Dream frowns. “No such dichotomy applies,” he says, and then he leans back in again and Hob leans away.

He chuckles nervously. “Ahh, haha, hold on. You’re gonna make me think you like kissing me.” He tries to turn it into a joke, holding Dream lightly by his shoulders, trying to prevent him from darting forward again.

Dream glares at him. “And what, pray tell, is making you think I don’t.”

“Oh…really?” Hob lets go of one bony shoulder to pinch his own arm. Surely, he’s still asleep and this is just a …dream.

Dream’s glare turns even more unimpressed. “You’re awake,” he says, sharp, and as if to prove his point he kisses Hob again, more hungrily and passionately, biting at his lower lip, Hob’s hold too slack to hold him back.

They kiss and kiss and it’s far from chaste this time, Dream seems to have made it his mission to explore Hob’s mouth thoroughly, while his hands explore his chest.

Hob’s hand burrows into Dream’s hair, he isn’t able to hold back now, kissing back with vigor, treasuring Dream’s every gasp.

They’re both breathing hard by the time they part - by the time Hob has to pull Dream back by his hair to stop him from diving back in.

He can’t help but laugh. “You do actually need to breathe now, you know.”

Dream doesn’t seem too pleased with this reminder. He huffs, sitting back onto his heels.

Hob already misses the feeling of him in his arms.

He clears his throat. There’s a very important question to be asked first.

“Is it…just the kissing that you like?”

Dream tilts his head at Hob like a cat, measuring him. “You cannot tell?”

Hob shakes his head.

“You’re not very bright, Hob Gadling,” Dream says, and Hob would protest, he would tease back, but the words get stuck in his throat when Dream takes Hob’s hand into his own, putting it on his chest and making Hob feel his racing heartbeat.

Hob inhales, blushing.

“You…I…,” he sighs, searching for words. “I still have a lot to learn,” he offers, smiling at Dream.

“As do I,” says Dream.

It is marvelous seeing Dream like this. His words are confident but his heart beats wildly under Hob’s hand, pink colors his cheeks, chest rising and falling with deep breaths.

He’s trusting Hob with this, with his very human body whose reactions he cannot temper, cannot regulate.

Hob chuckles, feeling warm.

He loves this, the marvelous feeling of finding out your crush likes you back, the feeling that’s always incredible, no matter the time and place, no matter how many times he’s experienced it. One of his favorite feelings, the ones that make life an amazing journey.

“I really thought you weren’t interested in me like that,” he says.

Dream sighs. “I…could not be.”

Hob’s heart aches.

He has to touch, now that he’s allowed, now that he’s invited to. He kisses Dream’s forehead, his cheeks, delighting in the sighs he earns.

He kisses Dream's neck and Dream tilts his head for better access, making Hob feel lightheaded and so full of happiness he can hardly contain it. “I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you now,” he warns. “I’ll kiss you a hundred times every day.”

“A thousand times” Dream says, and Hob laughs, scraping his teeth against alabaster skin, making Dream moan.

He smirks, gaining back his confidence now that he knows Dream means this. He holds him around the waist, pulling him closer.

“I did learn a certain thing or two over the years,” he says slyly, dipping Dream backwards, laying him on the couch. Dream sighs indulgently, wrapping his hands around Hob’s shoulders, holding him close.

“Want me to show you?” Hob asks, and Dream hums in confirmation, pulling him for another kiss.

Soft notes play from the old record player, outside warm spring sun rays melt the last reminders of winter, birds chirp their welcoming songs.

Hope is in the air.

Dream’s here, in Hob’s home, in his arms. The cold weeks when he was distant and quietly hurting and Hob could sense something was very, very wrong but didn’t know how to fix it now seem like a distant memory too.

Hob pulls back for a second, holding Dream’s head in his hands, savoring the moment.

“Will you stay?” he whispers.

Dream inhales, his hand shaking a little when he places it on Hob’s cheek, caressing Hob’s lips with his thumb.

“I’m exactly where I want to be,” he says, smiling.

————

[ogsoulless]

blinded golden - indigo sleep 2/?, 3k, ongoing. [FIRST] [PREV] [NEXT] [LAST] [ao3 upload]

Pearl's mail packages were unusually heavy today. She didn't have to deliver much anymore, now that they had made the post system automatic. She sometimes ran checks to see if anything got stuck and hand delivered them for a bit of fun. Pearl did not call hauling a parcel that was fifteen fucking kilos around Hermitcraft fun. Weirdly enough, it had started out as maybe half a kilo heavy, but it seemed to get heavier, dragging her down more with every step she took.

She checked the stamp on the package to check that yes, she really had to go all the way to Grian's base on Magic Mountain. Pearl didn't pay much mind to the fact there was no return address or name on the package. The mail had to have come from one of the Hermits, and anonymous snail mail was common enough. Pearl knew that better than anyone; Gem had been complaining about her abundance of sea pickles for weeks.

The sun beat on the back of Pearl's neck, and she wished her post office hat was a little more practical. It was early afternoon, and her feet wished for a pair of elytra, but she finally saw Grian's little fishing village in the distance. Passing Skizz's pyramid and a flipping few of Gem's trapdoors, Pearl collapsed on Grian's dock, grateful to be sitting.

"Why hello there, Pearlie," someone giggled beside her.

"Holy fu- what?" She launched to her feet, dropping the package and spun to see an incredibly smug Scar snickering, making a very poor attempt at hiding it. Pearl poked him in the chest in mock accusation. "What are you doing here, Mr. Goodtimes?"

Scar waved her off. "Just breaking and entering, the usual. "She raised an eyebrow. "Not really, I'm here to drop off some parrots. Grian's never home though, it would be so wonderful if he could answer my messages." Scar huffed. "Anyway. Whatcha got there? Oooh, Grian's mail. Can I hold it hostage? It would be really, really cool to hold Grian's mail hostage."

"No, you can't hold Grian's mail hostage, Scar. I'm just gonna drop it off and leave. Don't meddle with it, or I'll hold your mail hostage," Pearl threatened.

"You're no fun!" Scar pouted. "Do you even know what's in it?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Scar. I'm a professional. I don't snoop through people's mail. I have a reputation to uphold."

Scar was making grabby hands at the box. "Just one peek! It won't hurt him! I pinkie promise, I won't steal it." Pearl frowned, but in the end, she was as much of a mail snooping goose as Scar. Curiosity itched at her to find out what Grian could be getting that was so incredibly heavy.

"Fine," she conceded. "But if we get busted, it's your fault." Scar nodded like he didn't hear her, preoccupied by opening the package. Pearl stared as the flaps were peeled away, revealing-

"It's just a helmet, Pearl."

"It's just a helmet, Scar," she echoed. She blinked, focused again. "Well, I don't know what you were expecting. A stack of gold blocks? A letter from Technoblade? Honestly." She tsked at him, smiling.

"Let's pack this up, yeah?" She suggested, reaching for the box. Scar didn't respond. "What do you think?" She turned to face him, but Scar had lifted the helmet onto his head. He looked up, and his eyes-

Scar's eyes were an alarming purple, void-like and empty. He cocked his head mechanically, and Pearl stumbled backwards, baring her teeth in a snarl. Her canines burned, a reminder that Scott can't help now, you're on your own, Pearl.

Scar reached out, stiff and a joint at a time, to touch her shoulder. He was pale, the blood was draining out of his tanned face. She ducked to the side and pushed him away from her, knocking the helmet off his head. But the arm kept reaching towards her, and ears pricked at the top of her head. She was going to die, and Scar was possessed or something, and they were so fucked and-

He froze, arm stopping in place.

"Scar?" Pearl asked, on guard in case he did something again. His eyes moved to look at her, widened in horror, before they fluttered closed and he collapsed to Grian's dock. Pearl tasted salt on her lips and iron on her tongue. Gem was always trying to get her to stop chewing her cheek. Pearl picked up the helmet and threw it in the box, sealing it. The sooner it was away and gone, the better.

Scar shivered a little, the sun now in her eyes. "Scar?" She whispered again. All his prone form did was twitch. His palms opened, and then Grian's dock wasn't homely spruce anymore. It was coated in veins of black and blue with a pulsing heartbeat of teal. Skulk. Skulk, and it was coming from Scar.

What the fuck do I do? She stepped away from Scar. What the fuck?

Scar took a sharp inhale. Pearl slid to his side. 'Oh my God' seemed like the extent of her vocabulary, like a chant that could make her forget whatever the hell had just happened. He squinted at her.

"Oh, sweet baby Jellie, my head hurts." Scar muttered. "Hi, Pearl. Why am I on the floor?" He pushed himself up onto his elbows, scanning around him like he expected to be attacked. "Why… what happened?"

Pearl shook her head. "I don't know, Scar. How about we get you back to your own bed, in your train, yeah? We can talk about it later." A selfish part of her hoped Scar never ended up asking. He nodded tiredly.

Twilight blanketed Scar's train as they arrived from Grian's dock. Pearl's neck dripped with sweat from hurriedly walking back and her near transformation. She was still alarmingly close to wolfed up, high-strung and alert. Scar muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Pearl asked quietly. If it were someone like Grian, they would've said nothing and sent her home. But it was Scar. Scar was never afraid of saying too much.

"I've never lost control like that before," Scar admitted, like he was afraid if he said it too loud it would happen again. "Or at least, not in a long time." He stared at his lap, fiddling with the hat lying in it. "The last time I had an outburst like that was after I— I mean, after Double Life ended." The after I first died hung between them in the chilly air of Scar's train. "I don't know why it would flare up now."

They sat in silence for a few beats and watched the stars move past his window.

"I think… I think I'm going to speak to my Reaper," Scar said. Pearl nodded. She didn't seem to do much apart from agree silently these days.

☆

Grian had just finished stocking the Prismarine Palace. After he had dumped all of his empty boxes and bundles in a nearby barrel, he went to his dock. Fishing sounded like exactly what he needed after hauling prismarine bricks around all day. He stretched his wings, fishing rod in hand and bucket hat on his head, only to see his entire dock covered in… skulk? Was someone pranking him? Maybe there was a skulk sensor down there, rigged to play a music disc. He tentatively stepped over to where it appeared to have come from. Nothing. Nothing except his entire dock covered in skulk. Ugh.

"What is going on?" He hissed. Unfortunately, the dock did not have an answer for him. Accepting his fate of painstakingly scraping off the skulk and replacing the planks tomorrow, he spotted the parcel left at the end of his wharf.

He picked his way over to open it. Inside lay a netherite helmet, glistening with magic and mid morning sunlight. He lifted it consideringly, studying the sides. Grian already had a quite nice netherite helmet (he wasn't a loser), but this one had a trim he'd never seen before. He traced it with his fingers. Placing it back in the box, he checked for a stamp, or a note, or something. Nothing. It wasn't that surprising— the Hermits sent anonymous mail to each other often and he wasn't about to complain about a free netherite helmet. He would wear it for a day or two. If he didn't like it, he could go back to his other one.

Grian set the helmet on his head. Leaning over the edge of the dock to see his reflection in the water, he noticed that the indents along the helmet were glowing now, a deep violet. Strange, but it seemed to suit him. It reminded him of the Watchers, from another life.

He noted his arms locking next to his sides in the water's reflection. Surely I can't be that stiff from a little moving, right? His head cocked to the side, and his eyes flashed a dangerous, unnatural purple. Grian clambered to sit down, but a wave of dizziness swept over him. He fell backwards gracelessly, wings spreading to catch him, hitting the back of his head on the dock and his eyes slipped closed.

[hapan-in-exile]

Volume 4 - Post #3: Life During Wartime

Another installment in this ongoing serialized fanfic

GIF by myriadimagines

Genre: Mandalorian x Fem! Reader

Total word count: 3.2K (third post in Volume 4)

Rating: Explicit - smut, language, +18 *NSFW*

_______________________________

III. “Fucking farrick,” you grumble, trying to jam the locker door back onto its hinges. When it finally eases open, you grab your rucksack and head for the exit without changing out of your coveralls. 

You never remove so much as a shoe once you're inside the refinery. Showers were available, but no one used them. Cameras surveilled practically every inch of this facility. And just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t in here, too.  

Stepping out from under the dim artificial light, it takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the riot of color. It’s early morning, barely past midnight, but the sky is awash in brilliant yellows and oranges, alight with swirling pink clouds. 

Lakaran’s nearest sun only dipped below the mountains this time of year, never truly setting. When it sank behind the peaks at this hour, the ridgeline became a deep indigo against the horizon, its glaciers reflecting back the sky’s warm glow.  

Ehki is what the Lakarani called their star. Grandmother, it meant. Her daughter, Amular, was the world, and Ehki traveled around her in an unending circle to carefully watch over her children. So tonight, when the sun finally fell into darkness, and there would be several hours of real night for the first time in months, the Lakarani would throw a gigantic party while Grandma Ehki wasn’t looking. 

You know you should hurry up and leave before someone accuses you of loitering, but instead, you pause to take in the view. A small, inconsequential act of rebellion. The scenery is breathtaking up here. The air is thin and crisp. It’s the best part of your day to stand on this spot and take in the majestic landscape right before making that sharp turn toward the escalator. 

The view from the west side of the slope is decidedly less sublime. 

The scale of the encampments surrounding the processing plant is almost impossible to take in at first glance. The structures are a jumble of materials built on top of each other in layers that look more like debris washed up by the river than a deliberate settlement.

The skyline is dominated by the refinery’s cooling towers belching out steam that smelled acrid and made the air thick with humidity. The water used for cooling went right back into the river, along with the encampment’s sewage. Which is why you absolutely refused to eat anything fished or gathered downstream.

You step off the escalator and see Humia waiting for you outside the checkpoint. The security guard reaches for your bag, not bothering to look up or make conversation while she searches its contents. She doesn’t care to ask for your name either—just waits for the familiar beep of the transponder at your wrist to confirm your exit as you walk through the gate.

“How’d it go today?”

“Good,” you answer brightly, patting the bound folio strapped to your stomach. “I found this fire safety and evacuation handbook with a very detailed floor plan of level nine. Raceways, server rooms, access panels…I’ll have to ask my partner about the utility lines, but we might be able to bore into the operations center from an adjoining room.”  

“That is good,” she nods enthusiastically. "This is your partner, Nito? He’s the tech guy?”

“Yeah,” a reluctant smile tugs at your lips. Humia probably wasn’t envisioning a furry thirteen-year-old when she used the phrase tech guy, but that would be a fun little detail for her to discover later. 

Or sooner rather than later? You still haven’t heard anything from the Razor Crest about when to expect their arrival on Lakaran. Which is absolutely fine. Definitely not a big deal. Nope. Not at all something that you’ve been overthinking for the past eighteen days straight. 

Nope. It’s not at all distracting to obsess about how, after months of tortuous yearning, you finally had sex with the Mandalorian and have not spoken to him since. 

Gods, why is it suddenly so hard to breathe just thinking about him?

The fact that you spend most of your nights alone, willing yourself to recall the memory of his hands on your body while the tears can fall without shame…has been, you know, not great for your mental health. 

So that’s why, a few nights a week, you take a break from drowning in insecurity and play at the Sabacc tables. 

Guess that’s out of the question now. You’ll need to avoid Johar Kessen like the plague.   

“Nito’s been dredging through the Imperial archive for more information on the refinery. The stuff he’s found is incredible. All of the records from when they built this place.” 

“Good,” she smiles appreciatively. 

As you descend toward the encampment, the rocky mountain path splits into three parts. Two fanned out onto the raised perimeter wall made of poured concrete and scrapwood that traced a broad circle around the sprawling camp. It had been constructed by the Tagge Corporation to help with mudslides, but what it really helped with was surveilling the Lakarani. 

You and Humia take the main path through the center of camp. 

The hut you shared was higher up on the slope, which was a blessing when it rained but a pain in the ass when you had to walk uphill after eating your weight’s worth of bean cakes for dinner or hauling laundry back home from the wash house. 

“Another option is turning one of the technicians, but I’m not having a ton of luck in that department. I can usually wrap scientists around my finger, but engineers are so tricky. It takes them an ungodly amount of time to realize you’re trying to fuck them.”

“For what it’s worth, I would turn for you in a heartbeat,” you say, holding your face between your hands, eyes wide with adoration. “Those dark lashes are criminally lush.”

Humia swats away the compliment. “I could steal a key card, but I have no idea how long it would take for someone to discover it’s gone. That might hold us to a very narrow time frame depending on when it’s reported missing.”

You follow her up the winding footpath that leads homeward. The camp is much easier to navigate this time of day, when everyone is still asleep. “I like the idea of entering from an adjoining room. That way, there’s no exposure in the hallway. Even if we’re in uniform, five people on the cleaning crew, when there are usually only two, will be immediately suspicious.”

The Mandalorian’s solution would undoubtedly be to come in through the front door, rifles blazing, but that’s not an option in this scenario. You have to secure the operations center before anyone from the Tagge Corporation realizes the refinery is under attack. The risk that they would activate the facilities’ containment protocol is too great. It would condemn not only everyone on site but anyone within five leagues of the processing plant.

“We could stuff Serenio and Davik into the cleaning cart?” Humia chuckles at the implausibility of this suggestion.

“I doubt we could even push the cart with Davik stuffed inside. He’s built like a stack of boulders.”

“I told him to quit training in the fighting pits. He’s going to attract too much attention.” 

“Why does every population center in this galaxy require some kind of fighting pit? It’s a weird kind of calculus. One communal latrine per 20 persons. One fighting pit per 100 persons.”

She rolls her eyes, “Do you know a more straightforward way to earn money than two people beating the shit out of each other? Though, I don’t think Davik does it for the money. He’s just like a puppy that chews all your socks if he doesn’t get enough exercise.” 

“He’s so young,” you sigh, feeling suddenly guilty. “Him and Serenio, both.”

“Most soldiers are,” Humia scoffs. “Revolutions don’t offer a very robust life expectancy.”

“That’s true. I didn’t expect to make it out alive when I joined the Rebellion. And I appreciate the protection. But I can’t help seeing them as children.”

She tosses her head with a derisive laugh, “I didn’t expect you to be so tenderhearted.”

No doubt she thought it made you weak. But you’re wise enough to know empathy took far more bravery than cynicism. “Just because I can recognize the cruelty of this life doesn’t mean I’ve made peace with it.”  

“That’s rather noble coming from someone working with a Mandalorian.” 

Your neck turns sharply to catch the look on her face, but she’s already ducking around the pilings and cantilevered beams bracing your neighbors' houses against the mountainside.  

“You don’t like Mandalorians?” It seems like an odd prejudice. 

“No,” she sneers. “They say they are bound by codes and honor, yet they show nothing but selfish indifference toward the plight of others.” She stops abruptly on her heels to glare at you, brushing strands of auburn hair from her eyes. “And I like your Mandalorian least of all.”

He’s not my Mandalorian, your heart sighs.

The hateful disdain in her words is like a slap to the face. Humia rarely revealed the depth of her emotions. What could inspire this level of rancor from an otherwise inscrutable woman? And why bring this up now?

You cough, clearing your throat to mask the apprehension in your voice. “I didn’t realize you already knew him?”

“I don’t need to know him. I know what he’s done.” But it’s a reflexive response, not a real answer. So you wait. “They’re all mercenaries,” she says, compelled to explain herself. “Condemning their souls for money. They profit from the misery of others for the sake of themselves.” 

You can tell she desperately wants you to ask, What has he done?

It’s not the first time Humia had hinted at a bitter history between the Mandalorian and her leader, Ubaa Dir. But you don’t take the bait. If you’re missing some part of the story, you want to hear it from his lips, not hers.

Instead, you remind her with a wry grin, “Well, now you’re working with him too.”

“I suppose that’s true,” she concedes. “Wars make for strange bedfellows.” 

An image of them together flashes behind your eyes, and the irrational taste of jealousy fills your mouth. Don’t be absurd! Hadn’t Humia just admitted she'd never met Mando? 

Lucky for you, she lets the moment pass without escalation. Her tone shifts, and she places a companionable hand on your shoulder.

“I’ve heard Kessen fights in the pits. We could go to watch him sometime? Belen’s right, you know, he’s got a crush on you.”

“I have no idea why,” you begin, but Humia raises her hand to cut you off.

“You’re a beautiful woman, Kasya. Hiding under workwear and bushy eyebrows won't change that.”

“Now, why would you bring my eyebrows into it?” You tease, as though it might erase her vitriol from moments ago. That is until you catch sight of the security guard standing on your front porch. “Is it okay that he’s waiting here for you?”

It’s the same guy she brought home last week. When he spots you walking down the path, his face breaks into a wide grin. He waves, looking giddy, as though he might jump off the steps to run for her.  

“This one, I can turn,” she mutters, slowing her pace. “I’m glad he told us how to block the transponders…but he’s fallen harder than he should. If he starts getting heartsick, it could be a problem.”

“Poor kid. You bat those lashes, and what hope do any of us have?” 

“See,” she looks at you askance, nudging you in the stomach with her elbow. “That shit is why Kessen likes you. You’re so sweet with your friends and no one else. He wants some of that honey for himself.”

You snatch at the opportunity to throw her off the subject. “Why Humia Fenrik, are we friends?”

“Why, yes, Kas,” her voice is laden with gooey sarcasm. “You’re my best friend. That’s why I got you this job, remember?” She adamantly refuses to change the subject. “Some men like a challenge. And Johar Kessen is very bored stuck out here with the likes of us, guarding all these soulless corpos.”

“So by challenge, you mean, like how I’ve given him absolutely no indication whatsoever that I’m interested?”

“Are you worried he might recognize you from the Rebellion?”

“What?! No, I’m sure he was much higher up the food chain.” Rumor was that Kessen had led special operations forces during the war. “Kinda sad that he went from Rebel hero to working for the Tagge family.”

“There’s your angle,” Humia says, snapping her fingers. “It would be good to have him on our side once the fighting starts. And Kessen might be elite for a bodyguard, but I bet they treat him like a piece of furniture, same as the rest of us. He must hear things.”

You cock your head at her. “Then maybe you should approach him?”

She’s probably already considered it, but come on! She didn’t have to rake her eyes over you like a bawd house madam ready to offer up her best girl. 

“I’m not the one he wants.”

“Listen, I’m flattered you think so highly of my charm, but I do not have the skill set.” You’re at least tactful enough not to say, I’m not like you out loud. This is Humia’s job. She’s very good at it. And it’s not your place to approve or disapprove of the way she went about it. “I’d be too nervous.”

You remember each time you had to quietly lock yourself in the privy to heave up the contents of your stomach whenever the Mandalorian asked you a pointed question, thinking, He knows! He knows I’m lying! 

Which…yeah, it turns out he did. “I think I’d have a panic attack and blackout.”

“Your cover story is a psycho ex-lover. Of course, you’re nervous.” At that, Humia gives you an appraising look. “You’re living under a stolen identity and seem to be doing just fine.”

“Exactly! Because I don’t talk to anyone.” A sudden knot lodges in your throat. “Have you asked Serenio to approach anyone?”

One of the refinery executives had an unsettling interest in her. You clean the facilities overnight, so there's rarely any staff on-site, but whenever he worked late, he made a point of saying hello to her. A good opportunity to practice his Twi’lek sign language, he claimed.

You know it’s a mistake to ask about it as soon as the question leaves your mouth. She immediately becomes defensive. “Serenio is loyal unto death. She would do whatever I commanded.”

Humia didn’t have to add, unlike you. It just hung in the air unspoken. 

“But Serenio is trained for combat, not espionage. And she’s green as a pea shoot.” 

“Ah, so I’m overripe?” You arch a bushy eyebrow at her. "Just falling off the vine. Thanks for that!"

“I’m just saying Johar Kessen is very attractive and likable. You wouldn’t have to pretend. It’s not much of a heavy lift, surely?”

“Okay, the sleeping with him part I could probably manage. But as soon as I ask Kessen a remotely leading question, he will immediately know what I’m up to!”

“There’s no need to tie yourself into knots,” she snaps. "Just be honest. You think it’s beneath you.”

Humia’s back is rigid, and her jaw is clenched tight. She looks so proud yet so vulnerable that it breaks your heart.

Is this why she’s so angry? She'd been seething all day, spoiling for a fight. It makes you question whether her anger about the Mandalorian is sincere or just an attempt to provoke you.

“Humia, this entire operation is built on your intelligence work. You think I look down on you because I’m horrified or judgemental about what you do. But it’s the opposite. I recognize what a dangerous game you’re playing and know I don’t have the courage for it.”

You wish you could give her a hug, but this was not the time or place to dwell on what was at stake. Or the weight of what she carried on her shoulders.

“Fine,” Humia huffs, shaking off the tension. “Just think about it.”

Oh, you’ve had plenty of time to think about it. Sleeping with Johar Kessen is not going to happen for a number of reasons. 

Chief among them is he would discover that—contrary to your fake documents—you are not human. Which would inevitably lead to the discovery that you are not, in fact, Kasya Hawat. That secret would give him leverage, and you simply refuse to hand someone that kind of power over you.  

But you can’t tell Humia this. Because then she would know that you aren’t human, and that is something you don’t plan to share with anyone here on Lakaran. At least not yet. It’ll be another fun little detail for her to discover later.

Kriffing hell! Now you’re doubly glad she doesn’t know. Given the course of this conversation, you have no doubt she’d insist that you use your influence to dig through Kessen’s thoughts and memories for something useful. That’s why Hapan courtesans were so highly prized—one of the few professions the Consortium allowed to leave the Hapes Cluster—and why they made the best spies. 

Amongst those other reasons…you have no idea how Mando would react. Though, if you had to guess? You’d guess poorly. 

While there’s the whole sworn warrior of Mandalore—I can’t call you mine—complication, you know how he feels about you. A man who struggles with trust would not find it easy to share. His sense of duty and commitment to the job might oblige him to accept it as a necessary tactic, but you aren’t willing to risk it driving a wedge between you. Things are already too delicate.

Aaand now you’re thinking about Mando again. 

Fuck, you miss him so much. You awoke every morning wanting him. You wanted to hear the sound of his laughter, to touch every inch of his skin with your fingers and feel his heartbeat under your lips to know he was really all right. You wanted to feel his body over you, under you, inside you… 

Ugh, you’ve already thought about him about a dozen times today. What’s once more.  

“Okay, I’ll think about it.” You lie, hoping she’ll let this go for now. “Will I see you later?” You ask, looking meaningfully at the security guard waiting impatiently on your porch.

“No. Unless you’re going to the bonfire tonight?” Her gaze became conspiratorial. “Kessen will probably be there. All those corpos love Lakarani culture if it means slumming it up with us. He'll have to keep them out of trouble. Your pocket is chirping, by the way.” 

“What?” you ask, distractedly patting down the front of your coveralls. “Um, sure. Maybe I’ll see you there.”

“If not, we should meet for morning prayers at the shrine tomorrow. Make our report.” Humia says, beckoning the guard over to join you. “Why are you smiling at your communicator?”

"Hmmm?"

The Razor Crest had just arrived on Lakaran.

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

Continue reading: Volume 4-Post #4: Say goodbye to the old me.

Back to Volume 4 - all posts

[pokemon-ash-aus]

Had an Idea for an AU based off the FalseTwins one. Newtwo didn't completely, ya know, destroy the facility where she was. Like, basically everybody who was there at the facility at the time is dead, and most of the evidence is burnt, but she didn't destroy evidence like the Computers and stuff, as she was too busy doing the business on everything else. So, Giovanni's whole thing in Mewtwo Returns? Happens Again. But this time, he hires some other help to try and make sure. (Part 1)

(Part 2) While most traces of Newtwo are hard to track, the sheer number of flying vehicles (Like seriously Flying machines must be super cheap in Pokemon to produce) covers lots of ground very quickly. The Only places left are areas in regions where most stuff just can't be seen in the sky (or where flying vehicles can't go). Things like sewer systems, forests, Mountains, etc. Ash's friends essientally have to put up with the constant hiding.

(Part 3) Ash's main rivals in the series turn over to Team Rocket (except maybe Gary?) after meeting Ash/Indigo, because they think Ash and Indigo have the pokemon Team Rocket's looking for. Newtwo on the other hand is essientally sweating bullets dodging and weaving through streets filled with Team Rocket.

(Part 4- Potential end of AU?) And finally, a quick little idea for the ending. After the events of Alola, Ash and Indigo return home to find out Kanto is the last region left not fully-checked by Team Rocket. And it is straight-up crowded in Kanto. Like, the fields have hundreds of potholes from earth pokemon looking for caves. They turn up to the Ketchum household, one of the few houses left, and they find some really, well-hidden picture frame. Giovanni shows up.

(Part 5) By now, Giovanni is doing whatever it takes to find the pokemon. Turning the house upside down is an understatement. Ash decides that enough is enough, and, despite Newtwo and Indigo trying to stop him, leads the entirety of Team Rocket after him. The other two follow, trying to chase Ash down. Conflict takes place where the OG movie happened, but essientally the castle has been replaced by an Army of Rocket legionares or something similar.

(Part 6-Side stuff) So while the main au is going on, I imagine Team Rocket is essientally trying to one-up every other member. Bounty Hunters looking in this location? Well we gotta look there twice as hard! In all reality, they don't want to capture the twerps, but it's too late now. In terms of other Teams, I can imagine them being interested in this massive manhunt, so there'll be moments where the two teams butt-heads.

(Part 7) Alright, the big cilmatic finish. Ash essientally has constructed... something out of the wreckage of the hold facility there, but nothing crazy like in the movie. Think a scrapyard where there's tons of crevices and fox-holes for sneak attacks. When Newtwo and Indigo arrive, they see that Ash has made a dent in the amount of Rocket Members, but not enough. Giovanni has Rocket blow the rock clean of everything, and Ash gets captured for a brief minute.

(Part Finale Finale XD) So when Ash gets captured, that's when it hits the proverbial fan. Like, the two Mewtwo combined essientally lift the island and lean it, effiectively dumping the rest of Team Rocket in the ocean. Gio of course is in a Flying machine, and he get's wrangled out of the sky. Ash is freed, and the 3 combined wipe the minds of all the members of Team Rocket. Meanwhile Jessie, James, Meowth all are saved from the mindwipe. Newtwo lets JigglyPuff have some fun with Team Rocket.

Jay: Awee that's super cute that ending XD, but wow! i wouldn't expect most of the rivals to turn over like that :O

[dacoolestenvy]

Reguri Week Day 5: Based on a Song

Song I chose was the Silver Snow Cover of I Choose You because, it somehow has Reguri vibes to me.

Here comes trouble, no mistaking Blue Oak was trouble, Red knew that, yet he still wanted to follow after him, every single step of the way, no matter what happened between them. He had to follow Blue, he’d be lost without him. Blue had to lead the way forward, there was certainly no mistaking that fact, Red was too weak to do it all on his own, too weak of heart that is, he and his Pokémon were plenty strong. He just depended too much on Blue to be the one to lead so he could follow. Even if Blue led him astray one day, he would follow no matter the trouble it might cost him.

I'd know you anywhere Blue could find Red anywhere in a crowd, not like it was hard to begin with, but he knew Red better than anyone else. Even if years passed, he would always know that it was him, because he’d grown up with Red by his side, what a fool he would be if he couldn’t recognize him. He knew that Red would always be just a few steps behind him, because he trusted Blue to lead the way. He’d know Red anywhere, even if they were separated, because no matter what, Red meant everything.

I could sail to the ends of the ocean and find you waiting there Red could travel the entire world, and he knew Blue would still be waiting right around every corner, because that’s just the way Blue was. He would wait for Red no matter where he went, no matter when. Even at the very ends of the world, he knew that Blue would somehow still be waiting there for him. He trusted that fact, because Blue, in a way, was his destiny, always a few steps ahead but still lingering, still waiting for Red to catch up. Even at the Indigo League, he was already waiting for Red, at the very end of their journey, he still waited for him to catch up.

I've been searching and searching, near and far Blue didn’t know what he had been searching for when he left Pallet Town, he had just wanted to get out of the place he’d lived almost his entire life. He’d wanted to be free, to search for his own path in life. And he hadn’t found it. He beat the Elite Four, became champion, and he still hadn’t found anything. He’d won but it didn’t feel right. And it had hurt when Red beat him, but it hurt in an empty way. Like something was still missing, something he still had to search for. And he ran, he ran because he didn’t know what was next, he didn’t know what to search for next. He’d looked everywhere already, what more was there to find?

Searching and searching, and there you are Even while Blue was just one or two steps ahead of him, Red sometimes felt like he was even farther to reach, harder to find. He’d wanted to chase after him as soon as he’d run away from the league, but the professor had stopped him, urging him to leave him be for now, but that wasn’t acceptable, not to Red. He had to find Blue, he would be lost without him. And when he finally found him, it was like a breath of fresh air.

Don’t run off like that again.Blue glared at him from where he was sitting on the ground, the other boy’s eyes red and wet from crying. Red wanted to run over to him and pull him into a tight hug, promise to never let him go again, but he knew better. He knew Blue would never accept anything like that from him, not now. Even if he hadn’t known it, he had hurt Blue deeply by taking the championship from him. But no matter where he ran, Red would always follow after him and look for him, simply because he needed him more than anything.

Our wishes share a star Blue had thought they had shared the same dream, no, he knew they had. Ever since they were children, they had always been by each other’s sides seeking out the same future, they had always shared the same wishes for what would come after they could finally leave Pallet Town. The truth of the matter was just that Red had wound up stronger than him. Red might have shared the same wish, but Red was also stronger. Blue almost wished that he could go back to those carefree days where they looked up to the stars side by side, wishing for a better future than the life they had been living then.

I choose you Red had chosen Blue to be his first true friend when they were still just young children. He had chosen Blue to follow, because Blue was the only person he had chosen to even trust. And that trust was wholeheartedly. He could tell Blue anything, any secret would be kept. That’s why he had chosen Blue to love, because Blue was everything. He knew Red better than anyone else in the whole world. Red could just fall in step behind him and he knew Blue would lead him down the right path. He had chosen Blue because Blue was… well Blue. There wasn’t a complicated reason, no true answer, just the deep love of one childhood friend to another. It was trust, trust in the highest possible way. And because he chose Blue, Blue had always chosen him as well.

I choose you Blue had never really known what had tied them together all this time, he had just known that he had chosen Red to be his companion. Travelling or otherwise, they were almost inseparable, ever since they were children. Even if he managed to get ahead of Red, he didn’t fear or falter because he knew Red would always be close behind. Because Red had chosen to follow him, like Blue had chosen to lead. It was balance, this understanding that they had reached. Neither of them would give up for the world, they both knew that. And yet, when Red had chased after him after what had happened at the league, he had shunned him, pushed him away. He always regretted that, in the years to follow. He wasn’t the most open person in the world, but he should have known better, he should have known that Red would always listen no matter what. He chose Red to keep his secrets, just like he kept Red’s in return. It was balance, a sense of trust that would never fade.

What else can I do? He didn’t know what he would do without Blue, Blue was everything to him, the very sun that shone down itself, at least to him. There was nothing else he could do besides choose Blue, because there was no one else he could ever trust like that, not even any of their other friends. It was only Blue, it had always only been Blue. And it always would be, until the day he died. He would always choose Blue because it had to be Blue. There’s nothing else he could do.

We're just too good together to part Blue knew they were good together, almost too good. He never wanted to be separated from Red’s side, they were perfect together. They should have never parted from each other’s sides, but when the time finally came for the two of them to part, it hurt more than anything else Blue had ever felt in his life. It felt like his heart would tear in two. And he hated it, he had wanted to leave with as little fanfare as possible, which was already wholly unlike him, but nevertheless. In the end, he still had to leave, but he felt heartbroken. He would return, but he wouldn’t be the same, he knew that for certain.

What we've shared from the start, feels like one beating heart … … … Red didn’t know what to say. Blue had left. He had left him behind to go do research in another region. He knew he would be back before long, but it was still a long time that they would be apart. But he knew, what they shared, it couldn’t be broken that easily. Blue would always be with him, in one way or another.

I choose you Blue had chosen Red because Red was the only one who really understood him.

I choose you Red had chosen Blue because he was his destiny.

Hello, stranger, don't I know you? As Blue stood atop that mountain, staring at his old friend, he couldn’t help but remark at how much he had changed. Red seemed almost like a stranger to him now. He felt like a stranger. It felt like it had been forever, when really it was only five years, but that was clearly too long. Did he really know Red anymore? Red was taller than him now, Red had changed. And he had changed too. This really should have been expected.

Nice to see you my friend “Hey.” He smiled softly at Blue, who was staring at with shock riddled through his eyes, yet with a fond look at the same time. It was good to see him again, he had felt lost without him. He truly did need Blue to lead the way. His oldest and dearest friend, he couldn’t even begin to tell him how happy he was to see him again. Nice to see you again.

Did we just scale the top of a mountain, and fly back home again? Blue dragged him down that mountain, back home. He needed him back home, he couldn’t Red stay up there a moment longer. It wouldn’t be right to just leave his oldest friend up there all alone.

I've been looking and looking, high and low Red found what he was looking for up there, he had realized with their time apart that Blue had meant more to him than even he had thought. Blue was the very world itself to him. And he just had to spend five years on a mountain to realize that fact. It was almost laughable in a way. But that didn’t matter now, he just wanted to treasure the time he had with Blue now.

Looking and looking. And... what’d ‘ya know?Blue finally found what he was looking for in his travels. He found the path that he truly wanted to pursue, and he hadn’t needed to even struggle for it as much as he had been. It had really been that simple all along, he just hadn’t known it. The path he was going to follow now was the right one, that much he knew. And now Red was by his side again, nothing could go wrong.

It's just like long ago Now that the two of them were back together, Red knew things were just like they had been, just like had been those five painfully long years ago. Blue would lead, and Red would follow. Just like it had always been.

I choose you Blue had chosen to find Red because he needed him, because he loved him.

I choose you Red had chosen to return from that desolate mountain for Blue, because he loved him.

On to journeys anew, with the wonderful friends that I've found As long as Blue had Red and all of the people he had met along the way of his journey, he knew he would always find his way back to on the path he had finally begun to carve out for himself. Everything could finally be fine, just as he had wished it could be when he was a kid.

As the world spins around, we're eternally bound The world kept spinning, day after day, and Red knew that he would spend every one of those days by Blue’s side.

I choose you Blue loved Red.

I choose youAnd Red loved him just as much in return.

[tact-and-impulse]

Star Wars AU for the sci-fi prompt, @shepherds-of-haven!

fugitives

Out of all the planets she’s visited, she’s grown rather fond of this one. Nights on Zarros are long, yet bustling with activity as the inhabitants emerge to barter and sell their wares. The shops emit warm light, reflecting upon one of the many rivers cutting through the town. A flock of long-tailed birds passes overhead, flying for the distant mountains breaking the horizon. One indigo feather falls into her palm, and she smiles. This world is alive, and it’s beautiful.

“Remember to keep your hood up.” The low voice at her side warns.

She glances at Blade, who has that slight crease between his eyebrows again. He definitely isn't comfortable in this open market, but they need supplies before continuing their travels. She adjusts the cloth over her hair, murmuring. “I will. Thank you.”

“The Empire doesn’t have a heavy influence here, but we still need to be careful.” His dark eyes survey the surroundings, taking in every detail. As expected of the former general, famous for his battle prowess and command of his troops. She remembers watching his communications, in what seems like another life altogether.

“See anything yet?”

“No, but let’s be quick.”

“Alright, understood.” Before entering the main street, she tucks the feather into the little satchel at her waist. It’s been mended and patched over the years, but it’s enough for money and a little extra. Sea glass from her home planet. A ceramic bead, gifted by a respected Lore Keeper. The short loop of her Padawan braid.

She had to cut it off, but she never underwent the trials, since her master insisted there would be time after the war. And then, they were betrayed, in transit to Saleucami. The clones who had been their comrades were trying to kill them. Knowing they were outnumbered and ignoring her pleas to stay together, Master Rho had shoved her into an escape pod. Before the jump into hyperspace, her window was filled with the red glow of blasters, then the split-second image of his slumped body. She felt their connection break, the psychic shattering causing her to black out. In the haze of grief and shock, she hadn’t realized her lightsaber was damaged. It was functional in the initial weeks, then flickering erratically, and now, she didn’t dare to draw until another kyber crystal could stabilize it. 

In the meantime, she uses the Force in other ways, and it led her to Blade. They sensed each other’s presence on one of Naboo’s moons, the first time she’d encountered another Jedi in over a year. He had always been composed in his hologram appearances, but he was about to crumple with relief when he saw her face. Since then, she hasn’t given up hope that others had survived the purge.

“You said Zarros had crystals?” Blade prompts, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Yes, from the records I copied. There’s a good success rate, it’s just that not many were willing to make the trip out here.” She speaks in oblique terms, carefully choosing her phrasing.

He nods. “It’s close to the Outer Rim, and the closest temple was abandoned over a century ago, when our kind had to defend Coruscant. There’s some irony in returning now.”

“Yes, but I have a good feeling about it.” She smiles, and after a month of traveling together, she can tell that his expression softens.

A trio of children rush past, and they sidestep out of instinct. His hand lands on her shoulder, pressing firmly. “I trust your intuition. There were many I fought with, who didn’t have your strength of connection.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” She laughs nervously. It must be the lingering Padawan in her, that is buoyed by the praise. They continue on, and she changes the subject. “Where did you build your weapon?”

“On a mission, with my partner years ago.”

“A partner?”

“My brother.” He clarifies, in the monotone he adopts when he’s closing off.

That’s unusual, not only for siblings to be inducted, but to work with each other as well. She turns to ask further and nearly bumps into a droid that must have floated over. It’s spherical, except for a dome that could be considered its head.

“Hello. How may I assist you?” It’s a service droid, somehow locked onto their presences.

Blade smoothly steps in front of her. “No assistance required.”

It beeps. “I provide directions to all visitors. I am at your service.”

She can’t see his face, but Blade’s posture is incredibly rigid. His fingers drop to his belt, in a familiar gesture. He’s ready to summon his lightsaber at a moment’s notice.

She peers around his side, focusing on the droid. With a little wave, casual to any onlooker, she says with intention. “We don’t need directions. You can leave us alone.”

“You don’t need directions. I will leave you alone.” The droid repeats, then slowly drifts away.

Blade looks down at her, with a frown of admonishment. “You used the Force.”

“It’s easy on droids; people are a little more stubborn. Haven’t you used mind tricks?”

He folds his arms, his knuckles whitening as he stiffly answers. “My training has sufficed so far without it.”

The implication is clear, and she wonders how many he’s killed to survive, for it to become second nature. “...I see. We should keep going then.”

Water and rations are simple purchases, but Blade doesn’t speak again until they’ve left town. “Thank you.”

“Hm?”

“For preventing a situation. I was...overthinking.” He grimaces.

“It’s not like I blame you. You’re more seasoned than I am, and considering what happened, it’d be stranger if you weren’t vigilant.” She pauses. “But I’d be happy if you trusted me a little, even though I’m only a Padawan.”

“I already do.” By now, they’ve reached their small ship, camouflaged and docked on a rocky shelf. It’s cozy within, and he finally relaxes when the airlock clicks into place. “Once we find a crystal for you, we’ll practice combat forms.”

“I’m rusty, but I’m looking forward to it. Also, you can try mind tricks.”

“On you? That would be difficult.” He gives a short laugh, and his gaze is surprisingly fond. “Get some rest. We’ll start searching the mountains when day breaks.”

“Sounds good.” She settles into her cushioned cockpit seat and closes her eyes. She’s sure that the Force has led them to this planet for a reason, and when she dreams, it’s of silver light, glowing deep underground.

[zaph1337]

Monster Hunter Rating 29: Kirin, the Phantom Beast

Next up on the docket is a prime example of the fact that Elder Dragons don’t need to look like dragons. Here’s a Phantom Beast monster that, unlike the ones in Yu-Gi-Oh!, is actually threatening in battle (if you like that archetype please don’t kill me)! Also, I apologize for the first render I’m using; I tried to give it a black background, but its mane is pure white, so using the fill tool on the background would fill that in, too, and I didn’t want to mess around in Paint to prevent that from happening. Now that that’s out of the way, make way for Kirin!

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 1 [possibly; the image on the wiki didn’t say what game or gen this render is from])

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 4)

(How it appears in Monster Hunter World)

Appearance: Kirin is an interesting approach to unicorns in several ways. First off, it doesn’t have a lot of fur; the majority of its body is covered in scales. I believe that this was to help justify calling it an Elder Dragon, because even with the lore reason behind that classification, kids might question that status anyways. The second interesting thing about Kirin is the head; while the body is unmistakably equine, the head is more like that of a lion. Honestly, though, that’s only apparent to me on the MHW render, ‘cause apart from the forward-facing eyes, the head on the other renders still looks horse-like to me. The final aspect of Kirin’s design I want to call attention to is the fact that it’s freaking huge. According to the wiki, the biggest Kirin are 32.5 ft tall (at least I’m assuming they’re talking about height, not length), while the smallest are 12.2 ft, which are still taller than any living horse on record. Now, that being said, I’ve looked at images of Kirin on the wiki, and none of them look that big, even this one labelled “Giant Kirin”:

That’s still a really big horse, though, and I can’t expect the games to make every monster exactly the size they say it is. The final thing of note here is that Kirin are frequently crackling with electricity, giving them an aura of power that accentuates their other design elements. Overall, this is probably my second favorite monster design that I’ve seen and talked about, so it gets a 9/10.

Behavior: Kirin are capable of surviving in a variety of environments, from snowy mountains to swamps to an area in Monster Hunter World called the Coral Highlands (https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Coral_Highlands), which is literally like a coral reef on the ocean floor but above-water, which is something I didn’t know I needed until now that isn’t in Rise and now I’m sad. The Coral Highlands are also the only place where they were observed feeding, which revealed that despite their lion-like heads, they eat plants.

Kirin are known to be very unpredictable by monster standards, which is fitting, considering that they seem to embody thunderstorms. Sometimes they’re calm like a cloudy or clear sky, other times they’ll use their powers to wipe out an entire village. That last part’s just a legend, as far as we know, but it says something that people could find it believable. Unfortunately, Kirin are so rare that barely anything is known about them, which gives them an air of mystery while also making it very hard to rate this section. The fact that their behavior can’t reliably be anticipated, much like the way lightning strikes can’t be (unless you’re really tall, made of metal, or both), helps sell the idea that they are lightning incarnate, and the fact that they maintain an equine diet despite having a feline head is almost as weird as Diablos being herbivorous dragons, so combined with their mystique, I think I can give them a 6/10.

Abilities: As you’d expect, Kirin are really fast, bounding around the battlefield at a speed which makes it impossible to catch up with; the only way you’ll be able to hit one is if it comes to you, which it’ll likely only do to try to gore you on its horn. However, Kirin prefer to use their electrical abilities over physical attacks, so they’ll still try to keep some distance from you. The electricity they generate or build up on their fur strengthens their hide and makes them more resilient. But they don’t just generate lightning, they call it from the sky, and can even make it strike the spot you’re standing in, in which case your only option is to move the moment you see a white light around your feet. They can also make lightning strike several times in a small area around them to repel attackers, or call in down in a progressive line in front of them.

There are plenty of monsters in Monster Hunter that use electricity, but Kirin stand apart thanks to their ability to summon natural lightning bolts from above, even if there are no storm clouds in the sky for them to come from. This supernatural and effortless defiance of nature is why Kirin are Elder Dragons, and combined with their breakneck speed, it looks like it makes one heck of a fight. 8/10.

Equipment: Whoever made the Kirin weapons seemed to know exactly what I like, ‘cause I love so many of these design-wise, and it hurts that I can’t talk about all of them. Let’s start off with the Sword and Shield called the Kirin Bolt:

Okay, so this isn’t one of the weapons that I really like, but it’s still cool, so I’m showing it anyway. The “sword” might look like it’s more for stabbing than it is for slashing, but it’s meant to be more of a large dagger anyways. Seriously, its final upgrade is called “Thor’s Dagger.” Didn’t think Thor was a thing in the MH world, but there you go. I like how the dagger looks like it’s made out of Kirin horns (even though the colors don’t match), and the shield’s also cool ‘cause it uses Kirin scales. Don’t know where the spikes are from but whatever. Now, on to the weapons which are, in my opinion, the best-looking weapons from this series that I’ve seen yet, here’s a Switch Axe called Peal:

Unfortunately, this is the largest render on the wiki, and enlarging it makes it too blurry, but hopefully you can still see why I love this thing. The way the blue blade has a purple gradient, the blue spikes which seem to get progressively darker, the fact that they all work really nicely with the white body of the axe--everything here just works in the best possible way. I’m not planning on learning how to use the Switch Axe if I get Rise, but if Kirin was in that game, and I could make Peal? I’d probably try to learn SwAxe just so I could use it. But the weapon I am maining? Yeah, the Kirin version of it is awesome, too. Say hello to the Insect Glaive called Indigo Flash:

Don’t know why that render’s big when Peal’s isn’t, ‘cause I didn’t do this, but who cares!? Sure, there’s less blue on this than Peal had, but it still looks really cool! I really hope that the updates for Rise that they’re working on add Kirin to the game, ‘cause I need this in my life. As for the armor, it’s, well, weird. Even in MH games where there’s separate armor sets for Blademaster and Gunner, the Kirin armor is the same for both of those classes. Well, that’s less work for me, so let’s see the Kirin armor:

Zelda II: Adventure of Link called. It wants Horsehead back. Seriously, what is with this series and making helmets that are/look like they are made from the monster’s head, skull and all? Okay, the only real examples of that I can remember are this set and the Kelbi helmet, but it’s still gross. Also, aside from the pendants and the female set’s horn, there’s no blue here, which is disappointing. This armor doesn’t look bad, it’s just not great. But that just means that the Kirin’s equipment doesn’t get a perfect 10; it’s still getting a 9/10.

Final Thoughts and Tally: Kirin may not be as big and powerful as Lao-Shan Lung, but dang, if it isn’t the cooler Elder Dragon. The mystery, the speed, the lightning, and especially the looks and weapons all sell the idea that this is something more than a monster. I’m sad that it isn’t in Rise yet, but who knows? They just might bring it back one day. 8/10.

[star-birthmark]

What if I go ahead an ask,,,, for all the questions? 👀👀💞

Wait but Lena that’s illegal- okay, since someone figured they could ask for all of the questions, this actually took time to sit down and write out. Anyway, thanks for requesting all of them. My favorite for a heads up is “bronze”. 

black - how do you and your f/o comfort each other during rough times?

Rough days most of the time have to do with mental health for us, either when his PTSD from Egypt kicks in, or my mental lows become unbearable. When that happens, we hold each other, often in silence, and take comfort in each other’s presence. When we’re at our worst, words are often too painful to say, so we just rest, knowing we love and need each other, and that we’ll thank each other when we feel better. 

dim gray - what do you two wear to formal events? what kinds of formal events do you go to together?

I envision Jotaro wearing a class, black suit, his hair slicked back, and a tight grip around my waist. We like to coordinate, a classic black suit that makes his eyes pop, while I’m in a dress like this one, with minimal but glowy makeup and my hair straightened and pinned back. We both like a more clean cut but sexy and sophisticated look. 

eggshell - how do you show each other that you trust one another?

With secrets. Neither one of us open up easily at all, so if we are each other’s first person to tell anything to, especially when talking about our feelings, that’s how we know we trust each other. 

beau blue - what would the both of you do together on a lazy summer afternoon?

We’ll spend the day together in the park under the shade of a tree, a huge picnic blanket beneath us, a packed lunch in tow. We’d either read or bring work that can be done on paper. No computers in sight, just too adults relaxing together. 

french blue - after you two have gone stable, what kinds of dates do you go on?

Even in the beginning we went on restaurant dates, and that has not changed. When it was just the two of us (no Juro and Tamara), and we’d reached an anniversary, we’d drive into the city and have a good meal at a five star place. one regular dates, we frequent Chez Lorraine (a cafe I love) when staying at the Dutch SPW location, and Tonio’s when staying in Morioh. 

indigo - who says ‘i love you’ first? how does it happen?

I say it first, just because I need that verbal affirmation more than he does. He makes fun of me for it sometimes, but he always says it back, with the same calm and assured smile and a nudge to pull me closer and hold me.

electric violet - what’s something odd, extravagant, or thrilling that you and your f/o like to do sometimes?

We go to the spa together sometimes, especially if it’s after a long mission with SPW. Not that weird but it is funny to see Jotaro with the classic mud mask and cucumbers on the eyes. 

lilac - what’s something that makes you and/or your f/o nostalgic?

For me, it having Dutch pancakes in the morning, it makes me think of visiting my grandfather, or my mom making them for me and friends after sleepovers. Jotaro tells me he’s taken back to grad school everytime we work at the dining room table together, but I think that’s too cheesy.

tea rose - when you and your f/o first get together, how do you act towards each other in terms of affection? is it awkward? does it come naturally?

It was awkward at first. Like I said before, I need verbal affirmation, but Jotaro isn’t always good with expressing these things into words. But it is in these moments where he unpromptely speaks romantically and makes me feel he’s watching my back and that I am always loved and cared for. 

wild watermelon - what’s both of your dream vacations like? do you agree on the location/activities?

I love to visit cities and go to museums and concerts, things to improve myself culturally. Jotaro unsurprisingly, loves more tropical vacations and beaches: he never really leaves work at home. Luckily with working for SPW, we can do both once a year. 

jasper - how fast do you two take your relationship?

We took our relationship pretty quickly. We met in grad school a year right as we were both beginning our theses. We got married until two years later, and didn’t have Juro until two years after that. 

auburn - what’s one unhealthy or lavish food you can both agree is worth indulging in?

We both love to eat Holly’s cooking. She always manages to feed us the least healthy things imaginable (and she even makes sure it’s kosher for me ugh love her) but we love her for it. Also, Grandma Suzie always feeds us this delicious New York tiramisu when we visit her, and that’s amazing as well. 

coffee - do either of you have a garden or any house plants? if so, how good are you at taking care of them?

Neither one of us has a green thumb, so even if we do have houseplants, they don’t last long. We do have a big fish tank though! We’re great at taking care of those guys. 

flame - would you two be more prone to get up early and watch the sunrise or go out and watch the sunset? alternatively, would you stay up until the sunrise and then sleep ‘till one?

We’d be more prone to watch the sunset. When we can, we both love to sleep in. One time, we both instinctively woke up for work at 7am, realizing it was a holiday, and “cuddled” sleepily until 1 pm. 

bronze - do you and your f/o have any kinds of traditions you keep?

We binge watch Columbo every year on his birthday, and DBZ every year on mine. We also have a tradition of switching labs for a day. Our graduate lab assistants and interns love switch day, because it’s always funny to see me freaking out about picking up a crab, just as it’s funny to see Jotaro confused over DNA sequencing. I know nothing about marine life, he knows nothing about molecular biology and that’s okay.

canary yellow - what are the silliest nicknames you and your f/o use for each other?

Jotaro once heard my mom call my “doobbles” over the phone and called me that for a week after. Since I’m sensitive about nicknames and don’t like calling other people awful ones, Jotaro just gets Jojo. 

granny smith apple - if you and your f/o had to move someplace new, where would it be? why?

We did have to move someplace new. We left the US together after grad school to travel, and now switch back and forth between our SPW location in Amsterdam, and our location in Japan. We go where the organization needs us, so even if it isn’t the most stable, we have each other, plus Juro and Tamara love seeing the world with us. 

hunter green - what’s your favorite thing to do outdoors together?

We’ve gone scuba diving together. Just as one might expect being with Jotaro Kujo, I never go under as long as he does, but it’s nice to spend time on the boat nearby, relaxing and keeping him company. 

mountain meadow - on a particularly cold, rainy, or otherwise stay-in-doors kind of day, what activities do you do with your f/o?

Rainy days are when we experiment with cooking, since we can’t just go out for dinner like we might be inclined to. Jotaro is a much better cook than I am, but I have had my moments of not burning the food and actually making something tasty. I’m the better baker also. 

[cyclone-rachel]

Brainy while still healing, thinking that he won't be invited over for Thanksgiving. So the SuperFriends bring Thanksgiving to him.

Querl knew the odds.

Of course he did- he’d calculated them at the beginning of his partnership with Lex, and by the time he reported them to one of his doppelgangers, they’d risen from even that initial number.

“There is a 93.2% probability that none will invite me to Thanksgiving... after I do what must be done.”

The other version of him advised to trust the math, and his friends, as both of them were strong enough to work without his interference as he continued to work with Lex. And there was no reason for Querl not to trust his doppelganger- after all, since he had gone through these events just as the female version of himself had (and he’d experienced their failures through their eyes, after they gave him their life projectors), his advice was perhaps the most trustworthy.

It was certainly better than anything Lex would tell him.

That, along with the time he’d gotten to speak with Winn, the memory of Winn’s hand on his arm as he reminded Querl he trusted him (after the ordeal Querl had put him through), and the advice from his female doppelganger, motivated him as he moved forward. Those memories were his sole companions during his time alongside Lex, the only things he could truly count on as he continued living a lie.

He worked with the others, as he had technically before he was uninhibited, but things had shifted- he was now the DEO director, the person everyone else looked to for answers. Supergirl, in a way, had worked for him, even if he felt distant from her (more than he had before), and every moment he didn’t spend running the DEO was spent with Lex, or calculating what he had to say and do while he was with him.

Even for him, it was exhausting, and soon he felt as though he were being slowly torn apart by all that he had to do, every responsibility taking from him and giving back in return no rest, no time to relax or recover. It was no wonder that there were things he overlooked, mistakes that piled up on one another, and the exhaustion he felt overwhelmed him enough that Lex could see it in his eyes, and know how much of an advantage he had in that moment.

It was just as inevitable, then, that when he did triumph, he also wouldn’t be able to celebrate it for long.

(He remembered holding a bottled world for the first time, how cold the bottle was as he looked down on the planet his mother had captured for him. He’d wished he could go back into the snow, play in it without fear of being judged by anyone. Out there, where everything felt wiped clean, he nearly forgot he was a Brainiac, and that his parents were watching him.)

(He was certainly aware of it afterwards.)

And, once he woke up- finding himself with (even for him) almost too much time to think about what had happened in the past few months, he found it difficult not to go back to his memories of his time spent working with Lex, and reassess them- constantly criticizing himself, considering alternate scenarios and what he should have done better, ways that he could have avoided near-death and appearing as though he betrayed everyone he knew and cared about.

But he couldn’t go back and change the past, even if he had access to his Time Bubble, so he only moved forward, and continued healing.

So several months after what had happened, Querl accessed his internal calendar, and found that it was close to Thanksgiving- the same holiday that he had told his other self that he wouldn’t be invited to, and couldn’t partake in that year. It was a uniquely twenty-first century holiday, though its origins extended back further, and although its origin was problematic, as some might have said, Kara still expressed a specific fondness for it.

(Which was no surprise, as it combined two of Kara’s favorite things- family togetherness, and- of course-food)

He’d experienced two Thanksgivings, since his arrival- the first occurring at a time when the Children of Liberty were seeking to divide people, and thus it was all the more important to come together and celebrate one’s differences, sharing a meal together as any family would. That was Kara’s intention that year, hosting the dinner at her apartment, with humans and aliens from multiple planets at the same table. Naturally, one such as Benjamin Lockwood refused to see the motive behind such a thing, but it was important nonetheless, and even though Querl’s mind was occupied by work (and the thought of his mother- how she would have reacted, as he was seated beside Supergirl especially, and earlier had brought her flowers), he still at least tried to enjoy the event as it had been presented.

The second, in contrast, was much more subdued- it occurred after Kara was recovered from the Fortress of Solitude, after Lena had trapped her there with Kryptonite. She had sought to, in a way, unite everyone- in contrast with Lockwood, but in line with Non and Indigo before her, even using the same device and Myriad program that they had. But Querl knew, both from the time she had invaded his mind a few weeks prior and from having studied Myriad when he first looked through Kara’s years as Supergirl, that implementing such a device would only cause harm, ignoring the definition of humanity in favor of overriding their code, making them follow specific directives.

(He only wished he could have communicated that with Lena herself, but- even after becoming uninhibited- he struggled to find the words, and the time to do so)

So it was a smaller group that met at Kara’s apartment that Thanksgiving- minus Lena and Manchester and James, but with the addition of Kelly. Querl brought flowers again, as well as pie, and had hoped that it was enough.

(If he did the same this year, he feared that it certainly wouldn’t be.)

(Then again, he had long since accepted it, and thus there was no reason to fear this exclusion as it was an understandable and expected thing.)

What he hadn’t expected, once Thanksgiving day arrived, was Kara arriving at his apartment, carrying flowers for him along with what she’d told him was Eliza Danvers’s famous pie. And with her came the rest of their little group- even Kara’s biological mother, Alura, had left Argo to visit, although Alura and Querl had never spoken to one another. They brought food as well, and soon Querl had a small mountain of leftovers on his table.

“We decided to bring Thanksgiving to you.” Kara said, when he asked her why she’d done it. “You’ve done so much- you deserve to rest, and enjoy something at least for today.”

“So… you forgive me?”

“I forgave you when you sacrificed everything for us.” Kara said. “And I would have done it no matter what. You expected nothing back- but you made the hardest choices. How could I not, after I’ve had to do the same thing?”

He got up to hug her, and when he sat back down, it was with a whole plate in his hands, and a new sensation of lightness in his heart, seeing how those around him agreed with Kara, as they sat and ate with them both.

(It felt, almost more than any other time during this century, as though they were truly Querl’s family- and it was better than any verbal invitation.)

[groundnul]

Let Them Eat Cake: Shinobu x Birthday! S/O

Prompt: Hiii ^^! Could i request a shinobu x fem s/o where it's her s/o's birthday please?

Title: 2,243

Word Count: 

Pairing: Shinobu x Reader 

note: idk how birthdays work in kny universe but imma treat it like a modern japanese birthday ig?? srry if it’s not accurate lmao 

Snuggled up on your love seat by the fire, you let out a heavy sigh. 

A day full of people, presents and cake flashed through your mind again as you sipped from the tea cup in your hand. 

Today was your birthday. Like any other year, you celebrated with family and close friends, who managed to pull off a wonderful surprise party for you, in Shinobu’s absence. Their gifts were lovely and thoughtful, and the cake was perfect. 

The only thing missing was Shinobu. 

Duty called a week prior, sending her off on a mission somewhere in the mountains. Mention of your birthday upon her departure was unspoken, but not neglected. Shinobu knew you were thinking about it, and you knew she was, too. But the trials and tribulations of being a pillar far outweighed a yearly celebration of age, and you sent her off with a hug and kiss like you always do. 

You, of all people, knew Shinobu would never intentionally forget your birthday. Nonetheless, your feelings were still hurt when the day was almost done, and you’d yet to receive a letter from her. 

Usually, she’d send you a letter every few days just to check in and let you know she’s alive and all is well. You’d gotten one two days prior, so naturally, you were expecting another pretty soon. Hopefully today. 

But as the clock struck 11, your hope was dwindling. In her line of work, sacrifices were made, and you accepted that a long time ago. Now, you were just hoping she was somewhere safe and warm. You finish off your drink, setting the empty cup onto the coffee table with a clink. In the center of the table was a purple box with indigo ribbon; it was a small token of appreciation you prepared for Shinobu -- a silver butterfly charm with delicate amethyst inlays, and the words “人生最愛の人” (or “love of my life”) engraved on the back. You’ve had it for quite some time, and have waited for the right moment to give it to her. Maybe this was a sign you shouldn’t. 

You ignore the creaking in your bones as you stand, throwing your blanket onto the seat behind you. Your usual nighttime routine follows, flicking off lights, brushing your teeth and washing up. With a yawn, you trudge back to the fireplace and put out the embers. You lock the deadbolt on your front door, and solemnly shuffle back to your bedroom.

But the sound of your front door knob turning puts you on high alert. Shinobu normally doesn’t get back this late.

You grab the bat you have propped up by your coat rack. Gripping it tightly with one hand, you close one eye, peering through the peephole cautiously. Three knocks on the door startle you, but you silently creep closer to take a look. 

A pair of purple eyes stare back at you innocently through the peephole. It almost scares you at first, but the fisheye-view of your lovely girlfriend has never been more welcome. 

You smile, tossing the bat near your coat rack as you rush to unlock the door, swinging it open. Instead of soaking in her gently surprised expression, you leap forward, swooping her up in an excited hug. Her gentle chuckle in response is melodious, sending your heart aflutter. 

“Hello to you too,” she says warmly, wrapping one arm around you in return. 

“What are you doing here?!” you ask in disbelief. 

You pull back, giving her a once-over to spot any injuries. She looks unscathed, per usual, thankfully. 

“I came to see you,” she admits, expression unwavering. 

Leaning back in, you place a kiss on her soft lips, cupping her cheeks with both hands. After a moment, you part, and wrap your arms around her shoulders in another, much longer hug. 

“That was quite the warm welcome,” she says cheerily, holding back another laugh. You let out a giggle yourself. 

“Sorry, I just missed you,” you murmur into her neck, squeezing a little tighter. 

Finally, after what feels like both forever and not long enough, you let go. You reach to grab her hand and lead her inside, but notice a white tote hanging from the crook of her elbow. 

“What’s in the bag?” you ask.

“You’ll see,” she chirps, eyes gesturing inside. 

You grin and oblige, stepping to the side of the doorway to let her pass. Closing the door, you turn to her, flicking on the living room light. Shinobu sets her bag down on the table, reaching inside to pull out a small white box. She moves to set it on the table, carefully moving your empty tea cup. Her eyes pause as she moves to pick up the small purple box in the center of the table, looking to you curiously. 

“What’s this?” she asks curiously, hand moving to lift up the box. You hurriedly snatch it from the table, holding it helplessly before setting it off to the side, out of sight. 

“Th-that’s just, um, something for later!” you assure her nervously, exhaling in relief as she responds with a cheery “okay!” 

That was a close one. 

Shinobu sets the small white box on the table, grabbing a smaller white box from the bag before placing the empty tote behind her on the couch. Her eyes glance up to you, her smile growing.

“Close your eyes!” she says playfully, standing to her full height in front of you. She wiggles out of her haori, draping it over the arm of the loveseat.

“Really?” 

“Yes, really!” 

“Alright.” 

You close your eyes, placing your hands over them for good measure. 

“No peeking!” she warns, moving about the room. You laugh out an “I won’t” as she makes various noises around you. You hear the lights go off, the lamp click on and  something scraping. 

After a few seconds of silence, she speaks. 

“Alright, you can open your eyes,” she says softly. 

You slowly remove your hands from your eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the darkness of the room. Shinobu stands in front of you, arms partially outstretched as she presents a small, white, heart-shaped cake to you, with a singular candle burning in the center. The lamp shining softly from behind her silhouettes her figure, making her look almost ethereal. 

“Happy birthday, (Y/n),” she says with a fond smile, looking at you expectantly. “Make a wish!” 

“This is so sweet of you,” you say honestly, placing your hands gently over hers as she holds the cake. “Thank you. Really.” 

“There’s no need to thank me,” she smiles and tilts her head, struggling slightly. The smallest hint of guilt shines through her expression, but it’s gone as soon as it came. “Now, make a wish!” 

You laugh before blowing out the candle with a small puff, removing your hands from hers. She nods in approval before setting the cake down on the coffee table. She sits on the floor in front of the couch, and pats the ground near her, beckoning you over. You happily comply, sitting next to her cross-legged. Without a moment to spare, she plucks the candle from the cake, bringing it very close to your lips. 

“Would you like to lick the candle?” she asks cheekily, waving it in front of your face. You roll your eyes, leaning forward to wrap your lips around the stick of wax. After a moment, you pull back, giggling at the exchange. Shinobu laughs as well, placing the now-clean candle on a napkin she brought. 

“Efficient as usual,” she says casually, grabbing a fork from the table. You gawk, nearly choking on your own saliva. 

“Shinobu!” you laugh out, covering your face in embarrassment. She always chooses the worst time for innuendos. This only seems to amuse her further. 

“What? I’m only being honest,” she says innocently, spearing a piece of the white cake with the fork. She holds the fork up to your lips. 

“Say, ‘ah,’” she teases, only serving to enhance your already flushed complexion. You hope she can’t see it in the dim light, but you know she totally can. 

“Ah,” you oblige good-naturedly, opening your mouth. She proceeds to feed you cake like a baby, bite after bite. In between, she’ll even eat a bite of cake herself before switching back to you. It’s embarrassing and endearing, and you can’t help but love it. 

Once the cake is gone, she closes up the box it came in and sweeps away the crumbs into a napkin. Moving the box off to the side, she grabs the smaller, white box she pulled out earlier and turns to you. She presents it to you with both hands, waiting for you to grab it. You feel your heart swell. 

“Shinobu, you know you really didn’t have to get me anything,” you say bashfully, hesitantly taking the box from her hands. Her empty hands clasp together in her lap. 

“I know,” she says earnestly, “but I wanted to.” 

The pureness of her affection was enough to make your eyes feel a little misty, but you pushed the feeling down. No need to ruin the moment by crying. 

You silently open the small box, gasping at its contents. 

Inside was a beautiful, ornate hair pin, decorated with your favorite color flowers cut from jewels. In the light of the lamp, they glitter like stars. You carefully pick up the accessory, tracing the intricate design with muttered words of astonishment. Turning over the pin, you see there’s a message engraved. You move it around in the light to read its full scripture. 

“人生最愛の人 ” (“I will always love you.”)

The tears you held back earlier sprang forth, a single stream making its way down one of your cheeks. You didn’t have the words to tell her how much it really meant to you, so you settle for a kiss. Closing the distance between the two of you, you gently put a hand to her cheek. As your lips meet, you linger, pressing deeper into her. The feeling of her lips on yours is something you find yourself missing most when she’s gone. 

“Thank you,” you whisper as you part, half-lidded eyes staring into hers. 

“You’re welcome,” she whispers back sweetly, planting one more kiss to your lips before gingerly grabbing the hair pin from its box and pinning it in your hair. Her soft hands wipe away the stream of tears on your cheek, lovingly tucking a stray piece of hair behind your ear. 

“You look beautiful,” she says delicately, her eyes holding a fondness you seldom see. You smile, placing your hand over hers and giving it a squeeze. You let out a barely-audible “thank you” again before rising to your feet. You chuckle at her look of surprise before turning to grab the present you hid away earlier. 

“This is yours,” you explain briefly, looking a little meek. 

“Really?” she asks, eyes looking from the present back to you. “You shouldn’t have.” 

“I know, but I wanted to,” you smile, repeating her word from earlier back to her. She smiles warmly, accepting the box from your outstretched hand. She unties the ribbon, setting it to her side. A small gasp escapes her as she opens the box, fingers brushing over the top of the charm with care. 

“(Y/n), this is lovely,” she says, picking the charm up out of the box. Attached is a leather string, which dangles over her fingers as she studies its counterpart. Flipping the charm over, her eyes scanning over the engraving. 

“Love of my life,” she whispers, an adoring smile crawling onto her features as she glances back to your nervous figure. Her fingers tighten around the charm. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” 

Her words lift a lifetime of weight from your shoulders, and as she leans in for a kiss much like you did before, you’re unsure of why you were so nervous in the first place. 

“Can you put it on me?” she asks after you part, earning a nod from you as you take the charm from her hands. 

“I think it can be worn as either a necklace or bracelet,” you say, looking to her inquisitively. “Which one do you want?” 

“A necklace,” she answers after a moment of thought, facing her back to you. You climb to your knees and carefully place the leather string around her, clasping the hook in the back with ease. As she turns around to look at you, the charm gleams under the light of the lamp. 

“How does it look?” she asks, looking at you expectantly. You smile fondly, taking her hand in yours. 

“Perfect,” you say earnestly, straightening the string with your other hand. Her grin widens as she stretches out her legs, patting her empty lap. 

Knowing the drill, you lay down, putting your head in her lap. Her small fingers run through your hair, pushing it back out of your face. Leaning down, she places a kiss on your forehead. You catch her lips before she moves too far away, giving her one last peck. 

“Thank you for everything,” you say quietly, shifting a little on the ground. The unspoken words between you said more than enough: thanks for being here for my birthday, thanks for the gift -- thanks for loving me. 

As her fingers continued brushing through your hair, and idle conversation about her time away followed, you knew she understood exactly what you meant. 

“Anything for you.”

[ill-skillsgard]

Blue and Yellow - Part 1 - Axel Cluney

Title: Blue and Yellow

Characters: Axel Cluney x female OC

Warning: 18+ sex/mature themes/medical themes/mentions of blood+injuries/hospitals/violence/drug and alcohol use

Description: A new nurse finds herself entangled in the complicated life of an underground boxer with a slew of problems she cannot fix.

Note: I've wanted to write Axel as a boxer for a while now and finally came up with a storyline I could put him into. I hope you enjoy it and please consider leaving a comment and/or reblogging! Patreon subscribers got to read this last week as part of the early access benefit.

+

A nurse stood outside room 2817, reading over the tattooed man’s chart. He had come in—unconscious—and woke up in a bloody daze. She remembered seeing his swollen head and thinking there wasn’t a chance he hadn’t sustained a brain injury, but the man was alert and became responsive not long after. That was several hours ago when she began her third shift ever at Featherfall General.

The man with the black and blue face was awake and sitting up in his hospital bed. At the request of others, they pulled over the curtains to shield eyes from prodding at the swollen knot of an eyeball enclosed beneath a grotesque protrusion. His bottom lip had swelled to twice the size, and he couldn’t move any facial muscles without pain shooting up his nostrils. His nose stopped bleeding an hour ago and hadn’t sustained any injury beyond an unsightly bruise.

When she shifted the curtain aside, one squinting eye looked her over while the other remained concealed in a mountain of raw skin and broken blood vessels. She hadn’t seen anyone come in with a face like that yet. It made her stomach flip.

He couldn’t smile, but he wanted to. The nurse stood at the foot of his bed, her large brown eyes landing on every object in the room before taking a skittish scan of his face. The navy blue bubble of his closed eye ballooned to his temple and bled down to his cheekbone like an oil spill. It made the contusions on his shoulders and arms look like faded pinches. The bridge of his nose raised an inch off his face, puffy and tender. 

“You turning me loose, Saberrah?” He rasped, angling a look at the badge on a clip hanging out of her scrubs pocket.

“We will keep you a few more hours, on account of your concussion. The doctor will come to go over your CT scan. Would you like another ice pack?”

“Yes, ma’am, ‘ppreciate it.”

“All right, Mr. Cluney. You hang tight and try not to move around. Lie back and rest.”

“Can’t lie down,” he muttered. “Can’t sit up either.”

“That’d be your cracked rib,” she informed him. “Looks like you took a bad beating.”

He squirmed, wincing from the pain shooting through his lung. “Is it a good time to say ‘you should’ve seen the other guy’?”

She took his humour with a small smile. “I don’t want to know what kind of trouble you found for yourself. I just hope it doesn’t happen again. A concussion is a serious thing, Mr. Cluney.”

“Axel, please. You make me feel old,” he said.

“Says here you’re twenty-nine. Not old yet. But dirty thirty is coming up. You might not heal up as quick as you used to when you were a younger trouble-maker.”

Axel grimaced through a weak chuckle. “Dirty thirty. I like that.”

“Hopefully, you live to see them.”

“And what makes you say I’m the trouble-maker? Maybe I was minding my own business.”

She acknowledged him with a nod and a muted smirk. “I’m sure you were, Mr. Cluney.”

“Axel,” he corrected her again.

The voice slipping out of swollen lips was warm, but to look at his face still made her heart twinge. By anyone’s assumption, the man with the beaten face, a broken rib and tattoos was a sucker in a deal gone wrong. Featherfall was no cottage town with walking bridges and newly paved streets. Despite the pleasant melody of its name, it was no more a city than it was a village, but something in-between. It was big enough to get lost in, yet everyone seemed to know each other. It had its fair share of drug problems, and Axel Cluney was the fourth guy she saw that raised more than an eyebrow or two.

Her trained eyes fell to his arms, seeking any inflamed injection sights along his arms or puffy purple fingers. She found nothing out of the ordinary but scraped knuckles and tattoos to make a mother mourn.

“Hello, Sabi,” a voice greeted her from behind.

She turned to a man in standard indigo scrubs. It was the doctor charged with the late evening rounds, a man named Rufus Farber. Sabi relinquished the clipboard to the young doctor and stepped back.

“We meet again, Axel,” Dr. Farber spoke through a tight smile. The shadow in his eyes told of little sleep and too many occupied beds for a Wednesday morning. Though he was fresh out of med school, he had the tired look about him of a man twice his age. 

“Good to see you. Well... What I can of you,” the patient’s words flubbed out of fat lips.

Sabi left to find a cold pack and came back to them laughing like old pals. Dr. Farber was wrapping up and taking inch steps away while scribbling on a prescription pad.

“Your rib should heal up fine if you can keep still for a while. I suggest telling Eugene to take you off the night shift for a couple of weeks,” the doctor said with a wink.

“I reckon I’ll take some of that advice,” Axel replied. “I could use a little vacation.”

The injured man swung a slow gaze at Sabi, then saw the cold pack in her hand. She handed it to him, and he nodded a silent thanks.

The doctor signed the bottom of the note with a flourish of his pen. “Get yourself some painkillers, my man. Check-in at the pharmacy across the street.”

“Thanks, Doc. And thank you, Sabi.”

Sabi flinched at the sound of the patient using her nickname, but not so much that he noticed her reaction. “You take care of yourself, Mr. Cluney. We’ll come to get you in a couple more hours. Do you have somebody who can give you a ride home?”

“Sure do,” Axel replied.

“All right. You take care now.”

~*~

Featherfall General wasn’t the most state-of-the-art facility Sabi had ever worked. The rooms—often packed with patients — overflowed into the corridors. There were entire wings lined with beds, and everyone ran around like headless chickens in a crowded coop. It cut her work out for her, and a dull moment never sat right. There was always somebody screaming, children crying, women giving birth, blood to be mopped, and disruptions in the waiting rooms. 

Outside of the hospital—on the sidewalk and no closer—was where Sabi found a minute of rest. She could smoke a cigarette and forget that a patient had vomited blood on her. Sabi wasn’t alone on the sidewalk—far from it. Patients permitted leaving their rooms lined the walkway, smoking as many cigarettes they could fit into a ten-minute window. Some still hooked to their IV stands. One man with cracked red skin and starch white hospital sheets plastered to his arms and legs took puffs from a rancid gold-band cigarette that his companion held up to his chattering lips.

Sabi looked across the street at the pharmacy and the adjoining pediatrician’s offices. The building was a squat, rectangular structure next to a multi-level parking lot, of which she always heard the family members of patients complaining. The most frequent complaint was the seven-dollar parking fee. People who had dying relatives shouldn’t be expected to pay such a steep price to avoid getting a ticket.

New as she was, Sabi didn’t want to get on wrong sides by taking long breaks, and she chose the perfect moment to return as an ambulance flew into the emergency bay. Strapped to a stretcher, they hauled a tiny woman out of the back and rushed her into the hospital, followed by a tall man in blue jeans and a black tank top. Sabi only saw his side profile before he was halfway down the hall, following the EMTs and the female doctor who had intercepted them.

“It’s another overdose.”

“Fourth one tonight.”

“Third time for her. Can you hear me, Mrs. Cluney?”

They disappeared around a corner and left Sabi blinking in the corridor while others tried to catch glimpses. Most of the folks waiting in the lobby had nothing better to do than gawk at the people with real problems; broken legs, failing hearts, deep gashes, bright yellow skin, and when somebody came in with a worse ailment than them, a chorus of scoffs warbled in the room. They drowned out the only television tuned to the local news and grimaced at each other.

“‘Scuse me? When can we see a doctor? My kid’s sick!”

The triage nurse glared through the glass window. 

“I’ve been here for three hours!”

“Do we have to hack our limbs off to get some attention in this place?”

Sabi ducked out of the waiting room and went to where she was needed most, but she couldn’t be in half a dozen places at once. She tried her best.

It was a long, hectic night, and the sickness she saw didn’t end until the early morning. She dragged her feet and tired eyes into the hospital cafeteria and made for the coffee machine for a cup that might get her home. If she had to get into her car and drive, she would need the caffeine to keep her eyelids drawn; otherwise, she’d be another person getting rushed through the doors and into intensive care.

An old couple sat in a corner, and the same tall man that came in at the end of her first cigarette break occupied a table in the centre. She squinted at him and realized that she knew his face from somewhere. He turned, and a faded crescent moon of bruising arced from his brow to his cheekbone. It was the man with the black and blue face, more yellow and green now that the swelling disappeared. Two large hands dwarfed a paper cup of coffee as he stared off into outer space. 

Before he snapped out of his deep thoughts, Sabi made her way to the table and gave her best comforting smile. Without the swollen balloon of a head, she could make out his facial features. He had sharp cheekbones and two eyes that reminded her of the foggy marshes on her grandparents’ land. He looked up at her and his placid face glimmered with a hint of welcome.

“Oh, hi,” he said, lifting the paper cup to his lips.

“Hello again, Axel. How’s the head? And the rib?” She asked.

He knocked on his temple, tossing out an amused laugh. “All’s well.”

“I saw you come in earlier. I hope everything is okay.”

Axel sighed, a hopeless air leaving his broad shoulders deflated. It was odd to see him dressed in civilian clothes with nothing but a faded bruise on his face. His knuckles still bore scrapes, and dark bags of exhaustion hung beneath his marshy eyes, but he looked healthy. Sabi’s eyes coasted up and down his tattooed arms, habitually looking for signs of drug use and found nothing but vulgar symbols.

“It’s my ma. She’s in a coma, I guess.”

“Oh, jeez. That’s terrible. I’m sorry. I hope she comes out of it soon.”

He shrugged and sipped his coffee again. “Might be the best thing for her. She did it to herself.”

“Oh?”

“I guess that’s what happens when you mix Percs and alcohol for three days straight.”

Sabi gave an understanding nod. It no longer surprised her to learn the extent of drug abuse inside the walls of Featherfall General. Axel looked off into the unknown again, absently drinking his coffee until the cup was empty.

“Are you doing okay?” Sabi asked, unsure if the stranger would take offence to her questions.

“I’ll be all right. My hopes are that she’s okay.”

“I hope so, too.”

Axel raised his empty cup, slid his chair out, and stood up. Sabi’s eyes followed his, and soon she was looking up. He seemed much taller than when he had been a crumpled thing lying in a hospital bed. 

“Well, I should head out. I’m done for the night. Or morning, I guess. Sorry to hear about your mom, and I hope I won’t be seeing you in here again soon.”

“I know, I’m a sight for sore eyes.” Axel pointed at the cloudy bruising around his eye.

“That’s not what I meant,” said Sabi, shaking her head with a smile. “I mean... I hope you don’t find another reason to come back here.”

“If I don’t, how will I ever see you again, Saberrah?”

[wittyy-name]

October’s Patreon Oneshot is Now Available

We’re finally picking back up with our regularly scheduled Patreon Oneshots! My prompt patrons voted to allow me to skip July, August, and September due to how long it took to get my June oneshots out. So we’re picking back up with October. November was not kind to me mentally, and I had to take a break, but I hope the length of this oneshot makes up for the wait <33

Prompt: Prince Lance is kidnapped by Dragon Keith, becoming his treasure. Many suitors come for Lance, and Keith fights them off. Over time they become friends and feelings arise.

Prince Lance / Dragon Keith - 14,084 words As heir to the kingdom, Lance always thought he knew exactly what life had in store for him. That is, until a dragon kidnaps him at the age of sixteen. Suddenly his life is a lot less parties, lessons, and castles, and a hell of a lot more barren mountains, grumpy dragons, and boredom. From heir to prize, in just one night.

So now he’s stuck living in a cave with an adolescent, grumpy dragon who doesn’t seem to want him there but still won’t let him go. Not to mention his annoying habit of defeating every suitor who tries to come rescue Lance. 

As much as he hates to admit it, he’s probably going to be here for a while. So he might as well settle in and get to know this dragon named Keith.

If you want access to this oneshot, many others like it, drabbles, early access to chapters, outlines, and other rewards, please check out my Patreon!

Reblogs appreciated! Excerpt Below…

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“How did no one notice you?” He asks instead. “You’re not exactly a huge dragon— don’t give me that look, Red. You’re practically a baby as far as dragons go—“

“I am not a baby—“

“But you’re still kind of noticeable. How did you manage to hide.”

“I didn’t go into a human town looking like this,” Keith scoffs.

And Lance’s interest is piqued. “Oh?”

“We can shapeshift.”

“You can?” His mouth drops open, eyes going wide. Keith is completely nonchalant. Completely casual about the fact that he can shapeshift. “Show me,” Lance demands.

The reply is instant. “No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Keith, come on—“

“No.”

“Show me. Show me. Showmeshowmeshowmeshowme.”

“Lance!” Keith snaps, whirling his head in Lance’s direction. But he doesn’t back down. He just gazes up at Keith with the saddest eyes he can muster (a trick he learned from his best friend, Hunk). Keith’s eyes narrow, and Lance can practically see the moment he resigns himself. With a long sigh, he growls, “Turn around.”

And as much as Lance wants to watch, he’ll respect Keith’s privacy if it means getting to see this. So he turns and faces the wall, excitement buzzing through his veins as he taps a hand impatiently on his leg.

He’s not sure what to expect, but his mind is whirling. Someone big, perhaps. Big and burly. With wide shoulders and thick arms. A wide chin and hairless head. Despite how young Keith seems, he can’t help but picture the human version of a dragon to be someone who could rip Lance in half—

“Okay, you can look now…” His voice is… surprisingly soft. Deep and kind of gruff, but… actually pretty pleasant.

Lance whips around, eyes wide and searching—

Keith is—

He’s—

He’s…

Wow.

He’s much smaller than Lance anticipated. Perhaps no bigger than himself? But it’s hard to tell with how he’s sitting. All hunched over with his knees pulled to his chest, arms wrapped around them. Chin on his folded arms and glaring out into the distance.

His skin is pale, and there are flecks of crimson scales that dance along his arms, all the way up his shoulders and neck, curving over his jaw to dot across his high cheekbones like freckles. Glinting like fire in the late afternoon sun.

His hair is dark. Wild and unruly. Falling to his shoulders in waves and across his forehead, hiding thick brows and intense, sharp, beautiful eyes that look more indigo than amethyst in this form.

Two thick, black horns curl out of his head, curling and twisting back along his head. Two pale, pointed ears peek out from this thick mane of hair.

HIs features are… strangely delicate. Sharp. Objectively beautiful. A deep scar runs up his right cheek from his jaw.

Full, pink lips purse into a scowl.

He looks… nervous. Uncertain. Oddly small for a creature so powerful. So inhuman.

So—

So—

“Why are you naked?!” Are the words that come tumbling out of his mouth, high pitched and strangely frantic as his heart hammers in his chest.

Keith whips around to glare at him, lips pursed and a flush rising up his neck, red against red scales. “I don’t wear clothes as a dragon, why would I have clothes now?” He snaps.

Lance slaps a hand over his eyes, though whether it’s whether he doesn’t want to see anything or because he does— he’s really not sure. All he knows is that his head is spinning and his heart is racing, and he feels giddy and dizzy. “For the love of— put on some clothes!”

[mommymooze]

Group Wolf?

Felix is assigned a battalion

warning: foul language, fighting, war stuff, disgruntled swordsman

“No.”

Felix stands, adamant as an impenetrable fortress. He is a lone wolf. He works alone. He is not a babysitter.

The Professor is not one to be refused. They argue for quite some time. Felix refuses to back down. He fights tooth and nail, cursing and gnashing his teeth. At the moment he suddenly finds himself heading to the training grounds to meet his new Battalion leader.

He opens the door to find a corpulent figure dressed in leather and ringed armor loosely fastened over a green sleeveless tunic, heavy belt with a sword hanging to the left, black shorts and worn knee high leather boots standing back to the door, putting the last bits together of a training dummy. The figure stands about five and a half foot tall and looks to be 4’ wide at the shoulders, owing to arms and legs as thick as logs, dark hair everywhere. A long dark brown ponytail swishes left and right at the back of her head like a horse tail chasing flies. Tanned skin marked with scars far and wide having spent too much time outdoors and in battle shows beads of sweat associated with hard work.  Byleth calls out and the figure turns ‘round. “Kat! This is Felix.”

Kat drops the hammer and throws her right mitt up, grabbing the Professor’s tiny and delicate right hand in a merc’s handshake while slapping the much smaller woman on her right shoulder, knocking her a bit off balance. “Lassie! It’s good ta see ya!” the matronly figure laughs.

Felix’s face looks like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing without a sound. This is a woman? The crone looks older than Manuela, probably close to 40 and has more facial hair than all the male students added together. Her cheeks have a dusting of thin dark hairs, she definitely has a mustache and a very thin beard on her neck. Her muscles put Raphael to shame.

Kat sets her eyes on the young male student. “Felix, eh? We’re goin’ to teach ya how to cooperate. How to work a team.“ She scowls at him, in return he gives the woman a disgusted look.

“Heard yer a lone wolf. Sometimes that works for a man, but yer gonna need ta figure out how ta play well with others. That’s where I come in.” She smirks, dark eyes piercing him like swords. “We’re gonna be joined at the hip for a while lad, so get used ta seeing my smiling face.“ She grins widely, offering her hand to the disgruntled swordsman for shaking. When he makes no effort to move, she grabs his right with her left and forces his hand to meet hers, shaking the hand and the rest of him heartily.  Felix jerks his limb down, bringing his hand to a fist at his side while mumbling “disgusting” under his breath.

Kat looks at Byleth who is rolling her eyes. The small mountain of a woman smiles widely and gives a little wink. “Go on now with ya, we’re gonna introduce ourselves right properly here.”

Byleth snickers, leaving the training grounds. Kat follows her to the door, bars it from the inside, and turns back to the young noble. “Let’s see how well ya kin fight.”  Marching to the stand of wooden training swords, she tosses one at Felix. His jaw is set, arms crossed, as he stands and frowns. Refusing to look her in the eye, he lets the sword bounce off of his chest and clatter to the ground.

---> x <---

Felix fights until he can’t hold a sword. If he doesn’t fight, he gets the crap beat out of him. When he fights, the swords or fists hit him less often. He’s battered, bruised, and can’t think of one spot on his body that doesn’t hurt. Still, she makes him fight. Still, she makes him move. Again. Pick up the sword, strike or be struck. Again. He can’t remember if 4 or 6 hours have passed. Suddenly the constant barrage stops. His eyes glaze over, his breathing is weak. He begins to collapse as she catches him and hefts him onto her shoulder, carrying him to his room like an old rug. She sets him down at the door, and he balances himself, then tries to slide in so he can slam the door in her face. A huge shoulder easily keeps the door blocked open. He grabs fresh clothes and she takes him to the baths. While he undresses, she runs the water and prepares the bath with soaps and oils. He is too tired to move. She finishes stripping him down and gently lowers him into the tub. Sinking in the water, that is the last thing he recalls of that day.

Felix wakens with a shock. He had slept. When was the last time he just slept? He can’t remember. There was not one nightmare.  He hasn’t been that tired in a long time. He then recalls …her. He sits up, too quickly, his head spins, he winces as the pain causes him to fall back on the bed. He sighs heavily. Trying again, he rolls to his side, carefully placing his feet on the floor, sits up, cognizant of Kat’s eyes piercing into him.

“You’re staring. Get dressed, we have a busy day.” She turns around, looks back down at her notepad and jots a few more notes.  She doesn’t look behind her as he makes a flurry of offensive gestures directed at the back of her head.

“You’re rude and stubborn. You’re also a big boy, you can dress yourself eh?”

Felix grunts, getting out of bed, to find everything neat, clean. His boots are polished and ready at the bed, soiled clothes set in the laundry, fresh clothes laid out. He grabs them with an exaggerated motion that painfully reminds him he is still sore from yesterday. He gingerly gets dressed. With every bit of strength he has left, which isn’t much, he storms for the door and heads out. Blasting down the hall, down the stairs, he heads toward the classrooms. A large arm wraps around his shoulders and he’s now heading to the dining hall. If his feet try to take him in the wrong direction, a hand in the back of his shirt lifts him from the ground and points him in the proper direction. Felix smolders angrily.

Brows furrowed, jaw set, the fuming male gets in line with his shadow queueing next. Grabbing a plate of eggs, bread & butter, and cheese, he slumps at a table.  The behemoth sits next to him, placing an apple and a glass of milk next to his plate and a folded vellum with some powder. He raises an eyebrow, staring at the unwelcome additions.

“Yer a growing boy. Drink yer milk. Not an option. The other is to knock the pain down a notch or two.” A nod at his tray, she takes a bite of her eggs, waving at him to eat.

He glares at her. He should leave. Recalling the events of last night, he knows she will hold him down and pour the milk down his throat like she did the healing potions.  He doesn’t need everyone staring at him here. Maybe he is a bit hungry. He eats quickly, starts to get up, hears a grunt, meets her eye and sits back down. When she finishes her meal, they clear the table and head to his first class. She leaves his side once he passes through the doors to the classroom.

“Who is your girlfriend?” Sylvain taunts the indigo haired man. The redhead is rewarded with a swift kick to an ankle that makes him yowl. He did learn a few new spots to inflict quick pain yesterday, may as well put them to use.

Class proceeds uneventfully. He manages to give several evil looks to the professor. At the bell, he knows ‘she’ waits for him at the door. There is only one exit to the room. Damn. He stomps out, she falls in with him as they head to the dining hall again. She leads him toward a table full of mercenaries. She slows to advise him, “These are my boys. You’ll greet ‘em properly. Noble or commoner, courtesy is free and expected.” The table of young men looking to be 16-30 years old boisterously greet the pair. Handshakes and introductions are exchanged, with Kat only having to give Felix one or two nods of encouragement. Plates of food are already there for the two that have just joined. One of the guys approaches Felix and puts a small jar on the table in front of him. “Name’s Roy. Heard ya like spicy foods.  Enjoy.”

Felix’s eyes get a bit wide. “Uh, thanks” he mumbles. He opens the jar, the reddish brown powder smells like some kind of peppers, making his nose tingle. He sprinkles some on his stew. The teen observes the others as he eats.

The conversation around the table settles to a low roar. He wants to be anywhere but here. They are all talking to him. He feels exhausted answering their millions of questions about nonsense, favorite foods, worst foods, did you ever eat this or that, ever been to one place or another, what weapons have you used. Felix gives short answers to every question an elbow in his side inspiring him to comply. He gives a side eye glance at the beastly thing sitting next to him. He can feel her nod whenever he’s said enough to satisfy her. Why the hell does he have to know these people? Don’t you just point, they go, and that’s it? Giving orders, that is what commanding is about. He shakes his head. This is a waste of time.

Lunch is complete. The table is cleared by the battalion. They stand and look at Felix and Kat. She stands, informing the group as to their plans. “We got a bit of a chore before we can let ya go, come on.” The bear of a woman gets up and heads out towards the front gate. The company falls in behind the pair. Heading outside, they walk along the walls surrounding the campus. Following a well-worn path along the exterior walls where patrols monitor the grounds at night, they see a large uprooted tree. When it fell, the roots lifted a large mound of earth and created a hole in the stone wall surrounding the monastery making quite a mess. This breach in defenses needs to be addressed quickly.  

Kat hauls herself up on one of the stones that have fallen from the wall. There must be 15 that fell loose, they are huge. Whole stones are at least 2 foot tall, three foot long and a foot or more thick, laying akimbo on the ground.

Kat directs her words at Felix. “A battalion is an amazing show of what teamwork can do ta get things done. One man, if he’s lucky, kin lift a stone. A team of ‘em can move mountains. You need communication, clear and to the point. Resolving conflicts. Problem solving, decision making, persuasion and influencing skills, rapport, reliability and recognition.  No prob, eh Felix? Since I’m in a good mood, I’m gonna start ya off.”

She addresses the battalion. “We need the stones moved and stacked here.” Kat walks to a spot, shoves a stick in the ground that is about 20 foot from the wall and to the right of the toppled stones.”

“We gotta fill the hole left by the fallen tree. That’ll keep patrols from falling and breaking somethin’ when they’re policing the walls at night. If there’s time, we need to get the fallen tree away from the wall so there’s room to maneuver.”

Felix is hauled up onto the rock as Kat jumps down. “You get to tell us what to do and how to do it.” She folds her arms across her chest and stares straight into his eyes.

The young man stands there dumbfounded. What the hell does all of this have to do with fighting? Why is he even here? He wants to jump down and run. His mouth is getting drier by the second and his fists begin to shake.

A merc with sandy brown hair sticking out of a flat cap tips his head up. “Oy. We’re all here mate. We can help, just ask. We’re a team ya know.”  Nods and grunts of agreement surround him.

“Who has done this before?” Felix hears his voice croak. He calls out to the 2 that answered to give their account of how the job was completed. He starts to catch his breath. He asks the group again, any other suggestions? One of the men suggests keeping people that are really short together and really tall together, makes for better lifting. Felix feels his hands relax, he nods. His glance flits to her. She is bowing her head and nodding.

“Those are great ideas. Useful information. Uh. Anything else?” he coughs.

One man raises a shovel, the end of Felix’s mouth curls up a bit. “What tools do we got here?” A count of shovels and axes is provided as well as a smaller wagon and some ropes in the inventory.

Felix starts dividing them into teams. He gets the best axe users separated from the best with shovels and the best in heavy lifting. He begins sending them out. “Axe users, clear up the area the stones are to go to. Make a clear path. Knock those roots off then start on lower branches.”

Felix stands at the stones. Lifters are in 2 teams of 4, 2 front 2 rear. “You 4, carefully move the top stone, let me know if anything shifts.” They are able to get the stone free from the pile and a couple feet away, but it’s difficult to make any distance. Felix calls a couple axe users over. He  has the front 2 lift, they can get an axe handle under the stone and with 2 more in the center lifting using the ax handle to support the weight in the center of the stone, and allowing those two to stand farther out so they’re not arms and legs all over each other. On the count of 3 they lift, and the small team readily moves the stone to the destinated clearing that is now ready. Felix grins, then catches a look on Kat’s face, she’s mouthing “thank you.”

“Great job men. Well done. Take a minute to breathe, get the next team ready.” Felix awkwardly says. He heads back to begin again. When they’ve cleared the immediate area, the first team is ready to start on the next block.

Felix orders the shoveling workers to begin to fill the hole closest to where the stones lay, making it easier to access the rest of the fallen wall and make better stepping ground.

Felix sets the axe wielders working on the high point of the root ball of the prone tree.  They work together and plan to knock the roots off and dirt, lessening the weight at the base of the tree and freeing more dirt for fill.

The academy student runs between units, helping lift here, steadying there, helping stomp a shovel in the ground, making sure the teams keep clear of each other, are aware of their surroundings. He thanks them with a slap on a shoulder a nod, a word. He stops a stone lift in progress, hearing something shift. The group stands back as a stone that was still wedged between others 10 feet up the wall, falls to the ground where they had been standing. Worried smiles and grateful thanks are shared for a moment, then work resumes.

Kat begins sorting the broken stones while the larger ones are moved by teams. She tossed smaller chunks in holes as fill, carrying the ones that could be reused to the end of the neatly stacked rescued wall blocks.

“Hey Felix!” hollers a merc with a scar cutting through the left side of his face, he’s Vaughn, right? “We’re done with the stones.”

“Great job,” Felix remembers to say on his own, no reminder needed.

The swordsman eyes the tree. It is very thick at the base, but as it had grown, branches grew out on the side away from the wall. He discusses with the axe wielders the best place to cut the trunk base from the rest of the treetop, what branches have to go so the remaining trunk can be rolled over to give the needed room for patrol runs. Those that are not chopping are dragging away the freed branches to make room to work and keep the path clear. The huge stump is ready in no time. All hands together, they roll it far from the wall. The ground behind is nearly flat except for where they run out of earth to fill the hole. They drive some branches in the ground about 3 or 4 feet tall making a fence around the pitfall to prevent any injuries.

Kat holds her hand out and Felix grabs it, accidentally feeling a smile on his cheek that he has to fight back down to a more neutral position. Kat whoops heartily and the battalion joins in with thanks, waves, slaps on the back, and claps on shoulders, as each is recognized for their work.

“Tank, finish the clean up, gotta get our student back ta class” The battalion leader says as she gives him a firm hug and ruffles what little black hair he had on his head.  Major tasks are accomplished in a short time. Not unlike a mountain being moved.

The two walk alongside each other toward the gate leading back into the Monastery. “If I was yer teacher, I’d give ya a B+.  I thought you were gonna stand up on that rock and turn to stone yourself for a minute there. I kin tell you’re not much on communication. Talking and listening. Lemme try to tell ya in a way you can connect it. Say you’re fighting another sword slinger. He’s coming at ya. You’re watching his style, how he’s holdin’ himself. How he moves is talkin’ to ya. He’s telling ya how he’s coming, where he plans to hit.  Yer anticipating what he’s gonna do. Then he feints, dodges, pulls back and whips it to a backhand twist. You react, you change yer plans, tell yer body to adjust so yer eyes shift, hand takes a different grip, feet move to shift your weight to counter and set your attack. You’ve been waving that sword so long you don’t think about that any longer, you just react.

“Your battalion is another weapon. One you haven’t used before. Gotta learn how to wield it. Think of it as a man and his sword. To get them to move, ya talk to em. Figure out how best to work em, how hard to push, keeping it in balance. Use em to protect ya from danger, take out enemies. Mold ‘em into the tools that are gonna get the job done. When you’ve worked with ‘em long enough, they know what ya want, anticipate it.”

They have arrived back to just outside the classroom. She slings an arm around him in a half hug. “Ya done okay boy. Come meet us in the dining hall after class.”

Felix walks in, catching the professor’s eye with a smug look on his face as he gives a fist pump. Byleth’s head tips back and her eyes go a bit wider.

After class, he meets his battalion in the dining hall. His plate is already there. He checks with Tank, “Cleanup go okay?”  The merc gives a nod and thumbs up with one hand as he is holding a turkey leg to his mouth with the other. The swordsman can’t help himself and asks several of the men in the battalion if they want to spar.  A few guys accept the invite, but tonight they are drinking. They invite him to town to join them, and he will soon, just not today.

Once the student finishes his vegetables, Kat lets him head to the training grounds. She brings one of the mercs with her to find him sparring with Dimitri. Once the students have finished their rounds, Kat pulls Dimitri over, and Roy heads to Felix.

“Hey blondie, lemme show ya a few tricks to take down the porcupine over there.” She says slapping the prince on the shoulder.

“What? Who the hell’s side are you on anyway?” Felix snaps angrily.

“Whadda ya mean what? Yer gonna learn how to counter it, I’m keeping ya on yer toes boy.”

Roy grabs a training sword. He’s a bit taller than Felix, with short brown hair and brown eyes. They square off. Roy goes in for the first attack. He’s nowhere near as smooth as Felix, but he’s got a lot of strength behind his hits. “Do your worst, and I’ll pay ya back.”

The indigo haired student does not hold back. Roy and Felix go at each other for nearly an hour. Felix has the finesse, but Roy has guts and determination. Roy finally yields with a sword at his throat.  

Standing up, the prickly victor bends over and grabs his gut. “You kicked the crap out of me. Damn.” He laughs.

Roy has caught his breath. “Use all that ya got, there ain’t no rules when you’re fighting for your life.”

Kat hands out a couple vulneraries. Dimitri excuses himself as he has other duties to attend to. He doesn’t escape without getting a handshake, a thanks for the workout, and a pinch on his cheek. “See ya, cutie pie.” Kat grins.

The student helps his former opponent off the ground. They shake hands and share thanks. The merc heads out, going to town to join the group for drinks. He shakes his head as he gets no takers.

Kat invades Felix’s space, taking control his life for well over two weeks. Every day they have a new project to complete, every day he sits next to a different member of his battalion and every day he spars with someone else. Sometimes they teach him new techniques, sometimes he is teaching them. He knows all of their names, where they are from, what are their talents. His entire free days are spent with them.

Kat guides him, pushes him to work on building the team, getting them all together in the same mindset. Stressing the need to be able to rely on each other. It always goes both ways. Felix is instructed on persuasion and influencing. One cannot simply order someone to do things differently, you have to explain the why and how it benefits them, generally and directly. After meals she pulls him aside to discuss rapport building and listening. Everything is based on communication.

After sparring she marks battlefields in the dirt of the training grounds, pointing out scenarios for the best use of the battalions, and when not to use them. What tactics give advantages. Gambits, useful for them as well as for you, can give you time to observe the battlefield and adjust your strategies. All the time she is touching Felix. Patting him on the back, on the head, messing up his hair punching his shoulder. He notices one day that he doesn’t flinch at it any longer. He expects it, and he would never tell another soul, but he looks forward to it.  

Felix really learns how to listen. Not only to what they say to him, but what is said to Kat, how it is done. The group relies on her to keep them together. Some of the guys even call her mom or ma. She’s not their mother, but takes care of them like one. He even asks her why she lets them do it. She explains that this is her family and wouldn’t have it any other way. She loves them all, and they belong to her and she would do anything for them, they would do the same for her. Life’s too short to be holed up in a room or being off by yourself all the time.

The day has come. Felix and his battalion are ready for battle. Demonic beasts have been spotted outside the monastery walls and he goes out with the Professor and the Blue Lions to defeat them. Kat puts an arm around the swordsman, telling him he’s ready to do this. They run out to the woods to battle.

Before he would have run straight out to the beast himself, taking it on alone if he had to, but today is different. He has his battalion that he is responsible for, an extension of himself, a weapon at his disposal to be used properly and not ignored. He sends them forth in a gambit at the beast, sending the monster into mass confusion. As his team gathers back, preparing for another attack, he strikes the beast on his own. He is shocked at the cheers and encouragement coming from Kat and his men. It is inspiring and reassuring. A couple rounds later he sends them in again for another gambit. This gives him the opportunity to survey the remainder of the battle area. He and his men strike the beast a final time and it falls. He’s already leading them further down field to take on a knight with his own battalion surrounding him. Felix calls out to individual members of his group, getting the placement of his fighters best matched against the enemies. Their movements together work smoothly, the swordsman is reaping the benefits of working together with these fighters for weeks, knowing their abilities and weaknesses like his own. They plow through the battlefield as one, bringing down the enemies quickly.

When the battle is over, Felix is congratulating the team, handshakes, slaps on the back, everyone rewarding each other with reaffirming touches and positive energy. Kat has the biggest grin on her face as she hugs him until he almost can’t breathe.

“Yeah, you can be a lone wolf, but there is nothing quite as awesome as running with the pack.”

Felix puts his arm around her in a half hug. “I never thought I’d say this, but you’re right.”

[puddygeeks]

Wᴇ Cᴏᴍᴇ Rᴜɴɴɪɴɢ - Tʜᴇ 100 Bᴇʟʟᴀᴍʏ x OC - Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 43: Vɪsɪᴏɴs Oғ Tʜᴇ Pᴀsᴛ

Masterlist

Rating: Mature

Summary: During her time in the Skybox, Indigo formed a precious friendship with fellow outcast Octavia Blake, the girl under the floor. At first they thought their departure from the oppression of the Ark was a blessing, but quickly came to rely on Indigo's keen survival instincts. The 100 struggle to meet the challenges of Earth whilst Bellamy strives to lead the wavering teenagers and his irresponsible attitude fuels constant conflict with Indigo. Their only shared interest is in protecting Octavia and Indigo beings to suspect that there is a deeper cause to Bellamy's seemingly irrational choices. As the consequences of his actions mount up around him, he finally begins to confide in her and she discovers more than she ever bargained for.

Fandom: CW’s The 100

Pairing: OC x Bellamy Blake

LONG TERM ONGOING PROJECT :)

My writing is entirely fuelled by coffee! If you enjoy my work, feel free to donate toward my caffeine dependency: will work for coffee

Warnings: Mature content. Non-consent, language, sex, self harm, suicide, anxiety, helplessness, torture, captivity/confinement, alcohol/drug use.

Chapter Forty-Three

Octavia and I rode in silence for several hours through the dense forest as I tried not to obsess over the new information. I had never considered an alliance with the grounders to be possible and I had to admit that I was impressed with Clarke for accomplishing such a feat. Octavia’s words turned over in my mind as I attempted to match her assertions that the grounders had a better way of living to the ruthless tactics that I had witnessed from them and had difficulty imagining how we could possibly live in any semblance of harmony. I was amazed by the difference in Octavia and from what I had seen so far, she had only improved but I was unsure if I could be as adaptable. As Bellamy had said, I wasn’t good at following rules and I leaned heavily toward following my heart over my head.

As we explored the wilderness, I lost track of time and eventually the sun started to lower in the sky. Octavia led us to an area that she had clearly frequented before and assisted me from the horse. I almost fell as my weak legs met the ground and she noticed that I strained to keep my knees from buckling beneath me. She fixed me with a concerned look but refrained from commenting on it as I shook the mistake off. I was shocked by the suffocating exhaustion that I felt and settled onto a nearby log as Octavia busied herself with building a fire. After a brief rest, I dragged myself up to assist in setting up sleeping arrangements and prepared the space for the night. We sat side by side at the fire as the last of the sunlight sunk below the horizon and ate our rations in a comfortable silence under the wonderful colours of the sunset.

“So, what’s your hurry to get away?” Octavia’s sudden voice cut through the relaxed atmosphere and I flinched at her continued prying. “You don’t look like you’re fully ready for this and I’d have expected you to be glued to my brothers side right now.” She spoke in the distant tone that had become normal for her and I continued to be surprised by the bluntness of her words. I sighed thoughtfully before I could form an explanation.

“I need to feel useful, I can’t just sit in camp whilst everyone treats me like an invalid.” I drawled and she shrugged in understanding. Although this was part of my reasoning, I knew that I hadn’t been entirely honest with her and forced myself to share the root of the problem. “Don’t get me wrong, I could easily have stayed with Bellamy. But it’s probably best for him to realise straight away that I’m not just going to hide out in camp after all of this. He needs to get used to me being out of his sight.” I divulged and Octavia chuckled under her breath.

“Good luck with that.” She scoffed and I raised a bow at her inquisitively. “I've been trying to do that for years. He’s overprotective, it’s just who he is. If my tracking skills weren’t sharp enough to know better, I’d expect to find him following us.” She commented and I snorted in laughter at this idea. “Get some rest, we’ve got a lot more riding tomorrow.” She advised with a gentle nudge.

I spent the night tossing and turning on the cold, hard ground. I’d already become used to the soft bed of Bellamy’s quarters and without the comfort of his arms around me I couldn’t settle. My mind was filled with terrible images of the numerous people that I’d killed in Mount Weather and I was haunted with the overwhelming feeling of helplessness. I kept recalling the times that I’d been drugged, or captured and how I’d barely managed to fight for my life. The fact that my survival has seemed to hang so close in the balance made me feel weak and I bolted upright with a gasp.

It was unexpected to find that daylight was already breaking and that our supplies were packed to leave. I scanned the area to notice Octavia crouched by the fire sharpening her knife and the moment that she met my eyes, she efficiently stowed the knife in her belt and stood to hold a hand out to me. I allowed her to assist me to my feet and she inspected me with a hint of concern.

“I was about to wake you anyway, you were yelling in your sleep.” She explained in a tone that was prying as she raised a brow at me. I shuffled awkwardly on the spot and when it was clear that I had no intention of discussing it, she sighed. “We should move.” She instructed in her usual removed attitude and I nodded obediently.

We spent another couple of hours on horseback and the sights of the forest became less impressive in my tired state. I felt my waist beginning to ache from the strain of holding myself in the correct posture and my body was clearly demonstrating that the decision to make this journey had been unwise. I couldn’t help wondering how much longer this would take and found myself praying for the strength to make it back home. We slowed to a casual trot and I was glad of the reprieve from the bouncing motions of galloping. 

Octavia scanned the treeline suspiciously and just as I opened my mouth to question her, an arrow tore past me, barely missing my chest. I gasped and jolted backwards, causing the horse to throw me off. My back slammed onto the ground and I wheezed in shock as the impact knocked the wind from me. Octavia leapt from her horse and gripped my arm to gracelessly drag me into the trees. She dropped me against a tree trunk and although I leaned forward in an attempt to get up, I winced at a jolt of pain from my wound. Octavia drew her swords with a menacing expression and strode out to meet the small group that surged towards us with confident smiles.

She fell smoothly into a skid on her knees as she swiped the first two before leaping up behind them to finish them off. My mouth dropped open in shock at her finesse as she flowed around the confused group and eliminated them without even seeming to break a sweat. I felt my stomach flip as I noticed another small posse of attackers creeping up behind her and as I lurched forward onto my hands and knees with a cry of pain, I caught the sound of heavy footsteps. Barely moments later the familiar large statue of Lincoln burst through the trees to bulldoze the men sneaking up on Octavia. She turned and rolled over his back in a swift manoeuvre that looked like it came straight from an action movie and I struggled to comprehend exactly what I was seeing as they obliterated what remained of the enemies. Whilst Lincoln stalked the area to check for any stragglers, Octavia rushed over to my side and helped me to lean back against the tree.

“I knew it was too soon for you to be out here.” She scolded as she sharply pulled up my tops to inspect my wound.

“I’m fine, I just didn’t plan to be fighting for my life this soon.” I breathed with a light smile and her face softened once she had satisfied that I hadn’t done any damage. “Let’s just not mention this to Bellamy, I’ll never see the outside of camp again.” I suggested and I noticed a sly smile on her face as she caught my eyes.

“Deal, I don’t need a lecture either.” She smirked and I was immediately relieved that she’d been understanding. “There shouldn’t have been any fighting, what was that Lincoln?” Octavia commented over her shoulder as Lincoln’s hulking form approached.

“Ice nation. The commander is having issues bringing them into line after she allied with your people.” Lincoln explained and I noticed that her expression turned cold at his statement.

“Why? I thought it would be clear that the alliance is over after she left my people to die.” She growled with a bitterness that surprised me and my confusion was evident in my expression as I awaited an explanation. From my somewhat limited memory, it seemed that the grounders had played some role in our rescue and I was unsure how much of what I remembered was correct. 

“That’s as much as I could find out from the outside.” Lincoln confirmed in the controlled tone that always left me slightly mystified as to his meaning. Octavia signed with frustration as she considered me and I could tell that she was struggling to decide how to explain herself.

“The reason it took so long to rescue you all from the mountain, and why they had to resort to the radiation, is that Lexa made a deal with Cage to release all of the grounder captives in exchange for allowing him to keep you. She stood down her army and left only our forces behind, and even most of those gave up.” She recounted with a frustration evident in her body and I shook my head with a sigh.

“It’s a shitty thing to do but...I can see why she did it. I don’t know if I could’ve turned that offer down for my people.” I admitted and Octavia’s eyes widened in shock. “It explains what Bellamy mentioned about the plan going wrong at every step too.” I added thoughtfully.

“I refused to leave with Indra when the grounders retreated, that’s why I’m not her second anymore. Lincoln refused too. He actually escaped the grounders to help you all and now there’s a kill order on him for abandoning his unit.” She spoke bitterly and I shuffled in regret as I viewed the hurt in her face that she tried to cover. “No matter where our hearts are, neither of us can go back to Trikru.” She muttered and I furrowed my brows at her as she avoided my gaze.

“I’m sorry that rescuing us had such a high cost for you.” I whispered as I fiddled with my hands anxiously. It was already obvious to me how important her place with the grounders had become for her and I hated the thought that we had destroyed the one place that she felt like she belonged. She reached out to grip one of my hands and my gaze shot back up to her as she leaned into my space.

“It was worth it. I’d have given up whatever it took to save you.” She admitted with a squeeze of my hand and I smiled gratefully at her. She assisted me back to my feet whilst Lincoln busied himself with calming the horses.

“What was all of that anyway?” I asked as we fell into step together and she peeked at me in confusion. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. That. The crazy ninja shit you just did.” I revealed with a limited impersonation and I noticed a hint of amusement cut through her controlled expression.

“I already told you. I spent time with the grounders and trained with Indra.” She excused as she glanced away awkwardly and I scoffed at her poor explanation.

“Right, okay. Sorry I missed the part where you told me you’d become fucking Xena the warrior princess.” I drawled, earning a snort of laughter from Octavia that warmed my heart with nostalgia.

“I don’t even know what that is, but coming from you I know it’s probably some nerd shit. Loser.” She teased with a jab to my upper arm and I smiled at her fondly.

I was relieved when we finally reached our destination and completed the collection of medicinal herbs and various other supplies that Octavia stressed were worth the journey. My exhausted body rejoiced when her and Lincoln announced that we could head home and my heart leapt in anticipation of seeing Bellamy again soon. Although it had only been a day that we'd been apart, since the trials of Mount Weather I found that even short periods of separation gave me anxiety and I struggled not to concede to my newly clingy desires. Whatever was between us was still new and from what I’d seen of Bellamy’s romantic life so far, he didn’t seem to like to be crowded. I’d always considered myself an independent person anyway and I refused to allow my trauma to change that.

Although I enjoyed witnessing the way that Octavia’s eyes sparkled with delight around Lincoln, it only worsened my desire to hurry home when we made camp for the night and they snuggled up together to sleep. Despite the exhaustion that had been constantly hanging over me since I left camp, I struggled to drift to sleep and mostly stared up at the stars as I reflected on all of the information that I’d received in the last 24 hours. I could hardly process all of the events that had occurred in camp and the difference in people was starting to make sense. 

I must have eventually fallen asleep as I recounted every time that I’d been helpless since my arrival on Earth. I relived every fight that I’d barely survived, all of the people I’d been unable to overpower and the countless beatings that I’d endured. my heart hammered as I jolted awake and I was relieved to find Octavia stirring from sleep too. I occupied myself with packing up the contents of camp as she had done yesterday and by the time that the lovebirds were prepared to leave, I was reaching a desperation that was difficult to conceal. Octavia wandered over to the horses with a yawn and scanned me with an analytical expression.

“We’d better get you back before Bel completely loses his mind.” She commented with a hint of amusement and I tried to force a laugh to avoid her scrutiny. She kissed Lincoln goodbye and we mounted the horses in a comfortable silence. I felt a wave of relief the moment that we set off towards camp and looked forward to not being on horseback for a while. “Lincoln is careful not to be seen near Arkadia.” Octavia divulged and I nodded at her sympathetically. “It’s much harder to spend time together now, but we’ll manage. I’ll figure out a way for us to return to the grounders. I got their approval once, I can do it again.” She added with determination and I hummed thoughtfully.

“Do you think…” I blurted before I had fully decided if I wanted to ask this question and cleared my throat awkwardly as she cocked a brow at me with interest. I reflected on the nightmares that I’d been having recently and could still sense the lingering helplessness at the back of my mind. “When you do join the grounders again, do you think Indra would teach me too?” I asked and Octavia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Why would you want that?” She interrogated suspiciously and I instinctively knew that she thought I was trying to check on her, as Bellamy always did. I sighed as I considered how to explain my feelings without revealing more than I felt comfortable discussing. 

“I need to be able to fight better, like you. I’ve almost been killed way too many times now, I can’t keep waiting for rescue like a damsel in distress.” I detailed and she shrugged in agreement. She glanced out at the trees thoughtfully and I waited patiently for an answer.

“She won’t accept you as you are now. You’ll have to fight, show that you can endure and, no offense, you’re not exactly in the best shape for that right now.” She analysed as she returned her view to me and I shrugged in defeat. “Indra will not just teach you to fight though. If you want her to invest time into you, you need to be willing to adapt to her ways. She will expect you to become a grounder, in every sense. I had to learn at least some of the language, I knew how to show respect and I didn’t question my orders. Can you do that?” She interrogated with a stare that chilled me to my core. I knew that I couldn’t blame her for questioning me, she knew me better than I knew myself and it wasn’t in my nature to be obedient.

“I can promise to try.” I conceded and although she sighed in a disappointed manner, I spotted a fond smile as she shook her head at me. “It's something that I need, so I’ll put in the work. From what you’ve said of your experiences it sounds like there are parts of it that I’ll get along with anyway.” I pondered and she nodded in understanding.

“Fine, for now Lincoln and I will start to train you, but I need to see that you are working hard. I won’t present the idea to Indra until I’m convinced that you’re ready.” She detailed firmly and I smiled appreciatively at her.

“That’s completely fair, I don’t want to humiliate you.” I agreed in an even tone and I noticed that her shoulders relaxed slightly at my confirmation that I understood. I had no intention of tarnishing the reputation that she’d fought for and could honestly say that I was willing to commit to this idea.

“And I want this agreement to stay between us too. I don’t want Bellamy breathing down my neck about converting you.” She ordered in a firm voice that revealed more concern that she intended and I shifted awkwardly under her scrutiny.

“I don’t know if I can agree to that Tavi.” I muttered as her gaze shot at me in surprise. “I don’t feel right about lying to him. He’s more understanding than you give him credit for.” I presented my case as well as I could whilst feeling that I wanted to disappear into the ground under her disbelieving expression and she scoffed.

“You’ve got it so bad.” She crooned as her playful smirk returned and I felt my cheeks turning pink. I quickly scrambled to think of something I could say to draw the conversation away from my feelings and instead directed her to the difficult logistics of this plan.

“Where would I even say I was going?” I suggested and she shrugged as she conceded. “You said it yourself, he’s overprotective. If I keep creeping off somewhere, he’s going to figure it out in no time and then he’ll be pissed. It’s better to just be honest upfront.” I calculated and she chuckled lightly as she shook her head at me.

“Fine. But you can convince him, you’re good at that.” She commented with a smug expression.

The rest of the journey was quiet and slow. I didn’t initiate any conversation as I focused on conserving my energy so that I wouldn’t suddenly drop off the horse in exhaustion and Octavia seemed content to remain lost in thought. Every part of my body ached and I realised that the lack of care for myself in Mount Weather had taken a toll on me. If I was to be successful in training then I would need to build some muscle, which would require proper meals and ensuring that I slept enough to recover from the exertion. I had forgotten what it was like to have routines and to invest in myself, but now that life had returned to normal I acknowledged that I needed to treat myself with kindness. I knew that Bellamy would be furious with me if he realised how little I’d truly listened to the needs of my body since waking in the new camp. Mentally, I resolved that once this journey was over, I would be less self punishing and would be honest with others about my limits. 

I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I recognised the field outside of the gates of our new camp and knew that I would soon be gazing into the comfort of Bellamy’s warm, whisky eyes. Octavia glanced at me with a smug smile and I tried to conceal my joy.

“I know this has been tough on you, more than you want to tell me. You made it though, you can still survive out here. I’m glad that I got a chance to show you that.” She breathed with an encouraging tone before the twinkle of mischief returned to her eyes. “Nearly back to him, you did well to manage a whole two days apart.” She winked teasingly as I glared back.

We approached the gates slowly and I was glad to find that although there were people milling around, there wasn’t a crowd to witness our return. I felt myself becoming light headed from the energy that it took to keep myself on the horse as the gates opened to allow us inside. We trotted into the courtyard and I noticed the workers part to allow Bellamy to rush through to greet us. Octavia quickly hopped down as I slowed to a stop and considered whether I had the strength remaining to safely dismount.

“Thank god, you’re back.” Bellamy breathed in a heavy relief as he pulled Octavia into an embrace that she quickly shook off. I shuffled on the horse as I struggled to twist my legs to the same side ready to hop down and Bellamy jogged over to assist me. Before I could protest, he reached up to place his hands on my hips and supported me to the ground gently. I smiled thankfully at him as he obsessively checked me over and basked in the simple pleasure of the sight of him. “You look tired.” He commented as he met my eyes with concern and I forced a smile in response.

“I’m fine. Glad to be home.” I stated as I flashed him a meaningful look and he nodded in acknowledgement. I wanted to tell him how tough it had been, how I had realised that I wasn’t fully recovered yet but this wasn’t the place for that conversation. As my gaze roamed him, I realised that he also appeared to be tired and his hands shook lightly in place on my shoulders. I could tell that my absence had been challenging for him too and I was surprised by his nervous behaviour. “I’m okay Bel.” I emphasised, causing the knit in his brow to finally release. He removed his grip on my shoulders and cleared his throat as he stepped out of my space. I glanced around to notice several of the members of camp had stopped to observe our return, including Harper who smiled at us with amusement.

“I know.” He remarked as he fidgeted in an effort to seem relaxed. “You need to give your weapons back, they want to keep track of them here. I’ll catch up with you at my quarters later.” He informed, before he reluctantly strode away. Octavia chuckled at him under her breath and shrugged at me.

“Good luck selling him on you spending more time out of camp.” She laughed and took hold of the reins of the horses with a knowledgeable confidence. “I’ll take them back to the stable, you look like you could do with a nap.” She ordered as she wandered off and I remained rooted to the spot.

I glanced around at the people who busied themselves in the courtyard and found myself desperately searching for something that could distract me from my temptation to collapse into the safety of Bellamy’s bed. It was only mid afternoon and I felt that I still needed to make myself useful. I rubbed at my eyes as a yawn escaped my lips and my tired legs moved to lead me towards sleep without awaiting a conscious decision. The journey to his quarters was a blur as I shuffled along in a delirious state and practically fell through the door into the room. I knew that Bellamy was likely to be busy for at least the next few hours and although I’d prefer his soothing presence whilst I slept, I wasted no time in dropping into the bed. I wrapped myself in the covers that fortunately still carried his familiar scent and drifted straight to sleep.

My mind was still plagued with the same chilling nightmares of the past few nights and when I next woke, I didn’t feel at all rested. I could tell from the low light in the room that I’d been asleep at least a few hours and although I only felt a slight difference to earlier, I dragged myself back into camp. I followed Bellamy’s orders to return my weapons to our armoury, other than the shock baton which I ensured to keep hidden from sight. After a brief conversation with some campers, I discovered that Bellamy was currently instructing guard training and would be required to attend a debriefing afterwards. Instead of sulking over his absence, I busied myself with some simple tasks that would not contradict Abby’s orders for light labour only. 

It was a struggle to keep my attention on the job as my head grew heavy and it was a continued effort to stay standing. I knew that I needed sleep, a full proper night of sleep but I didn’t want to ask for help until there was no other choice. I mentally asserted that I just needed Bellamy to be able to sleep properly and that by tomorrow morning I would be fine. As the daylight faded from the sky I felt my eyes often drifting closed, despite my strain to keep working under the weak lanterns and eventually I had to concede that it was time to quit.

I was disappointed that I hadn’t seen Bellamy return yet as I wandered to his quarters and the feeling only intensified when I stepped inside to find him absent. A bitter sigh escaped my lips as I accepted that I couldn’t battle to remain awake any longer. It was a struggle to get undressed through the heaviness of my limbs and as I carefully placed my clothing on a chair, leaving me in only my vest and pants, Bellamy entered the room behind me. He broke into a relieved smile at the sight of me and I couldn’t deny how pleased I was to see him. He wandered into the space and started to remove the new guard jacket that he wore. 

“Hey, I didn’t expect to be back this late. Kane kept us hanging on in a briefing.” He commented idly as he kicked off his boots and generally made himself comfortable. I watched him through bleary eyes with a pang of desperation as I longed for his comfort and the moment that glanced up at me, his expression changed to concern. “What’s wrong?” He queried with a jagged voice and his worried eyes drew from me the emotion that I battled to conceal. I rushed forward to embrace him and threw my arms around his waist as I buried my face in his chest. He jolted in surprise but immediately pulled me into him and rested his cheek on my head. One of his arms wrapped around me whilst the other hand stroked my hair in a soothing manner and I felt a lump rising in my throat.

“I’m just...I’m glad to be back with you.” I breathed against him and felt him nod in agreement. I reflected on my promise to myself on the way back from my journey with Octavia to be more honest and involuntarily felt myself gulp as I considered the idea. “I’m so exhausted I can hardly stand.” I confessed in a quiet voice and I felt him tense at my words.

“Too spoiled with beds to sleep on the ground any more Love?” He teased, although his tone was too forced to properly cover his alarm. I couldn’t bring myself to lie to him and struggled to produce a way to explain my fears without descending into topics that I wasn’t ready to discuss yet. When I didn’t respond in time, Bellamy pushed me backwards to scrutinise my face but kept his hands protectively on my shoulders. I felt even more incapable of speaking with his gaze burning into me.

“Hard to drop off without you.” I whispered as I avoided meeting his eyes. I attempted to pass my reaction off as merely embarrassment but I knew that he sensed my vulnerability.

“Well, that’s an easy fix.” He stated as he released me from his gasp to quickly undress. He took my hand to lead me to the bed and we climbed in together. Without a moment of hesitation, he guided me into place so that my back was against his chest and wrapped me tightly in his arms. His hair tickled my cheek  as he leaned forward to place a lingering kiss there and I felt myself relaxing into him. “Now we can both get some sleep.” He muttered in a confession that I was unsure if he intended to make.

I didn’t enjoy the idea of Bellamy suffering in any way but it was a strange comfort to discover that he struggled without me. I was unsure why this was still a surprising revelation, and as the budding romance between us was only young, I could hardly believe I was lucky enough to have this time together. It had been a substantial time of convincing myself that he couldn’t want the same thing that I did and I wondered how long it would take to undo this belief. I felt myself easily drifting into sleep now that I was in the one place I felt most at home: his arms.

For a while my exhaustion provided a heavy, dreamless sleep as Bellamy’s protection warded off any fear, but the memories gradually returned. I found myself strolling through the eerily similar halls of Mount Weather alone. My footsteps echoed through the empty space hauntingly and I moved at an excruciatingly slow pace. There was a sound in the distance that I couldn’t quite register and I followed it with a sense of foreboding. The noise led me into a large room lined with the tiny cages that I had once been captive inside and I felt my heartbeat quicken.

As my gaze roamed over the space, the noise grew louder and bought my attention to the centre of the room. There was a single operating table under a blinding light that streamed from the ceiling and I suddenly recognised the horrifying whirr of a drill as it tore through bone. My breaths became shallow and rapid as Harper’s screaming filled my mind. I watched Dr Singh torment her with an overpowering feeling of helplessness and although I willed myself to do something, I couldn’t move or make a sound. I became aware of the piles of bodies that surrounded me, filling the space between where I stood and the operating table. The familiar faces were frozen in a state of agony and I could hardly catch my breath as I scanned them. Fox, Miller, the other girls who had kept me company, the groups of kids that I’d rescued from guards when looking for Bellamy; all of their lifeless faces stared back at me until my gaze fell on the bloody bodies of Jasper and Monty. The gut wrenching wail that escaped my lips caused a jolt of surprise even to me and I realised that my cheeks were wet from tears.

There was a heavy set of footsteps that caught my attention and I raised my eyes to witness Cage strolling over to the table from out of the darkness at the far end of the room. He lifted Harper’s limp body from the surface and threw it to the ground as if she were merely trash. Dr Singh turned to face me and I realised with horror that her white coat was soaked in blood. She held her red hands out to me and her determined eyes made a shiver run down my spine.

“She’s the last one.” Dr Singh informed with a delighted smile and Cage began to stride toward me with a menacing expression.

He reached me at an impossible speed and although every part of my body struck out at him in desperation, I was no match for his strength. I felt like a rag doll in his grip and was struck with the realisation of how immensely weak my body was. Despite my desperate struggles, he easily dragged me toward the table and I screeched out in despair. As he buckled me into the restraints, I heard my heartbeat hammering in my ears and felt as if I was having a heart attack. Cage unexpectedly wrapped his hands around my throat and my eyes widened in shock as he began to choke me.

“They’re all dead Indigo. You couldn’t save them.” Cage’s taunting voice filled my consciousness as I battled for air and could feel myself becoming light headed. “You failed. You’re too weak.” He growled as I wheezed and felt hot tears roll down my cheeks. The grip on my neck became so ferocious that it lifted me from the table and my shoulders thrashed against the hard surface as he shook me. The room swirled around me and it became impossible to focus as my head swayed. Without warning, my surroundings disappeared as my eyes snapped open and Bellamy’s anxious face filled my vision. The dark room around me slowly came into view and I realised that I was still in bed in Bellamy’s room.

“It’s just a dream Indie, you’re safe.” Bellamy soothed as his cool grip remained on my shoulders and I finally understood that he had been shaking me. My cheeks were soaked with real tears and I felt a cold sweat covering my entire body. I brought my eyes to him with a lingering feeling of terror and he pulled me into his embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and placed a careful kiss on my forehead. “You were screaming. I couldn’t think of a kinder way to wake you, I’m sorry.” He mumbled as he wound his fingers through my hair and I felt my rapid heartbeat gradually calming against him. I could still sense the distress of the dream hanging over me and the memory of Harper’s screams were refreshed by it. I felt myself trembling in his hold as I recalled the sound and he sighed gently above me. “You...you can talk to me, you know that don’t you?” He whispered with a vulnerability in his tone that made my heart ache. I took a deep breath before leaning back so that I could look up into his sympathetic face.

“The things that happened in Mount Weather...I saw some dark shit and it’s not easy to just forget.” I explained and watched as his brows furrowed together. “Finding you and Octavia alive, it’s more than I could ever have asked for. I’m thankful for every second of the life that I have now and although it takes away most of the hurt that was eating away at me, it doesn’t remove the things that I saw, or worse, that I did.” My voice faded to a shameful whisper by the end and he tilted his head at me in confusion. “I did things to survive, things I never thought I would do. And the strangest part is that I don’t regret them, because they led me back to you both. If anything, I blame those sick assholes for forcing my hand.” I confessed as I avoided meeting his gaze. He gently lifted my chin to face him and his eyes were filled with emotion as he viewed me.

“Whatever you did, I know that you had to do. They wanted to kill every last one of you. You survived because of your actions, don't feel like you should regret that.” He asserted with an intense gaze and I felt a weight lift from my chest as I nodded back. “These nightmares, they’re of Mount Weather?” He investigated with reluctance and I hummed quietly in confirmation. “What can I do to help?” He breathed and the genuine tone in his voice made my eyes fill with tears. I considered my words carefully as I analysed the way that I’d felt each time I woke and tried to make sense of the jumbled images of the dreams.

“I need to stop being afraid.” I assessed and noticed a thinly veiled anger in his face at this statement. I knew that he was furious that anyone had affected me this much and it only further revealed how much effort he was investing into remaining calm for my comfort. “The only way I can think to do that is to prove to myself that I’m strong enough to protect myself now. I almost died more times than I can count in that Mountain, I barely scraped through those fights and honestly...I didn’t exactly take the best care of myself whilst there. I’ve gotten weak and complacent. I need to know that I can’t be captured like that again, I need to be strong.” I explained and I noticed a wry smile creep into the corners of his lips.

“I can make you a guard, I’ll train you personally.” He offered with the slightest hint of mischief which earned an involuntary chuckle under my breath.

“It’s a kind offer Bel, but I was thinking of something more extreme.” I divulged which caused him to view me with suspicion. “I’ve seen Tavi practising, I want to be able to fight like her. She’s offered to train me with Lincoln’s help, but I don’t want to go behind your back.” I detailed and flinched as he rolled his eyes at me in exasperation.

“Indie, come on.” He groaned. “You’ve said yourself that you feel weak. The grounder method of training is to beat the shit out of you until you learn, I’ve seen it happen in this camp! At least with me you know that I’ll be careful with you.” He justified and I could sense the same protective authority in him that I’d seen him address Octavia with countless times.

“I wont be stupid. I’ll start resting and I’ll take care of myself. I won’t take on any actual combat training until I’m well enough, purely theory until then, I promise.” I pleaded and although I could still sense the annoyance in his posture, his resolve was visibly crumbling. “This is important to me Bel, I need to be able to fight for myself. I can’t always leave it to you to save me. And maybe the distraction will help me to move on.” I appealed to him and he shrugged in defeat.

“Fine, if it’s that important to you. But if I see you covered in bruises, it’s done.” He conceded and I smiled as I agreed to his terms. Bellamy took my face in his hands and placed a gentle kiss on my lips with an affection that made my heart swell. “I won’t let anything happen to you again.” He whispered as he leaned his forehead against mine in a tender motion and I felt the last of my fear dissolve in his reassurance.

[maple-writes]

WHG: 13 Heist Part Two

tagging @concealeddarkness13 @onmywaytobe @nightskywriter and @ratracechronicler (let me know if you’d like to change anything!)

(Also: Heads up for swearing in this one)

The party was a lot. People everywhere, music playing loud, more food and drinks than he’d ever seen in one place… It was almost too much to take in. How Rat and Absolon were able to immediately jump into their roles as party-goers, he had no idea, and couldn’t help but be just a little jealous. Soon enough though, he started to loosen up. It had been almost eight years since he’d lived in the capitol, speaking and acting like anyone else on this rooftop, but with a little effort he managed the right mannerisms and intonations. Well, besides the swearing and general prickliness whenever someone said something he didn’t like. Which given the crowd, was quite often.

Those bold enough to ask him to dance anyway though seemed to find it charming. Before long he’d had a handful of invitations to return home for the night and a small collection of phone numbers in his pocket.

He didn’t notice Rat come up to him until she clasped him on the shoulder with a sneaky grin. “I could make some very persistent telemarketers very happy with those.”

Skyler dropped the slips of paper into her hand. “Knock yourself out.”

She pocketed the numbers and disappeared back into the crowd, plucking something shiny from someone’s purse as she went.

The sun had all but set now, lights shining bright on the rooftop and drowning out any hint of stars. Skyler swallowed. It probably wouldn’t be long now. Absolon had spread the word the Indigo placed the tracker, and Jaden looked to be almost done with Skylar’s shock device. Skyler picked up what looked like some kind of overly fancy lemon tart from one of the tables and looked back out at the crowd.

Best bet to land the hovercraft would probably be square in the middle of the dance floor. The string lights didn’t look nearly strong enough to cause much trouble. He took a bite of the tart and squinted up at the darkening sky. Other hovercrafts circled, no doubt monitoring from above. He swallowed. He hadn’t expected so many of them up there, and he didn’t know how fast any one of them might have been, or if any of them carried anything that could down their own hovercraft.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Clovis approaching. Neither looked at each other as he stopped beside him and snagged four chocolate covered strawberries.

“Jaden hacked the dog and he’s almost done with Skylar.” Clovis spoke in a whisper.

Skyler pretended to ignore him as he went for another lemon tart. “I want to land in the middle of the dance floor.”

“I’ll let Margot and Logan know.”

He left, passing by the two of them on his way to continue chatting with a group of older ladies on the dance floor, delivering the strawberries to each of them with a friendly smile. Skyler watched for a moment before his eyes wandered to Indigo. She stood up near Snow’s table, laughing with someone he didn’t recognize. Funny. Part of him didn’t realize that she actually knew how to laugh, but he didn’t linger on the thought long. It as probably about time he started to track down Holt anyway.

A shout caught his attention, and Skyler quickly realized he wouldn’t have to look very hard. Holt stood with his hand clenched in a fist as a well dressed man fell to the floor. In seconds, Clovis and Absolon were by his side, ganging up on him for what Holt told them he said about Skylar.

Skyler clenched his teeth in anger, but as much as he also wanted to join in beating the shit out of that asshole, they had to go. He tapped him on the shoulder and turned towards the door. “Lets go.”

He nodded, and the two of them slipped into the stairwell. It wasn’t as fancy as the elevator, but chances were lower anyone would notice their escape, especially not with the full on brawl breaking out on the roof. Their footsteps echoed as they hurried down the stairs, neither daring to speak a word until they’d rushed to where the hovercraft was waiting for them. Just as promised, the door was unlocked and the place was theirs.

Skyler’s heart raced as he led Holt towards their craft and directed them to help slide the door open. He hoped he didn’t notice how much he trembled as he hopped up into the ship, electing not to waste time lowering the ramp.

He turned back to help haul Holt inside before starting to make his way to the front. “We just have to get this craft up in the air and crash that party.”

Holt worked on shutting the door them. “Are you okay? Are you nervous?”

So he had noticed. Skyler paused, and let out a nervous laugh. “I’m the one everyone’s counting on for our escape. It’s hard not to be nervous.” Considering all the ways he alone could get them all killed if he messed anything up. “I’m sorry.”

He decided now wasn’t the best time to reveal he’d never actually pulled off a maneuver as complicated as this one was all on his own and that he was about to break almost every flight rule Volt had ever taught him to follow.

“It makes sense. It’s fine to be nervous.” Holt sounded so sure, and Skyler  couldn’t help but be comforted at least a little bit. Until a booming voice from the mansion came muffled through the walls of the hovercraft. “We probably should get going, though.”

He nodded and slipped into the cockpit. Yesterday he’d gone and adjusted everything for his height, since it turned out that the average capitol pilot was noticeable taller. He took a deep breath and started flipping switches and adjusting settings to power up the hovercraft, muttering the checklist under his breath as he went. It hummed to life, lights glowing on the control panel and flickering on along the outside of the ship. Skyler turned those ones off. Any other day Volt would have had his head for that, but she didn’t have to know he’d flown a hovercraft with no lights at night.

Skyler double checked the system, took a deep breath, threw on the radio headset and brought the hovercraft up and out. It responded wonderfully.

The path was clear as they shot up to the roof of the mansion. Margot and Logan had cleared a spot just big enough to land. Perfect. Ignoring the shaking in his arms, he pushed the control wheel down, dialed back the power in the engines and set it down only a little harder than he would have liked.

Dead ahead through the windshield, a video of Snow put together to make him out to be a fool played, and the president in question couldn’t do much but glare as Skylar and the rest of them ran towards the open door of the hovercraft.

The mutt bounded towards him at the head table, and Skyler could see Indigo duck her head just in time for it to leap, clearing her back and slamming fangs-first into President Snow. He crumpled and his staff rushing to his side as soon as Absolon called the dog back. Indigo barely hid her laughter, twisting around in her chair to face the hovercraft. She met his eyes through the windshield with an expression that almost looked like pride.

“Clear!”

Someone called out from the back and Skyler wasted no time ramping up the thrust to the engines and sending the hovercraft shooting up, scattering anything not bolted down to the rooftop in it’s wake.

“Unknown Hovercraft, land immediately.”

He turned around and pressed the button to respond. “This is Unknown Hovercraft. Go fuck yourself.”

Volt would not have been happy with that radio call.

“Unknown Hovercraft I repeat: land immediately or you will be shot down.”

So those other crafts were weaponized after all. “This is Unknown Hovercraft. I repeat: go fuck yourself.”

He gripped the controls and pushed, sending the hovercraft into a drop, plummeting between buildings and stopping a just short of the roads below before flying forwards, darting down any street wide enough to accommodate them as he put distance between their hovercraft and the president’s mansion. This low to the ground it wasn’t likely they’d show up on radar, and with all exterior lights off they could hide between the buildings like a bird through the trees.

Skyler swallowed. If he managed not to crash straight into a building anyway. He probably should have told everyone in the back to put on seat belts or hold on until they got out of the city, but they’d probably figured that out by now.

Every muscle in his body tensed as he ducked through unfamiliar streets. Ground warnings blared through the cockpit, the warning light flashing only half as quickly as his heartbeat. If it weren’t for the threat of being found he would have slowed down, but they couldn’t get caught or it was all over. Every time a dark shape moved above them in the corner of his eye he darted into another street, more than once coming painfully close to clipping glass windows, close enough to see people staring at the hovercraft with disbelief. His arms shook and his knuckles went white the further out they went, buildings getting lower and lower further form the city center, forcing the craft nearer and nearer to the ground.

He dropped to just barely a metre between the roads and the bottom of the hovercraft. Houses and streetlights flew by on either side of the cockpit window, almost eye level with citizens rushing out of his way in shock. More warnings and more cautions joined the constant scream of the ground warning. Skyler could only imagine what the rest of them in the back must be thinking.

Hopefully they weren’t looking out the windows.

If he didn’t crash before they got out of the capitol Volt was going to kill him herself if she found out he’d flown so low, weaving in and out of increasingly narrow streets. But they were close now, closer with every second to the edge of the city with only the mountains between them and freedom.

What if that’s where they were waiting for them? Right along that mountain ridge. Skyler dared a quick glance up at the dark slopes. He’d be vulnerable, climbing to go over them, easy to see. Easy to shoot down without worrying about carnage landing on any important part of the city.

He veered down a bigger street until it met the train tracks. He pointed the craft towards the tunnel through the mountains and sped along the straight path towards the mouth. The train left for Robin’s district only yesterday. It wouldn’t be back to the capitol for at least a couple days.

Skyler guided the hovercraft straight into the middle of the tunnel. Everything went dark besides the glow of the instrument panel. He didn’t dare look away from the indicators. The tunnel was long, it was narrow, but it was perfectly straight. If he could keep it level, keep it from even the smallest roll left or right, they’d be out in the longest few seconds of his life.

The hovercraft shot out of the tunnel and he immediately pulled into a sharp climb. As soon as he was high enough, he accelerated as fast is it would go. The engines roared to life with the sudden increase in power before settling into an efficient hum. Trees and terrain turned to a blur as the lights grew weaker and weaker behind them.

Slowly, Skyler leaned back in his seat. Tension eased from his shoulders, and his grip on the control column relaxed. No sign of pursuit. No warnings or beeping from the control panel. No threats through the radio.

Stars started to show in the night sky, no longer smothered by the capitol’s lights. They swam in Skyler’s vision as tears welled up in his eyes, sliding hot down his cheeks. He rubbed his face with the cuff of his sleeve. The capitol, the hunger games, everything was behind them now. It didn’t feel real.

But the cheers in the hovercraft behind him were 100% real. So were the jeers towards the capitol and tired laughter. Finally out of danger, Skyler reached for the PA mic and turned it on.

“Is everyone here?” Hopefully they were because he was reluctant to turn around and go back. Probably should have asked that before they left the roof. Oops.

Absolon responded, shouted through the cabin. “Yes, everyone’s here. Thanks”

Skyler grinned. “Glad everyone got on! I was worried I would leave someone behind, but when I heard the doors close, I took off.” He laughed, probably too close to the audio receiver as he held it to his face. “Good job on a successful heist, everyone!

It sounded like Skylar said something in protest, but it quickly broke down to tears. In the back he could hear the others doing their best to comfort them, sharing stories, until they started to sound a little less upset.

“So,” he leaned into the receiver again. “when can I come back there and slap Skylar?”

They laughed, and Skyler smiled. The all of them must have moved a little closer to the flight deck, and he could hear what they were saying better now.

“…what about all of our families?”

This time he just twisted around in his seat and raised his voice instead of going for the intercom. “I’m going to be heading to everyone’s places to get family and friends.” He glanced back through the windshield. All clear. “I just need to stop and get Volt first, since she’ll help me pilot the hovercraft.” By the time they got into the districts he would be well in need of a relief pilot.

The others kept talking, but Skyler slowly tuned them out as he turned back around. This was the closest he’d really been alone since the arena. He glanced down at the map display. Still a decent ways to go to district 8. He yawned, for the first time realizing just how tired he was after all that. After barely sleeping in the capitol, sleeping even less in the arena, getting through the party and completing the most stressful flight of his life. He wouldn’t blame the others for taking the chance to get some rest before they landed, but he would have to wait until Volt could take over.

Skyler stretched his legs out as far as they would go without bumping the controls. Maybe he’d ask Absolon to sit with him later to keep him awake, since it didn’t look like he’d be able to sleep for at least a couple weeks anyway.