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dragonkeeper19600 · 3 years ago

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Jaws: The Musical (Concept)

So, out of curiosity, I looked online to see if anyone had ever adapted a musical from Jaws. There is a musical called Bruce that’s scheduled to debut in Seattle next year about the production of Jaws (and I would be interested in seeing that), but as for a musical of the Jaws story itself, I found one that’s for kids and about 48 minutes long.

Now, I’ve never seen this musical, so I cannot attest as to its quality, but, in my opinion, both of those choices are wrong. This musical should be the full two acts, and it should be aimed at adults.

I’ve been brainstorming, and I think I’ve got a hypothetical musical all mapped out. You might think a musical based on Jaws is silly, but a lot of successful musicals have been adapted from really strange things (such as a comic book artist’s coming-out memoir, a crappy Roger Corman movie, and a collection of goofy cat poems), and I feel like a Jaws musical could be really epic. The story easily lends itself into a two-act structure. The first act is the shark attacks on Amity Island, and the second act is the hunt for the shark in the Orca.

However, the musical wouldn’t make the mistake of putting lyrics to John Williams’s iconic Jaws theme. The theme would obviously be used as a leitmotif throughout the show, but it’s not the type of song that lends itself to lyrics, and I think that would be corny,

So, the musical would play out like this:

ACT ONE:

The movie opened with Chrissie’s death, so the stage show will do the same. The scene will be short and all dialogue, no singing. The shark will also not be seen, but its presence will be implied by the music, lighting, and Chrissy’s acting.

First song: “Welcome to Amity Island.” Functions as an intro to the setting of Act One. The tone is joyous and celebratory as the islanders welcome the flood of tourists that always come in the summer. A big portion of the song is sung by Mayor Vaughn as he sings about what a wonderful vacation spot Amity Island is. We also meet Brody, and a dark undercurrent is introduced to the song as he finds Chrissy’s mangled body.

Brody, of course, takes steps to close the beach right away, but he’s stopped by the Mayor, who sings the second song, “Summer Dollars,” where the Mayor insists that closing the beaches is bad for the town and that Brody shouldn’t be causing an unnecessary panic and causing hysteria that could drive tourists away. Brody tries to argue back but in the end, Vaughn has his way.

Brody returns to the station, apprehensive about keeping the beaches open. Here, we’re introduced to Brody’s wife, Ellen, who saw no problem with visiting him at work since nothing ever happens on Amity Island. Brody expresses his uneasiness, but Ellen assures him that his fear of the water is making him overestimate the danger. This gets Brody’s coworkers curious, so, with a little prompting from Ellen, Brody sings his first solo, “Drowning,” about his fear of the water. In the song, Brody sings about a childhood incident where a bully held him underwater at a public swimming pool. Not only did this give him a fear of water, but the bullying he received as a child is what set him on the path to become a cop, since he wanted to be able to protect people from suffering the same mistreatment he did. However, he moved from New York City because the working environment there was unfriendly to cops who wish to protect and serve instead of, well, being typical American cops.

Next song: “Blue Sky” Just as the Mayor wished, the beaches are open, and summer is in full swing. Brody is there with his family, anxiously keeping an eye on the water. The rest of the ensemble doesn’t share his anxiety, however, as they frolic and play in the sun. Brody is jolted to his feet several times by the sound of screaming, but it’s always a false alarm. However, the mood turns scary as we segue into the next song:

“Shark!” - While out swimming on his raft, young Alex Kintner is attacked and eaten. Brody sees it and screams the title of the song. It’s pandemonium as people rush out of the water, and the song is fast-paced and chaotic. However, it ends on a mournfully quiet note as Mrs. Kintner calls for her son. (”Alex? Alex!?”)

Quick scene transition, and we move immediately into he next song, called “Something Must Be Done.” Here, at a town council meeting, the townspeople argue back and forth about what to do about their shark problem. I imagine the music here sounding like the “Mayor’s Meeting” theme from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Brody argues strongly in favor of closing the beaches (in song, of course), but he is shut down not only by the Mayor but by the rest of the townspeople, who still rely on the income brought in by the tourists. People throw around various suggestions, with one woman finally declaring that she’ll reward whoever catches the shark with three thousand dollars. The song descends into a cacophony as people argue over each other.

The noise is interrupted by the screech of nails on a chalkboard. It’s Quint who sings the titular song, “Jaws,” as he sings about his job as a shark hunter and how dangerous sharks can be. (”Those jaws will swallow you whole. / A little shakin’, tenderizing’, down you go.”) He offers to kill the shark for ten grand, not three. The woman who made the offer balks at the high price, and the Mayor explains that kind of money isn’t in the budget “right now.” Quint takes it in stride and tells everyone they’ll know where to find him if they change their minds. He’s supposedly addressing the room, but he looks right at Brody as he says it. He can tell Brody is the only one who will actually listen.

Many sailors of various aptitudes come to Amity Island, hoping to catch the shark and cash in on that three thousand dollars. Among the new arrivals is Hooper, who introduces himself to Brody as a marine biologist from the Oceanographic Institute. Hooper sings his intro song, “Beautiful,” referring to his views on sharks. Hooper recounts how he was bitten by a shark as a child, but instead of coming to fear them, Hooper walked away fascinated by them and now views sharks to be beautiful creatures. However, the song takes a somber note as Hooper is brought in to examine Chrissie’s remains, and the word “Beautiful” is shifted from referring to sharks to referring to Chrissie when she was alive. (“She was just a kid. / So much of life to live. / Now, bits and scraps are all that’s left. / Of a girl who was once so beautiful.”)

“Hell of a Fish” - The fishermen succeed in catching a large tiger shark, presumed to be the shark that killed Alex and Chrissie. Brody joins in the celebratory atmosphere, but Hooper examines the dead shark’s teeth and is convinced they’ve got the wrong fish. The Mayor and the fisherman who caught the tiger shark argue that this is the shark that’s been causing the trouble, while Hooper argues back that it’s definitely not. Hooper angrily demands that he be allowed to dissect the shark to confirm whether there are human remains inside, but Mayor Vaughn rejects his request. He doesn't care if they’ve got the right shark. He doesn’t believe a third attack will happen either way. (”We’ve got a hell of a fish to show. / And shark attacks are pretty rare, you know?”)

This song is interrupted by the entrance of Mrs. Kintner, in funeral attire, who goes up to Brody and slaps him. She then sings “My Boy Is Dead,” a slow, tragic lament about her son, Alex. (“He was just a boy. His whole life still ahead. / Now, I’ll never know what he would’ve been. / Because my boy is dead.”) Mrs. Kintner blames Brody for not warning the town after Chrissie’s death, and Brody takes the blame to heart. The song ends with a callback to “Hell of a Fish,” as Hooper bitterly remarks that he hopes Mayor Vaughn is right about the tiger shark being the culprit, otherwise there’s a “hell of a fish” still out there somewhere.

“Cloud on the Horizon” - Song is kicked off by a TV reporter, who delivers a brief story to the audience about the recent shark attacks on Amity Island. The holiday-making resumes on Amity’s beaches, but people are more nervous than before, The ensemble sings amongst themselves about whether they should go in the water. They finally do so with a little encouragement from the Mayor. Meanwhile, Brody encourages his son Michael to stay in the shallow pond.

“Shark! (Reprise)” - A shark fin is spotted in the water, and the ensemble takes up the alarm, scrambling while frantically singing a reprise of “Shark!” However, the alarm dies down when the fin is revealed to be a fake worn by a swimmer. However, a lone woman takes up the cry again as the shark is spotted swimming toward the pond where Michael is. The music ramps up as the shark takes down a boater mere feet away from Michael, and the audience gets their first clear view of the shark.

“Red Sea” - The song functions as a reprise of “Blue Sky,” but also contains musical elements from “My Boy is Dead.” Brody pulls his son Michael out of the water, unsure of whether he’s still alive. Luckily, Michael is only in shock. Ellen runs to call for an ambulance. As he waits by Michael’s body, Brody sings his second solo, loudly berating everyone in town, including himself, for allowing this to happen three times. All of the beachgoers, including the Mayor, are cowed by his song.

“(Can’t Find) a Good Man” - This is the first song between all three crew members of the Orca. Brody goes to hire Quint to kill the shark, agreeing to pay whatever he wants. Quint knows he has Brody by the balls and keeps upping the price, demanding additional payments like various kinds of booze and a color TV in addition to the ten thousand dollars. Brody agrees to all of it, but Quint’s one crew member refuses to go out after the shark, so Quint fires him. Hooper and Brody volunteer to go along, but Quint is reluctant to bring them aboard. He contemplates whether he should go alone, since Hooper and Brody will be useless on deck. Hooper loudly argues that he's qualified and “doesn’t need this working class hero crap,” but Brody is more gentle and persuasive. He reminds Quint that his own son was nearly killed by this shark and feels he owes it to both his family and the town to help in whatever way he can. Quint is won over by Brody’s humility and agrees to take them both on.

“Farewell, Amity Island” - Reprise of “Welcome to Amity Island” and the Act One Finale. Like “Welcome to Amity Island,” this is a huge ensemble number, this time centering around the Orca’s upcoming departure. Several characters come to see the ship off as Quint yells at Hooper and Brody, including the Mayor and Ellen. The Mayor apologizes to Brody (“I know you’re angry. You have every right to be. / My own children were there in that same red sea.”), where Ellen bids a tearful farewell, knowing she might never see Brody again. Brody’s sung farewells are intercut with a spoken back and forth between Quint and Hooper, as Quint snarks at everything Hooper does. The song also contains instrumental traces of “Spanish Ladies.” Brody and Ellen’s embrace is broken up by Quint as the Orca shoves off.

ACT TWO:

After the act two opener (which is an instrumental of “Jaws,” the song Quint sang earlier), we return to the Orca where Quint fishes off the stern, loudly singing “Spanish Ladies” a cappella. It sounds pretty good, but he’s interrupted by Hooper, who yells that he’s been listening to Quint sing for three hours and can’t take it any more. Brody has no choice but to listen to the ensuing back and forth as he chums the water.

The childish behavior is interrupted when Quint gets a bite. He's convinced it’s the shark, but Hooper, still annoyed with Quint, believes it’s some kind of sport fish. Hooper begrudgingly goes to help Quint pull in the line, but a moment of inattention causes the line to snap.

“City Hands” - Quint berates Hooper for losing the shark and trying to tell a professional shark hunter how to hunt sharks. Their animosity finally erupts into an angry duet as they hurl very personal insults at each other, with Hooper calling Quint a drunken, senile sea dog, while Quint berates Hooper for being a coddled, privileged city boy. Their musical fight looks like it’ll get physical when Hooper snatches the beer Quint was drinking out of his hand and chucks it into the ocean. Luckily, Brody breaks it up, pointedly reminding them why they’re here and that they don’t need to be at each other’s throats when the shark will gladly do that for them. Quint sheepishly apologizes to Brody and only Brody. Hooper likewise backs down.

Brody returns to chumming the water only to toss a shovelful of chum directly into the shark’s face. The shark is right beside the Orca, and it’s huge. There is an instrumental score but no singing as all three men work together to try and bring in the shark. The shark seems unfazed by all the bullets and harpoons they shoot into it, but they manage to attach one barrel to the shark. Quint is satisfied that the shark will tire itself out with the barrel attached and that all they have to do is wait it out. Brody is all for returning to shore and calling the Coast Guard, but Quint ignores him.

Scene transition, and we’re in the ship’s cabin that night. All three men are staying up to wait for the shark, and they’ve had a bit to drink. Quint catches Brody examining the rope burn he got on his hand earlier in the day and reassures him that it won't leave a permanent scar. This segues into the duet “Something Permanent,” as Hooper and Quint compare scars. The tone isn’t angry and harsh as before but jovial and upbeat. Clearly, the earlier animosity is forgiven.

“Those Eyes” - This is Quint’s solo about the sinking of the Indianapolis. Brody asks Quint about a scar on his arm that he hasn’t mentioned. Quint offhandedly mentions it’s a tattoo he had removed. When Hooper makes a joke about it being a “Mother” tattoo, Quint informs him it’s actually for the U.S.S. Indianapolis. Hooper clearly knows the story, but Brody doesn't, so Quint tells it. The song is slow and eerie. The words “those eyes” are used to refer to both the sharks’ eyes and the eyes of his crew mates as they were devoured or lay dead in the water. Quint sings that he still sees those eyes looming up at him in the dark of the night. He then catches the looks on Brody and Hooper’s faces and chuckles darkly, telling them not to look at him with “those eyes.” After all, they delivered the bomb. No one comments on this, but all three men have now sung their backstories at some point in the show.

Hooper quietly starts to sing “Show Me the Way to Go Home.” The other two join in. Their singing is interrupted by the shark ramming into the ship.

The crew scramble back on deck. Quint, his mind still swimming in the memory of the Indianapolis, wildly fires a rifle at the shark, but he only succeeds in driving it away, Hooper goes belowdeck to assess the damage. The ship can still run, but it’s struggling. Brody loudly advocates returning to shore, but Quint refuses.

The shark returns, leading to the next song, “Barrels.” The song has a lot of dialogue and instrumental but also functions as a reprise of “Something Permanent,” as Quint gleefully proclaims his intent to leave “something permanent” on the shark. The crew manages to attach three barrels to the shark, but they lose track of it again.

Quint decides that since barrels and weapons don’t seem to be working, and the ship is only becoming more damaged, that the thing to do is lure the shark back to shore and drown it in the shallow water. Hooper warns Quint that he’s overtaxing the engine, but Quint only leans harder on the throttle. The engine gives out.

Brody goes to the radio to call the Coast Guard for help but is shocked when Quint smashes the radio with a baseball bat before the message can get out. This leads to an even angrier reprise of “City Hands,” now with Brody insulting Quint instead of Hooper, calling him “certifiable.” Quint shouts more than sings that he can handle it and he doesn’t need rescuing “this time.” The song shifts to the slower, gentler melody that was used when Brody calmed Hooper and Quint before as Quint tells Brody he vowed that would never be helpless in the water again. Both Brody and Hooper, who was heard the entire outburst, are struck silent.

“Beautiful (Reprise)” - Hooper somberly volunteers to be lowered into the anti-shark cage. Brody argues against it, but, for once, Quint is willing to hear Hooper out. Hooper sings about how putting himself in harm’s way is his only chance to the tune of his intro song, “Beautiful.” Hooper then admits that Quint is right, he hasn’t been through what Quint has, but he’s willing to try and prove his worth. Quint and Brody realize they don't have much choice and agree.

Hooper goes into the cage. Brody takes Hooper’s glasses, and Hooper gives them both one last look before he puts on his mask and goes under.

“In the Cage” - Instrumental. While below the water (which is just another part of the stage covered in blue spotlights), Hooper tries to attack the shark with the syringe on the end of a spear, but he drops it. The shark begins to break its way into the cage, but Hooper manages to escape and hides behind some rocks, apologizing to the men above for failing.

Quint and Brody, of course, can’t hear him, nor can they see what’s happening below. Quint and Brody pull up the cage to find it mangled and empty. Brody is devastated, thinking that Hooper is dead, but Quint seems to be truly unraveling. He sings a shaky reprise of “Those Eyes,” this time obsessing over the look Hooper gave them before he went under. He frantically recalls that he saw the same look on the faces of his crew mates after the sinking of the Indianapolis. Tragically, the song also functions as a callback to “My Boy Is Dead.” (”It’s far too late for me now to take back the things I’ve said. / They’ll haunt me ‘til my dying day. / Because that boy is dead.”)

“Quint’s End” - Instrumental, spoken dialogue. Quint can’t get the last image of Hooper out of his mind and begs him to stop looking at him like that. Brody is alarmed as Quint’s pleas to Hooper change to pleas to his dead crew mate, Herbie Robinson. Quint has slid into a full-blown PTSD flashback. In his mind, he’s back in the waters of the Pacific thirty years ago, surrounded by sharks and dead crew mates. Brody tries to calm Quint down by reminding him where he is, but at that moment, the shark leaps onto the stern, and the Orca lists backwards. (In my head, the Orca set is on some kind of platform that can be raised at an incline.) Both men begin to slide toward the waiting jaws of the shark. Brody manages to grab onto the door frame leading into the cabin. He tries to hold onto Quint, but Quint slips out of his hand. Quint tries to fight back against the shark, but with a sickening crunch, Quint falls silent. The shark retreats with Quint’s lifeless body.

“Smile!” - Payback time. The Orca is sinking fast, and Brody knows that if he ends up in the water, it’s game over. Brody manages to ward the shark off with one of Hooper’s scuba tanks. The shark takes the scuba tank into its mouth, giving Brody the chance to climb onto the mast with Quint’s rifle. The music ramps up in speed and intensity as the shark closes in. Brody’s singing ramps up to match as he fires at the shark again and again, reminding himself of his promise to protect others and vowing that this shark will never kill anyone again. Then, with a final, bombastic, “So, smile you son of a bitch!” he gets a hit on the tank, and the shark explodes. He whoops and hollers as the music swells.

The finale instrumental is both sad and sweet. The sinking mast deposits Brody in the water. Hooper surfaces besides him. They laugh together, relieved that it’s over. Hooper asks about Quint, but Brody only responds with the single word, “No.” Hooper and Brody are close enough to paddle back to shore, so they do just that. As they set off, Brody begins to sing, “Show Me the Way to Go Home.” Hooper joins in. The curtain falls.

#jaws #the musical #i spent way too much time on this #steven spielberg #martin brody #matt hooper #quint #ellen brody #mayor larry vaughn #fan fic #what if #long post

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captain-aralias · 3 years ago

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Life stuff

this feels kind of weird, because i’ve never used my tumblr like this, but i would have written something on my livejournal, and i want people to know - i just dont want to have to tell people about it, or really talk about it at all.

but i also wanted to write this, idk.

(TW: impending death of a parent)

my mum has cancer.

it’s a rare form of cancer, called peritoneal cancer, which is similar to but different from ovarian cancer - i think it mostly gets diagnosed (like my mum’s) when it’s too late to do anything about it. all the treatment has been palliative only i.e. letting her live as long and as comfortably as possible.

she was diagnosed in september last year - about a year ago, a few months after running the ‘virtual’ london marathon on the isle of wight, where she lives, and obviously deep in lockdown.

as someone undergoing chemo, she was deemed extremely vulnerable to covid, and so she spent most of the early pandemic isolating. she also said she didn’t see any point in my brother and i visitng her, particularly given the risks, because we could talk via facetime - which is fair enough - all of which meant my brother and i didn’t go to visit her until May this year, after she’d done the first lot of chemo and was already doing much better again.

a few months after that, we found out that while she’d responded really well to the chemo, her cancer wasn’t responding at all to the maintenance drugs that were suposed to stop it coming back, so she came off the drugs completely. medical advice was basically chemo is as effective whenever you do it, so you might as well enjoy your life for a while, we’ll monitor it every month, and when things start to get too bad, we’ll put you back in chemo.

it’s friday tomorrow - so two fridays ago, i saw my mum in london after she’d just seen hamilton with her partner, graham. both of them loved hamilton. her hair had grown back, she seemed pretty normal. about a week later, she was in A&E - and she’s been in the hospital all week. she’s got a total bowel obstruction, which means she can’t eat and hasn’t eaten since last week.

now in a weird situation where there are a few tricky, difficult options (including being moved off the island back onto the mainland to a bigger hospital) that will mean that she stays alive long enough to get the chemo, which will probably get her back to hamilton-watching strength, or ... she could die really soon. like, in a few days.

we can’t visit. her partner can’t visit because covid - there’s this really sad-making photo of him looking happy on the phone through a window to my mum, also on the phone, inside the hospital.

i feel...

???? :( :( :( ....

i guess this is the main point of the post. i’m not writing this crying, i’m writing it pretty neutrally - because my brain isn’t really processing it right now, and mostly doesn’t process it.

i did cry earlier today while on the phone to various people, and then i went back to work. i hate crying, i hate being sad, and i dont like people comforting me, because it makes me realise that i have something to be sad about.

i’ve known she had cancer for a year. i haven’t been able to hang out with her most of that time. i would say, we are fairly close, although not nearly as close as some families. we don’t talk every week, but we talk regularly, and have seen each other regularly.

i’m so incredibly privileged that nothing that bad has ever happened to me, even though i’m 35. i’ve never been to a funeral, which seemed like a major life win and now i think was a mistake, i should have gone to funerals for people i card about less to help get used to it.

the literal only comparison i have to how i feel is when my cat Anton died suddenly about 3 years ago - i handled it with a mix of not thinking about it, being intensely sad for as brief a period as i could, and probably by thinking about how sad my girlfriend was about it, and sort of sidestepping my own feelings in comparison.

i remember when my last remaining grandparent died - and i was about 14 or something - i wasn’t sad for myself, i was only sad for her my dad being sad. for ages, i worried that i was not going to be sad enough about this - and i still sort of am.

but i also passionately hate the idea of being sad and i know i’ll look to avoid it as much as possible, and try and get on with my life.

i know my mum dying isn’t about me - when people write after death it’s about the person who died, obviously. that makes sense. but this post isn’t about my mum, who is a very cool person, much cooler than me - it’s about me. because i am self-obsessed and this is going to wreck my life for a while.

it’s weird, because i can see it on the horizon but it’s not happening yet. and i dont know whether that’s good or bad - i feel like it’s good, in a way. someone ages ago told me that the grieving period starts when you get the news. that seems very true to me - but also, i know that it’s going to ramp up, and so i’m like in the expectation of true grief right now.

it’s sort of like she died, but also is still going to die, but also i can magically still talk to her. which is really nice, in a way, it’s like a second chance, because i know i didn’t reach out enough before she had cancer. and i’m aware enough of my own actions that i know this is what’s been going on in my head the past year - i should reach out more, because she has cancer, but i dont want to make it seem like i’m reaching out because she has cancer, even though she knows i know she has cancer....... and also, i’m busy writing this fic. /o\

the fact that she seemed to recover (even though my mum insisted on saying ‘i am not recovered, i’m going to die soon’ like several time as a day as a disclaimer) also totally messed with my head, because i knew logically - ok, it’s happening. but also, things seemed so normal when we speak. even when i called her today, and she hasn’t eaten for a week, it seemed normal.

btw - i realised this week i had no idea how cancer killed people. my mum is a scientist and has looked up all kinds of things about what’s killing her; i’m clearly a simon snow and didn’t want to think about things i can’t help. if you’d asked me, i’d have said like... it poisons you or something, or blocks bloodflow to your brain. not what i think will actually do it which is.... starvation. or being too weak to survive being pumped full of the poison that is intended to kill the cancer. (that one i guess i could have predicted.) man - cancer sucks. i mean, we all knew it.

(i failed to get into cambridge university at interview stage, many years ago. the man who interviewed me gave me some extremely memorable feedback, which is that i needed to dial back the ‘defensive irony’ - which i thnk in that context meant i put myself down and tried to make a joke of everything. i remember when i got the phonecall to say Anton, my cat, was dead, i literally did not know what to do with my voice - because my instinct was to try and make the vet feel better, and also to present myself as bright and capable, and yet this unexpected and devasting news had just come through. rainbow wrote something sort of similar because she’s a good writer, for shepard as he tells penny about his curse. i feel like that.)

what else did i want to say?

i thought i had more time. ‘hamilton’ will probably always be tied to this moment in my mind, because of how much i’ve spoken to my mum about it in the past few weeks (i sent her the remix - she liked it, she listened to it in hospital while trying to drink more than 100ml of fluids) but yeah - this is basically a line from hamilton here. whatever. don’t make me feel my own feelings, let me just quote things. i dont like my own feelings. (no, i dont want to go to therapy - they’d make me talk about my feelings all the time, i’m british for god’s sake.)

i’m 35 - my mum is 68. i didn’t think she’d die this early or that i’d have to deal with this yet. but then i also don’t think bad things are ever going to happen to me - because mostly they haven’t, see above. i wear a mask and am double vaccinated because i’m not an asshole, but i dont really believe i’ll get covid because bad things don’t happen to me. i didn’t think my mum would die - maybe ever, but definitely not yet. she’s been retired a decade after teaching (science) and has enjoyed it.

i thought i had time to not have kids yet - which is the other thing (like hamilton) that this moment is really tied up with for me. i feel like 35 is getting quite old, but also not that old to still not have kids, but intend to maybe have them. my feelings about kids were basically like - up until like 25, i thought, yes, definitely. i mean, before i had a realtiosnhip (22-ish), i just assumed i would probably have a het marriage and have kids etc, like people do, but after that we were still talking, yes, children at some point.

didn’t prioritise it for a few reasons - none of my close friends had children until quite recently, so it just didn’t seem like an urgent thing in the way that it probably does for people with different friendship groups. waiting to be settled enough in a job to be able to take maternity leave without it feeling like a rip off for my employer. waiting for a good time in erin’s PhD writing cycle. and then pandemic. and then a few years ago, maybe as i turned 30, i thought - maybe we won’ have kids, because we still haven’t - and i vocalised that to erin.

also, i know a lot of people are gay and have children, so it’s not like it’s a thing that is impossible at all, but it’s much much harder if you have to leave your home and your relationship in order to get a child. it has to be a very very conscious decisions. i have friend who are men who have good genes, but we’re not so close i want to ask them for their sperm/to be involved however remotely in making a child - and (i was surprised to discover) (what a lot of things i dont know anything about) you an’t really just buy sperm, it’s not truly legal except through a clinic. and it’s extremely expensive to get inseminated in a clinic, and the NHS don’t really do that, so you do have to pay it. i thought kids would be expensive after they were born, but not before. and i REALLY wanted a house, much much more than - i think even today - i’ve ever wanted a child. i REALLY wanted a house - and now we have a house, and it’s pretty good. but - that’s where the money went, until the pandemic - thanks pandemic - so now we do have some disposable cash at last, because i didn’t commute.

but now erin is worried about climate change - and wheher it’s right to bring more children into the world, and other things. and.... i think i do want to be pregnant, it’s what i’m planning for - don’t leave this job (which admittedly i also really like, and pays me well - i dont thin i need to leave) because next stop maternity leave, but.....

i don’t know whether i am thinking, time ot have kids because my best friend just had a baby (the baby’s name is horatio - for real, i actually love this name) (i also haven’t seen her or the baby except over skype, because anna - my friend - is, like my mother, also scared of pandemic) and my brain is like - ok, well, if anna is doing it, i guess the time is here

AND - i know there’s a large part of me that was like, gotta be pregnant and ideally have the baby before my mum dies so she gets to see that she had a grandchild. my brother and i are both queer, btw, in case you were wondering - he’s considering whether he wants to transition right now (but is still happy with he/him pronouns) and - you may find this astonishing, but i genuinely don’t know whether he’d consider himself ace, or has been in relationships. he’s very private, he has OCD and is in therapy - but anyway, he’s probably not having kids anytime soon (i think!) and graham - my mum’s boyfriend/partner of 10+ years. -has grandchildren, but my extremely middleclass white (but definitely not conservative voters, always 100% not-tory) parents ended up with me and my brother.... and i don’t know, as i say, i don’t know whether my brain is saying ‘have kids before it’s too late’ - although i know by now that it will be too late. even if my mum recovers from this, this time, i don’t think i can produce a child before she dies - and she isn’t asking me too, she’s not like that, but i would have liked her to be there. i thought she would be.

so - i’m thinking about that. also, about getting a dog. i really want a dog - although i don’t want to upset the three cats (one we’ve had for eight years or so, the other two we got after Anton died). it’s ALSO really hard and expensive to get a dog. you’d think with all these ‘a dog isn’t just for the pandemic, a dog is for life’ type adverts around, that it would be easy to adcidentally get a dog - i’ve looked! you ccan’t get a dog unless you have no cats and you’re super experienced and can take a dog with lots of trauma or medical problems, or you’re willing to pay thousands of pounds. like - even for a regular not even pedigree dog - at least a thousand. pedigree dog - several thousand. i dont want a puppy either - i want a dog.

and - this is embarrassing to admit, but i’ve alrady told erin - i genuinely had a phase of being super annoyed when i’d read fics where someone just ‘got a dog’. it’s not that simple!!! it’s fiction, it doesn’t matter - chill out. the baby thing too - although weirdly not fics where magic meant it was possible to get a baby, weirdly it was smut. i had a brief week or so of crazy (and i don’t think i am that crazy) where i’d read about fictional semen and just be like - wtf, it’s so hard to get hold of that shit. (it’s not real, this isn’t real semen being wasted, calm down - and i dont even really know if i want kids, i might just think i do.)

the other thing about the bad thing being soon but not yet (but also being all the time, but not if you dnt think about it) is that i’m thinking - should i prioritise writing my remix now, in case my mum dies and i’m too sad to do it, and then i didn’t do my remix? i was definitely thinking this while writing classroom politics (i hope my mum doesn’t die becaue i dont want to be too sad to miss the deadline) and in the run up to AWTWB .....

today i wrote a list of things for work that would need to be picked up if i have to unexpectedly stop working, either because i’m too sad, or because i have to do funeral stuff, or .... i guess legal stuff about settling the estate. (i guess this happens to a lot of people, too, but it’s also a bit of a mindfuck that my brother and i will inherit her house and a bunch of cash when she dies - i’m pretty well off, my brotehr does virtual reality theatre stuff so really isn’t - we’ve talked about how much easier both of our lives will be with a huge injection of cash, and how we dont know what to feel about that) (great news, dogs and kids are really expensive! time to find out whether i really wanted to spend my money on those.) told people i like at work that it’s coming, and that i dont want to talk about it. and mostly just... carrying on with life, really. until it happens.

it’s so weird how easy it is to carry on most of the time.i know my mum’s partner is not doing nearly so well - he has to cope with an empty house and he’s retired. i’ve had periods - including right now - where i wake up every morning and check my phone to see whehter someone called me or texted me to tell me it’s over. but most of the day i’m actually really fine. i even had an ok day today. and i don’t know whether i want that to be the case, or whether i shouldn’t let myself do that. i dont know what i should prepare for in terms of where i’ll be - will i want lots of stuff to distract me (this is my guess) and work is very good for that, or i will want to clear time and space because i can’t operate and dont want people to offer me comfort. (FYI - this post isn’t written to make people say anything to me, i definitely dont want to talk about it, so please don’t feel you either have to comment or check in on me - i don’t really want you to. it’s enough to have written it, in my own time, in my own space.)

i think i wanted to write this post in a way because i thought i probably wouldnt want to write it after my mum died - because i probably wouldn’t want to say anything about it at all, for a few years.

my mum keeps telling me about the show ‘jane the virgin’ - which she’s half way through. shhe asked me to give it a try, so i did (she often tells me about shows on radio 4, which i rarely listen to. i thouht i had more time.) i’ve watched an episode (because she has cancer, i should listen to her recommendations)(but i dont want her to know that’s why i did it) and i do quite like - it’s light and frothy and well cut together (although about kids and artificial insemination, of course). i guess in a worse case scenario where i’m too sad to work or write, i will probably watch a lot of this show - which is incredibly not sad - and feel sad about how my mum never finished it.

BUT ALSO SHE MIGHT BE OK. for a while.

i dont know how i feel, blargh. anyway. this was a long post. i think i wrote it mostly for me. feelings are weird. covid really sucks and so does cancer.

going to order some chicken and watch inuyasha.

#my content #tw: death #tw: death of a parent #tw: death of a loved one #personal #tw: cancer

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cinnaminyoons · 4 years ago

Text

( HOME. )

ミ☆ for you, home is not one place. it is wherever jimin is.

⤷ PAIRING pjm x m!reader

⤷ WORD COUNT 3.6k

⤷ TAGS light profanity, lost limb (nothing graphic, but a warning just in case), mentions of period-typical homophobia

⤷ NOTES uhhh guess who binged black sails in like a week and whose current hyperfixation is pirates,, (again.) so here’s the historical fantasy au i wrote at 2 am !!

nassau: a pirate haven on a small caribbean island. wanted by colonial rule but beholden to no one. she thrives as a pirate port, bringing in thousands of spanish coins and trading in heavy barrels of goods. though lawless and rampant with drunken men, nassau’s unspoken rules are clear, with the threat of banishment and refusal to trade as strong a punishment as the crack of a whip.

the port is indiscriminate. pirates from across the seas visit her, from the american main and sometimes as far as the barbary coast, in hopes that she will offer more for their plunder than what they may get closer to home.

very few men, however, hail from anywhere farther east than the mediterranean. that is a category that jimin lays and takes pride in. he’s learnt their tongue over the years and is better at it, many may say, than the englishmen themselves. though, when a man loathes england as much as most of the men in nassau do, even a rabid dog’s snarl may be a more sophisticated sound than the words of a businessman along the thames.

jimin’s gait is quick and sprightly as he weaves through the thinning masses. he catches the wandering eye of a mountain of a man and winks, a teasing little smile playing at his lips, but he vanishes around a corner before the pirate can approach with coin in his palm. he seems a good target, should jimin need some quick money.

he takes a shortcut through the main road that has a tavern and an inn on opposing sides, getting closer to the centre of town. two children with daggers slipped through their belts hurry past him, speaking in hushed whispers and giggles as they stare at a far-off point in the distance. following their gazes, he spots the dark blot on the horizon, stark against the pink-orange dusk.

he smiles to himself as he continues on through nassau town and into the square, slipping into narrow alleyways and past merchants’ wives sweeping at their front doors. night is falling quickly and he must hurry—he doesn’t have a torch or lamp on him, and most of the ones that will be lit will be at the beachside tent city where the majority of pirates live. he’ll be bumbling about soon, feeling his way through the blackness.

when he spots the faultlessly-carved wooden sign above the door of a fairly well-to-do, if modest, establishment, his grin grows and he speeds up. coins jingle at his hip.

as he pushes open the door, he avoids an area of planks under his feet, stepping over them naturally. they creak quite loudly when trodden on and are the way his dearest friend and partner differentiates between one-time pirates and regulars. prices are doubled for those who step on the creaking wood and left usual for the ones who intentionally avoid it, the latter of whom know the way the owner works. one-time visitors always feel less suspicious about the high-priced goods.

jimin closes the door behind him and walks with a bounce in his step up to the wooden bench at the back of the room. he leans over it and peeks behind the door to the right, where he catches a flash of movement. he knows his presence has been noticed and he sets himself back on his heels, careful to avoid knocking over the various polished trinkets on display.

“back so soon, little dove?” you ask as you appear from within the side room, wiping the dainty metal shavings off your hands on a calico offcut.

jimin looks up at the familiar nickname, putting a gleaming silver pocket watch down where he found it. he laughs, a bright tinkling sound. “i doubt i have lived a single day without you in years. i have something important for us.”

he unlatches the sack of coins from the leather strap crossing his body with his right hand. he drops it onto the bench and it thuds, making a satisfying jingle. his smile gets wider and he gestures at it. “have a look, then.”

you raise an eyebrow and cautiously pull the strings loose. your eyes widen. “this is—you didn’t earn this, did you?”

jimin giggles. it is the only response you get.

“tell me, who does this belong to?” you press.

“why does it matter? it was left outside the inn, its owner most likely gone to have fun with the girls. it has changed hands before him; now it has changed hands to mine.” he shrugs, as if stealing what appears to be a few hundred pieces of eight is no more of an issue than a buzzing fly.

“it matters,” you say, brow furrowed in concern, “because the sailor who left it there isn’t going to forget about his share. his now lost share.”

still, jimin remains blithe. “perhaps he should’ve taken proper care of it.” he changes the subject, eager to avoid the scolding he knows is in line for him. “don’t you understand? we might have enough for us to finally leave this place for good!”

you lean closer to him over the counter, drawing your eyes over his face. “you attract as much trouble as you do men, and i will stick out among any crew who might be desperate enough to take us across the seas for a handful of coin—that is, if they don’t turn me over to the navy first. they’ve come dangerously close to nassau, english ships. i’ve heard word they’ve increased patrol along the american main and it won’t be long ‘til they come closer, at spain’s side or against her.”

jimin blinks in disbelief. “you can’t be suggesting i sail alone.”

“it may be what’s best. that way, you’ll have a better chance.”

“a better chance at what? at avoiding jack ketch?” he asks incredulously. “i’m hardly a pirate. they have no reason to make me dance.”

you shake your head and tie up the sack of money, pushing it towards him. “your being hanged is a mercy in the case they realise you’re associated with me. no. i’m talking about a better chance at a better life.”

scoffing, jimin narrows his eyes. “you are my chance at a better life, you idiot! without you, there is no life for me.”

“you lived without me once. you can do so again.”

“i was miserable then. i will be again.”

“you don’t understand, dove,” you say in a near hiss, pulling back to curse under your breath. even like this, you cannot properly reprimand him. “i am already on the gallows with a rope around my throat. if i am to leave with you, i’ll only be a hindrance to the freedom you want so badly.”

abruptly, jimin’s aspect darkens and he slams his hand flat against the counter. the metal trinkets clatter. leaning forward, he glares at you and says lowly, “i will not leave without you! i can’t see a damn future for myself without you in it somewhere—get that through your thick skull!”

“you will have no future if we get caught!”

“we must at least try!“

“what life is worth such a painful humiliation?”

“is staying in this cage of an island better than taking that chance?”

“it is if you are safe in it!”

“that’s a fucking lie and you know it,” jimin hisses, “there’s nothing for us here but scraps of metal and thieving.”

“it’s better than death at the hands of the english! they hang men like us, dove,” you say, nearly pleading, “they hang us alongside murderers and traitors to the crown. they laugh as their people cheer and throw rotten fruit at swinging bodies. i won’t have you so disrespected.”

“i am not afraid of death,” says jimin, even though his voice is thin.

you sigh and turn away. but you can’t help the weak chuckle that escapes you—jimin has always been defiant, never one to back down, even when you first met him when he was thirteen, bruised and battered and retching blood in an alleyway.

“it is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live,” jimin recites with a frown. “my brother read me that. are we not simply existing, here in nassau, having never lived properly?”

you sigh again and hunch over, resting your elbows on the wood. jimin’s eyes trace over your hands—they are far from soft and small, like his, and are scarred and calloused from working metal day after day. but despite their roughness, they can still create delicate things, piecing together tiny gears and fine wires with nary a shake.

he leans in and wraps his hand around yours—his apology for shouting. you take it, pressing your lips against his fingers, before closing your eyes for a brief moment. you open them again and put his hand down. you say quietly, “if you’re to set sail soon, how will you manage with one arm?”

“i’ve made it so far, yes?” jimin replies easily. “it is also a good hitting stick.”

he knows why you’re so adamant against his desire to leave, and he can’t fault you for it. the first time you and he had escaped captivity, you were not even a man, only sixteen, and your rash plan to get the two of you out before the men sold you both had cost jimin his arm from the elbow down. after it, you refused to let jimin set up camp, and each night you returned with food and water looking surprised that jimin still sat there, patiently tending to the fire.

“we—i will leave this place,” jimin says quietly. his voice trembles. “i spoke to a merchant cap’n on the shore. he sails tomorrow morning and has agreed to bring me to port royal.”

“port royal?”

“yes.” he sounds uncertain. “if i can convince another ship to take me... well, i’ll be going somewhere, at the least.”

the silence between you is palpable. it lays thick and heavy over the whole room and jimin waits for your agreement to join him, though he fears it will not come.

he reaches over and squeezes your hand when the silence drags on for longer than he knows is necessary. he very nearly yelps when your hand shoots out to grab his, keeping him with you. “what—”

“if you are to truly leave forever, dove, you should at least have a prettier arm,” you say as ways of explanation, before vanishing behind the door of the side room. you don’t come out for a moment, and though jimin’s burning curiosity brews, he stays and takes the time to look around.

your wares are the same as they always have been. everything from children’s wind-up toys to gilded pocket watches, as well as swords so sharp they can take fingers off with a twitch and flintlock weapons that you personally altered to make reloading faster and easier. they are all neatly displayed on the walls and on tables. the weapons you sell are stocked behind the door where you are now, and as such, it leaves the room seeming much bigger than it is.

in contrast to the weapons, the toys and frivolous items are pushing for space on the left wall; nassau town’s children like to awe over the things you make, especially the toys that act like the real animal: bird claws that grip sticks and skinny arms alike, mice that raise on a triangular pin to peer up at the child, long fangs that gnash and tails that whip.

when you return, you are holding a long item wrapped in pale calico. you place it on the bench, pushing aside the polished scales and jimin’s sack of coins to make space. you slide the item towards him.

he glances up at you before he pushes the covers off. his eyes widen, enough to make you smile, and his mouth falls open with a sharp intake of breath.

laying on the calico, palm down, is a shining forearm the colour of brass. the outer layer is gapped, showing off the intricate gears and mechanics that make up its skeleton. despite being small, the gears look sturdy. there are smooth cuts across the wrist and each joint of the fingers for a reason jimin can’t understand. but what is most striking of all is that it looks a near-perfect copy of his remaining arm—the dips and curves of his muscles, all the way down to the size of the knuckles and length of the fingers.

“what... what is this?” he breathes, brushing his fingertips over the cold metal as if anything more may break it.

“a new arm,” you say, chewing your lower lip. you scan jimin’s face for any sign of hesitance, any sign he doesn’t like it. “if there’s something wrong with it, i can fix it, there’s nothing in it i can’t alter. it took me months to work out the mechanics, a week to make it look like yours, days to make sure it would move right, so it’s nothing for a few more days—”

“what?” jimin interrupts, “move? why would i want an arm that flops like a dead fish?”

your smile fades for a moment before returning, more anxiously this time round. “put it on. come on, here, i’ll help take yours off.”

jimin unbuttons his loose white shirt and pulls the sleeve off his left arm. it has a leather cap that fits tightly halfway up his upper arm and he winces the slightest when you undo it for him, revealing the healed stump. white knotted scars climb up from the old wound and jimin notices the hard grip you have on the dark wood arm he has—used to have.

you carved that one not long after the incident. bought a good piece of wood, spent a full week tirelessly whittling away at it, polishing it.

he returns his eyes to the arm and watches closely as you lift its open end towards him. it clamps around his arm and he startles so badly he jolts backwards. he does not see you move anything, but the brass arm is tightening around what remains of his, securing itself on. it is lined with something soft but firm—presumably some form of leather, jimin is not well-versed in crafts—and is strongly fixed in place. it is unlikely to part from him any time soon.

“i... it’s beautiful, yn, but i don’t understand...” jimin trails off. “the insides of sailors’ watches rust from seawater. will this not do the same?”

“it won’t, i promise you that. i suppose it is like you in that respect—beautiful and delicate, but strong enough to resist everything.” you grasp the hand and turn it, laying it palm-up on the counter in front of him. you meet his eyes. “go on. move your fingers.”

“move my...” jimin’s brow knits in confusion. surely you can’t mean the brass arm. you must be joking. he laughs unsurely. “have you gone mad? perhaps you need a drink, or some rest. you never do sleep enough.”

but you shake your head, staring at him with an unusual intensity. “i insist you try.”

jimin feels silly when he gazes at the arm. he may be no doctor but it is common knowledge that inanimate objects do not move as if full of life. however, he sighs, and decides there can be no harm in humouring you. at first, nothing happens.

then his fingers twitch.

he staggers back with the shock and his lips part. he cups the metal hand with his real one and tries again. it takes a few moments to move, but when it does, he sees the tiny gears turning, halting, pulling fine wires taut. they only move when his fingers move.

rapt, he imagines the arm as true to him and pictures it curling into a fist. it follows. he flexes the fingers, stretches them. the larger the movement, the more gears turn.

“h-how?” he croaks, raising his new arm and turning it over. you had even taken the time to carve in fingernails.

“the english want my head for many reasons. piracy is only one of them,” you answer simply.

the hand moves as if it is jimin’s own. he only needs to think of what he wants it to do, and it does it. the idea is utterly incomprehensible. “there are rich men out there who would pay thousands for something like this,” he says, his voice still soft in shock, “you could help them and they’d pay you handsomely!”

you smile gently at him. he never does see the evil in mankind, and it is both a blessing and a curse. “those rich men will soon realise i can do much more than create limbs that act on its owner’s command. if i craft a leg for an admiral, the next day he’ll ask for men made wholly out of metal, expendable and unable to disobey.”

jimin quietly turns his hand over, making as many different shapes with it as he can think of. he asks curiously, “is this how you create your toys, make them seem so real?”

“in ways, yes, albeit nothing of your level.”

“such a delicate thing,” he murmurs, twitching his fingers to see gears click, click, click.

he looks up and realises that his vision is blurred. he refuses to let his tears fall. with a smile so broad it lights up his whole being, he steps closer to you. he moves to take your hand in his but you shake your head with a small grin and take his metal hand instead.

he can feel your hands.

he links his fingers with yours and presses your palms together, his lower lip trembling and eyes widening. you wrap your other hand around his wrist and squeeze, and he feels it. it is dull, as if his arm is covered in a leather glove, but he can feel the pressure where your hands grip his. it is like he had never lost any part of him in the first place.

he can hardly see through his tears. he is incredibly thankful there are only two lamps in your shop, enough to see his gleaming arm but not enough for passersby to see his shoulders shaking nor the tears that flow freely down his cheeks as he leaps over the counter to wrap his arms around you in a bone-crushing embrace.

you bury your face in his sea-swept hair and hush him, your hands brushing over his bare, warm shoulder. jimin prefers to keep his true feelings to himself—which is what makes him such a great actor—and you had expected the gratitude, but not the tears.

“oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he murmurs with as much reverence as a prayer, his arms wrapping around you tighter. he runs his brass hand over your bare arm, your sleeves folded up to make delicate work easier. the fingers don’t catch on your skin. “this... this is more than i could ever ask for.”

“which is why it is a gift,” you say. “a gift you can use to protect yourself with. it feels no pain and i’ve ensured it will take a good many beatings to even scratch.” you offer him a smile and he returns it, although it is watery. “now you have no need for a buckler; backhand a hulking sailor and he will surely go skidding across the quarterdeck.”

“i will not ask how,” jimin responds, burying his face in the crook of your neck, “because i doubt i could ever understand. thank you, yn, truly.”

he takes your face in his left hand and feels the cut of your jaw against his palm as he brings you down to his height, his metal thumb brushing over your cheekbone. he smashes his lips against yours, fresh tears welling in his eyes that he will later deny having ever existed.

the kiss is rough, passionate. when you finally part, both of your chests heave.

“come with me,” jimin pleads, lips red and pillowy as he stares up at you with a deep frown marring his smooth features. “i won’t pretend i can leave you here. we will find a place for ourselves, we will carve out our little corner of this world, we will finally be free. no more hiding ourselves under the cloak of night. don’t look at me like that—you are the one who kept speaking about freedom, put the idea in my head.”

“and look where it led us,” you say, pointedly glancing at jimin’s brass arm. you exhale slowly, silently. “i will come with you, little dove. have you any plans where to sail?”

“i hadn’t gotten that far yet,” he admits, “nothing that wasn’t simply a wish.”

you smile at his honesty, clasping both of his hands tightly. “i... i know a good man, a pirate captain, far east of here. min yoongi.”

“min yoongi,” jimin repeats. his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline—that is a name belonging to his people. “home?” he asks in a whisper with such hope, such longing.

he has never been home before, but he knows it is home all the same. home is what his mother used to speak of with such love, holding her memories of it close to her heart. home is why she taught him her tongue—she didn’t want him to feel like an outsider amongst his own people. home is where he belongs, with you.

“home,” you murmur firmly. “i promise you. we will go home; i will make sure of it.”

#the whole time i wrote this my face was :DDD #jimin #park jimin #jimin x male reader #park jimin x male reader #jimin x reader #bts x male reader #bts x reader #bts jimin #bts mlm #bts fanfiction #bts imagines #min yoongi x male reader #m!reader #kpop x male reader

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bugmomwrites · 5 years ago

Text

Animal Crossed Lovers (Tamaki Amajiki)

Alrighty so I haven't put any finished work on here in a hot minute, that’s my bad. ANYWHO my mom got me ACNH as an early birthday gift since my birthday (April 5th) just missed the supposed quarantine cutoff date for our area (7th). I may be be stuck inside while everything’s closed, but hey- at least the island of Escapism hardly rests 😉

(SW-3129-0651-5422)

Tamaki Amajiki x GN! Reader

Tamaki was never one to play video games, but he had to admit there was just something...soothing about Animal Crossing that melted much of his anxiety away. Nejire had initially preordered a copy for his birthday weeks ago, but her friend who worked at the local (s/n) (who he may or may not have been crushing on since their second year after they joined them at lunch one day) was able to pull a couple strings and get it on the fourth of March instead of the twentieth. Of course he had no idea, but he was so stunned when he opened it that it didn’t even occur to him that the game wasn’t even out yet until Mirio had reminded him. He didn’t question it though- his friend group was one wild card after another, so he guessed he shouldn’t have been too surprised.

He was thrilled, and just the fact that no one else had a copy yet made it feel all the more personal. Of course he knew in sixteen days it would be all anybody ever talked about, but for the time being it felt like the game, the little world he had created in the past few days with its gentle music and soft, wholesome theme, was his and his alone. The fact that it was a gift from his friends made it all the more special, and even if he had a hectic day at school he could turn on the console and water pretend flowers on a pretend island, and for those few moments, all was right with the world.

He was pulling weeds to sell to Timmy for bells when his screen pinged in the corner that made his blood run cold.

(Gamertag) is online

Playing: Animal Crossing New Horizons

That’s right, you had friended him on the switch after realizing all his friends had one, and now with a fourth person they could have a full team online. Mirio has suggested everyone exchange codes, and you had taken the liberty of showing him how to punch in the code and adding yourself while he sat there trying not to melt into his seat at how excited you got, or how nice you smelled up close. You had passed it back with a beaming grin, telling him you couldn’t wait to do co-ops. At the time he could only nod, speechless as the rest of his friends made idle chatter until the bell rung, and everyone scurried back to class.

He quickly realized he had left the terminal gate open when he was poking around the various features, learning about what each thing does in game. He tried sprinting to the airport to close the gates, and he made it to the dock before a big green banner flashed across his screen reading “you have a visitor!”

Out of the threshold popped your avatar, and for a moment he was grateful he could hide behind a screen. He wanted to be mad, upset even, that you had wandered onto his digital sanctuary, but couldn’t find it in himself because, then again, it was you.

The Nookphone in the top left corner buzzed to life, and he opened up the chat log with shaky hands. In a cutesy, pastel speech bubble was your message, and he wondered how something that was once so therapeutic to him could do a 180 and suddenly become the source of his anxiety.

G/T: Hello! Sorry to pop in unannounced, I hope you don’t mind^^

Tamaki felt his mouth go dry, reading it in your voice and after steadying his breathing, he painstakingly typed out a response.

Suneater: its ok.

G/T: It’s kinda hard to find others to play with when the game isn’t even released yet >~<

Suneater: Oh?

He should have known it was too good to be true. You were only visiting him because no one else was on yet. He sighed, trying to keep the dread from crawling back in before another note popped up.

G/T: The game doesn’t actually release until the first day of spring, but working at (s/n) has its perks. I saw the trailers and the hype and figured it would be the perfect game for you.

He felt a wave of relief wash over him upon reading that. So he wasn’t the last choice- rather, the game simply wasn’t out to the general public yet. But if that was the case, how did you also get a copy?

Suneater: thats nice of you

G/T: And then a little birdy told me you had a birthday coming up, so since I have a couple connections after I got my copy, I asked my manager if they’d set aside one more.

Suneater: you

Suneater: you were the one who helped get it early?

Boy did he feel stupid now. You worked at (s/n), (as you had literally just mentioned in your previous notes), Nejire got him a game that wasn’t out yet, you guys were all mutual friends- how did he not put two and two together?!

G/T: Yes lol that would be me^ you liking it so far? You picked a good name for the island too.

“Sunshine Island” may have seemed a little cliche to most people, but Tamaki had so many things in his life linked to it that by this point, it was just routine. Mirio was his sun in dark times. His nickname Suneater, even the sunflowers he had received from his parents for his birthday each year was tradition. He knew not everyone would see it the way he did, but to him, it was perfect, and he was definitely chuffed when he thought it up and punched it in for the first time.

To hear you loved it too sent a swell of pride through him, and he wondered if it was possible to love someone as much as he did just then.

Suneater: you really think so?

G/T: Absolutely

And with that, the two of you explored Sunshine Island together, he showed you his tent, the shops, and the little orchard of peaches he had arranged. You were impressed by the amount of detail and care that went into arranging everything, and asked if he’d be willing to help you with your island sometime, to which he obliged.

You guys did some more walking, and he told you to feel free to shake theres and take a couple fruits with you. His native fruit was peaches, and in exchange you dropped a couple of your own fruits from your island on the ground for him to pick up so he could have more variety in his world.

G/T: There’s six different kinds, and each island is assigned one main type of fruit. the more you visit with friends, the more biodiversity you’ll get. Pretty cool right? I have some spare (F/N), and if you take and plant those, they'll grow and multiply!

His avatar hesitantly wandered over to the offering after yours stepped back a little to let him take them. Your generousity was surely appreciated, and even though you couldn't see it, he smiled softly before typing out a new message.

Suneater: Thank you. I’ll go plant those.

The game might have been synced up with real time, even getting darker after a certain hour- yet despite it being outside, neither one of you noticed just how much time had passed between all the bug catching, fishing, exploring and talking. When your screen loaded up a clock that read 2:54 AM, you blinked a few times, as if that would change the reading. But lo and behold, it was going for 3am on a school night, and you knew you both had to get to bed.

G/T: Ah beans its 3am, I gotta get to bed soon. Thanks for letting me hang out on your island, and sorry for keeping you awake >~<

Suneater: don't be sorry, i had a lot of fun. can we play together again sometime?

G/T: Of course! I can't wait to meet up again. Maybe we can visit my island next time? I should have those peaches planted by then, and you can teach me your ways, oh master landscaper.

Tamaki chuckled out loud at that, blushing, as he suddenly had a brilliant idea.

Suneater: That would be nice. Wait here a second.

He scurried off to a patch of flowers he had blooming, and with a shovel, picked up a few in your favorite color before making his way back over and dropping them in front of you.

Suneater: You can start by planting a few of these around your island. It is your favorite color, right?

Now it was your turn to blush as you picked up the (f/c) flowers he dropped in front of you, smiling like a goon at his burst of confidence. How he remembered your favorite color is beyond you, but hey- you weren’t complaining.

G/T: They’re perfect, thank you Tama!

Suneater: You're welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow?

G/N: You know it! Goodnight <3

And on that note you walked down to the airport, his avatar following close behind as if to see you off. It was a simple gesture, but appreciated nonetheless. Both of you powered down your switches for the night before plugging them in, and promptly hopping into your respective beds with racing hearts. It was the perfect end to your digital “date” and you couldn’t wait to log in again.

Thank you for reading! Feedback and reblogs are appreciated. Hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it. The inbox is always open for future ideas, so don’t be afraid to drop in.

Also gonna tag @katsukisprincess cause I mean...Animal Crossing and wholesome Tamaki fluff. ‘Nuff said.

#bug mom writes #amajiki tamaki x reader #tamaki amajiki x reader #acnh #bnha #mha x reader #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia x reader #tamaki x reader #amajiki tamaki #tamaki amajiki #x reader imagine #fluff

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adrenaline-roulette · 4 years ago

Text

Four Eighths

Pairing: Four x Eight (Reader) Word Count: 5.5K+ Warnings: Language *Disclaimer, Hi everybody. I first of all would like to apologise to those who have been waiting for months for a new chapter, this chapter has been partially written since September, however in that time, my aunt passed away. It has hit me very hard, and during this time, I needed to take a step away from writing, to be with my family, and also to take time to look after myself and my mental health. I’m doing better now, and with that means I am slowly updating my works which have been neglected as of late. So for those who are returning viewers of this series, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming back and waiting with me. And for those new to this series, welcome and I hope you stay with us. Much love to you all!

Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine can be found here! (That’s right baby, we’ve officially reached double digits for chapters!)

Chapter Ten: Darkest paradise I’ve ever seen

Flying into Noumea, your headphones pressed snuggly against your ears, you watch as miles upon miles of crystal blue ocean spans ahead of you. From just about every direction you look through the small aeroplane window, all you can see is blue. That is aside from the tiny speck on the horizon, which you can only assume is in fact, your destination. It seems awfully far away, and a part of you has managed to convince the less logical section of your brain, that you still have plenty of time before you arrive. Before the plan takes motion. Before shit goes down. Or you have months to continue planning your take down of the Lushnick’s…. But as you gaze out the window once more, the tiny speck growing ever larger, your rational mind takes over, reminding you that in less than two weeks, provided everything went according to plan, the Lushnick’s would be yours.

As the plane touches down at La Tontouta international airport, you await the captain’s departure announcement before standing up and stretching your cramping legs, feeling your joints pop, and muscles ache from having spent too long in one position. Once the initial rush of passengers have passed you, you reach up into the overhead compartments and retrieve the navy blue rucksack you had stowed up there. With the bag flung over your shoulder, you disembark the plane, and head towards the baggage carousel within the terminal. Within your rucksack, along with a few emergency items on the off chance your bags were lost, included five various ID cards, all hand made for you by One’s slightly shady yet reliable connection; a wad of Pacific Franc, the currency of New Caledonia, and of course your laptop. One had assured you that the apartment you would be using as a base had all the setup you required, however you felt more confident with your own computer, even just as a backup for an emergency. As you cross the tarmac, you recall the burner phone One had given you upon your departure, the only contacts held within were those of the Ghost’s, though knowing that you still have the ability to communicate with your team before their arrival helped alleviate some of your nerves. Switching the phone off flight mode, you held it firmly in your sweaty palm, half expecting it to buzz to life with missed notifications, as it would if it were your true phone. The influx of notifications never come, there is however one which does buzz through. ‘Are you safe?’

You scan over the message again and again, reading just about every possible subtext into it within a matter of seconds, before finally, you take a deep breath in, hold it for ten seconds, then release. ‘It’s Four, don’t be so dramatic. He actually cares about you.’ You remind yourself, just as your thumbs tap against the phone keyboard. ‘Just landed. Collecting bags then heading to the apartment. Should be there within the hour.’ You reply, pocketing the phone again and keeping your eyes peeled for you luggage.

The phone vibrates again, but this time you ignore it, opting instead to find the Taxi rank now that you had procured your bags. On you way through the airport, you discard you boarding pass into a trashcan, saying a mental goodbye to the alias of Ginevra Connelly. Of course you still kept the ID card with Ginevra’s details in your bag just in case, but the aim was to only use each alias once. One for flying, one for working, and one for personal business. The others were just there if any unexpected events should arise. Once outside, you only need wait a few minutes before a taxi pulls up, the driver popping the trunk of the car for you to deposit your bags. Once the trunk is closed, you slide into the back seat, sitting directly behind the driver. “Bonjour.” The driver offers with a small smile, meeting your eyes in the rear-view mirror.

You smile gently back. “Bonjour.” You greet, before reciting off the address to the apartment in Noumea which One had insisted you memorise.

With a nod of his head, the taxi driver speeds off, either ignoring or simply disregarding all speed signs which he passed. As he drove like a bat out of hell, you check your phone once more. ‘That’s good. Glad you’re alright.’ Four had replied, earning a small smile to creep over your lips.

‘Well, the flight didn’t kill me. Can’t say the same about my driver though….’

‘Axe murderer?’

‘Nothing quite as exciting. Or at least, I didn’t notice an axe when I checked the trunk…. Just a crazy driver is all. You’ll see when you get here. It looks to be a trend.’

‘Can’t wait!’ Before a rapid second response of. ‘Stay out of trouble until I get there please?’

‘I promise.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Love yo-‘ You begin typing, before frantically deleting the characters. As much as you wanted to send the message, you just couldn’t quite bring yourself to do it. Something about sending those words, via a burner phone while you’re in a totally different country, just felt wrong. Perhaps that was the nerves of the mission talking? No matter, you would saver the phrase for when you saw Four in person.

You put your phone away after that, not trusting yourself to continue the conversation with the direction it was headed. You knew Four was still, not necessarily mad at you, but disappointed that you hadn’t told him of your early departure. You were also acutely aware of his fear for you being in a foreign country all alone. You were positive that if it hadn’t been for the sudden announcement of your leaving, then he would have tried much harder to convince you and One to let him arrive with you. Of course, deep down you knew that despite Four’s protective nature, he understood why he was unable to arrive with you, or with the others. But it didn’t stop him from disliking the plan any less.

The driver watches as you put your phone away and takes this time to engage you in the typical taxi, passenger chit chat. “Parlez-vous français?” He enquires, and it takes you a moment to comprehend what he had asked. You had a slight knowledge of the French language, but it was very, very basic.

“No sorry, I don’t speak French.” You offer with a half smile, shrugging lightly as you turn your attention to the scenery blurring past you.

“Ah, a tourist then. Here for a vacation, are you? He continues, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel as he changes lanes in what would be considered a highly illegal maneuver literally anywhere else in the World.

Deciding that if you looked out the window any longer you may become motion sick, you turn your focus to staring directly at the back of the drivers head. “Mhm, I’ve always wanted to visit, go snorkelling, maybe go for a ride on one of those glass bottom boats? Who knows!” You ramble on, though nothing you say is quite a lie. In truth, you had always wanted to visit Noumea, and were supposed to when you were thirteen. You were supposed to go on a cruise to the South Pacific Islands as a birthday present, however that never quite happened. You suppose in the long run, it’s a good thing you never came here as a child, if you had, then this mission may not be going ahead. Or at least not with you at the helm.

“My cousin owns a glass bottom boat, he runs tours every day. Here, take this card, it has his details.” He pulls a crinkled business card out of his shirt pocket, and passes it back to you. You take it graciously, taking a moment to read over it before stowing it away in your bag.

“Thank you.”

As you drive through the city, the driver points out the occasional tourist attraction, to which you nod and play along with the façade you had created. Most things he says go in one ear then out the other, but there is one which catches your attention. “Over the is the hospital. Might be good to know where that is just in case.” He offers with a grin, gesturing to the large building on your left.

Your head whips around to face that direction in an instant, eyes growing wide as you drink in the sight. “That’s the hospital…” You whisper, mouth going dry as you watch the building disappear into the distance behind you.

The rest of the drive is kept in relative silence, mostly on your part. Having finally seen your destination for this mission, it all suddenly felt so real. Inside that building, which should be used for good, were two of the most vile and wicked people you know to exist. They had nearly two weeks left before they met they’re match however, and that thought alone set a chilling grin on your lips.

*****

Once you arrived at the apartment you were faced with a serious problem, a lack of keys to the front door. Surely One should’ve thought of this, he owned the fucking place! “Well that’s just great. Now what?” You hiss to yourself, glaring daggers at the wooden door that currently separated you from your new, temporary home and work space.

Reaching behind, you fish around in your bag in search of your phone. Muttering swears beneath your breath, until finally your fingers clasp onto the cool, smooth device. Scowling at the screen as you scroll through the limited contacts, you press call against One. Standing with your back leaning against the front door, one arm folded across your chest, and your left foot tapping the ground impatiently.

“Don’t tell me you’re already in trouble.” One grumbles after the sixth ring. His words causing your sour mood to only worsen.

“No I am not.” You hiss, lowering your voice to a whisper as you hear voices out on the street.

“What do you need Eight?”

“I want to know how I’m supposed to get into the bloody apartment! There’s not fucking keys!”

There’s a pause on the line for a minute or two, and for the first time ever, you realise that you’ve rendered One, the fearless leader, utterly speechless. “The keys are on the table.” His voice is mumbled, and you barely catch what he says.

“I’m sorry, what was that now?”

One groans, and you can almost picture his frustrated face, perhaps he would even be pinching the bridge of his nose… “I said, the keys are on the table, inside the apartment.”

He sounds disappointed in himself, and rightly so. “Well, that’s helpful isn’t it?”

“Don’t get sassy with me missy.”

“Why not? This is your house isn’t it? Shouldn’t you have a set of keys with you?”

“It’s one of my houses..”

“That doesn’t make this any better.”

“Did you bring your lock pick?”

“Of course I did. The question is, which bag is it in….” You mumble, gazing around at the bags you had discarded by the door.

“I think you know what to do. Good luck kid.” There’s a grin to One’s voice now, and you have half a mind to tell him off for his stupidity, however before you get the chance, the line goes dead.

With a deep sigh, you resign yourself to do the only thing you can, break in. Well technically it wasn’t breaking in, not when you were supposed to be living here, though you imagine that logic may not stand up in court if someone were to catch you in the act.

Withing ten minutes, all of your bags lay open on the ground, items of clothing strewn about the place, as you had frantically searched the brown leather pouch which housed your lockpick tools. Upon finding it, you groan at the mess you had made, stuffing everything back in the bags haphazardly, you would deal with the unorganised mess later.

Gazing around, you double then triple check that there is no one around to see you. The voices on the street had long since faded away, leaving only the sounds of birds chirping, and the distant crash of waves. Confident you’re alone, you bow over the door handle, and begin picking the lock. It occurs to you that perhaps this was One’s plan all along. After all, he was the one to provide you with said lock picking kit. You brush that thought off, and return to the task at hand, fiddling with the handle for roughly fifteen minutes until finally you hear a click. “Eureka!” You declare quietly yet triumphantly. The door swings open, and dusty air breezes out past you, causing you to cough and sneeze. Blimey, this place must’ve been closed up for months!

Inside the apartment, you don’t take too long looking around, you’ll have time for that later. You take note of where the master bedroom is, and claim that as yours by dumping your bags atop the bed, and seek out the bathroom. With everything in order as far as you could see, you take your laptop and bring it out into the main living area where what you can only assume is your area has been set up. There are three monitors set up on a large oak desk, which looked wildly out of place in the otherwise, holiday home themed house. The largest sitting in the middle of the desk, with two smaller screens on either side. It’s not a perfect set up, but it will work for what you need, and that’s all that really matters, especially considering most of your work would be done from inside the hospital.

Settling down at the makeshift study desk, you take a final moment to glance around the apartment, spotting a set of what you presume is house keys sitting on the dining table. “Well, at least One was right about where you were.” You mutter quietly, glaring at the object in question.

*****

Infiltrating the hospital database took far longer than you had initially expected. Over the past few weeks, you had made practice runs of worming your way into other systems for different hospitals around the world, however at no point had you thought to test your access to the hospital you actually needed entrance to. “It can’t be any different to any of the others.” You surmise, squinting at the screen before you, elbows propped up on the desk, and chin resting on your interlocked fingers. Truth be told it wasn’t that much different, not in the scheme of things, however someone, and goodness knows who, had made the entire system nearly impenetrable! Key word being nearly. However, if there was one thing you had learned after years of sneaking your way into systems you shouldn’t, it was that no matter how tricky a program may first appear, there is always a way in! And this system was no different.

One pizza delivery and three energy drinks later, the start of a migraine -which was either caused by your frustration, or the copious amounts of caffeine- and you were finally in! The hospital was, in every sense of the word, yours. The possibilities, oh the possibilities! Your first task only took a few moments, scanning through encrypted lists until you came across the one which housed the contact details for all members of staff. The list consisted of the staff members name, followed by their position of work, contact number and email, and finally a next of kin. Truly, this list looked to have been composed specifically for you and your needs. Copying the details you required for a one Mister Frank Sea, and pasting them momentarily into a word document, you move onto your second task. Page upon page you read through, jumping between links and praying that perhaps this time you had found the correct page, you finally make it to the hospital security system. You blame your caffeinated jittery hands for how long it took you to find. Once in the system, you begin changing over a few simple details, nothing too extreme that could potentially be cause for concern if anyone were to see, but the changes you made were imperative to the mission. The contact name for the security recruitment agency remained the same, however you now deleted out the previous phone number, adding in One’s phone number as planned. Finally came task three, which you had been dreading since you woke up this morning. The guilt of what you were about to do had been gnawing at you all week. You weren’t a bad person, not really; you kept telling yourself, hoping that perhaps if you said so enough, it would be true. You feared sending this email would ruin Frank, that it would destroy him… ‘It’s just business.’ You can hear One telling you, his exact words after you had both come up with this plan. “It’s just business, I’m just doing my job. It’s for the greater good.” You whisper, your voice catching in your throat. You don’t give yourself another moment to dwell on things, and instead quickly write up your email on the address you had created specifically for the mission. The email informs Frank of his urgent presence being required in Scotland to discuss the legalities of his and his wife’s separation, and custody of his children. Holding your breath, you hit send, watching impatiently until the message had left your outbox. By the time Frank would arrive in Scotland, the company you had pretended to work for would be closed for three weeks due to renovations. He would have no way of contacting them to find out why his presence was required, and of course try as he might, there was no chance he would receive a reply to any of his emails to you. So for three weeks, he would stick it out at home, arguing with his wife, all while you take over for him at the hospital.

*****

Soft pinks and oranges had begun to coat the evening sky as dusk rolled in, and for the first time in years, Four found himself staring up at the sky, envisioning a future. A future which didn’t involve hurting or killing people, no matter how evil and vile they were. Just a plain, normal future. He didn’t quite know what had brought these thoughts upon him, they were the types of thoughts he had managed to banish into the deepest parts of his mind. In fact, the last time he had thought about a normal life, was shortly after Six had died. They all mourned him of course, but the reality of losing Six had weighed down on him greatly. And for close to three months, Four had seriously considered abandoning the Ghosts, and starting a fresh life far away from them. At the time though, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t leave the team. And besides, he had no where to go, and no one to run to. But now? Now was different, he had you. The two of you could run away together, leave the Ghosts, leave this life behind. Start over wherever in the world you wanted you, far away from One and his plans of revenge against those who had wronged the world….

He shook his head, the images of normalcy which had formed in his minds eye, fading away, just as the sun was. He couldn’t leave, not when this was the closest thing to a family he had had since he was a toddler. If there was one thing he knew for sure, you don’t abandon your family. His own parents had taught him that the hard way.

Carefully, Four pushed himself up from where he had been relaxing atop his trailer. His back was stiff after having been laid down for what felt like too long, but he paid it little mind. As he leapt down to the ground, a loud yell echoed throughout base.

“Will somebody answer my phone? I can’t get to it right now!” It was One, yelling at the top of his lungs from god knows where, his voice sounded muffled though.

Next came Five’s screamed reply. “Where are you then?”

“Garage!” One yelled back.

“Coming, I’ll get it!” Four watched as Five went darting across base, kicking up red dust in her haste.

For interests sake, Four made his meandering way towards the garage, just to see what was so urgent about this phone call, and why One couldn’t get it. He strolled in, hands in his pants pockets, and hood drawn over his head. His eyes darting between Five, who was reading from a script scribbled in an old notebook while on the phone, to One who’s feet were sticking out from beneath a silver Audi R8.

“Good afternoon, leader security how may I help you?” Five recited in what was either the worst or perhaps best Dolly Parton imitation Four had ever heard. “Oh sure, you need a new head of security? How soon do you need them to start?” There was a pause, and Four stepped further over to the Audi, titling his head to the left as he lifted a quizzical brow. “Asap? Well where are y’all located?... Oh I see, let me transfer you.”

“You alright down there mate?” Four smirked giving One’s foot a gentle kick.

“Yep, never better. Why do you ask?”

“Well it’s just, you’re only like, ten steps away from your phone… Not sure why you couldn’t get it yourself is all.” He shrugged, folding his arms across his chest, and rocking back on his heels.

One pauses for a few moments, selecting his next words carefully. “I just didn’t want to stop what I was doing midway through.”

Four crouched slightly, peering at the floor creeper One was reclined on beneath the car. One of the wheels had popped off entirely, while another on the same side was horrendously bent out of shape. “You’re stuck aren’t ya?”

“Yes I’m stuck.”

*****

Two hours later, your mobile rings with One’s caller ID flashing, grinning you answer with a bright smile. “Good afternoon, Leader security recruitment how may I help you?” You recite in an overly practiced voice, not that the person on the other end of the line could tell, but it sure made you feel better, knowing you weren’t about to trip over your own words. One had done just as was planned, and upon playing receptionist for the security company, had transferred the call directly to you, and now it was time to get yourself employed.

The female voice on the other end of the line begins speaking frantically, telling you about how the current head of security for her hospital had just left unexpectedly, and that they needed someone to fill in for him until they could find out when he would return.

“Ma’am, it will all be fine, I assure you. Now can you please tell me your company code?” You smile, while typing aimlessly into a word document. So long as the woman on the phone could hear you typing, you would not raise any suspicion, even if all you were typing was smiley faces. “I see, and this is a hospital based in Noumea New Caledonia, is that correct? – Mhm no problems at all. How soon do you require someone to commence?” You type out the few details she tells you which are actually important to you, before returning to the faces. “I will have to see who I have in area who may be able to assist you. One of contractors recently moved to the area I believe for a change of scenery. May I put you on hold and see if I am able to call her?” The moment the woman agrees, you place the call on hold and laugh to yourself. The temptation to have an actual conversation with yourself just to keep the charade up is there, however considering as it had only been a few hours of you living alone, you felt you should at least attempt to keep the bouts of insanity to a minimum for now. “Hello, are you still there?” You ask a few minutes later. “Anastasia Breaker will be available as of tomorrow morning, if you could please forward all details regarding her employment to the following email address, then she will see you in the morning.” The woman is nearly in tears as she thanks you, promising she would send the information within minutes. “Of course, no problems. Have a lovely evening, and once again, thank you for choosing leader security.”

As the phone goes silent, you stand up and stretch, raising your arms above your head. You’d done it, you were in. Or rather Anastasia was in, but no matter who’s name was on the contract, you were the one who would be doing all the work.

*****

For the next few hours, you read through the multiple emails which arrived for Anastasia Breaker, advising you of where to go tomorrow morning, and who you would be meeting upon your arrival. It was nothing too unusual, or anything unexpected, the only downside was that you had been requested to arrive at 6 am. To some that may be ok, normal even. But to you, a perpetual night owl, it felt like torture. After laying out your clothing for the following morning, to allow for a slight sleep in, you lay down in the double bed you had claimed as yours. You knew it would likely end up being shared once the others arrived, but for now, it was all yours. The lights had all been turned out, leaving you in near complete darkness. The only light was that of the shining silver moon, peering down on you through a forest of thick trees. Try as you might however, sleep seemed to escape you. Perhaps it was nerves of tomorrow and your new ‘job’, or maybe it was just the fact you were sleeping in a new bed. No matter the cause, after tossing and turning for nearly an hour, you eventually gave up. Sitting upright, you grab the burner phone off the nightstand, having left it beside you with an alarm on for the morning.

You stare down at the bare screen, so used to your own which was filled with various apps. On this phone however, there was nothing of interest to do. Your thumb hovered over your contacts, and you bite your lower lip in thought. You knew One would be furious if he found out you were using the phone as anything but emergency contacts and an alarm, but at the same time, you found yourself having a rather difficult time caring about him and what he thought while he was so far away. Finally, you press down on the contact, and listen to the phone ring on loudspeaker.

“Hello?” Four’s distinct voice carries through, and you feel a wave of comfort roll over you. His voice alone felt like home, and it almost frightened you to think that, especially considering how brief your relationship had been so far.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Oh, Oh! I’m sorry love I had no idea. This number isn’t programmed into my phone, I genuinely thought it was a telemarketer or something!” He was rambling, and you could almost see the pale crimson blush which would be creeping up his neck and cheeks, as he too realised, he was rambling.

“It’s totally fine, I’m not really supposed to be calling you. But I needed to hear a friendly voice.”

“Who says you’re not supposed to call?”

“One.”

“Fuck him and his stupid rules!”

“I would really rather not.”

“You know what I mean, you idiot.” You can practically hear his eye roll through his words, and you can’t help but smile at that. At how well you know his mannerisms these days. “How has day one gone? Everything going according to plan?”

You nod, before recalling that he can’t see you. “Yep, things seem to be rather smooth sailing for now. I’ll be starting at the hospital tomorrow morning, and from there I can get everything else set in motion.”

“That’s brilliant, at this rate it’ll all be over before we know it!”

You pause for a moment, resting the phone on the pillow beside your head. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

“What’s wrong hm? You don’t sound convinced?”

Rolling over, you lay flat on your back, staring up at the ceiling. “I suppose I’m just trying to come to terms with how quickly this is all happening, you know? Like, I feel it was just yesterday One announced who the targets were, and now suddenly I’m here? It’s all happening so fast.”

“I know exactly what you mean, I can’t quite wrap my head around it all either. But look at how far we’ve come. How far you’ve come! Remember that day when the targets were announced-“

“You mean the day I ran out of the briefing and nearly killed us both?” You interrupt, smirking slightly at the memory.

“Yes, that day. But look at you now, look at where you are! You’ve changed so much in such a short period of time. You’re far more prepared than any of us here at base are, and for us, this is either our second or third mission! For you, this is your first, and you’re already doing better than any of us could’ve imagined.”

“Do you mean that, or are you just saying it so I stop panicking?”

“I’ve never meant anything more in my life Eight, I promise.”

“Thank you, I – thank you.” You whisper, rolling to your side and looking down at the phone. You sigh deeply, closing your eyes tight before allowing them to slowly open. “Tell me something that no one else in the Ghosts knows about you.”

You hear him chuckle, a deep rumble which you wish you could wrap your arms around him and feel as it flowed through you. “Do you want something to laugh at?”

“Yes, I don’t want to cry tonight. Make it funny.”

Four hums to himself, and you curl around your pillow, cradling the phone near your chest. “Right, here’s one. Bet you didn’t know I have a criminal record as an arsonist!”

He sounds proud of himself, and for the life of you, you can’t fathom why. “You what now?”

“It was my first charge, long before the cops ever figured out I was stealing, which I had been doing for years before this occurred.”

“How long have you been a thief, Four?”

“A long while… But that’s a story for another time. This is about fire lord me!”

You groan, rolling your eyes at the nickname he had given himself, while leaving a mental note to ask him about his past one day, when you weren’t in the middle of a mission.

“I was maybe 15 or 16, and was with this girl who I thought was made of pure heaven. I practically worshiped the ground she walked on, and daydreamed about her all day every day. To her though, I was a kid who was a year or two younger than her, and she just loved the attention, not matter who it came from. I knew she only spent a month with each of her boyfriends, but naive young me thought that maybe I could convince her to be with me forever. Spoiler alert, that didn’t work out. One night I decided to surprise her when she came home from dance lessons, her parents were out of town for the week, and I figured I would make a romantic evening for the two of us, and would allow her to be my first.” He pauses for a moment, as if wanting to see if you wanted to hear where this was going.

“It’s fine Four, just keep telling the story.” You giggle, shaking your head softly at where this was all going.

“Well I got super fancy, ordered takeout because heaven knows I cannot cook, even managed to nick a bottle of champagne from the local liquor store. It was cheap nasty stuff now that I think about it, but at the time, I felt very grown up. I lit candles all over her townhouse, there were some in the kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and even the kitchen. I think I went through an entire matchbook that night. So finally she gets home, and I’m nervous as hell. Legs jittery, forehead sweaty, and look the exact opposite of sexy like I had hoped for. She’s all smiles, and even thanks me for setting up a lovely evening. After we eat, she steps outside to have a smoke, and I clean up in the kitchen. The next thing I know, she’s shouting from the front door, and then the smoke alarming is blaring throughout the house. I run outside, and find her staring up at the second floor at her bedroom window, where billows of dark smoke are seeping out. Turns out, she had a cat I didn’t know about, and the fucker knocked down one of the candles, it landed near her bedroom curtains, and the flames engulfed pretty much the entire room. Cops and firemen came, shockingly they didn’t believe me when I said it was the cat. And the fact that I had been in her home without her for so long didn’t help my argument either….”

“Oh my goodness, so you were actually innocent? The cat got you a record?” You laugh, pressing your palm to your forehead.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up. That cat is the reason I don’t do romantic anymore.” He grumbled playfully.

“Aw, and why’s that? Cat got your tongue?!” You chortle, you were definitely borderline tired now, because to you, that was officially the funniest pun in the world.

“Oh dear, oh no…. Eight that was terrible, please never say anything like that again.”

“Aww, come on! It was funny!”

“No love, no it wasn’t.”

There’s no use in arguing the point, you knew you were funny and that was all that mattered. “Fine, I’ll stop with the cat puns especially seeing as you’re not feline it…”

‘You are very annoying, you know that right?”

“Of course, but it’s part of my appeal!”

“Whatever you say. But I do think You need some sleep, because you sound hella tired right now.”

As if on que, a yawn slips from your lips, giving away just how tired you now were. “You may be right.”

“Good night love, good luck tomorrow. I know you’ll be amazing.”

You smile at his words, tracing your finger along the edge of the phone. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon, ok?”

“Ok.”

You end the call, and place the phone back on the nightstand. As you allowed your eyes to drift shut, you can’t help but feel just that little bit more confident that things were going just as they were planned.

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Chapter Eleven here!

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itsuki-minamy · 4 years ago

Text

“K - THE FIRST STORY”

CHAPTER 12: CLASH (Complete)

* K - The First Story (List of Chapters) * Projects & Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

A few hours have passed since "Homura" occupied Gakuenjima. Dawn was approaching and the situation was in a state of prominence. They should have confirmed all the human faces in the school, but the criminal boy had yet to be found. Suoh and Anna proved that the criminal was in this school. No one in "Homura" doubted that, but there was an air of impatience that they couldn't grasp the tail at all.

"Scepter 4" spread out of the school island. A collision will occur in the near future. In addition to searching for the criminal, preparations for the battle with "Scepter 4" were underway, and the members of "Homura" were excited by the premonition of the battle.

Eric was patrolling the dimly lit campus before dawn. Eric was a new member of the often met faces at the HOMRA bar, who was picked up by "Homura" about two years ago, but has a stronger attachment to "Homura". He had a poor background and, until he came to "Homura", he lived committing crimes while others used him as they pleased. If he had been like that, he would have died miserably in the near future. "Homura" was Eric's first and most important place of stay.

Someone broke it. Totsuka treated people like Eric kindly, he was an executive member who protected "Homura" from within, and was assassinated, provoking Suoh, Eric's "King". He longed for the death of the criminal.

Eric pulled a hoodie down to the bottom of his blond hair to hide his murderous gaze.

The PDA beeped. It was Fujishima, a member of "Homura".

"Eric, is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing."

"So, can you come to the square in front of the gate? I need a little more people here, Yata-san."

"It's okay."

Communicating in a brief conversation, Eric hung up and handed the PDA back to him. He sensed a crowd signal when he tried to dash across the yard, thinking he could do more work than a fruitless patrol.

There was a boy student. With his back to Eric, something was setting up in the corner of the yard.

Although he was reflexively primed, it was clear from behind him that he was not the criminal boy depicted in the video. Eric stepped up behind the boy.

"Hey."

Students should be under house arrest in various groups. Has he escaped pretending to go to the bathroom?

"Go back to the classroom. If you don't resist, you won't get hurt and you'll be free soon..."

Eric gasped when he got right behind the student.

What was in the hands of the boys was a time bomb that even an amateur could see.

"Oh, what are you doing?!"

Due to his surprise, he heard a screaming voice.

The boy turned around.

The moment his eyes met Eric's eyes, Eric felt like he was falling into a dark hole.

++++++++++

Suoh leaned against the wall of the student council room, holding a cigarette that was not lit, and watched Kusanagi busy giving instructions to the "Homura" members.

A whitish light shone through the window. The snow outside had stopped, but the whiteness of the snow that accumulated last night reflected the rising sun and shone.

Anna was standing next to him, looking up worried about Suoh.

(Your sword will soon fall.)

Munakata's appearance last night revived in his mind. He came all the way to see Suoh, insisting that it was a private meeting as an individual, and told him that it was a matter of course.

Suoh makes no distinction between his and his as "King" and as an individual. He is only one person, Mikoto Suoh, and the position of "King" is just a crown that is arbitrarily covered from somewhere else.

However, Munakata was different. Munakata himself defined himself as a "King" and always behaved that way. It may have been the first time Munakata was an individual in front of Suoh.

(No, did it happen once?)

He suddenly remembered. After a while of the first meeting, where he really didn't like him and hit him in a conspicuous way, he had a chance to meet him at a bar that he passed by.

When he remembered, a kind of strangeness arose and Suoh exhaled.

At that moment, he felt that he was confessing that he felt that kind of emotion after this.

The tip of the cigarette he was holding bounced slightly.

He sensed something unpleasant somewhere far from here. He kept his back away from the wall. Although it was a slight movement, he noted Suoh's movement sensitively, and "Homura's" eyes in the room met.

Suoh doesn't see anything as clearly as Anna. However, the pain was sharp. He didn't know if it's the power of a "King" or the instinctive sensation he's had from the beginning, but he's sensitive to smell, and now Suoh regretted that smell.

Suoh saw Kusanagi. Kusanagi also left his job as a command tower and was looking at Suoh.

He was frustrated, he was sure his old friend would come over, and put various things on his shoulder in the future.

This might be the last time he gives him a hand. He looked at Kusanagi and thought about saying something, but he felt that whatever he said would be different from what he wanted to convey, so he put his hand on that shoulder without saying anything.

"Mikoto?"

He released his hand, turned and left the room.

He found Anna trying to grab him, but he didn't look back.

Suoh walked alone in the school building early in the morning. He still hadn't caught the signal, but he had a feeling that Suoh was looking for someone nearby.

He proceeded as he wanted. Like a fish that migrates in the sea, like a beast that walks in the desert, letting itself be carried away by his instincts.

Suoh's eardrum caught a small sound with a click.

Then there was a roar.

++++++++++

In Munakata's life so far, there were two people who made him think "I don't know."

One was himself before becoming "King".

From childhood, Munakata clearly showed what kind of person he was and what he should do. For some reason, he didn't know about himself. The question had its roots in Munakata until the answer was that he was a "King".

The second person was Mikoto Suoh.

He was a man who deviated from the world known to Munakata and could not be measured by the Munakata scale.

(You can only think with your own measuring stick, no matter how fast you turn your head, you are stupid.)

By the way, he told him that when he met him. The others had never called him stupid, so it was a new experience.

The answer to the second question was: "I wonder if this guy is also a 'King'."

He still can't understand it. He cannot, but he understands that he is a human being who follows the path of a "King" that he cannot understand.

Sometime after meeting Suoh, who was angrier than Munakata, Suoh came by chance when he was drinking at a bar that he visited on a whim.

He was not the person he would want to drink alcohol with face to face. He expected him to change stores, but Suoh was stubborn, he sat on the only vacant seat next to Munakata without asking permission.

It was an exchange of childish sarcasm that turned out to be side by side, and drinking and exchange words.

But in the end, Suoh said.

(I hate you, but... you are one of the few people who is not afraid of me.)

When he heard that word, Munakata reluctantly felt that an extra power had come from his shoulders.

They had the same power and were on the same horizon.

Despite being on the opposite end of the spectrum, they shared a vision that only kings can see. It was a very strange relationship.

Munakata stood on the mainland side of the connecting bridge and closed his eyes as he was swept away by the cold sea breeze. He remembered that last night.

After all, he did not respond to Munakata's persuasion.

(I'll hang my head. You'll do your job. That's it, right?)

Suoh said so. For the first time, Munakata dismissed his duty as "King".

A roar was heard from a distance.

Munakata opened his eyes. Black smoke could be seen rising from the center of Gakuenjima, beyond the connecting bridge across the sea.

The members behind him murmured. Munakata silently turned around, looked at the members behind him and said.

"All members, prepare to enter."

++++++++++

A mysterious explosion occurred.

It looked like a corner of the school building that overlooks the courtyard had blown up. The siren of a fire alarm sounded at the school.

Yata did not know who caused the explosion and why. It can be the work of the lurking criminal, or even the flames of Suoh or someone in "Homura". Kusanagi didn't even contact him, perhaps because headquarters couldn't figure it out.

However, Yata's interest in Gakuenjima's front plaza was already far from that. All his nerves focused on what he had in front of him.

He was already ready to face it. Behind Yata, the weaponized "Homura" members gathered and his gaze turned to the door.

Yata gently tossed the skateboard from his hand and stepped onto the deck. Kamamoto, standing next to him, looked at Yata.

"Yata-san."

"I know, here they come!"

A group of people in blue uniforms were stepping on the rocky edge of the gate that Suoh smashed.

The blue-clad men with sabers on their hips formed an orderly formation, in contrast to the messy "Homura."

The woman standing in front of him, Seri Awashima, lieutenant from "Scepter 4," echoed her voice through the speakerphone function of the PDA.

"This is a warning to Suoh Mikoto and his group. Surrender your weapons and surrender immediately. Otherwise…"

"Time to fight!"

Yata raised his voice without waiting until the end for Awashima's words. In response to that, his friends from "Homura" screamed.

When he heard the voice of his companions, he felt the anger and impatience that had swirled in Yata for a long time turned fruitful with a certain form of fighting spirit. The flames on Yata, which Suoh received, rippled across his body before the battle.

Fushimi was also seen among the "Scepter 4" members lined up. Fushimi also looked at Yata with a face that did not hide the lift from him. The line of sight was intertwined and Yata's hands were filled with power.

Awashima exchanged a word or two with Munakata in front of "Homura", which revealed her fighting spirit. For some reason, Munakata barely glanced at the "Homura" members who got in the way, and looked somewhere far away.

(Are you looking for Mikoto-san? Uh, Mikoto-san is not available.)

Yata inwardly dismisses Munakata's attitude, which he doesn't like.

Awashima was in the front, with Munakata, the "King", behind.

"We will advance with our swords in hand! Our cause is pure!"

Awashima raised her voice and a hand towards the members following her.

"Everyone, draw your swords!"

In response to Awashima's order, the members of "Scepter 4" drew their swords one after another. The blade of the saber that was facing the sky gleamed in the morning sun pouring through the gaps in the cloudy sky.

Yata also raises a fierce voice to counter.

"Defeat them! Let's fight!"

In response to Yata's fist, the members of "Homura" pushed up the weapons, such as iron pipes and other weapons that they had in their hands, one after another, and repeated: "No Blood! No Bone! No Ash!" They screamed and took a step.

The thick voices of the men and the sound of footsteps on the ground rang out as loud as the sound of the ground.

"Homura" jumped for a moment.

The bloody "Homura" kicked the ground like a beast, and "Scepter 4" also held their sabers and advanced to attack them.

The sounds of metal colliding with each other and piercing the ears sounded here and there.

A saber with a blue light and an iron pipe or a metal bat with a red flame meet and collide with each other. Red and blue lights flickered violently here and there, splitting.

Yata also rode his skateboard and jumped on the members of "Scepter 4." Flames roared violently as the skateboard wheel spun, and Yata took down multiple members of "Scepter 4" at once with a skateboard jump attack that spewed fire.

Fushimi and his eyes met, crushing the enemy in front of him from one end and taking down the members of "Homura" in the same way from a distance. This is a fierce battle. Although it was annoying dealing with the enemies facing each other, they were well aware of each other's existence, hoping to collide with each other immediately if possible.

At that moment, an explosive sound that shook the ground echoed in rapid succession.

Both "Homura" and "Scepter 4" suddenly stopped fighting for a moment and looked in the direction of the explosion.

One, two, three, the black smoke from the explosion rose from three places.

Yata's intuition said it was not Suoh. If it was an explosion caused by Suoh's flame, they should see a lighter red flame. That innocent black smoke was probably just an explosive.

If so, did the criminal move?

It made him uncomfortable to think that the criminal who killed Totsuka was right there. However, they could not leave the battlefield in front of them.

When Yata encountered a momentary conflict, Munakata moved, who had only waited behind his group until then.

Munakata suddenly jumped high, emitting a blue light all over his body. He then he landed in midair.

A scaffold floating in the air appeared at the foot of Munakata. The scaffolding made of blue light was probably an application of the shield often used by the guys from "Scepter 4". Munakata created scaffolding one after another in the air like a springboard and ran through the sky.

++++++++++

Again there was an explosion in front of Munakata, who entrusted the command to Awashima and looked for signs of the enemy. This time, the sound of the explosion echoed in a chain reaction, and the explosion and smoke spread throughout the school building.

Not only the members of "Scepter 4" but also the members of "Homura" were upset. Something was happening that "Homura" didn't even know, who was occupying this island.

Munakata looked behind Gakuenjima.

The enemy was moving. Maybe Suoh was heading there too.

There was no time to lose.

Munakata kicked the ground and jumped. He creates scaffolding one after another that hardened his own power in midair and tore through him.

"Captain?!"

He heard Awashima's surprised voice, but even that was behind him and running through the sky.

When "Scepter 4" and "Homura" passed through the battlefield where they collided and the explosion happened again, it was just around the corner. The top of the nearby building collapsed and exploded, and the heat-trapping blast struck Munakata's skin. A rocky shore of tiles flew in front of him.

"Someone please help me!"

He hears a scream. There was a man who sank under the dizzying rocky shore and screamed for help. He was not a student. He could see blonde hair under the hoodie he was wearing in the sun. The white skin did not seem to belong to a Japanese.

Certainly, there is a white youth as an important member of "Homura". The name is Eric Surt. He wondered if he was asking the enemy for help in the crisis of his life after doing such a thing, but the option to overlook the crushing and killing of human beings in front of him was not on Munakata. After involuntarily clicking his tongue at him, he landed next to "Homura's" young man.

He held his left arm over his head where he rained on a huge rocky shore. From the palm of Munakata towards the heavens, the area controlled by Munakata's will expanded, and the blue light-wrapped tiles stopped falling.

"It's smart, but this is still..."

When he looked up at the sky and felt lonely, a strong impact ran into Munakata's side.

Suffocated, Munakata slowly lowered his gaze.

A young man from "Homura", who had been sunk to the ground a while ago, sneaks into Munakata's chest and sticks a knife in his side.

The young man raised his face hesitantly. The edge of his lips rose into a terrifying smile.

He was wrong.

Munakata understood the situation and bit inside his teeth at his slowness.

"You are…"

"Captain!" I hear Awashima's voice yelling and calling out to him from a distance

"The boy from "Homura" is with the Captain!" And the voice of another indignant member.

Damage taken to the flank fluctuated, and the blue control light emitted from Munakata's hand disappeared.

The group of tiles that had stopped in midair was again overpowered by gravity and began to fall, swallowing Munakata.

++++++++++

The loud explosion sounded repeatedly, and the building where Anna and the others were also received earthquake-like vibrations many times.

"Damn, what's going on? The Blues bring cannons with them?!"

Kusanagi looked out the window and was surprised. The members who remained in the student council room were also upset without knowing the situation.

There, Anna made herself small in a chair and shook her body. It was not the explosion itself that scared her.

Anna's overly sensitive antenna trembles as she perceives the signs of malice swirling around the island with a force approaching physical violence. She felt that someone was trying to disturb their hearts. At the mercy of many human emotional ripples, Anna focused her mind on the sensation of her in search of his malicious intent.

"Kusanagi-san! What is King doing?"

"He can handle it! Right now, I need you to tell Yata to focus on what's in front of him..."

Amid Kusanagi's words, the explosion sounded again and the building shook. Anna squeezed her eyes shut.

Anna's responsiveness detects several things in an instant.

A detonation that burns the sky.

A member of "Scepter 4" raising an angry voice.

Everyone in "Homura" who is angry in response to the anger directed by "Scepter 4."

Gakuenjima students falling into depression.

Someone who looks at everyone's appearance and screams.

Anna opened her eyes.

Now Anna's power has captured him.

Is near.

Anna stood up and left the student council room. She grabbed the hall window and looked around her.

Overlooking the courtyard turned into a battlefield, she noticed the rooftop of the building facing the explosion, raising black smoke.

"I found you."

The parting lit up red, and she certainly did see "it."

He was dressed in a blue uniform, but he was not a member of "Scepter 4". Anna looked at what was behind the body of a member of "Scepter 4".

"It" also noticed reflected in Anna's eyes. The malicious intent of "it" increased, and the glass in front of Anna shattered for a moment.

He is a sniper.

Anna withdrew and fell into the hallway with strewn glass. Several red marbles spilled from her hands and rolled down the hallway as blood splattered.

"Anna!"

Kusanagi, who jumped up, yelled and hugged Anna. The bullet did not hit. However, the sensitive ability is exhibited.

Anna was struck by a powerful mass of malice that had struck the sense organs that had been opened to search. She shook her head.

He could hear the sound of the sniper again. Kusanagi leaned against the wall as he held Anna up. Dewa and other members of "Homura" who were in the student council room also jumped up in a hurry and saw the sniper.

"There's a Blue on the rooftop! He's got a rifle!"

"Damn it, Anna...!"

The angry voices of her friends get confused. Kusanagi's annoying voice can be heard in her ear, "What...?"

Anna still couldn't open her eyes. However, it can be seen that "it" who shot Anna is laughing out loud as she wore a blue uniform.

Dewa was furious and ran. He wanted to stop him, but he couldn't move, and Kusanagi hugged Anna in a relaxed way.

"No... if this continues..."

Anna murmured in a wise voice, like a sigh.

++++++++++

"Anna got shot! He's a fucking blue bastard!"

"Ah! I'm going to crush them all!"

"Isn't it possible to confirm yet if the Captain is safe?"

"Damn reds, the Captain helped one of them, is this the way to show gratitude from him?"

Several angry voices rose from both "Homura" and "Scepter 4", and they were confused.

"Scepter 4" who came to suppress and "Homura" who tried to fight back. It should have been a very simple battle, but before they knew it, it turned into a battle muddied with mutual hatred.

Fushimi felt uncomfortable with this situation.

(How could a "Homura" minnow stab the Captain in the first place?)

(I don't think Anna was given such an order, and I really don't remember the kind of idiot who shoots snipers at a non-combatant girl without permission.)

(Is the wrong information flowing? Or is something being manipulated?)

Awashima's determined voice echoed in Fushimi's brooding ears.

"Keep calm and stay in control! No one can defeat "Scepter 4" in group battles!"

The emotional turmoil of the members was directly related to the turmoil of the battle. Awashima was desperately trying to recover, but she couldn't hide the confusion from him. At the moment, she looked in the direction of the collapsed school building where Munakata disappeared with an uncomfortable expression.

Some people did not overlook the gap shown by the lieutenant from "Scepter 4".

A light and fierce monkey-like thing attacked from the top of Awashima. Awashima suddenly came to himself, received what jumped from above with her saber and blocked him.

"Yatagarasu."

"Oh, let's fix this!"

Yata, riding his skateboard, landed on the wall and laughed with a warrior look. He jumped high again and ran towards Awashima.

Awashima responded with a sword attack at the skateboard that used red flames as an impulse. Awashima has the best sword skill in "Scepter 4" except for Munakata. But now her consciousness was half directed towards Munakata's whereabouts.

On the other hand, Yata is stupid. The fool has the strength of the fool. Yata doesn't think of anything extra in important situations. On the battlefield, he concentrates on the battle in front of him and devotes all of his energy.

"Don't look over it!"

Increase the momentum of the skateboard flame. Yata approached Awashima with a fierce impulse.

Yata's devilish eyes were now reaching Awashima. Fushimi was so frustrated that his back made noise.

"I have you!"

Just before Yata's skateboard tried to topple Awashima, Fushimi broke into his thoughts.

Fushimi stepped in front of Awashima and caught the bottom of Yata's skateboard with his sword. Sparks exploded.

Fushimi's emotions, which normally don't move, shook again, and Fushimi looked at Yata with wide open pupils.

"Guess again, Misaki! You and I have unfinished business, remember?!"

"Saru... Let's do it!"

Yata's passionate eyes pierced Fushimi.

The edge of Fushimi's mouth lifted.

He now he thought that he would be the same idiot as always. It doesn't matter if the situation is unnatural or if someone thinks. Fight the boy in front of him. Becoming that creature.

Fushimi rose and swung the sword with all of his might.

++++++++++

A series of explosions destroy Gakuenjima, the place the boy returned to.

Terrified students screamed and ran out of the school building. Until now, they had been captured by the people of "Homura", but they became unruly due to the start of the battle with "Scepter 4", or it became dangerous to protect the safety of the students.

But, in any case, it was difficult for the panicked students to evade this mysterious explosion and exit the clan battlefield to safety.

When the boy bit his teeth, there was another explosion in the vicinity.

"Nyaaa! What's going on?!"

Neko shrugged and screamed, holding her head with both hands. Kuro throws the flying debris into an unoccupied place with his special talented hand.

"This is not due to the power of the red clan's flames. It was an explosive setup... who the heck..."

"The battle between red and blue is getting fiercer, even though there is another enemy that is exploding... It's strange, this..."

From the boy's point of view, both the red and blue clan seem to be angrier, and hated each other and involved in emotional battles. He felt unpleasant, as if he was dancing at the speculation of a true enemy.

Looking at the boy who was thoughtful, Kuro looked at the students running scattered.

"Anyway, the students will be involved in this situation. I want to evacuate somehow..."

"Ah, Kukuri!"

Neko screamed. Looking in the direction Neko was pointing, he saw Kukuri standing lost as she watched the students flee.

"Kukuri!"

The voice of the boy who called her was drowned out by the sound of the explosion that occurred at the same time, and did not reach the boy's own ears.

The rooftop of the school building was blown up by an explosion, and a man in the uniform of "Scepter 4" who appeared to be on the rooftop with the tiles fell towards Kukuri.

Whether she couldn't move in wonder or terrified, Kukuri opened her eyes and looked at the man who was about to fall on her and froze.

The moment her spine froze, Kuro jumped sideways and abducted Kukuri's body.

Kuro, holding Kukuri with his left arm, picked up the "Scepter 4" member who was about to hit the ground with an invisible hand that extended from his right hand, and released him appropriately.

"Kukuri..."

The boy ran towards Kukuri right at Neko. Kukuri, who was being held by Kuro, had a stunned face that seemed unaware that she was in danger. Mysteriously, she looked up at the boy who appeared while calling her name.

Whenever she saw the boy, Kukuri smiled intimately, but when she seemed to see a stranger, the boy smiled with slight pain.

"Oh, that's right. You don't remember me, right?"

The boy crouched down on his knees to align his eyes with her and approached Kukuri.

"Don't worry. We're here to help. Can you get up?"

Kukuri took the boy's hand. The boy grabbed Kukuri's hand and helped her to her feet.

"Anyway, Kuku... Yukizome-san. It's dangerous here. Evacuate immediately..."

"I found you."

The voice of a man crawling on the ground rang out.

The back of the boy shuddered.

It was a voice that echoed deep in his stomach. It wasn't a strong voice, it was a calm tone, but it felt like boiling magma lurked at the bottom of the voice.

The boy looked back in a cold sweat.

There was a red-haired man.

In a leather jacket and jeans, he looked like a young man who would normally walk through town dressed like this.

But the boy knew at a glance that this man was the "Red King". He felt like a great beast was taking him away. If he moved, even though he was a little sick, he could easily imagine that his throat would be eaten in the next moment. He instinctively felt that a ridiculously high amount of heat was hiding under his taut body.

He made a smile as he looked at the boy with his glowing eyes. It was a fierce smile.

Even being a "King", he is completely different from Munakata who moves by reason. He was afraid to appeal directly to the instincts of living beings.

The Third King, Mikoto Suoh.

"Stay behind."

Kuro stepped forward and left the boy behind.

Suoh approached with an agile and evasive step, reminiscent of a carnivorous beast that little by little closes the distance to its prey, with a smile on his face.

"Hey. I came here because you called me. So stop playing dumb, okay?"

It was unpleasant. He had no excuse for him now. Suoh had a smile on his face, but the boy also knew that anger and killing intent swirled inside of him.

As if the passion hidden inside had melted, he saw that a red light with heat had sprouted from Suoh's body, burst into flames and exploded.

Trapped by the heat generated by the high-temperature flame, the boy and the others irresistibly cover their faces with their arms.

Suoh, who emits flames, was no longer laughing. Looking at the boy with a good eye, getting closer.

"You are on my way."

Suoh put his hand on Kuro's shoulder who was standing. Kuro immediately dispelled his hand and pushed Suoh away and his arms crossed.

Not that he wasn't afraid. Still, Kuro turned his straight and discreet eyes towards Suoh.

Suoh giggled a little, removed Kuro's block in an instant and threw it away with the lightness of a doll. Kuro's body flew lightly a dozen meters away, hit the ground and rolled further.

"Kuro!"

"Nyaaa!"

Neko with her hair up, like an animal cat, activated his power. The Gakuenjima scene changed to the scene of a strange forest. Behind the scenes, the boy rushed towards the fallen Kuro.

"Why did you do that?"

Suoh muttered under his breath and turned around. Suoh's eyes were looking directly at Neko.

If Neko's power was really working, Suoh's eyes should see as if he had been suddenly thrown into the forest. However, Suoh's eyes captured the royal appearance.

"Woman... stay out of this!"

Suoh screamed. Neko's ability disappeared in an instant as if it had been blown up.

Neko tightly grabbed the boy's arm with a scared face.

"Go."

Kuro stumbled and stood up, saying that.

Once again, the boy bit his teeth. Furthermore, he made Kuro fight unreasonably alone.

However, it was true to say that they only depended on Kuro, as Neko's ability had no effect, and the boy was helpless. He couldn't allow Kukuri, who wasn't related, to stay in such a place.

"Hurry!"

Kuro yelled to scold the boy who showed hesitation.

The boy frowned hard and started running with Neko and Kukuri.

To ensure the retreat of the others, Kuro attacked Suoh from the front. With his right hand forward, he developed the unique ability to manipulate space with the exit wide open. He looked like he was trying to squeeze Suoh with his huge space distorting hand.

Suoh didn't make a slight move. With a lazy stance with both hands tucked into his jacket pocket without taking a step, the power of red unfolded slightly to disperse Kuro's power.

"I see. No wonder Yata had it hard against you."

Suoh said that with a smile.

He takes a deep breath. At the same time as he exhaled his inhaled breath in one go, a huge tornado of flames broke free from Suoh's body. The swirling flames destroyed the area like a mad monster and attacked Kuro as they swelled across the ground.

Kuro took a great leap and escaped into the sky. He leapt over the fiery tornado and attacked Suoh from above with that momentum. Kuro's kick, which had falling speed to the side of him, was also received by Suoh with one arm. Without pursuing deeply, Kuro immediately jumped up and took a distance.

"Not bad. I'd like to keep playing with you, but unfortunately, my thirst for blood is insatiable. Like I said before, you're on my way!"

Suoh's entire body turned red at the same time as he barked in a shaky voice.

The seething red that engulfed Suoh swelled into a spherical shape, obscuring his appearance. It seemed as if he had become a pure mass of heat, not a human being.

The mass of heat with Suoh as its core was like the sun. As the flare surfaced, a flame with a red-black mass flowed out the back. The mass of heat swelled and emitted a strong heat wave. Although he hadn't touched it directly, it looked like it would burn just from being exposed to heat.

The fleeing boy stopped. It became terrifying for Kuro to defy the rising sun, he didn't throw it, but his hair fluttered in the heat waves.

Kuro launched an attack with his strange hand, but it was repelled by a thick layer of flame and did not turn into scorched stone or water.

The lump of heat swelled even more and swallowed Kuro.

"Kuro!"

The boy screamed with the sense of running away. However, Kuro didn't look back and was trying to suppress the ever-expanding sun with his extraordinary hand.

The heat was rising. The December air, which should be cold, turned into intense heat. The surrounding area was dyed red.

A cold blue light flashed as everything was about to be swallowed up by the boiling heat.

The cold blue light collided with the red mass of heat, and they both disappeared instantly.

The boy lost his sense of reality for a moment when the hellish scene disappeared.

Suoh slowly turned around and turned to the criminal who doused his flames.

Reisi Munakata, the "Blue King", was standing with his right arm in front of Suoh. For some reason, a young man from "Homura" was carried on Munakata's shoulder.

Munakata slowly surveyed the area. He looked at Suoh, looked at Kuro, looked at the boy, Neko and Kukuri.

"I have discovered everything."

"Then we can get down to business. Shut up and watch."

Munakata did not respond and abandoned the young man on his shoulder. A hooded blond youth was thrown to the ground with a small groan.

"Kuro!"

The boy called out to Kuro with a pleading feeling. This time, Kuro immediately understood the boy's intention and landed close to him with a great leap. As he was, four people were running at full speed.

Suoh clicked her tongue and regained the power of red in his hand. Kukuri and Neko ran first, and the boy ran while he looked at Suoh from the side. The moment Suoh's reddened hand was about to address them, Munakata's aura swelled.

Munakata kicked the ground with the force of a shot, forming a line of blue light and heading straight for Suoh.

Suoh immediately repositions his arm, which was trying to point at the boy, to catch Munakata. The blue and red lights collided and exploded blindingly.

"Munakata!"

The boy ran with all his might, hearing Suoh's frustrated voice behind his back.

He simply moved his legs, feeling the sound of powers colliding and sparking, the sound of destruction, the sound of explosions, the sound of tiles breaking, and several more noises behind him.

"Here we will be safe for now!"

They reached the familiar dormitory building and went inside.

There was no one at the entrance to the bedroom, the hustle and bustle of the battle was far away and it was quiet. However, maybe there was an explosion or a battle around here, the glass was broken and scattered on the ground.

Finally, they stopped in the middle of the entrance hall and managed to calm their lively breathing. Kukuri seemed to be the most agitated, crouched on the ground and breathing on her shoulders.

Kuro looked in the direction he was coming from with a stern look.

"The two of you are finally fighting...?"

"My best moves had no effect on any of them! I can't take it anymore!"

Neko screamed as if to vent. Those guys are fighting each other, so now is our chance. Let's get away while we can!"

Neko tugged on his arm and the boy lowered his eyebrows.

"Neko..."

"Come on! Kukuri has been saved, so let's go quickly!"

"This…"

Kukuri was reluctant to speak.

The boy smiled at Kukuri, noticing that she had been brought out of her shock and apologizing for putting her through a terrifying situation without knowing why.

"I'm sorry, we can't explain all the details to you. But we're going to get you to a safe place."

"Wait, you're hurt!"

Kukuri looked to the boy's side and made a hoarse voice.

"Hey?" When he followed Kukuri's line of sight and looked at his body, the shirt around his flank was certainly torn. He looks like he cut on something, but he didn't feel like it was hurt.

"Oh, I'm fine. It's nothing."

"Let me see it."

Kukuri said that forcefully. Even if she didn't remember the boy, he was a bit happy despite this situation, saying that her nature of caring for people is still the same, and Kukuri approached the boy and Neko.

Kukuri looked at the boy and laughed hideously.

Her face was distorted asymmetrically and it was a strange smile.

The boy opened his eyes.

It wasn't Kukuri.

When he thought that, she stabbed him in the stomach.

Before he knew it, Kukuri's hand was holding a sharpened piece of glass that had fallen to the ground. It is deeply ingrained in the boy's belly.

Kuro held her down and Kukuri laughed.

Kuro impressively pulled Kukuri's body away from the boy, and pressed him to the ground. The piece of glass he was stabbed with shook his belly and slid on the floor.

The boy held the stabbed area and flapped his lips.

He really didn't feel pain. He just couldn't move me from the impact and trembled.

"Kukuri! You…"

Kukuri kept a distorted smile even when Kuro suppressed her. She rested her cheeks on the ground and looked at the boy with wide eyes.

"I have to admit; I didn't think you would survive!"

Kukuri's eyes gleamed.

"But this time…"

A clear light spread around Kukuri. The color disappears from the place covered by the light.

In a colorless world, the boy saw something emerge from the center of Kukuri's eyes. He made the face of a fox, smoky. The fox-shaped smoke flowed into the boy's eyes with a laugh.

It was completely dark in front of him, and the boy lost sight of where he was. He couldn't make out top or bottom, right or left. He lost the physical sensation of him and it was unclear if he was still standing or collapsed.

In total darkness, he felt as if he and someone were merging.

The path someone had followed ran through the boy like a magic lantern. Kukuri stabbed the boy with a piece of glass. A member of "Scepter 4" who shot a girl from the Red Clan with a rifle. A young man from "Homura" who stabbed a knife in the "Blue King". A Gakuenjima student with a fox face talking to the "Red King" on a toy phone. In addition, he penetrated the interior of many human beings.

And the first king, the "Silver King", who blew up the airship.

A boy with the same face as him, who shot Totsuka Tatara with a pistol.

Who? Who is he?

He was thrown into chaos, as if his head was being shaken.

While the boy was reliving the memory of someone who had entered it, he found that that person was also exploring the boy's memory. As the outline of his body and the shape of his mind became uncertain, rumors of someone laughing appeared.

"It seems like you don't really remember anything. How carefree are you? How ignorant. You gave up everything you were responsible for. You lost once before. You lost, and you ran away in search of a peaceful life. did you want? Deep in your heart, you wanted a life like the one you're living now. Before that, even a long time before. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. Sleep… sleep without remembering anything. Let your body go to the place where you find silence and peace. You know nothing. Nothing."

Kuro yelled in a hurry.

Neko desperately called out to the boy.

A young man dressed in a military uniform said, "Are you running away?!"

Debris flies one after another. The surrounding soldiers were shattered and dead. Only he was not hurt.

The pointed rubble.

Rain of bombs. A silver sword floating in the sky. Everything was slow.

A silver-haired woman called out to him in a soft voice.

"Addy."

#K #k project #k the first story #k novel

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sourcherrybomb · 5 years ago

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SoKai Week 2020 - Day 5 - Beneath the Light of Vega and Altair

Synopsis: When they were children, Sora told Kairi the story of the fearless sailor Altair and his voyage to meet his beloved, the Sea Goddess Vega. Kairi, seeing herself as Altair, embarks on her own journey to find her Vega, Sora.

Sneak Peak: After a certain point Kairi stopped keeping track of time. Sometimes she would lie down and think about her time with Sora to see if her heart could make any connection to his.

Tags: Romance, Angst, All Ages, KH3 Spoilers, F/M

Prompt for the Day: Sea and Sky / Tanabata / Star-Crossed Lovers

Words: 1.8k

Fanart By: @anniths

Using the countless stars and constellations scattered across the nighttime skies, sailors would always find their way back home.

Many believed it to be a wives’ tale, something told to scared and nervous children to assure them that their parents would come back from sea. Others saw it as a part of their heritage, a belief not to be taken lightly. Regardless of your stance on it, the young children of Destiny Islands grew up learning how to navigate the stars and memorizing the constellations.

As someone who was not originally from the Islands, Kairi had to spend a lot of time catching up to the rest of her Islander peers. Even Selphie, a girl who had no desire to sail or explore other worlds, knew more about finding your way using the stars. As one of her few female friends, Kairi cherished her, but did lament at this fact for the longest time.

Of course, whenever she did have trouble, Sora and Riku would always come to help her out. Out of the two, Riku was definitely the more studious one. If Kairi aimed at a random part of the night sky, the boy could point out several stars that could be used to determine direction or even time of day depending on its position. Sora on the other hand wasn’t as proficient in navigation, but could talk your ear off about the constellations and their meanings.

While Sora found himself jealous of Riku’s demonstrable skills, it was his love for the stories behind the stars that, unbeknownst to the both of them, drew Kairi to him. She loved hearing stories about the various heroes and monsters placed amongst the stars, and Sora was more than willing to prattle on about them. But out of all the stories Sora shared with her, Kairi found herself holding the story of Vega and Altair close to her heart.

Altair, a proud and boastful sailor, proclaimed that he would sail through every sea and ocean in the world to prove that his skills were amongst that of the gods. Cygnus, God of the Sky heard of this boast. Thinking that Altair would fail spectacularly, Cygnus offered the hand of his daughter, Vega the Sea Goddess, in marriage. Once he set sail, Altair was faced with countless obstacles sent by Cygnus to sabotage the sailor’s efforts. Each challenge shook at his pride and humbled him. However, he did not relent and continued on his journey. Unbeknownst to Altair, Vega had watched over the sailor during his adventures and over time came to love him.

It would take him decades, but Altair did successfully sail through the seas and oceans. At once, Vega greeted him with a loving embrace. Furious at this outcome, Cygnus cast away the now old sailor with a powerful gust of wind, separating the lovers.

Lost at sea and nearly drowning without his vessel, Altair was greeted by a vision of Vega. Overcome with her love for Altair, the goddess gave the sailor a blessing of immortality and eternal youth as long as he stayed on the ocean. In return, Altair would have to complete his journey once again in order to get one day with Vega. This precaution was put in place by Vega so as to not incur the wrath of Cygnus. Undaunted by this task, Altair set off to sail towards his betrothed. The storytellers of Destiny Islands say that year after year, Altair completes his journey and is reunited with his beloved Vega.

Kairi, now a young woman, hoped that she would be able to reunite with the Sora that she loved so much, similar to Vega and Altair.

After the final battle with Xehanort and the True Organization XIII, Sora was able to do so with Kairi after his countless trials. However, just like Vega and Altair, all she got from him was one day together before he had to leave. Not willing to live a life like Vega, constantly waiting for her love to return, Kairi decided to switch the roles.

She saw herself as Altair and took on the challenge of finding Sora’s whereabouts. For once in her life, Sora would await his rescue, similar to the beloved Vega.

It was this decision that made Kairi decide to look everywhere for clues in order to obtain clues on where Sora could be. This search led her to look within her own heart, a journey made possible with the help of the Ansem the Wise and his apprentices. The scientist told Kairi that she would be put into a comatose state similar to Sora’s after his time in Castle Oblivion. Like Namine for Sora, Ansem the Wise and his apprentices would help take care of her while she slept.

The idea of once again being left in such a helpless state wasn’t the most comforting idea to Kairi. Afterall, the first time was under much more... dire circumstances. But if it had any chance of making her have a more proactive role in searching for Sora, then it’s a fear that she would nonetheless overcome.

Ansem the Wise assured her that if things went smoothly, she wouldn’t be left in such a state for too long. At first, Kairi was put to sleep for hours at a time. As progress was made, those hours turned to days.

Days turning to weeks.

Weeks to months.

Those months eventually become a year.

After a certain point Kairi stopped keeping track of time. Sometimes she would lie down and think about her time with Sora to see if her heart could make any connection to his. But those thoughts always came back to her personal declaration to act as Altair. Like the sailor, was Kairi acting too proud by making such a statement? Perhaps the trials she went through on her search weren’t enough to prove her strength?

Of course, she’d push those thoughts away. If there was anything she’d take away from the sailor was his absolute stubbornness to achieve his goal of reaching Vega. Kairi’s persistence led her up to the present, where she found herself back at the Final World. This wasn’t Kairi’s first trip to this purgatory during her search, but it definitely was different from the previous visits. Instead of a clear blue sky, she is surrounded by an inky black, star-filled sky.

On instinct, Kairi stares into the vast sky above, searching the countless lights until she finds Vega. Focusing her mind and heart on Sora, she walks towards the star. Eventually, the rest of the stars fade away from Kairi’s vision as her seemingly endless trek towards Vega continues. Just as she feels like giving up, far away on the horizon she sees something.

Someone.

Once Kairi registers what she sees, she makes a mad dash for the person, seemingly lit by the light of Vega. But as she continues to run, Kairi can’t help but feel like he’s only getting farther away. Still running, tears run down her eyes as she calls out his name, her words never reaching the young man.

Until suddenly, he turns around. On his face is a somber smile.

Just as her legs begin to give out, Kairi catches up with the young man and brings him into a loving embrace, the both of them falling to the ground. She has so many things to say, so many words to convey her loneliness for the past year and the relief for finding him. But after all the yelling on top of being out of breath, all Kairi can muster out is a single word. A single name.

“Sora…”

“I’m here, Kairi.”

As time passes, the two continue to lie in their embrace, enjoying each other’s company. Occasionally they would meet eyes, but Kairi always found herself nuzzling her face into Sora’s chest. In return, Sora would rest his chin on her head. To the two of them, it was like the sky was lit by only Vega and Altair. But eventually, on the horizon of The Final World, a sun begins to rise.

Sora glances at his left hand and frowns as a crystal slowly envelops it. With his other hand, he gently wakes up Kairi. At first she’s smiling at him, but her expression quickly turns to shock as the crystal enveloping Sora’s hand travels up his arm. The both of them stand up, the rising sun creating a light behind Sora as he places his right on Kairi’s cheek to wipe away a tear.

As the sun continues to rise and the star and night sky melt away, the crystal continues to overtake Sora’s body. Kairi, still in shock, is nearly unable to say anything. At least until the crystallization reaches Sora’s neck. As she opens her mouth, more tears fall from her eyes.

“Sora… I’ll come back to you. I promise!”

“I know you will.”

Just as the crystal envelops the rest of Sora’s body, he smiles at Kairi once more, tears streaming down his face. As the rising sun behind Sora overtakes him, the crystallized Sora fades away.

Falling onto her knees, Kairi lets out a pained yell as she starts to sob.

She was Altair, and she did find her Vega. But like Altair, Kairi was unable to stay with her love for more than a day.

Unable to break the cycle.

After a while, Kairi composes herself. She wipes away the tears on her face as she slowly rises from the ground.

Staring into the morning sky, Kairi makes another promise to herself.

Even if it took another year, she’d reunite with Sora. But unlike her model, Kairi swore that she wouldn’t be separated. She would take her love in her arms and never let him go.

They would meet again, beneath the light of Vega and Altair.

---

Out of all the oneshots I’ve written up until now, I feel the most proud of this one. I’ve never really written anything with angst before, so this was a fun experiment. I blame Yoko Taro and his games as they were my inspiration for my need to create a bittersweet ending. Because of this, I want to ask you all something:

Do you think Kairi’s promise here is a hopeful one or a desperate one?

Please think about Altair and Vega when you consider your answer. This oneshot is one where I hope its readers can walk away with unique thoughts on it. Nothing is right or wrong when it comes to answering the question.

As usual, shoutout to the Sokai: Destined Oath Discord server, and a special thanks to the server member Gee for acting as my Beta Reader.

Thanks for Reading!

#sokai #sokaiweek #sokaiweek2020 #Day 5 #kingdom hearts fanfiction #sora #kairi #fanfiction #oneshot #F/M #sourcherrybomb

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timbertumbr · 4 years ago

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Boneafide Gamer (A Reverse Harem Fic)

Chapter 4, Gaming Adventures

First chapter

Quotev Link

Right, these will be short mini adventures with the reader and the boys over the course of a month. Is it important to the plot? Yes, it shows how they bond and get to know the reader which is important for the next chapter. Plus, it’s for fun. Also, I have no idea how to describe smash battles so bear with me. I had a friend help me with those so big thanks to them!

ALL GAMES BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS!

A month has passed and during that month you’ve gotten to know quite a few of the skeletons, you got to know them through various games or just chatting on discord, here are a few of these moments.

Saturday finally arrives and you’re setting up Smash Ultimate with the help of Red who’s on a discord call, you eventually connect it to Red’s online match and off you go select your characters.

“Pft, why am I not surprised you chose Bowser?” You say playfully into the microphone, Red huffs.

“Hey, he’s a cool character, okay?” He defends, you chuckle and pick [insert character here] causing red to snort.

“Really, [Your character]?” He jokes.

“Oh like you’re one to talk,” He chuckles and selects the “Fight” button. “Bowser VS [You character] 3 2 1 GO!” And the battle begins! Red immediately made your character fly off the stage.

“Wha- DUDE!” Red starts laughing his ass off as your character floats back onto the stage.

“Oh man! That was PRICELESS! I wish I could’ve seen your face!” He snickers as you start trying to budge Bowser off the stage. He gets launched upwards and gets behind your character and launches them off the stage again.

“HOW?!” Red snickers at your reaction.

“I’ve had a LOT of practice with story mode,” He explains as your character floats back onto the stage, you decide a different strategy, you make your character hit Bowser before quickly jumping away and repeating the process. You got a decent percent on him before out of nowhere he uses his special move which FLINGS your character off the map with no chance of recovery. Bowser runs into the screen and slashes it twice, signifying that he won.

“Wow, that was… short,” You comment before briefly checking your phone.

“Huh, guess that shows how much time I spend on this game,” You huff in amusement from his comment and see that Cheesepuff messaged you.

Cheesepuff: Yo, I hear Red yelling from my room. Mind if I join you guys via discord?

“Hey, Stretch wants to join, is that okay?” You ask, he told you his name after a few days of messaging each other.

“Ashtray? Why does he want to join?” Red asks surprised and somewhat annoyed, you message him and he responds-

Cheesepuff: Just wanna watch ya guys duke it out is all. Maybe commentate.

You snort at his response.

“He wants to watch us fight and commentate on it,” Red falls silent for a bit before sighing.

“Fine, he can join only to witness me kicking your ass second time ‘round,”

“Oh, you’re in for it now My Chemical Romance!” You counter as you share your screen and Stretch joins the call.

“Hey- Woah, already beginning the match?” He asks as Red begins the match and you’re trying to button mash your way to victory. It failed, miserably. And now you’re on two lives.

“Ooo, button mashing never works out, honey,” You blush slightly from Stretch’s comment and attempt to kick Red’s ass with a different method, you use your special move and it flings him and he finally loses a life!

“YES!” You cheered as Bowser floated down back into the arena and began having a fist fight with your character.

“Don’t celebrate just yet sweetheart,” You could HEAR him smirking, and that distracted you enough for your character to fly off the map. God damn it.

“Gotta keep your head in the game bud,” Stretch comments, you glare at the screen, damn him and his smugness. You focus on getting the overgrown angry turtle over the edge but he got your percentage way higher than you thought and got flung.

“Bruh…” Red and Stretch snicker, final round, for you anyway. Silence falls over the call as you and Red duke it out in the arena, sometimes very close to flinging Bowser off the map. But alas, you are no gamer deity so you lost. Again.

“Aww man…” You mutter.

“That last round was super intense, I was on the edge of my seat,” Stretch comments, you huff.

“That’s 2 to 0 sweetheart, up for another round?” Red asks, you gather your shattered competitive spirit and have your hands ready on the controller.

“Always Batman rip off,” Stretch snorts and starts laughing his ass off.

“B-Batman rip off! Hahaha!” Red grumbles under his breath as he starts another round, and for the rest of the day you and Red duke it out with Stretch making humerous comments, you and Red egging each other on.

_________________

You wait for the invitation link to Oak’s island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You, Oak, and Willow wanted to meet up in Animal Crossing to just have fun, chat and just explore. You finally got the invitation and unmute your mic.

“Got the invitation and I’m on my way!” You hear Willow whoop in the background of Oak’s call.

“Cool,” Your character takes the plane and arrives at Oaks clean and colorful island, Willow’s character waiting at the airport.

“Y/N! You’re Here! Follow Me, I’m Gonna Give You A Tour Of Our Island!” Willow exclaims as you follow his character.

“You can share an island?” You ask, hearing about this for the first time.

“Yeah! We Divided The Island So We Can Help Each Other And Do Our Own Thing!” Willow explains.

“Wow, you guys must be really close,” You comment.

“Yup,” jeez, you almost forgot he was there. Willow takes you to the “border” of their island which was just a bunch of fences and a single gateway to each side. And this is where Oak waited.

“Come On S- Oak,” Oak’s character goes through the border by your character.

“Now, Which Part Of The Island Would You Like A Tour Of First?”

“Your island, your rules. Whichever you think is best,” Willow squeaks from your answer.

“W-Well, If That’s The Case, We’ll Tour Oak’s Part First!” You hear something falling and hitting the ground with a thud and hearing Willow worriedly shriek “OAK, ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“Uh… everything okay over there?” You ask worried.

“Yeah! Oak Just Fell Off The Couch Is All!” Willow assures, you raised a brow at your screen.

“You okay Oak?”

“Fine, just surprised,” Oak mutters, awww. These precious bois.

“So you’re saying you… jumped out of your skin?” You hear Oak’s deep chuckle and Willow groaning.

“Alright! Enough Horrible Jokes! Oak, If You’re Ready To Give The Tour, You May Begin,” After a bit of waiting, Oak’s character goes through the border again and into his side of the island. He only briefly gave descriptions of his section of the island which had quite a few trees, bushes and a few decorations here and there. He only had a handful of villagers in his part of the island. When you ask about Boots the crocodile, his neutral voice turned serious.

“We don’t talk about Boots,” He says before continuing the tour.

“He Didn’t Like Boots…” Willow explains vaguely before you and him follow him around the rest of the island, even showing off his garden by his own home. And that transitioned to Willow giving you a tour of his part of the island. His part was quite colorful with trees and bushes and a heck of a lot of decorations, mainly cute stuff which you complimented on and he squeaked, muttering a “thank you.” He had the majority of villagers and he liked all of them, you noticed Oak’s character stare at Bob for a bit before rejoining the tour.

“And This Is The Museum! Go On And Take A Look At It,” Willow insists, you step into the museum and gasp, it’s practically full!

“You collected all this?” You ask in awe, Willow “Nyeh heh heh’s.”

“Of Course! With Some Help From Oak Of Course!” Aww.

“That takes some dedication dude, nice job!” Willow squeaks again, why are they so cute?! Once the tour was over, you all just hung out on the island, you fished while talking with Willow, Oak making an occasional comment here and there. All in all, visiting their island was a GREAT idea!

_____________

You were planning a gaming session with Blue (You watching him play the game.) when you receive a friend request from a very familiar username. Coolskeleton95. You accept the request and Papyrus sends a message.

Coolskeleton95: HELLO HUMAN/FAN FART! THANK YOU FOR ACCEPTING MY FRIEND REQUEST! (BLUE WAS KIND ENOUGH TO GIVE IT TO ME) BUT I WANTED TO ASK IF IT WAS OKAY IF I JOINED YOU AND BLUE’S GAMING SESSION?

Huh, how polite! You ask Blue if he’s okay with it (Of course he is, he was the first one Papyrus asked but wanted everyone’s permission) So with that in mind, you begin typing your response.

(Username): Sure! But be warned, Blue and I decided to pick a horror game, you okay with that?

Coolskeleton95: OF COURSE! BUT IF I MAY ASK, WHAT’S THE NAME OF THE GAME?

(Username): Popgoes.

_______________

“You ready guys?” You ask, seeing the Popgoes menu screen from Blue sharing his, well, screen.

“YES!” Blue exclaims.

“NOT REALLY BUT SURE!” Papyrus says.

“JUST START THE GAME!” Edge grumbles, he asked (demanded) to be part of the gaming session. Blue starts the first night and is introduced to a TV and a tablet full of camera locations. The phone rings and the man named Fritz begins to speak.

“You may want to look around Blue,” You comment, knowing what happens if you don’t. Blue uses the yellow arrows to look around and gasps when he sees the animatronic stage DIRECTLY BEHIND HIM!

“Oh boy…” Blue mutters before going back to the cameras and flicking through them.

“WHY IS THE PANIC METER RISING?” Edge asks, seeming a bit on… edge!

“Quick, look around!” You warned, Blue squeaks and quickly looks around, seeing a cat animatronic as soon as he turns to the left. The screen flickers and the cat is gone.

“Woah…” Papyrus mutters as Blue looks around, flicks through the cameras and then looks around again. Huh, he’s learning quickly. A tense silence fell over the group as Blue played the game, occasionally getting a gasp from one or two of you when an animatronic came a bit too close.

Then finally, when 6 AM rolled around, an electronic version of pop goes the weasel. We all breathe a sigh of relief as the screen fades to black. Then it cuts to an 8 bit atari like minigame. Blue tests out the controls before moving into the 8-bit version of the pizzeria.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?” Papyrus asks, somewhat confused.

“Lore, hidden within a minigame,” You explain.

“WOWIE! A CLEVER JAPE!” Blue continues to wander the pizzeria, passing by debris and junk while exploring. The tense silent air returned as he found an 8 bit version of what seemed like a human. Blue approaches it, the screen cuts to black as a static like sound plays. It cuts to the second night and the voicemail begins.

Blue repeats the cycle as you all watched. Then, out of nowhere from the vent above, an animatronic jump scares Blue. You yelp, Papyrus screams, Blue screams, And there’s a yelp and thud from Edge’s mic.

“OH DEAR,” There’s some muffled noises from Papyrus’s mic before you hear his voice in Edge’s mic, asking if he’s okay. Blue is snickering and asking if Edge is okay between bouts of laughter. After coming back from the shock of what just happened, you start giggling as well.

“YES, YES, I AM FINE, STOP LAUGHING!” This only prompts you and Blue to laugh harder. You could HEAR how angry Edge was. Papyrus returned to his mic.

“OKAY, LET’S SETTLE DOWN AND ATTEMPT TO COMPLETE THE SECOND NIGHT, AGREED?” Papyrus offers surprising you, wow, no WONDER he’s the mascot. You all agree and continue playing the game, occasionally getting scared, occasionally making comments on the lore, or laughing from amusing reactions from the jumpscares (Mainly Edge.)

_________________

You were minding your own business when you got a discord message from Red.

Red: HAHAHA! I CAN’T BREATHE!

After a few seconds of wondering what brought this on, Red sends you a photo of Stretch on the couch, holding his phone, with a white fluffy cat on him.

(Username): Aww, a kitty.

Red: Not just ANY kitty, Edge’s kitty.

Oh, well now you understand why Red was finding this amusing. Apparently in their home there’s a rule to let “Doomfanger” lay where she pleases, anyone who is caught moving the cat is sentenced to one month of chores.

(Username): Oh no, poor Stretch!

Just as you said that, Stretch messaged you.

Cheesepuff: With my last breath, I ask you to tell Blue that I was the one that stole his jelly beans. Farewell friend.

You laugh at his joke and receive another message from Red.

Red: Holy shit, he’s a mad man!

He sends you a picture of Stretch proceeding to put Doomfanger onto the couch.

Red: He cometh…

He sends another photo seemingly behind the couch of an angry Edge most likely yelling at a somewhat nervous looking Stretch.

(Username): Tell him I’m rooting for him. I got a message to deliver.

Red: 👍

You go to Blue’s personal messaging.

(Username): Stretch ate the last of your jelly beans.

Magnificent Blueberry: I KNOW.

(Username): Wait wut?

Magnificent Blueberry: HE RAN OUT OF HONEY AND TOOK MY JELLY BEANS.

(Username): How?

Magnificent Blueberry: TRADE SECRET. ;)

_______________

Cheesepuff: Hey. So me and the others have been chatting and we’ve been thinking, is it possible if we could meet up? In a public space of course and only if you want to.

Oh wow, when you woke up today you were not expecting to finally meet the skeletons face to face.

(Username): Yeah, I’m down! Have a place and time in mind?

Cheesepuff: You free on Saturday around noon?

(Username): Yup! And the place?

Cheesepuff: I’ll send you directions on Saturday. See you then honey. ;)

God damn him and his smooth flirting… Wait, was it even flirting? You don’t know any more.

____________

Totally not the writer: So what I’m hearing is that you scored a date.

(Username): Not a date! Just going to meet up is all.

Totally not the writer: Uh huh. Make sure to wear protection when you get boned.

(Username): DUDE!

Totally not the writer: HAHAHA! I’m joking! Holy shit, that was funny!

(Username): You jerk! >:(

Totally not the writer: Look, I’m sorry. Will you accept my cookie of apology? 🍪

(Username): . . . Fine, but only because of the cookie!

Totally not the writer: Luv you too <3

(Username): Yeah, yeah, you dork. Make sure to go to bed at a reasonable time tonight, alright?

Totally not the writer: No promises.

(Username): >:( Go to bed now.

Totally not the writer: Okay.

Sighing, you put your phone on the charger, do your nightly routine and then go straight to bed. What a day….

12:34 AM

Totally not the writer: Okay, I know you told me to go to bed at a decent time but…

Totally not the writer: I don’t know if I’m being paranoid, anxious or both but I SWEAR I keep hearing scratching sounds… Idk if it’s my imagination or what but I’m freaking out dude.

Totally calls for help…

But nobody came.

Next Chapter

#Oh boy things are getting intresting #And now onto the best part #tags #Underswap Papyrus #Underswap Sans #Underfell Sans #Underfell Papyrus #Swapfell Sans #Swapfell Papyrus #Horrortale Sans #Horrortale Papyrus #Undertale Sans #Undertale Papyrus #Sans #Papyrus #X Reader #Reverse Harem

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authorialarcanist · 4 years ago

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Gracidea Blossom Chapter 3: Measuring Up Against Meditite

(Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum x Little Busters!)

Mirror Links: AO3, Pokécommunity, Spacebattles

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Previous - Next

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A world of total darkness. No touch. No sound.

The only thing reminding him he exists is the pressure, like a vise clamping down on his head.

Even his thoughts stall as he falls through this endless void. He doesn’t dream.

He never dreams.

…

Time passes, and eventually the throbbing in his head begins to fade. The ability to think returns to him. He becomes aware of his senses again.

Touch, first. He can feel of his hands pressing into smooth sheets.

Then hearing. After that void, even the soft sound of breathing feels like a salvation.

His head still feels heavy, but he can move his fingers now. He’s regaining control of his body.

Riki opens his eyes.

He’s in the guest room of the Natsume residence. Rin is asleep in a nearby chair, her body curled in on itself as she slumbers. A glance at the clock tells Riki that it’s 9 in the evening, but after his narcoleptic spell, he doesn’t feel tired enough to sleep properly.

Quietly, so as to not disturb his friend, Riki slips out of bed and pads to the hall. When he reaches the living room, he finds Kyousuke sitting there.

“Ah, Riki. So you’re up.” Kyousuke turns in his seat. “Masato and Kengo have gone home for the day, but I have a list of what preparations are left. There were a couple of things we needed you for.”

“Oh. Um…” Riki doesn’t meet his eyes. “Are you… really sure that me going with you is going to be okay? I mean, I didn’t speak up before, but…”

“…But what if you fall asleep on the road?” Kyousuke finishes for him. “Don’t worry, Riki, I knew about this when I made the offer. When that happens, we can just make camp and wait for you. We don’t have so little time that we can’t afford to cut a day’s travel early here and there.”

“Oh. Well, if you’re sure… I do still want to stay with all of you,” Riki says.

For a moment, Riki thinks he sees a shadow pass over Kyousuke’s face. It’s gone so quickly, though, that he decides he must have imagined it.

“Right. Just think of it as another one of our adventures, and I’m sure you’ll have fun.” Kyousuke gets up from his seat, and shows Riki a list with most of the items crossed off. “If you don’t want to go back to sleep just yet, we can try and take care of the last preparations right now.”

Riki nods. “Yeah, I don’t feel tired. Oh, but you should probably get Rin to bed before we leave. That chair doesn’t look too comfortable.”

And so the night goes on…

——

The next morning, the friends gather by a fountain at the west end of town. Here, the bricks of Hearthome slowly give way to grass and pine trees, and a stone path leads the rest of the way out of the city. Most people leaving the city use one of two gate buildings: A small one to the east leads towards Solaceon Town, while the west end has a larger building with exits to the south and west.

The western gate is a three-story building, with a rest area on the second floor. Along with being a place for exhausted trainers to rest their legs, the second level also has souvenir shops and a food court. The top floor is a small hotel with fairly cheap rooms, for travelers who come in at night and don’t want to search for a place in the city.

The ground floor is somewhat more utilitarian, with a few stalls selling travel supplies. Stretches of empty wall are covered with large maps, some showing the travel routes of the Sinnoh region while others detail the layouts of Hearthome, Route 208, and Route 212. The maps are broken up by wall-mounted TV screens, turned to weather and news channels. Travel advisories scroll across the bottoms of the screens. ‘If traveling south, be sure to bring waterproof gear!’ ‘Never attempt to climb Mt. Coronet without a buddy!’

Riki and his friends pass by these sights, stopping to check the weather - apparently, there’s a northeasterly wind blowing in fog from Route 210 - and make sure their backpacks are secure.

When they reach the split between the way south and the way west, Riki speaks up. “So, um…” He scratches his head. “…Where are we going?”

Kyousuke stumbles, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. “D…didn’t I tell you?” He looks at Rin, who shrugs. “…Right… Well. Ahem. Our current destination is Jubilife City, to the west. Jubilife TV requested that the Champion appear for a talk show, and I already had plans to visit Lake Verity, so it’s on the way.”

“A talk show? Really?” Kengo gives Kyousuke a flat look.

“Hey, anything that pays! I won’t be able to coast on being Champion forever, I need to build a varied resumé!”

“…Right…”

The Little Busters pass through automatic doors into Route 208. Just west of Hearthome City is a small hilly area, with well-maintained grass and berry patches scattered through it. The area gets wilder the further you go from the city, but young aspiring Trainers can usually practice here without too much to worry about as long as they turn back rather than climbing when they hit the rocky base of Mt. Coronet. Normally the mountain is visible from the gatehouse, but today the route is already partially hidden by a light mist. The world feels smaller under the grey sky and close horizon, like it’s been cut into manageable pieces.

A shout stops the group. “Well, if it isn’t our young Champion and friends!” An old man with white hair waves them over to where he’s tending a patch of berry plants. There’s a wicker basket at his feet. “And where would you be off to this fine morning?”

“We’re heading to Jubilife,” Kyousuke replies.

“Ah, these two finally starting out to see the world?” The old man looks Riki and Rin over. “That’s good. Everybody should travel with Pokémon sooner or later. There’s nothing like a journey for figuring out what you really want to do with your life, even if that doesn’t turn out to be battling.”

“Ah… right.” Riki looks away, unsure how to tell him that he’s just following after Kyousuke.

“Kyousuke gave you starters, I presume?” The man glances at Riki and Rin’s waists, where each now wears a belt with two Pokéballs.

“That’s right,” says Kyousuke. “Show him.”

Lennon and Terra are sent out, and the two Pokémon nose at the berry plants before wandering back to their trainers’ legs. The old man looks on in approval.

“They look like a good choice. I can tell they like you already!” He leans down to offer Terra a berry, and after a moment of hesitation the Turtwig extends its neck to take the fruit from the old man’s hand. “Now, then. You remember what I taught you, right, Riki?” At Riki’s nod, the man turns and procures something from his basket. “Well, if you’re setting off, I think you deserve a present. Here!” He hands Riki a pair of firm, speckled blue berries. “Those are Yacha berries. If you give one to your Turtwig, it should help her resist an Ice type attack. And for the young lady, Passho berries. I can’t say I recognize that cat’s species on first glance, but it looks like a Fire type, so a berry that helps protect against Water types can’t hurt!” He hands Rin a soft blue berry, dotted with air bubbles. After another moment of looking through his basket, he also gives them a paper bag of mulch. “That’s two berries each - one for your Pokémon, and try and plant the other one, okay? It never hurts to give nature a hand!”

“Thank you.” Riki stashes the berries and mulch in his bag, and bows slightly in gratitude. “I promise, I’ll find someplace nice to plant this.”

“Good, good! Well, I shouldn’t keep you for too long, but when you’re in the area, remember that the Berry Master’s door is always open!” The old man waves them off, and the group moves on, their Pokémon following behind. Occasionally a wild Pokémon seems like it might investigate them, but Kyousuke, Masato, or Kengo always calls out one of their own Pokémon to scare it away.

The terrain grows rougher as they head west, until they reach a rocky cliff with stairs carved into it. This is the base of Mt. Coronet, with rocky plateaus of various elevations stretching out for a short ways around the foot of the mountain before the ascent proper begins. A river has carved its way through this area of the foothills, running below the elevated paths and necessitating a series of wooden bridges between raised plateaus. As the morning stretches on, the mist grows heavier, wreathing the badlands in gray and obscuring Mt. Coronet above them. The group continues to walk towards the mountain, weaving between rocky outcroppings and crossing bridges, until they reach a wide plateau rising from an island right in the middle of the rapids. A short ways to the north, they can see a waterfall where the river drops from a higher elevation.

Kyousuke suddenly throws an arm out in front of Riki. “Wait. Look over there.”

Riki follows his gaze to a spire of rock in the middle of the plateau, and after a moment he registers a Pokémon levitating just above the tip of the spire. It’s vaguely human-shaped, with a short blue body and a white head shaped like the bulb of an onion aside from two large swirly ears. It also has a white segment connecting its torso with its legs. It’s hovering cross-legged with its arms out to either side. This is a Meditite, a somewhat common mountain Pokémon in the Hoenn and Sinnoh regions.

Riki glances at Kyousuke. “Are you going to scare it away?”

Kyousuke shakes his head. “No. It’s on its own, and this is a reasonably open area. Rin! Capture this Meditite!”

“What? Do it yourself!” Rin bristles.

“No. You need experience fighting wild Pokémon, and this is a safe opportunity to practice.”

“What about Riki, why aren’t you making him do it?”

“I will, but you’ve been in a trainer battle already. It’s on you to show him how it’s done.” Brooking no argument, Kyousuke gives his sister a light shove forward, pushing her towards the Pokémon. Its eyes snap open, and a moment later Lennon is standing in front of Rin, hissing at the Meditite. “Now, Mission Start!”

The Meditite leaps from its perch at the apparent challenge. Its eyes flash, and Lennon rolls on the ground, smacking into rocks as the mental attack disorients it.

“Lennon, use Ember!” Rin’s Pokémon shakes off the attack and spits weak flames at its opponent. Although the Meditite dodges around most of them, a few make contact and burn its legs. It redoubles its own attack in response, pelting Lennon with what Riki recognizes as Confusion attacks.

“Kyousuke, are you sure about making her do this?” Riki glances at Kyousuke, worried.

“It’ll be fine, Riki.” Kyousuke doesn’t take his eyes off of the battle. “The two of you need to learn how to handle things yourselves. Rin!” He suddenly shouts, and Riki’s head snaps back to the battle in time to see the Meditite stagger back as Lennon scratches it. “It looks weakened, this is the time to throw a Pokéball!”

With a wordless acknowledgment, Rin snatches an empty Pokéball from her bag and winds up to throw it. Riki marvels for a moment at her total concentration as she steps forward, brings her arm around for the throw, and…

…the ball slips from her fingers, soaring in a perpendicular angle from the battle until it slams into an outcropping and falls into the rapids below. The Meditite takes advantage of the opening as Rin scrambles for another Pokéball, and torments Lennon with a barrage of attacks.

“Okay, that’s enough. Scyther, use False Swipe!” Kengo’s voice rings out as a new Pokéball soars into the midst of battle, opening to release a large, bipedal mantis. The newcomer has a green head, thorax, abdomen, and pair of legs connected by smaller cream body segments. It has a pair of insect wings on its back, and a pair of scythes on the ends of its arms. Lennon finally collapses as the Scyther steps up in its place and harasses the Meditite with a series of light slashes, holding back from hurting it too badly. “Rin, you have no control at all. Watch my form, and maybe you’ll learn something.” With a series of deliberate, practiced movements, Kengo pulls a Pokéball from his own bag and tosses it overhand at the Meditite’s center mass. Still disoriented from the Scyther’s attacks, the Meditite doesn’t have a chance to dodge, and it gets sucked into the ball in a flash of red light. The ball shakes once, twice, three times, and then emits a click and lays still.

Kengo walks forward to pick up the Meditite’s Pokéball before turning back to the others. “Kyousuke, this is just a thought, but just maybe, it might work better if we teach them before you throw them into the deep end?”

Kyousuke sighs. “Fine. It’s nearly noon anyways, and this looks like a good place to stop and get some training in before we eat.” He looks at Rin, who is spraying Lennon with a potion bottle. “Rin, once you’re done with that, come with me. We’re going to work on your throwing technique. Masato, Kengo, can you two help Riki start training?”

Masato and Kengo look at each other.

After a moment, identical grins appear on their faces.

——

“I get that Kyousuke… asked you to help me train,” Riki pants, “But I don’t think… this is what he meant…”

With a gasp of effort, Riki pulls himself to the top of a large slab being held up by Masato’s Machamp. He reaches down to grab Terra by the shell and hoist it up after him before staggering back to his feet and jogging along the slab. Once he reaches the end of the path, he jumps down to a lower boulder, pauses to let Terra try and hop to his head - catching the Turtwig when it falls short halfway to him - and hopscotches across a series of rocks.

“A truly great trainer must train their body as well as their Pokémon,” Kengo says, pausing each time he makes a practice swing with his bamboo sword. His newly-caught Meditite is hovering beside him, watching his swings.

“Besides! Training alongside your Pokémon brings you closer together!” Masato lifts a boulder - smaller than Biceps’ slab, but still large for a human to be holding - as he speaks, muscles bulging.

Riki finally sways and topples over, Terra collapsing beside him.

Masato surveys the two, lying in almost identical positions. “See? You look closer already!”

“No… more…”

“Endurance is important, Riki. Even aside from keeping up with fast Pokémon, you have to travel on foot a lot.” Kengo hardly misses a beat as he continues his own training. “Still, if we want you to be able to walk any further today, that’s probably enough physical training.”

Riki lets out a sigh of relief.

“It’s time to work on strategy, instead. Let Terra rest, and send out your Bonsly.”

Riki pushes himself to his feet and switches Pokémon. “Now what?”

“Meditite, let’s battle.” Meditite snaps to attention. “Riki. Try to battle my Pokémon. And be careful; I’ve taught it some moves already.”

“Sly, use Flail!” Riki shouts, and the Bonsly waddles forward to try and get in range of Kengo’s Pokémon.

“Rock Smash!” Despite Kengo giving his command second, the Meditite easily outpaces Sly’s approach, hitting it with a measured strike designed to crack defenses. It knocks the Bonsly away, and leaps back before it can retaliate. Sly tries to chase the Meditite, but no matter what it does it can’t get a hit in. The Meditite runs in for another Rock Smash, and Kengo shouts “Stop! Match call! Riki, do you understand what went wrong?”

“Um…” Riki ponders for a moment. “…You had more experience than I did?”

“Not exactly.” Kengo shakes his head. “The trainer’s experience is important, but aside from my teaching Meditite a physical attack, this was a battle against a freshly-caught Pokémon. Riki, what are your Pokémon good at?”

“Well, they’re both good at taking hits, right?”

“That’s right. They’re both strong defenders, and solid attackers as well. However, as this battle showed, that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t land a hit. As your Pokémon’s trainer, it’s your job to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and to come up with a plan to work around those weaknesses when they arise.” Kengo pats a nearby outcropping. “That can mean finding ways to turn your opponent’s strengths against them, ways to turn your weaknesses into strengths, or ways to use the battlefield to your advantage.”

“I see…” Riki considers the match. “…So… what should I have done in that battle?”

“Oh, you were doomed from the start.” Masato puts down the rock he was lifting to rejoin the conversation.

Kengo glances away. “…Well… Okay, yes, your Bonsly’s skillset will need to grow before you can really plan around him. But the demonstration stands!”

“In the end, some things just can’t stand against overwhelming force!”

“Oh? Shall we show Riki whether that’s really true, then?” Kengo pulls his Scyther’s Pokéball from his belt and spins it on one finger. “Two Pokémon each, first elimination?”

“Bring it on! Riki, just watch and learn!” Masato grabs Beenikku’s ball, and another battle begins.

#Little Busters!#pokemon #fanfiction #Naoe Riki #Natsume Kyousuke #Natsume Rin #Inohara Masato #Miyazawa Kengo #Sinnoh #Gracidea Blossom

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gumnut-logic · 5 years ago

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We’ll Be Home For Christmas 5.1

Title: We’ll be home for Christmas

Day Five – Here on Tracy Island – Part 1 Prologue | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 5.1

Author: Gumnut

20 Jun 2020

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: The boys can’t fly home for Christmas, so they have to find another way.

Word count: 3313

Spoilers & warnings: language and so, so much fluff. Science!Gordon. Artist!Virgil, Minor various ships, mostly background.

Timeline: Christmas Season 3, I have also kinda ignored the main storyline of Season 3. The boys needed a break, so I gave them one. Post season 3B, before Season 3C cos I started this fic before we saw it.

Author’s note: For @scattergraph. This is my 2019 TAG Secret Santa fic :D

No, I haven’t forgotten about this fic, and yes, it hit the six month mark about two weeks ago. I started writing this 8 Dec 2019. I’m nearly there.

Landmark, though. It is now officially my longest Thunderbirds fic, overtaking Gentle Rain today at around 60,000 words, depending on which word processing program it is sitting in. Never expected it to be this long.

This chapter pretty much wrote itself. It is almost like a role call of the five brothers and their states of mind. So a little bit of all the bros in this. I hope you enjoy.

Many thanks to @i-am-chidorixblossom @scribbles97 and @onereyofstarlight for reading through various bits, fielding my many wibblies, and for all their wonderful support.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Day Five: Here on Tracy Island

Virgil woke late the next morning. It was a pleasant awakening, slipping from deep sleep to doze to a peaceful warmth beneath the covers. His room was dark. Darker than his cabin on A Little Lightning and with decidedly less sway.

He lay there for a while, enjoying the lack of need to get up and do anything and the absence of pain. He had slept the sleep of the dead and was thoroughly rested. There was something to be said about sleeping in your own bed at home that no holiday anywhere could provide.

But honestly, he wasn’t one to sit and do nothing for long, his brain kicking into gear while he lay there, listing off things waiting to be done. A visit to Two to reassure himself she had been checked over and was ready should she be needed. Not that he didn’t trust his family, it was just for his own peace of mind.

He should be able to get away with it so long as he didn’t spend too much time down there.

It took him a full half an hour of random rumination to realise that it was Christmas Day.

Oh shit.

The clock said eleven am.

His family...

He sat up abruptly and was thoroughly reminded of how stupid such a move was.

Oh, for the love of...

He grunted and rolled over until his face was smothered in his pillow.

The medic in his brain listed off the reasons why he shouldn’t have done that and why he needed to be careful and, goddamnit, he was sick of this. It was only an appendix, for crying out loud.

Stupid surgery.

That could have been so much worse.

He was being a spoilt child.

He let out a breath into his pillow, its warmth wrapping around his face. Another week and he would be fine.

But now, it was eleven oh five on Christmas morning and he was holding his family up.

He clambered out of bed with minimal complaint from his body, into the shower, a shave and into his familiar red flannel, jeans and boots.

It was such a comfort to be home.

He blow-dried his hair, gelled it up and made himself presentable.

The man who stared at him from his bathroom mirror was one appendix less and a whole pile of experience more.

He hummed to himself, tasting the notes in his throat. He could feel the soft whale skin under his fingertips, hear the lap of the water, the breeze in his hair...

And the music.

His eyes were closed without permission, the imagery taking over his mind. His fingers tapped against the bathroom vanity marking out the beat and rhythm of what he was trying to say, the pictures warping into abstract and lack of understanding.

Salty and long spoken, the notes repeated.

He didn’t know how long he stood there under the bathroom light, eyes seeing another world somewhere below the ocean surface.

By the time he shook off the haze it was eleven forty-five.

Almost lunchtime.

Alan would be foaming at the bit.

He pushed himself away from the sink and killed the light. Walking carefully across his room, he shook himself, rolling his shoulders. Get it together, Virgil. Your family is waiting for you.

Out through the door, down the corridor and, screw the stairs, he was taking the elevator.

It swallowed him whole.

-o-o-o-

Gordon had been up since before the sun. It was a sign that he was home. A session in the pool brought familiarity into the equation. There was definitely a difference between swimming in the pool versus the ocean and it had nothing to do with water salinity.

The ocean was beautiful and he adored it. But the pool sported no threat, no need to monitor his surroundings beyond the presence of a mischievous brother or two, leaving him to be able to focus on his stroke and let his mind wander.

The pleasant warmth of well used muscles pulling him forward through the water, simple thought processing...and considering the last few days, there were a lot of thoughts awaiting examination.

Some he had managed while piloting A Little Lightning on the home stretch, but there were still more needing answers and tactical decisions.

Sam. Mel. Scott. John. Virgil.

As far as he knew, Scott was still planning on inviting the neighbours over today. That would place Sam within reach of the apparently resistant Virgil.

He understood where both men were coming from. Virgil needed time and Sam was just a ball of eager energy.

Gordon was stuck between the two.

Push came to shove, he would side with Virgil regardless. He had too. But he really didn’t want to be divisive. If Virgil would talk just a little, it would help not only Sam and himself, but it might assuage the ball of worried energy that was Scott.

His arms sliced through water until he reached the end of the lane, his body automatically flipping and turning into the push off surge in the opposite direction. Air, splash and his hands slicing through the water again.

Okay, he would admit that he was worried himself. At first it was just amazing. His brother could sing to whales! A breakthrough. But yesterday he witnessed exactly how spaced Virgil became when singing and everything screamed wary. Humpback whales were beautiful creatures, but so big and so possibly unintentionally dangerous.

He couldn’t let Virgil anywhere near a whale alone. It just wasn’t safe. There was so much they didn’t know and the urge to protect his gentle brother just swelled in his heart.

They needed to investigate further. Find out exactly what was going on. Make sure his brother was safe. That it didn’t affect any water rescues.

They couldn’t afford to have Virgil spacing out in the ocean at random. As it was, Gordon wasn’t going to let Virgil anywhere near the ocean during rescues for the foreseeable future. He could stay up in Two.

Safe.

Whale song could travel around the globe.

His native realm had become a hazard for his big brother and that was unacceptable.

They had to find out what was going on.

John and Eos had made a good start, but Sam and himself needed to investigate further and soon.

Virgil needed to cooperate for his own safety.

Gordon broke his stroke, pushed himself to the side of the pool and rested his head on the concrete a moment, letting his body float randomly.

Blood pumped through his ears, his heart still running at exercise rate.

He needed to convince Virgil.

Somehow.

-o-o-o-

Scott revelled in the early dawn light. His feet pounded on his wonderfully familiar route around the Island. A trek he hadn’t laid eyes on for a week.

His runners crunched volcanic gravel beneath them.

The sun was just rising on Christmas Day, the beautiful weather hanging strong, the sea a stretch of glass disappearing off into the horizon. His current trajectory pointed him directly south where he knew beyond the glass lay Raoul Island. A single spot in a sea of blue, so similar to the even tinier spot that was Tracy Island.

Same sea of blue.

A pokey tree appeared on the side of the track, its red flowers quite glorious in the morning sun, and he found himself grinning. Sure, he knew the correct name of the pōhutukawa tree, but Alan’s name was so much easier to pronounce and it made Mel laugh.

His legs took the strain as he jogged up the rapidly steepening trail.

If he was honest with himself, the whole no strings attached thing was a lie. He found himself thinking about the woman more the longer they were away from Raoul.

And they only left yesterday.

As soon as the sun was high enough in the sky to be polite, he would be contacting Raoul with his invitation to her, Sam and Liam. It wasn’t the only time he had invited people to the Island, they weren’t entirely hermits, but it was rare and the first time in a long time.

And he was so looking forward to it.

Penny and Parker were due after breakfast as was the tradition. As soon as everyone was awake, they would have their present opening party, always a major family event. More for the company and laughter than the presents themselves.

He could almost hear Gordon declaring it ‘Tracy style’ complete with the arm movements to compliment the claim.

But Mel...it was like he was excited to show her the Island, perhaps because he knew she would be very interested in the ecosystem that had developed here since their father had begun repairing it over a decade ago.

And he was staring at it right now as he followed the path around the back of the Island. Pokey trees, palms and ferns were everywhere a foothold was available. Scott knew very little about their ecosystem beyond the need to keep it safe. Gordon and Virgil were the ones who knew most about it among the brothers. Gordon focussed on the sea and Virgil sometimes helped out with animal numbers and photography for the scientific group.

But Mel hadn’t been here since Dad...

He grunted and hurdled a rock he hurdled every morning as the slope inverted and started heading down. The view was stunning.

Despite the glass of the ocean, the swell still crashed on the back cliffs of the Island, jagged volcanic rock resistant to the relentless pounding.

Hopefully she would consent to the visit even though it was late notice.

He did have a Thunderbird, after all.

-o-o-o-

John hadn’t slept much. He never did when something was on his mind. His everything drove him to find a solution, particularly when a brother was involved.

Eos never slept, so she was the perfect insomnia companion.

There was also the factor that he was home, but he really wasn’t.

He was missing Five.

Now he was back on the Island, everything was screaming at him to go home.

Not that he didn’t like the Island, quite the opposite. The Island contained his brothers, his grandmother, Kayo, his family and he adored his family.

But the stars were calling to him. His body ached to feel the release from gravity. He wanted his home.

He ignored it.

His body needed gravity. It was an undeniable fact. It had evolved under the pressure exerted by the planet and while his mind adored the stars and the lack of gravity, nature demanded its return under the ‘use it or lose it’ mandate of life on Earth.

So, tired, but awake anyway as the sun hit the front of the villa, John made his way down to the pool where he found Gordon, as expected, in the water, but unexpectedly, not swimming. His head was lying on one arm at the edge of the pool, his body floating lazily behind.

John dropped his towel on a lounger and, bare footed to the edge next to his brother. Folding himself into a seated position he dropped his feet to dangle in the cool water.

“Gordon?”

“Hmm?” His head rose a little blearily. “Oh, John, hey.”

“Merry Christmas.”

“Huh? What, oh, Merry Christmas, John.”

A frown. “You okay?”

Gordon flexed his shoulders. “Yeah, just thinking.”

“Virgil?”

“Yeah.”

John sighed. “Same. But you do know he’s okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking it through.”

John pushed himself into the water and couldn’t help a relieved sigh as the water took away so many of the effects of gravity, cradling his body. “Swim with me?”

Brown eyes turned to him and John saw a reflection of his own worry in their depths. “Sure.” Gordon pushed off from the edge, his movements graceful despite his distraction.

John moved to the lane next to Gordon’s preferred and lined up beside his fish brother. Gordon shot him a brief but grateful smile before pushing off the end in a careless surge into stroke. He was metres ahead before John had even shifted into form.

Typical.

Show off.

But he couldn’t help but smile as he pushed off the edge himself, automatically moving into a strong but leisurely stroke in warm up.

Swimming denied verbal communication, but it wasn’t needed, the two of them just keeping each other company.

By the fifth lap, John started pushing himself, putting his body through the exercise needed to keep it healthy. He had no delusions of keeping up with Gordon. He just paced himself as his body needed it. Twenty laps in, he eased up a little and checked on his brother.

Gordon was still going. John brought himself to a halt, treading water, muscles pleasantly buzzing.

“Hey, John.” The astronaut startled, turning in place to find Scott standing on the edge of the pool. His running gear appeared well used, sweat stains prominent, and he was still breathing heavily. “Just letting you know that I’m going to be taking One out in about half an hour.”

“You going to get Mel and Sam?” Gordon was suddenly beside him. It was a sign of how tired John actually was that his younger brother startled him almost as much as Scott had a moment earlier.

“Yeah.”

“Can I come with?”

“Don’t you want to be here for when Penny arrives?”

John arched an eyebrow in Gordon’s direction. The fish had been looking forward to Christmas for that very reason. Before Virgil’s illness, it had been Penelope this, Penelope that. Apparently, he had the ‘best’ gift lined up for their first Christmas as a couple. Whether or not that was still going ahead considering recent events, John had no idea. Gordon hadn’t mentioned it since Virgil fell ill.

“I thought you had the fastest plane on the planet, Scotty.”

Their eldest brother snorted. “Plane, yes, younger brother, no.”

“Hey, I can be fast.” A strawberry blond frown. “Regardless, I need to speak to Sam.”

Scott eyed him a moment. “Virgil?”

Gordon sighed. “Yeah, Virgil. Gotta handle this delicately.”

Scott’s lips thinned. “Okay, then you better be ready in thirty because that’s when I’m leaving.”

The fish was already climbing out of the pool. Wet footprints marked the concrete as he strode to his towel.

Blue eyes turned to John. “You okay? You look tired.”

John let water run through his fingers. “I am, but I’ll live.”

Voice quiet. “Virgil?”

A single nod, voice equally quiet. “Virgil. Eos, Gordon and I will work it out. We just need time.” And patience. Admittedly, he didn’t have much of that where his brothers’ health was concerned. He could fake it, but it didn’t mean he felt it.

Scott’s expression was thoughtful. “I know you will do your best. Don’t forget to look after yourself.”

A groan. This was why Virgil was always adamant that he was fine. I single hint of something wrong and their biggest brother was all over them, his concern obvious. “I’m fine, Scott.”

That earned him a grunt and John actually struggled not to smile at his brother’s exasperation. John swam to the pool edge and pushed himself out of the water. A wave in the direction of the rising sun’s reflection. “The pool is all yours, dear brother.”

Scott eyed him. “Thank you.”

The morning breeze cooled John enough to raise goose pimples on his arms. Before he could reach for his towel, Scott was handing it to him.

Ever the big brother. It was John’s turn to eye him back. “Thank you.”

Scott smiled at him, a definite smirk on those lips. He knew exactly what John was thinking and had likely done it on purpose. “Anytime.”

Hmmm. “Merry Christmas, Scott.”

Those blue eyes widened as his big brother obviously realised that despite all the preparations underway, despite the tree they had stacked with presents the night before, he had still managed to forget the significance of the day.

It was John’s turn to smirk.

But Scott recovered quickly, tilting his head, a small smile on his lips. “Merry Christmas, John.”

With that he turned and headed off into the house.

-o-o-o-

Alan loved to sleep in. He shared this love with his second eldest brother. Getting up early sucked big time and he had no coffee addiction to help him.

But there was one day of the year when you could witness the youngest Tracy out of bed, while not early, at least a decent time where breakfast could still be called breakfast and not lunch or even brunch.

Christmas Day.

Alan adored the day. Presents, food and family, what more could a guy ask for?

So, eight am found him stumbling down the stairs to the kitchen in search of the second and third items on the list. He found Grandma at the kitchen table eating her fruit and yoghurt.

Alan made no effort to be quiet, but she didn’t appear to realise he was there, staring out across the lagoon. “Grandma?”

She dropped her spoon with a clatter as it hit the bowl. “Alan!” She clutched her hand to her chest, gasping. “You frightened me. Gave my old heart a kick in the pants.”

“Sorry, Grandma. Are you okay?”

“This time. Though I wouldn’t recommend doing it too often.” She held out an arm. “C’mere and give me a Christmas hug.”

Now that was something he was quite happy to do. Grandma hugs were always appreciated. “Merry Christmas, Grandma.” He held her tight.

“Merry Christmas, honey. Are you hungry?”

Uh, that was always a loaded question and there were important indicators related to that. “Where is everyone?” He had expected to find at least John down here. His space brother would eat his breakfast staring out into the lagoon and follow it with work on his tablet just to be around family in his own way. But not today.

“Scott and Gordon have gone to Raoul to collect Ms Fisher and that scientist friend of Gordon’s.”

“Sam?”

“I guess. They were both in quite a hurry to leave.”

That set Alan grinning. “I think Scott likes Mel.”

An arched eyebrow. “I thought she liked Virgil.”

A snort accompanied the grin. “I don’t think she is Virgil’s kind of girl.”

Of course, that was the very moment Kayo decided to enter the kitchen. She had obviously been on a run, dressed in shorts and a high cut top.

“Who’s Virgil’s kind of girl?”

Alan’s eyes widened. “Um.”

Green narrowed at him. “What are you up to, Alan?”

“Nothing!” He held out his hands. “What did I do?”

“I’m more concerned with what you are going to do.”

“Suspicious, much? I’m going to eat breakfast, that’s what.”

She continued to eye him. “No practical jokes today.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. Gee, you’d think I was Gordy or something.”

“Gordon will be contained by Lady Penelope. You, however, are not.”

“And what? That makes me some kind of prank genius?”

“Genius, no, annoyance, yes.”

“Hey, Merry Christmas, Kayo. How about a little of the spirit?”

She glared and him and grunted before turning away and stalking off.

“What’s up her skirt?”

“Alan!”

“Well, you saw her. I didn’t do anything!”

Grandma was quiet a moment. “She has things on her mind.”

“When doesn’t she?”

“Let her be.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Grandma sighed. “Things will work themselves out for the best.”

Alan stared at his grandmother. What on Earth was going on? Did everyone know something that he didn’t. He sighed. Wouldn’t be the first time. “I’m going grab some breakfast.”

“Yes, dear.” And Grandma was staring out at the lagoon again.

What the-?

Alan grabbed the refrigerator door and flung it open, his eyes raking its contents. Perhaps food would fix things.

A glance at Grandma found that she hadn’t moved.

There was definitely something going on.

-o-o-o-

End Day 5 Part 1

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #Alan Tracy #Grandma Tracy #kermadec fic

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suhfee · 4 years ago

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animal crossing in a pandemic

the following is a critique of animal crossing: new horizon’s social features and how people found community with them during the covid pandemic. thank you to rami ismail for the opportunity to interview him!

My friends and I spent our days outside during school breaks laying in the grass reading, painting, talking, or posing for my camera. We would wander around town to find things to do with no particular goal in mind. Last Spring, when the Coronavirus lockdown was put in place, we couldn’t see each other at all. We couldn’t risk it. When Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out, we all started playing and quickly started visiting each other’s islands. What we couldn’t get through Zoom hangouts we found in Animal Crossing. We would meander throughout the islands, catching bugs and talking to villagers. The museum on the island, a gorgeous display of bugs and fish, would soon be the new backdrop for our photos. We’d pose together, emote, and do our best to be cute for the screenshot. It felt comfortable. It felt ordinary during such an extraordinary time.

Most of my friends weren’t into gaming at the time. They were still able to pour hours into the game, creating a small island paradise for themselves and the people they cared about. Whenever we were able to get together, our avatars would run around with huge smiles on their faces, constantly emoting or trying to hit someone with a bug net. Even without voice chat, we’d be able to communicate with each other. Whenever I saw a set of furniture I was jealous of, my avatar would react shocked. One friend in particular would always creep up in the back of photos with a sly grin on their face. It was the closest we could get to being together. It was our only form of community.

My experience with the game isn’t solitary. Any online space during the first month of the game’s release was flooded with people sharing their island’s codes, creative build ideas, and aesthetically pleasing screenshots. For a while, it felt like everyone was part of a collective experience without ever seeing each other in person while apart in our homes. Rami Ismail, an independent game developer, was one of the people who shared their island online. The release’s time-frame coincided with the month of Ramadan, and he wanted to invite people to his island for iftar, or the nightly dinner when Muslims break their fast. In an interview I had with him, he called Ramadan “a full month of Christmas,” where he’d spend days with friends and family in the communal act of fasting. During a pandemic, that isn’t possible. His island quickly gained traction and soon he had a waitlist for people to join. Even with a few trolls trying to ruin the experience and the game’s unfriendly online architecture, he recalled it as the only way for him to find community during this past Ramadan. Others were inspired by his idea, and soon, Muslim communities all over the world were hosting nightly iftars. Rami considered this an expression of culture. Various international communities inspired each other and brought something to the table to create a communal experience.

What Animal Crossing offers is a playground where social interactions can blossom. While the systems and mechanics of the game may not be the most intricate or complex, the simplicity of the tools given allows for incredible player expression amongst players of all skill levels. The flaws in the game’s online components were even surprisingly immersive as a social experience. While other games have much faster lobby systems, Animal Crossing’s feels like a commute with its cutscenes, many dialogue boxes, and loading times. While I couldn’t hop in my car and see my friends, I could have my character dress up, hop on a plane, and meet up with them in an online paradise. It would take a strenuous amount of time to get to someone’s island, but it was just enough of the tedium of real life to make it all the more engaging. Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ release during the pandemic allowed its systems and outlets for creativity to be utilized to their fullest potential, creating and maintaining a sense of community during a time where many can’t have one.

#animal-crossing #games

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bluerosesonata · 4 years ago

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The Legacy of Aika Village

[This will be the first of a few mini-articles I plan to post here, just about different things I’m passionate about. Please indulge me.]

This article originally was written back in early April- since then, Nintendo announced that the “Dream Suites” would be coming to the latest update of ACNH, as “Dream Islands.” As such, I thought it would be timely to finally post this.

Update: On July 2nd, the original creator of Aika Village made a tweet announcing their plans to remake Aika for Dream Islands in New Horizons! The legend lives on!

Image Credit: thumbnail from chuggaconroy’s playthrough of Aika Village on Youtube.

Animal Crossing And Horror: The Legacy of Aika Village

With a lot of the world in lockdown, Animal Crossing New Horizons has become a creative and social outlet for many, leading to a lot of people who never played Animal Crossing to engage with it for the first time. I’m sure most of you have encountered the various types of people present in the Animal Crossing community by now, but there’s a type of Animal Crossing players that a lot of people didn’t realize exist, and have existed, for a while now: The Horror Town Creators.

These players were the subject of a brief write up on Polygon by Patricia Hernandez [Hernandez, Patricia. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now a horror game, thanks to fans.” Polygon, 24 Mar. 2020. https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/24/21190826/animal-crossing-new-horizons-horror-game-decorations-scary-nintendo-switch-blood-spatter-pattern.], who posted an article featuring quotes and pictures of people creating horror themed towns and rooms in New Horizons, but only made a brief mention of the legacy of horror that many of these players are striving to recreate: The Nightmare Suites of Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

(These next few paragraphs are a bit of a self-indulgent aside, so feel feel to skip ahead.)

Horror gets a bad rap. Horror artists get comments like “lmao what SCP is this,” “that’s fucked up,” or get flippant remarks about it all “looking the same.” Horror writers get made fun of for only writing “three types of stories.” Even the term “creepypasta,” which has evolved into shorthand for “horror stories independently published online,” still carries the stink of derision from the typo-filled, often poorly-written shock stories the term originated from. Despite this derision, horror, as a genre, is MASSIVELY popular (and profitable as well!). There’s an undeniable appeal to it.

More importantly, horror always finds a way to adapt itself to different mediums. As one can easily see by the success of horror podcasts like the NoSleep Podcast and The Magnus Archives, it isn’t even limited to a visual format! Like fear and dread itself, the horror genre crawls on, inexhaustible, undying, and ever-present, always returning to us in ways both novel and familiar.

Horror lovers are a tight knit, but welcoming, community, and that’s one of its biggest strengths and weaknesses.The biggest drawback is that a lot of really cool stuff produced will never be experienced, let alone documented, by people outside the community. And that’s what prompted this post. I was trying to explain the Dream Suite horror movement to my cousin, and despite my best efforts, didn’t find a lot of coverage about them, beyond the fact they existed. Worse, most of those were articles written five years ago. Even so, I’ll link to a few of them at the end of this post, as they’re definitely worth reading.

For me, I wanted to share my experience of the horror town phenomena with people outside the community. The Nightmare Suites movement was really something magical, and I know that I, personally, am still trying to recreate that magic in New Horizons. And hey, maybe once you’re finished reading this, you will too.

The Dream Suite

Before we can talk about Aika Village, we need to explain the feature that made this whole movement possible. In the 2012/2013 3DS game, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there were two areas in every town: The village, and Main Street, which laid beyond the train tracks that ran across to the north of every town. Main Street was home several important structures, including the town shop, the Happy Home Academy, and the Post Office. Later on, more structures could be unlocked and built as public works projects, one of which was the Dream Suite.[“Dream Suite.” Nookipedia, 25 Apr. 2013, nookipedia.com/wiki/Dream_Suite.]

As for how it worked, Nookipedia explains it best:

To begin a dream, the player must lie down on the bed and pay Luna 500 Bells. They may then choose to visit a random town, input the Dream Address of a specific town to visit, or search for a town. They may then choose to visit a previously visited town or a random town, or to input the dream address of a new town to visit. While dreaming, the player may walk around the town and perform actions just as they would in the real world, but their actions will have no effect on the town.

While dreaming, the bed will be on the dream town's plaza. Luna and Lloid stand near it until the player decides to wake up. Players can borrow tools like a shovel and axe from Lloid to use within the dream. If the player lies on the bed a second time, they will leave the dream and anything they have in their pockets will be lost.

The player cannot go to Main Street or enter any buildings with doors besides homes. Additionally, messages left on the bulletin board cannot be read; instead, the board displays the town's name and Dream Address…custom designs on display in the town, such as on the ground and in houses, will be visible. The player who uploaded the town can also be found walking about. When spoken to, they will say their recorded greeting.

In essence, the Dream Suite takes a snapshot of your town at the moment you ask Luna, the NPC running the Dream Suite, to share a dream- this includes your outfit, the way you decorated your home, the items laying around town, etc.

The most important aspect of this feature, and the one that I feel had the most impact on the Nightmare Suite creation movement, was the method of discovery. If you didn’t know someone’s code, you would be sent to a random dream of a random town, from anywhere in the world- and this is where I feel my personal experience of being in the community departs from the articles that have already been written about the Nightmare Suites.

The Urban Legend of Aika

In the years leading to 2013, I was going through some rough shit. I won’t go into details here, but video games had become my entire life. Coming into the summer of 2013, I didn’t have any friends I kept in touch with, and I was “starting over” in a city where I knew nobody- things were looking up, but outside of tumblr, I didn’t have anything even resembling a social life. Animal Crossing: New Leaf was a stabilizing force of my life during this time, and really helped me. I had the Shampoodle haircut guide saved to the camera roll on my phone, for pete’s sake.

It was in the beginnings of my friendship with a group of girls (whom I sadly no longer even have contact with), where a lot of our initial bonding happened because of anime and RPGmaker horror games. We were sitting together in the campus dining area, me playing on my 3DS, when I first learned about the Nightmare Suites.

“Have you heard about Aika Village?”

I hadn’t.

“It’s this really creepy town in dream suites, I heard about it from a friend online.” Later that day, she linked me to a tumblr post compiling a series of codes leading to different “creepy dream towns,” the first one being simply labeled as “Aika Village.”

That dream village became a phenomenon: people would write up their interpretations and theories about it, and even lead to a few articles and videos on gaming sites like IGN and Killscreen, which is why I’m not gonna even bother going into the content of the village itself.

And So, The Dream Begins…

This, in my opinion, was the draw of the Nightmare Suites. Without a way to directly share codes from your 3DS to your social media, the discovery and sharing of Dream Towns was like that of urban legends- like virtually passing notes in class, or sharing scary stories that “totally happened to a friend of my cousin’s sister” at a campfire. It felt like a cool discovery- something exclusive and scary and weirdly intimate. They had a mystique to them, a mystery of who their creators were and what they “really meant.” But above all that? They were cool as hell.

The Nightmare Suites used the limitations of the game to try and create an unnerving atmosphere in ways that were reminiscent to me of the RPGmaker horror game subgenre, and for me, created a lot of memories of excitedly typing in my once a day dream suite visit late at night in my dorm. I never lacked variety- there were so many people either influenced or inspired by Aika to make a horror town that there are entire lists and tumblrs dedicated to collecting those codes. (I even played around with the idea of making my own horror town, but never found the right inspiration, instead dedicating my time to making themed homes and custom outfits based on different anime characters.)

The sad fact that so many of these towns have been altered or overwritten, if they’re available or accessible at all, is in itself, a part of their urban legend-like appeal. While many of us may never get to experience these towns, the stories about them endure, in lists on long-abandoned blogs and youtube videos from people’s playthroughs.

And that mystique is the real legacy of Aika; While the Nightmare Suites may be gone, the wonder and dreamlike memories many of us hold from our chance encounter with it will never fade. You could even say we’re a bit…haunted by it.

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sisterofiris · 5 years ago

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On Ukraine

The lovely @upyrica requested a post about my impressions of Ukraine for their birthday, to which I happily obliged. I visited the country for two weeks last summer, staying in Lviv, Kyiv and Dnipro and travelling to Zaporizhzhia for a day. I will start by giving my general impressions of the country, then share some quotes from my travel journal about each city I visited.

Red - I hope this is to your satisfaction! Have a wonderful birthday, and try not to consume too many of us mortals by your brilliance.

General impressions

The first thing that needs to be said is that I unreservedly love Ukraine. Having studied the language and learnt about its culture for several months before travelling there, I was worried it would not live up to my expectations - but while it didn’t always correspond to them, overall it definitely exceeded them. It also bears mentioning what, exactly, I hoped to get out of this trip: I wanted to experience a new country as it is, in whichever ways it would show itself to me. If I had come with other intentions (sightseeing, a beach holiday...), my experience would have been different.

Before leaving, I was told various stereotypes - that it was an ugly country, all the buildings were Soviet apartment blocks, the people were cold and unwelcoming, I wouldn’t be safe, and so on. These were all untrue. I saw some gorgeous Central and Eastern European architecture while I was there, not only in the famously pretty Lviv but in every city I visited. Although I travelled alone, I only felt unsafe twice (once in the backstreets of Kyiv, once when a drunk man followed me around a bus station, something which could have happened anywhere), and most of the time I actually felt safer than elsewhere, in part due to people’s kindnesses and willingness to help.

It was also refreshing to be in a country where tourists are relatively rare outside certain attractions (I didn’t visit Chernobyl, for instance), and where I could blend in and experience things with and like locals. Speaking some Ukrainian definitely made interactions easier, and the people I talked to were all very enthusiastic to tell me what I should see and do, and to ask what my impressions of Ukraine were so far.

If I had to describe the country in a single word, it would be “alive”. It felt like a place where things move fast, and where people are working hard to improve them against all odds. I was struck by the difficult history of Ukraine, but also how Ukrainians have grown from it. Yes, all those things you hear about in history books, or on the news, happened - the Holodomor, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the 2014 revolution, the war in Donbas - and yes, they have left their mark on the country. But Ukraine is also so much more than that.

Impressions of Lviv

The streets here are mostly cobblestone, and with a large number of potholes and irregularities on the footpath. Many of the buildings look old, but most are very pretty. It is hard to describe the architecture style; all I can say is that it is unmistakably Central European. The streets around Rynok square are particularly lovely, with cafés, flowers, souvenir shops, and the ubiquitous Ukrainian flag.

While in the old town, I came across a family dressed in traditional clothes. The husband and wife were singing a folk song in harmony while their two boys played nearby. Later, I returned and they were all crouched in a circle, gathering the money they had earned. As they counted, they sang softly, all together, a song about Ukraine.

Impressions of Kyiv

Now I truly understand why the Ukrainian flag is yellow and blue - the land is sprawling fields under a great, wide sky. Even so, it is not quite what I expected: villages are sparse, far more so than in Western Europe, and between them is wilderness, sometimes grass and sometimes forest. Never in my life have I seen so many birches, and most other trees are pines. All are tall, with thin stalks that reach far up before branching off. The landscape is hillier than I’d imagined, too.

I came to the Sofia cathedral and Khmelnytsky memorial after sunset. The sky was a soft pink and blue, darker than the buildings around the square in their gentle pastel hues, and the domes of the cathedral still shone, and Khmelnytsky raised his arm, a black silhouette against the sky. Peace and war, I thought. The sword and the cross. The blood of centuries, and this moment’s serenity.

Impressions of Dnipro

Riding southeast, the hills gave way to enormous fields and endless steppe. The sun set over the land and made everything golden, and a flock of birds manoeuvred across the sky in perfect unison. When I arrived in Dnipro, the sky was pink. How beautiful it all seemed, with the square and its buildings in the architectural style I have seen so much here. How much more beautiful this country is than people say.

Dnipro is so much more relaxed than Kyiv - trams glide down wide, clean streets lined with trees, and the city generally has a modern, friendly feel. As we walked along the waterfront, couples, families and friends strolled by, laughing, sitting on beanbags in the grass, listening to live music, eating ice cream and candy floss. The river was blue as anything, and the sky wide and bright.

Impressions of Zaporizhzhia

While exploring Khortytsia Island, I wandered uphill to see a stone circle, then climbed a kurgan for the view. It was stunning. The landscape rolled out like a carpet to the horizon, half industrial, half wild, and the bright blue river Dnipro parted in two at my feet. Crickets sang and the grass rustled, and it was warm and windy.

Here most of the people around me are locals, or maybe tourists from other parts of Ukraine - or possibly Russia. So long as nobody speaks to me, it is easy to blend in and feel perfectly comfortable and safe. Here I am, just another Ukrainian going about my day. If anything, I feel at home.

#ukraine #off-topic but whatever #also go give red money in exchange for art commissions/tarot readings because they're awesome

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alice1290 · 5 years ago

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Read All About It - an Ace/Oc fanfic - Chapter 10

The dining room was packed with crew members eager for dinner. Thatch was a good cook and Ashina was thankful that was something they gained by joining Whitebeard. The spread of meat, bread, roasted vegetables, and sweets that covered the tables was overwhelming. The room was loud, filled with laughter and chatter from multiple conversations. They had slowly begun to make friends with some of their new crew and many of their original members were scattered around the room at various tables.

Ashina sat between Ace and Deuce, and Marco, Thatch, and Izo sat across from them.

“So, Red, any chances of you ditching Fire Fist for a real man?” Thatch teased. He was a shameless flirt, and his favorite pastime was to aggravate Ace by trying to lure her away from him. Seeing as he never hit on her without Ace around, Ashina took it all in fun.

Even though she shot him down, he succeeded every time in making flames appear on Ace’s shoulders. If his comment was lewd enough, his whole back would blaze. This time only small flames danced on Ace’s shoulders. Deuce thought it was hilarious every time and laughed loudly.

“Not gonna happen, Thatch,” she said. Her free hand sliding to grip Ace’s thigh and the other bringing a forkful of carrot to her mouth.

“Damn. Will you still spar with me?”

“Maybe, I like kicking your ass.”

Thatch grinned, and went to say something else but Marco interrupted. “How did you two meet?”

Ace laughed and Ashina turned to scowl at him as he answered, “I ruined her mission and then had to save her.”

“You did not have to save me!” she smarted back.

Ace just grinned. “You were surrounded.”

“And I was doing just fine before you sounded the alarm, Flame Boy. I could have gotten off the island all by myself.”

“No way. Those Marines would have encircled you again just like they did to us at the docks. You needed my help.”

Ashina rolled her eyes. “No, I didn’t, but you keep thinking that Fire Fist. Had you not set a building on fire I would have never been noticed. No need for saving when you’re in and out under the Marine’s noses.”

“Sneaky little thing aren’t you?” Izo said. “And you have Haki. Hmm.”

“Where did you learn to fight, Ace? You possess incredible strength even without your Devil Fruit powers,” Marco asked.

“I grew up in Goa Kingdom with my two brothers, Luffy and Sabo. It was full of huge animals we fought all the time growing up. And Gramps used to drop by every now and then for some really tough training.”

“Gramps?”

“Oh, my grandpa. Garp.”

“Garp the Fist is your grandfather?” Izo half shouted, but no one else seemed to pay any mind to them.

Ace just shrugged. “Yeah, adoptive, but yeah.”

“Damn. No wonder you’re strong. What about you Ashina? Who taught you to fight? You have some wicked martial arts skills.”

“My mother,” she answered Marco.

“Haki?”

“Also, my mother,” she said with a smile. “I learned my sword fighting mostly from my father. We would train together whenever he came to visit.”

“You ever fight with Fire Fist?”

“We’ve spared, but I haven’t tried to kill him.”

“Ah, what?” Ace sputtered.

“Oh come on, Ace. I have Haki, I can touch you even when you turn to flame. I just need to get my arms around your neck and bam, K.O.”

Marco, Deuce, and Izo laughed, but Thatch sat pondering. “You know,” he said after a minute. “I bet she could. She’s quick.” Thatch looked to her seriously. “When we fought, if you hadn’t moved your left foot, then I would never have been able to get the upper hand and pin you. She held her own up until then.”

“Withstood Pop’s Haki blast, too, even if he wasn’t using his full power,” Izo added.

Ashina snorted. “Kind of glad he didn’t. Took a lot to stay on my feet that night.”

“What did you do before you met Ace? He said he interrupted your mission,” Marco mused.

“Oh,” Ashina smiled proudly. “I was a Revolutionary. I’ve trained and learned from some very powerful people the last four years.”

“Well… damn… A Revolutionary Pirate… what’d you know,” Thatch chuckled. “Paired with the Mera Mera user you’re a powerful addition to the crew.”

“The Missus has a high bounty,” Deuce commented.

“Missus?” Thatch screeched, eyes widening. “You’re married!”

Ashina rolled her own eyes, laughing. “No. It’s a nickname the crew gave me, and then part of the shitty epithet the marines came up with.”

“Uh huh.” Thatch looked between her and Ace, scrutinizing, before he finally turned to Marco. “How come the Rookie gets lucky enough to have a missus?”

Marco and Izo just laughed at his expense and eventually Ace, Ashina, and Deuce joined in.

The room was gradually becoming theirs. After a few stops at different islands Ashina had managed to replenish her wardrobe and find a few items to decorate the room. The rest of their belongings were still on the Spadille, which was anchored at the supply island where they had lost the fight to Whitebeard.

New, royal blue bedding covered the bed and a large wood and iron trunk sat at the foot of the bed. Ashina wanted to find another mirror and a new tapestry. They didn’t have window, but the assortment of candles and lanterns lit up the space in a warm glow in the late evening.

Ashina brushed her hair and then slipped on the short nightgown. This one was a pale blue cotton and stopped just below her backside. It was soft and hugged her curves, and she was eager for Ace to see it.

He wasn’t in their room yet, so she slipped on the knee length, pale pink robe. The soft cotton had purple and white flowers stitched along the edges. She tied the sash around her waist and padded out of the room barefoot. Having a feeling she knew where she’d find him, if he wasn’t having a narcoleptic episode somewhere, she headed for the deck. As she neared the bow, she spotted him at the front side, where they used to stand together on the Spadille. His eyes were focused on the star spackled sky, oblivious to Thatch and Marco watching him from around the side of the captain’s quarters.

Ashina strolled past them and headed for Ace. When she reached his side, she leaned in to his warmth and he instantly pulled her closer. His arm stayed around her waist and his fingers made circles on her hip. He held out his other palm, letting a flame dance and grow. She cupped her hands, warming them to his fire, as she leaned further into his chest.

“Do you trust me?” he whispered.

Ashina took her eyes away from the little flame to look into his gray ones. “Yes. I follow you, Ace. No matter what you choose to do. I trust you, Commander,” she purred.

“I’m not a Commander yet,” he replied softly.

She knew it was that choice, the ability to become the Second Division Commander, that kept him awake. “I don’t think you’ve made a bad decision yet.”

The little flame vanished and his warm fingers tilted her head up. He slowly lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. It was tender, gentle, and it said more than any words ever could. He pulled back and his eyes studied hers for a moment before they found the horizon again.

The night was peaceful. The only sounds the waves of the ocean slapping against the side of the ship. It was a steady rhythm, as steady as his heartbeat. Ace took a deep breath and then spoke quietly.

“I want to tell Whitebeard about my father… before I decide to accept the offer.”

“Still want out? Become the Pirate King?”

“Do you want to leave, MIssus?”

Ashina smiled. “I follow you, Flame Boy. If you need to tell him before you decide to accept his offer then do so, but I don’t think we should leave. I would like to get my things off the Spadille one day.”

Ace chuckled and kissed the top of her head. Ashina brought a hand to his cheek and caught his attention. “I’m serious, Ace. I will follow you, and whatever you’re thinking. I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as you think. I trust you, have a little faith in yourself.”

Ashina leaned up on her tiptoes to press her lips to his. Her hands slid to his shoulders and his traced her curves slowly, stopping only once they cupped her round backside. She pulled away and gave him a smirk. “Don’t be all night. I’ll be in our room.”

When she passed Marco and Thatch, she cut her eyes over to them, catching their gaze. She gave them a wave and a grin. “Good night, creepers.”

“Ack! I’m not a creeper, yoi!”

When Ace entered the room, it was dark. He brought to life the three candles that sat on the table beside the bed. It illuminated Ashina in a soft glow. Her back was to him and the sheet was tangled around her legs, draped over her thighs. The nightgown bared most of her back to him and his eyes focused on her tattoo. Ace was hyper aware of how many eyes stared at her and he wasn’t ashamed to admit he was a little bit possessive. Ashina was his, she wasn’t his property and he’d never dare to say he owned her, but she was his, just as he was hers. Whatever they were. The flaming spade was a clear indicator that she was with him. The tattoo was almost always visible unless she had to cover it due to the weather, and she hated winter islands.

Ace couldn’t help but smile as he watched her for a moment, quietly toeing out of his boots. He shed his shorts and carefully crawled into the bed with her. Her eyes fluttered open as he pulled her closer to his chest. She looked up and him, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“There you are,” she mumbled. Ashina stretched, back arching, before pressing against him, now more awake. “How’d it go? Should we be finding a way off the ship?”

Ace gave her a soft smile. “No, we’re not going anywhere.” He was still shocked by Whitebeard’s reaction to his admission. “He didn’t care, said we were all children of the sea.”

Ashina smiled and kissed the hollow of his throat before moving to look at him. “I told you it was all going to be okay. I knew he wouldn’t care. You aren’t Gol D Roger, Ace. He’s your father, but that’s it. Otherwise, he’s just a man. You are your own person. Your experiences have made you who you are, not him.”

“I’m still the Pirate King’s son.”

Ashina gave a half shrug. “So? I’m a Yonko’s daughter. You share the same blood and he passed down some features. That doesn’t make you him.”

Ace bent his head, kissing the tip of her nose. Ashina giggled softly and burrowed into his chest, pressing herself closer into his warmth. “So,” she whispered, “should I start calling you Commander?”

“It’s not official.”

“It will be. Commander.” She practically purred the title.

Ace smirked as her fingers brushed across his ribs. “Okay, Missus.”

Ashina snorted, digging a finger between his ribs and making him let out a yelp.

“Hey now!”

She giggled and shoved him, rolling him to his back as she laid on his chest, lifting her head to look at him. Her hair cascaded over her shoulder and down his side. The locks glowing ruby in the candlelight.

“What are we going to do with the Spadille?”

It was hard to think as her fingers traced patterns over his chest and shoulders, connecting freckles in the soft light. Ace caught her hand, stilling her motions, and sighed. “Hard to think when you do that.”

“Oh really? I should do it more often then,” she teased.

Ace rolled his eyes and then frowned slightly, thinking of a reply to her question. “We’ll have to burn her I guess, the Spadille, I can’t see her in someone else’s hands. Collect our things and then say goodbye. She was a damn good ship.”

“She was, but I doubt Whitebeard lets you sail her separately. Seems like most of the crew sails together.”

“Yeah. We haven’t sailed far from the island. Maybe we can go back and say goodbye to the Spadille properly. Might be nice to have a huge crew.”

“Might be nice to have a real cook,” she muttered. “Who sails the Grand Line without a real cook? Oh, that’s right, we did.”

Ace chuckled and tipped her head up with his fingers. He opened his mouth to say something but the words died on his lips as her green eyes stared into his. They were a dark emerald in the dim light, swirling with her own emotions that he could not name. The way she looked at him made his stomach flip and his heart race. Instead of words, his mouth slanted over hers and his hand slid from her jaw to tangle in the hair at the base of her neck.

Deuce, Aggie, and Saber carried the last crates off the ship, taking them over to the Moby Dick. Ashina stood near the mast as Ace looked around the deck one more time.

“Ready?” he asked.

“She’s yours. Are you ready, Captain?”

Ace smiled, surprised by her words, Captain he was used to, Commander was still new. Ace reached her side and wrapped his arm around her back, hand resting on her hip. Her arm slid around him and she reached up to kiss his jaw.

“I think so,” he said. “She was a good ship.”

“She was, Cap,” Deuce said, coming up behind them. “Crew’s on the deck of the Moby. Ready when you are.”

Ace nodded to Deuce, who turned back for the much large ship.

“On to new adventures. Thanks for getting us this far.” Ace pressed his hand to the mast and then turned both him and Ashina around.

He pulled her in front of him as they crossed the plank to the Moby Dick. Mihar and Aggie pulled the large plank back with the help of a few of the Second Division men.

“Ready, Commander?” Ashina asked, bringing Ace out of his thoughts as he stared at the Spadille.

Ace looked down at her with a smile and nodded. It was clear now, on the Spadille he had been a captain, but here, on this new leg of their adventure he was a Commander. “Yeah.”

She squeezed his hand and then let go as he stepped forward.

“Shinka: Shiranui,” Ace said, calling forth one of the long fiery lances. He hurled it across distance separating the two ships.

The lance lodged in the deck, just below the mast, the flames sparking and catching the wood on fire. The flames grew and spread, ember’s catching the sails and suddenly the ship was ablaze.

Ashina stepped forward, brushing Ace’s fingers with her own. He gripped her hand in his, holding onto her as they watched the Spadille burn. Their crew, now members of the Second Division, stood with them as they said their silent goodbye.

The celebration was in full swing, complete with copious amount of alcohol and food. Ace was officially the Second Division Commander. Ashina was proud of him. The role of a leader suited him, and the men in his division already respected him. His dream of becoming the Pirate King was shifting, he told her as much, but she thought no less of him. He still had a dream, a goal, and she had hers, and together they would try to accomplish them.

Crew members covered the expansive deck, but Ace kept her close. She didn’t mind the possessiveness. In fact, she rather enjoyed the fact that Ace wanted everyone to know she was with him. They never said it aloud, never called each other words like boyfriend or girlfriend, and Missus was just a nickname, but the feeling was there. The relationship between them was more than just lovers, more than just friends.

There was a quiet pause that caught her attention, pulling her out of her thoughts just before most of the crew around them shouted.

“He fell asleep!”

Ashina laughed, smiling at the freckled man beside her, who was in fact asleep. “Yeah, he does that sometimes.”

Whitebeard’s laughter was joined by several others. The laughter increased after a few minutes when Ace woke up and went right back to eating.

The slightest smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. The sun brought out subtle copper strands of hair scattered in his otherwise dark mop. Without a shirt, the freckles on his broad shoulders stood out as well. Ace noticed her stare and held out the roll that was in his hand to her.

Ashina giggled and shook her head. “No thanks.”

Marco, a full mug of beer in his hand, sat across from them and grinned. “So, Ashina, are you going to get the Whitebeard mark, like your Spade?”

Ace paused in his eating to look over at her, waiting for her reply as well. The remark also caught Thatch and Deuce’s attention, both men looked up from their card game.

“I’m not in a division, nor am I a Whitebeard pirate. I’m a Revolutionary Spade.”

“The Spade pirates joined the Whitebeards,” Thatch commented.

“And? Doesn’t necessarily make me a Whitebeard pirate,” she counted.

“Then what are you?” Ace asked with a smile.

“Commander Ace’s Missus,” Deuce coughed in his hand.

Ashina shot him a glare and then grinned at Ace. “What I’ve always been, Ashina the Red-Haired Revolutionary Spade.”

Pops laughed, having heard their conversation, and chimed in. “I’ve never had a woman on the fighting crew, but you held your own against two of my Commanders. You’ll be in the second division under Commander Ace, Missus Spade,” he said, putting emphasis on the moniker the Marines gave her.

Deuce and Ace howled with laughter. Ashina dared to glare at Whitebeard. “Not funny, Pops.”

“You called him Pops yoi!”

Ashina turned to Marco and arched one brow. “What am I supposed to call him? Whitebeard? Edward? Sir?”

“Pops is fine,” Whitebeard said, catching their attention. “You’re a daughter of Whitebeard if you sail on this ship.”

Ashina caught the older man’s gaze and held it. She could feel the others watching them, several intrigued and a few tense. Ashina’s lips pulled into a grin, but she shot back, “I’ll call you Pops, and sail under your jolly roger, but I still have my own father.”

Whitebeard stared hard, but Ashina did not back down and after a moment he nodded. She expected him to ask her to name him, but surely, he knew. It wasn’t hard to make the connection if you thought about it long enough.

“Your father know you’re here?”

Ashina understood in those words, the meaning behind them and the questioning stare he gave her. Whitebeard was not a stupid man. He knew.

“He knows I’m with Ace. He’ll figure it out soon enough, if he hasn’t already.”

“Will he show up looking for you?”

“Scared?” she teased.

Several of the crew gasped at her comment, but Whitebeard laughed loudly, “Gurararara.”

“If he does it won’t be to fight,” she added. “Well, I guess at least not over me.”

“Who’s your father?” Marco asked.

Ashina grinned and stood from her place beside Ace. “A pirate.”

#READ ALL ABOUT IT #Portgas D. Ace #fire fist ace #Ashina #Missus Spade #Whitebeard Pirates #Marco the Phoenix #Thatch #one piece #one piece fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #my writing #whitebeard #shirohige

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